Bowling Shoes

Bowling Shoes: the best investment you’ll ever make.

Think about it. Where do bowling alleys make their money? Games are often pretty cheap. Most of the time people go to the alley when a free game is available or if they got a coupon or a two for one deal. But there are always those shoes to buy. Because we can’t have those customers scratching up the floor with their “street shoes”. I would love to see the business model of these bowling alleys.

Think of every time you’ve gone bowling. Now multiply it by the $2 you have spent to rent shoes every time. Say that in your life you’ve gone 100 times. That’s $200. Now go to ebay. Look at all those shoes you can get for $5 that even offer free shipping. Now think of the future 300 times you’ll go bowling in your life. Bowling’s not leaving American culture anytime soon. By simply taking 5 minutes to figure out your shoe size and push “buy” on ebay, amazon, or craigslist, you could save about $600.

It’s so satisfying to go to the front counter, show them your own pair of fancy maroon and navy blue bowling shoes, and go bowl for about 1/3 of the costs that you usually do. Please. Please do it. For me. For all that is good about capitalistic America. Stick it to the bowling industry and maybe even go win a free game by bowling a turkey.

And on the flip side, the bowling shoe “look” is pretty in right now anyways. Save money, and be stylish while doing it.

Proof It

One day in my business class, the following joke was told. Once there were three penguins. The first penguin jumped into the water and yelled, “here goes nothing!”. The next penguin followed suit by jumping off the cliff yelling, “here goes nothing!”. Finally, the third penguin looked over the edge, and after much anticipation, yelled, “Seven!” and jumped off the cliff. Immediately, nearly my whole class erupted with laughter. I had no idea what was funny about that joke….so I did not laugh.

Turns out that the teacher was conducting an experiment. Before the class began he had told a few of the students that when he said the punchline, that they were to begin laughing regardless of if the joke was funny. So they did. The other students in the class, finding themselves in a situation where they didn’t know what to do (because the joke wasn’t really funny and they didn’t know if they should laugh or not), laughed anyways because that’s what everyone else was doing.

This little phenomenon is called “Social Proof”. Basically, when people find themselves in a situation in which they know nothing about it, they will automatically look to see what those around them are doing and then they will do it themselves. Kind of ridiculous in theory and kind of sad, really, but it’s the truth.

That’s why in the comedy shows they put on “laugh tracks” of huge crowds laughing after jokes. Because then we can laugh at the joke even when it’s not funny. Has anyone ever noticed how ridiculous it is that we are watching a TV show and there is audience laughter the whole time? It’s why sometimes people will form lines, even though they have no idea where the line is leading. Because if other people are forming a line, it must be the correct thing to do. It’s why at a basketball game if you didn’t actually see the shot go in or hear the bad call or even know what happened, you will clap or boo right along with the crowd, because you don’t know what’s going on, but you will follow the crowd because of social proof. It's used in doing class assignments, in driving, in friend interactions, in weekend plans, in most everything.

So before you do anything this week, I’d challenge you to ask yourself why you are doing it. Is it because you find yourself in an uncertain situation and are choosing to follow the social proof the crowd provides, or is it because you are deciding for yourself. It’s so refreshing to weigh the alternatives, make a decision based on your own standards and criteria, and then go for it.

And seriously, next time you watch TV, notice the audience randomly laughing in the background. It’s weird. Think about it.

Snooze

Last week I tried a little experiment.

During the middle of a morning at home, I set my alarm. Every time it went off, I would hit the snooze button, thus allowing it to ring 5 minutes later. For the next hour, I would hit the snooze button 12 more times, measuring out each 5-minute increment of my life.

It was amazing to see how quickly time passed. It seemed as though every 30 seconds I would be turning the alarm off. I found myself being ashamed for how little I had accomplished in each 5-minute segment, and ultimately in the hour. To my surprise, little distractions on the computer, a desire to eat a poptart or chocolate chip handful, staring off into space, and staying on one activity for needlessly too long, seemed to bite away my time in huge chunks.

Time is the only thing that we can never get back. And the man who uses each of his 5-minute increments the best will most likely be the most successful, the happiest, and the most satisfied for how things have turned out 70 years down the road.

Try out this little phenomenon for yourself and you’ll realize how much time goes down the drain every single day. And then you can do something to change, and to start living life each second that you have!

2011

I love sitting in airports, having time to think about where I’ve been and where I’m headed. I also love New Years- a time to think about the past year and to think about what lies ahead.

