so tell me...

June can't come too soon

2008-05-12T13:44:00.005-05:00

So, school is finally out for the semester, and hopefully that means I can pay more attention to this here blog. There are many great things about summer and this summer will be pretty great just because of all the new things that will be hitting the market. I am mostly excited for the month of June, in which many things dealing with entertainment and multimedia will be announced and/or released. I'm going to warn you now that some of these things may seem a little nerdy, but that won't stop me from being excited about their releases. Well let's get started, shall we?

Computers
The first event of June will be the Apple Developer Conference. These conferences are always awesome because of the fact that it's Apple and they always have something new and exciting coming out. The first thing that they may be announcing is an update to their Macbook and Macbook Pro to make them look more like their iMacs. This will basically just make them look cooler. Apple will also be releasing a new iPhone with 3G capabilities. 3G is just AT&T's form of Wifi, and it is much faster than Edge, their current service. These new iPhones have also been rumored to have cameras on the front of the phone to allow for video chatting and the back of the iPhone will now be a glossy black. These new phones might actually come out before June because of the fact that the current iPhone is no longer available on Apple's online store. One last thing that may or may not be announced is a Mac tablet, which would basically be some sort of PDA and look like a big iPod Touch. I probably won't be buying any of these new products, but one thing I will be using is the new App store that will be opened. This store allows for users to download 3rd party applications to their iPhone or iPod Touch. These applications include games, instant messaging and other helpful services. So it will be fun to see what all Apple comes out with and drool over their new products a little bit.

Video Games
Another reason I am so excited for June is because of Metal Gear Solid 4. This game looks incredible. It will only be available on Playstation 3, and Sony will most likely drop their prices on the PS3 just because of this game. I don't have a PS3 yet, so that is another reason that I am anxious for June: to be able to get the PS3 at a more affordable price. When I get a PS3, I will basically be getting it for Metal Gear Solid alone, but don't worry, I will still use it for Blu-ray movies, music and of course other games. (I'd highly recommend looking up Gran Turismo 5, just to look at the graphics) So June should be a great month for video games.

Music
There are two albums that will be released in June that I am excited about. I don't know how good they'll be as both artists have had pretty big hits in the past, so expectations are high. The first is Coldplay. I like Coldplay and I actually thought that they broke apart, so I'm even more excited that they're releasing a new album. The other album is the new Weezer album. It's been since about 1997 that they've released a good album, so I'm pretty anxious to see what this new album will be like.

Movies
There aren't a whole lot of movies of interest that are coming out in June. I will probably go see Get Smart, because that looks pretty funny. What I'm most excited about, though, is the new Indiana Jones movie and The Dark Knight. I know that neither of these come out in June, but if you average their release dates, it is in June. But all this to say that there are some good movies coming out soon as well.

So that's it I think. I'll be sure to update you all if there's anything more that I forgot to add. If any of you have some June releases you're looking forward too, be sure to let me know. Well that's all for now. Thanks for listening.

Finally, a post! (sort of)

2008-03-14T12:15:00.004-06:00

So it has been a REALLY long time since I posted on here last. But since next week is spring break and I'm sitting here at work with no homework to do, I figured I'd blog a little bit (and trust me, there is a direct correlation there). So much has happened since I was on here last. Christmas has come and gone, a new year is here, and with it brings lots more school and busyness. But I finally have a break, so I am finally writing to you all.

A quick comment: Even though I know I could have posted more regularly, I don't like the idea of throwing something up here. I don't generally like writing, mainly because it's a lot of work for me. I guess I view writing as a minor form of art, and because of that, it should have a lot of thought put into it. So I don't like to rush writing and therefore I need lots of time to be able to put posts on here. I'm just making sure that all of you get the highest quality blogging that I can give. :)

I've wondered what I should write about after being absent for so long. It seems like a popular thing to make a "Top 10" list of albums from 2007, but then I wondered if I'd even listened to 10 albums from 2007. Well after much thinking and deliberation, I found out that I hadn't. I only got to 9, so I feel kind of out of the loop now. I don't have enough time to find new stuff, let alone listen to it. I don't listen enough to what I have now to warrant adding more to listen to. So I decided to not do a "Top 10."

Another quick comment: Of what I did listen to last year, Radiohead's In Rainbows was excellent ("Jigsaw Falling Into Place" = amazing), and the most underrated album from last year, in my opinion, is Fewer Moving Parts by David Bazan. This is probably my #1 album of all I listened to. It is a shorter album (only 5 songs), but they are all great songs. And why not have 5 great songs rather than 10 mediocre songs? I don't know either. It might take some getting used to for die-hard Pedro the Lion fans, but this album is great.

Comment on the above comment: Part of the reason why I like David Bazan is because he seems like the kind of guy who doesn't rush anything. He puts out what he wants, when he wants and won't settle for less than par just to get a longer album out there. Kind of like the way I feel with writing. Quality over quantity!

So back to what this post is really about. After ruling out a "Top 10", I thought I'd stay on the theme of music and talk about all the music events I am and potentially could be going to (Built to Spill, Sam Beam (Iron & Wine), Jens Lekman). But then I thought that those would be better posts for after I had actually gone to the show, so I decided to wait on that.

Yet another quick comment: I am definitely going to the Built to Spill concert, which is this Monday down in Kansas City (Yay for spring break!). I'm still up in the air on Sam Beam, as that is on a weekday in a couple of weeks, and I'm about 95% sure I'm going to the Jens Lekman concert, which would be the day after Sam Beam. So there's lots of potential there.

So after I got rid of that idea, I finally decided what this blog post should be about. But this post is getting rather long, so I think I'll save it for next time. Sorry again for the long gap. I will try to keep those gaps to a minimum from now on.

One final comment: I think I just made a post that's not really even a post. Man, I must be really out of practice.

Holiday shopping

2007-12-11T08:39:00.000-06:00

So apparently we're getting close to Christmas. I still have yet to purchase all my presents for my family, but that is mostly due to the fact that finals are coming up and I have a feeling that I won't get done with all my shopping until I am actually done with finals. I absolutely hate shopping during Christmas time. It's not that I don't like giving my family gifts, it's more that there are 10 billion people no matter what store you go into. There have been a few occasions where I've passed the mall on my way home from class in the afternoon and it is always packed, no matter what time of day it is. Who could possible be in there? Don't people have jobs? Do people go to school anymore? Either people are skipping out of work or else I have greatly underestimated how many Moms there are in this city. It's just a little dumbfounding that places can be busy at all hours of the day. I think what I actually hate most is the parking. It is absolutely murder trying to find a spot let alone a spot that isn't a mile away. I'd almost rather just park on the outskirts of the lot rather than drive around for 15 minutes looking for a reasonable spot. I am extremely thankful for internet this year as I have done basically all of my shopping online up to this point. But I am quickly approaching the threshhold of which the items would not reach my house in time, so I will have to go out at some point. I did have mild luck earlier this month when I went to the mall at 8 on a weeknight, although I didn't find anything. It's sad when I have to base my luck on how busy the mall is instead of what I find. But it's definitely the truth. Well happy shopping to all of you out there and I hope you have better "luck" than I typically do...

Internships

2007-11-13T14:24:00.000-06:00

So I've been casually looking around for internships as of late, and I'm not a big fan of trying to think so far into the future. I've never had an internship before, but it seems like something that would be beneficial to participate in, especially for engineers and such. But it's just so hard to be able to think that far in advance. If I could have it my way, I wouldn't start looking for internships until summer rolled around, but apparently that's when they typically start, so therefore I am beginning to look for them now. I am a pretty big fan of taking things as they come, so looking ahead is not really in my vocabulary. But nonetheless, I am trying my best to plan ahead.

I don't like that I have to take time to look for potential internships when I have enough school work to keep me busy already. It seems like people should come to me and ask me to partake of their internship that they have available. Like an internship draft of sorts. It may sound ridiculous, but I would absolutely love that. It would be great. I could just finish off the school year, and then someone would come to me with a great internship and I would go work for them over the summer. But I guess that doesn't happen very often, so I'm stuck looking for them instead of the other way around.

In case you were wondering, I think it would be really cool to get a job somewhere in the acoustical field. Something like an acoustical engineer or consultant or something like that. I have yet to find an internship at a company that works with acoustics, but I'm still looking. I just really want the internship that I find to be interesting, that's all I ask. It doesn't really matter what its field of work is as long as I enjoy it. But I guess the same could be said for most people.

Well, that's kind of what I've been thinking about lately, along with school work and closely related topics. Sorry if that was boring, but that's all I have to say. Until next time!

I'm still here

2007-10-18T09:08:00.001-05:00

So, I just wanted to let you know that I am still alive and I do still think about this blog, even if I don't write anything on it. I haven't written on here in so long partly because school takes up so much of my time and also partly because there is nothing to write about. Any stories are only school related and boring, and a "thoughtful" post would feel like more homework. So I'm sorry that I don't write on here as much. Maybe you'll get something out of me over fall break. Maybe...

Football in medieval times

2007-09-24T13:05:00.000-05:00

So a few weeks ago, a couple of friends and I went over to Woods Park to throw the football around a little bit. When we got there though, there were a bunch of people dressed in medieval garb that were actually fighting each other with swords and lances and maces and the whole bit. They looked pretty authentic too, they had their shields with their coat of arms on it and helmets and chain mail and everything else that medieval people wore. It was kind of scary playing catch right next to them because there were sudden, loud crashes and clangs. It was rather intriguing, though, and pretty comedic, to be throwing a football 40 yards and looking over to see two armed knights going at it. I didn't know whether I should have asked them to play catch or challenge them to a dual, so I just decided against talking to them at all. But yea, just a weird little instance that I decided to share with all of you...

