What Motivates You?

I've been contemplating this a lot recently. What motivates us? Me, you, your friends, your spouse? Are we motivated by posters? By ads? By pop-stars? By sticks? By carrots?

And how do we motivate others? Is the answer to our problems taxes and tazers? Do we motivate people to lessen their environmental impact by force?

Or do we motivate people to lessen their environmental impact by appealing to their altruism?

Can we use force to get people to care, or does force turn people off? Will cap and trade or a carbon tax or another top-down approach make people care more about the environment, or will it make them care less?

What do you think?

To Buy or Not to Buy?

Well it seems like everyone's talking about cell phones this week and it's made me think a little about mine.

For years I always went with the no-frills free phones. They would conveniently fall apart right about when my contract would expire, so I would dutifully re-sign with my cellphone overlord, get my new crappy free phone and continue on with life. I never questioned this until my phone fell apart a mere six months after I had purchased it. Given the option of paying full price for the crappy no-frills phone, I instead opted for the magical land of eBay where I found a used phone that, yes, had some scratches, but worked perfectly. And lo! Me and my cell phone were happy for a year and a half until it basically went kaput.

At that point I was getting ready to move to the UK so I took a friend's old phone that was UK compatible with me. And it's served me quite well for the past year, but I've had it for almost a year now, and I believe my friend had it for over a year before me, and there are signs that this cell phone may well be on its last legs.

Now back when I bought my first phone off of eBay I swore I would never buy a new phone again. Why sign a contract to get a crap phone when I can get a perfectly good phone at a decent price off of eBay. I only ever got the stupid no-frills phones anyway, so what does it matter.

Except that phones have changed since I made that edict and phones are increasingly no longer just phones. More and more of my friends have iPhones and Blackberries and their phones can do cool stuff like tell you how to say giraffe in Portuguese. So I fear that I am succumbing to the Shiny! Technology! Greedy! Gremlin.

I mean I'm not. Not yet, anyway, because A#1, my phone still works and A#2, I'm an unemployed student with no cash to spare.

So for now, my principles are intact.

But I do kinda want an iPhone. And I kinda hate myself for kinda wanting an iPhone.

But WHAT DO I DO IF I NEED TO SAY GIRAFFE IN PORTUGUESE? What then?!! Think of the children!!

I know, I know ... new cell phones are incredibly damaging to the environment. And I have principles.

So I'm not buying a new cell phone.

I guess I'll have to wait until I get home to my laptop computer in order to translate giraffe into Portuguese. Or else start learning Pourtuguese.

I'm back?

So exam five out of six ended today, and I think I should probably get back into some form or routine. Including blogging, jogging, and losing the ten pounds of exam weight I apparently put on.

As I transition back to a normal schedule of blogging for the first time in what, ten months, is there anything you would like me to blog about? Because I am likely to be slim on ideas for awhile, so if you don't want blog posts about what I had for breakfast, you know, tell me what you want me to chatter on endlessly about.

So Beany asked me the other day about how I felt about the tube strike (hence the photo of the tube.) As she correctly recalled, the tube strike did not affect me directly since I live in walking distance from campus. It did affect my friends who do not live so close to campus and who also received a rather nasty email from the university saying that the tube strike did not constitute a valid excuse for being late to an exam.

Anyway, I wasn't particularly bothered and politically I support the right of unions to strike in general, but the two days of the strike I have never seen so much car traffic, foot traffic, and bikers. The car traffic especially was a disaster and a good reminder of why public transit is our friend. I heard some of the bikers tried to campaign to get people to bike more even on days when there is no tube strike. But I don't think they really succeeded as now that the tube is back up and running, it doesn't seem like there are more bikers on the streets. Perhaps if they had tried a massive naked bike ride during the tube strike ....

Photo from flickr user gnackgnackgnack

Um, awesome.

Apparently, the Queen is becoming a locavore and growing a garden at Buckingham Palace for the first time since World War II!! Check it out.

30

And I still haven't saved the world yet. What the hell, man?! ;) I guess that's going to have to go on my list of things to accomplish by 40.

Ironic

Isn't it ironic that a fracking BLOGGER's biggest problem in exam preparation is ... that writing thing?

Seriously.

I'm good with the knowledge.

I'm good with the argument.

But the structure?

Oh, the structure is my nemesis.

Apparently my examiner's are not so thrilled with my waxy prosey style of writing wherein one point flows to another without an intro paragraph saying, "First I will talk about this. Then I will talk about that. Lastly I will discuss this."

Yeah, I threw out that crap in the 9th grade.

But it's back in my essays now! And I suck at it, but am hoping that somehow, somewhere, I'll pull structure out by Wednesday.

So... that's where I am. But meanwhile, there's a cover meme going around wherein people share their favorite cover songs. So, here's mine. I heart U2.

Ahahahaha

Sorry about that guys. I totally left you hanging in the midst of my three part series that none one of you cared about. Sorry!

But in my defense I have been totally totally busy having a melt down over exams.

Today I almost cried in a professor's office. It was that bad. And let me tell you, you do not cry in your very British male professor's office. Because they do not know what to do with that kind of emotion.

Although to be fair to my professor he was beyond nice, and so comforting, and talked me through my panic mode, and then I left his office, and studied in the park and all was well.

But anyway, once again I have to ask you all to just sit back, relax and check your Google readers as we've hit a bumpy spot and I may not be posting much at all for the next ... twenty days. Thank you all for your patience during this ridiculous year.

Wish me luck!

P.S. Am eating a lot of ethically produced chocolate over at just means. You can catch my reviews this week.