You are currently browsing the monthly archive for July, 2006.
It could become a very bittersweet ending for Tour De France winner Floyd Landis, who recently failed a drug test and was shown to test positive for very high and illegal levels of testosterone. The first time in the race’s history that a winner has has been accused of taking a banned substance says The Guardian newspaper.
In his defense, Landis, shown here in a public press conference, has made the claim that his testosterone level has always been high and that these results have nothing to do with drugs. It’s at this point it should be said that testosterone is a slow acting drug. This information and Landis’s claim led sporting drug experts to wonder why the if the drug was in-fact taken, the results didn’t show up the same in previous urine/drug testing?
During the press conference Landis stood strong in his acceptance of the win, saying he worked hard to for it and that the title given is completely deserved.
To me it sounds like he’s probably going to be out this win. The pieces don’t seem to fit well in his odds. If he really did take steroids, that’s lame. There’s really no other way to put it. I have no sympathy for athletes who drug themselves up because they aren’t willing to work hard, it’s absolutely ridiculous and uncalled for.
I prefer to keep the personal posts to a minimum, but they like to sneak in every now and then.
Not to state the painfully obvious, but marathon training has proved much more of a challenge than I had originally calculated.
Physically? It’s painful. Emotionally? It’s brutal. But I love it.
Am I going to throw in the towel? Absolutely not. Not only are there people out there pushing for me to run, there are also those who feel they can guarantee I won’t cross the finish line, for a variety of reasons. Let them think that, let them feed me the fuel to keep on going.
I’m not running this race for me. I’m running for my Mom, for cancer patients, survivors, and fighters. For my family, all families affected, for a cure, for awareness. To get the message out there.
I will be one of thousands and thousands at the Flying Pig. My cause will go unnoticed by those who don’t know me. The runners to my right and left won’t give a hoot about why I’m running or who I am.
Getting up at 6AM. Aching joints and muscles. Swollen knee and ankle. Blisters from hell. The sweat. 95 degree weather. 45 degree mornings.
None of that will mater when I’m inches from the finish line. What will matter is that people are suffering with nothing but hope and faith to hang on to.
My pain will make cancer awareness possible. Telling myself, “One more mile” will make it possible. My neighbors wonder why I run so much. If one of them ever asks me, that’s one more that that’s aware, that has knowledge.
As of now, roughly 200$ dollars will go to cancer research when I cross that finish line. Not if. When. If I don’t believe I’m going to cross that finish line-who will?
It’s only fair that Microsoft finally decides to make a product that will rival the ever popular iPod made by Apple. Microsoft Corporation recently released a statement revealing a music/entertainment player under the name of “Zune”. It’s been rumoured that the Vice President of the Xbox team, J. Allard, is working alongside this project –leaving many to speculate if gaming will somehow come into play. The Zune is said to be hovering near a before Christmas release date and is fully intended to take the same simple and modern approach as Apple did with the iPod. No price has been released nor any information on whether Microsoft is willing to face possible loss in hardware sales for the Zune’s benefit.
This announcement via Microsoft didn’t surprise me in the least, in fact, I got a good giggle out of it. Could Microsoft possibly overcome the iPod? Sure. Will they? Probably not. It goes without saying you’re wondering why I have such strong discord toward the “Zune” and Microsoft.
First-the name Zune. I do not want to know how many hours or how many meetings it took for this to become the name. It’s catchy in it’s own way, but not original enough. I see it this way-iTunes/iPod connects to the buyer, the name implies I or you/me. It’s your tunes, your pod. You. A very smart marketing move by Apple. Ego points all around. Zune doesn’t really pull that rope. If anything, it leaves you wondering what a Zune is or is implying.
Secondly, iTunes has a lot of popular and sound statistics to cushion it’s sucess and said monopoly over digital music.
- iTunes counts for more than 70% of all of US Digital Music sales according to NPD, a leading research company.
