Christmas Presents

Um being a broke college student is not a fun thing sometimes. Especially right now around Christmas. I want to be able to buy presents for all my friends and family, it's my favorite part of Christmas. Well, it becomes a really hard thing to do when the numbers in my bank account are dwindling.
Somehow I still have been getting people I love gifts for Christmas. Some I have bought, but I also moved towards making presents, which has been saving me money. I have a bunch of jewelry making things, so I make bracelets, necklaces, and earrings(more for girls). Then always a good present is food, like puppy chow... yummmy. Another great idea is to make personalized CD's. Take tunes of your computer and make an awesome mix for someone.
Now I'm trying to find a way of wrapping them without buying all the business of wrapping paper. I dunno what I will do there?
Anywho, just thought I would throw out those ideas and see what you guys think, or if ya'll have any other ideas.
Merry Christmas

College Necessities

I was thinking the other day, what would it be hard to live without at college. Then I thought, I should probably blog about this, then people could write extra and just get people thinking about it. So here we go list style:

* Laptop- makes it easy to go to library and use. Or even take it outside and do your work. Easy portability.



* Hot Pot- If you live in the dorms or don't have a stove a hot pot that boils water in about a minute. This is awesome because you just plug it into an outlet and can make so much with it: tea, oatmeal, hot chocolate and more.



* Ipod or some type of music device- This is awesome because they can be worn to walk to class or to workout, or to wear when you go skiing.



* Pictures- I think it is a necessity to have pictures or the past and leave room on the bulletin board for present and future memories to be made.



*Movies- Of course, you must have some movies to watch. There are always lazy days where nothing is better than to chill and watch a movie, even if it's a movie you have seen over and over.



Well I guess those are the main ones that I can think of right now. If you guys think of any extras feel free to comment your additions.

Peace

Final Presentations

I''m really enjoying these last classes of mass comm because I actually do like to here what people decided as their topic and what kind of research info they have come up with. I mean sitting in a class room for 2 hours is never my favorite thing to do, but these classes have seemed to go pretty fast and they have been entertaining/interesting as well. Oh and I guess I just might be super stoked that we aren't having to take a final test or write a long pointless research paper.

You Must Finish the Game

Tonight, a few of my friends and I were cooking dinner and going to watch a movie. We were to lazy to go to blockbuster so we were going to see if we could order one on tv or just find a good one that was on. So we found 3 good show and were flipping back and forth through the commercials. The 3 shows were Elf, some awesome show about wildlife on discovery or animal planet, and last but not least JUMANJI!!!!

I totally had forgot about this movie. We all got so into it. I mean it's hard not to get into it, it's amazing. We were kind of laughing at all the special effects and saying that things could look more real. But when I thought about it that movie was made in 1995 and we have come so far in technology that that is probably the best that they could do at the time. I think it is funny that we, as a society expect the very very best animations. The animations now basically seem like a realistic movie or show. It is insane.

Anyways, I thought I would just take a minute to blog about this experience. haha. I also thought about how fun or not fun playing the actual game would be. What do you think?

Christmas Time Excitement

I can't believe it is already December and Christmas will be here before we know it. I love this time of year with a passion. I love when families get excited to decorate their trees, inside living areas, and definitely the outside lights and decorations.

Over Thanksgiving break my mom and I put up a bunch of Christmas decorations the weekend after Thanksgiving. It's a tradition in our family to take that weekend to decorate for Christmas. This is one tradition that will never get old. It will always be a fun thing for me to do. Of course, I can't do it all day, I personally like to do it a little bit at a time. That is where me and my mom differ; she wants it all done in one day. That is just to exhausting for me.

Anyways, I just wanted to share with everyone how excited I am for this time of year. And to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. Hopefully everyone has some awesome breaks from school. And hopefully we have a white Christmas this year. I just don't know where the snow is at??

