So, I wrote this up in an email for Jason and I realized that I might as well post it since I had typed it up anyway…

I’ve been playing with stuff the last week to get all of my good software and such installed on the Mac, and here’s the list of what I would call essential:

• NewsFire - best RSS reader in life… SO GOOD! It’s really simple and it makes life pretty easy for me since it’s not integrated and messy like some other RSS readers. I should have gone with something like this a while ago.
• Transmission - super simple and nice BitTorrent client. Azureus had me messing with settings for at least 30 minutes to get all the encryption and everything I wanted setup, this came with the best setting pre-done and without all the stupid bloated code in the program. Simple and clean!
• Adium - THE best chat client I’ve ever used - ever! The only thing it lacks is video chat capability, which I can load iChat up for on the random occasions when I want to do that. Seriously though, it incorporates every other chat protocol I have ever heard of with the exception of Skype, which I hate anyway. I need to figure out some of the plug-ins and such (haven’t messed with it yet), but it’s great already… AND they’ll be adding Facebook Chat support in the next release (doesn’t quite work in the beta), which I think is hilarious and cool.
• Camino - kills Firefox in almost all respects other than themes and add-ons (which I really didn’t use other than IE tab, which doesn’t matter on a mac) - I do have firefox for a couple random BYU sites that don’t render in Camino (which makes NO sense but I just didn’t bother uninstalling firefox before I went with Camino, so I just use it since it’s there). Anyway, I really like it for it’s clean look and OS X keychain support.
• AppDelete - Most effective uninstall prog I’ve seen. I know you just need to delete the executable, but this deletes any random settings or libraries that install with your install prog. I was suprised when I used it the first time to see what I was missing in my normal uninstalls. (There is a $5 donation required after you use it a certain number of times - but it’s definitely worth the $5)
• Caffeine - makes me happy because I can avoid my computer going to sleep when it should be downloading. Plus, it runs on the tray (top of the screen) and makes turning it on and off pretty easy.
• Cyberduck - I like it for ftp, cause it’s pretty simple and easy to use… You may have another preference, but it makes me happy that it is simple.
• Handbrake - great for ripping movies to the iPod, PSP, or other things. Pretty fast actually!
• Jomic - BEST comic reader other than CDisplay, but CDisplay is windows only (sadness of my life, trust me).
• Alarm Clock 2 - I have my computer in my room (I’m at college and can’t do much else since everyone else will complain I’m taking over the living area), and I thought having an alarm clock that would bring my computer out of sleep and play some wake up music would be GREAT - thus Alarm Clock 2.
• VLC - goes without saying, but it’s a million times better than Quicktime. Besides, I swore off Quicktime in the 90’s, and I don’t wanna disappoint myself at this age.

Anyway, there are a ton of others that are “required” such as VMWare Fusion and a Boot Camp partition of Windows, but those should go without saying. Let me know if you’ve got something else I should try!

Well, my buddy Brian Corrales tagged me… I guess some folks have been playing the Blog Tag Game, or whatever they’re calling it, and I’m next in line.

1. I’ve been in two movies. Ok, so I don’t know the name of the second movie, but it has that Kirby kid from all the Mormony movies… It’s some family Christmas gone wrong picture, and my buddy Ben Meek and I are extras, floating around a Christmas party. The movie I’m slightly famous for (and only in my mind, I’m sure) is Charly. I wish I could capture a screen shot or something of the part (who am I kidding, there were at least 5) when the camera zoomed in and focused on my gorgeous melon… When I was on my mission, I returned to my greenie area after about a year where all of the members had seen me in the movie and had apparently been so excited that they showed the clip in both Relief Society and Elder’s Quorum (only in a Latin ward). Anyway, it’s usually something I only bring up after the third date, unless Travis (who is also in the scene with me) ruins it and brings it up right away.
2. I sing. So, some people know this, but generally only because I was given the calling of death to be the ward choir director this year… Generally only those that went to high school with me, or that witnessed the brief period in time when I had an a cappella group at BYU (ahh, good ol’ Resonance), know about this. I performed in several of the musicals back in the day, and was a leader in our school’s madrigals group. During my senior year I was ranked as a top 5 bass in the state of Illinois at the high school level. I don’t really know if that is something I should consider super impressive, but it felt good at the time. I don’t think I sing nearly as well as I did back in the day, but I still have a little skill left; actually, this is one of the things I think I’m looking to re-establish in my life… It gives me some character, right? :)
3. I still read Comic Books. OK, this is the ULTIMATE blow to my aura of cool. About a year ago I picked up a hardcover copy of The Ultimates, which is a modern retelling of the Avengers (Iron Man, Captain America, Hawkeye, Thor, etc…), and I absolutely LOVED it! I was pretty surprised at how much I enjoyed the book, and then I went out and started buying some other hardcover copies of different titles. I must admit, I’ve always been a sucker for super hero stories, and some of the comics in this generation are definitely geared to a much older audience than they were when I was a kid (or maybe they were always geared towards an older crowd?). Anyway, I pretty much only keep up on the Marvel books, though I never hit up the Dragon’s Keep (the only comic shop in the Provo area). Anyway, this is probably the biggest and nerdiest confession I have ever made in a forum as public as this.
4. I absolutely despise Hollywood. I wrote a little bit about this in a post on my old blog a couple years ago, but my full emotions were probably not expressed in their entirety… Honestly, in that post I mentioned the idea of writing a book, and it’s probably a pretty decent idea. How Hollywood Blindsided America or something like that. Well, alright, I stink at the creativity stuff, but I think I could seriously go on a rant for 200+ pages about how I think Hollywood is corrupting American values and trying to push its agenda onto the easily influenced American viewing audience. Seriously, the average American has a much stricter moral composition than Hollywood portrays, and anytime someone stands up for their morals it seems like Hollywood comes blazing in accusing everyone of bigotry and lack of compassion. This type of thing is mostly seen during big elections (does anyone else remember Whoopi “Freak-Face-Hairy-Scary” Goldberg and Ben “I suck at acting, so I’m gunna convince America that they should subscribe to my values” Affleck trying to convince us that we should agree with them simply because they are famous? I know those weren’t the words coming out of their mouths, but what else could they be using as a foundation for their arguments? Higher intelligence? I understand that people who believe in things will use whatever platform they have to get their point across, but I don’t have to like it when Rosie “when did I become the most unlikeable woman on television” O’Donnell gets on her soup box and attacks everyone and everything in sight… I guess it may not be a problem with Hollywood using their means of communication to get out the message they want to spread, but rather it is a problem that the American people have given those in Hollywood an exalted status. Does it make anyone else sick to see a bunch of girls (and guys for that matter) in their 20’s and beyond reading some of the trashy “star chasing” magazines? Do we not have lives of our own to where we now have to live our lives through people who would place themselves (heck, many of us agree) as our superiors? Can you tell I have an opinion on this? :)
5. I’m a lover, not a fighter. Those who know me well already know this, but I really am a bit of a hopeless romantic type of guy… Sick, I know! It really is pretty much the downfall of my life, I’ve had my heart broken a few times (once really badly) because I put myself out there and I’m always looking to fall in love. I guess it’s something I believe in when there isn’t a whole lot to believe in during our generation. The love of God and the love we have for each other (especially between a man, his wife, and his children) is all that will save us in this world. I didn’t know what else to put as my number 5, so here ya go!

Anyway, I guess I’m done playing tag but I’m supposed to pass it on. Jason Malwitz and Aaron Hardy get the official invitations, so keep the game going!