The One Percent

Tonight I watched a great documentary called "The One Percent". You can watch the entire documentary on YouTube for free by clicking the link above. I did not hear about the documentary until my friend posted a link to the documentary on my Facebook wall. The documentary was created by the heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune, Jamie Johnson.

The documentary was created in 2006, more than a year before the beginning of the financial crisis, and more than 5 years before the start of the Arab Spring and Occupy protests. It hits on many interesting points with respect to the growing income and wealth inequality of the rich vs the poor in America (and rest of the world). I am surprised that the movie was created BEFORE the current protests, which means that people such as Jamie Johnson, Ralph Nader, Bill Gates Sr., etc. have seen the problems of the growing gap between the rich and the poor way before the financial crisis. Does this mean if it wasn't for the biggest recession since the Great Depression people would not notice how much they are being FUCKED by the corrupt politicians and the greedy rich bastards? That's sad, I must admit.

But it is probably not the people's fault. During the movie somebody (can't remember who now) mentions that the Congress does what the people want - except that the people are given false, misleading information that benefits the rich (not to mention the propaganda by the political parties) and therefore making it seem as if the people are the ones who Congress listens to.

I did say that I will not write any more posts about American politics, and I am not. This is not about politics. This is about the need for the majority of the people of the world to rise up against this inequality and do something about it. Anyway, this wasn't one of my best posts but I hope you watch the movie and learn something from it.

Optimism

I consider myself an optimist. When I look at the future, I will tend to focus on positive outcomes vs the negative ones. If something negative happens to me, I will take away as many positives as I can and try to rationalize the negatives so that they do not happen again. On the other hand, my father is a pessimist. He tends to focus primarily on the negative effects of any event. When I get a new job as a contractor several years ago, his main thoughts were, "What happens if there is not enough work? What about health insurance? What if the project is cancelled?" whereas my thoughts were more along the lines of, "I can make a lot of money. I get to work on a variety of projects and get varied experience. I will have a more flexible lifestyle."

I read this page today which made me think a bit more about optimism: The Road to Well-Being - The Plains of Optimism. I did not bother to check the references but there ARE references on the bottom of the page. The article/paper reaffirms my opinion that being optimistic improves your health and helps a person overcome negative events better than a pessimist. There are definitely good characteristics of a pessimist person. A pessimist can prepare himself/herself for negative outcomes since he/she will focus on those events. However, a pessimist will almost always worry about how something can go wrong and that can cause psychological and physical strain. I prefer to assume that good things will happen and worry only when the bad things happen but also prepare for those bad events. I used to think that this was being a realist but according to this paper it seems that it is natural for an optimist to more realistically evaluate a negative event than a pessimist. This more realistic evaluation helps an optimist prepare better for the next event by more accurately dissecting a negative event.

I don't think I will change any pessimist's mind with this post but I hope some of you start thinking more positively :).

American politics

Cartoon by Ben Garrison

This is my last political post. I am so fed up with American politics that I cannot take it any more. I have been following the debt ceiling debate for the last few weeks. At the same time, the audit of the Federal Reserve was going on upon passing of a bill by Congress requesting the audit. Today the results of the first audit of the Federal Reserve were released. I was stunned, speechless and so angered by both issues that I almost had a heart attack. Well I'm done as of today.

I'm done with paying attention to American politics. I will go out of my way to not watch any news reports, read any news articles, engage in any discussions related to American politics. If I do, I will die. Simple as that. My heart will not be able to sustain the anger and frustration I will feel. Therefore, after the end of this post, there will be no more American politics in my life.

If you are of a sound mind, have been educated to a level of an average human being, and been raised with reasonable morals then you can see why am I so angry. I don't even know where to begin, there are so many things that I could talk about that anger me. First off, there are only two political parties and they are both crooked. The Americans don't even have a choice, as the cartoon above shows. No third party has ever gained significant amount of votes (read: more than one) in order to have any influence on the policies. Second, the entire Congress consists of rich people. The average net worth of a Congressman is times and times above the average American. There is no fucking way those rich bastards can represent the will of the people. Yet the Americans continue to elect them. Wait, the Americans don't elect them - the corporations do. That's the third point, the American voter actually has no influence on the election since no matter who is actually elected, that politician will vote in favor of the numerous corporations who donated money to his/her campaign.

That's just the tip of the iceberg. Here is what defines the Republicans: denial of the global warming; anti-gay stance; anti-abortion; anti-education (they actually want to teach creationism in schools! WTF!!!!); religion influencing the schools; low tax for the corporations so they can pay their fucking CEOs more money; taking away the bargaining rights of the union workers so the Koch brothers can pay their workers less and lower their cost; attacking other countries because USA is addicted to oil; reducing social programs such as social security, medicare, medicaid because you should only care about yourself and not your fellow man; deregulate so that the corporations can hike the prices, deliver low quality products, and slowly kill you along the way; lie about everything then blame it on the Democrats; purposely mislead people by using Fox News to flood the minds of the viewers with lies, inaccurate "facts", accidental "errors" in opinion polls or scientific studies or quotes or whatever is actually beneficial for the viewer to make an educated opinion about something; taking away personal freedoms in exchange for "a more secure America"; and so on.

Democrats are bad, not as bad as Republicans but they have also been paid off by the banks and corporations. Look at the results of the audit. $16 trillion went to the banks and other companies, not only in America, from the Federal Reserve. And these same banks are taking away people's homes, hiking interest rates on credit cards, charging enormous banking fees, literally stealing money on the stock market, causing the housing collapse, and so on. Both Democrats and Republicans allowed this to happen and they fucking knew it because they are both paid off by these same companies who received these bailouts. Jesus Christ, over $2 trillion to Citigroup but they want you to pay $35 for an overdraft of 15 cents?

Finally, let's talk about the debt ceiling as an example. The Democrats have actually decided to lower the spending by making cuts in absolutely most essential social programs (i.e. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid). The Democrats also want a moderate tax increases in order to make the rich pay their fair share, which would also help lower the deficit. Guess what? Republicans are not agreeing to it and are actually blaming Democrats for the fucking deficit. Republicans have for God knows how many years (since Reagan?) been claiming that if you lower taxes and decrease spending the economy will grow. But they have absolutely NO FACTS to back up this argument and people keep voting them in and agreeing with them. The taxes are at their lowest since the 1950's and they think the taxes are already high? Are you fucking kidding me? And since Bush enacted the tax cuts, the debt has gotten substantially larger yet the CEOs are making about 500 times the average worker (25 times the average worker in 1980s) while unemployment is high and dollar is losing value. So now the Republicans won't agree on the budget plan because they do not agree with the tax increases even though they have no proof that their policies work (not only do they not work, they literally cripple the economy; the only people that do well are the rich bastards who get to pay less tax).

What is the worst of it all? What is what takes me over the edge? It's is the mind boggling stupidity and ignorance of the majority of Americans. They are so blinded by the right-wing rhetoric and are fed so many lies that they cannot see through all the bullshit that the Republicans are feeding them. They don't actually use their own brain to make decisions; they just do whatever they are told. If Fox News tells them that to raise the debt ceiling would be a mistake and against everything Republicans stand for, then that's it. Fox News will not tell them that the same exact politicians have voted to increase the debt ceiling 7 TIMES DURING PRESIDENT BUSH. But hey, why allow facts to get in the way of good propaganda?

