Follow-Up
First off, happy Kanye West Day to all my peeps.
Thanks for everyone who took the time to read my last blog and respond. I'm glad to hear what other people think of the subjects I write about. Even if you disagree with me (or maybe more so if you do). I don't think any of you are retards or anything.
As far as a follow up goes, I guess one thing I can start out by saying is that I'm sorry if the last entry came off as me knocking our country, our system of democracy, or capitalism. That was not my intention at all and I will try to explain myself better later on in this entry.
I will back away slightly from what I said about the DVD prices story (by the way if anyone is interested, here is a link to the original story I read: Warner to sell cut-rate DVD's in China). To say that we should base prices for products here on what is being charged in other places of the world was shortsighted I'll admit, and specifically I'd like to take back what I said about 99/100 people agreeing with me on that argument. I didn't think that part through very thoroughly but you guys brought up good points.
However, I still don't think the huge discrepancy in prices between China and the United States for DVDs is fully justified. I may have understated the standard of living factor, but again, I don't think we can write off a 600-700% price difference entirely to standard of living. Currency exchange rates may not be perfect in accounting for how a product's value varies from one place to another, but they are still generally determined by the open market and aren't completely meaningless (it so happens that China is one of those countries that doesn't allow its Yuan to be traded, but I'm going to try and keep this as simple as possible so I'll gloss over that fact for now).
Looking at it another way, consider that a Big Mac will cost you the equivalent of $1.25 in China, compared to about $2 (regular price) here. It's cheaper, but only 30-40% so. What I believe separates the McDonald's Big Mac from the Warner Bros. DVD is the fact that the price of food is much more heavily influenced by competition and the free market, whereas for a given DVD, Warner Bros. enjoys a monopoly. As we all know, a monopoly works against capitalism and severely limits the "invisible hand" of supply vs. demand.
I know what you're thinking: DVD's are intellectual property and we must protect their rights for creativity and innovation to prosper. A true statement, one that I won't argue, but it only justifies the story to some extent.
Here's a fact: 98% of the US movie industry is controlled by 8 major studios. 80% is controlled by 5 studios. I mentioned the word monopoly earlier, but more accurately, Hollywood is controlled by an oligopoly. When such a large industry can be controlled by only a handful of entities, Joe Schmo Moviewatcher loses. There's no way around it.
For starters, even though these giant corporations are in competition against each other, there are also times when they can get together behind the scenes and agree to keep prices inflated well beyond their true market value. Don't tell me that this kind of thing doesn't happen, because it has happened in the past and I strongly believe that it still happens today to at least some extent. We saw it in the music industry only a few years back, when it took a class action lawsuit to bring the story to everyone's attention.
High prices aren't the only thing that we have to worry about, in regards oligopolies. You can see in the case of today's box office lineup, where the vast majority of movies being released are these big-budget blockbusters. While I enjoy these mindless action movies or stupid formulaic comedies as much as the next guy, the fact is that many independent films that have more artistic merit and may be more deserving to be seen end up being elbowed out of the theaters before they even have a chance to be seen by the mass audiences. Occasionally you will see one of these smaller films succeed, but they are much more the exception than the rule. This by the way is one thing I alluded to in the last blog entry, only I was talking about music instead of movies.
Anyways, my original intent was not to debate the specific issue of DVD prices, though admittedly that is what started this discussion. My broader goal was to point out that I think a lot of things are going on that we often accept blindly as fact without thinking about it.
As far as democracy, freedom, and free-market capitalism goes, here is what I have to say. It may not have been clear from the way I organized the last blog, but I do greatly appreciate that our political and economic system have given me so many things in life that others don't have. I'll restate a paragraph here that may have been overlooked from my original entry, one which was buried amidst my negativity but still says things that I fully believe in:
"On the whole, it's hard to argue with [our political and economic system]. Compared to pretty much any other country in the world today (or in the history of mankind, for that matter), we enjoy a quality of life that is far above that of anybody else."
It is absolutely not a case of me taking our freedoms for granted; in fact, I would argue to the opposite of that statement. I value our freedom so much that I react extra sensitively when I believe my rights are being infringed upon in any way. I value capitalism so much that if I see that a monopoly or oligopoly is suffocating or nullifying the free market, flashing lights and loud alarms immediately go off in my head. I value democracy so much that when forces act to limit its efficacy, I feel the need to at least point it out.
By no means am I saying that democracy is bad, that capitalism is bad. I'm saying is that if we aren't careful, we may be letting a lot of things slip away from our control, and that's obviously not a good thing. I'm saying that if we don't pay attention, democracy and capitalism are fully capable of failing before we know it.
