News Reading

Back when I dropped Google (and since kinda started back up again) one of the toughest parts was giving up Google Reader. I went to a Twitter list thing that worked relatively well. Then, Google decided to shut down Reader and an interesting thing happened. Lots of new Google Reader alternatives started getting more press, more features, more users, etc. With this new wealth of options to look at, I decided that it was worth another look at the landscape.

Long story short, I settled on Feedly, for now. The primary reason is they have a pretty decent iOS offering, and it was free to try out (though requires a Google account for authentication). That last part is what has me hung up a little bit. I never felt entirely comfortable with the Twitter lists thing because that feature of Twitter seemed like an afterthought, so it wouldn’t have surprised me if it was just gone one day. Using a free service, there is always that risk. When I can pay for something, I have a more reasonable expectation that what I am paying is A. covering the costs to run the service and B. incentive to continuing running the service. With Feedly, it is a ad-supported service, that just happen to get about a quarter of a million new users in the last 2 months. Are the ads enough to support that huge increase? I hope so for now.

One thing I am happy about, back to RSS instead of Twitter accounts. Twitter was great for skimming, but it wasn’t built for the “check out a paragraph of the article” like RSS is. That, and RSS is still more of a standard than having a Twitter account for a site is. If I want to subscribe to something, I can typically find a feed for the site easier than if there is a Twitter account for it.

The one I am really going to keep an eye on is Feed Wrangler. I hope in the next few months the iOS apps get some tweaks and the OS X desktop app come out. If so, I would gladly pay the $19/year for something that important to me.

Reading Later

The other thing that sort of shook my world was Marco selling Instapaper. While the folks at Betaworks seem to do some good work (seriously, Dots is super addictive) I just have some concerns about what life after Marco will be. Because of that, I have started looking at Pocket as a replacement for Instapaper. I have the same reservations about using a free service as I do with the feed reader, but the alternatives are all the same way right now. The Pocket iOS app isn’t as nice as Instapaper, but does have better support for video content. Pocket also ties in with many other apps and offers a variety of browser plugins that are supported by the company.

Do I hope that Instapaper keeps getting better and the vision for it remains focused? Absolutely! But for now, I am keeping my options open and trying something else.

On May 24th, I might be doing the craziest thing I have done in my life. I am going on a mission/service trip to Ghana. It isn’t crazy because I am going on the trip, in itself, more the circumstances that allowed me to go. This trip has been announced through the church for a few months now. About a month ago, there was an update about the trip at church and I offhandedly mentioned to Rebekah that someday I would love to go on a trip like that.

Fast forward to Palm Sunday and the drive home from church, when after another update about the trip, Rebekah said “you know, you should go on that trip”. This caught me entirely off guard, but after a few seconds I asked “are you sure?” She reassured me that I should at least see what it would take to make it happen. At this point, we thought the trip was going to be in July. I started looking at what it would take to go, with the four big things being

• A renewed passport
• A visa to enter Ghana
• Immunizations
• Money

When working with the organizer to see if I could make this happen, I found out the date to leave is May 24th. He said that I could make it still, but I would have to hustle up. So, one expedited passport request later and lots of logistics planning, I bought my tickets to go this last Sunday.

What I Will Be Doing In Ghana

I have to admit that I am using the term mission trip and service trip interchangeably when talking with folks about the trip. This is rather unintentional, just seems to depend on who I am talking to. The goal of the trip is to help do volunteer work, specifically we will be spending some time at a school helping paint a couple of their rooms, as well as helping out at a clinic and an orphanage. We will be spending a little time seeing the capitol as well, to help get a better big picture of what the country is like.

How You Can Help

As I mentioned in the bullets of what it would take to go, the last one is money. It is an expensive flight to get to Ghana and each of us is bringing a suitcase of medical supplies. I am going to be providing money for some of the expense, as well as taking donations from the church. This will get me about half of the way there. Because of this, I have been looking to fund raise the rest of the money.

This is a little uncomfortable for me to do, it isn’t in my nature to ask for help like this. At the same time, I have not felt so strong a call to do something in a very long time, so while it takes me out of my comfort zone, it also feels like entirely the right thing to do.

