The perks and downs of downsizing

Last summer, my family and I moved into a new home. It was the first time I have ever moved, and even though I had lived in my old house for almost all of my life, I was not uncomfortable in my new home. It still had a open feel to it, with easy access to all of the rooms and a refrigerator downstairs. The carpeting was so plush, that when we were moving in I almost fell asleep on it. Speaking of sleeping, since I now live in town, I can get places a lot faster, and I can sleep later in the mornings that I have school XD. The neighborhood kids are odd, but very kind and active. My brother and I often swim in our neighbor's pool- usually after being begged to go by the neighbor kids- and is a great way for he and I to cool off. But, there are some downsides to downsizing. Our house is what many Realtors call "very centralized", meaning that the majority of the space is very open and connected to the center of the house. This may seem great at first, but there is one huge downside- My brother and I can't sneak around the house and avoid contact with our parents like we could in our old house. For the longest of time, we could hide behind walls between rooms, minimizing the chance to be seen to almost zero. Our parents, especially in the summer, would often get swept up in errands and chores that they needed to get done, allowing us to go unnoticed for hours. Eventually they would call for us, but until then we were free to roam outside and almost anywhere in the house. Sadly, Now that we are in a very open house, It is almost impossible to go somewhere else without being heard or seen by somebody. This does not mean that our disappearing act is over- just that it happens less often. One more disadvantage hasn't presented itself yet, but will be very relevant soon. Our house is two minutes from a school that my brother and I don't go to. That particular school is notorious in our new neighborhood for egging, tee peeing, and many other pranks that involve vandalizing. Our house has not been a target yet, but I wouldn't be too surprised if we become one soon enough. But despite the downsides, I really love my  new home.

Dead of winter

I love winter. The snow days that get us out of school, the beautifully snow-dusted and ice encrusted landscape glistens and sparkles with a beautiful elegance, and going down a hill of snow whether it be in a sled or on skis are all of the activities and sights I enjoy seeing. But below the snow, below the ice, lies a dormant carpet of grass, dead debris, and a world hibernating from life. I have recently wanted to see bustling, vibrant life again- whether a tiny blade of grass or a songbird chirping merrily from a nearby tree. Don't get me wrong- I still love winter-but I am ready for life to come back to this seemingly dead world. The deer that I see and tracks of various animals brings a little warmth to my heart, but not nearly as much as when the ground doesn't have to be covered to be beautiful. I am ready to see the grass grow again, to hear the chirping of birds in the day and of crickets at night joined by the sound of croaking and grunting of frogs in the nearby pond. I am ready to go hunting for morel mushrooms again, to find those elusive fungi growing near a dead elm and to munch on the wonderfully Delicious fried shrooms. Oh, how I yearn for summer days where The water is inviting and where cold is a good thing. I love to have the freedom of the days, not having many obligations- that I can search for new things outdoors or on the web, and enjoy new shows and veg out on video games. But until those days come, The snow will cover the grass, and the grass will lie waiting-dormant.

Political Relief

This may sound surprising, but I haven't until now realized that there haven't been many political commercials on T.V. There have been none, actually. It struck me that after the Caucuses(yes, I'm in Iowa), the candidates don't really care about Iowa all that much anymore. All of the Candidates have headed East. Honestly, I like that. The publicity with the nation  seeing who Iowa will choose in the upcoming election is nice, but... After ten calls to my cell phone even though I'm not old enough to vote, constant commercial, and a crap- ton of publicity with National news in Iowa, I've had enough of the caucuses. One of the traits I find appealing about my lil' state of Iowa is that it's rather quiet. Basically no murders, scandals, or disasters combined with high employment rate yet plenty of fun stuff to do in the "big cities" of Iowa City, Cedar Rapids, and Des Moines. Besides, I have no voice in the political debate as I am not 18 yet, so the cell phone calls saying "will you vote in the caucus?" is like asking a woman if they need to have their prostate examined. I will say all that attention is a nice change of pace but... only so much.

