Cities Ho!

Hello my lovely interwebbivilians! Today should be a pretty fun day. I'm wearing a T-shirt and Jeans at work, which usually means something funnnn is gonna happen! Todays fun will consist of Party at Mike's FIVE. That's right, people. FIVE. Number five since August 1st, 2006. Our trip should include Village Wok, Medditeranean Market, Gaming with Jesse and Sarah, picking up a darkroom kit and playing Rook. I know, it seems like a TON of stuff, but it will be done!

Also, I would like to say hello to everyone who will be reading this blog from Blog365. I'm going to try and write as many blogs possible this year, one a day, ideally. We'll see how that works, however. BTW, I already beat Blog365's system, as this year is a leap year, so it should actually be called Blog366.

http://blog365.ning.com/profile/NickDavis

Good day!

Tags: Blog, Party at Mikes, Photography

ASP.Net URLMappings

Alright, Still in process of tweaking my blogging tool, Europa, for SEO success. One of the points on the list from Chris was to make my URL's cleaner. Before today, I was using the standard querystring method of reaching pages. The problem with these, is that search engines have a hard time digesting them (Let alone humans.)

At first, this project of converting my links sounded very tedious. Initially I was thinking I'd have to write some elaborate routine on publishing an HTML page after writing a blog, similar to how blogger does it. Not only would I have to make an HTML page for each blog, but I would have to update the extra content (such as "last 10 blogs") in case I wanted to archive them, keep tabs on a main page, rss feed, etc etc etc. Didn't sound appetising at all.

Dissapointed and overcome by this method, I set on a search to find a nice and easy route. Lo' and behold, Microsoft never ceases to amaze me. URLmappings totally made my life easier. They allow you to set a sort of virtual path to your page, yet, still taking in querystring information.

For example, the link to my recent blog, "Lucky Man". It's original (and working) path is:

http://www.nicholasdavis.info/blog.aspx?bID=346&Blog=Lucky+Man

The after effect of URLMappings is as follows:

http://www.nicholasdavis.info/346/2007/9/27/Lucky-Man.aspx

Sweet, huh? All I had to do was create an XML file that is referencable to my web.config file. For example, I have a file called URLMapping.xml. This contains all my URL Maps. Example:

<?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes"?>
<urlMappings enabled="true">
<add url="~/346/2007/9/27/Lucky-Man.aspx" mappedUrl="~/blog.aspx?bID=346&Blog=Lucky+Man" />
</urlMappings>

Now, I reference URLMapping.xml from the Web.Config file of my website:

That's all there is to it! So now when I save a blog, it opens the URLMapping.xml into a Dataset, quick add the links and save it back. Couldn't be easier.

Tags: Technology, SEO, URLMappings, Microsoft, C#, ASP.NET, Europa, Blog, Visual Studio

SEO? ROI? LOL?

Alright, lately I've been feeling the need to get into some serious SEO. Lately, over at Dream In Code, it seems as though there is a spark of interest with optimising sites for search engines. I'm trying to keep up, but man alive, these kids know how to do it. So here's what I have done... an experiment, have you. I have basically started fresh with my site structure (which goes unnoticed by the average viewer) in an attempt to climb in the Google search queries. But before I can climb with such drastic changes, I must fall at the foot of Google. Here's a few steps I have taken so far:

I moved my entire blogs from Blogger.com and Myspace to a home-brew blogging system I have periodically been working on with my free time. I also resurected blogs between 2002-2004 from old home-brew systems I have made. The MSN Spaces era in my life is all that's left. My Blogger account is slowly diminishing in google (when searching for "Nick Davis")
I have decided to stick with the domain of http://www.nicholasdavis.info. For the most part, I was sick of the ".org" look. It's funny and all, having the organization domain, but alas, I'm not an organization. I figured .info was alright, as it is information on me. Unfortunately, I believe it kind of puts me at a disadvantage compared to it's .com and .net brothers.
I changed all my page titles to something a little easier for google eat up. On Analytics, people do more searches for "Nick Davis" than "Nicholas Davis". I took that knowlege and figured "Nick Davis" was probably better in the title, especially if I want to tackle those keywords more.
I created an RSS feed for the mass populace to consume, of which I have created a modified version for Google to eat up, using Google Webmaster Tools.
I submitted my site to Google.
I reconstructed my blog template so that it will be easier for search engines to pick up on. Technorati seemed to enjoy it a lot.

So far, my Google presence seems to be improving a little since last week. Searching for "Nick Davis", my blog page shows up at the very bottom. I'm hoping the next couple days, it will be my home page and a couple notches higher than the bottom of the first page. I suppose I also need to work on blogging about things that are interesting.

This blog is my personal experience and for the most part very speculative. So if you have any information or tips, please let me know! I'd love to hear from you.

Tags: Technology, Web, Internet, RSS, Syndication, Google, SEO, Search Engines, Analytics, Blogger

Intuitive Design vs. New Toys

The night before, I read an interesting article written by the editor in the latest Communication Arts magazine we got in the mail a few days ago. From what I understood of the article, the gist of it was about user-end functionality in the ever-evolving career in web design. The editor wrote a couple paragraphs explaining how it is important to not only design the site with the client in mind, but also the end-user that will be interacting with the website. The site could have all of the latest and greatest in web design and look sleek, shiny and new. Or it could be tailored to the client, exactly how they wanted it. However, if it is not easily readable or learned by the user, the user will quickly give up and look at the next search result on Google because they couldn't easily and enjoyably find the information they were looking for on the website.

There's a lot of sweet, innovative ideas out there right now. O'Reilly coins it as "Web 2.0", I simply see it as the natural progression of the Internet. Within the last two years, AJAX, RSS syndication, streamlined video and the blog, have evolved into something amazing (despite all the baby talk). A lot of the technology and ideas behind a handful of the Web 2.0 movement is actually pretty cool and exciting to be a part of. I mean, we are one step closer to 100% interactive websites. With all of this great, revamped functionality, the average web designer has the potential to create very powerful and interactive websites. It gets me excited and very interested in what's coming up next.

