Random At Best

Subaru

2010-12-14T09:16:00.000-08:00

Haiti Mission Trip

2010-11-02T21:31:00.000-07:00

On Dec. 27th, I'll be heading out with a team from my church on a mission trip to Haiti. We will be partnering up with YWAM (Youth With A Mission) to help clear rubble, work on small building projects, and do whatever else may be needed.

I am super excited for this trip and know it will be an amazing experience. There is much preparation and work ahead of me in the days leading up to the trip. Most importantly, I have to raise $2,000 to cover the cost of the trip. Although it is a large amount of money, it provides an opportunity for friends and family to partner up with me financially to serve in Haiti.

Below is a copy of my support letter. If you feel led too, I would be incredibly grateful if you would consider supporting me. You can click on the picture below for a full size version of the support letter.

I'll try to keep updating this blog as we continue to prepare for this trip, as well as update you on the trip as well.

Damon Bruce

2010-05-02T09:26:00.001-07:00

I called into the Damon Bruce show a few weeks ago for a hilarious segment I had to call in for. It was the "3 O'CLOCK Three Play", and the three questions where 1. Best Cry Moment in sports 2. Are you confident in the Sharks in the Playoffs 3. Give love to Giants Fans who waited out the 4 hour game rain delay.

My call was alright, but the guy who called after me was pretty hilarious. Not so much his call but Damon's response.

Damon Bruce.mp3

Happy Fathers Day

2009-06-21T10:00:00.001-07:00

Man I suck at blogging lately, but I figured there is no day like fathers day for getting back on the horse. My Dad is definitely one man very worthy of a blog post. I have a list of about a hundred things that makes my Dad a great Dad, and I figured I would share the top 3:

1. He is a man of his word and keeps his commitments.
2. He is generous with everything he has been blessed with, and lives life with an open hand.
3. He is incredibly good looking, and he passed those genes on to his sons.

Happy fathers day Dad!

Hemophilia Coastal Ride For Zach

2009-06-13T14:19:00.001-07:00

I know it has been awhile since I have blogged, and for that, I apologize.

My good friend Bobby is embarking on a bike trip across California this summer for a great cause and and I wanted to take a quick opportunity to share it with you. He made a video explaining what it is all about. You can watch it, or visit http://www.myworshiprevolution.com/bobbym/coastalrace09.html to get more info.

Good Luck Bobby!

Catalyst: TOMS Shoes

2009-04-28T22:22:00.001-07:00

I got the opportunity to hear Blake Mycoskie speak at the Catalyst conference last week. It is really inspiring to hear about people being successful while making the world a better place. I really enjoyed the ATT commercial.

More on the Catalyst Conference to come.

Catalyst 09 Day 1

2009-04-23T06:51:00.000-07:00

Wow. The first day of catalyst was amazing. By the sounds of things, the lab day doesn't even compare to the main session days, so today should be even better.

One of the highlights from yesterday was a lab I attended by Rick Yamamoto entitled "Becoming an Expert". The topic of expertise is really interesting to me given that technology today has allowed us all to become experts at everything, while being an expert at nothing at all.

We talked about the two models for strategic thinking, managerial vs. entrepreneurial, and how to achieve expertise. Did you you know that on average, it takes about 10,000 hours or 10 years of deliberate practice to become an expert. Bobby Fisher took about 9 years, while Tiger Woods took about 15 years.

All in all, I really enjoyed yesterday, and am really looking forward to today.

Catalyst 09

2009-04-22T07:21:00.000-07:00

I made the trek down south with some friends from church to attend the Catalyst 09 Conference at Mariners Church. Needless to say I am really looking forward to this. Today's session consists of a couple of lab sessions they are calling origins. The one I am looking forward to the most is called "Conscious Capitalism: Blending Business, Passion, and Giving Back".

I'll try to keep you updated on all the events here if I can find spare time in between all the fun and interesting events. You can also keep up with whats happening on my twitter @ryanlipert.

Ronn Owens Show

2009-03-12T22:44:00.001-07:00

I called into the Ronn Owens Show today on my way into work.

Ronn Owens.mp3

Arm Wrestling

2009-03-11T19:07:00.000-07:00

We did a little bit of arm wrestling at work.

Condom Sales Experiencing Strong Growth!?!

2009-03-10T21:56:00.000-07:00

I read an interesting article today in "The Week" today about the recent strength of condom sales despite the economic downturn. No Pun Intended.

One might expect that with the economic problems we are experiencing today, you might expect condom sales to go down like everything else. In addition, the gloomy economy could have adverse affects on peoples sex drives.

But in fact, it is quite the opposite. There has recently been a surge in condom purchases, and forecast don't show it slowing down.

Many have speculated as to why this is the case. Some argue that it is these hard times that people turn to their romantic relationships to ease the pain and stress of the economic downturn. With people loosing their jobs and their homes, they are turning to sex for comfort.

I would tend to think that there is a more economic rationale for the increased condom sales. Quite frankly, an unexpected pregnancy in uncertain economic times is much more devastating than it would been during financial booms. As the economy begins to slide, an unexpected child could be very expensive.

Fair Tax

2009-03-09T21:36:00.000-07:00

I finished a book a few weeks back that everyone should read. It is called "Fair Tax" and it is basically all about getting rid our our current tax system and replacing it with a national sales tax.

Although the idea is pretty radical, it makes perfect sense. At the heart of the argument in favor of this change, is the fact that it only taxes people when they spend money, and by default encourages people to save their money.

You should all go to the wikipedia site or web page. Both have wonderful information on them and can do the topic more justice.

Hawaii

2009-03-07T12:09:00.000-08:00

I'm back in the game, at least for today.

I had the awesome opportunity last week to go visit my good friend James in Hawaii. Needless to say it was amazing. Warm weather and warm water. Surfed, hiked, snorkeled, saw the sights, and much more.

The highlight of the trip had to be hiking to Maunawili Waterfall, which also happens to be the location where part of the Jason Mraz Video "I'm Yours" was filmed. Good stuff.

Thanks for your hospitality James. It was an amazing trip. Looking forward to doing it again realllllll soon.

Moment by Moment

2009-02-08T21:27:00.000-08:00

I read a post from a friend of a friend of a friends blog today and I thought it was great. I want to share it with you all.

The author of this post is going through an agonizing time of pain as she deals with the loss of her husband.

Such a tremendous sadness. In the morning I wake to it. It’s a reality that is so difficult to even let my mind think of. Every morning when it sinks in just a bit I can’t help but throw up...
...But what I thank God for is that it’s not like that all day. I think it would be without hope. In the morning, as soon as I start to awake it’s like I’m slapped in the face with reality. Mark is gone. It wasn’t just a nightmare. He’s really gone and he’s never coming back. But moment by moment God takes me through the day. And I don’t stay so sad. Life doesn’t stay so dismal. God truly gives me hope. I am hoping that He will redefine my purpose. Give me direction and set His plans before me. I am encouraged throughout the day through God’s promises. Knowing where Mark is. Thanking God for the amazing love that we were able to share and the time that He gave us. That helps so much…to look at all the blessings that God has given us.

The pain we feel is very real. Sometimes I wish God would just get rid of all the pain and hardship we have to go through. Even though I don't understand it, it will always be there. But I love how she talks about God taking her through the day, "moment by moment". Isn't that great? Each moment, good or bad, God is there, taking us through the day. It definitely spoke to me at a time when I needed to hear that.

Ponzi?!

2009-01-27T22:19:00.000-08:00

You hear a lot in the news about ponzi schemes these days.

The definition is: A Ponzi Scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to investors out of the money paid by subsequent investors rather than from profit.

When I read that, I can't help but think that we are all currently being fooled by the biggest ponzi scheme of all. As it stands now, the government is bailing us out of our current financial meltdown with dollars that will ultimately be paid by younger generations sometime in the future. We are doomed!

