Shallow People

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Arrogant and/or shallow people annoy me.

There are a lot things that annoy me about Facebook. Everything from the stupid things people say on Facebook, to what they share on Facebook about their lives, and the stupid things people invite you to (game applications, for example). Every now and then there are meaningful things shared on Facebook, but usually not.

When I signed onto Facebook this morning, I saw that a girl I've gone to school with since middle school (but don't really talk to much) had updated her status to this:

I hid the picture and the name to protect the person's identity.

I don't now if this person thought it made them sound cool or what, but it just made me laugh at how shallow she was. It made me almost remove her from my friends list too, but the other two people were obviously a lot smarter than me since they actually did it.

How many of these 1300 people are really her 'friends'? She's in one of my classes this semester and the only time she has talked to me was when she needed notes from the two classes she missed. The first time, I gave them to her, the second time... not so much.

I don't know about you, but I would rather have a small group of close friends any day in whom I can confide in and actually enjoy their company.

We all have acquaintances that we are friends with on Facebook -- those that we don't normally talk to -- like people we went to school with in the past or worked with, but they are just that -- acquaintances.

I'll probably go through my Facebook friends list later to see who I actually talk to from the list.



P.S. Don't forget to leave me a comment below on your thoughts! As always, I'd love to hear from you.

Earth Hour 2010

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This is what my twitter default photo switched to automatically during 'earth hour' today:

Something so small, but every little thing helps to raise awareness for such a major problem we are all facing with the climate.

This is something similar to what Google did two years ago, and I blogged about that too. Read that here.

This time though, people got to choose to participate in it themselves through their social networks. Facebook had something similar. This was a great thing for those people who want to do something for the cause, but don't know what.... just by raising awareness.

Last year, we closed off all of the lights and turned off all the unnecessary electronics and left our house to go to a public place, but this year we had guests over so we could not shut off everything.

Did you guys participate this year?

I did not use my computer for several hours and had it turned off (purposefully) and my cell phone was turned off (not on purpose... it just kind of happened), which are TWO major things for me!

Read my blog posts from the past two years on Earth Hour here (2009) and here (2008).



P.S. Don't forget to leave me a comment below on your thoughts! As always, I'd love to hear from you.

Quote of the Day

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"Leaders of the Republican Party, they called the passage of this bill "Armageddon. Armageddon. End of freedom as we know it.

So after I signed the bill, I looked around to see if there any asteroids falling or some cracks opening up in the Earth. It turned out it was a nice day. Birds were chirping. Folks were strolling down the Mall. People still have their doctors."

-- Barack Obama 03.25.2010

P.S. Don't forget to leave me a comment below on your thoughts! As always, I'd love to hear from you.

Blog Design Giveaway!

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Who doesn't love a giveaway?

Custom Scrapbook Blog Designs is holding a giveaway for a Basic Blog Layout! Head over to Custom Scrapbook Blog Designs for more information on how to enter!



P.S. Don't forget to leave me a comment below on your thoughts! As always, I'd love to hear from you.

Politics and Possibilities, Part Two

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This is a continuation of this.

A combination of loud neighbors, sirens going off all night outside, and just being in a new place equaled a sleepless night on Monday. As much as I love the city life, I definitely don't see myself living in one.

On the agenda for the second day: the Department of Justice/Federal Bureau of Prisons, the Rutgers Federal Relations and the Haitian embassy.

Thankfully, there were no cancellations that day (at least that we were made aware of) and things ran a lot more smoothly. Without a doubt, the faculty member we traveled with and her supervisor had realized how annoyed we were at how the previous day had gone by (especially considering the fact that they have done this for so many years).

One of the things the man we spoke to at the department of justice talked to us about was how he has four brothers and all are either in prison currently or in the process of going back to prison and ironically this man works for the department of justice/federal bureau of prisons. This came up as we discussing peoples' backgrounds and where they grew up and how your upbringing effects what you do in life. His point basically was that even with adversity, it is what you do that effects what you become in your life.

