My Comment on Neglected Question

I commented on Fitzzy’s post, Neglected Questions, because she brought attention to an issue that deserves more attention.

What I have been reading!

I commented on Nathan’s post, Americas Health Care System, because I thought his points were very interesting.

Gas Prices

When Bush came into office gas was only $1.45 per gallon. In less than 8 years gas has rose to $3.50 per gallon. That is almost a $2 rise in just 8 years. In 1930, gas was only 19 cents per gallon. From 1930 to 2000, gas only rose $1.26. In 70 years, gas prices rose less than the amount they have rose the past 8 years. I find this outrageous. It is predicted that if we continue on the same road we are on now with our oil problem, a gallon of gas will be $5 in another year. If gas continues to rise, what will happen to our society. I cant imagine paying over $70 to fill the tank in my little Jetta. How much will people with bigger cars have to pay? This issue needs to be handled because it is seriously affecting out country. Airline tickets increase, road trips become too expensive, and car dealerships are going to continuously be affected by this. I heard of this car that is powered by hydrogen. Not only is practically free, it is beneficial to the environment. They have these hydrogen powered in Iceland, so it is about time they make their way to the United States.

Butterfly Effect

I love movies that make me think for days. One movie that constantly comes to mind is Butterfly Effect. It is about how every moment of your life determines your future and one decision can totally change the outcome of your life. In this movie the main character has the ability to go back to moments in his childhood that defined the rest of his life and see how his life would have turned out had he made a different decision. This movie made me think about my life and all the defining moments that have gotten me to where I am today. Where would we all be today and what would our lives be life had we not gotten into SMU?? I can’t even imagine what my life would be life if I had chosen to go to another college. It is amazing to think that one decision brings so many different people into your life. If I didn’t come here I never would have met all the great friends I have made this year. What are some of the defining moments in your life that have gotten you to where you are today? What would your life be like had you made a different decision? “It has been said something as small as the flutter of a butterfly's wing can ultimately cause a typhoon halfway around the world.” - Chaos Theory

Commented on Hey Girl Hey's Blog

I commented on Hey Girl Hey'sBLOG, "No one lives on campus sophomore year...." because I am living on campus next year.

Are computers really our friends?

Should we really rely on computers as much as we do in our everyday life? Think about how much of your everyday life revolves around computers. Your communication with teachers, job opportunities, and campus alerts is all processed through e-mail. All your meals, access into buildings around campus, and entry into parking garages are all stored in the barcode on your student ID card, , which computers read. Almost all assignments, papers, blogs, projects, etc. are done through the couple thousand dollar computers that every student must have if they expect to survive this collegiate world. Do we ever worry about what would happen if these computers failed? It hardly ever crosses my mind how reliant my life is on my computer and how I take it for granted. It is not until a problem arises that you realize that computers should not be depended on as much as they are. After working several hours each day this weekend on my Rhetoric paper and never thinking twice how easily my whole paper could disappear. My computer shut off and would only display a plain white screen. That’s when I realized that computers can not be trusted as much as I had trusted them. I took my computer into the Apple store hoping they could recover my paper, but there was nothing they could do. EVERYTHING in my computer was gone. Not just the paper I has worked so hard on to get finished by the rough draft due date, but also all my pictures, iTunes, videos, everything! I learned to be more careful and to always expect the worst when computers are controlling our lives. You can never be too cautious when it comes to something you have no control over. I bought an external hard drive to back my entire computer up to every time new information is added in order to prevent this disaster from occurring again.

The Fallen Soldiers

Over the past five year in Iraq, the death toll of American soldiers has rose to at least 4,000. I find this number chilling due to the fact that our country has lost 4,000 men not for the benefit of our own country, but for the benefit of another country. We have given up the lives of 4,000 in order to bring “peace” to another country. “Peace” that is still non-existent after 5 years. Last year I went to Washington DC on a school trip and at Arlington Nation Cemetery, a memorial has been set up called Faces of the Fallen (picture at top), in which a painting has been done of every single soldier that has lost their life in Iraq. I did not even complete my walk around the entire building because it seems to continue forever. I was shocked to see the ages of these soldiers. So many looked like my age, mainly because they practically were. Many of their pictures were of them in their graduation gowns. These were high school graduates from the class of 2005 and 2006. They were not even legally allowed to drink. They were hardly grown up at all. Most still teenagers. But, they all died for Our Country. I have attached the article, Iraq: US Death Toll in War Hits 4,000 .I found it very interesting and I think you would too. But, the fact that caught my interest was the death tolls of other wars. In Vietnam, the U.S. lost on average about 4,850 soldiers a year from 1963-75. In the Korean War, from 1950-53, the U.S. lost about 12,300 soldiers a year. I have heard these facts for years now and just believed it meant that those wars were much bigger and more violent. But the fact that has been left out for so long is that the War in Iraq has seen many more injuries than past wars. The reason for the increase in injuries and decrease in deaths is due to the advances in medicine that our world has seen since the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s; as well as the enhanced protective gear worn and reinforced armored vehicles. Think about this….there have been 15 soldiers wounded for every fatality in Iraq. In Vietnam only 2.6 soldiers were wounded for every death and in Korea only 2.8. Although it is much better to have our soldiers returned with lost limbs rather than lost lives, I am truly affected by the fact that 60,000 American Soldiers return to the United States and receive a Purple Heart for their duty. If we stay in Iraq, a year from now at least 1,000 more soldiers are estimated to lose their lives and over 15,000 more purple hearts will be awarded.

