The Village Idiot From Arkansas

Living is Simple...

2010-01-23T20:12:00.001-06:00

I sit here sweating. I am playing basketball for the 3rd time in as many weeks since the doc ok'ed me to go back to normal activities.

A year ago in February I tore my ACL on this very court with many of the people in the photo there to witness it. I had surgery on December 17th to repair the tear. When the doc got in there he found that it had repaired itself. Apparently this is rather rare even with partials.

I enjoy Basketball because you see how people really are on the inside. Emotion comes through in a way that is socially acceptable and inturn reveals the true personality.

I honestly am scared everytime I have stepped out on the court. Afraid of tearing my ACL again. But with that in mind I refuse to sit on the side line in life. I demand participation in life and to not be one of those that sentenced themselves to a lifetime of things they wish they had done.

Sometimes You're a Tourist With a Camera...

2010-01-20T16:29:00.005-06:00

Sometimes I wonder how my kids will envision the past. I know currently a lot of people see past events in black and white. I am not sure I completely do this but...I do envision some events in the color of the paintings, photographs of the time. For example: I for some reason I envision the 70's as being very vibrant in colors along with a lot of earth tones but without the sharpness of modern images. Almost in a slight blurred way that differentiates hd television from normal (analog?) televisions.

Here is a picture of a sign I took not too long ago. The place was called Venture. From what I can remember they were something like wal-mart before wal-mart built super centers. The only thing I really remember about the store is that when they were closing I bought probably the 2nd or 3rd cd that I had ever bought...The band was called "Jimmy Ray" and the title of the album was self titled...Jimmy Ray...I bet you cant guess what the lead singer's name was...
Maybe he is a bit narcissistic?

Anyways back on point...this sign...

I am afraid this picture will become my main memory 20 years from now of a store that I barely remember now...but will I remember it in this version...or will I think of it in what ever future variant of photos...eh odd I know.

Digging My Potato

2010-01-16T00:49:00.004-06:00

I am in love...

Why yes I did just buy her cd based on the cover art.

Sorry to my future wife/girlfriend. She is hot and mainly I see her now yet you are no where to be found at this time. So I don't feel bad in saying this girl is hot!

UPDATE: 01-20-10
Ok the cd came in. Her voice is as amazing as her picture above. I guess I should actually tell who she is...From the best I can tell from Wikipedia...Her name is: Alison Sudol, she was born 27 days after I was....also from reading...and I am making an assumption here...I would guess she is a Christian (Woohoo!) as well just by looking at some of the authors (such as CS Lewis, and writing a Narnia style book series) she likes. All that given...why cant she live some where near me...then again maybe not...That might freak her out if I tried to meet her lol.

anyways here is the cd

The band is called "A Fine Frenzy"
Album is "One Cell In The Sea"

Houston, we have uh-oh

2010-01-14T23:04:00.002-06:00

So... It has been a long stinkin time since I have wrote here. I really could care less who if anyone reads this. I have given up on looking at page counts to focus on content.

This will turn into a space for me to read later on. Therefore I will put my random thoughts and quotes about what is going on.

Let's get started shall we.

Currently reading: Blue Like Jazz

Great book so far. More thoughts about it tomorrow.

Also have started up reading the new testament again. I am in the middle of Luke. I have never made it this far in reading straight through. Of course I have read bits and pieces here and there in church and what not. I have read through Matthew probably 10 times but never could make it though Mark for some reason. Not that Mark was bad. I just became unfocused. Needless to say I am running into a few random things I have never read before. But nothing ground shaking. i.e. I read about the brothers of thunder wanting to call down fire from heaven for not accepting them into a town. Odd...

And I am listening to Dune Messiah on audio book now. So far I preferred the original Dune to this book. This one is too much political cloak and dagger stuff so far.

All for now.

Drive around the lake

2009-05-02T17:02:00.004-05:00

just a little too fast...

The last breaths of this semester are occurring. And with this is generally a sign of projects needing to be completed, exams, homework, and late nights in the engineering building.

Some times you are granted a gift though...and in this case we went and visited Beaver Dam. It was an amazing experience. I took as many pictures as I was able to and will talk about the rest.

Beaver dam is apart of a lock and dam system that covers NW Arkansas and SW Missouri.

This particular dam was made back in the 60's. The design shows on the inside. The insides are painted in colors that I imagine the 60's coated in. The control room walls were a mix of soft browns and a light green. The kind of green you see on all old machines. I couldn't tell you what half the things do in there or how they are operated. Everything had lights and knobs as if it were from the Star Trek series of the same era.

We were able to see the, for lack of better words, giant axles that are connected to the turbines. They consist of a solid metal shaft that is some where in the neighborhood of three feet in diameter. When spinning they were only spinning at something around 90 rpm. I can only imagine the amount of force to get that much weight moving that quick.

Now for the Dam part of the operation. (And yes our group revisited every single "dam" joke from Vegas Vacation and then some) The dam itself as you can see from the pictures is pretty big. It is from top to bottom about 250' tall. Yeah like looking down the length of a football field. The width at the bottom if I remember correctly is in the neighborhood of 170'. And there are tunnels all through it. I had never realized it but most dams have tunnels through out their structure. One of the reasons is to help with drainage since concrete "leaks". Another is to have instruments. One of the main ones is the "Tilt-o-meter". This meter is a string that goes from the top to the bottom of the structure through a pipe. Basically this device shows how much the dam is tilting due to pressure of the water. There was a red line on a little beyond where the pendulum was and asked what that was for and what they would do if it got that far. The operator just looked at me and said, if it gets that far I am running. The red line was apparently the point break for tilt-age.

This picture is looking out over the top of the dam. They had no restrictions in taking pictures in this area. To give some perspective...those blocks on the right are about the size of a VW Micro-Bus

This is a picture showing the height of the structure.

This is looking straight down. Notice how small the door way is in the center of the picture.

This top of the dam, but suprisingly isnt the main control center.

The Feds will be after me for this picture...I took a picture inside of the restricted area....ahhh....I think if I remember correctly it is just a bathroom in there and some stairs.

Needless to say I am staying vague on some details because I dont know what is acceptable to talk about. I am keeping to stuff that could be found on wikipedia and really dont want a goverment agent to come knocking on my door. Especially since they know who I am since I signed my name....although it didnt have a NDA on it...

