Hold My Hand

So you are out on a third date with a particularly lovely person and you are peacefully sitting next to somebody who you are utterly enjoying the moment with. You get this urge to reach out and to hold their hand in yours. But what is this instinct? I personally have had no idea what to do with my hands when I am not using them for some other activity. What is so special about placing your hand in somebody else's?



Let's consider examples from popular culture:
Fergie
Big Girls Don't Cry

Yes you can hold my hand if you want to
'cause I wanna hold yours too
We'll be playmates and lovers and share our secret worlds

Hootie and the BlowFish
Hold My Hand

Hold my hand
Maybe we can't change the world but
I wanna love you the best that, the best that I can, yeah

Vertical Horizon
Heart in Hand

There for you and you're there for me

Pictures and photographs
Memories and windows
Goodbyes and epitaphs
Heartbeats and hellos

Are you waiting for
Heart in hand
Woman and man
See me where I stand I am
Heart
Heart in hand

Examples from the Bible:

Isaiah 41:13
For I am the LORD, Your God,
who takes hold of your right hand
and says to you, Do not fear;
I will help you.



The power of touch is always very powerful. It shows a level of comfort beyond what can be expressed through most words or actions. Also, are hands are our source of livelihood. Without our hands we could not feed ourselves, we could not open a door or drive a car. (at least not easily) Occupying our hands with the sole purpose of holding somebodies else puts your attention solely upon them instead of allowing you to do something else.

I can remember some of my most vivid memories involve holding hands. One summer I went to a summer concert with my older sister in downtown Atlanta. There were literally hundreds of thousands of people gathered together in an open courtyard. My sister and I managed to gather almost all the way to the front of the crowd. Within the first 20 min of the concert it started pouring rain. Having taken public transportation we were 45 min from our cars with about 15 min of walking to the train station. Us both being soaked I took my sisters hand and crossed the downtown streets of Atlanta. We both were soaked, in the dark rain with a long journey ahead to get home. But we were together and I knew that as long as she was near I could never frown.



One of the second most vivid memories of hand holding involved a girl that I was good friends with in high school named Meghan. As I started getting closer to her I invited her up for a weekend retreat at my best friends lake house. I picked her up and drove her the 3 hour drive down there. She slept the whole way :) I could not be more pleased that she trusted me blindly to get her there safe (I was a 17 year old driver). That night we sat around the fire singing to guitar music until it was time to sleep. Sleeping quarters were tight so we all slept on the floor in the living room. My sleeping bag was next to hers and as we both lay down for bed we lay holding hands as we drifted off to a peaceable sleep. I felt so at peace falling asleep in her presence - knowing that she was there right there, going through a similar experience.

One thing is clear, holding hands means can show you are not judgmental, you are committed, empathetic and totally accepting. I hope that everyone reading this can show their love to somebody else by the power of loving touch of hand to hand.

A Week in the life of a Wii Owner

The good, the bad and the ugly. The Wii is certainly a great purchase for several reasons. I have owned one for a week now and I would like to comment on the overall system.

GAMEPLAY
====================================================

The Wiimote is certainly an great innovation. This controller is sensitive down to the atomic scale and is certainly brings mouse-like precision to the console arena. The interface introduces some lag, but this lag is minor and usually does not impact any game play. The Wiimote sports force feedback which adds to the tactile feel. Also it has a small speaker that provides extra sounds. This really places you in the game. Your Wiimote makes a clacking sound as you draw your sword in Zelda. Also, this operates on bluetooth and can be easily synced to your computer and used as a mouse with the appropriate drivers. Battery life is about 50 hours on two AA batteries. There is no built in recharging option.



The numchuck is also just as sensitive, but lacks the IR refinement so is only used for non-precision sensory motion. The numchuck + Wiimote cost a total of $60 a pop! This is crazy expensive. You can also get a classic controller which hooks into the Wiimote for $20 which is required for most ROMs. However, the Wii does have 4 ports for Gamecube controllers and these can be used instead of the classic controller, but the controller layout is not the best. The Gamecube controllers are required for any Gamecube game.



Ergonomically, I believe the Wiimote and numchuck are very easy on your wrist when used in moderation. I usually clock about 70 hours a week on the computer and enjoy playing tennis. Both of these put strain on your wrist and I usually experience a slight bit of discomfort. This past week I added about 30 hours of Wii play on top of that, and experienced no increase in discomfort. I even jammed my hand in a biking tumble and enjoyed playing the Wii for several hours that day after not being able to touch a keyboard. If you work on a computer all day like me, but still love games, the Wii is for you!

