Snow

The snow creates a silence. It's a beautiful silence. A combination of extra insulation and the fact that no one wants to be outside. The silence isn't like the silence that comes from the bitter cold. That silence carries too much noise. The silence that comes from snow like today is a beatiful thing. You can go for a walk and feel warm, even though you are surrounded by feet upon feet of white dense wetness. It's beautiful:

Dear Britney Spears:

For those of you who don't know Britney Spears pretty much had a break down this weekend. This is what I would tell her, if I could.

It's okay. You haven't been having the best time lately. You've made some mistakes, we all have. You fell in love with a looser... I've done it. You wanted a child. It's not like you don't have the money to support them. We were all behind you when you filed for divorce from Kevin Federline. I understand why you wanted to party so much. You were free. You needed to be free. We know that you had a baby sitter watching your children. We wanted you to have a big comeback.

This is my advice to you: Take your babies and go to Louisanna. Spend time with your family. Retreat to the country. Get away from LA, get away from the stress.

Maybe you're just a really big Demi Moore fan? She did the Vanity Fair cover pregnant and naked, you did the Harper's Bazaar cover naked and pregnant. She shaved her head... you shaved your head. Look at Demi's hair now, it's gorgeous. Better than ever. She totally took time off and raised her kids in the country. Now she's hotter than ever! Do the same honey. Just chill. If you want people behind you, make a smart choice.

This is my final peice of advice to you: Run away. Run far, far away. Go back to the simple things. Let your mother be a country grandma. She'll bake cookies and make soup.

Be intellegent, we know you're capable, and then we'll love you again

Sincerely,
Katherine Grandstrand

Do we have an obesity or anorexia epidemic?

When you turn on the TV, there's always either something about how Americans are too fat, or about how celebrities are too skinny. Which is it? An article from MSNBC/Newsweeks says that it's both.

While the travails of the thin and beautiful almost always make for good copy, we should remember that only about 1 percent of the American population is anorexic, while nearly two thirds of adults are overweight or obese, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. So it's not as if skinny models have inspired an epidemic of slimness. In fact, the real danger may be that the contrast between the girls on the catwalks and the girls at the mall is creating an atmosphere ripe for binge dieting and the kind of unhealthy eating habits that ultimately result in weight gain, not loss.

Has anyone else noticed this, does this bother anyone else? Are we too fat or too skinny? Why can't we promote a healthy body image?

What drives me crazy is the fact that we can't call anyone "fat" anymore. It's not politically correct. When we stopped calling people fat, waistlines increased dramtically. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that everyone who has a few extra pounds should be called fat. I was called fat 15lbs ago... what does that make me? It's scary how many obese people there are, and how many people are happy at an unhealthy BMI.

I don't see myself as fat. I do see myself as someone with a little extra fat. When I look at my eating and exercise habits, I see why. I'm not perfectly happy with the way I look, but at the same time, I'm going to take drastic and unhealthy measures to loose weight.

We've lost the strive to be better, but some have gained the obesession with "perfection."

The Dove study found that just 2 percent of women and girls said they would describe themselves as beautiful, while two thirds said they avoided basic activities on days they felt unattractive. Those activities ranged from going to the beach or a party to showing up for work or school—even voicing an opinion.

No one is perfect, no one ever will be. Flaws are great, but not all flaws need to be there. Promoting good diet and exercise, along with good external care (hair, skin, face) will make everyone feel better. Why are we afraid of healthy people?

Sunday

Ah, Sunday. That day of the week that is either the end of a beautiful weekend, or the dreaded last day of the weekend that is used to catch up on all the stuff that needs to be done by Monday. I'm guessing it's the latter for most people. I have a minumum of stuff to do for tomorrow, which is nice. A little procrastination goes a long way.

The hardest thing, for me anyway, about balancing school and work is housework. Squeezing in time to do a load of dishes so your roommates don't hate you, or finally seeing the carpet in your bedroom for the first time in a month. I used my afternoon yesterday to do just that. The dish'll come later this week. Saturday morning, when getting ready for work, I noticed a bulk of clothing that I hadn't worn for a while. So I grabbed some bags and sorted through it: KEEP, TOSS, and DONATE. The Salvation Army will be happy with me. Two and half bags of clothes (and five pairs of shoes), including a tasteful formal gown that doesn't fit me anymore. I hope it ends up being some girl's dream prom dress.

Have you ever donated stuff, and then gone down the the Salvation Army to see how much they're charging? It's kinda fun. The last time I did it, I went to check it out about a week after I dropped stuff off. I could only find about a quarter of the stuff I left. It was kinda fun. The infamous "I don't think I can do a pink purse" pink purse was still there. I might drop this stuff off tomorrow. If anyone's looking for last year's size 7 clothing... check out the Salvation Army this week.

