Games
I think this summer I may have gotten myself way in farther than I imagined. I thought, about two months ago, that taking a full summer semester schedule would be no problem and that it would be just as easy as the normal semesters. So far I have been totally wrong. My schedule is so packed that I don't get any free time to do the things that I usually love to do like bike riding or hiking. I just don't have the long stretches of time needed to do such activities. So now I have been resorting to a different form of relaxation, games. Online games to be specific. I have joined a few different online games networks and have begun playing various tournaments in all kinds of games. Mostly online board games and things like that because I don't really like real life card games let alone the online versions. So every time I get a little bit of a break, maybe a half an hour, in between my studies and a class or something, I just log on to one of them and jump in. It is very easy for me to just play a few games and recharge my batteries. The fact that I don't have to actually network with people and can just get on with whomever is there already makes it almost too easy to get lost in the games. I have actually had to hold myself back from not studying and spending too much time playing internet dominoes, which has been my favorite so far. The next summer session is coming up fast too. The sessions are only six weeks long and go at a crazy pace. I think I chose to take way too many for the summer, but I just couldn't resist getting ahead in my studies. I think that it's going to really pay off when my last semester can be spent taking things that I am just plain interested in and not required to take for my major or minor. I have to be getting back now, I think I took too much of a break here from my game break from my studies, what a mouth full.
Posted by Jen on Sunday, May 25, 2008 @ 9:41 AM
Dahn yoga
I have become really interested in this new form of Yoga that I found. I was searching the web about a month ago after taking my first yoga class. It was an Ashtanga Yoga class which the teacher kept calling power yoga and warrior Yoga. The class was just a beginner class and was actually quite hard because I am not a very flexible person and the teacher acted as if everyone in the room was a gymnast or a world's strongest man. By the end of the class I felt totally exhausted and didn't really want to come back to that style of class right away. What really peaked my interest in Yoga were the few moments during the class when I felt as if I had really been able to go within. For a few brief moments I was focused on a pose and let my body to itself and took my consciousness in to the deepest part of myself. I had done meditation plenty of times before that class and so I felt that what I had been doing was just this. I had never thought that you could combine meditation and Yoga exercises at the same time to make such a strong and stable mental product. After that taste I went online to see what other classes or workshops were being offered this summer. I didn't find anything close or any classes in town that were of any interest to me. When I stumbled upon the Dahn Yoga web site I became really interested. Dahn Yoga is a style of Yoga that comes from Korea and now exists in many countries around the world. I didn't see any centers that were close to us so I bought the introductory DVD and have been watching that every day. Now I almost have to whole video memorized from front to back and have begun to do the exercises without the aid of the video. The most interesting part of the whole thing is that I have actually started to notice some of the changes in myself that they say at the beginning will begin to appear in you life after long term practice like a constantly flowering breath cycle apparent in myself.
Posted by Jen on Friday, May 23, 2008 @ 2:56 PM
Maryland chiropractors
My experience with Chiropractors has been incredible. I have been to several Maryland Chiropractors and a few Bethesda Chiropractors, but my current Chiropractor is the best. I love going there and his adjustments are like magic. Since I have been going to the Chiropractor which has been about 2 years now, I can honestly say that I am completely headache free. When I was in the third grade I began getting headaches. During that time, my mom took me to the eye doctor and they gave me a mild magnification lens and told me I had tired eyes. After that my headaches did subside a little, then I began getting severe headaches, I guess you would probably term them as migraines (even though a doctor has never diagnosed them as such). They would get so bad that all I could do was go to bed. The room would spin, I would get nauseous and the pain was so intense that I couldn't even focus my eyes. After sleeping, most times these headaches would go away. The older I got the more severe the headaches got. They also began happening more frequently. I would try to take over the counter medications, but they would stop working unless I kept upping my dosage or move on the next brand.
