The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for the blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 3,300 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 55 trips to carry that many people.
A short video on how to say “Happy New Year” in Spanish. courtesy of Michael Peña and the letter Ñ.
Important Note: And for all my greeters on social media and the blogosphere, remember that holding the ALT key while typing 164 will save me from receiving plenty of new anuses and allow you to type your ‘ñ’.
Pretty soon we will be ushering in the New Year. Cue the annual traditions of Top Ten Lists, New Year’s Resolution creating, and get ready for a year of highly irritating “The World is Ending” humor. Before 2012 comes along, I wanted to remember 2011. It was a year where pre-election year politics competed in news with coverage of celebrity divorce and economic bailouts. A new country (South Sudan) was born (in July) and there was death of three world leaders/figures. We saw the commencement of the Occupy movement (giving Gen Yers the opportunity for their own rebellion against The Man like other generations before them). We survived another year of tumult and change.
Here are the critical moments I survived:
1. Snow-pocalypse 2011:I cheated at this one, being in Pennsylvania allowed me to miss out on the worst part of the January 25–27, 2011 North American
Snow Ice Cream!!! With Chocolate Sauce!
blizzard, which plastered the Northeast with snow. Many Pennsylvanians panicked while I scoffed at the mere foot of snow we received. I got snowed in with a friend who is originally from Pittsburgh and we made snow ice cream!
2. Being “Hospital” sick:A hospital emergency room trip turned into a week I don’t have memory of because I literally slept for 6 out of 7 days when you add in all of my sleep hours vs. awake hours. After roughly $350 dollars in medical bills, three types of medication, 26 days of illness, and 9 pounds lost, I survived.
3. My Thesis: Fashion and Identity: Exploring How the Visual Language of Fashion and Magazines Represents the Identity of Generation Y; This title represents four full months of 2011 distilled into an article length analysis.
4. Graduate School:After 4 semesters of typing papers, conducting research,
Receiving my Master's Hood
planning conferences, attending conferences, internships, and the like, I graduated (and thus, survived) graduate school and obtained my M.A. in American Studies. The Fiancée and I survived having both sets of parents in the same space for one whirlwind weekend.
5. The End of the World: Remember that time in May when Harold Camping and friends said the world was going to end? Most of us really didn’t think the world was going to end and planned “End of the world as we know it” themed parties complete with the R.E.M song playing on loop and an excuse to binge drink margaritas after Cinco de Mayo. (I ended up sleeping through what would have been the end of the world after being sick, writing a thesis, and graduating.) While we survived this time, remember, 2011 is over and here comes 2012!
6. My Trip Back to New England: I made the best/worst/most regrettable/most financially necessary decision I have ever made and moved back into my parents’ home. Moving proved to be an adventure in itself as I faced tornado-spawning thunderstorm that rained hail down on the moving truck as I drove up I-81 in Pennsylvania on Thursday, May, 26, 2011 while making my way to Connecticut. After, that it was all about surviving the weather. Mother Nature must have disapproved of my move, because then I survived…
7. The Great East Coast Earthquake of 2011: On Tuesday, August 23, 2011, an earthquake hit the East Coast sending people scurrying for cover as pencils rattled and pens fell to office floors up and down the coast. The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake hit near the town of Mineral, Va. with a 5.8 magnitude. People reported feeling the ground move as far north as Portland, Maine, and as far south as Anderson, South Carolina. Meanwhile, I was yelling at a printer that refused to comply.
8. Hurricane Irene: 2 million people were left without power (thankfully, I was not.) Schools were shut down, highways flooded out, and if I hadn’t moved away from Pennsylvania I would have been without power for days. It was one of the few times, this year I was glad for my move to CT.
9. Snowtober 2011:October snowfall records were smashed in Hartford, Connecticut, which received 12.3 inches after winter storm Alfred struck the
The snow in October: Looking out into my parent's yard and their neighbor's yard. It was so strange to see green trees and snow at the same time!
Northeast on October 29, 2011. Schools were closed for a week, including the college where I was teaching and it took up to 9 days for some people to get their power back. I had power the entire time and basically enjoyed a long, long vacation.
10. My First Semester as a University Lecturer: This Fall was my first semester as a University Lecturer teaching a 200-level International Studies Course on Puerto Rico. I ended up spending about six hours per week for every three hours I spent in class. (No, you don’t get paid for class prep or actually knowing what you are teaching about.) My Christmas gift to myself was completing my grading on Christmas Eve.
Posted in Blog, Fulfillment, Just for Fun, Personal, Review Commentary
Tagged Blog, Cinco de Mayo, Connecticut, Culture, Education, Fulfillment, Fun, Grad School, Harold Camping, Hurricane Irene, Ice Cream, International Studies, Leisure, Life, Lifestyles, Nature, New Year, Penn State, Photography, Popular Culture, Review Commentary, School, Social Issues, Stress, Survival, Top Ten List, Winter Storm Alfred
Image via Wikipedia
Let me start this off by saying that as one who celebrates Christmas, I actually don’t mind most of the trappings of the holiday.
