It's Been A Long Time!

I guess it's been a VERY long time since the last time I posted a blog. And it appears, after looking back, that I was very angry. Glad I am feeling better these days. I suppose I should clean things up a bit as more people may be viewing my blog since I'm getting out there and involvig myself in more things. I am very excited about a book giveaway contest I heard about from author Jennifer Lancasters site. Her friend Stephanie Elliot is holding an amazing book giveaway for the month of March. From the list, it looks like some great new books are being offered. Even if I don't win one book, I have a great list of books to choose from the next time I go to the store. Which brings me to a sad note. In order for me or my family to buy new books, we will have to travel to Kansas City or Topeka to do it. The local Borders is closing down in Lawrence. I couldn't believe it when I heard it. I knew, with the bankruptcy, they were going to be closing stores. I never thought a book store standing alone for so many miles in a college town would be forced to close. I'm not sure what they were thinking. We have some used book stores, but nothing that carries new books. Even the Hastings, while it has a book section, doesn't even begin to compare to a full on book store. Not to mention the hours upon countless hours I spent searching the shelves of the store and being introduced to new authors and great writes. Sometimes I would buy a few of the books, grab a coffee and sweet, and retire to the cafe for a nice quiet read. We will no longer have the convienence of this luxury. I sort of feel bad for the company, and yet a small portion of me can't help but feel the company hurt themselves in the end. While I may not have a business major, it appears the electronic e-readers they were so eager to push and downright give away during the holidays, set them back a bit. Amazon will not be hurt by the newest rage, being based online, there are no stores for them to have to close. But just look at the damage they have caused Borders and even Barnes and Noble. It's just very sad to see this happen. I don't have an e-reader. I didn't see the point in buying one when I could download the application for free on my cell phone for all the different companies and have books at my fingertips in seconds. For me, the feeling of never reading an actual book again makes me sad. I'm not sure what it is about books, but there is really something to being able to hold onto an actual book, turn the pages, visually see the progress you're making through the work, smelling the newness (or the oldness), and having something to search on your bookshelves at home. It's not really about wealth for me, or seeing how many of something I can get, but I just love collecting books. Books have more purpose than just reading and enriching the mind, they are a decoration piece for your home. They are conversation starters as visitors aknowledge your collection. To think that one piece of electronic equipment could change this forever makes me sad. Not to mention what this mean for the writters out there. I'm sure it's hard enough to make it as an author the way things are currently set up. To think of the decrease in sales one would have by not being able to sell an acutally hard copy of their work, is very sad. I'm sure there is a sense of satisfaction and job well done, as there should be, for seeing your name and title in print on the shelves in a store. The hard work and talent that is put into each book is something to be proud of and something to be seen. I just hope there are enough people out there like me that can help to save the future of books.

Get Your Ass to Bed!

So, I have to jump onto my soap box for a moment and rant.

First, I have to say I miss posting and blogging. Never mind the fact that nobody even looks at my blog, it's still fun to write on one and pretend I'm someone, someone else would want to read. Any way, I believe that when I work nights, I have more opportunity to write on a blog.




Okay, so back to the point. I read an article in the Lawrence Journal World paper today regarding a topic that I can't seem to steer my mind clear from. The article is in regards to a statement a state official from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment made about teen sleeping deprivation. What!?!?!?! If there are any teenagers out there who are depriving from sleep, it is their own fault. Furthermore, this state official continues to explain how they think moving schools start times to later in the morning would allow teenagers more hours to sleep before class, thus making them more productive learners. I say bullshit. Pardon my French here folks, but hold the phone. Are we seriously going to coddle our youth so much now as to allow them to sleep in longer? And how exactly is this motivating them to become productive contributors to society once they enter the workforce? I can answer that one . . . it won't.

On another note, I would like to be selfish in saying that my family has an already difficult time managing all of the children's drop off times to school while still maintaining on time job attendance allowing us to pay for said education we are offering our children. So, let these teenagers sleep in later, past the time their parents are due in for work, truly trust them to wake up on their own, and get themselves to school on time. Now, I can see ALL of the problems with these predictions. I know what kind of kid I was when I was in high school. Had my parents not been there every morning dragging my ass out of bed, I would have never made it to my senior year. As it was, I almost didn't graduate as I was one tardy away from failing English my Senior year of high school. This was also the year I moved out on my own. Go figure. I was able to get my butt in gear and get to school the remainder of the semester earning me a diploma at the end of the year. Kids these days are not the same as they were when I was in school though. They have had much different parenting techniques used on them. Instead of being whipped with a belt, or back handed when they talk back, they get hugs, talks, and sit in this chair and think about what you did lessons. So, you expect them to be this responsible? Never going to happen.


