Destination Unknown

I sit here in the midst of my 15 minute break at my office job and I think about the upcoming interview I have to do at ECPI tomorrow afternoon. Fear and excitement prevail in my brain as I worry about the future and the potential that I have to make the most of it. Will I be motivated enough to see the next achievement through to the end and not leave my efforts abandoned in mid-stream? Will I have what it takes to even be considered worthy of the technical programs ECPI has to offer? Will I be able to go to school full-time and acquire a degree in best way possible? Will I find a job once I graduate the tech school? Will I graduate?

This is all before the interview has started!

While I admit that there is a good amount of fear in this situation, there is also an equal amount of hope if not more. I am mostly afraid of failure and leaving the complacency of my five year office position. Five years is the longest that I have been at this job and I have surely come across some good people, so my eventual departure from it will have quite an effect on me. At the same time there is a yearning to flee the monotonous nature of my occupation and see what else is out there in my destiny, for I know that working in one place cannot last forever. I am to the point now where nothing seems to matter anymore with my position and I must try even harder to find positivity in all that I do. I am not happy but must do what I can to meet the responsibility of keeping my finances intact and in good standing.

Back to work I go before the day is over.

TRENT
Sent from my Nokia E90

Thankful for the E90...and the TyTN 2

I am sitting here with my E90 and its backlit qwerty keyboard with a sense of thankfulness. I had taken a trip the AT&T store to get a closer look at the Motorola Q Global and what it has to offer as a possible qwerty-bar alternative to my E90 and TyTN 2. After a few minutes of getting familiar with the WM6 Smartphone interface I was unimpressed with what the Q Global had to offer. Eventually I wasted a couple more minutes in browsing over the Samsung Blackjack 2 before leaving the store.

Now back at home I feel great that I am no longer tempted by a device that would actually be a step down from my E90 and TyTN 2. As much as I tend to underestimate the TyTN 2 it still outshines the Moto Q Global in so many ways, and I am glad that I have it along with my E90.

Posting the YouTube tutorial on uploading movies to my E90 really helped me to appreciate my gadgets all the more as well as the fellow YouTubers who watch my channel. At this moment I am truly feeling thankful for what I have and it feels good, very good.

TRENT
Sent from my Nokia E90

Skyfire Mobile Browser Demo

I really think that this app will give both the iPhone Safari and Nokia S60 browsers a run for their money! I cannot wait to test out the beta on my TyTN 2, and the Symbian release for my E90 will be even more worthwhile!

YouTube/Video apps/SKYFIRE!

The other night was the first time in a month and a half that I had updated my YouTube channel with an uploaded video, and it feels good to have such a positive reception from many of my subscribers.
A part of me had been misguided in thinking that YouTube viewers of my channel could only benefit from videos of new gadgets being unboxed and reviewed, and this unfortunately encouraged my addiction to buying tech toys with credit cards. Now that I know better, I am motivated to begin updating my channel a bit more regularly to at least keep viewers informed on how I use my current gadgets. This would not only keep my subscribers happy, but also help me to be much more knowledgeable of my own tech toys.

The first video upload that I am currently editing in iMovie is all about getting feature films onto the Nokia E90 via my MacBook Pro and a couple of handy conversion software apps. From personal experience I find that using HandBrake and VisualHub provides the best method for accomplishing this task. What's even more amazing is that the resulting MPEG4 file is also capable of taking up the ENTIRE widescreen of the E90! I am very eager to finish my editing of this tutorial to share with all of my YouTube subscribers and feels good to be back at work with something I love to do...even if it is a hobby! Someone by the name of sjhong, with whom I have corresponded on YouTube and howardforums.com, suggested that I begin asking outside tech resources for sponsorship in reviewing free devices for my channel. As flattered as I am by this, I honestly don't see myself as a blogger who is established enough to have any clout to be able to do such a thing. I guess asking couldn't hurt, but at the same time I don't want to come off looking like some amateur idiot either. I have been seriously thinking about this and will continue to do just that as I try to keep up with updating my channel.

