Christmas has officially come and gone. All of the presents have been opened, the Christmas lights aren't being turned on anymore, and my Grandma left this morning. Oh well, it will be back next summer in full marketing force anyway. But with the holiday season passing, that left me room to go snowboarding with Yohan, and his English cousin Chris today and let me tell you that it was brutal. I have gone about six time total and never really picked it up very well, until today. I am not sure what I did but I was in my rhythm going down the hill and showing Yohan and Chris how to snowboard well. By the end of the day I would have been ready to go down a harder trail than just coach except for the fact that I fell a handful of times, and those falls made my knee swell up quite severely. Oh well, I have the technique I guess, so now I will go back to skiing where the falls don't hurt so much.

And I know that you are probably tired of me talking about football, but here it goes because I love to talk about it. The Packers won!!!! That means that they win their division and get home field advantage for at least one week. Also Philadelphia lost Terrell Owens so they won't be as big of a threat, and my playoff picture is still holding true. I am not sure that Jacksonville will make it into the playoffs but other than that I still think that is how it will go. Ok I am done.

I got my DDR pad and game finally, and I was going to play it today but my brother stole the PS for the first time in a long time. Probably just to spite me too.

Ok, time to get ready for the LAN party at Chris's tomorrow. Make sure you are there!

At church today, I was reminded again about how hallow Christmas has become. The marketing starts in July (almost literally) and then the season comes and goes. How many people stop to realize that Christmas is just that; Christ-mass. It is the celebration of the mass of Christ, but some people don't even go to church on that sacred day and I don't understand that. My boycott of Christmas didn't go too well and I have come to realize that when it comes to Christ or stuff, stuff always wins. Oh well, Merry Christ-Mass anyway.

Ok... football playoff prediction time. It is week 16, and there are only two more games before we move to the playoffs, and since so many people have asked me who I think is going to make it to the Super Bowl, I am going to make my predictions on who is going to each round, and who I think is going to the big game.

Here is the bracket as I predict it.
Ok... football playoff prediction time. It is week 16, and there are only two more games before we move to the playoffs, and since so many people have asked me who I think is going to make it to the Super Bowl, I am going to make my predictions on who is going to each round, and who I think is going to the big game. Here is the bracket as I predict it.

FIRST ROUND

Pittsburg - Bye
New England - Bye
Philadelphia - Bye
Atlanta - Bye
New York Jets vs. San Diego - San Diego
Jacksonville vs. Indianapolis - Indianapolis
Carolina vs. Green Bay - Green Bay
Minnesota vs. Seattle - Minnesota

SECOND ROUND

San Diego vs. Pittsburg - Pittsburg
Indianapolis vs. New England - Indianapolis
Green Bay vs. Philadelphia - Green Bay
Minnesota vs. Atlanta - Minnesota

THIRD ROUND

Indianapolis vs. Pittsburg - Pittsburg
Minnesota vs. Green Bay - Green Bay

SUPER BOWL

Green Bay vs. Indianapolis - Indianapolis

As you see, I think that Green Bay has a very good shot at the Super Bowl, but it doesn't matter who plays GB, they will probably lose. The NFC is weak and GB could do it, but the AFC is strong and would tromp them. Also, I think that the first round will be won by home field advantage with the exception of Minnesota. In the wild card race in the AFC, I think that Jacksonville has just enough strength, and an easy enough schedule that they will win the wild card race. As for the NFC, Carolina has a very good chance because the teams that they are racing against are very weak. For the second week, I think that Philadelphia and Atlanta will fall. Philadelphia just lost Terrell Owens who was a huge weapon, and Atlanta has had an easy schedule. Both of them will fall. New England will fall to Indianapolis just because Indy has such a strong offense and defense. It will be a good game though.

Of course, I am not sure that these will be the match ups. These teams may not play each other, because the schedule is based a lot on how the teams end up at the end of the season, but we will see if I am right. Go Green Bay for the Super Bowl!