Slowing down

The past few days I have found quite odd- I've been eating less than I normally do. I have been loading my plate with the usual heaps of food, and finding I only clear off about half of it before I feel full. I found this odd enough that I had myself measured. 6'2", the same as the last time i got measured- which was about a month. I got on the scale(which I hadn't gotten on for about two months), and I weighed 189,  just two and a half pounds more than the last time I checked. Then I began to realize that maybe, just maybe I have stopped growing. I personally find this idea great, because I'm already awkwardly tall the way things are now- the most common first impression of people is "WOW you are tall!"- and that comment is honestly getting kind of old. Not only that, but whenever I'm loading cars for work-especially vans and SUV's- I find that I consistantly run into the open part. There are also other low clearances that I run into, like in storage rooms and in other, very random places that hit me(literally) when I least expect it. It is not a pleasant thing to experience. Now there are some perks to being tall, like being able to reach the top shelf at the grocery store, or save a frightened kitten in a tree, but there's always a tool to make you taller(ladder, stool, pedistal, exc.), but there is no tool to make you shorter(or more so, the way you naturally stand shorter). And when you are a rather clumsy guy like me, it hits you all the harder.

Why Pink?

I have been experiencing and noticing some odd things related to the color pink. Whenever see a pencil lying on the ground, especially mechanical ones, I pick them up for later use. For the last few months or so, all of the pencils I pick up are pink. Now this would make more sense if I found all of these pencils in one class period, but that's the problem- I've found at least one in every class period save first hour. Not only that, almost all of the mechanical pencils are different- difference in size, shape, quality, just about everything except- they are all pink. Now, they arent' all the same shade of pink, but... finding only pink pencils is starting to freak me out. This isn't the only thing about pink that is bothering me- the "Pink" brand cloths that girls wear is bothering me too. Especially the yoga pants that have pink around the glutoeus maximus region. My eyes are drawn to drastic color changes on a person's body. If I see someone in my peripheral vision with colors that are the same or pretty close to the same, I don't bother looking.
But, when there is black, black, black BRIGHT COLOR(pink, in this case), my eyes are instinctively drawn to the color. And before I know it, I'm looking at girl's butt without really intending too. It's very embarrassing. Why would women want people looking at ... that region? Why? I thought that all people,  especially women, wanted to be treated with respect. Well, the PINK is not earning my respect, and is sending the message to guys that you want them to look down there. I don't want to  myself, but others are perfectly fine with doing that, and will think of your personality & character by doing that.

Resolve

For a while now, I have been reading the book The Seven Habits of Important People.
This book, though is more than merely changing habits- it is about changing the very way
the reader views life, activities, and how they can influence them. It starts out covering
how you can change yourself to become who YOU want to be. First off, it starts with the
foundation of the change for the individual- their independance. The book states that
the following need to change- drive to produce and production balance, purpose, and priorities.
I would tell you myself how to, but the way the book describes it is so much better then I could
put into a few sentences. Now I haven't gotten to the interdependance sections, the other four
habits to form good, healthy, and productive & joyful relationships with others- a strong self
is needed for strong relationships. Well, if you want to read it, you can buy it at Barnes & Nobles,
or find it at a local library. Well, cya later!

Neflix issues

  I love Netflix. It has let me be able to watch a lot of fun and interesting shows, documentaries, and movies. For all you Netflix users or post-users, you know about the dvd-internet streaming split. It used to be 15 dollars a moth for both, but now you have to buy each part separately. I myself was not to dissapointed by this, because I never really bothered with the DVD shipping- It took too long, and If I wanted to watch a movie, I could just go to Mr.Movies or Family Video and rent the one I wanted. But, apparently many other people did use both parts of netflix quite a bit- many people were outraged by the split, and Netflix lost a lot of customers. This is not including the "mess-ups" that have happened to me when streaming via online. There would sometimes be connection errors, or other inconvenient happenings. But, despite all these issues, Netflix is thriving, and I'm enjoying it just as much as before. Now I'm off to watch more MythBusters- cya later!

Chicago (cont.)

