Sunday, August 1, 2010

Just a Plethora of Things

☼ First of all, I want to dedicate this post to my life companion of two years, the white & electric blue Samsung Blackjack smartphone that almost never left my side. You were there for me through all my times of sadness and joy. We had a lot of fun memories together. I'll never forget that roller coaster ride last summer when I neglected to seatbelt you in properly and you came flying out of my pocket during that thrilling corkscrew. You were such a trooper for surviving that horrendous fall, and all the myriad times I dropped you on rough cement surfaces. But no matter how many scratches and bruises you received, I still loved you for your unlimited inbox storage, note taking capability, high quality music player & camera, and overall cuteness. I promise that in no way will I forget your services to me and all the good conversations I had on you when I replace you with the iPhone in a few weeks. Here's to you, good friend.

R.I.P. the Almost Indestructible Blackjack
2008 - 2010

☼ Secondly, I feel the need to tell the world I'm getting slightly addicted to
nail polish. Most recently, in between hours of studying and finishing up schoolwork for summer classes today, of which the progress bar would look like
this: [_________________] (in terms of estimated hours to go, when I started last Wed.), I decided to randomly paint all my nails a different color. I like it, but soon after I did so, I realized this means I can only wear plain colored t-shirts while such mismatched colors adorn my nails, or else it would terribly clash with any planned outfits I attempt. Oh well. I also understand that many people find this idea childish and not appealing at all, but the beauty of it is I don't care. 


☼ Totally different topic: BEING GREEN! 
In my business class, part of our assignment is to watch 10 online videos of our choice (out of 20) of presentations given at MIT by top business leaders and theorists within the past few years. They're an average of an hour long, and then we just have to write up a few paragraphs on them afterwards. I keep finding that some of this stuff is quite interesting to me, such as the talk on how to get the market for alternative fuel vehicles propelled as part of the sustainability revolution. Apparently simulations have shown that more success will come from introduction of such vehicles in more rural areas, as opposed to strictly urban like one might suspect. I wrote that I'm really interested to see how that actually plays out, and I wish I could be one of the first to jump on the bandwagon, however there are factors I know will be limiting that decision, such as my need/desire for long distance car travel. Obviously they can't put fuel stations up everywhere in the first stages of development, and that was one of the reasons phasing out gas-powered vehicles is going to be so hard - there won't be demand for AFV's where they don't already exist, and simultaneously they won't put fuel stations up in certain places until there IS a demand. We'll just be stuck in a loop, like the chicken and egg problem 
(which one came first? although I think that's easier to answer).

I wish I was one of those innovative thinkers that could offer some insight, otherwise saving the planet is going to be really hard without enforcing rules. Or maybe that's it, we just need to implement legislation that dictates what we can and can't drive. Ha. Whatever needs to be done, I just hope someone figures it out soon, because if you pay any attention to statistics, it's no secret that we're quickly sending Earth to the grave. Or at least our existence on it. I sometimes wonder how long it will actually take until the environment changes so much that we actually can't survive. Because it looks as if, at the rate this whole global warming thing is taking off, we just can't physically adapt that fast. It has taken thousands of years for our bodies to become accustomed to our living conditions now. What if human civilization is only around for another few hundred years?? That's really drastically thinking. 

On the other hand, we ARE smarter than we give ourselves credit for, so obviously we can come up with the technology. It's actually available right now, the problem is just getting people to change their ways. Well, if you're at all interested in watching the video that inspired that rant, which actually doesn't take up the whole time it says, I encourage you to watch it here: http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/553. As always, comments on my posts are enjoyed if you have opinions on anything I jabber on about. 

To add to this melting pot of random topics, I will now refer my readers to a game! that I really loved playing the other night when I was uber bored, called I Love Traffic. If you know me at all you'll realize this is funny because I HATE traffic, more than the average person I feel like. This game is fun, though, and slightly addicting. When I finished, I think my total collisions were 93. See if you can do better! I won't be surprised if you do ... 

☼ Also, if you look to your left on the screen you'll see that I put a new widget on the sidebar called "recent additions to the ipod," which I will update when I get hooked on a new cd, (or song or band). Now you can always keep track of how my music tastes are evolving! If you care. And by "you", I know that I'm mostly talking to nobody, because that's about how many people I think read this. So, world, this concludes my lengthy post. Have a nice day! 

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well by "you", YOU mean me as in "Brayden".

Danielle said...

Only if "Brayden" is actually spelled "Danielle"

Mackenzie said...

Shannon, your blog looks amazing! You will have to help me make mine spiffy too!