I’m going to come right out and say it…I love Google. Yes. I’m totally sold out for Google. I use Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Search, Google Image Search, and Youtube (owned by Google). Now most of these are well known to people, but on this Tech Wednesday I want to share a few Google features that aren’t as well known.
These are like the red-headed-step-children of the Google world. They’re just as good as the other Google features. They’re just not as widely known. So let me introduce you to the step-kids of Google.
Google Alerts
Google Alerts automatically updates you with an email when something is added to the internet based on the search terms you give it. I mainly use this for two things. One, to see if anything is put up on the net about me (yeah it’s egotistical…but kinda helpful too). Two, to see when someone talks about beer and Christianity (I use this search term for theBeerean.com).
Goog411
I haven’t used this one that much since I got my iPhone (Google Maps on the iPhone replaced it), but before the iPhone it was a staple. It’s basically a free 411 service. I would explain it some more, but the video below explains it a lot better than I could.
Google Reader
I’ve talked about this a little bit in the past, but I felt the need to bring it up again. Google Reader is a feed reading program offered by Google. It allows you to keep up with all of your blogs in one place. Once again I’ll let Google tell you more about it (if you start using Google Reader make sure to add me as your friend glqualls [at] gmail [dot] com and to subscribe to my feed at http://feeds.feedburner.com/gregquallsfeed).
I came across this and had to share it. I’ve never seen a local commercial done so well. It nearly brought tears to my eyes (who am I kidding…I cried).
Ok…I know I’m a day late. But this is worth it. My friend Dave Ortega told me about this one and I’m totally sucked in now. It’s called PicLens. You have to watch the video to understand. I can’t explain it. If you have FireFox, download it and start using it now.
This one was only done with about three hours of sleep. So it doesn’t contain as much humor as the last one, but it will teach how to make on heck of a smoked brisket.
If you’re like me, you have trouble spending time with God (I don’t like to use the words quiet time…it makes me feel like I’m five and in a “time out”). I’ve written in the past on some tips and tricks that I use to do this daily. But just like in a marriage relationship, sometimes you just need to spend more than a few minutes with your spouse. You need to spend the whole day. I call this spending time with God hardcore style.
I learned this concept from Doug Fields a few years ago. He talked about one of his youth saying that they “take God on a date.” Now taking God on a date is a little creepy for me, but I liked the concept. The idea is to just spend some extended time with God and nobody else.
To do this, I normally take an afternoon and spend the entire time reading scripture, praying, walking, reading some more, praying some more, and walking some more. The idea is to have a large chunk of time that is devoted to nothing but growing closer to God. This isn’t time to study your Bible and parse Greek verbs…this is time to just be with your Creator, Savior, and Sustainer.
The following are 26 quick tips that can help you with your hardcore time with God.
Get out of your house. There are to many distractions there. To many things to play with.
Get away from people.
Go to a park or go hiking. Go be in His creation.
Wear comfortable clothing.
Turn off everything…phone, pager, radio, ipod, laptop, ect. If it has an on/off, make it off.
Look for God in everything and then give Him the glory.
Take your Bible (ESV ), a pen, and something to write on.
Anytime you think about something that you need to do when you get home, write it down and forget about it. This will allow you to focus on your time with God. (this is a good practice in general)
Take a list of prayer requests and things/people you want to pray for.
This weeks new technology that I cam across is called Evernote. I heard about this through twitter and had to check it out. First off I have to say this thing is pretty cool in the sense that it works on PC and Mac and has a web side to it too (and they all sync with each other). Unfortunately, the Mac software only works on Leopard (I still have Tiger).
The idea behind Evernote is to be a place where you can store all the information that you come across in day and easily pull it back up through search features and tags later down the road. There are other things out there that can do this, but the main thing that wowed me was the fact it can search text in pictures (even handwriting).
I’ve just started using it (and only the web side since I don’t have Leopard), but I’m liking it so far. For a person like me that ingests copious amounts of information every day, this is great. I’m pretty good at remembering things, but this will make things easier.
I’ve included the video from their site below. I have 9 invites left. If anyone is interested, send me an email through my contact page.
I regret to tell everyone that this will be the last Beer Tip of the Day on GregQualls.com. But don’t worry. I have something special in the works that I’ll reveal to everyone in a week or so. Until then enjoy this final BTotD.
Here is the reality. Most beers are served too cold and this is a bad thing. I remember growing up and seeing signs at the local bars that said, “Coldest beer in town.” The only problem with this is that most beers aren’t meant to be served at super frigged levels. By drinking your beer extremely cold, it does two things.
It doesn’t allow the beer to “open up” and reveal all of it’s wonderful aromas.
It numbs your tastes buds and inhibits you from being able to experience the full flavor of the beer.
Now certain beer companies serve their beers at extremely low temperatures to disguise the real taste of the beer (which would be categorized as disgusting). I see this as one of Big Business’ greatest conspiracies to dupe the American beer drinker. They want you to think that you need to drink beer really cold. Then they can sell you their crap and have you think that it is good. To use a friends analogy, “It’s like the Wal-Mart greeter. They’re there to make you feel happy about all the crap you’re about to buy.”
Well I’m sorry…I’m not happy.
So what temperature should you drink your beer at? That is a wonderful question, and I’m glad you asked. Each style of beer actually has a different temperature. The general rule is to drink it at the same temperature that it was fermented at. If you’re like me, you’re not going to go out and research to see what temperature your beer was fermented at. So I’ve included a handy chart from herestobeer.com that will give you an idea of what temperature your beer should be served.
So here is your homework for this week. Get a beer with which you are familiar with the flavor. Now take your time drinking it and take note of how the flavor and smell changes as the temperature of the beer changes.
I came across this video and had to share. I’ve been blogging for a few years now, and I must say that I really enjoy it. It allows me a place to share whats happening in my life and the things that I think or come across (hence this post). If you haven’t thought I about doing a blog, I would recommend it. If you have a blog and want to share, leave a link in the comments. I’ll probably post in a few days some tips for those that want to start their own blog. Until then watch the video.
Shannon and I came across Dave Ramsey a few years ago when we were starting to go down a slippery slope financially. Dave Ramsey changed our lives. Since then we have saved a small emergency fund, gotten out of debt (I know it’s hard to believe…but we don’t have car payments), and been able to help others do the same. We love to buy his book and give it out to whoever we can. The following is a short video that explain Dave’s principles. Check it out and then check him out.
), a pen, and something to write on.
