Alas, I fell short.

Just a couple weeks ago, sage blogger John Saddington (@human3rror) ran a contest on the website ChurchDrop in which he gave away his old iPhone 3GS. He had just bought the new iPhone 4 and decided against selling his old phone in favor of doing something more fun.

The giveaway was not done at random. John spelled out the specifics:

Drop a comment below telling us about someone that really needs an upgrade on their personal cell phone. This could be someone who’s got an old Nokia from the late 90′s or someone who’s recently lost their phone or damaged it but is unable to afford a replacement. … Our hope is to provide a handset for someone that seriously has a need instead of someone who’s just wanting to upgrade for upgrades’ sake.

Reading this made me think of one person: my old roommate Joe. (The alert reader will note that this is the same Joe from the Jumping Joe Meme.) I was one of the first to enter the contest:

My old roommate Joe just got married and he’s NEVER owned a cell phone. I promise, cross my heart. I know it’s hard to believe. His wife Mandi (who has an iPhone) has said she won’t force him to get one until she gets pregnant. But I have to believe his lack of cell phone annoys her even if she’s a good sport about it. He has an iPod touch that he really likes, and I think if someone were to hand him an iPhone he would finally want to take the plunge. Plus, when people see he has a cell phone, there will be all sorts of fun rumors about their expanding family.

I was extremely confident that I’d just turned in the winning entry, but it was not meant to be. Joe and I lost. The winner submitted the following video comment.

Watch “iPhone 3GS hand-me-down” on YouTube

I have to admit, I think the guy who won was a good choice. Sorry, Joe. Better luck next time.

Visit my site for more, or subscribe via email or RSS to receive new content automatically. You can also follow me on Twitter.

© 2004-2010 John Andrew Ledwith, All Rights Reserved

I am about to make my first foray into smart phones. I just pre-ordered the new iPhone 4. It’ll be released on June 24.

I’ve been following the development of smart phones, app stores, and the like for years. I have a general idea of the apps I’d like to use, but I want to hear from the people who have been using them. What iPhone apps do you use? Which are your favorites? These could be apps from Apple’s App Store or they could be web apps.

Leave your suggestions in the comments. I’ll try out all the free apps you suggest and many of the premium ones, too. I’ll write a follow-up post in a few weeks.

Visit my site for more, or subscribe via email or RSS to receive new content automatically. You can also follow me on Twitter.

© 2004-2010 John Andrew Ledwith, All Rights Reserved

Chris Futch and Zack Latham (@Sandpapery) performed a parody of the famous final courtroom scene from “A Few Good Men” at the FSU Navigators (@fsunavigators) talent show back in April. I’m finally getting around to posting video from that night.

Here’s the complete script, in case you’re interested. The dialogue contains its fair share of Nav references and other inside jokes. I’ll do my best to decode them with links.

Zack: You want to be on the Bridge?

Chris: I think I’m entitled to be there.

Zack: You’re on the Bridge?!

Chris: I’m on the Bridge!

Zack: You can’t handle the Bridge! Son, we live in a world that has sin. And those sins have to be punished by God with justice. Who’s gonna do it? You? You, Dave Wirgau? Christ has a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for your self-righteousness and you curse God’s mercy. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know: that Christ’s death, while tragic, gloriously saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don’t want the Bridge. Because deep down, in places you don’t talk about at parties, you know you can’t fill that roll. You need Christ there. We use words like Navs, Skeen, TMS — we use these words as the backbone to a life spent proclaiming something. You use ‘em as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the wisdom to explain the Bridge to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very thing that blinds him to the Truth, then questions the manner in which his sin is revealed to him. I’d prefer you just said thank you and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you give me your number and we grab lunch some day. Either way, I don’t give a Covington what you think you’re entitled to!

Chris: Why can’t I be on the Bridge?

Zack: I really have a class I need to get to…

Chris: Can you explain it to me again?

Zack: By His good grace right I can!

Compare it to the Original

Watch “You Can’t Handle the Truth” on YouTube

Okay, so our guys don’t quite have the acting chops of Nicholson and Cruise. But if you’d like to compare (gracefully) the parody to the original, watch the video above. (The part of the scene Chris and Zack remade begins at the 1:35 mark of this video.)

Visit my site for more, or subscribe via email or RSS to receive new content automatically. You can also follow me on Twitter.

