This will be the first album recommendation I have made based on … almost no exposure to an album. This little disc, Everyone Is Here, has a single called “Won’t Give In,” which is available on iTunes as a part of a three-song download. Unfortunately, I do not have iTunes and do not have the time to grab it, so I am sitting here hoping Cities 97 will play this song again for New Music Monday. It was just one of those songs that grabbed me. Traveling 70 miles an hour eastbound on I94 with the windows open, some subtle nuance of the tune grabbed my eardrums and told them “this is something special.” Then again, I am suggesting you buy a compact disc based on 30 seconds of hearing bits and pieces of one song from it. This means either the song is so amazing that 30 seconds of it filtered through traffic causes melodic brain convulsions, or I am utterly misguided and should be doing better things during the driving task.
Friends, I fear the latter may be true - however, I will listen more and come back at a later date with a confirmation or complete rejection of my current assessment.
Speaking of buying things on Amazon, you may be interested in a little screen shot I took recently while perusing monitors:
Wow! Zero percent off? For me? You shouldn’t have. Shucks, I’m … I’m overwhelmed. It’s like Christmas in June.
Outrageously steep discounts aside, I recently figured out Amazon’s logo. You know, how they have an arrow going from “a” to “z”. Clevvver. How many years did I look at that without noticing? Five, actually. Oh, hush. Am I a moron? Yes. If obvious logos also throw you for a loop, you may be surprised to know that FedEx has an arrow hidden in their logo (and a teaspoon too, but I’m not telling you where that is). I also have an incredible problem failing to hear song lyrics correctly. I still think it’s “roses really smell like woo woo woo.” That just sounds better than “poo,” don’t you think? This train of thought might prompt you to wonder what horrible change has come over that has caused me to listen to top 40 music. Frankly, I pondering the same question. Though, being a piano player, I certainly can respect that one wicked lick of a piano introduction at the beginning of “Roses.” Secondly, pop music has held a strange attraction for me as of late. The songs are like slow train wrecks … with trains that are really flashy and wrecks that are repeated over and over with slight variations. In the business of train wrecks, you just can’t beat the “slap” sound effect in User’s “Yeah.” I never thought I’d say that. And to think, all of this composed while listening to George Winston. I really am off my rocker.
Final recommendation: The Juliana Theory, Emotion is Dead. A friend of mine loaned this to me way way (and by the double “way” I mean a really long time ago) back and I had not listened to it yet. On a whim, I popped it in and it was really prrretty good. Then I heard “We’re at the Top of the World” and became completely addicted to guitar riffs opening up the song. You might like the entire album, but do give this song a try on Amazon’s samples; it is three minutes and seventeen seconds (though you only get 30 seconds at Amazon - poor you!) of sonic harmony so well-produced and written, it seems out of place with the rest of the selections on the album.
Excuse me while I resume bizarre juxtapositions on my play list including, but not limited to, Winston before Encore and Engelina, Enya after Switchfoot, and Norah Jones snuggled up next to PvD.
My parents are celebrating their 25th anniversary in Canada this week. Upon sharing this nugget of information with my friends, I was immediately asked by Matt, “Does this mean you get to blast the stereo?” The thought had not crossed my mind, but come to think of it, the system does need a good workout. At home, I switch from running the HPM’s on the Pioneer SX-838 to using the Pioneer SX-850. The real power, however, comes from the subwoofer ofthunder. Thus, we will have to see what goes down - some new SPL records may be set in the Micek basement.
Steve is now a registered, valid, certified nurse assistant. I commend him and respect him for this accomplishment. Upon hearing the news, Dan asked, “Is he lactating now?” This was the most interesting way to question masculinity I have heard yet. To clear things up, Dan was joking, Steve likes women, and they are both cool.
Current trends in me and John’s running include Running Backwards, flying slow-mo Matrix-building-jump-style over Valley Creek (or at least pretending to), mid-stride heel clicks, and racing Steve on his bike (at punishingly high speeds). It is only somewhat in the name of physical fitness, but more in the name of a good time.
Finally, if my LoveSac idea falls through, I was wondering if any of you have alternative ideas for what I should ask for. I mean, with the former, I get a piece of furniture that is really comfortable and really versatile. I suppose I could ask for clothes, but I am not naked or anything. In terms of priorities, I would rather be naked and sitting on something comfortable than clothed on a concrete floor. Drop me a line with suggestions.
