I personally think that diaries are a has been… I never got into
writing in a diary, when I was younger, cause I just didn’t like the
act of writing… It’s not that I disliked putting my thoughts down, I
just didn’t enjoy using a pencil/pen to record those thoughts. 
Now things have changed… I can type pretty fast (around 100 words a
minute I would guess), so I can throw my thoughts down fairly
quickly.  Plus, who wants to look through old notebooks?  I’d
rather browse the virtual pages… and having search functionality
improves usability dramatically…  And spellchecker… I would be
a mess without it.

The anonymity of the diary sort of exists… when I started this blog,
I told no one.  All of the people who read this stumbled across it
on their own.  Creating this blog in that fashion allowed me to
pour my thoughts out without a care in the world.  I didn’t (and
largely still don’t) know who reads this.  So, the effect was
similar to keeping a notebook in the solitude of a bedroom…

On another note, I really think that pen pals have been phased out,
also.  I never had a pen pal, but I could imagine writing bs to
someone in a different country… now, I think that practice has been
replaced with forums, IM, and email.

That said, I am changing my life.  Probably more appropriate would
be for me to say that I’m changing my lifestyle.  I will provide
more details as the time becomes more appropriate.

I’m not quite sure why, but lately everything seems clearer to
me…  I notice new sounds in music I’ve listened to for years…
colors seem more vibrant than before.  I’m not quite sure why this
is all going on, but I figured I’d share…

As a side note, I have noticed something that I wouldn’t have picked up
prior to riding a motorcycle… There seems to be an understanding
amongst riders… it doesn’t matter what type of motorcycle you ride,
but everyone waves to everyone else.  In general, the wave is to
the side of the bike with a straight left arm.  The arm is pointed
out toward the ground… There are variations on it, but that’s the
gist.

After really too long, the server is back up and working… I upgraded to CommunityServer 1.1 and ran into an issue. 
After a quick fix, the site is functional again.  I want to
re-skin it, but I can’t guarantee when that time will come.

The other thing that is on my mind at the moment is about
intellisense.  I use Visual Studio primarily for development and
I’m not very happy with the current implementation of
intellisense.  I would really like to see a popup menu type thing
instead of the flat list.  Something that would separate events,
public, protected, and internal methods.

A philosophy professor stood before his class and had some items in
front of him. When the class began, wordlessly he picked up a very
large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks,
rocks about 2″ in diameter.

He then asked the students if the jar was full? They agreed that it was.

So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into
the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled into
the open areas between the rocks.
Sand wagon

He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else.

He then asked once more if the jar was full. This time the students were sure and they responded with a unanimous “YES!”
Beer Can

The professor then produced two cans of beer from under the table and
proceeded to pour their entire contents into the jar — effectively
filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

“Now,” said the professor, as the laughter subsided, “I want you to
recognize that this jar represents your life. The rocks are the
important things – your family, your partner, your health, your
children?things that, if everything else was lost and only they
remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other
things that matter like your job, your house, your car.

The sand is everything else. The small stuff. “If you put the sand into
the jar first,” he continued “there is no room for the pebbles or the
rocks. The same goes for your life. If you spend all your time and
energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that
are important to you.

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play
with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your
partner out dancing. There will always be time to go to work, clean the
house, give a dinner party and fix the disposal.
Sand

“Take care of the rocks first — the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.”

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the beer represented.

The professor smiled. “I’m glad you asked. It just goes to show you
that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a
couple of beers.”

I have been having quite a few vivid dreams lately.  It has been
fairly common for me to wake up (from a dream) in the middle of the
night.  The dreams have felt so real that I have a hard time
determining whether or not I’m dreaming at that point.

I have been pretty busy, but that seems to just be the nature of
summer.  I have a strong desire to start meditating again… I
think that would help with some stress that I’ve been feeling. 
Also, I am continuing to read (after a peroid of not reading) The Art
of Happiness.  If you’re looking for a book to give you a better
outlook on things, give it a read.

That’s what I thought when I talked with MKE… Anyway, they thought the idea was good enough to put it on their front cover…


A couple things to note about this… Yes, I ate part of the corn dog
that is in my hand… it was yummy and I’d like one right now.  I
was wearing sandals at the time, so that made navigating the ladder in
the sewer sort of interesting.  The pictures were taken at dusk
(around 7:30 or 8:00pm).  Christine, the photographer, had a nice
setup to create cool lighting for the pictures.  Also, It was
pretty cold (around 50 degrees), but there was warm steam coming from
the sewer.  Other than that, I did about 30-40 pictures that
day… it was a fun time and I’d be interested in doing something like
that again.

btw, the sewer was a typical sewer outside of her apartment.

I bought a motorcycle a couple weeks ago, from a friend.  It is an
’82 Yamaha 650 Maxim.  Overall, I am very pleased with the bike
and I think it’ll be a nice one to ride to/from work.  Besides,
getting about 50mpg is much better than my car’s mpg.  Anyway,
here is a picture of what it looks like:


Also… I’ve been re-organizing myself at home, a little.  I
decided to empty and throw away a dresser that I have been using for a
couple years.  The dresser looks nice, but it always left a weird
smell on the clothing that resided in it.  I tried many things to
rid that dresser of the smell, but eventually I gave up.  So… I
have since replaced it with open shelves.  I bought an
entertainment stand and use that to store some of my clothes. 
It’s weird, but I feel joy when I walk into my room, now.  The
room is bigger without that big dresser and I like the look of the open
shelf thing.  Here is a picture to give you an idea of what I used: