The "To-Don’t List"

Does your To-Do list get too long? Does it make you feel overwhelmed that you have so many things you have to do? The solution: To-Don’t Lists.

Let’s face it: To-Do lists just don’t make you do everything (if anything). Why? Because you’re doing all the stuff you shouldn’t be doing.

Confused? No worries. Let’s take this example To-Do list:



This is only six short(ish) tasks; most To-Do lists are even longer. But instead of just focusing on what you have to get done, why not focus on the problem. In other words, what are you doing that is stopping you from completing this To-Do list?

Enter the To-Don’t list.

• Although SparkNotes is easy to use, rather than actually reading the assigned book in English, it doesn’t really work for an IB kid (guilt, reading quizzes…). So, add that to the To-Don’t list.
• Playing Super Mario Galaxy won’t get those lines memorized for the school play, even though it is the best. game. ever. So, make that #2 on the To-Don’t list.
• I do love surfing StumbleUpon and Digg, but it is distracting when trying to get homework done (because the Internet has tons. of. cool. stuff.), so add that to the list, dude! (Why does no one say “dude” anymore?)
• And, of course, although searching absolutely random search queries may earn you a few SwagBucks, it doesn’t help you do anything productive. Sigh.

So yeah. You get the idea.

Thanks to http://theidlelife.com/for-your-to-do-list-create-a-to-dont-list/ for the inspiration. Go there for an article about it!

Now go make a To-Don’t list! (And then tell me what is on it, cuz, you know, I don’t have enough procrastination material already…)

Tab Count: 24
WILT: Journey On from the musical, Ragtime

Mini black holes pass through the Earth on a daily basis… without causing any damage?

Scientist Lewis Bazley claims that mini black holes pass through the Earth on a daily basis without causing any damage. Read the article here, then let’s talk.

Image credit: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1386890/Revealed-How-mini-black-holes-pass-Earth-daily-causing-damage.html (the article)

This is an interesting proposition. Do you believe it? How could a black hole not cause any damage? Why haven’t we heard about this before? Will you blame black holes when your cell phone goes missing now? (Joking about that last one... everyone knows tiny green men are responsible for that.)

We already had some evidence of mini black holes existing in our solar system published in 2006, but this is the first time -- correct me if I'm wrong, for I frequently am -- that there has been talk of harmless black holes on Earth. What do you make of that?

Am I really interested in what other people think about this. Discuss in comments, por favor.

Tab Count: 15
WILT: I'll Make A Man Out Of You from Mulan (...seriously.)
WDCAPVNK8A7Q

The hidden power of smiling

“Ron Gutman reviews a raft of studies about smiling, and reveals some surprising results. Did you know your smile can be a predictor of how long you'll live -- and that a simple smile has a measurable effect on your overall well-being? Prepare to flex a few facial muscles as you learn more about this evolutionarily contagious behavior.”

Smiling is a great thing to make a habit of (unless you’re playing “Honey, I Love You” or some other game in which you lose if you don’t keep a straight face... those are rigged, anyway).

It means that you are happy, and it makes everyone around you feel happy, too. But is that all? Not according to Ron Gutman in this TED video:

Source: http://www.ted.com/talks/ron_gutman_the_hidden_power_of_smiling.html

Doesn’t this make you want to smile more? Or at least not get Botox (is that how it's spelled?) that will prevent you from smiling?

Tab Count: 11
WILT: One by Glee Cast; A Bad Dream by Keane

Become an IB Zombie in 5 easy steps

With years of research, including case studies, surveys, and the reading of complaining Facebook statuses, the experts here at Bite-Sized Daily Observations have created an easy-to-follow, fool-proof plan to help get you on that all-important path to becoming an IB Zombie.

