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I am taking it easy today.  I am getting the pool cleaned up before I am off to Australia and just praying for a really hot day or two before I leave.  Sad thing is that there are leaves in the middle of it and I just can't get them without getting inside.  To put it into perspective, it's about 80 F or around 27 C.  That water has to be around 20 F colder or 20 C exactly.  NOT something I want to do.

Laughingly, I remember a story that one of my close childhood friends told me about jumping into pools when it's too cold:  "You will cough your balls up."  OK, that can't happen but it can sure make you hit some high notes when you're in there.  I thought about sending my oldest nephew in there but I seriously doubt my sister will let me do that and even if she didn't, she'd probably find out.  Knowing my luck, he'd get pneumonia or something like that.  So I'll probably have to risk coughing up the contents of my scrotum to get the pool clean.  Shivering IS good exercise, right?  Right?

I love the smell of chlorine.  Maybe I'm sick like that.  I also like the smell of faint bleach.  I don't huff either of those things.  I don't huff anything to be exact.  The smell of a nicely chlorinated pool or spa is just way too inviting.

There are approximately three weeks until I leave and you know as well as I do that I am getting pre-departure jitters.  I'm excited but in a way very sad, as usual.  But more about that later, most likely in a podcast.

Speaking of podcasts and idioPod, I am seriously putting thought into ending idioPod this year.  It was a fun project but the more I think about it, the less I have anything "meaningful" to say.  I don't mean that negatively.  There are a lot of things that happen to me that I just don't talk about.  I'm not as open as Nick Thomas.  Definitely not.  I never will be: in reality or in my online life.  How I kept up podcasting since early 2007 is beyond me.  My material is lacking because I don't go to clubs, I don't have sex with random people, I don't go out of my way to podcast, I don't podcast while I am on vacations, I don't like talking about super serious things in detail... the list goes on... and on... and on... dot dot dot.  It's great therapy, honestly.  But there comes a time when things dry up and wither away.  My podcast is no exception.  BUT having said that, I'm not stopping in the next 2 weeks, 2 months or so.  I am putting a 6-9 month commitment into it so I can choose what I want to do (as usual - open options).

Am I really hard to understand and follow?  I keep getting told this lately.  Oh yes, and your support and kindness is always appreciated.

Planning an idioPod for tomorrow with what I have.  It looks like it will be a very short one.

Good day to everybody.  Or whatever, pick a time of day.  I thought I'd write a little bit of something while I had a little free time today.  

You know, it's hard to believe that there is less than a month before I head off to Australia.  Wow.  With the recent destructive weather in Melbourne (see link below), my mom was hoping that the city sunk or something so I wouldn't have to go back.  Or wouldn't BE ABLE TO go back.  It's funny in a way, but in another way I want her to get used to having time to herself.  Since my father passed away, I've been at her house almost every day.  It's been several months now and originally I had hoped to be out on my own by November or December at the latest.  I think when something like that happens, a person tends to treat the surviving parent like a child... a 5 year old.  Really, my mom's not that old.  My parents were both in their early 50s.  One thing that I have learned is that I need to watch what I eat (and I say this after eating a Whopper and double cheeseburger from Burger King yesterday).  So really I feel like it's overdue.  I don't know whether guilt will force me to move back to the USA.  That tends to happen.  I think that if I could go back in time, I would have never bothered moving to Australia so I wouldn't know how much I love the country.  But I am happy to be there.  And sometimes Texas can be nerve-racking.  

A few other things that have been happening:

TROUBLE:  This weekend turned out to be absolute hell for my mom.  The computer totally stopped working.  It was about 6 years old but incredibly, it was a great computer up until the day that it stopped working.  It was running Windows XP and up to that point, Windows XP was my favorite version of Windows.  (Have I mentioned that I am mostly a Mac guy?)  So, after playing with the insides of the old tower I realized that the cooling fans were completely broken and the DVD player on it had crapped out, I called Brandi and we decided the best thing to do is to replace the whole thing.  I went shopping with my mom and picked up a PC for about $700 with a new monitor, 6 GB of memory and a decent sized hard drive.  (My mom isn't a game player so the smaller 500 GB hard drive is OK.)  It came with Windows 7 and I have to say that I am really liking it.  It runs really nicely and I've only installed 2 of my usual programs on it:  Opera 10.50 and Trillian.  I won't add any more than I have to because I'm leaving soon and it's my mom's computer really.  

Not only did the computer not work, the riding lawnmower's battery crapped out and the TV is having some issues.  There are blue pixels and yellow splotches all over the screen.  You can see through it the splotches... it's like someone peed on the screen.  It started while I was playing LittleBigPlanet.  Everything that I touched over the weekend started breaking... sad really.

