Post-Christmas Notes

-Is it me, or do almost all traditional-style Christmas Carols make extensive use of the word, "mild"?

-What's the secret to continuing to enjoy Christmas as much as you did when you were 5 years old?

-When the Steelers rolled the Ravens in a 20-7 victory this past Sunday, I think that somehow, in some way, I received the Christmas present that I REALLY wanted.

-I got the 5th season of the Simpsons on DVD, and now I'm quite a content little camper. Coming Soon: The simpsons season 5 marathon party hosted by yours truly.

No shortcuts to work

I love shortcuts. I sometimes think that 80 percent of my free-time is wasted on finding shortcuts for doing everything. Now, this isn't to say that I'm lazy, but rather, I'm a "fan of convenience". In any case, I've been wasting my gas, time and reputation for punctuatlity at work attempting to find shortcuts from my driveway to work. You see, the problem is that there is no route that can yield me anything better than 30 minutes of commute time (one way). This is despite the fact that my work is about 8 miles away. I've poured over maps, braved windy roads, and driven through shady neighborhoods to no avail. There simply is no shortcut. And that realy, really bothers me.

More Monday Rantings

-Steelers Secondary continues to expose itself. Eventually its going to cost them their undefeated title. Let's just hope they don't lose it against the stinky, always-overrated NY Giants.

-I thought that the holidays brought out the good spirit in all of us? Tell that to all of the impatient holiday shoppers who cut you off in traffic or bang down on their horn if you are even 1/2 second off of reacting to a green traffic light.

-I truly believe that almost anything that I can dream up that would make things work better or easier for my house is already available at Home Depot or Lowes at a reasonable price.

-Would it be true that the size and age of your child relates in the opposite spectrum to the amount of items they require when traveling? For instance, a 4 year old would require less items when traveling than a newborn. So if you have a child, you should own at least an 18-wheeler, and then perhaps scale down to a van or something when they grow up.

Monday Rantings

- Why is it that the Pittsburgh Steelers have shown weaknesses in their secondary for several seasons, but nobody seems to be paying attention to that? Lebeau has done some great things this year, however, a good offensive line can keep the blitz out long enough for the QB to hit wide open players down-field. It happens every game where the opposing team has a good O-line (Like the Jacksonville game).

-Why does Pepsi consistently turn out crappy products? Pepsi edge is just a copy of Coke's "Half the calorie soda", Pepsi Vanilla is a rip-off of the successful "Vanilla Coke", and I just bought a seasonal Soda called, "Pepsi Holiday Spice"...I've got one word for you...CRAPPY!

-Why do people repeatedly think that they have this World's root problem figured out? I read a bumper sticker today that said that the root of violence and destruction is ignorance. I guess that if they went a level deeper and said, "Ignorance of their sinful natures and their current state before God" then perhaps they'd be on the money.

Thank You, Pittsburgh Steelers!

My request this week was granted by the Pittsburgh Steelers.

After a horrible 6-10 season last year, I told myself that all I wanted from them was a 10 win season. I could care less if they made the playoffs (which it seems that they will), or won anything else. Getting a 10 win season was all that I asked.

Not only have they done that with the recent win over the Redskins, but they've even done it by winning 9 games in a row with a rookie at the QB position. Quite impressive, being that most of the team is relatively unchanged from last year. I guess Cowher isn't as bad a coach I thought.

Some musings on Internet Explorer development

Perusing through my rss feeds and stuff, I came accross an interesting article relating to microsoft IE development and the competition. In his own blog, Robert Scoble, who works for Microsoft wrote the following words in one of his latest posts concerning the currently in-process development of the next version of Internet Explorer:

"Speaking of which, Dean Hachamovitch the other day showed me prototypes of the next Internet Explorer. I got to see them before he even showed them to other executives. He told me I could say about that much (I wanted to post screen captures on my blog, but he turned down that request, bummer). I'll add in that if they ship about half of what they showed me that I'll uninstall Firefox. Of course, I'm guessing that it'll probably be a year before any of us will get any bits to look at and I'm sure that Asa, Ben and the other devs over on the Firefox team won't twiddle their fingers. It sure will be an interesting competition."

I find that what is interesting is that although other competition will probably offer features first, Microsoft will no doubt offer them later, but perhaps they will be developed better. Of course, we all know that IE will be adopted by the typical user who doesn't have browser preferences, nor knows much about IE alternatives. Therefore, no matter what Microsoft introduces, it will most likely be a success to some degree.

Thanksgiving Dinners

For some reason, I find it hard to really enjoy thanksgiving. Maybe it is because I feel like a glutton. Spending several months of my life living with families in poverty in Central America, I'm pretty aware of how good we have it in this country. This is not to say that I'm at all ungrateful for what I have, but it seems to spark something in me when I look to survey the tons of food that is before me in different varieties. Its the sting of reality for the tons of families who have never seen this much food in their lives and never will. Something I think that we should all do is match our thankfullness against the reality of what other families don't have. Many of us have plenty to be thankful for, but the American culture that we live in sometimes just doesn't get it. Thanksgiving for some is just a tradition of being a glutton, and less of true appreciation for the grace that God has given us.

