AP Gov PAC Project

Enjoy our presentation on the American Federation of Teachers.

Anthony Kennedy PPT

Powerpoint

New Criticism

Here's the our presentation on New Criticism...

Something Happened One Day

Here is a link to our radio essay.  I was planning on having it be background music for this post, but I'm still working on that.  You have to download to listen, but trust me...it's worth it.

Something Happened One Day

David Foster Wallace PowerPoint

Consider the Wallace: An Author Study

George W. Bush Presentation

Top 10 Ways To Be Really Annoying on Facebook

So I started up my old computer today to check my Facebook page.  I got on the website and checked the notifications and looked at the home page a little bit.

So, without further ado, the top 10 ways to annoy someone (or a whole bunch of someones) on Facebook.

The App Man- Sign up for a bunch of free horoscopes and other cool things like "Lover of the Day," or "Valentine of the Day."  These apps will spam the news feeds of all your friends with useless and annoying wall posts.  This affects all of your friends and makes your own profile very disgusting looking.  I would recommend this tactic if you simply want to be one of the most hated Facebook users.

The Constant Status Updater- Another easy way to annoy people is to use the "TMI" effect- too much information about your life.  Simply have a new status every 3 minutes.  The statuses can be about anything, from your own personal experiences and beliefs, or they can simply be random statements.  Ensure to tag a whole bunch of people in these statuses so some of your friends get notifications (notifications = annoyance).  Keep in mind that you will have to post around 20 statuses in an hour, which is a little less than 500 statuses in a day (assuming you update your friends around the clock).  Coming up with 500 different statuses every day can be challenging.  Here are a few sample statuses that you can use if you run out of ideas.

• "Hey"
• "I just had orange juice"
• "I just had grape juice"
• "Whats up friends?"
• "Whats up enemies?"
• "The time is now 12:28"
• "The time is now 12:29"
• "The political agenda of the far left is ultimately going to be a causation of massive government and a shift towards a socialistic regime"
• "My mother likes pizza"
• "I am going outside for a minute to check the temperature"
• "Okay I just got back inside, its pretty warm out there"
• "I'm going to go check the real temperature on the thermometer, hold on"
• "Wait, I can't find a thermometer"
• "Does anyone know where a thermometer is?"
• "No, you probably don't, because you have never been in my house"
• "Wait, @John Smith, haven't you been in my house before?"
• "@Kayln Golden, Hi!"
• "Nvm, I found a thermometer"
• "Shoot, its out of batteries"
• "I'm going to the store, I'll brb"
• From Facebook mobile: "Okay I'm at a red light right now"
• From Facebook mobile: "I just parked the car in row F.  Haha"
• From Facebook mobile: "Right now I'm walking into the store. Lol"
• From Facebook mobile: "I like shoes"
• "Hey, I found a computer at the store.  I'm using it to update my status"
• From Facebook mobile: "I bought some batteries"
• From Facebook mobile: "I'm at the same red light I was earlier! Lol!"
• "I'm home again"
• "I'm going to put the batteries in the thermometer so I can check the actual temperature"
• "The time is 12:56"
• "Oh darn, I got the wrong size batteries"
• "I'm going back to the store"

The Wall to Wall Chatter- For lots of annoyance in your friends home screens, start up a meaningless wall to wall conversation with a friend or two.  This effectively replaces Facebook chat.  Whatever you would say in Facebook Chat, write on someones wall instead.  Continue the conversations out for 100's of wall posts.  Your friends' news feeds will be filled with meaningless banter between people they probably don't care much about.  Here's a quick conversation sample.

Sam > James: "Hi James!"

James > Same: "Yo Sam. What's up?"

Sam > James: "NMU"

James > Sam: "NMU?"

Sam > James: "I already asked you"

James > Sam: "Oh haha"

Sam > James: "Right, I said NM"

James > Sam: "Lol"

Sam > James: "Haha yeah"

The above conversation can be replaced with FDA (Facebook Displays of Affection), to even further piss people off.

The Incessant Tagger- One of the more eye-rolling ways to make people shake their heads is to start random tagging.  Go to one of your friends (when I say "friends," I mean "Facebook Friends."  It is unlikely that any of your Facebook friends will even talk to you after you do these things.) and go to the pictures.  Find a picture and start tagging friends.  Even if they aren't in the picture, tag them.  Tag about 100 or 200 random friends per picture, then move on to the next one.  This will give the owner of the picture 100 or 200 notifications per picture, and will also give 100 or 200 people a random notification that will cause them to scratch their head.

The Over-Requester- Something that really annoys people is lots of requests.  Ranging anywhere from friend requests to fan pages of an unknown band to group membership to free ducks if you join Farmville.  To be really annoying, simply request that all of your friends join everything possible on Facebook.  Go to a fan page "like page" and click on "Suggest to Friends" and invite all your friends.  Make sure to include a variety of requests.  Include all the apps you can find, all the fan pages you can find, and all the groups you can join.

---

Whew.  That is a lot of annoying things to do.  I am now warning you that if you do these things, people probably won't like you as much, and may even...gasp!...unfriend you on Facebook!

So if you want to keep your friends, both real and virtual, avoid doing these things.  But why would anyone want to keep their friends? Go for it.

And yeah I know, there's only 5 ways up there.  I don't feel like thinking of 10 whole ways of annoying people, five was plenty.  I just said there were 10 because "Top 10" lists are much more credible than "Top 5" lists.  Sorry.

Going Red

The opposite of being green is being red.  When you go green you seek to help conserve the environment.  When you go red, you want to harm the environment.

More to come later.

Notice how the shirt is a variation of green.  You never see red environmental shirts.

Picture from http://rlv.zcache.com/stop_cutting_down_trees_on_my_property_tshirt-p235810715502804789y9w1_400.jpg

The Far Left

The far left is, according to Wikipedia, is...

Far left, extreme left, revolutionary left and radical left are terms which refer to extreme left-wing positions in a political spectrum. The far left promotes egalitarianism.^[1] The far left involves complete opposition and aggression towards stratified economic, political and social establishments.^[2] The far left is hostile to people associated with a stratified establishment.^[3]

At first reading this, it sounded like a bunch of nonsense.  But a simple breakdown is very helpful.  After reading this hopefully you will understand that the far left is not, in fact, California and Hawaii.

The far left promotes egalitarianism.  This long word can be reduced to lowest whole number terms to... equality.  The far left promotes equality.  They want everyone to be equal and life to be fair (in some respects).

The far left involves complete opposition and aggression towards stratified economic, political, and social establishments.  A stratified society is one with no middle class: just the rich and poor.  Because the far left wants equality they oppose these vessels that bring stratification.

Why Sundays are the New Mondays

I am sitting here on a Sunday night, very unhappy with the world.  It seems like every Sunday night completely sucks.  I wondered to myself, why? Why the hell have Sunday's started to suck so much?

Here are a few of my reasons:

-Sunday is the sabbath day.  This means that you aren't supposed to do physical labor or anything strenuous like that.  Doing physical labor and strenuous things releases endorphins. Endorphins makes you happy.  You don't have endorphins on Sunday, so you aren't happy on Sunday.

