One Month of Words

Being Done

2011-01-16T15:26:00.000-05:00

Everyone knows the feeling.

When you reach your goal, when you finish what you started, and when you make it all the way to the end. When you feel like you accomplished something, when you know that there's nothing left that needs to be done, and when you don't need to worry about it anymore. We all know what it's like to be done. No more loose ends, no more little details, no more effort required - you're all set. It's awesome.

The best part about being done is that you are free to move on and do other things. Being done with your homework means you get to go hang out with your friends. Being done with your job applications means you don't need to worry about filling out tons of forms. When you finish sleeping, you can get up and live another day. Everything in life happens in a linear, cause-and-effect sequence. Do this, get that. Finish this, now you can do that. Being done means you are progressing through that line. You are being productive, and are on the way to producing more. It's a never ending cycle in which people are proud to be trapped.

Conversely, often times when in the middle of something, people feel tense. The only thing they feel might be anticipation, a desire to make it to that point where they are done. Some people have mixed feelings when they are nearing completion. Yes, they will be done and can move on with their lives, but they will never work on that thing that they completed ever again. Think of a final draft essay that you just handed in. You're done. No more room for corrections. You just sent off your paper, and unless you feel like changing it around after you get your grade back, you will never change a word on it again. It's carved in stone, and you threw away the chisel. People get bothered by that, but some things don't have second tries.

Still, there is a feeling of serenity when you're done. One less thing to worry about in the endless string of things to worry about. We will just keep getting bombarded with tasks and missions in life, but we will still feel like we are going somewhere when we get them done. We've made progress, and that's all that anyone can ever ask of us. Let's do our best to make them, and ourselves, proud.

...I'm going back to school today.

Thank you to all of the people who have read even just one post on this blog. I had fun writing it, and I hope you had fun reading it. The month sure went by fast, but these posts served as a way to keep the thoughts trapped in those speedy seconds here for anyone to see. Some memories disappear fast, but I am glad that this will be able to stay here for a long, long time.

And with that, everyone, One Month of Words is done.

Take Your Time

2011-01-15T23:39:00.000-05:00

People tend to rush things.

I haven't eaten fast food for a while. I can say that with some pride, considering the amount of knowledge we have about how unhealthy it is. If you are a regular around Wendy's and McDonald's, you probably are fully aware of what kind of stuff you're putting in your stomach. I'm not against fast food, in fact when I am in a rush, it is often the only option. But will you leave your house, one with a fully stocked kitchen and clean pots and pans, in order to go to a fast food restaurant? As a surprise to me, yes, many people actually do that.

The idea of having anything instantly, not just food, is an appealing one. We live in an age where any little tidbit of knowledge that we might want to know is only a Google search away. They even brag about how much time it took to make your search - often less than a second. Naturally, when surrounded with so many opportunities to get results now, we try to take them all. "Get results quick and easy!" is a staple tagline to any fitness product, otherwise we wouldn't be as impressed. No lines at an amusement park means we get to spend more time on rides. Bottom line, pretty much anything we want, we would like to have sooner rather than later.

There's an issue with this fact. Let's say you want to boost your English grade, and want to do as best you can to earn an A on your next assignment. Naturally, you are going to want to put in your best effort and nurture your work to make it as close to perfect as possible. But at the same time, wouldn't you be happier having that amazing paper right now? In this situation, that is impossible. Some exercise machines do get you results faster if you use them, and some amusement parks have no people in your way of riding a ton of rides. Time is not a factor. But in this scenario, you also need to put in the time - there is no choice. Your perfect paper will come from hard work combined with enough time put into it, not one or the other.

Take your time. Cook yourself a healthy dinner, don't go out and browse the Dollar Menu. It is worth it in the end. More time into what you do yields more attractive results, regardless of what you do. Yes, there comes a point where putting in more time is unnecessary and sometimes even harmful, but that doesn't come for a long, long time into your task. There's no such thing as too much revision, until maybe your eyes hurt. Stay for the entire allotment of time that you were given to take your final exam - unless you are really, really confident that you did not make a single avoidable mistake.

Just put in more time. That's all. You have more than you think you do, even when you're in a rush. Take your time, take your time, take your time.

It would be pretty embarrassing if there was a type-o in this post after it went up. I looked it over for a pretty long time...

Tomorrow, I will be headed back to school. This means the final installment of this blog will be up in less than 24 hours. Man, what a fast month.

The Little Things

2011-01-14T23:54:00.000-05:00

There are people that are living on their own islands right now.

Growing up, I didn't have that many expensive things. I had the standard video game systems, a bicycle, a swing set, and things that pretty much pair of parents in northern New Jersey had to offer to their kids. I think my parents did a pretty good job in not spoiling me though - I wasn't begging for toys like some kids would. But this is because I tried to find ways to have fun without ways to have fun. In other words, I kept myself entertained without things to help me.

I exaggerated things a lot as a kid. Think of playing in a sandbox. The eyes of an older teenager see a square with some sand in it. But the eyes of children see a square with not just sand in it, but possibilities. Possibilities for what, nobody knows or cares. They're there, and thats what always mattered. When kids swing around their Tonka trucks and toy dinosaurs, they are really seeing those things come to life in front of them. They don't need to see images on a screen to see it in their heads - they see it on their own. Expensive toys are unnecessary. Just give a kid some sand and some sky. They'll figure it out.

Not to say that people don't do it, but I wish more of us appreciated the little things. Everyone take a minute and gloss over this website. Every post is some simple little thing that might make you smile during the day. Not some major achievement or huge deal that you made, but things that feel like major achievements or huge deals. Not because of their size or scope, but just because of the simple quirky positive natures that they hold. So many more little things exist in this world than huge, almost unattainable things that cause "happiness" in people. And we can easily get a smile out of a high five or a secret handshake. Kids can do it, and so can adults.

It's funny how much money some people have. More money than they know what to do with. It's almost a curse, really. You have more at your disposal than any one person should ever have, and almost everything you experience is a direct result of the price tag on it. People are out fishing on their own boats and coming home to giant screen TV's in their home theaters while their personal chefs make dinner. That's all fine, but it's not necessary. People dream to have all of that - but they are already so close. You can go out and jump in a puddle and come home to people making shadow puppets in the closet while popcorn is popping. I'd be pretty happy with that, maybe just as much as the ritzy moneybags scenario. The things that we should appreciate more are the things that are not quite things, but ideas. Kids can do it, so can adults.

Take a deep breath and think of how nice that air tasted. Hug your family members and think of how warm they are, on the inside and out. And realize that what you have is more than enough to make you as well off as anyone else. It's the little things that build up and make everything in this world worth it. Big things may come in small packages, but you have to open them up first.

Breaking Cycles

2011-01-13T23:29:00.000-05:00

We all have cycles.

Wake up, go to school, come home, watch TV, eat dinner with your family, do homework, sleep, repeat. Wake up, drive to work, come home, play with your kids, eat dinner, sleep, repeat. There are general variations to everyone's cycles, but the overall framework is relatively similar across the board. Save for major life changes or times of unclarity, you can more often than not say with confidence "Today was a lot like yesterday." I'm telling you now that you should strive to never saying that again.

People need to practice breaking their cycles. Have you ever heard a friend complain about an element of monotony in their life that they wish didn't exist? The only thing I ever want to say to people who bring that up is "Well, change it." We are the masters of our own destinies, and we make our own fun and luck in this world. I've said it before, but people need to go out and find things on their own, not wait around for someone or something interesting to come along to fix things for them. If you're feeling bored, it's time to break a cycle - don't spend the day at home doing whatever the whole day, find something new. Schedule an appointment for something in which you would normally never be interested. Hang out with someone that you don't hang out with as much. Break the cycle.

Many people are afraid of breaking the wrong cycle, which is exactly why so many cycles go unbroken. It only takes one really bad confrontation with a new person to make someone not want to do anything with them again. We then put up a barrier, associating hanging out with new people as a direct route to a bad outcome. Therefore, no more cycle breaking. It's important to just deal with cycles that lead to something negative in order to prevent ourselves from never breaking that cycle again. It might have been no fun being with that person for the day, but after a while your cycle is going to get old and stale again, and it will need breaking. Just because you have a history of bad outcomes with your new people cycle doesn't mean you shouldn't break any other cycles again. You broke the wrong cycle - s'okay, try another one.

