So last Thanksgiving I had been here in the South for about a month, still in pretty bad shape as I look back on it. Depressed. Sleeping a lot. I was still getting California disability checks so I hadn’t gotten serious about looking for work yet. I had applied at a couple retail places in hopes of getting holiday work, but hadn’t been hired. I had no interest in working at WalMart, that’s for sure.

On the day after Thanksgiving “Black Friday” we heard the news that an employee at a WalMart in Valley Stream, NY had been trampled and killed by eager Black Friday shoppers. The next day I read where some of the customers complained that the store had been closed during investigation of the incident. I hadn’t started the blog yet, but this is what I wrote on Facebook on November 29, 2008:

Attention Wal-Mart shoppers, how in the name of God, Mom, and apple pie do you STEP OVER A FELLOW HUMAN BEING and then proceed to shop for Plasma TVs?
How do you complain when the police close down the store because A HUMAN BEING WAS KILLED?
Did you think that you were going to just purchase your cheap s***, go home and wrap it, and have it sit under your Christmas tree?
Your CHRISTmas tree?
You make me ashamed to be human.

Yeah, I was a tad angry. For a minute there I actually thought that this would mean the end of Black Friday as we know it, silly me.

Here we are a year later and I am going to be a part of it. Initially I had Wednesday off, working 8 hours on Thanksgiving, and wasn’t scheduled to come in on Friday until 6pm. That would mean that I would miss all the craziness, and I was actually disappointed. I figured this will be my only Black Friday at WalMart and I wanted to have some good stories for my fervent readers. Then yesterday the head DOJ of the store asked me if I could come in at (are you sitting down?) 2am to 6am and help out, and I said (are you still sitting down?) that I would.

Our store is open 24/7 so we’re not going to have people rushing the doors like they did in New York. From what I’ve been told they set up the sale items in the middle of the main aisles and shrink-wrap or otherwise rope them off until the appointed time, then shoppers line up and wait. From what the veterans have told me, this still does not completely eliminate shoving, pushing, and other animal behavior, but at least our store has had no deaths…yet. Apparently I am to stand there and look like a tough guy and keep people in line and away from the goodies.

I have also heard some talk that there may be tickets given out or random drawings, but I don’t know.  All I know is that this year you may be reading about me in the papers. Hell, at least I’ll finally get published.

Con el anuncio de Google sobre su Sistema Operativo, Chrome OS se dio una fecha para su salida, antes del final de 2010 y se publicó el código que tienen desarrollado hasta el momento.

Este código contiene la base del sistema, unos experimentos en la interfaz de usuario y diseños iniciales sobre los que seguirá el desarrollo. Un ingeniero de GDGT, Jon Ursenbach, intento compilarlo y lo logró.

Consiguió hacer funcionar una instancia del proyecto Chromium OS en una máquina virtual. Ahora se puede descargar una imagen funcional para VMware o VirtualBox y así probarlo en casa. Este es el enlace de descarga de la imagen que pesa 313MB, aunque es necesario el registro.

Este vídeo conta a histório do Google Chrome e como ele inspirou o novo Sistema Operacional! Produzido por Epipheo Studios.

موالى كل الجديد فى عالم النت

Bem, nós publicamos um artigo para esclarecer que tipo de geração de sistema de Google Chrome OS, pois o Google Chrome OS é um sistema baseado em cloud computing e que é bootável, bem na minha opinião, o Google Chrome pode ser sim a próxima geração de sistemas operacionais, mas essa geração só pode ficar popular lá pros anos de 2015 há 2020, dê sua opinião numa enquete que criamos, a enquete está na sidebar.

