So I'm trying out a new service called "The Newsroom," which allows me to legally embed clips from CBS news and other websites onto my site for people to stream and view. Hopefully, it's pretty cool and I'm giving it a trial run on the site this week with some different stories that I think sound interesting.

We'll take the service for its maiden voyage with the recently controversial Katie Couric's Notebook on 2008 Presidential candidate Barack Obama. What I find interesting about the whole Couric-gate is that a member of the CBS News staff basically plagiarized another writer's piece for Katie Couric's notebook segment on the CBS Evening News, something that will get you expelled from college, and apparently, fired from your job. Even though I clearly have no concept of how busy Couric's life is, it was a little disappointing to me that this happened and that Couric allegedly had no knowledge of it going on. I have always wanted to trust newscasters and believe that they were involved with the writing of the news, but when you don't even create original thoughts for your own "notebook," it makes me feel as if our biggest mainstream television anchors today are merely personalities, rather than journalists who create their own stories and provide their own opinions.

As CBS struggles in the evening news rankings (ranking third behind ABC's Charles Gibson and NBC's Brian Williams) and hopes to gain and hold onto viewers with a more news focused broadcast, this scandal did nothing to help CBS and justify its signing of the top draft pick signing in the history of the evening news. CBS's drop in ratings, which are even lower than when the quintessential grandpa (but very charming) Bob Schieffer was the interim anchor, must be tough for the network to swallow, but I cannot even imagine anyone at CBS News that would be willing to admit defeat, nor admit a mistake after the fanfare that accompanied Couric when joined CBS. I was and am a huge Katie Couric fan, but until they can figure out an identity for her and the program, the network evening news industry, which I hear has a median viewer age of 60, will continue to scrutinize her signing. Right now, Couric's stint with CBS can be comparable to Randy Moss' run in Oakland. A lot of hype, but not a lot of results. Let's hope that both Couric and Moss can turn it on in this second leg of their careers.

Joost is sweet.

Created by the guys who made Skype, Joost is a program and online community that allows you to use your computer and an internet connection in what is truly a near marriage of TV and Internet. You watch programs on demand that look just as good as they would on your TV over broadcast airwaves (except for if your monitor is hooked into your computer via an old school VGA cable, like mine).

If you have some time on your hands, you should definitely check it out. It's invite only, but you should be able to find one on eBay for $.99 no problem. I cannot say that I am not watching episodes of Laguna Beach via Joost and falling more and more in love with Lauren Conrad with every passing "like" filled (i.e. "omg, like that was like so not like cool, y'know? Like he should like totally know better") episode. A full season of something I wanted to see anyways and just for $.99!

Eventually, TV will transform into some form of something similar to Joost. I feel like me using it now will slow down the inevitable of me getting old and having no idea what people think is cool.

Welcome to life after graduation.

No homework. No long term projects. No more waking up with text books and journal articles on my face and highlighter all over my bed.

I woke up today and cruised Facebook for a bit and started to come to grips with the reality that I am no longer a student. Finally, a year late, I'm officially done with school and a part of the "real world." While I have been working full-time for the past two years or so, I've been a student for the entire time as well. And now finally, I'm home on a weekend and just don't have anything school-related that is pressing to do. Undergrad was such a whirlwind of just being busy and grad school wasn't that much easier because I was working a lot more, but now I'm just a regular guy who works and comes home everyday.

I can't say that I have a ton of reading to do, nor papers to write. I don't have to rush back to campus for group meetings. And yes, my car is stolen, but suddenly it doesn't matter that my USC parking pass got stolen as well. And even though this is what I've wanted since the day the 2006-2007 school year started, there are definitely things that I'll miss about my disgruntled existence in grad school. It was so much fun to make class fun and to meet fun people to joke around with during class. I can't say that I didn't love being incredibly nonchalant in all of my classes, but yet still finding "academic success" through my grades. Inevitably, as the past year and even past few months have shown, you lose people along the way. You lose people in undergrad and there's no doubt that I'll be losing people from grad as well. Sometimes it's people you expect, sometimes it's the people you least expect.

I shed no tears, had no overwhelming sense of pride or joy as I walked across the stage two times to claim both my faux degrees (real degrees come in 4-6 weeks). It was just another motion to go through in life for me, which is perhaps sad and a little too mature for a day when people are supposed to be jumping for joy or out getting wasted before and after the ceremony. My joy came from just seeing people come out to celebrate with me after my graduation. From family, to my San Diego family, to friends who came in from other cities, states, and people who took time off work that normally really shouldn't, that was what mattered to me.

A part of me is really sad that I didn't graduate last year with my Freshman class. I missed not having that feeling of togetherness and celebration with tons of people that I knew on Friday, as the number of people that I knew from grad school was a fraction of the people I knew graduating in 2006 (not that the relationships I formed during graduate school aren't valuable, because they are, but there's something about the bond of having classes with people for four years that changes things). It would have meant more, despite the fact that I would have just had to do it again the year after. I wish I had walked with my class, but clearly that's an impossibility at this point.

To everyone who came out, thank you so much. I appreciate your presents and all the unexpected gifts! Many of you will technically be a part owner of my next car, as that's where all my money is going to lately.

So overall, graduated, but not changed.

This weekend was great. Busy, but great. Today, I'm cleansing my room of academia and doing some reading for fun, something I've been looking forward to doing since forever. Saw Blades of Glory last night, which definitely had its moments (I got distracted by Jenna Fischer for too much of the movie).

Distracting in a good way.

What am I going to do with all this newfound freedom? Hopefully I'll at least be able to start with a clean room.

Results of American Idol Insider Blog Limerick Top 10

Check out #2 and #5! I didn't win, but I got a shout out.

Heading out to Orange County to have dinner with my favorite little sister in the world today! It's going to take me about 2 hours to get there in traffic, but I'm sure it will be totally worth it.

American Idol Insider Blog - Limerick Edition

One of my posts on the blog started a flurry of posts over at the official American Idol Insider Blog courtesy of official Idol blogger MarnieSl. Check it out! Some of them are pretty funny!

For some context as to how big Idol has become, despite people saying that its popularity is dwindling check out this article on Idol's website hits compared to other television-based Internet sites. Could it actually be the most important show in television history?

Might be a stretch, but some think so.

With the potential of a new car comes the potential need for a new job.

I may have finished school today and have now completed my Bachelor's and Master's degrees, but that doesn't mean that I won't end up back to my roots - food service.

Tonight, I applied for weekend positions at AMC as a Box Office Cashier and Apple as a retail store cashier. With my student loans and other life expenses, unfortunately, there is just no way I would be able to survive on what I'm making at my current job while making payments on a new car. So for now, Master's Degree and all, I'm probably heading back to retail, cashiering, or even food to try and make some extra cash on Friday nights and Saturday mornings apart from my 50 hour week at work.

