Things That Dont Make Sense!!

So I am going to answer some questions people have asked me, hope it helps.

1. To be a follower means you like to follow my blog, it’s really not hard to set up so feel free if you would like. Just click follow button.

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This blog is going to be a little bit different than the rest. I am still going to be doing research but its going to be more or less research with friends. If I asked you and you gave me your input in regards to this blog, thank you. I was lying in bed the other night trying to think of new things to write about. Sometimes I think of an idea but I have to ask myself would others be interested in this. I was lying in bed and I was starting to think about candy canes and how great they are and then I thought about what I am going to dream about tonight and I hoped that candy canes were in my dream. Then that turned into me wondering if blind people can see their dreams? Here is to my first random blog!

That being said here is my list of things that don’t make sense:

1. Why people in the NBA get paid so much yet they really only play the last 2 minutes of each game. Teachers work so hard all day and get paid very little.

2. Why Facebook changes its format once people are finally used to the new one. - RJ

3. Why whenever you see construction workers working, there is never a time when they are all working at one time, one or more or all are always on a break.

4. Why people who say they are in love with someone would cheat on them. Don’t get it.

5. What Balloon Boy and his family were thinking.

6. People who say, “I feel badly” it is I feel bad. You don’t say I feel madly or I feel sadly do you. (Cough Steph)

7. Why Miley Cyrus is so famous.

8. Why when you are chewing food and think of something to say, it then take you longer to chew that food than normal. - Dan

9. How about in the winter when it's not snowing you can always find a snow plow, but when it is snowing and you should see them out and about they are nowhere to be found. – Liz

10. This kid on YouTube - (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OBlgSz8sSM) You have to check it out!!

11. Why do toothpaste commercials never show people actually brushing their teeth with toothpaste. – RJ

12, Why someone would take a medicine that has side effects which are worse than the actual thing they are taking the medicine for; like an asthma medicine that increase your risk of dying from asthma attacks. - Matt

13. Whenever someone is comparing two things that aren't alike someone will always chime in by saying, "That's like comparing apples with oranges", as if to say you can't compare those things because they aren't anything alike.

14. The phrase - Pleased as punch – don’t get it.

15. Why there is no light in the freezer.

16. Why young or old everyone still loves to push the elevator buttons.

17. If the temperature is 0 out today and it’s going to be twice as cold tomorrow, how cold will it be? – Rachel

18. If Barbie is so popular, why do we have to buy her friends? – Kate

19. Why Twilight is very addicting. I have some serious doubts about the quality of the writing or the originality of the plot lines. - Emily

20. When you blow in a dogs face he/she moves away, doesn't like it. The moment you get into the car the dog sticks his/her head out the window.

This wine is Dynamic, wouldn't you say?

(Wine Part 2 brought to you by Quamut)

Do you ever listen to people talking about wine and say to yourself, “What do you mean the structure has body? Or the wine has an unripe texture?” These are both different ways to talk about wine. Do you try wines sometimes and when someone asks you what you like about it you can’t really describe it? Well I am here to share with you different ways to, “talk about wine” or a quick blast of wine terminology. This way maybe at your next party when you’re with your friends you can be the one saying, “the firmness of this wine is great”. Alright, so the book says that there are four main “sensations” to describe wine: structure, aromatics, texture and overall experience.

Structure: (sweetness, acidity, tannins and alcohol) These are all qualities that make the structure of the wine; the best wines will have a combination of all four of them.

Sweetness – Wines can be sweet and then wines can also be dry, “off-dry” wines are in-between the two extremes.

Acidity – This is an important aspect to both red and white wine, although it’s more important to white wine. Acidity is sometimes said to be the “backbone” of the white wine because it’s what gives it its “firmness”. The terms usually associated with white wine are “tart” or “crisp”. If a wine has very little acidity it’s called “soft”. Not enough acidity is “flabby”.

Example:

Me - “Trudy how do you like that white wine?”

Trudy - “Well it’s a great summer wine, very crisp”

Tannins – So acidity is to white wine as tannins is to red wine. I am going to take this right from Quamut. “Tannins are molecules that exist naturally in grape skins, stems and seeds; they give red wine its trademark puckering sensation in the hollow between your cheeks and gums”. “Astringent” is when a wine is high with tannins, if they are in the middle its “hard” or “firm” if a wine has low tannins its known as “soft”. Hopefully you guys are still with me.

Body - The next is the body or the alcohol content. The amount of “honk-a-hall” as my sister used to call it, determines the body or weight of the wine. The higher the amount of alcohol you say, “This wine is full of body”. There is full bodied, medium bodied or light bodied wine.

Example:

Me – “Trudy how do you like that red wine?”

Trudy – “Well Kennedy, I like this wine a lot, I can already tell it is very full bodied”

Aromatics:
When you attend a wine tasting, they always tell you to smell the wine before you taste. This is because wines are very complex. When you smell a wine it “goes through your nasal cavity at the back of your mouth”, so it is important for when you do taste the wine. There are so many different terms used and it is so complex that they still don’t have a universal standard for wine aromas. So until they do, you are able to say whatever flavors come to mind when you smell a wine.

Common ones are: burnt, floral, fruity, herbal, earthy, cinnamon, grass, rosemary.
Uncommon ones are: horsey, manure, stewed.

