Q&A

So, I'm going to do something slightly different. For anyone who happens to trip onto my post, feel free to ask one or two questions of me in the comments section. The questions can be personal, instructional (ie "help me" or "I don't understand" type questions), silly, or very random.

After a certain amount of time or at my whim, I will answer the questions in a post. This should be fun... what do you think?

Now for something completely random...

Making the first letter large

So, this is how I made the first letter always be large (without having to do something special every single time.)

1. Click on Customize (or get to the Layout section of your blog)
2. Click on the "Edit HTML" link
3. In the mess of HTML code (actually, CSS code), search for ".post p". (or just .post)
4. Find an open space and copy the text below into it
   

.post p:first-letter {
  float:left;
  width:0.7em;
  font-family:Garamond, Georgia, serif;
  font-size:400%;
  line-height:80%;
  }

I'm not sure what all fonts you can use in font-family. If you use a special font and it works on your computer, it may not work on everyone's computer.

Have fun with it!

Cool new web features

So, I learned a cool new feature with html and css (the programming behind simple web page creation).

I wonder if you all have noticed the new feature. (It's kind of obvious.)

weather

Noelle said that she is going insane from all the rain. I am actually enjoying it. Though, it would be nice if the rain would be more spread out through the summer. But at least our reservoirs are filling up (not to mention our yards with standing water on slight downgrades... good grief.)

Anyway, what's driving me crazy is the cold. Yeh, I know, the spring frost hasn't passed yet. But if it's going to be cold, it should be snowing. I've always said that. Louisville KY just has the right environmental makeup to let the temperature be 30 degrees and still raining. YAY-thppbbt (evil eye).

Well, after tonight's freezing temperatures we'll be getting some fairly pleasant weather that will please both Noelle and me.

P.S. Noelle may not post her chorus pictures on her forum... but if I can, I will share. (I'm sure she looks great, she doesn't know it, but she is pretty!)

Less Ranting, More Interesting Post

Well, I had a pretty decent day today. I didn't get nearly enough sleep. With both Noelle and I (and Rachel) getting home after 11:00 PM last night and Noelle and I failing to get to bed before 1:00 AM two nights in a row, I was feeling pretty rundown. So, I sat at work and did the things I needed to do (which was install the same piece of software about 8 to 10 times in different ways to make sure it was working properly.)

After work, I went and played basketball with my co-workers and I did pretty decently. I drained several 3 pointers and made some excellent passes. I got some really good exercise in today and now I'm very worn out.

Although, it was my lunch hour (which, due to slow service, turned into 1.5 hours... oops.) (Also, click any of the pictures for an interesting link.) Anyway, a couple of my co-workers asked what I was doing this weekend. At first, I responded with my typical "not much", but then I said, "Not really. My church is having its world-wide conference this weekend." They then asked what the conference was all about and I told them. They showed a bit of interest and I casually mentioned what times the sessions were on and which station it was on. Perhaps they will catch a little bit of it.

Anyway, this all lead into a deeper discussion about what our temples were all about, how they were different from church buildings. I also recounted a bit of the history and told them how we feel about the history of Christ's church from Jesus' time forward. (Although, Sodom and Gomorrah came up and I did mention Moses.) We also had a discussion about the what would allow person in the temple. Being a member in good standing is what I said. They then asked a very good follow-up question, "What does 'being in good standing' mean?" So, I we talked about the Word of Wisdom, murder, and abstinence from sexual relations outside of marriage (and, yes, even before we're married, even if it is with our fiance.) But I did mention that repentance was always available. And even though it is difficult, a person is able to go into the temple after repenting of these sins. (It just takes (1) realizing what you did was wrong, (2) feeling sorry for it and (3) promising never to do that wrong again.) It was a good discussion.

One of the ladies mentioned that she tried to have similar discussions with other co-workers where she worked previous (they having been Protestants, probably) but she wasn't able to learn anything because they hardly knew anything about how they believed in Christ other than that they went to such-and-such church.

Oh, I had almost forgotten. At the end of playing basketball, another one of my co-workers asked me the same thing, about my weekend, and I responded the same way. He knows several other members and has had discussions with them in the past. So our conversation wasn't as lengthy (besides we were watching our friends play ball). But I was able to tell him how President Hinckley died recently and a new prophet took his place and that a new Apostle would be announced. He asked how the new people were chosen, was it by an election or committee vote? I told him we firmly believe that Christ is the person who choses the next prophet, that it is usually the senior apostle, but it didn't have to be. Then the Prophet studies out his choices, receives inspiration from Christ, and chooses the next Apostle.

This just goes to show you how easy it can be to take advantage of a simple question and help people understand a little more about the Church.

Oh, have I mentioned I'm really pretty worn out and sore?

Sansa Connect and Yahoo! restricts my usage :(

Okay, I've been told to make interesting posts. Unfortunately, many times I don't have time for an interesting post. But I'm typing pretty fast right now, so maybe I can churn out a 5-6 paragraph post. (I can't seem to do things simply... they generally have to be on the slightly better than good to excellent/detailed order of things.)

Anyway, ... see, I just wrote a 60 word paragraph and didn't even breathe. Well, so I received a Sansa Connect (made by Sandisk) for Christmas. It's a really cool MP3 player. I can connect to a wireless router and the Yahoo! music service and listen to all sorts of music for free. If I so desired, I could even subscribe to the service and download DRM music (DRM means I can't transfer the files to listen on any other device... period). But I just found out today that this really cool feature is being discontinued by Yahoo. As such, the whole "wireless" thing is going to be disabled... with no plans for converting the wireless option to some other service.

So what do I have? A basic, run of the mill (that was a lot more expensive for a run-of-the-mill) MP3 player. Well, ok, it wasn't expensive for me... and it really wasn't that expensive at all. But it really stinks that half of its selling features are now being disabled.

... Well, it was late when I wrote that stuff above... and maybe none of it made sense, oh well. I've lost my train of thought. Well, I did see some good news about the Sansa Connect today. The group that develops an alternate operating system for mp3 players is looking at the Sansa Connect. So, maybe there's hope.

Okay, so here is why I like the Ogg file format over mp3 (audio) and mp4 (video), it is because it produces a smaller file with as good or better quality. This is very good when you can compress your 4 GB mp3 music library down to 2.5GB - 3GB ogg vorbis music library. Plus, you don't have to worry about that nasty DRM that prevents you from playing your single copy of music on whatever device you wish (whether it be an Ipod, Sansa, Creative Zen, iRiver, or computer).