"It's the end of the world as we know it...."

Oh...sorry, I meant it's almost 2012...right, my bad....actually, it's only 4 hours and 22 minutes away to be exact! I WILL be posting another post when the new year arrives. :D

~A Reborn.

Digital/Cloud Media. Why?!

If you know me, you know that I love physical objects when it comes to technology, especially media. I love CD's(especially for music), flash drives, external hard drives and such. I don't understand this big iTunes thing, this whole digital media deal. Personally, I like proof that I own an album and besides, it's nice to have the options to be able to put in your car, and the CD case to display on the wall, or the booklet with the lyrics! The whole thing is cool!
First it was iTunes and now this thing called The Cloud. While this is a cool idea, it still takes away from the physicality that a CD(or something similar) gives. But...some things are almost necessary, as technology gets more advanced, people want things to be easier and faster, so, they get it. Good? Bad? Hard to tell. It is certainly easier to do some things.
Well, paper and ink are supposedly on their way out, but I'll always use that in my life, even if they get rid of it in my lifetime. I'll make my own! Haha, anyway, I just thought I'd vent a little. And 'venting', writing down your ideas and such really helps you see what you really think about a subject.

UPDATE! So, roughly 3 years later, I have definitely changed my tune. Cloud storage all the way! I am still a huge fan of local storage, but it is SO NICE to have everything accessible through Google Drive on any phone I end up upgrading to. Box, Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, and many others work wonderfully for storing photos, videos, movies, documents, and many other important digital items. Huge fan these days. It saves so much time.

PS...In reference to music, I've gotten over myself. CDs take up so much space and to have everything accessible on a phone is simply magical.

Best wishes!

~A Reborn.

Generosity/Hospitality.

This will be a short post, but I just wanted to say this.

Yesterday, I was working, installing Satellite internet for someone who was WAY out in the middle of nowhere. The area was so forested, that it was a very slim chance they would be able to get internet at all. So, with the thought that it was possible, the other installer and I went ahead and started the installation. After getting the dish on the roof, we started peek-and-pointing, which is where you try to find the satellite with a tone that is built into the dish tria(receiver/transceiver), and that proved to be very troublesome. The satellite didn't want to cooperate. At all. so, after getting settled inside for provisioning, we were pretty stressed, getting this thing to work for them was important to us, because we were literally their only chance to get internet, which they needed. So, the stressed installers, went inside, and not 5 minutes after, the 'Missus' of the household insisted we eat an entire plate of cookies, drink two cups of hot cider and coffee, and to top it off, she sent us both home with a tin of cookies each! She was such a sweet person, and we were very grateful for her generosity, hospitality and patience while we took 'forever' to get their internet up. It's very nice to know that there are people out there that still care. And that are that nice.

Ok, not so short...but it worked out!

~A Reborn.

Slow Life...

Wow, life is slow right now. Let's do a recap of the past week, or what I can remember anyway.
Sunday: Parents in the big town for the ENTIRE DAY. I tell you, it was a fun day. Relaxing, I mostly kept the house warm and did a little Minecraft work.
Monday: A normal day with school, and a basketball home game, in which my sister did amazing, as did the rest of the team.
Tuesday: School(?), and Kiddo Night, a youth ministry that I play music for with a band.
Wednesday: Clean office, Geology Class(Candle making this week), P.E at the park(Which was really fun), and then the most anticipated game of the basketball season, us against another nearby town. Apparently rivals...even among friends....
Thursday: Wake up, warm up house, get in car, mentally prepare myself....and then process fish for the next 2 hours. Ok, so it wasn't anywhere near as bad as I thought it would be, but still pretty gross. All 30 of those massive gutted steel head sitting in the back of the truck, in a pool of blood and slime...and fish eggs. I handed them down to Bruce, he filleted them, Bennett washed the fillets off, we carried the tote inside, sliced the fish into chunks, wrapped them in plastic, taped and labeled them, and then put them into bags for people who need it. Food bank work. Love it.

Have a good weekend all!


~A Reborn.

Fractured Image...

This morning, after getting in the car to go to work, I started examining the vehicle's windows, as it can sometimes get boring on a long drive...assuming you aren't driving.
Anyway, after looking closely at the window for a while and the frost that it had collected, I started thinking that the image looked a lot like someones life portrayed in a picture. What I saw was this: A window, which represents our lives, both spiritual and physical. The Frost, which represents who we are, and what we do in our lives. What made me sad was the number of fractures, bald spots, and inconsistencies. These represent the parts of our lives that are incomplete, inconsistent, sinful, and otherwise lacking the presence of Jesus Christ. As I looked to every other window in the car, I noticed the same thing. All of them had fractures, inconsistencies, bald spots, etc. This is a good analogy for every man/woman in the world. We all have our 'bald spots', inconsistencies, and 'fractures'. Without Christ, we all have these things in our spiritual and physical lives. With Him, these things are gone. I'm afraid I can't think of a window based analogy to fit the picture of salvation, but I promise you, salvation exists.

