Random Articles

There is an article in Real Simple Magazine this month about empty nesters sending random newspaper articles to their children. The consensus was that it's annoying, they'd rather just have their parents call or write a letter, instead of sending a random article about, say, the cat flu in Antarctica. My parents don't do this, but my grandmother does. It used to be just clippings from the local paper with a picture of me with the swim team, or if I made the honor roll, or something like that. Now, she's moved on to email forwards and things like that. As I was reading the article, I was chuckling to myself thinking about the last letter I got from her. Slightly annoying, but endearing at the same time.

Then I realized, I DO THIS TOO! If you don't believe me, look into the archives of this blog and look at all fo the random things I've posted here. When I started this blog, it was just a place for me to post the miscellaneous things I found interesting--cool products, weird news articles, etc. Then Facebook invented it's share function. I didn't use it much at first, until they provided us with a handy little button to put in our favorites bar. Now, when I see come across a handle to carry grocery sacks, I can post it to my facebook. Or say I see a comic that reminds me of my best friend. I can share directly with him! Now that I have Google Reader, I can share with my Reader too! My cousin made a comment to me a few weeks ago that she had blocked me in her Reader feed because I'm constantly sharing funny (to me anyway) lolcats. Unfortunately, I was also sharing vegetarian and vegan recipes I came across, for her specifically. Oops! Because it is just a click of a button, I don't realize how often I share the random things I come across.

But for me, they are conversation starters. I love seeing that little red box in the right hand corner of my facebook that tells me someone has commented on something I've posted. It's the same reason I tweet so much. I like the conversations that evolve from posting such things.

The moral of this story? I have very eclectic interests. I try to keep the shares focused on things that I think other people might be interested, and don't be surprised if I send you an article about your chosen occupation, or your favorite band. It means I was thinking about you, and most people like to know that they matter to someone. At least I do.

Just finished: Watership Down by Richard Adams--This book definitely took me by surprise, when I found out it was about rabbits, I almost put it down as a children's book. However, it's a fantastic adventure story from the meek creatures none of us pay much attention to.

Up next: Home by Julie Andrews

VACATION!!

Short post tonight, just let you know that I'm going to be away from my computer next week. I may think up a post in the next few days if you're lucky, but Sunday J. and I are outta here! Headed to North Carolina to visit my cousin and her husband and new baby daughter (last year when we visited K. was VERY pregnant). Then staying a couple of nights in a cabin near Gatlinburg. I'm so excited about that.

This trip was actually supposed to be to New Orleans, my favorite city (that I've ever visted), for our honeymoon. We were going to stay at the Place D'Armes and eat at fancy restaurants. Sigh. We probably could have still gone but it would have meant sacrificing a big portion of the money we are saving for a house. Double sigh.

J. happened to get 2 extra days off of work than we were expecting, so we decided to splurge a little (not nearly as much as NOLA though) on a fancy cabin in the woods, as a second half to our minimoon in October (had a cabin in Brown County).

Anybody have any suggestions on where to eat in Gatlinburg? We've never been, so I'm not sure what is good and what is too touristy. Also, has anyone been to the winery just outside of town? 

PS...I just noticed how often I use parentheses for little side comments. I guess I blog the way I talk, I'm always interjecting explainations and such into my spoken thoughts. Hm.

Just finished:  Richard Murphy, Confessions of a Contractor--funny, easy read. Very entertaining, especially if you are in anyway connected to some sort of home trade (plumbing, electrical, carpentry)

