new blog address

In case you missed it, I've moved to wordpress. All your online diary for the masses needs will henceforth be met at http://www.derrickoliver.com. For details on why I switched and what it means for you, click here or scroll down to the post directly below this one. Thanks, odfm management.

I'm moving

It's true. I'm done here.

It's really, truly been fun, but sometimes you just have to move on. Change is inevitable, and that's all there is to it.

So at this point you're probably thinking:
Where are you going, D.O.? I'm going to Wordpress!

So what does that mean for me? Well it means more than you might think. I would appreciate it greatly if you would be so gracious as to do the following:

- Think about how you normally get to my blog, and then change it to say http://derrickoliver.wordpress.com.

- If you yourself have a blog that links to mine, please change that in your sidebar as well. (I'd do the same for you).

- If you normally get to these parts via an RSS feed, click here to subscribe to the wordpress blog. Isn't that easy?

Why are you leaving blogger? Well good question. Initially I really didn't want to. I've been very faithful to blogger over the years, and I adore Google, so it's been a tough decision.

One of the main reasons I'm making the switch is this: Wordpress allows you to make multiple pages per blog. When you go over to the new online diary for the masses you'll see a link for, among other things, a Bio page. I like that. To do that here you have to create a whole new blog, and it just kinda gets sloppy. It allows me to expand the ways I use my blog and it is a little more organized, which you know I like.

Also, it offers a great deal of widgets allowing you to make your blog more accessible such as a search bar, which I've utilized. It probably won't get used, but its there if you ever want to see if I've blogged your name or something.

So basically, there are no major reasons why I'm leaving blogger, only minor reasons that have added up to be enough to make the move. I still love you Google, I promise. Hire me, please.

Well, there you have it. Blogger, I hope we can still be friends. I really do. It's not you, it's me. I'm so sorry.

mom, look what I made (vol. 1)

I assume you readers who are parents love having your kid come home from school or church with a piece of art in their hands, raised high for you to see, often accompanied by the words, "Mom! Dad! Look what I made!"

You readers who are still in [grade] school know how much you love completing a piece of work - maybe a painting or an awesome drawing of a ship - and taking it to your parents to proudly show them and say, "Look what I made!"

Well this is my version of what I just described, only it's not only for my parents' eyes. It is for all to enjoy.

"(Insert your name here)! Look what I made!"

this makes me want to cuss

When I open up my Internet and see numbers like these, it makes me want to load up my car and drive North. Seriously. Eighty nine degrees for the high on November 14th? That rounds up to 90. This, friends, is not acceptable. That 73 is a glimpse of hope. I'm sure humidity will be pushing 90%.

If you'd like to vent (about the weather or anything else), the comments section is open.

Hat tip: Andy S.

3-in-1 post on mortality...

If somebody asked me today where I would go if I could go anywhere, I think I'd bend the conventional rules of the question by answering "my own funeral."

I've not been to a ton of funerals, but the ones I have attended always bring the same thought processes to mind. I think, "how cool that this one person affected all of the people in this room." This leads into thoughts like, "I wonder how many people would show up to my funeral" and "Man, wouldn't it be cool to go to your own funeral and see who's there and what the people are saying about you?"

Part I: A Friend's Father

I just got back home from a close friend's father's funeral. It was pretty incredible. There were no less than 500 people in attendance. This man really made a big impact on the lives of countless people, and his family was blessed with the ability to be encouraged by having some of those people show up to the funeral to celebrate his life. There is no way that every single person affected by this man could have come to the funeral today. That just makes my mind reel. I seriously doubt that this man had a clue of what a weighty impact he made on so many different people, and what those people are doing today as a result of his influence on them. It's really crazy to think about. Life is so short, but that doesn't mean we can't make a difference while we're here.