Other places I'm thinking of applying? Nordstrom, In-n-Out, McDonald's, Pacific Sunwear, and yes, even Tito's Tacos. I would love to work on my Spanish working there! I think they want people who work more hours, but I'd love to give it a shot!

Such is life, right? More like, such is life when your car gets stolen. If I end up at the McDonald's Drive-Thru, don't give me a hard time.

Diet Coke and Mentos Video on YouTube


I hadn't seen this until today, but now I know what I'm doing this weekend.

Yesterday afternoon, I took a Scion xA out for a test drive around the mean streets of Culver City. I told the salesperson (Rommel) that I was not looking to buy that day because before I can make any moves, I have to make sure I get a check from insurance! He was totally cool with it and really lived up to the upfront pricing, no haggling service that Scion advertises. We drove around and talked about his job, differences he's had working at Toyota versus Scion, and things of that nature. Luckily, because of my experience working with CarsDirect, I can talk the talk pretty well when it comes to speaking with people from the autos industry.

Completely fell in love with the car! If I get a decent enough check from insurance, I'll definitely be looking to pick one up. $14,600 brand new with a Pioneer sound system and iPod connection! What's funny is that a brand new 2006 is actually cheaper than a used 2004 that I saw on the lot (likely had more features that I don't really need). The car was really comfortable to drive, loved the seats and its semi-sluggish acceleration. Big fan of the size and just overall feel of the car (and it has 4 doors! Cool!

I found this on Google Image Search. Heading was "Ugliest vehicle CURRENTLY available?"

And soon, it could be mine! At this point, I'm just hoping my car doesn't return so I can pick up one of these little aliens.

Going to test drive a MINI later today just for fun as well. I know I'm going to love it. I just know I won't be able to afford it.

On another note, I'll be taking my last test of my academic "career" tomorrow!

I am realizing that there is a small chance that my car might be recovered and not declared a total loss. This thought frightens me.

If your car was stolen, only to be found later missing about 50% of its parts, would you want to keep it?

Right now, I'm thinking about a Scion Xa. Seems like less people would steal that.

Would love a Honda Fit, but don't think I could afford it. Arlene tells me the VW Rabbit is for girls and that's definitely not me...despite what the variety of skin care products in my bathroom would say.

I love the Hondas (it's in my blood, as an Asian), but I don't know if I could handle another one getting stolen.

I'm realizing that I'm about to experience my first week without being in school or having pending school in about 19 years and I will be driving a rental waiting for my car to be reported as a total loss.

It's really depressing.

Two months ago, I started saving for a "new car down payment" in my ING Direct savings account. I have $175.69 so far. Who knew I would have to use it so soon?

On a positive note, I just set up my bench press in my room last night (for which I was saving for almost a year). It's pretty much the only thing keeping me sane today. It was really hard to set up with a socket wrench, but I'm happy I did it. The walls not being broken and the doors not being slammed to the point where I cause visible damage are likely also grateful.

So I just walked down to my local Enterprise Rent-a-Car (choosing not to have them pick me up like they say in the commercial because I thought it would be more expensive for some reason) and picked up a sweet 2006 Kia Spectra to drive while my car is being violated and in "stolen" purgatory.

Ladies, ladies, please try and keep your hands off me in my super effeminate Baby Blue 2006 Spectra! Please try and contain yourselves, I know it's hard!

Why did I choose the Baby Blue Spectra out of the wide variety of cars at the rental car location? The Chevy Cobalt didn't have power locks or windows (first choice). The Hyundai Elantra didn't have a CD player (second choice). The Ford Focus didn't have keys (third choice, keys were lost, which I could foresee being a problem for the location down the road). Leading me to the beautiful, body damaged and significantly scraped up, Kia Spectra. It has a CD player. It has a weird smell. And it's all mine for at least 15 days. I couldn't see myself forking out $40/month extra even with insurance just to drive a Dodge Avenger (not hating if you drive that car).

I used to make ridiculous turns in my Civic because I knew the dimensions so well. For the next 15-30 days, I will be driving like an old lady. What's worse is that I'm Asian. This is going to be a mess... maybe I should have got that extra insurance...

Viva La (and yes, it's feminine) Spectra!

Since I don't have a car anymore and am stranded, I figure this is as good a time as any to post something happy - my website hits since I've launched! :)

Dec 2006: 109 (most of them were me making sure the site worked)
Jan 2007: 360
Feb 2007: 283
Mar 2007: 484
Apr 2007: 1,065

So other than February, where I didn't post nearly as much as I should have, DaveChung.com is alive and well! Hopefully everyone can come along for the ride in May and beyond! No doubt this month will start out with my graduation, then we can all experience the joys of me trying to get a car after my car is finally declared a loss.

As always, thanks to everyone who checks in! It means a lot to me!

Goodbye car! You had a wonderful life, but now you are stolen.

At some point last night/this morning, my car was stolen. I'm pretty bummed about it. Not having a car in California is definitely a huge downer. I'm sure my car was taken for a joyride out and about town for a bit before it has now likely been chopped up into thousands of pieces and spread out around the globe. I hope that whoever stole my car enjoyed it as much as I did. If they didn't turn off the CD player, they were jamming out to my new Ne-Yo CD. Chances are they're using that same CD right now to seduce women while the rest of my car is chopped up so some Asian can plop my 1.8L motor with about 40k on the ticker into his 1981 Civic hatchback or CRX so that he can be 2Fast2Furious.

I used to hate Honda Civics, but I learned to love mine! It always started (except for when the battery cable came off every now and then). He always made it back and forth wherever I needed to be and I took care of him to thank him for that. I always had spare light bulbs, windshield wipers, and even had wheel locks on the car so that his shoes wouldn't be taken! The stock CD player gave me many a great day jamming out in the car and I always kept the interior clean (sometimes messy, but clean). And while he did emit a fart smell through the vents after I hit the wiper fluid button, that was pretty much the only downside!

Many a trip to visit my grandma and trips to San Diego were done with that car and it is sad that I will likely never see him again. I would leave him for months on end when I went on trips for the summer happily garaged in Fullerton. Everytime I came back, he was still happy to see me and greeted me with a joyous starting on his 1.8L underperforming engine. If I do see him ever again, I'm sure that it will likely have a swear word spray painted on him, along with urine and poop stains all over the seats, in which case, I'd rather not see it again.

