A La Carte is a regular entry that just collects tidbits I've saved over the past week from around the net. Here we go:

A month without email

MG Siegler at Techcrunch recently went without email for a month, and he has some interesting conclusions about the medium that we've all come to know and hate.

The past few weeks have been fantastic. Both my mornings and evenings have been decidedly less stressful due to this one little life alteration. Actually, all day, every day has just felt better, not having to worry about the constant stress of getting and (more importantly) responding to email.

When I initially said I was quitting for the month, it brought about a few common reactions: 1) “you’re my hero” 2) “you’re an idiot” 3) “it will never work”. A ton of people I’ve run into over the past month have wanted to know how it was going. Here are some thoughts after a month away.

I'd encourage you to read his post and leave some thoughts here!

Avoiding sin when using social media

Many thanks to Tim Challies for linking this great article by Julian Freeman. Using scripture such as Proverbs 10.19, ("When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.") Freeman urges us to use social media with wisdom, restraint and strategic purpose.

Some of his main points include:

• Balancing saying something with nothing. It requires true wisdom. Don't succumb to SEO conventional wisdom.

• Status updates are permanent records. What you think in a flash may not need to be published.

• Writing is not doing. "Don't confuse talking (typing) with doing." Embrace productivity.

• Living within social media is not living. "The disembodiment of the medium," he calls it.

• Know the difference between "Friends, Followers and Feed-Readers."

A few funs

• All I asked, was if the building had an elevator. You should have seen the stairs I got. RT @SpacemanQuisp

• In summary, my life is a white button down shirt at an all you can eat spaghetti buffet. RT @HindSight5050

• Prison is peculiar. All the pros are cons. RT @pagecrusher

• It's difficult to have a committed relationship with a schizophrenic. They're always seeing other people. RT @gneicco

5 Facts about first-time church visitors

Rick Ezell offers the following observations about those who visit church for the first time. What do you think? His article is worth reading for more insight.

1. Visitors make up their minds regarding a new church in the first ten minutes of their visit.

2. Most church members aren’t friendly.

3. Church guests are highly consumer-oriented.

4. The church is in the hospitality business.

5. You only have one chance to make a good first impression.

While I tend to agree with #1 and #3, I'm not sure I can buy into the other points. Even though I might agree with #5 in principle, there's so much more at work in an authentic Christ-focused church. When our default template is external appearance, our measurements become secular rather than transformational.

Don't ignore your cluttered lobby that's not marked well for guests, certainly. But more importantly, don't neglect cluttered souls by your incessant appeals to "excellence."

What's wrong with the NCAA

Aaron McFarling has a great blog entry at Roanoke.com about the inconsistencies and confusions surrounding the NCAA in recent years. Probably one of the best insights came from a reader who left the comment:

The problem is the NCAA is what NCAA stands for : No Cajones At All That’s the problem.

Too much rain? Michael Kelley reins in with a great insight about too much rain. After recently spending a week in west Texas where things are brown because of no rain, I thought his insight about grass that turns brown when there's been too much rain was spot on.