More to the point of the story, I thought that being only 29 degrees (that's reasonably warm by my Rexburg standards) I went out in a t-shirt with a AE sweater overtop and jeans. Whew! Snow was blowing hard enough into my eyes to make my eyes start to water! I think a few people thought I was bawling and have me some odd stares on my way up to campus. Rexburg natives, pugh! The point of the story is: weather forecasting is different for every area. So to prevent weather forecast confusion, I've added a North Carolina/Rexburg translation guide:
North Carolina Forecast | Rexburg Equivalent |
Midly warm, high of 62 | humidity 100%, heat wave of the century |
Slightly Chilly, high in 50's | Getting toasty out there, DON'T BRING A JACKET |
Very cold, possible ice on bridges | Standard weather pattern |
Bitter COLD, lows in the 20s | Nippy in the morning, wear a hoodie |
Blizzard of the century! STAY INDOORS | Light snow expected, wear a jacket, no gloves |
Blizzard of the MILLENIUM | Mild snow, add the gloves |
--no NC equivalent-- | Mild to heavy snow---expecting 24-36 inches per hour |
So there you have it, how to interpret weather in Rexburg. Seriously, there was 2-3 inches of snow on the road and not a single snow plow. I asked someone why and they said the snow plows don't come out until it snows!! I looked incredulouosly at her as I politely pointed at the 2-3 inches of white powder on the ground. I maid a mental not "not to talk to crazy."
Back in NC in t-minus 6 days.
Ok, before I dive right into this post, let me comment on how hard it is to write a post entitled "Why I Don't Like My Roommate" when your surrounded by people who are your roommates. The one time I leave my room to put away some dishes, my roommate (who has been out all weekend, which was wonderful) walks in. I run (casually of course) back to my room in time to exit out of that screen before he could see the title of my post.
Now, on to the meat of this post. This semester draws to a close and I have built up quite a list of dislikes of my roommate. At the beginning of the semester, I though he would be pretty cool. The problem is, roommates who are complete opposites simply avoid each other and don't talk. Suffice it to say my roommate is in love with me and has no concept of "proper social courtesy."
Case 1---Listening to Music While Sleeping:
Every night, my roommate listens to music while going to sleep. This wouldn't be so bad, except that he listens to it from the speakers on his desktop PC. And the music is Gwen Stefani, and I despise rap/whatever-it-is-she-sings. So I go to bed 30 minutes later than him so I can turn off his music without waking/disturbing him. Keep in mind my roomie does have an mp3 player and could listen to his music through headphones. Anyway, in the morning he acts all upset that I turned off his speakers in the night. Pardon me for liking to sleep in silence like the rest of the world.
Case 2---Talking on the Cellphone at Night:
One night while I was going to sleep he was chatting it up with a girl at around 1:00am. I tried listening to my iPod to drown out his voice, but his piercing, high-pitched laugh (I'm not making this up) kept me awake. I ended bringing my blanket and pillow into the living room and slept on the couch.
Case 3---Running Tabs:
How many roommates keep running tabs of how much their roomie owes them. My roommate does. Thats understandable if your roommate constantly borrows money, but my tab on the year is less than $10.00! I mean honestly, how petty is that? Anyway, let's not forget how much he owes me. For example, my printer, which I let him use, and my paper in my printer, and my ink in my printer, etc. Ironically, Marc uses my printer more than I do! Anyway, I could go on and on but that's just the most obvious example.
Case 4---Music:
While I'm in the room alone, I typically play some music to listen to. Whenever Marc enters the room, and I mean nearly every time, he sits down at his computer and starts to play his music over my own! He doesn't even ask if he can listen to some. He doesn't put in headphones just blasts me into submission.
Case 5---No Personal Space:
Most people observe Personal Space Boundaries, or PSB as I like to call them. Marc does not. He constantly rearranges my things without asking me so it's hard to find my things. Not to mention he always uses my bed as a desk. Book, clothes, sheets, he puts it all on my bed. At the beginning of the year, I carefully placed his things back on his bed, but now, he places his stuff on my bed, and I place it on the floor.
I'm sure there are plenty more things that I could name off that annoy me, but these are just a few that I can think of off the top of my head. I'm not trying to be mean, but sometimes you just have to vent about somebody. Don't worry, my next post will be much more uplifting than this one. Oh yeah, as a side note, I will be returning to beautiful North Carolina in approximately 8 days! December 19th/20th I will arrive in RDU. See you then!
So you were probably stunned by the sign-in page at the beginning of my blog, plus once you got in, surprised again by the new template. These are just a few of the new features of the beta blogger by Google. So, tell me how you like it and be prepared for my next post, which will sum up the things that drive ME ABSOLUTELY CRAZY about my roommate. (Which is why I have a sign-in page to view my blog). So yeah, tell me how you like the new blog....give me any suggestions...and be prepared for a full-blown roommate bashing. The post after the roommate bash will be of a more sentimental nature and offer my reflections on my first semester at BYU-I and my first semester away from home.
Have you ever seen something that took so much time and was so specialized that you sat in a stupor and wondered "How much time did that take?" or perhaps "That guy must not have a life!" Well, I have found such a video. Of course it's really cool to watch and will give everyone a chuckle. Even watching it twice, I must ask myself, where do you find out that you are good at rollerblading through a street full of bottles and making music by placing metal strips on the outside of your skates to hit the bottles and make individual tones. Yeah, head over to www.youtube.com to check this video out.
Ok, I went to see a movie tonight and man was it good. Now don't get me wrong, this movie is not for the faint of heart. Still, it is one of the best movies I've seen in awhile. I would especially recommend it to dad, Ethan, and Logan. I don't want to give anything away, because it's a movie I would like to watch again (possibly as a family, over Christmas break). Actually, in order to preserve suspense, I won't give away any details, above that of the basic premise. The basic premise is that two magicians aren't big fans of the other. I can't give away any more details than that, and I won't even give away the primary mechanism that drives the plot. If you watch it (which I highly recommend), you'll find out soon enough for yourself.
So if I just spent a paragraph praising a movie and giving away absolutely zero details, what makes a movie good? Well, I think the most important part of a movie is the story. The Prestige does not dissapoint there. The story is expertly told. One of the more interesting things is that nothing is really given or spelled out for the viewer. The movie utilizies some flashbacks and other such techniques but gives no warning of its occurrence. I think it adds to the movie because it makes you more engrossed in it and more captivated by it as the story progresses and reaches toward the climax. Above all else, this movie will make you think.
One last paragraph here will be devoted to life at BYU-I. Hmmmm, let me see, what's new. Classes are wrapping up. With only 10 days of actual classes left, the year is rapidly drawing to a close. This year at BYU-I has been really interesting and enlightening in many ways. I've gotten a taste of the college life and know what it means to live on my own. Its tough but also rewarding. Another lesson of the "I" is how to survive in arctic-circle climates! I've also learned a ton about what I enjoy doing (career wise) and what things I should pursue over the course of my education and life.