Doheny Surf Video

2009-01-25T21:23:00.001-08:00

Little video my buddy Ryan made of our surf trip this past summer to Southern California. We had a much better song on it, but YouTube stripped it off because of copyright infringement. Such garbage. What can you do. Enjoy.

Winter... I'm Sorry But You Suck

2009-01-24T13:21:00.001-08:00

I haven't posted in awhile, and for that, I am sorry.

There is just something about the middle of winter that gets me down, among other things of course. I guess we can call it the post holiday hangover. The days are ridiculously short. The weather is depressing. It is just hard to get motivated for anything.

And when it rains, it poors right? To add to the wintertime blues, my back is still bugging me a little bit, my friends and family are going through some trials, and work is getting a little stressful.

I guess I am in a "funk". But it's OK to be in a "funk" every once in awhile though, right?

Hopefully I can snap out of it soon.

CLC Santa Cruz Goes To Mexico 08/09

2009-01-07T22:01:00.001-08:00

I had the opportunity to go to Mexico and build a house last week with my church. We had a great time. My apologies if you have seen this video. If you haven't, then enjoy.

2008 In Review

2009-01-04T21:08:00.000-08:00

I thought it would be good to look back on 2008 as we enter into 2009. It is easy to forget all that went on in this busy year.

1. I put one full year of blogging under my belt.
2. Moved into a new place in Mission Springs.
3. Lost a great roommate in James to Hawaii and gained a great roommate in Luke.
4. My Grandma past away and got to see a lot of family I hadn't seen in awhile.
5. Took a couple trips to Lake Tahoe and Donner Lake.
6. Got a new high powered cell phone.
7. Went to many Giants Games.
8. Started infrequently taking spin classed.
9. Turned 24 and celebrated with an amazing sailing trip with a bunch of great friends.
10. Went to the Indianapolis 500 with my Dad and some family friends.
11. Got to see my little brother graduate from highschool.
12. Got ordained by the "Church of Latter Day Dude".
13. Went to Atlanta to visit family and see my cousin graduate.
14. Had a couple great parties at my house, including the White Trash/Gulchie Party.
15. Bought a road bike.
16. Hurt my back pretty badly and was laid up for a week.
17. Won the Scotts Valley Co Ed Rec League Softball Championship.
18. Took a business trip to Chicago.
19. And I finished up the year building a house in Mexico with my church.

All in all it was a good year. Work was very busy and we were very blessed despite the economy, I continued to help out with YoungLife and volunteer at my church as well.

Looking forward to 2009.

Westy Engine Replacement

2008-12-27T09:05:00.001-08:00

I spent the day after Christmas helping my Dad replacing the engine in his Volkswagen Westphalia, or as we call it, "The Westy". Many camping trips to come.

The Evolution of a White Elephant Gift

2008-12-20T10:42:00.001-08:00

I run in many circles, and this year, had the opportunity to attend a few Christmas Parties.

What Christmas Party would be complete without a White Elephant Gift Exchange. I figured this year, I would track the life of a White Elephant Gift. I started out with a Barrel of Monkeys, and when it was all said and done, after the last party, I was left with a very festive Christmas Mug.

For those of you who can't tell what that doll is, it's a Boyfriend Voodoo doll. Apparently if your mad at your boyfriend, you can inflict pain the doll and it will in turn, inflict pain on your boyfriend.

The best gift by far, was the pirate puffy shirt from Seinfeld. One of the best Seinfeld episodes ever. I was sad to see that one go.

Theme for Christmas: "Presents" Vs "Presence"

2008-12-17T21:29:00.001-08:00

I wish I could say I came up with this, but it was actually in a video at church we watched a few weeks back.

This Holiday Season, while I will still give "Presents", I will focus on giving more "Presence". After all, isn't that what Christmas is all about? The celebration of God sending his "Presence" through his son Jesus Christ.

Somewhere along the line, we may have confused the two. Clearly, this season has become largely about giving each other "Presents". I'll be the first to admit, I have given and received many gifts as recently as last year that I can't even remember.

So this year instead, while still buying "Presents", this year they will serve to facilitate and demonstrate "Presence", just as Jesus Christ modeled.

CyberChondriac

2008-12-08T22:15:00.000-08:00

I had a little medical scare last week. I went to the doctor last week for a couple of issues. During the course of the appointment, my doctor found something that led him to believe I may have an aorta aneurysm. Needless to say, I kind of freaked out.

Now don't worry, everything checked out normal. My doctor was just being extremely cautious, which I think is a good thing. But after he mentioned an aneurysm, I turned into a total CyberChondriac.

CyberChondria is defined as follows:

"A colloquial term to describe the behavior of individuals who use the Internet to gather information on health or healthcare, for themselves or people in their care."

I instantly went and Googled Aneurysm and Aorta and all kinds of horror stories came up. I started manifesting symptoms in my head, and had a restless night of sleep.

There is an interesting article here about how CyberChondria is spreading. I now find the whole thing kind of amusing, as worrying over your health is rarely beneficial, although I don't want to belittle the struggle of some people dealing with chronic illness and disease.

What Would Jesus Buy

2008-12-06T21:32:00.000-08:00

Christian Life Center put on a free showing of the movie What Would Jesus Buy at the Rio Theater last week.

Well when I walked up to the theater and read the sign, I couldn't help but laugh.

Only in Santa Cruz.

What Would Jesus Buy Trailer

2008-11-30T09:19:00.001-08:00

Everyone needs to come see this movie tonight at the Rio Theater. It is free and is absolutely hilarious. Show starts at 5PM. The Random at Best Blog community and friends will make the long trek across the street after the movie for dinner at Charlie Hong Kong. See you there.

Happy Birthday Mom

2008-11-28T17:01:00.000-08:00

TCOB #1.mov

2008-11-20T21:56:00.001-08:00

A little look of what I do at Balch.

Lance Armstrong

2008-11-19T20:53:00.001-08:00

I realize I never shared about my brief brush with Biking Fame.

When I was in Chicago a while back, I got to go see Lance Armstrong speak. This was a pretty big deal for me, as I have recently grown fond of road biking.

Anyway, his talk was great. Very inspirational story to say the least.

I spent a few hours trying to track him down after the speech for a picture with no luck. The rushed off backstage and he was never seen again. These pictures will have to do.

Black Man's Time

2008-11-16T19:01:00.001-08:00

Please don't read the title of this post and think I am racist.

I recently learned about "Black Man's Time", otherwise known as "BMT" and thought it was a great concept. For those of you who don't know what "BMT" is, it is basically being late for everything, but more importantly is the reason you are late.

You leave with the intention of being on time, but because of the people and places you run into along the way, you end up being late. Basically, the unscheduled opportunities in your life are more important than your appointments.

Now don't get me wrong, I think being punctual and productive is a virtue, but I do believe there is a happy medium between blowing through your day and not noticing anything going on around you, and not getting anything done because you are too caught up in everything around you.

I would say I mainly suffer from the former, so I am going to focus on adding a little "BMT" to my life. How about you?

Banana Slug

2008-11-13T22:01:00.000-08:00

I came home this evening to a Banana Slug on my front porch. I had not seen on of these guys since my days at UCSC. It was a nice little suprise, although I almost ended its life by stepping on it on accident.

Did you know that the UCSC mascot is a Banana Slug?

What Would Jesus Buy Trailer

2008-11-09T21:56:00.001-08:00

This is absolutely amazing. I had the opportunity to watch this movie tonight, and let me tell you, it is great.

Now the hard part is figuring out what to do/get/make for my friends and family this year. Buying things is so mindless and easy. You really have to think outside the box on this one.

I have one month to figure this out.

Blogger

2008-11-03T20:00:00.000-08:00

So this is what happens when I go out of town for three days without my laptop.

That is my google reader. I use it for all my blog subscriptions. I have 41 unread posts.

