really?
I find it hard to believe that every talk show host who interviews an author and claims to have read their most recent book has actually read said book. I’ve seen various hosts claim to have really enjoyed so and so’s book, and then the next three nights they say the same thing to different authors about different (thick) books. I’m not sure I believe all of them, and that’s all I have to say about that. Feel free to share your thoughts, and if Leno, Letterman, Conan, John Stewart, or any other late night talk show hosts who subscribe to my blog would like to justify themselves, please feel free to do so in the comments section.
a (quarter) milestone
This one almost came and went like your odometer rolling over 100,000 miles and you looking at it on mile 100,002. Luckily, almost doesn’t count. I caught it just in time. We have avoided a great disaster today my friends.
I’ve decided to treat this 250th post like a reflection episode of Saved by the Bell. I’ll be Zack talking to the camera and when I’m done, things will blur into a look back at some posts of days gone by. (I’m not clever enough to make your computer screen blur between the time you click the links and the page actually loading, so just pretend, and please, click the links, as it will certainly be to your enjoyment… I used to be funnier than I am now).
As many of you know, things here at odfm started way back on May Fool’s Day, 2005, with a debut post most have never read and the rest have forgotten. It’s mind-blowingly creative title was, “testing…” I was gearing up for my big summer in China, and I planned on using this blog (inspired by one Joshua Langston) to keep the masses updated on how I was doing. Things started off well but really exploded when a post titled “red carpet at the barber shop” boasted double digit comments (thanks to Jon’s mom posting the same comment twice). Double digit comments is a feat that has only been achieved 7 other times in odfm history.
Upon arriving back in the States I posted a few posts on reverse culture shock and then I went out on a limb and posted a non-China post entitled “laying out aka lawn mowing.” This post was not only significant for trail-blazing a way for odfm to survive in America, it also debuted the first ever total stranger comment by “Immortal Beloved.”
At that point in blogging history, you didn’t have all the blogs you have today. As I recall it was only Joshua, the Supercinski’s, and myself. Of course we weren’t the only three bloggers in the world at that time, but in my circle of friends, that was it. In the two years that followed blogging spread like gangrene to the point that everybody and (literally) their non-speaking-much-less-typing babies had blogs.
I’ve had many posts from that fateful 1 May 2005 to present. The following are some of my personal favorites (in chronological order).
- the bike crash heard round the world
- superhero soirée
- trip results…
- … down in New Orleans
- Bush, Graham, Osteen and Oliver
- “the sub that hacks”
- first ever contest!
- 75 things that make me smile and/or things I like
- freshman door… an epic
- done and done.
- Reformation Day, 2006
- my ears are still ringing
- undeserved
- perfection
- to all the nay-sayers
- a (quarter) milestone
It’s crazy to think about how much stuff has happened since I started this blog. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed keeping it and you guys are gracious enough to pretend like you enjoy it as well. It’s a wonderful blessing to know that most of you readers have been my friends longer than this blog’s been alive. I’m sincerely thankful for my readers and I’m at a loss of words when it comes to describing my friends. I’ll just go ahead and sum it up with one: love.
Thanks for reading. Here’s to 250 more posts…
(note: this entry took longer to create than any other post in odfm history, bar none… in case anyone asks)
redefining beauty
how green are you? huh??
So living green and saving the environment are about the coolest, most popular things you can do these days. If you want to be cool, you have to change your light bulbs, recycle, eat organic and carpool. So you’re probably wondering, well I wonder how cool I am? Wonder no longer, my friend. Simply click here and take the sustainability test. It’s cool. Take it.
After spending the entire 7 minutes it takes to complete this test, you will be able to tell your friends how many planet Earth’s would be required if everyone in the world lived the way you did. It’s pretty interesting. I’ll tell you how many planets would be necessary if everyone lived as sustainably as I do, but you have to take the test and tell me your answer first. Seriously, do it. It’ll give us something to talk about next time we see each other.
RSS how-to revisited
Seen that thing before? Wondered what it meant? Well you’re gon’ find out.