Urban Dictionary

I'm not sure how long Urban Dictionary has actually been running. But basically it is a dictionary of anything you can think possible. Some of the definitions are pretty accurate but mainly a majority of them are funny. This Dictionary definitely contains words that no other dictionary would. There basically is no limit on what can be written or defined. For example there are many words dealing with drugs, sex, and basically anything.

If you haven't ever heard of this website I would recommend going there just for fun. Look around and plug in words to find funny definitions. I wouldn't use these definitions in any final papers or anything. But it will definitely entertain you for a bit. Check out the website and see all the things it offers and the different things you can do on it. I was just looking at it before I started this blog and saw that you can add them on Facebook, or do live chat, or get them to email you a daily word definition.

I don't know if I would go that far with this actual website but go check it out. Click HERE to go to the website.

Cooties

I saw this you tube video the other day and it cracked me up. Elementary school children are always talking about cooties. Like "boys have cooties" and "girls have cooties". I think it is so funny that someone made a PSA about cooties. It had such a dramatic effect which is what makes it awesome. Sounds like something deadly when it's really just cooties. Anyways, I just thought I would share this with you guys. Hopefully you got a good laugh out of this.

School Stabbing

Students of Montrose High School are evacuated after a school lockdown following an attack on a 16-year-old female student early Tuesday morning. (William Woody / Daily Press)

I'm kind of in shock today because I heard some very sad and intense new this morning from my hometown of Montrose. First of, if you aren't familiar with the area Montrose is about two and a half hours north of Durango; it's a pretty tight knit community of about 20,000 people. The high school I attended, Montrose High School has probably 1000-1200 students total.

My aunt texted me this morning and told me that MHS had been put on lock down because a young man had slit a girls throat(or I guess stabbed). It honestly took several minutes for me to actually believe this. It was complete shock to me and a very scary thought that it happened where me and many others attended or are currently attending high school. The reason my aunt knew is because one of my cousins works for the sheriff's office and was called to the scene.

The victim was a young girl named Mallory and is currently in the ICU, after having surgery. I'm not sure of all the facts and I don't think a lot of them have been let out to the public. The important part is they have the guy that did it in custody and he won't be out anytime soon.

It's just a very sad and shocking incident. These events are the ones you hear about on the news, not the ones that happen in your hometown. It seems to be that way with any tragedy or death. Everyone has the "that won't happen here" outlook on things. So when it does it's very very surprising to everyone.

I personally think it is very sad because the students and parents of MHS will not feel as safe in school anymore. The thought of being safe at school never crossed my mind in high school, but I'm sure it will be heavy on the minds of the students at MHS now.

Mallory, her family, and everyone involved will most definitely be in my thoughts and prayers.

Here is the link to the local newspaper and the story covered Montrose Daily Press.

SNOW!!!!!

I went to bed last night hoping and feeling like I was going to wake up to snow. So you can only imagine how stoked I was to wake up and see snow outside. I woke up at 4:00 this morning, don't ask me why, but I looked outside and it was snowing with the ground lightly dusted. I had a hard time going back to sleep because I was so excited to wake up again. Then the time came around and my roommate woke up at 7, so I got up and looked outside. I was so happy to see more snow. Currently, I'm sitting in my room drinking tea, looking out at the beautiful view, and looking at a ski magazine with my suite mate, Julie. I can't wait to go play in the snow though.
Hope everyone is as happy as I am about this, if not then I'm sorry.

Australia vs. America- Voting Differences

One of my best friends, Alyce, is actually Australian and we had a conversation about the election and voting the other day. I thought this was was very interesting because Alyce was telling me that if you don't vote in Australia you get fined. It's the law; everyone must vote. The voting rate is 95 % of people vote in Australia, where as in America in 2000 the turn out was only 64%.

This idea of enforcing voting is known as "mature democracy." Another country that uses this is Belgium. What do you think of this idea? Is this smart because then it would be all the people voting, it would be America as a whole voting? Or is this stupid because the people that usually wouldn't vote, will just go and fill bubbles in without doing their homework? These are many questions I thought to myself.

