Sunday, December 27, 2009

The best Christmas ever

This Christmas was the best one ever. Let me tell you why.

I love severe weather. Usually its because I love driving and playing in it, which, consequently means most other people don't so i can have the roads to myself. This Christmas, over a 48 hour period, we got over 12 inches of snow with blizzard condition winds. For a good part of a day visibility was below a 1/4 of a mile.

It was so bad in fact, that I actually was blocked on our street by all the snow. I had to call my dad so he could clear a lane with the bobcat so that i could get home. The snow drifts were over 2ft deep!

The storm continued to blast us, and it snowed our road shut. We had to dig a path with the bobcat to get out temporarily, and it would drift shut only a few hours later. Nothing, other than our snowmobile was getting down our streets.

So I was stranded at home. The best place to be stranded! We had food, a warm fireplace, a snowmobile, a bobcat, and each other. I got to spend some quality family time, and enjoy a little R&R. Snowmobiling was one of the most fun activities, followed by hot tubing.

Saturday we ventured out into the City. I'm not going to lie it was awesome! None of the idiot drivers were out. No one with a little car (non AWD type) was out. All the bad drivers were either wisely staying home, or already stuck in a ditch/side street/etc. We got to enjoy driving around looking at all the beautiful drifts and snowy fields without the "man I can't believe I'm stuck behind this clown" or "what a dumb@$$" thoughts.

Today, sadly, I have to report the idiot drivers have returned to Lincoln's streets. People with their FWD/RWD cars that, when the light turns green, and their tires start to spin, only press the gas peddle harder........right. That will sure help you go! People that pull out into traffic, only to realize that they cannot accelerate fast enough to stay ahead of everyone and force everyone else to panic stop. People that do 20 mph in a 40 mph zone when the street is completely plowed and clear, once again, causing a traffic clog.

Overall this was definitely the best Christmas ever! I can't wait until the next storm! I hope it drops even more snow!

Monday, November 30, 2009

on the bandwagon!


So I know I've been to at least 13 of these places. I honestly cant remember whether or not I went to Versailles or not, so i left that out.

Now....PLEASE OH PLEASE LET ME GO TO MORE OF THESE PLACES!

For the ones I've been to:
Most beautiful: Florence
Most boring: Metropolitan museum of art...hands down. Easy decision :D
Most lethal: Amazon rainforest haha

Thursday, November 12, 2009

my phone

my phone is trying to sabotage my life True story.

Here's a list of why:
-Sometimes it won't receive calls or texts for hours on end, even when its on. Why? No idea. Honestly. Just now (12:30 AM) I had two texts show up that were sent hours before. Apparently its a long journey for it to get to my phone.

-It won't let me send texts to Taleah's email account sometimes. IM NOT JOKING. Seriously....today i showed her because it sounds so ridiculous that i wanted to prove it. I can send to my email just fine (or other people's email for that matter), but sometimes the phone says "cannont send to email" when i try to send it to her. If anyone out there doesn't believe this, or thinks "that's ridiculous, he must be doing it wrong" I do not blame you in your feelings. That's exactly what i would think if someone else were to have said this. You'll have to believe me.

-My phone cuts out a lot during calls. Doesnt drop them, just goes silent for very breif moments

-Sometimes when I'm typing a text (not with T9 because T9 sucks) instead of hitting a button 3 times to get one letter, I'll hit it three times real quick and wind up with 3 random letters from that key. Its weird. I can't explain it.

-Sometimes it restarts itself. This one I'm guessing is possibly due to dirty battery connections. I need to clean it. Although my last phone did this all the time, and i know that one wasnt the battery....hmmmm

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

off the grid

Its warm outside. A hot sunny summer day.

"where will you go?" I say.

"I don't know. Somewhere they can't find me." He says.

"Where would that be? They can probably find you anywhere...." I reply.

"No I'm pretty sure they won't look that hard" He says.

(I wonder if he ever will leave, or is just all talk)

Now its a mostly cloudy day. Windy. Late fall.

The company vehicle is returned. Keys, credit card, and radio all accounted for on the passenger seat. Everything is in order.

