Sunday, September 27, 2009
SMOOTHIES!!
Smoothies. Some people love them, some people hate them. Before I came to Virginia Tech I was not really a fan. It is not that I did not like them; it is just that if I had the choice, I would not get one. Well since coming to Virginia Tech, that has drastically changed. I have now discovered this new found love for them and I cannot go a day without having one. I crave them all day. It will be nine o’clock in the morning and I will be walking to calculus class; and what am I thinking about? Smoothies! I sit in calculus class and think about them. I get severely side-tracked during class. Maybe that is why I did so badly on the last test, I was too busy thinking about smoothies when I should have been learning, or maybe I did not do well on that test because it was freaking impossibly hard. I do not know. It is really a tossup between the two. You can make the call on that one. So when I am sitting in class thinking about this, my mouth starts to water and I begin to think about what flavor I want to get. Planet Raspberry? No, that has a little too much banana flavor in it. Strawberry Banana? No way! Way too much banana. Coconana? Possibly. It may have a lot of banana flavor in it but somehow it is amazing but I had that yesterday and I really do not want to get sick of it. Peach? Definitely a possibility however I do not know if I am really in the peach smoothie kind of mood. Pina Colada? That is definitely the right choice for today. Especially today considering it is cold out and pina coladas remind me of the beach and summer and warm weather and no school work. My mom and I had pina coladas almost every day when we were in the Bahamas. That was my graduation present to go to the Atlantis Resort for eight days. It was amazing. Anyway, getting back on the topic of my addiction to smoothies. The pina colada just brings back some really nice memories for me today so I think I am going to go with that. So I will walk out of calculus class and come back to my dorm and I usually make the decision to get the smoothie later in the day, say for lunch or dinner. I just think it goes better with those kinds of food. So I will think about this smoothie ALL day long until I get it. I am not really sure what happened to me but I suddenly became addicted to these smoothies. Now I do have to clarify. There are two places to get smoothies on campus that I know about. There is one in Owens and there is one in West End. For me these two are completely different. I prefer West End’s smoothies. I cannot really explain why so you will just have to try them for yourself. I am already running low on my meal plan money. They have those charts in the dining halls telling you where you should roughly be right about now, yea, I am a month ahead of where I am supposed to be so I should probably start cutting back on the smoothies every day, but then again I can just keep adding money to my meal plan and get smoothies every day J I feel that most people have addictions, whether they are bad or just a friendly addiction. For instance, my addiction is smoothies. My roommate’s addiction is diet coke, bran cereal, and splenda. I think all of those things defeat the purpose of trying to stay healthy. Diet coke and splenda are extremely bad for you, but I will not be the one to tell her. My dad is addicted to coke. He must have at least one every single day. His body basically goes into withdrawal without it. Some people are addicted to more superficial things such as Facebook and magazines. I have an addiction of People Magazine. I would be so excited to come home on Fridays after school because I wanted to read People. That was the highlight of my Friday every week. It has been so hard not having it here with me. Some people have to get on their Facebook all the time. They have to know everyone’s status updates, new pictures people add, they have to watch a video someone posted onto someone else’s wall. I do not know but I find this a little strange. An addiction I have only found since coming to college is Farmville. Everyone is obsessed with this. They have to get on all the time to harvest their crops or collect chocolate milk from their brown cows or transform their ugly duckling to a swan or harvest the lemons out of the lemon tree. This sounds so outrageous to someone who has never heard of Farmville however being that I am one of the many people now addicted, it is so much fun. The only thing I dislike is how you cannot speed up time. Everything is in real time so it takes a lot of patience. Some other people are addicted to what I would call bad things such as alcohol and drugs. Their bodies will not let them go a long amount of time without smoking a cigarette or chewing tobacco or having a few beers. It is something they have grown so addicted to they will do anything they can to get their hands on it and find time to do it. These addictions are completely different than my addiction to smoothies or college kid’s addiction to Farmville. They are harmless, innocent addictions that you will always find somewhere in our life. But these addictions will most likely not make you unhealthy and kill you in the long run. So when you are done reading this, tell me what your addictions are. Good and bad.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
The work
