The Lost Bill for Tax Relief in Cedar Rapids

                Today, the vote of a new tax for a flood prevention system in Cedar Rapids was lost by about 51% to 49% of voters.  The plan was to create a 1% local option sales and service tax for Cedar Rapids residents. The money would be used to construct structures for flood protection around Cedar Rapids. Specifically, the city wants to build a permanent floodwall at Penford, Quaker, Cargill and the North Rail Yards, removable floodwalls at downtown and Czech Village, wall openings for neighborhood connections, and a levee greenway between flood control structures and the Cedar River. Ninety percent of the money would be matched by federal funds for the construction of these structures and the remaining ten percent would be used for a property tax relief.

            I think the first problem of this plan is that they want to tax citizens for the money. If the city wants to make these improvements, they can just budget better and not just tax people when they need more money. Example A of their overspending is the new courthouse building. It is a bit to extravagant if you ask me. The old temporary offices seemed to work perfectly fine and because they were in Westdale mall, it generated extra revenue for the city. There are also a lot of other taxes being put in place already. I understand that taxes are necessary but they can get to points where people can't afford to pay them anymore. Which in turn would put them on a homeless list where they would get money and other people would have to pay money. It is like a never ending cycle.

            Second, the city and the flood victims have gotten A LOT of money already from the government and other organizations that should have helped everyone rebuild. I mean, first of all they should had insurance anyway but I still know that people that didn't have insurance weren't in a very good place anyway so the money was nice.

            Personally I think the flood preventative structures and measures that the city wanted to take are a good thing but if the next flood is anything like the last one, a few feet of a wall isn't going to make much difference. It will also cause the places downstream to flood so they may end up being a disaster anyway. (402)

Science Fiction Reality

In AP Biology, we watched a video that talked about how scientists have made discoveries pertaining to computers and linking them with thoughts. It started with a guy that was paralyzed that was able to communicate through a computer. There was a cap with neuron sensors that was placed on his head and a screen in front of him flashed a bunch of letters. When the guy saw the letter he wanted, he would think “that’s it” and it would record the letter. In this way, he could spell out words and make sentences that the computer would read. There were other discoveries that the video mentioned as well.  They followed the study of a neurosurgeon that implanted a neuron sensor into a monkey’s brain and recorded the neuron impulses in the brain. By determining what this meant, he was able to program a robotic arm to the monkey’s thoughts and the monkey was able to move the arm with only his mind. The study has progressed into human’s brains as well. They were testing the technology in a woman that was paralyzed and she was able to move the cursor on a computer screen and steer a wheelchair.

                I understand the benefits of this technology but to be honest it kind of scares me. I mean, if someone can operate a computer with their mind what can’t they do? What can’t computers do anymore? Hasn’t society learned anything from the science fiction movies? Robots take over, computers get so powerful that they control every aspect of human life, and then they take over. To be fair, the humans always win in the end, but they were made in Hollywood. With all of the new technologies emerging, what would keep people from turning into potatoes that live in a computer programmed world? The fact that these new things can help paralyzed and body-dead not brain-dead people renew their ability to move and communicate is a fantastic thing but what will stop people from abusing that technology and turning it into something you would see in a futuristic science fiction movie?

                Creating all of these new technologies that aid paralyzed individuals is a very good thing but there should be steps taken to ensure the proper usage and creation of these technologies strictly for medical purposes. (389)

Farrell's Extreme Body Shaping - Workouts

               Farrell's is not just the nutrition plan, it also includes workouts. There are two different types of workouts; cardio and resistance band training. Cardio is the kickboxing and resistance bands use resistance bands to tone your muscles and help you gain muscle.

                On kickboxing days, we will start with a fifteen minute workout and then spend the next half an hour on the punching bags. We will go over the different types of kicks; basically just the front kick, donkey kick and the round house. The instructors change the kicks up though. The front kick and donkey kick is usually for warm-ups and the round house is done for both power and speed. We also learn different types of punches; the jab (a straight forward punch), the cross (opposite arm punch), the hook (a punch that is kind of up and from the side), also the upper punch (punching from under and going up to where the opponents chin would be). Kickboxing days are intense, it is forty five minutes of nonstop movement and exercise.

