Uncanny

It's uncanny (and would be slightly amusing if it weren't extremely disturbing) how Scientologists and this Admininstration use the same reasons and logic to keep people who disagree away from them and out of sight.

To me it just seems like they've got something to hide.

Both via Digg

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Zidane (FR) = Moron (EN)

Remember replying "sticks and stone may break my bones but words will never hurt me" to the taunts on the playground as a kid? Well, we all know that words hurt but, since we're grown ups now, have had to learn to handle them in a mature, non-violent manner. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it's not ok for people to go around picking fights because of stuff people say. Particularly in sports. Half the fun in sports is trash talking. The better atheletes respond by outperforming... like in the 2005 Tour de Georgia where Lance Armstrong and Floyd Landis shared words (or maybe just a look)... then Armstrong turned on the afterburners and left Landis, causing him to lose the Yellow Jersey to Tom Danielson of Discovery, who won the whole race the next day.

But France's (mediocre) soccer star, Zinedine Zidane? Watch out for him, he's got a temper.

So I'm sitting here wondering why, after Zidane head butted an Italian player in the World Cup final, FIFA is investigating the Italian player.

BBC SPORT | Football | World Cup 2006 | Teams | Italy | Materazzi gives evidence to Fifa

Is that logical? Sure, the guy should've kept his mouth shut. But who can resist at that level of competition? Zidane loses his cool and gets sent off, yet again, for despicable behavior on the pitch.

Makes me think something is going on at FIFA. It's known that there is corruption in the Italian league, but what about at the world's governing body of football? Could this corruption be the reason that the head World Cup official killed himself immediately after the final?

Why else would they coddle such a low player? Surely it can't be because he's French.

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Yellow Looking Not Nearly As Good

Dammit!

Cycling - Menchov wins, Landis in yellow - Eurosport

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The Pot or the Kettle?

Shell says biofuels from food crops "morally inappropriate" - Yahoo! News

Oh yeah? Well I find putting making money ahead of human rights and environmental concerns "morally inappropriate."

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Yellow Has Never Looked Better

BBC SPORT | Other Sport... | Cycling | Photo Galleries | Tour de France stage two photos

technorati tags:tour, cycling, hincapie

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Disgraceful

Brazil's World Cup Futebol team's performance against France yesterday. They are undoubtedly consistently one of the best teams in the world, if not the best, quite possibly the best team EVER. Especially as the only team to qualify for every single world cup ever and win 5. Yes, they are that good. That is, when they show up with their jogo bonito.

Yesterday? They forgot to bring it. The last time I saw them play that was was vs France in the world cup final in 1998 (also, incidently, the last world cup match that they lost and their only loss in the World cup in quite some time since they won it in 1994). In '98 and again yesterday they played like they don't care to repeat their title. They may be one of the best, but not even the best can win just by showing up. If they're going to be playing that way, then they certainly don't deserve to win.

But France? Give me a break! At least lose to a decent team! I mean, we're talking about the team that is made up of Zinedine Zidane, who is kinda talented but doesn't even touch the likes of Ronaldinho, Roberto Carlos and Ronaldo, and the rest of the team who backs him up by faking horrible fouls, getting the refs to agree with them and giving them free kicks that allow them to score. Their world cup history? Sometimes they qualify, sometimes they make it out of group play. '90? Didn't qualify. '94? Didn't qualify. '98? The home team is the only team who doesn't have to go through qualification... fortunately for them, the competition was in France this year. Incidently they won the final... in France... with what I believe was a French referree. Those who haven't seen this game should watch. In '02? Played worse than the Americans (my 2nd least favorite team, behind the French that is) with not a single goal and not making it out of group play. Was '98 a fluke? I think so.

But seriously. Those who don't know the records and the statistics are going to think that the French are the only ones capable of beating Brazil in World Cup play. Is this true? Sure... when Brazil doesn't show up.

One of the commentators said the Brazilian coach was not looking for revenge. Why not? It's good to hold on to a sports grudge... fuels the fire to win. If I were out there, I would've played my heart out just to kick some French ass and show them what a fluke '98 truly was. Not only that, but to show the world that the team can be consistent, good, and repeat the win.

