(CFD.net.au – Contract for Difference, Share, Forex, ETFs, Commodities Traders) –

By Scott Lanman

“He’ll be no doubt confirmed,” Tennessee Senator

Bob Corker

, who sits on the Banking Committee, said in an interview in Washington with Bloomberg News today. The vote won’t be unanimous, as some Republicans and Democrats may oppose the Fed chief, Corker said.

…

By Scott Lanman

“He’ll be no doubt confirmed,” Tennessee Senator

Bob Corker

, who sits on the Banking Committee, said in an interview in Washington with Bloomberg News today. The vote won’t be unanimous, as some Republicans and Democrats may oppose the Fed chief, Corker said.

The banking panel plans to hold a confirmation hearing for Bernanke within a few weeks,

Christopher Dodd

, the Connecticut Democrat who chairs the committee, said yesterday. Approval will put Bernanke in a position to decide when to raise interest rates again after lowering them almost to zero last year and reverse the $1 trillion of Fed credit to banks and the economy.

“I want him to have the ability to unwind this,” Corker, 57, who joined the Senate in 2007, told editors and reporters in Bloomberg’s Washington bureau. “He’s very focused on the inflationary impact of leaving what he’s done in place too long. I want to give him the ability to mop up the balance sheet and get us back where we need to be.”

In a speech yesterday, Bernanke said the central bank will be prepared to tighten monetary policy when the outlook for the economy “has improved sufficiently.”

President

Barack Obama

in August announced his nomination of Bernanke, a 55-year-old former Princeton University economist, for a second term beginning in February. Bernanke was appointed in 2006 by Republican President

George W. Bush

.

Request for Delay

Dodd said yesterday the committee will not delay the confirmation as requested by U.S. Representatives

Ron Paul

and

Alan Grayson

, who asked in a letter that Dodd postpone the process until the Fed releases documents about its emergency loans during the financial crisis.

Corker, a former mayor of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and commercial real estate developer, gained prominence in the Senate as he tried last year to broker a legislative compromise on assistance to General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC. He joined Democratic Senator

Mark Warner

of Virginia this year to introduce bills to help wind down failing banks and move government stakes in companies to a newly created trust.

On proposed changes to financial legislation, Corker said lawmakers might strike a middle ground between the Obama administration’s proposal to reduce the number of main banking regulators to three from four and Dodd’s plan to consolidate all four into one.

‘Less Than Three’

“My guess is we will end up potentially with less than three but not one,” Corker said. “So that leaves two.”

Bernanke and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman

Sheila Bair

, two of the regulators, have “a lot of concerns” about Dodd’s plan, which may be “driving a stake in the ground at the other end of the spectrum,” Corker said.

Debate over legislation may stretch into 2010 and potentially past March, because discussion on the Senate floor over health care is likely to take four or five weeks, Corker said. Also, “this is going to be far more complex than meets the eye,” he said.

Finishing a financial-regulation overhaul this year “is very, very impractical, and I think a mistake,” Corker said.

To contact the reporter on this story:

Scott Lanman

in Washington at

slanman@bloomberg.net

.

Last Updated: October 9, 2009 12:32 EDT

Source: Bernanke Will ‘No Doubt’ Be Confirmed, Corker Says (Update1)

love your mask!

Plastikgitarren?

Ich bin eigentlich kein grosser Fan von all diesen neuen Controllern.

(Es mag an meinem “fortgeschrittenen” Alter liegen).

Ob Wii oder “Fischerpreisinstrumente”, ich hatte immer die Frage im Hinterkopf: Warum lernen die Leute nicht ein echtes Instrument zu spielen oder gehen auf eine Bowlingbahn? Ich kann Gitarre spielen, auch wenn die schönen E-Gitarren mittlerweile, nett aufgereiht, in einer Ecke verstauben. Wieso sollte ich mich mit der Plastikversion vergnügen und auf Kommando bunte Knöpfe drücken?

