Picture of the Day

Yesterday, I had some shopping to do on the UWS, so I was wandering about on a crisp winter afternoon. Since I (for once) had the foresight to bring my camera, I was happily snapping away at various things which caught my eye.

I like this water tower against the brilliant blue sky. I've always been a fan of New York water towers -- they seem to be outposts from another time jutting out of the skyline -- and with the sky, the clouds, and the less embellished sides and backs of the surrounding buildings, this one seemed classic.

Wisdom for Life

In class this morning, I had the privilege of hearing from Adam Forbes, one of the co-founders of the company producing the StressEraser relaxation device, which I just blogged about. Forbes is a pretty brilliant guy, and he had some really good -- and simple -- advice for succeeding in life, careers, whatever.

As a background, he promoted an idea which I have increasingly been embracing over the past year: one must become internally happy. Relying on exogenous factors to produce happiness will ultimately lead to a constantly unfulfilling life of chasing pyrrhic milestones.

He then outlined his three steps for success:
1. Set a goal -- too many people exert a lot of effort without ever being clear why they're doing all that work.
2. Work toward the goal
3. Get feedback often -- figure out how you're doing. See if your efforts are leading toward your goal.

I think the biggest thing I took away from Adam's thoughts, however, is a side issue to the feedback idea. As we go through life, he noted, we pick up unconscious assumptions about how the world works, how to measure success, how to achieve what we want, and how to make decisions. All of these assumptions create the lens through which we view our world.

At a macro level, this is where racism, sexism, and other prejudices come from. At the micro level, it is how we make stupid investment decisions, because we uncritically read some article about how ice farming in San Diego was the "next big thing."

To combat this, we have to look at the world with a more critical eye. Don't just accept what you read or hear -- figure out if it's really a valid view of the world. And get feedback. Honest feedback can help you see through the haze of inaccurate assumptions.

Eraser

No, not the Ahnold movie. I'm talking about the StressEraser, a cutting-edge new product that I had the chance to preview in class this morning.

The point of the SE is to help people learn to control their biorhythms. By breathing a certain way, ones heart rhythms can be manipulated to bring the body into a state of deep relaxation.

The early returns on the machine show that it, at the least, calms people down. It also appears to be more effective in helping insomniacs sleep than Ambien. They started a one-year clinical trial recently to test the effects of the SE on sleeping patterns.

At $299, it's a bit pricy. But I am seriously motivated to go out and buy it. It seems like such a good idea -- so logically simple yet based on sound science.

For now, I guess I'll wait until prices come down some -- or maybe until insurance companies start paying for the device. (The company is currently working with some HMOs to try to get it approved as a device for reducing stress.) But if you have some money to spare, or some serious stress, I would recommend looking at the StressEraser.

My Barriers to Technology Adoption

In one of my classes, we're spending a lot of time talking about new technology and just what it takes to get people to adopt it. To use one of the common buzz words, what is that "tipping point" at which technology quickly moves from cutting edge to ubiquitous?

Against this background, I must say that I am always an extremely slow adopter of technology. Basically, I tend to be skeptical of the necessity and long-term viability of any technology until it is firmly established.

I've decided that there are a couple key reasons for this. First, I am very price conscious. Buying into a technology in the first couple generations guarantees that you will pay a premium price. If you wait to adopt it, you will generally get substantially better technology at much lower prices.

Second, and more importantly, I am incredibly lazy. For me, adopting new technology is a lot of work. I'm not the type to go to Circuit City and buy whatever is on the shelf. I want to learn all about the product, decide what the key features are, and then get the best possible price. Then, once I get the product, I have to learn how to use it. All this requires a large time investment, and I really don't like to do all that work if the old technology is working out for me.

So I suppose, unless I become a lot more motivated, I'm going to be the last person to get cool new electronic toys for the foreseeable future.

VCR Troubles

It appears that this weekend, my VCR finally gave up the ghost. Actually, "finally" isn't even the appropriate word. The VCR is only five years old, and has only seen limited use (I use it to tape games that I'm missing maybe 15 or 20 times a year. I watch the occasional movie or taped program on it, but for the most part it is a conduit for my cable signal to get to the TV). So I see no real reason why it should stop playing back tapes right now.

Of course, this creates a moderate problem. Not only can I no longer re-watch my classic videotapes (such as Michigan State-Duke from the 2005 NCAAs), but I have no way to tape things I'm going to miss.

