When I feel most alive … go ahead, take your shoes off!

Last week, Todd, Justin, and I went to Hardee’s for the Monster Thickburger. It was sort of an unspoken agreement that if we were real men, we would be able to finish off this 2/3 lbs. of beef with additional cheese and bacon, the fries and soda.


The “Nutrition” Facts of my meal.

Calories: 2391.94
Calories from Fat: 1131.92
Total Fat: 125.76 g
Saturated Fat: 49.65 g
Cholesterol: 229.55 g
Sodium: 3070.73 g
Carboyhdrates: 257.39 g
Protien: 69.8g

We called it the “Heart-stopping lunch” and I think we all half-expected to drop dead after the meal! We didn’t, thankfully, but we did all finish the meal, even though we were totally stuffed at the end of it! I didn’t eat much else that day! It was worth it. And the burger was incredible!

I came across these two humorous links in my daily news RSS feed surfing.

Five Things that Microsoft Won’t Do in 2005 - But Should

A Mac-to-PC switcher movie … sort of

I hope you get it. And enjoy a few good laughs!

Maybe I’ll post some real thoughts, original ones, next time!

So at Matt’s wedding, I wore a tuxedo for the first time. to be honest I REALLY liked it. I have never felt so expensive in my life. I wouldn’t mind wearing one of those everyday. Especially since they make those shoes SO comfortable. Only, I doubt it would be very appropriate for the office, considering everyone else wears business casual (khakis and buttoned shirts)

Here is a great picture of Leila and I at the reception. It was a beautiful wedding and reception! I was honored to be a part of it and send them into marriage right!


Don’t we look cute?

iPresident (click for full size image)

Apparently, President George W. Bush uses an iPod. He likes to listen to music when he rides his bike. According to the photographer of this photo essay (view the last 4 pictures), Christopher Morris, he was listening to “Brown Eyed Girl” by Van Morrison.

I think it’s pretty sweet that Pres. Bush has an iPod. I mean, if I were rich (more like, if I even had a few hundred dollars) I would have one too! But I’ll get behind any President smart enough to know that the best music player on the planet is an iPod.

Headphones (click for full size image)

So I got some new headphones this week because I needed some new ones for listening to music at work. The ones I have are kinda dying. So I went to Best Buy since I had a gift certificate for $20 and looked around. I came home with this Sony in-ear model, and I’m pretty happy with them. They are inside the ear, so they put out really good sound, and unbeleivable bass, that normal outside-the-ear headphones can’t accomplish. They are great! And comfortable too!

Only one problem, the warranty is very LIMITED, as it says, “This warranty does not cover cosmetic damage or damage due to acts of God, accident, misuse, abuse, negligence, commercial use, or modification of, or to any part of the Product.”

I guess if God decides to make my headphones stop working, I will have to buy a new pair, oh well! I have had at least 20 different pairs of headphones throughout my life. What’s one more?

I wanted to give credit to an excellent piece of software: the GIMP. It is an open source image manipulation/editing alternative to Photoshop. It does most of what Photoshop does, and, especially for the casual user, it is more than sufficient.

I have been using Photoshop Elements 2.0 since my parents bought it for me last Christmas, and I have liked it mostly for the layers capabilities, the clone tool, and the advanced control over color. (all features that the GIMP includes)

I like Photoshop Elements, but I have also tried out the GIMP and was very pleased. It is a little more powerful with more features and options.

If you don’t want to pay $650 for Photoshop CS or even the $80 for Photoshop Elements 3.0, but want a little more control over your photos you should check out the GIMP!

It is an open source project that is making incredible progress. You can download the binary compiled for Windows, Linux, or Mac OS X. I think you will like it.

Remember when technology hated me?

First, my watch battery died… still haven’t replaced it.

Second, I couldn’t get a cell phone that worked. I took my Verizon cell phone with a broken speakerphone to be fixed and they replaced it with a phone that would drop every single call it made. I had to go back like three more times to finally get them to give me a brand new phone that actually worked. I was not happy with Verizon, but I’m glad to have a working phone finally.

Third, my Powerbook’s hard drive died. I took a trip down to the Apple Store a few days before it actually died (while it was still on the fritz and making strange knocking and clicking noises) to consult the local Mac Genius. He told me that my hard drive was definately about to die. So thankfully I have a backup hard drive that I backup everything too, it wasn’t a big deal. I ordered a new hard drive and when it gets here, I will swap it with the dead one. For now, I am booting from my external HD with all the backed-up data.

