Sunday, July 29, 2007

Everything you need to know

Seriously. Go to WiseGeek.com and you will find answers to any question you could realistically imagine. They have answers to everything. What do you want to know? Hmmmm . . .

-What is a quarter horse?

-How can I clean a keyboard?

-What is the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs)?

And that is just a few of the millions of questions and answers that you can find on this amazing website. I highly suggest you go and waste as much time as possible on WiseGeek.com.

In other news, I went with my family to Charleston this weekend. Every year they take a boat trip down there with the Tammy and Kendall Elvis and (for the past three years) Rick and Jackie Norris. The trip was great. I got to hang out with Josh Eichenberger and Peter Hearn, two of my best friends from high school who I haven't seen in probably three years. I also got the pleasure of hanging out with Becky Ryan one night. Between those friends and my awesome family, the weekend was a blast.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Curse you, Chris Martin!!!

Before I say anything else, I'd like to apologize to the five or six of you who read this blog with any regularity. I'll be honest with you, I just haven't really felt like posting anything on here for the past couple of days. It's a horrible thing, apathy; it's a real disease, with doctors, and medicine and everything (Blades of Glory--good movie, saw it on the plane back from Argentina). But enough of my shortcomings, on to the post.

CURSE YOU, CHRIS MARTIN!!! No, I'm not cursing the Christian media designer Chris Martin, nor am I cursing the lame-o Chris Martin who has yet to put up any of his certainly hideous photographs at www.iamchrismartin.com, and I am most definitely not cursing the international superstar frontman of Coldplay Chris Martin. I am cursing the Brooklyn-based drug trafficker Chris Martin.

Yes, his infamy has once again caused my untarnished reputation abroad to fall under the dark shadow of doubt. In case you missed the first go round, you can read the post here.

This time around, I was coming into America via Atlanta, GA. After an incredibly uncomfortable 12-hour flight from Buenos Aires--during which we were diverted around Brazil for lack of permission to use their airspace which forced us to land in Ft. Lauderdale, FL to refuel before we got to Atlanta--I was stopped in customs in the same fashion as last time, diverted down to a sitting area, and told to wait until someone could figure out why I was there. The questioning, once I was called forward, was pretty much the same as last time:

--"Have you ever been to Jamaica?"
--"No."
--"Do you live in Brooklyn?"
--"No. Hey, is that about that guy who sells drugs from Jamaica? Cuz I'm not him."
--"Do you have family in Brooklyn?"
--"No. Hey, when I came into the country earlier this summer they asked me all about this and they said I wasn't him either so . . . "
--"How are you employed?"
--"Un."
--"You sure do a lot of traveling for an unemployed person. Mind telling me how you afford all of that?"
--"Well . . . it all started about six years ago in Laos. I'd heard the legends, we all had, but that's all they were, right? Just legends. As I set out to hike to Cambodia, I had no idea of the adventure on which I was about to embark. The mystery, the intrigue, friends made . . . and lost. And, of course, the treasure . . . I'm just kidding. I have money saved up from other things." *see note at bottom*
--"Well, Mr. Martin, that will be all. You can take your bags right through that door and rejoin your group."

So, I asked her if there was any way that I could get my name somehow put on the "Safe Christopher Allen Martins" list and she said there was nothing that they could do. I asked if I should expect this the next time I return to the country from abroad. She said I should expect it until the other Chris Martin is arrested.

With that said, I am calling on all Christopher Allen Martins (yes, he shares my same exact name) to help me apprehend and destroy this traitor to the name! I'm talking about an army. An unstoppable, vigilante, paramilitary force. I'll let you guys do most of the planning. I don't want to have too much of the power concentrated in one place since, as far as I have been able to tell, I'm the only one speaking up about this and am thus very susceptible to attack. Get on it, guys. I'll be waiting for you to contact me.

In other news, Argentina was awesome. Too much to write here, but a picture says a thousand words so here's a few thousand at least:


This is one of the churches we did construction on. It was in a poor area of a town called La Plata. We built some walls, poured a lot of cement, and painted a lot of stuff.










Here's Johnny putting the final touches on one of the walls we helped build.












This is a shot of downtown Buenos Aires.



















**Note: I didn't actually say anything before that last sentence (I have money saved . . .); it's just what I wish I had said to make the situation a little more comical.

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Bye everybody. I'm going to Argentina today. Don't worry, I won't be gone long. I'll be back next Saturday (the 21st). The trip to Argentina should be a good one. I'm going with Northeast Presbyterian Church which is the church I went to for awhile in Columbia. The guy who's leading the trip, Henry Clay, was a missionary in Argentina for about two decades and so he enjoys taking some people down there each summer to get an idea of what the church and culture are like in and around Buenos Aires. We're going to be doing some construction work on an orphanage and meeting a lot of the people that Mr. Clay worked with while he was down there.