Honestly, what is your problem? Why do you put up with computers that take forever to connect to the internet, to check you email, computers that force you to jump through hoops to do routine tasks, and take forever just to turn on. Why? Because you found one way to do things, and it has worked for you. Like millions of other computer users, you are stuck in the default settings of your computer, settings that certainly do not match your habits, interests, and style of using a computer. Maybe WinXP has your files living in “My Pictures” and “My Videos” and “My Everything Else.” Maybe getting your email is a lengthy log-in process. Maybe you are always juggling open browser windows. Maybe IM is always in your way. Regardless, streamlining and eliminating these minor annoyances you have come to live with will save you piles of time.
What About Apple?
Survey says a fair number of you out there run Apple systems. I understand that you would not like to be left out in a computing productivity discussion. However, all I can recommend is to enjoy the built-in glory of Apple efficiency, and to grab Quicksilver. From there, I have nothing more I can tell you because I use a XP box … but I do think you are (in terms of productivity) awfully lucky. Awfully. Anyhow, on to the Win tips.
Analyze
Find the four applications you use the most. Rank from most used to not-used-as-much. What do you demand from them? What are the strange little habits you have when you use them? C’mon, everyone has some quirky little hang-up with Window size, or playlist style, or Window position, or any number of minutia. For example, I like things full screen, all the time. However, I still want to be able to check, at a glance, what is playing on Winamp. My top four areas of use are music, communications, internet, and word processing (college papers, labs, etc.). Anyhow, these top picks are the most important programs to optimize; you use them so much and so often that any small amount of time saved during their use will add up quickly to hours of your life saved.
Set Goals
Got the four? Good. Now, here’s the hard part. What is pissing you off about these programs? Launching is a common issue: what’s the best way to launch programs? Obviously, a QuickLaunch icon in the taskbar is good - but what about when you are juggling windows? Those launch buttons are simply sitting there, taking up space in the taskbar that could be used more effectively by the open program bars. Sure, you could pull your taskbar up so it has two (or three, or five rows), but screen real estate is expensive: few people can afford to chop off valuable square inches because they have a crowded taskbar. My solution, as I wrote about before, was to move the taskbar to the top of the screen, and change the bottom of the screen to a hot-spot for a Dock emulator (a dock is the Mac equivalent of the taskbar, executed in a better way - find out more at Object Dock) which I use to launch programs. Conveniently, it also has weather. Of course, hiding the Windows taskbar and letting it pop up on mouseover at the bottom of the screen is an option - but have you noticed the delay it makes? There might be an obscure setting somewhere to turn off this animation of the taskbar - but who knows where to find it (I refuse to waste my time). Thus, the user is hit by a split second delay when they move their mouse to the bottom of the screen - wasting the time we were trying to earn back! If things are going to be hidden, they need to respond instantaneously to user input - they need to spring back to life with confiction, not slowly amble back into the limelight. The thought process in this one aspect (launching) gives you an idea of how much you need to consider this - you really need to question your established habits if you are going to save time.
Prepare and Execute
What now? Well, you need some areas to focus on that will help you save time. As I mentioned before, launching is huge. Furthermore, you need to optimize your comuputer’s start-up so it is not launching everything at boot - consider timing power-button-to-desktop time; try to get it as low as possible by weeding out programs from the Startup menu (if this is not enough, weed them out in the win-r>msconfig>startup menu). Now, optimize that internet connection. Find your modem type and search for it on your ISP’s website - chances are you will be able to find a useful intialization/extra settings string that will make your modem talk to your ISP much more quickly - this reduces connection negotiation time and gets you online faster.
