Digital Wilderness

Christmas has come and gone. Now it’s back to work… I’m not very motivated, so I thought I’d squeeze in a quick blog post.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas, enjoyed time with family and friends and took advantage of the days off work and/or school to relax. I had a great Christmas; it was really good to see family that I haven’t seen much lately. As usual, I ate more than I should have…The food is so good, it’s hard not to! Besides, it’s not often that I get meals like this, so I don’t feel too bad about taking advantage of the opportunity.

I took the Wii to my paternal grandparents’ house and it sure brought a lot of entertainment. Most of the family, including my grandparents, enjoyed bowling and grandpa went golfing. My 8 year old third cousin played for the first time and kicked butt in bowling. Good times all around! Just confirms what most people know – that the Wii is for anyone, is fun and social. I need to get another “party” game, since all I have is Wii Sports. I’m thinking of Wii Play, Mario and Sonic at the Olympics, Wario Ware Smooth Moves or Mario Party 8.

Yesterday, my brother, sister-in-law and I hit the slopes at Perfect North for some skiing fun. I enjoy skiing, but haven’t been in a few years, so it was good to have the opportunity to go again. We did many of the trails and David and I worked up to a single diamond slope. My favorites are Far Side and Backstage, the long, intermediate slopes. I decided next time I’m going to give snowboarding a shot. I used to be a skateboarder (very very loosely defined) in my youth, so maybe I’ll take to it.

Busy times ahead – gatherings and parties each night from now until next year – and there are many chores and projects I want to get done before work picks back up in full force and the spring semester starts. Don’t expect much blogging from me in the coming days, but I should have plenty to write about when I do get time.

Have a safe and happy New Year!

Have a very Merry and Blessed Christmas everyone!

I leave you with this, the video for Santa Claus Is Watchin’ You by the very funny and talented Ray Stevens.

Great new song by Sanctus Real – We Need Each Other.

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Yes! Peter Jackson, producer of the LOTR trilogy, and New Line Cinema, who owns the rights to The Hobbit, have worked out their differences.

PETER JACKSON AND NEW LINE CINEMA JOIN WITH MGM TO PRODUCE “THE HOBBIT”

Expected release dates are 2010 for the first Hobbit movie, and 2011 for the “sequel.” Woohoo!

Just because there aren’t enough lists out there this time of year and I should be studying instead of blogging, here are a whole slew of motivational quotes: Top 100 Motivational Quotes.

The “top” 10 are:

1. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.
   - Aristotle
2. The best way out is always through.
   - Robert Frost
3. Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking.
   - William B. Sprague
4. Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.
   - Albert Einstein
5. Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.
   - Henry Ford
6. I know for sure that what we dwell on is who we become.
   - Oprah Winfrey
7. I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.
   - Michael Jordan
8. You must be the change you want to see in the world.
   - Mahatma Gandhi
9. What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.
   - Goethe
10. You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.
    - Zig Ziglar

Cracked.com asks, and answers, Which is the Greatest Trilogy?

In the post, pitting Star Wars vs. The Matrix vs. Lord of the Rings, they “quantifiably conclude which film trilogy is superior.”

The winner? Star Wars…but don’t take it too seriously. It’s a humorous article.

Of the three, LOTR is my pick by far. The Matrix trilogy isn’t even on the radar. (The first film is one of my favorites, but the other two are pretty bad in my opinion.)

But there are many other film trilogies besides these three. I’d put Indiana Jones movies right up there with LOTR movies in my list of favorite movies.

And that gives me an idea for a new poll – What’s Your Favorite Film Trilogy? Vote now!

As many of you know, I’m color blind. You know that test, with the circles and numbers inside? I took one of these tests at the doctor when I was younger and only saw 3 of the nine or ten numbers. Thankfully, I’m not as bad as my brother, who only saw 1, I believe. It can be tough at times being color blind. I don’t know what it’s like to live in a non-color blind world, though, so I don’t really know what I’m missing until someone points it out.

Critiquewall.com has a nice post about color blindness and gives a glimpse into a color blind world for non-color blind people. At least, I think it’s a glimpse… The images look pretty accurate to me – I can’t really tell any difference in the images, but I don’t know how non-color blind people see them. I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on this post and the images.

This morning I caught myself doing something backwards. I had an epiphany about it and thought I’d share, hoping to encourage others.

I had honest, good intentions and motivations about doing something for a friend and proceeded with my course of action, a little unsure about it but still thinking it was the right thing to do, and that I needed to do it before I talked myself out of it. Only after it was said and done, when I started second-guessing myself, did I even think to pray that God would bless and make the situation turn out well.

That, my friends, is the wrong way to do things! I should have consulted God FIRST, before doing *my* will, not after. There is a big difference between asking God to bless your will and seeking to do God’s will (which comes with built in blessings!) and obeying him in the first place.

A year ago, I don’t know if I would have even thought about this, but I’ve grown quite a bit in my faith this year, and it’s refreshing to know that I’m starting to take notice of areas that need work, rather than being in denial and thinking I was fine the way I was. It’s a good first step, but there’s a long way to go.

Are there things in your life that you stumble into without consulting God first, but then beg Him to put His hand in later? Maybe it’s time for a Total Mind Makeover!

On a separate note…you would not believe (or maybe you would) how much more comment spam I have gotten over the past week, since I put up the credit card poll and the Dave Ramsey post. Thankfully, the comment spam has been blocked from appearing on the site, but the site has still been hit harder than usual and consequently slow at times. I hope it calms down…

Happy 30th Birthday, Robin! Welcome to the old people’s club

Ahhh…one final is over! Woohoo! My other final is on the 20th, so it’s still a ways off – and too close to Christmas. Given how stressed and overwhelmed I’ve felt this semester, it feels good to know that I’m going to come out of it with good grades…and “only” 50 more hours to take.

I signed up for my spring semester classes this morning, too. I registered for 6 credit hours (3 classes), though that I may go to as many as 8 (4 classes) if I can come up with the finances. I’m really looking forward to the two Econ classes. I loved Econ in undergrad, so I hope these classes are as enjoyable. My other class is Accounting. I’m a fan of numbers, and I had two accounting classes in undergrad, so it shouldn’t be too bad.

But I’m going to enjoy Christmas break first!