how do you sleep lyrics
how do you get pregnant
how do you say i love you in spanish
how do you get farmville cash
how do you say i love you in french
how do you make a heart on facebook
how do you get pink eye
how do you divide fractions
how do you tie a tie
how do you eat a pomegranate
One of those isn't a question and doesn't count. Of the rest, I know the answers to 7 :)
In other news, I forgot what I was going to ask Google how to do...
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Saturday, November 28, 2009
No Hope
While running errands today, I stopped by the Honda motorcycle dealer to restock my supply of oil filters. I walked in the front entrance between the two rows of bikes, lined up like two armies ready for battle - the quick, aggressive sport bikes on one side, the strong, burly cruisers on the other.
Among the sport bikes stood a 10-year-old lad, his red hair glowing almost as much as his smiling face. He was sizing up what was apparently his favorite bike in the shop - a brand new shiny green and black 600 double-R. As I entered, he scanned the room to see if anyone was watching him. I was the only one even remotely paying attention. Our eyes met, and his became wide with consternation. I smiled, he decided that I was not a threat after all, and went through with his original plan. Left foot on the foot peg, right leg up and over, and he was on the bike.
I pretended to not take notice, but it probably didn't matter; the boy was lost in his own world. He crouched down low, knees gripping the gas tank, and gave the throttle a little twist. His eyes told the story - he was racing in the Isle of Man TT, coming out of a tight turn, accelerating hard, flying down the straightaway at 170mph, the rest of the competition in his mirrors, unable to catch up. His lips couldn't help but whisper "This is awesome".
There is no hope for that poor boy. He is too far gone.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
The ABCs of Google
In an attempt to keep my blog from being over a year old, I will post something quick and easy, the ABCs of Google - the top search term for each letter. This could be turned into a children's book!
a is for amazon
b is for best buy
c is for craigslist
d is for dictionary
e is for ebay
f is for facebook
g is for gmail
h is for hotmail
i is for imdb
j is for jet blue
k is for kohls
l is for lowes
m is for mapquest
n is for netflix
o is for old navy
p is for pandora
q is for quotes
r is for realtor.com
s is for southwest airlines
t is for target
u is for usps
v is for verizon wireless
w is for walmart
x is for xm radio
y is for youtube
z is for zillow
a is for amazon
b is for best buy
c is for craigslist
d is for dictionary
e is for ebay
f is for facebook
g is for gmail
h is for hotmail
i is for imdb
j is for jet blue
k is for kohls
l is for lowes
m is for mapquest
n is for netflix
o is for old navy
p is for pandora
q is for quotes
r is for realtor.com
s is for southwest airlines
t is for target
u is for usps
v is for verizon wireless
w is for walmart
x is for xm radio
y is for youtube
z is for zillow
Saturday, November 22, 2008
God is like a soundman
I was a soundman for almost two years, both at my church at for a college club I was involved in. There's a saying that's somewhat of a running joke, and somewhat just a true statement - that if you do a good job running sound then nobody will notice you. You can be back there working really hard switching mics, fading between sources, generating a mix, eliminating feedback, maybe making a recording of it all. And if you do a good job, nobody is the wiser that any of it is going on at all, and probably don't even think about the fact that you are there.
Sometimes I feel like we're the audience/congregation/whatever and God is the soundman. He's there looking out for us, guiding our lives, turning bad situations into good, and we take it all for granted.
Do you ever wonder...
That time you just couldn't find your keys/badge/wallet/phone and were late to wherever you were going.
Or the time you got stuck behind the slowest driver in the world, just barely caught the light red, and then had to wait for a train.
How would things have been different if it hadn't happened? I don't know. Maybe not at all. But maybe a deer was going to jump out in front of your car, but because you were late it was long gone before you even got there. Or maybe you would have missed randomly running into that friend who you had an excellent conversation with.
Maybe I've watched too many movies and just like to fantisize. But in any case, we know that God is truely looking out for us, and that's a fact that we just plain take for granted most of the time. Most of the time we won't ever know the what or the how, but He does it, and He's good at it.
So take a minute to thank Him for it. And next time something annoying happens to you, instead of griping about it, stop and wonder - is it just God shaping your future for the better?
Sometimes I feel like we're the audience/congregation/whatever and God is the soundman. He's there looking out for us, guiding our lives, turning bad situations into good, and we take it all for granted.
Do you ever wonder...
