Implicit Association Tests

As part of my Marriage and Family sociology class, I was asked to take the Sexuality IAT on this website. It's free and only takes about 10 minutes, so you should go check it out yourself.

The test shows you two group headings, one on the left and one on the right. As images and words pop up you are supposed to sort them using the E key for left and I key for right. The order of word sets is randomized, but I first had bad on one side and good on the other. The words were pretty easy, tragic for bad and beautiful for good as an example. Then I had gay people on one side and straight people on the other. This time sometimes words were shown (like homosexual or heterosexual), or pictures such as a man and woman in wedding attire or two women. But then they put the two word sets together...

My first set like this had both bad and gay people on the left with good and straight people on the right. Words describing good or bad were shown in green, while pictures/words depicting sexual orientation were in white. The words/pictures didn't have to correspond to both words on the correct side, just one depending on the color.

After that section I did it again, only with the words reversed. Bad was with straight people and good was with gay people. Your automatic preference for one sexual orientation over the other is figured out by which group you finish the fastest and with the least amount of errors, straight people with good or gay people with good.

My results were "little to no automatic preference between Gay People and Straight People." =]

(source)

What was your results? What do you think about this test, is it accurate?

If my heart was still beating, it would beat for you.

My husby is super smart.

And no, I'm not being sarcastic. :P

One of my husband's papers recently received an Honorable Mention from the Florida Collegiate Honors Council. He is, apparently, the first one from his school to be get an award since the current advisor has been in change of the program.

We (or he, actually, I'm just tagging along) have been invited to their annual conference where he will be presented with his award along with $50. Then the next day is a pirate themed Riverboat Cruise which I am quite excited for!

I am beyond proud of him for everything he has accomplished so far, and know he will continue to do great things in the future. He is so smart and talented and I feel blessed to be able to call myself his wife. This is just the beginning for him, I'm sure!

Happy Birthday to some very special people.

Instead of writing several posts for everyone, I'm just going to combine my birthday well-wishing into this one post for everyone who was born in February.

First I would like to wish a very happy birthday to my favorite little sister, Sierra Maggie. She turned 12 on the 8th. It's odd thinking that she is now older than I was when she was born. I was terribly upset when I found out I would no longer be the baby, but now I can't imagine my life without you.

Next is my husband Josh's 25th birthday, which was yesterday (the 11th). I would like to thank him for saving me from my fate of turning into an old cat lady. Now the only place I have cats in the double digits is in the Facebook app Happy Pets. XD I love you whole bunches!

Then there is the lovely Jessica, whom I have known and loved since 3rd grade. Are we to the age where it is no longer proper to say what our age is yet? I'll just say that she will celebrate the 2nd anniversary of her 21st birthday on the 18th :P Only 38 days and 10 hours until I can get you your birthday present! (the website did the calculating, not me. I'm not that much of a nerd lol)

And finally we have Rebecca, my adopted band-mother, whose birthday is on the 26th. I don't get to see Skittles as often as I would like now that she lives in Tally, but she will always be important to me. I got you a present while in Mexico, so please let me know if you will be in town for your birthday!

These four people are partly responsible for making me the person I am today, so I am immensely grateful to their parents for spawning them.

Thank the gods for Special Report interruptions

This morning Josh and I were at the doctor's office, because we're cool and sickly like that. Unfortunately for us we arrived just in time to watch The View.

I quite honestly cannot understand why anyone would willingly watch this show. It's not that I disagree with them, I don't even know if I *do* because I can't stand to watch them long enough to figure out what they think. All I hear when they are on is one angry woman talking over another increasingly angry woman, with each woman getting more shrill as they talk over each other. It was only on for about 10 minutes before I started to get a migraine.

Thankfully then ABC interrupted with a Special Report. I feel indebted to the people of Egypt, whose perseverance over the last 18 days worked to spare me from this torture.

