Blogging has been an interesting experience for me. I don't usually put my thoughts and opinions into words that frequently. It was definitely easier to have a topic to write about. I'm not sure what I would write otherwise. This probably means that if I am going to keep the blog going I will have to pick my own topics to write about. I do not know if I will keep blogging every week. It seems to me that people are spending too much time plugged in, instead of enjoying the life that is all around us. I have found the writing to be healthy. It helps exercise the brain. I had forgotten just how much vocabulary is at our disposal. Unless you are lecturing, you just don't use that many words.
I enjoyed reading everyone's blogs. You get to see a little bit of everyone's personality in their writing. The best posts came from the first essay, the pro/con opinion, and the spot the truth assignments. I think they offered the best in sheer variety. As the semester progressed you could see how people got more comfortable writing on their blogs. It is not easy to put your opinion out there for anyone to comment on. Many of the comments made me laugh. I like that everyone stayed positive and respected each other.
Now that 101 is coming to a close I would like to thank everyone for their comments and their posts.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
TED
I actually watch the TED videos on a regular basis. So I had seen Mark Bittman and Jamie Oliver give their speeches before. I had not seen the one with Anne Cooper. It amazes me that they spend less than a dollar a day on a child's lunch. You can get a pack of Grandma's Cookies for what Los Angeles spends on school lunch. It is no wonder that they feed kid's heavily processed junk food. The fact that Cooper was able to put salad bars in schools and make them work is fantastic. I wish I had had that option as a child. Sadly, I see many of the bad food decisions at my own daughter's elementary school. Everything comes in plastic and is basically finger food. I agree with Cooper that we need better education about food and how to be healthy in schools.
Bittman's speech was like a recap of Fast Food Nation in some ways. One thing that he points out is how livestock contribute more greenhouse gasses than automobiles. I pointed out to a Prius owner one day that the burger they just ate caused more damage to the ozone than their car probably will in it's lifetime. This is because, as Bittman pointed out, we eat too much meat. We feed cows corn and soy which they do not digest properly causing them to belch and fart constantly. This seems an odd problem to have as compared to emissions from exhaust. It makes me feel like they should be doing a smog check on my burger and not my car.
I think Oliver did a very good job getting his points across. Without seeing his show, the short clips about West Virginia were very depressing. It really shows that when someone is obese it affects everyone around them. The worst of it being that persons death. You can really understand why the pastor feels fed up with burying his friends. I do not know about the rest of you, but I think milk tastes pretty good on its own. Who ever decided they needed to add eight ounces of sugar to it was off their rocker. When I was growing up, having chocolate milk was a treat. Seeing that wheelbarrow full of sugar reiterates why it needs to stay a treat and not an everyday option. All of this, that Oliver said, and the rest of the videos highlight just how preventable it all is. I probably won't use them in my paper. Still, very informative and good speeches, all of them.
Bittman's speech was like a recap of Fast Food Nation in some ways. One thing that he points out is how livestock contribute more greenhouse gasses than automobiles. I pointed out to a Prius owner one day that the burger they just ate caused more damage to the ozone than their car probably will in it's lifetime. This is because, as Bittman pointed out, we eat too much meat. We feed cows corn and soy which they do not digest properly causing them to belch and fart constantly. This seems an odd problem to have as compared to emissions from exhaust. It makes me feel like they should be doing a smog check on my burger and not my car.
I think Oliver did a very good job getting his points across. Without seeing his show, the short clips about West Virginia were very depressing. It really shows that when someone is obese it affects everyone around them. The worst of it being that persons death. You can really understand why the pastor feels fed up with burying his friends. I do not know about the rest of you, but I think milk tastes pretty good on its own. Who ever decided they needed to add eight ounces of sugar to it was off their rocker. When I was growing up, having chocolate milk was a treat. Seeing that wheelbarrow full of sugar reiterates why it needs to stay a treat and not an everyday option. All of this, that Oliver said, and the rest of the videos highlight just how preventable it all is. I probably won't use them in my paper. Still, very informative and good speeches, all of them.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
3 People
My daughter Nia is an enormous part of my life. As the first child she ushered in the era of my fatherhood. She was a whopping 9lbs 5oz at birth. Now she is nearly four feet tall. She has reddish black hair like mine and Shirley Temple curls inherited from her mother. She is almost the perfect combination of my wife and I. She has that caramel skin tone that I can not achieve even with a good tan. Right now she is missing one of her front teeth. At five years old she has a very large imagination. Not long ago she told me about a dream where a mermaid gave her a kiss on the cheek and she turned into a star that shot across the night sky. She has become adept at making up fantastical stories. Being a big sister is exciting for her. She loves to play with her little brothers and protect them. Her personality is best described as bubbly. Nia is very good at brightening up anyone's day.
