Well, its little embarrassing but i can’t live without my cellphone even a single day.. so i answered “One”, and BINGO!!! The majority of the people are in the same boat as me. 65% say that they can’t live without their cellphone for even a single day. 22 % say that for a day they can be away from their cellphone but not more than that. 5% say that two days are enough to make them crazy without their cell phone. And rest 8% are comfortable keeping their cell phones away for more than two days.

     Now.. do you think that you fall in those 65% ? Do you know that 20% of people who work in MNCs  and other IT companies don’t go to office just because they couldn’t wake up in the morning. Why? because the cell phone’s battery was down and the phone’s alarm didn’t ring. Now don’t you think that all these gadgets and gizmos are making you lazy..?

    Lets not rag little cellphone too much and talk about internet…
When it comes to youth, the best thing to browse on internet are the social networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Orkut, Myspace and many more… Its good to share things around and knowing people from different regions and cultures. But we are in front of the screen most of the time and we forget to spend time with our loved ones. We forget that we have real people who will understand us better than those internet friends.

    We are developing technology to assist us in best possible way. The motto is not to be dependent fully on these gadgets but to get required help where our efforts are countless. If these technologies begin to make us lazy then we won’t be able to take it any further.

  Remember, its better to be dumb than being technoholic…

Boss:    I have some bad news.  You’re going to deploy to Djibouti.

Me:      Uhhhh….

Boss:    We’re sending so & so for the next month to cover you until you get there.  You’ll be there for a six month deployment.

Me:      Uhhhh…..

There you go.  I had a month (a little less, as it turns out), to get ready for a six-month deployment.  First, I had to break the news about my sudden deployment to my wife & kids (my twins were less than a year old at the time—they took it pretty well, although I think my daughter responded by filling the back end of her diaper).  Not only that, but since I was going to deploy by myself, and our command did not deploy very many people, I had to scramble to make sure I had everything I needed (uniforms, medicine, etc.).  Normally, there is a crash-course from one of the services that handles pre-deployment preparations for you, but not in this case.  I was needed, and it was clear that we didn’t have time for that pre-deployment nonsense.

So, what to do about this deployment?  After completely flipping out, my wife quickly came to her senses and we hashed out a plan so that she was covered during my deployment & and that she could take care of the family while I was gone.  Since it was such short notice, flying them back to the states was a no-go (she wasn’t going to travel by herself, over the Atlantic Ocean, with 3 young children, and I couldn’t go with them).  So, the next best thing was to make sure she had access to the resources she needed while I was deployed.  Below is a partial list of things we did:

1.  Important documents update.  Will, Servicemember’s Government Life Insurance (SGLI), Page 2, passport, power of attorney—do any of these ring a bell?  If not, you need to go straight to your personnel office or to legal & get these in line.  You do not want to be the person responsible for paying bills or doing things, and be the critical failure node that prevents those things from being done while you’re deployed.  Getting these things in line before your deployment is of the utmost importance so that your spouse doesn’t have to jump through hoops in your absence.  Things like your will & SGLI are depressing, but you need to do them.  If you die, the least you can do is to avoid putting your family through more issues by failing to remove these roadblocks in advance.  Enough said.

2.  Medical & Dental update.  You need to know where you’re going, or at least have a decent idea.  Once you know, set up pre-deployment screenings with your medical & dental offices (and keep in mind that you’ll have to set up post-deployment screenings when you return).  Research the medicines & vaccines you’ll need during your deployment & set up the appropriate appointments.  The clinic staffs will help you, but you need to be the driving force.  Stock up on what you need before you leave.  Also, make sure any long-term family medical & dental issues are addressed before you leave—the less work you leave your spouse, the better off he or she will be.  Make sure you’re certified as class I dental (deployment ready).

3.  Work.  Spend some time making sure your workload is fairly distributed while you’re deployed.  If your boss tells you not to worry, make sure you talk to your co-workers & make yourself available for questions.  Not continuously available—you don’t need to sit there while people keep working.  However, you should give them your cell, drop by the office, or otherwise be accessible should they have questions before you leave.  Try to transfer your workload as soon as possible so they have the maximum amount of time to ask you questions before you deploy.

