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What to say other than: I need a nap!

My birthday is coming up (Friday for the interested) and this is one of the first years I can remember that I don’t want to do anything. Not because I feel old or anything, just because I feel like being lazy! :)

You see every year I try to get my friends (whom are all friends themselves) together to do something we can all enjoy and keeps us all in a large group. When we were in college we would get together often, but since we have all left college many of us whine that we all want to get together, but no one wants to work on setting it up. So usually I plan something on my birthday to organize a “friends reunion” if you will. Well this year hasn’t been a bad year, but it has been a draining year for me and the past few months have been exceptionally draining.

My roommate and I talked about it a week or two ago and he knew what I was talking about…he went through the same thing last year.

So as it stands right now I think my friends and I are either going to one of our friend’s improve shows and/or just hitting up the usual drinking spot.

“No matter how old you are, there’s always something good to look forward to.”

– Lynn Johnston

Is better then no fetish at all

So I have been reading like mad lately. I’ll either read for 2 hours at a time, 4 days a week or I’ll read for 6-8 hours in a sitting. Apparently my old style of opening a book and putting it down and having to reread the beginning all over again is really turning into an “old style”.

I am about 2/3rds of the way through The Code Book – so far so good. It’s a historical account of codes and ciphers throughout history (Egypt to present day [1997]), the roles they played and the players in creating and breaking them. While the section on WWII and the Enigma was great and full of information on the earliest computers as well as one of the most crucial points in history of war and cryptography; I had trouble following it at times with the various German names making my head spin when I was trying to keep track.

Hopefully I’ll finish before the week is out and I can give a little more in-depth review!

“Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counsellors, and the most patient of teachers.”

Charles W. Eliot

Current Book(s):

• The Code Book; By: Simon Singh
• A Brief History of Time: The Updated and Expanded Tenth Anniversary Edition; By: Stephen Hawking

Recently finished book(s):

• Questions from Earth, Answers from Heaven; By: Char Margolis
• The Da Vinci Code; By: Dan Brown
• The Dilbert Principle; By: Scott Adams
• The Dilbert Future; By: Scott Adams
• Negotiate with Feng Shui: Enhance You Skills in Diplomacy, Business and Relationships; By: Jose Armilla
• Secrets and Lies: Digital Security in a Networked World; By: Bruce Schneier
• Cyberpunk: Outlaws and Hackers on the Computer Frontier, Revised; By: Katie Hafner
• Seven Habits of Highly Effective People; By: Stephen R. Covey
• It’s Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life; By Lance Armstrong, Sally Jenkins

Recently Purchased book(s):

(Today’s post would be a waste if I didn’t say thanks to a friend for giving me a gift certificate to Amazon…which helped me purchase almost all of the books listed here. THANK YOU!)

• The Puzzle Palace: A Report on America’s Most Secret Agency; By: James Bamford
• Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency; By: James Bamford
• Digital Fortress; By: Dan Brown
• Deception Point; By: Dan Brown
• Cryptanalysis a Study of Ciphers and Their Solutions; By: H. F. Gaines
• Codes, Ciphers and Secret Writing (Test Your Code Breaking Skills); By: Martin Gardner
• Cuckoo’s Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage; By: Clifford Stoll
• The Matrix and Philosophy: Welcome to the Desert of the Real (Popular Culture and Philosophy, V. 3); By: William Irwin
• Exploring the Matrix: Visions of the Cyber Present; By: Karen Haber

You life might be fun as a movie

I got a chance to see “What the *bleep* do we know?” last night. It’s a documentary on the connections between all of us that spans the Universe and beyond. It was really interesting and the visuals were fantastic – a great way to keep people awake. The beginning was good, but dry and a little advanced for some people. About half way to 2/3rds through the film it picked up and the audience could be heard saying “wow!”, “Hmmm…”, “Interesting!” along with a few other words and some chuckles too.

If you have an open mind and you are looking too see a movie that will make you think after words I highly suggest you see it. If you have any knowledge of quantum mechanics or quantum physics you will be really interested in the scientific approach and you will likely recognize many of the experts as world renowned physicists.

The only downside…

About 8 years ago I had many ideas and thoughts about this subject and I considered writing a book, but I felt that my lack of technical experience in quantum theory (I only had an intro to quantum theory class in college) and lack of historical specifics on theology would discredit anything I had to say from page one. However, it would have been nice if I did a little more research on the subject rather then just kept it as daydreams – I might have gotten a chance to further my thoughts with some books by the same people whom appeared in the movie. Then again, who says I still can’t do that?

“Our dreams are our real life.”

– Federico Fellini

Current Book(s):

• The Code Book; By: Simon Singh
• A Brief History of Time: The Updated and Expanded Tenth Anniversary Edition; By: Stephen Hawking

What the hell am I going to rant about today? :)

I had trouble updating my blog the past few days so I just posted some entries I was saving. I’m sure I’ll get another rant in before the day is out…after all I prolly had about 15 different rants with myself just on the way to work this morning!

If I don’t post before the weekend, have a good weekend…

Work like you don’t need the money.

Love like you’ve never been hurt.

Dance like nobody’s watching.

Sing like nobody’s listening.

Live like it’s Heaven on Earth.

– Anonymous

Makes you driven, with untainted fuel

I have been working on a “pet project” for some time…to revive a small museum and library located in a nearby city. This isn’t a rant for why I feel it’s needed or what type of library it is; this is a rant about people that try to stop you from following your dreams.

I will never understand why people mocked the Wright brothers or told Martin Luther King equal rights were a pipe dream. Sometimes people have different ideas, but when those ideas are for the common good: why bring them down? I say let them dream big! Now, the work I have been doing isn’t anything spectacular like inventing an airplane or changing the way a nation looks at race; it’s just a dream.

Myself and a friend put around 400 hours of volunteer work into this project over a few months. Not a ton, but just enough personal time to make this project become a piece of me that is sensitive at times. Many people for whom I was doing the work would constantly complain that my efforts — while appreciated — would just end up back at square one. I always thanked them for thanking me, but assured them I was not yet deterred. Months past and I would get the same response from many different people, all of whom this project was for. It seems that after many years of being let down, there was an opinion formed and it was going to take a lot more then my effort to get people to turn around just long enough to hear let alone agree to what I was saying or doing. The time came when my friend and I had to stop talking to people about the work we were doing because it brought in negativity and it would put the brakes on our passion.

It’s been more then 7 months and neither I nor my friend have quit. We have actually brought in some of our other friends to help as well. Now people are turning their heads, they are listening and some are asking how they can help…some of the same people that told us to just walk away a few months back. They were now feeding our passion and making us more driven then ever.

Rather then just working to follow my dreams and using negative energy to fuel my work; I’ve now realized that I have a new motivation. To work just as hard as I have been, with the reward of seeing the look of pride on faces of those that tried to deter us when they realize we did it and we still want them to be a part of it.

“Keep away from small people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”

– Mark Twain

The topic of the day

In lieu of a rant today, I just want to post an old saying because it says what’s on my mind today.

“Love is rarer than genius itself and friendship is rarer than love.”

– Charles Pierre