Life's little turds

One thing that I find to be frustrating in life is meeting cool people from faraway places who then return to said places never to be seen again. This happens in my life with unnerving regularity. I suppose I should just be thankful for the good times, but where's the fun in that?

Kidding!

Ever have it when...

You want to hear a song, but can't remember what it's called, who wrote it, or what the lyrics are? Well, I find myself in that position. Here's what I know: it's a reggae song by a famous artist, and the "hook" of the song goes "DA da da da daaaaaa, DA da da da duhhhhh". I have had my people looking for this song for years, but they have been fruitless in their search. 10 bucks to anybody who can tell me what song this is.

One Hand Clapping

I had the priviledge this morning of paying the rest of my school tuition for the coming Fall Semester. Having missed the payment deadline of the previous Friday, there was a possibility of all my classes being dropped. This, thankfully, did not happen. Continuing with the story though, I called up the Accounts office and got the obligatory automated message. "We're sorry, but all our operators are currently busy. If you know your party's extension, hit 1 now. Or please hold, and we'll get to your call as soon as possible. During this time, you will hear silence."

At first it occurred to me that this was a paradox. Hear silence? Wouldn't that be the same thing as seeing darkness? How can you hear in the absence of sound, or see in the absence of light? Not possible. If there is only darkness, are we not blind? If there is only silence, are we not deaf? But as I pondered the nature of sensation, it dawned on me that our senses are always active if they have not been explicitly disabled. So long as we have ears and they're connected to our brains, we hear. Signals are being sent from one to the other. Silence is distinct from sound, and our brains recognize it, much like when we see a black surface. Black isn't a color; it's the absence of color. So, I concluded that silence deserves a place in the spectrum of sound.

Silence...

"Hi, this is Tom, how can I help you?"

The new sounds of SIO

A new technological breakthrough has been achieved here at Lanning Labs. As you doubtless have already discovered, a music player has been added to SIO. Note: this music player is exclusively for users of Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Netscape users, let not your heart be troubled: my people are working hard on solutions. Personally, I recommend that you switch to the superior product. I guess some people just like underdogs. One more technical note regarding bandwidth. In this day and age, you need broadband internet.

So here's the deal; the player randomly selects a song whenever you decide you want to hear one (HIGHLY recommended for a quality web log experience). If you don't like the song, you can refresh the page and try your luck on a different one. The music control is at the bottom of the sidebar, and I will be slowly adding new songs as the days go by. In the meantime, rock on with your bad selves.

Midnight Snackage Action

Being the compassionate and kind-hearted guy that I am, I like to give advice. Not to show how much I know, but rather to help my friends, loved ones, and the occaisional perfect stranger along road of life. Like the poor girl who keeps smacking the volleyball straight into the net with her fist. "Just try getting your arms under the ball", I say. Throw in a smile, and it's solid gold. I've been criticized for this many times for being a know-it-all, mostly unjustly as I figure it. Hey, I'm just trying to help a brother/sister out! What's the problem?

Well here's some advice to all you night owls out there, and even the average Joe Schmoe le Go-to-bed-on-time types. Sometimes you're up around 1:30 watching movies or IMing or doing whatever it is you do, and you feel hungry. Perfectly natural. So you hit up the kitchen for something to raise your blood sugar just enough to get you through the next chick flick. At this point, it is probably not a good idea to go for the chips and salsa. Unless you want to have some major pain issues in your digestive tract after an hour or so. This is learned by experience; if you need to slam something in the middle of the night, chips and salsa is not your best bet.

Set It Off

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am pleased to announce that there remains only two weeks before the beginning of the great Fall Semester of Grand Valley State University. All the world watches with baited breath the days leading up to this momentous beginning of what is shaping up to be a school year to be remembered for years to come. The next 14 days are packed with preparation, celebration, and disgronification as students across the globe gear up for the spectacularly demanding and ludicrously funny Fall Semester. Best of all, you can trust me to bring you all the action, live from the beautiful city of Grand Rapids. The glory; the passion; the kinda-longhaired flipflop-wearing second-generation hippie wanna-bes: PREPARE YOURSELVES!

In other news, it would appear that Blogger has adopted the use of a new navbar (see top of this page). I am stoked about it; more specifically the "Next Blog" button. They really should have called this button the "Web Log Randomizer", as clicking it loads a random web log. Who knows what excessive boredom, senseless raving, pointless drama, and mindless profanity awaits you! What are you waiting for? Click the button, Max!

Here's to the next great Olympic sport: Women's Beach Volleyball! And don't tell me it's all about the bikinis... it's not all about the bikinis. Ok, so maybe it's all about the bikinis. Whatever. U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!

