Padfoot240.com

So, Christmas. It sure was a good one. For some strange reason everything in my life these past couple of months has been going terrible wrong in all the right ways. Not really sure what that means exactly, but it is true.

I’ll just highlight some of the really cool gifts I got:
-Left 4 Dead(On the Xbox Liam so get ready to be eaten)
-The Halo Trilogy Sound Track(That game just has some of the best music I’ve heard)
-A 24 DVD/Board Game
-Some pretty freaking sweet Tom’s Shoes with a flag and DVD
-A large collection of new clothes(if I was still 6, this would be counted as a disaster)

The rest were stocking stuffers-I have never been more excited to receive scrubbers/sponges before!

The night concluded in a spectacular win by me in Uno Stacko.

Well on Tuesday, I helped my church’s youth pastor to remake www.theburn.com. Now, it is not really completed at all yet(ie the banner), but it’s shaping into something really cool. Check it out! Speaking of social networking…A new service was launched on the 24th. It really is kind of lame, and I am a litle ashamed of this story, but it has to be told.

Mugglenet launched a Harry Potter Social Networking service called MuggleSpace. Yes, it really is that lame. It is basically Myspace, but everyone loves Harry Potter way too much. And, well…if you know who I am, I had to get one(now now, wait for the story to finish before you judge me). After I mad it, I didn’t know what to do. On Myspace I have friends so I could friend request them and talk to them, even on Hifive I have friends in Ecuador. But I didn’t have any friends or love Harry Potter quite like I do, or on Mugglespace. So I was wondering how this was going to work out.
Within 2 hours this random girl friend requests me. Her display name was Griffyndor Whore. A couple of things hit me right then and there.

1)Wow, this is why I deleted my Myspace
2)Why do I have an account on this piece of crap?
3)Griffyndor Whore? Really?
4)IT IS SPELT GRYFFINDOR YOU FRIGGIN IDIOT

So I deleted it and am never returning again. If people on there can’t even spell a word right and misrepresent what Harry Potter stands for, then I want nothing to do with it. Just like this book.

8 TV Shows I Watch:
1) CSI
2) The Office
3) 24
4) Chuck
5) Doc Martin
6) Malcom in the Middle
7) Friends
Seinfield

8 Favorite Restaurants:
1) Sambi’s
2) Taco Bell
3) In-n-Out
4) Chipotle
5) Chilis
6) Elephant Bar
7) Mambo Grill
El Torrito Grill

8 Things that Happened to Me Today:
1) I read a book till 3 am
2) I ate two chocolate Banana Muffins
3) I ate some Cheese Straws that I made for Christmas
4) Organized my gifts
5) Woke my sister up
6) Had a disturbing dream
7) Listened to the Halo Sound Track
Waited/ing for the mail man

8 Things I Look Forward To:
1) Taking a shower
2) Going to visit Niall/Ben/Liam this weekendish
3) Having our ‘Bad Movie’ night at Cory’s
4) Going shooting on the 4th
5) New Years!
6) New Years Eve Party!
7) Finishing up the Burn’s website
Getting the University Project Underway

8 Things I Wish For:
1) Confirmation that my grades will end up being good enough
2) Confirmation that I will get hired out of college
3) Confirmation that I will get married to a nice girl
4) That I could take the 100 pushup challenge more seriously
5) My mom to not care about my bed being made
6) That people wouldn’t be giant douches
7) That I could take learning the guitar seriously
That I could ban people from using the internet

8 People I Tag:
1) Amy
2) Cory
3) Niall
4) Jillian
5) Dan Kim
6) Chris Luna
7) Trent
Liam

(I just didn’t think the blarg or GeekyWeekly would do it, if I tagged you :p)
(And Anna already did it so I couldn’t really tag her.)

So I’m back at home for Christmas. There is so little to do. I had forgotten how good nothing to do is. All I do is sleep, play video games, hang out with friends, and read my books. It is amazing. It is the best.

You know what is not the best? Getting all B’s this quarter. Okay, wait. Not that B’s are a bad grade, I mean I’m passing that is a good thing. But when I was expecting at least two of those B’s to be A’s? It is a little disappointing. I need to see what happened in those classes…

Also, I need your input on this ASAP. I need to take one of the following classes. Which one should I take?

