Funny Item on Ebay

http://cgi.ebay.com/USA-President-ABRAHAM-LINCOLN-HAIR-lock-autograph-COA_W0QQitemZ160233958177QQihZ006QQcategoryZ33774QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
This website will take you to an Ebay page to buy a lock of Abraham Lincoln's hair. That is disturbing on so many levels! The really good part is that there are nineteen bids on it, and the current bid is $280! The fact that there are people that would want someone else's hair, especially someone who has been dead for over a hundred years, is very creepy.
It probably is not even really his hair. Who would collect that before he was buried? "Oh, wait we have to collect his hair so someone can buy it for $200 someday." Wow. I also saw one down the page a little for George Washington and Princess Diana's hair. They were all in a frame with a photo and an autograph. If these people were to actually see this, I think they would be freaked out too.
The following few sentences are included as selling points on the page. "According to this site the price for ONE ¼” strand of Authentic Abraham Lincoln hair is $1900.00. The item up for bid consists of a FEW STRANDS of Authentic Lincoln hair obtained during his Presidency and is elaborately custom framed. Hair will last forever and can be handed down to future generations where autographs fade through the years. You will have an actual piece of an admired historic person in this very special framed display. You will own one of the most historic artifacts of this person to ever be made available." Hair will last forever and can be handed down for generations. That's just what I want to inherit from my family!

Once

Even though it was kind of different, overall I enjoyed the movie Once. I was confused about whether or not they were just filming these people's lives, or it was an actual scripted movie. The filming did not seem very professional. It was kind of fuzzy and the lighting was not very good.
I did not like the ending of the movie, because I thought the two main characters would have ended up together, but they did not. I did think it was cute that he bought her the piano, however. The story was neat how these two strangers met randomly one day on the street and became close friends. It was funny when she was dragging her vacuum cleaner all over the city with her.
The music in the movie was really good. I liked the first song that the two sang together. I actually bought it off Itunes over the weekend. The guy was very good at playing guitar, and I love songs with acoustic guitar in them.
I think that using videos to help students further understand the concept of the papers was a good idea. I enjoyed all of the films we watched this semester, and I thought they all fit really well with what we were doing at the time. It was also nice to get a break from normal class once and a while. After just turning one paper in, it was nice not to have to then turn around and think about another. The videos provided a good break in the class that had a good purpose.

Favorite Toy as a Child

When I was young, I loved to play with Barbies. I loved to dress them up, do their hair, and make up fun lives and stories for them. One thing I always liked to do was to set up weddings. I would dress Barbie up in her wedding dress and gather all my other Barbies around.
Another thing that my friends and I liked to do was pretend that our Barbies were certain famous people. We had a Justin Timberlake Ken, a Britney Spears Barbie (back before she was crazy), and many others. We would make them have concerts as well as do normal life type things. We had pretty elaborate stories.
One thing that I do not like about Barbie now, is that they make everything for her. There is no imagination that goes into making up lives and stories for dolls anymore. If you want your Barbie to be a doctor, there's a doctor's office you can buy with all the accessories needed. When I was little, I never even had a house for my dolls. I built them with blankets and Lego's. When my Barbies had their weddings, I made an area for them to do it in. I did not go out and buy a church. When we had Barbie concerts, we built the stages.
I think that the way I played with Barbies showed my creativity and my ability to make up stories at a young age. I have always loved to write, and these characteristics definitely play into that. I wish that the doll makers would make little girls use their imaginations more. That way no little girl can be cheated out of developing one.

T.V. Show Worth Watching

The Biggest Loser is a television show that is worth watching. It is a show about a group of extremely overweight people that have to lose weight. The person that loses the most weight wins $250,000. Even though there is a never-ending stream of reality shows that are all pretty much the same, this one is different. It is one of the shows worth taking the time to watch.
It is inspirational to see these people go through the changes of losing weight. The trainers on the show literally work them until they cannot go anymore, and then they work them more. When the show is over and the finale comes, it is amazing to see the difference in how the contestants look. They are much happier and healthier. Seeing this transformation is enough to make many people want to go out and better themselves. Even if they do not need to lose weight, it is also a good motivator to get healthier and more fit.
The Biggest Loser is also just entertaining. Throughout the show, the contestants have to take part in certain challenges, they get make overs, and it is very evident that these factors change them for the better.
If a person is looking for a good show to watch, The Biggest Loser is it. It has something for everyone, and it is inspirational. The show is good to watch as a family because it can inspire everyone to be healthier.

