It’s Time for a Blogging Break!
Well, I’ve been meaning to write several posts for about a month now and just haven’t had the time, so I decided that I’m way past due in officially declaring that I am taking a blogging break. Let’s say I’ll be back on January 1, 2010, and then if I find time before that, all the better. This type of post is usually accompanied with a list of activities that have kept the writer busy, so to stay true to the form, here is mine. We’ve had an accident in the family (Rob was rear-ended, and thankfully all involved were uninjured), we’ve had two deaths (my great aunt Oleva and my grandma Oakes), we f

The Secret to Headache-Free Windows 7 Setup
So you just upgraded or installed Windows 7, unbloated that nasty Windows.old file, and now you need to upload some pictures to Picasa, but you don’t know when you’ll have time to download it, since you’ve spent all afternoon downloading and installing Firefox, iTunes, Digsby, and FileZilla. It’s time to go to the bathroom. Oh, and maybe the kitties need to be fed and dinner needs to be made for your starving husband… Well, pull out that Rachel Ray 30-minute meals cookbook and let your computer do the installin

The Secret to Optimizing Windows 7 After an Upgrade [Guest Post]
This guest post is from my little brother, Daniel, who recently saved my laptop from almost certain bricking. Check out his other guest posts

This I Believe Podcasts 10: Friendship
For the final This I Believe podcasts post, we hear about a topic very important to me: friendship. A normally happy, carefree topic, Hannah, Andreas, and Carolin share times in their lives when they encountered difficulties and friends came through for them or they realized the power of friendship, the power of a smile. Click the links below to listen to the podcast, or right-click to download the file. The Podcasts “The Power of Friendship” by Hannah Vollmer — Click here to listen. When she had to move from her hometown to go to colleg

This I Believe Podcasts 9: Balance, Hope, Death
Today, three students share beliefs that influence they way they deal with life’s most difficult times—including failure and success, rape, drugs, and death—and find hopeful and reassuring answers during their searching. Click the links below to listen to the podcast, or right-click to download the file. The Podcasts “The Pendulum of Life” by Natalie Müller — Click here to listen. Natalie believes that balance is a powerful, passive force that is a part of each of us, and that gives her hope in even the darkest times. &