I don't think that America will ever enforce voting as a law. I just think it is interesting to think about the effects if we were required to vote. What would it mean for Americans?

Acai Berry

Lately, there has been alot of talk about the Acai Berry and how it helps your body. It is known to have many benefits on the human body. The first time I heard about this berry was when I was living in California and was getting a smoothie at a local place. The Acai Berry smoothie was on the list of one to get. I didn't order it because I wasn't sure what it actually tasted like. But after that incident I started hearing more about this fruit.

Some of the nutrients in this berry are high level antioxidants, dietary fiber, essential amino acids, protein, and low sugar content. Some of the health benefits that go along with these nutrients are boost of immune system, more energy/stamina, improves digestion, improves circulation, get better sleep, more mental focus, and aids to prevent Alzheimer's. Those are just the main benefits of this fruit.

Acai, pronounced "ah-sigh-ee" is known as a super food. Some other super foods that Americans eat are blueberries and pomegranates. The acai has even more antioxidants than that in blueberries and poms. The acai berry is from the rainforests of Brazil and has just started becoming a new fad in America, but has been around for quite sometime.

I think it is great to be informed about super foods, foods that are very beneficial for the human body. If you haven't given it a try, I would recommend trying it at least once. If you do end up liking acai berry in your food, then it would be a great helpful addition to your diet. Or should I say healthy addition to your lifestyle.

More About College Decisions

So this is kind of referring back to the College blog I did earlier. I seriously have been thinking a lot about whether or not college is the right thing for me at this moment. I mean I do eventually want to get some type of degree from a college, but I'm not sure what I really want to do now. I was majoring in elementary education, but i'm freaked out about spending four years and all that money just to get one ceritificate that says all I can do is teach.

So I'm trying to figure out some major that will allow me to possibly do more than one thing . I think I'm going to finish out this year and take some classes like pysch, sociology, and anthropology to see if any of those subjects interest me. Also I am planning on talking to the head of all those departments to see what I could do with a degree from those subjects.

Another career I have been seriously thinking about is massage therapy. When I was younger my aunts and uncles would pay me money to give them a back massage or foot massages, and they always said I should go into the business when I'm older. I never thought about it as a career in high school or anything, but now I am starting to think about it now. There is a massage school here in Durango which would be awesome because I love Durango so much. So I am planning on going down to the school and sitting in on a class and get information.

I'm hoping that I will figure out what I'm going to do with the next few years of my life and am happy with my decisions. I don't really enjoy making decisions in general like where we should go to dinner or what movie we should see. So to make such a large life decision right now is kind of stressing me out. Oh well, I'll just have to get through it.

Election Day 2008

Well luckily I did a mail in ballot and don't have to go stand in line this election day. I didn't know I signed up to get a mail in ballot but since they sent it to me I was pretty stoked. The funny thing was that I didn't mail it in on time, but I did end up dropping it off last night down at the courthouse.

It took me quite a while to go through all the ammendments and figure out which way I wanted to vote. The way they word the issues on the ballot is way too confusing. I actually ended up borrowing my mom's issue bluebook. Those are extremely helpful for me because it explains what the issue is about in regular enlgish and also explains arguments for it and against it. Another thing it explains is, for example, the ammendment about the severance taxes from oil company's being used to help fix Colorado roads, it explains currently what the taxes are being used for and talked about the relationship of that ammendment to another that is on the ballot that is similar. Well the point is those little bluebooks are non-bias and definitely helped me out at with filling out my ballot.

The time as finally come to see our fate of the country. I honestly can't wait for it all just to be over right now.

Tryptophan

We are now in the month of November and you know what that means, Thanksgiving is coming soon. I'm stoked for a week off of school and of course the awesome dinner that my family will cook up. After the early dinner everyone in the family gets sleeping. Is this a myth or fact that turkey makes you tired?

