Friday, October 29, 2010

Paying for the Poor?

In 1964 Lyndon B. Johnson established the War on Poverty. Since, the United States has spent over $9 trillion on government welfare programs. Even though we are feeding impoverished people with money they just can't seem to pull themselves out of the loop. We have just as many impoverished people in United States now than ever. The rate of poverty in America can be approximately 13%-17% at any given time. I think people in poverty are just biting the hand that feeds and aren't trying to take the money they are basically given and putting it to use. In order for the impoverished to become fiscally stable they need to learn and improve not simply get paid by the government to "get by". In 2009 we spent ~$500 billion dollars on welfare programs, that is enough to supply every man woman and child in poverty ~$12,000; and for what, so they can spend the money and come back begging for more. Benjamin Franklin once said “I am for doing good to the poor, but...I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. I observed...that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.” I believe that is how we should treat the poor, as cruel as it may sound we need to increase convince these people to get back to the United States fundamentals and create businesses and jobs; this country thrives off of the little people.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Halloween


I don't know about everyone else but I am pumped for Halloween; it is by far the single craziest night at Ball State, everyone is out running around, mostly causing chaos and wreaking havoc, how do you beat that. On top of that everyone gets to run around in sexy, scary, or funny costumes, it is going to be cool seeing how everyone dresses. Oh and did I forget to mention the PARTIES! I know there is going to be a million of them so everyone needs to be safe and don't drive under the influence, we are all adults and need to act accordingly. Even though this is my first year here, for the past three years I have came to BSU for Halloween, I have had a blast every year so far and I plan for my first year here to truly be the best. I hope to see you guys out there (that is if I can recognize you past your costume).

Update: Dontating Plasma.. Work?

Finally the wound on my arm from a couple weeks ago is pretty much healed, there is a lot of scar tissue but it is definitely better than it was. I just hope that the plasma center will accept me now, I don't fully understand what a scrape has to do with donating plasma it wasn't infected or anything. Last time I went in there I waited for an hour and then got denied, what a waste of my time when I should have been doing homework that was due right after the appointment. I'm going to try to sign up for a later appointment this time, that way I don't have to worry about class but it definitely needs to be done this week, seeing as how Halloween is this weekend.

Update: Thieves

Me and Henry figured it out, we discovered who stole the speakers, some kid named Isaac that lives 3 doors down from us. How shady do you have to be to steal from your fellow floor mates, we all have to live together for a year so we might as well respect each other am I right? Me and Henry gave him a little speech and I don't think he is going to be stealing from an of us ever again, he was pretty jittery when we approached him. We squashed the whole deal and we now have our speakers back, too bad we couldn't have a death metal bathroom though.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Donating Plasma.. for work?

Recently I tried to donate plasma at the BioLife plasma center that is located next to Best Buy; the first week I get paid $75 and every week after that is $50, I really need money so it seems worth it to me until I can find a real job. I spend way to much money on a weekly basis and have no clue where it goes as I have no material possessions really to feel benefited from it. When I go to the plasma center however, I was deterred due to a large abrasion on my right elbow (they can't accept plasma if there is an open wound). But since they won't accept my plasma I now have no money until this wound heals. I've never been so broke in my life; I'm used to having a job and having money, at least I still don't have to pay for groceries or rent...yet...

THIEVES!?

So in our bathroom there used to be a radio so we could all listen to music while we get cleaned up in the morning. Due to a lack of maturity and responsibility said radio no longer works. Me and my roommate Henry being good the samaritans that we are, replaced the radio with speakers that can plug into ipods, iphones, and any othe electronic device with a headphone jack. The speakers were in the bathroom no longer than 12 hours and BAM! they are stolen. We put another sign up that says to return the speakers and if that doesn't seem to get the message across I guess me and few friends are just going to have to go door to door!

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Lafollette Food is Becoming Repetitive

So we've been in school since August 28th and don't get me wrong the food here is just fine, but I'm so sick of fried food and packaged meals. I miss a good home cooked meal; meatloaf, chili, steak, pot roast, chicken, and mostly I miss good home grown veggies! I can't even eat the veggies here, they taste awful! The freshman 15 is catching up to me and it's because of all of the fried food. All I want sometimes is a turkey sandwich and they sell sliced turkey and ham and whatnot but they don't sell whole loaves of bread! What the hell is the point of having one and not the other. I guess I better just get used to this for a while, it's nice not having to go buy groceries, but I miss cooking things myself... 

iPhone Withdrawls!

So over the weekend I managed to lose my iPhone. For those who have an iPhone you can only imagine how it feels to lose such a vital part of you. Yes I said it is a part of me; it is amazing how much iPhones can do. I used my iPhone for almost everything I did throughout the day. I used it to look up schedules, to write down my homework assignments and set alarms; in fact it was my alarm so now how am I going to wake up (I'm lucky my earliest class isn't until 10:00 a.m.); I used my phone as a GPS, as a gaming device, social networking, texting, calling; almost every event in my day I used my iPhone to make it easier. I feel naked without it, like when you lose your wallet the little bulge in your pocket is missing. I can't afford a new phone and there's so many calls I need to make on a weekly basis. I guess I'm going to have to get used to borrowing other people's phones for a while.

One Cup of Coffee

I realized recently that for me to get through college I'm going to need to stock up on coffee. I came to school with a bag of dunkin' donuts coffee but ran out way too quickly. I looked all over campus and could not find a place to buy ground coffee with a meal card, and I'm all out of money so I cant afford to just go to a grocery store. Eventually though I found really good, freshly ground dark roast coffee at the coffee shop in the library. My prayers were answered! I've been drinking coffee for a good majority of my life and I've always had it black (my dad always told me if I wanted to drink coffee then I have to drink it the most unpleasant of ways; it's an acquired taste I began to love though). I started drinking regularly around the age of 10. Unlike most houses we didn't have tea in a kettle on the stove but we always had coffee in the pot for an afternoon pick me up. I'm sure it isn't healthy to be drinking for that long and from that young of an age, but I've been cutting back the past few years. The problem is it's starting to look like I need to pick the habit of drinking heavily to make it through my days here at BSU.