December 4, 2006?? Seriously?!

So I was sitting on my couch tonight when a little e-mail notification box popped up on my computer screen. The e-mail was from a faithful blog reader questioning the nearly 9 months of silence from myself and my blogging partner in crime. Wow…. I had no idea it had been so long…

So what have I been up to since December 4^th? Well I’ve been to Sri Lanka (ok, that’s no surprise really, except that I was supposed to go twice and cancelled one of the trips due to a debilitating virus sweeping the country—that’s a more interesting story). I have now entered my 4^th year in the School Psychology program. I spent the whole summer, studying, writing, and did I mention studying?? The whole of August was dedicated to studying for my ridiculous comps exams. I hope I passed, and will probably go into hiding if I didn’t and the blog will once again be ignored.

Actually, to be honest there are two reasons why I ignored the blog. First, I read an article that said blogging was becoming a lost art and that people were giving up on it. I felt peer pressure to stop writing. Second, I became a slave to the Facebook. No, I am not too old for Facebook. Yes, I check it several times a day. No, I am not ashamed.

This should be an interesting year. It's the build-up year for the 2008 elections (I am currently watching the Republican debate on TV), and since Sudha is an ass and I am an elephant, you know there will be some interesting discussion. We have an agreement not to talk politics in person since we value our friendship too much, but the blog has always been a wonderful passive aggressive playground for our political thoughts :)

In baseball news, Barry Bonds may have broken Hank Aaron's record, but Hank will still be my main home-run man. The Braves are near the top of the pack, but probably will not pull through. And I still hate the Mets.

Ahh... it feels good to blog. Welcome back!

Oh the insanity

This article is so ridiculous:

"Robbers Prey on Play Station 3 Buyers"

I cannot believe how crazy people can be. This picture is from an e-bay sale which is currently listed as $1,950. A few of the more violent examples...

Andrew Templeton, 20, and David Wiggins, 28, of Sullivan, Indiana, were assaulted by two teens after waiting for 36 hours at a Super Wal-Mart, police said. They were unloading their PlayStation 3s from their car when two teens approached them carrying a chain and a tire iron and demanding their consoles,

Another shopper was beaten and robbed of his new PlayStation 3 just minutes after he bought it at a store in Manchester, police said. The shopper told police five men surrounded and beat him as he left the Shoppes at Buckland Hills with the new PlayStation.

Elsewhere, two men wearing black ski masks and sunglasses made off with five consoles after holding two employees at gunpoint at an Englewood, Ohio, video game store Thursday night, police said.

Things you can see from outer space

The Great Wall of China, Egyptian pyramids, the KFC colonel...

Yeah that's right. In order to promote their new brand image of the colonel in a chef's apron [as opposed to his former white suit jacket] the company laid out colored tiles in the colonel's image that can be seen from space.

Yeah that's right... outerspace.

Eat more chicken aliens.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,229308,00.html

So it wasn't just the frat boys

Looks like good ole Sacha got a lot of people fooled... check out all the other lawsuits coming his way.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2006-11-10-borat-lawsuit_x.htm?csp=34

Girls Gone Wild, Frat Boys Style...

Ok, so Borat is now the #1 movie in America, once again proving that Americans on the whole are stupid. Let's go out and support a movie that patronizes us, points to all our flaws, and generally makes us look like bumbling idiots. But hey, we're all about free speech and isn't Sacha Baron Cohen [a.k.a., "Borat"] just exercising his?

I'm not against this movie by any means, so don't misunderstand what I'm about to say. It's just that I can't help but feel a little bad for the stupid frat guys from good old University of South Carolina. The frat boys claim they were tricked and coerced into saying racist and sexist comments. Let's get one thing clear- NO ONE is ever "tricked" into saying those kind of comments in front of a video camera if they don't mean it a little at least. They claim they thought the video would be shown outside of the country, once again proving that Americans are idiots and have no concept of pride in our country.

My friends went to a theater here in Columbia last week to watch Borat [for those of you who haven't been keeping up, I attend the grad school here at the Univ. of South Carolina-- grad school, not undergrad, so don't blame me] and they said it was ridiculous. First there was lots of cheering when the students "picked up" a hitch-hiking Borat, but then dead silence when the comments were made. These guys are getting ridiculed left, right and center for what they said. Serves them right for being such typical Southern frat boy jerks. So you're asking why do I feel sorry for them? I feel sorry for the fact that no one seems to have taught them better and now they have to suffer with the whole country knowing how ridiculous and idiotic they are. But at the end of the day, they signed a waiver, and now they know how those poor drunk college girls feel after they flash the cameras :)

The New MorningX?