Well turkey does have the essential amino acid called tryptophan within the nutrients. This is what is thought to cause the extreme sleepiness. But other food products such as dairy, beef, poultry, brown rice, and fish also contain tryptophan. We never hear about those foods making us sleeping.

Also, another thing to note is that tryptophan in a large enough amount will indeed make you sleepy. But the amount of tryptophan in the turkey you eat won't be enough to have this effect on you. So overall this is all just a myth that most Americans believe. Maybe the true reason Americans get sleepy is just from overeating and most definitely over drinking.

All that really matters is that you have a great family dinner and have fun spending time with the family and friends.

Interactive Stuffed Animals-Webkinz

This last weekend I went to JcPenny's to look around for some things I needed and for presents from my nieces. Anyways, I came across an bunch of little stuffed animals that were pretty cute. There was camels, frogs, snowmen, dogs, and almost anything imaginable. They made me think about when I was younger and collected Beanie Babies. My mom was with me at the store and was saying that some of my younger cousins were big on collecting these stuffed animals. What are these animals you might ask?

These plush stuffed animals are known as Webkinz. They are an interactive stuffed animals that you can play with virtually. When you purchase one of these, they come with a unique secret code which you enter into the Webkinz website, or the "Webkinz World". At this website you get to name your stuffed animal, play games, feed your animal, purchase things for your animal, and lastly you get money to decorate a room for you and the dog. They call this process adopting the animal and interacting with it.

I think this is definitely a large technological step for children's toys. Never when I was younger would I think about having a stuffed animal that I can play with online. I feel like the use of the Internet/technology is being pushed upon younger and younger children. Although I think it is good to teach kids how to use technology and all that I'm not sure if this is an excellent invention because the kids will want to play with their animal on the computer all the time. I guess I'm just a little more traditional/old school and would rather have my children go outside and play with more active things.

COLLEGE

After watching the videos from Kansas State University, I started thinking about college and how much money we spend on it.

Honestly, I'm surprised that anyone in America actually goes to college these days. It is so expensive and just puts us in debt right away getting out of school. This is a horrible thought for me. I don't know if many students actually think about it til the time comes around.

Of course, "studies" show that students that get a college degree are more successful in life. I know plenty of people who didn't go to school and are successful and happy. I'm not sure what I feel about this whole college thing right now. I've been having my doubts, but then again I'm still here.

Everything at Your Fingertips

Having talked about the Iphone and other phones that have internet connections etc and also with the PSP that have wi-fi or whatever, I'm not sure if it is a great thing for our society. I feel that these devices are helpful in many cases, but that they can also effect peoples life in a negative way.

I feel like for business men and people whose jobs depend on internet and staying tuned to everything these products are awesome. They can go anywhere and not have to carry around a laptop and a cell; all they need is a cell with the internet on it. They are small and lightweight, and can pretty much go anywhere you can.

The part I feel can have a negative effect is the fact that some people will just constantly be on the web or phones because they have all these awesome things on them. For instant if you go out to lunch with someone and all they are doing is playing with their iphone that can get really annoying. My brother has one and I know my dad thinks that he uses it way too much, but I think he does a pretty good job of not being overly useful of his fun.

I guess all I'm trying to say is there is a bunch of awesome new products in technology that keep you connected. I just think that if you do go out and purchase one, it is good to be aware not to overuse it and start becoming socially retarded by sitting on your phone all the time.

Shot Time

Every year there is a time when the flu shot clinics go crazy. There is currently one going on at the CUB here at FLC.

I always get to nervous to get the flu shot and I'm not quite sure why. I've had a bajillion shots, so I don't think I'm scared of getting one. I might just be too lazy or maybe I think I'll never get the flu.

The last few days I have seriously been considering spending $15.00 to get one because I do think the are important.