That time you just couldn't find your keys/badge/wallet/phone and were late to wherever you were going.
Or the time you got stuck behind the slowest driver in the world, just barely caught the light red, and then had to wait for a train.
How would things have been different if it hadn't happened? I don't know. Maybe not at all. But maybe a deer was going to jump out in front of your car, but because you were late it was long gone before you even got there. Or maybe you would have missed randomly running into that friend who you had an excellent conversation with.
Maybe I've watched too many movies and just like to fantisize. But in any case, we know that God is truely looking out for us, and that's a fact that we just plain take for granted most of the time. Most of the time we won't ever know the what or the how, but He does it, and He's good at it.
So take a minute to thank Him for it. And next time something annoying happens to you, instead of griping about it, stop and wonder - is it just God shaping your future for the better?
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Wow
It's still hard to believe that just happened.
There's something to be said for just putting your mind to something. And tricking yourself can come in handy, too.
There's something to be said for just putting your mind to something. And tricking yourself can come in handy, too.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Geico should sell health insurance
This week is the enrollment period for health care plans at work, so there has been a lot of discussion on the various plans available through our company as well as thoughts on national health care, trends that the providers are going towards, and other related topics. Anyway, it got me thinking about the whole topic, and I've decided that health insurance should be a lot more like car insurance.
Notice how I said health insurance, not health care. I think the change in terms indicates one of the big issues with the current system. People expect their policies to pay for any health related expenses they have. Weekly visits to the chiropractor, dozens of medications, trips to the doctor for every upset stomach, even gym memberships.
Imagine if auto insurance became auto care. If they payed for oil changes, fixing a breakdown, even for your gas. Sounds great, right? The problem is, someone has to pay for all this, and it's not the insurance company. If they did, they'd go bankrupt. So where does the money come from? The policy holders. Really, you're paying for it one way or another, either directly, or with sky-high "insurance" rates.
So if you're paying for it either way, why's it matter? The big problem is a lack of accountability. If you go to the doctor's office, all you have to pay is the co-pay, say $20. To you, that's all the trip costs. You only spend $20 more than if you hadn't gone. But it costs the insurance company hundred of dollars. If everyone goes to the doctor's one extra time a year, guess what. Everyone's insurance cost goes up by hundreds of dollars a year.
It's like going to a restaurant with a group of people, and deciding beforehand to evenly split the final bill. Then what do people think? I only have to pay for a fifth of my meal, so I might as well get something good and expensive. In the end, everybody ends up spending much more than they would have if they were responsible for their own meal.
I'm not saying that we should get rid of health plans all together. That's where the insurance part comes in. The reason I need a health plan in the first place is because if something bad happened, an accident, a rare disease, or something, I couldn't afford to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to take care of it. Insurance works because this cost is only realized by 1 out of 1000 people, which keeps the cost for each policy holder to something reasonable.
The other way which I think health coverage should be more like auto insurance is in options. I have 3 plans that I can pick from (unless I want to pay 5 or 10x what I'm currently paying). With auto insurance, not only can you can shop around to find the best rates, you can also customize your plan - the coverage, the deductible, etc. Why not with health plans, too?
Not that I really can complain too much, because my health coverage isn't too bad, and my company does pay for much of it.
1900's
Notice how I said health insurance, not health care. I think the change in terms indicates one of the big issues with the current system. People expect their policies to pay for any health related expenses they have. Weekly visits to the chiropractor, dozens of medications, trips to the doctor for every upset stomach, even gym memberships.
Imagine if auto insurance became auto care. If they payed for oil changes, fixing a breakdown, even for your gas. Sounds great, right? The problem is, someone has to pay for all this, and it's not the insurance company. If they did, they'd go bankrupt. So where does the money come from? The policy holders. Really, you're paying for it one way or another, either directly, or with sky-high "insurance" rates.
So if you're paying for it either way, why's it matter? The big problem is a lack of accountability. If you go to the doctor's office, all you have to pay is the co-pay, say $20. To you, that's all the trip costs. You only spend $20 more than if you hadn't gone. But it costs the insurance company hundred of dollars. If everyone goes to the doctor's one extra time a year, guess what. Everyone's insurance cost goes up by hundreds of dollars a year.
It's like going to a restaurant with a group of people, and deciding beforehand to evenly split the final bill. Then what do people think? I only have to pay for a fifth of my meal, so I might as well get something good and expensive. In the end, everybody ends up spending much more than they would have if they were responsible for their own meal.
