Next Station: College

I'm really excited. Tomorrow I am taking the girl to College Station to finally try to convince her that her UT loving ways are not what's best for her and that the other university in Texas actually has a lot of great stuff going for it. I hope that this plan works, but I don't really know if it will. Cause seriously, to an outsider looking in...blah, blah, blah.

I've always thought that A&M is like that weird family down the street. As one of the neighbors it's really fun to talk about how weird they are. "Can you believe last week when they had a pig roast, that was SO weird." But in reality, if you were a member of that family you would think it's the coolest thing ever. You get to have fun in your own way, you don't care what others think, and everybody becomes cool by doing the same thing because it's different than what all the outsiders are doing. A&M is a great place. I loved my time there and I'm stoked that I'm not there anymore. I just can't wait to share the joy of my alma mater with the girl that brings such joy to all that matters.

Plus, did I mention that A&M is playing Baylor? And when the Aggies score...WHOOP! Yes, I most definitely planned this trip strategically.

Expect Delays

This is verbatim of what I saw on a TxDOT sign on Northbound 183 here in Austin this weekend.

EXPECT DELAYS
TO HOUSTON
GAS SHORTAGE

Um...okay, cause that helps when I'm headed towards Abilene!

In news of other stupid stuff, check out this. I saw this as the main headline for CNN this evening.

ACL: Day 2

Day of the rising dust storm.

So I left my camera at home, but today was better than the last. Actually got to see a few friends during the course of the day, including Rachel and Kelly. Not enough time to say all I want, but here's the list so far.

Buddy Guy: Amazing show. Makes me want to go out and listen to the Blues all day long.
Death Cab for Cutie: Pretty fun, they'll become bigger, but not huge.
Spoon: This band deserves more respect. Great songs and a lot of funky stuff.
Keane: You'll be hearing more from these guys. Arguably the best new band out of the UK.
Jet: Best Rock 'n Roll band I've EVER seen. These guys epitomized what Rock should be like. I hope to see MUCH more of them in the future. Absolutely loved it. And Andrea got to hit a beachball during the concert (this goal is harder to accomplish than you might think) and we made it onto the Jumbotron. Go us!

Tomorrow is the last day, but it should be the best with The New Amsterdams, Pong, Rachael Yamagata, Rilo Kiley, Kaiser Chiefs, Jason Mraz, Bob Mould Band, Franz Ferdinand, and Coldplay...definitely going to be a busy day.

Tip learned today: Go swimming in Barton Springs afterwards and during ACL...makes you feel a LOT better!

ACL: Day 1

So Andrea and I got tickets to Austin City Limits Festival and the first day was a blast. Really impressed me how many people were there and we got to see a few good bands.

And Austin keeps true to itself by providing the people like the guy on the left. Notice the skirts. And we also go the priveledge of seeing the lacy underwear that was beneath the skirt...only in Austin.



But we're not the only ones that are happy. Evidently ACL can help to mend wounds that were previously thought incurable.

Top seven reasons homosexual marriage should not be legal:

1. Homosexuality is not natural, much like eyeglasses, polyester, and birth control.
2. Heterosexual marriages are valid because they produce children. Infertile couples and old people can’t legally get married because the world needs more children.
3. Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.
4. Straight marriage will be less meaningful, since Britney Spears’ 55-hour just-for-fun marriage was meaningful.
5. Heterosexual marriage has been around a long time and hasn’t changed at all; women are property, blacks can’t marry whites, and divorce is illegal.
6. Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country.
7. Civil unions, providing most of the same benefits as marriage with a different name are better, because a “separate but equal” institution is always constitutional.

Alright, normally I don't post canned things, but I really liked this. Actually I'm a little against #7. Realistically since our government is NOT a theocracy, nor should it EVER be a theocracy, the idea of a government recognizing marraige at all is silly at best. From the government's perspective they should only care who is responsible for eachother. My personal belief is that there shouldn't be marraiges at all, but that we should ALL have to get civil unions. Then if you want to have a religious institution recognize the civil union as a marraige then they could do that and you can say you're married. What's it matter to a government who is responsible for another person? Heck, you can unionize with your sister for all I care...just don't expect any church to recognize that as a marraige.

Why Teenage Girls are Depressed

Today while I was surfing Blogdom I came across this.

Glenn Feron - The Art of Retouching


While I applaud Glenn on his abilities to make photos absolutely beautiful, it also makes me a bit sad. Even these women who are stunningly beautiful are not even close to that beautiful in their natural form. I've always heard, "Oh they just airbrush them in that magazine." But I never really understood what a difference it makes until today.

This photo in particular shows a huge deal of change. You can see that all lines, cellulite, and moles are removed. Contrast is enhanced. The faces are lifted. The breasts appear to be rounder. Tummies are tucked in a bit. Some of the other pictures even show complete change of garb.

What's saddest though is that these are the pictures that teeny bops will compare themselves to and then go bulimic trying to reproduce. They will never look like the women in these photos, because these people do not exist!

We'll Love You Just the Way You Are...