The house is sold. (when did that happen?) The new owner says "I have no idea where he went. I closed on this house a couple weeks ago".

Phones are dead. No forwarding number. No two weeks notice. All items purchased, were done so with cash.

Just, simply, gone.

"He finally did it. He did what he always wanted to do. He's finally off the grid." I say to myself.

May the road rise to meet you
May the wind be always at your back
The sun shine warm upon your face
The rains fall soft upon your fields
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the hollow of his hand

Thursday, October 15, 2009

People....

I don't know where to start. Why do so many people I know (acquaintances, not friend....i can't really be friends with people like this) blindly believe whatever they hear about new products on the market? Do they enjoy throwing their money away on useless products? Do they not care they are essentially being scammed?

If it in anyway resembles a pyramid scheme you can be about 99.99% sure that your getting ripped off. Why? Pyramid schemes are NON-sustainable business models. That means the guy at the top realizes he's gonna eventually have to pack up and disappear. Why pack up and disappear when your selling an honest product that has a good customer base?

People are SO STUPID! sorry I have to rant. Why oh why do snake oil salesman continue to thrive? All these car products, nutrition products, anti-aging products, special water, exercise gimmicks....they are BOGUS!

-Octane boosters: More or less useless for this purpose. You'd be better off buying two gallons of 100 octane unleaded and mixing it with your regular gas, for the price of that fancy "octane booster".

-Gas mileage increaesers: Completely a joke. 100% no doubt. Don't buy anything related to this.

-Special high antioxidant drinks with flashy names and vitamins: Eat a healthy diet rich in fruits and veggies and this will do nothing for you. Its sure not worth its price, and your body can only make use of so many antioxidants at once. its like taking emergen-C. 1000mg of vitamin C? Your peeing out 3/4 of that at least. Good job on more money wasted.

-magic magnets making you live longer, not get airsick, ect: Again 100% fake.

-"Magic" water that is absorbed better because of its ionic properties or whatever other claim: If you took general chemistry in college you already know this is ridiculous.

-Get ripped in 10 mins a day for 6 weeks: If you expect to look like the guys/girls in these pictures, then you = fail. Maybe you could get ripped in 6 weeks if you were on powerful steroids and growth hormones (like the people you see in those pictures). Otherwise, getting cut and bulked at the same time? Good luck...


It's come to the point where I won't even argue a point with hardcore fan boys (and girls) of these products. In fact I usually say "good for you. We'll see how this works for you then". Then whaddya know, 3 months later they are not using said product anymore, but don't really feel like admitting its because they know they've been duped.

The point here is this: THINK FOR YOURSELF AND DON'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOUR SPOON FED. Also taking a basic course in biology, chemistry, physics, and marketing, will help you recognize bogus things.

*This rant made possibile by an acquaintance on facebook claiming how he's venturing into the buisness aspect of essentially being a snake oil salesman. Of course your product is legit.....sad thing is there is plenty of dumb people out there who will believe you*

Monday, October 12, 2009

88

Just got my Mechanics test back, 88%. Class average was a 60%!!! Yikes! High score was a 90%. The one question everyone missed is ridiculous. Its very arbitrary and vague on what it asks. Hopefully we'll get a scale....which *crosses fingers* would put me above a 100! (since he'll likely scale it to a 75 if he does scale...)

Topic change. I saw God today. In the youtube comments of dawg*** (name partially concealed). I think I was ADD for a reason. I think Kutless's "I lift my eyes up" came on pandora for a reason. And I think I need to take my own advice :) Point taken J.C.


peace!

