Best Website Ever!

http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/

I highly recommend this webite for all those who need a good laugh and/or are bored at work. It puts a smile on my face- ALWAYS! :)

New puppy!

So, I have decided to get Jack a friend since he is home alone a lot. I figured he would enjoy some company while I am at work. Although he is spoiled right now and might not like it at first, I think it will definitely be a good thing for him in the long run. I bought a little girl puppy who I think I am going to name Bella. She is the same breed as Jack, a chorkie (yorkie-chihuahua mix). Full grown, she should weigh between 2-3 lbs. She is the runt. I will be picking her up from Kentucky this coming Sunday. I am super excited! This is the only pic I have of her right now but you know that will soon change as soon as I pick my little baby up! Enjoy!

Does God Exist?

Did God create everything that exists? Does evil exist? Did God create evil?

A University professor at a well known institution of higher learning challenged his students with this question. "Did God create everything that exists?"

A student bravely replied, "Yes he did!"

"God created everything?" The professor asked.

"Yes sir, he certainly did," the student replied.

The professor answered, "If God created everything; then God created evil. And, since evil exists, and according to the principle that our works define who we are, then we can assume God is evil."

The student became quiet and did not answer the professor's hypothetical definition. The professor, quite pleased with himself, boasted to the students that he had proven once more that the Christian faith was a myth.

Another student raised his hand and said, "May I ask you a question, professor?"

"Of course", replied the professor.

The student stood up and asked, "Professor, does cold exist?"

"What kind of question is this? Of course it exists. Have you never been cold?"

The other students snickered at the young man's question.

The young man replied, "In fact sir, cold does not exist. According to the laws of physics, what we consider cold is in reality the absence of heat. Every body or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy. Absolute zero (-460 F) is the total absence of heat; and all matter becomes inert and incapable of reaction at that temperature. Cold does not exist. We have created this word to describe how we feel if we have no heat."

The student continued, "Professor, does darkness exist?"

The professor responded, "Of course it does."

The student replied, "Once again you are wrong sir, darkness does not exist either. Darkness is in reality the absence of light. Light we can study, but not darkness. In fact, we can use Newton's prism to break white light into many colors and study the various wavelengths of each color.

You cannot measure darkness. A simple ray of light can break into a world of darkness and illuminate it. How can you know how dark a certain space is? You measure the amount of light present. Isn't this correct? Darkness is a term used by man to describe what happens when there is no light present."

Finally the young man asked the professor, "Sir, does evil exist?"

Now uncertain, the professor responded, "Of course, as I have already said. We see it everyday. It is in the daily examples of man's Inhumanity to man. It is in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. These manifestations are nothing else but evil.

To this the student replied, "Evil does not exist, sir, or at least it does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God's love present in his heart. It's like the cold that comes when there is no heat, or the darkness that comes when there is no light."

The professor sat down.

The young man's name - Albert Einstein

Perception

Washington, DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. The man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, approx. 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.



After 3 minutes, a middle-aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace, stopped for a few seconds, and then hurried to meet his schedule.

4 minutes later:
The violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.

6 minutes:
A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

10 minutes:
A 3-year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. Several other children repeated this action. Every parent, without exception, forced his or her children to move on quickly.

45 minutes:
The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money, but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.

1 hour:
He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.


Findings:
No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.

This is a true story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the Metro Station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste, and people's priorities. The questions raised: "In a common place environment, at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?"

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made.... How many other things are we missing?

Rain, rain, go away!

So lately I have begun to feel like I live in Seattle. It has rained for several days now and according to weatherunderground.com, it will rain for about another week (if not more!). I thought that I moved down here from Ohio to get away from the clouds and the rain... WTF! Until I moved down here, I never realized how much the weather contributes to your "Qi" if you will. I have found that people down south are happier, maybe because they live in the sunshine states. Although lately, people haven't been very happy with this weather.

Many articles, such as one written online MSN.com in the Health in Fitness section, state that weather does not really affect our mood. I beg to differ. I have not heard so many people talk about the nasty weather and begging for sunshine. The only glimmer of sunshine that I see coming from this is that our lake is filling up, which is definitely a great thing!

Bodies Exhibit

I recently read the book Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach. It was one of the most interesting books I have read in a long time and is now one of my favorites. After reading Stiff, I have wanted to view the Bodies Exhibit in Atlantic Station to see many of the bodies that have been donated to research. Before reading Stiff, I had no interest in seeing an exhibit with dead bodies. Stiff opened my eyes about the way our bodies function and how they can be used after death and in research.


If you don't know what the bodies exhibit is, I have included below a portion of their homepage online:

Bodies-The Exhibitation

Celebrate the wonder of the human form at BODIES... The Exhibition, a phenomenal exhibition about the amazing and complex machine we call the human body.

This Exhibition--which features actual human specimens--allows people of all ages access to sights and knowledge normally reserved only for medical professionals. Take the opportunity to peer inside yourself, to better understand how your elaborate and fascinating body works, and how you can become a more informed participant in your own health care.