Before I depart, just a little weather update. The high over the past couple of days hasn't gotten above 20°F, at least to my knowledge…and that's not including the windchill! Biking on snow is tough, but I manage. Certainly my daily 30 mile ride has been drastically reduced to around 5…possibly 10 depending on my mood. Side note: I would LOVE to do some biking over Christmas break. Anyway, all is well here. I love you all and can't wait to come home for Christmas. Thanks for all your love and support.
Yeah, Gmail got an overhaul. The standard gmail interface has gotten a sleeker, trimmer look and (I think) looks more stylish than ever. In addition to the much cooler look, the details view for e-mails is improved. Gmail now includes domain keys (verifies that an e-mail from bobloblaw@yahoo.com was actually mailed from the yahoo.com domain) and a few other miscellaneous enhancements. Also, the reply button is at the top and bottom of the e-mail, and conversations update as soon as you receive an e-mail. Gmail will notify you that the conversation has changed―even if you are in the middle of a reply. Also, Gmail is now available (for those with cool phones) for download at gmail.com/apps. This only works for cell phones, but you basically download a gmail app so you can use more advanced functions of gmail through your phone. You can even open sound and picture attachments!
Yeah, so check it out today by logging in to your gmail account and check out all the new features!
Many people in NC are band-wagon fans. They like whatever school is doing well in whatever sport. For example, a band-wagon fan loves Boston College or Miami during football season (ACC teams only) but can't get enough of Coach K or the UNC tar heels during basketball season. However, very few people are die-hard fans. A die-hard roots for Wake Forest during football, basketball, golf, and chess seasons. I am a die-hard WF fan and have been since 5 or 6. And since I have been 5 or 6, I've been accustomed to cheering for an often loosing team. The other kids at school would rabidly cheer on J.J. Reddick while I would lamely add, "how 'bout Eric Williams?"
However, now that I am away from my beloved NC, WF is going on a rampage. I'm just going to comment on the WF football season. Their current record is 8-1. Do you know the last time WF went 8-1? That would be 1944. Do you know what else? 8 wins ties a school record for most wins in a season. Holy Cow! I've got to say, fate, it would seem, is not without a sense of irony. The first year I move away (and to Idaho of all places) WF has an absolutely record breaking season. WF is ranked 22 in the nation. That's absolutely amazing!
Next, WF just played BC (no 16) and won 21-14. Many people said that WF was having a fluke of a season and that the honeymoon would end with a loss against Boston College. It would appear not so. With an end zone interception, WF kept up the pressure against BC all through the 4th quarter. I'm just in awe of this WF team. It's about time WF got some intercollegiate respect. Is WF number one in the nation? Probably not. Could they beat the no. 1 team in the nation? Possibly. Many people would disagree. They would scoff and say "when the planets align, yes." Well, WF is 8-1 and if they win another game it will be a first in the entire history of Wake Forest University. Now that's saying something.
Who knows where this season will end? I certainly don't know, but its gonna be awesome!
Anyway, those are just my feelings on the matter. With Word you can also set up a workspace so several people can view and edit a paper as one. Mom, if your writing a family newsletter, you can create a workspace and set it up so certain people can edit certain parts. That way I can edit the section dealing with me while Ethan can only edit his section.
So I’m not completely 2007 (Beta 2) pro, I will say that I have encountered a bug while printing. There’s a simple workaround and I think it’s just with my printer driver/setup. Also, compatibility with previous versions can act up, but only with documents with funky graphics and such. Overall, Office 2007 looks pretty amazing. It has a lot of features missing in any current-gen office software. Check out the beta if you want. Tomorrow’s post will have more day-to-day info., so stay tuned.
Right now, its only partially invisible in 2 dimensions and there is a slight shadow, but the researchers (from Duke Unviersity) said the ultimate goal is invisibility in 3 dimensions with no shadowing.
The basic idea, is that carefully constructed materials can bend light around itself, making it invisible. We see things when light bounces off the object and some of it reflects back to our eyes.
Anyway, check out this article, its pretty interesting.
Anyway, any feedback or cool ideas you have or thoughts to share I would really like. Oh yeah, download MS OneNote...it's really cool, well worth the $1.50 download charge.
Oh yeah, if you're wondering why to download OneNote, a couple of these features might entice you.
- It's just like writing notes in a notebook...anywhere you click the cursor, you can write a note.
- Sharing, you can share/collaborate/anything you want with other OneNote users.
- You can use OneNote to create a picture file from a portion of the screen...see a picture you like inside a flash application and you can't download it...now you can.
- Text recognition from pictures---this makes it super easy to convert text documents or pictures with text in them into actual text.
So yeah, check it out and check out my notes from Alma 13-16. I'll probably publish my notes for the rest of these chapters as well.
First up, quick little dating review. I've officially gone on my 3rd date with Marianne, and I still can't tell for sure if she likes me or not. For my parents, especially mom and dad, I'm not too worried about the girl situation because I know that I'm going on my mission in a year anyway. However, thus far, I've really enjoyed the dates that I've gone on with her...oh yeah, and she's gorgeous. Enough about that though. The girl that hit me with her car (while I was on my bike) happens to be in my ward and the roommate of the girl I usually sit beside in Book Of Mormon. Craziness there ;)
As far as school goes, I got a 94 on my first physics test, which counts for 20% of my grade and I had my world civ presentation today, which counted for 25% of my world civ grade. Let's see what happens there. Also, I have a presentation in Physics on work and motion, etc. this Wednesday. I'm kinda dreading it, but oh well.
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On to other news, like the new Office 2007 Beta. So everyone who knows me that I seem to keep decently current with technology related info. For those of you who don't know, Office 2007 and Windows Vista (the new operating system, like XP) are coming out to consumers early next year (January or February). Also, if you didn't know, you can download both Office 2007 (beta of course) and the 1st release candidate of Vista. I'm a little too timid to download Vista since there could be some major issues with compatibility with my current software, but that means Office 2007 is fair game.
True to Microsoft's word, Office 2007 is a huge improvement over previous versions. 10x shinier, it has that "new software" feel to it. That's not what's most impressive. I have not conducted any tests, but it appears that Office 2007 loads a tad faster than 2003. Another neat feature is the absence of traditional menus. They are gone. Instead is a more streamlined and intuitive interface. It might take users a few minutes to become acquainted to, but it has a lot of new features that are easy to use and understand. Another cool feature is the level of integration. It works better than you imagine it could. One cool example is when inserting a table into PowerPoint. You click the button and in a few seconds your looking at PowerPoint with Excel open right beside of it. It gives you full access to Excel features and as you edit the tables in Excel, it changes the graph in PowerPoint. Its cool.
I haven't tested compatibility with previous versions of office, but I imagine it works smoothly with Office 2003 and Office XP. Its a cool download, although it does cost $1.50. I justify this by saying that I'm downloading a refreshed Beta 2, which is decently close to release software. Office 2007 will cost between $200-$400, and I've got it for $1.50. This should hold me over until I buy a new computer, in which case it'll come bundled anyway.
So yeah, check out the link/title of this post and see if you'd like to try out the Office 2007 beta. It's worth it, or at least I think so.
