Tool Academy? Seriously?

What's the deal with reality television? There are new shows that I see on tv all the time and I have to stop and wonder, who the hell is watching this crap? Now, don't get me wrong. I'm certainly not trying to be Miss High and Mighty. There are definitely reality television shows that I'm addicted to, shamelessly. I will watch Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew anytime I see it on television. Something about the Dr.'s calming presence really relaxes me. And Intervention? Wow. I can easily get sucked right into an episode of Intervention. We're starting to see a pattern here, I really like to watch people with addictions spiral down, then try to pick themselves back up again.

But there are just some shows that give me pause. Take, for instance, a little show on Vh1 called "Tool Academy." That's right. Tool. Academy. Now I can honestly say that I've never actually seen an episode of "Tool Academy" but after some brief research conducted here I'm able to deduce that basically, "Tool Academy" is all about taking boyfriends who are complete, for lack of a better word, tools and try to reform them into something better. Each week one tool who is, decidedly more "tool-y" than the rest is kicked off. The winner gets a huge chunk of cash and, hopefully, keeps his girlfriend. Call me crazy, I don't see the entertainment value. Then we have a show on MTV called "Is She Really Going Out With Him?" which is another show about tools and this one doesn't even try to reform them. They just film them fist pounding, drinking bare chested, and cheating on their girlfriends for our pure entertainment. I like to see a train wreck just as much as the next guy but do we really need to reward this alpha male behavior with a thirty minute chunk of time devoted to it on television.

Maybe I'm just not in touch with my generation and what we supposedly like. I mean shows like Laguna Beach and The Hills...I just could never get into them. They seem so petty when serious things are happening around the world. At the very least, one can use television to educate oneself on some kind of subject other than how to be a douchebag.

This is certainly not a personal attack on anyone who does watch these shows. You are certainly entitled to indulge in your tool watching just as much as I'm entitled to watch celebrities ruin their lives with drugs and alcohol. I guess I just feel that there is a piece of the puzzle missing for me. I just can't seem to figure out who gave the green light to these shows. Better yet, who pitched it? "So we have these guys who are total tools..."

The world may never know.

Going Organic.

There is no doubt that you've seen the plethora of organic foods that your grocery store offers. Or, perhaps it's the other way around. Maybe you're frustrated with the lack of organic goods available near you. Or maybe you have no preference or even a clue what organic food is. Well, I think it's important that you know. As usual, my blog this week will be over food and, specifically organic food. I try to maintain a certain level of health with the foods I put into my body and I usually try to eat organic produce and other organic products and I think you should too.

Let's first talk about what "organic" means. According to this Food Wise website, organic food is produced without the use of pesticides, bioengineering and synthetic ingredients. Not only that, but organic foods are also grown from farmers who are concerned about the environment and renewable resources. So, why is this important? Well, the use of renewable resources and the conservation of water and soil is important for our future generations. If we expect to leave these generations with a usable planet, then we must focus on renewable resources and finding ways to produce our food while still nurturing our planet. Organic farmers understand the importance of this and use USDA organic guidelines when growing their produce and harvesting.

If we're focusing on organic foods, we cannot limit our focus to foods grown from the Earth. We must also take a look at livestock. Cows, by nature, are vegetarians. So it would only seem natural that we let cows forage and feed them what they have been eating since the first cow, right? Apparently, this does not hold true with many farms. Cows and poultry are being fed gelatin rendered from the hooves of other cattle, rendered horse protein and fats and oils. Not to mention, for non-organic meat, the slaughter regulations are not as strict. With organic slaughter houses, all equipment is cleaned and tested to make sure there is no co-mingling of organic and non-organic meat. You can read these regulations here.

It seems healthier, then, to choose organic meats and foods, but is it really? This Web MD article examines the possible health benefits of eating organic. According to said article, while it is proven that when eating organic food, you are ingesting less pesticides there is no evidence of what these pesticides will do to people over time. Seems like we're the guinea pigs in this experiment and the variable we can control is how much of these pesticides we consume. The conclusive evidence reached in this article is that organic food is definitely better for the environment. Even if the health benefits have yet to be seen in humans, we know organic production is a good thing for our planet.

