I'm sorry for posting so late. At the present time I am at a Conference on Community Building in Switzerland. The city of Luzern is my location.
Being here is great!
The Conference has some key speakers and the rest of the time the participants present further information on the topic of the original paper in there allowed time frame with visual aids. These were submitted earlier.
So much for the facts.
The people are friendly but reserved; with this I am referring to the Conference hosts. All the attendees have divided themselves into the foreigners fro outside Europe and Europeans. An exception are 2 people from Spain.
That is a bit strange, but I enjoy all the various people I am meeting here.
Only 2 other people from the U.S.A. are here and they came late and are leaving tomorrow.
This morning I went with a few others on a cruise on the VIER WALDSTETTER SEE. a lake right in front of the Conference Center. I had a great time. On the North side of the lake are the higher mountains and the snow covered peaks look magnificent. These are always snow covered. I will try to take a cable car up to the skiing are before leaving.
Being here makes the whole world seem smaller. Everyone is from some place different. It is a good feeling. When in a setting like this it seems so simple to work out life issues and world issues. Most people are in the social work field and have an interest in improving situations for populations. Would it ever be possible to have social workers as presidents ect.? I know it won't happen, but provides an interesting daydream.
Everyone had to make their own hotel accommodations; the University hosting this event has no housing and we do not get to spend time with the students or visit the institution. This is a bit strange, but they do not want interruptions in their scheduled classes.
My hotel is in walking distance form the Conference and is in the old part of town. It is family owned and has 16 rooms, mine is on the 4th floor and I get to walk up 5 flights of stairs. Good exercise!
For the next month I will not complain about the cost of anything, since Switzerland is the most expensive country I have ever been in. It is not part of the European Union and therefore kept it's own currency, the Swiss Franc. For a cup, and this is a cup with no refills and not a mug, of coffee the cost is at least $4 and a small bottle of soda or water to go is between $3 and $4. Eating is outrageous, but wonderful. Before I came I was surprised that the Conference fee was over $500, but now I can see why. Meals are not included, but we do receive coffee and cake in the afternoon. Tonight s an optional dinner, but we have to pay $65 to attend.
I will go, because I am so far in the hole right now, that I will go to the only evening function organized through the conference.
Even though I will be in money trouble after this, I am glad I came. It is a once in a life time experience and I am expanding my views and opinions. That is after all why I came. Now I will return to a meeting, I am using a laptop of a professor from Ghana. To save money we bought lunch at a grocery store: bread, cheese and fruit. It was great. We had a fun time.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Monday, September 24, 2007
Sorry But...
Hey sorry for not typing to ya'll yesterday I have been a bit under the weather. Which brings up another wonderful way to take a break from your classes. Get sick. Not really. But, I could not go to classes for two days because I was contagious. well any way I am rambling. Take care all of you AND DO NOT GET SICK. -- Posted Wed 9/12/07
So in the third week of classes excitement is winding down and we are longing to go some where any where to get away from CSU (I am of course referring to the people in the dorms). I would recommend taking a drive to Pennsylvania( if you drive of course) ,it is so beautiful there you don't even have to stop to take it all in. For those of you who do not drive take a walk, down Euclid that is, go towards the theatre district and keep going until you just are tired of walking you would be surprised about the things you notice when your not streaking past in a bus. And if you drive but do not want to leave the state just take a drive. the things you will discover when you just take a random road and take notice of the things around you. Well thats all for today. Come back again tomorrow when I discuss more things you can do to take a break from the stress of class.
Posted by CSU Honors Program at 6:06 PM 0 comments
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Posted by CSU Honors Program at 6:06 PM 0 comments
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Friday, July 27, 2007
Friday, July 20, 2007
What if...?
I was going to try and come up with a brand new idea, but after lunch today I decided against it. This is a little something that I posted on facebook almost two months ago, and I'm going to share it here too, because that's how important to me it is.
Basically this is where my life is right now, and thanks to some unexpected events, I find myself in a situation that I never want to walk away from. For those who don't know, the honors program at CSU has had a profound effect on my life. It was a last resort that I even applied because my top schools did not send me letters back (for reasons I care not to share at this moment). And aside from giving me an education that I feel rivals what I would have received at the other schools, it helped me find a very special person in my life, and for that I am the most grateful. And so here it is, the story of the past two years (approximately).
For most of our lives, most of us wind up asking what if…?
What if I don’t study for my test tomorrow?
What if the cheeseburger isn’t as good as you told me it was?
