Let wonder replace worry

I Made a Custom Twitter Background in 10 Minutes...and You Can Too!

I've been noticing custom backgrounds on Twitter that include a personal picture and information you would find on a business card. I thought it would be a cool thing to have - and actually found a website that will design one for you. The catch is that it costs about $25.

I decided to give it a shot myself and was shocked at how simple it actually was. Here's what I came up with after 10 minutes. Not a fnished product by any means - I'll definitely be making tweaks and changes now that I know how easy it is. But not bad for 10 minutes.

FYI - I used my Macbook. Sorry PC folks....do some searching on Google. I'm sure it is just as easy.

First, I created a templet in Keynote with a box outlining the area (as close as I could) where status updates show up on the Twitter page. From both the top and left point of view. In other words, you'll want the top of your pic or text to line up with the top of the box and pushed all the way to the left. Same goes for the right, if you want to add anything on that side.

Download Twitter Background Templet. (Or just make your own.)

Second, I went to Shift Creative's library of free stock images to find my background. Go here to check out over 800 free images.

After I selected my image and drug it into keynote, it was simply a matter of dragging in a pic from iPhoto and adding some text.

Keep in mind that what you see in Keynote will show up much larger once you upload it to Twitter. Zoom in as close as you can.

When you are ready to upload it and see what it looks like, export from Keynote as a JPEG. The file must be less than 800k. If it is over this, export again and decrease the quality to 50%.

Then simply log into twitter, settings, design, and upload your picture. It took me 3 tries to get everything the right size.

Since this is a JPEG, different computer monitors may cut off part of your text. This is why it is important to push everything all the way to the left. I don't see cutting off a couple of letters of text as that big of a deal. If you do, use a small font size and never extend it past your pic.

I'm sure the $25 version would have been prettier, but I'll stick with free and simple. Should have done this over 2 years ago when I started using Twitter.

If you make one, or have made one, send me the link so I can check it out.

A Prayer for Ash Wednesday

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

-Thomas Merton

Starbucks Value Meals

I remember a local news station profiling Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz 5 or 6 years ago and hearing him vow that Starbucks would never have value meals. He also talked about how many people laughed in his face when he asked them to invest in a company selling coffee drinks for $5.

This was also back when they were opening stores literally across the street from each other with no plans of slowing down. Boy have things changed.

This week, Starbucks introduced "breakfast pairings" but they might as well call them what they are - value meals. For $3.95 you can get a drip coffee and a one of four hot sandwich or a latte with oatmeal or coffee cake.

The ironic thing: McDonald's has been copying Starbucks for the last few years, and stealing many of their customers with good coffee at half the price. Now Starbucks is emulating McDonalds.

Why in the world would Starbucks do that? Store sales are down 10% and net income down 69%. Even when the economy turns around, I doubt we'll ever see $5 coffee drinks selling in record numbers again. Especially now that people know they can get them same thing for half the price.

Here is the USA Today article about all of this.

Things that Jaxson will never use: #1

This is a new blog series where I'll list things prevalent in my lifetime that will see extinction and Jaxson will never use.

#1 The Phonebook

A couple of months ago someone left a phonebook in a bag hanging on my front door. They might as well have hung a bag of trash on the door - because it went straight into the garbage. I have not used one in years. The internet is killing phonebooks at a faster rate than newspapers - which are sinking like a rock.

Jaxson will be shocked that we grew up with huge 10 pound phonebooks taking up a whole drawer in our houses.

LOST: Season 5

The beautiful thing about this show is that it is not about being lost on an island at all, but about being lost as human beings. Without being “found“ while on the island, everyone who left fell much deeper into the depravity they lived in before the plane crash. Now (as from the beginning of the series) we see characters in need of and actively searching for redemption both on and off the island.

So far, season 5 has been about reinterpreting the first 4 seasons with the knowledge we know now. The time travel puts everything in question - and the writers have got to be extremely careful here. If they begin answering questions and explaining away inconsistencies with time travel - I’ll lose a lot of faith in the show. Up to this point though, they have handled it well. I’m not a Si-fi person at all - much more attracted to the depravity and redemption woven so deeply into the fabric of LOST - but I’m loving the time travel so far.

What an awesome testimony for Locke. Remembering (and actually seeing) the night Boone dies and he collapsed on top of the hatch. WHY DID YOU DO THIS TO ME??? WHY??? Looking back later Locke says “I needed that pain, it got me to where I am now.” We all have memories and testimonies like that on our journey of faith.

Sawyer stood in the jungle watching Kate deliver Claire’s baby as a different person than he was when that scene happened in Season 1. We are seeing Sawyer being changed and redeemed from who he was. It was touching.

Both of these things happened as the group was trying to make it back to The Orchid. The Island obviously does not want that to happen. It is throwing everything it can in their way.

Why is Juliet not staying with the rest of the others? Is it because she got “branded” in season 3? I’m starting to think Juliet will never make it off the island. She may be doomed.

The theory from the first episode of this season about Miles being Pierre Chang’s son is all but confirmed now. The bloody noses are getting on my nerves. Daniel knew exactly what to tell Desmond last season during “The Constant” to make it stop - now he can’t finish a sentence. He said the sickness is like bad jetlag, which makes no sense. This is what will eventually kill everyone on the Island if the Ocenaic 6 don’t go back.

Speaking of Daniel, his parents will be Charles Widmore and Ms. Hawking.

How does Sun know that Ben caused the freighter to explode by killing Keamy? Did Locke explain what really happened to her off island? Therefore, Locke must not have known that Jin survived the explosion. If this is the case, how in the world did Locke think this news would make Sun want to return?

How long was Sayid unconscious?  42 hours. Whoever is after him obviously wants him alive.

Seeing Danielle’s crew at the end was cool - not a shocker at all though. I knew who they were as soon as I saw the raft.

The tempo of the show has completely changed since it was decided there would only be 6 seasons. That was the best thing they could have done.

Can’t wait for Wednesday night...