GAMES
====================================================

Wii game selection is now scant, but has several innovative games. Currently released top games include:

Resident Evil 4 (Top rated game for the Wii)



Zelda - Twilight Princess (Nintendo's best Wii game so far- tons of content)



Wii Sports (Free with Wii purchase, great party game)



WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Over 200 Microgames to play, another good party game)



Super Paper Mario (Continuation of the Paper Mario series, very solid overall)



Trauma Center - Second Opinion (Rehash of DS game- some new content, great use of Wiimote)



Excite Truck - (Fast paced, easy to pick up, allows user to listen to mp3s loaded on SD card)



More games are to be released soon and gaming production is slated to increase dramatically. Wii is slated to have another 100 titles by the holiday season bringing its total library size up to 160. This compares to the current library of about 200 on the PS3 and 300 on the Xbox360. Production of games on the Wii is anticipated to be much greater on the Wii. Comparatively it takes $5 million to make a Wii game, $10-15 million to make an Xbox360 game and about $20 million to make a PS3 game. Programmers from E3 cringe at the thought of making PS3 games but embrace the freshness of Wii games and are aggressively looking for new titles. Expect a steady stream of fresh and original Wii games for the next two - three years.


ROMS
====================================================

Includes support for NES, SNES, N64, Sega Genesis and TurboGraphics games. Selection is somewhat limited, but the majority of blockbusters are present. Top ROMs include:
The Legend of Zelda: Orcarina of Time
Super Mario World
Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Super Mario Bros
Gunstar Heros
Super Mario Bros 2
ActRaiser
Donkey Kong Country 2:Diddy's Kong Quest



Games cost from $5-10 but you must pre-purchase in increments of $10. That money can also be applied to the $5 Internet channel which is a Flash 6 enabled Opera browser. With this browser you can surf the web, stream internet radio, watch you-tube videos (fullscreen!), play most flash games and remotely listen to/control with your PC's Winamp or Apple's Itunes. The Wii sports an 802.11G wireless connector and some limited RAM available for running web apps. All pages I visited rendered properly with no artifacts. Youtube video looks fairly smooth, but is not as good as a PC. Flash games only work if they are 6.0 compatible. It will try to run higher versions, but renders most games unplayable. Also, flash game size is limited. Several sites have compiled a list of Wii-compatible flash games and several of them were fun to play and could be zoomed to full-screen. However, a few of these I had problems with as well since I believe their links were a bit dated.



THE GOOD:
====================================================

Initial Price
Aesthetic Appeal
Extreme Backwards Compatibility (NES, SNES, N64, GC, Sega, TurboGraphics)
Innovative Controls
Innovative Games
Built in Wifi

THE BAD:
====================================================

Expensive add on controllers ($40 Wiimote, $20 Numchuck, $20 Classic controller, $12 GC controller)
Internet Multiplayer functionality (to be fixed in Q4 games)
System shortages 9 months into product life cycle

THE UGLY:
====================================================

420P Resolution
Weak Graphics Processor Unit
Video Streaming Quality (not quite DVD quality)

Mii has a Wii

I recently got a new roommate and we both love God, technology and games. (In that order) He soon told me that he wanted to get his friend a Wii as a present. I asked him why he didn't do it. He said that in the last 9 months since the consoles release he was unable to find one in a store to purchase. I responded saying that is ludicrous - the console has been out for months! It must be in stores.
The next day I was talking to Alan Patrick (a long time gamer and Nintendo supporter). He was at work, watching E3 conference instead of working. Well, he was telling me all the hype about the Wii and so I figured I would look into how much a used Wii would be on ebay. I figure if it was only used for 5 months or so, maybe I could get one for about $200 ($249.95 is retail). Well, to my dismay there are almost no used Wiis on ebay, and every unit on ebay is selling for about $300-500 (plus crazy shipping charges of about $40). So I found one on Ebay using a Wii locator with 30 min left going for $200. Well, I put in a bid for $225 and was soon outbid. Soon the price skyrocketed to about $288 with much more time to go in the auction.

