Upon typing in the letter "w" in on the Google search bar, I clicked on the first item that came up, Wal-mart. I clicked on the "official Wal-mart website". Up at the top, I saw a button that said "Click here for the Value of the Day!" So naturally, I clicked it. To my dismay, it was nothing I would be interested in buying. It was and Iron Man DVD with action figure for $19.00.
Hoping to restore my faith in Wal-mart's values, I clicked on the Clearance tab on the toolbar. Ironically, the first item on the Clearance list was and "Ironman 1850 Elliptical" workout machine. After a heavy sigh of disappointment, I scrolled down to the next item. It did not help. The product was a rocking chair, which is not a bad idea. But upon reading the product description, I realized that the cushion for the seat was made out of camel hide. How depressing.
The next item thankfully did bolster my faith in Wal-mart products. It was a Convertible black Lounger Couch/Bed. I started to think that maybe this product would fit perfectly in my college dormitory next year. But then came the price. For a broke working student, I can't afford $250.00 for a piece of furniture.
Upon my exploration of Wal-mart products, I think I'll stick to buying shampoo and gum.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Friday, March 19, 2010
"L"ife Quotes
As I typed in the letter "l" in the Google toolbar, the suggested searches included lowes, lady gaga, lyrics, limewire, and life quotes. I'm in an inspirational mood today, so I figured I might as well pick life quotes. I chose the third website result from the top. Here are two of my favorite quotes:
Death is more universal than life; everyone dies but not everyone lives.
A Sachs
Life is like an onion; you peel off one layer at a time and sometimes you weep.
Carl Sandburgs
In response to the first quote, I completely agree. There are people who go through life just moving from day to day. There is no purpose and no meaning in their lives. Some fill up their days with work and activities, leaving no time for family or friends. I once heard a quote that said, "It's not how many moments we live, it's how much life we have in every moment." I think this parallels to the first quote in that we need to live life instead of just going through the motions.
The second quote reminds me of a Shrek reference. When Shrek is explaining to Donkey how "Ogres are like onions", Donkey tries to relate Ogres to cakes by exclaiming, "Onions have layers and cakes have layers!" I think Shrek was intelligent in refuting Donkey's assertion. Yes, Ogres are complex creatures with many "layers" like onions. But their lives are also filled with sadness and tears sometimes from being looked down upon. We may not be looked down upon in life, but sometimes life does make us cry.
Just some food for thought. No pun intended.
Death is more universal than life; everyone dies but not everyone lives.
A Sachs
Life is like an onion; you peel off one layer at a time and sometimes you weep.
Carl Sandburgs
In response to the first quote, I completely agree. There are people who go through life just moving from day to day. There is no purpose and no meaning in their lives. Some fill up their days with work and activities, leaving no time for family or friends. I once heard a quote that said, "It's not how many moments we live, it's how much life we have in every moment." I think this parallels to the first quote in that we need to live life instead of just going through the motions.
The second quote reminds me of a Shrek reference. When Shrek is explaining to Donkey how "Ogres are like onions", Donkey tries to relate Ogres to cakes by exclaiming, "Onions have layers and cakes have layers!" I think Shrek was intelligent in refuting Donkey's assertion. Yes, Ogres are complex creatures with many "layers" like onions. But their lives are also filled with sadness and tears sometimes from being looked down upon. We may not be looked down upon in life, but sometimes life does make us cry.
Just some food for thought. No pun intended.
Friday, March 12, 2010
"Z"umba
As I typed in the Google search bar the letter "z", a list of possible searches popped up. This list included zappos, zip codes, zumba, zodiac signs, and zombieland. I figured I'd pick the one I am least familiar with, zumba, and research a few facts about it. The first search result read "Zumba-Ditch the workout, join the party!"
After looking through the search results, I found I was not going to encounter anything interesting unless I Googled "random facts about Zumba." So I did. A website came up with 5 random facts about it that I thought were interesting:
1. 5 million participants take Zumba classes every week.
