Help Rob Get to Costa Rica!

Update 2: I need to raise $390 by June 15th to cover airfare and expenses. Your $10 donation will make a serious difference!

If you do not see a "Donate" link, please visit http://www.superrob.com and donate there.

Ron and Tammy McLaughlin, the missionaries we are travelling to help, are very excited that we're coming down there. I'm still petrified about the trip, but I've already come too far to bail out now.

Update: I'm just past the halfway point now. With fundraisers, donations, and my personal contributions, I'm at about $860 raised towards the trip, and I also bought the Kodak Zi6 video camera and ordered my passport.

Won't you help out with a $10 donation, and get a DVD of the work and adventures in Costa Rica?

The past year has been a great one for me. Normally, I'd be afraid of change (and I am), but accepting that change was going to happen whether I wanted it to or not has helped me get over that fear and move on with my life. My friends have been a tremendous source of support for me, where I normally wouldn't trust people enough to put my well-being in someone else's hands.

So for my New Year's Resolution this year, I decided to try to get over some of my other fears. Most of them are completely irrational (fear of heights, flying, strange places, etc.) and I'm way too old now to still be worrying about stupid things like that. I've never been anywhere outside the country (except for Canada), or anywhere that I don't speak the native language (except for Los Angeles). My fears have kept me from going places I'd really like to go.

The opportunity arose to go on a mission trip to Costa Rica with my church (Canyon Creek Church in Mill Creek, WA) and while it wasn't on my list of places I'd ever have wanted to go, I thought it would be a great opportunity to get over some of those fears. There is a church in Puerto Viejo that needs some work done (we'll be building a Sunday School and a basketball court), and the missionaries that work for the church desperately need a roof over their home.

I prayed about it, and heard God tell me to go, so I started making plans. I've never had a passport, so I filled out an application. I requested the time off from work. I started telling people I was going, so if I chickened-out, I'd be accountable to people.

Rachel and I were going to make the trip together, which was comforting. However, since she just got a new job at World Vision (a passion of hers), she can't get the time off to go. She feels like she was called to that job more than the Costa Rica trip, and while that's wonderful for her, it's scary for me. I prayed about it more, and felt I was being tested. Would I still make this leap of faith without the comfort of having my loving girlfriend there with me?

The answer is, terrifyingly ... yes. I'm going to go. And that's where you get to help.

One of my fears is not knowing how I'm going to pay for the trip. The cost is $1600, plus the passport fees (since I've never had one) and a small web-ready video camera (the Kodak Zi6, which is relatively inexpensive) would bring the cost closer to $2000. While I could probably come up with half of that if I stretched myself, I'm taking a leap of faith and relying on God and my friends and family to make up the difference.

I've got about 200 friends on Facebook, and countless more on the internets. If just those two hundred donated $5, the cost of one latte at Starbucks, that would make up the rest of the money I need to go. I'm going to put my trust and faith in all of you to make this happen.

If you do not see a "Donate" link, please visit http://www.superrob.com and donate there.

As a thank you for your generosity, everyone that donates at least $10 and includes their address will get a DVD copy of the video that I'll be documenting while I'm there. I'm going to try to capture everything I can, and the least I can do is share it with everyone who helped send me there. Also, please note that your donations are tax deductible as long as you include the information I need to have the church send you a receipt, and any overage will be donated to the church to send others on the mission.

I'm going way outside of my comfort zone for this one. I'm not going to have my cell phone, or a laptop, so I can focus on doing God's work while I'm away. (Admittedly, the camera will be a bit of a technology security blanket.) I'm hoping that you will also go a bit outside of your comfort zone and help bless me with the money I need to go.

If you do not see a "Donate" link, please visit http://www.superrob.com and donate there.

Should Windows 7 Be Free?

Despite being what I would consider to be a reasonably strong OS*, the market has soundly rejected Windows Vista, and Microsoft is desperate to get those sales (and market share, which just dipped below 90%) back up.  They've launched PR campaigns, including "The Mojave Experiment," an attempt to prove that most people didn't really have any information about Vista to base those feelings on.

The Mojave Experiement basically showed people Microsoft's next operating system, which was later revealed to them (after recording their favorable reactions) to be Windows Vista.

