A Blogger's Duty (AKA: there is nothing interesting to write about)

In short, boredom has taken over my home life from college. I complain not because I do not like to relax, as I have wished for the past year, but from the lack of writable material I now have. Aside from three weeks worth of gossip (thank you mom), this is all I have:

Sadly it is also the best picture my phone has taken

Yes, dear readers, a broken street light hanging precariously overhead. A true low and the reason for my absence last Thursday and this current Tuesday. Now a "low traffic lifestyle" is no reason for this so my apologies and I really did want to write! So I have found my solution which many fellow bloggers seem to utilize. I have seen it called many things (e.g. LinkSTORM) but I will refer to it as the title states, A Blogger's Duty. As important as creating original content is, a blogger must not forget the reason for the creation of a blog is to share many ideas. This includes sharing others' ideas or topics of interest. Now bear with me here dear readers, this is another experiment of mine. It will improve and form over time and, as always, thank you for taking part and would love to hear your thoughts on what I share! Without further ado then:

Thanks to this amazing blog which inspired this style of listing (Yes it is mainly a women's blog but I do have a girlfriend and an interest in what she likes).

Another thanks to this website which helped me properly use e.g.

A web comic I discovered while in college (perfect timing too).

Interesting image on Finland Education compared to American Education.

My inner gamer's new favorite way to get cool stuff.

And, finally, a famous duo showcasing their improv skills and seller techniques.

Some of these links do contain strong language so you have been advised (the first link and Finland one are probably the safest). Do enjoy the rest of your week and the weekend. If everything goes as planned, there will be an interesting post for Tuesday!

Ta ta for now, see you again when the times call for it

Home Sweet Home

I greatly apologize for missing last week's blog posts; settling in back home was a bit harder than I thought! Moving in general is a pretty hard task to accomplish and losing things (like I did, RIP wireless mouse) is practically a given. But now I am back in order and ready to show some pictures I found in my phone in regards to college!

Promise I do not take "selfies", these are pictures of things other than what I wore to "the party".(Source)

To say the least, my first year of college was one heck of a ride. I rediscovered my love of writing (as an engineering major), strengthen my relationship with my girlfriend, truly learned the consequences of under-funded education as an alumni of a failing high-school, and had many, many, MANY experiences. You, dear reader, got to hear some of the many that happened but not every single one can be blogged. Here is a tribute to all the little ones which occurred my freshman year of college.

First Engineering Project

Making a rubber band powered car is no easy feat and only becomes even more difficult when your supplies are limited, testing is not allowed, and you have one week of build time. Oh yes, and counts for 25% of your grade. Despite this, my team and I managed to complete a very capable rubber band powered car looking like something out of a hunting catalog:

For the curious, the car helped  me earn a B in the course.

The Art of Studying

A year out of college and this is one art I still have yet to peg down. While a simple Google search could result in many styles and forms, it ultimately lies on the student to figure one out for them self. I believe I got a study rhythm by spring finals week and will have to test it out more come fall. Wish me luck!

Dorm Living

When I was handed my own little, golden key I had no idea what was in store behind the door it unlocked. Good and bad moments, yes, but the most notable: lack of space and comfort:

Ah, freshman dorms

I will admit, living in a dorm was a wonderful and life-learning experience but it was so gosh darn small! If you noticed a black fridge at the bottom left corner, congratulations: you found where my side of the dorm ends and my roommate's began.

And, of course, a lovey picture

Awwww

Proclaiming our love on the wall of a local restaurant. Yes, we're dorks. In love dorks!

As fun as Freshman Year was, I am certainly glad to be back home. Very boring but good to be back with my family. I also have free time to actually write blog posts! Hopefully this summer I can call upon more dear readers to my blog. If not, then it makes no difference to me. To the few who do take the time to read my humble blog (and the 5 or 6 spam bots who also do), thank you always!

Ta ta for now, see you again when the times call for it!

Your Broadcast will resume

Sorry for no update last week or probably this week. It is finals/move out time for me and my head is quite busy trying to figure out the velocity of a bullet as it hits a block attached to a spring. "Regular Schedule" resumes next week. Thank you for your patience!

Ta ta for now, see you again when the times call for it

Future Plans

I suppose it was a bad idea to start a blogging schedule in the midst of Finals Season here at Texas A&M. If I cannot post two times a week dear readers, then I will try for one. As more and more readers find this blog and summer vacation gets closer and closer, things will defiantly liven up a bit! Let us get back to today's topic shall we?

