I was reviewing a few of my blog entries and it seems that I have some pet subjects. I don't think I realized that I talked about them as much as I did. On the one hand I feel that it makes me even more boring than I thought was and that I should move on and discuss other issues. On the other hand, there are not a lot of things that get me riled up, or even that I am particularly passionate about. (One of my favorite words is "meh" so that should tell you something.) So I think I tend to dwell on those things. And I am not stopping today. So if you are sick and tired of me beating the dead horse of daylight savings time then just ignore this post and try to catch up on the hour of sleep that you lost this week. But if you want to possibly be shocked then keep reading.
You see, I have learned a few things about daylight savings time that have made me reconsider my position on its existence. In case you forgot, I pretty much consider it the bane of my existence. But I am afraid I will have to issue a retraction on that position. Sort of. Allow me to explain.
First, it is important to understand the reason why I hate daylight savings time so much(which I will now abbreviate DST for the rest of this post.) You might be surprised to learn that it has very little to do with the loss of sleep. I actually don't care about that too much. And anyone who knows me knows how shocking this is because I LOVE sleep. Almost more than anything. I would probably rather sleep than eat and I love food. So you would think that losing sleep would be a big deal to me. But in this case, it's not. The reason being that as much as I love sleep, I hate it when it gets dark at 5:30 in the evening. HATE it! It makes me feel so unproductive no matter how much I accomplish. It just makes the day seem so much shorter, despite it actually still being 24 hours. SO, when it comes to losing an hour of sleep in exchange for more daylight, I will take the sun. Always.
Now, up until this week I was under the impression that DST ENDS in the spring and BEGINS in the fall. I realize that is a fairly large mistake to make, especially when I profess such a hatred for the practice. You would think that I would at least understand something I have chosen to despise. I chalk it up to the fact that it is a tricky concept to grasp and I can't be blamed for misunderstanding something as complex as the reordering of time. (See, when I put it that way it almost sounds plausible that nobody is capable of understanding DST. Then I don't feel so bad for not getting a fairly basic concept:)
Anyway, my hatred of DST comes from the fact that I was under the impression that when it starts we LOSE daylight, and when it ends we GAIN daylight. So of course I would hate a concept that I believed deprived me of precious daylight.
So now I have a dilemma (not a dilemna, as I always thought the word was). Do I continue hating DST despite the fact that it actually extends daylight hours, something I like? Or do I admit my mistake and make my peace with the institution?
Well, after much debate I have come to a conclusion. Drumroll please.
I, Lindsey Schultz, will continue to hate daylight savings time. And there is still a good reason to do so. You see, the earth has a natural cycle wherin it rotates on an axis and orbits the sun. The effects of these motions are what account for the various seasons. As it turns out, in the course of this spinning and rotation the days naturally get longer in the summer and shorter in the winter. (I guess that's confusing because there are always 24 hours in a day, but what I mean is that there are more hours of sunlight in the summer.) This results in the longest day of the year falling around June 21, known as the summer solstice, wherin there are 12 hours of daylight. 12 glorious hours! Of course, this is countered by the winter solstice, falling in December, in which the sun gets really tired and goes to bed early. But, from that point on the days get gradually longer and longer, which makes me happy.
So what it really boils down to is the principle of the boiling frog. If you throw a frog in hot water he will hop right out, but if you gradually increase the temperature he will slowly cook his own goose (or frog. I'm mixing metaphors here.) Anyway, the same goes for me. I would like to think that I would be smarter than a frog and hop out of the slowly warming water, but most likely I wouldn't. (Plus I like really hot showers so that would probably work against me too.) So if you got rid of DST I might notice that the days were getting longer or shorter, but it would happen so gradually that I wouldn't wake up one morning in March or November feeling robbed of either sleep or daylight, as I do now. And you wouldn't have to listen to my constant rants on the subject. Like I said, write your congressmen.
So, this is why daylight savings time will stay at the top of my "Things That Must Go" list. But on the bright side, at least I have a better understanding of my dislike of it.
A few other random notes about DST:
There were missionaries in my mission who were from Arizona (the smartest state in the union, due to it's refusal to participate in DST) who actually thought their companions were trying to play a trick on them by telling them to change their clocks. That would be a hilarious joke, but unfortunately it is one that the government continues to play on us each and every year, making it cumulatively less and less funny.