One thing that I've really been struggling a lot with lately is my faith. Now I don't mean anything like I don't think the Bible has any validity to it, or that I want to hate on the Pope. No, it's more a matter of I feel like everything that people try to say builds my faith is starting to seem kinda silly.

In church every Sunday they encourage us to 'grow closer', 'look inward', 'find out how you can change', 'join an accountability group'...

All of these messages seem to be about how I am not enough, how I need to keep striving for more, how regardless of where I'm at I need to look inside a bit more and try to find something that's messed up and try to fix that. I think I'm starting to see what it is that so many people resent in the church. It's that you can never be good enough. No matter what you do, how great you are, how much you try it's still not enough...so what's the point?

Another thing that's really hard for me right now is that in all of the groups, all of the time I spend reading the Bible, studying the Bible, talking about the Bible, learning more about the Bible I'm starting to see that we don't really seem to DO anything. Yes, we share thoughts and sometimes I feel like I learn something when I read it all, but the truth of the matter is that I don't really see much actual practice being made of what's therein? I mean there is a whole bunch of stuff about how we are supposed to help people, give up what we have to make the world better, really take on the Christian attitude of servitude. However, I cannot tell you the last time I really did any of those things. Even with the recent stuff in Nawlins I didn't actually help anything...no time was spent in a shelter, nothing was done to aid in sorting materials, nada. Instead in the last week I've spent hours trying to read, study, catch up, and prepare for more study of the Bible. I feel like I'm just in a high school physics class and I'm spending so much time learning the theories that I never get to have the joy of just dropping a TV from the roof.

Finally, it seems like most Christians today are determined that they will never be happy? Why is that? Because they are constantly searching their lives for something that's messed up. Even the happiest person is continuously encouraged to search for how they can change, reflect on what is really happening on the inside, confess any possible sin... Am I not allowed to just be happy!?! I really do love my life, I like what's new, I enjoy what's old, I think I do some things well, I know I do other things poorly, I know that life can be fun and hard at the same time, I just want to be allowed to enjoy myself. But instead of really doing something, really having fun like I know my spirit desires, I'm encouraged to sit and reflect more. Something I said in a conversation earlier really stuck with me, so I'll stick it here:
"Life really just becomes a house of mirrors if all you do is reflect." -Me

...if you're perfect.

Pouring Cats and Dogs

The store called Cats Cats Cats is the window on the left.

Does anybody else see anything wrong with this picture?

In random news I just farted. And as bad as that sounds, it makes me happy...because for the last several days I haven't been able to with any confidence. My stomach still hates me though.

Speed Kills

People seem to think it's speed that kills. While arguments could be made for that statement, speed is not what actually kills. In this post I would like to argue that it is not speed that kills; rather, it is Kinetic Energy that kills.

Let's take a look at Speed and see what happens with with objects going at the same speed of 70 miles per hour (~115 kph) and a person's reaction to each.

1. June Bug - Ow, what the heck was that? Stupid bug. Squish.
   
2. Baseball - I'm gonna kill you pitcher...wait, you wrestle steers for fun, oh crap.
   
3. Suburban - You think nothing because you are dead.

Notice the difference in the reactions? The reactions are different because it is not speed that kills, it is kinetic energy.

Let's now take a look at the kinetic energy of these objects. (KE = 1/2 * m * v^2). Where 70 mph = 31.3 m/s.

1. June Bug - m = 1/5 oz = 0.005 kg; KE = (0.005*31.3^2)/2 = 2.44 Joules
   
2. Baseball - m = 5 oz = 0.15 kg; KE = (0.15*31.3^2)/2 = 73 Joules
   
3. Suburban - m = 8600 lbs = 3900 kg; KE = (3900*31.3^2)/2 = 1,900,000 Joules

As you can see the real killer in the world is Kinetic Energy, not speed. So, let's move on to the crux of the whole issue. Let's take a look at speed limits. Everybody knows that speed limits are in place to save lives. But as we've just proven speed is NOT what kills, it's Kinetic Energy.

Instead of Speed Limits they should place Kinetic Energy Limits on our highways to keep the populace safe! That way we could make sure to put a curb on unnecessary deaths.

Let's say that the limit on the state highways is 2 million Joules. Sounds reasonable. Now think of how much fun it would be to have 2 million Joules while on my motorcycle!

Where: m = 700 lbs = 320 kg, v = x m/s, KE = 2,000,000 Joules
Solving for v we get:
v = sqrt(2*KE/m) = sqrt(2*2000000/312) = 113 m/s

What does all of that mean? It means that under proper laws I should be allowed to go 253 mph when I'm on my motorcycle! Now that sounds like a good time!

*this train of thought courtesy of David Harding*

Online Dating

And this is why people are leery of online dating services.

I don't know why but at some point I signed up for this online dating thing (probably for some sort of survey or questionnaire). And ever since then they have graced my email inbox at least once a week with the 'women that match your personal search preferences.' I guess I didn't know I had such horrible preferences.

Wow, I'm so glad I don't really have to resort to these things to find a date...that would suck!