My Thoughts on Where We Came From

Ever since I was very little I used to wonder and think about matter and my consciousness. Why is it that my arm moves when I want it to move? Thoughts that I'm sure every human being has at some point in their lives. Such as where did we come from and where are we going? Some thoughts, however, I will never forget because it was more of a feeling than a thought. You know those feelings that bring back memories. I can still remember the way I felt, it's a feeling that I fight to never forget.

I remember when I was a toddler, I was so happy to be in the physical world. I would hold a glass in my hand and just be so content holding the glass because it was a physical, mass object. At night when my mom tucked me in, I would scream out a high pitched "eeee!" and kick my legs up an down because I was so happy to be in the physcial world. Which makes me wonder, if I was so happy to be in the physical world, where was I before? I must have been in the unphysical world. What is the opposite of physical and mass? That is were I was.

What if we all come from a nonphysical place where all souls are one. We are all one giant soul in space. What if Earth is just a game to sidetrack us from the fact that we are all alone in space because we are all one in the same.

The Biggest Mistake Retailers Are Making Online: Not Thinking Like a Startup

Retailers can learn a thing or two about their online websites. They are still designing websites as though we were living in the year 2005. Customers do not want to click through 10 links to get to their final destination. It is about having an impecable search engine, hovering cursor, and most importantly... continuous scroll.

New websites such as Pinterest, Fab.com, Groupon, and many more startups have one thing in common and that is the continuous scroll. The continuous scroll allows customers to get lost in their products and discover new things that they did not know they wanted. Retailers with an online presence need to pay attention. If you compare the user experience of Kohls.com vs. Fab.com, there is a significant difference. Kohls.com is designed to find a specific item by clicking through various links vs. Fab.com is designed to discover something new that you did not know you wanted. This is the reason Pinterest is such a sensation. You can just scroll and scroll for hours.

If I was a retailer with an online presence, I would be taking incredibly interesting photographs that allow customers to get lost with their products, implement the continuous scroll, and link up those amazing photographs to Pinterest that when clicked on, takes the customer to the purchasing page.

Idea for Google+

Hi Google+,

I know you want to compete with Facebook - well here is your competitive advantage: Facebook is currently charging users $1 to send people messages that they are not friends with. Your competitive advantage could be to do this as well, but give the user $0.50 and you profit $0.50. So splitting the $1 with the person that they want to contact. You could also have users set their own price, so someone that may not want to be bothered very often by people that they do not know could charge $20 vs. $1... and the same rule applies, the company and the person split the profits 50/50.

You can also give advertisers important information on targeting specific people, such as how many connections they have, how many times they interact, etc... and advertisers may choose to target higher priced people because they are more popular on the network and more influential.

I'm sure this could get a lot of publicity and get people to switch to your platform.

Just a thought.

:)

I Got 99 Problems & Owning a Car ain't One!

People (especially young people) have woken up to the realization that cars are just not cool anymore. Here are some reasons why the current generation hates being car dependent.

Cars are another responsibility. We already have so much to be responsible for and cars add another responsibility to our ever busy lives. If a car breaks down it needs maintenance, you need to get it's oil checked, you have to take time to feed it with gas, etc.

Cars kill our environment. The more reliant we are on cars, the more we kill our planet. The solution is not the electric car. The solution is moving to places that are walkable. Check out this awesome website next time you want to move somewhere to determine the walkability of your new neighborhood: www.walkscore.com.

Cars kill people. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, approximately 32,000 people die in a car accident EACH YEAR. That is insane. That's the amount of people living in a large suburb/small city that die each year.

The expense of a car. When you add up all of the expenses of having ownership of a car, (gas, insurance, car payments) that job in the suburbs suddenly does not pay as much as you initially thought.

Cars reduce walking, which make you lazy and fat. Some people still walk at the gym on a treadmill... but that is boring and inefficient. Imagine if you can walk 1 mile to work everyday in 20 minutes, not only are you getting exercise but you are also using that time to get to work, hence, killing two birds with one stone and being EFFICIENT with your most valuable asset, your time. When you walk to a destination you get both exercise and FREE transportation.

Car Dependent suburbs. Sorry but I don't want to get in a car everytime I want to go somewhere. What's next? Getting in a car to go to the bathroom? Seriously, but no thanks. Not to mention you can't even have a couple of glasses of wine at a restaurant because then you have to get in the car to drive home.

Traffic. Think about all that time and money wasted waiting in hours of traffic. If companies don't build their offices in places where people can walk to work, then they are doing a diservice to themselves with the amount of hours lost on commuting to and from work. Google is a company that is doing it right. They provide employees with a "Google Bus" wired with internet so employees can start their workday the minute they set foot inside the Google Bus.

These are just some of the reasons that our current generation isn't as excited about cars as previous generations have been. Not one reason in particular, but a combination of these reasons could leave people wondering... is owning a car truly worth it?