I guess I can't completely blame the Americans. They have shitty education, are constantly bombarded by corporate propaganda which takes away their focus from how badly they are getting screwed by those very same corporations, they work so much that they can't be bothered with political issues when they come home, their kids are brainwashed as we speak into believing Jesus will save them and being gay is evil ... ah, fuck it, I give up. I've lived 16 years in America and I've had enough.

I ran out of energy to write. I am so outraged by what I am writing that I can't even write coherent sentences. I will leave you with the wise words of one great comedian, George Carlin. He summarized it the best. On that note, I swear (to tell the truth and the whole truth ... whatever) that I will never talk about American politics again.

George Carlin on the American Dream


"….there’s a reason education SUCKS, and it’s the same reason it will never, ever,  EVER be fixed.

It’s never going to get any better, don’t look for it. Be happy with what you’ve got.

Because the owners, the owners of this country, don’t want that. I’m talking about the real owners now, the BIG owners! The Wealthy… the REAL owners! The big wealthy business interests that control things and make all the important decisions.

Forget the politicians. They are irrelevant. The politicians are put there to give you the idea that you have freedom of choice. You don’t. You have no choice! You have OWNERS! They OWN YOU. They own everything. They own all the important land. They own and control the corporations. They’ve long since bought—and paid for—the Senate, the Congress, the state houses, the city halls, they got the judges in their back pockets and they own all the big media companies, so they control just about all of the news and information you get to hear. They got you by the balls.

They spend billions of dollars every year lobbying, lobbying, to get what they want.  Well, we know what they want. They want more for themselves and less for everybody else, but I’ll tell you what they don’t want:

They don’t want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. They don’t want well-informed, well-educated people capable of critical thinking. They’re not interested in that. That doesn’t help them. That’s against their interests.

That’s right. They don’t want people who are smart enough to sit around a kitchen table and think about how badly they’re getting fucked by a system that threw them overboard 30 fucking years ago. They don’t want that!

You know what they want? They want obedient workers. Obedient workers, people who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork. And just dumb enough to passively accept all these increasingly shitty jobs with the lower pay, the longer hours, the reduced benefits, the end of overtime and vanishing pension that disappears the minute you go to collect it, and now they’re coming for your Social Security money. They want your retirement money. They want it back so they can give it to their criminal friends on Wall Street—and you know something? They’ll get it. They’ll get it all from you sooner or later ‘cause they own this fucking place! It’s a big club, and you ain’t in it! You, and I, are not in the big club.

By the way, it’s the same big club they use to beat you over the head with all day long when they tell you what to believe. All day long beating you over the head with their media telling you what to believe, what to think and what to buy. The table has tilted, folks. The game is rigged and nobody seems to notice. Nobody seems to care! Good honest hard-working people; white collar, blue collar it doesn’t matter what color shirt you have on. Good honest hard-working people continue—these are people of modest means—continue to elect these rich cock suckers who don’t give a fuck about you….they don’t give a fuck about you… they don’t give a FUCK about you.

They don’t care about you at all… at all… AT ALL.  And nobody seems to notice. Nobody seems to care. That’s what the owners count on. The fact that Americans will probably remain willfully ignorant of the big red, white and blue dick that’s being jammed up their assholes everyday, because the owners of this country know the truth.

It’s called the American Dream—because you have to be asleep to believe it."

Not much to say today

I think the cartoon pretty much summarizes it. I've got nothing to say. Really, not much going on in my head right now. I'm watching a show where the guests are discussing Rupert Murdoch's testimony on the "News of the World" phone hacking scandal. There was nothing much on before that.

You see, I'm on a business trip and since I did not bring my guitar and I am not in my familiar surroundings, I'm pretty much thoughtless. We spent the day working then going to dinner and after all of that, I went back to my room. I really have nothing to write about.

On that note, I'm going to bed. Good night.

Reading

I enjoy reading. It has been a long time, I must admit, since I have read an entire book. It took me months to read the "Vanishing Face of Gaia" by James Lovelock. My friend gave it to me and even though it was a fairly easy read because it is a scientific book, it still took me a long time to finish it. These days I always find excuses not to read (too tired, have to get this and that done, forgot to bring the book on the plane, etc.). I am making a pledge to get back to reading and it is starting today.

Movies are enjoyable because they depict somebody's imagination. It is somebody else's imagination, not yours. Books, on the other hand, force you to invoke your own imagination. All books are just words on paper yet by reading those words, life awakes in front of your eyes. People's faces appear, you can see them smile, cry, witness their concern, feel their pain. Landscapes are displayed in your mind with trees, hills, rivers, birds, grass, stone, and so on. Eloquent words can describe a place or a setting in such a way that you feel like you are there, seeing it with your own eyes, touching it with your hands, feeling it with your skin, and hearing it with your ears. That is why books are so great - they stimulate your imagination.

I used to read all kinds of books when I was younger but as I grew older my taste has focused on two kinds of books, scientific and books based on real events. Fiction was my favorite when I was a kid and a teenager. I used to read the great Yugoslavian World War II stories written by Branko Copic. Oh, I enjoyed these because they had so much humor in them yet they dealt with a very serious issues of German occupation of Yugoslavia in WWII and with the battle for freedom. During the same time I use to read lots of UFO, mystery books, books that dealt with the paranormal because they were thought provoking and fascinating. Of course, I also read lots of fairy tales as a kid. Lately though I prefer books based on real events such as the D-Day (Stephen E. Ambrose). I guess simple fiction does not interest me as much any more unless it is somehow related to actual events or if it is exceptionally well written. I do read books which focus on scientific issues such as "The China Study" or "Vanishing Face of Gaia". Most of all though, the books that have captured my attention over the last few years are books about or from Bosnia.

My favorite book is "My War Gone By, I Miss It So" by Anthony Loyd. My friend Brendan suggested this book to me when I was visiting him in Canada (if I remember correctly). He read it and said that I might like it since majority of "action" happens in Bosnia. Wow. I was blown away while I was reading it and it enters my mind any time someone is talking about books. The book is essentially Anthony's life from 1992-1995 which he mostly spent in Bosnia, England and Chechnya. It is his life, not some fictional character and made up feelings. The stories that he tells are real, people are real, events are real. Please, please read this book if you haven't yet. It will grip you and will not let you go. You will feel every minute of Anthony's life and you will understand the horrors of war like you have never before.

Another book I would like to suggest is "Blood and Vengeance: One Family's Story of the War in Bosnia" by Chuck Sudetic. If you want to know the root of the conflict in the Balkans, this book will explain it to you, backed by historical research. On top of that, it is a tragic story of one Bosnian family which the author follows throughout the book. Again, it is a factual book, documenting real events happening to real people, as well as describing the history of the area known as Bosnia.

I'm off to bed now and will read a few pages of a book by a Bosnian author Mesa Selimovic. My mother bought me this book awhile back and even though it is in English, it is very well translated. I hope this post gets some of you to start reading again without finding stupid excuses. And read "My War Gone By, I Miss It So"!

Do you want to know what makes me cry?

I don't cry much. I am not a baby any more so I won't cry when I get hurt or when I'm hungry. There is no special reason for me to cry these days. I'm happy and there is nothing in my life that warrants sadness to the point where I would cry regularly.

But if there is one thing that consistently made me cry since I was 14, that would be anything reminding me of my country. Maybe to put it better, what makes me cry is anything reminding me of the good old days and the events that caused many of my countrymen and I to move out of Bosnia, not to mention the deaths of many people because of a horrible war. Watching a Bosnian movie that relates to the war or listening to a song from the old days would almost certainly bring tears to my eyes. It is difficult to hold the tears when a scene like above comes on. Actually, it is almost impossible.

