So, I turned 21 a couple of weeks ago. Since I was stuck in the dorm room during Thanksgiving break, I decided to spend Saturday night (11/27) with four bottles of Leinenkugel's Honey Weiss. Strictly as an educational experience, of course. Luckily for me, I was on Twitter all night, just in case I didn't remember. Here are my #drunk tweets.
11:32 pm--5 days after my 21st bday, I'm buzzed (on beer) for the first time. considering where I'm from, you'd think it would've happened sooner.
11:33 pm--Just a testament to my social life that I'm alone in my dorm room.
11:35 pm--Anyways, it was 4 bottles of Leinie's Honey Weiss in 20 minutes, from a large glass I took from DiMatteo's place in Glen Spey, Ny
11:37 pm--Not really expecting Vinny to thank me for the free promo to all 41 of you. Which, by the way is more ppl than the town.
11:38 pm--could only fit two bottles into the glass, so I'm feeling that second glass hit me right now. Wheeeeeeeee!!!!!! #drunk
11:40 pm--Funny thing is, they've never even heard of Leinie's over there. Even I think their Yeungling's is better. #drunk
11:43 pm--For yall that don't know, Leinie's short for Leinenkugel's. Didn't even have to look at the box for spelling! #drunkformerspellingbeechamp
11:46 pm--If I had a car, I deffo wouldn't be driving right now. #noobdrunk
11:48 pm--the buzz is actually keeping me awake! Seeing as I was leveling a human hunter thru Westfall and Redridge all last night, mightn't be good.
11:49 pm--Maybe one hour of sleep in last 36, and that at the keyboard.
11:51 pm--Gonna post all these tweets in the blog soon. They shall live forever. #noobdrunk
11:56 pm--Kinda surprised that I'm only feeling numb. Like I got a lot of Novocaine or something. #noobdrunk
12:08 am--Actually like this a little. Quick buzz, slowly coming down. Maybe I'll push the BAC higher next weekend. 6 bottles in half hour? #noobdrunk
12:12 am--Checked BAC for that (170 lbs) at http://www.bloodalcoholcalculator.org/. Comes up as .135, which is in the low #drunk area.
12:13 am--Seeing as I'll prolly be alone again, no real harm in it. Right? #drunk
12:16 am--Same site says I'll prolly be impaired for next 3 hours. At this point, I don't really care. #drunk
12:18 am--Hey, I got a follower since I started drinking! Welcome @Lizabeth1710! #imdrunk
12:21 am--Haven't weighed myself since August, when I was 155 lbs. My weight est. was based on me in May, when I WAS 170.
2:10 am--With estimated BAC at .048 (on the site), I'm going to bed. #noobdrunk
And that's all for my first drunk night. Don't know if I'll do it again this weekend, since I might be buried in schoolwork, but you never know.
And now, the Twitter update. Right now, I have 40 followers (13 real people). So, follow me on Twitter @buckybone (or don't, it's not like I'm getting paid for this) and see y'all next time.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
How Vista Broke My Bank Account
It's finally here. The story I've been teasing all five of you with for weeks, where the specter of Windows Vista rears its head one last time.
My first major purchase after boot camp, the day after I got to Charleston, was an HP Pavilion laptop computer, with a 400 GB hard drive, 4 GB RAM, and Windows Vista. It worked perfectly for about two months, and then the glitches started happening. Sometimes the thing wouldn't boot the first time I tried, Windows Defender quit working, Internet Explorer wouldn't allow any pop-up windows (which became a major problem when I needed to schedule advising appointments through campus e-mail), along with several other issues.
Brookwood Camps, where I worked last summer, doesn't allow laptops, among other things. Seeing this, I decided to leave the laptop at home, figuring that a couple of months without use might somehow fix the problems. Naturally, the first time I started it when I got home in August, the battery was drained and wouldn't charge. It took a couple of hours to get it back to normal, and I knew what I was going to use my paycheck for.
Windows 7. (What, you thought I was getting a Mac? Sorry, I like my megalomaniacs retired.)