Vor ca. einem Monat hat es mich dann erwischt. Treffen mit den Jungs, eine X-Box, Guitar Hero 3-5 und zwei Pseudoklampfen. Was soll ich sagen, ich hatte eine Menge Spass mit meinen Freunden kreuz und quer durch die Welt der gitarrenlastigen Songs zu rocken. Vor allem, nachdem man sich an den Controller gewöhnt hat. Am nächsten Tag wollter ich mehr, da ich jedoch keine X-Box oder Playstation besitze, musste eine schnelle und kostengünstige Alternative her. Die Lösung, die Freeware Frets on Fire, das Guitar Hero für PC Gamer.

Lohnt sich der Guitar Hero-Klon?

Auch wenn  das Logo von FoF einen rockenden Spieler mit umgeschnallter Tastertur zeigt, fühlte es sich nicht im geringsten so an wie bei den Consolen. Vor allem die Whammy Bar fehlte mir. Controller bestellt und abgewartet bis die netten DHL Menschen ihn liefern. Nachdem dann auch noch der richtige Treiber gefunden war, konnte es losgehen.

Endlich wieder rocken! Frets on Fire kann durchaus mit der GH-Serie mithalten. Während die Basisversion nur einen Singleplayer Modus und eine handvoll schlechter Songs bereitstellt, sind im Netz alle GH Songs und eine Vielzahl von der Community gemachter Lieder zu finden. Möglich macht es der eingebaute Song Editor. Das ist ein Vorteil gegenüber der Consolenversion. Wir hatten mit der X-Box nach einigen Stunden so ziemlich alle Songs doppelt und dreifach gespielt. Klar kann man sich neue Songs kaufen, aber bei FoF gehts schneller und billiger.

Dieser Vorteil ist allerdings auch ein kleiner Nachteil. Es wird schwer, die Masse der Lieder zu verwalten.(Hier wurde jedoch ein FoF-Tool gebastelt welches dies erleichtert) Ausserdem sind immer wieder selbstgemachte Songs dazwischen, die nicht im richtigen Rhythmus spielbar sind, ganz und gar absurde Knopfkombinationen abverlangen oder keine zu spielende Noten anbieten.

Was, wenn ich mit einem Freund rocken möchte?

Auch hier kann einem PC-Rocker geholfen werden. Es gibt diverse Mods für FoF, die Multiplayer und Karrieremodi anbieten. Mit ein paar Klicks, greifen sie auf die bereits vorhandene Song Database zu. Wer es nötig hat, kann seine Ergebnisse dann noch ins Netz stellen um zu sehen, wer hier den grössten…die grösste Trefferquote hat. Die Community ist aktiv und bescherrt uns mit immer neuen Liedern und Mods. Ich glaube sogarRockbandmodus gelesen zu haben.

Das einzige das mir fehlt, ist das Wohnzimmer- Couchfeeling. Wer allerdings die neuste Plasmaleinwand besitzt und diese am PC angeschlossen hat, kann nicht wissen wovon ich hier schreibe. Frets on Fire rockt! Wer keine Console besitzt oder wem GH und Zubehör zu teuer sind, sollte es  einmal antesten. Ausserdem wird man auf Feten erstaunt angesehen, wenn man Songs auf schwierig spielt, 90% erreicht und selbst keine Console besitzt.

¿Te gusta Guitar Hero? Bueno, en ubuntu tenemos en los repositorios un juego muy parecido, llamado Frets on Fire. Si lo pruebas, lo verás muy simple, quizá demasiado, pero hay una gran cantidad de mods disponibles para hacerlo funcionar igual que su contraparte comercial, Guitar Hero.

Frets on Fire crudo, sin ningún tipo de modificaciones

Pero como hay muchos que quieren estar a la vanguardia y tener todo en su ultima versión y con todas las opciones disponibles (incluyéndome), tenemos la opción de instalar la versión ya modificada para que funcione como el Guitar Hero, con Star Power y todo, llamada FoFiX. Para instalarlo, depende de si tu sistema operativo es de 32bits (haz click para descargar la versión para linux 32bits) o 64bits (descarga), y si no sabes de lo que estoy hablando, probablemente tu ubuntu es de 32bits^^.