Now granted, some of them won't get read. Chances are pretty good I'll just mark all the SCL posts as read, as well as the Woot posts. But be warned, If I am subscribed to your blog and you are posting small novels, they probably won't get read.

Sorry.

The Economy

2008-11-02T17:45:00.000-08:00

I read a great quote today from Warren Buffet.

"Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful."

Malava

2008-10-30T20:00:00.000-07:00

I wish I had thought it of this. It is called Malava and it is the anti-energy drink.

I ran into the guy who started this company when I was in Chicago. I had the opportunity to sample this product and it was great.

First of all, the idea is absolutely brilliant. With so many energy drinks on the market, it is hard to differentiate between them. Monster, Rockstar, Red Bull, Etc. And worst of all, they all taste the same. But not the anti energy drink. As far as I know, its the only one on the market. It also tastes great, and best of all, it has an ingredient that actually mellows you out.

Club Talk

2008-10-27T22:10:00.000-07:00

I did the "Club Talk" tonight at YoungLife. I had the opportunity to share who Jesus is to me. I am not very good putting this into words, so I let David do the hard work for me and read Psalm 23 to the kids.

1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,

3 he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake.

4 Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, ^[a]
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.

6 Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.

So there it is. Jesus is my shepherd, my protector, my comforter, my provider, my restorer, my guide, my strength, the air I breathe, the food I eat, and much much more.

Slightly Disturbing

2008-10-18T09:17:00.001-07:00

The future of our country lies in the hands of people like this?

hs_sal_in_Harlem_100108.mp3

Santa Cruz Next

2008-10-16T19:34:00.001-07:00

I read about something today that got me more excited than I have been in awhile. Maybe it's a result of my excitement for the upcoming election.

It's called Santa Cruz Next, and if I understand it correctly, the main focus is on getting younger generations involved in Santa Cruz politics. I think this is absolutely awesome, and I am definitely going to figure out a way to be involved with this.

There was an awesome article written about Santa Cruz Next in the recent edition of "GoodTimes". It is an excellent read.

Who knows, this may be the beginning of my political career.

Political Endorsement

2008-10-12T21:11:00.000-07:00

It's official. Random At Best is officially endorsing the McCain/Palin ticket for president. The flood gates should open up in their favor. I think the polls will soon reflect the influence Random At Best has on the election. It was a tough decision, as both candidates are very qualified and will likely do a good job. To help me make my decision, I broke it down into three categories: Economic Policy, Social Policy, and Foreign Policy. I'll break the two candidates down based on these three categories.

Economic Policy: Unfortunately I don't think either candidate has the correct solution for the current economic crisis we now see ourselves facing. I think the "Bail Out" was more like a "Cop Out", but frankly, should one of the candidates come out and announce that they are against the bail out plan, it would be political suicide. Unfortunately, that says more about the voting public than it does about the candidates, but both have demonstrated that they are more concerned with winning votes with their economic policy rather than really addressing the problem. I call this a draw.

Social Policy: I would say that I align more closely with Obama than McCain when it comes to Social Policy. Now when I talk about social policy, I am mainly talking about the candidates responses to social issues, not their plans for social programs. When I listen to Obama, I hear someone who wants to advocate on behalf of the individuals who have been margenillized by society. And who is the ultimate advocate of all time for the "least of these"? Jesus of course. I don't mean to hyperspirutaulize the issue, but it is clearly demonstrated by Jesus that we have this obligation. I just don't get the same impression from McCain.

Foriegn Policy: Quite Honestly, McCain takes this one hands down. Barrack Obama on Foriegn Policy scares me. The single largest issue to face our new president will be foriegn Policy, even larger than the economic crisis. From what I gathered from the first debate, Barrack Obama is quite naive and unprepared to finish what was started in Iraq, much less know how to deal with other dangerous leaders in places like Iran.

With Foriegn Policy being the most important issue for the next president, Random At Best is officially supporting John McCain.

Business Trip to Chicago

2008-10-11T16:55:00.000-07:00

I'll sum my recent business trip to Chicago up with one picture:

2008-10-04T12:00:00.000-07:00

Not many things are free these days. So it was a breath of fresh air when I saw the sign for free WiFi at San Jose International Airport.

So instead of having to scheme to get free internet, it was just there. Thanks San Jose International Airport.

Drink Tickets

2008-10-03T22:52:00.000-07:00

I have enough Southwest drink tickets for 16 beers. Two options:

See if I can drink all 16 beers on my flight to Chicago tomorrow.
Buy drinks for as many people on the plane as the flight attendant will let me.

Any suggestions?

Election 08

2008-09-28T22:00:00.001-07:00

James made an interesting comment on my Merging Post. He was concerned that the merging post got so many more comments then the Election Post. I figured that comment was worthy of a post. At the very least I will give you my impression of the first debate.

As far as foreign policy goes, I am much more comfortable with McCain. I was particularly concerned with Obama's response to how he would handle relations with Iran. Frankly, Obama comes off a little naive and unrealistic.

At the forefront of everyone's mind was the economic crisis, so obviously the debate was led off with discussion on the matter. Now this appears to be a non partisan issue. Both sides are going to come together with an agreement to more or less bail out all the banks holding crappy mortgages. More or less, both sides will agree to buy up most or all of these sub prime, or high risk mortgages, and we, the taxpayer, will be left holding the bill. Unfortunately, this is probably the only thing that can be done to prevent the effects of this spilling into every other part of the market. So I am not so much concerned with what the candidates think we should do to fix the crisis as I am concerned with how they plan to prevent this from happening again. With that said, neither candidate made me that happy.

In my opinion, the real cause of this crisis is rooted in the Bankruptcy Bill that was passed in 2005, which essentially made it more difficult for individual borrowers to declare bankruptcy and default on their financial obligations. This in turn, provided more protection for the lending institutions (credit card companies, banks, etc.) at the expense of individual borrowers struggling to stay afloat. This allowed lenders to loosen up credit, often times extending credit to people who didn't deserve it, because the lenders knew that individual borrowers wouldn't be able to default. So over the past few years, we have had banks giving loans to people who shouldn't have qualified to buy expensive houses they couldn't afford. Basically, it allowed lending institutions to get greedy without any repercussions.

So how did the candidates vote for the 2005 Bankruptcy Bill? McCain voted in favor of the bill, and Obama voted against it. The bill passed, and it is one of the main reasons we are dealing with this economic crisis today.

Champions

2008-09-24T20:55:00.001-07:00

One Of Those Days

2008-09-23T21:47:00.001-07:00

Do you ever have one of those days where everything just goes right?

I had one today. The commissioner of my fantasy football league changed the scoring settings which eliminated my only loss and made me undefeated. 3-0 looking to go 16-0.

Then to top it off, we win two softball games tonight to become league champions. First game was a nice warm up before we completely laid the smack down on the Community Covenant Church. They were definitely worthy opponents, but we were the better team when all the chips were on the table. Looking forward to next year. Team picture to follow on the blog soon. For now this will have to do.

To Merge Late of Merge Early

2008-09-17T20:47:00.000-07:00

That is the question...

When two lanes are merging into one, are you supposed to merge early and wait in the line, or keep driving and merge just as the two lanes come together?

I deal with this everyday, as there is a point in my drive where two lanes become one as I drive through Los Gatos. Usually the left lane is heavily congested, while the right lane moves freely up until the point where the lanes merge.

The experienced commuter I am, I always cruise into the right lane until they merge, shaving precious minutes off my commute. But today I read an article that made me question whether this practice was right or ethical.

My official stance is that late merging isn't an issue of right or wrong or ethics, its a matter of using the freeway in the most efficient manner possible. But what do you think? Are you a do-gooder early merger, or do you live life on the wild side and merge late?

