Okay, I decided to go to Cornerstone and go to the beach for a day or two. At work we record classes for Liberty University's Distance Learning Program. They scheduled a class for us to tape that week and neglected to tell us. It's possible that I won't get to go to the beach at all because there already are 2 people from my dept. going. We'll see.

I thought about posting a rant about Apple Computers, or at least about the hype surrounding their new G5's and a few technical issues relating to it. I'm sure it's a decent machine and a huge step up from the aging G4 line, but their hype just goes too far. Yeah, I thought about ranting about that, but I've already done that elsewhere. Other people have done so as well. I do hope it's 3/4ths as good as they say it is. I remember the announcement of the PowerPC based MAC that was suppose to revolutionize the world, and who can forget that the G4 is a supercomputer on a chip. Now the dual G5 is the "fastest personal computer" and the "first 64-bit personal computer"... a "personal computer" that costs as much as (if not more than) an AMD opteron workstation/server computer that's 64-bit and actually shipping. Oops. Ranting... I didn't mean to do that. Sorry.

It's a dumb thing to get worked up about. I just don't think it's nearly as revolutionary as they make it seem. Truth: Who needs it?

This is shaping up to be a busy weekend. A friend of mine is getting married in SC. There's a small group of us going down tomorrow. I'd like to avoid spending money on a Hotel room, but if we don't spend the night somewhere, we won't be getting back here until the wee hours of the morning... Bummer. Then Monday I get to drive 15 hours to IL. yay.

I'm now definitely leaning away from going to Cornerstone this year (http://cornerstonefestival.com). What changed my mind? Umm... I guess a sense of loyalty to my friends. A group of them are going to Myrtle Beach, SC the third week of July and. If I go to c-stone, I don't think I can do both unless I want to use up all my vacation time for the whole year halfway through it. If I go to c-stone it'll be like saying I'd rather spend a week alone with strangers than a week with friends. There's the possibility that the beach trip will be cheaper than a c-stone trip and was very important earlier this week when I thought I had overdrawn my bank account. It's cool now. Of course if, at the beach, we rent jetski's or go parasailing or something the cost for that trip will go up. I do know a girl who's going to c-stone so there's a possibility of splitting fuel costs. If we went together it wouldn't be so lonely of a drive, but I'd probably have to stop more. Plus, she wants to go on Monday and I'd prefer to leave on Tuesday. Tuesday is Tooth and Nail Day and I'm not a fan of a lot of the bands on that label so I'd be pretty bored. I guess I could read all day or something. Patti is working for a label at the fest so she may NEED to be there then.

It's perhaps a negative quirk of my personality that I kind of like long drives alone... or just being alone in general. OTOH there are a lot of times that I wish I had a girlfriend or wife just so I'd have someone to share experiences with. That happened a lot when I lived in Lititz, PA. I lived on Main St which is an old (by American standards) section of the country. The town was founded in the 1700's. I lived a few doors down from the site of the first pretzel bakery in the US. There are antique shops and art galleries (and a couple of pizza places) lining the street. On one of the corners is a restaurant/Inn that was founded by General Sutter in his later years, after he left his home in California. I little thing known as the California Gold Rush caused him some grief. His home being the point of the outbreak of gold fever. I'd go for walks down the streets in that section of town when the weather was nice. It was very relaxing and enjoyable but I always felt like something was missing. I had no one to enjoy it with. sigh.

I wonder if I could do both the c-stone and beach trips. I'd have to save up money to cover time off from work without pay (or work extra days). I'm just not totally psyched up for either trip. The beach is much easier to get to but c-stone holds one of my favorite things in life... sitting under the stars on a warm summer night listening to Over the Rhine play their beautiful music. Most (if not all) of my favorite musicians play there and there's a ton of good seminars, and discussions and esoteric films and art and interesting people. All of that and the sweet but sad melancholy of seeing all that beauty and not having anyone to share it with. *sigh*

If I get bored in SC I guess I could visit my brother in Greenville. It might be a long drive, but probably shorter than leaving from here. Nah, I looked it up. It's a 4.5 hour drive... 1 hour less than from here (Lynchburg VA).

