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This afternoon, I got the chance to spend some time with Bryan Conrad and his staff at the UF Biomechanics Lab. They are the people who use motion capture technology to analyze everything from golf swings to dance moves to quarterback throwing motion and reaction time. Today, he gave me a tour of the lab, showed me the kind of full 3D work they do with the athletes at UF, and ran me through the reaction time test. While I don’t think I can share any of the information on the specific patient named “T. Tebow,” I can tell you that thanks to this lab, his motion has improved over the past few years.
 
For my test, they had me stand in the ready position and played a noise. When the noise sounded, I had to get rid of the ball as soon as possible. They measured from the time of the sound to the first movements of my hands (which had the awesome motion-control dots on them) and then from the first movement to the time I released the ball. Those are the reaction times and the release times. My average reaction time was 0.46 seconds, and my average release time as 0.395 seconds, adding up to an average total time of 0.86 seconds. Again, while I don’t think I can give Tebow’s specific numbers, they are in that under-a-second range, so it was cool to know that I at least have some quickness (though you will notice I have almost no cocking back of the ball since I was focused on getting it out quickly). Plus, the velocity of my throws was only in the low 30 mph range, well below a NCAA QB. That’s all I will say for now, but for the full write-up on the experience, check out my brother’s blog (http://year2.wordpress.com) very soon. My brother was the guy that initiated the contact with the lab that allowed me to have this awesome experience, so thank you to him, and be sure to check out his stuff. Also, of course, a big thank you to Bryan and his staff. Below is some sweet hi-speed video from the test. Again, look for the full post soon at http://year2.wordpress.com.

For some reason, my brain is going a mile a minute tonight, and I thought maybe the best way to calm it down would be to empty it into a blog post… Perhaps it has something to do with the Starbucks dark chocolate frappucino I had 2 hours ago, but that leads me into number one.
 
1. How is your lent going? I have to admit that I have not been keeping up with our Gator Wesley lenten devotional. I laid the whole thing out, so I have skimmed most of them, but I really do intend to read them all. I will certainly catch up next week at the monastery. Besides that, and the way in which this relates to the introduction (in case you were not seeing the connection), I gave up soda for lent. I read a column about how giving up soda and candy and stuff is lame and that I should really have given up TV or technology or other things that actually take time, but its working well for me. I certainly had/have a soda dependency, and I am just beginning to see the strength of it. I didn’t have any caffeine headaches, which was nice. I also am noticing that caffeine is having more of an effect after not having it for a week and a half (and there’s the connection to the intro…)- which I had pretty much forgotten what it was like for it to actually do anything. Yet, I still really want a soda with meals and in the middle of the afternoon. It is scary how much flavored sugar water has captured my being. But that’s where I am connecting to God. I am seeing my dependencies on other things and am reminded that Christ is the ultimate source of freedom.
 
2. Its no longer if but how… Paul and Amber have described Kara and I as Mac evangelists. I cannot comment for Kara, but I for one am here to declare that apparently my calling is to something much bigger- apparently it is tech in general. I am probably too late to be considered a really cool early adopter, but I am finally well steeped in the web 2.0 world. In short, web 2.0 is the general universe of websites that are heavily dependent upon user content and contributions. For example, I personally have: a website, a WordPress blog (which interfaces with Facebook and Virb), a Twitter account (with 3 separate ways of posting to Twitter without going to their website), a Facebook page (which interfaces with Twitter), a Posterous blog (which interfaces with WordPress and Twitter), a LinkedIn profile, an online store (for my music and swag), an Evernote account, a MySpace page, and a Virb page. Now, I have streamlined how I interact with all of them- for example the Twitter, Facebook, WordPress blog, and Posterous all work pretty much in conjunction by posting the same content while I do virtually nothing with MySpace or Virb anymore. You will notice the glaring absence of photo sharing sites but that’s because I don’t have a digital camera or a phone camera that takes pictures worth sharing. For the campus ministry I work for, I pretty much run all of the same sites plus a 12 Seconds account and a YouTube channel. This week alone, I have convinced 2 friends to join Twitter because its pretty boring following only 3 or 4 real friends and then a bunch of celebrities who just post about what video game they are playing- although kudos to Rainn Wilson (of the Office) and Cameron Strang (editor of Relevant) for having Twitter feeds worth following. The gist is- for me, it is no longer a question of if I will use new technologies and web resources, but how can I use them most effectively to communicate and build community. Some would argue that isn’t possible over the internet, but I would ask you to look up “Obama, Barack” in the non-existent dictionary of successful online communication dictionary. I will not comment for or against his presidency, but his campaign and their use of technology was a free lesson for any organization.
 
