Prime Squared

Hey, if anyone reads this!

2009-04-12T15:49:00.000-07:00

Support your troops, help this girl win a wedding dress!

2008-11-24T14:56:00.000-08:00

Why, I ask, can I post in html from my G1's webbrowser, yet I can't just got to compose and post a blog. Now, don't get me wrong, I am extremely pleased with the G1, and this is just a minor annoyance, but how is it that a phone that is based on Gooogle's Android mobile OS cannot function with a part of a site that is owned and ran by Google? It isn't a flash based site, and the html editor works, so why the compose editor doesn't work really has me confused.

While I'm on the subject of the G1, I noticed that Opera Mini is now available in the market place, so I decided to download it and give it a shot because I was a pretty big fan of it on my Blackberry Pearl, and I figured it couldn't hurt to try it on here. I hate to say it, but I was wrong. The performance of the browser is really laggy, and the zoom feature doesn't work on all sites (this one is a perfect example). On top of that, it loads mobile versions of several sites (Gizmodo and Cracked are two good examples). I'll be uninstalling Opera and that troubles me a bit. I've been a fan of Opera for some time now, but this is putting a sour taste in my mouth for future iterations of anything Opera related and I don't know if I'll give any future version of Opera Mini (beta version or not).

Test

2008-11-04T05:55:00.001-08:00

Hello? Is this thing on?

What's the purpose?

2008-10-20T13:53:00.000-07:00

Since starting this, I've strayed away from my original purpose to document my path to finding faith(or lack thereof). However, I've since decided to make this a more personal blog on all things in my life. So, without anymore preamble, I'm going to talk about something that has me really excited(besides my upcoming wedding, and the engagement pictures that just got taken this past week).

No, this is something more, oh, I don't know silly, I guess, to some people. I'm talking about the new T-Mobile G1 phone. Why, you might ask, does a simple cell phone have me so excited? Well, for starters, it marks the first phone to compete nearly head on with with iPhone. In just pre-orders alone, T-Mobile has sold out their entire first round, then the second - it got to the point that you would get a G1 quicker if you just waited and went to a T-Mobile store when it comes out. This might not seem like a big deal to some people, but believe me, it is.

It's a big deal because it is something new. Completely new. It is a new piece of hardware - the phone from HTC, and a completely new OS in the form of Andriod from Google. Andriod marks something completely different coming into the cellphone industry. The iPhone has the AppStore, but, Apple has the ultimate say in what can and cannot be sold on the store. With the G1, the marketplace for it is completely open - anyone and everyone can develop for it (which could, admittedly, be the bane of the G1).

I geek out over the G1 namely because I am a huge Google fanboy. I use their products daily. I use gmail, blogger, google talk, etc. every single day. I admit Google isn't all good, there are some negative things about the company (look at some of their policies in places like China) but overall, they are a company who, I believe, embody what it means to be 'free'. By free, I mean all of their software is free, they offer free email with a massive amount of storage, they have free maps, etc. No other single company does as much as they do in regards to giving users things.

I don't know where I'm going with this any longer, I started this over a week ago and have worked on it several times since, so I'm just giving up and posting it.

A first

2008-10-16T05:22:00.000-07:00

For the first time in my college career, I dropped a class halfway through a semester. I just couldn't take it - it was leagues above me and I was struggling to even comprehend what was happening.

You see, this semester I am/was taking General Chem 1, Calculus 1, Intro to programming (Java), and Calc based Physics 1.

The school says that the calc course and the physics course can be taken concurrently, but I disagree. For some people, they may be able to take them at the same time, but when I'm supposed to be using things in the physics class that I haven't even been taught yet in the calc class, something seems to be off kilter.

I got a 61% on my first exam, and struggle to even barely comprehend what goes on in lab. So, last night after trying unsuccessfully complete homework and study for a quiz, I decided it would be best for me to drop the class. Doing so gives me a W for the course, but I figure I can explain a W, but I couldn't explain an F.

I guess it just came to a point where I had to admit defeat and back out gracefully.

Say what you want to say

2008-10-06T06:16:00.000-07:00

I need to actually write in here once in a while.

