So Toshiba launched their ratings & reviews on ToshibaDirect.com today. Toshiba is my first client that I’ve worked with from pretty much start to end to have launched, so it’s pretty spiffy.

I noticed that I haven’t posted lyrics at the end of my posts for a while, so it’s about time I do so. =) I’ve been listening to some JoC again recently, and I think a lot of their songs grow on me. Oh My God didn’t really hit me the first few times I listened to it, but I was playing it in my car alone today and the end gets pretty intense. One of those songs you have to pay attention to I think.

“Oh my God, look around this place
Your fingers reach around the bone
You set the break and set the tone
Flights of grace, and future falls
In present pain
All fools say, “Oh my God”

Oh my God, Why are we so afraid?
We make it worse when we don’t bleed
There is no cure for our disease
Turn a phrase, and rise again
Or fake your death and only tell your closest friend
Oh my God.

Oh my God, can I complain?
You take away my firm belief and graft my soul upon your grief
Weddings, boats and alibis
All drift away, and a mother cries

Liars and fools; sons and failures
Thieves will always say
Lost and found; ailing wanderers
Healers always say
Whores and angels; men with problems
Leavers always say
Broken hearted; separated
Orphans always say
War creators; racial haters
Preachers always say
Distant fathers; fallen warriors
Givers always say
Pilgrim saints; lonely widows
Users always say
Fearful mothers; watchful doubters
Saviors always say

Sometimes I cannot forgive
And these days, mercy cuts so deep
If the world was how it should be,
Maybe I could get some sleep
While I lay, I dream we’re better,
Scales were gone and faces light
When we wake, we hate our brother
We still move to hurt each other
Sometimes I can close my eyes,
And all the fear that keeps me silent
Falls below my heavy breathing,
What makes me so badly bent?
We all have a chance to murder
We all feel the need for wonder
We still want to be reminded
That the pain is worth the plunder

Sometimes when I lose my grip,
I wonder what to make of heaven
All the times I thought to reach up
All the times I had to give in
Babies underneath their beds
Hospitals that cannot treat
All the wounds that money causes
All the comforts of cathedrals

All the cries of thirsty children - this is our inheritance
All the rage of watching mothers - this is our greatest offense

Oh my God
Oh my God” - Jars of Clay

Two 22” Dell widescreens or a 24” Dell widescreen? =)

I had been planning on eventually getting the 24” Dell for photo editing once Photoshop CS3 was out, but man, a 22” for $329.00?

Looking at user reviews on Dell’s site (which might I add are powered by Bazaarvoice ;)), it seems like the quality of the 24” is higher than the 22”…

However, it doesn’t seem like the 22” is horrid and the allure of two 22” monitors for the price of a 24” is something I cannot ignore. =)

The resolution of the 22” is 1680x1050, which would give a screen real estate area of 1,764,000 square pixels. Double that and I get 3,528,000 square pixels. The 24” is 1920x1200, or 2,304,000 square pixels. So I would get roughly 50% more pixels going the two 22” route, but with probably a bit lower quality. Of course, I’d have to put up with the space between the two 22” monitors as well.

Edit: Actually, looking at the 20” Dell monitors, the resolution is actually the same as the 22” one. The 20” are actually slightly more expensive than the 22” too (probably because the higher DPI is harder to make). The 20” also have quite good quality from what I’ve read.

It’s been a while. I’m pretty busy nowadays. =) I had a good long fulfilling week at work this past week. It’s a really nice feeling to enjoy what you do and end the day not dreading returning the next day. =)

This weekend, we go to Sean’s wedding. Congrats, Ruyle. =)

I also uploaded a few more pics from the retreat:

So it’s been determined that Apple is going to have tight control of applications that will run on the iPhone and third-party applications will not be supported, or at best, extremely limited to ones Apple “contracts” out. That’s pretty disappointing to me as even though OS X is pretty cool on its own, productivity is increased a lot by third-party applications (Quicksilver, for example) and I could see that happening on the iPhone too. One of the cool things about smartphones is that they support other applications and they have a community of developers that let you customize your phone to suit your needs.

And this B.S. about Cingular not wanting applications to run rampant on their networks is pretty stupid when many many many other smartphones are capable of running third-party software. Sounds to me like Apple just wants to shift some of the blame to Cingular.

That being said, the iPhone is still one snazzy piece of gadgetry.

A lot of times people will say something like “so-and-so did this and that, yadda yadda yadda” and end it with “but ya know, whatever makes you/them happy.” Or sometimes, it’s “well, if it makes you happy, then it’s okay.” I know I’m probably guilty of saying/thinking/doing it at some points or another in the past, but that phrase always strikes me as dangerous.

If you think about it, what it means is that you’re basing right/wrong decisions on whether or not your selfish desires are met. Or, accepting another person’s action and excusing them because they did it to make themselves happy, so it makes it alright. Does making yourself happy justify doing something you believe is wrong? Does making yourself happy justify lying, cheating, stealing, etc.? Does making yourself happy justify making someone else unhappy?

Another thing is that I think many (all?) people have a flawed sense of happiness. Many times, it’s based on quick-satisfactions that will carry you on another day or so, but leave you wanting more deep inside. Live a life of quick-satisfactions and you’ll likely find yourself a very unhappy person in the future.