I remember growing up, I was always skeptical in eating new foods. My parents would tell me "You should try new things, you might like them!" Truer words have never been spoken. You'll never know until you try. I was under the impression that other people were in control of bringing new things into my life, i.e. my mom's cooking. But that is not the case. We control things for ourselves. We are all at liberty to introduce variety to our lives, whenever we want. That should be a well developed skill in all of us.

So eat random new foods, talk to total strangers, and go to different places. And if it doesn't work out in the end, don't worry - a broken cycle doesn't stay broken forever.

Snow

2011-01-12T23:01:00.001-05:00

The weather is apparently a pretty big deal.

Snowfall often makes or breaks someone's day. For many, it means their plans are officially ruined, or their schedule for the next 24 hours is replaced with "playing outside." There's not a lot of middle ground - and how can there be? Every news station sends their field reporters to where the storm is going the hardest. Forget about international affairs and the state of the country... We have snow to worry about, guys. It's no wonder people are so opinionated about snow on the ground, someone mentions snow more times than we inhale in a day. But still, there's just a little too much ado about nothing.

I guess it bothers me because of how predictable this time of year is. It's the middle of winter. There will be one or two major storms every year, I can almost guarantee that. Yes, we need to keep up with the weather channel to make sure we know when the storm is on its way. But as soon as wind is caught of a blizzard thats on the way, the human race enters panic mode. People rush to the grocery store and stock up on a week's worth of food. We take weeks off of work because we won't make it out of the driveway. Meanwhile, news stations are rehashing the same scripts on TV as they do every year: "Major interstate highway is backed up, X number of snow plows are working through the night to keep the roads as safe as possible, watch out for ice because we need to remind you that there's ice, we will keep you posted on the rate of snowfall throughout the day."

Come on. I think we've all lived through enough winters to know the drill. It's like you go camping for the 20th time, and your dad, once again, reminds you to put out the fire before you go to sleep. Well, yeah. That's kind of how I've been doing it my whole life, thanks. It's important to do, sure, but I think everything is accounted for. Yes, we know there's snow on the ground. No, I wasn't planning on driving as fast as normal.

People groan all the time about being inconvenienced by the snow. We talk about how long it took us to shovel the sidewalk, how much food we had to buy, and how mad we are about being stuck inside. Why do we all focus on the negative? Is snow as bad at it is because of what people made of it? Let's talk about the fun parts of snow instead. "I got to go outside and watch the snow fall, and had hot chocolate when I was done." "I had a huge snowball fight with my friends, and it was a blast." More of that, please and thank you.

I ran around with my dog in the snow today, and we both loved it. I hope you are enjoying the snow as well. Everything is what you make of it - so why not make a snowman?

Travel

2011-01-11T23:09:00.001-05:00

I downloaded Google Earth today.

Google Earth is the kind of toy that you could play with for hours and hours without getting bored. It is such a simple idea with such amazing features to keep any curious mind busy. You can search for towns, look at your house (from an aerial or street view perspective), or find cool locations near you that you never knew about before. Pretty much any landmark, building, field, and road is there for you to look at whenever you want. Google Earth is powerful, man.

I messed around with it for a while today. I was looking at all of my friend's houses, my college campus, and special places from my childhood. It tells you the altitude of the land that you have your mouse on, so I was trying to find the deepest part of the Marinas Trench (the deepest part of the ocean anywhere). It tells you the coordinates of the location you are looking at, which helped me locate areas where different geocaches are hidden (see my Adventure post for more on those).

And I got to look at other countries.

I live in New Jersey. I grew up in New Jersey. I leave the state quite often to visit the city and attend school, but I pretty much have only existed on this planet on the east coast of the United States. I've only ever been out of the country once, which was to visit Niagra Falls. It was cool, but the trip with my dad to San Diego felt like more of an international trip than that. My point is that I am not much of a world traveler.

But being able to look at all of these other countries on Google Earth is downright amazing. Never before have I wanted to travel more than I do after looking at all of these different places. The Earth has more places than any one person can ever visit and experience, but everyone should try to see as much as they can. Oceans, landmarks, tourist attractions, famous event locations, different cultures, different foods, and different experiences are out there in infinite supply. You will leave this life with places unvisited, even if you traveled every day. There is so much to see.

There is nothing quite like traveling - and this is coming from someone who doesn't partake in it. Just the idea of seeing new places and finding new stuff is exciting to me. Traveling should be on people's minds and in their dreams. If you are ever looking for an adventure, look no further than a new country. It can't disappoint.

I am looking at the Eiffel Tower on Google Earth street view right now. But that doesn't come close to actually standing in front of it. Trip to France, anyone?

Potential

2011-01-10T23:17:00.000-05:00

Have you ever heard of Craigslist?

The short description goes like this: Anyone can put up a post on the website, which you can categorize into fields such as jobs, for sale, personals, services, and others. When you visit the website, all of the articles immediately presented to you are grouped together based on where you live - I'm not entirely sure how the website knows where you are located, but it is nice being able to only see things in your neighborhood. It's more or less a child of Ebay and Amazon.

I glossed over the website for a while today, and I am stunned at the potential that Craigslist has - of which anyone can take advantage. People are selling homes on Craigslist. They are trading their homes for other homes. They are meeting people, finding oddjobs, making money... and using the website is free. Save for the scam artists floating around (which, according to Craigslist, are filtered out as best as possible), the power behind this webstite is huge. To me, it is almost unbelievable. An example that will blow your mind is that of Kyle MacDonald, who managed to trade for something "bigger and better" enough times to finally get his own house - starting from a paper clip. You can find his story here.

Its amazing how something with a simple framework like Craigslist can lead to so many different outcomes. The simple things in life are sometimes the most rewarding, mostly due to their basic nature that everyone can understand and relate to. That's the weird thing about the most innovative ideas today - they don't all come from innovative minds. Someone with average intelligence with minimal resources can sill think of a groundbreaking idea. Great things can come from almost nothing.

People often talk about potential like it is something that only gifted people have. A fourth grader in a Calculus class would often garner remarks such as "Wow, what a smart kid! He has so much potential!" Sure, it might be a smart kid. But everyone else in his class has potential too. We all have potential, in all stages of our lives. We have the potential to be good or bad, the potential to work hard or hardly work, and the potential to make the right or wrong decisions. The future is unwritten, but we're all holding pens.

It's one thing to have potential. But fulfilling it is what counts.

Drop It

2011-01-09T23:17:00.000-05:00

Fights tend to rear their ugly heads every now and then.

I feel that the world would be a better place if fighting got up and left. Apart from the serenity achieved from making up after the fact, nothing good has ever come from a fight. Whether it is a physical brawl or a verbal exchange, a full fledged fight is completely avoidable, completely unnecessary, and a waste of time.

What blows my mind is that people on this planet are making money right now to punch someone's face in. That's the last kind of money I would ever want to make. You might think that yes, something good is coming from that fight - people are making their living from it. But at what cost? Bloody bruises and broken bones, which I think more than take away from any money gained from a fight. Minus the blow to the economy suffered from its departure, professional fighting has every reason to just go away. (Sure, there are people that genuinely love fighting, which I understand. My point is that there is so high a risk and so high a cost to fighters, that in the end, they gain little to nothing.)

It's not just professional fights that are unnecessary. Arguments exist on every level - not just professional. In fact, there might be more people fighting in domestic scenarios than in any other situations that humankind has to offer. Consider growing up with your parents. You fought to get what you wanted in your younger naive years, and didn't care what anyone else had to say. All you did was upset your parents and make them work harder. Yes, we're young and don't know better, but then why does fighting continue to exist in our older years? I have argued with my parents recently, sure. Every time it happens, I regret it afterwards. I could have saved my energy instead of wasted our time.

I think a good skill to have is to know when to just drop it. Every argument that we ever have is only happening because we believe we are right to some degree, and we want to prove ourselves. We want to get what we think we deserve, and we want the other side to concede to you. And yet, both sides would be better off if the argument never started.

How far down the wrong road will you go before turning around? Well, you sure aren't going to just keep going the wrong way. You definitely will turn around. Just like you should just stop arguing, no matter how far into the conversation you are. It doesn't matter who "wins," or who gets the better piece, or who gets to go when the other stays home. Today is one in many, many days of your life, and what happens to you this one time will be a distant memory some day. Even if the fight has gotten really bad, you should always just stop. Make up and worry about more important things.

So the next time you catch yourself in an argument, ask yourself: "Is this really worth our time and energy?" Stop, take a deep breath, swallow your pride, and shake hands. It's okay.