What if she says no?
You know, those questions. The little ones that always ask the right thing to make us second guess ourselves until the opportunity to find out really has passed us by. I used to ask those questions all the time. And then in the spring of 2006 that started to change. I met a girl, who, although she didn’t know it, changed the way I see everything. I found myself being more confident. I found myself constantly in a good mood. And I found myself feeling a way that I had never felt before.
At first, I didn’t know how to react. I couldn’t understand what it was. And when I figured it out, I started asking all the What if…? questions again.
What if she stops spending time with me for some reason?
What if there’s already someone else?
What if she doesn’t feel the same way about me?
But for some reason, instead of letting those questions nag at me until my opportunity passed, I shut them out and spoke out. I let her know how I felt, regardless of the answer. Many of have heard the saying “Well, the worst that can happen is that they say no” and it definitely applies.
And even though the answer I got back when I told her how I felt was not what I had expected or wanted, it didn’t hit me as much as it possibly could have. Sure, last summer wasn’t exactly the best summer of my life, but I felt that I had learned something through the whole experience. And I thought that when fall came again I would have another chance.
As it turns out, the fact that I told her allowed her to see what had been staring at her for the past 6 months or so. That fall semester both of us ended up on the same page, and I have to say that if I had listened to all of the what-if’s, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I am two semesters away from graduating, and I will have spent the majority of my college years with the love of my life, even though it took her longer to realize it than it did me ( :) ). The beginning of September (Semtember 1 to be exact), will mark one year of our relationship, and I’ve never been happier. I love you Jess!
So don’t ask yourself what if…? Just go out there and take life as it comes. It works… trust me.
T. Majercik Jr.
Basically this is where my life is right now, and thanks to some unexpected events, I find myself in a situation that I never want to walk away from. For those who don't know, the honors program at CSU has had a profound effect on my life. It was a last resort that I even applied because my top schools did not send me letters back (for reasons I care not to share at this moment). And aside from giving me an education that I feel rivals what I would have received at the other schools, it helped me find a very special person in my life, and for that I am the most grateful. And so here it is, the story of the past two years (approximately).
For most of our lives, most of us wind up asking what if…?
What if I don’t study for my test tomorrow?
What if the cheeseburger isn’t as good as you told me it was?
What if she says no?
You know, those questions. The little ones that always ask the right thing to make us second guess ourselves until the opportunity to find out really has passed us by. I used to ask those questions all the time. And then in the spring of 2006 that started to change. I met a girl, who, although she didn’t know it, changed the way I see everything. I found myself being more confident. I found myself constantly in a good mood. And I found myself feeling a way that I had never felt before.
At first, I didn’t know how to react. I couldn’t understand what it was. And when I figured it out, I started asking all the What if…? questions again.
What if she stops spending time with me for some reason?
What if there’s already someone else?
What if she doesn’t feel the same way about me?
But for some reason, instead of letting those questions nag at me until my opportunity passed, I shut them out and spoke out. I let her know how I felt, regardless of the answer. Many of have heard the saying “Well, the worst that can happen is that they say no” and it definitely applies.
And even though the answer I got back when I told her how I felt was not what I had expected or wanted, it didn’t hit me as much as it possibly could have. Sure, last summer wasn’t exactly the best summer of my life, but I felt that I had learned something through the whole experience. And I thought that when fall came again I would have another chance.
As it turns out, the fact that I told her allowed her to see what had been staring at her for the past 6 months or so. That fall semester both of us ended up on the same page, and I have to say that if I had listened to all of the what-if’s, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I am two semesters away from graduating, and I will have spent the majority of my college years with the love of my life, even though it took her longer to realize it than it did me ( :) ). The beginning of September (Semtember 1 to be exact), will mark one year of our relationship, and I’ve never been happier. I love you Jess!
So don’t ask yourself what if…? Just go out there and take life as it comes. It works… trust me.
T. Majercik Jr.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
World of My Dreams
Ok, this one was a little easier. Maybe because I took a step away from being uncharacteristically serious and stepped over into the not-quite-that-serious section. This almost seems like it should be a friday or end of the week entry, but oh well.
I don't know about anyone else, but I've often wondered what it would be like to live in a world that was just like a video game. I've though about it, dreamt about it, but never tried it (and it's probably a good thing I haven't). So today I thought I'd go through a couple of possible video game scenarios that wouldn't be such a good idea to try (or maybe they wouldn't even happen) in real life.