Almost like the machine was reading my mind, the thing completely died the day before I would've got the new OS. Luckily for me (and my wallet) it had only overheated. Before anyone asks (wait, that would require somebody actually reading this, so I'm not holding my breath) it was in the same position in the same kind of desk that it had been in for the entire Spring 2010 semester. So, I had a load of things to get at Walmart, which totaled to just under 300 dollars.
A couple of weeks later, I ran out of food again, so I went shopping, only to find that my debit card, which had over 4500 dollars on it at the time, was rejected. After paying cash, I went to the bank to find out just what the hell happened here. Turns out, my account had been flagged for "uncharacteristic spending". Let's see, I had just deposited my summer paycheck, and they didn't think I was going to spend it? So yeah, I'm blaming Vista for being so broken, it breaks banks.
Hmm, maybe that's why Lehman Bros. went under...
And now, the Twitter update. Right now, I have 43 followers (9 or 10 real people). So, follow me on Twitter @buckybone (or don't, it's not like I'm getting paid for this) and see y'all next time.
My first major purchase after boot camp, the day after I got to Charleston, was an HP Pavilion laptop computer, with a 400 GB hard drive, 4 GB RAM, and Windows Vista. It worked perfectly for about two months, and then the glitches started happening. Sometimes the thing wouldn't boot the first time I tried, Windows Defender quit working, Internet Explorer wouldn't allow any pop-up windows (which became a major problem when I needed to schedule advising appointments through campus e-mail), along with several other issues.
Brookwood Camps, where I worked last summer, doesn't allow laptops, among other things. Seeing this, I decided to leave the laptop at home, figuring that a couple of months without use might somehow fix the problems. Naturally, the first time I started it when I got home in August, the battery was drained and wouldn't charge. It took a couple of hours to get it back to normal, and I knew what I was going to use my paycheck for.
Windows 7. (What, you thought I was getting a Mac? Sorry, I like my megalomaniacs retired.)
Almost like the machine was reading my mind, the thing completely died the day before I would've got the new OS. Luckily for me (and my wallet) it had only overheated. Before anyone asks (wait, that would require somebody actually reading this, so I'm not holding my breath) it was in the same position in the same kind of desk that it had been in for the entire Spring 2010 semester. So, I had a load of things to get at Walmart, which totaled to just under 300 dollars.
A couple of weeks later, I ran out of food again, so I went shopping, only to find that my debit card, which had over 4500 dollars on it at the time, was rejected. After paying cash, I went to the bank to find out just what the hell happened here. Turns out, my account had been flagged for "uncharacteristic spending". Let's see, I had just deposited my summer paycheck, and they didn't think I was going to spend it? So yeah, I'm blaming Vista for being so broken, it breaks banks.
Hmm, maybe that's why Lehman Bros. went under...
And now, the Twitter update. Right now, I have 43 followers (9 or 10 real people). So, follow me on Twitter @buckybone (or don't, it's not like I'm getting paid for this) and see y'all next time.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Fallout
Well, the midterm elections are over, and the Republicans won! More importantly, it wasn't establishment GOP, but conservative Tea Party candidates who had the majority of the new GOP seats. I am now cautiously optimistic over the country's direction, and I'll update my bio do reflect that. I think we actually cracked the glass cocoon!
I was tweeting about this most of that night, and the only response (come on, with 30 followers, can't expect much) came from @CityPagesPat about my observation that Sean Duffy lost his own county. There is a very good reason for this. The District Attorney position, which Sean held there for several years, is a non-partisan position. However, politics there are dominated by unions and loggers. The unions' position is well-known and doesn't need to be repeated here. The loggers made record profits when Bill Clinton was in office, so they will vote for anyone that has a "D" next to their name.
I know I promised a recap, but a certain radio host did a much better job. Linked here.
Next time, How Vista Broke My Bank Account. It's really coming this time, I promise.
Follow me on Twitter @buckybone (or don't, I'm not getting paid for it), and see y'all later this week.
