Is Being Conceited a Sin?

Throughout my life I have had people call me conceited, even those close to me! they say it to me with a certain tone of voice that it is not nice. Some people might have gotten offended by it, but not me. I love myself, yes I am not perfect, don’t have a beach body, don’t wear sexy clothes all the time, however I still love myself, and you should too.

Being conceited is good, there is nothing wrong with letting the world know how much you love yourself, how beautiful and smart you are. For some reason there is a lot of negativity surrounding that word, some people are missing the big point behind it. We should be able to tell ourselves everyday how good we look, how good we are and all of the positive things that we like to hear about ourselves, we cannot just wait for someone to come along and tell us all these beautiful things for us to be happy and feel good. No, no, no, we have to be able to love ourselves first, in order to be able to be good with the rest of the world.

I think we are all aware that there is a lot of people who have low self-esteem, that don’t think highly of themselves and rely on other people to tell them  “hey you looking good today” or ” OMG I love your outfit.” We cannot continue to rely on what other people say or think about us to feel good, we have to take care of ourselves, remind our hearts how lucky everyone else is to have us in their lives (I know this might sound selfish but it’s not). we need to be able to shine.

It hurts when someone tell you that you are conceited because you say “I look so good today,” especially if those people are your friends and/or family. Conceited is not a bad word, and if you look up the meaning of it you will realize that it means:”having or showing too much pride in your own worth or goodness,”  (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conceited).

There is a lot of people who go through depression, hurting themselves, they even sometimes get to the point where they cannot take it anymore and they just kill themselves. some of these people have some kind of self esteem problem, they have been bullied, no one wants to be their friends, they simply don’t think highly of themselves based on other people’s thoughts.

If you are a parent, a sister/brother, a professor, a friend etc. you have to guide those close to you in the right direction, and show them how to love themselves, so that they can be able to shine with their own light, not just because someone approves of you or not. we have to stop judging people, no one is better than us, no one is prettier than us, no one is a better human being than us. We are who we are, and only us can be better ourselves.

Just remember, if you see someone some day and the first thought that comes to your mind is: OMG he/she is so conceited, you should be happy to see someone who loves herself/himself. Of course being conceited is good, without going to the extreme of having such a big ego and feeling superior. Everything in moderation is good. If you decide to be modest, shy, or to just let everyone know what you think about yourself, go ahead and do it. There is nothing wrong with it, as long as you continue or start to think highly of yourself.

Here is a quote that I really like, it is not meant just for females, but also for men.

“I LOVE TO SEE A YOUNG GIRL GO OUT AND GRAB THE WORLD BY THE LAPELS. LIFE’S A BITCH. YOU’VE GOT TO GO OUT AND KICK ASS,”  By Maya Angelou.

Therapeutic Riding

Therapeutic riding is an activity for children and adults with disabilities. This is done by professionals and volunteers who are properly trained to be able to do this type of work.

This activity refers to the use of horses and equine activities that help the rider improve physically, cognitively and emotionally. Therapeutic riding doesn’t only focuses on the riding skills but also in the relationship that the rider develops with the horse.

“Therapeutic riding programs usually work with riders that have down syndrome autism, cerebral palsy, PTSD, hearing problems, speech problem, and several other disabilities as well,” said Sarah Veeder, professor and director of the therapeutic riding program at New Mexico State University.

This activity is always supervised by the instructor, and each rider has volunteers around him/her and the horse to help guide him and also for safety reasons.

“Horses are a big help for us. People from our community usually donate them to the school and get see which ones are capable of working with riders with disabilities without getting scare or angry,” said Veeder.

Therapeutic riding is important for this community because it is the nearest program in El Paso and Las Cruces area.

The TR program at NMSU is working thanks to the many volunteer that offer their help and time. Many of the volunteer are from the therapeutic riding club, therapeutic riding class, students from the university, and people from the community.

