402accessdenied

Is this thing on? Can you hear me? You can? Good.

I swear, if I keep ignoring my blog for months at a time, every single post is going to be about how I’m not dead, I’ve been really busy, I suck at bloggig, and I’m a total slacker. This is one of those posts.

So what have I been up to? A lot, and yet not very much at the same time. Mostly, I’ve been working, hanging out with friends, and mostly staying out of trouble. Oh sure, I saw my sister in February when she came to Carlsbad for spring break, spent most of the month of March in Utah for work, got to go skiing a few times, went camping and river rafting with some friends and spent a weekend in the Bay Area with my wonderful sister in June for her 21st birthday, had a couple of trips to Maryland for work at various times, and spent two weeks in China, but other than that, things have been fairly uneventful.

Ok, so maybe I have been up to a little. I actually just got back from China last Sunday, and promptly got on a flight to Maryland on Monday. To say I’ve been more than a bit jetlagged lately would be an understatement. I also brought back a cold and an ear infection from China, which hasn’t helped matters. I’m finally feeling a bit better, though neither one has cleared up completely (though I think at this point it’s mostly the cold that’s bothering me).

There’s a new WordPress client to the iPhone, so I’m hoping that makes it easier for me to blog in the future, but I make no promises. It does eliminate my biggest frustration with blogging on the phone, as I don’t need an Internet connection, and if I lose my connection or need to do something else on my phone, I don’t lose what I’ve written. In the past I tried using the e-mail postng option in WordPress, but the iPhone mail client won’t let you save a local draft, so if you’re composing an e-mail (or blog post in this case), you can’t check any new messages until you send the message you’re working on. Not exactly ideal for someone who’s trying to work on a blog post during a few idle minutes.

I’ll have more details on my trip to China soon, but I want to catalog my pictures and get them up on Flickr before I do anything else related to the trip. I’ll post some pics and details here when it’s all ready.

It’s 7:45, and dinner is still on the stove. Now granted, I only got back from the store at about 7, but still, this is taking forever. To top it off, the potatoes are still boiling, and I haven’t even started making the soup yet (Cheddar and Ale soup). The risk is that I’ll fill up on bread and butter before the soup is done. It better turn out well.

According to WordPress, it’s been 2 months since I last posted… almost a new record for me! I guess it’s about time to get back on this.

(It’s 8:45 now)

Well, dinner’s finally ready. Took forever. The kitchen is a mess, and our dishwasher is dumping water on the floor, so I’ve got at least half an hour of cleanup to do. It’s not nearly as thick as I expected, but it’s pretty good. I think next time I’ll add more cheese, and maybe more corn starch to thicken it up some. I substituted potatoes for the broccoli or cauliflower the recipe called for, which I think might have added some extra water to the mix (though I did drain them first). But, it’s definitely edible, which is good, because there’s still a decent size pot of it on the stove that I’ll have to eat this week. It’s not as good as the Cheddar and Ale soup I used to get at British Isles (restaurant in Lansing that went out of business years ago), but it’ll do. The grocery store didn’t have any more bread bowls, so I had to get some shepherds’ bread instead. I’ll have to remember to actually eat it this time… last time it went from good to green in about a day. When I say green, I mean totally covered, full-on green. It was actually kind of impressive. I guess that’s what you get with bread that’s fresh baked and not loaded with preservatives.

As usual, the reason for my lack of blogging isn’t because i’ve been too busy. No, my lack of blogging was caused once again by sheer laziness. I doubt anyone is surprised. Kayte and Kelsey used to be my blogging conscience, and since they both blog more often than I do, they could usually guilt me into posting. Lately they’ve been nagging me a lot less, probably because they both decided it was hopeless. It might be.

