aaron conrad (dot) com

I’m a big fan of Tony Dungy. His books have inspired me and his willingness to share his faith challenges me to do the same. I recently had the opportunity to review his latest devotional book called “Uncommon Life Daily Challenge”. I can’t think of a better way to start the new year. The good news is that I’m going to give a copy away to one lucky person who can do the same!

Uncommon Life Daily Challenge is a daily devotional book filled with challenges on growing and living out your faith. Using real life analogies and lessons learned, Tony brings a daily scripture and a daily challenge to each page. I started reading it when I received it late in 2011 and finished the year with his daily challenges. Each day is a quick read, yet filled with things to consider and apply throughout the days and weeks ahead.

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Last year I had the blessing of finding Oqobo.com to host my blog. If you’ve been around these parts long enough, you know that I like to make changes…a lot! I often use this blog as my personal learning space on the web. I try new things, test new templates and keep myself up to speed on the latest design code. It’s a sickness, but thankfully I have found a host that will put up with me.

Oqobo is a faith based web hosting service and I am honored to utilize their services. Personal attention is something that is lost in the industry. Not so with Oqobo. From day one, they have been completely open to assisting me and offering advice. Just this evening, I worked closely with them to move my email account to a new provider. We had to jump through a few small hoops and they were right there every step of the way. I share all of this because it’s the least I can do.

If you’re in the market for a web hosting service, or just plain tired of the one you have, check out Oqobo.com today. Now is a great time because they are running a special through December 31st. Professional Web Hosting 3 Months Free. Use Promo Code 3Months. Valid for new sign ups/transfers. Expires 12/31.

Check them out today. You’ll be glad you did.

This one wasn’t a gift. I didn’t get a free copy to review to promote the book. So why on earth would a guy pick up a book with such a title? Simple, I’m from Cleveland. We do this to ourselves. We continue to open the wounds of our sports teams and cry with one another as we get ready for “next year”. I wanted to know what the author, Scott Raap, might have discovered about the kid from Akron that crushed a city while taking his talents to South Beach.

Sadly, I didn’t find anything I haven’t already known as a Clevelander and fan of the Cavaliers. Lebron is a child, quitter and can’t handle the pressure of the 4th quarter. Basically that is what it boils down to. It might sound like I didn’t like the book, but is some strange way, I did. It was like sitting around with another friend from Cleveland and being miserable together. The author is a native Clevelander that calls it his “mission” to discover the soul of Lebron James. Not surprisingly, he didn’t find any. The only thing he found was joy in Lebron not winning a championship last year. But as he pointed out, Cleveland didn’t either.

The language throughout the book is strong. It can be offensive and yet I get it. It’s raw emotion of fans that have lived and breathed Cleveland sports. It’s the bitter pill we swallowed when “one of our own” treated a city like it did nothing for him. I’ve always said, I don’t care what Lebron did, it was HOW he did it. Scott Raap cares what and how. The brighter portions of the book come in his stories of his own son. They provide relief from, what can at times be, a very depressing rehashing of “the decision”.

I did not hate or love this one. I can’t recommend that you buy or not buy it. For those from Cleveland, I would say that you’ll understand and maybe even enjoy it too. Those outside Cleveland probably will think it’s a bitter 250 something pages of hate. Either way, Lebron is still gone and the city moves on. Time for me to do the same.