What has happened to our holidays?  We all know about the true meaning of Christmas and Thanksgiving, but we have become so material that we forget to celebrate the real meanings.  Sure, it’s to celebrate Christ’s birth and the plenty enjoyed by the Pilgrims and Native Americans, but what about the other meanings?  We eat and go shopping the day after Thanksgiving, in preparation for Christmas.  Should we not stop and give thanks for everything we already have, instead of feeling greedy the day after a holiday about giving thanks, and go shopping to get more stuff?  The Christmas holiday has become all about stuff.  We shop for and purchase stuff so that our stuff will hopefully make other people feel better.  Then we want to get stuff in return for our given stuff.  We need to remember to give thanks and try to spend as much time enjoying our time with our families for the Holidays, instead of giving them stuff to enjoy their time with.  I’m not telling you to do away with gift giving, but just remember and celebrate the deeper, more important reasons for  the season.

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I am thankful for:

1. My family, especially my parents
2. Computers
3. My religion
4. The internet (the good stuff on it, anyways)
5. My blog
6. My talents
7. TENNIS!
8. My job
9. My knowledge
10. My saxophones and tennis rackets
11. This wonderful planet

These things are not in order of importance, but they would probably be mostly tied for first second or third slots.

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Everyone has his or her own system of beliefs.  Whether it is a belief in the spirit of Christmas, or the belief that God created the earth, everyone clings to these truths forged in the mind.  Beliefs are based on childhood memories and experiences, as well as trial and error experiences in day to day living.  They continue to change throughout our lives.  We all have automatic beliefs that we learn from an early age:  don’t touch the stove, it’s hot, don’t drink and drive, you will crash.  People believe these things, but unfortunately it takes trial and error for some people, even though they believe that the stove is hot.  The line between believing and knowing is sometimes very thin, while other times it is very thick.  People believe the stove is hot, but some need more evidence to know the stove is hot.  People know that drunk driving will cause accidents, but they do it anyway.  They believe that they will be able to drive safely.  Our beliefs can be based on the knowledge of others combined with our own personal experiences.  Sometimes beliefs are taken simply from what we assume from the examination of a situation.  So beliefs come from personal and outside knowledge and advice, as well as personal assumptions and theories.  Belief and knowledge come hand in hand; our knowledge builds our belief and our belief builds our knowledge.

            As defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, belief is a state or habit of mind in which trust or confidence is placed in some person or thing.  Belief can either be a state of mind, or a habit of the mind.  When someone has been cut by a knife, he knows that knives are dangerous, and forms a habit, or belief, in his mind.  When experienced, one believes, and finally knows.  How are belief and knowledge different?  Belief comes from trust and confidence, not hard evidence.  Belief is the step just before knowledge is gained.  We have confidence in the ideas and experiences of others, usually people of authority.  Another definition, from Dictionary.com, puts belief in a slightly different light:  confidence in the truth or existence of something not immediately susceptible to rigorous proof.  This is where the assumptions come in.  Sometimes we just have to believe something.  We have to believe that if we jump off a cliff, we will die.  We can’t prove it, but we believe it.  This is where the line between knowledge and belief is indefinitely drawn.  Knowledge is gained through practice and experience, it is a skill formed through trial and error.  Belief is an unproved, usually assumed acceptance of suggested facts or ideas.  Belief comes from so many sources that it would be impossible to track where one certain belief comes from.

            Belief is usually associated with religious meaning and is used countless times at church and religious activities.  At church, people believe in things not seen.  There are countless stories of belief in the Bible, where one person knows from experience and others believe on their word.  Religion is the most common place to find the word belief in use, but there are also many other uses of the word throughout society.  One can believe in the government, or more commonly, disbelieve in the government.  The song by musical group The Monkeys, I’m a Believer, has the line in it, “Now I’m a believer”.  People use belief to display their imperfect knowledge, but willingness to follow an idea or person.  The government example, for instance, presents a good situation.  People do not have a perfect knowledge of any government institution, but they will vote for and follow their governmental leaders with the belief that they will represent their needs and wants.  Many politicians use their belief that change can happen to dodge their promises when they are elected.  If they believe and their beliefs are proved to be misguided, it is much better than if their knowledge is proved wrong.  A politician can believe that his or her party will make a better America and publicly state their belief.  After their term is up, they will be in better shape if only their beliefs are disproved and not their promises.

            The phrase “I Believe” has been used by countless groups, notably UFO watchers, when they state their belief in something that seems fanatical or extreme.  Belief is used to describe feelings about something or someone without pure knowledge and fact to back it up.  Belief is highly emotional and mental, and usually requires little physical action.  Faith is directly related to belief, and they have very similar definitions.  Usually belief and faith can derive from each other in the mind, and sometimes they can be interchanged.  Usually faith is a much stronger emotional word, and shows a stronger conviction of belief in something or someone.  Beliefs are generally associated with traditions and past experiences.  Children believe anything and everything they are told until a certain age, when they sometimes put these beliefs to the test.  Beliefs are constantly changing and morphing into new beliefs and eventually knowledge.  Religious beliefs are the least likely to transform into knowledge, as these beliefs are usually founded from a young age and cannot be proved unless a miraculous event or point of enlightenment comes along to prove some beliefs true.  Beliefs are founded from some sort of authoritative ideal or person, as we look up to and believe in these.

