If I had a million dollars....

We all know what we would do if we had a million dollars, right? Of course we do. Something like we'd buy a house, furniture for that house, and a fur coat (but not a real fur coat, that's cruel). But what about $20? What would we do with 20, count 'em, 2-0 big ones?

An Earth Day surprise was just chilling in the middle of the sidewalk waiting for me as I was walking home from my class on Tuesday night. It was a crisp $20 bill. I looked around at the empty sidewalk, let out a tiny squeal, picked it up, and continued on my journey home while contemplating the endless possibilities on how to spend the money.

I thought it'd be fun to track how the unexpected money is being spent and record the stories that go along with it for everyone's reading pleasure. Here it goes...

1st stop Kwik Star gas station-$20
After a very excellent late-night bike ride and tree climbing Earth Day adventure with my pal David (quick shout out to David: you're super awesome) we remember I have $20 to spend and naturally head to Kwik Star on the Hill. I'm checking out the goods and seeing nothing spectacular expect the best banana bargain in town. A rockin' 25 cents a lb! As compared to 69 cents at Hy-Vee. It's true folks-who-are-paying-way-too-much-for-bananas. Shop at Kwik Star. Then David spots it....the first purchase of the night...milk in a bag!
(with a complimentary plastic pitcher) The Five Iron Frenzy song immediately is cued in my head:
They've got trees, and mooses, and sled dogs
Lots of lumber, and lumberjacks, and logs
We all think it's kind of a drag
That you have to go there to get milk in a bag
They say "eh?" instead of "what?" or "duh?"
That's the mighty power of Canada.

BUT NOT TRUE!! Kwik Star has milk in a bag too!! And it's tasty...

Kwik Star purchases: milk in a bag, 2 ripe bananas, and a bag of gummy worms ~$4

With a remaining $16 and the night still fairly young, we head to our second site of purchase: Hy-Vee.

We find Hy-Vee in mess of shelf stocking and floor waxing. Looking for something to strike our fancy we don't really get excited about anything we are seeing down the aisles. Probably appearing rather lost and confused a friendly lady worker asks if we need any help. I tell her no but continue with the story of how I found $20 on the sidewalk earlier in the night and how we had already bought milk in a bag. She immediately begins throwing out ideas of foods that would go good with chocolate milk and gets really excited about this 3 layer Chocolate Fudge Cake as she takes us over to the frozen treats aisle (only on sale for one more day!) to point it out as she describes it to us. Neither Dave nor I were feeling chocolate cake but found it hard to tell the lady. So we thanked her, waited until she went on to something else and slowly walked away from the frozen treats.

Feeling like I had to buy something, we look down the blocked off (for waxing) candy aisle. Half-joking about how the one thing we want is down that aisle with another customer one of the waxer men must have heard us and offers to get us whatever we need. Feeling like a jerk and kind of guilty that he had stopped just for us, I without thinking, shout that I'd like Dots. Dots? What was I thinking? Dots and chocolate milk? Horrible decision. Anyway, Mr. Awesome Waxer brings over the Dots for me and that sealed the deal. I had to buy them.

Hy-Vee purchase: Dots~$1.50

Now as we are unlocking our bikes we look through the big glass windows in the cafe area and see the friendly lady sitting with her co-workers on what appears to be a break. We are jokingly commenting on her enthusiasm about the cake and I say, "Jeez we should have just bought her the cake!" David brilliantly responds, "It's not too late." Done and done.

2nd Hy-Vee purchase: 3 Layer Chocolate Fudge cake~$3.50

Shout out #2-Friendly Hy-Vee lady, I hope you enjoyed your cake. And I hope you shared with your fellow late-night workers.

Remainder ~$12

Two days later I'm in the Union after my morning class that I was (of course) a few minutes late to without breakfast. Resulting in a selfish purchase...

Pumpkin bread slices and hot green tea ~$2

Sorry, no great story. Except that the bread was delicious and the tea burnt my tongue a lil bit on the first sip.

Remainder ~$10

Later that day I get all the way to work (at the radio station) and realize that the next day was the birthday of my boss. I had intended on getting or making her a card but had completely forgotten! Rats! Having arrived a few minutes early for work I quickly changed directions and scurried to the closest campus convenience store (Biscotti's) to find they had NO birthday cards. Blast! So onward back to the store in the Union and success! I found a card, a perfect one for her and a tasty treat to go with it.

