Dusting Off Their Dreams

For the past week or so I have been America’s #1 fan. Many factors have made me feel this way. It started with the Olympics (yay Shawn Johnson and Michael Phelps) and then continued with my recent trip to our nation’s capitol and visiting Mr. Washington’s house. Our country provides people with such unique opportunities to achieve their dreams.

Scott Bonge is the perfect example of someone “dusting off their dreams” and overcoming trials and tribulations to make their dream come true.

Scott Bonge’s dream arose from his frustration with his facial hair. As you can tell from the above picture Scott sports the goatee (rather well in my opinion). But every morning Scott would be faced with the daunting challenge of making his goatee symmetrical. So one day Scott thought to himself, “Well if I have this problem then other men must have the same problem?” With that he began the creation of various prototypes built out of everything from Play-Doh to Popsicle sticks in an attempt to create the perfect goatee template. And this is the final result:

Now I understand that this idea might seem a little off the wall to some, but it really works and the entire world is catching on. Scott was recently on the Tonight Show and is now touring across the country! For the tour Scott has even started a blog. Here is an excerpt from one of Scott’s blogs from the road:

“I was driving today just outside Albuquerque, NM on my way to Phoenix and looked across the beautiful landscape to see 18 wheeler trucks faithfully moving to their destinations. I would like to express my thanks to all the men and women who help make American enterprise work by getting goods to their destinations. I have a good friend who drives trucks and I know it is hard, sometimes thankless work.”

As you can tell Scott is a true American who genuinely appreciates all aspects of America and what makes it function so seamlessly.

As I dove deeper into his website and tour info I discovered that in a little less than a week this fine specimen of American ingenuity will be in New York City! I immediately began to formulate a plan to go see him, but when I tried to find more information on where he would be presenting none could be found. So in my perplexity I continued to sift through Scott’s blogs to find some answer to when he would be in New York. Then I found this:

“I am very grateful to be alive and without any body damage, but today I was hit by an 18 wheeler and my car will not drive. It will take two to three weeks to get it fixed. I am currently looking for a way back to Arkansas. I truly believe that all things happen for a reason. Sometimes we don’t know why, but they do have a reason.“

The irony of it all! Scott’s tour was destroyed by the very thing that he once admired. But this didn’t phase him, the tour will continue after his car is fixed. He has such a good attitude about it all! And it is because of his optimistic attitude that I’m really pulling for his invention to be a success. If I had facial hair I would use it. If I could grow facial hair I would grow a goatee just to try it out. If you have a goatee please try it out and report back!

I would like to encourage everyone to explore his website: http://goateesaver.com/
I will be checking his blog for updates and perhaps a revised tour schedule. So stay tuned.

Hugs and kisses till next time!

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Today I Started A Blog

Dear Diary,

Today I started a blog.  Why I decided to start a blog isn’t exactly clear.  One of my friends proposed the idea after I decided to start my blog because a while back when I had a streak of unusual thoughts and since then have been bringing up in just about every conversation, “Oh, I should write a blog about that…”  (Yes I’m totally “that” girl).

But Dear Diary I have to admit starting a blog hasn’t been as easy as I thought it would be, in fact it has been quite an ordeal.  First I had to figure out which blog site to use.  That proved difficult because I got numerous reasons from multiple people about which site is the best.  Finally I went with WordPress because it is the prettiest and allowed me to put up a picture of my beaver.  But then I had to decide on a template and colors, it has been a never ending process!

Then came the hard part.  Writing something to post.  I’m a strong believer in when you start a blog you should put up a few posts so people understand that I am a serious blogger.  Not one of those “post once a month” bloggers, but I have a lot to say and this blog is not to be taken lightly.  It will be maintained.

Then came the “what came first the chicken or the egg” debacle.  Because I want to have a few posts when my blog begins I also want to have an intro post.  But if I post it first people will read it last… because the newest posts are at the top.  So do I fake it and post it last so it will be read first?  After weighing my options I finally came to a conclusion and feel pretty good about it.

So now that the blog is up and running I hope people read it.  If not… well then that’s okay too because its comforting to know that my thoughts are out there on the world wide web.

Hugs and kisses till later!

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The Communication Conundrum

Dear Diary,

There are too many forms of communication in the world today and it’s complicating my life and hurting people’s feelings. It used to be the only way to communicate with someone was through a face to face conversation. If you wanted to talk to someone you would go find them to talk to them. But as soon as humans discovered writing it went downhill from there. First came letter writing, then phone conversations and now we’re just mixing it all. People can have face to face communication over the internet and write through the phone.

To prove just how complex communication has become here are the top ten ways of communicating:

1. Telephone (home phone and cell)
2. Texting
3. Email
4. Instant Messenger
5. Facebook
6. MySpace (totally different from Facebook)
7. Picture Messaging
8. Video Conferencing
9. Fax
10. Sign Language

Too many options have made communication unnecessarily complex in all aspects of one’s life. Whether it is in your personal life or professional it is all so confusing. In my line of work I have to communicate with multiple people and each person prefers a different form of communication. My boss likes email yet one of my coworkers never checks his email so I have to call him. And then there is the lady from accounting who prefers fax… totally bogus. It takes me about the same amount of time to go hunt them down and talk to them as it would to figure out how to get a hold of them.

