Chicken Batch 1:  Being apprehensive about making the plunge into cooking an entire chicken, I decided to try making wings.  The first batch of buffalo wings was seasoned with garlic salt and red pepper.   The red pepper was a little heavy so the wings were pretty spicy, but overall they had a good flavor.  Smoked them for three hours mostly with Applewood chips but also a little bit of Hickory.  Then they were put in the oven for about an hour or so to make them fall off the bone tender.

Chicken Batch 2:  This time it was Barbecue Chicken.  I used a barbecue seasoning kit that I got for Christmas to season the chicken with so it’s difficult to say exactly what was in it.  Most likely it was a little brown sugar, paprika, red pepper, salt…Something like that.  They were smoked for three hours with 100% Applewood.  After pulling them from the smoker they received a barbecue sauce glaze.  Then they were put in the oven for about an hour.  They tasted great and the family devoured them.  The only thing that should have been done differently is that the barbecue sauce glaze should have been applied after they were pulled from the oven.

Overall they both had lots of flavor.  The applewood blends well with poultry because it is less pungent than the hickory.  In the future I am going to use only applewood for poultry, or maybe even try another type of fruit wood.  The barbecue chicken has been the family favorite so far but this is an ongoing process of perfection.

Stay tuned for my next blog on the pulled pork.

So the biggest problem that most fans had with J.J. Abrams rendition of Star Trek is that it completely destroyed the Trekiverse that Gene Roddenberry originally established back in 1966.  Me being a fan, this was hard for me to swallow at first because this movie changed everything so much.  No more Vulcan, and no more Amanda.  What was up with this whole Spock/Uhura Romantic Chemistry?

So getting back to the point of this blog, what was this Star Trek Countdown comic book all about?  The comic book was designed to bridge the gap between the last of The Next Generation movies and the new film.  It explains how the whole Red Matter technology came about and why it was so important.

Another question fans were wondering is why all the new Romulans were bald and had tattoos all over their faces.  Well the comic explains that too.  We learn why Nero and his crew are so bitter and bloodthirsty towards Humans and Vulcans alike.  It re-establishes Spock’s roll as Federation Ambassador to Romulus and why he is willing to help this savage race.

Most Trekkies would agree that Nemesis didn’t do the last Next Generation any justice.  In fact, most of the cast were willing to do one last movie to clean things up.  With Nemesis’ poor ratings, we know that Paramount would have never provided the funding to do another movie for a dying franchise that would end up making them lose money.  This comic book tied up quite a bit of the loose ends for TNG.  As fans we saw the baton being passed from the original crew to The Next Generation Crew, and then in this book the TNG crew passed back to the originals.

So to wrap it up, if you are one of those people who are just totally obsessed with continuity, you should check out this comic book.  It will put your heart at rest for a lot of things and answer a lot of questions you might have.

My Star Trek Mashup video.

Well first off the gen ed requirements will be over once statistics is completed.  Most people finish these their sophomore year but changing majors and changing schools proved to be a setback.  Both did happen because God wanted it that way so I’m not complaining.

Communication classes for me are pretty cool this semester.  Once again because of the above mentioned circumstances my class scheduling has been sort of weird.  It would be nice if the two entry-level classes I am taking could have been done before the upper-division ones.  This would have helped me understand some things much easier.  Nonetheless, all is good.  My advisor is letting Collegiate Chorale count for a practicum because of running sound equipment.

Choir and Chorale are  great.  Sounds of the Season is great but I hope that I never have to sing Handel’s Messiah again.  Band… is another story.  The Warner Praise Band has been playing basically the same music for four years and as we recently discovered, it is middle school difficulty level.  I usually only skip class if absolutely necessary but when it comes to band ALL 6 skips are used.  Mr. “you know who” and I don’t exactly see eye-to-eye.  He gets mad for no reason and yells at me for being disruptive.  This may or may not be true but sometimes it is difficult to take the class seriously.  Maybe I sound like a baby or maybe I have the wrong attitude, but you can see why stipend money is the only incentive that will keep people in.

Other than band school is going well.  Applying to a grad school is…a pain…  I might do a second Bachelor’s cause the degree isn’t that important to me.  Don’t know yet.  Not even sure if graduation in May is gonna happen yet…although I really hope so.

The switch to a Macintosh was mainly due to the fact that all of my communication courses require them for assignments.  At first I hated using them but after being forced to do all work on them I began to love them.  I was gonna buy one last year but with all the options it would have cost just a little too much.  Let me just say I am thankful that I waited until now.  With the 13 inch MacBook Pro, it is the perfect fusion of the MacBook and the Pro.

