I always knew i was attached to my devices. My cellphone, computer, ipod or anything else that was small and portable. Needless to say I felt completely disconnected from the world when my laptop was on the fritz for a few weeks a couple of months ago. Sure internet can be accessed via cell phones, work computers or even using my roommates computer. But everything ceases when your own personal computer is gone, or at least for me it did. Goodbye to free music downloads. I can’t tell you how sad it made me not being able to download anything new or update my ipod. Do you know how disheartening it is not to be able to add new songs to a playlist? To see how many play counts a song has received? It’s plain torture on an Itunes lover’s soul. I can’t remember my last music download prior to the kaputzing of my laptop and that depressed me. I couldn’t even download or watch zshare vids. My fascination with the internet and all things wireless was dulled by the realization that the computer that I was using wasn’t mine. Another down side to not using your own computer was not being able to log-in to sites that you need to use because your passwords were saved. Can you say hello to late fees while I spent days searching for the answer to my “secret question(s).” Depressing and costly I might add. Sites need to all get together and make password rules universal, I change my password due to different restrictions-some are only 4 letters, some are a combo of numbers and letters, some want symbols-how can a girl keep up?
I am a member of Gen X and I am not ashamed to say I am hooked. Hooked on instant gratifications and constant access to information. Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night, rolled over and checked your email or did something random online, then rolled over and went back to sleep? No? Ok, maybe that’s just me, but that goes to show how attached I am to my electronics. In the absence of my laptop you’d think I’d have accomplished all the worldly things I’d been missing out on. Not so. I have the same number of unfinished books I had when it broke. I am the person who reads 3 books at once. So I’m still into 3 books, just a little bit further along. I did manage to catch up on a whole season of Gossip Girl and episodes of other shows left on my DVR from November. It was simple-replace one electronic with another.
I’m one of those people who believes that our children aren’t learning proper social skills due to technology being everywhere. But am I just as guilty as them? I mean, I’d rather instant message someone than sit on the phone. Am I someone who lacks social skills? do I prefer texting to talking? Or am I just evolving with technology. Everywhere you look people are using technology to reach broader audiences and increase revenue-online classes at major universities. I am guilty for signing up for one of those. Now you can even get a whole degree without ever having met a professor face to face or even stepping foot into a classroom. Is that really imaginable? Is that really a quality education? Are people becoming so dissocial (is that a real word?) that they can’t even be bothered with classmates and teachers? Isn’t socialization an integral part of learning? This is wh y we make sure out children get into the best pre-schools or our teen-agers don’t get caught up with the “other” crowd. So with socialization being so vital to our well being as people why are we OK with its demise? My 8 year old cousin wants a cell phone. He’s 8. Who does he have to talk to that he doesn’t see in school everyday?
This all came back to me over the last week when I lost my Blackberry. I didn’t have any of my contacts, writing ideas were lost along with quotes I wanted to use. How could I have been so easily enticed-using my blackberry instead of my handy notebook. Why do I text more than I talk. I can remember a time when my life literally revolved around my telephone-my house phone. Then it later progressed to my cell phone, I couldn’t wait to devour my free nights and weekends. But now I talk to everyone via instant messages and my minutes no longer near their peak ( besides the fact I’ve upgraded to unlimited). I am guilty. I am addicted to google and IMs. I like having the information super highway at my fingertips but I don’t like feeling like my social skills are lacking. Nor do I want to get there someday. So this is what I’ll do, I vow to take back my social life and make it more personal! I will call people and actually visit with them more often. That’s step one. (I’m a work in progress).
-p.s.
Do NOT mistake this as vow to not EVER use texts or IMs.. but more so a reform effort.
Check it… High Fructose Corn Syrup, one of the top ingredients in most of the food consumed in America. Linked to the rising levels of obesity in this country. So why is the Corn Refiners Association trying to promote that HFCS isn’t nearly as bad as we think it is. Have you seen these commercials. I saw one the other day while watching my daily dose of 30 minute meals with Rachel Ray. And frankly, I was disgusted. Then I saw another one on Vh1 Soul one morning. In the commercials and on their website they deem that:
“High fructose corn syrup offers numerous benefits. It keeps food fresh, enhances fruit and spice flavors, retains moisture in bran cereals, helps keep breakfast and energy bars moist, maintains consistent flavors in beverages and keeps ingredients evenly dispersed in condiments.”
