Scream

I had this sinking feeling that I may have written about this before, but after a quick (but not thorough) use of the search bar to your right, I found nothing. Regardless! It is halloween! It is the time to watch your favorite scary movie! I, unfortunately, do not have the greatest success when it comes to being perfectly calm after a scary movie. Some people, like myself, start hearing bumps and creaks in the floor boards or start to see tricks in the light out of the corner of the eyes. No matter, I resolve to watch my favorite movie.

But which movie?! What genre? You could go with the classic Horror, with one of your basic slasher killers like Michael Myers or Jason Vorhees and his mother. How bout Freddy? You could go way back and see a classic such as Dracula and Frankenstein! There are so many to choose from as our fantastic blogger and film director James Rolfe has pointed out over on his site www.cinemassacre.com for the past three Octobers. Or, you could go with the psycho thriller. One of those weird supernatural flicks that keeps bending reality. Those freak me out. Grudge got to me pretty easily. Or, how bout the many Zombie movies out there? New or old, they tend to be pretty good.

Personally, I'm kind of a smart ass. I like to think that humor is a good way to calm the nerves, and what better joke then to pico on the thing that's trying to scare you! Try watching the grudge, it's scary right? What if they kids weren't creepy looking, but actually looked, acted, and sounded like Jim Carrey in the Mask. Now that's pretty stupid, but it definitely takes the scare out of it.

I like movies that know they're a movie. That's why I like the Scream trilogy. They whole time I watch it, I think about how the cop (Arquette) and the reporter (Cox) end up getting married in real life, and how Cotton actually is a bad guy in the end. We've all seen it, we all thought one way or another about it, I just happen to like it a lot.

Any good movie series stops after three. Sometimes they shouldn't make a second one at all, but this one needed to continue. Sure, like any, they kinda fall off the edge at the end but the beauty of it is that they all know that it's gonna be a surprise ending. The fact that all of the surviving actors returned time and time again made it a great series. Kinda sad that matthew lillard died in the first one, but I'll always think of him as shaggy anyway.

My one major beef with this series is the first ten minutes of the first movie. Without a doubt, it's a great scene. I mean who doesn't want to see Drew Barrymore running away in slow motion. My problem is the fact that she's on the cover! She dies before the main character is even introduced! Really? We see this again in scream 2 with jada pinkett, and I just don't get it. They had to have done it for marketing purposes, I'm sure at the time Barrymore was at the height of her popularity and she sold a few tickets. How would you have liked to have been suckered into that movie strictly because you found out Barrymore was a headliner. I would have been pissed to see her go so early! Then again it is pretty funny!

Anyway, Happy Halloween to everybody and if you're driving, be careful. There are kids out there and you need to be going slow. I'll hopefully be able to catch a moment to watch some of this series, but I might not get to it. The beauty of scary movies on DVD is that you can always watch them in the afternoon on November 1st...

..when it's light out.

The Invisible Hook

The Invisible Hand is the theory of economics that explains the driving forces that people have that allows them to make decisions. As Adam Smith put it in his 1776 tome An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, in seeking to satisfy our own self interests, we're led, "as if by an invisible hand," to serve other's interests too. By this logic, the breadmaker cannot sew his coat and manufacture his car, so by seeking to satisfy those needs, he produces high quality and low cost bread to sell and be able to purchase a coat or a car. He indirectly has served the milk maid and sheriff by selling his goods to them, as they seek high quality low cost bread.

All of this you learn in your basic economics course, however today I'd like to mention what I'm learning in my current economics course, the economics of Piracy. What drives pirates to do what they do? Economics. Low costs and high benefits is what they seek, but they cannot meet their pirate ends without cooperating with other pirates. I'll hopefully talk about this again when I've learned more on the topic, I was just so excited about it from day one that I thought I'd share!

My never ending struggle... with applesauce jars.

Tuesday night, or Wednesday morning, around 1:30 am.

"Hey August, I need to get something off my chest. I have this problem that has really just confused me for many years."

"What is it?"

"It's this jar, it's not anti-gravitational right? I mean, the makers of this jar knew that the contents in this jar would be subject to gravitational pull."

"Yea, I guess."

