Countdown to shutdown

Let's be honest, I'm not as informed as I could be about the happenings in the country. I read the newspaper every so often, and I glance over the top news on the Yahoo homepage pretty often, but other than that I kinda keep out of the loop. I also could care less about politics. I feel like the whole process is just a bunch of people pushing personal agendas, fighting rather than finding solutions, and a whole lot of unnecessary bother. Yes, that's an over generalization, but to a large extent it's true. Considering my civic involvement--or lack thereof--it should come as no surprise that I heard about the government shutdown the day before it was going to happen. I was surprised that congress has gotten to the point that they would rather shut down everything, other than essential government functions, rather than come to a compromise. No matter which political affiliation you have, this is just ridiculous.

In case you're wondering, a government shutdown doesn't mean everything gets shut down, which is reassuring, but still, shutting down the SBA, passport operations, national parks, the Federal Housing Association, not to mention postponing the payment of all the soldiers is still a big deal. If the government were to shut down 800,000 federal employees would be affected. They would go without pay for however long the shutdown lasted. Some, but not all would be eligible for unemployment benefits, and unless congress approved it, those employees wouldn't receive back pay for the time they weren't working. Ridiculous? I think so.

The shutdown was a result of the fact that congress can't come up with a plan to cut federal spending and lower the national debt. Both parties obviously agree that we need to stop spending so much, but they disagreed on which programs to cut. Republican's wanted to cut back on social welfare programs, and Democrats wanted to limit tax breaks and cut back on some programs for businesses. I don't know much about congress and I definitely don't know much about what it must be like to be a congressman. Who knows, it's probably stressful to have a large amount of people relying on your decisions. But regardless of all that, is a shutdown the most sensible solution for a failure to compromise? Has our two party system divided us so badly that 800,000 people's livelihoods would be compromised for an indefinite amount of time?

Luckily no shutdown was necessary. Late Friday night, just a few hours before the deadline, congress came to an agreement. In 2011 there will be 38 billion dollars worth of cuts made. Had they not made a compromise we would have experienced the first shutdown in fifteen years. Crisis averted, for now. In 2012 they're going to discuss whether or not they'll raise the debt ceiling and then we'll get to go through this all over again.

Fancy feast...or is it?

Pets, we all love them. Unless you're a cat person, in which case you should rethink your life. Just kidding. But seriously. Anyway, we all obviously want the best for our pets and we'd like to give them the best life we can. However, whenever I watch a pet food commercial I feel like the food that's advertised is vastly overrated. Take, for example, this commercial. "Succulent gravy drizzled over filet mignon mixed with vegetables and fortified with vitamins and minerals." or "Rich beef flavor with the delicious taste of corn, carrots, and chicken as well as flax seed to promote heart health." First of all, I made both of those up. But, that's what they all sound like so I'm not making any apologies. Secondly, does giving my dog a gourmet can of dog food really make that big of a difference in his nutrition? Most, if not all, food these days is fortified with vitamins and minerals already, so chances are all those extra things that get added in won't do much. Thirdly, my dog ate anything, besides carrots and Cheetos, so had I given him some classy dog food would he have even noticed? Probably not. And the last point I'd like to make is probably the most important. The commercials make those cans of food look appetizing, especially when they're shown in a crystal bowl being eaten daintily by a pristine looking dog or cat. But at the end of the day that super fancy can of dog food will plop out of the can in the same gross, slimy, smelly way as the normal can that doesn't pretend to be all high and mighty.

We all love our pets, but let's show them we love them by letting them know that their owner is intelligent enough to not fall for a marketing campaign.

Drip drip drop little April showers

If I had my way I would live in a place with three seasons. Late spring, summer, and early fall. Late spring is warm, but not too warm. The trees have adorable blossoms which are great because they're way cuter than leaves and they smell amazing. Summer is great for obvious reasons--it's warm all the time, you get to wear shorts and swim suits and t-shirts all the time, and there's no school. Early fall is awesome because it's just like summer, but not as hot.