OPERA 10.50 ON WINDOWS 7:  Opera 10.50 on Windows 7 rocks.  I love it.  It's pretty.  It's snappy.  It's absolutely wonderful.  I can't stress this enough:  if you haven't tried Opera ever or in a very long time, now is the time to try it.  It's the default browser now on this computer/account (PC) and on my Mac.  So much has been improved from previous versions that it would be impossible for me to list them all here.  One of my favorite features is Opera Sync.  No matter where you are or what browser you use, your Speed Dial and links are available.  You're more than welcome to go and download, install and try it for yourself.  http://www.opera.com/browser/

IDIOLOGIC REDESIGN:  To update you, it's getting done.  Slowly.  So far it's about a week late.  You should expect me to be late with everything now.

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Social networking sites are so overrated that it's not even funny

This episode is about 1.5 weeks early, wow! I had time to record while driving so that's what I did. In this episode, I talk about my irks of social networking sites, why I keep my personal website AND personal Facebook account, and an easy way to get rid of them if you find yourself spending way too much time playing stupid Facebook games. I may have mentioned a website at a wrong domain, it's suicidemachine.org.

Note: Have you checked out the preview of the new Idiologic? If you haven't, feel free to go here and listen to the latest episode. (Plus it will help me iron out the issues... find the link on the left side of the page called "Listen Now".)

Stay updated with upcoming podcasts by checking out the idioPod Event Calendar! (It has been recently changed - now showing local time in the USA.)

Download: Right-click or listen on your iPhone/iPod Touch
Subscribe: Subscribe here
Length: 14 minutes 40 seconds
File Size: 6.7 MB

Well okay I'm not Indian or close to it, but I received a message in my My Opera inbox from someone who told me about it.  Back when I was doing a cultural awareness course, I learned a little about it.

Here, in SE Texas, we have a good amount of Indians who come here for their studies.  I was driving past the university one day and saw a group of people with some kind of paint all over them and I thought "Oh, strange.  But I admit that it looks like a lot of fun."  That's when I wish that we Americans had festivals like that.  Sure, we have chili cook-offs and rice festivals (your guess is about as good as mine), but when do WE get to throw brightly colored paint all over each other and have a great time doing it?  We don't, unless we're drunk... but paint and drunkedness just don't mix very well.

Holi, is also known as the Festival of Colors (or colours if you're in a country that spells it that way).  It's celebrated by Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and other cultures around the globe.  I can't really give you any insight on it REALLY is so that's why I included the link at the beginning of this paragraph.  

As many of you are aware, I also live in Melbourne, Australia and the press has been reporting a lot about Indian students getting robbed and beat up.  Some of those crimes are racially motivated, unfortunately.  But I have also noticed that people in Australia are a lot more unnecessarily rude to Indians in general.  I think that sometimes people have a downright fear of people who are different:  different cultures and different religions tend to scare some people.  And out of observation as an American, we are kinder to Indians than Australians are.  It's a shame that they're not closer because it's much cheaper to fly to Australia than to USA and that's why (in my opinion) Indians go to Australia instead.

I can not stress enough that if you do not know enough about a group of people, don't generalize.  Don't listen to the stereotypes.  Don't listen to the negativity people spread because it will only breed more intolerance and hatred.  

I'm happy to have my friends of many ethnic backgrounds.  I learn from them and they learn from me.  When I don't understand something fully, I ask and I expect the same.  

And if you stumble upon this and you're an Indian in Australia who has been wronged in any way, I know it's not my place to apologize but I am truly sorry.  I too know how hard it is to go to another country to try to make a life when the culture is different.  (Yes, things do differ between Australia and the USA).  And there ARE nice people in Australia who would love to be your friend, even if they're not originally from Australia themselves! :)

To all my friends who celebrate it, I hope you have a great Holi and wish you the absolute best!  (And absolutely NOTHING against Australians, I love you too or I wouldn't make that country my home.)

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Nerds like me have been around forever. I started playing Final Fantasy when my uncle bought it and fell in love with the series. The good news now is that the first Final Fantasy for the Nintendo Entertainment System (the 8-bit one) has come to the iPhone.

Not only is Final Fantasy for iPhone very fun but it's much like the original. The graphics, music and gameplay have all been improved. The sound effects like choosing options are way too loud... much louder than the background music and there's no way to change it. It definitely brings back a lot of memories.

Is it worth the $8.99? Absolutely. It's probably the best purchase I've made from the iTunes App Store other than Bejeweled 2 and Trillian.

I just thought some of you RPG fans who grew up playing games like this would want to know. :)

I meant to post this a long time ago but this same kind of thing happened to me when Gilbert and I were staying at a hotel in New York.  The maid just barged in while we were sleeping with each other... naked.  It was kind of funny in a way and no, the maid wasn't asking to sleep with us... we were both seriously shocked though.  (The quality of the video isn't great, but it was the best I could find.)

Waiting to make a change, but why not now?