Part II: A Friend I've Only Read About

You may recall my book review on Into the Wild, the story of the life of Chris McCandless, a man with whom I greatly identified. I recently got a chance to see the Sean Penn's film version of the book. Though I wasn't by any stretch of the imagine blown away by the film, it did bring back to mind thoughts I had throughout the time I was reading the book. These two thoughts in particular kept coming up: One, how fortunate is the McCandless family to have somebody (author Jon Krakauer) research their son's life in depth, that they are now able to see who he affected and how he affected them during his two years of traveling? And two, I have no doubt that Chris McCandless knew not the impact he made on the people he met as he traveled. He probably just saw them as people who were nice enough to give him a ride or a bed, but he really impacted a number of them. He only lived to see his mid-twenties, but he was (and thanks to the book, forever will be) a very influential person to many. Life is so short, but that doesn't mean we can't make a difference while we're here.

Part III: My Own Mortality

When thinking about life and death and things of that nature, I sometimes think of how I want things handled after I die, and I realize that for any of the things I want to actually materialize, I'll have to write them, well, while I still can. I see this as a good opportunity. I want my funeral to be enjoyable for the people who are gracious enough to attend it. I'm aware that the chances are pretty good that my funeral will bring people together who probably haven't seen each other in a while, and I want those people to be able to have some quality time with one another. I don't know what that looks like really. Maybe a lunch or something after the funeral. Like the funeral I attended today, I would like "It Is Well" to be sung by any of my immensely talented friends. I want every possible organ of mine to be donated to people who need them and whatever's left can be burned or whatever option cheapest. If I die before Click does I want someone to bring him to the funeral. If I die before I get married, and my remnants are cremated, I think I'd like to divide up the ashes between my family and my roommates. That way my fam could keep them somewhere, and I'd ask my roommates to scatter them on one of their awesome trips, somewhere they think I'd like. But more importantly than all of the "Things I want done after I die" list is this: I really want to live in the reality that life is so short, but that doesn't mean that I can't make a difference while I'm here.

ladies and gentlemen, I give you the...

No, I'm not the loser because of the awesome mustache I had in that picture. I'm the loser because, well... this is how it went:

(A real phone call that took place last night between Mikey Mills and myself)

D.O.: Did Laura see her post on my blog?

Mikey: [turns to the side and asks Laura]... No, hold on.

[Time passes while Mikey and Laura read the post written in Laura's honor]

D.O.: Does she love that? I made the picture in GIMP.

Mikey: Yeah, that's good... [increasing snickering in the background] This is real funny...

D.O.: What?

Mikey: Laura didn't answer the question on that post.

D.O.: It said Laura!

Laura in the background: You should click the link on that comment...

D.O.: [Goes and clicks said link]... Holy crap... I'm such an idiot...

All: [Eruptions of laughter]

It turns out that Laura Nutter didn't win (or participate) in the poetry contest. It was Laura Stiller, wife of my Arlington friend, Danny Stiller... I don't know much about her, but, since she really did win the contest, I'll tell you what I do know.

Laura is married to my Arlington friend Danny Stiller. They have a married people blog that I just added to the "theirs" section of my links. She confessed to reading my blog back in March and we here at odfm are very happy to have her. She has about a million different blogs. Her profile lives here. It's overwhelming.

Congratulations Laura Stiller! No congratulations to Laura Nutter.

ladies and gentlemen, I give you the...

As promised, I'm giving the winner of my poetry contest a award as great as any I'm able to give... blog recognition. Our winner was one Laura Nutter who came up with the correct answers Ogden Nash and Joyce Kilmer.

For those of you who don't know, Laura is one of my sweet friends from the beloved college days and the slightly less popular Dallas days. She's proven to be a faithful and loyal pal over the years, and has provided many with some of the best hugs around. But boys, don't get any ideas, because she's taken. Mikey dates her. That's right. Mikey.

So congratulations to Laura on her big victory. I hope our friendship will be able to endure this post... and that picture.

Honorable mention goes to Andrew Shepherd who successfully got Kilmer without using Google. If you've never checked out his blog, you really should. It's far better than anything you'll get in these parts.