I'm not saying that we should get rid of health plans all together. That's where the insurance part comes in. The reason I need a health plan in the first place is because if something bad happened, an accident, a rare disease, or something, I couldn't afford to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to take care of it. Insurance works because this cost is only realized by 1 out of 1000 people, which keeps the cost for each policy holder to something reasonable.
The other way which I think health coverage should be more like auto insurance is in options. I have 3 plans that I can pick from (unless I want to pay 5 or 10x what I'm currently paying). With auto insurance, not only can you can shop around to find the best rates, you can also customize your plan - the coverage, the deductible, etc. Why not with health plans, too?
Not that I really can complain too much, because my health coverage isn't too bad, and my company does pay for much of it.
1900's
Saturday, October 18, 2008
I am apparently good at faking artistic
Today my church young adults group had a social event. It all started off with a trip to Jackson's pumpkin farm. After everybody showed up and found each other (at one point we had some people waiting at one location and the rest waiting at another :P), we each bought a few tickets and took the hayride to the further location. Then followed ridiculous pedal-kart racing, air powered corn cannons, and a squash slingshot hitting the target in a tender spot.
Next was the corn maze. It was a 10 acre maze, and had no clues, no towers with helpers, or anything. About half an hour in to the maze, our group found ourselves in a giant dead-end, so we started backtracking. At one point, our group split off into two, each trying a different path. We never saw the other group again.
Until after the maze.
About 15 minutes after the split, we got a call from them that they had made it out. We were still lost in the maze, but seemed to be making progress. We at least weren't going around in circles. We kept on, and eventually made it out!... only to find we had come back out the entrance :P. But we had been in there for almost an hour, so we decided to leave ourselves semi-defeated by the maze.
We then each picked out pumpkins and headed over to someone's house for pumpkin carving, cider, and pizza. They had some pretty nifty (but slightly bendy) pumpkin carving tools. Most people used the templates that came with the kit, but I decided to free-hand mine.
Now, I'm not particularly artistic, and I can't really draw. But I am really good at visualizing things (I always was good at the could-this-be-folded-into-a-solid-shape puzzles). So my carving was one where the object is the pumpkin that's left, and the light shines around it. It was pretty easy for me to invert it in my head while I was carving.
The carving itself I guess turned out pretty well. It's a ninja squatting in a window drawing a katana from behind his back. When the pumpkin is light, he's just a shadow, with the light coming through around him. I'd post a picture if I had a camera. One was taken at the party, so if I get a hold of it and remember, I'll post it.
Anyway, I guess I fooled a bunch of people into thinking I have artistic ability. Hopefully they don't expect anything from me in the future :P
With eight seconds left in overtime, we have a go. God, give me courage.
Next was the corn maze. It was a 10 acre maze, and had no clues, no towers with helpers, or anything. About half an hour in to the maze, our group found ourselves in a giant dead-end, so we started backtracking. At one point, our group split off into two, each trying a different path. We never saw the other group again.
Until after the maze.
About 15 minutes after the split, we got a call from them that they had made it out. We were still lost in the maze, but seemed to be making progress. We at least weren't going around in circles. We kept on, and eventually made it out!... only to find we had come back out the entrance :P. But we had been in there for almost an hour, so we decided to leave ourselves semi-defeated by the maze.
We then each picked out pumpkins and headed over to someone's house for pumpkin carving, cider, and pizza. They had some pretty nifty (but slightly bendy) pumpkin carving tools. Most people used the templates that came with the kit, but I decided to free-hand mine.
Now, I'm not particularly artistic, and I can't really draw. But I am really good at visualizing things (I always was good at the could-this-be-folded-into-a-solid-shape puzzles). So my carving was one where the object is the pumpkin that's left, and the light shines around it. It was pretty easy for me to invert it in my head while I was carving.
The carving itself I guess turned out pretty well. It's a ninja squatting in a window drawing a katana from behind his back. When the pumpkin is light, he's just a shadow, with the light coming through around him. I'd post a picture if I had a camera. One was taken at the party, so if I get a hold of it and remember, I'll post it.
Anyway, I guess I fooled a bunch of people into thinking I have artistic ability. Hopefully they don't expect anything from me in the future :P
With eight seconds left in overtime, we have a go. God, give me courage.
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