Bien, una vez descargado, le das click derecho al archivo y a “Extraer aquí”, luego le daremos un nombre más explicativo a la carpeta, que para que funcionen los enlaces de la manera en que voy a explicar, el nombre debe ser el mismo, FretsOnFire y debe estar ubicada en el escritorio. Luego abriremos la consola, que se encuentra en el menu Aplicaciones > Accesorios > Terminal, y copiaremos estos comandos:

*sudo mv Escritorio/FretsOnFire/ /usr/local/ -  Para mover la carpeta del juego a la carpeta /usr/local (no me gusta tener cosas instaladas en mi carpeta personal)

*sudo gedit /usr/local/bin/fofix - Para después crear un lanzador más fácilmente.
Y en la ventana del editor de que se abrirá textos agregaremos las siguientes líneas:
#!/bin/sh
cd /usr/local/FretsOnFire/ && ./FretsOnFire "$@"

Y guardamos el archivo.

*sudo chmod a+x /usr/local/bin/fofix /usr/local/FretsOnFire/FretsOnFire

Para darle permisos para ejecutarse al lanzador, y estamos listos

FoFiX con el tema de Rockband 2

Ahora podemos ejecutar el juego ejecutando con alt+f2 fofix, poniéndolo en terminal, o creando un enlace para la misma!

Las Canciones
Muy importante, ¿qué vamos a tocar cuando lo instalemos? Desde éste torrent podemos bajar un paquete con las canciones de los Guitar Hero I, II, rock de los 80’s, y el III: Descarga

Y en las siguientes páginas podemos descargar muchas canciones más, una por una (requieren que te registres en la página):

Foro en inglés de Frets on Fire

Foro español de fof

Una vez tengas hayas descargado las canciones que quieras, descomprimelas, crea una carpeta con nombre songs y colócalas ahí adentro. Cuando intentes jugar el juego te pedirá buscar dicha carpeta.

Temas

Notarás que todavia se ve algo feo cuando lo abras, pero eso se arregla fácilmente En la siguiente página (click para ver) hay una buena cantidad de temas que puedes descargar, y para instalarlos solo tienes q descomprimirlos y ponerlos en la carpeta /usr/local/FretsOnFire/data/themes, y luego en el juego te vas a las opciones gráficas y lo seleccionas.

Nota: No intentes ponerle temas que no vengan de esa página. Si seguiste mi manual instalaste FoFiX, y no te servirán temas del Frets on Fire común.

Bueno supongo que es todo, espero que les haya sido de ayuda, comenten si hay dudas!

The weather finally broke for a day and I had beautiful 7pm light.  I took the new camera out to toy around with some features and snapped a couple shots of the tractors out back.  Here’s my favorite:

And here’s the rest:

I took these about a week ago and finally got around to processing them.

Here’s the latest “Fundamentals of a Farm” photos.  I’m looking to take a about 200-300 photos that are usable – that way I’ll have no trouble narrowing it down if I have to.  If anyone knows any great spots in the Hudson Valley to shoot, let me know!

^Ok, not quite farm related…but I’m expanding the project a bit…and I liked the shot

^I think the lighting in this shot is a bit too sharp.  Its only about ten minutes from my house, so I might go back and shoot it again at a different time of day.  Let me know what you think!

The Rose Hill Farm is one of the neighboring farms.  They’re open Daily 8-1 and sell strawberries and cherries at the moment .

The next few shots were taken on a farm up north of my house.  I drove up to the house to ask permission to walk around and shoot for a bit.  No one was home, so I took a few shots and bolted haha.

I was too lazy to add the shot specs to all of these, so if anyone would like to know the shot specs to any of them, feel free to ask.  Check back later this week too – I should have more shots posted.

