Saturday, June 11, 2011
I think it's time...
To make my blog private. I have been contemplating it for a while. I don't know if I'm just going to keep this blog and have a second blog be my real blog or just make this one private. My friend Marie Guthrie has an open blog and a private blog. With the open one, she makes notes on it to let everyone know that there is a new post on the private blog. I really like this idea. There has been a lot of things I just haven't talked about or posted because I didn't want it to be "out there" for everyone (like the fact that we bought a house almost 2 years ago. Did you know that? No? Probably because I didn't want to post about it and put pictures of my house for random strangers to see. So... My goal is to go private by the end of June. That gives everyone time to post their emails to here or if you already know my email address send me an email with yours in it. I am not going to post my email address on here (your email would probably get sent to my junk mailbox anyway). You can also send me a message on my facebook page, if you'd like. Once I get each email that is posted on here I will delete them off the comments because if you are like me, you don't want your email out there for everyone to see.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
One of my favorite things EVER!
Maybe it's because I was a pool rat growing up, maybe it's because I was a lifeguard for 3 years, or maybe it's just because I grew up in the HOT weather of Arizona. Whatever the reason is, one of my favorite things EVER is OTTER POPS! (See image below)
These are seriously the best things ever! AND no one I have met (at least at my job) has heard of them! Jason and I have looked EVERYWHERE in Fargo for 4 years for Otter Pops and the only thing that we've ever found that are similar are Fla-Vor-Ice and some other knock-off. They are definitely not as good. But it seems that someone has finally heard my complaints about the issue. I found them! You have no idea how excited I was when I found them! And at my job no less! Of course my co-workers thought I was crazy for putting 5 boxes on hold to buy later and then laughed at me when I ended up buying EIGHT boxes instead. (When I told Jason that we had them he, too, was so stoked!) They just don't understand. I recommend that anyone who has never had an Otter Pop to go to their local Target and check the "Dollar Spot/See Spot Save" right when you walk in the doors and buy some! I know I'm going to be stocking up and buying A LOT more. My summer just got a whole lot better!! Thank you, Target!
(Oh, and by the way, one of my other favorite popsicle are BULLET POPS and again I haven't ever found them outside of good ol' AZ.)
These are seriously the best things ever! AND no one I have met (at least at my job) has heard of them! Jason and I have looked EVERYWHERE in Fargo for 4 years for Otter Pops and the only thing that we've ever found that are similar are Fla-Vor-Ice and some other knock-off. They are definitely not as good. But it seems that someone has finally heard my complaints about the issue. I found them! You have no idea how excited I was when I found them! And at my job no less! Of course my co-workers thought I was crazy for putting 5 boxes on hold to buy later and then laughed at me when I ended up buying EIGHT boxes instead. (When I told Jason that we had them he, too, was so stoked!) They just don't understand. I recommend that anyone who has never had an Otter Pop to go to their local Target and check the "Dollar Spot/See Spot Save" right when you walk in the doors and buy some! I know I'm going to be stocking up and buying A LOT more. My summer just got a whole lot better!! Thank you, Target!
(Oh, and by the way, one of my other favorite popsicle are BULLET POPS and again I haven't ever found them outside of good ol' AZ.)
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
WARNING: This post may be too political for some people. And, also, is a VERY long post.
NOTE: I, in no way, expect anyone else to have the same opinions as me but, since this is my blog, I am free to express my opinions and you can choose to agree or disagree and then that would be your opinion. Thank you for listening.
TEN YEARS AGO THIS MONTH
I was lucky enough to go on a trip through my high school to Washington, D.C. and learn more "Close Up" about our government and learn more about how and the way it works. (I would like to thank my parents and grandparents for helping me raise the money to go and anyone else that may have helped to contribute.) When I went, there were a few kids from different states that were in the group I was with from North Dakota, Alaska, and Hawaii.
There were several things that we were able to do while in D.C.
*We were able to see the monuments, of course
*Go into the Capital Building (if you ever go to D.C. you should go. They have statues of 2 people from every state of the union in there and one of the statues is of Philo T. Farnsworth, one of my ancestors, who invented the television!)
*Go into the Senate Chamber (the visitors part but still I was in there and able to look around. In fact it was on the day that John McCain was debating about the McCain/Feingold Bill which is now known as the Campaign reform bill of 2002)
*Go into the Supreme Court Building during a trial (are they called trials in there?)
*And, overall, see the sights of D.C.
Besides seeing the sights we also went and sat through different lectures. They were all about things doing with the government but mostly (to me) it was a bunch of lobbyists telling us how they try to lobby our political figures to vote certain ways or try to change laws. One example was sitting through about 2 hours of an environmental lobbyist and how his company has been working on changing things with the EPA. I can't remember exactly but I do remember them showing us a movie about the environment that was not the most interesting movie to show a bunch of teenagers. To me, it felt like they were trying to lobby us teenagers in the way "An Inconvenient Truth" tries to scare us about global warming years later. This could have been because my father was a biology teacher and had taught me a lot about the environment growing up and so I had already made up my own mind what we as a society should do to help protect the environment (I'm not going to go into that here; it would be much too long.)
