Thoughts and Opinions

Holiday Cards

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:19:42 -0500

We have officially reached the middle of October folks and in the spirit of the season I have colored the words on my blog! No seriously, we have hit a great time of the year. We're slipping in to the delightful warmth of the fall season and out of the blistering inferno of the summer. Sometimes in this time of year I get sudden bouts of vertigo because it feels like I am almost falling in to the dark of the winter to come. This is why I think that humans have found for ourselves so many holidays in the fall and winter to keep us from going crazy as the weather makes us go inside our homes and inside of ourselves.

Right now we're coming up on the first holiday of Halloween and it's going to be a fun one this year for me I think. I have decided to actually dress up. This is huge for me since I haven't since like fifth grade. After this we're in the home stretch for one of my favorites of the whole year, thanksgiving. Then it's just a matter of time before we are right in the through of winter and Christmas hits us with a vengeance. Then New Years is just the cherry on top as we glide in to the New Year and wait for the icy ground to thaw and the whole year to start over once again.

Having grown up in a household of professional parents, I see this time not only as a time for celebration, but as a time to say thank you to those around us. When I was a kid it was always a big part of our family ritual to make the business holiday cards for their co workers, and the family holiday cards for the family. We would all sit down together, my parents and my sisters, and we'd write out little personalized messages as dictated by one of our parents. That's why I think this time of year is so special for me because I have so many memories of sitting together in the warm house talking and laughing while we worked. I hope all of you have great feelings about this time of year as well.

Christmas Cards

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:17:08 -0500

Is anyone else out there feeling the crunch right about now? I think I have more work to do this week than I have had to do all semester so far. It is just like everything is culminating in dropping a bomb on my life and seeing what happens. I do get the odd feeling every once in a while that I am a guinea pig but that's just because I'm sleep deprived. IF any of you are out there feeling this as well don't worry because you are not alone on that one. You've got some good company right here. Just don't try to stop me on campus to ask how I'm handling it because I may be in a daze at that point. I've been forced to use my walks from the dorms to my classes as my meditation time because it's the only time that I really get to just be. I don't have to use my brain to make my walks. I just get to let me feet do the work and my mind can sit back and enjoy the scenery. Enough about my neurosis already!

We're right in the thick of it as I have said and I am sure you are all breaking out your coping mechanisms. For me I usually do one of a few things to just unwind and taking my walks is one of them. Some of you may engage in any number of things that just ease your sense of despair and vertigo from all of the work you are being drowned in right now. Some of your may go out partying. Some of you may read for pleasure, certainly not me. Then there are the less common and more quirky ways of coping.

One thing that I do to keep myself from going crazy is to look ahead to the holidays. I always love the holidays and especially Christmas. Getting Christmas cards is always a huge thrill for me because then it is time for a vacation. Since coming to college, I have used making my own Christmas cards as a way of putting myself in that space so I don't lose my mind. IT has worked so far, maybe it will work for you. Give it a try and make sure you send me one.

Thanksgiving cards

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 23:21:37 -0500

I have always been the kind of person who is just a sap when it comes to holiday sentiment. I think that when I was in kindergarten I did those little crafts where you make cards out of macaroni for other people in your class or in your family and I just fell in love with the idea right then and there. Ever since then I don't think I have missed an opportunity to make some kind of gift or greeting for every member of my family, and some friends, for each holiday or celebration that came along.

Now that I am in college things have gotten a lot more hectic. This semester I am especially stressed out and frustrated with the schedule that I have throughout my day. Like most students out here I have been forced to sacrifice some of my hobbies and interests for the good of my own education. Though I have held this so dear to my heart for so much of my life, I have been forced to go from making things and getting something for everyone every time, I have slimmed down my practice a bit. This year I will still do my Christmas cards personalized for each family member, it's always really fun. I won't be able to make thanksgiving cards this year since I have bunch of papers and mid terms due the weeks before. For these cards I will just be going online to a website I really like and send out either some digital cards, the ones that play songs, or paper cards in the mail. I will still be seeing everyone this year but it is a little bit saddening to think that people won't be getting their usual gift this year before we all meet up for the holiday dinner.

I hope that I am not alone on this funny little value. I just think that people love to feel special and it is important for family members to do that for one another. We are the only family we will ever have and I for one am willing to sacrifice my time, when I have it, to make them all happy.

