Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Apr. 30th - Turkey

Whomp Whomp I'm finally done... 30 days of creative blogging :P I'm ready to take a creativity break for awhile now!




This last blog is inspired by me finishing this project and is a tribute to many great plans I've had in the past but never finished (mostly because I never start them... I'm good at finishing poor at starting ;) ) Some people will understand this... some will not, but even if you don't understand the great plan that inspired this pic if you know me you have probably planned some sort of great scheme with me that we never actually did, so think about that... and here is to me actually getting more of my projects started/finished in the future.


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Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Apr. 29th - Handwriting

Day 29

Ok so this is my handwriting analysis creativity post, I've been interested in this for a little while so I decided to get a couple books from the library and try to see what I could do… So obviously this makes me in no way an expert :P especially since the books I found don't seem to be that informative. But I'm going to take a stab at it anyway. I've got 2 samples to work with, my own and Megan's who was awesome enough to help me out with this :D
Oh the stupid little phrase we both wrote was from something I found that said it made a good sample, I think it's because it uses all the letters in the alphabet.

One last note before we start, is that a lot of handwriting tells about someone's mood, and peoples moods can change from time to time, so some of the stuff I try to point out might be variable for people at different times.



Dustin's sample

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This writing suggests I'm a stingy person who sees the world close at hand because of how small I write.
The very slight uphill writing I have going suggest I'm more optimistic than pessimistic, but I'm not overly optimistic.
I tend to be more narrow minded, by the way I make the loops on my e's tight and constricted
A careful selection of people who get to know me based on my slender lower loops
I have a since of dignity based on how my t lines stay together

Rarely seek attention
I don't openly show my since of humor that often
I'm not sensitive to criticism, feelings aren't easily hurt

Confident in myself and don't worry about things



Megan's Sample



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Her writing doesn't suggest a lot of spiritual or philosophical thinking
It appears that Megan doesn't have a lot of desire to do physically active things
Selective in who she chooses as friends based on the fact the lower loops of letters like y are closed before returning to the base line.
She has a since of dignity based on how her t lines stay together
She is Confident in her self
Sometimes she actively seeks attention, other times not



So that's about all I'm comfortable saying from what I have found, I don't agree with all of the stuff I think the fact I don't write in cursive that often plays a big role in it, and I don't think Megan writes in cursive that often either because of the way half of her letters are in cursive and some not :P Also I think If I used a sample that I wasn't thinking about my writing it would be a little different but it's like impossible not think about it when you know you are writing it for this. But since I never write in cursive I didn't have much an option….







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Monday, April 28, 2008

Apr. 28th - Cartoons

Post was orginally a series of pictures celebrating cartoons on my youth:

Ducktales, Chip & Dale Rescue Rangers, DarkWing Duck, Tailspin, G.I. Joe and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. These were all shows I grew up with from Kindergarden through 3rd or 4th grade.

The pictures were just title/character pictures taken from photobucket sources.

currently you need to look here to see them, as I don't know if I will come back and readd them on this site since this wasn't a very creative blog. :)

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Apr. 27th - BrainStorm

Day 27

I made this as a tribute to all the time I have spent working on these blogs and trying to come up with ideas that hopefull someone enjoys looking at... Brainstorming :P saddly I'm about brainstormed out, only 3 more days left though and I have the topics determined for 2 of them :)



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Friday, April 25, 2008

Apr. 25 - School

So as my Sr. year of school draws to an end… today was my last day of class, I was thinking back to things that I will miss about school. :P I didn't think I'd miss any back when I was a Sr. in high school and fully not wanting to even go to college.


The thing I will most miss is being able to go to all of the Purdue sporting events, Basketball games in particular. I went to 8 road games with the Paint Crew and new missed a home basketball game when school was in session (missed a few over winter breaks) these last four years. Had a great time even though my Freshman and Sophomore years were the worst two year period winning % wise in Purdue basketball history. At least we turned it around the last two seasons with trips to the NCAA second round and what looks to be a continuing bright future of talent. Sure there were some times this year due to the new "first come, first serve" policy for Paint Crew seating, that made some games less as enjoyable as others… such as for one game this year I was about 18 rows up in the second level, the worst seating I ever had at a Purdue basketball game (my freshman year we only won 7 games so I was always able to move to one of the first 3-4 rows in the 2nd level) as well as the experiences of standing outside in windchills at zero or below for 3-4 hours just to get a good seat for some of the games. But I did get the experience of walking on both the football field (during a lightning evacuation of one of the games this year) and I got to storm the court after the basketball teams win over Wisconsin. Combine that with the fact I had 5th row tickets my Jr. year for the whole basketball season and I certainly can't complain too much about getting to see Purdue Athletics… though since I can will will again bring up the worst 2 years in Purdue Basketball and being in attendance for "The Fumble" game in 2004  But yeah this is the thing I knew I would miss when you consider my main reason for choosing to go to Purdue, was so that I could watch all of the games and I know that if it's possible I will try to make it up to some games next year.



One of the other great things this year was having a single room, which pretty much rocked. My first 3 years I had roommates, Tom my first roommate was a nice guy but he flunked out after the first year mainly due to his excessive drinking and desire to skip almost all of his classes his 2nd semester. Also my freshman year I was in McCutcheon which was like a ghetto dorm :P 8th floor and the elevators worked maybe 50% of the time that year it seemed, probably because the elevators were like 40 years old and have since been replaced I believe. My Sophmore year my roommate was Karl, he was an alright guy, super smart had a 4.0 as an electrical and computer engineer… but we have like nothing at all in common what so ever, :P hopefully he doesn't come across my MySpace page and read this randomly because he was a good guy, but he had a ton of small habits and ways of doing things that would drive me crazy which I'm sure many of you guys reading this have heard before "King Crab". I'm sure I did stuff that annoyed him as well but oh well, he is in Grad School here at Purdue now, I actually saw him a couple weeks ago when I was at a guest lecture about Islam for an extra credit thing for a class I'm in this semester. My Roommate my Jr. year was Russ he was a cool guy we got along pretty well I think, I haven't kept in touch with him really but I know he has spent this semester studying abroad in Singapore so that is pretty cool I guess. But despite all of that Not having a roommate is by far the best, whole room to myself and I never have to worry about bothering someone else.



I will miss the Co-Rec (the gym) a lot also… before this school year I probably went to the gym maybe 15 times total the first 3 years here…. I'd say I've went over 200 times this school year and I wish I had begun using it before this year. Sure there are sometimes when its crowded and it takes forever to do my workout (which is why I usually go after 10 pm) but membership is included in tuition whereas any gym I go to after I graduate I'll have to pay for. It has great hours which make it easy to get to (5 am – 2 am) its only a 5-6 min walk from my room, whereas I'll have to drive to a gym in the future. Plus it is in my opinion a really nice a well equipped gym (though they are going to plan on building a newer bigger one in the near future)



And lastly I will miss the "routine" of college, I love routines… Most people would call the way I like to do things "getting stuck in a rut" or "doing the same old same old" I think most people would be driven crazy by the way I like to do things the same way over and over :P not to say I don't change every once in awhile, but it's usually a slow a gradual change on thing at a time. I know that whenever I find a job I'll have a chance to fall into another routine so this isn't a major concern really I guess, but there have been some things that have remained relatively the same over a four year period.



Things I still have to do on Campus:

1) Eat at Tarkington Dinning Hall – the only one I haven't ate at that was open during my time here

2) At one time I had a goal to walk in every academic building on campus which I have done probably about 80% of them so I need to get a map and figure out which ones are left.



First Class on Campus my Freshman year was:

MA 151 fast paced "refresher" Pre-Calc/Trig class for Science majors (When I was a Biochem major)



Last Class on Campus my Senior year was:

Phil 330 Philosophy of Eastern Religions (For my Philosophy & Religious Studies minors)



Well I'm not sure what else to put here, this is more of just some thoughts from my last day of actual classes on Purdue's campus. Anything else you guys think would be interesting for me to add, leave it in a comment and I will, hopefully this rambling by me counts as "creativity" I guess you could call it self-reflection creativity



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Thursday, April 24, 2008

Apr. 24th - Around Indiana

Day 24

So I've always been interested in maps and geography, I'm not sure why but stuff like that interest me. I also find things like names of places interesting, so I have had this idea for awhile that it would be cool to drive around the state of Indiana making a fake documentary or "mockomentry" of going on a world travel within the state…. This could be done by taking advantage of all of the interesting names towns in Indiana have.