First off, I would like to start with this:

A dirty dorm room? Worst background ever!

This interesting little device I recently got my hands on is called "Raspberry Pi". It is essentially a $35 dollar computer (a cheaper $25 model exists) which allows anyone from a grade school kid to an engineering student the ability to learn how to code and the internal workings of a basic computer. Its cheap price allows the user to not worry on cost in case your learning experience shorts out the motherboard. (For more information I would suggest going to the Raspberry Pi's official blog here).

With this credit card sized computer, along with a computer manual, I will be attempting to learn a type of computer language called "Python" (hence the "Pi" part of the computer's name). This interest language is a easier to learn than "C" and open-source! A bit of trivia on Python: I kid you not, a computer language used by search engines such as Yahoo! and Google gets its name from the comedy group Monty Python!

"I don't want to talk to you no more, you empty headed animal food trough wiper!"--Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Bad grammar aside, I would suggest watching some of their movies/sketches. A bit of dirty humor here and there but worth the resulting laughs!

Anyways, my recent decision to acquire the Raspberry Pi and learn Python actually affects you dear reader! You see, the Raspberry Pi may be cheap but holds almost limitless potential in terms of use. One of this uses is becoming a server; a server for a growing blog. You heard right, one day I want this blog to be hosted on its own server and graduate from Blogger to Wordpress. I have learned so much from writing here and see this as becoming another way to expand my views and learn new talents. Granted, I may not completely abandon Blogger. I just want to experiment with the idea and get some experience by doing so. Wordpress is also not without flaw and has had a history of bad bugs in security. My choices are not restricted and I do plan on trying each option out. If in the end I do stay on Blogger, I would not have done so empty handed or, rather, empty minded. I cannot wait to experience this all with you dear readers. The future is so full of promise and I do hope you will enjoy it too. Summer is always full of opportunity in the land of higher education after all!

PS: I also wrote this blog post yesterday and is officially my first "Schedule Release" post!

Ta ta for now, see you again when the times call for it

Flashback to the Eighties

Before I begin today's post, I would like to take a moment of silence for the Boston Marathon Explosion and provide you with a quote from the greatest Gentleman who ever lived:

May this tragic event only bring us closer and wiser.

In lighter news, Savannah and I got to experience something amazing last Wednesday: our first live concert! We had seen comedians before and always wanted to see a live musical performance by a well known band/individual. And we saw the greatest one of them all.

As a Texas Aggie, this is only person who looks good in a Longhorn jersey

Yes, we saw Mr. John Bon Jovi himself on his current tour "Because We Can". Savannah and I had to travel two hours and wait in traffic for another but boy was it worth it. For those who can tell by his jersey, he played in Austin, Texas. The stadium there is large enough to hold close to 100K and from our nose-bleed section seats we could see the entire perimeter.

Nice stage, bad picture

Bon Jovi's show was scheduled to start at 7:30PM but, like any good rock star, started an hour later. Again, the wait was worth it as Savannah and I were treated to two and a half hours of good rock music. Bon Jovi did play most of the tracks from his most recent album, for which the tour was named after, but classics like Bad Medicine and It's My Life were also included to the fans delight. And for you dear readers, I also got a wonderful, low quality recording of one of the songs he sang. Enjoy:

A Gentleman's View of Life: Bringing Low Quality Videos to You in 2013

Yes that was shot using my phone but it brings the quality of 80's videos to an 80's band! How's that for vintage! Savannah and I had a blast and left about an hour early since we had class the next day. Before leaving though, we had to get Concert T-Shirts. Little did we know, any shirt with "Bon Jovi" on it gives the shirt the right to cost 45 dang dollars!

With our wallets lighter and our spirits higher, Savannah and I set off back home. All and in all, I'm glad my first concert experience was with Bon Jovi. It's a bit of an odd feeling to see one of the greats of the eighties right in front of you. Not to mention seeing a 50 year-old man who moves quicker and cooler than any 20 year-old today! Wednesday night will be one that I'll remember forever as the concert which started my interest in seeing more performers live.