Little kids will believe almost anything, until they are tricked so many times that they begin to question their basic system of beliefs.  I had this experience as a young child, slowly discovering that everything I had believed in slowly crumbled under the weight of reality.  The Tooth Fairy was the first to go, as kids at school began to talk.  I knew it seemed improbable, but my belief was so strong that at first I didn’t want to let go.  After I did, every other false idol of my childhood came crashing down.  Santa Claus became mere legend.  The Easter Bunny seemed more obvious now.  My beliefs had changed, and I was a new believer in the real world.  Yet, as I tried to impose my new found beliefs on my younger sisters, my parents discouraged me. 

When my belief system, basic and childlike was tested and failed, I began to search for my new beliefs.  My religious beliefs were founded upon what my parents had taught me from an early age.  My new beliefs of the world founded my moral conscience and affect how I view the knowledge that I am presented with.  Belief is a strong conviction in something unseen, unproved, or unknown.  Beliefs are not natural or easily gained, but are discovered and created through life’s experiences and trials.  Just as a child learns that Santa isn’t real and his beliefs are changed, our beliefs are changed throughout life as we experience and see more.  Our assumptions become beliefs, only to be eventually proved or disproved by another experience.

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I have decided to go minimalist, as you can see from my new blog theme.  I have decided to take the 100 things challenge from http://www.guynameddave.com/100-thing-challenge.html that link.  I am going to be a little less strict than Dave, but I am going to try and do this for a while and see how it works out.  I hope I can do this, especially with Christmas coming up.  I have asked for only a few things for Christmas, but I will have to really work to achieve this goal.

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Sometimes people obsess about a subject or study.  When the obsession becomes a slight addiction and a fun hobby, you have become a nerd.  Because I am a nerd, I have some experience in this area.  I consider myself a computer nerd, just one of many types of nerds.  Although there are many kinds of nerds, the process for becoming a nerd is similar for every type.  Many of you have seen these nerds wandering the halls; unfashionable, oblivious to social gossip, always thinking about something.  Some even carry around calculators, unreasonable amounts of books, PDA’s, and other nerd paraphernalia.  I am guilty of all of the above, and will likely have any of these items on any given day.  I will discuss becoming a nerd in general; the process of how to become a specific nerd type, such as computer nerds or English nerds, will only differ slightly.  The rewards of becoming a nerd are great, and after you have completed the steps there are many opportunities to earn large amounts of money in your chosen field.

When trying to become a nerd, there are several paths that one can take.  The first step is determining what your new obsession will be.  It must be something that you can become passionate about.  My father works as a CIO of a Mortgage Company.  As a consequence we have always had the latest and greatest in computers.  This sealed my fate of becoming a computer nerd.  Whatever type of nerd you are, try to base it off your parent’s, or other close family member’s, line of work.  If this does not appeal to you, try exploring areas of interest to you by visiting places of employment.  Once you have chosen your focus, you are well on your way to becoming a nerd.  The next several steps can be done in any order, although the order in which they are placed is recommended.  The road will be long and hard, full of late nights with your new obsession.  Slowly and surely, this obsession will become an addiction and a hobby, done for fun rather than money.

The next step on the road of becoming a nerd is forsaking your old lifestyle of popularity and social attachments.  Unfortunately nerds cannot be popular.  I had the lucky fortune of being unpopular after beginning elementary school.  I was destined to be a nerd for the rest of my life.  I did have friends, and still do, but many of these friends can also be classified as nerds.  Some of you are not as luckily unpopular as I was.  This step is extremely important to truly turning to the nerd side of life.  Begin hanging out with your soon to be nerd colleagues.  If you can, try to begin this transformation during the summer.  During this time, social relationships are either made to last or broken forever.  If you are invited to a party, you must not go.  Tell your friends you are too busy with your new field of study.  This will make the process of abandonment much easier.  Be aware of gossip and other rumors that will spread about you during this process.  Although they will be hurtful, you will no longer pay attention to them as you are studying.  Try to ignore these comments about your new line of clothing or advanced calculator, as this gossip will fade eventually.  It is at this point that many falter and go back to their previous lifestyle, hurt by comments from old friends.

Changing your classes to a more rigorous schedule is a requirement.  How else can you become educated and passionate about your chosen field if you do not take several assorted classes in that subject?  Take as many classes as you can in the subject, and in subjects which will help you achieve greater knowledge of your topic.  Online classes, where they are offered, are recommended so a higher understanding can be achieved.  Doing your transformation during the summer is, again, recommended.  This will allow you to change your classes with ease, as well as getting a head start on research and progress to becoming a nerd.