Just this morning I came across an article on AllAboutSymbian.com about a new free app called Skyfire. This will bascially bring a new and improved PC-like web browsing experience to the mobile OS platform with many useful features...including the ability to play embedded flash videos directly from the webpage!!! So far there is a sign-up going on right now for the beta version that's due to be soon released for Windows Mobile 5 and 6 (Professional [touchscreen] and Standard [non-touchscreen]) and it can be found at Skyfire.com.
If this isn't a good reason to break out the TyTN 2 again then I don't know what is! To make this news even sweeter, there is also talk of upcoming Symbian version of Skyfire to work with the Nokia S60 devices!! Holy **** my E90 will be a websurfing dream with Skyfire and I can hardly wait to get it when it's released!! I'm just fortunate to have a Windows Mobile 6 device to get a sneak peek at this amazing app once the beta is released for it.

TRENT
Sent from my Nokia E90

Free Money is a Temptress

A few moments ago during my lunch break I had to pull away from my desktop PC and take a deep breath, for I was once again obsessing over another tech device. Just the other day I had no expectations for any extra funding to increase my checking account, so my urge to buy a new gadget was basically dormant. Even as new devices had been announced at MacWorld not too long ago I found myself unimpressed but at the same time relieved that my compulsive shopping habit was not tempted. Yesterday that had all changed when I found out about the US government's attempt to fix the economy by shipping free money to every working American individual and family. Even though I was freed from the depression that resulted from barely making a living on cash, I somehow found myself immediately daydreaming about how I could spend this extra money once it arrived in my mailbox. Of course, the prospect of saving this check or donating it to my struggling parents came to mind in a brief wave of common sense and logical sanity, but within minutes it was dessimated by greed and self-indulgence. Sadly as the hours passed on I ended up lusting after another smartphone that seemed well within my reach due to extra government money and my upcoming AT&T upgrade eligibility at the start of February.

My rationale is fully aware that the last thing I need is another phone (especially one that is not as advanced as the pair of phones that I already own), but it's as if I am addicted to buying new gadgets and I can do only so much to resist the urge. Now that I am thinking about this...I really do think that it is an addiction, an addiction that was fostered through the convenience of credit cards. One quick swipe of the plastic and I was granted a new toy to play with, and eventually the euphoria of having this toy would be what I would seek continually with one purchase after another. Trying to fill the void within myself with happiness from satisfying my materialistic ways was a futile act, for the novelty would always wear off and leave me wanting more. As I sit here and pour my thoughts into this blog entry I am both ashamed and relieved: ashamed that I have been so pathetic to chase after a Motorola Q9 Global when I've got a Nokia E90 AND TyTN 2 at home and relieved that I have been able to stop myself, sit back and take a look at my situation from the outside in a clear state of mind.

As I type onto the qwerty of my Nokia E90 while listening to the relaxing music of Constance Demby I am at peace and almost feel as if the cubicle as disappeared from my surroundings. I am right now free from the temptations of my addiction and I feel that applying that check immediately to the payment of my outstanding loan debt will be much better than having it sit in my savings account.

That same feeling of euphoria can also be gained just as easily from running on the treadmill and lifting weights, so I will be looking forward to doing that after work today.

I've spent enough time on the psychiatrist couch for now, so it is back to work I go in anticipation of the weekend.

TRENT
Sent from my Nokia E90

Breaking away

Appropriate to the title of this blog entry, I have taken the liberty of leaving my desk behind for a 15 minute break to write out my thoughts and regain some sanity after being subjected to the endless fun of paperwork filing...what a meaningful career I lead!

