Hello again. I've been away for quite a while, and I do have some good excuses and some poor ones, but I don't see any reason to list those. The point is I was gone and now I'm back and I'm jumping back in with another challenge. My friend at 13:13 blog decided to do a 30-day challenge, and he asked if I wanted to join him. Of course I couldn't turn him down. So for the next 30 days I will find something and anything to say, long or short, profound or insignificant (but mostly insignificant) once every day. I hope it's fun for everyone involved.
Thanks for reading!
Monday, July 23, 2012
Monday, March 5, 2012
I perform brain surgery
As most of you probably know, my precious 120 GB Zune tragically crashed several weeks ago. Has it been a month by now? Time goes by so fast when I'm here.
Last Thursday, I purchased a new hard drive and a tool kit online from gadgetmenders.com. Their site had a nifty repair video, and I thought, "I can do this! I don't need to send it in."
I received the package today and almost immediately realized the process of repairing the device would be much more simple than the video made it look. Here, I should post the video in case you want to see it. I'll refer to it enough times anyway.
Last Thursday, I purchased a new hard drive and a tool kit online from gadgetmenders.com. Their site had a nifty repair video, and I thought, "I can do this! I don't need to send it in."
I received the package today and almost immediately realized the process of repairing the device would be much more simple than the video made it look. Here, I should post the video in case you want to see it. I'll refer to it enough times anyway.
So there's a little blue tool they use to take the device apart. They included three in the repair tool kit I ordered, which puzzled me at first. Why would I ever need more than one? Well, maybe because the space is so tight I shredded off a good deal of the plastic on those things just trying to wedge them in there? Maybe there's another reason for it, but personally I'm glad I had three to partially destroy instead of just one.
After spending a good twenty minutes prying the case apart, I finally was able to get a look inside the device. I peeled the tape off the hard drive as instructed, but I didn't understand the concept of lifting the small black latch. The guy says to "lift it upwards in the vertical direction." I thought that sounded redundant, because up is a vertical direction. So as I struggled with that, I popped the stupid latch right off.
I fumbled with it, called my uncle for help (what could he have told me?), cried, and then kept on going. It would be ridiculous to have to replace the hard drive cable too, but the old hard drive just wouldn't let got of it. I ended up just mutilating the white piece with a screwdriver until the cable came loose. No harm in breaking a broken piece of equipment, right? Now, how would I get the cable attached to the new hard drive if I couldn't figure out how to get it loose from the old one?
That was actually a lot easier. The guy in the video says to restore the latch to "its horizontal position." Oh! So flip up to release, flip down to secure. The difference between the terms "direction" and "position" was crucial here, for me. Now the whole latch idea made much more sense. I managed not to break the latch on the new hard drive.
I snapped the device back together, which was almost as difficult as taking it apart. Then I plugged the device into my computer to prepare for the software update. The screen lit up.
I was so excited to see this again. She was alive, right?
Nope, this image popped up next. The original error message. But I refused to be defeated. I took apart the device again (much easier once it was loosened, and once I knew what the heck I was doing), and saw that the hard drive cable looked a little askew. I flipped up the latch, pushed the cable in again, flipped down the latch, praying the whole time it had just been inserted wrong, and I hadn't damaged the cable somehow in this stressful process. Popped the device together again. Turned it on.
It just gave me an error message (3 or 4, I don't remember. It's possible both showed up at different times.) Another error, really? What more did I have to do? Not too much: soon the screen displayed Error 2, which is lack of the proper software. Finally, my baby lived again!
It took some time to get the software on my computer to recognize that I connected a new device, and then installing the software onto the new Zune and syncing all my files seemed to take forever, but now she works just as well as before the crash. Except I don't have the default Zune photos anymore. I don't know what happened with that, but now I'm just using one of my personal photos as a background image. It will serve as a constant reminder that my Zunebug contains new hardware, and I don't know yet how I feel about that.
And that's the story of my day as a brain surgeon. Don't ever call on me to perform a brain transplant again, on technology or on a living thing. I'm pretty sure this was a one-time deal.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
The Shadow
There once was a land filled with light, and this land knew no darkness. The ground was bare and even, smooth as steel, and no creatures populated the area. A cloud had never appeared in the sky of this realm. All was pure and true, but the land was bare of texture and of life, and this was lonely.
