Today in Technicolor......

June 19th from ally simpson on Vimeo.

Thanks to this innovator and his Creative Chaos for the inspiration to do this!
I used this little program to make the clip

Mac or PC ..........

Which are you? I am firmly in the Mac camp but i use PC in work. Our point of sale system is PC based and is provided by these guys. They are PC people and very darn good at it i have to say. It is a bit of a joke now between Iain and myself that i am a MAC user! He actually had the tenacity to ask me if my macBook had wireless capabilities on tuesday morning! The Cheek!



Anyway, i will have to continue using PC in my new role at Faith Mission but what do you use?

H/T Watercooler Wednesday@Ethos

Train adventure Tuesday..........

This morning we hopped on the train at 8am and sped to Belfast. Cherith went shopping and i switched trains to hit our warehouse for a web/online meeting. I may blog about that soon! Anyway i was done at lunch time so i zoomed back into the city and met Cherith for lunch and some shopping! Truth is, she had already shopped herself into the ground and i was tired and didn't see anything i wanted so we didn't hang around too long. We had a fun day anyway and the train ride was a hoot



Cherith will no doubt upload some pics of her purchases here, go take a look!

Disclaimer: 'Train adventure Tuesday' will not be a recurring post, maybe, perhaps!

FM on twitter..........

follow us here and find out about the progress of my new job, our online shop and much much more.

oh, and just in case you do not know what twitter is, go here for a 'twitter in plain english.'

My day off and 'new job'........

Ok, i am off work today BUT i have been finding that when i am off from my day job that i am seldom actually off from work of some kind. Last weekend we had a great couple of days off, switched off the phones, didnt look at emails etc etc. The thing was when i checked back into normality on Tuesday last week, the emails and messages had just piled up and left me with even more to do! Today, i am working on another Open Uni assignment and believe it or not i value the course and the qualification that i will hopefully gain at the end of it so i want to devote proper time to it, not just cram it in hurriedly. 10am is my start time so i thought id blog first! I also have some news which i am being cautious about announcing or dramatizing but it is quite exciting, i think it is anyway. The last year has brought about massive changes in my workplace, changes that are for the best and are constantly improving the business and our customer service. The one thing that has been slow to happen and has been an uphill struggle for those involved has been the website and online shop. To cut a long story short, it is non existent right now and over the past few weeks after some discussions and prayer i have decided to take on the role of managing this project. Once we are up and running i will technically still be managing a Christian Bookshop, but an online one, with less shelves to stock!! The hope is that i can utilize all that the web has to offer as a means to raise our profile and get you guys to buy books from us, Faith Mission are about to go all web2.0!!! As yet there are lots of details to sort out BUT i am very excited and enthusiastic about this challenge. I will still work from ballymena, so i have no major upheaval in that regard. So, as i get more news i will let you know.......................

Buying Books online...............

Ok, i have some questions, some thoughts and some opinions! Those words should be the new "bloggers manifesto" but i doubt that will happen, though if it does please credit me! Today, I am curious about where people buy books online. I asked on twitter and so far amazon keeps being mentioned. I have bought books and music from amazon several times in recent years and have never once been unhappy or dissatisfied with the service. There are so many factors involved in what makes a good website/shop work but what does it for you? What keeps you going back and what impresses you? If you could add something to the site you buy from, what would it be? Just tell me what you think?

p.s i will explain why im asking soon!

What i am doing............

Let me break down my current workload for you:
1: Day Job, 5 days a week, 9 -5.30

2: atiG work recently in progress and completed involves artwork for upcoming events with Leeland, Jaime Jamgochian & Daniel Kirkley , David Phelps, Downhere, Starfield and [CRAVE]: (it is a top secret promo kit for the guys, sorry no images).

3: I am about to start artwork, concept ideas, themes for a local group who are about to start work on their 2nd album. I have been friends with one of the guys for years and whilst its not my cup of tea musically, which he knows, i am honored to get a chance to work on this for them.

4: Open University Degree. I am almost halfway through this years course and one year away from completing my degree. I am supposed to be giving about 10 hours a week to it!!

5: the fun stuff which sometimes seems like work but isn't really, YET. By that i mean, my blog, facebook, twitter and all the other networking, web2.0 aspects of my day. Right now, it has been good to me and there are a few things i cant really tell you about that may happen or may not so stay tuned, i might be about to get a whole lot busier....................

p.s. tomorrow morning i am looking after a book table in Church so, well, thats kinda like work to be honest!

Just so you know.........

yesterday, part 1: Ballymena 8.05 am - Great Victoria St 8.53 am


part 2: Great Victoria Street 9.10 am - Derriaghy 9.30am


part 3: got into Belfast with other staff member
Great Victoria St 5.15 pm - Ballymena 6.10pm


Its weird because i do not remember the tracks being quite so straight!

On my Own with Joyce Meyer.............

