Look at the Orange

My Two Passions

Luke DeMoss — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 16:00:14 +0000

I am passionate about 2 things…maybe that isn’t allowed, but I’ve got to go with both of these, they just go together in my mind. My 2 passions are…

-Church Ministry
-Technology

I have always been passionate about figuring out how to best use technology to empower/enhance ministry and also had the opportunity to work at a church in the tech department for 3 years…which I loved doing!

I am looking forward to sharing more about why I think these two items go hand in hand and how they best compliment each other. At first glance, they may seem like the two don’t belong together, but I disagree. Check back soon to find out why I would disagree with that.

So much to say…I’m looking forward to talking about this stuff!

How important is your passion?

Luke DeMoss — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 21:22:29 +0000

I have been listening to some speakers and reading some books recently that have been talking a lot about following your passions. Sounds good, right? Figure out what your passion is, work on that and you’ll be successful, right?

It all sounds so good, but it has me asking… is doing your passion always possible, and is it that important to just work on your passion?

Although I would love for it to just be about passion, I don’t know if that’s possible. Isn’t it true, and sometimes good to push through and be successful at something that isn’t your passion?

Let me know what you think…I’m just thinking out loud here!

BatchGeo.com

Luke DeMoss — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 02:33:32 +0000

Today I was in need of plotting about 100 places on a custom Google Map and doing it by hand didn’t sound like a lot of fun. I tried the obvious thing to start off with and just clicked “Import” and selected my Excel file…but, those of you much smarter than me, already know that didn’t work. The reason it didn’t work is because all I had was a city and state, and Google needed the geo-location to be able to import it. That’s where the magical site, batchgeo.com comes in! It allowed me to paste in all my excel data, match up the columns to the right fields in Google and voila, out came a KML file, which is exactly what Google needed! It’s little tools like this that make all the difference in the world for me. Next time you need some custom pins on a map, head over to batchgeo.com to simplify your life big time!

Getting real about porn – ThePornEvent.com

Luke DeMoss — Sun, 23 May 2010 16:00:52 +0000

LifeChurch.tv and XXXChurch.com have created an event called ThePornEvent.com that everybody needs to check out. Here’ s a description of what this thing is all about…

From May 23-28, LifeChurch.tv and XXXChurch.com present ThePornEvent.com, a 25-minute interactive experience focused on the real-life effects of pornography. ThePornEvent.com has two segments, one for men and one for women; more details and the schedule can be found at ThePornEvent.com. During ThePornEvent.com we will examine the effect porn has on our lives and relationships, and look at next steps for those who are struggling. Expect a non-threatening environment featuring stories, helpful answers, and an open conversation with people whoʼve traveled a similar path. ThePornEvent.com is for anyone who is interested in what it looks like to live a life beyond pornography.

Both of these organizations do awesome work, and this is definitely an important topic that we all need to face. It’s not the topic most want to talk about, but it has penetrated most people’s lives. Here’s just a few stats that prove how big of an issue pornography is in our world today…

• 42.7% of Internet users view porn
• 20% of men say they view porn at work.
• 53% of Christian men consume pornography.
• Breakdown of male/female visitors to pornography sites: 72% male & 28% female
• 17% of all women struggle with pornography addiction.
• The average age of first Internet exposure to pornography is 11 years old.
• 90% of 8-16-year-olds have viewed porn online (most while doing homework).

So, needless to say, this is important.

Spread the word. Hop online. And get real about porn.

The iPad

Luke DeMoss — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 02:48:46 +0000

I’ve now had my 32gb Wifi iPad for 5 days and am really enjoying it. I am definitely using my laptop less than before and my iPhone seems so small now. I’ve been impressed that I am already getting to where I can type pretty fast with the on screen keyboard in landscape mode. Although it’s great that you can hook up a bluetooth keyboard to it, I think it’s important to get proficient on the soft keyboard to experience the maximum benefit of the device. As always, there are things that I wish were included that haven’t been…but never the less, Apple creates some beautiful, simple devices and this is no exception. I am also encouraged by the news of the updates coming in iPhone OS 4.0 later this fall (summer for the iPhone). Cool stuff.

So what do I use it for?

Email (personal & work), RSS reading, watching tv shows and clips, listening to music, reading books, Twitter, whiteboard brainstorming, to do management, reading the Bible, checking the weather, taking notes, managing web domains, calculating, etc.

True story. It’s pretty handy.

Some of my apps so far…

Really there’s only one app I am dying to have on the iPad… Tweetie which will now be known as Twitter for the iPad. Hopefully it will be as amazing as Tweetie2 on the iPhone!

Beauty of nature

Luke DeMoss — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 02:50:07 +0000

This past week I got home from work and it was just absolutely gorgeous outside, so I decided to go for a walk. I popped in my headphones, turned on some music and headed towards the pond/park in our neighborhood. There is something so relaxing about taking a stroll and enjoying God’s awesome creation! I had a great conversation with God during this walk and also had fun taking some pictures on my iPhone. I would love to have a better camera – photography is fun. Maybe you’ll enjoy some of my pictures from my walk…

Easy way to blog code snippets

Luke DeMoss — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 03:08:27 +0000

I just found out about a nice, easy place for developers who want to post code on their blog to share with others.

I’m sure other platforms do it, but WordPress.com has a really nice, simple way of making it happen. It does all the syntax highlighting, shows line numbers, allows the reader to copy the code, print it and has support for 26 different languages.

To see an example of this, check out http://en.support.wordpress.com/code/posting-source-code/

Nice job WordPress!

Do less

Luke DeMoss — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 03:09:04 +0000

Recently I have been reminded of the idea of going for the best, not just the good.

It really is a great problem to have, this problem I have…I have to many good opportunities. Seriously – this bible study, this book to read, this blog post to write, this community to be a part of, this church service to go to, this way to volunteer, this conference to go to, etc. So in a life of to many good opportunities, how do I live out a life of stewardship?

I think the answer is do less.

Be less distracted, give everything I have to those few things. It sounds so good, but is so hard for me to do.

I’m working on it. Just told someone that I’m going to have to stop doing this one thing last weekend…progress.

To Do Lists

Luke DeMoss — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 03:10:59 +0000

How do you keep track of things you need to work on? I have yet to find something I think is perfect, but have tried many different tools. Most recently, I’ve just been using a notepad and pen. I write down the things I need to do and then highlight them and put the date next to it when it’s complete.

There’s no shortage of tools…

*Google Tasks *Toodledo *Things *Evernote

…question is, which is most helpful, without being yet another time consumer/distraction?

How about you? What tool do you use? And what is the method you use in that tool?

Linchpin

Luke DeMoss — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 03:19:06 +0000

Yesterday I went out and bought Seth Godin’s new book, Linchpin. I am really excited to read this and have heard a lot of good things about it from people who have already read it.