I was fairly appalled by the ESPN program on Thursday evening called “The Decision,”  a one-hour, prime-time special concocted by LeBron James to announce his Free Agency decision, and welcomed by the four-letter network with open arms.  The following are my thoughts on this spectacle as it relates to both LeBron and ESPN.  

LeBron – The “King’s” decision to make his announcement during a one-hour special on ESPN is the epitome of Narcissism and Ego that is rampant in professional sports.  How “me” focused do you have to be to call a TV network and tell them you want your own prime-time special to make an announcement regarding which team you have selected.  It doesn’t matter to me that the Ad revenue is being given to the Boy’s and Girl’s Club, because there are many, many other ways to raise money for charitable organizations that do not involve a prime-time special.  In one hour, LeBron went from a player who was almost universally praised for his knowledge and respect of the game, his demeanor with the media, and his professionalism off the court to someone who can now be lumped in with Terrell Owens as wanting nothing but to just “Love me some me!”

This self-centeredness is even further amplified by the revelation that his former team, the Cavaliers, found out about his decision during the telecast.  This is shocking, even for a professional athlete.  What is not shocking is the Cleveland fan’s outrage over the way the announcement came down, or LeBron’s lack of emotion regarding leaving his hometown team.  (What is shocking is the “Open Letter” from the Cavaliers’ owner, but that is for another post on another day) If you listened to the interviews, you could tell it was ALL about him.  How many times did he refer to himself in the third person or refer to HIS talents.

More than any other professional league, The NBA is driven by it’s “Stars,” and it is this type of behavior that makes me want to turn the channel away from these personalities.  I have no beef with the decision itself, but he handled it about as badly as possible.

ESPN – While this is not a new trend, “The Decision” marks the final leap of ESPN from Sports NEWS to Sports ENTERTAINMENT.  I guess this is appropriate since the “E” stands for “Entertainment.  Instead of covering the story, ESPN sold it’s soul for the right to be part of the story.  All day today, sports personalities from talk-show hosts, to former players, to coaches, etc. have been openly critical of the way LeBron and ESPN handled everything.  However, turning over to ESPN TV or Radio, you come away with a completely different slant.  Why?  Because they were part of it.  If they are critical of the event, then they have to be critical of themselves.  This isn’t journalism.  This isn’t covering the story.  This is the story!  What little, tiny shred of journalistic integrity remained at the four-letter network is now gone.  

Well, that’s my two-cents….what do you think?

Back in April I wrote a post on my first impressions of the iPad on the day the 16gb version was released to the public. In that post I was fairly critical of a number of decisions that we’re made regarding it’s design and configuration, and questioned what niche the iPad was designed to fill.  In the months since that initial post, I have since changed my mind regarding a number of those earlier criticisms (not all), and have even obtained an iPad of my own as a tool to use in teaching and public speaking.  I have eaten my crow, and now would like to share my updated impressions as an iPad owner and user.

Lightening Fast – This is the iPad’s killer feature.  In my initial review I noted my disappointment that the iPad was running the same OS as the iPhone and not full blown OS X.  However, now I realize this decision along with some pretty solid hardware specs has resulted in a device that is ridiculously fast.  For years there has been talk of the “instant on” computer, and the iPad pretty well fits this description.  Even though my netbook will allow me to do more related to content creation, it is also very slow comparatively speaking.  With the impending release of iOS4 for the iPad, some of the OS limitations will be resolved, such as multitasking.

Better than Expected Keyboard – my initial reaction to the on-screen keyboard was that it was usable, but would be a bit of a struggle.  However, I’m finding it to be even more usable than I originally suspected.  So much so that I’m actually writing this post using my iPad. In my first week of using the keyboard, I’ve become proficient enough to type with all fingers in landscape mode, and have even been able to take notes in business meetings. As I originally noted, typing in portrait mode is still painful.  It is too wide to use your thumbs, and too narrow to use all fingers.

Battery Life – as of right now, I have been using my iPad for about 3 hours, and my battery meter is still at 78%. This is way better than either of my netbooks, and miles better than any laptop I’ve ever owned. Honestly, it’s better than my iPhone as well.  This makes the iPad great for travel and really long meetings (which are both common for me).

Size – the size is perfect for carrying around or placing in your lap during a flight. True that it is heavier than the dedicated eReaders like the Kindle, but this device is so much more than just a reader.  The screen is also large enough that it works well for web browsing, viewing e-mail, documents, pictures etc.