The horizon has been defeated

2009-02-16T23:37:00.003-06:00

by the pirates of the new age

Problems I have been thinking about....here are 2 statements that are true...according to my knowledge of physics and the universe.

The speed of light remains a constant speed regardless of the sources speed.(i.e. the speed of a beam of light being shined by a car going 60 mph is not going 60 mph faster then the speed of light...nor are the tail lights going 60 mph less then the speed of light...basically the speed of light is source independent.)

The second statement is that there is light from stars that will never ever ever reach our solar system.

This made no sense to me...even if the galaxies are moving at a magnitude of 1.5 the speed of light....light in theory would still make it here...Galaxy A going .75 the speed of light and Galaxy B going .75 the opposite direction = magnitude of 1.5 speed of light. Since light is not source dependent it would only have to over come the .75 SoL. This means yes it would make it to us right?

Turns out the answer is NO. Here is where my brain broke for about an hour. I totally forgot about the universe is expanding. Imagine the universe is a giant piece of nylon and galaxy A and B are on opposite corners....now have the nylon start to stretch...this is the same concept...now add the galaxies also moving on the nylon away from each other....this means the beam would never be able to beat the speed of the expansion of the universe and the speed of the other galaxy that it is chasing...

Mind blowing?

Naughty or Nice

2008-12-13T14:59:00.009-06:00

Consider the Price, to an Elf...

So let me update what is going on.

Since the last post, I have had a birthday, dead day, finals starting, and a few crazy nights in between.

I have also laid down the money to purchase my new laptop. It is a HP 2730p. 1.86 ghz, 120 GB hard drive, 3 GB of ram and its a touch screen. I don't know how I feel about it right now. It is a lot of money but I feel that I made the best choice...just not sure if economically it was the best one. I haven't splurged in a while so I guess I am splurging now? Oh well, I'll give my review of it soon.

I also have recieved my certifcation to test concrete by the ACI. This makes me happy. Maybe it will get me a summer time job.

Below is a video of our compression tests on some concrete samples we made. The concrete we batched surpased 20'000 psi which in turn gave us a 10 percent bonus in my Structural Materials class. While watching the video you may want to turn the volume down as some one lets out an explitive when the concrete finally gives way. I am in the background as well. It honestly was a pretty scary site when the concrete cylinder exploded.

This is at a "yay school is about over" party where we watched about 5 minutes of revenge of the nerds...we were suppose to dress up as nerds...sadly this is the closest thing I had while I was in fayetteville.

The night got much better after we quit watching and moved into the garage.

This picture is from the National Missionary, where I was litterly locked out on the roof. What happen is I was exploring with the Tyler Twins when we decided to go out this door. Well the door opened just fine but had no door handle to get back into the building. So we were stuck outside on the roof looking in through the windows on the roof. Thankfully some one let us back in.

Yeah I realize I covered the NMC in the last post but I forgot this photo.

My new computer should be here with in the week, and I should be done with finals on Wednesday...therefore I should have plenty of time to do some comics...and get back to some more enjoyable stuff.

2008-11-23T23:11:00.008-06:00

So with my Tablet PC (aka a laptop you can write on) being down for the count for good, I will not be having comics for a little while. Never fret though! The laptop going out gives me the opportunity to buy the laptop I was wanting. Of course the wanting and needing things were totally different until my current one decided that it was better to not have a screen that worked.

Anyways. I figure I'll update everyone on my life to this point with pictures starting with the first one below!

A few weeks ago I was invited to watch a Razorback game from a box seat. It was awesome and amazing all at the same time! Thanks Tyler and thanks Dyers that allowed Tyler to invite me.

Here is a picture of the guys that were there...me left, Tyler middle left, his brother Travis middle right, and my former roommate Adam on the far right.

This is Tyler and is Fee Aunc Say!(Fiancee(In my best wanna be french accent(Hey gotta use it up it'll only last like 6 more months then it is just plain ole husband and wife...where is the fun in that)))

My church is adding a new sanctuary and a new drive thru. Apparently they were tired of the old one continually getting hit by vehicles clearing the 10 foot mark...I mean look how gianormously high that thing is...like 30 feet.

Ah yes my wanna be civil engineering side coming out. Who in the world takes pictures of cracks in concrete...that is besides me? Any ways beyond that...mainly I am wondering why it cracked...I am guessing because they did not put a thermal expansion joint in this peticular section...this was an extremely long section compared to the rest that are in the new sanctuary.

Another random event that happened...I was doing home work for mechanics of materials(class of the devil) when a random mechanical engineering professor came around and asked if anyone wanted tickets to that nights game...it was the first night I was going to have off in a couple weeks and wanted to take the oppertunity. So I called Adam (you remember Adam right from the other picture?) and asked him if he wanted to go and he said sure so I jumped up and accepted the offer. A very generous gift from a random professor that more then likely I'll never see again.

Once again who takes pictures of this stuff? Well I do...I am guessing they are making some form of a slurry wall to help stabilize the ground? They are adding an addition to the parking deck to the right. Any ways they are driving these things into the ground during the middle of the National Missionary Convention. Frustrating for those inside the Tulsa Convention Center.

These are my good friends I saw at the NMC. Justin is on the left and the very beautiful Beka on the right.

These are two girls that are twins that go to my home church...Katie on the left and Shelly on the right.

Part of the youth group from my church came up and visited the NMC on Saturday...here they are...

This is the BOK Center...not knowing what BOK stood for...I just assumed it was a word. I procedded to go around calling it the "Bok" Center. Finally later in the day some one stopped me and asked me what I was talking about. They procedded to laugh when they figured out what I was saying. Apparently the building was funded by the Bank of Oklahoma(Interesting with the current banking crisis ehh?). This in causes the correct saying to be the B.O.K. (Phonetically: Bee Ohhh Kay) Center. Bah...

Back to my random construction pictures. This is the addition to the parking garage that I spoke about in previous photos. The vertical wood support is what got me...I havent a clue as to what in the world it is there for...support? I really dont know...

