Tim Campbell

Incredible Apple Service.

2008-12-16T16:00:00.000-08:00

I flat out love Apple's service. My cracked screen was originally going to cost $750 and I already had one genius tell me Apple would never cover it. After a second try and a small white lie, the second genius took my computer in for repairs on the screen and Apple returned it to my house within five business days, with a plastic component fixed and all the work done for free!

New screen, new top-cover, fast shipping directly to Beaverton. I am thoroughly impressed and happy. Now I just need to get some new covers and screens that will protect my Macbook. I figure Apple comes out ahead in this little deal because they now have me for 2 more years with Applecare.

In other news: I'm home for the break and quickly reminded of how lazy I get when I don't have a super tight schedule. At school I operate pretty well because I have a bunch of stuff to get done. Now at home, I have some things that I SHOULD do but continue to push them off. Time for Christmas planning.

My Wonderful Katie!

2008-09-30T15:14:00.000-07:00

So I really hope everything works out but I might get to go home this weekend and see Katie! It will be just over a month since we've seen each other. Very very excited.

Very very excited as well to see the Vice-Presidential debate on Thursday. Can't wait to see the Lipstick Pitbull.

Reading and Residents

2008-09-30T12:38:00.000-07:00

So I just finished Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, which turned out t be a very good book. Disregarding the misinterpretation that Huxley predicted the future and path we are going down as a society, Brave New World described a completely neutral world driven by human predetermination. Furthermore, Huxley places character into his creation with varying degrees of compliancy. From the product of emotional and genetic engineering to the one person born outside of the constructed society. Very cool book that doesn't hint at the future, only shows us that God should still be in charge of Creation.

In other news, after almost three weeks of RA training and a hectic move in, classes have finally started and things are getting all settled in. I'm taking either 15 or 17 credits (depending on if I get this environmental class) on top of RA and Formula SAE (car club). In terms of classes I have: Chemistry, Intro to Technical Writing, Matrix Algebra, and Engineering Statics. This means I'll be busy busy busy.

As far a residents go, I have the Crew (rowing) floor along with a bunch of other really cool, mostly freshman students. I feel like the shortest person on my floor, just because most of the crew guys are like 6' 4". I'm really glad that the floor is going well, everyone seems to be finding their place.

All for now.

Why I'm an Engineering student

2008-09-06T19:03:00.000-07:00

I like to think that Engineering is a field of study that is hard to copy or fake.
The online comic (one of my favorites) backs me up :-)

http://xkcd.com/451/

Slacklining Side notes

2008-09-05T08:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my friend Mikk and I went to blow off some steam from R.A. training by slacklining in the quad. And, as usual, people stop by asking what it is and how to try it. Most people don't understand what the heck we're doing or event he point of it. For example, someone called the police on Mikk the other day because (as the officer told him) the caller had thought he was walking on air.

Yesterday produced such an interesting crowd that I needed to blog about it. While slacklining, Mikk and I first had a group of 4 Japanese foreign exchange students come over and ask what we were doing. Then, two white-shirt-black-pants Mormon missionaries who identified themselves as Elder Barrett and Elder Shmelder (I couldn't remember the other guy's name) came by.

Here's where things get weird. They NEVER talked about mormonism to us! It was actually kind of cool to see these two guys just wanting to try slacklining out, and NOT hand us brochures. And so we stood there, in the quad, with four giggling Japanese school girls and two Mormon missionaries. Just slacklining. That's one thing I love about this pastime: its power to draw people in and remove any ulterior motives.

So, to avoid awkward-turned-heated discussions with Mandatory Missionaries, set up a slackline and let people be people.

Vomiting Like Crazy

2008-08-28T17:21:00.000-07:00

So I figured I would end my weeklong lack of blogging with a little warning about eating at Burgerville. I recently had a crispy chicken sandwich on the way up to Mt. Hood and by the time we got to our cabin I began feeling sick. All evening I had some indigestion and frequented the bathroom. Hoping to sleep it off, I went to bed at an early hour of 11 o'clock. By 12 I had woken up with that sensation.

Do you know that sensation? The one where you know this little battle between you and your digestive tract will NOT end in a victory for the allies. Anyways, I managed to hurl everything in several bouts with my head over the toilet. I blog about this because vomiting has several consequences. For one, this was the first time I had Ralphed for at least a year (which was completely made up in the volume of vomit). Also, I felt almost perfect after my upchuck adventure, just showing that I really needed to. Finally, i just realized I'm blogging about throwing up. Awesome.

