Granger’s Senior Pastor Mark Beeson is quoted in a front page article from the LA Times today. The article addresses the changing methods churches are using to reach our culture in the digital age. The article also includes references to Mark Batterson at National Community Church and Craig Groeschel at LifeChurch.tv.
I love my wife for so many reasons, but today…well, let’s just say she’s gone over the top. We spent the morning setting up her new Gmail account and a Google calendar. Now we can schedule our next rendezvous without even talking to each other. I love that!
Then, to top it all off, she indicated that’s she’s open to a computer for the kitchen. She wants to be connected 24/7. What can I say? My wife really knows how to express her love to me. I’m still whipped.
By the way, I also tested out Gmail Mobile today. I’m loving that. Now I’m only a push of a button away on my new RAZR from all my email and Google contacts. It makes me wonder if Outlook will improve in the next release so that I’ll have mobile capabilities. If not, I’m really tempted to start using Google for work stuff. Don’t tell Jason I said that.
Just to follow up on my post from yesterday evening, Maxtor called today. They’ve decided to refund me for the full amount of the hard drive. I’m grateful for their decision to change their position from yesterday. My outlook on Maxtor has improved today. Thank you, as well, to everyone that commented and provided advice on how I can address my backup needs. I appreciate your help.
I just got off the phone with Maxtor for at least the sixth time. Honestly, I’ve lost count of all the calls I’ve had to make. In February, I purchased their OneTouch II drive. For the record, you don’t want to purchase this drive. It’s been nothing but problems. The original hard drive didn’t work using the software they shipped with the drive. I had to call tech support and they made me install an older version of the software to run the backups. Of course, the older version eliminated the "one touch" feature which was one of the reasons I purchased the drive.
With that modification the backups worked for a while, but then my computer stopped recognizing the drive. After another tech call, they finally determined that the drive was bad and I needed a replacement.
After receiving the replacement drive, I again had to connect with tech support to try to get the hard drive to work on my system. (I have a Dell system that’s only about a year old by the way. It’s not like I’m trying to make it work on some old, no-name computer system.) Yesterday, I finally thought we were up and running. The test backup actually worked. But, this morning, I woke up to find that the scheduled backup failed. And, the computer stopped recognizing the drive…just like the first drive.
I called Maxtor back again this evening for tech support. They had me change the power management settings on my computer, plug the drive into a wall outlet instead of my surge protector and reboot the computer and the drive. The computer still doesn’t recognize the drive. And, after three months, I still don’t have backups. (Having thought I lost all my pictures of our daughter a few months ago, the thought of no backups really freaks me out.)
The Maxtor tech support people asked me to email them system files from my computer to trouble-shoot the issue. Rather than continuing to deal with this mess, I asked if they would just refund me the money if I shipped them back their two hard drives that don’t work on my Dell computer. They wouldn’t do that. So, I’m stuck with no backups and two Maxtor hard drives that don’t work on my system.
Frankly, I’m tired of messing with it. I’ve already invested too much time in this. It’s looking like I’m going to have to eat the $212 I paid for the drive and go purchase another hard drive. I don’t see why Maxtor is making this my problem. It seems like if their hard drive doesn’t work on my newer Dell computer running the most recent version of XP, the fact that their hard drive doesn’t work is actually their problem not mine.
Anyone had a better experience with an external hard drive from another company that I should check out? Looks like I need to go shopping again.
Curious to know how others are reading my blog? I’m getting about 200 unique visitors per day directly to the site. Then there are about 450 people subscribing through feed readers and aggregators. Here’s how people are subscribing:
Are you seeing similar percentages on your blogs?
Jason has pictures of the new video screens at Granger. Looks like he also included a link to a pirated video showing the screens in action. I can’t describe in words how much the new system is adding to the weekend experience. We live in a visual world, and this new system is dramatically impacting our ability to communicate our message to our culture.
Tim sent me a link to an incredible article from CIO Insight that talks about the use of technology in megachurches. Here are some of the organizations and people featured in the article:
By the way, we’re about ready to make another big technology leap at Granger. I can’t wait to tell you more about that in the coming weeks.
Ignore this post if you’re not a techie/blogger-type…
Anyone had any problems with Technorati not updating correctly? My Technorati profile is indicating my site hasn’t been updated in 10 days, even though Technorati has been pinged numerous times. The tags aren’t working correctly either. I sent a tech support request a few days ago–then an email message yesterday. We’ll try a blog post and see if someone can help out.
(By the way, I find it funny that the spell-check in Typepad doesn’t recognize the word "blogger.")
Here are the recent developments in my encounter with Hewlett Packard:
Of course, part of me thinks, why should it take a couple of blog posts including some pictures of my adorable family in order to get HP to respond? The reality is that my poor customer service experience goes back to a decision HP made a couple of years ago to offshore their call center to India. They’re getting cheap tech labor, but at what cost?
If you’re playing along at home, I think these are just a few lessons out of my recent experience with HP that have application in any business or ministry:
In the mean time, here’s Mr. FedEx Guy showing up with my replacement printer.
As an update to the post regarding my junkie HP printer, the replacement that was supposed to have arrived yesterday morning through an overnight delivery still hasn’t shown up. The good news, though, is that my family has helped me find some new uses for the all-in-one printer. Because of a hardware failure that can’t be repaired, the machine can no longer print, copy or scan. That’s no problem, though, because the kids figured out a few new ways we can continue to use the Hewlett Packard PSC 2175. For example…
Abby started using the HP printer as a step stool to help in the kitchen.
Kayla found that she could use the HP printer as a side table on which she could set her beverage.
Elisabeth Shue…I mean my wife, Emily…figured out that the HP printer was just the right height for a changing table for Brooke.
Jacob had the most fun with the HP Printer. He took it outside and began using it as a bike ramp.
And, then as the evening concluded, we all enjoyed a candlelit dinner with the HP Printer as our centerpiece on the dining room table.
There are probably many more uses for an HP PSC 2175. In fact, maybe you’ve used your junkie HP technology for similar uses in the past. If so, don’t hesitate to send me your pictures. At this rate, I’m not expecting to receive my replacement printer any time soon, so we have plenty of time to continue to mock the junkie customer service response from Hewlett Packard.
Oh, one more thing, have a "Fun Friday!"
