Today is Download Day!

Yep that’s right today is the official day that Firefox 3 is finally released. But there’s more to it then just downloading Firefox 3. For those of you that don’t know Mozilla is shooting for the world record in the most software downloads with 24 hrs! How can you participate you ask? Head on over to http://spreadfirefox.com/ and click pledge now. Doing so will register you as another person who promises to download Firefox 3 on Download Day during a specific time frame so it will count towards the world record.

::UPDATE::
Firefox 3 is now out!

So on a side note, I’d like to mention that I’m really digging the One Prayer Series. If you missed the message this past Sunday head on over to http://liquidchurch.com and check it out. After hearing that message it definitely showed me how my old church and even other church’s I’ve been to are so called competing. In fact last year when I met with the pastor from one of those church’s and I explained to them I was going to Liquid Church he said “I don’t think Liquid has the money to succeed or to reach people like we do”. I looked at him like he was crazy, what does money have to do with anything? It’s not about money in any way shape or form and it’s not even about having a competition of how many people you reach! That was back in May 2007 and I look at it and he couldn’t have been more wrong with what he was saying. But hey were human and it’s unfortunate that instead of everyone being united were divided as stated this past Sunday. I surely hope this changes, I really do. Last week I sent out an email to Aussie Dave about the Internet Campus. I would love to get involved in it. However I haven’t heard anything back as of yet. If I don’t hear anything back in the next few days, can anyone from the Liquid Offices want to reach out to him for me? It would be much appreciated!

Last week Less Than Jake’s new album “GNV FLA” leaked on to the internet. The album is fantastic and I’m picking up my copy when it comes out next Tuesday! It definitely goes back to their older sound some what, but it sure will please both the old fans and the new! I won’t spoil anything by describing each track. If any of you want to hear it, you can pick up a copy next week or try to find it online.

On that note, like it was said this past Sunday, let us be One.

P.S. I know that there are probably more other people from the Liquid Office that reads this blog. So feel free to speak up and comment! I’m a strong believer in an open community, much like the community at Liquid! Oh and I still need a name for my blog so I can get a domain name, so any Ideas let me know!

Liquid Baptisms and more!

I’ve been sitting here for the past hour determining on how I want to write this entry. I already knew what it’s going to be about. But having allergies and all, I have not being feeling well so it’s taking a toll on me a bit. So please bare with me if I’m starting to go off on a random rant.

This past weekend started out what looked like to be miserable as it rained at the company picnic for a good 20 minutes to a half hour, maybe even more and then I had to deal with my allergy attacks later that night. However I made the best I could out of that Saturday. However I didn’t know what I was in for the following day at my cousins and my friends baptism, I was always supporting my cousin and my friend getting baptised and I just thought it would be another typical one. Ya know people go up, say something and then they get dunked. I couldn’t have been more wrong then that.

I got there with the family, my uncle had saved us some seats. With in about 10 minutes we were under way and the worship team began playing. After worship the baptisms began and the first person stepped up. They told their story, well actually they had their story or testimony I should say video taped and showed on the screens. At first I felt like this was the typical baptism as one by one most of the testimony’s were rather similar. However that slowly changed as more people went and were talking about drugs, alcohol, sex, etc. It was rathering touching and I couldn’t even explain these to those of you who are reading this. I hope they put them online just so you guys can see what I’m talking about, including my cousins. She even made a small shout out to me as she liked to call it in her testimony. Like I said I can’t even explain or describe these testimony’s during this service.

However what really swept me off my feet later on was the testimony’s from the last service as that was when my friends was. Again these testimony’s as well were showing them as who they were and showing that they too aren’t perfect! I would go into more detail but I’d pretty much be repeating what I said above with slight differences. Again though little did I know how much on an impact these really had on me.

Afterword’s I met this one guitarist who plays in a professional band but also plays for the worship team. I wasn’t expecting much as well here. We talked about guitars, the problems I’ve had with the person I bought my guitar from, my problems with the guitar, and my problems with Sam Ash. Out of no where he kindly offered to fix the problem I am having with the screw pulling out of my guitar as it requires quite a few things to repair it. He then told me about the free Set Ups Sam Ash is doing and told me that some one I know at Liquid is doing the free set ups at Sam Ash this weekend. It wasn’t till that moment that something just sparked and ignited inside me. I mean just all of this joy and happiness just overflowed into me. But it still didn’t stop there.

Shortly after I was talking to the pastor of our church and which was the first time I think I ever had a full conversation with him. It amazed me how he took the time to ask how I was and what was going which was something I never experienced at my old church. But the best part about it that really amazed me was how he was interested in what I had to say and just didn’t go “Oh ok well glad to hear that” and then just moved on. Now the conversation wasn’t anything special it was mainly about my major, how hectic things have been but still I’ve never actually had that kind of kindness.