Birthday card and Kit Kat Bar ~$4

I arrived 15 min. late for work but my boss didn't seem to notice. Or at least didn't say anything about it. Later I successfully slipped the goodies into her purse like a professional birthday bandit while she was on the air and left feeling pretty good.

Remainder ~$6

.....To be continued as spending events occur....

Here's a teaser though....plans are currently in the works for a fun little sociology experiment involving money and trash....

Hope, peace, and friendship

Tonight in my Ethics in Communication class we discussed the issue on whether the United States should or should not boycott the opening ceremony of the Olympics this summer hosted in Beijing, China. The discussion got me pretty worked up for a Monday night, three-hour long night class in which I sporadically contribute (mainly for participation points) but only when I am between doodles on my otherwise empty notebook page. Or maybe I got worked up because I was one of only two people in the moderately-sized class willing to defend the notion of boycotting the opening ceremony.

As the Olympic charter states:
Fundamental Principles of Olympism

1. Olympism is a philosophy of life, exalting and combining in a balanced whole the qualities of body, will and mind. Blending sport with culture and education, Olympism seeks to create a way of life based on the joy of effort, the educational value of good example and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles.
   
2. The goal of Olympism is to place sport at the service of the harmonious development of man, with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity.
   
3. The Olympic Movement is the concerted, organized, universal and permanent action, carried out under the supreme authority of the IOC, of all individuals and entities who are inspired by the values of Olympism. It covers the five continents. It reaches its peak with the bringing together of the world's athletes at the great sports festival, the Olympic Games. Its symbol is five interlaced rings.
4. The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of practicing sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play. The organization, administration and management of sport must be controlled by independent sports organizations.
   
5. Any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement.
   
6. Belonging to the Olympic Movement requires compliance with the Olympic Charter and recognition by the IOC.

China is by no means complying with the Olympic Charter. They are not concerned with "the preservation of human dignity," and there's plenty of evidence of "discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender." Tibet, Sudan, Zimbabwe
are just some clear and recent examples of this in the news.

Standing up to China would indeed result in some negative opinions of the U.S. in the world (what's new though?). We may be viewed as once again trying to act as the world's "moral authority" and that's a valid feeling. The U.S. does not have a clean human rights history (slavery, torture, Iraq, etc). But just because we are not white as snow doesn't mean that we should just stand by and support an event that's supposed to be promoting hope, peace, and friendship while being hosted by a nation that oppresses its own people and continually supports other nations around the world (Sudan, Zimbawe) committing even worse human rights atrocities on much larger scales.

The spirit of the Olympics is not in the athletics. The spirit and values of the Olympics is peace, hope, friendship, honor, glory, and fair play. That is simply done through the means of the athletic events. The creed states, "The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well."

China has not followed through with upholding the values of the Olympics and should therefore not have support of any country who takes seriously what the Olympics was created to showcase. Hosting the Olympics brings in millions of dollars of revenue for the chosen country through tourism and whatnot. Should we give our money to a host country that's going against the Olympic principals?

The United States is obviously a strong force in the world and I believe if we make it public by boycotting the opening ceremony then many other countries will as well. This time around the European Union may be the first to take this kind of action and the U.S. needs to jump on board. China will get a strong message that globally people are unhappy with how things are looking. Some are arguing...but will that make China change, just boycotting a stupid ceremony? Who knows the results...but point is SOME country or countries have got to be bold and be willing to stand up to China otherwise nothing will ever change.

And perhaps it seems silly to just boycott an opening ceremony but it would be a big deal because it would send a clear message to China and the world saying we are not ignoring these human rights violations. In theory economic sanctions of some sort would probably send a harsher message but just leave the Chinese laughing as they watch our economy suffer the most from the policy. The U.S. needs to seize this perfect opportunity to defend human rights.

Choosing China to host the Olympics was a poor decision to begin with but I see one positive in all this. At least governments and citizens are having to finally acknowledge and show concern about the conditions the people who we share this beautiful earth with are facing everyday. That's at least a start, right?