Practicality.

Something I have very little of.

My significant other and I had a little "discussion" today about web browsing.  Well, should have seen it coming really, given that it happens every other week.  Today, as usual, chrome was the topic of discussion, i.e. why I think it's so great.  And I won't go into specifics on that, because I know there is quite the browser war out there, and I'm not going to feed the flames (especially with the majority of this blog's readers being IE users).

Long story short, I like having only the features I need, with the ability to customize my browser to do whatever I want it to.  And the speed is a plus.

Anywho, amidst my nerdy internet surfing this afternoon, I stumbled upon THIS!

*Queue heavenly choir*

Basically, its a laptop/netbook that starts up in 10 seconds flat, and only has a browser, with many built in apps for all the everyday things you do on your computer.  Pretty much sums up practicality to the letter.  I saw it months ago in a press release on YouTube, but didn't think it was coming out for a while!  I am so darn excited.  I signed up for the trial.  Its a long shot, but maybe they need the opinions of some college students (and Google men) like myself. I mean, as candidates go, I use Google products for everything...

But yeah.  Cross your fingers for me.  It said they only need a handful of testers, but I'm optimistic.  Again.  Seems like I have a lot of optimism keeping me going these days.  Anyway, I can't wait to play with this, whether I get to be a part of the trial, or just have to wait for it to hit stores.

Also on my mind today?  Adsense is pretty amazing.  So is waking up to find snow.  And having a really cool girlfriend.  That's neat.

Photo Editing, Valentine’s Day, and Acetic Acid

Something fun, something I don’t understand, and something I would readily put on Fish and Chips.

So, over the past year or so, I've been wallowing in the pit of despair that is, living without Photoshop.  I had access to it when I took Photography in high school, but ever since, I haven't really had the best luck with photo editing.  Well, the other day I was down in a computer lab in my dorm for some reason, and I was checkin' out all the software those fully loaded computers had.  Do my delight, Photoshop CS5 was on there.  But then I found something very similar.  Its a free program, with all the useful photoshop features, like the handy-dandy clone stamp tool, called Paint.NET.  So, I got that on my computer, and have been having fun with it ever since.

First, I competed in Rick Mercer's "Photo Challenge".  I'll see if I win next week.  Doubt it, as its my first try. But hey, yay for optimism, right?

In the original, he was sans-chicken

Then, I had a better idea.  Valentine's Day was just a couple days away.  I thought, wouldn't it be awesome to trick my super awesome girlfriend with my crazy awesome skillz?  Well I thought so.  So, I got to work on planning my fake trip to Utah.  First, I just snagged one of the Windows backgrounds, and a dorky picture of myself off Facebook and stuck them together.  With a little tweaking, this is what happened.

Dork, to the MAX

Looks pretty Utah-esque, right?

Then, I got a little more creative.

The Vegas Airport

Her room, not creepy, right?

Her parking lot

Welcome to Utah sign, thanks, Google Maps!

SUU sign... obviously

Needless to say, I had fun.  And before you start hating, no, that wasn't her real present.  I actually got her a few flowers. :)

As for acetic acid... well I just got back from a chemistry lab, so my hands smell quite a bit like it.  Mmmm... vinegar.