Then comes late fall, winter, and early spring, the three seasons I hate. Winter I don't have as big of a problem with because at least it's consistent. It's cold, miserable, it might snow, and it might not, but either way, when you look out the window you're guaranteed to see some shade of gray. So, while winter is the worst, it's never been anything but honest. On the other hand, late fall and early spring just aren't fair and everyone knows it.

The transition seasons are the most tantalizing times of year especially early spring. It's been a long winter, I'm sick of the cold and every day I come closer and closer to packing my things and moving to California. Sure, it's true that I know no one there, the economy is terrible, the state will be filing for bankruptcy any day now, and everyone says it's gonna fall into the ocean one of these days. But, on the plus side there's a beach, it has Disneyland, Six Flags, and Knotts Berry Farm, AND it's sunny. Almost all the time!

Here in Utah it's a whole other story. One day it'll be be a typical winter-y Utah day, the next it'll be a balmy--maybe even warm, sunny, blue sky, no clouds kind of day. If it's warm you pull out your shorts and you're ready to go jump into the recently opened pool at your apartment, and then the next day it snows again! So you put away your shorts and pull out the cold weather clothes again. Guess what happens the next morning. Need I go on? All I know is it's really frustrating for me to have to deal with this. Will whoever is in charge please make up their mind! I'm gonna go crazy.

At the end of the day, I'm glad it's spring. Even if the weather is the epitome of bipolar, it's better than just being depressed all the time. I'd rather have the potential for warm weather than to be destined for freezing temperatures all the time, so I'll count my blessings and keep my hopes up. One of these days it'll be warm for more than three days at a time. Until then, happy spring everyone.

Mind control-or lack thereof

     I've been attempting to write a paper for the past hour and a half. In that period of time I've stared at a blank page in Microsoft Word, watched two of my favorite YouTube videos (David goes to the dentist, and Marcel the Shell in case you're wondering), gone on Facebook a few times, stared at a Microsoft Word page with my name, teacher, class, date, and title on it, and looked through all the news on the Yahoo homepage. My actions would suggest that I have been trying to not write my paper, but I really have been attempting to make some progress. One would think that with a rough draft due tomorrow morning (inducing last minute panic), a pretty solid topic, and a maximum page limit of three pages (double spaced) that it would be easy to knock this paper out and get on with my life. But I can't seem to focus.
     As I was looking through the news on Yahoo.com I came across an article that was talking about games that you control with your MIND! Can you imagine?! The "games" that are currently being tested aren't really what you would call games, they just do simple things depending what your brain waves are doing. You wear this funny headset that looks like the Cerebro machine in X-Men, then you just think really, really hard and ideally the game would do what you want. Read the article, it sounds a lot more legitimate when they describe it. They say it's possible that this will be mainstream technology in ten years! Just think, in ten years the Kinect is going to be the equivalent of Nintendo 64.
     What do mind control games have to do with my lack of productivity in the homework department? Pretty much nothing--except for the fact that if I tried to play a mind control game right now it wouldn't work. At all. Because I don't have the slightest capability to control my mind right now. If I put on the headset there's a high probability that the sensors wouldn't detect even a trace of activity.
     So, the point of this story is that I hope I get this paper done before school tomorrow. If I don't it's probably OK. At the rate technology is going there's a chance that by the time I graduate from college robots will be running everything, and anything humans can do will be obsolete.

BREAKING NEWS: Publisher Limits Shelf Life for E-books at Librar...Oh wait, no one cares.

     I was reading the newspaper yesterday, and considering the state that Japan is in, it's no surprise that at least fifty percent of the A section and bits and pieces of every other section had pieces on some aspect of the disaster as well. I, for one, am really glad there's been so much information available, it's a really big deal and this is gonna be one of those things we tell our kids about.

     There was around half of the A section of the paper that wasn't about Japan. I don't really think that it matters either way, in fact I think it's good that there was information regarding the rest of the world because it is important that we move forward from disasters. The rest of the world doesn't stop moving even if one part does. 

