Today was a landmark day at the gym for me because it marks a milestone in my renewed interest in working out. My workout this afternoon marked six days in a row that I’ve gone to the gym. Sure, it’s no big thing and there are many people reading this who go to the gym religiously everyday and that’s awesome. However, I went back through my Google Calendar and it seems that the last time that I worked out for even five days in a row was May 2007 (and only two of those days were actually spent at a gym). Today I beat my May 2007 numbers.
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You Gotta Love Technology – Google Street View
Oh man…Google is getting out of control (and it’s hilarious). In an article posted on FOXNews.com earlier today, it was reported that a wife is filing for divorce from her husband because she caught him cheating on her via Google’s Street View service. As the article states:
A furious British wife has called in divorce lawyers after spotting her husband’s car parked outside another woman’s house — on Google. She saw the Range Rover while using the Internet giant’s new Street View service to snoop on a female friend’s home. The hubby had claimed he was away on business, but his missus recognized his SUV immediately because of its blinged-up hubcaps.
Wow! Talk about getting the short end of the stick! This guy is out there trying to do his thing on the side (which he shouldn’t have been doing anyway) and he has to watch out for his wife being able to literally look right outside of his mistress’ home?! I love it!
Now we’re going to see a boom in the car rental industry because cheating spouses aren’t going to want to get caught by Google’s Street View. Awesome.
Google Book Search is an Amazing Service
Whether the masses know it or not, Google has been recreating the Library of Alexandria in an online format. While it is still a work in progress, the Google Book Search is home to hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of printed documents that have been digitized for your searching needs. In terms of actual books, works that are out of copyright are available for full download and printing at no cost to the user.
The applications of the Google Book Search are almost endless. The first things that pop into my mind are the English classes that I had to take in college. Well, not the classes themselves, but the hundreds if not thousands of dollars that I spent on books. Take Shakespeare – I had to buy two different anthologies of Shakespeare titles. In the mean time, Google Book Search has the entire works of William Shakespeare available for full download. Full download! Come on!
I could easily be in a few thousand dollars LESS of student loan debt if this service was available ten years ago, damn it.
Since I know a lot of college students (and those who talk to college students) find their way on to my blog, I’m making the strong recommendation that you check Google Book Search for the texts needed in your literature and English classes before you go spending hundreds of dollars on anthologies. Speaking as someone who is in a great deal of student loan debt, trust me – every little bit counts when trying to save money in college!
Slightly Augmented Design for Joe’s Journal
By now I’m sure that you’ve all noticed the slightly augmented design for Joe’s Journal. The header is a little bit bigger (and my mug is a bit bigger in the picture above). I have a few more pictures that I want to wedge into the graphic above, but what you see is pretty much what it’s going to look like in the end.
I also darkened the background of the site because I didn’t really care for the bright off-white color any more. It’s boring, you know?
Plus, you’ll notice the stagnant “JerseySmarts.com” 468×80 banner has been moved from right above the first blog entry to the bottom of the main page. That site (which is essentially this blog in a different format) is ranked higher than this blog by some rankings! What total BS! I think that Joe’s Journal is hurt by not having a specific “.com” name, but since joesjournal.com appears to be owned by a marketing company, I think purchasing that domain is out of the question. Anyway, the Google ad above is an adequate replacement and what’s better – it pays!
For those of you who are tech-heads out there, Joe’s Journal is still operated on the WordPress 2.3.3 database system. JerseySmarts.com is operating on the new 2.5.1 system and the internal Control Panel is a complete disaster. The engineers at WordPress ruined the posting page so that you have to scroll all the way to the bottom to find certain options. Garbage. I have no intention of changing the Joe’s Journal internal structure until WordPress fixes the debacle that is 2.5.1.
The only other change that I made was to make one of the stock text advertisements at the very bottom of this page a little bit smaller. Truthfully, it looks better with smaller text. I might set it off in it’s own box, too.
I hope you enjoy. 🙂
Sigma Pi Fraternity’s Mid-Year Conference 2007
This past weekend I was fortunate enough to spend Thursday – Sunday in St. Louis at Sigma Pi Fraternity, International’s 2007 Mid-Year Leadership Conference. The Mid-Year Conference is a free event where the Executive Office and National Governing Board of Sigma Pi get to train the new undergraduate Presidents and Treasurers.
This year they had Recruitment Chairmen come along to listen to a completely outstanding presentation by Phired Up’s Josh Orendi. For those of you that do not know, Josh is co-author of the best book on recruitment that I’ve ever read: Good Guys – The Eight Steps to Limitless Possibility for Fraternity Recruitment. His presentation was both timely and on-target for today’s undergraduates.
For any fraternity or sorority folks out there – I cannot recommend Josh highly enough to come and speak to your chapter or your campus. Great presentation.
This was also my first chance to do a little touring of the St. Louis area even though it’s my fourth trip out there. I got to ride up to the top of the famous St. Louis Gateway Arch as well as go on a tour of Budweiser’s World Headquarters. I should have pictures of both up in my Google/Picasa photo album soon.
Anyway, these events are great for volunteers like me because it recharges our “fraternal batteries” and gets us back on track to help better advise our undergraduates. I had a great time out in St. Louis with my undergraduates and my fellow alumni volunteers and I can’t wait for Sigma Pi University to take place in Nashville, Tennessee this July!
