Reflection: Rend Collective Concert, Joy, And Music

Last Thursday, Jamie and I took an impromptu trip to Chestnut Ridge Church in Morgantown, West Virginia to see a band that our good friend Hallé had told us about a few years back, Rend Collective. Little did we realize when Hallé told us about this Irish folk band that their music was already a regular part of our weekly worship gatherings among our local faith community. 

As we arrived, I found myself thinking about how music has changed over the last hundred years, and even over the last ten years. Thanks to apps like Spotify, Pandora, and Apple Music we can stream a wide array of music on our computers and mobile devices wherever we go. I remember when I acquired my first Mac, I was so impressed that I could take all of my compact discs and place them on my computer. I remember as a small child being tremendously excited about listening to eight-tracks with my parents at home, and by the time I was in junior high, I was able to listen to cassettes with my Walkman as I walked around the neighborhood, or even around the house. Mine was one with the ability to record, play radio music, and cassettes, and I can remember having a ton of fun listening to tunes.

But this wasn't always the way music was available. It's kind of hard to fathom because nowadays our favorite artists' music is readily accessible. But there was once a time when music could only be experienced live--our only way to experience music was to go to a concert, or to make it ourselves. As I listened to the band, they invited us to join in singing, clapping, snapping fingers and dancing. They were inviting us to experience the joy of music. Music is quite the gift!

As much as I enjoy listening to music of various genres, I tend to believe that music is best rendered as something we experience. I believe it was John Cage who said that once we record it, it ceases to be music--it is not able to be experienced in the same way as when it is live. It is the energy of a past moment that may be powerful as a memory, but it is a far different experience than making or creating music in the moment. 

As we enjoyed the evening with the band's performance, and as the members of the band switched rapidly among instruments that even included garbage cans, they were encouraging us to enter into the joy of song, singing praises to the Creator of the universe, and not allowing our cynic or our inner critic to rob us of laughter and joy. At one point in one of their songs, the lights went out and they were wearing panda heads. Later that evening they talked about how the Bible references both fruit of the Spirit and gifts of the Spirit and that seriousness does not make an appearance in either list. Making music invites us into the realm of joy, and they felt that panda heads while performing were a good reminder to the people who joined them at the concert to not fill their lives with seriousness. 

Growing up, even though I don't remember either of my parents playing an instrument, they encouraged us to sing, to play music, and to be joyful. It was never a command from them, it was more of a simple way of life for all of us. At some point in time before I was born, my dad and one of my uncles used to drive a garbage truck. They would regularly find treasures along the side of the road that people were ridding themselves of. One of those treasures was an electric organ. I have many vivid memories of plugging that organ in, and listening to a fan begin to spin; the keys on the organ forced the air through to create notes of music. Dad had also acquired a couple of song books for this organ that were numerically coded, so I could follow the numbers to play songs. This was before the advent of synthesizers and keyboards in the 80s. I don't believe anyone in our family ever became a piano player, but I can remember playing Christmas carols and other songs as Dad made home-made pizzas or Mom was making some meal for us all to enjoy. 

Even on my tribal grounds, we never really listened to recorded music. We made music. Our tribal drum was like a heart beat. Our ancient songs connected us with past generations, and brought forth traditions to a new generation. Every gathering had a time for music and a time for folks to circle around a fire as drumming and singing would begin and carry on often late into the evenings. Even during times of sadness, singing, drumming, and dancing, listening and creating music that echoed through the hills had (and still has) a power to move us toward deep joy, peace, and hope. 

Lots of memories came to my mind thanks to the experience of a concert with Rend Collective for sure. Music is such a huge gift, and, while Jamie and I definitely enjoy listening to music as we go through our days, there's nothing quite like experiencing it live with others, or creating music of our own. Even as I write this, I feel a tug toward spending a little more time during my daily and weekly rhythm singing, dancing, and playing guitar. Nothing like a little live tune amid the rhythm of life!

As we go about our days, our weeks, and our years, may we each take time to make music and invite others to join us in joy-filled songs. May we create, build, and share in the gift the King of the universe has given us in living amid music! 

Apple Store South Hills Village and an iPhone4 Experience

Saturday night, I drove to Pittsburgh to connect with my best friend in the whole world, Willie, and some of his family. Sunday morning as I was departing, I realized-"Hey! I'm not that far from the Apple Store, and I've been having some sound issues with my iPhone4. Maybe I can have someone at the store take a look at my phone before my next round of travel." And so I drove to the Apple Store in the South Hills Village Mall in hopes I could get a timely genius bar appointment and discern what was causing the issues with my phone.

I was able to get an appointment with a genius within 10 minutes of arriving. As I described my problem, a clicking sound that sometimes occurs while using my Skullcandy Full Metal Jacket headphones, we attempted to troubleshoot it while in the store.  The first suggestion was a backup and restore of my phone. I backed up all of my apps, and when attempting the restore, my phone failed to be restored. The genius at Apple replaced my phone. But that wasn't the end of the story.