Last night I completed the letter to singer Lara Fabian that will accompany my collection of poetry that I plan to send to her via mail. I hope that she receives this gift from me with no trouble, but on the other hand I am also trying to be realistic and open to the alternative possibilites that could happen. But there is nothing else to do now but prepare the package and ship it out into the unknown, for the more I sit here and ponder over what could happen I'll end up procrastinating. I only wish to share with her my most prized possession since she has been one of the most inspiring people in my lifetime, and I am hopeful that she will have the chance to truly appreciate it.

Next week I have an interview scheduled with ECPI and I am honestly nervous and completely scared out of my mind. This is a moment for me to sieze and make the most of for the sake of my future and I feel that I am ready for a change...even if I am shaking in my boots. This would be a whole new chapter in my life to start anew and I am almost speechless as to how I am to take this all in. For the first time in the five years of complacency in a job that was getting me nowhere I finally feel a sense of motivation to get up and DO something with myself! As much as it is scary it is also very exciting.

In the midst of all this craziness I am still devoted to my Nokia E90 and also favor the TyTN 2 even if it is collecting dust right now. I am getting close to the point where I am eligible for a handset upgrade with AT&T, but neither available choice has sparked any interest. I was looking at the Motorola Q9 Global model since the Windows Mobile 6 Standard OS is still very foreign to me, but I may be better off not looking at anything and sticking to what I know. But after reading up on some tech websites I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of the new 6.1 version of Windows Mobile since it could mean the chance for a firmware update for my TyTN 2. All in all the Nokia E90 is still holding up quite well and I love it.

I guess it's about that time that I go back to work now.

TRENT
Sent from my Nokia E90

Salling Clicker app/Phase 2 of my mission

Believe it or not, I am right now typing this message on my HTC TyTN II as my Nokia E90 is charging in the bedroom.

Just a half hour ago I had decided to use a bit of my hard earned cash to buy a new application to use with both of my smartphones and my MacBook Pro: the Salling Clicker. This feature basically allows one to control their Mac wirelessly by using their phone as a remote control, and thankfully can use this with my Nokia AND my HTC!! Having already discovered this a year or so ago I am familiar with the benefits this application can bring in terms of convenience, so I am very excited to finally have a purchased license for use with my own Mac.

I just completed phase two of my mission to follow my dreams. Every single poem that I have written over the past few years has been documented and saved on my Mac, printed in copies of three and organized into three separate stacks. I already have hopes to ship two of these stacks for submission to a couple of sources, and I am also wondering if I could even be a candidate for song writing.

Just for kicks I will post a photo of these poetry stacks from my Nokia E90 and HTC TyTN II! Let's see if people can guess which picture is which.

TRENT
Sent from my TyTN II

Cloverfield movie and Nokia!

Just saw the movie Cloverfield with a friend on Friday night and thoroughly enjoyed it! Aside from the movie itself I was excited to also see the inclusion of Nokia products:
7373 (Pink), 6300, N76 (Black) and 5200 XpressMusic subway ad billboard and a bunch of ORIGINAL Nokia batteries in blister package hanging in the electronics store.