Web Browsing – from the moment the iPad was introduced by Steve Jobs I have been very critical that Flash was not included.  It is purported that up to 85% of mainstream web sites use Flash, and I saw it’s absence as a major hole in the potential Internet experience. However, after using the iPad for a while, I can honestly say that I barely miss it. Some of this is because I can see what an impact Flash can have on mobile performance (e.g. Flash on Android), but mostly this has to do with many mainstream sites offering iPad optimized versions of their sites, or even separate apps for viewing web content (e.g. Netflix and ABC.com).  I will occasionally run across a video that I cannot watch without Flash, but this has been the exception, not the rule.

Email – as I noted in my initial impressions, the email app on the iPad is hindered by the lack of a universal inbox and the 4 taps required to switch between mailboxes. However, this will be resolved once iOS4 is released for the iPad.  Otherwise, the mail app on the iPad is fantastic, especially in landscape view.  I find it to be a better experience than using my laptop or desktop.

Books – the iBook application and store are really elegantly designed, and the iPad is a fantastic device for illustrated children’s books, or any other illustrated text. Reading on the iPad in a non-glare environment is really very pleasant, but reading under direct light or in sunlight is next to impossible. I you simply want a reading device, nothing compares to the Kindle or Nook, but the iPad is about so much more than just eBooks.  The iBook application is what I use to store and view all of my PDF notes for teaching classes and preaching sermons.  It really is an excellent PDF viewer, and the interface makes it easy to organize your files.  As a side note, the Kindle app for the iPad is quite beautiful, and since my wife has a Kindle, I will mostly likely us this app should I choose to purchase a standard novel, biography, etc.

iWork – my initial observation was that the iWork suite of apps were unintuitive and difficult to use.  I have backed off from that a little bit, but they still have two critical flaws.  (1) the inability to directly access cloud-based file services such as Dropbox, Sugarsync, or Mobile Me iDisk.  While I realize that you can use the Dropbox, Sugarsync or iDisk apps to open files in iWork, I do not know of a way to save them back.  (2) the inability to save/export Numbers or Keynotes files to Excel or Powerpoint format.  This makes those two apps almost unusable from a business perspective.  If I create a new spreadsheet in numbers and then send it to myself or a client, we would have no way to open it.  Fatal flaw

As an alternative, I highly recommend Documents to Go (14.99 from Dataviz) which allows access to an array of cloud based services, and allows you to work natively with MS Office file formats.

Apps – I plan to write some additional posts reviewing some of the apps that I find most useful for iPad. In general, I don’t understand why Apple failed to include some of the base apps that are in the iPhone such as Clock, Weather, Calculator, etc.  As I noted before, existing iPhone apps that have not been ported to the iPad look really bad.  Native iPad apps such as Pulse, ABC Player, and Bloomberg are very elegant, but it will be a while before the selection of native iPad apps is in the same league as the iPhone.

All in all the iPad is a killer media and data consumption device and is better at content creation than my initial observations. It is a much better business tool than I could have conceived.  Tomorrow I have a 2 hour meeting with a very important client in NYC. Do I put the iPad to the ultimate business test and leave my laptop behind?  Time to see how proficient I can be at taking notes on the iPad.

What are your thoughts on the iPad?

Sara’s first haircut…

Just need to vent on various topics….warning, strong opinions on current world events to follow:

• Gulf Oil Spill – I am wondering when the Michael Moore film will be coming out chronicling the mishandling of the gulf oil spill by the Obama administration?? Not holding my breath.  How in the world can we LAMBAST GW over his handling of 911 & Katrina, but barely say a peep about Obama’s reaction to the oil spill.  What exactly has he or his administration done to help the situation other than make crude, public statements disparaging BP?  Wasn’t he supposed to be the president that would be committed to protecting the environment?
• Gulf Oil Spill (Part 2) – This should not be a problem that is placed solely on the shoulders of BP.  Why does it matter at this point who is to blame? This event is going to effect so much that we should be exhausting every available resource to stop the leak, and clean up the mess, instead of simply making antagonistic statements towards BP.  And for this notion of boycotting BP gas stations???  That’s a GREAT idea.  Let’s further financially cripple BP so that they won’t have the resources to continue working on the problem or the cleanup.  

  What about offering a One Billion Dollar reward to the first company / individual / etc. that can successfully stop the leak. Wouldn’t that be worth it? I mean, how many BILLIONS in economic impact is this spill going to cause?  From the fishing industry to tourism to cleanup cost to ??? Instead, our current administration seems to be content to sit back in Washington and yell at BP, while the oil slowly destroys the gulf, and the Louisiana, Mississippi & Florida coastlines. We need a leader right now, and not a politician.

