Josh Young

Just reading through one of my favorite blogs, Lifehacker, this morning, and I came across the beautiful gem known as Songerize.

Really want to listen to a song right now? Just go to Songerize, type it in, and it will play. That easy. If it doesn’t find your song, try another (FYI, it’s found every song I’ve tried so far).

This is ridiculously cool, especially if you’re in the mood to listen to a great song but don’t have it handy. Plus, it’s dead simple.

Give it a try. Let me know what you think.

Songerize

HT: Lifehacker

Awesome new feature for Google Docs.

Now you set up a form that users can fill out that will populate a spreadsheet in Google Docs. Instead of sharing a spreadsheet, you can just set up the form and people can enter information that way.

Looks pretty cool. I’m already thinking of a few possibilities that this could be used for.

Do you have any ideas?

Official Google Docs Blog - Stop sharing spreadsheets, start collecting information

You’re welcome.

HT: Monday Morning Insight

I pounded through our taxes the last two nights and got them finished. Yes, I realize that it’s early, but I hate walking near my desk and seeing all of those forms laying there and knowing that at some point I have to crunch the numbers. So this year I just decided to do it as soon as I got all of my forms.

I started to use TurboTax Online (which is what I used last year), but when I finished going through all of the steps, I realized that it was incorrectly taxing me on some HSA contributions, and there was no way to fix it as far as I could see. So I threw in the towel with TurboTax and did it ALL by hand.

Yes, I’m a huge nerd. But you know what? I not only saved the TurboTax fees (which were going to end up costing us over $100), but I got about $800 more back on my refund by doing it correctly.

Of course, as soon as I finished them last night, a friend happened to tell me that they’re revising about half a dozen tax forms that won’t be out until February.

CRAP!

But I checked, and none of them apply to us, so we’re good.

Had I had to wait or redo anything, I think I would have puked.

Yeah, so my whole “making time for more posts in 2008” isn’t exactly roaring, but whatever.

Yesterday, Joomla 1.5 (stable) was released. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know I have a great fondness of Joomla. It’s open source, and I’ve used it on several church websites in the last few years. It has its quirks, but once you get past them, it’s a great CMS.

There are some HUGE updates with version 1.5. They basically rewrote the entire core of the CMS, which is great news for developers and designers. Much improved from what I read.

I may be starting some projects soon that require a robust CMS, and Joomla will certainly be first on my list to try. I’m anxious to see how 1.5 works in action. If you haven’t tried Joomla, now would be the perfect time.

Read more about Joomla

HT: Innovating Tomorrow

I’m trying to make more time for quick posts in 2008, so this will be my first.

As one of my Christmas gifts, Marie got me just what any true nerd would want: the highest-quality acid-free paper you can find marked off in square grids, bound by fine leather with a braided place holder, inner pocket and an elastic strap to keep it closed, and of course, small enough to carry with you at all times.

I’m speaking of course of the legendary Pocket Squared Moleskine notebook (pronounced mol-a-skeen’-a).

I’ve shown my new tool to a few close friends, and they all kind of look at my blankly like I’m some sort of weirdo (although I’m not disputing that). I guess Moleskines just aren’t as prevalent as they should be.

So anyway, I take my new friend everywhere with me now. He’s teamed up with the Fisher Brushed Chrome Bullet Space Pen that Marie got me last year for Christmas to make the ultimate note-taking duo. I’m a huge fan of checklists and notes, and now I don’t have to carry index cards around with me anymore. I’m loving it!

Since you may or may not be interested in my geeky little “toy,” I’ll save the rest. However, you can read more about these awesome little books at the link below. But beware. You’ll become obsessed. I can already think of two other ones that I’d love to have.

Moleskine History

The best deal I could find on my notebook (currently out of stock)

The second-best deal I could find on my notebook

My favorite shortcut application, Launchy, just released version 2.0. It’s got a few nice updates, and a slick new default skin.

If you’ve never heard of Launchy or used it, give it a try. It will save you a buttload of time.

Launchy

For those of you who know our buddy Jim Willison, currently serving our country in Iraq, here’s a link to a little video message from him that will be featured on Channel 5 (WLWT) throughout the month of December.

We’re praying for you Jimmy. Hope to see you soon.

Jim Willison - Holiday Greeting on WLWT.com

Yesterday was a day of mixed emotions.

I sold my Tahoe.

Two and a half years ago, it was the first brand new vehicle I’d ever purchased, and I babied it. It was awesome. And best of all, it had a BOSE stereo system in it (which was one of my favorite parts). Did I mention that it was awesome?

In spite of the awesomeness of the Tahoe, it was the only remaining debt we had, and we were sick of that. As I’ve mentioned on here before, we’re Dave Ramsey advocates, and we’re finishing up Baby Step 2. We’re trying to get to the next step as fast as possible, and the Tahoe was just slowing us down. So we decided to kick it to the curb (pardon the pun).

So now I’m proud to introduce you to my new pal: a 2001 Chevy Silverado. Sure, he’s got some miles on him, but he drives great and is in excellent condition.

Worst part: No more BOSE system. :(

Best part: Our remaining debt is $10,000 lighter after only 24 hours. We cut Baby Step 2 in MORE THAN HALF just by making this move.

Can’t wait until it’s paid off, and we can move on to the next step.

It’s all about sacrifices, people.

P.S. Some sacrifices aren’t as hard as you think they’ll be once they’re over.

Another whirlwind weekend has come and gone at ACC.

APEX was Saturday night. The theme was Facing Your Giants, based on the Max Lucado book of the same name. We used the story of David and Goliath to show that we should sprint into battle with our giants, whatever they might be.

One of the elements we used was an illustration of just how tall Goliath was. We have these new pillars that spell out the letters of APEX in big, glowing, red letters, and they’re about 8 feet tall each. With a little more height on top of that, Mike placed a wax sculpture of his head on top of it (interesting story - listen to the message to hear about it) to show just how tall Goliath really was. And then we had one of the kids from ACC who was about David’s age come up and stand next to it to show the contrast. Dang, he was tall! I’ve never really visualized it like that, but that was a serious dude to go into battle against.

Thankfully we got an extra hour of sleep that night.

Sunday, we started our new series called LIE$. Lie No. 1 was “The Church Only Wants My Money.” Mike did an amazing job with a message that most ministers struggle with. Money is such a “hot topic” in the church, and he did an excellent job of handling the subject in a biblical way. I’m really looking forward to the rest of the series. Like Mike, I think God is going to blow our minds through this series.