Off to do the rest of my homework...

On Valentine's Day

"Don't worry about it, it'll all be over on the 15th, and 1/2 off!"

And the last minute goes to:

The New York Times media blog
The Carpetbagger!

David Carr, media critic for The Times, reports on the movie awards season.

The Carpetbagger is a seasonal blog that covers all things Oscar -- the news, the nonsense, and the players that drive the campaign.

After my first two experiences with blogging blogs, I didn't know what to search for. A couple of searches came up short. I thought I'm doing a paper about Glenn Miller for The History of Jazz. Let's use the Blogger search tool to see what I can find... nada. At least not anything class-worthy. Nothing that could be used as cross-over research, anyway. Then I thought about Sex and the City. Carrie's column definately reminds me of a blog. I thought There has to be a fantasy blog where people are pretending to be Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte. Wrong again. I couldn't find any such blog, at least not to my standards... there was one No Sex and the City, where the authors called themselves notCarrie and notSamantha and so on and so forth. But in further examination, not what I wanted.

I the end, I went to the journalist go-to resource... The New York Times. There's always something interesting one can elaborate on in The New York Times. I knew that there were blogs at The Times, and it was time to check them out.

The first couple of weblogs I blogged were written by several authors. While each had different qualities, I wanted to stray further from my pattern and find a weblog with a single author. There might be more consistency with a single author, or not. I guess we shall see.

If one was wondering if a true blog existed, this is it. Short postings, a link here and there, very focused. Professional: the author is a writer for The Times. The author definately uses the blog to build his reputation and give information. Simple as that.

This single author is a BUSY author. TEN count 'em one two three four five six seven eight nine TEN posts today alone. Six the day before. I thought posting once a day was hard. And I can post about ANYTHING This guy has to keep his musings related to the Oscars. Granted, he does stray here and there, but if a posting's not Academy Awards related, it is about Hollywood.

Upon further review, this single author has the consistency I seek. Not saying that all single-author blogs are consistent in their posting, but after the last two blogs, it's something I wanted.

I like this. It's not the same-old same-old Hollywood gossip we get on E! and VH1. It's classy, like it's parent. Carr even refuses to post about the death of Anna Nicole Smith with this posting:

In Search of the Grim Reaper’s Funny Bone

We are not going to discuss You Know Who’s death because we generally don’t think that dead people, regardless of their backstories, should be treated like piñatas — hit with sticks by bloggers and commentators until their insides fall out and their demise somehow becomes comic. Not to get all prissy or anything, but the Bagger always wonders what is so funny about someone, anyone, turning up dead.

Very commendable. I must say, Ms. Smith's death shocked me, but there isn't much to say at the moment.

For an E! junkie like myself, this is a fresh look into the world of entertainment. It's not about Paris and Lindsey's latest rumble. It's about legitimate artists search for one of the highest honors awarded to those in their field.

Mundane

I'm sitting here, waitng at work for my replacement to come. (ten minutes) Today has been fairly eventless. Nothing crazy happened. Nothing horrible, nothing great. It's just been a Thursday. But Thursdays give way to Fridays, and Fridays to Saturdays, and Saturdays to Sundays... wait... Sundays lead to Mondays, don't they? Oh well. I have one class on Friday, and work in the evening. There's a party I'm supposed to go to on Saturday. We'll see how I feel.

I'm really tired. Florida called, and we didn't get off the phone until 3am. Late night phone calls are typical at this point. It wouldn't be so bad, if I had time for a nap. But time is not something I have a lot of. It's only three weeks in to the semester and I've had to write down a list of the assignments I have due in the near future, and when they're due, so I can prioritize. List are a nasty habit of mine. I make lists for everything. It's sick, sad, and almost wrong.

But, my replacement's here, so I can go.
Have a good night all!

Chicago

I'm moving to Chicago in June, after graduation. I'm hopefully going to grad school there, but if that doesn't pan out, I've decided to go there and find a job. (Scary... a job, a REAL job.) I decided to get out there and see what bloggers had to say about Chicago.

Through a search I stumbled across metroblogging chicago. It's an inside look (sometimes inside-out look) at Chicago. I've only been there once before, six years ago, but I was 15, and with my high school band/choir. We did very tourist-y things like visit the Sears Tower (in a very thick fog... we couldn't see anything) and the Navy Pier. When planning on moving to a city, it's probably best to learn as much as you can about the city. What better way than strait from the inhabitant's mouths.

