299: A Journey of Faith: Where?

Foorprints in The Sand

At CNMAC12 I went to the final seminar of the day – it was a bit of a challenge to decide which seminar I wanted to go to but I ended up at James‘s “Participant Driven Session”, yep that was kind of vague but I was excited about it. I got there and I was the only one there, I think everyone else was trying to grab a quick coffee before the next session started.

I took up residence part way back and opened my MacBook to fill out some of the notes I’d been taking between tweets in other seminars, I’d also been working on other blog posts while I didn’t have Our Sidekick or Chris asking me to do other things. While I sat there another lady arrived. (The lady does have a name! She’s called Laura except at this point I don’t know that she’s called that!)

So we’re sat there, minding our own and Laura strikes up a conversation, we start talking about blogs, social media and all sorts of other bits and pieces from the day. I move to sit next to Laura and I show her my blog. Then she shows me hers. You can find hers here, it’s called Lay Anglicana.

The first post that comes up is titled “Journey of Faith” (Part One and Part Two are now available). I read Part One while we sat chatting and discussing blogs and also things that she mentions like the Bhagavad Gita. At some point in our conversation James arrives along with other people and we all start to get settled.

So what’s that introduction got to do with this post. Well I’m going to share my testimony/story with you lot. It’s not going to come all in one go because that would be long and boring. It’s going to be in bitesize chunks starting on Tuesday next week. Does this sound like a good plan?

To start with we could do with a picture, because after all a picture is worth a thousand words – so this is me, I think I’m about 2 or 3 (maybe a little older). Yup once I was that adorable and cute!

Me

 

298: #WednesdayWonderings v.3

We live in a world where we have a bunch of information at our fingertips – we unlock our phones and Google to our hearts content, but what about all those random questions, why was I looking and what did I find out.

—-

Partakers

A few weeks ago, Dave from Partakers was looking for a volunteer to record a talky bit for WOWChurch. On Saturday I had another message from Dave to ask if I could help again – well yes I can! So I was having a bit of a closer look at the Partakers website which can be found here.

Julia Child and Avis DeVoto

Following #CNMAC12 on Saturday, I ended up reading a blog post by Rev David Green. It was his reflections on the conference. I also ended up writing an epic comment, starting from this bit:

The first thing I want to say is that I had a blast. I hardly knew anyone. One other person in the conference was a friend from r/l (that’s real life to non-geeks) and I had conversed with a few more on Twitter or via this blog, but most were brand new to me.

The whole “in real life thing” bugs me and that’s where my comment started:

“IN REAL LIFE” – this term bugs me because it almost makes out that relationships and conversations on Twitter don’t take place in the real world. Some of the blogs I read often refer to “in real life” as “in person” or “face to face”. I have two friends who I met via twitter who’d I’d class as best friends. One of them I’ve only met once “in person” and the other I have never met “in person” but are those friendships any less than with someone I’ve known “in person” for the same amount of time. Then again 50 years ago, if we met once then became pen pals would that friendship be any less, take Julia Childs and Avis DeVoto for example they were pen pals for years and years before actually meeting and even then their friendship was born out of serendipity (more info here).

The link at the end is on a blog called The Friendship Blog. Julia and Avis’s friendship actually started with Julia writing a letter to Avis’s husband to talk about knives (specific ones I think!). Julia and Avis wrote 120 letters in total before they met in person. They’d gone from being strangers to being really good friends. In total they wrote something like 400 letters, they were all curated and edited into a book called As Always, Julia.

Stardust

On Sunday, I was all caught up with the TV that I’d recorded so was channel hopping looking for something that was Sidekick-Proof and came across Stardust. I haven’t seen the film in ages although I have it on DVD. I googled it quickly to find out what rating it is, I was pretty sure that it was Sidekick-proof but I’d forgotten about having the DVD and with it being almost 9pm I wanted to check that it wasn’t higher than a 15 – they almost need to show the rating at the beginning of the film like other channels do. (I remember there being a big 15 rating logo at the beginning of my copy of 10 Things I Hate About You. It had been recorded off of Sky Movies or something like that).