Good night.

http://cornerstonefestival.com
http://toothandnail.com
http://overtherhine.com

Well, I did it. I spent the last of the surplus. I bought a pretty high end motherboard, the third fastest CPU in it's class (a 2.66 Ghz Pentium 4 XEON) a Gig of RAM, a really nice case and a good power supply. Now I just need another WinXP and the parts from my old systems and we'll be good to go with plenty of room for upgrades (like adding another processor and fast hard drives, and/or some high end video hardware). The upgrade cost me around $1400. Not too bad, but you can get a whole system for half that. But I don't think I'd want to use those systems for animation/motion graphics. Still, I hope I made the right decision. I could've gone with a newer technology instead of top of the line current tech.

Sorry for geeking out on you there.

I'm definitey leaning towards making the trip to Cornerstone. It'd be nice to find a passenger to split fuel costs. It'd be really nice if the passenger was a woman between 23 and 30 with a slender build and a cute face. It'd be awesome if we got along super well and ended up falling in love and spending the rest of our lives together. Is that asking too much?

;)

well, it's that time again. Dana need sleep. Sleep good. zzzzzzzzzzzz

...tired...

I stop to jot some thoughts.

I'm trying to decide if I want to go to the cornerstone festival this year or not. (http://cornerstonefestival.com) It's a cool event to attend with lots of things to see and hear. If I go it'll probably be by myself which can get lonely, but I usually meet a couple of people so that can be cool. It'd be nice to have someone to split the fuel costs with.

I have an assignment to memorize John 15:5-8 and figure out how to use it in daily life by next Thursday. That's a church thing. I guess I better get started.

This week I need to really work on the graphics for a commercial for the Liberty University Distance Learning Program. It'd be easier if I had a solid idea of what I wanted to do and also if I wasn't so lazy.

I have to make a copy of a video and mail it out.

I have to print a few letters and mail them out.

I have to work on a website for someone I know.

I need to switch website hosts, and reregister my domain name.

.... heck, there's a lot of little things I need to get done. Life is good. No one is shoving bamboo chutes up my fingernails or tying me to the desert floor and shooting flaming sticks at me... yeah, life is good.

I thing I'll go to bed and possibly read, although I should just sleep. I haven't been very good at doing the right things lately, though... or at least it seems that way.

I should talk to Adrian. I haven't seen her in a long time.

I thought about saying something about the mark on my wall that reminds me of the mosquito that once was there. I think I'll just shut up now.

Woah, the pressure to finish two projects in the same week is gone. I feel like I can relax now. Of course, I still have a bunch of other stuff to do... Graphics for 3 projects at work, two DVDs at home and possibly some graphics at home. At least I don't have to work past midnight anymore.

I'm trying to decide what to do with the money from the last, big freelance project. I could totally pay off the rest of my student loan. I could buy parts and build a new graphics workstation that I kind of need. I could save some money for taxes, buy new tires and do some other mainenance to my car and maybe a few other smaller things that I need or want. Maybe I'll just throw it into my savings account and wait for a while.

Having to decide what to do with a fairly sizable chunk of money is a nice problem to have. ;)

It's a busy week for me. I working on a freelance animation job and I need to have something to show the client in 5 days. I'm still in the modelling stage. Also this week, Tim, Mike and I need to finish up a DVD for Brad Stine (www.bradstine.com). That needs to be done this weekend. Tuesday we got our new set in at work (Liberty University Distance Learning Program Studios) and I have to make a large picture to put in it. Wednesday we're having a special cookout at work but that shouldn't take any extra time. Also Wednesday, I have to pick someone up at the Roanoke airport. The airport is about an hour away and I still don't know what flight he's on or when it arrives. Thursday we're going to a video equipment demo/show in Richmond (2 hours away). Thursday night I have a Bible study that I attend. I've missed the last two weeks so I don't really want to miss this week too. Saturday I have friends going to see the Matrix Reloaded in Roanoke (the closest good theater). I want to go too, but I have that pesky freelance animation job to do. Hmmm... I wonder if I can squeeze it into my picking up the guy at the airport trip... I just looked i up. It doesn't start until 10 and 10:30 at night and the guy I'm picking up doesn't sound like a fan of the movie. If we did go we wouldn't be getting back until 1:30am or so. I'm not even sure that it'll be there that night. It's the day before it is to be released. Maybe I'll be able to spare 4 or 5 hours on Saturday to go with my friends. I'll just have to skip the traditional dinner at the Olive Garden.

Busy week. Busy week. I'm not used to having a full schedule. So I take time to write in my blog :)

This is a bit rambling. I'm tired again.