3. It is late. This is the 4th night in a row that I have been up until 1am. Now, for most of my college students, that is no big deal. Hansol never sleeps, Shawn and Kris play video games until the wee hours every night, and Laurie told me she wasn’t going to sleep tonight and would wait until she gets in the van for the 13 hour car ride to Washington D.C. with our Gator Wesley mission team. However, I had been in a pretty good groove of going to bed between 11pm and midnight all through January and February. I think I have been seeing the trip to the monastery next week on the horizon and thus I could catch up on sleep then. However, even though I have still been able to get up and go to work in the morning, it has led to some slow afternoons and made studying for the online Church History exam that I have Sunday at 9pm virtually impossible. It also factored into my decision to drink the Starbucks while driving for two and a half hours in the dark to get to Bartow. Thus, in some weird way, my not sleeping has led to me not sleeping tonight…
 
Well, I really should head to bed. We have breakfast at 8:30am in the morning and then a full day. I am also preaching Sunday morning in Bartow, so I want to be fresh and ready for that in a day and a half. Thanks for letting me spill my brain. If you are still reading this, even if you skimmed some- gold star to you. Goodnight.
 
Peace
Dan ]]> http://defininggrace.wordpress.com/2009/03/07/random-thoughts/feed/ 0 Dan http://defininggrace.wordpress.com/2009/02/25/what-i-am-learning-from-tiger-woods/ http://defininggrace.wordpress.com/2009/02/25/what-i-am-learning-from-tiger-woods/#comments Wed, 25 Feb 2009 04:45:44 +0000 Dan http://defininggrace.wordpress.com/2009/02/25/what-i-am-learning-from-tiger-woods/ ]]>

Tomorrow (Wednesday), Tiger Woods makes his return. It has been big news all over the sports shows and sites I check out. Everyone is super excited about the return of quite possibly the best known athlete in the world. Surely, this is exciting for sports fans, especially golf fans, but I feel like Tiger is teaching me a few lessons with the timing of his return this week. Namely: priorities, patience, and the value of excellence.
 
First, Tiger just had a kid a little while back. To have waited on returning until after his wife had the baby to make sure he was around during the important last few weeks and months of the pregnancy shows that Tiger has his priorities in order. Now, all of the moms out there may argue that choosing to return shortly after the birth and leaving his wife home with a newborn still presents a challenge, and they would be right. But, he still showed that he was willing to wait for the good of his family.
 
Second, Tiger was willing to wait as long as it took to get back to strength and get his priorities in order. It cannot be easy for someone who is ultra-competitive to be patient. Yet, the patience Tiger has in the actual game of golf was mirrored or even surpassed by his patience of the course of the last year. If he was truly able to stick to his rehab regime and not overwork too early, as would be easy if you are itching to get back at it, then he is a great model of taking what seems like the longer, harder road to reap the better benefit in the end.
 
Thirdly, Tiger will probably show the value of excellence this week. As I have already mentioned, Tiger has waited to get back to strength and full health, but I guarantee that today’s practice round was not his first round since the surgery. It is also not the tenth round. It is probably much higher than that. The media storm around his first public practice round seemed to baffle his swing coach. They kept asking if he was back to his full ability. The coach essentially responded, Now, this is a paraphrase and not a direct quote (which is why I used the “carrots” ), but let’s read between the lines and behind his coaches wry smile. What he was really communicating was, The coach understands why people might think he would be worse. Tiger had surgery that would keep him off the course for a long time, and you get rusty when you don’t do something, even if you were good at it. Yet, Tiger did not just wait to get healthy but to get good too. If the spotlight is on, there is a value in excellence.
 
So, what can I take away? In the realm of priorities, if a man who thrives off of competition and whose world seems to completely revolve around the game of golf can put off his return until its good for his family, then I should be able to make self and family care a priority too. In the realm of patience, I really have none, so Tiger serves as a great example. In the realm of excellence, I feel that it is comparable in my ministry and the life of the church. Simply put- don’t do something publicly until you are good at it. The brighter the spotlight will be, the more excellent the offering should be before you give it to the public. For example, if you are planning a new activity or worship service or even a new song- don’t roll it out until you are ready (unless shaping and refining it are part of the program).
 
Those are just a few of my thoughts inspired by Tiger’s return. What do you think?
 
Peace
Dan ]]> http://defininggrace.wordpress.com/2009/02/25/what-i-am-learning-from-tiger-woods/feed/ 0 Dan http://defininggrace.wordpress.com/2009/01/20/obama-inaugural-address-quote-wp/ http://defininggrace.wordpress.com/2009/01/20/obama-inaugural-address-quote-wp/#comments Tue, 20 Jan 2009 18:02:11 +0000 Dan http://defininggrace.wordpress.com/?p=141 ]]>

Obama Inauguration Quote WP 1440x900

Here’s a quick wallpaper that I put together with the closing quote from Obama’s inaugural address. It also has the full text of the address in the background. At this point, I only have a 1440×900 version, but check back later for other sizes.

