I took the plunge and reformatted my office computer this morning.

While I’ve only done this twice it’s a nerve wracking experience. No matter how many times I go through the computer I always feel like I didn’t back something up. The whole process of backing up my data, formatting the drive, reinstalling Windows, installing drives, downloading the latest updates, patches,  and setting up my email took pretty much the entire day. Why did I do this? The reasons are two fold.

• First the computer has gotten progressively slow. Once upon a time it would only take a couple of minutes for my computer to boot up. I’d turn it on, review my to-do list for that day and then log in. Now it takes five minutes or more. In fact I could take a bathroom break, make a cup of coffee and return to my desk and take a sip or two before I can even press the Ctrl+Alt+Del. Which is rather ridiculous considering I have one of the fastest computers in the company.
• Secondly, it’s a new year and I wanted to start off on a fresh, clean slate. After I reloaded the computer I was simply tickled pink on how fast my computer ran. Tomorrow I’ll focus on reinstalling all my applications and then actually do some work!

On a different note I’ve continued to eat well and exercise. Breakfast came in the form of a half cup of coffee with two sugars and cream and a tangerine. It wasn’t as sweet as I had hope; in fact it had a slight tart flavor that made me winch each time I bit into one. It did the trick though and I felt full and satisfied.

Lunch was a kids sized strawberry and banana smoothie from Tropical Smoothie and a rotisserie breast from Fresh Market. I love how they’re next to each other. While I was there I noticed they had a nice heap of my favorite apples (Honey Crisp) so I picked one up along with two large green pears and four medium bananas. I know this may sound strange but I have a fruit bowl at my desk and I really like to see it full. It just feels abundant and colorful and delicious and makes me want to eat more fruit.

I snacked on a banana on my way to JU after work and for dinner I had two, plain Jane  scrambled eggs. It was filling although it could have been better with some hot sauce. I should probably add it to my Wal-mart list on the iTouch.

Exercise focused on arms, shoulders and abs. I didn’t use the P90X DVD for my workout and opted to follow my own regime. Once I get my body back into the routine of working out then I’ll incorporate the program into my schedule. I noticed my arms tightening up which is good sign and certainly encouraging.

Tomorrow my diet will focus on vegetables and more protein — possibly in the form of a Subway sandwich or possibly some microwave steamed broccoli with more rotisserie. In between I’ll snack on fruit.

I spent the better part of that morning helping a friend move (again). This is probably the fourth of fifth time he’s moved and well, I think it’s safe to say we’re getting pretty good at it. However, it’s nowhere near how many times another friend of mine has moved — which is a mind boggling 43 times! Makes me wonder if the FBI or is looking for her or something. Fortunately I’ve never had to help her move.

At around noon I met Jen at her parents’ house for lunch. This isn’t your typical turkey sandwiches and sweat tea lunch. It was an all out spread. We’re talking crab legs, steak, baked salmon, rice and much more. I’m not a big fan of crab legs simply because the amount of work to meat ratio just doesn’t make sense to me — but I actually ate some and loved it. Overall the food tasted even more delicious than it looked. We also played a couple rounds of Scattergory. Jayne schooled me on “fanny pack.” Apparently it’s spelled “Phanny Pack.”

Afterwards Jen, Jayne, Jeff and I headed to the Orange Park AMC to watch Sherlock Holmes. I have to say it was a pretty entertaining movie. Jen, on the other hand, didn’t seem all too interested. Her head was pretty much leaning on my shoulder the whole time as she snored away. She claims it’s the Nyquil. But since I enjoyed the movie I knew she wasn’t a big fan. I still think it’s crazy how we’re opposite like that.

We headed back to her parents for another round of food. The salmon was my favorite. We finished off the evening watching some football. I have to point out that Jen transforms into a different person whenever football is on — especially when her beloved Gators are playing. Jen swears that the players can hear her.

Overall, the first day of 2010 has been a great one. While it’s always scary not knowing what’s going to happen in the future it’s also exciting. 2010? Bring it on.

He was indeed a big man. But not as big as “John and I plus some” as described so elegantly by BethAnn. He was soft spoken, mild mannered, and just seemed like an overall nice guy. It was obvious BethAnn really liked this guy. If the hand holding, arm rubbing and head leaning didn’t give it away her face did. She was on Cloud 9.

John took the 2.5 1.5 lb burger challenge that night. I use the term ‘challenge’ very loosely here since the burger, although large, wasn’t really all that gut busting. If cut up in quarters, it would equal to about four regular burgers — hardly worth the $17 premium in my opinion. In the end John got two t-shirts for taking the challenge.

We ended the night at Sonics. Someone had the crazy idea of eating ice cream while standing outside in 50 degree weather. I  opted for a nice hot cup of coffee instead.  Overall it was great. Good food and ice cream is always better when hanging out with great friends.

Other than an embarrassing  ”purse incident” by Jen’s dad, overall it went really well. Jen and I were both surprised how well everyone got along. Good times.

Photos were taken with a 17-40L on the Canon 5D. Given the lighting (or lack there of) most shots were taken at 1600 iso and f/4. Check out all the photos here:

Perhaps I feel comfortable enough with the progress of my paper that I can ease up a little and write for enjoyment rather than  for a grade. Maybe I just need to empty the contents of my brain to make room for more term paper processing.