According to Veeder, there are many benefits for the people who are involved in the program. For the riders, the usually are able to move muscles that they might not have been able to move before, it also helps them with cognitive and speech problems that they might have, and it helps the build relationships and social skills etc., for the volunteers, the benefits are slightly different, they get to experience what is like to be in a real life TR program, they get experience on how to help people with disabilities and how to treat them etc.

“The program is open to anyone who is three years older, the only limitations that we have is that if they have atlantoaxial instability which is found in down syndrome sometimes, or if the have grand mal seizures or if they have any kind of skin breakdowns; all three of these situations are unsafe and uncomfortable for the riders. We do offer ground lessons for them where they can groom and lead, and learn how to tack up a horse,” said Veeder.

At NMSU they offer two other types of therapy areas aside of TR. They also offer equine assisted learning and psychotherapy, and hippotherapy.

Animals are always a good help for people with disabilities because it helps them to relax, communicate better, and improve physically and mentally. Horses are not the only ones that can be of help, dogs, rabbits, cats, chicks, ducks etc. They are of big help when it comes to caring and helping patients with all kinds of disabilities.

https://ategoenaga.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post-new.phpFlor’s Job

Flor Munoz is a 20 year old Kinesiology student at the New Mexico State University. She started working at Boost Mobile a month and a half ago.

Boost Mobile is a cellphone company in the United States. Flor has had a lot of experience is retail and sales because she used to work at a store in the mall for almost one year.

For retail or sales position you do need to have a basic knowledge of math, because you have to count money and make sure that the customers give you the right amount of money and also that you give them the right amount of change.

Flor really enjoys working at Boost Mobile because they are really good with students when it comes to  work hours not interfering with school schedule. She plans to work here until she graduates or maybe until she gets a job that pays better. Right now she gets paid $7.50/ hour plus commission.

 

 

 

The Farmer’s Market in Downton Las Cruces

Downton Las Cruces is the place where people gather around to buy and sell products. You can find almost everything here on Wednesdays and Saturday when the farmer’s market takes place. Vendors sell ceramics, fruits and vegetables, food, accessories, supplies for dogs and cats etc.

Vendor selling ceramics and people chatting with each other

People enjoying a good afternoon.

Customers buying kettle corn during a sunny day

Person looking around

Rio Grande theater

The benefits of dancing!

Dance has been around for centuries, but many people don’t know or believe yet,that it has a lot of benefits. Dance makes people connect, be happy, have fun, and the most important one, exercise. People can exercise while dancing!

” I always wanted to dance but I never had the chance to take dance lessons until my son found the NMSU DanceSport Association. That was three years ago, and I am still attending their dance lessons; I feel happy and I also get to exercise and spend some quality time with my son,” said Britney Harrison.

Harrison just turned 94 years old last week, and she created her own choreography with her son Carlos, 65, and they performed together on her birthday at the New Mexico State University’s Rentfrow Gym. This shows us how people of all ages can and should dance.

“We encourage people of all ages to come to the dance lessons, especially because they are free, we are trying to get as many people as we can because we want to get the word out. We have people from all ages come to our classes, you see couples, faculty members, students, and people from the community,” said Hanna Cole, NMSU DanceSport director.

Dance can make you feel free, feel at peace, and turn sadness into joy. People still get surprised when they realize that you actually work out while dancing. Physical activity is essential to keeping you body and brain healthy, and people can do that by exercising.

“Research also has shown that some people with Alzheimer’s disease are able to recall forgotten memories when they dance to music they used to know,” said Rita Beckford, M.D., a family doctor and also a spokesperson for the American Council on Exercise.

Dancing is like any other low-impact activity, and it has some of the same benefits like toning your entire body, building confidence, increase stamina and flexibility, ward off illnesses like heart disease, depression, diabetes, and osteoporosis etc.

You think you are too old to dance? well, rethink that. Dancing is perfect for people over 50, because they can always adjust the intensity level.Like any other sport or activity, when you first start doing it, you have to start little by little and then you can add more.

