Anyone wanna go to Texas?

Josh Hamilton is the center fielder for the Texas Rangers and he is probably the best thing that happened to Texas since Dirk Nowitzki and Yao were shipped over. Last year he set a Home Run Derby record by hitting 28 home runs in the 1st round, he led the American league in RBIs, and became an instant superstar. He has an inspiring story that you may have heard before. It’s not uncommon to hear athletes and celebrities thank Jesus on tv, but there is different level of authenticity and purpose when this guy gets behind the mic.

If you have heard me try to pull off a random Texas trip, this guy is the reason why.  He’s been battling injuries throughout the first half of 2009 and is finally back. I really wanna make a trip to root for him and see him play. This is an interview on CNN from about a year ago. Take a look:

To hear his testimony and story go here: http://iamsecond.com/#/seconds/Josh_Hamilton/

Francis Chan: Lukewarm and Lovin’ It!

A couple weeks ago I had dinner with a fiery Korean man. He recommended a podcast by a fiery Chinese man, I listened, and it has been on my mind almost every day.

Francis Chan – “Lukewarm and Lovin’ It”

(Click and it should open your iTunes)

Or check it out on Youtube:

One week with the iPhone (100th post!)

A week ago today, I joined the masses and became a new user of the iPhone. I’ve never used one (nor an iPod touch) very much before so it took some getting used to. It didn’t take long to realize that this phone was significantly more advanced than my old phone, the Samsung Blackjack. I guess I could go into detail about how fast it is or how wonderful copy-and-paste is, but since I was an iPhone virgin, the 3GS is all I know.

The big reason why I went for the iPhone 3GS was for the updated camera. In my opinion, the best camera isn’t necessarily the highest quality, but the most convenient – and there’s nothing more convenient than carrying around your phone, right? Though only 3MP, it takes great photos and features a unique touch-to-focus interface. For example, here’s a picture of the train I took on the way to work:

Though it isn’t as quality as the Nokia N97 (another phone to drool after, but unsubsidized and quite expensive), the quality is more than enough to share online (e.g. Facebook). In case you’re wondering where I’m coming from, here is a picture of Shawn Marion that I took with my Blackjack way back in September 2008.

Additionally, there are some cool photo apps available for the iPhone these days. For only a few bucks, I’d recommend everyone to grab Photogene – it’s like having a lite version of Adobe Lightroom in your pocket. Mainly, you would use it to play with the colors, levels, or crop, but you can also add some fun stuff like borders or captions. Here’s an example for earlier today on my way home from work:

The picture on the left is the original (obviously) and the picture on the right was altered by Photogene. You can see that I just played with the color temperature, contrast, and added a simple white border (I don’t know why, but I’m very fond of the border). Again, you can see how this camera is more than enough for anyone who just wants to publish some decent photos to Facebook.

There’s also this video feature that I haven’t really had time to play with. I’ve only made some ghetto films of cars driving by, so there’s no point in sharing those.

Outside of the the camera features, the iPhone offers a pretty quality and intuitive OS and lets me get both my personal and work email (which doesn’t sound like much, but for security reasons I can’t get my work email on any device that doesn’t use Exchange). The GPS/Compass is pretty useful, although I’ve had some issues using the compass while walking around downtown Chicago. In all, the apps really enhance this phone. The games on the other hand, are fun, but I never really want to pay for something I’m only going to play a few times.

Overall, if $199 or $299 is within your price range, I’d definitely recommend this phone. All the hooplah about having multiple applications running on the same time hasn’t gotten to me yet. Though it would be a plus, I’ve never really run into an issue to make me miss that feature.

Yep yep, I’m obviously not a tech blogger and this isn’t a tech blog so don’t judge me on this. What you can judge me on, however, is how this blogging about my iPhone is how I spent my Friday night…*sigh* I need a wife life.

Still much to learn

Every time I open my mouth in small group, I realize once again, that I still have much to learn and I have not fully unpacked my thoughts.

I have to keep in mind that I am young and over confident, headstrong and unrefined.

I tend to think “I’m ready” or “I’ve got it down” when I’ve only just begun.

Old phone numbers

So I’ve been taking phone numbers from my phone and entering them into my laptop’s address book for a few hours today. It’s funny how I have to put notes at the bottom to remember who some people are. There are some normal notes like “OIL Caravan ‘06″ or “UIUC GE”. But then there are some odd ones like “Copied my hw” or “Bowl cut” or “GE lab assistant, annoying bf”. Hmmm I wonder if you know who I’m talking about… =P