TRENT
Sent from my Nokia E90

Apple Keynote impressions

While it has been a treat blogging on the Apple Keynote from the comfort of my own work cubicle via my Nokia E90, I must say that I was not really blown away with today's announcements. From iPhone updates that should have been present from day one to AppleTV updates to usher in the all-new iTunes movie rental service, this MacWorld Apple Keynote was only moderately exciting for me. Practically everything that has been presented provides no kind of enhanced usability in terms of new gadgetry for me, which may be a blessing in disguise considering my current financial state in paying off my credit debt and living solely on cash. I guess it is good that nothing in particular struck my fancy, for it only means that I can face another few weeks without being tempted to spend money that I don't have on some new Apple toy. Not only is the new MacBook Air mildly impressive but it's also way too expensive to include the 64GB solid-state harddrive at over $3000!! Time Capsule is of absolutely no importance to me since I don't have any confidence in Mac OS X Leopard, the new iPod Touch features are already included on my old iPhone I now use as a portable internet tablet and the iPhone features are useless since I use a Nokia for my main phone. The movie rental service through iTunes and the new AppleTV is not even worth getting into detail since I have no use for either one of them.
However, there is one great piece of news in regards to the performance of my trusty Nokia E90 Communicator and how it has thoroughly impressed me. I always knew there had to be a reason as to why this gadget has drawn me back TWICE after being abandoned for the TyTN 2 and that reason became even more clear today in the midst of my blogging on the Apple Keynote. I have an email address that is created specifically for live uploading to my own blog, Trent's Sense, and I find it to be very convenient when I am not at home on my MacBook Pro. Today I took full advantage of that email address as I wrote blog entry after blog entry about each occurence that took place during the Apple Keynote that was shared by the guys at live.gizmodo.com. Thanks to Gizmodo I almost felt like I was there in the auditorium listening to Steve's announcements, and I wasted no time in speaking my mind on the new products and features that were being unveiled. Every single opinion of every moment was quickly typed into the E90's full qwerty and then instantly jettisoned into my blog via email! I even took a picture of myself at my desk PC with the E90 and emailed it to my work address and then uploaded it to my blog via the work PC on the Blogger site! This Communicator kept up with me for the entire lunch hour as I pounded away at the keys and showed no signs of slowing down...it even continued to automatically update my incoming messages whether they were SMS or email! I have to say that the amount of typing I did on this E90 in addition to the typing I am currently doing would have brought cramps to my thumbs if I were using the TyTN 2! The battery life on this E90 is still well above the halfway mark even after all of that activity!! This device is so amazing that I am without a doubt one devoted Nokia customer, and what makes this even more great is that I can also pair my N810 with the E90 to make for a wonderful web browsing experience!
While the announcements of the new Apple toys at today's Keynote may not have impressed me, the reliability of my Nokia devices surely has done just that. As I said before, I knew there was a reason why I came back to the E90 (even after spending one night with the TyTN 2). Such a versatile machine to have, for it is practically a swiss army knife with all of its included features. Such a shame that the iPhone is just now gaining some basic features that should have been included a LONG time ago in the first firmware release. Here's to a long future for the E90...and to future iPhone updates that shall add even more features in an futile attempt to surpass the quality of the Symbian smartphone!

TRENT
Sent from my Nokia E90

Apple Keynote #7

A new product is announced: MacBook Air!!!

A subnotebook that is extremely thin to where it can fit inside a manilla envelope! Dimensions are 0.76inches from one end to 0.16 inches to the other!

Oh my...my eyes are now wide open!!

It appears to be aluminum with black keys on a full backlit keyboard with a 13.3inch widescreen display that is LED backlit and instant-on. A built-in iSight camera and a trackpad with multi-touch gesture support enabled complete more of this gadget!!

Inside there is a 1.8inch 80GB harddrive which can also be found in the iPod and there is also an optional solid-state disk with a 64GB capacity! RAM is capped at a standard 2GB along with included Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, 802.11n WiFi and the typical MagSafe. There is a picture of the motherboard that is only a bit wider than a pencil! The chip is Intel Core2Duo at 1.6GHz and an upgrade to 1.8GHz is available as well. Apparently this new chip is 60% smaller than previous versions in order to be able to fit inside the MacBook Air. Having 56% less volume than the MacBook this also has benefits for the sake of the environment with an aluminum casing, a glass display that is mecury-free and arsenic-free and circuit boards that are BFR-free and PVC-free. While I may not understand those eco-terms I am guessing that they will probably make a good number of "green" people smiling.

While a part of me is excited I really have no need for this and must admit that window shopping at the Apple Store is all that I will be doing with this thing. After I look past the thinness of this product it appears to be only a more dignified and enhanced cousin of the Palm Foleo that never saw the light of day.