Use Keyboard Shortcuts
There are the typical culprits: alt-enter, alt-f4, alt-tab, ctrl-o, alt,f,s (a personal favorite of mine for saving), f12 (another common key to save), shift-ctrl-left/right-arrow (for highlighting words at a time), ctrl-x to cut, ctrl-v to paste, ctrl-c to copy (I have saved hours with these three), ctrl-z to undo, ctrl-y to redo (this can vary), ctrl-a to select all, and win-m to minimize all. Those are common, and those you simply need to know if you are going to be anywhere close to efficient. However, if you learn the more obscure ones, you can save more time (logically): in Word, f7 spellchecks and shift-f7 opens the thesaurus, f5 or ctrl-r refresh webpages, shift-tab tabs in reverse order, ctrl-d adds the current webpage to favorites, win,u,s stands by, win,u,u shuts down, and win,u,shif-h hibernates. Obviously this is just a short list to get you started, but remember: the more key shortcuts the better. Finally, use global shortcuts for your programs that have a global nature. For example, I have set Winamp to be 60% transparent and to live in windowshade mode over the title bar of my open windows. This is useful because I can always see at a glance what song is playing. However, having a program run globally like this is not useful unless you use global shortcuts. Thus, I have set shift-ctrl-l to toggle the playlist, regardless of what program I am in (I use this key combination constantly). Furthermore, from anywhere on the computer I can hit win-p to play/pause, win-s to stop, win-> to advance a track, win-< to go to the previous track, win-keypad8 to increase volume, and so on. Therefore, I always have control over something that is always there (music). Time is no longer wasted crawling up to the taskbar with the mouse, opening Winamp, putzing through menus, and opening what I want. Adding new files to the playlist is literally three keystrokes away. Perfect. Now, this is just my own personal experience - but bear in mind that you can do the same with any of your applications (especially programs like Winamp that have plugins). Keyboard shortcuts will save you time.
Tabbed Browsing
Tabbed browsing is the future, it will, however, be a long time before Microsoft incorporates it into Internet Explorer version Suck. To the small group of you that do use Mozilla/Firefox/not god-awful-insecure-IE; start using tabbed browsing. I would rank tabbed browsing among the biggest time savers I have encountered yet. Change a setting or two, and a center click of your mouse scroll wheel will open the link that you are clicking on in a new tab, undernearth your current page. Interested in visiting a link, but want to finish reading the page you are at first? Simply click that middle scroll button. Want to do the same thing in IE? Well, you’ll have to right click, choose open in new window, and then alt-tab back before you can continue reading. Plus, you can bookmark all the currently open tabs. If you could just change your stubborn ways long enough to try tabbed browsing, you would not go back.
Tweak
By now, you most likely have things running fairly smoothly. Do not forget to occasionally take time and examine your routine - can anything be further optimized or streamlined? Remember, it is always a better idea to take time to set up a program and learn the most efficient way to use it before you get a bunch of bad habits rather than after. An extra investment of time in the beginning will save you time down the road. Simply remember the order: keep computer boots lean, launch frequently used programs efficiently, and once in these programs optimize your usage strategy through shortcuts. Striking a combination of keys for a desired outcome may at first seem archaic, but it is always always more efficient than pounding through menus with your mouse.
But … Why?
This heading presents a valid question. I will provide an equally valid answer. Computers are productivity tools. In every way possible, they should help us get our tasks done more quickly by connecting us as efficiently as possible with their powerful ability to manipulate data, text, images, and media. I expect a real leap when computers advance to what seems to be their next logical step - interactive three dimensional environments where our hand movments can be sensed and we can literally grab things and move them around. (The movie Minority Report illustrates this idea quite well). Until this time comes, we are stuck with a rather archaic interface through which to communicate what we wish the machine to do. The points outlined above will help us optimize this process as much as possible while we wait for the dawn of another era of interaction.
Currently, I am assembling an article about workflow efficiency and the importance of optimizing your desktop environment for increased productivity and multi-tasking. Seriously. However, that particular communiqué is on the proverbial back burner whilst I deal with life. By life I mean summer chemistry. And by summer chemistry, I mean hell. However confusing the elements are, human chemistry is infinitely more puzzling. I would like to restate what has tormented men throughout thousands of years, diverse social climates, and different evolutionary stages — women are ridiculously, unrealiculously, shockingly confusing.
All right, now, besides taxes and death, there’s one other thing in life that is for certain: women love to flirt. It’s one of the things they do best. It’s a kind of natural ability they’re born with. They’ll flirt with you and think nothing of it. They’ll flirt with you just because you’re there. They’ll flirt with you simply to keep in practice for when Mr. Right shows up. They’ll flirt with you so deliciously that after five minutes, you’ll find yourself falling in love, while they’re merely enjoying exercising their power.
Some Random Article I read a while ago
That, is true. Not that it is necessarily a bad thing, because “bad things” are not “oh-my-god-what-is-going-on somebody tell me what happened” things. Maybe if I could write like Shakespeare:
If I could write the beauty of your eyes,
And in fresh numbers number all your graces,
The age to come would say, “This poet lies,
Such heavenly touches ne’er touch’d earthly faces.”