And aside from the government, guess who else is in on the joke? Lobbyists. Yep, lobbyists from the candy companies. And why would the candy companies benefit from DST? Three words: Trick or Treat. Yes, the candy companies are responsible for extending DST so that the little ghouls and boys don't have to go trick or treating in the dark. Kind of makes me wish dentists were more effective lobbyists. Though the downside to that would be SWISH. Did anyone else have to take SWISH in elementary school? It was a flouride treatment that they brought in and you had to swish it around in your mouth for 1 minute and then spit it out and then you couldn't drink anything for 20 minutes. It was awful! I hated it even more than DST and finally convinced my mom to stop making me take it when Alan Erdmann threw up after taking it. Seriously, it was that bad. So I guess I will just have to look on the bright side. I could be taking SWISH in the dark:)
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Experiments: Natural vs. artificial
Recently we have been discussing various ways of gathering data in my epidemiology class. Epidemiology is the study of disease distibution and probable causes and has nothing to do with skin, unless of course they happen to be studying the flesh eating bacteria or something.
I mention this because I am currently reading a book that was written by an epidemiologist. She mentions in the intro that when people ask her what she does for a living her reply is "sex and drugs." Apparently if she says epidemiology people equate that with a skin condition and thinks she is some sort of dermatologist or something. I was kind of surprised that people would think that but then I was telling a friend about the book and when I said she was an epidemiologist he asked if that was some sort of skin specialist. So apparently she knows what she is talking about. Though really, I think being able to say that your job is sex and drugs is probably just a good conversation starter, more than a clarification.
Anyway, back to data collection. We have been discussing the differences between types of studies. An experiment is like the third grade science fair where you put the penny in the various solutions to see which one cleans it best and you manipulate variables and all the classic stuff that we have learned since grade school. (Is there anyone who hasn't done that experiment? Spoiler alert: tomato juice works best. Though I don't really know why anyone would need to clean pennies, let alone have the time to do so. Its kind of a dumb experiment when you think about it.)
(Also, did you know that nowadays pennies are made mostly from zinc and cost more than one cent to produce? And they tend not to circulate very long because they get lost or tossed or stored in a jar somewhere and forgotten about (mom:). So the US government is losing money on making pennies. They have actually considered doing away with them and rounding up, which is just another one of the reasons why economics makes no sense to me (You have no idea how close I came to using a pun there). But do you know why they haven't done that yet, other than for fear of confusing all the economics dunces like myself? Because of lobbyists. Specifically lobbyists from the zinc industry. Who knew? Well, now you do. More useless information. Unless you have a desire to become a lobbyist. Which I actually find tempting, but I don't want to lose my soul and I think the two are mutually exclusive. So I will stick to health ed. Which brings me back to the point.)
The point being that in addition to the typical experiment you also have other ways of gathering data, including the natural experiment. This is where you just sort of gather data from a scenario that is happening that you didn't really have anything to do with. Kind of confusing right? That's what I thought. Until this weekend. You see, it suddenly clicked when I realized that if anyone wanted to observe a natural experiment they could just observe me this weekend. Or read my blog, which is pretty much the result of the natural experiment.
You see, my roommates all went to Oregon this weekend. They invited me but I decided not to go because I have a bunch of homework and tests next week and a health conference and blah blah blah. So I stuck around and became a natural experiment instead. Essentially, the question being asked is, what does Lindsey do when nobody is around? Now, if they wanted to do a regular experiment they could just put me in a big glass box by myself and observe, like that stupid pledge commercial where they make the lady wait a week in a glass box. But you will notice that there is no bathroom in that box so it makes for a pretty implausible, unethical study and a stupid commercial. And since I would not likely consent to such a study, and an ethics board might take issue with it, they would have to wait for a natural experiment in which I just happen to find myself alone for three days. (I might think that my roommates were in on the study from the beginning but then I remember that a) they invited me to go with them, and b) there are far more important things to study than me. Such as physiology, which I am not studying right now.)