I really do like to write — just not term papers. They’re so restrictive and formal I feel my writing has turned mechanical — cold and unfeeling as the properties of steel is.

Ah, now it’s clear why I feel the need to blog. It’s the simple need to write creatively — to help soften the rigid lines of writing a term paper. I love it when I figure things out.

As I sit here in the back corner of Panera Bread I can hear a familiar voice and booming laugh of my boss. I don’t think he knows I’m here. I’ve decided not to look up in the direction of the sound to confirm whether it’s him or not. And if it is, I really don’t want to make eye contact which would then lead to some sort of casual conversation. Not that I don’t like the guy. He’s one of the hardest working people I know and someone I truly admire. But I would rather savor the few minutes I have in seclusion before diving back into the paper.

Looking over to my left another guy with a laptop is typing away on his overpriced MacBook, possibly listening to music with his matching earphones and checking out the Apple Store. I often get accused of being anti-Mac. The truth is I have nothing against the Apple, iPods, iBook or “i” anything. They’re just gadgets and tools. I actually own an iTouch and love it.

What I don’t like are the trendy “Apple Evangelists” who claim Macs are superior to all things electronic — especially PCs. These snot-nosed, naive wannabes thoroughly believe their Macs don’t crash and are not prone to viruses or hackers.

So naive they are.

The reality is Macs account for less than 10% of the computer market. Their relatively small market share has been their safe haven from hackers and virus writers who’d rather attack the larger PC market.

But, all in due time…. all.. in due time.

Perhaps what irks me the most is that as a photographer I get a lot of strange looks and remarks for editing photos on a PC. I often get:

“You’re a photographer and don’t use a Mac?”

*sigh*

The Mac Guy is probably blogging about me using my inferior PC and deserves punishment by death.

I think I’ve blogged enough. The paper beckons.

During a meeting today I felt the weight of it really bear down on me. The group spoke – firing off keywords that blasted deafening tones of time constraints, deadlines - firing off keywords that I knew were specifically aimed at me. And for the duration of that meeting I felt as I was the turd that clogged the toilet.

What can I do? I am but a single person trying to build a website that would normally take a group of web designers months to create. And I am asked to have this done in less than two weeks.

This blog entry isn’t intended to be a bitch session. Because quite frankly, I don’t bitch. It’s pointless.  Rather this is an outlet to reassure myself that even under immense pressure I will still hold true to the beauty and science of design. The placement of code, the elegance of type, the purpose of white space gives me such a design high — if there ever is such a thing.

It’s incredibly soothing. It gives me purpose. How ironic that the very thing that is weighing so heavily on me now is the very thing that keeps me sane.

And to breath so more.

Thoughts that linger too long sour and become putrid — even toxic. It eats away at your sanity little by little.

One of his wishes was to get an autograph football from Tim Tebow… and well, he got his wish. Unfortunately Tim couldn’t be there personally to give it to him so on his father delivered it on his behalf. The look on Zack’s  face was simply priceless. The only thing he loves more than Tebow are penguins. So it was only fitting that he got one with a Tebow jersey!

I often times read about how companies have donated x amount of dollars to certain charities. And while it’s nice to read about these things, but to personally witness it and photograph it — it truly gave me a sense of hope and optimism in humanity. I am especially proud to be associated with a company who gives back to the community — which I believe in 2009 donated 2.5 million to organizations such as Dreams Come True. I can only pray that Zack overcomes this illness and lead a long, healthy life.

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, with Christmas to follow suit. Finals will soon pull me into their demands. End of year projects will pull me yet even farther – stretching me thin like butter on too much bread.

Some days are less bareable than others. Some days I just want to let go and let it just fall apart. Some days I just want to be human and drench my troubles in tears.

I sat closer up and to the right so as not to suggest that I’m some over zealous kiss ass. Truthfully, it was because i needed to hear the lecture in all the clarity my right ear can descipher.

The professor walked in and the first thing I noticed was the PGA TOUR logo on his shirt. I soon learned that he was an avid golfer and when he discovered that I worked for them a sly grin raced across his face.

The class started out in small groups of three to which specific questions were assigned. The intent was two fold: to give us an opportunity to introduce ourselves to fellow classmates and secondly for each of us to teach the answers to the rest of the class. I was first to present. How did I ever get so lucky?

For majority of the remaing 3 hours Dr. Walter gave us a crash course of human history starting from early man to 1450 AD — where our textbook picks up. His very broad stroked teaching style, intertwined with timely humor made it easy (and I dare say even enjoyable) to understand. He made it very clear that memorization of dates and names is utterly worthless unless you understand the impact behind them. Understanding of concepts weighed more heavily than simple memorization.

As he taught he’d often go off into a tangent about an interesting fact. For instance, he was discussing how far the Roman Empire stretched, sliding his hand from Western Europe all the way to China before adruptly stopping and throwing out the fact that there are blue eyed blonde haired Chinese people. He did these “did you knows” throughout the class – which strangely enough were quite interesting.

I have a feeling im going to enjoy the class. Heck, might even learn some history.