Forty One Acres

It’s been said that the college years are the best years, but with so many working hard just to get through them we aren’t getting the experience necessary. Not just the experience needed for a future job…but also the experience that we need to be free functioning, open minded individuals ready for the real world. Many of today’s generation that are out in this reality are not ready for some of the choices that we have to make. But choices and decisions have to be made. There comes a point where many are going to have to accept a job in the meantime, until we get the necessary experience. This on the job training might come with the price of our youth, but keep the end goals in sight. Success will be made.

Experience is the key to so many job opportunities right now. However employers are less likely to hire you without it. The experience level of jobs is a catch-22 to many college students, recent graduates, and all people actively looking for work. But with the so many students working full-time to offset the rising cost of college it is harder and harder to get the experience necessary to work inside your field of study when you do graduate. Look at the numbers in 1985 366,000 were working full-time in college compared to 828,000 in 2000.

Time is of the essence…

The real world is not being kosher right now. And no, I am not referring to the MTV show of the same name. This world is extremely harsh right now, especially for those out there looking for a job, and that is a lot of people. According to the New York Times, the unemployment rate is at a 16-year high and forecast isn’t looking sunny with large corporations like General Motors filing for bankruptcy and having to close businesses. However as hard as it is to find a job, I believe I am fortunate to not only have a current job but also to live in the area in which I do. As a resident of the DC/Metro area, I’m fortunate to have so many different career opportunities open to me…

The only thing I need is experience…

To say I’ve disappeared from the blogging scene would be an understatement. I’ve been thinking about what I’ve wanted to write and what I would say, but alas I need to just work my way back into blogging. So instead of trying to do a rundown of everything I’ve been doing and thinking I’ll just unload over the next few days.

If you’re been reading my Facebook statuses or following me on twitter (www.twitter.com/fortyoneacres) then you would know that yesterday was Wholesome Wednesday. You are probably asking yourself: what is Wholesome Wednesday? Wholesome Wednesday is a day in which we do our part to clean the air…from profanity. A profanity-free day. Now some people will find this a lot easier than others, but profanity has become entirely to incorporated into many of our regular vocabulary.

Have you seen a PG-13 movie lately? The language they use in that rating now, compared to what it used to be, is shocking. Now I know things change, but we should be able to bring some decency and profanity back to our streets and tweets. Wholesome Wednesday includes profanity on and offline. Try your best to find new colorful language to use instead of profanity.

I’ve also sweetened the deal on my end. For every profane slip up that I incur I’m paying $2 to the banker. In the near future I plan to set up a PayPal account for all the participants in Wholesome Wednesday and all the slip up money will be donated to a charity. This charity will change on a monthly or so basis. As of now, the banker is my savings account…and I owe him $10.

If you know anything about me and my nerd swag then you know I’m a huge BlackBerry fan. I think its one of the most addicting phones on the market. Not exactly sure what it is about this phone….but it just all flows together very well. If there was one thing I didn’t really approve of was the lack of applications that were easy to find. Ever since the iPhone came onto the scene, users have longed for 3rd party applications that are easy to access, not expensive (or free), and fun/productive.

Users crave their apps to have variety and to add something to the functionality of their phones. So the iPhone users had their App Store, G1 users had their Android Marketplace, and BlackBerry faithful had nada. In comes BlackBerry App World.

The BlackBerry App World was supposed to be RIM’s answer to Apple’s App Store. I have to admit, I was cised when App World was about to be released. I was hoping and expecting a plethora of apps that would be free or moderately priced. What I found were a small selection of apps, many of which I had seen before. A lot of the other apps that I hadn’t seen were overly priced. Were are the free apps? That’s one of the appeals of the App Store and the Android Marketplace. The free apps. People don’t want to pay for apps. BlackBerry is missing the boat by having so many apps with price tags. On another note, there’s not that many apps.

I should give the BlackBerry App World more time to spread its wings, gain some apps, offer more free ones. But I, like most people, can be impatient especially when it comes to the handheld devices.

Post Script: And can we please get a dedicated YouTube app?

- This was a hard post for me to write. It’s somewhat difficult to make self critiques. However, once a honest critique is made, the necessary changes can begin. -

Sometimes I get disappointed with people. Sometimes people make me mad. What do I do about it? Usually nothing. I take the anger or disappointment and I pull anMLK and turn the other cheek. But I think what the real problem is that I’m disappointed with myself.

I don’t have standards for people. I don’t expect people to act a certain way. People act the way people act and I’m not surprised by the actions that people take. But I believe the fact that I don’t have standards for people, leads me not to tell people what I expect of them. When I don’t tell people what I’m expecting then they can act however. True it will protect me from the disappointment of people not living up to the expectations I had for them, but at the same time it leads to another disappointment of people not putting their all into activities because I will accept whatever is given to me. I will turn the other cheek, not really say how I feel and move on with my life. I’ve done that for years…and I’m tired of it. I feel as though people are taking advantage of my kindness.  I want to change…but after being this way for so long it’s hard to change without a strong catalyst.

But I have to do it, I have to get out of this position that I put myself in. The question is: How do I break the mold?

• Set expectations for myself and others. - I can’t become disappointed with people if they don’t live up to the standards I hope for if they are not well known to begin with.
• Speak my mind - I really have to state things I’m thinking. If I don’t like or approve of something then I need to make that known. I need to voice the opinions that I have in my head
• …

Those are the steps thus far I believe I need to take to make the change that I need. I already know it’s not going to be a quick change. It’s going to take time, but this is a change that needs to happen. Not only will this change be beneficial to my personal life but my career as well.

Even since I first heard this song I’ve really been a fan of it. Keri Hilson’s Knock You Down featuring Ne-Yo and Kanye West. Their interactions on the song is awesome. I’m a big fan of videos that tell a story and that’s exactly what this video does. Check the video and tell me what you think:

Keri Hilson’s album drops March 24th…so make sure to cop it. (However you get your music…)

Last night I saw the video for Ciara’s Love Sex Magic (featuring Justin Timberlake)…wow. I’ve always thought that Ciara amazing since her goodies first hit the scene, but this just took it to a whole new level.

Here’s the video so you can judge for yourself:

I wonder what the rest of the album is going to sound like. I’m hoping for the best because I hate when musical artist just fall off…

I heard this song a minute ago…it’s soo funny and the video just goes along with it.