4.  Uniforms.  If you deploy to a place that requires a different uniform, make sure you take the time to acquire those uniforms.  Fortunately for me, I had desert camouflage uniforms (DCU’s) that were issued from a previous command.  However, I’ve had co-workers who had to scramble last minute for things like boots, socks, name tapes, insignia, etc.  Try to plan this out as well in advance as possible.

5.  Banking & finances.  You need to sit down & decide how bills are going to be handled during your deployment.  If you normally manage the bills, then make sure your spouse knows everything they need to know.  If you’re going to a place where you still have internet access, then you might be able to help once you’re there, but don’t plan on it.  Odds are, you’re going to a place where the internet or electricity is unreliable—you don’t need to put yourself in a position where bills aren’t getting paid because you can’t get online.  The best solution is to set up automatic payments as much as possible & decide on a budget with your spouse that allows him or her to take care of day-to-day items without going into the red.

6.  Family time.  You need to spend as much time with the family as possible before you deploy.  Carve out time for just you & your spouse, but also make sure you set time aside for your children.  Each child, if they’re old enough to have a conversation, should have his or her own special time with you.  This is your opportunity to tell them what is going to happen, and give them a chance to say what they want.  They might ask questions—answer them as honestly as you can, and if you can’t answer them, say that as well.  Don’t make up stories—even young kids can see through them.  If you fool them up front, they’ll be even more upset if they find out the truth later on.  Keep it honest, simple, and be prepared for the worst.  Once they get it out of the way, though, make sure they understand that they need to help out the family, and that you will be back after you finish your deployment.  This is very important.

I’m sure I missed some things, but these were the major items in my abrupt deployment.  If you ever need this advice, I wish you the best of luck.  God bless you!

SERVANTS BECAME MASTERS

 The third great defect of our civilization is that it does not know what to do with its knowledge. Science has given us powers fit for the gods, yet we use them like small children. For example, we do not know how to manage our machines. Machines were meant to be man’s servants; yet he has grown so dependent on them that they are in its fair way to become his masters. Already most men spend most of their lives looking after and waiting upon machines. And the machines are very stern masters. They must be fed with coal, and given petrol to drink and oil to wash with, and they must be kept at the right temperature. And if they do not get their meals when they expect them, they grow sulky and refuse to work, or bust with rage, and blow up, and spreads ruins and destruction all round them. So we have to wait upon them very attentively and do all that we can to keep them in a good temper. Already we find it difficult either to work or play without machines, and a time may come when they will rule us altogether, just as we rule the animals.

                                                                                                         And this brings me to the point at which I asked, “what we do with all the time which the machines have saved for us, and the new energy they have given us”? On the whole, it must be admitted, we do very little. For the most part we use our time and energy to make more and better machines; but more and better machines will only give us still more time and still more energy, and what are we to do with them?  The answer I think, is that we should try to become mere civilized. For the machines themselves, and the power which the machines have given us, are not civilizations but aids to civilization. But you will remember that we agreed at the beginning that being civilized meant making and linking beautiful things, thinking freely, living rightly and maintaining justice equally between man and man. Man has a better chance today to do these things then he ever had before; he has more time, more energy, less to fear and less to fight against. If he will give his time and energy which his machines have won for him, in making more beautiful things, to finding out more and more about the universe, to removing the causes of quarrels between nations, to discovering how to prevent poverty, then I think our civilization would undoubtedly be the greatest among all, then there has ever been.      

Gatto is correct when he claims “children and old people are penned up and locked away from the business of the world to a degree without precedent.”  Without children and the elderly present in daily lives, ideas are only discussed from a one-view standpoint.  The falling voter turnout could be the product of schools not providing an environment promoting interest in current events.

Gatto claims school has many anti-life aspects associated with it.  During school you are in a controlled, conditioned environment with people of your own age.  School effectively gives an “age-graded” life and not a “whole life,” cutting students off from the real diversity that a person should experience.

According to Gatto, schools create dependent personalities.  Children no longer know how to fill their own time or think for themselves.  Children are told when to pay attention, when to drop everything and move to the next class, when to eat, when to drink, when they can use the bathroom, and when they can speak – they are totally dependent and controlled by school authorities.  As a consequence of dependent personalities, people become addicted to “narcotic drugs, brainless competition, recreational sex, the pornography of violence, gambling, and alcohol.”

