How Did We Get Here

America is in the middle of a crisis. The country is in almost 17 trillion dollars of debt and that is rising every day. How did we get here? The government is spending enormous amounts and not doing anything effective to stop the accumulating debt.
The total debt in America is nearing 17 trillion dollars. This is due to excessive spending and waste within the government. The government will fund projects that are of no real use to America. This is what we call "pork barrel spending." These are often ridiculous projects that are funded because the firm or group helped contribute in some way to a politician getting into office. There is also too much waste in the government. For a long time the government didn't use both sides of a piece of paper when writing. This would lead to using twice as much paper. This may seem small but the government could less money on paper and more on paying back debts.
In the government there is too much pork barrel spending. The government spent over 18 million dollars on a website to track how much the government was spending on stimulus. That is an outrageous amount of money to spend on any website. That 18 million dollars could be spent paying back the national debt or giving back tax returns. Another example of pork barrel spending is the government recently spent almost two million dollars on research as to why pigs smell. Clearly this needed to be researched it will help Americans so much to know why pigs smell.
The tax system in itself is a waste and changing it would help slow if not stop the debt from climbing. It rewards people for things that they should not necessarily be rewarded for. The more kids you have the more tax deductions you have. Don't get me wrong kids are great however when someone doesn't have to pay taxes because they are not making as much money and have a large number of kids, that is simply unacceptable. There is also a loophole in the tax system that rewards people for not being married. There was a couple who was unmarried but had four kids. The man of the household earned a handsome salary and filed his taxes separate from the woman. The woman put their kids on her taxes and she had no job. The man paid the taxes that were supposed to be paid for a single man earning his level of income and the woman not only didn't have to pay hardly any taxes but she went to school for free as well, on government grants. If the government were to stop loopholes in our tax system like this they would not be losing as much money as they are.
The Government is in dire need of an overhaul in many aspects. Eliminating waste, ending pork barrel spending and fixing loopholes in taxes and other programs. We are here, at sixteen trillion dollars of debt, because the government is being stupid with their spending and have made it easy to get around the system.

A Misunderstanding

The most exciting thing that happened to me this weekend was going on a "bonding hike" with the girls tennis team. We were all expecting some quick nature walk, chatting along the way, having a good time. We were so wrong. Our coach didn't make it sound like we were going on anything rigorous when in fact it ended up being just that. Only one person thought to bring any water on the hike and none of us wore what we should have. I myself was wearing a pair of Sperry's. The hike was about two and a half miles up and the same back, however, about a mile of it was going over sharp jagged boulders with ten foot drops in between. A mile may not seem that long, well  let me tell you that when you are going over boulders uphill it feels like at least ten miles long. Add to that that once you thought you had reached the top you saw another hill of boulders and finally another. That was rather disheartening, however, we all made it to the top, enjoyed the view for about twenty minutes and went back to the cars. While this does not compare to a New York City level of excitement it was still exciting to do and the view was breathtaking.

The Best Ice Cream Flavor 9/18/13

The best ice cream flavor is clearly cake batter and chocolate ice cream mixed with brownie and waffle cone. This combination of ice cream will blow your mind. The sweetness of the cake batter and brownie with the smooth richness of chocolate and the added crunch of waffle cone will probably leave you speechless, possibly even breathless. Cake batter by itself is enough to blow ones mind but in addition to all these other flavors there is no doubt that this is the ultimate ice cream. This is coming from someone who worked at an ice cream shop. Not just any ice cream shop at that, the ultimate ice cream shop: Cold Stone Creamery. I have experimented and tested many flavors, even got tired of some. But this combination is simply the best of all. Never has it disappointed. Never has it let me down. Never have I gotten tired of it. It has turned skeptics into believers. This is the best, even the ultimate, ice cream flavor.

Girls are Trouble 9/16/13

    "Girls are trouble." This is something all adults tell you when you start to take an interest in girls but this comment is quickly discarded because of curiosity. Much to the detriment of ourselves.

     Girls have to be the most confusing people on this earth. They expect all these qualities in a guy but it seems like they have no rules for themselves. A guy always has to be the first to text, send sweet messages or cannot talk to other girls but girls are exempt from these unwritten rules. They never have to text first, send sweet messages and they can talk to as many guys as they want. This is simply not fair and causes lots of drama. If us guys were to simply avoid girls we would be much better off however we are guys. 