The scene above is from a Bosnian movie "Remake". It was made in 2003 and it is a moving story not only because it encapsulates the war in Bosnia but also because how the story is told. In the scene, a young Bosnian man is asked to sing a song in front of the Bosnian Serb soldiers. He chooses to sing a song called "Il' Je Vedro Il' Oblacno". This song is an old Bosnian traditional song called "sevdalinka" or "sevdah". These songs were written long time ago and tell various stories, mostly about lost love. Some sevdah's are faster and comical but mostly are slow and emotional. If I listen to a particularly emotional sevdalinka, I will try very hard not to cry.

Today is consequently the Bosnian Day of Mourning. The Bosnian government decided that 11. of July will remind the people of the genocide in Srebrenica. I guess I could not find a better way to express my feelings than to let you listen to this song.

By the way, the full version of the song was recorded by a band "Kultur Shock". I like this version so here is the link: Kultur Shock - Il' Je Vedro Il' Oblacno.

"The Network" and a beautiful Irish day

Have you seen "The Network"? If not, please, for the love of God, see it. There is a reason why this movie won 4 Oscars, one of them being for Best Writing. I was absolutely blown away.

Not often do I watch movies that were made in the 70's for the first time. The movie is older than I am. I have seen parts of the scene pictured above over the years but never the entire scene nor any other parts of the movie. I was intrigued because I've heard many critics talk about the movie yet it was always a mystery to me. The movie started off kind of slow even though the set up of the movie basically happens in the first 5 minutes. The movie did progress slowly but the longer it went on, the more captivating and riveting it got. I was actually expecting a different movie, with the scene above being the pinnacle of the movie. I was completely wrong!

If you haven't seen the movie, don't read this paragraph. The story starts off with the news anchor being fired after many years of the job simply because of declining ratings. Starting with his last two weeks on the job, he goes on air and announces he will "blow his brains out" live on TV next week. Hilariously most people working behind the scenes don't even notice his rant (excellent premonition). Finally a few people alert the main producer or whatever he is and they try to get him off the air. He is promptly fired but asks for and gets one more show. The next day he goes off on a another rant but this time he's allowed to go on because his boss is pissed at the company who recently purchased the TV network. Instead of ruining the show, the ratings go up and this is basically where the story starts. Ironically, the news anchor is ranting about the fact that everything he and the TV network do is bullshit and all they are doing is dumbing down and lying to people. Yet the ratings go UP and the network takes advantage of this. And it just gets better from here. There is marriage infidelity, (fake) political movements, corporate greed, emotionless corporate woman, sensationalism (does any of this sounds familiar)?

The reason why the movie is so great is because it pinpoints exactly what is wrong with the society ... TODAY. It's as if the writers could predict the future and reach deep inside of people's psyche. In essence, the movie predicts a rise of today's "mainstream" media. However, there are so many different angles to the story, each of them intrinsically connected and beautifully portrayed in the movie, tying back to the point of the movie. The acting was impeccable even though in the beginning it seems amateur. I have no idea how the director pulled that off but the character development and acting flows so well with the story line.

Watching the movie should alert the viewer to the perils of modern media. If you didn't see through their bullshit up to this point, after watching this movie you should.

"The best way to discover new places is not knowing where you going and just let yourself get lost."

On the lighter note, I watched this movie after a perfect Sunday afternoon. I wanted to go cycling up to the hills of south Dublin and the day could not cooperate any better. The sun was shining, clouds were interspersed like sprinkles on a cake, there was little wind and the air was remarkably fresh. I didn't know exactly which way I will go but I did map out a route to get back to the spot where Klara and I went hiking last week. The area was called Rathmichael and it was on the way to Powerscourt in Enniskerry.

The route I picked went pass an area I worked so I was kind of familiar with the surroundings. As soon as I went pass the Dundrum Shopping Center which is the furthest south I cycled so far, I was immediately but pleasantly surprised. I took the wrong turn at a roundabout so instead of going back to the round about, I stopped at the end of an overpass and spotted what looked like a cycling trail. I cycled down and took this mini trail through the woods towards the road I was supposed to be on. Oh, wow, what a beautiful little trail that I didn't even know existed. It went between a neighborhood on one side and a little forest and a park on the other. There were some teenagers relaxing on the grass, a lady was walking her dog, some more teenager lovers. I ended up at the road I needed to take.

I took Sandyford Road up the hill. The further up I got the more envious I got of the people who lived there. Everything was on the hill: pubs, shops, apartments, houses, parks. It was so beautiful and peaceful. It's such a different part of Dublin that I would have never discovered if I didn't jump on my bike and went on a mini-suicide ride. Oh, it was so nice cycling up there. Looking at the Dublin mountains from Phoenix Park seems as if there are no people living there or at least there is a lack of big buildings and streets. On the contrary, there is a whole other country up there, seemingly disconnected from rest of the world. The big buildings and streets don't take away from nature either. It is so well integrated with green areas everywhere and so much attention was paid to leave the old trees and parks.

As I made a wrong left turn and whizzed down one of the tree covered roads, I ended up at a roundabout where there was a big apartment complex built. Yet, the complex seemed like it belonged there. It is so difficult for me to describe this. Maybe it's the architecture or maybe it was the day itself but it seemed so well integrated into the surroundings. Anyway, I had to cycle WAAAY back up to get back to the main road. Then I cycled some more up the hill and finally made the correct left turn. I literally broke the speed limit going down. I hit 62 km/h!!!! In a 50 km/h zone! I cycled right pass the area where Klara and I had to jump over the fence to get away from the horrors of the highway.

I didn't know where the road was going to take me. It went all round the quiet neighborhood, the road was covered with old trees. I ended up at a major road, the E1 I think. I stumbled upon another little park but I got out of it and started looking for a place to take a break. As I cycled down E1 for kilometer, I wanted to get away from the main road so I went through a little passageway which took me to a road parallel to the highway. This road eventually took me to a major road (read, main going through a town but only two lanes) on which I discovered what is now one of my favorite parks, Cabinteely Park. The park was like something from a fairy tale. The perfect grass, the rolling hills, a pond, people relaxing, kids playing, sun shining, old trees, a brook passing under a bridge. Simply magical.

I took some photos of the park. You can see them below. I rested for a little while and ate my banana. I took off after 30 minutes or so then headed home. It took me another 18.5 km to get back and by the time I got to my apartment, I was exhausted. In total, 48.5 km of cycling and not a single regret. Ireland in the summer is beautiful.

A church I saw on top of the hill while cycling on Sandyford Rd

This is where I rested. Heaven exists here

Sleeping

I love to sleep. That picture above could easily be me. I'm happy in my sleep.

Many people, mostly college students and adults will use the phrase, "sleeping is overrated". I completely and utterly disagree. Not only is there no merit to that statement but there is overwhelming evidence that lack of sleep is unhealthy. I'm not going to make this post a scientific discussion and start linking all kinds of sites describing various sleep studies, scientific explanations, etc. I'll just use my own experience and experience of others as my proof.

First off, let's talk what is an adequate amount of sleep. Scientists say 8 hours, or simply one third of the day. That is just the right amount of time needed for the body to refresh. If you've ever taken naps after being tired from either not sleeping enough or after strenuous physical activity, you would notice that for every unit of time you sleep, you will be fresh and awake for about 2 units of time. So 15 minutes of sleep should give you at least 30 minutes of quality awake time. Sometimes you can trick your body to be awake for longer than 2 units of time but eventually you'll crash and you'll need an extended amount of sleep time to recover.