1. Have you ever gotten to the point where you've gotten so angry that you just want to kill something... or someone? Well, if life was a video game, you could do just that. Yep, that guy in the apartment above you who plays his music at earsplitting volumes until all hours of the morning. Just walk right up and BAM! You'd feel better almost immediately because you wouldn't have to deal with it anymore. And he'd be ok too because as soon as he "died" he'd have to wait between 5 and 10 seconds, and then he'd respawn in a different location, as if nothing had ever happened.
Why it wouldn't work in reality - Um, people die when you shoot them... it's true. In fact, statistics show that 100% of mortal wounds are fatal to those who receive them (yeah, and 80% of stats are made up too, I know). And I'm pretty sure. Yep, you will probably go to jail forever (at the least) if you do this. Life is not a video game. Don't kill anyone, please.
2. Throw your financial worries away! If life was a game, every person in the entire world would be rich! All you'd have to is grab your sword, whip, gun, nunchuks, or whatever and roam about in the forest for a few hours. For some reason, every type of woodland creature is monstrously overgrown (and therefore needs to be killed immediately) and usually has about 10 bucks on their "person" at all time (or Gil for those who know the lingo). If you do this for a few weeks, a few hours a day, you'd have all the money you could ever want! And if you start to run out, go right back into the forest and kill some more creatures. Extinction does not exist in video games. Strangely though, even though you're unbelievably rich, you wouldn't buy a car. In fact you'd still prefer just to walk everywhere for some reason. I don't know why, that's just the way it is.
Why it wouldn't work in reality - Well, firstly, woodland creatures are not ginormous. You don't go into the forest and see 20 foot long caterpillars and 8 foot tall wolves running freely through the wilderness. Second, animals don't carry money. At least none of the ones that I've ever seen did. And lastly, creatures do not spontaneously generate to make up for the ones that you just killed. So you couldn't do this forever, and I'm pretty sure hunting forest creatures is not a permanent profession anyways (and it costs money). As fun as it sounds, this is impossible.
3. Unfortunately, tragedy would befall you on just about every important occasion in your life. Birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, etc. You name it, and something bad is going to happen. Something like your boyfriend or girlfriend gets kidnapped, your village gets burned to the ground, or a giant monster shows up and eats all the cake. You know, real tragedies. And unsuspiciously, it will always turn out to be the work of some big, evil, multi-million dollar corporation (no, not Sony). Then you'd grab your 3 closest friends (or just 1 and hope you meet some people on the way) and grab your swords and charge headlong into the teeth of the big corporation and crush them and all of their guards with automatic weapons.
Why it wouldn't work in reality - Well first off, it would be pretty crappy if all of your important moments were ruined by giant robots with nuclear missile launchers or your house kept getting torched. Not to mention the money you'd have to continuously spend on repairs would be through the roof, and you couldn't just go into the forest and kill all the squirrels and take their wallets. And also, you can't run straight at guards with automatic weapons and expect to kill them with your swords and clubs without getting hit by a rain of bullets. It's not possible, even in the most illogical sense. Why would you try that?
4. Finally, sleep would be effectively eliminated from everyday life. Yep, in video games, it isn't necessary at all. You go to bed, lie down for about 3 seconds while some sort of cheesy lullaby song plays. And when you wake up (3 seconds later) it will be morning and you will be full of energy. As a bonus, any wounds that you may have taken beforehand (from fighting forest creatures of course) will be completely healed, and you won't even remember the confrontations. This is all true of course unless something important is supposed to happen in the middle of the "night". In which case you will sleep for slightly longer (maybe 5 seconds), and when you wake up it will still be dark, AND you will complain about being tired and grumbling about what could've possibly caused the ruckus that interrupted your sleep.
Why it wouldn't work in reality - Well, the nightlife in downtown areas lasts a little more than 3 seconds last time I checked, that in and of itself belies the notion that nighttime lasts all of 3 seconds (like it does in video games). And also, I don't know if it's even possible, but I don't think anyone who only got 3 seconds of sleep would be very refreshed and chipper. In fact, I'd wager that they'd be very, very irritable.
Well, I'm sure I could keep going forever, but this is just a taste of what popped into my head while I was writing this. It's a little off the serious track, but I think it's a good break... I still have 3 more days to go after today. You could probably think of more, and there are sure to be reasons why it won't work. So, even though it will never happen, I'm still going to keep thinking about it. A guy can dream right?