So being that I am in Columbia, I was not aware of the regime change at the 99x Morning Show. Apparently they've been going on for a few weeks now and I'm curious as to how it's going. After the good old days of Sean Demery then Barnes, Leslie and Jimmy, things went downhill when the show went through the various phases of: The Don Miller Morning Show (arguably the worst phase); The Toucher, Jimmy, and Leslie Morning Show; and Mornings with Axel, Jimmy, and Leslie.

Yes, I am getting all of this information from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WNNX-FM and once again I marvel at how much that website knows. It was like a trip down the Atlanta musical memory lane to read that entry.

I'm intrigued to listen to the new show and shall be tuning into 99x.com some mornings in order to check it out. Just a heads up for all you misplaced Atlantans all over the country at the moment.

Oh and by the way, ever wondered what happend to Crash Clark and his traffic updates? Wonder no more....
Was suspended more than once while working at the station. Was fired at the end of November 2005 for a contest gone wrong. According to reports, Crash was hosting a remote at a club and had pairs of tickets to a private 99x concert by 311 to give away. A woman approached and offered to perform oral sex on someone at the club for the tickets. Crash assumed she wouldn't actually go through with it (noting that people had offered to do the same at previous events and hadn't) and was planning to give her the tickets even if she didn't. However, she did go through with it (in the men's bathroom), upsetting the club owners and 99x programming director Leslie Fram. Made a brief final appearance on air near the end of Toucher's final show (on March 17th, 2006), where Clark jokingly asked Fram to hire him back "for the fifth time". Currently involved in a radio show with Fred Toucher and Rich Shertenlieb known as The Toucher and Rich show on WBCN in Boston.

Death of a President?

So I'm curious, what do our blog readers actually think about this movie? The award-winning movie is coming out of the Toronto film festival, but one of the largest movie conglomorates in the country will not be playing it on their screens. Their comment to the press:

But the country's largest theater chain, Regal Entertainment Group, has passed on playing the film, citing the subject matter as the primary reason. "We would not be inclined to program this film," Regal Entertainment Group CEO Mike Campbell said. "We feel it is inappropriate to portray the future assassination of a sitting president, regardless of political affiliation."

This type of comment is enough for the typical media frenzy we're used to, especially in light of the fact that this is election season. But I wanted both sides of the story, so I looked up the synopsis given for the film festival. You can read it here.

I don't know. The synopsis makes it out to be a moving film that will have you crying and questioning the meaning of life. Everyone is entitled to their own artistic expression, but I do find it particularly crass that someone would make a film about killing a specific person while they are still alive, nevermind that he's the sitting president. I guess that's what really bothers me. For years we have been watching movies featuring a "president" character that criticizes and mirrors the current sitting president. But this just seems to be taking it one step too far for me, and I don't like the artistic expression that it's encouraging. Even the 90's classic films, Hot Shots, the Saddam Hussein character was never actually killed if I remember correctly?

I'm gonna be an important person one day as I'm kind of a big deal and people know me. I don't know that I want to live in a country where people think it's ok for someone who doesn't like me to make a movie in which I die when I'm still living and walking on this Earth.

Read the article concerning the movie theater ban here.

No more bull, it's time for the truth!!

It's 3:00 in the morning and I am very very tired. The reason I am not in bed is because a Neuroscience test is keeping me up late and very frustrated. As I feel like an undergraduate again, I decided to revert back to my undergraduate ways when placed in a situation like this.... break out the Red Bull!! It's my favorite way to stay awake while studying or to perk up during a late night out on the town. I personally like the taste even though I know many people seem to hate it. I recently heard that people had died after drinking Red Bull so I decided to search Wikipedia and see what they had to say. Judge for yourself, but all I know is that I am feeling very awake and energized-- clearly enough to write this entry and now I'm ready to get back to work!

