Hey everyone! I am selling some of my clothes and other miscellaneous items. Everything is pretty cheap; I'm mostly just trying to get rid of stuff. I have an album called "For Sale," on Facebook if you are my friend on there, and I'll be adding to it. I'll also be adding all my items as blog posts over the next couple days so if we aren't Facebook friends you can still look at it! I'm hoping to only do in state sales, unless you are willing to pay for shipping or we are guaranteed to see each other this summer. Please help me out and look at it and tell your friends! Thanks so much!

Food for Thought

Food for thought: So this January I challenged myself to the 30 day K-Love challenge, which is basically going all of January with only listening to Christian music. I'll be honest in saying that this is a struggle for me, mostly because I feel like all the songs I hear on the radio or even my Pandora are ones I've heard before and am frankly tired of. However, I heard this quote the other day on K-Love, "Sometimes God redeems us from our struggles. Sometimes He redeems us through our struggles." This was an eye-opening moment for me because this last year I have not been on the right path. I don't want to go into specifics, but this year it felt like I was being hit day after day with hardships. I was being broken down week after week and instead of running to God for comfort, I was yelling at him. I was furious for what he was putting me through, and honestly I was doubting Him. Doubting the Word and even doubting His existence. But hearing that quote made me realize that God was breaking me for a reason. The only way it seemed that I would come back to Him was if I was as low as I could be, and that's exactly where it felt like I was. I'm hoping this year is going to be one of rebuilding for me in my faith and just getting back on the right track spiritually. I'm ashamed that this is what it took, a year of what felt like pure hell, just so I would run back to my God.
So I guess what I'm hoping you get out of all of this is that the next time you find yourself in a tough place and especially when you find yourself questioning God, maybe you should be questioning yourself. Are you in the place you want to be? Maybe there's a reason that God is putting you through these hardships. If you're like me, you might not be where you're supposed to, and you gotta spit out your pride and just trust God. Run back to Him because even though the Lord may not be joyful per se in our behavior, He's never going to give up on us. So we shouldn't give up on Him either.

"Inside the Mind of Google"

I was surprised at how low key the actual Google headquarters is. It's very laid back and open-minded, and I think that's one of the things that has made it so successful. It seems more like a vacation resort than an actually company. The lay out is simple. The creativity though is outrageous, and I think that as long as those aspects of the company are kept that Google will continue to be successful.

I also had no idea how much more there was to Google than just the search engine I see on my homepage. This video really opened up my mind to how big of a company Google is and how rapidly it is growing. Of course there are things like the privacy issue that can scare the average user, but I'm not sure if I really want one company controlling all of my internet usage.

Google is expanding by competing not just against one company like Yahoo! but by taking on multiple companies that provide a variety of services. This video made me question if Google is soon going to be too big for its own good. I don't deny that I enjoy using it, but what's the future for this company? How is the future of Google going to affect me?

I bought a pet iguana...

"Where good ideas come from"

This video made me think about what I've been doing with all these connections that the internet has provided for me. We've developed a world of always being distracted and always multi-tasking, but that doesn't mean that we're multi-tasking in a healthy way. When I multi-task, that means I'll be on Facebook, typing out a tweet, and watching TV all at the same time. This isn't really the way I want to be spending my time though. It's just what I've become accustomed to.

I have found that in the past year I have become so used to tweeting random thoughts, that my regular thoughts are now disorganized. It's true that the internet allows me to share my thoughts with others and start a discussion about something. That seems to be one of the good uses I have discovered from the internet. However, these ideas and discussions quickly fade out because of how easy it is to get distracted when one is online. 

Overall, I think that the internet can be used as a good thing. It allows me to share my thoughts and strike up new ideas with others. However, the way I'm currently using it doesn't allow me to fully take advantage of all the benefits that come with the connections it provides.

The Virtual Revolution: "The cost of free information"

When people hear the word "free," they don't often stop and consider the cost. If something is free, there's no cost attached, right? Wrong. Someone, somewhere, has to pay for whatever it is that is "free" and costless to you. That's especially true in the world of the web.

How does Google and Facebook make all their money? People say that these are huge, profitable companies, but since us, the consumers, aren't paying for the services then we don't really concern ourselves with how the companies are getting the money. The way they get their profits is by selling our information. Not our personal information usually like SSN, address, name, etc, but our likes and dislikes. They sell ads that are specific to the things that we search for or "like." 

Do you ever wonder why when you search for something on Google, an ad comes up that is advertising something related to the search topic? Well that's how Google is getting its money. That is our "price" for these "free" services. Is that something that we as consumers are okay with? Are we willing for these sites to track our interests just so we don't have to pay money for the service? How free are these free services?

Music Licensing

Music licensing and fees are all around us whether we realize it or not. Every time a song is played, fees are being paid just so you can hear that song. It seems ridiculous, but that's how these artists make their money. Even though I personally do not have to pay fees to listen to the radio, the radio station itself needs to. If I want to use music at a party, I have to pay fees. It's kind of ridiculous to have all these fees just to listen to music, but there are different companies that are out there to help simplify the process for you.

If these fees weren't paid for these licensed songs, I would be majorly affected in that I couldn't listen to any of my favorite songs. Although not everyone agrees about how much money these artists really should get when a song is paid, we can agree that they deserve recognition for the song. This recognition, though, is given in the form of licensing fees.

http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/music-licensing.htm