It's funny how just when things seem to be going well (for me: new job, double graduating, finally not poor), things seem to blow up in peoples' faces. I wonder if it's really "the story of my life," or if this is just how it appears every time something unexpectedly bad happens because all of us say it! Now I'm going to be strapped with car payments for the next few years all because someone decided that they wanted to steal my car. Sweet!

Apart from the car itself, which totally blows, I lost a lot of other good stuff!
- GPS (Only used it 4 times!)
- Sharper Image Air Purifier
- Tons of new, packaged car parts that were excited to be used
- Stuffed lobster
- Bowzer beanbag
- About 100 burned CDs
- Bluetooth headset
- Two pairs of glasses + sunglasses

And I'm sure a whole lot more. I don't even want to think about what other good stuff was in there.

Goodbye car, you'll be missed and your clean exterior and interior will likely be replaced by an absolute beater.

RIP 2000 Honda Civic EX (2004 - 2007 with me). May your chopped up body parts cause every other car that uses them to experience spontaneous combustion on the freeway.

Google is now the world's most valuable brand

When I was interviewing for a few different positions with Google, I couldn't have been more excited. When I flew up to Mountain View, California to endure a five hour interview with various members of their recruiting team, it was an overall great experience. I was so set on working in the sports industry when I started college, but ended up turning down a full-time position with the USC Football team. While all this Googleviewing was going on, I also had the opportunity to drop out of grad school to pursue a position with the Atlanta Braves. However, Google seemed like it was as cool, if not cooler than all of them.

Why? I don't know. Maybe it was the way peoples' eyes lit up when I said "I'm interviewing with Google." Maybe it was the fact that everyone knows what Google is, was, and is en route to becoming. People say that every great empire eventually falls, but I just think it's amazing that they've become an empire over the course of what, a decade? People say it can't last, but when you're attracting and maintaining top talent because "everyone wants to work for Google," you have a great shot, even when the world is against you and your "do no evil" ways. It's really incredible to see! And they have free Naked Juice in their coolers! (I drank four while I was there...didn't get the job, but at least I got some good free drinks)

Now, I'm here. About ten days away from graduation, after about ten serious considerations of dropping out of grad school (under the guise of a 3.8 GPA), and I'm happy to be here. Google or no Google.

My favorite song of the moment: Ne-Yo's Because of You

Ne-Yo's new CD drops today! May 1st, 2007. Even though I won't have time to listen to it until Wednesday, I'm as excited about it as I have been about any CD that's come out lately (but yet, I still manage to buy so many...)

These are the states that I've been to and eaten a meal/slept for a leisurely night in. This does not include just driving through en route to somewhere else.


create your own personalized map of the USA
or write about it on the open travel guide

The bottom and the middle could use some work.

AOL Video is actually pretty cool! I had never actually been to the website since they began their advertising campaigns for the "new AOL" You can download full length shows and movies... and of course, watch videos like these.

American Idol Insider Blog

Check out #1 and #7! Holla!

SNL - Sofa King


Hard to make me LOL, but this made me LOL today.

Last night, I was in class for the third to last time for what I hope will be a very long time. We turned in our papers and were set free at 7:40 PM, nearly two hours before our regular 9:30 PM release. I was excited to be out so early so that I could rush home, get dinner, watch Idol Gives Back (Carrie Underwood...you are ridiculously hot...just so you know, you know...when you randomly stumble upon my website...yeah.), and sleep at a reasonable time. What could be better, right?

I walked back to my car in USC's Parking Structure "D" and while I was walking up to my car, I saw a girl was circling my car and her Red 2003 Ford Explorer parked next to mine. I was a little confused, a little prepared to get pepper sprayed for no reason, but continued to walk over to my car. I opened my trunk, put in my bag, and walked over to the driver's side of my car to open the door and head home. Normal, wonderfully early night, right?

As I moved to open the door, I was greeted with the sounds of crunching, broken safety class beneath my orthopedic-like Reebok Classics. Someone had broken into the car next to mine, leaving shards of broken glass where her passenger window had once been and a glass party on the ground between our cars. The girl, who I later found out was named Susana, was visiting USC for an information session because she was considering transferring to the School of Social Work at USC from Cal State Los Angeles. And of course, on a day where she was excited at the possibility of perhaps transferring schools, her car gets broken into, and her briefcase gets stolen in the very parking lot of the school that was vying to take $33,000 a year from her and put her in debt for years to come. Fan-effing-tastic.

I wanted to go home. Honestly, I'm pretty burned out from two years of work and grad school. I look forward to the weekends for the sleep as much as I do the faces that appear on the weekends. But what are you supposed to do? Do you just jump in your car and say, "Oh man, that sucks...well, hope it works out!!", wave, and leave a girl who doesn't even go to your school stranded in a parking structure with a busted window while she waits for the campus police (USC's Department of Public Safety) to show up?

So I waited with her. We walked around her car and found that DPS had left a business card with a note that said "Found damage to your vehicle @ 1800 hours, please call if you want to file a report." I don't think the 1800 hours was accurate because I parked at 6:30 PM and I don't think I'm that oblivious that I wouldn't notice a mountain of broken glass beneath my feet after parking my car. But then again, I was on the phone. I wouldn't put it past me.

What do you do with a total stranger while you wait for DPS to show up (35 minutes) and you are standing next to a violated car? You small talk, a lot. I found out that she lives not far from where I used to work, has a boyfriend, and that she interns at a school right now for her passion, social work. She found out that I was in grad school, asked about my job, and of course, asked me a ton of questions about USC and well, DPS. It was a lot of joking around, trying to keep her mind on anything but her car. When we did talk about the car, we tried to be optimistic and light-hearted about it - "At least they didn't take this...." or "Why didn't they want my CDs?"

Waited for an hour with her and helped her get in contact with DPS and provide them with a report. There was a blatant handprint on the side of her car from who we would assume to have been the person who broke her window, but DPS is currently not allowed to take fingerprints at crime scenes (per LAPD). Our DPS officer described this problem as a "stupid, power thing," and lamented how the LAPD was requesting Susana to drive her car downtown with a busted window if she wanted them to take prints. She fervently declined. Another car break-in at USC, another person goes free. Story of our parking structures.

Then it was time for me to leave. Caught up with some old friends, picked up Tito's Tacos, and watched Idol Gives Back. Got three votes in the night before (two for Jordin, one for Chris) before I passed out at 12:45 AM. I thought it was a great special and hope that it's something that continues every year in some capacity. I cannot think of a better stage to try and raise awareness of an otherwise invisible problem for us here in the United States than the Idol stage - the biggest stage on television today.