1. Adopt a new mantra: “What homework?” - Put off all of your homework until a few hours before it’s time to get up and go to school. For example, if you wake up at 6:15am, start your homework strictly no earlier than 4:15am to ensure your success in being a zombie that day. If you have completed all of your homework by a reasonable hour, such as 10pm, you have FAILED. You don’t have what it takes to be an IB Zombie if you are able to complete all of your work by a sensible hour.
2. “Oh. Shoot.” -  Assuming you have followed the instructions in Step 1, you have a boatload of homework to do that has been piling up. At some point, however, you will notice that you have indeed done little work, and, consequently, you indeed have a lot of work still to do. When this wave of realization hits you, do not panic. And, most importantly, DO NOT TAKE ANY LOGICAL ACTION, SUCH AS BEGINNING YOUR WORK. Instead, log onto Facebook (like you weren’t already..?!) and post an angry status about how you are mad at whatever teacher assigned you the most work for tonight. If your history textbook is smirking at you evilly – or even laughing maniacally –, congratulations! You are one step closer to obtaining IB Zombie status!
3. Reality Check - Realize that, at this point, there is no way you can get all of this homework done thoroughly. Instead, resort to half-heartedly slapping down something on the paper. (Bonus points if you scratch out stuff and scribble in margins to make it look like you put a lot of thought into it.) Continue doing this until your alarm clock goes off (if you have timed it correctly, it should only take up to one more hour for this to occur).
4. Go to school, dead on your feet. - If you zone out at random intervals, talk weirdly, have the urge to hurt little children, and you literally hear your bed calling out to you all day, then congratulations! You have successfully obtained the highest honor of being an IB Zombie!

Disclaimer: We at Bite-Sized Daily Observations do not endorse procrastination, negative comments on Facebook or anywhere else, or hurting little children. Please, not the children.

SwagBucks – too good to be true?

Imagine an alternate universe in which anytime you used the internet to watch TV or movies, search for something, play games, or chat with friends, you would be paid. This alternate universe is called SwagBucks, a site that pays you in an online currency, “Swag Bucks,” just for doing these things. With these Swag Bucks, you can actually get real stuff, using their Swag Store. Sound too good to be true?

That was my first impression, too. But I researched it and found that it is legitimate, surprisingly.

So what kind of stuff can you get with Swag Bucks, assuming you have caved in and signed up for Swag Bucks?

Click here to get started with Swag bucks. When you sign up, you get 30 SB automatically!

For the interested, here are a few more resources about the legitimacy of Swag Bucks:
http://www.workonlineforum.com/reviews/swagbucks-review-scam-or-legit/
http://www.bukisa.com/articles/349483_is-swagbucks-a-scam

Tab Count: 16

Soooo cute!

Watch it. Don’t ask questions. Just watch it.

Blogger is back!

Blogger Buzz: Blogger is back

Hurray, ladies and gentlemen! Bite-Sized is now able to be updated once again!

Hot dogs + eating contests

This is my first blog post inspired by a Plinky prompt:

Would you ever participate in a food eating contest?

Short answer: Ew. No.

Long answer:

Common. That's just plain gross.

We strive to be politically correct here at Bite-Sized Daily Observations, so here is a picture of a person of a  different race (American?) participating in the same contest...  (joking, of course, but I found both pictures, so I wanted to use them both...)

Mhm. Still gross, yes?

A few interesting (unsettling) facts about hot dogs, the most commonly eaten food in an eating contest:

• Every summer, between Memorial Day and Labor Day, American’s will eat 7 billion hot dogs. That kind of makes me want to throw up.
• Americans will spend more than $1.9 billion on hot dog purchases in supermarkets this year. That kind of makes me want a refund. (I’d rather spend my money on identifiable meat.)
• On July 4th, Americans will consume 150 million hot dogs. The hot dog business suddenly seems very lucrative.
• Joey Chestnut won the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest’s top prize – a mustard yellow champion’s belt for the third year in a row last year when he ate 68 hot dogs in 10 minutes. *Sigh.* Only in America.

Regardless of our culture, it isn't natural to eat countless hot dogs! Please, do yourself a favor and refrain from going into the double digits with those cylinders of fake meat. You're digestive system can thank me later.

Question for ya: Well, I am obviously not exactly the eating contest type. Are you? Would you stuff your face with mystery meat for money or other prizes? Would you down ten in one sitting for, say…  $20? $50? Answer in the comments, por favor!

Tab Count: 8 (how did that happen?)
WILT (What I'm Listening To): Jar of Hearts by Lea Michele. Her voice is sooo beautiful! I'm jealous!