Then I was at work one day, and I pulled out my low back. The low back pain was so intense that I couldn't go from sitting to standing without wincing. Someone recommended Chiropractic care to me, and so I tried it. Well, getting that first Chiropractic adjustment was by far the best thing I ever did. Not only did he get my low back pain under control in just a few adjustments, but he also got rid of my headaches. It is amazing. He adjusted my whole spine and within a few weeks I stopped getting headaches. I was so amazed and then over time my allergies went away as well. When I was about 16 I was dating this guy who had several cats, and his mom was not the neatest housekeeper, so I am sure there was quite a lot of cat hair around. Well, when I used to go to his house to watch a movie or something, my eyes would get all itchy and red and would swell up so badly that the lower rim of my eye would show. I couldn't stand to be there for more than a few minutes. Well recently I started dating a guy with a cat, and guess what, no problems. My Chiropractor says that many patients experience relief from other symptoms and I am surely proof of that.
Posted by Jen on Wednesday, May 21, 2008 @ 9:25 PM
surveillance security
I guess we all know by this time in our world that security cameras are everywhere. There are those surveillance cameras on just about every decent size business that most of us frequent. The security system are alive and working inside the establishment as well as outside of the establishment. Surveillance security is a big, big business in today's world. It is no longer just limited to that private detective that someone hired to follow their cheating spouse. These days, you cannot even go to church on Sundays (or whenever your church doors open) without being filmed by some kind of security system. I personally am all for any and all kind of security cameras that anyone wants to put up anywhere that I am going. I don't really care that the cameras are rolling when I go into that sex toy party store. If I'm there, then I am surely there to purchase something or in my case, because I am doing research for my part-time job -- and I am sticking to that story no matter what. I don't really care that the security system is state of the art when I am in that seedy bar in party town, because I am there to drink and party with those seedy people, or in my case because I am doing research for my part-time job -- and I am sticking to that story no matter what. Surveillance cameras are worth their weight in gold if they catch someone doing something that is against the law or something that they know they should not be doing. I am just one of those people that RARELY colors outside the lines and if I just go crazy one day and decide that I want to do that, then someone is going to have it on some surveillance security system and I am hanged if I think I can deny it. It would probably be a good idea if the perpetrators that had been frequent perpetrators had some kind of surveillance camera implanted in their body some way, some how that we could follow them twenty-four hours a day and see who they associated with and what they were up to. Oh, that's right. Then we are talking about our inalienable rights, our freedom to come and go as we please. But, you know, when those rights were established for honest people, not those desperate thugs and hoodlums that want something for nothing.
Posted by Jen on Tuesday, May 20, 2008 @ 9:53 PM
flower delivery
I finally got around to calling someone about using up my federal work study hours this summer. I had looked through all of the lists and searched all of the various college department listings for jobs. I had called a bunch of people right after I found out about the award and ever single on I called had already been taken by then. So I gave up for a little bit to finished out the rest of the semester and get all of my other school issues in order. When I went back this week to look at all of the lists they were much smaller. What went from a ten minute look through one or two lists came to be a five minute look at all the jobs available. So I looked down the list for something that seemed moderately interesting. The one I found that looked interesting, which I got accepted for, is within the college of agriculture. I have always been really interested in farming and gardening so I just saw this as another opportunity to learn more for future use when I am growing things for myself. I called the professor to see what the job actually was because it was pretty vague in the description. Even though I didn't know what the job was it looked more interesting than all of the other listings for basically just paper pushers in campus offices. The professor basically gave me the run down and said that I would be the main assistant to the green house technicians and the summer students. I will be cleaning up the green houses and making sure everything is stocked all the time so the summer session flow continues all right. I will also be helping do flower delivery work across campus. The horticulture department grows all of the decorative flowers for all of campus. Every week or so I will do a flower delivery for the landscape architecture kids to use on their next projects. It will be a summer of chilling with plants in the green house and making sure everything behind the scenes goes smoothly for everyone in the area. I think it sounds like it is going to be a lot of fun, or at least really relaxing.