Baby Idol 2011

My friend Jessica's little boy Atticus is in the running for Baby Idol 2011. Isn't he just the cutest thing? How can you not want to hop over to the Island 106 website and vote for him?! You do have to sign up for an account with the website but it's really quick and easy. I don't *think* you have to live in Panama City in order to vote. He's baby #12.

Why shaving and pain medication don't mix

1. You will miss quite a few spots. Some of them rather large and surprising.


2. You might end up accidentally shaving one of your finger nails. This will be quite painful.


3. It will take twice as long as normal.


4. Did I mention the fingernail thing?

Reality Check - You are not the luckiest person in the world

Recently I've heard a lot of similar statements from some very umm... interesting people.

"I'm the happiest woman alive!"

"I'm the luckiest man in the world!"

"I've got the best husband in the universe!"

Hate to break it to you, but it's not true. You're just fooling yourself. Not that you shouldn't be happy about your situation, because you should be (at least sometimes), you just need to be realistic about it.

Using these statements just make me think you are hiding something. That you are making up for your shortcomings or unhappiness. That you are delusional. And it can sometimes be a bit insulting. I know you don't mean it that way, but saying you have the best husband in the world is implying that my husband isn't. That your husband, your life, your situation is better than mine and everyone else's.

It's also sometimes just laughable. Take this scenario for instance:

So I thought we got paid on the forth when really we got paid on the eleventh. Now I've bounced three checks and can't afford anything. I'm already two weeks late on my car payment, but my husband has offered to cover it for me so it doesn't get repo'd. I'm the luckiest girl in the world!

If you were really the luckiest girl in the world you wouldn't be in this situation to begin with. I'd think most husbands would do what they could to keep their wives cars from being repo'd. If I was him, I might take away your check book as well since this seems to be a theme with you. But I digress...

I offer instead simply saying "I feel like..." instead of "I am..." Then I wouldn't feel the need to point out everything that's wrong with your life to prove you wrong.

Addictions

Tia over at Bizchickblogs is hosting a giveaway for Addict Nation, a book by Jane Velez-Mitchell and Sandra Mohr. To enter all you have to do is write a blog, make a video, draw a cartoon, post anything about addictions. So, here I go.

I believe we as a society throw around the word "addiction" too much. We say "I'm totally addicted to twitter" or "He's addicted to his stupid video games and won't spend time with me!" But are we really, truly, addicted to these things? Will we seriously go through withdrawal without them? I think not. *

Most people, I'm sure, would say I was addicted to the internet. I use it first thing in the morning when I get up and it's often the last thing I do before bed. I spend more time on the internet every week than I do most other things combined. It is my entertainment and often my support group. I check my favorite websites from my Blackberry whenever I'm away from the computer and have a few moments to spare.

Yet I can say, with certainty, that I am not addicted to the internet.

And how is that, you ask? (And if you didn't, just play along) Because I spent a whole week without it and didn't even miss it. While on our cruise this past December I had no contact with the mainland world. No facebook, no email, no blogging, no youtube, nothing. And yet, I didn't even mind because I was enjoying myself so thoroughly with my husband on our vacation. I could have paid some outstanding fees to connect anyway if I wanted to, but I didn't. A true addict would have.

Some people really have addictions. My mother really is/was addicted to Coke (the soda XD). She has worked hard not to have a dependency on caffeine. I believe that by throwing around the word addiction like we do we are undermining the significance of real addictions.

*I suppose it is possible to be addicted to twitter or video games, but I am willing to bet that a true addiction to those things is rare. Don't take that as an absolute statement though, just in case. =)

Perfect time to be sick.

My co-worker decided it would be a good idea to come to work with bronchitis, and pass it along to me. How thoughtful of her.

But at least it gives me a good reason to eat lots of potato soup, drink lots of root beer (my go-t0 drink of choice when ill), and sleep all day. I mean come on, that's stuff I usually want to do anyway!

It does kind of make me feel like Storm, though. The conditions outside seem quite similar to how I feel. I tried to use my psionic ability to create snow instead of rain, but it did work. Oh well.