• Arizona Immigration Law – I just don’t understand the uproar.  To quote one of my favorite movie lines…”I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!”  Our country is in an uproar because Arizona is saying that they have the authority to enforce the LAW?  To enforce that aliens are required to have the proper paperwork?  Haven’t we been complaining about the problem of illegal immigration for years?  I don’t get it?  When I go to Honduras, I get stopped by the authorities almost once per day.  If I can’t produce a valid US Passport, then they would take me immediately to jail until the proper paperwork could be produced.  My understanding is that this is very similar to other countries in Central America, including Mexico.

• Nashville Flood Telethon Donations – Has any of this money actually reached the people who need it?  I hear about all kinds of organizations providing bottled water, and what they describe as “basic necessities,” but what people really need is drywall, carpet, bathtubs, etc.  Will any of this donated money actually go toward meeting these needs?  Our local media has done a very poor job of providing information on exactly where this money is going.

• College Football / Basketball – From the USC violations & sanctions to the impending conference shakeups, it seems as though College Athletics is in disarray. College presidents are famous for always talking about how a football playoff system would negatively impact academics, but this is clearly a hypocritical stance. This impending shakeup is ALL about money, and so is the bowl system.  I’m not necessarily a proponent of a playoff system over the bowl system, but I am a proponent of college football and basketball.  I’m nervous about how this formation of 3 SUPER conferences (SEC, Pac-10, Big-10), and the elimination of the Big 12 will affect College Athletics, and particularly the schools that are not in these conferences.
• Stephen Hawking – Earlier this week, the famous scientist Stephen Hawking was quoted as saying that he was confident science would eventually disprove the existence of God.  Interesting position coming from a man whose science can’t even explain the origins of the matter that (supposedly) randomly and accidentally resulted in the formation of the solar system, the earth, and human life.  I wonder who actually has more “faith?”  Me in my God, or him in his science?    

Tuckered out at Tee’s Fireside Cafe.

Happy Birthday Sara!  Can’t believe you’re a year old today!

Sara – One Year Ago!  Happy Birthday my little Sara bean!!

REBUILD HOUSING CLINICS TO BEGIN MEETING WITH CITIZENS THIS SATURDAY

ReBuild Clinics will be held this weekend by appointment to provide one-on-one sessions designed to help Nashvillians affected by the flood pull together an action plan for moving forward with the recovery process.  Initial clinics are scheduled for Saturday, May 22, in six locations. A team of advisors will help individuals and families evaluate the resources available to them and work with them to create a personal plan for recovery and rebuilding.  Participants will have the option to schedule follow-up appointments at nonprofit sponsor agencies.  They will also have the option of requesting follow-up case management.

******Beginning Thursday, May 20, individuals and families can call 862-6778 to make an appointment.*******  Callers will be advised of the information they should bring with them to the ReBuild Clinic.  Sessions-tailored for both renters and owners will be conducted by three core team members familiar with disaster and housing resources, personal finance, and the construction process.  Other disciplines such as legal, social service, CPAs will be on hand at each site to provide support as necessary.

Following are the sites for tomorrow:

Grace Church of the Nazarene

2620 Pennington Bend Rd, Nashville , TN 37214 

Mt. Zion Baptist Church

1112 Jefferson Street, Nashville, TN 37208

Bellevue Church of Christ

7401 Highway 70 South, Nashville, TN 37221

Antioch United Methodist

41 Tusculum Road, Antioch, TN 37013

Riverwood Church of Christ

1904 McGavock Pike, Nashville, TN 37216

St. Luke’s Community House

5601 New York Avenue, Nashville, TN 37209

Please Reblog, RT & share this information with those who may benefit.  Thank you.

Please Reblog, RT, or Share

**Service International**

Leaders from Service International (SI), a non-profit disaster relief organization headquartered in Chesterfield, Mo., are partnering with Bellevue Church of Christ to provide clean-up efforts for residents whose homes have been damaged by the flood.

SI was founded in 1993 and has since provided disaster clean-up services around the world including during the 2005 Katrina clean up.

Nashville area homeowners:

If you need help with flood cleanup from SI, download and complete the application below and return to Bellevue church of Christ

FREE Clean-up with Service International 

Nashville area volunteers:

• Meet Daily – from 8:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m., come to Bellevue Church of Christ, 7401 Highway 70 South, Nashville, TN 37221.
• Every volunteer must sign a release form. These forms are available at Bellevue Church of Christ, or print one out at the bottom of this page.
• Ages 16 and older can volunteer; however, anyone between the ages of 16 and 18 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
• Wear sturdy shoes, long pants (no shorts). Expect to get dirty!
• T-shirts and work gloves will be provided.
• A simple sack lunch will be provided.
• Transportation to the clean-up site will be provided.