Posted by Jen on Monday, May 19, 2008 @ 8:22 PM
Missionary travel
My daughter recently informed me that she was joining a church that does missionary travel and religious tours. When I questioned her about this, all she really told me was that she was going to be using her savings to travel abroad and spread the word of God. I said that I was all for spreading the word of God, but to use all her savings seemed to me to be a bit over the top. She assured me that she had made many friends through her church and that many of them had already done their mission travel and that they found the experience helped grow their faith and build their character. I expressed my concern about the costs of airfares for travel overseas; however, she assured me that she would be eligible for Church Airfares and that they would be much lower than what the average person would pay to travel.
She told me that the church had already set up all of her Missionary flights and that everything was already booked. I asked her about the cost of accommodations abroad, but she assured me that her church already had accommodations set for each place that she was going to travel too. She assured me that there would be other missionaries from her church going with her on each mission, and that she would never be traveling alone.
Quite honestly, the whole thing sounded a bit cult like to me, and I was getting a bit concerned. When I asked her about her job, she assured me that she was taking a leave of absence for religious reasons, and that they were fine with her going on the mission for the next year. When she returned, she assured me that her job would still be waiting for her. I asked her if when she returned she would have any savings left at all, and she said she thought she could be frugal enough to save some of it. She also said that during her mission work, that she would be allowed to send me letters, but I would not be able to contact her. Honestly, when I got off the phone with her, I told my husband all that she had told me, and we looked up this church together on the internet. Well, at least we did find out that it was a real church, and did not have any grievances filed against it. I was still concerned, but at least I knew this wasn't a cult.
Posted by Jen on Thursday, May 15, 2008 @ 8:48 PM
modern cufflinks
Recently a friend of mine needed to attend a formal event, and was not sure what he should wear for such an occasion. I have been studying fashion in school, and he asked me to go shopping with him and help him find the perfect tuxedo. He tried on a few, however, being a large guy, there were not too many options available for him. We finally landed on an incredible black tuxedo. Black was definitely more slimming and we decided definitely to go with a vest over a tie. The vest was actually a very nice edition to the ensemble and even though he wanted to go with a bow tie, I steered him away from that as it kind of made him look a little like a penguin. Instead I turned him to a grey and black ascot which was much more complimentary on him. He looked really good in the outfit the way we planned it all out.
Then he started looking at these modern cufflinks, but I assured him that was not going to be the accent he was looking for. Instead we landed on a simpler classic looking cufflink that really looked quite nice. We were almost finished with the look, but were still in need of black dress shoes, as this guy was not one to dress up much, and the black dress shoes he was going to wear were severely warn and tattered looking. Not to mention the fact that they looked like they were some throw back from the 70's you know the type with the big heel. Let's put it this way I was not going to allow him to ruin the perfect look I was trying to create for him, with those shoes. The joke is that this guy has money and could definitely afford to invest in a new pair of shoes. We finally settled on a pair of plain black Rockport's that laced up the front. Nothing extravagant, but I also could not let him wear the loafers that he was trying to talk me into, so I think that this was the best compromise and not a bad deal for $114.00.
Well, the lady that invited him to this event was really impressed with the way he looked. He got to meet several important people that offered to help him get a job when he finishes school next year. He looked great and I think felt more confident than he had in previous social interactions. I guess it just shows that clothes do really make the man.