This means I probably need to buy another VCR. But a quick check on eBay shows that new VCRs (I figure that, giving the short life of my VCR, there's no point in buying a used one) run in the $50-$100 range.

The problem with this is that VCRs are basically obsolete technology. No one wants to watch movies on VHS anymore, with DVDs selling for next to nothing. Even recording off the air is now being dominated by DVRs, which are easier and...well....all digital and stuff.

So in my opinion, VCRs should sell for around $25. They still have a function, but it's pretty limited. Therefore, the price point should be at a place where it's not so cheap that people will buy one every week, but not so expensive that price will be any barrier to you actually making the purchase.

Which is exactly where the price seems to be right now.

It looks like I could buy a tivo for around $100 to $200, but then you get into all these problems with having to buy subscriptions, and have phone lines, and all that other crap (I think). I don't really have to deal with this, but the irrational price point for VCRs is forcing me in that direction.

Ninety-pound woman takes on polar bear; wins

Read an absolutely great story out of Canada today.

It is not only exciting and heartwarming, it scores high on the unintentional comedy scale to boot.

The action starts in a remote area of northern Quebec, where kids were playing street hockey (here we've got two stereotypes already: Canada = wilderness and Canadians always playing hockey).

A mother is walking along with her two young sons when suddenly a polar bear appears (all right! another stereotype).

She tells her sons to run away while she stays to face down the bear. I can guarantee you that Grizzly Man doesn't have any footage this compelling. Remember, this woman is 41 years old, five feet tall and weighs ninety pounds. The bear was eight feet tall and weighed 700 pounds.

Now if you set aside the gravity of this situation, it's also pure comedy, like something out of a cartoon. The woman slaps and punches the bear, gets knocked down, keeps kicking it, etc.

Meanwhile (more stereotypes on the way), a neighbor runs to his brother's house (all Canadians are probably related) and gets a shotgun (do I need to elaborate here?). He comes back and shoots the bear four times, killing him.

In the heartwarming conclusion, the woman merely sustained a black eye and a few scratches.

Those crazy Canadians. Always doing goofy things like fighting bears with their bare hands.

Random rants of the day

My head is so stuffed-up that I think it is going to explode, and decongestants seem to be doing no good. So I am not necessarily in the best of moods. Here's my rants of the day:

- I'm sick of getting sick all the time. I've been getting sinus infections five to eight times per winter since high school. I am so prone to disease, I'm just damn lucky that childhood diseases like polio, measles, mumps, etc. were eliminated before I was born. Otherwise, I wouldn't have lived past 10.

- Someone from "unavailable number" has called my cell phone five times today, but has yet to leave a voicemail. Last I checked, that was the whole point of voicemail: if you actually have a legitimate reason for calling my phone, leave a message. If not, then I guess you're probably a useless telemarketer who can rot in hell anyway.

- My apartment is about 80 degrees (F) today. It's crazy. It's like a sauna, except completely dry. So it's actually not very much like a sauna. I appreciate my apartment building's commitment to making sure we don't freeze to death, but some rational relationship between the temperature of the boiler and the outside temp would be appreciated.

- I was listening to Michael Jackson's "Thriller". Can someone tell me what the hell that song is supposed to be about? It sounds pretty freaky to me. Great riffs though.

- I'm not sure I could have picked a more boring trio of law professors for my final semester of law school. The only class I can stand is my class in the business school (it is, in fact, shaping up to be my favorite class of of law school -- go figure). My three law classes, on the other hand, would the worst case of insomnia.

- I got my Ticketmaster "Buy tickets to all these cool shows" email this afternoon. The subject line was "Don't miss Lifehouse." Could they possibly put a less inspiring band in their subject line. First of all, who knew that Lifehouse (a horrid, post-alternative, one-hit-wonder ["Hanging by a Moment"]) still existed, let alone that they were on tour. And who the hell is paying to go see their shows? Putting all of this together, why were they worthy of a Ticketmaster subject line? The same email had alerts for tickets to see Sammy Hager and Blues Traveler. Why not advertise them. At least they're washed-up has-beens that people actually liked.

Quote of the day

One of my professors has a brother who is an ocular surgeon. Apparently, he is currently writing a book about eye surgery.

My professor suggested that he call the book "Eyes: Your Other Balls."

Great Inventions

When it comes to music, one innovation that I think is pretty great is the compilation. It just makes it so much more convenient to get all the vital songs of one particular artist without buying a bunch of albums.

