Category Archives: Hey World!

Up on my soapbox!

Minimum Possessions

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A while ago, one of my friends mentioned a movement where participants limit themselves to 100 total possessions.  I thought it would be fun to see if I could fit the minimum requirements needed to sustain my current lifestyle into 100 items — without making significant changes to my daily routine.  Please note that the following list is in no particular order.  The numbers are just to help me count:

  1. A 1 bedroom, 1 bath apartment (high speed internet access, electrical power, heated, running water [$200 + $100 utilities]/month)
  2. A mirror
  3. A sink
  4. A toilet
  5. A shower
  6. A cupboard or bookshelf
  7. A refrigerator (includes a freezer)
  8. A microwave
  9. A stove
  10. A crock-pot
  11. A metal cooking pan with a lid
  12. A two-cup microwaveable measuring cup
  13. A george foreman grill
  14. A spatula
  15. A bed
  16. A mattress
  17. A mattress cover
  18. A sleeping bag
  19. A pillow
  20. A pillowcase
  21. An apartment key
  22. A toothbrush
  23. Toothpaste ($1 / month)
  24. A bar of hand soap
  25. Shampoo soap ($1 /month)
  26. A pair or scissors
  27. A pair of glasses
  28. A microwaveable bowl
  29. A second microwaveable bowl
  30. A microwaveable ceramic plate
  31. A metal plate
  32. A metal fork
  33. A plastic fork
  34. A metal spoon
  35. A plastic spoon
  36. A serrated knife
  37. A plastic knife
  38. A microwaveable ceramic cup
  39. A metal cup
  40. A desk
  41. An office chair
  42. A duffel bag
  43. A pair of white cotton socks
  44. A pair of black cotton socks
  45. A pair of underwear
  46. A second pair of underwear
  47. A pair of jeans
  48. A pair of black slacks
  49. A light colored T-shirt
  50. A dark colored T-shirt
  51. A long-sleeved flannel shirt
  52. A long-sleeved dress shirt
  53. A warm coat
  54. A waterproof jacket with a hood
  55. A stocking cap
  56. A pair of warm gloves
  57. A pair of warm hiking boots that can be worn with jeans
  58. A pair of dark walking shoes that can be worn with jeans and slacks
  59. An iMac (includes a computer, speakers, monitor, gigabit ethernet card, >=2 GHz, >=200GB disk, >=2GB ram)
  60. An ethernet cable
  61. A keyboard
  62. A mouse
  63. A computer power cable
  64. A 2GB thumb drive
  65. A pair of over-ear headphones
  66. An iPod touch (includes calendar and e-mail and internet over wifi capability)
  67. An iPod USB cable
  68. A pair of small headphones for use with iPod
  69. A cellular phone (includes a clock and provides alarm clock capability)
  70. A charging cable for the phone
  71. A floor lamp
  72. A mechanical pencil
  73. A backup mechanical pencil
  74. A mechanical eraser
  75. A backup mechanical eraser
  76. Pencil lead ($0.10 / month)
  77. Eraser replacements ($0.20 / month)
  78. Engineering grid paper ($1 / month)
  79. A stapler
  80. Staples ($0.10 / month)
  81. A multi-tool (includes pliers, flashlight, knife, screwdriver)
  82. A wallet
  83. A credit card
  84. A university ID card
  85. A driver’s license
  86. A social security card
  87. A birth certificate
  88. A car (includes heater, radio, and tape deck $100/month gas & maintenance)
  89. An ice-scraper tool
  90. A car key
  91. A parking space
  92. Cooking oil ($0.10 / month)
  93. Oatmeal ($1 / month)
  94. Ground beef ($10 / month)
  95. Chicken ($10 / month)
  96. Noodles ($10 / month)
  97. Canned Sauce ($10 / month)
  98. Chili Beans ($10 / month)
  99. Bran Flakes ($10 / month)
  100. Milk ($10 / month)

That comes to around $475 / month.  If you include $25 / month for Internet, that comes to $500 / month.  I’ll have to try it out sometime.

Hope

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The caption above is exactly how I feel most of the time.  But, I just read a letter today that changed my perspective.

Notice, I didn’t say that the letter changed my mind.  I’m still pretty convinced that I’m a loser through and through.  But, it did make me think about what actually matters when assessing whether or not to keep trying.

If I matter to someone else, that’s worth something.  No matter how objectively worthless I am, the faith that the people I love have in me is something far too precious even for someone like me to waste.  So, here I come, life — I’m going to give it another shot!  Not because I think I’m anything special, not because I think I can make a difference for good, not because I even think I can really try again — but, because of the irreplaceable faith that my family puts in God’s power (specifically, His power to work through me).

New Leaf

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For better or worse, I’m not the same person I was a couple of years ago, and it’s time that the world (myself included) comes to grips with that.  Truth is that, deep down, I never really was the happy-go-lucky carefree soul I used to make myself out to be.  I’ve smiled and nodded, waved and chatted; I’ve tried to help out however I can — to the point of seeming like a patsy.  I’ve joked around to the point of becoming a joke, just because I thought it would make people like me.  And I guess people do like me, to an extent.  But, it’s not really me that they like, and I’m kind of sick and tired of putting on the show.