So, here I am, a natural experiment. Now, what can we learn from all of this? Well, it is now day two of solo time and I am writing a rambling, random blog post and I won't have any human contact until church tomorrow. (Do you think I can make it? The suspense builds.) So we learn that while Lindsey is ordinarily quite easily amused, this is not the case when she has nobody to share her amusement with. (See "pennies; made of zinc" from above for proof:)
We learn that she tends to watch a lot more TV when she is by herself. (Memo to me: Don't buy a TV.) Though, a confounding factor in this conclusion is that her roommate's boyfriend happened to leave season three of The Office at her apartment and she may have been inclined to watch that whether she were alone or not. Hard to say.
We also learn that she tends to mimic things that she reads rather than people that she speaks to. The style of this post is rather more similar to the book she is currently reading than the usual language of, "like", "seriously", "lame", and "I know" that she usually uses. So without human interaction she resorts to interacting as though she were talking to the things that she reads. Which probably also explains the scientific theme of this particular post. It is also a good indicator that she ought to stop reading and boring people with her ramblings and go to bed.
What else will we learn from this natural experiment? Only time will tell. Though I have a hunch I will probably do well on my epidemiology test:)
One final thought. Sometimes the results of experiments are not what we wanted or thought they would be. This seems pretty obvious, but there was a time in my life when it was not. Back to the third grade science fair. My first experiment was to determine if Coke would cause a nail to erode or a piece of ham to get holes in it. I was told that this happens and so was much disappointed when this turned out not to be the case. The ham and nail were a little sticky after three days in Coke solution, but none the worse for wear. Meanwhile I was scrambling to find dirty pennies I could clean with lemon or tomato juice for the science fair the next day because I thought that since my experiment failed to prove my hypothesis it was no good and I had to do another one. It didn't win any prizes and I went on believing that I had somehow done my experiment wrong.
Lesson learned? If you want to win a prize at the science fair, have your mom do it for you. Yeah, I'm talking to you Shannon B., Westside Elementary.
Also, Coke will not erode your stomach. Or ham.
I mention this because I am currently reading a book that was written by an epidemiologist. She mentions in the intro that when people ask her what she does for a living her reply is "sex and drugs." Apparently if she says epidemiology people equate that with a skin condition and thinks she is some sort of dermatologist or something. I was kind of surprised that people would think that but then I was telling a friend about the book and when I said she was an epidemiologist he asked if that was some sort of skin specialist. So apparently she knows what she is talking about. Though really, I think being able to say that your job is sex and drugs is probably just a good conversation starter, more than a clarification.
Anyway, back to data collection. We have been discussing the differences between types of studies. An experiment is like the third grade science fair where you put the penny in the various solutions to see which one cleans it best and you manipulate variables and all the classic stuff that we have learned since grade school. (Is there anyone who hasn't done that experiment? Spoiler alert: tomato juice works best. Though I don't really know why anyone would need to clean pennies, let alone have the time to do so. Its kind of a dumb experiment when you think about it.)
(Also, did you know that nowadays pennies are made mostly from zinc and cost more than one cent to produce? And they tend not to circulate very long because they get lost or tossed or stored in a jar somewhere and forgotten about (mom:). So the US government is losing money on making pennies. They have actually considered doing away with them and rounding up, which is just another one of the reasons why economics makes no sense to me (You have no idea how close I came to using a pun there). But do you know why they haven't done that yet, other than for fear of confusing all the economics dunces like myself? Because of lobbyists. Specifically lobbyists from the zinc industry. Who knew? Well, now you do. More useless information. Unless you have a desire to become a lobbyist. Which I actually find tempting, but I don't want to lose my soul and I think the two are mutually exclusive. So I will stick to health ed. Which brings me back to the point.)
The point being that in addition to the typical experiment you also have other ways of gathering data, including the natural experiment. This is where you just sort of gather data from a scenario that is happening that you didn't really have anything to do with. Kind of confusing right? That's what I thought. Until this weekend. You see, it suddenly clicked when I realized that if anyone wanted to observe a natural experiment they could just observe me this weekend. Or read my blog, which is pretty much the result of the natural experiment.