So, coming into my freshman year at Tech, I was nervous. But coming in as a freshman engineering student at Tech, I was even more nervous. I always knew engineering was going to be a hard degree to achieve; however, I underestimated the workload. In high school I did not do anything. I never studied; I rarely did homework, unless it was graded. I was a slacker but I was somehow able to get away with it. I came out of high school with a 4.3 QPA, which is not too bad considering the amount of work I never did. I enjoyed high school. I was out on the weekend with my friends. I attended all the football games, soccer games, and basketball games. School spirit was huge at our school so we went to all of these games, home or away. And when I say the school spirit was huge I mean that. At least one hundred of us would attend the away games and our student section was compared to colleges. We were big and we were loud. But my point is, I had time to do all of that. This past week at Tech has without a doubt been the hardest, busiest, and worst week of my life. I literally never got up out of my desk from Monday to Thursday. For me, the slacker in high school, this was really hard. I was beyond stressed out and it was obvious. Normally, I am happy and smiling and laughing. All week everyone came into my room asking where I was. For the past three weeks I have been hanging out with my friends every night. And then all of a sudden I was forced to be a hermit, or as they call it, a turtle stuck in my shell. They referred to my room as my shell and always told me to come out. Trust me, I wanted to, but I had no choice but to stay in there and get my work done. I am the kind of person that it is hard for me to have fun if I know there are things I need to do. So as the week went on, the stress took a harder and harder toll on me. I do not handle stress well, but then again, who does? But I handle it particularly bad. And on top of the stress, I was lacking in sleep and food. That is a lethal combination. I cried a lot all this week, trying to figure out what to do. I was not enjoying the work, and it was a lifestyle I realized I could not handle for the next four years. My goal coming to college was to meet as many people as I possibly could and that has been impossible so far because I have not had time to join clubs and participate in activities. I am a person who needs to be out and about and have that balance of work and play. I understand college is supposed to be hard and a lot of work, but it is also supposed to be fun and a time for you to discover yourself and grow up. I feel that is going to be very hard for me, being an engineering student. So after much consideration, I think I may switch majors. I’m not one hundred percent sure what I may switch to, but off the top of my head, math and chemistry come to mind. If I could pick any job in the world that I could never fail at and money was not an issue, I would pick brain surgeon or teacher. My parents pretty much told me I am not allowed to be a brain surgeon because I do not handle death well and that would be a big part of being a surgeon. My dad is a vet, and I see how hard he takes the death of an animal so I cannot even imagine what it would be like to lose a person. That responsibility is huge and I do not think I am the right kind of person for that job. So, I am left with a teacher. I want to be a stay at home mom when I start a family so being a teacher could also allow me to work and be a mom. You have weekend, summers, and holidays off and you work eight am to three pm on average. Perfect for a mom. My dream is to be a high school math teacher on the Upper East Side of New York City teaching at a private school. That sounds so fun to me. It is something I want to aspire towards. This week has taught me a lot about myself. I learned that just because I always thought I knew what I wanted to do with my life, doesn’t mean you actually have to do it or that it is right for you. I learned that I am capable of anything I put my mind and time towards. It is just a matter of how much time I am willing to put towards it. For me engineering is something I could do, I just do not feel it is the right route for me to take. When I said college is supposed to be somewhere you grow and discover yourself, I guess I did discover myself a little this week. On Thursday I am attending the major fair Virginia Tech is having and I am hoping to discover myself even more there. Hopefully something will jump out at me and make me think, “hey, I want to do that.” I want to dedicate my time and effort towards something I actually want to do and engineering is not what I want to do. I just hope God helps me to lead a happy and healthy life no matter what I choose, but hopefully he will help me choose the right thing for me.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
President Obama's Health Care Speech
Health Care Reform Speech
President Barack Obama's prime time speech Wednesday night, to a joint session of the U.S. Congress, on the issue of health care is expected to be important. It’s an important national issue and major political platform he is dedicated to pursue. The congress has been bickering long enough and the need for federal regulation of health insurance companies to prohibit them from denying coverage or charging higher premiums because of a person’s medical history or current condition needs to come to an end. All summer it was made clear that the Republicans were standing almost unanimously in opposition to the Democratic approach of health care reform. The reform bill was at a stand still and Obama believes, “it so important to get a deal”. The liberals want one kind of bill, the moderates want another kind, and the conservatives want no bill. It’s total gridlock. So, Obama is smart and plans a prime time speech that he knows all Americans are interested in and will tune in to watch.