Young people and middle age people should enjoy dancing, because it has the same benefits for them too. Dancing is something that is not age restricted, anyone who is able to move their legs should be able to enjoy some dancing.

Before you decide to go ahead and dance, you need to make sure that your doctor has not restricted you from dancing or any other activities, if you have not seen a doctor in a while, here are some questions that you need to ask yourself before joining a dance class:

• Do become dizzy and lose your balance or have you ever lost consciousness?
• Do you have any bone or joint problems that might get worse with physical activity?
• Has your doctor ever told you that you have a heart condition or problem?

If you answer yes to any of this questions, you should see a doctor before starting to take dance lessons.

People from all ages enjoying a dance class.

Bitney Harrison, and her son Carlos performing on her birthday.

Dance students.

Exercising while having fun.

Britney and her son, enjoying her birthday.

Should bloggers follow a code of ethics?

According to an article wrote by the Cyberjournalist.net, bloggers should be following some guidelines when posting on their blogs. I completely agree with them, because even though some bloggers are not journalists, they should at least try to write things in a good way without giving any false information or being rude.

I believe that bloggers should always verify the information before posting it on the internet, especially if the information is delicate. bloggers should not be posting something that they are not sure about, and if they do, they should at least clarify on their blog that they information is still ongoing so they don’t know everything 100 percent.The only exception that I can think of, is when they are writing personal stories about themselves, in this cases they can just write whatever they want about them.

I think that it would be better if bloggers are objective, that way they wont confuse the readers of their blogs and will get the message across. If the bloggers just post stories where they are just going around in circles without specifying anything, it will make readers super confuse, plus it will make them have a bad experience so they might not continue following that specific blogger.

I believe that when someone is writing something it is always best to be as accurate as possible, that way it will give the blogger more credibility and his/her followers will continue to get information from his/her blog, plus more people might start following him/her. Plus, if you are accurate, people will take you seriously and will might spread the word about your writing.

I believe that a blogger should write the way they want to write. Bloggers should not be forced to write a certain way. That is the beauty of the internet and blogs, people can write about whatever they want whenever they want to do it. I would also suggest that the reader of the blog should double check the information before believing it, it is something pretty basic. We all know that we can find so many lies on the internet and the only way to verify that it is true is by doing research, yes it will be better if bloggers were being accurate, honest, and truthful when writing and posting stories on their blogs, but we all know better than to believe everything that we see. this is why readers should also become more aware and be more investigative.

Bloggers have the right to write about whatever they want, they just need to be careful that they are not breaking any law and that they are also not defaming anyone because if they do, they might get in big trouble. This is why every blogger should be aware of what they post.

To read the complete article about code of ethics for bloggers, click here.

The climate is drastically changing in the southwest

The climate in the southwest has been changing over the last century, the temperature has increased about 1.5 fahrenheit degrees, in addition to this, it has also been projected that it will continue to increase by 2.5-8 fahrenheit degrees more.

The Southwest is composed by some of this regions: Phoenix, Albuquerque, Denver, San Diego, Los Angeles, among others. This region has around 50 million people living there, and it keeps growing. Between 2000 and 2010, the population growth in each state of this region, exceeded the national average growth.

The climate in this region varies, some of this places are below sea level and some of them have the highest peaks in the continental U.S. This region is also drier that other regions in the U.S., the southern part of this region has a lot of deserts, other parts like the Rocky mountains get more precipitation.

the warming has already started to affect some parts of this region, like for example, the Colorado River flow has decreased. in addition to this, researches have also said that there will be more droughts in the region. This climate change will impact water resources, recreation, forests and other ecosystems, human health, native americans, energy, and agriculture.

One of the biggest impacts that the climate change will have, will be on the water resources. Water is something used in daily basis, we all need water to drink, take showers, feed our pets and/or animals, and, plant vegetables etc. some of the big changes expected due to climate change in this region are:

– Decrease in groundwater recharge

– More severe droughts

– Springtime precipitation will decrease severely

– Temperatures will increase.

