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After being away for a week (weddings galore!) I returned… to this:
Which is exactly what I asked for.
“Please don’t unpack anything in my room,” I told my parents, for a couple of reasons. First, I’m a little, how shall we say it? in possession of very specific personal preferences? At least when it comes to the set up of my room. Also, in a slightly more altruistic vein, I am perfectly aware of how much stuff I have and I didn’t want my folks to have to deal with it while I was gone.
So, even though I knew what I was going to be walking into, there was still some initial shock, mostly because, having been removed from the process for a very full week, I’d sort of forgotten what moving was like. It only took me a moment to recover and form a plan, which I have been working on since.
Phase I: unpack and put away books (can you tell I’m an English student?)
Phase II: unpack and put away clothes
Phase III: make bed (because sleep is good 
)
Phase IV: fix various storage boxes in their new homes
Phase V: rearrange small pieces of furniture
Phase VI: arrange knickknacks.
And then I should be done. Hopefully. I’m on phase III right now. We can’t seem to locate my sheets, which makes life interesting. But that’s okay. Just happy to see some order being restored.
A friend asked if I was satisfied with my iPod touch. He is thinking of purchasing one. I told him that, yes, I most certainly was. And here are some of the reasons why:
- Calendar: My iPod touch calendar happily syncs with the calendar on my MacBook, requiring no set-up. Any alerts that I ask it to make on my iPod will carry over to the computer. For example, a couple of weeks ago, it was a friend’s birthday. I had already entered it into my iPod calendar. I didn’t check that calendar in the morning, but when I turned on my computer, iCal popped a reminder on my screen so that I could remember to wish this friend a happy birthday.
- Photos: I love that you can transfer photos to the iPod. I have a folder on my computer with pictures specifically for the touch. You can use them as wallpaper for when you turn on your touch, you can scroll through them easily, and you can assign them to contacts. The images display quite well on the screen and rotate depending on the orientation you hold your touch.
- Contacts: It has a very intuitive input interface. It pops up a keyboard, one that changes slightly depending on what you are entering. In the Safari browser, for example, when you are typing in a web address, there is a “.com” key that isn’t there for other instances. It is easy to enter contact information, and Contacts are also something you can sync with your computer. I have become (un)fortunately dependent on my iPod touch in a very short period mostly because of this. I have been to my University town many times this summer and have found myself in need of a phone number almost every time, a phone number that, conveniently enough, was stored on my iPod.
- Notes: As a writer this application is great. It, again, has the very user-friendly keyboard and it is very easy to punch in quick reminders, transient thoughts, shopping lists, to do lists, directions, etc.
- Maps: I haven’t been terribly impressed with the Maps application, mostly because the one convenient feature of it (“where are you?”) never seems to work. Theoretically, when you are connected to the internet, you can hit that button and it will find your location, making it really easy to hit the “Directions” button and get directions from your current location to your destination, wherever that may be. As we have established, it never seems to work for me. Also, I’ve found the screen too small to easily read the map. [Later edit: Just recently I was out walking with a friend when she suddenly stopped. "Wait, are we going in the right direction?" she asked and started rifling through her purse. "I don't have my map here," she said. "Ooh, wait!" I exclaimed and grabbed for my iPod. I didn't try the "where am I?" function, but I did search for an open wireless network, and finding one, I clicked to the Waterloo area in the maps application, found the major street we were beside and confirmed that we were, in fact, going in the wrong direction. We turned around, got back on track and were saved from many minutes of indecision by something so convenient as a handheld, WiFi capable device.
]
- Clock: Nerd that I am, I’ve been using this religiously as my alarm clock. I like it. It is easy to set several alarms for different days and different times. You can create a seemingly endless amount of alarms for whatever purposes you may have.
- Music: This is an iPod, after all. I should probably talk about my experience with its music playing capabilities. As expected, Apple has created a very aesthetically pleasing viewing experience for the music. When held normally, you can scroll through your choice of song, album, artist, genre, etc., the same categories as in iTunes. When you turn it sideways, you can scroll through albums in the iTunes Cover Flow view. When you tap an album cover, it flips over and lists the songs on the back. You can then tap one to start it playing.
