Exams...

This week is the final week of school. I have completed two exams and have two more. I will be done Thursday evening after my last final, German 201. This time of the year is always busy and I will be studying the 3 next days away. It's hard to go study when all I want to do is go running, bike trails, lay under a tree and read or just nap in the soft grass and soak up the sun. So it will be a couple days till I get back to this blog. I know, I know, anyone who reads this (is there anyone?) will not know what to do with themselves till that time.:) hahaha

see you on the flip side.

Freiburg: A hidden Gem Amongst Coal

Ich liebe Freiburg. Es ist einen schon Stadt. Ich studierte und lebte dort fur ein halbes Jahr. Es war eine Super Zeit. Ich lebte in Vauban. Vauban ist ein sehr netter Gemeinschaft. Die Menschen sind freundlich und die Atmosphare ist voll von Liebe. Wenn Sie die Umwelt und die Liebe sind grun Vauban ist der richtige Ort fur dich. Aber Freiburg ganzen ist eine umweltfreundliche Stadt.Hier sind Links zu interessanten Informationen Freiburg und Vauban.

http://www.cafebabel.co.uk/article/23545/eco-suburbs-vauban-freiburg.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/12/science/earth/12suburb.html?_r=2&scp=1&sq=Freiburg&st=cse

http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/freiburg/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freiburg_im_Breisgau

0o0o0 Oil, What a mess

Oil spills. Something when heard brings up mixed emotions. Some might think "Is everyone invovled O.K." or "What a waste of energy" others maybe "The environment is now suffering" and some "Who is to blame". These are all valid questions and thoughts that are now being brought up in light of the major oil spill happening off the US coast in the Gulf of Mexico.
The outbreak of oil happen on the holiday of April 20th. The Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and 11 workers were killed. After two days the damage could be seen and the knowledge that there was a terrible spill was realized. Today the oil is spreading and attempts to control and clean it up are falling short. Some are saying that this oil spill might surpass the terrible Exxon Valdez disaster!!! The US crews trying to contain and clean up the oil from the surface are using every technique possible. They are skimming, burning and dispersing it with chemicals and as it nears the coasts of Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and Florida they are setting up booms as a last chance effort. One factor that is not helping is the weather. With rough conditions out at sea it is extremely hard to solve this ever growing problem. BBC posted a satellite image on Saturday that showed the oil slick growing to the size of Puerto Rico (3,500 square miles!!!!)
President Obama traveled to Louisiana today and is focusing on the grave situation. The Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, said, "You're looking at potentially 90 days before you get to the ultimate solution, which is drilling a relief well 3.5 miles below the ocean floor.In that time, lots of oil could spread." One other possibility is effectively capping it with a dome. This could be done in 6-8 days.
Overall, the situation is not looking good at all and the effects are compounding. The economy is taking a hit. Fishing is restricted for a least 10 days which will probably be extended. Also the environment and animal life is suffering greatly. The spill has made its way into the South Pass, a channel through the salt marshes of Southeastern Louisiana, effecting crabs, oysters, shrimp and redfish.
This is very disappointing in many lights. Not only what was written above, but future implications. Renewable energy is great and should take over as the major source of energy but oil is a very powerful, versatile resource that still needs to be extracted. Obama announced plans to open additional areas for offshore oil drilling but as of now that is on hold. Our reliance on foreign suppliers is dangerous and this is a set back for breaking away from that.
Hopefully with a re-evaluation of offshore drilling regulations will make these occurrences less. Oil drilling technology has been advancing in ways to be less damaging to the environment but nothing is perfect. Everyone needs to be a conscientious observer and help move our community to a cleaner, safer society.
My condolences to the families of the 11 workers who passed on. I hope this mess can be contained and neutralized asap.

The World Cup is coming..!!!!

The count down to the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa started the moment Italy came out ahead of France in 2006. The beautiful game is going to kick off in 42 days on the biggest stage the sport has and the excitement is building. The world cup has never been hosted by an African country and the world is excited to see everything play out. Myself being a USA fan, I will be closely watching the C group. The outlook of the USA is outstanding, especially with the run they had in the Confederation cup. Making it to the final and losing to Brazil means the US is a force to be reckoned with. (especially because the score in the final did not represent the effort and play throughout the game)

One player that I will be watching closely is Jozy Altidore. He is a strong striker coming in at 6 ft. 1 in and has gained a lot of experience for his age. His professional debut was August 23, 2006 as a substitute for the US Open Cup. His first professional goal was scored at the age of 16 in the 83rd minute. It was a 28-yard shot to take the win over Columbus Crew. He has played on 4 different club teams. the New York Red Bulls, Villarreal, Xerez, and Hull City and has played for the US national team at almost every level. (U-17, U-20, U-23 and the US Mens National)

In recent events Altidore has hit a rough patch but nothing he wont be able to rebound from. Being loaned to Hull City he walked off the pitch hiding his face Saturday in KC Stadium. It all happened 3 minutes into the first half stoppage time. Altidore and Hutton got twisted up near the sidelines. Hutton threw the ball at the back of Altidore's head and he reacted my charging him and hitting him. Hutton suffered a cut eye, broken nose and a chipped tooth. Altidore was sent off immediately and Hutton received a red card as well soon after. My perdiction is he is going to evolve into a strong player this summer.This was not good for Hull City in the big picture as they will be going down to the Championship league working to get back into the Premier league next season. In the heat of the moment things like this happen but if Altidore wants to move to the next level and become a better player he needs to calm himself and keep collected. I dont think its a matter of if that happens though and more of when it will happen.

