Hey there! I hope your weekend is going swell!

I want to continue on in my list of favorite Google resources! Today’s resource is Google Calendar. I use this resource A LOT! I am not the most organized person on the planet…in fact, I may be the absolute opposite! Google Calendar, however, helps me TREMENDOUSLY. I add all of my appointments to the calendar, I set reminders on them that automatically text my phone to remind me (although you can select pop-up reminders or email reminders), and I can even share my calendar with others who will help remind me!

Another great feature is the invitation selection where you can invite people to an event. Once you provide their email, they are emailed an invitation to the event where they can then select whether or not they are attending the event. You can then check the event to determine who all is coming.

It is very easy to use and it’s very powerful. I would be a mess without it!
What calendar system do you use? Comment below or email me at saturdaywithmark@gmail.com.

Mark OUT.

Hey guys! This month, I want focus on some of my favorite Google resources! You may already be well in the know of them, but here is a little info just in case you aren’t!

In today’s world of blogs, news feeds, and web articles, everyone needs a good feed reader. My favorite reader is Google Reader. It is organized quite like Gmail, and I think that may be why I like it. It is also very simple and interactive, allowing quick RSS feed adding and sharing with other friends. For friends with Google accounts, you can follow their shared items. And of course, Google will recommend feeds based on what you are following, so you can always find new stuff. Google Reader also analyzes and displays the trends of your feed reading so you can really geek out on your blogosphere intake! Finally, Google is great with mobile devices and Google Reader is no different. It works on any phone’s web browser, so you can read your blogs on the go!

It’s free, it’s simple, and I like it! Give it a try. Tell me what you like/dislike about it. What feed reader do you use? Leave a comment and let me know or email me at saturdaywithmark@gmail.com.
Mark OUT

Hello everyone! Mark here, writing to you from Drobeta Turnu Severin, Romania! Yep, I am halfway in on a 2-week mission trip, and it has been AMAZING! Like many missionaries, I had to do quite a bit of fund raising! So let me introduce you to a sweet site that allows you to easily set up and design your own support site. It is called BlackbaudNow. This site partners with PayPal, so donors can make an instant donation. Now I must say that there is a little fee for using the site. They charge 4.95% of every donation + $0.30 / transaction. All things considered, this is still a really good deal as this makes building an online web presence for donations SO EASY. Aside from the easy web design tools provided, they also offer you tools and reports to track your donations and a decent emailing tool to get in touch with your donors and/or future donors.

So take a look at my page, just to get an idea on what I did with the site. http://markwarrington.bbnow.org

I have been really pleased with this site, and I really think this will come in handy for you as well! So visit the home page to find out more about it. Let me know what you think!

Mark OUT.

Good day to you from London! Yes, I am currently waiting at London Heathrow for our flight to Romania. We are headed for a two week mission trip, but I just couldn’t resist not posting! Ok, so today I want to show you a quick and easy little tool that I use OFTEN. It is called toread and it is simply an email based bookmarking tool. So here is how it works. Say you’re like me and you use your email for EVERYTHING. Ok, now your browsing around and you find this sweet site or article that you want to save and read later. With toread, you simply click the toread tab and it grabs the site or article and automatically emails it to you! It is a simple little tool, and if you surf the web a lot, it will definitely serve you well. So follow the link above, read the instructions, and get rolling. And in case you missed the instructions, you need to drag the toread page to your bookmark tool bar so that you can have the quickest access to it.

Happy surfing!

Mark OUT!

Hello there! Well, if you are reading this then you are either new OR I haven’t scared you off or bored you too much! Yay!

So, let me tell you a little about myself. I am currently in grad. school, pursuing a Masters in Theology. Naturally, we have to do a LOT of reading in this program. I actually happen to enjoy reading, so it works out rather nicely. I am more of a non-fiction sort of guy, but I enjoy a good fiction book from time to time!

So this week, I want to introduce you to a sweet site I stumbled across a few weeks ago. It is called goodreads, and I like it!