To show you what I mean here is a list of 15 towns in Indiana with interesting names, in alphabetical order. (note there are many more good names to use just needed to shorten down the list and this is what I limited it to)







Also the color listed by the place name is so you can locate it on the map at the end of the blog, I'm not sure how well the map will come out though, but I thought I'd try to give everyone an idea where the towns are.







Alexandria – Egypt – red

Named after Alexander the Great, Alexandria was one of the great cities of the ancient world with two famous attractions, the Lighthouse which I believe was on the list of 7 ancient wonders and of course the world famous library which was the grandest collection of writings in ancient times. So on the trip it would only be fitting to film at the library talking about how it is the greatest library in the world. (hopefully it would look pretty puny to make it funnier)







Brazil – Country in South America – yellow

I think everyone knows Brazil is a south American country, famous for Soccer, the Amazon, and "Christ the Redeemer" statue in Rio de Janeiro which is one of the new seven wonders of the world. My idea for the film on this one would be looking for the mighty Amazon River which would be any small stream that we could find and of course an encounter with a cannibal tribe.







Bunker Hill – American Revolution – Sky Blue

So Bunker Hill was obviously the site of arguably the biggest battle in the American Revolution. I can't say I have a lot of ideas for this one, it'd probably be just telling information about the American Revolution in a way that would make it obvious we were in the middle of nowhere Indiana… I'd have to research the town before the film so I could find something worthwhile hopefully.







Dublin – Ireland – gray

Dublin the capital of Ireland, here the film could look for leprechauns and be astounded by the lack of red headed people, oh and a chance to bust out some crappy Irish accents.







Frankfurt – Germany – bright green

Can't have a world travel without a stop in Germany, looking for some German bear and bratwurst.







Kokomo – Jamaica - light blue

Ok so Kokomo is now "Sandals Cay" but not many people know that. Time to blast some Bob Marley and look for people with dread locks, being shocked there are so few black people and demanding to know where the beaches are.





Lebanon – Country in middle east – hot pink

Lebanon in case you don't know is located just north of Isreal, mentioned in the bible quite a few times for its famous ceder trees, so the crew would go looking for the trees, and be very disappointed when they can't find them. Cursing Global warming and deforestation and calling upon the help of Captain Planet.







Mount Vernon – Washington's home – Dark Green

Look for George Washington's home, actually just find some random house and claim its George Washington's home.







Moscow – Russia – Black

Look for the Kremlin, talk about the cold war and maybe even something about Rasputin… also there could be a search for the famous "Amber Room" but I don't think most people would understand that one (maybe just me idk I like historical mysteries like that). But Yeah Russia has a lot of possibilities.







Peru – Country in South America – light Brown

Yep back to South America again, here it would be imperative to talk about the Inca and then find Machu Pichu… I'm sure something could be found that could be claimed as the Andes mountains… maybe even a scene where we are stuck in the mountains and have to discuss eating one of the crew members… like that soccer team back in the 70's (I think it was the 70's)







Salem – Witch Trials – Pea Green

Yeah so I'd plan to call it the Salem in Massachusetts famous for the witch trials and not Salem, Oregon. But yep witch trials could open up a huge door for stuff to talk about here.







Santa Claus – North Pole – Maroon

So "Santa Claus" isn't really the North Pole… but hey you can't pass up a great name like this! I think its obvious the crew for the documentary would be looking for Santa's workshop to steal some toys… or maybe just a reindeer… oh and if we find someone hunting we can claim they shot Rudolph or something.







Troy – Turkey – Dark Purple

The land of the Helen of Troy, and the Trojan Horse…. We would have to try to sneak into the town somehow…







Warsaw – Poland – Orange

So yeah I don't know much about Warsaw… but umm Polish sausage, and Germans sweeping through… actually Poland gets swept through in every major war.. So I guess we could invade it. (yeah I need to do more research on some of these)







Waterloo – Napoleons defeat – Brown

Battle of Waterloo famous site of French defeat of Napoleon, so we would have to take some time to survey the battlefield and talk about what Napoleon should have done…















So yeah I'll admit it needs some more thinking out, but yeah Its on the back burner until the film "Cinco de Murder" is created :P but maybe, someday…


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Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Apr. 23rd - CourtTV

Day 23

So on Tuesdays and Thursdays I don't have morning class, and I don't ever really sleep past 8:30 so I end up getting on my computer, and turning on the TV on which there isn't much on in the mornings... except Court TV shows like Judge Mathis, Peoples Court, Judge Hatchet.. and the such... so this is inspired by listening to cases on those TV shows.



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Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Apr. 22nd - Playlist

ell I'm going to come out and apologize for not having much today, I have been racking my brain for something interesting and creative to throw at you guys today, but I've been on a really hectic time schedule the last few days with school stuff wrapping up... this is supposed to be "Dead Week" meaning no exams, as to give the students an easy week before finals.... well that's all good in theory but there is nothing banning papers from being due.... So yeah I have like 5 papers due this week plus a big homework assignment for my Logic class as well as some other things I have to get done this week. That all translates into a nightmare for trying to get these blogs done and believe it or not I try to put thought into all of the stuff I have put up for this month's challenge.



Anyway excuses, excuses right?

Well I'm not going to skip today



So lately I have been listening to my iTunes a lot when I'm working on papers and stuff and I've it on party shuffle recently and it has been giving me some weird combinations... happy cheery songs right next to angry music... which I have found to be sort of a relaxing experience and so I made a playlist of the music.



I know some people listen to music that relates to the mood they are feeling, I however am different I listen to music for the mood I want to feel a lot of times. So this combination of happy/angry comes out pretty cool at least to me... but yeah I'm weird sometimes



1. Bear Necessities - Jungle Book

2. Keep Away - Godsmack

3. Prince Ali - Aladdin

4. Down With the Sickness - Disturbed

5. Free and Easy - Dirkes Bently

6. Shoots and Ladders - Korn

7. Oo-De-Lally - Robin Hood

8. Sweet Dreams - Marilyn Manson

9. I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts

10. Wait and Bleed - Slipknot

11. Good Vibrations - Beach Boys

12. Bodies - Drowning Pool

13. Arabian Nights - Aladdin

14. Coming Undone - Korn



That's all right now, its a work in progress but it does create interesting combination to hear happy - angry - happy - angry. If you have suggestions for angry songs in particular send them at me, my angry selection is much smaller than my happy music :P





So sorry if this isn't that creative or interesting I will try to be better tomorrow.



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Monday, April 21, 2008

Apr. 21st - Dr. Pepper

So I have been working on this for a little while, saving cans and then also working on the Ode. I wanted to make a multiple stanza Ode but the rhyming pattern was killing me for some reason just couldn't get anything to work. So yeah this is what I go.


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Sunday, April 20, 2008

Apr. 20th - Battle

Spent pretty much all day writing a term paper on John T. Wilder's Lightning Bridgde. So I through this together, and yes I wasted a lot of time making this that should have been spent doing something better like finishing my biblography...



Anyway its a umm reinactment of the Lightning Brigade storming Hoover's Gap in the summer of 1863 ;)



Spent pretty much all day writing a term paper on John T. Wilder's Lightning Bridgde. So I through this together, and yes I wasted a lot of time making this that should have been spent doing something better like finishing my biblography...



Anyway its a umm reinactment of the Lightning Brigade storming Hoover's Gap in the summer of 1863 ;)



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Saturday, April 19, 2008

Apr. 19th - Jungle

Ok so this is a really weird poem… that needs this disclaimer… It was done in a sleep deprived state while sitting in my philosophy of eastern religions class. I was zoning out and just started writing whatever came in my head not thinking about what it said. I actually came up with 2 poems that way and somehow they both had rhyming lines and everything… the first one is kinda dark and weird. This is the 2nd one which is more hopeful in nature I feel. I'm not sure what it's really supposed to mean it's kind of a combination of subconscious thought with at least a little of it being influenced by sitting in my eastern religion class I can tell. So hopefully you don't think I'm a freak now for coming up with this weird thing… the "{illegible} " is in there because I seriously cannot make out what I wrote there, like I said I was just scribbling this down without thinking. Some of the words are missing 2-3 letters in them randomly or run together with each other, but I was able to figure everything else out. So hopefully you don't think I'm too weird.