President Barack Obama's speech on the issue of health care reform is getting lots of reaction from U.S. lawmakers, and more importantly, the general public. This very complex subject of health care reform affects everyone. President Obama said, “The current system has led the country to a breaking point, imposing hardships on middle-class Americans who struggle to pay for health care, who are unable to obtain it”. Boy, is this the truth. I have several older family members who are retired but still have work to get their medical insurance. The cost of medical insurance on their own (without an employer) is astronomical. Therefore, they are forced to work to be insured. The president was very careful in his language to clarify what reform proposals would do (and not do), promised to continue seeking bipartisan support, but said the time for playing politics with health care has ended. The entire problem with congress is their loyalty to their party. The President also stated clearly that the time for bickering is over. He states, “Now is when we must bring the best ideas of both parties together and show the American people that we can still do what we were sent here to do. Now is the time to deliver on health care." Amen! We’ll see if they can put their party loyalty aside and come together for their constituents. In his speech, he touched on many topics: It is estimated that the reform proposals could cost $900 billion over 10 years. Obama pledges that health care reform can be achieved without adding to the federal deficit? He states that savings will be achieved by eliminating hundreds of billions of dollars in waste and abuse. However, he does not go into detail on how this will be obtained? This is easy to say but often hard to achieve. Republicans complain that he failed to deliver specifics, and re-stated criticisms that Democratic proposals would impose new tax burdens on Americans and small businesses. As you can see this is very complex and will take along time to resolve. He also cleared up rumors that have been circulated about his plan. The mistruths or “scare-tactics’’ he commented on were: this does not add a dime to our deficit, no Medicare money will be used to pay for this plan, Medicare will stay as is and is doing well, and illegal aliens are not covered by this plan and that citizenship is a requirement. His ending point was clarifying that “rather than a radical shift that would disrupt health care Americans now have, he favors building on what works and fixing what doesn't.” Who knows, maybe America is inching closer to overhauling its health care system.
The immediate effect and reaction of the speech was typical bi-partisan bologna. The Republicans complained and were knocking all of his ideas and the Democrats were applauding his efforts and fortitude. The biggest effect of this particular speech was the outburst of a Republican lawmaker Joe Wilson, R-S.C when he shouted "You lie" at President Barack Obama during his speech. The incident came directly after Obama said, "There are also those who claim that our reform effort will insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false. The reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally." "You lie!" Rep.Wilson, shouted from his seat on the Republican side of the chamber. Everyone was stunned and quite surprised. It was the talk on all the major networks and newspapers. He went from rude villain to a man with a passion. He was ridiculed by both sides, Democrats and Republicans, for his outburst. Everyone believed it was rude and disrespectful to shout during the President's very important, and televised speech. This is one of the few times both parties have agreed on something in a long time. When the President is giving his speech, the Vice President and Speaker of the House always sit directly behind him. When Rep. Wilson made his outburst, you could visibly see the reaction of Vice President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelossi. Their mouths dropped and they turned their heads toward the sound. Their reaction summed up the rest of Congress and the American people's reaction to this outburst. He has since apologized to the President and the President publicly accepted his apology. As of today, it has been reported that Congressman Wilson has received over one million dollars in campaign donations via the internet. These funds are intended to help him win his next re-election bid for congressman in South Carolina!
As you can imagine, politicts is a prime example of "Everything an Argument". Every party has different views and therefore anything the President says, there will be arguments as to whether it was good or bad. With the President's Friday night speech, there was a lot of argument between the Democrats and Republicans.
