If spending a weekend in Las Vegas has taught me one thing, it’s that moments slip through your fingers if you’re not paying attention. Or was that money? Either way, Las Vegas lives up to the hype of late nights and good times.

My trip wasn’t the typical Vegas Vacation;  I was there to celebrate my grandpa’s 80th birthday. At four times my age, my grandpa is still as strong as ever. I spent lots of time with extended family that I normally never see. I don’t have any family in Florida besides my parents, so it was so much fun seeing everyone together. I love how, despite being apart for more than half a decade, hanging out with everyone feels like nothing ever changed.

One thing I regret is not being able to celebrate Kristen’s birthday with her. Fortunately, John and I made this totally awesome and only slightly embarrassing birthday video for our girlfriends. Check it out:

Photo by: http2007

This week, two of the most influential people of my college experience are moving out of Florida. I don’t even know where to begin to blog about this. They are both my best friends and live up to every meaning of what a best friend is supposed to be.

I knew Bryan was destined for D.C. for a long time.

He’s been a huge part of my experience in Orlando since the first day I moved in. I knew him in high school, but we didn’t actually become good friends until I found out that he lived down the street from me.

All I can say is that Bryan is the best neighbor and friend anyone could ever ask for. He’s always so welcoming and will be the first person to offer you a beer. And for some reason, whenever we hang out, I feel like whatever we are doing is instantly 200% manlier. I’ll miss our nights of beer pong, building stuff, grilling, and just hanging out. I wish him the best in Washington D.C. And I’m sure I’ll see him very soon.

Roland found out he got a job in Arizona a few days ago.

We’ve been best friends for more than 8 years and sometimes my mind can’t even process that. I don’t know what drew us so strongly together, but from our first class in high school, we’ve been inseparable. After he moved in, our best-friendship manifested into an ultimate, higher plane of friendship. We are just on the same frequency all the time. We could disagree about anything, but I think it just came to a point where nothing mattered except that we were hanging out.

I mentioned to him that his moving away reminded me of the series finale of a TV show. I know there will be very few shows that will ever compare to what we had, but who knows. Maybe there will be a spin-off. Or a reunion show. All I know is that I will miss him very much and I wish him great things as well.

So I feel like I am now at a new chapter in my life. I am on the verge of graduating, and therefore, uncertainty. I used to be afraid of uncertainty, but it was these two people that have taught me overall to embrace the unknown and move forward. Thanks guys.

Photo by: koalazymonkey

So far this summer has been a flash of good food, good books, and hot weather. Yarber and I built a cornhole set a few months ago. We finally got to use the set on Memorial day, where we also had a cookout of epic proportions. Tommy and Roland made a hearty buffalo chicken dip. There was also corn, burgers, grilling beans, and chicken skewers. Roland was laying on the floor in agony after all that food.

Over the course of the summer, I’ve purchased a few books on half.com and Amazon. It’s amazing how much reading I can get done when I don’t feel like I’m on such a tight schedule. One book is about the neuroscience of decision making. I was completely entertained by this book, titled “How We Decide.” It brought to light a lot of elements of decision-making and explains why we make the choices we do.

I bought a ukulele this summer, too. As much as I love piano, the ukulele is quickly becoming my favorite instrument. I’ve mostly been learning cover songs and a few chords, but it is so much fun! And portable!

The rest of summer involved a few dance workshops, basketball, lots of studying, and an iPhone 4 launch adventure. So far it’s been a pretty wholesome break, and I’m looking forward to Las Vegas and New York in August before the fall semester starts.

Photo by: Giviciano

Summer is under way, the days are longer, and the heat is definitely setting in. So far I’m loving it. I feel more productive and more alive, and since I’m only taking one class, I have much more free time to just gather myself. I see it as some very well deserved catching up.

Last night was the Between The Trees hometown show. It was a really full lineup with Shut Up and Dance, Goodnight Caulfield, The Higher, Amely, and obviously Between the Trees. We got there early for the Between the Trees meet and greet (they were really nice and super awesome) and then got all the way to the front center. The show rocked and it was a great night.

Today, Kristen left for Weston. I miss her like hell already. At least we can use the time apart to do our own things and refocus. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and our relationship was built on distance. I’m actually installing Skype right now on my netbook so we can at least video chat.