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Friday, April 18, 2008

Apr. 18th - Class-ku

I wanted to try some haiku, and I was was board sitting in my Philosophy of Eastern Religions class... so this is what I came up with... not I see why most Haiku is about nature, its pretty hard to come up with haiku's repersenting all of your classes this semester :P so sorry for the boring topic on the Haiku's.



Classes are

Anth 379 Indians of North America

Hist 465 Civil War and Reconstruction

Hist 460 Colonial America

Phil 120 Intro to Logic

Phil 302 Mideval Philosophy

Phil 330 Philosophy of Eastern Religions




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Thursday, April 17, 2008

Apr. 17th - Election

* brought over from myspace blog so it is lacking proper formatting currently
Ok this blog many of you guys will find boring, but I tend to think about politics from time to time (in case you haven't noticed by a couple of my blogs already) and so I put this together, sums up a lot of my how it would be cool to run for public office thoughts :P Maybe I'll run for a small local office in the 2010.



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So I mentioned before how I think it would be cool to run for president, and I've had my TV on some political news today so I figured I would release my handbook on how to run for president: Rough Draft 1 (It's just a rough draft because by the time I'm eligible to run I'm sure I will have had more ideas to add.) It is written from the point of view of someone running as an Independent, Republican and Democrat candidates would obviously have their strategy basically decided for them by party lines.



Step 1: "Go big or go home"

This is the most important thing to remember, as a third party you are the little man out there, so there is absolutely no reason to "play it safe" . If you aren't willing to take risk then you shouldn't even bother trying or wasting the time of anyone willing to put their support behind you.





Step 2: See Rule 1

Can't stress this enough, go all out don't hold back because you have nothing to lose. If you are holding anything back, you don't deserve to be the President… you don't have to play the political party game like the big name candidates, so go all out.



Step 3: Setting up your political party

3a. Picking your party name

Be creative, pick something memorable and that will get people's attention. Let's face it the "Green party" is pretty lame as is the "Independent Party" or the "Constitution Party". Some parties like to go out there and just state what they stand for, take the "Prohibition Party" for example, DON'T do this! Be more mysterious; don't let yourself be defined by your name. Be Bold like Teddy Roosevelt's "Bull Moose Party"! Personally I'd go with the "Jackalope Party" it's nice and American and yet bold and unique.







3b. Picking your party's logo

Again the key is avoiding something lame! The republicans and democrats got their logos assigned to them in political slander, but new parties get to choose their own. Sure the Libertarian party's statue of liberty logo is nice and Americanesque but where is the creativity… and how many of you knew what the Libertarians' logo even was?







I'd probably go with something like this picture Casey drew for me











Why is this a good choice, well first off its memorable compared to most logos, and secondly its BOLD… it says watch out I'm here and I'm serious as well as being fun.. I mean who wouldn't want to buy a campaign shirt with this on it? I'd support the person that's for sure!







3c. Picking your slogan

Another chance to be creative! Today politicians always pick stupid or boring slogans. But in the past there have been some Classics "I Like Ike" (Eisnehower), "Tippacanoe and Tyler Too!" (W. Harrison, "54, 40' or Fight" (Polk), "Speak softly and carry a big stick" (T. Roosevelt) and how about the mudslinging slogans in the 1884 election between Cleveland "Blaine, Blaine, James G. Blaine, The Continental Liar from the State of Maine" (attacking Blaine's shady dealings with railroad tycoons) and Blaine's response "Ma, Ma, Where's my Pa, Gone to the White House, Ha, Ha, Ha" (attacking Cleveland's rumored out-of-wedlock children ) Personally I think the mudslinging campaign slogans are funny, but might be too bold, and you are really depending on your opponents when you make one of them. Here I'd go with something like "White is Right"



3d. Picking your platform

Well having created your own party you can now choose whatever platform you like. I think the key here is picking you positions and sticking to them. Don't pander to both sides, remember you need to go big or go home, so don't be afraid to take solid stands on controversial issues, just be prepared to defend your stance. Also don't take stands on two major issues that contradict each other.. like if you are going to be totally Anti-gun… and then also be Anti-abortion… it's just really distancing yourself from like all voters… so yes go bold but be smart about it.



Step 4: Getting Media attention

4a. Create a Persona

This helps if you really have a cool persona, but if you don't play up yourself to a stereotype. Like if you are a Texan, pretend you really are a hard core cowboy Wear the belt buckle, wear the cowboy hat, wear boots all the time. Sure some people will hate the fact that you are representing a stereotype, but people will remember you! And it will make you stand out, publicity is a hard thing for a 3rd party and you need all you can get. Other Stereotype examples could be ethnic, "big city", or occupational.



4b. Don't be afraid of the tough topic

Referring to the earlier discussion on picking the platform, too often the big name candidate will try to avoid things like illegal immigration. However even when they do decided to touch on tough issues, they never take a firm stance ~ like ending the war in Iraq, or fixing the economy… they all have a "plan" but try to get them to explain it… and well they can't because anyone can say they have one… but often it.s just the same old same old. Anyway back to the main point… The Media likes to focus on people who stir the pot, and by taking a firm stance on a tough topic you will be doing just that.



4c. The internet should be your friend

Ok this is simple; the Internet is cheap and can make people instant celebrity': LonelyGirl15, Obama Girl, and Ron Paul as a political example. Use Youtube, blogs, and facebook to drive support. (Note I realize many candidates do have myspace and youtube accounts and the such, but they don't really utilize them and make them seem personal, that's the key here.) Also don't be afraid to look for promising young artist/video makers to help support your campaign they can probably produce creative/original videos better than some professional companies and would be cheaper.



4d. Talk Radio

Obviouly you got to run the talk radio circuit, but some of those guys are assholes. Don't avoid them, any publicity is good publicity when you are trying to get your name out there. Just be prepared to be attacked for your beliefs and stances, and research your interviewer beforehand.



4e. Media like Crazy…. But serious

If you come off as a crazy guy/gal don't worry about it, the Media loves to show Crazy people and it will get your name out there, which is much better than not having your name out there. But make sure everyone knows you are serious about this campaign. If they don't think you are serious they will drop you and you'll fade into oblivion…. So while being the butt of a few jokes may not be pleasant, remember every candidate gets made fun of in the course of the whole thing.



Step 5: Defending attacks against your campaign

5a. Stick to your guns

So once the other candidates find out how cool you really are they will turn to attack your "crazy views" remember, you (following step 3d) picked your own platform so don't back down. Stand up to them, people like it when you don't seem wishy-washy and stick up for your point so just stick to your guns.



5b. attacks on lack of experience

So yeah this is the legitimate grip they will have on you, but you can just use that I'll surround myself with qualified people defense. Really its about the only option unless you do have experience. Also most of your appointments have to be approved by congress so you are going to have to pick a person they like anyway which means you'll have experienced people around you. (Not that you have to listen to them later though ;) ) Also you might be able to pick up some supporters from the fringes of the main parties by promising cabinet appointments. (Sometimes you got to make the backroom deals.)You can also try to pass off that your opponents probably suck at diplomacy anyway so you won't be any worse than them :P



Step 6: Debates

6a. Hiring your speech writers

This is an important part of your campaign, lets face it most of us can't consistently come up with all the cool and right things to say every time. So you will need a good speech writer… but why go the traditional route and hire one person. Here is where you think outside of the box… find about 5-6 college students to be your speech writing interns, they will work dirt cheap for the job experience and you will get some of the best ones out there. You can have them turn out a bunch of speeches and pick the best one, or combine them to make a really good one. You just have to worry about loyalty problems, so you'll probably need a lawyer to write up some protection clauses because they my rat out some inappropriate comment you make behind the scenes or tell your opponents about your strategies



6b. Keep your persona

If you decided to adopt a persona like I suggested, obviously you need to keep it up in the debates, and make sure you play it to your audience and prospective voters, use it as a means of connection.