All the experts say that a successful blogger posts on their blog everyday.  That’s harder than you think – especially for a photography blog.  One of my goals this summer is to be more active with the blog.  I have the tendancy to not upload new photos on my computer until the memory card is full, which is why when I do post, I end up attaching wayyy to many photos in each post.  I took a few more photos for the farm project which I will edit and post tomorrow morning…hopefully haha.

Aqui esta el tema de la serie de TV MindFreak para Frets on fire!!
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=S9OI0PY7
Estamos Procesando todas sus solicitudes, es cuestion de pñoco tiempo…

PASS: pmxfof

There are lots of games in the world of open source, which means lots of cheap fun. Well, sort of. Many of these games aren’t complete enough to be playable, others have been abandoned, and some just aren’t very fun. But there are many good open source games, and out of these a few are just amazing. So amazing, in fact, that you just might get addicted.

I’m pretty new to open source games, but here are 5 of those rare, addiction-inducing open source games that I’ve found, in no particular order. All of these games are available for Windows, Linux, and MacOSX. Fun for everyone! If you want to keep up with what goes on in open source gaming, be sure to check out the excellent blog Free Gamer.

Frets on Fire X

First up is Frets on Fire X (a.k.a. FoFiX), a music game similar to Guitar Hero and Rock Band, and a pretty darn good one too. If you have Guitar Hero or Rock Band you can load those songs into FoFiX, but even better is the fact that you can get thousands of custom songs, charted by players. Don’t have a guitar to plug into your computer? That’s ok, you can hold your keyboard guitar-style and play with the keyboard! (But an actual guitar is easier, especially on the harder songs.) FoFiX is based on the regular Frets on Fire but adds lots of features. Custom songs can be found in the wiki. You’ll also want to get a nicer theme, here.

{FoFiX with the Modern Grunge theme}

Battle for Wesnoth

This was the first open source game I really liked. Ah, the memories. Battle for Wesnoth is a turn-based strategy game with some RPG elements mixed in. Unlike most turn-based strategy games, you don’t have to spend hours learning the rules. It’s easy to learn, but surprisingly hard to master. There are several great single player campaigns, as well as online play. The 2d artwork and music are excellent. That’s the power of open source, right there.

{it has mages with lightning powers, 'nuff said}

The Ur-Quan Masters

The Ur-Quan Masters, or UQM for short, is a port of the old game Star Control II. It’s hard to categorize this one… Wikipedia says it’s a sci-fi action RPG, so I’ll go with that. In a nutshell, you’re the captain of a starship and your goal is to liberate the galaxy from its evil alien overlords. There are so many interesting things to do, so many stories to uncover, and so many funny things to see that you’ll get sucked into the game with no hope of escape until the galaxy is saved. Although the single player story mode is the main part of UQM, there’s also the option of playing online battles.

{you'll meet some *interesting* characters throughout your journeys}

Nexuiz

If you like hectic first-person shooters, Nexuiz is your game. It started out as a Quake mod, but now it’s a standalone game. Plenty of weapons, lots of maps, lots of blood, online play… everything that’s necessary for total pwnage. There’s also a single player mode with bots, so you can learn your way around the game without being humiliated in public.

{big guns and explosions!}

UFO: Alien Invasion

Here’s another turn-based strategy game, but this time on the tactical level. In UFO: Alien Invasion’s single player campaign, aliens are attacking Earth, and your job is to lead a team of soldiers in battles against the aliens. As you fight more aliens, you can research new technology and build more bases around the world. You might notice some missing features… yes, it’s still a work in progress, but a great game nonetheless. There’s also online play.

