I've used the same backpack for almost a year and a half. It's green, has a nice corduroy laptop pocket, and generally most of the amenities you'd expect from a moderately large backpack - iPod pouch, cellphone pocket, water bottle compartment, even a special bag to put computer cords in that fits in a specific mesh holder on the inside. After over a year, one would expect to know everything about said backpack, and appropriately have crap everywhere in it.
Done and done.
Despite all of the wonderful things about it, the thing that has annoyed me to no end were the black straps that go around your waist and clip together in the middle. They hung down very low and slapped against my legs. This didn't hurt, but it was annoying and the straps themselves were pretty flimsy and didn't do much for support.
Early on, I always had them clipped together and adjusted tight against the bottom of the backpack, so that they were out of the way. This was annoying as it drove the clipped pieces into the small of my back.
So for a while I used them as they are intended, clipping them together around my waist. Naturally, I forgot about this every time I took my backpack off, which trust me, is not a good way to show how savvy you are with a fancy awesome backpack (see idiocy example #236).
Finally I got into the habit of wrapping them around the straps that attach the backpack to the shoulder pads. While this undoubtedly looked stupid, a mass of seatbelt material on either side of my body, it worked pretty well, and I didn't think about it much, except when I had to re-wrap them around the straps. This, actually was somewhat constant.
Nevertheless, I continued to this. Until Wednesday.
After work on Wednesday, I went to catch the bus. As this is what I always do everyday, it doesn't really matter. Except that when I took my backpack off and sat down, one of the clip straps that was not wound up very much, swung underneath the seat and got stuck on the lip of the bus seat. It wasn't stuck permanently, nor was it broken, but when I looked down at the strap, I saw something that in a year and a half of ownership I had somehow failed to see: Velcro.
Yes, boys and girls, the straps which had served no purpose and annoyed me from day one and that I once contemplated cutting off were attached to metal clips at the base of my backpack with Velcro. VELCRO. As in, you can remove them from your backpack in about 2.3 seconds.
Idiot? Table for one? Yes, lead the way sir. I'll have the special.
November 21, 2008
November 10, 2008
I wish I knew Dr. Oz
My eyelid keeps twitching.
According to Web MD it could be Blepharospasm, which to me is a mildly scary, yet hilarious borderline that's-what-she-said expression.
Web MD says that a cause of Blepharospasm could be lack of sleep, dryness of eyes, some other scary neurological stuff or...caffeine intake. I'm going to ignore scary brain issues, cause, yeah. I do wear contacts most of the time, but this year I've been trying to wear my glasses more often (cause they're hawt) and I generally get around seven hours of sleep. As for caffeine intake - what do you think? I'm a college student.
So the question becomes, should I give up caffeine and see if the eye twitch goes away?
I'm guessing the answer I will soon arrive at will be somewhere along the lines of hell to the NO.
I began writing this post two days ago, then ignored it for a little while. Today, the twitching hasn't been quite as bad. This undoubtedly will trigger it, because that's my luck, but still, curious no?
In other news (not really): This weekend I watched a couple of episodes of this show on BBC America - I think it's called You Are What You Eat. I don't remember if that's exactly the title, but I don't really feel like looking it up.
So in this show a nutritionist visits couples in the UK that have really terrible eating habits, tells them how freaking gross they are and introduces them to vegetables. She examines their blood, and bowl movements, then they formulate a healthy eating plan and you see the results after a few weeks of their new diet and exercise.
I always feel like I should take a shower and go for a run when I watch this show, but also I feel sort of gratified because I realize that I eat pretty healthily. Sure I indulge in bi-weekly Cheeto scarfing, but I don't cook everything in liters of vegetable oil, or eat 2 loaves of white bread a week.
It has made me very, very scared of what a show like this taped in the US would reveal. In a time when Heart Disease is the number one killer of all US residents, I'm scared for us. I really hope that we are teaching children about healthy nutrition and making good choices in what they put into their bodies, but in reality, I know that many of them will have no clue.
A year ago I decided I would try being a vegetarian. Honestly, I didn't know if I really could do it, and I think the challenge is part of the reason I changed the way I ate. I also had learned some things about the way energy is used and lost when producing meat for consumers that concerned me, not to mention a lack of restrictions and environmental problems with commercial meat production. In other words, I didn't do it because of PETA told me to or because "chickens have feelings too!"