Technical Insight

And now we turn to the technical FAQ writers at apple.com for some deep and penetrating insight on how to use a Mac:

Click here to read.

Thank goodness for that insightful piece of knowledge. I'd be lost had I not read that FAQ and owned a Mac.

If you are a Mac user, do not take offense, its not you or the Apple company, its the idiot at the top who thought it would be important to put that bit of info on the website.

Election results and the Current state of John Kerry

I don't have much to say about the election results. I'm a republican so these are now more comforting days for me. However, a good friend of mine, Paul Fink, coined the current state of John Kerry in a way that deserves quoteable status.

"He now goes in the scrap heap of ungraceful losers with Al Gore. "

Brilliant, Paul. Brilliant.

Fantasy Football Dilemna

Yesterday was difficult. The Pittsburgh Steelers were playing the New England Patriots. Being a big fan of Pittsburgh, I found it really difficult to approach the fact that 3 point sources of my fantasy football team were all from New England's team. Should I cheer for New England to win so that my fantasy team could win? Or do I cheer for my favorite team of all time, the Pittsburgh Steelers? Needless to say, I gave in and rooted for the Steelers. Its not every day that you watch a rising rookie QB and a renewed Steeler offense wax an undefeated (In 21 games) New England team with ease. On the bright side, an unexpected Drew Brees 5 TD accomplishment helped us to rise against our opponents and pretty much seal off this week's victory anyways. So a win for the Steelers, and a(pretty much expected) win for my fantasy team. It turned out to be a good day after all. :-)

Good, but Nerdy Commentary.

Now I know that not many of the people who even care to read this blog are interested in the development of different operating systems, but I recently read an article that might prove interesting to those who are. If you own a Mac or know anything about the differences between Linux, Windows and Mac operating systems, then This Article is for you.

So much for the curse

Well, they finally did it. The Red Sox won a World Series after 86 years of waiting. The most interesting thing is that two weeks ago, they were getting their butts handed to them by the Yankees in the ALCS. I'm glad. Not that I'm a huge baseball fan, or even a Red Sox fan. I just like to know that I've witnessed something significant in history. And finally I can work on getting to bed at a decent hour, rather than staying up until midnight or later watching baseball every day. :-)

Morning Sunrise in Lancaster, PA

This is what the sky looked like this morning from my back door, just before I went to work.

Subscriptions woes

I am a regular PC World Magazine subscriber. What bugs me most about this subscription is that if you go to their website, you can essentially read pretty much all of the available articles right there. Since finding this out, I made a firm decision to discontinue my subscription. However, I realized that I had hastily signed up for a two-year susbscription. This stinks. I guess that the lesson learned is that before I subscribe to future magazines or publications, I'm checking their website first.

Decisions

Do you ever find yourself with some unexpected spare time to do whatever you want and end up wasting that time trying to figure out what you want to do? I find myself doing that all too often. Especially when I go to the store by myself. I just can't seem to make simple decisions. Like: Should I buy the brand name product or save money on the store brand? Pepsi or "Sam's Choice Cola?" Levi's or "American whateveryoucallit"? Should I end this blog now? Or later? Why is it that the simplest decisions in life are sometimes the most difficult?

First Smiles

There's something unique and special about holding your own child in your arms and having her gaze up at you with a big smile. Just one of the many highlights of being a dad.

Elections

I really dislike politicians. Probably one of the biggest things that annoy me about John Kerry is his demeanor as a politician. What more, he's kind of annoying with all of his "plans" to fix what is broken. He blames Bush for the loss of jobs and the bad economy. Will somebody remind him that we had a terrorist attack that messed up wall street for months, and catapulted us into a recession? I also hate the stupid ads that attack each other. "Bush hates your children and wants them to pay for our war debts". "Kerry voted to sell heinz ketchup only to Gays and Lesbians". I can't wait until this election is over. Thank goodness for Baseball and Football season or there really wouldn't be anything worth cheering about.

Good Vs. Evil

You know I'm not really a baseball fan. Yet for some reason, I find myself cheering against the Yankees. I don't even care about the Red Sox, but for some reason the Yankees seem "evil". Maybe its the lack of color in their uniform? Maybe its the penetrating and unchanging gaze of Joe Torre in the Yankees dougout? In any case, I'm cheering against the Yankees in this series. It just seems natural to do. Its like this feeling of Good vs. Evil in baseball. No doubt we could extend this into other realms of life, such as software companies, but let's not go there today. :-)

Baby Feet

Its hard to believe that everybody had feet this small at one time. Its also hard to believe that babies have no problem sticking their feet in their poop when you change their diaper.

First Post

This is the first official Jurina Journal post. Not that anybody really wants to read a mile of my thoughts, but I figured that it would be wise to keep up with technology and keep a blog. I also wanted to add a dimension to our website. I can't see that Meg will be doing much posting on this thing, since that's not really her thing, so most posts will be by me. So on to today's thought:

I love days like today. Sunny, partly cloudy with a consistent brisk wind that seems relentless. Its the kind of weather that invites strolls through the forest, or a round of backyard football. Top it all off with a snuggly evening on the couch with some hot cocoa or even a harvest hayride. That's a good autumn day to me.