Sources:
CNN Television News Commentary
Headline News Commentary
New York Times Online Newspaper
President Barack Obama's prime time speech Wednesday night, to a joint session of the U.S. Congress, on the issue of health care is expected to be important. It’s an important national issue and major political platform he is dedicated to pursue. The congress has been bickering long enough and the need for federal regulation of health insurance companies to prohibit them from denying coverage or charging higher premiums because of a person’s medical history or current condition needs to come to an end. All summer it was made clear that the Republicans were standing almost unanimously in opposition to the Democratic approach of health care reform. The reform bill was at a stand still and Obama believes, “it so important to get a deal”. The liberals want one kind of bill, the moderates want another kind, and the conservatives want no bill. It’s total gridlock. So, Obama is smart and plans a prime time speech that he knows all Americans are interested in and will tune in to watch.
President Barack Obama's speech on the issue of health care reform is getting lots of reaction from U.S. lawmakers, and more importantly, the general public. This very complex subject of health care reform affects everyone. President Obama said, “The current system has led the country to a breaking point, imposing hardships on middle-class Americans who struggle to pay for health care, who are unable to obtain it”. Boy, is this the truth. I have several older family members who are retired but still have work to get their medical insurance. The cost of medical insurance on their own (without an employer) is astronomical. Therefore, they are forced to work to be insured. The president was very careful in his language to clarify what reform proposals would do (and not do), promised to continue seeking bipartisan support, but said the time for playing politics with health care has ended. The entire problem with congress is their loyalty to their party. The President also stated clearly that the time for bickering is over. He states, “Now is when we must bring the best ideas of both parties together and show the American people that we can still do what we were sent here to do. Now is the time to deliver on health care." Amen! We’ll see if they can put their party loyalty aside and come together for their constituents. In his speech, he touched on many topics: It is estimated that the reform proposals could cost $900 billion over 10 years. Obama pledges that health care reform can be achieved without adding to the federal deficit? He states that savings will be achieved by eliminating hundreds of billions of dollars in waste and abuse. However, he does not go into detail on how this will be obtained? This is easy to say but often hard to achieve. Republicans complain that he failed to deliver specifics, and re-stated criticisms that Democratic proposals would impose new tax burdens on Americans and small businesses. As you can see this is very complex and will take along time to resolve. He also cleared up rumors that have been circulated about his plan. The mistruths or “scare-tactics’’ he commented on were: this does not add a dime to our deficit, no Medicare money will be used to pay for this plan, Medicare will stay as is and is doing well, and illegal aliens are not covered by this plan and that citizenship is a requirement. His ending point was clarifying that “rather than a radical shift that would disrupt health care Americans now have, he favors building on what works and fixing what doesn't.” Who knows, maybe America is inching closer to overhauling its health care system.
The immediate effect and reaction of the speech was typical bi-partisan bologna. The Republicans complained and were knocking all of his ideas and the Democrats were applauding his efforts and fortitude. The biggest effect of this particular speech was the outburst of a Republican lawmaker Joe Wilson, R-S.C when he shouted "You lie" at President Barack Obama during his speech. The incident came directly after Obama said, "There are also those who claim that our reform effort will insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false. The reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally." "You lie!" Rep.Wilson, shouted from his seat on the Republican side of the chamber. Everyone was stunned and quite surprised. It was the talk on all the major networks and newspapers. He went from rude villain to a man with a passion. He was ridiculed by both sides, Democrats and Republicans, for his outburst. Everyone believed it was rude and disrespectful to shout during the President's very important, and televised speech. This is one of the few times both parties have agreed on something in a long time. When the President is giving his speech, the Vice President and Speaker of the House always sit directly behind him. When Rep. Wilson made his outburst, you could visibly see the reaction of Vice President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelossi. Their mouths dropped and they turned their heads toward the sound. Their reaction summed up the rest of Congress and the American people's reaction to this outburst. He has since apologized to the President and the President publicly accepted his apology. As of today, it has been reported that Congressman Wilson has received over one million dollars in campaign donations via the internet. These funds are intended to help him win his next re-election bid for congressman in South Carolina!