Sunday, October 11, 2009

good luck

lPBVMFQ TAHtDo! Zqs+VlUquXC! 1G7a Kn gXZJZTdiI iWYMVuQJ. vTt4K lRfLSVbkO H54q J1Ak+1PCj jnrwbQJ! W+0Vi0wxl 52Ofy2j sg5, HJwlT vj/ 9xzi O++qNU 8lY5! /A jha1L Zbn1 B1Np HejC, YuW0 BYlE 7B6tr 2xEot N6Pb74m-Pw2e-4JLUIj. WuVy 6x4Rr oRC/ UaYJVM....kiZ+ 7w5Qq kcUB2 ZXXypC XXsP9 nhQLhRtmy VhlwWP aYQCv3 x0Ku RToHunrf5 YWUFZA Sst/ cQuM 6A0mGLT, 7IwX J1xj PWrK lUv+ nos9 Iw1ta OCR /wwTl Yme0iz jtv+7. zVvM CH5dY. qZkF 5D4vCNp DFZ F5GjT AMV rZT+aVqtVJC. iRsN HCEs mYwO fTK, XOzS 1D8X5ip beYw. 2J'La nmeMR5 qe1 TK3W 6O2S B+4sHOCQ quz Sst/ OF0lMZ FxJt EdgxB GN0u+X BEOvB4q. KsW1 z4Dik KMQ kVu/ 0zGqv wyPjyNJIc WQD l8Bg.

TZxhp h/FWyF

sENhe SL2X 19JH aVtMmXJ! 5K3W IJAsT 8IR mWp7onpW8! 3aG siRK4 ocn3 oF E+CrFv. JvdN+ wBFU "WpuTslp7 TbxliN xOza3+Mg" EdgB 92Pas'rZz DF+Tv mRk/ifdgfN LSv+XpZbO acA KFBQ GPMjNd qe1 dhiHpvbn3 HBd UjW6/ 48h GJNc yNK3IBNf mWcO4. sfizD eW8ovA ol9 x/Hcq hfeM VMxQ dvhw 9Q UiQ/s4 Ewb H59tws QSfKTuTa8. pWfzM IEX JFc!

fn7 E4Dp 8z3m qsbwr1 VYjDQjdiE v2Lq 0x3f wx4Ur QcF. UnaL7 F7/vyu 641g5E5wW uQRD BYlE JJ9xa SeH. nss4G mZK3c3 m/Cj RnT7'rx PP73c eSL. id'EV maU1w 68g xBBVr i7Gn.

Friday, October 09, 2009

the rough-ness factor

I want a chance to get out my epic fail last night. Not as i, myself, were failing, but i was encountering much fail emanating from others....and inanimate objects it seems.

Last night i was attempting to help with music for the girls dorm worship. This sounds simple no? Well there was already a guitarist, ukelele and 3 good voices, so i thought "I really need to find another instrument to play....I'm rusty and my fingers are gonna die". So with that thought i head out to find a djembe.

Now i don't have many unionites phone #'s, so i called around and finally got the # of a guy who has a djembe. (all names will be left out).
-Well i called that #, but instead, it was the # of a different guy. Darn. Ok.
-I call someone else to get thte #, but no answer.
-I call someone else who has the djembe guy's #. I call him and he's already using it.
-I call someone else who knows of djembe guy #2. So i get his number and call it.
-Its a non-djembe having girl......"sorry wrong number" I say
-I call someone else to get the right #, no answer.
-I call someone else and get a different #.
-I call that #, and its non-djembe having incorrect guy #2. *this is getting old i think.....*
-I call that person back and get a different #. A room phone this time, not cell #.
-I call that # and no answer.

So i gave up on getting a djembe. (this whole process took about 40 mins) I drive to apartment to get my capo (10 more mins...), since the songs were in keys that required one, or deal with a million bar chords with tons of buzzing and pain.

I finally get back with capo and now theres new hope. Emily found me a Djembe. Sweet. I just have to go get it. So Taleah and I go to get it.....we walk to coopers but don't know which apt this guy lives in. Darn. We ask random people but no luck. Finally he answers his phone, but he's not home. He's doing gynmastics. We walk to the gym, get keys, and get back to the apt. No luck. None of the keys will work in the lock. Not ONE!!!! I consider myself a decently strong person, with some mechanical inclination and i could not figure out what was going on. We go return the keys, and walk back to Rees Hall......without a djembe. (goodbye another 40 mins)

So now its almost time to play music, so we rush through maybe 75% of the songs so i can learn the chords. Whew....it goes ok i guess. My fingers almost fell off though. This makes me feel sad that i don't have enough time to keep my love for guitars alive. I havent played before this in two weeks, and i Havent REALLY played for any length of time in a month and a half.