Now? The two favorites (Brazil and Argentina) are out and the semi-finals are completely composed of European teams. Which means no jogo bonito to watch. Perhaps the Italians and especially the Portuguese can dig down deep inside and show us some of that sort of play. Me? I'm rooting for Portugal on Wednesday. With their new "golden generation," I'd love nothing more than for them to show Zinedine Zidane his last game ever and walk all over the rest of his team. And let the jogo bonito prevail.

Interestingly enough, the two favorites are also out of the Tour, which started yesterday. I don't mind, that gives one of my favorites ever, George Hincapie of Discovery, a solid chance to win. And a chance for Americans to sweep the Tour.

Don't get me wrong, I don't usually root for USA in international competition. But an American sweep of the Tour? As Will says, it would cause the French to declare war on America.

After which they would promptly surrender, because, they are French, after all.

technorati tags:soccer, worldcup, brazil, sports

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Swamped

Not only have I been swamped with class work and research work, I've been swamped and stressed by life in general. I'm not sure how much of it is caused by my too-much-school-for-the past-6-years funk, but I definitely experienced a major dip in my "estado de animo" (as Ray once said) this week.

I'm not overwhelmed by the amount of homework or the material. I'm still sticking to my grad-school-is-easier-than-undergrad-and-funner-too hypothesis, at least for the time being. Despite this, I'm afflicted by a complete lack of motivation. Even more so than than this past Spring semester... or so many more before that. And even though I wasn't struggling with the course load, I dropped one of my classes. Not hard, not entirely a lot of work... just a lot of work that I didn't feel like doing. Why spend 5 hours a week working on a project that I am uninterested in when I could be outside?

I'm still trying to make progress in my Summer of Speed (and general fitness/get in shape time). I am speedier than before. I finished my first four weeks, the last of which was rough. I was upset, emotional and unmotivated. Cutting calories (being hungry all the time) and upping hours is rough.  I thought it was my third week, but midway through the week we checked my logs and realized I was in fact in the middle of a "rest" week that had not started restfully. That week helped me a lot more than I realized and it finished with me ready to hit the road again. Which I did. Week 5 was awesome, one of my top mileage/hours weeks ever. I wanted to up it another notch for week 6... but then work happened.

I was trying this new thing where I would spend more time doing things I like, including being outside and riding, and quit putting that stuff off for work. I realized how closely my estado de animo is tied with the amount of sunlight I get on a regular basis. It was going well, until the workshop. Another workshop. In early, out late, this past Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. So much for another high mileage/hours week, so far I've gotten in 50 minutes. Not only that, but the stress and politics of the workshop have really gotten to me.

The good news is, I'm not going back until next Wednesday. 5 whole days without class or work. I hardly know what to do with myself... except I could clean the apartment, sit by the pool, finally finish Hillary's book (I'm almost to the Lewinsky thing), watch the world cup, watch the tour (man, my tivo is going to be busy!) and ride a lot, naturally. I'll be doing all that in Columbus with yet another visit to Will's parent's house, making it the 4th visit this summer and doubling the number of times I've been there ever in just a few weeks. Fortunately, it's become one of my favorite places to get away and the timing of this visit seems flawless. Not to mention we're kicking off the weekend at Sweetwater with many of our friends. I couldn't think of a better way to start my longest block of days off since... I can't remember when.

They're going to have to drag me back Wednesday morning. At least Wednesdays start with David's spinning class... my favorite spinning class.

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The Hand That Feeds

Last week Will, my sister and I went to the Nine Inch Nails concert. I have been a fan of NIN since I was about 13, which is the same age that I was when I started my "i love live music" kick. Who knows how many hundreds (possibly thousands?) of dollars were spent on me going to concerts all through middle and high school You name it, I was there... several Music Midtowns and 99x Big Day Outs (where I saw many more people than I could possibly name), Metallica, Nine Inch Nails, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Bush, No Doubt, Smashing Pumpkins, Willie Nelson, BB King, Marc Anthony, even NSync (most expensive tickets to date - 75 each for the last row of Phillips arena - but not because I wanted to.)

It kinda stopped when I got to Tech, for many reasons I guess. The prices kept going up and I was always so busy that I didn't hear about concerts, much less make such an effort to keep tabs on music. The few that I did go to (Live, Fuel, Ludacris) were all free. There were several that I wanted to see, but the cost was ridiculous (and prohibitive?) so I just skipped those.