As you can imagine, politicts is a prime example of "Everything an Argument". Every party has different views and therefore anything the President says, there will be arguments as to whether it was good or bad. With the President's Friday night speech, there was a lot of argument between the Democrats and Republicans.
Sources:
CNN Television News Commentary
Headline News Commentary
New York Times Online Newspaper
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Fruit Loops vs. Cheerios
Fruit Loops vs. Cheerios
So a common argument found among young people today is which is better, Fruit Loops or Cheerios? In a sense, they are the same exact thing, round-shaped food. However, one is colorful and the other is rather dull-colored. To support the Cheerios argument, Cheerios are healthier for you than Fruit Loops. They have the multi-grain healthiness to them so this increases their popularity to parents. This argument definitely fits our text book title, Everything’s An Argument. In a popular poll on the first floor of Lee Hall, the numbers prove the true winner. With the ratio 10:3, Cheerios is a clear winner. Among the popular reasons for choosing Cheerios:
“They are healthier for you”
“They are multi-grain”
“They’re yummy!”
“Because, they’re just better! You can’t even compare the two.”
So based on the first floor of Lee, Cheerios is a much better cereal than Fruit Loops. So, what do you prefer? Cheerios or Fruit Loops?
So a common argument found among young people today is which is better, Fruit Loops or Cheerios? In a sense, they are the same exact thing, round-shaped food. However, one is colorful and the other is rather dull-colored. To support the Cheerios argument, Cheerios are healthier for you than Fruit Loops. They have the multi-grain healthiness to them so this increases their popularity to parents. This argument definitely fits our text book title, Everything’s An Argument. In a popular poll on the first floor of Lee Hall, the numbers prove the true winner. With the ratio 10:3, Cheerios is a clear winner. Among the popular reasons for choosing Cheerios:
“They are healthier for you”
“They are multi-grain”
“They’re yummy!”
“Because, they’re just better! You can’t even compare the two.”
So based on the first floor of Lee, Cheerios is a much better cereal than Fruit Loops. So, what do you prefer? Cheerios or Fruit Loops?
Uh-Oh! D**k in a box!
After reading option number two on the Scholar’s website that states we can discuss a video or article, I had to discuss the “Saturday Night Live” video featuring Justin Timberlake. I am sure most of you have seen this video or heard about it, D**k in a box. When this clip was shown on Saturday Night Live on December 16, 2006, it made national news. The clip featured Justin Timberlake and Andy Samberg and was intended to parody R&B sex ballad videos for the early 1990’s. This was an instant success when it aired, but it was also seen as immature and inappropriate. It was accepted and rejected by many people.
The video made instant ‘viral’ status and was all over youtube.com and sites similar to Youtube. People viewed it as absolutely hilarious and saw it as genius. The song went on to win a Creative Arts Emmy for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics. It was a popular ‘water cooler’ topic of conversation the following day. But while it was widely accepted, it was much more rejected.
Many people saw this song as a very offensive and inappropriate thing to put on national television. NBC received a lot of rejection letters and negative feedback. Families believed it was inappropriate to put something as racey as this song on national television. Children could have possibly been watching and many parents believed that was beyond inappropriate.
Although this was a risky thing to put on television, it is still a large topic of conversation and a common skit and song to be copied. Justin Timberlake even performed the song at one of his concert and of course, the crowd loved it! This skit, in a sense, demonstrates that Everything’s An Argument and can be interpreted in many different ways. It completely depends on your values and views on common topics.
Here is a link to the video. Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhwbxEfy7fg
The video made instant ‘viral’ status and was all over youtube.com and sites similar to Youtube. People viewed it as absolutely hilarious and saw it as genius. The song went on to win a Creative Arts Emmy for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics. It was a popular ‘water cooler’ topic of conversation the following day. But while it was widely accepted, it was much more rejected.
Many people saw this song as a very offensive and inappropriate thing to put on national television. NBC received a lot of rejection letters and negative feedback. Families believed it was inappropriate to put something as racey as this song on national television. Children could have possibly been watching and many parents believed that was beyond inappropriate.