Basically, I thoroughly enjoy the iPod touch, and I have found many more uses for it beyond just listening to music. It’s become my personal organizer . And all of this is before the purchase of the App Store. I haven’t even tried any of those additions yet. They will, no doubt, increase the iPod’s ability to entertain with games and further methods of distraction.
A rather snippy post from a few months ago, when I was working in an elementary school. I do not know the man in this story. I only saw him the once. I was only in that classroom once.
I am grateful for those things in my life that remind me of what I have to be grateful for.
For example, I am grateful for the man who entered my (“my”) class this afternoon who reminded me how blessed I am that my male friends are all gentlemen.
This afternoon, while visiting one of his children in the classroom that I was monitoring, this sans wedding-ringed man, though seeming to play with the children, was actually attempting to flirt with me over their heads. Alas, it comes down to the problem of his assuming that my friendly, ‘welcome to the classroom’ smile actually meant, ‘I am so attracted to you right now’. And so, though not terribly grateful for his misinterpretation and the resulting attention that he paid me, it reminded me that I am so blessed for the gentlemen friends I do have, the ones who treat me with respect.
I’ve been asked a few times by friends what Twitter actually is. It is only fair, since I harp so often about no one reading my twitter page, to actually explain a little bit of what Twitter is. There is a video here, which does a fairly good job of it, but I will also do my best to articulate what it is (Mike, Matty, Dad, feel free to weigh in with your own explanations of it).
Twitter is what is known as a microblog. I tried to find a nice definition online, but I couldn’t find one I liked (granted, I didn’t look very hard). But a microblog is essentially like this blog, except it consists of shorter and more frequent posts. So rather than posting several paragraphs once a day or every few days, an author might post a couple of sentences several times a day. To read it in order, you would read it the same way as a blog: the most recent posts are at the top, so the further down you go, the further back in time you go.
One thing that is incredibly cool about Twitter and makes it completely unique from a blog is the “home” page. When you sign up for Twitter, you have the option to begin “following” other Twitter users, and they have the option to follow you (naturally, you can control your privacy settings). So when you log onto Twitter, it goes to your home page, which updates every time one of the people you are following makes a new post.
This is a capture of my Twitter home page. At the top, you can see the space for me to write “What I am doing” or whatever else I feel like posting about. Also notice the number “140″ above that box. Twitter limits you to only 140 characters per post. It becomes an interesting challenge getting your point across in a limited space. And you can see below the box posts of some of the people I follow: Felicia Day of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog and The Guild, Dr. Horrible himself, Brett McKay of The Art of Manliness, The Pioneer Woman, and Mike Purvis. Every time they “tweet” something, it is added to this page for me to read, and every time I write something, it is added on my page and on the home pages of the people who follow me.
It is a fun way to keep in touch with people that you know, and to read about what they are up to (which is often what we most want to hear anyway), and it is also fun to follow people you don’t necessarily know who tend to be writing for a wide audience of people they don’t know either (ie, evskeys, Wil Wheaton).
If Twitter is something that interests you, you should check it out! Play with it a little, start following people and you’ll quickly figure out how it works. And if you start an account, make sure you go to my page and click the little “follow” link beneath my picture, so I’ll know you’ve signed up and so I can follow you back.
I don’t really have anything imaginative to write.
The movers are here, currently going through our house, looking at what goes and what stays. Even though I haven’t been really blogging, I have been Twittering something awful. So, for better updates on what’s going on in my life, check it out.
I had an amazing weekend, though. That is something worth blogging about. Hmm, well, perhaps not worth blogging. It’s like Steph said here. It was an exceptional weekend, not for any big event, but just a lot of small bits of lovely, all put together in a couple of days.
Went dancing Friday night in my University town. It definitely ended far earlier than a lot of us were ready for, but I suppose considering it’s summer it makes sense. There were a lot of enjoyable dances, especially one where my partner ended with several quick spins and a sudden dip I wasn’t expecting (one that cause me to squeal a little bit, much to my own chagrin). But despite that , on my way home the next day, I gave him a ride into Toronto. It was a good day. I was too focused on the road, but he managed to keep conversation going. Looking back, I think I may have been too tired to divide my attention. We’ll go with that theory . And then we went for lunch on the Danforth, an experience, which, believe it or not, I have never had before, despite living an easy drive from Toronto for the past nine or so years.