America's Top 10 Most Bloggiest Neighborhoods

And I have belonged to two of them. Rep your hood!! *starts dancing around with a computer mouse dangling around his neck like a G-Unit Spinner*

Article pasted below:

Since we've been tracking local bloggers in over 3,000 US neighborhoods for the past six months now, we thought it would be fun to run the numbers and finally answer the question that's been on everyone's mind: what exactly are America's bloggiest neighborhoods? The results below are based on a number of variables: total number of posts, total number of local bloggers, number of comments and Technorati ranking for the bloggers. If your neighborhood's not on the list, start a placeblog or let us know about a placeblog we're missing — we'll calculate this list again next year and let you know what's changed.

1. Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
The Neighborhood: The rapidly gentrifying tree-lined blocks of 19th-century townhouses are also home to the Pratt Institute of Art.
Local Blogger: Jonathan Butler, creator of Brownstoner, who quit his Wall Street job earlier this year to run his popular real estate and home renovation blog full-time.
Local Obsessions: Will the nearby mega-development Atlantic Yards destroy the neighborhood's quiet charm? Is the still-hot Brooklyn real estate market headed for a crash?

2. Shaw, DC
The Neighborhood: Emerging from a generation of economic decay, these centrally-located 19th-century Victorian row houses and their residents harbor the rich history of this "pre-Harlem center of African-American intellectual and cultural life".
Local Blogger: An undisclosed Shaw resident behind Remaking le Slum Historique and The Shiloh Baptist Church blogs.
Local Obsessions: Will H Street's historical significance as the center of the 1968 MLK assassination riots become a fleeting memory in the wake of the multi-million dollar redevelopment plan for the area?

3. Downtown LA
The Neighborhood: After the Adaptive Reuse Ordinance was passed in 1999, developers were able to swiftly convert Downtown LA's vacant commercial buildings into renovated lofts and luxury apartment complexes.
Local Blogger: Eric Richardson, creator of blogdowntown and member of multiple neighborhood council committees.
Local Obsessions: The displacement of the homeless population, particularly in the Skid Row area.

4. Newton, Mass
The Neighborhood: Comprised of 13 villages that form a bedroom community of nearby Boston. Home to the various campuses of Boston College, Newton has graced the top of the FBI's annual "Safest City" study for the last five years.
Local Blogger: Kristine Munroe, monitor of The Garden City
Local Obsessions: Houses appear to be selling - does this mean that the Newton housing market is picking up? How is the increase of Route 9 traffic from Chestnut Hill Square going to affect the Parker Street area?

5. Rogers Park/North Howard Chicago
The Neighborhood: Located in one of the last remaining pockets of poverty in Chicago's North Side, it‘s home to a culturally diverse group of residents that have very mixed feelings about the rapid gentrification.
Local Blogger: 24/7 North of Howard Watchers
Local Obsessions: Don Gordon and Joe Moore's heated race for Alderman of the 49th Ward.

6. Pearl District ("The Pearl"), Portland
The Neighborhood: Previously known as the "Northwest (Industrial) Triangle", it was dubbed "The Pearl District" in the early nineties when a local compared the newly emerging artist lofts and galleries to pearls hidden within the crusty shells of this former warehouse district. The Pearl is now Portland's largest art district and has notoriously expensive real estate.
Local Blogger: Lynnette Fusilier (aka PearlGirl), the woman behind Neighborhood Notes
Local Obsessions: New neighborhood restaurant watch! Get Bento, Park Kitchen and Bay 13 are all on the radar this month.

7. Watertown, Mass
The Neighborhood: An affordable alternative to its rival Boston suburbs, noted for its citizen involvement in community issues and local politics.
Local Blogger: Lisa Williams, vocal advocate of citizen journalism, author of H2otown, and co-founder of the newly-launched Placeblogger.com
Local Obsessions: A lack of interest led to the cancellation of the Watertown High School's 2007 Girl's Softball season - will someone start a youth softball league to seed the passion of softball to a younger generation?

8. Harlem, NY
The Neighborhood: Residents of this legendary cultural epicenter saw gentrification catalyzed in the 1990s by new federal and city policies and the development of the $66 million Harlem USA retail complex on 125th St.
Local Blogger: UPTOWNflavor
Local Obsessions: Will buildings such as the Corn Exchange continue to sit vacant and tempt vandals? Or will community leaders and real estate developers finally come to an agreement over the best way to revamp these landmarks while preserving Harlem's history?

9. Potrero Hill, SF
The Neighborhood: While families lived on the hill, flatland manufacturing by firms like U.S. Steel, the Union Iron Works, the Western Sugar Refinery, Bethlehem Shipbuilding Co. and American Can Co., among others, ensured that the area remained largely industrial through most of the 20th century. But a combination of deindustrialization and the late-1990s Internet boom began driving the conversion of factories and warehouses into housing or offices.
Local Blogger: Potrero Hill, San Francisco
Local Obsessions: Will the new Whole Foods, San Francisco's largest, be a foodie's dream come true or a commuter's traffic nightmare? Can the Good Life Grocery, a staple in Potrero Hill since 1974, survive the competition?

10. Coconut Grove ("The Grove"), FL
The Neighborhood: Originally an independent community that was annexed by Miami in 1925, The Grove is home to enough restaurants and open air malls to have earned it the nickname, "Miami's Food Court". An active boating contingent takes advantage of the southern border along Biscayne Bay.
Local Blogger: Coconut Grove Grapevine
Local Obsessions: Will city officials go through with the rezoning of Mercy Hospital to allow for the development of three new condominiums? Coconut Grove residents protest this "Mercy Land Rape" for fear that it will destroy their scenic vista of the historic Vizcaya house and gardens.

Man Gets Hit with Pizza at Boston's Fenway Park

The most random, yet entertaining story out right now.

Boston

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I know the song is about going to Boston because someone is tired of California, but I assure you, I'm staying on the West Coast.

I know this song has been out for a while and it's probably for girls (as is most of the music I seem to like), but I am really intrigued by this video for some reason. Something about it is really sad (beyond the lyrics) to me about waves crashing into pianos and totally destroying them and rendering them useless. I've never been a destructive person (I hate watching people break things just to break things), so watching the waves crash into these pianos which could probably have gone to good use for families that otherwise can't afford them for the sake of a capitalist music video is painful, yet powerful in a weird way to me. This makes no sense. I need to get to sleep.

Rapper Lil Romeo to play basketball for the USC Trojans?

According to the Los Angeles Daily News, what was once a dream could become a reality (for me). Lil Romeo (you know, "Romeo! Make them elbows swing, Romeo make them elbows swing!") hopes to suit up in the Cardinal and Gold and play for Tim Floyd and the University of Southern California Trojans.

