Strawberry Surprise

So it is about the time of year to get the garden in the ground. I had been noticing periodically through the winter that my strawberry's had not died off completely, but they were looking fairly sad. So when I went out this morning to begin some prep work on my space I was surprised to see that they were coming back to life quite vibrantly. After some weeding I discovered that they have actually transplanted themselves even further than I had last seen. Then came the real shocker... They are already flowering! I haven't even done any work yet and my garden is already growing! So I guess I know one crop that will be in my garden, now to decide what else to grow.

The World Is So Impersonal

It seems somewhat contradictory to write a blog about this subject but I am going to anyway. This is something that has been getting kicked around inside my head for a while. The world and the way our social mediums are developing are creating a less and less personal experience. You see it everywhere. With the obvious advocates like Facebook and Myspace, but it started even before then with e-mail and even the telephone. There was a time where you would have to go and see a person face to face, or in the very least pen a note in order to pass along any correspondence. I believe that required not only more time but more thought. Heavens knows there was no spam mail to worry about back in those days, who had the energy? In this modern day with the internet and the anonymity it provides people are careless and quite frankly reckless in their social communication. The real problems arise when people translate this from the interwebs to the "real world". I think it would do this world a lot of good to slow down and think before typing. Rather than talk on the phone or via e-mail with someone why not go and visit them? It is so much more rewarding to speak face to face with someone, rousing so much more emotion, than to sit and stare at a computer screen. As with most of my topics this is something I feel like I need to personally work on and I hope to do just that, will you?

Hemp Jewelry

I have found a new hobby to help fight back the boredom demons. I was looking for fun and easy ways to make a few extra bucks. One of the things I found was the production of jewelry. Then the other day a friend of mine told me about an encounter with a young lady downtown that walked around peddling hemp jewelry. While I will most certainly not take to the streets to peddle any product, I figured this would at least be something I can do when I find myself bored and plopping down in front of the television. Plus after a little practice and some investment in more materials one day I may try to sell some of this stuff. Anyway, here is a picture of my first bracelet. I used two of the most common knots, one to get a flat pattern on either end and the other to get the twist in the middle.

Fight Walmart

Going right in line with my last post I want to take a second to talk about our great American family that is the Walton's. Oh how they have pulled the wool over our eyes. This company has to be one of the most corrupt money mongering giants to date. They employ people from impoverished countries paying hourly wages that don't even break the twenty five cent mark. These products are then imported to the United States and sold at astronomical profit margins. This is great news... if you are a large stock holder. This evil walmart corporation gets all kinds of government subsidies to come in and build a store that will collapse any local economy that is preexisting. They even go as far as spying on their own employees in an effort to squash any "union talk" that might be brewing. This company is only concerned with one thing, the bottom line. Their profits are priority one, everything else has to take a back seat. I would encourage everyone to watch the documentary "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price" plus follow this link walmartmovie.com and join the fight.

Corporate Cancer

This is something I am becoming more and more aware of as the days fall away. The world and the United States in particular has cancer, in the form of large corporations. I actually just watched the documentary The Corporation and it only served to reaffirm many ideas that I already had. These large corporations are swallowing up everything in sight in an effort to make money. They have no concern for their fellow man other than how we view them. They dance around and play "tom green thumb" but only so far as to convince the consumer that they are a caring and concerned company. The truth is, the only thing these corporations care about is the bottom line... that is making money. They put the bottom line above everything else including their fellow man. Most of these companies could care less about their carbon footprint, or the working conditions of their factories in China or South America. They don't care if they have to lay off thousands of honest hard working people in order to have a slightly higher profit margin. They certainly are not going to take pay cuts themselves, or should I say itself. By law corporations are considered a single individual, even though they are made up of several chairmen. This in effect takes away the personal responsibility that a business owner would have to face up to. Essentially this "person" who is corporation is a sociopath and we should not stand for it any longer. I know I am going to make changes, however small, to remove my support of these destructive cancerous cells of the worlds economy, will you?

Selling My Motorcycle, Buying a Westfalia

Well that travel bug is biting hard once again. I think this time I am going to make it stick. I haven't been really engaged in school this semester and my grades, although passing, are not where I would like them to be. No one to blame there but myself. It is one more thing now not in the way of me taking off on a cross country road trip in a van. So, I am selling my GSX-R 750 and using the money to first pay off some debt and second finance part of this dream. I am hoping that I will be able to pick up odd jobs here and there throughout the journey in order to extend my voyage. It is now closer to happening than it ever has been before, and that is exciting and a little scary at the same time. Having to sell some of my beloved materials (the motorcycle and contemplating selling my 74 Chevy Nova) is pretty scary to me. Although a big part of this trip is escaping all the material excess and consumerism which is so rampant in America. There are so many more important things in life to focus on. I need to start a list of all the amazing things I want to go and see.

The Liquid Fast Concluded

So the fast is over. I ate lunch and dinner yesterday, and have already had a small breakfast this morning. All in all it was again a very good experience. I think I went into it with too many ideas of how it was going to be rather than just letting it be. I think they are always a good thing to do though. Food is a big part of everybody's life and when you eliminate that it causes you to give more attention to other aspects of your life. I am sure I will do one again some time in the future.

Liquid Diet: Day 6 and 7

Well yesterday really sucked but not because of the fast. I finally caught whatever the kinder gardeners have been passing around for the last week or two. In my half asleep/half sick stupor yesterday morning I woke up in a panic thinking I was late to work, to end up getting there forty five minutes early. Not realizing how sick I was I went back to work on time and only lasted maybe an hour before I was calling to find someone to fill in. Turns out there wasn't anybody available so I had to stick it out, with the assurance that today would be covered. So here I sit on day seven, taking a sick day from work. Since becoming sick I have even less appetite which has made these last couple of days of the fast a little easier. I can't lie though, I am looking forward to lunch tomorrow!