I was glad that it was just the hard drive (and that I have a backup!) since hard drives are relatively cheap and easy to replace (even though it wasn’t free since my warranty expired after 1 year) (note: the new HD has a 3-year warranty… yay)

I am waiting on my new HD to arrive any day now so I can be up and running again! Maybe technology hates me, but it got dominated by my mad skills this time!

(I was scared to touch my digital camera, for fear that it too would stop working, but it is fine thankfully!)

I recently visited Maryland for a few weeks, and encountered several computers that should not even be plugged into an Internet connection they are so unsafe. The viruses, malware, and spyware that attack Windows computers without appropriate virus and spyware protection are ridiculous.

So I took some measures to help them out… this is what I did or would at least do for the next person I encounter with issues like the people I saw recently:

1. Uninstall Internet Explorer and installed Mozilla’s Firefox (as the default) (if they can find a site that will only work in IE, then I can help them reinstall IE… yuck)

2. Recommended switching email programs away from Microsoft’s crappy Outlook and Outlook Express (most normal people don’t need the shared calendaring of Outlook, and Mozilla’s Thunderbird is a great substitute)

3. Tell them they need to get virus protection software and keep their definitions updated (even if it costs money… it’s worth it)

4. Make sure their personal software firewall (included with Windows XP) is turned on.

4. Reccommended that their next computer be a Macintosh (because as we know, they are more secure… experts agree)

So anyway, I would recommend anyone who currently has issues with their XP machine follow my instructions as well!

Today, January 5 marks 4 months of Leila and I dating. I think this might be the longest dating relationship I have ever been involved in. It is really exciting to be in a wonderful relationship with such a wonderful girl. I hope I don’t mess it up and get dumped!

She is coming down here with Jocie and Ethan January 18th so I look forward to that, but for now, we are back to the long-distance thing. It could be tough this spring when we won’t get to be together for several months at a time!

Anyway, I just wanted to use this space to thank God for blessing me with a wonderful girlfriend!

My best Christmas present was dinner out at Texas Roadhouse with Leila. She decided to surprise me by taking me out there and buying me the biggest steak I could order. It was incredible. I didn’t even know there was a Texas Roadhouse in Maryland (it’s in Westminster if you are curious) but we had some great food and a wonderful time!

I am so thankful for Leila and that she knows what I like. As sad as it is, it’s true. FOOD is something I like alot, and for her to buy me dinner at my favorite restaraunt was an EXCELLENT Christmas gift! Way to go!

As an added bonus, she had NEVER been to Texas Roadhouse and this was her first time. She loved it! How can anyone not?

Well folks, the holidays came and went, and I came and went. I’m back in Florida now, so if you missed me when I was in Maryland, sorry about that! I had a great time seeing family and friends, and spending time with Leila, but I guess I do have a job for some reason, and I should probably get back to it!

Interesting story… I was at Matt’s wedding this weekend and, in a pleasant turn of events John Boggs, my roomate, showed up at the wedding with Andy, Lauren, and Carissa (my STINT teammates from last year in North Africa). But when I returned last night he told me a funny story that happened to him during Matt’s wedding reception. I will retell it here, and if it isn’t funny enough for you, then go to him and ask him to tell it! You’re sure to get a laugh.

So, to start, Boggsy was sick. He had a sore throat and hadn’t been feeling well for the last few days. Also, he had just been in the car all day and stuck in bad traffic most of it, as they were tryig to make it to the wedding (in Virginia Beach) on time from Pennsylvania.

So you can imagine that John is a little bit out of it as he walks over to the drink table to refill his cup of punch. After filling it up to the top, a nice old lady, presumably one of Matt or Beca’s (the groom and bride) grandparents, walks up to him and says something like “How kind of you young man!” and with a smile proceeds to take his cup from his hand and walk away with it as if he had filled it for her!

Before he has a chance to think and realize what happened, she has slipped into the large crowd at the reception and he has lost her and his cup (which he had been drinking from already and leaving his sick germs in as well) After he overcomes the shock of this sweet old lady stealing his cup and realizing he had just let her walk away with it and all of his sick germs, he fills a new cup for himself and sits back down at his table.

I told him he better pray that his germs don’t end that old lady’s life! (In fact they had already killed one living being that day, a dog in the middle of Interstate 64 that was pulverized by their front bumper, but that’s another story!)