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  • My Prayers Have Been Answered!!!

    I’m sure by now you all know the deal. My hours have been cut to 32 per week, and I’m being laid off. Being that my current financial situation is beyond dismal, and finding a job in this economy is virtually impossible, I begged God for a miracle. And God delivered! But I didn’t just get one miracle, I got several.

    Miracle #1: The severance I’m getting is two weeks for every year I’ve been employed. I’ve been working at my current job for almost four years now, but I quit in January of 2007 to go to school. I went for one semester, and then returned to the same job where I’ve been working ever since. It was because of this that I should only be getting severance for one year, but since I was only gone for a few months, I’m still in “the system” as having started in August of 2005!

    Miracle #2: A few weeks ago, my shift lead called me up and asked that I call my supervisor about an available job. I called him up to find that he had a friend (a local hardware store employee) that was getting rid of some people at his other job at a food manufacturer and was looking for several new warehouse workers. Knowing that I had warehouse and SAP experience, my supervisor recommended me for the job. I applied, I got the job, and now all I had to do was request my severance early.

    Miracle #3: Yesterday I called my HR representative to inquire about receiving my severance early, and found that she had to okay it with a few people before she would know for sure if I could. She said she would call me back tomorrow (which is now today) with an answer. Well, this morning, my supervisor called me to tell me that there was to be a meeting at 2:30. I was totally passed out when he called because this was the first day this week I’ve actually been able to come home from work and sleep rather than having to go fill out paperwork, or take a drug test, or whatever else I had to do before starting my new job, and my phone was on silent so I missed the call, and the meeting. However, when I woke up and saw that I had three missed calls, two text messages, and two new voicemails (the calls and the voicemails being from my supervisor), I gave him a call and found out what the meeting was all about. Apparently they’re going to put those scheduled to be laid off on paid leave (at 40 hours a week, which is more than I’m working now) until their scheduled release date, at which point the severance package will be given.

    What does it all mean? It means that I will be receiving my severance for three years of working time and putting it straight into the bank, getting a new, full time (with benefits) job right away at a decent salary, and for one month I’ll be getting paid for 40 hours a week at my current job and getting paid for 40 hours a week at my new job!!

    I have been praying to no end that I might survive all of this, and God listened. He heard my prayers, and saw my persistence, and met my needs as I requested. I am so happy right now I can’t even think straight! God bless all of you, as he has blessed me, and, again, I can’t thank those who prayed for me enough.

    Miracle #4: My friends on Xanga. You guys really mean a lot to me. Without your help and prayers, I believe none of this would’ve happened. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

    Can I get an Amen?

  • Left 4 Dead - A Xanga Exclusive!

    I posted this in the L4D Steam forum, and the moderaters deleted it before anyone saw it. As the most effective way to "cheat" your way through all the achievements, I can understand why they wanted this information kept under wraps. Well, they have no control over my blog, so this information will be a Xanga exclusive. Some say cheating takes away from the fun of the game, and that's true to a certain extent. But it also adds a new dimension of fun to the game which makes up for any losses. Enjoy!
     
     
    1. Open Notepad, and copy and paste the following text into it:
     
    bind kp_ins "sv_cheats 1; give health; sv_cheats 0;"
    bind kp_del "sv_cheats 1; give ammo; sv_cheats 0;"
    bind kp_end "sv_cheats 1; give pistol; sv_cheats 0;"
    bind kp_downarrow "sv_cheats 1; give autoshotgun; sv_cheats 0;"
    bind kp_pgdn "sv_cheats 1; give pipe_bomb; sv_cheats 0;"
    bind kp_leftarrow "sv_cheats 1; give first_aid_kit; sv_cheats 0;"
    bind kp_5 "sv_cheats 1; give hunting_rifle; sv_cheats 0;"
    bind kp_rightarrow "sv_cheats 1; give molotov; sv_cheats 0;"
     
    2. Save the file as mysettings.cfg in the following location:
     
    C:Program FilesValveSteamSteamAppscommonleft 4 deadleft4deadcfg
     
    3. Run Left 4 Dead, and make sure console is enabled (options > multiplayer > enable developer console).
     
    4. While your in the menu, press the console key (the "~" button to the left of "1" and above "Tab"), type exec mysettings and press enter.
     
    5. Exit the console by pressing the console key, and start a new, SINGLE PLAYER game.
     
    6. When the game starts, press the buttons on the keypad (0-6 and period) and you'll be given weapons, health, med kits, and explosives, depending on which button you press. With a little research, you can figure out what you want buttons 7-9 to do. Here's what I have them set to:
     
    bind kp_home "sv_cheats 1; give gascan; sv_cheats 0;" - Gives you a gas can
    bind kp_uparrow "sv_cheats 1; give pain_pills; sv_cheats 0;" - Gives you pain pills
    bind kp_pgup "sv_cheats 1; kick tank; sv_cheats 0;" - Gets rid of the tank (cause I'm that impatient)
     
    This only works in single player, or when you're hosting a local server (LAN) because to enable/disable the sv_cheats function, you have to be the server admin. Happy hunting!

