I got a golf glove today

At my first golf class, I was made painfully aware that I would need a golf glove. Fortunately, my hand didn't quite blister, but it came close. So, today I decided to go to Academy to buy a glove. I looked up the nearest Academy online and found one a few miles north of here near a light rail station. So, deciding not to drive, even though driving would be faster, I took the light rail train to where I needed to go. I wasn't exactly sure where Academy was in relation to the train station, but I eventually found it and it was unfortunately farther than I expected. And, the surrounding neighborhood wasn't as nice as I expected. So, after a 5 to 10 minute walk past the sleeping homeless person, over the bridge crossing a trash-covered creek, and past the loudly-singing African, I got there. I found the golf gloves, of which there were many different kinds, so I tried a few on and eventually got a Nike glove for about $12. Then, on my way back, I missed one of the trains, so I sat on the platform comfortably reading a newspaper in the warm breeze until the next train came. Then, I got back to my room and tried the glove on again. For some reason, I'm excited about having this glove and I'm having difficulty resisting the urge to keep trying it on. I'm looking forward to using it Monday. Anyway, that's the story of how I got my golf glove. Sweet dreams, children.

Fight Goliath Fund

I'm not a fan of the RIAA's aggressive prosecution of anyone who has downloaded music illegally - I think they are demanding too much, and more importantly, they have been unwilling to provide a decent alternative to illegal file sharing. Yes, you can now legally download songs, but they cost $1 each, so you might end up paying more to download 15 songs from different artists than you would pay at the store for an album of 15 songs from the same artist. The cost of doing business online is much cheaper for the music providers - manufacturing costs for the CD and case are eliminated, along with the cost to print the liner notes, packaging costs, and the cost of physically distributing the music to stores across the country. So, it would seem that songs online could be offered for much cheaper than they are since an online music store is less costly to operate, and consumers should pay less than they do at a music store because they're not getting the liner notes and the art that usually accompanies a music album. So, the music industry has sort of responded to the demand to download single songs by providing a legal alternative, but they haven't addressed the main message, which is that music is too expensive. Furthermore, there are no means for a music listener to download a song to try it out to decide whether to buy it. So, in the first place I sort of support, in the name of civil disobedience, people who download music illegally. But the RIAA is suing a bunch of people for a bunch of money in some unreasonable circumstances and is insisting on settlements from all of them. However, this lady is refusing to settle with the companies and needs money for lawyers to help her fight the charges against her. So, if you're interested, feel free to offer your support by donating or by telling other people about it, or feel free to explain why you're not interested in the comments.

Patti is the New York working mother with five children who's decided she's not caving in to Sony BMG, Vivendi Universal, Warner Music or EMI, the multi-billion-dollar members of the Organized Music cartel which has been trying to extort 'settlement' money from her, and more than 17,000 others like her, including school kids.

She is NOT willing to be blackmailed for something she didn't do and when she presents her case to a jury on an as-yet to be determined date, she'll be the first to meet these hard-core, multi-billion-dollar bullies with their teams of PR hacks, their bought-and-paid for politicians, their unimaginably vast financial and legal resources, face-to-face.

State of the Union Address Review

The State of the Union address was last night. President Bush's approval rating is as low as it has been, but he stil came out and said mostly the same stuff he's been saying for the past few years. We have to stay the course in Iraq, 1000 points of light, well, no, he didn't say that, but his speech just didn't seem to have anything new to say.

I guess the most surprising thing was that Bush said that we need to stop being "addicted to oil" and he proposed money for more research into alternative energies. However, three years ago, Bush proposed $1.7 billion to be spent to develop hydrogen fuel cell automotive technology and I haven't heard anything about it since then. While his proposals (both the one he made this year and the one he made three years ago) are good ideas, I'm skeptical that he has fundamentally transformed in his stance on oil - from pushing for oil drilling in Alaska last year to wanting us to reduce our dependence on oil this year.

Furthermore, the president loves to come up with ways to spend our money, but he doesn't seem to be trying very hard to cut our debt. The economy has been pretty good the last several years and the president hasn't had any balanced budgets. He hasn't even been able to cut spending and he bragged last night that he has been able to reduce the amount of annual increase. From the Washington Post:

The president said he has reduced "the growth" of non-security discretionary spending. This only means it did not increase as much from year to year. Moreover, overall discretionary spending has exploded during his tenure, especially when military spending is included. White House budget documents show that overall discretionary spending has climbed from $644 billion in 2001 to $840 billion this year, an increase of more than 30 percent.

And, for those of you who still think that the president is serious about cutting spending and balancing the budget, read this article which contrasts his comments about spending in the previous State of the Union addresses with the expensive bills that he signed those years.

Overall, the president's speech was unremarkable and he didn't offer much to be excited about in the remaining three years of what some people are already calling a lame duck presidency.