Ok, I must start by saying I’ve blogged about this before. The reasons I’m revisiting it are two-fold: One, I’m convinced that there are far more people reading blogs at this point in history than there were when I originally posted about it. Two, Lynsey’s recently posted about it and apparently had some issues. So for you technologically savvy readers, please pardon the repetition. It’s for the good of the whole. Here we go.
Problem: You waste too much time clicking every single link on the Hendrick’s blog (and give them an undue amount of pageloads) to see which blogs have been updated that day.
Solution: RSS feeds. Blogs are set up to where you can check them without actually going to them. You’ll save heaps of time.
It’s important to know that there are tons of different RSS feeds out there, some of them have more bells and whistles than others, and this post is only going to address two different ways to go about doing things.
Option 1: How do I set up an RSS feed? Click that and it’ll take you to the post I put up about a year ago, and it shows you one way to install and use one type of feed. It requires that you browse the web in firefox, which you should be doing already. I happen to know that over 60% of my readers are still using Internet Explorer… come on people. At any rate, if you use firefox or are willing to start using it, this is a very easy and low-profile feed you can use.
Option 2: I don’t have firefox, and I don’t want it, you say? Well let’s agree to disagree and then talk about Google Reader. To use Google Reader you have to have an account with Google. Again, this is something that you should already have as an Internet user in the year 2007. If you don’t have one, it’s super easy to set up (you can do it from the link given above). If you don’t want to set one up, go back to option 1. Ok, if you have a Google account, go ahead and click here to see a video explaining Google Reader to you. I could do it myself, but it’s already been done, so no need. It’s super easy.
So there’s a little recap on RSS feeds. If you don’t like either of those options, there is still (tons of) hope! Just google “rss how-to” or something of that nature to see other possibilities. If you have any questions or are having issues making either of my two options work, let me know. I like helping people. I’ll leave you with a suggestion of how to spend your newfound free time: bake me some cookies (I like them crispy).
GIMP 2.2
One of the perks of having the abundance of free time I’ve experienced this past month is that it offers me the ability of honing my [very amateur] photo editing and graphic design skills. Over a year ago I learned of a freeware program called GIMP that is comparable to Photoshop, equally powerful, yet free!
I’ve had GIMP on my machine for a while, but up until this past month I’d been pretty intimidated by it and hadn’t really messed with it much. However recently I was motivated (upon having the desire to give odfm a rhytidectomy) to tackle the GIMP. I’ve done lots of research, learned lots of stuff, and made lots of things. This post will exhibit some of those things.
Above is the ever popular mostly-black-and-white-with-one-colored-item photograph. Subject: Lauren Rouse (who’s engaged by the way, for those you hadn’t heard). Below I hope you’ll enjoy my new desktop background, followed by some headers I made just for kicks, and finally my most recent facebook profile picture. Comment away. Or don’t.
60 hrs in D.O.’s head (abridged)
I’ve had absolutely nothing but time on my hands the past week, and as a result I’ve done absurd amounts of thinking. Even on days when I have little to no free time, I still manage to do a good bit of thinking, so you can imagine how busy my brain has been the past few days. It hasn’t stopped. Here is a very honest (G-rated) look into the things I think about:
- What the heck am I doing with my life?
- Why am I in College Station? Every ounce of my being wants to be in the northwest enjoying mountains, a cooler climate, and a different culture.
- Does God care if I leave and go to another place without his specifically telling me to do it?
- Why do so many areas of my life look so differently than I want them to look (and how the Bible says they should look)?
- Am I the pathetic guy who continues to relive his college life in his second year of out school?
- Why am I seemingly unable to settle for a random job that I can build experience in?
- Do I even want to get a job in College Station, which will all but force me to stay here (potentially) longer than I want?
- What am I doing wrong in the way of hearing what Father wants from me? Is His silence a way of telling me to simply go and act on faith and trust him with whatever that looks like?
- Why on Earth do I feel so dang sorry for myself all the time?
- I wish I were better at playing guitar, piano, and writing songs on each.
- Why am I fighting feelings of loneliness when I’m in the middle of a town where I know more people than almost anywhere else? (Probably because I’m not working, therefore I’ve got too much time alone, but I’m not working because I’m not sure, again, if I want to work here…)
- Why do I see both sides of EVERY issue under the sun, making it nearly impossible to have a firm opinion on any of the things pertinent to my current life stage?