Less arguing means more happiness, and less hate means more love. Sounds good to me.

Brainpower

2011-01-08T23:15:00.000-05:00

I am pretty sure a hefty majority of the movie-going population has seen the movie Inception.

I just saw it for the first time. I think that puts me in the "late bloomer" group of viewers. I feel like I understood the movie pretty well, but even then, I feel pretty absent-minded after seeing it. Its a strange feeling - hard to explain to anyone who hasn't seen the movie. (If you can't tell by now, the movie is impressive).

It is not very often that people are enveloped completely in any one thing. Generally, we can retain some semblance of multitasking - the brain is able to process more than one thing simultaneously, without losing track of one or the other. But in this situation, I was not thinking of anything else. All of my focus was going into the movie, with no distractions at all.

Its a pretty strange feeling being 100% focused in only one thing. Even when using all of your potential brain power, you still feel like you aren't doing much with it. I wrote in a previous post that people never completely put in 100% of their possible effort into anything that they do - as nobody is perfect. But we can still feel like we are putting in everything we've got.

So much variation exists in the levels of brainpower in everyone. We have IQ tests, and scores range from genius level to almost no thinking power at all. We have people developing cures for diseases, and people thinking of ways to try to pay their next bills. But nobody has an excuse to not try to use as much brainpower as they have at their disposal. We all have been gifted with a level of intelligence, and should strive to live up to those levels as best we can.

My hope is that people think as much as they can. More ideas means more possibilities.

Random

2011-01-07T23:02:00.000-05:00

I hope that by this point in time, everyone has established their new years resolutions. But maybe you are still looking for some ideas.

I found a pretty interesting website today. This is the link: http://resolution.decontextualize.com . From what I understand, you can generate random resolutions for yourself that are created based on tweets from Twitter. It meshes words together from several tweets to create a sentence - more often than not they are humorous rather than helpful, but on occasion you will receive a solid resolution. I have used the website mostly for laughs, but the fact of the matter is, there are people out there right now that have taken one of those random resolutions as their own, and are prepared to follow it.

The way that people make decisions in this world is pretty freaky. Think of the way we reason based on circumstances: We might be influenced to take one road over another because of traffic in one direction. We might sign up for a certain class because it strikes us as interesting, and we think it would be a good idea. We might buy one brand of product over another because a friend told you that they liked it more.

But what about making decisions based on nothing? We could have no idea which way has more traffic, but we still need to pick a road to take. Maybe you just need another 3 credit class for the semester, and pick one from a hat because you are indifferent. Maybe you have no prior knowledge about two different products, but you still need to buy one. And we do still pick those roads, we do still take those classes, and we do make those purchases. Based on nothing. It is completely random.

More than a few times I have done something "just for the hell of it." No reason, I just felt like doing it. Granted, "felt like doing it" is arguably a reason for doing it, but lets say that, if that is your only reason for doing something, then you really didn't have a reason for it in the first place. I have friends today from just randomly talking to strangers. I have new favorite snacks because I randomly bought them from the store one day. As far as I am concerned, conservation of mass is a lie - because you can make something out of nothing. Start a business with no money. Talk to someone without any questions prepared. Fly by the seat of your pants, don't think of the consequences, and just go.

Random means unpredictable. If everything you did was predictable, you would be a lot less diverse of a person, and would have less to contribute to conversation, projects, and to others. Some people say being random is annoying and unnecessary - but I welcome it. Bring on the noncontinuous banter, show me something I've never seen before, take me somewhere that I would never think to go, and say what others don't think to say. Random is good.

Normal

2011-01-06T22:33:00.000-05:00

Do you like to associate yourself with "normal" people?

Think of how many friends you have had in your lifetime. Picture all of their faces. Consider all of the different places you have gone with them, different conversations you have had, and things you have done together. Think of all of them together. Would you say that they're a group of normal people? Or would you say that a few of them are different from the norm? Or maybe every single one of your friends is different?

I hope that you don't think of a single one of them as "normal."

It is easy to call your entire group of friends a bunch of normal people. All together, their qualities averaged and their personalities meshed, they all balance out to one normal entity. It is important to remember that they're not one thing though. Every person has a completely unique personality, different opinions, tastes, goals - everything. One friend's completely insane attitude might be offset in your mind by another friend's timid disposition, thus making you think that they are normal. But each of them on their own is a totally different person.

Normal people arguably don't exist in this world. So many variables are involved in evaluating someone's personality. But you should associate with the freaks. Get to know the weird ones. Some of the strangest brains on this planet are in the heads of the people running it. People with different outlooks cause things to happen. Things that normal people can't tap into. There's enough following being done across the Earth as it is, there needs to be more innovation. Normal doesn't cut it for innovation.

My closest of friends are the most different people I know - and that is one of the biggest compliments I can give to them. I am so thankful to be close to some brilliant minds. I still am very grateful for every person that has affected me in my life, and that is a long list, trust me. But there is such a cool feeling thinking about the outliers in my life. I've done things with some of my friends that would never have come to life had it been with anyone else. I have had some of the greatest ideas, trips, experiences, and laughs because of the people in my life that are the most not-normal.

Take a minute to evaluate the people you know - really evaluate them. I'm sure you already know who is the closest to you in your life. But consider what really makes them tick. What kind of people are they? Why do they do things that the majority does not? Why do they want those things?

Thanks to all of the outliers in this world. You guys are the best.

Adventure

2011-01-05T23:34:00.001-05:00

The world we live in is a huge place.

Growing up, I used to go out in my backyard a lot. It's not the actual yard that made me love going out there. It was the woods behind it. Sure, throwing a ball around and playing in the grass was all fine, but in the trees is where the real action was. Looking out into the brush and not being able to see past that one tree, or noticing something out in the leaves that looks interesting, was enough to get me going back there all the time.

I'm in my house right now. Every single thing within eyesight right now (save for what I can see out my windows), exists as a direct result of an unnatural action. People made every single thing in my room. I don't consciously think about that fact very often, but I sometimes get an overwhelming feeling of wanting to be outside. I'm sure other people feel the same way – lots of people say they just "need to get out of the house" for whatever reason. Truth is, people should feel like going outside a lot more.

My brother and I used to explore everywhere in the woods behind my house. Nobody really cared about the property lines, so a span of effectively every house on our road was our world. Even the houses on the opposite side of the woods didn't mind us wandering around back there. My point is, there was a lot to do back there.

A river runs back there, which we walked on when it was frozen and even swam in when it wasn't. My neighbor built a treehouse out of the wood from our old back deck, so it feels like that part of our house never really left. There's a huge hill cleared of trees that was supposed to be a road which was never paved, which is perfect for sledding. There are huge fallen trees, mysterious abandoned items, and perfectly secluded spots that are just right for taking a seat, taking in a deep breath, and just being.

Each trip back there was an adventure.

Everyone take a minute and look up "geocaching." In short, you take GPS coordinates from the internet and try to find a hidden stash at the location. You get to take things from it as long as you put something back, and write your name on the list of people who have found it. It's like a mini treasure hunt, a mini adventure. There are millions of these hidden containers around the whole planet too – you will never run out of adventures. Free entertainment readily at your disposal that gets you outside in a unique way that can be shared with friends: Yes, please.

It's important to explore. Finding new things, taking part in different activities, and becoming a new person from them will always be completely awesome. We should try to do as much different stuff as possible. And most importantly, think of those things as adventures. The world becomes a much more exciting place that way. Life is one big adventure, but make a point to experience every aspect of life as one, too.

(This blog was uploaded via e-mail because Blogger isn't working properly today. I apologize if it looks messy).

--
Robert Capone, Comptroller
accounting@mtp-usa.com
973-616-2600 x1036
MTP

Talent

2011-01-04T21:33:00.000-05:00

Everyone has talent.

Immanuel Kant is thought of as one of the most famous and revered philosophers that this world has ever known. It would take more than a simple blog post to go into all of the ideas he has shared with us. His position on how people should live their lives is based on duty - that is, people should do what they are morally obligated to do throughout their lives. Obviously, there are major objections to his philosophy, but for argument's sake, let's pretend for a moment that Kant is right. Performing one's duty is crucial to living a proper life.

There are several ways in which a person can fail to perform their duties. Some of these ways include breaking promises (it became your duty to fulfill what you said you would do), and committing suicide (regardless of your opinion of your own life, others still care about you, and it is your duty to be good to others). Another is to squander one's talents. You are in complete control of your own talent - and any disregard to hone those talents is a huge problem.