So how do you feel after 8 hours of sleeping and after a normal, average day? Most likely great or at least with no complaints. If I sleep 8 hours after a normal day, when I wake up I am more focused, have more energy, I am more driven to get things done, think clearly, happier, cheerful, you name it. I have absolutely no negative effects of sleeping the "adequate" amount of time.

If I sleep less than 8 hours after a normal, average day, I do not feel so good. My overall feeling varies depending on the actual amount of sleep I got the night before. If I slept slightly less than 8 hours, let's say 7 hours, I will still have a good day but only after the initial 30 minutes of lousy wake up. Most likely I will need some coffee to get me through the day and I will possibly be able to go to bed at the normal time. If I slept 5 or 6 hours then I will have a very slow morning, eventually recover but still be ok for the first half of the day. Second half will be a race to survive until I get home from work and I can only recover from that by drinking two cups of coffee (or two double shots of espresso). I might be able to get to normal bed time but most likely I will either have a nap during the day or I will go to sleep early.

If I sleep less than 5 hours of sleep, forget about that day. I can hardly get out of bed, I have little energy, can't focus at work, will need to nap (losing more time out of my day), will generally be lazy throughout the day. Simply, getting less than 5 hours of sleep is not even worth going through rest of the day.

But if I sleep MORE than 8 hours and I had a normal, average day ... then I ALSO feel like crap. If I sleep 9 or 10 hours, I am just as exhausted and not focused like I would be if I slept 6 or 7 hours. The only time I can sleep for longer than 8 hours and still feel good is when I've had a very tiring day due to sports or some other physical activity or if I didn't sleep enough several days in a row.

My sleeping pattern has changed throughout my life, as I'm sure yours has too. When I was a baby (so I'm told) I used to sleep for 10-12 hours a day and feel great (I honestly can't remember). When I got to college, my sleep times started getting shorter but I could "handle" it because I was full of energy anyway. It started getting bad when I started working and needed to get up early in the morning ... 5 DAYS A WEEK! That's when the shorter sleeping times started to have an affect on me. Still, I continued sleeping less than 8 hours often because of many nights of partying and sacrificing the sleep to "live the life". However, after I noticed the lack of energy and increase of shitty days (which coincided with me getting older) and after experimenting with different lengths of sleep, I went back to the original 8 hours of sleep.

Now I try to sleep 8 hours or so as much as I can. I will rather come to work late and leave late but feel refreshed than get up early, cut my sleep short and shortchange the entire day.

Finally, in my pursuit of perfect sleep, I read about an application for Android phones called Smart Alarm Lite. The application uses the accelerometer in your phone to sense your movement while you are sleeping. It then wakes you up at a certain time interval during which you want to be waken up. It wakes you up when it senses that you started moving. The reason why you should wake at this time is because at the time the body is moving during sleep is the time the body is coming out of REM sleep, or Rapid Eye Movement sleep. Every human goes through several sleeping cycles, usually 5 cycles, during normal sleep period. Each cycle has a period of REM sleep although the last cycle is usually called REM sleep because it is the longest cycle. Unless you have a sleeping disorder of some sort, meaning unless you are NOT an average human being, your body will not move during REM sleep of each of the cycles. The brain essentially paralyzes the body during REM sleep. The initial cycles are shorter while the last cycle is the longest.

Ok, so why wake up after REM sleep? Because the period of sleep right after REM sleep is a period of light sleep, a period during which you can easily wake up. NOT ONLY THAT, but the period right after REM sleep is the period during which if you wake up, it will leave you feeling the most refreshed. If you wake up during REM sleep, you will feel crappy. If you wake up after early REM cycles, you will feel better than if you woke up during those cycles. However, each progressive cycle leaves you feeling more refreshed, especially the last one. Therefore, you ideally want to go through all 5 cycles, which in total take about 7-8 hours and then wake up right after the last cycle.

The Smart Alarm Lite application senses the body movement after the REM sleep and it wakes you up. The key is to set the alarm for about 8 hours after you go to sleep and set it for a sufficiently long interval so that you don't get woken up during REM sleep. For example, if I go to bed at midnight, I will set the alarm for 8 am with a 45 minute interval. That means that at 7:15 am the application will trigger the alarm only after it senses movement. The application senses movement the entire night (and it displays the chart of your movement) but will not wake you up until it hits the trigger point. I used it twice so far but both times I woke up earlier than the alarm. I'm going to use it for the next few weeks and report on the results.

For more information on sleep, please see http://www.helpguide.org/life/sleeping.htm.

Happy sleeping!

Music as I experience it

I'm back after almost two months. No excuses, just laziness.

Originally, this post was titled "Is music worth anything?". Honestly, I can't remember why I titled it this way and I can't remember what exactly was I going to write. It must have been something about how so much music is downloaded without paying for it and how it hurts the artists who are not filthy rich. Instead, I decided to write about something I said I was going to write about in one of my previous posts.

I know that I experience music differently than most people. I am not sure how many people experience the music like I do. I have met only few in my life and most of those were musicians. To put it simply, music makes me high. Whatever makes you high (including drugs), that's what music does to me. It takes me to another state of mind where my imagination runs wild. Feelings awake in me that I don't feel otherwise. If I close my eyes and let my body move to the music, I move in ways that if I completely let myself go, it can look pretty scary. I'm not talking about dancing but un-choreographed movements related to feeling the music.

I can go through a wide range of emotions during one song. It can make me feel happy, intense, angry, inspired, etc. All of the emotions can be overwhelming and exhausting. It's difficult to compare it to anything. It could be like finishing the most tiring sport match you can think of, winning or losing, depending on the song. The emotions can drain me or uplift me. The song can leave me thinking about something or, completely opposite, put me at peace.

I listen to music to release emotions, much like sports relieve stress. Just the same, I listen to music just to feel alive because allowing myself to let go while listening to a song lets me experience emotions I otherwise wouldn't. The music makes me feel alive!

My favorite song of all time, "Creep" by Stone Temple Pilots. Happy listening.

I am 31 years old today ... and loving it

Pioneer 10 Final Assembly

I was born on this day, 25th of April, 1980. That makes me 31 years old today. It is late and I do not feel like writing much so I will leave you with a Wikipedia article that lists significant events that happened on this day through history, births and deaths of famous people, and world's celebrations. I chose a photo of the final assembly of Pioneer 10 spacecraft, since I work in the industry and I also consider myself a "pioneer" (this is what many kids were in Yugoslavia prior to the break up of the country - pioneers). Communication was lost with Pioneer 10 about 8 years ago but I am still communicating loudly.

Enjoy! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_25

Can't say that (in America)!

Copyright Save the Internet

As I sat down to devour a few slices of bread covered in Nutella spread in front of the TV, I saw that the Daily Show with Jon Stewart is about to come on. I am a fan of the show and used to watch it in America on Comedy Central. Since I arrived in Ireland, it was difficult to catch the show since I didn't know which channel carried the show. Also it aired a day after the original making some of the headlines not as exciting.

Well I haven't seen the show in over three months. I switched over to the show which is broadcast as the "Global Edition". Now, what was the first thing I noticed? Even before the show started, the lovely lady voice announced that there is some strong language in the following show. I was thinking there would be words like "damn", "pissed off", and similar not-so-vulgar-but-might-be-offensive words and that the swear words would be bleeped out, like in the regular version of the show I used to watch in America.