You see, my roommates all went to Oregon this weekend. They invited me but I decided not to go because I have a bunch of homework and tests next week and a health conference and blah blah blah. So I stuck around and became a natural experiment instead. Essentially, the question being asked is, what does Lindsey do when nobody is around? Now, if they wanted to do a regular experiment they could just put me in a big glass box by myself and observe, like that stupid pledge commercial where they make the lady wait a week in a glass box. But you will notice that there is no bathroom in that box so it makes for a pretty implausible, unethical study and a stupid commercial. And since I would not likely consent to such a study, and an ethics board might take issue with it, they would have to wait for a natural experiment in which I just happen to find myself alone for three days. (I might think that my roommates were in on the study from the beginning but then I remember that a) they invited me to go with them, and b) there are far more important things to study than me. Such as physiology, which I am not studying right now.)
So, here I am, a natural experiment. Now, what can we learn from all of this? Well, it is now day two of solo time and I am writing a rambling, random blog post and I won't have any human contact until church tomorrow. (Do you think I can make it? The suspense builds.) So we learn that while Lindsey is ordinarily quite easily amused, this is not the case when she has nobody to share her amusement with. (See "pennies; made of zinc" from above for proof:)
We learn that she tends to watch a lot more TV when she is by herself. (Memo to me: Don't buy a TV.) Though, a confounding factor in this conclusion is that her roommate's boyfriend happened to leave season three of The Office at her apartment and she may have been inclined to watch that whether she were alone or not. Hard to say.
We also learn that she tends to mimic things that she reads rather than people that she speaks to. The style of this post is rather more similar to the book she is currently reading than the usual language of, "like", "seriously", "lame", and "I know" that she usually uses. So without human interaction she resorts to interacting as though she were talking to the things that she reads. Which probably also explains the scientific theme of this particular post. It is also a good indicator that she ought to stop reading and boring people with her ramblings and go to bed.
What else will we learn from this natural experiment? Only time will tell. Though I have a hunch I will probably do well on my epidemiology test:)
One final thought. Sometimes the results of experiments are not what we wanted or thought they would be. This seems pretty obvious, but there was a time in my life when it was not. Back to the third grade science fair. My first experiment was to determine if Coke would cause a nail to erode or a piece of ham to get holes in it. I was told that this happens and so was much disappointed when this turned out not to be the case. The ham and nail were a little sticky after three days in Coke solution, but none the worse for wear. Meanwhile I was scrambling to find dirty pennies I could clean with lemon or tomato juice for the science fair the next day because I thought that since my experiment failed to prove my hypothesis it was no good and I had to do another one. It didn't win any prizes and I went on believing that I had somehow done my experiment wrong.
Lesson learned? If you want to win a prize at the science fair, have your mom do it for you. Yeah, I'm talking to you Shannon B., Westside Elementary.
Also, Coke will not erode your stomach. Or ham.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
I Friend You!
So anybody who knows me will probably have figured out by now that I am not a fan of Facebook. There are many reasons for this and I won't go into detail because that would be a really really long post and I have too much homework to get involved in that today. However, while taking a sanity break from said homework today I stumbled across this hilarious article that I would now like to share with you. Now, before you read it please note a few things.
1) It is satire, so take it with a grain of salt.
2) If you have a Facebook and love it then good for you. Much as I like to complain about Facebook I really don't care if you have one or not. If you are living a happy productive life in which Facebook plays a part then good for you. I am happy for you. Its just not something that I want in my life.
3) Dork alert: When I was younger I used to stay up and watch Star Trek: Next Generation (and Heidi, don't even pretend that you didn't do the same) during the summer. This had very little to do with the entertainment value of the show and more to do with the fact that it came on late and it was an excuse not to go to bed (Really, I'm not lying. I don't speak Klingon or anything. Though unfortunately I know what that is...) So of course I watched it. Anyway, there is an episode in which everybody is getting these headset things that go over your eyes and it creates some sort of a fantasy world or its a game or something. But it turns out it actually starts to take over your mind and you completely lose touch with reality. However since everybody is wearing them there are only like two people in the whole show who are still sane and they have to figure out a way to save everybody and avoid their attempts to get them to wear the headsets. This is sometimes how I feel about Facebook. It's not really my personal quest to save people from social networking sites, (lets face it, some people don't want to be saved. It really makes their day when they recieve flair or change their status.) I just sometimes feel like I might be one of the last sane people on the planet and as those numbers dwindle I wonder if maybe I am the insane one and everybody else knows something that I don't. But then I take solace in the fact that crazy people don't think they're crazy so I must be sane, right?