Posted by Jen on Tuesday, May 13, 2008 @ 3:17 PM
logo merchandise
My friends and I just got back from a really great computer programmer's tradeshow. We are all graphic design or computer programming majors and have either one or two years of school left. This tradeshow was great because I think it gives our group a little bit of a leg up in the job world because we are right there on the cutting edge of what is available. We spent the whole weekend in the city and spent abbot eight hours both days walking around an chatting with representatives about their new promotional products. We got lots of cool little logo merchandise which are really just promotional gifts to make us in to walking billboards. None of us mind because we all have our own extensive collections of tradeshow giveaway items that we have collected over various conferences for the past two or three years. I was really excited because I always end up leaving with some new programs that I get to show off around the department before they actually become available to anyone else. This year I was actually trying a new tactic though since I do have such a big collection of logo t-shirts and hats, I decided to make this in to a mini job search. I would begin in the same way with each booth and after they gave me their schpeal about the newest processing system, I would plug my own skill and my own thoughts on that program. Then I would give them some sort of hint that I am currently looking for a job to begin training before I graduate and that I would be willing g to sign a no competition contract right now. Many of the companies were very interested in me based on the experience and the school that I go to. I also left with a few phone numbers that I still have to wrong up some time over the summer. So I think that this time I left the festival with a little more than I ever have before. I left this time with a little bit of hope for the future of my career.
Posted by Jen on Saturday, May 10, 2008 @ 8:41 PM
Chicago cubs tickets
I am so happy that it all of baseball has switched over to selling their tickets online. I have been planning a summer trip for the whole semester to travel around the country. I am going to tray and hit most of the big states like California and Texas. All of this trip will be done by car so I can get a true sense of the whole of the country. I think that in my life it has been hard for me to get a true sense of what America really is. I feel that there are a few things that are truly American. One of those that has affected me the most in my life is the sport of Baseball. I have been playing it and watching it since I was old enough to hold a ball and sit through a game. I just can't get enough of it. Now that I am really trying to get a sense of what america represents for me, I want to explore that venue, along with the lay of the American landscape, as my means to do so. I have been buying up Boston Red sox tickets and Chicago cubs tickets for weeks now. I am trying my best to coordinate my trip to follow a flow of the locations on the Boston Redsox tickets and the Chicago cub tickets. This strategy has been an interesting way to plan a trip. My parents were so taken by the whole idea and how thorough I have been about it that they have offered to pay for my gas along the way, since it is the most expensive part of the whole journey right now. The whole trip is going to sort of make this cool little winding pattern across the country and loop back around to a home game right here in our city. Along the way my challenge is going to be to economize as best I can. I want to avoid paying for a place to sleep as best as possible. My trunk will be filled with the tent and all of my camping gear possible.
Posted by Jen on Saturday, May 10, 2008 @ 8:25 PM
party favors
I can still hear the chant from those college days "PARTY! PARTY! PARTY!". And Lordy, Lordy, Lordy --- didn't we think we had been to the party of all parties. The money in party supplies was mostly spent in grain alcohol and Hawaiian punch. The party favors were provided by a few of those loose college women's panties, and a few glow sticks, and the occasional glow necklace that were always brought by weird little Ray. But he always needed all the help he could get when it came to even getting invited to the parties. Actually, his best contributions to the party, according to some of those crowds, was the ganja, the mary jane, the cool weed --- illegal as it was, he could always find it and wasn't afraid to drag it in. Thank goodness those days have passed, for everyone except for weird little Ray that is. Now we have become so much more sophisticated, so much more worldly and quite frankly so much older, that the parties that we look forward to are those that assure us we will certainly be home before midnight. The parties that we look forward to now are those parties that we hope will offer some interesting food and some options of interesting drinks even if they do not contain alcohol, and the parties that the infamous weird little Ray will not be attending. And now that we are so much more mature and so much more worldly and life is no longer about how messed up you can get and whose underwear you wore home on your head, the party supplies budget for throwing a great party has more to do with the real food and beverages and most importantly the interesting people who will be attending. Of course, interesting people don't have to be mensa members or ballerinas or movie stars, just your ordinary, everyday neighbor and co-worker and family member can make for a fabulous gathering and if you insist on those glow necklaces, so be it. But take it easy on the goofy party games that you think may be just a little ice-breaker game. Just welcome your guests, introduce them to the rest of the group, perhaps mentioning some little thing that they may have in common, put on some good music and "PARTY! PARTY! PARTY!". If I were a gambling person, I would bet that you would be getting those thank you notes and thank you calls and indications that they would love to come again, as long as weird little Ray won't be there.