"Well do you see how they have the bottom designed, a wide circle, you know so they can fit a lot of applesauce in there?"

Confused, "...Yes."

"THEN WHY THE F**K WOULD THEY MAKE THE HOLE AT THE TOP SMALLER! It doesn't make any damn sense! I can't fit my hand in there, you can't fit your hand in there, only an infant could squeeze their palm in there and not get apple all over their knuckles. This is bull shit! "

Probability of going to class

My tuesday class schedule is my busiest day of the week, but by no means is it "busy" by any standard. I just don't happen to have any early classes like I have had in the past.

To start the day, I met with a group about a project we're doing for a business class. We scheduled it before class so we wouldn't have to miss anything. That class; SOM (Business Communications) 301, starts at 1:30 pm which lets out at 2:45. That class yesterday was cancelled at the last minute according to a member of our group.

The busy part comes about beginning at 4:30 and ending at 10:00 pm. Two classes, both of which are 2 hours and 40 minutes a piece.

The second class is Business Statistics, and usually I don't go, but we've been having random "quizzes" (he takes attendance for a quiz grade) at the end of classes so I thought I'd join in and get that free A.

So the first hour passed pretty quickly, I had my homework for this class due Thursday, so I thought I'd knock it out of the way. Then I had nothing to do. I sat and just listened to music. Bored. I decided to put the methods learned in class to practice and developed the statistical probability that I would go to class next week. Using weighted averages and a standard formula I did what I could to try and figure out mathematically if I'll actually go to this complete waste of time.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm a decent student. I say it's a "complete waste of time" because this class has two parts. 1) a 2 hour 40 min lecture with a professor who spends 30 minutes lecturing on material, 30 minutes practicing material, and an hour and 40 minutes telling "cute" anecdotes about the material at hand. All of this is spread evenly so one problem takes roughly 40 minutes that includes a combination of all three "items" on his agenda; talking about the material, doing the material, and talking about nothing. and part 2) an hour recitation where we practice the material learned and turn the homework.

Let me ask you which is more time efficient. Which would you skip? I thought so.

The probability I came up with last night was obviously not mathematically sound as their is extreme bias in the situation and I don't know what will happen between now and next Tuesday evening that would make me want to change my mind. The point is I spent the time in class doing fuzzy math for fun when I could've spent that time doing less fuzzy math (let's call it coarse) out of complete boredom. And I'd like to note we did not have a quiz, I could have left.

Thoughts of the Day 10/27

I don't own a bike, yet I own two "Bike to Mason Day" T-shirts, given out to people who ride their bicycles to school on that particular day. Pooling equilibrium at it's finest.

I never thought I'd discuss the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 with my Dad and his wife, but last night I did. I feel mature yet nerdy at the same time.

Who would have guessed that doing a required research experiment for your marketing class would get you a phone number and a potential date. I certainly didn't see it coming.

I have a deep appreciation for anyone who can play their instrument of choice like this after hearing it on my iPod shuffle today. bravo.

Breakfast is definitely the most important meal of the day, except when you wake up at noon on a Monday and you live at school. That's when Lunch becomes the most important meal of the day. That and last nights dinner at 2 am.

As it turns out, borrowing stuff from girls in the next apartment is also a good possibility of getting a phone number and a potential date.

Driving home last night I saw a sign on rt. 123 that said, "Deer Breeding Season" and I thought, "shouldn't that be 'Deer Mating Season'? It's not like there's a deer breeder on that road or anything and he's got them going on deer races.." Is that just me?

This year I've used my discount coffee card at the Campus run coffee house more than i've used my student I.D.

That time of year... House!

For the past three years I've watched the entire series of House. This year marks the fourth year! and let me tell you, it takes much more time now than it did back in the fall/winter of '06.

I don't know what it is but I always enjoy watching this show when it's cold out and I feel it's much more beneficial to stay indoors. I've really liked laying in a warm toasty apartment (or in the last three years, a random dorm room/my house senior year of high school) doing homework while a familiar episode of House plays in front of me.

