Why The Apple Watch Might Not Be Terrible

April 14, 2015April 27, 2015 / Alex Doriot / 1 Comment

I’ve been pretty steadily hate-reading test reviews of the Apple Watch. I don’t know why I’m so interested in reading about a product I think is so dumb.

Seriously – ever since Apple’s announcement back in the fall I’ve been shaking my head at this new digital wearable.

Maybe I’m being short-sighted. I just can’t see myself ever purchasing one. Of course I said the same thing about the iPhone when it debuted, and I finally came around to those in 2012.

There is however one feature of the Apple Watch I find intriguing. Apparently the watch has an innovative way of delivering alerts. They’re called Taptic Notifications.

The Apple Watch buzzes every few minutes, always reminding you of its presence and of your connection to your various networks. Continue reading →

How SNL Made Me A Better Youth Minister

February 15, 2015March 9, 2015 / Alex Doriot / 1 Comment

As SNL celebrates its 40th Anniversary this weekend, I just wanted to take a few minutes to say thanks.

You see, I’m not a funny person.

I’ve said funny things before, and I’ve gotten a few laughs in my lifetime. But the truth is most of those funny things were stolen. And most of them were stolen from Saturday Night Live.

I think it’s perfect that as part of the new SNL app there’s a whole keyboard of SNL-inspired emojis. After all, for my friends and I SNL is its own sort of language of catchphrases and inside jokes.

I’ve never been good at quoting classic movies, but I can recite for you Matt Foley’s entire speech about living in a van down by the river and tell you why there needs to be more cowbell and shout out all of the Spartan Cheerleaders’ routines. Continue reading →

Why I Run

October 29, 2014June 3, 2015 / Alex Doriot / 3 Comments

Earlier this week I got a notification from my Nike+ Running App. The App urged me to pledge to run as many miles as I could this week. For every mile I ran, Bank Of America would donate 40 cents to (RED), a charity which looks to end the AIDS epidemic in Africa.

40 cents a mile doesn’t sound like all that much. But I’m a supporter of the (RED) organization and I know how far even that small amount can go. So I’ve pledged to run this week and add my miles to the tally. I encourage you to download the app and do the same.

It wasn’t a hard decision for me to make. I probably would have gone running a couple of times this week anyway.

But what I’m starting to realize is having a reason to run that’s bigger than myself is the best kind of motivation for me. Continue reading →

POP GOD POPcast: Episode 22 – Steve Swanson of WAFJ

June 5, 2014June 20, 2014 / Alex Doriot / Leave a comment

Welcome to the POP GOD POPcast – an exploration into the lives of people seeking God in the present tense.

This week’s guest is Steve Swanson. Steve is the Station Manager and Program Director of WAFJ 88.3 FM in Augusta, GA. WAFJ is celebrating their 20th anniversary serving the CSRA with Family Friendly Music. But as Steve shares, WAFJ is about more than music. The station has truly been a ministry, building a family and community across the country. Steve shares his story and what led him to radio at a young age, as well as the story and the impact of WAFJ. We talk about the incredible power of music to connect people, some of his favorite guests to come in the station’s doors, the beauty of a Vinyl record, and much more. Enjoy this deeper look inside the life of someone truly seeking God in the present tense.

Listen to the podcast here:

Or Download on iTunes Or Listen on Podbean

Check out the WAFJ website to listen live, download the app and support the station

Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, rate it, leave a comment, listen to all the other episodes, share it on Twitter and Facebook and anywhere else. I’d really appreciate it. Thanks.

I love sharing stories of people seeking God in the present tense. Let me hear your feedback. Leave me a comment and let me know how to improve things, what you’d like to hear discussed, and give me your ideas as to who you’d like to see on the next episode of the POPcast.

Tips For The Beginning Time Traveler Part Three

May 20, 2014May 30, 2014 / Alex Doriot / 1 Comment

I downloaded a new app for my iPhone a few weeks ago called Timehop. Timehop presents your day in Social Media History, allowing you to travel back to your posts across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and just about every other outlet (except for Myspace).

It also has an adorable dinosaur named Abe for a mascot. He’s at least 10% of why I downloaded the app.

Timehop is pretty neat. Looking back at all your old status updates and tweets is more fun than you might think. Our old social media posts exist in a weird realm of the internet. They seem so important at first – important enough for us to stop what we’re doing and let the world know exactly what we are doing.

Then, moments later, they disappear, slowly scrolling down our news feeds until they’re simply yesterday’s news.

As fun as it is to look back in history, it’s also a little depressing. Continue reading →

You Don’t Need A Filter

March 17, 2014March 26, 2014 / Alex Doriot / 1 Comment

A picture is worth a thousand words. And when a thousand words aren’t enough, we use Instagram.

People of my generation (myself included) can’t seem to post a picture without putting a fancy filter on it. Whether it’s through Instagram, Facebook or Twitter apps, or even just on the iPhone itself, no picture feels complete without adding a little tint to it.

Why is that? Why don’t we think a normal picture is good enough anymore?

Continue reading →

How To Handle A Power Outage

February 18, 2014February 26, 2014 / Alex Doriot / 1 Comment

The first thing I did when the power went out was go to my phone.

It’s amazing. Even just a few years ago I would not have had the luxury of another electronic plaything to occupy my brain while the power was out.

But during The Great Ice Storm of 2014, less power at home just meant more power for our mobile devices.

For many the power outages and school closings were an excuse to spend hours playing the latest game craze Flappy Bird.

Of course, if you hadn’t already downloaded Flappy Bird, you were out of luck. And not because the wifi was down. Continue reading →

Monday Morning Music: Brave

January 20, 2014January 27, 2014 / Alex Doriot / Leave a comment

(Click Here if you can’t see the video above.)

There are few things more brave than dancing like crazy in a public place.

One of them may be admitting I really like the song and the video for “Brave” by Sara Bareilles.

Sara Bareilles’ song and album have improbably garnered a slew of Grammy nominations for this year’s awards.

You may not even realize you’ve heard “Brave” until you recognize it as the jingle for all the new Windows commercials you’ve seen during every commercial break of NFL football and just about everything else you watch on television. Continue reading →

Stay Plugged In

June 3, 2013June 4, 2013 / Alex Doriot / Leave a comment

Last week I unplugged for a few days with my extended family. We rented out a rustic log cabin – on Fernandina Beach in Florida.

While spending time with relatives in our untraditional abode I really tried to unplug myself from my iPhone. It was a struggle.

The first couple of days at the beach I found it impossible to not worry about email, Facebook, Twitter and the many balls in the air I had going at the church.

It really wasn’t until the day before I headed I home when I really began to swim away from my phone, only to dive right back in as soon as I shook the sand from my flip-flops.

Do you ever struggle with unplugging? Our phones, jobs, and social media profiles make it nearly impossible to truly break free from the connections which clutter our minds.

I wonder though if unplugging is all it’s cracked up to be. I think we are actually created to be plugged in. Sometimes we just get our cords attached to the wrong outlets. Continue reading →