It was then when I decided that I want to get back into serving, get back into going to Liquid Church, and so much more. Even today I still feel it and I hope this doesn’t go away. I know I have many faults and that I’m not perfect but I’m not going to let them hold me back. It’s ironic ya know I mean I kept inviting my cousin to Liquid and now here she is for the past few months has been inviting me back to the very place I originally invited her to. I would love to get baptised again but at this moment I know it’s not time for me to do so. When I got baptised the last time at my old church, I didn’t do it because I wanted to. I did it because one of my other friends was. I felt threatened by them and knew that when they did, they would get all the attention, praise, etc. I thought “I can’t let her have all the attention, I’m going to as well so I get it as well” which was such a selfish thing to do. I wanted it all to be about me and it’s taken me about 3 years to realize that and 6 years to realize that everything I’ve done at that church wasn’t just to help them out and get them some many benefits with a website and what not. But I also did it cause I wanted the attention, the whole “Oh look at him and how much he has done! He’s such as good person!” or “He’s such a Godly person” which both were not true in any way shape or form. There’s so much more to that and only a portion of my testimony, but my whole point of writing it is to show and say to everyone I messed up badly, and I didn’t do this for God I did all of this for my own selfish gain. This may change how people see me but that doesn’t bother me one bit cause it’s a part of my life story and I felt for the past few days that I should just come clean with those things.

Does the Lion City Still Roar?

One of my favorite bands finally released a single from their new album that is due out June 23rd. The band I am talking about is Less Than Jake and the new album is titled “GNVA FLA” which is being released on their new label “Shout It Out Records”. The single is titled “Does the City Still Roar?” and I have to say that I’m going to enjoy this new album. A lot of people claim that they’re last album “In With The Out Crowd” sucked or was a flop, I however happen to disagree. I’ve been a fan of LTJ since I was 7 (you can thank my older brothers) and I honestly have to say that the album is no different then the album before it titled “Anthem”. I have noticed that each record is different and “Anthem” and “In With The Out Crowd” have differences (less horns in IWTOC) but if your a true fan you’ll have respect for the album, which many people don’t. But hey everyone is entitled to their own opinion right?

Anyways check out the new single on their website (http://lessthanjake.com) or on myspace (http://myspace.com/lessthanjake). Let me know what you think of the new single.

Things have been going pretty well so far for me. Over the weekend I went to at least 3 BBQ’s for Memorial Day Weekend. I went to one on Saturday, another on Sunday and then another Yesterday. I love food especially burgers and hot dogs on a nice warm day, I swear I had to have eaten at least 20 total over the weekend. Either way it was great to spend time with friends and family, especially the ones you haven’t seen in months. How was everyone elses weekend? Enjoy good food, friends and family?

I have determined that my band is on hiatus. We haven’t practiced in over a month, due to everyone’s schedule in the band whether it be for work, family plans, etc. Were planning on recording this summer and playing shows but till then nothing new is coming out of the band. I’ve written some material on my guitar that I’m eager to share with everyone, but till the hiatus is over no one will be hearing anything.

No comic for the ending post today. I will make up for it some time this week though!

Rainy Days Aren’t So Bad

I always thought that Rainy Days were the worst, for most people however these kind of days usually start off bad because of how the weather affects your mood and then more stuff just builds on top of it. Though this may be true, usually what you consider is going to be a bad day turns out to be good. When I woke up this morning the first thing I thought was “Oh crap it’s raining” mainly because I knew the drive into work would be hell. What happens on Rainy Days in the area work is usually people are slamming on they’re brakes last minute because they either weren’t paying attention or were riding some ones bumper. On top of that usually the traffic gets bad in a certain area which just makes matters worst.

The drive in today wasn’t too bad and I probably could have gotten in a bit earlier had I just taken route 78 to the Springfield exit and worked my way over to Route 22 in Union, so next time I’ll do that instead. But today so far hasn’t been so bad after all. I walked in and everything was at peace and everything is going smooth. So if your encountering a Rainy Day and it’s all muggy out. Just take a step back, a deep breath, grab a cup of coffe or tea and just relax because even if you just walk into an office or a house and things haven’t start off right it’s not the end of the world. And only you can control your mood and you feel, definitely try to make the best of it, even when something goes wrong.

