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At the CNMC

KansasCity

This weekend I’m at the Catholic New Media Conference in Kansas City, KS, as part of my work as Creative Director of Pilot New Media in the Archdiocese of Boston. We hosted the conference at the Pastoral Center in Braintree last year and it was such a great opportunity to connect with people in the same field that both I and my boss Scot Landry came out for this one too.

We’re at the Savior Pastoral Center of the Archdiocese of Kansas City. In addition to their archdiocesan offices, this former minor seminary also has a retreat center, which is a great convenience and they’re very nice rooms to boot.

I got in late last night. My flight out of Boston was delayed due to weather and after arriving in Kansas City, MO, across the river, I drove her in my rental car and was finally in my room by about 11:30pm local time. I was still keyed up from travel so didn’t get to bed about 2:30am, which would be worse if I wasn’t regularly getting such little sleep from our children waking me up in the night.

The program hasn’t started yet. Today is a series of practical workshops on new media in parishes and ministries. I think I’ll find inspiration and ideas for my own work with parishes and ministries back home. That all starts at 1pm.

Tomorrow is the main conference with a series of keynote speakers and breakout sessions.

I’ve already had a chance for some great conversation with folks here over a long breakfast after Mass this morning. To me, that’s the best part of these gatherings.

If you’d like to follow along, you can follow the hashtag #cnmc11 on Twitter. (Tweetchat is a great tool for that.) You can also see live streaming of some of the presentations at the SQPN site. Photos will be posted to the CNMC11 Flickr group. And of course, check the usual social networks: Facebook and Google+.

I hope to offer updates here as I can, but I’ll be posting at least on the social networks.

Photo by jennywetz – http://flic.kr/p/aqkv3K

Review: Belkin Bluetooth Keyboard Folio for iPad 2

The Belkin Bluetooth Keyboard Folio for Apple iPad 2
is a useful addition to my repertoire of iPad accessories. If you have the need to type more than a handful of words on occasion, then a Bluetooth keyboard should be something you either have or are considering. But do you really want to lug along another item with your iPad. This case makes it easier.

I used to carry my Apple Bluetooth keyboard in a special case of its own, but it was bullky and I had to remember to turn off Bluetooth on my iPad or the jostling of the keyboard in my bag would turn the iPad on and kill the battery.

As for the Belkin case, on the plus side, the keyboard has an on/off switch to save its battery when you’re not using it and to prevent the problem I mention above. It also comes with a standard USB mini port and cable for recharging, which is better than having to fiddle with AA batteries. The case also allows the positioning of the iPad at several angles, although not at the extreme angles you see in other cases/stands. I’ve used the keyboard case for about a month now now and it’s worked well and is comfortable. Battery life has been very good as well. I just now had to plug it in for a recharge for the first time. Also the way the keyboard folds up out of the way when not in use is convenient.

On the other hand, the keyboard is a bit cramped. The keys are a bit smaller and closer together than a full-size keyboard so my typo rate is higher. The case is limited to displaying the iPad in landscape mode, unlike the Targus Versavu Keyboard and Case for iPad 2 which allows rotation of the iPad to portrait mode. I’d use that sometimes if I could. As you’d expect the case adds a lot of bulk to the sleek, svelte iPad, but I’m not sure that’s unavoidable with an integrated keyboard. With a separate keyboard, I was at least able to leave it behind when I wasn’t using it.

Unfortunately, the Belkin case’s cover doesn’t incorporate Apple’s Smart Cover magnets so it doesn’t turn the iPad on or off as you open or close it. That wouldn’t be so bad, but I find the ports and buttons sometimes difficult to access. Plugging in the dock connector cable requires a very deliberate effort, for example. I’m not sure why all the extra fabric hanging out around the edges is necessary except perhaps for ease of manufacture. I find it annoying. Also, unlike the Smart Cover, the Belkin’s cover doesn’t do anything for wiping skins oils or fingerprints off the screen. I never realized how much the Smart Cover does clean until I what happens when it isn’t there.