Of course, I’m sure not going to start bludgeoning people over the head with the “real me.”  If your perfect day can’t survive my scowl, I can easily fake a smile.  Heck, I’ll just keep my thoughts to myself if your opinion can’t take them.  But, I won’t be putting a whole lot of extra effort into maintaining the nice, pleasant, fun-loving image of myself either.

I’m a whole lot more dependable and responsible than I ever have been, but I’m probably also a whole lot more boring.  I have a very clear world-view, but I’m not exactly thrilled with the implications.  More than ever, I want to be needed, but I see all too clearly how me and my outlook are exactly what is not needed in many situations.  So, if there’s something I really can do for you, please feel free to ask; but if you’re looking for smiles and a good time, you’ve got the wrong guy.  If you don’t need me, we’ll both be better off if you will please just leave me alone.

Building The josIpod (part III)

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The grand finale, peoples!  Enjoy:

THE IPHONE/IPOD TOUCH APPS THAT I CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT

Dropbox is the ultimate flashdrive-in-the-sky system — WITH A MOBILE APP!!!  If you’re like me, you have about 30 different computers that you use — depending on your mood, location, and which computers your classmates and family members are busy using.  If you’re like me, you also are pretty darn afraid of using thumb drives because of their slow speed, risk of data corruption (I’ve actually had a mis-configured windows XP box “eat” my homework before), and “misplaceability.”  Dropbox creates a folder on your local hard drive that gets automatically sync’ed with all of your other computers.  The iPhone app can’t edit the files, of course, but it can download documents for offline viewing — perfect for reading papers or homework assignments on the bus, for instance.  My only complaint is that unlike AirSharing, the DropBox app does not allow users to open web archives.  But, it’s intuitive and flexible interface with the computer  makes it a definite must-have.

I really do wonder how I survived before the Pandora Radio application hit the app store.  High-quality streaming radio that plays only the music that you like — for free!  I really don’t need to say anything more.  I know you’re all pretty annoyed at the audio/video advertisements on the website, but there seem to be significantly fewer such ads on the app.  You can even get around the 40 hour/month listening limit if you alternate between a couple of different accounts!  Or, for a change, you can listen to the slightly less reliable (in my opinion) last.fm application.

I’ve used a variety of Bible applications in the past, but in my opinion, Pocket Bible by Laridian Electronic Publishing is by far the most intuitive, full-featured, and functional app out there.  If you’re looking for something snappier and easier to use than Mantis Bible Study, but something with a bit more substance than YouVersion Holy Bible, then Pocket Bible is the perfect Bible Study tool for you.  It’s got notes, highlighting, search tools, free commentaries, and all kinds of other goodies.  The super-slick reading interface makes it easy to quickly flip through a chapter or to switch between several open books.  I’m still trying to carry God’s Word in my heart, but I for one am glad that it’s now available in my pocket as well. ;-)

Anyone with access to a XENAPP server such as the University of Iowa’s virtualdesktop system (which allows users access to expensive licensed software such as Dreamweaver, Mathematica, and Adobe Photoshop), will know how excited I was to find the Citrix Receiver application in the app store.  After some reading on the Citrix website and a conversation with the University ITS staff, I was able to connect from my iPod touch.  I contacted the ITS department with a suggestion that they add a help page similar to this to their site so that everyone else at the University could take advantage of this awesome service.  C’mon fellow students… this means MATHEMATICA ON THE IPHONE!

Last time I checked (which was admittedly a long time ago), Dictionary.com was the ONLY free dictionary/thesaurus application which does not require an internet connection.  Plus, it doesn’t even have all the annoying advertisements that you will find on the official website!  And yes, reading the dictionary IS my idea of a good time.

MochaSoft RDP lite is a full-featured Windows Remote Desktop client.  I’m not sure why, but RDP feels significantly more responsive than the VNC lite client by the same company.  Using this in conjunction with a free Dynamic DNS service makes truly mobile computing a breeze.

I’m too cheap to buy a Kindle, and I’m still protesting the silly name and enormous size of the iPad.  But, I don’t need them! — because I’ve got Stanza.  The app is so full of features, and the interface is so clean that I really feel no need to try anything else.  Just to give you an idea of how fun Stanza is, I was able to read Middlemarch, by George Eliot ALL THE WAY THROUGH (for those of you who know me, finishing anything — much less a book — is a big deal for me).

When Happy Maau Studios released their MathRef Free, my engineering study was instantly made a WHOLE lot happier.  No longer was I stuck with memorizing (and forgetting) the same trigonometric identities, calculus tricks, and math definitions over and over again.  No longer did I have to walk around with (and lose) stacks of ill-organized notes.  If I can just manage not to lose my trusty iPod for another year, I think I’ll be set!

This concludes MY list of the most essential apps ever.  If anyone has any suggestions/additions I’d be happy to hear about them!