New carpet and Seinfeld

2007-08-23T12:55:00.001-05:00

So I'm sitting here at work and they are putting in new carpet. The old carpet has all been torn up and right now all that is on the floor is the old glue and whatever else holds carpet down. But the funny thing about all this is that I can hear everybody walking by because their shoes stick to the floor (it's really funny to watch people with flip flops try to get around because they have to fight with all their being to keep their shoes with them), but I never see anybody because they either duck into an office or around the corner or I just don't bother to look. It is only funny because it reminds me of that Seinfeld episode where that guy at Elaine's work is a silent walker or whatever, so she gives him a box of tic-tacs, but then can't find him when it annoys Peterman. So every time someone walks by here I think of that Seinfeld episode and then smile. Just thought I'd share this with you. I thought it was funny and I hope you do too...

j---s

2007-08-15T11:37:00.001-05:00

So I pretty much hate shopping for jeans. I hate it so much that I don't like even saying the word (if you couldn't tell from the title of this little post). I hate it because there are so many different styles and sizes and lengths and widths and there is always at least one thing wrong with them. I could be perfectly fine never wearing jeans ever again just so that I wouldn't have to shop for them, but I've been told that they are a necessity, so it had to be done, I guess.

My general dislike for shopping for jeans came a few months back. My wonderful girlfriend Nikki (who suffered through much boredom and traveling and walking just to help me) and I embarked on a jean-shopping journey that I had no idea would be as hard as it turned out to be. We drove all over town going in at least 10 different stores, taking over 4 hours, and not a single pair was found that was wearable by myself. I don't understand how out of all the different stores and all the different styles and all the different sizes, not a single one fit on me. There was so much walking back and forth between dressing room and store, changing the size a little bit to try to see if it would fit, each time being reminded of how I'm a failure at wearing jeans. And on top of that, if there was one that happened to fit (and didn't cost more than $60), it either had holes everywhere or was some crazy color or had buttons instead of a zipper. Why in the world would anyone prefer buttons over a zipper? It just puzzles me. But I was so discouraged after that day, I never wanted to go jean shopping again.

So fast forward to yesterday. It was suggested by Nikki that we go jean shopping once again. All I could do was moan. What's worse is that she suggested we go to American Eagle of all places. If there is one store I would avoid, it is American Eagle. The fact that they have a terrible music selection which they decide to play as loud as they can and have preppy clothes to the max just make that store a huge turn-off to me. I normally can't stand to even look at that store for more than 30 seconds let alone actually shop there. The only thing that enticed me to go was the fact that all their jeans were on sale and Nikki had a coupon for 15% off the entire order.

So here we go into American Eagle, blaring music and all, to get some jeans. They actually played "Can't Stop" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers while I was there, so that made it a little better and was actually a good sign that we might have success. So I quickly grabbed a pair that might fit me and asked for a dressing room. The lady asked me if I like my jeans looser or tighter. "Uhhh, looser..." is what I said, because I didn't trust what her definition of "tighter" was. So she gets me a dressing room and gets some looser jeans than what I had apparently picked out and flung them over the door while I was in there changing, which isn't normally something I appreciate. So I tried on the two pairs I now had and I was a bit surprised, actually, because AE's jeans seemed to fit. There was just a little bit of size tweaking needed, but it wasn't nearly as difficult as it had been in times past. The little helper lady came back while I was in there and knocked on the door to see if I was okay. "Well I was." I don't understand why they can't wait until I am out of the dressing room before they ask how I am doing. No, they have to wait until I am hopping on one leg, half in jeans and half in boxers to see if I'm okay. It made for an awkward experience in my opinion. Well after that there wasn't much trouble and I found which sizes fit me best. I ran it by Nikki, of course, who has much better experience at this whole shopping thing than I do, and she approved. So I got myself 3 pairs of jeans in the hopes that I won't have to do this again for another 5 years. So I was, in fact, successful, and the best part was that I saved $35! I guess it's not impossible to find a pair of jeans that fit me after all. I just hope that the button industry doesn't take over the zipper industry any time soon.

My friend and I

2007-08-06T14:48:00.001-05:00

So late last night I decided to go out and play some basketball. I just wanted to shoot around a little bit, so I went to this church that is really close to my house. Gates of Praise is where I went, for those of you who know what I'm talking about, which I like to call the fortune cookie church because they always have these sayings on their billboard that sound like fortune cookies, which is sad; not so much because a church nowadays would sound like something a fortune cookie would say, but more because a fortune cookie nowadays would sound like something a church would say. But anyways, I went to play basketball.

I really like playing basketball at night when I'm outside. Just the mixture of the "cool" summer air and playing under the lights with everything else dark around me. Kind of like being in a boxing ring, I would suspect. The only bad thing about playing at night though is that there are so many bugs, all because of the lights. They were everywhere. It's actually a good thing I was sweating because I'm sure I would have been attacked otherwise. But if it hadn't been for all the bugs, I would not have been able to meet my little friend. When I started playing, I noticed that there was a huge grasshopper right in the middle of the backboard, up near the top. I tried to get him off by throwing my basketball up against the backboard, sometimes coming within inches, but he wouldn't budge. I don't know what would posses a bug to stay put with something at least 20 times its size nearly crushing it multiple times, but I figured I'd let him stay if he was that set on being there. I most definitely did not want to have grasshopper juice on my basketball, and he was high enough up the backboard that he wouldn't get in the way, so I figured he'd be alright. Well he did stay there the whole time I was there. I played for at least 45 minutes, and he just hung out up there while I took shot after shot. That little guy was fearless. I really don't know why he liked it up there so much, but he did. So I had at least one little friend that watched me play last night. But I still can't get over why this grasshopper wouldn't move. Did he not realize the peril he was in? Was that just a very special part of the backboard that he was willing to die for? I don't know, but I guess he got to be written about, so that's some sort of accomplishment.

I actually thought I had another onlooker because a stretch limo pulled up right next to where I was playing. I thought it was going to be some famous basketball player or coach who would watch my mad skills and then ask me to play for their team, but it turned out to be just a guy parking his limo for the night. So I guess I'll have to wait on all my NBA dreams for now. Well that's all for today...

Internet

2007-07-25T09:17:00.000-05:00

So, here I am at work without internet. Well that's not entirely true, because otherwise I wouldn't be able to write this. I do bring my computer and the wireless internet is working just fine. But my work computer is without internet, which basically means my computer is "down." I don't really understand why this term is used, because everything except the internet still works. The computer can still run every program that's on there, it just can't connect to the internet. Even though this is the only problem with my computer at the current point in time, it really is pretty much "down" because I can't do anything related to work. Everything that I need to get to us on a network drive, so I can't access it. It's pretty funny to be here right now, because there are a couple other people's computers that are "down", so they just have to stand around and wait because they can't do anything else. So here we are at work, not being able to do any work (not that I have much work to do anyways). That's pretty crazy, and all because the internet doesn't work. It's kind of surprising how dependent everyone is on it. I was kind of wondering what would happen if the internet just stopped working. Everywhere. I'm sure there would be mass hysteria and the economy would dive into the ground and the world would cease to exist. That's what I think would happen anyways. I also wonder how long people would just sit around waiting for the internet to work again. I bet it would take quite a long time before anyone started working without the use of the internet. The world would basically stand still. But those are just my theories. It's just kind of crazy to realize how important the internet is today. Al Gore must be a genius after all...

Oh, those iPhones

2007-07-09T23:42:00.000-05:00

So here I am,writing with an iPhone. This won't be the longest post in the world, because I am in fact writing this with a phone. I am pretty impressed with the technology behind this thing. It is really easy to use and the touch screen is much more precise than I ever imagined. Now I'm not going to go out and buy one, but it is pretty nifty and I'll certainly use it if I don't have to pay for it. So yea, definitely better than I expected and I look forward to using it many a time in the near future. Hooray Apple!!!

Never trust a rooster from Peru

2007-07-03T09:59:00.000-05:00

So one of the most memorable things from the trip, for a bad reason, was the roosters. They were really loud and I'm pretty sure that there were at least 5 of them right outside my door. Well that might be debated by other members of the trip, but don't listen to them. So 5 roosters, right outside my door, every night. But these roosters must have been retarded or something, because I don't think I was ever waken up at the same time twice, and the sun was never up when they started their crowing. I thought that was like a requirement for roosters. Wait until the sun is up before making noise. Well these guys must have crowed every time they saw the moon. It made for some pretty miserable sleeping. Well that combined with the hard pillows and various other noises, but that's a whole other story. But if you ever find yourself in Peru and hear the roosters crow, I am warning you not to trust that it is time to get up. Maybe being in the southern hemisphere throws them off or something, but it's not time to get up. Seeing sunlight would be a good indication of if it's time to get up, so at least wait for that. But yea, never trust a rooster from Peru. Those are wise words to live by.

And back again

2007-06-25T10:16:00.000-05:00

So I am now back from Peru. It was a very fun and fanciful trip and it was great to see all that was going on down there. Everything went relatively fine, the only bad part of the trip for me was the two days of traveling back that we did, and that was more due to the fact that it was long and I couldn't sleep rather than being sick or anything. I'm pretty sure that I either have an iron stomach or am immune to everything. Not even once on this whole trip did I even start to feel sick, it was great. I tend to think it's more that I'm immune to everything. Well I'm not immune to everything, but it's pretty close. I got sick often as a child and therefore my body got used to all those illnesses and now I am untouchable. At least I like to think so. But it has been a really long time since I was sick last. At least 3 years. Sorry, I'm getting off track. All you need to know is that I didn't get sick. The trip was really good and much different than I expected. I thought I was going to learn so much about my relationship with God and how I need to change, but that really didn't come up at all. Well I guess it did a little bit, but that is definitely not what really stuck out. What did stick out and I did learn is what missions is all about. I saw the passion that a missionary has and the difficulties that doing that type of work involves. The Rosengrens really do have a genuine passion for what they are doing and they are so certain that they are doing what they should be doing. It was really cool to see that and find out what it looks like. It was also interesting to see the difficulties that missions bring to the table. There are so many factors that go into that type of work, and they are working through every single one of them. So this trip really made me appreciate missions work a whole lot more and has given me a much better idea of what spiritual warfare really means.