© 2004-2010 John Andrew Ledwith, All Rights Reserved

For the last several months I have been developing a new website for Commuter Services of North Florida, a program administered by The Marketing Institute in the FSU College of Business. This morning I flipped the switch and that site is now live!

Before and After

Check out what it used to look like:

It really needed a facelift! (And yes, it was left-justified. Yuck!)

I’m really proud of how the new-look turned out:

Under the Hood

This site uses self-hosted WordPress, the best content management software around. The look-and-feel of the site is a heavily modified version of the WP Remix theme. (Knowing what I know now, I would not recommend the purchase or use of this theme. It has some of the most convoluted coding I’ve ever seen.)

My favorite design element has to be the semi-transparent pull-down menus. (These were made prior to the inclusion of the built-in Menu feature in WordPress. I’ll switch to it at some point.)

Feedback

It’d be great to hear what you think of the design and usability of the site. Take it for a spin, then come back and leave a comment.

Visit my site for more, or subscribe via email or RSS to receive new content automatically. You can also follow me on Twitter.

© 2004-2010 John Andrew Ledwith, All Rights Reserved

I’m a big fan of Conan O’Brien. He and Andy Richter recently made a stop at Google headquarters where they gave a tremendous interview. The video is a bit long but it’s hysterical.

Find out more about Conan’s comedy tour at teamcoco.com.

Visit my site for more, or subscribe via email or RSS to receive new content automatically. You can also follow me on Twitter.

© 2004-2010 John Andrew Ledwith, All Rights Reserved

Two days ago I went out to breakfast with some friends. As we were eating we noticed a little kid on the other side of the room playing with a balloon animal. It was a fishing pole and line with a fish on the end of the line. It looked really complex. My friends Rob and Clint wanted their own balloon creations, so they asked our waitress if she’d steer the person making them over to our table.

Check out these works of art.

Rob was transformed into a balloon pirate, complete with hat, sword, hook, and parrot. The parrot even stayed on his shoulder by putting a bit of Rob’s shirt in between its feet. That same little kid with the balloon fish looked pretty jealous when he saw Rob all decked out.

Clint has the most awesome balloon animal ever: a balloon monkey in a balloon tree with balloon bananas. As much as I dig Rob’s gear I think this one is even better.

Our balloon technician — a term coined by my friend Shaun — claimed she learned how to make all these on YouTube. Color me intrigued.

Visit my site for more, or subscribe via email or RSS to receive new content automatically. You can also follow me on Twitter.

© 2004-2010 John Andrew Ledwith, All Rights Reserved

I’m the head web developer for four websites (including my personal site) and a contributing developer for one other site. Facebook has been making a lot of work for me lately. They recently changed the way outside sites connect with its services. They announced the eventual shutdown of Facebook Connect, the existing protocol, in favor of a new JavaScript SDK that makes heavy use of the Like button through social plugins. Strangely, there isn’t a Share button social plugin that runs on the new SDK. You still have to use Facebook Connect for that feature.

But here’s the real kicker: a website cannot run Facebook Connect and the JavaScript SDK at the same time. Trust me, I’ve tried. So did the good people over at AllFacebook, and they came to the same conclusion. Developers must choose between the new Like button and the existing Share button.

(Yes, I know you can have both running simultaneously if you use iframes. That’s how Mashable has both running on their site. I’m assuming the use of XFBML, which offers a richer user experience. Also, the unofficial Share button by fbShare.me works fine while running alongside the new Like button. I’m assuming the use of the official Share button.)

Initially I assumed that Facebook must be phasing out Share all together in favor of Like. I started poking around the documentation for Facebook’s Open Graph protocol. (Everything with a Like button has a place on Facebook’s social graph. Developers can designate certain information on their end so it appears on Facebook the way they want.) At the very bottom of that documentation there’s a section called “Best Practices.” Bullet number two is very interesting.

Make only real-life things into objects. Users don’t want news articles and other transient content as objects on their profile.

Wait a minute. Sounds like Facebook doesn’t want developers to use the Like button for individual posts and news articles, but rather for blogs and sites as a whole. With this definition you might be able to get away with adding a Like button to a category within a blog or maybe a type of news on a news site (example: “[Facebook user] likes World News on CNN.com.”), but that’s about it.

So here’s my big question. If Facebook itself claims not to want to use the Like button as the new Share button when it comes to “transient content,” why would they leave the existing Share button out in the cold under their new JavaScript SDK?

