My Views

The Quest for Peace

2011-12-29T10:38:00.000-05:00

An overwhelming need to be at peace pervades my very existence....

Sent from my Nokia E63

Asked and Received

2011-12-13T21:09:00.001-05:00

I've generally had the habit of telling people to be careful what they ask for as they may just get it. I must admit that I've fallen victim to said adage.

I had the pleasure/pain of experiencing something that has not only been missing from my life but something that I need.

A pleasurable experience because it felt good. I felt whole. I was honestly happy.

A painful experience because now that thing is gone and I'm only left with the reminder of what's been missing from my life. The new (and expanded) life that my pre-existing emptiness has gained.

At this point I cannot be convinced that ignorance isn't absolute bliss...

Sent from my Nokia E63

Stuck between Love and a Hard Place

2011-12-04T18:47:00.001-05:00

It's often said that you should fight for what/who you love. Climb mountains, cross valleys, kill crocodiles, swat mosquitos, do whatever it takes to be with with your love.

The question is, what do you do when the obstacle you have to overcome and the goal you're trying to achieve is one and the same? How does one handle the dilemma of having to fight the person you love so you can get the person you love...?

Sent from my Nokia E63

English Lesson

2011-11-30T21:20:00.001-05:00

We'll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes,
But the plural of ox becomes oxen, not oxes.
One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
Yet the plural of moose should never be meese.
You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice,
Yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.

If the plural of man is always called men,
Why shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen?
If I speak of my foot and show you my feet,
And I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
Why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth?

Then one may be that, and there would be those,
Yet hat in the plural would never be hose,
And the plural of cat is cats, not cose.
We speak of a brother and also of brethren,
But though we say mother, we never say methren.
Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
But imagine the feminine: she, shis and shim!

Let's face it - English is a crazy language.
There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger;
Neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
English muffins weren't invented in England.

We take English for granted, but if we explore its paradoxes,
We find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square,
And a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.
And why is it that writers write, but fingers don't fing,
Grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham?

Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend?
If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them,
What do you call it?

If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught?
If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?

Sometimes I think all the folks who grew up speaking English
Should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane.

In what other language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?
We ship by truck but send cargo by ship...
We have noses that run and feet that smell.
We park in a driveway and drive in a parkway.
And how can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same,
While a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language
In which your house can burn up as it burns down,
In which you fill in a form by filling it out,
And in which an alarm goes off by going on.

And in closing...........If Father is Pop, how come Mother's not Mop.??????

Dread

2011-11-19T21:22:00.001-05:00

Of late I've been plagued by an ominous feeling of dread and that I'm going to die alone....

Sent from my Nokia E63

Perspective....

2011-10-23T21:19:00.001-04:00

The optimist in me believes I'll get an answer one day. The pessimist I'm me believes I'm wasting my time waiting for an answer. The realist in me has forgotten the question and moved on.

What are the odds?

2011-10-07T20:05:00.000-04:00

So I'm in the supermarket and hear Yoda telling me that my phone is ringing...only it's not my phone. It belongs to someone else. What are the odds of running into a total stranger with the very same Star Wars ring tone as mine. So you know what I did.....I quickly changed my ringtone from Yoda to Darth Vader.

This cannot be happening....

2011-10-06T21:55:00.001-04:00

I think I may be getting jealous. I've never been jealous. Quite frankly I don't even think I know how to be jealous so I really don't know where this feeling is coming from. The bottom line though is that it's seriously pissing me off......

Sent from my Nokia E63

What to be.....

2011-09-24T16:17:00.001-04:00

When you find that one person who connects you to the world, you become someone different, someone better.

When that person is taken from you, what do you become then?

(Person of Interest s1e1)

Sent from my Nokia E63

Lost Love

2011-09-12T02:34:00.000-04:00

It's been said that it's better to have loved and lost than to never have loved (paraphrasing). Well I've finally loved and lost (big time) so now I have something new to add to my list of experiences and memories to haunt my thoughts.

One less thing to concern myself with so I can now focus and prepare for other experiential events :-|

Sent from my Nokia E63

Nothing to Fear....

2011-08-18T19:12:00.001-04:00

After another sleepless night with nothing to do but think, I've been enlightened somewhat. Over time I've constantly asked myself what my greatest fear would possibly be. Death was quickly ruled out seeing that I look forward to it though I am a bit concerned about the way I die. But to cut to the chase, I've discovered that I fear having something to live for at the time that I'm about to die. Obviously, that's not the case at the moment. I have nothing keeping me here. No reason to get up in the morning. I'm just working that routine to the best of my abilities with some variation thrown in for good measure.