Promotional products

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 11:50:15 -0500

The election is coming up on us really fast now and I for one and very excited. This year will be the first year that I have been old enough to vote and I am just dying to get the opportunity to cast my say in the democratic process. This idea is a big part of my desire to be a teacher. I want to use my place as a teacher of American history and civics to get kids involved and interested in those things that are going on in the world around them. I want kids to understand what is happening and what they are a witness to. I think that this is a direct attempt to break down the idea that many kids like myself when I was younger held true. That fallacy is the idea that since we are young, or voices don't matter and or say is invalid since we have not been through what or elders have. This is not the way or system was designed and this is just not the reality of life and liberty in America.
Now to the reality of the situation on the ground here, it is just a mad house. I have been volunteering at the office of one of the candidates, I won't say who but I think yo can guess. It has been getting more and more exciting every week now. Ever since the selection of the vice presidential candidates there has been non stop action and calls to make. I have been spending a lot of time out on the streets here, you may have seen me, handing our promotional products like pens and buttons, as well as registering people to vote up until the very last moment. It's been really great because people are just really enthusiastic about this election and I think that everyone is trying to make a difference through their votes. All of these people that I have been meeting have been a big inspiration for my vision of the students I would like to guide in the future. If you haven't gotten out there are done you're part in registering yo are too late, but if yo have then you are a true patriot because you have pt faith in the system we support every day.

Chocolates

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 11:49:14 -0500

For all of you out there who either don't know me or don't know about my blog here, you may have missed my birthday on monday. That's right folks I am finally old enough to stand at any American bar and order a drink. I am old enough to go to any concert I want and stay ot as late as I please. It's a pretty interesting feeling even though I expected to feel a longer sense of relief when it came. I think that is is probably the fact that my birthday fell on a monday this year and I just simply had too much work to do for tuesday to really go out and enjoy my new freedom. I was stuck with my guilty pleasure of one beer and then I was done.
I didn't get off without a celebration though and it was a good one. I tried to keep my party low key this year as I knew that if I made it in to a party then it wold turn in to one much bigger than I wold have really wanted. I invited some friends but asked that we not drink. Of course everyone laughed at me but they still came and we just hung ot and ate lots of chocolates that my girlfriend brought home from the candy store where she works. Eventually I think everyone was replacing drinks with a chocolate in hand, as they seemed to be inserted or held during many conversations around the hose at any one moment. I thought it was kind of a funny sight to be seen, all of these college students having lots of fun not drinking while gorging themselves on gourmet chocolates and conversation.
This weekend I am going to be swinging the pendulum the other direction though so please come ot and chill with me. I can't say where I will be, but for the first time I will be out there and I am sure I will run in to yo if yo look long and hard enough in those cloudy rooms and smokey bars all across town.

Sparring Gear

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 17:26:17 -0500

This semester I have taken it unto myself to make sure that I take advantage of everything that college has to offer. I don't want to miss out on anything that I definitely did last year. I was too busy as a freshman worrying about my studies and trying not to drown in all of the work that I assumed I could handle, but couldn't. I don't think I really went out all year long other than on my birthday. Now I want to make things a bit different this year and I am starting by joining a couple of clubs.
The first club that I have already joined and begun training for is the boxing club. I have done about five training sessions and I bought my own sparring gear yesterday. Now I am just sort of training and trying to build up my skill but I don't think that I will challenge anyone for some time now. It's been really great for my health and I feel like I am getting in great shape. I don't think I have really felt this good physically since I was bike riding every day back in high school. I would do the seasonal bike races back then but I just didn;t have time for that last year with everything that was going on in my life.
That of course brings me to the other club which is the cycling club. This is an awesome club that we have here on campus. This club has been very well developed over the years to join p with the official team. Every week there are workshops and demonstrations put on by various companies and clothing suppliers. I have since gotten a bunch of free tools and really cheap parts that are amazing quality. It has only been a few weeks and already I have a clear vision of the perfect bike that I want to build. This will probably lead me to building up a bunch of bike because there is no way that I will be able to stop myself once I start. I think that this semester is going to be pretty awesome and is already a thousand time more fun that last year.

Crying in your tea

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 14:02:25 -0500

Song after song has told the tale of beer and the tears a pint or mug can collect. But what of the true tear-collecting beverage? Tea is well known for its soothing properties, yet to date, no popular songs have been made about wallowing in misery with a good cup of tea.