But nooooo, not in Ireland. Strong language meant there would be proper cuss words in the show, such as "fuck", "pussy", "shit", etc. I have to tell you, I was so relieved to hear the words without the bleeping. God damn, that felt good! For 16 fucking years I had to put up with ignorant American censorship of TV, radio and movies. I have watched quite a few documentaries about the roots of censorship in America and the influence of private organization and minority groups on the government policy with respect to restricting free speech in the media. The Americans don't even realize how sheltered they are from everything because of the censorship in the media. It is difficult for most Americans to develop as "normal" humans by being prevented from hearing, seeing, and reading about the "controversial" aspects of life. They are "protected" by the special interest groups from the horrors of normal life through the use of censorship.

I thoroughly enjoyed the show. The lack of censorship improved the overall message of the show and allowed Jon Stewart to fully express himself in order to make his points come across stronger than they otherwise would if he was bleeped out. Uh, I really fucking hated watching movies and shows on USA, TNT, TBS, ABC, NBC, whatever, because they were always modified to remove sex scenes or bad language and shortened to give more time to the commercials. I remember watching movies where complete scenes were taken out that the viewer who hasn't seen the original movie would not even have the pleasure of experiencing because of censorship. There are scenes that simply need to be seen in order to fully experience the show.

I'm so glad once more that I am not in America any more. Those Jerry Falwell-like groups cannot reach me here. Fuck them and fuck their attempt to silence people's expression.

Wanna know what gets me high?

This ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6w2M50_Xdk gets me high.

I can't even begin to describe the emotions I get when I watch this video. Hopefully you will feel something, something you won't be able to explain. Enjoy.

A win!

F.C. Bosna

We won! We won! Team with a new coach, some new players, and lots of heart won another game tonight. F.C. Bosna scored 4 goals and let only 1 in. It was a great game for this team because we just got a new coach who is teaching the team how to play organized football. This is the team's first season so it is a great accomplishment to win any games at all seeing as most players never played organized football or they never played with each other.

I played last 25 minutes or so. I've got a painful heel injury on my left foot so there goes my planting and half of my speed. It's been killing me for the last three weeks but I'm playing through it. When you're passionate about a sport you have to sacrifice time and your body. Fuck it, life's too short for me to worry about some shitty heel injury keeping me from playing. I'm not some bad ass footballer but I love the sport and I've only got this one life in which to play so I'm going to play through anything save for the life-threatening injuries.

Hopefully I get better by Sunday because we have another game. This time it's a cup game so there's extra time and penalties if it's tied in regular time. It will be fun either way. Can't wait!

Another full day

hello@ready2spark.com

It's late and I'm tired so I'll keep this short. I had another full day of life activities. Did the work, cycled, ate food, watched football, sorted the laundry, cooked, ate more food, played some guitar, wrote some emails, took care of some finances, and now I'm ready for bed. Life is so complicated these days, isn't it?

I'm kind of sick of the fact that we have to do so many things every day just to live normally. If I don't do the laundry then my clothes will be stinky (not terribly important) and dirty (important for health reasons). So if I don't want to be sick, I have to do the laundry. Then I have to cook in order to eat and cooking also requires going to the grocery store to buy food. Same thing with going to and back from work, it has to be done in order to make the money to buy the food and pay for shelter.

Maybe I should move to a remote location of the world, somewhere where I can live off of the land. Only work I would have to do is to make sure I eat and am properly protected. I know for a fact that doesn't take 8 hours a day. I remember studying about a Kalahari desert tribe in Social Anthropology class in college. They only spent an average of 26 hours (or so) per week doing everything that is required to live. Rest of the time they spent doing whatever they wanted to do. But guess what? They were "happier" than people of any country of the western world. They were well fed, lived on the go, not too many diseases, not too many personal belongings. Who cares about material things - they were happy. And here we are, slaving away by working 40+ hours a week counting work, cooking, cleaning, driving, whatever. This tribe did all of this within 26 hours per week.

I'm depressed now. Ok, not really, just tired. Aaahhhh ....

Life overload!

Ha! I've been absent for a while. I have a good reason though. To be honest, so many things from this week are worth writing about that I should definitely continue to make effort to write every day instead of waiting for the end of the week. Now it's just an overload of information and it will be difficult to document it all without forgetting something or not going into all the details.

I've joined a football team this week. It is not just any football team, it is a football team composed of guys from former Yugoslavia (and Laly). Most of us are from Bosnia so the team is called F.C. Bosna. It is great to be playing organized football again. I missed it and even though I've been playing some pick up football on Tuesdays, I haven't played organized football since I left America. We train twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays and we usually play on Sundays. Oh, man, it feels good to play again and it's good to meet new friends. It will take a while for me to mend with everyone but all the guys are great so it will be much easier than with guys who weren't from my country.

In order for me to get to the training, I have to cycle on the opposite side of town from where I work. The team practices in Clonsilla which means that after cycling twice a week to train plus 5 days a week to work, I am now cycling over 100 km a week! I have to say that I am in great shape and that after another month or two of cycling, training and playing, I'll be like a freak of nature! I feel like I'm taking everything the nature has to offer (wind, rain, hills) and just breaking it down like a bulldozer going through a brick wall. I feel great, probably the best I've felt in my life because of cycling and football. I think it helps the fact that I am cycling from necessity and for the passion of the sport. This is making me not give up and, on the contrary, it is making me work harder. It is making me work harder so I am in better shape, so I can play football better, so I can cycle faster, easier, so I am healthier.

Today is also the first time I ate "cevapi" in Ireland. I think it's been over 8 months since I last ate cevapi. Oh, man, it was good! And we topped it off with some cold beer on a warm sunny Irish day and it was like being back in Banja Luka. I can't wait to eat some cevapi again next week.

Finally, I am watching the documentary about the first moon landing on Discovery Science called "Moonwalk One". What an amazing documentary. It contains "lost" footage of the entire mission which is simply breathtaking. It is remarkable that we as humans made it to the moon and the effort that went into making this possible is even more remarkable. Thousands of engineers, scientists, technicians, secretaries, you name it, have worked together over almost a decade to allow our missions to the moon. If we could only spend as much money on this kind of research as we do on wars ...

If you have a chance, please read some info about the moon landings and the Apollo program. It is amazing. 'Till the next post!

Updated blog design

I spent some time updating the blog design. Please let me know what you think.

Murder by Death, a band I just discovered

Murder by Death

Oh, sweet Jesus! I discovered a great band by accident. Meaning, I wasn't looking for music or listening to radio but reading a posting on a web site about an abandoned coal mine building that could be used against a possible zombie attack. Weird, I know but anyway, the guy who posted the original post and the photo left a link to a song by the band "Murder by Death" for some reason. Maybe it had something to do with zombies. Maybe it was the name.

I clicked the link and was blown away, albeit slowly. You know how that goes, you first hear one song and you're impressed, then you listen to another one, and another one and every song you hear gets you more excited than the previous one. Man, I haven't been this excited about a band since I heard Clutch for the first time.