Volunteers require no special training or professional skills. Crew chiefs will be assigned to each work site to give clear directions.

Download and print these Volunteer Release Forms and take them with you when you report to the volunteer staging site at Bellevue Church of .

• Liability Release (PDF)
• Medical Release (PDF)

**Hilltop Rescue**

Bellevue Church of Christ has also partnered with Hilltop Rescue of Nashville for churches, groups, & individuals outside of the Nashville area who need lodging while working on flood cleanup.  Workers will be required to complete a release form before beginning work with Hilltop Rescue (see link below).  Please contact the Bellevue church office for more information or to schedule your group (615-646-9828).

Volunteer Release Form

Nashville area homeowners:

If you need help with flood cleanup, download and complete the application below for Hilltop Rescue and return to Bellevue church of Christ

FREE Clean-up with Hilltop Disaster

(download and complete the application and return to Bellevue church of Christ)

**Donations**

Financial help would also be welcomed as the Bellevue Church of Christ eldership will use ALL funds to cover the extenuating circumstances of those in need.  Checks can be made out to the Bellevue Church of Christ (note “Flood Relief” in the memo line), and delivered to the church office at 7401 Highway 70 South, Nashville, TN 37221.

This Wednesday night (05/12/2010), Bellevue Church of Christ will be having a special service that will include a short devotional and then a seminar led by Drs. Jake and Melanie Morris from Lipscomb University on coping with disasters.  Devotional will start at 7:00 p.m.  Please see the image below for more details and address.  Click HERE for map/directions. (Please Reblog, RT, or Share).

Bellevue Church of Christ
7401 Highway 70 South
Nashville, TN  37221 

(615) 646-9828

My thoughts on the 35th annual One America 500 Festival Mini-Marathon in Indianapolis, IN

One America 500 Festival Mini Marathon
May 8, 2010
www.500festival.com/marathon/

My Run:  Overall, the One America 500 Festival Mini-Marathon (Mini) in Indianapolis was my fifth half marathon, and my third long-distance race in the last six weeks (Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon on 03/28 & Country Music Marathon on 04/24).  This was the second year in a row that I have run the Mini, which is the largest half marathon and fifth largest road race in the U.S. with 35,000 runners.  The Mini is part of the month-long 500 Festival that leads up to the Indianapolis 500.

I traveled to Indianapolis with my good friend Nathan Wright.  When Nathan is in top form, he has proven to have a little more speed than me (sub 1:40 PR for the half, compared to my 1:44 PR).  However, Nathan had not run a long distance event since the 2009 Country Music Half Marathon, and had only begun running again in February of this year after dealing with a foot injury.  Prior to the race we had discussed shooting for an 8:00 min per mile pace through the first 9 or 10 miles, and then each of us would decide how much gas we had left for the finish.  If we carried that pace to the end, we would finish in 1:45.  Our plan was to start out conservatively (which is a must due to crowd congestion), and then pick it up slowly over the course of the race.

The weather was a mixture of good and bad.  It was an overcast day, and temperatures were ideal, with upper 40s at the start and mid 50s at the finish.  However, the wind was blowing around 20 mph with gusts up to 30 mph.  Given that Indianapolis is very flat, the terrain offered little protection.  This was slightly concerning as the wind blew my hat down the street while Nathan and I were running our warmup stride-outs.

This is a follow-up on my earlier posts.  Please help if you can.  For more information contact Bonnie Duckworth (bonniebcoc@bellsouth.net) or me Timothy Agee (timagee@yahoo.com / Twitter: @timagee):

Your help is needed in three ways:

1. Between 600-800 volunteers are needed for clean- up efforts all over the Bellevue area on Saturday and Sunday.  Please come to the Bellevue Church of Christ building this Saturday, May 8, by 8:00 a.m.  If this starting time should change, you will be notified.
2. We are also in need on Thursday and Friday to help in the homes that have been under water.  Workers should be prepared for filthy and unsanitary conditions – bring gloves and shovels and utility knives if you have them.   Needs are coming in throughout each day as we are operating in a crises mode.   Volunteers should come to the church building for directing to the sites.
3. Financial help would also be welcomed as the Bellevue eldership will use all additional funds to cover the extenuating circumstances of those in need.

Thanks for your consideration, and Please reblog or RT!