So nothing brand new that I learned, just illuminating some more of what I already knew. Well now that you have some thoughts about what I learned, I want to tell you all a little bit about what I appreciate about the country/culture and things that I don't necessarily appreciate. First - what I appreciate.
Peru has ocean, mountains and jungle. Not many countries can say they have all that.
Everything is pretty darn cheap down there. Who doesn't like that?
The country is beautiful. It made for some pretty great pictures. (None that I took myself, of course.)
The traffic is really crazy and they don't really obey any of the traffic laws.
The weather is perfect down there. Never rains and lows of 50, even in the winter.
Now for some things that I didn't appreciate quite as much.
Not being able to drink the water.
Long and windy bus rides.
Rock hard pillows.
Lots of dirt.
People trying to sell me things I either a) already bought, or b) would have to get paid to take it away from them.

I'm sure there is lots more of each, but the good things certainly outweigh the bad, so overall, this trip was really great. I hope to be able to go back and see the Rosengrens again, but that will be a long ways away from now. Anyway, that's all for now. I'm sure you'll hear more stories/thoughts about Peru in the future. El mono está en la mantequilla.

In Peru

2007-06-20T10:43:00.000-05:00

So here I am in the middle of Peru. Well I don't exactly know if it is the middle, but it feels like it. The trip has gone well thus far and we're actually on our last full day here. I would put pictures up here but I don't have a camera and therefore no pictures, so sorry. It has been a lot of fun to be down here and we've done a lot. We didn't do as much work as I had expected, but we did see and do a lot of other things such as shopping in the market, driving up a really tall mountain, navigating through intense traffic and many other things. It will be kind of sad to go, but it will also be really nice to come home, although the travel isn't going to be too much fun. Well that's all for now. I'm sure I'll write more about Peru later, but I think there are several people watching me like hawks to see when I'll be done with the computer.

Ice cream

2007-05-17T13:44:00.000-05:00

So, ice cream is basically the best food ever, and I decided that I would inform you all as to what ice cream is best. There are really only two brands of ice cream I ever get, the two being Breyer's and Blue Bunny. I guess I do get Edy's every once in a while, but that is only when they have Butterfinger ice cream. If you want to eat ice cream all by its lonesome, get Blue Bunny's cookies 'n cream. It is probably the best ice cream flavor out there. It's just so good. If you want to put lots of toppings on your ice cream though, get Breyer's vanilla. It is the highest quality ice cream that is readily available, and it has little vanilla bean specks in it, which just give it so much more texture. So Breyer's vanilla is the best ice cream for putting whatever you want on it.

I do have one beef with Blue Bunny though. I guess it's not really with Blue Bunny, but with the grocery stores that carry it. Blue Bunny has come out with a new container for its ice cream that looks pretty cool and has a nice lid and everything, but its smaller than the normal 1/2 gallon size. Not only is it smaller, but it is more expensive as well. The new container doesn't even do anything special either. It's just as hard to get ice cream out of it, the only difference is what it looks like. Now what I just hate is that grocery stores actually try to sell ice cream in these new containers. You'd have to be a blooming idiot to pay more for less ice cream. I mean, COME ON! And what I really hate is that Wal-Mart sells ONLY the new container kind. I refuse to buy groceries from Wal-Mart for this single reason. If they think I'm going to pay more for less, then they are gravely mistaken. I applaud Blue Bunny for being able to sell these new containers to grocery stores across the nation, but absolutely despise grocery stores for thinking that I'm stupid enough to buy them.

Phew! Ok, I feel better now. I just hope that you all realize how important shopping for ice cream really is. It is something that should not be taken lightly at all.

The death of another pen

2007-05-14T11:52:00.000-05:00

So, if you'll remember, I wrote about the day my pen died a while back. If you want a refresher, you can read it here. Well now the pen after it has died, and I figured I would write a little about it as well.

This pen didn't really get to do anything exciting. It pretty much took notes for the duration of its life. It was a trustworthy pen, but it didn't get to go anywhere or do anything particularly exciting. I guess the most excitement it saw was the Big XII Championship game. It also saw numerous other Husker football games, but that is pretty much the extent of what it saw. I feel kind of sad for this pen, because it was a real work horse and didn't get much play time. Just day after day, it took notes. Pages and pages of notes. Well pen, I applaud you and your life. Had it not been for you, I would be a lot dumber right now. So thank you. It just doesn't seem fair. My new pen will get to go to Peru and Chicago and possibly all over the east coast. I guess some pens are meant for work while others are meant for play. But pen, I can assure you that all your work will never be forgotten.

Cracklin' Oat Bran®

2007-05-04T10:17:00.000-05:00

So, I'm pretty sure that Cracklin' Oat Bran® is the best cereal ever. It is just so good. If you've never had it, I first of all pity you beyond all belief and then highly recommend going out and buying a box right now. Don't wait! Go! Right now! Well I'm going to be a little pessimistic here and assume that you didn't go buy a box just now, so I suppose I will try to describe the magnificent taste that is Cracklin' Oat Bran®.

I'm pretty sure I am going to do a huge injustice by describing this, because it really is that good. The definition given on the Kellogg's® website is "crunchy, sweet whole grain oat cereal." Let me break this down for you.

First of all it really is crunchy. And it stays crunchy for a long time. I am one of those people who hate soggy cereal, and this stuff doesn't become soggy unless you leave it in milk for ages. Well, it probably doesn't last THAT long, but it will remain crunchy for the amount of time it would take any normal person to eat a bowl of cereal.

Secondly, it is sweet. Oh boy, is it sweet. Not sugary, like most cereals, but sweet. It is just the perfect balance of sweet but not sugary. Two of the ingredients are cinnamon and brown sugar, and I don't know about you, but those two things are pretty fantastic in my book. And what's great about Cracklin' Oat Bran® is that it is all baked in, none of the sugar or cinnamon sits on top, which makes the whole thing better in my opinion. It's just so good.

Lastly, it is a "whole grain oat" cereal. Even though it is sweet and tastes great, it is still good for you! Not that eating something that is bad for me stops me from eating it, but this is just a huge bonus. It is rather rare to find a both tasty and healthy food item, but this is definitely one of the few. Just take a look at this Nutritional Information:

So yea, good and good for you. The only downfall of Cracklin' Oat Bran is that it is more on the expensive side. But the price is well worth it in my opinion. It is fantastic! Spectacular! Magnificent! Shocking! Stunning! Jaw dropping good! Well I wouldn't recommend dropping your jaw if you can at all help it, because then you might lose some of it, and not a single ounce should go to waste. It is that good.

I've never wanted a bowl of cereal more in my life than I do right now. Bad idea, Justin; bad idea.

Holy six speed, Batman!!!

2007-04-26T08:06:00.000-05:00

So I got my new car just yesterday. It is pretty awesome, let me tell you. It's just so perfect for me, I don't think I would change anything about it. Heck, just because of the fact that it's a six speed makes me not want to change anything about it. I know I wrote about my car earlier, but just in case you don't want to go back and read that, I got a Honda Civic Si. I guess the thing I've been most pleased about is the manual transmission. That was basically a requirement when I was first looking for a car. What amazes me though is how quickly one can remember how to drive stick after taking a good two year break. I guess it's just like riding a bike or whatever other neat sayings there are for that phenomenon, but it doesn't feel like it took any thinking on my part to remember how do drive it. I guess the only thing I've done thus far is try to drive off with the emergency brake on. I haven't gotten very far with that yet, so I imagine that I will remember to take care of that here soon. I also really like my stereo system. I got an ipod link thing so I can control it through my stereo and steering wheel controls, and it is pretty awesome. So I am pretty pleased with my car, if you all were wondering. Oh, and one more crazy thing, I wasn't nervous/anxious at all when writing the check for large sums of money. I guess that just means it was the right move to make. As if I needed another reason.

Oh yea, and that new car smell....uh-mazing.

I love that new car smell (even though it's bad for you).

2007-04-16T17:44:00.000-05:00

So I'm buying a car, for those of you who don't know, and it is supposedly being put together today. I really like the idea of having a car put together and given directly to me without anyone else even starting the engine. If you ever buy a brand new car, I would highly recommend getting one that will be newly delivered to the lot, because that is about as new as it can get. No test-drives by anyone else, no mileage on the odometer, nothing. It will be all MY car. I think it will be a great feeling to start the engine for the first time and see 0 miles on it. That seems like something that very few people would ever get to experience, first of all because a lot of people buy used cars and secondly because almost every new car will have at least a few miles on it. So it feels like such a privilege and honor to give a car its very first miles. Even though it is being made today (hopefully), it will take only 10 days to get to the dealership, so that's a pretty good turn around. It doesn't really feel like I'm getting a new car in 10 days, but I know I'll love it when it gets here. I have actually found myself driving on certain stretches of road wishing I had my new car just because it would be so fun to drive in that particular place. I think the weirdest thing that I have felt, or not felt, out of all of this is that I haven't had any nervousness or regret. It seems like that would be something that would crop up when buying something as expensive and important as a car, but I've never had any doubts at all, which I guess is a good thing. It will just make me all the happier when it gets here. So I guess a good thing to know is that if you feel no regret about buying a car, then you have the right car. Well, these are some of my thoughts about buying a new car. Hopefully it will help all of you who are planning a new car purchase in the near future. Happy searching!