Sonnets (17)
Oh wait. I’m not Shakespeare. And besides, literary historians widely agree that Shakespeare was bi-sexual, and that many of the Sonnets were written to a man. Let us nix the Shakespeare idea. So, confused men, what now? As they say, “fortune favors the bold,” so the best course of action seems to be boldness. Proportionally, unfortunately, we run into an inverse: as more is at stake, boldness is more important but becomes less attractive. In contrast, there are those who say: “sit back and let life happen to you.” This, I think, is to let others run your life.
Hoo boy.
In the end, knowing where you stand is the most important thing. If you can figure this out, just decide what the heck is going on; nothing else (good or baaaad) is going to throw you. Ok, maybe I should bill myself as a love doctor and start taking questions. Not because I feel qualified or have any real experience, but because I like helping people and I think everyone involved could learn more about themselves.
There is an idea: combine blogging and “Dear Abbey” into one killer package. I think I know just the person to do it.
If you can read this, then tumbledry has successfully and completely been moved to it’s new home on Justin’s server at the datacenter in Minneapolis. Alternatively, you may have somehow determined the testing IP address we used and then wandered here in search of the freshest tumbledry you could fine. Finally, if you do not speak English, you may be able to see this but not be able to read it. If this last category does apply to you, I am sorry, but I do hope you enjoy these foreign strings of characters snugly nestled in a standards-compliant design.
Right, So …
This new server is quite ideal because we now have complete control over the our box. This, of course, comes with its own set of problems, but if there is anyone I know qualified to run a server, Justin is that person. Thus, I know uptime will be darn near 100%. The added control I mentioned earlier gives me a httpd.conf file, so I can use mod_rewrite, an Apache module I have been babbling about for at least two years.
What Does This Mean For Uou?
Cleaner URLs. Instead of “tumbledry.org/archives.php?year=2004&month=06”, you can visit “tumbledry.org/archives/2004/06/” — this makes far more sense in a semantic context. For example, you can now say tumbledry.org/thispast/week/ rather than the obscure and difficult to remember “tumbledry.org/thispast.php?time=week”. Great, is it not? Want a specific archive section? That would be at “tumbledry.org/archives/issue/xxx/” where xxx is the number of the update. Easy as pie.
Security
Mod_rewrite also offers more security because soon there will be no *.php links on the entire site. What does this mean? Well, nobody will know the syntax of scripts running things. And by nobody, I mean really do mean nobody — does it _look_ like I have any idea what’s going on around here? Anyhow, the chances of malicious users hacking around in my scripts has been slightly lessened by this mod_rewrite.
The End
All in all, the move went suprisingly smoothly; I found out how fast a server to server transfer can be (faster than any connection you’ve ever been on … like, really fast). And by fast I mean like blazing, like the speed at which a bullet flies. Or a locomotive. Or those gas-powered RC cars that go like 2093 scale miles per hour. Or like the beat in those “Happy Hardcore” genre songs. But, in the end, I can only describe it as really really fast. Seriously. Glad I got that off my chest. Anyhow, from this current location, I look forward to continuing the tumbledry dialog with you all for years to come.
Telephones, telecommunications, telephone conversations, telemarketers, and even televangelists have become a part of our everyday lives. Like the refrigerator, television, and increasingly the computer, phones are a simple part of everyday life. Few recall (and even fewer care to imagine) what life was like before one’s neighbors were merely a handset away, or when that handset failed to successfully connect. “Only one in 50 …” of the people in the 2000 census did not have a telephone in their homes (Detroit News). So, how has a device with such a stunning impact on our business, consumer, and social lifestyles changed over the years? And, more importantly, how has it changed us?
What I find most surprising is the speed at which the phone has evolved. It has transformed itself from a purely mechanical rotary device (in the early 70s) to a mobile, miniature, multi-featured communication device reminiscent of the communicators on Star Trek. In contrast, thirty or forty years ago, the fridge was still a fridge. Granted, it broke down a little more, lacked a nifty automatic icemaker, and maybe did not defrost itself, but it still was, at the most basic level, a compressor/coolant system hooked up to an insulated box. In contrast, phones have completely re-invented themselves, and to a certain extent, their place in society.