I know there is a point when maybe we should be satisfied with our current situation and just shut up. But the fact that we already have a better life that others do/did should not preclude us from pushing for more, asking for improvement. In the 1950's and 60's, blacks enjoyed a much better life than their ancestors did during the era of slavery. Does that mean it was wrong for Martin Luther King to march against segregation? And now that we have come a long way since those days, if a black employee notices today that he is being passed over for promotions because of his skin color, would we blame him for speaking out because of this?
Of course, the hard part is figuring out exactly what I, as an individual, can do about these things I'm talking about. As you may have figured by now, I don't have the answers or the universal solution to all the problems I observe. If you're looking for a panacea to all the world's ills here at http://dudo509.blogspot.com, I'm sorry to say you're in the wrong place.
It's hard sometimes, for one person to believe that he/she has the power to make a significant impact on the world. Though we've seen plenty of examples of individuals in history who have done exactly that, I have to admit that I feel relatively helpless many times when dealing with things I perceive to be injustices.
It would be great if I could drop everything I had in my life, plunge myself in debt to pursue a law degree, and sue these large corporations for abusing their power in the industry with unfair business practices. Or if I could dedicate my life to researching renewable energy sources as a replacement for fossil fuels. Maybe I could even work my way up as a local congressman up to the federal government level and make myself be heard on a much larger scale. But realistically, I just don't see any of those things happening in my life.
One little thing I did mention, though, is for each of us to stay informed and cognizant of what is going on around us. Now, awareness alone may not solve all of the world's problems, but in my opinion it's at least an important starting point. And this is partly what motivated me to write that entry to begin with, because I felt it might be worthwhile to share some of my observations with people reading my blog.
Beyond that, I guess I'm still figuring out exactly what I can do about the things I discussed. It's an ongoing effort but I do honestly and sincerely hope that someday I will, in fact, be able to make some difference in this world of ours.
Again, thanks for everyone who read through and/or participated in this discussion. If anyone has more thoughts to add, definitely feel free. I'll try to respond as much as I can, but can't guarantee that I'll have a whole lot of time to do so.
*****
Movie recommendation - City of God
I watched this movie over the weekend and I thought it was exceptional. It's a foreign film, subtitled, so keep that in mind. The plot was based on a real story, set in the ghettos of Brazil during the 60's-70's. Very intense movie, realistic acting, and cool cinematography. One of the best films I have seen in a long time. It took me and Olivia months before we found a copy available at Blockbuster for rental, though, that's the only bad thing I can think of.
Sunday, February 27, 2005
Friday, February 25, 2005
Freedom
Hopefully this won't become a super long entry, but forgive me if it does.
I was reading some article yesterday about how some company (I think it was Warner Bros.) was planning to compete with the DVD bootleggers in China by selling their DVD's for really cheap (about the equivalent of $2-3 US). Even though this was still a little more than the price of bootleg copies, they figured people would be willing to pay a little more for having an "official" copy and to get it earlier. Which is probably true.
Well great, but what about us in America, where there really is no bootleg industry? If they can charge only $2-3 per DVD in China, why do we still have to pay $15-20 for the same thing (pretty much) here? Should we really be punished for not making as many pirated copies of DVDs as they do overseas?
If you go around and ask 100 people, I would expect that at least 99 of them would say no. And of course they would. The only reason I don't say 100 is because I figure maybe 1% of the population is A) Retarded, B) Works for a media giant like WB, or C) Both.
Anyways, I'm sure everyone who is smart enough to be reading my blog right now would agree that if a company is willing to sell their product for 3 bucks in China, they shouldn't be charging us 20 for the same thing over here. It just doesn't make sense. Ok, so maybe there's differences in taxes and standard of living is a factor, but a 600% difference? That's just not right. They're DVDs for crying out loud. Anybody with a computer and a DVD burner could produce DVD's, let alone a huge multi-billion dollar corporation like Warner Brothers.
I guess it's not really groundbreaking news to anyone that these large companies are all greedy bastards whose only goal is maximizing their profit. And hey, it seems that most Americans are fine with paying $20 for DVDs, so what's the big deal?
The larger issue that bothers me is that supposedly, we live in a society built on the grand concept of "freedom". We have laws that are specifically written to protect our freedom of speech, of religion, etc. Our economic system, as we were all taught in high school, is based on a "free" market philosophy. All of these things have made us the most prosperous nation on the planet.
And on the whole, it's hard to argue with any of the above things. Compared to pretty much any other country in the world today (or in the history of mankind, for that matter), we enjoy a quality of life that is far above that of anybody else.
However, I still think that in a lot of ways, we are a lot less "free" than we realize. It may not be that we are facing oppression by the government, or being physically enslaved by foreign conquerors. But the more I observe about life in this society, the more I notice that my freedoms are not as universal or sacred as I once believed.
In the past few years, I have come to the conclusion that often times, "freedom" is an illusion. More often than we might be led to think, "choice" is an illusion.