It has come to my attention that is my last post about Chicago, I only talked about the aquarium. Well, there are COUNTLESS other wonderful things to experience in Chicago, and I will try to give you a full list of  what my family and I have done so far. We have Gone on a Segway tour of Chicago(which Segways on their own are awesome, but combined with eating hot dogs while riding them and seeing all the major sights of Chigago it's amazing!), We have gone to see the Art Museum(which I would probably appreciate more than I would when I was younger), went to a plethera of amazing places to eat- my favorite being a sushi bar. I was never one to think of tofu or raw fish as something edible. But the cooks there at that place made this spicy tofu soup that was absolutely delicious- I had two bowls. The sushi, both just freshly cut fish by itself and fish wrapped in seaweed w/ roe and rice, was AMAZING. The pieces of red snapper just melted in my mouth. I felt like I went to foreign food heaven!
    One of my favorite places to go, though, is the beach on Lake Michagan. The water may be somewhat cold, but the waves are twice the size of any wavepool that has ever been installed in a waterpark. It was so amazing to be sitting in the sand at the low point of a wave, and then to be taken high enough I couldn't touch the sand beneath my feet. It was like a water roller coaster ride!
  Sadly, I can't remember any more of the countless experiences we've had at Chicago. So go out there and get a taste of Chicago yourselves!

Favorite things-other than food

"T.V. that teaches you something worth learning,
Snapple cap phrases and ice cream makers a' churning,
Movies that make my eye tear up and gleam,
These are a few of my favorite things!
Fuff chairs that sink to conform to your size,
Games that end with a bad guy's demise,
Pictures that says more than it first seems,
These are a few of my favorite things!
When the cold strikes,
When the price hikes,
When I'm feeling down,
I simply remember my favorite things
liiiiikkkkeeee
Hugs from my friends and from warm strangers,
The story of jesus a-sleep in the mangers,
Stupid ol' dares with a hint of danger
Skiing til' sundown is no longer there,
These are a few of my faaavorite things

The Sights and the actions that always brings
me warmth and laughter and fullfilment at the thought!
Oh how I just can't wait.

The Morning After

The morning after. Everyone dreads the feeling of waking up groggy in the morning and thinking "uuuuhhhg". No, I am not talking about the day after getting drunk( I have yet to experience that or see someone else experience it). I am instead talking the day after your birthday- specifically my younger brother's birthday. Yesterday, my brother turned 14. He was livin' the good life, hanging out with his best friend the whole day doing whatever whimsical idea came to mind. He was pretty excited and peppy yesterday- at least compared to how he usually is. But, now that it is the morning after, he has become even more quiet, blunt, and grumpy than usual. I tried talking to him, and he paid no attention to him. I tried to get closer to him, and he just swiveled in his chair. So I left him to brew on the fact that his birthday- and the special prevlidges that come with it- are over to blog about it. :-D

Sinking in

Have you ever experienced something, thinking "WOO HOO! This... is.... AWESOME! XD". Then you think about the situation and all of the results you are and will deal with. "Yea, this is still great!". Then, you realize that, well it's not so great "oh... crap". There are many situations where one may experience this. For me, it was with the snowfall in my state. At first I was thinking "YES! finally we will get snow days and I'll be able to go skiing and all the other fun winter activities-and to top it off, the snow covers up the boring old dead vegetation!". Then, I drove through the snow and thought "eh, it's great and all, but it makes driving a pain." Finally, at work, when I had to go outside repeatedly and drag a cart through the snow(I work as a courtesy clerk at a grocery store, for more info read my Work, Work post), I realized how much of a downer the fluffy white stuff was going to be on my daily activities. We all have these experiences some time or another, but knowing it may happen never prepares you for when it finally sinks in.