The Track Pad:  After reading about this it seemed to be kind of a cheesy feature that probably wouldn’t work that well.  Most electronic companies tend to introduce technologies before they have time to perfect it.  Definitely not the case for the MacBook Pro. It really knows with about 95% accuracy (my guesstimate) how many fingers are touching it.  Another unique feature is that the whole trackpad is a button.  so you don’t have to move your hand down to press a mouse button.

Ports:  The Macbook Pro 13 inch includes 2 USB ports, Mini display, firewire, ethernet, and introducing the SD card slot.  USB is standard for a smaller computer.  The firewire is a great addition if you use digital video cameras or firewire hard drives.  The Mini display is cool if you have an Apple monitor but requires an adapter for a DVI port.  The SD card slot is a great addition for people who use this method of storage frequently.

Unibody:  This is a feature you learn to appreciate.  Using different laptops over the years you never really think about the construction of the body.  The MacBook Pro has two pieces; the main body and the bottom cover.  Most laptops have the body, access compartments, port compartments and a keyboard piece.  Creating the unibody has significantly strengthened the frame making it more durable and an overall more secure feeling.  Making the unibody was also made possible by carving it out of aluminum, making it the most durable laptop on the planet.  The seamless glass screen also adds durability as well as making it much easier to clean.

Battery:  Up to a whopping seven hours!  Instead of having cylindrical batteries like traditional laptops, Apple has layered the battery materials flatly so that it maximizes the charging ability.  While running applications and having the keyboard lit the computer is still getting over five hours

Everything Else:  The backlit keyboard is great!  It is so nice not having to look for the numbers in the dark.  It senses the ambient light so that it  saves power during the day, and is easily adjusted from the F5 and F6 buttons on the keyboard.  It is strange not having fan vents on the bottom but I am presuming that this is integrated with the speakers which also emanate from the screen hinge.  You don’t have to worry about covering the vent when its sitting on your lap.

Overall I have no real complaints about this computer.  There are always little things that you wish were different but nothing that will prevent me from maximizing its usefulness.  The USB ports could be a little further apart because its hard to put larger memory sticks in the slot.  Thats my only complaint.  Originally I planned on having a larger hard drive pre-installed but decided that having a 320GB external, it would be unnecessary.  I didn’t pre-install more RAM because that is rather expensive, especially since DDR3 RAM is just hitting the markets.  I found a website that is suppose to be a reliable webiste called www.crucial.com that sells Mac Ram for a good price.  I intend to bump it up to 4 GB after there is more money in my account.  Good job Apple.  This is the perfect computer for me.

If your wondering what exactly it is that I do well its a little bit of everything.  My duties include checking people in, checking people out, filling up water stations, unclogging toilets, setting up for meetings, working the front desk (store), filling vending machines and whatever else needs to be done.

So far the job has been enjoyable.  Sometimes it is crazy busy and sometimes it is amazingly boring.  One night working third shift there was a little incident with a room door that wouldn’t open but i think its blown over (fingers crossed). Most of my coworkers are nice but a few of them get on my nerves.  Other than that I like my job.

The Cast:

Kirk:  Oh captain my captain.  Chris Pine did a knock-up job taking the baton from good ol’  Shatner.  Just like the original captain Kirk, Pine displayed an array of ego, arrogance, genius, skill and womanizing.  Pine kept the same sense of rebellion but in a more modern way such as his mannerisms, his style of music and his “colorful metaphors”.

Spock:  Played by Zachary Quinto AND Leonard Nimoy.  While this movie was a rendition of the original vision of Gene Roddenberry, the most important element of original series nostalgia was Nimoy’s cameo appearance.  Zachary Quinto played the Green-Blooded Hob-Goblin just as it should have been.

McCoy:  As is the original series, McCoy is my favorite character.  Not only did Karl Urban maintain Deforest Kelly’s sarcasm but he even threw in a “I’m a doctor, not a…” statement.  The best part about this movie is that the actors used the foundational elements of the original characters while still adding unique  and new aspects.

Scotty:  Well he was cool.  Out of all the characters Scotty was my least favorite.  I’m not saying Simon Pegg did a bad job but something about the role wasn’t right.  He was extremely intelligent but at the same time he seemed kind of clumsy and ditsy.