At the Rutgers Federal Relations office, we spoke to two Rutgers alumni's. We talked about the budget cuts that would be effecting education and its impact on schools everywhere, especially Rutgers. I've talked over and over again about how I feel about education, and it is so sad that tuition fees keep going up, yet resources and classes that are offered (amongst many other things) keep getting cut.

Our final stop was the Haitian embassy. As we were walking there we passed the embassies of so many different countries, so that was pretty neat (especially trying to figure out what country some of the flags represented).

Anyone with half a heart has to be beyond devastated in the aftermath of the earthquake that struck Haiti in January. Such a large natural disaster can create havoc anywhere, and for it to effect the poorest nation - one can only imagine!

Of course, the number one question on everyones' mind was 'what can we do for help?'. The man used the example of bottled water. One of the things that people continue to donate is bottled water - because if you think about it, their rational thinking is probably that water is a necessity and Haitians need it. Well, they are partly correct - they do need water, but instead of exporting water there... what they need is money to build things up once again so they can provide things for themselves.

He also told us a chilling story that gave me goosebumps. A friend of his (person A) works in an embassy (I think - I might be misremembering the place, but that's not really important) in Haiti and it was a frantic and busy day at work. While he was doing his work, a friend of his (person B) called him and said he really needed help down at his office and if he (person A) could please come down right away. Person A told Person B that he was really busy and that he would come down later, but person B kept insisting and said 'you would be a lifesaver' if you came down and helped. Person A finally annoyingly agreed and as he was on his way to person B, the earthquake struck. The outcome was that Person A's office was completely destroyed and everyone died... but person A survived because of person B!

Person A told the guy we spoke to how guilty he felt and also how person B had said 'you would be a lifesaver', yet person B had saved person A's life. It's amazing, yet so sad. The situation was completely out of his control, yet you can't help but realize how torn the man must feel. Thankful and fortunate that he survived, yet feeling horrible that all of his colleagues died.

After visiting the Haitian embassy, we headed back to our hotel to get to our van and head back home (not before the faculty member and her supervisor wasted another half hour though).

It was pretty weird that we went to Washington D.C. and didn't even see the White House or the monuments and memorials, considering that pretty much defines D.C.

You would think driving a four and a half hour drive (one way) and spending two days with four other students (I did know one of them from last semester) and two faculty members you have never met before would be awkward, but luckily the other four students were easy to get along with and even in the car ride - we all were talking from everything from movies to political events (we were all political science students after all!). I think who you are with makes all the difference, so it was definitely a good thing.

All in all, we got to speak to several people who gave us great advice and were quite informative, so at the end of the day - I'm glad I went.



P.S. Don't forget to leave me a comment below on your thoughts! As always, I'd love to hear from you.

What's For Dinner: Homemade Rice Krispy Treats

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They are SO easy to make (and take no time at all), and everyone loves them! Which, of course, means they are done very quickly!

What you need:

• 1/4 cup of butter [or margarine]
• 1 Jar (7 1/2oz) Marshmallow Fluff
• 5 cups of crispy rice cereal, like Rice Krispies

To make them:

1. Melt butter in large saucepan over low heat. Butter a 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan (or use several smaller ones).
2. Once your butter is completely melted, add Marshmallow Fluff and cook over low heat about 5 minutes, stirring constantly. The stirring part is quite important. Remove from heat. 
3. Add in the crispy rice cereal and stir everything until it is all well mixed. Transfer and press mixture evenly into your buttered dish(es). 
4. After it is has cooled, cut into squares. 

You could also use just one smaller pan/dish of whatever size you have and have the squares be thicker. It'll make less servings, though, of course.

P.S. This post is a part of my "What's for Dinner" series, where I share what I've been cooking and my recipes. Grab and share my button:

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Politics and Possibilities, Part One

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Tuesday night, I got back from a two day trip to Washington D.C. with four other students from Rutgers through a program called 'Politics and Possibilities'.

We were to meet bright and early at 6:50 A.M. on campus on Monday - what a great way to start off the week of spring break :(. Anyhow, the Rutgers faculty member we were going with was late getting there and one thing or another delayed us from leaving for almost forty minutes.