                Resistance days are opposite the kickboxing days. Every other resistance band day switches between arms and legs. On arms days, we use the resistance bands to work on shoulders, chest, back, biceps, and triceps. The opposite days are leg days. On leg days we work our quads, hamstrings, hip abductors, gluts, and abs. Resistance bands are used for the quads, hamstrings, hip abductors, and gluts. For the abs, we do different types of ab exercises like crunches, toe tappers, sit-ups, penguins, side to sides, etc. For most of these exercises we use a weighted ball. The smallest size is six pounds I think and the heaviest is fifteen pounds. There is never a problem with having too light of a ball because honestly, there is not many people that can go above that and by the time abs are done, they probably couldn't or wouldn't want to.

                So there you have it. Farrell's is an extreme program but the workouts and nutrition plan will really make a difference if you do your best to follow them. Since joining Farrell's there has been no question as to why they call it Farrell's Extreme Body Shaping. In case this discourages you in any way, don't let it. Everyone has the ability to participate in Farrell's and shouldn't be scared to do so. (401)

Farrell's Extreme Body Shaping - Nutrition

                Farrell's Extreme Body Shaping: the ultimate fitness program that will transform your body. It includes a nutrition plan (not a diet), fitness kick boxing, core training, and resistance training. You start with a ten week program and just wait for the inches to fall back. The program may seem impossible but I am enrolled in it and it's actually fantastic.

                Before you start the training, they give you a nutrition plan. They make sure to point out that it is not a diet, just a change in the way you eat and what types of foods you indulge in. The nutrition plan is as follows; you are to eat six meals a day, nothing less. You should eat every two to three hours. Each meal should have both a protein and a carbohydrate. The carbohydrate should amount to the size of your fist and the protein no bigger than the palm of your hand. If you do the math, a woman should have about fourteen grams of protein per meal and only about twenty grams of carbohydrates per meal. For a man, I have no idea, but I am sure it is about the same but a bit more. In addition to each meal, you should include lots of vegetables; the greener the better. You can have as many vegetables as you want and it doesn't matter how often you have them. The dark green vegetables are the best for you because they are so low in everything and so high in nutrients.

                The nutrition plan extends farther than the food as well. You should drink at least eighty ounces of water every day, throughout the day, and for every one cup of coffee or caffeine you have (it is not recommended to have any caffeine though) you need to drink two glasses of water in addition to your eighty ounces. To be honest, drinking all of this liquid is kind of difficult because you will find yourself needing to go the restroom A LOT more often.

                Believe or not, but the nutrition plan is what really makes the most difference and causes you to lose all of the weight and inches. Working out does actually help and makes your body look a lot better and get more toned but if you don't follow the nutrition plan, you won't lose anything.

                In my next blog I will be sure to explain the workouts associated with Farrell's. (412)

A Thousand Splendid Suns Annotation – First 112 Pages

Hosseini, Khaled. A Thousand Splendid Suns. New York: Riverhead, 2007. (112/367)

                I have begun to read a lot of interesting and different books this year. Each one is different than the other and there aren’t two books that are alike. This year I have read The Help, The Shack, and many others that are each based in a different time period and in a different setting or country than the last. A Thousand Splendid Suns was definitely not an exception to this trend. I must admit that I have not finished this book yet; I am only about a third of the way through it so my observations and interpretations are subject to change by the time I finish this book.

                A Thousand Splendid Suns is basically a book centered on the inner strengths of women and how they deal with their struggles. This is also a first theme in the books I have read. It’s very interesting to read about the strengths of these women because I am a woman and can think from the same point of view. I think it adds to my personal experience of the book because of the female similarity.