- In the US alone, the iPod holds more than 75% of the digital player market.
Microsoft isn’t the only company that’s attempting to rival the iPod –Sony Corporation has also attempted to de-throne the iPod a few years back with the release of Sony Connect. They released a player 55 dollars cheaper, 3,000 songs bigger, triple the iPod battery life but made sure that songs could only be purchased from Sony and nowhere else, along with a lack of MP3 formatting –resulting in the product hardly making any dent in Apple sales.
If Microsoft plans this out carefully enough, Zune may outshine the iPod for a few months, perhaps a year. Do I see it overtaking the iPod? No. Most iPod owners will not abandon their miniature music player for another unless it’s significantly more modern and technologically sound, but good luck to Zune regardless.
Sources: Fox News, Microsoft Corp, BBC UK News.
I. hate. standardized. testing.
I’m not even exaggerating or being over dramatic. I hate it! Plain and simple. I abhor it. I wish to proscribe it. I cannot be sanguine about it.
I’m eliciting this anger of standardized testing because I got my SAT scores in the mail today. These are the scores from my *second* try at the test. For those who aren’t in the haywire of standardized tests, the SAT is a whopper of a test taking experience. 4 1/2 hours of bubbling in A,B,C,D, or E. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if insane asylums picked up a few patients every test date that occurs.
My first run through I was nervous beyond all means. Naseous, shaking, running vocab through my head like a spinning wheel, all of it. I had enough pencils for the entire room and a backup calculator..I was the ultimate geek if you’re one for stereotypes. What I didn’t count on was not being able to sleep. I had maybe 3 1/2 hours of sleep in me..horrible idea. It made for the most rigorous and incoherent 4 1/2 hours of my living days. It put my education to SHAME. But I managed a 1380. Not too bad, not so amazing. (For self esteem-I was in the 80 percentile for Critical Reading scores..woo woo!) I vowed to never take the test again until coaxed into it by reality. It was near guaranteed I’d do much better a second run around.
So I studied some more, agonized some more. About tore my hair out to baldness some more. A typical SAT math equation usually involves: A+1/2(2×4)-6(-2)+ x-a-b+2.Well..not really, but you get my intended point. The math is a little less than pragmatic for me. Now reading, pfft. Usually pretty easy section of the test , minus the grammar/word choice..those I struggle with a bit.
My second jog through the SAT whirlwind had much less trepidation, by far. I wasn’t nervous, my mind was at ease with the content, all lights were green for the second run. I took the test with no problems and felt completely supreme that my score was going to be a myriad of happiness for myself and colleges. But irony decided it needed to deliver a swift and volatile kick to my behind. My score was higher, but only just. I went from a 1380 to a 1410. The irony comes into play here..my Math score went up and my Critical Reading went down. ($#^(@$!
It took a few minutes of intense staring and blinking before I properly registered my scores. I about cried up a storm because it frustrated me so horribly. Had my Critical Reading stayed at a 610 or gone up, my score would’ve of been absolutely magnificent, a complete college application gem. But no, irony decided I hadn’t been upturned and mutilated enough by the SAT thus far. My new scores are now a stigma on my applications. (*insert dramatic fainting scene here*)
I will never be an advocate for standardized testing. It shows some but not all of a students intelligence capacity. It can and has boggled the minds of even the smartest of students. I see it as simply another limb and statistic for colleges. I’m sure it has some good points..but being the bitter and resolute test taker that I am, I don’t feel up to awknowledging the good.
I am not taking this blasephemous test a third time unless it proves absolutely imperative for getting into a college. UC has already shown approval for both of my scores, as did Ball State.
Which is very good or I might have to become histrionic when pleading for admission. Or perhaps intransigent. Possibly even pernicious.
Outre` indeed.
*Outre = French for carried to excess.
Over the years I’ve been asked a lot what it’s like to be an adopted child and about adoption in general.