I’d love to regale you with stories about all of the exciting stuff that’s been going on… but not a lot’s been going on. Don’t get me wrong, things are going well. Work is good, consistently oscillating between crazy and, well, a little boring, but I’ve been working on some things lately that are more interesting. Things are going well with church; I’m still heading up our ushering team and helping out with our tear-down crew (we meet in the gym of one of our local middle schools, so every Sunday we have to set up and tear down all of our equipment and furnishings). We just finished doing our men’s summer bible study and started up our small groups at the end of August, which I’m pretty excited about.

Jen came to visit in August (I guess there was something exciting that happened these past couple months), which was a lot of fun. She was only able to stay for 4 days (flew in Friday morning, flew home Monday night), but we had a good time. We spent some time at the beach, saw some of Carlsbad, were lazy, had a great dinner at Chart House (she gets a 50% discount through her work), and had a good time just hanging out. It was too short, and she needs to come back sometime, but we’ll work on that.

Mom’s coming to visit for a week in October, which should be fun. I’m not planning on taking any time off work, so she’ll have to fend for herself for a few of those days. I think the plan is that she’ll drop me off at work and take my car for the day (since I only have one car), which I’m not super excited about, but that’s pretty much only because I never wait for a ride anymore and I’m not used to it. But that should be fine, and we should have a good time. I’m looking forward to seeing her. Unfortunately Dad won’t be able to make it because of work, but I understand that he’s really busy right now. I’ll get to see him at Christmas when I go home, so it’s all good.

Well, I have a kitchen to clean. Ugh. Later kids.

(I thought about including code for a small C program that would print “Hello World!”, but I figured that it would be both a waste of space and rather pointless. This thought was shortly followed by the idea of attempting to write the classic hello world program in assembly, for no other reason than to see of I could. Of course, then the question is, PowerPC assembly, or x86? I already know PPC assembly, and it would be slightly easier (no direct memory operations), but x86 would be more relevant. I might have to try it sometime. Yes, I’m a geek.)

It’s certainly been a long time since I posted last, and for that I apologize, though I’ll admit it wasn’t something I was terribly concerned about. Life’s been busy, and I’ve been lazy. What more can I say?

So, in the interest of keeping this somewhat brief, I’ll try not to go into much depth about what I’ve been up to the last few months. (What that really means is that I can’t remember more than a week or two back…)

The first big thing is, I moved! No, not back to Michigan (sorry mom and dad). I moved in with a buddy of mine from church when the lease on my appartment was up, and it’s going well. I’m closer to work, closer to the beach, living in a bigger place, paying less rent, and talking to myself far less. I think it’s a pretty good deal.

Unfortunately, right around the time my lease was expiring and I needed to be thinking about moving (and the joys of packing, cleaning and actually moving that entails), I had to take two, one week long trips for work, in a three week timespan. Added on top of the moving stress was the usual exhaustion that comes from being away from home, sleeping in a strange bed, working in a strange office, being away from friends/family, and eating too much restaurant food. Needless to say, I was ready to be home by the time I got back. Since I did my moving before I left on the second trip, I didn’t exactly feel like unpacking when I got home. The end result is that my bedroom still has boxes and random junk lying everywhere. Good times.

Work is going well. The trips for work helped wrap up a project I’d been working on for a while, which meant that I’ve been able to move in to some new things, which is always nice. Summer has made me wish that my job entailed being outside (or working less than 40 hours a week, either way), or that my office had a window. Of course, then I remember that I don’t work in a cubicle, and decide it’s not so bad. I’m still jealous of my friend Jessi, who is getting her masters, working part time, has the summer off from school, works 4 hours a day, and spends the rest of her time surfing and enjoying the outdoors.

Let’s see, what else is new… After living out here for over a year, I finally have people from back home coming to visit me here in beautiful San Diego. Kelsey is coming out this week with her sister Amy, and my sister Jen is coming out in the middle of August! No luck on dragging the parents put yet, but eventually I’ll get them out here.

Anyway, that’s what I’ve been up to. There’s a lot more than that, but most of my time is taken up with hanging out, doing stuff with my church, an generally trying to stay out if trouble. So far I’ve been pretty successful. I got an iPhone, but I’ll save my thoughts on that for a separate post. Suffice it to say I love it, but at the same time I can’t wait for Apple to release the first software update.