T. Majercik Jr.
I don't know about anyone else, but I've often wondered what it would be like to live in a world that was just like a video game. I've though about it, dreamt about it, but never tried it (and it's probably a good thing I haven't). So today I thought I'd go through a couple of possible video game scenarios that wouldn't be such a good idea to try (or maybe they wouldn't even happen) in real life.
1. Have you ever gotten to the point where you've gotten so angry that you just want to kill something... or someone? Well, if life was a video game, you could do just that. Yep, that guy in the apartment above you who plays his music at earsplitting volumes until all hours of the morning. Just walk right up and BAM! You'd feel better almost immediately because you wouldn't have to deal with it anymore. And he'd be ok too because as soon as he "died" he'd have to wait between 5 and 10 seconds, and then he'd respawn in a different location, as if nothing had ever happened.
Why it wouldn't work in reality - Um, people die when you shoot them... it's true. In fact, statistics show that 100% of mortal wounds are fatal to those who receive them (yeah, and 80% of stats are made up too, I know). And I'm pretty sure. Yep, you will probably go to jail forever (at the least) if you do this. Life is not a video game. Don't kill anyone, please.
2. Throw your financial worries away! If life was a game, every person in the entire world would be rich! All you'd have to is grab your sword, whip, gun, nunchuks, or whatever and roam about in the forest for a few hours. For some reason, every type of woodland creature is monstrously overgrown (and therefore needs to be killed immediately) and usually has about 10 bucks on their "person" at all time (or Gil for those who know the lingo). If you do this for a few weeks, a few hours a day, you'd have all the money you could ever want! And if you start to run out, go right back into the forest and kill some more creatures. Extinction does not exist in video games. Strangely though, even though you're unbelievably rich, you wouldn't buy a car. In fact you'd still prefer just to walk everywhere for some reason. I don't know why, that's just the way it is.
Why it wouldn't work in reality - Well, firstly, woodland creatures are not ginormous. You don't go into the forest and see 20 foot long caterpillars and 8 foot tall wolves running freely through the wilderness. Second, animals don't carry money. At least none of the ones that I've ever seen did. And lastly, creatures do not spontaneously generate to make up for the ones that you just killed. So you couldn't do this forever, and I'm pretty sure hunting forest creatures is not a permanent profession anyways (and it costs money). As fun as it sounds, this is impossible.
3. Unfortunately, tragedy would befall you on just about every important occasion in your life. Birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, etc. You name it, and something bad is going to happen. Something like your boyfriend or girlfriend gets kidnapped, your village gets burned to the ground, or a giant monster shows up and eats all the cake. You know, real tragedies. And unsuspiciously, it will always turn out to be the work of some big, evil, multi-million dollar corporation (no, not Sony). Then you'd grab your 3 closest friends (or just 1 and hope you meet some people on the way) and grab your swords and charge headlong into the teeth of the big corporation and crush them and all of their guards with automatic weapons.
Why it wouldn't work in reality - Well first off, it would be pretty crappy if all of your important moments were ruined by giant robots with nuclear missile launchers or your house kept getting torched. Not to mention the money you'd have to continuously spend on repairs would be through the roof, and you couldn't just go into the forest and kill all the squirrels and take their wallets. And also, you can't run straight at guards with automatic weapons and expect to kill them with your swords and clubs without getting hit by a rain of bullets. It's not possible, even in the most illogical sense. Why would you try that?
4. Finally, sleep would be effectively eliminated from everyday life. Yep, in video games, it isn't necessary at all. You go to bed, lie down for about 3 seconds while some sort of cheesy lullaby song plays. And when you wake up (3 seconds later) it will be morning and you will be full of energy. As a bonus, any wounds that you may have taken beforehand (from fighting forest creatures of course) will be completely healed, and you won't even remember the confrontations. This is all true of course unless something important is supposed to happen in the middle of the "night". In which case you will sleep for slightly longer (maybe 5 seconds), and when you wake up it will still be dark, AND you will complain about being tired and grumbling about what could've possibly caused the ruckus that interrupted your sleep.
Why it wouldn't work in reality - Well, the nightlife in downtown areas lasts a little more than 3 seconds last time I checked, that in and of itself belies the notion that nighttime lasts all of 3 seconds (like it does in video games). And also, I don't know if it's even possible, but I don't think anyone who only got 3 seconds of sleep would be very refreshed and chipper. In fact, I'd wager that they'd be very, very irritable.