The fact that the first stop was scheduled to be the Supreme Court (the one place on the itinerary I was actually looking forward to) and were on a tight schedule had me nervous the whole ride there. As if the fact that we were running late already wasn't bad enough, we stopped at a service area and the faculty member and her supervisor turned the ten minute stop into a 30+ minute stop (while the five students made it back in the allotted time).

Oh, and then the time on the rented van was behind an hour and twenty minutes (an hour of which we could blame on the fact that day light savings time began Sunday and I guess no one bothered to change it) so the lady thought we were doing okay on time for some reason even though a) we kept telling her the real time and the fact that we were late b) we left late to begin with, and were late from leaving the service area...

See a pattern developing here? Lateness.

It pretty much defined Monday for us.
Usually it's the students who are blamed for being late... but not this trip.

By the time we finally got to the Supreme Court, we had missed our scheduled tour time. While we still spent a few minutes walking around downstairs, all five of us students were very disappointed we missed the tour. Our attempts to convince the faculty member to let us take the next tour which was to begin in about twenty minutes failed. She kept insisting that we would be late to the next thing on the agenda and whatnot.

We head over to the next to the National Bar Association to meet someone else (a Rutgers alumni actually), but they were having furniture delivered or something and it was decided that he would meet us at the Convention Center. Little did we know we would have to wait over two hours for this guy!!!

I don't know what part annoys me the most - the fact that we missed the next tour at the Supreme Court to hurry over to make our appointment with this guy, the fact that we had to wait for so long, or the fact that this trip seemed to be the most disorganized program ever. To think this lady has done this for the last fifteen years - I just don't get how.

The guy treated us to late lunch/early dinner at a Spanish restaurant called La Tasca, which was an experience in itself. My food smelled horrible (and tasted even worse), one of the orders was duplicated, and one guy was told that the chef thought his food smelled funny and wanted him to place an order for something else (that definitely did not help anyone else's appetite). I've never had Spanish food before, so I don't know if its not keen to my taste buds or if this place just sucked. Thank goodness for fast food near our hotel!

This is continued here.



P.S. Don't forget to leave me a comment below on your thoughts! As always, I'd love to hear from you.

Blood Pressure

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I am definitely a curious person.

When I see something or hear something that I am not aware of, I like to find out the answers even if I have to figure it out myself.

I hate not knowing things! Especially when I am determined to find out.

I've always been curious to find out what my blood type is. I just think knowing my blood type is something I should be aware of for a variety of reasons. But having my blood drawn isn't something that is on my 'to-do list'.

Back when I was still in high school, a few years ago, I kept having some sort of pain on my right side and I had some tests done. One of them, included getting my blood drawn. Squeamish, yet kind of happy that I would be able to finally find out my blood type... I told the technician after she was done drawing my blood that I would also like to find out my blood type.

Little did I know I would have to get more blood drawn to find that out, so I passed. This was the only time I had ever had my blood drawn, and I'd actually like to keep it that way.

Today, I had another one of those 'I need to find out' moments. I wanted to know my blood pressure levels!

Of course, things couldn't have gone smoothly. I tried three times and each time I got an error message!

Ugh.

What in the world does that even mean?

My mom and brother checked theirs before me and my dad checked after me and each of theirs worked just fine!



P.S. Don't forget to leave me a comment below on your thoughts! As always, I'd love to hear from you.

Gotta Love AT&T... NOT!

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For a few months now, my phone (LG Vu) has been giving me a hard time. It would just shut off on it's own randomly, sometimes restarting on its own - other times, not. Another problem was that at times when I went to charge my phone, as soon as I plugged the wire into my phone - it would freeze and shut off.

This has been happening since November and I got the phone only a few months prior in May!

Both of these aforementioned problems, though, I put up with. I put up with them because a) it wasn't happening all the time and b) it wasn't really effecting me using the phone too much.

Then, near the end of last week I started noticing that my fully charged phone would go to extremely low battery as soon as I made a call or accessed the internet (or after a few text messages).