It’s all a little ridiculous. But at least for work everyone is up front on how to communicate. In your personal life however, things can start to get sticky because no one can agree on what is best. I remember when my only problem was dealing with bad phone people. (You know, the people who’s conversation is filled with one word answers and long awkward silence.) But now we have so many forms of communication there are so many ways to be bad at something. For example:

Bad Texters: Use their T9 function but don’t proof read what they are writing: “Hey arm whats us? Did you deed the act?” Translation: “Hey bro whats up? Did you feed the cat?” That’s just one form of bad texting… I feel a whole other post coming on about texting- stay tuned.

Bad MySpacer: The one who only leaves you messages complaining about how you never leave them messages. Example: “Hey girl! How ya doin? We never talk anymore, message me and we’ll hang out!!!!” Always filled with excessive “!”.

Bad Faxer: Dials your phone line with a fax machine so it repeatedly calls you and it blasts that annoying noise in your ear. Thank goodness faxing is going out of style.

I can’t expect everyone to be good at all forms of communication; that’s not where the real problem lies. The problem is that with all these forms of communication people’s feeling are getting hurt! Here’s what happens:

A hierarchy of communication is coming into place but it isn’t universal. I have witnessed fights break out between couples because they both have different opinions on how to communicate. I’ve seen girls freak out because their “bf” only texted to make dinner plans and didn’t call.

Here’s how it goes, “Why didn’t he call… does he not like hearing my voice? Does he think I’m shrill? I mean because he should call because I’m his girlfriend, we’ve been together six months, we’re at the calling point… we’re totally past texting. Last week he didn’t text me at all, it was all calling. Maybe we’re going backwards, maybe he’s gonna break up with me tonight. I can’t be dumped; I’ll have to break up with him first.”

My response, “Why don’t you just call him?”

Her response, “I can’t do that! Then I might come across as suffocating him.”

My response: Turn and walk away.

The guy’s real reason for texting and not calling, “Dude, I was in a meeting all day.”

Okay, I understand that this might be a little extreme, but this crap has happened to everyone. Relationships are made even more complicated if you use multiple types of communication. I have one friend who only communicates via text, so I expect nothing more from him. No feelings are hurt there.

Perhaps the solution is that I need to limit each my friends to one type of communication… categorize them… let them know they are being categorized… make a colorful Excel spreadsheet and carry it around everywhere with me. When I first meet someone they have to tell me their preferred form of communication and I’ll record it.

Then again if I did that I might come across as excessively anal and no one would want to communicate with me…

…oh well.

Hugs and kiss till next time!

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Hell Is Freezing and Filled With Food

Dear Diary,

I hate the grocery store. Ever since I was a small child going with my Ma to today where I dash in and out as quickly as possible, grocery shopping has been the most annoying chore I’ve ever done…. yes, even worse than cleaning out the hamster cage.

I don’t just arbitrarily hate the grocery store, I have valid reasons. When I was younger grocery shopping was equivalent to a trip to the dentist. Walking slowly through the aisles as my Ma asked me what I wanted for dinner, and I’d always say, “Eggrolls.” (She makes the best handmade eggrolls from leftover pork!) And she would reply, “Oh honey, you know that’s too complex. How about meatloaf?” So frustrating! She knew I hated meatloaf. But I’d always agree because I wanted to get out of there as fast as possible.

But it didn’t end there. Once “we” decided on what to eat she had to analyze every possible ingredient. What meat was the leanest, which breadcrumbs had the lowest fat content, which catchup has the least fat (at the time my Pa was really into the Fit or Fat Program). Then there was the corn… had to peel back a little of every ear, compare the color and healthiness of the kernels. Then came the squeezing of the tomatoes, followed by the onions, then just as we are about to move on past the vegetables she’d realize she forgot the zucchini and have to go all the way back to the front of the veggie section. The Horror! The Horror of it all!

Now that I’m older I am in charge of the grocery shopping, but I still hate it with a passion. I dash in and out as quickly as possible, not taking the time to look at brands or prices or fat content. I’m just frustrated by the whole process and here’s the top five reasons why:

1. Grocery stores are cold. I hate being cold. It makes me cranky and uncomfortable… even in the summer when it is sweltering outside, I loath the chill of the grocery store. The worst stores are the ones with the walk in freezer section. Really is it necessary to have a whole room devoted to coldness? Because that can’t be comfortable for anyone!

2. Groceries are heavy. I don’t own a car so whatever I buy I have to be able to carry it home. So to ensure that I don’t buy more than I can carry home I use a basket rather than a cart and baskets are not easy to carry. The design of the baskets make them unbearable to carry and they cut off the circulation in your arm! Torture! The worst is waiting in line, because in New York there is always a huge line at every grocery store. Once I can no longer feel my arm I do the “push drag” with the basket and my feet, resulting in a horrible scraping sound like nails on a chalk board. Then once you reach check out you have everything packed up you still have to carry it the million blocks home.

3. Grocery stores are also disappointingly expensive and everything you buy from there is gone in about a week! And it’s most depressing when you buy good fruits or veggies and they go bad… so sad, it breaks my little heart.

4. The smell. This may be New York specific but all grocery stores smell horrible. There isn’t a universal grocery store stench, it seems each store has it’s own unique stink. One always smells like vomit and another mold and another dog food. I’m buying my food here, I want the store I buy my food in to smell delicious, not rancid!

5. It’s effing cold. I really hate the cold.

Now there is one bright side to the grocery store:

The music! The grocery store always plays a good solid mix of songs! You’ll hear the N’Sync song that you haven’t heard since Jr. High followed by a Fleetwood Mac and then they’ll totally surprise you by busting out the theme from Happy Days. So good! You always leave with a bazaar song in your head and not quite sure where it came from… then it comes back to you… the grocery store.

Hugs and kisses till next time!

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