I had iOS 4.3 on my backed up phone, and the new phone was running iOS4.2.1 so the first dilemma was updating the phone's operating system.  After this, we restored the contents of my old phone to the new phone.  Then, this new phone kept restarting every 2-3 minutes. So we restored the phone again, and started the process from the beginning again, only this time, we launched all of the back ups as a sync to a new phone.  Everything seemed great, and I left the store to do a little shopping around the mall.

Twenty minutes later, I pulled out the phone (which was fully charged) to make a call, and it had turned itself off.  Thankfully I hadn't left Pittsburgh yet, and I could make one more trip into the Apple Store.  The folks at the genius bar were really understanding, and they said that they had never encountered such an array of set-backs with the phone before. I responded that I hadn't either. ;) They then proceeded to bring out another phone, and began the process from the beginning for the third time that day.

All in all, the whole process took about five hours, and I watched dozens of customers get their problems with computers, phones, ipods, and ipads answered during my time at the genius bar. I'm glad I had extra time to take care of any potential issues before leaving, and the staff in the store were incredibly helpful as we worked toward a solution to the problem of my phone.

I wanted to share this because it was an incredible day of quality customer service. I deeply appreciated the time the Apple geniuses (Tom and Haley) took to help me out. I know that when a problem doesn't make its resolution quickly, it can be tiresome for all parties, but the team at the apple store did an incredible job.

If you have a problem with a piece of Apple Technology and you are close to an Apple Store, I highly recommend scheduling a visit to the genius bar.  The staff are friendly, patient, and incredibly helpful. They do all that they can to help customers make the most of their technology.

Lately, I've been finding myself really appreciative of great customer service. Too often we hear horror stories and complaints, but I think we should make it a point to highlight and applaud companies when they do an exemplary job.

Have you had an incredible experience in customer service? I'd love to hear about it, and I encourage you to share it with others too!

I now have an iPhone4

Well, last Wednesday I took the plunge and bought iPhone 4. I haven't used all of the features yet, but so far I'm really impressed. My old phone was an iPhone 3G that was given to me by my best friend in the whole world, Willie. I used it pretty heavily, and it served me well for blogging, tweeting, emailing, phone calling, and more during the time I had it, but the last few months it wasn't quite working up to par. I talked with a number of people before taking the iPhone 4 plunge, and all agreed that regardless of proximity sensor, antenna, and other issues that iPhone 4 would be a massive improvement from my old phone.

So far it's been great! I had a brief scare on Friday when the phone didn't turn on. I took it to the apple store to check for possible tech problems, but it was an easy fix with a reset. So far I've only had a couple of issues with dropped calls, and on one of those occasions it was directly related to the way I was holding the phone. I'll probably take advantage of Apple's generosity and apply for their iPhone 4 case program.

Right now my big issue is the proximity sensor. Sometimes I mute calls or put people on speakerphone when the touchscreen touches my face. Again, I can make adjustments and prevent a repeat of the problem.

Anyhoo, I have really enjoyed the privilege of being able to have access to this phone. Is it for everybody? Probably not, but this phone's predecessor was a huge help to me over the last several months, and I'm sure that iPhone 4 will be a great tool for managing my schedule, responding to emails on the go (when necessary), and even serving as a great telephone.

Who would have dreamed that there would be day when we would carry our phones around with us? Who would have dreamed that we would be able to have video phone calls on these portable phones? Who would have dreamed that a telephone would have a more powerful computer with more memory than the standard desktop of ten years ago?
Beyond this, who would ever imagine we would live in a world where people communicate by text, email, tweets, phone, and more?

It's pretty amazing how much technology has advanced in ten years. What do you think about smart phones, and all of the portable technology to emerge since the year 2000?

Iphone4 and AT&T Shortages

Ok, I admit it, I was in line around 6AM to upgrade my iphone. There were already about 40 people in line in front of me. Some had camped out since 11PM. I did not. I figured, I could get an early start to my day, and get some work done while I "waited." Many were just standing in line for the iphone, I just chose to work from the line. Regardless, I stayed in the line for a while.

Local AT&T store staff came out and offered people in line water. I thought it was a kind gesture, and I took a bottle. As I approached the front of the line, the representatives informed folks that they had run out of 32GB models of the new iphone, and that they only had limited quantities of the 16GB model. The guy in front of me asked if AT&T had a 30 day return period. He was informed that there was a $20 restocking fee for the return if he bought a 16GB version and decided to get a 32GB version when they arrived. The employee also stated that there was no guarantee that any 32GB models would arrive in the store during the next 30 days.

At the same time this shortage was announced, employees were taking "pre-orders" for 32GB phones that would be delivered in 5-10 days. So AT&T offered instant gratification of a 16GB phone (also in short supply, but apparently another order of 16GB phones were set to arrive later in the day), or a 5-10 day wait for a 32GB phone.