Among other things. Now, I know that anything that is chemically modified cannot have all the benefits they claim. And of course corn manufacturers want us dependent on their product so its no wonder that we are being bombarded with this tom foolery. But anyway, I did some of my own research to make sure I wasn’t being a sheep. So I found an interesting article about the crap, i mean about HFCS and here is some of what I found.
Do we even really know what HFCS is? I mean sure, the name is self explanatory right? Its extra sugary corn syrup? But how did it get there? Well, HFCS is any of a group of corn syrups which have undergone enzymatic processing in order to increase their fructose content and are then mixed with pure corn syrup (100% glucose) to reach their final form. The typical types of HFCS are: HFCS 90 (used almost exclusively in the production of HFCS 55) which is approximately 90% fructose and 10% glucose; HFCS 55 (most commonly used in soft drinks) which is approximately 55% fructose and 45% glucose; and HFCS 42 (used in a variety of other foods, including baked goods) which is approximately 42% fructose and 58% glucose. I never knew that all HFCS wasn’t created equal… Figures..So anyway, what that means in terms of sweetness for us regular ole’ folk? HFCS 55 is comparable to table sugar (sucrose), which is a disaccharide (A carbohydrate that is made up of two monosaccharides) of fructose and glucose. This makes it useful to manufacturers as a possible substitute for sucrose in soft drinks and other processed foods. HFCS 90 is sweeter than sucrose, while HFCS 42 is not as sweet as sucrose.
HFCS is so popular here because it is cheaper than importing natural sugar to be used. I mean, even Coca cola uses natural sugar in other countries but not here in the US. WTF kinda BS is that?? To be fair consumption of sugar as a whole is linked to obesity and weight issues and there is no direct link to HFCS and obesity, however there is a correlation between the rise of obesity in the U.S. and the use of HFCS for sweetening beverages and foods. Personally, I don’t see how you can chemically alter the effects of a natural product and claim that it is not any different. I feel that chemicals have a bad effect on us as people, especially in the volumes that they are consummed. And the chemicals they use have to react with the chemicals in the soft drinks or whatever else they go in, all those chemical reactions can’t be healthy or good for you. There was a study done in mice (because we love to torment mice, that suggested that fructose increases obesity. I mean, humans used to be hunters and gatherers so to evolve into these chemically reliant creatures isn’t right. And to trust the FDA is just stupid… But that’s a whole different article for a different day. But never trust a label that just says FDA approved as natural, look for another seal. For more info on that you should check out the book “Skinny Bitch…” very enlightening on FDA practices.
The point of all this was that I think that people, specifically those in control with money, think that the average American is an idiot. They want to continuously peddle unhealthy things down our throats and perpetuate the system that we have of increased preventable diseases to fuel the medical industry and whoever else. Don’t believe the hype… just don’t!
Remember back when Tim Allen had that show Home Improvement and his show inside the show was called “Tool Time?” And Al was his co-star. I never watch Home Improvement on Nick @ Nite because I’m upset they don’t show A Different World but I do sometimes watch Family Matters… and maybe Roseanne. I love Roseanne’s family’s white trash-ness. She loves it. I love it because that was a real white family from the midwest-they weren’t all wholesome or cheesy. They had real fights and real issues. Granted some characters were extremes (Sandra Bernhardt’s Nancy) but they dealt with real personalities in my opinion.
I don’t want to bore you with memories of my Nick @ Nite adventures, I wanted to show the world my newest shoe obsession. In case you didn’t read about SLASSSH by Steve Madden I am an admitted shoe whore. I can’t help it. I try to not shop and stay away but they find me. I am in love with these boots by Nine West, called Elegy. Now, I think I mentioned how I have logs for calves so to find a boot that comes up to my calves AND zips up is a feat. So I actually took the time to measure the area around my calves and see if it was OK with this boot. And it is. So now i want them even more. In this beautiful gray color because black looks too biker chick for me. And while I love to look as biker chick as the next girl, I do have my limits. Now, the ones I want I have found online for around $100 even though I found the black ones for $35 I still want the grey. If anyone knows of a place where I can find them for cheaper let me know. For now, they’ll stay on my wish list because I’m placing myself on a strict.. I mean STRICT budget for the next few months… and when I saw strict I mean it!!!!