The “too tired” theory is further supported by the fact that I took a deep nap that afternoon after arriving home, to the point where I literally did not hear my family going in and out of the house, and calling for each other throughout the course of the afternoon. (Sorry, family, especially Josh…)
Then yesterday, I met with a good friend of mine. Our plan was to spend some time together before the move, but I also needed to do some shopping. “I love shopping,” she told me, and so the plan was set. We spent the afternoon shopping and chatting. And Saturday’s and yesterday’s evenings were spent at two different churches, saying goodbye to friends and people I would consider family from there, people who will be greatly missed.
Anyway, the movers are now laying down moving pads over banisters and carpets. More updates to follow, especially on Twitter .
(perhaps not-so-secret now )
Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things that a man needs to believe in the most. That people are basically good; that honor, courage and virtue mean everything; that power and money, money and power mean nothing; that good always triumphs over evil. And I want you to remember this, that love…true love…never dies. You remember that, boy. Doesn’t matter if they’re true or not because those are the things worth believing in.
from “Secondhand Lions“.
Well, this is about the most frustrating thing ever. </exaggeration>
This is the right song that was playing here, but the wrong version. I’ve only been able to find two versions of it, one by Lee Dorsey and one by Willie & the Poorboys, both artists I’ve never heard of before (and neither one the correct version). And then a whole bunch of sappy songs and/or Enrique Iglesias. Foiled by Enrique! The first two or three pages on YouTube are all just different clips of his song “Can you hear me?” (which is, just so we’re all following, not the right song, even though it is the right title).
If anyone has any better luck, please let me know. But I suppose it would be better for your sakes to warn you off the search. I clicked through the iTunes and YouTube search results, as well as searching for “can you hear me” + “cover” and “lyrics” in an attempt to find other artists, but agh, Enrique! Foiled me again…
It is a frustrating search…
Update: Apparently there is another version by The Artwoods. Version from the clip still not found. Recommend cease and desist to all search parties to prevent ensuing insanity.
So, I just need to brag about my littlest brother for a minute here. As I may have mentioned before, he is 11 years old.
Yesterday, I took him rock climbing. It was actually a lot of fun. He did a great job, trying a lot of walls and making it to the top of one or two of them (a great feat when it isn’t something you normally do). We weren’t there for very long (we’re working on endurance ) but the thing that impressed me most is what he did learn in the time we were there.
Here is an article on the basic climbing knots, the figure eight and the fisherman’s knot.
And this is the sequence of events:
- First wall, I tied little bro in (doing the knots for him to climb)
- Second wall, I demonstrated (just once, mind you) how to tie the knots
- Third wall, I told little bro I wanted him to try the knots and see how he did.
In a word, flawless. Absolutely flawless.
This video is when he was tying in to his fourth wall of the day, his second attempt at tying the knots. Again, flawless. I was super impressed. When I was working at the gym, there was rarely a person who could tie-in flawlessly on their first attempt, adults and children alike, and here is this 11-year-old, tying-in with all the deftness of someone who has been climbing for years.
So cool. After the move, we definitely need to invest in a membership at the rock climbing gym
also, I really like the song playing in the background—anyone know what it is?
We have made an idol of love. Love can never fill the place of God, but it feels like it can because God is love. Love, however, is not God and that is where the issue lies. And our disappointment with love (because it doesn’t do in our lives what we need God to do) is the cause of so much pain. Love is not an active agent. It is a product of the combination of feeling, familiarity, attraction, dedication, choice, commitment, etc., but it cannot act. It is not independent or in possession of a self. Without something to experience, create or be love (ie, without God), it cannot exist. And yet we are turning to it, begging it to be active in our lives the way only God can.
What do you think?
M: “You called me stupid!”
J: “I said you weren’t stupid. It was a compliment.”
D: “Well, that depends where you put the comma.”
J: “Ha. I said you weren’t, stupid.”
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