So that pretty much sums up my thoughts and I will now post the link to the article.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/183180/page/1
And if you love Facebook and hate me for posting such an article then look on the bright side. At least you won't have to go to all the trouble of removing me from your "Friends" page:)
Also, I am pretty ambivalent about Crocs footwear (I used to own a pair and I think they are pretty comfy, if not highly fashionable) but the same guy writes a hilarious article about them if you are passionately against them. The responses he got to that article were insane and funny and I imagine he will get the same responses to this one. I look forward to reading them.
Status: Lindsey is getting back to her homework now.
1) It is satire, so take it with a grain of salt.
2) If you have a Facebook and love it then good for you. Much as I like to complain about Facebook I really don't care if you have one or not. If you are living a happy productive life in which Facebook plays a part then good for you. I am happy for you. Its just not something that I want in my life.
3) Dork alert: When I was younger I used to stay up and watch Star Trek: Next Generation (and Heidi, don't even pretend that you didn't do the same) during the summer. This had very little to do with the entertainment value of the show and more to do with the fact that it came on late and it was an excuse not to go to bed (Really, I'm not lying. I don't speak Klingon or anything. Though unfortunately I know what that is...) So of course I watched it. Anyway, there is an episode in which everybody is getting these headset things that go over your eyes and it creates some sort of a fantasy world or its a game or something. But it turns out it actually starts to take over your mind and you completely lose touch with reality. However since everybody is wearing them there are only like two people in the whole show who are still sane and they have to figure out a way to save everybody and avoid their attempts to get them to wear the headsets. This is sometimes how I feel about Facebook. It's not really my personal quest to save people from social networking sites, (lets face it, some people don't want to be saved. It really makes their day when they recieve flair or change their status.) I just sometimes feel like I might be one of the last sane people on the planet and as those numbers dwindle I wonder if maybe I am the insane one and everybody else knows something that I don't. But then I take solace in the fact that crazy people don't think they're crazy so I must be sane, right?
So that pretty much sums up my thoughts and I will now post the link to the article.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/183180/page/1
And if you love Facebook and hate me for posting such an article then look on the bright side. At least you won't have to go to all the trouble of removing me from your "Friends" page:)
Also, I am pretty ambivalent about Crocs footwear (I used to own a pair and I think they are pretty comfy, if not highly fashionable) but the same guy writes a hilarious article about them if you are passionately against them. The responses he got to that article were insane and funny and I imagine he will get the same responses to this one. I look forward to reading them.
Status: Lindsey is getting back to her homework now.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Keep Singing!
I have discovered that I have this habit of writing about what I might post in the future in my posts and then forgetting about it entirely. Which is kind of comical because the reason I write about what I am going to write about in the future is so that when I think I have nothing to blog about (which is often) I can simply read my old posts and have an automatic memory refresher. But instead I just forget. (Wow, after reading that I suddenly understand the kind of mental patience it must take to be my friend and understand even the smallest bit of what I am saying. Thank you friends for sticking with me.)
Anyway, my brother Scott posted some comments on some of my posts (seriously guys, thanks for being my friends) and as I was reading them I had to refer to some of the things that I had written. (Seriously, everything I write today seems so complex! Am I really that way or is my brain just freaking out on me? Ok, no more asides for now. Focus Linds.)
Anyway, as I was reading some of my older posts I realized two things: 1) I am very easily amused, and 2) There are a lot of things I said I would write about that I never did.
And if you are as easily amused as I am then you probably might like to read some of my thoughts on these things. That's assuming a lot, but even if you are not so easily amused it may be that you are scientifically minded and have become my friend for the express purpose of trying to figure out what in the heck goes on in my head. And if that is the case, good luck and no hard feelings. I like you anyway and appreciate your sacrifices for the scientific world.
So many many moons ago I posted a poll question asking which hymn I was ambivalent about. The options were as follows:
Anyway, my brother Scott posted some comments on some of my posts (seriously guys, thanks for being my friends) and as I was reading them I had to refer to some of the things that I had written. (Seriously, everything I write today seems so complex! Am I really that way or is my brain just freaking out on me? Ok, no more asides for now. Focus Linds.)
Anyway, as I was reading some of my older posts I realized two things: 1) I am very easily amused, and 2) There are a lot of things I said I would write about that I never did.