I don’t know about everyone else, but this summer kind of sucked in regards to TV. I looked forward to TNTs “The Closer” for so long that when it finally premiered I had over hyped it to myself. But someone reminded me that last night was the season Premiere of the CW’s Gossip Girl, which I feel in love with last year during the writers strike. I spent a whole day hogging my roommates desktop so I could watch every episode online until i was caught up. I mean literally, a whole Saturday, I even ate in front of the PC. So after watching the return of Blair Waldorf and Serena Van Der Woodsen I sought a schedule of fall premieres. And I found a good one! Not that I really need it because I have a DVR that automatically picks these things up, but I needed to have it. Because deep down, its more anticipation than actually watching thats exciting. Anticipation is so important that people don’t even realize it. Anyway, here are a list of shows that i am looking forward to. Even though all summer I’ve been following spoilers, but those are never totally accurate because you never know what changes happen on the cutting room floor…
9/1/08 – Gossip Girl
9/25/08 – Grey’s Anatomy
9/25/08 – Ugly Betty
9/28/08 – Desperate Housewives
9/28/08 – Family Guy
9/28/08 – Brothers & Sisters
10/1/08 – Private Practice
10/3/08 – Everybody Hates Chris
10/3/08 – The Game
10/6/08 – Samantha Who?
Honorable Mention – 9/3/08 – America’s Next Top Model
Honorable Mention – 9/5/08 - Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader
Now, this list looks like I spend a lot of time in front of the TV, but I really don’t. I DVR them all. Do you like how I turned the DVR into a verb? That is pretty common these days. The proper way to say that was that I recorded them using my DVR. I wonder why we as people do that. Make verbs into nouns. Anyhoo, I did forget Nip/Tuck, which is such a guilty pleasure. I haven’t seen any new shows that I’m looking foward to trying. I did want to try Eli Stone last year but haven’t gotten around to it. Recently I started watching Entourage, but I won’t let myself watch new episodes until I catch up completely with prior seasons. I wonder what other shows people are looking forward to. I know Heroes is pretty popular among a few of my friends along with Friday Night Lights… hhhmmm.. not for me..
Dope. Crazy. Perfectly Imperfect. I'm not the best writer and probably not the worst either, but I am happy while doing it. Stick with me and you'll never be bored! I mean, maybe you won't and maybe you will....
I always knew i was attached to my devices. My cellphone, computer, ipod or anything else that was small and portable. Needless to say I felt completely disconnected from the world when my laptop was on the fritz for a few weeks a couple of months ago. Sure internet can be accessed via cell phones, work computers or even using my roommates computer. But everything ceases when your own personal computer is gone, or at least for me it did. Goodbye to free music downloads. I can’t tell you how sad it made me not being able to download anything new or update my ipod. Do you know how disheartening it is not to be able to add new songs to a playlist? To see how many play counts a song has received? It’s plain torture on an Itunes lover’s soul. I can’t remember my last music download prior to the kaputzing of my laptop and that depressed me. I couldn’t even download or watch zshare vids. My fascination with the internet and all things wireless was dulled by the realization that the computer that I was using wasn’t mine. Another down side to not using your own computer was not being able to log-in to sites that you need to use because your passwords were saved. Can you say hello to late fees while I spent days searching for the answer to my “secret question(s).” Depressing and costly I might add. Sites need to all get together and make password rules universal, I change my password due to different restrictions-some are only 4 letters, some are a combo of numbers and letters, some want symbols-how can a girl keep up?
I don’t know about everyone else, but this summer kind of sucked in regards to TV. I looked forward to TNTs “The Closer” for so long that when it finally premiered I had over hyped it to myself. But someone reminded me that last night was the season Premiere of the CW’s Gossip Girl, which I feel in love with last year during the writers strike. I spent a whole day hogging my roommates desktop so I could watch every episode online until i was caught up. I mean literally, a whole Saturday, I even ate in front of the PC. So after watching the return of Blair Waldorf and Serena Van Der Woodsen I sought a schedule of fall premieres. And I found a good one! Not that I really need it because I have a DVR that automatically picks these things up, but I needed to have it. Because deep down, its more anticipation than actually watching thats exciting. Anticipation is so important that people don’t even realize it. Anyway, here are a list of shows that i am looking forward to. Even though all summer I’ve been following spoilers, but those are never totally accurate because you never know what changes happen on the cutting room floor…