Dry hand

The skin on the back of my hand has been really dry lately, particularly around two of my knuckles and on the back of my pinky finger. It doesn't bother me that much, but it's rough and kind of reddish and I don't know why that skin is dry and the rest is just fine. It was dry this weekend, so I even used some of my girlfriend's lotion so my skin wouldn't be dry - but it's still dry!

Oh, and, I know for some of you it's difficult to pass up an opportunity to make some kind of sexual reference about hands and lotion in the comments section, but please refrain, unless you have something really witty.

Job fair went okay

So, I went to the job fair today. I had looked up a few companies I was interested in, and I was able to talk to them and give them my resumé. I'm optimistic about getting a job at a few places. Still, times like this make me wish I had chosen to attend a larger school, especially one more known for engineering that would attract more engineering companies to its job fairs. But, job fairs aren't everything, and I'm sure I'll be able to get a summer internship somewhere this summer.

I took gum from a stranger

Lesley and I were walking at the park this weekend, when we passed an elderly man and his wife, who was lagging a few steps behind him. As we passed the lady, she began to talk to us. I didn't really understand what she was saying, but it sounded like she was saying more than just "hello," so Lesley and I stopped to figure out what was going on, and the lady reached in her purse as if she was going to give us something, so Lesley and I stood there and looked at each other, not really sure what this lady was doing. She then pulled out some gum and gave each of us a piece.

Neither of us ate our piece, and mine is sitting on top of my desk right now. I can't overcome the years of instruction I've received to never take candy from a stranger. Yeah, I already took it, and it's actually gum and not candy, but I think the rule still applies. The old woman who gave me the gum seemed harmless and kind of senile, so I guess there would be no harm in chewing the gum, but it sure would be funny if she actually did poison the gum and she pretended to be senile so that people would chew her poisoned gum.

Job Fair tomorrow

Tomorrow, I'm attending a career fair at school. I'm looking for an internship this summer, and there are a few companies that will be there that I am interested in, so I'm hoping things will go well tomorrow.

Super Bowl poll

I have created a new poll asking who you want to win the Super Bowl.

In the last poll, Hershey's and Butterfinger tied as people's favorite chocolate.

First Day of Golf Today

This semester, I'm taking a class on golf, since it was one of the most appealing classes offered and it seems like it would be a good idea to learn how to play. Today we learned how to grip and how to swing and we practiced for a while. I hit a few balls pretty well, but I was pretty inconsistent. The weather outside was very good and even though I almost got a blister on my left hand because I didn't have a glove, I still had fun. I'm looking forward to doing it again and getting better, and I hope the weather stays good.

Google Agees to Censor

Link.

Online search engine leader Google Inc. has agreed to censor its results in China, adhering to the country's free-speech restrictions in return for better access in the Internet's fastest growing market.

...

To obtain the Chinese license, Google agreed to omit Web content that the country's government finds objectionable. Google will base its censorship decisons on guidance provided by Chinese government officials.

Although China has loosened some of its controls in recent years, some topics, such as Taiwan's independence and 1989's Tiananmen Square massacre, remain forbidden subjects.

Google officials characterized the censorship concessions in China as an excruciating decision for a company that adopted "don't be evil" as a motto. But management believes it's a worthwhile sacrifice.

Now that Google's a publicly traded company, they have even more reason to make decisions based on their financial interest. Still, they didn't have to give into China and censor results, they could have made a stand for what is right, but no.

Harmony Baptist Church

There is a church in Sherman, TX called Harmony Baptist Church. The neon sign has long been broken and its doors have been closed long enough for a tree to be growing at the bottom of the stairs. How long this building has been closed, I don't know. Inside, the building is enthralling, unlike anything I have ever seen and great material for photography.

I think this used to be a thermostat, but I have no idea how it got as messed up as it did.

There is a tree outside of the building, as can be seen through this broken window. As the building continues to deterioriate, there will eventually be a tree like this growing inside the building.

Parts of the roof are still restrained from falling down as lights haphazardly dangle.

This photo shows a lot of different interesting aspects of the building: the missing roof, the dangling lights, the distinctive yellow windows, and the deteriorating walls.

Here are the seats where the choir would sit. I like the way the roof filters the light hitting the wall behind the chairs, I like the wood on and near these chairs, and I like the various stages of aging that these chairs show.

In the top half of the photo, you can see the rotted ceiling and the walls lacking paint. In the bottom fourth of the photo, you can see lumber and shingles stacked neatly, as if someone was going to use them to repair the building. However, the shadows on the wall show that the roof is missing and beyond repair, so everyone just took the exit.

While the church is falling apart and beyond repair, somehow the yellow windows, the magenta curtain, and the way the light shines through make it beautiful to me.