Corey got screwed. He is in the hole $120 because the bank screwed him, yet that same bank has let me off the hook twice. Once was when I overdrew on my checking account and they charged me $28 for that. I caught it pretty early, fixed it and then called them. They were pretty cool about it and gave me a credit. Thank God I check my statement online often. The other incident was really recently when I forgot to pay my credit card bill. It was due on 12/8 and I didn't check it until 12/13 and there was a nice little $35 charge on there, but I called them Monday and they took that off because I have been good about paying in the past. I am not sure why Corey is getting screwed so badly. This is nuts.

Anyway, today was a monumental day because I finally broke 100 wins on solitaire. Well, actually this is my second time because I have a new passport with my GMail email address (my msn account record is something like 700-400-30). But yeah... I played Danielle and my mom and I still haven't had enough. Man I love that game.

And I am moving along on Half Life 2, I am going through the part with the buggy right now. I know that Yohan and Kacy finished this game in a few days, but I want to enjoy it a little bit longer. It is fun to put it down and then play it every once in a while. But the mods rock too. That was $50 well spent!

I am home, happy and feeling good! Yesterday I was feeling so good that I agreed to go on some errands with my mom, even though I knew that the errands would consist of going to the post office, doing a yoga class with my mom and going grocery shopping. I really am not sure why I said yes... maybe it was a short fluke of the mind that made me do it, or maybe it was the Christmas spirit that made me want to spend time with my Mom, but I did. The thing that surprised me is that yoga was kind of fun. I was the only guy in the yoga class but it was really relaxing and I am contemplating doing it again. The thing that holds me back is the thought of me saying "See ya Chris, I am heading over to my yoga class." Yeah... that is a tad weird.

Anyway, Sunday we also went shopping but that was the whole family, and that was Christmas shopping. We also went to see the movie "What the Bleep" because one of my parent's friends had recommended it. Well... it was basically an educational film about how the brain works... no joke. There was no plot, and only a whole bunch of specialist describing stuff about the brain. So if you think about going to see that... don't. Oh god don't.

After that we went to Table Rock Pub and Grill to eat, and the Packer's game was on most of the TVs. Unfortunately they lost a very very very close game to Jacksonville (28-25). Then Minnesota barely squeaked out a win when Detroit messed up their extra point attempt to leave the score at 28-27. That leaves the Green Bay and Minnesota tied up with 8-6 records. On Friday, they are going to play each other with Green Bay trying to win the division (they have already clinched a spot in the playoffs but now they are going for home field advantage) and Minnesota is trying to get into the playoffs.

Last night I witnessed a football game that was truly amazing. New England, with a 12-1 record, was playing Miami, with a 2-11 record. I didn't even watch most of the game because I figured that pitting NE (team tied for the highest record in the NFL) against the team that is tied for the lowest record would be a blow out. My dad came home late and told me that the game was going down to the wire and to come down and watch it with him. When we turned the TV on, Miami had just scored a touchdown to make the score 28-23. They needed a touchdown, and they got it when they sacked Tom Brady (NE's Quarterback) and he threw it as he was going down. Miami took that possession and made a touchdown out of it, and then proceeded to intercept Tom Brady again to seal up the game. I was amazed. Miami has no playoff hopes, but they stirred up the playoff picture by toppling the team that has only been defeated three times in the past two years. Make that four. Good job Miami.

Well I guess it is time to get going on my Christmas gifts.

I had my chemistry final yesterday... or I was supposed to atleast. At the beginning of the semester, our teacher said that if we had higher than a 95% in the class that we would not have to take the final, and I calculated my grade to be about a 84%. So I went to take the final at the ungodly hour of 7:30 in the morning, after studying all day on Sunday. He had also said that he would not let the final hurt our grades, so I am not sure why I studied; I guess it felt like the thing I was supposed to do. Anyway, when class started he started rattling off the names of the people who had over a 100% in the class. About 15 people got to leave. Then he listed the people with over a 95% and another 35 people got to leave. I had been pretty happy about getting a B in chemistry, but once I found out that 50/60 people had over a 95 I didn't feel so happy about it. Anyway, Doc then turned to the rest of us and said that we could look over the test and decide if we wanted to take it. If we did, then we had the opportunity to raise our grade, otherwise we could leave. I looked over the test and found out that it was most of the stuff that I had studied already, but I had flashbacks of the previous three tests where I had the same feelings and I got a 60%, 62% and 65% on each. So I left. And that was the final that I was dreading.

