295,000,000 : The number of United States Citizens 142,000,000 : The number of registered voters in the U.S. 126,000,000 : The number of votes cast in the 2004 U.S. Election 500,000,000 : The number of votes cast for American Idol this season I can't think of a more pathetic way to put it.
This morning my alarm went off. Like always, I hit the snooze button knowing full well I was just gonna have to hit it again in five minutes. However, when my brain decided it was time to go up and get ready for work, my body was trying to stop this initiative. And it did so in the only way it knew how: to lay still, close it's eyes and start dreaming again. But then the funniest thing happened. My body was so desperate to have me sleep more, that it couldn't even get my mind to think of a good dream. I remember starting to dream about some secret agent sneaking around corners, only he was holding his finger like it was a gun. It was so boring and stupid. It was like my mind wasn't even gonna put out the effort to imagine a real gun, so the guy in my dream had to make-believe. I opened my eyes and literally said to myself "This is boring." and went and took a shower. My body is not very entertaining.
By Wednesday night, everyone was so excited for the movie, and looking back, the past 4 or 5 days had been just as incredible as I had hoped for. I met a bunch of really, really cool people, I got on the news a couple time, this kid I met got quoted in the paper saying that "The Continental Manager is the Darth Vader to our Star Wars Saga". Just a great time. After what seemed like 10 previews, which was probably only really 9, the iconic Lucasfilm LTD. Came on the screen and everyone went nuts, finally seeing what they had been waiting so long to see. This would be the film that would join that gap between not only two halves of a legendary film franchise, but also join the gap between 21st century CG and 1970's miniatures & anamatronics. In short, it was awesome. It really took me by surprise. I expected it to be like Attack of the Clones, but better (because of the better story and all the questions it would answer), but it turned out to be much better than that. I was surprised. It was by far the best of the prequels, and rivals Jedi in my opinion. There was terrible dialogue. There was terrible acting. Thats not why I like star wars. I love the story and I love the characters, and in this movie, those aspects were amazing. I also was very impressed with the Episode IV transitioning. The closer you got to the end of III, the more it felt like IV with sound effects, costumes, vehicles, and sets. I still need to watch the whole shebang in order and maybe discuss some other points in more detail, but this movie was more than I expected, and I couldn't be happier.
 I tried to post earlier from my phone, but it didn't go through, so now I'm using Nick's laptop again. 25 hours until we see Episode III and it's gonna be so awesome. About 15 people came last night and camped out overnight with us and It was great. Some people who came late set up a projection screen and some people watched movies in the parking lot all night. I opted to sleep, and I am happy with that decision. Today was chaos. The worthless stuck up prick manager was on a huge power-trip and wouldn't let us form a line today. They are doing this stupid thing where they are passing out wristbands that determine your place in line. Short story long, We are camping out at the front of the line (though we will not be the first oned in the theatre) and we are having a blast and watching movies. I can't wait for tomorrow, because it's gonna be amazing.
 I am in the parking lot of the continental theatre waiting for Star Wars with Nick. The movie opens Wednesday. Our biggest fear right now is that someone from the theatre, a security guard, or the police will tell us to go home. We can only hope that situation does not become a reality. This time, its pretty sweet, because we have internet, so we can post to websites and upload pictures. Nerds. As to conserve batteries I will stop this post here, but will hopefully be able to keep posting. p.s. every time a car drives in the parking lot (as one just did), both of our heads instantlt snap up and glare at said car as if they are our sworn enemy. That is all. Wish us luck, but please don't wish the force to be with us; we're not that kinda nerd.
I have been waiting in anticipation of Yahoo!'s new music program for sometime now. I have used Yahoo!'s launchCAST radio for about a year now, and it has introduced me to some amazing bands I would not have known about or bought music from otherwise: The Streets, Neutral Milk Hotel, Cat Power, Say Hi To Your Mom, Mae, Taking Back Sunday, Mates of State, Apollo Sunshine, and many others. I find it's music recommendations to be priceless and the best way I know of to discover new music. Today, Yahoo! released the Yahoo! Music Engine. It is a music player like Windows Media Player or iTunes, but has several advantages over either of those programs. First, it integrates your launchCAST radio into the player which will play you a customized station based on your ratings. It also has your entire music library built in, and playlists like you would expect. The best part tho is their subscription service, which is about six bucks a month. This service called Yahoo! Unlimited, allows you to listen to any music you want to on demand. Full quality if you want too. That is well worth the six bucks in my opinion. You hear there's a new Weezer album out? Oh, that fine, just go listen to the album and see if it's worth buying. Can't get that Carpenters song out of your head? Just go listen to it. Want to check up on what Kris Kross has been doing? Just punch it up and you'll be Jump, Jumping in no time. Yes, this is the same kind of "Unlimited Download" service that Napster and others have been offering, but there are two differences. The first is that it costs about $6, not $15. The second is that Napster and others tried to trick you into thinking of that music as music you owned. Here is a Napster ad, paraphrased:
This is very misleading, because you don't own that music. But look at how Yahoo! is marketing their Unlimited service:
This is a very honest (and convincing) way of selling the same type of service, not to mention it is 1/3 the price. Anyhow, Nick brought that up so I thought I'd post it. Finally, the really cool thing for me the developer, is that the Yahoo! Music Engine has an open API so that anyone who wants to can make a plug-in for it. And you can really make it do anything you want. Some plugins people have already made: Alarm clock, Mini Mode, Picture Slideshow. My mind has been churning all night thinking of cool plugins I could make for this program. Lastly, there are many other cool features that I did not go into detail about, like streaming your library to a friend over the internet, transfering to iPods, their music library interface, and others, but I have to say that I am supprisingly pleased with what this product has to offer and the possibilities it has for down the road. I'm telling you to go get it. Oh, unless you have a mac. "You know I was thinking we could go back home... have some dinner and pop in the Sisqo CD... no?"
No matter what the case may be, if I go to a website or receive an email and it uses Comic Sans MS, I instantly discredit that website/email. Comic Sans MS is perhaps the most unprofessional, least commanding font in existence. Normally I don't get this worked up about a font, but the only people allowed to use it should be persons not yet having graduated Junior High, and only thing it should used on are Science Reports and at the top of family trees. If I ever have a choice between two of anything, I am going with the one that's not using Comic Sans MS. Also, my roommate suggested I post on the obsessive pointer device habit I have gained recently. A couple months ago, I kept getting this overwhelming urge to right click. Like my ring finger weighed 10 pounds. I just couldn't stop the urge, so I started right-clicking. I am obsessed. I will be reading a website and right click about 10 times per 5 seconds. Then wait, then do it again. I hope these patterns don't continue. "Wiping out the human race? That's a great idea. That's great. But more of a long-term thing. I mean, first we have to focus on more immediate goals"
Ways in which I have posted to this website:
A couple of days ago, I got an email from someone named chet3. The message was as follows: Subject:Matthew Wood After realizing that this was really this guy's dad (honestly, what reason would someone have for doing this if it wasn't real?), I decided to email the guy back and send him the five pictures I took of Matthew Wood. I think that chet3 is another flickr user who happened to come across the picture of his son in the Macintosh group on flickr. Quite a strange coincidence, but really really neat. I got a reply from Chet and am very excited, even if it is just a third person celebrity encounter. Hi Mark, "And the more I thought about it... the more I realized that I should just blow my brains out and end it all. But then I thought, well, if I thought more about blowing my brains out... I start worrying about what that was going to do to my goddamn carpet."
 
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