I work during the summer as a programmer.  The other programmers that I work with seem to have nothing to talk about but algorithms, math, and programming.  I began to fit in among the outcasts.  This is another indication of your journey of becoming a nerd.  An occupation during the summer and after school is guaranteed to bring success.  This will allow you to interact with mature nerds, people at a higher level of being a nerd.  Being paid to live your new lifestyle will bring motivation and excitement, likely dispersing any doubts you may have had up to this point.  I found myself discussing news issues with my fellow nerds and coworkers.  We made jokes about programming and algorithms during the work day.  Pranks were played via e-mail, usually involving something done with a program written to be funny.  This was the point of my true transformation and metamorphosis into a nerd.  Although this employment brought my enlightenment, there are several years of conversion that I have not covered in my life.

 I began to tell nerdy jokes to girls I dated or hung out with.  The blank stares were another sign of my progression.  Everyone tells me just how nerdy I am, and I enjoy these compliments.  There was one girl that I remember that would not call me a nerd.  She believed that this was a huge insult to be called that.  I tried to correct her and let her know that I was glad to be a nerd.  This is a very important point.  You must believe that you have begun to become a nerd, and you must be happy about it.  Remember, there are six figure salaries in your future.  You can still function in some sort of social network, as long as you are socializing with fellow nerds.  But be wary, there is hard work in your future; you have to keep going.  Don’t give up and don’t give in to slacking off.

Slacking off, but keeping up with your obsession is one of the worst things you can do.  This is known as becoming a geek.  Don’t travel down this path, as it will only bring you strange friends and weird habits.  You will be horribly obsessed with your newfound passion, and nearly everyone will think of you as strange.  Contrary to popular belief, nerds and geeks are two separate parts of society.  Nerds are obsessed with something that they know a lot about, while geeks are only obsessed and pretend to know something about what they obsess over.  If you can avoid becoming a geek and stay on track as a nerd, there will be great rewards, as this is one of the toughest obstacles to overcome.

Once you are comfortable in your new societal status as a nerd, you are almost completely finished with the metamorphosis.  The next step to achieve the level of true nerd requires discipline and knowledge.  You need to apply yourself to your studies and achieve high grade point averages.  Make you sure you take the ACT and/or SAT tests so you can prepare.  Begin researching on various websites so you can achieve this final goal.  You need to find colleges that will help you hone your skills as a nerd.  Find the best college for you, apply, and hope for the best.  When you get into college, you can complete the transformation for your academic purposes.  This is the part of being a nerd that brings the rewards.  When you have a diploma in, say, computer science, you can begin to earn large amounts of money at a place of employment.  This is when the summer job previously mentioned comes in.  You already have job experience to put on a résumé, as well as a prestigious diploma from your college education.  College is the best way to truly become a nerd.  However, the transformation is not entirely complete in the social aspect of your life.

The World Wide Web is one of the best resources you have to become a nerd in your social life.  No matter what kind of nerd you have become, the internet has endless amounts of resources available at your finger tips.  Join forums, clubs, groups, networks, and discussions that deal with your topic of obsession.  When other friends from high school try to access any of your social network homepages, make sure they are riddled with links to Slashdot, Linux websites, and prestigious blogs about your chosen subject.  Your friends will likely no longer visit your pages, while other nerds in your field will visit your page often and leave comments and feedback.  Feedback like this will help you to become a prominent nerd online, someone that people can trust for answers.  At this point, you have truly become a nerd.

You will be making at least higher five figure salaries when you have reached the point of nerd enlightenment.  You will have plenty to do at home after work with your obsessive hobby.  You have now become a nerd, and there is no going back now.  You now have the power to raise your children into a new generation of nerds to bring academic glory to your family.  Earlier, while in high school, you may have found girls hard to come by as a nerd.  This will not be the problem, as when these girls grow up they realize they would rather have someone smart and successful as opposed to popular.  Your hard work has finally paid off.  A beautiful wife, high salary, kids to carry on your name as a nerd, and a great hobby and online following can all be yours, if you stick with it and don’t give up.  Remember to avoid the road to becoming a geek, and don’t go back to your old way of life.  There will be much hard work in the coming years, but I have faith that the ultimate transformation into a prominent nerd can be achieved, and should be your goal throughout your schooling career.

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I have decided from about one day that I like the new functionality in Windows 7.  The effects and new features are pretty cool, but I wish my older laptop had better graphics on it so I could run Emerald themes and Visual Effects on Ubuntu 9.10…  I will compare more on other internal improvements, as there have been several fundamental changes to the base of both operating system.  I have also decided that we are all going back to minimalistic white, as there are several graphics in both operating systems that are very minimalistic in nature.

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We are upgrading our laptop to Windows 7, and I just upgraded my other laptop to Ubuntu 9.10. Maybe I will do a comparison of these two, unless I am too lazy…

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I have entered a few random contests to win various things, and it is really fun… until you lose.

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