Now I just have to do a take home test for Core and a final for Computer Science. Other than that I am watching the 8 seasons of South Park, some Simpsons, and playing Half Life 2... because I finally bought it. Oh yeah... and it is great.

Danielle said that I don't say enough about her so here goes an entire entry about her. I love you Danielle, and I don't want you to make any decisions that you would regret. On another note, here are some pictures that Danielle doesn't like.

Here are two pictures of Danielle pigging out while I sat and had to witness the food fest.

Heh, the only reason that I posted those was because she doesn't like them, and the only reason that I did this post was because she wanted me to talk about her more. Show you!

I love you Danielle.

I think that I am going to have to eat my words now. All of the things that I said about chemistry might be incorrect. Now don't get me wrong, I hate the class to death and I don't think that there is anything that can change that, but I think I might like my teacher a little bit more. All semester I have been getting between a 60% and 65% on the tests, even after studying for 15 hours straight, but my teacher has been doing this class so long that he plans for low grades like mine. Here are all of the ways that he is making the class's grade higher.

1) We have a pass fail test, which is suppose to be review (it wasn't for me), but upon passing it with an 80%, we get 100% on that test, and that test is 12.5% of my overall grade.

2) He knows that it is hard to get up for an 8:30 class on Fridays, so every Friday he has a one question quiz which is turning out to be extra credit. Overall in the semester, we have the potential of getting 30 points of extra credit that goes on our test grades, and 30 points equals 30% boost in test grades.

3) On top of the extra credit that we got from the quizzes, he is now curving all of the test grades to 100. So when I got a 68/112, 70/108 and 65/100, I now have a 68/100, 70/100, and 65/100.

4) He doesn't think that the final should hurt us, so if including the final in our grade would drop our cumulative grade, then he won't count it. Since I have about an 83% in the class right now (with all of the curving... and yes I can't believe it either), I would have to get higher than an 83% on the final for it to count (which almost is a guarentee not to happen). Getting a 100% on the final would only bring me up to an 85%.

Talk about eating my words huh? This is awesome. I think I could like that guy... but I am still never taking chemistry again. I have already had his scope on my chest once, and I am not going to roll the dice again. Whew... my weekend just got that much better. Who is up for some Counter Strike now?

I think that I am going to have to eat my words now. All of the things that I said about chemistry might be incorrect. Now don't get me wrong, I hate the class to death and I don't think that there is anything that can change that, but I think I might like my teacher a little bit more. All semester I have been getting between a 60% and 65% on the tests, even after studying for 15 hours straight, but my teacher has been doing this class so long that he plans for low grades like mine. Here are all of the ways that he is making the class's grade higher.

1) We have a pass fail test, which is suppose to be review (it wasn't for me), but upon passing it with an 80%, we get 100% on that test, and that test is 12.5% of my overall grade.

2) He knows that it is hard to get up for an 8:30 class on Fridays, so every Friday he has a one question quiz which is turning out to be extra credit. Overall in the semester, we have the potential of getting 30 points of extra credit that goes on our test grades, and 30 points equals 30% boost in test grades.

3) On top of the extra credit that we got from the quizzes, he is now curving all of the test grades to 100. So when I got a 68/112, 70/108 and 65/100, I now have a 68/100, 70/100, and 65/100.

4) He doesn't think that the final should hurt us, so if including the final in our grade would drop our cumulative grade, then he won't count it. Since I have about an 83% in the class right now (with all of the curving... and yes I can't believe it either), I would have to get higher than an 83% on the final for it to count (which almost is a guarentee not to happen). Getting a 100% on the final would only bring me up to an 85%.