I am a HUGE advocate for adoption. If you’re a mother/father or couple who can’t take care of a child and realize you’re unable to give them the life they deserve, putting them in foster care expands their opportunities for a better life. I realize there is a bad side to adoption and some of the most deserving kids end up in bad places-but that’s not a common occurrence. Everything has a bad side. That doesn’t mean it needs to be barred out completely as an probable option.
And for the parents out there who just can’t have kids on their own, adoption allows them that opportunity. Without a doubt it’s emotionally draining because parents feel duped since it’s not their genetic creation, for them, it just doesn’t feel right. But even so it doesn’t mean that child doesn’t deserve to be loved as if it was your flesh and blood.
I can honestly say, and I do respect my birth-mom highly, but I really think I either wouldn’t be alive right now or in a horrible living situation if she hadn’t put me up for adoption. It was the most generous and selfless thing she could of ever done for me. We don’t get to talk much, but I find myself thanking her everyday. Because of her generosity and kindness, I’m amazingly well off. It takes a lot to admit to yourself that you can’t be the parent your child deserves. In many ways it’s one of the worst conclusions to come to in life. But to keep a child and force them to suffer for your own self gratification is even worse. I know it took everything she had to give me up and I’ll appreciate that for life. Look where I am now. In a family full of people who support me, care for me, want the best for me and believe in me. How can I not enjoy that?
Being an adopted child is a really sensational thing for me. I like saying I have two families. I don’t find it an awkward topic to talk about unless it comes down to how the relationships are between myself and my birth-family. The past is ever present, so yes, it’s a rocky situation all around and I’ve come to the point that I think it always will be hard for us to really connect. I’d love to have stability between them and I, but with all they’ve been through..it’s a long way off. Regardless, they are still family and I’ll always love and appreciate them. They remember my birthday, check in with me occasionally, it works out for everyone involved. I don’t want to force something that doesn’t exist. If I pushed for stability solely for my benefit that would be a disgustingly selfish action on my part.
Now it may not work out like that for all adopted kids. It all comes down to whether or not the birth-mother decides on having an open adoption or keeping herself out entirely. Either way she chooses to go it’s an emotionally trying situation. As always, some birth-parents are selfish enough to put their child up and take them back just as quickly. Open adoptions do allow for the risk of the child being taken back, but rarely do cases like that ever go through. A judge generally has enough common sense to send a child to the better home.
Some adopted kids want to know their parents, some don’t. The decision should be made with both the parent and child’s well being in mind. I have yet and probably never will meet my birth-father. He refuses to believe I’m his daughter. I’ve come to terms with that conclusion on his part. His confidence in that perception bothered me for the longest time, but I realize he’s never going to be ready to handle a confrontation like that. If he doesn’t want me to be his, that’s how it’ll be. Instead of being angry at him, I just feel sorry for him. If the opportunity arose, would I meet him? Probably so. It depends on how things are at the time, if it would be the right step at the point in my life. Part of me knows it would make me feel better and worse all at the same time.
I was told I was adopted at a young age. I don’t really remember it happening, but I know it didn’t really bother me. It’s a scary conversation to have with a child, no doubt, but it’s a situation that can be handled easily. Had my parents skirted around the issue, I doubt I’d be as comfortable talking about adoption as I am today. I know I wouldn’t be able to be honest about why I was adopted. I’m honest, not to shame my family, but to promote why adoption can be a good idea.
I don’t get ousted anywhere because I’m adopted. The fact I’m adopted is hardly obvious to anyone. Both my Mom and myself have been told multiple times we look like each-other and you can’t even tell I’m not genetically bonded with her. Remarks like that make me smile. I have physical similarities with both of my families and it’s great.
Adoption does amazing things for a lot of foster kids out there. It put me where I am today and I definitely wouldn’t have it any other way.
“The age old question through the years:
Heredity or environment, which are you the product of?
Neither, my darling—neither,
Just two different kinds of love.”
