Volleyball is mana to my soul...

The title kind of says it all. Nothing brings me such utility as a very well-played, competitive game of volleyball. And that's exactly what we've had the last three times my intramural team has played. We played twice on Wednesday (19:15 and 20:15, back-to-back game) and then again yesterday afternoon, and we've pulled out wins in all of them. Two of the games we did lose, but only lost 23-25 and then took them in the third game. The third game is special because it's only to 15 (instead of 25, which is what normal games go to) so it's faster paced and more stressful. However we've got some clutch players and pull out a blow-out each time we go to the third game. It looks like we've got three more opponents to go through before we can claim the championship, so we've got a ways to go, but it also means that we're halfway there. A championship t-shirt would be an awesome way to end my last semester, but no matter what happens, it's been fun so far. Oo-rah Justice League. (c=

Newegg Rocks!!

So I built a computer at the end of July and I bought all of the components off of Newegg.com, including a Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000 keyboard. The thing's a budget board ($20), but it's the best keyboard I've ever used. I even got one for work cuz I enjoy it so much. However, after two months the left ctrl-key began "sticking' (kept sending its electronice signal, even after I released the key) occassionally - especially in games - and that rendered the computer inoperable. I could nicely select all text, copy, and paste it without holding down two keys, but I couldn't actually type anything. Super frustrating! However it would only last for 30 seconds, so I didn't worry too much about it. Then in the last week it began sticking for 10 minutes at a time and finally never released. It was time to replace the bugger.

I looked at the warranty and the keyboard was within the time period (it's a three year manufacturers warranty... that's amazing!) so I went on Microsoft's hardware site to get more information. Worthless website, didn't even have a "Contact Us" so I went to Newegg's to talk to them. I filled out a RMA (Return Merchandise something) request and found out that it'd cost $8 to ship the keyboard to them and another 2-3 days once it was there for them to process it and send out a new one. I was looking at 2-3 days to ship to them, 2-3 days for processing, 2-3 days for them to ship to me. 6-9 days without my desktop computer did NOT sound like fun. So I looked into just buying a new one and having them reimbure me once they received my dead one. I'd still have to pay $8 shipping to them and temporarily pay for a brand-new keyboard, but at least I wouldn't have to wait very long. I decided to get on their Live Chat before putting my plan into action, and I'm glad I did.

I don't know if my plan was satisfactory to them, because the rep I talked to (Meredith) proposed something so much better: "why don't we just ship you a new one for free and you keep the dead one?" My was that a fair option. So I have a junk keyboard to tinker with (I wonder if a soldering-iron could fix the problem?) and I have a new one on its way. It's basically the best outcome that I could hope for (except for Overnight Shipping, but I wasn't gonna push my luck). (c= This course of action makes a lot of business sense, though, because the keyboard isn't THAT expensive, they likely would just throw away the one I'd send them, and I've spread this story to bunch of friends in the last few days, giving them positive advertising. In fact I pointed one of my co-workers to their website to buy a monitor for her daughter, and I'll recommend them to everyone who wants to buy electronics. They're fast, competitively priced (usually the lowest out there), ship quickly, and have the best customer service that I've ever dealt with. A+ for them. (c=

The Misunderstood Bad Guy?

All right, so I was sitting in some class this week, having my syllabus read to me (as if I'm incapable of reading it myself... I'm not in college or anything) and a thought popped into my head: why do fantasy bad-guys always live on the outskirts of civilization or straight-up in the middle of nowhere? The protagonist arrives from wherever (many times from our world) and everything is happy in la-la land, except for this terror in the deep whose entire goal in life is to maim, slaughter, or otherwise control the entire population. And they almost always live in the middle of nowhere. Is this a choice said bad-guy (hereafter known by the name "Jerry") made or was the happy society so bigoted and unaccepting that they socially drove Jerry away to hatch plans of revenge, retaliation, and carnage? Or is it that Jerry's parents lived out in the middle of nowhere and that's where he grew up and having been secluded his entire life he went crazy and took out his parents (because really, when have you ever heard of a bad-guy's parents other than in Harry Potter? It's like they appear out of the ether) and then started to hatch plans to take over the world? Or maybe evil characters naturally love the serenity of living near nobody, in some hovel hundreds of miles from the nearest market. Perhaps Jerry's just really into hunting and while out hunting one day he decided his incredible eyesight and claws ought to be used for something other than catching deer and then decided he'd rather obliterate society as his world knows it. I dunno. And I don't really know how Jerry ever convinces his minions that any of it is really a good idea, unless they've wrongfully been driven from society for their ugly looks and unfortunate desire to murder and pillage every so often. I guess that's always a possibility, one of those NIMBY (not in my backyard) kind of things. Everyone WANTS to be accepting, unless the murderous creature lives near them in which case they politely ask it to leave using pitchforks and torches. I guess I'd be POed if I were one of Jerry's minions, too. So I don't know if I'll ever find out why Jerry's hiding off in the woods, gathering troops, planning the destruction of the world. Maybe it's all a big misunderstanding. I suppose I'd have to ask Terry Brooks or J.R.R. Tolkien if I ever want a knowledgeable answer.