The bottom line: The Belkin iPad 2 keyboard case is a decent product, but given it’s $100 price and the fact that the Targus Versavu keyboard case is less expensive, yet has fewer of the Belkin’s limitations in a better-looking package, I’d spend my money on the Targus. But since I have the Belkin now, I’m going to keep using it and it will serve me just fine.

Disclosure: I received the Belkin iPad 2 case as part of Amazon.com’s Vine program, in which certain customers receive free products in exchange for reviews posted on the site. While I get to keep the products I review, there is no expectation or pressure given to make a positive review of any product. All opinions are my own and completely unbiased by external factors. Links in this post are Amazon affiliate links. I will receive a small percentage of purchases made as a result of clicking on one of them.

Bush’s Shanksville Address

I may not have agreed with many of President George W. Bush’s policies in his eight years in office (although compared to the current occupant of the office, Bush and I have the same mind), but his strength as president was how he handled 9/11 and its aftermath. Each speech, each impromptu remarks, each moment with those affected by the events was always pitch perfect, never merely weepy and emotional, but always evoking the best of America.

The president’s speech in Shanksville, Pa., on Saturday at the Flight 93 memorial are another example of that.

Rediscovering conversation in our marriage

Conversation

As Melanie and I drove 2 hours each way to my mom and sister’s house in Maine, we rediscovered something about our relationship. We really have great conversations in the car. (Today, we talked about the coming development of theology concerning the body-soul hybrid of personhood as well as the development of a theology of the single state in life; the relative merits of Google+ and Facebook and the challenges facing each; a book Melanie is reading of correspondence in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s, between a New York TV writer and an antiquarian bookshop in London, which spawned a conversation about Internet retailing versus personalized care from small local businesses; and so on.)

Even from our very first date, when we sat in my car in front of her house for hours after I brought her home, we knew that the best part of our relationship was our intellectual and spiritual compatibility.

But we also realized today how rare these conversations have become. Every night, after finally getting all the kids in bed and cleaning up dinner and the kids’ clutter, we want nothing more than to plop down in front of the TV or the computer for an hour or two before hauling ourselves off to bed. Often, we just can’t muster the energy for deep conversation.

However, we recognize that we have to maintain that aspect of our relationship if we’re going to remain strong, because it’s such a vital part of who we are together. So more long car trips are in order (my mom will be pleased), but we are also going to try to get at least a monthly date night for the two of us (with the aid of the kids and my sister-in-law who would babysit).

We think it will add a spark back to our relationship that 4 kids in 6 years has pushed to the side somewhat. I’m looking forward to it.

Photo by kevindooley – http://flic.kr/p/9qSeyk

Top 10 movies I won’t watch on my flight to Madrid

I’m thinking about what movies to put on my iPad for my transatlantic flight today and here’s my top 10 list of movies I won’t be watching:

1. Airport (1975, 1977, etc)
2. The Langoliers
3. Alive
4. The pilot episode of Lost
5. Die Harder
6. United 93
7. Twilight Zone: The Movie
8. Castaway
9. Airplane

And of course, at the top of the list:
10. Snakes on a Plane

What else would you recommend?

Posted via email from Bettnetlog

The Butterfly Place

As I’m on vacation this week, we decided to take the kids on a day trip yesterday. As few weeks ago, the Get My Perks website, a Groupon clone, offered a deal for The Butterfly Place, a small family-run butterfly house about an hour away in Westford, MA.

The kids love butterflies, especially Isabella, and she can identify many of the species by name. For her birthday, she received a butterfly-raising kit, which we used to raise some Painted Lady butterflies and then release them. I even made up a bedtime story for her when she was toddler called “Fly away, butterfly.”

So you imagine how entranced she was when we entered the butterfly house and she saw hundreds of butterflies of all shapes and colors and sizes flying around her. It’s not a large building at all, a few hundred square feet, and it contains dozens of butterfly friendly plants strewn among stone paths. And yet it was quite magical at times. Some of the butterflies would flit past your face while others would land just inches away on leaves and flowers.