Anyway, physics and calc are pretty tough, but not impossible. My computer class is easy and fun, while religion and world civ provide a neat balance. Catch you guys round
First off, I would like to say thank you again to all those who have been praying for me over the past week or so. Moving off to college was a million times harder than I thought it would be. Leaving my family at the terminal was hard enough and then Ethan dropping me off at Rexburg was the final straw. It finally hit me that me living by myself would become the norm. I mean, I know that I have roommates, but I still feel like its mostly me watching out for myself. The best way to describe it is being independent.
The good side is that the homesickness has finally started to wear off. Not that I no longer miss my family, but the sadness I feel at being far away from them has been reduced to a manageable portion. Life has to go on and I've got classes and such to do here. Speaking of classes, I'll give everyone a quick little run down on my schedule.
My schedule is obviously posted above, but that doesn't explain what my day is like. Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays are the hardest, but still quite fun. I actually really enjoy all of my classes so far. The class I was most scared about was my Calc II class which start right where my high school AP Calc class left off. Fortunately my teacher is super nice and I think I'm really going to like her. My Calc I teacher (which I only had for a day) seemed mean and determined to make Calc I a difficult class. She even promised 3 hours of studying per hour of class time. yikes! I mean, I know I need to study in order to do well in my classes...but there is no way I need to study that much for a class. Especially not on average. Anyway, Calc II is way cooler and its exciting to start learning where AP Calc left off. Physics is probably my toughest class because it applies a lot of things that I didn't really learn in high school physics. In high school physics I learned several topics really well, but in college physics it looks like I may need to understand a lot more. Potentially my favorite class is the Intro to Software Development. Before we even got into how to actually program, I was writing some C++ code in the Linux lab. For those who aren't familiar with computer programming terminology, C++ is a Object Oriented (OO) programming language. Linux is an operating system much like Windows XP or Vista. Linux is common among programmers. Anyway, its pretty interesting to start learning a few things about how to make programs. Thus far all I've done is make the computer display some text and create conditional statements based on user input. Don't worry, it sounds way more complicated that it actually is.
The religion class is great as is World Civ. Both teachers are way cool and know their stuff. I especially like my World Civ teacher because he doesn't even need to look at a book to teach us stuff, he just knows it that well.
Lastly, I want to slip in a quick technological update. If any of you are using the internet (which all of you must be in order to view an online blog) go to this website and download the Google Toolbar. Granted, I have to really like a browser plugin before using it because I hate any performance slow downs and I hate plugins that take up precious viewing space. the Google Toolbar does neither. Once downloaded, check out the "Send To" button. Find a web page and click the "Send To" button and then click "Gmail." Basically, you send a copy of the web page you are viewing via e-mail to anyone. It's really a neat feature to show someone exactly what you are looking at. Anyway, that's all I've got for you guys today. Stay classy San Diego. I'm Ron Burgundy?
As (hopefully) most of you know, I am no longer in North Carolina. I'm going to school in BYU-Idaho this fall and (probably) winter semesters. Anyway, my adventure started on thursday, August 24th. My family drove me to the airport in Raleigh where my flight was delayed from a 4:05 departure to a 6:50 departure. That meant that I would miss my connecting flight in Chicago. It ended up that I hung out with the family for awhile before returning to the airport and rebook my flight for the next morning at 6:45am. The only really bad thing about the early departure was that I had to get up at 4:40am EST. I honestly didn't feel too sleepy. The morning flight was nearly empty and went from Raleigh to Nashville and then to Las Vegas and then to Salt Lake City. On the way from Nashville to Las Vegas, I pulled out the laptop and watched several episodes of TV shows I had downloaded to my hard drive. It really helped to pass the time.
It was funny landing in Vegas. I (not having left NC much) thought it was funny that even the airport had built-in casinos. I even saw a 90-year-old woman staring down her slot machine. From Nashville to Vegas I sat beside a really nice couple. We talked about college and what not and they related to mom in being sad when children leave home for college. The last of her children had just left for college and she sympathized with my feelings of sadness at leaving home.
In Vegas I spent the better part of my time charging my laptop battery for the flight from Vegas to Salt Lake. In turned out I didn't even get to finish one episode of the TV show I was watching. Oh yeah, if anyone is looking for gift ideas...House Season 2 is looking really good right now. Or software to decode DVDs and copy them to the hard drive.
Anyway, I made it to Ethan's apartment successfully then I had to drive him to work. I went from there to Best Buy and bought a wireless router for his apartment and since I would need one in Idaho anyway. Probably the craziest part of the day was how little food I had. Kristen bought me a biscuit that morning around 5:30am and the next food I had was in Vegas at 9:30 (12:30 EST). All I had there was a pink lemonade and a handful of combos. My next meal was a chalupa at Taco Bell...weeee!
I'm starting to ramble, but I would like to share a few of my thoughts before I close. Leaving for college is scary and daunting, yes. But through hard and difficult circumstances can come great joy. As I used to quote "I never said it would be easy, I only said it would be worth it." This applies to me, I know. One "known" blessing is the blessing of coming home for Christmas. I know that the absence of college will make the reunion much sweeter. Of course other blessings may occur while at college, but those are up to me as I allow the Lord to work through me. My attitudes and desires will bear the greatest effect on how sensitive I am to the Spirit and how much I learn and grow from my surroundings. Life is like dinner. If all we ate was dessert (even though it tastes amazing) we would be unhealthy and suffer in the no-so-distant future. However, struggling down fruits and vegetables (although not as tasty as pie and ice cream) helps us both mentally and physically. Adversity can equal tremendous growth. It's all in how we handle the situations we face. Maybe leaving home and going to BYU-I isn't cake, but I can still enjoy the BYU-I broccoli salad. Just as long as it doesn't become celery, we should all be fine ;)
Anyway, new laptop. I just bought a new laptop a few days ago from Dell. I wanted to get a 14.1" screen because (instead of the 15.4" or 17") for battery life reasons. Plus it's a little more mobile than the larger laptops. I had been eyeing this one for awhile but it just didn't have as good of deals as its cousin laptops ;) ironically, one night when me and logan we're up kinda late, I looked at the laptop again (a little after midnight, August 1st) and it had identical deals as the other laptops. Cautiously I decided to go ahead and buy the it. $700 later and that thing is all mine!
The cool part of the story is that the same morning (about 9am) I checked Dell.com again and all the deals of the previous night we're gone. I don't know what happened, but for just a couple of hours I was able to get the deal I'd been hoping for. Yeah for me!
For those curious about what kind of laptop I got, here are the specs:
1.86 GHz single-core processor (Intel)
60 GB Hard drive (5400rpm)
1.04 GB of DDR2 SDRAM
533 Mhz FSB speeds
802.11 b/g network card
DVD/CD burner @ 8x (dual-layer burning support)
That's all I can think of off the top of my head. I think I'm forgetting something, so just comment any questions. My next post will follow the trend of the "Love" post, meaning it should be a thoughtful and reflective post of a different topic altogether. Oh and mom, go back to the top of the page, unpause the video and watch it. I think you'll like it.
I was thinking in the shower about 10 minutes ago and my train of thought led me to love. I cynically remarked to myself that there is no such thing as true love. The more I thought about it I began to realize my own error. Among teenagers, true love is a rare thing, in fact, its practically nonexistent.