Because I only had one class today morning, I finally got around to contacting AT&T. The lady I talked to online first through the Technical Support department told me to go to a specific AT&T store and they would test the battery to see if the problem was the battery or my phone itself. She also noted that she was leaving a note on my account on the problems I am having with my phone and that "the agent at the store will have access to the notes and assist you from here". I kindly thanked her for her help and went to the store she specified right then because I would need a working phone before I left town on Monday.

I get to the store, and I explain the problems I am having with my phone to the guy helping me and what the lady from the technical support department had said earlier. Apparently, there was no such note left for them to access (just my luck!) and so I again explained everything. He did a few things to the phone, asked me a few questions (like when I got the phone) and then finally told me that I would have to go the Device Support Center.

But the lady from the technical support department from customer service JUST told me specifically to come here!!!!

To which he replies, I know - but they do this all the time... they always refer the customers to us instead of the Device Support Center. Another worker chipped in to agree and also said they are just a sales store.

I don't know if they were all just shifting the blame to one another, but well, if that really is the case then it is a lapse in their system and something needs to be done about it. How can the customer service department not know where what happens when this is what they do day in and day out!!!

I asked the guy if this place would have the replacement for me, to which he said they definitely would because this is the stuff they deal with it.

Annoyed, I next went to that Device Support Center. I once again explained the problems I was having with my phone and she takes my phone to the back for less than a minute and comes back and says the problem is that my phone is overcharged. I usually never charge my phone until it needs to be, so I don't know how much of that I believe(d). 


I guess the lady saw that I wasn't buying it because then she takes my battery and spins it and takes another battery and spins it with a less spin like I was stupid or something... and goes see, yours spins more - that means it is over-charged.   


Whatever... as long as I'm getting the replacement battery.

She goes on to say that she can order a replacement battery for me because they didn't have any in stock and the earliest I would get it is on next Tuesday. I ask her if there is a way it can be priority-shipped or something because I am leaving Monday and I need it before then not to mention the fact that I was just assured this location would have the damn battery!

No. The earliest you can get it is on Tuesday.

My brother asks if any other locations would have it and she said maybe in stores in Union and Paramus (along with a few other places that were too far). We have them check and of course they don't have it either!

I go ahead and place the order anyways because I really had no other choice.

Back in the car, I call customer service to see what they can do. I AGAIN explain everything and also ask if they can priority ship it. This lady says no (surprised?) and that the device support centers handle that and that if I want, I can go to one of their stores (like the store in the mall I went to first) and buy it myself but the warranty wouldn't cover it. That the warranty only works through the Device Support Centers - and I angrily not very kindly reminded her that the Device Support Center (this location AND the other one) did not have them!!

Well than what's the point of having these Device Support Centers if they aren't going to carry the replacements?? To which she sheepishly responds: To provide replacements under the warranty... for free.

Yeah, well... it kind of helps if they actually have the battery!!! Just saying.

I go back to the store I originally went to earlier and talk to someone different than I had from when I was there previously and I tell him that the location they sent me to ordered it for me but I wouldn't get it until next Tuesday and to see why they couldn't just replace the phone if they don't have the batteries in stock, and of course the phone is no longer sold. Which I'm not surprised at all about because EVERYONE that I know that has this phone has some kind of problem with it. He checks for the phone and the battery in another location and they too don't have either (surprise surprise).

I ask him about the battery and emphasize that I need it before Monday and he says he can place an order online and that I would get it Friday (tomorrow!!). I thank the man (and I felt kinda bad because he took all my anger that was building up from the first four people I talked to yet he was the most helpful of the five by far) and leave (slightly) less annoyed.

Sheesh. Was that SO hard??!!


As I was walking out the store, I compared the two confirmation sheets from the Device Support Center and this sales store and both have the same links, the same area from the website where they ordered it from so:

• I don't know why this store sent me to the Device Support Center when they could have just done it.
• I don't know why the Device Support Center said that Tuesday would be the earliest I would be able to get it when the sales store was able to choose the following day.

But at least, after talking to FIVE different people... I got somewhere with AT&T.

