Meet your Meat

If you can read this article and still eat meat indiscriminately... I'm not sure what's wrong with you.

Grad School Interview Version 1.0

Today I got a call to be scheduled for an interview with the grad program I applied for. I've been researching what kind of questions to expect and the level of expectation coming into this interview is HIGH. Like, more is put on this interview than ANY job interview I've had. So to take a break from stressing out over how I'm going to answer these questions, I decided to make a mock-up to help myself cope. Perhaps looking at the worse case scenario first will lead to realizing the best case scenario!?

Typical Interview Questions

1. Why do you want to become a clinical psychologist?
Oh. Is that what I'll be? Hmm. Yeah let me think about that for a minute. Now, are those the people that get to write prescriptions for Xanax? I do like me some Xanax now and I betcha I'd be a pretty popular girl if I could pass the happy pills out to my friends. Hey, good call on this one!

2. What other schools have you applied for?
Well, none, technically. See, I made the decision to apply for this program on a whim. Up until now, I was dead set on having nothing to do with people as they annoy the crap out of me. But I was sitting at home in December thinking to myself, "Do you want to keep books for the rest of your life? No. Hey look - UNCC grad school. Why the heck not?"

3. Why did you get a poor grade in College Algebra?
Well my professor got off the plane from Russia and walked directly into our class to teach. I might have better understood him if he taught Algebra using a series of clicks and whistles than his so-called English. And he always wore the same clothes and smelled like the underbelly of a cockroach. This made for a hostile learning environment. I felt it best to stop going to the class, take a failing grade and pursue, intensively, A's in my remaining courses.

4. Did you participate in any special projects in college?
Heh. Boy did I ever.

5. Why do you think you are better suited for admission than your classmates?
I feel that, overall, I am superior to most people I come in contact with. I trust that given enough time with me, you will come to share this conclusion.

6. What has been your most significant accomplishment to date?
I haven't really dated any accomplishments per se, overall I tend to have pretty bad taste in men.

7. Describe any research project you’ve worked on.
I helped paint the backs of honey bees. Then I cut out the digestive glands of oysters and weighed them. What does this have to do with psychology? Oh. Um. Yeah I don't know.

8. What will you do if you are not accepted?
I guess I'll move in with my parents and develop a drug habit. Maybe have an illegitimate child or two so I can collect government money on them.

9. How do you rank among other students in your major at your school?
SUPERSTAH!!!!!

10. Have you ever worked with people, and if so in what capacity?
I find working with people to be highly overrated. My experience tells me that I can achieve twice the work in half the time by simply doing it myself and cutting corners. Then there's no need for artificial conversation and niceties.

11. What made you apply to our school?
My-mother-told-me-to-pick-the-very-last-one-and-you-were IT!

12. What are your weaknesses?
Well let's see... I talk too much, I don't listen enough, I speed, I don't always check my oil level at every other fill-up, I tend to have problems with authority figures, I like soft drinks, I vacuum maybe every 3-4 weeks, I don't save money, I have a tendency to stop and watch VH1 and I don't back my files up on a regular basis.

13. How do you see yourself ten years from now?
Blissfully married to a Greek orphan chef that barely speaks a word of English but endlessly admires my resplendent beauty and compares me to the statues of Aphrodite in his home land. Did I mention he was left an immeasurable fortune by his late parents, RIP?

14. What message would you like me to convey to the admission committee on your
behalf?
Uh... let her in?

15. What were your most favorite and least favorite courses in college?
My most favorite were the ones I could show up for roughly half the classes and still get an A. Gotta love those professors that just dance while you sing for them. My least favorite course was Research Methods because my professor, Dr. Cann, was just the Human Yawn.. oh. Hi Dr. Cann. I didn't realize you were on the Graduate Panel...

Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!!

It's about time someone put it all together in a neat little box. Ron Paul campaigners OWNED at the Nevada convention. That sure wasn't a headline on Fox News or CNN.

I checked it all myself; he speaks the 100% truth.

www.youtube.com
www.google.com/trends

What your mom doesn't want for Mother's Day.

I got an email from Giftapolis about Mother's Day gifts. I figured I'd peruse their inventory and see what they had to offer.

I haven't yet been able to stop laughing after coming across this Wizard of Oz door stop:

Who in their RIGHT MIND??!?!? LOL!

How do I like my eggs? Unfertilized.

Today I was at the doctor for a physical. The doc asked me if I had any kids. I said no. She looked at my chart and said, "Well you are almost 28. You know those eggs are aging too."

OH MY GOD! 28 and no babies yet??? I might as well adopt 6 cats, buy a mu-mu and paint "expired" on my womb.

So I said to her, "I'm not real concerned with whether I have a baby or not and I assure you it wouldn't happen any time soon anyway."

You know what she said to me? "Then you might want to look into freezing your eggs."

Well today I did give birth. To a premature age crisis. Granted, it was a fleeting crisis; barely even an honorable mention. But for the first time EVER I felt like that window of endless possibility was beginning to shrink. I'm sure there will become a time in my life where my opportunities are logistically limited.