~A Reborn.

HP G6Z Pavillion Laptop....COMPUTER!!

So, after waiting for what seemed like forever(13 days), I was resigned to the fact that my laptop would arrive on Thursday, as the tracking number said it would. After seeing FedEx, UPS and USPS all come and go today, with no laptop...
Later in the day, I call mom to check on something, and she mentions that there is a black box with my name written all over it. I get a little excited....so, now, after setting up my system,Windows Media Player settings, Microsoft settings and everything else I think, I am using my new laptop!! It. Is. Uh-Mazing. Windows 7 is soo much better than XP, although I always seem to find things that need improvement. Or things to add. New interface features....etc. But it's so coool!! Almost as good as Android...but not quite. :)

~A Reborn.

Music: Figure #1.

I am listening to an amazing soundtrack...Tron: Legacy, music done by Daft Punk, who made a brief appearance in the film, portraying DJs, which is fitting, considering they ARE DJs...
The music is a mix of symphony and electronic, and while the idea of that may be a little 'disgusting' to some, I find it very agreeable. The composer and Daft Punk did a very good job of blending it together without making it sound too 'classic' or making it seem as if they were trying to get it sound more futuristic than needed. While they did add a lot of 'dance' style music, you can hear that it is not the sole intention. I think the music being played at any given time during the movie was very appropriate to the events happening on-screen. I recommend the movie and soundtrack both; both are gripping, fascinating, and leave you wanting more.

~A Reborn.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Hope you ALL had a blessed evening, and a great time with family, stuffing your faces. :D
And yes I know it's exactly 15 minutes till Friday, but whatevs....  :D

~A Reborn.

Alert on Grooveshark.

All of you Grooveshark users might want to start looking for alternative media streaming sites, such as Pandora, because Grooveshark is about to get sued into oblivion by Universal Music Group. Apparently, Grooveshark illegally uploaded over 100,000 UMG songs to their own site. The collection on EACH SONG may reach up to $150,000. For EACH SONG. Just so ya know. Anyway, Pandora is awesome. You should switch. :D

~A Reborn

Something Hard...

You know those times when you are sitting down with a mug of cocoa and a cup full of cheerio type food, and you are thinking you should get something done instead of sitting down. I mean, it hasn't even been a long day. Is there some chore you need to do? Pull in some firewood, straighten up the living room, maybe even finish some homework that is left over from last Friday?
Now that's something I put off too often. I have never liked school, but I know how important it is. Than why do I constantly try to avoid it? Being home schooled, it's easier to avoid than if I was public schooled, but it still has it's consequences. I mean the parents still check it, you know?
You have to get it done. But sometimes your work list seems so big or hard that you don't even want to think about starting it.
But after you start, it gets easier, and more fun, astonishingly enough. And when you finish, there is a sense of completion in yourself; a good feeling that you have done something constructive and made yourself a better person.

Well, my main point was, there are a lot of hard things in life, some so small if you think about it, and we don't want to do them. But if you work hard, get it done, smile and say "I did it", then you will get one of the most wonderful feelings: true satisfaction.
It will also be easier in the future to stop blogging, drag yourself off that couch and get to work.  :D

        -A Reborn.

Bone knitting.

I think a lot of us will let our muscles knit from this last week. Manual labor jobs are killer sometimes! But I'm so glad they exist.

I walked in on a conversation that some friends were having about maturity, and I sort of joined in.
An interesting point came up about how a job can really change you. That's true, although I can think of another really good one: Relationships. It is astounding how much you learn when a friend is having problems and you are neck deep in them. During the trials, you may think that you have no clue, that you are being immature with some things, that things are not going to be ok.
But when you come out of it, you're like "wow, I have come away with something very important". One: you now know you can completely trust God. Two: you know how to react better in the future and you can handle things better.

Alright, that's off my mind, I am going to go eat breakfast!

                 -A Reborn.

Moving van.

Some people use random titles to their blog posts. Me? I use very random titles to my blog posts.
Although todays' title is relevant to today, and what I will be doing. I get to see friends, help load a moving van, and wish people safe journey to their destination. It's a sad/happy day for some of us who have family moving away.

-A Reborn.

Laptop!!!

