Remember Kids, Always Use Protection

Seriously, if you're a geek you already know this, but if you're not, its even more important. Protect your computers! (see what I did there?) This is the way, better men than I, would recommend you to do it.
You need to start right here. Some of this stuff sounds scary, like Anti-virus, firewalls, cookies, tracking cookies, but don't worry, this should get you through it.
Out of all that, this is what you need to know. And of course everything here is free of course.
1) You need an Anti-virus program. As in just 1! I recommend Avira AntiVir.
2) You need a Firewall. Specifically this one.
3) If you're going to be downloading anything here, get this. It cleans temporary files and cookies you don't need or use and can seriously free up memory. It's awesome. That's all you need to know.
4) Spybot - Search and Destroy and SpywareBlaster. As well as sounding like bad video games, they also are really meant to prevent spyware/malware and viruses. They can be found here and here.

Really everyone should be informed as to how to protect their computers even if you're just an average, or even below average user. You should use all the programs, ideally twice a month, if you're a below average user at least once, and if all you do is download crap then it doesn't hurt to run everything every week.

Safe Surfing Everyone.

Special thanks goes to Porky for the wicked awesome recommendations. 

Hitting the Links!

Retief  Goosen, golfer above, hitting the links...playing golf is also known as hitting the links...get it?!? Why Retief Goosen you ask? Why not? 

RIM Job
Research In Motion is handing the keys over to The Torch to carry the franchise and its been an inauspicious start. With a whole bunch of delays from various carriers and a mix of unmatched pricing (Amazon has been it for selling for $99.00, Bell has it for $179.99 and the Evil Empire otherwise known as Rogers has it for $199.99). Apparently RIM has also decided to try to make the third answer to the iPhone4 with the 3rd coming of the Storm. They also released Blackberry's best commercial to date, in....wait for it.... India, essentially no longer marketing it as just a business phone. As of today they also announced the release of the Next Big Thing in the form of the PlayBook, making the iPad look like, exactly what it is, a 9.7 inch iTouch.


Movie Freaking Mania
Now I've been told that when separating words by periods, it increases the emphasis and thereby the effectiveness of said words, so indulge me for a second. Harry. Freaking. Potter.
It hits theatres November 1st which means a whole whack load of kids are gonna be in line waiting for the 12am showing instead of trick-or-treating. Whatever more candy for me. (I don't think I can fully understand the term, trick-or-treating. It sounds mutually exclusive like you have to pick one...).

Irrational Man Crush
Last but not least if you click any of these links make sure its this one. Oh, and this, buuuut foooor suuuure THIS! I would also highly recommend his version of Oops by Britney Spears.  If that doesn't pique your interest I don't know what will.

Poems: Secretly...

My one true desire,
She ignites me and sets my soul on fire,
While she sits with who she believes is her one and only,
I stand alone without her, cold and lonely,
I pray all day just for a dream,
If only for a moment to be happy and completely serine,
I wish only for her joy,
If only I could be her boy,
I wish we could walk hand in hand in stride,
My life would be hers to guide,
As of now she knows not of my feelings and I could only guess,
If only I could ask for more and risk nothing less.
I know there are moves to make,
But how can I, when there could be three hearts who's stand to break,
Do I even cross her mind,
Is it best to stand in the shadows far behind,
Could I make her see things clearer,
Can I even be the man she needs me to mirror,
I'll tell her in due time,
But won't I be crossing a line,
I know its her decision to make,
But now it appears it's only my heart who's stands to break,
For years now that has been my epic struggle,
I would die to know that I caused her this much trouble.
Is it fair,
No but this is my pain I need to bare,
Mine and mine to own,
I much rather see her happy even if it means I stay alone.
Until that day, I'll be in constant prayer,
For now this is my secret I dare not share.

Unspecified Thought of the Day!

I think its important to be self aware, so I try to have daily reflections and with my daily reflections, I started to have my unspecified thought of the day : I was thinking of friends and more specifically who my friends are, what it means to be a friend and whether or not I am a good friend.

No one likes to be lectured or preached to and since I have started to feel the touch of mortality, with my teenage years a distant street in the rear view mirror, the feeling of invincibility has started to fade. So with that I'm trying to be more self-reflexive. The more and more I think about it, I can't come to a conclusion to whether or not I'm a good friend. Of course asking your friends is too easy, how many people - forget your actual friends - will actually be honest and say what they really think of you. I feel I have a pretty high standard of who or what I call a friend. I am not a social media, networking whore and don't consider facebook 'friends' to really be friends. Even within my circle of friends, I seem to have different tiers. The Guys and the Family Friends. Both of which I've grown up with, both of which I consider to be extremely close to. But I tend to keep them mutually exclusive of each other. I have no reason why. But I can identify those 2 groups as my real friends.

So now that my real friends are identified, what makes them who they are and what do I consider a 'friend'.   Someone you can communicate with, someone you can trust, someone to rely on, someone that has differences that you can appreciate or someone you have things in common with. I think being friends with people despite differences and often times because of differences is very important and telling. You're able to get those different point of views and obviously it'd be too easy just to be friends with someone exactly like you, and probably even annoying at times and lets face relationships of all kinds should require effort. Not every friend has to have all these qualities but I think its important that I have all these different elements within my groups of friends and is key to any good support group.

Lastly, I have no idea whether or not I am a good friend. I can say I try to be, but I'm sure it doesn't always work out and not everyone I've ever been friends with or just people I've come into contact with that have observed my behaviours with my friends, thinks that. I think historically, I've had ups and downs with all my friends with varying degrees of success. No one likes to admit failures and I think that's part of the reason why it takes so long to finally end off poor relationships - romantic or otherwise. So I think its hard for people to say 'you've been an awful friend and I want no more to do with you'.

I'm going to try to challenge myself to be a better friend to those I currently have and I hope to have those same efforts extended back to me.  The reality is I have enough friends, I'm not looking to add more, but I would never turn my nose up at anyone, however I think a lot of people must feel the same as once you get into and passed university, in my experience at least, it becomes more difficult to make very close friends. So I guess it makes sense to just, enjoy and cherish the ones you have.

Poems: Stories Untold

So many stories collected,
Tales of dragons, fairies and princes selected,
Votes were in, destruction elected.
What took decades to build, wiped out in an instant,
Isn’t that always the case, now looking back so very distant,
How could it all be, were we really this different.
Days, months, years, expectations rose,
The final bell has rung, curtains close,
Cold air of relief, I froze .
Never able to return,
No matter how much we yearn,
Who said cold air couldn’t burn,
As we watch the final page turn.


Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall
Did I lose it all,
If it's meant to be, we will stand tall.
But Anger, Rages Deep, Souls on fire,
You against the world as they all conspire,
Look Harder, Slower, Longer,
Realize there’s no one to Blame, be Smart, be Stronger.