Lenwood is Chris Leonard
My name is Chris Leonard, nicknamed Lenwood. I'm an engineering student at the University of Texas, and I have a blog. I also write sometimes for Lost in Search.
Ten Things
1. Tivo - how did we ever watch TV before DVRs came on the scene? I'm a full time student, and I hold a job as well, which is a long way of saying that I have an irregular schedule. Yet, there are a coulpe of shows that I really enjoy watching. Now I can, my television has succumbed to my schedule, it doesn't matter what time of day or night it is, there is always something on that I know I'll like. Plus, I never watch commercials now, 6 or 8 blips of the skip button and my program is back on within 10 seconds. I will never watch live TV again, well except for sports. Your DVR does all that, too, huh? Does it figure out what you like and program stuff for you? Mine does. I'm telling you, Tivo is it.
2. Shiner Bock - I like beer. I really like beer. I'm not really interested in getting blitzed, but on a hot day there's nothing like a beer so cold that it shocks your tongue. There are a lot of beers that I like, but Shiner Bock has become my default (followed closely by Fireman's 4). Budwiser makes great superbowl commercials and bad beer.
3. Blackberry - I know that iPhones are all the rage right now. If I just had a regular phone then I would probably want one. But I have a Blackberry 8830, and I freakin love it. My email ALWAYS shows up there first. Plus, my calendar and contacts are always synced with my computer, and I have web access with me everywhere I go. I pay too much for it, so much, in fact, that I am considering either dropping it, or switching to a more affordable carrier when my contract is up. Price asside, this thing rocks.
4. Futurama - I was a mild fan when this show was running, I always enjoyed it when I caught it, but I never went out of my way to watch it. About two years ago a buddy recommended that I give it a try, so I started Tivoing episodes. This show is brilliant, I mean, does you favorite show have Hypnotoad? Before I knew it I was hooked. Professor Farnsworth is probably my favorite character, but honestly they're all funny. I've seen every episode at least three times, and I'm not done watching them yet.
5. Twitter - I have to admit, it took me way to long to 'get' Twitter. I created an account in the spring of 2007, and it seemed like the dumbest thing to me so I never updated. I work in online media and I'm very interested in social media and networking, so I'd hear about Twitter this and Twitter that almost daily. I found out that I could update my Facebook status with Twitter, so for some reason I started doing in that way, and over time it has grown on me. Now its more fun than Facebook, and its useful, too.Its one of my favorite spots on the web.
6. Wordpress - I started an online journal back in 2003 by manually updating static HTML files, just because I thought it would be cool to have my own tiny spot on the web. After about a year I decided this was really cool so I bought a domain and started tinkering with blogging software. I started using Wordpress in the spring of 2005, and honestly it is one of my favorite pieces of software. It just works, always. It is intuitively easy to use. It is very flexible and customizable. It is 100% free. There is a huge community supporting it. And, its just fun to publish your thoughts on the web. I can't imagine why anyone would even consider a different blogging platform.
7. Texas Longhorns - I love my school. The University of Texas excels in so many fields. I could write pages about how proud I am to be earning a degree from this institution. You could say I'm a zealot. Truth be told, I love just about everything about Texas (the state), but there is a special place in my heart for UT. Hook'em Horns!
8. Anything That Flies - I know all of the science behind planes flying, I can tell you more than you want to know about lift and drag, etc. I get a tear in my eye when I hear a sonic boom, and I cry when I see the shuttle launch. It took us hundreds of years to accumulate the knowledge to fly, and it is one of the most beautiful things to witness. Pursuing a degree in aerospace engineering has deepened my appreciation of aviation. Small general aviation planes are just as fascinating as fighter jets and massive freighters and rockets. Seeing a plane in flight is as meaningful as a sunset. Soon we'll be able to book flights on sub-orbital rockets. That is awesome.