Top off the evening by enjoying my comforting headache i had since 4 or 5pm in the afternoon...contemplating the epicness of the evening's fail.

END THURSDAY

Today my teachers had no mercy. We had a quiz which i'm sure at least 90% of the class failed (enviornmental engineering). Then we were assigned a hw due friday (next week) and another due the wed of the week after that.

In fluid mechanics we got an assignment due friday.

I have a mechanics of elastic bodies assignment due wednesday.

I have a statistics assignment due fri

I two formal lab reports due on tuesday and thursday, respectively. Neither are close to completion.

I will be doing an hour of homework this afternoon (very rare) and an hour of homework on Saturday night (never happens). This week will contain 20+ hours of homework for me...not counting the lab group meetings i have on sunday afternoon, monday night, and most likely wednesday night.

Fall break come soon.....

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

fall is here

I love fall.

Hot enough for shorts and a T-shirt during the day, then cold enough for jeans and a long sleeve shirt at night. The raspberries are still going strong and yesterday i munched about 100 of them. Today i watered them so that friday i can munch some more!!! Also the grapes are still making grapes...which is cool.

Fall makes me happy inside.

Reasons why fall is so great:
Making apple cider
Harvesting honey
eating raspberries
The trees turning colors
high squirrel activity (lol)
Low humidity
Everyone is back at Union
Swing dancing season (ya it goes all year....but for some reason fall just feels better)
You can sit in the sun without getting too hot
Everything smells better in the fall

I'm happy about fall. But there's a little tiny piece of me thats sad because winter follows fall. I dread the short days and long nights of winter. To wake up in the dark, go to school only to see the light through a window, then return again in the dark.....that just sucks. I need sunshine. I crave it! I can't live here for the rest of my life. Colorado (mountain sunshine) or California are my top two future living destinations.

I love fall

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

its all about the thumbs...

So i haven't blogged in a while, but i figured I would today, as i'm taking a lunch break at our office and have time for it. So here goes my ever growing thumbs up/down list:

Thumbs down to:
-People who can't park right and take up a spot and a half
-Horribly obvious fake enthusaism (although it is sometimes amusing to observe...only half a thumb down)
-The news still covering micheal jackson things
-Anyone who panics more over swine flu, than normal flu
-Mr. turbo diesel truck guy that drives by our job everyday around 10:30 or so and tries to show off
-Having to watch people slowly destroy themselves with various issues
-Texting more than i ever have before. 7xx texts this month. I have a 1000, but i'm not a texter, and much prefer voice communication when holding a conversation. Texting a conversation seems like a digression in communication. (although occasionally very useful)
-Anyone who is convinced that they should buy into all these new "magical" antioxidant drinks/health drinks. Its a pyramid scam for a reason...no one would buy it otherwise.(think about that one...) If you do buy into for the buisness side....your a jerk for convincing other people it will cure anything that ails you. If you buy into it for health reasons your an idiot that knows nothing of proper nutrition. I can get all the antioxidants i need in a day by eating a handful of blueberries, or plenty of other berries or vegetables.

Thumbs up to:
-cherries (yum)
-E85 fuel
-Working out
-Polar Rose because they gave me a free shirt and stickers
-My hair stylist for giving me a sweet haircut and showing me how to style it
-Kohls and their excellent selection of mens casual and formal buisness attire
-fun dreams
-Making anklets

More to come, but that's all for now! Thumbs up/down is great.

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

suck it meteorology peeps!

The following is a rant on my fellow classmates in my meteorology class i just finished. This is in no way bragging about how good of a student I am. It's just saying how rude and stupid they are.

[RANT]

I got an A on the final. In your face! Maybe you should've called me when you got together to study....instead of "forget" like you always seem to do. I hope your study party was fun. You ever wish you could get better grades, like mine? Maybe it would've paid off to study with someone who knew their stuff. Too bad. Enjoy your mediocre grades. Oh and the fact that i only attended class about 50% of the time.....thats a little embarrasing for you isnt it?