Ta ta for now, see you again when the times call for it

Tales of a Gent and a Lady (Final Part)

Hello again dear readers! Sorry for the delay but many a test had to be taken first! Now that the dust of college life has settled for me, let us begin where I left off:

Soda Shop

After a long day of walking through a land of soda pop, it was time to try some our self! Integrated into the museum was an actual soda shop that made soda the old fashioned way! Savannah and I were quick to try some

Savannah, looking suave with her Dr Pepper

And myself, hyper from a cup of Big Red

After we finished our drinks (and I calmed down), we headed outside the museum and found a nice, light blue truck which seemed to be used for delivering sodas to stores around the country

Converse are always classy

We also found a little hidden treasure nearby the truck. You see, since the museum was an actual bottling plant for Dr Pepper it could be expected to find evidence of this around the area. Savannah and I found this evidence in the form of an old advertisement mural:

Here we have Savannah, a picture done by me

Savannah shot this one of me...

Ending on a high note, Savannah and I left Waco, Texas in search of a curious little shop in Austin, Texas.

Waco to Austin

About 164 km

We began our travel to Austin for one reason: an Internet shop. To be specific, The Burlap Bag. I would seriously suggest visiting their website by the way. At the time of this writing, they have a suggesting about how to keep sponges dry (Thrilling stuff, I know)! Anyways, after a grueling 2 hours (thanks traffic), Savannah and I made to to The Burlap Bag's brick and mortar store...only to find out the store was closed for Easter!! In our misery, we forgot to take a picture. Once we got in the car, we began to raise our spirits up again as we promised to one day go to The Burlap Bag when it is open. For now, it was family time.

Austin to San Marcos

About 50 km

Here, I met up with my mom and stayed at a hotel for the night along with Savannah. The next day, we spent some time at a local outlet mall trying out new things.

Like whatever the heck this thing was!

We then ate lunch at a restaurant themed to be "Americana". In other words, like this:

A Gentleman's mother

Savannah and I then said our heartfelt goodbyes to my family as we made the final leg of our journey: home

San Marcos to College Station

About 198 km

After a grand total of 346 miles (About 557 kilometers), two days, $75, and one new dent on my car we finally saw this:

Savannah's best shot of the entire trip

The greatest part of any journey is when you finally come back home. The best first vacation ever was complete and my feet were glad it was. Savannah and I grew as a couple and we had so many stories to tell to our loved ones. As for you dear reader, thank you for listening in on our grand adventure through Central Texas. I think I have settled on trying to put up a blog post every Tuesday and Thursday starting the upcoming Tuesday. Hopefully I can keep this in check as finals season begins here in College Station. Again, thank you for your time and patience!

Ta ta for now, see you again when the times call for it

We interrupt your broadcast to bring you this message

For those of you who may not know, I am a freshman engineering Student at Texas A&M University. As fun as learning and studying to become an engineer is, time is something I have little of and I have to put priorities in order. This means that today, dear readers, I cannot put the final part of the current "Tales of a Gent and a Lady" until hopefully tomorrow. I hope you can forgive this interruption and wait just a little longer! Thank you all for your time and patience in advance.

Ta ta for now, see you again when the times call for it.

Tales of a Gent and a Lady: The First Experience (Pt. 2)

The Dr Pepper Museum and Free Enterprise Institute

Ta da!

After such a wonderful drive, Savannah and I were even more excited to enter the museum. As we learned later on inside, the building had a different purpose in the past as an old bottling plant for Dr Pepper and other soft drinks! After buying our tickets (at student price), we immediately entered a dimly lit room with an animatronic man behind a glass window.

He insisted on his picture be taken badly

Turns out this machine was modeled after Charles Alderton, the credited creator of Dr Pepper.

He worked in a drug store in Waco, Texas at around the 1880s when he created what was known at the time as a "Waco". In these early years of America, it was often the case that one could buy cigars at the same store that sold ice cream and soda. Of course, back then, soda came not from soda dispensers but soda fountains

Photo from JunkFoodCritic

The above photo is actually from the Dr Pepper Museum but in my excitement I forgot to photograph it! Anyways, the little gold faucet on the marble counter would shoot out carbonated water. The soda syrup would be added to a cup of ice first and then with the help of some pressure, be mixed with the carbonated water to make true soda! Modern soda dispensers work the same way but factor out the need for someone to operate the faucet.

The animatronic of Dr. Alderton made a little speech about how the "old days" of Waco then said goodbye. I thought he was cool but he scared Savannah! To be fair, the museum did make him extremely detailed.

Again, he does not like to have good pictures of him!

