Goals

My quest is all about making healthy goals in life and I found these sites helpful.

HuHot

This week I tried HuHot!

Create your own Asian stir-fry! Choose from our fresh selection of meats, seafood, 
noodles, veggies and Asian-influenced sauces. Customize your Mongolian BBQ 
masterpiece, then watch as it's cooked on our grill of epic proportions. 
A unique dining experience for the whole family!

Miniblog

  http://www.treehugger.com/

I like this blog because it talks about ways to improve life by using new resources. In the blog they share several ideas about new technologies. 

While doing some research on health and nutrition I found this site.

Life renewal is a conscious process of examining your life and using energy in new ways that add excitement and vitality.

Many long for a time to discover who they are and what they really want from life.

Fact is, what you believe is possible creates potential. Potential enables action. And, action produces results.

If you are not entirely satisfied with whom, what or where you are in your life, consider taking stock, reassessing, dreaming and planning how you wish things were different. You can become "who" you want to be and do what you say you want to do if you're ready to evolve to another part of your life.

My quest goes along with this subject great because I’m researching healthy eating. When I’m done with my quest I should be able to “renew” parts of my life.

Pho Hadao

This week I went to PHO HADAO in Des Moines for my quest!

1521 Second Ave.

             Des Moines, IA 50314

515-288-1277

Pho Ha Dao serves a diverse menu featuring a variety of Asian dishes, from Vietnamese pho (rice noodles) to Thai, Laotian and Chinese. Daily specials rotate items not on the menu, and the chef is happy to accommodate customer requests.

The Pho is definitely an acquired taste, but they have lots of other kinds of food to choose from.

I’m enjoying my quest very much. It’s amazing how many cultures are out there to research and learn about.

interview essay

Kyle Mengwasser

Lauren Rice

Composition 105

17 October 2010

Everyone changes due to generation gaps, but some things stay the same.

Generation gap is a more modern term for the difference between generations, or the attitudes and the behaviors of the younger and the older generations. The inevitable progress of time and technologies makes the introduction of new ideas, new believes, and new values unavoidable. As a result this difference in the general outlook at life causes the difference of opinions and social values, in addition to the difference mannerism and behavior between young people and older people within the family as well as within society. Even with this “gap,” there are still things that are passed down to us that stay the same.

 Perhaps, the gap generation that exists now between the younger and older generation can best be indicated by the difference of ideas between the young people and the older people in the family.

The main thing that has surpassed this gap, in my family, is the tradition of hunting. My dad’s name is Kevin and he was born in 1959. His dad, “the old man,” passed hunting down to him and he received the know-how from his father. Yes, there are many differences in how we hunt, but overall the gap hasn’t affected it.

 The technological advances play a great rule in enlarging the gap as the younger generations are quicker to accept and adopt these technologies so that they consider the conservative and technologically suspicious elders of their families very old fashioned in their, tastes, opinions and out looks toward life. On the other hand, the older people despise the modern values which they call the" internet" and "globalization" values. They consider the young generation shallow, lacking knowledge and moral depth. The young people of today get their knowledge from the "internet", and they hardly read other than light magazines, while the elders of their hard-earned, profound book based knowledge. The difference includes the moral and social values, as the different generations see notions such as marriage, love, happiness, and decency from different perspectives. Within the family circle that leads to much arguments and sometimes clashes between the young people and the elder family members, especially the grand parents.

My family’s tradition of hunting follows the generation gap idea, but at the same time, there are various ways of participating in this tradition that stay the same throughout. My dad says, “There are many types of hunting, but only one real type of hunter. The true hunter is respectful of others and of their property. He has great respect for his prey, and will never, ever shoot when he doesn't reasonably expect to kill cleanly.” My grandpa passed this, “rule,” down to my father, who passed it to my brothers and me.

Within the social context, the young generations' behavior in general is looked upon by disdain by the older generations. It is natural that every age has its own social codes which include the manner of dressing, of behavior, and of farming relationships with others.

“Hunters, by nature, are not outspoken. When we're among our own, we may offer our opinions and advice, but as a whole, we keep to ourselves. In today's political climate, that is counterproductive. Now, more than ever, many of the most powerful officials are working steadily at taking away our rights. We deeply feel that we want to be left alone, and we'll leave everyone else alone.”

Moreover, the elder generations hold fast to tradition and old customs, which they consider as part of their cultural heritage or social values. Younger generations, however, prefer to adopt modern values, and as a result they create their own ways of behavior. In other words, the younger people behave according to the current universal manners which tend to treat the elders in a comradely way, and to consider the old notions of respecting the elders, of being restrained  in their presence as rigid and old fashioned. Further more, the younger generations always revolt against the traditional rules concerning the choice of friends, spouses, and against the close family relations where the siblings are of one heart, and where they all remain under the guidance and control of the parents. Nowadays, individuality prevails and the elders have lost their power over the younger members of the family.

It is a fact of life that the generation gap or "clash" is something that has existed and will continue to exist as long as man exists on this earth, but as with anything, there are exceptions. It is not restricted to certain parts of the world, to certain times of human history or to certain cultures. That is why this "clash" is a fact of a life accepted by all generations, all over the world and through all time. Fortunately the "clashes" are not serious, and different generations continue to love and endear each other though most of the time they do not see "eye to eye."

American Culture

In my quest, I'm researching what cultures are healthier than others and why. I'm sure everyone knows the American culture can be very unhealthy.

The American way of life is built around speed and efficiency. Every new advance in technology is built around being just a little faster and a little more connected. A mother can drop her kids off at school, pay her bills online, contribute to her retirement account, schedule a meeting at work, respond to e-mails through her Blackberry, call in a coffee order at Starbucks, return her movies, and squeeze in a workout all before she actually gets to work. Where in this schedule is there time for a well-rounded meal (excepting Starbucks of course)? This perpetual need for speed has invaded all aspects of our lives and has created an environment that is not conducive to traditional family meals.

 projectotaking.com

  

quest proposal final draft

Kyle Mengwasser

Lauren Rice

Composition 105

3 October 2010

The basic necessities of life are clothing, food and shelter. Food is a major component for survival. It is necessary that we eat a healthy and balanced diet to lead a healthy life style. People across the globe have different eating habits. Eating habits depend on resources available and tradition of a region. The food habits of the Chinese vary from that of the Indians though they aren’t very far apart. I wonder what it would be like to eat something from a different culture everyday. Some of the cultures would be a challenge to eat what they do. I would try to see what cultures are healthier than others.

For this quest I will need to figure out what cultures I want to try. I plan on eating from a different culture every week, during this entire adventure. Some of the food will come from grocery stores and some will come from restaurants. I will make a list of what I plan to try. Some of the data I want to keep track of is; calorie content, fat, what the food has too much or too little of, and draw an analysis based on what the people look like, eating the food that they do.

 It’s a general tendency of people to get easily caught up with luxury and laziness. This is where the concept of fast food restaurants comes in. In a country like India where the cost of living is increasing everyday, they look for cheap and easy ways to eat. Americans aren’t always cheap, but most of the time lazy. During my quest, I will try as many different cultures as possible. I will research the cultures and find out what makes some healthier than others. I will research by interviewing people from different cultures, and by using the vast amounts of internet sources.

What do I think will stand out during this quest? Cultures that eat healthier will have longer life spans and other statistics that agree with their eating. Fast food restaurants have spread like an epidemic. This is creating epidemics like obesity and related problems. There are a handful of people who have the correct body mass index. I can’t wait to do the research for myself and let you all know what to eat.