Posted by Jen on Saturday, May 10, 2008 @ 7:44 PM
insurance quotes
I just got back from watching a bunch of kids I have known for three yeas now graduate. Let me tell you, that is quite an interesting experience. There they were, three thousand kids from the college of education looking prim and proper with all of their pensive parents looking on. I just couldn't help but silently mutter the nicknames of those named as graduating. When a familiar face walked across the stage I just saw all of the highs and lows I had ever had with that person. It was a very sobering experience I think, excuse the pun, since all of these now professional people had been my good drinking, sports, and video games buddies for three years. To think that within weeks all of these guys will go from the parties we were having last night to being called sir when they are looking at health insurance quotes or teaching kids how to read. For me, since I still have a year left, it feels really weird to see them there and think that in exactly a year I will be in the same position. I don't want to let moments like these get met all nostalgic and such but sometimes you really just have to to make you understand what you've got going on right now. what I am going to take from these guys going out in to the world is that I need to enjoy not having all of that responsibility quite yet. For the next year I going to try my best to make every moment of my college experience as amazing as it can be because at the end of it all when I am looking over health insurance quotes I don't want to think I missed out on something special back when. For now though I am still stuck in the drama since finals are this week and I don't really have any time outside of writing this to really process what I am thinking. Right now my life is all about cramming as much information in my head as possible and drive home all of these finals. I hope it all goes as well as I have been envisioning it will. That I think is my own personal key to success; it is all about the visualization of success.
Posted by Jen on Thursday, May 08, 2008 @ 8:09 PM
Health insurance quotes
Don't you hate those annoying little pop-ups that show up on your computer screen whenever you're trying to access a particular Internet site? It seems like the main purpose of these ads is to show up with all of their glitter and fabulous prizes and trick us into buying these partner offers which often are more costly than the "fabulous prize" anyway. Sometimes these boxes tell you that you are the one millionth visitor, almost like a lottery thing. You mean to tell me that somehow I can be the one millionth visitor to some website almost every day but I can't win the lottery? What kind of sense does this make?
I can understand the point of pop ups. Companies use them to grab your attention. Some are beneficial, like pop ups to alert you to automobile or health insurance quotes. Some people actually need health or car insurance; what better way to boost your business than to show people an advertisement for how accurate your health insurance quotes are? I think they should start doing pop ups on things like the dangers of alcohol abuse and what happens to you if you smoke marijuana. Think about it: most of the young people on the Internet who frequent the sites with so many advertisements are young adults. Many of them are in the experimentation age, where they want to try new things and can end up suffering dangerous and even fatal consequences because of these actions. Or, what if companies started doing pop ups of random facts, facts like what would qualify as "million dollar question" material because it is one of those things you wouldn't normally know the answer to. You would have the potential to learn a new fact every time you visit the pages with these pop ups. And who doesn't appreciate a little useless knowledge every now and again?
Wouldn't it be even more ironic, though, if companies began making pop ups of what people could be doing if they weren't sitting on their lazy butts following Facebook and Myspace religiously or tracking the newest bids on eBay or even just surfing the web looking for something interesting to do? What if companies began making pop ups of beautiful office buildings with ocean views and pictures of smiling people in business suits looking very successful and happy to be that way? Would more people be willing to get up if they see other people doing something for themselves? Or perhaps companies should do a guilt trip and make pop ups showing people what laziness does to you.
Pop ups are not the problem. It is the waste of their convenience and ability to reach audiences that is the problem.
