Lion is no longer king of the OS jungle. Believe it or not Apple has just announced another OSX update - Mountain Lion “coming this summer”. I feel like a broken record on the OSX previews. Once again the “upgrades” are centered around iPhone and iPad users. Lion adopted gestures, apps, and many other things from iOS, and Mountain Lion is doing the same thing.
It seems like most of new features mentioned have to do with actually connecting to iPhone and iPad users. With Mountain Lion, Mac computer users can connect with iOS users and send messages, reminders, notifications, etc. Also, Mac computers can now hook up with iOS gamers via the Game Center. As a non-iPhone user, I guess I can finally stop playing “Words Without Friends” and get in on the real thing. hahah. OSX Mountain Lion will feature AirPlay Mirroring like the iPad and iPhone, so you can zap that YouTube video or PowerPoint presentation from your computer to your TV.
One day in the Fall of last year, I was browsing around the interweb looking for information and inspiration concerning “church media”. I found a new site that i did not know about called ministry127.com , a product from Lancaster Baptist Church and West Coast Baptist College. It is “a resource for Spiritual Leaders...hosted by Pastor Paul Chappell” it reads on the About page. The bulk of the site is a “collection of ministry resources”, which includes articles and blogs on a plethora of topics ranging from secretarial helps to sermon assistance. I landed on the Media & Technology pages and found some good practical information. One of the Articles was about video, written by a young man named Andrew Garcia.
Sometime over the next month or so I was chatting with my pal Chad Phillips, who is now a Missionary in Cambodia. I was working on a project for him and so we were talking about media stuff. I mentioned the Ministry 127 site, since he attended West Coast Baptist College; I also mentioned Andrew Garcia. Chad said that he knew him and then began to tell me about his awesome video skills. Chad compared Andrew’s work to that of his own missionary video that was made before going on deputation. (If you have not seen it, you need to! Click the link) Chad also mentioned that Andrew was working on a full length documentary about a missionary family in Papua New Guinea. I was very interested, so I began looking for more info online. Soon I found “Two Hats” a film by Andrew Garcia. There were only previews and trailers at the time, but after contacting Andrew and finding a blog I learned that it would be released around the holidays 2011.
When the new year rolled around I eventually remembered to check and see what the status was. After having watched all of the trailers and extras multiple times I was really anticipating seeing the film in its entirety. I found where to order online and got a copy of Two Hats. It arrived the Saturday of the NFL League Championship games. Should I watch the New England Patriots smoke Tebow and the Broncos, or finally watch this movie - It was a difficult choice, but I chose Two Hats. I planned on starting it, and then pause it at a good stopping point so I could watch the game. This did not happen. I was glued to the TV the entire length of the film. It was spectacular!
Since I am about to max out my 500 word blog limit (aka. web readers attention span) I will spare you an in-depth review. However, let me encourage you to check this film out. You will not be disappointed. This is easily the best 90 minutes you will have ever spent in front of a Television. The subject matter is captivating. The Wells Family, their ministry in Papua New Guinea, and God’s clear blessing upon these is nothing short of inspiring. And also to be noted, the video quality is impressive on a big wide screen HDTV. Whether you watch it together with your family, or on an overseas flight it will be a blessing and an encouragement to you. I cannot say enough good things about it.
In closing, I would earnestly encourage you to get the film. It is about $15 on Amazon for a DVD version, or you can Rent/Stream it through Amazon for a few dollars. If you just cant justify spending that much, get it as a gift for someone - watch it - and then wrap it. hahaha! No really, think about how much Christian Americans spend on entertainment in a month with TV, Movies, Video Games, Sports, etc. Why not spend a fraction of that on a spiritually inspiring piece of work, by a very talented servant of Christ. You could not possibly spend your hard earned dollars on anything better. The Lord has truly blessed Andrew Garcia, and this film will continue to encourage any and all who view it. I highly recommend “Two Hats” to you and your family.
OK, this is hilarious and I thought I would share it. I am kindof a sports nerd, so I check ESPN.com daily, listen to sports talk radio, and watch SportsCenter a lot. Tonight, when I was looking at ESPN’s homepage, i saw this poll. I knew that everyone was in love with Tim Tebow, but I had no idea how much. You would think all of the “gator hater” Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State, etc. fans would be down on him. You would think that all the more liberal states would be down on him. But NO, as of right now ( about 40,000 votes ) he has a 30 to 50% point lead in a head to head vs. Mark Sanchez. Everyone has been down on Sanchez this week as stuff is coming out about the Jets locker room issues and work ethic during practice. It’s really just because they have a coach that talks a lot, and then they didn’t go to the playoffs. That being said, Mark Sanchez has helped the Jets win 28 regular season games over the past 3 seasons. But you know what, I voted for Tebow too, hahaha! You can’t help but root for him and the Broncos if you watched any of their crazy wins this season, especially the last one vs. the mighty Steelers. I guess I too am a Broncos fan after the Falcons got embarrassed. GO Tebow!
I have the great privilege of working with the teens at Victory Baptist Church in Loganville, GA. Last month I decided to challenge my Sunday School class (7th - 9th Grade guys) with something that really turned out to be a lot of fun. We wanted to make sure that everyone in the class could tie a necktie. At first I intended this to be a one week lesson; however, I soon realized that was not going to happen. Thus “Knot November” was born. hahah!