I don't know if this fear will last or become overwritten by another but it is what it is at the moment.

Choice or circumstance??????

2011-06-03T22:02:00.000-04:00

To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;

I don't think that when Shakespeare wrote these words in Hamlet he had an idea of how far-reaching they would be.

Shared Lives...

2011-06-03T21:53:00.003-04:00

We meet people, and fall in love, and when we part they leave marks for us to remember them by. Our lovers sculpt us, they define us, for better or worse. Like a pinball, we slam into them and rebound in our different directions, propelled by the contact, and after the parting we might be scared, stronger or more fragile, or needy, or angry, or guilty, but never unchanged. Our lovers linger inside us, like ghosts, haunting the corridors and deserted rooms, sometimes whispering, sometimes screaming, but always there, waiting...

"Being Human, s1e5"

Trust Issues

2011-05-16T23:08:00.000-04:00

I generally find it hard to trust people on a day to day basis. I always think there's an ulterior motive.

Why don't I trust easily? I don't know, I just don't. With that being the case, there are just some persons who beg not to be trusted.

For example, one signs up to a social network (like Facebook) and proceed to knowingly, complete the form with misleading data. Why would someone do that? Especially seeing that outside of username and password, most of this data is optional!!!! So instead of just leaving the fields blank (to protect their privacy), they put in faulty data and mislead the "public" in a bid to protect their privacy.

Back to the Dark Side (not that I ever left)

2011-05-14T01:24:00.000-04:00

It's been quite a while since I've made an update to my blog. At one point I was inspired to start a sunny, cheery blog. That inspiration lasted all of two (2) posts and here I am again.

The reality for me is simply that the dark side is where I'm comfortable. The dark side is where I call home. It's actually loads of fun even though you wouldn't notice due to the lack of expression.

So....back to the ranting and raving......

A Day Made of Glass...

2011-03-10T19:04:00.000-05:00

Going Old School

2011-01-16T00:26:00.001-05:00

Relationship Woes

2010-12-30T23:40:00.007-05:00

So I've been putting this off for some time now but I guess I need to put it out there.

Before I go any further let me just create the frame of reference that I'll be using during the course of this post.

Fantasy: 19 - 25, Ideal/Perfect: 26 - 33, Tricky: > 34

Ok, so I'm a relatively young man in my early 30s and of late I've been having these weird ideas of finding a companion (female of course), who was made just for me, and settling down. What's the problem you may ask, especially with so many women around?

I've interacted with a lot of females in the "fantasy" category and most are willing, sometimes too willing. They are young and impossibly good looking, as the category name suggests. Again you ask, what's the problem? Outside of physical attraction, there exists the possibility that there wouldn't be a solid connection. Females in the "fantasy" category are oft-times focused on the material things (cars, money, clothes, parties, etc) and are still trying to figure out what they want out of life.

Leaving from fantasy to ideal/perfect is where it gets rather interesting. The "ideal" woman is now either a parent, bitter, baggage laden, career oriented, or all of the above. They've enjoyed themselves in the fantasy stage and are now dealing with the effects of such. Coming out of bad relationships (sometimes many) they bear the scars/luggage that make it hard to be with. For the career-driven woman, all her time is dedicated to achieving all her goals and proving herself strong that there is no time for a relationship.

Finally, this is where it gets tricky, the older woman. Here's a woman who is totally independent and a man is merely an accessory, nice to have around but not really necessary.

There are some interesting days ahead.

N.B. I'm no expert on the wonder known as woman nor do I purport to be. It's just the ramblings of a tortured mind and I seriously hope I'm wrong.

I Hate Love

2010-08-12T15:43:00.000-04:00

“Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up. You build up all these defenses, you build up a whole suit of armor, so that nothing can hurt you, then one stupid person, no different from any other stupid person, wanders into your stupid life...You give them a piece of you. They didn't ask for it. They did something dumb one day, like kiss you or smile at you, and then your life isn't your own anymore. Love takes hostages. It gets inside you. It eats you out and leaves you crying in the darkness, so simple a phrase like 'maybe we should be just friends' turns into a glass splinter working its way into your heart. It hurts. Not just in the imagination. Not just in the mind. It's a soul-hurt, a real gets-inside-you-and-rips-you-apart pain. I hate love.” ~Neil Gaiman

Possible Discovery

2010-07-31T22:48:00.001-04:00

Ok, so it appears that I'm experiencing the effects of an extremely traumatic event in my childhood. The only problem is, I didn't have a traumatic experience.