  • The Official Xanga Survey

    Xanga Username: I've been a long time fan of Volkswagen because for one, my grandpa was an accountant at a local Volkswagen dealer for around 50 years and picked me up a Jetta for really cheap when he retired, and for two, they're just awesome. If you ever get  behind the wheel of a Jetta GLI with a VR6 engine and a 6 speed manual transmission, you'll immediately do everything in your power to own one.

    Xanga Birthdate: On August 29th, 2004 I walked into my college dorm room and caught my roommate surfing Xanga. I asked him what it was, and when he said, "It's a blogging site" I had no idea what he was talking about, but it looked interesting so I joined up. And now here I stand; just behind the I337 Xangans in the long lineup of Xanga users.
     
    Xanga "Statuses": I am a TRUE user, and I was one of the first, and a LIFE user, because I just love Xanga that much.

    Xanga Profile Picture: Always changing, but my current picture is one I took of myself using my iPhone (jailbroken with QuickPwn) while I was sitting on a stack of cardboard pallet pads at work.

    First Xanga Friend: Probably my college roommate Dustin, because he's the reason I signed up for this.

    Subsequent Xanga Friends: A few guys in my dorm that had Xanga, my now ex-girlfriend and her roommates, a few people I found who's blogs were worth reading, some friends from back home I recruited into Xanga, and on down the line. I've got lots of wonderful friends here on Xanga, and all of them are worth listing. Check my friends list if you want specifics.
     
    Xanga BFFs: My long lost brother Drew (respawn87), famed MS Paint artist Sylvia (absolutangel64), Anthony the walking KJV (AOK4WAY), and John the crowd favorite (GreekPhysique).

    Xanga Family: Drew (more or less, lol), and my girlfriend Rachel (sillyrae)

    Xanga Likes: There's not much about Xanga I don't like, that's for sure. But if I had to list one thing that I really liked about Xanga is the atmosphere (if I can call it that). There's so many different and wonderful people on here, I find it hard to look away!
     
    Xanga Dislikes: Well I'm sure everybody can come up with a list here, but the one thing I dislike the most about Xanga is the fact that the antismoking religious cult known as Truth is one of it's sponsors. If I had the money, I would sponsor Xanga, paying twice as much as Truth does, on the condition that their ludicris advertising go away.

    Official Xanga Achievements: True, but never featured; Life, but never featured; moderately high traffic, but never featured; lots of good posts, but never featured; above average writing skills, but never featured; four and a half years of dedicated usership, but never featured.

    Unofficial Xanga Achievements: Featured on Revelife and Dollarish (just don't tell anybody)

    Recommending Habit: I recommend posts that I feel either deserve attention, or are wildly hilarious.

    Commenting Habit: I figure if a blog is worth reading, it's worth commenting on. I greatly enjoy meeting new people, and commenting on a site that isn't getting a lot of attention is a good way to get people to talk to you personally. If you comment on a post that has 150+ comments, the poster probably wont even notice you commented.

    Timestamping: As was mentioned in a blog I read a few days ago, timestamping is a great way to get your posts read by the many time zones represented here on Xanga. I do it a lot because I work nights, and keep my sleep schedule, which means that most of my posts go live in the earlier hours of the morning. Timestamping them during normal Xanga-business hours is the best way to make sure all my subscribers got the chance to read the magazine their subscribed to. Make sense? Good.

    Protected Posting: I throw out a protected post every now and again because I really love writing, and when something's going on that's too personal to reveal to the public, I'll post it as protected or private. Why? Because writing is the only way I can sift through the millions of thoughts going through my head and find the ones I want to focus on. Why not just save a Word document? Because here on Xanga, my writings are presereved forever in a place that they wont be seen by anyone or get deleted.

    Xanga Theme: I custom made my own theme using some pictures I found on Google and Adobe Photoshop. It was a lot of meticulous work, but I greatly enjoyed doing it, and I think it turned out great. Do you?

    Xanga Pulse: Pulse is great. I've always got something to say, and I don't want to ramble out a few paragraphs for every blogging idea that crosses my mind. That would be a frenzy, I guarantee it. So when I just wanna get something off my chest, like the fact that I've awoken to 25 below temperatures for two days in a row now, I throw it up on the pulse and let it go. The best thing about pulse is going through all the pulses you've made, all the way back to the first one. It's like watching your life go by!
     