Altidore's club future is greatly unknown. Hull City has not been a positive experience for his career but other clubs should be looking at him as an individual player with his circumstances. If he makes a good showing against England and the world cup over all the prospects will improve greatly.

Right now he has 42 days to get set for the US team's game against England on June 12th and I think he will come out and prove to all what a solid player he is. Watch out, Altidore is coming!!!!!

Dream

With all my posters in my room my day dreams and spacing out moments are sometimes steered by the poster that I look at and and enjoy. On this beautiful day I sat back and enjoyed a print that I really appreciate. Its a painting by Salvador Dali called "Dream Caused by Bee Flight". Dali was a man born in Spain May 11, 1904 and lived to be 85 years young. As a painter he worked within three different movements. Cubism, which was realized by Picasso and Braque and is an abstract that takes an object and views it from multiple perspectives with a geometric feel. Dada or Dadaism is one of my favorite art movements started in Zurich. Francis Picabia puts its simply and explains it well; “Dada talks with you, it is everything, it includes everything, it belongs to all religions, can be neither victory nor defeat, it lives in space and not in time..” Finally Surrealism, which my print is classified under, was a cultural movement that embraced the extraordinary, unexpected, non sequitur, and an overall feeling of surprise.

“Dream Caused by Bee Flight,” is a surreal painting of a women sleeping on a floating rock over an ocean. There is an elephant walking in the background with extended legs carrying an obelisk. A pomegranate and two drops of water float by the women. The larger pomegranate in the distance is releasing a fish where a tiger is crawling out of its mouth. A second tiger is produced from the first and finally a rifle is in front of it with its point just about to touch the women.This painting symbolizes a bee sting that abruptly disturbs a dream. The rifle is the stinger, with the tigers (black and orange stripes) the body of the bee, and the fish represents the eyes. The elephant in the background is a manipulated version of a sculpture by Bernini. I like to leave the water drops and the small pomegranate open to individual interpretation. One thing I like though, is that the shadow of the pomegranate is in the form of a heart.

I appreciate anything that makes your mind wonder and question, and this painting definitely achieves that for me. So I am going to go back to kissing the clouds now and dream. (Let's hope there are no bees around)

It happens

Some days are easier than others and today was interesting. Took all the obstacles in stride though and I know everything will fall into place sooner or later. Just have to remember "shit happens." Nothing around it.

One experience that shook me up happened this past Friday. Was done working for the day and looking to buy some quality beer that I have been searching for awhile. Its a Belgian brew called Delirium. Great quality and I recommend it to everyone. I THOUGHT I found a store that sold it, but when I was guided to the spot with my iPhone map directions there was nothing there!!!!

What to do? I double checked and searched for other options, but turned up with nothing. I finally gave in and decided I should just drive to the nearest liqueur shop and get something.

I was driving through West Lafayette and pulled into a left turn lane to make a U-turn. It was Friday let me remind you and it was decently busy and people were rushing to go to where ever they wanted to go. I made the complete turn and started accelerating when BAM! fuck....my first accident. Someone just hit me from behind. I gathered my thoughts for a second and than got out of the car. The damage was minimal(I will let you be the judge of that with the pictures below though). Basically, My car got some dents, scratches, and the trim is busted. The other vehicle's bumper broke of and the Styrofoam inside was broken. Both of us were fine and we pulled our vehicles out of traffic. I called the cops and we got all the logistics done. Everything played out fine but it was still a bummer. Now I need to get a hold of the insurance company and do that dance....

Happy Monday!!!

Woke up today feeling pretty good. (for a monday) I was still out of it when my phone started ringing. It wasnt make wake up alarms to my surprise but my girlfriend texting me. The text read "I missed all my buses, wanna play till our 10:30s (class)? I text back "Great! Come on over". right after I text that she sent "nevermind"...so my Monday started with a little mind fuck. Whatever. But I got so excited that when she text me saying want to play I woke up and jumped out of bed ending up spilling some wine from the night before...SHIT!!! so I ran to the kitchen and grabbed some salt and paper towels to soak up the wine. Than I had to grab the vacuum to clean up the salt....than I looked at the time and I was right on time---TO BE LATE for class...luckly I dont stress out about this stuff and everything worked out and I showed up to class on time with a nice big apple eaten on the walk there. Bring on the rest of Monday!

Here are a few websites that can help when your mornings are rough and spilled wine ensues.

http://wine.about.com/od/redwines/a/redwinestains.htm

http://www.ehow.com/how_2526_remove-red-wine.html

http://www.life123.com/home-garden/housekeeping/carpet-cleaning/removing-red-wine-stains-from-carpet.shtml