1. Pandora Radio - www.pandora.com
You put in the name of a band or a song, and it plays a song by the artist, or the exact song if you put in a title, and then it plays other bands that sound like the first one. I have 3 ’stations’ right now. Matt Redman, Brand New, and Five Iron Frenzy. It also integrates with FoxyTunes for Firefox, which is one of the best bonuses.

2. Protopage - www.protopage.com
This is a conglomeration of widgets that provide usefulness to me. I have long suffered the reality of multiple computers, laptop, desktop, palmtop, etc. This now puts everything in one place. I’ve got notes for when albums are coming out, to do lists for projects, lists of bills to pay, links to sites in little groups for each part of life, rss feeds, del.icio.us bookmarks, and podcasts. All on one page, tabbed of course, and I can check it and update it from any computer. Hello new homepage.

3. Uncluttr[alpha] - www.uncluttr.com
If you don’t spend much time on amazon, then this isn’t going to be that cool for you, but I do, so I love it. It more or less gets rid of all the text, and you shop entirely by images, titles, and prices. you can tack stuff up while your shopping, move it around, and drag and drop to the checkout basket. It’s super easy to use and it looks sweet too. Not very often that you get both those at once.

4. del.iciou.us - del.icio.us
I really don’t know why it took me so long to jump on this bandwagon, but I am oh so glad that I did. It is a social bookmarking site, and if you haven’t heard of it, then it’s kind of weird that you’re reading a blog. It is so pervasive that I was really turned off to it. But I have embraced it, and it has embraced me back. I think the coolest feature that really sold me on it is the for:misterlib tag. If anyone wants me to see something, they just tag it for:misterlib, and it will automatically show up in my tags. Of course more people I actually talk to will have to embrace this before that will realize it’s full potential, but I like the idea of it. You can see my tags here.

5. gumshoo - www.gumshoo.com
Ok. Ebay, right? So you search for something, but half the things in the results are accessories or just stuff you weren’t looking for. This site filters all that out. It also lets you search only in the US, used/new, and free shipping. The coolest feature is that it looks for typos of the thing that you were looking for, which can get you some pretty sweet results without having to think of the typos on your own.

last week was one of the greatest camp experiences i have ever been a part of. i don’t have a ton of words to describe what went on, but I guess the best way to say it is that camp, for most kids is usually pivotal, where they find some ground to stand on and start to turn, whatever that looks like. but this week was transformational for most kids. it was like the leadership decided that kids can handle tension and they shook kids to the core. it was unreal. kids that have constant conflict washing each others feet. letting God take hold of them as a community, breaking bread together, being a part of the body. building an altar at the foot of the cross to signify surrender, and laying down the things that we carry. kids at lunch that are telling me, it’s like if we sit here and talk about it, we’re not christians. we can actually do stuff. realization moments that are priceless and beautiful. and i have to say that the song Everlasting (Inside Out) by Hillsong is one of my new favorites. i’m going to learn it tonight.

the guy in chasing victory, second from the right, is jason, i swear it. he just shaves his face when he hangs out with us normal folk. uncanny.

A few weeks ago, I added a widget to the sidebar that lists posts from other blogs that I would like to share. It is a new(ish) feature from Google’s Reader, which gets the RSS feeds from all the blogs I read and puts them all in one place. It also gives me the option to star posts that I want to come back and look at later, as well as share posts that I think other people would be interested in. The last 5 shared posts then show up in my side bar. So, if you’re bored and want to see what I have thought was interesting lately, you can check that out.

I wanted to highlight a post I shared today because it is very cool. It comes from Perry Noble, pastor of NewSpring Church in South Carolina. He discusses how Apple works America while the Church wishes people wouldn’t leave. You can read the post here. My favorite part is when he asks “We are constantly asking, “Is there anything that we are currently doing that we have to generate excitement about?” Why ask that question? Because if the paid staff have to pretend to be excited about it–how do the rest of the people in the church feel?” It’s titled “Jesus versus the iPhone” and I recommend the read.