Sadly, this year I will have to suffer through season 5, not the best year by House standards, but I definitely look forward to every one of the season finales. My personal favorite is this one from season 2. If I were to pick a favorite episode though... Three Stories, hands down.


and as an unrelated poke: if you're struggling with ideas for a second or third blog, how bout one about movies music or tv shows? sure it's not original, but what you enjoy seeing and hearing is unique to you and your perspective on it is certainly different than ours. See, people do read your blog.

Future kids

Do you think, in the future, kids will hate on us "old people" because we had it so much better? I've often wondered if it would have been more fun being born in 1970, close to 20 years before my birth. So who knows what the kids will be like when I'm 40 in 2029.
Will the technology be massively improved or have we hit a plateau?
What about politically, will there be a war waging heavily on our country? Others?
What fads will be revisited as cool from today's culture?

I think that everything is cyclical and adjusts to the environment in some way; so how will the 20 years from now until 2029 affect that year's ideals? Shit will I still be here? I won't think about that side of it, but it's a thought for sure.

I'll leave on a thought that's been gnawing my brain for some time: If someone offered to tell you what your future held, would you want to hear it? I think I'd say no. What's the fun in life if there's no surprise?

Sorry for the late post today, this month has been great with timeliness, but I slacked off! Only 5 days to go til November, it's been a fast year!
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The Cereal Bowl

Yesterday, August, Zoe and I drove up to this place in Newark called The Cereal Bowl. It's pretty awesome. You combine as many as four cereals in one bowl with a whole bunch of different toppings. I ended up eating a bowl that had Life, Golden grahams, and cinnamon toast crunch, with strawberries on top.

I also had another bowl that had cocoa puffs, golden grahams, marshmellows, and bits of graham cracker. This place sounds like a kids dream, and let me tell you; it was F**king awesome. I made my own box and took it home. this one has fruit loops, fruity pebbles and trix in it.

This place is a chain with only two locations. The one we went to was the closest, the other being in Miami. We spoke with the owner and he was telling us the new location being built in DC is almost done. That's gonna be amazing.

My hat goes off to Anthony of the Newark Delaware Cereal Bowl, you were a great host and you sure know how to make a kick ass bowl of cereal.

On a side note, to all the people at the University of Delaware, i'm jealous that you not only have a cereal bowl, but you have a LITTLE CAESARS RIGHT DOWN THE STREET.

bastards.

Gourmet McDonald's

Interesting scenario I was thinking about the other day. What if there was a completely gourmet McDonald's? Like, it has everything on the menu that a normal Mickey D's would, but it's prepared by top chefs. It actually looks like the pictures and everything.

All the fatty foods and non of the squished paper wrappers. I'd like to see it. I imagine it'd be set somewhere in New York or Chicago, some major city in the U.S. so it can be enjoyed to it's full potential. I also dream that they sell the McRibb and the Shamrock Shake year round. What a place that would be..

I've neglected a McDonalds for going on two years at this point, but if so

mething like this were to pop up, I'd give it a shot.

There'd be one of these things when you walk in, of course wearing a maitre d's outfit. I haven't decided on whether it'd be better if it was a plastic look-a-like or a full on guy wearing this get up and being the actual host.

It would be open from 6 am to midnight, and of course would serve breakfast. Outstanding. Who's with me. Franchise opportunities are available.

Evil Twin = Mustache

Why is that?











Every evil twin in film and television has had facial hair. or a lack of facial hair if the hero already sports a beard. What does facial hair have to do with being evil? A lot of great people sported a mustache.

Hulk Hogan, Albert Einstein, Magnum PI... hell even Ned Flanders sported a stache. Why the discrimination? My dad has a goatee for god sakes and he's a teddy bear.

Pencils

I personally perfer a mechanical pencil. The problem with these bastards is that they always seem to break. I happen to have had the good fortune of using these things since I started writing my name with out someone telling me how to spell it, so I'm able to fix them.

I like pens, they're reliable, but they just don't get it done in my opinion. To quote a cliche, pencils have erasers because man is not perfect. So why would I want to constantly write with something that is unable to fix said mistakes?