Talents are gateways. Every special skill or unique ability that any person has ever had, has lead in one way or another to a positive outcome. Nothing bad can come from developing your skills. Consider the opposite extreme: Your life is spent stagnating in a state of carelessness. The only things you experienced in life were a direct result of someone else's doing. Already, this sounds like a sorry state of affairs. This is exactly what every human on this planet should work hard to avoid. Knowing that every single person has something that they can contribute to the world that no other person has is the only reason needed for people to strive for dedicated talent growth.

Notice how I said "that no other person has." Whether you know of it yet or not, there is something that you can do that nobody else can. Arguably, everything that you do is completely impossible to replicate, so in a sense, you are the best at everything that you do. However, that doesn't mean that you can simply kick back and play the "unique card" whenever you want. Being unique doesn't mean you are entitled to not try. What life is there except for the one where people strive to be their best? It is our duty to be our best, and developing our talents is what gets us there.

The important thing to do is to just keep doing things. Don't sit around and wait for something exciting to come along. You can be that exciting thing if you just hone your talents to become it.

Happiness

2011-01-03T22:19:00.001-05:00

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”

-Theodore Roosevelt.

In my New Years Day blog post, I wrote that one of my resolutions is to find happiness, and to keep it. When I first established it, my mindset was this: "Okay, I can handle this. I know I can achieve this resolution, in fact I more or less have done it already. This, I can handle." Upon first reading it, it makes sense. Find, have, and share happiness. Easy. But the concept of "keeping" happiness is a volatile one. Keeping anything is (much) harder than first establishing it.

Think of how long it takes to construct a building. Time and energy are expended to a pretty big extent. Well, one bulldozer and one day is what it takes to bring it down like it never existed. Think of a job interview. You are evaluated with a couple of questions to ascertain if you can do the job required of you or not. But, it's not until you actually start working and potentially mess up until they see your true capabilities, and revoke your position. Think of how it might only take one negative hiccup in your day to throw a monkey wrench in your mood.

The moral of this post that I want to make is this: Happiness is relative. You are only as happy as you want to be, and at the same time, you will lose that happiness to the degree that you let it happen. Nobody on this planet is entitled to be happier than you are, for any reason. Yes, there are people set for life and well-off in healthy environments, but we are all human. We all react similarly to different things. The rich might only find happiness in things very unrelated to money. Same goes for the people with little money. What's important is allowing yourself to experience the maximum happiness with what you have.

Everyone has bad days. They're like a disease. They infect you, change your mood, make you liable to spread them to others, and sometimes won't go away unless you just wait it out. Bad days just happen. It is up to you decide how low they bring you down. A building might fall down, but you can rebuild it. You might lose your job, but you can find another. You can shrug it off.

Think like a hedonist. For those of you who don't know, hedonism is the concept that all end results, rewards, possessions, gifts, and any other possible thing in life eventually boils down to one intrinsic value: happiness. (Granted, happiness isn't exactly easy to measure, but you can kind of assign "happiness levels" to different things in your life) Your car has value equal to how much happiness it gives you. Your breakfast is valuable only to the extent that it makes you happy. Now, why am I saying think like a hedonist?

You will be better off. Do things based on how happy you want to be in the end. Do things for others based on how happy those actions will make you. Your whole way of life will be oriented around one simple goal, one that you can strive for every day. Finding happiness will be a normal occurrence. And the best part is that you don't need to have anything in order to do this. You just need to go about life looking for a reason to put a smile on your face, and share it with someone else. "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."

My goal is not to tell people how to live. But I do think all advice is good advice. And my advice to you is to try and be as happy as possible. Sadness can be a thing of the past if you make it. You only live through life once - I say you should be happy as you live it.

Stuck

2011-01-02T22:11:00.001-05:00

At some point, everyone gets stuck.

Raise your hand if you have ever been writing an essay, and you find yourself staring at the page for 10 minutes in the middle of your second body paragraph. Raise your hand if you have ever been working on a project, and you just walk away from it for a while because you need to try to think of new ideas for it. Raise your hand if your car has ever run out of gasoline miles from a gas station. All of these situations, among countless others, are exactly what we don't want when we're trying to do something or go somewhere. We don't want to be stuck.

Today I was balancing a checkbook (Please, hold the applause) for my dad's company. We use an online reconciliation program where the user can make edits themselves after collecting data from the bank accounts online. Some things come through messy, so they need to be fixed. Halfway through, I was trying to find a certain transaction, but couldn't. There was supposed to be something that was causing the bank not to match the program, but I didn't see it anywhere. I looked for what seemed like a year. I was stuck. And trust me, being stuck feels a lot worse when its because of something like a checkbook.

But we don't stay stuck forever.

People all have the unique ability to get themselves out of holes. It doesn't matter how steep the climb is, if you want out of the hole, you can manage it. We are able to finish essays even if we stop for a little bit in the middle of writing them. We can think of new ideas if we put our minds to it for a long enough time. We can call for help when we run out of gas, and we make it back home before it gets too cold. And I did indeed find the missing transaction.

Sometimes, being stuck for a while is what makes the end product better. Suppose during the middle of an essay (that you planned everything through on), you got stuck. You went into it knowing every idea that you wanted down on the paper, but you forgot some of them. You're stuck, and now need to brainstorm. You then think of something (something that, had you just written everything you were prepared with, would never have existed), which ends up putting a huge positive spin on your writing. Bingo. Being stuck helped you out.

And it makes sense. When something bad happens to someone, yes, there may be bad consequences. But so many more good consequences can come from it. A coworker might laugh at you mockingly for having a stain on your shirt - but it was just in time for you to clean it before you walked in to a meeting with your boss. The teacher might call the class in from recess early, but now you will keep your new sneakers out from the rain storm that was on its way. It's better to take a blow now when you can take it than later, when the situation may be different, and you can't take it.

And hey, me not knowing what to write about for a blog post today might cause me to have something to write about for a blog post today. I should get stuck more often.

Distractions

2011-01-01T23:44:00.000-05:00

Staying focused is important.

Right now, I am watching the Fiesta Bowl football game, Uconn against Oklahoma. At the time of me writing these words, I began this blog post 15 full minutes ago. That means, that these few sentences that you have read so far have taken me 15 minutes - just because I keep looking up at the TV. It is also 11:20, meaning I have exactly 40 minutes to finish and post this in order to fulfill my goal. It might seem like plenty of time, but keep in mind... Fiesta Bowl.

Distractions, while completely controllable, can tickle every person's weaknesses. No matter what you are trying to get done, there is always something out there to keep you from finishing. People need to just buckle down and seclude themselves from everything other than their goal. My example of finishing this post might be a little extreme, for two reasons: I actually attend Uconn, so I am emotionally invested in the team (come on, let's see a major upset!), and there are several people from school who I want to see on TV, my girlfriend in the band being one of them. Kind of challenging to 100% not watch the game, considering that there are elements like multitasking at play.

It's not a lie that more would get done if everyone were to dedicate themselves to a task. But, that is unrealistic. We are humans, not robots. Things like multitasking are going to happen, no matter what. Breaks will be taken. Days off will be taken. People forget things. People prioritize some things over others. Regardless of the circumstances, nothing in this life will ever be brought to 100% completion. There will always be something that could have been done in addition to the "finished" product, maybe at the cost of that extra break that you took or those 10 minutes that you goofed off.

That's all fine, though. Nobody should want to be able to do things to perfection. A distraction is just one more thing that is keeping us from going crazy. People can't work solid 8 hour blocks - they need to take breaks. We don't work every single day of the week - we need days off. If people stay focused while they work, then they are fulfilling their capabilities. We can focus on entertainment too, though. Take everything in moderation, as long as you do each thing with conviction. Work hard, and play hard.

Good thing ESPN needs to take breaks in the form of commercials, too. Finished this just in time.

Happy New Decade

2010-12-31T19:45:00.001-05:00

Today, millions upon millions of people are getting together with their friends to congratulate the Earth for one more successful revolution around the Sun.

The end of a year is a funny time. It's the time of year where everyone get's to reflect on what they have accomplished in the past 365 days. It's a time of peace, it's a time of happiness, of celebration, and of closure. It's when people will be dating their papers with the wrong year, and then they joke about it. So many thoughts cross everyone's minds of how well things did or didn't go for them, and how they hope things will or won't change for the year to come. Right now, all brains are in the mindset of "the new year."

But I think people should be considering "the new decade."