E o assunto ainda não para por aqui, ainda criaremos artigos e ainda conceitos, aguarde o que vem por aí

I don’t know what’s going on with me lately. On Wednesday, I was at work, nothing much going on. You know, doing my thing. I had a 20 top wait a while for their table. A couple of ladies were taking their time. One person from said 20 top walks over to them and tells them to hurry up because they were waiting a long time. I got little scolded at. I wanted to go home to vent to the SO, he wasn’t there. I got a little upset which then snowballed to super crying upset. Then the conversation moved onto what am I do with my life, etc. Told him my mom wanted to buy a house in Orlando and I would move to get a job there. He thinks it’s silly because why would I move if I haven’t even gotten one interview (point well made). I blame my craziness and crying to a change of birth control. Hopefully, my body will get used to it…SOON. So, to make myself feel better, I baked.

I baked these cinnamon rolls. I made cinnamon rolls before, but they were a lot of work (because of the yeast) and they weren’t even that good. So, when I came across a different set of rolls via tastespotting, I knew I had to try them. And, they were delicious and they didn’t even have cream cheese frosting, which I’m not a huge fan. Sorry, I didn’t take pictures. I can’t seem to find my camera. Maybe I’ll save up and get a new one! OoO. I’ll look out for it on Black Friday.

Cinnamon Rolls by Craving Chronicles
Ingredients
DOUGH
2 cups 2% milk (I didn’t have 2% milk, the SO bought fat free…EW. I put in 1 3/4 cups of fat free milk and 1/4 cup of heavy cream)
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup canola oil (I used vegetable oil)
1 package (2 1/4 Teaspoons) active dry yeast
4 cups + ½ cup flour, divided
1½ teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon (scant) baking soda
½ teaspoon (heaping) baking powder
Cooking spray

FILLING
1½ cups (3 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
4 tablespoons ground cinnamon
raisins (optional)
nuts (I used crushed pecans for one batch)
long strand of unflavored waxed dental floss (NOT mint)

ICING
3 cups of powdered sugar
4 tablespoons butter, softened
8-10 teaspoons of milk
2 teaspoon of vanilla

Directions
Make ahead: Combine milk, 1/2 cup sugar and oil in a large pot over medium heat. Heat, stirring to dissolve sugar, until just before boiling. Remove from heat and set aside to cool for about an hour or until lukewarm (between 105° – 115°F; use a thermometer to check). Sprinkle the yeast into the warm milk mixture and allow to sit for a few minutes. Add 4 cups of flour and stir together until a sticky dough forms. Cover loosely with a kitchen towel and let rise somewhere warm for about an hour. In a small bowl, whisk together remaining ½ cup of flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add to dough and combine thoroughly to form an elastic dough. Spray the inside of a large bowl with cooking spray. Put dough in the bowl, cover tightly, and store in the refrigerator overnight, or up to a day.

Assembly: Spray a 9-inch round cake pan with cooking spray. Generously flour a clean, dry surface. Place half the dough on the floured surface and using a rolling pin, roll out into a large rectangle. Gently spread ¾ cup of softened butter over the dough with a butter knife. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of cinnamon and 1/2 cup of brown sugar over the buttered dough. Add any raisins, nuts or other fillings.

Starting on the longer side of the rectangle, roll dough in a tight spiral toward the other end and pinch the seam shut. Slide a strand of dental floss under the rolled dough 1-1½ inches from the end. Cross the ends of the floss over the top of the roll and pull in opposite directions, slicing off a section of dough. Repeat with the rest of the dough, placing buns in the prepared pan. You will have space between the buns.

Repeat with the second half of the dough. (If you only want to make one batch of buns, you can tightly wrap and freeze the other half at this point. In that case, use half the amount of the ingredients for the glaze.)

Set aside to rise for 30-45 minutes. Bake in 350°F oven for 15-18 minutes, or until lightly browned on top.

To make the glaze, combine powdered sugar, butter, 6 teaspoons of milk and vanilla in a small bowl. Continue adding milk one teaspoon at a time until you get a thick frosting. (It will thin when spread on the warm buns.)

It was great! The SO took it to work and everyone gobbled it up. This is definitely the go-to recipe for cinnamon rolls. And, I loved how she gave suggestions for freezing the batch. Some recipes don’t give you that options and just stuck with too many baked goods.