{taking care of those pesky aliens}

Change of Pace. Itu adalah sebuah istilah dalam basket dimana terjadi perubahan dalam dribble. Ok, aku memutuskan untuk merubah konsep blog ini dari yang awalnya berupa sebuah cerita gabungan antara fakta dan harapan yang ditulis dalam bahasa Inggris menjadi sebuah cerita tentang pemikiran dan kejadian tentang segala hal yang terjadi dalam duniaku. Selain itu aku juga menambahkan bahasa Indonesia selain bahasa Inggris yang mungkin masih akan tetap aku gunakan karena ternyata ada banyak hal yang tidak bisa di deskripsikan dengan satu bahasa saja.

Sebenarnya sudah lama aku berpikir untuk merubah blog ini karena ternyata aku semakin jarang menulis dan akhirnya suatu hal berhasil men-trigger ku untuk melakukan perubahan ini. Hal itu adalah koresponden yang aku lakukan ketika masih sekolah dulu. Aku sedikit bersyukur ketika membacanya lagi karena ternyata buku itu adalah sebuah dokumentasi tentang kehidupan sekolah ku dulu sehingga aku masih bisa mengingat dengan jelas hal-hal yang terjadi pada waktu itu.

Karena itu aku memutuskan untuk membuat blog ini sebagai dokumentasi tentang kehidupanku sekarang. Karena kita tak pernah tahu bahwa kita sedang membuat kenangan.

19:41 Kéne már írni.
19:42 Uccsó szál cigi. (Az új vájszroj – csitt,olcsó – mintha egy pöttömnyit rövidebb lenne a megszokottnál.És szarabb.A megszokottnál.)
19:43 Tanakodom meggyújtsam e.Mert akkor le kell feküdnöm korán,hogy ne jöjjön az önbasztatás hogy mér kellet elszívni,most miylen jól jönne.
19:47 Tényleg szarabb.Mér kellet elszívni..jól jött volna később..
19:48 Véletlenül rákattintottam a photoshopra a tálcán.
19:50 betöltött
19:51 kiléptem.
Na akkor.
Igen,így ráérek.Mindenki érettségizik,vagy szimplán suliba van,Dorka Angliában,én meg repedek itthon.Vagyis tolom a frets on fire-t de amikor már becsukott szemmel lejátszom experten a kisstől a detroit rock city-t kicsit megunom.
Reggel leöntöttem magam benzinnel.20 literes kannából jutott rám is.Nem azért hogy történjen valami izgalmas is,hanem mert béna vagyok.Mami lelkemre is kötötte hogy most aztán rá ne gyújtsak.Lezuhanyoztam,sikáltam,szagos maradtam.Ápoltam a testem arra való krémmel.Szagos maradtam.Rágyujtottam.Élek.
Na de holnap,Nainn letudja a fizika érettségit és megyünk brummogni a maci barlangjába pipástól (Miután én délelőtt lenyírtam az a redvás füvet.).Péntek ivászat,szombat pipatali.Ennyi.Ésakkor?

Here I am sitting in front of my computer watching one of my favourite TV Series How I Met Your Mother and found a very good intro after watching its 22nd episode which is I think can also be used if I ever have to tell the story of How I Met Kate. The girl who I’ve been dating right now.
The movie says : The great moments of your life won’t necessarily be the things you do, they’ll also be the things that happen to you. Now I’m not saying you can’t take action to affect the outcome of your life. You HAVE to take action, and you will. But never forget that on any day, you could step out the front door and your whole life can change forever. The universe has a plan (or in other words God has plan) and that plan is always in motion. Making sure that you end up exactly where you’re supposed to be, exactly when you’re supposed to be there. The right place at the right time.

It started when I was officially become the president of KMK’s event which is Christmas. There are so many things happened on that time whether it’s good or bad and somehow made me return to HIMTI which at that time were also preparing their event. I join as a member in the publication and documentation team and that’s when I met her.

The first time I really met her is when I help putting posters in front of every class. At that time we separated into groups to make the job easier and I somehow ended up with her. At first I barely even notice her because I was too busy dealing with the posters stuff and she helped with the scotch tape. This is the first time when I get her name. And the second time during the team meeting, I was bored and trying to look for someone to joke around. And the only person who I can having fun with is her who also happened sitting beside me. And so it started.