My issue is Santa! Yes…Santa. Somehow, the American-version of Santa just falls short for me. Here’s why:
1. I’m too smart for own good: I figured out my parents were the ones wrapping gifts when Santa had the same wrapping paper as my parents on Christmas morning around in kindergarten. They didn’t even realize that I’d figured it out and just hadn’t told them until I let them know 2 years later in 2nd grade when they kept dropping Santa hints and I got tired of it. That isn’t to say I didn’t spend two years thinking maybe I was wrong as my parents did a good job of being convincing. And besides, I had other reasons to look for Santa because…
Elves could be hidden in those boxes. Nope, not going to go near those boxes.
2. The 80s made me paranoid: That’s right, I blame the 1980′s, specifically, the entire stranger danger campaign they drilled into us through TV commercial, milk cartons, and the first 3 months of kindergarten. To me Santa was and still is a little creepy. Some old dude was watching me day and night to see whether or was good and had creepy elves who were apparently kid-sized and worked for him? You don’t even have the comfort of escaping him while you hide under the covers asleep? I was convinced the elves were the bad children who’d been bagged by this guy. This leads me to point number 3, which actually is what allowed me to think Santa was cool again after points 1 and 2. (Before you ask- the “Elf on the Shelf” is creepy to me. It’s always watching you, you know.)
3. Other Santa explanations seemed cooler:I always enjoyed the legend of the Krampus in Austria, Bavaria, and South Tyrol. (I learned about this in an old book about European traditions in the 2nd grade along with the legends about St. Lucia.) According to legend, the Krampus accompanies St. Nicholas (Santa Claus) during the Christmas season. His job is warning and punishing bad children, so he’s sort of the anti-Santa. When the Krampus finds a particularly naughty child, it stuffs the child in its sack and carries the frightened child away to its lair. Considering this fit my view of Santa in above, the fact this legend existed brought back Christmas magic for me. Santa made better sense now.
You also must realize that this also fits in well with the stories I had heard of “El Cuco” the entire time I was growing up. The Cuco is a monster like the bogeyman. He is widely used by parents in Spain and Latin America when children disobey their parents, do not want to go to sleep, do not want to eat, or go to prohibited places and like to wander. Misbehave and El Cuco will get you. Krampus and Cuco- heck, they even sound similar. I knew Santa was working with the other mythological beings.
4. I had the Three Kings to look forward to:On the feast of the Epiphany, Christians celebrate the manifestation of the Incarnation of Jesus
Three King's Day Celebration 2010 in New Britain, CT; I'm in the red.
Christ. Traditionally, it is also celebrated as the day the Three Kings/3 Wise Men (Los Tres Reyes Magos) were to have visited the baby Jesus bearing him gifts. In Puerto Rico, this giving of gifts is celebrated on January 6. Children cut grass on January 5th and put it in a box under their bed, sometimes with a glass/bowl of water for the Kings. The next morning, the grass and water would go missing since the camels would eat it. If a child is good for the past year he will receive candies, sweets or toys. If the child was misbehaved or naughty he would instead find a lump of dirt or charcoal in his box.
As a child, I thought this was the coolest thing ever. KINGS (as in rich, wise guys who rule over stuff and actually met Jesus), NOT a creepy guy in cahoots with El Cuco, would come and give me gifts. Added bonus, THEY HAVE CAMELS!!!
Image via Wikipedia
Camels! Like the ones at the circus and that I had gotten to ride with my parents at the local fair! Plus, they were in my house! Rich, smart guys with camels who ruled countries thought I was good enough to visit! Besides, any rocks left behind might actually be camel poop and I would have the best show-and-tell item of the week!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So, those are my Santa issues explained. I get the idea that the Santa myth is used to control behavior, perpetuate a sense of innocence in children and wonder in adults, and create a different reality for them and us, complete with magical thinking. (Yay, anthropological analysis.) Also, I enjoy perpetuating this myth for those believe and love Santa. So, have a happy/merry Christmas, Chanukah, Three Kings Day, Yule, Festivus, etc., but I’m still gonna keep an eye out for Santa.