(It's from tonight's Glee.)

Addicted to tabs (in Google Chrome, I mean)

I am in love with Google Chrome. I’ve been using it since the very first version was in the works in Google Labs, and I haven’t used anything else since.

A great thing about Chrome is that each tab is a separate process, which basically means that you can have a tons of tabs open and it won’t slow down your computer like IE, for example, would.

So, with years of Chrome-ing under my belt, I’ve gotten a bit spoiled. On a normal day, I have anywhere between 10-25 tabs open at one time. Could be more (probable), could be less (not-so-probable).

Today is on the fewer side, with the current Tab Count at 13:

Wanna make it bigger? Just give it a click.

Ha! “Tab Count.” I can add that to the end of every blog post just like WILT (What I’m Listening To).

Soooo….

WILT: You Found Me by Matt Giraud
Tab Count: 13

Random “referral” links?

So, I think this is a little weird.

As always, click it to enlarge it.

For those of you who don’t have a blog on Blogger, I’ll catch you up: like most “webmaster tools” type things, Blogger offers various stats about your blog to the author. One of the things it tells you is where you are getting your traffic from – the referring links being a big contributor.

Here’s the weird part: in my list of “Referring URLs,” as you can see, there are tons of random, sketchy, seemingly unrelated links that apparently like to my blog, and people have reached my blog by clicking on those links.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m grateful for anyone who wants to link to me, but these just looked strange. I mean, a teeth whitening guide?!

Is this a new way to spam blogs? I don’t get how this would be spam, but then, what is it? Someone, please enlighten me.

Top 5 ways I wasted my time today

I had nothing important to do today, so, instead of doing homework or other trivial activities, I put lots of well-spent time and effort into worthwhile endeavors. Here’s the top five:

1. Blog surfing – About the only kind of surfing I am capable of. And that's only because Blogger is smart enough to include a "Next Blog" button on every blog so that there is always fresh content to look at. I haven't found any new ones that I particularly like, so if you know of any, let me know?
2. Watching a ridiculous amount of random YouTube videos – Sigh. What do I do with my life? If you find yourself with extra time on your hands and an internet connection, I suggest Charlieissocoollike and the Vlog Brothers. Yay.
3. Doodling randomly – Today I really had no life. But at least I drew some cool rabbits…!
4. Cooking – A more accurate term for my baking would be attempted murder of the kitchen and those around me. Stove + me = immediate threat to your life.
5. Organizing iTunes library – Seriously. Doing that takes a whole lifetime. Why can’t the music just organize itself like it’s supposed to?!

As a closing note, if you didn’t catch the sarcasm that was dripping off of this post, I worry for you.

WILT (What I’m Listening To) – If You See Kay by The Script

Honestly, when I figured out what the words "If You See Kay" was a play on, I was kind of disappointed because I love this song!! I mean, am I that slow? I always thought it was just about a girl named Kay. (Who names their child Kay, though? Unless the people who gave birth to you named you Kay... in which case I rather like your name... I'll just stop typing now.)

The venn diagram comparing mainstream music and meaningless music is a circle.

Why is it that a song can have the worst lyrics ever and no meaning whatsoever, and still manage to get to the top of the charts? Why is it that the worst songs are always the ones that become popular?! There are tons of great singer/songwriters out there that will never get a break, while these meaningless auto-tuned things make millions? HOW IS THIS FAIR?

Being a musician, I am very passionate about this topic. Being an owner of two ears and a radio, I feel especially passionate.

There are countless songs that are/were popular, but their lyrics are – as the British would say – COMPLETE RUBBISH.

One of many is Tick Tock (or whatever it’s called) by what’s-her-name:

WHAT IS THAT????

Songs like this should be mainstream, playing on the radio and on everyone’s iPods:

I find this video ridiculously entertaining:

A few, of the ridiculously many, of these wastes of money include the following titles. In fact, I could do individual commentaries on each of these, if I felt so inclined – similar to the one on Telephone above. I would totally do a mini-series of posts or something about songs like these, but I think my blog would have a sarcasm-overload.