Unfair treatment is certain, but the comfort of tea is not lost to the ages simply because there is not a top forty hit about teardrops in a tea cup. Rather than a staple in songs and music videos, tea is found in excruciating detail in the places you would expect it - areas of comfort.

When you're feeling poorly, are under the weather or the victim of an ended relationship, tea is a terrific companion. The steaming liquid soothes your nerves, comforts your belly, and warms your hands and insides. Tea has been a tested method of comfort through the ages and media has not ignored it completely. Just the phrase, "Let me make you a cup of tea, dear" probably brings to mind a book or movie you call a favorite.

Tea is a powerful ingredient in comfortable novels. When you're in the mood for a book you can curl up with, take notice of how often tea appears. It's as if the Bronte sisters knew we'd have a mug of tea at hand while turning the pages.

Tea is also profoundly present in movies that make us relax and shed a few tears. It might be iced tea or it might be a cup of tea, but keep your eyes open for the soothing concoction that seems to collect the most tears - both in your life and the life of crying characters on screen.

Conference

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 17:54:59 -0500

Sometimes there are some nice perks that go along with being a student at a major university. There are all of the educational and intramural activities that you could ever hope to be a part of. There are also the long term perks like the name recognition that appears in job interviews and the life lone attachment to school pride that can uplift you for the rest of your life. There are also the clubs that you can choose to become a part of that can both enrich your life as well as enrich your career in ways you can't imagine when you are in the middle of them.
I am a member of many of these school clubs, mainly surrounding social justice and international relations. For these clubs I think that it has been essential for my sake that I have the backing of a large university with all of the technological advances and recognition that comes with it. For all of these groups we often try to make our membership a part of something larger or to at least work on projects that are on a somewhat global level. To do this the university has provided us a high volume of free conferencing with our other memberships around the world. About once a week one of these groups will make a free conference call to someone domestically or abroad for various reasons that the university doesn't even bother us about. We just have a list of free conference call numbers like my favorite one www.rondee.com,
that the technology department gave us to route us to the actual place we are trying to call. Sites like this one have helped us to make some real change in the world through telecommunication and project coordination.
For the clubs that I run we also get a lot of financial support from the university to plan trips that other colleges would not be able to afford. Right now I am planning a trip that they have said they will fund for my aid group to go and help build houses in a post war area of Sierra Leone. Without the funding and the intelligence of a large university seeing the potential for real human change, trips and clubs like mine would not be able to function nearly as smoothly or effectively.

Health Insurance

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 17:50:49 -0500

This time of year my family always gets wound up about the weather and the way things are going. This year especially with the crazy things that are going on with our economy in this country, they have been especially uptight about things like my bills and my job. This weekend I was fortunate and cursed enough to be able to go home and see them for a dinner before a long semester's work. I won't be able to go back and visit until Thanksgiving so this was sort of another going away for us all.
This time our visit was a little more heated than usual as the banking news was pouring in piece by piece all week. My father is a banker at a local branch of Bank of America so he had plenty of things to say. I was pouring out all of my economics vocabulary but still had no idea what they were talking about when they would go along with what I was trying to say. My uncle who works for a health insurance company had plenty of things to say as well. He works in the south and sells mainly Florida health insurance, Texas health insurance, and Georgia Health insurance. He was saying that he has never seen so many people just losing policies all at once because they can't afford them. For him the biggest thing that he does is that he adjusts claims for those who want to try and refinance or drop insurance's all together. The way he sees it, all of the mortgage issues, and the increasing number of powerful storms down that way in recent years has caused a lot of the financial woe for the people in those states.
I am still sort of awash in information regarding all of these seemingly world changing events. My mind is even still reeling from all of that family interaction, but I think that I am lucky for having such an insider view of what is going on within this huge problem. I just hope that this is as much involvement with those problems as I have because I don't want to end up broke from the falling state of finances in this country.

parenting

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 17:49:40 -0500

Parenting is one of the most difficult jobs on the planet. Having responsibility for another human being and trying to make decisions that are in their best interest, can be difficult and it is one job that you receive no training for. The only thing that could even remotely be considered training is just the way in which your parents raised you, which for some people is a good foundation, but for some people they would be better off starting from scratch. Sure there are some books out there, but if you read enough of them you will find contradicting ideas and that can sometimes make parenting even more confusing. Face it, most parents want to do a good job and give their children the things they need, without giving them too much and making them spoiled.