Bill Shakespeare

2008-09-13T19:15:00.000-07:00

My pastor thinks I look like Bill Shakespeare.

http://eddierev640.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/09/ryan-and-shakespeare.html?cid=130582578#comments

My facial hair puts me in good company. I think I will keep it awhile.

Research Project

2008-09-07T20:46:00.000-07:00

My senior year of college I had the privilege to work with one of my professors at UCSC on a research project.

We were basically interested in determining the effects on classroom attendance on grades.

It was an interesting project to work on. It was a great experience and I got paid, which was definitely a bonus. It also looks good on the resume.

You can check out the project here. It is really long, but an interesting read nonetheless.

Random At Best Goes Green

2008-09-04T06:40:00.001-07:00

I decided to Go Green. I decided that at least one day a week I would like to bike/bus to work. Here is the adventure from day one.

Fantasy Football Team

2008-09-02T21:46:00.000-07:00

Here is my fantasy football team.

I am in a league that my friend Gilbert set up. I wasn't originally invited, but because his friend Troy dropped out, I was allowed in. I am an official replacement friend. At least I am replacing a major league baseball player!

Black and White Vs. Grey

2008-09-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

I posted awhile back about Rick Warren and him interviewing the presidential candidates.

I had the opportunity to watch each interview in their entirety, and I have to say, the interviews left me totally conflicted. Let me explain.

First, so you all know, I would identify myself as socially moderate and economically/fiscally conservative. Unfortunately that leaves me trying to fit a square peg in round holes, as I don't clearly align with any one political party.

In my review of the candidates thus far, I have characterized the two of them as:

John McCain: Black and White
Barack Obama: Grey

What I mean by this is that for John McCain, the issues are largely Black and White. You know his stance, and he in firm in that. You know his policy of abortion, gay rights, etc. There is no grey. There are really no circumstances in which he would be willing to be flexible in his policy.

With Obama on the other hand, the issues are largely grey. You are never entirely sure where he stands with his policy on abortion, gay rights, etc. In general, his policies are largely flexible. I would characterize him as a "people over policy" candidate, in that he is concerened with the circumstances surrounding an issue rather than setting a hardline policy on the issue.

So which is better? What does America need in a leader? I am still trying to figure out what I think is better. If I went down the line issue by issue, I would probably agree with McCain more often than Obama. But I can also relate to Obama more in that he seems to be a hopeless idealist. I think people are more important than policy, and that the circumstances surrounding the key issues don't always lend themselves to a black and white response.

What do you think is better? What does America need in a leader? Black and White, or Grey?

My Latest Impulse Purchase

2008-08-31T12:00:00.000-07:00

So here it is:

Above represents my latest impulse purchase. Specialized Allez Sport. Shimano grouping. Carbon fiber form and seatpost. For those that have followed my blog, you know I have recently picked up the hobby or road biking. I have been riding a 10 speed bike for the time being that is older than I am.

My good friend Ryan Grable recently bought a very nice road bike, and I couldn't be outdone. Although I bought it largely out of impulse, I have no buyers remorse. I took it on a 30 mile ride from Santa Cruz to Bonny Doon today and couldn't be happier with the bike.

This could be bad for the blog. I may be too busy riding to post anymore. Sorry guys.

He is...The Most Interesting Man in the World

2008-08-30T15:48:00.001-07:00

Absolutely Hilarious.

White Trash / Gulchie Block Party

2008-08-25T22:31:00.001-07:00

We decided to throw a White Trash / Gulchie Block Party on Saturday night. Being that we live in a cabin in the woods on a street called Lockhart Gulch, it was not to hard to get into character for this.

We threw a couch on the patio and hung some American Flags up and called it good.

We set up a white trash photo booth, consisting of a dirt bike, rifle, fishing pole, and other white trash items. There were some awesome costumes captured in the photo booth.

The highlight of the evening festivities were the white trash wine tasting (beer tasting), best dressed costume contest, and blind beer taste testing. I would like to give a hand to the winner of the costume contest, Ron Carson, father to my roommate Luke Carson, and the winner of the blind beer tasting contest Jenny Hammond, who managed to beat out a tough field of 3 seriously white trash males. These two winners earned themselves the most white trash prize ever... Lotto Tickets. If they win, they are splitting the winnings with me.

We finished the evening off with a dance party, followed by the mandatory "fall through the glass top coffee table" white trash party grand finale.

I am already trying to figure out what out next party is going to be.

The sideshow has some highlights from the evening. Enjoy.

Atlanta

2008-08-20T19:35:00.000-07:00

I spent some time with the family it Atlanta last week. With our busy lives and living so far away, it doesn't happen to often. Although it is a bummer it doesn't happen that often, it makes those times when everyone gets together that much better.

We spent some time checking out a local cemetary in the Atlanta Area. It is a pretty old cemetary, with over 7,000 confederate soldiers burried there. There are also some cool looking gravesites.

This is the car the Lipert's rented. We don't need to impress anyone with fancy rental cars. This did the job just fine. Plus it also did tricks!

I am looking forward to doing this again soon.

Political / Religious Phenoms

2008-08-16T08:09:00.000-07:00

In the political phenomenon that is Barrack Obama, it only makes sense that the religious phenomenon of Rick Warren will be interviewing both the Barrack Obama and John McCain this evening on television.

Even though I am in Atlanta visiting family, I will definitely be checking this out. Two reasons mainly:

1. I currently find myself just to the right of center on the political spectrum, and I am still not entirely sure which candidate I identify with more. If I had to vote right now, I would definetely vote for McCain, but there is plenty of time left for McCain to alienate me/Barrack to win me over.

2. The state of the world is such that these next four years will be very critical for the worlds leaders and we need to make sure as voters that we educate ourselves in order for us to select the best possible candidate as our leader.

This will be really interesting.

Back in the Saddle

2008-08-15T07:42:00.000-07:00

I need to apologize to my faithful readers for the recent inactivity on my blog these past few weeks. But I have a really good excuse.

I went down with a pretty bad back injury last week that had me on my back heavily medicated for about 4 days. I am still recovering as we speak, but I should be back to normal here real soon.

The circumstances surrounding the back injury are quite humorous now that the excruciating pain has subsided. I went on a church retreat with CLC to Donner Lake. I had the opportunity to do a little wakeboarding. Fortunately, I had still retained my wakeboarding skills even though I hadn’t been in a couple years. Unfortunately, I am not in the same shape I used to be, and subsequently managed to pull a muscle in my back.

The one good thing that resulted was a weak attempt at some facial hair. This is a make or break week for the facial hair, as I introduce it into the different circles of my life. We will see what happens.

I know, a pulled make muscle doesn’t sound very bad, but trust me, the pain is worse than anything I have ever experienced in my life.

Lucky for me, the pain didn’t set in till nearly two days after I went wakeboarding, so I was still able to enjoy the retreat.

We had an opportunity to gather around during the retreat for some time to dive into the word. The conversation that resulted was largely focused on refocusing on the importance of creating space in our days and allowing God to be apart of everything we do. It was cool cause it kind of tied into my Brother Lawrence post, and I got the opportunity to share a little bit about it during this time. In addition we talked about how as Christ Followers, we sometimes get caught up in trying to figure out what God is calling us to do in our lives, and often times we are looking for something big and extravagant. The reality is that often times God does call us to DO something, big or small, but all of us as Christ Followers are called to BE. As Christ Followers we are all called to the incarnation of Christ, no matter what we happen to be doing. That really spoke to me.

I will be heading to Atlanta these next couple days for some family time. I am really looking forward to it. I will do my best to fit some blogging in and get back into the blogging saddle.

Happy Birthday Mikey

2008-08-08T08:38:00.001-07:00

It's Mikey's birthday today. 8/8/08. Pretty crazy! Happy Birthday.

Desk Calendar

2008-07-30T21:54:00.001-07:00

I cleaned up my desk a little bit today at work. On my desk I have a giant calendar that I use for scheduling and notes, but mostly doodling. Basically its a giant old school palm pilot.