Run Georgia

I've decided that I am going to start running some races again. In the past, I have ran 9 Peachtree Roadraces, a Scottish Rite fun run, and several others. Just last week I ran the Kaiser Permanente 5k and had a lot of fun. Today I decided to look at rungeorgia.com which lists several races throughout the year in Georgia. I have just signed up for one this weekend in Cumming, GA and I can't wait. I hope to work my way up to a half marathon and maybe someday a full marathon (if my feet can handle it!). On October 10 I hope to run the Frogtown Trail Challenge, if I am not working for The River that day. I will keep you guys posted on my upcoming races. If any of you are interested in joining me, please let me know. I always love running company!

Pen Pals

I think at one point or another everyone has had a pen pal. I remember having a couple when I was younger. One was a family friend, also named Lauren Ashley, from Canada. The other was a girl my parents met in Costa Rica named Maria. I would frequently send both of them letters and sometimes even packages.

About two weeks ago I met a very intruiguing man named Andreas. I was waiting at a bar for some friends who were about an hour late. Being my usual self, I made friends with people around me at the bar. Andreas immediately caught my attention because of his accent. After talking with him for some time, I learned about his growing up in Germany, his love for fast cars, and his business- to name a few. We talked for an hour but he is definitely one of the most interesting people I have ever met. He has 20 years on me and I am not interested in dating him, but he is still one of the nicest people I have met. He has traveled all over the world and has seen so many places because of his job. Speaking with him peaked my interest because I love to travel and wish to see the world. He told me of the times he lived in the US, India, and several other places and of his visits to China, Brazil, and London. He has even been to places like Akron, Ohio... where I grew up. Who would have thought that this big business man knew of little old Akron. The funny thing is, he had just come from Akron and his flight was delayed, which is why he was talking to me in the first place. He missed his connecting flight to Germany and had to stay an extra night. We had such great conversation about traveling and my life in Italy that we exchanged email addresses. I now feel like I am in 2nd grade again with a pen pal in another country. We have corresponded a couple of times since our first meeting and it is refreshing to make new friends that tell such great stories. Hopefully I will someday travel a world away and run into him again...

Remembering September 11, 2001

I can not believe that today is the 8th anniversary of Sept. 11! I will never forget walking into my second period Spanish class seeing the TV in front of the class. When I first walked in, late as usual, I did not notice that the news was on. I was too worried that my teacher would write me up for being late. I thought we were going to watch a Spanish movie of sorts and quickly got myself settled into my seat. After watching the TV for a moment I realized that it was, in fact, real news that was happening right at that moment in my very own country. My eyes were glued to the TV and I could not stop crying. I remember watching the 2nd plane hit the north tower. For some reason I could not take my eyes off of the television. It was as if something came over me. Watching people jumping out of the building, running from the collapsing buildings with masks on, and seeing faces full of terror quickly came over my being like a shock wave. Although it is by far the saddest thing I have ever seen on TV, for some reason I just could not look away. I kept thinking, this is America. War does not happen here, it happens in other countries. I think it impacted me so greatly because my family is from New York and I have been to the World Trade Center many times when I was younger. I could not believe that such an event could occur somewhere I had been and held dear to my heart. I immediately thought of my family that still resides in New York, wondering if they were all ok and worrying about them. My stomach felt as if it was being churned inside and out. Although no one close to me died on that tragic day, I will never forget the way I felt heartbroken and violated because so many innocent people died that day for no reason. After Sept. 11 I was quite interested in the stories I heard and read that were about those who died that day. I read the book "Let's Roll" by Lisa Beamer. Her husband, Todd Beamer, was on Flight 93 and had tried to overcome the hijackers on the flight. He is known for being a hero and his last audible words from his phone call were "Are you guys ready? Let's roll." I would definitely recommend this book to anyone interested. There really is nothing like reading of book about real life heroism. Remembering Sept. 11 makes me very proud to be an American. Although it is a very sad day to remember, I am glad that it brings us all together.

"Time is passing. Yet, for the United States of America, there will be no forgetting September the 11th. We will remember every rescuer who died in honor. We will remember every family that lives in grief. We will remember the fire and ash, the last phone calls, the funerals of the children."- President George W. Bush, November 11, 2001

Chiropractors

Recently, I went to a Chiropractor because I had been experiencing a numbness in my left arm due to a pinched nerve. To be honest, I did not know it was a pinched nerve. I first experieced the pain about two months ago and I could have sworn I was having a heart attack. They always said that your left arm would hurt first, you know. Anyhow, I worked an event for 97.1 The River and met these two chiropractors (one that was pretty cute) and decided to have them scan me. They looked at the scan and stated that something was going on with the left side of my neck and that I really should get it looked at. I did not tell them about the numbness in my left arm, so it kind of freaked me out. I had them make an appointment for me for a nearby Chiropractor, who took x-rays and gave me a couple of adjustments. According to the x-rays, I have an extremely straight neck which has pinched some nerves. Although I believe in Chiropractors, I don't want to get suckered into paying for a year of adjustments when I don't think I'm that bad off. Plus, my schedule is so hectic and I don't feel like going to him three times a week, like he recommends. Any thoughts on Chiropractors? I think I might cancel my appointment today...