If I didn’t take the job as the president of KMK’s event at that time, I probably wouldn’t return to HIMTI. And I would probably doing what I was doing at that time and I would have never met Kate. But I took it and met her.

And also I have learnt a lot from the time when I found out a secret underground community which I like to call The Game. So I knew exactly how to behave around the girl I like, how to react in a certain situation and what I should or shouldn’t do.

If I never found out that secret world, I probably wouldn’t know what to do and how to do it and I probably blew it away. But I did found out and learnt a lot and I didn’t blew it.

And so there it is. There’s a lot of little reasons why the big things in our lifes happen.

Frets On Fire :: Info ::

Lisensi                : Freeware

Spesifikasi           : Semua Windows

Deskripsi             : Frets On Fire adalah sebuah game simulasi yang menguji kemampuan bermusik Anda melalui kecepatan jari. Ikuti alunan nada pada sebuah lagu sesuai dengan not yang berjalan.

Penggemar Musik? Tau Game Frets On Fire? Inilah salah satu game yang paling saya sukai. Game ini saya kenal sekitar 2 tahun yang lalu, dan sekarang masih saya mainkan. Game ini termasuk jenis game gratis yang sangat variatif, karena tampilannya dan beberapa sound dapat dimodifikasi sesuai dengan kainginan pengguna. Selain itu, Gamers juga bisa membuat lagu sendiri yang akan mereka cobadalam game ini. Format lagu yang digunakan adalah .ogg. Untuk menkonversi lagu dari .mp3 ke .ogg, biasanya saya menggunakan software converter video, yaitu : Xilisoft Video Converter.v3. Untuk membuat lagu, memang dibutuhkan waktu yang ekstra, jika serius, anda akan menghasilkan pilihan lagu yang memuaskan.

Frets On Fire memiliki kesamaan dengan Guitar Hero (Play Station). Permainan dilakukan dengan mengikuti irama lagu yang kita mainkan. Jika di PS kita menggunkan Joystik, maka di FOF kita wajib menggunakan keyboard. Cara Bermain tidak jauh berbeda, perbedaan hanya terletak pada “petikan”. Pada FOF, selain menekan tombol senar, kita harus menekan tombol petik (Enter) bersamaan dengan tombol senar. Seperti bermain gitar sungguhan. Tombol yang digunakan adalah :

Lihat Gambar :

Senar dari kiri ke kanan
F1 – F2 – F3 – F4 – F5

Dan untuk petikan :
Enter dan Shift Kanan

Dalam memecahkan rekor, kita harus memiliki kemampuan dalam menggunakan jari-jari. untuk mempelajarinya tidak membutuhkan waktu yang lama. Berdasarkan pengalaman, waktu yang saya butuhkan untuk belajar kira-kira sekitar 2 minggu (maklum pemula). Dan pada saat itu, saya sudah biasa bermain di level Easy. Jangan salah duga! Easy pada FOF = Medium Guitar Hero. Level game yang terdapat pada FOF ada 4 buah, yaitu Supereasy, Easy, Medium, dan Amazing.

Bagi anda yang ingin menambah jumlah lagu yang akan dimainkan, dapat di browser di mbah gugel. Saya telah memiliki 100 lagu lebih di library game FOF dengan kapasitas kira-kira 2.09 GB. Dan semua itu saya dapat di internet. Cara menambah library lagu Game FOF sangat gampang. Tinggal Copas saja. Extrac dan Copy lagu yang telah anda downloads, dan pastekan di Folder Songs (Frets On Fire > data > songs). Bagi yang tertarik untuk mencoba, dapat mendownloads game tersebut di link berikut.