Wooden pencils with graphite are the original. They were around way back in the day and they're still used widely now. I actually went two semesters using only 8 wooden pencils and i made it through alive. But i hate them. They never stay sharp, so I had to keep a pencil sharpener in my bag, so that got full of partial pencil shavings... pain in the ass. And the erasers seem to disappear faster than free liquor at an AA meeting. I can never seem to keep an eraser on those things and when I try to put one of those pink erasers on the end, it ends up falling off somewhere along the line and then I'm screwed.

I just stick with mechanicals. sure they break or get jameed, but the eraser is always there and I never have to worry about it getting dull.

Bugs the shit out of me: perforated edges

You know what really bugs the shit out of me? Perforated edges. Specifically, those damn spiral notebooks that have what can only be described as an "attempt" at perforations. You ever tried ripping one of these SOBs cleanly out of the notebook AND succeeded? I think not.

These edges are cut so weakly that you're better off bringing a pair of scissors with you wherever you go.

Here's a scenario; you're in class and the professor asks you to take out a piece of paper. You look at those stupid dots on the left side of the notebook and say to yourself, "why did I buy this instead of a three ring binder.." You inevitably rip the whole sheet out and now you're stuck with tons of little paper things all over the place. I find these stupid clips of paper in pockets when I'm doing laundry a week later and I get pissed off again.

To this I say, "no more!" I will never again buy these god forsaken things again.

And that is what really bugs the shit out of me.
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

Avoiding the rant and focusing on New Texts..

Rather than spewing out hate speak like all other "fans" at this point in the timeline, I choose to sit back and smile as all changes inevitably occur in the Washington sports scene. I smile, not because I contently welcome said changes, but rather to show disengagement from the situation so as to avoid getting hit in the face with a handful of monkey shit. I'm speaking, of course, about the recent goings on with the Redskins and all that mumbo jumbo. But as I said, I'm not going to discuss it because I choose not to do it through this medium.

So moving on.

Two new books arrived in the mail, along with a package from the McConnell Residence. Thank you sir.



Book one, The Birth of the New NFL How the 1966 NFL/AFL Merger Transformed Pro Football By Larry Felser promises to be a pretty interesting read; and, judging by the first 6 pages I managed to tackle upon opening the envelope it arrived in, it will be.

Book two, Glory for Sale Fans, Dollars and the New NFL By Jon Morgan focuses on the current expansions and moves (Baltimore, Cleveland, Houston, Tennessee, Jacksonville, Carolina, and possibly LA). This one is really about the money and the motivation behind moves, such as where the populations lie and where the cash is flowing that could motivate a professional sports team to move. [As a uni note, it should be recognized that the image of Ray Lewis is from his rookie year, and that helmet has the original Baltimore Ravens shield logo that was removed after this lawsuit]

Pretty good stuff! Best part about both of these books is that they were published 1997 or newer, meaning I won't have to hear of talks of future occurrences and be frustrated because it turned out differently. All this, plus the Playing Hardball I mentioned previously should make for a busy fall!

On a side note, check out my Tumblr page for some pictures I've been uploading. Nothing too fun, it's more for my purposes but you may get a kick out of it.

Dear Sister

I had to post this after my cousin showed it to me. That and I've had this stupid song stuck in my head ever since!

Delores

Thought about it, and I thinks about time my car has a name. Delores was meant to be.

I got Delores four new tires last weekend, and soon she'll be getting a new radio.

My question is why is it always a chicks name? I guess it would be kinda gay to name a big machine that you sit inside of everyday after a dude.
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Flying Squirrels

squirrelsbaseball.com

So i looked it up, and here is some really interesting history of flying squirrels in Richmond Virginia.

Fascinating.

Textbooks and their damn hipness

My Marketing text book this semester cost me about $80. That's not what I'm writing about today, but I just wanted to point out that it is ridiculous.

What I DO want to say is that textbooks are attempting to be "hip" and it's pissing me off.

Ch 1. Google, Youtube, Facebook, and you.

That's directly from my book.

I'm not lying, here's the first page:


A picture of a spongebob video on youtube.

Why does my text book think that peddling to people who use youtube, google, and facebook will work? Because it will.

Sadly, this Marketing textbook is one of the better ones I've read, and trust me, I've read some Marketing textbooks. I may not like the hiptitude of Grewal and Levy and their personalized M&M's but it sure does work.


