My Last Visit with Cal Murphy

Over the weekend, multiple stories were published about the passing of CFL legend Cal Murphy, at the age of 79.  (Here are a couple, done by TSN and Vancouver Sun.)

In the mind of this CFL fan, Cal Murphy will be remembered primarily in the colours of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, despite a lengthy career that saw him employed by five of the league’s eight teams, at one time or another.  In his later years, he and his wife called Regina home, and it wasn’t uncommon to run into him within the confines of Mosaic Stadium.

One of my finest football memories involves a visit with Mr. Murphy himself.

Three or four back, I attended a day of training camp.  That particular June day was quite cool, overcast and windy, and the stands were nearly empty aside from the most insane of fans.  For some increased shelter, the few spectators present had left the bleachers in exchange for standing room at their base, on the very edge of the field.  Hooded and  hunched, I ventured down and stood beside another hooded figure, looking for nothing more than a bit of cover from the wind and a better view of the action on the field.  Imagine my surprise when through my rain-dripped glasses, I see Cal Murphy under the hood next to me.  At this point he was known to be part of the scouting team for the Indianapolis Colts.

We began chatting about the upcoming season, assessing the potential of new draft picks and trade-acquired talents: “Can this guy rebound from injury?”  “Can that guy live up to the expectations he established last season?”  I remember being inwardly thrilled to be chatting football with a living legend.

Moments later, another hunched figure cozied up next to us, greeting Cal as though he knew him personally.  It was none other than Eric Tillman, then-GM of the Riders.   They began to “talk shop”, and for the next twenty minutes or so, I was engaged in the “inside stuff” of CFL football, as the third wheel on this tricycle.  As they exchanged stories about players of years gone by, unofficial scouting reports, and expectations of the coming season (I can still recall them assessing a younger Andy Fantuz, as well as discussing the life of Don Matthews, then employed by the Alouettes.)  Offering less than my two cents, I mainly listened, in quiet wonder at the opportunity to be part of the conversation at all.

When I got home, my wife wondered why I had stayed so long in such poor weather.

Now she knows.

Top Five Use-Everyday iPhone Apps

In my last post, I expressed my affection for my new iPhone.

Today I want to share five apps that I use every single day.  As far as this user is concerned, these are must-haves.

1) Things
This is the Cadillac of my app collection, costing me a whopping $10. That value, however, has been quickly returned.  Things, slick to operate and a pleasure to use, serves me multiple times per day as my daytimer, to-do list, project planner, and general note-taker.  It lends itself particularly well to anyone attempting to implement “Getting Things Done” order into their lives, though it is easily accessible for anyone unfamiliar with that particular system.

2) Evernote
This may be the most valuable, free app available anywhere.  As a note-taking and organizing system,  Evernote comes with nearly infinite possibilities.  If you have any need for “catching” information, sources, ideas from the vast flow of ideas that most of us live within, then Evernote is your tool.  Upon starting an account, one can feel overwhelmed at where to even begin.  But there are numerous great blogs on how to effectively use Evernote.  Several bouts of late-night reading have helped me hone my system to something quite usable.  As starting points of learning, you might be served well HERE or HERE or HERE.  As well, Evernote runs a blog that often contains helpful bits on how to best use their program.  If you want a steady stream of Evernote tidbits, follow @michaelhyatt on Twitter.  He’s been a great source in trying to craft a fruitful Evernote system.

The thing that truly sets Evernote apart is its search capabilities.  It’s one thing to have a giant bucket to collect things in; it is quite another to have the ability to locate a given “piece” with nothing more than a keyword or two.  Evernote provides this cataloging ability.  I’ve had Evernote on my computer for nearly a year, but teamed up with the iPhone’s camera and dictation capabilities, the chore of inputting such data, the essential first step to any collection system, just became a lot more fun and a lot more simple.

Evernote is quite simply one of the very best apps out there.  If you’re not already using it, you might be soon!