Klik Ini  Untuk Downloads

So, Do U Wan to Try It? Isaninside2009

I always think that life is separated by three things which are career, love and lifestyle. And while I’m still at college that means I still have no career and all I have is the things that support it such as education, experiences, connections, knowledges etc. Well I’ve got plenty of experiences and some knowledge based on my habit which is always trying to find out and do new things. And also I think that I have a great lifestyle eventhough it’s not too luxurious and also not too cheap. But, I guess my theory is right, when you are so good and so dominant in one or two of those three things then there must be another thing which can’t keep up and as for me it’s love.
Well it’s not like I lack of love, I have people that I love and I believe I have people who love me either, I love my parents, I love my brother, I love my friends. But, I don’t have any special person in my life, even worst I don’t need that kind of person as for now. When almost all of the people around me so focus on trying to have that special person, I have no intention on having that. It’s like I suppress myself as hard as I could not to grow any larger feeling than just ‘attracted’ or I haven’t found someone who could makes me feel that emotion. Strange as it may seem, I try to figure out why do I become like this and find out thousand of reasons such as: I am grateful for the things that I already had rather than the things I desired, I have a bigger things to concern about than just finding a girlfriend, I’m so focus on my life, I can’t convert my attraction towards a girl into a bigger emotion, I’m too lazy to play with a girl who puts so much resistance and play-hard-to-get especially for the girl I don’t really care about. I guess those are the main reasons.

Well and I guess this is also another reason why I don’t need a girlfriend for now. For some times I have been looking for a group. A group where the people in it can fit with me and push me to become a better person. For the past two years, I think I have been searching in a wrong place an I guess I have found it now. Who would have thought that it is right in front of my eyes. For the past several months I’ve been spending my time with my friends from HIMTI’s third division which are Lance, Mark, Cynthia and Rebecca. The funny thing is that it is me who separated from them last year but somehow a certain situation brought me back. I don’t know whether the four of them have regrouped before I came or it’s me that have brought us closer together. I don’t really care either. But what I do know is that this is the place where I belong. We’re starting to work together, thinking, having fun and making plans together. Like yesterday, travelling four malls in one day and finished it by watching a movie called “Bedtime Stories” which is played by Adam Sandler. The main idea about the movie is about family and somehow I do feel somekind of moment back there. And then, remembering an episode from Gossip Girl which says “with friends like this, who needs armies” I create my own quote : “Who needs girlfriend when you have friends like this.”

I’ve just got back home from my friend’s when suddenly I realize that Copper IM me.

Cartwright: Hey Steve, do you still planning to buy a DSLR camera?
Lockhart: Of course I am, but not in the nearest time. Why asking?
Cartwright: Well, I’m also considering to buy one.
Lockhart: Wow, that’s great. So which one do you considering to buy?
Cartwright: I guess the D90 one.
Lockhart: Ho, the new one. How much is it?
Cartwright: About $1000. Maybe 13 million in your place
Lockhart: 12.5 million. And it’s similiar with D300?
Cartwright: Almost similiar, and it’s body only.
Lockhart: Without the lens? And what lens do you want to use?
Cartwright: I’m still thinking over it, Ashton suggest that I take the 18-200/f 3.5 VR but I was thinking about 24-85/f2.8 so I can get a clear night shot.
Lockhart: I don’t know, I guess if I were you I’ll take the 18-200 one. Beside, it’s VR already, I guess it won’t be much of a problem if you want to take the night shot.
Cartwright: Well, actually, I’m not too sure about this VR.
Lockhart: And how much the lens cost in there by the way?
Cartwright: 18-200 $600 while 24-85 cost $500

Well I am looking at www.jpckemang.com and got the price in there.

Lockhart: Well it’s 8 million in here for the 18-200 one. Damn, by summing it up, it will cost about 20 million. It’s totally out of my price range, I guess I will still stick with D60.
Cartwright: Yeah, it’s a hard call for me. By the way I have to get into the class now. Talk to you later then.
Lockhart: Yeah. See you then.

