WARNING…it’s getting cold.  Don’t be fooled by this mild weather we have been having lately people, its still November tomorrow.  I think we are all getting fooled by this not so super cold weather.  When the cold comes it’s going to hit us all hard.  So what can we do? Well all that I can tell you is to be prepared, don’t think you can get by with we a long sleeve t-shirt and a pair of shorts.  Nuh uh.  Not gonna happen.  As I started searching for warmer clothes these past few weeks I got excited to find all my hoodies.  Hoodies are sweet (awesome, great, super-duper, enter your favorite adjective)!!!  I even went and bough a brand-new one from the bookstore. 

Hoodies, also known as a hooded sweatshirt, hoody, or bunny hug (wow who came up with that?), in their modern form originated in circa 1930.  The first ones were produced by Champion for laborers in frozen warehouses in New York.  Its popularity grew tremendously in the 1970s, at the same time that hip-hop was becoming popular in New York.  Also beneficial to the success of the hoodie was its appearance the movie Rocky.  Furthermore, it was very popular first in California where young skateboarders and surfers often wore hoodies.  The popularity then spread east.  The characteristics of the hoodie were evident in the Middle Ages:  formal clothing for Catholic Monks included a cowl, or long, decorative hood wore in addition to the robes.  The hoodie is characterized by a hood, a large frontal pocket, often a string in the hood to adjust the size, and sometimes a zipper in the front.  

The hoodie is quite possibly the most versatile garment of clothing on the planet Earth.  You can choose to wear the hood on your head and place your hands in the large front pocket for maximum warmth, or you can choose to put the hood down if it’s not so cold.  You can wear a nice hoodie (possibly one with a zipper or bottons) from your favorite animal-logo store (ie. American Eagle (the eagle), Abercrombie (the moose), Hollister Co. (the Seagull), Aeropostale (the cute lil’ dog), etc.) with a pair of jeans and you’re ready to go out a movie or dinner or whatever.  Meanwhile, you can wear a sports logo hoodie or a university hoodie with a pair of sweats for a more casual looks.  No matter what type of hoodie you are wearing, one of the advantages is that you can use the hood as a pillow when tired.  You just bunch the hood up in a ball on one shoulder and then rest your head there.  It makes for a good on-the-go pillow.  Furthermore, that front pocket is great.  Look how much stuff you can fit in there.  Phone, wallet, keys, deck of cards, a slice of pie, a Ricker’s soda-pop, your toy matchbox cars, your collection of bottle caps, and even you favorite stuffed animals!  Really though…that thing is a lot bigger than it looks!

So the bunny hug (if you don’t know what this is scroll back to the top and read more carefully this time) really is great, isn’t it!  I know I love it.  I am just going to leave you with this piece of advice…while doing research for this blog (no I don’t have all of this useful information in my head) I found that hoodies are looked down upon in the UK because many thieves use them when stealing as to hide their faces from security cameras.  Some shopping malls have even banned people from wearing hoodies. 

Soooo…if you go to the UK be careful wearing hoodies as you may be suspected of theft or being part of some thug society.

That’s all for now.

It’s cold, go buy a hoddie!

So this past weekend (Fall Break) I actually didn’t get the chance to go home because it was the start of our basketball season. It was a long few days of practice and we all worked really hard. The best part is that I now know that the season is starting. I have been waiting for a couple months for basketball to start, and it’s finally here!

I think we have a very strong team this year, and besides that I think we have a great group of guys. In just two weeks (on Nov. 3) we get to travel to Muncie and play Ball State in an exhibition game. I am really looking forward to this challenge. These kinds of games against much bigger Div. 1 schools are always a lot of fun, because we get to see just how good we are.

Basketball is a lot of work, long practices and lifting along with school work each night really strains us all (as it does any collegiate athlete) but I really believe the experiences I get are all worth it. I’m only a sophomore, but last year the team got to travel to L.A. for a couple games and a lot of fun. That along with just having met and grown close to a lot of people I may never have even met without basketball, makes it all worth the work. And, don’t get me wrong, I love getting the opportunity to compete and work hard everyday in practice.

Well, I have to go now, I have work to do.

I hope you all a great fall break!

Godspeed.

