iPhone App Bonanza
As a follow up to my friend, Adam’s, post about which iPhone apps we use… here are some screencaps from my iPhone of all the apps I have installed. Upon the posting of this blog entry, these screens will probably be out-of-date as I have a small obsession with the App Store and am constantly downloading new ones.
I try to have some kind of organizational method to how the apps are arranged, but one or two of the pages always end up being just a hodgepodge of randomness and discontinuity. And there are always apps doing their best to get promoted to the main page. Facebook, currently, is in the runnings for a promotion right now. We’ll see how he behaves in the days to come.
What do your iPhone pages look like?
Have it your way
Have it Your Way from William Hartz on Vimeo.
Here’s a short video we shot as an aid for @carloscedeno’s teaching for Sunday morning.
The Quest for Tea
The following is actual conversation that I had via Skype with @bethrose. It is epic and awesome and I have decided to share it with you. My hopes are that you find it as epic and awesome as I do, but even in the event that you do not, I still believe it to be epic and awesome.
In either case. Enjoy.
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Bethany Siniscal: “I have tea!”
William M Hartz: “Tea is good!”
Bethany Siniscal: “I knew you would appreciate it.”
William M Hartz: “You should bring me some.”
Bethany Siniscal: “I should.”
Bethany Siniscal: “but I probably won’t.”
William M Hartz: “You are mean!”
Bethany Siniscal: “I am honest though.”
Bethany Siniscal: “Would you rather me lie and be nice? or be honest and mean?”
William M Hartz: “I’d rather you bring me some tea.”
Bethany Siniscal: “I’d rather not.”
William M Hartz: “If I was not so dehydrated from lack of tea, I would cry 1000 tears due to your cold heartedness, Bethany Siniscal.”
Bethany Siniscal: “If I were not so cold hearted I would drive over and give you tea so you could cry those 1000 tears.”
William M Hartz: “But if you brought the tea there would be no need for tears but partying instead. And we would drink the tea. And eat popcorn. For it is popcorn I have, yet tea that I lack. And therein lies the difficulty.”
Bethany Siniscal: “but I have popcorn at my house too. I don’t see the part where I benefit.”
William M Hartz: “You benefit from my good company. Also, I have Lord of the Rings Trivial Pursuit
Bethany Siniscal: “What if I find no joy playing in such foolish games?”
William M Hartz: “Clearly, your benefit far outweighs mine.”
William M Hartz: “I also have Lord of the Rings Monopoly
.”
Bethany Siniscal: “I must confess my Lord of the Rings knowledge is of limit as is my passion for it.”
Bethany Siniscal: “At my house we have taboo and movies such as: Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.”
William M Hartz: “Well then we could watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy, for I also have this (in both theatrical
William M Hartz: “As a third option, I also have Lord of the Rings chess
Bethany Siniscal: “I despise chess.”
William M Hartz: “Well, that is why I have both the Lord of the Rings Trivial Pursuit and Monopoly.”
Bethany Siniscal: “What if I just want nothing to do with Lord of the Rings?”
William M Hartz: “This is folly.”
Thus, the quest for more tea moves on.
*Tea image by Takuya Miyamoto.
**Teapot image by Me.
Help me pick a book
Looking into my library, I have a little queue of books waiting to be read that I have yet to go through, and I’m unsure which to start with. As a result, I bring the decision before you, oh wise blogosphere. You pick the book I should read next from the below list, I shall henceforth go and read it, and upon completion I will then review it here, and it will be glorious. There is a wide arrangement of style and genre of book, I think – ranging from theology to fantasy to classics to zombies. Fun for the whole family, indeed.
Help me, faithful blog readers. You’re my only hope.
I will keep the poll open until 11:59pm on Saturday, June 20, 2009 as that is when my schedule will become freed up enough to actually start a new book.
Thanks for your help!
These are the kinds of conversations I have
Conversations – Episode 00 from William Hartz on Vimeo.
A few weeks ago we setup a conference call between myself, @gabehernandez, and @ashpin to see what the possibilities were for us to do for that evening, for we were bored. Upon the dialing of the call, @gabehernandez answered but @ashpin did not. Wondering why she would ignore a call, even while she had just sent us a text message, we were left to speculate as to the reasons for her phone-silence as well as to form a plan of action for the night.
I began the recording shortly into the conversation.
Art for sale
Click here to see photos from the masquerade
On May 30, 2009, we held a fundraiser for the monthly art coffeehouse we host, called Fusion, in which we try to provide a relaxed, creative atmosphere for people to express themselves via whichever artistic medium they choose. Normally we get about 50 or so people coming through the doors whenever we do it. It’s completely free to the public, and thus, as a result, we need these kinds of fundraising events to make it possible to continue Fusion.