All I am saying is, I BETTER GET THE BATTERY FOR MY PHONE TOMORROW!


Just watch - the problem will turn out to be my phone and not the battery.


P.S. Don't forget to leave me a comment below on your thoughts! As always, I'd love to hear from you.

Rutgers: Senior Photos

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Last semester (in December), I took my senior photos.

I was picturing in my head that I would be take the typical ones you normally see everywhere -- you know the typical shots:

• in your cap and gown.
• in your gap and gown holding your diploma. 
• in your gown holding your cap.
• in your gown holding your cap and diploma. 
• a few in your dressed up outfit.

Maybe some that portray Rutgers in one way or another.

Well, it definitely was a very 'Rutgers' thing -- full of mishaps.

They took three snapshots of the same thing -- seriously there is no difference. I am holding a FOLDER that says Rutgers (could it get any more fake?). The tassel was from the year 2009! 

Until now, I didn't think much of it because I had other things preoccupying my time (LSATs and it's on-going drama)... but when my brother's senior photos came in this week - it reminded me of them and the fact that I want real ones!

P.S. Don't forget to leave me a comment below on your thoughts! As always, I'd love to hear from you.

International Women's Day

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When you think about it,

it wasn't too long ago when women couldn't vote.
it wasn't too long ago when women didn't have the opportunity to be educated.
it wasn't too long ago when women couldn't work (and when they did, it was under horrible conditions).
it wasn't long ago when there were unfair hiring practices, and NO paid maternity leave and affordable child care available.
it wasn't long ago when it was legal for employers to pay a women less than a man for the same work.


BUT, we still have a long way to go!

These issues are just a few issues from a LARGE spectrum of issues women continue to face everyday.



P.S. Don't forget to leave me a comment below on your thoughts! As always, I'd love to hear from you.

School Lunch Project

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I just found this blog via twitter, and it's definitely a blog of interest. It's a teacher who plans to eat school lunches every school day in 2010. She makes a note of what she ate that day and adds a photo in her daily blog posts as a part of her 'School Lunch Project'.


She says:

It's very challenging to teach students when they are eating school lunches that don't give them the nutrition they need and deserve. Oftentimes what is served barely passes muster as something edible. And after a meal high in sugar and fat and low in fiber, they then must pay attention in a classroom.

From what I can remember from when we were in school, most of the food was junk. Fries and pizza were what was considered to be a 'lunch meal' daily for most students. Worse, when students got tired of that - they resorted to cookies instead to change up the pace.

It's no wonder students have a hard time concentrating. I like this teacher's idea... what a creative way to get a sense of what's going on.




P.S. Don't forget to leave me a comment below on your thoughts! As always, I'd love to hear from you.

Olympic Thoughts

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Seems like just yesterday that we were watching the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia... and now it's already over!

I love the Olympic events, but never get a chance to watch as much of it as I would have liked... but always have fun watching what I do get to watch. Figure skating and ice dancing are my favorite events to watch in the winter games- and neither disappointed this time around.

Canada not only got it's first gold medal while hosting Olympics (this is the third time they have done so), they got fourteen of them! That'a s record, I believe.

The Vancouver games came with more than its fair share of sad events (read here and Joannie Rochette's mother passing away two days before her events were to start to name a few) that will definitely be associated with the Vancouver 2010 games. There were some sad times, but some great memorable ones too (the first gold medal on home soil, getting a record number of gold medals, Canada beating U.S. in ice hockey in the final, the Canadian gold medal in ice dancing are just a few).

Unfortunately, due to a prior family event commitment, I missed the closing ceremony last night - but I'll hopefully catch it sometime this week. I saw a quick clip last night about Canada mocking themselves from the glitch in the opening ceremony where the fourth pillar wouldn't open (remember that?) and in the same act - they brought the woman who was supposed to be one of the four to light the cauldron (but couldn't because her pillar was the one that got stuck), light the cauldron last night. I thought that was a nice way to round off everything and bring everything to a full circle.



P.S. Don't forget to leave me a comment below on your thoughts! As always, I'd love to hear from you.