While an impending Service Pack update for Windows Vista is slated for April '09, Microsoft is still planning to release Windows 7 in July.  That's only half a year away, and Vista has pretty much no shot of gaining any traction right now, especially with a very wide beta of Windows 7 planned for January, which I expect will be in even wider circulation than Microsoft plans.

I purchased Windows Vista Ultimate on release.  It was supposed to be the "ultimate" version of Windows (natch), and everyone knows what a huge debacle that turned into.  The promised "Ultimate Extras" were incredibly weak, making the OS overpriced as a result, and the promised "unique publications" and "innovative services" never materialized.  What did we get?  Animated wallpaper, a handful of games, and some sound packs ... plus a bunch of languages that shouldn't have been "extra" to begin with.

Wouldn't the ultimate extra be getting the next version for free?  If Windows 7 is everything Microsoft is claiming it will be, it would go a long way towards repairing the reputation of the company by offering this as a free upgrade to at least Windows Vista Ultimate users.

But I think they should take it a step further.  I think they should offer it to anyone that has a license for Windows Vista, and even more, start marketing Windows Vista as including the free upgrade to Windows 7.  First, it would surely boost Vista sales now, not to mention get people used to an OS that visually, isn't going to change all that much going into Windows 7.  Second, if Microsoft's Mojave Experiment is to be believed, most people would think Vista really is Windows 7 anyway, since it won't be that much of a visual departure.

In short, Windows 7 should be rolled out over Windows Update if at all possible.  And they should really get rid of all this multiple editions, nonsense.  Release ONE version of the OS, and make downloadable configuration files available if businesses or home users want to restrict or remove features.  Either that, or just allow them to select the features they want the same way they already do if you don't use a product key during installation.  Take the confusion out of the marketplace, and make sure that no matter what a user thinks they want (or think they want to pay for), they get what they actually need.

But most importantly, they should support the people that bought Vista and complained about it, bitterly and loudly, by giving them the operating system they thought they were getting in the first place.  At a bear minimum, the people that purchased the premium SKU should get the new OS as their mea culpa for failing to deliver on the promise of the Ultimate Extras.

*Unlike many reports from other users, I have had no problems that I couldn't trace back to immature drivers, which isn't Microsoft's fault.

The REAL NyQuil is Back!

There are a lot of people out there that have read and/or responded to my blog post about the change in the trusty NyQuil formula to something far less trusty.

I'm pleased to say that the original NyQuil formula is back, under the name NyQuil D.  Yes, since it contains pseudoephedrine, you'll have to get it behind the counter.  But for those of you (like my sweet girlfriend) currently suffering from a case of the flu, I'm sure this news can't come soon enough.

Only took about three years ... I wonder what the impact of selling a product that didn't work was to their bottom line?  Sorry DayQuil people ... no change to a working decongestant for you.

Thoughts on the morning after ...

Waking up on a chilly Wednesday morning following the most historic election that I've ever had the privilege to be part of, I know that we are simply one step closer to fixing the problems in our country. As a Republican, I understood early on that this election had to be about more than ideology, more than race, and more than age. It had to be about getting Americans to stop thinking about themselves, and to begin working towards the common goal of making this country better.

The economic collapse wasn't about President Bush. It wasn't about Republicans. And it wasn't about a Democratic Congress. It wasn't about bad loans, or a war overseas, or foreign oil.

It was about greed. It was about people looking out only for themselves. It was about people forgetting to "be subject to one another." And so I voted for Barack Obama. I voted for a man with little political experience, with no executive experience, and with an ideology very different than my own.

Because what our country needed most right now was a "community organizer."

We need someone with the experience of getting people to work together towards a vision. The President wasn't going to fix the country's ills on his own. No President could. Real change only comes from the people that work towards it, united towards a common goal. Mixed in with the media-savvy phrases of hope and change was the most important message, the one that truly resonated with Obama's supporters.

We.

The next four years has to be about more than race. It has to be about more than political ideology. And it has to be about more than who won and who lost on November 4th, 2008. It has to be about all of us rallying behind not a man, but our country, to make it better. It has to be about us becoming a community, being subject to one another, and working for what we believe in.