    Guys need to be much more careful when it comes to girls. "Girls are trouble doesn't simply mean that we cannot talk to them or go out with them it simply means that we need to be careful. Girls wont necessarily be trouble if you talk and understand how each others feelings. These are all just jumbled thoughts because Dr. Silverman cut me short and this short rant must come to an end. The main point is that guys should be careful with girls, they can hurt you if you aren't careful.

The Woes of Being Tall

People don’t understand how hard it is to be tall. Everyone just assumes that because someone is tall that makes life so much easier. Well it doesn't. There is much more than meets the eye when it comes to the life of someone who is tall.

                First of all, everyone and their brother want to go up and tell you that you’re tall. As if I didn't notice. It’s not like they pointed out something that I never noticed before. I didn't just notice that I was tall. I didn't notice when I got out of bed or had to cram into a small car or when I was standing in line looking over everyone’s heads, or even when the person in front of me asked the exact same question as you. Like come on give me a little credit on my part. Do they think that all tall people are dumb or something!? I can assure anyone who was wondering that tall people are not dumb.

                Then anyone who talks to me asks if I play basketball because I am so tall. My reply is always, “Do you play mini golf because you’re short?” After I reply with that they take offence to it! They must think that it’s ok for them to say someone is tall just because it is supposedly good. Well I guess they don’t take into account all the problems that come with it. I mean everyone assumes that because someone is tall life is better because they don’t have to ask for help reaching for things. On that point I would just like to say that I will not grab anything from the top shelf for you, grab a chair and stop being so lazy.

                The most obvious problem that tall people have is when we walk through doorways, get on bus’s, ride on airplanes, or even try sleeping on the tiny twin bed that the university gives everyone. It is like people are so in awe of tall people they just forget to accommodate us.  We are the most and the least noticed! People like to tell us we are tall and admire us but as soon as it comes to creating something new every one forgets we exist and makes whatever it is a few sizes too small.  It is so much easier for a short person to adjust to bigger things than it is for taller people to adjust to shorter things. Take being in an airplane for instance. If there were more room in between rows it wouldn't affect a short person much at all. Not only that but us tall people would be much more comfortable and would have no complaints.

                Another problem us tall people face is finding clothes that fit. It is like everyone just assumes that tall people have wide hips. Well they are just not right. There are plenty of us who don’t have wide hips and we can never find jeans that fit! Us tall small hipped guys have nowhere really to buy jeans. The only company that has jeans that can fit without being custom made is Levi and even then there are only a few options. And to top it all off people give us grief about wearing shorts all the time and never dressing “nice.” The other difficult part about being tall is trying to find shirts that fit. The sleeves are hardly ever long enough or the shirt is too baggy or too short.  How am I supposed to even shop for clothes anymore? Things are just so ridiculous.

                Obviously home contractors have a thing against tall people. For one I have never met a contractor who was above six foot. Clearly these people are jealous of the gift of being tall. Because of this they must feel the need to make life difficult for tall people in houses. The doorways are hardly ever tall enough and even if I don’t hit my head on the door it will most certainly mess up my hair. How is this even legal? We have laws for handicapped people and accommodating them, why isn't the same done for tall people? Busses should have more leg room, same with airplanes. Drinking fountains should be taller. It is always so uncomfortable having to stick my butt in people’s faces when getting a drink of water. There is just nothing right about any part of that situation.

                One situation people probably don’t think about is all the aches and pains that come along with being tall. Everything is always sore. Backs, knees, feet, shoulder you name it and it is usually sore. Now people will say “well everyone has problems like those especially if you’re an athlete.” To that I say there is no possible way that everything that I have that’s sore came from athletics. I get the back and shoulders but random pains in the middle of the night? Yeah no there is no way that those happen to short people. They are called growing pains for a reason.

                Now finally there is the argument that girls love tall guys while this is pretty much a scientific fact, imagine how a tall girl must feel. Most guys even if they are tall will go for shorter girls it’s nothing personal just the general taste as a whole. So the struggle of a tall girl being able to find a boyfriend is real. The problem with being a tall guy when dating someone is there is absolutely no way to impress a girl with your dancing skills because I have never met a tall guy who is an amazing dancer. That can be a problem when trying to impress someone albeit a small one.

                So now that I am done ranting you all know the tall people struggle. It is not all glamorous as many would have you believe. It is a hard, repetitive and painful life to live for which there is no sympathy from anyone. Whether it be pain, ridicule, repetitive questions, prejudice or a social life being tall has many problems that people don’t know or understand.