Next up:  Anita Shreve, Body Surfing

Networks

My fellow business students can attest to this: Today's world is all about networking. Almost every professor I've had tells us to start expanding our networks, and every time I get online, there is yet another social networking site to join. And I do, because I'm an addict and I can't help it. From Facebook to Twitter, from LinkedIn to Last.fm, everyone is meeting new people online. How many times a day do I get on and change my Twitter status? Some say way too many, but by using sites like Twitter, I am able to converse with people outside my small town Indiana network about cooking, housekeeping, beekilling, etc. I get questions answered from people all over the world. I have friends in Florida who cook, in Arizona who plumb. I have a friend in Ireland who worries about my health, and my "Twitter Mom" in Bluffton who looks after me too. I've met people with different experiences than I have had (for some reason I really like to follow moms on Twitter, as well as their blogs). For the most part, it's all in fun, and most of the conversations aren't serious. But sometimes, somebody's real life is touched by their online life. Who starts a blog about their family expecting it to be a door to crucial funding to save babies' lives? Or who would imagine that a celebrity would notice a regular joe's status update and help them get the psychological help they need? Just a few examples.

So whether you like to post your recipes on Blogger, or just use facebook to post pictures of your latest drunken excursion, take a moment to notice the people around you in your social networks. You may be touching their lives more than you know.

Stuff

We watched The Story of Stuff in my Life Management class today. If you haven't watched it yet, I encourage you to click the link and check it out. It's about 20 minutes long, but very fast paced and really interesting. It discusses how our materialistic world got started and how it's affecting our Earth.

This got me thinking. I have geek lust for the new Kindle 2. It's an electronic device that's about the size of a piece of paper, and the thickness of a pencil. It's a method of reading ebooks, newspapers, newsfeeds, etc. But my question is, which is worse for our environment, paper books, or electronic devices like the Kindle? On one hand, trees have to be chopped down to make the paper for old school, printed books. On the other, how many resources are used to make disposable plastic and silicone-based electronic devices?

Something that really stressed me out about this video is that 99% of the things we buy are thrown away within 6 months, because of planned and perceived obsolescence.

Just something to think about today.

Change?

Much to my cousin's dismay, I've never been one for politics. While it's hard to miss the headlines that roll across my Reader every morning, I never really read the articles. I find it all really fake. After the past two years of the campaign, I'm really sick of watching commercials that sound like something out of the Burn Book from Mean Girls. Last night, the only election coverage I watched was Indecision '08 with John Stewart and Steven Colbert. And even then, I fell asleep and missed half the show. I woke up just in time for Obama to be crowned. I went to bed in the middle of McCain's pity party speech.

All that said, I find myself contemplating the election this morning. All over the place, people are terrified or ecstatic. On my Reader and the blogs, on Twitter and Facebook, statuses have been rolling across the feeds this morning. I saw one that said "This is the first time I've ever been proud to be an American." Someone else said that they opened their window this morning and could feel the change.

I'll tell you what change you feel. The leaves are changing colors. They are falling off the trees. The temperature is getting cooler. The only change you feel this morning is the season changing. On my way to class this morning, students were still hurrying to class. Traffic still moved too fast on Riverside. My husband still sat on the couch searching Careerbuilder for a job. Drains still needed cleaned out, my cat is still insane.

It's like people thought that things were going to change over night. That because the election was last night, everything is different this morning. But Bush is still President. For the next 2 months. And even when Obama is inaugurated, change is not going to happen overnight. It takes months, sometimes years, for laws and policies to change. Problems appear overnight. Solutions do not.

I have no idea whether Obama will be bad or good for this country. I have no way of really knowing if McCain would have been better or worse. Only God really knows what the future holds for us. That said, we have to wake up. Go back to work, school, life. Keep making your own way. I can guarantee no politician, Democrat or Republican, not even Libertarian, is going to save you. Business is still going to go through its cycles. There will be good times, there will be hard times. The only thing we can do is our absolute best. We have to keep fighting, no matter what happens. Change doesn't happen over night. We have to work hard for it.

Tyra Banks

There really is no other title needed. I am so irritated right now.

I'm sitting in the student lounge in Whittiger (sp?). They installed a new tv in here last week. So now, instead of a semi-quiet area to read or study (or in my case, blog) between classes, now we get to listen to Tyra Banks. Ugh. She is a beautiful model, and was great at it, but who decided that giving her a tv show was a good idea?

