Matter Over Mind

I want to start lifting weights again. I used to, back in high school, and while I was never a living Ah-nold replica, I really did like how it felt being able to lift as much as I did, with both arms and legs.

So, rather than leaving it in blog form, which will not, contrary to popular belief, actually make me stronger, I'm going to propose it to anybody out there in the blag to join me. I haven't set a time yet, but I'm thinking at least 1x or 2x a week. I'd prefer you be in Socorro, rather than telling me that you'll be lifting weights with me from NY or England, because that way it'll make me go out and actually do it.

Also, I'd really like it to be someone who will be committed. I can't do free weights without a spotter, you know.

And, if anybody out there has any experience in the matter, whether you want to join me or not, I'd greatly appreciate any help you can offer, even just on the informational side of things. Like I said, I haven't done this since high school, and I'm a little rusty on a lot of it. But if you have techniques/pointers/advice/anything that you think might help, I'd greatly appreciate that as well. And you're welcome to join me too!

Let me know when works, and we'll get a time set up.

"Why pluck one string - What good is just one note?"

Huzzah!

So, I went to the Apple store today, and they replaced my hard drive. For free! Over the phone, they said they wouldn't do any of this. But they did! Sweet! I don't have it yet. They said they'd try to get it back to me by tomorrow, but no promises. Either way, my macbook will be back to me!

Conversations with a Genius

Ok, before I start, I just want to get some angst out:

I'm happy for all my friends getting married and having girlfriends and the like, but I'm really getting sick of being alone!!!

Ok, I feel better now. I had to get that out. And for those of you reading with disgust, no, I'm not above it. I'll try to keep stupid crap like that to a minimum, however.

I'm taking my mac in tomorrow. I don't imagine they'll have much to tell me that I don't already know. I'm really hoping to learn if I can still get any data off of the hard drive, specifically music. I've already picked the next hard drive. It's more than 2x the size of the old one, and I can put windows and matlab on it. And yes, I'm aware that matlab will run on a mac, but I dread using x11, as that's way nerdier than I'm capable of. I am looking forward to having my mac back, though. As much as I appreciate Peter's laptop, it just ain't the same.

The nights are cooling down. I like it, it is starting to feel like fall, but soon itll be too cold to enjoy a nice salad with friends after dark, which is my only free time anymore.

I want to ride a motorcycle. I just want to try it out. I'm at the point where I don't care if it's not the safest, I just have to try it.

And I want other things to happen too...

"Open wide my door to whatever makes me love You more"

Third Time's the Charm? Let's Hope Not!

My hard drive died today. Just up and died. We think it was a head crash. Don't rightly know how, and it's really sad. All that music...

I'm actually blogging on a borrowed computer right now. Many thanks to Peter for helping me out on this one. I'm going to call Apple tomorrow and see what I can get done. I'm close to the warranty time, and if I'm lucky, I haven't crossed it yet. But alas, I need a new hd, and I can only hope and pray that any software I purchased (mainly iwork) will be replaced. I can't afford to pay for it again right now.

Most (about 2/3) of my music originally came from cds, so it'll be time-consuming, but I'm not completely out of luck there. There' s just the matter of the few cds I've purchased on itunes since I got the mac. Hopefully that can be restored to me as well.

And for anybody playing the home game, I'm now averaging a broken electronic device a month. Granted, that's over two months, but that's still becoming too high of a statistic for me to be comfortable with.

"She always weighed me down, but afraid I might need her I dragged her around."

Of Shoes, and Ships, and Sealing Wax, and 3.5 Hour Labs

It's official. School is officially back in session. Now, I know for a lot of people, it's been back in session for two weeks now. But for me, I usually have to have been to at least one lab for the semester to be back in session. This happened with gusto yesterday, as my first Analog Electronics lab took 3 hours and 40 minutes to complete.

It's good to be back, ain't it?

Anyway, now the semester actually feels like it should, what with the business of prelabs and lab writeups thrown in the mix of everything else. I hate it, but at the same time, I don't really know what I'd do without it.

On a different note, I think it's funny that NBC is back on itunes. I mean, itunes is no less "the man" than any other big business out there trying to grab at my money. But itunes seems to have more respect for me, at least, that's how they do business, in my experience. Last year, when NBC thought they'd try and overturn itunes' empire, I was pretty sure it wouldn't be done. Not that it couldn't, mind you, but that it would take someone as expert in marketing as Mr. Jobs himself to even come close. Definitely not possible with the likes of NBC. And now, they're back on itunes. It just makes me giggle inside...

"I think a motorcycle is a good way to die"

Agreeing with Loverboy...

It's finally the weekend! While school hasn't hit full force yet, it's still nice to think about Saturday. Plus, my grandparents are in town from Dallas, so that'll be a fun time.

I still haven't found my semester groove, but I honestly think this one will be easier to get into than last semester, in which there was no groove. There was just class, work, more class, and then failing class.