Yeah, so anyway, I really wish teachers would just let me read my own syllabus.

Missions

Tonight I got to be present as my little brother, Jeremy, was set apart to serve as a full-time missionary for our church (the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) and it was sort of the culmuination of contemplation for me. I say culmination, but really I'm sure I'll continue thinking about it, but it certainly was the peak of the last couple of weeks. I haven't had any really terrific advice for him because I'm not sure anything I experienced will apply and even if it will, they are the sort of things you have to learn first-hand. Thinking back to my time in Salt Lake City and the surrounding area, I have some very good memories and very good feelings. At the same time, I have some very negative feelings towards the experience, simply because of the rigorous and restrictive lifestyle. I've often wished you could have the great experiences without all of the rules, and I keep coming to the point when I realize you can't have the one without the other. Though I seem to have more time now than then, I choose to NOT spend it helping others. I'm very selfish with my free time and tend to do things that relax or otherwise please me, something I sorely wished I could do every so often as a missionary (P-day's are NOT relaxing). But if I HAD had the opportunity to relax instead of constantly serve, I'm sure I wouldn't have accomplished near as much as I did. I wouldn't have helped as many people and they would not have helped me, so the rules are perfectly proper and ought to not be loosened. With this realization I've come to accept that my heart just has a hard time constantly putting others first. I hardly think I'm alone in that, but I do think that in order to understand Christ and draw closer to Him (and strive to be LIKE Him) we need to train our hearts to be that way. Even when He was exhausted, He taught. He loved even when His love wasn't sought or desired. He blessed as He suffered in agony. He had and has perfect charity, and I find myself struggling to even desire to have that sort of love. In some very abstract way I really care about people, but there are few that I really depend on and miss when they're absent. It's like living in a memory, if that makes any sense, where the idea of an individual is often sufficient. That made missionary life difficult; I served faithfully and obediently and it changed my life for the better, but I don't know that I ever fully learned the lesson of loving the individual. I hope Jeremy learns that lesson quickly because I know he'll be much, much happier if he does. I think he already has, listening to him talking about friends and acquaintances. I think he'll be absolutely great and the Scottish people are quite blessed to have him serving among them.

Swimming as more than a pass-time

So I've been watching the Olympics, as has half of the world, I'm sure, and I've especially enjoyed watching America's Michael Phelps and his incredible feats of speed. Any negative comments or stiff competition only seem to drive the man faster and harder, and something that is INCREDIBLY difficult to beat! How do you out-swim a competitor who only grows faster with tougher competition? It's like fending off a beast who gets meaner the more you wound it. However, though his natural ability is indisputable, it's his heart that really bears admiring (in my mind). The man is built for swimming: he's kind of a goofy human being (his upper-half totally dwarfs his lower half) and that's not something the average joe can imitate. However, his heart, drive, and desire ARE attributes that a normal person can emulate. They are qualities that I would like to foster in my own self. It won't be in competitive swimming; that boat has come and gone. But I can excel in other areas of my life and I think that's a message every person can take from Michael Phelps and all of the other Olympians. They have physical abilities that most of us can only dream of having, but they aren't only naturals: they have had to work very hard to get where they are. Life and training haven't been easy for any of them (with the possible exception of the Jamaican who comically began his celebration before crossing the finish line... he might just be that good without lots of training). Nor should life be easy for any of us. The trials of life help us appreciate it more; something you work for is almost always more valuable to you than a gift.

So what we need to do is find out what is important to us and aim for that, setting and keeping goals along the way. In making that statement, I feel that I must add a qualifier: we must find and strive for not only what is important to us, but what is best for us as well. Many an ambitious person has burnt bridges, stepped on toes, and demolished others as they strove for what they found to be important. And those people are left lonely, friendless, and without love in their life. That last might be a bit melo-dramatic and cliche, but I still think it holds truer than not. I'll again point to the example of Michael Phelps.

1. His mother and sisters were there cheering him on, crying when he won, and hugging him when they could. He appears to love his family and they obviously love him. And that's much more important than his eight gold medals.
2. After the last race the commentators kept asking awkward questions and tried to make it seem like Mike carried the whole team. The others were very humble and didn't try to draw limelight to themselves, but instead played along with the idiocy. Mike then set the record straight and pointed out that he is not a one-man team and that the others played as strong of roles as he. Who cannot respect and love him more for that?

I don't know what his personal life is like, nor what sort of standards he lives by, but I think the example he set while in Beijing is admirable and one worth emulation. He's made me want to be better at what I do (and maybe get back into the pool and do some laps). (c= The Olympics are all about peaceful competition, and I think to get there globally our collective hearts will have to change. These athletes help give us hope that we can do that.

