23
today marks the start of my 23rd year. absolutely crazy. i honestly do not feel 23--i feel like at least three of those years went MIA. so with respect to a lack of time, my goals for the next year are simple:
i've been thinking about this question alot lately--what would you do if you had no electricity? if electricity was no longer available to your house, to your neighborhood, to your community, to your state...what would you do? how would you spend your time?
honestly, i'm not sure what i'd do...umm, ride my bike? read books, talk to people. honestly things would be alot quieter and my pace of life would slow down tremendously. but i really have no idea what i'd do. my life, like most other people's in this country, revolves around technology built around electricity. can you imagine living in the south without a/c? or even a fan? no refridgerators or microwaves means we'd have to find new ways to cook--or should i say actual ways to cook--and speaking of food, without refridgeration, conveniences such as prepared foods would all but disappear. water would no longer come out of the faucet when you turned the knob--unless you are fed by an artesian well (mmm...stinky...) or some other non-electrical water system. life would change so dramatically, it'd be a rough time adapting.
ok. i'm going to try to sneak a nap in before my evening with dr. robinson, in engineering stats and econ. what a way to spend my birthday. oh yeah!
- i'd like to explore australia - now that i'm becoming more aware and i'm seeing how this country is being run, i'd relaly like to expore my options. i'm not one to jump ship, but the more i learn the more hopeless things look for this country...
- i want to get a 4.0 at least one semester - the better my grades are the better. a 4.0 would give me great momentum and a sense of pride i've been lacking. plus i'd feel really smart.
- i would also like to retune my car - i've got 26mpg and 275hp as goals with my current engine and turbo, which should be possible with a little fuel tuning and a better exhaust system. better gas mileage would be nice, although i'm averaging 21.7mpg this semester, with 60% of my driving being highway driving. i'm trying not to spend too much on my car, seeing as how i'm exactly broke, but oh well. i can't help it...
- U.S. keeping crash data secret--so, apparently the NHTSA has become entangled with tire manufacturers in a legal suit which will determine whether or not it is a consumer's right to know if a particular tire is more likely to fail than another tire. what the hell? so if the tire manufacturers win, does that mean that we have no right to know about dangerous vehicle/tire combinations, like the propensity for the Wilderness A/T to fail on the Ford Explorer? excuse me, how about no...
- Japan ratifies Kyoto pact--yes, this is old news. more than two years old, actually. but does anyone remember hearing about the kyoto protocol? probably not, because leaders of this nation (a nation which produces approximately 23% of the world's greenhouse gases) decided not to participate in the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol which would have lowered our overall output of greenhouse gases by 8% by 2008. nopey, not our nation. in fact, bush said it would hurt our economy to do such a thing. in fact, the article states that "the Bush administration has initiated policy changes that could increase its emissions by up to 30%." now that sounds typical. maybe it was bush not wanting to put the US in the UN's jurisdiction, and maybe US corporations are independently lowering their emissions...but global warming is, in fact, a global issue. and the US's involvement, until Russia approved the Kyoto Pact today, was crucial to get the Kyoto Pact into motion for the rest of the world. in that sense, it was rather selfish of the US to refuse the pact without following up and coming to some agreement.
i've been thinking about this question alot lately--what would you do if you had no electricity? if electricity was no longer available to your house, to your neighborhood, to your community, to your state...what would you do? how would you spend your time?
honestly, i'm not sure what i'd do...umm, ride my bike? read books, talk to people. honestly things would be alot quieter and my pace of life would slow down tremendously. but i really have no idea what i'd do. my life, like most other people's in this country, revolves around technology built around electricity. can you imagine living in the south without a/c? or even a fan? no refridgerators or microwaves means we'd have to find new ways to cook--or should i say actual ways to cook--and speaking of food, without refridgeration, conveniences such as prepared foods would all but disappear. water would no longer come out of the faucet when you turned the knob--unless you are fed by an artesian well (mmm...stinky...) or some other non-electrical water system. life would change so dramatically, it'd be a rough time adapting.
ok. i'm going to try to sneak a nap in before my evening with dr. robinson, in engineering stats and econ. what a way to spend my birthday. oh yeah!