Cornerstone of Business

My business teacher is a little bit crazy. In a good way. Sort of. He's going to make us start our own "business". We have to come up with a business plan, and find what kind of business company that we want to make. Our group is a bit lacking in the creative department, so this isn't going so well for us. We also had Company/Union negotiations yesterday. We had to negotiate on business aspects like wages, vacation, retirement, insurance, and job security. Our group was the union. It was kind on fun with everyone vying for a good contractual agreement. I like the fact that half of cornerstone of business is him just telling us stories or goofing off, and somehow relating them to what we're learning at the time. We've learned about business ethics and management skills, with time enough for him to explain to us what sesame street we're like if none of them had a moral code. The class is really laid back, but I'm actually learning about business. I wouldn't all classes being like this, but you can't win everything.

Wikipedia is ridiculous.

I love Wikipedia. I'm pretty sure three-fourths of what I have learned in my entire life has come from there. I always like to click the "random page" button, and go from there. It will start me on something like "Chewbacca" and I'll end up on that one wikipedia page where it shows you how you can make an entire sentence out of the word "buffalo". That's the thing with wikipedia. It's not all serious subjects. For example, the page explaining the "High Five". It has hilarious picture examples on how to do the "too slow" high five. Or the article on circle strafing in video games. That one even has a GIF of how to circle strafe. Me and a friend tried to do six degrees of Kevin Bacon on there, but with Hitler instead. It's much easier then you'd think. Just find any country involved in any world war and go from there. Apparently finding Kevin Bacon is much harder. I haven't tried. I don't have the mental fortitude from something like that. I like the fact that I can pull up any sports teams history on there and read about them. It turns out that the Green Bay Packers are not owned by one person, but rather owned by a conglomerate of people. It's the only team in the NFL that isn't owned by just one person. Also, the Seattle Sonics are gone. They got replaced by the Oklahoma City Thunder. It doesn't really matter, because they both suck, but still. I'm just afraid to see what happens when wikipedia becomes sentient. I don't want any skynet business.

Halloween

From the first year I was in my neighborhood, me and my neighbors had a yearly tradition on halloween. Most people would dress up and go getting candy, dressed up in scary attire to see who can get the biggest handful of candy from the person who was giving it away. We were different. Every year, one of us would try to scare the people that came to the door. We came up with many creative ways to do it. My favorite one was the fake scarecrow. One of us would put on a hoodie and jeans. We'd basically try to cover all parts of our bodies that could be shown. Then we'd stuff straw into the pants legs and hoodie arms, and into the hood of the hoodie so our faces couldn't be seen. We'd lay there next to the door completely still, until someone came by. We would then jump at them, sometimes silent, and sometimes with a loud banshee yell for the added effect. You would be surprised at the number of people we scared. We even scared the people that were leading the children from house to house. This may not sound creative, but for a group of ten year olds this was one of the most creative things we'd thought of in our entire life.

Meet Joe Blog

Meet Joe Blog is an explanation of bloggings effects on today's culture. Blogging has shown that it can have a huge effect on politics, through which it exposes scandals and reveals information that news channels are too politically correct to reveal. One blogger, Matt Drudge, helped in the exposure of Bill Clinton's affair. Around 2002, bloggers began to offer genuine arguments. Blogs also help expose things that the government doesn't want to be seen. Russ Kick posted pictures of the coffins of soldiers, which quickly made it's way to mainstream news stations. Blogging has the unusual ability of infecting people, and making them want to tell others about news stories. The fact that blogging is free helps, too. There are no requirements to start blogging except to know how to use the internet. It is the voice of the people, too. It isn't dumbed down by producers, it's pure thought in its rawest form. Some soldiers even blog from countries who we are in war with. Not all blogs are politics, though. Some blogs have to do with movies, video games, programming, or a little bit of both. Blogs cover a wide variety of subjects. Blogging has it's bad sides, too. It can make a rumor into a seemingly true story. For example, the allegations that John Kerry was having an affair with one of his interns. Blogging is a very easy way to reach out to people, and ask for help, or tell what you think, or simply just make conversation.

