Murphy Beds

If you're anything like me, you always need more space in your apt/room. I feel like I'm always cramped and if I could just get ride of a few things I'd have so much more space. What's one of those things you could get ride of you ask? Well I say it's your bed! But I need to sleep on a bed you say...in steps the murphy bed!

These things are genius...they fold up into the wall when you aren't using them. Why do I love this idea? Because when you aren't using your bed you just fold it up and BAM you get all this space that wasn't there before. My great aunt has a murphy bed in one of her rooms and it's really neat because when it's folded up she has a desk that comes out of it.

Another plus of these amazing inventions is that you NEVER have to make your bed! When all you do is fold it into the wall why would you ever need to do such a thing. I know personally I would love it.

The only negative I can think of right now is what to do with all the stuff that I store under my bed at the moment...but that's for another blog I think.

Would you like the idea of a murphy bed?

Motion Sensor Equipped Bathrooms

Alright so my pet peeve of the day is bathrooms that are equipped with motion sensor everything. You know what I'm talking about the sinks and soap dispensers, toilets, hand dryers and all that nonsense.

Now don't get me wrong I'm actually quite alright with the toilets doing their own thing even if sometimes I've been at a urinal and it decides to prematurely flush. In the end it keeps me from having to touch the toilet. Now I know you're sitting there saying "But that's what they are all for" and I will say "Yes that's true, but the other automatic things aren't very efficient." Why you ask? I'm glad you did because I'll explain.

Automatic Soap Dispensers - These tend to not be efficient because they don't really give you enough soap with just one squirt so there you are having to keep waving your hand underneath it until you get the desired amount. And the one I have at my work always keeps going off while you're actually washing your hands so when you get done there is soap just sitting in the sink. Quite annoying.

Automatic Faucets - Also tend to not be that great. My first reason here is that each faucet has its own spot you have to put your hand to activate it. Well this may not always be the most appropriate place to hold your hands while washing them so then there you are again waving your hand back and forth to make the water come on. Also sometimes you can't find the spot to start the water so there are you are with soapy hands and no water. Lastly with these is water pressure and temperature control. I like to wash my hands in warm water, but not scalding or freezing. I've noticed the water at Chicago Union Station is so hot it hurts and the water comes out so hard the first time I didn't know it and it went all over my shirt. That was embarrassing.

Automatic Hand Towels - Again like the soap I feel these just never give you enough. So you have to keep waving to get more towels. And the ones that blow air just take FOREVER to work and always leave behind some water. The only people who've perfected this process is Dyson. You know the vacuum people? Yeah well they created the Dyson Air Blade http://ehanddryers.com/images/AHD--Dyson-Airblade.png It's pretty amazing and I first saw this in a bar. I think every place should have these instead.

So yeah there's my bit on those stupid automatic things. Anyone else feel this way?

Lack of Attachment

This post is dedicated to my friend Corey Ariss.

How many times has this happened to you? You open up your email client and start reading the new emails you've received. You spend all this time reading this important email and at the end they say something like "Please see attached document." You look to the side and you don't see that symbol (the little paperclip) that means something is actually attached. Two seconds later another email comes in..."Oh I'm sorry...it's attached this time!" Well this has happened so many times to me.

My friend Corey does this...a lot. But so many others do it as well. All the way from just friends, to my fraternity, to official university documents. It's really frustrating because not only does it not appear in the original email I now have two emails to worry about.

Sometimes people are smart about when they resend the attachment...they'll just reply to what they sent out the first time which saves the message that goes with the attachment. This helps because I can then delete the email without the attachment and keep the one with it. But sometimes people just completely resend a new email which then means I have to keep them both. So annoying because I don't like having a lot of emails in my inbox.

Now I'm not guilt free of this either, I've done it before and man do I hate myself when I do it. But I've found that when sending an email it's now easier to attach first then write the message that way I don't do this.

So please if you send lots of things with attachments try that and see if it helps you.