I'm not going to decry anyone of eating meat. I don't believe everyone that does in unhealthy or terrible and going to hell. I'm not trying to force my views on anyone or trying to denounce someone because they believe or act in a way different than I do.
But what I don't understand is why so many people act as if vegetarians are pariahs for their choices. It is especially puzzling when people react negatively to the idea of vegetarianism and then go on to say that they are not interested in hearing arguments for vegetarianism or a lecture about how eating meat is bad. I do not wish to dissuade them, but I don't think it's out of line to expect the same courtesy from them. Belittling me for making the choices that I do is already unfair without giving me a chance to belittle right back (not that I'd want to, but you get the idea).
For me personally when I tell someone I'm vegetarian, I am more often greeted with a "WHY?!" than a more open "Oh that's interesting, for how long?" or "I didn't know that, tell me more." I'm getting a little frustrated with it all, and while I don't want to hide who I am, I really don't like being forced to be defensive. It's not how I roll.
Ok, end of quasi-rant. Going to go make my eyelids act normally by sheer will now.
According to Web MD it could be Blepharospasm, which to me is a mildly scary, yet hilarious borderline that's-what-she-said expression.
Web MD says that a cause of Blepharospasm could be lack of sleep, dryness of eyes, some other scary neurological stuff or...caffeine intake. I'm going to ignore scary brain issues, cause, yeah. I do wear contacts most of the time, but this year I've been trying to wear my glasses more often (cause they're hawt) and I generally get around seven hours of sleep. As for caffeine intake - what do you think? I'm a college student.
So the question becomes, should I give up caffeine and see if the eye twitch goes away?
I'm guessing the answer I will soon arrive at will be somewhere along the lines of hell to the NO.
I began writing this post two days ago, then ignored it for a little while. Today, the twitching hasn't been quite as bad. This undoubtedly will trigger it, because that's my luck, but still, curious no?
In other news (not really): This weekend I watched a couple of episodes of this show on BBC America - I think it's called You Are What You Eat. I don't remember if that's exactly the title, but I don't really feel like looking it up.
So in this show a nutritionist visits couples in the UK that have really terrible eating habits, tells them how freaking gross they are and introduces them to vegetables. She examines their blood, and bowl movements, then they formulate a healthy eating plan and you see the results after a few weeks of their new diet and exercise.
I always feel like I should take a shower and go for a run when I watch this show, but also I feel sort of gratified because I realize that I eat pretty healthily. Sure I indulge in bi-weekly Cheeto scarfing, but I don't cook everything in liters of vegetable oil, or eat 2 loaves of white bread a week.
It has made me very, very scared of what a show like this taped in the US would reveal. In a time when Heart Disease is the number one killer of all US residents, I'm scared for us. I really hope that we are teaching children about healthy nutrition and making good choices in what they put into their bodies, but in reality, I know that many of them will have no clue.
A year ago I decided I would try being a vegetarian. Honestly, I didn't know if I really could do it, and I think the challenge is part of the reason I changed the way I ate. I also had learned some things about the way energy is used and lost when producing meat for consumers that concerned me, not to mention a lack of restrictions and environmental problems with commercial meat production. In other words, I didn't do it because of PETA told me to or because "chickens have feelings too!"
I'm not going to decry anyone of eating meat. I don't believe everyone that does in unhealthy or terrible and going to hell. I'm not trying to force my views on anyone or trying to denounce someone because they believe or act in a way different than I do.
But what I don't understand is why so many people act as if vegetarians are pariahs for their choices. It is especially puzzling when people react negatively to the idea of vegetarianism and then go on to say that they are not interested in hearing arguments for vegetarianism or a lecture about how eating meat is bad. I do not wish to dissuade them, but I don't think it's out of line to expect the same courtesy from them. Belittling me for making the choices that I do is already unfair without giving me a chance to belittle right back (not that I'd want to, but you get the idea).
For me personally when I tell someone I'm vegetarian, I am more often greeted with a "WHY?!" than a more open "Oh that's interesting, for how long?" or "I didn't know that, tell me more." I'm getting a little frustrated with it all, and while I don't want to hide who I am, I really don't like being forced to be defensive. It's not how I roll.
Ok, end of quasi-rant. Going to go make my eyelids act normally by sheer will now.
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