Bridges in London

On Saturday I went for lunch with Brains, her base for her course was King’s College so when I told here where I’d be and asked her if she was free for lunch she knew exactly where I’d be and plenty of suggestions for lunch. We ended up at Azzuro which is this lovely Italian restaurant – the service was amazing and so fast (We asked for the bill and the head waitress person we asked must have waved at another waiter over our heads and within seconds the bill was on the table!). Anyway so I searched for Bridges in London as the restaurant is actually within the arches of one of the bridges near Waterloo station. I’m not entirely sure which one it was but having now found the website I know here to find the restaurant if I end up there again. The food was really yummy, and the service was seriously good!

Bedford Licensing

On Sunday, it was mentioned in church that another club in town is trying to get a SEVs licence.(SEVs stands for Sexual Entertainment Venues) Firstly it was The Pad and now it’s Badlands (It’s actually the same company who own both bars). Either way it’s not good and I certainly don’t want it. I’m now foster mum to a 13 year old boy so it really concerns me that this is happening in the town where I live (then again it would bother me even if I wasn’t a foster Mum). When The Pad were attempting for their licence back in about May or June, a friend of mine was hosting a party/reunion for charity – had it been at a different venue I might have considered going but it was at The Pad and at that point I wasn’t willing to go.

Samantha Price was interviewed in the Beds on Sunday this weekend just gone about protesting and calling for a ban on SEVs across the borough (just like Wellingborough Borough Council have done in the last year). This is Samantha’s quote from the newspaper:

“This is a worse location than their previous application because it’s in the heart of the town centre. Bedford Borough Council wants to promote the town as a family- friendly place and this certainly won’t be doing that. It’s inappropriate and the main reason I’m against this is that such places objectify women and I won’t live in a town where my boys grow up to think that’s ok. We want a blanket ban on premises of this type in Bedford Borough. And my understanding is there will public consultation where the council can set the number of SEVs in the area to nil.”

You can find the whole newspaper article here. Bedford people we’ve got to stand up for our town!

 

297: #JellyandBean

In that serendipitous way that you can “meet” people on Twitter now, two of my friends (one I’ve met in person, one I haven’t) have ventured into the world of Podcasts. This is still something I’m yet to try but oh well I might get there in the end!

Anyway so on the 19th October the first episode of Jelly and Bean went live on the web. I found out about it via Facebook and then once Our Sidekick had headed up to bed and I could listen to it properly I sat down with my MacBook and got started. It hasn’t made it to the iTunes store officially but via the long way round I managed to get it onto my phone to listen to on the way to/from #CNMAC12.

Jelly and Bean

Episode One is titled “Microsoft’s Walking into a Crowded Bar”. It gives a bit of a hint to whats coming but there’s more than just that. There were various sections and even at about 20 minutes into a 66 minute podcast I’ve got lots of notes. Mainly because in a way I wanted to be part of the conversation as well! Lots of feedback and questions to ask about what they meant by some bits and other bits that I’m like “Huh? Are you sure that’s what you mean?“

Doctor Who
I love Doctor Who – I’m not quite like my brother who has been collecting The Classic Series (Tom Baker, Sylvester McCoy and the others) but I have been watching The New Series (Eccleston, Tennant and Smith) and trying to convert Chris, Our Sidekick and pretty much anyone who will sit still long enough to watch an episode with me.

What do you think about Doctor Who? Are you like my Mum who watched The Classic Series from behind the sofa? Or are you like me who only gets freaked out by the Weeping Angels and the Waters of Mars? (Yes I got freaked out by water okay?! I was the only one in the house and then having watched the episode pretty much in the dark going to the loo and cleaning my teeth was completely out of the question for about an hour!)

Cardiff
When we went on holiday during the Summer, we briefly went to Cardiff – it was the same day as the Women’s Football kicked off as part of the Olympics so we didn’t want to get stuck in the traffic and we had to go meet Freya. The small bit of Cardiff that I did, I loved it a lot and can’t wait to go back again.