However, reality knocked me over the head; that time is far from now:

a.) I'm on the verge of getting into grad school and embarking on a career that my whole heart is in. How many people will be afforded that opportunity?

b.) When I come home at night, all I hear is peace and quiet. I am free to do whatever I want, whenever I want and I am subject to no other humans' needs unless I choose to be (and normally I don't unless you are a dear, dear friend).

c.) Last week I up and took off to DC so I could see Ron Paul. You know why? No weights. I love to travel and I love to do spontaneous things. It makes me feel alive and young.

d.) I don't enjoy getting out of bed even to go to work. Much less to get a kid a Pop Tart and turn the TV on (yeah, I'd be that kind of parent). Or to drive a car pool. I want you all to take a moment and imagine me in that scenario. Klonopin, please.

In summary, the life I have is the life I need and choose to have. It's not limited or in the slightest bit unfulfilling. I'm not sure what the doctor's motive was in that little diatribe she gave me about my biological clock ticking and I'm not knocking anyone that makes being a parent a priority; to each her own. But for this girl, life is more than chasing after the things that Disney movies tell me I need to have to be happy.

This is why I don't do circuses...

Only human logic would lead you to put yourself or your children on the back of a 15,000 pound animal with highly developed emotions and intelligence.

Anyone that gets hurt gets nothing less than what they deserved. Sorry.

Circus Elephant Is Killed After It Goes on Rampage

Peacefield

"John Adams" finished this week with the seventh and final episode. If you don't have HBO, be sure to rent it when it becomes available. Although I will warn you, the final episode is just a sob-fest.

The last episode ended with this quote, which I can't get out of my head:

"Now, posterity, you will never know how much it cost us to preserve your freedom. I hope that you make good use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in Heaven that I ever took half the pains to preserve it."

I wonder if he has yet begun to repent...

Happy Earth Day!

Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.

Your planet thanks you!

10 Ways You Can Help the Earth

To Dew or Not do Dew

So in my quest to eliminate just about all enjoyable foods from my diet, I have recently learned (er, accepted) just how evil High Fructose Corn Syrup is. This makes me sad for one main reason: I must forfeit the Dew. I love the Dew. We go way back. Granted, it glows in the dark but that doesn't mean it's inherently bad for you, right?*

I'm not saying bottoms up for normal refined sugars... those have their downsides as well. But HFCS seems to be a little "extra" nasty. Insulin resistance, leptin resistance, kidney and liver malfunction, you name it. Scary stuff.**

What's scarier is how pervasive it is. Check your bread, your ketchup, your bacon, your Quaker bars, etc.. I guarantee you'll see it listed in the ingredients, usually towards the top. (Note: I just checked my box of Triscuits and they are HFCS-free. Whew. That could have gotten ugly.) Why? Cause it's cheap! And given our "Walmart" mentality as a society (individual and industrial), why worry about your long term health when you can save $.08?

Here's the alternative... opt not to buy products with HFCS in the top, say, 10 ingredients. I wonder how hard a hit manufacturers would have to take in demand to switch out one ingredient? Interesting experiment; I think I'll give it a try. Any other takers?

So off to Trader Joe's I shall go to buy alternative cereal, ketchup, bread, etc... to try to get as much of this junk out of my system as possible. We'll see how this goes.... I'll keep you posted.


*OK, this is stretching. Simple logic would lead us to avoid substances that glow or, at the very least, not to purposefully swallow them.

**Citations:
Sugar Coated
The Double Danger of High Fructose Corn Syrup
Does High Fructose Corn Syrup Have to Be in Everything?
(The link above is a publication of Lew Rockwell which is, of course, a pro-Libertarian site. But I don't think that makes their reporting on corn syrup any less valid.)

Improv Everywhere

This group is too cool. Check out their vids. The "Frozen Grand Central" is phenomenal!

Rockin the Capitol!

So my friend Robyn and I left for DC yesterday at 5am. It's now 11:30pm a day later and I'm sitting back at my own computer. That's right kids: 42 hours, 790 miles, 4 Metro rides, and two fantastic days later, it's over.

The Freedom Rally was great. It wasn't an enormous turnout which is good and bad. It's bad because it gives creedence to the haters that want to say, "See no one cares about Ron Paul." Which, if you've met any of his followers, is just an abomination. We love him like mice love cheese.

It was good because there wasn't a huge crowd and I got this phatty picture:

HA! YAY ME! Dr. No Himself!! He also delivered a short albeit riveting speech which if I can figure out how to convert from film to a file, I'll post on here. Wish me luck with that one.

This picture has now claimed the ranking of Coolest Picture of Megan with a Famous Person. The previous (13 consecutive year) holder was this photo, taken in the summer of '95 when The Grind came to Carowinds. When I went to have my picture taken with the lovely Eric Nies... he could not stop himself. Who can blame him, really?

Anyway, so the Freedom Rally was the shiz-nittle bam. We met lots of cool people from around the country, heard lots of cool people speak, and for those of you in NC, met this guy: BJ Lawson. He's running for Congress in NC and he's a really neat guy. Highly educated, very bright and is pretty much on RP's platform. So give him a look. Robyn has decided she wants to run for Congress. That is until I told her how much it will cost. I suppose we should start planning the car washes...

