Archive for April, 2007

Looking for a few volunteers to try out a conference call service

Wednesday, April 25th, 2007

Well, not a conference call service exactly, but a cross between a self-administered conference and old-style three-way calling on vitamins. (Boy in the Bands is steroids-free.)  It is a product offered by my calling card service and I would like to give it a real workout before promoting it on this blog.  It is inexpensive […]

Ubuntu 7.04: what I adjusted, part 1

Tuesday, April 24th, 2007

Once you install any operating system, you’ll want to adjust it to your liking. Here are a few of the things I changed first.

More software, of course

There are two ways to add software using a graphical interface, and the easier of the two may be found at Applications | Add/Remove. You will be prompted […]

Recycled paper products worth buying

Tuesday, April 24th, 2007

Hubby and I live behind a Whole Foods so we could buy our recycled paper consumer goods there, right? Except I get them next door at the CVS, a major drug store chain, ubiquitous in Washington, D.C.

Why? Their basic (not the premium) house brand toilet paper and paper towels — the later I don’t use […]

Ubuntu 7.04: background

Monday, April 23rd, 2007

Reader, I married him. Er, installed Ubuntu 7.04. (Jane Eyre I’m not. Nor either Bronte sister. Nor indeed Kate Bush, though they’re all wonderful.) I don’t bother dividing the hard drive to allow another operating system — called “partitioning” — though readers who need Linux and Windows might want to do so; indeed, I […]

I love my “clean” union-made, USA-made blue jeans

Monday, April 23rd, 2007

Did you see the recent episode of Independent Lens entitled “China Blue” on PBS? It is the undercover story of real Chinese garment workers who make blue jeans for the American and other markets. The workers make pennies to make our clothing while their bosses, the distributors and the marketers grow rich. Paid $100 for […]

We could use a union; but church planting first

Sunday, April 22nd, 2007

Friend and colleague, the Rev. Adam Tierney-Eliot, commented following my post on “unsettled” ministers:

What StephenR said makes sense to me. Scott, what you need is a union.

Funny. I’ve written about ministers’ union before, but was thinking the same thing about ministers actively seeking settlements. For those unfamiliar, this is the dry season for looking […]

Edges of polity: UUA Trustees consideration?

Sunday, April 22nd, 2007

There were two interesting items on the Congregations Working Group Agenda (link to PDF copy) for the Unitarian Universalist Association Board of Trustees, scheduled for consideration on April 20.

Dual Congregational Membership
Status of congregations that are not member congregations but are in relation with the Association

Each item was […]

Favorite cheap office supplies?

Saturday, April 21st, 2007

What are your favorite, must-have but inexpensive (say, under $5 or $10 per user) office supplies? The kind of thing few (if anyone else) use but you can’t do without?

Mine is printer-fed 2-inch tab inserts. Made for 5-cut hanging file folders but there are tabbed binder dividers that use these, too. Cleaner than writing them […]

Ubuntu 7.04: I think we have a winner

Saturday, April 21st, 2007

I’ve been using Linux since September 9, 2003: first Mandrake (now Mandriva), then MEPIS, then Ubuntu through a few versions, over to Fedora Core (formerly the personal version of Red Hat) because I couldn’t get Ubuntu to identify my Ethernet card on my eccentric little machine, and now I’m writing this on Ubuntu 7.04, codenamed […]

Without portfolio? Organizing ministers outside settlements?

Friday, April 20th, 2007

While I don’t believe that Free Church ministers (including Unitarian Universalists and United Church Christians) attain an ontological state through their ordination that fundamentally distinguishes them from the laity — made priests forever — neither do I really feel “that Pastor Jones is Mr. Jones on the train between his calls” as the old chestnut […]


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Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States