So whether or not you feel that "going organic" is worth the extra money you may pay for that label, you have to admit the benefits are there. The organic products we receive are held to a higher standard and, ultimately, we consume less chemicals with organic produce. I've said it before and I'll say it again, you are what you eat. It's time we start paying more attention to the food we put in our bodies.

Top 5 Albums.

I love music. To me, music is like a drug. It can excite me, make me feel ready to take on anything. It can soothe me and calm me after a tumultuous day. It can wrap me in it's warm, self-indulgent embrace. I can wallow in my self pity or pick myself up by the boot straps and make something of my day, all depending on what song I'm listening to at the moment.

My friends and I play this game called "Desert Island" in which we pick our top five items (movies, albums, books etc) that we would have to have if we were stranded on a, you guessed it, desert island. I will now detail for you my five desert island albums and why I have chosen them. In no particular order:

1. The Beatles, Rubber Soul: Rubber Soul is by far one of the best albums that the Beatles have put out. Unlike the obvious classics, Abbey Road and The White Album, Rubber Soul has less fan-fare and does not contain any songs that were ever #1 on the Billboard Chart. Yet this collection of ten songs is my favorite collection of all of them. "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" is probably one of the most simple Beatles songs of all time, but it's just so good. "Michelle" is a classic Beatles song and fun to sing. "Run for Your Life" details just how jealous John can get and I love that about him. Rubber Soul is an album that I truly fall in love with every time I listen to it.

2. Cake, Fashion Nugget: Cake is a band that truly hit their peak in the 1990s. Odds are you've heard a Cake song. Probably "The Distance" which can be found on Fashion Nugget or maybe "Never There" which shows up on Prolonging the Magic. While they are both good albums, Fashion Nugget is one that I can listen to on repeat without skipping any tracks. The guitar riffs are insanely catchy namely in "Frank Sinatra" and "Daria" and the lyrics are golden. "She'll Come Back to Me" has a very twangy, country feel and "Italian Leather Sofa" never fails to get stuck in my head. All of Cake's albums, if they are your kind of band, are worth checking out but to me Fashion Nugget reigns supreme.

3. Cold War Kids, Robbers and Cowards: Cold War Kids are a funky little band. The lead singer has an amazing voice that hits your ears like velvet. Live, he still sounds fantastic, no auto-tune necessary for this guy. The musicians too have real talent. That's so rare to find in a band from "these days" but Cold War Kids are that band. Their lyrics are bleak and sometimes depressing set to, usually, upbeat melodies. "Hang Me Up to Dry" is probably one of their best from that album but, for a slower song "Robbers" is definitely the way to go.

4. Say Anything, ...Is a Real Boy: Say Anything is that band from high school that you just can't let go of. Everyone has that one band that, as they grow and mature, they still listen to secretly. Say Anything is that band for me and ...Is a Real Boy is one of my favorite albums of all time. I know the lyrics to every song on this album and sing them very often. "Wow, I Can Get Sexual Too" is catchy and fun to listen to but "Yellow Cat Slash Red Cat" is my favorite song on the album.

5. Damien Rice, 9: Damien Rice is the kind of music you want to listen to after a break up. Or, maybe not because he may drive you over the edge. You can just hear the sadness in this guy's voice as he sings. "Accidental Babies" is the best break up song I've ever heard. "Dogs" is a great one for when you're falling in love.

These are my Desert Island albums. What are yours?