One of my most memorable parts of this trip was not going to see all the landmarks and museums, although I hold all the memories very dear, but one of the lectures that we had to go and listen to was of this guy who said that he was a media lobbyist. He went through a nice little speech about how the media is uninfluenced by the government and how, in fact, the media actually influences the government and helps to get the government to change by the way the media spins stories. The whole time I was sitting there I was just shaking my head. I just couldn't believe that here in front of me and this whole group of teenagers, this guy was trying to tell us that the media was so unflawed so, in a way, untouchable that they were free to report how they wanted to without repercussion from others. After he was finished talking, we were allowed to ask him questions. Since he bugged me so badly about how he kept saying how the media can report how and what they want, I rose my hand.
Here I am, an 18 year old girl, who isn’t really supposed to buck the system and I stand up and ask him a question. I stood and and asked “How can you say that the media is not influenced by the government? There are countless examples in history about the government covering up major stories that they didn’t want the American public to know.” And to drive my point home, I gave him an example: “If you say that the media can report how they want then can you explain why the media never reported about the Holocaust in WWII until well into the war and after the US entered into the war? The government knew the atrocities going on in Europe and our government turned away from it. It wasn’t until after we got into the war that we were told as if to keep the public in the dark and ignorant. And then after the entrance of the US into the war, the government had all sorts of propaganda films made to be released to get public support of the US in the war.” I got a huge round of applause from the room and the guy took no more questions after that and never did answer my questions.
I don't know why I really ever felt like I needed to stand up and speak out. I guess I had just gotten fed up with all of these lectures telling us teenagers how we should think and that this was the way the government was supposed to work. I felt like what was supposed to be a week of learning the ins and outs of the government ended up being an awaking to me of some messed up sides of the government. I won't say it was a bad experience. I'm grateful for it. I think, if anything, it helped me to understand more "real world" things than just graduating into the world and trying to learn them after graduating. Our world and our government are not perfect, but I do think that we all need to be more aware about what is going on in it. We shouldn't just take what is written or said as truth in the media. We, as humans, need to question things, ask ourselves and find out for ourselves what is true, right and question things when you know it doesn't sound or look right.
For the final dinner that we had at the end of the week I was chosen from my group (we were split into smaller groups at the beginning) to get up and represent our group and our opinion of the week and how we all felt it was for us all. I don't remember what I said in that little speech but I remember it was more poignant and thought-provoking than others that had stood up to speak for their groups and that it made everyone cheer. That made me pretty happy.
By the way, this flashback is brought to you by the film "The Tillman Story" which I watched tonight with Jason. It is a good movie. It also shows how the government covered it all up and lied not only to the family but to the world through the media and then went on to try and use the media to pen Pat Tillman as a hero who died in battle to try and put a positive spin/face of a war that had very low public support for to try and gain more support for it.
I'm sorry. I'm done. Thanks for listening/reading.
TEN YEARS AGO THIS MONTH
There were several things that we were able to do while in D.C.
*We were able to see the monuments, of course
*Go into the Capital Building (if you ever go to D.C. you should go. They have statues of 2 people from every state of the union in there and one of the statues is of Philo T. Farnsworth, one of my ancestors, who invented the television!)
*Go into the Senate Chamber (the visitors part but still I was in there and able to look around. In fact it was on the day that John McCain was debating about the McCain/Feingold Bill which is now known as the Campaign reform bill of 2002)
*Go into the Supreme Court Building during a trial (are they called trials in there?)
*And, overall, see the sights of D.C.
Besides seeing the sights we also went and sat through different lectures. They were all about things doing with the government but mostly (to me) it was a bunch of lobbyists telling us how they try to lobby our political figures to vote certain ways or try to change laws. One example was sitting through about 2 hours of an environmental lobbyist and how his company has been working on changing things with the EPA. I can't remember exactly but I do remember them showing us a movie about the environment that was not the most interesting movie to show a bunch of teenagers. To me, it felt like they were trying to lobby us teenagers in the way "An Inconvenient Truth" tries to scare us about global warming years later. This could have been because my father was a biology teacher and had taught me a lot about the environment growing up and so I had already made up my own mind what we as a society should do to help protect the environment (I'm not going to go into that here; it would be much too long.)