It was really quite interesting - I felt like a “real” teacher. I gave a simple assignment, and was then given a multitude of hilarious responses and excuses. A few examples for your entertainment:
“I know how but, my mom usually ties it for me“
“If I untie it, then I will have to tie it back again”
“Is this right....is this right....is this right...ughhh!”
“I did it exactly how you said, but look.”
“My dad doesn’t wear a tie, I don’t need to wear a tie”
We went over a few different knots, the 4 In Hand Knot, the Half and Full Windsor, and the Pratt Knot. We also learned some deadly sins for ties, one - NEVER leave your knot tied after its used. You should have seen some of their faces as they were forced to untie a knot that their mother had tied for them.....probably several months ago. To make the event more fun, we added a challenge and some incentive. The ties we were practicing with, I had collected from men at church. I told the guys, if on the day appointed they could tie one of the knots learned, they could keep the tie they picked. I also created them an official “Knot Expert” card with their mugshot.
All in all, a very memorable experience. Hopefully a learning one too. I want to congratulate every one in my class - they all were able to tie at least one of the knots we had learned! Knot November 2011 was a success.........through and through!
Here is a quick video recap of Knot November, Enjoy!
The drive up to Brasstown Bald was done in the dark, but as I was heading west to Dawsonville I was really able to see the bright Fall colors. I have been up to Helen several times in the last few years during this time of year, but never this far North. The trip to my next stop was only about an hour, but the scenery was so beautiful I was hardly in a rush. Coming out of Blairsville was mostly rolling landscape, but it eventually turned into the curvy up and down roads that I remember as a kid. I also got to go through downtown Dahlonega. There was much more green in the trees than at the top of Brasstown. It made for a beautiful blend between all the earth-tones and a bright blue background. The blue sky is beautiful in itself, but my Circular Polarizer really makes it pop in my photos. I was looking forward to using it. And I was really looking forward to my next stop, the tallest cascade in the Southeast, Amicalola Falls.
I did stop a few times on the way to take some pictures of the scenery, but eventually made it to Amicalola Falls. I had read on the GeorgiaParks.org website that there are a lot of visitors this time of year and there may be a lot of people. I found this to be very true as I pulled into the park. I was glad I was there on a Friday and not on the weekend; there were cars everywhere. I made my way to the small parking lot and fought the crowd for a spot. There seemed to be a lot of Buick’s.....im just sayin. The top of the Falls was right by the parking lot, I almost walked past it. Kind of anti-climactic when I found out that was it. I then found a stairway that lead down to the base of Amicalola Falls, and started down them. The sturdy wooden staircase zigzags along the side of the falls, but there were really no good spots to get a picture of it. This trek was probably the most colorful part of the day though as I was just beneath the canopy of colored leaves. The sun was shining bright and really lit up the path with bright orange, green, and yellow colors. About a 5 or 10 minute decent and I came to the base of the falls. The staircase wrapped in front of the falls and then continued on down. This made for a very convenient spot for taking pictures, however there was little creativity that could be done. Since you have to stay on the staircase, every angle of picture you take has already been taken before. I also had to wait in a line of sorts to get to the spot I wanted to shoot from. Nonetheless, still a beautiful site to see the falls surrounded by the autumn colors. I got a few pics and headed back to the truck.
Amicalola Falls is the tallest waterfall in the southeast at 729 feet.
If you want to see the falls in HD watch this on YouTube.
There were some colorful trees near the parking lot, so I decided to play around with my camera before calling it a day. Anytime I go out on a photo shoot I like to get a unique image that I can use to make an album cover. This picture below is what I came up with as the Photo Album cover and header for my blog post.
It was quite fun getting these spinning pics, and probably entertaining to watch for those nearby. If I had’ve know how cool they look on screen, i probably would have stayed there spinning for hours trying to get the perfect shot. My goal was to focus on a single leaf and then blur everything around it. I didn’t get exactly that, but it was fun experimenting with my camera settings. For the photographers out there- put your shutter speed to about 1/20 and continuously snap the shutter and you spin in a circle. It helps if the subject is directly above you as it was here. Be sure your ISO speed is not too high as that will reduce the bluuuuuurrrrr that you get in the pic. Also, you may need to use manual focus if your autofocus is going crazy as you snap so many pics while moving.
Well after all of this, it was time to head to the house.
I hope you enjoyed reading about my adventure, and I hope it inspires you to take a trip to north Georgia before the winter sets in. There was still some green in the trees but with the cold temperatures being more prevalent I’m sure the leaves will be gone soon. I would say that the first couple of weeks in November would be the optimum time to see the fall colors at their peak. It’s an easy trip and it’s very rewarding, even if it’s just a day trip like mine. As you can see I only made two stops, Brasstown Bald and Amicalola Falls, and it was well worth it. If you live in the Loganville area, Brasstown Bald is only about 2 hours away and Amicalola Falls is less than that. Plus there are plenty more options for you to add to your journey. For example Helen, which was on the way for me, or Vogel State Park, which is very close to Brasstown Bald. No matter where you decide to adventure, I hope you are able to take a gander at the beautiful fall down in Georgia.
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