I never planned on getting married until I was 36. Not long ago I was contemplating joining the EOD or the experimental parachute unit. EOD stands for Explosive Ordinance Disposal. I would have been in an EODMU or Mobile Unit that does a lot more than just disarm floating mines. The experimental parachute unit can be summed up like this: take a new parachute, screw with it, then jump with it and see what happens. One of the jobs in the unit is called the chaser, you jump behind the guy with the screwed up parachute and if he fails to deploy his reserve, you chase him down and catch him so you can pull your chute and save his life. That was the job I wanted. My wife changed all of those plans. They evaporated and I am probably still alive because of it. She is taller than most of the women in my family, which is not hard to do. She has dark curly hair and dark skin. Her quick wit and her strong sense of individuality are what attracted me to her. Though I have to be honest and say that she made the first move. Her confidence was refreshing and has carried us through our lives together. I can only admire her for carrying our children around for nine months. Nia was a big baby, but the twin boys were a lot more weight at 7lbs 4oz and 6lbs 7oz plus all the other stuff that goes with it. I can not imagine what my life would be like now if I had not met Pearl.
My uncle Gary is my favorite uncle. He is kind of the prankster of the family. To this day he is not allowed to be alone around my mom's pies because he purloined the center of my dad's favorite pumpkin pie. My uncle took the center of every pie but it was the pumpkin that was the problem. He always seemed fearless, like the time he asked my catholic grandmother (his mother) “How do you get a priest to sleep with a nun?”, a joke I am not going to finish. Ever since I can remember he has always had a mustache. The one time he shaved it off I almost didn't recognize him. My uncle is great except when it comes to watching movies. Gary is the person who will pick a movie apart for all of the movies foibles. This is something my brother has told me I have picked up. I also picked up his knack for computers. When I was younger my uncle would build me a computer and then guess how long it would take me to break it. I would purposefully see how big a drawing in AutoCAD I could create before it made the computer crash. I broke all but one of his computers.
I never planned on getting married until I was 36. Not long ago I was contemplating joining the EOD or the experimental parachute unit. EOD stands for Explosive Ordinance Disposal. I would have been in an EODMU or Mobile Unit that does a lot more than just disarm floating mines. The experimental parachute unit can be summed up like this: take a new parachute, screw with it, then jump with it and see what happens. One of the jobs in the unit is called the chaser, you jump behind the guy with the screwed up parachute and if he fails to deploy his reserve, you chase him down and catch him so you can pull your chute and save his life. That was the job I wanted. My wife changed all of those plans. They evaporated and I am probably still alive because of it. She is taller than most of the women in my family, which is not hard to do. She has dark curly hair and dark skin. Her quick wit and her strong sense of individuality are what attracted me to her. Though I have to be honest and say that she made the first move. Her confidence was refreshing and has carried us through our lives together. I can only admire her for carrying our children around for nine months. Nia was a big baby, but the twin boys were a lot more weight at 7lbs 4oz and 6lbs 7oz plus all the other stuff that goes with it. I can not imagine what my life would be like now if I had not met Pearl.
My uncle Gary is my favorite uncle. He is kind of the prankster of the family. To this day he is not allowed to be alone around my mom's pies because he purloined the center of my dad's favorite pumpkin pie. My uncle took the center of every pie but it was the pumpkin that was the problem. He always seemed fearless, like the time he asked my catholic grandmother (his mother) “How do you get a priest to sleep with a nun?”, a joke I am not going to finish. Ever since I can remember he has always had a mustache. The one time he shaved it off I almost didn't recognize him. My uncle is great except when it comes to watching movies. Gary is the person who will pick a movie apart for all of the movies foibles. This is something my brother has told me I have picked up. I also picked up his knack for computers. When I was younger my uncle would build me a computer and then guess how long it would take me to break it. I would purposefully see how big a drawing in AutoCAD I could create before it made the computer crash. I broke all but one of his computers.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Netflix
I have to admit I was skeptical of Netflix in the beginning. Why would you pay a monthly subscription to watch movies you receive by mail when you could own them and watch them whenever you want? When Netflix made the movies available through streaming from the internet it made the service a more attractive option. My wife and I gave Netflix a try and I have to say it has turned out to be a great service. Since we started using Netflix I have bought only one DVD. That was the one about a frog, the bayou, and a beautiful young woman who can cook. Once you factor in all of the money saved on DVD's and going to the movies, with Netflix you actually save a little bit. The cheapest service is just under ten dollars or close to $120 a year. This breaks down to the equivalent of about four brand new movies or 24 five dollar movies from a discount bin. With Netflix you can watch all of the movies you would have previously bought and not have to find a place to store them. Streaming movies directly to the TV means you do not even have to wait for them to come in the mail. Besides being able to watch a host of your favorite movies and TV shows, I have found the best part of the service is finding older movies I never saw and newer movies I would have otherwise never even heard of.