I tore off a couple of the old months and went to throw them away, but decided I would snap a few photos of them and post them on the blog. I figured it would give everyone a little insight as to what is going on in my mind while I am working.

As you can see, a lot of it is random doodles. Most of these are done while I am on the phone. I like to doodle while I am on the phone. It is like a nervous tick.

Not too many exciting observations here, but I did notice that I write my name a lot. I was slightly disturbed. I am sure some psychologist would have some interesting input on that.

Monkey Trap

2008-07-29T21:34:00.000-07:00

I read about this the other day. I thought it was pretty interesting, and worthy of blogging.

Check it out:

http://www.inspirationalstories.com/2/233.html

At first I thought those monkeys were pretty dumb. But then I started to think about all the things in my life that I try to hold onto when I know they are ultimately going to bring me down.

So what is your "bottle of nuts"?

Sailing Party

2008-07-25T07:18:00.000-07:00

I never got around to blogging about my birthday sailing excursion. Luckily Bobby finally got around to it.

Check it out here:

http://www.myworshiprevolution.com/bobbym/2008/07/sailing-away-for-ryans-birthday.html

I am not sure how I will ever top this one.

My favorite quotes from Coast Guard Dude:

1. I don't want to see this on YouTube.

2. We are going to have to write you a violation for "that".

3. Just out of curiosity, what kind of brownies are those?

4. I am wayyyyy better looking than Ashton Kutcher.

I can't wait for next year.

YoungLife

2008-07-23T21:15:00.000-07:00

There is a group of high school guys I have been meeting with weekly on a fairly regular basis for the last two years. It is called "Campaigners", and it is more or less a time to hang out and talk about stuff, whether it be the bible, school, or life in general.

We got together tonight for what will probably be our last "Campaigners". They all graduated at the beginning of summer, and some are moving away to college, while others will be hanging out around Santa Cruz doing the community college thing.

As we at "Bruno Burgers" at Brunos BBQ, I couldn't help but be a little bummed about seeing them go. I am going to miss our time hanging out on Wednesday nights.

I can only hope that the the time we spent together and the things we talked about have prepared them a little more for the exciting journey ahead. I am definitely jealous. The college years are certainly some of the best. Hopefully they make good choices.

Roller Derby

2008-07-20T22:00:00.000-07:00

I have a new favorite sport. Roller Derby.

Last night I went to the Derby Bout between the Santa Cruz Roller Girl All Stars and the Inland Empire Derby Divas at the Santa Cruz Civic Center.

It was quite the experience. Sell out crowd. Lex from Survivor was the commentator.

Roller Derby as a sport is quite interesting. I'll spare you the details here, but check out the rules on Wikipedia.

I had kind of put Roller Derby in that same category as professional wrestling, but it is actually a somewhat legitimate sport. Granted the girls come up with cheesy wrestler names like "Roxy Scarmichael", but they take this pretty seriously. In the first half alone, there were two all out brawls with plenty of punching and hair pulling. There were some pretty serious body checks and girls flying all over the track. Several injuries and stoppages to clean up blood on the track were pretty common.

Not to mention the score was pretty close the entire time. The Santa Cruz Roller Girls pulled managed to pull off the victory. The whole crown went nuts.

Count me in as a new fan of the Santa Cruz Roller Girls.

100th Post

2008-07-20T09:46:00.000-07:00

This is my 100th post. It is hard to believe I have come this far.

A few interesting facts about my blog:

1. My first post was on 11/23/07.
3. I have 6 subscribers via my RSS feed.
2. I have had 1,803 visits and 3,203 page views.
3. I average 8 visits and 14 pages views a day.
4. My most viewed post was on March 6th, 2008.
5. I have earned $5.89 to date on this blog through Google Adsense.

Thanks for following everyone. It has been a fun journey so far, and I look forward to the next 100 posts.

Lawrence of the Resurrection

2008-07-19T10:19:00.000-07:00

I went to a BBQ at a friends house last night. There were quite a few new and interesting people, as well as a couple of good friends that I hadn't connected with in a little while.

Although I love the opportunity to reconnect, I always dread the unavoidable greeting "Ryan, how you doing? What's NEW?"

Could there be a more loaded question? The "How you doing?" question no longer holds any weight. A question that should solicit a 30 minute response, has permanently been reduced to a response of "Good".

And then there is the "Whats new?" Ummmmmmm let me think. Nothing? Well that certainly doesn't make for interesting conversation. But lets face it, my life is pretty boring in comparison to the friends who have just bought new huge trucks are have just gotten back/are soon leaving for some far corner of the world.

That's why I am down with Brother Lawrence. Nothing was ever "new" for him. He worked in a monastery where he cooked, cleaned, and repaired sandals every day. That would certainly make for boring party conversation.

But he wrote a book called "The Practice of the Presence of God". Although I haven't read it, I have read the Wikipedia entry on it (which is almost as good). He more or less argues that "common business," no matter how mundane or routine, was the medium of God's love. In addition, we don't need need to great things... we can do little things for God. For Brother Lawrence " It is enough for me to pick up but a straw from the ground for the love of God".

It was once he realized that the very things he was doing were part of God's plan, no matter how mundane, his soul had come to a "place of rest".

Now that is something I can talk about at a party.

Font

2008-07-19T10:10:00.000-07:00

Time for a little spring cleaning on the blog, even though its summer already. I am changing up my font. The other font was getting to boring.

I read an interesting post on fonts on a label printing blog I follow. Inspired me to get creative with my font choice. The only bummer is that blogger doesn't give you many choices.

I think I will go with Georgia for the time being.

Horseshoes

2008-07-13T22:10:00.001-07:00

I found another hidden talent this weekend.

I was at a BBQ and some people were playing horseshoes. I have never really played horseshoes, but I thought I would join in.

My partner and I proceeded to win 4 games in a row. Although I had no idea what I was doing, it sure did look like I was a seasoned horseshoe veteran.

We put some money on the last game. With the big bucks on the line, we got close to choking. The score was 20-21. We were down one. You play to 21, but you have to win by 2. My opponent tossed his two horseshoes and managed to get them both very close. It could potentially be enough for 2 points, and the victory.

I had two opportunities to put one of my horseshoes closer. My first toss was horrible, but a lucky bounce put it close enough to take away one of their points, but that wasn't enough. All they needed was one point. I had one more toss to change that.

I threw my last horseshoe and it knocked my opponents two horseshoes away and left my horseshoes close enough for two points. We went up by one point. 22-21.

It was my partners turn to try to seal the deal. He was automatic. His first toss was a ringer. 3 Points. Game over.

We won 5 bucks each. 5 Bucks never felt so good. We retired for the night as the unbeatable dynasty.

I'll rate this talent up there with my ping pong skills. The only thing it is really good for is maybe hustling a couple bucks at BBQ's. Maybe one day I'll discover a useful talent.

Kooks

2008-07-12T12:04:00.000-07:00

We took the candidate for the youth pastor position at CLC surfing this morning.

We set a record for the number of longboards on top of the Subaru. We managed to get 5 up there. We probably looked like the biggest group of kooks driving through Santa Cruz at 50 MPH on Highway 1.

Body Womping Sesh

2008-07-05T22:58:00.000-07:00

Had a super fun body womping session at It's Beach today with Ryan Grable.

Look for these pics on the cover of the next Body Surfing Magazine.

Ordained

2008-07-03T23:37:00.000-07:00

I am ordained.

I am officially ordained through the Church of Latter Day Dude. I am not really sure what this church is all about, but the ordination process is fairly simple, and apparently totally legit.

Why did I do this you may ask? I am entering into my mid twenties. If there is ever a wedding season in your life, this is it. I figure this may come in handy real soon as my friends and I enter into the life stage of getting married.