Oh well there you go...That has been my life over the past few weeks...minus all the homework I suppose. Hopefully in a couple weeks I'll have another computer and can start doing comics once again...or maybe I'll find a girlfriend that I can donate my time too...either way it is all down hill from here....except for the whole last round of test and finals thing...blah

You Can't Stop Nothing

2008-11-15T14:00:00.008-06:00

If you got no control...

Click to enlarge

So this last week has been ba ba badddd. The comic above is the last one I drew before the happening. Initially I was not going to post this comic as I did not think the quality was up to par with the standards of previous ones ( pssh like I have quality standards on my blog).

Any ways my tablet PC bit the bullet and kicked the bucket this week. I was working on a presentation at the time so that realllllly sucked. Oh well what can you do...

I am working on repairing it was some super glue later today...perhaps it'll work. If not I'll be buying a new one just because I NEED a laptop for school hence the thing I was working on and using it for at the time.

For all those curious the one I am looking at is the HP EliteBook 2730p
http://www.amazon.com/EliteBook-KS096UT-12-1-Inch-Notebook-Windows/dp/B001G0SV2M/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I2KZY6ZJ7GIVPI&colid=3DBL17TSFO33E

I was originally looking at it dreaming kinda sorta...but unfortunately it has turned into a need.

Oh well, update soon

We Gotta Rewind, Start It Up Again

2008-10-13T23:42:00.009-05:00

Because we fell across the fall line, ain't nothing sacred any more...

Second Chances...
What a foolish thing to expect, yet a wonderful thing to experience.

I am watching Lost the TV show...of course they are all reruns that I have never seen.
Today's episode obviously revolved around second chances. This got me thinking. How often do we as humans receive second chances? I know I have personally received an amount that could not be counted, yet, I casually act like it is perfectly normal.

How amazing is it that we are able to start back at square one? You can do this on the spiritual level by asking forgiveness and repenting (turning away), say you are sorry, or worse comes to worse move to another location where people dont know you.

This episode...whether it's intended affect was or was not this... reminded me how blessed I truly am. For all intents and purposes I have the world on a string. I am young, going to school, single, not in debt, and living in one of the richest countries in the world. What more can I ask for? Well since I am an American there is a list about a mile long...but how much do I really need? None... My greatest fear is doing poorly on a test or not getting married by 30... It truly is amazing.

I hope everyone is thankful for the 2nd, 3rd, and the 7 x 70 chances that they receive daily.

Just remember to
On what is important...

Spoon In Spoon

2008-09-29T15:23:00.010-05:00

Stirring My Coffee

So it has been about two weeks since the last time I wrote something...I guess you could say life became busy since then...not that it is a bad thing to be busy.

Writing this post is a bit hard...suffering from a bit of writers block.

Continuing on...

Two weekends ago I found myself looking over the face of a cliff with no ropes and no safe paths to stick to. What was worse there was no where for me to go but up. One slip and I would have found myself testing if I had the superhero ability to fly or to survive falls from great heights.

They say the hardest part in life is not necessarily the fall but but getting back up again. This was definitely case. I had rappelled down a cliff face to get into the mess I was in. As a engineering major I have taken classes on material designs and the loads the could take. I had complete faith in the equipment. The going down was the easy part. I would have never guessed the hardest part of the day would be coming back to the top where I had to depend on my own strength and the courage that God gave me.

The next week as school was followed by 3 tests in 3 days. This made for a miserable week of school.

I hope you enjoy the pictures I have chosen to represent my story time.

"New car, caviar, four star daydream,

2008-09-17T13:55:00.011-05:00

Think I'll buy me a football team."

Oh how I have found something interesting today...

I am currently watching a UEFA Champions League Soccer match that is taking place in England.
Manchester United is playing Villarreal. Manchester is probably the team I like the most.

This in it's self is not all that interesting I must admit. What is interesting is the financial markets.

I know I know...you are wondering what in the world do the financial markets have to do with a soccer team in England.

Here's what it has to do with it. Manchester United's main sponsor is AIG Financial. If you have been watching the news as of late then you know that there is a mess going on with AIG.

History of what is going on with AIG
To give a brief run down of why they are in dire straights...here goes...AIG loans money, the United States has a law from the depression era saying they must have a certain percentage of cash on hand for all the investments. They had given loans for homes and these "loans" are considered liquid assets. Home prices have dropped since they handed out the loans...there for they are not able to sell them as much as they would have. Therefore in theory they do not have that percentage of cash on hand to that the government requires and the government took them over. Whats sad is if they could just ride this out, they would be just fine a couple years from now.

Yesterday, the US government bailed AIG out of the mess. They bought the company basically.

Back to soccer....

Since AIG owns the largest share of the Manchester United Football Club....The United States now owns the Manchester United Football Club kinda sorta...

USA USA USA...wait...this is bad...when did the government get in the business of sponsoring a soccer team in another country?

The picture below is a picture of London during World War II. The picture surprised me. I did not expect that many vehicles on the streets during war time England. And yes this is the picture for this post. Sorry nothing funny...next time perhaps.

It's a beautiful day

2008-09-11T10:12:00.009-05:00

Don't let it get away...

Life is truly amazing.
I am surprised by how much time we as humans waste in doing nothing. I am by no means excusing myself from this criticism. I am sure I am the worst among them.

Life is an adventure that happens everyday. When was the last time you tasted what you ate? I am not talking about just passively noticing that the taste is pleasing to the senses. I am talking about savoring the bite and noticing the intricacies of each herb and spice.

I find so much of the time I focus on the easy things in life. Not because they are the best thing around but because it is the easiest to do most of the time. I am trying to change this.

I love this quote by JFK
"We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too."

This type of idea might be the one I went into engineering. Well that and a host of other reasons like I hope that my future job will provide enough money so my future(assuming I am able to find one ;p) wife wont have to work. I think kids grow up better when they are raised by their parents and not a day care center.

Wow I got way off topic there...anyways...
My goal for the next week is to experience life...actually drink in the world that the Lord has created for us. I am a firm believer that he takes happiness in our happiness as long as it is not out side his will for us.
To start with I am going to hike on Saturday with some friends, after that...who knows?!

But I do intend to do by best see the world around me in a different light...a more thankful light.