I've been meaning to write something about the war in Iraq. It's been 11 or 12 days since it started. The initial rush made it look like it'd be easier than it has turned out to be. It looks like it could get messy. We Americans are very sure of ourselves. I hope we're not too proud. We've had fiascos in the past. Remember the Bay of Pigs, that attempted rescue of the hostages in Iran, and the whole Vietnam thing? I don't. I wasn't born yet. I do believe we are in this current war for honorable reasons. Protestors are crying "no blood for oil". President Bush and even the troops on the ground talk of liberating the people of Iraq and of protecting the US from terrorism. Sadam and his minions are truly villainous. Even if there were no link between Sadam and the WTC terrorist attack there is sufficient reason to act against him. I must admit that I'm not at ease with the US being the aggressor in a war. This, however, can be seen as an extention of the last Gulf War. Sadam was defeated and has since failed to follow the terms of surrender. He's had twelve years to comply and has failed. This man can't be trusted and is dangerous. I've heard people blame much of the suffering of the Iraqi people on the stiff sanctions imposed by the US and the UK. Maybe the sanctions were too aggressive. On the other hand, If Sadam had complied then the sanctions could've been lifted. It's probably best to give the mad as few resources as possible. Hopefully the war will end soon and with as few casualties as possible. I do pray that Iraq will become a free democracy and a prosperous nation. I hope we only stay as long as we're needed to help the new government get established. I hope the freed people of Iraq will appreciate what we're trying to do. I hope we can be profitable trade partners. I have a feeling that all these wishes will not come true.

If this were an isolated event I might be more negative about our involvement in this war. Since this is dealing with a defeated foe, a brutal and oppressive regime, a possible chem/bio/nuclear threat and a friend/supplier of terrorists, I think this is a good cause.

We're not trying to set up a little America over there. I'm not sure where the Americans-are-imperialists thoughts come from. Maybe I'm forgetting some American history but I don't think we've had imperialistic tendencies for long time. I'm thinking the last imperialistic action we've taken was when we took on Hawaii as a state. We've medled in the business of other sovereign nations.

I'm getting too tired to write... at least coherrently.

g'night

Hey guess what? I'm writing something before midnight!

I went up to Charlottesville today to visit some friends. I didn't get to see everyone I would have liked to but I did have a really nice dinner with [blc]. We have some history together but I don't know how much future we have together. We get along swimmingly but we don't see each other very often. There's also the question of intent. As far as I know, she's still only wants to be friends. How long can a casual relationship between men and women last? There are those who feel that men and women can't be friends, at least not for long. Oh well, enjoy it while you can.

I should have told her that she looked good tonight. Then again maybe it would've made her nervous. I'm tired of thinking about it.

Dana

Once again it's late and I'm wide awake. I got up earlier than usual today and I'm still wide awake at 2:30am. I've had no caffeine since 7:30p so that can't be the culprit. I have to think that my body is on West-coast time (PST, -8GMT) even though I've always lived in the East (-5GMT).

A year or two ago I was at church when Julie, a girl I knew in college, came up to me to say 'hi'. I was astounded that she remembered me especially since I didn't have many memories of her. She was the friend and maybe room mate of Janice, a girl I was hanging out with a lot back then. I never went out with Julie. I guess I thought it would make for an akward situation if I tried to go out with her. I may have thought she was too young for me (an absurd thought, she's at most 4 years younger than me.) My clearest visual memory of her is of seeing her jogging by the dorms on the hill at Liberty. I don't know why I don't remember more. Suddenly, on a Sunday in the new millenium she was greeting me like she was excited to see me. It floored me. I'm not used to getting that kind of attention from anyone other than some of my nephews. I'm definately not used to getting that kind of attention from attractive women. (usually all I get from them is a face full of pepper spray ;) I should have asked her out right then but I've never been good at asking women out. She walked out of the building and I haven't seen her since. In my journal, I wrote her a letter or two and possibly a poem. Maybe some day she'll see them, but they weren't written to be sent. I got her email address from Janice a week or two later. A little while after that emailed Julie. I never received a reply. I ended that first email by telling her to write back to me. I didn't want to sound desperate or whiny so I didn't say "PLEASE write back." I knew it might have sounded too harsh without the 'please' but I wanted to be more assertive.

Tonight I decided to try writing to her again. I don't have her email address in my address book. Her address is in the email from Janice. That email is archived in my email account at Liberty University. Liberty's webmail server is down or turned off. I can't get to her email address so I can't try to get through to her again.

Maybe I'll try later. Maybe it's just not meant to be.

Well, that's just another exciting excerpt from Dana's big book of not dating anyone.