2. You can burn 500-800 calories in a one hour class. Some report burning over 1,000!
3. There are over 550 Zumba instructors and over 400 classes each week within 25 miles of San Jose, CA.
4. Zumba workouts are taught at over 40,000 locations in 75 countries.
5. The word Zumba is Colombian slang for buzz like a bee or move very fast.
As I pondered these facts, I came to realize that Zumba is a new fad. But I also realized that if so many people are exercising this way, and continue to do so, there must me some merit to the class. In fact, after reading these persuasive statistics, I might have to go try out a class for myself. =]
Sources: http://www.southbayzumba.com/2010/03/5-fun-facts-about-zumba/
After looking through the search results, I found I was not going to encounter anything interesting unless I Googled "random facts about Zumba." So I did. A website came up with 5 random facts about it that I thought were interesting:
1. 5 million participants take Zumba classes every week.
2. You can burn 500-800 calories in a one hour class. Some report burning over 1,000!
3. There are over 550 Zumba instructors and over 400 classes each week within 25 miles of San Jose, CA.
4. Zumba workouts are taught at over 40,000 locations in 75 countries.
5. The word Zumba is Colombian slang for buzz like a bee or move very fast.
As I pondered these facts, I came to realize that Zumba is a new fad. But I also realized that if so many people are exercising this way, and continue to do so, there must me some merit to the class. In fact, after reading these persuasive statistics, I might have to go try out a class for myself. =]
Sources: http://www.southbayzumba.com/2010/03/5-fun-facts-about-zumba/
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Smile
Just the other day, I was listening to Uncle Kracker on the radio singing his song "Smile". This song always makes my day better when I listen to it. My favorite part of the song is definitely the chorus which compares his everyday actions to random objects:
You make me smile like the sun
Fall out of bed, sing like a bird
Dizzy in my head, spin like a record
Crazy on a Sunday night
You make me dance like a fool
Forget how to breathe
Shine like gold, buzz like a bee
Just the thought of you can drive me wild
Oh, you make me smile
When I hear this song, I always think of a guy who is liking a girl, but she doesn't really know that he likes her. She is the sunshine in his life, yet she doesn't even realize it. I think this is kind of sad in a way that she has no idea. Maybe if the guy told her how he felt, there might be some mutual feelings.
There is nothing more crushing to a girl than a guy shielding his feelings from her. He may think that he is making it obvious to her, but sometimes girls are oblivious to the signals he may be sending. It would be terrible if a guy were to hold back his feelings for such a long time that the girl felt he didn't like her and moved on to another man. Imagine if the girl were to find out about this situation after the fact. How depressing.
Thanks to Uncle Kracker for writing such a sweet and uplifting song. But if you are feeling like this and don't outright tell the girl, there might be some hurt feelings on both ends. Guys, be confident enough in yourself to make yourself vulnerable to the girl you like. You may just end up with a story that ends in "happily ever after."
You make me smile like the sun
Fall out of bed, sing like a bird
Dizzy in my head, spin like a record
Crazy on a Sunday night
You make me dance like a fool
Forget how to breathe
Shine like gold, buzz like a bee
Just the thought of you can drive me wild
Oh, you make me smile
When I hear this song, I always think of a guy who is liking a girl, but she doesn't really know that he likes her. She is the sunshine in his life, yet she doesn't even realize it. I think this is kind of sad in a way that she has no idea. Maybe if the guy told her how he felt, there might be some mutual feelings.
There is nothing more crushing to a girl than a guy shielding his feelings from her. He may think that he is making it obvious to her, but sometimes girls are oblivious to the signals he may be sending. It would be terrible if a guy were to hold back his feelings for such a long time that the girl felt he didn't like her and moved on to another man. Imagine if the girl were to find out about this situation after the fact. How depressing.
Thanks to Uncle Kracker for writing such a sweet and uplifting song. But if you are feeling like this and don't outright tell the girl, there might be some hurt feelings on both ends. Guys, be confident enough in yourself to make yourself vulnerable to the girl you like. You may just end up with a story that ends in "happily ever after."
