Shoutlouder

bye bye mac book pro… hello mac book pro

// April 17th, 2009 // No Comments » // General

So a really annoying thing happened to me a couple of weeks ago – my mac book pro got nicked! I won’t call it my ‘laptop’ as mac’s are WAY above such a common designation as ‘laptops’ but nonetheless it dissapeared thanks to the coinciding of a passing thief and a moment of opportunity.

Hence the reason I’ve been quiet on the blogging for the last couple of weeks. Plus on top of all that we’ve had Easter, the Big Getaway and plenty of design work to keep me busy as usual.

Thankfully, (as I force myself to write this on the PC) tomorrow (hopefully) a courier will drop a brand new Mac Book Pro off at my house and the journey may continue. It’s at this moment in this post I also have to Praise Almighty God and probably show some appreciation to Steve Jobs as well for Time Machine (the clever Mac backup facility) which has a complete record of my hard drive just waiting to be reinstalled onto the new Mac Book.

So my dear wife is looking forward to seeing her husband dissapear into the office as I endeavour to work out how to reinstall all the rubbish I’d put on the last mac back onto the new one. Which means hopefully I’ll be typing the next post out on something that doesn’t resemble a spare part from the tardis or makes a sound like an aeroplane landing whilst it attempts to keep itself cool.

feeling impossibly stupid!

// April 3rd, 2009 // No Comments » // General

I just did one of the most stupidest things in the world… allowed my laptop to get stolen! Somewhere now wandering round the city of Leeds is a very happy thief who is enjoying being in possession of my beloved Mac Book Pro whilst I’m resigned to rebooting my old tower PC which sounds like Heathrow airport!

It’s also given me a real insight into the threat of Identity Theft with the thought that somewhere someone has access to all my emails etc. Thankfully I’ve been able to change passwords for most things online so that any active cookies etc will be useless but having something stolen still gives you a certain feeling of being violated in someway!

Thankfully it’s only a laptop! They missed the car keys sat next to it and the wallet in my bag as they were too focused on a grab and run… so it could have been worse! But I guess from now on I’ll be a lot more careful. Also thankfully I have a good old Mac Time Machine backup which will restore pretty much everything except for the last couple of days to a new Mac Book Pro which I am hoping the insurance company will be kind enough to supply me with. Till then… it’s the old PC! Blurgh….

breaking the blog break

// February 21st, 2009 // No Comments » // General

Apologises for the blog break… building up to a new season’s been busy so I’m hoping to freshen up my blog in the next couple of weeks and give it a little relaunch.

We’re just a week away from launching our Sunday morning services in our new premises so I’m busily trying to keep all the renovations and essentials together whilst at the same time produce a whole bunch of new promotional material for various aspects of church life in time for our Women’s conference next week – She is Fabulous. I really do feel like I’ve been doing 5 jobs on the trot this week!

But being busy is what I do well – it doesn’t phase me – bizarrely I seem to relish it. After all it’s a lot better than doing nothing! And more interesting.

Anyhow tomorrow will be a mix of painting, graphic design and sermon preparation in time for the final service at the Hilton hotel at 11am Sunday. Then we’re into the home straight for the big launch on the 1st March! If you’re in the Leeds area and looking for a church – come and join in the fun!

Merry Christmas

// December 24th, 2008 // No Comments » // General

To everyone who’s been reading in 2008 – Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I’m hoping to launch a new look to my blog in January and get some great content rolling throughout 2009 – so keep your eyes on your Feed and I’ll see you in the New year! Bless ya!

how holy is your church logo?

// October 23rd, 2008 // 5 Comments » // Blogging, General

This September was a momentous month for Graphic Design at Hope City Church as we actually launched a new logo that everyone – including Pastor Dave – really liked! Which is why when I read this post on “How to create the holiest logo possible”, I fell off my chair and laughed a lot with the worried thought that I may end up in hospital AGAIN!

So how holy is your church logo?

And has anyone worked out what the random circles are behind the wording on our new logo… in case you were still wondering – it’s not a crown of thorns – it’s actually 3 overlapping coffee cup stains! Three stains in one!!!

Enjoy the post!

finishing what you started

// September 24th, 2008 // 2 Comments » // General, Self-Development

I started this year with a whole bunch of goals and stuff I wanted to finally nail this year. Just personal growth markers that I really wanted to move forward in – stuff I knew wouldn’t be easy but would take some will power and discipline to sort out.

One of those areas was my weight. For the past decade it seems like I’ve added a couple of pounds a month as I’ve slowly risen from about 13stone when I met Gosia to over 18stone… Most people say I don’t look overweight cause I “carry it well..” but I really hate that thought. I don’t want to be carrying anything!

Anyhow – after seeing a couple of friends lose huge amounts of weight on the Cambridge Diet I’ve decided to put myself through it. Basically it consists of a selection of Soups / Shakes and Porridge that provide all your RDA nutrients and vitamins and some carbohydrate and protein – but effectively you only get 550 calories a day and before long your body starts to eat up the reserves. Plus on top of it all you need to drink 2.5 litres of water a day.

Well this is Day 2 of however many I need to do it for… (probably 2 months)… and it’s certainly a case for some serious will power! Especially when my office is a couple of doors away from the Conferencing Kitchen at the Sheffield Megacentre… with its trays of Conference Buffet food and… the smell… oh the smell…

The thing is it’ all about determination – I’ve determined to lose weight and now this is the final act. When I stood on the weighing scales with my ‘diet counsellor’ (oh yes – I have a diet counsellor) and I saw it flash up 18 Stone 11 Pounds… I thought flip! I really need to do this. Discipline is the fruit of determination. If discipline is bashed into you then you’re likely to rebel from it at some point. But if YOU can determine to do something then you will most likely accomplish it.

If you’re waiting for someone to show you how, sort you out, make you do what is needed etc. etc. then you’re likely to be sitting around doing nothing for quite some time. Even a personal trainer at the Gym will only help you when you DETERMINE to turn up for the sessions on a regular basis.

So I’ve determined to lose weight and that’s what’s stopping me right now from raiding the fridge and snaffling some crisps.

It’s certainly going to be an interesting few weeks – but hopefully you should see me shrink before your very eyes!