6c. Language

Try to avoid the "I love America" and all of those clichés, and heck call out your opponents for it… you aren't antipatriotic if you don't mention it in every answer. I think this could be an interesting play if you do it tactfully.



Also don't worry about using only fancy terminology talk to the people in the peoples terms, they don't care if you are a walking thesaurus.



And finally through it some unique words every once in awhile… make a list of cool words that no one uses very often or in politics and try to sneak them in, just for the fun of it :P



Step 7: Funds

7a. Spend, Spend, Spend

USE your fund raising money (the number one thing that made me mad at Ron Paul this year)Go Big or Go Home… you need to win early and win often so spend it early, don't hoard it till the end or you might be out of the race before you are even in it. If you are winning and making news early you will 1. Raise more money as time goes on and 2. You will have to be covered and be in the media because you are winning. So don't be afraid to spend.



7b. Key personnel

I covered a lot of this already but picking your cabinet, speech writers, and promotional people are key. As I said I support trying to find teams up and coming people to make promotional videos and speeches for you. I think its worth the risk, look at what job-jab was able to do on an election year a couple years back. Maybe you can find the next hit like that just to support your campaign.



Step 8: Overcoming the "my vote won't matter syndrome"

This is by far the hardest challenge if you want to be a legitimate threat to become elected, people simply don't think voting for 3rd party candidates is a worthwhile choice. This is why it is key to get an early start momentum wise and try to carry it through. If you can win one state early, you will show people that yes there vote DOES matter and that you CAN make a difference.



Step 9: Don't Give up!

Even if you are losing you might as well, keep going to the end and enjoy the ride you owe it to yourself…. Unless of course someone offers you a well paying appointment to drop out ;)



Step 10: Just Win

Well I told you how to do it… no umm you just have to go and do it :P







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Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Apr. 16th Pres Hair

*Missing pictures that I have inculded in my orginal post on myspace, which without those it really doesn't do this blog justice. So I encourage you to click the link to myspace at the end of the post. Until I take the time to inculde the pictures on this one.


So, This blog is for Megan who is partly responsible for the inspiration after we were having a discussion one night about how if I became a hermit I would grow a a "Hermits Beard". I'm not 100% sure on how we got to talking about me becoming a hermit, but I do know for sure that growing the right beard for the job is essential if you are going to do it right. And let's face it, if you're going to be a hermit you might as well go all out.



In case you're wondering what a "hermits beard" beard is… think bushy, unkempt, and long enough to get twigs, leaves and small woodland creatures stuck in it.



Anyway long story short, the conversation so how got to me talking about the president who had the best hairdo, and then me saying I would make a blog about the best presidential hair styles… so that's what this is.



I actually had a lot of fun writing this blog, sometimes coming up with something for these creativity challenges hasn't been fun at all, but once I got started on this I really enjoyed it, so hopefully someone else finds it a worthwhile read.



I've decided to do this in a "top 10" list ending with 1, just to keep it a little suspenseful… (because I know all of you really care about my take on hairdo's)



10. Dwight D. Eisenhower – 34th Pres. 1953-1961

Picking 10th place was actually pretty hard, because I had to decide who would and wouldn't make the list here. (didn't want to rank every single place) I thought about Washington for rocking the first whig, Kennedy and Regan were both also in consideration for awhile… but I ultimately decided on Eisenhower.



Now you're probably wondering why I went with the Bald President? Well because he went bald before bald was acceptable like it is now days, and didn't even try to over compensate it with super sideburns or a come over or any other strategy, he was like Yo I'm bald, but it's ok because You like Ike! And everyone did so they voted for him.









9. James K. Polk - 11th Pres. 1845-1849

You can call me biased on this one if you want as a lot of people know Polk is my favorite President, but Polk always has this slicked back look to his hair because he let it grow long in the back while going bald in the forehead. If he hadn't been going bald he would have been the first and only president with a Mullet :P







8. Andrew Jackson – 7th Pres. 1829-1837

His official White House portrait shows his hair in this really werid brushed back way, but in most other photos (like the one below) you see this hairdo that I think summons him up pretty good, it's got this wild side to it that says, don't mess with me. He also has a full head of hair, not having to worry about going bald or wearing a whig like most of the presidents before him.















7. Ulysses S. Grant – 18th Pres. 1869-1877



Why does Grant rank so high, I think it's a matter of the right look for the right person, His beard just gives you the feeling he is a rough tough guy who could kick your ass, but yet its well kept, so still looks respectable as a politician. Sure it's not as long as Garfield's or Hayes' beards, but too me it just seems like the right style reflecting his demeanor, and I'm sure Grant would look silly without it.







6. Lincoln – 16th Pres. 1861-1865

Lincoln gets some bonus points for starting the facial hair trend, which is one reason he passed up Garfield and Grant. His decision to grow a beard was considered a wise political move as most people thought he didn't look that good without it. An 11 year old girl was the one who told him to grow it, Lincoln took the suggestion and BAM he becomes president!



Also Check out this cool site - Lincoln's Beards







5. Rutherford B. Hayes – 19th Pres. 1877-1881

Now this is a beard worthy of passing as a hermit's beard! You could just see him wandering out of the woods with a birds nest and a squirrel living in there. Add that with his awesome name and you get one cool dude. Also Mark Twain (some crazy hair himself) even stumped for him when he was running for office, so clearly the power of the beard was helping him here.











4. William H. Taft – 27th Pres. 1909-1913

What makes him stand out about all the other "Moustache Presidents" is that he put the extra effort into getting the little curls on the ends. With a moustache like that he could play a villain in an old silent film, or imagine what he would look like wearing a monocle! Curling up the ends, the extra effort that counts!







3. Chester A. Arthur – 25th Pres. 1881-1885

"Side Whiskers" is how they were described in the caption with a photo I found of him, and I fully agree with the terminology. Sweeping into the mustache its like a curtain for his face. The picture I found of him as a Vice President is even better, as you can see he toned it down as president. [If you want to know what's really crazy… I'd only put him 2nd as a vice president, Check out Breckenridge's (more famous for his efforts as a Confed General) mustache if you're interested.]







2. Martin Van Buren – 8th Pres. 1837-1841

The man, The myth, The legend… yep if I go bald on top, I'm defiantly going for this hair style, talk about bold, which is fitting for the first president born as an American. Those sideburns are way before there time, and I wonder how he got them to stick out so bushy like that.







However, this is a big upset, because I came into setting up this list with Van Buren as my clear cut number one I was for sure he would win! Until I discovered…………







1. James Buchanan – 15th Pres. 1857-1861

Ok here is the big, upset I started the list with Van Buren 1 and Buchanan as 2 but the more I thought about it and the more I looked back I realized I had to move James on up to 1….



So he pretty much sucked while in office as a president (certainly one of the worst), but he did do one thing that rocked… check out the faux hawk! Honestly I hadn't ever noticed it before, but I have looked at several different pictures now and you can defiantly tell it's there. Unfortunately, he was the only Pres. Never married so it must have not worked with the ladies at the time, but today he would certainly be making a statement I'm sure.















Comments? Objections? Anyone you think I left out?



Also having completed this, I found an interesting news article, about a museum display of hair from the former Presidents.



News Story







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Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Apr. 15th - Journey

Ok I guess I should put a little bit of an explaination for this one, I am working on what will be a pretty long blog, but I was in the gym exercising tonight and this image just flashed in my head, and it just seemed like a sign that I should make it. So my other blog is delayed till tomorrow probably and you get this instead. I have thought of a couple meanings so I'll let you take from it what you wish. Exercising is kind of a meditation time for me, where I have been trying to to zone out everything and just concentrate on a single thought. My legs know how to keep going :P so its not like I should have to concentrate on exercising. I'm getting better at doing the mediation thing, (I was terrible at first) this is the first time I've ever had something just pop in my head like this though. It was an intersting experience so I think I'll keep trying it. I used to try to think of a whole bunch of different thought while I was pedeling away on the elliptical machine, or try to watch (err read the subtitles) on TV, but this experiment is more more relaxing and not really any less productive.