With all the new and awesome technology, however, the very core basics of a website is often lost. When a user goes to a website, they are looking for a product. It could be a physical shelf product, a piece of software, an article, an idea; if they can not easily identify the product on the website, then the site just lost a consumer. It's possible that the product pertained to them, but since it was difficult (or sometimes near impossible) to grasp what the website was trying to portray, they are going to high-tail out of there.

In my eyes, this has always been an issue since the beginning of the Internet. The Internet itself, is a new technology and is still in development. There's no true standards yet. This gives the designer a ton of flexibility, which can be used and abused. It's a fine line, balancing the cutting edge of technology and pursuing an intuitive design. New technology is very important as it expands the functional boundaries of the Internet. Intuitive design is also very important, as it gives the end-user a clear direction on where you want them to go. The bottom line is, the goal of a functional website is to give the consumer the information they anticipated and expect to receive.

Tags: Technology, Web, Design, Internet, Communication Arts, Web 2.0, AJAX, RSS, Syndication, Blog, O'Reilly, Websites

Initiate!

Here's the home-brew blogging tool I've on-and-off been working on the past few months. It's got a few of the more popular web 2.0 features you find around the internet, such as RSS, tags and AJAX, as well as database options for the back-end. Here's a couple of the key features:

Simple, clean and efficient layout and design for the website's content administrator.
AJAX integration, making for an efficient and seamless enviroment.
Tags and Search functionality for help with finding a particular blog, checking popular topics or finding pictures.
RSS Feed for readers to subscribe to your latest writings.

For Developers, it is a simple ASP.net user control that you can drag and drop into the desired page. You have the option to either save the content to a SQL Database, or if one isn't available, you may save the data using the supplied XML DataSet. No code needs to be changed, just a simple toggle of your preference in the web.config file.

Tags: Europa, Blog, Test, Internetz

Colorado and Utah

Alright, we made it! We successfully drove Jacinda's Ford Taurus to Utah and then back home without any major complication! It was great week and a lot of fun to get away from everything for a spell. We started our 14 hour trek to Estes Park, Co, early morning last Monday. We endured driving through the monstrously long and boring state of Nebraska to get there. Morale was high and excitement got us through it.

Once at Colorado, we checked out a few restaurants, ate a really small-town diner (of which everyone stared at us non-regulars when we waltzed in), did the camping thing and hiked our hearts out. One hike we took was to the top of Estes Cone, which I believe was about 6 miles long. In the process, we saw a very beautiful creek with crystal clear water (that I took a sip of.) We also got to sit under a rock and partake in a storm that rained and thundered on us for about a half of an hour. The last 3/4 of a mile was pretty tricky, as it was a fairly steep climb with lots of rocks and stuff. It was well worth the trouble, as the view from the top was amazing. Jacinda and I watched clouds form, it was a great site to see.

Once done in Colorado, we drove another six hours through it's beautiful mountains over to Moab, Utah and made it just before midnight. First impressions were ill-lit under the cloudy moonlight, and to some, was unimpressive. Alas, we were all just tired and ready to sleep. By the time we had all woke up the next morning, The hills were lit up and the air was warm. We took a look around to find that Everything was beautiful, from the horizon to the friendly people surrounding us. This was truly an exiting and new area for me. Absolutely unreal terrain, great weather, interesting wildlife, everything. I hadn't even seen Arches National Park and I was already excited. The Park was definitely a spectacle, seeing how large God's creation is, and how small you actually are. It was amazing being able to see, stand under, walk over and touch everything. The experience was like living in a picture you see in a travel magazine or National Geographic. It was all right there for you to live in.

I also had a great time with the others on the trip. It was great getting to learn new aspects of Jacinda, Mike and Aaron. I really enjoyed the camping experience, hanging out at restaurants, swimming, hiking. Everything was great! It puts into perspective just how intricate God really is. He created the very mountains, meadows, rocks and plains we tread, and he made these for his people to enjoy them.

I will post pictures once they are developed.

Tags: Archive_Blogger, Colorado, Nebraska, Utah, Mountains, Road Trip, Aaron, Jacinda, Nick, Mike, Taurus, God, Arches National Park, Rocky National Park

Watching Kids and Colorado Prep

I think yesterday was really good for me. Jacinda and I went over to watch my siblings while Dad took Mom to the Albertville outlet for her birthday present. Lately it feels the days go by all too fast and I'm just sort of going through motions kind of thing. While we were at my parents watching kids, I was really sort of forced to just live in the current moment and not have to worry about anything else beyond what took place at that house. So that is what I did. I hung out with my family and took things one at a time. It was great. Mom's probably going to laugh when she sees what I am going to say, but it was actually really peaceful. My family is great.

While I was there, I was also given a couple hours to change the oil and fix a few things on Jacinda's car. It runs like a champ and will definetly make it to Colorado and back. Can you believe it? We are actually going, like, this time tommorow, we'll be somewhere in Nebraksa! Yikes!

Tags: Archive_Blogger, Car, Colorado, Family, Jacinda, Nebraska

Unsocial Networking

I'm not sure I like where the Internet is going.

This social network stuff has ultimately been a double-edged sword in my mind. They are absolutely convenient and fun. It's an easy way to keep people up to date on your life, fill your calendar with events your friends are going to, get the skinny about your favourite bands, just about any information you could want. I remember in late 2003, when I first joined MySpace, I was excited. It was a great way to share photos and information for a person with little to no experience in web development. This finally meant all of my friends would be able to join me online. Wonderful?

Long before any sort of talk about social networks, beginning around 1998, I kept consistent with my own website, shaped with my own blood and tears. I kept everyone close to me up to date with my life, utilising blogs, pictures and graphics. It was truly exciting and very rewarding to be able to do that. It was fun because I was unique and it was something not everyone could have. I was also doing it long before any of this was coined as "Web 2.0". A certain skill set was required to have a fully functioning website.