I like to think that everyone has their own free will and can stop themselves from being "won over" by manipulation in Marketing, but unfortunately I'm not one of those people. Maybe you aren't either. I don't know. But when I watched a commercial for kit-kat bars on Monday, I went out and and made a trip specifically for a kit-kat bar and then came home. Slave that I am.. but i enjoyed my kit-kat bar and I'll continue to enjoy my hip ass marketing book. ...as long as I end up with an A.

Music Mad Libs

When a _____ loves a _____
.......noun...........noun
Can't keep _____ mind on ________
..........pronoun..........noun
He'd _______ the _______
......verb.........noun
For the _________ thing he's found
........adjective

If _______ is ________, he can't ____ it
...noun #2...adjective...........verb
______ can do no _______
pronoun..........adverb
And ______ his ______ on his _________
....verb........noun...........noun
If _______ puts _______ down
...pronoun......pronoun

I came up with;

When a Tree loves a Bacon
Can't keep this mind on crack
He'd smell the fish
For the ugly thing he's found

If Bacon is rotten, he can't taste it
It can do no timely
And Run his Mouth on his sleeve
If Bacon puts Tree down

Abe Lincoln, frat boy?

I looked it up, and apparently Abraham Lincoln did not attend school, but educated himself. I wonder, had Abe Lincoln gone to college, would he be a frat boy douche?

First, let us define Frat Boy. There. Now that you're back from that, imagine Abe being "that guy" at a party.

McKendree University being the only possible school in his state at the time, would have been his school of choice. So going back to our definition, Honest Abe would ever so douchingly be wearing a purple bobcat visor with multiple popped collars and a smug grin on his face.

He served in the state government of Illinois after he undoubtedly won the job over a more qualified guy because he was in the same frat as the current governor. And that whole "President" thing was just a joke he played on his brothers who owned slaves in South Carolina.

I'll leave you with an image of our 16th president that I found in the archives of Illinois, taken approximately in 1829.





I'm totally kidding, I have no problem with frat boys.

OK ...Never Write About That Again

[EDIT] Discovered myself on Comedy Central's Twitter Page

That would explain the heavy traffic. Who knew I'd make it there! Haha
[END EDIT]

Due to me writing about S#cret G____friend, my blog was bombarded by hits on Friday/Saturday. No doubt by weirdos but still, it was. One person was particularly interested in the show yet shared his comment with such negativity. His comment is here.

...To that I say;

It's a comedy show put on at 10:30 at night on Comedy Central. It aired directly after a cartoon where a dead Michael Jackson dressed up as a little girl (in a little boy's body) and won a pretty princess pageant. Are you really commenting on the production value and acting prose of this show?

Need I point out that this comment came at 2:00 in the morning. Why was this guying searching "Secret Girlfriend" or something of the like at 2:00 in the morning? Was he so disappointed he didn't find rude material on my site that he'd comment? poor guy.


In other news, hope everyone had a great weekend.
Make sure you check out Uni Watch for full coverage on possibly Best or Worst Uniforms (i'm not sure which they would be) of the decade.

Trouble in Richmond

I've noticed a strange similie occuring recently. This thing from the North East region is being moved down south to a town in Virginia. It's being mocked recently for being a bad joke. What am I talking about?

This or This?

Anyone else notice that? Or was it just me.

Off-Brand Cereal

Who the hell decided that Kellogs and Post were so great? When did General Mills get so high and mighty? I'd like to see him in his private first class days. I bet he had no friends.

I buy the off-brand cereal from Giant. Does that make me a bad person? No. I remember when they came in the Big Bags at the bottom of the aisle. My mom used to buy these and put them in a plastic container. Who needs boxes with little bags in them! I'm sorry i've just always been a believer in what makes the most sense, and buying the off-brand seems to make way more sense to me.

It's not just cereal too, I buy off-brand OJ, off-brand peanut butter and jelly, It all tastes the same anyway. If anything, it tastes better cause I know I saved a dime or two from buying the name-brand stuff. Think about that the next time you're faced with buying the right stuff.

Secret girlfriend

New show on comedy central after South Park. I’m going to be honest with you, I thought it was gonna be stupid. I gave it a shot because I already had the TV on and I already had a cold frosty breverage in my hand, so why not enjoy or make fun of the show?