Obviously, education reform is vital to America’s future.  “The Psychopathic School” should serve as at least a starting point for reform as it presents many of the faults of America’s educational system.  Although Gatto’s points are valid and ingenious, change is highly unlikely.

            We all hate to see our children fail at anything; but without a few failures one never really gets to learn any lessons. As we all know life is full of adventure, things to do, people to see; but when does it become necessary for them  move on, and leave the nest as many say?

            In today’s economy, I feel that as long as they are a contributing member of the family, giving financial support as well as respecting the house rules, its more sensible to stay at home for a couple of years after High School or College. Many argue that how are they suppose to learn to be independent adults, if they still live with Mommy and Daddy, but they need to save a few dollars before the set out on their own!

While this is all true, and I did leave home very early; it was hard, but the economy was not whirling out of control as is the case at this time.

            While boys are somewhat immature and don’t seem to take things very seriously; letting them go, is hard. When he moves out it may provide some level of maturity, you have to hope your sending him out prepared. Life is not fair and we all know that, your son, my son needs to know that you are there for them; and that it is OK to ask for help. I have seen young men on their own, struggling and making the wrong mistakes; because no one ever told them it was OK to ask for help. That is truly a sign of lack of communication and distrust.

            Girls are more dependent; and they will do all right on their own, but because they are girls we tend to worry about them physically. Having them join a self-defense class, as a teenager is one solution to that troublesome concern. We also worry about who they chose to date and are they making the right decision; will he take care of your little girl, my little girl; the way I would want her to be treated.

Image by Kenneth Hynek via Flickr

            Letting go, comes when the time is right; they know it and you know it; is it going to be easy, no way. Keep in mind that if you did your job correctly, letting go is just another chapter in both your lives.

Let me start by saying I was raised with religion in/out of our lives.  When it was in, it was in and it was completely overboard – super strict, devout, dedicating every waking moment to the word of God.  When it was out – it was out completely.  No middle ground.  As an adult I ponder about God, Religion, and many other things, but that is a whole different article.  With that said, What exactly is life all about?

Stages of life:  Birth, Childhood, Adult, Death.  So life is a cycle, we all know that.  Sometimes things may overlap.  A child might have to take on adult responsibilities and skip out on a childhood.  An adult might get alzheimer’s or some other disease that makes them revert back to a child like dependent state.  Life is made up of all these decisions we get to make in these various stages.  There’s not much we can do about the parents we have.  We learn at a very young age how to correspond and interact, what is acceptable and what isn’t, what we should do and shouldn’t and what we could do and couldn’t.  Most of life seems to fall around finances. Whether it’s money for some new school clothes, a toy, or car, to where we will live, pay rent or mortgage, go to college or work, or both.

It seems to define one’s life worth it falls into two categories:  Wealth and Good/Bad.  Everyone wants to make as much money as possible by doing as little as possible.  The more free money the better.  The more time we have to have fun the better.  Every one of us wants to think we are a good person, making good choices.

Some of us are lucky enough to have a job we love, some have a job we find things in we love, although it’s not our first, or maybe not even our second choice – but we find things to enjoy, while others just hate their job.  So, is it the job or the money that defines the individual?  If you were paid $30k more per year to do your current job you hate, would you suddenly like your job?  If you had to do something you think is horrible, or dislike immensly, but you would get the salary you want, do you think you would be happier?  These are all questions I wonder.  I say I love my job.  And I sorta do.  It pays what I like – but there’s always room for improvement there, you know? lol.  It has some perks to it.  Some days I feel very smart when I do my job.  Somtimes my job is very rewarding.  Other times it’s very very stressfull and boring.  In order to keep my sanity everyday, I just focus on what I love.  I also think of where I could be – unemployed, making minimum wage, struggling every day just for the basics.  I’ve been there before, it’s No Fun. My job doesn’t define me as a person, but gives me the resources to define myself.  I am able to help others less fortunate, be a good mom, provide the necessities for my family.  It also allows me to do some of the things I enjoy.  Ok, so life isn’t all about money, but we need money in order to get through life, and even enjoy it…

So then we look at the good/bad side of things.  Are we a good person?  If so, in who’s eyes?  Most people will respond we need to be good in God’s eyes.  Ok, so there’s a starting point, as long as we exclude all those religions that believe that killing people and/or suicide, is God’s word.  The basic beliefs – thall shall not kill, love thy neighbor, obey thy parents, etc.  So, you don’t break any laws, rules, and you live a nice quiet life.  Is that what is good?  Or is good when you go above and beyond and help others less fortunate, help strangers cross a road, smile at people, wave, and just give that warm fuzzy feeling to others?  And how bad are we when we go slightly over the speed limit, tell a lie, or eat that grape at the grocery store? Or are we only bad when we cross over those limits or get caught?  Is there a level of badness that is acceptable?  Or is bad gone when we apologize or repent? 