In 2001, the drink was investigated by the Swedish National Food Administration after being linked to the deaths of three consumers. It has been subject to a number of other health concerns regarding glucuronolactone, a precursor of taurine. Sale of Red Bull as a normal soft drink is prohibited in Denmark, Norway, France and Uruguay. Due to the link with taurine, local authorities categorized Red Bull as a medicine and suggest customers ask for medical advice before drinking. Because of this, only energy drinks without taurine are sold in France. The official imported Canadian Red Bull is a caffeinated version of Thai Krating Daeng. Until late 2004, its sale was prohibited in Canada. Now a can must carry a warning label that says:

Cautions: Contains caffeine. Not recommended for children, pregnant or breast-feeding women, caffeine sensitive persons or to be mixed with alcohol. Do not consume more than 500 ml per day.

However, no such warning label is present on tins sold in the UK, though people who consume the beverage in excess (more than 2-5 250ml tins in a 24-hour period) have been known to express discomfort, such as nausea, stomach pains, gas, and/or sleeplessness.

Red Bull made the news in Ireland after two hurling players died after drinking Red Bull at half-time in a club game.

Doctors and nutritionists have warned of the dangers of mixing caffeine and alcohol in excessive quantities. Their warnings, however, are often unheeded as many people feel that the benefits of mixing Red Bull with alcohol far outweigh the risks and use stimulants such as caffeine in order to avoid getting drowsy while drunk. Mixing Red Bull with alcohol (most commonly Vodka and Jägermeister) has become increasingly popular among college-aged crowds and club goers. Heavier drinkers of alcoholic Red Bull drinks have cited "euphoric feelings." Many studies have been performed to determine the actual effects on the human body after consumption of Red Bull with alcohol, most finding solely that the mixing of a depressant with an energy drink can lead to abnormal heart rhythms and future heart problems.

The director of biomaterials research at the University of Maryland Dental School in Baltimore found the most wear to tooth enamel occurred, in descending order, from exposure to -- lemonade, energy drinks (especially those with citrus (i.e. Citric acid) flavors such as Red Bull), sports drinks, fitness water, iced tea and cola.

So granted it was my fault, but still....

Ok, so here's the deal.... Friday night, I go into one of my usual haunts to enjoy the fine company of my friends and a few alcoholic beverages. As the new social chair of the department, I had turned this into a department outing and was expecting phone calls from people asking where we were. Therefore, I placed my phone on the table to ensure that no call would be missed. After a few beer beverages, and a shot of Mexico's finest tequila, I was ready to pay my bill and head home for a night of relaxed sleeping.

The next morning, I woke up and realized that I did not have my phone. So I call the restaurant from my apartment phone and they say after about 30 seconds of looking, "No, it's not here, but leave us a contact number and we will let you know if we find it." But I'm not buying that, so I go there myself and ask the manager to look for it, and he says "No, it's not here, but leave us your number and we'll let you know if we find it."

So I go home, call Cingular, and generally waste most of the afternoon trying to decide whether to cancel it, deactivate it, etc. Since it's the weekend, whatever I decided to do can't be reversed until Monday so I had to make sure that I made the correct decision. So after all this, my friend calls around 8pm and and says, "Guess what, the restaurant just called me and said they had your phone." Ok. What the hell?!?

So they got my contact number twice, and instead of using that, they open up my phone and call the last number that tried to contact me? Let's not forget that this is the very same place where hours earlier, an entire management staff had never even seen my phone before. Where did it magically come from? I know it's my fault for leaving it there, but part of me wanted to suggest that maybe they get a better plan for handling things like this instead of ruining my day with their ineptitude for handling missing items. Sheesh. Well at least I still have my phone and all 75 phone numbers that were stored in it. You better believe that I'm gonna be making up a written list of those numbers before I pseudo-lose my phone again. It's amazing in the advent of the cell phone, how few numbers I actually know by heart these days.

I live the life of Paris Hilton

Just get me a T-Mobile sidekick and an annoying purse dog called Tinkerbell and we might be mistaken for twins, oh yeah, except minus the rolling around in the sand and filming music videos.. that's just not my style.

I for one will be semi-relieved when work starts on Tuesday followed by classes 2 weeks later. This summer has been highly unproductive in the way of real work, but I have upped my tolerance level for liquor, pimped out my MySpace profile several times, and generally managed to spend obscene amounts of hours on the computer. I am certain that this is how Paris lives her life.


