I figured I would post another picture for all to enjoy. This is another one from Glacier National Park, taken while on a 14 mile hike on the Highline Trail. The 'going to the sun road' is the road on the bottom right.
As always - Taken with a Canon Powershot
July '10

(Click the image to see it in original size)

The Smokies

So Allison and I departed Columbia last night to head down to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. We're planning on staying in a cabin near  Smoky Mountain national park with my parents. Now, I've been fortunate enough to see many different mountain ranges in my short 21 years, but I have never laid eyes on the Smokies. At the current moment Allie and I are at a coffee shop in the small town of Alcoa, just outside of Knoxville. I was amazed at how flat Southern Illinois was, nearly like driving through Western Kansas! There was a recent bear mauling here in the park that has both mothers quite worked up, but I think with a bit of precaution and knowledge of the area we should be alright. I brought along my new HD video camera that Allison got me for my 21st birthday, so I'll be uploading some videos if I get the chance.
Caio!

Last Week in CoMo!

Coming up on my last week living in Columbia, and I have no idea where the time has gone. It seems like I've been so busy this summer, constantly packing and moving things around. I have most of the furniture out of my apartment, but I have a few pieces to move over to Allison's new place before I head out. I gave my bed to one of Allison's roommates, who was in need of a place to sleep. So I have been sleeping on the floor where my bed used to be. I placed a pillow-top and memory foam pad down and have been sleeping like a baby. Maybe there's something to this sleeping on the floor thing that I read about on Everyday Minimalist....

You're getting paid for what?!

So tomorrow I go in to the psych department at Mizzou for a study on the effects of caffeine and alcohol... feels like I'm back in school already! Apparently I will be given a drink containing alcohol, caffeine, both or neither and they are going to hook me up to a computer and study my brainwaves as I perform tasks on a computer. I can only hope they serve me some fresh brewed Flat Branch Brown Ale or Moose Drool, but I'd say those chances are slim. Twelve bucks an hour for drinking a bit doesn't sound too shabby to me, I'll update tomorrow on how it goes. Cheers.

Happy Independence Day!

For what avail the plough or sail, or land or life, if freedom fail? 

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

My Minimal Desktop

Going along with my developing minimalist lifestyle, I've recently reorganized my desktop on my MacBook Pro. I was inspired by the Minimalist Mac Setup on mnmlist.com

To begin, I first had to go about reducing clutter on my desktop, I deleted all icons that I did not use - old folders, school papers etc. that were haphazardly saved on the desktop. Having many icons on your desktop can severely increase computer start-up time, especially on windows machines ( from my own previous experiences).

I then chose a simple blue wallpaper that was visually pleasing, which for some reason seems to make the screen actually look larger. I chose one with a phrase on it that I am always trying to be mindful of:

With no icons on my desktop for quick access, and very few active icons on my dock I decided to download Quicksilver - a launching program that allows you to open programs, documents, files...pretty much anything - without the use of a mouse -. You simply assign quicksilver a two-keystroke code that opens the program and then begin typing what you're looking for. My keystroke code is (space)+(up arrow), so if I want to open Opera, my web browser, I simply hit (space)+(up arrow) and begin typing. By the time I've entered the letters O and P the opera logo pops up and I hit return (enter key) to open it.
I have to say that it takes a little getting used to, but I've come to love it already. It works in a similar fashion to Spotlight (Mac OSX) if you're familiar with that. There are other various launcher programs on the net, this just happens to be the one I'm using, a simple google search will turn up several.

Opening Opera with Quicksilver:

I also chose to hide or simplify most of the program icons on the menu bar (upper right), which can usually be done in the individual programs' preferences menus. As well as auto-hiding the dock.

I have found that this simplification of my desktop has not only helped speed up my computer, but helped me effectively become more efficient at finding and utilizing the programs that I need.