When I was younger my mom would always make me get them because I use to have asthma so my mom was worried that if I got it I would get pretty sick. Well, I guess I just don't think about that. Haha. I'm not sure if that is a good thing or a bad. Plus, I'm not really affected by my asthma anymore, so I don't feel like I'm at high risk or anything like that.

Have any of you guys gotten the flu shot this year? Did it hurt? And do you think they are really that important?

The Onion

Click here to go to the website

I first heard about The Onion in high school from a friend of mine. We use to chill during our Channel M class and go onto The Onion website for some good laughs.

The Onion started out as a small magazine, and is now a lot larger and can be found on the web as well. It basically features satirical articles about things going on in the world, country, and local issues. And of course entertainment articles. I've heard it be called fake news.

I would definitely recommend going to the website and browsing around. I think you will find it mildly entertaining; I definitely get a good laugh every time I do. Today, I went on the website and browsed under the tab magazine and it showed all the current magazine covers. Those were enough to make me laugh out loud. There are endless things to look at on the website.

A really cool feature is the AV Club, which you can find interviews in and there are blogs on that page as well.

Anyways, just go check it out. You'll laugh, I'm pretty sure.

Makes Me Laugh Everytime

I'm sure many of you have seen this clip. It is from one of the Jackass movies. Which some of the stuff on those movies crack me up. But then there are some that gross me out, or are just ridiculously stupid. This specific clip makes me laugh everytime I watch it. The boys hide in the trees at a golf course and blow their airhorn every time a person it trying to hit the golf ball from the tee box. I love the part when the golfers comes over after throwing his club at the boys... hahaha. Also the part when the golfer tees off and aims towards where the boys are at; and they still blow the horn.

Zeitgeist-Controversial Documentary

Zeitgeist - click here to watch the documentary. It is the movie, the second video. Not the first on the page which is the addendum.

So "Zeitgeist" is probably one of the most intense things I've ever seen. It pretty much blew my mind. It covers many controversial issues in America and life today. It is a two hour documentary that is split up into three different parts. These parts are religion, 9-11 and the war on terrorism, and lastly money/taxes in the government. Some of the things in this movie seem plausible for sure because they have many good facts. But they also have some not so good facts. If you do watch it, which I recommend, don't let it brainwash you ,but rather inform you on things you might not know, and to make your own decisions. The film-makers are trying to show that the government is brainwashing citizens in a way and that media has a large part in this. The government only allows what they want to be seen or heard go out to the citizens. But also try to remember that the people making this movie might be just like the government by leaving facts out, or trying to brainwash people into believing bad things about our government. I have my beliefs and whatnot of all the issues in this movie, some were tweaked a little after watching this, but I still believe certain things. All I'm trying to say is believe what you want because who really knows what the truth is. That's how twisted our media is.

The first part about religion talks about how current day Christianity is based of the Egyptianism ways of religion. It shows many connections between astrological aspects compared to stories in the Holy Bible. The Egyptians worshiped the sun, and Christians worship the Son. Coincidence??? It talks how a lot of the stories in the Bible are plagiaristic stories. Another aspect of religion it talks about is the 'end of the world' and how people are freaking out about it and saying that it is coming, but that the end of the world was really meaning end of the age( the astrological age). The main point these people are trying to get across is that current day Christianity and other religions are all based of the Egyptians ways. So, I was raised in a Christian family and believe in God and Jesus, but I also see the similarities these people are talking about. It just makes you think, and I feel like that is what these guys wanted people to do when they watch this movie.

The second part of this movie is about 9/11 and the war on terrorism. This is probably the most interesting part of the movie to me. It basically says that 9/11 was an inside job partly planned by our government. There are many hard facts that they have on this idea. It talks about the engineering of the towers and how they were build to uphold such things as a plane hitting them and how they would fall if a plane did hit them. It talks to witnesses from the buildings that survived, and who had heard loud explosions before the planes even hit the towers. There is a lot of sketchy details that Americans don't know about. Do you know about tower 7??? I didn't. It fell in the same way that the two towers did except a plane didn't hit it, only a small fire caused this. Hmmm. I'm not sure what I believe about 9/11 yet but the facts seem very believable to me.