The other problem I foresee with a later arrival time is with children thinking they can stay up even later than they currently do specifically because they don't have to be up earlier. Think about it for a minute. How many times have you stayed up later on a Friday night, knowing you could because you could sleep in on Saturday morning? Well, these kid's minds are going to work in the same fashion. Whose wouldn't? In thinking this way, these kids are going to be getting the same amount of sleep (or lack there of) as they were getting to begin with. So, way to go for messing with their structure.

Obviously you can tell how I feel about the issue. It could be a little more of a touchy subject for me as this news was received on the eve of discovering that our children have, on average, at least two days off from school every month of the year. This does NOT include the week to two week vacations they have for "winter" holiday's. So, I'm already of the mind set that our children miss out on too many days of school every year. I am all for teaching our children and preparing them for entering the job force. Think about it, how many employers do you think would be okay with you missing and average of at least two days off every month? I can't think of very many, if any. On top of the fact that in the real world? Days of cost you. Either by not being paid for them (resulting in a possible inability to cover a bill that month) or by using compensatory time offered by your employer.

My last statement in regards to this topic is in the form of a question. Why are these children not getting enough sleep? The article refers to them not going to bed at a decent time. Our children, while not in high school yet, still have a bed time ranging from 8:00 pm for the younger ones to no later than 9:00 pm for the oldest. They get plenty of sleep. Why are the parents of these children not enforcing a bed time? And if they aren't able to maintain a healthy sleeping schedule in their home, what is the state doing to help them and their family to get back on track? What makes the state think that the children in these homes, while not following a bed time or curfew I'm sure their parents are trying to enforce, are going to follow the new routine while being even less supervised than before?

That is all . . . again, not like it matters, for this will not be read by anyone else. I have to say though, I feel better for getting it off my chest.

GO JETS!!!

I'm getting very excited about this upcoming season. I don't follow the games that much on TV, but I am just getting very excited. I have found over the years, that I'm not the only looser that likes the Jets. I'm obviously not their fan because they are always the winning team. I have to say that I have admitted to being their fan even when others look at me with that "Why?" face. The surprised a lot of people last season with how far they made it, and I am hopeful for another great season!

GO JETS!!!

Auto Driven

I recently read an article in a car magazine describing a auto driven vehicle. The machine would be powered electronically by a computer. You would type in your destination, and sit back and enjoy the ride. While this may sound nice, I foresee a few complications to this "solution".

Number one, why are we so lazy that we can't even drive ourselves? Is it that much of a hassle? If, as humans, we are too busy to drive ourselves because we need that time to work on something else, then hire a driver to drive you. I don't understand the need to have to multitask so much that you can't drive on your own. Maybe you could even carpool. I just don't think the answer is to have a computer do it for us.

Number two, would a mechanically driven automobile really create a safer driving experience? I say that it more than likely wouldn't. First of all, you can't expect that every single driver would trade in their vehicles for a new robot car. So, you would have the computer cars and the human driven cars on the road at the same time. You are going to have the same results as if there were not computer driven cars. Accidents are going to happen. The only problem then would be who to blame for the accident. Surely the driver of the computer driven car would not be at fault because the computer was driving and programed to not make mistakes. Therefore, the human driven car was the one at fault, right? Also, is there going to be an option for the human to drive and to have it be driven by the computer? If so, who is to say the human would blame the accident on the computer and say they weren't the one driving? I can see quite a few more lawsuits landing on the docket for these cases.

Number three, how reliable is your computer at home and at work? Mine is not as reliable as my current vehicle is, that's for sure. I couldn't imagine driving down the road and just having my car stop because the computer crashed or there was a bug or a programing issue. What then? Would that accident be my fault because it was my car? Look at the safety issues caused then. Think too how much more costly repairs are going to be. I can say that cars are expensive to work on now, just think how much more they would be for technical repairs.
So, even though these cars are already being built, I don't feel we are ready yet for them to hit the market. I think there is going to be a need for new laws to be created and old laws to be changed. Why on earth do we need this extra stress. And what would we call it now? You aren't going to be driving a car anymore, you are going to be driven.

