Today is the first ever RSS Awareness Day! The organizers (Daily Blog Tips) have asked participants to blog about RSS on May 1, so here’s my contribution.
Now, I know that typically an awareness day is used to highlight a major social problem in the world. So if you’re unfamiliar with RSS you might think that it sounds like an abbreviation for a disease, as in:
Person 1: “Yeah, my dad’s living in a home now. He’s got ESRD.”
Person 2: “My mom just found out she has RSS.”
Person 1: “Oh, I’m so sorry.”
Person 2: “Yeah, she doesn’t have much time.”
But that isn’t the case. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. An RSS document, commonly called a feed, contains either a summary or the full content from a website. You as the user can subscribe to a site’s syndication feed using a feed reader.
Continue reading ‘RSS Awareness Day’
This past Thursday was the final Nav Night of the spring 2008 semester. We spent the first half of the evening honoring the graduating seniors. This year we had twelve students graduating. We had one person get up to speak on behalf of each of them. I had the honor of speaking for Aaron Gavila, my old roommate and good friend. We concluded our senior send-off by praying over them.
Continue reading ‘Nav Night: Spring ‘08 Finale’
Each spring since I’ve been at Florida State the Navigators have gone on a prayer retreat to spend time seeking God. Each one of these has been different. I don’t mean that the activity has been different. In fact, of all the things we do year after year, this is the one event that follows the same structure each and every time we go. We arrive on Friday night and start praying. We spend all day Saturday praying. Then we spend Sunday morning in prayer. When I say each one is different what I mean is that God says and does something unique each time. This time was no exception.
Continue reading ‘Prayer Retreat ‘08′
If you’re a longtime reader of my blog then you know that I’m not typically a big fan of my birthday. I’ve had this blog for my last four birthdays and have written about my disdain for the day each time (read: 20, 21, 22, 23). There have been two major reasons. First, I would rather be celebrated for something I do than for who I am. Second, the quality of relationship I experience on my birthday is generally very poor.
Recently, however, my views have begun to change.
Continue reading ‘Turning 24′
The last time I made baseball predictions I was 100% correct. Here’s what I think it going to happen this season.
National League
East: Mets
Central: Cubs
West: Diamondbacks
Wild Card: Braves
American League
East: Red Sox
Central: Tigers
West: Mariners
Wild Card: Indians
World Series
Tigers over Mets
Please, tell me why I’m wrong.
Last Thursday I gave the message at our weekly Nav Night meeting. Since most of our Bible studies are on Ephesians this semester Dave asked me to give a message on Ephesians, something that would be an overview of the entire book. I wanted to bring something to the table that the students probably weren’t getting in their study.
I decided to use Watchman Nee’s Ephesians commentary Sit, Walk, Stand as the model of what I would share. Nee’s take on Ephesians is that the book can be broken down into three parts: our position in Christ, our life in the world and our attitude toward the enemy. We sit with Christ in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 2:6), we walk in a manner worthy of the calling we have received (Ephesians 4:1), and we put on the full armor of God so that we can stand against the devil’s schemes (Ephesians 6:11).
The message was recorded and today was added to the ministry podcast. Listen to it and let me know what you think. I also encourage you to subscribe to the podcast (via iTunes or RSS).
Facebook has always been a target for criticism when it comes to privacy. The News Feed/Mini Feed hysteria and Beacon fiasco both come to mind as two prominent examples. Recently the NY Times wrote an article claiming that it was impossible to completely delete your account. (Facebook has since addressed this issue.) Zuckerberg and his cronies have been a little slow to figure out that people just don’t like their information being used without their precise knowledge of how and by whom. With this latest update they may have finally figured it out. Today Facebook unveiled its new privacy controls. The biggest changes have to do with a user’s ability to control who sees what on their profile.
Continue reading ‘Major Facebook Privacy Control Changes’
Last week I was in Chicago for the FSU Navigators’ spring break trip. This trip has been a major part of my life since this past November when we first started cooking up the idea. I was put in charge of the trip, mostly because I had made a couple of key connections with Chicago Nav staff this past summer. Today I’d like to talk about the trip and a little about the planning process that led up to it.
Continue reading ‘Chicago Spring Break Trip 2008′
This past November at the Navigators National Staff Conference we were treated to the first three parts of a four-part animated series called “The D-Team.” The series is about fund raising and the Nav Development Team. Part three ended saying that the conclusion would be posted online. After waiting patiently all these months they have finally posted all four chapters here. They even made a Facebook profile for Zach and Kate (pictured).
There are a lot of jokes in these videos that, if you’re not on Nav Staff, you might not get. The first three episodes were met with uproarious laughter at each of the plenary sessions. I’d like to hear what you think of these videos, so leave a comment.
Episode 1 | Episode 2 | Episode 3 | Episode 4
Does Leap Year Day have any significance to you? I’m not talking about the scientific relevance of the day, or to the unfortunate few who happen to celebrate birthdays today. Was today all that different from any other Friday or any other day this month? It seems like it should have been. After all, it only comes once every four years! Did you do anything special?
I can’t say that I put on my Leap Year Day hat or sang Leap Year Day carols today. I didn’t eat a fancy holiday meal or spend time with family. There wasn’t a parade or a big sporting event. Still, I’ve been anticipating today. I find that the mere notion of February 29 nearly always gets me thinking about my past and my future. What was I doing four years ago? What will I be doing four year from now?
Continue reading ‘My Leap Year Day Snapshots’