Peace out.

Wow. I can tell from the comments that there are a few people that actually read this thing.

Weird.

In contrast to my last post, this one is going to be nice and short. I’m trying to be better about posting, and fighting the urge to only post if I feel like writing about everything that’s been going on.

The Easter Sunrise service went really well. I helped set up on Saturday afternoon, and then stayed there and awake all night with a couple of friends to make sure no one tampered with (read: stole) any of the equipment (sound, instruments, etc). We had a good time hanging out, playing cards, talking, and playing with digital cameras and glo-sticks.

Needless to say, I was rather tired Sunday morning when it came time for the actual service to start (6:15 AM), though I had less to complain about than some (I hadn’t gotten up until noon on Saturday, so I’d only actually been awake for 18 hours or so). The service went well, and the turnout was amazing. Our normal Sunday services average between 130 and 150 adults, and we had around 650 people come to the Easter service! Hopefully they came away from it with a clear understanding of the Gospel, and hopefully we’ll see some of them in the future at our normal services.

As I said, we had some fun with a digicam Saturday and Sunday, and you can see the pictures at http://www.flickr.com/photos/fancyhands/sets/72157600063582730/. Some of the pictures are of setup, some are of the overnight party, and some are of the actual service (as well as a few random ones thrown in). I took a few of the overnight ones, but overall they’re Amanda’s (which explains some of the random ones – I assure you I didn’t take the ones of her and Wilma trying on clothes…)

(This is one of my favorites – Amanda decided to literally attack me with her blanket. I was leaning back in my chair, and I nearly toppled over…)

And for your further enjoyment, I’ve finally started uploading some of my pictures to Picasa Web Albums, so you can check out my pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/m.d.everhart/.

(As a side note, I’d really like to get a new digicam. I’m torn between a small, point-n-shoot, that I would actually take with me, and a digital SLR. I hate the zoom range you have to give up on the small p&s cameras, as well as the noise generated by their smaller, cheaper sensors, and the lack of full control (not that I’m a good enough photographer to really know better than the camera). I did some reading today, and I’m really tempted by the Sony Alpha 100 digital SLR. It’s gotten really good reviews, and it would let me use my Minolta lenses that I have for my 35mm. Unfortunately, I don’t have $600 lying around for the body alone, or $700-800 for the body and lens kit. I have lenses, but the camera has a 1.5x magnification vs. 35mm focal length ratings, so my 28-80 lens would be a far less versatile 42-120. Oh well, in due time.)

Night kids.

No, really! This is an honest-to-goodness, real, actual post! I figured I should probably write an actual update, since my last post consisted solely of song lyrics (it seems not everyone enjoyed them as much as I did. Bah.)

As usual, my lack of posting hasn’t been the result of a lack of time, or even a lack of things to write. No, once again, my lack of updates is the result of sheer laziness, of not actually sitting down to write. I still maintain that if I could easily blog anywhere, anytime, that I’d be a much more prolific blogger. The problem, of course, is how to accomplish that. A smart/PDA-phone would go a long ways to this end, as at least I wouldn’t be constrained to posting only when I’m at my computer. I can blog from my cell phone, but there’s no way that I’m writing posts anywhere near my normal length using a standard phone keyboard. Even with a PDA-phone, I’d still be limited by time (it’s not like I can actually take time during the work day to blog, even if I could do it without using my work PC).

I’ve thought that what I really need is a way to dictate by thought, by simply thinking the words. At first glance, it seems like an ideal solution. Usually the things I wish I could blog are monologues that run through my head when I’m not doing anything else. The problem, of course, is twofold. For one, the technology doesn’t exist yet. So that’s a problem. (Speaking of technology that doesn’t exist yet, hopefully Kelsey is still working on her transporter technology. Flying is just too expensive and takes too long.) The second problem is that even during these (brilliant) monologues, my brain just doesn’t stay focused. I have a tendency to repeat myself, and to wander completely off topic. At the very least, any writing done this way would have to be extensively proofread. Let’s face it, we’re all glad that no one else can hear our thoughts (and, in turn, we’re glad we can’t hear theirs).