So there you have it. If your looking for someone to marry you, keep me in mind. I really want to perform at least one wedding in my lifetime.

Smartness Part 3: The Answer

2008-07-01T00:01:00.000-07:00

The Answer......... A rational player would SWITCH!

Now I don't mean to offend anyone if you said you wouldn't switch. It certainly doesn't mean you are irrational.

What I presented here to you was the Monty Hall Problem, named after the host of Lets Make A Deal.

Here is the explanation of the answer:

The overall probability of winning by switching is determined by the location of the car. Assuming the problem statement in my original blog post and that the player initially picks Door 1:

The player originally picked the door hiding the car. The game host must open one of the two remaining doors randomly.
The car is behind Door 2 and the host must open Door 3.
The car is behind Door 3 and the host must open Door 2.

Players who choose to switch win if the car is behind either of the two unchosen doors. In two cases with 1/3 probability switching wins, so the overall probability of winning by switching is 2/3.

For those of you who are visual learners, this picture should help clarify for you.

If you still don't get it, set up an experiment like we did at a party I was at the other night.

Have someone be the game show host, and someone be the contestant. Take three cups (doors) and a bottle cap (a car) and run through the scenario 100 times (or 10). If you follow the switching strategy, you should win a car about 66 (or 66.66%) times, and win a goat about 33 (or 33.33%) times.

So for those of you who got it right, congratulations. You are probably far smarter than I will ever be.

For those of you who got it wrong, don't make the same mistake twice. The odds are in your favor in the future to win a car, or whatever is behind those doors.

Whatever you do, don't hate me, hate math. It was math who proved you wrong.

Smartness Part 2

2008-06-29T21:14:00.001-07:00

The topic of this blog post came up at a party I was at last night.

What resulted was a pretty heated debate over whether or not you should switch doors.

I revealed the answer to the individuals who were there. Unfortunately it was not accepted with open arms, mainly because it required them to think "outside the box". In reality, they were not arguing against my opinion, but instead arguing against math. When math is right, it is very hard to prove him/her wrong. (Is math male or female? I'll let you decide).

It got so heated, we ran through the scenario a couple of times and created a small sample set using a bottle cap and three cups. Needless to say, the truth was revealed, to the chagrin of many.

Anyway, I want to encourage all my readers to post their thoughts on this topic before I post the answer. Take a risk. Hopefully you will all find this as fascinating as I do.

I'll post the answer tomorrow night at midnight.

Smartness

2008-06-27T20:29:00.001-07:00

I wanted to test out the general smartness and IQ of my readers. Here is a question on probability that I read in the latest issue of The Week.

Here are the details. Your on a game show. You are presented with three doors. Behind one door is a car, and behind the other 2 doors is goats. You are asked to pick a door.

You pick a door, say number 1. The host, who knows whats behind the doors, opens another door, say door number 3, and reveals a goat, and then says to you, do you want to pick door number 2?

What do you do. Do you stay with your original guess of door number one, or do you switch to door number 2?

I want to see some answers down here in the comments section. I'll post the answer in a couple days. Take a risk and post. It'll be interesting to see everyone's response.

Giselles Bday

2008-06-27T07:11:00.000-07:00

It was Giselles Bday on Monday. I missed her radical suprise cupcake party this weekend, so we went to In Vino Veritas last night. Probably the best kept secret in Scotts Valley.

Food was good. Bill was expensive.

I recommend the chicken.

Hope you had a great birthday Giselle.

I'm Famous

2008-06-22T14:04:00.000-07:00

Well Kinda. Famous by association if anything.

I don't watch this show, but I might check it out now. Why?

Her name is Ali. We met on a "business trip" to Atlanta last year. I didn't know she was a reality TV show star at the time. We went out to dinner, had a good time. I wasn't really interested in doing the long distance thing though. I tried to let her down gently. She was devastated though.

Wait... that might have all been in my head.

My brief brush with the not so famous!

Summer Time

2008-06-20T19:26:00.001-07:00

I am entering into my first summer since I started this blog. What I am finding out is that Summer is probably the worst possible thing that could happen to a blog. The weather is just to good, the days are to long, and there is just too much fun stuff to do in the summer time. This is becoming especially true as I hang out down in Southern California for the last few days.

This is probably a phemonomenon unique to the California Coastal region. I can imagine if you lived in somewhere like Alabama, then you would blog probably blog more in the summer time, since you would spend most of your days inside air conditioned buildings waiting for it to cool down at night so you can go outside.

But not in California. I had a pretty easy time blogging in the winter, as the weather was crappy and the sun went down early. But now what do I do?

What am I talking about? This is a great problem to have.

Maybe this summer I'll focus on quality over quantity on my blog posts, not including this post.

Mikey!

2008-06-18T09:32:00.001-07:00

Mikey is Graduating from High School!

He sure is a chip off the old block! The last Lipert of our Generation to graduate from High School. Way to bring it up the rear Mikey!

I am down in So Cal for his graduation and party. Looking forward to seeing him move onto the next stage in life. It only gets better from here. Congratulations Mikey!

Lazyness

2008-06-16T21:33:00.000-07:00

I need to apologize for my blog laziness. I haven't posted very much recently. But I have some really good excuses that I still need to blog about.

I had an amazing later birthday party sailing trip, and then got to take a small short surf trip down to Southern California with a couple friends. I'll be sure to blog about those when I get a chance.

In addition, I have some new distractions that are doing a wonderful job keeping me away from the computer. Check them out:

All that to say that I am sorry for not blogging enough, and I'll try to step it up. Although things aren't looking very promising, as I am hoping on a plane tomorrow afternoon to fly down to Southern California for my little brothers graduation. I'll try to get some quality blogging while I am down there!

Happy Fathers Day

2008-06-15T20:58:00.001-07:00

Happy Fathers Day Dad!

The Pope

2008-06-02T20:14:00.000-07:00

I read an interesting article in one of the latest issues of "The Week" on the Pope.

He recently made his first visit to the US and wasted no time stirring things up.

Among the many things he addressed, he emphasized obedience and authority, and spoke out against "cafeteria catholics"; those catholics who follow and obey only the tennets they chose and go to confession only when it is convenient.

Pope Benedict was speaking to what he sees as a tendency for catholics to treat their religion as a private matter, whereas catholics need a faith that permeates every aspect of their lives.

Now although I don't necessarily subscribe to this "brand" of Christianity, the Pope's comments struck home for me.

As a product of the University of California education system, subjective truth and cultural relativism where fairly mainstream ideas. What one person holds as a personal truth may not in fact be a personal truth for someone else. What developed was an environment where there was no objective truth.

But as Christians, we hold our faith to be "the one" objective truth. The cornerstone of our beliefs are in the resurrection and our salvation that results in our recognition and acceptance. This is a non negotiable in Christian faith.

So in times such as these, where "life is cheap, sex is meaningless, and nothing is Holy" it is refreshing to hear the pope argue that Christianity is more than a religion, it is a culture. In some ways it is comforting to have a stubborn Pope in a world of moral relativity.

Indy 500 (My Last Post I Promise)

2008-05-28T21:48:00.001-07:00

I took a little video of the Indy 500. The quality is pretty crappy, as I took it with my phone, and I don't know how to flip it upright. But you get the idea of what it is like to be there.

The last thing I'll say about the Indy 500 is that everyone should go to this at least once. It is one of the only opportunities you will have to go to a sporting event with 300,000 other people. To put that into perspective, the biggest baseball stadiums don't even hold 50,000 people.

Pretty Crazy.

INDY

2008-05-26T03:48:00.001-07:00

Indy

2008-05-24T20:02:00.001-07:00

Its 11PM over here. I think that makes it 8PM over there. We were so kindly greeted by my dads friends family with the following banner:

The Indy 500 is a big deal out here. It is like the only time of the year there is anything to do out here. The real fun starts tomorrow. Today was like the warm up.