-People can get figuratively "hung over" from the weekend.  Staying out late doing things can be taxing.  Taxes must be payed, usually the next day in the form of tiredness and a bad mood.

-Homework is due the next day...

Mothers Day

A shout out to mothers throughout the world.

It is Mother's Day
Thank you Mom, for giving birth
To me, your son Mike

People celebrate Mother's Day in many ways.  Some people buy gifts, such as Pink Flamingos.  Others spend time cleaning their mother's yard.

I spent my mothers day doing various things.

Today I had my first run in with Gutter Toppers (TM).  Gutter Toppers, for those of you lucky few who don't know, are metal screens that are supposed to keep your gutters clean from debris.  They think that by screening out all the leaves and such, you won't have to clean the gutters and they won't get clogged.

These screens, however, have one crucial weakness.  Helicopter seeds, the ones you throw up in the air and they spin like helicopters, are to gutter toppers what water is to a selectively permeable membrane.

You would expect the gutter toppers to keep out the seeds, but look what happens below....

The helicopters from hell

So back to my plight.  My job was to pick out these seeds, which had become lodged in between the metal pores, and throw them to the ground.  The only problem was that these seeds would not come out easily.  They were stuck in the grate and had to picked out by hand, or sucked up by vacuum.

I got out some garden gloves, a study ladder, and my leftover dignity.  A few hours later the gutters were clean, and the metal gutter toppers shone proudly before the shingles.

My task was done, and Mother's Day was a success. 

---

Pic from http://www.omahadoor.com/images/gutter_protection/Gutter_Protection_Screen_Types.jpg

All Day AP

AP season is in full swing.  Teachers push students to study.  Parents push students to study.  Even some students push each other to study.  Everyone is pushing everyone to study and do well, so they can get their 3s, 4s, and 5s and receive a little college credit.

Some people are panicked about all this, others quite frankly, don't care.  However, I would like to think that people who payed the $86 for a test want to do well and get the most value.  Some people stress trying to memorize the names, dates, concepts, and problems required to take the AP exam.  Late nights that should be spent sleeping are instead spent pouring over textbooks and review packets.  Passing time that should be spent talking with friends is spent frantically paging through flashcards.  Friday nights that should be spent...actually I would say most people don't study on Friday nights.  That's what Sunday nights are for.

A classic example of the stressed AP student.

All this scramble for AP makes me question the reasoning of the exams themselves.  Here's the concept according to a website that teaches people how to speak English:

"The Advanced Placement program is fifty years old. As we reported last week, it was created to let high school students do college-level work. They can earn college credits if they do well on an exam."

By earning college credit, you don't have to take the classes in college and can therefore save some money on tuition and even possibly cut out a semester or two of college itself.  And there is the fact that the class prepares you to do college work.

But...there are some other issues that need help.  One of the biggest problems I see with the exams is that the entire year is focused around them.  Teachers have a curriculum that needs to maximize the available time and prepare you for the test.  For many this means a very static curriculum that is often lack of discussion or new ideas.  What is on the test is taught in the class, not much more.

Occasionally there is creativity, but for the most part the classes are by the book.  You read a chapter, listen to a lecture, take a test, and move on.  At the end of the year you review for the final exam.  You take the exam, and then you're done.  Teachers generally don't continue the education of the topic after the AP test, they shift to a more relaxed and free flowing curriculum.  Often times teachers will have students do an easy project, watch movies, or grade papers.

This whole mindset somewhat defeats the purpose of AP. There is a huge build-up for the test, and then the entire subject is forgotten.  No reflection, discussion, or skepticism.  Instead there is simply a massive "we're done!" effect. (Hmmm...isn't this actually what college is like?  If you have a "useless" class that you have to pass out of to get your major?  You will easily forget this subject matter, especially if it doesn't apply to your current job/life).

So, I think we should reform the program.  The College Board is becoming too much of a powerhouse, it needs to be put in check.  The biggest controversy is over the question, how should we decide who gets college credit?  The College Board has the ultimate say over this.  To ensure that not everyone gets credit, they use a bell curve.  A certain amount of people get 1s, a certain amount of people get 2s, etc, etc.  In other words, you are competing against the other students taking the test for a limited amount of college credit (in the form of getting 4s and 5s on the exams).

This means that if everyone knows the material perfectly, can answer any question in a heart beat, and provide in depth analysis of the topic, there will still be a bunch of people who "fail" the test and get no credit. This situation would obviously be unfair for the many people who fall under the 1 and 2 category.  The College Board simply counts on a certain amount of people each year not knowing the material and doing poorly on the test.

This situation can be reversed.  Lets say that everyone who takes the test is a complete idiot.  Nobody knows anything about the subject, and they all guess on the questions and write random haiku's for the essay portions.  Around 15% of the people taking the test will get 5s, and will appear to be well versed in the material, when in fact they are simply blabbering idiots.

In response, I propose a new system.  I think we should do away with AP exams all together.  No more end of year massive final.  No more cramming the night before.  No more stress and worry.

I think that instead of the College Board being responsible for giving out credit, the individual AP teachers should be in charge.  I propose a system in which the teacher grades his/her own individual students based on fluency with the subject material, and then award college credit accordingly.

Of course, there would have to be limitations on this approach.  Teachers would have to be "registered" or trained by the college board.  It would be a similar process to accrediting a college; you are accrediting an AP teacher to give out college credit.  As an incentive for teachers to get accredited, schools could provide a pay raise or other benefits.

The teacher, once "accredited", would be allowed to give out a 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 based on how well the student did that year.  The teacher can use any form of evaluation deemed necessary: discussion, exams, essays, physical activity, etc.  The teachers could simply file a report with the College Board and then the "exam score" would be given to the student.  There will bound to be a problem of teachers passing everyone in the class, to make themselves look good (or simply favoritism to students).  To counter this, the College Board would review one or two of these "reports."  If the teacher fails one of these audits, his/her accreditation could be reviewed and possibly revoked.

If the student has a terrible relationship with the AP teacher and believes that the teacher would file an unfair report, the student could request a special review with a College Board member.

This solution would eliminate the end of year exams, reduce cost, increase efficiency, and place more emphasis on free thinking and new ideas (which our society needs).

How likely is this to happen? Not even a chance.

---

Pic from http://collegejolt.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/ap-class.jpg

Where did the .000000........000001 come from???

Just watch...

X= .99999999999....

(both sides by ten)

10X = 9.999999999......

(Subtract X (.9999....) from each side)

9X = 9

(divide both sides by 9)

X = 1

Wait... I thought X equaled .9999999.....?????

Courtesy of David Foster Wallace via Goody.

Why Change Is Impossible

I was reading a short story by David Foster Wallace called "Another Pioneer."  In this story, an entire Third World village is transformed by some sort of a genius.  This genius takes the form of a small child, and will correctly answer any question asked.

The implications of this are quite intense.  You could ask the child, for example, "What is the best way to make money?"  The child would reply with an answer specific to your question.  He would probably say something like, "Start a business that provides insurance."  If the asker of the question did this, that village will develop an insurance market.

The only problem with this is that the child is like a computer: he will answer only what is asked to him.  Nothing more, nothing less will come out of his mouth.  For example, if you ask the child "Can you tell me where my baby is?", the child genius will simply say, "Yes."  (And in the story, the child can only be asked so many times.)