Thing is, discovering new music is bitter sweet for me. On one hand, I am so happy and exhilarated that I found a great band, that I heard new music that fulfills me, invokes some emotion in me, takes me to another level, basically gets me high with the opiate combination of vocals, guitars, drums, other instruments. Ah, I love that feeling, makes me feel alive! It's hard to describe for people who don't care much about music or don't experience it the way I do (someone remind me, I want to write a post about how I experience music). ... On the other hand, I am sad that I haven't heard the band earlier, when it was first formed. It makes me think about all the time I could have spent listening to this new music and all those feelings I've seemingly thrown away.

It's such a shame that I haven't heard this band earlier. There are no genres that can describe this band and there shouldn't be. Take them for what they are. Listen.

Murder by Death - Steal Away
Murder by Death - Brother
Murder by Death - A Second Opinion
Murder by Death - Dynamite Mine
Murder by Death - Fuego

Sleep is what I need

I cycled over 30 km today and played an hour of football. That was after a full day of work. I'm nacked (tired) so I'm going to sleep now. No posts tonight but I did want to mention that I didn't think the dating post would be such a hit with Klara's friends, hehe.

Good night!

The dating scene (or, can't wait until Klara does speed dating)

http://www.savagechickens.com

I promised my friend Klara that I would write about dating. She's a bit of a control freak and forced me into writing something about dating. You see, Klara will do speed dating soon and is feeling somewhat insecure about it so she wants me to do it also, so we're in the same boat and she won't feel as awkward doing it. I said that I'll maybe do it some day and best I could promise is to write something about dating in general on my blog. I don't know what I will write about, I'll just start and see where it takes me.

I've dated since I was 14 (?) or so. In my teenage years it was called trial and error, not really dating. You didn't know "the rules" back then and I just moved to America so even if there were "rules", they just changed drastically for me. So, as a teenager you're just learning and can't really call that proper dating. Skip away to adulthood and here is where it gets interesting.

First off, how do you even meet someone? My preference is the social scene, that would mean pubs, clubs, parties, coffee shops, concerts. Pretty much every girl I ever dated, I met in one of those places. I did do Internet dating once but that was a miserable failure although it lasted over 6 months. I never went to church and I'm atheist so that's out of the question (plus, as my friend Doug says all the time, a lightning would probably strike me if I ever entered a church). Some people like to do clubs and classes - running clubs, fitness clubs, book clubs, cooking classes, wine classes, etc. I've never tried and maybe I should because pretty much all of those things interest me. Plus, what can be easier than showing up at a wine class, gulping down some sweet wine, and hitting on equally buzzed classmates? Sounds foolproof to me - damn it, I gotta do it!

Anyway, back to the first step. Besides meeting girls/guys through friends, family, cultural events, and all that other stuff ... what about speed dating? I've never done it, it has been an overdone cliche in movies and TV shows, and I literally don't know anyone who has done it. Maybe Klara will be the first one and she can report back as to the efficiency of the process. How can you really like someone after 3 minutes (as Klara tells me the rule is) to ask them out? Allegedly you don't actually pick anyone for a date that night, you just indicate your choices and you follow up if with a date if you choose to do so. I'm a big believer in chemistry because I've seen it happen many times to me so I guess 3 minutes might be enough for me to pick a girl based on chemistry alone. But what about other aspects such as interests, political views, religious views, how they eat their food, do they like to be spanked, how much money they make, are they racist, do they listen to Justin Bieber, do they think "New Moon" was better than "Twilight" (correct me if those are not the correct names of those movies)?

My point is, how do you really know if you like someone in that short amount of time? Is chemistry enough to get you started AND keep you going, if it turns out some of the aspects of their personality you can't stand. If it doesn't work out, do you go back to speed dating? What if you click with more than one person? Do you rank the chemistries then go out with multiple people and then decide which one is the best? Interesting.

I guess to answer that first question, let's see what you talk about during speed dating. Do you even go into details like your nationality, family members, religious views; or do you focus on interests like music, movies, hobbies; or do you see if they have a sense of humor; or do you challenge them intellectually; or do you just sit there silently and wait for the other person to say something just to break the silence; or do you touch their hand and see what the response is; or do you start asking them questions and never say anything about yourself until they ask you; or do you focus on their body language and simply make casual conversation about sunny days and the Irish economy? Or maybe you do all of the above in 3 minutes (highly unlikely since most people can't even read those sentences in less than 3 minutes) (also highly unlikely for a guy to do any of that if he's faced with a fierce opponent such as an extremely hot girl with cleavage showing, hot red lipstick and a point blank stare into your eyes - I think we would just mumble anything that would come to our mind at that point).

So, Klara, tell us how it was and we'll follow up this blog post with a discussion. By the way ladies, I'm single and I DON'T like to be spanked.

How does the world get out of the recession?

Tax the Super Rich Now or Face a Revolution

For my first politically themed blog post, I will post the one that I agree with the most in recent days and the one that enrages me the most. I agree with it simply because it is true. It enrages me because no revolution has happened yet and I am sick of the elite getting away with bribery, corruption, stealing, money laundering, tax evasion ... all without a single person going to jail.

I have been getting mad, "mad as hell", for the last 5 or so years with everything that has been going on in America. I just can't take it any more. I try not to read these kind of articles any more because the anger just makes me feel so powerless. The more angry I am, the more I realize I can do nothing about it and it just makes me feel sick, literally. I tried getting others to see the truth but most simply look the other way, or worse - they actually believe the bullshit they feed them and they try to drown me with their ignorant comments.

Therefore, I hope this is the last article I post related to America and everything that's wrong with it today. In the future, I hope to post only enlightening stories such as the Japanese businesses agreeing to forgo the tax cuts they were supposed to get in order to help the government rebuild their country and help their people. I will try not to get enraged by comparing the positive stories with the American negativity, greed, corruption.

Please read the story, especially if you live in America. I don't any more, and thank God for that. It's your mess to deal with now. I am not coming back.

Just the tip of the iceberg (sorry Klara!)

I promised my friend Klara I would (maybe) write about dating, speed dating in particular even though I have never done it. I guess I was going to write about my thoughts on dating but that can wait until some other time.

Just before I was about to write a post, I took a look at the Google Blogger main page, my account page. On that page there is a list of blogs I follow (which is just my father's blog) and there is a suggestion of blogs to visit at the bottom of the page. I decided to click on some of the blogs. Wow! I was blown away by the variety of types of blogs, people who write them, subjects and styles of writing, photos, templates, blogger's countries, and so many other things. I quickly realized that this was just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to exploring the world. In less than 10 blogs there was a surgeon from South Africa talking about his experiences as a surgeon, a couple of food blogs where one is health food and the other is food recipes from across the blog world, two music-related blogs, one blog from an Australian woman who is a recovering drug addict with kids, and couple of art-related blogs, one in particular that caught my attention because it had wonderful photos of Paris splattered all over it.

Just amazing! I started this blog because I just wanted to write but also hoping some of my friends would read it, and maybe, just maybe someone I don't know would find it and take an interest. However, after seeing just how many people out there write about everything, it makes me think just how minute we are in this world. No, I'm not disillusioned; this finding also makes me realize how connected we are in this day and age. Less than 30 years ago, people would have to special-order newspapers and magazines from other countries or even cities if they wanted to read somebody's daily thoughts and experiences. Now we can just type some search words into Google and find a wealth of information. We can connect with people from different backgrounds which can help us develop our own personalities and improve our own lives. All with the click of a button and some keystrokes.