So, here's a hypothetical: If you were asked to speak in a public setting, in a casual environment where most of the "public" were people you knew, and it was a more low-stress situation (i.e., not much planning involved, or memorizing lines and such), would you do it?

"Die to fight this"

C Coding, Take 3

It's amazing what failing a class will do for you. It'll make you take an elective course in a subject you never had interest before because it might, just might help you pass the retake of the first class.

That's exactly what I'm doing now. I'm taking EE 389, which is going to be using a lot of matlab and C, and hopefully the experience will better prepare me for retaking EE 308. Nevertheless, I never thought I'd choose to take a programming class.

I'm nervous about it. I really suck at coding. But there's a bright side. Of the students, the one with the most experience is my boss. The one with the second most experience is me. Nobody else has any C, and everyone only has limited matlab. So, if the prof. teaches to the average, I should be ok. Right?

"Wake the lifeless"

First J-Man

So, the first J-Man Bible study has passed. Just in case you don't know, the J-Man is a Bible study looking at the life of Jesus in the first five chapters of John. Mikey coined the term, because it's a Jesus-Manuscript (the type of Bible study we're doing).

I think it went well. A little shaky, as it was my first time leading. And most of the people were brand new to the concept. But we'll find our niche. I'm sure we'll get a lot out of it this fall.

Also, now taking suggestions for misadventures our character "J-Man" will happen upon in our journey.

"Experience the warmth before you go"

A New Record

So, for those of you close, and anybody out there on the nets who isn't, my phone officially made it through Tuesday. Now, this may not seem like much, if you haven't been around, but let me explain:

Approximately 2.4 weeks ago, I purchased a new phone. I spent more than the typical alltel .99, in hopes that investing some dollars would yield a superior product. Not two hours later, people couldn't hear my voice when I called them, because I had somehow blown that microphone. Somehow.

I took the phone back, and they replaced it. The new(er) phone worked fine for the next week. The week after that, I was in a bunch of meetings to plan all of the stuff InterVarsity (my Christian community, for those who don't know) for the semester. Sometime Tuesday evening, my phone blinked out of existence, this time much more gloriously than before. It made it approximately 1.4 weeks. That weekend, I returned the second phone to alltel, and they replaced it, unfortunately with the same model phone, which has clearly been trying my patience.

However, I'm a pleased, nay, elated to inform anybody who will listen that my phone has now officially made it through the Tuesday evening record previously held by my last phone. I'm talking olympic gold here!

Anyway, yeah. Maybe this is the real deal.

"Calm like a bomb"

A Special Thanks

A very special thanks to the Hat for designing and creating my header. Anybody who's reading this should check out her blag (look to the right), and her website.

It LIIIVES!!!!

I recently narrowly avoided a crisis involving my car, and a 1-inch part of a bolt that I wanted to get out of my car, but couldn't. Keep in mind, this wasn't a whole bolt.

I'm not sure exactly what happened, but signs point to foul play on the part of the mechanics who tried to fix this same problem. Rather, they said they did, but it seems they just covered up what was already broken, and left me to figure it out for myself. That's how it seems, at least. I'll upload a pic later, as I'm keeping the bolt as a sort of trophy/memoriam.

Anyway, what was going to be a simple session yesterday of inserting three bolts in their respective holes turned into finding two of the holes occupied by broken bolts. To make a long story short, this could have been a costly repair, in both time and money, in that a machinist would probably have to look at it. However, my friend Lee was there, and he seemed to have knowledge of a mythical "bolt extractor". We were able to get the bolts out.

So, now I have a car with an engine that isn't threatening to fall out on a whim. It makes me very happy. Nevertheless, it seems God is trying to break my dependence of these worldly things. With the battery last week, and now the bolts, on top of the other stuff that I know need to get done, it's just too much for me to control. And I think God's saying to step back, and not rely so much on the stuff that I've used to get by.

Also, let me just say I'm so thankful God has put people in my life who know how to work on cars, like Lee and Peter. And for people who have experience greater than my own, in this case, also Lee and Peter.

"Have You ever felt the weight of loving all the things You hate?"

Wait, I'm still here?

I crave stability. I yearn for it. I pine for it. Yet, it never seems to quite stick with me. I mean, it does in some ways. My parents never broke up, like so many people I've heard about and known, and I consider myself blessed for that. Also, growing up in one state, and pretty much one city means stability in one sense. However, there was never enough time in a single spot in that city to remain at any one school for very long.

So, here's how it is: Every two years for the last eight, I've changed schools, among other things. I've never spent more than four years in any one school (I've only done that once, in elementary school), and most of the time, I've spent considerably less than four years in a single place of academia.

Until now.

This last week marks the longest time I've been at one single school in over ten years. I was never a military brat, or a pastor's kid, but I guess I know a little of what that's like. And it looks like I'm going to be shooting for a personal best of five years.

"What if I say I'm not like the others?"