Can Romeo do what Bow Wow couldn't and make it to the league? He stands at about six feet tall right now as a high school junior and genetically, the kid has game through his father Master P, who had a couple summer league stints in the NBA. I would personally love to see this kid come to USC and play with OJ Mayo. I have no doubt that Romeo has game and that he's come a long way since telling girls that he "ain't need a girlfriend" despite the fact that girls once proclaimed, "Oh Romeo, you're the cutest boy I know..." To which Romeo could only respond "I know, I know," like any rapper at the top of his game.

Put this guy on the court. Sell tickets. Sell jerseys. And finally give USC more hood appeal than UCLA (a mystery that makes no sense because UCLA is in the 'burbs, while USC is South LA)

I'll proclaim it here. If Romeo sends in his letter of intent to USC, I'll drop whatever it takes to get season tickets so that I can watch P. Miller's kid and OJ Mayo take USC basketball to a level of popularity that has never been seen and will never see again. Follow your dream, Romeo and come to USC. I have little doubt in my mind that you will break the record for being asked to the most sorority invites, exchanges, and formals in USC history. For this reason alone, fax in that Letter of Intent.

Romeo + Mayo = Sold out Galen Center and a Final Four Appearance.

Bobby Lee is a funny guy


I had the pleasure of meeting Bobby Lee while working as a Production Assistant for a small comedy special called "Comedy Zen" my senior year of college.

After introducing himself to me and exchanging small talk, one of the first things Bobby said to me was, "Hey man, you like white girls?"

Obviously, I responded in the affirmative (who doesn't? Modern media won't allow otherwise).

Bobby went on to tell me about his girlfriend, getting along with parents, and all kinds of other random insights that he could offer me, a then-21 year old college student, about life and love. The funny thing about him and this conversation was that it was completely genuine. He was totally interested in anything that I said and was probably asking me more questions about myself than I was about him.

And then, in true Bobby Lee fashion, he proceeded to do his routine, strip down to a man-thong, and show his anus to the crowd.

Conrad / Wahler "Sex Tape" said to be "very vanilla"

Last week, cable internet bandwidth providers were able to breathe a sigh of relief because apparently, the rumored Lauren Conrad / Jason Wahler sex tape was more hype than substance.

How long until another similar celebrity scandal breaks out? I give it two weeks...

Man Receives 5,000 Phone Calls After Posting Phone Number on YouTube

5,000. Wow.

So this guy posts his number on YouTube in case people "just want to talk," I suppose he is there to listen. He doesn't know people, but yet says he "cares" about these people. This whole concept is so bizarre to me that I cannot even begin to put my finger around it. What makes this situation even more interesting is the fact that the guy is paying for his cell phone bill and the extra minutes and text messages that come as a result of his YouTube phone number posting.

I can understanding eating the cost of building a website because you're hoping to get swallowed up by a larger media conglomerate, but a cell phone bill? I know that this guy is trying to be a friend (and is likely a wonderful conversationalist), but there has to come a point where you need to sleep and cannot handle the beeping of call waiting interrupting you every second of the day, right? Am I completely off base here? What even weirder to me is the fact that this guy is 20 years old! He's not some nice 70 year old lady who has a lot of money to burn from her 401k and IRA, but a "spiky haired" 20 year old male. I hope he makes something of this.

Otherwise, things are going pretty well. School is winding down and I'll be turning in my third to last paper on Wednesday and submitting my thesis next Tuesday. You guys were right, the excitement builds as graduation gets closer... Can't wait to get there.

American Idol Insider Blog - Sanjaya Malakar Top 10 Book Titles

Check out #3! I'm pretty proud of myself.

I really want to believe that the Internet is going to empower voters and encourage young people to learn more about candidates so that they can make educated votes. I checked out the Barack Obama page on YouTube, hoping to learn a little bit more about one of the more intriguing candidates for the 2008 Presidential Election. I watched some videos and thought that it would be very cool to see if people were engaging in intelligent discussions about the videos that I could learn from myself.



While some of the comments were great, others definitely included...

"dude charlie rose is so intimidating"

"Obama, Clinton, McCain, Edwards, Romney... Who cares?
They're all puppets on the same New World Order police state string!!
A vote for them is a sure vote for destruction and tyranny.

Vote Ron Paul before we fall!!
In 2008, we regulate!!

He has never voted to raise taxes.
He has never voted for an unbalanced budget.
He has never voted for a federal restriction on gun ownership.
He has never voted to raise congressional pay.
He has never taken a government-paid junket.
He has never voted to increase the power of the executive branch.
He voted against the Patriot Act.
He voted against regulating the Internet.
He voted against the Iraq war."

"you suck obama"

Well, it'll get there.

There were also some really interesting posts like these:

"To all that say the war in Iraq is wrong. I have one question, why then do most troops who have fought in the war support it and the president? Well, one reason is all the Iraq veterans, including myself, know the truth about what is going on there. If you really think the media accurately portrays this war you are sadly mistaken. I have seen evidence there that supports every reason why we went. I am proud to have crossed the boarder into Iraq in 2003 with the U.S. Army."

And straight forward, "you thought it, I said it," posts like these:

"His record is that he is the only major candidate that had the good judgment to see that this was a "dumb" war."

Check out the MySpace/YouTube pages when you have a chance. I'll check out the Clinton ones over the weekend as well. Interesting stuff when no one is there to edit (is anyone editing?)

Three top prospects for this year's NFL Draft have admitted to using marijuana, NFL team sources have confirmed to The Sports Xchange.

The players cited are Georgia Tech wide receiver Calvin Johnson, Clemson defensive end Gaines Adams and Louisville defensive tackle Amobi Okoye. None of them tested positive for drugs in tests done by the NFL or in any of the random tests conducted in college by the NCAA.

Three top prospects? If every player was this honest, it'd be more like "All but three top prospects have admitted to using marijuana." I love how fans and some sportswriters forget that a large percentage of athletes don't come from perfect, drug-free lives, and that it somehow becomes big news when *gasps* someone has done drugs before.

NBC looks for a story on Facebook


Really don't know how I feel about this, nor the "Today, we are all Hokies" profile pictures that people are putting up on Facebook. It's confusing... Despite the fact that so much of the media coverage on this tragedy is about Cho Seung-Hui and repeatedly talks about how he is South Korean, I feel a strange disconnect with this event - perhaps because I didn't watch the news coverage the day of the shooting. I did read about it, but I wonder if it's because I haven't been exposed to as much of the mainstream media on this story that I am left less affected.

On a completely unrelated note, I love these American Idol bobblehead widgets.

Get this widget!

Rest in peace, Sid Brooks.