Peace,
Dan

As some of you may know, The Office is holding a fan t-shirt design competition. I have entered, and you can help support my design by rating it highly (if you like it, of course). It seems like you can only rate one per visit, so I would appreciate you casting a high rating for my design. It can be found at: http://www.nbc.com/The_Office/photos/gallery#item=58622

Peace,
Dan

Hello, everyone. I appreciate all of you that are stopping by to view and download the various Tim Tebow wallpapers that I have created over the last year (Heisman, Tebow Returns, and Gladiator). However, I must reiterate that these images were created using copyrighted photographs from professional photographers, and thus these images cannot be reprinted and/or sold for profit. Some of the wallpapers have continued to show up on eBay, and I appreciate all of the sellers that have responded to my requests to remove the items.

I would like to continue to make the previous creations available for non-commercial use and create new ones as we get to spend one more year watching Tebow in orange and blue, however I will be forced to remove them if reprints continue to be sold for profit (especially on eBay). Thank you for your assistance.

Peace,
Dan

So I made it all the way past the ball drop and up to about 2:30am before I finally hit the sack, but here I sit- bright and early- at 9am on January 1, 2009. Here are a few of my first thoughts going into 2009.

Reflect on 2008: If 2008 taught me anything, its that I have absolutely no idea what’s coming. I recently read an interesting blog post about someone’s predictions about 2008 from 5 years ago. In reality, the list was simply some of the things that had occurred over the last 5 years, but when read as if they were predictions from the past about the present, many of them seemed kind of crazy. For example, who could ever have predicted that a first-term senator with little previous experience would defeat not only John McCain but also the Clintons in the race to the White House- oh yeah, and he happens to be African American. In the world of technology, the number of blogs, Facebook profiles, and Twitter accounts have seemingly gone from zero to a billion in 5 years. I never would have guessed that 75% of my web used would be based around 2 or 3 sites. This type of reflection, even on 2008 alone, has taught me that the most important way to be prepared for the future is to be flexible. It is also encouraging me to dream big. Things that do not exist today may dominate peoples’ consciousness within 5 years, and who is to say that I cannot be a part of that.

Reflect on New Years: The New Years shows were decent. It looked cold, but then again, its almost always cold. I had some friends in high school that went to Time’s Square and had a blast, but they said it was a good thing that none of them were claustrophobic. As far as the musical talent goes, I will make two observations: Natasha Bedingfield can sing and Katy Perry can’t. Katy Perry actually put out a “Christian album” on a Christian music label a few years ago, but since then has kissed a girl, liked it, and become a pop star. Too bad that since then she hasn’t learned how to sing live. Oh, and how about a third observation: the two or three motorcycle jumps that were on the various networks were all extremely anti-climactic. Perhaps the camera angles made them seem less impressive or perhaps even the daredevils like to dip into the champagne before midnight and needed less complicated jumps to compensate. All in all, there was good music, poignant reflection on the year, and there is nothing like counting down during the big ball drop.

Look Ahead to 2009: 2009 should be a big year for me. I am planning on finishing seminary in December, I will hopefully be participating in a challenging hospital chaplaincy program this summer, and surely other big events will happen this year as well. It should also be a big year for Gator Wesley. If nothing else, we are scheduled to complete construction on the new building and move in for the fall. This is all so exciting. Beyond that, it should also be a good year for the Gators, who will likely win the national championship next Thursday, see Tim Tebow return, and get into the national championship game again next year.

Over all though, with all that is going on and all that will most certainly hang over from 2008, we should enter this year in prayer and gratitude. I have friends who are sick, friends who are unemployed, and friends that can barely afford to stay in school. I live in a state who makes something like 75% of its income from sales tax, which is way down due to the economy. This, of course, means even less funding for teachers, police, firemen, and the list goes on. We have a new president that inspires hope but who is really still untested. We have a world that is working desperately to right the financial ship, much less work to end the instances of war, violence, and oppression that still plague our world. In all of these things, we need our Emmanuel- God with us. Romans 5:6 says, “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.” If God can step in at just the right time to save us from the greatest crisis of them all- the problem of sin and death- then I am willing to trust God in the small stuff too. God knows when it is the right time to act and what is the right thing to do- we have to be willing to be patient and trust, and we have to have discernment to see where God is already working. For me, 2008 seemed like a year that the church began to truly open its eyes to the call to love and serve the world around it. As an act of gratitude for all that we have, may we continue to be the hands and feet of Christ to our world who so desperately needs it.