• Tik Tok by Ke$ha (would it kill this girl to spell something correctly??)
• Friday by Rebecca Black (probably one of the first you thought of when I mentioned bad but popular songs)
• Telephone by Lady Gaga ft. Beyonce (see video above… hysterical)
• Like A G6 by Far East Movement (what does that title even mean?)
• Blah Blah Blah by Ke$ha (couldn’t resist putting her on here twice… this song is just so eloquent)

The list goes on. And on. And on. I mean, really, I should have just made a list of mainstream music that is good. A considerable amount of my life would have been saved.

Awkward reunions

Why is it that you can be good friends with someone – or at least have the ability to participate in light-hearted conversation – with someone, and then not see them for a while, and then, when you unexpectedly see each other again, it' is completely awkward and no one can think of anything to say? Am I the only one with that problem? Is that just me? Does my description of the scenario even make sense? Does this bother anyone other than me?

$10 Scam Game

I'm liking these Scam School videos (the other Bite-Sized post featuring Scam School's videos is about how to tell if someone is lying! Click -- it's cool!). Not because I am interested in scanning people for their money, but just because I find these kinds of tricks interesting. Haha.

Skip to 1:07ish to get to the point.

How to be a human lie detector

This guy says he can tell when someone is lying. Do you buy it? How accurate, if at all, do you think it is?

For me, this videos just make me want to test it out on people. So, if you see my, don't shrug your shoulders when you lie -- THIS IS YOUR WARNING!

Part 1


Part 2

Imagine < 3

Image there’s no possessions
It’s easy if you try
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood omen
Imagine all the people
Living for the world
You may say I’m a dreamer,
But I’m not the only one.
I hope someday you will join us,
And the world will be as one.

The first time I ever heard this great song was from this AMAAAZING performace by David Archuleta:

And again here...

…Good song!

Procrastination: good or bad?

Click it to make it bigger!

Comic credit: http://foodforthoughtkitchen.blogspot.com/2011/05/numb.html

Just goes to show that, if you click the "Next Blog" button enough times, you can come across good content. Check out that blog -- the kid is good!

They say procrastination is bad. It is always drilled into the heads of every student, as well as adult: “Don’t wait until the last second. Pace yourself. Do a little bit of work each day.” And it all makes sense, but… does anyone really do that?

Let’s take it from a student perspective who has a project to do. Yes, it is possible to pace yourself in terms of:

• Day 1: Choose a topic
• Day 2: Investigate your topic
• Day 3: Plan your product
• Day 4: Create your project

But it this realistic? Not in my opinion, no. Even if you try to chunk up the project, choosing a topic shouldn’t take a whole day of work, and creating your product should take days, if not a week or two.

Even if you plan a chunking schedule to fit time constraints, I don’t think chunking a schedule out is effective because, when you are supposed to be completing a task, but it isn’t due for two weeks, there is no sense of urgency.

Urgency is my best friend. He’s that little guy who pushes you to work hard, be efficient, and do as high-quality work as you are able to.

Now, don’t get me wrong. You can’t wait until two hours before a big project is due and expect the magical “sense of urgency” to fly down and save you. Uh uh.

And for those who can’t handle high-stress levels, or they stress themselves out unnecessarily, this technique isn’t for you. You guys need to go get yourself a nice calendar with pretty bunny rabbits and flowers on it to make yourself a word-specific schedule of how you are going to do this, come to find out that you didn’t really stick with it in the end because the project is an evolving work, not a static thing you can put an exact time-frame on.

If you can create a superficial sense of urgency, like offering yourself awards for meeting the different milestones, that’s great. But while you are planning out this whole project to an exact science and awarding yourself for taking an entire day to choose your topic, I’ll be making a better use of my time doing other work, and we will have an equally good – if not, mine will be better – product in the end because I had the sense of urgency, or the need to do it the best I can, and you didn’t.

I’d love to hear what other people have to say about this topic -- I think it is a personal thing. Why not drop me a line or two in the comments? Let’s get a discussion rolling here!

At one of my favorite cafes

Yumm, I do love the food here. It is so fresh and tastes so great…

Just, yum.

Something I don’t like, however, is the price of their food. I mean, I order a combo that contains:

• Half of a sandwich
• Half of a salad (or soup)
• Side

I also order a drink.