    Xanga Plugz: I've plugged my site a few times, and it's always been awesome. Every once in a while, I spend a GREAT deal of time and energy writing something out here on Xanga, and it before plugz it would usually go virtually unnoticed. Now when I pull an all nighter pounding out a spectacular post, I can actually direct some attention toward it. I've met several new people through plugz, which was my reason for plugging, and it's kinda like being featured, only not.

    Xanga Hopes: I want one of those posts I mentioned in the plugz section to be featured. When I dedicate my whole self to writing a blog, it's deep, and it reveals who I really am. If one of those posts were to be featured, I could find more real friendship among the hundreds of users who would comment. I might also find a few people worth blocking, lol.
     
    Last Words: Roll credits.

  • Today's Escapade

    My girlfriend Rachel has the worst case of dentophobia (also called odontophobia, dentist phobia, and dental anxiety) I've ever seen in a person, and, due to her recent claims of immense mouth pain, I took her to the urgent care to make sure it was her teeth (which they said it was) and scheduled her a dentist appointment which happened today. She had one tooth pulled, and I was forced to watch was more than happy to hold her hand during the operation. She's got state issued dental insurance, the packet for which states that most everything is "covered," and they took it, and there was no waiting list, which is why we ended up there. When most was said and done (she had a hard enough time sitting through one tooth getting pulled, and wasn't about to sit through getting the other however many more that needed to be pulled as well) we went to the desk and found our last $50 was destined to be the co-pay. So now we're out of money, and my last paycheck was $240 short of usual since we had two weeks off for Christmas and New Year's and I only had enough vacation hours to cover three of the days, and since the boys had no school today (because 20+ below temperatures and the 40+ below windchill) we had to drop them off at the baby sitter's place. Now, I've been begging God to keep my rent check from going through until after I got paid (a ridiculous request, because I got paid today and I turned in my rent when it was due on the 1st), and praise be to Jesus, my rent check was cashed a mere few hours after my paycheck was direct deposited! If that check had been cashed even a few hours earlier, my bank account would've been overdrawn, I would've been charged an insufficient funds fee, and I would've been in some serious trouble in the coming weeks. Ask and you shall receive. Amen?

  • If you could stop, fast-forward or rewind time, which would you choose?

    I think I can speak for everybody when I say I would choose to rewind time. We’ve all made mistakes in our lives that we would give anything to correct, and I’m sure we’ve all said at one point or another, “If I could just go back and fix this, I would be in a much better place.” Sure, we’re all in our own situations, but I don’t know anybody that would want to stop time at this point. Our economy is in absolute disarray, millions of people have lost their jobs or their homes, etcetera, etcetera. And who would want to fast forward time? Who would want their lives to pass by more quickly? I can understand why somebody would want to get over this economical speed bump faster, but why not go back in time and keep it from happening in the first place? Needless to say this is a very complex question.
     
    Although “rewind” is the most obvious answer, there’s more to it than that. Okay, so you’ve gone back in time. But to where, to when, and what for? Maybe you’re like Uncle Rico from Napoleon Dynamite and you’re stuck in a specific year in which you encountered a life changing moment and screwed up; or maybe you’re like Cypher from The Matrix who was faced with a life changing decision and ended up asking himself, “Why oh why didn’t I take the blue pill?” On the flipside, you could be going back to relive an experience that was the highlight of your life; to a party in college where you met your wife, or perhaps to the hospital where your children were born. Of the millions of reasons I have to go back, one time in particular stands out.
     
    It was August of 2005. I was living at home with my parents, and working as a temp at a plastics manufacturing facility about 10 miles from my parent’s place. I was faced with two options; one was to go back to college and continue my education in the field of Computer Science, the other was to accept a full time position with the company I worked at. Without hesitation, I chose the option that would eventually lead me to where I am today. Besides, I totally bombed out in college, and this job was easy, secure, and high paying. Now here I am, four years later, inside the terrible realization that my job is neither secure, nor high paying. If I had declined the position, gone back to school in the fall, who knows what my current situation would be? Maybe I would’ve done better now that I knew what college life was like, and ended up finishing off the year with flying colors and gone on to get my degree. Or maybe I would’ve just ended up another $25,000 in debt. Who knows? All I know is that my current situation would be vastly different either way, for better or for worse, and since my current situation is quite dismal, opting to go back to college, no matter the potential consequences, is one I’d be ready to take without hesitation.
     
    Although this is, like I said, only one of the millions of decisions I’d do anything to undo, I’m positive it’s the most significant. Why would you go back?


    I just answered this Featured Question; you can answer it too!

  • My Scariest Nightmare - The Uninvited Contest

    I seldom remember my dreams for more than a few moments, but I had a dream sometime before I was 5 years old that I still remember to this day. I was living in St. Louis Park, where I lived until I was 5, when I had the dream, and it involved my brother so I know I had it shortly before I turned 5.
     