Example

Me – “Trudy do you like that wine?”

Trudy – “Thank you for asking Kennedy, yes it has a very woody taste to it”. (That’s what she said)



Texture:
Texture is also known as “mouthfeel” is the tactile sensations you feel while drinking wine. The Australian Wine Research Institute came up with different ways to describe wine:

-Particulate: talc, wed clay, powder, dusty
-Surface Smoothness: furry, fine emery, velvet, suede, silk
-Complex: soft, supple, fleshy, rich
-Drying: numbing, parching, dry
-Dynamic: pucker, chewy, grippy, adhesive
-Harsh: hard, aggressive
-Unripe: resinous, sappy, green
-Weight: watery, thin, full
-Texture: syrupy, creamy
-Heat: hot, warm
-Irritation: chili, pepper, tingle, prickle

Overall Experience:
The overall experience is what allows someone to describe all three of the items listed above. It is something wine-o’s like to talk about. The “complexity” of a wine is how it can change or grow over the time it takes to swallow or the idea that wine is so multi-layered that textures can change over time. A “straightforward” wine is a wine that doesn’t change a lot. That being said, both are good wines it just all depends on what you like.

The “length” is very distinct in a wine. When a wine gives you a blast of flavor but then it dies as you swallow it's called “short”. When a wine gives off an after taste or lingers it’s called a “finish”. The “depth” is the dimension and power of it's flavor. Both of the wines (complex and straightforward) can have depth as long as the flavor is thriving and strong. The “typicity” is if a wine is in the same family or same type i.e. sharing basic characteristics vs. an outlier wine that is more or less on its own.

Me: “Trudy do you like the wine?”

Trudy: “Yes Kennedy, although I wish the finish of the wine was stronger.”

I will also add in because people have asked me before, “How can you tell if I wine is bad?”

Cork is shriveled or wet
Smells like rotten eggs
Smells like nail polish remover
Smells like card board
Tastes flat, dusty, stale, rotten or vinegary


*All information can be found on Quamut.com

New “Funemployed” in the United States

Unemployment is one of the hot topics in today’s economy that everyone is thinking and talking about. Slappy White says that the, “Trouble with unemployment is that the minute you wake up in the morning you're on the job.” Right around this time last year I came to California not knowing anyone and without a job. Some people thought I was crazy, and well I thought I was a little crazy too. As my dad has always said to me, “Kennedy it’s not what you know, but who you know.” So what do I do? I move to a place where I didn’t know anyone.

When I first started looking for jobs last year, I looked at all of the normal job sites and I drove around and asked people if they were hiring. I was luckily able to find a job shortly after I moved out here. Once I found a job, ironically job searching became my full-time job. I became a recruiter for an IT Company called One Stream. Not knowing anything, I learned from the ground up. I became specialized in sourcing, networking and building/maintaining relationships with IT Professionals (Software Engineers) throughout the Bay Area.

I would like to give helpful insights and tips for the unemployed from what I have learned. That being said, being jobless is hard. It’s very embarrassing, somewhat boring, discouraging and scary. I came across a good article while doing a little research on people who are unemployed today. It is about 7 different people and their lives and how they are dealing with being jobless in different ways. Here is the link so you can read their stories.

http://nymag.com/news/business/53153/

Some of the information below comes from my own experience, but some is also from other people I have spoken to or read about.

For those of you who are unemployed I will try to give you some hope:
-As Alan Greenspan said, “I’m pretty sure we have already seen the bottom," so the only way to go now is up. Working for the staffing division I know that a lot of people are now starting to hire or will be hiring this New Year.
-When you are unemployed you have a lot of time to think about what you really want to do and you find out a lot about yourself, both good and bad.
-You have more free time to get things done that you have put off. i.e. work out, finish that project, go back to school
-You’re able to reinvent yourself.
-Gain the realization of what is really needed and who is important in your life.

Tips for the unemployed:
-Try not to put too much pressure on yourself.
-Remind yourself that you only need one job not a million. It may only be one phone call or one interview away so try not to get discouraged
-Keep your head on straight with a realistic sense of optimism. Keep focused on the goal at hand
-Schedule your job search like you would schedule a meeting everyday. Make a goal of how many jobs you’re going to apply for each day. In today’s economy they say that for every 15 jobs you apply for you will hear back from 1 or 2.
-Make yourself stand out. The hardest part of the job search is just getting the initial interview. You need to let that person know you want the job and why you are good for the job and you can start yesterday.
-If you know you want to work for a certain company call them and talk to their HR person. If they are not hiring keep in contact.
-Let people know how to find you. LinkedIn, Facebook, phone number, email address etc.
-Network!!! Keep in touch with people; you don’t realize how many people you know until you think about it.
-Remind yourself that it is your job search, not your friends' or your family's, but yours. In the end you have to do what you have to do.
-Have Faith and don’t give up.

I asked a few people how to avoid unemployment:
Jason- “Stay in school...be on the 10 year program.”
Johanna - “The way to avoid unemployment is to go live in another country."
Becky – “Find a good company and work hard.”

These are just some helpful hints that I wanted to pass on. For those of you who are working, keep it up and for those of who you are not, remember it just takes one call. It’s a hard out there, but there are jobs, they just need to be found.
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