I even seemed to attract more than my fair share with butterflies spontaneously landing on my hat and arms and legs with no prompting by me. I later realized that as a diabetic there’s a larger than normal amount of sugar in my sweat and that must have been what attracted them.

It doesn’t take long to walk through, but it’s nice to just stand or sit in one place and be entranced by the beautiful, flitting things.

With the Get My Perks deal, we paid $20 for two adults and two kids (three and over), plus an identification guide to the butterflies. Without it, the cost would have been $40, which might have been enough to dissuade us from going, but I’m glad it didn’t. The pure joy on the kids’ faces would have been worth the trip and cost at that price.

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Bella’s first job

Piggy Bank

Isabella received a nice, crisp dollar bill for her birthday back in May, which was very exciting for her as it was her first money of her own. She spent a lot of time thinking about how she could spend it, and eventually she did spend it at Target… on a gift for her younger brother, Benedict.

This is very admirable and praiseworthy. (She has been emulating a book my mom gave her about doing small kindnesses for others.) But after she spent it, she was sad to realize she had no more money, which while being an important lesson, is very hard for a little girl who now must wait months until Christmas or even longer to her birthday to replenish her store.

So I decided to teach her about working for pay. I’m not a big believer in allowances, as it’s often money for doing what the children should already be doing by contributing to the household as they can. But I do want to teach Bella that if she does something above and beyond what she’s expected to do, she can receive remuneration.

Now, I don’t want to discourage generosity of spirit, so we’ve made clear that she doesn’t get paid for doing good deeds, but we do encourage it. Instead, we will agree on the task and the pay in advance and she will only be paid upon completion. She can ask us if we have jobs for her to do, but if we don’t (because this could get quickly out of hand), she’ll just have to wait until we do.

Obviously, this will need refinement as we go along. Today I offered the princely sum of $1 (the usual pay for most jobs is a quarter) to pick up all the toys and other items laying about in the yard so I could mow. I hate doing this backbreaking work so it was worth it to me. Bella only got so far, however, before she declared herself too hot and tired to continue. So rather than pay her nothing, I decided she ‘d done half the job and she got paid half, which she was happy with.

I look forward to continuing the economics education of the kids with a lesson on saving and tithing and seeing where we can go with this.

Photo by SimonAlparaz – http://flic.kr/p/7L6421

Red Sox game

On a cool summer evening in late July, leaders and pilgrims preparing to travel to World Youth Day in Madrid in August were treated to a special night: a Boston Red Sox game against the Kansas City Royals seen from the amazing right-field rooftop terrace. In a space set aside just for the Archdiocese of Boston group. A thunderstorm sickly passed through and left a beautiful sunset and a perfect setting for America’s favorite pastime. The hometown team and their opponents engaged in a hitter’s carnival, the score swinging back and forth to the delight of the crowd.

Meanwhile, our group mingled in our own area, laughing and talking, re-connecting with old friends and getting to know new ones, anticipating the hard work and joy we are about to receive on our journey.

It was a beautiful night. Please enjoy these photos I took last night as well using my iPhone on a variety of apps: Camera+, Pro HDR, Photosynth, and Autostitch. Each app gave me a slightly different tool for the varying conditions. I was able to synchronize the photos to my Dropbox account using the Photosync app and then uploaded them to Posterous, which posted them on my miniblog at Bettnetlog.com and re-posted them to Bettnet.com, Facebook, and Twitter. I started composing this text on my iPad using the Elements app, which syncs to my Dropbox and I finished writing it in TextMate on my Mac in the Markdown markup code. The synchronizing between the iPhone and iPad were accomplished via WiFi over a Verizon MiFi mobile router, which allows WiFi-enabled gadgets to connect over the Internet.

All of this technology was used as a test for some of the work we’ll be doing in Madrid, posting real-time updates from the pilgrimage to our blog site at WYDMadridBoston.com. It worked pretty well. Now to see it in action in Spain.