So everything did not exactly go as planned as I stated yesterday, and I am not yet in fact back on my university campus in Madison, Wisconsin. However, I am in fact more or less done packing, so when I do leave for Madison tomorrow, I’ll be ready to go.

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Topic #234: Write a review of a movie you recently saw or a product you recently used. It could be something new, or something you’ve known about for some time. Describe why you’d recommend it or not (but if it’s a movie, don’t make the mistake of giving away the ending, please).

I actually do this once in a while anyway in my “What I’m Watching” segments, and as a variation, I review books that I read in my “What I’m Reading” sections. I haven’t done one of these for a while because I’ve been busy with getting other stuff done and haven’t had a chance to sit down and watch a movie or read a book. I’m also most likely not going to have many of these in the future either, because now that I’m starting my second year of undergraduate university studies, I have enough reading to do to in my textbooks and documents, and in the time I could be spending reading for entertainment, I could instead be reading academic material and improving my understanding of course topics.

Regardless, if I do ever get a chance to watch a movie or read a book, I’ll definitely continue to do my “What I’m Watching” and “What I’m Reading” sections.

Today was my last day instructing and training taekwondo at Chicago Martial Arts for this summer, and I won’t be back for about four months or so until January when I’m on winter break (I might be back for one or two days during the week of Thanksgiving if I’m lucky and I’m able to get back home on time). It’s slightly depressing because I’ve been training four days a week for the past three months, and I haven’t missed a single class, so it’s become a significant part of my daily routine.

If you live near Mundelein, Illinois, USA by any chance and are interested in training taekwondo or Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, check out our website and request a free trial. All levels of experience are welcome, and you can try it out to see if you like it. If you do like it and choose to enroll, you might even see me back in January 2012, and depending on which class you enroll in, I might even be your instructor or your classmate.

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I’m catching up on old posts today.

Topic #227: Hemingway once wrote a super short story: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” What story can you write in six words?

The dog sat on the porch.

… Not quite as good as Hemingway’s, but I guess you could still consider it a story.

Topic #228: Try to think about nothing, for as long as you can. What happens? Describe it in a short post.

When I try to think about nothing, random thoughts start creeping into my mind that are related to what my senses are picking up at that moment. For example, if I’m able to hear my own breathing, I think about my breathing and its rhythm and volume. If I’m able to sense movement, I think about where it’s coming from and what it could possibly be. Also, I know for a fact that this is normal, as your brain was made to think, not to sit idly. Even when you are sleeping, your brain is thinking, which is why you dream.

Topic #229: Have you been to where your parents were born?

No.

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Topic #226: Revisit a topic you wrote about in January.

I went through and read a handful of the blog posts I published back in January, and one that brought back memories and made me laugh was a post about my Dell laptop malfunctioning.

For those of you who have been with me for less than a few months, you probably haven’t heard much about my Dell laptop falling apart, breaking, and shutting itself down. In a nutshell, the original Dell laptop I purchased was of horrible quality and within months of purchasing it, it starting having problems with its hardware, primarily its motherboard and display.

Fortunately, I got a two-year warranty on the laptop free with the purchase, so I was able to request repairs. After four attempts, my laptop still didn’t work, so Dell agreed that its condition was beyond repair and exchanged it for a newer, slightly better laptop. This entire process lasted from November 2010 to May 2011.

After receiving my new exchange laptop, I don’t recall ever giving more detailed updated information, so I decided to do that today.

The first thing about the new laptop was that it came with a 6-cell battery instead of a 9-cell battery. The support technician I spoke with said that they would ship the new laptop with a 9-cell battery because I purchased a 9-cell battery for my old broken laptop that I would be sending back to Dell. However, when the laptop arrived, it came with a 6-cell battery.

I contacted customer service and they apologized for the error. Then they said that they would send out a support technician to install my 9-cell battery for me.

…

I assured them that I knew how to remove and insert a battery into my laptop myself, and told them that they could just ship the battery to me rather than sending someone out to put it in for me.

I also noticed that the sound jack on the new laptop wasn’t working very well either. I had this identical problem with my previous laptop, and it was repaired by replacing the motherboard and the jack input device. When I requested that this be done again, Dell agreed to send out a technician.

A week or so later, I got a phone call from Dell telling me that they did not have any of those parts in stock, but they would let me know when they receive their next shipment.

That was in June 2011. It’s nearing the end of August now, and I still haven’t gotten a replacement part.

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Topic #225: If you controlled the weather, what would it be like outside today?

If I controlled the weather, it would be cloudy and breezy with both a high and low temperature of 72 degrees Fahrenheit (22.2 degrees Celsius).

If you didn’t know yet, 72 degrees Fahrenheit is the optimal temperature for the human body because it is the temperature at which the rate our bodies produce heat and the rate heat leaves our body into the environment is equal.

My Amazon Prime one-year student trial ended yesterday, so I don’t get free two-day shipping on most of my Amazon purchases anymore. Apparently there’s a special deal for students where you can continue to get Amazon Prime at a 50% discounted price for up to four years, and you’ll also get unlimited access to streaming television shows and movies that Amazon has available.

If you would like to donate $39.99 to pay for my Amazon Prime renewal, feel free to donate via Paypal at the following link:

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_send-money-transfer&send_method=domestic

If you can’t afford to donate $39.99, then a donation of any lesser amount will be gladly accepted.

(Anybody who has taken an introductory psychology course should know what I just did there.)

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Topic #224: Do you wish you had more money or time?

If I got to pick between having more money and more time, I would probably choose to have more time because by having more time, I could use that extra time to improve my life and make more money. On the other hand, if I were to choose to have more money, I would just have the money and no extra time so I wouldn’t be able to better myself as a person.

I finally got a chance to read through all of my emails, and now I’m down to only four emails in my inbox.

I feel liberated.

This also means that if you sent me a message recently through my website, I should have replied to it. If you didn’t receive a response, it means that I either thought your message was spam, or I did not receive it.

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Topic #223: If you were God, how would you have started it all? Do you think you could do something more interesting than the big bang? Or would you leave everything just as it is?

If I were the creator of the world, I would just randomly create everything and not have a drastic beginning so my people wouldn’t waste time arguing about religion and how the world started.