The link-laden blog has several authors, nine to be exact. They type of weblog changes with each poster, it's not just a collabrative effort. It's something different. It's different with every post. It's not a journal, most likely a blog with filter-like qualities at sometimes. At times, it's even a photoblog. Really, it's a little bit of everything. A place for people to sound off, a place for people to converse, Chicagoans can give each other tips, or just leave a quick joke. This is a blog used for creating a community, quite literally.

There really isn't a major theme except Chicago. Sports in Chicago, art in Chicago, interesting things that caught the eye of people from Chicago. Each author is just as ADD at somepoints as the weblog itself. It's interesting. Definately a shmorgasboard (sp?) of Chicago culture. A great inside resource for someone like me. I'd like to know a little bit of everything.

The Bears going to the SuperBowl is probably one of the biggest thing to happen to Chicago sports fans since the Bulls in the '90s. This blog definately reflects that. The Minneapolis metblog would be buzzing just as much, if not more if the Vikings went to the SuperBowl. (Remember the last time the SuperBowl was in Miami?) This is starting to make me scared... I'll be a Vikings fan living in Bears country. I don't know how well that'll go. I might have to keep my love for the Vikings closeted until I can find a community of like-minded people. I saw people in full-on Packers garb in the store the other day, and I wondered to myself if they knew where they were. People are serious about their NFL. Chicago's no different. (DA BEARS!)

Some people encourage readers to leave comments, other just want to post information. This is part of the metblogs system, with blogs representing 52 (Pittsburgh just joined) cities around the world, most of which are in the United States, but does include locations such as Asia, Europe and South America.

next post in Blogging Blogs Exercise

Finding your voice

I was perusing my myspace page this evening, and realized that it really is just a created persona. It's only one part of me, definately. My name is "a beautiful dream" and my picture is from a day when I was all dressed up. Most days I neither look nor think like a beautiful dream. Most days I look like this:



I definately have a different voice here than I do on myspace, or facebook, or my msn livespace. But that's part of the fun of blogging and online networking. You can choose which side of yourself to show. I wouldn't say that any of my "voices" are less or more authentic than the next, but a different side of me.

I think I'm more personal on my myspace blog, my msn livespaces blog is used mostly for showing off, since people from back home can see it, and here, it's for class, so I keep it professional, or try to, at least.

I'm beginning to see how blogging can be a release. Even if you follow some of the most conservative restraints, you can still express yourself, rant and share with the world. I can see where Blood says that even if you just post annotated links, some of yourself still comes through. Unless you're completely random with your postings, but then again, that can show your personality, too. Strange.

Obligatory Post

Here's my obligatory post for the day, but I am working on the writing assignment for class, as well, so it's not like I'm not doing anything for class.

We tried jumping my car Sunday, and it would not go... today, I tried, nothing, we hooked it up to my roommates' car... it seemed like it didn't need the jump. It probably just needed the extra juice. Anyway, it's up and running now, and I'm gonna let it get REALLY warm and let the battery charge.

That's what I've got for today so far. Maybe something interesting will happen at work, you never know.

Engaged and Underage

I was watching one of MTV's newest reality shows Engaged and Underage, I became inspired; there must be blogs about this. So I set off on my search for what must be thousands of wonderful postings about this new TV show that's slightly controversial, but viable to almost everyone. Boy was I wrong. But a few stepped up, and I think that Weddingbee covers my intial search topic well. But how does it handle in the rest of the competition?

The thing that struck me most about this was that, rather than just spew their own opinion for the public to digest, the author simply stated what the show was, posting MTV's description, and then posed the question for others to answer. The question in this case is

This show really brings to light a controversial question: Can you be too young to get married?

The fellow posters do most of the opinion sharing, therefore this blog is an open discussion. In a way, it's more of a forum than a blog. Which brings up the question, where does a blog end and a forum begin? I think that's a question for another post on another day. These guys call themselves a blog, so I'm going to believe them.

On further review, this is a blog mostly devoted to planning weddings. It is a multi-author blog. Women name themsleves after fruits (Miss Apple) or flowers (Miss Daisy) and call their finaces Mr.chosen fruit/flower. They also often refer to their fiances as FI. This all kinda me want to puke. The more I think about weddings, the less I want one. Off topic... back to Weddingbee How to classify this blog? Maybe a hobby blog? But is wedding planning a hobby? It's not a profession, at least not for the bride, and this is a community of brides and brides-to-be. I guess it'd be a short-term hobby.

I guess the idea of a wedding planning blog isn't a bad idea. Women who are planning a wedding might want to bounce ideas off of people who don't know them, people who don't have any personal stock in the wedding. Her mother might think that a wedding dress is wrong... and maid of honor sis won't argue with mom, but an opinion of the dress from strangers might shed a differnt light. And maybe friends have heard enough of her wedding planning, and she needs a place to go to be a bride-to-be.