At one point a few months ago, though, I decided that I wasn't going to continue missing concerts of my favorites because of money. Just a short while after I said that, NIN announced another show (they played one last year that I skipped) so Will and I bought tickets almost immediately. I love that they cost just as much as they did the last time I went to a show (some 6 years ago), but these were the best seats I'd ever gotten.

So we headed to HiFi Buys. I was tempted to wear my pink shirt and floral skirt, but I didn't . We were pretty early and sat through the Bauhaus set. I remember why I am the exception, not the rule, to your general NIN fans. It really was as if all of these people had been frozen in time. We were hugely entertained by what some people think is appropriate to wear to a concert. Perhaps I should've asked to borrow Kristy's corset... although I'd probably be pushed to find fishnets and tacky boots on such short notice.

The music was, as always, amazing. Trent Reznor (whom I was infatuated with when I was younger) has aged more gracefully than his fans. He was sporting a new Will cut (buzz cut) as opposed to the JT cut (shaggy, but short). And he obviously had been to the gun show. They played a good range of all their songs. The show seemed a little short though (just under 2 hours) and they gave no encore. Weird... first concert I've ever been to without the whole encore thing.

One very noticeable change from 6 years ago was the integration of new technology into the show. It was more visual than ever before. The last time featured the band up against a backdrop that played visualizations. This time that same background was there, but had a noticeably higher resolution. In addition to that they dropped a screen of little led lights in front of the band from time to time and used that as well. At one point it was very matrix like, at another it looked like floating blood cells but then morphed into carbonation bubbles. Very cool. The show ended (somewhat abruptly, in my opinion) with this on the led screen:

I thought I heard a new song somewhere in the middle, or at least one that I'm not familiar with (the only one, possibly, although I admit I'm not up to date on my obsession). I distinctly remember him singing lines having to do with being rejected by the whole world, etc (as usual... definitely a recurring theme in his work). That kind of rubbed me the wrong way. I mean, isn't thousands of people paying $50 each to see you proof of just the opposite? But then again, it is the formula that worked for him for so long, and the majority of his audience is still extremely angry (just asked the guy in the row in front of us... screaming his head off and gesturing... and all of his feelings multiplied by the astounding amount of pot he consumed in such a short amount of time). But, what about growing, maturing, trying something new? NIN spans several decades and generations now, the creator is in his 40s. I'd like to see some evolution. What about taking all that anger and making it productive? Or political? He is from New Orleans, and I know he hates "the man." I'd love to see him take it in that direction.

This desire of mine made me feel like I'd outgrown the whole experience. Will and I certainly stood out like sore thumbs, and while I enjoyed hearing all those songs that I know so well and that brought back so many memories, somewhere in the past few years I grew past identifying with them. And with sitting in between chain smokers just to catch an in-person glimpse of the person who creates the music that I admire so much.

But I don't know that I can ever outgrow enjoying live music, of any kind.

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Not Exactly Wedding Crashers

Last weekend two friends from the lab, Sara and Ian, got married in Huntsville so Will and I headed out there for the wedding. And since we're nerds, we decided to continue with our visits to aerospace museums by arriving early and checking out the U.S. Space and Rocket Museum that is located there.

IMG_0022.JPG
Originally uploaded by gatechcycling.

We left at about 730 on a rainy Friday afternoon. Will surprised me with earrings to match my pearl necklace, which was awesome because they matched perfectly with the dress I got to wear. We decided to take the shorter more scenic route, which first went up I-75 north.
IMG_0141.JPG
Originally uploaded by gatechcycling.

What's up I-75 north? My favorite place ever, Texas Roadhouse. But, since we had eaten there more than several times the past few weeks (just luck, I guess) we stopped at Provino's instead. The drive was nice took us through the southern part of the mountains in Georgia and Alabama, including Lookout Mountain parkway. We arrived at the hotel in Huntsville at midnight, which we then realized was 11pm Alabama time (yay!) but not before witnessing a really bad car wreck that somehow left my car mostly unscathed except for all the shattered glass all over it.

