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This Is What You Want
My sister thought I hadn't heard about it since I did not post it yet, but that's just becaue I've been too busy. Of course I knew all about the iPods, although I haven't watched all of the Keynote yet.
Apple has once again rasied the bar in electronics. Many thought they would not release the iPod with video until their current product started declining in sales. Many thought they wouldn't release it just weeks after the release of the iPod nano. But now, Apple has shown they're raising the bar yet again.
Not only does it play video on its small screen, the video quality is just about the same quality that you can play on your TV. Oh, and if you buy some cables, you can play it on your TV too. Oh wait, was I talking about TV? Yeah, you can now purchase TV shows for $1.99 at the iTunes (Music?) Store now. 
(Too bad I haven't watched TV in years and would rather get DVDs.) Also, besides thousands of music videos and TV shows, they have Pixar's short films for download too. (If you've never seen Geri's Game, you gotta watch it.) I'll look at the new iPod next week, and I might have to change my opinion.
Anways, so what's next for Apple? It's definitely world domination. All Apple has to do is start selling Mac OS X for my Dell machine and their already high-performing stock will be even better.
So Take A Photograph If You're Wanting This To Last
Another new link to my blogroll is for Kevin's Daly Depictions. Kevin's one of my many roomates and he does lots of cool stuff with his camera. So of course I hooked him up with his very own photo blog via the open-source PixelPost. It's funky, and Kevin has many cool photos.
A God-Shaped Hole In All Of Us
Alright, I finally did it. I added Infuze Mag to my favorites list on the side.
Infuze brings God to today's culture, mainly. For example, Robin Parrish recently conducted an interview with amazing filmmaker Cameron Crowe. Although they didn't talk about Crowe's faith explicitly (and there's no mention of him being a Christian), they talk about art, beauty, and all the other things important to filmmakers. Crowe mentions a couple times that Robin picked up on things tha most others didn't, and I bet Cameron came away from that interview impressed.
That's how it should be. We can talk on the same level as non-Christians and not have to just bash them for their non-Christian elements. We should appreciate the art for what it is, not what it isn't. And Infuze is one of the few places that understands that. (Of course, they're a bit obsessed with video games and comic books, but oh well.)
Don't Dub A Tape, You Can Go To The Store
Hey folks, now burning music is legal! No, it's still not legit to use LimeWire, it's only legal to burn CDs at Sam Goody.
Yeah, the mall music chain is trying to create a space where they can still sell CDs at prices 30% higher than Best Buy. So their store at The Mall now has a bunch of computer terminals in the middle of the store. They're marked with "CD Burning" everywhere. But what does that mean from a legit standpoint?
Basically, with these computers you can make your own compilation with a case, a sleeve, and everything. The discs start at $3.99 plus 99c for each song. So, if you're gonna fill up a 78 minute disc with 20 tracks, it's gonna cost you almost $24. Yeah, that's expensive.
The amazing thing is that they have most major label releases from most every label. There's definitely a ton more music available there than in the store. (They might even have Pro*Pain, or at least their system says they do.) The other thing that the system does is play clips of every song, which is nice for sampling music. It'd be even cooler if they played full tracks, though, then I'd hang out there for lunch everyday.
In the end, it's nothing I'll actually use, but it's something new that the music industry is trying. I think it'll have to much be cheaper before people start using it (oh wait, that's what we say about everything in the music industry these days).
"My name is John Reuben and you have my word on it."
Doin' The RSS
I've been enjoying using RSS to keep up with the news and all my friends. For the uninitiated, this is a way to gather all the things you want to keep track of into one place. For the past six months I've been using Sage, a very simple reader for FireFox. It's really easy to use and discovers feeds well.
However, there's a new reader on the horizon. Google just released their beta of Google Reader, which is nice because it's not a plug-in on my desktop, but it's a page I can access from anywhere on the web. It uses your Google/Gmail account and you can import all the feeds you'd like. So far, the program (which is of course in Beta stage, like everything else at Google) is pretty good, and I'm sure it'll get even better as time goes on.