I really like the supportive attitude. This is more than just a blog, it's a community of fruits and flowers, all planning weddings, getting the advice from from Mrs. Bee, a professional in the wedding biz who, from what I gather, started the whole thing.

In today’s hive:

GeLLiBeLLy wants to know what songs you chose for the ceremony and reception. She’s having a tough time selecting music.
sally wants to know how you let people know where you’re registered if you’re not having any showers, don’t have a website, and don’t put it in the invitations?
MissBluebear wants to know your opinion on groomsmen in suits rather than tuxes? What suit styles work best for a wedding party? The groomsmen suggested bowties with suits and she’s not sure how she feels about that. Also the best man has a tux he wants to wear, so will the groom and best man in tux, and 3 groomsmen in suits look weird?
Mindy is looking for a knottie bio that shows tons of fonts.
jen’s godmother is throwing her a shower - does she need to extend invitations to all of her fiance’s aunts/adult female cousins? They’re not close but she doesn’t want them to feel left out, or seem greedy for gifts. Advice?
iheartq wants to know is she’s responsible for all costs as the host of a bridal shower. She’s not the MOH but offered to host the shower, and the bride is inviting 50+ people. Would if be polite to ask the other girls to help contribute?
To add your question to the beehive, leave a comment below and we’ll update this post to include your question. See all past beehives here.

She posts issues that need to be resolved and others that need help can post their questions.

I really liked the way this "blog" was an open discussion. It's a supportive online community for newly engaged individuals to meet up with seasoned pros for advice and non-discriminatory discussion. I like the idea. I'm not a huge fan of wedding planning, but such blogs for other topics... golden.

next post for Blogging Blogs exercise

My boyfriend lives in Florida, and I hate him

So, I might not hate him. But it was -26˚F when I left the house this morning. I'm pretty sure that there's no way it was that cold in Florida. Let's see the current temps: Bemidji: -21˚F Tampa: 55˚F. I worn 2 pairs of socks, my boots, three shirts, long sleeved, short sleeved, and hoodie (in that order) that's my inside garb. To brave the great outdoors (for two and a half blocks) I donned two coats - my fleece fall/spring weight jacket, with my winter down-filled coat on top of that. I wrapped a scarf around my neck tightly, and topped it all off with a warm knit hat and two pairs of gloves.

He says he remembers the days of cold winters... but he only lived here for three winters. I've been living in northern Minnesota for 21 years. The cold is strange. I think we stop feeling it get colder after a while... like, our bodies can only feel temperatures so cold...

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I hate him... but love him, just the same.

Sex and the City

One of my favorite shows. But in the context of blogging, it's got me thinking. Anyone can be a Carrie Bradshaw. If I wanted to I could publish a weekly column about whatever, I could, in the from of a blog. Is this a good thing? I'd be doing work for no pay, at least not any immediate. There are sucess stories. Bloggers who got enough recognition that they get paid for their musings. They say self-publishing is the sure-fired way to make it. Do the work and hope to get paid later. Is this the right thing to do? Are blogs going to change the publishing industry? Is starting a blog the best way to get recognized as a writer? The better the blog, the bigger the following, the larger the chance of someone important noticing it. It's crazy. I guess I'd better get writing...

Crap

Missed another day... but only by a few minutes... drat. Posting... everyday... tough... So, like I said, it's scary posting un-edited work. I noticed bad grammer in my last post. Ick! There's nothing that says "I'm stupid" quite like bad grammer. We celebrated my friend's 22nd birthday tonight with Jazz Fest and Applebee's. $1 taps have turned into $1.50... and Lienie's isn't domestic anymore... apparently it's premium. Last time I was there, it was domestic, since it's brewed in Wisconsin. (*sips out of last bottle of Apple Spice*) Wisconsin is apparently a far away place, and not the next state over. The Budwieser brewed in St. Louis is much less exotic than the beer brewed six hours away. Give me a break. And then, when we intially ordered, the waiter didn't ask what size we wanted, and brought us talls... what if I didn't want to spend that much. What if it wasn't just financial aid dispersment/pay day? And then my food was cold. And my chips were stale. WHY? Grr... anyway (*sips Apple Spice*) It's time to stop blogging.
'nite all

Hmmm

This posting everyday stuff is hard. Techincally, I've went two days with out posting... shoot. Anyway, we should post everday. Like Ms. Blood said, it's harder than it sounds. Especially the whole righting badly everyday. I don't want to sound like an idoit. Anyone can read this, and people in the class even more. The fact that I can't read it over and over and edit and check freaks me out. A typo or the wrong form of their/there/they're can make you look like the dumbest person. An unedited piece of work is scary.