So in the July/August edition of COLLIDE magazine, there was a lead article titled “Weapons of Choice”. They had asked a few creative guys to share some of the tools they use as they go about their day. Kind of the things that make their job/life either easier or keeps them on track.

It got me to thinking…what are those things for me?

In this world where change has come at us at light speed and modes of connecting with other people are continually being rewritten, what are the things I use to keep up with what is going on in the world, with friends and family and the tools I use to simply get things accomplished?

Here are a few things that I use throughout my day…

Lenovo ThinkPad laptop - It is the center of input and output of most of my day. Moved from being a 10+ year Dell customer when Dell moved to India. Lenovo is solid but I still am struggling with the reliability of Windows and Internet Explorer. Will most likely go MacBook next.

iPhone 3GS – Left Blackberry and have never looked back! Did not dream they were that far behind in the smart phone war. Not only am I amazed at what this thing can do but how easy it is to use. Email is the engine of most of what I do…with the iPhone that is made easy and quick.

iPad – I spent the first 2 months trying  to figure out what it was that I was going to do on the iPad that I couldn’t do on my laptop or the iPhone. It is a piece of hardware that is truly new to this world (something we have never used before). It has now become my all-in-one reading device. It is where I get the news, read blogs, read the Bible and take care of my social connections along with any Internet use outside of weekday business hours. It is new now…but this type of device will be huge!

Google – iGoogle is one of my home pages. All in one page I have current news, weather, a market summary and about 16 other things just in case I need them. Within one click I have front page headlines from about 5 cities that interest me, access to a summary of the some 85 blogs I follow (in Google Reader) and news from across the country on about 5 or 6 very specific subjects that interest me. Wow…I didn’t even mention Gmail, calendar,and Google Analytics.

Microsoft Outlook with Mailstreet – Mailstreet syncs everything from my Outlook (mail, contacts, calendar, notes) with my laptop, iPhone and iPad instantly and seamlessly! Enough said…

Hootsuite – This is my other home page (you can have more than one). Hootsuite brings together in one place my Linkedin, facebook and my twitter accounts. It is a killer time saver.

WordPress – I discovered WordPress when I started blogging a little more than a year ago and I continue to be amazed at what you can do with it. You can design some very cool looking stuff and not know the first thing about code.  I have put together two other blogs/websites recently and would be happy to help you…should you get the itch to start blogging. More on blogging in another post.

Let me close with those 7.

I wonder what that list would have looked like 10 years ago?

I really wonder what that list will look like 10 years from now!

Do you use any  of the above…what would be on your weapon list?

Don’t get me wrong – I love Christmas. It’s time for family, for comfort, for love. And for Christians, it’s a time to celebrate what’s most important, the birth of Jesus Christ.

But there are a lot of things we get wrong about Christmas.

For one, we give each other so much stuff. Whether it’s out of obligation or just to truly show someone we care, we’re still essentially material-rich people giving other material-rich people more… materials. The purpose of our holiday, though, is Christ. And Jesus made his purpose clear to us – sacrifice. He died so that we could live. And we struggle to keep that the focus of Christmas while we’re busy buying and unwrapping gifts.

Let’s face it, we actually sacrifice very little. But what’s small to us can be huge to someone who lacks basic health necessities. Just $20 is enough for one person to have clean water for two decades, for example.

So, this year, I’m asking others of you to join me and give up some gifts and donate that money to help me build a well. 100% of all funds raised go directly to the water projects. Between now and Christmas, I aim to raise $2,500 in my charity: water campaign.

Jesus sacrificed himself for us. This is the least I can do.

Please join me and donate whatever you can…..http://mycharitywater.org/ebroussard

THANK YOU!