After our experience with uncanny valley, Savannah and I headed to the back of the first floor. This is where the heart of the bottling plant was. There, we found this:

You are looking at what is called an "Artisan Well". The well was created inside the factory as a way for the bottling plant to be able to extract the "Artisan Water" from the ground. This type of water was deemed to be much more healthy than whatever else was available at the time. As the years went by, the well was forgotten as renovations covered it in brick and concrete. Once the old bottling plant was decided to be turned into a museum, construction workers along with students/professors from the local University rediscovered the well! Now its horrifying depth can be seen by all.

Something that I found to be interesting was a type of bottle on display.

Those familiar with a type of Japanese drink, Ramune, may have noticed what I noticed. Here is a picture of the drink that I got off of a wikiHow:

Ramune is unique in the fact it has not a plastic or metal cap to encase the drink, but a ball! Turns out, the Dr Pepper bottles I have pictured have to same structure! I found this to be rather surprising and tried to find a date of manufacturing for the bottles at the museum but came up empty. I will forever be plagued without knowing who manufactured this structure of bottle first!

Savannah and I soon headed towards the second level of the museum. We were immediately faced with this sign:

After reading the last line, I had little to no time before Savannah found the kid in her again. This is what I found behind me:

If you actually read the entire sign, you realize how creepy I found her happiness

We also found a horse made out of Big Red bottle caps, another drink made in Texas. Savannah, again, was overjoyed.

To put the horse in its place, I made sure to let it know who the boss was around here.

Put out your dukes!

The second floor of the museum was devoted mostly towards other drink brands. There was also a section filled with soda-related merchandise; even a few dresses!

Nothing says "Fancy" like 7up

Savannah and I then headed up to the third and final floor. This floor was where the "Free Enterprise Institution" part of the museum's name came from. The entire floor was dedicated to a man nicknamed "Foots" who began his career as a simple deliveryman for Dr Pepper then quickly climbed up the corporate ladder as he became a President of the company. They also had a few games around which allowed you to test your knowledge about good business practice. Guess who found these first?

Yup

We still had one last stop to visit in the Dr Pepper Museum but, for now, I will leave you with a single picture and the promise of "Tales of a Gent and a Lady: The First Experience (Final Part)"!

Ta ta for now, see you again when the times call for it

Tales of a Gent and a Lady: The First Experience (Pt. 1)

One of the most intimate experiences I can think of is sharing a car ride with someone for over an hour. With nothing but open roads you will have no choice but to talk to the other passengers in the vehicle while time ticks on. I learned this from my Easter weekend trip with my girlfriend and it only added fun to an overall awesome experience.



We began to pack the Thursday night before and we already felt happy. It took us about two hours to pack two days worth of clothes though I blame the bubbles Savannah just received in preventing a quick packing.

 Why yes, that is a Companion Cube!

Do excuse the mess in the above picture dear readers, we were packing after all!We ended our Thursday on a high note then went to bed; ready for the fun ahead of us.

College Station, Texas to Waco, Texas

About 148 km

We awoke at around 9AM and filled my car with gas for the trip. Our first stop was in College Station at a wonderful restaurant called "Rudy's Country Store and Bar-B-Q"

Rudy's restaurants follow an indoor picnic theme and serve very tasty BBQ (something Texans love). In the mornings though they also serve breakfast tacos which Savannah and I had and are equally delicious as the regular food. Our hunger held over, we began our trip to Waco, Texas.

With about a 1.5 hours of open road on our hands, Savannah and I talked, sang, and laughed during every single minute. Our range of topics went from how awesome Freddie Mercury is to why manufactures still insist on making vehicles run on fossil fuels.

The answer is always aliens

Then, before our conversation got too crazy, we saw our first true destination in front of us: The Dr Pepper Museum and Free Enterprise Institute.

 My love, Savannah, who I gave time to pose

And, of course, The LoneGentleman before getting a chance to pose

Now a museum based solely on one carbonated drink may sound extremely boring and unnecessary to travel to but the inside gave quite a different view. A view which, dear readers, you will get a chance to see tomorrow in "Tales of a Gent and a Lady: The First Experience (Pt. 2)"!

So how was my post? An experiment with good results or one whose steps must be revised to ensure a better outcome? As a growing and learning writer, I would love to hear the views of those who read my blog. Either way, I hope you come back tomorrow to see what Savannah and I found inside this not so ordinary museum!

Ta ta for now, see you again when the times call for it