For example, I picked up the Jim Croce "36 All-Time Greatest Hits" album yesterday. I don't know Croce's music, but it's supposed to be fairly good. However, I have no interest in buying a bunch of his albums. A particular risk with buying albums is that most artists have at least one or two albums that REALLY sucks. Buying randomly at a record store, it's like a box of chocolates ("you never know what you're going to get"). With a compilation, I can be reasonably sure that I'll get all the songs worth having.

In another musical note, I gave Sgt. Pepper's another listen tonight. There are some great songs on it, but I still don't understand why it is universally considered such a work of genius. It is supposed to be groundbreaking, and I'm sure it was at the time. But I guess that listening to it today, I don't find the music that mind-blowing, which its supporters believe it to be. hmmm....

Quote of the Week

After breakfast, J1, J2 and I were discussing polygamy. J2 argued that in a society where women can freely choose whether or not to enter polygamous relationships, it can allow women to make beneficial choices.

After all, as J2 pointed out,

"A quarter of Taye Diggs is better all of Pee Wee Herman."

What the Puck?

This morning, J1 and I headed downtown to get breakfast at the Clinton Street Baking Company. We were joined by J2, although unfortunately his lovely wife E was unable to attend the breakfast convention, as studying occupied her time.

Clinton Street is quite possibly the best place in the City to get breakfast. They have won various reader and critic polls for having the best pancakes and the best biscuits, and these results are not hype. I think the pancakes have crack in the batter, they taste so good. They are thick, yet airy, with an absolutely unique flavor.



We also got a tasty omlette with their tomato jam (another house speciality) and chedder cheese. The omlette is similarly well-flavored. It's not greasy -- it's fluffy and has a well-balanced blend of egg and filling.



After breakfast, we wandered over to the Housing Works used book store. I made out fairly well, scoring a 2006 Weekly Planner featuring William Claxton's jazz photos, a Jim Croce CD compilation, and several LPs (including Bob Seeger and the Silver Bullet Band live at Detroit's Cobo Hall in the early 70s).

On the way to the bookstore, we passed the historic Puck Building. The Puck statue over the main entrance was decorated for Valentine's Day. Here's what he looked like:

Cheap Indian Eats

Tonight, J1 and I ended up in kind of the middle of nowhere as we headed to Kanvas to celebrate Avani's birthday with her. I should note that I am not nearly cool enough for a place like Kanvas. It's a damn good thing Avani put me on the guest list or they probably never would have let me in the door. But that is neither here nor there.

Anyway, Kanvas is on Ninth Ave. at 23rd Street. It's technically Chelsea, I suppose, but it's too far north to really be Chelsea, but it's too far south to be Midtown. The main problem is that it is pretty far west to be in a heavy traffic area. Which is my main point -- it's somewhat off the beaten path.

Anyway, before hand we wanted to get something to eat, so I consulted the ever-valuable MenuPages before leaving home and found rave reviews for an Indian restaurant called Qasim.

This place is great, and if you're ever in the area (it's on Ninth Ave. just above 29th), I would highly recommend it.

We're firmly in the "dive" category here. This is no Devi or Tamarind. This is just about the food.

As everyone knows (or should know), the best ethnic food usually comes from dives. Unfortunately, I have found few quality dives of various types in the City. So many of the cheap places, with quality dive potential, turn out mediocre, tasteless food. Other places, with decent food, try to get all sexy and lose the authenticity of a dive.

Qasim has not been afflicted with this problem. The tables are covered with plastic floral tablecloths. Each table has its own plastic water pitcher. A massive Magnavox projection TV plays an Indian news network constantly. The tables are filled with people from southeast Asia (this is a key test for the quality of a dive -- whether the people eating there look like they have some grounds for judging how the food should taste).

The food was excellent. J1 got chicken, curry vegetables, and spinach (the curry was good, the spinach was forgettable). I got some sort of eggplant and potato curry, which was exceptional, and chick peas, which were solid. Most importantly, each dish had its own unique flavor and combination of spices. This is a great improvement over many dives, where everything tastes the same.

Oh, and did I mention the price? Two of us ate for under $12. Great kitschy atmosphere, yummy food, and bargain price. What more could you ask for?

Check out Quasim.

This means WARR

No, not war, as in "we're going to send U.S. troops to occupy a third-world country." I'm talking about WARR, or Wilson and Alroy's Record Reviews. It's a great music site that I've been enjoying over the past couple weeks.