I just heard that my former boss in the USC Football Equipment Room, Sid Brooks, has passed away. Sid was the head of equipment operations for USC Football for two of the three years I was part of the USC Football program. While Sid did a lot of things that made us make confused faces at each other and really asked a lot (oftentimes seemingly unreasonable requests) of us, he always treated me with respect and cared a lot about me.

It was always funny how Sid always tried to get on TV with Coach Carroll and how he liked to be the first person off the bus or the first person to walk into a stadium so that he could lead the team. It seemed ridiculous at the time, but looking back, I knew it was because he really cared. Of course, all of the student managers had their battles with Sid, but that's inevitable in any sports environment. At the end of the day, Sid was always there to give me a firm handshake, or even a hug for a job well done. I remember when he came into the room, shook my hand, and gave me a hug, congratulating me on becoming the head student manager for the team for the 2005-2006 season. Yes, I already knew and the paperwork had already been signed and turned in, but Sid just had so much pride that he felt like he had chosen me to do a great job for the program, even though he was retiring. I remember that he told me that he knew he was leaving the student managers in good hands and that he'd still "be around," if we ever needed him. At the time, we laughed about it. Now that I look back on it, it almost brings tears to my eyes.

Now that I think about it, it's with a heavy heart that I say goodbye. Rest in peace, Sid.

"Once you have made the small changes that I requested, this looks ready to go!"
- My Thesis Professor

And with those words, a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders. A small edit and a one paragraph abstract away from being done with my thesis.

- One take home final (going to be hard)
- One 20 page paper (3 pages done so far)
- One test (47% to pass the class)
- One thesis (could finish in an hour)

And then I'm done. Wow.

Blogging for Dollars

That'd be so sweet...

Hilary Clinton: 1984



Definitely not breaking news, but in case anyone hadn't seen this, I wanted to post it on my webpage to keep us up to date with interesting, "grown up," water cooler talk. This video was posted on YouTube, apparently by someone who wasn't an official member of the Obama camp, in support of Barack Obama and obviously, against Hilary Clinton. It's a take off of the Super Bowl commercial that Apple used to introduce the Macintosh to the American public.

It's a bit inspiring and eye-opening about how much America has been able to slowly embrace at least some change that this upcoming Democratic nomination battle is going to be decided by a race between an African-American man and a White woman. Well at least it will remain inspiring, until they both get beat by a Republican White guy (kidding!...well, kind of).

I wonder what it would say about our country connotatively if in a year where everyone thinks a Democrat will take over as the POTUS (what up, West Wing), a white rich Republican still manages to win the election. It's also interesting that the election has candidates (other than McCain and possibly Edwards) that have don't have the traditional experience (both military and in terms of years) that typical candidates seem to have. I don't really know that much about political history, but I'm wondering if any city mayors have made the jump to become the President of the United States like Rudy Giuliani is attempting to do. Regardless, wanted to share the video. Original video is posted below.



It's funny how this commercial to introduce the Mac was so dark and yet today, Macs are advertised like this.



Out with the old, in with the new.

Word is getting around that a Lauren Conrad "sex tape" is going to find its way to the Internet in the near future. While LC denies such claims, many other celebrity news and blog sites are jumping on the bandwagon that this tape might actually exist - tarnishing the reputation of my reigning celebrity crush.

Considering the circumstances (Jason Wahler, the alleged other participant in the alleged sex tape, I believe is going to jail for drunkenly punching someone and is trying to make some money before his criminal record is officially going to hold him back in life... not as if that would stop him from still ending up at huge Hollywood parties after his release), I wouldn't be surprised if it existed and was released in a last ditch effort. Definitely one of those "if you're going to go down, go down swinging" moments, but we'll see what it does to my beloved LC and The Hills. Just a thought, if celebrities don't want these tapes to come out, maybe they shouldn't bring the camera into the bedroom. It's unfortunate that everyone tries to make money off of them and especially when you're the bigger star, as is the case with LC here, you'd like to think that you'd really look out for yourself.

LC > Normal bandwidth usage

Jenna Fischer: A close second on my unofficial list of celebrity crushes

Did I mention that I saw Wicked in Hollywood a few weeks back? I don't know much about musicals, but I'd be pretty surprised if they got better than that. Shawn Wayans was a few rows in front of us with his family. The two leads were incredible in the play and I highly recommend anyone in Los Angeles to see the play, even if you don't really "get" musicals like me (I was totally lost during "RENT," because I didn't know you had to listen to the lyrics...I would bob my head for five minutes and then emerge from the musical number completely lost). Tickets were a lot...about $100, but I figured it was only $25 more than I paid to see 50 Cent a couple years ago... not that he's not culturally enriching in his own right.

"Grad School Prom" was this weekend inside the California Science Center (which is actually a pretty cool venue for a dance!). It was so much fun to see everyone dressed up and getting down on the dance floor - most fun night I've had in a long time. Pictures to come as soon as someone puts them up on Facebook. Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Some of the more interesting early results on my thesis research on text messaging between genders...

- 68.3% of participants reported primarily using text messaging for task-related communication with people of the same gender.
- 30.8% of participants said that they primarily used text messaging for relationship maintenance purposes with people of the same gender
- Males appeared to use text messaging primarily for “Task-related” purposes rather than “Relationship-maintenance” purposes more frequently than females
- 66.7% of participants reported that they generally used text messaging for relationship maintenance purposes when communicating with people of the opposite gender
- 33.3% of participants reported that they generally used text messaging for task-related purposes when communicating with people of the opposite gender
- 64.2% of participants said that they either “Strongly agree” or “Agree” that text messaging is an effective way to maintain their relationships
- 74.2% of participants said that they either “Strongly agree” or “Agree” that text messaging is an effective way for them to “get tasks done.”
- 84.2% of total respondents said that they had no preference as to which gender they preferred to exchange text messages with

Kind of boring, but kind of cool.

On a side note, gotta love the fact that I get ads for lubricated condoms now at the top of my page. My roommate's friend Troy is taking over as the manager of Hurry Curry in Pasadena. Hopefully, we'll make our way down next weekend and I'll have some pics and a restaurant review!

It's Raining Men....Hallelujah, it's raining men.

USC Threatens Students' Civil Disobediance with Suspension and Homelessness

I don't really know any of the details on this story, but I do know that I think it's very, very funny that the students brought kitty litter in case they had to go to the bathroom. I'm just wondering if anyone used it.

American Idol doesn't care that it's not in the "Big 3"

Some say the series is losing momentum, but based on these numbers, it'd be hard to say it's not still a huge success.

How Blogging Can Help You Get a New Job
By Sarah E. Needleman

Could definitely go both ways, but an interesting take on the blogosphere.

glumbert.com - Shift Happens

I knew a lot of these facts already, but it couldn't hurt to spread it around.