Posted by Jen on Thursday, May 08, 2008 @ 7:51 PM
pet meds
All things are beginning top wind down here around campus. Outside there are few people scattered all across campus with their hands full of study sheets and eyes constantly glancing from facts to the street ahead of them. Everyone is trying to squeeze those last little bits of information in to their brains before they have to throw it all back up on to an exam and then they can begin the short process of forgetting thousands of dollars worth of information. I personally have one final left and very little studying left to handle. I have been spending most of my time just trying to relax and get ready for summer session. I will only have one class per session but I will also be working a ton all summer long so I need to be relaxed before that starts or by the fall I will be burned out and ready to freak. Right now I am stuck in errand mode doing all things from picking up pet meds for the dogs to cleaning the kitchen floor by hand to keep my work later to a minimum. Now that my roommates are all moving I will also be getting some new roommates so I am trying to get everything ready for them to arrive. I hope they don't mind dogs because I am not giving up my boys either. They are going to be my only friends this summer I think since almost everyone leaves and those that stay are busy with work and the quick semester schedules. That's mainly why I am trying to get things like getting the pet meds and cleaning out of the way now so I don't have to think about it during the summer. Then I can spend my time when not working, studying, or in school, just chillin with the dogs and playing outside. I think they are beginning to notice the changes in my behavior because they have been being unusually compliant with all of my requests and haven't been freaking out about too much. I hope that they keep this up for another two weeks and then they can go crazy whenever school starts and I can just play all of the time when we are together. Either way I have a good two weeks to relax and get a bunch of things in order for the fall.
Posted by Jen on Thursday, May 08, 2008 @ 7:42 PM
Auto insurance
Car insurance, boat insurance, motorcycle insurance, homeowners insurance, flood insurance, you name it I have it all. I know that when I call around for my auto insurance quotes, that if they give me a reasonable rate, then that is where I will most likely purchase my motorcycle and boat insurance. Now, that homeowners and flood insurance is expensive too, but if you own a home and the bank carries the mortgage, you WILL be paying for that kind of insurance. And if you are buying a car and the bank carries the note, you WILL have to carry auto insurance. However, if you own your car outright and are not making those monthly payments anymore, you still have to carry car insurance if you want to keep the right to drive in this country. Of course, there are far too many people that for some reason do not believe that the laws apply to them and they drive that car or truck or whatever around without even a dime's worth of auto insurance. Now how can that be fair to me and you who struggle monthly or every six months to be sure we abide by the law and keep that car insurance paid because it is just the appropriate thing to do. Why isn't there something put into place that requires you to have insurance before you get issued a driver's license. I cannot see where that would be a bad thing at all. Even if you are a tourist from another country, shouldn't you be required to have something in place in your country that covers your butt when you are driving around in my country? Is there such a law? Proof of car insurance should be required when you go down to get your driver's license or renew your driver's license. Even if you are just going to drive for one month, you should have to purchase a month's worth of auto insurance. It actually should be "driver's" insurance instead of car insurance. I know you have to get a license to drive a motorcycle and an automobile but you probably don't need a license to drive a boat around. I think anyone that gets behind the wheel of any vehicle that moves any faster than I can walk, should be required to be licensed and therefore be required to carry insurance, whether it is auto insurance, boat insurance, motorcycle insurance or ding-dong insurance.
