// thanks @erniesbudolab

// thanks @raelynnerosales

// thanks @akachrisTOPS

From Jeremy's YouTube:

In 2007, I went to Ghana in West Africa.

My life was changed ever since I met the people of Ghana. I realized that alot of us, especially in the States, take life forgranted. We are extremely blessed with abundance of food, resources, and choices.

Then I go to Ghana, and some of these villages don't have the right medicines, barely any food, and lack of many things. But what I've realized is that they have a joy inside that isn't fueled by materialism or anything of that sort. The more you have in life, the more u want, the less you need God in your life.

In Ghana, because they have soooo little, they rely and trust in God for their survival and health. FAITH. A strong faith.

I will forever be grateful for what they've taught me through their living and their lives. I wanna go back to Ghana one day and learn more and help more and put my faith in action. God is doing great things in the lives of people there!

Jeremy "Passion" Manongdo

I know what you mean, man.

When I was in the Philippines a couple years ago, we were driving around my uncle's banana plantation and I kept noticing these little shacks all over the place. Then I'd notice clothes hang-drying around them. Then I'd notice a family of five standing around one of 'em. It'd finally hit me:

This is their home.

That realization was so intense, but it totally put things in perspective for me. I thought to myself: the car I drive today is probably worth more money than what these entire families will ever see in their entire lives...

It's so easy to get caught up in material things because we've been blessed with it our whole lives. iPods, computers, internet, cell phones, cars, microwaves, fast food, running water, air conditioning...we've been blessed with these things for so long, we forget that people once lived still live without any of these things.

One thing I've started to wonder about myself: if I were completely stripped of all things familiar to me -- friends, family, technology, reputations -- what kind of man would I be? How much clearer would my world be?

Thanks for the reminder, J, on exactly how lucky we are, how some things are more important than others, and how God is always a part of our lives.

-Mel

13.3" MacBook Air 1.86GHz, 2GB RAM, 128GB Solid State Drive - $1,299.99

When the MacBook Air (MBA) first came out, I told myself that I would never ever buy it. I mean just look at those specs: One USB port? No disc drive? Only 2GB of RAM? No way to upgrade the hard drive down the road?? All of that for $1,299.99?? Are you kidding me??

Pathetic!

But these days I travel a whole lot more than I used to. I'm constantly going to shows, taking road trips, flying, broadcasting from open mic at It's A Grind...I actually have a social life that takes me to places. And when I'm on the go, I don't need a full-on computer; I just need to be able to do some AIM, Skype, BlogTV, Tokbox, emailing and casual web browsing.

I need a mobile setup that can keep up with me.

So, my original plan was to scrap my 17" MacBook Pro (MBP) + 24" Cinema Display in favor of a 13" MBP + 30" Cinema Display, which would be an epic setup because it gives me the ability to have the power of a desktop computer with a (very) large screen plus the ability to be mobile. I even did the math to calculate the benefits and I realized that a 13" + 30" would give me more screen real estate overall than my current 17" + 24" setup. WIN.

Problem is, buying a completely new setup would cost over $3,750. FML.

Then it hit me: the MacBook Air may be a terrible primary computer...but if you understand its limitations, it can be an awesome secondary computer:

• Just one USB port? -- That's fine, this is just for doing stuff on the internet.
• No disc drive? -- I'll just use the disc drive wirelessly from my 17" MBP.
• Only 2GB of RAM? -- Web browsing and chatting doesn't take up too much memory.
• No way to upgrade the hard drive? -- No worries, my 17" is my main computer anyways.
• Isn't it expensive? -- Very. But this is the only netbook out there that will run OSX.

And to top it all off, I could still get another two solid years of mileage from my 17" MBP.

So after serious thought (and rationalization), I concluded that it'd be better for me to spend just $1,299.99 to add a complimentary computer than to drop over $3,750 for a completely new setup.

I couldn't be any happier.

Basically with Google Voice (GV), you have one new phone number that you can give out to everyone. When someone calls, it can ring all of your phones (i.e. cell, home and office). Or you can have certain phones ring depending on who's calling.

Record custom voicemail greetings depending on who's calling.

You can send, receive and search through all of your text messages online.

Probably the most fun reason for getting GV is it's an excuse to get a kick-ass new phone number. Mine is 502-PORN. =]

More features: About GV

Sweet, I got an invite! Now what?

Not gonna lie, I spent a solid two hours trying to come up with a good phone number. You can choose any number from any area code that's available. You can search by area code, words or numbers.

So this is how it feels. The greatest feeling of accomplishment in my life. I've never done ANYTHING like this before...but after months of driving to San Diego, TokBox meetings, promoting, hair-pulling hair-receding stress...everything fell into place.

And it was EPIC.

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This is what I've been working my ass off for:

Big props to Scott Yoshimoto and MOVeMEDIA Productions for this amazing vid!!