The last part wasn't as interesting to me but it talked about the debt of America and Americans. One of the main point was about how there is now actual law that says you must pay income taxes. I haven't actually looked into this or done any research, so I'm not positive about the facts here. But they had interviews with former IRS employees, who could never find any laws of that kind. These people have quit working for the government and having filed income taxes since. Another main point in the third section was how Canada, America, and Mexico were working on making a new currency calle the Amero. And that there was going to be the Northern American group, African group, Europe group, and Asia group, and how they are going to work together to create a one government world. I don't think this will ever happen but....

Anyways this movie is very controversial and makes a person think. It definitely fits into the class of mass media and how media literacy is so important. It might mess with your brain if you watch it, but if you like that kind of movie; I would surely recommend this movie.

Last.fm- An Awesome Music Website

My brother and I have always been people that love to share good music with each other and our friends. We have pretty similar taste in music and we like a wide variety of music as well. He called me this last week and we were talking about free torrent websites, where you can share and download music for free. But for now we are both on a website called last.fm. I just signed up this last week, and I am loving it so far.

This is how it works. You sign up which is free, pick a screen name and whatnot, then you start by adding some of your favorite bands to your library list. You can see biographies, pictures, and tracks of your favorite artists. Also, it will recommend new artists that you might like based upon your favorite artists already listed. I think that might be one of my favorite aspects of the site; that I can find new artists that I love. Finding new music is one of my favorite things in the world. I love to find artists that play music for the love of the music/art and not for the money.

And another really cool aspect of this website is that you download the last.fm software to your desktop and it will connect to your itunes library to upload all your favorite artists whom you listen to on your itunes daily onto your last.fm profile page. So they can tell who you listen to in general all the time and give you more great recommendations. It shows who your most listened artists are and a few of your favorite songs based on this info.

Another thing that I am still learning about is the different stations you can be a part of. You can listen to a station based on the artist you type in. For example, this morning I typed in Chromeo, which is a band i listen to, and they came up with the "Chromeo Station" which consisted of some of their songs and other bands that are similar to them. The cool thing about these stations is that you don't even have to be connected to the website when you listen to them. It's just an icon on your desktop, similar to itunes but you can listen to new music you haven't heard before. I'm still trying to figure out what the stations are all about.

Lastly, you can add friends on this site and groups if you would like, but you don't have to. For me it's more of finding music that I love. But it is nice to be able to talk to others that might have the same taste in music as me. Anyways, I just wanted to share this with anyone that loves music because you will fall in love with this site.
Last.fm - to sign up and see what it's about
Taylor's page- to see an example of a page. This is actually my page.

Banned Books

This last weekend I was walking downtown Durango and happened to go into one of the local bookstores. I could spend days in a bookstore. Anyhow, when I went up to purchase my book, there was a huge area of stickers, bracelets, and whatnot that were talking or making a statement about banned books. So my friend I started having a discussion to the man behind the counter about the banning of certain books. I felt like I was in mass media class all over again. He showed us that they were celebrating banned books either for the week or month, I don't quite remember. Every single book that was on the banned list in other bookstore, this book stored carried and they all were tagged with orange cards to let the customers know. They were proud to be carry banned books and were even highlighting them to get customers attention. After he told us that, we went back through the store and looked at all the band books. It was a very interesting afternoon so to say because what we learn in class has relativity t everyday life.

The Darjeeling Limited

When we were given the assignment to blog about a movie or do a mini review of one, I had the hardest time deciding which one I would talk about because I love film. Well of course, it came to me, I had to do one of the movies done by Wes Anderson. He is most definitely one of my favorite director/writer. So his last released film "The Darjeeling Limited" was what i figured to review and tell you about.