Then one day an event occurred in this land. and the ground became inhabitable, and plants sprouted from it, and to support these plants there had to be rain. And when the rain came, there were clouds. For the first time, the land knew darkness. but the clouds cleared, and all was light again. For a short time.
The sprouts from the ground became trees and bushes, and all varieties of flowers, and animals came to inhabit the area, and soon a small lake appeared as well. And again, the land knew darkness. For the light came from the sky, and could not penetrate the mighty trees or the smallest insects. And some days it would rain again, and there would be no light in sight. And even on days when the light shone bright, the trees and bushes, birds and flowers, and every living thing cast its shadow. And all these creations were beautiful. but there was darkness in the shadows, and darkness in the depths of the lake, and darkness on the cloudiest days.
The land now was full of life, and no longer so lonely and barren as before. But with life came this darkness, and the land was no longer pure and true. The plants and the creatures and the lake made the land beautiful, but ugliness crept in the shadows and the darkness. and there was nothing to be done about this, for where there was life, there must be shadows.
Then one day an event occurred in this land. and the ground became inhabitable, and plants sprouted from it, and to support these plants there had to be rain. And when the rain came, there were clouds. For the first time, the land knew darkness. but the clouds cleared, and all was light again. For a short time.
The sprouts from the ground became trees and bushes, and all varieties of flowers, and animals came to inhabit the area, and soon a small lake appeared as well. And again, the land knew darkness. For the light came from the sky, and could not penetrate the mighty trees or the smallest insects. And some days it would rain again, and there would be no light in sight. And even on days when the light shone bright, the trees and bushes, birds and flowers, and every living thing cast its shadow. And all these creations were beautiful. but there was darkness in the shadows, and darkness in the depths of the lake, and darkness on the cloudiest days.
The land now was full of life, and no longer so lonely and barren as before. But with life came this darkness, and the land was no longer pure and true. The plants and the creatures and the lake made the land beautiful, but ugliness crept in the shadows and the darkness. and there was nothing to be done about this, for where there was life, there must be shadows.
Friday, January 13, 2012
My World Just Got a Little Smarter
My mom and I recently switched to Sprint and are now using our very first smart phones. Our device of choice was the HTC Evo Design. The Evo 3D is supposed to be a better device, but one of the reasons for that is its larger size, and that's more of a drawback for me. Also, I just don't care for the 3D feature at all. So we went with its less expensive little brother, the Design.
The Transfer
We transferred from another network, and we ordered the phones online. So we had to wait for the phones to be delivered, then wait even longer for our own phones to lose service so we could power on the new ones. For me, this happened at 11:30 Wednesday night. I was still texting a couple people, so I felt obligated to switch over to the new phone, but I also had an appointment in the morning and didn't want to stay up too late. Oh well. Sleep usually loses in these situations.
For me, the transfer was clean, sudden, and obvious. My old phone no longer had any bars and no longer said "AT&T" at the top of the screen. My mom's phone wasn't as nice to her. She was still making receiving calls on her old phone, but text messages wouldn't go through. Finally, around 12 hours after I had activated my phone, Dad called me to say Mom's phone wasn't working. When he called her number, he was redirected to a Sprint voice mailbox. It was time to make the switch.
Even then, though, Mom's transfer wasn't quite as clean as mine. This morning, her old phone received a text my dad had sent. I don't know what's going on with the whole thing.
And I was dumb enough not to have saved my contacts onto my SIM card, so the guys at Sprint couldn't transfer them. Guess I have to do it manually. Yay.
My Favorite Features so Far
1) Apps
One of the first things I did after basic setup was download an alarm clock app. Sure, the phone has one built in. But I didn't see a "Vibrate Only" option, and that's what I really wanted. So I downloaded an app that did provide that. Today I downloaded an app that monitors my battery life by percentage, because the bar just wasn't accurate enough. Overall, what I like most about apps is if my phone doesn't do something I want it to do, I can probably make it do that just by looking for the right app. Also, I think I like the Android market. It's easy enough to use.
