Sunday, March 14, 2010

Looking Good Means No Dandruff

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Prepping for the Goal Kick


Prepping for the Goal Kick
Originally uploaded by kiki5253

This was the last game with Yo Mamma's Cleats. We played for two seasons and it was definitely fun while it lasted.

I put up a few other pictures from the game. Night Action photography is not my specialty. In fact, this is the first time I've tried to take sports photos so be kind to me.

-Cheers!

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Schamp x 2

More Schamppage, but this time it's in San Francisco! See the email below and check out the links.

I am delighted to let you know that your three submitted photos have been selected for inclusion in the newly released tenth edition of our Schmap San Francisco Guide:

If you use an iPhone or iPod touch, then these same links will take you directly to your photos in the iPhone version of our guide. On a desktop computer, you can still see exactly how your photos are displayed and credited in the iPhone version of our guide at:

Thanks so much for letting us include your photos - please enjoy the guide!

Monday, March 8, 2010

Let's Go Fly a Kite


Let's Go Fly a Kite
Originally uploaded by kiki5253

It was beautiful this weekend. And then it turned grey and actually snowed today. The weather is changing much too quickly. Ah well, at least Saturday was gorgeous!

I put a few pictures up from my afternoon in Discovery Park.

-Cheers!

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Credit or Kwedit?

The idea of credit has gotten many people in trouble. Buy now, pay later. As my mom would say...I should only buy credit when I have the money. On most days I follow her advice and have stayed out of trouble.

I was watching the Colbert Report for March 2nd and came across and interesting segment about Kwedit. Apparently, this is an online site for kids who can play games and pay later. It's just like in the real world that if you can't pay someone else is asked to pay for you...and of course, your score goes down. I can't really say that there's much incentive for a child to keep a high Kwedit score. Mommy and Daddy will just bail them out. Haven't we heard this story before? Oh yeah...

As of Feb. 22, some of the most prevalent predatory tactics credit card companies use to lure in college students were banned, at least in their current forms.

Last May, President Obama signed into law the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act. This act contains new credit card rules and regulations intended to protect college students. It became enforceable Monday for most major banks.


I guess this means that it's still okay for kwedit to target children (13+ according to Kwedit) because they're not quite in college yet. If we as adults and college students have trouble understanding/managing credit, how will promises change that with a 13 year old?

Fiscal responsibility is spending what you have, not what you're going to make. Because you may not have a job next month or you may have other expenditures that you didn't count on next month so you can't pay on time. It happens to the best of us and the worst of us. There are no guarantees that the income you have today won't ever change.

Granted, there are times when a line of credit is necessary - student loans, car loans, mortgages...but in my opinion purchasing clothes, going to the movies, paying off your regular bills and buying food are things that shouldn't be done on credit. Spend what you've earned and save a little for those emergencies or fun things you'd like to do in the future...like vacations. Don't push it to the line or go in the red on a regular basis, you will be bitten. Mommy and Daddy won't always be able to bail you out...even if a promise was made to help you.

Ah Kwedit...to buy or not to buy...that is the question. Make sure you check out Kwedit.com sometime and let me know what you make of the idea and the company.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Wanted: Intelligent Individual

What makes a person intelligent? I've been mulling this question over lately trying to figure out what standard is out there. If there is a standard, who decides what it is? Are intelligent people just people who are ahead of the curve? Do their brains develop at an earlier age? Do they accomplish more in life? Does street smarts have anything to do with it? What about grades? What about job occupation? Are those all factored into some mathematical equation that tells us whether or not something is intelligent? Or maybe we're all a brain. We're just so bent on comparing ourselves to one another that we don't see the "intelligence" that is inside each person.

Is intelligent going to become one of those throwaway words...you know those words. The ones we use in every day speech. We use them so often that the sigificance of the word becomes lost over time. It's quite similar to when we say we LOVE something or that another thing is AMAZING or AWESOME! After awhile, everything is amazing and awesome. After awhile, I love everything so when I say I love you, does it mean anything?

Now, I can't write a symphony, but I can play the piano and flute. I didn't get a 4.0 in school, but I graduated from college. I work on computers and teach people about technology, but I can't code well. Does that still make me intelligent? Does my occupation automatically bump me up on some list you're calculating in your head? Or did I go down because I didn't have a 4.0? Would you still consider me accomplished? Why? Because I have a steady job? Am I accomplished because I graduated? Because there are times where I don't feel like I'm an accomplished individual.

So many people list "intelligent" as an attractive quality in a member of the opposite sex. Is that kind of intelligence only in the eye of the beholder? If we for ourselves determine what makes a person intelligent and nothing else, why do we still compare ourselves to each other and at times feel inferior when we can't do something as well as the other?

Does having a career in the technology and science side of things automatically elevate me above a career in another field? It must be because society is willing to pay more, therefore those people are smarter. But society pays athletes and actors/actresses millions of dollars annually...does that mean they're more intelligent than the rest of us? I doubt it. Based on the fact that their lives at times are more messed up than the average person you know in your school or work place. We'd almost call them dumb at times for the things they do on camera. On the other hand...who doesn't do something dumb on or off camera?

There must be many kinds/versions of intelligence out there in the world today. Because none of us are alike. Therefore, it seems to me that there can't really be a standard...a bar that people need to pass in order to be labelled properly. Someone with a phsycial disability may have the brightest mind you've never heard speak. Is that person any less intelligent because they can't say their name much less write it? Would we dare call someone stupid because their social skills aren't up to our own level?

Intelligence is derived from a Latin word that means to understand. Maybe this means we've been using the wrong word in our labelling. Maybe we should all use the word smart but that just means a person is capable of adapting to their own environment. So really...what word do we use to define what we're looking for in a member of the opposite sex? What word should we use to describe our friends or family members?

At the end of the day, I suppose this all means that inside each person there's a brain. Inside each of us we have the ability to understand and comprehend as well as adapt to our environment. We're all intelligent and smart. We're all capable of different talents...none of which make us any better or less than the person sitting next to us. It's how we use our talents...for good or for bad. And don't get me started who what's good and what's bad...who defines what's right and wrong. That's a post or pondering for another night.