She took a couple who was already having trouble, split them up, and sent them on individual dates with other people. Hm. I wonder what is going to happen. Of course, the girl mooned over her boyfriend the entire time, missing him, wishing she hadn't gone on this date. The guy, as expected, had a blast, and almost cheated on his girl. Throw in a steamy scene in a pool and you have a dramatic talk show. Flashbacks to Jerry Springer or Maury?

I guess what annoys me, even more so than the very predictable outcome, is what Tyra supposedly stands for. She set out to create this show to prove that African American women are strong and her race has gotten a bad rap. Now, I agree with her point. But she is destroying that image on this show today. I dunno, it all seems very high schoolish to me.

A Word about Libraries

With most libraries, I can walk in, take a quick survey of the layout, and then spend hours perusing the shelves packed with novels, biographies, parperbacks, hardcovers. In a public library, the shelves are stuffed. The organization is clear, set out in the careful Dewey Decimal system we learned in the 4th grade. If you are lookng for something specific, it's so easy to find. If you want to browse, there are thousands of books of all subjects to look through, each in their own sections:  Fiction, Nonfiction, Research, Young Adult, Children's, Large Print Fiction, etc. There are comfy chairs in quiet, musty corners. That's a big point--it's quiet. People who frequent public libraries usually have enough respsect to turn the volume off on their cell phones, and no better than to talk loudly about their latest sexual encounter.

I'm a senior now, and still I have never felt comfortable in Ball State's library. In fact, today was the first time I even checked out a book here. I never know where to find anything--that's the biggest problem. I hate the way Brackin is set up. It makes absolutely no sense. Best Sellers are easy enough to find, but that is such a small collection of fiction. I looked up one book on CardCat, it's call number was PQ8098.1 L54 Z46 2008. What does that even mean? Where do I even start to look for it? Brackin is not a browsing library. I can go and print off my homework, or meet for group projects, but it has never really felt like a library to me. It's so noisy. Even on the 4th floor--the "quiet study area"--there is no escape. Phones ring, girls giggle, and boys, well they are just boys. Those of us who actually are there to study or read are too distracted.

Oh, the brightly covered arm chairs and up-to-date computer systems may be exactly what most students are looking for. Maybe I'm just old school. I've even noticed that my library at home has been seriously updated, even adding a hip-looking coffee shop. But I like the musty, dim-lighted corners. I miss finding something new in shelves that I've looked through hundreds of times. I think on my next day off I'm going to get a card to the Muncie Library.

Photo from here.

Wedding Bands

I've only had one class so far today. The professor was 7 minutes late--Trust me, everyone was counting and watching the clock. I've always been a loner in classes, I usually read or write while waiting for the prof. However, most of my peers have gotten to know each other though various clubs and groups, and they were anxious to catch up after the summer.

Being the casual (and to others, though I don't mean to be, creepy) observer that I am, I overheard a conversation that amused me. Two young men, also in their senior year (it was a 400 level class), were talking about their summers. One of them noticed a band on the other's fourth left finger.

A: "Did you get married this summer?"
B: "Yup I did!"
A: "Hey, so did I!"
B: "When was your date?"
Reader note, I don't remember what day it was. I'm not THAT creepy. The conversation only caught my attention because I am obsessed with all things wedding right now.
B: "You beat me, that's 1 month and 14 days before mine. But my ring is so much better than yours."
A: "I bet mine was much more expensive though."
B: "Probably not, I paid 4-500 for mine."
A: "Mine was 6!"

They went on to discuss metals and decision process they went through picking out the rings, things they were getting engraved on them. I gradually tuned them out and went back to reading Lolita. Still it struck me as amusing because here were two male college students, talking in detail about their wedding. While I'm used to women gabbing about every detail imaginable about their ceremony, it's a rare treat to hear two grooms doing so. B has a good start, he is already counting days since his vows, hopefully he'll be able to remember that date next summer, and plan a very special first anniversary. As technical and egotistical as their conversation was, you could tell from the affection in their rough male way, that they both really loved the woman they married. I hope that Jordan brags about our wedding the way these two men did.