Talk about eating my words huh? This is awesome. I think I could like that guy... but I am still never taking chemistry again. I have already had his scope on my chest once, and I am not going to roll the dice again. Whew... my weekend just got that much better. Who is up for some Counter Strike now?

Thank god for dead week. I am completely done with math and english, and I had the entire day off today because our core class was just meeting for breakfast today. Now I have to worry about studying for the computer science test that is a week from today, and the chemistry test that is next monday. And not to leave us hanging, our chemistry teacher is having the test at 7:30 am on Monday. Bastard.

And it looks like Optix might make a reappearance. We wouldn't do it the same as last time, because a simple search of the web shows that there are already 10 million games like that, but we might do it with a business theme. We still have to iron out the details, but I am brushing up on my .Net skills so that we can get started on development later this month. We also won't put it on the web until we actually have something ready, and hopefully with two people on the development team this time, we can get things moving faster.

And I am getting addicted to Counter Strike, HL2 Deathmatch, and Counter Strike Source. I am thinking that I might just buy HL2 because I am using more than I originally thought. I can't use it as a Christmas present because I told my parents that I want nothing for Christmas. Do I regret saying that? No. But Christmas still feels so empty. Sigh. I honestly have no idea what I want to do with Christmas. Aw well.

Seven days until I am officially done with my first semester of college. Over and out.

As promised, here is the english paper that I wrote. I think that it is one of my better creative writing projects (because of the ending) but I want some other critques. Also note that some of this is made up, but a lot of it is true.

Strella

The world is spinning as fast as it can, and everything is optimized to be faster than everything else. Our society pushes its children to be as efficient as possible, as early as elementary school when they have assignments to do and a schedule to keep. Anyone who has too much fun is looked down upon, and considered childish. It is rare to find someone who doesn’t conform to society’s rules; someone who stops to smell the roses on a daily basis; someone who lived life to the fullest and never complained about missing opportunities

However, I was blessed enough to have someone like this in my life, and her name was Strella. I first met her when I moved to Idaho, and she was the only friend that I had. I lived in Texas prior to moving, so I was dealing with a huge culture change, and I had no friends on the same side of the country as me. As a kid, I was very quiet so I did not make friends quickly, but she took me in and made me feel loved.

There were many days that we would sit on the lawn and just talk. In elementary school, she was the quiet ear that listened to me talk about my new school. She didn’t judge me when I told her about the girls that I chased around the playground, and how I got in trouble on a daily basis for doing it. My friends from Boy Scouts turned their backs on me on many occasions, but she was always there for me. Strella was also the thing that helped me transition from elementary school into middle school.

Middle school was hard for me. I was struggling to fit in at school, and I was trying to be independent at home. My battle for independence caused a lot of fights between me and my mom, especially when she would tell me to do something that I didn’t like. One time when things got especially heated up, my mom smacked me for talking back to her. I was so mad at her, that I hit her back and then ran outside. My mom was yelling at me the whole way out so I knew that I had to go somewhere, so I went to Strella. I was crying my eyes out because I immediately regretted doing what I had done, but I was still mad at my mom. It was comforting to just be around Strella, and it helped me to deal with my emotions.

Later during my middle school years, I started to turn into a computer geek. The problem was that I would stay on the computer for hours on end without getting any exercise, so Strella took it upon herself to make me go for a walk with her almost everyday. Sometimes we would just go around the block, but other times we took long walks through the foothills behind my house. There were many afternoons that I spent walking through those hills with Strella, going nowhere in particular.

High school was a life changing experience for me. It was the first time that I actually had a social life, and it was the first time that I had a significant homework load. My friends took up more of my time, so I didn’t spend as much time with Strella, but she never said anything about it. She was just as loving and compassionate as ever when I did spend time with her. On the days when I had to study for finals, or write a paper that was, she would sit with me as I worked on my homework. Looking back, I can tell that she missed the days when we spent time doing things together, but her unconditional love was there the whole time.