The DVD price thing is only one small example. But if you think about it, what are our choices when it comes to getting DVDs? We can either buy at Sam Goody for $25, Best Buy for $22, or Amazon for $19.99. Sure, we can choose not to buy it at all, but what I'm saying is, in reality we are being shortchanged as far as choices go. There is a fourth choice out there, buy it in China for $3, which happens to be unavailable to us. And that just doesn't seem right to me.
Even as we were discussing the title of that European song from my last entry, I wonder about how much freedom we have when it comes to choosing music in this country. How much of the stuff we listen to is because it's the best actual music, as opposed to the best marketed product? (I know what you're all thinking, this is coming from a guy whose favorite artist is Britney Spears, but try to hear me out nonetheless).
I mean, there's a lot of artists out there, and I don't deny that a lot of them are making great music. But there are times when I turn on the radio or I'm watching MTV and I can't help but wonder, how the hell did this crap make it onto the national countdown? There's gotta be something better out there than Jennifer Lopez or Lindsay Lohan's new songs, yet that is what we have to listen to. No it might not be Ozone's Dragostea Din Tei (by the way thanks for the info Vic and happy bday), but somewhere, someone must have decided what America is going to listen to (and like it) and what we are not going to listen to. That ain't right.
I could say the same thing about gas prices. We can believe all we want about a free market, supply and demand determining price, but in the end, does that really hold true when you head to the pump to fill up your car? When it costs you $1.80 per gallon one day and then $2.30 for that same gallon a week later, what can you really do about it? Get mad all you want at the government, but unless you want to walk or ride your bike to get places, or stay home entirely, you suck it up and pay that man his mahh-ney.
Probably the most egregious example I can think of was in this last election. We believe in our system of democracy and the inalienable right to vote for our country's leaders, at least many of us do. Which is great, but let's stop and think for a second about who we had to choose from. You've gotta be kidding if you want me to believe that out of over 200 million people in this country, the two best candidates we could come up with to be our President were George W. Bush and John Kerry.
My point is, what good is having a choice if you don't really have much to choose from to begin with? Can we really call it "freedom" if someone else is deciding what our options are? Like I said before, if this is the case, then our so-called "freedom" is little more than an illusion.
Of course, having a choice is probably better than not having a choice. And it's not like we aren't at all culpable for collectively acquiescing so many of our freedoms. Maybe if I made more of an effort to hear original music instead of just listening to the radio and watching MTV, I wouldn't have to complain about terrible songs being shoved down my throat. Maybe if I stayed more informed about politics and put more time into supporting good candidates for office, I wouldn't be stuck with two blue-blooded, special interest owned guys to choose from every 4 years in the Presidential election. Maybe we would've elected a guy who would have put more into developing renewable energy sources and then we wouldn't be as dependent on oil either.
Maybe, maybe, maybe.
Hopefully this won't become a super long entry, but forgive me if it does.
I was reading some article yesterday about how some company (I think it was Warner Bros.) was planning to compete with the DVD bootleggers in China by selling their DVD's for really cheap (about the equivalent of $2-3 US). Even though this was still a little more than the price of bootleg copies, they figured people would be willing to pay a little more for having an "official" copy and to get it earlier. Which is probably true.
Well great, but what about us in America, where there really is no bootleg industry? If they can charge only $2-3 per DVD in China, why do we still have to pay $15-20 for the same thing (pretty much) here? Should we really be punished for not making as many pirated copies of DVDs as they do overseas?
If you go around and ask 100 people, I would expect that at least 99 of them would say no. And of course they would. The only reason I don't say 100 is because I figure maybe 1% of the population is A) Retarded, B) Works for a media giant like WB, or C) Both.
Anyways, I'm sure everyone who is smart enough to be reading my blog right now would agree that if a company is willing to sell their product for 3 bucks in China, they shouldn't be charging us 20 for the same thing over here. It just doesn't make sense. Ok, so maybe there's differences in taxes and standard of living is a factor, but a 600% difference? That's just not right. They're DVDs for crying out loud. Anybody with a computer and a DVD burner could produce DVD's, let alone a huge multi-billion dollar corporation like Warner Brothers.
I guess it's not really groundbreaking news to anyone that these large companies are all greedy bastards whose only goal is maximizing their profit. And hey, it seems that most Americans are fine with paying $20 for DVDs, so what's the big deal?
The larger issue that bothers me is that supposedly, we live in a society built on the grand concept of "freedom". We have laws that are specifically written to protect our freedom of speech, of religion, etc. Our economic system, as we were all taught in high school, is based on a "free" market philosophy. All of these things have made us the most prosperous nation on the planet.
And on the whole, it's hard to argue with any of the above things. Compared to pretty much any other country in the world today (or in the history of mankind, for that matter), we enjoy a quality of life that is far above that of anybody else.