Like any new technology, the phone began, and remained, a novel and relatively expensive technology for a pretty long time. Vague time frame, I know, but let us look to the exciting stuff. In the 1970s, old technology was challenged, and ways to dial free long distance were discovered. The evolution of touch-tone phones eliminated these early hackers, but the part of the general public still remains convinced that hacking phones is still possible (more on that in a minute). “Great,” you say, “but the phone is still plugged into the wall. True, the internal circuitry is different, but what is the big deal?” Good question, and I think you know where this is going.
Cell phones have again changed the communication landscape. In the 1970s, a group was asked to think of ways to improve the telephone. Examples they came up with included phones that could “follow you around” and could “tell you who was calling.” Now, in 2004, we have phones that, in fact, do follow us around and can tell us who is calling. In classic American style, people are once again looking for a way to beat the system. Regardless, the phone has launched itself off of our wall and into our cars, purses, briefcases, movie theaters, and churches. It is certainly an advancement in technology, the ability to be available for contact and anytime, anywhere. However, I do wonder how much connectivity people will put up with. It has already been shown that cell phone use directly correlates with high rates of automobile accidents. It is hard to estimate the impact that this technology will have on our lives. Technology hanging on the wall is one thing, but when it becomes a part of every waking moment of our lives, we should take a moment and question the trends. The evolution of the telephone is something remarkable, but we should think twice before taking the first step towards being constantly “wired” human beings.
Sometimes luck is on your side. In this case, we dumped the old red van and bought a brand new silver Celica GT-S, manual. It even has a sunroof, which everyone knows I have a weakness for, and it is a vast improvment over the 1997 Mercury Villager I was previously stuck in. John recently captured my new-car glee on his cell:
I look wooden, I know, but I did not want to put my arms around her for fear of scratching her paint. Anyhow, my stick skills are rapidly improving with hours of practice. And seriously, who would not want to practice driving in this awesome machine? Safe, good gas mileage, really comfy seats, handling like a dream (no surprise these things are frequently used in street rally races), and braking good enough to launch anything in the back of the car right through the windshield.
The final feature worth mentioning is the variable valve timing with lift. Now, variable valve timing is all well and good, but the “-S” in “GT-S” dictates the presence of this lift technology, which opens up the cam profiles and turns this 4-cylinder into a roaring monster in the top of the RPM range. As most people advised me before, it is nearly impossible to make the 1-2 shift and stay in lift, and I have not come close yet. However, I decided to pass somebody on a rural road, mashed the clutch, pounded into 3rd, and hit lift and it was like I was strapped into a rocket. What a rush!
I am wishing myself and my new car a safe and happy summer together, sans law enforcement. Those who speed, speed wisely, and I must be sure to do the same. Excuse me while I go take a drive.
* With the exception of specs, nothing stated above was true.
Today was unexpectedly good. John and I took a run, and it ended up being around four miles. Thing is, we took an easy pace and kept up conversation the whole time, which made it really enjoyable. Sometimes I adopt the “speed is everything” running philosophy and tear around the paths as fast as my body will allow. Running like this has its time and place (in fact, it has become a bit of a tradition for me to take a good hard run when women are confusing me), but on this past rainy Thursday, it was simply time to talk and jog. Given the chance to do the same, I would highly recommend you take advantage of it.
Furthermore, I enlarged an old photo of Shayla and Matt using a trick that I believe is quite useful (and simple). Take a point and shoot 4x6 and understand that the cropping on it is abysmal (such is the nature of disposable camera photography). Find the negative for said photograph with great subject matter but poor margins and use it to get a 5x7 print made. Then, trim the photo back down to 4x6 and admire the wonderful change: it is no longer 80% background and 20% subject; but a good 50-50 (which is quite an improvement). There you have it, a simple, yet surprisingly under-utilized method which yields better presentation of point and shoot pictures.
In other news, I am certainly considering adding a running “media” list of links: that is, essays, articles, music, art, and movies that recently moved me. It would be a list of links, frequently updated, that represent my current website trips worthy of note. These links would most likely be coupled with a more static list of sites I frequently visit (which has grown to a rather large number). This link of frequent visits would be useful both for you and for me (as I sometimes forget to visit some). The preliminary list reads something like this:
Real Life Friends
www.rinsefirst.com
www.jrcorps.com/john
www.tumbledry.org/matt
www.shatteredcube.com
Holy crap. I had forgotten there were that many. I took a look at my current system, and I believe I can add these all to the existing links sections, and then load ‘em up in an abbreviated version on the front page: thank you mySQL.