It starts now.

A bit of a personal one ...

It's been a while.

I've avoided getting too personal on my blog for a variety of reasons. Part of it was to protect the privacy of my friends and family, partly to keep from boring those reading, and partly because I didn't want anyone that Googled me to come across anything overly personal. I'm tearing those walls down now, because I've learned that while walls can protect you, they also keep people from getting to you when you need them, and until recently, I didn't realize how much I needed other people in my life.

Anyone that has read this blog in the past has probably noticed that my post rate has plummeted in recent months. A bit of this was due to work and school pressures, but mostly, it was because of some major "life changes", which is the PC way of saying that I was going through a divorce. Andrea and I were high school sweethearts; we started dating my senior year of high school and got married in August of 2000.

I was absolutely devoted to her, but marriage is incredibly hard ... it never seemed like we were able to get our lives completely on track. Life was constantly throwing challenges in our way. I was laid off the same day we were supposed to close on our house back in 2002, and the marriage never fully recovered from that setback. In 2003, we made the decision together that I should go back to school and get my degree, and while it was the right decision at the time, the cost was far too high. I really wanted to have some sembalance of a real college experience, and that required making a lot of choices that took even more time away from my wife. Group projects, extra-curricular activities ... I did very well in school, as I felt I had to, but the sacrifices were more than I ever should have asked Andrea to make. We didn't get to spend nearly enough time together, and despite what others might say, absence does not make the heart grow fonder.

We grew apart in a lot of ways, and finally she decided that despite being nearly finished with my degree, we would never really get the marriage back on track. We separated in April of 2007, filed for divorce in August (just after our anniversary), and the divorce was finalized this week.

I blame myself in a lot of ways. I've never been very good at maintaining releationships with my friends and family, and while I know that I was put into an impossible position of trying to keep a marriage together on my schedule, I just let the marriage coast ... thinking that Andrea could keep us together on her own. She's a lot tougher than she'll ever admit to, but she underestimates herself, and in this case, she just didn't think she was going to be able to keep it together the additional few weeks until I graduated. I can't fault her for anything other than not realizing the light at the end of the tunnel was closer than she thought. Regardless, by the time I realized we were in trouble, it was far too late.

That brings us to today. I've realized that living my life for one person, while admirable in a lot of ways, was just unhealthy. Luckily, I met a lot of great friends at the UW, and they've been incredibly supportive during this tumultuous few months of my life. I can't believe it took me this long to allow others to get this close to me, but I'm glad that I finally did. I can honestly say that I wouldn't have made it this far if not for them. They're every bit an extended family to me, and I thank God every day that they're part of my life.

On December 3rd, I went to Slave to the Needle and got a tattoo on my back. I've never really identified with the Native American part of my heritage, but it's always been in there somewhere, and I knew I'd get one at some point once I figured out how to tell my story. I started planning my design a few months ago, something to not only reflect not only my identity, but serve as a reminder of where I'd been, where I was now, and where I am headed. The Superman shield is from "The Death and Life of Superman" novel by Roger Stern, and symbolizes the transition from my old life to my new one. The Kryptonian word at the top I'm keeping to myself, but is just a reminder to me that I'm never really alone. There's a lot more to this design than that, even the placement had meaning, but I'm very happy with how it turned out.

I had a little celebration last night, part birthday party and part rebirth. By the time all was said and done, I was dumbfounded by how many people came to hang out and offer their support. This is a major turning point in my life, and I'm determined to not make the same mistakes I've made in the past. These people have graciously allowed me to be a part of their life, and the absolute least I can do is offer mine in return.

So there it is. I get to have a second chance of sorts, starting over with the benefit of a great deal of experience to rely on. I don't know if I'm going to maintain this blog, I've actually got a social life that I never made time for in the past, but if I do, it's going to be far more than the ridiculous minutae and random crap I stumble across on the internet. I don't know if it will be worth reading, but it's going to be something.

Heroes is Back!

The second season premiere of Heroes aired last night, and it's great to have the show back. Flanked by Chuck and Journeyman, it was a great night of TV. And of course, there's a ton of speculation about what the new season has to offer.