However, I still think that in a lot of ways, we are a lot less "free" than we realize. It may not be that we are facing oppression by the government, or being physically enslaved by foreign conquerors. But the more I observe about life in this society, the more I notice that my freedoms are not as universal or sacred as I once believed.
In the past few years, I have come to the conclusion that often times, "freedom" is an illusion. More often than we might be led to think, "choice" is an illusion.
The DVD price thing is only one small example. But if you think about it, what are our choices when it comes to getting DVDs? We can either buy at Sam Goody for $25, Best Buy for $22, or Amazon for $19.99. Sure, we can choose not to buy it at all, but what I'm saying is, in reality we are being shortchanged as far as choices go. There is a fourth choice out there, buy it in China for $3, which happens to be unavailable to us. And that just doesn't seem right to me.
Even as we were discussing the title of that European song from my last entry, I wonder about how much freedom we have when it comes to choosing music in this country. How much of the stuff we listen to is because it's the best actual music, as opposed to the best marketed product? (I know what you're all thinking, this is coming from a guy whose favorite artist is Britney Spears, but try to hear me out nonetheless).
I mean, there's a lot of artists out there, and I don't deny that a lot of them are making great music. But there are times when I turn on the radio or I'm watching MTV and I can't help but wonder, how the hell did this crap make it onto the national countdown? There's gotta be something better out there than Jennifer Lopez or Lindsay Lohan's new songs, yet that is what we have to listen to. No it might not be Ozone's Dragostea Din Tei (by the way thanks for the info Vic and happy bday), but somewhere, someone must have decided what America is going to listen to (and like it) and what we are not going to listen to. That ain't right.
I could say the same thing about gas prices. We can believe all we want about a free market, supply and demand determining price, but in the end, does that really hold true when you head to the pump to fill up your car? When it costs you $1.80 per gallon one day and then $2.30 for that same gallon a week later, what can you really do about it? Get mad all you want at the government, but unless you want to walk or ride your bike to get places, or stay home entirely, you suck it up and pay that man his mahh-ney.
Probably the most egregious example I can think of was in this last election. We believe in our system of democracy and the inalienable right to vote for our country's leaders, at least many of us do. Which is great, but let's stop and think for a second about who we had to choose from. You've gotta be kidding if you want me to believe that out of over 200 million people in this country, the two best candidates we could come up with to be our President were George W. Bush and John Kerry.
My point is, what good is having a choice if you don't really have much to choose from to begin with? Can we really call it "freedom" if someone else is deciding what our options are? Like I said before, if this is the case, then our so-called "freedom" is little more than an illusion.
Of course, having a choice is probably better than not having a choice. And it's not like we aren't at all culpable for collectively acquiescing so many of our freedoms. Maybe if I made more of an effort to hear original music instead of just listening to the radio and watching MTV, I wouldn't have to complain about terrible songs being shoved down my throat. Maybe if I stayed more informed about politics and put more time into supporting good candidates for office, I wouldn't be stuck with two blue-blooded, special interest owned guys to choose from every 4 years in the Presidential election. Maybe we would've elected a guy who would have put more into developing renewable energy sources and then we wouldn't be as dependent on oil either.
Maybe, maybe, maybe.
Monday, February 21, 2005
Numbers
A blog by the numbers....
24
Me and Olivia finished watching season 1 of 24 on DVD. It took us 3 long sessions (10, 8, 6 episodes in that order), split a few weeks apart each, but we did it. The show was entertaining and exciting as everyone told me, but a part of me definitely wishes I never started watching and had 18 hours (estimated 45 mins/episode) of my life back. At times the show was just too stressful and frustrating for my own good, because of all the plot twists and how many stupid characters there were. Overall it was a good show though, I won't deny that. I especially liked the subtitles, when they describe the background music in the scenes. Some of my favorite examples:
"(Sad instrumental music)"
"(Dramatic instrumental music)"
"(Somber vocal music)"
"(Suspenseful instrumental music)"
"(Mysterious instrumental music)"
360
Sunday morning on the way to church, I hit a patch of ice on the highway and completely lost control of my car. I was going about 60 when all of a sudden I started swerving and sliding like crazy. Turning the steering wheel did absolutely nothing, and at one point, I found myself sliding backwards, facing the wrong way, and seeing a couple cars coming towards me. Luckily the sliding continued until my car completed a 360 spin, before I finally regained control and continued on my way. Definitely one of the scariest moments of my life, being on a highway going the wrong direction with no control of the vehicle whatsoever, I thought I was going to die. Didn't see my life flashing before me or anything, but still not good. Not good at all.
33
On a lighter note, Yahoo Fantasy Baseball is up for 2005 and now I can start counting down the days to our draft again. As well as remind everyone not to schedule anything important on the morning of Saturday 3/26.
