I’ve been to Red Robin four times in the past week. I went on Thursday with my mom and sister, Saturday with Tori and Lucy, yesterday with my dad and sister, and tonight with Tori, Jessica, and Anthony. This place is starting to become my new Casa Grande it seems. See I could go to Casa a whole week in a row in the Summer and not think anything of it. However, I never, ever get tired of Casa. I get my standard “Numero Cinco” everytime, too. Still can’t ever get tired of it. It’s two soft beef tacos with double the rice, no beans.

Red Robin, on the other hand, gets old after a while. I get one of two things there. It’s either a bacon cheeseburger with all the fixin’s, or the crispy chicken tender salad with ranch. I’m getting tired of both. See I would always go out with the intent of going to Casa, but not with Red Robin. I’ve just seemed to end up there with whoever I’m eating out with lately.

I joked with Jenn, who’s seemingly always working when I’m there, last time that she was there almost more than me lately. Our server tonight asked if we had been to Red Robin before, and I just laughed and told her it was my fourth time this week. Her response? “Oh, God!” Priceless. It’s time for a new “usual” place to eat at all the time.

P.S. - Pictures from the APVA Award Ceremony and meeting the governor will be posted tomorrow!

There’s an article about me on the front of the Flair section (page E1) today. This is the online version.

State group honors teen for historic preservation

By BILL LOHMANN
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

As a cold rain fell outside, Trevor Dickerson sat in the back pew of the old, unheated church and savored the warmth of success.

“That’s how he got on our radar screen,” APVA Executive Director Elizabeth Kostelny said of Dickerson’s work with Springfield Baptist Church. “But the reason the award panel decided to recognize him in this way was really the body of work. That sounds sort of funny when you’re talking about a 19-year-old, but he developed this passion at such an early age.

Outstanding Public Sector Preser vation Project Award: The Virginia Capitol Restoration and Extension
Outstanding Commercial Project Award: Commonwealth Architects for 1840 W. Broad St.
Outstanding Service in Community Preservation Award: Loudoun County for The Loudoun County Historic District Interactive Web site (www.loudoun.gov/historic) and Mary Jordan and the Spencer-Penn School Preservation Organization for The Spencer-Penn Centre, Spencer
Outstanding Domestic Project Award: Aaron Wunsch and Preservation Piedmont for the James D. Nimmo House, Charlottesville
Outstanding Adaptive Use Award: Warm Springs Investment Company for Old Dairy Community Center, Warm Springs
Outstanding Historic Preservation Research Award: Thomas Finderson, Carrollton

So I was trying to connect to a Windows server today when I noticed the icon for Windows computers. It’s the blue screen of death that comes up when Windows isn’t working right. Funny, no? And I always thought Macs liked Windows even though it doesn’t go the other way around. You probably have to be a geek to find the humor in this. Just take a look at the screenshot:

I had somewhat of a movie marathon tonight. I got dragged to see 27 Dresses unfortunately, and while it was a good movie for a chick flick, I still don’t think it merits a review.

Anyway, later tonight I saw Cloverfield. The entire thing was shot a la Blair Witch Project, meaning camcorder-like, shaky, uncut footage, sort of like a documentary. The whole thing is shown from start to finish as being played by the Department Of Defense and the title says that it’s recovered footage from “the area formerly known as “Central Park.”" The movie starts out at a going away party with a bunch of friends. Fear quickly sets in, though, when the power goes out and a huge earthquake-like shaking occurs. Curious of what’s going on, the friends venture outside to find explosions going off everywhere. Four of them venture back to rescue a trapped friend in her high-rise apartment building. Though she’s still clinging to life, they all end up dying anyway when the Army decides to nuke the entire city, the only thing that it seems will rid the city of what I can only describe as a “raptosaurus” creature that’s just kind of flailing around, munching on a few people here and there and generally whacking its tail into skyscrapers and making a mess.

This movie leaves much to be desired. First off, where the heck did this thing come from? In War Of The Worlds, at least you know the “things” were beamed down inside a bunch of lightning bolts. The movie ends when the city is nuked, and that’s it. Although it was really well-made for what it was, some background information or at least a scene or two after the tape ends would be useful. The movie doesn’t have enough credibility or content to merit a sequel, but needed some kind, in fact any kind, of ending.

Even though the story line was good, the theme is just so overused. A monster attacking New York City? Wow, that’s completely original. Since many of you are probably enticed to see this film because of your sheer curiosity about what the creature is, I’d say save your money, because it’s nothing revolutionary.

Overall Rating:

So the first week of the Spring 2008 semester is over, and I really, really think I’ve turned things around for the better. My entire perception of college has changed. Last semester I didn’t put nearly as much time and effort into it, but now I am and I can tell I’m going to do a whole lot better. I’ve also settled into the routine of things and gotten a good group of friends. Just wanted to touch on that. More to come.