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Silence
On my way to school on Friday, I was running a little bit later than I usually am. Around 7:50 a.m. is when most of the radio stations are playing commercials and no music. While I am driving, I love to listen to music; not commercials. I seem to have a better day when I can let out some emotion in the morning by singing loudly to an audience of one. Usually my sister accompanies me on the drive to school and sings along with me.
There always has to be some song on the radio, even if it is a totally random one that we don't know. A random song beats commercials any day. But on Friday, there was not even a random song to be found on any station. I searched desperately for anything that even resembled a song, like a commercial jingle such as "Five dollar...five dollar...five dollar foot long...", but still nothing. Becoming increasingly frustrated, I turned the volume of the radio down altogether.
And then there was silence.
I began to think about this over the weekend. Silence. It's a strange phenomenon that rarely occurs anymore. Even now as I sit in Panera, there is constant noise. Background music...the rustling of a newspaper...the hum of a refrigerator...voices of conversations...the clinking of a fork. Are these noises all necessary? No. Yet they are all present. Why? People like to hear sounds; they don't like the uncomfortable feeling that comes with silence. They want something to occupy their mind other than their thoughts. But what is so terrifying about being alone with your own thoughts?
I think being alone with your thoughts gives you the chance to examine your life. Examining your life can lead to finding flaws about it. Finding flaws about it can lead to wanting to fix those flaws. And wanting to fix those flaws will force us to admit that our life is not perfect and we don't have it all together. We don't want to seem vulnerable on the outside, even though we are on the inside. This fear of being exposed as vulnerable has us scared to death of being alone with our thoughts and taking those first steps to improving our flawed lives. In the words of James Thurber, "Nowadays most men lead lives of noisy desperation." We are so desperate to avoid finding flaws in ourselves that we fill up available meditation time with useless noise.
I have started to take time every day to just sit in silence. My busy life has little room for a time of meditation or taking a break to do absolutely nothing. But since I have started to utilize the gift of silence, I have come to appreciate it more. Some may view it as a thing that should be avoided like the plague. But I feel as if everyone should take the time to enjoy a little silence every once in a while. Maybe then, more people would be turning down their radios and thinking about their lives.
Then there would be silence.
There always has to be some song on the radio, even if it is a totally random one that we don't know. A random song beats commercials any day. But on Friday, there was not even a random song to be found on any station. I searched desperately for anything that even resembled a song, like a commercial jingle such as "Five dollar...five dollar...five dollar foot long...", but still nothing. Becoming increasingly frustrated, I turned the volume of the radio down altogether.
And then there was silence.
I began to think about this over the weekend. Silence. It's a strange phenomenon that rarely occurs anymore. Even now as I sit in Panera, there is constant noise. Background music...the rustling of a newspaper...the hum of a refrigerator...voices of conversations...the clinking of a fork. Are these noises all necessary? No. Yet they are all present. Why? People like to hear sounds; they don't like the uncomfortable feeling that comes with silence. They want something to occupy their mind other than their thoughts. But what is so terrifying about being alone with your own thoughts?
I think being alone with your thoughts gives you the chance to examine your life. Examining your life can lead to finding flaws about it. Finding flaws about it can lead to wanting to fix those flaws. And wanting to fix those flaws will force us to admit that our life is not perfect and we don't have it all together. We don't want to seem vulnerable on the outside, even though we are on the inside. This fear of being exposed as vulnerable has us scared to death of being alone with our thoughts and taking those first steps to improving our flawed lives. In the words of James Thurber, "Nowadays most men lead lives of noisy desperation." We are so desperate to avoid finding flaws in ourselves that we fill up available meditation time with useless noise.
I have started to take time every day to just sit in silence. My busy life has little room for a time of meditation or taking a break to do absolutely nothing. But since I have started to utilize the gift of silence, I have come to appreciate it more. Some may view it as a thing that should be avoided like the plague. But I feel as if everyone should take the time to enjoy a little silence every once in a while. Maybe then, more people would be turning down their radios and thinking about their lives.
Then there would be silence.
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