Microsoft and the iPad Mini
I’m not sure that these were actually supposed to be a joint subject but some how they fit together. So the last Windows based laptop I had was back in about 2008 – I had managed to write my university dissertation on it but it was gradually dying – at one point it over heated in the middle of writing and I was convinced it was dead – I think it was the beginning of March and my dissertation was due at the end of April so I was in full blown panic, what on earth was I going to do if my laptop was totally dead and my dissertation had gone. Thankfully somehow it wasn’t gone but I decided there and then to save up for my MacBook – well I’ve had my MacBook since – so it’s about 4.5 years old now. It’s not on it’s second battery and it’s still running. I was a little bit worried about six months ago that it was well and truly dead and wasn’t going to recover but somehow it did and it’s still going. I’ve taken to sticking stickers all over the front of it now. So far I have one for HUGStronger, a Hello Kitty sticker and another random one that I found.

The Microsoft Surface looks good but as Jelly and Branden discuss – it’s got hard competition to live up against. You compare it against the iPad and I think the iPad will wipe the floor with the Surface.

 

Be sure to check out the podcast because I’m sure I’ve missed bits. 

First Image of the Jelly and Bean logo belongs to Dan.

296: Dear Monday/This Weekend I…#TWI

Joining with Sar from [Life of Love] and Syndal from Synfully Delicious.

This Weekend I….went to London to go to CNMAC12. It was nice to catch up with everyone but staying at the pub a bit longer might have been a better choice as the tube was absolutely packed heading towards Leicester Square and then just as bad heading to St Pancras. It was that packed, at one station I grabbed the girl behind me to make sure her arm was clear of the door. Then about two stations later I had to do the same for a guy who decided that he’d stand right on the yellow line.

This Weekend I….travelled back on the train with sweary lads who were on a night out and some guys who had just been to the football. Thankfully I was getting off at Bedford so that was two stops from London.

This Weekend I….drew up a super plan – okay it has like 5 to do points (and a bunch of sub-points) at the moment but I am working my way to a “Master Plan” (think A Doctor Evil or Bond Baddie Master Plan lol)

This Weekend I….ate Italian food with Brains (Taglietelle Salmone for her, Spaghetti Bolognese for Me). I’m not sure pasta is usually the recommended post wisdom tooth extraction food but it was around 42 hours after the removal so figured as long as I clean my teeth properly and rinse a whole bunch of salty water when I got home I’d be okay.

This Weekend I….worked on ideas and tweaks for this blog – suggestions welcome on postcards.

IMGP5601
Joining with Megan from Happy Day.

Dear Monday, this week I am kind of dreading your arrival. Stuff went down last week that I’m not 100% sure about and so I need to be on my top game this week. I’m worried I won’t be on my top game. Prayers would be good – It says about not worrying for anything and God will provide but sometimes it’s easier to say it than do it.

Dear CJ, you taught my parents how to use other apps on their phones this weekend. I might be sticking with an iPhone just so that they don’t get confused why I disappear if/when I move to a Samsung S3 – decisions, decisions. Then again it was quite funny on Saturday when Vicky commented about iPhone over Android – was quite funny. Is it worth updating from an iPhone 4 to a 5.

Dear Brains, It was so good to see you! Can’t wait to see you at Christmas – then we need to swap Skype names or something to catch up when you move to the other side of the pond (because I know for sure that if NY is in God’s Plan for you then that visa will come with no problems!)

293: Bonus Post @ #CNMAC12

Word Cloud - #CNMAC12

During today’s conference, Dr Bex Lewis (from BigBible) and some other people were writing a talk as the day went on. As part of this there were various different Word Clouds and also a graph showing who sent the most tweets. In the past 1500 tweets I had sent 77 of them. Apparently that made me the Number 1 Tweeter at the conference in that last section of tweets.

So that was kind of exciting in an epic geeky way.