Extreme Emotion

When told that the prompt today was to talk about a time when I felt as extreme emotion, one thought came to mind. That thought was my parents divorce. They separated when I was a sophomore in high school and were divorced the fall of my junior year.
I still remember the day my mom told me. Her and I were in the car on our way down to the cities from Alexandria, where we lived at the time. She pretty much just came out and said it, and did not really beat around the bush too much. I was so shocked at first. I mean, I knew things were not the greatest, but I hadn't realized that they were that bad. I was so shocked that I could not even feel anything else, and I do not think I even cried about it until later.
After my dad moved out, my mom was never home. She went out constantly and it really made me angry and sad. It also put a strain on our relationship that is still there today.
I have never experienced so much sadness and anger at any other point in my life. Sure, there have been other times where I have felt these strong emotions. However, I do not think that any of them had as great an impact on my life as this time did. I still have issues with my mom today, but things have improved. At this point, it does not bother me that much that they are divorced, but it sure would make my life a lot easier if they were not. Filling out financial aid is an example of how it would be easier.

Perspectives on Advertising

I hate commercials. Plain and simple. As soon as the show I'm watching goes to commercial, I flip to a different channel that does not have commercials at that moment. The thing that really makes me angry is when there is commercials on almost every channel at the same time. I feel like the shows on television could take up about half as much time if there were no commercials to interrupt it. I really hate watching movies on television because you miss parts of the movie. If there were no commercials, maybe they could play the whole movie in the amount of time allotted. There is one commercial that I do like, however. I am not positive, but I think it is one of those commercials that tries to encourage people to exercise, and there is this older guy dancing around an office. I love the song, it cracks me up when they say, "Let me see ya MOVE sucka". It gets me every time.
I am also very annoyed with print advertisements. I subscribe to Cosmopolitan magazine. As I flip through it, all I seem to see is advertisements. The magazine would be about five pages without all the advertisements in it. I like to read the articles in it, but I hate having to flip through all the ads to get to the actual content of the magazine. I realize that companies need some way to spread knowledge of their product, but maybe there should be a limit on how many ads can be in one magazine.
Another thing I hate about advertising is the way they try to sell products. I feel like a lot of advertisements degrade women. Alcohol ads are the worst at this. They use women's bodies and sex to sell everything. It makes me sad that after all this time, women still allow themselves to be looked at this way.
Advertising is an important industry to companies trying to get a product noticed. However, the way they go about trying to sell their product just bothers me. I think the way they bombard us with thousands of ads everyday is ridiculous, and actually probably turns more people off. I know when I have seen the same commercial over and over, it makes me hate the product more than want to buy it.

Barak Obama and Martin Luther King, Jr.

I really enjoyed reading both of these pieces. I really liked Obama's speech. I thought it was very well-written, and I agree with most of what he was saying. This, of course, is probably a big reason I liked it. I am hoping to be able to vote for Obama in November, and Martin Luther King, Jr. is one of my favorite historical people. I am very much a supporter of equality and fairness. It makes me very happy to see a black man as a main contender for the president. I am glad there is a woman there as well, however I wish it was a different woman.
I thought that both pieces effectively argued a point. I thought Obama did a great job of telling what needs to be done, why it needs to be done, and how it will be done. Our country is facing many major problems right now, and he did a good job of showing his audience what those issues are, and what he will do about it. I thought that Martin Luther King, Jr. did a good job of cutting down the other side, but he did it without sounding arrogant. Sometimes people just cut them down for the sake of cutting them down. Martin Luther King, Jr. did a good job of showing why they are wrong and giving examples.
Today, just as in King's time, there are many race related injustices. There are still stereotypes and racist acts that occur. These include income, education, the way people walk, talk, and dress. The list goes on and on. Granted, things have for sure improved since King's time, but we have still not reached full equality. The fact that there are still white supremacist groups that practice is frightening. It has been over one hundred years since slavery ended, and African-Americans still have to watch out for these people? That is unacceptable. But, I guess that is what happens when you live in a country that supports free speech. (Not that I do not support this, it's just sad to see some of the speech that is allowed.)
There are still many hate crimes that occur today. These hate crimes mostly come from the white supremacists that are still allowed to practice. There are still people that proudly wave confederate flags, and it is not only in the South. I do not personally know what it feels like to be an African-American and see that, but I can imagine it must be tough. I get really mad when I see stuff like that still happening.
I lived in Kentucky for about four years, and there is a huge population of African-American people to go along with the huge population of racist people. In the town that I lived in there were two middle schools. One was all the kids that lived in town, which was a lot of African-American kids. The other was all the surrounding area of the county. So the second middle school, which I attended, had all the farmer kids. When the two middle schools came together at the high school, there were a lot of fights that went on because of the two groups coming together. It was hard, even for me, to look at some of the kids considered "hick" that would wear confederate flag belts and shirts. I cannot imagine how that made the African-American kids feel.
All in all, I think that both pieces we read do a very good job of not only arguing their point of view, but also painting a picture of what is going on and what needs to change. Even though Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote that letter in 1963, the things he said still need improving today. I think that King would be glad to see Obama running for president this year. I hope that if Obama does win the presidency, he follows through with what he has said, and I really hope he can make a difference.