1
The Illini have held the top spot in the polls for what, 12 weeks in a row now? I have to admit I thought they would have lost at least a game or two by now, and dropped from the top for a while. But they just keep getting the job done. As we know, being #1 right now is not the ultimate goal, but that doesn't mean it doesn't feel good to see your team at the top week after week. The other day I was watching some random game on TV when Olivia asked me who I wanted to win. And I realized that I really didn't care. In the past, if there was no other factors involved in the game, I always rooted for the team ranked ahead of the Illini to lose, so that we could move up in the polls. But I guess when you're already at the top, you no longer have to root against anybody else, just focus on your own team winning. Kinda different and kinda nice.
100
Number of times I watched the clip of the fat kid singing/dancing:
http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/lyle_24/myhero.swf
Ok so I didn't really count how many times I watched it, but it was a lot. Believe me that song is catchy and I couldn't get it out of my head as I was trying to take a nap. It was frustrating but funny.
A blog by the numbers....
24
Me and Olivia finished watching season 1 of 24 on DVD. It took us 3 long sessions (10, 8, 6 episodes in that order), split a few weeks apart each, but we did it. The show was entertaining and exciting as everyone told me, but a part of me definitely wishes I never started watching and had 18 hours (estimated 45 mins/episode) of my life back. At times the show was just too stressful and frustrating for my own good, because of all the plot twists and how many stupid characters there were. Overall it was a good show though, I won't deny that. I especially liked the subtitles, when they describe the background music in the scenes. Some of my favorite examples:
"(Sad instrumental music)"
"(Dramatic instrumental music)"
"(Somber vocal music)"
"(Suspenseful instrumental music)"
"(Mysterious instrumental music)"
360
Sunday morning on the way to church, I hit a patch of ice on the highway and completely lost control of my car. I was going about 60 when all of a sudden I started swerving and sliding like crazy. Turning the steering wheel did absolutely nothing, and at one point, I found myself sliding backwards, facing the wrong way, and seeing a couple cars coming towards me. Luckily the sliding continued until my car completed a 360 spin, before I finally regained control and continued on my way. Definitely one of the scariest moments of my life, being on a highway going the wrong direction with no control of the vehicle whatsoever, I thought I was going to die. Didn't see my life flashing before me or anything, but still not good. Not good at all.
33
On a lighter note, Yahoo Fantasy Baseball is up for 2005 and now I can start counting down the days to our draft again. As well as remind everyone not to schedule anything important on the morning of Saturday 3/26.
1
The Illini have held the top spot in the polls for what, 12 weeks in a row now? I have to admit I thought they would have lost at least a game or two by now, and dropped from the top for a while. But they just keep getting the job done. As we know, being #1 right now is not the ultimate goal, but that doesn't mean it doesn't feel good to see your team at the top week after week. The other day I was watching some random game on TV when Olivia asked me who I wanted to win. And I realized that I really didn't care. In the past, if there was no other factors involved in the game, I always rooted for the team ranked ahead of the Illini to lose, so that we could move up in the polls. But I guess when you're already at the top, you no longer have to root against anybody else, just focus on your own team winning. Kinda different and kinda nice.
100
Number of times I watched the clip of the fat kid singing/dancing:
http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/lyle_24/myhero.swf
Ok so I didn't really count how many times I watched it, but it was a lot. Believe me that song is catchy and I couldn't get it out of my head as I was trying to take a nap. It was frustrating but funny.
Thursday, February 17, 2005
With Friends Like These...
I was getting some advice about where to take Olivia for a nice Valentine's Day dinner from some friends and coworkers, and I thought I would share a few of the ideas they gave me (names have been omitted):
- Get a Whopper from Burger King and cut it into the shape of a heart
- Take her along on a ski trip and once we get to the top of the mountain, "drop trou' and pee a big heart in the snow" (they were trying to convince me to go on their ski trip this weekend - that didn't work.)
- Buy her a gift certificate for cosmetic surgery (by the way this one was from my coworker who has never met or seen her)
The sad thing is, I don't know if they were joking or not.
I have to admit though, I got some pretty good ideas other than that. A bunch of restaurants that we haven't been to but sound like they would be good. So I have to give some credit where it is due.
By the way I know Valentine's Day was three days ago but we are "celebrating" it this weekend due to "scheduling constraints".
On a separate note, another "fly" has "dropped". A few days ago I heard that the girl I went to high school prom with (and a friend since childhood) got engaged. I'm pretty sure she doesn't read this blog, we haven't really kept in touch since college, but congrats anyways Julia! Seems like yesterday that we were all playing board games in your basement or our families were camping together.