So, basically, there’s not perfect solution, and I really just need to sit down and write, and stop making excuses.

(Insert two day break in writing this post. Part of the problem is also that I always feel like posts need to be large, comprehensive, and talk about everything that’s been going on. Clearly that is not the case, but I haven’t learned to love short posts yet, despite I think people’s eyes glaze over when I write epic posts.)

Two weeks ago I got a message from Ranjan saying that he was going to be in San Francisco for two weeks on travel for work, and that I should try to make it up there to hang out. Since I hadn’t seen him since last Labor Day when I visited him in Austin, and I hadn’t really talked to him since then either (we’re both really bad about picking up the phone), I decided this sounded like a great idea.

The downside was I couldn’t get one of the cheap Southwest flights from San Diego to San Francisco (actually San Jose or Oakland, $49 each way), because you have to buy tickets at least 14 days in advance. Since that following weekend was the only one he was going to be in town, there was clearly no way to get the cheap tickets. It’s really too bad, because I easily spent $100 on gas driving up there and back (Regular Unleaded is currently sitting around $3.20/gallon out here on the left coast.)

So, despite the distance involved, I decided to take Friday afternoon and Monday off from work, and drive up there for the weekend. Due to poor planning on my part, I managed to hit LA right at rush hour (it appears people leave early on Fridays. Duh…) I’ve been told it’s like that pretty much all day Friday, unless you go really late. Total time: 8:30. Stops: 2.

Saturday we (me, Ranjan, and his co-worker Tony) drove up to Napa. We only got lost a couple of times. Napa is gorgeous. The vines haven’t started leafing out yet, so there were rows upon rows of what were basically stumps. It’s still a beautiful area. Rolling hills, and lots of green this time of year. We took a couple of winery tours, which were pretty cool. One of the wineries we visited, Cakebread Cellars, is a small, family run winery. It’s a middle-of-the-road winery, with current vintage wines selling between $22 and $60 per bottle. They have a few wines in their reserve collections that sell for up to $100 per bottle. As a smaller winery, it’s fascinating how their wine making process differs from the larger, mass market wineries, like the second one we visited. Realistically, it’s simply a matter of production scale, but it’s still interesting.

The second winery we visited was the Robert Mondavi Winery. Unlike Cakebread, the Robert Mondavi Winery is definitely a mass-market winery. That’s not to say it’s cheap wine, though it is less expensive, and they produce many more bottles per year (though they do have some expensive wines in their reserve collection).

The winery tours were very educational, more so than I could have imagined. For example, I had no idea that the French barrel industry was still so active. Many (most?) wineries still use barrels that are hand crafted from French oak, in the traditional manner. No adhesives or glues are used, so the staves must be precisely selected so that the barrels seal properly. (Here’s an interesting article on cooperage, or barrel making)

Another thing I didn’t know was that egg whites or other substances are used to clarify each barrel of wine and remove impurities (don’t worry, it’s removed prior to bottling). Evidently, the wine industry in Napa has fostered the development of a significant egg industry in the area.

Saturday night we headed into the city (San Francisco that is), but we were really too tired to do it justice (at least we didn’t have to deal with traffic and parking since we took the BART in). We walked around a bit and looked at the shops, then we took the trolley down to the wharf. Unfortunately, it was after dark by the time we got there, but it was still kind of cool. We played some games at the Musee Mecanique at Pier 45, then we had dinner at the Franciscan Crab Restaurant (where I don’t believe any of us actually had crab, sadly). Finally, we caught a cab back to the BART station, and headed home for the evening.

On Sunday, we drove down to Monterey, to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was definitely worth the drive (and probably the $25 admission fee as well). They have exhibits of everything from tide pools to the deep ocean, though probably the coolest exhibit is the Kelp Forest exhibit, which mimics the environment of the kelp forest which is in the Monterey Bay. It really brings home that these environments are right off our coast, and not only in some remote, far off region of the world.