I know I'm rambling, but I will make my point. There are a couple of kinds of love and all of them must be examined to understand the point I'm making. Teenage love should be more appropriately called infatuation. Although not always the case, teenagers often mistake infatuation for a purer form of love. Infatuation is a physical love, with no roots in traits of personality, character, humor, etc. Infatuation is skin deep and both comes and goes as fleetingly as the wind.
The closest mortal approximation of true (or perfect) love is unconditional love. The best example of this is the love parents have for their children and the siblings love for another sibling. This kind of love is always present and based entirely in personality traits and not at all in looks. Unconditional love is loving someone for who they are, not how they look, dress, or act.
Now I'm nearing the realization I had in the shower. Unconditional love is not perfect love. Unconditional love can become perfect love, but it isn't always the case. Perfect love can only be felt in a state of Celestial glory. Because perfect love must be perfect, it must be eternal. The closest mortal approximation of perfect love is true love. Eternal marriage paves the highway for an eternity of perfect love between a family, but it is only a highway. It must be followed and each of us has the agency to choose that path or not.
My point is that perfect love is felt on earth. It is almost only found in marital relationships (especially the eternal variety) and between the members of a family. However, because of our mortal state, I believe a more appropriate name of perfect love is true love.
True love is like a seed. Just because its planted doesn't mean it will become a tree. Under proper conditions a seed can become a tree, living for hundreds of years (mortal eternity). Ok, that's as far as I got in the shower. A bit of a ramble, but still the good ending.
New Mexico Trip: C- this trips gets a C- because I don't like camping...at all. One week spent without modern conveniences...of which I am a huge fan. The only reason this trip didn't receive a failing grade is for two reasons. One reason was getting to spend some time with logan and my dad. The second reason was getting to spend time with my friends. Ok, the scenery was decent, but I spent the week looking at the person's feet in front of me. I would glance up to stare at 300ft high canyon walls! WOW! and the second day, guess what I saw when I looked up? Yep, you guessed it, 300ft canyon walls! WOW! and the third day, guess what I saw when I looked up? Yep, you guessed it....you get the picture. The canyon walls were kinda interesting, plus we saw some cool cliff dwellings. However, it is unlikely I will go on a camping trip like this one in the near future.
EFY: B+ EFY gets a B+ for being EFY. The reason it didn't get an A or higher rating is because I felt a noticeable maturity gap between me and some of the other participants. It wasn't terrible, but it was there. I just can't figure out what was missing. Plus, girls are gay. I apologize to all feminine readers of this blog...but its true. I have a few stories to tell, but they're too long and drawn out to write out here. Suffice it to say I was out-flirted by a friggin candybar. Ok, so he was human, but his name was Heath. Exactly...friggin candybar. Oh well, I'm over it now...but it does help to vent with writing. Hanging out with Logan and my friends was exceptionally cool.
Work: F- Yeah, work sucks. I mean not good. I really don't enjoy work because it's a complete waste of time. Free movies are nice, but the tasks I do are menial. It's like getting paid to do 3rd grade math for 10 hours at a time. It's ridiculously easy, but you know you have sooo much more potential yet it's not needed. Frustrating!
Ok, why MySpace is stupid:
1. You can only upload 12pictures
2. Picture must be less than 600KB
3. MySpace makes you compress the files to a size under the 600KB mark
4. MySpace uploads only one photo at a time
5. MySpace uploads photos until it gets to the 600KB mark before telling you its too big.
6. MySpace uses a billion subdomains to process server requests (purely technical complaint)
7. MySpace doesn’t allow scripting
8. MySpace doesn't utilize active scripting (check out picasa web albums---the comment feature)
9. MySpacece doesn't fully support IE 7
10. MySpace is home to hundreds of pedafiles
11. MySpace doesn't always work...MySpace screws up. Other sites don't.
12. Everyone has one...and no one shares my overwhelming hatred of it...thus I am doomed to communicate with others through the "Cursed Network" as I will now refer to MySpace as.
Oh Yeah, by the way, check out my pictures from EFY and YC here. Yeah, and you can still comment on my pictures. They're good
Anyway, on to New Mexico. I'll get around to posting some pictures today or tomorrow, but for now I'll have to paint a picture of the trip with my own words (ahh, I sound like a poet). The trip started at 3am in my house, where we left for good ole' RDU airport. 2 hours early for our flight, our time was spent sleeping in the terminal (of which I have many pictures). The flight was fun and within 10 hours we we're safe in Arizona's Tuscon Intl' airport. Our two guides picked us up and drove us to one of our guides grandparent's home---in the 109ºF heat. Yikes! That's like 42ºC for any who care (give or take a degree). We spent the night in the basement of the grandparent's house and the next morning---Monday morning---we we're off into the deserts of New Mexico. After a three-hour drive, we arrived at the drop-off point.
Enough with the minute description. To make a long story short, the week was hot, long, and tiring. It was also a lot more enjoyable than I thought it would be. Don't misunderstand me---it wasn't spectacular, but it was.....almost fun....at times. I will only admit this one---and grudgingly at that---but parts of it were genuinely fun. The only thing I didn't like about the trip was our guide's sense of direction. He was always wayyyy off when it came to distances. One morning he told us it was 1 mile to the nearest swimming hole. 6 miles later, we reached the swimming place. Yikes again! However, the place where we hiked was really pretty. Most of the week was spent in a narrow canyon with 300ft. high walls surrounding us! One cool point in the trail came when we found a hot springs deal. Heated by magma deep within the earth, hot and fresh spring water was delivered to us in a 4ft deep pool. It was really nice and everything. Without the natural setting, it could have doubled as a sauna. The only downside was the brain-eating amoeba that lived there. For that reason we couldn't dip our heads beneath the water as the amoebas would crawl up our nasal cavities and eat our brains. Yeah, I'm serious about that. Oh well, it was still fun.
Coming back to civilization was also weird. After being away from girls for a week, I found myself checking out the 40 year old waitresses at the Golden Corral. After a few hours my senses returned to normal.
Well, that's all for now. I'll post the pictures from the trip in the slide-show or in the blog for everybody to check them out. One other side-note (in the life of Adam) is that I've got my job orientation at 3:30pm at the movie theatre here in town. Looks like I landed my first job! Everybody wish me luck! Aurvoir!
In case you didn't guess from the title of this post, the new pictures in the slide-show, or the new song playing called "Graduation Day," then I'll tell you. Friday, June 3rd was my graduation from high school.
I've got to admit, actually being here feels a lot different than the journey. From as far back as I can remember, I really hated school. I had friends and everything, but I just didn't get excited about the whole concept. However, now that I've actually graduated I have a slightly more bittersweet outlook on the whole thing. Sure I'm glad to move on, but high school was fun. More precisely, senior year was fun. All my classes were with people that I enjoyed being with and the atmosphere had a maturity I'd been waiting for for four years.