Chicago

The Windy City. It has been years since I have felt the gusts that sent smells of car fumes and resturaunt aromas rushing to my nostrils. I still remember seeing the sights of  Chicago with my family, all of the wonderul places. One of the most memorable places we went to was the Chicago aquarium. In the entrance to the aquarium was a huge cylindrical tank filled with (relatively) small sharks, green morey eels, countless coral fish and even a sea turtle named penny. Most of the other aquarium tanks were gallery-like display, jam packed with unique and unusual animals. There was jellyfish in a dark, glowing tank- like living pieces of a lava lamp. There was fish from  the Missisippi river, from the Amazon (with poisin dart frogs!), there was a whole expedition on life on the sea shore, where you could acually touch sea stars and sea anenome. The best part, though, was tied between Beluga whales, Dolphins, Penguins, and the Shark Tank. The Shark tank is well... full of sharks and other large fishes. The Beluga whales are beautiful white to ivory colored whales that look like their always smiling. The dolphins are very social, and active- especially when doing tricks! The dolphin shows are amazing. Then penguins are just awesome, especially when you see them hopping around- they're so cute!(not to mention the mild yet hilarious skirmishes they have with each other). But even these four cannot beat the experience I had at the dolphin show one year. No, it did not have to deal with dolphins. Instead, it dealt with(drumroll please)..... a seal! I was called up during a dolphin show to be the first public visitor to shake hands(&flipper) with the seal trained at the Chicago aquarium. It was AMAZING.

ice cream

Now, Ice cream. This stuff I could live off of. It is the food that tops all of my favorite foods. It is so rich, smooth, and cooling. There are nearly endless flavors of ice cream and just as endless variations of those flavors(not to mention the variations in the basic ingredients of ice cream, causing a change in general taste & testure). I have has some ice cream that was.... dissapointing, and I have had some ice cream where I at all that I possibly could! I will now tell you my favorites in the following category- fast food, grocerty store, ice cream store, unique ice cream store*, hommade. Ok, so fast food. You may be thinking "duh, DQ", but you are dead wrong. My favorite fast food ice cream comes from Culvers. Now I know it's technically called frozen custard, but by all definition it is really just super-rich, amazingingly delicious ice cream! Next, grocery store bought. My favorite is Breyer's Ice cream, because of it's simple flavors that just taste so... authentic! the vanilla tastes like lagitamate vanilla bean, the chocolate tastes like a (chocolate) truffle, and the strawberry is berry-licious! My favorite Ice cream store.... I don't really have one. Or at least, none of the generic Ice Cream stores like Cold Stone(yes Cold Stone is good, but too expensive for the amount of flavor). I have gone to a cheese/dairy shop in Wisconson, and it is the winner for unique ice cream store. I was able to buy this wonderfully delicious Ice cream with actual brownie chuncks, Fudge swirls, and pecans&peanuts in a vanilla ice cream. Not just that, It was a HUGE waffle cone for less than 3 bucks. It was SOOOOO delicous. Sadly, I don't remember the place's name. :(

How to crack a nut with using your fists

About a week ago or so, my brothers and I tried cracking pecans, but not in the usual manner- we held the pecan in the palm of one hand and smashed it with another. My younger brother, being a mosterous football player, smashed through the pecan shell in three tries. My older brother tried about five times and quit to avoid hurting his hand. Me? well.... my hand got really hurt. The pecan, on the otherhand, was happy as can be, snug in it's hard shell. Snug and smug that is, until I smashed it against the table and ate it out of frustration. But as I was sitting near the kitchen again, I wondered if I could crack it the way my younger brother would. But, unlike last time where I just picked up any Ol' pecan, I was more picky about which one I would try to crack. I finally chose out the one that was the roundest, put it in my palm, and started punching it. First try, a "CRACK" sound, but no broken shell or even cracks along the surface to be found. The second time, the same. The third time, I felt the shell give way, and I gave a war cry in triumph as I picked of the rest of the shell and devoured the delicious pecan. So give breaking a pecan open with only your fists a try! It's very satisfying when you actually crack it open, but if you don't.... shame on you.

