Blog

Facebook is only as useful as the information it provides. Unfortunately, the default settings for the world’s largest social network intends to show posts from every person and page you follow (and a bunch that you don’t thanks to ads). That’s a nightmare. Thankfully, you’ve got options for tailoring your timeline so you don’t have to give up on it all together.[footnote]Unless you want to, and in that case, you’ve got my utmost respect.[/footnote] Facebook has an interesting dilemma–the more posts they show, the more likely you are to return. However, if they only show you crap you don’t give a hoot about, you’ll give up. So, they have to make it so you can tweak what you see, but not so much that they can’t sell ad space. This is the problem of being a product instead of buying a product. Before we start, you may be asking, “Why don’t I just unfriend or unfollow this person or page?” Well, maybe that’s what you should do, but if you’re scared of being viewed as mean, rude, or malicious, I’m helping provide a less intimidating option ...

We live in a strange time where written word has surged again in importance. Communication has looped from spoken word to historical scriptures to public lectures to the printing press, newspapers and periodicals to radio, TV, the Internet, email, and text messaging. Some days, (perhaps most for some of us), we communicate more with typed text than we do with spoken word. Words are just as important as ever. Jokes don’t come through as clearly in text, tone is uncertain, and ambiguity reigns, especially if you try to communicate without the use of parenthetical emotional explanation or a few emoji. I’ve experienced the frustration of not having the right word frequently lately. When you’re trying to explain something in a new language, your ability to communicate is greatly hindered by your lack of vocabulary. Stories aren’t quite as funny without the right word. Meaning is muddled without the same accuracy as before. Polished statements are nearly impossible and poignancy is checked at the door of a fresh non-native tongue. I’ve been percolating on the importance of words for a while, and, well, I think, with some help, I’ve finally got a clearer picture of why these arrangements of letters are so critical. Words carry meaning > meaning forms thoughts > thoughts determine belief > belief leads to action. Here’s what I mean. ...

Sticking to a plan is hard for me. I don’t like to be boxed in or have limited options. But one thing I’ve successfully stuck to in the last three and a half years is a budget. Three years isn’t exactly a “long haul” but in terms of budgeting, that’s just shy of an eternity. Last year I highlighted my favorite app for budgeting, YNAB. I can’t imagine not using it, and I wouldn’t dream of switching to anything else at this point. It’s a perfect blend of ease, features, and delight. I still whole-heartedly recommend it as the hands-down-best-budgeting app. But a fancy app does not a budget make. You can have the best app in the world, but if you don’t have the desire and discipline to take control of your cash, it’s not going to happen. Here are my five keys to sticking with a budget over the long haul. ...

As a committed member of the Millennial Generation, I love to keep my options open. Finality, conclusiveness, and decisiveness when better opportunities could arise make it difficult to commit. As my wife and I prepare for the arrival of tiny human numero uno, we’ve done some rearranging in our city apartment. We converted our former guest room/office into a guest room/nursery, which meant my massive desk got the boot in favor of a changing table. ...

In light of a certain company creating some new products and preparing to unleash them to the hungry, coveting masses, it seems an especially good time to consider the high cost of owning nice things. Let’s start off with this assumption: Nice things are nice.[footnote]It’s those insights that keep you reading here, no?[/footnote] I suppose that could go without saying, but one major reason we buy things that are better quality than the run-of-the-mill products is because we don’t want to be tempted to swear and chuck that piece of junk out the window when it doesn’t work, breaks, or dies in the middle of an important project. Along with a higher price tag, which is pretty standard for nicer things, there are other costs worth considering. Initial Price “You get what you pay for,” is the catch phrase of those pursuing the American Dream. It’s the de facto slogan of rationalization, and it’s such a good justifier I hardly ever disagree with it. There’s no doubt it contains truth. I hardly expect a cheap plastic spoon I bought for a nickel to last as long as a metal spoon that might last the rest of my life, if I don’t lose it in a move somewhere along the way. But is a gold-plated spoon better? Is it necessary? Will paying $300 for a spoon actually serve me more effectively than a normal piece of silverware? That’s where we have to stop and ask questions. I think it’s wise to buy things that don’t inherently invite death and destruction (a la Smart Cars getting hit by Hummers or semis on the highway) but “YGWYPF” only extends so far. ...

My mornings are often the strongest indicator of how successfully[footnote]Whatever that means. For me, mostly that I didn’t waste (too much) time and I did the major things I needed to do for that day.[/footnote] my day will turn out. If I start by wasting time, it’s hard for me to recover, and I might as well go back to bed before lunch and hope to start fresh tomorrow. I’m currently making my way through Timothy Keller’s excellent book Prayer. One idea that I’ve already put into practice comes from our Reforming friend Martin Luther. I’m a pretty weak meditator. That’s my own fault, as it is difficult to meditate if you don’t create gaps of silence in your life. It feels like I’m reading, thinking about tasks, listening, or speaking nearly constantly, but rarely deeply contemplating or wrestling with big ideas. I have a morning manifesto, ideas for a new morning routine, and ways I’ve been trying to meditate. But, I don’t do what I want to do. I’m a good doctor and a horrible patient. I can prescribe the lights out but fail to pop the necessary pills or take the appropriate measures to become well. So, with the help of the Poster Boy of the Reformation, I’ve started doing (a tiny bit) more work to prepare the day before, so that when I wander out to our living room in the morning, well-rested but still groggy, I’m ready to dive into time with the Lord. It’s better to start my morning in a half-stupor of prayer and meditation than to wake up over the course of an hour having wasted time on things that won’t matter 10 minutes from now. Reading tweets doesn’t wake me up. It puts me on a high-speed slide toward dawdling and distraction. Luther’s Recipe for starting your day with prayer: ...

