Asheville Triathlon Photos from Rec Park in East Asheville!

Thanks to all the volunteers, to the fire and law enforcement folks for one of the safest races I can remember. Thanks to Doug Methvin, SetupEvents did a fabulous job making a great, safe event for everyone.


Hope you all enjoy the photos and the slides. God blessed us with another incredible day!

I think I need my Sunday afternoon nap now!

Billy Graham on Ted

I'm struggling with how to respond to the comments on Rev. Grahams' talk. He is still the most respected senior statesmen for the American church at large. Clearly, he speaks a different language than most scientists and technical folks. Many Ted readers are skeptical of anything that cannot be proved by the scientific method.

It is also amazing how we all are so unaware of our own "lenses" and biases, whether existential, evolutionary or evangelical.

If the video takes to long to load on the blog visit it at Ted.com .

Enka Triathlon at Biltmore Lake was AWESOME!

No, that really isn't a smile, it is a post-race grin and grimace.

First triathlon of the season, experienced adrenaline, pain, exhilaration and a very cool but gnarly course. Good news! I was in a better shape than I thought! Felt so good on the swim for the first 200 I swam well past the first buoy before I realized it! I think my swim was 3min faster than last time we did the course. Thank you , Bill Keel and my Reuter YMCA Master Swim Buddies!

On the ride, unfortunately, I still couldn't hang with the amazing Dewayne Robinson with his kickin' fresh new aero bike. This is his home course. Like REALLY his home course. Like his house is ON the course. That said, Dude is a total machine wherever he goes! Before the race, he said he had been at the beach all week and did virtually nothing but hang out drinking sweet tea and eating cheese puffs. (Mild exaggeration on the tea & cheese puffs.) Here's to beach week before a race! I want to get on your training program Dewayne!

My main man, Team Red Leader, Hudson Owen overtook me and made me chase him from about mile 3 to 13 of the bike. Then politely, as only a Brit can do, he let off the accelerator so I could overtake and return the favor. Unfortunately, I never returned the favor. We Americans can be ugly like that. Maybe next time bro! (He still took home some Mugware for the Clydesdale division!)

Yet another lesson in humility today. I made a mistake I had only heard of total novices making. Got H2O and Gatoraide bottles confused in a cool downhill and generously squirted my helmet and head with Gatoraide! Sticky. ROTFL

No surprise with the winners. Kevin Lisska was #1, Brad Miller #2 finishing strong for the AshevilleTri home team. Julia Tobias won the womens and was hanging out with the baby after as though they had just been out for a little stroll!

Some cool post race tees were spotted including Underdog and "Chicks dig my ride."

Wendy Miller (while simultaneously kid wranglin) and I took a few photos. I think I still have some to upload but I'm late for my nap.


The littlest Curwen got the most fashionable sunnies award while his mom Monica had the "most advanced hands free to accept awards" friendly child front pack. Like is Jay in the gear business or what! ;-)

Lecky Haller shared with Joe and I that part of his paddling success was due to his very well accomplished 'Robot' dance/warm up routine.

Thanks to all the volunteers, to the fire and law enforcement folks for one of the safest races I can remember. Thanks to Greg Duff, GloryHound Events and AshevilleTri Club Officer! Thanks to our sponsors, especially Apollo Flame for the very tasty Grilled Greek Chicken Salad. Extra thanks to SetupEvents did a fabulous job making a great, safe event for everyone.

I think we ran out of AshevilleTriClub Membership Apps in the first 15 minutes before the race.

Hope you all enjoy the photos and the slides. God blessed us with an incredible day!

Montreat Deer luv the iPhone!

If you can get this close with the iPhone, they obviously like you or want your iPhone or both!

Piano, Montreat and the Dripolator for a Great Saturday

Gotta say this morning was splendid!

Summer had a piano competition at 8:30 at the Chapel of the Prodigal in Montreat. She performed flawlessly! (Or to Jordan & Dad's ear anyhow!) Then we drove up to the campgrounds in Montreat to see the flora and fauna. Got some neat shots (to follow with the iPhone) of the tame deer up near the campground. (If you can get close enough to get photos with an iPhone, they aren't easily spooked!)

Then the celebration with Larry's Peruvian java, scones and smoothies at the Award Winning Dripolator! I have such cool kids, it was great to hang out with them and make a memory this Saturday!

They have a photo of a Tienda in Matagalpa on the wall and visit Fair Trade growers every year!

Places like this make me glad I no longer invest in SBUX stocks.

WebStore by Amazon: Web Business Made Simple, Sell Online The Easy Way!