A decade is 10 years time. But, people often consider new decades to only begin on years that end with 0. But a decade is just 10 years time. We start new decades every year. Technically, not only do we start a new decade every year, but a new century every year. Every decade overlaps with several other decades, but they still exist. Why is the focus all about the new year? Why aren't we thinking about how our lives will change for the better in the next ten years? In fact, shouldn't we just be thinking about ways to change ourselves for the better for the rest of our lives?

I had a conversation with my father today about our family. Keep in mind that I'm 19 years old right now. My dad met my mom when he was 23. Five years later he was married. Two years later he had his first son. He was 30. When my dad was 30, he had a baby boy. Thirty. Remember that I am 19 at the time of this writing. Now, the future is unwritten, and I have no idea what is going to happen (though I like to think I have some semblance of a plan), but in a single decade, I might have a wife. I might have a son or daughter. I might have a son and a daughter. In 10 years time. That's a lot more groundbreaking than thinking of the work you will do in one year, or the things you will accomplish in one year.

People are trying to think of new long term goals to have completed by the end of this next year. My question is this: Are they really long term goals? It's scary to think of it this way, but it's just one year. What about things you want to have done ten years from now? Life goals that you want done? Sure, you can have things completed this year that you ideally want to have before ten years are over, but life is short, people. Blink and it will be all over.

If anything puts things into perspective, it's the next two paragraphs.

Two years ago, I was a senior in high school. I took some AP classes, had many close friends and ended my high school career feeling proud. A year ago, I spent my first year at Uconn in the school of business - I met lots of new people, and got to share a year in college with my brother before he transferred to Quinnipiac. This year I made a ton of close friends at school, and am still working for my father in the family business. Next year, I hope to be a resident assistant at school, and will be taking some core business classes.

Two decades ago, I didn't exist. Nothing on this planet had changed in any sort of way from something that I did. My hands had touched nothing. One decade ago, I was still learning that sharing is caring, I was still blowing my nose in my shirt because I didn't care, and I was actually concerned that I wasn't going to be tall when I was older (but that all worked out in the end). This decade, these 10 years that are ahead of me, will yield so many unknown results that it completely excites me. I'm anxious to experience anything that this next one year has to throw at me, but i'm also waiting to see what the next years have in store.

"Where do you see yourself in 10 years?" is a pretty popular interview question. I hate hearing it as much as the next person, because I'm pretty sure nobody can say for sure (at least, not with complete confidence) where they will be. But we should try to have an idea. Think in terms of decades, not years. Did you fulfill all of your new decade's resolutions this decade? Have you established your future new decade's resolutions for when 2020 comes around?

I have a few. One of them I'll share (and I hope was a part of your resolution list already) is this: Find happiness, and once you find it, never ever lose it.

Happy New Decade, everyone!

Do What Seems Harder

2010-12-30T23:20:00.000-05:00

In the figurative "road" that is life, there are many, many forks.

I like to think that there is a general rule of thumb that can be applied to any type of situation. Pretty much every problem that someone encounters, every challenge that is met, and every decision that has to be made can have a rule of thumb applied to it based on previous similar events.

For example, let's say you were invited to a New Years party, and accepted the invitation. The next day, you receive a second invitation to a party that you think will be much more entertaining than the first. You already agreed to go to the first party. What would you do? Another example: You have a paper due tomorrow. You finished it, but you really need to get an A on it to boost your grade. Unless you go over it and make some serious edits, you are probably not going to get the A you want. What would you do?

My father has more than once given me the following advice: Whenever presented with any decision where you need to choose one option over another, no matter what the situation, you should always pick the one that seems harder. It's foolproof. Think of the examples I mentioned. Obviously you would want to go to the better new years party. It would be easy to make up an excuse and potentially upset the person throwing the first party. But whatever, they won't mind - right? Well, maybe not. You could instead keep your word and still go to the possibly less entertaining party. It would bug you that you could maybe be having more fun - but it was the right thing to do. Same thing with the paper: Anyone could just stop right there and hand in what they have. But what is harder? Well, staying up and turning it into an A paper is much more difficult than just going with what you already wrote.

So many times will you have to make a choice in your life. The more effort you put into something, the greater a result you will receive from it. Putting in effort is certainly harder than not doing anything, so I think it's clear what the message is. Decide based on the outcome, not the short term. Do you want to go to law school? Better start studying now, even if it means sacrificing some short term free time. Do you need money for a new cellphone? Earning the money and buying it yourself is more rewarding than being given it right away.

Things would work out better if everyone were to adopt this policy. The population's engine would be running at a better efficiency. More happy people, more deals being made, more productivity... more of a lot of good things. Just that little bit of extra effort being put into the harder choice is what makes for a better future. Small and large tasks alike, the effort shows in the results.

I am completely dead from a snowboarding trip today. I don't even want to get up to brush my teeth before going to sleep, and my bed is a few feet away. But... Is it harder to get up and brush my teeth, or just go lay down and go to sleep?

I'll be asleep tonight with minty breath.

Change

2010-12-29T23:51:00.000-05:00

The only constant thing in life is change.

Many an essay that I have written in my life has included the above sentence. I don't know if that is a direct quote from anyone that has said it before, and I don't mean to take credit for it if that is the case. But darn it, if there is one thing in this life that I believe in completely, it's that.

You were an egg inside another person. You were length of about three skin cells. Something the size of one skin cell came along and changed you. You started growing, still inside this person, and were born. Your naive baby eyes fell upon different shapes and colors, your tiny lungs inhaled their first gulps of oxygen, your skin was as smooth and pristine as it will ever be, and you knew virtually nothing. You then began to walk, talk, interpret, learn, understand, experience, pass judgment, use, create, and be. The little skin cell sized fleck of an object that you once were is now a sentient and completely unique person. I can tell you right now that few more than zero things in your life right now are as they were since the beginning.

It blows my mind how people become who they are. More importantly, it's hard to believe how much a person can be different from how they used to be. Personally, I used to never like computers. I liked video games and the idea of technology and what it could do, but I hated computers. To young me, a computer was the thing that my dad had to use when he worked and couldn't play with me. He has worked from home for a long time, so it used to be a complete tease that he was right in the next room but unavailable. But, that's different now. I love computers. I use my laptop all the time. In fact, so do tons of people. They're useful, and I'm glad they're around. The same scenario happens to pretty much everyone - you don't like something, then you do. You never try something for a long time, but then love it as soon as you do. You hate something your whole life, but then you grow to enjoy it.

People sometimes say "Don't change who you are." That's quite possibly the worst advice to ever give to anyone. You might as well say "Stop breathing." Yes, the idea is that you are supposed to just be yourself and become a better person without embodying the traits of others too much. But to not expect any change from any one person is completely unreasonable. Who you are is made up of things you pick up from other people. You only ever try to change for the better anyway, so change should be welcomed by every other person in your life. Imagine a relationship situation where one of the two in the couple is unhappy with the other, and their reasoning for it is because they have "changed." Well... yes, yes they have. The fact that they are saying that should solidify the validity of their relationship, because I'm pretty sure if they were stuck with the same personalities for the whole relationship.... it wouldn't last very long.

I might end up changing this post later... Nah, I'll leave it. But who knows, maybe I will change my mind later.

Go To Bed Tired

2010-12-28T23:29:00.000-05:00

Have you ever suddenly realized that it is time to go to sleep, but you are not tired at all?

If you lead the life of an average human in terms of sleeping cycles, you are probably awake for 16 hours every day. The other 8 are spent sleeping. There's room for deviation from that, but for now, let's just say you sleep a minute for every two that you're awake. Even when getting the proper amount of sleep every night, you should end your day tired. Ready for more sleep. The less fuel you have left in your figurative tank, the more you can recover during that night's sleep.

Think of what entails being tired at the end of the day. Save for the obvious situation where you just didn't sleep much the night before, there are several positive parallels. You probably worked hard that day. You might have played hard that day. Whatever you did, it took energy to do, enough to make you need to get more when the day is done. Maybe you exercised for a long time, which means you are getting healthier. Maybe you shoveled snow all day so that your family and neighbors didn't have to. More often than not, if your energy was spent, you spent it somewhere worthwhile. Be it for personal entertainment like a day ski trip, or volunteering for the day for a charity, your energy was put to good use.