A great example of an older movie I never saw is the Sci-Fi movie Outland with Sean Connery. The film came out in 1981. At first glance it looks like the director took an old western and a trafficking story, sandwiched them together and set the whole thing in space. In essence, this is what they did and that is what makes the movie work. The old ideas brings familiarity to the new setting and makes it seem sinister in that, even though the characters are in the future they still have to fear their fellow man instead of an alien of some sort like most science fiction plots.
A Man Named Pearl is a documentary that I would have never watched without Netflix. Due to the fact, that I do not usually watch documentaries. Since I started using Netflix I have found myself watching a lot more of them. A Man Named Pearl stands out because it seems kind of odd and probably boring when you first come across it. Pearl Fryar is a black man in North Carolina who has become the local treasure, especially of Bishopville where he resides. When he moved into the neighborhood the white people believed that because he was a black man he would not, and could not maintain his yard. With no training Pearl created three and a half acres of the most astonishing topiary you will ever see. He changed the perceptions of those around him. My father taught me that when you learn from a teacher, you also learn the limitations of that teacher. Without formal training Mr. Fryar was able shape trees and other plants in ways no one had ever done before. Now people come from all around the world to see his garden for free.
The last movie I will bore you with is American Violet. This one is based on a true story of illustrating how a racist system in Texas systematically targeted and profiled the black community for incarceration. You follow a young mother through her ordeal of being wrongly accused of being a drug dealer. At the time, it only took the word of a single informant to prosecute and convict for drug offenses in Texas. You will be amazed at how the defendants were coerced and pressured into taking plea bargains. You will be disgusted at the nature of the system built up to unfairly incarcerate the disenfranchised. You will be heartened by the will of the young woman to stand up for what is right. It shows that when these kinds of injustices occur we can stand up against them. When someone sticks their neck out, we as a people need to stand with them and support them.
Netflix made it possible for me to see these great movies and many more. The monthly cost may seem like more than you want to spend. Consider how much money you spend on movies through the theater and DVD's and you may find Netflix is more within your range than you might think. You will be able to sort through a vast catalog of movies and shows for your enjoyment, while never having to find a shelf to store a multitude of plastic cases. Movies you never knew you wanted to see will be ready at the push of a button or waiting for you in your mailbox. Movie lovers should consider the service as a great way to see movies and TV shows, new and old.
(Check out the trailers for Outland, A Man Named Pearl, and American Violet. Let me know what you think in your comments.)
A great example of an older movie I never saw is the Sci-Fi movie Outland with Sean Connery. The film came out in 1981. At first glance it looks like the director took an old western and a trafficking story, sandwiched them together and set the whole thing in space. In essence, this is what they did and that is what makes the movie work. The old ideas brings familiarity to the new setting and makes it seem sinister in that, even though the characters are in the future they still have to fear their fellow man instead of an alien of some sort like most science fiction plots.
A Man Named Pearl is a documentary that I would have never watched without Netflix. Due to the fact, that I do not usually watch documentaries. Since I started using Netflix I have found myself watching a lot more of them. A Man Named Pearl stands out because it seems kind of odd and probably boring when you first come across it. Pearl Fryar is a black man in North Carolina who has become the local treasure, especially of Bishopville where he resides. When he moved into the neighborhood the white people believed that because he was a black man he would not, and could not maintain his yard. With no training Pearl created three and a half acres of the most astonishing topiary you will ever see. He changed the perceptions of those around him. My father taught me that when you learn from a teacher, you also learn the limitations of that teacher. Without formal training Mr. Fryar was able shape trees and other plants in ways no one had ever done before. Now people come from all around the world to see his garden for free.