Of course, the sea otters were pretty cool too. Who doesn’t love otters?

Finally, bright and early Monday morning, I left to drive home. This time I hit LA around 11AM, and managed to cut my trip time down to around 6:15 or so, with stops. (Not bad for a drive that Google lists as approximately 7 hours ).

Since then, things haven’t been too busy. I’ve been running around as usual, working, hanging out with friends, and doing church stuff. Things at church are still going really well; I’m continually encouraged by the teaching and the people. I’ve taken over as the head of our ushering team, which is an amazing service opportunity, and I’ll also be helping out with coordinating our community meal on the third Sunday of the month.

This Sunday is Easter Sunday, and every year my church does a sunrise service at the Carlsbad Flower Fields. It’s probably our biggest endeavor of the year, and one that I’ve yet to experience (since I moved here at the end of May last year). I’m pretty excited about it.

Wow, that’s a long post. No skimming. (If you do, then you can’t complain that I never post!)

“Walk this world alone try to stay on my feet
Sometimes crawl, fall, but I stand up cause I’m afraid to sleep
And open my eyes to a new day, with all new problems and all new pain
All the faces are filled with so much anger
Losing our dignity and hope from fear of danger
After all the wars, after settling the scores, at the break of dawn we will be deaf to the answers

There’s so much bigotry, misunderstanding and fear
With eyes squinted and fists clinched we reach out for what is dear
We want it we want
We want a reason to live
We’re on a pilgrimage
A crusade for hope
Cause in our hearts and minds and souls we know
We need it we need
We need more than this

Going through this life looking for angels
People passing by looking for angels
Walking down the streets looking for angels
Everyone I meet looking for angels

So many nations with so many hungry people
So many homeless scrounging around for dirty needles
On the rise, teen suicide, when we will realize
we’ve been desensitized by the lies of the world
We’re oppressed and impressed by the greedy
Whose hands squeeze the life out of the needy
When will we learn that wars, threats, and regrets are the cause and effect of living in fear

Who can help protect the innocence of our children
Stolen on the internet with images they can’t forget
We want it we want
We want a reason to live
We represent a generation that wants to turn back a nation
To let love be our light and salvation
We need it we need
We need more than this

Going through this life looking for angels
People passing by looking for angels
Walking down the streets looking for angels
Everyone I meet looking for angels

I became a savior to some kids I’ll never meet
Sent a check in the mail to buy them something to eat
What will you do to make a difference, to make a change?

What will you do to help someone along the way?
Just a touch, a smile as you turn the other cheek
Pray for your enemies, humble yourself, love’s staring back at me
In the midst of the most painful faces
Angels show up in the strangest of places

Going through this life looking for angels
People passing by looking for angels
Walking down the streets looking for angels
Everyone I meet looking for angels”

Skillet – Looking for Angels

I don’t wanna live
I don’t wanna breathe
‘les I feel you next to me
you take the pain I feel
waking up to you never felt so real
I don’t wanna sleep
I don’t wanna dream
’cause my dreams don’t comfort me
The way you make me feel
Waking up to you never felt so real

I hate living without you
Dead wrong to ever doubt you
But my demons lay in waiting
Tempting me away
Oh how I adore you
Oh how I thirst for you
Oh how I need you

- Comatose by Skillet

Isn’t it amazing how music can get into your head like nothing else can? I don’t just mean getting stuck in your head (though that’s certainly the case as well), but rather, the way music can speak to you the way that nothing else does. The way you can hear a song and think “That’s totally how I feel,” or “Wow, he/she/they are right!” Music calms, inspires, soothes, emboldens, and empassions us. It incites action, inspires contemplation, ignites discussion, and provokes meditation. The right song can convey thoughts that we’d be hard pressed to put to words.