Both of us are Nikoners because the camera we used when the first time we learn about photography while we were at junior high school is Nikon. While most of my friend right now are Canoners (these are actually the term I like to use). Well I guess I do really need a lot of saving to buy one immediately.

Somehow and sometimes I think I feel a little bit of remorse inside of me. Who would know that working in my organizations somehow can be quite of fun. And interesting. I learn a lot of things and when I say ‘a lot’ it really means ‘a lot’.

But what I do feel regret is that I didn’t do this a little bit sooner so that I didn’t get much of a chance to work with some of my senior and learn things from them. People who I admire and look up to. Because they seem to know what to do at a certain time. And by this time when my period has almost ended because it’s my third year in college, suddenly I feel like I want to do something to contribute myself. I don’t know where this feeling comes from, somehow I just think that I have the power to change and influence a lot of things. I’m starting to sharing some of my thought with my other friends, giving some opinion, advices, anything that I can do within my power which I’ve never done before.

Yeah, I’m starting to give my concern to my organizations. But sadly, I don’t have much power than I am a year ago because I was too busy creating a lifestyle at that time. I’m not blaming other people or other things. I don’t even blame myself because I have already made a choice and decided about what I was about to do with my life at that time and I’m going to live with that choice. What I’m about to do right now is try to make up all of the time that I have wasted.

And certainly, what I do really know at this time is that I have to leave something from me for this organizations for what they have given me for this past several years.

I read an interesting string of arguments today about Focus on the Family’s list of retailers that use “Merry Christmas” and those that use other phrases like “Seasons Greetings.”

When the list was released, some folks were offended because the “Seasons Greetings” list was published basically as a blacklist. And shopping at the “Merry Christmas” list was encouraged by FOF.

I know religion is a very personal topic, that’s why is stirs so many deep emotions, and oftentimes, big frothy reactions from people. So listen up.

“Seasons Greetings” is not a politically-correct euphemism for “Merry Christmas.” No one’s trampling anyone’s religion here.

When people say “Seasons Greetings” they’re not trying to take Christmas away from anyone, but rather, quite the contrary. It is a simple way to show that you are not assuming the person you are greeting shares your religious beliefs. Which, in turn, is freeing you linguistically and socially to celebrate a Christ-full Christmas, Hanukkah –or whatever you may celebrate–or not celebrate. This is a greeting meant to pass on the excitement of first snowfalls, twinkle lights, roaring fireplaces, outdoor ice skating, and hot chocolate. It is in no way a castration of any “true meaning” of the season.

During the season in question, our country celebrates Thanksgiving and the New Year. Also, lots of individuals and families celebrate their personal religious holidays with their personal traditions. The biggie and most commercialized in our country at the moment is Christmas.

Now here comes the argument that saying “Seasons Greetings” is contributing to Christ being lost from Christmas. This argument leaves me asking, what? did someone shove him in the wrong box in the attic when they put him away last January? Only those Christians who allowed themselves to get caught up in the commercial side, forgetting their own spiritual side, are experiencing this self-induced loss. Plenty of folks keep Christ on the tops of their minds every day, including Christmas. Blaming others’ cheery winter greetings for your own feelings that the meaning has been extracted from your holiday is simply not logical. Do a little soul searching. You’ll probably find that missing meaning in there somewhere rattling around in a mislabeled box.

Many retail stores and companies choose to say “Seasons Greetings” for the reason illustrated above: it is not exclusive. Enjoying shopping at stores on the “Merry Christmas” list may be a great way to share in the spiritual side of Christmas with fellow Christians (and what an insult to the religion if these stores turned out not to be Christian-run). Likewise, for Christians to boycott companies that choose to open their doors to other religions seems a little ugly, and dare i say, exclusive, to me.

So please, let’s not over think this thing. Set aside those lists and infuse our economy with a little extra holiday cash. And more importantly, let’s embrace the long tradition of excitement that this season brings, and pass good will onto your neighbors regardless of how, or even if, they decorate their mantles.