Demon possessed radios

2007-04-04T15:24:00.000-05:00

So, the best prank that I was ever a part of was probably in my Pre-Calculus class of my junior year in high school. I want to give a little bit of background about our teacher, because it makes the story all the better. Our teacher was pretty much out of it all the time. He probably got 2 hours of sleep per night and was just tired and it was obvious that he couldn't think straight at times. He told us so much about himself, and we found that he was probably the weirdest teacher we'd ever had. He actually held the Guinness book of world record for quarter snatching for a while. (Quarter snatching is where you put a stack of quarters on your elbow and then try to grab them without any of them hitting the ground). He actually failed his high school geometry class because he practiced this quarter snatching all the time. He was our MATH teacher, mind you. Other things he did: cover his ears and have a pained look on his face whenever the school bell rang, used a flowbee, told us he heard voices in his head at various times throughout class. So you can get a good picture of what this guy was like.

Well here is where the prank comes in. He had this radio in his room and it had a remote control. Now we found out that someone in our class had the same radio, and therefore the same remote. So we brought that remote and turned on the radio pretty much every class period. At first, he thought we were messing with him, but when he found out that his remote was still in the drawer, he figured there was something wrong with his radio. The first few times we did it after that, the radio station was just static, but he didn't think it was his radio, he thought it was someone vacuuming in the other room. Someone who was vacuuming in one place for a good fifteen minutes straight. Most of the time, one of the students had to turn it off because it did get pretty annoying, but the teacher just thought it was a vacuum.

The best part of the whole thing, though, was that we actually convinced him that his radio was demon possessed. We told him he should go have it exercised in order to fix the problem. He didn't think that would do anything. He actually was going to take it into Best Buy to try and have them fix it, but he never got around to it. That would have been great. I could just picture those Best Buy employees telling him there was nothing wrong with his radio, but him just telling them that it would turn on by itself. Honestly, how does something just turn on by itself? Well, we convinced him that it did, and it was well worth all our effort to see him go even crazier than he already was. Well, that was probably the best prank that I've been a part of. It was really pretty spectacular.

Perspective

2007-03-20T07:54:00.000-06:00

So, I've found how much our perspective on something can change so much about our thinking and even affect our reactions to certain circumstances. There is a positive and negative side to everything, and what we choose to look at makes a big difference in what our attitude is like. I always like to try and find the positive in every circumstance, even if there is not much positive to begin with. Well, for instance, spring break is over and we do not have a break until school is done. Now you can either think about the fact that our break is already over and we have to go back to school now, or you can look at the fact that there is only a month and a half of school left for the year. Now this is a small and pretty irrelevant example, but it is easy to see how much your thinking can change when looking at the positives as opposed to the negatives. I guess the greatest thing about perspective is that no matter what the circumstance and no matter how much pain we're going through, we can always find joy somewhere, and that is what gets us through. It is amazing how one's state of mind can help them through a seemingly hopeless situation. So perspective is so very important in our every day lives. Well, this is probably really jumbled and didn't make sense, so I'll stop now. Hey, at least it was short(er).

I think it's funny...

2007-03-09T13:42:00.000-06:00

So, I'm sitting here at work and I don't want to be here at ALL. It is just so nice out and there are so many other things I could be doing rather than working. Well in order to hopefully distract my attention from not wanting to be here and to waste some time, I decided I would write a little bit here. I don't really know what I'm writing about yet, but we'll see what happens.

I think it's funny how we do stuff just because that's how they've always been done, even if it doesn't make sense to do it that way any more. That sounds kind of confusing, so let me give an example. Whenever I was with my dad while he was filling the car up with gas, I noticed that he always would pump enough gas in to get an exact dollar amount. This made sense when I was little because he payed with cash a lot and he didn't want to have pocket fulls of change (maybe that's where I get it from). But nowadays, he uses credit cards ALL the time when filling up the car, yet he still makes sure to go to that exact dollar amount. Even though there will be no extra change, and he could probably save some time, he still pays careful attention to how much he is paying. What's worse is that I still do that. Whenever I'm filling the car up with gas I make sure to get an exact dollar amount. It's just a habit. It doesn't make sense, but that's just what you're supposed to do. So it's weird that people sometimes do things out of habit rather than out of what makes the most sense.

On somewhat of a related note, I think it's funny to see how much you are like your parents, or even those around you. The gas story is a good example of that, but even thinking about mannerisms and the way you think and even sounds you make, they are all impacted by what those around us do. Well for me at least. For instance, all of those little grunts and other vocal noises that I make come from my dad in some way, and my attention to detail comes from my mom. Well here, let me make a short list of what I've stolen from my parents:
Dad - sounds, humor, laid-back-ness, introvert, way of thinking
Mom - attention to detail, love for sleep, love for singing, organization

And there are a lot more mannerisms that I know I didn't mention. I've found that I steal laughs from people too. If I hang around someone long enough and hear them laugh enough, I will actually start to laugh like them. That's kind of weird. Sometimes I even catch myself laughing based on who I am with, so my laugh will change within several hours even. So that's kind of crazy too.

Well these are just a couple things that I thought of. It's crazy how the mind works even subconsciously to lead to what we do and how we act. I guess I never really realized how much surroundings and parental examples could affect someone. I guess I'm really glad I have good examples to look at. Well I could probably just write for hours on end here, but then nobody will want to read it. This is getting pretty long as it is. Some people here are ALREADY leaving for the day, I guess that's what spring break does to people. Now I really wish I could leave. Oh well. I'll watch t.v. or something.

Rediscovering the magic of snow days

2007-03-01T12:00:00.000-06:00

So, in honor of it being a snow day (we don't get very many of those in college) I thought I would voice my opinion about them. My thinking about them has fluctuated quite a bit actually and for good reasons, so I will now enlighten you as to what those reasons are.

When I was little, I obviously loved snow days because they meant no school. Plus my brother and I would be able to get all bundled up and go play outside for hours on end and make snow forts and play football and do whatever else little kids do in the snow. Plus it was great to be able to come inside and have hot cocoa waiting for me whenever we got done playing. All was fine and dandy until one day my parents decided that I was old enough to shovel. Shoveling is quite possibly the worst thing that you could ever do. Here you wake up to find that you have no school and get all excited only to find that you have to go outside and shovel now for the next two hours. (It actually took this long because we lived on a corner and had a really long driveway, and of course my dad never bothered to get a snow blower until after I moved out). Well I hated shoveling so much that I actually started to hate snow days. You're not supposed to do anything on snow days. Shoveling means doing something. It got so bad that I actually would have rather gone to school than have to shovel my driveway and sidewalk. It was just having my concept of snow days being ruined that I hated so much. Well after I moved out and onto college, I've found that I don't have to shovel whenever it snows. It's amazing! Now we don't have snow days as often, but when they do come, they're fantastic. You just get to miss so much stuff that you thought you had to do. For instance, today I am missing an early morning showing at work, a thermodynamics test, a class after that, a two-hour lab and a late showing of work as well. Just think how much free time I have now! This is what snow days should really be like.

So there you have it. I've come to appreciate snow days once again, and I am glad of that. It's just that if I don't have to go to school or work, then I don't want to have to shovel either. Is that too much to ask?

Dislocated shoulders and stretched tendons

2007-02-23T17:02:00.000-06:00

So for some reason I've been thinking a lot about dislocating my shoulder. I first dislocated it my senior year in high school when I played football. I still remember how much it hurt and I knew as soon as it happened that something was wrong even though all the coaches told me it was probably just a stinger. Well once we got my pads off, we found that it was in fact out of place, so one of the coaches popped it back into place, and it felt SO good. One of the best feelings ever. Now, I wouldn't recommend going out and dislocating your shoulder just so that you can feel good when it's back in, but it is a great feeling.

This reminds me: why in the world do some people subject themselves to pain just so that they can feel good when it's over? Doesn't that seem rather counterproductive? If the only thing that feels good is having the pain end, why have the pain in the first place? I'm perfectly comfortable as I am. I don't need someone inflicting pain on me to make me more comfortable.

My dad used to do this to me all the time. He would start stretching the tendon in my shoulder, which really hurts, but would make me sit still and wait until he stopped. He would then say, "See, doesn't that feel good?" My reply would always be, "Only because you stopped!". So I'm not a big fan of inflicting pain on oneself in order to feel good. I actually use my dislocated shoulder story a lot when defending my point of view. "It feels really good to have your shoulder put back after it's been dislocated, do you want me to dislocate it for you real quick?"

Stupid.

Well, maybe this post was a little morbid, and maybe it was weird that I've been thinking about this lately, but hey, I needed something to write about.

The haunted floor of the capitol

2007-02-13T08:14:00.000-06:00

So, I just realized that it has been a while since I last put anything up on here, so I figured I would post this lovely little story concerning my time at the capitol a couple weeks back.

My good friend and I decided to visit the capitol one day and we got to do all sorts of neat things that perhaps an ordinary visitor wouldn't be able to do. (Like go into the governor's office, go down to the floor where the big light board is and even see some pretty special bathrooms. (We got to do all this because I'm pretty sure I had some sort of connection to someone that worked there.;) (Wow, am I allowed to put brackets inside of brackets? Well it works for math so it should work for writing the English language as well.))) Well anyways, at the end of our time there, we ventured up to the fourteenth floor where you can look out the windows and see all of Lincoln. But it wasn't until we were on the way down that the adventure began. We wanted to know what was on a normal floor of the capitol, so we pushed the button for the seventh floor. As the door opened, all we could see was a corner, so we had to get out in order to see what was there. Well we got out and the door closed behind us and we peered around the corner to see a huge room that had a few desks at the front and then was just filled with shelves used for storing huge boxes of stuff. It wasn't a particularly fantastic sight to see, so we decided we'd be on our way.