2) Texting
One feature I've been looking forward to for a while now is text messages stored in conversation threads, rather than an inbox and a sent box. Now if I forget what I said last (which I do surprisingly often) all I have to do is look up. Because switching back and forth between inbox and sent box got old pretty fast.
Another feature I really like, but wasn't expecting to be so crazy about, is the vertical qwerty keyboard. On my old phone, if I held the phone vertical, it gave me a numerical keyboard like the one I used for dialing. This one, like many others, gives me a smaller version of the qwerty keyboard. I used to just think this would be annoying, that the letters looked too close together, etc. But holy cow. I love this thing. It is so much more convenient than I expected. I can text with one hand!
3) Front-Facing Camera
This is an excellent tool for anyone in a long-distance relationship. Enough said.
I could ramble more...
But I won't. This post has gone on long enough, and you need to get back to your life. I just wanted to share the newest exciting addition to my life. Thanks for reading!
The Transfer
We transferred from another network, and we ordered the phones online. So we had to wait for the phones to be delivered, then wait even longer for our own phones to lose service so we could power on the new ones. For me, this happened at 11:30 Wednesday night. I was still texting a couple people, so I felt obligated to switch over to the new phone, but I also had an appointment in the morning and didn't want to stay up too late. Oh well. Sleep usually loses in these situations.
For me, the transfer was clean, sudden, and obvious. My old phone no longer had any bars and no longer said "AT&T" at the top of the screen. My mom's phone wasn't as nice to her. She was still making receiving calls on her old phone, but text messages wouldn't go through. Finally, around 12 hours after I had activated my phone, Dad called me to say Mom's phone wasn't working. When he called her number, he was redirected to a Sprint voice mailbox. It was time to make the switch.
Even then, though, Mom's transfer wasn't quite as clean as mine. This morning, her old phone received a text my dad had sent. I don't know what's going on with the whole thing.
And I was dumb enough not to have saved my contacts onto my SIM card, so the guys at Sprint couldn't transfer them. Guess I have to do it manually. Yay.
My Favorite Features so Far
1) Apps
One of the first things I did after basic setup was download an alarm clock app. Sure, the phone has one built in. But I didn't see a "Vibrate Only" option, and that's what I really wanted. So I downloaded an app that did provide that. Today I downloaded an app that monitors my battery life by percentage, because the bar just wasn't accurate enough. Overall, what I like most about apps is if my phone doesn't do something I want it to do, I can probably make it do that just by looking for the right app. Also, I think I like the Android market. It's easy enough to use.
2) Texting
One feature I've been looking forward to for a while now is text messages stored in conversation threads, rather than an inbox and a sent box. Now if I forget what I said last (which I do surprisingly often) all I have to do is look up. Because switching back and forth between inbox and sent box got old pretty fast.
Another feature I really like, but wasn't expecting to be so crazy about, is the vertical qwerty keyboard. On my old phone, if I held the phone vertical, it gave me a numerical keyboard like the one I used for dialing. This one, like many others, gives me a smaller version of the qwerty keyboard. I used to just think this would be annoying, that the letters looked too close together, etc. But holy cow. I love this thing. It is so much more convenient than I expected. I can text with one hand!
And the last cool texting feature: Auto-correct. Yes, it's annoying sometimes. Yes, it can get in the habit of correcting to things I don't want to say. Yes, I have to teach it some "words." But that's actually easier than I expected. And mostly it helps more than it hinders, and I use the backspace key a lot less than before. So Auto-correct is my friend.
3) Front-Facing Camera
This is an excellent tool for anyone in a long-distance relationship. Enough said.
I could ramble more...
But I won't. This post has gone on long enough, and you need to get back to your life. I just wanted to share the newest exciting addition to my life. Thanks for reading!
Friday, January 6, 2012
Welcome to the world of Zelda
The Zelda video game series is one I've been casually wishing to play for maybe a few years now. By "casually wishing" I mean I decided I'd have to try it out someday, but I wouldn't go out of my way. I wouldn't buy any of the games before trying my hand at one, and I wouldn't even beg a friend to borrow their copy. But if the opportunity fell into my lap, I wouldn't hesitate to give these games a whirl. Just recently, an opportunity fell into my lap. Due to circumstances I don't want to explain fully, involving a borrowed game that was never returned, a copy of The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition ended up at my house a while ago. I found out about this yesterday and was pretty excited. This disc includes some of the earlier games, including the one for the NES that I assume is the original. Don't ask me; I just got into this stuff today.