We woke up early and after asking for a later check out time, we headed to the museum. It was a pretty neat experience, and we got some neat pictures. The museum had some neat exhibits chronicling the history of space exploration, which I don't know as much about since I'm an aviation snob. Inside they had many historical documents, space suits, wind tunnel models, engines. They also had a neat exhibit that made me very disoriented and we rode the simulator which took us on a Martian roller coaster (ok, that was disappointing, we were hoping for something more realistic). Outside, they have many different rockets and spacecraft just sitting around, including 2 saturn 5s, one standing up so you can see how tall, and one lying on it's side. They also had a g force accelerator, which we went on (I didn't not enjoy that) and another ride similar to acrophobia, which neither of us wanted to ride.

IMG_0049.JPG
Originally uploaded by gatechcycling.

We headed back, changed, grabbed lunch at Chili's and headed to the church. We sat with other ASDLers and watched the nice (and short) ceremony, then headed to the reception (located in the church, as well). Sara and Ian looked awesome, and after a relatively calm (read: no alcohol and not much dancing) reception we piled back into the car and reversed the beautiful drive home.

IMG_0106.JPG
Originally uploaded by gatechcycling.

All in all, a pretty decent (but expensive... who would've guessed?) weekend.

Summer Days

This past weekend I spent the most amount of time outside that I had in a long time. And that was nice.

The weekend started with a trip to ABC with some of my classmates before heading to Columbus with Will to visit his parents again. I still contend that Sweetwater is better.
We spent the next 2 days hanging out, swimming, playing with the dogs, cycling and generally having a good time.

Monday morning we headed to the Silver Comet with Cameron. Craziest Silver Comet experience yet. It seems that since it was a holiday every idiot and their entire family was out there. It was even crowded well beyond the first 3-4 miles, which is unusual. There were plenty of instances of kids running into the path without looking, people swerving all over the place and in general just acting like they were driving, which is not good. We even passed a girl who had crashed and had to call the paramedics. I actually yelled at people several times. What about being at a place known to have cyclists traveling at 20 mph+ makes it seem like a good idea to stop in the middle of the road or intersection? Or let your kid run out infront of people traveling that fast? Ugh. I was a little disappointed because the Silver Comet is a place that I feel very comfortable riding and feel that in general I can relax a bit. It seems like perhaps that isn't the case anymore...

Following that we met up with my friend John, just back from sailing around the Caribbean for a bit and went to a cookout at my parent's house (they got a new grill) with lots of my favorite people, including Heather, my brother, sister, Becky, Alden, Kaya, the Wolffs and some of my sister's friend's parents. Good times.

The weekend was so fun that when I woke up to the alarm Tuesday morning, I was actually depressed. It becomes harder and harder to motivate myself for work or classes. I've made a pact to not bring any schoolwork home and to try to accomplish a lot during the week so I can take weekends completely off (although I never was good at working on stuff during the weekend to begin with). I hope this will help maintain my sanity so that I am not completely apathetic and unmotivated when the hellish Fall semester arrives.

Thankfully, tomorrow is the start of another weekend! This weekend we're traveling to Huntsville, Alabama for a wedding and we're going to continue our nerdy museum visits by checking out the Space and Rocket Museum there.

I'm pretty excited.

Mountain Biking (aka Livia eats it... several times)

Yesterday was my first real attempt at mountain biking. I went with Will and Jesse to a place near Lake Allatoona called Blankets Creek. I started on the beginner trail, which was pretty easy and fun. I rode that many times, both backwards and forwards, while Will and Jesse did the intermediate course once. We met up, and since I was bored I decided to give the intermediate course a try.

Big. Mistake.

The first part went ok, considering. Some parts were not fun and I had many close calls but somehow managed to stay upright. I was happy that I had just made it over some logs when I washed out. For the first time. Then I did it again. And again.

I think fatigue was starting to creep in and I was having a hard time paying attention. Just call me Michael Rasmussen. I ended up just walking the rest of the trail (probably something around 1.5 miles) because I was rattled from all the falls and I thought that trying to finish on the bike wouldn't have gone well in my mental state.

I guess I need to spend some more time on the beginner trails. I don't know at this point if mountain biking is something that I'll grow to really enjoy and right now my main motivation for not giving up is the fact that I paid not a small sum for the bike and that I don't like to give up. We'll see what transpires.

One thing did occur to me, though, while I was hiking back with my bike.

I don't like hiking that much. Particularly with a bike.

New Wheels, New Start

I have a new baby, a mountain bike. (picture to be included when I get around to uploading the pictures on my camera).