Well we pushed the button to go down, but when the elevator got there, it opened only about five inches and then closed and went off to some other floor. We just thought that this was some sort of mistake, but when it came back, it did the exact same thing. After one more run at the elevator (we even tried to hold it open when it got there, but that didn't work out so well), we figured that the floor we were on had to be haunted or something. We figured that whoever got off the elevator obviously wouldn't be able to get back on, so when they ventured out into the big room to try to find a way down, they would be killed once they were spotted and put in a box and put away for storage (there were a lot of boxes, so that means there have been a lot of unfortunate souls that have been lost to that floor). We knew that there was another elevator across the room from us, so we had to try and get there without being seen or else our fate would have been the same as all of those who went before us. THANKFULLY the floor was carpeted, with a thick carpet at that; so it was easy to walk without making much noise. We knew we had to be as silent as possible, so we started our slow walk across the room. We were literally within ten feet of one woman who had our back to us, but we were quiet enough that she didn't even turn around. Well we made it to the other side without being seen and desperately hoped that the elevator worked. When the elevator got there, we both ran inside as quickly as possible so that it wouldn't close on us and doom us altogether. That elevator worked just fine, but we had certainly gotten a scare from the other elevator on that floor. So next time you are at the capitol, beware of that seventh floor. If you test your luck, you may just never return.

Ah, music

2007-01-30T08:32:00.000-06:00

So I've decided that music is pretty awesome. There are just so many different types and all of them affect us in a different way. Some things can pump us up while others can quiet us down and even others that do everything in between. (I don't normally cry when I hear music, unless, of course it is REALLY bad). With that aside though, I can't really think of anything else that can change our emotions as quickly as music. I also like it because of how different it can be. We aren't stuck listening to all this stuff that sounds the same. One moment I can be listening to some light rock and the next bobbing my head to Beethoven and even move on to some hard core metal. I have no idea under what circumstances I would listen to that last one, but it is possible, and it is because of that flexibility and change that I enjoy music as well. The last point I wanted to make was that music is so extremely logical. If you really understand music and what sounds good and what doesn't, you can see that there is so much order in the rhythm and pitch and chord progressions and whatever else is involved. It just amazes me sometimes. It is because of this that just playing a simple progression of four chords over and over can sound just as good as the most technical pieces of music requiring tremendous amounts of skill. But it is the order and seeing how logical music is that has made me appreciate it so much more. So yeah, pretty awesome.

A childlike faith

2007-01-18T08:41:00.000-06:00

So, I've always been fascinated by the concept of faith. I don't know, I've just always liked it and liked thinking about it. For some reason, it seems so easy though. I mean, all I have to do is just believe? Believing something to be true is just so simple. It is pretty much just a matter of trust. I've found that I tend to trust just about everybody, which may be a bad thing. But if someone says that they will do something, I assume that they will do it. Children will trust whatever is told to them by their parents and will not only believe them, but do what they say. That is how we should trust in God. Now faith is trust in God, and if I find it easy to trust other sinners, it should be amazingly easy to trust in a perfect God. So faith in God is pretty easy if you think about it. It is the living out of that faith that is the hard part. Faith without works is dead, so true faith makes us live our lives a certain way, and that is where it can get tough. In the midst of persecution and trials we must respond always looking to the promises that God has given us, because it is the faith and hope of those promises coming to be true that gets us through. Speaking of hope, it goes along with faith very well. Hope is the joyous expectation and anticipation that what we believe will come true. It is like a child who can't sleep on Christmas Eve because he knows that there will be presents galore under the tree on Christmas morning. So hope is how we react to what we believe to be true.

Trust, hope and works are all elements of faith. Trust is the belief, hope is how we react and works are faith in action. True faith requires all three. I guess the best example really is that of a child.

Oh those days of my childhood

2007-01-08T13:52:00.000-06:00

So, it has been a while since I last posted on here and I've actually been reprimanded for it by several people, so here we are. The main reason that I've not been on here in so long was because I've been on Christmas break and have therefore not been in situations where I have massive blocks of free time, but now that I'm back at school, I have so much more free time to work with (kind of weird how that works). This break has actually been kind of weird in that I've been reliving my past so to speak. I've just done and seen so many things that I haven't done or seen since I was a lot younger, but it was kind of fun to do some of those things again.

One of the major things that I did was play lots of piano. I don't know why I wanted to because I hated playing the piano when I was younger, but I wanted to and did nonetheless. I guess it is a lot more enjoyable when I get to choose how much I play rather than be forced to practice. Plus I got to pick which songs I played, so that helped out a lot. I feel that way on a lot of things in that I don't like things when I'm forced to do them, but if I get to choose when I do them and in what capacity I do them, I find those things to be quite enjoyable. I feel this way a lot with reading, which I also did quite a bit of. I haven't read fiction in a long, long time, but I have read through Sherlock Holmes and it has been quite enjoyable.

There was one night when my brother and I were at home and we found out that Mary Poppins was on T.V., so we watched the entire movie. We both loved that movie when we were little and were both really excited when we saw that it was on. The best part by far is when all the chimney sweepers are on top of the roof singing "Step In Time." I know you remember what I'm talking about, so don't deny it. It's just a great movie. Now that I'm on the topic of multimedia, one other thing I got to do was play Nintendo 64 a lot. I think I played Starfox the most, which is a great game. I found though that it is incredibly easy now that I'm older, I don't know why that is. But I could beat that game in 20 minutes now, not even joking. But yeah, I had forgotten how awesome the N64 really was.

Probably the highlight of my Christmas and the best present I received was a Lego Batmobile set. A Lego magazine had actually come to my house a few weeks earlier and both my brother and I saw the Batman Legos in there and thought they were amazingly awesome and wished that they had them when we were younger. Well my parents bought them for us anyways and we were both so excited when we unwrapped them. I wanted to stop everything right there and put it all together, but my mom made me wait until we were all done opening gifts. It's a pretty nice little Batmobile too. It has a cockpit that folds open, a nice little storage area for Batman's weapons and even has a huge missile that can launch off the front of the car. It really was rather exciting to put it all together.

Well, those are the main things that I did over break in terms of reliving my past. I know some or maybe even all of those sound pretty sad and might make me look somewhat like a loser, but I had fun. Well, back to reality. Fun, fun.

Donuts continued

2006-12-19T12:40:00.000-06:00

So, I said that I would talk more about donuts in a later post, and this is that post. Perhaps you don't even care that I follow through on this; I know that I would feel the same way. I am doing this though because I hate breaking promises with a passion. Plus it would shatter my emotions to think that someone out there might have a broken heart because they so dearly wanted to hear about donuts and I had neglected to write about them. So here goes.

I am rather picky when it comes to donuts. I actually like them to be rather plain. I am not a big fan of toppings although I don't mind having sprinkles on them from time to time. The classic glazed donut is, well, classic. Plain yet wonderful. I also like donuts with chocolate frosting on them. They are also very good, but you need to have milk with those. Milk is strongly recommended for any donut in my opinion, but almost a requirement if that donut has chocolate frosting on it. I am not a big fan of vanilla frosting for some reason. I don't really know why. I hate filled donuts and it is a terrible feeling when you bite into a donut you thought was perfectly normal, but find some strange cream or jelly filling inside instead. I don't like being surprised when eating in general, and when it is something that I have a very detailed opinion about, being surprised is not a good thing. I don't like fruit flavored donuts like apple fritters because it's trying to combine too many flavors in one thing. And I hate, absolutely hate, cake donuts. They're just so dry and they make your teeth scratchy. It is the worst feeling ever when you get scratchy teeth. I just shudder every time I think about it. The only good cake donuts are the ones that are glazed all the way around. Actually, one of my favorite donuts are the ones that are completely chocolate with a thin layer of glaze covering them.

I know that I am rather picky when it comes to this subject, but as long as it is kept simple, it will be good. No cake donuts, no crazy toppings and no fruit will almost always be a winner in my book. Okay. I'm hungry now, so I'm going to stop. Until later.

The donut is right

2006-12-11T15:53:00.000-06:00

So, wow, I haven't posted on here at all this month, but I guess that's kind of expected since the semester is winding down. I was just in the middle of studying for one of my finals and decided I needed a break. Well since we are nearing Christmas, I figured I would reminisce a little about past holiday seasons and try to think of my favorite tradition.

I should probably preface this by saying that my grandparents used to live in New York and they would always come out here for Christmas, so it was always super exciting when they came. They would stay in our house of course, so it was like we had an extra two people born into our family, except in reverse, sort of. Well anyway, my favorite tradition was that every morning they were here, they would walk my brother and I down to a donut shop that was by our house and we would get donuts. Donuts every day for about 3 weeks. Pretty much heaven in my opinion. Plus they would always be showing The Price is Right on the television, so we had a pretty good combination going with donuts and The Price is Right. That combo is hard to beat. Well this whole tradition might be why I love donuts and that show so much, although I think I like that show because of the huge wheel they spun at the end. I mean, honestly, who could resist watching that thing spin around? It was mesmerizing.

Looking back on this, I think I want to talk a lot more about donuts, but I'll save that for the next post. Well it was rather fun to think back, although rather sad at the same time, because my grandparents live here now, so it would be pointless to have them drive over to our house just so we could walk to the donut shop. Oh yeah, and the donut shop doesn't even exist anymore, so that makes it kind of hard as well. Welp, back to studying. Yes!

Dead week

2006-11-30T14:46:00.000-06:00

So dead week is nearly upon those of us who call ourselves college students, and I for one am fairly happy that it is almost here. I normally have pretty big beefs with the title of this week, because I feel that it is so misleading. It seems like it should just be a week where there are no classes and nothing to do except study for finals. The only thing special about dead week, though, is that professors aren't allowed to assign anything during that week that was not on the syllabus that was handed out at the beginning of the year. All this means is that there can be no surprises in what needs to be handed in, so professors can have as many tests/quizzes/homework as they want. And since this is the last week before finals, they normally take advantage of this in a major way. So dead week can turn into the busiest week of the year for some people, and judging by the name, this should not be. I don't really mind if it's a busy week, just don't call it something that is so opposite of busy.