When I was in high school, we had a child development class and they had us carry around an egg in a basket for a week. Believe it or not, I did take the egg thing seriously, maybe more so because I wanted a good grade in the class, but I did learn how difficult it was to keep an egg safe when going through my daily life. Now they have a more advanced system in place of allowing teenagers to test out parenting, they give them baby dolls that in this area they call Baby Think It Overs. These babies cry and wake you up at night, and register trauma in their little computers if they are dropped or banged. At the end of a weekend, they pull out the computer chips and register a score on how you rank as a parent. This is quite a bit more advanced than the egg project, but I think that the goal of promoting child safety is the same. They are trying to show these teenagers that it is not so easy to take care of a baby 24/7 which if you have ever had a baby is the honest truth.

Parenting takes a lot of work and dedication. It can be frustrating and wonderful all at the same time. Be assured that as a parent, questioning your decisions and constantly reevaluating your results is probably the best way to see if you are on the right track. Using your results, can let you know if you are making the best decisions for the particular child and circumstances you are dealing with. There is no rule book, but the intention is clear and that is to make a highly functioning new member of society when you are through. If you can accomplish this, then all the blunders you make along the way won't really matter at all.

Canada Better for Auto insurance

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:52:15 -0500

I was speaking to a friend of mine who lives in Canada and she was telling me all about her recent experience with her http://www.kanetix.ca/auto-insurance car insurance company. She apparently had a car accident a few months ago. She sustained some minor injuries and had to get a rental car, since her car had been totaled. Someone was trying to hurry up and turn in front of her as she was approaching a green light doing the speed limit. Well, she said it was like he came out of no where, and although she tried to clear his car, she wound up hitting the tail end of his car, because she could not completely clear it. The other party was found to be at fault and was ticketed for his actions. She said that she reported the accident right away to the insurance company and filed a claim, but that her insurance company has been giving her the run around and has not to date paid her for anything except they did replace her car, because she had an insurance policy that paid off the note on her car and so she was able to get that much done. She said that now she has had to contact the Financial Services Commission which apparently, she explained is the governing body over all http://www.kanetix.ca/auto-insurance Ontario auto insurance and all insurance in this region. They regulate and oversee problems with insurance and they accept consumer complaints and investigate them. She said that the FSC has now contacted her and are getting her claim processed for her and that she should be receiving a check in just a few weeks. She is relieved and I told her that seems like a so much better system than the whole get an attorney and sue thing that we have going on here in the US. She agreed and said that in many ways living in Canada is a much higher standard of living than in the US. She said that she is really glad that she relocated to Ontario and finds that the government there really supports and takes care of its people. I told her maybe I should pack my bags, of course I was only half kidding. I mean it sounds good, but I am not sure if I could handle the culture shock. I am kind of a creature of habit, and I am afraid that it would rock my world to take on living in a new country at this stage of the game.

Tech

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 20:34:00 -0500

Sometimes I wonder how it is that the world ever functioned without a home computer. Computer technologies have become so advanced so quickly that it is hard to believe that about 20 years ago, no one owned their own home computer and now many households have several of these already. I don't know much about the technology news, so I am always amazed when I hear about a new advancement and the most recent one that I discovered accidentally was Google Earth. I don't know if you have ever seen this thing, but quite frankly it is beyond amazing and a little bit scary. This shows the earth including every little detail that exists. You can actually go anywhere in the world with this online, not quite real time view. You can visit everywhere and anywhere including the Empire State Building and after seeing that you can go to the Eiffel Tower, it is just incredible how much you can see. I just keep thinking that if technology can allow the average person to see this much of the world, then how much can our government see. I mean this diagram is so clear and real, that I just need to wonder can the government really see everything we do and everywhere we go. With the availability of GPS and the kind of maps like the one on Google Earth, if the government were truly interested in your where abouts is seems like they could see everywhere you stop in your daily life. I know this sounds a little bit paranoid, but with technology like this, you know they could do it. That being the case, then why can't they find Osama Bin Laden. Don't you really think that they could locate him with all the latest computer technology? Well, you would think so.