Sooo…Last Monday I watched the very first episode of the first season of the critically acclaimed tv show Heroes. As of right now I am getting ready to watch episode 18 (A kid down the hall has the season 1 DVD). Yea, that’s 17 shows in 7 days. 17 times abour 45 minutes each (there are no commercials on the DVD) is 12 hours and 45 minutes. Honestly, I loved every minute of it, and I can’t wait to finish this blog and get back to it. But, at the same time I feel like I may have wasted some time. Mostly just sleep time though…my roommate and I will be getting read to go to bed at about midnight and we’ll decide to watch one episode before bed…

But…people…this is where I start to hate Heroes. Its so good that you can’t just watch one episode. And, they hook you soooo bad. Every single episode ends with those 3 infamous words…”to be continued.” UGHH. And not 0nly that, but I swear to you that every episode ends mid-sentence. For example…it’s like someone is getting ready to unveil who the real killer is and then you see those 3 words. Oh my it kills me. But its so stinking good I can’t help to keep watching.

I really think I’m addicted to Heroes, but I’ll soon be done with the 1st season. I think the day I do finish it will be bittersweet. I guess then I’ll have to start watching the 2nd season on TV….oh gosh…I can’t handle those to-be-continued…’s for the 30 seconds it takes for the credits to roll and to switch to from 1 episode to the next, how am I going to handle having to wait a whole week?

Gone to watch some Heroes…

Z

(Yes ladies and gentlemen, those are my smart glasses. When I put them on I feel inclined to write about something ingenious-well maybe that’s a stretch).

As you sit there right now reading this what are you thinking? Let me tell you, most likely if its not the weekend you are thinking, “Man, I like this Zach Gray and his blogs, but I wish it were the weekend.” And if its already the weekend you are sitting there thinking, “Man, I like this Zach Gray and his blogs, I just wish I had a longer weekend to read more of his stuff.” Yea, maybe you do or don’t like me, but that’s beside the point; the real issue is how much we as human beings love the weekend! So what can we do to increase overall joy in human life? Give us more weekend!!! How can one deny that this is a good idea? There are several reasons for which I believe that the weekend should be extended…

So, I propose a 4-day workweek and and 3-day weekend. All we would need to do is take the 40-hour/5-day workweek and make it a 40-hour/4-day workweek. If you do the simple math it simply means that you work 10 hours a day rather than 8. What is 2 hours a day? Its definitely worth another day of weekend fun! Schools and colleges should do the same thing as well. College students on the high end take about 17 hours per semester, which averages to 3.4 hours of class per day. If we went to the 4-day week students would gain a whole day without class and only have to go to class on average for 4.25 hours per day. Students, what is 0.85 hours (51 minutes) a day? Shoot I know I could just eat a quicker lunch, watch a little less TV, or just not take quite as many naps (although they are great).

What are the positive effects of a 4-day week? One of the biggest benefits is evident when you consider what we in a 5-day week call “hump day.” “Hump day” is Wednesday, the exact middle of the week, the day that when it is over we all feel great because we know we are in the 2nd half of the week. I mean, seriously, everyone loves Thursday and Friday because you know the week is almost over.

“Hump day” as illustrated by this hill above, or can be thought of as the hump of a hippo or camel, can be dissolved into nothing! What do I mean? Well, please consider the following…(Thanks Bill Nye the Science Guy)… What is the middle day between 4 days? There is no middle. So with a 4-day week you fall asleep Tuesday night, and instead of having to get over the hump, or get through Wednesday, you automatically jump to the second half of the week. I know, this really is amazing! Between 11:59:59 p.m. on Tuesday night and 12:00:00 a.m. Wednesday morning you would experience the passingover from the first half of the week to the second half.

Some may ask how this idea of a 4-day work week would affect the economy. I strongly believe that it would help boost the economy. If we simply added Friday to the weekend, Thursday would be the new end of the week and restaurant and movie sales would boost upward on Thursdays. Furthermore, Friday could still be a fun night for people to go out and do things and put money into the economy. Also, does a three day weekend not promote travel? Families will have more opportunities for family vacations. Not only does this help travel agencies, but it helps you! How? You don’t have to drive to work 5 days a week! You drive only 4 days a week. So you have that little extra gas money to spend on something else!!!

So what do you think? I know a shorter week could help depression because people would have an extra day to relax and if they need to, get more work done for school or their job. This could also give people more time to be active and do what they want. What is a more valuable use of time…two hours after work and dinner each night to watch mindless reality TV, or a whole day to go do something productive (build a barn, paint a fence, play flag football with your buds, go shopping-ladies).

So let’s do it people. Let’s demand this reform. We can make this happen.

Let me know what you think, I really am up for suggestions, comments, or criticism.

*Footnote: the idea of a 4-day week is not originally my own, it came from the noggin of a highly respected woman named Jessica Eberwine.

Can’t wait for the weekend!

Catch ya later.