Anyway, I decided to start at what I assume to be the beginning, because it just seemed right. And let me tell you, ouch. I played for over an hour before I had any clue what to do, and that was a mistake. The whole time I was trying to figure out where to go to get to the next stage of the game. Well, I had the wrong idea...
This is called the Overworld. There are nine dungeons to be found here, which have their own maps, but basically this right here is the whole game. And I was trying to get off of it. So much frustration resulted. Honestly, if I hadn't searched the internet and found a map like this, I would have given up on the game and counted myself a loser. Thank you, internet.
But my lack of an idea for the objective of this game was not my only problem. This is one of those games in which the player starts out with just three hearts as a health bar and can gain hearts later (so far I think I have five) but no matter how many hearts your max health is at, you restart after every death with only three hearts. This wouldn't have bothered me so much if it wasn't for the fact that, when your health is full, you can throw your sword at enemies. Now, I'm a sucker for a good ranged attack, so the whole three-hearts-to-start-with thing really ticked me off once I worked myself up to five. How was I supposed to refill my health when I'm useless without a ranged attack?
Simple: use the bow, silly. So the bow can be found in a secret chamber in the first dungeon, and I missed that memo the first time around. Then when I got there and couldn't figure out how to equip the bow, because of course you have to buy arrows first. And apparently every time you shoot an arrow it costs one rupy (Zelda's unit for money, if you're not familiar), but I still think it might be worth it. With finally a reliable ranged attack, I might have a fighting chance with this game.
So far, The Legend of Zelda has been little more than a huge and frustrating waste of time for me. However, I still see a lot of potential for this game. I'm determined to see if I can finish this game, and then I'll move onto the others. Legend of Zelda, I accept your challenge!
Anyway, I decided to start at what I assume to be the beginning, because it just seemed right. And let me tell you, ouch. I played for over an hour before I had any clue what to do, and that was a mistake. The whole time I was trying to figure out where to go to get to the next stage of the game. Well, I had the wrong idea...
This is called the Overworld. There are nine dungeons to be found here, which have their own maps, but basically this right here is the whole game. And I was trying to get off of it. So much frustration resulted. Honestly, if I hadn't searched the internet and found a map like this, I would have given up on the game and counted myself a loser. Thank you, internet.
But my lack of an idea for the objective of this game was not my only problem. This is one of those games in which the player starts out with just three hearts as a health bar and can gain hearts later (so far I think I have five) but no matter how many hearts your max health is at, you restart after every death with only three hearts. This wouldn't have bothered me so much if it wasn't for the fact that, when your health is full, you can throw your sword at enemies. Now, I'm a sucker for a good ranged attack, so the whole three-hearts-to-start-with thing really ticked me off once I worked myself up to five. How was I supposed to refill my health when I'm useless without a ranged attack?
Simple: use the bow, silly. So the bow can be found in a secret chamber in the first dungeon, and I missed that memo the first time around. Then when I got there and couldn't figure out how to equip the bow, because of course you have to buy arrows first. And apparently every time you shoot an arrow it costs one rupy (Zelda's unit for money, if you're not familiar), but I still think it might be worth it. With finally a reliable ranged attack, I might have a fighting chance with this game.
So far, The Legend of Zelda has been little more than a huge and frustrating waste of time for me. However, I still see a lot of potential for this game. I'm determined to see if I can finish this game, and then I'll move onto the others. Legend of Zelda, I accept your challenge!
Thursday, December 22, 2011
A Shirley Bennett Christmas
This is yet another reference to Community, so I apologize to those of you who don't watch the show, but I will explain. In season one, Shirley--the study group's only Christian member--decides to have a Christmas party for her friends at school. When she becomes upset with Jeff for fighting "on Christmas" the others remind her it is December 10th, not Christmas. But to Shirley it is Christmas, their Christmas, her best chance at Christmas because the study group is the closest thing she has to a family anymore.