Ok, so what is life all about?  What do I want said when I die?  How do I want to be remembered?  What do I want to do before I die?  I’m still trying to figure that all out.  For now, I’ll go to work and smile that I have a job, smile that it pays me decently which pays my bills.  I’ll smile that I have a few people in this world that love me and consider me their friend, and smile that I have found a few people out there I consider trustworthy enough to call my friend.  I’ll smile that I’m able to show my daughter love, hard work and dedication that maybe someday she can look back and say she had a pretty good childhood.  I’ll smile every time someone takes a piece of candy out of my candy dish.  I’ll smile knowing that I like who I am, I can look in the mirror and see someone that cares about others and themself.  I think life is getting through those rough patches so we can really enjoy the good things about life. 

In the case of using a noun, one can think of a small sentence like “Here is a man”. In order to extend it I can use the interrogative word who to extend it, as “Here is a man who plays golf”. The fact that he plays golf tells me about the man and so can be considered as an adjective clause. A similar clause can be made by using which instead of who when choosing an object. In both cases the clause is dependent because it cannot stand on its own when beginning with an interrogative word.

The same rule can be applied to an adjective or adverb clause such as the adjective clause will follow and amplify an adjective and the adverb clause will be more descriptive than the adverb alone.

In a sentence, “He ran quickly.” by explaining why or how he did so, I am amplifying the activity. That can be done by saying, “He ran when he wanted to avoid the traffic.” Here the question word, “when” helps to initiate a group of words or clause that describes the verb.

In a sentence, She learnt guitar, there is no need to expand but if one wants to describe the conditions of learning guitar, one could say something like, “ She learnt how playing guitar would make her feel better.” The part of the sentence initiated by the how helps to answer the question “what did she learn”.

To summarise, an independent clause is not going to depend on another part of a sentence for it’s meaning, in other words it can stand on its own as in “The club members contributed their membership fees.” When the clause is supplying an explanation for something else, then it cannot be used on its own and so is dependent.

“Young is more fun.”

My husband and I married when I was 23, he 20. We’ve grown up with our children, and we forget sometimes that we’re parents, not a couple of kids ourselves. But that’s the high point of marrying and having children young: You get to play them when you still feel like playing!
Michelle Dean, 35, Ellijay, GA

I believe it’s been easier in many ways to have married so young. I was 20 and my husband was 19. Neither of us was stuck in our ways. We moved from our parents’ homes to our marital home, so we were used to compromise-and used to telling someone where we would be if we were going to be late!
Elizabeth Balentine, 23, Kansas City, MO

“Older is wiser.”

It’s important to wait until you have a career so you’re not dependent on someone else to provide for you. When I got married, I had a stable job and was able to concentrate on my husband and our marriage, instead of juggling a new career and trying to find myself. It was nice knowing that we had both brought something to our marriage.
Darlene Fletcher, 39, Phoenix

I just got married and I’m glad I waited. I have a greater understanding of myself and the things I want out of life. You have to know yourself and what makes you happy before you can expect someone else to make you happy.
Jennifer Starr, 36, Columbus, OH

In a conversational class the teacher should talk the minimum possible while the student should be given every opportunity to express himself verbally. Unfortunately many teachers forget this and mix coaching the student with offering him a means at expressing himself without constant interruptions.

Working out an outline for students is not enough to get your message across. A good student might feel intimidated if he is interrupted all the time or may be bored if you change topics in a timely manner. Similarly there are ones who will criticize an outline that is too abrupt and seemingly disorganized.

One way to avoid generating boredom is by being dynamic and not only getting the student to reply to prompts but allowing him independence in the class. If he is made to feel dependent on constant monitoring, his train of thought may wane and he could be resentful as a result. Remember the class is mostly oriented around conversation and teacher should have more of a role as a coach than a lecturer.