The past few days/weeks I have been spending sometime reacquainting myself with my road bike and getting to know my newest acquisition. The roadie felt foreign to me the first time I got on it. It hadn't been the longest break, but certainly the break where I lost the most. But we're quickly getting to know each other again and I'm sure that soon we'll be back at it like old friends.

Things aren't going so well with the mountain bike. They say you shouldn't pick between your children, but I must admit I am partial to the road bike, perhaps completely based on perception. I don't like falling, I don't like jumping over things, I don't like how bumpy it is. In almost 2 years I have only fallen off twice. In several hours of "mountain biking" (read: riding around Will's parent's wooded yard) I quickly equaled that number.

Then why get one? Because I know that once I learn, it will become more enjoyable and my road riding will benefit as well. The learning curve is steep, but I like a challenge.

But for now, given the choice, I'll choose the road bike.

History Repeats Itself

I encourage everyone to go out and rent the movie Good Night and Good Luck. It is amazing. Definitely not in my usual style of "light and fluffy." But it is perfect given today's political climate.

Many lines in the movie hit me and I had to remind myself that it was talking about the past.

For example:

We proclaim ourselves,
indeed as we are...
the defenders of freedom wherever
it continues to exist in the world...
...but we cannot defend freedom abroad
by deserting it at home.

and

The American people realize
that this cannot be made a fight
between America's
two great political parties.

If this fight against Communism
is made a fight against America's
two great political parties
the American people know that one
of those parties will be destroyed...
and the Republic can't endure
very long as a one-party system.

Notice that we could replace the world communism with terrorism and it still works. I feel that things are reverting back to the way the were in the period addressed by the film, and not only that but becoming more extreme. There are people who are being accused of being terrorists and whose rights are being taken away, and this time they're being sent to prison without due process (ok, so maybe back then there was only the appearance of due process). There is a war being fought where evidence for it never existed. More and more social programs that Americans pay for with their tax dollars are being stripped away to pay for it. And finally, each of our lives is now monitored (that is, if you have Verizon, Bellsouth or AT&T) without warrant, and, in my opinion, is a waste of resources and will do no good.

What more will happen before people will stand up? It's been shown that history will repeat itself until the lesson is learned. Why haven't the lessons been learned? Are they even remembered at this point?

I guess this is what we get for electing a President who got a C in history.

Not that I had anything to do with that.

Quickie

I have no had the opportunity to post my many thoughts. Partly because finals week (although I had no finals) and graduation (although I was not graduating) was hectic and partly because I was in the middle of moving (also hectic). That, coupled with the lack of internet (due to comcast screw ups) and trying to see everyone I've ever known before they leave has kept me from writing.

New hookup time is Saturday... look for many updates then.

Congrats to all graduates... many of you I have known from day 1. Life will not be the same without you.

Cycling Love

The only word to describe last week is cycling. Wednesday afternoon Will, Sarah, Alex, Jesse and I packed into Will's car and headed up to Rome to watch the circuit finish of the 2nd stage of the Tour de Georgia. It was a lot of fun... between all the fun people there and being so close to all the action, it was my favorite day of cycling watching to date.

Until Friday. Thursday night I decided to go up to Dalton with Reuben and Chet to volunteer at the Dalton start the next day. We again spent a ton of time in traffic. We spent the night at Chet's parent's house and got up early the next day. The first few hours were spent setting up barricades then draping then with banners (under the careful supervision of asinine I will micro-manage everything I'm ordinarily a salesman but right now I'm on a powertrip guy). Following that we had some breakfast and got to the most exciting part: holding bikes while the riders signed it. I was amazed, not only by the bikes but by all the cyclists as well. I was totally reliving my starstruck teenager days. We watched the Dalton start, which included a parade lap and the riders leaving across the bridge. We then hopped into the car and hurried to try to catch them climbing up Fort Mountain, but they beat us there so we headed onto Ellijay, where we watched them pass by and have lunch. We then went to Wolf Pen and watched them climb the mountain.

Friday was awesome because of how close we were to everything and because we got to follow them around. I felt like a groupie, but I'm alright with that.