To prevent wasteful questions like the one above, the village developed an entire industry-caste as an advising service.  A few people learned how to get the most out of each question and started to help other people form useful questions in exchange for other goods.  One of these new advisors would tell you to ask the genius, "What steps can I take to have my child returned to me quickly and safely?"

In essence, a new industry was formed over asking questions to the genius.

Eventually, the genius grew up and started to answer questions more thoroughly.  If you asked him, "Can you tell me where my child is?"  The genius would not only say yes, but would proceed to tell you where your child is and how to get him/her back home safely.  The genius would not only answer your specific question, but would explain all the implications involved.  The advising industry was no longer needed.  A whole bunch of people were out of a job.

This exemplifies a major problem with our job-based society.  Our economic structure is set up that if one industry goes down, we are all in trouble.

A modern day example would be the health insurance industry.  If we were to simplify health insurance and make everything more efficient, there would be a negative impact on our economy.  Thousands of people have jobs in and rely on the health insurance industry for a living.  If we were to improve that industry so those people were not needed, they're lifestyle would be destroyed.

An even better example would be the job of a computer programmer.  Computers, as they are now, need people to maintain them, improve them, and fix them.  What happens when we engineer a computer that does everything for itself?  All the computer engineers would be out of a job.  Self-induced joblessness. They will be out of a job because they did their job too well.

This concept can be applied to nearly every industry, and many of the examples involve the advancement of technology.  Teachers, for example, could be replaced by computer teaching programs, possibly on the iPad.

Military pilots are slowly getting replaced by unmanned aircraft fighters.  And yes, right now they still need a pilot on ground, but what happens when technology advances to the point where a pilot is no longer needed?

An obvious criticism of all this is, Won't new industries simply pop up in response to the new technology?  Such as during the industrial revolution?  Couldn't there be another similar technological revolution?

I suppose that is a possibility, but if the technology can create, repair, and improve itself, this seems unlikely.  I can't help but see a matrix-like future where the obsolete computer programmers try to take down their own creations, who in turn respond aggressively to the human threat.

Eh.  Best not to get too worried, it shouldn't happen for a while.  Humans are still in business...at least for now.

I didn't realize they were all holding hands.

Image from http://lmtimebank.org/images/tb-group-people.gif

Because Tonight...I Cleaned Out My Closet

I have recently been debating the benefits of a walk-in closet.  Most people that I talk to generally wish they had a walk-in closet, but after what happened today I'm not so sure they're right.

I got up on this fine Saturday morning to the sound of chirping birds and buzzing bees.  I thought to myself, "Wow, what a nice day.  I want to enjoy this day."  I had no plans but I could just tell from the moment I woke up that I would be pleased with the outcome.

A few minutes later I went upstairs to have breakfast out on the deck.  The sun was shining, the moon was fading, and the neighbor's dog was barking.  The peaceful calm surrounded me in an essence of glorifying beauty.  I ate my buttered bagel with a slight hint of condescendancy.

After breakfast I glanced at the clock above the stove and saw the time.  10:42 AM.  What a great start to the day.  I was going to head downstairs and get dressed (I was still in my flowing blue robe) when my mother stopped me and gave me specific instructions.

She told me that because it was a Saturday and had nothing better to do, I was to clean my closet.  Hmm, this doesn't sound too bad.  I can clean my closet pretty quickly, I thought.  I opened up my closet door and saw a big mess.  Despite this, my hopes remained optimistic (when are hopes ever pessimistic???).  I got started by picking up all the clothes and either hanging them up on the shelves or placing them carefully in the laundry basket for them to be laundered.

Once this was done I realized that the clothes were not the problem.  The clothes were the secretive agent concealing the true mess that lay underneath.  Multitudes of quotidian objects littered the floor, once underneath the uneven clothes.  I saw three suitcases, two unopened Christmas presents, and a partridge in a pear tree.

I checked out the Christmas presents and saw two sweaters along with some cologne.  I wish I would have had these when the weather was appropriate for that sort of attire. I suppose a walk-in closet has its disadvantages.

By the time I had the second layer of mess unearthed, it was already noon.  I had spent over an hour on merely the floor of the closet alone.  I quick checked over my work and noticed a large chest sitting underneath the second set of shelves.  The lid of the chest was pushed up, as if filled with too much sports equipment.  The excess matter was not round objects, however, but reams upon reams of school paper.

My chest wasn't quite this old.

I dragged out the chest and opened it up.  Math homework from 5th grade came sliding off the top, having been held in place by the rusty top of the chest.  I glanced at some of the problems.  I wondered why I had decided to keep these papers for the past six years of my life.  Did I honestly think I was going to look through math homework from years past?  Was I expecting an ice age to dawn upon mankind, and that my ancient math papers could be used to fuel a dying fire?  Maybe I was simply hoping that one day I would be famous, and that the general masses would be scrambling to get a hold of anything by me.  Or perhaps these papers simply had sentimental value, which is often the case with math homework.

Despite what reasons I had back then for archiving my work from 10:00 to 10:45AM in 2004, I had to move on.  I could not keep these seemingly extraneous papers for much longer.  They had to go.  I went upstairs to get the small white recycling bin and started the massacre.  I threw the papers in the bin with a sigh of mixed emotions.

What if someday I become famous?  People will not have access to my math homework from years past. I have a feeling most people could handle that.  How many celebrities do you know who saved their math homework from fifth grade?  In fact, maybe its a good thing I'm tossing it.

The end.

Old chest picture from http://www.worldofstock.com/slides/DRE1042.jpg.

A Presh New Look

Today I looked at my blog.  Then I looked at a few other blogs.  Like this one, this one, and this one. They all have really cool header graphics/pictures, and I was jealous.

I decided Mikey J needed a new look.  A look that actually was pleasing on the eyes.  A look that didn't suck.

I found a gorgeous background picture from this nice website, and I got to work using Photoshop.  It took a while on my slow computer, but it is finally done (it actually didn't take much work, most of the time was spent waiting for everything to load).

At first glance it may seem the new header is all for looks.  Wrong.  The new look incorporates symbolism at its finest. First of all, it takes place during the sunrise.  This nicely complements the Mikey J in the Morning title.  In addition, the lone tree indicates the true meaning of life: do whatever satisfies you.  Don't plant yourself down where everyone else is, but find your own way.

Do whatever satisfies you and leads you to believe you have led the best life possible. Don't worry about your growth location, or even how you grow (the tree is lookin a little funky).  As long as you are happy with yourself and are leading the life you want to lead, nothing else matters.


I like it, but let me know what you think.

The Best Team in the NBA

So apparently Jason Kidd doesn't play for the Nets anymore...

This just looks awkward

Jason Kidd has been my favorite player for quite some time, and the Nets have been my favorite team for quite some time.  I haven't been paying attention to the NBA for a few years (I'm pretty sure Kidd left early 2008, 2 years ago).  I just found out now...

Anyway I checked up on other players from the Nets and my heart was crushed even more.  Apparently the beast Vince Carter left to the Magic, and the next best player Richard Jefferson went to the Bucks.

And I also hear Dikembe Mutumbo retired.  He was awesome.