New Category

I am going to have to create a new section/category dedicated to 60 Minutes and Andy Rooney. I absolutely love watching his segments, and have ever since I was a little girl. He is so funny and I love to hear his opinion. Even if I don't agree with everything he has to say, or even with the way he sometimes says things, It's always a pleasure to watch him and hear what he has to say. I think what makes me even more surprised is to witness the amount of junk mail he receives and the audacity of what some people seem to have when it comes to mailing someone a letter. My philosophy on hate mail is as follows: If you typically don't like what someone has to say about something, then ignor them.

Connections in the Making

It has never ceased to amaze me on how, we as humans, interact with each other. Some of us find it difficult to cultivate friendships that aren't "forced" by another party. Yet others are able to build lasting friendships from simply saying hello to a stranger while walking in the park alone. My most recent experiences of meeting other individuals, while selling furniture on Craigslist has opened my eyes on human interaction.

Before I was . . . . the age I am now, I had always met people from jobs I was working at, classes I was attending, or through a mutual friend. I wouldn't say that I have always been the sort of person that would strike up a conversation with someone I didn't know at the coffee shop, while I sat there alone with a good book. Recently, I have found meeting new people to be a rather fascinating subject. I have been venturing out a bit more and trying to make connections in locations I typically wouldn't before.

I recall the first time I found myself in a situation all alone. I was twenty four years old and had never travelled much of a distance by myself. So, I decided to fly out to visit a friend. The trip was fascinating to me, and it didn't bother me to have to rely on myself for all my needs. On my return trip home, I was to have a rather lengthy layover at the Detroit, Michigan airport. At the time, I smoked, and with the airport security rules being more strict than ever, passengers didn't leave the airport to have a drag. Instead, you found yourself at the only restaurant that allowed smoking.

I had just gotten off the plane and decided I was hungry, and so stopped off at a little eatery. There was a man eating alone at the table next to mine. He eyed my pack of smokes and asked me if I happened to have a cigarette he could bum from me. I said yes, and then asked him if he was familiar with the designated smoking areas at that airport. We arranged to meet at this restaurant on the other side of the airport; he would save me a seat. The first thoughts that passed through my head were of all the cautionary phrases my Mom had always warned me about in regards to strangers. I decided to take a leap of faith and after finishing my meal, navigated my way to the restaurant. The man was there, as promised, with an empty seat for me next to him. I sat down and offered him a cigarette, and he bought me a drink. Time started slipping away as we talked about the reason for our travels, our friends, families, jobs, interests, and opinions. I had never had that experience before, and it felt so great. I didn't even feel as though there was an element of intimacy, but rather an instant friendship had been forged.

The clock reached the hour of departure for the both of us as we gathered our baggage and headed our separate ways. We wished each other luck on our journey and traveled on. There were no numbers exchanged, no emails to share, just two people sharing a short lasting innocent friendship before moving on to our next task. I didn't tell very many people of my encounter, least of all my Mother. I wasn't ashamed of what I had done. I felt that, as the adult I now was, I could learn to trust my inner instinct on when a situation "feels wrong or right". I had a few people try to tell me that it sounded like he was "only after one thing". They were wrong. They weren't there. He knew of my orientation and that I wouldn't be after his gender. The atmosphere was not of a romantic nature to begin with. He had his life and I had mine. I do feel that this jump started my curiosity of safely meeting strangers.

More recently, I have found myself meeting rather interesting people through the use of Craigslist. My partner and I are buying our first home. The excitement is unexplainable and we have decided to sell off all our furniture and start fresh and new at our new home. We decided to sell the furniture on Craigslist. We have used this website before and the first few times were scary. There have been all the stories of how people were killed because a murderer lured their victim through a posting on the inter net. I still feel there is a certain amount of caution one needs to exercise when conducting any sort of business online. Yet you still can't help but feel a little nervous the first few times you finally give out your address, or enter someones home to view something you may want to buy. Much to my surprise, I found we were meeting some very unique (and I mean that in a good way) people from all different walks of life.

This last round has been even more special than any of the others. While we haven't started hanging out with these people, and may not know who they "really are", the first impression we have been given is nothing short of positive. All I have to say is that I am excited for the first time to really get to know these individuals. I am willing to travel to the less familiar areas of my comfort zones to initiate contact after the sale to further our conversations. This will have to be a post that I continue to update about, to really study what happens and if true friendship can develop from thin air.