Vacation

In 2007, the week before my Junior year of school, our youth group went on a trip to Indianapolis to compete in a competition called Fine Arts. Indianapolis is an interesting place. I've been in Montgomery most of my life so I'm used to being able to drive ten minutes to get anywhere. This city was much bigger, and had much more life than home did. We went to the Colts stadium for the competition, which was absolutely huge. There were probably over 20000 people there and no matter where you went the hallways were packed. We made our way around the city, going to the Hard Rock Cafe and the Rainforest Cafe. The mall there was literally across the street from the stadium, so whenever we had time between competing we could just go over there and walk around. Indianapolis was an amazing trip because it was a way to get out of the house and the comforts of home for a week, which was something I didn't get to do very often. I remember we had to stop at a terrible hotel on the way up there, and the rooms smelt of smoke and oranges, and the front desk ran out of towels and had to give us floor mats instead, but we didn't care. It was the liberation from our parents that mattered, and the freedom we gained there was like gold to us. In one week, we'd be back at home, gearing up for a new school year.

Advice

Some would say that the best advice anyone can give a young man is "Don't put twinkies on your pizza." While that is some of the most sound advice that I've heard, I believe that there is a much more deep piece of advice to be given. I had just started learning to play bass so I could play in the worship team at church. I was scared out of my mind to play there. There were a lot of people to hear me mess up and play the wrong notes, or get the wrong rhythym. I was so scared to get up there. When I was as scared as I possibly could be, they decided to put me on stage. What they told me before I got on was "Don't be afraid to fail." That struck a huge chord with me(pun wildly intended). I was a young lad, who didn't know much, and I most certainly didn't think of things this way. I never quite realized for myself that failure is actually the stepping stone for success. And hear me out, I failed like crazy that first time. I was sweating, my hands were all slippery, and I played probably all the wrong notes. But it didn't matter. I knew that I would learn eventually, to find the right rhythym, to get in sync with the rest of the band, and I did. I became a much better bass player because I allowed myself to mess up to make myself better. It takes starting from the bottom to get any higher.

Injury

I've had a pretty painful injury before, and it's probably my only interesting story. I was doing some menial tasks at my church for minimum wage. We changed light bulbs, swept, overall made sure that things were in order for the service the next Sunday. We were outside, mowing the grass near the curb and generally cleaning up the area around there. I was edging for the first time in my life when it shut off. I had no idea how to turn this godless machine on, so I went and asked my boss what I was supposed to do. He began showing me, but his body was blocking what it was doing. I moved around the front of the edger at the exact moment he started it. When it hit me, I jumped. It felt like the blades had just hit me very hard, but not broken through the skin. I looked down to see blood gushing out of my leg and saw my boss run to call an ambulance. I remember sitting down next to the church building, barely concious. One of the friendly janitor ladies ran up to me and gave me a peppermint, which I suppose brought my blood sugar back to normal and brought back to a state of almost perfect clarity. I remember seeing the ambulance pull up, and having the paramedic wrap my leg with gauze. I was distraught when he told me I had to get stitches. I'd never had them before. I clearly remember being driven to the hospital by my mother, and having to show the person at the window that I was bleeding to make her let us go to the back. A few physician's assistants helped me out, one cleaning my wound and the other setting me up to be stitched. The doctor came by with a needle and began pricking each wound. It didn't really hurt. I hadn't felt pain after the initial contact. He stitched the wounds. It was almost beautiful how he moved the metal whatever that he had in his hand to make the stitches close the wound. He told me to take care of myself and sent me on my way. I graduated that same night.

Things I might never do. Maybe.

I'll probably won't have a fancy dinner on Mt. Everest. Bear Grylls did, though. Because he's crazy. I doubt I'll have more then 3 kids. Names get confusing around there. I don't think I'll ever exchange my heart for that of a lion's. Unless you mean metaphorically. I will probably not work as an accountant. Too much brain work. Not that I mind math. I don't think I'll ever be in a cage fight, although that would be pretty awesome. I probably won't ever have a jerry curl. I don't think I'll be addicted to gambling. I will probably never read the book Great Expectations backwards. Charles Dickens just isn't my type of writer. I don't think I will be a doctor. I don't think I'll ever go on one of those beer cruises that have unlimited alcohol. You know those like 80oz steaks? I don't think I'll ever eat an entire one. I don't think I will have a job in the chemistry department. I probably won't ever sell vacuums door to door, but I would totally wear a bowtie if I did. I don't think I will ever shake hands with Peewee Herman, or ever want to for that matter. I will never break the sound barrier. I probably won't be the major cause of declining agriculture in the next 100 years. I don't think I will ever sumo wrestle. Or get into a slap fight with a failed vice presidential candidate. Or be caught in quicksand. I doubt I will have to maneuver myself through the Amazonian rainforest. Or slander Madonna for quick cash. I will probably never invent the cotton gin. I won't aid the Swedes in taking over Egypt.