I gotta say, it was hilarious and interesting. The concept of the show is “you” (the viewer) is the main character. The side characters all look to the camera at you throughout the story. It makes for a more engaging experience, and it makes the show very watchable. It’s comical how this show seems to be written purely for the purpose of boosting the male viewer’s self esteem.

This show was probably written by guys, and definitely (I spelt def right!) for guys because every single female presence in the show is drop dead hot, and unrealistically cool. I mean it’s funny how ridiculous the scenarios are and the people in them are enjoyable but really? No 605’s? I mean I’m not complaining, but still.

If it wasn’t on after South Park, I probably wouldn’t have watched it. I’m glad I’ll did because I’ll probably tune in again next week.

Moneyball

Moneyball by Michael Lewis

Great read. I can't stress that enough. If you even remotely like baseball, it's worth a look. I personally put it at 2nd or 3rd on my favorite sports list, and this book still kept me reading it for and hour or so at a time (as opposed to the average 15 minutes I spend reading a day).

Billy Beane is the General Manager for the Oakland A's Baseball Club in the Early 2000's. He has different methods than other GM's in the league, and he's not ashamed to use them to his advantage. The tag line, "How to win an unfair game" speaks the truth as Billy manipulates the "traditional" stylings of how to run a team and proves that poor teams can win in Major League Sports.

Quick Thanks to Doug for providing this book for me, as I now I have to go out and purchase my own copy for my collection. And to think, I could have spent that time playing video games or some stupid activity.

Up next on the book docket is Playing Hardball by David Whitford. Should be great!

Busy Next Few Days

First; notice the new Search Bar at the top. Type any querie and it will comb through all my entries and show you what comes up. It's long overdue and I hope you have fun with it!


Well I have an exam on Thursday and an exam next Tuesday. Last night I had to write a presentation on something I don't care about for a class I have to take because of my Major, even though it is not related. I had to email my Marketing Group information on our Project that we are scrambling to finish in time and put together my schedule for things that need to get done to make sure the project is completed on time.

Today I have one class (Accounting at 1:30), but I need to take care of HW for that class (due next Monday) and study for that class, for which the exam is next Saturday. After class today, I need to study up for a Business Writing Meeting I have at 4:30 and come up with ideas for THAT group project (due three weeks from now as well). Afterwards, I'll need to finish the Homework for my Statistics Class, and then write a persuasive letter for my Business Writing Class (separate from the meeting) due Thursday at Noon.

Thursday (at noon) I'll have to present my speech and turn in my letter. After class, I'll need to go over my material for Statistics (the exam starts at 7) and begin studying for my Econ exam (Tuesday at 4). After my Exam ends, I head back home and try and get some reading (Econ) done for next week.

Friday I'm headed over to pick up my cousin Kenny (so pumped!) to head up to Erie and stay with my brother for the weekend. I won't get back until Sunday and I will surely miss the 'Skins game. I'm ok with missing it, as the entire season so far has been worth missing, but rest assured I will be wearing my Baugh '33' Jersey on the ride back from PA.

Sunday Night and Monday is all about studying for Econ and Accounting and possibly catching up on my blog here. Who knows.

Good luck to you all in your endeavors, I'm sure some of my readers have exams coming up as well. It's tough on all of us!

I need to get going for now, but I'll be posting as consistently as possible on here. I've done pretty darn well this month and I plan to keep it that way.

Apples and Bananas

An honest discussion of which is the better fruit.

Personally, I'll have to go on taste here. Bananas are the more delicious of the two yet they aren't nearly as versatile. I had this morning apple jelly on toast with applesauce with breakfast. The only thing i could ever imagine eating involving that yellow bastard is a banana itself.

If we talk versatility, Apple wins by a landslide. Apart from my breakfast this morning, there is apple butter, apple juice, apple pie, appletini, and apple cinnamon muffins. Banana has bread and muffins. And you can put it on cereal.

"An apple a day Keeps the Doctor away!"

vs

"Is that a Banana in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?"

Ok Banana wins that one.

But the fact that someone had to right a song to tell us how to spell "B-A-N-A-N-A-S" means we have a problem as a society.