Perhaps the right way of going about things is to figure out that following God’s plan is the way to make you happy. And that’s not to say that’s an easy and happy-go-lucky path to take. It’s often a very difficult, tiring, and often times unhappy one, rather. I’m kinda thinking that God never intended us to always feel “happy,” but he wants us to always feel love. And love is most definitely not always “happy.”

Maybe someday I’ll say “I did this and that and yadda yadda yadda, but ya know, whatever makes God happy makes me happy.” Mmmm, though hopefully in a not as cheesy/cliche-ish manner. ;)

I had a lot of thinking time on the drive to Alabama (because Kathy was up all night working on her dress so she was pretty dead on the ride there) and one of the topics my mind fell upon was grace. I think it is somewhat ironic that Christianity means the most to the “bad” people rather than the “good.” For example, if one’s been generally “good” all their life, it’s hard for them to realize the significance of grace. If the worst someone thinks they’ve ever done is told a lie or stolen some candy or cheated on a test or something like that, they don’t realize how awesome and powerful God’s grace is. On the other hand, if someone did something really “bad” (I put these words in quotes because a sin in a sin in God’s eyes and there’s no difference between a “small” sin and a “big” one… they both make us imperfect and unfit/unworthy), so bad that they find it hard to even forgive themselves, grace means so much more to them because they realize just how much they don’t deserve it.

Christianity isn’t for the “do-gooders” – they actually don’t really exist… I would guess that everyone at one point or another has in some form or fashion broken the ten commandments and/or hurt someone, acted selfishly, etc. etc. It’s for the people who are beyond all hope, the people who’ve been so messed up that they don’t feel worth any love or forgiveness. The “trick” is to realize that no matter how “good” of a person you generally think you are, you’re probably pretty wrong. =p Everyone needs grace, everyone’s messed up, no one deserves forgiveness because we all fall short of what God desires. There’s a reason why Jesus went to the outcasts of society, the ones people didn’t think deserved any love/forgiveness… the tax collectors, prostitutes, etc. etc.

I think once you realize that you’ve been given this gift of grace and you don’t deserve it, it makes you want to reach out to others because you can’t keep it to yourself. It means you’ve been given a new chance at life, sorta, and you want to use your new life to serve a purpose that would glorify God, to try to “pay him back” (even though that’s not possible =).

So here’s New Year’s resolution #2: To realize the significance of grace and know that every moment I’m alive is a gift from God I don’t deserve. And then, in turn, not to sit idling and to reach out and show others the love and grace I’ve been given.

I am still alive… and will post something with more substance… later. =)

In the mean time, you can see pics from the wedding over at my flickr.

Well, it’s Christmas Eve and I’m at home chilling with the family. Have a merry Christmas tomorrow, everyone. =) I may be calling some of you up and/or dropping by, so watch out! ;)

In other news, I uploaded pics from when we took Henrique and Tu to a Brazilian restaurant:

More on my flickr.

I wrote an email to God today (well, not really, because I don’t know his email address) and it reminded me of the movie Dear God about people reading the letters people were writing to God and answering their prayers by doing good deeds for them. Anyways, that’s kinda not the point.

I don’t think I pray very well, especially out loud when other people are around. I’ve probably voiced this before, but I’ll do it again anyways. =p I’ve never really written/typed out a prayer before, but I think it really helped because I guess it helps me to think through my thoughts. In a lot of churches I’ve attended in the past, prayers are sometimes really short and sometimes like mini-sermons. I guess mine tend to be on the short side and I find it hard to come up with things to “talk about” I guess (actually, this is probably a common problem with people too, not just with God)… a lot of times, I’m like, “why do I need to tell God this as he probably already knows?” I know that’s not the point. =p

I think prayer can be very powerful and I envy people who seem to be gifted with a strong prayer life. Actually, I guess they probably weren’t “gifted” with it, but they had to work on it and I should do the same. I want a strong prayer life and I want to dialogue with Him more because He’s the only one who I can truly trust to always lead me in the right direction, whether I like it or not. It might be a little early for New Year’s resolutions, but I think that’s the top of my list for ‘07.

I know I post it a lot, but it is a prayer and it is my favorite song…

“Dear Father, I need you,
Your strength my heart to mend.
I want to fly higher,
Every new day again.

Dear God…
Increase.
Healing hands of God have mercy on our unclean souls once again.
Jesus Christ, light of the world burning bright within our hearts forever.
Freedom means love without condition,
Without a beginning or an end.
Here’s my heart, let it be forever Your’s,
Only You can make every new day seem so new.” - Five Iron Frenzy

Yay! Today at work, I entered the office and our office manager greeted me with a brown box and said “this is for you.” I thought it was an LCD at first, but nope, it was my MacBook. Yay! So I spent most of the day setting it up and it’s running smoothly now. Yipeee… time to be more productive. =)

I had a larger, inferior spec’ed, HP laptop that I didn’t even bother taking home (I just left it locked at the desk)… but this MacBook is nice enough for me to carry around with me. I still think I prefer the MacBook Pro’s keyboard though, but it’s nice nonetheless.

Rumor has it a 12” MacBook Pro might be released soon… I might be tempted… the only reason why I’d stick with the larger version is better photo editting though… so I dunno, we’ll see.