Basically, Wilson and Alroy are a couple dudes in their late thirties who really like music. So they've set about to review a few hundred (thousand?) albums. They have strong opinions, which I like, even if I don't agree with them.

The best things about the site:
- For the most part, they try to review an artist's complete catalogue. So if you want to know what the key Rolling Stones albums are, you can figure it out.

- They are largely immune to hype, and aren't afraid to call out artists who they think are overrated, regardless of the brilliance generally attributed to that artist.

- The reviews are thoughtful, and really have a sound musical basis. (In fact, I kind of get lost in some of their musical discussions.) In addition, they have a broad knowledge of early rock and the music that led to rock (blues, etc), so they can call out artists who imitated more than they innovated.

- All the reviews are written by the same two guys (they each write their own reviews). You get two perspectives, but it's two consistent perspectives, rather than reading the opinion of whatever random Entertainment Weekly staffer was assigned to review Santana that week.

The drawbacks:
- The reviews are rather short, and often don't contain as much explanation of the opinions as I'd like.

- They focus more on old stuff and don't have as much content on more contemporary selections.

However, I highly recommend this as a resource for learning about classic rock and picking which albums you should buy.

Reaping what I sow

Here's my self-absorbed ramblings of the day: I think I basically destroyed readership of my blog because I failed to update it for about two months. From mid-December to mid-February, I updated maybe five or six times (as you who are reading this know).

Of course, with no new content, people got tired of visiting here, and stopped reading. Now, my readership has almost disappeared. Which is really not surprising. I don't blame people for not checking back. When there's not new content, there's on need to visit.

So I'm getting what I deserve. About all I have left are people searching for information on "italian haircut fetishes" (no, unfortunately, I am not making this stuff up) and people searching for airport security information. My post "Why Airport Security is a Joke," which included a mention of the SSSS criteria that flags travelers for special screening, has to be my most popular entry ever, given how many people are directed to my site from search engines.

Oh well. As they said in Field of Dreams, "If you build it, they will come." I guess I just have to build up my content.

Special Class Guest: Spinal Tap

I am not very attentive to my surroundings during class. I come in (usually late), sit in the back, and stare at my computer screen as I surf the internet. If I do look up, it's to look at the professor, not at my fellow students.

Today, however, as I was sitting in trusts and estates, I looked across the room and discovered that a member of Spinal Tap was sitting in our class. On closer inspection, I realized that it was actually another law student who just looked like he was part of the mock heavy metal band from the brilliant Christopher Guest movie.



Take a look at this picture. Imagine the haircut of the guy in the center, except dyed blond, like the guy on the right. It's like a bowl cut, with bangs down to the eyebrows, but long on the back and sides (shoulder-length). Judging by the roots, the natural color appears to be brown, but it's dyed a dirty blond color.

To complete the hair-rocker look, he's wearing a black tshirt and a tight jacket.

I am so amused by this sighting. I can't stop staring at this dude now. If only I could unobtrusively take a picture with my camera, I would obscure his face and post it. (I looked in the class directory and found his offical facebook picture, but unfortunately, he had a much more typical haircut at that time).

Some days, I must say that I'm damn happy I came to class.

Biggest snowstorm EVER

Last weekend, New York City was hit with a huge blizzard, which dumped over two feet of snow (26.9 inches, to be exact). Since the snow fell on Saturday night and Sunday morning, tapering off early Sunday afternoon. This meant that life wasn't disrupted nearly has much as it would have if the snow had fallen during the work week.

What made this snow storm even better was the fact that it was the largest accumulation of snow ever measured in the City. Which means that we can, without exaggeration, proclaim that we were witnesses to the biggest snowstorm ever. It also meant that the blow-dried news anchors and weathermen could amp up their typically over-excited weather reporting to the next level, given the truly historic nature of the events.

In what is becoming an annual tradition to celebrate massive snowfalls, we trekked to the Sheep's Meadow in Central Park for tackle football in the snow. With nearly two feet of snow on the ground and snow falling at three to five inches per hour, it was pretty sloppy conditions. But a good (albeit cold) time was had by all.

Of course, given the way our winter has played out this year, temps are back up in the 50s, and the snow is quickly disappearing. All that remains are the pictures and the memories.

Slipping and sliding in the snow. It wasn't until I saw this picture that I realized how hard it was snowing.

Thanks to Rio for this shot

The football gang. Some other randoms stopped by to play with us as well, but had left by the time we took photos.