Donuts falling from the sky

Utah has its definite perks, most of them due to the multitude of outdoor activities available to the adventurous college student. Yesterday I went to Salt Lake with some of my roomies to go hiking with a friend and her roommate up the Big Cottonwood Canyon to a place called Donut Falls. Why Donut Falls, you ask? Let me explain with a picture (albeit from a previous trip... I need to get yesterday's from one of the girls). As you can see, it's pretty nifty. The water is freakin' cold though! We climbed around behind it (inside the cave portion) and "chilled" back there for a while before braving the wet again to come back out. (I'm not sure how deep the water gets, probably not more than waist deep on me... it was too cold to find out.) (c= We then hiked back around the falls, up the river, and up a couple of minor waterfalls. It was like Narrows Lite. Good times. And to celebrate the occasion, we stopped by the 7-Eleven at the mouth of the canyon and get a couple of donuts (passing on the hot chocolate, cuz it really wasn't cold outside). Definitely an enjoyable way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

(In case anyone, myself included, wants to know how to get to the falls, I've included the driving directions below.)

Driving Directions

Getting to Big Cottonwood Canyon:
Take I-215 South (freeway will become I-215 East) until you reach the 6200 South exit. Turn right onto Wasatch Boulevard, then turn left at Big Cottonwood Canyon. The intersection is clearly signed. You will see a 7-11 store to your right.

Getting to the Trailhead:
Travel up the canyon road 9.0 miles. Here, the turn-off to the right will take you to the trailhead one mile further, past the Jordan Pines picnic area and some private property. The trailhead is at the south end of the parking area. (Lat:40.63957 Lon:-111.6512)

POP3 vs. IMAP

So for a while I've thought about the pros of having an IMAP enabled account but haven't had a real strong need for one until the past two weeks. Now that I have my iPhone and a desktop computer, keeping my e-mails all synchronized has been an ordeal.

My laptop remained the central hub (where the e-mails would be downloaded and then deleted from the server). However what if I don't want to use my laptop for a day or two? Then I get the e-mails on my iPhone (read and delete them from there), get them on the desktop (mark as read cuz I saw them on my phone), and then when I use the laptop I have all of the same e-mails to wade through once more (plus a couple of new ones). Enter the beauty of IMAP: everything synchronizes to the server and so if I view the message at any time/location, it marks it as read and doesn't alert me to it later.

However, Comcast doesn't provide IMAP functionality (cheapskates probably don't want to host everyone's e-mail for eternity) so I have to jimmy-rig the process. I now automatically forward all incoming mail to a Gmail account and I've worked to have all of my (formerly) Outlook filters label the messages correctly and archive them. It's taken a large chunk of my evening, but I expect it to be a time-saver later down the road. The Comcast account will still be present and functional, but I'll begin phasing in the Gmail account as my primary account (I'll let family members know what it is). So anyway, this post was probably too technical for most of my loved-ones, but it's been an exciting part of my life today: I look forward to playing with the whole setup and reporting in a couple of days.

iPhone Post

Since my iPhone was the inspiration to start blogging I want to try
posting straight from my phone. This way I can take a pict, write a
note, and get it up there on the go. Neat! (=

Message sent from my iPhone

Intro

So for a while I've had this blogspot and have thought about starting to blog, but I've never really known what to say. I don't regularly read anyone else's blog and thus I'm not sure what the norm is, so I'll just have to wing it.

One of my inspirations for blogging came from the WordPress app on my iPhone. I didn't actually download it, just saw it was there and since I'm such a fanboy of my new toy, I like to do everything with it. So I went online and looked up blogging, found this site and then realized I'd made the blog a year and a half ago. So I can't use my iPhone to blog to it (yet, maybe that app will come along) but oh well.

The first update for the iPhone 2.0 (2.0.1) just came out a day or two ago and honestly I can't tell one bit of difference with it. Some users in various forums said that it made their Contacts come up more quickly, others said it broke all third-party apps, and others claim it sped up the back-up process (something that seems to move at a snail's pace often). However, like I said, I see no difference. Oh well. It is only a minimal security upgrade (or at least that's what the x.x.1 version name seems to denote). What I'm excited for is an eventual copy-paste feature. I don't know how long that may be, but it'll be an incredibly useful and schnazzy tool when it arrives. It's amazing how much you miss the feature once it's not there. Much of the usefulness of a computer is lost when that feature isn't present.

So far as thoughts on my iPhone go, I LOVE it. The battery life is nothing compared to my last phone (it could last days without being charge) but it's not horrific if I don't use it for anything other than a phone (i.e. no e-mail, movies, YouTube, or games). But what's the fun in that? I just make sure to charge it every evening and it's good to go. The app selection is somewhat limited (because everything has to come through Apple) but the choices are growing daily and what's there is (mostly) decent.

One app that I'm not too happy with is ReadScriptures. I use the website (iPhone formatted) fairly regularly and it'd be wonderful to have it available offline too (like when I'm in the basement of the MARB for Institute and I have no signal). However the app costs $15. Holy cow, what's with that? I got Enigmo & Crash Bandicoot Racing for $10 and those games are original content, with development costs far, far beyond anything a scripture app would have to face. I can see spending $2-3 on the program (it DID take time and talent to develope) but $15 is outrageous. I think I'll wait a month or two and hope the price drops to something reasonable. In the meantime I'll use the online version or my quad if that's not an option.