Chekov:  He didn’t look much like the original but he certainly replaced his v’s with w’s.  Chekov was a graduate of Starfleet academy at only age 17? The original Chekov was 22 when he joined the Enterprise.  Oh well.  Anton Yelchin did a good job.

Uhura:  After 40+ years we finally learn her name.  Woot!. Zoe Saldana seemed a tad bit more sexy and outgoing than Nichelle Nichols.  The whole romance between her and Spock threw me off completely but I enjoyed the twist.  I’m glad they made this movie a little “sexier” without turning it into an American Pie in space movie.

Sulu:  Not much to say.  The fencing thing was awesome and definitely was straight from the series however, after sky-diving scene that was pretty much the end of his importance.

Nero:  Strong Villain.  Most of the actors and actresses were pretty much nobodies in this movie so its good they brought in a big name like Eric Bana.  It would have been nice to know more about these miners.  Do all miners from Romulus have tatoos? Do all Romulans from this dimension have bald heads?  Overall Nero was a strong villain.

The Enterprise:  Some shows and movies are based around an inanimate object like a car or something.  For Star Trek, the Enterprise has become a character.  This new ship was a combination of the original Enterprise and the one of Star Trek: The Motion Picture and a few more modifications.  The lines of the ship did give it a retro feel but still make it so much more modern than the old Enterprise.

Romulan Mining Vessel:  Wow! If they were looking for intimidating they were right on the money.  All of the spikes and spires just made it seem mysterious not to mention the Enterprise looked like a bug in comparison.

Overall the I thought this was the best movie I’ve seen since The Dark Knight.  The effects were great.  I have to admit that I hated Cloverfield and when i heard that JJ Abrams was directing Star Trek it scared me.  From the beginning of the movie I noticed the shaky camera but after a while I got use to it and they didn’t overdue it like they did in Cloverfield (which gave me a massive headache).  The film was fast paced, action packed and hopefully revolutionized the film industry.  One of the most shocking moments for me was the destruction of Vulcan.  I couldn’t believe my eyes.  Planet Vulcan has been such an important planet throughout the franchise that I just couldn’t believe it was gone.

If you want to see something new and different this is the movie for you.  Star Trek has brought a new spark of life to the franchise but at the same time honored the original very well.

The soundtrack was released for download on Amazon.com as well as the itunes Store by Varese Sarabande.

This new movie has quite a bit of expectations to live up to in relation to past Star Trek movie and television scores.  The main Star Trek fanfare debut in 1966 by Alexander courage has been one of the most recognized music clips of the century.

In 1979 Jerry Goldsmith took the helm for Star Trek: The Motion Picture.  Jerry Goldsmith created an entire new theme that really gave the Enterprise a majestic induction for its refit.  This theme was used for The Final Frontier, the last three Next Generation movies, and an altered version for the entire Next Generation series.

Star Trek traditionally has used very classical/orchestral type scores which seemed like it would be out of character for Michael Giacchino who in the past has written very Jazzy sounding scores (Mission Impossible III, Incredibles).  This however was not the case.  Giacchino did a great job sticking to the tradition.

What most people don’t understand, is that this is not just a recreation of the original Star Trek series.  JJ Abrams is a storyteller and this movie is his rendition of Gene Roddenberry’s vision of the future.  If your a fan looking for the original Star Trek themes to be heard throughout the movie than you will be disappointed.  Don’t be upset.  Giacchino created an entirely original score but for the end credits he did honor the original series by including a new arrangement of Alexander Courage’s original fanfare and theme.

Overall the soundtrack was great.  The action sequences were extremely suspenseful as well as the work done with the low brass.  Having not seen the movie its hard to be 100% sure about how all of the music fits into place.  Giacchino has composed a very heroic theme that is placed throughout the score and from what I understand this is the theme for Jim Kirk.

The strings seem to be very dominant in this score although he brings out the low brass which is not typical for most movie scores.  The end credits really give the trumpets and horns a chance to belt out the Courage theme.

I had high expectations for the score for this movie in light of the past composers.  Michael Giacchino has pleased my ear by not deviating too much from traditional Star Trek scores.  I’m sure when I see the movie tomorrow my mind will be focused on the story line and special effects but it will be interesting to see how the music blends with the film.

I started the fall semester thinking that I was gonna be getting a job at the mall so I decided not to do Collegiate Chorale.  Well my hopes were up for nothing which means I didn’t get the job and I ended up in Chorale anyways.  About 2 weeks later Dr. Dizzle approached me about joining Young Americans (sorry i dont publish real professor names but im sure you know who it is).

