Category: Archive

The tech I can’t live without

by Ben Clapton, posted in Archive, Life
Blackberry bold 9000
Image by sofianeb via Flickr

I never thought that I’d say it, but I love my phone, and would find life without it very difficult. But not just any phone, my blackberry.

I have a Blackberry Bold 9000, and while originally buying it because it was slightly geeky (and not an iPhone), I have truly come to love this phone. I love the qwerty keyboard, and the scroll ball (to the point where I may not upgrade to the next bolds because they don’t have the scroll balls). I love the fact that my e-mails come to me as soon as they are received. I love being able to share on Facebook and twitter so easily through native apps. GPS through Google Maps works incredibly well, and I can also use it to record my golfing statistics.

I loved having this phone with me when I went on tour a while ago. A 16gb Micro-SD card allowed me to store a whole heap of music and movies to keep me entertained on the bus rides to and from rehearsal venues.

Things I don’t like about the phone is that the camera isn’t great in dark light, and the picture will come out very grainy whenever the flash is used. The trackball also can get stuck (I’ve had to replace it once). And I don’t like that despite there being updated operating systems for the phone that are out there and are being used by other networks, my carrier is a good number of updates behind.

But I have got to the stage that moving to another phone will be tricky. I’ll adapt, but I really like my phone.

Postaday links

Teleporting

by Ben Clapton, posted in Archive, Life
The Proms 2005. Most people sit, while Promena...
Image via Wikipedia

Imagine having an app on your phone that would teleport you anywhere in the world. All of a sudden, just because a concert is only going to be on in one place in the world, doesn’t make it out of your reach. Or a sporting event. Or evacuating a natural disaster. I’m sure there are many people who were trapped in the path of Cyclone Yasi or Hurricane Katrina who would have loved to be able to teleport somewhere safe.

But where would I go for my first teleport? I don’t know. It’s tough. On one hand, I could use it to visit long-lost family, or go watch a Man United match. But I think what I would use it for would be to go watch the Proms.

Imagine how cool it would be. Not only would  I not have to pay for flights and accommodation, but I could still be working, here in Perth, for the two months that the Proms are on, and then transport myself over and catch an afternoon concert.

I guess the only real issue with that is the time zones. An 8pm concert in England would be a 3am start here. However, I guess I could head straight to sleep when I got home, wake up early, head over to england and watch the concert before heading to work. That might work well.

But think of the consequences. The airline industry would be out of business completely, as would effectively all transport modes. Why drive to work when you can teleport there? Every concert and sporting venue is now not only catering for a local market, but a world-wide market. Would every sports ground have to upgrade to have a capacity of 150 thousand or more? Would bands stop touring because they knew their fans could just teleport to where-ever they are?

I’m sure there are many benefits of teleporting, particularly getting traffic off the roads. But I’m not certain the positives of convenience outweigh the business world losses.

Postaday2011 links

How I lost over 6kgs in a month (without paying a cent)

by Ben Clapton, posted in Archive, Life
vegetables
Image via Wikipedia

I read in my blog reader today a post on Zen Habits entitled The Simplest Diet. It basically outlined Leo’s vegan diet which helps him stay lean. It reminded me of the success stories of Jenny Craig or Lite n’ Easy. Or those sensationalist diets that you hear about on those bastions of current affairs – Today Tonight and A Current Affair. Continue reading “How I lost over 6kgs in a month (without paying a cent)” →

My Dream Job

by Ben Clapton, posted in Archive, Life
A modern Western worship team leading a contem...
Image via Wikipedia

I’d have to say that I’m doing pretty well at the moment. I’ve got three very different jobs that allow me to explore my passions. Firstly, a violin teacher, secondly a “computer whiz.” I think I’ve done very well in managing to get three great jobs that I love.

But if I were to pick a dream job, that would be a little more difficult. Mainly because I don’t think that my dream job would actually exist. Continue reading “My Dream Job” →

Social Networking to further Ministry

by Ben Clapton, posted in Archive, Life

Running late with today’s post, as I was seriously busy today. Slept in after watching the announcement of Linda Bond as the Salvation Army’s next General, and then busy busy busy at work. Spent the morning preparing a social networking forum that was presented at work at lunch time, and then the afternoon was spent catching up with work. I’ve still got a bit more to catch up with, but we’ll see how we go. But for now, here are the notes that I started with when I got to work. I added in a bit – and I’ll add them in tomorrow, but for today, here’s what I was talking on. But for now, here’s my notes from the forum that I presented at work. Continue reading “Social Networking to further Ministry” →

Kalgoorlie!

by Ben Clapton, posted in Archive, Life

I headed up to Kalgoorlie this weekend for work. I was performing some Website training for the Uniting Church congregation up there. I caught the train up there and back, which may have sounded great in theory but there was a whole heap of fun on both trips.