Since I didnt meet my new non-existent picture quota...here is one

And I swim out as far as I can

2008-09-02T21:20:00.011-05:00

And float on my back, just waiting for nothing...

Gustav needs to go away...

Granted, I am not exactly on the coast line...nor am I feeling 100 mph+ wind speeds. But! We are experiencing torrential down pours here in the lovely portion of northwest Arkansas.

Ok that may be a gross exaggeration but it has been raining fairly solid for the last 10 hours with no signs of it stopping with in the next day.

Two years ago I went with a church group down to Pass Christian, Mississippi. Before that point in my life I had never seen the damage of a hurricane. I saw foundations of houses with the house no where to be found. I heard stories of houses being lifted up over 20 feet and dropped 200 yards away. Obviously the house was not livable anymore for the fact it had no foundation. Jesus explains the need for foundations...and as a civil engineering major I am blessed to find out the mathematical reasons why it is needed...not that I enjoy it that much. :)

That being said here are perhaps the more disturbing pictures I took while helping rebuild from Katrina. (Editors Note: These pictures are a year after the actual hurricane in '06...still so much devistation at that time.)

This is a picture of a house that by all modern definitions of the word was a NICE house...it had a minimum of two stories and a gated fence that would probably cost more then my house alone. All that is left after the hurricane is the fence and the most hardened support areas such as the stairs...

This is a picture looking out over where several houses used to be...a sign of life though shows through with the owners of this plot stating they are coming back.

This is the stairs and the bath tubs of a house...there was nothing left of this house except the concrete front porch stairs and the bathtubs. This was one of the places that made me tear up.

This is the Pass Christian Library. There is...well at least there was a video on youtube about what happened in the library during the hurricane. I dont remember the specifics but for some reason there were people that were trapped in the building. While waters were surging around the police cheif inside was forced to shoot holes in the doors. I believe it was so they could escape...I dont remember the exact reason to be honest though.

I hope anyone that reads this is at least compelled to help in some way with those that have gone through this a second time. Please pray for those that this may be a time for them to have their lives built up and that the glory of God may shine through them.

The Game Is Afoot

2008-08-29T01:11:00.008-05:00

Ah the winds of change are coming in the cell phone market...

I have to say it...although regretfully...that it is Apple's fault...
(For the record I am for the most part anti-apple. They tend to be very pompous in their attitude even towards their consumers and especially against those that do not consume their products.)

That being said....Apple has started a new way to buy cell phones...yes they are still linked to a network but they have taken the first step in breaking away from the old model. Apple now has people buying phones from their stores. Soon hopefully we will move to the model that is prominent in Europe where you will buy your phone separately from your service. This will hopefully open up more competition and drive down prices.

Apple has also raised the bar with the iphone. Granted the iphone has some lackluster qualities...but the hardware is great. The fact that Apple has had over a year and a 2nd generation phone dropped with no copy and paste is just asinine. This is one of those reasons I dislike apple.

But as the saying goes...the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Apple with the iphone raising the bar has made other phone companies increase the qualities of their products...this is again good for the consumer.

One of these I think that has benefited from this Research in Motion and their famed Blackberry. They are on the verge of releasing the Bold in the states and a month away from releasing a touch screen and flip phone version. Now I dont think RIM would have pushed for a touch screen had it not been for Apple.

I personally am looking forward to the flip blackberry (codenamed kickstart). I already have the pearl and think that a flip version will be a great marketing decision for RIM.

Oh well that is my rant for now...I await like many others for Apple to have their little event on sept 9th? As much as I dislike them they do currently set the bar.

When Time and Confusion Collide

2008-08-21T21:42:00.020-05:00

I posted a list of facts a while back...I have read a few and just cant see it to be the truth. So, I have went back over the list and have added comments on the ones I cant believe. The full list is a few posts before this one. This is pretty long...so skim it if you want to get to some posts with a bit more meat....

The harmonica is the world's most popular instrument. (Seriously? Because every kid in the USA has received one as a present...I have 3!!! and I hate them.)

By the time they are 65 years old, most Americans have watched more than nine years worth of television. (At one hour a day from age five, it would only be 2.5 years...I think 9 is a bit excessive)

There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar. (295 is max source http://www.jefflewis.net/factoids.html)

All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the $5 (False - only 48 listed on the actual monument...obviously false)

Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance. (False http://www.snopes.com/history/world/churchill.asp)

Los Angeles's full name is "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula" - and can be abbreviated to 3.63% of its size: "L.A." (El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles de Porciúncula (The Village of Our Lady, the Queen of the Angels of Porziuncola). is the orginal name....surely it has changed since then....couldnt find if it had been changed...can anyone help?)

In most advertisements, the time displayed on a watch is 10:10. (I have heard this is true on the history channel of all places...has to do with marketing and not covering up date, symbol below 12 or above the 6)

Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.(Unverified...any help?)

A dragonfly has a life span of 24 hours. (Can live for years....so it is all lies)

A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds. (Mythbusters anyone? False)

It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open. (DON'T try this at home!)(Apparently false from what I have read...no credible sources...I know it is said that my uncle had his eyeball pop out once but he was hopped up on drugs half the time so no telling what he thought was going on.)

In England, the Speaker of the House is not allowed to speak. (Uh False! - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speaker_of_the_British_House_of_Commons)

The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket. (True!)

There are 336 dimples on a regulation golf ball.(LIE! Maybe on a certain brand...just look at wikipedia)

The inventor of the flushing toilet was Thomas Crapper.(False - Check Wikipedia again)

Plastic lawn flamingos outnumber real flamingos in the U.S.A. (No proof found...but is this flamingos in the world? are we counting the plastic ones in the dump? more info needed)

Starfish have no brain. (True)

Dolphins sleep with one eye open. (Unproven, not true for dolphins in captivity)

"Babe" was played by over 48 pigs. (True according to IMDB)

A stretched out Slinky is 87 feet long. (I have found numbers in the 60' area...maybe its a physics slinky...Not unreasonable)

Emus can't walk backwards. (False)

A group of unicorns is called a blessing. (People make up names for groups of creatures that are not even real? You have got to be kidding)

The average garden variety caterpillar has 248 muscles in its head. (Where is the Proof?)

