Visualization of Barack Obama’s Inauguration Speech 1.20.09
...I thought this turned out pretty well. Words that were mentioned more often are larger in size.
2009 Resolutions
I'm aware that it's January 9th. I just wanted to take my time to ensure I actually put some real thought into my resolutions. Why post them on these interwebs? Well, I think it might be a bit more likely that I'll follow through with these if they are available to the public. So enough mindless banter (in no particular order):
In 2009 I want to...
- be sitting in my new apartment, in NYC (hopefully Brooklyn), with Tessa, celebrating our 1 year anniversary on (or before) March 14th.
- make a little money. Not a lot, but enough to not worry about it on a day to day basis like I currently need to.
- find a way to either make my current job more interesting/fun or to find a different job that fits those qualifications.
- make sure that whatever job I end up with actually has good benefits (to quote Homer: "mmmmmmm [health insurance and 401k]...")
- start to pay back a chunk of my debts.
- pay off my credit card, and then do the "freeze it in a block of ice" idea. No, really.
- take dance lessons with Tessa.
- read (and enjoy) a few of those books on my reading list.
- actually take some kind of vacation, no matter how brief.
- finally kill this blog (and domain) after 5+ years. It doesn't make a lot of sense any more.
- get down to Atlanta to see my brother at least once, but hopefully more than that.
- investigate the feasibility of grad school (informatics? information systems? pottery?).
- continue to be informed about the news and politics.
- scuba dive at least once (preferably some place with warm water).
- go camping in the Thousand Islands.
- make a point to take more pictures. Good pictures. Bad pictures. Just take pictures.
Playlist.com – Soon to be popular? Or dead?
A new site called Project Playlist has popped up recently. It lets you create playlists (duh) and listen to music for free. You can then embed these playlists as music players in various web pages, but not Facebook or MySpace for the moment. The record labels are quite obviously not too happy about this considering you can listen to full songs an unlimited number of times effortlessly. We'll see if this site sticks around, but for now try it out and enjoy the player embedded below:
My Reading List
So now that I've officially graduated from college *pauses for applause* (just kidding) I have all kinds of plans to read like it's my job. I've missed out on reading many of the literary classics because being a psychology major has severely limited my exposure to reading for pleasure. I plan to rectify this travesty gradually, but with strenuous vigor in the future. That being said I've started to gather my list of books that I plan to read. This list will of course grow (and shrink) as I find more books, but at least it's a start.
[Update 1.21.09 -- Google is going to close down Google Notebook so I've moved these lists to Zoho Notebook instead.
- Books to read
- Books to re-read (I've read them at least once already)
Brand new laptop: Dell XPS M1530
Just bought a new laptop and it should be here by the end of next week when I get back from NYC. I'm headed down to see my girlfriend again...yes, yet again. This is my gift to myself for graduating from college. 7 days and 6 nights with my girl...can't wait!
Here's the specs of my brand new Dell XPS M1530:
- Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T8300 (2.4GHz/800MHz FSB, 3M L2 Cache)
- Tuxedo Black Casing
- 4GB of DDR2 RAM at 667MHz (2 Dimms)
- 15.4 inch Wide Screen WXGA+ TrueLife LED LCD with 2.0 MP Camera
- 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT
- 320GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
- Microsoft Windows Vista with SP1 Home Premium Edition 64-bit Edition
- 8X DVD+/-RW Slot Load Drive
- Dell Wireless 1505 Wireless-N Mini-card
- 6-cell (56 WHr) Lithium Ion Battery
- Finger Print Reader
- Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Module (2.0+EDR)
Needless to say I'm extremely excited! 
I'll post some type of review with screen shots once I get a chance to get it all set up and fine tuned.