I was tweeting about this most of that night, and the only response (come on, with 30 followers, can't expect much) came from @CityPagesPat about my observation that Sean Duffy lost his own county. There is a very good reason for this. The District Attorney position, which Sean held there for several years, is a non-partisan position. However, politics there are dominated by unions and loggers. The unions' position is well-known and doesn't need to be repeated here. The loggers made record profits when Bill Clinton was in office, so they will vote for anyone that has a "D" next to their name.
I know I promised a recap, but a certain radio host did a much better job. Linked here.
Next time, How Vista Broke My Bank Account. It's really coming this time, I promise.
Follow me on Twitter @buckybone (or don't, I'm not getting paid for it), and see y'all later this week.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
It's That Time Again...
Today, as you might have heard, is Election Day here in the US. I'm not too concerned about Wisconsin's results, as Sean Duffy (House, 7th district), Ron Johnson (Senate), and Scott Walker (Governor) are expected to win comfortably, throwing out the incumbent bums.
Now, I've heard people talk about an "anti-Democrat" sentiment sweeping through the country. They're wrong. It goes much deeper than that. This is an anti-incumbent mood, very similar to 1994. There have been reports of 50% turnout in some precincts by 9 am! This only happens when people are angry about the direction of the country, two guesses why. (It's the economy, stupid.)
I will wrap up the important election results tomorrow (or whenever they are finalized), and also will be covering it throughout the night on Twitter. The promised Vista rant will have to wait until next week.
Follow me on Twitter @buckybone (or don't, it's not like I'm getting paid for this) and see y'all next time.
Now, I've heard people talk about an "anti-Democrat" sentiment sweeping through the country. They're wrong. It goes much deeper than that. This is an anti-incumbent mood, very similar to 1994. There have been reports of 50% turnout in some precincts by 9 am! This only happens when people are angry about the direction of the country, two guesses why. (It's the economy, stupid.)
I will wrap up the important election results tomorrow (or whenever they are finalized), and also will be covering it throughout the night on Twitter. The promised Vista rant will have to wait until next week.
Follow me on Twitter @buckybone (or don't, it's not like I'm getting paid for this) and see y'all next time.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Wait, I Have A Blog?
So, I'm clearing out my Favorites menu, and I find a link to some half-forgotten thing that I stopped caring about for months. Yep, it's my blog.
Life updates: made it back from NY in August, went back to Whitewater two weeks later. That's about it.
Blog updates: changed description to something more memorable (reason #1536 why I love Douglas Adams), dropped the deadweight (the other two authors), and updated the age on my profile (one month away from the next one).
In other news, Liverpool has been sold! NESV, which also owns the Boston Red Sox, has bought the club, paid off the banks, and set a course for the Golden Sky. I contributed to the legendary "Tom, DIC, and Parry" thread on liverpoolfc.tv, joined Spirit of Shankly, and stayed with the story from the time I started following the club to the end. Now if we could only do something about the manager...
Also, I rebooted my Twitter account! This was an account that I started just before I enlisted for the sole purpose of promoting this blog, but it's turned into my Random Thought Repository. Follow me @buckybone!
Next post should be coming early next week, so get ready for the last time I'll ever talk about Vista!
Life updates: made it back from NY in August, went back to Whitewater two weeks later. That's about it.
Blog updates: changed description to something more memorable (reason #1536 why I love Douglas Adams), dropped the deadweight (the other two authors), and updated the age on my profile (one month away from the next one).
In other news, Liverpool has been sold! NESV, which also owns the Boston Red Sox, has bought the club, paid off the banks, and set a course for the Golden Sky. I contributed to the legendary "Tom, DIC, and Parry" thread on liverpoolfc.tv, joined Spirit of Shankly, and stayed with the story from the time I started following the club to the end. Now if we could only do something about the manager...
Also, I rebooted my Twitter account! This was an account that I started just before I enlisted for the sole purpose of promoting this blog, but it's turned into my Random Thought Repository. Follow me @buckybone!
Next post should be coming early next week, so get ready for the last time I'll ever talk about Vista!
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Operation: Preparation Panic
Sorry about the delays, there really hasn't been a whole lot going on lately. Except, of course, for my continued preparations for my summer job. You might ask, what kind of job would need "continued preparations"? Seriously, ask. I'll wait.