A mule won't sink in quicksand but a donkey will. (Where is the Proof?)

The plastic things on the end of shoelaces are called aglets.(True)

The pound sign # is called anoctothorpe.(True)

Roman Emperor Caligula made his horse a senator.(True at least he tried...He suffered from a slight case of insanity...to bad his God status couldnt save him from a couple of knives...)

Pluto's orbit crosses Neptune's making Pluto the eighth planet from the sun. It has been that way since 1979 and will remain that way until 1999.(True...but it doesnt look like they got the memo about Pluto not being a planet? Oh well...)

The first word spoken on the moon was "Okay".(True - After a lot of reading I finally found what happen.----(The actual first words spoken on the moon were by the crew, either Aldrin's "Okay. Engine Stop" or Armstrong's "Shutdown.") This comes from the wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Armstrong#Voyage_to_the_Moon I would HIGHLY suggest reading through the article as it is a pretty amazing read.)

Hilary Clinton once said We are the President.(True-- "I'm not going to have some reporters pawing through our papers. We are the president" -- Hillary Clinton commenting on the release of subpeonaed documents. I guess Obama has the better chance of having a truthful chance of saying this statement at this date in time...)

The percent of women who wash their hands after leaving a restroom is 80%. (Intresting...I love statistics...unproven)

The percent of men who wash their hands after using a restroom is 55%.(I know some guys that wash their hands before hand...)

The longest word in the Old Testament is Malhershalahashbaz.(False? I looked for this...is this Hebrew or what? I am calling shenanigans on this one unless some one can prove otherwise!)

It takes the Where's Waldo artist one month to complete a drawing. (Unconfirmed - And it takes him another month to find that stupid little man...What kind of man walks around looking like this? Seriously?)

2500 lefties die each year using products designed for righties.(I knew right handed people hated us gifted with better control of our body! unconfirmed.)

The first message tapped by Samuel Morse over his invention the telegraph was: What hath God wrought?.(FALSE FALSE FALSE!!!! America's first telegram was sent by Morse on January 6, 1838, across two miles (3 km) of wire at Speedwell Ironworks near Morristown, New Jersey. The message read "A patient waiter is no loser." )

Because of Animal Crackers, many kids until they reach the age of ten, believe a bear is as tall as a giraffe.(Are you serious? People do realise there are things like...zoos and um TV? It isnt like Animal Crackers TM are a worldwide afair. This doesnt even deserve the respect of being researched...)

Penguins are the only bird that can leap into the air like porpoises.(So you are telling me they can fly? True)

By some unknown means, an iguana can end its own life.(No proof, I am saying false...have yet to see a Iguana create a nose to hang it's self.)

Pigs can cover a mile in 7.5 minutes when running at top speed.(True? http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Can_a_pig_run_a_seven_minute_mile)

A snail's reproductive organs are in its head.(Well not exactly...I was really wanting to make a joke about using your head... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Snail_diagram-en_edit1.svg)

When a horned toad is angry, it squirts blood from it's eyes.(True...up to 3 feet...also interesting side note...their horns are real horns...where as the things on their backs are just scales)

The typical American eats 263 eggs a year.(ewww! I hate eggs....)

The hardest bone in the human body is the jawbone. (False...I thought it would be the femer but I was wrong as well...its the Temporal Bone! and heres the source-- http://www.mdanderson.org/departments/skullbase/print.cfm?dIndexPrint=1&pn=98FB57D0-9D53-4E82-A57DD08D3F145CA5&PrintPage=1).

4000 people are injured by teapots each year.(I think we need to have a war on teapots personally...cold brew iced tea is very good and needs no whistling)

The shortest English word that contains the letters A, B, C, D, E, and F is feedback.(Who in the world thinks about this stuff? How would you congradulate a person that just came up with that? Uh good job there Johnny...how about you get a job now?)

The dumbest domesticated animal is the turkey.(Your telling me a turkey is dumber then a hampster? The same hamster that jumps on a wheel running as fast as he possible can for 30 seconds...stops...starts again...seriously....same animal...?)

The strongest muscle in the human body is the tongue. (Seriously?....Research people...there are 3 other muscles that are debated...lets just say the tounge isnt one of them.)

The most fatal car accidents occur on Saturday.(I found most drunk driving deaths occur on saturday but I have heard before it is monday mornings...couldnt find proof...take as you will.)

The Eiffel Tower has 1792 steps.(Plausable? But doubtful...my question is as follows: Who is spending their vacations counting steps? How OCD are they? any ways heres a source saying 1710 steps...that isnt even half way up though. -- http://www.atkielski.com/inlink.php?/main/EiffelTowerFAQ.html)

Ants stretch when they wake up in the morning. (Cant find info on this...infact there is contradiction infromation if ants sleep at all...they do go into a slower state where they are observed being sluggish afterwards...I would say no on stretching...but no definative proof either way.)

Thomas Edison, lightbulb inventor, was afraid of the dark. (True...apparently quoted to the fact as well.)

About 3000 years ago, most Egyptians died by the time they were 30. (Probably true but how do you prove it? I would assume the average Egyptian had a fairly hard life.)

A sneeze travels out your mouth at over 600 m.p.h.(Could be true...some reports having it at over 650mph...most conservative have it around 95mph and as you know the 650 would be an outlier in statistics so you should throw that number out anyways...100mph I can believe....almost breaking the spead of sound with a sneeze...well if you believe that I have a bridge to sell you...)

A jellyfish is 95 percent water. (I hate Jellyfish...I caught one once...he died and stunk really bad...)

The elephant is the only mammal that can't jump. (Babies can do it for sure...older ones have been reported doing so in the wild...other wise what does a 11 ton creature need to jump and hide from?---intresting side note...they dont get stuck in mud easily because under the elephant's weight the foot swells, but it gets smaller when the weight is removed. An elephant can sink deep into mud, but can pull its legs out readily because its feet become smaller when they are lifted.)

The penguin is the only bird who can swim, but not fly. (We discussed this above! They can fly!)

America once issued a 5-cent bill.(If you consider a North Carolina CSA bill an American Currency yes...other wise...NO!)

