Cody

Yesterday the internet server for our work went down, so page submissions were slow, leading to them saying we didn’t need to come in today. In my time off I took the time to get caught up on some much needed rest, and also worked on some “house cleaning” items around my site. I’m sure the first thing you noticed if you’ve been here before would be the new template, which took a while to get working and the way that I wanted it to look with my banner. Next thing I worked on was the banner itself.

Last night, while working with Tiana on some Flash stuff I realized that my banner looked like crap on IE… so I went ahead and fixed it. I then moved on to finish the intro (which still isn’t finished but should be very soon). Afterwards I plan on making the rest of it, the “hidden” aspect so to speak. With the new template I would also like to remove the sidebar that is currently there, and replace it with a flash banner sidebar. Instead of having simple text links they will be in flash and much more entertaining. Working a lot hasn’t really left me much time to play around with my flash stuff. Either way I need to get this site pimped out with flash banners and things that actually look/work well since it is my goal to have a flash animation company up and running by mid-summer.

The new banner is a “work in progress” (any surprise there?) so it doesn’t quite fit in everything the way I would like it to.  The whole page needs a little redesign in order for it to work out, which I do plan on.  Like the stupid words, they’re just words but for some reason they take up as much space as the old banner… That one is tripping me up, and I may just get rid of them.  Basically I must say that I love flash (if you hadn’t noticed yet) that banner at the top is 30k which just so happens to be 1/10th the size of a high quality JPEG of the same size.  Not to mention it’s pretty sweet… it loops right now but that won’t happen for very long, it’s going to go through the intro and stop then have clickable links and hover overs (like my other banner… just much cooler).

Matthew 25:34-36

“Then the King will say to the people on his right, ‘Come, my Father has given you his blessing. Receive the kingdom God has prepared for you since the world was made. I was hungry, and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was alone and away from home, and you invited me into your house. I was without clothes and you gave me something to wear. I was sick and you cared for me. I was in prison and you visited me.”

How long did you fight before you gave up? Would you crawl past an outstretched hand? Early this morning I was coming home from taking Brook to work and coming down 9 highway there was a guy walking on the side of the road that I stopped to pick up. I didn’t really say much to him, just kind of asked where he was going and took him. He did reveal to me that his car had died at I-635 and 9. It took me a minute to process, but when I thought about it he had already walked 2 miles or so. After I dropped him off and went on my way home I started wondering why in the world someone didn’t stop earlier. I mean he had traveled far enough that at least 100 cars had to of passed him, and it was obvious that he could use a ride (besides the fact that it was 18° F outside) he was carrying a lunch box and a tool sack (depending upon what tools he had the thing had to of weighed at least 10 pounds). So what was the problem with giving him a ride? Were the people in too much of a hurry to get to work on time to stop for 5 seconds, and take someone in the same direction as they were going? Or does fear play a factor into the equation? Have people heard too many horror stories about people who pick up a hitch hiker and end up murdered?

Those that get killed or injured for doing something nice, helpful, or good it truly is a shame that they did. Hopefully this injury, whether it be pride or physical does not stop them from doing what is right. But for those that live and stay safe by hiding from helping others… I can tell you right now that your life is not worth the fear that you put into preserving it. Life is full of ironies most of which bring joy to my life. There is nothing I love more in this world that bitter sweet ironic twists. This is not one of those ironies. In fact it truly makes me sad. It reminds me of the infamous quote from Gandalf when inside the Mines of Moria “It’s a pity Bilbo didn’t kill him when he had the chance.” say’s Frodo “Pity? It was pity that stayed Bilbo’s hand. Many that live deserve death. Some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them, Frodo? Do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment.”

I leave you with the question: What have you done to deserve life?

Of course none of us deserve life, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and the wages of sin are death… because of this have you given up the fight? Have you ever crawled past an outstretched hand, causing someone else to give up?

Ok, so I’m sitting here at the LAN for this month, and had to leave a little message about it. I know that many of you who read this (which is like 3 people) don’t go to LAN’s so by the end I’ll try and get some pictures, and what not else. Hooked up is the title of this article, because that is the title of this weekend!
[Update]Yup, so here I am revealing why the title of this weekend was “Hooked up”

First off I got to know some of the people at the LAN a little better.  Things were somewhat smaller this time, mostly just the core group of hardcore nerds.  Well there’s this guy there that’s at all the LAN’s and I really don’t know how old he his, gotta be quite a bit older.  Anyways… he’s a bit off… not like “wow he’s schizophrenic” talking to himself and everything kind of off… just slightly.  So there’s not a whole lot of people who talk to him, most the people at the LAN are guys between 15 and 20 (rather immature at that too).  Because I actually talk to him and everything he invited me to go with him to Pierponts to eat.  At first I didn’t want to because I really have no money, and paying $5 for pizza and pop was cutting it close for me… after a couple of other people denied him I reluctantly agreed deciding to just get something for like $10 no matter how I had to accomplish it.  My heart sunk when they handed me the menu and I realized that the ONLY thing on the menu for under $15 was a tiny little house salad… all the steaks were starting at $35 for a 10 ounce steak, and went up to $50 for 16 ounce steaks!!! Luckily they did offer a dinner special with a 28 ounce bone in rib eye for $28… before I continue, do you understand how big a 28 ounce steak is?  Imagine a steak that could devour your head in a single bite, then double that, add a few extra inches and you’ve just about got it… Surely this had to be a mistake on the waitresses part saying 28 ounces, especially with the prices of the other stuff on the menu.  Whatever, it was something that I could at least afford with the cash that I had in my pocket.  After dinner Sam simply paid for everything… I wasn’t exactly expecting it, but after talking to him for some time I did find that he works as an x-ray technician, so he makes a good living.  It was a very good meal, and getting to know Sam was interesting, he’s pretty cool, and I think that it gives me a very unique mission field going to all the LAN’s.

Then there is always the constant barrage of prizes and everything that are given away for raffles and everything at the LAN’s adding to the “hooked up” weekend
Unfortunately I didn’t get so many pictures as I had planned on being able to put on here… and the few I did get weren’t amazingly great.  Low light when everyone has their monitors on just makes for blurry pictures, there is no way around it.  Plus as soon as I got to the LAN when I first turned my camera on guess what… yup, low battery.  This is the second time I’ve done that too.  I use the camera all throughout the month bringing it all over and it being fine, then I go to the LAN forgetting my second set of batteries, and as soon as it is turned on the batteries go on a downhill slide.  I wanted to get a picture of the steak, but had my camera sitting at my computer at that time… hehe. [/update]