I hate rolling around wide awake in bed. Not because I am trying desperately to get to sleep and can't, but because it means I didn't use all of the energy I had for that day. I could have done more. I could have helped out more. I could be more easily enjoying my sleep that I am now struggling to get. What's wrong with this picture? If I still have the energy I got back from last night, why would I insist on trying to get back even more? Would the next day be the same, where I don't use it all, and don't sleep as well again? It doesn't matter where you use it, but it matters that you do use the energy that you have each day.

People should make a point to do more with what they have. Carrying things for others, rushing ahead to hold doors open, helping move furniture, taking care of a friend's dog, working harder for a cause that means something to you, and every other activity during the day, regardless of its importance. In fact, you should strive to make it important through putting your best effort into it. Making something out of nothing is not as unrealistic as one might think.

It's 11:24 PM as I write this sentence. I'm tired to a pretty reasonable extent, and I'm happy with that. It means I used up my energy, and am ready to get back as much as I can for tomorrow. Now I just need to go to sleep... And not get distracted just before I do. Someone should shut off the Internet for the night...

Make Your Own Fun

2010-12-27T22:53:00.000-05:00

You could be the most entertaining person in your life if you wanted to be.

Raise your hand if you have ever caught yourself saying "I'm bored" on more than one occasion in a day. My hand would be up if I wasn't typing, in fact today is a perfect example for me. Just from those two words, "I'm bored," you could probably conclude that your day is not quite up to par with others. People that are bored want something exciting to happen. They want to hear a joke. They want their day to take a turn for the better. They're looking for something different. They want something new. But what these people are missing is the obvious solution to their problem: they can make their own fun.

Full disclosure, I get bored just like everyone else. There are days where I want to be served entertainment on a silver platter, just because I don't want to go get it. But that's bad. Imagine a stand-up comedy routine. Think of the huge audience that has come to listen to this one guy. One person is supplying entertainment to dozens and dozens of people, when he might as well be telling his jokes to a couple of his close friends. The ratio is a bit imbalanced, isn't it? One comedian to many, many audience members. It only takes one person to make a ton of people happy - and the person making the jokes is probably having a good time too.

The point I am trying to make is this: Everyone on this planet is a consumer. We pay for food, we pay for shelter, we pay for clothes, we pay for other people's food shelter and clothes (if they are close enough to us), we pay for entertainment, we pay for transportation... We give away a lot of our earned money for a huge variety of stuff. But that stuff has to come from somewhere. Who made the food? Who built the house? Who made the clothes? You're one of three types of people - a consumer, a creator, or a mix of both. Consumers make up an enormous percentage of the population. But creators keep them going. Creators can keep themselves going. Creators don't ask for entertainment on a silver platter - they're not the bored ones.

Anyone can be a creator. Comedians are creators. Cooks, babysitters - really, employees of any kind are all creators in some way. Be the one to tell a joke and laugh along with the person who is hearing it. Be the one to cook a meal and still enjoy it with the others that are eating it. Make something for someone that you can both enjoy together. Make your own fun.

The secret is to make your own fun, and then make more so you can share it with others. Nobody was ever ungrateful for the person that gave away extra anything. Create for both yourself and your neighbors.

...I'm not bored anymore.

Nothing Days Don't Exist

2010-12-26T23:41:00.000-05:00

There's about a foot of snow on the ground right now.

Today felt to me like a "nothing day." Everyone knows what a nothing day is. I'll fill you in on mine: I didn't do anything outside (a trip to the store in the morning doesn't really count), I was on the internet a lot, and I did so few productive things that I might as well have just skipped this day of my existence and picked up tomorrow, when maybe I get some things done.

At least, that's my mindset. But I'm wrong to think all that. Nothing days don't actually exist.

Think of a time that you were talking with someone, and you start talking about what the other person has been up to. "Oh, nothing really... today has been kind of slow, I didn't do anything at all." Really? Nothing at all? Oh, you mean you just had a "nothing day." I see, I mean I guess we can accept that and just hope that tomorrow is more exciting... No. Wrong. You mean to tell me that you did absolutely nothing of note today? I call shenanigans. You must have done a few things - maybe few enough for you to have forgotten all about them, or few enough that the lack of productivity the rest of the day clouded the significance of those events. But they still got done. You did the basic requirements to keep a human body alive and functional for a day. You probably socialized, which developed your relationship with whoever you were socializing with. Maybe you walked your dog. Maybe you read something - anything is enough to build your intelligence, in even the slightest extent. Maybe you organized some things. In every pile of dirt are a few shiny rocks - and in every slow day are a few productive activities.

Not a single day goes by where a person accomplishes nothing. I don't care how little you think you did, you still were a part of this Earth for a day, and you still affected something in some way, no matter how little the result of that action was. Every action has consequences. Think of the theory that, if someone were to travel backwards in time and kill a fly, it might drastically alter the future. Flies might as well have "nothing days" every day, at least relative to humans. Well, if a fly can do things to drastically change the flow of history, a human could do it without even lifting a finger. Not saying that you did any potentially history-changing things during your nothing day, but you still did things.

The main point is this: Even when dwarfed by comparing it to your most busy of productive days, your day today was not a "nothing day." Surviving on this planet, all things considered, is impressive enough, so pat yourself on the back.

I did indeed buy groceries today - so money exchanged hands and my family now has more food. I did get some work done for my dad - productivity. I spoke with friends and played with my dog for a little while - socializing, which was good for the well being of all of us. And I'm sure I did a bunch of other things that I can't remember right now, not because they weren't important (because everything is, for everyone), but because they just are slightly less impressive or noteworthy that I don't make a point to remember them. Small impulses, though, can still have large repercussions.

Oh, and I wrote a blog post, which if nobody even read, helped me develop my writing skills - or at least, prevented me from squandering them. But, for every person that reads it, that's one more person that I influenced in some way, big or small.

I guess I didn't have a nothing day today, after all.

Stop Only When You're Finished

2010-12-25T22:38:00.000-05:00

Christmas is supposed to be a happy time of year.

Earlier this evening, my dog Bella (no, my family didn't name her, and no, her name was not a result of the Twilight series) was nowhere to be found. Apparently, she was let outside to do her business, and no more than 5 minutes later, she was gone. My family immediately went into panic mode. Keep in mind, we were all borderline asleep from eating a huge dinner, and the last thing we wanted to do was move around - let alone look around for our lost dog. Talk about a nightmare. But still, we of course went out to look for her.

So my brother started searching the backyard and in the woods, my dad walked up and down the street to see if she was close by, and I drove around to see if maybe she got a little further from the house. After a few minutes, I picked up my dad after a little while so we could drive around together. I said to him "Don't worry dad, we'll find her."

For all I knew, Bella could have been running full speed away from our house for the entire time that we were searching. But I was 100% right when I said we would find her. Not because I was confident that she would be near our house, but because there was no way we were going to stop looking until we found her. None of us cared that we were tired, we just wanted our dog. We weren't going to be done looking until our dog was back home. Anyone else would feel the same way. She's a part of our family. Every law of Christmas says that family needs to be together.

Our dog being lost was a pretty extreme case of the point I want to make today. It is a pretty simple moral: Don't call it quits before it's time to actually call it quits. Nothing is ever done until you are happy with what you have in the end. Ever look at an unfinished painting before? It might still look okay, but don't you just want to see it when it is actually done? I feel that way. I feel similarly about movies. I hear people talking about movies that they walk out of half way through because they didn't like it. Well, they just solidified their opinion, because now they didn't even see the whole thing. Maybe their minds would change if they watched all of it. The ending could be worth the 10 bucks to see the movie. If they just finished it, at least they would be able to pass a proper judgment on it.

You don't hand in papers before you write the conclusion. You don't give someone a gift before you finish making it. You don't leave halfway through a meeting. You don't build a house without a roof. You don't cook food and not feed anyone. And you certainly don't stop looking for your dog before you find it.

I proofread what I just wrote, and made sure I liked it all. Everything's proper, and I think the post says what it needs to. I say that its finished.. It's safe to stop and post it now.

Right On Time

2010-12-24T23:59:00.000-05:00

It always feels good being right on time.

Walking into a meeting right when everyone is sitting down, coming into your house and watching the clock turn to 12:00 when that is when you had to be home, and submitting a paper online minutes before the due date rears its ugly head. It's like a little victory in the day when you just barely make a deadline. You challenged, and succeeded. It never fails to feel awesome.