9. Austin - I grew up in San Antonio, and all my life there has been something about Austin. When I was a kid we would come here to visit relatives, and I always had a great time. When I was younger my friends and I would come here for concerts at least once a month. Then I moved here and learned that it has miles of great mountain biking trails and 3 lakes to go water skiing in and a fantastic arts community and great restaurants and virtually no winter at all. I'm not going to lie, its hot in the summer, but that's pretty easy to forgive when you're water skiing on New Year's Eve.
10. The Internet - Okay so I'll admit that this one is generic and cheezy, but I had to come up with ten things, and I really do love the internet. You can have the answer to any question in about 30 seconds, you can keep in daily contact with distant friends, you can make a million dollars or become an overnight celebrity, and you can buy just about anything and have it delivered. When I was a kid I had a Commodore 64 with a 300 baud modem and my friends and I would dial into bulletin boards. When I graduated from high school I subscribed to Compserve so that I could trade email with my Dad. I had no idea that it would become as cool as it is now. And we aren't even done yet, semantic web is going to take us even further.
2. Shiner Bock - I like beer. I really like beer. I'm not really interested in getting blitzed, but on a hot day there's nothing like a beer so cold that it shocks your tongue. There are a lot of beers that I like, but Shiner Bock has become my default (followed closely by Fireman's 4). Budwiser makes great superbowl commercials and bad beer.
3. Blackberry - I know that iPhones are all the rage right now. If I just had a regular phone then I would probably want one. But I have a Blackberry 8830, and I freakin love it. My email ALWAYS shows up there first. Plus, my calendar and contacts are always synced with my computer, and I have web access with me everywhere I go. I pay too much for it, so much, in fact, that I am considering either dropping it, or switching to a more affordable carrier when my contract is up. Price asside, this thing rocks.
4. Futurama - I was a mild fan when this show was running, I always enjoyed it when I caught it, but I never went out of my way to watch it. About two years ago a buddy recommended that I give it a try, so I started Tivoing episodes. This show is brilliant, I mean, does you favorite show have Hypnotoad? Before I knew it I was hooked. Professor Farnsworth is probably my favorite character, but honestly they're all funny. I've seen every episode at least three times, and I'm not done watching them yet.
5. Twitter - I have to admit, it took me way to long to 'get' Twitter. I created an account in the spring of 2007, and it seemed like the dumbest thing to me so I never updated. I work in online media and I'm very interested in social media and networking, so I'd hear about Twitter this and Twitter that almost daily. I found out that I could update my Facebook status with Twitter, so for some reason I started doing in that way, and over time it has grown on me. Now its more fun than Facebook, and its useful, too.Its one of my favorite spots on the web.
6. Wordpress - I started an online journal back in 2003 by manually updating static HTML files, just because I thought it would be cool to have my own tiny spot on the web. After about a year I decided this was really cool so I bought a domain and started tinkering with blogging software. I started using Wordpress in the spring of 2005, and honestly it is one of my favorite pieces of software. It just works, always. It is intuitively easy to use. It is very flexible and customizable. It is 100% free. There is a huge community supporting it. And, its just fun to publish your thoughts on the web. I can't imagine why anyone would even consider a different blogging platform.
7. Texas Longhorns - I love my school. The University of Texas excels in so many fields. I could write pages about how proud I am to be earning a degree from this institution. You could say I'm a zealot. Truth be told, I love just about everything about Texas (the state), but there is a special place in my heart for UT. Hook'em Horns!
8. Anything That Flies - I know all of the science behind planes flying, I can tell you more than you want to know about lift and drag, etc. I get a tear in my eye when I hear a sonic boom, and I cry when I see the shuttle launch. It took us hundreds of years to accumulate the knowledge to fly, and it is one of the most beautiful things to witness. Pursuing a degree in aerospace engineering has deepened my appreciation of aviation. Small general aviation planes are just as fascinating as fighter jets and massive freighters and rockets. Seeing a plane in flight is as meaningful as a sunset. Soon we'll be able to book flights on sub-orbital rockets. That is awesome.