All right, you've had long enough. For the first time in nearly a year, I'm leaving the great state of Wisconsin. My bags are packed and shipped, and tomorrow I get on a plane for New York City via Chicago-O'Hare. You see, I got a job as a summer camp counselor at Brookwood Camps in Glen Spey, NY, where I will be dealing with kids aged 8-17 in the cabins, as well as on the soccer and baseball fields.
Please hold your gasps of amazement until the end of the post. Thank you.
I first got interested in counselor jobs in late April, when I was looking on Craigslist and found an open Wilderness Trip Leader position at a camp near Hayward, WI. By the time they got back to me, they had already filled the position, and they pointed me to Campstaff.com, where I found over a hundred camps that were looking for staff. A few of these were in northern Minnesota and northern Wisconsin, and I applied to those, as well as a couple further east. My interview with a place near Brainerd didn't go so well, and the only other one that I heard from was Brookwood. They e-mailed me in mid-May, but I was stuck in a mobile dead-zone. However, once again, I got lucky. The next week, they e-mailed me again to see if I was still interested. I interviewed the next day, and they offered me a job. They then sent me a contract, which I signed and sent back.
Last week, they sent me a load of forms and instructions that were, apparently, meant to be sent out over a span of several weeks. In this was a physician's form. Yep, looks like I was supposed to get a physical before getting there. Of course, by the time I found out about this, the local clinic was booked until next week (6/21), and the next closest place is over an hour away. As I don't have a car, and the family is either unavailable, unhelpful, or simply can't drive that far, I am basically screwed with that.
Another one was a suggestion that I ship my luggage instead of bringing it with me on the flight. Sounds reasonable. However, I needed someone to drive me to the local shipping location. This didn't happen until two days ago (6/15) due to general lack of planning by everyone involved. Luckily, as of 11:17 ET, the bags were in New Jersey and on time to arrive tomorrow.
Originally, I believed that someone from the camp would pick me up at a NYC airport on 6/18, like it says IN THE CONTRACT, so I scheduled my flight to fit that. I took the cheapest flight available, which would leave Duluth at 6:40, land in Minneapolis at 7:35, leave at 11:25, land in Milwaukee at 12:36, take off at 16:05 and land at New York-JFK at 19:19. I was alright with the Milwaukee layover, as the concourse area there is the best that I've seen in my limited experience (Milwaukee, Chicago-O'Hare, Washington-Reagan, Minneapolis, Charleston (SC)). However, in the paper dump, they informed me that I needed to be at the camp by 18:00 ET on 6/18. This resulted in a search for new flights, since I wouldn't be at Brookwood until after 22:00. The new plan has me leaving Duluth at 6:00, landing at Chicago-O'Hare at 7:24, leave at 8:15, and land at JFK at 11:30 ET. I would then have to take a succession of city buses and subways to the Port Authority Bus Terminal, then take a bus to Monticello, NY. I would then call the camp and get picked up from there.
Another SNAFU was for a needed trip to Walmart. I needed to get several things for the camp, and my dad wasn't feeling up to taking me. My sister agreed to give me a ride after work, but she got ticked at Dad over some inane thing or other and took off for Mom's. This made me call Grandma, and disaster was averted. The rush turned out to be unnecessary, as the bags weren't shipped for another four days.
The last thing I have to say is that they are a cell phone, laptop, and camera free camp. This means that there is a possibility of another hiatus this summer. There are computers with Internet access there, but the way my luck goes, they'll probably be Macs.
All right, you've had long enough. For the first time in nearly a year, I'm leaving the great state of Wisconsin. My bags are packed and shipped, and tomorrow I get on a plane for New York City via Chicago-O'Hare. You see, I got a job as a summer camp counselor at Brookwood Camps in Glen Spey, NY, where I will be dealing with kids aged 8-17 in the cabins, as well as on the soccer and baseball fields.
Please hold your gasps of amazement until the end of the post. Thank you.
