Making Plans

So I have decided that I am gonna make the move to Des Moines, Iowa. I am planning on living with my grandma for a little while so that I can look at some apartments and not have to be rushed into choosing one. I have begun contacting the Best Buys in that area and have already heard back from both of them, one I heard back from the GM and the other the hiring manager has to wait for the GM to come back to review my particular situation. I don't live there yet and it is far too expensive for me to just fly up for an interview if I have the job then I would fly up for everything else. I am incredibly nervous about all of this and very excited because I really want to go. Also, graduation is this May 9th and after that I get a puppy, yay!

REPO The Genetic Opera

So through a friend of mine posting incessantly about this new movie I decided to check it out. REPO! is a rock opera that is just a little different from a normal broadway show as EVERYTHING is sung their is no straight tone dialogue. Here is the synopsis from their site:

In the year 2056 - the not so distant future - an epidemic of organ failures devastates the planet. Out of the tragedy, a savior emerges: GeneCo, a biotech company that offers organ transplants… for a price. Those who miss their payments are scheduled for repossession and hunted by villainous Repo Men. In a world where surgery addicts are hooked on painkilling drugs and murder is sanctioned by law, a sheltered young girl searches for the cure to her own rare disease as well as information about her family’s mysterious history. After being sucked into the haunting world of GeneCo, she is unable to turn back, as all of her questions will be answered at the wildly anticipated spectacular event: The Genetic Opera.

Sounds pretty awesome to me and I love morbid things like that and I love Rocky Horror Picture Show. And, if you aren't terribly meak or shy about crude things then I highly recommend checking out the live Rocky show at Alamo Village. I have a couple friends who perform in it and it is quite entertaining.
I do forewarn you though that REPO! is not for the faint of heart, you need to be able to stomach some pretty grotesque scenes, it is from the guys who produced the Saw movies, but if you can mange that then you can expereince quite a well made movie.
Check out the trailer!

Mom's Offended by Motrin Ad

The above is a source of great anger for Moms against Motrin. Motrin is basically completely bashing Moms who carry their children in slings across their chests. Here is a transcript from BeyondMom that highlights how the ad is so offensive to these Moms.

Wearing your baby seems to be in fashion.

I mean, in theory it’s a great idea.

There’s the front baby carrier, sling, schwing, wrap, pouch.

And who knows what else they’ve come up with. Wear your baby on your side, your front, go hands free.

Supposedly, it’s a real bonding experience.

They say that babies carried close to the bod tend to cry less than others.

But what about me? Do moms that wear their babies cry more than those who don’t?

I sure do!

These things put a ton of strain on your back, your neck, your shoulders. Did I mention your back?!

I mean, I’ll put up with the pain because it’s a good kind of pain; it’s for my kid.

Plus, it totally makes me look like an official mom.

And so if I look tired and crazy, people will understand why.

Woooooow, Motrin is lucky angry estrogen filled Moms did not just tear them a new one in the most literal sense. This has created a huge backlash in the mommy blog world and could potential destroy Motrin's reputation among mothers, and considering that was their target for this ad that is a very bad thing. Motrin is going to to have to do something quickly or suffer permanent damage far worse than they could imagine at this point. It is worse for them to do nothing at this point than to issue some kind of apology stating that they did not mean to offend, even though it is because of this backlash that the video has gone viral. It is kind of a catch 22 for Motrin.

EDIT: Motrin has issued an apology and has promised to remove the ad from the media as quickly as possible. It is on the front page of their website.

Predicting the Flu with Google

It has finally come to be that now I will know what states to avoid as flu season gears up. Google has just created a new prediction tool in their trends section on google.org. Google will use search engine queries to predict flu outbreaks before any other normal monitoring method. The way it will work is, say New York residents are all suddenly looking up 'home remedies for flu' on Google, then Google will input that information into a graph to show that New York is having an influx of flu infections. And then I will know to stay the heck away from New York.
Now we can use the information that people are seeking to make our own information about the state of the health in that area...my mind has just been blown, and so has my nose.
I hope to possibly see more tools like this coming out in the future, it is like most recently searched terms on a whole new level. I want this kind of information to be ready for me in a condensed form for other things like products I have or places to eat or shop around town with key words like 'good' 'bad' or 'fantabulous'.
I plan to try and use this tool to know when my area might be hit by a flu outbreak.

Web Video: Spay or Neuter Your Pets

Animal overcrowding in shelters is a big problem, and it is problem that has been hitting home for me more often because I volunteer at Town Lake Animal Center. It is tough to know that about half of the animals that end up there will have to be euthanized simply because there is not enough room for them. People need to realize that it is the best idea to spay or neuter their pets. You may not mean for Muffy the cat to get prego but it still might happen and then what you will do with her up to 8 kittens? The same goes for every animal. Also, you could be extending your pets life because they will be much less susceptible to reproductive illnesses, they will feel less need to roam so they have less chance of running off and their temperament improves.
For this video I searched the internet looking for pictures of animals in shelters and even pulled some pictures from the Town Lake Animal Center website. Then I did my best to arrange the pictures, choose a song and set transitions that would best fit the mood of my web video. I hope you enjoy it. I used JayCut for the editing and it is fairly easy to use after you have watched the quick tutorials, it is kind of like a simplified Final Cut Pro. The song I used is Where'd You Go by Fort Minor and I only used the female chorus from the song.

PS-Always try to consider adoption before just buying a pet, there are some awesome animals out there just waiting to find a home.

YouTube to have feature length movies

YouTube is about to encroach on some already well established territory. YouTube is about to start offering viewers feature length movies with ad supports. According to TechSlant the move is because they could get more ad revenue because businesses would be more willing to pay for spots next to full length videos rather than YouTube's staple 30 second spots.
Now this is dangerous territory for them because Hulu and NetFlix both already offer online viewing for feature length movies. It is a lucrative market for these two companies but for Hulu it is because there site is clean looking and incredibly easy to navigate with an extremely eclectic collection. NetFlix also has advertisements on television about their watch instantly feature for certain title. It is also simple because all you do is roll your mouse over the title you want to watch and click then BAM! you're watching a movie. Now to use NetFlix's watch instantly you have to be a member and pay a monthly fee for access to all of their services, which may I say as a satisfied customer is awesome. Hulu is free but again you can only watch these on your computer which sometimes can dampen the expereince of movie wathching but congragulations they have an ever expanding hi definition selection which I do not think YouTube is going to be able to offer. NetFlix you can rent and receive in the mail or directly to your Roku along with watching instantly.
I think this is awesome that as the internet grows more and more of our consumer wants are being met directly on the internet, like for watching a movie on Hulu I could just hook my laptop up to my projector and potentially watch a hi def movie for free! It is quickly becoming easier and more cost effective for my to conduct almost all of my shopping online. So what do you think about having these services at our fingertips?

Let the Status Updates Flow!

So during the election I had about 5 internet tabs running at the same time. I had the real time results map and Facebook, Myspace, Twitter and Cursebird. The status updates were just pouring in even when I would just sit on a page after one refresh I would not even see the same status update page anymore. There were defintely some of my friends who were not as happy about the election but hopefully they can push that feeling aside and start to try and feel unity with the whole country. It was just amzing how closely everyone seemed to following some people were updating their status about the election coverage before I could even change tabs from the results map page as I found out. Our information age is just so rapid sometimes even as I find something out I already know that at least 10 of my friends already know and have already blogged about it.