A new silent killer: High Fructose Corn Syrup

Odds are, you'll find something in your pantry or your refrigerator with High Fructose Corn Syrup in it. Probably even items that you never thought would have HFCS in it, such as bread. Recently, HFCS seems to have gotten a new PR person because we're seeing ads on television telling us that HFCS is safe and, in small amounts, even okay to eat. Well thanks television! Without you, where would I be? Oh yeah, researching facts for myself instead of believing everything I'm spoon fed. But I digress. This website sugar coats (or maybe they use HFCS) the facts about High Fructose Corn Syrup.

You might be asking yourself why HFCS is so bad. You may be wondering why it's gotten such a bad wrap, it never did anything to anybody right? Wrong. High Fructose Corn Syrup is, as the name suggests, high in fructose which is metabolized differently than glucose. Fructose is metabolized in the liver at a much quicker rate. According to this lef.org article, the rate with which fructose is metabolized in the liver leads to increased fat storage in the liver. This can lead to many problems such as liver disease and heart disease.

Not only that, but it seems like HFCS is found in so many foods today! According to a quote on the Sweet Surprise website, whose link is found in the first paragraph, the FDA "would not object to using the term 'natural' on a product containing HFCS." Natural? I don't know about you but I try to eat natural foods. Organic produce, especially if it's grown locally, and other organic foods as well as breads without HFCS. It seems to me that labeling a food as "natural" when it has HFCS in it, which is not found in nature, is a lie.

"Sugar is not the enemy" so says this everydiet.org article, "Refined and processed sugars are!" A good example of a refined, and processed sugar? HFCS as well as aspartame which itself has a bad reputation and has been linked to several medical problems.

So there is a fair amount of literature both for and against the digestion of HFCS. Of course it is up to you to decide for yourself whether you really want to incorporate it into your diet and, if so, how much. Be sure to look at the ingredient list of all the groceries you buy. A good rule of thumb is, if your grandmother has no clue what it is, you probably shouldn't be eating it. You can also go here for a list of some foods without HFCS. To completely eradicate HFCS from one's diet is a challenge, but it's not impossible. It all comes down to doing your own research, paying attention to what is in the foods that you buy and cooking more meals for yourself. That way you know exactly what goes into the foods that you put into your body. Remember, you are what you eat! Truer words were never spoken.

Acute Bacterial Rhinosinusitis

I used to smoke cigarettes. I used to avidly smoke cigarettes. Sometimes, over a pack a day. The first thing I did when I woke up? Lit up a Camel Light. Before I went to sleep? I smoked the day's last cigarette. After every meal? Nothing was a better dessert for me than a cigarette. Suddenly, in the summer of 2009, I decided to quit smoking and I did. Cold turkey, to boot! At first, it was hellish. I didn't know what to do with my hands. I didn't realize how much time I actually spent smoking until I no longer spent said time smoking. I lived with people who did smoke and watching them suck down cancer stick after cancer stick was torture. I felt depressed and bored. I wanted to smoke. But I didn't. I didn't succumb to my cravings for a cigarette.

Soon I started to notice a change in...well everything really. I could breath easier. I wasn't so winded after climbing a flight of steps. My skin looked better. My teeth looked better. I certainly didn't get a chest cold every two months, as I had before. The pros of non-smoking immediately outweighed the cons and I decided to stay a non-smoker. In a little less than a year, I've never felt better. The cravings began to subside and now, even though I still have them on occasion, they are few and far between.

About two weeks ago, I started getting sick. Chest congestion, stuffy head, body aches etc. It lingered for about a week and then, last Sunday, I felt that I was finally on the mend. Only to wake up Monday morning to the worst sinus pain I've ever felt in my entire life! My head was aching. I couldn't breath out of my nose, no matter how hard I tried, and I felt fatigued. It won't go away! It's so frustrating.

When I was a smoker, these sorts of infections would last for weeks, sometimes months. Now, as a non smoker, I'm still getting this crap and it's still sticking around for longer than I want it to! It's interfering with my life! I haven't been able to run on the treadmill, one of my favorite things to do as it really centers me, in a week because I can't even breathe. I finally went to the Health Center on campus yesterday to be prescribed antibiotics. Man, I did not want to do that. I don't like to take antibiotics. You never really know how they could effect you down the road.