This podcast episode is a little late out the door and was recorded a week apart, so some things may or may not apply anymore (especially parts where I say that I'll post it on a Friday). I apologize for not being able to get these things ready when promised lately.

In this episode, I talk about these things:

• Updates on my weight and why I think I gained that weight
• More on my accent
• More on what's going on in my personal relationship and moving

In the second part, I talk about (after 13:38):

• An Australian citizenship test I took... dot-dot-dot
• My plans until I leave
• Even more about the relationship I hold near and dear to me
• My weight progress, diet changes and being more health-conscious for the best
• New layout to idiologic.com coming, check the homepage for details and please take the survey which is supposed to close at the end of the month.

Survey: Until the end of February, I want to know what you think about idioPod. It shouldn't take longer than 5 minutes to do and your name or email address is not required.

Stay updated with upcoming podcasts by checking out the idioPod Event Calendar! (It has been recently changed - now showing local time in the USA.)

Download: Right-click or listen on your iPhone/iPod Touch
Subscribe: Subscribe here
Length: 27 minutes 58 seconds
File Size: 12.8 MB

Wow, I didn't realize that it's been forever since I've updated my weblog! So hello there, folks. There IS a new podcast episode coming tomorrow but I know there are some of you [increasingly] who don't listen to that so I'll update you a bit of what's going on.

As of late, it seems that I am not feeling entirely well. I have been quite moody and irritable. I am having a few problems with my stomach and I thought that it's possibly due to me not eating until I'm super full anymore. I don't sit around and snack all day and night. I've lost a little bit of weight (since it's my goal to lose some before I am off to one of my favorite places in less than two months).

So yes, I have joined a website that tracks my progress and unfortunately, I haven't kept up with it the way that I should but I have to admit that it's very interesting to have a place where there are tons of people to offer support. And there's a ton more, but Family Guy is on and I can't concentrate for the life of me! Basically, I signed up at SparkPeople.com because I saw my sister use it and she's lost a bit of weight from it.

So if you've stuck to your New Year's resolution to lose weight and want to join me, just click that pretty little button and sign up! And plus, you'll be my friend and we can encourage and motivate each other.

I really have about 8 more pounds to go before I meet my goal. I have 6 weeks to do it. I am sure I can do it! :)

I mentioned yesterday that I bought a magicJack and was expecting it soon. But I was really shocked when it came in today! It was supposed to arrive on the 19th. Good job USPS.

Anyway, first impressions about the magicJack...

I haven't done much with it but I did set up a Galveston, TX number (because it's the best I could get). I made a few calls with it from the computer and have to admit that the call quality is really, really good. Sure, the software is a bit ugly but it gets the job done. And I love the color it glows when it's plugged in. I was afraid I'd have to go grab a USB cord extension but hey, there was one in the box! (I don't really care for things jutting out of my laptop like that.)

I haven't made any calls with a phone plugged in out of pure laziness but I'll have to repeat myself that I think any American living or traveling extensively should get one. I guess a little corded phone wouldn't hurt either.

So, for $12.99, I'd say it's a wonderful deal (but remember that I had $25 in Amazon gift cards to use). At $37.99, it's still a great deal because it comes with a year of local and long distance phone calls. And calling Australia landlines costs $0.027 per minute with Australian mobiles costing $0.20 per minute. You pretty much have to buy prepaid minutes with those but still that's not bad.

With that said, if you have an opportunity to use one, I'm sure you'll like it. :)

Finally something a little bit different! No website or podcast updates in this one.

I had about $25 of Amazon gift certificates laying around and though I would have loved to get a carrying bag for my Nintendo DSi (or my other small gadgets), I decided to get a magicJack to use in Australia.

What is a MagicJack you may ask? It's basically a USB device that you plug in to your computer and you can plug in a regular telephone into it to make calls. It works over a high-speed internet connection. You buy that USB device for $20 (USD) and a year of calls for $19.95, so you end up paying $39.95 usually. You CAN find them cheaper. I spent about $12.99 for the bunch (thanks to the gift certificates).

The good thing about the magicJack is that I will have a local number for my family to call and it will ring in Australia. Unfortunately, my computer has to be turned on to make or receive calls. I figured that would be okay since I can turn it off at night because, sadly, people like to call me around 1 to 3 am. I can barely remember the time difference myself.

I've read reviews of it and most of it is positive. There are some reviews that weren't so pleasant but it's mostly about the customer service. From that alone, I am hoping that the setup goes well. I'm not expecting exceptional call quality and I'm not going to be making 4 hour phone calls... I just like options. We all know that.

I have a few friends who have one and they said that it works out pretty well.

I suggest, even with the negative reviews, that Americans living or traveling extensively overseas grab one, just in case.

But have said that, I have not received mine yet. And when I do set it up and use it, I'll make another post. I'm hoping it will be good news.