I first got interested in counselor jobs in late April, when I was looking on Craigslist and found an open Wilderness Trip Leader position at a camp near Hayward, WI. By the time they got back to me, they had already filled the position, and they pointed me to Campstaff.com, where I found over a hundred camps that were looking for staff. A few of these were in northern Minnesota and northern Wisconsin, and I applied to those, as well as a couple further east. My interview with a place near Brainerd didn't go so well, and the only other one that I heard from was Brookwood. They e-mailed me in mid-May, but I was stuck in a mobile dead-zone. However, once again, I got lucky. The next week, they e-mailed me again to see if I was still interested. I interviewed the next day, and they offered me a job. They then sent me a contract, which I signed and sent back.
Last week, they sent me a load of forms and instructions that were, apparently, meant to be sent out over a span of several weeks. In this was a physician's form. Yep, looks like I was supposed to get a physical before getting there. Of course, by the time I found out about this, the local clinic was booked until next week (6/21), and the next closest place is over an hour away. As I don't have a car, and the family is either unavailable, unhelpful, or simply can't drive that far, I am basically screwed with that.
Another one was a suggestion that I ship my luggage instead of bringing it with me on the flight. Sounds reasonable. However, I needed someone to drive me to the local shipping location. This didn't happen until two days ago (6/15) due to general lack of planning by everyone involved. Luckily, as of 11:17 ET, the bags were in New Jersey and on time to arrive tomorrow.
Originally, I believed that someone from the camp would pick me up at a NYC airport on 6/18, like it says IN THE CONTRACT, so I scheduled my flight to fit that. I took the cheapest flight available, which would leave Duluth at 6:40, land in Minneapolis at 7:35, leave at 11:25, land in Milwaukee at 12:36, take off at 16:05 and land at New York-JFK at 19:19. I was alright with the Milwaukee layover, as the concourse area there is the best that I've seen in my limited experience (Milwaukee, Chicago-O'Hare, Washington-Reagan, Minneapolis, Charleston (SC)). However, in the paper dump, they informed me that I needed to be at the camp by 18:00 ET on 6/18. This resulted in a search for new flights, since I wouldn't be at Brookwood until after 22:00. The new plan has me leaving Duluth at 6:00, landing at Chicago-O'Hare at 7:24, leave at 8:15, and land at JFK at 11:30 ET. I would then have to take a succession of city buses and subways to the Port Authority Bus Terminal, then take a bus to Monticello, NY. I would then call the camp and get picked up from there.
Another SNAFU was for a needed trip to Walmart. I needed to get several things for the camp, and my dad wasn't feeling up to taking me. My sister agreed to give me a ride after work, but she got ticked at Dad over some inane thing or other and took off for Mom's. This made me call Grandma, and disaster was averted. The rush turned out to be unnecessary, as the bags weren't shipped for another four days.
The last thing I have to say is that they are a cell phone, laptop, and camera free camp. This means that there is a possibility of another hiatus this summer. There are computers with Internet access there, but the way my luck goes, they'll probably be Macs.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Daltrey Was Right
Well, as most of you are probably aware of, our Congress is currently reviewing the "don't ask, don't tell" policy regarding gays serving in the military. Now, the people who made this policy during the Clinton years believed that gays, if allowed to serve openly, would be ostracized and abused by their superiors, and disrespected by their subordinates. At the time, this may have been true. However, society has changed since then. People have become much more tolerant towards the LGBT community.
Now, this would be a good time to introduce my "glass cocoon" theory. Basically, this states that as soon as someone receives a position of power in government or the military, they enter a sort of shell where few of the changes on the outside reach them. This effect can be held off by frequent trips to actually talk and listen to the constituency. Exhibit A: David Obey. Elected in 1969 in a special election to replace Melvin Laird (Nixon's Secretary of Defense), this man is the prototypical career politician. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1962, and immediately started campaigning for an Assembly seat, which he won. He was only seriously challenged twice, in 1972 when redistricting left his hometown of Wausau in a district held by a 15-term Republican, and in 1994 when he won by 7 points. When Sean Duffy began gaining major momentum to unseat him late last year, Obey realized that he had no clue how to use the Internet to campaign. Noting the severe disadvantage he was at, he announced his retirement, effective in January 2011. Even when he was running for reelection, he was rarely seen in his district, but we kept voting him in because we believed that the devil we knew was better than the other guy.