I did decide to follow one of the blogs because I want to read about food recipes. I love food and I like to cook but I want to broaden my cooking repertoire. However, I do not want to get caught up in the constant lurking on the Internet. It is overwhelming and it does not lead to improvement of your life; on the contrary, I think spending too much time acquiring information on the Internet can only help stagnate your life since the information you learn can never be utilized ... because you're constantly on the computer. So I will read some blogs here and there, maybe comment here and there but I will stick to writing my own blog. Is that selfish? Maybe but I know what I want out of life and spending hours upon hours on the Internet is not what I want. Spending the summer vacation on the beach in Croatia without Internet access is what I want. Summer, when will you get here?!

Dating, next time. For now, if you can spare half an hour of your time, go visit some blogs and prepare to be amazed by what the world and people have to offer.

Oh, the wonderful nature

Today was a gorgeous day in Dublin. It was sunny with little cloud cover and a little bit of a breeze. It was a seemingly perfect day. So I went to Phoenix Park which is a massive park just outside of Dublin city center. Phoenix Park is more than twice the size of Central Park in New York. I thought the Memorial Park was huge but Phoenix Park is actually larger. There are a couple of unique characteristics of the park; for example there are herds of deer living in the park. I saw some today relaxing in the expansive fields inside of the park. I only had a chance to explore the park for about an hour so I didn't get to see everything. I can tell you one thing, I'm definitely going back next weekend, even if the weather is not nice.

What really surprised me was the emotion I felt when I got to the park. Something wonderful took over me, it was a happy feeling, feeling of belonging. It felt good to be in nature, away from buildings, street lights, pubs, etc. There were lots of cars, probably not as much as in some other parks but there were also lots of people walking and cycling. I think more people came to the park on foot or on bicycles, at least that's what it seemed to me since I didn't see that many cars. I also loved being around people who are also enjoying the nature. It wasn't like sitting in a coffee shop or grocery store or on the street. It felt like everyone there was free but we were all part of one organism. Ah, it was so great to see people relaxing on the grass, kids running around and getting dirty, all this bustle and hustle but in a way much different than what you hear in the city. I felt so relaxed and fulfilled when I was cycling to the park. I stopped and took some photos, more for others than for myself. I want others to see what nature has to offer and what people have preserved for themselves. I want to share the emotion I had with everyone else. More importantly, I hope to inspire you who read this blog and see these photos to go out into nature and explore. Just go, get out of the house and climb a rock or hike through a forest.

Check out some of the photos I took. If anyone ever comes to Dublin, make sure you go to Phoenix Park. I am going back next week!

Teachers

Holy shit. Three for three. It's like I'm Michael Jordan playing against the Pacers and Reggie is talking smack. And I keep draining them.

This one will be short. Watch this video if you want to know why teachers are important and lawyers are assholes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxsOVK4syxU&feature=channel_video_title

Most definitely out now. Peace!

Incredible video - "We are all in this world together ..."

Fuck it, I'm going for two posts tonight - two for two. After I wrote my last entry, I went to reddit (a site a visit frequently) and saw a post with a link to this video. I loved the video and I would like You to watch it. Please check it out and leave a comment if you wish.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0oHlX8Kmxk&feature=player_embedded

This guy did something I would love to do one day. When I visit my friend Vinny in Brussels this past December, I met a friend of his and now a friend of mine, Tommaso. Tommaso is a guy full of energy and life and that is why he and I clicked. During the trip to Bruges two of us talked about writing a book about people's stories. This guy did something similar. He's one step ahead of us since he already did it. Tommaso, when are we doing this?!

I'm out. For real this time.

My mind is drawing a blank

It's late, after midnight, and my mind is drawing a blank as to what to write. In this situation I just start writing and keep writing no matter what comes to my mind. Eventually, something meaningful will come out. I think I learned this when I was in 8th grade, my first school year in America. At the beginning of the school year, the guidance counselor, an English tutor and some other people asked me to demonstrate my knowledge of English language. This happened about two months after we arrived to America. I remember the tutor telling me that I was very close but not good enough to start the school without being tutored in English. So she started tutoring me every day for the length of the first semester.

Part of her tutoring plan was for me to write a journal entry every day. It was difficult for me to write in English those first few months. Probably the most difficult part was actually coming up with something to write about. So she told me that every time this happens, I should just start writing anything at all, just to force myself to write. She said, "Just start writing, for example, "Today is Thursday and I have nothing to write about. I will think of something to write ...", and etc. I gotta tell you, this works! Tonight I sat in front of the empty blog entry for a minute thinking of a subject for the blog. I couldn't think of anything so I wrote that "my mind is drawing a blank". Next thing you know, I have an entire blog entry in front of me. Damn tutor, she knew what she was talking about.

I'm off to bed and another hard day at work. I have to put together an important set of documents that will "help advance the man kind". Good night.

Advancing the man kind

I can't believe it's been more than a week since I last posted. Lots has happened since then. The day after my last post, representatives from the European Space Agency (ESA) came to Dublin to discuss the progress of our project. Our project, you ask? To advance the man kind. Ok, that's a bit far fetched but seriously, this is what our little Irish project will eventually do - advance the man kind. It is hard for most people in the world to see the big picture, whether it be global warming, world politics, global economy or millions of other things that are affected by seemingly unimportant everyday activities such as driving to work, reading the news and buying an iPhone. It is hard for people to see the end effect of anything that happens in their life, including their job. The end effect of my job is advancing the man kind. I am proud of that and although difficult, I use it to motivate myself to do my job well. Let me explain what I mean.

I thought about this and I think anyone doing this kind of work must do it if they want to do their job well. I work for an Irish company that produces flight test equipment. Basically, our electronic hardware gathers sensor data such as temperature, pressure, strain, etc., converts it to digital signals and sends the data to another piece of electronic equipment that either records the data or transmits it to the ground electronic equipment that records the data. Our equipment is usually used on test flights of prototype aircraft and the sensor data helps the manufacturers analyze the design of the aircraft. This analysis helps improve the design so that the aircrafts are safer, more efficient, stronger, etc.

ESA looked at our equipment and thought that it could be used to gather similar kind of sensor data ... on the International Space Station (ISS). So we got a contract to develop a new system to be used in one of the numerous experiment racks on the Space Station that are used for various experiments. Most of the time experiments are projects like our own that have some sort of electronic equipment gathering sensor data. Well, our system would do that FOR the individual experiments therefore allowing organizations creating the experiments to use more of their time developing the actual experiment instead of developing the data gathering system.

So our system will eventually fly on the ISS, specifically the Columbus module, and will be used to gather sensor information from various experiments inside of the Columbus module. How does that help advance the man kind? Well, the experiments that fly on the ISS help scientists, doctors, engineers, etc. solve problems such as developing new materials, finding cures to diseases, understanding the world climate, understanding the universe, and millions of other issues that will eventually help us, humans, become stronger, healthier, smarter, more efficient, more aware of our actions, improve our world, become better people. And that is how my job and our project will help the man kind.

Damn it feels good to be ... an engineer.

Fab Five documentary and an office work amusement

I watched the ESPN documentary about the "Fab Five" tonight. The Michigan Fab Five were five freshman basketball players on University of Michigan basketball team in 1991 who ended up starting as freshmen and later as sophomores on almost all of Michigan basketball games in 1991  through 1993. They also reached two NCAA finals but failed to win either one. It was a great documentary and I encourage all basketball fans or sports fans to watch it. I liked two things in the documentary; Jalen Rose's honesty and the way these guys played basketball - like a team. They did not play like individuals like many teams these days. I'm not sure you can compare them to any other team in any other sport. There is no better documentary to watch prior to the March Madness so get in your seats, get some popcorn and watch it!