Come around 2005, inevitably, everyone I knew owned a MySpace account and/or a Facebook account. At the time, it was really nice to see everyone online. I could keep tabs with close friends that were away for the school year, have a full calendar of events I could choose whether or not to go, get the latest gossip on who's going out. It's amazing how much I could know about friends, family, acquaintances and strangers without even speaking a word.

Let me ask this... How much information is too much information? Facebook is the king grapevine report with their mini-feed. There is so much information that goes through that thing that I'd have rather learned from the source directly. There's also a lot of information I would rather not have known at all. A said this to B, C is sad, D is flying to X, E broke up with F, G is interested in men, H added "Titanic" to their movies, J joined the group, "Pray for 35W survivors", K joined the group, "Minneapolis Bridge Collapse", L is now a Zombie.... The list of personal and stupid information goes on for gigabytes upon gigabytes. The Rumor Mill does not run dry.

I swear, it's going to make our world socially retarded. Every conversation will be some form of gossip, or every coffee-talk will start with "So I saw on Facebook you blah blah blah..." Most casual pictures are already ruined as they are seldom printed (which are great conversation pieces) and always whored on the Internet to tally up a couple comments. Who knows, People may forget how to carry an authentic conversation all together. It will make you wonder who you are even close to.

I had a direction I was going with this, but I'm drawing a blank. I guess I'll end on the basis that I am going to spend less time scrounging around Social Networks and spend more time connecting with people on a more personal basis. I am also going to elaborate on my own website. I got the skills, might as well use em'!

Tags: Archive_Blogger, Facebook, Internet, Myspace, Social Networks, Websites, Technology

Over the Weekend

Welp, another weekend's past and I'm feeling fine. We got a few things done on Saturday, despite the grueling heat and humidity. We purchased 144 landscape blocks for around the house. We were unable to lay them down, however, due to the rain we got the night before. Loading and unloading was a long task, however. I also got to shovel a trailor of dirt. Woohooo!!!

Sunday was very enjoyable. Just sat around, played video games, bought some new jeans. Pretty enjoyable. w00t.

Tags: Archive_Blogger

Wrapping things up

Tune Up Jacinda's Car
Finish Websites
Complete Trim
Work on Landscaping

These need to get done and I absolutely need the time and clear mind to complete them.

5 MINUTE UPDATE:

I would like to complete these for three reasons:

Jacinda would be pleased.
Summer's running out of oil.
So I can develop my extra curricular activities: Tae Kwon Do, reading, graphic designing, coffee roasting and perhaps pick up guitar again.

O' Fall, how I love thee~

Tags: Archive_Blogger

Welcome to August

It's August. The eighth month of 2007. Simply incredible.

Alright, just wanted to get that out. The rest of the blog will most likely suck. Points of interest last week were seeing Grandparents, learning more duotone shiz in Photoshop, changing spark plugs, rain, fishing, Super Smash Bros.... That's about it.

Tags: Archive_Blogger

Summer 07 Update

Alright, when I'm in a blogging rut, I usually make some sort of quasi-annual list of stuff that has been going on. I believe they usually come around this time of year as there is a fair amount going on and then I do one around February since absolutely nothing goes on around then. Without further redo, here's some thoughts, happenings, future references, etc.

Summer 07 has been really, really, really good for me. Summer 06 I did not care as much for as there was a lot of weird stuff going on. '06 contained New Job, Loss of roommates, buttloads of side work, engagement, no summer events, etc. Munnnndane. '07 is pretty happening and we are taking advantage of every part of it.
Duluth was a great "Second Honeymoon". I wish we had stayed up there four days instead of three. We took it for what it was, however, and really enjoyed it. Watched enormous tugs come in under the raising bridge, Swam (more waded as it was intensely cold) in beautiful lake superior, ate a ton, shopped, watched a sunrise, laughed and enjoyed each other's company.
Landscaping is still going on. I still need to take out some rock and we are waiting for a few loads of dirt to fill the sides of the house with.
Wood trim and painting is also a never-ending project at our place. This year, it seems I lack the panache to get the jobs done. The weeks go by so awfully fast, it's ridiculous.
Sidework is coming in at a perfect pace. Just enough to get me a little extra cash on the side. I don't need sidework only to survive like I did the last few years, which is a great feeling. I'll display my most recent works once they are complete.
Jacinda is still the best person to have ever entered my life.
I think Mafesta finally bit the bullet.
Fav. Bands are He Is Legend, Drive-By Truckers, Black Keys, Weezer.
I am still into Coffee, Pictures, Nintendo DS, Smash Bros, Cooking, Gardening, Internetz and Walking.

So there it be. The Summer of 2007 events list.

Tags: Archive_Blogger, Duluth, Jacinda, Landscaping, Mafesta, Music, Nick, Painting, Sidework, Summer

Boats and things

I'm in Duluth right now. Yay. We took a bunch of pictures. Once they are developed I will be glad to share. More to come later!

Tags: Archive_Blogger

Take One For Me

Out with my wife taking pics with our Holga and Lubitel medium format cameras:

For more summery-photo fun, check out my Flickr set: Part VII: Summer Fun

Tags: Archive_Blogger, Holga, Jacinda, Martial Arts, Minnesota, Nick, Pictures, Summer

Whiplash!!!!!

For the past week my neck has been SORE. I was thrown down in TKD pretty hard by a n00b. My neck was normal-kind-of-workout sore the couple days after but after that pain resided a very new pain stuck around on the front of my neck near my throat. It had me worried until last night. I talked to Doc Jen, who is a Chiropractor and a Second Degree Black Belt who was in charge of our class last night. I told her what was up and she said I got whiplash. DANG. It's annoying as heck!

Tags: Archive_Blogger

Landscaping Progress Report Numero Uno

I know I know, you are all just dying to see exactly what our house looks like on the outside right now. Kind of a mess, but it should look wonderful by the end of summer...

North Side from the back.

North side door. I busted up the walk-way as you can see here.

A little hard to see here, but we removed the rocks from the front walk-way. As not seen in the photo, we removed a good portion of them in front of the porch, as well.

