Easy now...put the cell phone downnnn...

This looks painful.

This cell phone microchip was created by two MIT research associates, James Auger and Jimmy Loizeau, and was made so people can receive phone calls without the burden of toting a 3 ounce cell phone around, What have we done without THEM!? I am not one to fortell the future, but does anyone else see this going terribly wrong? Forget the hype behind using the landline during a thunderstorm folks, get ready for the real shock, which is this quote I found from the inventor himself.

"We realize that having unwanted sound information arriving directly into the user's brain would resemble technological schizophrenia, therefore maximum control is essential." Auger says.

Auger!! What are you thinking?! Maximum control is essential, huh, yes. Well this seems like a great idea. Is this battery powered? I can see it now... Matching lithium-ion tongue ring included. I could on for days about this one, but I won't. I will say, this is a great intro to my little speech about our obsession with cell phones...


What is the obsession with text messaging? I have done stories on the text message craze before and society's obsession with technology. Even in my last relationship I was guilty of it, always checking my phone or answering it when I was with my boyfriend. What is it that drives us to look at our phone if we are in the middle of conversation with another? That automatically puts that person at the bottom of the importance list. They feel second place.
I am wondering if that means that by answering your phone, you think it is an emergency (which are usually rare), but then we have voicemail, which we can check later. All of these are enough that we really need to be polite to our company and BE with them, when we are with them, not distracting ourselves with another object.
AND THEN we have TEXT MESSAGING.
Don't get me wrong, I love texting. I think it is so convenient and sometimes things just don't merit a phone call. When are you leaving, I'll call you later, etc. Those all fit into not meriting a phone call. However, full on conversations and asking people out, are those that definitely merit a phone call. Usually this is between a girl and guy, and the guy, instead of CALLING, decides to text. Is anyone else disappointed by this?
Our cell phone usage has gone so off the charts insane, that in social gatherings we furiously scroll through our phone the minute we are left alone. Heaven forbid we look like we aren't busy for half a minute. This will make us look uncool! Imagine if two people were sitting next to each other, both who were NOT scrolling through their phone menus, toggling with their screen brightness display and wallpaper settings, and actually had a conversation. Just two random people.
That is becoming less and less of an ocurrance I am sure, no doubt thanks to cell phones and people neglecting to "bother" each other. I love my cell phone, but if they don't cause brain cancer, they will surely be the death of us all. Hell, I came two inches from being hit by a DC connector bus crossing the street because I was on my cell phone. Maybe this will make me reevaluate my cell phone usage. ehh..probbbbly not.

My place

I live next to a trash chute.
Yes, it's true. When I first moved into my apartment, I didn't realize what the occasional clanging noises were outside to one side of my wall. I came to realize that around the corner outside of my apartment is where everyone dumps their trash down the chute, and I can always hear it in my room. Just my luck. At least I don't smell anything. The trash chute isn't the only problem I have with my posh new living arrangement. I get frustrated when I go to the in house gym and find it packed with people sweating to "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" or if i'm lucky, the CNN Situation Room. The complex REALLY needs to think about expanding their gym. One treadmill?? Come on!!
I thought about running ahead of the old man to beat him to the treadmill, but my manners got the better of me. I let him have it. Sometimes I wish I was meaner.

Don't get me wrong, there are perks to this place!
The continental breakfast every morning, but I have to force myself to pass it by. I would rather start my mornings off guilt-free of a carb overload. The free breakfast offers white bagels (yikes) and white pastries (double yikes). No doubt complete with ultra fat cream cheese and butter to spread. It must be a scam to push residents to crunch it in their ultra small treadmill-less workout room (I can't even call it a gym).
As tempting as it looks, I completely bypass the second floor kitchen so I won't have to spend all of Grey's Anatomy jogging in the stifling workout closet.

As long as I have my love for carbs and brownies, I will have to keep working out so that I can enjoy certain indulgences without packing on pounds, but I think it is worth every bite. Some genius anonymous person said, "forget love, i'd rather fall in chocolate".

State of the Union 2007

So, the seventh State of the Union Address that President George W. Bush has given left me feeling patriotic. That is likely due to the recognition of special individuals pointed out by the President. The hero who saved a man on the train tracks, the NBA basketball player that became a US citizen and built a hospital in the Congo, and the sergeant in the army who used his body as a human shield to protect his gunner when caught in enemy fire. Those stories make me so proud to live in the same country with these people. I realize how fortunate I am and I want to go and help out somewhere, anywhere. That being said, I still don't have good feelings regarding the direction the administration is headed with the troop surge, but then again, I am not on the front lines.

Question. Who made the seating arrangements? Whose idea was it to place an insanely tall NBA basketball player next to the shortest Asian on the planet? That did offer some comic relief. That AND the accidental boob graze between President Bush and Nancy Pelosi, attempting to shake her hand again before he exited the podium. Awkwaaaard.

This "lame duck" President's speech (as confident and convincing as he was) really left me feeling unsure. He did a great job of buttering up the American people with promises regarding health care and tax deduction (who doesn't want that?) Then the extremely confident punch, the Iraq war initiative. The Democratic response by Senator Jim Web (D-VA) was strong. Webb wrote the speech himself, and pointed out that the majority of the military doesn't even approve of his new Iraq initiative. Basically, Bush had his chance to prove that the Iraq proposal would work, they simply are not going to side with him on this one, and many who USED to be on his side, are starting to walk away. Some bloggers in support of Bush's surge believe that the public hasn't given him enough time to let the Iraq plan work.

Most everyone seems to support Bush's increase of our military over the next several years, but their support for the troop surge to Iraq, is skirted around by some same party politicians, if not outright disapproved.

What I did find distracting throughout the speech's entirety, was Nancy Pelosi's obsessive blinking over Bush's shoulder. I think she was delivering special tips via morse code to Jim Webb. Makes sense because the Democratic response was pretty dang good. I think more people ended up watching American Idol and tuning out to the President. Pretty sad, considering we should pay attention to what the leaders of our country are saying. But hey, it's a harsh reality that more Americans pay attention to who is winning American Idol, than to the current political campaigns of future leaders of America. It often seems that people who are ignorant regarding politics, don't vote, then start whining about how they are unhappy. God Bless America. WE NEED IT.