Our shirts said, "I just saved a bunch of money by switching to..." and then RP's mug.

The back said, "Ron Paul Revolution: Change our Fate in 2008!"

Look at this little guy!!!

Need an upper?

This will get your adrenaline pumping!

US National Debt


Have you really thought about who you're voting for?

Something Creepy Under Boat, Andy.

So I was re-organizing some things in my closet tonight because things have just gotten way out of hand up in there. I came across my bag of SCUBA equipment. I got certified to dive three years ago. Ask me how many times I've dove since then. Nill. Not once. I can't even tally up the amount of money that cost because I will be reduced to tears. Don't get me wrong, fully worth it. I had tried to get certified several years before but I wasn't prepared for the mental game of SCUBA diving, not to mention being ill-equipped and easy to go hypothermic in water. I digress.

So trying again years later and succeeding even though parts of it still scare the crap out of me, (do you know they make you take off your mask and breathe underwater? You can't see. You can't hear. And you are to breathe, calmly, while water floods your nose. It utterly feels like you're drowning and I'm not demonstrating my "proclivity for the dramatic" as my friend Brennan would say) was a big achievement.

And what have I done with that achievement? Nothing. Although I will say that dive flash light comes in handy when the power goes out. That thing could light a village in Guam. And the dive bag works well for packing for a week's vacation. I have no idea where I'm going with this, but I had a hair to blog and I felt like it would lead to some enlightenment....

I guess the moral of the story is, do things that scare you. Even if, at the end of your life, all you have to show for it is a picture of you looking totally ninja in a wet suit.

And if you are still puzzling over the title, it was from "Boy Meets World." I used to love Will Friedle. Did you know Topanga got arrested for a DUI recently?

I think, therefore I am single.

I don't think I would sign a pre-nup for the condition of being paid a certain amount of money if the marriage dissolved, but I would sign one to ensure he washes his own underwear.

Exactly How Much Housework Does A Husband Create?

ScienceDaily (Apr. 8, 2008) — Having a husband creates an extra seven hours a week of housework for women, according to a University of Michigan study of a nationally representative sample of U.S. families. For men, the picture is very different: A wife saves men from about an hour of housework a week.

The findings are part of a detailed study of housework trends, based on 2005 time-diary data from the federally-funded Panel Study of Income Dynamics, conducted since 1968 at the U-M Institute for Social Research (ISR).

"It's a well-known pattern," said ISR economist Frank Stafford, who directs the study. "There's still a significant reallocation of labor that occurs at marriage—men tend to work more outside the home, while women take on more of the household labor. Certainly there are all kinds of individual differences here, but in general, this is what happens after marriage. And the situation gets worse for women when they have children."

Overall, the amount of housework done by U.S. women has dropped considerably since 1976, while the amount of housework done by men has increased, according to Stafford. In 1976, women did an average of 26 hours of housework a week, compared with about 17 hours in 2005. Men did about six hours of housework a week in 1976, compared with about 13 hours in 2005.

But when the researchers looked at just the last 10 years, comparing how much housework single men and women in their 20s did in 1996 with how much they did in 2005 if they stayed single versus if they got married, they found a slightly different pattern.

Both the men and the women who got married did more housework than those who stayed single, the analysis showed. "Marriage is no longer a man's path to less housework," said Stafford, a professor in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts.

For the study, researchers analyzed data from time diaries, considered the most accurate way to assess how people spend their time. They supplemented the analysis with data from questionnaires asking both men and women to recall how much time they spent on basic housework in an average week, including time spent cooking, cleaning and doing other basic work around the house. Excluded from these "core" housework hours were tasks like gardening, home repairs, or washing the car.

The researchers also examined how age and the number of children, as well as marital status and age, influenced time spent doing housework.

Single women in their 20s and 30s did the least housework—about 12 works a week on average, while married women in their 60s and 70s did the most—about 21 hours a week. Men showed a somewhat different pattern. Older men did more housework than younger men, but single men did more in all age groups than married men.

Married women with more than three kids did an average of about 28 hours of housework a week. Married men with more than three kids, by comparison, logged only about 10 hours of housework a week.

"Fed" up!

Listen to the man. And watch the news next Tuesday; we're going to rock the city!

Weeeeeth... a HERRING!

HA!

The Douche Index

This will offend a few of you, and highly entertain the rest.

I love you all equally.

5 Douchebag Behaviors Explained by Science

Dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria!

What the freaking freak?

You gotta wonder... if the sperm donor had known he would knock a dude up, would he still have made his donation? And will his man boobs be able to breast feed? Will the kid have both an Oedipus AND Electra complex at the same time? I'm so confused!!!!!!

I do like the part about how they inseminated him with a syringe-like device used to feed birds. This story just keeps getting sexier.

Hats off to you, Thomas. It takes brass ones to be a dude and get pregnant. Wait, what?

Let them eat cake.

Speaking as someone who works out at 5 times a week, watches what she eats and still can't bounce a quarter off her butt, I found great vindication from the following article:

The Lean Gene: Thinness is an Inheritable Trait