Environmental Analysis and Design, E15, Native American Religions and the Environmental Ethic

Planning Policy and Design 172, Latino Metropolis

Criminology, C172, Culture Change and the Mexican People

Political Science 61A, Intro to Minority Politics (role of race and ethnicity in politics)

Don’t they all sound AWESOME?!?
Too bad only the native American religion one is offered this quarter. I need to see if I can take any others…

Sorry, I’ve been studying and studying and studying these past few days. Of course, with the occasional Left 4 Dead break. And I started to record some moments just for kicks. Unfortunately the sound settings were screwed up and I didn’t realize that so you can only really hear what I am saying and not what my teammates are saying…or even the game sounds for that matter. I was really bummed when I found that out b/c Cory had an awesome That’s What She Said. Oh well. Check out our team’s epic fails we had when we got stuck on this single map(for 1.5 hours).

Padfoot240=I
Cannonball=Cory
xtomeb=Tom
Number 2=Jason

So I went out and bought the Wind before thanksgiving. I had a bestbuy coupon for 10% off any item and I used it. So it totaled up to about $345. Not bad for a totally portable netbook. It’s really cool too. The keyboard is just a little bit small, but nice to type a short blog post on or take notes during class. The screen size is just small enough to read some blog posts, watch a youtube video, read a word document, or web chat with a friend. The only beef I have with it really is the function key. They put it on the outside of the bottom row on the left so I’m constantly pressing it instead of the left control key. Slightly annoying, but i’m learning to move a finger, or to just press the right one(which is bigger anyways).

Thanksgiving was amazing, as always. So much food. So much football. So much awesome.

I’ve started creating a list of things to hang in my room. I can’t really hang a lot in my campus village apartment since they don’t want holes in the wall, but next year in my new apartment I can. So far I have some video game posters that just went on sale at the Valve store, constructing invisible bookshelves that make people have a double take at floating books, and I’m also creating a Harry Potteresque display case. It is the first of two quality crafts that I am planning on making. The latter will be a sort of wooden chest to hold them all since I am utterly unsatisfied with the cardboard one that borders is selling to hold all the books. Those projects will get posts of their own in due time, probably when they are finished.

Well, I hope you all had a great holiday. It’s almost Christmas so you all better come back home and hang out!

Well, have you ever started driving somewhere that should only take 10 minutes, but it turns out to a 1hour and 20 minute drive? Yea. Well that happened to a few of us tonight. We just wanted to go rock climbing, but it turned out to be much much more. I mapped it out so you could all see what happened.

The Blue path-Point 1 to Point 2: Based on the actual directions from Google, however on crucial problem….we missed that last left turn. Everyone assumed that they were wrong but me, “Google is never wrong. I’ll be wrong before Google is.”

The Pink path-Point 2 to Point 3: So we called a friend up who was there already to ask where it was, she put us on some other way along another freeway. I’m not sure how she ended up there on her own, but good for her. And oh yes, the pink does make a little circle there after the freeway.

The Black path-Point 3 to Point 4: This is where we called up ANOTHER friend who just knew their way around the locale, she actually gave us some good directions leading to us finally ending up to where we were in phase one. And yes, the black does make the same little circle that the pink did after the freeway.

The Orange path-Point 4 to Point 5: Finally, we realized that we had just come the way we had came the first time. We were already to give up, when suddenly, Hallie saw the street we had missed the first 3 times we had drove down that street and we found our rock gym at last.

So. I read your comments. I thought about it. And I’ve had some new thoughts.

Thoughts:
~Since I am planning on using this for notes I should at least have a decent keyboard. The dell mini 9 hasn’t made me not like it the few times I’ve used it, but I think taking notes in class for a few hours just might. This rules the Dell out I think. Plus the Dell would come out to about $450-$500.

~Maybe the SSDs aren’t ready yet. But I think they are pretty dang close. But the point on XP not being nice to the SSD is valid.