And get this, the Nets are the worst team in the NBA.  In fact, they are almost the worst team in the HISTORY of the NBA.  This is sad.  When I watched the Nets they made it to the finals but I guess those days are over.

The Nets basically got rid of everyone that was halfway good on their team, and now they suck.  The Nets without Jason Kidd are like the Eagles without Donovan McNabb...

So what am I gonna do now?  I don't necessarily want to be a fan of the worst team in the league, especially a team with none of my favorite players on it.

I talked with one of my friends about this dilemma and he provided some valuable insight. He said that because NBA teams trade players so much, it is often times better to be loyal to a specific player as opposed to an entire team.  This made a lot of sense for a couple of reasons.

If you are loyal to a good player, you will experience a lot more "victories," because that player is good (and probably will be for the majority of his career).  Being loyal to a team, as I found out, has many ups and downs.  A downside to following the player around is that you have to buy different jerseys more often, and that you don't feel as happy if the teams wins but your player under performs.  

Anyway I decided to take his advice, so my new favorite team is the Dallas Mavericks.  The decision would have been harder if Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson were still with the Nets.  But...since their not I'm jumping ship.  

Seriously, I don't watch basketball. I haven't watched a game in over two years and I probably won't watch a game for another 5.  Ah well, at least their jerseys look alike.

Kidd picture from http://pictureschat.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/jasonkidd-funny.jpg

Depressed? Here's an Idea...

If you think you have major depressive disorder, I would recommend using a cognitive approach to therapy.  Cognitive therapy, heavily influenced by Aaron Beck, seeks to change the patient’s way of thinking about themselves and their situation.  This type of therapy assumes that our thinking impacts our feelings and that by changing our thinking we can change our feelings for the better.  Depressed people often interpret normal or even positive events as being destructive.  For example, if a depressed person gets a date, he/she will most likely rationalize it as a ‘pity date.’  This not only causes an extreme lack of confidence, but also continues the viscous cycle of depression.

            Cognitive therapists use methods to help people to think in more positive ways.  By asking gentle questions a therapist can guide a patient’s thoughts to be more positive and constructive.  Other methods include stress inoculation training, proposed by Donald Meichenbaum.  This method can be used to teach depressed people to relax when thinking negatively about a current or upcoming situation. 

            I believe that cognitive therapy is the best for major depressive disorder as opposed to psychoanalytic, client-centered, behavior, or biomedical therapies.  Psychoanalysis will try to find a root cause of the depression, and not focus on the current problem. It has the tendency to ignore conscious thought, which is very important in depression.  Client-centered therapy is similar to cognitive therapy, but it does little to fix the problem.  In client-centered therapy, the therapist is basically a kind, comforting mirror.  The therapist will do nothing to shape the thoughts of the client, causing therapy to last longer than needed and not go directly to the problem.  Behavior therapists are on the other extreme: they ignore the thoughts of the client and focus solely on the client’s behaviors.  Behavior therapists will try to change the client’s behavior without changing the cause of depression: the thoughts.  Another good thing about cognitive therapy is that it doesn’t rely on medicines and chemical treatments, which can have potentially damaging side effects.  I would save the biomedical approach as a last resort, only if all else fails.  Yes, drugs might help, but if the patient becomes reliant on them and they have bad side effects, it is not worth it.  Anti-depressant drugs don’t change the attitudes or thoughts of the client, only the chemicals in the body.

If you have OCD...

If one of my family members is diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), I would recommend they seek behavior therapy.  Behavior therapy assumes that the anxiety problems are out of conscious control of the client.  Behaviorists claim that the behaviors are the problem, not the thoughts.  They would explain OCD is caused by a bad case of conditioning out of the client’s control.  Behaviorists would seek to fix the obsessive and damaging behaviors (or thoughts) by counter conditioning, which uses classical conditioning to reverse the bad responses.  Depending on the situation, operant conditioning may be used to shape behaviors more within conscious control.  This can include use of a token economy, which is when the client earns a reward for performing the correct behavior (in this case, NOT showing obsessive actions). 

            Behavior therapy is the best choice because it goes straight to the problem of OCD.  It hopes to break the cycle of reinforcement that occurs when a client performs the obsessive behavior, and anxiety goes away.  This therapy is much more effective than psychoanalysis, because again, psychoanalysis tries to look into the past for the cause, as opposed the current situation.  Psychoanalysis would ignore the preexisting case of conditioning as the problem.  Often times the patient is aware of his/her own OCD, and knows it is a problem.  Talking about it in client-centered therapy will probably have little effect on ending the obsessive behaviors (which is the goal).  Cognitive therapists will try to change the thoughts towards the obsessive behavior, but will not directly affect the obsessive reinforcement cycle currently in place.  Biomedical therapy again could be a last resort, but this again seems contradictory.  If given medicine, the client is simply replacing the obsessive behaviors with drugs.  Behavior therapy can cause lasting change and elimination of obsessive thoughts or actions.

The Top 400 Words of All-Time

What would happen if someone spoke for exactly 400 words? Just random thoughts.  What is 400 words of a teenager's brain? I hope to find out.

Apples. Sauce. Why does our capitalistic society deny the opportunity to share.  How many pop ups does it take to navigate through one internet page? Approxametly 6.3 pop ups.  Most of them are useless and uninformative.

Bill Gates.

Topic: indecisisveness.

Sometimes you really just don't know what to say.  You can't decide what to do, and you can't understand the political biopsychosocial implications of your attempts at progress.  After a while of talking, generally your mind will switch over to something more productive, such as pastimes.  NFL is a great pastime for fans, players, and coaches alike.  NBA is another past time.

I will be writing about the NBA in a future post.  The NBA stands for Nuclear Ballistic Armaments.

Some people say that procrastination is really a problem.  In short, it is not.  More on this later

Other people say that natural disasters are also a problem.  Sometimes they are.  Most of the time they're not.  Occasionally bear attacks occur, and are a huge problem for our sociological society.

Alpha.

Do you ever think about the origin of words? I usually don't.  In fact, I'm not really sure why you would even consider thinking about the origins of words, unless you were studying etymology.  Etymology is the study of the origin of words...I think.

Actually, if I were competing in the national or international spelling bee I would also study words.  In other words, if I were a spelling bee-er, I would study etymology.  I would study etymology for a few reasons.  Number one: when you ask the curator, "Can I please get the language of origin?" you will actually know why this matters.  Second of all, you could call yourself an expert etymologist.  What more do you want in life?

Phew, only 96 more words left.  Wait, now only 80 something left! Almost there.  Now I am getting closer.  Another thing I never worry about is computers taking over the world.  We made computers and I'm hoping the people that made the computers kinda know how they are made.  If you know how something is made, its  pretty easy to take it apart.  Such as a relationship.  If you know what your relationship is based on, I think it would be easy to take apart.  Let's take a quick example...You and your teacher get along pretty well for a couple of reasons: you don't interrupt class and you don't insult the teacher.  If you start to interrupt class and insult the teacher, your relationship with the teacher will probably not be doing so well.  I'm a genius.

Ahh shoot.  Too many words already.  I guess this is more like the 400+ words of all time.  Oh well, I think we'll be okay.

