Monthly Archives: June 2009

Traveler’s Fever: An Instant Inspiration

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I suddenly feel so claustrophobic! Take it as a figure of speech… It is as though we, as individuals, are all so naive, but I shall explain my ideals. We live in our little homes, neighborhoods, communities, towns, and cities. We find a daily commute to work to be an exhausting trek, and the people we interact with as a routine of our lifestyle. We think of roadtrips to the other side of the state as a journey far beyond our borders of home. We consider taking an airplane to another location as either an established business trip or a moderate vacation, and we truly share to the world when we plan to leave the country, because that is something we consider worthy of headline news.

But the fundamental question is… Why do we get so focused on only the branches of our personal lives?

Look at who we are. We are individuals living in our own bubbles, whether they be large or small, constantly shifting around or staying fixed. It is overwhelming to try to think of how all the different people in the world simply “live”. While working a shift at the Tualatin Haggen Service Deli, I helped a couple of customers who were purchasing some fried food items because they were cleaning out their refrigerator in preparation for their travel to London, England. I was really taken back – kind of lost in the moment. I then realized how intriguing it is to expand your horizons, bring yourself out of that bubble of life we get so focused on.

Consider it. Where are you right now as you view this blog? Your home, your school, your job, your city? Is it anything new? We live like a broken record – we stick to routines like they are all we got.

My eyes are opening to new possibilities – just like Leeloo becoming exposed to all the elements of life by gazing at the supercomputer in The Fifth Element. I’m seeing this life outside of mine… This life that’s experiencing the world, traveling to new places, understanding culture, and capturing the moments of a lifetime. I find it kind of ironic. Back in 2008 (the second of three times I worked at Haggen), I befriended a guy working the seafood department named Rob. He gave me his words of wisdom and suggested that I travel my first year of being out of high school. He elaborated, describing how satisfying it is to see the places you want to see, experience it, and clear that desire to see what else is out there. I declined the idea at first, but now I really understand where he was coming from.

How did I get to writing about this?… Facebook! One of my acquaintances from middle school, who now goes to Oregon State University, traveled to Istanbul, Egypt, Dubai, and is now located in Johannesburg, South Africa. I’m so jealous! Apparently he’s out and about traveling with his father for a couple of weeks. That is quite the dream (and expensive) trip, thus this is why it’s an instant inspiration to discover the world.

I Ask One Favor…

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In remembrance of Edward Johnathon Walls (1989-2009), please help me raise research minutes for Stand Up to Cancer, an organization looking to put an end to this horrible disease. Getting involved is quick, easy, and free. In the widget to the right, simply click “Help Now”, watch the short advertisement, and rate the video. It’s that easy. One painless rating is all it takes. You can be done in under one minute. Please help me and join my cause. Thank you.

Back in the Saddle

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Work starts up again for me tomorrow. I’ll be back at Haggen Food & Pharmacy in Tualatin. This will be the third time returning to the store. However, this time I will be working in Service Deli. I’m happy to report that I’m neither really excited nor nervous. I don’t know what that really means, but hopefully it’s just that I’m used to the store and know I can adapt to new things. Fortunately, I’ll be training with my two favorite people in the department! Other good news, though, is that the pay is much better. I’ll need it for off-campus housing next academic school year at Oregon State University. I’m nervous about that, though. My roomate and I haven’t found a place yet – we haven’t stalled in looking, so that’s good! Anyway, just updating the ‘ole blog.

Out.

Stuff… I haz it!

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Yesterday was the big move-out day at Oregon State University. I thought Thursday would have been busier with parents loading up their student’s belongings – but in fact Friday was the killer. It really felt similar to the move-in day back on September 21st, 2008 except, perhaps, with a little more pain involved.

I have too much stuff – I realize it now. I thought I just had a few drawers here at home that needed sorting… but no! Bringing everything home from school, I have bags of stuff lined up along my bedroom wall, waiting to be put away. I have no space for it! I’m pulling things already in my room for the garage sale we will be having in the summer. I am up to my eyeballs in frustration with sorting through old and new things and meanwhile trying to put and setup other items.

My daily gripe… Now you haz it!

Bowsers of Browsers: Safari vs. Chrome

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Battle of the B(r)owsers

Battle of the B(r)owsers (original graphic)

Much of the hype from WWDC 2009 revolved around iPhone 3G S and Macbook Pro. One aspect of the conference that seemed to fly under the radar of popularity is the release of Safari 4.0 for Mac and Windows. The last time I gave Safari a try to be my default browser, it was going up against my long-time use of Firefox 2.x. As I remember, Safari lost the match. As of today, some time has passed and Google’s Chrome browser has overthrown my love for Firefox. This is the new standard Safari has to live up to in my opinion, anyway.

When I initially launched Safari 4.0, it took a little time to start up – but that’s to be expected. From there on afterwards though, Safari had pretty similar startup rates to Chrome. In fact, the appearance of the Safari browser is so close to that of Chrome. Although I am not all too sure, I think Chrome copied Safari rather than vice versa.

Safari goods when contrasted with Chrome:

  • Equally snappy webpage loading
  • RSS
  • SnapBack
  • Top Sites grid-style graphic interface
    • Very sleek and smooth
    • Notifies you if one of your top sites has updated with new content since you last visited
  • Smooth transitions
  • More to come…

Safari bads when contrasted with Chrome

  • Address bar doesn’t forward to search engine
    • In other words, when you enter search terms in the address bar, it assumes you are searching for an exact domain, thus you receive a “server not found” error
  • No tab button
  • Opening a new tab shifts position of your webpage up or down
  • Loading webpages lag out more than they do in Chrome

Final Thoughts

Safari is pretty neat – it has some fundamental features that are absent in Chrome. However, it’ll take more from Apple to make Safari stand out from the crowd. At this time, it seems that they are just meeting benchmarks, rather than exceling beyond standards.