I sent this question along to the good people at AllFacebook. Nick O’Neill, their lead writer, messaged me back saying it was a good catch and that there would be a post on their site about it soon. My site isn’t exactly a bustling thoroughfare of activity, so with any luck they can take my question and start up a good conversation.

Visit my site for more, or subscribe via email or RSS to receive new content automatically. You can also follow me on Twitter.

© 2004-2010 John Andrew Ledwith, All Rights Reserved

Spring 2009

Last year Bryan Zhang and Chris Futch sang a medley of nine reworded pop songs. They managed to work in a lot of inside jokes, some which Navs on any campus will find funny and others that only those at FSU will understand. These are two very talented and creative guys. [Watch video on YouTube.]

We also were treated to a Jacob Breman original, “What He Thinks She Thinks.” The clever lyrics and simple strum patterns remind me of early Relient K songs. [Watch video on YouTube.]

Spring 2008

Thanks largely to Chris Futch, the FSU Navs have done quite a few five-minute musicals: a full-length musical production condensed into a performance that lasts five minutes. (Or, roughly five minutes, anyway. “Nav time” apparently still applies.) This musical was particularly ambitious. “The Sound of the Lion Newsies” combined elements from “The Sound of Music,” “The Lion King,” and “Newsies.” This video is the uncut performance. [Watch video on Revver.]

Spring 2007

In my opinion, “Pinky Toe” as performed by Brent Kanyok and Rob Hodges at the ’07 talent show remains the best of them all. Who would have thought Mike Wojcik’s pinky toe would become the object of such adoration? [Watch video on YouTube.]

Even More Videos

I’ve made a playlist of videos on YouTube featuring FSU Navs singing. Expect to see that playlist updated later this week with videos from this year’s talent show.

Visit my site for more, or subscribe via email or RSS to receive new content automatically. You can also follow me on Twitter.

© 2004-2010 John Andrew Ledwith, All Rights Reserved

I don’t think anyone ever imagines himself or herself being twenty-six years old. It’s not much of a birthday. I’ve been told starting when you turn twenty-five the only birthdays that matter are the ones divisible by five. I can see that being true. It’s sad to think that eight out of ten birthdays will lack a sense of grandeur from now on. Also, being twenty-five seemed a lot cooler than being twenty-four, and so far twenty-five seems a lot cooler than twenty-six as well. It’s nothing more than additional age. A year ago I still felt closer to twenty than thirty. That’s no longer true. To be fair, I don’t have any idea what it feels like to be thirty, so even saying it like that is a bit screwy. What I do know is I no longer feel a strong association with the collegiate version of myself. Furthermore, I don’t miss that guy. If given the choice, I wouldn’t go back. I have no desire to trade down.

The tone of the birthday essay I wrote a year ago is one of extreme optimism and triumph. I went back and read it today before I began writing this essay. I had keyed in on the desire to live life with purpose. I was asking myself if I was willing to rearrange my life in order to grab hold of what I wanted the most. I had formed a plan, and it was a good one. I knew what I wanted and I knew what I had to do to get it. Today I see a couple things in my hopes of a year ago that I didn’t see back then.

My year has been dramatically influenced by a few key writers and speakers, most notably Donald Miller and his book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. In it he talks about what makes a story meaningful, and how those same principles make a life meaningful. He defines a story as “a character who wants something and overcomes conflict to get it.” Every story you’ve ever read or watched can be summed up in these broad terms. The best stories are when the character wants something noble or priceless while the conflict is extreme. The unfortunate reality is that these things are true about story because they’re also true about life. And I say “unfortunate” because I now see that I spend a lot of time trying to circumvent conflict rather than trying to overcome it. I’m not saying that avoiding unnecessary conflict is a bad thing, but attempting to avoid unavoidable conflict is cowardice and ultimately futile. That’s not the stuff of good books and good movies and it’s not the stuff of a good life either.

I have struggled through a number of moments this year which I would characterize as severe conflict. Let me mention a few I’ve not written about previously. I had a major burnout during my mission trip to Berlin, and I took out my frustration on one of the in-country leaders. For the first time in years I found myself both unable to do all the things being asked of me and unable to run away from that difficulty, plus I compounded the problem by acting petty. In the fall semester I had to withdraw from a class I was taking because the material and the topics were over my head. This move simultaneously crushed my ego and ended any chance I had at completing my so-called two-year plan — the one I lauded in my previous birthday essay — within two years. Then there’s my ministry work with The Navigators at FSU. I had this grand vision for training Bible study leaders this fall and spring in an interactive classroom setting but it never became what I hoped it would, largely due to my poor planning and poor follow through.