9. Austin - I grew up in San Antonio, and all my life there has been something about Austin. When I was a kid we would come here to visit relatives, and I always had a great time. When I was younger my friends and I would come here for concerts at least once a month. Then I moved here and learned that it has miles of great mountain biking trails and 3 lakes to go water skiing in and a fantastic arts community and great restaurants and virtually no winter at all. I'm not going to lie, its hot in the summer, but that's pretty easy to forgive when you're water skiing on New Year's Eve.
10. The Internet - Okay so I'll admit that this one is generic and cheezy, but I had to come up with ten things, and I really do love the internet. You can have the answer to any question in about 30 seconds, you can keep in daily contact with distant friends, you can make a million dollars or become an overnight celebrity, and you can buy just about anything and have it delivered. When I was a kid I had a Commodore 64 with a 300 baud modem and my friends and I would dial into bulletin boards. When I graduated from high school I subscribed to Compserve so that I could trade email with my Dad. I had no idea that it would become as cool as it is now. And we aren't even done yet, semantic web is going to take us even further.
Latest Blog Entries
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byMy Top Five Posts
I've been writing articles for my blog (Chris Leonard) for nearly five years now. Here are the top five posts, by the amount of traffic that they receive. I hope you enjoy them, too.
1. Google Maps Blunders - I just came across a list of what could be considered Google Maps Easter Eggs. These are anomalies in the images. Some are funny, some are weird, all are at least worth a look.
2. Ubuntu Rocks on Laptops - I've now installed Ubuntu on my old laptop. Wow. Linux has come a long way in the past 3 years. That's how long its been since I had a Linux system. My last was a homebuilt desktop running Red Hat 9. I ditched it when Fedora came out, and haven't messed with Linux since. Ubuntu just rocks.
3. High Gas Prices Are Good For America - Part II - In part one of this series of posts, I explained that I am against our government intervening with the rising prices at the pump. But, that isn't my main point. I really believe that high energy prices will be beneficial for America.
4. Ethanol - So I've been blogging about gas prices and the state of American automakers lately. I haven't yet addressed one of the solutions that GM has proposed. Ethanol, or E85. Chevy and GMC are labeling their trucks, and some cars as well, as flexible-fuel vehicles, meaning that they can run on either unleaded gasoline or E85.
5. Are Black Civil Rights Being Reversed? - Are Black Civil Rights in America being reversed today? Civil rights leaders have been making this claim for the past several years, pointing to education and income statistics, as well as changes in the current administration in the White House. Upon examination of certain trends in today's society, it is evident that there is indeed a basis for this claim.
1. Google Maps Blunders - I just came across a list of what could be considered Google Maps Easter Eggs. These are anomalies in the images. Some are funny, some are weird, all are at least worth a look.
2. Ubuntu Rocks on Laptops - I've now installed Ubuntu on my old laptop. Wow. Linux has come a long way in the past 3 years. That's how long its been since I had a Linux system. My last was a homebuilt desktop running Red Hat 9. I ditched it when Fedora came out, and haven't messed with Linux since. Ubuntu just rocks.
3. High Gas Prices Are Good For America - Part II - In part one of this series of posts, I explained that I am against our government intervening with the rising prices at the pump. But, that isn't my main point. I really believe that high energy prices will be beneficial for America.
4. Ethanol - So I've been blogging about gas prices and the state of American automakers lately. I haven't yet addressed one of the solutions that GM has proposed. Ethanol, or E85. Chevy and GMC are labeling their trucks, and some cars as well, as flexible-fuel vehicles, meaning that they can run on either unleaded gasoline or E85.
5. Are Black Civil Rights Being Reversed? - Are Black Civil Rights in America being reversed today? Civil rights leaders have been making this claim for the past several years, pointing to education and income statistics, as well as changes in the current administration in the White House. Upon examination of certain trends in today's society, it is evident that there is indeed a basis for this claim.