Aside from all that, I'll be the first to admit I'm a little scared/nervous about heading out to college. I mean I've never been away from home for more than a week at a time to EFY. Now I'm living on my own some 2,000 miles away from home. And the next time I see my family could quite possibly be Christmas. Yikes! Ok, enough sadness. On the positive, I'm closer to serving a mission. That really excites me. I've been waiting to serve a mission ever since I my family sang "Called to Serve" in the car to keep me quiet. I'm also closer to coming home from my mission, getting married, and raising a family! No need to look too far into the future though =)
Let me describe my actual graduation and then I've got to head out. At graduation all the seniors took balloons and placed them on my Principal's podium while she read out the names of the graduates. It was pretty funny when she became buried in the balloons and no one could see her. I don't do the scene justice but it was hilarious. Also, when my principal pronounced us graduates the silly string was everywhere! Volleyballs, toilet paper, and streamers was flying everywhere! The coolest part was throwing my own hat in the air! That was such a cool, rush-like feeling. You see people do it on TV all the time, but actually doing it---it was cool!
Ok audience, I must go to bed. It is 2:11am and I'm leaving for a camping trip at 3am. I will be gone until 6/12/06. Sorry guys, no posting or content until then. But I'll post some cool pictures with my new digital camera (thanks again Kristen and Cory). Until then, enjoy the new song, "Graduation Day," by Head Automatica and enjoy the new pictures in the slide-show. Don't forget that if you click on the pictures, it will take you to a picture index if you want to see enlarged versions of the pics. That's all. Wish me luck in the deserts of New Mexico. Aurvoir and Sianara!
Ok, so I just wanted to give this post a cool title when in fact I actually have nothing to post about. Be prepared for intense rambling.
I'll write a few random thoughts about graduation, college, and life in general. First up, graduation. Service of Celebration was (I think) Monday. The speakers were nice, refreshments were so-so, and graduation tradition carried on like always. I only pose one question. Who thought wearing robes, strings, and caps with gay tassels was cool? Forget cool, what about just plain comfortable? As I was "robing up" for the S of C, I felt like some actor out of a bad Harry Potter Movie spin-off. And you know what else---those robes are hot! The air conditioning in that church was nonexistent! And it was wayyy too sunny! Oh well, I will admit that it was cool seeing old high school friends again (woah that sounds weird to say) and it felt like I was finally done with high school. I'm a little nervous and scared heading out west for college...being so far away from home. At the same time, it's kinda exciting to finally be done with high school and moving on.
Ok, that's all the rambling I have for today. I'll try and cook up something especially cool for my next post. Oh yeah, the slide-show should be back up sometime this week. My hosting site is down for awhile but should be back online soon. I'll even throw in a few extra pictures.
One last thought about the heart of my post. You know, life is all about change. Yet, life isn't a mix a "big" changes that alter the course of our lives. I think its more like a slow transformation. Although life still holds key moments---our past day-to-day actions slowly shape who we are so that when we come to big choices---we've already made the choice. Life is a river---always changing yet never ending. Always following the land---but a river does is not shaped by the land. Water shapes the land it runs on. So do we affect the world in which we live.
(I just wanted to write something poetic sounding) See you guys round'!
Everyone gets those e-mails telling a brief horror story about "little Susan" who wishes she had only known not to flash her headlights at oncoming cars because it was part of a violent "Blood Gang" initiation ritual. Well, I decided to start finding out whether those e-mails were true, partly true, or straight-up hoaxes. My findings thus far have been very interesting. You can find all the information I've gathered thus far here at my Google Notebook. So far, what I will do to new myths is to post the original text of the hoax e-mail and then post clippings of the relevant information about it, plus Google Notebook automatically includs links to the websites I get my information from.
If you have a Google account you can search my notebook exclusively from the google.com/notebook page. Also, I made a heading for each new myth, so it makes it easy to scroll between the blue headings to find myths relevant to you. Also, if you have some sketchy e-mails, feel free to forward them to me so I can add them to my "myth busting" Notebook collection.
So far I have only busted two myths. One about the Blood Gang initiation ritual and the Dial *677 for emergency dispatch. So far both proved almost entirely false. Anyway, feel free to enjoy my Myth Busters notebook. Btw, prom (Kelsey's is tonight). Wish me luck :)
Ahh, this post will be fun. Ok. Everyone listens to music, right? I know I sure do. Every time I hop in the car, my first move is to lean over to the passenger side and turn on my CD player (I use a tape/CD adapter instead of buying a factory-installed CD player). And I honestly like nearly anything. Notice the nearly. Rap is out, as is almost all country. There might be a country song somewhere that I like, but few and far between. Practically nonexistent. As for music I do like, everything goes. From EFY CDs to classical to hard rock, I'll listen to it all. My favorite genre is some mix of soft rock, emo/indie whatever. However, as my music tastes have matured over the years, I have learned found certain songs that I like more than others. Some songs I really enjoy because they're from an artist I like, others sound good at first but soon loose their "coolness."
And, I have also realized I have a favorite song. One that hasn't gotten old through the many years I have listened to it. Ironically the artist is probably my all-time favorite artist as well. Anyway, the song (which is the only song currently playing on the site) is "Ocean Avenue" by Yellowcard. I realized it was my favorite song because I always seem to be humming it when no music is present. This thing is just classic. For the blog "Romantics" this song can literally be applied to any girl in some way, shape, or form. It doesn't really work so well for girls singing (or thinking) about guys. Sorry.
There you have it, the Theme Song of my life. A good soft-rock beat in combination with all-too-catchy lyrics makes an amazing song. Maybe if you guys (the blog readers) play your cards right, I might do a recording and put it in the blog play list instead :)
Happy Mothers Day everyone!
Ok guys, here are 22 of my favorite prom pictures. I included a random splattering of me, Kelsey, and the two of us together. If you click on any of the pictures it will take you to an index of all the pictures so you can browser through them. I'm trying to post some enlarged pictures along with the index, but it isn't going so well, but it should be up soon. Anyway, enjoy, and to view all the pictures you can also click here.
Ok, this year I only took one AP class, although that one teensy-weensy AP happened to be AP Calculus. Ouch. Two semester class, 270 in-class hours, 180 days. That translates to approximately 16,200 minutes of sheer pain! Seriously, my AP experience was pretty good. The class was very mature and enjoyable. My teacher was absolutely awesome. She was the nice and kind Filipino lady and just a lot of fun. More interesting was the math that accompanied the class. It's amazing how fun math can actually be. Ok, maybe not fun, but interesting. Calculus seems to be a math of approximation. It works through estimation of a sort. In calculus we find the area under any curves. The trick is to get infinitely close to the right answer. Kinda hard to explain, but it's an interesting math.
Anyway, on to the exam. I took it Wednesday about 830, although it lasted until around noon. I won't divulge any details about the multiple choice, mostly because I can't remember any of the problems :) I will say that I felt fairly confident about the whole thing. Until I got to free response. On multiple choice, I answered almost every problem except for about two or three out of 50-something. However, on free response things work a little differently. Each question is worth nine points, and each part of each problem is worth a varying percentage of those nine points. Anyway, I started to work out the first problem and answer the whole thing under section 1a. Terrified, I marked out my work, and placed it under 1b and 1c---only to realize I had done the whole thing wrong. More marking out, and I've already used half of my available time for this one problem. To make a long story short, I think I still did well on the exam. Also, on one problem, I was give an acceleration function and I had to take it's integral to find velocity and the integral of velocity of to find position. I finished the problem and found velocity to be -7/3 all over 523 feet/second. That was wrong. I took the derivative of acceleration to find velocity. Once i got that wrong answer, I heard the ominous sound echoing around the room---"you have ten minutes left." Uh-oh. I have never worked a problem faster than in those ten minutes. Like a little child hitting a pinata at a birthday party, I attacked that problem like no body's business. I finished the problem and think---think---I got the right answer. Overall it was one crazy day! So that's my exciting AP story of the day. By the way, prom pictures will be posted soon, I'm at my sister's house and have a complete lack of prom pictures. Don't worry though, first thing monday the pictures will be on the blog. I'm trying to do a slideshow type thing on the blog, so hopefully I'll have that up and running by monday. Aurvoir and Audieu everyone!