[/RANT]

On a different subject, I finally have a local source for 100 octane unleaded. I've added like 3* more timing from about 2K RPM, to redline, and leaned out my AFR's a FULL POINT! While keeping peak boost of 18psi in third. The added power has been really nice. I believe i could finally take a mustang GT now! The downside is race fuel is expensive :( After this tank, I more than likely will never fill up on it again.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

making change....

Today in my meteorology class, i discovered i was missing a worksheet on lightening. Darn I thought, there's gonna be a test question on it too! Well about 20 minutes into class, a random student came in late and sat by me. I asked them if they had the worksheet, and they said "oh ya, you wanna go to the Library and make a copy of it?".

So after class its off to the Library. As i walk in the door I think to myself...."it costs 10 cents here to make a copy and the only money I have are larger bills. Where am i going to get change?"
We walk into the copier room and a few seconds after walking in the door the second copier further from us makes a weird noise and spits out a quarter, a dime, and a nickel.

I took one of the dimes and tried to put it back in the second copier, but it wouldn't take the money. The macheine was apparantly out of order. So I go to the first copier and deposit the dime. Sure enough it works. I then get this little voice inside my head essentially saying "yo holmes....I got your back!"-God.

1. There was no one else leaving, or in, the room when we arrived there.
2. The second copy machine spit out money only seconds after us enetering the room.
3. The second copy machine refused to take the money it spit out, so i don't see how anyone else could've used it and put money in it.
4. God knew i had no change with me.
5. The first copy machine DID take the money, which means the coins werent deformed or something.
6. I got my copy :)
7. God reminds me He is really in control of EVERYTHING.

The end.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

how to make the world a better place

step 1. Everyone needs a naked juice of their preferred flavor, each day. Maybe even 2 of them.

step 2. Everyone now drinks said Naked Juice.

Results: Happiness and cheer for everyone. Not only does it somewhat quench your thirst, but it also provides wonderful nutritious calories. Wars end, world hunger ends, the muslims and jews get along, South Korea and North korea have a tea party (really a Naked Juice party), Hugo Chavez proclaims a new personal doctrine of peace, global warming stops (...oh it'll happen), religious extremists go live on a small pacific island to get away from all the happiness, car companies magically have enough money to survive again, bailout companies can now provide details of how they used OUR money, drivers tests in the USA will become like the drivers tests in some of the foreign countries (really difficult to pass), thereby only letting people who can actually drive, drive.

Law: Stealing another persons Naked Juice is punishable by a one-week prohibition of Naked Juice, and a Righteous slap in the face. (its gotta be a really hard slap).

The end.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Those UNL jokes just make more and more sense...

[Rant]

We have these things called cross walks at UNL. Now normally cars occupy the streets, but when pedestrians need to cross and there is too much traffic, what do they do? Press the walk button right?

Well UNL students (9/10 at least) don't. They will bunch up in groups on the edges of the road waiting for the walk symbol to magically appear on its own. Then after two lights or so, they get frustrated and just cross in front of traffic.

Usually I press the walk button, but lately I've waited to see when someone else will and it usually takes a while. Seriously. HOW HARD IS PRESSING A BUTTON?

[/Rant]

Saturday, March 07, 2009

on cardboard boats and late night math

Today I designed a cardboard...well....box i suppose. It was to be used for crossing the Larson Lifestyle center pool. Turns out they didn't have enough cardboard, tape, or time to complete my design. After doing some quick math i think that's probably ok because i over-engineered it.

After completion the boat would have displaced about two gallons of water by itself, and with the girls in it, it would have displaced about 34 gallons. The carrying capacity of the boat before reaching a safety margin of 2 inches above waterline (not counting buoyancy from pontoons) was 1,440 lbs. The boat itself was strong enough that the weight wouldn't have been the issue. I used triangular tubes that were stacked on each other to provide a skeleton for the floor and corners. This would have effectively distributed any vertical load laterally We hypothetically could have put more weight in as long as the pontoons in the bottom layer of the boat remained sealed. (I'm guessing it would sink around 1600 lbs)

The best thing about this boat, had it been built, is it would glide nicely across the water. With only the two girls inside it would have rested very high in the water, allowing for a quicker crossing (less drag) of the pool. It also would have been quite water resistant.