Tonight is the LOST finale event. Roland and I are making buffalo chicken sandwiches with some steamed veggies. Good stuff and an awesome summer ahead of us.

Photo by: susieq3c

• Piano and music composition
• Dancing and choreography
• Cardio and Resistance Training
• Online Business know-how

I don’t think I’ll be able to succeed without specific goals, though. Now that summer (and more free time) is ahead of me, I’ll be able to utilize the semester to get stuff accomplished. I noticed that there’s an online subculture focused on technology and productivity. This is sort of helping me get things in order, but it’s just another thing in my cluttered world of passions.

The week after that was Campus MovieFest. More than 120 teams were given a handheld camcorder, a Mac Book, and an AT&T phone to make a 5 minute film in a week. Even with impending midterms and other minor inconveniences, me, Roland, and Kristen signed up and took on the task of film making. To be honest, that week was more fun than stressful. We were first time film makers and inexperienced Mac users, but I think our film couldn’t have come out any better. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Last week was the showing of the top 16 movies. We didn’t make the cut, but I wasn’t expecting to anyway. It was a great experience nonetheless. Our friends at Juice Box Boy Productions won best drama for their film. It was really well done and creativity like that always inspires me.

And with that, check out our film, “Doing Happy”

In order to fix the dent, we first had to remove the bumper. To do this, we removed 4 plastic pop-rivets from underneath the bumper. They will most likely break when you take them out, so buy replacements at an auto supply store for any that do (you can get 2 for a dollar). Then, We had to remove the lining of the trunk to get access to the nuts and bolts holding the bumper to the frame. We needed a 3/8″ 10MM socket to get to four of the harder to reach bolts at the rear wall of the trunk. There were also a few more bolts at each side of the trunk.

After the plastic rivets and bolts were removed, we were able to pop the bumper out. In order to push out the dent, we had to soften the plastic using a hair dryer on high heat. We did this for about 10 minutes, and I pushed it out by hand with a towel to protect against the hot plastic.

After that, we just put the bumper back on, replaced the pop-rivets, replaced the bolts, and reinserted the trunk lining. The result wasn’t exactly perfect, but it was much better than before.

Remember to keep the length of all ringtone clips under 30 seconds or iTunes will not transfer them over to your iPhone.

1. Open iTunes and find the song you want to turn into a ringtone
2. Right-click on the song and select “Get Info”
3. Click on the “Options” tab
4. Check the radio button for start time and enter the time in the song where you want your ringtone to start. Check the radio button for stop time and enter the time in the song where you want the ringtone to end. Make sure that the duration of the ringtone you selected is UNDER 30 seconds. When you are done click OK
5. Right-click on the song again and select “Create AAC version”
6. Locate the file you just created on your computer. You may be able to do this by right-clicking on the file and selecting any variant of “show file” or “show in windows explorer”
7. Replace the .m4a extension with .m4r. Double click on the file to automatically add it to your ringtone collection in iTunes

Notes

• Delete the shortened file you created from your iTunes library
• Remeber to return the start and stop time settings on the original song back to default

This is the most helpful tutorial I found:

Materials Used:

• Magnetic screwdriver
• Paper clip or sim card tool
• Suction cup
• Spudger
• Adhesive strips
• Replacement iPhone 3G OEM Glass Digitizer Screen
• Hairdryer or Heat Gun

Personal notes:

• When using the suction cup to separate the glass from the housing, you need to pull very firmly. However, do not pull too far open because the digitizer is still attached by three cables.
• When separating the frame from the LCD, be very careful when prying. Only pry from the sides and that one corner mentioned in the video.
• If you’re using a hairdryer, you need to heat the glass for NO LESS than 5 minutes. Use a rag or pot holder when peeling the glass off the frame because it gets very hot. Make sure not to warp the shape of the frame.

Before

After

While we can’t all make that kind of cash, the people over at the AdSense blog have given us common folk a chance to get a hand in the Google jar. That’s right – free Google AdSense stickers! Last year, the team printed out a large batch of stickers and apparently, they’ve still got a bunch to give out.

All you need to do is send a self-addressed envelope and the correct postage, and they’ll send a couple of stickers right back. You can find the rest of the details at the Google AdSense blog.