TRENT
Sent from my Nokia E90

Apple Keynote #6

In addition to the new movie rental app there are new improvements being granted to the AppleTV interface and more details about the rent pricing have been announced. The price of the AppleTV will be dropped from $299 to $229 and the new software updates will be shipped to all owners and new units in 2 weeks.

Steve Jobs is now showing movie rental clips via the AppleTV.

I feel some sleepy eyes coming on in a few moments...

TRENT
Sent from my Nokia E90

Apple Keynote #5

Next NEW feature is iTunes Movie Rentals!! It appears that Apple has deals with NUMEROUS movie studios to get this project started, but this is of no interest to me either.

I hardly rent movies at all anyway.

I feel a yawn coming on...

TRENT
Sent from my Nokia E90

Apple Keynote #4

There is a demo on the how the Location feature will work on the Google Maps app. Not of any importance since both my E90 and TyTN 2 have built-in GPS.

The iPod Touch will now be able to have the following features: Mail, Maps, Stocks, Notes and Weather.
People who already own the iPod Touch will have to $20 to add these on while all new units will have them built-in for free.
Already have my old iPhone that I can use for all that as an Internet tablet. NEXT!

TRENT
Sent from my Nokia E90

Apple Keynote #3

There is a demo on customizing the home screen which looks exactly like a leaked video I had seen earlier on some website that now escapes me. Again, something that my Nokia E90 can already do.

Apparently Webclips is a feature that allows one to save a shortcut to any particular website to the home screen...a glorified bookmarks application that I can already do on my E90. Now that my interest in this feature has been dashed I await more interesting news.

TRENT
Sent from my Nokia E90

Apple Keynote #2

There are some new iPhone features that are introduced:
Maps with location, webclips, customizable home screens, SMS to multiple people at one time, video support for chapters, subtitles, languages and lyrics support.

These are features that are in some ways available already on my Nokia E90, although the webclips does peak a bit of an interest.

TRENT
Sent from my Nokia E90

Apple Keynote #1

Things have started up in CA as I continue to keep watch via live.gizmodo.com!

So far I see that there is a new product called Time Capsule which looks exactly like an Airport Extreme with a built-in harddrive. The pricing is $299 for 500GB and $499 for 1TB.
This is to address the pain of having to repeatedly plug and unplug an external harddrive in order to use Time Machine on Mac OS X Leopard.

Not really of any interest to me so far.

TRENT
Sent from my Nokia E90

ANTICIPATION

It is now 1211pm EST and I am currently sitting in front of my work PC on my lunch break and holding my breath as I wait for the Apple Keynote to begin in California. I hope Steve Jobs has some good information up his sleeve!

TRENT
Sent from my Nokia E90

Vegetarian diet is over

For a good few weeks I had adopted the vegetarian diet in hopes of helping my initial weight loss in starting up my workouts again and treating my psoriasis. As of today I have put an end to the diet and returned to meat since I have noticed no crucial results on my skin...and quite frankly I miss the taste. To assist my physical results I will try to do everything in moderation and continue with the treadmill and the free weights.

TRENT
Sent from my Nokia E90

FAST return to the Nokia E90

So sorry, but the TyTN 2 just doesn't do it for me and I have switched back to my Nokia E90. Initially everything felt great as I was typing earlier about the benefits of going back to the HTC phone, but there were some quirks that quickly turned me off and had me yearning for the E90.

Despite the TyTN 2's pros as a Windows Mobile 6 touchscreen phone I simply won't stand for the smaller screen with low resolution and mediocre camera quality. I have been too spoiled with the TV-quality video and amazing camera to be able to step down to the HTC at this time...holy crap I am now coming off like some Symbian snob! :) What can I say, I just love tech-toys that are worthy of attention.

The E90 doesn't have the same kind of efficiency from a touchscreen or native word-completion that makes the TyTN 2 so easy to work with , but it is more balanced as a convergence device that can provide reliable usage of both multimedia and PDA/PIM applications. While the TyTN 2 is a great PDA the E90 feels more like a great communicator an impressive grouping of adequate features. The Nokia features of the PDA/PIM side may not be worth writing home about but they still get the job done in a reliable fashion. However, the Nokia multimedia features completely blow the HTC out of the water and I cannot ignore that fact.

