Brandon Schlenker

Yes, I think the Palm Pre is awesome. Which means a lot coming from me, because I’m a HUGE Apple fanboy. However, its not going to kill the iPhone. Or even get close to killing the iPhone. iJustine pretty much sums it up in this video.

Its a little thing called Hype. Apple is an expert at it, and apparently Palm isn’t. When the iPhone was released people waited for days to get one. Lines were blocks long outside Apple Stores and the press was all over it.  As you can see, that wasn’t exactly the case with the Pre.

Source: Cult of Mac

No joke, it saved me so much grief and I’m only starting to work with it. ASIHTTPRequest obviously handles HTTP Requests and offers a slew of cool features. You can download it here  http://allseeing-i.com/ASIHTTPRequest/.

Here is just a quick example of image uploading to Image Shack.

ASIFormDataRequest *asirequest = [[[ASIFormDataRequest alloc] initWithURL:[NSURL URLWithString:@"http://www.imageshack.us/index.php"]] autorelease];
[asirequest setFile:path forKey:@"fileupload"];
[asirequest setPostValue:@"yes" forKey:@"xml"];
[asirequest setTimeOutSeconds:100];
[asirequest start];
if ([asirequest error]) {
NSLog(@"%@",[asirequest error]);
[[[UIAlertView alloc] initWithTitle:@"Error uploading image" message:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@",[asirequest error]] delegate:self cancelButtonTitle:@"Okay" otherButtonTitles:nil]show];
} else {
NSLog([asirequest responseString]); // The xml that got sent back
returnString = [[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@",[asirequest responseString]] retain];;
}

The code I was using to upload was much  much longer, and tons more confusing. ASIHTTPRequest also allows queuing and displaying upload progress.

I would say a good portion of the citizens in this country are absolutely oblivious to… well, everything. Whenever a person that is Muslim commits murder they are automatically a terrorist. However, when a Christian commits murder everything is okay, because it was what jesus wanted.

Really what’s the difference?

When Dr. Tiller was murdered, everything was fine. In fact, crazy conservatives celebrated his death! (http://www.newshounds.us/2009/05/31/fox_nation_celebrates_tiller_murder.php). Its completely ridiculous. The man that killed Dr. Tiller is just as much of a terrorist as the men behind the 9/11 attacks.

Read some of the comments on these articles

I love seeing late term abortionists…. aborted!
The man who did it should be promoted to President of the United States and given a medal immediately!

http://elitestv.com/pub/2009/05/tiller-killed-dr-george-tiller-operation-rescue-late-term-abortion-procedure-doctor-murdered#comment-10331170

Thank God !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GOD IS GREAT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! George Tiller is dead ——————–

Bravo! I think the hero who stepped up and did away with that revolting piece of humankind should receive a medal! I intend to make a generous donation to his defense fund. The man who gave his freedom for the right of the unborn to live is a true hero and I will do what I can to help in any way I can!

You are a very nice and well meaning person CB, but I think that Jesus would have killed Tiller himself if he were here on earth now.

Its horrible. People are actually praising murder. Would God/Jesus really want that? Isn’t it a bit unchristian like to kill someone or be happy when someone is killed?

Religion is a joke. Period. Most wars are fought over religion. Religious extremists kill those who don’t support their cause.

Don’t get me wrong. There are extremists everywhere that murder over miniscule things. However, if you look at the terrorism in the world today, a good portion of it is based on religion.

I’m sorry, but the world would be a much happier place without it.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness – The Declaration of Independence

When our founding fathers laid down the groundwork for our country they had no idea of the issues that would arise over two hundred years later. However, they knew that all future generations should have the same freedoms they fought so hard to gain. That everyone is equal, and should be entitled to the freedom of speech, freedom of religion, a right to participate in their government, and many many other things.

Now fast forward 233 years later and ask yourself the following questions.

1. Is everyone in America equal?

2. Is everyone able to pursue happiness?

If our founding fathers looked at society today, I think they would be very disappointed. Not only at our government, but at the citizens under it.  As of today, a large group of Americans are not given the right to become happy.

In case you haven’t figured it out at this point, I’m talking about same sex marriage. Why are we not allowing same sex couples to be happy?  Religion is part of it I suppose. However, freedom of religion is one of our rights, therefore you can’t govern by it. Some, find it strange. When the original TV came out that was strange, but did we rally against it?