P.S. Mountain was really fun.

Why I love Mac Leopard

2008-08-19T17:56:00.000-07:00

So I was just ran into a predicament. Katie received an .xlsx file, the new format for the Excel Microsoft Office package. xlsx is incredibly annoying because Office 04, the downloadable add-on, or Google docs will not open it. Also, a mac application that promised to convert the file cost twenty bucks! Katie was frustrated and I was stumped.

Here's where Leopard comes in. Even though Excel wouldn't open the file, I was able to use the Quick View function from the Finder window. This brought up a window, allowing me to take a screen shot and print it for Katie!

This may be a cheap way to get the prints for Katie but it worked well and I'm very content with Apple's ease of use.

It's the details that makes Mac the best :-)

Books, books, books.

2008-08-09T22:30:00.000-07:00

Well I recently finished Omnivores Dilemma and I was more than impressed. The book, by Michael Polland, tracks America's three main food systems: Industrial, Organic, and Forager. Beginning each section I was unimpressed, the Industrial food system is basically what you hear from everyone. All of our food is made from corn, which is a terrible commodity, and ends up ruining our ecosystems and bodies. Somehow though, Polland does a very good job at explaining exactly how bad most meat is for you.

In the organic system, Polland blasts all but a few organic farms by showing how they make false claims of happy, free roaming cows. To describe an ideal food system, he showcases a completely sustainable farm and describes what farming should be.

The forager system is, honestly, kind of boring and completely unreasonable. But, in my final review, I loved Omnivores Dilemma and it actually might change my eating habits. While I agree that we need the industrial food system to provide for those who can't pay a premium for food I also think families that can afford premium food should make an effort to find it.

Ironically, I've found myself at McDonald's even more than normal this summer.

Right now I'm about 60 pages into God's Politics. It's a decent book but, so far, Jim Wallis is too vague and lacks serious scripture. There are good concepts but he keeps talking about what he's going to talk about in the book. Lame. However, I'm told myself I'm going to read it so I'll finish it in my unemployed free time.

P.S. I don't actually expect anyone to read this ;-)

Katie's Board

2008-08-08T09:39:00.000-07:00

As promised, here is my entry on Katie's board. She told me she had learned how to longboard so I figured I would make her own board. It is about 4" longer than the first board I made, which allows for a wider stance; also, I added a stripe on the front because the grip tape wasn't long enough.

Here are pictures:

No Updates!

2008-08-06T22:33:00.000-07:00

Oh no! I haven't updated for a while. I swear my life isn't this boring. I promise promise promise I'll post very soon.
Here's what I've been dying to talk about:

1. The longboard I made for Katie (with pictures) and future plans

2. My latest book escapades, including The Omnivores Dilemma and the beginning of God's Politics

3. Observations about the connection between the economy and a certain church's financial health

All will come soon, but tonight I get to hang out with Katie!

Rogue Boards is now in business.

2008-07-30T23:15:00.000-07:00

Well I did it! I have successfully build myself a longboard (technically it's a short board but it still serves the same purpose) complete with grip tape, proper bold holes, and painted bottom. Next I have to buy trucks and wheels because my friends Trevor and Mike already got me bearings in anticipation of my homemade board. Amazingly, the board only cost me about 15 dollars in materials.

The board is 1/2 in thick, consisting of two layers of birch plywood, and a double ended style. In the gluing phase, I curved it to produce a great arch. The board rides amazingly well and flexes like crazy.

Already in the works is another board for Austin Fisher (because he and I worked on the first one together) and possible one other board. This means Rogue Boards is now in business! Here's my theory, if you want a board, tell me what you want and I'll build it. Anything from 2 to 5 feet and any style or painting (spray paint with stencils) on the bottom. Prices can go from the cost of materials, which is about $15, to about $50 if you want to count labor at $10/hour. Basically, a board would be $40-50 but if you really want to, I'll build it for the cost of materials.

Here are some pictures of Board #001:

If Gert Boyle twittered and rode bicycles.

2008-07-27T23:02:00.000-07:00

Well the title says it all. First, one of the things I hate about twitter are the conversations. I don't mean to rag on Austin and Chelse but they're dating and have a full text conversation over twitter! I'm all for accountability and a public relationship but there's a line.