So how have I been over all since my last post? Pretty good, even though classes are over I still feel like I have to do work for them and that I’m going to do poorly if I don’t. I’m sure that feeling will go away soon. Speaking of college, I want to quickly talk about the whole grading thing at my college. For those of you who don’t know I go to a Community College and yes my degree and the professors at my school are of the same quality as those so called “Real Colleges”. The grading policy might be slightly different then most schools as Julie was quite surprised to hear that I’m considered passing the class with a D. For whatever reason there are certain courses in my school where D is considered passing and obviously F is failing. However in other courses such as the Mathematics anything below a C is considered Failing. Again I’m not sure why this was done but it was. Now as for the class I got a D in I’m retaking it when my last semester for the college comes, I’d rather get done all of my advance courses first and then retake a prereq course for an easy A at the end of college.

Oh btw I turned 21 this past Sunday. I still feel the same and I don’t understand why people are asking me if I feel any different. Am I suppose to feel different? If so then how? Anyways I spent Saturday afternoon in Wildwood, NJ with my friends. We got a motel room, spent the night on the boardwalk and then celebrated. It was a great weekend and I couldn’t have asked for more. I plan on going down again in a few weeks if I’m able to, and this time I’ll take my cousin so we can both take some awesome photography down there. Well I’m off for now so I shall leave you with this small comic that stumbleupon threw at me. I think from now on I’m going to close off each post with a comic, enjoy!

College is out and I’m back!

Ah the lovely feeling of summer break and being able to go back to your original daily schedule for work! There is no sarcasm in that I really do mean it.  College this year was definitely ten times better then last year, my studying habits are better and I didn’t go out as much, however my grade in my math class says other wise.  I’m also quite concerned what my grade is in my programing class. I’ll be happy with a C or even a D just so I can move forward to get my other classes done and then come to back it and retake the class for an easy A later on. So this summer if I can I’m going to be retaking my math class, so I can take the last Mod once classes start back up in the fall. If I can’t no worries it wont set me back entirely.

So I’m back and I can now finally focus on the projects I’ve been working on during school. The Mixxing Bowl Theme is finally going to be completed, learn how to properly code in Java on my own time (being force fed isn’t fun), get CompTIA Certified, second job just to make some extra cash, continue play testing my card game, continue fleshing out the video game I presented in class(I would really love to see it get built), get work done on my cars back and front bumper as well as the one side skirt replaced. I’m sure there will be more to come, but having this free time now is allowing me to do what I need to do. Oh and I also plan on getting my own domain name soon and hosting wordpress on it’s own server. When I’m not sure but it will happen. So till then give me some idea’s on the name of the blog/site/domain name!

My laptop is still out for repairs but they are just waiting on one more part and it will be shipped back to me. There’s also more to the story then I’m currently telling you guys, but I’m saving it till I get the system back so I can tell it in full and not in broken bits and pieces. It will be more of like a review on my experience with the support call, the critical issues contact I have and my experience with them, the quality of repair, if any compensations were given, and of course my overall experience since day one (June/May 2006) with my system from Alienware. So sit back, relax, grab some coffee, tea or a drink of your choosing as things are just starting to slowly take off.

Killer Bunnies Anyone?

I know I know I promised an update the day after I found my keys. With Finals coming up in the next 3 weeks it’s been hard to update and there’s just so much work to do! Being a college student sure has it’s perks though well maybe.

So today I have a handful of stuff to talk about today. Let’s get started.

This past weekend was a sad one for us New Jersey Devils fans. After playing a whole Season not being able to defeat the New York Rangers we finally managed to do so, only to lose a third time to them in the Stanley Cup Playoffs during knocking us out in Round One. Never again do I want to see such a tragedy like that happen ever again. But we’ll come back with a stronger team next year and until then I’ll be cheering for which ever team plays the Rangers and defeats them.

In other news it appears GrooveShark is no longer in Beta still in Beta. If you go to the site it’s been completely revamped however you do need to  be logged in and still need the software installed to listen to music. If you don’t want to register then you can use GrooveShark Lite. Just search the artist name/song name and a player will open up in the Browser allowing you to listen with out an account. A cool feature indeed but not what I was looking for them to do.

So how many of you have heard of a nice game called Killer Bunnies? This card game is pretty much suitable for anyone of any age and features a total of 9 booster decks to add to the game. The game comes with an additional deck called the Yellow Booster Deck. You’re goal is to try to prevent the other players from collecting Golden Carrots while trying to collect these same exact Golden Carrots. The game can be played between 2 players or more. However I personally found the more the better as it takes the game to a whole new level. There’s so much detail behind the game and all that I’ll let what the description from the Killer Bunnies website do the explaining as it can explain it 10x better then I can.