I wrote a year ago that nothing short of the grace of God had prevented bitterness from taking root where I’d let anger produced by poor circumstances linger. I said I was content, rejuvenated even, and that it had to do with having the opportunity to exercise my primary gifts. I even wondered aloud at whether that newfound strength was meant to prepare me for something.

All this conflict was only in my life because circumstances separated me from something I wanted. I wanted to build strong relationships with some other missionally-minded people in my church and grow in my relationship with God. I still needed six credit hours to receive a graduate certificate in publishing and editing, which itself I wanted in order to help me advance my career. I wanted to teach and mentor students and student leaders, and I also wanted to try out new methods to see if I could achieve even greater results. In each of those instances I thought I’d be able to use my gifts and find the same sense of invigorating life I’d recently found.

There were moments in each of these stories where the conflict brought me to my knees. But I’m learning that conflict in itself is not failure, even though I often perceive the two to be analogous. My Berlin teammates stood by me in the midst of my burnout, even the guy I treated poorly. God taught me that my habitual self-reliance is a liability, not a strength. Conflict actually brought about the attainment of my goals. I grew closer to missionally-minded people and my relationship with God grew deeper. Dropping that class cost me a lot of money and broke my plan, but my original intent was to open up new career opportunities. Concurrent with these events my boss offered me a new job, one in which I’d be a web designer. God provided a new career opportunity even when my route to that end was sidetracked. As for the training derailment, when I’m really honest with myself, the reason I became so worked up about it not working out is because I didn’t get my way. I still got to help lead a freshman study and I still got to train the leaders by example like I had in the past, but I had to settle for something other than my vision. God was still getting what He wanted — men and women reading His Word and relying on Him — but that wasn’t good enough for me. Sometimes conflict can be resolved with a little perspective.

I often wonder as I get older if I actually get any wiser or if I just clumsily bounce along and make the same mistakes year after year. I thought I’d had a major epiphany a year ago. I was on the right track, but I still conceived the world as a place where I could have my way if I only planned a little better or tried a little harder. Having a plan is important. Good stories include characters who know what they want. But I was consumed with achieving success and yielding results. I had unintentionally under-emphasized the sovereignty of God, that He works for the good of those who love Him. Solomon put it best when he said that many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails. Solomon doesn’t chastise us for having plans; he reminds us who the true main character of the story is.

I’ve decided I want to live a great story. I’ve begun to accept that facing some conflict is unavoidable even though I’d like to believe otherwise, and that some conflict even ends up being a step in the right direction. But to live a great story I also need to aim for something priceless. In his book, Miller wrote about living a few “practice stories” (climbing the Inca Trail at Machu Picchu, biking with a team from L.A. to D.C.) before taking on something he considered priceless (founding The Mentoring Project). I haven’t decided whether I want to try his practice route or just dive right in, but attempting neither is not an option. Viewed in this light, in spite of what a person might typically say about this particular birthday, I have high hopes for my twenty-seventh year.

Visit my site for more, or subscribe via email or RSS to receive new content automatically. You can also follow me on Twitter.

© 2004-2010 John Andrew Ledwith, All Rights Reserved

Following Jesus — Eddie teaches what it means to follow and why Jesus is worthy to be followed. Included are seven words of Jesus on being His disciple.

Making Disciples — Eddie shares three foundations to lay in the lives of others, then four principles of disciple-making seen in the life of Jesus.

Making Disciples of All Nations — Eddie provides the biblical definition of the word “nation.” He continues with God’s promise, plan and picture to reach the nations.

I thought Eddie’s talks were great. I particularly appreciated the special attention he showed in his third talk to revealing the thread that runs throughout the Old Testament of God making His promises and blessings available to all the nations. If you get a chance, listen to these messages and let me know what you think in the comments.

UPDATE: I had someone ask how I got these talks online. I wrote about how and why the FSU Navigators podcast a few months back when I relaunched it. The facility we used for the conference had their own recording equipment so I didn’t have to use mine, but otherwise I used the same process.

Visit my site for more, or subscribe via email or RSS to receive new content automatically. You can also follow me on Twitter.

© 2004-2010 John Andrew Ledwith, All Rights Reserved