The point of this whole "woe is me" blog post is because I'm sick of being sick! It's frustrating that this sinus infection has lasted this long because I've done everything I can do to make it go away! I've been eating oranges and drinking Emergen-C like it's going out of style. I'm downing spinach, sprouts and other vegetables and vegetable broth every day in an attempt to make myself better. None of this has seemed to break this infection. I'm putting off taking the antibiotics hoping that my wimpy immune system will kick into full gear and I won't need to take them, but it looks like this won't be the case. Dammit!

A New Civil Rights Movement: Legalizing Gay Marriage

There are a lot of tricky issues that we face in the United States today. Whether or not to vaccinate children, whether or not to legalize marijuana, whether or not to legalize gay marriage. All of these topics interest me in some way or another. Especially legalizing gay marriage. One doesn't have to be a homosexual to know that gay people are still people. Should not gay people be allowed the same rights as straight people?

If we take a look at civil rights issues of the past, we may feel like we've come a long way. We no longer segregate African Americans from Caucasians. Women can vote and work just like men can. Indeed, we have come along way from the days of yore when white people had a separate bathroom and woman's suffrage issues were taking center stage. I'm still reminded though, that we have a long way to go yet. Especially when it comes to the issue of gay marriage.

Indeed we have made some strides. According to this article on stateline.org, no same sex couples could wed in 2004. Not legally anyway. Today there are six states in which it is legal for same sex couples to marry. Sadly, though, there are still 29 states that have prohibitions blocking same-sex marriages in their state constitutions. Why is this?

America seems to take very seriously the fact that it is a "Christian nation" but, according to a 2009 USA Today article that you can read here, the amount of individuals who consider themselves "Christians" has dropped by 11%. It seems to me that individuals who classify themselves as Christians seem to be the ones who take the most offense to the legalization of gay marriage. They are under the belief that marriage is a civil union between a man and a woman. Who decided that? The archaic rules of the Bible? I would like to point out that, through the years, Christians have molded the Bible and changed the biblical rules that they follow along with the changing times. Is it time yet to update the stance on gay marriage and the acceptance of homosexuality altogether? I believe it is.

In my opinion, it is an old fashioned, and outdated, belief that says that homosexuals are less than equal. Gay people are people with thoughts and feelings and emotions just like straight people. We are all one in this journey through life and if we're allowed to practice our religions and speak freely, shouldn't we also be allowed to marry who we deem fit to marry? Why should politicians and religious zealots be able to tell us who we can and cannot marry? According to this BalancedPolitics.org article, the cons all involve religious beliefs. While it is an American freedom to be able to practice whichever religion you choose, it is also an American freedom to choose not to buy into these religions and, in turn, not to have those beliefs forced upon individuals.

The arguments against gay marriage are weak and lacking in logic. I believe that it is a travesty that homosexual couples are not allowed the same rights that straight couples often take for granted. If you share my beliefs, you can go here for more information. I think Frank Lloyd Wright said it best when he said "Toleration and liberty are the foundations of a great republic."

Why do today what you can put off until tomorrow?

My name is Samantha Reaves and I'm a procrastinator. I'm an addict and my addiction is putting things off until the last minute. Why? I've never quite figured that out. I've given tons of excuses "I can't focus on the task at hand if I have weeks to finish it" "I work better under pressure" and the age old classic "I'll do it tomorrow." What I really want to know is why. Why do I procrastinate? Is it because I'm lazy? Maybe. Is it because I really do work better under pressure? Perhaps.

It just seems to me that I should stop procrastinating. It only leads to anxiety and stress when I put something off until the last minute. Meeting deadlines hours or mere minutes before their time is at hand is no way to live for an already stressed college student! Yet I just keep putting it off. Whatever it is, I'll do it later. Hence why I'm putting my last blog post up late on a Friday afternoon. There were tons of times this week when I could have sat down and hammered out some great blog posts but, meh, I just kept putting it off.