People play in the Meadow as Midtown is shrouded in snow.


Looking through the park toward Central Park West


Columbus Ave. buried in white powder


After all that work in the snow, it was time to refuel with some pizza

Coffee and Conversation

J1 and I had a very chill day today....she didn't have to work and I didn't have class or my usual appointment, so we got lunch at Bubby's, topped off by a HUGE piece of lemon meringue pie. The meringue had to be three inches tall.


We then wandered from Tribeca to the Financial District for a little shopping at Century 21. (I scored a blue, french cuff dress shirt -- original price, $85.00 -- for $9.99. Awwww yeah!) Along the way, we passed the Woolworth Building, which looked beautiful against the clear blue sky.


After shopping, we went to this great coffee shop nearby called Klatch. It is very homey and bright, with antique furniture and decorations complemented by bright yellow walls.


This picture shows why hand-holding at 1/8th of a second is not necessarily a good idea.

Quote of the Day

Walking home from the store at around 11:30 pm, I heard two slightly crazy guys (SCGs) in intense (and completely serious) conversation:

SCG1: I'm telling you, everything on earth has free will.
SCG2: Even engines? Do engines have free will?
SCG1: Well, no. Engines don't have free will.

More proof that there is a God....

And that he wants us to be happy.

One of the world's least talented, most pompous, and most annoying "rock" stars, former Creed frontman Scott Stapp, got married to a "beauty" queen (fn1) this past weekend.

Of course, on his way to the honeymoon in Hawaii, Mr. I am God's Gift to the World got arrested for drunk and disorderly conduct at LAX.

There are no words to to express how funny these events are to me. It just goes to show that there is no limit to how stupid people can be. Read the article for further entertainment about Scotty demanding a breathlyzer, which showed his BAC at twice the legal limit.

The even funnier post-script is that I think the honeymoon got consummated in a way that Stapp wasn't exactly planning on. I mean, no one wants to be Bubba's bride.

1. The woman, who was Miss New York in 2004, is pretty freaking unattractive. I love how anyone who competes in a pre-fab "beauty" pageant (which is really more about being a robotic vision of what men think women should be than actual physical attractiveness) becomes a "beauty queen." It's such false advertising, since a majority of them are pretty fugly.

Because it's FUNNY when you accidentally shoot someone

As I'm sure everyone has heard by now, Vice President Dick Cheney shot a fellow hunter last Saturday, apparently because he was not following best hunting practices. (In a side note, I'm going to guess that the victim, a prominent Texas attorney named Harry Whittington, is the richest person hurt by actions by the Bush administration.)

Now, it appears that some of the bird-shot lodged in Mr. Whittington's heart and has caused him to have a minor heart attack.

In light of all this, the White House has apparently decided that there is no better way to handle the Veep shooting someone than to start making jokes (unfunny ones, at that) about the incident. The headline, White House Finds Humor in Hunting Mishap, pretty much says it all. I'm very happy to hear that the White House is so concerned about the pain inflicted, and I'm sure Mr. Whittington's family feels great to hear all the jokes being made.

Manhattan Trash

White trash: it's not just for New Jersey anymore!

On Saturday night and Sunday morning, New York got dumped with snow. It was actually the largest snowfall ever recorded here. With two feet of snow, there were huge snowbanks on the edge of the street.

As we sat eating pizza on the Upper West Side, we saw a kid digging in the snowbank. He looked like he was probably 10 or 12 years old. Soon, he had a pit that must have been at least three feet deep. How cute, we thought. He's building a snow fort.

Oh no, not so cute. As soon as he had his snow fort finished, he started making snowballs and chucking them at passing taxis. What a freaking punk, you say. Well, you're right. He was a punk. Particularly punkish because he had no guts to throw snowballs at someone who might stop their car, get out, and give him the sound ass-beating he deserved.

But the story gets worse, because we soon noticed that the little punk's MOTHER was standing there, watching her son's criminal behavior, holding his coat for him. I cannot believe it. It would be bad enough if this kid were on his own, being a delinquent.

Instead, we've got his mom standing there condoning and assisting in his behavior.

I guess you can take the trash out of the trailer, but it's still trash.

And I swear, in ten years, when this kid is arrested for murdering someone in the course of a robbery, his mom will be on the evening news saying, "This is totally unlike my son. He's always been such a good boy. I don't think he has the capacity to do something like that."