Also, all these conversations pile up when your phone dies or loses service. That means when I'm gone for the weekend and only turned my phone on this evening, I had 50 twitters waiting for me. Well, to be fair, it was 49. Finally, I managed to learn about turning off your mobile updates only after this twitter-public-conversation-fiasco happened.

I always love going downtown on bikes with Kurt. After lunch (and a Columbia tour) with Paul Frazier, Kurt and I biked from the zoo down into Portland. We rode all through downtown and stopped for syrupy snow (shaved ice) in the Pearl. There are definitely a lot of weird and funny people downtown. Bikes make it possible to see them all without getting caught watching them talk about their denim jackets plastered with band patches. Moral of the story: I don't wear denim jackets, or listen to bands that sell patches.

Which brings us to Gert Boyle. On our tour of Columbia, we walked past Gert's office but didn't go in. Most likely because we were just passing by and she was working. But, somehow we elevated her to a celebrity status and deemed her too high a mighty. I think it might have been the countless posters all over about how she is "One Tough Momma." Well no more! I'm sure Gert is perfectly nice and easy to talk to. As a matter of fact, the next time I go to lunch with Paul, I'll try talk to her.

To the three people that have ever read this blog, I will talk to Gert Boyle!

Highline!

2008-07-24T08:04:00.000-07:00

I finally did it! Highline is essentially slack-lining (a tight rope between two trees) really high up. The one we did was approximately 15ft above my backyard and we used a climbing harness and 4ft lead for safety. On the first go around I was scared out of my mind! After something like 5 steps I gave up/fell and as I grabbed the line, one of the ropes around the tree snapped! I hit the ground with no major problems because I was wearing a helmet (praise the Lord and my friends).

Take two occurred after dinner with my dad supervising. This was much safer and we had no lines break but I didn't get as far. I should have taken a picture standing on the line because the the camera (and my eye) focuses on the ground, practically removing the line from view. Scary!

With at least one subscriber....

2008-07-22T18:02:00.000-07:00

Okay. Here is take two at blogging. As you can see I got two posts written last year and then quit. I attribute blogging to journaling in that you'll only write if there's something to write about. Well, going into my second year of college and taking on an RA role should be enough to warrant so blog material.

Tonight, sushi with Paul Frazier, Allie Schroeder, Katie, and I. Paul will have his 3 hour old iPhone, which we will make him turn off. I hope to hear a lot from them about how session 2 of houseboat went. Anywho, as life gets more interest I'll try to put up regular posts and see if people actually read this.

Uh Oh. Blogging again

2008-07-20T12:06:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Monopoly Hell

2007-08-28T00:55:00.000-07:00

Wow, after an awesome break from the cabin spent doing chores and hanging out with Katie down in Beaverton, I returned with my dad to find the cabin filled with grandparents. Really it's only two of them but it changes the whole dynamic of this place. We filled our evening with dinner and the always socially dangerous game of Monopoly. Long story (game) short, grandparents got knocked out first, followed by Sam and I, and finishing with my dad losing to my mom. Huge Upset. And there in lies the problem, the whole game was an upset; and people leave upset. My flustered grandma couldn't believe how hardcore it got. We traded everything until loyalty became more important than money (remember this was just play money) and we constantly went to the rule book. In the end I never understand why we play these games but that's the point. One person pushes everyone into it and things start to heat up. So, if you ever get invited to play board games with us be prepared to enter Monopoly Hell.

First Entry

2007-08-25T22:20:00.000-07:00

Well here we go. This is my first blog entry. I'm hanging out at our cabin with my family, my mom's friends, and Mr. Kurt Brandemihl. We're watching TV and waiting for ribs. Since people should want to read these, I should try to make this interesting. So far we've had a few cool moments; for one, Kurt, Sam, and I went to the starting line of Hood to Coast at Timberline. Later that day Kurt, my dad, and I re-visited the geocache and waterfall on the old highway. The first time we were there, last year, the first geocache led told us to find another one by the sound. That sound turned out to be a waterfall, yet search as we may, we found nothing. This year, however, we got down to the waterfall and within five minutes I found that second geocache! Plus, I had a man moment and "did my business" in the woods.
Today, after a depressing game of Risk, Kurt and I went to Timberline to work and read. I got through a bunch in my UW common book on climate change. Finally, Kurt gave me the always-valuable college talk.
And now here we are, sitting in front of the TV, watching the History Channel, and waiting for dinner at 9 o'clock. How was my first blog?