Commented on "Your Brain on Steroids: Finding Flow?"

I commented on CEC's post about the use of Adderall because I feel this is a current issue in our community.

Are College Students Safe?

All the media attention surrounding the several murders of women on college campuses has really created a cloud of fear across the country. Several months ago a girl was abducted in my home state of Nevada. Briana Denison was visiting some friends at the University of Nevada Reno when she was abducted from a friend’s apartment in the middle of the night. This hit me personally due to it happening in my state and at the college in which many of my close friends attend. After a month of Briana’s story streaming across the country, her body was found in a nearby field. He killer is still on the loose and is believed to be responsible for several rapings and killings across the city. Just a few weeks ago the Student Body President and the University of North Carolina was shot and killed. And also a couple of weeks ago a freshman at Auburn University was murdered on her way back to her dorm. The baffling question is what is happening across the country to all these young girls? Why has so many horrific events been occurring. My parents have gotten very worried and are constantly on my back about me NEVER walking alone. I know I should always be careful because this type of stuff can happen anywhere, but here at SMU I really do feel safe walking back to my dorm from the library or the gym at night. But after thinking about it, it really is possible for anyone to get onto our campus. Just because we are in a nice neighborhood SMU is at risk, just like every college. I think the SMU police should increase their watch of our campus, especially at night. I have never seen police in the parking garage, and we all know that parking garages are one of the most common places for robberies. I am not trying to scare any of the other girls at SMU, but I feel that we all need to watch out for each other and make sure everyone in our community is safe. Don’t ever walk alone and offer to go with a friend when they have to move their car to Moody and walk back at night. Guys should also join in and look out for their community because we will all be affected by a tragedy.

Comment on the Post "Hard Time"

I commented on Max's post Hard Times about his grandfather because I really felt that I could relate to his story.

My Comment on CHanging the Drinking Age

I commented on Powerade's Post, "What The Drinking Age Should Be". To view his Blog Please click HERE

The Search for my Passion

Do you remember being a little kid and thinking about what you wanted to be when you grew up? Most kids want to be doctors, or firefighters, or the President of the United States. It seems like just yesterday my parents were telling me that I could be anything I wanted to be when I grew up if I worked hard in school. I remember as a five year old little girl my mom told me that when I grow up I should have a job that I love and it does not matter how much money I make. At that time in my life I wanted to be a truck driver, but my decision has changed over the years.
While reading Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s book Finding Flow, the story about Joe really made me think. Joe was a sixty year old man who worked in a factory. Almost everyone who worked in this factory hated their job and spent the day counting down the hours until they were off work. However, Joe loved his job. He had devoted his life to this job and learned how everything in the factory worked and how to fix what was broken. “Many claimed that without Joe the factory might as well close.”
The reason I love this story so much is because I believe it goes along with one of my very favorite quotes by Confucius, “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” I found this quote in a book right before I came to college. I believe the timing was perfect because college is all about discovering what it is in life that one truly loves. When graduating from High School everyone is dying to give you that “life changing” piece of advice before you head out into the world. I cannot even count on my two hand how many people told me to try everything in college because it is really the only time you will be able to experience such a variety of areas. I have been taking all sorts of different classes trying to figure out what my passion in life is. I thought I had always wanted to be a doctor, but after taking chemistry first semester I realized that I do not LOVE science like I had thought. I am still on the search for finding what I love because when I get out of college and enter the working world I really want a job that I love walking up and going to everyday, because I do not want to waste my life working a job I hate. My father is a layer and he hates what he does. He spends days at a time in the office trying to get all his work done, and that is all it is to him; WORK. He is a key example of someone who works to live, not someone who lives to work. And that is exactly what I don’t want to be. He constantly tells me to do what I want to do, no matter how hard it is to achieve because that will make me the happiest. So right now I am on the search for my passion. I just hope it will hurry up and reveal itself to me

Is everyone really as happy as they say?

Chapter two of Schumakers book brought up some very interesting points about happiness in the world around us. He said that no one is willing to admit when they are unhappy. He shows this by saying that when you ask someone how they are doing they will always say something along the lines on "I’m fine". When he made this point I started t think about a typical day around the campus of SMU. You pass hundreds of people a day on your way to class, the dorm, or to eat. As you pass people you know you oftentimes smile, say hello, and ask "How are you?" Can you think of a time that you asked someone how they were doing and they said "terrible", "awful", or "miserable"? I believe the reason that people do not tell how they are really feeling is because as you walk by someone and ask how they are doing you hardly slow down. Everyone is in such a hurry to get on with their lives that they pretend to have a conversation with someone as they are passing, but really they are not really interested. I think people need to be more caring and when they ask someone how they are doing they should not walk right past them before the answer comes out. They should stop and wait for the sincere answer and actual show the person that they care about them.

Blogging

I think that blogging in the classroom is a very cool concept. After reading Andrew Olmsteds blog I saw blogging in a whole new way. I found it very interesting to read about Andrew’s daily updates from his own words. I think that using blogging in class is a great way for the professors to get to know each student in a very unique way. Many teachers go through an entire semester only being able to base the type of person each student is on their interactions in the classroom and the content of their work. But, I feel that blogging will help the teachers to see a whole new side to each student. No longer will each student be similar. Blogging will help individualize each member of the classroom. I am very excited to start my own blog.