You'll have to watch the episode to discover how the conflict resolves, but fortunately the point I'm trying to make here doesn't depend on that. You see, this year my best friend decided we should have our own Shirley Bennett Christmas. We exchanged gifts, then ate mozzarella sticks and drank apple Izze juice while watching Olive, the Other Reindeer and A Charlie Brown Christmas. These two Christmas movies have been a kind of tradition for us since freshman year. Apart from the two finals we had to take that same day, it was a great day and a neat way to celebrate an early, college-friends-only Christmas. We had lunch with another friend (free fries at Burger King) and afterwards the two of us loaded up my car for the break, which I really appreciated. I would absolutely do it again, and I'm already looking forward to next year.
Shirley Bennett had it right in season one. Christmas with your family is always important, but if you're a college student, you should definitely celebrate Christmas with your friends, your college family, before you leave at the end of the fall semester. If you're short on money (like so many of us college students), you don't have to exchange gifts. But you can get together for a few hours, enjoy some Christmas treats, and watch a Christmas movie or two. It's one of my favorite college experiences and a great holiday tradition. Of course, include your friends from every religion, but maybe with a little more acceptance than Shirley ;)
Merry Christmas everyone!
S01E12, Comparative Religion
You'll have to watch the episode to discover how the conflict resolves, but fortunately the point I'm trying to make here doesn't depend on that. You see, this year my best friend decided we should have our own Shirley Bennett Christmas. We exchanged gifts, then ate mozzarella sticks and drank apple Izze juice while watching Olive, the Other Reindeer and A Charlie Brown Christmas. These two Christmas movies have been a kind of tradition for us since freshman year. Apart from the two finals we had to take that same day, it was a great day and a neat way to celebrate an early, college-friends-only Christmas. We had lunch with another friend (free fries at Burger King) and afterwards the two of us loaded up my car for the break, which I really appreciated. I would absolutely do it again, and I'm already looking forward to next year.
Shirley Bennett had it right in season one. Christmas with your family is always important, but if you're a college student, you should definitely celebrate Christmas with your friends, your college family, before you leave at the end of the fall semester. If you're short on money (like so many of us college students), you don't have to exchange gifts. But you can get together for a few hours, enjoy some Christmas treats, and watch a Christmas movie or two. It's one of my favorite college experiences and a great holiday tradition. Of course, include your friends from every religion, but maybe with a little more acceptance than Shirley ;)
Merry Christmas everyone!
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Let's Get This Over With (30 Day Challenge)
I failed the 30 Day Song Challenge, as you might have noticed. My last day should have been days ago, and I never got past Day 27. But I'd feel like I cheated myself and my readers if I didn't just go through with it, so here are the last three days in one big, delayed post.
Day 28: A Song That Makes Me Feel Guilty
A couple years ago I was listening to a band called Forever The Sickest Kids, which I assume is something most of you either haven't heard of or don't really care for. Anyway, I was a fan for a while, and my favorite song from their album was definitely this one, "Coffee Break." It's a coming-of-age song about a guy who has to take a break from his busy life for a while and turn off his phone, just to accept that his life is changing and he has to change too, and grow up. The line that makes me feel guilty is "my mom hates my guts." Now, I don't really feel that way, but when life gets hard and you're not sure you're the person you wanted to become, it's easy to make yourself believe your parents are disappointed.
Day 29: A Song from My Childhood
There are a few I could talk about here. The first thing that comes to mind is that my mom used to always listen to country music, so I picked out my favorites from that genre when I was little. One I clearly remember dancing along to was "Boot Scootin' Boogie" by Brooks and Dunn.
Oh, the 90s! How I miss them. My sister and I were into all the cool stuff, like N*SYNC and The Backstreet Boys. Back then, we were bigger fans of N*Sync, but later we grew to really like The Backstreet Boys better. I have to be honest, I still have a huge soft spot for boy bands. No lie. "Tearin' Up My Heart" is one I remember being addicted to, and if I remember correctly, my group had to make up a dance to this in elementary school. I also seem to remember Marshall Hopkins being in my group, so I guarantee it was the best dance in all of the first grade. Maybe memory serves me wrong, but i doubt it.