That is all my tired brain can process. Goodnight all.

Monday, February 23, 2009

So tired, why?

I'm waiting for my mind to wind down. You know on those days when maybe you've physically exerted yourself too close to bedtime, and its time for sleep, but the mind is like "huh-uh". Ya.

No fears though. I have wisely spent my time creating new gmail accounts for fun haha. More file storage FTW.

Oh and would someone please bump the record player that is playing the soundtrack to my life? It's skipping again. Except don't make it go to the next song, I'd really like to hear the rest of this one. Thanks.

"she's always sick and dying" - Kenny. I just want you to know Kenny that I literally could not stop laughing at this one. Maybe only like 1% true...and it really didn't fit into what we were talking about. Still hilarious though!

Goodnight all.

Monday, February 16, 2009

dreams

Do they always mean something or is your brain simply knocking a few circuits loose during the night in its attempt to rewire things? I generally hold the opinion that our dreams usually don't mean anything.

I truly had the most bizzare dream last night though. So incredibly vivid and real that i still can remember details, which is strange because normally i forget my dreams soon after waking. I suppose in this case it doesn't matter if it means something or not, because either way its a good thing. This was from WAY back in the memory banks though, so im wondering what triggered it.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

you have my attention!

Wow today was strange. Certain people in my class were acting really weird. That's all I'm gonna say.

Also....wow. (and thank you!) God has continued His trend of amusing Himself by making the impossible in my life, possible. Thereby thoroughly confusing/astounding me. God I promise I am in no way offended :) This must be a sign that I still need to work towards better communication with You. I didn't even ask You about this recently! You simply are an amazing God, with a great sense of humor i might add. I think not enough people give You credit for that (sense of humor). Too many see You as an angry, vengeful God, or just non-emotional. We were made in Your image so humor has to be part of You!

So to all who might read this; God really does want to be involved in everything in your life, and sometimes, I believe, likes to make something amazing happen so that you're left thinking "Wow...He is all powerful. He really can do ANYTHING!". Just trust Him. Literally give your worries to Him.

Monday, February 09, 2009

H words

Humidity. Who knew such a relatively un-talked about thing could make such a difference? (ok well i know it makes a big difference but you don't hear people talk about it much) It smells like spring.....I feel happier....more people are smiling today.

Sometimes I feel like coming out of winter is like coming out of a dark, depressing, battle. You've fought for months, and on the horizon the first gleams of sunlight break and splash onto your face. You stand up and feel something stir in your soul. Hope. New life is about ready to burst forth. You breath in deeply and can't help but feel that no matter what happens, everything will be ok. Even your body feels like it has more energy.

It kind of brings to mind (for me) the whole Lord of the Rings vibe. How evil was oppressing everyone around and when evil was finally conquered there was more light, more green, more happiness, more hope.

Here's to you spring. *raises sobe bottle and clinks glasses with mother nature*

Friday, January 30, 2009

The drama queens...

So every mon/weds/fri I have a schedule that leaves me with an hour between classes in the morning. My favorite thing to do, has been to go to the student lounge in Old Father Hall and listen to music.

Well just about everytime now these two girls show up (probably freshman from how they talk) and they talk about the "drama" in their lives. They talk ridiculously loud, so its not like im snooping on the their conversations.....if anything im turning my music up a little louder to drown them out. Well anyway the darker haired one is usually the big talker, and she likes to talk about how all of these guys are always all over her and how she can't just be friends with anyone. I think there might be a slight ego inflation there.

I got wise to this after a few days and decided to reside in the farther east section of the student lounge. Guess where they came and sat today? Yep. Thats right. Not only in the east section, but at the table right next to me. Thankfully it appears as though they have homework thats distracting them for now.

