Windows 7

Windows 7 Launch party, my house, October 23rd... Wanna come, just let me know :)

The Weekend

Well, it's a few days after, but I finally pulled some of the pictures off of my camera from this weekend. It was a packed weekend to say the least. We started out fairly early in the morning (by we I mean Chad, Jesse, Ruth, and I) with a shopping trip to Kroger. Now I know that sounds all fun and exciting, but the reason we did this, was because we had plans! Plans to visit Stone Mountain, climb it, and eat on it. =) All of which, by about mid-afternoon, we had accomplished.

It was a rather warm day, and as we were climbing a big rock, there wasn't a whole lot of shade to be offered, so by the top we were all ready for a nice little break. Then on the way down we stopped in a pavilion and spread out our lunch, which, by the way, was quite good. Just sandwiches, but I think because we were all so ready for lunch, it tasted really REALLY good!

Also on this day, as we have for several Saturdays in the past, we went up north of Atlanta and hit the ice. Not literally, but we did get our skates on, and were on the ice for a sum of about 2 hours. I think just about everyone knows by now, that in the fall I plan to join a hockey league, so this is all just good skating practice until that point. Jesse and Ruth still have all the pictures from that part of our day, so once I get my hands on those I will post some of them too... but until then... here are some from Stone Mountain.

Anyway, thanks to good friends for a good weekend. We may constantly pick on each other =) but I know I have some awesome friends, and they'd stand with me no matter what... Thanks guys!

Just where and what...

In the shadows of tall buildings

Of open arches endlessly kneeling

Sonic landscapes echoing vistas

Someone is listening from a safe distance

The line moves slowly into a fading light

A final moment in the dead of the night

In the cathedrals of New York and Rome

There is a feeling that you should just go home

And spend a lifetime finding out just where that is

Obvious...

Just a quick post with some pictures, and quick thoughts...

First the pictures... Jesse and Ruth were kind enough to take me up to Douglasville on Saturday while I was having my bike worked on, and then on the ride home they snapped a few pic's from the truck. (as you can undoubtedly tell from the top of the page)





Then I was doing a little bit of reading this morning, from one of the most interesting news sites around, and they had this on their page as a headline.

"Lawyers think juries watch too much TV and suffer from the "CSI Effect," which means they only believe iron-clad scientific evidence and detectives who put on their sunglasses and spout corny one-liners during testimony"

The link on that page leads to this story http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/nation/story/ED2529097F276D4086257471000DAA37?OpenDocument

I found it rather amusing, especially the first five paragraphs, due to the fact that I've seen the show myself, and have always found it comical to watch for some of the very reasons this article is pointing out. The article shows the thought process consuming our nation, and the world today... Their reality is based on Television! Amusing, but scary at the same time... How has it come to the point where people can actually believe that almost any of the TV shows on air are even anywhere close to reality!??? It absolutely astounds me... I can understand watching a TV show for entertainment purposes, but actually taking it seriously, that just gets to the point of ridiculousness...

Now I'm not going to come out and be one of those people that is going to say our TV shows need to have more reality in them, I mean come on, I'm a fan of both "Heroes" and "Lost" which have very little reality involved in either of them, and I am very entertained with them... But that's all I'll ever be, entertained. Will I ever base any of my decisions on them? Of course not! That would just be nuts... and yet here we are, coming to the point that our justice system is being affected by people watching TV... I hope I never have to go to court because someone did something to me, and the jury has a bunch of CSI Believers in it... as the article describes, eye witness would be almost totally discounted as not reliable, and unless the ridiculous amount of impossible, and impeccable evidence to gather has been unequivocally found, I will have no chance at all... unless of course I get an old man on my side, sliding his sunglasses on and off and saying, with infinite, and undeniable arrogance, that what I say happened, did in fact happen... =)

Several studies have been done into the "CSI effect," and some yield more results than others, but it would be naive to say that it's not happening with more and more frequency involving jurors, criminals, and forensic academia... it's just obvious. Anyway, enough of my ranting. LOL. Like I said, this article just struck a chord with me, as I watched some of the episodes not too long ago, and had these exact thoughts about it back then, only to have this article displayed today.

SO.... Really looking forward to July 4th, Love you all! and until I see you again, have fun!

Under a rock?

No, I have not been under a rock, but we'll get to that, I just haven't posted in a loooonnnnng time. =) Not much going on recently, except about a month ago I guess it was, some of us went to Six Flags. This was rather enjoyable as I rode many of the roller coasters, and just in general had fun, here are a few pictures from that get-a-way.

So, anyway, now to the "under a rock" part... Unless you have been living under a rock, by now you know that the Detroit Red Wings won the Stanley Cup, debatably the sports worlds hardest trophy to win, with Henrik Zetterberg winning the Conn Smythe trophey, for the playoff MVP. As many of you well know, the Red Wings are my favorite team, so this victory quite excited me! And so without further ado, I present the official Stanley Cup Champion locker room hat...

Comfort Food

There's not many things quite like a good peanut butter and jelly sandwich... it doesn't matter whether you like it on toast, with crunchy peanut butter, or with whatever kind of jelly. During many of our childhood years this was always a favorite, and now stands as a nostalgic symbol of when times were more simple!

Recently there hasn't been much going on... I've put somewhere around 1300 miles on my bike, and I'm still alive... so that's a plus. =) Ken has recently changed his work schedule because of his recent promotion, so now I'm the only one left on PC/Network support for second shift... Fun fun...