One thing I noticed last night that seemed to stand out is that the symbol (the half-helix, or what Ando called "godsend") took a certain prevalence during the opening episode. But what bothered me is that it seemed different. When positioned vertically, the symbol normally has one line coming out of the top, and two on the bottom. Yet, several times last night, the symbol is shown inverted. Particularly coming from Molly's dreams about the man that can see her.

It reminded me of a typical convention of comic books, one that was the focus of the movie Unbreakable. Every hero has an opposite, a villian. It makes me wonder if the inverted symbol is a foreshadowing of sorts, preparing us for the introduction of anti-Heroes. In the first season, Sylar as Peter Petrelli's opposite was a primary focus, but I don't remember if the symbol was ever shown in conjunction with Sylar.

It's worth noting that on the pictures of Kaito Nakamura and Angela Petrelli, the symbol was in it's normal form ... perhaps Angela isn't as evil as Nathan wants to believe.

Journeyman

Journeyman is another one of those shows in NBC's Fall lineup that could have been awful if not executed perfectly, but again, NBC has another potential smash hit on their hands, and Monday nights are going to be hard for the other networks to beat.

The premise is similar to the old show Quantum Leap, but without the futuristic aspect to it, but it feels even more human, as they show the strain that the time travel takes on Dan and his family and friends. That makes the show even more engrossing that Quantum Leap ever was, and it's only the first episode.

After watching these three shows, Journeyman, Chuck, and Bionic Woman, I find myself incredibly thankful that these shows are on NBC and not Fox. Fox would have probably found a way to cancel them after just an episode or two, and the world would miss out on great drama (and in Chuck's case, comedy, too).

One funny thing I noticed ... when Dan jumps through time, his items go with him, including his Apple iPhone. It signals several times when he jumps because you can see that there's no digital cell signal back in the past. However, in once scene in particular, you can see that he's holding the phone upside down, but the text is right side up.

NBC Fall Season Rocks!

While I'm not a big fan of Comcast, when there's something on their On Demand service, I'm certainly grateful I have it. Sadly, the only network shows Comcast has had in HD for a while has been reruns of CSI.

I wanted to kill a little time today while something else was recording, and decided to check to see if the next CSI episode was ready yet, and there was a new listing for NBC. Imagine my surprise when the pilots of NBC's big fall season were there waiting for me. And from the looks of it, it's going to be a GREAT season.

Bionic Woman is a fresh take on the old series, and if it feels familiar, it should. It has the same tone as the remake of Battlestar Galactica, and even features a couple of those familiar faces as well. The last few minutes felt a little cheesy, and I don't want to spoil it for you, but when you see it, you'll know exactly the scene I'm talking about. That brief Velveeta moment aside, the show was really entertaining, and I can't wait to see where they go with it.

When I first saw the previews for Chuck, I thought that the show would either be really good, or really, atrociously bad. Lucky for us, it's great. To crib the phrase from his Steveness of Jobs, it's insanely great. Again, don't want to ruin the plot, but this show is going to pluck the strings of every geek out there as hard as Heroes did. So it's no surprise that it'll be airing right before Heroes in the lineup. That's going to be a hard one-two punch.

I still have to watch Journeyman and Life, so look for those impressions soon!

Oh, one small complaint ... Comcast didn't make the 5.1 soundtrack available on the HD feed, only the ProLogic sound. That's ok, it's just be even more reason to watch the shows again!

Problems with Heroes Disc 2 on HD-DVD? Read This!

If you've bought Season 1 of Heroes on HD-DVD recently, you might be running into probably getting the second disc to load. What's the solution?

Sadly, just patience.

The second disc is web-enabled, and when you first load the disc, it will attempt to download the web content to the hard drive built into your HD-DVD drive. Of course, this is a popular web series and the servers seem to be getting overloaded. This means that it might take up to an hour to download the content.

The disc should give you the option to cancel if it appears that it's going to take a prolonged amount of time. All I can recommend is that you load the disc before you want to watch it and let it download while you make dinner or something.

Just a reminder, Season 2 starts on September 25th!

The Best of Tina Fey, SNL Weekend Update

Super Mario Strikers Review

Rent It.