I'm going to take as many pictures as I can, and I'll be sure to post and write about it when I get back. I hope you guys don't miss me too much cuz I won't be posting while I'm over there.


I'll leave you with this amazingly addictive game. It's called Escapa! and you can play it here. The goal is to click on the red square and keep it from hitting any of the walls or the moving blue shapes. My personal record is around 40 seconds. See if you can beat it. Escapa!

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Oh Snap!

Okay, okay, I guess this may be considered old news, but it has just reached my desk and I'm loving it.

Check out this article (actually, a confirmation of a widely circulated e-mail) that compares the energy efficiency of the houses of two politicians.

Don't get me wrong, I hate climate change as much as the next guy and I'm not dissing Al Gore for making his documentary, but Mr. Gore, I think you just got served.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

I am . . .

I am sitting in a computer lab in the Academic Enrichment (read: tutoring for athletes) Center at USC. I never thought I'd be using a USC computer again, but apparently I just can't stay away. Actually, the reason I'm here is that James Basler, a friend of mine, needed a ride up here so that he could apply to be a tutor this year. I guess they're in desperate need for tutors because the first thing that the woman said to him was "When can you start?" Yes, at USC it's none but the best tutors for our athletes.

I hate being talked down to. The lady who was helping James apply to be a tutor spoke down to me. She told me I could go use the computer lab, but only if I "promise to be an exemplary student." I know it doesn't sound very condescending when I write it out, but if you had been here, you would have felt it.

I don't have anything to say here; I'm just wasting time until James gets done. It's been about 30 minutes so far. I'm going to see if I can find anything interesting.

I'll be right back.

Well, here's something. An article at CNN.com with the headline of "Man flies 193 miles in lawn chair." Pretty amazing. Actually, it's just amazing that this guy does this kind of stuff just for fun. He's not a professional pilot or anything; he just decided he wanted to fly through the air on a lawn chair lifted by helium-filled balloons. Check out the article. It's worth a read.

I think James is almost ready to go. I can hear him talking to that lady in the hall. I think she's asking him if he can tutor tonight. I better go.

Good bye.

Oh yeah, I leave for Argentina in two days! I'll post about that trip before I head out on Thursday.

Saturday, July 7, 2007

Switzerland Pictures!

Finally, here are the pictures from Switzerland. I know that the slideshow isn't as sleek as the Flickr one, but Flickr was just too much work to upload pictures to. Instead, I used Google's free program, Picasa, to sort, label, and upload all of these pictures. It's a great program, and I highly suggest you check it out.

Anyway, here are the pictures. If you'd like a high res version of any of them or if you have any questions or comments, just post a comment on the blog and I'll get back to you ASAP.

Here's how to work the slideshow: first, put your mouse over the slideshow and a little menu will come up from the bottom, click on the little comment bubble to be able to see my captions for the pictures; second, you can either press the play button to play the slideshow or, if the pace of the slideshow is too fast (I can't slow it down) then you can just click through the pictures using the arrows; third, if you'd rather see the pictures without the slideshow, just click on one of the pictures and you'll be taken to the album itself on Picasa's website.

There are about 150 pictures. It's a lot, I know, but I wanted to be thorough. Enjoy!



Friday, July 6, 2007

inTransit

Okay everyone, I've got a great new site for you to go check out. I actually just found it myself, and I spent about an hour going through all the different videos and reading stuff. The site is called inTransit, and as you may be able to discern from the name, it is a travel site of sorts. The description on the site says that
InTransit is a reality based travel series that follows most triumphant dudes as they travel to and through exotic locales by unusual modes of transportation. Unscripted and unusual, the series focuses on the journey, more so than the destination. Unaware of what's to come, the travelers pack up and explore the world. Whether it's riding a bicycle across Europe, sailing the Caribbean, boating the Mississippi River or walking across a country, there are no limitations to what travel they pursue. Follow the cast as they interact with each other and the environments they surround themselves in.

Right now, the guys are traveling across the country on two 49cc scooters. They call themselves The Scootstars. The videos are fun to watch and are updated almost daily so there is great potential for procrastination for me and you. Check it out: inTransit.

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Behind the Music: This Is It

I thought that today I'd give you all a behind the scenes look at my blog, This Is It. What I mean by "behind the scenes" is actually just a good explanation of everything that's on here so that you, the user, can get the most out of my amazing blog.