The night was a semiformal, black and white masquerade. The proceeds from the ticket sales, mask sales, and on-site photos all went to fund Fusion for the remainder of 2009. In addition, there was an art gallery of a variety of different mediums and artists on display. Each presentation had different art pieces for sale, of which a portion went to the artist, and another portion went to the fundraiser.
I was one of the featured artists on display during the masquerade, with several pieces of my photography up for sale. Unfortunately, not everything went during the night, and I have a box full of my work ready to go.
And so I present to you, dear blog readers, the remainder of my work set aside to help with the fundraiser. Below are thumbnail images of all the pieces I have left. Each one is available in either 8×10 or 5×7 sizes, and all are framed and ready to be hung on the wall. 8×10 frames are priced at $25 and 5×7’s are $15 (plus shipping costs). Again, a portion of the proceeds will go to help make sure that Fusion is able to function for at least the remainder of 2009. The other portion helps to make sure that I can pay my bills on time. 
If you find something you like and are interested in, please email me at whartz@me.com to setup payment and delivery.
Thanks!
All of these photos, as well as many more are also available for purchase on my photography site, williamhartzphoto.com. Sizes range from 4×6 to really, really big, and all are available as a print, rolled canvas, or mounted canvas. In addition, all photos are printable on different accessories or clothing articles. Finally, they are available for digital download as well. Prices range depending on what you choose.
XBox Project Natal
Microsoft announced their “Project Natal” at the E3 Expo this year. It’s a concept for future products, but if they can pull off what they hope to pull off…..wow.
Basically, it’s a video gaming system, on the Xbox 360
platform that utilizes no controllers other than your own physical body. There is a sensor that has motion capture capabilities, facial recognition, and vocal recognition. It’s kind of taking the concept of the Wii
I don’t really get how it all will work out. Again, it’s still proof-of-concept at this point. I’d really like to see if Microsoft can pull this one off, though.
More to come when there’s more to tell.
Help us design a t-shirt!
We’re working on a t-shirt design for a mission trip that we’re putting together for our youth program during the summer. It’s an inner-city trip (actually all done within our own hometown) so we want it to have an urban feel to it, but we’re also going (at least for now) for a 70’s retro kind of feel. This is what we have so far. What do you think?
Vote in the poll below, and if you want to take part in the discussion on the design, you can do so in the comments below or, even better, on Flickr.
The tough questions
>Trethewey Life Story. from David Tate on Vimeo.
There’s a girl in our youth program who, last week, told us about her friend who had leukemia. During the night, one of our leaders prayed for the girl and her family… for courage, strength, healing, etc.
Well, we found out a day or so ago that the girl with leukemia died on Monday. Sad. And this is when the questions began to come out. Some of the kids who knew the girl were wondering why their friend still died even though we prayed for them and their healing. They could not comprehend why someone close to them would go through something like that nor why “God would let them die.”
Tonight is the first night that we are meeting as a group since it happened, and we know that this something we are going to have to address with everyone. While it’s hard to deal with death under any circumstance, the hastened death of a teenager to such a terrible disease, topped with these deep, theological questions is particularly difficult. At the same time, it provides the opportunity to really show the kids the realities of life and the God who doesn’t promise to take you out of every hard time but who says that he will be with you as you go through them.
I am both looking and not looking forward to the conversation at the same time.
And coincidentally, I found that my friend David, at the same time, has posted the above video on Vimeo, dealing with very similar circumstances.
These are questions we all have to deal with at some point or another in life. They are not easy questions, but they can help build us up and process the grief and confusion, ultimately helping to bring healing and understanding.
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed. Psalm 34:18 (NLT)
Palm Sunday Celebrations
Palm Sunday at Christ Fellowship from William Hartz on Vimeo.
As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away…” The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?” The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”
Matthew 21:1-3,6-11 (NIV)
So Palm Sunday was a month ago. I know, I know… I’m really late in posting this. The church I go to, Christ Fellowship, put together a choir to go with the band for the special service they wanted to have, and they wanted to record the set they performed.
I tried to record the audio direct from the mixer to get the best sound, but I was not the one actually mixing the set that day, and it didn’t come out how I wanted it to. We ended up using the camera audio in the video, even though it’s not optimal. I really need to get the multi-track recording features of our mixer up and running so we can make these things look right.
Anyway, here is the video of the worship set from Palm Sunday in the church. It’s 1/2 hour long, so please be patient if it takes a wee bit of time to load up.