Last Blogg Entry.

Okay guys, here is the last Blogg entry of the semester and I figured I would share with you this quick little poem I wrote during class last week.

When the apple falls from the tree,

it breaks into freedom and becomes free.

When the student completes the last test,

the spring semester is done

and it is time to begin the summer fun.

In the summer we do not feel blue.

Instead we are happy loud and true.

But, the apple does not fall too far,

as fall is near to start.

Have a good Summer!

Shocking Time Travel experience.

I was gathering all my old school books to day, so that I could go and sell them back to the school during this buy back period SUs got going on. While doing so, I came across my old high school yearbook. Now this may not be an event for some of you, but for me this was a year book from 1997! That was 16 years ago! I could not help myself; I just had to take a peek. As I flipped over the cover, I saw all the entries. I read some of them and it was as though I traveled back in time; however, during this time travel I maintained my maturity of today. Some of the idiotic things that were written made me laugh and some scared me. Then I flipped to the pages with pictures of myself on the football team and other events and I wondered how the hell I have changed so much since then? What was even better though, were the pictures of my buddies who I still keep in touch with. They made me laugh even harder and I decided that they are to embarrassing not to share with those friends. So, I will take some time after finals, scan them, and post them to facebook with an attachment to their name, for all to see. Anyway, for some of you, it might be fun digging out that old yearbook and for you others hold on to them. You will be able to have a fun little time traveling event in a few year, I promise.       

Poem from Feb 14th

Hey guys, here is a quick poem you all might enjoy, which I wrote on Valentine’s Day.

Contradiction

A man is a man and must be a man.
He must conquer the woman’s hart like,
an enemy in battle.
Yet if a man acts as a man in the world,
He is shunned by the woman
“The woman is equal to the man!”
“The woman is not less, than a man!”
“The woman does not need a man to take care of her!”
Then why does the man have to conquer the woman’s hart?
Why does the woman get upset,
if she does not get her Valentine’s Day present?
If a woman is a woman and a man is a man,
Then a man’s hart should have to be conquered by a woman!
Where is my Valentine’s Day present?

Leadership

Hey guys, here is a piece I wrote for examples of leadership. I thought that some of you might enjoy it.

Military and Civilian Leadership Excellence

            General Marshall and Mr. Marchionne, were both excellent leaders who displayed extremely innovative ideas for reform of their particular areas of responsibility. General Marshall’s postings as a professional and dedicated leader of various staff positions throughout his carrier, coupled with his overwhelming desire for efficiency, established within him solid experience as a leader. He continually took this experience with him to all his postings. Mr. Marchionne, developed a similar experience as an efficient leader with various civilian companies and brought this experience with him to Chrysler Group’s table.

Both, Marchionne and General Marshall, had a similar approach to leadership. General Marshall became known as a leader who did not shy away from difficult positions. When most other active duty officers would not have taken on the challenge of transforming the highly political National Guard, then Colonel Marshall highlighted his exceptional abilities by re-energizing it and making it more proficient. This assignment as the senior instructor for the Illinois National Guard and his leadership philosophy could have caused a tremendous political fall-out; however, his focus, determination, and vision for a more efficient organization led to a successful assignment for General Marshall and the National Guard as a whole. Marchionne took on the similar challenge and risk with Chrysler Group. He has demonstrated his exceptional leadership and ability to transform an organization, making it more efficient.

They both also had a philosophy of leadership that was considered radical. GEN Marshall was noted for employing his staff by demanding them to develop ways to accomplish missions and operations. He pursued this philosophy, which got his staffers to take ownership and responsibility of the missions, operations, and organizations. Mr. Marchionne had the similar approach to involving teams to take action. He revamped the traditional upper crust think tank by “flattening” it. This means that he sawed from the normal tradition of only making decisions based on the idea of the upper most echelon and began to employ sound ideas from other levels. Not only did this establish ideas from a new vantage point, but it also brought a re-energized feeling to the lower echelons, which got them to “buy-in” on the ideas and therefore, creating a fully dedicated workforce.

Mr. Marchionne and General Marshal are both exceptional examples of leaders at the highest level. They both had extraordinary visions of how to transform an organization that was considered radical by others.  They easily got other leaders at all levels within their organization to “buy-in” on their vision by employing them to develop ideas and strategies, which led those various leaders to put their best foot forward, because they now had a personal connection and investment to the organization and/or operation.

Work Cited:

Laver, Harry S., and Jeffrey J. Matthews. The Art Of Command, Military Leadership From George Washington To Colin Powell. Univ Pr of Kentucky, 2010. 60-91. Print.