On the way up there, it was fairly uneventful – apart from the guy next to me sleeping the whole way which made it difficult for me to get out to get dinner. I got out easy, but I think I woke him up when I climbed back in. Oh well. We were also slowed for a little bit as there was a car crash in West Kalgoorlie, which apparently pushed the boom gates across the track, so we had to wait to get that fixed. I think we ended up being half an hour late. I was billeted with a lovely older lady, Fae, who was an absolute delight to stay with. Continue reading “Kalgoorlie!” →

Looking ahead in web design

by Ben Clapton, posted in Archive, Life, Music

On Tuesday, while I was waiting for some printing at work, I got the chance to read this article on The Future of WordPress Themes in 2011. It contained thoughts and musings from many top WordPress theme designers, programmers and general nice guys (eg Matt Mullenweg). It really sparked some thoughts as to how I can improve web design at work, but also look to create some themes to submit to the theme repository. One of the disadvantages of being hosted on wordpress.com is that you’re limited to the themes that they have available. There’s some really nice themes there, don’t get me wrong (I’m mostly happy with my current theme), but there are a number of incredible WordPress themes available, and I’d like to put my hand up and contribute.

It made me think – how often do we spend the time to think about the up coming year in our field? For example, in Music, do we spend the time to look ahead to see what sort of music we’ll be playing this year? When I look at this list of Theme trends, I can look there to see what sort of things I should be looking to carry out to be at the forefront of my field. What sort of music should you be learning, what sort of techniques, what type of gigs should you be doing to be at the forefront of your field this year?

For the first time

by Ben Clapton, posted in Archive, Life
Super Pit gold mine at Kalgoorlie in Western A...
Will I see the Super Pit this weekend? (Image via Wikipedia)

I’m writing this post almost a week before it gets posted. The reason being is that I’m travelling to Kalgoorlie this weekend to teach the congregation up there how to use their website. This is a few firsts for me. This will be my first time in Kalgoorlie, and is also my first trip for work. I’m looking forward to seeing Kalgoorlie for the first time. Having lived in Perth for such a long time and not left the state, I developed a keen fascination in seeing things for the first time.

For example, December 2009 I left the country for the first time, and went to Singapore and Hong Kong for the first time. It was incredible from simple things such as seeing the inside of an aeroplane for the first time to seeing the massive hills surrounding Hong Kong. The incredible modern architecture in Singapore to attending a Salvation Army service held entirely in a language other than english.

Seeing things for the first time is often underrated, because you can never un-see something, it’s an opportunity you only get once. It’s something that I will certainly relish this weekend. I don’t know what’s planned, whether I’ll see things like the Super Pit or not, but whatever happens, I will certainly look forward to it.

Sport!

by Ben Clapton, posted in Archive, Life
current sport events icon
Image via Wikipedia

If I had all the time in the world, I think that a great way to spend it would be watching sport. I love watching sport. And it doesn’t really matter what sport it is, I’ll watch it. I’ve watched Lawn Bowls, Golf, Cricket, Baseball, NFL, AFL, Rugby, Basketball, soccer, lacrosse, you name it, I’ve probably watched it. My wife doesn’t get it, but I’ll quite happily plonk down in front of the telly to watch Manchester United take on Liverpool. Or throw on some golf while I’m having my breakfast. I swear, One HD has been the best of the new channels added to Australian Free to Air TV.

But while I’ll watch any sport quite happily, there are a few big events that I try to make sure I see. The AFL grand final is certainly one. I missed last years grand final, due to being on my honeymoon but did manage to catch a replay of it the next day. And because it was a drawn grand final, we were able to watch the replay at home with a few friends.

The Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix is another that I try to watch if I can. Bathurst again is another. However, I don’t often get to see these now as they’re always held on the Sunday, and I have my priorities set right (I believe) and Church takes priority over sport.

The Hopman Cup and Australian Open are two tennis events in Summer that I will try to watch a bit of. I have fond memories from my high school days where we’d go on holidays to Albany, and I’d watch the tennis because Albany only had ABC and GWN, and there was never anything on GWN.

They’re the sporting events I look forward to. What about you?

Postaday2011 links

I’m stranded on a desert island…

by Ben Clapton, posted in Archive, Life
Lakshadweep, comprising tiny low-lying islands...
Image via Wikipedia

Now how did I get into this ridiculous situation? I can’t remember. Must have blacked out. Thankfully however, I have a CD player and one album. What album is it? Thankfully it is an album that will keep me interested for however long I am to be on this island.

It’s a fine album of Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin. These compositions would keep me entranced for hours, days, even a life time. One of my lecturers once said that you could spend a lifetime studying Bach alone, and still have not scratched the surface of his music, let alone the music of all the other great composers.

So I’m going to leave you with a beautiful performance of Bach’s E Major Partita performed by Nathan Milstein.

Postaday2011 links