By the way, I actually didn't describe any problems from the AP exam---they were all from a dream I had. Yeah, that's what it was. Because I would never discuss anything about the AP exam. Never. Oh yeah, it actually wasn't a dream. It was a nightmare :)
Don't fret.
I'll tell you right off before I get to the heart of the post---prom. Anyway, my college choice is BYU-Idaho. Since previous topics touching on this matter have been hotly contested, allow me to briefly explain my choice and the choices leading up to that decision. Many people may question my motives for going, which is an understandable reaction. After much prayer and fasting regarding the matter, I felt that BYU-I was the place I'm supposed to go. The peace I've felt in making that decision is overwhelming. Anyway, on to PROM!
I won't go much into pre-prom details, but here is a quick preface to prom itself. The stress didn't start getting to me until Saturday about 1:30pm. I still didn't know when Kelsey could come up or when she had to leave. Needless to say my heart rate maintained a steady 100-120 beats per minute! My plans to picnic on the parkway kinda fell through, so I was left with picnicing on my deck. The closer prom got, the more quickly my carefully laid plans crumbled around my feeble teenage mind :)
Allow me to say though, that as soon as Kelsey stepped out of the car, the stress of the day was gone. Seeing her made everything feel---right. Her parents drove her up (which was very nice of them, all though I felt bad they had to travel so far). We made pictures---which I will post soon---and then her parents headed out on a date while Kelsey and I enjoyed a scrumtrulescent dinner of salad, steak, and strawberries dipped in whip cream!
After dinner, we stopped by my Grandma's house on the way to the prom because she wanted to meet Kelsey. We visited for a precious few seconds before we headed for the Cross Creek Country Club for a night of fun and dancing. Like most proms, the dancing was a bit...different...from traditional church dances. It was nice having Kelsey there, since we could revel in our cool dancingness together :) After a few songs we took our prom pictures, after which we had to leave since Kelsey had to be at my house by 11pm. At 11:06, we walked in the door (whoops). It was just a plain good time. The only downside was how quickly the night was over *sigh,* and back to reality I went. But I get to see her again in TWO WEEKS! Which I know I'm probably the only one on this blog who cares about this, but it's my blog so there! Ha!
That's all for now, I will see you around. Stay tuned for some good picture posts, and a nice little post-AP Calculus Exam post thingy.
A quickie, which is rare for me :) Well, for this post I will not be revealing a college choice, since I still would like to notify a few people in person before I announce my decision. Anyway, if that little teaser doesn't garner your interest, nothing will. As far as college scholarships are concerned, things are much better than I had ever dared to hope for. I got some minor scholarships from each BYU (I almost revealed my choice, but I caught my self right there). Most amazingly though was receiving the Armsfield. It is a practically brand new scholarship only for people from my county, surry county. Seven recipients from Mount Airy High School were guaranteed spot for between $4,000-$7,500 annually. I received notification about a month ago that I was a finalist, but I tried not to---as the old phrase goes---count my chickens before they hatched. I wanted it but was afraid I wouldn't get. Never mind, hopefully you know what I mean.
To continue, I got a notification letter about one week ago stating that I was to receive $4,000 annually. Of course I have to write a letter of intent to---my college of choice---among other formalities. Overall I'm just glad to get some scholarship money, especially since my parents financial status has been worrisome to me of late. Enough said there.
It's hard to believe how close college is. I'm excited and scared (a smidgeon of nervousness too) for college. I'm sure almost everyone can relate to the same feelings. I feel torn because I have spent my entire life in Mount Airy and the drastic change college will offer is slightly daunting. However, I feel some comfort in knowing I'm doing what the Lord would have me do. After a lot of prayer, guidance from friends and family, and thought---I finally feel peaceful about my decision. So college, here I come ready or not. Can you handle a Jarrell? We will see... :)
We left Thursday and came back Saturday. We went to Grayson Highlands and camped out along the Appalachain trail. After the first night we hiked Mount Rogers then packed up camp and headed off-trail. We hiked what felt like 10 miles with 50lbs packs---give or take a few pounds. Our second-night camping site was a lot prettier than our first day. We camped in a little hollow next to a small creek. The land was flat and soft, which made for a good nights sleep. The worst part of the trip was Saturday morning when we started home. We ended hiking at least 10 or 15 miles uphill! It would've only been a mile, except we took a shortctut. Oh well, its OK. We made it home alive.
As far as the blog is concerned, I just updated the playlist with some Motion City Soundtrack songs. You can hear them here or in the Music Archives.
And last but not least, a new product review for the ever-progressive technology enthusiasist out there. Google Calendar (yep, another Google product). This service is brand new and already shows improvement over other similar services. One of the handiest things about Google calendar is the ease with which one can use it. It is easy to add events and share the calendary with others. I imagine that Kristen would find this helpful while scheduling birthday parties. You can share calendars to see where an event could be placed without conflict. Another feature is the "invite" feature. You can send invites to other people and compile a guest list as people accept or reject the invitations. Handy map information is included in the invite when you specify a location. Anyway, that's my product review for the day. Check it out, it seems pretty handy for me (so far that is :)
And last but not least, countdown to Prom T-minus 9 days. Everyone here knows how excited I am for it, so I won't bore anyone, suffice it to say it couldn't come soon enough! Unfortunately AP exams happen to be the week after Prom *sigh* that is just not cool! Fortunately I have developed an anti-studying program that should help relieve the stress commonly associated with AP exams. My program also works well for any standardized testing. And now for only three LOW down payments of $39.95 it can be.........
Quick little insert. I was in a wreck the morning of the prom (which was Friday morning) on the way to school from church. I was driving down a street near the school and I hit a puddle and started to hydroplane. In the very next second I realized that the right-front side of my car was playing with a fire hydrany. Two "mini-mircales" occured right then. The first was that the hydrant didn't start spewing water everywhere. The second is that the airbags didn't deploy, which would add a lot of money to the repairs. The car still runs, but needs some repairs to be street-legal again. Everyone involved was OK.
Back to Prom
Shaylon and I drove down in my mom's minivan. Oh yeah, it was HOT! After we picked up Sydney, we went to the dinner at Tanglewood. The food was ok, but the lasagna was a little sketchy and the salad was sparse. What was really funny was that Kelsey's plate had - literally - about 4 small pieces of lettuce on it :) We ate a little bit and then went to Dairy Queen for a blizzard. Another small note to take into account before I describe the dance. Shaylon broke his arm on Thursday and was wearing a half-cast half-sling on one arm and taking lots of pain medication! Ok. We got to the dance and had a pretty aweosme time. The funniest was Shaylon. His medication started wearing off and I could tell his arm was killing him. He had his second round of medication (which he took at the dacne) and 15 minutes later he was going crazy...no pain whatsoever. Plus he developed a strange habit of laughing at things that weren't really funny....at all!