Saporito, Bill, and Auburn Hills. Power Steering How Chrysler’s Italin Boss drives an American auto revival. Time, 2011. 36-41. Print

Description of Words

Enraged

The eyebrows on her forehead created an angle from which deep bulging wrinkles shot up her head. Her face turned blood red and her lips where so tightly sealed together that around her mouth was the only place that the redness escaped.

Happy

The smirk on his face could not be washed away with the most devastating news. He spoke so fast that it was hard for us to keep up and the fact that he could not make himself stand still did not help.

Autumn

The air was damp and thick. The mild odder of the wet and rotting leaves reminded me of my grandfather’s compost pile.

This was done in my English class and was actually a bit of fun. You should try it yourself. Pick some word and then try to describe it in a unique manner, in a few words.

Rainy Days

What a cold and wet morning today. On days like this I find it hard to get motivated to do anything, especially if I need to get stuff done outside! As I thought about this for a bit, I realized that rainy weather has not always discouraged me to get stuff done or even just put me in a foul mood. There was a time or more accurately a place, where rainy days were nice and put me in a better, motivational mood.

When I was living in Arizona, summers were always extremely hot and extremely dry. We could literally go for a few months without rain. This was especially the case in the first part of the summer. This long period of sunny days without a cloud in the sky might seem nice now, living here in Maryland, but this became agonizing while I lived there.

I always looked forward to the latter parts of summer, to a time that Tucsonians called monsoon season. Most might think this is ridiculous, because they think of a monsoon season as a time of constant never ending rain. I suppose you have to live in southern Arizona to understand. Around Tucson, this time is referred to the common afternoon thunderstorms that are built by the mountains surrounding the area, which bring massive amounts of rain down in a short period of time. This could happen almost every evening for several weeks. You see before the rain starts coming. Everything becomes so dry, that the scenery turns brown. The massive Saguaro cacti become thin, as they lose their stored water. But only after a few rainy afternoons, the scenery starts to regain color. The cacti begin to swell. The leaves of the palo verdeand and mesquite trees turn green again.

This reincarnation of life in southern Arizona, brings with it good feelings. Those late afternoon thundershowers are nice and give me motivation. I suppose the feelings, which are associated with rainy days, depend on where one lives.      

Subtitles???

I'm a bit upset!

Okay, first off I want everyone to know that I am extremely patriotic and love this country to the fullest. I also don't like the whole idea of constantly apologizing for our ways. However, this dilemma has more to do with a personal issue that I would like to gripe about!

A few weeks ago while I was watching TV, I saw a preview for a new Will Ferrell movie. In this movie he makes fun of the complete overacting of Spanish soap operas or novellas. This immediately struck my fancy, because my wife enthusiastically watches novellas and I always make fun of the over macho, over acting. Along with the theme of the novella style, the movie is entirely in Spanish, with English subtitles. Even Ferrell himself speaks Spanish and is not dubbed. Regardless of my lack in being anywhere near to novice at Spanish, I really wanted to go watch this movie with my wife. She agreed and it would have been a great night.

The reason I said that it would probably have been a great night is do to the fact that we never went. We never went, because hardly any movie theaters near us are showing the movie. Then to add insult to insult, the ones actually showing the film only have limited show times. This is a Will Ferrell movie! I understand not all people enjoy his comedy, but the majority of people do. He’s hilarious! The only explanation for this complete lack of interest in the film is that most people would have to read subtitles.

 Like I stated earlier, I love this country and its ways, but this pisses me the F___ off. Are we, Americans, really that darn ignorant and lazy that we can’t enjoy a movie because we would have to read subtitles? I could make an argument of, “in other countries,” but I will not. Instead, let us just stop being lame idiots.  

Anyway sorry, I’m just upset that I pretty much have to wait until the DVD release to be able to give my wife a hard time by ripping on the over acting, over macho ways of the novellas.

Okay I'm back at it!

     Something strange occurred to me the other day, as I was tagging along with my wife's shopping expedition in the mall. All the different people, shopping, eating, or just cruising by the stores, were all similar to me or were similar to the people in my life. I don't mean similar as in the way I looked or the clothes I wore, but what they were currently doing with their lives. And, I don't mean being in the mall either.

     People I saw with in the same age range as me were college students. The ones a bit older had graduated. They all lived in a house outside of the city and drove everywhere. They also complained about the gas prices.