The reason I am glad that it is almost here, though, is that I have absolutely nothing due during the week. So in my case, it actually lives up to its name. Well I won't rub it in anymore, because I will probably get made fun of for my finals schedule, and I don't want to make it any worse than it could be.

In my opinion

2006-11-17T14:47:00.000-06:00

So, I've been able to put up a good number of posts now, and I've found that in writing all of them I use the phrase "in my opinion" a lot. Now this isn't good or bad in and of itself, but I've noticed that, because I've typed it so many times, you can type it all with one had (using the proper typing technique, that is). I found it to be kind of fun to type that long of a phrase with only the use of one hand, especially when typed really fast. So my mind began to wonder how many different logical things could be typed using only one hand. I've developed a list of words for each hand and have attempted to put phrases together that make sense. Well here goes:

Left hand:
as, fast, fat, cat, a, bead, bed, red, were, was, far, tread, read, fad, fade, stage, stagger, strafe, brat, ate, rate, scar, scare, car, card, race, racecar, tract, are, cab, see, crab, bread, taste, great, case, drag, grab, garbage, attract, verb, revere, tear, at

bread tastes great
as far as a crab sees
a fat cat bed
as fast as a drag race racecar races
grab garbage garb as scared as cabs
beads were great at a fad stage

Right hand:
in, my, opinion, kill, you, link, hill, onion, I'm, on

in my opinion
I'm on my onion
you kill my opinion/onion

Some of these are a stretch but they kind of make sense at least. As you can tell, there are not as many options with the right hand, but that makes sense since there are 15 letters for the left hand and only 11 for the right (all of you lefties out there can be proud of that). I'm sure there are a lot more combinations that I'm not seeing or words that I am excluding, so please inform me, because it really is so very fun to write with only one hand.
At least in my opinion.

A bunch of jumbled words that hopefully made sense

2006-11-13T15:27:00.000-06:00

So I've been thinking a lot about purpose and why I am here, exactly. This was mainly sparked by one of our college group "discussions" a couple weeks back, so I've been thinking about it for a while now. I mean, I've heard all of the obvious answers that we're here to glorify God and things along those lines, but how does that become incorporated into my life both now and in the future? I guess I'm thinking more of what God's plans are for me in the future when I'm talking about this because I really have no idea what they bring. So aside from the obvious answers, what is my ultimate purpose for being here? Sure, I'm supposedly going to graduate from college and start a career, but what does that mean? How does God plan to use that to His ultimate glory? It's something that is kind of weird to think about and also something that we can never really know. It's the second part of that that has gotten me thinking the most. I feel that we as a society have all become so dependent on being in control of every situation that we are in and have lost a sense of trust. When we see that we don't have complete control over the future, it can be a little despairing. I guess what I've started to realize and still haven't fully grasped is that we can take joy in knowing that God does have a plan for us that will come about in His own timing. I know this is something that has been said so many times before, but I think this is the first time that I've actually started to realize what that means. We just have to worry about the here and now and focus on how we bring Him glory today and God will take care of our future. The biggest thing is trust in God because He will reveal His purpose for our lives in His time and we have to be content with where He has us at and with what He is doing.

I feel like this has all been jumbled together, so let me just recap real quick. God has a purpose and intent for our lives. We know this is true by the mere fact that we are still on this earth. It is easy to lose focus on that fact and begin to wonder why we are even here. It all comes back to a trust and reliance upon God, realizing that He will use us more perfectly than we can ever imagine. If we can focus on Him and allowing Him to conform us to His will, then we will never be disappointed with where life, or God I should say, takes us. So that's what I've been thinking about as of late and will most likely still be pondering in times to come.

That last hour

2006-11-09T17:33:00.000-06:00

So I've found that I love the last hour of work. This is kind of unusual for me because every job I've had before this the last hour was terrible and took what seemed like days to pass. Now this is my first part-time job, so my days aren't as long, but the last hour of any work day should be terrible, in my opinion. But at this job I realize that I actually enjoy the last hour of the day. The reason that I like it is that it is so laid back. Nearly everybody takes off at 5 each day, and since I work until 6, there is basically nobody in the office. It is so quiet and I never have anything to do, because everyone is gone. It is in this final hour that I turn the volume on my ipod up a little bit and just sit back and relax. Sometimes I play solitaire or minesweeper and other times I'll read the newspaper or browse the internet, but that last hour is entirely up to me in how I spend it. The best part of that time, though, is that once there are only ten minutes left, everyday I turn on "Only in Dreams" by Weezer, which just so happens to be eight minutes long. This is one of the greatest songs done by Weezer, in my opinion, and if you haven't heard it, I would highly recommend it, but when you do, you have to listen to the whole thing, otherwise it loses some of its greatness. But that song just puts a perfect cap to the day. So once it is over, I just use the last two minutes to put everything away and make my way out. It works out pretty well actually. Well, until next time...

Blayness in a bottle

2006-11-02T16:23:00.000-06:00

So today feels like a reminisce day. I don't know how to explain it, but it feels like I'm back in time or something. This is largely due to the fact that I have been reading old blog posts for the past 2 hours and been thinking about what all has happened over the past year or so. But it's one of those feelings where everything is slowed down and nothing seems like it is happening in real time. That's the best I can explain it, so sorry if I confused you. I'm pretty sure this feeling is the closest thing that I will come to time travel, so it's pretty cool. Well perhaps I'll listen to some music or at least take a break from the blogs to get back to reality.

I really need to get a stocking cap. I'm thinking Scheels will be the best place.
Ok, I'm done. Random.

Top 10

2006-10-30T14:41:00.000-06:00

So in honor of Halloween, I decided to create a list of the ten best pieces of candy that you can get. It was hard to rank these because many of them are completely different types of candy and also because I love them all so very much. But I think I have created a sufficient list, so please correct me if you feel that I have it ordered incorrectly or have neglected something you feel should be included. Well here it goes:

10) Blow Pops - This may have been one of the hardest places to decide on, because there were so many that are deserving to be in the top ten, but Blow Pops are fitting I think. Sucker on the outside, gum on the inside. It's like getting two pieces of candy in one. That is what propelled them into the top ten.

9) Gobstoppers - These follow the same concept as jawbreakers where they are supposed to just be gradually disintegrated in your mouth. What make Gobstoppers special though is that they change colors and flavors on your way to a chewy candy middle.

8) Slo Pokes/Bit-O-Honey - These two were hard to separate, because they are so similar in my opinion. They both are extremely chewy, one is caramel and one honey. They are smaller pieces of candy, so you know they're good if they can make the top ten. They have also both been around for more than 80 years; not many things have been around that long, so yet again another evidence of their greatness.

7) Starburst - I had a hard time putting these at number seven because I love them so much, but when I look back at my list, I couldn't put them above any of the ones that were there. The best type of taffy and/or fruity candy in my opinion. There are four different types of Starbursts: Original, Baja California, Tropical and Sour. So you get a little bit of everything with Starburst. Plus it's probably one of the only things in the world you can use to get every guy to say that pink is their favorite color.

6) Sixlets - I hardly ever get to eat these any more, but they are simply amazing. They are chocolate flavored balls covered with a candy shell. I'm sure they still make them, but I haven't even seen them for quite some time. I'm lucky I even remembered these because they are so ridiculously good. If you've never had them, I would highly recommend trying it out sometime.

5) Rolo - I am a pretty big fan of caramel, and that is precisely what these are. Chocolate covered caramel and extremely chewy. They can get you some tooth fairy money if you ever have any loose teeth that are nearly ready to come out. I personally like to not chew them until I can't feel my jaw, but rather let them sit in my mouth until they are gone. They last much longer that way, and I don't get as tired, so it's a good deal.

4) Reese's Pieces - These are much like M&Ms, but much better in my opinion. Peanut butter inside with a crunchy chocolate shell. This is one of those things where if there were an unlimited amount of them available to me, I could probably eat them for the entire day and not get sick of them. I'm not even joking. That's how good they are.

3) Baby Ruth - They are not named after the famous baseball player in case you have been misinformed all your life. They were actually thought to be named after President Grover Cleveland's daughter, Ruth. It didn't hurt their business much that there also happened to be a pretty good baseball player at the time that they were first being made. These candy bars have a near perfect blend of peanuts, nougat, caramel and chocolate. They are the best combination candy bar in my opinion.

2) Reese's Peanut Butter Cup - No one has ever made peanut butter as good as Reese, even if it's not the most nutritious. The only bad thing about these is that you only get two per package, so they are gone fairly quickly. You won't find a better combination of chocolate and peanut butter as you will with a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. Well, maybe you can find one.

1) Butterfinger - Do I really need to say more? To try to describe it would do it injustice. Simply incredible.

So there you have it. The ten best candy bars/pieces you can get from 10 to 1. Have a good Halloween and try not to get sick, no matter how good your candy is.

The death of a pen

2006-10-27T15:32:00.000-05:00

So a very sad thing happened to me this morning. In case you don't know, I always have to have a pen with me at all times, so if you are ever with me and need a pen, I've got one. It's one of those things where if I stick my hand in my pocket and there's no pen there, I feel naked or something. It's kind of weird actually. Not only do I like to have a pen at all times, I like to keep the same pen until either its ink runs out or I lose it.

Okay, here's where the sad part comes in. At about 1:05 this morning, my pen died. I've had it for so long, I couldn't help but think of all the places it's been with me. It's been to many a Husker game, most notably the Alamo Bowl of last year, it's been to numerous states, of which I don't know if I could remember all of them. It's even been to South America and been close to the closest you can be to outer space and still be touching the ground. Not very many pens can say that they've done that. So it is kind of sad to think that it is dead. I think I'll be able to pull through though.