Right now I’m writing on my iPad. But I’m not really writing. I’m dictating all of my speech to Siri, our favorite spastic iOS assistant. Everyone has had their bouts with her, going round and round between “Sorry I didn’t catch that,” blatant misunderstandings, and occasionally amazing precision. Huge improvements have been made over the years, and if you’re a long-time iOS user who was tired of taking Siri’s flack in the past and haven’t revisited her, I’d say give it another go. Now, she’s even correcting words as she sees the context changing, going back earlier sentences to make sure the words are correct, to the best of her ability. I just told her, “new paragraph” and she did the equivalent of tapping return twice. [footnote]So, yes, I had to come back and edit this line.[/footnote] You see, when I gave that new paragraph command she didn’t type the words “new paragraph”, but instead she inserted a new paragraph. The dictation has gotten pretty impressive over the years and now that you can see that the words are appearing on the screen rather than dictating a massive chunk of text and watching a spinning dotted circle for 20 seconds only to have nothing get typed because of a so-called network error. I wanted to share some of the best shortcuts Siri understands. Sure, it’s weird holding your iPad or iPhone a few inches in front of your face and speaking to a screen, but for longer messages it sure beats the socks off typing everything [footnote]like an animal![/footnote][/footnote] because I can speak a whole lot faster than I can type. ...

One interesting aspect of the Christian life is how some components are absolutely critical and worth disagreement and breaking fellowship. Things like Salvation by faith in Christ The divinity of Jesus Acknowledgement and confession of sin Confessing Jesus as Lord are really critical if you want to call yourself a Christian, but that’s by no means an exhaustive list. If you throw those components out, it’s kind of like saying you want to bake chocolate chip cookies but not use chocolate, eggs, flour, butter, sugar or an oven. You can call those cookies, but I think us orthodox-chocolate-chip-cookie eaters are going to think you’re pretty off-base. Other things are a lot less critical, but are (sometimes) worth discussing. Can you be a faithful Christian and… Watch Breaking Bad? Wear V-neck t-shirts? Use Android products? Read only eBooks? Use credit cards instead of Dave Ramsey’s envelope system? I’ve obviously chosen rather fluffy topics instead of something like drinking alcohol, wearing head coverings, or whatever the flame-war-du-jour is on often-non-essential Christian arguments, which I undoubtedly still engage in when it isn’t always wise. Feel free to substitute these questions with anything that is generally unmentioned in the Bible or something that isn’t completely clear in scripture but faithful Christians are found on both sides of the topic. In a theology class I recently took on Romans, the professor suggested three applications from Romans 14:1–23 in what I like to call, “How Not To Be A Pharisee.” ...

I follow a fair number of blogs using RSS, which is a bit uncommon in 2015. The death of Google Reader changed how we follow blogs, and I’d guess most people follow blogs or authors via Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, or email. I’m old school, so I thought I’d share how I read, follow, and share the best posts I find. An RSS Subscription Service I subscribe using Feedly. It’s a free service and honestly I hardly think about it because I merely use it to keep all of my subscriptions in one place. You could think of it as knowing if your credit card is VISA or MasterCard–it doesn’t make a significant difference–and you’re likely more attached to the bank or card company than the system that processes your payments. An RSS service is the (potentially unimportant) backend where everything is organized. The only time I login to Feedly is if I come across a blog I want to subscribe to while using my Mac. Otherwise, I merely sync Feedly with Reeder, the app I use to read blogs. Reeder for iOS I read the blogs I follow exclusively on iOS. I use Reeder ($5, universal iOS app) because it’s beautiful, connects with all my services,[footnote]Evernote, Pinboard, etc.[/footnote] and does more than I need to do without a clunky interface getting in the way of reading. I don’t use any apps to read on my Mac. The reading experience on an iPad is better because I can quickly navigate by tapping a screen to move between blogs instead of clicking around. When I read, I want to read a bunch of posts, all at once, and it feels cumbersome without a touch interface. Reeder has tons of gesture support and built in sharing, all while displaying blogs in a beautiful way. It makes following blogs that don’t have a great design a whole lot more enjoyable. ...

I’ve long been a fan of Kayak.com for all of my flight booking needs, but there’s a new sheriff in town. Hopper is a free iOS app that helps you find the best prices for flights. It’s a bit different from other apps and services because it uses algorithms to constantly check flight prices. You can set “Watch Trips” which alerts you the minute prices drop or if Hopper thinks prices will go up soon. Other services only do daily searches and send email digests, while Hopper is at work constantly. Here’s what makes Hopper better than Kayak. ...