    My mom and I were at the Snyders in town. She was wearing her purple/maroon track jacket with the turquoise liner (remember the 80's?), and looking at greeting cards. A man in a white t-shirt, blue jeans, and sunglasses who's hair was long and brown walked in. I sensed something was up, so I carefully slipped out of my mom's all seeing eyes while she was busy looking at one of the cards and I went outside to see where the man had come from. There was a red van outside surrounded by this man's counterparts in crime, and they were crowd surfing my newborn baby brother and wielding knives, swords and the like. I ran over to save my brother, and they scooped me up and began loading both of us into the van. I screamed bloody murder for my mom to come out, and that's when I woke up.
     
    Even after 23 years of real life experience, this dream was the most horrifying moment of my life. It's meaning has boggled my mind since the night I had it, and that could be why I remember it so well, but there you have it; my scariest nightmare.

       

    I just blogged about my scariest nightmare to enter The Uninvited Scariest Nightmare Contest for 1,000 credits. You can earn free credits too! Brought to you by The Uninvited - In Theaters January 30th.

  • Fantastic News!!!

    My shift lead called me this morning and told me to call my supervisor. I called him, and he said that a friend of his, who works with his wife and at the local hardware store, is getting rid of a few people (for their poor performance, not because of slow business) and is hiring a bunch of new people. My supervisor discovered this while in conversation with this guy at the hardware store, and recommended ME (and only me) for the job because, he said, that I am the only employee of his that he would give a good reference. I called this guy, and he's going to have me in for an interview either today or Monday! How utterly fantastic is that!? If I can get this job, then I can put my severance toward my debt, and keep the income coming!! Thanks for all who prayed for me, and praise be to Jesus!!!


    [Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]


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  • "The Sin of Sloth" - A New Year's Resolution

    sistine Of the many paintings at the Sistine Chapel in Rome, Michelangelo’s portrayal of Adam and God is probably one of the most well known and easily one of the most magnificent. Sure, you’ve all seen it, but have you looked at it closely? Studied it? Given more than just a passive thought as to what it’s supposed to be representing? I’d like you to take such a look at it with me now, because this particular work of art holds a profound message which happens to be very important to us as people, and more importantly as Christians.

    Look at the figure that represents God. Notice how his body is stretched out and twisted, his muscles are taught, his finger is pointed and his eyes are gazing directly into Adam’s heart and soul. Notice how the painting depicts the sense of urgency that God and all his creation has to connect with mankind. Do you see it? Now take a look at Adam, the representation of mankind. His posture is a little different, isn’t it? He appears laid back. His muscles aren’t taught, the posture of his hand is saying, “Well, I’m not sure I want to lift that finger.” His finger is just kind of laying there, there’s a gap between his hand and God’s, and it almost looks as if Adam, mankind, is waiting for God to do a little bit more to close the gap. And God did. He gave us his son, Jesus Christ. What else could he do? We weren’t being obedient, we weren’t in tune to his love, so he made the greatest demonstration of love possible by sending his own son to die on the cross for us.

    Friends, sometimes I think we live this way. God is rushing at us, passionately pursuing us so that we may come to know him. He wants us to experience his love in compelling ways, and we’re just passively living our lives, saying, “Yea, I’m a Christian.” Even while knowing that he’s given everything including his own son Jesus Christ for us, we ask for more. As we begin this new year in 2009, I’d like to invite you into a life of passion and urgency to know God with the same sense of urgency in which God wants to know you. The distance between us and God at any given moment is small, and all he asks us to do is respond by receiving through grace his gift of Jesus Christ, and by faith trusting him with our lives.

    The past year has brought terrible tragedies to thousands of people, me included. In this new year, I challenge you to revamp your faith, to persist and prevail in prayer, and to succeed in doing God's mighty will. This is a terrible situation we're in, and it's going to take some miracles to get out of it. Go with God, and be the miracle.

  • This is some kind of joke, right?

    My Steam forum post reguarding "Grid":
     
    Let me just take a moment and say that the words that describe the level of difficulty this game reaches do not exist. If I wanted a racing experience this realistic I would've enrolled myself as a driver in the next Indy 500. It's a video game for goodness sake! I've got everything set to "basic" (easy) and I can barely place 2nd to last in every race the game throws at me! I'm not terrible at driving, in fact I'm quite good, but this is ridiculous! I'm pretty sure I wasn't far from being lapped on that last one. And since when, in the video game world, did bumping your car into the wall a few times leave you unable to turn one way or the other? I've been playing this game for the past 3 hours, and I believe I can safely say that I've never been this frustrated with a game in all of my life. Seriously guys, tone the realism down a bit, at least in the beginning when players who may or may not be new to the game are still trying to figure out the controls!! AHHHH!!!!