RUTRTW

Roll Up The Rim To Win started today! I know what many of you are thinking, and you are right. RUTRTW is against many things that I like to think I stand for. To play, you have to use a disposable cup, whereas I (almost) always bring my to-go mug when I get coffee somewhere. Speaking of coffee, I know for a fact that the coffee is far from ethically grown, but I get around that one by ordering tea. I know nothing about where the tea comes from. Does that make it any better? Probably not, but I am a person driven largely by guilt, so it works for me. What I'm saying here is that I will be playing RUTRTW this year. I will probably play a lot and I will hopefully win a lot of stuff. I hope I win the $100 Tim's card on my first play so I can go spend 100 guilt-free dollars rolling up rims.

www.rolluptherimtowin.com

Oh boy! Time sure flies when you're having... fun?

Haha, oh man I'm so embarrassed right now. Tonight I got SO MAD at Sam while we were playing Dutch Blitz with Sachiko. I yelled at her, called her a cheater, and then stormed out of the house. I even slammed the front door and then sped off in my car.

Poor Sachiko tried to mediate our domestic dispute, but I was being completely erratic and irrational and Sam was, justifiably, laughing at me. Mediate that!

Good thing I'm house/dogsitting right now. It's always a little awkward coming back home after you've made a total ass of yourself. Apologizing is way easier on the phone.

I never yell like that when I'm angry, and I am a bit disappointed that I wasted such passionate rage on a game, even if it the best game on the planet. I guess I'm just saying it might have been more fun to unload all of that rage on someone who is not my best friend in the whole world. I guess I'm also saying that it might also be more fun to unload all of that rage if it was for something worth raging against. Maybe I should organize a game of Dutch Blitz with Joseph Kony and Robert Mugabe?

Moral of the story? The only thing I should be allowed to do when I am tired is sleep.

Griffey is coming back to Seattle!

Ken Griffey, Jr. is LEGENDARY in Seattle! It'll be AWESOME having him back in a Mariners uniform.

TED!

OK.  My friend Hene introduced me to this website, ted.com, and I am totally addicted! It's basically a bunch of geniuses (ie. Bill Gates, Jane Goodall, Stephen Hawking, etc.) sharing their ideas for how the make this planet a little better. This is the one I found today. It's about getting laptops into the hands of all kids. Go see if you can find some good videos on there. I, for one, have sure enjoyed browsing through them.

Human Right #7: Equality Before the Law

One of the things that gets me a little bit riled up on this one is the rule in the States on crack cocaine. According to the ACLU, a dealer with five grams of crack received the same punishment as a dealer who had 500 grams of powder cocaine, a disparity of 100-to-1. If you think about the demographics of those involved in dealing and using those two drugs, poor African-Americans are being punished more harshly and often than rich white folks. It's not like I'm pro-drugs or anything, but that is straight up unfair. Equality before the law? Maybe one day.

yesterday and just now

Yesterday I was talking to my brother and he said, "whenever I'm not home I'm just so mad because I wish I was at home playing Zelda." Maybe love for Zelda is genetic?

Also, I sneezed while brushing my teeth just a few minutes ago. What a disaster!

Reason #1 to watch random educational videos online:

Impress your friends.

This evening Sam was studying some drugs and sicknesses and whatever else Paramedics need to know. Meanwhile I was writing a paper for my English class. Once in awhile, when she isn't sure of an answer, she jokingly asks me if I know. I think maybe it helps her think it through, or maybe it just makes her happy that she's not the only one who doesn't know all the crazy things Paramedics have to know.  Anyways, tonight the conversation went something like this...

Sam: "What is a differential diagnosis for cyanide poisoning?"

Me: "Well, cyanide causes your mitochondria to shut down, so it would probably be something related to that."

Sam: long blank stare, followed by, "Yeah, that's right. Why do you know that?"

Me: "I just do."

She was super impressed. I think she even used the word proud. I wasn't going to tell Sam this next part so as to keep the mystery of my intelligence intact, but the truth is that I had an answer for her because I watched that biology video when I couldn't sleep last night. Isn't it lucky that Sam asked me a question relating to a random tidbit of information that the professor threw into his lecture? I was sure happy about it. So, thank you, Sam, for inspiring me to watch more iTunes U lectures.

At church today...

... a 10-year-old boy sitting two rows in front of us was knitting during the entire service.

It was AWESOME!

iTunes U

I am a bit of an insomniac these days. I think Gravol kind of helped me sleep the other night, but not enough to justify taking it again. I've been making some rules. The first one is that after I go to bed I have to try to sleep for 30 minutes before I can get up and do something else. Then the first time I get back up the only thing I'm allowed to do is read. Reading before bed has been a routine of mine since I learned how to read books by myself. I keep telling myself that maybe doing that will remind my brain that it's time to sleep. Then after I read for a bit I have to try to sleep for another 30 minutes. If I'm still awake, I can either read some more or watch a lecture on iTunes U. Right now I'm enjoying some biology lectures and an audio series on Lincoln and the Civil War. Wow, I really am a nerd, eh?

What I'm really trying to say is that iTunes U is pretty awesome. There are a ton of free classes and a lot of them are taken from courses at some pretty prestigious schools. You can download the lectures and watch or listen to them. I suppose degrees are nice, but I love the idea of being able to learn about almost anything for free. The Internet blows my mind.

Human Right #6: Rights Everywhere

This video is a little difficult for me to watch.

I believe that everyone has rights wherever they go,

but I know that it doesn't always work that way.

I guess that's why we have got to keep fighting for them.

If everyone's human rights were always recognized,

wherever they went,

then writing about them on this blog would be a waste of my time.

Fulfillment of this human right is the goal,

so let's keep on moving towards it.

Motivation

Whenever I have nothing to do on Mondays I am such a grump by the end of the day. The problem is I have absolutely no motivation to go out and do anything these days. So I spend the whole day bumming around and thinking about stupid things like how unmotivated I am, etc. and it's rather depressing. Then Sam comes home and I take it all out on her, haha, I feel bad for her for having to put up with me. So today she has commanded that I get out of the house and do something.  That way maybe I won't be mean to her tonight (at least not meaner than is normal for us). So I'm going ice skating - I'm still determined to learn how to stop like the hockey players do... yup, that's what I'm gonna do... just as soon as I work up the motivation to get my skates from the basement...

P.S. have you ever heard of despair.com? They make posters to make fun of those cheesy motivational posters.  I think it's absolutely hilarious... maybe that's part of my problem?

Anyways. I'd better go skate because otherwise Sam will be mad. And because it's good for me.