One of my most memorable parts of this trip was not going to see all the landmarks and museums, although I hold all the memories very dear, but one of the lectures that we had to go and listen to was of this guy who said that he was a media lobbyist. He went through a nice little speech about how the media is uninfluenced by the government and how, in fact, the media actually influences the government and helps to get the government to change by the way the media spins stories. The whole time I was sitting there I was just shaking my head. I just couldn't believe that here in front of me and this whole group of teenagers, this guy was trying to tell us that the media was so unflawed so, in a way, untouchable that they were free to report how they wanted to without repercussion from others. After he was finished talking, we were allowed to ask him questions. Since he bugged me so badly about how he kept saying how the media can report how and what they want, I rose my hand.
Here I am, an 18 year old girl, who isn’t really supposed to buck the system and I stand up and ask him a question. I stood and and asked “How can you say that the media is not influenced by the government? There are countless examples in history about the government covering up major stories that they didn’t want the American public to know.” And to drive my point home, I gave him an example: “If you say that the media can report how they want then can you explain why the media never reported about the Holocaust in WWII until well into the war and after the US entered into the war? The government knew the atrocities going on in Europe and our government turned away from it. It wasn’t until after we got into the war that we were told as if to keep the public in the dark and ignorant. And then after the entrance of the US into the war, the government had all sorts of propaganda films made to be released to get public support of the US in the war.” I got a huge round of applause from the room and the guy took no more questions after that and never did answer my questions.
I don't know why I really ever felt like I needed to stand up and speak out. I guess I had just gotten fed up with all of these lectures telling us teenagers how we should think and that this was the way the government was supposed to work. I felt like what was supposed to be a week of learning the ins and outs of the government ended up being an awaking to me of some messed up sides of the government. I won't say it was a bad experience. I'm grateful for it. I think, if anything, it helped me to understand more "real world" things than just graduating into the world and trying to learn them after graduating. Our world and our government are not perfect, but I do think that we all need to be more aware about what is going on in it. We shouldn't just take what is written or said as truth in the media. We, as humans, need to question things, ask ourselves and find out for ourselves what is true, right and question things when you know it doesn't sound or look right.
For the final dinner that we had at the end of the week I was chosen from my group (we were split into smaller groups at the beginning) to get up and represent our group and our opinion of the week and how we all felt it was for us all. I don't remember what I said in that little speech but I remember it was more poignant and thought-provoking than others that had stood up to speak for their groups and that it made everyone cheer. That made me pretty happy.
By the way, this flashback is brought to you by the film "The Tillman Story" which I watched tonight with Jason. It is a good movie. It also shows how the government covered it all up and lied not only to the family but to the world through the media and then went on to try and use the media to pen Pat Tillman as a hero who died in battle to try and put a positive spin/face of a war that had very low public support for to try and gain more support for it.
I'm sorry. I'm done. Thanks for listening/reading.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Do you know....?
"Please tell me you have heard of the Beatles?! I mean REALLY? You've never heard of the Beatles?!" --> This is what I wanted to shout at one of my co-workers today.
She actually just found out who the Beatles were TWO years ago. When I then asked another coworker about whether or not she knew who they were she said "Yes but I can't name any of their songs. I know the songs are theirs if I heard them but don't know any actual names of the songs." When I asked "Do you at least know the names of the Beatles?" Her response was "No, well, I know who Paul McCartney is."
I'm saddened by this. I know not everyone likes the Beatles or their music nor do I expect them to but I think they need to know who they are and their songs. I can't believe some people!
P.S. At least she knew that Lisa Marie Pressley was married to Michael Jackson. FAIL!
She actually just found out who the Beatles were TWO years ago. When I then asked another coworker about whether or not she knew who they were she said "Yes but I can't name any of their songs. I know the songs are theirs if I heard them but don't know any actual names of the songs." When I asked "Do you at least know the names of the Beatles?" Her response was "No, well, I know who Paul McCartney is."
I'm saddened by this. I know not everyone likes the Beatles or their music nor do I expect them to but I think they need to know who they are and their songs. I can't believe some people!
P.S. At least she knew that Lisa Marie Pressley was married to Michael Jackson. FAIL!
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Wait? 2 posts in one day? Are you feeling okay?
I'm feeling fine but Jason's not.
Story:
I was at work today and it was going just like a regular day at work when I get a phone call. When I say I got a phone call, I mean the operator went over the walkie talkie and said "Lauren you have a phone call on 33."
Thinking it was just a coworker that was off or guest that got my name, I answer the phone "This is Lauren, Can I help you find something?" To my surprise, it's Jason. He never calls me at work. He would just texted me if he needed to tell me something. So he says to me "Hi Lauren. It's Jason. Are you able to get out of work for a little bit?" I ask "Why?" obviously. (I don't exactly have a job where I can just say "Hey I need to leave for a littlte bit.") He says "I've been in an accident and I need you to take me to get my shoulder checked out." (and since it was while he was on his job, they require a drug test, too.) So I put him on hold and call my boss and ask her quickly. She says that it is ok and I get back on to let him know I'm leaving in about 5 minutes.