I do hope I got everyone in there; it does read a bit like a “who’s-who” in the design community, but as Mr. Storey would say “I link what I like, not what I owe.” Two particular recommendations I would suggest, in terms of writing, would be ftrain and 1976design … both excellent in their own ways. As for design, stopdesign’s recent redesign is nothing short of phenomenal - closest to perfection in CSS design that I have seen.
Well, I certainly have waxed techincal for a bit there - which makes categorizing these posts difficult sometimes, but I decided to leave this one long and stretched out rather than splitting things up into a post about links (cat: websiteChanges) and a post about me (cat: life). To return to life, I must recommend the song Moses by Coldplay (again) and the trailer for the movie The Incredibles.
In the next couple of months, I will be helping two people (Katy and John) shop for notebook computers. Ever notice how they are no longer called “laptops” by any company? This is because, in terms of cooling, notebooks perform less than ideally on a lap. Anyhow, I am educating myself about wireless standards. I learned from kottke about cordless phone interference in the 2GH’z’ish range. I read some interesting C|Net articles about the future of 802.11; one columnist likened the standard to the x86 standard and the Ethernet standard. His point was, when a “critical mass” adopts a standard, even if that standard is not technically the best at that time, it will grow to dominate and evolve to meet the needs of the market which it serves. Think Betamax and VHS wars.
Anyhow, I have found that, when shopping for a computer, knowledge of how and the way in which you use it are more important than technical knowledge of the hardware. I found myself asking questions more along the lines of “What kinds of programs will be running, and what will they demand from the machine?” rather than “Do we leave one DIMM open for another stick of 512 ram?” The answer to the latter for us was, pay a little extra now and therefore leave one DIMM open for expansion. The answer to the first question is very challenging to arrive at because (a) it is difficult to say what programs will be running on this machine for these graduate school/vet school students and (b) my two shoppers are not sure what level of performance they will put up with. When I was buying my machine, I knew I used screen space like a dry hunk of bread soaks up sauce, so I invested in a larger monitor that reviewed well. I knew my tendency to hog disk space with piles of raw image files, and bought space accordingly.
So, when shopping for a computer, assess your needs now and in the future. Look at how you use the machine. Look at where you use it. Looks at how long you use it at a time. Examine your patience: is it high? I have found more patient people are content hanging onto machines for 4-6 years; they simply know the fact (and more importantly, accept it) that the machine will take longer to do basic tasks. In short, determining these personal tastes and usage habits make finding the “right” computer for a person far easier.
For those of you who are curious, the answer to the previous question (and I do thank you for your good advice, Nils) is not calling back. The situation ironed itself out in a rather startling way. One of the rules of good blogging (there is such a thing? I always think my ramblings here would bore anyone to tears - maybe they do) is to describe the situation or event to which one refers in complete detail. Unfortunately, I will have to take this particular event and violate a rule of good blogging by leaving everything frighteningly vague. When I figure out what is going on, I promise I will let you know.
One week from now, I will begin my summer chem class at the U. The class itself is not really a bother (though reading fifty straight pages of chem to ensure I placed into the class was harrowing at best), but what it represents is what has me spinning. As we have taken a harder and closer look at my next three years in undergraduate school, it has become more and more clear that electrical engineering and pre-dentistry just can not be combined in four years, no matter how many summer classes I take. The decision between the two has nearly been made. I simply want to be a dentist; I see myself practicing dentistry later in life. However, who can trash an entire field of interest, and take such a choice lightly? I could spend weeks inside a solid state receiver and derive immense satisfaction from fixing it. The problem is, the job duties of an EE career are much more vague than those of a dentistry job. Besides, who really wants to be searching for a new career path every ten years? That, though, is the structure of corporate America, where most EE jobs reside. Security, family time, flexibility, working close to home, are all hallmarks of dentistry. Thus, consciously side-stepping years of my life spent in rush hour traffic by choosing dentistry is almost irresistible.
With college comes great potential, and with that potential comes great responsibility. I hope, as I think all people my age do, that the life-shaping decisions I make now will work out for the best down the long road of life.
