When I lift, I usually retreat into my own head, which is a very useful sort of meditation that allows the superfluous (exercise) to mingle with the consequential. I was jarred from this state on two separate occasions during my recent lifting session. Dropping down from the bars and contemplating how good laying down on the floor might feel, I sensed someone approaching, trying to get my attention. A well built fellow, he quickly came quite close, invading my large American space bubble, and causing me to simultaneously wonder about his sexuality or country of origin. This immediately put me on the defensive. He was polite, though, simply commenting, “… that’s the toughest exercise I have ever seen anyone do here in the past two years.” My pre-packaged conversational responses were not exactly prepared to deal with a statement of this nature; all I managed was a jesting “I don’t think I can recommend it” to his back. Funny. Later on, while attempting to put the incline bar back on the rack it had come from, I missed the right side. Dropping your hand from a bar expecting nothing to come with it, but finding hundreds of pounds tagging along for the trip is a strange experience. The original shock missed my head, and I considered what to do. Gravity decided for me, and I watched the weights slide casually off the right side of the bar, rotating slightly through space and then bouncing off the urethane covered floor. BOOM. Clunk. Clink. Clink. Funny.
Katy is doing better; it looks as if she will not need skin grafts. THIS is the good news we have been waiting for, and to anyone who tossed some kinds words her way, included her in their prayers, or performed any other acts of support, should chalk up some points on the “good karma” scale. Bad events always manage to bring the best out of people, in some way. Some kind of optimism in that last sentence, eh?
This weekend I visited Mykala’s family with her roommate (well, suitemate) Jordan (not the seminarian, but she did get all his mail). Soundbite descriptions: gorgeous weather, amazing food, great company, nerves, Lion King, walk, grandma, too short.
A week or something ago (time is fuzzy lately), John hosted a great DDR Extreme party in which we all got together and played the new game. I am rusty since last year, but it felt good to play just a bit. Ping pong, pizza, dancing, sweating, laughing, they all came together for an excellent Friday night. I owe Mykala quite a bit, she gave me a ride there, and stayed to play. She played! DDR! That was, suffice to say, really cool.
You will notice in the picture that we are both concentrating quite hard. I manage to look like a complete moron while our other dancer does not. Pictured is not my “I can do this” face. I think it is my “I wonder how dumb I will look if I screw up” face. I think. Only my unconscious knows for sure; I was just trying to stomp on the correct arrows at the right time! Also note in this picture the metal pad on which the lovely Mykala is standing. See it? That’s Mike’s metal pad. Very nice. Out of the field of view, is Justin’s Cobalt Flux pad on which I am standing. For my purposes, I like Justin’s pad better, but watching Mike play in his socks on his pad is a testament to how efficiently one can dance on it. It all is what you are used to.
Justin found (the kid can find anything if given time … and I do mean anything) the song I have been looking for: Boots of Spanish Leather, by Bob Dylan, Covered by Martin Simpson, from the A Nod to Bob album. An powerful and moving song, I am only scratching the surface because I can not quite make out the lyrics yet. Other great songs I am currently listening to:
4 Strings - Let it Rain ATB - Here With Me
Armin Van Buuren - Burned with Desire DJ Tiesto - Adagio for Strings
Oceablab - Clear Blue Water (Ferry Corsten Mix)
Tree 63 - Blessed be Your Name
Bruce Springsteen - Nothing Man
Creeper Lagoon - Under the Tracks
One final thing to note: my Shawshank Redemption poster came. I like the picture, and the message of hope. I like to hang things that make me happy, and I like it when they work.
I finally changed AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) to look the way I want it to. Anyone who uses AIM for Windows knows that they are locked into the appearance. The jarring yellow icons and similarly colored highlights are the only option. While one can download add on software (such as AIMutation), there are more elegant and less invasive ways to change the appearance. You see, all I wanted to do was change the awful highlights. My success inspired me to go further and change some icons as well.
First, the highlighting color. This one is the more challenging of the two. First, determine your version of AIM and go to this AIM Codes Page and pick your current version. There, you will see the “HEX offset” of the colors to be changed (I changed the “buddy highlight ” and “mouse-over of buddy info” colors). Furthermore, you will need a basic understanding of six digit color codes. Simply put, you are looking for FFFF00 (bright yellow) to replace the highlight, and a different code for the buddy info color. Anyhow, download this Freeware Hex Editor and then open BuddyUI.ocm and search for the two offsets listed. With a little luck, you’ll find the FFFF00 combination, and you can replace it with whatever color you wish (mine was white: FFFFFF). Do the same with whatever other colors you would like to change.
Next step is to change the icons. This was easier, but required more brute force searching. I used Resource Hacker to open AimRes.dll and look through the sub-folder entitled “Bitmaps.” Be sure to use the “expand all” feature in Resource Hacker so you can look through things more quickly. In my version of AIM (5.5.3595), the away message icon was in 200, mobile in 268. I changed both of these. Futhermore, I deleted the games and video icons to clean up my IM window (in the areas of 303 and 324, respectively). The effect of all of this puttering is shown to the right.
I had not seen a beginners guide like this to changing AIM, so hopefully this can serve as a guide to others who wish to tweak their programs. Enjoy!
