The Brighter Side of White

It's a common occurence during the winter months up here in Moorhead, MN. The wind is blowing and the snow darts around trying to cover every last remnent of the earth. Still i fear that there might be an end to the blissful dream of waking up to a winter wonderland. I know this subject has been visited more times than a confessional recieves visits from a devoute catholic prostitute but i worry about my winter mornings.

Global Warming is officially a problem. If you haven't seen the movie "An Inconvenient Truth," go rent it, it will be well worth your time. I'll warn you though, if you drive a big SUV and never recycle, get ready to feel horrible. But seeing it snow for the first time in a month really made me think.

Maybe you don't know what winter was like or should be like up in the fridged north. I've created a little snipit of info for you who are unaccustomed to the Moorhead climate.

-It's cold ... real cold ( months after months of below freezing temps.)
-it snows ( a winter sports heaven)
-it's windy (it's always windy here but it just stings more with the cold)
-It's white (every where you look, everything is covered in snow)

These are the elements that make a winter a winter for Moorhead, MN. but recently i've noticed that we are missing some of those elements. It's still cold but not as it used to be. I think we've gone a couple weeks without coming above freezing but that's no where near where it was. The snow comes but maybe once a month and there is no where near the accumulation we are accustomed to (we don't use snow plows up here, we use front end loaders ... you know, the huge construction machinery that mines use to lift tons of rock ... yeah thats how much snow we used to get.) I wish the wind would leave but it hasn't and i don't think it every will.

I'm not saying that i think Moorhead will become a tourist trap because of the warming temperatures and changing weather conditions but i think it is a cause for concern. The future could be a completely different world and not just in my little nook of the world.

I'm not so worried about my future. I know that we'll run out of oil within my lifetime and i'm sure a few other natural disasters will shake things up a bit but who i really worry for is the generations after me. My generation and the generations older than myself have all been blessed with a great period in time to live. We have seen miricles happen in all manners of speaking. The first moon walk, the first personal computer, and the new global backyard are just a few to speak of. But what good will these miricles do for the generations to follow if there is no planet left for them to live?

Snow is truly amazing. Not one flake the same and their existence so fragile but also so peaceful. I think if i were to have to chose my favorite day out of the entire year, it would be the day of the first actual snowfall. You feel refreshed, alive, and everything and everyone around you seems to be ... relaxed.

Life as a Blur...

I never have really sat back and thought of all the things that i have accomplished. Not until today. I was sitting at home over lunch break and it occured to me that i am 22 years old. Now to anyone out there that is evern remotely well passed that age, 22 years does not sound that old. But then add 22 years to your life and think how old you will be. Yeah ... it's old!

So where has all the time gone?

We'll there was my infancy which most of us never remember. But how i wish i could. Think about all the challenges you faced and overcame with limited help. Speech being a big one and granted you didn't master the english language right away but, even learning how to force your first words is a huge accomplishment. Walking follows along with countless other little things that we take for granted once we are old enough to forget.

Adolesence tails infancy and we begin to truly experience the world. We are able to run around, talk to people, we are a sponge absorbing all the worlds knowledge. i wish i could back to that time where i had complete faith in the world and trusted everyone. Ignorance is bliss ... what i would give for that again. But really??

The more you learn as you grow, the great life becomes. All of lifes little idocincracies make it worth the ride. Now i'm am old in a way. i have brothers who look up to me, i am entering the real world, and i am bound to face lifes most difficult questions. Questions like: where do i live, is she the right one, is this the right job for me, how do i say goodbye? But i'm not scared. I look back at my life, blured by the speed that it has taken, and see the brief seconds of security and the moments of triumph and i know that this is going to be one hell of a ride!

Nothing Should be left Blank

In honor of my new blog, i thought it appropriate to discuss the void that is present today. I know what everyone is thinking, "What void?" isn't there an overwhelming presence of information and communication in our newly technological world? To those people, i can only offer you a simple "yes." Still i feel obligated to bring to the front the quality of the substance we feel so overwhelmed by.

I've heard it over and over again, it is not the quantity but the quality that is important, and i can't help but want to apply that notion to my everyday surroundings. To that idea i ask the question, why are we the way we are? The world has become saturated with advertisements, jingles, slogans, interfaces, mobile communications, promotions, pop-ups, and everything else under the sun. So how are we as a growing community (not just local but global) going to sift out the good from the bad?

The World Is No Longer White and Black, But EVERY SHADE OF GREY!

The question can not be: is this advertisement good or bad, is it worth listening to or drowning out, or should I ignore it or dive in? There is just too much of out there. We have to be a more conscious and intelligent community of consumers and providers. We need to answer the calling from both the corporate community and the community only we can answer to, ourselves. The responsibility that I place on you (and feel i don't have the right to charge everyone with this responsibility but I'm going to anyway) is to become the informed consumer that everyone in the advertising community hopes you are. Surprise yourselves and us ... we know you have it in you.

On a more personal note, this is my first blog entry ever. So there could easily be somethings that i could improve on but i plan on commenting on the countless thoughts that float through my mind on a daily basis. So if for some reason this entry didn't resonate with you, check back soon because I'm sure I'll have something that will either make you hate me, love me or find that middle ground (that space between black and white that I live my life) that I have so affectionately dubbed the SHADES OF GREY.