This wasn't all that unexpected, I should say. It's one of those pens where you can see how much ink is left until it reaches the part that actually dispenses the ink. So I knew it would run out at some point, I just didn't know exactly when. Plus, now I get to start on a whole new pen, so we'll see where this one gets to go and if I can hold onto it for as long as I did with the last one. You should see how new this one looks, it's pretty awesome. And shiny. But anyways, yea. That is all.

Here's an hour of me trying to think

2006-10-20T13:47:00.000-05:00

So it's been a while since I last posted on here, and I sincerely apologize. Part of the reason for the long delay is that I've been busy, or at least I thought I've been busy. Also, I didn't really know what I wanted to write about, so I didn't bother to try. I still don't really know what I am going to write about, but I thought I needed something since it's been so long. Plus, it's the end of the week and I have nothing to do, so I can just sit here and think, so here goes...

(After 15 minutes of thinking and a few games of minesweeper)
I think that minesweeper is quite possibly the best computer game ever made. It is mostly a game of thinking and only partially luck. The only times I don't like it is when it does come down to luck. For instance, I just played a game that had 99 mines. I was down to the last two and there was no possible way to figure out which ones were those last two, so I just had to guess and I got it wrong. I had found 97 out of the 99 mines with just thinking about it and then lost because I had to guess at the final two. I think that's kind of dumb. But other than those few occasions, minesweeper is quite a lot of fun and I would highly recommend it.

In my opinion, the only reason that PCs exist is because of minesweeper. I would be totally fine with getting rid of all windows machines except for the fact that they have minesweeper. If Apple would only make a minesweeper game that comes on their computers, they would dominate the computer world. Oh well, I guess it's good that I find some joy in using Windows operating system. Well I don't want to start arguing over computer right now, I just know that Apple computers are far superior, so I'll just leave it at that.

(After another 15 minutes of thinking and a few games of minesweeper)
I found out the other day that I really like leather jackets. I guess I shouldn't say that. I really like MY leather jacket. It is really thick so I can only wear it when it's pretty cold out. Because of this, I like it when it's really cold out. Some people look at cold days as terrible things, but I've always like them, I don't know why. Maybe it's because I can wear as many clothes as I want, drink as much coffee/hot chocolate as I want, and actually be comfortable under my two comforters (That's right, I have two. One is even a down comforter, so I really like it when I can use both of them and not be extremely hot). Well enough about this topic. I'll try to think of something else to talk about.

(After another 30 minutes of thinking)
Well I can't think of anything else right now, but that's partially because its Friday and I think my brain needs to stop thinking I think. Now I'm just being redundant. I'll stop now, and at least you still know that I haven't forgotten about this blog here. Until next time.

Some quick thoughts

2006-10-06T16:38:00.000-05:00

So it's October already, and I don't know about you, but it felt like September flew by. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad it's October: the semester is half over, college football is in full swing and it's finally cool enough to wear jeans if I so desire. The only thing though is that this last week was insanely crazy for me. I just felt like I was all over the place between tests and work and classes and church stuff; I just felt like I never had any time to just sit back and relax. So you could say that I'm glad that this week is over.

Well now that we're on the topic of time, I was reading The Screwtape Letters (yup, still working on that) and one of the chapters was all about time and how we have come to think that it is somehow ours. Every moment we have is a gift, we have done nothing and can do nothing to earn another minute here on earth. But for some reason we have come to believe that we are entitled to free time and that it is our right to have time to ourselves. One huge evidence of this is the fact that we get angry when we had planned to have time for ourselves and it is unexpectedly filled with something else. I have been guilty of this many times, but there is no need to get angry, because that time is not even ours to begin with.

So what does this mean for me? I guess it changed my thinking about what I do with my time and that being busy isn't a bad thing. As long as I realize that having any time at all is a gift from God and I keep my focus on bringing glory to Him, then there is nothing to complain or get angry about. So even though I am glad that this week is over, I feel like it was a good week and was a very productive one for me. I've found that everything in life is about perspective. If we are focused on God in all things and enjoying the time we have, then the things we have to get done become much more enjoyable. I may still be dead tired when I'm done, but at least I'll find enjoyment in what I have to get done and will be much happier with what I've been able to do with the time that I have been given.

6'-1" and counting

2006-09-28T15:16:00.000-05:00

So I help out with Awana, and this Wednesday, we were supposed to dress up as what we want to be when we grow up. Now, seeing as to the fact that I am in college, I don't have that many things to dress up in. The only thing I had was my old high school football jersey, which I wore. It's kind of contradictory when you think about it, because I was saying that I wanted to be a football player by wearing a jersey that I actually played football in. But this post is not about the philosophical reasoning behind wearing things from the past to hint as to what I want to do in the future (sorry if I lost you there, I reread it and actually lost myself). What I am writing about is that the events of last night got me reminiscing about what I wanted to be when I was little thinking about when I grew up. I will try to avoid the age-old joke that my dad still uses to this day by saying that I wanted to be tall (sorry if it's too late already). So here we go...

I think the very first thing I wanted to be as far as I can remember was a football player, just as all little boys want to be. I think it might be a requirement for every boy. You shouldn't be allowed to grow up until at some point you want to be a football player or at least play some other sport for a living. I don't quite remember how long that phase lasted, but once it went away, I believe that I then wanted to be a video game tester. This is also a desired job that is held by young boys, although not as big as football. Just think about it. You could just play video games all day long and then tell people how to make the game better, then you'd be able to play the newly improved game, so the gaming experience would just get better and better as you went along. Thankfully, this was merely a wishful desire for me, because now I don't find video games anywhere near as appealing as I did when I was younger and I think I would seriously go insane if I had to sit in front of a television all day long.

Okay, new paragraph. I don't really need a new paragraph because I'm not changing my train of thought (although I am now because I am talking about paragraphs). I only wanted a new paragraph because the previous one was getting rather long and I learned in my technical communications class last year that long paragraphs can be daunting for readers. White space is good (our professor repeated this concept quite often, so it is ingrained in my brain). So I was actually thinking about all of you who are reading this as I made a new paragraph, because I don't want to scare you off with what appears to be an endless mass of words. So you can skip this section if you would rather have the flow of the story rather than my justification of my paragraph breaks, although now that I think of it, you couldn't have known that you could have skipped this section until you had read and gotten to this point. Sorry about that. I didn't learn how to organize paragraphs very well, only that long ones are bad. And now this paragraph is rather long and I think it's time for another new one.

My eyes would probably eventually fall out, and that would not be good. After my desire to be a video game tester died off, I wanted to be a roller coaster tester, but I figured that this might be a little dangerous since I would have to be the first one to ever ride the roller coaster, so there would be an immense possibility of me getting thrown off and getting killed. Not cool. From there I decided that I wanted to be a basketball player (yep, back to sports), but this quickly went away because I find out that it's a lot harder than it looks to put a ball into a 10 foot basket on a consistent basis. After that I wanted to be a computer programmer, but I decided against that much for the same reasons as wanting to be a video game tester. Then I wanted to be a crime scene investigator. This was mainly due to the fact that CSI was a new show and it was and still is awesome. This was probably the first career that I considered for what I would do in college, but after a little bit more research on it, I found that real crime scene investigation is nowhere near as cool as what they made it out to be on T.V. It was rather depressing actually. The next thing I wanted to be was an architect. This was because I like to design things, especially floorplans for houses. This was the first career that I seriously considered. I went to an architecture workshop at UNL over a week during the summer a few years back and did all of my campus visits looking at their college of architecture.

(New paragraph, same justification)

It wasn't until I knew I was coming to UNL that I realized that I didn't want to do architecture. I found that it was much to artsy for me. I still liked designing things and I was pretty good at math and science so I figured that engineering would be good. So I switched my major from architecture to civil engineering, but then I decided that I didn't want to be designing bridges and roads for my whole life. So then I switched my major to mechanical engineering (if you happen to know what they actually do, feel free to clue me in). So that is what I am working on right now, and I guess we'll see if what I want to be when I grow up changes any more.

Somewhere between duck calls and change

2006-09-21T15:33:00.000-05:00

So, kind of a funny story. At least I think so.

As some of you may know, I had the opportunity to go down to Ecuador for a missions trip. My friend Mitchell and I stayed with a family down there (they had 1 daughter and 1 son) and we kind of became part of their family while we were there. Once we got back, we decided that we should get them something to say thank you for the use of their home. We just now got around to actually getting what we wanted to get for them. For the parents we got coffee, for the girl we wanted a teddy bear with something with Huskers on it, and for the boy, we wanted to get a football, as opposed to a futbol, which is all they have down there. So here is where the story actually takes place.

In order to get what we wanted for the kids, we decided that the best place to go would be Scheels because it seems like they have everything, at least everything that is somewhat related to sports. So we went at like 8:45 on Tuesday night, hoping that they would still be open. Low and behold, they closed at 9, so we were able to look for about 15 minutes. We found the bear right away and didn't have much discussion about that because guys just don't talk about bears or stuffed animals in general. But when it came to the football, it took us at least 10 minutes to pick out the right one, because as you know, footballs are very important items and can't be decided upon in a hurry. We had to find the right size and make sure it was appropriately pumped up and we had to decide whether or not we wanted to have a Nebraska logo on the side; there were just so many things we had to figure out.

Well during this whole time, there were probably, I would have sworn, to be about 200 kids running around with duck calls and they were blowing them constantly. Now I hadn't noticed them much, or at least hadn't been bothered by them very much, but at one point in time, I looked over at Mitchell and his eyes were wide open and he just says, "I want to kill those ducks." What made it worse was that as soon as he said that, one of the kids came over and blew her little duck call right at us, as if she knew what Mitchell had just said and was doing this as an act of defiance.

So we finally came to a decision regarding the football, which was good because they actually started turning the lights out on us. So we went to go checkout with our teddy bear and football. Now somehow I had accumulated probably a pound of change that previous week, and I absolutely hate carrying change around, except I do need at least two coins so that I can move them around in my pocket (I don't just move them around randomly, I actually have a pattern that I do - just ask and I'll show you if you're really that interested), but this is all beside the point. Hold on while I go back and read what I've written so far so that I can get back on track.