To read the complete article by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, click here.

Dogs Have Feelings too, and Should be treated better.

A professor of neuroeconomics at Emory University, has found out that dogs have feelings similar to us humans.

Gregory Berns, a professor of neuroeconomis at Emory University, started training dogs to go in an M.R.I. scanner two years ago. He first started training his own dog (Callie) with the help of one of his friends who is a dog trainer. The first thing that he did, was train Callie to stay still in the M.R.I. simulator that he built-in his living room; After this, the local community started to be interested on his research and he was able to recruit 12 more dogs with the permission of the owners, and they we able to start having the dogs stay still in the M.R.I. for a certain period of time so they were able to get the information they needed.

According to Berns, this research has just started not too long ago, but they have already found some important information about the dog’s feelings and its similarities to human’s feelings. The most striking similarity is the structure and function of an important brain region which is the caudate nucleus. “In humans, the caudate plays a key role in the anticipation of things we enjoy, like food, love and money. But can we flip this association around and infer what a person is thinking just by measuring caudate activity?,” says Berns. The caudate activation is so steady that it can also predict the preferences that we have for music, food, including beauty. In dogs, the caudate was activated when their owners came back home and also when they smelled the familiar humans.

“The ability to experience positive emotions, like love and attachment, would mean that dogs have a level of sentience comparable to that of a human child. And this ability suggests a rethinking of how we treat dogs,” says Berns. For many years dogs have been considered property, but, is this the right way to treat them?

With the use of M.R.I., now people will be able to see the evidence that shows that dogs truly have feelings and they are very similar to our feelings. It might take a few years for people to consider dogs as persons, but for now, at least we can start opening the door for that possibility to happen by using neuroscientific findings.

If you want to read the complete Bern’s article at the New York Times, click here.

The future of journalism in the social media

Today, i wanted to talk about the future of journalism in the social media. I chose this topic because nowadays we use the social media for almost everything, including being informed of whats going on around the globe.

 

Social media is allowing nowadays citizens to become journalists or reporters. Newsroom will be organized differently, they will be more focused on using the community and letting them be enrolled as correspondents or reporters. Bloggers will also be more than bloggers, but they will be thought of as more credible sources. 

Some trends that are going on right now and that are very interesting are: Collaborative Reporting, as we all know, journalism has always been about collaborating with one another. But in the future, it might change a little, maybe, the witness of the new or incident will become the reporter. This supports the idea of using the community more or the community being more involve in daily news; journalists as community managers, today, journalists are required to listen to the community as much as they broadcast them. Journalists will need to have a grasp on community engagement; The social beat, journalists will start using the social web as contacts. This is because people are frequently looking for news on there, and also the people share or create their own news there too. Journalists will have to find ways to integrate their editorial role into the streams. Journalism can take p,ace on Facebook, Twitter and also Youtube. This according yo Clinch of Storyful; Social stories, the way users are engaging the content is entering in the minds of new editors and also producers. We might see in the future more stories that have a deep social integration. Story packages with social platforms are more open and collaborative, this is why we might see them happen; Online curation for a “time-poor audience,” this means, that journalists will have to be able to curate events in real time; The social network as the new editor, this means that the main player will be the social network of the reader and consumer.

 

To read more about this interesting article or to get more information, please click here. This will give you a better idea of what I’m talking ago because it has more information and it gives you more sources. If you are interested on becoming a journalist, this article will give you more ideas to start practicing you skills.

Ellen DeGeneres trows Sofia Vergara a bachelorette party!

Sofia Vergara was surprised when she made a guest appearance at the Ellen Degeneres’ show. DeGeneres gave Sofia a small bachelorette party that she will never forget… it was a wild, sexy, and fun moment.
For more info and videos about this event, just follow this link.