Maybe it's genetic. My brother claims that he procrastinates because he just cannot focus on what he's doing if he knows it's not due for a while. I feel the same way. If I sit down to, say, write a paper and it isn't due for another week I feel that I should be focusing on something else that's due sooner. Probably something that I could have done a week ago but had put off until that moment. It's a vicious cycle, this procrastinating thing.

Perhaps I just need better time management skills. That seems to be a reasonable solution. Manage my time better. That's easier said than done. I can't sit down and write a schedule when I'm too busy scrambling to finish something that should have been done days ago! I'm not Wonder Woman! Of course I'm merely being facetious. I realize that were I to better organize my time, I would spend less of said time panicking over late assignments. It seems that I've just gotten to used to procrastinating and then panicking over whatever it is that I put off, that life would be very different if I started doing things ahead of time. Besides, where would the excitement be if I weren't scrambling to meet a deadline? Do I want to be able to lie down at night and go right to sleep without worrying about impending doom brought on by myself? Where's the fun in that?

I think I'll probably spend the rest of my life procrastinating. I mean, sure, I could sit down and organize myself and my thoughts. I could write down "To Do" lists and feel the wonderful satisfaction of checking things off ahead of time. I could really benefit from the lack of stress due to poor time management skills. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow.

To legalize or not to legalize?

When people talk about the legalization of marijuana there are usually those who feel quite strongly that it should be illegal and those who feel quite strongly that it shouldn't. Do those who think it should be legal live up to a stereotype? Are they wearing a tie-dyed shirt, speaking slowly and eating chips? Are they "peace loving hippies?" Certainly there are those who live up to the stereotype of a "stoner" who would like to have marijuana legalized for their own gain. Then there are those of us, like me, who think marijuana should be legalized because it just seems to make sense.

Certainly the legalization of marijuana could make it much easier to obtain for teenagers and young people who want to smoke it but, I'm telling you, it's easy for them to obtain now. People have always found ways to circumnavigate laws to get what they want. How many underage kids smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol? To me, those things are more detrimental to their health. The long-term effects of alcohol are much more dangerous for your body (liver, brain etc.) than the long term effects of marijuana usage. According to this Safer Choice article, marijuana is much safer to use than alcohol. It is less addictive, you cannot overdose on marijuana and the usage of marijuana has never been linked to any type of cancer which is not the case with alcohol.

Another possible pro is that the government could tax marijuana were it legal. We spend billions of dollars on this "war on drugs" and imagine of some of that money came from the legal sale of marijuana. Then it wouldn't be coming out of our pockets. One might argue that the legalization of marijuana could cause an increase in crime rates but according to this article, in Amsterdam where marijuana is legal, the crime rate is lower than several major US cities. Now of course legalizing marijuana may not cause a decrease in crime rate, but it just may, and it could certainly provide our country with funding from it's tax.

Lastly, the real reason I believe that marijuana should be legalized, are the medical benefits it can, and does, provide to several. In states like California and Colorado medical marijuana is legal but these are state laws and when it comes to federal laws things get tricky. The DEA can step in at any moment and take away everything in a medical marijuana shop legally even though the employees and owner are not working outside of the law. This has to stop. These people are providing a service for their fellow man. Here you can read about the many benefits of medical marijuana of which there are several. For instance, smoking marijuana can relieve chronic pain, eye pressure and nausea. It is my opinion that marijuana is a more natural choice for helping these symptoms than the chemicals that the pharmaceutical companies have put on the market. These prescription drugs put out by pharmaceutical companies could effect is in several adverse ways several years down the road and we have no way of knowing about it now.

No matter what your stance is there are pros and cons to legalizing marijuana just like any other issue and yes, this issue has been argued time and time again. Maybe one day, we'll all come to the realization that the pros seem to outweigh the cons. For more information on your own state laws regarding marijuana you can go here.