Latest News:
- Check out the new sections part of the blog on the side bar where you can read posts in a more organized, topic specific manner.Unless you are an obsessed YouTube viewer like myself, you may not have recognized the allusions to a notorious YouTube video in the Super Bowl commercials last night.
Last night surrounded by neighbors over the age of 30, I was quickly aware of the generation difference when I was giggling at the CarMax commercial and everyone else around me was silent. I make a point to say giggling because I don’t think that in any way this was a truly laugh out loud funny commercial.
Anyway, a YouTube phenomenon that has been around since June of 2007 and has over 18,000,000 views, is the Dramatic Chipmunk. It’s five seconds of your life that you may be wishing you could get back after viewing, but it’s definitely amusing.
It was this video that led to the idea of the CarMax commercials.
They’re cute but they don’t quite strike the right chord, not to mention the percentage of Super Bowl viewers who had completely no idea what CarMax was trying to get at.
I won’t even try to really explain the Census 2010 commercial. Let’s just say it’s unfortunate that taxpayers made that one possible. I guess you could kind of say that’s what working for the government is like from day to day.
Super Bowl Sunday is a tradition that everyone can enjoy, whether you’re a football aficionado or not. Regardless of your interest in the game, Super Bowl parties always have the best food and a lot of excitement. The only problem that women (or men, let’s not stereotype) might find is that beer really isn’t their thing.
Usually, whether you’re a male or female, everyone falls into one of two camps drink-wise. Either you love beer and hate mixed drinks or you love mixed drinks and hate beer. There are also some strange outliers, like myself, who enjoy both, but we’re not concerned with these individuals here.
Our topic of discussion is what are those poor mixed-drink-lovers to do at a party that appears to revolve around only beer? Now, you could make like a college co-ed and throw together a cheap vodka cranberry or rum and coke, but who wants to do that? We’re past that primitive, uncivilized style of party. We want classy mixed drinks; Cosmos, Margaritas, Martinis!
These aren’t always possible at a Super Bowl party, right?
WRONG!
Enter the Easy Strawberry Daiquiri, courtesy of Real Simple Magazine. Mix yourself up this tasty treat in a matter of minutes, leaving minimal time with your attention away from the game and those addicting Tostitos. 
What You’ll Need:
- Light rum (any kind depending on budget)
- 1 pint of strawberry sorbet
What To Do:
- In a blender purée 1 pint of strawberry sorbet, 1 and 1/4 cups of light rum and 6 cups of ice until smooth. This will be noisy so we suggest you do it before the game starts, as not to piss off any serious Super Bowl spectators.
- Transfer to a pitcher, adding water if you want to adjust the consistency.
- Drink up and enjoy!
- Remember to share with those beer drinkers, don’t assume they’re not interested.
- Don’t forget to root for the Saints.
Didn’t go to the gym today. Didn’t write a creative post.
This is failblog.org.
Or really this is failblog.org.
Though it seems like it’s fairly easy to be a blogger, that’s not always the case. As you may have read before, sometimes I lose motivation, run out of new post ideas, or am simply just too tired. There are a lot of reason why I might neglect my blog but there are more important reason to keep moving forward.
One reason is that I love writing, but the other more important reason is that I love writing for you.
Yes, you the readers.
Without you, this blog would only be an online diary, words floating out and getting lost in cyberspace. Half of writing is keeping your audience in mind and that’s you. I do know a select few of you who are reading religiously and I wanted to take the opportunity to thank you for your support. You keep me going and I hope that I can add something to your day, however small that may be.
In my opinion, Groundhog’s Day is the most ridiculous holiday “celebrated” in the United States. It’s completely based around superstition and let’s face it, the groundhog never proves anything when it comes to predicting when the spring will come.
However, if you wanted to look at this groundhog ritual as a scientific procedure for deciding how much longer winter will last, you’d at least expect some consistency among the groundhogs.
Despite what most people might believe, Punxsutawney Phil isn’t the only expert in the field. There are several other groundhogs out there who are looked to every February 2nd for the answer to the pressing question.