Spring Break

Over spring break, Sara went home to visit her family, friends, and to work. Sara has a new baby brother, Markus, who was baptised on the first Sunday of spring break. She was very excited when her mother had asked her to be the godmother of Markus.
Sara's good friend Katie, who lives in the dorm next to hers, came over to her house on Monday, and they had a lot of fun. On Tuesday, Katie helped Sara babysit Markus. When Markus's dad got home, Sara and Katie went to the best Chinese restaurant by Sara's house. The restaurant was Mongolian Barbecue in Stillwater. One of Sara's favorites! After some more hanging out, Sara took Katie home and spent the rest of the night with her family.
On Wednesday, Sara went to work. She works at the Famous Footwear in Woodbury, but that day she worked at the one in Eagan. It was an interesting experience. On Wednesday night, Sara met two of her good friends from work at Applebee's for a late dinner. She was very glad to see them, and they spent about two hours talking.
On Friday, Sara went to the Minnesota Swarm lacrosse game at the Xcel Center in St. Paul. She didn't know much about lacrosse, but now loves it! She can't wait to go to another game. She went with her boyfriend, Pat, and his family. It was a great night.
Saturday afternoon, Sara met another friend from work for lunch, and also talked with her for a very long time. Then, she went over to her cousin's house, and had dinner with her aunt, uncle, and cousin. After dinner, her aunt taught her how to knit socks, and Sara worked on that pretty much the rest of the night. Sadly, that night Sara got the flu and is still trying to get it out of her system today. She had to miss her classes on Monday because of it, and just wants to feel better.
Besides getting sick, Sara had a pretty good spring break. She enjoyed catching up with friends and spending time with her family.

Women and the Media

I am writing my argumentative synthesis paper on how the way the media portrays women affects real women. The models and actresses we see in ads and commercials are artificially created images. They retouch the real photos until they look completely different. When women see those images they think they have to look like that. When they can't get that look, they feel bad about themselves. This is a main cause of eating disorders in America.
I am going to argue that we need to do something to stop these images from being shown so that we can stop making women hate themselves. One person cannot achieve this on their own. It is going to take a huge effort by many people to change this issue.

Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal"

In "A Modest Proposal", Swift gives his solution for the famine problem that was facing Ireland at the time. His proposal is that after being fed by their mothers for a year, children should become useful members of the society by either providing food or clothing. To do this, he suggests that the poor people's children should be fattened up and eaten by people of the community. He also says that their skin could be used for ladies' gloves or summer boots for men. However, he does say that it would be cruel to kill 12-14 year old children.

I cannot believe that this was the best solution he could think of. What really gets me is that he doesn't think its cruel to kill and eat infants, but with older children it would be. I do not see how that is any different. In the essay he also says that his solution would reduce the number of abortions. I guess that may be true because its not like the women will have to raise them anyway. Although, I do not see how killing them for food a year later is any different.