There are a few projects here. First off, we put up a couple Trellises in an attempt to hide the shed. They are up now and look alright. We are also going to removed the clothes line poles you see here. I also need to clean up all sorts of crap I threw behind the shed. Uff....

If you are interested in seeing a few more pictures of our house, feel free to check out my Home Improvement Set on Flickr. The Photos have details on what's going on in them so you aren't left out. I'll keep you posted on any developments.

Tags: Archive_Blogger, diy, Urban Farming, Home Improvement, House, Pictures

Landscaping, Roofing, Busch Lights

My Memorial Day Weekend was a blast! Earlier last week, my Father-in-Law suggested getting some roofing done at my place, and while we were at it, start ripping up the landscaping. Early Saturday morning, we started working on the roof and besides a few minor things, managed to wrap that up by Sunday evening. No more leaks in the kitchen! w00t! It's a great feeling to know that is accomplished.

Also, over the last week, we have been removing a lot of the crappy landscaping rocks and the busted up walk-way on the side of the house. Since I moved in, water would pool up against our home. It wasn't bad enough to leak into the basement, but it's probably best to tackle it before it becomes an issue. Once we are done removing all this stone, we are going to lay some nice bricks down and put some wood chips around instead. In the end, I'm hoping that it will look nicer. It should. It does in my brain, anyways.

I also started setting up a trellis in the back so you can't see our gross looking shed (and neighbors in back) as easily. Down the line we are hoping to have some nice viney plants on those.

After 12 hour days, it was a real treat to kick back and grill with some friends in the evening. Waking up was brutal, however, as I am a Programmer (not used to physical labor!!) and don't get sore too often. It was a great feeling. Also HUGE thanks to Dick! I am able, I just lack initiative when I don't know how to do something. He really helped me out with the whole process of roof and landscape.

I'll get some pictures of the processes this evening, I hope. I didn't take as many as I would have liked, and I'm definitely lacking pictures of what it looked like before the process, so you'll just have to trust me that it is going to look better!

Tags: Archive_Blogger, diy, Home Improvement, House, Jacinda, Nick, Summer

Spring Time Once Again \ Farm Life

The weather starts perking up and no one blogs anymore. Figures. Then again, it's not like I've sat down to write a blog recently, either. Since my last inspirational writing, we've had a couple cookouts, late nights on the porch and ideas on how we want to spend our warm weather months. I forgot exactly how much I like Summer. I feel more energetic and stoked to get some stuff done.

Lately I've been on a whim of starting a garden and having a few chickens, geese, lambs, whatever. Granted the animals would have to be kept at my parents, it sounds like a ton of fun and quite rewarding. Mom and Dad, it'd probably be another excuse to visit, right? I think I've been in this mood for two reasons. First and most obviously, I'm pumped about summer. Secondly, I like the idea of making my own food from the ground up. It's a lost art, if you think of it. A good organically produced meal you tended to from the ground up. It's been replaced with what? eighty-eight cent TV dinners? Have people honestly become too busy to enjoy the simplicity all around us? Though it takes work to support a garden and livestock, in the end, I believe it's cheaper, healthier and more efficient.

It's most likely a hobby at the moment. Ideally, I'd like it to see it be an established lifestyle; the art of frugal spending, utilizing the resources around me in a non-wasteful, healthy manner and living a simple life. A lot of this mentality stems from my upbringing, I think. As a kid I liked to build stuff from ground-up, Rockets, Legos, 400-in-1 electronic kits, etc. My Dad had a pretty "Do it yourself" mentality and would figure out how stuff works, which I admire greatly, Mom was a health nut and we'd generally try lots of weird food together. All of that wrapped in a frugal mind-setting, it makes sense in my mind why I like to do what I do. I like to "Build" what I have. It's easy to pay someone else to do it, but it's not always as beneficial and you definitely lose the great feeling that you did it yourself.

I'm glad I have Jacinda to back me up with this stuff, too. I'm really blessed to have found someone as awesome as her to share ideas and get excited with. I love you, dear!

Tags: Archive_Blogger, diy, Food, Health, organic, simplicity, spring, Urban Farming

The Governments stole my time.

OH MAN. Doing taxes this year sucks. I owe money to the goverments since I did some freelance work last year. What's up with that? Like, a third of what I made, they are taking it from me. 80 hours of my time. 80 hours I could have spent with my wife, hanging out, fixing up the house, etc. Makes you question if it's really worth the other 2/3rds of cash I recieved. That's life I guess. do me a favor and vote less taxes in '08.

Tags: Archive_Blogger, Money, Taxes, United States

Running with Windows Vista

Over the past week, I have transitioned to Windows Vista at work. So far it's not too bad. I did, however, have to jump through a lot of hoops to make everything work on it. It's pretty fancy shmancy and there is actually a lot of good functionality to it. Give it a year, once everyone catches up to it, and it'll be a great OS.

Also, it seems to have a great effect on the cleanliness of people's cubicles. I guess a clean OS makes you want to have a clean surrounding. Hey, I fell for it, too.

Tags: Archive_Blogger, Cleaning, Technology, Vista

Colorado?

Jacinda, Aaron and I have been throwing the idea around of taking a road trip Colorado. So far, out of the three of us, Jacinda is the only one who has been further West than 50 miles into South Dakota. Pretty sad? Maybe. We will be planning on visiting the usual National Park or two and the presidents in SD. We are also going to stop by small-town cafes, roadside oddities and do some classic American camping.

It's pretty exciting as I haven't done too much traveling. I'm also excited to camp. I haven't done that in 4-5 years. It'll also be fun to hang out with Wife and friends. as of right now, I don't even really care where we go.

Tags: Archive_Blogger, Aaron, Colorado, Jacinda, Nick, Road Trip, Vacation

Jesse Connors! Quit MySpace.