I really feel like im sitting next to a highschool girls table in the lunchroom.
Its moments like this when i wish i wouldnt have showered and then eaten a bunch of garlic or something.

Monday, January 26, 2009

a bit on a lot

8 days. That's how long I've been doing 100 situps/day, and 30 pushups/day. On top of starting back up in the lifting of weights thrice weekly. Honestly i can't say as ive gained a lot of strength but i have been noticing my abs are not nearly as shy as they were. There is defenite fat loss occuring :)

On another note i quite possibly had the most fun possible in a group project the other day. We went and played basketball and just hung out at the rec center at UNL for a while, then ate at buffalo wild wings. Yes. You heard me correctly. I got points for doing that. The only requirement was that our "hangout time" was documented via pictures. Which i will upload when i get copies of them, but they are pretty funny.

I must also make a note to mother nature. Would you please bring all your snow at once in the future instead of spreading it out over like 5 days? It would get us all snowdays and allow us to enjoy your beautiful snow! Perhaps by operating a not-so-enviournmentally-friendly snowmobile. Just think about it. We'll talk more later. I have some questions about storm chasing this coming summer.

Also props to our good Lord. He continued His trend to prove to me that He does care about the little things, and, well, maybe the not so little things too.

Goodnight.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

All time favorite quote

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”- Theodore Roosevelt quotes (American 26th US President (1901-09), 1858-1919)

seriously? Really? Come on...

to the random UNL student (she was on her phone) that i passed walking today.....what is wrong with you!?!?!? I mean every college has its drug problems don't get me wrong, but since when do people PUBLICLY talk about the next drug deal that they're going to do. How absurd! Did you not realize that everyone around you could hear you? (it was a fair number of people)

Yes that's right folks, ms. jane doe has informed the world of how much pot she will be selling somebody this weekend. Even where she wants to meet! It's people like this that must make our nations average IQ level so low.

Monday, January 12, 2009

hosanna

This song came on Pandora today. I really like the chorus. I play the verse a little differently though because I don't like the chords they use. For all of you that know what im talking about i automatically start playing the bass guitar everytime i hear this song come on :)

I see the king of glory
Coming on the clouds with fire
The whole earth shakes
The whole earth shakes

I see his love and mercy
Washing over all our sin
The people sing
The people sing

[Chorus]
Hosanna
Hosanna
Hosanna in the highest [x2]

I see a generation
Rising up to take their place
With selfless faith
With selfless faith

I see a near revival
Stirring as we pray and seek
We're on our knees
We're on our knees

[Chorus]

Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like you have loved me

Break my heart from what breaks yours
Everything I am for your kingdoms cause
As I go from nothing to
Eternity

[Chorus x2]

Hosanna in the highest


Saturday, January 10, 2009

mis-information correction station

This is something I've been meaning to rant about for a while.

situation #1.
Many people claim they know someone who knows a guy who has a friend whose brother's coworker developed some chip or some magical device for cars that doubles/triples/whatever their gas mileage.

situation #2
Oil companies are in bed with car companies and car companies are making cars less fuel efficient so we have to buy more gas.

As a frustrated hearer of these things its time to speak out. yes. BOTH SITUATIONS ARE NOT TRUE. Let me explain it very plainly. The primary ingredients to gas mileage are Air/fuel ratio, RPM, VE (volumetric efficiency), ignition timing, drivetrain loss (there are more but these are some big ones)

I'm only going to write in depth on one of these, the air/fuel ratio. To achieve optimum combustion you want all the gasoline to be burned with all the oxygen in the air. There should only be reactants from this, if there is leftover gas or oxygen than the combustion was less than ideal. It takes 14.7 parts of air PER PART of gas to create an ideal combustion in a gasoline motor. 14.7 is what cars are programmed for under light throttle cruising applications. If it gets leaner, it can cause detonation, to rich and you are just wasting gas. THERE IS NO MAGICAL CHIP THAT CAN OVERCOME CHEMISTRY. Your uncle's brothers friend's coworker (or whatever) is a phony.

