Mysterious topics on a rainy Christmas Day

Today, lots of mysterious and very intellectual things occupied my thoughts. I started my day reflecting on the birth of the Christ child and reading some verses from Luke. It was a moment in history that had never happened before, God became a man and started life on Earth. I wonder how He did it, transferring Himself into the body of Mary. The doctors of the world would write novels about the process if it was revealed. I believe that God created the universe but the scientists at CERN are trying to discover by colliding particles at light speed. Recently, the Haldron Collider started working again: particle-accelerator news. I watched a movie this afternoon: Angels & Demons, about the anti-matter that could be developed with the help of the collider. In the movie, the anti-matter capsule battery goes bad and it reacts with matter to cause a huge explosion. However, a research scientist said that no anti-matter has been created yet or captured with the CERN project. There was a strange news story a few weeks ago about lights in the sky over Norway that looked similar to the anti-matter explosion in the sky in this movie. The fact that the collider is working now (hadron-collider-record) gives hope that anti-matter and dark matter could somehow be captured in a container in the future for research and use as an alternative fuel source. Other news from science is an article by NASA that the earth is heading for a part of interstellar space that has stronger magnetic fields and other strange cloudy material: Voyager headlines. If the earth enters this part of the universe in 2012, it could result in scenes from that recent movie: 2012. I purchased another movie today titled, Countdown: Jerusalem that is about the coming great tribulation times. It is good to know that even with all the new technology out there, God still watches over people in need. This link is from a finnish website about a prophecy dream that one person had about race cars: Prophecy website and visions of the future. He talks about how the last place race car, which looks like an old, used car compared to the others will win the race. Before writing this blog entry I did some reading on internet and LAN technology. I also read some user forum questions and replies. Bluetooth technology is becoming more popular these days because of more restrictions on driving while talking on a cell phone safety reasons. Here is a blog on an IT website about how the bluetooth works for a newbie: bluetooth headset review. From this web page you can also navigate to other tech review articles and discussions on Hothardware.com.

Christmas 2009

Well with about two weeks left till Christmas I am starting to think more about the holiday each day. It is a busy time for me at work but there are things to consider that make this holiday great. Just a few days ago, I setup my Christmas decorations in my home: A couple of manger displays, one made of wood and the other consists of porcelein type figures; A four foot tall fiber optic tree with lots of colorful lights, snow flakes, a bird, and lots of ball ornaments. I took a pic with my camera phone and will post it here sometime in the future. I did my shopping for Christmas at some stores at Crossroads plaza and a video store, both located in Cary, NC. Tomorrow morning I will take the presents to Qwik pack to have them mailed to Florida. Tonight I attended a Christmas show at Hope Community church. The set had some wrapped presents, stars, and characters dressed up in festive attire. There was a really tall and very decorated Christmas tree, without lights but with candles in the main area outside the doors. As I sang traditional Christmas songs, I was reminded of the real reason for all of these celebrations, the birth of Jesus. I look forward to the day that I will meet him in heaven or in the clouds. Although, from my study and research baby Jesus was probably born during the fall feasts of Israel, likely in September, not December. I know that my sister was born in December, her birthday is tomorrow. As I was driving home, I passed some Christmas lights in people's yards. I think the red, green, yellow, and white lights on the displays is the most effective combination. At work, we are playing Christmas music all day now. Two stations that play from Sirius radio are Holly, my favorite, and the 40's on 4 station(Old timers songs). And a final part of my Christmas is creating greeting cards, usually on my computer and mailing them out. I have used a software program called Hallmark Card Studio the past few years for getting ideas of templates and for changing the design with the Art studio application. It is a program with lots of extras and I would recommend purchasing the new version. I have used MS Publisher and Print Shop in past years to create the cards. If you have MS Publisher 2003 on your computer (it is part of MS Office 2003), then here is a website to check out on Office online: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/publisher/HA010348621033.aspx. For taking holiday photos I found this excellent article, which was a link in a message from one of my MS newsletters: http://www.microsoft.com/athome/photos/holidayphotos.aspx. If you have any more questions or comments about Christmas and how to use your computer, digital camera, or house for full effects this Christmas let me know.




And have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Camera Phone

Ever since I upgraded my AT&T phone last spring I have really enjoyed using the 3.2 megapixel camera on it. I take pictures on vacations, short day trips, and when playing sports or biking. It is a Sony Ericsson a760 red slider phone. I got the last one of this model from a RadioShack store, before they were replaced by a newer model. I had a very basic Sony Ericsson cell phone for almost 5 years, before this one and chose this manufacturer because it worked well for many years. However, my new phone has many more features and generally much upgraded technology than the former one. For example, it has an MP3 walkman button on the side and large speakers for playing music instantly. Also, it features a large screen for internet browsing and a built in GPS. Those are the main reasons I purchased this one, actually got it free with the new 2 year upgrade. However, there are some disappointments that I will briefly mention. Sometimes the SIM card will not pick up the network signal and an "Inactive SIM" error message will reboot the phone. The screen needs to be constantly wiped off because moisture builds up easily and distorts the display. And I noticed that lower right side of the touch pad backlight is not lighted like the rest of the numbers. These are minor issues and don't keep me from getting some good pictures with the camera. Yesterday I took the M2 2GB memory card out and put it in a card reader connected to my computer. Then I copied several months of photos taken with the phone to the right folder in my pictures folder on my Vista desktop. I then renamed some of them and plan to post some to my facebook profile. I just finished renaming all those photos from my camera phone. Here are a few; they have not been adjusted with any software:

Harris Lake

Bikes at Fat Tire Festival '09

A ride at the NC State Fair '09