As I sit here in the Cincinnati Airport on New Years Day 2011, the combination leaves me not knowing what to think. Thoughts about my brother coming home from Russia in a few months, my sister moving away from Provo to Boston, my girlfriend waiting for me across the country, seeing my “little” brothers starting to grow up up up, me moving apartments and starting a new chapter, interviewing for an internship on Tuesday, experiencing another Christmas and reflecting on all the past ones, celebrating my 23rd birthday, starting all new classes, zeroing in on career and important life decisions….and on and on. And to add to that, I just finished reading “The Hunger Games” series and “The Five People You Meet In Heaven”- two things that’ll get you thinking no matter where or who you are.

I wonder what goes on in the heads of all these people sitting in the terminal- also in some kind of beginning and ending.

I think back on 2010. Two semesters at my beloved BYU, folk dance, Into the Woods, Murder Mystery, 2 months in beautiful Alaska, dates and dating galore, owning my first car (I love you Jamie Rose), roadtripping across the country, working as an EFY counselor, starting the business school, making great friends, starting a Glee group……

All these things happen. People and things come and go. And it all leads to right now. Everything always leads to right now. Everything I have done or seen and everyone I have met and mixed lives with has led to this moment. And on New Years of 2012 all that’s going to happen this year will have led to that moment. The days and years slip by and we’re always living Right Now. It's hard to put into perspective how much "doing" things really means.

I don’t really know where this is going. The airport/New Years effect is really just muddling my thoughts all together. I like to end my blogs with a challenge to the reader. With an invitation to do or change something. But you know what? I don’t have one this time. Just live life to the fullest so that at all times, all the things you have done can lead up to this moment and you can be proud of who you ARE, not so much what you have done. Because what you have done will always be in the past.

Now go have one heck of a 2011.

Christmas

I posted this article on my facebook a year ago:


Yesterday I had a realization.

Christmas. What is it? Is it a single day? No. Is it a season? Not exactly. Is it an idea? Not only. Christmas is:

A gift from God. It is such a huge gift that we, as humankind, can have a whole time set aside where we are better people. We give more service. We think about others more. We are happier and more joyful and hopeful about life. We catch the big picture of things. God in his mercy gave us this time to know what it feels like to be truly Christlike.

And then it hit me: it’s not Christmas that’s the gift at all. It’s Christ. God gave us Christ to make our lives better and give us a chance to be happy and be saved. That is Christmas. It is Christ. And in this season is it any wonder that when we are focusing on Christ’s birth and life and example we are happier, more giving, more complete people? Christmas is also:

A lesson from God. If, during this time of being what Christians should be, we find ourselves happier and in love with life and helping others, why in the world don’t we do that all the time? Part of this life is to learn and grow and become Christlike people, and during Christmas God gives us a free sample of what it feels like. God is trying to tell us that we can have this feeling with us all the time.

Christmas is not a day or a season. It’s a gift and lesson from God. Christmas is Christ. Living like Christmas is the way we can follow Him to become more complete and happy and love those around us.

Circle Circle Dot Dot

Want to do something epic?

Have someone stand in the middle of the floor. Stare into their face and pretend like you are a video camera, like a really nice one. Now, continually staring at their face, walk speedily around them in a circle, slightly below their head level. While doing this, hum some sweet theme song from Star Wars or Inception. It feels like the person you are circling is at some huge life crossroads and that they have to make a decision at that exact moment. Everything has come to this and they are at the point of no return. The decision encircles them and the suspense builds until....

Try it. It’s cool.

Don't Cry Over Spilled Milk

I learned this week why that axiom exists. Spilled milk is definitely something to cry over.

It happened on my way home from WalMart. I had just finished grocery shopping and had to run into Best Buy for something. When I opened my trunk, I found that a tiny hole in my milk carton had leaked about 1/5th of the milk into the carpet of my trunk. I had always heard the advice/adage that spilled milk should be cleaned up quickly because of how it will sour and smell bad. But, myself, having never had the experience of spilling milk and leaving it soak, ignored the age-old wisdom. I figured it wasn’t much milk, it was only in my trunk, time would take care of it, etc..

Well I was wrong. The next day the whole car smelled absolutely putrid. And the day after that it only got worse. I was absolutely amazed by the power of a little bit of spilled milk. Eventually I went online and googled, “how to get sour milk smell out of car” and went to work with baking soda, vinegar, and various drying techniques. It took a few tries, but thankfully the smell has now been conquered.

But what a lesson. In life, don’t we do this all the time? Our parents, history, and society so often give us wisdom. Wisdom and advice about girls, cars, college, raising kids, etc. But until we actually experience something for ourselves or actually see a real problem, we don’t really internalize the message or lesson. We all inadvertently choose to “learn the hard way” most every time.

But in some ways I’m grateful. A car full of spoiled-milk-smell is quite an experience. So is getting a flat tire. Or getting dumped. Or finding out in…whatever way…that “ya know what….they were right”.

But honestly, take it from me. Clean up the spilled milk ASAP.