And if you are as easily amused as I am then you probably might like to read some of my thoughts on these things. That's assuming a lot, but even if you are not so easily amused it may be that you are scientifically minded and have become my friend for the express purpose of trying to figure out what in the heck goes on in my head. And if that is the case, good luck and no hard feelings. I like you anyway and appreciate your sacrifices for the scientific world.
So many many moons ago I posted a poll question asking which hymn I was ambivalent about. The options were as follows:
A) Dear to the Heart of the Shepherd
B) Have I done any good in the world today?
B) Have I done any good in the world today?
C) Ring out Wild Bells
D) Joseph Smith's first prayer
E) Master the tempest is raging
The answer, in case you were wondering, is B) Have I done any good in the world today? Though there is a caveat to that, which I will discuss later.
First, lets get to the hymns that I hate (ok so really hate is a stong word and mostly these are songs that I dislike, but I like the alliteration of "hated hymns" so I'm keeping it.)
First on the list is Dear to the Heart of the Shepherd, a song which doesn't bother me too much except for one small thing. As I mentioned before I am easily amused so you will imagine my reaction when I realized that the line of this hymn that states "DEAR are the sheep of His fold" could easily be rewritten as "DEER are the sheep of his fold." Hours and hours of entertainment with that mental picture. Now I just can't sing it without laughing and that is typically frowned upon in sacrament meetings, so I just prefer not to hear it.
Next on the list is a song which I truly despise: Ring Out Wild Bells, which much to my chagrin my mother says she loves. I hate the tune, I hate the lyrics, and I hate that it is only sung once a year on the sunday before new years. Seriously, is there no better song to ring in the new year than one that proclaims in somber funeral march tones "the year is dying, let her die. Ring out wild bells! and let her die!!" Dun Dun Dun!!!!!!! It's just so serious and angry. I really wish that I was musically inclined and could express the mood all these songs portray but you will just have to wait till sunday to hear them I suppose. Oh, and as a warning, if you don't want any of the aforementioned songs ruined for you then I would seriously reconsider reading this post. (Should have said that earlier, now you will think of deer and funerals each sunday. Welcome to my world.)
Anyway, the next on the list is Joseph Smith's first prayer, and I know I am going to get a lot of flak for this one. Stating a dislike for this song is akin to saying you enjoy torturing small animals and you hate ice cream. It's just not socially acceptable. (Seriously, have you ever met anyone who didn't really like ice cream and they said so and the whole room just went silent and then everybody tried to extol the virtues of ice cream and convert the non-dairy imbiber? My advice is to always answer yes when asked if you like ice cream or puppies, even if you are lactose intolerant or have severe allergies. Trust me on this.) So, rather than tell you that the high pitch of this song annoys me and I find the repetition of the last two lines super irritating, I will just say that I like this song. Really. Even more than I like ice cream.
The answer, in case you were wondering, is B) Have I done any good in the world today? Though there is a caveat to that, which I will discuss later.
First, lets get to the hymns that I hate (ok so really hate is a stong word and mostly these are songs that I dislike, but I like the alliteration of "hated hymns" so I'm keeping it.)
First on the list is Dear to the Heart of the Shepherd, a song which doesn't bother me too much except for one small thing. As I mentioned before I am easily amused so you will imagine my reaction when I realized that the line of this hymn that states "DEAR are the sheep of His fold" could easily be rewritten as "DEER are the sheep of his fold." Hours and hours of entertainment with that mental picture. Now I just can't sing it without laughing and that is typically frowned upon in sacrament meetings, so I just prefer not to hear it.
Next on the list is a song which I truly despise: Ring Out Wild Bells, which much to my chagrin my mother says she loves. I hate the tune, I hate the lyrics, and I hate that it is only sung once a year on the sunday before new years. Seriously, is there no better song to ring in the new year than one that proclaims in somber funeral march tones "the year is dying, let her die. Ring out wild bells! and let her die!!" Dun Dun Dun!!!!!!! It's just so serious and angry. I really wish that I was musically inclined and could express the mood all these songs portray but you will just have to wait till sunday to hear them I suppose. Oh, and as a warning, if you don't want any of the aforementioned songs ruined for you then I would seriously reconsider reading this post. (Should have said that earlier, now you will think of deer and funerals each sunday. Welcome to my world.)