Imagine Cup 2010 Update

2010-07-04T18:37:00.002-04:00

The long awaited day has finally arrived. The day when Team EDUC8 gets to present their solution, eSCAPE, to a panel of judges in a bid to progress to the second round of the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2010. The guys have been working nonestop since arriving to ensure that a viable solution is available. With little or no sleep the previous night, the team kicks off the day with a competition briefing at 8:30AM. We are expecting to present at around 12:00 but find out that we're going in at 6:00PM instead. Not a problem. That means some extra time to get some shuteye before the big moment.

The time to present is fast approaching. We're working out bugs that decide to pop up, and make final revisions to our presentation script. We move to the presentation room, quickly set and await the the judges entry. They arrive a few minutes before our scheduled time and as the clock hits 6:00PM we begin.

It was a shaky start but the guys quickly recovered and settled into their flow. There is 20 minutes to present and we complete everything in 19. The 15 minutes of Q&A begin and the judges start throwing questions right out the gate. As the questions pop up the answers are returned. In the end, the judges are impressed with our solution and give some advice that relates to getting it on the market. We are confident that we'll be going through to the second round but we won't know for a few hours so we decide to visit the mall that's close by.

The time finally arrives for the results to be announced. We hurredly consume our dinner and head over to the announcement hall. 68 countries, only 12 can advance.

"The teams that will advance are...."
1. Malaysia,
2. Finland,
3. Ukraine,
4. Serbia,
5. Malta,
6. Morocco....

They're halfway there. We still have a chance.....
7. Singapore,
8. Germany,
9. Thailand,
10. Croatia,
11. NZ &
12. Brazil.

The Imagine Cup world title eludes us again for the second consecutive year. Our quest ends but our experiences are far from over.

MOre to come as we meet new people and share our culture and individuality with our new found friends.

Just saying...

2010-07-03T22:39:00.003-04:00

Warsaw is quite the city. I've quickly gotten use to the fact that the sun sets at around 9:30PM in the summer, seeing that I rarely go to sleep before 1:00AM. What's really interesting is that the sun begins rising at about 3:30AM, that's about 6 hours of night yet despite this, the city never sleeps. I actually went out with the guys for some food, lamb kebab to be exact, minutes after 2:00AM. I really think I could et used to living in a country like this.

Ah well, no more random thoughts running through my mind so I'm gonna go.

Imagine Cup 2010 Update

2010-07-03T19:21:00.003-04:00

So this year's Imagine Cup is officially here. Poland is a really lovely country. A country that has risen from the ashes and boasts having economic growth during a recession. Warsaw is sunny and cool and simply a wonderful summer location to visit.

In my previous post I promised photos of my journey to Poland:

The day of the Opening Ceremony:

Arrival in Poland

2010-07-02T15:45:00.003-04:00

So I've arrived in Poland for this year's Imagine Cup. After traveling for over 19 hours I think I'm about to crash. As the competition progresses I'll give updates and photos.

But for now pożegnanie. ruguh...

Nokia N900

2010-07-01T03:01:00.001-04:00

NIKE WRITE THE FUTURE

2010-05-21T19:42:00.004-04:00

Cause to be Uneasy

2010-04-03T15:32:00.000-04:00

"If the universe is not governed by an absolute goodness, then all our efforts are in the long run hopeless. But if it is, then we are making ourselves enemies to that goodness everyday and so our case is hopeless again. God is the only comfort, He is also the supreme terror: the thing we most need and the thing we most want to hide from. He is our only possible ally, and we have made ourselves His enemies. Goodness is either the great safety or the great danger - according to the way we react to it." ~C.S. Lewis

V for Vendetta

2010-03-11T19:38:00.003-05:00

Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villian by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengence; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it is my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V.

Symbian^3

2010-02-20T14:25:00.000-05:00

Someone for Everyone

2009-12-24T13:24:00.000-05:00

"There's someone for everyone...." This is a line that has been written, said, and sung over the years which many alove sick pup has hung on to for dear life. I have my doubts but I'm not debating it.
I'm just curious about something. Is it possible that you could meet the person that's right for you but you're wrong for them? You would have found your someone but your partner would still be searching. Hmmm.......