It's about three brothers on a spiritual journey on a train through India. They go on this journey to try and strengthen their bond because they are not very close at all. All the brothers played by Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, and Jason Schwartzman, have very unique different personalities from each other. But through out the movies they have trials and obstacles which strengthen their brotherhood by the time the movie is over. The movie has some pretty dry comedy, definitely not the comedy some Americans are use to, but I loved it. I don't want to give to many things away about the actual plot because I would prefer that if you haven't seen it to actually rent it and watch it. I would recommend that with any of Wes Anderson's films.

A short prequel called Hotel Chevalier was also a part of this movie. When I went to see it in theatres last year it had not been added on to the movie yet, but I had seen it because my brother had told me to watch it before seeing the movie. Now I believe it is at the beginning of the DVD.

Some other films that Wes Anderson has done are Rushmore, Bottle Rockets, The Royal Tenenbaums, and The Life Aquatic with Team Zissou. If you have seen any of these movie and enjoyed them, I would say you are sure to like The Darjeeling Limited as well. One thing about Anderson, if you watch most of his movies, he uses a lot of the same cast. For example, Bill Murray, Angelica Houston, Jason Schwartzman, and Owen Wilson have all been used numerous times with his movies. They do a great job every time as well.

I can't get enough of Wes Anderson's films and can't wait for future films to come. If you haven't heard of Wes Anderson or any of the films above I encourage you to do so.

Here is a interview cite with text and a video of Wes Anderson, Jason Schwartzman and MTV if you are interesting in watching how far they have come from Rushmore to The Darjeeling Limited.
http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1571111/20071003/story.jhtml

Optical Illusions

What do you see in these two photos?

There are so many optical illusion photos out there, but these two were a few of my favorite ones I found. I think that the artists of these pictures and any optical illusions are pretty awesome. I have a hard enough time just drawing one picture or painting at a time. These artists are very talented because they make two paintings out of one.

I think these pictures are awesome because it's all about the perspective of the audience that is looking at them. There is many ways to look at one thing/picture.

Not only are these pictures about perspective but I also think that life is all about perspectives. Everyone has a different outlook or perspective on everything in life. This helps to create diversity in life. There are the people that see the glass as half full or half empty etc. Everything is about how you interpret them; others might interpret the same thing extremely different. Think about it.

Photoshop: Age Progression

In my opinion photoshop is one of the best inventions ever. I used to be involved in a lot of media classes in high school in which we used it often. There are so many tools on photoshop that can help you take a picture and change it in crazy ways.

The last few classes we have been talking about how photoshop is being used to manipulate the body of celebrities in the media. The thing we haven't talked about is all the other cool things that people do with photoshop. One of these things being age progression.

I've seen photos like the one above before and thought they were pretty creepy, yet really amazing. I never thought about researching on how to actual do this on the computer until now. I google searched age progression and found this really cool photoshop tutorial on how to morph a photo to look like the person has aged many years.

Here is the link to that web page if you are interesting in it: http://www.exguides.org/photoshop-tutorials/age-progression.html

Also to learn anything about photoshop you could go to youtube and search photoshop tutorials to find a video on how to use certain tools on photoshop.

Importance of Education

Greg Mortenson came to Fort Lewis campus to give a speech on is top selling book "Three Cups of Tea". Originally, I was just going to get extra credit for my classes, but I realized it would probably be a good talk. I've read the whole book and I thought it was a very inspiring that one person could do so much to help others in another country.

The main points I got out of it were about building relationships, how important hope and determination is, and mostly how important education is in the world. As said in his speech, we aren't going to fight the war on terrorism with bombs but with books.

Watching the video, seeing pictures, and hearing Mortenson speak really helped me realize how glad I am to be study the major of Elementary Education. I've known for a few years that's what I wanted to major in, but tonight it was just reassuring to me. Seeing the kids of all ages of different ethnicity all be able to get educated. Aww, I love it.