The song above is the title track from Skillet’s latest album. Rebirthing, a song by Skillet that I previously mentioned is also on this album. I bought Rebirthing a while on the iTunes Music Store, but for whatever reason I didn’t buy the album at the time after previewing the rest of the tracks. Well, I recently bought the whole album (I needed new music – the ITMS is a dangerous thing in this regard), and I wish I hadn’t waited so long. It’s great.

It’s been an intense week already; things have just been happening all over the place. Nothing too exciting in my life, but seeing what’s going on around me is insane. Shane and Erika, who lead my community group, had their baby this past Friday night (their second). Ordinarily, this wouldn’t be too crazy (she was due in about 10 days), except for the fact that she had the baby at home. Now granted, people were having babies long before there were hospitals and OB/GYNs. This time, however, the plan wasn’t to have the baby at home. Basically, by the time they realized she was going to have the baby, it was far too late to get to the hospital, so she delivered it at home. Fortunately, the paramedics got there in time to do the delivery, and everything went well. Erika and their new baby girl, Tegan McKenna, came home from the hospital Saturday night, less than 24 hours after they’d been admitted.

I got to see Tegan tonight at community group, and she is adorable. And tiny. Really tiny. And as far as babies go, she’s not that small. I actually haven’t been around a newborn before, so I really have no concept of what they’re like. I even got to hold her, which I think makes her the first baby I’ve ever held. It’s kinda crazy. I can’t even imagine what it would be like to be a new dad, holding your child for the first time. I definitely want to have a family someday, but for now I can say I’m glad that I don’t yet. I’m not ready to be a dad yet, though I think most people feel that way right up until they actually are. It’s still crazy stuff.

The other big thing this week was my friends Gene and Kristie’s wedding. They had a beautiful outdoor ceremony Saturday afternoon. There were about 150 people, so it was pretty small, and it was set in a gorgeous, intimate, secluded area of one of the local country clubs. They looked so happy, and everything went very well. The crazy part of all of this was the fact that they met each other last August, got engaged in October, and married in March. I think things will work out well though. I know it wasn’t a decision either of them made lightly, and they both feel like this is the person that God has brought to them. I’m happy for them.

And that’s not all, just the most radical things. Friends getting engaged, looking into buying houses, moving, getting ready to have their own baby, stepping into leadership roles in the church, starting new jobs, wrestling with who they are and what God wants for their lives, and always trying to figure out how this all works. If there’s one thing that’s becoming clear to me, it’s the continuous nature of change.

I can’t believe I’ve been in California for 9 months already. I find myself thinking (and occasionally saying) things that I didn’t think I’d be saying for a long time, like “It seems like just yesterday that…” or “The weeks just fly by.”

I must be getting old.

(Though I can take solace in the fact that most of my friends out here are older than me – a fact that I rarely let them forget <grin>)

My last post was over a month ago. That one was a month and a half after the previous one.

I’m a total slacker. And I apologize.

I’m not sure what has prompted my posting laziness as of late. To be certain, some of it has been the number of nights I find myself walking in after midnight, getting ready for bed, and promptly falling asleep. But that’s really just an excuse. I guess the bigger reason is I just haven’t really felt like it. Nothing too amazing has been going on lately, and I haven’t felt the need to ramble aimlessly as much.

The other factor is the sheer number of distractions I have when I’m home. The apartment needs to be cleaned, there are recorded TV shows waiting to be watched on my media center, websites to search, friends to IM with, etc, etc, etc.