Posted by Jen on Thursday, May 08, 2008 @ 3:29 PM
Addiction recovery
Throughout my experience with studying addiction, I have also learned that it is immensely difficult for a person to realize that the addiction is there, in his/her life and it is destroying a lot of it. Like, for example, I read an article recently in a popular magazine about a girl who has been taking sleeping pills for a long period of time, but all that time failed to realize that the pills actually grew into an addiction that was ruining her life. Like, originally, she started taking the pills on a Sunday night or whenever she needed to fall asleep to be awake and running the next day, but then she realized that she needed to take the sleeping pills in all other situations, i.e., when she could fall asleep on her own, but did not want to go through the trouble of knowing that she has to wake up at a certain point. Then, the author of the article says that she was spending time with friends, but later had no recollection of what happened during the meeting or the party. Once, she woke up on the plane flight, with a flight attendant bending over her, thinking that she had stopped breathing. In actuality, she overdosed on the pills, and in her sleep seemed to be unconscious. The author then says that she realized that she was actually addicted to the sleeping pills, and sought treatment. Her treatment consisted of the rehabilitation program, the one that typically resembled any drug rehabilitation program. If I remember correctly, she states that the program lasted for several weeks, but she was successful at "winning the battle" and became addiction-free. She had to go through the addiction recovery and detoxification, which, from her narrative, seemed painless and harmless. The author expresses her great joy and satisfaction in having to do the drug rehabilitation program since it has taught her that she is strong and capable of living her life without having to depend on drugs, like sleeping pills. She took a strong hold of her life, and was totally blissfully happy about it. And, generally, from other experiences and interactions, I have learned that addiction is one of the most powerful ways that an otherwise healthy normal individual can lose control of his/her life, surrendering to an outside force that takes more and more out of the person as time goes on.
Posted by Jen on Wednesday, May 07, 2008 @ 2:59 PM
Texas custom homes
I have narrowed my job search down to just a couple of places in the south. There are about ten schools where I would like to work and they are all in either Texas or Louisiana. The biggest question now besides which schools I actually has get a call back from, are how I am going to set up housing. I really am sick and tired of renting since I have been doing in now for over eight years. My wife has a baby on the way now which should be born just about a month after graduation. So there really is a big push for me to find some kind of reasonable housing set up for the family we will have. I would hate to have to put us in yet another low income housing area because we have done that these last two years and it has not been very fun at all. What we are mostly looking at are Louisiana and Texas custom homes companies. I have talked to a bunch of contractors in all of the areas we want to move and the Texas custom homes companies already look a lot better than those in Louisiana. We are would preferably, and this is the biggest of our wild dreams, would be to custom build a four bedroom house outside of whatever town we decide on. We would need some space for a garden or even a sizable plot. We would also need to have all of the bedroom on the same floor so that when we have little children around in their own room they don't have to go on any stairs in the night. Also we need a playroom because my sister has three kids and they are all young. They don't have any separate playroom so they just have to constantly lean up their living room after every time the kids play. So those are just some of the little things that we definitely need if we are going to build a house. If worse comes to worse though we will try to rent a bigger place and I am sure with my salary I will be able to save up pretty quick to build a nice house.
Posted by Jen on Wednesday, May 07, 2008 @ 2:47 PM
XL Airways
Planning to travel again anytime soon? If you wind up in London and you're hoping to go anywhere else in Europe from there, can you please let me know if you use XL Airways? I know they have deals to places in Spain and Italy and Ireland, probably quite a few others also. I am interested in knowing all about their arrangements from someone who has used them. I am hoping to spend a month traveling and I am not sure if XL Airways is considered a private charter airlines or just a commercial airline with smaller aircraft. It wouldn't matter so much as long as the service is good. You know, I hate it when you travel on one of the larger airlines and the flight attendants don't seem to be very concerned about the actual comfort of the passengers. It sometimes feels like 'OK. Just take your seat and don't get out of it and I'll toss you a bag of peanuts when I get through going to the bathroom'. I know that the responsibility of a flight attendant is a very important one and they are not just waitresses in the air, but some of them have forgotten that WE are the customer and those tickets don't come cheap either. I used to believe it only cost about 15% more to go first class but I don't know what kind of medication I was on at that time. It's probably more like 150% more expensive these days. I'd like to be able to fly from country to country in a setting that seemed more personal and that didn't just throw you a bag of peanuts like you were just another elephant. I'd like to have a little leg room, some attendants that have a little information about your chosen destination and beyond and someone to make me feel like they gave a hoot. Traveling and dealing with time differences and using caution about the local foods and drinks and managing to make your way through the languages and the customs and taboos of the areas is stressful enough. We are all just human beings, after all. And sometimes dealing with the differences of the area is what makes the trip interesting and fun and makes you want to do more traveling. But it would be great if the actual transportation was fast and friendly and efficient. I hope you will have a great time on your next trip.