If you don’t know what Young Americans is, then I must explain.  10 singers wearing silly costumes singing old silly songs in front of old people for four months out of the year.  Those of you who know me also know that this would seem very out of character for me and they would be right.  With much reluctance Dr. Dizzle really needed a bass singer and I needed more money so I said yes.  Let me just say that it has been an amazing experience and I am much more comfortable in front of people. Everything in my life I told myself I wouldn’t   do I end up doing anyways.  God knows how to humble the heart.

I have come to be much closer to all my fellow singers in both groups, most of which I consider among my best friends.

My class load was pretty heavy along with the extra curricular activites.  Digital photography was a lot of fun and I am so upset that digital photo 2 wont fit into the schedule for next semester .  Publishing Design was awesome as well.  I felt that the class would be an opportunity for me to apply some things from class to my church.  So far I am working on designing the church new visitor brochures, a custom church logo and a newsletter.

Webcast Media Writing was another story.  At first I really didn’t know what to think about the class.  It just didn’t make sense to me as to its importance.  After being in the class for a while and learning what is going on with the newspaper industry I now understand why webcast writing is important.  The internet is the newspaper now.  It ended up being a great class too.

I also took a Bible class called Literary Acts in the Gospel of John or something like that.  This class was awesome.  My previous Bible courses at Warner left something to be desired but this class made me want to read the Bible more.  It gave an in depth study of the whole book and I learned a whole lot.

It was a great school year.  Hopefully I will be graduating on time which will be almost exactly a year from now.  Hopefully this job at Masterpiece Gardens will come through and I can get a new computer.  This one is about to eat itself.

1.  Buy a planner – Go through your syllabus at the beginning of the semester and write down the dates that everything is due.  Make a habit to look at it at least once a day so you don’t lose track of assignments.  Many people procrastinate because they simply forget about it.

2.  Make your own “due date” – If you know your assignment isn’t due for a while make a date that is at least a week before the actual due date and “due” it then.  This will also give you some extra time to tweak it and turn in the best possible work.

3.  Find a quiet place – Don’t do your work around friends or in your room where you know there are distractions.  Instead go to one of those back tables in the library where you can be alone with your assignment.  Leave your phone and your ipod in your room unless you work better listening to music.

4.  Plan early with groups – Group projects can be easy because everybody is doing different elements of the project but sometimes they can be a hassle.  Meet with your group ASAP because group procrastination is even more difficult to manage than individual procrastination.

5.  Dispense your studying – Make yourself read one chapter a week the whole semester.  This will keep you up to date on what you are learning and will help you remember when it comes time for the final exam.  Even if the teacher doesn’t require that you read the textbook, it can help reinforce things to make more sense.

Everybody wants to go to fun places over the summer like amusement parks and shows but in this economy it is important to keep recreational costs to a minimum.  Here are some productive activities to do over the summer that will make the fall come quicker.

1. Find Your Textbooks Online – It will save you money but cost you time which is what you want during the summer.     Take your time looking for the lowest price.  E-mail your professors and ask them the name of the book, the edition, authors and other publication info.  This could be an opportunity to sell your old textbooks as well.

2.  Get Involved in Your Church – Besides attending a regular church service, there are other things to do that will  result in self gratification as well as serving God.  Volunteer to help with the children’s programs or helping the grounds keeper.  Your pastor might even let you go with him on a trip to visit sick people in the hospital.  In Florida there are many retired folks and they all like to see young people.

3.  When in Doubt, Throw it Out! – It’s good to have sentimental objects but if you have too many it isn’t special anymore and the person that gave it to you will probably never know.  This is a perfect time to only keep the things you need especially if you are going to be getting your own place.  Use this time to go through your belongings and get rid of things you don’t need.  Ask yourself: Am I ever going to use/wear this again? Do I know somebody that would? Can I get any money for it?

4.  Prepare for Your Career – If you plan on getting a good job after graduation its a good time to tweak your portfolios, update your resumes and begin researching for your future.  This can be an opportunity to be creative and productive at the same time even if your not graduating for a few years.

5.  If You Do Have A Job… – And you like spending money, try setting spending goals.  Allow a certain amount of money for tithing, saving and spending.  Instead of spending money on a bazillion little things, save your money and buy something that could help your future.  For example: A new computer (Mac hopefully), a new camera, new software or maybe even a new car.