The only other thing recently was a blog post I read a couple days ago... It is a blog by someone I've never actually met, I've heard of them, read their blog and know a little about them, but I don't actually know them. (I left an anonymous comment, but later e-mailed so they would know who I was=) The cool thing about it was that their latest post made me think. It put a belief I had to a challenge... not because it was disagreeing with what I believe, but simply asked a question about this thing, and put a desire in me to want to research and backup why I believe what I believe. This was the first time in a long time that I've had any need to do this, but it did get me thinking, how easy is it to just become "ho hum" about the things we believe... Just because we believe something for 20 or even 50 years doesn't make it true, and there may be times when we will be called to show why we believe what we believe, and this was a fun opportunity for me to do this... So I encourage everyone (including myself) to be continually searching out why we believe what we do, not to just take someones word for it, but to study and show ourselves approved workmen.

Acts 17:11b "...they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so."

Mark 10:13-15 "And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them. But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein."

Going for a bike ride...

View my R6S ride here...

http://picasaweb.google.com/JoeMBoman/R6Ride/photo#5183276753056288226

More Pics

New Bike!

Well, my new Yamaha YZF-R6S arrived today, earlier than expected!! Also unexpected, I was able to get the blue that I wanted... and I really can't even begin to describe just how much fun it is... I'll post more pictures when it is light outside...

Words are not enough....

There come times in our lives where there are just no words to express the well of emotion and grief inside of us... Times of tragedy that the tongue just can not tell the derision of the circumstances. During these times it becomes easy to ask "why did God allow this?!" and humanly speaking there is no answer suitable... There are no words of comfort that can take away the pain, or even begin to repeal it. During these times we can only believe that God does have His purpose, and He is in fact in control, and though we may not see the reasoning of events in the present, from our own perspective, it is there.

So how do we even begin to pick up the shattered pieces???

Where is there even a starting point????

I don't know...

The friends closest to me have suffered great loss in their family, and though I am just a friend, and not a part of the family, this hits me with overwhelming weight. I like to comfort, yet at a time like this, the comfort I have to offer seems minuscule and meaningless in light of what has happened... I like to help, yet at the moment I feel completely alone and helpless... I share the weight of this burden with them, with all of my heart, and it has left me heart-broken...

So what now... what is there that I can even say...

I have wept for them, and mourned for their loss that I even feel more vividly than I can say. But most of all, I have prayed... Prayed with a fervency that I have not in a long time, prayed with a passion, that God would be there, when the world seems to be crumbling around, that He alone would bring strength and carry them through this fire... I have prayed, and will continue to pray.

All of this has made me reflect on a few things as well... forgive with ease, don't hold bitterness, show you care, make things right with all of those around you, live life with loyalty and honesty, and love with all of your heart, because you never know what tomorrow... the next hour... or even the very next moment may bring...

To all of my friends, and my family, I say now that I truly love you with all of my heart.

Finally...

I finally updated my picasa with some pictures... It's been a long time, hope you enjoy!!!

It's Been a While Since I Last.....

Not been much around here to report, but of late there has been some interesting activity, so I thought I'd put up a couple pictures of it. These are the pictures of the preliminary equipment necessary, once I actually get the Yamaha R6S, I'll post pictures of that too...

SUPERBOWL XVII GOES TO THE GIANTS!!!

And here is the most amazing Superbowl cake ever created... Very nice Chris and Kim!!!!

Mac slayer... =)

Yes... you read the title right, Mac slayer... that's exactly what my new computer is. I would gladly challenge any Mac to do anything in Photoshop or any other program to see which goes faster, why would I do that, because I know that no Mac stands a chance to even come close to the computer I just finished building! =)

So, after several weeks of ordering, receiving, and putting together, my new PC is finally setup! As you can tell by this post, which is the first one not done on my laptop, I am already enjoying it! For those of you who may have a tech nerd side of them like I do, I'll gladly give you the specs. Intel e8400 3GHz w/6mb L2 Core 2 Duo, Asus P5K-E, 4GB PC-6400, 2 WD 320GB 16MB Cache in RAID-0, Ultra 750w X2 Modular power supply, with a eVGA nVidia GeForce 8800 GT Superclocked, running Windows Vista Business 64-bit.

So, anyway, enough boring technical babel, all one needs to know is it's fun!! Here are a few pics of this latest project.

Winter

Well... it seems we are destined for snow this year, as we got a bunch more today... It was a lot of fun as we played outside and had snowball fights and other such fun!!! If you want to see how much of the day was... I put a bunch of pics up on picasa.

Snow!

Yes... That's right... Snow in Atlanta!!! Not sure how good this video of it will turn out on blogger, but hopefully you'll get the idea!!

Another...

Yes... part 2 of video blogging.... this is sooo much easier than typing... although I will probably do that too in future posts.... This one... just a quick take on a LONG day! =)

A New year...

Here it is... my first bid at doing a short video blog... enjoy!

...

And in case anyone wants to know just what I do once I get to a hotel... here you go.

A Week Gone By...

Well here I am, drawing nigh to the eve of my departure. 1 week I have spent mostly in Pennsylvania, and today a short time in New York. The week began with sledding, then the next day going to 2 great church services, Christmas Eve, Bowling, and just in general fun.

Before Thursday it had been quite a while since I had bowled, but I really had fun, I'm sure partly due to the fact that I did pretty well, but fun nonetheless! Today I met Jon and Heather up in Binghamton... It was a lot of fun to see them both after half a year had past, and the first time I've seen them since their wedding!

We did a bit of shopping... just the window variety for Jon and me. Had an excellent lunch, and drank some wonderful coffee to finish up the day. So now I've arrived back at my brother's house, where children (and adults alike) are playing and having fun. Dinner is on the stove, and the football game is on shortly after. Tomorrow will be one more time heading to church, followed by a most likely early night and a 4:00am departure to catch my plane. So until next time everyone have a wonderful time!