By the way, 102 hits on Sunday. Thanks again, guys!

2005 USC Football Online Media Guide

Just found this online while searching for slanderous comments about me, check out the mid-bottom of page 4 on the right! One of my more proud moments in "get your name printed" history.

Sports Illustrated: Reggie Bush Gives Back
By Arash Markazi



I was cruising the "information superhighway" (remember when people used to call it that?) this morning and found this article on Reggie Bush's charity efforts that he's been carrying out in both San Diego and New Orleans. It was a really refreshing read and I was proud to read about how not only Bush, but other former USC players, Matt Leinart and LenDale White were getting involved with Reggie's "Camp 619" for San Diego area youth.

The first day I met LenDale, before he had ever played a college football game, he told me he was going to rush for 1,000 yards (came close) his Freshman year and that he was going to go pro after his junior season. Never had any reason to question him. Now he, Matt Leinart, and Reggie Bush are doing big things both on and off the field through Bush's charities.

My last semester writing for the Daily Trojan, I was given the "Little Miss Sunshine - Opinions Columnist of the Semester" award by now-Daily Trojan Editor in Chief Jeremy Beecher. While the award got some laughs, because Jeremy said that I was the only weekly columnist with a positive column that for some reason, people read and loved, I was really proud of receiving the award. It's so rare that we ever get to hear about good things that people are doing because as a society, whether we like it or not, we love to hear about drama that's not ours. Adam "Pac-Man" Jones is a household name for sports fans, likely having the same amount of recognition is guys like Champ Bailey, and even New England's Asante Samuel, despite the fact that he has probably done less on the field than either of them. Why? Because he gets in trouble and people seem to eat it up (even though I've also seen a good number of stories talking about how Pac-Man also gives back to local schools, which don't seem to make headlines).

People always used to ask me, "Who is the nicest/coolest/funniest/smartest/etc. player on the football team?" Not only were these questions ridiculous, but they were almost impossible to answer. Almost every time, the questions were followed up with "Is Matt/Reggie nice?" And yes, they were both great guys when I saw them everyday in college. However, both of them were college students living the life of a celebrity both on and off campus. Everyday, the two stars would get mobbed by young kids hoping to get a picture or autograph and grown men trying to make a living off of eBay. Grown men would pay small children to try and get Reggie's autograph for them because they had already accumulated a bunch that day to try and sell later. After Reggie won the Heisman, because of his flashy play style, he was probably twice as popular as Matt "with the kids." People would get upset with him for running straight to and from practice and not signing autographs along the way, but I couldn't see how people didn't understand that this might have got old for a 21 year old college student who, while he obviously got to benefit from the exposure, likely just wanted to have some normal days and a normal life sometimes.

I remember one day, Reggie was running out of meetings to get changed for practice and I saw this middle aged couple scream "REGGIE! Hey, let us get an autograph real quick!" Reggie responded "Sorry, I'm late for practice, I gotta get down and change," before he ran down toward the locker room. The couple, in desperation, with their USC Bookstore bags filled with autograph footballs, cried out "COME ON, REGGIE! Just one second! Come on, that's cold, man. That's cold..."

As "regular people," we think that it would be cool to have people ask you for autographs. However, I wonder if people ever think about how it might feel to be interrupted every single time you went out shopping or to a meal with some friends because someone is "huge fan" of you. People constantly asked me to get autographs of players for them during my four years of college, saying, "Oh my dad is the biggest fan," or "I LOVE Reggie Bush/Matt Leinart." The two guys were the cornerstones (along with many others), of two national championship teams, everyone loved them, but oftentimes, people didn't seem to recognize the toll that it frequently took on them. Sometimes, the two guys just didn't want to give autographs or take pictures and I don't think it's because they wanted to "protect their brand," but rather I think that they just wanted to enjoy being a college student before it was their official job to be athlete-celebrities.

I was really proud to read Arash Markazi's (who gained notoriety as a very controversial writer who covered USC Football for the Daily Trojan) positive article on Reggie Bush. It's silly, but I felt a great sense of pride that for three years, I was "Lil' Man," to Reggie - his little (yet older) homey who would carry his helmet up to the locker room after the game so he could do post-game interviews without trying to figure out what he should do with his helmet, find his digital camera for him during post game (and get stuck in the tunnel one time with it at the University of Washington), and occasionally save him from hoards of money-hungry autograph seekers by saying he'd left for the day. I hope that all these guys continue to perform well on and off the field now that they've moved on from Heritage Hall. While their success on the field is great, it is truly admirable that they are doing enough positive things off the field for a major media publication to write about it.

Fight on, guys.

That Bill O'Reilly flip out post was a little too intense for me.

If it disturbed anyone else, found this video on YouTube to clear your mind.

Apparently, a stand for the camera messes up his flow

I would give this guy a dollar if he was performing at Third Street Promenade. See? Now you're not even thinking about O'Reilly....until I just said that. Just watch it again and your mind will be totally clear again.

Bill O'Reilly loses his cool in an "interview" with Geraldo Rivera

It's almost like watching two drunk frat boys argue about college football

It's not really the content that surprises me, but more the finger-pointing, raised voices, and inability for these two professional television journalists to sit still and speak reasonably while on television. Did anyone see this live? I'm wondering if I missed anything else in this interview. These two have to have a history somewhere for them both to act this way. While I'm not at all a Geraldo Rivera fan club member, O'Reilly became a talk show host who wouldn't allow his guest to talk and it's almost disturbing how quickly he got worked up after his views were challenged. He refuses to listen and while there are two voices, you can tell that O'Reilly is only hearing his while Rivera at least responds to O'Reilly's comments. Was it because Geraldo said "Irish drunk?"

There are some people who always have to be right and somehow, even when they're wrong, they're still right. There are people who argue, but forget to listen. As a result, there is no solution, but yet, these people feel satisfied. I am not friends with those people.

Thought this would be kind of fun...

Looking around for that Reggie Bush picture took me for a trip down memory lane, so I thought I'd post a few pictures of some of the pretty cool opportunities I've had to meet some "famous people" in my near quarter century on earth thusfar.

The Hall of Fame is great for me, Ronnie Lott...
But there was no greater thrill than meeting this short Asian.

I, Carson Palmer, might be a Pro Bowl Quarterback...
But that doesn't mean I won't take pictures with a jamoke.
Man, I might be Carmelo Anthony, but I could use some work on my game sometimes...
So I'm gonna dunk over this kid while he cries under the hoop.
Aaaaaaah I'm Matt Leinart and I'm going for the win!
...Who is this small child next to me??

Rawrrrr! No offensive line can stop me, Kenechi Udeze!
But I will stop and take a picture with this lost child...

