Changing Jobs - Perspective and Exposure Concept

I recently changed job locations and while a move like this would normally make me stressed out and nervous, this time it didn't.  I think it has a lot to do with perspective.  See previously I was working at a big school with a good reputation and now I am working at a little school without a reputation.  I compare it to someone who lived in New York city who then moves out to a small town in the country.  It's as they say, "If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere." 

So this new position has been pretty easy.  The teachers are not intimidating, nor are the students.  Everything is just a big step down from what I was used to and that makes it seem easy.  I remember feeling the opposite way when I moved from a small school to the big school.  Just pulling into the parking lot and seeing how many cars were there was enough to increase your heart rate.

I think this concept applies to all parts of life.  Someone called it exposure therapy.  Basically you expose yourself to a stressful environment until you become used to it and it no longer becomes stressful.  Once you overcome that obstacle, everything else seems much easier. 

Year Book Reflection, Friendship, and Keeping in Touch with People

I was going through some old stuff the other day and found my Jr. High School year books. It was so long ago, I didn't even remember I had year books for Jr. High. So of course I look through them and see all these familiar faces of people I had forgotten about. That's what is great about yearbooks. They are like a time capsule that can bring memories of the past. Most of the people I probably wouldn't even recognize today, but in the book, they stay as you remembered them.

This got me reflecting on the people I knew back then and how I haven't kept in touch with any of them. I was never really part if the "in crowd" at school. I was good at sports so that made me a cool kid, but as I got older, I found my own group of "regular" friends. I had a small group in Jr. High and another group in High School. I also was on the cross country team, so I made friends there too.

Out of school I would occasionally hang out with friends, but I was never one to initiate an activity. I was not very social back then. I'm not social now, but back then it was even worse. Still I had friends. I remember not wanting to ask people to do something like go see a movie because I didn't want to be responsible if they had a bad time. Like if I asked them to go see a movie and they didn't like the movie, I would feel bad, so I never really organized activities for us to do.

I was kind of clueless to the fact that friendships have to work two ways. One time my friend called me out on it. He showed me new cell phone he got and was implying that you use it to call people to do stuff. I was just kinda like "Cool phone.", completely missing the point. I didn't make enough effort with my friendships and over time that's how I lost them.

Into college, I had a group of friends that I met in the dorms there but after I left, I lost touch with them. During summers I would occasionally meet up with my old friends from high school. After a couple years those friendships faded. I will take responsibility for that, and I kind of think I distanced myself from them on purpose. Not that they were bad, but they were not all good. At times I felt like they took advantage of me. Also I didn't like the fact that they expected me to participate in activities that I didn't want to do. Nothing illegal or anything, just things I didn't want to do.

So after college, I pretty much lost touch with everyone. I sort of made new relationships online at that time with people from all over who had similar interests such as music. When social media like Facebook came around and made it easy for people to reconnect with old friends, I stayed away from it. Still to this day, I don't use Facebook. One of the main reasons is I don't want people I used to know to find me. People grow up and change. I don't want to be compared to others my age. This has been a big issue with me, so much that I tend to avoid people my age in social and work situations. I feel more comfortable around older people who I cannot be directly compared to.

Maybe I am not satisfied with my life and feel like I should have accomplished more or turned out better. I think I have done ok, but I know others have gone on to greater things and I don't want to be compared to that. So now I don't have much of a social life, but I think that is intentional. I know it is good to have friends, but it is also nice to be independent and not have to be there to support other people. I wonder if I will ever try to reconnect with old friends. It's a possibility, but people change and move on to other things and make new friends. Maybe one day if I become more comfortable and satisfied with how I have turned out I might reconnect.

UPDATE 8-4-12

I just paged through my high school year book and read the messages from my friends. I was surprised at how much they seemed to like me and it makes me wonder why I haven't kept in touch with them. Your school years are some of the best times in your life to meet people and make friends. You are around the same group of people who are exactly your age and are growing up in the same environment, so immediately you have a lot in common. Once you have developed these relationships, you should hold on to them, if they are good friends of course. I'm sure there are others in my place who have grown up and lost touch with the people they knew from childhood.

This reminds me of a senior student I knew this past year. It was time to get year books and he didn't really care to pick one up. I thought that was odd and tried to tell him he should get it because in the future he will want to look back at it and remember people. A yearbook is a fantastic resource for this. Maybe it's because we have things like Facebook now that kind of does the same thing, but still there is no replacement for a yearbook. If you are in high school now or will soon be, make sure to get your year book and have all your friends write a message in it for you. Trust me, this kind of thing is special and worth a lot more than it seems at the time.