During my senior year in high school, my attention turned to graduating and working at my part time job, and I really didn’t notice how her health was deteriorating. She was still the same loving Strella that had been around me since elementary school, but she just wasn’t as energetic as she had been before. When we went for walks, we never went into the foothills anymore because she asked that we stay on the roads. There were more and more days where she told me that she didn’t want to go on a walk at all because she wasn’t feeling very well. When we finally did make her go to the doctor’s office, we had to almost drag her in because she had never been to a doctor before. The doctor fixed her up and made her feel better, but it was only temporary as we could see the signs of age starting to take its toll. She never did give up, even when she struggled to stand up because of her bad hips, she would still go on walks with me on a very consistent basis.

I could see the sadness in her eyes as I packed up for college. I was pretty sure that I would see her again, but I never could tell. She was getting very old. However, now that I am in college and I look back on her influence on my life, I am really astonished at how much she has done for me. She never bought me lots of things or spoiled me, but she has had a profound impact on my life. When she does die, I won’t cry for her death, but instead, celebrate her life. I know that she will be with me all the time and she will forever be the shoulder that I can cry on. So I want to thank you for everything that you have done for me. This is for you; my dog Strella.

I have been so unmotivated lately. I have not wanted to work on any of the projects that are due this week, study for next week's finals, or update my blog. I just want to mess around and waste time. Good thing that my hard final is at the beginning of the week so that I can get it out of the way.

Anyway, I had my first date with Christine on Saturday. It was all planned out because she said that she was tired of planning things, and that she wanted no hand in this. Ok! So I thought that we could go out for dinner, come back and play cards (she had expressed interest in beating me :P), and possibly watching a movie. Well, about 30 minutes before the date she called me and said that she had some stuff that just came up, and that we would not be able to have the date as planned. She suggested going to Arby's instead. Ok! Talking with her made me realize that she is really quite an interesting person. After dinner, we went to a concert that she had to be at and that was that. Simple and to the point. I had fun though and I would definitely be up for a second date (if you consider the other one a date; I do). I am getting the impression that she would be up for another date too, but not until finals are over. She had to pull an all nighter last night because she had so much to do. Blah.

This weekend was bad to the Packers. After winning six in a row, they fell to the Philadelphia Eagles. I will admit that the Eagles were playing very well, but I also attribute the loss to the poor performance of the Packers. Brett Favre didn't even throw one touchdown, and it took the backup quarterback, Craig Nall, to get any touchdowns for the Packers. I almost cried. I don't want to mention the score because it was that bad but go ahead and look it up if you want. Sniffle. The Packers play Detroit at home this week, so I believe that they will bounce back with this game. The Packers beat Detroit 38-10 on the road, so this game should be a breeze, but not a given. I have learned that nothing is a given when you are talking about NFC teams.

I got Linux installed on my desktop, but not without a fight. After Mandrake, and Suse both had problems installing and booting, I talked to some Linux gurus and they said that I probably have a piece of hardware that is bad. That would explain why things were crashing in Windows Server 2003 as well. I am guessing that it is the RAM but I really don't feel motivated to test out that hypothesis. Maybe after finals I will. So far I like Linux, because it looks like a great Windows alternative. I am not going to say that Linux is better than Windows because I really have not played with it that much, but it looks like fun.

Speaking of fun, I am just finishing up my English assignment, and I like it so much that I am going to post it here later. I think this assignment is the best creative writing that I have ever done. So look for that later.

It is amazing how much time I can waste. I had no classes from 12:30 on, and I still was able to waste almost twelve hours. Mind you, I did eat, go to my bible study and have a huge snowball fight in there, but I still didn't do my homework. Actually, I guess I really didn't wast that much time. I just have procrastinated my homework.

I love this snow though. But after three snowball fights I have decided that it doesn't belong down my shirt.

I am worried about Danielle. She has worked her butt off all semester, and now she is concidering dropping out because she thinks that she is a burden. I really hope that she doesn't, first off because that would be stupid to do, and also because she is not as bad as she thinks she is. I do think that it would be best for her to live in Boise where she would have the love and support of her real family (not just us). But she will get through it. Go Danielle.

Ok, I really need to stop putting off my homework, and get it done so that I can get to bed. See ya.