Environmental Video

I enjoyed the video we watched on Monday. I think it showed some valuable ways of improving the environment. There were some things that I thought were a little far fetched, but all in all I thought it was well-done.
I really liked that the group in the video biked the whole distance from Seattle, Washington to Los Angeles, California. It shows that if people were not so lazy, we could really cut down on how much we use our automobiles. Plus, it is a way to get ourselves healthy and fit along with the environment. I wish I was in such good shape that I could bike long distances like that.
This video really made me want to try to eat more organic foods and eat healthier, as well as exercise. I don't know if I could eat all of the things the group ate, but I think it would be good for me to try make healthier decisions for myself. One thing that added humor, but I think was a little far fetched was when they were saying that there is blood and puss in milk. I do understand that cows get injected with many things that are unhealthy for them, but I don't know about there being actual blood and puss in milk. Especially with all the processing they do to milk before it gets to the shelf for us to buy.
I really think that it is important that we all start to care more about the environment. With all the potential issues we may face in our lifetimes, I would say we need to act fast. It disappoints me that none of our political figures are really doing anything about these issues. Even Al Gore, who is so into global warming and got a Nobel Peace Prize for it, is not really doing anything. The only thing I know of that he has actually done is make a movie about it and make money in the process. This is not the solution to the problems, however, it is good to raise awareness about it.
Cleaning up the environment is not something one person or even a group of people can accomplish. Everyone has to do their part and give a little. Because it is little things that people do everyday that add to the problem. Everyone needs to become aware of what they can personally do to improve the environment, and then be willing to work towards it.

My Name

My parents did not really have any particular reason for making my first name Sara. They just liked the name I think. The name Sara means "princess". I think that's kind of cool. According to babynames.com, the origin of my name is Hebrew. I did not know this, and I do not have any Hebrew backround in my family (that I know of at least). It also said that my name is number 72 on the U.S. Social Security Administration's ranking. I'm guessing the ranking is based on how many babies are named Sara, but I am not positive.
My middle name is the same as my mom's middle name. I will probably continue this and make my daughter's middle name this as well (if I have one). Even though Marie is a very common middle name, it is kind of cool to have something like that in the family, especially since my first name has no connection with my family. I'm not named after anyone.
I would have rather had a different name, but I'm not sure what. Probably something longer so that I could have had a nickname. But I really wish my parents would have named me something that had family value. My baby brother that was just born was named after my grandpa that died about two years ago. I wish I had been named after someone too.

Below Zero Weather

I hate being cold. I am probably one of the biggest freeze-babies ever. So, on really cold days it is an accomplishment for me to get outside at all. All I want to do on these days is sit inside wrapped up in a blanket and watch a movie. I also want to do this on rainy days.
When it is below zero, I wear my warm boots, big sweatshirt, sweatpants, a big coat, and mittens. Sometimes I will even wear leggings under my sweatpants. Even with all these clothes on, the cold still manages to get to me. I almost always crave a hot cup of coffee or hot chocolate.
On those really cold days, my friends and I usually spend all our time inside the dorm. It is nice because my boyfriend lives in the McElroy dorm and I live in Crawford. So, I do not have to go outside to see him or to go to dinner. My friend Ryan is the only one of us that has a car, and we never use it when it is really cold. It is not worth it since it will not be warm until we get to wherever we are going. So, we usually just hang out in one of our rooms, watch t.v. or a movie, and avoid going outside as much as possible.
As big of a freeze-baby as I am, it is way too hot in my dorm room at night. My roommate and I always sleep with the window open, even when it is below zero. This causes my throat to get very dry and sore, but I cannot stand to be hot at night. I like to snuggle up in my blankets comfortably. I am glad that it has gotten a bit warmer so that I can sleep comfortably and not have to worry about getting sick.
I wish the winters here were more mild so that I would not have to deal with the below zero days. However, I will not be moving out of Minnesota any time soon. So, I better learn to stick it out.

My Favorite Place

I have traveled quite a bit. Most of my travels however, have been within the United States. My favorite place I've ever been is San Diego, California. My mom, aunt, cousin, and I went on a cruise my junior year of high school. We flew out to Los Angeles to get on the ship. From there we went to San Diego, Catalina Island, and Ensanada, Mexico. I really enjoyed Los Angeles as well, but there was something about San Diego that immediately made me love it.
San Diego has got to be one of the cleanest cities I have been to. Walking around downtown there was not a lot of trash on the ground, and it was just an all around inviting place. My favorite part of San Diego is Old Town. I absolutely love Mexican food, and there is a restaurant in Old Town that has the best.
I wished I could have stayed in San Diego longer, but unfortunately with the cruise I was on we only got to spend a few hours there. I hope that one day I can return to that beautiful city.