As far as the Illini go, the TV situation for last night's game against PSU was a travesty. It was scheduled as an ESPN+ game, which usually means they show it on the U. But no, they were showing the Bulls game on the U. So they moved the Illini game to their sister station "MeTV", channel 23 for those without cable. For those with Comcast cable (me me me), tough luck. How dumb is that, I can see the game if I don't have cable, but not if I do have cable? Even stupider was that I saw an ESPN+ game showing on WYCC (normally channel 56), Iowa against Purdue. Seriously, who wants to watch that game? Oh well, I guess I'm not as mad because the game didn't end up being that close. Just amazes me how an Illinois fan can't watch an Illinois basketball game in Illinois even when they are the #1 team in the nation (for only the 3rd time in 100 years of history).
One last thing, I'm sure everyone who grew up in a grade school remembers playing a game called "Duck, Duck, Goose". All you do is get everyone in your class to sit in a circle, then one kid walks around the circle tapping everyone in the circle on the head in order while saying "Duck, Duck, Duck....", until he picks someone and says "Goose", at which point the "goose" has to get up and chase the kid around the circle, and try to tag him before he makes it back to the vacated spot.
Anyways, one day I was talking to Olivia about that game for some reason, and she told me that when she was growing up in Minnesota, they played that game, only they didn't call it "Duck, Duck, Goose". What, pray tell, did they call it? Get this - these wacky Minnesotans called their version of the game "Duck, Duck, Gray Duck".
You can imagine my reaction to this, a healthy mixture of hilarity and incredulity. Duck, Duck, Gray Duck??! Who says that? I refused to believe her at first, but she seemed pretty serious, so eventually I halfheartedly conceded the possibility that she was not messing with me. Still, I couldn't really picture a kid going "Duck, duck, duck, duck, duck, GRAY DUCK!!" and everyone in the room thinking this was normal.
So yesterday, for some reason the topic of childhood games came up in conversation with my coworker, and I decided to tell him about Olivia's "duck duck gray duck" experience. And he absolutely REFUSED to believe me. He was so adamant in his disbelief that he did a Google search for "minnesota gray duck" or something like that, just to prove me wrong.
And sure enough, there were actually articles specifically written about how Minnesotans are the only ones who say "gray duck" instead of "goose" in that game. Ho-larious. I guess Olivia was right all along. I just had to share that with everyone who reads my blog. And if any of you still don't believe me, do a search and find out for yourself.
Now that I think about it, this would make a good blog topic on its own. When you grow up in different areas, at different schools, it's interesting when you guys know of the same jokes, stories, etc., except with weird little variations. I can't think of that many examples right now, but maybe if I can compile a list of good ones someday, I will devote a blog to it.
I was getting some advice about where to take Olivia for a nice Valentine's Day dinner from some friends and coworkers, and I thought I would share a few of the ideas they gave me (names have been omitted):
- Get a Whopper from Burger King and cut it into the shape of a heart
- Take her along on a ski trip and once we get to the top of the mountain, "drop trou' and pee a big heart in the snow" (they were trying to convince me to go on their ski trip this weekend - that didn't work.)
- Buy her a gift certificate for cosmetic surgery (by the way this one was from my coworker who has never met or seen her)
The sad thing is, I don't know if they were joking or not.
I have to admit though, I got some pretty good ideas other than that. A bunch of restaurants that we haven't been to but sound like they would be good. So I have to give some credit where it is due.
By the way I know Valentine's Day was three days ago but we are "celebrating" it this weekend due to "scheduling constraints".
On a separate note, another "fly" has "dropped". A few days ago I heard that the girl I went to high school prom with (and a friend since childhood) got engaged. I'm pretty sure she doesn't read this blog, we haven't really kept in touch since college, but congrats anyways Julia! Seems like yesterday that we were all playing board games in your basement or our families were camping together.
As far as the Illini go, the TV situation for last night's game against PSU was a travesty. It was scheduled as an ESPN+ game, which usually means they show it on the U. But no, they were showing the Bulls game on the U. So they moved the Illini game to their sister station "MeTV", channel 23 for those without cable. For those with Comcast cable (me me me), tough luck. How dumb is that, I can see the game if I don't have cable, but not if I do have cable? Even stupider was that I saw an ESPN+ game showing on WYCC (normally channel 56), Iowa against Purdue. Seriously, who wants to watch that game? Oh well, I guess I'm not as mad because the game didn't end up being that close. Just amazes me how an Illinois fan can't watch an Illinois basketball game in Illinois even when they are the #1 team in the nation (for only the 3rd time in 100 years of history).
One last thing, I'm sure everyone who grew up in a grade school remembers playing a game called "Duck, Duck, Goose". All you do is get everyone in your class to sit in a circle, then one kid walks around the circle tapping everyone in the circle on the head in order while saying "Duck, Duck, Duck....", until he picks someone and says "Goose", at which point the "goose" has to get up and chase the kid around the circle, and try to tag him before he makes it back to the vacated spot.