As I stood in line, I thought, "Neither one of these sounds appetizing to me right now." And then I thought, "why didn't they let the 40 people who were in line behind me know that they might not get their phones today?" The guy behind me told me he was already late for work, and was concerned that he would now not only be late, but he would show up with nothing but a voucher for a future purchase. Needless to say he was less than enthused by his wait.

He and others looked at me in shock when I left the line. How could I leave after waiting for this phone. I could leave because I have a phone that works. I could leave because, I hadn't felt the "sunk cost" of time waiting in line for the product because I just worked while in line. I could leave because I will be on the road over the next 5-10 days, and so I won't be able to claim my phone upon its arrival anyway.

Regardless, I have an iphone that was gifted to me, and I can download the iphone4 software on this phone and experience much of the same advances on a slower processor and an older phone. Also, since this phone was a gift, I'm not locked into a contract.

Are you an iphone user? Did you wait in line this morning? If you did wait in line, how do you like your new phone? One advanced feature that I think is pretty cool is the webcam that is built into the center of the screen--I imagine that feature will be seen on the next iteration of the iPad too.

iDad

iDad, originally uploaded by chanchanchepon.

Me, my brother, and my sister chipped in together to buy my dad an iPod nano for his birthday. He's been looking at my iPod for a while, and has been thinking about getting one himself. He walks around 5 miles a day, and this little gadget will probably be travelling with him.

Before we could allow him to enjoy his birthday present, we had to transfer all of his CDs to his computer. Then we walked through how to move songs from his computer to his iPod. He doesn't have enough to fill his iPod, so he doesn't have to worry about being too selective.

He can also listen to his favorite podcasts, like H2O Morgantown Live, or any other podcasts that are available free on itunes.

There is always a learning curve when it comes to using new technology, and I was wondering if Dad would get a little frustrated by that process. We walked through a few steps of how to use his ipod, and then he just started chillaxing to his tunes.

We ran a few errands together, and he continued jamming out to his iPod. Sometimes when you buy a gift there is a bit of worry about whether or not the recipient will enjoy it. Well, me and my siblings hit the jackpot on this gift. Dad loves it! So don't be surprised if you see him at a basketball game next year with me in the student section jamming out to his ipod!

What about you? Do you enjoy the gifts you've been given? Take some time as you finish reading this entry and reflect on all of the gifts you've received. They may not be as portable as an ipod (things like jobs, family, cars, houses usually aren't), but they are definitely worth taking the time to appreciate.

The Future of Cell Phones

It's been a while since I have blogged, and the irony is that I have had such a large amount to blog about, I have simply lacked the time/opportunity to do it well. So today, I am just blogging about the most exciting piece of technology since the ipod. Apple changed the way we thought about computers, and now we have computers in the majority of homes in America. Then, in 2001, Apple changed the way we listen to music with the advent of the ipod.

Tuesday, Apple unveiled the future of cellular phones, the iphone. If you use a cellular phone, apple has combined the capabilities of a cell phone, an ipod, an email/chat service, and internet browsing in a handheld device. The phone features a 2MP camera among other neat goodies.

Even though I love the advances we are making in technology, and the way Apple makes technology so fun and accessible, even to non-techies like me, I still wonder about things. (Don't get me wrong, this phone is way up on my birthday/Christmas list if you are wondering what to get a hip young shawnee with a love for cool stuff that makes life easier.)

I wonder, as simple as the cell phone and email/chats make it to stay connected, are we better connected? What about time to think and be alone? I mean, on the college campus, I see hundreds of students every day with cell phones attached to their ears as they walk between classes. Are the people gabbing away better connected with their friends? With themselves? With God? Sometimes I wonder if we aren't just the most distracted generation in history.

Again, no mistake, if I held the power of the iphone in my hands, I would use it for good! And cell phones in general have allowed us to stay connected with more people, more often. What do you think about cell phones? Have they been a help or a hindrance to you in your life? And what do you think about the iphone? Pretty cool huh!!!

Apple World

Apple World, originally uploaded by chanchanchepon.

Apple has definitely come a long way. Wired Magazine had an article about how this is Steve Job's best year ever. You can read it here.

I'm looking forward to the new iphone. It's just a rumor right now, but I have a feeling it will be coming out soon, and my phone is in rough shape right now, so I think it will be a cool replacement.

Anyhoo, I thought this picture might make some people nostalgic for gradeschool or somethin'.

It's an Apple World

It's an Apple World, originally uploaded by chanchanchepon.

Well, while on the town Saturday--our free day, I saw this door in a photo studio. There is also an Apple Store right in the heart of Amsterdam across from the train station.

I think this door marks the digital photo lab of this photo studio. There were some cool underwater photos on display when we stopped there too.