Dismayed, I said screw it, I am going Wii hunting. My first stop: Target. No luck at all. Next stop: Gamespot. I asked the guy there if they had any Wiis and he just grinned at me and was like: no chance at all. Apparently people snipe that store and come in when shipments arrive around lunch time. By 3pm all their shipment is usually sold out! GRRHHH! Next stop: Walmart- the most trafficked site of all! I thought I had no chance at all, but to my pleasure I saw two Wii boxes behind the glass! Ohh so pretty! So like a kid in the candy store I looked around for somebody to open it. I eventually got a nice nearby photo-guy to track down some keys and open the glass. I said I wanted a couple of Wiis and he had to go clear-it with his associate to make sure there were no limits. I also snatched up a copy of the new Zelda game.


So like a bat out of hell, I fled the Walmart store as if they had made a mistake in letting me purchase them. I could easily flip them on Ebay and pocket a quick $200! I am surprised the employees there do not do it. Anyways... more to come in part 2 as I review the Wii's awesomeness and grandeurs! It is amazing God has gifted us in such a way to create and build just as he is the great creator.

How to get a Free $25

I have recently joined an online bank called ING Direct. They offer savings accounts with 4.5% interest rates, no minimum balances, and unlimited withdrawals. Also, if you deposit at least $250 using the below link referral you will receive a free $25 deposit(and I will get $10)! This account must be active for a minimum of 10 business days. They can link the account to your online bank account so you can have money automatically deducted to start a savings plan. Also, the rates are pretty competitive compared to most banks. (Not to mention you will get an immediate 10% return on investment)

Now that I have a new roommate, I will be placing all that money I am saving in this account to earn interest and save towards something special. Anyways, click on one of the links below for the special offer. Once somebody uses the link it will give you an error message on the page. Try the next link down until it no longer gives you such a message. Let me know if you have any problems.

Open new account link 1
Open new account link 2
Open new account link 3
Open new account link 4

Google should buy Facebook

Yes, I have come to the conclusion that Google should buy Facebook. They could clean up all these useless applications out there and integrate it so well. Imagine having Picassa upload your album right to Facebook? Also, Google has rolled out a new feature in their albums to allow a map location linked to your photos. I just think if they integrated the two into one that things could get better. Although, I am always afraid of Google getting too big and starting to not innovate and start charging for their services. End rant. Anyways, here are some pix I took this weekend as well as the rest of my spring album. Feel free to click through and see where in the world these were taken.

Friday's are Fun

I vote Friday's all time winner of the best day of the week for several reasons. First off, it is the last normal working day. Even if you work weekends, everyone around you is so happy to take a break that it makes your day that much better as well. Secondly, Friday is your most productive day. You are in the groove and you can catch up on all the little things that fell through the crack before. Also, NOBODY wants to bring up new things for you to work on at this point in the week, so you get to concentrate on getting a few things done. Third, Saturday is official sleep catch-up day, which means that Friday night is the night to stay out late and not pay for it the next day. This can include several nocturnal activities such as clubbing, reading, playing video games, spending time with your significant other until the wee hours of the morning, cooking, playing board games, and about a million other engaging activities.
So for everyone out there, happy Friday. (If today is not actually a Friday for you, take heart, a Friday is absolutely guaranteed in less than 7 days:)

My Favorite Movie List

So, I have been using Netflix for awhile and have posted a list of my 5-star movies (like them or hate them). Also, conveniently enough, I currently do not own any of the below films and do have a B-day coming up. Anyways, I think it is a bit interesting to see which movies people place in the classic list.

A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
Appleseed (2004)
Austin Powers 1 (1997)
Battlestar Galactica: Season 1 (4-Disc Series) (2004)
Battlestar Galactica: Season 2.0 (3-Disc Series) (2005)
Blade (1998)
City of Angels (1998)
Crash (2005)
Dune: Extended Edition (1984)
Equilibrium (2002)
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001)
Firefly (4-Disc Series) (2002)
Gladiator (2000)
GoldenEye (1995)
Hitch (2005)
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003)
I, Robot (2004)
Independence Day (1996)
Interview with the Vampire (1994)
John Q (2001)
Jurassic Park (1993)
Master and Commander (2003)
Mission: Impossible (1996)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
Ninja Scroll (1995)
Office Space (1999)
Princess Mononoke (1997)
Resident Evil (2002)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Serenity (2005)
Shrek (Full-screen) (2001)
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)
The Count of Monte Cristo (2002)
The Fast and the Furious (2001)
The Hunt for Red October (1990)
The Last Samurai (2003)
The Patriot (2000)
The Princess Bride (1987)
Titanic (1997)
Willow (1988)
Young Frankenstein (1974)
Zoolander (2001)