Boy do I, Will Ferrell, want to take a picture with some random kid at the Orange Bowl...
Ah...Mission accomplished...
Hey man, did you check out DaveChung.com today? Tom Brady did!
What a thrill to meet a former Daily Trojan writer!
Should I, Nick Lachey, hang out with Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart?
Or hang out with the creator of DaveChung.com?
Wahoo! DJ, who would have thought I'd be on DaveChung.com!

Good luck in the draft, Steve.

Haha, I feel like I could do this all night. Man, it's nice to have the day off tomorrow. All joking aside, there are parts of it that I do miss.

How did I miss this? Reggie Bush, you came up!

I just remember us as young bucks, back when people could catch you on a cut back...And now you're in Ciara music videos and are allegedly dating her

And me? Well...I guess things are pretty good...Didn't make it to the league or can't flip into endzones, but...

Found me a nice girl...

She's no Ciara, but she has a good heart.

Does anyone else find it humorous that "The Gay Quiz" is probably one of the most common sponsored links on my Google Adsense bar? Has anyone ever clicked it? I'm not helping matters by writing those keywords into this entry right now, which will likely make it appear even more frequently, but there's something mildly entertaining about the fact that Google's algorithms feel like that's an effective advertisement to have on my blog.

Today, I went to a Shell station on La Cienega (you know, that one with the car wash) on my way home from picking up a present for Arlene from someone she works special events with (very excited to go down to San Diego and catch up with the Freemans this weekend). I had about a quarter tank left, so I kind of needed gas, but really, I just noticed that I had a $10 dollar bill that was about a half centimeter from ripping, so I wanted to get rid of it before I had to be that guy who tapes it. That's a stupid reason to spend $10, but today, that was my reason. I remember when $10 made your gas gauge move significantly, but that's beside the point.

Anyways, so I walked into the convenience store/cashier area to find what really resembled a house of horrors, at least for a gas station. The bathroom door was wide open and two women were speaking incredibly loudly in a language I couldn't comprehend (which is tough because I'm familiar with a good number by this point in my life). A girl, sitting in a stroller, had her face and both her hands just covered in vomit and was smiling, talking, as if she didn't even know it. Two other kids, who I assume to be her brother and sister were running around the convenience store, while their sister continued to just play with the barf that was now all over her arms and hands, while the two women continued to speak with each other, run the water in the bathroom and ignore the children.

Making the situation even more interesting, a homeless woman who was blasting some kind of house music through her headphones opened the door for me and moaned loudly and motioned for me to go in before her. I obliged, only to have the homeless woman cut me in line immediately after. She demanded/asked the cashier for a dollar (that's just not realistic at a retail location, but I feel like logic was far out the window at this point), only to have the cashier brush her off. The woman was fine with it, turned around, continued to jam out to her house music and walked out of the store without even asking me for money (maybe she thought my Bluetooth made me an alien, North Korean spy, or she thought that I was the one who was weird looking).

Regardless, I made my way up to the cashier and paid for my gas. I remarked to the cashier, "It's an adventure in here..." He smiled and said, "Naw, man, that lady comes in here all the time. It's nothing." He said nothing about the now-departed girl covered in vomit that looked like something out of The Sixth Sense. I paid, pumped my gas, and left. Weirded out? A little.

However. this eventful trip to what is normally a pretty calm gas station continued to show me something that I've been thinking about a lot lately. More and more, I realize that our outlook on the world is so heavily shaped by our frame of reference that while we all live in the same world, we all look at things so different. Our frame of reference shifts as our situations shift and our values change as our opinions on things are shifted by the world around us. Yes, I realize that it sounds like I have been smoking a lot of weed before sitting down to make this late night post, but I promise that this is a completely level-headed post.

When I went back to the East Coast for the longest that I've been back in about three years (about 3 weeks), I realized that somewhere along the way, I've become a West Coaster. Because I hadn't really been back for so long, I came to this sudden realization that it was really bothering me that I had to sit next to strangers on subways, ride on buses next to randoms, and well, walk places instead of drive. Suddenly, it wasn't ok for me to walk in dirty snow or drive on roads that didn't have reflective paint or reflectors. I was out of my element at the place that once was my element.

Living near USC will get you very used to being around some interesting characters and will really normalize the idea of having a lot of homeless people and experiencing general paranoia when you're walking around at night. Now that I'm out in West Los Angeles, working in one of the most upscale parts of Beverly Hills, it's weird that suddenly, that "hood," where I have class three nights a week isn't normal to me. At USC, designer everything becomes normal, seeing girls with Chanel sunglasses becomes no big deal, and you don't think for a second that "there is no way that Prada purse is real..." Why? Because it is real and it ceases to impress you in a superficial way as much as you likely think it would because of the price tag. Going to college makes you assume that people can write grammatically coherent sentences, make a Powerpoint presentation, or even know how to act in an upscale restaurant, but the reality is that this is not what much of the world is like. Life for everyone is not like The Hills on MTV, even though it's easy and completely doable to live that life, but we often forget that our life is not everyone else's.

While I stupidly and wrongly worry about how I'm going to clear $300 off my credit card bill after buying a GPS, someone else is worrying about how they're going to pay their electricity bill, rent, and food with their minimum wage. And it's about time that I realize that a little more and stop feeling sorry for myself when I have more than enough, even if it means that I don't have more than the people around me.

A little ranty today.

The Chicago Sun-Times Goes Online

Ok, well not completely, but partially.

Maybe I'm being nostalgic, but now that more magazines (Life, Elle Girl, Premier, and more) and newspapers are going to partially online or full-online versions, I feel like we're going to be losing that excitement of getting a magazine in the mail (and having it be left unread for two months until you get around to it, making anything inside not even close to timely, but yet you emerged generally more informed than the general public) or opening your front door to pick up your newspaper (or hope that someone hasn't stolen it from outside your apartment complex). Is anyone going to get their latest issue of Wired in their email box and jump for joy? Maybe...but when I get my BusinessWeek Online emails, I always delete them, figuring that I'll just read it in the print version when I have a minute.

Are we ready for our long-time print friends to go all online? Personally, I find it tough to long articles and stories on my computer (if anyone has emailed with me, I apologize for the novels...), but that clearly seems to be the way that the print industry is going. Definitely wouldn't be surprised to see a portfolio-like small LCD-esque device that you carry around with a wireless connection that can download any of your subscribed magazines and arachives anywhere where you can get a Wi-Fi connection or piggyback on a cell phone carrier's EVDO network in the near future. No doubt it will be overpriced, but no doubt it could be the future.

It's also weird that stories like this and the fact that I'm struggling with the idea of online-print media makes me feel old...and I'm 23.