Singapore & Bali: The Trip that Almost Wasn't

Wow. I can't believe we are actually getting ready to go on our trip to Bali and Singapore. It has been such a rollercoaster these last couple of days. Are we going or are we not? You see, Consultants are literally the royals of airline rewards and hotel points. The thing about dating a consultant is that you can go on ridiculously amazing vacations on a normal person's budget, but as as soon as a principle calls... your vacation is subject to cancelation.

This is how the trip came about...
My boyfriend's brother lives in Singapore and we have been wanting to go visit him for a while now but haven't had the chance. Well, after Christmas a lot of consultants were on "the bench," Steve's brother's birthday was coming up, and the weather in Chicago just plain sucked, so last week Steve asked me what I thought about visiting his brother in Singapore for his birthday and making a trip to Bali too. I loved it but wasn't sure if I could get that much time off work on such short notice. So, I talked to my boss and he was actually really cool about it, steve got his vacation approved, and before I knew it our tickets were booked!

January 19 - January 23rd: I go on Gwyneth Paltrow's Detox Diet to look good for our trip. I'm starving.

Wednesday, January 23rd: Tickets to Bali & Singapore booked for Jan. 25th

Thursday evening, January 24th
7pm: I get home from work. My boyfriend tells me to sit down (it's never good news when someone tells you to sit down).  Steve tells me he just received a call from his principle and they want him on a project in Germany ASAP. But the details aren't finalized and he doesnt know if he would leave on Monday or not.
7:10 pm:  I freak out
8:45 pm: Steve and I come to an agreement, I'm calmer, and steve starts calling the principle to discuss the project. The principle's phone number keeps going straight to voicemail all night. Awesome.

Day of the trip, Friday, January 25th
Our plane is scheduled to depart at 12:30 pm.
8:00 am: Start packing for our maybe trip
9:30 am: Steve writes an email to the principle letting him know that he can start the project on Feb 4
10:00 am: The principle calls and is not happy with the email. He says he'll find someone else for the project. Trip is on but Steve is upset.
10:05 am: Steve calls principle back to accept the project. Trip canceled.
10:07 am: Steve asks if the project is definitely starting this Monday or the following Monday because if it doesn't start this Monday his girlfriend might just kill him in his sleep.
10:34 am: The principle calls back. He's still not sure on the exact date the project will start. Tells steve to enjoy his vacation and to send him some info. Steve might be flying straight from Singapore to Germany to start this project on Feb 4. Trip back on.
10:45 am: Steve gets off the phone with the principle. We are now running late to the airport. We hop in a cap and tell the driver to book it to the airport.

Suppressing Suburbs

I did not realize how much I disliked the suburbs until I moved to downtown Chicago - where I finally felt alive and closer to my authentic self. When I was living in the suburbs I felt as though life was passing me by before my eyes and I walked around in a "dream-like" stage (constantly zoning out) because my dreams were far more interesting than my reality.

I lived in the suburbs most of my life. At least the part of my life that I remember most. When I was 12 years old I moved to the suburbs of Cincinnati and stayed there until I went to college. After college I got a job 50 miles outside of downtown Chicago and moved to the suburbs again for another two years.

My reality was surrounded by cookie cutter houses with cookie cutter lawns and cookie cutter cars. The stores were the same and the restaurants were all chains. What happened to being unique? It was not a stimulating place to live and I felt as though I was losing my true self. Everyone seemed happy and living in the "now" and I was living in my dreams.

Now that I am living in the city I feel alive again. I walk out my door and have a passion for life again. There are so many different restaurants, different stores, more uniqueness and less redundancy. I am no longer walking around in a dream like stage because I am finally living my dreams.

The Last Box

So, the moment has come where I am down to one box left to unpack. I moved to my new apartment two months ago from the suburbs of Chicago to the heart of downtown and yes, it has taken me two months to unpack this last box. I unpacked everything else within a couple weeks of moving in, but for some reason I could not get myself to unpack this last box. I think a part of me was curious to see how much I needed this box. Could I live without it and for how long?

The truth is that yes, I can live without it. The only reason I am tempted to unpack it now is because my dad is coming to visit me. We live in a world of exuberence where we think that more is better, but in reality, the more things we have, the more responsibility we have. And who likes that? I'm not irresponsible by any means but there is something to be said about the freedom and lightness of not having so much "stuff." To know that you can pick and go wherever you want with only a few important belongings. Not being tied down to one location forever.

Selling my car this year was one of the most liberating moments in my life. I have had a car since I turned 16 and I used to see car ownership as freedom, but the more I realized it, having a car was not freedom at all. It was a burden. Not only was it a financial burden on my life, but it was just something else I had to worry about. Not only did I have to pay for my car payment, insurance, and ever rising gas, but I also had to remember to change the tags, change the oil, and everything else that comes with car ownership. The way I see it is like this: we only have so much space in our "memory box" and I choose not to fill it up by remembering when to change the oil of my car; instead, I will fill it up by remembering a friend's birthday.

I am now tempted to take that last box to the nearest donation center and never look back. If I have gone two months without it, why open it now?