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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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