                The setting of this book really isn’t completely different from others I have previously read. I should say time period because the location is completely different.  From what I can tell, this book is around present day, maybe later like the 1970s or 1960s or so. This time period isn’t really that different from other books because they were all written about the same approximate time. The location of the book however, is in Afghanistan. Previous books were mostly based closer to home or with the same type of culture. I find it interesting to read a book located in Afghanistan because I am not really familiar with the customs or landscape in Afghanistan.

                So far I find this book to be very interesting. I think that the setting change contributes to my fascination and the story is actually very moving. It kind of seems like I have hit a dry spot but hopefully it passes soon because I quite enjoy this book. (368)

The Shack Annotation

Young, Wm Paul. The Shack. California: Windblown Media, 2007 (248 Pages)

The Shack, by Wm. Paul Young was a very religious and spiritual experience. The book was enlightening and completely different than anything I have read before. It is about a man’s experience with God and what led up to those events. I haven’t read any spiritual or religious books this year so it was refreshing to read something new.

            The book was not written in a way that was challenging to read but the information and content of the book was sometimes difficult to understand. The beginning of the book was more of a retelling, or narration, of the events leading up to the reasons for Mack’s evasion of God. This was easy to understand content-wise and was actually in my opinion the most exciting part of the book. The second half, when Mack went up to the cabin, was interesting in an entirely different way. It wasn’t really thrilling or exciting; it was more interesting and enlightening. This was the more challenging section to read because it was a lot of information to comprehend; it was also more difficult to continue to read because it kind of made my brain hurt after a while.

            Even though The Shack was a hard book to fully understand, I consider it to be one of the best books I have ever read. I wouldn’t recommend it to someone who is atheist or believes in a different God because they would disagree with a lot of the book. I would absolutely recommend it however, to someone that does believe in God and is looking for “spiritual enlightenment.”

            This book is amazing all of the way through.  I will admit that it gets a bit difficult to continue reading at times, but it is hands-down one of the most interesting books I have ever read. I usually don’t re-read books but I would definitely make an exception for this one. (331)

Difference Between a Surgeon and a Fast Food Employee

                A mother’s favorite motto: “You better go to school Little Johnny or you’ll end up like that guy or worse yet!”  For the purpose of this blog, the worse yet will be compared to a fast food worker. This job was chosen randomly without bias, just observation, and the claims in this blog do not have any actual proof or information to back them up, they are however based on my observations and experiences with fast food workers.

                A surgeon is probably considered a pretty high job to be at and the most pre-planned mother’s dream for her baby to be successful. Again, this doesn’t apply to all mothers, just hypothetically speaking. A fast worker is probably on the lower end of the working food chain. In this blog, I will compare the two based on my observations and stereotypes.

                The easiest differences in jobs are that a surgeon operates on people and a fast food worker serves them instead. A surgeon deals with people’s organs and insides and a fast food worker will deal with the food that goes in someone’s insides. A surgeon would probably live in a bigger house and have a bigger salary. This is mostly due to the difference in salaries; A surgeon will make somewhere around 300,000 dollars every year whereas a fast food worker will make a measly 16,000 dollars every year. This could just be me, but that 284,000 dollar difference has got to make some kind of a difference in living styles.

                Let us compare the experience it takes to get to each of these positions. A surgeon will go to school for a minimum of eight years with the addition of residency. They will pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for this schooling as well. A fast food worker does not even have to finish high school and in turn will pay nothing for his schooling.

                After they get the job, a surgeon will work crazy long and odd hours whereas a fast food worker will work normal hours and may have trouble even getting enough hours.  A surgeon will live off coffee because of his long and weird hours and a fast food worker will drink coffee, of they can afford it, because they didn’t sleep long enough, were lazy and groggy, and need to get into a better mood.

                So in short, one has a clean, more extravagant life style, and the other has a less-surgically clean and maybe money-tight lifestyle. The career choice is always up to you but I mean, sometimes, your mother may be right. (440)