Positivity

Happy weekend, everyone! The past couple of days or so have been a blur of fun, sun, and relaxing. San Francisco experienced a slightly heat wave (or maybe it was just a rise in temperatures) last week, and as such my friends and I spent every possible second outside. We even donned our bathing suits and trekked to Golden Gate Park (which is much closer than the beach) for a little bit of tanning. While there,  Justine and I decided to romp around in the vegetation, and it left me feeling invigorated and alive! Nature tends to do that for me. 

Last night, the campus hosted a small concert of mostly "indie bands" in one of our gyms. I decided to actually do something on a Friday night and go with a small group of my friends. It turns out that the concert had started at four o'clock that afternoon, and we had missed the majority of it. Luckily, we made it just in time for the headlining group Augustana to perform. After experiencing their attractiveness and great music for myself, I would definitely recommend checking out their new album. I know I plan to download it!

So, I'm sure some of you are wondering about the title of this post. Being out in the sun has not only made me tanner, but it has altered my mentality on life slightly. I couldn't believe how much happier I was getting off campus and being in the park for just a few hours. Combining this with my thoughts about Lent (the liturgical season that the Catholic Church is currently in), I decided that I needed to make some positive changes in my living habits. This means wasting as little time as possible and actually being productive when I do work. I also plan on getting up a bit earlier to go on a walk at least a couple times a week. I did it today, and I've been much more energetic and happy. See, positive change!

Is there anything you can do/change to make your life more positive?

Happy Birthday, Trevor!

Today is my little brother's birthday. Of course, he barely qualifies as my little brother any more, as he towers a good seven inches over me. But he could be turning 30, and I would still see him as my little bro. He's one of my best friends, who I've shared practically everything with my entire life.

So here's to you, Trev. Wishing the best birthday possible to the best brother ever!

Not For Sale

Good news! I survived midterms and papers, and it's finally spring break! I flew home to sunny southern California on Saturday, and am enjoying the change of scenery and weather. I don't think I even realized how much I missed shorts and tank tops!

But I have something important and serious that I wanted to talk to you all about. I am taking a contemporary ethics class dealing particularly with immigration, and the book that we are currently reading is called Not For Sale by David Batstone. It discusses the "return of the global slave trade" and basically serves to make us aware that there are people facing economic slavery, sex trafficking, and child soldiery throughout the world. The cool thing about this book, though, is that it doesn't stop with that. Rather just being a book, it is the beginning of an entire movement, known as the Not For Sale Campaign. They have branches throughout the United States that focus on fundraising, educating, and training people to be "modern day abolitionists." What they do is very important, and it starts with simply educating people and making them aware of the atrocities that are being committed across the globe.

For those of you who are technically up to date, they make it very easy for you to be informed. Not For Sale also runs another website, Free2Work.org. This site is focused on making people into smart consumers. They take different companies and rate them based on the typical school grading scale here in the U.S., based on how ethically their products are produced. They have even converted some of their information into a handy-dandy app for the iPhone or iTouch. I know you all have at least one or the other of these devices, so check it out. It's completely free.

I really encourage you all to check out these websites and get some more information. Better yet, go buy and read the book. It will really change the way you think about things, and it will make you want to get involved, or at least live differently. I think it's important to say that I'm not getting any money or recognition for promoting the cause like this. I'm just doing it because it's something that really impacted me and opened my eyes to parts of the world around me that I didn't know existed, and I just want to share this knowledge and opportunity with all of you. What you do with it is your decision.

Happy March, everyone, and check back soon for more pictures from San Fran!

Breakfast in Heaven

I must live among the nerdiest people on campus, because we spent practically the entire long weekend studying! Our one brief respite was to go to breakfast on Sunday. We walked down Cole to visit La Boulange, a little French bakery chain that we've become quite fond of. They have amazing food, and it's just a cute place to sit and talk for a while. Just talking about it makes me want to go again!

On a completely separate note, my friend has been working on some songs, and I can't stop listening to them. Check him out!