Confira só uma demo do SO

Quem quiser já da uma conferida nos fontes pode fazer o download no Chromium Projects

So let’s start off with what we have in terms of creativity. Who am I anyway? Well, let’s start slow. For one thing, I am a photographer. I have had 2 gallery shows, three photographs that hung in a juried art show. I have two pieces scheduled to be up in another gallery starting next Sunday. Which reminds me I need to check up on that and there is supposed to be a reception of some sort.

Anyway, those being my so called “credentials”, I get a lot of questions about cameras and taking good photos. So let’s start there.

Oh but wait, you don’t even know if I am any good. You should never take someone at face value – always do a background check So here’s some of my work in a nice little web gallery or two:

Web Gallery

Europe 2009

And if you want to check out and maybe buy some calendars and such – visit my store at stores.lulu.com/firstcenturystudios. (sorry for the shameless plug – but hey it’s my blog right)

So we’re going to talk about photography for a while.

I started watching the new season of So You Think You Can Dance on tv today.
It is one of my favorite shows, because the talents are so incredible and the girls are quite as incredible too.
My favorite season however is season 3 from a while back, where my all time favorite Lacey Schwimmer compeeted.

Wow, seriously this girls talents are mindblowing, but also her looks and charms are so sweeet.
Plus she had a little thing going with one of my favorite male dancers; Hokuto Konishi from the b-boy team Quest.

Check this extremely cool choreography she dances, I cant believe the range of talent she has, she completely OWNED every dance style on that competition…such a shame she didnt win though.

I mentioned shes hot right?
As I have mentioned before in an earlier post, to me it would be perfection to find such a girl with such a passion for something like dance, but also with such spirit, charm, glow and not to forget extreme looks.
Kinda like her I guess, yeah she sorta scores jackpots all round…but here I am sitting as a lonely fool dreaming away, but one can always hope right?
Maybe not her, but somebody just like that, would be perfect

Here are some pics to tribute this wonder of a woman ^^

Since leaving the phone company for a job that paid quite a bit less, I have refrained from buying Christmas gifts for the most part. This makes things easier for me, in one sense, but also more difficult.

The thing is, I LOVE to buy gifts for people. I think that my “love language” is giving gifts (for receiving, it’s acts of service). I delight in shopping and love to find the perfect item for someone. I am really GOOD at shopping.

But I also embrace any movement that shifts us back to less commercialism (if not more togetherness–I think I have enough togetherness, thank you!) and so there’s my dilemma. If I came into a lot of money, I think I would be eager to shower those I love with gifts, and yet, I have waged war with clutter and the last thing I want to do is to bog others down with non-useful stuff.

I don’t know that this will be a gift-less Christmas . . . but I hope that when I do choose to give a few gifts, that I will do it with wisdom and some semblance of restraint.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

Depois da apresentação em Julho sobre o Google Chrome OS, esta semana foram  apresentadas as primeiras imagens do SO e disponível ainda o código fonte.

Aqui ficam alguns video explicativos sobre este novo SO.

Pilot: We’ll get there faster now that we’re pointed in the right direction.

So I don’t blog much, maybe I should – would anyone listen? no one ever has in the past. i don’t want to be adding to the noise – but you don’t know unless the cops show up

Google a prezentat joi primul său sistem de operare, Chrome OS, care va fi prezent până la sărbătorile de iarnă din 2010 pe mini-laptop-uri, iar mai târziu va aparea și pe computere mai pretențioase.