The good things about snow

 Since the winter weather has finally arrived in my state, I find that it is finally time to enjoy all of those winter festivities and sports that need snow to be done properly.  Soon enough, I will probably be outside pelting neighbors with snowballs, sledding down large hills, making snowmen, and... skiing. It has been over a year now since I have last been out cutting into the snow, carving into it with my skiis. I miss the thrill of the speed and the wonder as I see the beautiful landscape from the lifts that allow me to enjoy the experience descending and ascending the gigatic hills/mountains all over again. I still remember the place me and my family would always go to- we would bring hot chocolate, and many wonderful snacks that we would eat in our akward ski boots with our skiis in the crook of our arms.
We would recall the first time me and my younger brother went down our first fully fledged ski run. My brother and I had been going down the bunny hill to practice our skiing, and we were getting awfully tired of how short and slow it was. We wanted to go down the "grown up hill". Eventually, we wore down our parents and they let us go. Big mistake. My brother went zooming past me as I flew past countless people on the green, or "easy" hill. I somehow made it to the bottom without falling or running into anybody. But I couldn't stop. So instantly I decided to direct myself toward a hill that was inclined upwards. I stopped, then fell face-first into the snow. I was very embarrased, but not as embarrased as my brother- my mom chased him down and tackled him while he was speeding down the hill! This was all years ago, but the memory is still hilarious!

favorite meal

Ahh, food. It is one of the few things in life where how enjoyable it is doesn't change. There is rich food, refreshing food, sugary n'syrupy food, bitter-but-nutritious, and even combonations of all of these. Of all these general types of foods, everybody has at least one favorite food to eat. Since I am a food connoisseur of food, I have many favorite foods.
        I  loooove chicken tortolini soup, the refreshing broth combined with fresh veggies, the tender chicken, and the soft tortolini noodles filled delicate cheeses. I still remember one Christmas evening eating three bowl of this soup in bowls from our china hutch with silver spoons, and still wanting more after I and my family had completely stuffed ourselves.
   Another one of my favorites is my mother's hommade apple pie. Whether we get our apples from a nearby oarchard, farm, or grocery store, my mother's years of experience makes any already delectable apples into one of the most mouth watering desert you can ever get at home. I could eat those pies for every meal of the day for an entire week and not get tired of them.
    Another chicken dish I gorge myself on is chicken alfrado. Hommade white sause with garlic, salt, pepper, and lots of cheeses combined with generous chuncks of clay-baked chicken and broccoli/asparagus..... oooh it makes my mouth water at the thought.
   There are other foods I adore, but  I've made myself hungry and I'm off to eat something!

super lens

 I just read this article written by Marica Goodrich at Michagan Tech University-http://www.mtu.edu/news/stories/2012/january/story60318.html , and the information within is amazing! This article talks about the concept and persuit of a Super lens, or a "perfect" lens that can allow us humans to use microscopes to see objects as small as 100 nm. this is only half of the size of the current most powerful compound microscope- around 200nm, but the concept of how to make it is completely different and may revolutionize our technology- making microscopes as easy to access as a cell phone and making much smaller, cheaper, and better technology produceable.
"The secret lies in plasmons, charge oscillations near the surface of thin metal films that combine with special nanostructures. When excited by an electromagnetic field, they gather light waves from an object and refract it in a way not seen in nature called negative refraction. This lets the lens overcomes the diffraction limit. And, in the case of Guney’s model, it could allow us to see objects smaller than 1/1,000^th the width of a human hair."-Marcia Goodrich, http://www.mtu.edu/  The implications for a cheaper, better lens using negative refraction are great, and I can't wait until I can get a phone that has one or a phone made with one. XD

Beauty rest

I have experienced, about once a week or so, not being able to sleep. Turning, tossing, twisting to try to find the "perfect" position. This happened to on Friday, and I felt like crap. In school, I got nothing done other than dreaming of christmas tree ortaments fighting over thier right to be hung and drudging through the hallways from one napping location to the next. My brother the day before also experienced a similar feeling- he got home after 7 hours of school and 4 hours of vigorous varsity swim practice, shuffling through the door with his glazed eyes half closed. My brother had gotten past all but one obsticle getting between him and being zombified on the couch watching Monday night football- Adv. Geometry homework.My brother is usually great and extremly efficient at his homework, but since he missed a key lesson in math two days before and his mind had been bleached of all thinking by the clorine water in the school pool, he needed help. That help, to my delight and by appointment of the master & mistress of the household, was to come from me. My brother during this time did his best to solve the problems. When he finished writing down the answers I told him to write, he sunk deep into the living room couch, and fell asleep before kickoff.