It was quite a long speech, but I think it only felt long because we were squeezed into the bleachers of the gym. Otherwise, I thought it was a pretty good experience to hear such an influential person talk about life and education.

What Would You Do?

The U.S military has laws prohibiting the media from posting pictures of dead or wounded soldiers that are recognizable. Some of these photos still get printed. How do we stop this from happening and how does it make you feel?

The picture above, is of U.S. soldier, Travis Babbitt, being transported to medical care. It's clear that Babbitt has mortal wounds, and died shortly after this photo was taken. When this photo was printed by the Associated Press, the viewers had many complaints. It created a lot of controversy. Imagine what it feels like for the friends and family of Babbitt when they saw this. Did they even know he was dead yet?

If I was the editor of a magazine or newspaper I would not print this without the permission of the soldier's family. I would try not to print soldier's faces at all. But I do think that it is important for Americans to realize the reality of war. What would you do if you had the choice to publish this photograph or not?

Blues and Brews Baby!!!

This is video is just a mini collection some people that went in 2007; of course they're dancing and having fun. Blues and Brews 2007 Dance Off is what it's called. It made me actually laugh out loud. ha ha. Make sure your speakers are on.

Blues and Brews here we come! My suite mate, Julie, and I are heading up to Telluride this weekend to listening to some blues(of course not drinking brews because we aren't 21). One thing we do intend to do is bring out our awesome dancing skills, just like the people in this video.

I love being exposed to new music,new people, and new cultures. What better place to do that than to head to beautiful Telluride for the weekend. Blues and brews is a three day festival that happens at the end of every summer. Although we just have the Saturday pass we are going to be staying there for the night. We don't have any concrete plans of where we are staying. We are planing on just "winging it" either in our car, tent, or find a random place to stay.

The band that I'm super stoked to see is G Love & Special Sauce, they have a pretty unique bluesy sound, that I absolutely love. A band that I haven't heard of is Gov't Mule, which is one of Julie's favorite band, so I'm excited to hear them play for sure. Those are just two of the bands playing on Saturday, I'm sure I'll enjoy all or them. By the time I get back this weekend, I'll most likely be walking around singing new songs.

If anyone else is heading up to this festival, I'll hopefully see you there!!!!!

Election Day

November 4, 2008 is coming up in a few months, have you thought about who you are voting for?

For me and a lot of other students this will be the first time to vote in a presidential election. This is a huge responsibilty and definitely a privalege for us. So my question is are we ready to vote? Do we know the important issues and the judgment to say which candidate will make a better president? These are questions I've been asking myself the last few weeks.

A few ways to be prepared and vote responsibly is by being up to date with the DNC speeches, RNC speeches, and also the upcoming presidential debates. I missed both the DNC and RNC speeches this last month, which I could watch on line. Honestly, I would rather see all three of the presidential debates and the single vice presidential debates. That way I can hear each candidates views, ideas and plans for specific issues. I think it will be an easier way to compare and contrast, if I hear one right after the other.

The hardest thing for me is believing and trusting the candidates. How do I really know if they will do what they say after they become president. I don't and this is where I get a bit nervous. I don't know if I'm the only one that feels this way or if there is more of you out there feeling the same way.

Another thing that I think is important to consider is our influences. I think it's important to vote for what you feel is right based upon your own knowledge of the candidates, not based on other peoples. Don't just go out and vote for McCain because that's who your parents might vote for, or vice-versa. Other people who might influence us are friends, classmates, and celebrities.

We all need to do our homework and know the reasons why we will vote the way we will. Otherwise voting is a waste of our time; and that waste of time has an effect on our society.

Oh yeah, if you still haven't registered there are still chances to do so. The deadline to register for Colorado is October 6th. You can do this downtown usually at the courthouse, at the CUB on campus, or online at Rock the Vote.