Here are this year’s results from Wikipedia:
| Prediction | Groundhog | Location |
| Early Spring | Octoraro Orphie | Quarryville, Pennsylvania |
| Early Spring | Sir Walter Wally | Raleigh, North Carolina |
| Early Spring | Jimmy the Groundhog | Sun Prairie, Wisconsin |
| Early Spring | General Beauregard Lee | Snellville, Georgia |
| 6 More Weeks of Winter | Malverne Mel | Malverne, New York |
| Early Spring | Staten Island Chuck | Staten Island (New York City) |
| Early Spring | Woodstock Willie | Woodstock, Illinois |
| 6 more weeks of winter | Wiarton Willie | Wiarton, Ontario |
| 6 more weeks of winter | Punxsutawney Phil | Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania |
| 6 more weeks of winter | Spanish Joe | Spanish, Ontario |
| Early spring | Dunkirk Dave | Dunkirk, New York |
| Early Spring | Buckeye Chuck | Marion, Ohio |
| Early Spring | Balzac Billy | Balzac, Alberta |
| 6 more weeks of winter | Shubenacadie Sam | Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia |
| Early Spring | French Creek Freddie | French Creek, West Virginia |
| 6 more weeks of winter | Chuckles | Manchester, Connecticut |
| 6 more weeks of winter | Woody | Howell, Michigan |
As you can see, they’re hardly consistent. I guess you could choose to believe whoever gave the predictions that you’d prefer. Not a cold weather lover? Go with Sir Walter Wally’s prediction. Still want to get some more skiing in this year? Listen to Chuckles.
The more you think about it, the more ridiculous the folklore seems. Why is it that when the groundhog sees its shadow it means more winter? Wouldn’t you think that a shadow-causing sunny day would mean spring is coming? And conversely, cloudy weather means no shadow. That seems to match better with an extended winter, wouldn’t you think?
The other issue is that, in the southern part of the country isn’t even really an issue if winter is extended or not. My grandparents down in Florida are enjoying their 60 plus degree weather. They could care less what Phil is saying.
And let’s not even get into PETA’s proposal of a mechanical groundhog. I’m pretty sure the groundhogs are treated better than I am. They’re celebrities and they’re definitely not at risk of becoming fur coats, but we’ll leave that topic for next year.
Tonight I’m working on redesigning Life Ink so that it’s more navigable and aesthetically pleasing. Look forward to the new look of Life Ink and please bare with me as it might not be entirely organized right away.
Also of note, I’m going to participate in the February NaBloPoMo so look forward to more post everyday for another 28 days.
So here we are, January 31st. Tomorrow marks another month gone by, and the completion of my participation in National Blog Posting Month.
Looking back, this challenge has definitely helped give me some more structure to my blogging routine. I might try to keep doing this for the rest of the year. Maybe that’s a bit ambitious, but we’ll see how it goes.
However, blogging aside, I have some other goals that I want to focus on for the month ahead.
- Learn to knit
- Practice piano
- Practice guitar
- Blog consistently – as if it’s my job – like Carrie Bradshaw
- Visit more of my friends
See you next month!
In light of the colder weather returning, I wanted to share another picture of the lone acorn. This time it’s frosted over on a cold morning.
Anyone who owns a dog will probably tell them they love them to the end of the world and back. This couldn’t be more true for my family and myself. Today Casey is turning 14. That’s old for a yellow lab. We never thought we would have so much time with her and we are so grateful for every day we get.
Especially, for me, Casey has always been there for me when I needed her most. I can’t tell you how many times she would hear me crying in my room and run up the stairs to my side. She wouldn’t leave until I feeling better and she knew if I was faking it just to get her to leave me alone.
So, this is to you, Casey. You have added to our lives in ways you will never be able to understand. Thank you for all the wonderful years and here’s to many more. Happy Birthday, Boo Boo!
Cozy and Sunggling
There are many things about life at college that make it what many people call the best four years of your life.
However, what we tend to forget is there is no reason why we can’t incorporate these “college-like” characteristics into the “real world.”
Take tomorrow for example. We’re having casual friday and also an appreciation party for the Census Recruiting Assistants. The theme of the day is the 60s. Everyone is expected do their best to find something tie-dye and squeeze into their old bell-bottom jeans.
I’m brining in sugar cookies decorated like peace signs that I slaved over for most of this evening.
Talking to another one of the Census employees who also just graduated, we both mentioned how it feels like we were back at school with theme parties or school spirit days.
At college the whole environment revolved around having a good time while building school spirit and getting an education.