Anyways, one day I was talking to Olivia about that game for some reason, and she told me that when she was growing up in Minnesota, they played that game, only they didn't call it "Duck, Duck, Goose". What, pray tell, did they call it? Get this - these wacky Minnesotans called their version of the game "Duck, Duck, Gray Duck".
You can imagine my reaction to this, a healthy mixture of hilarity and incredulity. Duck, Duck, Gray Duck??! Who says that? I refused to believe her at first, but she seemed pretty serious, so eventually I halfheartedly conceded the possibility that she was not messing with me. Still, I couldn't really picture a kid going "Duck, duck, duck, duck, duck, GRAY DUCK!!" and everyone in the room thinking this was normal.
So yesterday, for some reason the topic of childhood games came up in conversation with my coworker, and I decided to tell him about Olivia's "duck duck gray duck" experience. And he absolutely REFUSED to believe me. He was so adamant in his disbelief that he did a Google search for "minnesota gray duck" or something like that, just to prove me wrong.
And sure enough, there were actually articles specifically written about how Minnesotans are the only ones who say "gray duck" instead of "goose" in that game. Ho-larious. I guess Olivia was right all along. I just had to share that with everyone who reads my blog. And if any of you still don't believe me, do a search and find out for yourself.
Now that I think about it, this would make a good blog topic on its own. When you grow up in different areas, at different schools, it's interesting when you guys know of the same jokes, stories, etc., except with weird little variations. I can't think of that many examples right now, but maybe if I can compile a list of good ones someday, I will devote a blog to it.
Monday, February 14, 2005
2005 Grammys
I did not watch the Grammys last night, other than a few minutes when Alicia Keys was performing (and Jamie Foxx). Instead, I was finishing up South Park season 4 (Finger-bang-bang...), and Curb Your Enthusiasm season 1 on DVD.
But I did hear some of the news about who won what, and I'm wondering which of the following things diminishes the value of a Grammy award the least:
A. Ray Charles winning for best album over Kanye West, Usher, Alicia Keys, and Green Day
B. John Mayer winning for best song with "Daughters" (that's the best song of
C. Britney Spears winning for best dance recording with "Toxic"
I vote for "C". Yes I know I'm biased and yes I know, it's Britney Spears winning a Grammy, but hear me out.
A, I'm sure Ray Charles as an artist was very deserving of multiple Grammys throughout his career. But for this year, I'm pretty sure that any of the other albums that were nominated (Kanye West, Usher, Alicia Keys, Green Day) deserve the "Best Album" award more.
B, while it wasn't the strongest list of nominees, "Daughters" winning "Best Song" is still a joke. I think I wrote about how lame that song was back when they started playing it on the radio, and I still feel the same way. Overall I'm a John Mayer fan too. I just can't picture anyone looking back 10 years from now and saying, "wow, the best song in 2004 was John Mayer - 'Daughters'". Can you?
I did not watch the Grammys last night, other than a few minutes when Alicia Keys was performing (and Jamie Foxx). Instead, I was finishing up South Park season 4 (Finger-bang-bang...), and Curb Your Enthusiasm season 1 on DVD.
But I did hear some of the news about who won what, and I'm wondering which of the following things diminishes the value of a Grammy award the least:
A. Ray Charles winning for best album over Kanye West, Usher, Alicia Keys, and Green Day
B. John Mayer winning for best song with "Daughters" (that's the best song of
C. Britney Spears winning for best dance recording with "Toxic"
I vote for "C". Yes I know I'm biased and yes I know, it's Britney Spears winning a Grammy, but hear me out.
A, I'm sure Ray Charles as an artist was very deserving of multiple Grammys throughout his career. But for this year, I'm pretty sure that any of the other albums that were nominated (Kanye West, Usher, Alicia Keys, Green Day) deserve the "Best Album" award more.
B, while it wasn't the strongest list of nominees, "Daughters" winning "Best Song" is still a joke. I think I wrote about how lame that song was back when they started playing it on the radio, and I still feel the same way. Overall I'm a John Mayer fan too. I just can't picture anyone looking back 10 years from now and saying, "wow, the best song in 2004 was John Mayer - 'Daughters'". Can you?
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
What Can Brown Do For You
Lookie what came in the mail today, my order from eFollett.com:
Dee Brown is awesome. End of story. The kid pretty much singlehandedly brought the Illini back against Michigan tonight. Steals, breakaway layups, and that behind the back pass was SICK.
I cannot wait to see this team play live.
Lookie what came in the mail today, my order from eFollett.com:
Dee Brown is awesome. End of story. The kid pretty much singlehandedly brought the Illini back against Michigan tonight. Steals, breakaway layups, and that behind the back pass was SICK.
I cannot wait to see this team play live.
Monday, February 07, 2005
Radio
We live in a day and age when the AM/FM radio has become almost an archaic piece of technology. Not saying that nobody uses it anymore, but the technological advances in the past few decades have made the basic radio seem so primitive by comparison.