Okay. So I had a lot of change. I decided that this would be a perfect place to get rid of some of it. I had a gift card, so I gave that to the cashier and told her to be patient with me because I had a lot of change that I wanted to get rid of. I realized as soon as I started counting it that this was probably the last person that this cashier would check out for the day, and here I am giving her a ton of change to count. I apologized and told her that I hoped that she hadn't had a bad day because I would probably come off as a huge jerk. Now, for some reason, Mitchell and I became extremely talkative, more so than we had been while we were there; perhaps it was the sight of my literal handful of change that put a lighter mood on the ordeal. So we started talking back and forth and actually were asking the cashier questions assuming that she wanted to be a part of our conversation. It was one of those things where if you were on the outside looking in, it would appear to be really funny and random I think. Here is a little bit of the dialogue that went on while we were checking out:

Me: "I'm really sorry, but I need to get rid of this change. I hope you haven't had a terrible day, because this will probably make me look like a huge jerk."
Cashier: "No, it's okay."
Mitchell: "Do those kids always blow those duck calls?"
Cashier: "Yea, pretty much."
Mitchell: "Isn't that annoying?"
Cashier: "Yea"
Me: "Okay, how much is that?"
Cashier: "Three dollars"
Me: "Okay, hold on."
Mitchell: "I don't think I could work here with all that going on."
Me: "Okay, there's 44 cents. How much more do I owe you?"
Cashier: "Nine dollars"
Mitchell: "That was a lot of change. Do you feel lighter now?"
Me: "I kind of do actually. I'm so glad I was able to get rid of all of that."
Me(talking to Cashier): "Again, I'm really sorry."
Cashier: "It's fine"
Me: "I think that is the most change I've ever used in one place."
Mitchell: "I bet."

This conversation was not drawn out at all either. It probably took place about as fast as you just read it. And this was only a snippet of what our conversation consisted of; there was plenty more that I don't remember fully. In the end, I used precisely $3.44 worth of change (told you I had a lot), and it felt really good to get rid of it. Now what made this whole thing funnier was that as we were leaving, Mitchell started talking about what just took place. I probably wouldn't have had a second thought about it, but Mitchell just started laughing about how funny our whole ordeal with the cashier was. This got me to realize how odd and comedic it was and we started discussing whether or not we were a pain to the cashier or if we were entertaining. I said that if I would have been in her place and had a long day like I'm assuming she had, I would have found us entertaining. But maybe it was more wishful thinking. Well, anyways, we convinced ourselves that we were more entertaining than annoying and left it at that.

Hopefully this wasn't a long, boring story. I found it pretty funny, but maybe it was just one of those things where you had to be there.

Guitars rock...literally

2006-09-18T16:00:00.000-05:00

So, I think I realized the other day how much I really go love the guitar. I mean, ever since I started playing, I've always enjoyed it, but it wasn't until this weekend that I truly realized how much I really like it. Now, I've grown up in a music family: my dad is a music professor here at UNL, and his dad was a high school music teacher, so music has certainly been a big part of our family. This may be the reason I like guitar so much, but then I realized that I hated playing the piano and violin when I was younger, so that couldn't be the case. At least not entirely.

Like I said, I've always enjoyed playing. I wasn't too keen on playing for church group or in front of lots of people, but I would just mess around on my own quite a bit. But as I got better, I started to like it more and more, and was more and more comfortable playing in front of other people. I guess when it comes to music, I like sounds much more than voices. That's why I will listen to artists with pretty bad voices; as long as their music is good. So when I am playing and get a sound that I like, (and I am not trying to make myself sound like the best guitar player in the world, because I am most certainly not), it makes me really happy and I can play it over and over again. Plus, I really like playing in a band setting with another guitar and drums and all that, because it is probably one of the greatest feelings to be able to "rock out" as so many people have said.

Perhaps at this point I should inform you as to what caused me to come to this stunning revelation of how much I like guitar. Like I said, it wasn't too long ago that I didn't really like getting in front of people and playing. But before the weekend came around, I was asked by the youth pastor at my church if I would play for the high school Sunday school class. Not only did I agree to do it, but I found myself actually wanting to and was looking forward to it for the rest of the week. So I started to wonder what made me want to get in front of people with the possibility of messing up and making a huge fool of myself - I would then go into deep depression and my self-esteem would drop like a rock, and I would probably go into some sort of shock and never be able to talk or move again. (Okay, so maybe that's a little far-fetched, but who knows, the snowball effect can be pretty dangerous sometimes).

Well first off, I found that playing guitar is a big release for me. Whenever I'm doing homework or have had a busy day, I can just pick up the guitar and start playing and feel a lot better when I am done. I think it's one of those things where I could probably just play it until my fingers fell off, which may not be a good thing (not that my fingers would fall off, but that I could waste that much time playing it). But it is something that I rarely get bored of.

Secondly, I think that (and hope that) the main reason I like it so much is the ability to worship God with it. Worship is a big thing in our family, more so than music, and I have always felt that it is one of the most important things that we can do in our Christian walk. Worship is basically what we think of God and how that makes us respond. My dad used to be the worship leader at our church, and my mom was nearly as active in that as my dad was, so I grew up seeing the value that they put on worship and have hopefully taken some of that for myself. When I realize that when I am playing for either the college or high school group, or sometimes even the entire church body, I am bringing them before the throne of God in worship, and that is a humbling and even frightening thought, much more than the thought of messing up. So when I realize that, I am more worried that my heart is in the right place and that I am prepared to come before God. When I start playing, I find that I block out everyone else around me, and just focus on the song and what I am singing, which is why I am not as concerned about how well I do. But hopefully, it is the aspect of worship that makes playing the guitar so enjoyable for me.

As I look back on this, I can see how it will probably be long and boring for those of you who are reading. I apologize and I will wrap this up now.

So I really do like playing the guitar, maybe more than I should and I probably waste more time than I should on it. But I guess there are worse things I could be doing with my time (like homework :)) and if it helps me worship God better than I would without it, well, then I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Cold water really does trump all

2006-09-13T16:05:00.000-05:00

So it's been a while since I posted on here last, but I did warn you that I might neglect this blog for long periods of time. Nevertheless, I am posting now, and hopefully it will have been worth the wait. Well I will try to post on here a little more regularly, so my minions of dedicated readers *hopes desperately* can check back more frequently.

There was a question that came up a few days ago and it went something like this: "If you could be any animal, what would you be?" My first inclination was to blurt out "cheetah!", for somewhat obvious reasons. But after thinking about it, I realized that even though I would be able to run really fast, I wouldn't be able to do much else. So then after thinking for a little while longer, I thought it might be cool to be a gecko. For those who don't know, geckos have the amazing ability to walk on walls and ceilings because they basically have suction cups on their feet. But then I got thinking again, and as cool as it would be to have suction cup feet, I realized that geckos are really small and probably can't get around really fast, which is the main reason I originally wanted to be a cheetah. Plus, I found out from those Geiko commercials that geckos have a British accent, and I definitely don't want to have a British accent. So then I thought maybe I could be like a hybrid animal - a cross between a cheetah and a gecko. I would have the cheetah's speed and accent, and the gecko's suction cup feet. I figured that this might not be the greatest since this type of animal doesn't exist, and if it did, it would probably the weirdest looking thing in the entire universe, and I wouldn't like to be the weirdest looking thing in the entire universe. So basically, I had this huge dilemna on my hands, I didn't know what to pick: speed and quickness or suction cupiness? So I decided to just be a polar bear because they can swim in really cold water.

Let me ask you, if you could be one animal, what would you be and why? Let the comments flow...

Oh, and on an entirely different note, check out this awesome C.S. Lewis quote (Told you that you'd hear from him again). This is talking about those low times in life where it is hard to imagine that what is happening is in accordance with God's will - much like what happened to Job, although not necessarily limited to that degree.

"[Satan's] cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do [God's] will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of [God] seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys."

Mmm...Letters

2006-09-07T15:49:00.000-05:00

So I've started reading The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, and I've really enjoyed it so far. It's somewhat of a difficult read and I'm only on chapter three, but as far as I can tell, it's going to be a great book. As you may know, I am a big fan of C.S. Lewis and I try to read as much of his stuff as I can. Well, this book that I'm reading, for those who don't know, is basically letters from the devil (Screwtape) talking to one of his demons (Wormwood) informing him of how to, in essence, destroy Christianity. Each chapter is a different letter adressing a different way that Satan tries to destroy the Christian faith.

The first chapter brought up the fact that there are so many different religous philosophies that people have just started to accept them rather than think through them and come to a logical conclusion. Now this book was written back in 1941 I believe, and it is amazing how this is still true today. As a society, we have become so tolerant of all these different philosophies and just accept them into the big schmorgisboard of beliefs. Nobody argues anymore. Arguing is a good thing. It forces people to think about what they're saying and see if what they believe makes sense. So basically Lewis says that Satan steers us away from argument and towards acceptance of all of those philosophies that are out there.

So, yeah, good book and you'll probably hear some more thoughts on it at some later point in time.

My first post

2006-09-05T00:12:00.000-05:00

So here is my first post on my first blog, so I hope it comes out to be everything a first post on a first blog should be. I'm actually probably going to make up a bunch of stories just because sometimes telling my life as a student can be boring sometimes. Not that I'm unhappy with where I'm at, it's just that the only things I would be able to say are that I woke up, ate and went to class for the day. Not too exciting. So I'll try to keep it interesting and mix it up here and there. I just think that this whole blog thing for me will be really random in what I choose to write about. I'll probably have a bunch of stories and also some personal opinion posts, like I said: random. Well, hope you enjoy and I'll see where the posts take me.