• “That’s not my job”

    “That’s not my job”

    My stress level quickly elevated when I arrived in the returns lane.

    “How am I going to get all of this stuff and that little boy to the airport in time to catch our flight?”

    A car seat. Two check bags. Three carry-ons. And one sleepy toddler.

    (more…)

  • Jackson Time

    photo-5

    One of the traditions I’m trying to introduce is taking each of the kids on a “dad trip” once per year. I don’t pretend to be a model parent, I do a lot of things wrong— But one thing I think I’m doing well is creating memorable experiences with Megan, Paul, and Jackson.

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  • The Making of a Book Cover

    The Making of a Book Cover

    One of the crazy things about starting The Youth Cartel line of products has been, for me, learning how to make a book a book.

    Prior to starting our product line I’d never made anything for print. Sure, I’d designed stuff. But it was always for the web.

    Designing for print is a different beast altogether. 

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  • College Basketball Rankings – Week 16

    College Basketball Rankings – Week 16

    Week 16 College Basketball Rankings

    1. Syracuse
    2. Florida
    3. Wichita State
    4. Arizona
    5. Duke
    6. San Diego State
    7. Cincinnati
    8. Vilanova
    9. Kansas
    10. Creighton
    11. Saint Louis
    12. Louisville
    13. Michigan State
    14. Virginia
    15. Texas
    16. Iowa State
    17. Iowa
    18. Kentucky
    19. Wisconsin
    20. UConn
    21. Ohio State
    22. Memphis
    23. UCLA
    24. Michigan
    25. Stephen F. Austin

    Week 15 Results

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  • Adam’s Guide to Trolls

    Adam’s Guide to Trolls

    The other day I heard future Hall of Fame basketball coach Tom Izzo talk about the impact of internet trolls on his players while doing an interview with ESPN Radio.

    Yeah, trolls are such a big deal that he has to teach 18 year old basketball players how to deal with foul mouthed fans.

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  • Road Productivity

    Road Productivity

    I’m in kind of a hot streak of travel. Between Open events and speaking, 2014 is off to a rather busy start.

    It’s a mixed blessing for me.

    (more…)

  • Does Technology Diminish Social Skills?

    Does Technology Diminish Social Skills?

    “The problem with all of this technology is that kids today can’t survive in the real world. They don’t have the social skills they need.”

    I hear this a lot from parents at my social media workshops.

    And I am empathetic to the logic.

    Yet I disagree with the sentiment.

    (more…)

  • College Basketball Rankings – Week 15

    College Basketball Rankings – Week 15

    So here we are. Midway through the conference season and things are starting to heat up all over the country. The Big Ten and Big 12 are proving to be full of parity… top to bottom anyone can win, the SEC has settled into the haves and have nots, same with the Pac 12 and Mountain West.

    Week 15 Rankings

    1. Syracuse
    2. Arizona
    3. Florida
    4. Wichita State
    5. San Diego State
    6. Villanova
    7. Kansas
    8. Duke
    9. Michigan State
    10. Louisville
    11. Cincy
    12. Saint Louis
    13. Michigan
    14. Iowa
    15. Creigton
    16. Virginia
    17. Iowa State
    18. Kentucky
    19. Texas
    20. Memphis
    21. Pitt
    22. Ohio State
    23. New Mexico
    24. Wisconsin
    25. UCLA

    (more…)

  • Pushing Forward by Letting Go

    Pushing Forward by Letting Go

    The beta test year for OpenYM is now about 3/5th complete, with Boston this weekend and Grand Rapids at the end of the month.

    Three years ago Open started as a whitepaper. Something I was tentatively calling “YouthMin Camp.” It was forking the very best of WordCamp & some of the flavor of BarCamp, and adding in a few elements to make it work within the youth ministry world.

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  • Blogging 201: Generating Content They’ll Love

    Blogging 201: Generating Content They’ll Love

    March 6th at 11:00 AM Pacific

    Building off of the success of Blogging 101, I’ve scheduled the next logical step… Blogging 201!

    Blogging 101 was all about getting started, having an initial plan to make blogging a habit, getting your blog set-up, and stuff like that.

    Blogging 201 is about writing, editing, and publishing the content that’ll actually go on your blog. (aka The hard part.)

    What Blogging 201 Will Cover

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