Does this bug you too, or is it just me?

People Who "Like" Everything

This post is dedicated to my friend Rachel.

Today's post is about the infamous pages on Facebook. You know the things that were created originally for businesses, bands, and organizations to be able to be on Facebook, and not have to operate under a profile or a group. Pages are great, they allow for updates from these groups and also allow people to show who supports them by clicking the "Like" button.

Well there's my first issue with this whole thing...the liking of page used to be called "Become a Fan." That made way more sense to me and it still bugs me that you now just "like" something. This isn't really the point of this post, but whatever.

My real issue with pages and the liking of said pages is that pages now represent all sorts of things. I mean no longer are they actual representations of things, many times I now see pages for things like "I have a dislike for [insert random object]" or "I'm an 18 year old girl and I still love [insert another random object]." Because of these many random pages you now get people who like EVERYTHING that pops up.

My friend Rachel...she's one of those people.

I looked at her profile today before writing this post. She is currently at 2,957 liked pages. This is opposed to the mere 25 things I currently like. Now I have to admit some of the things she likes are pretty funny and at times I completely agree with what the page says, but again I have to actually think something is a business, club, or something along those lines before I'll like it.

Here are a few of the funnier pages I found on Rachel's profile:

If you sext, do you get a phoner?
I hate it when someone secretly puts your name in the Goblet of Fire

And by far my favorite one I found on here which suits Rachel perfectly is:

I'm a fan of seeing my friends become fans of pages I've just been a fan of (note again here that it's no longer becoming a fan)

I couldn't bring myself to continue looking to find funny ones for two reasons. First I'd be there forever trying to read through and pick out the best ones. Almost 3,000 pages is just too much. Secondly she has so many pages that trying to view them all keeps freezing my browser so I just said "Screw this." But trust me, there are plenty.

But really in the end this all was spurred because I get tired of logging onto Facebook and my news feed is full of so and so likes this or what's his face likes that. It makes me want to not allow you on my news feed...but then I'm afraid I'd miss out on some quality information some day from you...you're lucky I'm nice...and that I like stalking on Facebook.

True Meaning of Indepence and Freedom

So this has been the first 4th of July that I haven't had some kind of festivities planned with either friends of my family. Therefore today for me has been full of sleeping in to a ridiculous hour and then waking up and going shopping for some of the inevitable deals that were out there today. And as I sit here waiting for darkness to approach and sit in my window to catch a glimpse of the random fireworks that people set off tonight I can't help but think about what today is really about.

Is it about cookouts, fireworks, and 4th of July parades? My answer is no. Today is definitely a day for celebration and the previous are things we use to create that celebration. But even without those we still can remember and celebrate the meaning of today. Today is about our countries Independence and the Freedom associated with it.

Dictionary.com defines independence as "freedom from the control, influence, support, aid, or the like, of others." and freedom as "Exemption from the arbitrary exercise of authority in the performance of a specific action; civil liberty." What these definitions don't encompass however is sacrifice.

Sacrifice is ultimately what created this country 234 years ago. And today I think a lot of people forget how much was necessary to sacrifice to have the amazing country we do today. Even today as I sit in my apartment in my comfortable AC I know that half way around the world there are Americans fighting for me. Maybe not specifically for me but for Americans.

It's because of soldiers 234 years ago I have some of the most basic rights...speech, press, religion, and so on and so forth. But even today while there is no tyrant oppressing our rights as a population, we still have soldiers fighting for us and in general for freedom.

So today I do hope you had a great time celebrating or doing whatever you did but take some time to remember why it is we can celebrate today. Be proud of the country we live and what we stand for, and be proud of the soldiers, the men and women who every day put on their uniforms and fight under the Stars and Stripes of our flag. I chose the picture for this post because of the sacrifice those soldiers made. I may not know who they are but I thank them for what they did. For putting aside their own personal safety and risking it all for their country.

I'm damn proud to be an American!