I mean take a look at this picture. Carefree, full of life... I'm like the spitting image.

Moving on, I was struck at this moment by the large impact that MySpace has made in my life. I am in contact with practically everyone I have EVER met in my entire life. I mean, one click and we're in contact with the aid of a message box. What more could a full-time socialite like me need?

All of my friends are moving to Iraq, no joke. I mean like a good 1/5 of my list is over there right now serving our country in some capacity. Lee was in the PX (which is basically their version of Wal-Mart on the base) and he ran into a girl that was in our year at Vandy and in ROTC with him. She had just driven up to his post on a convoy. Then I was checking MySpace and another one of our friends is an air ranger at a nearby post. There is a very good possibility when Lee is leading convoys to that post, his friend is flying above him providing cover. A third friend is the #2 man for military intelligence in another nearby country. Lee pointed out on the phone yesterday that all three of them very nearly got kicked out of ROTC for drinking one night on a weekend field mission. It was like a big game back then.... we were all college kids, and I know they had no idea that one day ALL of them would be over in a real war at the same time. But if you want my opinion, these guys are amazing at what they do and had they been any other three in ROTC they probably would have been kicked out. But their commander recognized who the top four in the class would be by the time they graduated for leadership and skill (yup, you guessed it, the girl in the PX was one of them) and now they are over there (with no alcohol) and I feel strangely secure knowing this. Their competence level was always amazing to me back then and it's only gotten better over the years.

So that's my life.... thinking about bombs in Iraq or Sri Lanka, and living the life of a Hilton. Only one more weekend till I get back to the grind.
Peace out :)

I think I'm finally back!

So yes technically I have been back for the last two weeks, but as many of you know I've been rather MIA for the last month. Sorry for cutting off communication for my last two weeks in Sri Lanka but I feel like break from the craziness of life was needed. So I visited with relatives during the day and clubbed at night my way through Sri Lanka while battling food poisoning, a fever, and general flu/cold symptoms those last 10 days while I abandoned all of you. All in all, a wonderful vacation as usual in spite of all the heightened security due to renewed civil unrest in the country.

First things first. For the love of everything....
Dear Hizballah,
Please give back the two soldiers you kidnapped several weeks ago. If you do that, Israel says they will stop bombing you. Call me crazy, but why don't you do that and see what happens?
Sincerely,
A concerned world citizen

Yes, I know the situation is much more complicated than the concerned world citizen (a friend of mine who wishes to remain annonymous) seems to realize. But I agree that giving back the two soldiers would be a good start rather than letting more of their people die needlessly.

How bout that Vanessa Minnillo? Not bad landing Nich Lachey, but is it just me or does she seem a little over the top clingy/crazy/annoying. I mean she's starting to make me feel like Jessica was a better choice afterall...

Aaron Spelling dead?!? Man... what are we gonna do for great entertainment television? This is the man behind Dynasty, Charlie's Angels, Beverly Hills 90210, Melrose Place, 7th Heaven... I mean we're talking quality trash tv here and I loved every sick and twisted minute of it. May you rest in peace Aaron.

Oh Mel... why do you hate the Jews? And if you don't, then you really make it seem like you do. I still want to be your friend though and so if you could clean up your act a bit that would be great. Oh and crazy media, back off. I mean seriously, the man made a ridiculously remorseful apology. You all forgave Clinton for his cigar dalliances in the oval office, Whoopi's semi-racist remarks, Hugh's philandering ways, and Ted Kennedy's somewhat sketchy manslaughter charges. Doesn't Mel deserve a little love too?

Ok, that's it for me and all the things that have been going through my mind lately. Should be posting more regularly once again-- it's good to be home!! :)

Fools in Love in Michigan

No I'm not talking about Sudha, but I am talking about a crazy girl who is up there with her! In keeping with the MySpace crazies, here's a great story. Now we may all have different opinions on this, but I think she's nuts. Kudos to the U.S. government officials for recognizing this girl's craziness in the Jordan airport and sending her home before she could get to Tel Aviv. What am I talking about you ask? Katherine Lester met a 20-year old high school dropout who lived with his parents in Tel Aviv on MySpace. She ran away from home and was en route to Tel Aviv to marry this guy and convert to Islam. Is this romantic? The stuff romance novels are made of? Or is this just nuts? Read the article here. The best is the title of this aol.com article: "MySpace Runaway May Lose Passport" Yeah. Like this is the biggest problem this girl has.