…TA

Please see the message below from Bonnie Duckworth with Bellevue Church of Christ regarding the urgent need for help in the Bellevue community. We have no phone service in Bellevue, so she can be reached via email – bonniebcoc@bellsouth.net.  Or you can DM me through Twitter @timagee or via email – timagee@yahoo.com for more information.  Many I have spoken with have said that they are in the process of planning how they can help.  To be perfectly honest, by the time they finish planning, it will be too late.  These homes are beginning to grow mold & mildew, and will soon be unsalvageable.  Please help if you can.  Thanks for your consideration!

»Begin Message»

As most of you know, the Bellevue area has been devastated by flood waters.  We have members who have lost their homes and everything they own to water.  They have asked for our help.  We need men who are able to help with furniture and carpet removal from the flooded homes of our members.  If you know of anyone who is able to help, please have them come to the church and see me for the location where help has been requested.  Volunteers should bring utility knives and shovels w/a flat edges for scraping (I know – I’m not a tool expert).  They should also bring work gloves if they have them.  The Health Dept. is advising that everyone have current tetanus vaccinations.   We will provide food for lunch and plenty of water.

We continue to have no phone service so communications have been a major problem. I’m back up on the internet thanks to a pc card.  Steve also has internet service.  We are trying to hear something from each church member and will appreciate a brief account of anyone where you know their situation.  Please pass this message along to those with whom you may be in contact. 

Your help in this effort will be appreciated more than you will ever know.

Bonnie Duckworth

Secretary, Bellevue Church of Christ

646-9828

»End Message»

I would also add that there is lots of drywall work to be done, so if you have the appropriate tools, that would also be very helpful.

We are Nashville – Section 303

I’ve heard several people today saying they hadn’t heard much information about ways they could help those affected by the flooding in Nashville.  To that end, below are two opportunities to provide assistance to flood victims in the Bellevue community:

(1) I (Tim Agee) will be taking a group from my house to assist a couple in Newsom Station with significant flood damage.  We will be removing tile, sheet rock, cabinets, etc.  We are meeting at 8:30am (05/05) at my house if you can assist.  Send me a DM on twitter @timagee or an email to timagee@yahoo.com if you would like to help.  If we happen to finish early, there are lots of other houses in the area that need help, or we can go meetup with the group from Bellevue Church of Christ (see below).

(2) Alan Thompson, deacon at Bellevue Church of Christ, is putting together work crews to go out and help flood victims tomorrow morning (05/05).  If you can help, please meet at the Bellevue Church of Christ parking lot at 9:00 am, Wednesday morning.  Crews will go to River Plantation, the Meadows, etc. and assist as needed in moving furniture, carpet, etc. from homes that have been flooded.  Even if you can only work one or two hours, your help will definitely be appreciated.

Mission Lazarus: Update: The 3rd Annual Fish & Fiddle Benefit!

Sara – Another Agee Runner in the Making!

My thoughts on the 11th annual Country Music Marathon in Nashville, TN…

Country Music Marathon
April 24, 2010
nashville.competitor.com

My Run:  Overall, the Country Music Marathon (CMM) was my fourth full marathon, and my second in the last four weeks (Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon on 03/28).  In Knoxville, I set a new PR of 3:39, and in the back of my mind hoped that I could improve on that time at the CMM.  I really like running with pace groups, and at the CMM, the pace groups are set every 15 minutes.  It took me a while to decide whether I would run with the 3:45 group, and attempt to pick it up at the end, or try to hang with the 3:30 group.  I ultimately decided to go with the 3:30 group which turned out to be a poor decision considering the conditions on race day.

All week, the forecast had called for severe storms on Saturday, and ultimately the race organizers decided to cut off the full marathon after 4:30.  The prediction was for a first wave of storms that would clear out around 6am, and then a second wave would move in around mid-day.  This is pretty close to how it turned out, but what I didn’t expect was that during this gap there would be warm, sunny, and humid conditions.

I was able to hang with the 3:30 pace group through the first 11 miles or so, but the heat and humidity took a big toll.  Between miles 11 and 12 I hit the wall very hard (bonked).  My heart rate was in the mid 180s, which is much higher than I am used to after coming through the winter months.  I had to walk for a bit to try and lower my heart rate, and began dumping cold water over my head.  I began to think that finishing the race was going to be extremely difficult.  Once I reached the second half of the course, I was able to regain some semblance of a running rhythm, and made the decision that I was going to walk for a couple of minutes at every aid station, and simply focus on finishing.

Really proud of Kate for finishing the Country Music Kid’s Marathon tonight!  She completed 25+ miles over the past 4 weeks, and ran hard the whole way tonight.

Sara Learning to Walk – Part 4