And, saving the best for last...
I got to go with Kelsey. Let me just say a quick wow! That was the first thing I thought when I saw her there. She looked beautiful...absolutely beatutiful! When I first saw her I think my heart stopped and I forgot how to breathe. You know the feeling, or maybe its just me :) Don't worry I didn't suffocate. And also allow me to say that not seeing Kelsey for a month was far too long! Kelsey summed up my feelings best when she said that we still get to do this two more times, since I'm going to her prom and she is going to mine. Being around Kelsey is just fun. Sorry to indulge on a personal note, but I will continue :) The more I get to know her the more I love being around her.
Another part that was fun was hanging out with Sydney and Shaylon. I think being in a group typically tends to be more fun while the solo dates tend towards the romantic side. Oh yeah, anyways on with Prom. We left the prom a little bit early to go to Stephanie's house where we watched part of Madagascar. It was more just hanging out since everyone was walking around just doing whatever. We left about 11:20 give or take and I took Sydney and Kelsey home (of course Shaylon was there too). I got Shaylon to his house about 130 and I made it home by 2am. Overall it was such a fun night! I've never had as much fun at a prom as I had last night. (I think it was the company :) actually I know so. And one thing that was a lot better than school prom was the dancing. Anyways, that is a different story for a different time (likely after my prom). And now I depart for some chores and other such things. Oh yeah, before I forget, HUGE thanks to mom and dad for letting me go and being so cool about the whole thing. I mean, not only did I take their van, wreck my own car, and come home at 2am, they still understood and I think they are awesome! Now I really have to go, so i bid thee Audieu!
Disclaimer here I come.
This blog is a personal journal of sorts. I made a decision never to delete posts from this blog because these posts make up who I am (or was). I would like to apologize - and warn - that while I try to be objective, this blog does contain the ramblings of a teenage mind. I realize that while this blog is a reflection of myself, while it showcases my strengths, it also displays my weaknesses. It is for this that I apologize.
I also caution against the literal reading of every post. The posts are snapshots into my life, not the whole story. Oftentimes I fail to clarify a story after the initial post or forget important details. I also apologize for any inaccuracies caused by the archival of my posts.
As in all disclaimers, does not the person doing the disclaiming apologize for a specific incident (otherwise why write a disclaimer)? Well here it comes. Initially I would like to apologize for the inaccurate archival of the batch of pictures of Kim posted 11/05/2005. Upon archival they were mislabeled and incorrectly dated (I was playing around with template changes...whoops)! But the pictures are not the heart of the error. Dating Kim was a mistake - maybe not the first 6 months, maybe not even the first year, but past that, yes it was a mistake. I apologize for taking up so much room on SummerBreak05 to post pictures of kim. I posted such items primarily out of fear. That sounds terrible, but it is true. I posted those stories because I was afraid Kim would get mad if she didn't see herself on my blog. Mistakes aren't fun, but allow me to venture that we learn the most from our mistakes. Some of the most beautiful and enjoyable parts of my life have come as a result of finally ending it with Kim. I will also say that the quality of posting on the blog has increased both in substance and accuracy since September (end of Kim).
Man, my disclaimers are so personal.
There you have it, my disclaimer. I haven't mentioned every error, or post I would like to change...but like I said, altering the posts would create a reflection as I am now, and this site would no longer be an accurate journal. Even inaccurate posts about Kim reflect me...a teenager trying to figure out teen dating...and the erroneous way that I handled that time in my life.
I'm done now. There you have it. Feel free to comment on any other errors...or just plain gripes...that you may have with this blog. Or - if some of you disliked the kim posts - feel free to vent your feelings about that. I know a lot of people have some very strong opinions about such matters :)
In light of such serious talk, I would again like to say a deep thank-you to the readers and commenters of SummerBreak05. You guys really make blogging fun, and I appreciate the comments, advice, and understanding you guys offer. See ya round!
First off - college.
For those that haven't heard I have been accepted to BYU-ID and BYU-P. The real dilemna is that I haven't been able to decide which college to go to. There are so many factors that it makes my head spin. To think out loud (or in this case, type out loud), the first factor in determining which college to go to is money. My parents have already told me that one of the major deciding factors - regarding college - is money. Between BYU-P and BYU-ID the monetary difference isn't much, but is existent. BYU-ID is cheaper than Provo. Another factor is scholarships. I haven't heard back from any of the scholarships from either BYU. I did hear back from the Armsfield Foundation...and I'm a finalist! As a sidenote, the Armsfield is for between $4,000-$7,500 per year for four years. Objectively, Idaho is likely to be cheaper moneywise.
Second factor - rooming.
Rooming. I wouldn't mind having some random roomate for college, but the thought is slightly daunting, especially considering I've lived in Mount Airy (population: 8,484) my entire life. Oh well. Eventhough I don't really know anyone who I could room with in Idaho, a lot of people from the Winston-Salem Stake are going. As far as Provo is concerned, I know several people, most importantly, my Brother goes there. It would be really cool to go to college with Ethan. Also, Phillip (one of my friends from Dobson), is going to Provo and I could room with him. Stupid colleges.
Third factor - me.
One of the last vital factors is me. What do I want? I'm not even sure is the problem. Both colleges have seperate appeals. Idaho is cheaper, although the no-shorts rule is pretty lame. Yet again, I'm going in the fall/winter, so I doubt I will even need to worry about shorts. If I go to Provo, I will get to hang out with Ethan and Phillip before I leave for my mission. If I go to Idaho, I will get to come for the summer before my mission. If I go to Idaho, it may be harder to get into Provo when I come home. ARGHHHHH!!!! I guess you can understand my confusion. The biggest problem for me so far has been money. I always thought it would be soo nice to get a full-ride scholarship to one school or the other, then my decision would - essentially - be made for me. That has yet to happen, so the tough choice is left more so in my hands. I guess only time will tell. By the way...any good college tips from those readers who have already been through the college gauntlet?
Aside from college choices, I thought I would point out the almost completely revamped Summer Break Playlist. The only songs that carried over were "Stars" by Switchfoot and "Lights and Sounds" by Yellowcard. Some of the new songs include performances by: Amber Pacific, Brand New, All-American Rejects, Story of the Year, and others! Enjoy the songs. Don't forget to check out all the songs ever played on the Summer Break blog by visiting the Music Archives!
This post will be a little HOW TO post. I know many of you (you being the readers) have many blogs to visit and use bookmarks or such to scroll through the blogs to check for new content and posts. Some of you may not know about RSS/Atom feeds.
RSS/Atom feeds are basically standardized XML documents published by newsites and sites that update their content often. RSS/Atom feeds can be found on almost all major sites (Google News, CNN, MSNBC, the list goes on and on). Any site worth their salt has RSS/Atom feeds.