New Career

2009-11-10T23:35:00.001-05:00

I think I've found my new calling, Criminal Justice. It's only the second day of the week and I've had to be reviewing surveillance footage to recover "lost" property twice. Ironically, my Masters includes a concentration in Security. Let's see how day three pans out.

Olivia's New Magazine

2009-11-01T22:20:00.001-05:00

Here's another reason Olivia is my all-time favorite TV show host....

Blogging from my phone

2009-10-31T18:27:00.000-04:00

Now I won't have to worry about being tethered to a computer when I blog. I can blog from my phone now. Be wary! There's now going to be an increase in my rants and raves. =)

BMW 3-Series Commercial

2009-10-28T19:43:00.000-04:00

Mac vs PC =)

2009-10-21T23:05:00.001-04:00

My Ironic Life =(

2009-10-09T00:56:00.002-04:00

I was telling someone that I live my life from disappointment to disappointment. It would have been a truly innocent statement if I didn't have both my phones stolen within an hour of making the statement.

Such is my lot in life.......

Courier: First Details of Microsoft's Secret Tablet

2009-09-22T23:32:00.002-04:00

Courier is a real device, and we've heard that it's in the "late prototype" stage of development. It's not a tablet, it's a booklet. The dual 7-inch (or so) screens are multitouch, and designed for writing, flicking and drawing with a stylus, in addition to fingers. They're connected by a hinge that holds a single iPhone-esque home button. Statuses, like wireless signal and battery life, are displayed along the rim of one of the screens. On the back cover is a camera, and it might charge through an inductive pad, like the Palm Touchstone charging dock for Pre.

Read more at http://gizmodo.com/5365299

Did You Know 4.0

2009-09-18T10:10:00.001-04:00

Pathfinders....forward, march!

2009-08-19T23:54:00.002-04:00

I haven't been in uniform for a long time but I'm still a pathfinder at heart....

Birthday Sex

2009-08-19T04:33:00.001-04:00

Not a bad idea =) I'll have to make everyday my birthday....

Productivity Future Vision

2009-08-03T17:31:00.000-04:00

Journey to Cairo

2009-07-19T23:38:00.000-04:00

The rush is over. The Imagine Cup has ended. The team has been to Cairo and back. It was a tremendous experience, one which I definitely hope to repeat. Next year the destination for the Imagine Cup is Poland. I hope to be there.

Anyway, here are a few of my photos that capture the journey from qualification to destination Cairo.....

Evian Babies

2009-07-11T20:59:00.000-04:00

Power of Prayer!?!?!?!?!?

2009-06-23T23:08:00.000-04:00

I did something the other night (Friday night to be specific) that I have not done in ages. I prayed.

Mark you, I give the occasional prayer depending on the situational requirements but in this case, I'm talking about going to God about a particular problem. The hardest part was convincing myself that He would actually do something about it. To date, things have been looking up. Solutions are presenting themselves in a very flexible manner.

Somehow, with all this good favor, I can't help but think that at the critical moment, things are going to go completely haywire and I'll just have to accept it and suck it up. I've considered myself to be a man of low (or no) faith and trust. I guess this is my test.

DHL woes

2009-06-12T13:41:00.000-04:00

Does anyone know what DHL stands for? I think the D is for Delinquent and the L for Late.

I know that in life one has to prepare for any eventuality but this takes the cake. My most recent experience with this courier service sees me still waiting for a very important package to be delivered. This package should have taken two (2) days, it's eight (8) days and counting. It's amazing how some companies remain in business!

The Future

2009-05-30T11:13:00.000-04:00

malevolent god?????

2009-05-10T01:32:00.000-04:00

if a god is willing to prevent evil but not able, then he is not omnipotent;
if he's able but not willing, then he must be malevolent;
if he's neither able nor willing then why call him a god;
why else do bad things happen to good people?

~Franklyn (2008)

“Deus tantum me iudicabit”

2009-05-09T21:36:00.000-04:00

It was Wednesday January 31, 1979 when Henry and Beverly were blessed with a blue-eyed bouncing baby boy. This baby's name was Henry and he grew into somewhat of a normal young man.

Henry was taught good Christian values as a child and these values helped shaped how he went about his daily life.