A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue. (Yes, It is that long. I suppose it could do that...but not probable --source-- http://en.allexperts.com/q/Wildlife-2507/giraffes.htm)

Bats always turn left when exiting a cave.(Similar to the oceans, bats are affected by the moon. Due to bats hanging upside down, the moon always appears at their feet. When the moon sets in the western hemisphere, this appears on the bat's left hand side. As a result bats are naturally orientated to their left hand side when they fly out of their cave.----Its a lie...always word makes it a lie in it's self.... )

In England, in the 1880's, "Pants" was considered a dirty word. (I wonder what they would have thought about the act of Pants'ing some one in modern times?)

Every 45 seconds, a house catches on fire in the United States. (House fires are very scary. I really hope you have insurance on your home and have hard drives back up in multiple locations to save your important data.)

The sun is 330,330 times larger than the earth. (Wikipedia says 1.3 million earths...I put my money on wikipedia...now the larger part was replaced with HEAVIER it would be about right give or take about 600 earths...but what is that when you already have 300k?)

A hummingbird weighs less than a penny. (There is a species that does...but most do not...)

The opposite sides of a dice cube always add up to seven. (I checked with a die from the Imperial Palace...it is true...amazing...gamblers are obsessed with the number 7 apparently...)

Men are 6 times more likely to be struck by lighting than women.(Because men like to do stupid stuff like play golf in the middle of a storm while all of the women are hiding in the basement.)

Hong Kong has the most Rolls Royce's per capita. (This was BEFORE the Brits gave the Chinese that island...now the Little Lady on the front is to close to the Lady Liberty from the US...since then all cars have either been sold to off shore investors or dissembled for scrap.)

28 percent of Africa is wilderness. (I cant believe this is the case...what about the sahara desert...surely that alone takes more then 20 percent)

38 percent of America is wilderness. (I dont know the answer but this guy seems to know or act like he knows alot --http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/376898)

A duck's quack does not echo and no one knows why.(Mythbusters...need I say more? Not to mention ducks dont have some super power over the laws of physics dealing with sound waves...)

70 percent of Americans have visited Disneyland/World. (And I am not one of them...But seriously? I dont know how you could prove this one unless Disney made everyone fill out a info card before they entered.)

The youngest pope was 11 years old.(This is up to debate...I dont like the way this is presented AS FACT. Wikipedia says this... The data to determine the age and dates of birth of the youngest Popes is frequently unavailable, as Popes have generally been elected at older ages in modern times. The youngest Pope was probably either Pope Benedict IX (who became Pope at an unknown age between 11 and 20) or Pope John XII (who was 18 at the beginning of his papacy).)

Average life span of a major league baseball: 7 pitches. (I dont like that statistic, probably close to the truth though...but this is an interesting read...http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05142/508138.stm Pirates use 5.5 million dollars worth of balls a year....)

The reason firehouses have circular stairways is from the days of yore when the engines were pulled by horses. The horses were stabled on the ground floor and learned how to walk up standard staircases. (Page 85 says this is true...and me being a engineer figured it was for space saving...

International Association of Fire Chiefs By Turner Publishing Company, Mary Marshall, Ann Kelly

....http://books.google.com/books?id=MiwXwCNY0OoC&pg=PA85&lpg=PA85&dq=circular+stairs+in+a+fire+house+horse&source=web&ots=_2K07Jvc-a&sig=3qdGRU-b-1WY7zU5y8a4np4jMH4&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPA85,M1)

When opossums are playing 'possum, they are not "playing." They actually pass out from sheer terror. (True- They will enter a near coma, which can last up to four hours.)

The Main Library at Indiana University sinks over an inch every year because, when it was built, engineers failed to take into account the weight of all the books that would occupy the building. (As an engineering major...and a civil one at that I immediately thought this was wrong and once again wikipedia to the rescue...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_University_(Bloomington))

111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321 (True- But not exact)

Clans of long ago that wanted to get rid of unwanted people (without killing them) used to burn their houses down - hence the expression "to get fired." (Couldnt find and answer...seems kinda reasonable...found an intresting article on the pink slip though.)

Only two people signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, John Hancock and Charles Thomson. Most of the rest signed on August 2, but the last signature wasn't added until 5 years later. (True from what historians can tell...10 years after the fact even Benjamin Franklin thought it was signed on the 4th though...interesting)

The only two days of the year in which there are no professional sports games (MLB, NBA, NHL, or NFL) are the day before and the day after the Major League All-star Game. (Close...what about after the world series...football is only 2 days...preseason basketball has started yet? or does that count?)

The 3 most valuable brand names on earth: Marlboro, Coca-Cola, and Budweiser, in that order. (This site disagrees...and so do I!...Coke yes...Marlboro? Maybe in the 60's....http://internationaltrade.suite101.com/article.cfm/top_global_brands)

It's possible to lead a cow upstairs...but not downstairs. ()

The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body to squirt blood 30 feet. (My question is...who figured this out and what happen to the poor soul that was used to test this...)

Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour. (Wow...so I am actually working out during one of my engineering exams...havent a clue if true...)

On average people fear spiders more than they do death. (Spiders are the devil...them and all snakes...well except for those small green ones...the ones that cant open their mouths wide enough to bite you but eat bugs...yeah those are pretty cool yet still extremely creepy...)

You can't kill yourself by holding your breath. (You would just pass out...unless you pass out into a pool then you have a whole different problem...I have heard this is one of the ways you can drown...you body closes off the passage to your lungs...you pass out then body relaxes...you drown...seems horrible...)

You are more likely to be killed by a champagne cork than by a poisonous spider. (No no we discussed this above...Spiders are the devil...and since they are the devil they are related to evil...that is where there are spiders on money(root of all evil) there for spiders actually kill a lot more people then corks when you consider all of the things they are co-conspirators in!)

Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people do. (False! Do people really not like left handers like myself? heres the proof --http://health.msn.com/fitness/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100159952)

In ancient Egypt, Priests plucked every hair from their bodies, including their eyebrows and eyelashes. (Could not find it word for word but makes sense as royalty removed hair and Julius Ceasar was said to be obsessed with being hairless. It is also suggested he had "relations" with Cleopatra...so he had contact with Egypt and may have picked these qualities up.)

A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out. (Crocodiles do not have tounges as we humans do so this is a falacy statement from my understanding.)