Before I begin, I'd like everyone to know that my left bicep is twitching uncontrollably. I think it's because I slalom skied (yes, that is the correct past tense . . . according to Wikipedia) for about 15 minutes straight yesterday which was more than my body could handle.

Okay, now to the wonderful explanation. First off, I'd like you to take a look at the picture at the very top of this page. Well, almost the very top. Ignore that bar across the top of the page. The picture at almost the very top of this page is, if you'll look closely and maybe squint your eyes, a city skyline. Which city? Chicago. Why? Because Chicago is probably my favorite big city in America and I think that it has an awesome skyline. Now, to get the picture of Chicago's skyline to look like that, I used a simple online program called The Textorizer. This is a great little application that allows you to turn any picture into a text-based outline or cloud or that picture. Just go to the website and do some trial and error with it. If you're looking for a place to upload pictures on the web (which you have to do before you can run them through Textorizer) I suggest ImageShack. Once you upload your picture, just go down to the very bottom of the page and copy the address labeled "Direct link to image" into the box on the Textorizer website.
Next, let's take a look at the top right of the screen where what is called the sidebar begins. Well, it would be the top right if you're using Firefox as your web browser. If you're using IE then, because IE doesn't read normal CSS coding very well, the sidebar begins sort of level with the frame of the post. Anyway, at the top of the sidebar you'll see my profile; it's labeled "About Me." Nothing really interesting here except that it says that my name is Reggie Smith. Why Reggie Smith? Well, in my junior year of college, Facebook started getting very popular. A lot of my friends were on it and I was not. I thought it was lame, but being as inquisitive as I am (my friends call me "Whisker" because I'm curious like a cat), I decided that I wanted to see what kind of lame stuff they put on their profiles. So I made up a fake name and created a profile with nothing on it. Soon, however, I had been sucked into the infinite procrastinatorial abyss that is Facebook and I had a full profile with all of my most personal secrets laid bare for the world to see. At one point I even changed my name on Facebook to Chris Martin, but it was boring so I changed back. All of that to say, that's where Reggie Smith came from: me being a cynical and arrogant stalker on Facebook.

Just beneath my profile, you'll see what I consider to be the most important thing on my blog: a link to download Mozilla Firefox. Why do I consider it to be of utmost importance; important enough, in fact, to label it "First Things First"? Because Internet Explorer is the bane of my existence. Not only is it the absolute worst choice for web browsers (if you'd like to read a comparison of IE 7 and Firefox 2.0 then read this article on CNET) but Microsoft essentially dupes almost all of the users of Windows PCs into thinking that IE is the only worthwhile browser since it comes preloaded on your computer. So, please read that article on CNET and download Firefox. It's free, and like the image on my blog says it's "like Internet Explorer . . . except Firefox actually works."

Moving on. Below you'll see another picture that has been run through the Textorizer. As of now, the picture is of me wearing my backpack right before I left to go to Switzerland in May.

Below that picture you'll find a list of books that I'm reading. If you click on their links, you'll go to their pages on Amazon.com. Some of you may have noticed that Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was only up there for about two days. That's because I ripped through all 870 pages in about 12 hours total. It's a good book. The other book I've been reading lately is called The Language of God, and although the title might suggest a frilly Max Lucado book, it's actually a book written by the scientist who heads the Human Genome Project. He's a Christian and he is arguing for two things: the existence of God using as proof some of the things he's discovered while studying the human genome; and also a closer interaction of faith and science. I'll try to keep my booklist updated as I read different things.

The next two sections of the sidebar are filled with links to the sites that I frequent at least on a weekly basis. There are blogs, MySpace pages (for musicians), and some normal websites. I highly suggest the blogs on the list: Le Seul Mot Juste, A Broad (Patrick McQuinn), and A place that has to be believed to be seen (Dave Libbon).

Okay, we're close to the end now. Beneath the list of links, you'll see a little strip of video frames. This is called a Google Video Bar and I have it set up to link to my four favorite videos that we made while I was MC for CRU at USC. The videos are (in order) the ninja video, Deep Thoughts, my graduation speech, and Dolls Pt 1. If you click on the image the video will start playing at the top of the blog. Watch and enjoy.

Beneath the videos are two ways to browse through my past blog entries. First you can browse by label which is the subject of the blog. Second, you can look through the blog posts chronologically. I'm not sure what my favorite posts have been, although other people seem to have enjoyed "American Happened Tonight" and "But, what is it?" so perhaps if you want to look back you can start there.

Okay, I've been typing for way too long. I hope that you've enjoyed learning more about my blog and me, and that you will keep reading and tell all of your friends about it (although, there is admittedly very little on this blog that would interest anyone who doesn't know me).