So I leave and go to where Jason is at. (side note: Jason is a Frito Lay vendor. He goes to 4 different stores here in town and delivers and stocks Frito Lay chips. He drives one of the bigger Frito delivery trucks and that is what he was driving at the time of the accident.) Some lady had ran a red light and slammed right into him on the passenger side right up by the tire, bending the fender at a complete 90 degree angle, bending the wheel well and after hitting the truck so hard, her car's backside spun around and hit the side of his truck. He didn't even see the car coming. Luckily, he had 2 eyewitnesses that vouched for him that he had the green light and she clearly ran the red light without even slowing down (she was probably going 30 or so). Also luckily, he was wearing his seat belt.
To the point where he got hurt: He messed up his right shoulder in the accident. He had his hands on the wheel (obviously) and with the impact his arm tensed and his shoulder took the impact of it. I knew exactly what he meant since I have had a similar shoulder injury. They took x-rays and didn't see anything wrong, so that's good, also. Now, per doctor's orders, he can't lift, push or pull over 10 lbs or reach higher than his shoulders. That's basically his whole job! He has to go to physical therapy for a week, at least. Hopefully, just taking it easy, his shoulder will start to feel better.
Sorry that this was such a long post. I just wanted to document it more for myself.
Story:
I was at work today and it was going just like a regular day at work when I get a phone call. When I say I got a phone call, I mean the operator went over the walkie talkie and said "Lauren you have a phone call on 33."
Thinking it was just a coworker that was off or guest that got my name, I answer the phone "This is Lauren, Can I help you find something?" To my surprise, it's Jason. He never calls me at work. He would just texted me if he needed to tell me something. So he says to me "Hi Lauren. It's Jason. Are you able to get out of work for a little bit?" I ask "Why?" obviously. (I don't exactly have a job where I can just say "Hey I need to leave for a littlte bit.") He says "I've been in an accident and I need you to take me to get my shoulder checked out." (and since it was while he was on his job, they require a drug test, too.) So I put him on hold and call my boss and ask her quickly. She says that it is ok and I get back on to let him know I'm leaving in about 5 minutes.
So I leave and go to where Jason is at. (side note: Jason is a Frito Lay vendor. He goes to 4 different stores here in town and delivers and stocks Frito Lay chips. He drives one of the bigger Frito delivery trucks and that is what he was driving at the time of the accident.) Some lady had ran a red light and slammed right into him on the passenger side right up by the tire, bending the fender at a complete 90 degree angle, bending the wheel well and after hitting the truck so hard, her car's backside spun around and hit the side of his truck. He didn't even see the car coming. Luckily, he had 2 eyewitnesses that vouched for him that he had the green light and she clearly ran the red light without even slowing down (she was probably going 30 or so). Also luckily, he was wearing his seat belt.
To the point where he got hurt: He messed up his right shoulder in the accident. He had his hands on the wheel (obviously) and with the impact his arm tensed and his shoulder took the impact of it. I knew exactly what he meant since I have had a similar shoulder injury. They took x-rays and didn't see anything wrong, so that's good, also. Now, per doctor's orders, he can't lift, push or pull over 10 lbs or reach higher than his shoulders. That's basically his whole job! He has to go to physical therapy for a week, at least. Hopefully, just taking it easy, his shoulder will start to feel better.
Sorry that this was such a long post. I just wanted to document it more for myself.
A new post? What!?
So I have attempted to post to my blog in the past and I was looking through to edit some of my posts and came across this. I never finished writing the whole post but I still think it's funny and needed to be published. Enjoy!
November 16, 2009
So I told Jason that I was going to post a blog about what we did yesterday. We both had the day off so of course we cleaned but more than anything we made each other laugh. Jason and I had a dance party to Christmas music on the music station on cable. Then we pushed Jason down the stairs in a box trying to slide down like in a sled.
I know. A year and a half later? I was writing this 2009 post 3 weeks after moving into our house. I had actually forgotten about this and when I read it, it made me smile to remember. I guess that's all I need to do. Just post what makes ME smile. I don't need to do it for anyone else (although I don't mind others reading it). I need to post so that I remember!
That's all.
November 16, 2009
So I told Jason that I was going to post a blog about what we did yesterday. We both had the day off so of course we cleaned but more than anything we made each other laugh. Jason and I had a dance party to Christmas music on the music station on cable. Then we pushed Jason down the stairs in a box trying to slide down like in a sled.
I know. A year and a half later? I was writing this 2009 post 3 weeks after moving into our house. I had actually forgotten about this and when I read it, it made me smile to remember. I guess that's all I need to do. Just post what makes ME smile. I don't need to do it for anyone else (although I don't mind others reading it). I need to post so that I remember!
That's all.
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