This blog is more for the Christian community out there, and any discussion (Believer or no) that may stem off this will be much appreciated. Have you ever witnessed a fellow Christian who is "Fighting the fight" but it doesn't quite sit well with you? For the last year or so, I've been keeping tabs on a group on myspace that is petitioning against ol' Tom's advertisements. You know the ones, the True advertisements, Match, MateOne, and a handful of horror movie
sequels. Sure, I wouldn't mind if Myspace used a little bit more sophisticated advertisements, but I don't think a group with 87,000 people and a man pointing his finger is going to cut it.

Even with a group of 87,000 people, that is only %.005 of the MySpace user-base. You would probably have better luck talking to a State representative about ad filtering in real life, than to go up against the giant with a small number. Yeah, Spartans did it, but they were bad-A. This leads me to believe it's really just a power trip for the group leader. A group of 87,000 people is braggable, but it probably isn't even close to Tom's yearly income. If that 87,000 were political leaders and otherwise important people, you may have luck, unfortunately it's just a bunch of 16 year old Billys and Sallys.

The group also seems to have a brutal circle with their agenda, sucking people in and keeping them there. First of all, none of them are keen on the idea of quitting MySpace. Actually, the hero of the group calls you a loser if you quit, I quote from his mini-faq:

'Myspace is free so if you can't tolerate the advertising
leave.' TRUTH: If you believe this you have no backbone! You are like a
piece of rubber in the water. You are like a wave tossed in the sea. Don't be
a loser and run away from indecency! - Jesse Connors

"Don't be a loser and run away from indecency?".... Would you rather have me embrace it? Wait a sec. I thought Myspace was a website and not real life. It's a Social Network, the scum of the Internet. It is the epitome of fabricated relationships. I do not understand how removing the temptation makes you a loser. Here's a segment from one of the most heroic stories in the bible:

Genesis 39
6a Now Joseph was well-built and handsome,
7 and after a while his master's wife took notice
of Joseph and said, "Come to bed with me!" 10 And
though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her
or even be with her.

11 One day he went into the house to
attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside.
12 She caught him by his cloak and said, "Come
to bed with me!" But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the
house.

So I guess by those standards, Joseph was a loser? I bet Joseph didn't have MySpace. In this part of the story, he stuck up for what he believed, and when the going got tough, he ran. He ran because he knew he was not big enough to overcome by normal means. I cannot stress enough that it is not cowardly to egress from a situation that is larger than yourself. But in
Jesse's example, you are a good for nothing, lowdown, piece of crap for quitting a social network. ....okay.

Jesse also does not endorse the use of Ad blocking software. There is software readily available that simply blocks ALL advertisements on the Internets. I think it's pretty genius stuff. You don't have to look at True ads anymore, and the Internet magically gets ridiculously fast. Here's what big Jesse has to say about these.

[Tom Change The Advertising] *does not* indorse the use of ad
blocking software or browsers. Why? Well, advertisers pay big money to sites
like MySpace to reach their users. If everyone blocks the ads, advertisers
will stop paying that big money and sites like MySpace (which cost big money
to run) will have to charge users or simply shut down.

Ok, here's the deal. MySpace is NOT going to shut down. No way, no how. Not until a more popular method of social networking emerges. Even if their entire user-base used ad blocking software, they would still have text ads (by Google) that still display, just can't get around those. Secondly, they wouldn't make the user pay. That would be the equivalent of shooting
themselves in the foot. What would they do? They would probably try different advertisers until there is something that users can settle with. If everyone blocks ads, True will stop paying big money. NO WAY!!! This again, makes me feel like Jesse is bypassing a convenient, acceptable method of ad riddance for creating a false battle to make his name more popular.

Alright, alright, so what exactly am I getting at? The motives seem really weird with this group. Absolutely messed up. There is no war. There is no battle. Heck, I'd go as far as to say there isn't even a debate about MySpace's advertisement. First of all, I cannot stress enough that
MySpace is just a social network. That is all it is and you are a bad example of human if your life and relationships with others depend on it. Also, MySpace is not subjecting you to view their ads. This is a personal issue for you to decide. If you have an issue with the ads, find means to bypass it (up yours, Tom!!! heh heh!) or just quit MySpace entirely.

Our society has enough problems in real life, if you want to make a real difference, get out there and live outstandingly. Turn heads, make people wonder what they stand for. You don't need to make a statement to be heard. You don't need a direct response from a person to know they listened. Jesus showed what he stood for by actions. The only time he was vocally offensive
was against corrupt religious leaders and against corruption under his Father's name. Otherwise he spoke to people through actions and in a loving manner, which in turn, actually made people want to know what he had that they needed.

Just my side of things, however. Maybe I'm off my rocker. If you would like more information on Jesse's ministry, please visit http://www.tomchangetheadvertising.com/. Buy a shirt while you are at it.

Download an ad blocker.
If you are interested in Ad Blocking software, Download this man's software: http://everythingisnt.com/hosts.html . He keeps his software up to date, so if you start seeing ads again, re-download his latest version on his website. I use this and it's great. It
also does wonders for speeding up the Internets.

Tags: Archive_Blogger, Christianity, Jesse Connors, Myspace, Petitions

A Sandwich Video

Hello my precious readers, I finally got around to messing with some of the features the video camera Jacinda and I had recieved last December as a wedding gift. More specifically, I uploaded some of the video off it to take a shot at editing a smidge before Tae Kwon Do. It's pretty fun, though I would like something a bit more powerful than Windows Movie Maker to edit with. Anyway, here's the end product, YouTube and all.

Hot diggity! Maybe I'll upload the bit of Chicago video we took while we were there sometime later. I wish we would have taken more, but hey, I was too busy experiencing it. Over and out.

Tags: Archive_Blogger

Updated Site

Hello all of my blog readers (All three. bahaha.) Just want to say I updated my blogger so that it posts all latest blogs directly to my website, http://www.nicholasdavis.info/blogs. If you have me linked, please use my new link, it'd be greatly appreciated!

Why the heck would I want to move off of blogspot? Quite frankly, Blogspot is a great place to host a blog. They give you a nice address, it's fast, etc. Well let me tell you why. Two reasons and neither are opposing blogspot. First of all, I have a web server at my hands, so I might as well use it. Secondly, I have been messing with SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and want to try and see if I can boost myself in the search engines a bit. What better place for trial and error than my own website? I've also been actively promoting a couple other sites in google's favor to see if I can't boost them in the lists. It's gotten quite addicting, actually. Statistics are so much fun to play with!