Where the hell were we? Oh yes, gays in the military. The blowhards in Arlington and the wingnuts in Washington don't realize that we, as a people, don't care about someone's sexuality anymore! The only constant in society is change, and one of the defining characteristics of monolithic institutions is that they take years, decades, or even centuries to follow suit. The "elder statesmen" believe we are still in the 70's, the top military brass see America as it was when they enlisted in the 80's, and most of Congress thinks we're still the same country that we were before 9/11. We're not. In the past decade, we have grown from a country spoiled by two decades of uninterrupted success to a people who are sick of being lied to and are ready for real change. We thought we were getting that in 2006 and 2008 when we voted in a set of progressive Democrats who were going to give us "hope and change". Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
We have one more chance to get this right
One more chance to win this fight
For the world is crumbling at every turn
And the leaders fiddle while we burn
The only thing that can save us all
Is a surge of truth to break their walls
Now, this would be a good time to introduce my "glass cocoon" theory. Basically, this states that as soon as someone receives a position of power in government or the military, they enter a sort of shell where few of the changes on the outside reach them. This effect can be held off by frequent trips to actually talk and listen to the constituency. Exhibit A: David Obey. Elected in 1969 in a special election to replace Melvin Laird (Nixon's Secretary of Defense), this man is the prototypical career politician. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1962, and immediately started campaigning for an Assembly seat, which he won. He was only seriously challenged twice, in 1972 when redistricting left his hometown of Wausau in a district held by a 15-term Republican, and in 1994 when he won by 7 points. When Sean Duffy began gaining major momentum to unseat him late last year, Obey realized that he had no clue how to use the Internet to campaign. Noting the severe disadvantage he was at, he announced his retirement, effective in January 2011. Even when he was running for reelection, he was rarely seen in his district, but we kept voting him in because we believed that the devil we knew was better than the other guy.
Where the hell were we? Oh yes, gays in the military. The blowhards in Arlington and the wingnuts in Washington don't realize that we, as a people, don't care about someone's sexuality anymore! The only constant in society is change, and one of the defining characteristics of monolithic institutions is that they take years, decades, or even centuries to follow suit. The "elder statesmen" believe we are still in the 70's, the top military brass see America as it was when they enlisted in the 80's, and most of Congress thinks we're still the same country that we were before 9/11. We're not. In the past decade, we have grown from a country spoiled by two decades of uninterrupted success to a people who are sick of being lied to and are ready for real change. We thought we were getting that in 2006 and 2008 when we voted in a set of progressive Democrats who were going to give us "hope and change". Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
We have one more chance to get this right
One more chance to win this fight
For the world is crumbling at every turn
And the leaders fiddle while we burn
The only thing that can save us all
Is a surge of truth to break their walls
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
My Podcast List
Alright, not much happening now with the semester over, so here's the list of podcasts that I subscribe to right now.
Bill O'Reilly: the Talking Points segment from his show
Buzz Out Loud (video): a daily CNET podcast about the day's tech news, hosted by Molly Wood, Rafe Needleman, producer Jason Howell, and various guest hosts
CNET's Top 5 (video): a weekly tech top five list hosted by Brian Cooley
Around the Horn (audio): an audio version of the ESPN show (5:00 pm ET)
PTI (audio): an audio version of the ESPN show (5:30pm ET)
ESPNsoccernet (audio): twice-weekly, hosted by Adriano Russo, Jon Harris-Bass and Dan Mason
The Official Mark Levin Show Audio Rewind: the ENTIRE THREE HOUR SHOW with very limited commercials
Red Eye (video): the Halftime Report and two or three segments from the Fox News show
Stuff You Should Know: twice-weekly from HowStuffWorks.com, hosted by Josh Clark and Charles W. Bryant
Tap That App (video): a weekly CNET podcast with the best apps for iPhone or Android, hosted by Brian Tong
TechStuff: twice-weekly, dedicated to demystifying technology and discussing its impact on society, hosted by Chris Pollette and Jonathan Strickland.