There is also a certain kind of mystique in owning a device that is hardly popular in the US and I do like the attention the E90 draws whenever I pull it out for usage. Everybody and their grandma has got either an iPhone or a BlackBerry or a Windows Mobile touchscreen phone, but there are only a few (in the US anyway) that have the E90 Communicator. It may not have a xenon flash like the Nokia N82 or have a touchscreen like the Nokia N810 but it simply works for me in my everyday use. In the midst of all this back-and-forth action the Nokia N95 is the real victim as it is hardly acknowledged anymore while resting in my backpack for so long, but oh well.

At this point I will not go back to the TyTN 2 as a back-up device unless my E90 ends up forever lost, stolen or looking like these pictures:

TRENT
Sent from my Nokia E90

Bounce back to TyTN II

Out of necessity I have bounced back to the TyTN II since my E90 just lost all of its battery power and turned off on me in the middle of shooting video. I then had to make a drive to the local airport to pick up a friend of mine and needed a backup phone to keep in touch right away. Unfortunately I don't own an auto charger for the E90 so taking that along with me was out of the question and this is where the TyTN II in my backpack had saved the evening. I think it is good to switch with this HTC device in order to get a better appreciation of how my gadgets work differently from one another. It has already been well established that there is no such thing thing as a perfect smartphone so I personally see no harm in jumping onto the Windows Mobile OS every now and then from that of Symbian.

Now that I am constructing this entry from the keyboard of the TyTN II I am gradually becoming more accustomed to how it feels in my hands. The are some amazing features that I am glad to be reunited with like the responsive qwerty, touchscreen navigation, organized email client, reliable word completion software that's BUILT-IN and 3G network access.

Overall it just feels good to have this compact device in my hand again for right now until boredom sets in and causes me to switch back to the Nokia E90.

Since I won't be able to afford a new phone for a good while this may be the only way from now on that I will have diversity in my daily smartphone usage. The E90 and TyTN II are worlds apart in how they operate and that may be enough to keep me satisfied as a tech-toy consumer. What's funny is that I had originally planned to recharge the Nokia E90's battery overnight and then swap my SIM card back to it once completed, but it hasn't happened yet! A part of me does like working with the Windows Mobile 6 platform even though the host device does have its fair share of improvement needs. I will see how long it takes me to remain with the HTC until I feel an urge to go back to the Nokia E90.

TRENT
Sent from my TyTN II

New Treadmill Activated!

When I first discovered the ProForm XP Trainer 615 treadmill at Sears, I was a bit disappointed to see that the pricing was more expensive what I was planning to spend. I originally wanted to stay below $300 with two kinds of treadmill models in mind but that was quickly dashed since one was sold out while the other was not made for running.

At $500 my new ProForm is the best alternative that allows running and I feel no regret in purchasing it. I got in my first 30 minute running workout and was DRENCHED, so I think that my fitness routine has officially been reactivated. After the run I then took on the weights once again with a new fervor and I now feel great...actually very tired and eager for a good night's sleep!

Here's some photos of my adventures with this new tech toy of mine.

Mad TV - Ipod Nano Feist 1234 Commercial

It is so funny how the plain truth can be so entertaining.