Tags: Archive_Blogger, Blogger, Google, SEO, Web Hosting

Here Comes Another Health Streak

Jacinda and I recently made the choice to become health-nuts again. We are both sick of over-induldging and sitting around too much. We are extremely excited for this turn and are planning on keeping on track. We are laying a lot of accountability in the hand of others so that we can press on.

As far as excersize, we are attending Kick-boxing with Aaron Thomsen once a week, great work-out and stress reliever (not to mention fun). We also signed up to the YMCA, taking advantage of my Insurance plan. They give us a good discount on the membership as long as each of us goes at least 12 times a month. Three days a week? Of course! I also have my Tae Kwon Do, which does great work on my flexibility and endurance.

We are trying to cleanse our house of unhealthy foods, anything with an overwhelming amount of corn-syrups or unecessary fats. We'll keep a couple things around in case we feel induldgent, but so far it's looked unappealing. My mom recently gave us a ton of whole foods, such as Brown rice, freshly ground whole wheat flour and some weird 7 grain stuff (looks like bird food, cooks like malto-meal.) We've been using these as basics for our meals. I honestly feel amazing eating such simple foods. We are shooting for as natural/simple of a diet as possible.

I'm very excited to get in shape! yay. I'll probably write about it more from time to time, if not for my own benefit.

Tags: Archive_Blogger, Diet, Excersize, Food, Health

Bbalgong Tdi

Last night I successfully passed my Red Belt test in Tae Kwon Do! w00t! It was an intense test, most intense I've experienced since I started. For material, I needed to know:

Korean Terminology
Korean Counting
Korean History
American and Korean Flags information
Other Korean Oral testing stuff
30 Series (30 different combination-kicks) in three minutes
Red Belt Form

I buzzed through terminology pretty fast and without much hesitation. I kept cool and remained confident in what I could present. History is where I was lacking, but managed to remember enough! Phew!

30 series was very intense. I had to do 30 different combination kicks in three minutes. The first go-round, I was focusing too much on being fast that I made too many errors and timed out. Master gave me a 20 second breather, which from there I was to try a second time. By the time I reached the 10th combination, I was dead tired, I could hardly breathe because my mouth was so dry. Ahhh! It was nerve-wracking. I managed to make it all the way through with 2:44 on the clock, which Master Jon gave me a thumbs-up on. I was relieved, because I was kind of worried about this section.

Finally, onto the break. We had to do a double jumping front kick and break two separate boards doing so. I was able to get this completed first try. OMG it was great. I loved it. haha. In the end, I was given a Red Belt, yay.

dude doing a double front-kick

Tags: Archive_Blogger, Martial Arts, Tae Kwon Do

The New Thing

I'll give you all a heads up. Pshycadelic and Disco is totally flourishing, lately. Not beforelong, anything Scene will be but a thing of the past.

Tags: Archive_Blogger

I just need a ride to Soooper Amarrrica.....

Last night Jacinda and I were hanging out in the living room, looking at 50's ads when all of a sudden door knocking was heard on our front entry. A an older, larger woman was on my front porch asking for money. Let me explain further in the manner of an online converstation. Since I did not get the name of this woman, I shall call her Tabitha.

Tabitha:
*Knocks on door*
Nicholas:
*Opens Door*
Nicholas:
Hello?
Tabitha:
*Sigh* hi... my car brke ran out of gas a few bloks that way *points south*
Tabitha:
i was wondring if u culd give me $3 so i could put gas in it....
Tabitha:
could*
Nicholas:
*Rolls eyes*..... Are you serious.... k... Here's $3 (now get off my porch)... *Glances to Jacinda*
Tabitha:
thank u so much. omg... hey... can u give me a ride to my car...
Nicholas:
*Rolls eyes again* ughhh, ok....
Nicholas:
Wait a second. What are you going to do with your car if it's out of gas?
Tabitha:
uhhh... i have a gas can in it. i need to fill it.
Nicholas:
I have a half-filled gas can in my shed, we can use what's in that and that'll be enough to get you to SA.
Tabitha:
no.... id rather u didnt

**FOR BENEFIT OF YOU THE READER, I AM JUST GOING TO COMMENTARY. We went back and forth for a few minutes, me wanting to bring my gas can to her car and her wanting to drive to her car to get her gas can (I'd only suspect from there she would want me to drive her to SA to fill it and then back to her car to fill her tank a little. I was starting to suspect that she didn't even have a car.**

Nicholas:
Where is your car, again?
Tabitha:
oh it's a couple blocks that way *points south*
Tabitha:
could u just drive me 2 super america?
Nicholas:
How is that going to help you? I thought you needed your gas can?
Tabitha:
oh.... *long pause*.... i called super america and they said they have a gas can waiting for me there....
Nicholas:
Well, how about I get my gas can and we can go fill your car. *walks to shed before she can say no.* *Gets can, finds it is empty* Frick...

**At this point, I was wondering why SA was so crucial when we could have gone to a closer station, such as Walts.**

Nicholas:
K, I guess it's empty, so we will go to Walts first and I'll fill my gas can. That way you can save a few bucks by not having to buy a gas can.