Now, I'm going to shake up this blog a bit. I'll try to be here once a week, with a regular journal of sorts. The People's Voice segment will be turned over to Brian Ross, who also runs the "It's All Audio" blog detailing his quest for an Out of Body Experience. He is an aspiring author who wants to see this country returned to greatness, and he truly believes that our current government is leading us into a spiraling whirlpool of debt...not unlike Liverpool Football Club.
Bill O'Reilly: the Talking Points segment from his show
Buzz Out Loud (video): a daily CNET podcast about the day's tech news, hosted by Molly Wood, Rafe Needleman, producer Jason Howell, and various guest hosts
CNET's Top 5 (video): a weekly tech top five list hosted by Brian Cooley
Around the Horn (audio): an audio version of the ESPN show (5:00 pm ET)
PTI (audio): an audio version of the ESPN show (5:30pm ET)
ESPNsoccernet (audio): twice-weekly, hosted by Adriano Russo, Jon Harris-Bass and Dan Mason
The Official Mark Levin Show Audio Rewind: the ENTIRE THREE HOUR SHOW with very limited commercials
Red Eye (video): the Halftime Report and two or three segments from the Fox News show
Stuff You Should Know: twice-weekly from HowStuffWorks.com, hosted by Josh Clark and Charles W. Bryant
Tap That App (video): a weekly CNET podcast with the best apps for iPhone or Android, hosted by Brian Tong
TechStuff: twice-weekly, dedicated to demystifying technology and discussing its impact on society, hosted by Chris Pollette and Jonathan Strickland.
Now, I'm going to shake up this blog a bit. I'll try to be here once a week, with a regular journal of sorts. The People's Voice segment will be turned over to Brian Ross, who also runs the "It's All Audio" blog detailing his quest for an Out of Body Experience. He is an aspiring author who wants to see this country returned to greatness, and he truly believes that our current government is leading us into a spiraling whirlpool of debt...not unlike Liverpool Football Club.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
9/11 and Today: Where I've Been and Where We're Going
I was only 11 years old on 9/11, and I didn't realize exactly what had happened until I got home from school. That's when I saw my mom frantically trying to call my uncle, who was an IT guy working for a civilian contractor at the time. Turns out, he was supposed to be working in an office just three windows down from the crater in the side of the Pentagon, but by some quirk of fate was on the other side of the building when the plane hit. He says that he was just as lucky as he's always been, but you could also say that God was watching him that day, keeping him safe.
My family doesn't blame Islam or the average Muslim for the attacks, and we sure as hell don't think it was America's fault. This was the act of a few terribly misguided individuals who saw the world leaving them behind and tried to bring us back down to their level.
They failed, but we can't let our guard down too much.
Our country is being taken to the edge of the abyss, bringing the rest of the world along for the ride. Will we be the passengers who stay sleeping in our chairs, not even knowing that we are about to go over the edge? Will we be the people who accept our fate, calling our loved ones to say goodbye? Will we be the people who scream in terror, or are numb from shock as we can't find a way out?
Or will we be the people who made this country the greatest power that the world has ever known? Can we still be the people who rush the cockpit and take over the plane, possibly sacrificing ourselves to save countless others? I know that this is still within us, that we can still lead the world to a bright future. Let us hope that we can find ourselves, as Americans, before it's too late.
My family doesn't blame Islam or the average Muslim for the attacks, and we sure as hell don't think it was America's fault. This was the act of a few terribly misguided individuals who saw the world leaving them behind and tried to bring us back down to their level.
They failed, but we can't let our guard down too much.
Our country is being taken to the edge of the abyss, bringing the rest of the world along for the ride. Will we be the passengers who stay sleeping in our chairs, not even knowing that we are about to go over the edge? Will we be the people who accept our fate, calling our loved ones to say goodbye? Will we be the people who scream in terror, or are numb from shock as we can't find a way out?
Or will we be the people who made this country the greatest power that the world has ever known? Can we still be the people who rush the cockpit and take over the plane, possibly sacrificing ourselves to save countless others? I know that this is still within us, that we can still lead the world to a bright future. Let us hope that we can find ourselves, as Americans, before it's too late.
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