- Should I move back to Dallas, live with Colby (who I adore), humbly ask for my job at REI back, go to the Village, and try to go to China with them next year?
- Is my thinking all these things good? Bad? Neutral?
- Why am I having such a hard time reading the Word in the midst of having an entirely empty schedule?
- Why am I so intolerant of people closest to me?
- Why don’t people update their blogs more so I’d have a little something more to do during the day?
- I want to go for a walk, but it’s too hot outside.
- What does it look like to actually surrender stuff to Jesus?
- Why am I all of the sudden somewhat upset and dissatisfied with God’s intangibility?
- Why do I act like, think like, pretend like I’ve got everything figured out when I KNOW I have absolutely nothing figured out (save the fact that I don’t know anything. I know that).
- Persons A, B, C, and so on think I should shave my beard. That makes me want to keep it more than I did before.
- What am I going to do with the lessons I’ve learned/ will learn throughout this season?
- When is Jessica Schmale going to come to the Station so I can hash all this stuff out with her over a cup of whatever she wants to drink?
- Why do over half of the visitors to my blog spend less than 5 seconds here?
- Why do my recent journal entries end in “UGH!”?
Believe me, I could go on, but I used the word “abridged” in the title of this post so I’ll stop. Everything that goes on beneath my balding head isn’t as negative as it may have just seemed. I think of it as being more realistic than negative. Realistic and frustrating. I’m not going to lie. It’s frustrating. I apologize if you found this post too serious or depressing or anything less than satisfying or entertaining, but at the same time I don’t really care. I’ve always tried to be very honest and authentic, and this blog is no exception. Oh, and if anyone wants to share their thoughts, there’s a comment section and if you’re reading this you probably know my email address and phone number. Go ahead. Lord knows I need it.
to all the nay-sayers
Short Version: To those of you who think I look bad now, aren’t you glad I no longer look like this?
Awesome Version: If someone were to write a book on Texas A&M University, the 21st century, Mullet Week 2002 would get at least 1,500 words. It was truly a week of epic proportions. An excerpt from the story would look a little something like this:
The men of the Sbisa crew decided that it was time for us to cut our long hair. They determined a far better idea would be to have mullets. So one night 11 shaggy men, accompanied by approximately 6 beauty technicians, piled in to Lauren Davis and Brittany Garner’s dorm room. Each of these shameless males left the room that night with a different style of mullet. Shaved into the sides of their heads were stripes, arrows, and lightning bolts. It was a special sight to behold. As they went out that night they commenced what would come to be known as Mullet Week.
It just so happened that Mullet Week happened to coincide with Texas A&M’s Howdy Week, a week devoted to feeble attempts at resurrecting the “howdy” greeting that few around here use anymore, much to the dismay of people whose great grandparents went to A&M. This happenstance worked out to the benefit of Mullet Week participators, however.
One day while enjoying their daily Sbisa lunch the newly mulleted Sbisa crew watched as six people entered the dining hall arm-in-arm, each with a large letter on their shirt that read “HOWDY!” Had they been standing in a different order their message may have been “WD!OYH”. These six tradition proselytizers stood in front of the masses and yelled, “HOWDY!” to which the lunch-eating public obligatorily responded in kind.
At that very moment all of the mullet sporting men of Sbisa crew looked at each other, nodded, stood up, linked arms, and walked to the very place where the howdy crew had been standing. They stood there, arms linked, chests out, shoulders back, and they yelled passionately, “MULLET!”. The response was the most authentic display of love and appreciation that Sbisa has e’er seen. Those eating their meals stopped immediately to erupt in laughter, cheering and applause. Some were even moved to the point of a standing ovation. It was a powerful, important moment in the history of Texas A&M University. Things would never again be the same.
You’d buy that book wouldn’t you? Someone should write it. Of course, if I’d started my blog way back in the year 2002, then said book would in large part already be written. Sadly, that’s not the case. The point I had in posting this entry (which was originally going to be a picture and a single sentence) is this: To those of you who think I look bad now, aren’t you glad I no longer look like this?