This should be good.

The Bucket List

2008-05-23T22:17:00.000-07:00

I catch a plane tomorrow morning at 6:30 AM to Indianapolis to what many would argue is the Holy Grail of Auto Racing... the Indy 500.

This prompted me to put together a bucket list of sporting events. This list represents the sporting events I want to witness first hand before I kick the bucket.

In no particular order:

1. The Indy 500 (Soon to be checked off)
2. The World Series
3. The NBA Finals
4. The Super Bowl
5. The Stanley Cup Playoffs
6. The Masters
7. Wimbledon
8. The Daytona 500
9. The Little League World Series

There you have it. Now the fun part begins. Checking them off my list.

iTunes 25 Most Played

2008-05-23T06:27:00.001-07:00

Thanks Bobby.

Dont Judge Me.

Bday

2008-05-21T18:37:00.001-07:00

Its My Birthday Today. Facebook decided they would wish me a happy birthday. Isn't that nice?

Birthday plans as follows:

My church small group threw me a little surprise party last night.
I am going out to eat tonight with a few friends at the Los Gatos Brewery.
I fly to Indianapolis, Indiana on Saturday and treat myself to a weekend of auto racing at the Indy 500, the holy grail of auto racing, with my Dad. More on this later.
Ryan's 2nd annual birthday sailing extravaganza a week from Saturday.

I love Birthdays. To bad they only happen once a year.

Words Of Wisdon

2008-05-21T00:00:00.000-07:00

The Rev Comes Through Again Today.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Good morning Its a new week! A good day! Walk with an extra boost of energy. Ride the crest of the wave that extra mile! Things will play in your style if you smile! Its all about your attitude! Goooooo get em!!!! :-)

God is Love
Rev Run

Amazing Shows

2008-05-20T12:00:00.000-07:00

I am hooked on these two shows lately. One is called Iconoclasts and is on the Sundance Channel. I was turned onto it by my Aunt and Uncle in Atlanta. The same Aunt and Uncle that turned me onto the Week Magazine. I watched my first episode of it when I was out visiting them in October last year.

The other is called Carrier on PBS. It is a great show I heard some people talking about at work.

The concept behind Iconoclasts is great. The bring together two celebrities who you would never have known had an influential relationship with each other, and they interview each of them about the other and then the two celebrities get together for an informal interview/discussion about nothing in particular. For example, in one episode they bring together Fiona Apple and Quentin Tarantino. In another episode, they bring together Paul Simon and Lorne Michaels. Pretty random, but also very awesome.

Carrier, on the other hand, is a reality show about life on a US Navy Aircraft Carrier. More than anything, they are showcasing some of the unique individuals on the ship and some of the unique circumstances they find themselves in. What is even more interesting to me about this show is the type of people that seem to end up in military service. They all tend to have pretty radical backgrounds and life stories that have led them to where they are. Those individual stories really hooked me on this show. Anyway, I totally recommend these shows. Check them out.

Hot

2008-05-18T20:57:00.000-07:00

It has been really hot here lately. Like a little to hot. I live in one of the coolest places in the bay area, and by coolest I mean temperature. When everywhere else is cold, we are freezing. When everone else is hot, we are just warm.

But its been super hot everywhere else, and just plain hot here.

I went to a wedding yesterday in San Jose. Outdoor, 4PM, 100 degrees. Just plain crazy. I wore shorts. I was "that guy". You know, the guy everyone is like "Who invited that guy?". "Why is that guy wearing shorts?" As James said though, they invited me, not my nice clothes. So that's what they are getting. Me and my shorts.

This should give you a little idea of how hot is was. I left a banana in my car for a little to long. It got a serious sunburn. I thought about eating it, but I didn't.

I'm pretty much a 70 degree guy. I don't like it if its colder or hotter than 70 degrees. I'm looking forward to it cooling down soon. I am going to have to wash my "Papas and Beer" tank top eventually.

White Gold - D-String

2008-05-13T22:30:00.001-07:00

This is amazing. I dunno who White Gold is, but I want to be him.

Happy Mothers Day Mom

2008-05-11T18:44:00.001-07:00

Spin Class

2008-05-10T10:29:00.000-07:00

I have finally made peace with posting about something that has recently become a part of my life. Thanks to Bobby, I have recently started regulary attending a spin class. By regularly, I mean every Thursday afternoon from 6:30 to 7:30. It is one serious hour of butt kicking.

To be perfectly honest, the reason I really take this class is because it is an opportunity to hang out with Bobby. Those of you who know me know that one of my personal philosophies on life is that it is not about what your doing, but who you are doing it with. So it is no so much about the spin class as it is about hanging with a buddy.

But there are also the fringe benefits of the class. Mainly, you get your butt whipped into shape, and there are also some cute girls in the class.

So why have I finally decided to blog about the spin class? Trust me, this wasn't easy, as my entire life I have associated workout classes like this as being for girls. Real men lift weights right?

Well the other day, as our spin instructor was border line abusing us, she took some pictures of the class and told us she was going to post them on her blog. What?!? She's a blogger! And instantly my whole outlooked changed. Me, Bobby, and Spin Instructor Megan... just a couple of bloggers riding stationary bikes and getting in shape. No big thing.

I thought I ought to give her a little link love on my blog. Not like it will really mean much for her, as I only get like 10 visits a day. Shes a great instructor. You know when you meet someone who is just made for the job they do. Well Megan was totally made to be a Spin Instructor. She embodies every characteristic you would expect in a spin instructor. The perfect mix to make push my body to the extreme limits on a stationary bike.

I never thought I would be blogging about a spin class.

Real World

2008-05-07T21:45:00.000-07:00

I was going to Blog about this customer I have at work who made my day very difficult, but instead I think I am just going to watch a little Real World before going to bed.

Is that bad?

I try to keep in touch with mainstream society by watching The Real World. It kinda keeps me in the loop. Unfortunately the "Real World" is nothing like the show, but isn't that the appeal of it? If it really was a show about the real world, it probably would be incredibly boring.

... where people stop being polite and start getting real.... The Real World.

I'll blog about the my interesting customer some other time. We are going out to lunch on Friday.

Subaru Rockage

2008-05-06T21:46:00.000-07:00

I own Subaru. Kind of. If you remember my post from awhile back, I got kinda screwed by Subaru. The charged me for a bunch of work and I thought they shouldn't have.

Long story short, the issue was just recently resolved.

Thats a letter of apology and a reimbursement check for half of the work done.

Although I would have liked them to reimburse me for all the work, I am happy with this compromises.

So what did I learn in this situation. Well first off, I learned to clearly communicate with the dealer and make a point of understanding what they are going to do to avoid confusion. I also learned to only do business with those dealers who are willing to communicate to you and advocate on your behalf.

I also learned that the little consumer does have power against the big corporations. Although it seemed as though Subaru held all the cards, I clearly communicated my concerns and demanded action, and thats exactly what I got.

Little victories.

Good Day

2008-05-03T14:20:00.001-07:00

Its gonna be a good day. The Big Man Upstairs has got my back. He wanted to hook me up today apparently. Check this out:

Thats right. If you didn't notice, thats a double yoke. One egg, two yokes. I'm not sure how often this happens, but I am pretty sure this is pretty rare.

What a great suprise on a Saturday Morning. This probably means that it is going to be a great weekend. I am pretty confident in that. I can only imagine what good fortune awaits me.

Coconut

2008-04-30T21:59:00.001-07:00

I have this wonderful computer my parents got me for graduation. It's a MacBook Pro, or as the cool Mac kids like to call it, a "MBP". It is basically the Mercedes Benz of computers, but unfortunately I have really only utilized it as a minivan, checking email, blogging, and surfing the net.

I decided today I would try to make a video on it, as that is what Macs are so well known for. I had a housewarming party a few weeks back, and one of my gifts was a fruit basket. In the fruit basket was a coconut. Every time I walked into the kitchen, this thing stared at me. I had no idea what to do with it.

