Singing Update . . .

Since my arrival to Comanche County here in Texas, my therapeutic entertainment efforts (singing for senior citizens, etc.) has taken a back seat as I try to get in my stride being a pastor of a two-point charge for the first time in over 25 years.  Things are going well, and I seem to have my feet under me to the point that I've reached out and offered my services to area senior activity centers and nursing homes.

My first contact was Whitestone Assisted Living Center in Comanche.  I have two church members who are residents there.  This is a small assisted living center, and I am very proud to be associated with them as one of their entertainment volunteers.  I've sung there twice so far, and had a blast both times.  I try to work in a bit of comedy and story telling when I sing.  The folks at Whitestone seem to appreciate it.  They voted to have me come back!  I cherish that honor.  I will be singing there once a month.

I sang for the first time this past Wednesday at the Senior Center in Gustine.  The new director is a member at my church in Comanche.  We weren't sure how singing would be received.  The center is only open on Wednesdays, and the folks there sure enjoy their card games.  In fact, they are quite serious when they play.

When I arrived on Wednesday, I set up and announced that they should keep on playing cards, which they did.  However, they were paying attention, and some sang along with me, and most applauded after each of the songs.  They all thanked me, and seemed determine to confirm that I would come back.  Looks like I get the 12:20 PM slot every 2nd Wednesday of the month.

If I sound excited, I am.  Gustine is actually more of a village (by description) now than a town, although there is still a City Hall, Post Office, schools and a local bank.  There are a couple of shops, a few agricultural related businesses,  and a little gas station / store.   It feels good to plug into this community more than I have  been able too. I'm only in Gustine early on Sunday morning, and perhaps a couple hours each week.

I visited the Western Hills Nursing Home and Senior Center in Comanche several weeks back.  I will be returning soon to schedule singing at those locations.  

I've been invited to consider singing for a local community revitalization group sometime in November, but that hasn't been confirmed yet.   I'd imagine some older cowboy songs to be the order of the day for that event.

So . . . it looks like I will be singing at least 4 times a month for seniors adults.   I think that will be a good mix and work with my schedule.

Digital Update

Greetings all,

I thought since I haven't blogged in a while that I would do an update on my attempt to step into a totally digital work environment.

So far . . . so good.  It hasn't been easy, and I bought a new mechanical pencil the other day just to remind myself where I came from . . . but the transition is going smoother than I anticipated.

First, the iPad . . . I was able to purchase, on sale from Best Buy, an iPad Air 3 along with a Logi iPad and keyboard holder.  The neat thing is that the Logi keypad does not need Bluetooth.  It has a live magnetic connection to the iPad.  Battery on the iPad Air is great, a lot better than my now almost 10 year old iPad 3 9.7 inch, which was one heavy sucker!   The iPad Air is very light.  Mind you, I know when I have the iPad in my bag, but the weight is much lighter overall.

I am using the iPad when I preach.  I simply disconnect the iPad from the keyboard, and open up Google Docs and off I go.  Nice not having to print paper copies of a sermon or lesson.

I also purchased an Apple Pencil 1.  I thought to myself, "let's waste $99 and buy an Apple Pencil."  Well, I'm using it more and more, especially since I purchased the Good Notes 5 app.  Good Notes is more than I will ever use or figure out.  I pretty much take all my meeting and daily notes on the iPad Air using the Day One Journal app (Premium . . . $30+ a year).  Day One Journal has been an answer to a prayer I didn't know I was praying.  It is simply awesome, and I am journalling 10x more than I ever have in the past.  Its easy to review and the search function is the best.

However, I still like to write sometimes . . . that old school feel of pencil in hand.  So far I have been pleased with the Apple Pencil and Good Notes combination.  I will be exploring this relationship more.  I still have my KLYC brand Traveler's Notebook for personal private journaling.

The other app I purchased (also $30+ for Premium) was the Get It Done App.  If you like David Allen's GTD method, then this may be the app for you.  I used it for a month . . . and now I haven't used it since, but will be meeting with my professional coach soon to get some extra training.  He suggested that I try Get It Done.

For years I have used the Planner Pad, a professional planning notebook that lets you manage a week's worth of appointments and projects.   I've gotten used to it.   With the GID app, I had to do a deep review every night or early morning before stating the new day.  With some help, I'm sure I can make GID work.  But for the current time, I adapted a Trello spread to look like to top part of a Planner Pad spread.  Its been working great!

Most of the apps sync to all my devices, except the Day One Journal, which doesn't yet sync to a Windows computer.

With this new digital system, I only need to take my cell phone with me to appointments, and just the iPad to meetings as long as I have access to Wi-fi.

The effort to go digital has been successful so far.  I seem to be more focused on the right thing to do at the right time.  I'm getting a lot done, and still finding time to be in the community singing and visiting.

More to come!