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Now that, I got that out of the way, I wanted to ask any of you guys who read my blogs if you would like to help me out on a project. It is my plan to in the future (at least a week away) to do a blog about handwriting, I'm going to try to find a book about handwriting analysis and then analysis some of my writing in a blog. If anyone else would like to send me a sample that would be cool. Send me a message if you are intersted in helping me out with this. This is just for fun, not like my anaylsis from glancing through a book or two would be accurate at all, but it seems like a good idea to try.







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Monday, April 14, 2008

Apr. 14th - Powers

* Note, pulled from my myspace blog, not formatted correctly or with pictures over here, see link at bottom.
Day 14

Everyday Super Powers



So today we are going to look at some super powers that would be helpful in our everyday lives, though ones that certainly wouldn't be useful to any superhero… or would they?











Power: Ability to make whatever song you want play on the radio.







Why you'd want it: Say you going on a long drive and don't have a raido with an MP3 player hook up or your CD's with you, bam you can listen to whatever… or you want someone to hear that cool new song you just heard, bam there it is again on the radio… or maybe you're feeling mischievous and walking past some people blaring rap music from their car all decked out with 10 subwoofers, shaking the whole block… Bam they are now rocking out to "Rocky top" and losing some serious street cred.







What kind of Superhero would want this? Meet the newly discovered "Airwaves" she is a hip urban high school aged girl who fights to protect her fellow classmates from the evil team of school teachers and PTA mothers, with her ability to change the radios to profanity laced rap songs she is able to distract these evil forces time and time again… (sounds like a cartoon series to me)















Power: Always have correct change







Why you'd want it: Everyone hates breaking a dollar, or even worse 5 dollars to buy something like a 69 cent fountain drink, or even worse buying gas and going over by like 4 cents… ugh what a hassle







What kind of Superhero would want this? Let me introduce you to "Grack" a simple minded cave man bust into the future (in some strange time machine accident involving a high school history class trying to bring back Millard Fillmore to give a lecture on his decision to send Perry to open up Japan) to fight crime. However he has little concept for money, and no where to put it (leopard loin clothes have no pockets). And obviously coming from the stone age he has no understanding of credit :P















Power: To always hit green stoplights







Why you'd want it: Who hasn't wished for this power at sometime? Trust me you'll think about it next time you try to drive through town and hit 4+ red lights in a row… Its going to happen, I've jinxed you now.







What kind of Superhero would want this? Welcome in "Mr. Justice" became a superhero when his obsessive compulsive disorder to follow everything "by the book" got him kicked out of the police force, willing to fine or ticket anyone for even the smallest infraction, (even if the rule was so old no one else remembered it). However he is hindered greatly by his unwillingness to break any laws including running red lights… so without this power his enemies would surely get away



















Power: to clear lines at Wal-Mart







Why you'd want it: I think we all have experienced a "quick trip" to Wal-Mart just trying to buy something simple or small that ends up taking an hour because we are standing around forever waiting for lines.







What kind of Superhero would want this? Say Hello to "Oliver 'the janitor' Armstrong", Oliver, or "the janitor " as he prefers to be called by his super hero name… is a 87 year old veteran who worked as a janitor for a long time. His combined experiences in the army and as a custodian taught him to be very resourceful building his gadgets and superhero weaponry to fight crime out of cheap everyday items. He has to use gadgets because he is an old man and his physical strength left him, and they have to be cheap because he is living off of his pension, thus he shops at Wal-Mart a lot (at least he gets handicap parking!) But when a heist or some massive evil plot is going on, he needs to get his supplies quickly in order to have a chance to save the day…. A Wal-Mart line could spell doom!



















Power: To always know the correct time







Why you'd want it: I personally hate wearing a watch, and therefore use my cell phone as a watch. However, some places my cell phone doesn't get reception which drains the battery so I have to turn it off… like Hicks library, and there aren't many clocks in there so it's a pain to keep track of the time.







What kind of Superhero would want this? Any hero who fights against a villain who loves to make complicated traps or bombs that involve puzzles that require precise timing to pull off and stop. We'll call this villain "Clockwork", he grew up in a small hamlet in Switzerland and was apprenticed to a master clock smith. Learning the complex skills of clock work would drive him to make timing devices part of his gimmick after he became an evil super villain when his town was destroyed in a mudslide due to the snow on the mountain side melting from global warming….



















Power: To be able to repel cat and other animal's hair from sticking to you or your clothing…







Why you'd want it: Sure they make lint and pet hair removers, but if you have a cat like mine you know it can take multiple sheets to deal with their shedding skills, only to find out they have somehow ambushed you again before you get out the door.







What kind of Superhero would want this? Roscoe Jenkings a.k.a "The Nose" his crime fighting ability relies on his uncanny skill at "sniffing out crime" latterly, he was born in as a test tube child in a lab and in some freak accident where his stem cells got crossed with DNA from a bloodhound and some toxic waste that was just sitting around…(*Fake Spoiler* later in his comic book career you discover it was genetic testing :O) What it created was a man who could smell out crime from 27 miles away… but his weakness is allergies to pet dander that can stuff him up for weeks if he isn't careful, allowing super villains everywhere to wreak havoc on the world!















Power: To always be right







Why you'd want it: Well lets see you are always right… need to know something? Make it up and bam your right! Want something to be different? Say what you want… bam your right!



You: "Your gas is on sale, 50 cents a gallon!"



Clerk: "umm no its not…"



You: "Check again"



Clerk: "Wow your right!"







What kind of Superhero would want this? Wait who wouldn't want this :P











There you go some umm… everyday super powers that you won't find in the movies or comic books… that is unless anyone wants to buy the rights to one of my new characters ;)







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Sunday, April 13, 2008

Apr. 13th - Brain

So I put this together for my creativity challenge, sort of repersents how I have been thinking and feeling lately. I don't really expect anyone to understand it (this one was more for myself I guess) so just write it off as some sort of "modern art". I will try to have something more entertaining or atleast applicable for everyone tomorrow :)


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Saturday, April 12, 2008

Apr. 12th - Laundry

Ugh Laundry everyone hates doing it :P got 6 dryer loads tumbling right now (I like to go as far as I can if you can't tell) Anyway here are some Cinquains about laundry.



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A couple other thoughts....
So I'm 22 and am a failure when it comes to folding shirts, if you see someone do it at a store they are like boom-boom-boom perfect fold...I however always end up with a wade of t-shirt, which is why I have to rely heavily on hangers :P
Also don't you hate it when one of the dryers doesn't actually dry your clothes much and you end up with a damp pile.. I do and when it happens my room turns into a clothes line, every place I can hang something is used to air it out better, mostly my bed fills in as the main place...


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Friday, April 11, 2008

Apr. 11th - Bourbon

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The Mighty Bourbon Trail!



This is a collection of Photo's from a trip my Dad and I took last May, it was a great trip we saw 6 distilleries in 2 days, and then we spent sometime at Cave City, Kentucky to tour Mammoth Cave.



:P and sorry if I'm going crazy with photoshop I just put it on my computer a few days ago and have been using this as an oppertunity to learn how to use it.







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Thursday, April 10, 2008

Apr. 10th - Cryptozoology

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I realize after I made this you can't really read the middle... its the definition for "Cryptozoology" something that has always interested me :)





cryp•to•zo•ol•o•gy

-noun

The study of evidence tending to substantiate the existence of, or the search for, creatures whose reported existence is unproved, as the Abominable Snowman or the Loch Ness monster.



—Related forms

cryp•to•zo•ol•o•gist, noun

cryp•to•zo•o•log•i•cal, adjective



Located in the picture:

Chupacabra

Loch Ness Monster

Jackalope

Yeti

Mongolian Death Worm

Big Foot

Mapinguari

Popobawa

Kongomato

Ropen

Phaya Naga

Tarasque

Ri

Nahueito

Mamlambo

Tokeloshe

Pombero

Lobizon

Loveland frog

Mokele-Mbemb

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Apr. 9th - Names

*Pulled from a myspace post so pictures/formatting are missing


n my "Indians of North America" (Anth 379) class here at school a couple weeks ago we watched a documentary called "In Who’s Honor" which details the struggles of some Native American groups to rid sports teams of their "racist" names against native people. I was really surprised at how many schools voluntarily changed their names back before the recent NCAA ruling on the matter.