My Acting Breakthrough

I recently starred in a recruiting video for Rockwell Collins.  The video was released on Youtube, here it is:

This ain't no kum and go!

I was getting my Daily Donut and I read something about immigration.  Most of the Doc's points made sense, but I had a problem with a few of them.  Here's the low down on the pillows and nails of immigration.

The moment you become a legal citizen of the United States you get access to the massive amount of welfare available.  Medicaid, unemployment, social security, and God knows what else Obama is planning.

Social security- some would say that immigration is good for social security. It increases the solvency of it's funds.  The CBPP (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities) says the following

In general, researchers conclude that increases in immigration will somewhat improve the financial status of Social Security and that decreases in immigration will worsen it.  

 They also say that illegal immigrants help social security more than legal immigrants.  Illegal immigrants generally still have the income tax but never collect the benefits.

---

The above might be very misleading.  I am anti-immigration for the most part.  Here are my reasons:

-Drugs.  Immigrants often times bring drugs with them.  Olga Rodriquez explains this:

Mexican traffickers supplied 77% of the cocaine, 53% of the methamphetamine and approximately 50% of the heroin that enters the U.S.

First of all this lowers the cost of street drugs, and makes them less of a luxury.  If the price were a lot higher, people would use them less and treat them more as a special occasion as opposed to an easy addiction.  I'm sure the people addicted to these drugs would disagree with me.

-Cost.  It costs a lot of money to keep immigrants out.  Building a fence along the Mexican border could cost the US up to $49 million billion. This amount is probably nothing compared to the other costs of immigration but it still has an impact (thats 49 billion).  And I suppose this provides a lot of jobs for Americans.  Hmm... maybe spending a lot on keeping people out is a good thing.  Consider it a public works project.  A public works project that keeps our country more private.

-Jobs.  There is the classic argument that when immigrants come in and get a job, it takes jobs away from Americans.  In some cases I believe this is true.  However, often times the immigrants will perform the work that no one wants to do, such as the work performed on dirty jobs.  Yeah right.  Listen to this statement proposed by a website against illegal aliens:

The MSM report ad nauseam that illegal aliens are only "doing work that Americans won't." This mantra is mercilessly bandied about by illegal immigration supporters and echoes throughout the halls of Congress and the White House whenever the topic comes up. What is never mentioned, however, is that the illegal aliens are artificially depressing compensation and that illegal aliens are the only ones who will do the work at such low wages. In actual fact, illegal immigration distorts the law of supply and demand in a capitalistic society. Additionally it is grossly hypocritical to want to raise the minimum wage on one hand while the other hand winks at illegal aliens working at far below prevailing wages.

If the illegal aliens work for cheaper than normal, why would companies pay real Americans more?  The companies can get around the minimum wage law by hiring illegals.  Here is another strong point proposed by the same website:

In any case, illegal aliens are not just picking lettuce and digging ditches any more. It wasn't that long ago that being a dry-waller, brick-layer, house framer, painter, roofer, carpet layer, plumber, or electrician was a decently compensated, middle class trade. Now it is increasingly becoming the work for illegal aliens at far less than the free market rate.

If illegal aliens come into America with some skill, they can get a job fairly easily and will work for cheap.  This not only denies an American a job, but drives the wages down.

---

So what should we do about it?  First of all, make sure the borders are secure. Eliminating illegal migrants are an easy way to cut down on drugs and tax evasion.  Make sure everyone has a social security number and is documented. I believe that the money spent on protecting the US will yield a far greater return on the legitimacy of our society.

Second of all, charge a high fee to enter the US (with exceptions to refugees, of course).  Or if this is too radical, at least charge a high tax on all money leaving the US.  For example, if a Mexican worker wants to send a $100 paycheck back to his family, tax him $25 of those dollars.  This can help to reduce the federal budget.

And makes sure you tax the hell out of people who come to America just for college, and then go right back to their home country.

---

I'm just glad that immigration is working its way to the top of Obama's agenda.  We'll see what happens.

We should build an underground fence as well, to prevent things like this from happening.

Comic from http://www.theipinionsjournal.com/uploaded_images/immigrationQ-768063.jpg

Studying Battle Studies

I finally got my hands on Battle Studies by John Mayer, and I have mixed thoughts about it.  He appears to be taking a more laid-back, Jack Johnson approach to the music as opposed to some of his previous more upbeat songs. Well, I don't really know that much about either artist to say that with confidence, but thats what it seems like to me.

How many battles has he even been in?

My favorite part of the entire album was the random Taylor Swift part where I was just chillin to JM, and all of a sudden I hear this girl voice come in for two lines...

"I can't stop lovin you!    I can't stop lovin you!"

And then she wasn't heard again for the rest of the album (that one song was "Half of My Heart").  How strange.  It was almost as if an alien had invaded the CD and used a girl voice.  While Swift's voice didn't really seem to fit in too much, it did sound alright.  She has a good voice.

One question, why bother putting her in at all?

Rob, a commenter from Rolling Stone, said this:

John Mayer is trying to leach onto every poplar person’s back. He has sunken so low.

I'm going to ignore the fact that he misspelled popular, and get straight to the point (who are "poplar" people? tree people?).  John Mayer is not leaching onto Swift's back at all.  If he was, I think he would have used more of her voice in the song (and possibly entire album).  I'm pretty sure John Mayer was big way before Taylor was even known.  John Mayer will always be famous, he really doesn't need help in that department.  In fact, this duet probably helped Swift more than Mayer.  I bet he agreed to sing with her so he could take her home one night.

And who else is he "leaching" onto?  "Leach" is also used incorrectly.  Leaching is when you take minerals from soil.  Leeching is when a parasite takes something from a larger, stronger body.

The main point to take from this is...don't trust everything you read.  Most of it is written by people who aren't nearly as smart as you.

---

The majority of this album is about love and battles, foreshadowed by the "Battle Studies" title.  After hearing all these news stories about the major sex addiction of John Mayer, it makes me wonder if these songs are truly from the heart, or are they just another way to get the ladies?

I can understand songs like "Perfectly Lonely." Because John Mayer is with so many women, he probably doesn't have a steady relationship in his life.  Maybe that's what he wants.  It is "perfect" loneliness.

---

Battle Studies cover art from http://ripgrimey.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/jm_battlestudies_cover.jpg

iPod iFind: Jon Foreman

I have never been a fan of Christian music.  Its not that I don't like it, I simply have never really listened to it that much.  When I went up to ISU over spring break I did my usual and listened to Jack Johnson the whole way up.

When we got there my sister said, "Hey, if you like Jack Johnson you should check out Jon Foreman.  You will have to bear some Christian references, but he's really good."

I checked him out.  It took a couple songs for me to get into it, but his songs are good.  I would describe his music as something similar to Jack Johnson.  The bass in his songs are nearly nonexistent- he focuses a lot more on his own vocals and guitar as opposed to background noise.  This melodic angle causes the songs to get stuck in your head fairly easily, but that's okay.  It is better to have good moral Christian Lyrics stuck in your head than some gangsta stuff.

Foreman's lyrics are very uplifting.  He sings about love, heartbreak, family, and God (surprise!). After listening to his songs you feel better inside.  They lyrics might not be as "cool" because they don't talk about booze, drugs, and girls, but they have real meaning.  

