Valentine's Day

Once again, it is February 14. The time of the year in which men are expected to splurge on cards, candies, jewelry and flowers to express their "undying" love for their partner. 

Now, I am not bitter against this "holiday" - I just have never cared for the idea of having one day to express your love and affection to people. Just because Hallmark, jewelers and the floral industry run ads for this one day, people are supposed to spend the money they don't have to tell someone they love them.

Well, what about the other 364 days of the year? Personally, I think love is something that should be expressed year round, not on one day. 

A Wake Up Call?

First and foremost, I haven't blogged in quite awhile and I apologize for that. I feel slightly lame and disappointed in myself. With that aside, I must write a personal post.

Yesterday was the whipped cream and cherry topping to a horrible week sundae. Wednesday night I had two flat tires - both on the same side. I am lucky enough to have a caring brother and a very helpful guy friend. They changed my tires in the below zero weather and sent me on my way. I dropped my car off the next day, only to find out that I needed all new tires and won't have my car back until Monday. Then our pipes froze and the weather got to 25 below zero.

Then Friday happened. I was feeling wonderful about life - we have a long weekend and I just talked to someone for awhile. I was taking my car over to Lima to get new tires put on since I am very bullheaded and wanted my car back. I was heading home after spending an hour and a half in Sam's Club when I started having thoughts about car accidents, which I often think about when road conditions are bad. I look toward my phone, which was sitting on my passenger seat, and kept thinking about life in general. I was listening to the radio and enjoying the song that was on - I can't even think of what it was now. Then a car headed toward me, so I moved to give more room on the narrow, icy road.

Well, the snow was deeper than what I thought, so I pulled my car back onto the road, only hitting a patch of ice. This sent me off the road, heading toward the utility poles. This was weird - moving toward the wooden poles seemed to go so fast and slow all at the same time. I had thoughts racing through my mind all while praying I wouldn't hit another car. My car came closer to each pole, snow flying, me tapping the breaks.

Next thing I know, I hit my head three times and woke up a few seconds later to find a man coming out of his house. I reached for my phone, which was on the floor, and called Bryan, my go-to guy - a friend who has proved he is as chivalrous as he preaches. I don't remember the conversation with him or my mom. I actually don't remember a lot besides my friends coming to my rescue and going from hysterically crying to laughing in a split second. Bryan and the boys were in awe that the air bags didn't deploy, and then spent time trying to set them off. I also can't get the image of the front end of my totaled car with half of the wooden pole under my car, completely uprooted, and the other half hanging and slightly leaning on my car. 

I ended up going to the hospital a few hours later, giving in to people bugging me. I have a concussion and am completely sore. However, I will survive and I am okay. I realized, after having horrible and crazy dreams, that this will take some time for me to recover. I am just lucky that the accident wasn't worse - I could have hurt someone else, been seriously injured or been electrocuted. 

Maybe I will go play the lottery like Bryan said. Or maybe, just maybe, this is a wake up call for me to relax and enjoy life.

What is going on Obama?

Change. That was the basis of Barack Obama's award-winning presidential election which resulted in him being elected. However, I feel like we're starting to see the same old song and dance.

Even though Obama has been President-elect for only one month, he is already starting to dodge questions. As we all are aware, the hot topic in politics lately he has been about Illinois Governor Blagojevich trying to sell Obama's Senate seat and the involvement of Obama's own team members. In a recent interview with John McCormick, as seen here in Campbell Brown's "Cutting Through the Bull,"  Obama is asked about his Senate seat. And what is the response McCormick receives? He is interrupted and is given an almost rude answer from Obama.

Granted, I am sure our President-elect is getting annoyed by this topic. However, he cannot dodge the questions he doesn't want to answer.

After watching Brown's show, I am disheartened. I feel betrayed to a certain extent. I have been supporting someone I thought stood for change and being open with the nation - not secretive and rude to reporters. I want the President-elect back that we saw over the past few months; the one who wanted change and promised to bring that to the White House.

Who knows, maybe this is the Obama that has always been there but we were blinded by the glitz and glamor. I guess time is going to reveal our President-elect's true character and hopefully we will once again see the open, change-seeking man we elected.

Tweeting the Terror

Twitter made history today. Read this moving article about how social media had an impact in Mumbai in the article "Tweeting the terror: How social media reacted to Mumbai."

My Fourth Thanksgiving in Two Weeks...

Thanksgiving is hands down my favorite holiday. Many people are in disbelief when I say this since Christmas is often viewed as the best day of the year. I will admit, I love that season but I don't like what Christmas has become - too commercialized and everyone worrying about getting people the perfect gifts. Thanksgiving, on the other hand, is all about being with your family - friends/relatives/neighbors - and having a good time. 

With Christmas, you have all this build up for a day of unwrapping gifts and trying to figure out what to do with that pink bunny suit your aunt made you (A Christmas Story anyone?). Christmas is pretty much over in a few hours. However, Thanksgiving can be stretched out over the entire day and is not nearly as stressful as other holidays. Today was about being with the ones you love while eating, drinking and being merry. Thanksgiving is a calm day in which I get to cook (one activity I LOVE) and have people enjoy what I made. I love this holiday so much that I enjoyed four of them - today being my last one. I must admit, my third Thanksgiving with my friends may have been my favorite though - I mean, they have become family away from home and the experience was unique.

Grading ONU?

While I was playing around with Twitterific (if you don't have this, I strongly recommend getting the software), I found an interesting post from PR Open Mic. The post, written by Peter Kowlaski and Katie Delahaye Paine, is entitled "Does Your University Make the Grade in Social Media?" and talks about a recent study conducted by KDPaine & Partners. The company examined how academic institutions are incorporating social media and created benchmarks in which universities can use to grade themselves in their use of new technology. Pretty interesting to read since ONU just finished their first social media class...

Life Ain't Always Beautiful

For those country fans, you'll recognize this is a Gary Allan song. As I was getting ready this morning, I was thinking about how stressed we have all been over the past few weeks - dead and finals weeks have come and gone and guess what? We all survived. We survived pulling all-nighters, studying until we were slap happy and taking exams that lasted the entire two hours. And why? For most, so they can obtain good grades and go home.

However, for me, I just try to survive the weeks so I can get to the days after finals while still in Ada. Believe it or not, Ada is a pretty fun village after everyone leaves school. You don't have to deal with nearly as much drama and you see friends who you haven't seen all quarter. 

Last night, my friends had a Thanksgiving dinner at their house and I had so much fun. Sitting with people that I hang out and talk to on a daily basis made me realize how lucky I am and how hard leaving this school will be in a few months. I mean, these are the people that I went to a gay bar with, have too many inside jokes to remember, met and stayed with their families, will have my back in a fight, and can call whenever I need anything (and vice versa). 

 

I didn't think about it much until the song came on this morning. Life isn't always beautiful. We have hardships and drama, but without these problems, life wouldn't be nearly as interesting. In the words of Mr. Allan, "Life ain't always beautiful, but it's a beautiful ride."