All these problems, plus my previous discussion on this yellow tropical fruit lead me to believe that Apple may win by default. Sure, it's not the best fruit, but it certainly doesn't have the downfalls that Bananas have.

Jack Johnson

My appreciation for Jack's music has gone through phases..

To preface this discussion, I will say that I had my iPod on shuffle while walking and heard "Fortunate Fool" for the first time since, I don't know 2006? It's been a while.

There was a time when I didn't know who Jack Johnson was. At first, Bubble Toes and Flake came on the radio and I kinda liked it but really that was a bout it. My mom bought the CD because she liked it and I gave it a whirl on my walkman (wow a CD? and a walkman? long time ago!). Not too bad. Then I started researching his other stuff. Pretty darn good. A friend, Eric, was really into him so I thought I'd share that appreciation. At this time, I would have gone to a concert, and paid good money to go. I really enjoyed his stuff.

I began dating somebody and a few songs by him really stuck out with me about her. Which, obviously, increased my liking of the song. For a few posts on Music and Memory go here and here. With the passing of that relationship, I avoided listening to those songs and I found, months and months later, that the songs had been erased from my computer.

To deflect that depreciation of my Jack Johnson Fandom, I begun to think of him (and Dave Matthews, for separate reasons) as "frat boy" music. You know, a Bro. And I didn't want to associate myself with that kind of music. So I stepped back. At this time, I would not go to a JJ concert. Sorry Jack.

As it's been years since the relationship, and as I accidentally heard a song from him somewhere and unconsciously downloaded a slew of Jack Johnson onto my iTunes, and as I accidentally heard "Fortunate Fool" followed by "Tomorrow Morning" on my 1:00 am walk this early morning, I feel I've come full circle in my Jack Johnson music relationship. I feel now that I'm wiser, I won't make the mistakes of linking music to people on purpose. As i've done on numerous occaisions and talked about on here just as much.

Constellations

I've heard that the stars we see today could have gone out millions of years ago, we just haven't stopped seeing the end of the light yet. I think that's such a negative way to look at it. Why not say, "we could be looking through time and seeing an image that doesn't exist anymore" or "that one looks like a W"?
Speaking of the one shaped like a W, anyone else really like that one? I always look for it when I'm out for late walks or driving etc. It's always on the opposite side of the sky as Orion.
Come to think of it, I think it's more like an M.. I could never tell if I was seeing upside down or right side up. Damn you Casseopeia.
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Family Guy Rankings: A Teaser

So here's what you can expect to see for each of the episodes in my Top 50.

Death Has A Shadow

I don't want to ruin anything as far as which of the now 125 or so are in the Top 50, so I chose to post my findings for Episode 1. The only "guaranteed in" for both myself and Bill's Blog.

As you can see I was very mathematical with my approach, but we'll get into the nitty gritty before I unveil my list.

Aisle Seat

I've always and I'm not sure why, but when I sit in a classroom I go to the aisle seat, then move one in. Keep in mind most of my classrooms are large auditoriums of 300 seats or more. Why the second one in?

I can't decide if I want to believe that I am welcoming someone to sit there, or If I'm deterring people from sitting there. A person's natural instincts is to find a seat with no one on either side of them (unless of course you're with friends). So for those occasions where I'm flying solo, why not get a seat with no one on either side?

I've met several people each semester just from leaving that one seat open. But at the same time I've had plenty of courses come and go with that empty seat remaining empty.

Another funny thing to me is when you start to notice people sitting in the same spot for every class. Every week comes around and you can find that same complete stranger to you in the front row on the right aisle or in a small class, in the back corner over you're right shoulder. I think I'm going to start messing with these people in larger classrooms. Sit right in front of them as if I'm bugging them in a movie theater. Or go up to somebody in their "normal" seat and inform them that they have taken my seat.

October

At last, one of my favorite months of the year has arrived. The Leaves are changing outside my window (one tree at a time, oddly enough) and the air is beginning to carry that stinging cold. Sixty degrees never sounds "cold" but when you've been used to 80-90 degrees everyday for the last three months, you're sure to notice a change.

Heavy jackets are on campus tonight and hockey shares the screen with football. All is right with the world.