…And all of that costs over $12. Say, what? :/

And the strangest part is, people still come. This place is oozing with business every time I am here – and I come at all different times of day, so I know.

This place has great atmosphere, fresh food, free wifi… so if that worth paying the extra five or six dollars than I should be? I’m not sure. But the public sure has made their choice. And I can’t blame them.

Actually, I am right there in the line with them.

Pang of homeless guilt

I was walking to one of my favorite restaurants. Well, it’s more of a cafe. Even though it is pretty expensive, I really like to go there when I have nowhere else to go because I am able to order good food and get work done while I wait for my ride.

So anyways, I was walking on my way to this cafe place. It has outside tables and chairs for its customers to enjoy the warm, new, summer air that just randomly appeared recently. And that’s fine. That’s normal.

What didn’t strike me as normal was when an old, beaten-looking black women with little hair called out to me meekly, “Excuse me miss… do you have some spare change, please?”

I felt like such an evil liar saying, ‘”No, I’m sorry," whilst scurrying into the not-so-cheaply-priced cafe.


I remembered what an old religion class teacher had once told me; if you see a homeless person begging,
offer them your hamburger, not your money.

And it is so true.

You never know if those people are truly poor or if they are just cons. And out of those who are genuinely homeless beggars, how do you know which ones spent all of their money – now and then – on drugs or alcohol or gambling? They might have put themselves into this mess, and they probably have no interest in going to a life without lavishly spent card games or other things.

But then there are more. Still, more. The honest group – the larger group, I hope – who are just the victims of
life. For example, a construction worker broke his leg, then his other leg, then his hip. He had just bought a beautiful house with a newly wed wife, but instead they had to foreclose it because he isn't able to work.

It’s the not knowing that kills me. That could be the sweetest, prettiest, kindest, most genuine person sitting there, asking for a few coins outside of my favorite cafe, or it could have been a con artist. I sat inside the comfy, warm cafe atmosphere the shelter provided was, and I got really upset because we have it so good and easy, and they are living on the outside chairs of a cafe. So if we are so fortunate, why was that women denied so many times in just a few minutes?

This is all I ask of you: If you ever see someone on the side of the road, homeless, and they ask for money for food, don't give them money, but if you have a snack, offer it to them. If you don't have anything, or you just don't like that idea, direct them to the nearest soup kitchen or church. Keep your money for donations to organizations for decreasing poverty in your community. Just, whatever you do, don't forget how easy we have it, okay?

The stereotypical roles in a group

You know what I realized today? When a good idea has just been born or created or proclaimed or whatever, people want to be a part of that idea’s creation. You have different types of people in this world, of course, but they tend to fall into a few distinct categories:

1. The Stealer – The one who will do anything to make sure you admit it was entirely 100% his/her idea. Even if he/she had no part in it what-so-ever, The Stealer will make everyone believe he/she is a genius who comes up with all of these great ideas. Or, at least, tries to make it look that way.
2. The Hose – The one who just showers you (or whoever the idea belongs to) with compliments… they just keep coming, and coming, and coming like a never-ending flow a hose gives you. The Hoses of this world think that by being “nice” to the idea-generator, they can get on the “good side” of the right people, giving them an “in” with the cools (hahaha).
3. The Generator – The genius who makes all of the decisions and comes up with all of the ideas for the group. Oftentimes goes completely underappreciated. But hey. Life is unfair, so they say.
4. The Log – The one who sits there dumbly, not even pretending to pay attention, offer anything to the group, or even have the faintest inkling of what is going on. The Log is often the lazy one, but even more often, the log is just an idiot.

Hopefully, I’ll add more soon as I continue to study group dynamics.


WILT (What I'm Listening To) - I Feel Pretty/Unpretty by Glee Cast


This song is not only beautifully performed by gorgeous voices with golden harmonies, but it also contains West Side Story, which is incorporated so seamlessly and ingeniously that it makes me so happy inside. And, of course, the inspiring, empowering, and 100% uplifting message that society kills the confidence of America.


What a beautiful song. And from a good episode, too! These things make me feel pretty! (+1 pt for corniness?)