Scrubs

Today I realized how much I love Scrubs. It is a great show, plain and simple. I just really found out how much I have been watching it because I have started narrating my life like J.D. After something happens I found out I do that 'stare into abyss' thing as I think something in my head. Today my friend caught me and asked me what the heck I was doing, and this is when I realized it. (I wonder if they think I'm crazy?)

Have a Fantastic Day!!

A Rarity

Today I had my accounting class canceled. This never happens. If she is sick she will still be in. Once her husband, who also works at the University, could not speak and he still held his class as he typed everything onto a word document and projected it onto the wall. This couple does not miss a day at all for their own personal health but only for their family.

So, today a couple of my friends stood outside of the doorway with complete ecstasy as we read the cancellation notice. This is the first time this has happened all year!!!

Shit, what do I do with all of my time now?

Have a Fantastic Day!!

Learning everyday

I found a little book entitled Live and Learn and Pass It On. It is about little life lessons from people from the ages of 5 to 95. Some are deeper than other but they are all great. Here are some of my favorites:

• I've learned that most of the things I worry about never happen. -Age 64
• I've learned that self-pity is a waste of time. -Age 81
• I've learned that you can't throw mud without getting a little on yourself. -Age 66
• I've learned not to waste time worrying about the things I can't change. -Age 72
• I've learned that regardless of how little you have, you can always give comfort and encouragement. -Age 64
• I've learned that you should fill your life with experiences, not excuses. -Age 52
• I've learned that it's not what happens to people that's important. It's what they do about it. -Age 10
  

Funny one's from the kids:

• I've learned how to hold animals without killing them. -Age 5
• I've learned that if you want to get even with someone at camp, you rub their underwear in poison ivy. -Age 11
• I've learned that when you have three of your wild friends in the car, the driver freaks. -Age 9
• I've learned that you can't hide a piece of broccoli in your glass of milk. -Age 7
• I've learned that you can be in love with four girls at the same time. -Age 9
  

Have a Fantastic Day!!

Elizabethtown

Drew Baylor (Orlando Bloom) has just been fired from his job and found out that his dad has died all on the same day. The movie traces his journey to where his father died and comes to meet some amazing people that change his life forever.

The movie is hilarious, witty, thought provoking and an uplifting movie. I want to go more in depth in the discussion of the movie but do not want to spoil it for you. So, you have a while to see it and then I will repost more in depth about what I drew from it. Happy watching!

Have a Fantastic Day!!

Your Heart

This is really cool if you want to know how your heart works.

Have a Fantastic Day!!

Tree Climbing

This guy is a little weird but he climbed the worlds tallest tree "Hyperion". The video shows his climb to the top.

Have a Fantastic Day!!

On the John

This would be really sweet to have. The only problem is I would probably not leave my toilet with all of the sweet things it has.

Have a Fantastic Day!!

Reinhold Messner

Many may perceive Edmund Hillary to be the best climber ever but there is somebody else who has surpassed him in many ways. Reinhold Messner was climbing mountains since the age of 5. Since then he has become the first man to summit Everest with his teammate Peter Habeler without supplemental oxygen in 1978. He then summited by himself without supplemental oxygen in 1980.

Since then he has become the only man to summit all fourteen 8,000 meter mountains. He tackles every mountain with a style called 'Alpine style' (meaning he brought only his clothes and a backpack carrying the essentials).

In 1970, he and his brother, Gunther, went on their first major Himalayan climb, Nanga Parbat, where they both reached the summit but Gunther died two days later on the descent due to an avalanche. Reinhold also lost seven of his toes due to frostbite. He has altered the climbing world entirely and give many kids someone to look up to. His courage, physical ability and knowledge of the mountains has helped him stay alive through all of his ascents. He has attacked the hardest mountains from the hardest side and did it all with minimal equipment.

It is great to see people like him push the limits that people thought to be impossible. It shows that nothing is impossible and all that we have to do is try, because if we don't try than it will be impossible.

Reinhold Messner

Have A Fantastic Day!

Rock Climbing & Life

I have loved rock climbing ever since the first time that my dad took me. We went to Grand Ledge which is in Grand rapids and these are 50 foot cliffs. This place is not that high relative to other places but hey, we are in Michigan. I recently went to Planet Rock in Ann Arbor and they have a really nice indoor place to climb. It re-claimed my passion for climbing. When I look at other photos of people climbing thousand foot cliffs it makes me daydream and wish that I had the time to do that kind of stuff.

So my new plan in life is to work as an accountant for 10 years while living in a piece of crap house that way I can save up all of my money for early retirement. Once I have saved up a good amount of money I will take 10 years off to travel the world so I can do some good backpacking, rock climbing and camping. After that I will go back into the work force and work until I can retire.

The only problem is that I will most likely get married and have kids. Does it ever seem like you have too many plans for your life and there is virtually no way you can accomplish all that you want to?

Then it hit me, I have to build a time machine that way I can do all of these things and then come back to the present moment and keep living my life. As I am sure many of you would like one of these machines I will loan it out to whoever. It got me thinking about all the things that I want to do in my life and how consuming of money and time everything is.

I enjoy accounting a lot but I also get to thinking that there are things that I enjoy even more. Someone posed me a question once; If you didn't have to worry about money what would you do with all of your time? I think that this is something we need to ask ourselves every now and then to make sure that we know we are doing what we truly enjoy doing.

So what would you do?

Have A Fantastic Day!!

