Sermon & MP: New Recorder

Well after a few weeks of waiting for my birthday present to arrive back from the RMA department, it is here and works!

I have not named them properly but I believe that you may be more happy with the quality. As the weeks progress I hope to set it up so that the sound improves even further.

Sermon for Epiphany 4, year B: VOICE000.MP3

NEW FEATURE:
Today's Morning Prayer, in the Church of the Good Shepherd, Florenceville, on the Commemoration Day of Charles I: VOICE001.MP3

Bulletin: 4th Sunday After Epiphany

Sorry I have been very busy and did not post last week's sermon or bulletin. Here is today's bulletin, later to be followed by the sermon at the Parish Service: Glassville 11am.
Epiph4BJan292006.pdf

Happy Rabbie Burns Day

Today is the feast day of not only the Confession of St. Peter, but also of the Scottish poet Robbie Burns, who died at age 37, in 1796.

Here is what Wikipedia has to say:

Robert Burns (January 25, 1759 – July 21, 1796) was a pioneer of the Romantic movement and after his death became an important source of inspiration to the founders of both liberalism and socialism. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is the best known of the poets who have written in the Scots language, although much of his writing is also in English and in a "light" Scots dialect which would have been accessible to a wider audience than simply Scottish people. At various times in his career, he wrote in English, and in these pieces, his political or civil commentary is often at its most blunt. A cultural icon in Scotland and among Scots who have relocated to other parts of the world (the Scottish diaspora), his celebration became almost a national charismatic cult during periods of the 19th and 20th centuries, and his influence has long been an influence on Scottish literature.

Burns also collected folk songs from across Scotland, often revising or adapting them. His poem (and song) Auld Lang Syne is often sung at Hogmanay (New Year), and Scots Wha Hae served for a long time as an unofficial national anthem of the country. Other poems and songs of Burns that remain well known today across the world include A Red, Red Rose, A Man's A Man for A' That, To a Louse, and To a Mouse.

Burns' Night, effectively a second national day, is celebrated on 25 January with Burns' Suppers around the world, and is still more widely observed than the official national day, Saint Andrew's Day, or the new North American celebration Tartan Day.

SO...

New Years eve would'nt be the same without Burns. Tonight, due to the love of my parents, we will have a Burns supper with the boys, Haggis and all. To learn more about a Burn's Supper click on this link.

Prayers For Cathy Et Al

My blog friends in Christ. I ask imediate and persistent prayers for a young woman, a sister to one of our blog friends, who has had serious contractions and is only 23 weeks with twins.

She's in the hospital and things are at a stop currently, but again prayers are needed. Not only for the twins and the young woman, but also for her husband and 3 young children, anxiety alone is enough!

Remember the Lord said "do not worry", let us trust in our compassionate Lord.

Happy Anniversary PastorPainter.Com

Last Year I posted this:

Monday, January 17, 2005
New Beginnings
Well after a year of thinking about it I finally said, "I'm going to do this. I'm going to update my site" Well I updated my website just a few days ago, and was so pleased with myself (I still keep looking at it, not believing that it's mine) that adding a blog was a logical 21st C. thing to do.

d+

Those "New Beginnings" have solicited over 8000 views and fairly regular posts on all sorts of topics. Keep participating and making comments and remember, if you are new to the site, and shy, feel free to comment as anonymous.

Winter-Spring Calendar 2006 v.3

Many would like to know what is going on in the parish. Before you is the calendar that parishioners received just before Christmas (v.3 has a few slight modifications to mid-week and updated diocesan events and locations). It's in a PDF: WWPA-Calendar%20Winter-Sping3%202005.pdf

The php calendar on the side of this website was not updated enough, and so I have decided to link it directly to the pdf until another solution arises. Go ahead and try it ;)

Modern Phone: Internet Telephony!

If you really need to take that next tech step let me introduce you to "Skype".

Yes, you can talk for free over the internet and with very good quality sound. It has video as well as conference call options. And the best element is for a few bucks you can call phone lines! It is cheaper than the phone company. Another option is Vonage who do advertise, a crummy commercial, on TV. A new service which is open source and thus free is Asterisk. Here's an expalination on how to install the later: Systm.

BUT... Check out Skype, I think you might be pleased.

Optimus Keyboard

This is a nice gadget! A keyboard with an LED screen on each key, check the Optimus Keyboard out.

A Good Run Ends

... indeed it has as after well over 6 month, since being in the parish, I have never forgot to record my sermons. Today, amid the winter snow, well actually the winter freezing rain, I forgot in my haste to grab either recorder. So I apologize, especially today as I really had a good sermon prepared and so few could come out :-p

Blessings to you all, hopefully all with be remembered for next week.

Bulletin: 2nd Sunday After Epiphany

Epiph2BJan15%202006.pdf

I hope we can have service in Glassville and maybe Florenceville as icy conditions could mean cancellation. Stay tuned.

Funny Idea

Here's a funny idea for a movie.

Reality?