So, if you like RSS, try out the Google Reader. You might like it.
There's An Angel By Your Hospital Bed
Michael is doing well. Some close friends of the family have put up a webpage to keep us updated of his progress, so if you're so inclined, check it out.
I spent last night at the hospital with Jeanette and David, his siblings. It was great o be with them and a powerful experience to be praying for my brother in Christ. With our prayers, Michael is doing such a great job, and it has been great to see him respond to us in very limited ways over the last day or two.
Michael, as I said last night, I'm very proud of you. You have worked so hard the last couple days.
Show Your Power, O Lord, Our God
Please pray for my roomate of last year, Michael, and his parents. MIchael and his friend David are in the ICU after being broadsided by a bus on Tuesday afternoon. We spent all of this evening praying at the hospital, and both need your prayers. If Michael does not respond to us within the next day, it could mean his dying or some irreversable brain damage. Please pray that God would heal them both completely.
Where My Freaks At?
Well, most of you know that I moved into a new house with 13 other guys about a month ago. It's a lot of fun. And to show you just a small snapshot of our life together, I'm gonna throw up a couple photos. Here goes:
We have the women's house over on Wednesday nights for our planning meetings so we decided to take a large group photo. We decided the only place we could do it was on the front stairwell. Some of us guys got lost in the back, but you can see my head almost peeking out of the center of the photo.
After we took the photo we had evening prayer. It must have not been during a cool worship song, because nobody looks that animated. We were probably praying intensely for our work on campus this year, for a permanent house for us to live in, or that our house will fill up with renters. (Wow, my hair's almost getting to the point of being a mullet.)
This Jesus Thing... It's Packaged Right
Why the heck are smoothies so expensive?
I swear, you can buy the most expensive meal deal at Taco Bell or McDonalds and still be cheaper than a medium-sized smoothie. Just because we want something modestly healthy means we have to pay more than any human should be asked to pay for sustenance.
Today I was at the Mall and I could have gotten a 22 oz. pop at the Holiday Station(less) Store for probably under a buck. But I went upstairs to the Tropicana Smoothie place and paid $6.17 for a 22 oz. smoothie. Maybe I'll just go back to pop.
The only smoothie that's worth its weight in gold is the White Rock smoothie. In all my travels, I've not found a smoothie that tastes as good.
It's Good To Know That You Fail Sometimes
Most of my post titles are lyric quotes from a song. Leave a comment and try to guess what song I was thinking of/listening to when I wrote this post.
Amazon.com is not living up to my lofty expectations. Right now I need two things, and I can't find exactly what I'm looking for at the mecca of everything. (At least, not through their own store, their affiliate stores have it all.)
The first item is an alarm clock. Years ago my parents gave me one with a very big LCD display that let me read the time from almost across the room (or, for most anybody else, across the street). Last year it stopped working. I was borrowing one from the family I used to live with, but I've left their place and didn't think it a good idea to steal theirs. And since I don't exactly wake up to the little alarm on my watch, I need something better by my bed. And heck, a big display would be nice.
The second item is a Nalgene water bottle. Our new place is big, and unless I'm carrying around a water bottle I'm not gonna stay well hydrated. Their new OTG bottles look cool, but nobody at Amazon.com has them. Amazon.com partner stores have most of the other styles, but not usually in what I think are cool color or style combinations.
Sure, I could buy each one from a different online retailer and get what I want, but if I do that it costs much more to ship individually and I get less points on my Amazon.com Visa. And the Amazon.com partners each ship (and charge shipping) seapartely too.
Or, alternatively, I could head out to Wal-Mart or Target. Bets are they don't have Nalgene water bottles. And if they have alarm clocks, the chance they'll have one I like is pretty darn slim. I've been trying to look around at the stores in The Mall too since I can walk through there during my lunch break, but so far I've not found anything promising.
So maybe I'll get a crappy product that will do it. Or maybe I'll pay top dollar. I dunno. I'm one of those who tends to believe a quality product at a high price is more worth it, so I probably will end up paying top dollar.
Ohh, and apparently my mom is afraid to post comments on here. ;-)