Maurilio Amorim

Month: June 2010

  • Traveling Well: Tips from a Weary Traveler

    I travel a lot. A whole lot. Until recently most of my travel has been within the US but this year I have been all over the globe. Right now I’m writing this post somewhere over Russia. There’s an art to traveling well, even if you can’t go first or business class as is my case right now. Here’s a few thoughts on the art of travel.

    •  Book an exit row or bulk head  seat (some airlines charge extra for those seats). The extra leg room is really helpful on a long flight.
    •    Board as early as possible.  Boarding early secures you the overhead bin near you. They fill up quickly specially on overseas flights.
    •     Dress for comfort. Make sure you wear comfortable clothing and specially footwear since your feet will swell up during long flights.
    •     Wear dark colors. You never know when you or someone next to you will spill something. Coffee stains look a lot better on jeans or black pants than it does on kakis.  Dark colors do better than light after you’ve had them on for a couple of days as I have learned on this trip. (note as I wrote this I was 17 hours of a 36-hour trip to get home. I was not able to change clothes during the trip)
    •     Wear layers. I like wearing a coat on long trips to help me keep up with my travel documents my passport while keeping me looking sharp after a long trip.
    •     Bring noise reduction headphones. My Bose headphones have been a life saver. They have protected me from screaming babies, obnoxious seat mates and from the low rumble of the plane engines while providing great sound quality. It’s money well spent. And besides, the music from Glee sounds amazing on the Bose.
    •     Buy a traveling neck pillow. On long flights the neck pillow is a wonderful invention. It supports your head while allowing you to sleep. I bought the tempur-pedic version. It costs more but offers great support. On short flights, however, they make you look like a dork who doesn’t get out much. So use it wisely.
    •    Buy an iPad. Ok this might seem extreme, but on a 26-hr flight, my iPad was a life saver. I read books, answered emails, watched a whole season of Glee and wrote blog posts. And if you don’t have a charger near your seat there’s no problem since the iPad’s battery lasts a very long time. Besides the flight attendants will strike up conversation upon gazing at your might iPad and you might score free drinks and left overs dessert from first class (Ok, I’m not proud)
    •  Call a reservation agent when in trouble.  If your flight gets delayed or canceled, you might find yourself in a long line waiting for a gate agent to rebook your flight. Oftentimes calling the airline reservation number is the best option. I once called from inside of a plane that was being pushed back to the gate due to engine problems and got one of the last available seats with another airline leaving within minutes of my original itinerary. People might get angry that you got booked and they didn’t but they’ll take their anger at the agent while you board for home.

    This will have to be a multi-part blog. I will post more tips later. 
    So what’s the best travel tip you’ve ever gotten? 

  • Global Outreach and the New Technology Frontier

    I have spent the last few days in Singapore listening to reports from around Asia on TWR‘s outreach efforts. There’s an amazing amount of work being done in this region of the globe for the advancement of the gospel including work in closed countries like North Korea, Myanmar and China. TWR is the largest Christian Broadcaster in the world reaching out to over 200 languages in some 160 countries through radio waves, television, print and internet. It’s truly an amazing organization. As I sat with leaders of 12 different countries/regions one common theme began to appear: mobile is our new frontier.

    TWR Partners of 12 different countries in Asia

    While radio is still the only way to reach millions in some cultures, mobile phones now make up the fastest growing communication device in the world. Even remote places in India and Africa now have affordable cell service with data plans. In the past few days I have been learning how Asians are using SMS or text services in marketing and the proliferation of Blue Tooth marketing. As I walked through a mall posters advertise “turn your blue tooth on and we’ll send you a coupon.” Now concert goers can receive a small video, a free song or any mobile friendly file through a blue tooth connection. Shortly we’ll receive our church bulletin to our cell phones through blue tooth or a dedicated app.

     With TWR’s CIO Steve Shantz.

    I’m honored to be a strategic technology partner for TWR (The A Group is developing several new technologies for TWR including mobile apps and a comprehensive Digital Management System). And I’m encouraged by their vision for ministry and not for the medium. It would be easy for such a legacy organization to say “we are radio people, we should stick with what we know.” But instead their focus is on the message and the most effective way to broadcast it to the entire globe.

    In what interesting ways have you seen technology being used for ministry?

  • Travel Log: Singapore. Hot, Humid and Fun

    Singapore is a long way from my home in Tennessee. A very long way. After traveling more than 26 hours, I finally got here. Here’s some random thoughts and pictures.

    1. The Singapore airport and customs rocks. Clean, bright, spacious and fast. Everything you want in an airport. What a great first impression.
    2. Clean. Clean. Clean. I’ve never been in city of this size and seen anything this clean before. 
    3. Lush landscape everywhere. Even the streets have beautifully and meticulously kept ornamental plants. 
    4. No old cars. I haven’t seen one beat-up truck or rusted out car. And since this is a sea city in the tropics, rust would have to be an issue, but I haven’t seen one. 
    5. Booming economy. There’s construction everywhere. Big projects around the water and residential areas give you the impression the global recession hasn’t hit Singapore hard. 
    6. Bring your own napkin. For all its wonderful qualities, Singapore does not believe in napkins. You have to bring it from home. That’s crazy. 
    7. Hot and humid year round. If you don’t like to sweat and get your hair frizzy, stay away from Singapore. This is a 3-shower-a-day place. 
    I’m wearing black and it’s a 100 degrees. Therefore no smile.
    Lush landscape everywhere. Beautiful.
    A couple of teens were eating this and I asked them what it was. Dessert! Shaved ice with sweet beans, rice (the black stuff), creamed corn and gummy slugs. No comment. 
    A view of downtown from the top of the Singapore Flyer: a giant Ferris wheel.
    A mall filled with only technology stores. They call it Tech Mall. I call it Geek Heaven.

    The Flyer gets very high. On this picture you can see Earth below. 🙂 
    So Singaporeans don’t like napkins. What’s the strangest custom(s) you have encountered?

  • Bad Church Names

    All the great posts I had planned for this week didn’t happen, so I’m posting my Friday mindless post. As a branding professional, I’m often asked to help name new churches or help churches change their names. So here’s a collection of unusual church names 
    I would not be so flippant with God’s name

    But What Are You? 
    If you’re tired of the exciting church, this is your option. 

    If your blood pressure can’t handle this much excitement, then visit the Boring UMC

    Everything worth doing is worth doing, well, half way. I guess that includes churches. 
    What’s the most unusual church name you’ve visited or driven by?