Killer Bunnies & the Quest for the Magic Carrot is a fast paced, action filled card game, in which you must try to keep as many Bunnies alive as possible, while eliminating your opponents’ Bunnies. The problem: Your opponents are armed with weapons and will stop at nothing to keep you from winning the game, which can get dreadfully vengeful, horribly nasty, hilariously messy, and just plain fun!

Can you keep from being attacked by the whimsical Whisk or the torching Flame Thrower? Defend your Bunnies with the Magic Spatula, or use a Feed The Bunny card to starve out an opponent! It’s off-the-wall strategic fun, where the goal is to survive and claim the Magic Carrot to win the game!

And finally as I mentioned last Wednesday I lost my car keys at the college. I spent about 3 hrs with out them and the first 20 minutes of those 3 hrs figuring out if I dropped them or left them in a class room.

Long story short security didn’t have them and it was then when I knew where they were. Turned out they were in the room where I had my class before lunch. Only downside was a class was going on at the time. My options were to intrupt and get them or wait. I chose to be polite and wait it out meanwhile walking by every now and then looking through the window try to see if they were in view. Eventually after 3 hrs went by I decided to just go in and get them cause the class was still not over. As I walked in one student just said “Your keys are right there, we saw you walk by at least 3 times or more”, I must admit I was kind of embarassed and because I was I made up some false story that of course no one bought but hey I finally got them back!

That’s all I really have for you guys today! I’ll post some more interesting with in the next couple days, weeks, etc.

Wildwood Days

Finally a new blog post! Things have been super crazy the past week with college. Everything is in pretty much crunch time right now and professors are starting to load a ton of work on to our shoulders for the next 3 weeks. So I’ve finally found some time out of my busy schedule to blog. So I figured why not write about my plans for Wildwood?

As I’ve written before on my old blog every summer my friends and I have made it a point to “go down the Shore” as we like to call it here in Jersey. This location happens to be Wildwood as it’s one of the best beaches at the Jersey Shore and it has the best boardwalk. Actually the good old and famous Wildwood Boardwalk. I grew up there during the summers when I was a child so I figured that my friends who have or even’t haven’t been there should share the memories I had.

Everything is still up in the air at the moment. There’s so much planning to do such as where were going to stay for the weekend, who’s coming, money, etc. I’m shooting for June as thats the last month I have to use my comp day. But it may look like it will be July or even August at the latest.

Things have changed so much down there since I was a child and since we sold our place down there. Most of the familiar motels/hotels are now gone and have been replaced with condo’s. There was one near our place that we went into all the time because they had a small gift shop where you could buy snacks, drinks, and kites. Oh and they had 3 arcade machines as well if I remember correctly. Now it’s gone though no more snacks, drinks, kites or anything of that sort. Sure you could go to a Wal-Mart, or an Eckerd/Rite Aid but you’ll be paying top dollar at those stores. Where as this place everything was reasonably priced.  The Board Walk has changed a lot too. The piers with all of the rides now have a new ticketing/wrist band system for rides. I would beg my parents to get the wrist band because it would get me on all of the rides and of course one Go Kart ride. Now a days it’s this plastic wrist band with what appears to be bar codes and they no longer apply to Go Karts. But hey they still work on all of the rides! But most of all what has changed is it appears Coca Cola bought out or made some kind of deal with the Morey’s. Everything such as the Tram cars are now branded Coca Cola and no longer have the signature bright yellow paint or the constant “WAAAWAWAAATCCHCH THE TRAM CAR PLEEAAASSSE!!!” when the drivers would hit the button repeatedly. Now it’s painted red, Coca Cola logo’s and “WATCH THE TRAM CAR PLEASE”. The Tram cars weren’t broken it was just the way they got peoples attention and boy it did. Everyone would stop walking and watch them pass by. Now a days barely anyone does. They also now do the fireworks display and are done every Friday night. That’s cool and all but I always saw them as being special. Something that only happened on holidays and special occasions. Now it appears they’ve lost the meaning of that. And finally the one thing I didn’t like that they changed was the roller coaster titled “The Great Nor’ Eastern”. The original color was Bright Pink and you could see it for miles. It was like a landmark and I loved seeing it coming over the bridge, and seeing it from our place when I was kid. Now it’s painted White with changing color lights, and this year they completely changed the hanging cars, and renamed it “Fly The Great Nor’ Eastern”.

However a lot of good has come out of this transformation too! They built a new convention center right on the boardwalk, new street lights, sidewalks, etc. Ok well not a lot but still those are some benefits but the demolition of most hotels/motels, Coca Cola,  and what not was a bit much.

So this summer I hope everything goes well and that everyone I invite can come. I absolutely love it down there and I can’t wait to share the beauty and experience with every one.