Goodreads could be described as the love child of social media and amazon, so to speak . It is the techno-bookworm’s dream, and it is free! After you sign up, you can enter in (or add) all of the books you have read, are reading, or plan to read. You can rate the books you have read, post reviews, start discussions, etc. You can proudly display all of your books on organized “shelves,” under various labels such as read, currently reading, to-read, or you can create your own (I made one called “seminary reading” which are for books I am reading for my seminary program).

There are also various “views” in which you can scope out your books or other people’s books. I like the more polished “covers” view where it looks more like a bookshelf. By dragging your mouse over the individual books, you can see the reader’s ratings for that book. Also, as you add or rate books, you can see what other people are saying about them.

Additionally, if you simply want to know more about a book before buying it, this is the way to go! The sight covers all of the basic details of the book including author, ISBN, and literary awards, etc, but also other people’s ratings, how they shelved the book, discussions on the book, and links on where to buy it. And of course, you can suggest or share your books via Facebook, Twitter, and others.

I also found it interesting that the “tour” of goodreads mentioned the possibility of starting a book club using the site. I am going to have to explore this concept more, but this could be a sweet tool for fellow classmates OR for college ministers or small group leaders looking for a cool, millennial/techy way to do a book study.

Any who, I like the concept, and so do the nearly 3,000,ooo + users with their 78,000,000 + books! So check it out! Here is a link for the goodreads tour. And here is a link to my small list of reads (I’m adding them as remember them!). Oh ya, there are good privacy controls on the site, so you don’t have to worry there.

Tell me what you think of goodreads. Email me at saturdaywithmark@gmail.com.

Mark OUT.

Hello everybody! Mark here, coming at you with the first official “Saturday with Mark” posting! In case you were unaware, I will be joining the team here, at sweepusaway.com! Each Saturday, I will make a post covering some sort of resource that I am using, have used, or have just stumbled on.

Now what do I mean by resource? I’m glad you asked! By resource, I mean 2 things: 1. It is some sort of software or web-based application that is either free or very inexpensive (I work with college students, I know how tight money is these days!) 2. It is useful (or potentially useful) for daily life as a college student, and/or college minister.

I will also be approaching this from a Christian perspective, meaning I will sometimes explain how the application could be used to aid a believer in his or her life. Now just one word of caution. I will be scouring the fringes of the web for new and upcoming applications. Sometimes they will take off and be really useful, sometimes that’s not the case. Regardless, I will try to make it clear when a resource is relatively new to me.

I am also ALL ABOUT feedback. SO, I will be polling you guys on various topics, like whether you like a certain resource, or use a certain resource, or would like me to know about/cover a resource in the future. There may also be a random poll in there from time to time just because I’m crazy.

Enough of the mumbo jumbo, let’s get this thing kicked off!

In keeping with the introductory theme I wanted to introduce you guys to a sweet little tool called Flavors.me. Flavors.me lets you create your own web page that serves as a hub for your social media feeds and blogs. I like to think of it as my online/social media business card. I have my Twitter stream, WordPress blog, and Facebook  connected to my page, however you can do so much more with it! My buddy uses it to point people to his videography business and I have seen others use it as an online resume.

You should know that there is a free and paid version ($20 a year) of Flavors.me. Among the biggest differences are: 1) the free version requires flavors.me/(your name here) for the address while the paid version allows you to purchase your own domain separately that way you could have (your name).com or (your name) .me. 2) the free version limits you on layout/design options 3) you can only plug-in 4 feeds and 4) the paid version also gives you statistics on visitors and traffic to you site and a link for a contact form.

Overall, I am quite pleased with Flavors.me. It allows for quick and easy design, and honestly, it is so useful! In this day and age, developing a web presence is huge. Having a crisp and sweet-looking start page that points to all your feeds is just classy and net-fashion forward. I think this will definitely put you ahead of the curve in a rapidly growing, social media world.

My recommendation is to try it free to see if you like it. Also, do a search or explore the Flavors.me site to see how other people have designed and are using theirs. You can check out mine here.

For those of us serving in the ministry or engaged in missions, I think this tool would be especially handy! You could definitely use it as a sweet way to help you raise awareness and financial and prayer support for your cause!

So give it a look. Let me know what you think. If you already use it, let me know how you are using it. Email me at saturdaywithmark@gmail.com .

Mark OUT…