Sistemul are la baza browser-ul Chrome, iar Google spune că principalele calități sunt siguranța, simplitatea și rapiditatea. Compania susține că PC-urile cu Chrome intră pe internet in doar cateva secunde după ce sunt pornite, iar toate aplicațiile sunt pe internet, nu instalate pe computer.
Primele netbook-uri cu sistemul de operare open-source al Google vor ieși pe piață peste un an, iar compania spune ca marea diferență stă în faptul că toate aplicațiile sunt pe internet, “in the cloud”, astfel ca utilizatorul nu va trebui să piardă timp instaland nimic. In plus, dacă utilizatorului ii este furat sau își pierde netbook-ul, își va putea accesa datele de pe un altul, fără probleme. Prezentarea a fost facuta de Google pe un netbook Asus Eee.

Sursa: ziua.net

Google Chrome OS és un sistema operatiu de codi obert orientat a persones que passen la major part del seu temps a la web amb les l’idea de tenir aplicacions que tinguin velocitat, senzillesa i seguretat.

Comencem amb la història de Google Chrome i en què s’han inspirat per fer el sistema operatiu. Un vídeo de Epipheo Studios.

Si vols veure una mica la interfície de Google Chrome OS i una mica el seu funcionament, et recomano veure la següent demostració.

I finalment, el vídeo de la presentació del sistema operatiu de Google, per part de Google.

I per acabar-ho de rematar del tot, només et falta provar-lo! Pots trobar més detalls de com fer-ho als enllaços d’aquí sota!

Enllaços: www.chromium.org/chromium-os | més sobre Google Chrome OS | Ubuntu Life – Imagen de ChromeOS lista para ser usada con VMWare | Genbeta – Cómo instalar Chrome OS en tu ordenador

So, if you know me, you may know that I was incredibly sick last week.  Even now, I am still a bit tired and have some few effects lingering.  Being so sick here in Uganda is not fun.  Learning about the lack of quality medical care and facilities first hand was truly eye opening.  I had seen facilities and what not before, of course.  But, it is all different when you are on the other side, relying on this care to help you get better.  I won’t pretend; it was scary.  I never felt like this before, and it was not fun.

I have been a bit overwhelmed by the response of people praying and sending well-  wishes.  I honestly didn’t realize that so many people were even aware that I was sick.  I am deeply touched by all who expressed their care.

It is interesting that the day I was the worst, the day also that people mostly started hearing and praying, is the day I finally took a turn for the better.  I was quite out of it and really struggling at one point.  One of the guys at the hotel here came to pray over me, along with a couple others I think, and right away I calmed down.  I was still quite sick, but my emotions and focus was much clearer.  There was just a real sense of Jesus taking care – and that He was with me.  So, that was cool.

It’s all made me think a lot about God’s healing – His presence in our lives.  It is not only a physical healing that Jesus gives; it is a life healing.  Every broken and fallen bits of our lives are put back together.  This is never completed until we go home with Him, but it can begin now. 

The healing is not for ourselves.  I mean, it is a gift – it is God caring for and about us.  It is His love being given.  But, the healing is also about being more able to live out God’s purposes in our lives.  That is not a bad thing; it is inspiring!  No one likes to sit and home and do nothing.  I’m sorry; we just don’t.  We need vacations and all that at times, but people are made to have purpose – to live something of importance.  God heals us so that we can live that to the full.  As we live that, His healing becomes more complete – as we allow it.  Those broken pieces are now put together by Him and used for more than we could have imagined.

We have to live the healing.  We have to keep taking our medicine.  This has been my biggest life lesson the past 3 years or so.  Live the healing.  It can be scary – just as I was scared with the physical pain and unknown.  We can feel fear and want to just stay in the safety of the familiar.  But, God can and will put together broken pieces, but if I don’t then receive it and live it out, they will remain not fully healed.  When we are physically sick, we need to take medication, do rehab, regain strength.  If we don’t, then we are only asking to have the sickness remain or return.  We could even make things worse than they were before.

Everyone has told me to rest and take it easy until I am fully recovered.  They are right.  When we push it too much or ignore the process, we suffer.  God has healed my life and put together broken pieces in many ways.  I pray I will live that.  God will take me home when He wants; that will be the final healing.  But, in the mean time, I am to live the fullness of life He intends, by living the on-going healing He gives and letting that carry into the purposes He has designed.