**OTHER CONFUSING CRAP GOES DOWN. She was picky about the car we took. She thought we were taking Jacinda's car over mine, which was parked on the road. She was REALLY afraid of falling over and requested that I pulled out in middle of the road so she woudln't fall when she tried getting in. I started driving south, as she said her car was parked three blocks south.**

Nicholas:
So where's your car, then?
Tabitha:
oh, it's at super america...................
Nicholas:
Oh, I'm sorry, you originally said south and pointed in a south direction. So I am confused to where your car is.
Tabitha:
it's at uper america.
Tabitha:
super*
Nicholas:
*Whatever* *Drives to SA*

**No brainer: WHY THE HECK DID SHE WALK TO MY CAR IF SHE RAN OUT OF GAS AT A GAS STATION. That's like stupid-luck right there!!!!!!!!**

Nicholas:
OK, we are here. Where is your car?
Tabitha:
oh... it's over to the left of the parking lot. you can park over here in between these cars though *points to right side of the parking lot*
Nicholas:
*SUSPICIOUS* Really? Don't you want me to park closer to your car? It's not an inconveinience.
Tabitha:
*sigh* no.... park in between these two cars.
Nicholas:
*WTF* *Kindly says* Are you sure? Do you need help pushing your car to the pumps? It's out of gas. It's really no trouble at all.
Tabitha:
no.... u dont have to
Nicholas:
What about my gas can? Since you don't have one, we can fill that up a bit to get your car to a pump.
Tabitha:
no. you can park in between these two cars.
Nicholas:
Ok...... *dangit*
Tabitha:
thx.... ok can u wait here until i get back?
Nicholas:
If you don't want my help anymore, why do you need me to wait?
Tabitha:
can u just wait? brb
Nicholas:
There is absolutely no reason for me to wait. your car is at super america. You have enough money to buy gas. You should be set.
Tabitha:
oh........ k. well thx so much! you helped me a lot. *Closes car door, scrapes her hand on super gross dusty car windows*
Nicholas:
*Drives off, noticing Tabitha went into SA to buy a pack of cigarettes*

In the end, she was stoned out of her mind and I'm way too naive.

Tags: Archive_Blogger, drugs, gas, night, small town, stoners, super america

Uff

Stalemate.

On a lighter note, I finished the first half of Full Metal Alchemist manga last night. It's pretty entertaining.

Tags: Archive_Blogger

OMG NEW DESIGN?????

Soon I will convert my entire web presence to what you see here at blogger.com. This includes a fully functioning site (which I haven't had in a half a decade) and a few other goodies. Sit tight!

Tags: Archive_Blogger

Aesthetics of a Tab Can

Born in 1963, Tab was celebrated as the second diet soft drink to make the market and a great tasting alternative to Coca-Cola. Now-days, Tab is probably more famed for containing Saccharin. In this blog, however, I'm not going to go into much detail on the history, nor the taste, or even it's rich history in cancer scares. I would like to present to you exactly how sexy a can of Tab is. First, we will begin with the label itself:

This image definitely does not give you the full effect of exactly how beautiful a can of Tab is, but it gives you the general idea none-the-less. I would first like to point out the pink diagonal lines in the background. This is consistent around the whole can, unlike more popular sodas which have inconsistent backgrounds that are otherwise distracting. Secondly, the logo for Tab is beautiful. They have revised it many times in the past 40 years, but what they have now is very sharp and modern, yet does not stray from it's roots.

What I like most, however, is this: There is only three, well matching colors on the whole can. two pinkish-red shades, a dark one and a light one and then white for the logo and any printing on the can. Brilliant! It's minimal color selection makes for a beautiful, simplistic, yet sophisticated look. I also like the fact, since Tab isn't necessarily a popular soda by any means, it is free from all advertisements.

It is by far, the most beautiful can I have ever seen.

Tags: Archive_Blogger, Design, Food, Marketing

Five things about me...

I was tagged by Mark L. FIVE things about me you didn't know (or previously shouldn't have)

One. When I was younger, I jumped out of a tree and drastically hurt my leg. I tore a muscle in it. I couldn't even walk up the stairs, I had to crawl. Two years later, I jumped out of the loft of my parents barn and tore the exact same muscle. To this day it still hurts jump off a three foot ledge.

Two. I have a terrible habit of leaving old tissues around the house and on work-spaces. I've had this issue since I was child. With that, I use more tissues than the average person, so it looks like someone tore open a box of tissue and tried stuffing a pillow with them.

Three. My left eye receives color a lot more warmly than my right. I don't know which one is correct and if it impairs my ability to judge hues. I assume my left is correct as the right seems a bit washed out. The only thing I can think of how that happened is when I was younger a kid I went to school with poked me in both eyes (because he was a douche.)

Four. I have a guilty pleasure of eating fat off of meat. Especially on pork. I can't help myself! It's SO good! Health permitting, I would easily eat a whole slab of fat (with a little salt.)

Five. Doug Tennapel is amazing and I wish I was somehow related to him. Unintentionally I have been following his career. Starting with Earthworm Jim, onto Project G.E.E.K.O.R, The Neverhood, FIF cover art and his later works. The man is simply amazing and I am proud to say I caught onto that even early in my childhood.

Alright, now I get to pick a couple people! Pikachu, I tag... Jacinda Davis, Carrie Davis, Brendan "Teh Internetz" Riggs and Cristina Cherry!

Tags: Archive_Blogger, Nick

New GFX: Dualistic

K everyone (or anyone) who reads my blog and hasn't seen this yet, it's my new poster deal.

Tags: Archive_Blogger

Chicagoland

We are back in Willmar from a week long honeymoon in Chicago, Illinois. As of right now, it all feels like a blur, it went so fast! I'm still trying to recap the week for my own benefit, which is partially a reason why I am blogging about it!

The Flight

We arrived in Minneapolis the night before we flew out so that we wouldn't have to worry about making the drive early in the morning. As an added bonus, we found out that Days Inn (Bloomington West) has an airport shuttle and will hold your car for $25 a week. Steal! We took advantage of that. It was all a breeze, except for that Jacinda and I, being first time flyer's, accidentally left our carry-on with our other baggage. We had about $1000 worth of crap in those and they didn't have ID tags. So that was a little nerve-wracking. It also didn't help watching them toss bags onto the plane! We did get our stuff back in Chicago, however. so it was all good.

Transportation

Once we got to Chicago and dumped our crap at our Hotel room, we figured next step would be to figure out a means of transportation. Initially we took a cab to get to our first destination, had a wonderful talk with the driver. He dropped us off and we got done with our shopping. Since we now had an approximation of how far we were from our hotel, we decided to just walk the rest of the way. Living in a small town with light traffic, you kind of forget what walking is, almost. After realizing this, we ended up walking to 90% of our destinations in Chicago. This was nice for the sake of cutting costs as well as for burning off all the food we ate. We didn't bother with Buses or the Train, that will be for another trip.