Anyway, the next on the list is Joseph Smith's first prayer, and I know I am going to get a lot of flak for this one. Stating a dislike for this song is akin to saying you enjoy torturing small animals and you hate ice cream. It's just not socially acceptable. (Seriously, have you ever met anyone who didn't really like ice cream and they said so and the whole room just went silent and then everybody tried to extol the virtues of ice cream and convert the non-dairy imbiber? My advice is to always answer yes when asked if you like ice cream or puppies, even if you are lactose intolerant or have severe allergies. Trust me on this.) So, rather than tell you that the high pitch of this song annoys me and I find the repetition of the last two lines super irritating, I will just say that I like this song. Really. Even more than I like ice cream.
Master the tempest is raging is next on the list and I like the idea of the song but not the execution. In theory, the way that the chorus gets progressively more intense with each line is pretty cool. In actuality it is just too overwhelming to me and the resolution is too brief. I will try to write the idea of this out.
"Whether the wrath of the storm tossed sea, or demon or men or whatever may be, No Water Shall Swallow The Ship Where Lies, THE MASTER OF OCEAN AND EARTH AND SKIES. They all shall sweetly obey His will, peace peace be still."
Well, that was my best attempt and hopefully you get the idea. I don't like songs that provoke that kind of anxiety so this one is definitely not on my playlist. (Ha, like I even have any hymns on my playlist. I would probably find too many things to complain about if I did.)
So there you have it. My most hated hymns. I apologize if any of you really really like these hymns and hope that my rant has not poisoned you on them (or me for that matter).
One last thing: the caveat for Have I done any good in the world today is that I don't have any problems with the current version. In fact I am pretty ambivalent about it. But my dad tells me that the lyrics used to say "Only he who does something is worthy to live" instead of "only he who does something helps others to live." Wow. Talk about harsh.
Now, if you will excuse me I have to go listen to the radio to get these songs out of my unholy heathen head. Though if it makes you feel any better there is also a rather large list of non religious songs that I hate, so at least I am not confined to one category in my loathing. An equal opportunity hater, if you will. Hey, whether you accept it or not, some people just don't like ice cream. (I'm not one of those people. I'm just saying.)
"Whether the wrath of the storm tossed sea, or demon or men or whatever may be, No Water Shall Swallow The Ship Where Lies, THE MASTER OF OCEAN AND EARTH AND SKIES. They all shall sweetly obey His will, peace peace be still."
Well, that was my best attempt and hopefully you get the idea. I don't like songs that provoke that kind of anxiety so this one is definitely not on my playlist. (Ha, like I even have any hymns on my playlist. I would probably find too many things to complain about if I did.)
So there you have it. My most hated hymns. I apologize if any of you really really like these hymns and hope that my rant has not poisoned you on them (or me for that matter).
One last thing: the caveat for Have I done any good in the world today is that I don't have any problems with the current version. In fact I am pretty ambivalent about it. But my dad tells me that the lyrics used to say "Only he who does something is worthy to live" instead of "only he who does something helps others to live." Wow. Talk about harsh.
Now, if you will excuse me I have to go listen to the radio to get these songs out of my unholy heathen head. Though if it makes you feel any better there is also a rather large list of non religious songs that I hate, so at least I am not confined to one category in my loathing. An equal opportunity hater, if you will. Hey, whether you accept it or not, some people just don't like ice cream. (I'm not one of those people. I'm just saying.)
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Opportunity
Ok. I'm done sulking now. I am still really busy with my 19 credits this semester so posts will still be few and far between, but I am confident we will all survive:) As for the sulking, even though I was mostly joking I was being a little lazy and less than grateful for what is really a pretty amazing opportunity for me. I just read an article about 1300 girls in Afghanistan who defy the Taliban everyday to attend school and the consequences of that action. Here is the link if you want to read the story, which I highly recommend. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/14/world/asia/14kandahar.html?_r=2
Anyway, it snapped me right out of my sulking and made me realize how incredibly fortunate I am to be able to attend school at all. I won't get too sappy here but I am really and truly grateful for the knowledge that I have of my own worth and intelligence and that I was afforded that opportunity by virtue of being born where I was and to the parents that I have. I can't imagine how difficult life would be if you were made to believe your entire life that you were less than your male counterparts, less even than an animal. Wow. Those girls are really inspiring.