Searching for a laptop is tough! I'm buying an HP(No MAC for me...), and boy, expensive after customization!
But definitely worth it! I believe it's the HP DV6QE.
Any comments? Objections?


                    -A Reborn.

Pandora, and writing.

Ah, I have discovered the joy of Pandora Internet Radio on my phone. I am currently listening to Within Temptation, Evenescence and others like them, while writing my book. Lets see how many pages I can finish tonight....

Pandora is amazing! Although I caution you on two things: One, make sure you have the data/bandwidth available on your network/system/package for internet/service. And two, not all the songs are clean even if your station is formed off of a christian band. But that's what the 'thumbs down' button is for I suppose!

Enjoy your evening!

                               A Reborn.

Work, work, work, weekend!

Ok, so now I know how it feels to look forward to Saturday! And I'm speaking in terms of work, not school.
I get the office to myself today, and it's a very interesting Friday. TONS of phone calls, several people have stopped by already, and I'm ready to go home now. :D
Ok, so I'm not whining, because I know that a lot of people have harder jobs than I do, but yikes! I now understand why mom is so tired at the end of the day!
So you who have those manual labor jobs, keep at it! You are making more than me, and it's more fun!

Work stories anyone? Got any really good "Awful job" stories to share? I'd love to hear them!

It's coooold...

Ok, so whose idea was it to have 20 degree weather?! Alright, aside from the fact that it IS november, it's a little too chilly to work in. Up in Grangeville, on the mountain top, it reached 24F with a wind chill of 11F and it was blowing at 14mph. I, wearing no gloves, felt sorrier for my dad, who was on top of the 100ft metal tower in the freezing cold and wind. SO glad that operation went smoothly!
Any of you feel like sharing cold weather stories? It's that time of year... 

Life Ramblings.....

Life can be so frustrating at times. One moment, you may feel like exploding with joy, the next, you could be feeling completely deflated, or withered away. And it's amazing how much this has to do with the people around you; your friends, family, other people you know. Emotional status always seems to revolve around experiences with people. During the bad experiences, you may think that your world will fall apart(depending on who you are dealing with), but when it's over, you realize you have learned so much. I realize that God sets these situations up(one way or another) to help us build our character. How will we react to these situations? Only He knows, and we need to find out. After we do, we should decide whether or not we need to fix something in our lives. Is the way we reacted the way we should react? Or is our character in need of some moral building? Just some stuff to think about...have a good one, and may God bless you.

True love?

I have been thinking a lot about what it means to be a true christian or man of God lately, and I have found out a lot about myself(But we'll get to that later, if ever).
When people say you have to 'Love God with all your heart', I get confused. I mean, how can you love someone you have never met? As a guy, it's hard for me to feel love for someone I don't know well. And there is a huge difference between love and feeling extreme gratitude or appreciation towards someone who has done something that means a lot to you.
I have always had trouble feeling this 'Love' for God. But when I recently truly gave Him my life, to serve Him, He started doing these things for me. I was shocked and humbled at how He could think these small things (in comparison to Him) were important enough for Him to bother with. He also did some pretty big things in my life, and is still doing so. God knows I am still a difficult person, and can be annoying, irritating, and sometimes a little arrogant. That doesn't mean I care less about my friends or family. It just means I either have a unique way of showing my love for them, or I am doing the wrong thing of venting stress from a long week, day, situation, and in doing so, yes, I could hurt someone. And I regret every time I have made someone upset, angry, or hurt.
But back on track, after He started doing all of this for me in return for my service to Him, I realized that the meaning of 'Loving God' was different to me than loving people. It's a unique thing. He is there to protect me, love me, and show me the way. My gratitude can only be shown by giving Him my life to serve Him.
I hope this helped anyone in need today or the next.

October is winding down...

October is finally starting to wind down, the leaves are actually changing color this year(!), and people have the nerve to put up halloween lights of all things! Anyway, ever have an early thanksgiving dinner? Well we are. Again. It will be fun, what with the people that never come to the real thanksgiving, the 5+ pies that my sister made, and of course, what would thanksgiving be without those snowballs saved from last year that we stored in the deep freezer! Ok, so I'm just kidding about that, but still...

Contemplations.

Finally made it online! I have been meaning to start a blog for a long time.
I was talking with a friend about boredom, and I had the idea to make a blog based on and about boredom itself. Of course, that would be pointless, as I would get bored writing it. Not a good way to start out, eh?
So, anyway, I'll leave with this post. I think I'll go and eat dinner before the game...

UPDATE!
Congratulations! You made it to the beginning! Enjoy your stay, it'll be wonderful to have you take a look around. :)

~A Reborn~