The last movie I will bore you with is American Violet. This one is based on a true story of illustrating how a racist system in Texas systematically targeted and profiled the black community for incarceration. You follow a young mother through her ordeal of being wrongly accused of being a drug dealer. At the time, it only took the word of a single informant to prosecute and convict for drug offenses in Texas. You will be amazed at how the defendants were coerced and pressured into taking plea bargains. You will be disgusted at the nature of the system built up to unfairly incarcerate the disenfranchised. You will be heartened by the will of the young woman to stand up for what is right. It shows that when these kinds of injustices occur we can stand up against them. When someone sticks their neck out, we as a people need to stand with them and support them.
Netflix made it possible for me to see these great movies and many more. The monthly cost may seem like more than you want to spend. Consider how much money you spend on movies through the theater and DVD's and you may find Netflix is more within your range than you might think. You will be able to sort through a vast catalog of movies and shows for your enjoyment, while never having to find a shelf to store a multitude of plastic cases. Movies you never knew you wanted to see will be ready at the push of a button or waiting for you in your mailbox. Movie lovers should consider the service as a great way to see movies and TV shows, new and old.
(Check out the trailers for Outland, A Man Named Pearl, and American Violet. Let me know what you think in your comments.)
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Where to Get Your Meat
I grew up killing, gutting, and butchering my own meat. When you eat wild animals such as deer and elk you face many risks besides food poisoning. There are other illnesses to worry about. I was taught at a very early age to always cook food thoroughly. By providing meat for ourselves, my family and I at least knew where the animal had come from. The forest service keeps records of animals and herds tested from different areas. If they find something you are sure to know about it.
When I was in middle school one of my neighbors contracted wasting disease from eating undercooked elk meat while acting as a trail guide. I had heard of wasting disease but never truly understood what it could do. My neighbor slowly died over a ten year period as the disease ate his brain stem. His family had to watch as his condition and health deteriorated and then disappeared.
One of the things that I will take away from this book is how public safety will be ignored until negative public opinion affects profits. The fact that it took McDonald's to get companies to comply with the ban on feeding animals their dead relatives is sickening. McDonald's didn't do it because they felt a moral obligation to consumers, but because they were losing money.
Another thing is, just how important it is for immigrants to learn the language and the law of the land. I don't want people to lose their culture and heritage. That is not my point. Immigrants are preyed upon because of their lack of knowledge and status. By educating themselves, they can protect themselves and help change the system. Nobody should be treated the way the meatpacking and slaughterhouses treat their workers.
One of my motivations for going to school is so that I will have enough income to support the causes I believe in. Right now most of my money goes to bills and diapers. In the book you can see how the green being sent to Washington has affected our way of life. Sadly it will take some green prodding in a different direction to curb the harmful effects. That is not to diminish the power of social movement. The more people who get involved the greater the impact will be.
When I was in middle school one of my neighbors contracted wasting disease from eating undercooked elk meat while acting as a trail guide. I had heard of wasting disease but never truly understood what it could do. My neighbor slowly died over a ten year period as the disease ate his brain stem. His family had to watch as his condition and health deteriorated and then disappeared.
One of the things that I will take away from this book is how public safety will be ignored until negative public opinion affects profits. The fact that it took McDonald's to get companies to comply with the ban on feeding animals their dead relatives is sickening. McDonald's didn't do it because they felt a moral obligation to consumers, but because they were losing money.
Another thing is, just how important it is for immigrants to learn the language and the law of the land. I don't want people to lose their culture and heritage. That is not my point. Immigrants are preyed upon because of their lack of knowledge and status. By educating themselves, they can protect themselves and help change the system. Nobody should be treated the way the meatpacking and slaughterhouses treat their workers.
One of my motivations for going to school is so that I will have enough income to support the causes I believe in. Right now most of my money goes to bills and diapers. In the book you can see how the green being sent to Washington has affected our way of life. Sadly it will take some green prodding in a different direction to curb the harmful effects. That is not to diminish the power of social movement. The more people who get involved the greater the impact will be.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Arrow 2 Da Face
All right, so nobody guessed my one truth: I was shot in the face with an arrow.
I also did a list of ten where there was only one lie. That one lie was: I have flown in a helicopter.