Trapped by Circumstance

I am officially lost right now as I sit here on the living room sofa and think of where my future is going. In recent days I was encouraged by the arrival of the new year and began to be hopeful for better days ahead with thoughts of schooling at a technical institute, but all of that has been dashed by harsh reality. I am too far into debt to take on any more financial loans even if they are for the greater good of my education, so I must rely on an alternate plan to find my own success. Now that I think of it I must have been dreaming above the clouds to ever think that I could afford to carry the burden of another loan on top of what I am already handling. In my financial situation even part-time schooling is out of the question and remains a fleeting fantasy, and I am reeling in my own stupidity of it all. To get myself worked up and excited over absolutely nothing was a complete waste of time and I am ashamed of allowing myself to give in to it so whole-heartedly. All seemed wonderful for a good moment's time as I fantasized about getting a degree and actually making something of myself, but now I am dumbfounded to have awakened from such a mesmerizing spectacle of empty wishes born from such high hopes. As I continue to live by cash and try desperately to get over credit card withdrawals I am once again faced with the uncertainty of my own destiny and I need to do something about it.

I guess I had better get back to work on the one sure thing that I do have: my poetry.

TRENT
Sent from my Nokia E90

Quickwrite app for Nokia S60

I have discovered a new application for my Nokia E90 smartphone and am very excited about it!

While owning the HTC TyTN 2 there were some perks in using the Windows Mobile 6 operating system which fostered greater efficiency in daily usage. One major perk happened to be the word-completion feature of Windows Mobile that would automatically activate whenever text information had to be entered via the qwerty keypad, and this surely made for speedy emails and text messages.

Upon returning to the Nokia E90 I was disappointed to see that this same feature was not automatically included in the Symbian S60 operating system, but nonetheless I continued typing without it...until the other day. While surfing online I came across listings for software to purchase for my Symbian smartphone and found Quickwrite to be exactly what I had been looking for since leaving behind my TyTN 2. Quickwrite is not entirely the same incarnation as the word-completion feature from Windows Mobile 6 but it is definitely a close candidate that works perfectly for my usage of the Nokia E90.

TRENT
Sent from my Nokia E90

THEN and NOW

These pictures reflect my physique from then in 2006 and now. I know that letting go of the drive to stay in shape during 2007 has had terrible effects on my body and I am eager to change that right now! Hopefully in a couple of months or so I will be posting another picture to show my progress in starting over with my running and my weightlifting. I am still confident that I will bounce back for the better in 2008.

These pictures are of THEN, NOW and one of the main culprits:

First Entry for 2008

I am sitting here on my bedroom sofa writing this first entry for 2008 on my third Nokia E90, and as with any personal journal this is a moment of reflection on past occurrences that I have gone through in the previous year.

One major occurrence that comes to mind is the condition of my personal finances after being wreckless with my credit cards. Swiping that plastic and typing in those account numbers online gave me a sense of power as if I were some sort of powerful genie, and the instant gratification of getting new products only magnified that sense. Before I knew it my spending had gone out of control and my debt was steadily increasing faster than my income could pay it down. I eventually realized just how critical this situation had become and I took control of it by opening a bank loan to pay off ALL of my credit debt. It's going to take a few years of making a hefty monthly payment to get rid of my debt, but I am at least glad that everything is centralized into one area where I can easily maintain control in obliterating my debt for good.

Another incident in 2007 was the return of the extra pounds I had worked so hard to keep off in 2006 with a diligent regimen of running and lifting weights. Because of my muscular frame it doesn't really do much good to go by an average scale since the muscle will always weigh more than fat, so I tend to judge my physique by looking in the mirror. Due to the onslaught of the winter cold I gave in to the temptation to stay inside and resist physical activity, and eventually I began to hate my reflection in the mirror. When certain clothes began to no longer fit like they used to and upon seeing Will Smith in I Am Legend, I was inspired to take on exercising again. However, the cold of the winter air simply turned me off to the idea of going outside again for running and focusing only on weights was not fulfilling at all. So I have decided to go out in search of a treadmill to maintain my running inside the house. As 2008 continues with its cold temperatures I will surely be focused on getting myself back on track. As a motivator and for permanent record, I shall post a THEN picture of when I used to be in my best shape and a NOW picture of my current condition that needs improvement.

I am in hopes for great things this year.

TRENT
Sent from my Nokia E90