The past few weeks have been rough for me - I've been in bit of a depression and am just now getting over it. I don't want to get into that right now, though. Maybe later. Maybe never.

Something I do want to talk about, however, is how much my musical tastes have changed in the past couple of years. I used to be really into a lot of what I'm going to call pseudo-punk, pseudo-hardcore, and well, emo, stuff. One song, covered by one guy, at one show, really changed that.

It's strange, too. A song that, if I had heard it two years ago, would have scoffed at it for trying too hard, sung by a guy who is in a band I liked up until their recent album and even the demos that leaked before it. There was just something though, that changed in me, when I heard "Oh Comely" for the first time. Covered by Jesse Lacey it's a song that forces you to listen, to not hear, but actually listen. When Jesse sings the his standards from Brand New, his voice makes my skin crawl, but there was just something about this song, that I had never heard before, that just caused me to pause. It was different, and I needed to know more.

The day after the show, I googled the lyrics, and thus discovered Neutral Milk Hotel, who have since become one of my favorite bands. I only recently discovered them, so by no means would I act as though I'm the first person to ever hear of them, nor will I act as though Jeff Mangum is the most brilliant writer that I've ever heard. What I will say, though, is that no matter how many times I listen to this album from beginning to end, I never tire of it. On Avery Island is a great album, too, but it just hasn't had the same impact on me.

After NMH, I found or gave another chance to bands that I had before checked off as too indie for me. I guess, in a way, one song opened my eyes to things that I would have never bothered with before, and I am thankful for that.

Ever so slowly leaving the starting gates.

2008-08-31T19:19:00.001-07:00

Even though my initial reason for this blog was to chronicle my path
to religion, it isn't my, shall I say, soul purpose.

Now that I made you deal with that, I can continue. I also plan to use
this as a way to express myself about things that grab my attention or
just random thoughts and observations I have about things.

In a way though, those things still stick to the idea of the blog. The
title, 42, comes from the Hitchhiker's Guide as the meaning of life,
the universe, and everything and to me all of these wonderings and
whatnots do help guide me some to figuring out my life.

So maybe they're on topic after all.

Do I get a map?

2008-08-30T14:40:00.000-07:00

This was originally posted elsewhere, but I prefer blogger over that site, so, here goes.

I'm twenty-four years old, and though my lack of experience in this world might have some to do with it, I feel as though I barely know myself.

Even as I say this, I know I'm lying and that I know far more about myself than I acknowledge. I know that I enjoy reading - sci-fi, novels, history, whatever. I know that when I'm reading history, science, or any other non-fiction book I'm doing that because I have an unquenchable thirst to just know. When I read sci-fi, I'm imagining myself in far away places - not because the one I'm in now is bad, it's quite good actually, but because I just like to dream of what else there might be out there. Fiction helps me put images to the things I dream about.

I know that I enjoy cooking. I know that, given the time, I would cook every meal, every day of the week - cooking is the one place where I know I can create something good.

I know that I'm fascinated by anything technological. Show me a entry on engadget or gizmodo about even the most mundane thing, and it catches my interest. I know that, along the same line, I like gaming. I might not be as hardcore about playing games as some people, but given more free time, I know I would be, I like gaming so much that, even though I started my Computer Science program with just normal programming jobs in mind, that I now want to get into programming games.

I know that I love my fiance more than I ever thought it was possible to love someone. I care for her so much, and she is my drive, my support, my better half.

But, with her and talks of our upcoming wedding (May 17, 2009) and conversations regarding officiants, etc. I discovered that I spiritually haven't the slightest idea who I am. At times I've called myself Christian. Others, an atheist, agnostic, and, I think for a few months right after high school a "Buddhist."

I'm twenty four years old, and while I might not have to believe in the things those around me do, I think it is about time I find out what it is that I do believe in. I've been so skeptical for so long, that I don't even know if it is possible for me to throw away my concerns and just express belief in something ethereal. I guess I can only search and find out, and that's what I'm going to do.

I'm on my path to finding what it is I believe in, and I know I'm going to get lost - in fact I hope I do, because maybe I'll get time to dwell on something I wouldn't otherwise.