Anyway I don’t want to take this blog into topics of political correctness, I have made up my mind on the subject and will discuss it with you if you want to talk about it later or something. However, The whole making teams change their mascots/names got me to thinking about what other non-Native American themed mascots could be forced to change in a crazy future envisioned by me... and my suggestion for new team names for them ;)
*note there are many teams I could of easily listed here, (especially since some nicknames are often used by multiple teams) but hey I had to draw a line somewhere with the number I could cover so feel free to comment with some of your own ideas.



Team: Minnesota Vikings
Whats wrong: Sure lets stereotype all Scandinavians as ruthless cut-throat guys with long hair, beards and rocking the horned helmets! When in fact many Vikings were actually farmers and I don’t believe there has been any evidence they really wore horned helmets...
New Mascot: The Muffin Man... Why you ask, well in my search to find something that defined Minnesota, I discover that Minnesota actually has an official State Muffin, who even knew states had "state muffins" (its Blueberry in case your wondering) The and be introduced with the poem/rhyme/song "Do you know the Muffin Man" yeah it’ll strike fear into the hearts of their opponents for sure!







Team: New York Giants

Why: You know its not ok to poke fun at abnormally large people, they have feelings too! People wouldn’t stand for a team called the "Midgets" so why allow a team to be called the Giants!
New Mascot: Ordinary Folk... Yep Ordinary, Average, Run of the Mill, these people aren’t freaks just standard people, sure it might not intimidate someone like a Giant... but at least they won’t be offending anyone







Team: New Orleans Saints
Why: Seems to be an attack on religion here, I doubt to many of the Saints would want to be associated with a football team. Catholics everywhere might some day rise up against this!
New Mascot: The Steamboats, this is a play off their importance as a port city on the Mississippi throughout history







Team: Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Why: This is pretty obvious.... Not only are they degrading Irish people, but they are openly calling them violent! Might as well have him holding a bottle of booze and a potato to complete the picture. I suppose "Touchdown Jesus" might also have to go for religious reasons.
New Mascot: The 4-leaf clover, this allows them to keep some of their Irish theme without being helpful, now they can be ummm lucky! or they could go with the Lucky Charms! and try to get the cereal mascot to replace theirs that would be at least a little less offensive and probably make them a good deal of sponsorship cash to boot.




Team: Boston Celtics
Why: Much like Notre Dame but atleast this time they aren’t "fighting"

New Mascot: Tea Party... yep going to the history books, they can all dress up in fancy clothes and have a little tea party at half-time, everyone will be cordial and friendly... it’ll be a hit







Team: Dallas Cowboys
Why: Well since natives are going after Indian names, we better take care of the other side of the equation, the negative images of Cowboys as rough tough frontiersmen who drank, fought and killed Indians.

New Mascot: The fluffy bunnies... nice calm, not dirty and violent, a perfect way to clean up their image


Well thats my list for today, though there are many other teams that should switch for their negative portrayals of people such as...
San Fran 49’ers, New York Yankee’s, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Pitsburg Pirates,Tennessee Volunteers, Washington Wizards, and Wake Forest Demon Deacons just to name a few!



------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dustin’s All-Stars:

This last section is for teams who stand out for their skill in picking the most non-offensive (though often boring) team names!



NCAA: (tie) Syracuse Orange and the Stanford Cardinals

Why: These two schools choose to represent themselves simply as colors, thats almost as non-offensive as you can be! Though it should be noted both of these schools used to be named with Native American themes.



NFL: Cleveland Browns

Why: Originally the "Brown Bombers" taken from the famous fighter Joe Louis, who liked his nickname and wasn’t offended.

NBA: Detroit Pistons

Why: This was a tough choice I was going to go with the Suns, but then I thought people who get sunburned or vampires might protest them. Then I was thinking the Denver nuggets, but a lot of people have died while trying to mine gold and a mine safety group could protest... so I figured a piston was pretty non-offensive... unless the Transformers are real :


WNBA: Chicago Sky

Why: like the NBA a lot of unoffensive names here, but yeah who could be offended by the air?

MLB: Philadelphia Phillies

Why: They are named after their home town, so they could only offend themselves?

NHL: Dallas Stars

Why: Originally the Minnesota North Stars, they are named after a star, which has only really been helpful to so far.


MLS: Columbus Crew

Why: They are just saying they are a crew/team, which is a description they fit so yeah and who cares about MLS anyway :P







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Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Apr. 8th - Pancakes

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My attempt at an artistic photograph thing, too bad my camera isn’t that great for still images. Inspired by my love for Pancakes and reality cooking competitions. (Hell’s Kitchen is on tonight, and Top Chef has a new season going on now that I saddly cannot watch do to not having the Bravo channel.)

Monday, April 7, 2008

Apr. 7th - Tourist

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Another attempt at poetry by me, this one I guess speaks to one of my greatest dislikes on campus... Tour Groups, I’m probably just have an unnatural loathing for them, and they only do "Day on Campus" in full swing for about a month each semester but its been going on in full force since Easter so I guess thats why its been on my mind lately. I think this came out decent, I reworked it a few time and still never was fully satisfied with a few things but I’m already late for posting something and I am satisfied with the piece. Anyway I hope you enjoy this, I got good feedback on my first try so I have a few more attempts at poetry planned.

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Apr. 6th - Sleep

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This semester I have run into the problem of getting enough sleep, I mean I get sleep... its just I can’t get more than 5-6 hours of continous sleep. Which I guess is better than none obviosly, but 5-6 hours is just enough to keep you going, yet never feel like you are fully rested. It doesn’t matter if I go to bed at 10 pm, I’d probably be up at 4 am then, feeling rested enough not to want to go back to sleep. I slept from 3 am to 7:33 am last night, and then laid in bed until 8:30 hoping I could get some more, but it was unsuccessful. This schedual works well for the mornings but I feel like I’m about ready to crash in my afternoon classes, only to hit a second wind later that evening alowing me to stay awake until I go to bed and repeat the process again the next day.



Over Spring break I started getting 8 hours of sleep again, I don’t know why but it carried through for about a week and a half after the break, but I feel myself slipping back into my 5-6 hour routine again, and I really don’t want to get back in it with important exams and papers along with other stuff going on in my life at the end of the semester here it might turn into a real pain.



And with that, I’m going to bed now... Goodnight and Sweet Dreams everyone.





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Saturday, April 5, 2008

Apr. 5th - Vote

*Orginally posted on myspace, pictures/formatting not correct.


*knock* *knock*



"Would you like to register to vote" said the girl at my door this afternoon



"Thanks, but I’m already registered" I reply



"Yes, but if you fill this out there is early voting locations available on campus" She says as she holds her forms.



"School, will be out before the election though, so I’ll just vote from my home polling location" is my reply.



She insist, "Yes, but if you vote early you will be less likely to forget!"



"I won’t forget, I always vote"



"But if you fill this out you’ll be able to vote here in the fall election"



"Sorry but I’m graduating this semester, but thanks for offering" I say



"Oh, ok then" she replies as she heads to the next room down looking for students to register.



Why am I writing about this brief encounter you ask? Its not even a unique encounter really, as this was actually the 3rd time in the last two days I’ve been asked to register to vote. Well I certainly don’t have any problem at all with people wanting to help others get registered to vote, in fact I think its a great idea. Everyone should vote in every election, there really aren’t many good excuses not to... I mean like if you are in a coma on election day then you have a good reason, but most people are just to apathetic!


The media (usually outlets with a more democratic spin) have been trying to get the "Youth" of the country to vote for a long time, with there lame gimmicks and advertisements.... Remember "Vote or Die" and "Rock the Vote"



Saddly nothing has worked yet


However, none of them have been that successful. Though this years Democratic primary is shaping up to be an event that might get the youth vote more involved especially here in Indiana where the primary is actually going to matter and both Obama and Hillary are campaigning now in full force.

Though the problem certainly extends beyond just the "youth vote", the percentage of middle aged voters is also really low, let alone the percentages of minority voters. We here about the importance or lack their of the "black vote" all the time. The message needs to reach everyone, but sadly I feel the trend lowering voting percentages will continue over time.