Food

Mmmm!!! Sooo much food! Highlights were the following: Giordano's, DeLaCosta, Puck's and Lavazza. Giordano's was great Chicago-style pizza. Deep, cheese on the crust, followed by sauce. I highly recommend this!!! You'll be able to split a small between two people and eat it for at least two meals! Puck's was in the contemporary Art Museum and had very nice light dishes. Felt healthy and looked appealing. Lavazza was an excellent Italian coffee shop. We tried their "Solid espresso" called Espesso. In the USA, it's available only in Chicago. Coffee was good, too. Last but not least, DeLaCosta was a ritzy Latin food restaurant. The food looked and tasted amazing. We got some drinks, which the name escapes me, that consisted of wine, brandy and lots of fruits. Had a wonderful appetizer which was a sort of Chicken with a very delicious green chile sauce. My main entree was Salmon, which was drenched in lemon, cilantro (i think) and topped with horseradish sauce. The Salmon was cooked interesting. It was almost raw. I want to figure out how to do that. We also had a very tasty desert, which they gave us free! Wow!

Sights/Shows

We hit a couple Art Museums, viewed the city from the John Hancock skydeck, saw "The Bean" and Millineum Park, visited Walgreen's multiple times and saw plenty other Chicago sights. We took a cab up to "The Second City" and saw their act, "Disposable Nation" which was filled with plenty of Sarcasm towards American culture and topics. It was pretty funny stuff and quite far fetched. Very talented people! We also went to "Schuba's Tavern" and attended their mini-festival thing they had going on. Bands I appreciated was Office and Mucca Pazza. Mucca Pazza is absolutely talented. I can't even begin to explain their show. check them out on Youtube for a few videos. We also saw the Pianist, Lang Lang perform at the Orchestra hall.

The Company

Only me and Jacinda. It was perfect. :-)

OOF! It was a great week and an awesome trip. I am very pleased that we decided to go to Chicago for a honeymoon. Though the location is a little off-beat for a honeymoon (I guess), it was a great experience.

Tags: Archive_Blogger, Jacinda, Nick, Travel

Microsoft Shoots for a Creative Edge

For almost a decade now, Mac's primary selling device is the fact that they are cute, trendy and very eye-appealing. Sure, people can debate as much as they like about how the software is better or how the hardware is better. Today, however, Apple now manufactures their computers with the same Intel-based hardware that PCs do. Also, any software that was once uniquely designed for Mac's is now available on PC. In my opinion, really, the only selling tool they have left is the fact that the name "Apple" portrays a feeling of quality, prestige, media productivity, etc. the point of this blog isn't to bash Apple, if you run an Apple and enjoy the experience, that's cool.

The point I am trying to present is this: Apple has made a point to develop a feeling around their product. It feels good to own an Apple. People view you differently. It makes the person look and feel creative. This is something Microsoft has not even remotely attempted in the past. Microsoft is Microsoft. It's boring, nothing new, nothing different.

Well, not until now, anyway. Though most of their marketing is geared towards productivity and business, they are making an effort to get people to view Microsoft Windows Vista differently than previous versions.

http://clearification.com/

When I first saw this site, it instantly grabbed my attention. It's creative, beautiful, simple, but will have something new every time. I'm not sure what the actual purpose is behind the site. I don't' know if they have unveiled yet. It's apparently a series of chapters about a man that has an over achiever disorder and is admitted to an institute for it. You'll notice a lot of shots displaying Vista. I'm sure they will wrap it up showing "how awesome" Vista is. If not, Microsoft is advertising their new OS on a trendy site, anyway.

Basically, it looks like Windows is trying to tap into the younger and/or creative crowd and attach a feeling onto their new OS while there is still some mysticism to it. I have a beta of Vista installed on my laptop currently and puts-ed around it for a while. I will admit, it's very attractive. They added a lot of bells and whistles as well as a lot of graphic enhancements. I assume that Microsoft is going to try and battle Apple with a cuter OS and a newer creative feeling to win a few mac users over as well as keep their current media-rich user-base amused.

As for me. I get into creativity, but I am also a huge fan of practicality. I'll probably stick with XP until I find Vista worthy of my computer. Office 2007, however, is a different story. That baby is going on as soon as I get my hands on it.

Tags: Archive_Blogger, Marketing, Microsoft, Technology

December

Not gonna lie, I can't wait until this month is over. I'm also afraid I am never going to have another weekend again in my life that requires nothing but sleeping in and playing video games.

Tags: Archive_Blogger, The Motions

Stolen goods

Wednesday: I get a message over MSN from Jacinda stating that her laptop, car keys and cell phone were stolen. This happened when she got up for three minutes to go to the bathroom. I was frustrated with the fact that someone would do that, and felt really bad for Jacinda and her predicament. So I went to save her from St. Cloud. Spent $40 to get her car unlocked and get a few things out and headed back to Willmar.

Thursday: Thanksgiving on the Doll's side in the morning - early afternoon. Good time. Went out to my Parents house, got a cell phone from them for Jacinda to use, played Nintendo Wii and ate pie. We decided we would try and get an HP laptop for $380 at Best Buy's Black Friday sale. We waited in line from 9:00pm to about 5:30am. Yikes. We got it, however! I slept all morning and half the afternoon.

Friday: When I woke up, I went to pick up Jacinda to get some legal stuff done for her car, etc. but nothing seemed to be going right. We did manage to get her a new car key which was REALLY nice. They were telling us we would have to tow he car in from st cloud otherwise. WTF? No thanks.

Saturday: we picked up her car, filed a police report and headed back to Willmar. It was also Jacinda's birthday! Happy Birthday!

It sucks that so much time and money had to be lost over someone's greed. In the end, however, God is good and despite the crappy circumstance, it couldn't have been a better time for it to happen.