How come railroad tracks make the best pictures?

Oh, and I just googled him...Apparently he has a band called Switchfoot (not to be mistaken with Slipknot). I guess I have something new to listen to. Foreman says "Switchfoot" is a surfing term (Wikipedia, 2010).

I think one of the reasons that Jon Foreman/Switchfoot doesn't fit into the typical lame/Christian rock stereotype is their own beliefs.  This is what Jon said,

"For us, it's a faith, not a genre. We've always been very open and honest about where the songs are coming from. For us, these songs are for everyone. Calling us 'Christian rock' tends to be a box that closes some people out and excludes them. And that's not what we're trying to do. Music has always opened my mind—and that's what we want".

This makes a lot of sense.  Before listening to Jon Foreman (and Reliant K), I was outside of the 'Christian Rock' box.  I wouldn't really even consider it to be acceptable music.  But I agree, these songs are for everyone.

Comparing all 20 of Jon Foreman's solo songs with the 2 songs I listened to of Switchfoot, I would say his solo stuff is better.  I have some listening to do.  Anyway make sure you check it out, let me know what you think

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Jon Foreman pic from http://refriedtimes.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/jonforeman500.jpg

Who is this mysterious "She?"

NHS is due this Friday.  In other words, I need 6 hours of community service by this Friday.  If I were a good student, I would have gotten all my hours done months ago.  I've known about the community service requirements for nearly 5 months and yet here I am, with a blank blue sheet in front of me.  This should be a fun week.

^That was me last week.  On Saturday I went to Taft Middle School to help out my mom with her Monarch Butterfly Habitat Garden.  She is a landscape designer, and she designed a nice garden that will serve as a "way-point" for the butterflies.

Butterfree vs. Venonat

After I finished my ACT (which took longer than usual because someone didn't know how to write in cursive at the end) I headed over to Taft.  I walked around one side of the school and saw the rest of the volunteers.  Apparently this was somebody's Eagle Scout project.  There were about 20 other people there, most of them were boy scouts or parents of boy scouts or small children.  Everyone was eating lunch and I thought it would be a good time to get some free food.  I took some pizza, snacks, and water, and fueled up for the project.

Most of the boy scouts were freshmen in high school.  There was one girl that everyone was sitting around.  I think they were trying to get with her (just kidding, they're boy scouts).  The conversation came to cell phones and she said, "I hate my phone because it always turns off randomly!"  One of the boys replied, "That's what she said!"

Now I've had my fair share of failed That's What She Said jokes, but this one was far worse.  Everyone that was eating was like, "Uhhhh, what? That doesn't make any sense?"  Then he said, "TURNS OFF RANDOMLY!!! DUHH GUYS!"

This is perfect example of what I like to call TWSS BUZZWORDS.  Otherwise known as That's what she said buzzwords, these words are crucial to every thats what she said joke.  In the previous example, "Turns off (or on) was the buzzword.  Most of these casual words have no inappropriate meanings when used in daily conversation.  A few examples include:

-Wet
-Hard
-Tight
-Easy
-Position
-Huge
-Fork

All of these words come up in normal conversation all the time.  In our society, however, there is a ban on words like these.  If any of these above words come up the conversation stops.  There is a large chance that somebody will say "That's what she said" and humiliation occurs.  It seems like I can no longer talk about positioning hard rocks into tight places during the rain without someone making a sexual reference.

In retaliation I have come up with a few comebacks to that's what she said jokes.  If someone calls TWSS on you, simply use one of the following lines.

-Shut up.  You've never been with a girl in your life.
-Since when have you started calling your mom "She?"
-Why would she say that? Ever?
-Don't you need a license to be that ugly?
-Really? I thought you were gay.

The above comebacks were tailored to insult guys because generally females avoid that's what she said jokes.  Occasionally a girl will say that's what she said, and that makes it acceptable.

The worst thing is when a guy says, "That's what he said."  Isn't that kind of like saying, "I was with a guy"?

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Monarch from http://www.aesweb2.com/ctn/images/stories/monarch-butterfly-female.jpg

You Only Live Once

Two posts ago I talked about how I went to help make the Taft Butterfly Gardens.  That was yesterday.  Today I also wanted to knock off some of those hours so I asked around.  One of my friend's has connections at the HCC, so I decided to volunteer there.  I went with another friend to get some hours in.  We'll call him Breaston.

Breaston and I walked up to the building and pressed the red button.  The door opened.  We walked inside and saw a row of wheelchairs between us and the front desk.  We explained to one of the people working there that we were here to volunteer, and she had us go around and talk with the residents.

Eventually we were introduced to Bill and Dick, who were both around 80 years old.  We spent the next two hours talking with them and getting to know their life.  They had both served in some form of the military and had prominent careers in insurance or electricity.  Dick was a little more talkative, and here are a few key things he said:

-Don't smoke! It will make your later years no fun at all.
-Have fun.  He kept mentioning how much fun he had his life, and how he didn't regret a single thing.

We only live once.  The best we can do is live how we want to.

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Life from http://irrelevantaxiom.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/the-meaning-of-life.jpg

ISU Espionage: Part III, Dinner, Episode II

The food was ordered.  The collegians were hungry.  They walked to the restaurant.  Then they picked up their food and ate some of it on a table outside the building.  They then realized it was cold out so they moved their camp inside.  In the end, they ate in the warmth of a building.

Now some of my critics will say, "Where were you during this whole scene?  You act as if you had a birds eye view, yet we know the wing speed velocity of a human does not allow for such a position!"

My answer to the critics: I was with the group.  I ordered on someone's computer: a burger basket with fries.  I chose the burger and fries because it was both delicious and nutritious.  Generally when eating food, especially in a college setting, the food is either delicious or nutritious.

How did they manage to make this look healthy?

Not this time.  This time, my food was delicious and nutritious.  During dinner one of the girls looked at her phone and then a dark look was cast upon her face.  As she slowly raised her head to make contact with the rest of the table, we knew what was coming.  Somebody was here.  That somebody needed help moving in.  We all avoided her gaze.  Recognizing our avoidance, the girl opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out.  She was speechless.  After taking a bite of her chicken breast she managed to speak...

"Susanna and her grandparents just pulled up.  They need help moving in.  We should go help her."

The reply from the table was unanimous, "Yes, we should!"

The reply from the table turned out to be misleading.  Only two or three other students got up to help.  The rest continued to eat in silence (except for the majority of the table, which was eating and talking at the same time).

It was another good 15 minutes before we finished eating and went back up to the dorm rooms.  We stopped by Susanna's room to see if she had moved in okay.  As we turned our heads, slowly, one by one, into the room, we saw three people standing.  One of the people was Susanna.  The other two we can safely assume to be her grandparents, considering both of the people were old and were talking with Susanna.  It is not without surprise that the occupants of the room noticed ten people peeking their heads around the doorway, and we were caught.  One of the more daring house members asked Susanna, "Did you move in okay?" She said with a faint smile, "Yes, we made it alright."

After an awkward silence





everyone left the room.