This morning i arrived at work and began my usual routine of getting things set up for the day. Mondays are not really busy with customers but i normally have lots to do in order to get the week off to a good start for us. So, as i set up our tills for the day the last thing i needed was a phone call to say that Josephine was sick. She is the longest serving member of staff in the shop, she almost never gets sick or needs a day off but hey, that happens sometimes. I was resigned to the fact that i would spend the day alone in work which is not so nice. As it happens i was able to get another member of part-time staff to cover a couple of hours so i could get lunch and do some banking but for most of the day i was on my own.
I found myself wanting a conversation with every customer by the time the day was half way through. Sometimes that doesn't work, not every person who comes through the door has the time or patience to discuss the weather, the time change or the new range of NIV Bibles that are about to be launched! In fact, starting a conversation with a "King James Only" customer about NIV Bibles is just misguided and foolish but when one is by oneself it is hard to stop talking.
All in all the day was pretty straightforward, typically frustrating of course but without major incident. When Liz left me alone again after lunch, the door opened and a delivery driver dude brought in 6 boxes of new stock so that kept me moving for a couple of hours! It was like Christmas, only nobody has ever bought me a Joyce Meyer book for Christmas, Praise the Lord for sensible Christmas presents!

Find us on Facebook.........

I just set up a group on Facebook for our Church. It wasn't an official commissioned thing and to be honest for about 24 hours after i set it up i was a bit worried that i might have over-stepped the mark a tad. We all know that Church's can be funny about stuff like this don't we? Well if you are not aware of the Church not liking things like Facebook then read this. I was glad to find that within a few hours we had people accepting my invitation to join the group and a small indication that perhaps it could be a good idea for us. Ok, we are not on a par with such facebook favorites as Mark Driscoll and i wont expect the members to reach 5000 too quickly but I also had a conversation on Friday which encouraged me with regards to the group and blogging etc etc. My employers have also began thinking about using some of my thoughts and ideas on facebook and blogging so its been brilliant to dream about how i can make this work for our business and also incorporate our ministry into it. So, no doubt you will hear more about this as we develop the thoughts and ideas but do share your own thoughts................

What do you think about Facebook? Is your Church on facebook or have a blog?

Nobody likes a 'Lousy' T-shirt......

Sometimes a book title just says 'read me' and this is probably one of those times. I had heard about this somewhere so when Trevor mentioned it this week i was eager to have a look. I have read the first few chapters even though i haven't finished the Ken Wilson book yet. Raised by a Jewish mother and abandoned by his professional poker-playing father, Antonucci found Jesus at age twenty after studying the New Testament. When he finally started meeting Christians, he was disappointed to discover a "boring, stale religion." Sound familiar? Well, instantly i have engaged with this book, thats a good start for me! It gets a glowing recommendation from loads of "popular" authors & speakers which is not always a good reason to buy a book but in this case they seem to be warranted. I will come back to this when i get finished with Jesus Brand Spirituality which i have to say, so far i have had several reservations about, but thats another blog post!!

For now check out the Lousy T-Shirt website here

New music..........

This came to the shop last week, i likes what i hears.......



I had not heard of Edison Glass but i love it when this happens. I liked the name, liked the artwork and though i didnt hear a sample i had a hunch!! ha!

Tales from the workplace.....

I shall set the scene for you. I work in a Christian Bookshop, it is called Faith Mission Bookshop and it is not on a busy street in town. This means that if you are a visitor to the shop you will most likely have purposely arrived at our door, you will not be likely to stumble upon us as you browse the shops in town. Even if you missed the shop sign and wandered in you would doubtless hear the music, see the stock on the shelves and realize you were in a Christian Bookshop.
So, i am behind the counter where i sell a customer a book and imagine my surprise when he asks me "so, are you a Christian then?" Perhaps i shouldn't be surprised by this but i couldn't figure out why someone who was not a Christian would want to work in a Christian Bookshop.

Andru's blog

This is andru & his girlfriend. Andru works for me on Friday & Saturday's and is studying photography the rest of the week. He just started a blog here and you will be treated to some great photos i am sure. Go say hi........

E301 The Art of English.........

Its cold and dark and wet and windy outside and i have just spent all morning taking notes & reading for my first assignment of 2008. Its a truck load of work to get through but i feel happier now than i did last week. I picked up the book last week and the first few pages were filled with words and phrases i didn't understand, i was not impressed. I think like any project or work related task you need to set your mind to just getting stuck in and concentrating. Thats what iv done this morning and i feel happier, phew! So, if you want to know what on earth i am blabbing on about, click here

p.s. if this doesn't make my blog into a work of literary genius then nothing ever will!

Favorite place to blog...............

So, where do you blog? Me?
Usually in front of the tv in this position
Read the article from Problogger.net here

The Walking Dead?

I would say in the context of "The Gospel" the image below is a fair representation of "The Walking Dead!" Wouldn't you?
for more great images go here Trust me, its worth the click!

Busy day.......

More later.......