"Every man dies, not every man really lives." ~William Ross Wallace

Henry's life was influenced by vampires, samurai, assassins and mercenaries. The thought of the undead and killers for hire was an intriguing concept which helped shape his life. Henry became a man who was able to make decisions without being hampered by emotions.

Henry has been different things to different people: a friend, a listening ear, a warm smile, a broad back, a clear mind, comfort, kleenex (his favorite), pretty eyes. OK, only sure about the pretty eyes. ;-) He tried to make a difference in the life of others, a positive difference, and hoped he did. Only time will tell. Wait, only persons whose lives have been affected will tell.

Ultimately, the type of person that Henry was will never be known. He was the perfect iceberg. There was so much that was beneath the surface that at times even he didn't know what he was. His live was one of torment and conflict but he still managed to focus on duty. Duty over self. Choice over circumstance.

"We all die. The goal isn't to live forever, the goal is to create something that will."
~Chuck Palahniuk

It Happened Again......

2009-05-09T19:33:00.000-04:00

I find it quite interesting that for someone involved in the field of technology, electronic devices (phones specifically) just keep dying around me after about a year of use. They don't fall and break or get stolen or virus infected or anything. I just take up this device one day and it's no longer working.

My year started with my Zune acting up but I didn't feel bad simply because it was a Microsoft glitch. The latest victim is my Samsung U600. There I was today using my phone when I realize that my menu buttons have stopped responding.

When the phone is open, the keypad works but the menu buttons don't. When the slider is closed, after unlocking, the menu buttons work just fine but, surprise, surprise, I have no access to the keypad. At least I can still receive calls but if you're not in my address book don't expect a call from me. I'll have to live with this for another week or so until my new baby gets to me, the LG KP500 Cookie.

I'll let you know in a year how this new relationship turns out......

Zune Nightmare

2009-01-01T22:14:00.000-05:00

I found myself united with a huge number of persons across the world through my 30GB Zune. This should have been a good thing, especially with Microsoft promoting the Zune social. Unfortunately, we were all united by a malfunctioning device.

Microsoft day after day has been getting on my bad side and this put the icing on the cake. I've been anti-Microsoft for quite a while and only chose the Zune because of cost. It's not an iPod but it got the job done. I put up with its dependency on the Zune software and it actually became a much used device.

Imagine my chagrin when I turn it on one day, New Year's Eve to be exact, only to see it freeze. I thought it very strange and had to crack open this wonderful device in order to reset it. Worked fine afterwards, or so I thought. Woke up New Year's Day and what do I see...yup you guessed it, a frozen Zune. I'm worried now. Is this thing really broken? Will I have to find a replacement?

After scouring the net for a while I learn that I won't have to replacemy Zune. Why? A simple problem with the software. Apparently, it can't handle the leap year. In this day and age, when technology is the centerpiece of our daily existence I hear that the reason for my device failure is the extra day added to February. I thought Y2K was bad enough but this really takes the cake. A modern device will not operate because of an extra day in the year.

Is this the first ever leap year? Wasn't this "little" event taken into consideration when the software was designed? Wait a minute, why did it only affect the 30GB Zune and none of the later releases? Microsoft isn't telling all but that's to be expected as it's the standard modus operandi for the software giant. If anything, this only reinforces my belief that Microsoft doesn't repect us enough to put out a product that actually works the first time around.

Do you really know ..... ?

2004-10-25T22:30:00.000-04:00

Have you ever considered your response to the question, "Who are you? Do you have an answer ready or is it a case where you think hard about it and then just give a response that sounds appropriate?

There are so many persons who go about from day to day displaying images of what they think the world would like to see. They continually get up each day and put on their masks and go out into society.
Why?
Is it so much easier to live a lie?

Wouldn't it be nice to just be able to be yourself, not having to lie to yourself each and every day? The "living a lie" syndrome has got to be cured. It's time for all of us to live free. To be honest to ourselves. To be able to look in the mirror each day and recognize the person who looks back.

Life

2004-05-31T00:12:00.000-04:00

It's really amazing how life can be. You sit and plan what you want to happen, how it will happen and when it will happen and guess what? It doesn't work out as planned. What do you do then?

On a daily basis there is testament to human will. Each day we see overcomers, people who have set goals for themselves and work to achieve them regardless of what is thrown in their path.

All in all though, the worst thing that can happen to someone in this life is to not have a purpose. To not be passionate about something or someone. If this is absent then what is there? Nothing but a big dark void in the innermost being.