What does the 4th of July mean to you?

Movie Review: The Last Airbender

Well I went to see The Last Airbender last night. I used to watch the cartoon version of this when it was on Nickelodeon so when I saw a preview for this a while back I knew I'd have to go see it when it came out. Before I went to the movie I was talking with my friend Joe and he sends me this review that talks about how bad the movie is. I decided ya know what...I've got to see it in order to make the decision for myself.

While many people I've talked to that have seen it and reviews I've read say many negative things about this movie, I overall actually enjoyed it.

The movie follows Aang, the current incarnation of the Avatar. The Avatar is the only person alive who can control each of the elements. (Air, Water, Earth, and Fire) When Aang realized he was the Avatar he ran away and got caught in a storm and was frozen under the water for 100 years. In the century he was gone the Fire Nation waged a war on the other three nations in an attempt to rule the world.

The movie follows Book One: Water in which Aang who is found by Katara, the only waterbender in the Southern Water Tribe, and her brother Sokka, travel to the Notherwn Water Tribe so that Aang can learn to waterbend. Throughout their trip to the north, the trio encounters some run ins with the Fire Nation which ultimately leads to an all out battle at the Northern Water Tribe city.

Now like I said overall I didn't think the movie was horrible. I left and was actually thinking to myself "Huh...I actually liked it." I watched the cartoon and this followed pretty closely to first season of the cartoon's story line. I even thought it was nice to see some of the aspects from the cartoon translated into a real life version.

Now onto some of the things that bugged me:

• 3D - So I already bitched about this in another blog (http://bit.ly/9Ctg89) but I saw this movie in 3D anyways because that's what format it was in. It really didn't do anything for me. I hear the 3D was added after production and it showed. The movie would have been just fine in 2D.
• Names - A few of the names were pronounced differently in the movie than they were in the cartoons. I wasn't the only person that noticed this as the lady behind me kept correcting the pronunciation every time they spoke. (That got really annoying)
• Too Short - I understand that you can't fit an entire season into a movie, but I wouldn't have minded the movie being a little longer. I just felt like things were rushed.
  

I also think it's worth mentioning that it's obviously set up for a trilogy. There were three seasons of the cartoon and when the movie starts it clearly says "Book One: Water." This means Earth and Fire have yet to come. So I'm kind of excited to see how these pan out in the future.

So beyond these few things it was enjoyable. I at least recommend seeing it, if you saw the cartoon. And if you don't wanna pay to go see it in the theater then at least watch it when it comes out on DVD.

Out of 10 I'd give this movie a 6.

Flying Car!

No the picture above isn't fake or Photoshopped. It's the real deal. A car that flies!

It's known as the Transition Roadable Aircraft. The company that is behind the design of the vehicle is Terrafugia. They have been attempting to create this for a while but have been running into some issues with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Up until the FAA gave them an exception the craft was too heavy to fit into the Light Sport Aircraft category.

While not the first flying car out there it seems to be the most economical. HLN stated that is will cost around $190K. When in the air it can cruise at 115 mph and can go for just a little over 400 miles. When on the ground it even achieves decent gas mileage with 30 mpg. One of the benefits of it being in the Light Sport Aircraft category is also the ability for more individuals to purchase. Customers will need a special license but will only need 20 hours of instruction to get the license and be ready to fly/drive. And another cool feature...it runs off of regular unleaded gas that you can get at any gas station.

Terrafugia wants to have the final design and be ready to sell to customers in 2011.

Now I have to say I think this is pretty sweet. If I had the money to purchase this I would in a heart beat. I'd be flying all over the place just because I could. I also think it's nice that I wouldn't have to go and get all these crazy certifications in able to fly it.

However if this is a hit and car companies start making things like this all the time, the sky is going to get ridiculous. I mean for real just think of the Jetsons and how we can barely drive on the ground as a population. I can't imagine what we would be like in the air.

What do you think of the flying car?