Just enough to look pretty. This is a view from my backyard looking
out towards the golf course.
Mobile post sent by Trevor Dickerson using Utterz. Replies.

This is my first mobile post via Utterz. I explain what it is in the MP3 below. Give it a listen and you’ll understand. Enjoy my rant on textbooks.

Mobile post sent by Trevor Dickerson using Utterz.  Replies.  mp3

I made another video to promote Deep Run’s 2008 Marathon Dance. This just might be the best video I’ve made yet and I will definitely keep it in my portfolio for future use. Check it out and let me know what you think!

Apple CEO Steve Jobs just finished his keynote at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco. Apple released all sorts of exciting new things. I watched a video stream of it online. Here are my takes on what was released:

First up was Time Capsule. It’s an AirPort Extreme base station (wireless N router) that also backs up your computer’s contents wirelessly. It comes in 500 GB and 1 TB versions.

Next up was iTunes Movie Rentals. This was expected. All major movie studios are on board to offer newly released movies for $3.99 and older movies for only $2.99. The movie is yours for 30 days, but once you start watching it you have 24 hours to finish. Downloads take only about 30 seconds over broadband and are available in DVD quality or HD for $1 more.

iPhone and iPod Touch software updates were next. The Google Maps feature on the iPhone finally has real-time GPS using cellular triangulation (finds the three closest cell towers to you and determines your position pretty accurately). You can now send text messages to multiple people at the same time, too. It’s about time. Web clips now let you make applications out of websites you visit that are already optimized for iPhone (for example, I use the iPhone versions of Facebook and Fandango). You can now put these and any number of other websites on the home screen. You can also now have multiple home screens and reorder your icons in any way you desire. Nice move, Apple. The only thing missing? With all these cool features, I still cant send or receive multimedia (picture/video) messages? Strange, no? The iPod Touch is finally receiving what iPhones already have: Mail, Stocks, Notes, and Weather applications. It should have had these in the first place, but Apple is charging $20 for them. Why?

Apple TV saw a major upgrade. Not the hardware itself, but a huge software update. You can now buy music, watch YouTube videos, rent iTunes movies in full HD, etc. all without a computer. Finally, this once dud of a product in Apple’s otherwise excellent product lineup should see a much more positive consumer response.

Finally, the much rumored MacBook Air was introduced. It’s being dubbed the world’s thinnest notebook, measuring only 0.76 inches thin. Incredible. It comes in an 80 GB 1.8 inch hard drive version (same size drive used in current iPods) or a much faster 64 GB SSD (solid state (flash memory) drive). There’s no optical disk drive, but you can wirelessly install software from other computers on your network. The track pad even has multi-touch just like the iPhone! Very cool. I’m in awe at just how thin, sleek, and beautiful this thing is. I know, I’m a full-fledged Apple geek.

A few things that many people were expected but weren’t announced were a new iPhone model and a Mac notebook docking station similar to the look of the current iMac model.

One thing I don’t understand is Apple’s logic on giving away a big update for the iPhone (as they should) as well as a huge overhaul software-wise for Apple TV, but yet they’re charging $20 for applications that should have originally shipped with the iPod Touch? That makes no sense at all, and I bet the update will become free when people realize how little logic there is in their strategy.

I didn’t think Apple could top last year’s Macworld Expo Keynote (where the iPhone was announced), but I was wrong. Great job, Apple.

Well who didn’t see this coming? Surprise! Apparently Richmond is losing it’s minor league baseball team, the Richmond Braves. Mayor Doug Wilder is most likely to blame. The city scrapped plans to build a new stadium that would have almost certainly gotten the Braves to stay in Richmond. It was supposed to be constructed either in Shockoe Bottom or the riverfront, either of which would have greatly enhanced the city’s charm and character. Doug Wilder, while facilitating new programs and initiatives to improve the city in many ways, has also hurt it in many others. This is probably one of the biggest.

The Richmond City Council needs a major overhaul. Heck, it seems that half of the council has been in legal trouble or even jailed in the last four or five years. Either way, Mayor Wilder is going to have to face some tough questions in the coming days and weeks about his decision to scrap a new city stadium.

A press conference scheduled for 3:30 this afternoon will supposedly confirm the rumors of the team’s decision to move to Georgia, near the parent club (the Atlanta Braves). If the rumors are true, the Braves will leave in 2009.

One Richmond resident who voiced his opinion on the news yesterday said he wasn’t surprised the Braves would leave because “the only attractions at The Diamond are the Diamond Duck and two dollar specials on hot dogs and draft beer.” I couldn’t agree more. Come on, Wilder. Get it together.