Well, I'm sure I could keep going forever, but this is just a taste of what popped into my head while I was writing this. It's a little off the serious track, but I think it's a good break... I still have 3 more days to go after today. You could probably think of more, and there are sure to be reasons why it won't work. So, even though it will never happen, I'm still going to keep thinking about it. A guy can dream right?
T. Majercik Jr.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
More Than Meets the Eye
Ok, so updating this blog daily is going to be harder than I thought, but I said I would so I'm going to stick to it. This entry actually has two parts, but I'm going to put them together so it's really like a two-parted single post? The first is about a summer blockbuster and the second about not putting people into a stereotype.
Ok, so, movie. In my honest opinion, Transformers is one of the best movies I've ever seen and among movies I've seen already this year (since January 2007) I would place it second (behind Ghost Rider because that movie was perfect). The story was great, original, and yet stuck to the foundation laid in the cartoon 20 years ago. The fight scenes were incredible. It's not everyday you get to see a giant robot stabbed in the neck by another giant robot (only like every other day). And aside from one thing I didn't like in the cast (the Sector 7 guy wasn't that great) it was done perfectly. Shia LeBeouf played his role brilliantly and hearing the voice of Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime again was icing on the cake. Also all of the transforming sequences were seamless. They were so good, you could almost think that they actually built all of the Transformers prior to the making of the movie. Overall I give it a 9.2 out of 10, 4.5 stars out of 5, and probably 12 thumbs up too.
Now, for this next part, take a look at my picture over there and just try to put me into a stereotype. You're probably thinking either nice guy or video game nerd or something along those lines. Well, I'm kinda in both. And I'm also in the athlete category too. And I guarantee, if you don't already know, that you couldn't guess what kind of music I listen to (and yes, I do listen to music... just try and pick all of the genres though, it'll be fun :P). Basically what I'm trying to say is that people aren't always what they seem, but stereotypes do have a purpose. There are very few people who fit into just one singular stereotype, but if we didn't have these types of stereos, classifying people (like oh so many of us love to do) would be impossible. I for example am a video game playing nerd athlete, in the broadest sense. That description doesn't even take into account my musical taste. And just basing it on musical tastes, my father would be an old school metal head cool guy (70s, metal, and pop music).
So you see, even though we all love to judge people based on their looks it's not that easy, and it's better if you get to know someone before you throw them into a singular category. Because the next time you're making fun of an apparently helpless looking kid, he/she may turn out to be a black belt.
Oh, and keep a close eye on anything automated. It could just be a futuristic robot from a distant planet with world domination plans, and it's just cooking your toast until the time is right.
T. Majercik Jr.
Ok, so, movie. In my honest opinion, Transformers is one of the best movies I've ever seen and among movies I've seen already this year (since January 2007) I would place it second (behind Ghost Rider because that movie was perfect). The story was great, original, and yet stuck to the foundation laid in the cartoon 20 years ago. The fight scenes were incredible. It's not everyday you get to see a giant robot stabbed in the neck by another giant robot (only like every other day). And aside from one thing I didn't like in the cast (the Sector 7 guy wasn't that great) it was done perfectly. Shia LeBeouf played his role brilliantly and hearing the voice of Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime again was icing on the cake. Also all of the transforming sequences were seamless. They were so good, you could almost think that they actually built all of the Transformers prior to the making of the movie. Overall I give it a 9.2 out of 10, 4.5 stars out of 5, and probably 12 thumbs up too.
Now, for this next part, take a look at my picture over there and just try to put me into a stereotype. You're probably thinking either nice guy or video game nerd or something along those lines. Well, I'm kinda in both. And I'm also in the athlete category too. And I guarantee, if you don't already know, that you couldn't guess what kind of music I listen to (and yes, I do listen to music... just try and pick all of the genres though, it'll be fun :P). Basically what I'm trying to say is that people aren't always what they seem, but stereotypes do have a purpose. There are very few people who fit into just one singular stereotype, but if we didn't have these types of stereos, classifying people (like oh so many of us love to do) would be impossible. I for example am a video game playing nerd athlete, in the broadest sense. That description doesn't even take into account my musical taste. And just basing it on musical tastes, my father would be an old school metal head cool guy (70s, metal, and pop music).
So you see, even though we all love to judge people based on their looks it's not that easy, and it's better if you get to know someone before you throw them into a singular category. Because the next time you're making fun of an apparently helpless looking kid, he/she may turn out to be a black belt.
Oh, and keep a close eye on anything automated. It could just be a futuristic robot from a distant planet with world domination plans, and it's just cooking your toast until the time is right.
T. Majercik Jr.
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