Augie Garrido finished second at the 1992 College World Series with a Cal State Fullerton team led by future big leaguer Phil Nevin.

“I know this: That 1992 team with Nevin and those guys that finished second, more of them have gone on to different professions—real estate, banking, dentistry,” Garrido said. “They have a higher level of success rate in life than teams that won. I honestly believe it’s because they never want to finish second in anything again. I have that experience—I know that to be true.”

Coach Garrido said the same kind of thing in his post-game interview last night immediately after his University of Texas team lost to LSU in the College World Series championship.

There’s a lot of positive value in losing.

It motivates, it builds resolve, it increases focus on the goal. And, as Coach Garrido noted, often failure in one area (losing the national championship series) is the springboard to success in another area (professional accomplishments).

It’s the biggest reason why I’m such a proponent of youth sports that keep score and declare winners and losers. Not so kids can win trophies. Not so dads can live vicariously through their kids’ dynastic undefeated seasons. But so kids learn the positive values that come from losing: persistence, effort, teamwork, focus, commitment. The elements that make them winners as adults in life, not just winners as kids on a field.

From Our Wedding

Now I know I am.

From Family Photo Session May 2009

• “Experience is not the best teacher. Other people’s experience is the best teacher. By reading about the lives of great people, you can unlock the secrets to what made them great.” (p. 9)
• “Most folks figure a true friend is someone who accepts them as they are. But that’s dangerous garbage to believe…The kid who works through at your local fast-food restaurant accepts you for who you are - because he doesn’t care anything about you. But a true friend holds you to a higher standard. A true friend brings out the best in you.” (p. 30)
• “Five seagulls are sitting on a dock. One of them decides to fly away. How many seagulls are left?” “Well…four.” “No. There are still five. Deciding to fly away and actually flying away are two very different things.” (p. 111)

Overall, though, I wasn’t impressed. One chapter was a re-hashing of The Five Love Languages (a book I love, by the way; but I’d rather have the original than a chapter-long summary of it). I never bought into the premise - a semi-non-fictional account of the author’s supposed encounter with a wise God-like drifter named Jones.

It’s not a completely unworthy read, but for my taste it’s largely cliched platitudes with some a few good insights sprinkled throughout.

With a gleam in his eye, Jesus whispers to a bystander, “Hey, watch this” before he gets in the boat and tells Peter, coming in from a long night of unproductive fishing, to put his nets back in the water. Peter catches so many fish his boat almost sinks.

Jesus secretively whispers to a little boy, ‘Hey, watch this!” before he takes a little bread & fish and feeds thousands of people.

He whispers to the woman, “Hey, watch this” when she’s caught in adultery and he shows her accusers that they’re no better than her.

Photo by David Owens (simplycandid.com)

We recently had some family photos taken, including this picture of Caedon on my shoulders. It wasn’t a planned pose; our photographer just captured a random moment.

But when I saw this photo for the first time this morning, I couldn’t help but think of Jesus leaning in close to someone and, with a big grin on his face, whispering, “Hey, watch this.”

“Watch how I’m going to use this boy to really teach his dad about love and selflessness.”

“Watch how I’m going to use this boy to make loving and serving a natural part of his brother’s and sisters’ fundamental makeup.”

“Watch how I’m going to use this boy to blow everybody’s expectations out of the water so I can sit back and laugh uproariously when they’re dumbounded and say, ‘But I thought he couldn’t…’  Because I know he can.”

Man, I’m glad I get to be along for the ride.

What I Like
Glossy Screen: It’s beautiful, crisp, and contrasty. Absolutely gorgeous.
Keyboard: I like the black keys instead of the silver keys, and I love that the keys are flat instead of concave.
Trackpad: It’s all clickable, eliminating the dedicated button area. Smooth, silky surface makes for easy movements.
Speakers: The maximum volume is significantly louder on this model as compared to my older model, which is a much-needed upgrade.
Cool: I can use it on my lap for an hour or more at a time without it getting too hot. I could fry an egg on the underside of my old model.
Latch: The new magnetic latch is a small but great improvement over the old physical latch. Little things like this add up to make for a great experience.
Unibody: Most of all, the unibody structure is drop-dead sexy. It also seems much stiffer and less flexy than the previous model, which is a good thing. I can carry it around open with one hand without it feeling floppy.

What I Dislike
Glossy Screen: It’s crisp and beautiful, but almost serves as a mirror in some circumstances (when the screen is displaying dark images or when there’s any sunlight on the screen). It’s my only complaint, and 90% of the time it’s not an issue.

It’s a great machine and a huge upgrade over the previous model.

I love the concept. Here’s my experience with the execution:

Book
I don’t know if all NelsonFree books will be like this, but I’ll Make You an Offer is a hardback book without a dust jacket. It’s the perfect binding. The durability of a hardcover without the frustration of a dust jacket that gets lost, damaged, etc. and leaves behind a plain & ugly cloth binding. I’m sure there’s a technical term for this kind of binding - maybe library binding? Whatever the term, it’s perfect.

EBook
The digital content is accessible at thomasnelson.com/nelsonfree by entering your name, the book’s ISBN number, and a piece of information only knowable by someone who has the book (in this case, the 5th word from page 103). The ebook is available in three different formats - MobiPocket (Kindle-compatible), ePub, and PDF. I don’t have a Kindle or other book reader device or software, so I didn’t use the MobiPocket or ePub files. I downloaded the PDF, though, and it was exactly what I expected. It was a lightweight file (2.3 MB) since it’s primarily text content, so it should fit easily enough on mobile devices or other devices with limited storage. NelsonFree delivers the ebook experience exactly as I’d hoped.

Audio Book
The audio book is a different story. The files are offered in non-DRM MP3 files, which is great. But the book isn’t offered for download as a single file or a ZIP - each chapter must be downloaded invididally. It’s a minor nuisance perhaps, but a nuisance and barrier to use nonetheless. After downloading and importing to iTunes, I was disappointed to find no Author or Album information. Chapters were titled as expected (Chapter 2,  Chapter 3, etc.), but I had to manually enter the Author and Album text for each of the 12 files.  Disappointing. After completing the work, though, the recording was very good and was read by the author.

Conclusion
NelsonFree is a great program, marred only by a few relatively easy to remedy annoyances. This was one of the first books released as part of the program, so I’m sure these issues will be addressed in future iterations. It’s an innovative and bold step forward for a publishing house, and I’m excited to see how it develops over time. Great job to Michael Hyatt and the rest of the Thomas Nelson team for leading the industry in this area.