Anyway, they certainly changed my attitude about school. Three cheers for them!
Anyway, it snapped me right out of my sulking and made me realize how incredibly fortunate I am to be able to attend school at all. I won't get too sappy here but I am really and truly grateful for the knowledge that I have of my own worth and intelligence and that I was afforded that opportunity by virtue of being born where I was and to the parents that I have. I can't imagine how difficult life would be if you were made to believe your entire life that you were less than your male counterparts, less even than an animal. Wow. Those girls are really inspiring.
Anyway, they certainly changed my attitude about school. Three cheers for them!
Sunday, January 4, 2009
NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!
I don't want to go back to school! Sob. Christmas vacation has been soooo nice and school is just so much work. Sigh. At least this is my last semester of classes. Here goes nothin:) And if you don't hear from me for awhile its probably because I'll either be A) sulking B) really busy or C) both:) Most likely both.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Magnum Opus
Well, here it is: My magnum opus. As you can tell from the picture I am really quite done with it altogether. (You can also tell I need a new haircut, but that's a different story) Anyway, I promised to post it and explain what a magnum opus is so here it is.Ahem, magnum opus is latin for "great work" and signifies one's great accomplishment. An example of this can be found in the book (or movie) "Charlotte's Web", in which Charlotte the spider explains to Wilbur the pig that she has just finished her magnum opus, which in her case is her eggsack, from which her little spider children will hatch in the spring. A better (and much less icky) example could be found in Braden David Peterson, the magnum opus of Justin and Elise Peterson, who was born on Sunday. See exhibit A.
Exhibit A
He's so cute. Much cuter than my magnum opus, but probably even more time consuming, so I will just be content with mine for now: ) Congratulations guys, by the way :)
Anyway, for those of you who don't know, I am majoring in Community Health Education and one of the requirements is a class called Death by Planning. (Though the University of course uses the more technical title of Planning and Evaluation for Health Promotion Programs. Don't be fooled. The first desciption is better.) The class requires that you work with a group of peers to gather primary and secondary research on a given topic and population, in our case bullying among second and third graders. Then you have to develop an intervention program to combat the problem and implement it in a local school. Then you have to evaluate it approximately 87 different ways and say what you learned from all of it. This is then written up and repeated 486.2 different ways until you want to poke your own eyes out, or bully your teacher. I can't even really explain how much work was required for all this but just know that it was by far the most labor intensive class I have ever taken. So now its over and what do I have to show for it? Well, exhibits B and C, basically.
Exhibit B
Exhibit C
I was going to try to post a link so you everybody could read all hundred and ridiculous pages of it but 1) I don't know a quick way to do that, 2) I am so done with this project that I don't even have the energy to burn it, and 3) yeah right, like anybody would want to read it. Even I find it tedious! So hopefully the pictures will suffice.
And lest you think this is a desperate ploy on my part for some sympathy, which it is not, (yeah right, we know it really is:), let me tell you a few good things to come out of all of it.
First, I passed the class. YEAH! (On a sidenote, I think I have never been so disappointed with an A- in my life, but only because I was taking 18 credits and got straight A's in ALL my other classes so I would have had a 4.0 for the first time in my college career. How cool would that have been?! But I digress, and really I can't complain about an A-)
Second, it is one of those experiences that, while difficult and time consuming, I know will pay off in the long run and I really did learn a lot from it. And I know it will be really helpful in my career, when I have one.
Third, the group that I worked with was awesome and we all got along really well and became good friends.
And fourth, its over!!!! YAY!!!! And so is this post. Double YAY!
(Oh, except to say that I changed the template and I must say I quite like it. And I even figured out, and input some of the HTML codes for the colors by myself because blogger kept telling me there was an error when I tried to download it. So I am pretty proud of myself and I think I will never ever ever change it again. Ever.
Also, if you are still reading this post, I added a bookshelf widget (look at me and my technical terms. You would almost think I knew what I was talking about:) of some of the books I have read recently and most of them I would reccommend. (The main exception is Garbage Land but I will write more about that later in my much anticipated (yeah, right) post about recycling and edible cups) So if you are looking for some good material take a look. And if you have any great books that you have read recently leave me a comment because I am always on the lookout for a new one.)
And now I am really done. Really. So, bye.
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