     I was a little confused though why "Publisher Limits Shelf Life for Library E-Books" was on the front page. Really? The front page? Northern Japan is in shambles. Their stock market lost over $620 billion dollars which is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the state of their economy. And the cherry on top is the threat of a nuclear meltdown, the likes of which we haven't seen since Chernobyl. Putting Japan's issues aside, last time I checked there was still a revolution going on in Libya, congress is continuing their spat over how to cut down the budget, and there are still troops in the middle east. So amidst all this why on earth would they put a story about copyright issues on the front page? On a slow news day, I would probably be upset at the injustice those poor library's are facing, but today, tomorrow, and probably at least the next two weeks, don't count on it.

Are anyone else's dreams this weird?

I had a really weird dream last night. It made me laugh at how strange dreams are sometimes. This is a list of the best dream experiences I've ever had.


-Last night I had a dream that my sister wrote a blog that said this: 
I was supposed to be in Nevada this weekend. Too bad I'm not. Since Kyle doesn't live in state I can't spend this day with him. My entire life I've been waiting to spend this day with my husband. Why didn't I get to go spend pi day with kyle? How could we miss our first PI day together?
     -Why did I remember this verbatim? Usually I forget dreams as soon as I wake up.
     -Why does my subconscious think my sister is such a big nerd? Don't get me wrong, she is, but not like this.
-One time I had a dream that I was a spy for the CIA and my brother was my partner. I was captured and luckily they forgot to check my back pocket for my cell phone. I texted my brother "I'm in trouble, help me!". Later that day I get a text from a friend asking me what I meant. Turns out I texted a weird mess to him at 4 in the morning. Has that ever happened to anyone else?
-This isn't strictly a dream, but it involves sleeping. My roommate gets up at 4:30 every morning to go to work. Usually once a week, sometimes more, I'll say a few words, or on a good day I might even get a full sentence out. I wish I could video tape myself or something just so I could see the stupid things I do early in the morning.

Banished.

Wow, I slept so badly yesterday. Wanna know why? I slept on the couch last night. Don't ask me why my roommate made me do it. All semester things have been fine. Not even one fight. But last night she made it very clear that she didn't want me sleeping in our room so I went and slept in the living room. Luckily we have the best couch in our building. But still, what the heck? Gotta love roommates right?

Oh, I forgot to mention that she slept on the couch too. For some random reason she decided that we should have a sleepover in the living room on a school night. Obviously I agreed.

I love college.

Looks Like Denim, Feels Like PJ's!

I always told myself that when I turned eighteen I would buy ONE thing from an infomercial on TV. Since I already have a Snuggie©  and I just don't have the space for a Bowflex©, I've just been waiting for the perfect item to purchase from TV. Imagine my excitement when I saw a commercial for Pajama Jeans!

These are just perfect for everyone. For example, do you ever have those mornings when you just want to go to roll out of bed and walk out the door? I have them, frequently. Pretty much every day. When I was younger, in order to speed up my morning, one night I slept in my outfit for the next day. I only did it once because, one, in the morning my clothes looked strangely worse than they did before I went to sleep; secondly, school clothes tend to not be the most comfortable clothes to sleep in. So, considering my lack of motivation to look remotely presentable each morning it's obvious why I would be so thrilled about these.

Imagine the possibilities!

-After a long day are you too tired to change from your normal clothes to your pajamas? Never fear, they're one and the same! In a perfect world you could go for days without switching pants!

-Are you sick of the your jeans leaving indents in your skin? Forget about the fact that your jeans are at lease a size too small, pajama jeans don't even have buttons. They're soft and stretchy so they'll never be too tight. They're so comfortable and breathable that you could exercise in them, yet they fit like real designer jeans. They even have a "butt lifting design". 

-The best part about all this is that a pair of designer jeans costs at least $80 dollars. Lucky for us you can get a pair of pajamas that pretend to be jeans for $40! 


So, all jokes aside, at the end of the day these "pants" are ridiculous. I just want to point out that $40 (plus shipping and handling) is enough for some fun "pajamas" from Victoria's Secret. If I were going to sleep in $40 anything I would definitely pick something other than pajama jeans.


So consider carefully, but if you decide that these actually are for you, the toll free number is 1-800-785-4988. Who knows, maybe these will turn into a sensation like the Snuggie. 




Let's hope not.