Now, I don't mean to say that things should be put off until the last seconds of available time. Not at all. In fact, that should be avoided at all costs - it merely is epic when you pull off a last minute goal. I'm a big advocate of getting things done early. The reason I am is because I never get things done early. I procrastinate. A lot. Heavily. To extreme extents. If there was an award for procrastination, I'd have it sitting in a glass case so i could show it off. Regardless of how I carry myself, I still think people should try hard to work hard. Having nothing to worry about is such a worthy cause for being early.

Think of a workplace scenario. Early is 100% always better than being right on time. How do you think your boss or supervisor would feel if you handed them a report exactly at the deadline they gave you? Don't you think they'd feel a little better if they had gotten it a little sooner? Maybe they would need to review it before talking to their superior about it later. Everyone wants more time to do what they need to do, and in the workplace, everyone's time is interdependent. Your slacking might mean someone else will have to rush. Less problems will come up if things get done early. It's just easier.

It's not just in a serious scenario like during office hours that this applies. Suppose your parents want you home at 11:00 PM. As soon as you get home, they plan on going to sleep, because they know you are back and safe. If you came home at 10:00, they would go to sleep then, and get an extra hour of Z's before getting up the next day. That sounds nice for them. But for that to happen, you would have to be early. Being right on time would feel cool just for the sake of barely making it, but more good can come from being early than from being on time. More people are better off than just you.

If anyone has been keeping up with the past few days of my blog posts, they would know that I was going to do two posts two days in a row in order to avenge myself from missing a day. The time stamp below this post will end up reading 8:59. The program works through the west coast's time zone, so really I am posting it at 11:59 (two minutes from the moment I am writing these words).

Right on time. I could have crashed and burned and not been able to put the post up on time. But I didn't. If you are wondering - yes, it does indeed feel awesome. Never fails.

Nostalgia

2010-12-24T17:55:00.000-05:00

I played a lot of video games growing up.

Raise your hand if you can think of something from childhood that you did all the time. Whether it was being outside, being at a certain friend's house, or just being a crazy little kid around the house, I can guarantee that you smile when you think about it deep enough. Everyone's childhood is so much different than everyone else's, whether you think so or not. So many variables are introduced to each person's life - what their house was like, what their neighborhood was like, what their school system was like, among other things big and small. People are shaped so much by what happens to them when they are very young - and so much happens when people are very young.

Before anyone makes it to the second grade, their brain makes choices. It develops certain areas based on what it has (already) decided is important to you. For instance, a baby that grew up constantly listening to music will likely want to have music in their life at all times when they're older. Likewise, children that did not listen to much music as an infant would subsequently not feel as inclined to listen to music as adults. Sure, there are exceptions. I'm not trying to argue that every person deprived of music as a kid will never be interested in hearing a song in their future. But the correlation is there - and it helps shape the personalities of the people on this planet.

My brother is about a year and a half older than me. When he was around 6 or so, my parents bought a Nintendo 64 video game system right around its release. Being 4 and a half, I was probably not quite at the age of fully understanding what to do in games like Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda. These games relied heavily on the intuition of the player, and were really more oriented towards an age group a bit older than I was at the time. But I didn't care. I watched my brother play all the time. I bugged him to teach me how to use the controller and play the games. Anyone else that had the interest that I did in video games would have done the same to their siblings about whatever it is they were interested in. I just wanted to play. My brain was slowly orienting itself towards technology, which is still a big part of my life today. I use the computer all the time, read up on newly developed gadgets, and I still play some games when I can.

A couple of days ago, I downloaded Star Fox 64 on my computer. This was one of my favorite games as a kid, easily. A quick summary of what the game is: You play as a pilot in a spaceship, and the goal was to defeat enemies in order to save a planet that is under attack. There were different paths that you could take in the game based on what you accomplished on each stage. For example, if you keep all of your teammates alive, they will show you secret passageways that lead you to different areas, and thus new levels. So, after downloading it, I played through the game three times (it's about 7 or 8 levels long in whatever series of levels you choose) so I could visit each and every level. I remembered pretty much everything about each one. All of the bosses, all of the lines that your teammates say throughout them, and especially the music and sound effects. Remembering so much of the game both shocks me and doesn't at the same time. Sure, knowing so much about some video game might seem strange, but it was one of my favorites. I played it a lot. I remembered all of those cool things now because I was so interested in them as a kid. Everyone will remember the same amount of detail in whatever they did as a kid as I do in this game. It's the way nostalgia works. You find something fun, hold it close to you, then reminisce about its... awesomeness.

Look back on some of the things that you used to do when you were little. Go and do them again. They will be just as satisfying as when you used to do them all the time. Have your kids get into different hobbies so that they can do the same when they grow up. Think about who you are right now, and what you did as a child that brought you there. Everyone is made up of so many completely different memories, and yours are just as special as anyone else's. Nostalgia is a powerful feeling, and its so easy to create it for yourself. Share it with others that grew up with the same things that you did. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a few more games that I want to go play...

Technology

2010-12-23T22:17:00.000-05:00

Earth has gone through a lot.

Right now, you are reading my blog online. Think of how many inventions and innovations it took for that simple sentence to be a fact. The Internet has not been in existence forever. In fact, it hasn't been existence for very long at all - not even 30 years (for public use, at least - its development started quite some time before the 80's). Think of a time long long ago when technology was a distant dream. No internet. No computers. No cars. No skyscrapers. No jet planes. No cell phones. No telephones. No television, no news, no weapons, no tools, no written language.... And certainly no blogs. In its early years, life on earth consisted of what today's standards would be effectively nothing.

The concept of something "natural" is debatable. Pretty much everything man-made can be dismissed as unnatural. But on the other hand, don't you think it's natural for people to take showers? Showers didn't always exist. Don't you think it's natural for people to play sports? Those didn't always exist. So many things today would be considered by an early human as unnatural, but at the same time, it makes sense for some things to be done on a day-to-day basis. So what makes things natural?

Have you ever thought hard about what a "car" is? Humans have developed a means for personal transportation with which they can go over 100 miles per hour (which I don't endorse) down stretches of paved earth for as long as their gas tank and wallet can let them. Now imagine something with me for a minute. Picture yourself riding in a car. Now, picture that, but without the car. Something along the lines of Wonder Woman in the invisible jet. You're a human, flying through space in complete control of where you're going. You were born into the body of an organism that, on average, can max out at maybe 15 miles per hour (for a short while), and now you are traveling 70 on a highway and dismissing it as normal. Doesn't sound very "natural" to me. Back when cars were owned only by the very wealthy, people often never left the state /country they were born in - for their entire lives. I just got home from my girlfriend's house in Connecticut (about an hour and a half drive away) at little cost to myself, and I'm not even 20 years old yet - still a lot of life left to live. Technology has allowed me to not only visit her in a timely manner with little inconvenience, but also to write about it for anyone to read here. And that was just a trip to Connecticut. I could go to any location on this planet that has an airport in a day. Unbelievable.

I'm pretty grateful to have been born when I was. Internet, cellphones, access to information... Technology has been pretty kind to the modern day human. And with that, this post is complete. Time to get a drink... From my refrigerator, which keeps everything in it chilled to a temperature that I tell it to.

Better Late Than Never

2010-12-23T13:00:00.002-05:00

The date of this blog post is the 23rd of December.

Now I know what you're thinking. You're thinking "But wait, wasn't there supposed to be a blog post every day for a month?" The answer to that is yes. Yes, there are indeed supposed to be posts for every single day for a month. So, what happened yesterday?

Well, things happen and plans change. Posting was on my mind all day, but I could not find time to do it. It was a travel and work day, yielding very little time for posting on the blog. Even right now I am still very busy, but I am getting the post for yesterday done.

Growing up, any time I was obligated to go to any event that I didn't want to go to, I would hide from my parents and stay away from the car so I would end up being "late." In my mind, being late meant that it was unacceptable to still go. But no, that is never the case. There's always a chance to make up for lost time. I always wanted to put things off until it was, in my mind, morally wrong to continue to do it due to how late I was. No. Being late means nothing, and sometimes being late can make a situation better.

Later today I will post a second blog. And, to make up for breaking the rule of "a post a day," I will again put up two posts tomorrow as well.

Better late than never, as they say.

Forgetting Is Good

2010-12-21T18:07:00.000-05:00

Do you consider yourself to be a person who remembers a lot of stuff?