Choices

I listen to talk radio while I work. It beats listening to music radio, for the simple reason that Grand Rapids music radio is just sad. So today Sean Hannity was doing another monologue about the NJ governer, and he was making a very valid point. The fact is that we all have choices in life, and we need to make sure we make the "right" ones. This governer should have chosen not to have an affair because it would be better for his family, his kids, etc. And I agree with this statement. But the governer's statement didn't focus on the fact of his affair; he brought most attention to the fact that he is homosexual. So what'd Mr Hannity have to say about that? "I don't think it's any of my business what people do in their bedrooms." So dude, why is it your business if he decides to have an affair? Fact is, choosing to be gay is just as wrong as choosing to adulterate.

That's the fundamental problem with our country's approach to homosexuality; people are being told to accept the "fact" that being gay is natural. Well folks, here's some news: it's NOT NATURAL. It is a perversion of the natural order. It is a heinous sexual sin, which to a large extent brought fire down on Soddom and Gomorrah. In the governer's case, his gayitude supercedes all the other issues of adultery and goverment corruption. It shows he is a man who has no morals and is fighting against the Most High God, and I'm really not surprised by any of the outrageous stuff we're now learning about his administration in New Jersey.

But Lanning, you say, gay people are born gay! Sure they are. Next thing you're going to tell me is that baseball bat murderers are born as baseball bat murderers. Ever heard of those things called original sin and total depravity? Yeah, I'm thinking that might have something to do with it. News flash: it's wrong, it's always been wrong, and will always be wrong.

Say it ain't so

Really haven't been thinking much lately. I wonder if that's because I don't have much time to reflect; aside from devotions and driving around, I'm constantly occupied with the routine of life. Since I haven't been getting much sleep, I've been taking lots of Vitamin C (just "C" to those of us who know him) to stay healthy. And I'm really really tired. That's two important lessons right there; stay rested and drink Orange Juice.

Ink Spots. Great band.

Church is not an option

I've had this discussion with several people. One girl has this father who (at the time) refused to go to church, citing the fact that it was full of hypocrites (bet you haven't heard that one before). I tried to make the point to her that that is not a good enough reason to forsake the body of believers. And it isn't, plain and simple. Her argument is that you don't have to go to church to be a christian. I say, if you really are a christian you will want to be there. Remember the words of Psalm 122: "I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD." This guy isn't grumbling about hypocrites. Think there were hypocrites there? Oh heck yea! But that didn't stop the faithful of Israel from making trips (veritable journies, in some cases) to Jerusalem to worship God publicly. Here's what Paul has to say in Hebrews 10:23-25, which I'll print for your added convenience:

"Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. "

Let me tell a story (stop me if you've heard this... I hate it when I tell people the same stories, and I do it all the time). So there's this guy who won't go to church, and his pastor visits him to ask why he's staying home. "There's too many hypocrites in the church!" says the man. The pastor thinks it over, and asks the man if he carries money around in his wallet. The man replies in the affirmative, and the pastor asks incredulously, "Why?! There's so much counterfeit money out there!".

I think the only thing that could be worse than leaving the church would be convincing other people to do it, as well. Or going there during the service and slashing tires.

Music Music Everywhere

Another step in my music ubiquity project, obtaining an mp3 player, is complete. I now have digital access to all my music when I drive (CD), when I am in my room (mp3 library), and when I go anywhere else (mp3 player). While this may seem pretty much ubiquitous to some, my technology people tell me there is still much work to be done.

So it appears that I might end up voting in the presidential election after all. Not that I've had any changes of heart. Lately, my family and I have been talking politics (something we never ever do), so I've gotten a chance to bounce my ideas about voting and democracy off them. Needless to say, the reaction has been less than exuberant. My dad had a good line. "Well I'm happy you feel that way. Now get yourself registered to vote.". Since I believe in the fifth commandment, more than likely I'll be putting my proverbial drop into the ocean on election day. In addition, I'll get to wear one of those cool "I voted." stickers on my shirt.

Countdown

Well folks, it's down to 27 days until school begins again. I have to say that I am quite ready for it this year. I've been busting it all summer long with almost no down-time, and I always appreciate the switch from physical exertion to mental exertion that school represents. My list of stuff to get for school currently looks like this:

1. New Coat (very important)
2. New Bag (very very important)
3. MP3 player (in the mail from Amazon)
.
.
27. Textbooks

I recently ripped my entire CD collection into my MP3 library, consolidating what once was two separate collections of music into one. I am stoked about this. I believe in centralization of musicitude. At least I voted for it.