Early Saturday morning (after Will called to wake me up because I overslept) I packed into the van with the other guys on the Cycling team and headed to Auburn for the last race (conference championships) of the season. Since I hadn't done any real riding in about a month due to the ankle, I dropped out of both the road race and the crit but had an awesome time watching anyway. A few of the guys had really awesome sprint finishes and I don't think I've ever laughed that much in 2 days. Between all the moonings and the pink polo pop-collar crit, it was one of the most fun few days I've ever spent... until the van broke down 55 miles south of the city. And even then, they guys were really entertaining, which helped the time pass.

Why I love the GT Cycling Team.

Only 1 Year Left

Last week I was in the process of filling out the application for Tech's Dual Degree Program... and now I'm not. I realized last week that I will finish my masters degree next May, and the thought of staying in school for another year and a half after that was just simply not appealing. I know, the time will pass quickly and if it's something that I really want, I should do it. But, I don't know that it would give me that much more access to what I want to do, on top of the fact that I barely have the motivation to finish this degree... or even this semester.

So, May 2007... the end of school. After that I plan on taking a few months to have the vacation that I've been waiting to have since before college started. Now accepting suggestions for things to do and places to visit.

Who knows, maybe I'll get one later in life. Like after I make a couple of babies.

The Age of Intolerance

I read several things today that really upset me and made me just outright mad... and scared. I'm scared of the direction that we're headed in and what will happen if people don't start standing up to those who seem to be trying to take away the rights that this country is supposed to protect.

I'm talking about hearing and reading on the news all day about states who want to establish official religions, of schools kicking students out because of their sexual preferences, and of students suing for the right to harass people that are different from them. Not to mention thousands turned violent because someone, who isn't a member of their religion, broke one of the rules of their religion. Maybe only the bad stuff does get reported, or the only ones who get heard are the loud, crazy ones. In either case, it's disturbing that some of this is even an issue.

I was also bothered after reading one of my favorite blogs ever, where the writer keeps receiving insulting e-mail and comments from those who disagree.

Let's get things straight. Your rights end when they start infringing upon mine. And vice versa. Sure, you have a right to disagree with homosexuality. But your right ends the second you start abusing a homosexual. There is a marked difference between saying you disagree with something and insulting someone because they're different. How disgusting is it that I'm even associated with a person (by going to the same school) who is suing for their right to be mean? Is that the same as burning some embassies because someone completely unrelated to you drew a picture that you think is bad?

Plus, show me the passages in the Bible that deal with homosexuality. Last I checked, it isn't dealt with in the 10 commandments (but adultery is... I'd like to see some statistics on super conservative christians and adultery). AND, show me where Christ teaches to hate someone because they are different or because they disagree with you. Is it just me, or didn't he try to teach the exact opposite?

It's people like that that make me want to distance myself from organized religion. Read here. On the other hand, there are those inspiring people like my dear roomie who refuse to judge others. Too bad tolerance doesn't get good media coverage.

And another thing. That whole first amendment, it means that Dooce is allowed to write about her family life and not have to read insulting emails from people who can't help but take everything seriously. It's one thing to email her and say "hey, i disagree"... it's another to send insults.

Different is not bad. And I'm sticking with that.

A few of my favorite (most useful) things

Will and I were having a conversation about Flickr and how awesome it is and it got me to thinking about all the new programs/technologies/applications that I enjoy that just make computing great (definitely magnified by the fact that I'm doing these things on a mac, but I'll save my favorite mac things for another time).

So, here goes (not necessarily in this order):

1. RSS Feeds

This is brilliant. Want to monitor 80 different news sites without having to check each individual one? Check. All your favorite blogs? Check. Newest Flickr photos? Check. Pollen trends for Atlanta? Yep, that too. In fact, these days I get irritated when a site doesn't offer an RSS feed. The other day I had to sign up for an email newsletter because a site I wanted (offering daily deals and tips) didn't have a feed. What a waste. But, monitoring feeds brings me to

2. Google Personalized Homepage

I have never really used an RSS reader. Before using Google, I used myyahoo. Google surpassed them. Who knows, maybe they're catching up, but so far I haven't had a reason to look back.

Email, news, craiglist, all my favorite blogs, flickr feeds and so much more. I monitor Reuters news, BBC news, Slate, huffingtonpost.com, dooce.com, flickr photos, del.icio.us feeds, Slashdot, digg and many many others. And now they're beginning to add more and more modules. It's awesome. I've actually had to read articles on how NOT to spend all your time in your rss reader. Because man is it easy to keep going back.