UPDATE 2-22-14
I have been thinking more about the topic of keeping in touch with people and about old friends in general.  I recently came to the realization that all those people you knew growing up who you no longer know are still out there living their lives.  I know this is obvious, but it is interesting if you really think about it.  All the people you grew up with are still out there doing their own thing.  If you do a little searching you will probably find information on some of your old friends you have not thought about for years.  Often you can see what they are doing such as what career field they are in or if they have gotten married or started a family.

Looking back, there are some people who were good friends, that I should have made the effort to stay friends with.  At the time, I didn't think much of it, they were just people that I knew, but some of them were really great friends now that I look back and reflect on everything.  I'm not necessarily motivated to try to get back in touch with them, I'm just saying that I might have done things a little differently if I had the perspective I have now as an adult. 

UPDATE 6-15-17
I went through the yearbooks again and it is amazing what a great resource they are. They really bring back memories and help you remember people you would have forgotten about otherwise. I looked up some of my old classmates online and usually there is some information such as what they are up to or where they are now. It is interesting to see how everyone turned out!

Anything Is Possible

It's really amazing to think how far mankind has progressed over the years. Just think about all the stuff we have now that did not exist 100 years ago. If you would have told people in the 1800's about the kind of stuff we have today from cars to computers to cell phones, they never would have believed you. Even today if you really think about, it's incredible that humans have been able to develop these types of technology.

When you realize this, it makes it seem like literally anything is possible and it is just a matter of time before something gets invented or discovered. Innovations are built on previous innovations and it continues on like that. New products are made and then products are made from those new products. With the invention of the internet and sharing of information, it allows people to learn about anything whenever they want. This is a huge advantage over previous generations and should make development of new technologies move even faster.

Who knows what will be available in the next hundred years? What will be the next big thing? Have we run out of new innovations or will there ever be a peak? Only time will tell, but I'm guessing it will continue to progress beyond our wildest imaginations.

2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony - Reflection and Diversity

I watched the opening ceremony for the Olympics last night in London.  Overall I thought the show was just ok.  I liked how they had a lot of transitions and went through the history of London, but overall I just was not too impressed by it.  I feel like it was too geared towards Great Britain when they could have made it have more of a global appeal. 

The one thing I liked and this is something they have at each ceremony is the part where all the teams walk in and go around the stadium.  It is very interesting to see all these people from all these countries around the world come together in one place.  A lot of these small countries you never even heard of.  In our country we tend to only get exposed to people around us and maybe see some diversity on tv once in a while, but rarely of these small countries.

It's amazing how different people look.  We are all humans yet there are so many differences from one country to the next.  Currently, the make up of the people of each country is somewhat consistent, but you can tell the populations of countries are beginning to mix in terms of race and ethnicity.  The big countries have the most diversity because a lot of different people move there from all over, while the small countries are still pretty uniform in their population. 

It's interesting how way back when people from a country were probably very much alike but now with the ease of transportation from one country to another, everything is becoming mixed.  I think it's safe to say this trend will continue and over many years specific race and ethnicity will begin to fade as people become more and more mixed and blended. 

Breaking Bad is on the Downswing

I watched the season 5 premier of Breaking Bad and after watching it, I have concluded that the show has seen better days.  I loved the first couple seasons. Season 3 was pretty good too.  I didn't like season 4 as much.  Don't get me wrong, I still like the show, I'm just saying it's probably a good thing this is the last season.  I get the impression that they didn't expect the show to last this long and maybe that's why it is starting to trail off towards the end.

Season 5 Episode 1 Review (Spoilers Ahead)

The Episode starts off with Walt at a diner with a full head of hair and a beard.  He meets a guy undercover and gets a car with a large gun in the trunk.  They didn't really explain much, but we can conclude after watching the rest of the episode that this is a scene from the future that will happen later in the season.

So back to the present time, Walt is relaxing at home when he remembers there is video footage of them from the lab.  This drove the episode plot.  I like how they  had to go destroy the evidence from the laptop, but I don't really like how they went about it.  First off, Mike comes back and is pissed that Walt killed Gus.  Really, I think he is overreacting.  Why does he even care that much?  Mike should be retired by now anyway. Next Jesse is back working with Walt.  If I'm not mistaken, I thought they were on bad terms last time we left off.  Oh well, we'll go with it.

So they get the electromagnet from the junk yard.  Already they are tipping these guys off that they are using it to destroy evidence at the police station.  The junk yard guys are now witnesses.  Sloppy work guys.  Then they are going to use it to try to destroy the laptop on the other side of the wall.  I know they don't have many options, but this is going to destroy a lot of other evidence at the same time.  That is not ethical, but I suppose at this point they don't care.

Next we find Ted is basically on life support in the hospital.  I didn't even recocognize him and actually had to Google him to remember what actually happened to him.  Apparently it was when he tripped and hit his head.  So now he is in the hospital and looks like he's almost dead?  I don't think so.