Beef Jerky... gone! D:

Today, I went to a half day of school as my brother stayed home sick with the stomache flu, which he caught late last night. When I get home, he still has not eaten any food. I go to my volunteering at the local hospital, and my brother went from illness- induced hibernation to feeding frenzy. He devoured four eggs, lots of who-knows-what, and ... two pounds worth of meat in the form of deer jerkey.  My heart felt empty knowing that there was no more jerkey to snack on.... and the dent in my familie's pantry made me begin to wonder- how could my brother suddenly recover from the illness? It seemed really odd. But then I myself had the stomach flu one and one half days ago. I remembered  I was busy staring at a monitor like now, distracting me from my pangs of hunger that would inevatibly lead to throwing up again, and also I had a fear of eating- Who want to eat food just to taste it a second time while holding their head over the toilet/garbage can? Not me, that's for sure. But when the growls of my stomach became too insistant, I whipped up a big ol' bowl of Ramen noodles, and made the entire contents dissapear within a minute. It was SOOOO satisfying, I didn't care wether or not I was going to throw up, and I didn't. So maybe it was O.K. for my brother to suddenly turn into a giant, hungry bear after not eating for a whole day. But it was NOT ok for him to eat all of that jerkey.
:(

GREEN!

Green. It is one of the countless colors in our(us human's) field of vison. Over the years, it has accumulated a personality for itself through it's use in banners, paintings, and in life itself. But, let's just touch on the basics of green. Chlorophyl, the pigment that allows plants to photosynthesize and create the vast majority of the chemical energy(aka food), is green. Because it is a color almost always found within plants, and due to the versatility and durability of plants, green is often associated with growth. Green is also closly connected with things that are young or "new". For example, a green break is when a bone in a person bends(more than it should), instead of acually breaking. A green horn is usually used to refer to people new to a profession.
Green vegetables make up many foods that I love. Apples, Lettuce, Kiwis, Cabbages, and many others are painted with green, ranging from a blush of the color to a solid coating of it. One of my FAAAAAVORITE foods, called chorizo soup, is made with collard greens.
Green is a very lively color, and the lighter the green- the livlier and younger it feels. Dark green can Thsometimes give the feeling of old or even ancient. But even the oldest of redwood trees spring with bright new pine needles in the spring, and even the youngest of people can carry on a tradition as ancient as history itself.

Is winter here yet?

Ah, Winter. The time when various holiday decorations such as the Christmas tree, draped boughs of conifer tree limbs, strings of lights cover the house, and for Mother Nature to envelop the roads, trees, cars and houses in ice and snow. At least, that's what usually happens. But not the December of 2011. Where I live, there would usually be a total accumulation of 2 to 4 feet of overall snowfall by now. Instead of high hills of plowed snow though, we are getting high tempatures(at least considering it's winter)- tempatures on average between 46-52. This fact is particually entertaining after remembering what two girls said to me during autumn comparing where they live now to where they used to live. "It's cold up here. I wish I was back in Florida/Texas". This winter, both Texas and Florida have experienced freezing tempatures, while I have yet to feel the cold bite of 32 degree and below weather. XD

Work,work

For the past month now, I've been employed at local grocery store. Even though the job description was simple-I am a courtesy clerk, bagging merchandise and taking the bagged items to the customers' cars, and other odd jobs around the store. At my work, I meet lots of people- both interesting and simple. I was acually able to meet a French person- he had the accent, and he was a conaissour of food- he was trying a turducken for the first time(a turducken is a chicken stuffed into a duck stuffed into a turkey, which each are also filled with stuffing)! He also talked about his daughter being trilingual by the time she was starging high school! I'm just starting to become bilingual- french & english- and I'm already a junior in high school! There have been some other pretty fun things about work- Like when I worked on Christmas eve morning at 5:00 A.M., I was the only hyperly peppy person there- the others were still chugging coffee and rubbing the sleep from their eyes. My favorite part about my work, though, has to be making money while doing something I enjoy doing- helping people.