     
Other people that I just could not relate to myself, still held a connection to my life. If they seemed familiar with someone else in my life, then they were connected to that someone. **That guy over there, walking past footlocker, with a gut hanging over his belt, must be a cop. Like the one that pulled me over for speeding. That lady trying on shoes must be a cheerful woman, working the counter at a coffee shop. Like the lady that always smiles and tells me have a nice day as she rings me up. That little boy, complaining to his parents because he wants a toy, is a brat, because my buddy’s kid is brat and they act the same.**

     
As I thought about this for a minute, I realized that these people are most likely nothing like I think they are. So, why do I see them this way? It probably has something to do with some great psychological explanation, which could easily be explained by some concept that would just fly right over my head. So, I'll just call it "self-sightedness." I'm not sure if I'm the only one who sees people around them in the same way, but it would be nice to know. Do you experience "self-sightedness as well?

Crazy Nut Job

What’s up?

               I read two reports today on my pone’s news app that many people which I have talked to immediately relate to the Islamic religion. This relationship is made in a way that looks negatively on the religion, with statements such as, “only those crazy Islamic nut jobs.” I must say that at first this was my initial thought as well, until I thought about it for a minute. As I began to think a bit more deeply about this association, the thoughts in my head became a mess.

               The first report that I read was about the Canadian court finding guilty an Afghan man, his wife, and his son of an honor killing of the man’s two daughters and second (unreported for reasons of deportation) wife. This happened in Canada’s capital city of Ottawa. The second report that I read was about an Afghan man, this time in Afghanistan, strangling his wife to death, because she gave birth to another girl instead of a boy.

               After reading these world reports, many immediately think about the religion that is associated with Afghans and attribute these horrible events to them. But, the fact is that these acts really do not have anything to do with the Islamic religion. These acts can only be associated with the culture of these particular people. To judge a religion based upon the culture of one particular group that may interpret this religion in a certain way is unfair and not right.

               After speaking to one of my Stevenson University professors about this, he gave an example of different cultures, interoperating their religious scriptures in different ways. An example of this that he gave was about the way in which many females are made to dress in Middle Eastern countries; covering their entire bodies, with only the eyes showing. He then told me that the Koran only states something about men and women should dress conservatively or moderately, not to have themselves covered from head to toe. This way of interpretation has to do with that particular culture and perhaps the way that culture interprets that portion of the Koran.  

Once I thought about the cultural aspect, I could relate this to many things. I don’t believe that it is fair or right to associate every person that follows a certain religion with being a “crazy nut job” because, of the “crazy nut job” culture of many that follow that certain religion.    

Latter,

Jason       

Intro

Hi Everyone,

Okay, as this is my first post I want to begin this blog by explaining the title "everyday mess," which will introduce what I will be talking about over the next couple of weeks.

The title that I came up with might, by you all, be initially related to the kind of mess that one finds in a teenager’s room or an unattended storage shed at the back end of someone’s piece land. But, that is not the type mess that I am referring to! The mess that I want to talk about is the mess that goes on in my mind, which is likely to go on in your minds as well. This mess is made up of sometimes little thoughts that are not really important but float around in your heads. Sometimes this mess has a more significant importance and can cause other thoughts or feelings to be put in a back seat. These little thought messes are created everywhere.  You can hear a comment made during a radio broadcast; see a bumper sticker on the car in front of you while stopped at a red light; or overhear two people talking at a restaurant. All these are examples of how the mess can begin.

Just like this morning, while getting a cup of hot but awful coffee at Seven Eleven, a mess of thoughts began. The cashier was having a conversation with her co-worker about President Obama’s State of the Union Address. I could clearly hear the discontent and cynicism in her tone of voice. Although, I did not really pay attention to what they were actually talking about, I did not think too much about this because I generally share a cynical view of politicians, especially when they are in campaign mode. But, as I walked up to the counter, ready to pay for my coffee, the cashier ended her conversation with her coworker by saying, “…land of the free and home of the brave! Huh, the freedom to make something of yourself and get rich. But that only works so long as you’re foreign, we, the ones born here have to suffer!” This caused an immediate thought jumble in my head and I truly wanted to tell her that she is an idiot. But, I decided to keep my mouth shut, pay for my coffee, and leave.

Now, normally what I want to do in this blog is to brake this episode at Seven Eleven down and share my messy thoughts with you; however, as this is only an introduction I will let this one go.

I hope that you all have an understanding of why I picked this title and will enjoy the upcoming little messes with me.

Later,

Jason