If you want to help out, you can do so by going to

http://www.gofundme.com/2f55n0

and donating some money. Any little bit helps out, with it going to additional medical supplies and helping offset some of the flight cost. Even if you are unable to help financially, I would love to hear from you through Facebook or Twitter. I don’t know how much I will be able to update while I am there, but when I get back, I will be posting photos and notes from the trip. This is unlike anything I have done before in so many ways and has me more excited than I have been in a long time. I appreciate any help you can give and am excited to share what I can from my trip with you.

In the last couple of years, Braid has been doing some really cool stuff, seemingly just because they can. First they got back together and did an awesome EP, then they did a series of shows for their classic Frame & Canvas album and now this split EP with Balance and Composure, bringing more exposure to a current emo band.

This is fascinating to me, just how much power these 7 schools seem to wield in this breakup. They get to keep the Big East name, are going to be stealing Butler and Creighton it seems and are going to be making more per year than the old Big East schools, all without football.

Talk about a terrible decision two years ago not jumping on the 1.2 billion dollar deal ESPN offered. With only three schools left from when that deal was offered, it is a lesson in how to destroy a conference.

The MLS season starts this weekend! If you are a soccer fan, you can do much worse than spend 60 bucks for streaming matches all season long. It is a great way to dive into MLS, a much improved league in the last 5 years. And if you don’t live in a city that has a team, it is also a great way to scout the league for the team you want root for, if you need to for some reason.

I have heard that phrase a number of times throughout my life. It isn’t from when I watched Kill Bill or something over the top like that. It is when I am watching a random sporting event, football, soccer, basketball,etc, that isn’t involving a team I follow. It might be a Sun Belt football game or a weekday MLS match, but I am still watching, seemingly with no good reason to.

Here is the thing though, while I might not start with a reason to, within 5 minutes, I usually do. I find a reason or reasons to cheer for one team over the other. And the more you watch, the quicker that decision process is. I can tell you, without a doubt, who I will cheer for in the MLS opening weekend after having two seasons of MLS Live under my belt. Same goes for all of D1 and most of D1-A football teams. It is also one of the things that makes the NCAA tournament so great.

For most sports fans, they will read this and say “well, yeah, duh” but for the non-sports fans out there, this is a little insight into how and why I can sit down and watch La Tech play Utah State and know, I will cheer for La Tech to win.

While I don’t think it is quite as dramatic as the author leads it on to be, this match fixing thing is going to get worse before it gets better. The only thing apparently keeping it out of the soccer news, is the fact that racism is so bad in these European countries. Those two things, combined with the USA and Everton performances over the last week, have made for a rough week of soccer for me.

A. Pocket-Lint’s response is classic. Apparently you just can’t trust people who won’t put their name on things.

“Sadly then, X-Surface has fooled us, and in doing so has perhaps swayed us against bringing you genuine tips in future”

B. This reminds me of something else.

A brilliant response to the Atlantic’s sponsored post about Scientology, which has since been taken down but you can read about here.

If you have seen me in the last 10 years, there is a only a small chance that you saw me clean shaven. The primary reason behind this is that I hate shaving. Particularly, I hate the most important thing involved with shaving, the razors. Rebekah has done her best to help me out, purchasing the “latest and greatest” razors every couple of years, but I would get frustrated quickly as new razors cost a fortune. So what would happen is this:

1. Get a new pack of 4 razors for 14 bucks
2. Shave with a new razor and get a nice shave
3. In an effort to save money, not shave for 2-3 days.
4. Shave again with the same razor, each time getting less and less comfortable.
5. Repeat steps 3 & 4 2/3 times.
6. Get frustrated with the razor scraping my face, and get a new razor from the pack of 4.

Using this process, I could last a month with a pack of 4 razors, with the majority of the days being, as Will says, “a scratchy face”.

Then a couple of months ago, I read an article in The Magazine that gave me hope. Friedman’s description sounded eerily like my own, so I decided to add the shaving items he recommended to my wish list. This last weekend, I got the items from my mom as a Christmas gift. I can happily say that I have shaved every day this week. It is taking some getting used to using the safety razor. So far I am more likely to cut myself, but am not getting any razor burn. I am alright with that as the cuts should go away as I get more experienced with the safety razor.

I have used the razor it came with all week and am ready to switch it out. Instead of getting 4 razors for 14 bucks, I ordered 100 razors for 9 bucks, easily enough to last me over a year. It may have a higher up front cost, but it should pay for itself within a couple of months, with the added bonus of being clean shaven every day and no razor burn.

EDIT: Corrected straight razor to safety razor.