Anyway, back to my encounter earlier... Its funny how she though I would forget or most likely she thought if I wasn’t here on campus where people were actively telling me to vote, I wouldn’t vote. I assume many college students are like that, we only care about things like politics when its something popular to talk about. Its our duty as American citizens to vote in the elections, and if we don’t vote then we have no right to complain about political things in our country. Not voting in my opinion is giving up your right to voice future complaints.



Someone once told me their reason for not voting in the last presidential election (this was shortly after the election) was because they weren’t "informed enough, to make a responsible decesision"... Funny how they only a couple weeks after were suddenly informed enough to make complaints. If you want to bash whoever wins, more power to you, as long as you voted your opinion (no matter how crazy) matters. However, if you don’t vote I as well as the elected officials who represent you, don’t really care what your opinion on the matter is. If you get upset with the way your congressman votes on bills, but you never take the time to vote for or against him, he/she has no reason to care... you aren’t a vote for him that he could lose, or a vote against him that he could possibly win by agreeing with you. I consider myself to be above average when it comes to keeping up with politics but I am in no way a political guru, however even if I didn’t know who was running in the election I would still vote, and exercise my right to voice an opinion.



Some people say they don’t like the republicans or the democrats and they think their vote doesn’t matter so thats why they don’t vote. However its thoughts like that, that keep us locked in a two party system. The smaller parties need the votes so they can get more campaign funding and so that they can get their name in the media. The Republicans and Democrats are the only ones allowed in the main presidential debates, because no one else gets a high enough percentage of the votes... thats how they decide who to let in. So yes your vote does matter, the third party might not win that year, but you may be seriously helping them further down the line.

Also sometimes votes are decided by a super small margin, just the other week during the student government election here at Purdue the B.A.P. (Boiler Advancement Program) was voted down by a difference of 1%! Of course the Purdue election is still hotly contested due to other reasons so we hopefully will have a re-vote here, though it won’t be over the B.A.P. again. (election drama is fun isn’t it :P)



Honestly I agree that there are a lot of problems with the government, and there will probably never be a candidate I 100% agree with, but I will always make sure that my opinion counts and I urge you to vote as well. I don’t care who you vote for just make sure you get out there and vote!



Sorry if this was more of a rant :P and I’m sure it isn’t written very well, :P I’m running late on getting this done on time and am feeling to lazy to proof read it right now, so I might have to come back and edit it later.



Oh yeah I’m running for President in 2020, if I don’t become a dictator before then... remember "In 2020 White in Right"



Read more: http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=53935558&blogId=374676026#ixzz13Wwb2rSu

Friday, April 4, 2008

Apr. 4th- Wash

Time pictures spaning what was about a year long process in my life


Photobucket





Read more: http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=53935558&blogId=374189705#ixzz13WurlAW8

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Apr. 3rd - Sidewalk

So this is my attempt at poetry I guess, Hopefully it isn’t dreadful. There is a small explanation on it at the end.

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Gibbering, Jabbering, Squawking

Thoughts scream into your head

What is your discussion

Party, test, homework?

Or maybe an emotional breakdown

Slowly and aimlessly walking

Unaware, lost in your own little world

Introducing…. The Cell Phone User



Inhaling, Exhaling, Relaxing

Dirty air fills your lungs

What is your need

Stress, tension, pleasure?

Or maybe just too addicted to wait until home

Smoky trail following

Unconcerned, about others around

Introducing…. The Smoker



Darting, Swerving, Careening

Speed is your desire

What is your rush

Exam, work, restroom issues?

Or maybe you just want to get an early start on that Sudoku before class.

An outcast on the run

Unwanted, on the sidewalk or the Streets

Introducing…. The Bike Rider



Gawking, Listening, Observing

Sights fill your mind

What is your interest

Engineering, Management, Agriculture?

Or maybe just lunch

Moving like a herd of cattle

Unstoppable, stampeding everything in its path

Introducing…. The Campus Tour Group



Prodding, laughing, stumbling

Socializing is your bond

What is your conversation

Friends, Sports, Class?

Or maybe just mindless chit chat

A mass of bodies moving together
Unconsiderate, hogging the entire path
Introducing…. The Sidewalk Hogs









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My motivation on this was people/groups of people who are annoying to meet or pass on the sidewalk. I’ve racked up a decent number of miles walking to and from campus the last few years and overtime I have come to identify my fellow sidewalk users into I guess groups or stereotypes, so this is my depictions of some of the annoying ones.



As for the poetry, I don’t know any true poetry styles or anything so I kind of made this up as I went and tried to develop a pattern or theme to it. Took some work but personally I’m pleasantly surprised with my work. Maybe I’ll try some more poetry later in the challenge.



*As a side note, I have no objections to people choosing to smoke I just prefer them not to do it while walking down the street where I have to follow in there smoke trail.


Read more: http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=53935558&blogId=373758532#ixzz13Wty8uP5

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Apr. 2nd - Days

*Note - transfered from Myspace blog, and pictures/formatting did not come over correctly.


So Second Day of the April Challenge and Still going strong....




This blog is more or less a spinoff of yesterdays blog about April Fools Day, It got me thinking about all the different holidays that exist and are celebrated. I have helped make up a few Holiday celebrations myself in the form of "Kwanza-King Day" and "All Other Animals that Dwell Underground Day" but those were both only celebrated once. Also recently we have seen the rise of "Talk like a Pirate Day" that is growing popular but not many people actually participate in it... they just go hey look its talk like a pirate day isn't that cool.



We Also have some Holidays that are pretty lame overall....



For Example:



1. Second Monday in October ~ Columbus Day





Yes... where is the party.... I mean what traditions does the day even have? Maybe making little Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria drawings and ships in two litter bottles. Also as history has now shown Columbus wasn't even the first European to discover America.... so Sorry Columbus your day is kind of lame.



2. April 22 ~ Earth Day



I didn't even know what month this day was on, I had to look it up (my guess was May). I don't want to downplay the importance of being environmently aware... but who celebrates this other than maybe elementary school kids who get a 30 min lesson on recycling?



3. Last Friday in April ~ Arbor Day



Again another holiday I had no clue when it occurred. (my guess was in August, though looking back it was a dumb guess since trees are planted in spring usually) Funny thing is there is some type of tree planting day observed in at least 26 different countries! Again I don't want to rip on the importance of being environmently friendly or belittle the importance of trees.... but again like the other two examples there are no real traditions or celebrations that occur on this day.



Oh and if Anyone thought I would put Groundhogs Day in my lame holiday list... your Dead wrong because Groundhogs Day rocks, in fact its my favorite Holiday :P





Mad props to my sister Casey for this Awesome picture, and her awesome abiltiy to throw groundhog day parties.



So I have taken the opportunity to come up with some new cooler Holidays that should be celebrated, with the guarantee they will at least be cooler than the pervious three I mentioned.



1) Cave Man Day







Date:

Last Friday in July



Symbols:

Rocks, Clubs, Cavemen



Colors:

Stone Gray, Brown, Animal prints



Foods:

Meat on the bone, berries, nuts



Traditions:

A day of being outside, campfire/fire pits, Live as primitive as you can for the day! Avoid technology try to forage for your own food. Basicly try to live like cavemen for a day so if you want music don't turn on a radio, hit some rocks together or start singing!



Reason:

Become liberated from technology if only for a day and return to simpler/harder times of the primitive cave man it might give everyone a new found respect for nature and/or the advantages of every day technology. Don't you think this would be totally awesome of everyone did it? I would do it if anyone wants to have this holiday I'll celebrate it with you. However, I unfortunaly don't see this one taking off.



2) Leap Day







Date:

2/29 (every 4th year)



Symbols:

Frogs as well as other animals know for their leaping ability like grasshoppers



Colors:

Neon colors that "jump out" at you



Foods:

Frog Legs, Crab Legs, Leg of Lamb, Chicken Legs



Traditions:

Frog jumping contest, playing leap frog, jump around all day

Reason:

Everyone should get this day off, I mean it only comes once every four years, why should you have to work or go to school on it? Its already observed so lets make it a big celebration/party!



