Snow Dog

So this is what it looked like outside our new apartment when it snowed about a week and a half ago. If we get another storm, I'll try and get photos of Autzen Stadium. I wanted to do it this time, but I just forgot. Oops.

And here is a picture of my girlfriend's dog, Grace. She a 3-1/2 year old yellow lab. I caught then when she was asleep while sitting, then woke up right after I took the picture.

My Own Apps I Can't Live Without

Michael Arrington of Tech Crunch recently had a post titled "2009: Products I Can't Live Without." In it he lists web applications and products he uses on a daily basis. I thought I would give my own list. These are the products I use everyday and couldn't live without:

• Microsoft Outlook: Probably the #1 office productivity software out there, I first used it in high school. It found me once again in my first job after graduating college. There may be better options out there for RSS readers, but I still find myself using it everyday - email, calendar, and RSS.
  
• Xobni: What Outlook lacks in several capabilities, Xobni easily makes up for it. The Xobni plug-in for Outlook installs a toolbar that add social network-like capabilities. There is so much this app does, best of which includes threaded conversations (much like Gmail); integration with other Web apps like Facebook, LinkedIn, and more; incredibly fast email search. Xobni is the reason I keep using Outlook everyday.
• Digsby: This app allows you to combine instant messaging, email notifications, and social networking in one convenient location. This easily saves a lot of time. I use Facebook Chat, AIM, Google Talk, Twitter, MySpace, and LinkedIn all together. And there are even more web applications it supports.
• Facebook: I don't think I need to explain this one that much. Along with MySpace, easily the two biggest ways to keep up with friends everywhere.
• Gmail: This is my personal email source. Although, I mostly read it through Outlook, Gmail is still the best email service out there, by far.
  
• Hulu: Hulu is an amazing online-video service that has relationships primarily with NBC, Fox, but many other network as well to watch free TV shows online. I don't have a DVR, so this is my way to watch episodes of my favorite shows in case I miss them. They have shows in HD and movies as well. Hulu has been my television savior.
• Pandora: Pandora is the awesome internet music service that taps into the Music Genome Project. Customize your stations my genre or artist, and it will give you tracks from bands you might not have heard of before. And now, with a Vista Sidebar widget, I don't even have to leave my desktop to listen to great music.

Now they are certainly some honorable mentions to this list. These are products I still use very often. I don't count FireFox simply because it is my default browser. I don't even think about using Internet Explorer, and I am also testing out Google Chrome for a while. I check Twitter everyday, but I sometimes forget to update myself. I just joined Flickr, but Picasa remains my top photo application. As you can see there are a lot of the same products as Michael Arrington, but I have also included a few of my own.

Stop, Drop and Blog Entry

Winning the HP Magic Giveaway would mean so much to me. I really want to help out my mom and girlfriend. They both need new computers so bad. My mom could use a new computer to share in the moments when my brother and sister-in-law have their first baby. And with them living in Philadelphia, it might be a while before we get to see the new baby when her or she is born next year. My mom also just moved in with my grandparents, who are starting to need live-in care, so this would be a great way for them to see their first great-grand kids.

My girlfriend could also really use a new laptop. She is in her senior year of college studying accounting. The laptop she has now causes her so much stress because it always crashes. She has a lot of pressure on her to finish school, and I want to make it easier for her.

I just want to make them so happy. Christmas is going to be hard for us this year because I was laid-off from my first full-time job after graduation a couple weeks ago. I know that I am not the only one in that situation and there are others out there worse off then me. So if I don't win, I still know that we all have each other.