Including all blogs (unless the blog owner has done some modding to the blog code and disabled/altered the feed).
What does this mean? This means that one can view recently published posts and such from multiple blogs...and all in one place. There are multiple RSS feed readers that display desktop updates involving your favorite site feeds, but I will ignore that for this post.
In order to take advantage of these feeds, go to www.google.com and click on the link in the upper right hand corner that says "Personalized Home" This will take you to a screen - similar in appeareance to the Google homepage, yet with extra information displayed.
From there, either sign in with your google account (hopefully you already have one) or, click "Personalize Homepage." Clicking that link will help you create a personalized homepage without creating a google account. However, that homepage will only be viewable on the computer is was created with...unless you use your google account.
When you click the "Personalize Homepage" button (after signing in to your google account), click the "Add Content" button in the upper right hand corner of the screen. There are several RSS feeds alread available there, so please feel free to experiment and see what you like. To use your Google Homepage with the blogs, click inside the text box right beneath the "Search by topic of feed URL."
Here comes the fun part. Type the address of the blog, i.e. http://yourblog.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Thats all there is to it. The name of your blog + /atom.xml
A little box will be added to the homepage with links to the 3 most recently published posts from that blog. 3 is the default number, but can be changes to as many as 9 and as few as 1. I use this system to keep up with all the many blogs I visit. This way, I can check for new posts on ALL the blogs from one page, without checking through four or more blogs from a favorites window.
Anyway, enjoy the added functionality, and feel free to comment this post with any questions or problems encountered. Enjoy!
Today is a great day. Why? Because I got my very first "A" in Dr. Cozzens (AKA President Cozzens, Mr. Cozzens, and occasionally just Cozzens) English class. This is indeed a VERY big deal. Coming into the class, I was soo worried because I had heard nothing but horror stories about supposedly great writers heading into his class, only to resurface with low B's and C's. In fact, Sister Hutchinson told me that she had never heard of anyone getting an A in his class.
Wow
Yeah it scared me to death. I had just come from Mrs. Ridolfi's class where I easily aced any essay by throwing in a few flowery sentenced elegantly spiced with advanced vocabulary. Next thing I knew, my head was spinning from a low B paper (actually i think it was an 83 on the 10-point scale). Don't get me wrong, I was glad to get a B, but I wanted more.
Ironically, I got the inspiration (if you can call it that) for my essay from doodling in class. I was drawing stick figures (whoops) when one of my fellow classmates suggested I write an essay about them. I didn't know what else to write about...so I went with it. To make a long story short, I wrote the paper, turned it in, and nervously awaited my grade. The paper came back...and BAM! Like lightning from heaven, their stood my beautiful, gleaming penciled-in 90 at the top of my essay. Like a prince atop his throne, so majestically sat my grade.
Ok, it wasn't quite that exciting, but I was still very excited to have made my first A. Part of the drive to get an A was because everyone said it couldn't be done. That just made me want an A more. I've made - mostly - A's all my life and I wanted to prove that I wasn't the product of grade inflation; that instead I was a genuinely dilligent (and talented) student. I don't have an overall A average yet....oh but I will!
By the way, the contents of that essay can be read Here
As a final note, the new 'Flavor of the Day' has been updated and is now in rotation. The playlist will also get a major overhaul with nearly a completely new lineup. Stay tuned!
Why does Kristen call my blog "The Teen Scene?" Well, for the simple reason that all I have to post about is dating. And today I will prove her wrong! Wait, this is actually just another post about dating. Alright, fine. I can live with that. So anyways, on with my narrative. Me, Kelsey, Shaylon, and Sydney all went out on a date this weekend. The only problem was that we only had a few hours to do the date (around 3, give or take). Due to unforseen circumstances (i.e. Kelsey's parents) Kelsey and Sydney didn't make it to Mount Airy until nearly an hour late - yeah. I didn't mind though, so Shaylon and I nixed the first part of the date; the park. On to part II, going out to eat. We hurried through supper in time to make it to Amy's wedding reception. Kelsey was supposed to leave at 830, but we didn't even make it to the reception until 845.
To sum up before I get too carried away, Kelsey left about 900-915, and is now grounded from driving up to see me.
Don't get me wrong, the date was aweosme, and it was great getting to see Kelsey again. That part was awesome! In fact, dare I say, the best part of the weekend :)
I'm not even entirely sure what I'm complaining about. I guess I'm just griping that Kelsey got grounded, to sum up everything. But after all, I'm not grounded from going to see her! Forgive me a cruel chuckle (hahahahahaha) I guess what really worries me about the whole deal is the fear that Kelsey's parents really must not like me. I feel like Kelsey's parents are punishing her more becuase she was late coming back from seeing me. Maybe I'm way off here, but those are just the ramblings of a love-struck 17 year old (sheepish grin) :)
So any - advice/"been there, done that"/helpful tips for the future - would be greatly apprecieated.
P.S. to shawn, have you tried out the Beat 2 of IE 7? If so, what do you think. For me, the jury is still out.
The real reason I'm posting is just to give a little job news. I recently got my first real job -- as a tutor! Yeah, I'm pretty sure that must come as a shock to a lot of people who know me...lol. I'm tutoring my dad's boss's daughter in Geometry, of the Euclidian variety that is. It's kidna interesting and brings back disturbing childhood memories of those long gone days. Seriously though, it is pretty intereting. After taking AP Calculus, Geometry and Algebra really aren't intimidating at all. Such math classes used to challenge me, but now that's just run of the mill in AP Cal. I do wonder though, will I ever find AP Cal as easy as I find Geometry and Algebra now?
The blog has been updated. In the top their, some may notice a weird picture thingy next to the words "summer break." This is my gamertag. It's basically what I do online via Xbox Live. Kinda interesting stuff, if you're bored - or just really like video games.
By the way, I've been trying to alter the embed tag at the top of the page by hyperlinks and form buttons, but have been unable to manage either. If anyone has any tips, it would be greatly appreciated.
Many of you visit "the blogs" quite often. The question is, have you ever fooled around with RSS/XML feeds? I thought Kristen and Mom would especially like this feature. Basically, you can check new posts on all the blogs from one location. One way is by configuring Google Desktop to show the XML feeds from all the blogs. The second way is by setting up a personalized Google Homepage. Click "Add Content" in the upper right corner of the screen (on your personalized Google Homepage) and in the search box at the bottom of the add content pane, type in the blog address (i.e. http://summerbreak05.blogspot.com/atom.xml) and add a /atom.xml to the end of it. From then on, you will be able to see recently published posts from all the blogs you so desire. Very handy for the avid blogger out there.
Anyway, that's all for tonight. Keep an eye out on the weather and pray for snow (specifically 4-8in. in the Northwestern NC region, close to MA). Everybody have a great night. Last but not least, Congratulations Kristen for the beautiful baby girl. Hope you guys are doing well.
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About
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My name is Adam. I have been blogging sporadically since 2005 and have always enjoyed the connectedness of it. I'm preparing to serve a full time, 2 year mission for my Church. I work at a Real Estate company as a catch-all IT guy. I love watching movies, I don't read a ton of books but when I start one I can't put it down until I finish. More to come!
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New Blog!10 years ago
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