Really?

The post office is open from 9 to 5? Seriously? How in the heck are you supposed to mail a package? I wonder why they're having such a hard time making money?
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Wowzers

So we had an interesting class last night. Our Ethics prof made the trip over from Claremont (we usually have a(n awesome) TA who teaches at Grand Canyon but it IS a rare treat to actually have a back an forth dialogue with our profs. They are all incredibly smart (duh). I have a bad habit of monopolizing the conversation as well, and I'm the nerd that sits in the chair right next to the teacher, but I just love having a conversation with guys like Drs Amesbury and Clayton. Sadly, I don't know what I will do for school next fall - Claremont is shutting the doors on the Phoenix campus and I'm not yet in a position to just quit working and go back to school full time. Man, if you're young and debating whether to go to grad school or wait a few years - you should know it is hard as hell to support a family, be involved in ministry, and try to go to school. On the other hand, all of our teachers appreciate us for the 'mature' outlook we bring to the classes and the experiences we have had. Ugh, I dunno, it's a tough call. It's interesting to be at a point in your life when you can say to your teacher, 'I have to work overtime for the next two weeks so I won't be able to do my homework' and not even be able to care how they respond. It is somewhat liberating to be going to school because you REALLY want to learn and not worrying about grades. We all know what you call the guy who finishes last in his class in Seminary, right? Anyways, classes are amazing and I'm not sure how I would deal with not being in school anymore. Harumph. In slightly ironic other news - Claremont sent me a letter asking me to confirm that I am graduating in 2010.

Hahahhahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahhahahah
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Nerd Alert

OK, if you aren't incredibly geeky this may come across as way over the top. You have been warned.

So I have been trading like a madman on Craigslist, getting rid of some older hardware and doo-dads and picking up some neat new things to play with. One my happiest trades was an old G4 mac setup that I traded to a guy for a Core 2 Duo Dell. He wanted to try the mac and he had this extra computer laying around that he didn't need anymore. So, we traded, and I promptly brought it home and set it up. The first thing I did was wipe Vista off of it and install Leopard. Heh, this was cool in a very ironic sort of way because I had checked out the specs of the machine online and it turns out it is a great candidate for a 'hackintosh'. So I got drivers loaded and everything set up and it runs pretty nicely as a mac. Technically, this makes me a 'software pirate' (as if it was THIS that made me a software pirate) and I am doing a nice little write up for my ethics class about why I don't think there is anything wrong with doing what I did here. Anyways, so I have also been futzing around with Windows 7, which is quite a nice refinement over Vista (and very Mac-y), and decided to do something interesting. I threw another hard drive in there and installed Windows 7 on it. Now I have Leopard installed on a 300 gig drive and W7 installed on a 400 gig drive and I can toggle between them at boot time to switch from Mac to Windows. Pretty snazzy. Why would I do this? Well, it was fun. Also, I have been 'employed' (and I say that loosely considering what they are paying me) by Claremont to do a lot of their video processing for our remote campus. I have a nice iMac and a Macbook Pro (another CL trade) but frankly I need some more muscle to really crunch video. Plus, we just got a hi def camcorder and it does suck up some serious resources playing around with video on there. My imac is getting cluttered up with scripts and video/audio files as I throw around media for the school and what not, so now I have a machine that I can boot up into Leopard when I need to do video work, load it down with jobs, and have my iMac free to do other creative things. Plus, I have a nice little windows box to play around with when I want to do windows-y things.

I hope you found that as interesting as I did! Woo hoo!

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Posted in: computers,hobbies,interests,macs,school

Foster Parenting

Today is Ave's 4th birthday! Fun times, she is so excited. We are going to have a little party for her tonight.

You know what's funny about being a foster parent? When people find out they either think you are a saint or a nut job. It's interesting because I am sure as heck not a saint and I don't think I'm nuts. I dunno, maybe I'm nuts. I think the truth is somewhere in the middle. I'll tell you what though, it sucks when you realize that you're the best parent your kids are gonna get. Too bad OUR foster kids got us, heh, it's like getting the short straw :)

Anyways, happy birthday Ave!
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Wow

So I got caught up editing my first hd video from the new camera and realized my bus would be at the stop in 8 minutes! Whoa! So I ran all the way to the bus stop, a little over 1/4 mile, and thought I was gonna die when I got there. Holy schnikes, I am way out of shape. I also do not wear very nice shoes for running. But I made it, and I'm now on the bus. Yikes, that would've sucked. So...look for a new video later this evening on the baby blog :)
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A one photo essay

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Sigh

So, my adventures with the doctor continue. I feel like over the last year I have gotten so old. I normally avoid the doctor, due to my long standing belief that they never help you feel any better. Well, I got over this (mainly due to the fact that I now know several doctors that I respect and trust) and got myself a primary care physician. I got myself tested at a fertility doctor. I went to the dentist (I know, that shouldn't count). I went and got new glasses (Can you believe I went 4 years with 1 pair of glasses?). I won't comment on the fact that the fertility doctor told us there was no chance we would have babies, needless to say I'm trying to be open minded. So I like my primary care physician. Let me say take a second here to say that I found all of my doctors (except the fertility doctor) on kudzu.com. I don't know if you have used this site, but it is pretty fantastic. Anyways, I like the guy. He is nice, personable, and seems to really care about my health. Most importantly he listens to me. He seems to respect my thoughts and my concerns - I know this shouldn't be surprising but I have never had a doctor like that before. It took more than 6 months before he told me to lose weight, so that is good. Let me just say it is hard to think about getting old and having health problems. As my doc put it, sometimes you wind up in the shallow end of the gene pool. We have this huge history of heart disease in our family. So I have high blood pressure, incredibly high triglycerides, and unimaginably low HDL. I am apparently a basket of suck. So I have to find some time to get some exercise - apparently I won't be walking as much anymore (no more bus riding :( ) so I am going to have to be serious about getting some cardio. I hate this.

Anyways, my mom is leaving tomorrow. I am super bummed about that. It is going to be hard. I am going to have a really hard time adjusting to life without her again. I don't know how I wound up with such incredible parents, but I thank God constantly for them. I love the relationship I have with them, it is truly something that has gotten better with time. I love that my dad and I are buds. I love that my mom and I get along so well, we are really so much alike.

OK, I hope this wasn't too crazy. Peace out everyone.

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Posted in: doctor,exercise,family