Butterflies taste with their feet.(If sandiegozoo.org says it is true then it must be!)

There are more collect calls made on Father's Day than on any other day. (BusinessWeek.com)

Men can read smaller print than women, women can hear better than men. (No proof for the first one...but I think just about every wife in America can attest for the second one...oh and btw there is apparently proof to back up the second one dealing with some college studies.)

The world's youngest parents were 8 & 9 and lived in China in 1910. (I believe this could be true...there is a news story of a 5 and a half year old girl that gave birth in South America...if that can happen...9 and 10 is easily possible...just scares me that kids are going through that....)

Honey is the only food that doesn't spoil(It can ferment...but apparently since it soaks up all moisture...it prevents bacterias from living a long time? Unconfirmed...seems some what reasonable...no word on if other foods are not able to spoil.)

The nursery rhyme Ring Around the Rosey is a rhyme about the bubonic plague. Infected people with the plague would get red circular sores (Ring around the Rosey...). These sores would smell very bad so people would hide flowers on their bodies in an attempt to mask the smell ("pocket full of posies..."). People who died from the plague would be burned to reduce the spread of the disease ("ashes, ashes, we all fall down"). (I disagree and the write up on Wikipedia disagrees...)

The citrus soda 7-UP was created in 1929; "7" was selected because the original containers were 7 ounces. "UP" indicated the direction of the bubbles. (No proof...one of several theories...7-UP was originally made as a hang over cure...interesting huh.)

Mosquito repellents don't repel. They hide you. The spray blocks the mosquito's sensors so they don't know you're there. (True - maybe not hidden...but less attractive.)

Dentists have recommended that a toothbrush be kept at least 6 feet away from a toilet to avoid airborne particles resulting from the flush. (I havent found this number anywhere but I would think it would be a good practice...I keep mine in my closet...take that!)

The liquid inside young coconuts can be used as substitute for blood plasma. (Google and multiple websites are saying yes...none of them I would recognize as reputable though...no webmd or news channels on 1st page of search)

American car horns beep in the tone of F. (Horns beep in all different sounds...just listen)

No piece of paper can be folded more than 7 times.(lies I have done it 8 times...granted it was a gianormous piece of paper.)

A Boeing 747s wingspan is longer than the Wright brother's first flight. ( 120 feet in 12 seconds for the first flight and 213 feet for the wingspan for a 747)

American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating 1 olive from each salad served in first-class. (I heard something to this affect...right now they need to do something more then olives...the whole airline industry is in the tank and it is going to take better business ideas then removing olives to bring them back out.)

Venus is the only planet that rotates clockwise. (True when viewing from the sun's north pole)

The first CD pressed in the US was Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA." ( False - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CD#Audio_CD)

The 57 on the Heinz ketchup bottle represents the number of varieties of pickles the company once had. (Kinda sorta....but not really...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinz_57)

Timekeepers have clocked the action in a 60 minute football game to actually be around 14 minutes. (True)

The tip of a whip makes a cracking sound because it is moving faster than the speed of sound. (True)

An ear of corn almost always has an even number of rows (twelve, fourteen, or sixteen). (True)

Whale vomit is used in perfume and the flavoring of dried fruit and tobacco. (Perfume I am able to confirm....fruit and tobacco seems stupid to me...this stuff is worth a lot of money...cant imagine wanting to eat or smoke it...)

China has more English speakers than the United States. (If you are talking fluent probably not...if you are talking class room speakers then yes...they had a huge program to get everyone to speak English for the Olympics.)

If you keep a goldfish in a dark room, it will eventually turn white. (Probably not white but a lighter color is accepted...http://chemistry.about.com/od/chemistryfaqs/f/goldfish.htm)

Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors. (False...the egyptians had scissors too)

The ant always falls over on its right side when intoxicated. (What kind of cruel people are getting ants drunk is my question?)

It is impossible to lick your elbow. (False...well maybe for me but some people can do it.)

A shrimp's heart is in its head. (Close...it is actually on the thorax...really really close to the head...swing and a foul tip...)

Between 1937 and 1945 Heinz produced a version of Alphabetic Spaghetti specially for the German market that consisted solely of little pasta swastikas. (False...how did this ever get started? Wow lets see I am going to make up a lie today...and that ketchup didnt come out of the bottle very fast so I am going to make up a lie about Heinz....seriously?...who ever made this up get a life...source---http://www.snopes.com/business/alliance/swastika.asp)

More than 50% of the people in the world have never made or received a telephone call. (Sounds reasonable but how would you even start to calculate that? I think that number is a bit high but say 30 - 40 percent wouldnt surprise me all that much.)

If you sneeze too hard, you can fracture a rib. If you try to suppress a sneeze, you can rupture a blood vessel in your head or neck and die. (True...)

Wearing headphones for just an hour will increase the bacteria in your ear by 700 times. (Seems to be true and reasonable...makes a perfect environment for growth.)

In the course of an average lifetime you will, while sleeping, eat 70 assorted insects and 10 spiders. (ew...and who comes up with this and how do they prove it? Is it just Americans or is everyone in the world?)

A snail can sleep for three years. (aka Hibernation)

Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing. (Lies on the Eyes, ears no signifigant proof)

If Barbie were life-size, her measurements would be 39-23-33. She would stand seven feet, two inches tall. (Everything I have read suggests these numbers are true...I still am not real sure what the numbers mean...)

An ant can live underwater for over 14 days. (Seems to be a ball park figure for most of the answers I have seen to this...so yes it is plausable.)

Updated and finished...that took forever...

Car horns, Corners, and the Gritty...

2008-08-20T23:10:00.013-05:00

Over the last couple of weeks I have been tasked with a project.
The first project was to draw up planned changes to my church building, and take the blueprints to the City Inspectors Office. Everything went well. Of course since I have not finished my schooling, I am not certified to make official drawings. The inspector said the drawing looked great and that it would be accepted as soon as we had and architect put his stamp on it.

It doesn't look like I'll be able to talk to the architect though to finish the project as he is out of town on vacation and I'll be heading to school on Monday.

My second project given to me was to re-arrange an existing office complex to make more space and add another office. I have worked the drawings over in several different ways. I finally settled on two different designs and will present both to the chief of staff along with my suggestion on which should be used.