Now as far as the other things, sure they can be improved. But to what cost? Creating a drive train with substantially improved efficiency would be a very expensive venture leading to the cost of purchase being much higher.

Other things such as ignition timing are usually programmed for optimum efficiency(as optimum as possible) from the factory, while allowing for variables to make sure all the idiots out there don't wreck their cars.

In this economy making a car that gets truly amazing gas mileage would be a HUGE selling point. There is no financial gain for a car company to purposely hurt its fleet's mpg.

There I am done.

Saturday, January 03, 2009

last year in review

(So im sort of stealing Emily's idea. Shhh dont tell)

1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?

Took a Literature class...that wasn't required.

Was in a wedding. Two actually....

Jumped a snowmobile

there's plenty more....

2. Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

Didn't make any last year. Hoping to keep the one i made this year.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

No

4. Did anyone close to you die?

No

5. What countries did you visit?

None :(

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?

Less stress.

7. What date from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

Starting from the beginning; valentines day, August 3rd(i think..?), cant remember any others. Valentines day becuase I went swing dancing and had a blast.
August 3rd because Luke and Amy's wedding was really fun.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Getting to know who I was. Saying no to drama. Putting to rest very old memories that were long overdue in getting dealt with. Exploring my musical talents.

9. What was your biggest failure?

I failed myself towards the beginning. I let myself be drawn into a life I didn't want. I also lost much money and time to girls that didn't deserve it.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Started out the year with Mono. Since then i've had maybe one cold? I also got tendonitis in my forearms and shoulder, ripped my finger apart with a sawzall, and got my top two wisdom teeth out. (thats kinda like an injury right?)

11. What was the best thing you bought?

An exhaust system and programmer for my car.

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?

Some of my close friends. They set me straight again when i started to fall into a bad life.

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?

A long time friend. A former love interest. And a classmate that really surprised me. (3's not bad right?)

14. Where did most of your money go?

probably divided equally between my car, and getting nickle and dimed by question #9. The car was clearly the better investment. I now have a faster, more reliable, more fuel efficient, better sounding vehicle.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

Going snowboarding in March 2008. Playing for Acrofest.

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?

lol a song by fergie. I don't remember which one. Long story.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

i. happier or sadder? Much much much happier.

ii. thinner or fatter? About the same probably weight wise. Maybe a little leaner.

iii. richer or poorer? About the same.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Spending time with God. Getting to know more people at Union. Playing music. Working.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Chasing fruitless relationships. <----(time waster)

20. How will you be spending Christmas?

Well....for 2008 i spent it at home. Recovering from getting my wisdom teeth out :-)

22. Did you fall in love in 2008?

Yes. Unfortunatly. I learned much though. I'm not afraid to love again, but I will be much more cautios about it.

23. How many one-night stands?

Zero.

24. What was your favourite TV programme?

Probably Mythbusters. Actually no...Planet Earth. I absolutely love that show. I would like to go with them if they ever go to film another series of it.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

Don't hate anyone. I have absouletly no interest in being friends with a few people though.

26. What was the best book you read?

The Namesake.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?

My friends of BERT. Andrew Peterson maybe?

28. What did you want and get?

no drama. The last fourth of 2008 I got my wish :)

30. What was your favourite film of this year?

Not sure.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

Went bowling. Then had a party at Ben Yancer's house. Nancy made awesome peach cobbler (or something like that). It was a good Birthday party.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

Its hard to say. It got more satisfying the longer the year wore on.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?

Not much different than now.

34. What kept you sane?

My good friends.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

Hmmm.....if your talking celebrity crush type "fancy" then I'd have to go with either Jennifer Garner, or Selma Heyek.

36. What political issue stirred you the most?

I hate politics. I didn't really get involved with, or discuss much of it.

37. Who did you miss?

A few people.

38. Who was the best new person you met?

I've met a couple great new people. Its been a good year for that. God has really blessed me.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008:

It's ok to say no. Straight up, simple, plain, NO. This will prove invaluable in 2009...I have no doubt.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:

I'll have to get back to you on that one.