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Burger and fries from McDonalds.  Joking, it was from my good friends at http://www.netherways.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/burger-and-fries.jpg

ISU Espionage: Part III, Dinner

It was time for dinner.  I glanced to my left, then quickly to my right.  I then looked down at my gameboy and continued to play pokemon red version.  My Kadabra had just reached level 34.  I was happy.

Why won't he evolve!?!?

The entire floor was in disarray.  It was the last day of spring break for the college students, and none of the restaurants were open.  Panic spread throughout the area as news of these foreclosures snowballed from room to room.  One bright student hopped on his computer, and smashed it because he weighted too much.  Joking, he was actually searching for open restaurants on campus at ISU.  The anxious look on his face waned and turned into joy as he saw one opening...Clyde's Sports Bar.

He shut his laptop and rushed out of the room to tell the other students in the area.  One by one he whispered to them, "Clyde's is open!"  After he had told the whole floor, the students again were in disarray. They didn't know what to order from Clyde's.  You see, Clyde's has an online ordering system where you can place an order online and pick it up when you get down to the restaurant.  In other words, no waiting.  In words besides those, we had found a place to eat.

Gradually the people calmed down, sat back, and relaxed.  A sophomore girl ordered her food with a sanguine posture.  She was getting the garden salad tonight.

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Pokemon from http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/pokemon/images/f/f8/Kadabra.jpg

ISU Espionage: Part II, The Greeting

This is the Wednesday after spring break.  If Wednesday and spring break were racing, spring break would have already finished the race.  Therefore, I am done with my spring break, but have yet to complete my Wednesday after spring break.

As you can see from my previous post I had a quaint adventure over spring break (which is already over.  So over, in fact, that it is already the Wednesday after spring break).  I went up to ISU (Iowa State University) on Sunday.  I loaded up my glorious Grand Caravan with all my supplies (gameboy + pokemon) and took off for Ames.  In my 1998 Dodge Grand Caravan I also had two college students, my sister and her roommate. My van is two-toned colored.  A fading white (don't ask how white can fade, it just can) and a growing rust.  The mix of these exquisite colors adds to the overall beauty of the vehicle, and distracts the viewer from the gaping hole in the side of the door.

We were loaded, literally.  A months worth of laundry from two college kids, three huge backpacks, and various other utensils (spatula, wooden spoon, and egg slicer).  I think 'Ole Grumbly averaged about 13 miles per gallon.  That impressed me.  It impressed me about as much as the freshman who brought a rotten egg into the locker room.  Actually I bet the van impressed me a little more.

Enough nonsense.  I was heading towards Ames.  Jack Johnson was playing.  Two hours later we arrived and I parked in a parking lot.  By "parked" I mean that I pulled the van into an open parking space, shifted the gears of the van into 'park,' and then turned the key of the van into the 'off' position.  The car was now off and successfully parked in the parking lot.  In other words, I had parked the car (or van, depending on your generalizing tendencies).  In even other words, I had arrived at Iowa State University, home of Jack Trice Stadium.  In different words than before, I had arrived at my destination, which happened to be Iowa State University.

We unpacked and chilled for a bit as I got to watch my sister greet each and every member of her house, "OMG!!! I haven't seen you in soooo long!!! How was your break!?!"  To which each member of her house would reply, "OMG!!! LEA!!! I've missed you! My break was good, check out these new clothes I got!"  Apparently girls love clothes.  All the girls on that floor seriously spent about 2 hours talking about all the new clothes they bought over break and where they got it.

They looked something like this.

The guys did not really greet my sister like that.  They would answer more something like this, "Lea! Hey! My break was dece, I got to play video games all week.  I prestiged twice!" Then they would go play Call of Duty, and rightfully so.  Most males would be smart to leave the area when the topic of "fashion" or "clothing" comes up.

The greetings were soon over, and dinner plans were made.  Dinner is to be discussed at another time.


Pic of excited teens from http://www.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/6761060/2/istockphoto_6761060-excited-teenage-boys-and-girls-shouting-together-with-arms-raised.jpg

ISU Espionage: Pre Trip

Right now I am sitting at my computer in a red shirt and jeans.  I just got back from church, where the priest had a UNI hat on for the last part of mass.  Last week the priest put on an Irish headpiece.  I'm not quite sure what is up with my church and strange headwear, but I kind of like it.  No big deal.

Moving on.  As some of you might know, Spring Break is here.  For the next week, I do not have to go to school at all.  Some might find it ironic that this week I am going to THREE schools, non of which are for high schoolers.  I decided to make this Spring Break my college getaway.  I'll be leaving today to go up to ISU, where I will stay in someones dorm for the next two nights (not quite sure who's dorm, but I'm assuming someone will let me stay with them).

Our plan is to leave in the afternoon in the white van.  We will drive for two hours and arrive after we have driven those two hours.  Once those two hours in the car are over, we will be at our destination.  Our destination will be arrived at by us after two hours in the van.  Once the van has traveled two hours with us inside, we will be at our location of arrival.  You get the picture.  Two hours.  One van.  Great fun.

Now some people are probably asking, what in the world are you going to do up at ISU? What can you possibly want to do up there? 

There are plenty of things to do that will immerse me in college culture.  Call it a cultural collision if you will, but it will be fun.  Today once we arrive at our destination, which happens to be 2 hours away if traveling by car, I plan on unpacking and getting settled into my new temporary home.  By that time it will probably be 3:30 or so, and then I'm assuming all the college students around me will start doing homework that they saved until tonight.

And yes, I know there will be studying because they are on the honors floor.  Honors students always procrastinate.  

So anyway, everyone will be studying so my plan is to find the few people that aren't studying, and play some Call of Duty with them.  I hear everyone in college plays Call of Duty, so it should be a good start to my spring break.  Or maybe I will just do some of my own homework, and git'r'dunn (sp?).  

As for dinner, we will probably go out to eat somewhere and enjoy the nightlife of Ames, Iowa.  I'm not quite sure where we will go but I assure you, there will be food.

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Procrastination motivational poster (<-- Thats an oxymoron) from:

http://larryfire.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/procrastination.jpg

Does Everyone Really Love Money?

I was reading one of my favoritve blogs today and I found that the South Paw Baseballer is quite the radical.  In his post about March Madness, he claims the following:

I mean, everyone loves money and don't try to deny it.

-South Paw Baseballer

Well Mr. SPB, I am trying to deny it.

To say that EVERYONE loves money is like saying EVERYONE has 10 fingers.

To say that EVERYONE loves money is like saying EVERYONE likes to receive massages.

To say that EVERYONE loves money is like saying EVERYONE loves spending money.*

To say that everyone LOVES money is like saying everyone LOVES brushing thier teeth.*

To SAY that everyone loves money is like SAYING that Obama is a terrorist.*

If you are going to generalize about the entire human population you need to do some research first.  I would expect one to gather a team of surveyers and have them go door-to-door, asking about each person's love of money.  Once all 6.65734523456352 billion people in the world have been surveyed, and all of them answer unanimiously, you can then say, "Everyone loves money."

But remember, love is a strong word.  Maybe "liking" money is more appropriate.

According to Google Dictionary,

Love is a very strong feeling of affection towards someone who you are romantically or sexually attracted to.