Last night, I came downstairs to find my father watching a special on 60 Minutes about people who remember everything. I walked in halfway through, and did not hear exactly what made these people remember everything, but some sort of condition in their brain allowed for just that. For the sake of this post, I'll just call them "the people," because I don't know the condition, their names, or anything else about them. Rest assured, they did in fact remember everything. Questions were asked of them regarding the 1960s, football games from when they were 7 years old, and as many other obscure topics that you can think of. They continued to rattle off every last detail about those specific years, those specific football games, and other events that we dismiss every day as nothing. Rest assured, these people rattled off more details of these past events than I can give in a description of what I did this morning.

These people were human video cameras. Everything that they have seen and heard has been archived in their super-storage heads. They are outliers in a sample of normal human brains. But a problem lies dormant at the bottom of their incredible gift - they can't forget anything. It's not that they don't want to forget and try to retain every lick of information, they simply can't forget. Forgetting is a basic facet of human function, but they can't do it. Not to say that they aren't human. Humans can lack arms and legs and still be human, just as mega brain-power doesn't rule you out either.

I don't remember much from kindergarten. Or first grade. Or even a lot from my freshman year of high school. I can tell you a few key moments of those years that stick out in my mind as unique, but that's about it. I can recall a few little this-and-that things as well, but not very many. People forget a lot of stuff throughout their lives, regardless of the importance of those memories, the magnitude of those memories, and when those memories first happened. Everyone's personality is shaped based on forgotten events. Decisions are made based on how you have made similar decisions in the past, regardless of your recollection of the outcome.

In the 60 Minutes special, a point was brought up about how people familiarize themselves with a recurring event, and establish a "typical" sense of that event in their minds. Think of a walk that you might take often, or a road that you frequently drive on. You can explain a typical walk or drive - you might look at the trees, you might say that you like the scenery in that area, or you might just go that way because it's quicker than the other options. These people can't form typical memories. They notice every nuance of every event, regardless of how often they experience it. They might say that they saw a squirrel behind the 11th tree at 3:47 PM when they took their walk yesterday, but today they saw it (they'd say it was the same exact squirrel if they got a close enough look at it to be sure) behind a different tree at 3:30. Every single experience becomes 100% unique, and can't be related to other ones. Personalities are formed based on completely independent events, all of which are very hard to connect to each other.

None of the people in the special were unhappy, in fact they all seemed very pleased with their ability. I'm not trying to argue that they should be unhappy with what they can remember, but I am saying I like being able to forget. I don't know if I would want to never be able to forget a negative thing that someone might have done to me. I don't know if I would want to remember every gross image my eyes have ever come across. I don't even have much control of remembering those things, unless I commit them to memory on purpose - which, if the memories are unpleasant, I won't do.

I've had to go over this post several times because I forgot a lot of what I had already written, and didn't want to repeat myself. But I guess that's okay, I forget a majority of the information I take in. Or maybe I forget a minority... I don't know, I forget how much I have learned in the first place.

Laughing is a Gift

2010-12-20T18:36:00.000-05:00

Laughing is awesome.

I can say with considerable conviction that laughter is one of the best things that a person can do. The reason why is because of all of the different things that parallel laughter. It means the situation is light hearted, it means two or more people are coming together, it means you're socializing, it means you're losing weight (yes, people lose weight from laughing), it means you can put away any negativity for a minute and let out a smile, and it means you have something to laugh about.

Think of a time when you have walked through a densely crowded area. Think of everyones faces. Have you ever noticed that a handful of them (or even most of them) look unhappy? Granted, the thing on everyone's mind might be something along the lines of "Get me the hell out of this crowd," so they might all look unhappy for a common reason. But still, stern faces are abundant when you look at enough of them. Point is, there are people out there that rarely laugh. I can't believe that. I'm the kind of person who laughs at absolutely nothing, so that kind of situation is very foreign to me. Laughter to me is innate, and it bothers me that to some people it is not. It shouldn't have to be that way.

But think about those types of people. How many people in the world are worse off than you right now? If I asked myself that question, I wouldn't know the answer. I can't count that high. Right now I'm sitting in a warm room, in my bed, using the Internet as I smell a home cooked meal being made downstairs by the family that I love. There are people with none of those things. Some of the stern faces in that crowd have been stern all day. The circumstances that some people have are opposite of my own. A joke I find hilarious might fall flat for someone just because they are too preoccupied thinking of how unhappy they are with something in their life. I find days unique when I laugh less, but some people think just the opposite. I don't care what anyone says, this world needs more laughter. Too much is not enough - load it up, keep it coming, and don't stop.

Today my brother and myself were sitting on the couch at home, both of us on our laptops working. Long story short, the two of us were laughing uncontrollably for a solid 10 minutes (over one of those "you had to be there" kind of situations, so I won't try to explain it). When I say "laughing uncontrollably," I mean uncontrollably. One of the only things I am ever comfortable with that I can't control is laughing. We were somewhat laughing simply at each other's laughter, but it was still incredibly fun. We were happy people for those 10 minutes. We were coming together, we were losing weight, being positive, and smiling in those 10 minutes. I'd say that was a well spent 10 minutes. I wish it lasted longer. I wish more people got to laugh with us. I wish that it will happen again in the future.

Laughter needs to be thought of as a gift. It is the kind of gift that you should give frequently, more than once to the same person, at every chance that you can. The kind of gift that you can just throw in with what you already were planning on giving, because you can afford to do that. It is free to give, and free to receive. Whether you think so or not, it is not something that everyone has - and even those who do have it will welcome more of it.

So go listen to some stand-up comedy, or talk about a funny memory with a friend, or think of some crazy thing to do just to be random. And make sure you laugh when you do it.

Negotiating

2010-12-19T16:02:00.000-05:00

People tend to settle for less than what they really should.

I took an Intro to Communications class this past semester at school. Among other topics, one of the concepts that was covered was negotiating - how people do it, when it is done, trends that we can see in negotiations, and the like. One of the ideas discussed was that, when presented with a conclusive situation, people simply accept it. We hear that there is "nothing we can do," and we then proceed to do nothing. What's our deal? Naturally, people want to enjoy the best possible results from every situation. Why give in for a fraction of what we wanted?

Raise your hand if you have ever called customer service. I cringe just writing it out. Consider this scenario: You're calling some phone company for a refund because your cellphone hasn't been working for the last month. You're looking for a $30 reimbursement (which to a big company is chump change). You're greeted by a slow-talking, monotone "automated assistant" who cycles through ALL of the options before he gets to the one you want. You finally get a live person on the phone and start explaining your situation, and they promptly tell you they don't give refunds. You hang up and call back hoping for a different representative, who when consulted, gives you the same answer.

Here is where the fork in the road lies. At this point, more often than not, people are already so disinterested in staying on the phone with customer service (considering they had to go through the automation and 2 representatives), that they accept that answer. But what if you tried to negotiate more? Maybe you would be rerouted to a supervisor, who would then also tell you they don't give refunds. But what if you negotiated even more? What if you gave them such a hard time that they not only give you a refund, but pay you extra for the time you had to waste trying to get it? Many people would have given up by that point, thinking there was no chance of getting their refund. But they wouldn't know unless they negotiated.

So, next time you call customer service (or negotiate anything for that matter), give them some problems. Be that guy that they need to get the supervisor for. Argue your point, don't just give it. Make the other side give in, you don't have to.

An Experiment

2010-12-18T15:56:00.000-05:00

I like to think of myself as a spur-of-the-moment kind of person.

Hello! This is a blog. Upon its completion, there will be one month's worth of daily posts, where every day there will be something different, unique, and hopefully interesting. I had the idea to create this blog exactly 5 minutes before the time of me writing this, and decided to follow through with it about 3 minutes later. I have never done anything like this before, and have no idea how people will react to it. But that answer will remain unknown unless I do it, so lets find that out together. We'll have to think of it like an experiment, with the results out of sight until it is finished.

I am a firm believer that long term success is just a string of short term successes. The most impressive books are the ones that can survive for a multiple installment series, namely things like Harry Potter or The Chronicles of Narnia. There is power in numbers. My hope with this blog is that, even though each individual post might not be something especially incredible (but I hope each one is), it will still stand on its own when it is done, and be something special. Thirty days of whatever I might feel needs to be said, written for anyone who is interested to read it. Small daily projects to make one success after a month.

So, welcome! I will not promise anything in terms of overall quality that this blog will have to offer, but I will promise to try and create something that is worth the time to visit each day. Posts may be relating to news, to something that happened to me that day, to something that might be bothering me, or to something completely random. Everyone has ideas to share - I'll try to think of a few that people would want to hear. We'll see what happens as we go.

One month of words, beginning now.