If you think about it, the big brother theory is not a new one, but rather an old one. Many moons ago, George Orwell wrote a book called Nineteen Eighty Four in which he believed that the government affectionately called "Big Brother" would be watching us everywhere we go. He wrote this book in 1949 which is odd that he wrote this book and then died a year later. Perhaps he knew more about all this than he told, but it is interesting that he predicted many of the things that would happen in the world today.

corporate gifts

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 17:14:11 -0500

Today is move in day here at the house, and we're all really excited to see each other and to get back in to school soon. We all have been on vacation for the whole summer so the house has been almost totally empty the whole time. To keep our lease, since this is a great house, we have made sure that there has been at least one person in the house at all times. We all went our respective ways and I personally had a great time.
The first half of the summer I spent with my parents so I could save some money and visit for while. I helped my dad build his new shed for his woodworking and I helped my mother make dinner every night. I still have my online job so I kept doing that, basically editing articles, and that kept coming all summer long. Then for the last month or so I have been out on an internship for the business department trying to beef up my resume and experience for the future. I know that I am only going to be a sophomore this fall but I am smart enough to have realized already that this whole college and job thing really boils down to a contest of resume fat. Then to top it all off I helped the company with their booth at a tradeshow. My job there was actually finding new places and effective means of distributing promotional products and corporate gifts in order to boost interest and sales in the company. At the fair I was of course put in charge of tradeshow giveaways and figuring out which logo merchandise would work the best for each target audience.
All in all this was a good summer for expanding myself through some new experiences. I mean looking back I did a lot. I learned through experience how to build a shed and build a working advertisement campaign through the use of free products. I think that the experience I gained was great and the big name on the resume is really going to help later when it comes up that I was basically still a freshman when I did the internship.

concert tickets

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 17:13:47 -0500

As students today it is very important for all of us to have a good knowledge of computer systems and programs. The more effective our use of the internet and computer technology, the better off we will be when we eventually hit the job market. The amount of skills we have in this area can turn a boring job in to a high paying adventure. Though it can benefit us greatly later in life, these skills can help us with a lot right now as well.
Firms all over the world are turning to the internet for their hiring base. In this job search, there are plenty of jobs that obviously require some degree of tech knowledge, but there are also some that require very specific knowledge. For students there is a great opportunity here because most of these jobs are meant to be flexible and done at a set pace, but on your own daily schedule. For me, this is how I am personally paying for college. I do some editing online that require me to use very specific programs and to make sure that I keep up on those skills. There are plenty of these kinds of jobs out there and if you manage to find one that works for you and is of interest in terms of the task being asked of you, then please do not hesitate because they are perfect for students. My other online job that I have done before is just as a salesperson for tickets to campus events. This required me to either work from their computer or my own, which I did of course, and to aid phone call orders for concert tickets, sports tickets, theatre tickets, and of course football tickets. The job was very rewarding, but it would not have been possible if I didn't have a good knowledge of their operating system before I began the job.
The moral here kids; learn as much as you can about technology as you can while you are here because it will only help you in the long run and may even help you get some extra dough in the short term.

luau party

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 17:13:04 -0500

It is really hard coming back to town when summer has just been so much fun. Though I don't start class for another three weeks, it is still difficult to wrap my head around the fact that I have got to just fall back in to normal life after a whole summer in Hawaii. That's right I said it, Hawaii.
My parents moved to Hawaii when I graduated from high school last summer and I told them that I would be spending every summer of college with them. This year I made that promise in to truth and it was probably the greatest summer I have ever had. I had never even been to Hawaii before so it was a huge shock at first. The second big shock was the fact that my parents had a full house built and arranged before I ever got there. Of course their style of decoration was still the same but it was just a tiny bit surreal to see them living there. From there back porch I could hear the ocean off in the distance and there was almost no noise but that all the time. Every once in a while a car would go by outside on the road, but it was usually almost completely deserted. Honolulu was a completely different story though.
I definitely experienced plenty of the nightlife of Hawaii to keep myself interested and excited about being on the island with only my parents. Since there was an endless supply of tourists to the island, the parties every weekend were endless and always awesome. My favorite places were the dance clubs because they could do the luau party theme while still throwing the glow sticks and glow necklaces around. I must have spent all but one of two Saturdays all summer at a club somewhere and by the time I was read to leave I had used up all of my party supplies and spending money. Now I am here and it is certainly going to get some getting used to. Not only is the climate going to be an issue, but the parties here may not be able to stand up to what was going on over on the island.