Posted in Fulfillment, History, Just for Fun, Lifestyles, Personal, Popular Culture, Psychology, Review Commentary, Social Issues
Tagged Austria, Camels, Christmas, Cuco, Culture, Elf on the Shelf, Epiphany, Festivus, Fulfillment, Fun, Hanukkah, Hispanic, Hispanic and Latino, Hispanic and Latino Americans, History, Holidays, Jesus, Krampus, Latina, Latino, Life, Lifestyles, Personal, Popular Culture, Puerto Ricans, Review Commentary, Saint Nicholas, Santa Claus, Scary, Social Issues, Spanish, Spanish Speakers, Traditions, Yule
Check out the cool weather in Birmingham, Alabama which got hit by a tsunami…of clouds. Being a fan of great photo ops, I wish this happened in Connecticut, so I could capture it. Check out the article for a full explanation or simply cut straight to the video to see the clouds in action.
'Wave clouds' are a real thing huff.to/sTd150—
Huffington Post (@HuffingtonPost) December 20, 2011
Posted in Just for Fun, Media, Photography, Review Commentary, Science, Video
Tagged Alabama, Birmingham, Connecticut, Fun, Life, Media, Nature, Photography, Popular Culture, Review Commentary, United States, Video, Weather
It has been a tumultuous year in regards to geopolitics sociopolitics with several rather infamous world figures having died over the past year. First, Osama Bin Laden, then, Muammar Gaddafi, and now Kim Jong-Il.
Twitter, the blogoshpere , Facebook, and the news networks are all buzzing non-stop over North Korean Leader, Kim Jong-Il’s death.
He “died of ‘great mental and physical strain’ while in a train during a ‘field guidance tour,’ North Korea’s state-run KCNA news agency reported.” [http://preview.tinyurl.com/74gjguc])
The 3 clusters of questions that run to the forefront of my mind are:
How is this going to affect the Korean Peninsula and what does it mean for geopolitics there? ..
What does this mean for America? Just as important, what does this mean for geopolitics for the whole East Asia and Southeast Asia?
Will the situation of the global economy improve or get worse? How are the dollar and the yen going to be impacted by this?
Below is a link (provided by The Globe and Mailout of Toronto, taken from Reuters, Published Sunday, Dec. 18, 2011 11:21PM EST; Last updated Sunday, Dec. 18, 2011 11:37PM EST) to some analyst’s views on the effects of this news. Some of the questions I asked are answered pretty succinctly.
Essentially, people are falling on both sides of the line on whether this event is positive or negative.
UPDATE: 12/19/2011 00:49EST
Archive of NYT's #Kim Jong-il coverage: nyti.ms/scHouo—
The New York Times (@nytimes) December 19, 2011
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I guess we will see how this begins to play out. We are living in very interesting times, indeed. I can only hope that some celebrity gossip won’t overshadow something as important and complex as the current geopolitics.
Posted in History, International Studies, Politics, Popular Culture, Review Commentary, Social Issues
Tagged Culture, Current Events, East Asia, Facebook, Geopolitics, International Studies, Kim Jong-il, Life, North Korea, Osama Bin Laden, Politics, Popular Culture, Review Commentary, Social Issues, Twitter
I'm a 20-something young professional. More often than not, my life is a little crazy. This blog is where I come to write about things.
New Year’s Resolutions- 2012 >> Sunday Sense
Looking on Facebook and Twitter, I have been looking over New Year’s Resolutions updates. I ran across this quote as I was looking for inspiration about changes for my own resolutions and wondered, “Why bother to make any New Year’s Resolutions at all?” Afterall, there is plenty of data that shows that resolutions often are doomed to fail.
This has put me more in a Mark Twain mood when it comes to resolutions. Twain once said:
So, this year I have decidednot to have any specific New Year’s Resolutions. I’m not saying that I’m perfect, but I think my approach has changed from previous years. I have learned that I am healthiest when I am doing what makes me happy. So, that is simply how I will try to live this year: by doing as many of those things that make me happy.
For example, each year people wonder how I manage to not gain holiday weight. Answer: I dance, hike, and do yoga. These things make me happy and I don’t have to force myself to excercise by doing them. No going to the gym, pressures to impress, or subscribe to memberships.
Creativity resolution? Scrapbooking makes me happy so I will be doing that this year.
Need to see new things? I will carry my camera around more so I can take new pictures and support my writing and scrapbooking habits.
I’ve got one body and one life and I might as well be happy and creative as I do things. I’ve learned that sometimes you find exactly what you need or have been looking for when you stop trying to impress/please everyone else and just please yourself.
Think about what makes you happy and maybe you will find it already fulfills your desire to create a resolution.
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Posted in Advice, Fulfillment, Lifestyles, Personal, Philosophy, Popular Culture, Psychology, Review Commentary, Social Issues, Sunday Sense
Tagged Change, Creativity, Culture, Current Events, Facebook, Fulfillment, Fun, Happiness, Happy New Year, Holidays, Inspiration, Life, Lifestyles, New Year, New Year Resolution, Personal, Philosophy, Popular Culture, Review Commentary, Social Issues, Sunday Sense, Twitter, Weight loss, Wisdom