Can you tell which of these is real and which is an Xbox 360 game? Screen Shots

DOA

Dead On Arrival; that was my so called birthday present. That podcasting unit from e-bay, an iRiver MP3 player, which I had mentioned in previous posts below, was deader than a door nail when it arrived by post yesterday.

Now it's a waiting game to see if the e-bay seller will honour a 72 hour return policy. Unfortunately the unit cost $54 US (a deal) but shipping was $24 US!!! The later is lost. Now it's another $20-30 CND down and another $24 US back... if he sends a new unit. That's bad enough, but at the boarder they again hit you for $8.50 GST; the end of the day $17 CND: I'm just too mad to do the math.

Today's Services: Baptism of Our Lord

Here is the bulletin: BaptismofJesusBJan%2082006.pdf

Here is a sermon, given in Glassville at 9:00 am, but recorded with different equipment. The first is the smaller file from my Palm T3 which everyone is used to:
BaptofJJan806Gl-t3.wav

The second is recorded with Andrew's MPIO, mp3 player. It is recorded at 128Mbps as opposed to the 32Mbps with the old recorder. It's also a whopping 10 megs big. So don't complain about download time (actually if someone with dialup could tell me how long it took to get one vs the other that would be a great help).
BaptofJJan806Gl.MP3

My guess is that it should take a dialup user approximately 20 mins to get my old T3 sermons and now it may take a little over an hour. Highspeed users have no problems with the larger files.

When my new recorder comes along, I will try and set the Megabytes per second lower. My whole concern is to get the best quality sound with the smallest file.

Bear With :-)

Pippa has something to Tell

Pippa told Nanny Painter that it was my birthday.

A few days ago at Bible Study, Pippa must have told others... a wonderful surprise.

BooBoos

Andrew and I have a pneumonia bug and on medication. Yes, again. Today, with us both hacking away, Liam proclaimed that he wished to go sledding. No problem? Wrong! Pippa's day care called, Liam smashed into a fence and made it over to seek help. He now has 4 stitches over his right eye.

New Year for the Blog

As most people review their past and plan for the future so do I with this blog.

Over the past year I have tried to provide information to old and new parishioners, friends and family, and even wider Anglican communities. It has been both a diary and a journal for issues Anglican, and you have even seen the kids, and dogs, grow this year, experiencing just a smattering of the highs and lows of ministry.

The most interesting part of this blog for myself has been the publishing of my weekly sermons and bulletins. It has provided a grounding for those who have no homilies in their own worship communities, for those who enjoy my particular style and for those who are interested in what I'm saying each week. Some may even listen just to pick up something missed.

Unfortunately the sound quality on my Palm T3 is quite inferiour, and as I have said in the past it makes me sound like a wineo. All jokes aside, it slurs the speech and often has sound pops. What I have done this year is to address my own concern and have bought a very inexpensive but solid choice for portable voice recording (a new iRiver 700 series... it's been on the market for two years). The key for good sound is a good external mic and a small dedicated "line in" recorder.

So look forward to better sound in a few weeks. My master plan is to get together with a certain cleric and podcast on Anglican issues. It should not be controversial but thought provoking, it may even have some humour, but I need to hash out the idea: stay tuned. Either way, you'll be hearing me soon (you may not want to as I have this darn sinus cold again!!!)

The most disappointing issue for the blog this year has been the loss of my $900 Olympus 5050 5.1 megapixel camera. It broke during ACPO in May and I have not been able to dedicate the funds to get it back from the shop... $400! The problem has been the quality of the pictures are much poorer with this little Canon A400 than the other camera with it's extremely fine optics. The debate in the house has been why pay $400 on a camera that has lost value over the past two years. You can almost buy the same machine for a hundred more. Hopefully this year I may improve the camera, which is actually Cameron's. You may think the pictures have been fine but I notice how dark they are and how the focus and zoom prevent me from doing the things I use to be able to do and which I enjoy.

That may be the trick to this blog, I enjoy doing it. My hope is that you get to catch up on what is going on in our lives, but more importantly to see smatterings of the life of an ordinary priest and his family.

As many know I remain diligent in my discression as to what to post and how to present a particular issue. I will continue using a very familiar and relaxed style. Finally I hope to offer a balanced understanding of this Anglican Church in a time of great polemic. Ultimately it is my personal blog and is not parish or diocesan sponsored. I'll post what I believe is entertaining and important and take the comments that come, both the good and the critical.

I invite you to make comment and suggest improvements below. Please don't be shy, and you can be anonymous if you wish.

Many Blessings this coming year,
Douglas+

Last Game of 2005

So after reinstalling windows on this laptop of mine (and you wonder why I'm switching to a Mac ASAP), we played Mystery of the Abbey.

It's like Clue in that it's a who dunnit. There are 24 monks and one is a murderer / thief, basically a bad guy. You travel around the monastery to get clues and ask questions to the other players. The trick is you only have a bit of time (8 spaces), before you are called back to Mass (a bell is rung!). As the game progresses so do the liturgical hours. A great game for Priest's kids!




I'm beginning to feel embarrassed as I keep wining; I assure you this is rare against Sherry and the boys. The above shows the guilty monk: boo hiss.