This is the Scripture God gave me last week in the midst of all this.  I love what it says.  There are some obvious verses here, but I also love how it says, “Let the…”  Let these scary things come.  THE LORD is on my side.  The Lord has it all taken care of; He is bigger than all of it.  And so He is!

Psalm 46

God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.

So we will not fear, even if earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea. Let the oceans roar and foam. Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge!  Interlude

A river brings joy to the city of our God, the sacred home of the Most High. God himself lives in that city; it cannot be destroyed. God will protect it at the break of day. The nations are in an uproar, and kingdoms crumble! God thunders, and the earth melts! The LORD Almighty is here among us; the God of Israel is our fortress. Interlude

Come, see the glorious works of the LORD: See how he brings destruction upon the world and causes wars to end throughout the earth. He breaks the bow and snaps the spear in two; he burns the shields with fire.

“Be still, and know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world.”  The LORD Almighty is here among us; the God of Israel is our  fortress. Interlude

Gestern Abend bei der Elternbeiratsitzung Diskussion um die Gestaltung der Mittagspause, bzw. des Mittagsessens und Kapazitäten oder eben Nicht-Kapazitäten der Kantine. Kurz wagte jemand einen Vorstoß mit den Vorschlag “Butterbrote”, wurde aber rasant niederargumentiert: “Die um halb sieben geschmierten Butterbrote schmecken doch zur Mittagszeit wirklich nicht mehr”. Ich bin so oft mit meinen Vorstellungen allein, ich kenne das. Nun also auch noch mit meiner Einstellung zum Butterbrot. Ich denke noch kurz daran, daß ich am Freitagabend nach meiner Rückkehr aus Namibia die am Morgen in Heathrow gekauften “Sandwiches” aufgefuttert habe. Oder an Herrn DüneSieben, der manchmal seine Vormittagsbrote nicht schafft, um sie in den Kühlschrank zu stellen und am nächsten Tag wieder mit zur Arbeit zu nehmen.

Aber wir sind ja vom alten Eisen, der Herr DüneSieben und ich, so ein vor drei oder vier Stunden geschmiertes Butterbrot kann man dem Kind von heute wohl nicht mehr zumuten.

So…inspired by @EmandaSays on her blog post, I have dug out the ‘25 things’ that I posted on Facebook back in February. Here it is with a few minor changes. Please to enjoy:

1. I was a DJ for about a year in the late 70s, maybe you heard me late on Saturday nights on KFM 102 in Las Vegas.
2. I’m fascinated by fire: I burn candles when I write, I like to have something else to stare at while I’m waiting for the Muse to tap me on the shoulder. I love to watch a fire in a fireplace, preferably a real one but gas will do in a pinch. My favorite way to die is spontaneous human combustion.
3. I love cigars, but I’ve never smoked anything else.
4. I agree with comic Dimitri Martin that you can make any sentence sound creepy by adding the word “ladies” at the end.
5. I didn’t get married until I was 40, didn’t finish college until I was 45, didn’t have a child until I was 45, and now I’m 50 and single again……ladies. Ew, creepy.
6. Whenever somebody cuts a cake and it’s not chocolate, I die a little.
7. I have been diagnosed with three mental health issues: Depression, ADHD Inattentive Type, and…um…
8. I’m a Christian, but I’m emerging from a long crisis of faith that began when my Dad died in 2000, although it was building up long before that. Back in the 90s I told a friend “I don’t agree with half the things I believe anymore.” I describe it as going into a big dark cave, and when I emerged I was in a different place from where I went in. I just don’t think I have all the answers anymore like I did when I was an evangelical fundamentalist.
9. BTW I almost never LOL, OMG WTF?
10. One time when I was in Canada, I got stuck in Toronto with no money. I had gone there on a round trip bus ride from Cambridge to get a passport. I miscalculated Canadian and US money, and when I got to the US Embassy I was short 30 cents of what I needed for the passport. So I had no choice but to ask people on the streets of Toronto for 30 cents. It took three times before somebody gave me exactly 30 cents. Since that day more than 20 years ago I have had more compassion for people who ask me for change.
11. In spite of how awesome I am, I have surprisingly low self esteem.
12. As you might have guessed from #3, I have never done illicit drugs.
13. Most of you have probably figured this out, but Boodles is my favorite person in this and any other possible universes.
14. I is a writer, but I am just now reclaiming the creativity that I lost back in that cave. I am the proud author of 1½ screenplays, but I’m done with that now. I want to write novels, children’s books, and a memoir about mental illness that is going to be freaking hilarious.
15. Most of my family are conservative, but I’m a left coast, tree hugging, gun controlling, tax loving, Bush and Cheney hating, universal health care wanting, Obamaniac pinko commie lib.
16. Like most red blooded males, when I young I was in a rock band. Since I don’t play anything I just sang and jiggled the occasional tambourine. To say that I was the weak link in this band would be beyond generous.
17. I was born without the sports gene. Never had a whole lot of interest in playing or watching sports. I will watch the Super Bowl, sometimes the World Series, but I go crazy for the Olympics, I have to watch every millisecond.
18. Van Morrison is the best male singer ever, Patsy Cline is the best female, Pixies is the best band followed very closely by U2.
19. Dr. Seuss taught me to read. When I was little, we didn’t know anything about ADHD, but I couldn’t pay attention to the books, I always wanted to look at the pictures and my Dad would cover them with a piece of paper but that didn’t help much. Then my Mom ordered some Dr. Seuss books. They were so funny and bizarre that my kept my weird little brain interested. One of my bigger regrets is that I didn’t write him and thank him before he died.
20. Like most men, I don’t like shopping. Oh, I can spend hours in a bookstore, but if you’re my girlfriend and you want to get me physically and mentally exhausted, take me into a clothing store. Five minutes and I’m looking for a place to take a nap. The exception to this would be if you were shopping for bikinis or lingerie.
21. The older I get, the more sydlexic I gte.
22. I like beer and red wine. I have never been three sheets to the wind, but on occasion I’ve been 1½ sheets.
23. My degrees are in Social Work, and partly due to the aforementioned mental health issues I have been fired from every social work job I’ve had. (By the way, the third one is a mild case of Asperger Syndrome. You’ve been waiting a long time for that shoe to drop.)
24. I started losing my hair when I was 19, just when I started to get some confidence around the opposite sex (Thanks, God!). Now it’s not a big deal because guys with perfectly good heads of hair shave it all off, but back in the 70s not so much.
25. I’ve been on Facebook since June 2008. I was at one of the lowest points of my depression and a good friend invited me to join. I did and instantly old friends that I hadn’t been in communication with for years started popping up. That continues to happen and I have made lots of new friends here. I am still putting my life back together but I understand now more than ever that I am not alone. So to my family, my old friends, and my new friends, I raise a glass. OK, it’s actually a bottle of Diet Coke that’s almost flat, but you know what I mean.

I could (and will) say the same thing about my fervent readers here on AMB. I raise my glass of sweet tea to you.

Although I wish you would comment more…hintedy hint hint.

around every corner there is a person … crash

I have been thinking a lot about what to post in my blog. From the blogs I have read, I have noticed several things.

1. they are about their kids …. don’t have any of those, so that won’t work.
2. They are about the cool books people are writing or their articles. Well, I not really a writer in that sense, so that won’t work either.
3. They are really famous and have a huge cult following to begin with …. ok can’t start there – but maybe someday.
4. They are about creating something and sharing that with others. Ok – so that’s seems to be a great place to start. And choices 1-3 usually incorporated these things as well. And I should start by thanking number 3 – Wil Wheaton for the inspiration. He’s awesome …. and pretty funny too.

So here we go. Lets create something beautiful together.