On a completely different note, I acknowledged one little peculiarity about people working in an office environment. I'm sure all of you have experienced it if you worked in an office. I see it (and do it) all the time but today, for some reason, I thought about it and wanted to mention it in my blog. When people are working in the office and they pass each other in the hallways, kitchens, doors, etc., isn't it funny how we nod and say hello to each other even though we are in the same office working together for half of the day, five days a week, months and sometimes years? I just find it hilarious and interesting that we do that. "How are you?", I say to John who acknowledges with "Ahem". Or a up and down head nod and I come back with same but smaller head nod. Ha, even better, the raised eyebrows and the come back is "Hey" or something like that. Freaking hilarious!!!

Anyway, I'm off to bed. Got to go to work tomorrow :).

One down, many to go

Today was an accomplished day, hopefully one of many to come. I got to work early, used my time efficiently, ate four meals (I made all four), worked out, relaxed a bit, played the guitar, read the news, and wrote on the blog. I love days like this! I just need to keep it up and keep it going for a long time (forever?).

It makes me feel good when I have days like this. I feel like I've actually progressed in life, unlike the days when I'm tired and lazy. Those days I feel like I'm actually going backwards, unlearning what I know and simply not contributing anything to the world. Ever since I moved to Ireland I have been wanting to change my life for the better. I want to explore nature like I used to do when I was a kid in Bosnia. There are so many places to see and feel, even just to smell the fresh air or feel the wind breaking across the top of a hill you just climbed. I think I'll do some hiking this weekend, maybe go down to Dublin "mountains" (I think they're more like hills), cycle down there, climb a hill, and browse the forest. Then I'll come home and write about it on the blog. There is just something fulfilling when you get things done in order to have time for the things you like to do. It's a natural high.

Seeing as I did soooo many things to day, I'm tired and I'm off to bed. I can't wait to get to work tomorrow and take on another day.

Need more time in the day

I just got done watching Totenham vs. AC Milan game. Game started about 45 minutes after I got home. I cooked during the game, ate the food, read the mail and then relaxed and watched the game. You know what sucks? It sucks that after taking care of the laundry and reading some posts on reddit, it's already 10:30 pm. Now I wouldn't otherwise complain but I like to play the guitar and having a chance to do it this late at night without sacrificing other interests, hobbies, eating, etc. just simply sucks. I need more time in the day. I need to start getting to work earlier, leaving earlier, stop procrastinating and get the chores done faster. No more bitching about it.

I'm off to play my guitar.

Friend on the far side of the world

It's late. It's past my bed time. Sometimes though you have to suck it up to talk to a friend, especially the one with whom you haven't talked in a while. I think it has been more than a year since I last spoke to B. Actually it's been more than a year since I WROTE to B, let alone talked to him.

Brendan, or B, lives in South Korea and has been for the last 6 years. That's a long time to be away from home, which is in Canada. Peterborough, Ontario to be exact, which I visited several times (it's a beautiful city, if you haven't been). It was great to catch up with Brendan because I rediscovered a reason why we became friends to begin with. We clicked right away, as if no time had passed since we last spoke. We also share many morals, ideals, have similar views on life. We're different in many ways but that's great because we acknowledge our differences, accept them, and we learn from those differences. At least that's what I feel.

We spoke for more than an hour. It was 8 am over there and 11 pm over here when we started. Much has changed during the time we haven't talked but yet so much is still the same. I moved countries and changed jobs, he changed jobs and moved cities. He's talking about going back to Canada, I'm talking about staying in Europe forever. Both of us want to "live the life" and both don't know a way to fit it all within the small time allotted to us in this life.

It was great to catch up and I can't wait to talk again ... within days, or months, but not years. Peace out, or as Brendan would say, Croatian chicks are hot!

What is a lost Bosnian?

Twenty years ago I never imagined I would be living in Ireland, after living 16 years in USA, no less. I was born and raised in Bosnia and Herzegovina, at the time part of Yugoslavia. Life was good for Bosnians in the 80's. There were jobs, economy was doing well, people were happy, there was peace. We were going on summer vacations to the Croatian coast, winter vacations on the Slovenian mountains and there was the occasional business trip abroad for my parents. Many kids must have been dreaming about the future in the similar way as I was; I will go to this and this school, attend this college, get a job, meet a girl, get married, and all kinds of Balkan craziness in between.

Then the war came to Bosnia in 1992. By the summer of 1993, my family and I left Bosnia and moved to Croatia. A year after that, we were making a great move across the ocean to USA. I was 13 when I left Bosnia, 14 when I left Croatia. Again, there were many kids who experienced the exact same scenario, many ending up in USA. At first, I quickly adapted to the new culture. English was easy to learn because in Bosnia I watched many English language movies and shows with subtitles. School was easier than in Bosnia with smaller work load and less classes to attend. Heck, even going away to college was fairly easy. I easily fit in with the new peers in America. Many were interested in talking to me because I was different and spoke with a heavy (probably for them, funny) Eastern European accent. I made many friends. The music was different but since we were exposed to American and British music in Bosnia, my musical taste did not have to change that much. Food was different but my mom always cooked at home so not much change there either (Denny's buffalo chicken strips are my favorite post-drinking food though!).

But as I graduated college, traveled across Europe and America, got a job, moved to a new city by myself, met new friends, had new relationships - as I matured - instead of finding myself, ... I was getting more lost. It took me several years to figure this out but I understood it once I started meeting up with other Bosnians across America. Every year on Memorial Day weekend for the last 7 or 8 years, there is a get together of Bosnians from my home town of Banja Luka. I went for the first time in 2005 and went every year until 2010. In that first year I met many other Bosnians from my generation, the generation who arrived to America when we were teenagers. I started to keep in touch with them. We visited each other in cities across America such as Phoenix, Louisville, Los Angeles, St. Louis, etc. It felt great to be a part of this new community since I did not hang out with that many Bosnians while I was away to college or back home.

However, there was one thing that Bosnians from my generation shared besides being Bosnian. We were all lost. What do I mean by lost? I mean, we literally did not know where we were. Everything about us and our lives was misplaced. Our friends were a mix of Bosnians and Americans. We can't hang out with both at the same time since we want to speak our language when we're with Bosnians but then the American friends would be alienated. But we knew many Americans better than our Bosnian friends and that caused tension. Our American girlfriends/boyfriends did not understand our cultural differences but then we couldn't find a "suitable" Bosnian girl/guy to date. We wanted to listen to Bosnian music but who can keep up with the new Bosnian music when you don't even live in the country any more? We grew up on American music but the American music doesn't touch us like our own. The way we socialize with other Bosnians is one way and the way we socialize with Americans is another.

We did not belong in Bosnia and we did not belong in America. The older generations, who were 20 and older when they came to America, already developed their personalities and could withstand the impact of new culture. The younger generations did not live long enough in Bosnia to absorb many of the characteristics of the culture and were molded quickly by the American culture. But us, we were struggling to establish our personalities. Life in Bosnia shaped us half-way then America took over. And those two sides are constantly battling.

I am not sure how many other Bosnians feel this way. I hope they voice their feelings. There must be many other immigrants who feel the same way.

Anyway, I know this wasn't very well written and I could have said a lot more but I'm tired and I'm going to bed. Right after I play a bit of Bosnian music on my guitar ... followed by a few chords of "Creep" by Stone Temple Pilots. Good night from a lost Bosnian soul.