One gentrification attempt that didn't quite work

I have been having a donut craving for the last three days. It all started on Saturday, when I told a children's story at church about a childhood incident when I got busted for eating donuts when I wasn't supposed to. Of course, all that talk about donuts made me just want a big greasy, sweet donut to eat.

This afternoon, I was out doing errands and decided that I was going to walk down to Amsterdam and 106 and visit the shiny Dunkin' Donuts that opened about a year ago. As I walked through the snow and slush, I thought about what kind of donut I wanted. Maybe I would get a blueberry donut, or a bismark. Or maybe I would get both. In the distance, I could see the awning, reaching the street, topped by a big plastic donut being dunked into a cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee.

Finally, I arrived at the store, only to be greeting with large signs in the windows reading "This location is now closed. Thank you for all your business!"

So apparently, at least one attempt to gentrify the Manhattan Valley neighborhood with a large chain outpost has failed.

Unfortunately, this means that my donut craving is still unsatisfied.

An even less satisfying postscript to this story: On the way back home, I managed to step into a three-inch deep puddle of slush and water, soaking my shoe and foot.

Freedom

I got an email from U.S. Department of Education yesterday, reminding me that it was time to apply for 2006-2007 financial aid. This made me rather happy, as I DO NOT have to fill up a FAFSA this year.

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid has been the bane of my existance for the last three years. I hate paperwork in general, and I particularly detest forms that require me to assemble a bunch of random financial information about myself and type it in on the computer. Sure, it has gotten easier over the years, as the internet has allowed me to complete the process without even the use of a postage stamp, but I still dreaded financial aid time each spring.

Now, I no longer have to mess around with it. Just another reminder that I am slowly creeping closer to the end of school.

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens....

Some of my other favorite things:

1.) I love smokehouse flavoring. K1 sent some "smokehouse flavor" almonds back from Cali with S1, and I cannot stop eating them. However, I realized that I am not really eating them for the almond flavor. It's all about that smoky taste.

My conclusion is that if I could just get me some straight smokehouse flavor, I could just eat that and avoid having to eat almonds, peanuts, or some other "carrier" that carries additional fat or calories. If someone would look into this, I'd appreciate it.

2.) I also love ramen soup. It's got yummy veggies (including the underutilized leafy greens) combined with nice tasty ramen noodles. I just heated up my leftover soup from last night so I can eat it for lunch, and I cannot describe how satisfied I am at the thought of eating it.

Now, on to things that are not my favorite:

Apparently, the Grammys happened last night. In other news, I don't care. Awards ceremonies are a joke in general, but particularly the Grammys. Basically, they are a chance for the music industry to heap awards on crappy pop artists who had commercially successful albums in the preceding year. You never see someone whose album tanked picking up five statues.

The Oscars may be cliched (for example, the best way to win Best Actress is for a beautiful woman to put on a bunch of weight and be ugly -- in the mind of the Academy, what could be a tougher acting job?), but at least the movies that win awards are generally the more thoughtful offerings. No one's going to give Best Picture to Revenge of the Sith or Wedding Crashers even if they were some of the top-grossing movies of 2005.

Maybe I should clarify. I am not necessarily saying the U2, or whoever else won awards, necessarily released crappy music. My point is simply that Grammys are generally heaped on whichever artists had breakout albums regardless of artistic merit. I mean, Milli Vanilli won Grammys before people found out they were fakers.

I feel so alone

So I ended up skipping my first class today because I was having lunch with S2, we chatted for a little too long, and I would have had to walk into class 30 minutes late. Now it's not that I actually have that much of an objection to walking into class late, it's just that I am happy to find any excuse possible to skip a class. So instead of going to class, I went to the library computer lab, with the theoretical purpose of finding some class outlines on the Student Senate directory.

Of course, I failed in my initial objective, as I decided that what I really needed was to read ESPN.com for awhile. I started reading Chuck Klosterman's Super Bowl blog. Now Klosterman, who is also a columnist for Esquire, is a funny guy. And his blog is f-ing hilarious.

It's the kind of blog I would write if a.) I were a really funny writer and b.) ESPN.com paid for me to go to the Super Bowl and write several blog entries each day. I swear, I would be a better blogger if I were getting paid.

Unfortunately, I don't think the people around me really appreciated my giggles. I mean, the people who are working in the library computer lab during the first month of the semester are generally pretty big tools. So I started to feel this chill descending as people started looking at me. Oh well. If they want to get their underwear in a bunch because I enjoy what I'm reading....well, that's their problem.