Good night and good luck.

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Monday, July 2, 2007

Cuz beards are tough!

Hey guys. So, ever since I've been back from Switzerland I've been abstaining from cutting off any of the hair on my face. I haven't been shaving. I think I shaved one time before I went up to Delaware for the family reunion, but that was mainly because we had to have a bunch of portraits done. Come to think of it, I'm not even sure I shaved before that. At any rate, I'm not shaving now and here's the proof, a beautiful picture of me doing my best model face:

So as you can see, I haven't shaved for awhile. I know, I know. Most people would look at this picture and think that I just hadn't shaved this week. I'm used to comments like that so it doesn't bother me. For those of us who are facial-hair deficient, those comments come as no surprise. In fact, I have not shaved for almost three weeks.

Many people, including my mom on several occasions, have asked if I'm trying to grow out a beard or, even worse, a mustache. They all seem bewildered when my response is, "No, I'm not trying to grow a beard or anything. I'm just not shaving for as long as I can take it." By their logic, "not shaving" and "growing a beard" are the same exact thing. Until sometime yesterday, I had no response to their objections except to say that it's just not the same thing. Yesterday, however, I came up with an analogy that I think explains my position in this matter.

Let's say that you buy a house--or, better yet, inherit a house--and on the grounds of the property there is a small garden. Understanding that flower gardens are all the rage nowadays, you decided to try to grow something. Unfortunately for you, the soil won't sustain anything except for weeds. Anytime you try to grow flowers, nothing happens at all. So one day you decide just to let the weeds grow and grow and grow because what else are you going to do with the tiny spot in the yard very clearly designated as a garden? So you start to let the weeds grow, and slowly but surely they begin to sprout in tiny patches all over the small plot of soil.

One day a friend stops by for some tea. As you meander around the grounds of your inherited home, he asks you about your garden: "Oh," he says, "are you trying to grow some flowers?" "Of course not," you reply courteously. "I can't grow flowers in that soil so I'm just going to see what it looks like if I let it grow over with weeds. Who knows, maybe I'll get something presentable after awhile." "But you do understand that weeds are ugly don't you?" he presses. "Yes, yes, I know that weeds are ugly, but what if, after months and months of growing weeds, my garden starts to look, well, kind of cool?" "But weeds don't look cool. They're weeds!" "Listen, I know they're weeds, okay? I'm just saying that maybe, just maybe, once I let the weeds grow a little bit taller and fill out a little bit more, my plot of weeds might add a little street cred to my otherwise unassuming house here." "But don't you know that . . . " And then you punch the guy in the face because that's what guys with gardens of weeds do to people that keep questioning. Guys with gardens of weeds punch people all the time because they are so hardcore. You don't even know.
Anyway, that's what I'm going for here.

After letting my face-hair grow for awhile, however, I have noticed some problem areas. I'll now outline the main problem so that you can keep it in your prayers:

The problem is an obvious one. I have almost a complete lack of hair coverage in the quadrants of my face tangent to the bottom of the corners of my mouth. This represents a major difficulty for two reasons. One, this is an area of my face that must have full coverage to achieve that Perfect Storm/Deadliest Catch kind of ice fisherman beard of which I would love to be an owner. Unlike less important areas of the facial hair grid, such as the underside of my jaw line, I simply do not feel that I will be able to have successful facial hair without the cooperation of these crucial areas. The second reason that the lack of hair in these areas results in an impediment to a notable array of whiskers is that in the absence of hair in those sectors of my face, I am left looking like I'm trying to grow out a white-trash facial hair pattern. For those of you unfamiliar with the facial-hair habits of white trash, I invite you to watch the movie Joe Dirt. Here's a picture of exactly what I'm talking about:

This is absolutely not what I want to look like. Ever. In my life. Unfortunately, if the areas of my face that have sprouted hair continue to fill in with no new growth then this is exactly what I'm heading for. Don't worry friends, I'll shave before it gets to this point. I will not be the entertainment for kids with disposable cameras having competitions to see how many people with a trash-stache they can find. No sir. Not I.

So in conclusion, I'll be going for at least another week without shaving, in the hopes that at some point, I'll look awesome.

In other news, Kate and Marcus came down this weekend and I completely forgot to take pictures. So you'll just have to take me at my word when I tell you that it was awesome and fun.

Good bye.

Don't worry . . .

I'll post again later on today with something a little bit more substantial but for now check out this video that my friend Will sent me from YouTube. It has one cuss word in it, and actually, the place where they use it isn't even very funny, but I don't think it takes that much away from the hilarity of the video. Yes, I know that last one was a run-on sentence. I don't even care.