I will place some pictures of the drawings up tomorrow as I will be on a computer that has AutoCad on it.

EDIT: I managed to be way too busy today to have a chance to do anything while at the office...perhaps tomorrow.

EDIT #2: Updated with pictures...yay?

Brighter then Sunshine...

2008-08-19T01:32:00.005-05:00

Life is amazing...

The love I have felt recently from those around me surprises me.
Love is God, and God is Love

I am amazed at how some people try to make Christianity a complex religion when really to be honest everything boils down to a basic command that spawns into a second one.

The first is to love the Lord with all of your heart, mind, soul, and strength...

The second is to love your neighbor as yourself.

If you keep the first one, then you will keep the second one...if you keep both of these then you will have Christianity mastered.

Jesus came to serve others and not to be served...what other religion has their top guy as a servant that is to be loved and not feared? Btw what other religion has no grave for their holy man? I honestly don't know...all of them have died and not come back to life...if you know of one please send word, I wouldn't mind researching it.

I find it funny that three of the main religions (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam) of the world recognize Jesus, and the fact that he lived, yet some atheist still deny he existed at all.

Alas, I am not here to debate the divinity of Jesus. I am here to talk about love and how I have been surprised by the amount that has been shown to me over the last 48 hours.

I do honestly and sincerely pray that the Lord will bless those that have blessed me in ways I am unable to imagine.

I'll end with this question: How have you been loved today and how have you shared love today?

Musings of a Random Person

2008-08-18T01:50:00.005-05:00

Life Keeps Going...

The Olympics are on 24/7 and the schools are going back in session all while a summer draws to a close.

This has been an interesting summer, but why bore you with that.
I think I'll talk about my Nalgene Bottle instead.

Midway through the summer this year I bought a Nalgene 32oz bottle. I wasnt really sure all the hype around them was worth it. It turns out that it was worth all the hype it recieved.

I have used this bottle almost every other day since I had bought it. It cost me $8.99 and has been worth every cent.

I worked at multi-denomination city wide home painting camp this year. It was the hottest week of the year with temperatures rising about the century mark everyday. Every night before going out I would fill my Nalgene 75% full and freeze it. The bottle would be completely full of Ice the next morning. The lid would be frozen shut from the excess water left around the rim from the fill up the night before. The bottle has made it out perfectly.

Since then it has been banged around and dropped off roofs. It has survived everything I have thrown at it so far.

The thing I liked the most about this bottle is how easy to clean it is...such a major improvement over my colman water bottle.

It leaves no residual taste and has a great measurement system on the side showing both milliliters and ounces.

I would highly suggest this thing to anyone...

Saturday, September 01, 2007

2007-09-01T19:14:00.010-05:00

Saturday, September 02, 2006

Back by demand....

well, ok maybe by request....one request haha.

---- in order to fill a non-existent quota, the below contains adult content(more than I have in these posts), so please don’t yell at me for not telling you.----

Thought for the week,

At what point is your selling point? In America everything is said to have a price. I am sure the concept is the same everywhere else in the world. Every human does a “cost / benefit” analysis when they are offered something. It is just a fact of life. I’ll do this for you if you pay me at least this. It is the modern concept of the workforce.

But what happens when what you believe it put on the line…when there is more at stake than just chasing the almighty dollar, what do you do then? A prime example of this is a Winston Churchill anecdotal dialogue. (Note: There is no direct written documentation proving he said this just folks saying they heard this.)

Churchill: Madam, would you sleep with me for five million pounds?
Lady: My goodness, Mr. Churchill... Well, I suppose... we would have to discuss terms, of course...
Churchill: Would you sleep with me for five pounds?
Lady: Mr. Churchill, what kind of woman do you think I am?!
Churchill: Madam, we've already established that. Now we are haggling about the price.

-Begs the question, who are you really?-

When you read this, you think that is a no brainer, it would be a sin to do so…of course I am assuming everyone that is reading this will be of strong Christian moral beliefs. But when you get to the guts of this…is there something in the back of your head saying…wow that money sure could solve a lot of problems in my life. Therein lies the conflict of the heart. The funny thing is you could actually talk yourself into do this. Tell yourself how selfless you would be with the money and how it would be for the greater good and how you sin all the time while speeding on the highway so what is one more sin?

I guess it is true that you cant serve two masters…

Is this one of those moments where the good of the many out weigh the good of the few? That is something you would have to ask yourself for it is a heart issue. I admit it would be tempting to say yes, but I would say no thank you. I am not asking what other people think on that issue, if you want to comment on it I wouldn’t mind reading them, it is a very interesting subject and something that should be rolled around in one’s mind.

Now for the main topic,

A few weeks back Fox News reporter, Steve Centanni and camera man Olaf Wiig, were abducted. You may have heard this story, you may have not. I did not see much press coverage given to it but I don’t read a lot of newspapers. The muslim jihadist took them back to their place where they were held captive at gunpoint. Here comes the kicker.

This is a quote from Centanni:

"We were forced to convert to Islam at gunpoint, don’t get me wrong here. I have the highest respect for Islam, and I learned a lot of good things about it, but it was something we felt we had to do because they had the guns, and we didn't know what the hell was going on."

What would you do in this situation? Would you pretend to convert? Will it go along with the “convert and ask for forgiveness later” belief? I believe that statement was said in “Kingdom of Heaven” It wouldn’t surprise me because; they said some pretty crazy things in that movie. Would you pretend, or even whole-heartedly regardless of how long a period deny Christ to prolong your life on this earth? When I say this I am by no means condemning any one! Look at Peter…the Rock…even he denied Christ to save his skin. So can I condemn these people for converting to Islam even if it is temporarily? By no means. What scares me is I don’t know what I would do in this situation. It is one thing to act all big and tough over here on the other side of the pond with no one pointing sharp poky things in my general direction. But the moment someone says do this or your head will be the new bowling ball…well I don’t know what I would do. It is a heart issue.

So where is your selling point? 5 million dollars? Your life? Someone else’s life?

I don’t have an answer to these things, I know what I should do but would I be able to perform under pressure? Regardless thankfully I more than likely will never have to make a decision for either of the two situations above.