View photos better...

The "Puter Gnome" blog has good links to sites that help you adjust your monitor so it displays online photos better.

Why bother? If you don't calibrate your monitor (simple steps), the photos you view at online may well look darker or lighter or a different contrast than they really are.

Eat out to help out

Four restaurants in Decatur, Georgia, have joined to help Decatur Cooperative Ministries. The first Sunday of each month, these four will donate 10% of their proceeds to benefit Decatur Cooperative Ministries.

To get DCM the donation, make sure to give your waiter the Sunday Lunch card, available in our Narthex. One card per meal. So come back for more cards.

The participating restaurants:

• Brick Store Pub
• Corner Pub
• Feast
• Raging Burrito

Feed Reader reviews

You don't really have to come to this web page to read the latest posts. All you have to do is set up to receive the "feed" from this page.

OK, OK, so now you're starting to get glassy-eyed and wondering about "feed". Well, a "feed" is the information about a posting here -- the title, date/time, and text of the post. You can access those via a "Feed Reader". Most are free.

Once you "subscribe" to a feed, your NewsReader automatically checks for new posts when you open it. Of course, you can still just check back here now and then.

cnet has reviews of several feed readers. An executive summary... if you use Internet Explorer, it looks like Pluck is a good one to try. [ Download Pluck ]

If you'd like to read blog feeds via a separate web page that collects "feeds" from different blogs for you, try the Google Reader or NewsGator.

If you are a FireFox user, you can "drag" a web address for a blog to your bookmark bar and it adds an orange "feed" icon. Clicking on that icon lets you see all current posts for that blog. Internet Explorer 7 is reported to also add this feature.

Mulungwishi missionaries move

Methodist missionaries David and Lori Persons have left Denver and are now on the way back to Mulungwishi, D.R. Congo. Lori is still a bit weak, but feeling better. They plan to return to the states in August and "make rounds" to all covenant churches plus others that support them. Lori says they covet our prayers for her complete recovery and their safe return to DR Congo.

Meanwhile, if you'd like a "wallpaper" of Mulungwishi station at sunset, click on the photo (which displays the large version), right-click on that large image, and then select "Save as background" (or whatever your browser calls that menu pick).

A-D-V-O-C-A-T-E

The Wesleyan Christian Advocate deserves a big cheer. Every issue contains global and national news — but each issue also reports in detail on what is taking place in Georgia United Methodist churches.

• Read.
• Be informed.
• Be inspired.

Subscribe to the Wesleyan Christian Advocate.

Drop your check for $18 made out to Avondale Pattillo and marked “Advocate” in the offering plate for a one-year subscription to the print edition. Subscribe to the online edition for $12 or subscribe to both editions for $24. In any case, you can subscribe to either or both editions online.

As a bonus, you can preview the Advocate online all during February -- for free. Check it out! Then support this award-winning newspaper.

Oh -- and what's with the cheerleader's shirt? The Wesleyan Christian Advocate is "where it's @"

Who is this King?

Porter previewed the Easter Cantata tonight -- "Who is this King?" by Lloyd Larson and Joseph M. Martin. It's an impressive work, with a variety of styles, emotions, and messages.

The cantata "story" sequence will stop after the crufixion, as this is planned for Passion Sunday (we're having a Passion Sunday cantata instead of a Palm Sunday cantata this year). The Chancel Choir will sing the cantata book's last anthem on Easter Sunday. It includes a section of congregational singing.

For more about Passion Sunday, also see:

• Palm/Passion Sunday
• The Passion story and Passion Plays

Mountain View residents get Valentine goodies

The Missions Work Area continues the monthly visits to the Mountain View Personal Care Home. This month, the Valentines theme was certainly appropriate and very well received. Smiles abounded as Claire served cupcakes with candy heart decorations. Meanwhile Jerry played tunes -- his playing always brings smiles too. This time, some people even sang along.

To top it all off, our kids made special Valentines cookies and bookmarks for the residents.

Valentines Day dinner, show

Kathy Reed and the Ain't Right Boys topped off a great Valentines Day celebration dinner with their usual toe-tapping Bluegrass on Saturday, February 11th. Members of this gathered diverse group were still talking about the good time on Sunday.

Puter Gnome now inhabits web

Another day, another blog. Ye ol' Webmaster has started a second blog (web log -- journal). This one is titled "Puter Gnome". The Puter Gnome blog will include tips about the care and feeding of personal computers, including system efficiency tips and security tips.

Puter Gnome replaces the "PC Tips" emails that selected people in the church had asked to receive now and then. So check out Puter Gnome now and come back often.

If you have a comment or suggestion, click on the "comments" link at the bottom of the Puter Gnome posting that you want to comment on. Avoid using your real name, though, for online privacy and protection reasons.

Weather comes to "Church News"

Most people are interested in the weather. So we've added a new link in the right column of this page -- "Weather in Decatur, GA". The link goes to a Yahoo! page that includes current weather plus forecasted weather. Our long-term plan is to create a community page that includes links to weather, traffic, news sources, and local governmental services.

If you're really into the weather, you may want to also check out the Weather.com "blog" (everybody seems to be creating blogs these days).

Webs 4 Churches Blog kicks off

Saturday, January 21 saw the kick-off of the latest web innovation from Avondale Pattillo -- a blog titled "Webs 4 Churches". Bruce started this after a suggestion by a person attending one of his web sessions at the recent district training event.

A "blog" (short for web log) is sort of like a journal. Though originally a personal journal of opinions and observations, some blogs now even serve as online new sources.

While the "Webs 4 Churches" blog is geared toward web and technology, you might get a kick out of reading some other (non-technical) blogs by Methodists. So check out the "Methodist Blogroll" part of the right column for links to some of them.