Overall they are trying to make Walt out to be like the new bad guy to replace Gus.  I don't like this direction the show is taking.  Walt is a good guy and the only reason he started all this was to help his family.  He needs to secure the money and get out of this mess he has created.

If it were up to me, I would have it go like this:  Hank discovers Walt is involved and finds out everything that has been going on.  He decides to cover for for him so he doesn't go to jail.  Then Walt and his family live happily ever after.  Then at the end, maybe he goes back to do a guest speak or a substitute teach at his old school.  The kids start acting up and give him a hard time or whatever.  Old Walt might have just taken it and felt defeated, but now new Walt does not put up with that, and puts them in their place.  How awesome would that be?

So yeah overall I don't really like the direction the show is going, which is a shame considering their ratings are higher than ever.  None the less, I will continue to watch the rest of the series.  If you have any comments on the show or this season, feel free to leave a comment below.

Rugged Wear Work Gloves Review

I was in the market for a pair of new weight lifting gloves after my old ones were starting to fall apart after about 10 years.  At first I searched online, the usual Amazon search and read some reviews.  I found some that looked good, but they were kind of expensive, plus gloves are something you really need to try on before you buy.  So then I thought about buying them in a local store.  I looked at Target and they had a small selection, but nothing jumped out at me.  Then I thought about going to Dick's sporting goods store.  I looked online first and they had a big selection, but again, the prices were high.  Finally I went to the Menards hardware store because i knew they had work gloves.

At Menards they had a big selection, a whole isle with different kinds of gloves in fact.  Not only that, but the prices were good too.  I found a pair I liked that were by the brand "Rugged Wear" or RW for short.  The model is X-Treme Work Gloves.  These looked like weight lifting gloves so I tried them out.  They seemed pretty good and not only that, they were on sale for only $5!  Regular price was $15 I believe.  So I got them.  I went with the XL size because I like the gloves to be roomy and breathable.

So at home I decided to do some modifications to them.  They were kind of bulky so I decided to cut off the wrist strap that has velcro.  This made them more comfortable and easier to get on and off.  They are still full finger which I was looking for.  I'm debating on whether or not to cut off the finger tips like most weight gloves, but for now I like them full finger.

After a few uses, I am pretty happy with these gloves.  They look nice and make it easy to hold the weights.  I did some research and there is practically nothing online about them.  I don't even think the company has a website.  They are a Menards brand so that is probably why they don't have a site.  Anyway, if you are looking for gloves, I highly recommend going to Menards and trying these out.

UPDATE 8-6-12
So I have been using the gloves for a few weeks and I have noticed the the inside lining is starting to peel.  Not a huge deal, but not great either.  I'm not surprised considering the low cost of the gloves, but it is something to consider.

Update 4-6-15 Hard to believe it has been almost 3 years, but the gloves are still going strong. I use them for weightlifting pretty much every day and they are still in good shape!

TV Review: Master Chef, SYTYCD, and New Shows This Week

One show that I am really enjoying this season is Master Chef.  Gordon Ramsay has a lot of shows and while I liked Hell's Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares, Master Chef was always on the back burner, pun intended.  Actually I started getting into it last season because someone I went to school with was on the show.  This season I like it because they have a lot of good characters or should I say chefs.  My favorites right now are Monti, Felix, and Christine.  They are all still in the competition.  I find myself drawn to this show even when other shows I like are on at the same time.

So You Think You Can Dance has selected the top 20 dancers and so far this looks to be a pretty good season.  My favorites right now are Alexa Anderson, Amelia Lowe, and Janelle Issis.  The show was not on last week due to the 4th of July holiday, but it will be back in full swing this Wednesday.  It will be interesting to see how they deal with voting and eliminations with only one show per week.

There are 4 shows premiering this week, 2 new and 2 returning that I will be checking out this week. First is Trust Us With Your Life.  I don't even know much about this show other than it is improvisational and similar to Whose Line is it Anyway, but I like those 2 things, so I'm hoping this show will be good.  Catch the first episode this Tuesday on ABC.

Another show premiering right after that is NY Med.  If I'm not mistaken, ABC has done 2 of these kinds of doctor documentary shows over the past couple years.  They had different titles, based on the hospitals they were filmed at.  I think this is the same series, just with a different name.  I hope so because I really liked those previous shows.  They followed doctors and the process of treating patients and working in a hospital on a human level.  

A show that is returning this Thursday on CBS is Big Brother.  This is one of my favorite summer shows.  I already previewed the cast and it looks like a good one.

And finally, a show that is coming back for it's 5th and final season this Sunday is Breaking Bad.  This has been one of my favorite shows of the past few years and while I thought the earlier seasons were better, I am still looking forward to seeing what happens in the final season.