I guess it is time to grumble a little bit. Not that there is a whole lot to complain about this semester. I have a lot of writing to do in my current classes. Besides the essays for English, by the end of the semester I will have written 21 essays between my Engineering class and American Government. Which is actually a good thing. The number one complaint of hiring companies is the lack of communication skills. At least for the field I am studying for, Mechanical Engineering, this holds true.
I think the hardest part is balancing all of the school work with spending time with my kids and chores. There are times when I put off chores to play with the kids because they have been waiting patiently for me to finish the homework. Patiently means they only bug a few times an hour. My daughter has her own homework and she is only in kindergarten. After everything else is taken care of, everyone still needs some personal time. Even if you only get fifteen minutes of quiet.
I have a long way to go before I get a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. In the end I have to take Math 24 and I am currently taking Math 21A. All the while fitting in around 8 courses in Physics, Chemistry, and Engineering into my schedule. Then I can transfer to CSUN or UCSB and finish the remaining two years.
What motivates me is my family and the work I will get to do when I am done. Engineering is a well paying career path that will enable me to provide for my kids. Naturally I want them to have the best chance at life they can. I love to tinker with stuff. That is what Mechanical Engineering is all about. I am leaning towards the design aspect: making things work and look cool at the same time. In my Engineering class, my partner and I designed and built a ballista to fire a golf ball for class. The design process was the best part.
I also did a list of ten where there was only one lie. That one lie was: I have flown in a helicopter.
I guess it is time to grumble a little bit. Not that there is a whole lot to complain about this semester. I have a lot of writing to do in my current classes. Besides the essays for English, by the end of the semester I will have written 21 essays between my Engineering class and American Government. Which is actually a good thing. The number one complaint of hiring companies is the lack of communication skills. At least for the field I am studying for, Mechanical Engineering, this holds true.
I think the hardest part is balancing all of the school work with spending time with my kids and chores. There are times when I put off chores to play with the kids because they have been waiting patiently for me to finish the homework. Patiently means they only bug a few times an hour. My daughter has her own homework and she is only in kindergarten. After everything else is taken care of, everyone still needs some personal time. Even if you only get fifteen minutes of quiet.
I have a long way to go before I get a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. In the end I have to take Math 24 and I am currently taking Math 21A. All the while fitting in around 8 courses in Physics, Chemistry, and Engineering into my schedule. Then I can transfer to CSUN or UCSB and finish the remaining two years.
What motivates me is my family and the work I will get to do when I am done. Engineering is a well paying career path that will enable me to provide for my kids. Naturally I want them to have the best chance at life they can. I love to tinker with stuff. That is what Mechanical Engineering is all about. I am leaning towards the design aspect: making things work and look cool at the same time. In my Engineering class, my partner and I designed and built a ballista to fire a golf ball for class. The design process was the best part.
Friday, October 22, 2010
You Think You Know...
A nugget of truth in a heap of bu...
I beat up a grizzly bear.
I am a middle child.
I have never jumped a car.
I was shot in the face with an arrow.
I killed a deer with nothing but a knife.
I collect football cards.
Feeling froggy?
Only one of these lines stinks, the rest smell like roses.
I have caught a fly with chopsticks.
I have had cats named Indiana Jones, Dakota, Hop Along Cassidy, and Tigger.
I can recite the alphabet backwards.
I once used a shotgun to cut down a Christmas tree.
I played pinball through the trees on my snowboard.
I got sucked under a jeep going 45mph.
I drove a stock car around the California Speed Way at 150mph.
I did a back flip and a half on a mountain bike.
I have flown in a helicopter.
I am married to an American of the dark skinned persuasion.
I beat up a grizzly bear.
I am a middle child.
I have never jumped a car.
I was shot in the face with an arrow.
I killed a deer with nothing but a knife.
I collect football cards.
Feeling froggy?
Only one of these lines stinks, the rest smell like roses.
I have caught a fly with chopsticks.
I have had cats named Indiana Jones, Dakota, Hop Along Cassidy, and Tigger.
I can recite the alphabet backwards.
I once used a shotgun to cut down a Christmas tree.
I played pinball through the trees on my snowboard.
I got sucked under a jeep going 45mph.
I drove a stock car around the California Speed Way at 150mph.
I did a back flip and a half on a mountain bike.
I have flown in a helicopter.
I am married to an American of the dark skinned persuasion.
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