3. Blogging

What's a personalized homepage without a blog to monitor? A recent report on NPR said that there are thousands and thousands of blogs created every day. You can find just about anyone's perspective on just about anything. Not to mention keep up with friends. In my opinion, some of the best writing I read is done by bloggers.

4. Flickr

What's a blog without photos? I stumbled upon this over a year ago and it is awesome (back then it wasn't yet owned by yahoo...) It's extremely easy to upload photos and they can all be organized by tag or set or both. Flickr even records your camera data, the date you took it, the date you uploaded it, and many more. But what makes it so valuable beyond these features is the social aspect. No more emailing everyone the albums you've uploaded to *insert other service here.* You can comment on photos, mark them with notes, mark them as favorites, and save your friends to contacts so that you see their most recent every time. Better yet, all the photos are saved online, just in case.

5. Del.icio.us

What's one step beyond sharing photos? Social bookmarking. This is extremely useful and convenient. I discovered it through a link to Jen Lee's del.icio.us site (thanks Jen!) All of my bookmarks accesible everywhere, organized by tag. I also use this method to mark interesting articles for friends, which is really convenient since we just used to send emails full of links. Now I just monitor their del.icio.us feed of items tagged with my name.

6. Podcasts

I wasn't very big into podcasting initially, especially since I'm really bad about plugging my ipod in to update it (a dock might be useful for this purpose). However, recently NPR started offering more podcasts, specifically of their show Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, which I think is some of the best stuff on radio. I have since added about a gazillion more podcasts on my computer at work, which I listen to throughout the day.

7. Awesome websites

There are just a few websites that I particularly enjoy (that I feed to my homepage, of course), that I think are just either useful or cool or both.

wikipedia - who doesn't love it?

digg - you can really find some interesting stuff here

del.icio.us/popular - what everyone on del.icio.us is tagging

43folders.com - many useful tips for productivity, geared towards mac users

lifehacker.com - useful tips and info about anything you can imagine

craigslist - I'm going to find my mountain bike here

listible - want to know the top 10 of something? go here

NPR - need i say more?

Slate - gotta love it

BBC news - usually covers news about stuff here better than the news people here

macosxhints - because i'm obsessed with getting the most out of Snow White (this is just one of the many feeds i have regarding hints, software, and news about macs)

Media Matters for America - ever wonder how much mass media sucks or how wrong those people on tv are? here ya go

Two Weeks

The last time I was on my bike, let alone worked out at all, was two weeks ago today. Man does it suck. Why?

Because of this:
That happened on the 2nd night of the cruise, I was running to catch the elevator in evil flip flops (these pictures are from 3 or 4 days after, it had already begun to look much better). I rolled my ankle, the same way I had broken it almost exactly 4 years earlier. I was pretty upset: I kept thinking of all the bike riding I would be missing.

When I got back I went to the health center, where they told me (thankfully) that it wasn't fractured or broken. It continued to get better day by day, until the next Friday when I tried to ride my bike. It hadn't occurred to me that unclipping from the pedals was almost the same motion as how I hurt it.

Now, 5 days after that, I can fit my foot back into a shoe, but it is still pretty painful to walk and stairs are even more difficult. I'm anxious to get back to working out. I feel lazy, which I hate. It's still too early, but I'm hoping that if I take care of it well (fortunately I mostly just sit on my booty at work) I'll be able to go to spinning on Friday and ride on Saturday.

It was kinda sad to not ride in the UGA race (although I probably wouldn't have liked all the hills). I never intended on going to the race that is this weekend (I don't think going up a mountain would be fun... for me or the people who would have to wait around for me), so that leaves Auburn in a few weeks.

I may be cursed, last year I didn't make it past the Tech race either (bronchitis/pneumonia). I'm hoping to store my motivation right now so that I can get back on the bike and give it 110%.

The extra 10% comes from the steroids. :-)

I'm working on it, really!

I am still in the process of writing about Spring Break (it's taking longer cause I want to stick pictures in).

In other news, I have in my possession two of the best seats in the house to the next Nine Inch Nails concert here in Atlanta (June 7 at HiFi Buys Amphitheater), all made possible by my wonderful boyfriend. He gets a gazillion bonus points... to go with the gazillion more he already has for being my bitch when I am gimpy.