Although this was a risky thing to put on television, it is still a large topic of conversation and a common skit and song to be copied. Justin Timberlake even performed the song at one of his concert and of course, the crowd loved it! This skit, in a sense, demonstrates that Everything’s An Argument and can be interpreted in many different ways. It completely depends on your values and views on common topics.
Here is a link to the video. Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhwbxEfy7fg
Courage
After reading and looking at the anti-drug campaigns in Everything’s an Argument, I had to share my thoughts and feelings about the message the campaign is trying to convey. I believe the print ads are somewhat affective. I think they use scenarios common to people who use drugs and simulate emotions they may feel. For example, the first campaign picture on page 822 has a very common issue presented. A male and a female are in a relationship where one is a drug user and the other is scared to confront them about it. This was a large issue in my high school.
I attended a very large school, over six hundred kids in my graduating class, so you can imagine we had a very diverse group of people. One specific couple comes to my mind. I met a girl in my homeroom and over time we quickly became ‘homeroom buddies’. We talked all the time and of course we talked about our boyfriends, however, our relationships were completely opposite from each other. I dated the jock of the school, someone who took school very seriously and would never use drugs. She dated a very popular guy, but he was someone that put school on the back-burner and made being the biggest drug dealer in our area his top priority. Don not get me wrong, he treated her well, but she was still very scared to confront him about all of her concerns. She did not like him using drugs but especially selling them. Selling drugs, in my opinion and her opinion, is one of the most dangerous things you can ever do in your life. I tried to convince her, in the nicest way possible, that she definitely needed to talk to him and if he did break up with her or get mad at her for saying something, then there was something wrong with this guy. He should be touched that she cares enough for him to say something. As time went on she finally mustered up the courage and decided to say something to him. She practiced over and over with me exactly what she was going to say and how she was going to say it. She wanted to come across as caring and concerned, not bossy and controlling. She finally talked to him one night and called me right after to tell me everything. She said immediately after she said what we had practiced, he started crying. He admitted that he did not like his lifestyle and was not proud of who he had become, but most of all, he said, was that he hated having to expose her to something so dangerous. In the end, it made their relationship stronger and from the last I heard, he has not used or sold a single drug in one year.
So, depending on how you interpret the anti-drug campaign on page 822, it may just inform you about drugs and situations they may put you in, or to someone it that situation, it may give them the courage to finally speak up and stand up for themselves and the significant other they are concerned about.
I attended a very large school, over six hundred kids in my graduating class, so you can imagine we had a very diverse group of people. One specific couple comes to my mind. I met a girl in my homeroom and over time we quickly became ‘homeroom buddies’. We talked all the time and of course we talked about our boyfriends, however, our relationships were completely opposite from each other. I dated the jock of the school, someone who took school very seriously and would never use drugs. She dated a very popular guy, but he was someone that put school on the back-burner and made being the biggest drug dealer in our area his top priority. Don not get me wrong, he treated her well, but she was still very scared to confront him about all of her concerns. She did not like him using drugs but especially selling them. Selling drugs, in my opinion and her opinion, is one of the most dangerous things you can ever do in your life. I tried to convince her, in the nicest way possible, that she definitely needed to talk to him and if he did break up with her or get mad at her for saying something, then there was something wrong with this guy. He should be touched that she cares enough for him to say something. As time went on she finally mustered up the courage and decided to say something to him. She practiced over and over with me exactly what she was going to say and how she was going to say it. She wanted to come across as caring and concerned, not bossy and controlling. She finally talked to him one night and called me right after to tell me everything. She said immediately after she said what we had practiced, he started crying. He admitted that he did not like his lifestyle and was not proud of who he had become, but most of all, he said, was that he hated having to expose her to something so dangerous. In the end, it made their relationship stronger and from the last I heard, he has not used or sold a single drug in one year.
So, depending on how you interpret the anti-drug campaign on page 822, it may just inform you about drugs and situations they may put you in, or to someone it that situation, it may give them the courage to finally speak up and stand up for themselves and the significant other they are concerned about.
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