So finally today, I figured I would kill two birds with one stone and make a video about opening the coconut. I got a little carried away and tried to turn it into a SNL Parody of the "Dear Sister" skit. Unless you have seen the skit, you probably won't understand. Thats OK. Its pretty dumb anyway. If anything, please admire my amatuer video making skills. This took me about an hour start to finish. Not bad for my first one.

Oh ya... The coconut tastes nasty. Not sure I will ever get one again. The only thing they are good for is making drinks inside of them. And by the way, it isn't milk inside the coconut... it just water.

Enjoy.

Perfect Storm Part 2

2008-04-29T22:20:00.000-07:00

So the story gets better.

This democratic primary race continues to fascinate me. As I explained last week, the democratic nominee for president will likely be chosen by "super delegates".

Although Obama continues to hold a slight lead in pledged delegates, the tides can quickly change . As if there wasn't enough reason for the democratic party to fear a brokered convention, Obama's pastor of the last twenty plus years continues to give the super delegates reason to doubt his ability to beat McCain in the presidential election.

All this adds to the liklihood of a brokered convention, where even though Obama may enter the convention with the lead in pledged delegates, the "super delegates" decide to give the nomination to Clinton, because they feel she is more electable and it is in the best interest of the party.

If you ask me, you couldn't write a better script. The democratic party is caught between a rock and a hard place. Do you give the nomination to Obama, who as each day passes, becomes less and less likely to be able to beat McCain in the presidential election? Or do you give the nomination to Clinton, going against the apparent will of the voters and deny him victory even though he holds the lead in pledged delegates?

One thing I have to say. If I even run for president, I hope my pastor doesn't embarrass me like Obama's pastor does. You got to check this guy out. He is crazy. Just go to YouTube and type in Jeremiah Wright. All kinds of good stuff.

Stay tuned. I'll follow this closely and keep you updated. As if you really needed to hear about politics from another source right?

Tired and Uninspired

2008-04-27T22:27:00.000-07:00

Its been awhile since I last posted. Nothing original is coming to mind. I am laying in my room right now and it is a pretty warm evening. Doesn't make for a good writing environment. A little to stuffy.

This is the end of a refreshing weekend. I got to spend some quality time with some friends just relaxing. Well if you consider surfing and riding motorcycles relaxing. I certainly do.

Now I am thinking about the upcoming week. Do you ever get overwhelmed at the week ahead of you on Sunday evenings? I know I do sometimes. Like I spoke about last week, the key for me is to not get caught up in the routine and miss out on the work God is doing. But with all the appointments and obligations in ones life, how do we stay in tune with the divine?

Perfect Storm

2008-04-23T21:58:00.000-07:00

Some of you may know that we are on the brink of a political "Perfect Storm".

Politics for me is like hockey. I only really watch when its the playoffs and its like game 7. So now is the time when I get really interested in politics. Some you may read this and instantly tune this post out. BUT DON'T. This is where it gets good.

I'll try to keep it brief, but I want to get everyone as excited about this as I am.

As you may well know, the nomination race between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton is very tight. As I understand it, the democratic party nominates their presidential candidate through a primary election process, where the individual who wins the most delegates at the end of the primary election receives the democratic nomination. Each state has a certain number of delegates, and depending on voter response, delegates are awarded accordingly.

To further complicate the issue, there are about 800 "super delegates" who are not obligated to vote based on the results of any states primaries, but instead can choose to support whichever candidate they want based on the following:

1. Super delegates should support the candidate they believe represents the best chance of winning the general election.
2. Super delegates should act in the best interest of the democratic party.

What potentially could happen is that neither candidate, Clinton or Obama, could enter the Democratice National Convention with enough delegates to represent a majority, at which time the super delegates essentially would choose the nominee.

If this happens, it would be the first time since 1952 that there has been a "brokered convention". (Adlai Stevenson received the nomination through a brokered convention, and oddly enough, my college at UCSC was called Stevenson College, named after the great Adlai Stevenson).

So I will wait in anticipation of this "perfect storm" of politics, because occasions such as these don't happen often.

Case of the Mondays

2008-04-21T07:18:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning with a case of the "Mondays". You know that feeling right? The alarm goes off at 6AM and you realize its Monday. 5 more days of this till the weekend. I have been known to come down with cases of the Mondays on Tuesday and Wednesdays as well, although that is very rare, even more rare than having two full moons in the same month (Blue Moon). This whole thing is incredibly depressing, especially after having such an awesome weekend. I'll get into that later.

Sometimes it feels like the Mondays is a terminal illness, but luckily its not. In fact, it is easily curable. I'm working on my cure right now. The cure is called "living life to the fullest". Although our day to day routine may become repetitive and boring, making it hard to ge up in the morning, simply going through the motions can not only way you down, but it can also cause you to miss out on the small new and exciting circumstances and appointments that may just "show up" amongst your routine. Even more so, the Mondays could caue me to miss out on the diving appointments God has set before me in the midst of my daily routine.

So there you have it. I am going to punch the Mondays right in the throat. I'm excited about today, not necessarily my routine, but the small opportunities to live life to the fullest that may show up within my routine. Even more so, I am excited about how God is going to show up today, so I work on being in tune with him so I may recognize his divine appointments within my routine.

I'm sitting in coffee cat right now as write this. Sipping a nice Chai Latte with plenty of honey. I ordered a medium, but they gave me a large cause they skipped my order and I had to wait an extra couple minutes.

I have a few customers and sites to visit this morning, so before I got on the road, I decided to stop into Coffee Cat to check my email and do a little work. Blogging some how fit in as well. If anything, it is part of the cure.

Part of the cure is also reminiscing about the housewarming party we had this weekend. It was really fun, and a great opportunity to bring groups of friends together who don't always hang out. Between the couple of different groups of friends I have, and then James' friends, we had quite the melting pot. It is great to see all the different groups interact. All I had to do was create the space in the form of a housewarming party. I will have to do this again sometime, it really is an awesome thing. And pretty fun as well. We got to share good food and drinks, sit around a fire, as well as dance and play. What more do you need?

I didn't take any pictures, but I know there were others taking pictures. If and when I ever get some, I'll post a couple of them on here.

Have a good Monday.

Blogging Inspiration

2008-04-15T22:12:00.000-07:00

I have many inspirations for this Blog. You can see some of those linked in my favorite link sections. I have a new favorite to add to the list after today.

http://blog.lightninglabels.com/blog/

Through my work, I am a member of the Petroleum Equipment Institute (PEI for short) as a "Young Executive". I know, it sounds important, and it is! Among the many benefits of being a member, I get a periodic newsletter with some interesting information/facts/stories related to my field of work.

I got one of those emails today, and in it was an article about change. The article itself wasn't that great, but there was a link to the authors blog. I cruised over and checked it out, and immediately I was inspired.

What we have here is a blog about label printing. If you would have told me to check out a blog about label printing, I would have told you to go fly a kite. But I went and checked it out, and immediately I was hooked.

I immediately felt like I have been short changing my audience here on the blog. I have managed to write quite a few posts on many different parts of my life, but I have neglected to post really anything about my work, arguably one of the biggest parts of my life (at least time wise).

My excuse for this was largely based on my assumption that nobody wanted to read about what I did for work cause that would be boring. Heck, there are days when even I get bored at work. But after today, it was all put into perspective. If this guy can make a blog about label printing fun, engaging, and interesting, it shouldn't be to hard for me to write a couple of interesting posts about what I do for work every so often.

In reality, my subject matter at work is pretty interesting. I work with and for some very interesting people. My customers could provide endless amounts of blog material. And the field itself, although pretty complex, is pretty dynamic and constantly changing.

So there you have it. Thanks Peter. Even though I don't know you, you are an inspiration for my Blog.