Jones

Everybody has looked at a Jones Soda bottle and laughed at one of the pictures that were featured on the front. They have also wished that they have had one of their pictures on the front. Well what a genius idea it would be to be able to customize a pack of sodas. Jones is giving you the ability to put personal pictures on a pack of Jones Sodas. They claim it is great for birthdays, anniversary's, Christmas and all sorts of occasions. What a better way to say 'I Love You' than to whip a Jones across the table and much to their delight they not only get a great taste but a tasty message.

What picture would you put on your soda?

Have A Nice Day!!

Garrison Keillor

Ever since I was young my dad has listened to a show called 'A Prairie Home Companion' on the radio. When I was a kid I hated listening to this show but now that I understand the jokes it is absolutely hilarious. Garrison Keillor is the writer of the show and does a new one every week. It is amazing that he can write a two hour show for every week and keep them filled with great jokes and great music.

Garrison has created an imaginary place called Lake Wobegon where he lives. He tells stories about the place and goes into detail about the characters and gives them quirky characteristics. The show consists of stories, fake advertisements, and music.

If you have never heard it before you just must. This show is from August 5, 2006.

WARNING: The music is mostly folk and bluegrass, but you can skip them if you really despise that type of music.

Have A Great Day!!

Africa

Ok, so this post might mean a little more to some people who are in love with Africa than it does to others. There is a new movie that just came out called "God Grew Tired of Us." It is about a man's (John Dau) struggle to run away from a war where he was living, Sudan. The movie goes into depth about all the struggles that he had to endure to get away from the soldiers. I have not seen the movie but I have read about him and his journey into America in National Geographic Magazine (NGM). Some of the things that he had to do is remarkable. NGM does a great job telling the story but I believe that the movie will be moving.

Read about it

Watch a trailer

Have A Fantastic Day!!

Grand Canyon

I was researching on National Geographic and I came along this new idea that should be coming out in March of 2007. This glass floor is going to come out of the side of the Grand Canyon and visitors will be able to walk out on it to look straight down to the bottom of the canyon floor. You can read the whole thing here.

Have A Fantastic Day!!

Pandora

I have found a great way to listen to new music, and that is through Pandora! All you have to do is type in an artists name and it will create a radio station that plays off of the same type of music as them. Then you can vote if you like it or don't. It is really simple and I find it a great way to listen to new music. You can also create up to 100 radio stations so that you can have certain ones for certain moods you are in.

Have A Fantastic Day!!

Materialism

After reading Schnert's blog about the Sarah McLachlan video i started thinking about one of my friends who lives his life without corporate influence. This guy donated all of his clothes, except for about three of everything, to purple heart because he said he didn't need that much stuff. Not only that but he despises the fact of having money and hates that most of everybody's reason for doing things is motivated by it. He is now fixing old bicycles and giving them away.

After reviewing that it came to my attention that you can pick out most of the people who run their life by what the new 'fad' is. These people are usually high maintenance, very pushy, selfish and an all-together egocentric person. Obviously there are exceptions to this rule, but next time you see someone who is self-centered look at how many material possessions that they have. Don't get me wrong, material possessions are needed to live, but an abundance beyond what we can use is being selfish. I know this is a little weird for me to scold materialism seeing how I attend a University specifically for business majors, but I think that that is why I can see this so clearly. Many of the students here have their parents pay for everything and also pay for the alcohol that they all drink before, during, and after the classes that they are supposed to be attending. The parking lot looks like the Detroit Auto-Show all year long because the parents want their kids to have the best car.

I was thinking about the whole giving to the world that was portrayed in the music video and it came to my attention that if you want to give more to the world, you have to make more. Well you can't make more unless you impress the materialistic world by the clothes that you wear to work, the car you drive to you clients house, and all the extra gadgets that you need to help you become more successful. The problem comes when we get so wrapped up in trying to make more money to give away to the world that it soon becomes making more money to buy things that will help make more money. At a certain point you loose all focus on the things that you got into it all.

I got a little off topic but I find it of great importance that you evaluate all the things that you
"need" in life and the things that are truly just wants. It is kind of scary to think about how much you and I have been taken over by this materiality.

Have a Fantastic Day!!

Idiots

So I read a great blog called As the Artichoke Turns and have decided to take Matt's advice about the 'Stumble' Add-on for Firefox (by the way it is amazing, thanks a lot Matt). I searched for humor and have found something that cracks me up. I was sitting in our church cafe and cracked-up reading it while everyone passing by gave me odd looks. Anyway, you have to read these, it will brighten your day knowing that you may not be as dumb as you think you are.

Courtroom Quotations

HAVE A FANTASTIC DAY!!

National Geographic

If you don't already know, National Geographic is by far the best magazine ever published. It combines relevant information with absolutely unbelievable images (for all you picture-book readers, yes, it is good for you too). I receive both the normal magazine plus the 'Adventurer' magazine which focuses on trips and ideas for travel for the everyday life. It spans from a weekend trip to a couple month trip, so whatever type you are in the mood for you can do.

I was reading this months 'Adventurer' and it was talking about New Zealand as one of the most adrenaline hungry places to be. New Zealand created the first commercial bungee jumping in the world and it used to be true that if you went naked you didn't have to pay. Sadly this is no true anymore but you are still given the opportunity to do it that way if you so choose. So, if I am ever in the area of New Zealand watch for my video on You Tube of me bungee jumping naked and be prepared to be stunned.

HAVE A FANTASTIC DAY!!