It would be fair to say I’ve been suffering from a distraction overload lately. Tonight was the first night I’ve been home in a while (or so it seems, in reality I was home last Friday and just chose to be lazy instead of productive). I enjoy going out and doing stuff with friends, but there really is something to be said for taking a break, getting some space, and just being alone. The state of my apartment hasn’t been helping either. I’m not a neat freak by any stretch of imagination, but things had just gotten completely out of control. The really frustrating part was I’ve been trying to get some cleaning and organizing done for the last week or so, and just haven’t made much progress. I really need a large chunk of time where I can get a bunch done at once. Otherwise, I get stuck dealing with the reoccuring tasks (dishes and laundry most notably), and never get to cleaning the bathroom, or filing my old bills (and paying the new ones…)

In that regard, tonight was a good night. I spent too much time running errands (picked up some parts at Fry’s for work, just in case I can’t get them from on-hand stock; dropped off five rolls of film at WalMart), so I didn’t get as much time at home as I would have liked. None the less, as soon as I got home I attacked the mess, and made some progress. It was very theraputic (even lint-rolling an entire bed sheet that had been attacked by one of my blankets, and was covered in lint even after two trips through the drier. Light cream colored fuzz all over a dark blue sheet. Ugh.)

Ok. It’s late, and I’m tired. I have more that I’d like to post, but it’ll have to wait. Hopefully not too long.

Do you ever have one of those songs that, no matter how many times you hear it, you never get sick of it? I don’t mean those songs that you like, and then you love, and then the radio beats you over the head with it, and you start switching the station every time it comes on.

No, I mean a song that you literally crank the volume up every time you hear it. My current one is “Rebirthing” by Skillet.

“I lie here paralytic
Inside this soul
Screaming for you till my throat is numb
I wanna break out I need a way out
I don’t believe that it’s gotta be this way
The worst is the waiting
In this womb I’m suffocating

Feel your presence filling up my lungs with oxygen
I take you in
I’ve died

[Chorus:]

Rebirthing now
I wanna live for love wanna live for you and me
Breathe for the first time now
I come alive somehow
Rebirthing now
I wanna live my life wanna give you everything
Breathe for the first time now
I come alive somehow”

Sadly, Skillet did again what they do every time; there’s one killer song on the album that’s loud, heavy, driving, and powerful… and the rest are much more mellow. And I just don’t listen to that much mellow music (if I am, it’s pretty much guaranteed what kind of mood I’m in).

(Side note: I fixed the general wireless issue I was having It no longer drops out randomly on all of my wireless devices. However, Apple still has not fixed the problem with Macbooks dropping the wireless connection when they’re on battery, like mine is now. I’d even be happy to find a work-around. No such luck. And yes, this means it just dropped out on me.)

So yeah… it’s again been over a month since I posted. Not a whole lot has happened since I posted last. I went home for about 12 days for Christmas, which was awesome. It was great to see my family and catch up with some of my friends that are in Michigan. It was too short, and I didn’t get to see everyone or spend as much time with everyone as I would have liked. So basically, it’s all of your turn to visit me. C’mon out, the weather is gorgeous (well… at least it’s better…)

My mom informed me last night that we have a new addition to the family: a puppy! I have to admit, I’m jealous, but it just wouldn’t work for me to have a puppy right now. I could swing a cat, or a house-broken dog, but my apartment doesn’t allow big dogs (I’m not a small dog person), and I’m really not home enough to give a pet the attention it deserves. Oh well, some day. Anyway, here are some pictures of the adorable little fuzz-ball. Her name is Mía, and she’s a Golden Retriever.

Isn’t she cute?

So like I said, not much has been going on. I’ve been watching Lost with some friends on a fairly regular basis (we started with the Season 1 DVDs), and we just finished up Season 2 last night. AGHHHHH that show is aggravating. I really can’t even describe it. If you’ve gotten into it, you know what I mean. I did hear that the writers/producers/etc recently had a discussion about when they’re going to end it. One of the comments made was something to the effect of “We had a great example of what not to do with the X-Files. It was a great show that went two seasons longer than it should have.” Now, I didn’t really follow the X-Files, but it certainly wouldn’t have been the first show that the studio tried to milk for all it was worth (and devalued in the process). I’m actually glad to hear that this is something the producers/etc are conscious of with Lost; it’s such a great, intense, intricate show that to have it wither away would be a complete waste.

Anyway, I’m out for now, maybe I’ll try and get back on a more regular post schedule…

Maybe.