I think I speak for most people when I say, I am not sexually attracted to money.  Neither am I romantically attracted to money.  I can understand the strong feeling of affection for some people, but for others, money is just a problem.

If there were no money some lives would be easier.  Much of our life is spent scrambling around for money so we can buy stuff.  That is one of the reasons we have jobs.

Just because money is very important to our society, and our entire world, does not mean that each individual person "loves" money.

*Some of these don't make much sense.  Get over it.

The Meaning of Life Revisited

These past weeks I've learned a valuable lesson.

I was in the locker room after track one day and was chilling with three other guys.  We started talking about our plans for Friday night and how fun it was going to be.  Somehow the talk came around to this one girl who spends a lot of time studying, doing homework, etc.  One of us mentioned, "she needs to stop wasting her life."

Then one of the other guys said, "Maybe she's not wasting her life.  Shes leading it the way she wants to.  There is nothing wrong with that."

Now the situation wasn't exactly like that, but it made me realize: no one's life is better than anyone else's.

There is no ONE good way to lead your life, as long as you are satisfied with how you are living.  If you want to study, study! If you want to smoke pot, smoke! There is nothing wrong with that, its just how you want to live.

Often times people have been made fun of for staying home on weekends, making it seem like that is the "wrong" thing to do.  Why do we think that? Some people stay home, and as long as that is what they want to do, there is nothing wrong with it.

I believe that a good way to lead your life is one in which you don't let society's expectations drag you down and control your life.  Don't measure yourself up to society's standards.  Feel free to do something most people don't think is the "best" thing to do.  They probably won't care.  As the saying goes, "Those you matter don't mind and those who mind don't matter."


The lesson: it doesn't matter how you lead your life, as long as you are satisfied and happy with it.

Picture courtesy of http://pix.motivatedphotos.com/2008/7/17/633519230532681237-42---the-meaning-of-life---i-know-i-dont-get-it-either.jpg

It Just Makes Sense!

I heard rumor about the whole texting bill coming to Iowa, mostly from the Daily Donut.

Please let them pass this bill.  Imagine a cop pulling you over for texting...

First he makes sure you are in between the ages of 16 and...17?  A two year range?  Hmmm.  Maybe they should also ban alcohol from 27-28 year olds.  Or how about just prohibit soft drink consumption for 4-5 year olds.  Actually, you should probably stop 41-42 year olds from voting.

Second of all he asks if you were texting.  You say, "No."  Next he asks, "I saw you with your phone out."  You respond, "I was just dialing. My mom wants to know where I'm at."

He then says, "Oh, okay.  Be a safe driver."

He then walks back to his car and leaves. You drive to the party, get drunk, then drive back home with a phone in your hand.

So please, Iowa, please pass this bill.  Our streets will be much safer without texting.  The jobs of policemen will be a lot easier.  The state will save money.

Please pass this bill.

The Frying Pan Chronicles, Part II

Anyways, as I was saying...I was doing the dishes one night and I had just completed stages 1-3 (see post bellow, The Frying Pan Chronicles, Part I.  I was in the fourth stage, which requires that I put the clean and dry dishes away in their proper spot.

Everything was going fine.  I would pick up a dish and put it away in its appropriate container.  Everything was going fine, until I got to the frying pan.

My family keeps the pots and pans under the counter, to the left of this sink.  I knelt down to open up the cabinet.  I opened up the cabinet.

I then reached for the frying pan and moved to put it away under the counter.  I picked up the frying pan and...

I smashed the edge of the frying pan into the bridge of my nose.  It felt like my entire cranium was rearranged as my brain was dented with stainless steel pan.  It took me a few seconds to realize what had happened

As I brought the pan off the counter to put it in the cupboards, I apparently decided that I wasn't getting enough outside punishment.  Instead of putting the pan into the cupboard, I put it into my head.

I recovered and then put the pan away, blood still on the side.  I brought my hand up to my nose and felt the warmth of blood.  I then got a tissue to stop the bleeding, and eventually it stopped.

I still have the mark on my nose.

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Frying pan base pic from https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFq-McK4D56ZEUAgM9tXLBjSd_NhUh8PiST3HXJlCVDPPDkPdgBUDBruHv2t5lzMewSqSsat2Hh6gjnKIkmkzo_nZQxCNcArLrP3wrI6YOK2b7r6dD170vwY4Nbr5Rzbx8B47QQ6Hl5WZU/s400/frying-pan-head1-300x300.jpg

The Frying Pan Chronicles, Part I

I have a question for everyone...  It is a quaint question, one characterized by both sounds and meaning.  The question may confound you, or simply make you roll your eyes in under appreciation.....

(Four days later)

Darn.  Don't you just hate it when you save a post, thinking you will come back to it in a day or two, and then completely forget where you were going with it?  That just happened.  I seriously forgot the "quaint question" I was going to ask.  This sucks.  Now I want to know the question!  What is this question?  Okay, it appears I must go on.  I cannot continue this quest for the question in my blog post.

(Funny Joke: What happens when you put a quest in water? It becomes a quest-ion)

As I was saying...I was doing the dishes one night, just as usual.  I generally do the dishes twice or three times a week, and it is always an average task.  I do no necessarily enjoy doing the dishes, nor do I necessarily dislike doing the dishes.  Doing the dishes would be equivalent to putting on clothes.  I do not necessarily enjoy putting on clothes, nor do I especially loathe clothing myself.

No sexist jokes, please.

As I was saying...I was doing the dishes one night.  I had just finished the washing stage of doing this dishes.  Generally, when doing the dishes, there are 4 stages to completion.

• The first stage involves basic organization and bulk load reducing.  This stage involves putting the majority of the dishes in the dish washer, and then running the dish washer if it is full.  If the dishwasher isn't completely full you can probably run it the next day after breakfast.  By doing this you save running a load which has many benefits in synergy.  This stage also involves starting up the sink for dish washing.  Some would consider the sink preparatory period an entire new stage, but for the purpose of length we will call it part of the Organizational stage.  
• In the sink preparatory period, you must fill up the sink with bubbles and water.  You generally get a wash cloth and possibly a pan scrapper if necessary.

• The second stage is known as the "Washing" stage.  This is the stage where the dishes go from dirty to clean.  To complete this stage you must scrub each dish with the rag/pan scrapper, making sure it is clean.  Some people like to wear rubber gloves during this stage to help reduce dry skin and such.  Others simply like to use lotion because it feels good.  An aspect of the "Washing" stage is the "Rinsing Stage."
• In the Rinsing stage, you need to take the scrubbed clean dishes and rinse them under water (generally from the faucet). This removes bubbles and any excess dirt still on the dishes.

• The next stage is one of the more crucial stages.  This stage brings the dishes from a "clean" character to a "clean and dry" character.  This stage is called the Drying stage.  This stage is quite simple: you dry the dishes.  If you need further explanation, please read this.

• The last stage in washing dishes is definitely full of controversy.  Some people will not even consider this stage part of the dish washing cycle. And yet I assure you, it is.  The "Putting Away" stage is both necessary and influential in the final effect of the dish washing cycle.  You put the dishes away in their spot.  

To be continued.....

Women doing dishes from http://greenasathistle.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/dishsink.jpeg