3) Twitter
I don’t know why, but I think keeping up on Twitter is just more fun on my iPhone than it ever was on my computer.  For that reason alone, this app gets frequent use.  In my exploration of the app world, I have researched a number of alternative options to the comes-with-the-phone Twitter app.  While intrigued by a few of them, I have yet to pull any triggers on paid apps.  If anyone out there has opinions on superior apps to Twitter’s own, I would love to hear from you in the comments section below.

4) Buffer
Speaking of Twitter, this freebie can significantly enhance the tweeting experience. It allows you to schedule your tweets throughout the day, in an effort to avoid flooding your followers or to maximize prime times within your Twitter universe. There are limitations on what Buffer‘s free service can provide, so diehard tweeters may wish to explore the paid options.  But for some, myself included at the moment, this app is pretty sweet.  If you sensed a tone of hesitation in my previous sentence, it is because I am still exploring for any superior alternatives to Buffer, specifically more flexibility in number of tweet “slots” each day AND more freedom on the time selection process.

5) AppAdvice
When I first got my iPhone, I flipped through several months worth of MacWorld back issues at the library.  Much of that was in the quest to read app reviews and locate those that might be most useful to me.  For a couple bucks, I now have just such a resource, updated frequently, on my phone with me.  AppAdvice is a joy to the geek within me.  Some of you may wish to buy a coffee with your toonie, but me, I’ve got AppAdvice–a bargain for any app-freak.

What apps do you use everyday? 

Please add to my list by commenting below.  I’d love to learn more.

I Love My iPhone

Yes, this is more than infatuation.

I love my iPhone.

I confess that it feels ridiculous to speak of such affection toward an electronic device. Technologically speaking, I don’t tend to be either savvy or swift. In fact, I prided myself on milking six years out of my previous cell phone. I had purchased it when we lived in China in 2004. It was a phone–nothing more. When I purchased it, the very fact that I was joining the “cell phone world”, with a couple billion members at that point, felt like a quantum leap in my technological posture. When that phone finally gave out, I asked my wife to buy me the cheapest, plainest phone she could find. Bells and whistles were neither wanted nor welcomed. Part of the motivation behind moves like this is to minimize the learning curve typically associated with new gadgets. The other part is that I’m a cheapskate. Even when I had a cell phone, I was a pay-as-you-go, my-bill-is-$100-per-year customer, and quite proud of it.

You can imagine the shock of those around me then when I confessed just before Christmas that I was considering an upgrade to an iPhone. Continue reading

Sacred Spaces and Cracks for Creativity

The times they are a-changing.  And so are the ways we think… and don’t.

Interruption-free space is sacred. Yet, in the digital era we live in, we are losing hold of the few sacred spaces that remain untouched by email, the Internet, people, and other forms of distraction. Our cars now have mobile phone integration and a thousand satellite radio stations. When walking from one place to another, we have our devices streaming data from dozens of sources. Even at our bedside, we now have our iPads with heaps of digital apps and the world’s information at our fingertips.

There has been much discussion about the value of the “creative pause“–a state described as “the shift from being fully engaged in a creative activity to being passively engaged, or the shift to being disengaged altogether.” This phenomenon is the seed of the break-through “a-ha!” moments that people so frequently report having in the shower. In these moments, you are completely isolated, and your mind is able to wander and churn big questions without interruption.

However, despite the incredible power and potential of sacred spaces, they are quickly becoming extinct. We are depriving ourselves of every opportunity for disconnection. And our imaginations suffer the consequences.

The above comes from an article titled, “What Happened to Downtime?”  It contains some fascinating reflections on the distractions of the digital age and the hit that human creativity and focus are taking in the process.  It’s a short read, but the whole article can be viewed HERE.

 

Worship Training

For any who have ever desired to experience public worship in fresh ways, the following chart may prove handy.  It will give you a place to start, regardless of where you find yourself today.

No go learn some actions!