Why can’t we keep doing that? The answer? There’s really no reason at all.
If you liked the life you lived in college, work to find it in your “real world” experience.
The work environment I have at the Census definitely feels like a student organization at college. It’s fast paced, hectic and sometimes unorganized. But we’re constantly working to improve and learn from mistakes and most importantly, we have fun together.
Unfortunately, I’m having a hard time this week thinking about new interesting topics to post. I know it probably doesn’t help that I’m sitting here in front the television and computer simultaneously.
It’s also getting harder because I’ve been blogging once a day for 27 days now. I have found these websites to be helpful in the past to help me come up with subjects that keep blogging interesting.
The Cosmo Headline Technique for Blogging Inspiration
The Imagination Prompt Generator
9 Steps to Better Blog Post Ideas
Perhaps tomorrow I will actually use one of them instead of just posting about them. 
It makes me wonder whether I’ll be able to keep this up after January is over or whether I even should keep it up. I will have to consider what I’m going to do when February comes around.
One thing I do know though, is that having a plan for writing a post makes writing so much easier. I know for sure that I’m going to have a hard time writing a post I can be proud of if I haven’t thought it through ahead of time.
Anyway, that’s enough of this unplanned, random, ramblings.
Dinner and a movie all to myself.
Sorry blogosphere. Tonight is is for me time.
First of all, I find it almost unbelievable that February is right around the corner. This week is the last week of January.
I guess I wanted to take a moment and reflect on the fact that NaBloPoMo gives a theme for each month that you’re supposed to try to keep in mind when posting everyday. I didn’t actually know what the theme was until a few days into the month. It turns out that the theme is “best.”
I found this to be quite meaningful for me because that is what I have been trying to do since I graduated. I have been trying to do my best. This past month I have been trying to my best posting something interesting everyday and expanding my writing subjects. We are always trying to do our best as members of society and looking back today, I feel like I can say that I have lived up to that standard of doing my best.
I hope I can feel that way every time I look back and reflect on the past.
Tonight I kept myself busy going through my many boxes of special stuff that I keep under my bed. The idea was to consolidate some of it and recycle what I really didn’t need to keep. Going through all the papers and cards I found many from friends and family that I had kept because of their special messages. They all expressed how much I mean to them and how proud of me they are. Card after card I read through and each had the same effect. I was reminded that I am loved by so many and this brought a big smile to my face.
These words are what help me keep trying to do my best and also help me see that I am doing some good in this world. These people appreciate me and they think I have done my best. They are proud of my best work, my best actions, my best qualities. Doing the best you can is not about perfection. It’s just about adding something more to your own life and to the lives of others. It’s about making the most of what you have everyday.
Though I feel like I’ve done this a lot lately, I’m going to leave you with another wish.
I wish for you the best of everything and the ability to do the best you can.
The one thing that I am continually learning is that no matter how alone you may feel, it’s never the way it really is. What I mean is that there are so many people in this world that chances are there is at least someone who understands what you are going through.
Maybe I’m not so happy with being stuck, living at home and not writing for some prestigious publication, but the fact of the matter is, I’m not a failure. I’m also not the only one who feels this way about my life. I’m not the only one who has graduated college and not immediately moved on to get my ideal career. So many people have insecurities. We all have dreams that we want to make real. We all have obstacles to face. We all have long roads we have to walk down.
We should never feel alone in our journey because even if you don’t talk to anyone who feels like you do, they do exist. It might be one of the hardest things to truly comprehend but we are always supported by someone. There is always someone who believes in you and wants you to succeed.
And you can succeed. You have to believe that you can because if you don’t then you never will. Believing is the first step in making your dreams come true. Because if you don’t believe in yourself, who else will?
We might get through life together, but you can’t always expect others to get you through. Everyone starts and ends their lives with themselves and you will spend your entire life with yourself. It’s the only constant that there is. You might change as a person but you will always be there with yourself. So you better start supporting yourself in what you want to do because otherwise you will be living with someone who doesn’t believe in you forever. And that is no way to live.
Throughout history, people have been surviving by relying on the camaraderie of others. The beauty of humanity is that we lift each other up. We support each other. We help each other in times when we need it. Remember this and don’t forget to return the favor when someone else asks for a helping hand. The world will be a better place because of it and it will be all because you reached out and took the hand that needed you.