So, I was just looking for a decent business book and find this big honkin' banner for the Webstore By Amazon!

7% commission is steep!

WebStore by Amazon: Web Business Made Simple, Sell Online The Easy Way!

TonerForAutism.com cool tees!

TonerForAutism.com cool tees!
Originally uploaded by mattledford

We love it when great e-tail FastPivot clients send us cool SWAG and tee shirts and are very excited about the launch of BuyToner and Benefit-Autisum http://www.tonerforautism.com
Thank you for being such cool clients, we love working with nice folks with great causes like you folks! I think Brookie looks cooler in her tee than I do, but I was so excited I had a difficult time containing my excitement.

What's not to like with early morning jog around a lake like this?!

Just gotta say, this morning was pristine perfect for the appx 4 mile "wakeup jog" around the lake. Note the serious 'bed head' and the very sleepy state that preceeded the first of two laps... Yah, I can see why people want to move to Asheville.

Simplify your metrics anyone? Our MEC friends doing free webinar today!

Just wanted to invite our clients and friends to hear my friend Dr. Flint McGlaughlin in a free webinar on "Simplifying Your Metrics". After all, who really wants more complex metrics! ;-)

https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/112267708

Had to do a new layout... Nicaragua Board=Visual Noise=Bad..

Yes it is still generic, but cleaner generic. I know it seems boring but the easiest web pages to read are still simple black text on a white background. Old fashioned, but effective!

I was reminded of this when I shared blogging with the Board of Vision Nicaragua last night and the commented how they really didn't like visually busy blogs or websites in general. They have several mission trips to Nicaragua going down in the next few months to the Village of Bethel, Nicaragua. It is a good work, check them out!

Great kids! Biking Biltmore

What a couple of great kids!

I'm Considering Getting A "Mellow Out Chair"

IMG_0192.jpg
Originally uploaded by mattledford

Ever just need one of these? Tell your boss or co-workers to have a seat there? How 'bout the children, or a spouse-maybe have a seat in the "mellow out" chair instead of the "Naughty Chair"!

Cosmic!

Corporate blogs and the challenges of Web 2.0

Are You Taking Advantage of Web 2.0? - Pogue’s Posts - Technology - New York Times Blog

As our team considers 'social shopping' and 'commerce communities' like
the ones we've built for Group Publishing's YouthMinistry.com and www.simplyyouth.com
it seems there is are balance and control issues around the voice
companies use and the level of control over dialogue. David Pogue's article is worth reading for all our clients that desire to own/run/have a 'commerce community' and to be Web 2.0.

The most sailent point:
"Without comments, a blog is not a blog at all. It’s just a Web page—Web 1.0."

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Best April fools so far today goes to Google!

Guys- the best April
Fools Joke I've found so far today goes to Google (make sure you aren't logged
in):

http://mail.google.com/mail/help/customtime/index.html

Then:

http://tinyurl.com/yokjgf

Well Played!!

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Consistency, habits, why are difficult things challenging to keep up?

Well, now it is the end of March, the first quarter of 2008 and I ask myself: "What things did I start the year and not follow-thru on?" "Where did I begin well and almost immediately lose momentum?" Sometimes the loss of momentum can be discouraging. Where did busyness and pull of the details of the 'lesser things' crowd out the 'greater things'? How can I recover the 'greater things'?

The things we consistently value, we consistently do. Unfortunately, new things don't have value or habit patterns established yet and must crowd out something else we are already doing or thinking.

The end of a quarter, while not as dramatic as the end of a year, is still a good time to re-evaluate priorities. Whether it is exercise, consistent learning, or spiritual disciplines it is easy to begin in earnest only to see new good things in our life fade away from our patterns and priorities. Every day is a new day and a potential fresh start! Regaining momentum always starts with an action, a doing something, even praying for next steps in a specific area.


Once such area is blogging, even well intentioned bloggers start strong but get distracted by life outside the blog! So, now that I'm back in the blog, I'll be sharing a few more posts about the connected life.

This week Mark Anderson and Surfers On Mission are in Nicaragua with my friend Mark Randall altough IM HUGELY DISAPPOINTED NOT TO BE serving and surfing in Nicaragua THERE WITH THEM! ;-)

So as a part of the HOME team, I promise to pray for God to bless the work of their hands and the words of their mouths. I'm also reviewing my commitments to pray and help support other friends and teams in Nicaragua like Sandy and the sweet orphanages Children of Destiny and Melissa Buzbee and her family at La Chuerca-The Managua Dump and the very cool church called Verbo in Managua.
Live well, be blessed...