Posted by Jen on Tuesday, May 06, 2008 @ 10:09 PM
drug intervention
If you are in need of drug abuse treatment, there are many great programs available to assist you. Most people don't realize how many resources are available these days to aid in recovery. There are many counselors that will help you if you need to do a drug intervention for someone. A drug intervention is where a group of people who are close to the person get together and confront the person about their drug problem. This can also be done for any substance abuse problem, not just drugs. It is best to have an intervention that is supervised and planned out with the help of a counselor. They will talk with you about what you will say to the person and how to say it so that they don't become too defensive. If this happens they may just get angry and run off, and that will not do anyone, any good. They need to know that they are loved and supported through the process, and that the people who are doing the intervention just want what is best for them.
After an intervention, if successful the person will need to go through a detox program. These are available at many residential facilities as well as at most hospitals. During this period most people will go through some type of withdrawal from the substance, and they must be carefully monitored during this period of time. They could experience sweating, seizures, and extreme emotional releases and therefore this period of supervision is essential.
A normal course of action after detox is a residential program. A residential program will isolate the person from society, so they can not get at the substance, while they work with the person through group and individual counseling, to create new habits and patterns to allow them to live substance free. They then allow limited visitation with family and friends, and eventually limited releases, like a weekend spent back at home, to gradually reintroduce them to everyday society, while closely monitoring them.
There are many programs available for all kinds of addiction issues. In addition to drug specific programs, there is also an alcohol rehabilitation program which has proven to be very successful. The bottom line is no matter what the substance, there is a program available in your area to suit the needs of the addict and help them clean up their life forever.
Posted by Jen on Monday, May 05, 2008 @ 4:07 PM
Alcohol addiction
I have been doing a report on Indians and the drug abuse and alcohol abuse that is found on the Indian reservations in this country. It is scary to think that so many problems exist for our Native Americans. The people of our land that were squeezed into reservations by our founding fathers are now discovering that they actually have a higher instance of substance abuse than we do.
Data from the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (National Institute, 1989) show that about 50 percent of all U.S. adolescents have used alcohol. The comparable figure for American Indian is approximately 80 percent (Beauvais, Oetting, & Wolf, 1989). Early experimentation with alcohol and drugs places Native youth, in particular, at risk for serious problems. What creates this situation, and, more to the point, what is happening to correct it?
Well, it is believed that the Native Americans experience a lack of self esteem and a level of post traumatic stress syndrome which is negatively affecting the self image of their youth. Post traumatic stress syndrome is a state in which isolation, fear, guilt, shame, depression, anger, irritability, and other symptoms follow a trauma. Native peoples' history of oppression and present circumstances mean that the risk of trauma is comparatively high. In a society so worried about fitting in, to be such a minority and to be so hated by so many different groups has had a negative impact on their communities. This problem also seems to be related to risks associated with low socioeconomic status as well.
Alcohol addiction is one of their biggest problems currently. And although Opiate Treatment programs as well as Alcohol Treatment programs are available, it is difficult to treat people who are already at this point. Many people are trying to be proactive for the next generation in finding ways to build self esteem while the Native American's are still children. They are doing this tribally and instituting organizations that will help with this. On a tribal level they are trying to bring programs such as 4H, Girl Scouting, and physical challenge groups to the reservations to try and create a feeling of support right in their own community. They are also creating weekly peer support groups to help foster the feeling of community while educating the youth in these communities about the harmful effects of both drugs and alcohol on the body and mind. I love these steps because they show how a proactive approach may change the future of these communities for a lifetime.
Posted by Jen on Monday, May 05, 2008 @ 3:35 PM