Peace,
Dan

The Gainesville Sun had an incredible image of Tim Tebow all pumped up during the FSU game. As it was raining pretty hard the whole game (I know, I was there…), the paint on the field started to get on the uniforms. FSU has a dark shade of garnet for their main color, and so Tebow looked covered in blood like Russell Crowe in Gladiator. That image inspired this new wallpaper. The photo was taken by Aaron Daye with the Gainesville Sun. You can find more of his photos at: http://www.GatorSports.com

Enjoy and Go Gators!

Peace,
Dan

EXTREMELY IMPORTANT: As with my last set of Tebow and UF Heisman winners wallpapers, I would ask that you please DO NOT sell this image (digitally or printed- especially on eBay). It was created from a copyrighted image by Gainesville Sun photographer Aaron Daye and is not meant for resale. I appreciate your help with this.

Tim Tebow: Gladiator 1440x900

Tim Tebow: Gladiator 1280x1024

Tim Tebow: Gladiator 1024x768

 

The Fray’s first single from their new self-titled album is “You Found Me.” The Fray will perform this song at the American Music Awards on Nov. 23 on ABC. The song now even has its own Wikipedia page. Here is a video they put together with the song: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=46878924

The track is streaming on The Fray’s website (thefray.net), and here you are able to pre-order the deluxe version of the new album that releases on Feb. 3 with a bonus digital set of live recordings from their January ‘09 tour dates. Other extras include an expanded insert and a 90-minute DVD with making of and behind the scenes footage. The single is now available on iTunes as well as a pre-order of the standard version of the album (although there is a digital-exclusive track and also a pre-order-exclusive track).

As best as I can tell, below are the lyrics from the final studio version. In a Reuters article about the new album, it was revealed that this song is asking the question about why bad things happen to good people after some of their friends and family went through very tough times.

In fact, one night, a rendition of “Happiness” was dedicated to Christian street monk and author Shane Claiborne after his community’s residence was completely burned down (the video is from 4 days after the fire). The article said the lyrics were written over 2 years ago, so the song is not directly related to this 2007 incident, but the tension between their faith and events like this is evident. I met Shane back in February and told him that they had dedicated the song to him and his friends one night on tour, and he told me that they were great guys and good friends. I am sure that he would be proud of their very public wrestling with very hard issues. Now, on to the lyrics…

You Found Me
By Isaac Slade/Joe King/The Fray

//Verse 1//
I found God
On the corner of First and Amistad
Where the west
Was all but won
All alone
Smoking his last cigarette
I said, “Where you been?”
He said, “Ask anything.”

//Verse 2//
Where were you
When everything was falling apart?
All my days
Were spent by the telephone
That never rang
And all I needed was a call
It never came
To the corner of First and Amistad

//Chorus 1//
Lost and insecure
You found me, you found me
Lying on the floor
Surrounded, surrounded
Why’d you have to wait?
Where were you, where were you?
Just a little late
You found me, You found me

//Verse 3//
In the end
Everyone ends up alone
Losing her
The only one who’s ever known
Who I am
Who I’m not, and who I want to be
No way to know
How long she will be next to me 

//Chorus 2//
Lost and insecure
You found me, you found me
Lying on the floor
Surrounded, surrounded
Why’d you have to wait?
Where were you, where were you?
Just a little late
You found me, You found me

//Bridge//
Early morning
The city breaks
I’ve been calling
For years and years and years and years
And you never left me no messages
You never sent me no letters
You got some kind of nerve
Taking all I want

//Chorus 3 and outro//
Lost and insecure
You found me, you found me
Lying on the floor
Where were you, where were you?

Lost and insecure
You found me, you found me
Lying on the floor
Surrounded, surrounded
Why’d you have to wait?
Where were you, where were you?
Just a little late
You found me, You found me

Why’d you have to wait
To find me, to find me?

Here’s what Isaac had to say on their website about the song:
“You Found Me is a tough song for me. Its about the disappointment, the heart ache, the let down that comes with life. Sometimes you’re let down, sometimes you’re the one who lets someone else down. It gets hard to know who you can trust, who you can count on. This song came out of a tough time, and I’m still right in the thick of it. There’s some difficult circumstances my family and friends have been going through over the past year or so and can be overwhelming. It wears on me. It demands so much of my faith to keep believing, keep hoping in the unseen. Sometimes the tunnel has a light at the end, but usually they just look black as night. This song is about that feeling, and the hope that I still have, buried deep in my chest.”