And, last but never least, I cannot forget the wonderful Savage Garden. I don't think we knew anything about the band or heard any of their songs until sometime after 2003 when I rediscovered them and bought both their albums, but my sister and I loved "Truly, Madly, Deeply." (I doubt we could have told you the title in the '90s)
When I think '90s music, I always think of my sister. I remember singing these songs with her, and dancing to some of them, too. I remember singing along to the songs from Disney movies, and I remember running around with the characters, too. Sis, do you remember running around in the basement to certain scenes in The Lion King or The Rescuers: Down Under? Those days were incredible.
Day 30: My Favorite Song this Time Last Year
I wanted to talk about a Christmas song, but I have to honestly say I do not recall my Christmas song phase from last year. Sadly, I have to abandon that attempt.
Winter is a hard time for me when it comes to music. Especially these last few years, I'm used to finding an album or artist to listen to constantly in the summer. I go through that phase when I'm not happy listening to music if it's not that artist, or that album. Then it gets old, and I start to drop it, and when winter comes along I look for something new and can't grasp onto any of it. If I remember correctly, last winter I was trying to find something to replace The Summer Set's newest album (apparently no longer their newest; I have some money to spend, you guys), Love Like This, but I couldn't let go of this song, "Where Are You Now?" along with a couple others. Maybe you can guess why.
This song features Dia Frampton of Meg and Dia (I don't know who that is, but I figured I might as well credit the female vocals, as she is not a member of The Summer Set). Also, one thing I like about this band is their drummer is a woman. And I think this is the first band I've mentioned here that I've seen in concert. Nice way to end the challenge, I guess.
Day 28: A Song That Makes Me Feel Guilty
A couple years ago I was listening to a band called Forever The Sickest Kids, which I assume is something most of you either haven't heard of or don't really care for. Anyway, I was a fan for a while, and my favorite song from their album was definitely this one, "Coffee Break." It's a coming-of-age song about a guy who has to take a break from his busy life for a while and turn off his phone, just to accept that his life is changing and he has to change too, and grow up. The line that makes me feel guilty is "my mom hates my guts." Now, I don't really feel that way, but when life gets hard and you're not sure you're the person you wanted to become, it's easy to make yourself believe your parents are disappointed.
Day 29: A Song from My Childhood
There are a few I could talk about here. The first thing that comes to mind is that my mom used to always listen to country music, so I picked out my favorites from that genre when I was little. One I clearly remember dancing along to was "Boot Scootin' Boogie" by Brooks and Dunn.
Oh, the 90s! How I miss them. My sister and I were into all the cool stuff, like N*SYNC and The Backstreet Boys. Back then, we were bigger fans of N*Sync, but later we grew to really like The Backstreet Boys better. I have to be honest, I still have a huge soft spot for boy bands. No lie. "Tearin' Up My Heart" is one I remember being addicted to, and if I remember correctly, my group had to make up a dance to this in elementary school. I also seem to remember Marshall Hopkins being in my group, so I guarantee it was the best dance in all of the first grade. Maybe memory serves me wrong, but i doubt it.
And, last but never least, I cannot forget the wonderful Savage Garden. I don't think we knew anything about the band or heard any of their songs until sometime after 2003 when I rediscovered them and bought both their albums, but my sister and I loved "Truly, Madly, Deeply." (I doubt we could have told you the title in the '90s)
When I think '90s music, I always think of my sister. I remember singing these songs with her, and dancing to some of them, too. I remember singing along to the songs from Disney movies, and I remember running around with the characters, too. Sis, do you remember running around in the basement to certain scenes in The Lion King or The Rescuers: Down Under? Those days were incredible.
Day 30: My Favorite Song this Time Last Year
I wanted to talk about a Christmas song, but I have to honestly say I do not recall my Christmas song phase from last year. Sadly, I have to abandon that attempt.
Winter is a hard time for me when it comes to music. Especially these last few years, I'm used to finding an album or artist to listen to constantly in the summer. I go through that phase when I'm not happy listening to music if it's not that artist, or that album. Then it gets old, and I start to drop it, and when winter comes along I look for something new and can't grasp onto any of it. If I remember correctly, last winter I was trying to find something to replace The Summer Set's newest album (apparently no longer their newest; I have some money to spend, you guys), Love Like This, but I couldn't let go of this song, "Where Are You Now?" along with a couple others. Maybe you can guess why.
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