learn from another

"It is never crowded along the extra mile"
moral: few people do more than they have to, those that do are indispensable.

A man came into the store the other day and found out that i am drug free, he felt that I should be proud of that. I always assumed it to be normal. But he was messed up, been using for 35 years. Apparently there is something called "kindbud". I am not sure what that is, but he seemed messed up because of it.
Anyway, he said that I can't take the easy road, I need to give 120%, and I will be invaluable.
God, he is so right.

cover up

When I say something embarrassing, I just follow it up with a compliment. Most people go with it.

moral: Your hair looks great today.

the era

I never really thought about college ending. Obviously I thought about what will happen after, but there is more to it than that. I have spent more time in the Drake union than any other building on campus. Today was the last class I will ever have in there, and I have no reason to go in there again. I walked out solemnly... away from an era. I am feeling a lot of emotions from that experience. Some very good, I am done-- no more grades there, no more terrible PAD (Pizza At the Drake) pizza. But I am also very sad. I will miss everyone. I would have liked to say goodbye to one certain person, as I am sure I will never see Alex (MFA lighting student) again.

Oh wait. I still have 4 more Theatre 600 classes to go to...
i'm such a dumbass.

Moral: Don't get wound up in emotions that are preemptive. They will only poison the rest of the time you have left. Like fearing death; everyone does it, but it just makes it harder.

How I know

Mark Salling is gay. Check out his Twitter account.

Dragon's blood tree (dracaena draco), part 2

I managed to get the seed to germinate!
Here is what happened;
I ordered the Dragon's Blood Tree Seeds (dracaena draco) on-line in mid summer (July). I found mixed methods on how to get them to germinate; I ended up drowning the seeds with water and planting them in potting mix. I then sealed the entire pot in a gallon ziplock bag and put it outside in the shade. I left it closed for about a week, then opened the bag and let it dry over the . I left it in the same spot for about 3 months and never watered it again (too lazy to clean it up) assuming it to be dead.
Then this morning, November 15th, I saw a little green spike come up from the dried dirt! It had grown! I am not sure weather to water it again or not, and whether to drown it again or not. I will likely rehydrate the soil a little at a time till it is thoroughly soaked then ignore it for another 90 days.
As the plant is a monocot, I assume it to have a pretty wide root base. This makes me think I should transplant the dried pot mass into a larger pot as a whole clump when the time comes rather than trying to free the roots.
In conclusion:
placed seed (dracaena draco Dragon's Blood Tree) just below the surface of the potting mix.
Drenched the pot.
Placed pot in sealed ziplock bag for 1 week in shade.
opened ziplock bag and left to dry outside for several months.
I am pretty sure there was a frost during the germination period.
It grew a little blade-leaf.

Looking back

everyone makes stupid choices. Most of the time I try to think before I act, but sometimes it doesn't work out very well. It is very rare that put myself between a rock and a hard place.
I am there now, and I have none to blame but myself...
or do I?
Either way, placing blame on anything but myself is not going to help me at all. So, I am taking the fall for this. Maybe I will learn something.
Actually, I have.

Moral: you can learn from nearly any experience when you take some responsibility for it (in your own head).

I Don't Hate Macs, I Just Hate Mac Users

by Richard Ziade

Ok, before I dig into the substance of this post, I’d like to preface it with an explanation of the title. I don’t really hate anyone. Hatred is an awful thing. When I say “hate,” I mean it in a casual, chatting-over-lunch sort of way. Like when we say “I hate the Red Sox.” It doesn’t mean you wish to kill them all (though you may say that as well). It just means you, well, hate them. It’s like…Hate Lite. Now on to the substance of this post…

I consider myself a tinkerer. I enjoy opening up a PC box and just messing around. I’m into the intricacies of the different components and how they can be tweaked and optimized and customized. Hell, there’s a whole subculture of PC modding out there. I mean, who wouldn’t want to trick out there PC case with neon lighting and water cooling? Yeh, I subscribe to Maximum PC. What’s wrong with that? In fact, I think there’s a lot right with it. The willingness to crack open your “rig”and replace the hard drive controller is a virtue. There’s something inherently endearing about someone willing to roll up their sleeves and work on something.

Yes, I know it’s not for everyone. Sure, you can hire someone to do it. Of course you can just buy a custom PC with all the bells and whistles. The hardcore techies of the world scoff at the masses that brush this sort of stuff aside. “They don’t understand us. We will make them pay handsomely for their ignorance.” They are the Left Brain.

At the other extreme is the bratty computer user. They simply can’t be bothered with such details. They don’t have time (or better yet, their time is too valuable to be wasted on such trivialities). They have…more important things to do. As such, they “love” and “adore” their Macs. Because admittedly, Macs are inherently better designed. From hardware to software, things just seem to work. As a designer, I often reference Apple for their unwavering belief in the power of good design. It really is the differentiator.

It’s a great thing when you can design products that make your users feel good about themselves. Good design is inherently complimentary, subtly flattering the user as he interacts. People wonder why there is such rabid loyalty towards Apple. This is why. Apple has spoiled them. They’ve been treated with such dignity and high regard that their collective self-esteem has been inflated beyond belief.

So now the rest of us (your humble blogger included) are left to hear their ramblings about how great Apple products are. How much they love their Macs and iPods. And how lame it is for us to have to worry about things like PCI slots and firmware. The Mac population’s view of the PC user base is nothing short of elitist. All those hugs and support growing have led them to snarl at the “lower class” PC users of the world.

The misunderstanding arises from the fact PC users actually like defragmenting their hard drives and upgrading their firmware. We enjoy replacing our graphics cards every six months. We love TweakUI! We share a firm belief that our struggle in this world will lead us to heaven. You Mac users, on the other hand, are on your way to hell. A weird, glossy white plastic hell.

So there you have it. Mac users are the bourgeoisie of the computing world. PC users are the lowly, struggling proletariat, harboring bitterness and resentment towards their snooty counterparts while they toil away at their machines.

courage

courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.

coincidence

A coincidence is when God chooses to remain anonymous.
I was walking home last night, and a thought struck me. I can't remember what it was that I was thinking about, but at that moment I knew that it was not luck at all. I remember trying to trace back the chain of events that lead to that moment, and nothing could explain it.