I don’t really see how anyone can argue against same sex marriage without sounding like a zealot.  Its a civil rights issue. This is the United States of America. Everyone is equal. Everyone should have equal rights. Just because you’re gay, why should you not be able to do something I can?

To me, the meaning of America is Freedom and Equality. Everyone is equal. Period.

For the first 16ish years of my life, I wanted to fit in and was completely miserable. I’ve learned that trying to fit in somewhere you don’t belong is the worst thing you could possibly do.

Its impossible to find happiness until you accept yourself for who you are. If you’re a nerd, stop trying to pretend to like sports. If you’re gay, accept it. Thats you. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being gay. If you hate people that have overly large pinky toes, then so be it. Even though its a bit strange its not a big deal. Its you.

Stand up for your beliefs, no matter how many people tell you you’re wrong or try to change your mind. I’ll argue with anyone about politics for hours. But that doesn’t mean I want the other person to become me. If everyone was alike the world would be completely boring.

Also, don’t worry about offending people. If you live your life trying to avoid stepping on the toes of others you’ll compromise your values. I’m not telling you to go out of your way to insult people, but stand up for yourself and your opinions even when its unpopular.

Blending in sucks. Don’t do it. If you’re friends are stupid, don’t act ditzy just to please them. Dumbing yourself down may make you popular with a select few, but in the eyes of your teachers and other friends you’ll appear just as fake as everyone else.

Over the past year I’ve made many changes in my life and I’m much much happier.  Remember, accept who you are. Follow you’re dreams, no matter what everyone else says. Be yourself.

“Location, location, location.”

Phrase to remind people that the most determining factor in the price of a house is the location. The property itself can be build on, extended, knocked into the next property etc. – Urban Dictionary

In my world, I’m exactly like most real estate agents. However, I determine the value of almost everything based on design.

This year, I’m the lead editor of our high school yearbook. Honestly, I never expected it to be this difficult. At our school, yearbook is just a club. However, since I’m the editor I convinced the administration to have it as a class. Seeing that its just a club, there isn’t any real motivation for staffers to complete their pages. If it were a class everyone but a few select members would have failed. Because quite frankly, 90% of them were terrible.

I ended up single handedly designing over half of the book. When some staff members designed pages, I had to redesign them.

I like things to look nice. Period. All images needed borders. I designed all of the titles based on our homecoming theme “Freeze the Hornets”. However, some members wanted to do their own thing and make it look shitty.

In the past, our yearbooks have been hideous. (Thats the nicest adjective to describe them.) I never really understood why, until I became editor. It’s because everyone is lazy. Image resolution errors are ignored, causing images to be blurry. Some staffers use pictures of their friends as the background. This in particular makes me very angry, and also causes the page to appear cluttered and makes it very hard to read.

I was determined to create a decent book. I believe I’ve achieved this task. However, it was mostly because of me and two other people. The rest of our staff had virtually nothing to do with it. I really hope things won’t revert back after I and next years editor leave. However, I’m almost 100% sure they will.

P.S. Thanks to those that completed their pages and went above and beyond. You know who you are.

Lately, my life as become quite hectic, to say the least. Being the minimalist that I am, clutter and disorganization drive me insane. However, my life lately has been quite cluttered and very disorganized. Wednesday, I decided to limit my personal items to 100.

Thus far, I’m quite pleased with my progress. I’ve emptied all my drawers, my closet, and will soon begin to scour my car.  Two full bags of clothing will be donated to Goodwill and at least a dozen books to our local library.  There isn’t any reason for me to keep more than I need or will possibly ever use.  I’ve been keeping inventory with Delicious Library (http://delicious-monster.com) It’s quite handy and lets me easily see what I own.

I’ve established a few guidelines on what to count as an item and what no to.

What NOT to Count

1. Hygiene Products (toothbrush, deodorant, etc.)
2. Undergarments
3. Important files/mail.
4. Any type of cable/power adapter/user manual that the item it belongs to requires. All other cables that can be used for anything DO count. (For example, my iPhone USB cable isn’t counted, however a generic USB cable is counted.)

If I counted the above items, not only would I stink and have nasty teeth, but I would exceed 100 items in cables alone.  I’m counting pretty much everything else I own, including clothing.

I’m nowhere close to being finished, but so far I’ve made great progress in simplifying my life.