Naked, Cuffed Suspect Flees From Hospital

Haha... people are resourceful when on the run...
Mostly I just love this opening paragraph-- catchy and dramatic at the same time! I also highlighted the truly ridiculous parts to this story.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (June 13) - A burglary suspect was charged with a string of crimes after bolting from a hospital, naked, handcuffed and with blood spurting from a stab wound in his chest.

A deputy had removed Rashon Delee's leg shackles so he could use the toilet at Crouse Hospital when he decided to make his run Sunday afternoon, said Onondaga County Sheriff Kevin Walsh.

Delee ripped out an intravenous drip, monitors and a chest tube, threw his hospital gown in a deputy's face and ran from the hospital.

He sprinted down five flights of stairs to escape and managed to slip out of one handcuff while running, possibly because the lubrication from sweat and blood helped him slip it off, Walsh said. (I wonder if this is a scientific opinion?)

Delee eluded authorities for three hours, two of which he spent in a trash bin behind a restaurant on the Syracuse University campus, before he was caught. (Can you imagine seeing this after coming out of your college cafeteria?)

Walsh said department investigators are reviewing whether the deputy, a two-year veteran, acted appropriately.

Delee, 21, was taken to the hospital after being stabbed by his former girlfriend when he broke into her apartment. (You go girl!!)

He faces felony counts of burglary, criminal contempt and escape, as well as misdemeanor counts of harassment, criminal contempt, criminal trespass, petit larceny and resisting arrest.

Yo Sushi!

This is a picture of Yo Sushi! in the Paddington train station in London. It is one of the coolest things I have ever seen. You go and sit at a stool and watch as plates of sushi go by you on a conveyor belt on the counter. Each plate is a different color that corresponds with different prices. Green plates cost £1.50, purple cost £2.00, orange cost £2.50 and so on up till the pink plates that cost £5.00. (Yeah, I wrote those out just so I could use the £ sign on this keyboard). When you're done, they calculate your plates and you're on your way to the train. You can always order what you want, but there are tons of choices on the conveyor belt. Spicy tuna and salmon sashimi already ready and floating around a conveyor belt? Genius... Do we have things like this in the States??

Who is this man?

oh my... still stumped? Take a moment, and look hard. Ashton's Kutcher's brother maybe? Yeah, there's no way you're gonna figure this one out. It's the infamous K-Fed, aka Mr. Spears, aka Kevin Federline. Who would have thought that the man could clean up so well. I haven't a clue what he's up to these days other than trying to promote his "music" But the phrase you can't change a leopard's spots comes to mind when I look at this picture. I'm sure he's still the lazy bum that he's always been. I really don't have much to say on this issue other than I thought it was amazing what a little soap, water, and a razor can do for a man like K-Fed.

Another one bites the dust

Iraq's number two man has been killed. So I know what you're already saying, which number two is this? Doesn't it seem like we're always killing off the number two man? But this one was a biggie according to the terrorist playing cards issued to our military guys over there (brilliant strategy I have to say-- give the soldiers cards which they will probably use during all their downtime, and now they'll be able to recognize these people even better when on patrol). His bounty was raised to $25 million, which is the same as Osama. So what's the significance of this? I'm not entirely sure in the grand scheme of things, but you gotta figure that the guy his supporters called "the slaughtering sheik" won't be terribly missed on this Earth. So we're one step closer, but then again those of you familiar with these kinds of social climates, another person will only take his place tomorrow. Hence the search for the new number two man. But honestly, we can only hope that the new man is less evil than Al-Zarqawi and hope that eventually the new number two will have some common sense and even a soul.

Update: So I just talked to Lee a few hours after this post. He's in the airport on his way to Kuwait and just informed me that Al-Zarqawi was from Mozul, Iraq. As that is where Lee is going to be in 30 days for potentially the next two years, I see this is as huge plus that this idiot is no longer terrorizing that city. So yes, I do think in this case it does matter that this one man is gone. It matters a lot to me because after this point the war is no longer a political debate to have over my morning coffee, but it's about the safety of Lee and all my other friends over there. Good riddance and keep up the good work!