~I was looking at the Wind 120 again, and I realized that there aren’t many changes to the original wind. They really only add the SSD option and include a capability to use a network internet plan via the SD slot. I wouldn’t use the internet plan, so do I really want to pay almost $200 more for just an SSD option?

~If I go with the present Wind, only $350, I could have a normal haddrive AND an SSD via the SD card reader. I can buy a 16 gig card which is almost as big as the 20 SSD that the 120 would have.

The end result is going with the Wind will allow me to get my netbook for cheaper, more of what I want, and less of what I don’t need. Plus I have a 10% off coupon for bestbuy. I’ve been looking at the online Black Friday deals and I don’t see the Wind(new or old) showing up in them. Nor would I expect it too since they just cut the price down to $350 a few weeks ago.

What I am looking for
*Small Portable Netbook just for mobility outside of my room. Now that I have my uber desktop I don’t really need a laptop that can act as my primary computer. A netbook is designed to just do basic tasks such as word processing, internet, email, etc.
(YES)

*At least 4-5 hour battery life
(YES)

*SSD
(SORT OF)

*They both only come with 512MB or 1GB RAM, but that is easily upgradeable via ordering a new chip.
(YES/UPGRADE TO 2 RAM)

*A price range of under $600
(YES)

So tell me again, is this crazy talk? Let me know!

About which netbook to buy. I am currently split between the Dell Mini 9 and the MSI Wind 120(Wind 2).

Dell has always been good to me, and their warranty and service plans rock!
The Wind however has won many awards as the best netbook out there now. I know what the Dell has to offer since it is already out, but the Wind 120 is supposed to come out later this month. The pros/cons are as follows.

Dell Mini
*Smaller-more portable
*Backed by dell service plan
*I get a uci discount
*Solid State Harddrive but mac is 16 GB

MSI Wind 120
*Slightly bigger-bigger screen and keyboard
*Awards for best netbook
*Better battery with a possible upgrade
*It isn’t out yet so I don’t know if it will be released with an SSD. I have heard stories of the SSD options being available at a later date, and of a 20 GB being available at release and a 40 GB one later

What I am looking for
*Small Portable Netbook just for mobility outside of my room. Now that I have my uber desktop I don’t really need a laptop that can act as my primary computer. A netbook is designed to just do basic tasks such as word processing, internet, email, etc.(they both fit this category)
*At least 4-5 hour battery life(Again, they both fit this but the Wind can be upgraded later for a bigger battery)
*SSD(Mini is confirmed but Wind isn’t yet)
*They both only come with 512MB or 1GB RAM, but that is easily upgradeable via ordering a new chip.
*A price range of under $600

I’m hoping to pick one up over thanksgiving break at a Black Friday sale or over Christmas Break. If the Wind 2 isn’t released by black Friday I will probably hold off and wait till Christmas break. I think my decision is riding on if the Wind has the SSD option.

Is this crazy talk? Let me know!

In the recent death of Michael Crichton, Borders had a sale on all his books. So being the true fans that we are, Cory and I pillaged the remaining books were eluding our Crichton collections.

Since I recently finished re-reading Harry Potter again it is time to work through my to read stack.

Currently in my ‘to read’ stack:

Eaters of the Dead
Airframe
The Great Train Robbery
Halo: First Strike
Halo: The Flood
Halo: The Fall of Reach
Snow Crash
His Dark Materials trilogy
The Chronicles of Narnia(another re-read)

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I can think of no reason
Why the Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t’was his intent
To blow up the King and Parli’ment.
Three-score barrels of powder below
To prove old England’s overthrow;
By God’s providence he was catch’d
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!

Let this be a reminder to you all.
It doesn’t matter who our president is.
It doesn’t matter who our senators are.
It doesn’t matter who our house representative is.
It doesn’t matter what props passed, and what props failed.
It doesn’t matter if you ‘totally-showed-that-guy-down-the-street-that-he-was-wrong’.

Because of two reasons:
1)We are the citizens of America, and we have the final say in it. Like V said, “people should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.”

2)God is in His heaven, and all is good.

Besides, Obama has some good things to say…

I hope not Obama…I hope not.

Watch today’s progress right here!

After you looked at that, check THIS OUT!

The opening cinematic for LEFT 4 DEAD!!