3) Soakerous







Date:

August 14th



Symbols:

Water, Sunshine, Sandcastles, water balloons



Colors:

Yellow and Blue



Foods:

Ice Cream, Popsicles, Watermelon, Margaritas



Traditions:

Fun in the sun with squirt gun fights, water balloon fights going swimming, Spending time at a beach. Maybe a cookout with a Hawaiian theme.



Reason:

We have like no holidays between 4th of July and Labor day, so people need this as a day to relax and take it easy and who didn't like having squirt gun fights with their supersoakers as a kid? It would be another good reason for families to get together over the summer as a group.



4) Breakfast Day







Date:

1st Monday of October



Symbols:

Pancakes, Bacon, Eggs, Sausage Links



Colors:

Orange, Yellow



Foods:

Pancakes, Eggs, Bacon, Orange Juice, Milk, Sausages, Biscuits and Gravy

Traditions: Everyone sleeps in and eats a big breakfast, and then proceeds to have breakfast foods for the other meals of the day. Its a day of gluttony like thanksgiving but celebrating the love of breakfast food. Surely this will be picked up and marketed hard by food chains like Waffle House, Denny's, IHOP, Bob Evans and they will add traditions to it. Most places should give employees the morning off if possible and start the day after lunch. Its also a day for spending time with your immediate family and lounging in your pajamas all morning.



Reason:

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day according to the propoganda that we hear all the time, so lets give it the time it deserves and celebrate it in one glorious day! Besides who wouldn't want the chance to sleep in on a Monday!



5) Unicornica



Date:

June 17th



Symbols:

All kinds of decorations of mythical creatures, varying on region/preferred creatures, lots of lawn ornaments and lighted decorations ~ think Halloweenish



Colors:

None/varying



Foods:

Eggs (claimed to be Dragon's Eggs or other creature for children), Roast (claimed to be from a mythical beast for children) Basicly lots of regular meals with food coloring or other twist to be made into a mythical creature related food.... A salad could serve as unicorn or Jackalope feed.



Traditions:

Celebrating mythical creatures from across the world and cultures. Lighthearted day to learn about legends and stories from your own heritage as well as cultures across the world.



Reason:

Mythical creatures are interesting and it could also be educational as well as fun if a lot of interesting traditions develop out of it.



***Bonus***

The first Lunar Holiday! You heard it here first, there are no holidays for anyone who visit the moon to celebrate so I am declaring....



1) Armstrong Day







Date:

July 20



Symbols:

rocketships, asteroids, the Moon


Colors:

Black, White, Silver

Foods:

Freeze dried packets of food and of course Tang, as well as cheese.



Traditions:

Dances featuring the Moon Walk, wearing Moon Boots and jumping around as well as parties with lots of drinking because hey your on the moon what else is there to do?



Reason:

I mean hey we have Columbus Day right? ;) Let's celebrate Neil Armstrong's accomplishments (if he really did land that day... but then even if it was a government conspiracy we still celebrate Columbus)

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

April Challenge Day 1


April Challenge Day 1

So first day and I have to come up with something to be creative/informative about... Since its April Fools day I could tell you about some awesome April Fool’s day joke I pulled off.. however I haven’t ever pulled off an awesome one. But April Fool’s day did get me to thinking...

You know its kind of a dumb holiday really, if you have some awesome prank you should be able to pull it whenever you want (if its truly awesome, such as the MLB baseball team earlier this spring who convinced one of their younger players that he had been traded to a team in Japan and even had a fake news conference. ) April Fool’s day just pulls out the lame crap like "Ooo your shoes are untied" It just gives license to everyone to try and pull of some prank they think will be awesome. I’ll do admit some people pull of some pretty awesome April Fool’s day pranks, but I just don’t see why we need a special day for it. If the prank is good enough it’ll work any day of the year.

So I was going to look up the History of April Fools day for everyone, however its origins are unknown so I don’t have a definitive answer for everyone. In ancient history there were a lot of different celebrations in different cultures that celebrated days of trickery, including the Roman holiday of Saturnalia. Saturnalia was a big celebration that even had a pretend king ruling for the day, however, Saturnalia was celebrated in Winter and became New Years day with some of its typical practices becoming part of the Christmas tradition.

There are also theories proposed by some that the day stems back to the Biblical stories, one being that it comes from the day Noah released the Dove from the ark who returned with nothing. The theory that it was a fools errand. The second theory is it comes from the time when Jesus was sent from Pilate to Herod and then sent back again, because it became a common saying "Sending a man from Pilate to Herod" which meant to send someone on a fools errand. Neither of these seem that plausible to me at all.

There was the Day of Lud in the Celtic tradition was a celebration to the god of humor

In the Middle Ages in France there was the Festus Fatuorum or "Feast of Fools" which seems to be related to Saturnalia because the feaster elected a mock Pope for the day and mocked a lot of the Catholic rituals, so obviously this was highly discouraged by the Church. So after this tradition died down a lot of its supporters shifted to the celebration of Mardis Gras.

One of the most interesting stories I found was a British story about a town called Gotham, in which the legend exist that back in the 13th century and road the King walked on would become public property. The people of Gotham didn’t want to lose their main road through town that they privately owned, so when they heard the King was coming through their town they decided to refuse to let him enter. Obviously this upset the king and was a challenge to his power so he sent soldiers to the town, but when they arrived they found the town was full of crazy people who were spending their time with activities such as trying to drown fish or putting birds into cages with no top. According to the legend the King after hearing this report determined the citizens of the town were too crazy warrant punishment, so to this day April Fools Day is celebrated to celebrate their ability to fool the King by acting foolish.

One last theory to tell you about is what I believe is the most likely origin to April Fools Day. This theory is based on the changing of the calendar system in the late 1500’s, Before the Council of Trent most of Europe was on the Julian calendar established by the Roman empire, on which the New Year started at the end March and was celebrated for a week long period until the start of April. Well The Council of Trent developed the Gregorian calendar that we observe today, among other religious doctrines and decisions such as condemning Protestantism.  Obviously those of us who have experienced the daylights savings time switch here in Indiana know people don’t react kindly to change of calendars/time. So when countries switched some people refused to accept it for awhile. This was  most notably seen in France who was the first to switch, so while some people refused to switch and celebrated new years at the same time they always did the other people who did accept the switch made fun of them and played tricks on them such as sticking paper fish on their backs "Poisson d’Avril" meaning April Fish... (If you took French class with Mrs. Thackery you’ll remember this). So the idea is April Fool’s came from this.....

Anyway no one knows for sure so you’ll have to make up your own mind :)

Also I realize this isn’t the most "creative" way to kick off my challenge but hopefully you found it interesting and I promise to try and get more creative stuff up in the future, this just seemed like an ok starting point as a warm up :P

P.S. if you tried a "your shoes untied" joke today.... your lame :P

April Blog Challenge!


So a couple weeks ago a good friend of mine, Steve aka "Sassy Bill" posted in his blog an idea...

"In other news, I decided to challenge my creativity. Starting on April 1st, I’m going to begin this in something simply called "The Creativity Project" (Maybe the first challenge should be to find a better name, haha).

Once a day for the whole month I’m going to put at least one new entry into it, which will either be a poem, a photograph, or some other attempt at creative expression. It might relate personally to me, or be a photo of something I just found interesting, beautiful, or otherwise meaningful. I really like the idea for this, I just hope I can follow through with it. It’ll be all new stuff, not poetry or photos that I’ve done in the past. Anyone wanna do this with me? We can make a collaborated effort, =D"

Well I’m going to attempt to take up his challenge and post something new everyday for the month of April, so starting tomorrow tune in to see what I can come up with. He is a writer so he has a lot more creativity than I do, so I won’t guarantee my post will all be creative.. .but I will try to post something that is atleast something interesting but you never know what will come out of my mind. My real goal is just to finish this challenge as I am not much of a blogger, in fact I have 2 blogs I have started about trips I took last summer but never finished them to post them :P so yeah we will see how far I make it on this. Wish me luck, and I challenge anyone who actually reads my blogs to join in the challenge even if you start a couple days late. It could be fun/interesting for everyone.