I remember in one of my underclass ECE courses in college (I think ECE 210), one of our weekly lab assignments was to make a radio out of basic circuit components. It took maybe an hour to do, and was supposed to be a pretty trivial exercise. Also, I think someone in the Gilligan's Island crew was able to put together a homemade radio, and that was probably one of the more believable parts of that show.
In any case, I guess my point is that by today's standards, AM/FM radios aren't typically thought of as being especially complicated or advanced, electronics-wise. Radio definitely isn't cutting-edge or "cool" by any stretch of the imagination.
And why would anyone think it was? For starters, we've now got satellite radio that offers better quality and hundreds more channels than you can get from your local AM/FM stations. Or you can listen to streaming radio off the Internet and make Mark Cuban richer, which also provides many more options than your plain old clock radio.
Not to mention, everybody and their sister now have iPods, that let them store thousands of songs on a little portable device. Who needs radio when you've got your entire music library in the palm of your hand, and can listen to it anywhere you want, without having to worry about bad reception?
I could write more about things like portable DVD players, DVD-Audio, TV's, HDTV, and so on. But the real reason I decided to write this blog was because of my recent experience in trying to buy a radio to listen to at work. So I will try to stick to that for now.
When I'm at work and need some background noise, I typically just listen to mp3s off my computer. And that works fine for the most part, but no matter how many songs I have in my music library, eventually I get sick of the limited selection of listening material. The old classics like Alice In Chains - "No Excuses", 2Pac - "Hit 'em Up", or Britney Spears - "Lucky" are great for a couple hours, but at some point I need a little of the current variety to shake things up. Recently I have been so desperate for something new that I find myself listening to Ashlee Simpson and Maroon 5, two of the worst "artists" in today's music scene. The worst part is that I know they suck, yet I still made the effort to download their songs and listen to them.
That's where the need for an AM/FM radio comes in. It would be nice to listen to not just the latest music, but occasionally check in with what's going on in the morning shows, and sports talk on the AM stations. One thing I especially wanted to catch was the weekly Bruce Weber segment on the Score, Thursdays during the 11am hour (there's my obligatory Illini reference for this entry).
I've tried streaming radio from the internet, but I think our company blocks that stuff, so it hasn't worked for me so far. Not all the local stations I want are available online anyways. Also, my cell phone has an FM radio feature, but it doesn't get good reception and I don't like listening in only one ear. Makes me feel like half a man or something. And it doesn't solve my AM radio problem either. Otherwise, I might've actually gotten one of those headphones with both ears and just dealt with the bad reception.
I decided that the best solution would be to look for a simple portable radio and bring it to work. What I need is something that:
1. Plugs into an outlet
2. Fits on my desk
3. Has a headphone jack
Digital tuning and presets would be nice too, but not required. Seemed like an easy find to me.
After all, I just wrote a whole spiel on how advanced technology is these days, and how many new forms of entertainment media have become accessible since the first radio was invented. You'd think that finding an AM/FM radio with those few basic features would be much easier than getting something like, say, a 60 GB iPod with image-viewing capabilities, or a PDA/cell phone/Blackberry/5.2 megapixel camera all in one.
Of course, if you haven't figured out where this blog is going by now, the answer is never that simple. For the past few weeks, I've been looking all over the place for my radio. I've checked Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, Circuit City, Radio Shack, and a few online sites like eBay and Amazon, but haven't found anything that fits my needs.
I saw plenty of clock radios that plug into wall outlets, and are small, but none of them have headphone jacks. Then there's all the walkman-type radios, which have headphone jacks, digital presets, and obviously small enough, but they are all battery operated. I've already got a whole bunch of old stereo systems at home that don't need batteries, and have headphone jacks, but they're all way too big to bring to work.
I just don't get it. If a second year college student can make a radio, or a bunch of people stranded on an island can piece one together, how hard can it be for any electronics company to manufacture a radio that uses headphones and runs off of standard wall-outlet power, and isn't the size of a boombox?
See, if radios were obsolete, that would be one thing. With all the other options out there when it comes to portable audio entertainment, I understand if manufacturers stopped making AM/FM radios, kind of like how you don't see MiniDiscs that much anymore, and VHS is quickly going away.
But that's not the case. It makes me angrier to see all the other options out there when it comes to radios, but nothing that meets my 3 simple requirements. I walk down the aisle at Best Buy and there's clock radios with both "snooze" AND "nap" buttons. Radios that project the time onto the ceiling. Radios the size of a pack of gum, radios that pick up special weather stations, and radios that are designed to fit under your cabinets in the kitchen.
Again, all I want is a reasonably small radio that doesn't need batteries and lets me listen to it through headphones. I don't care if it works in the shower or straps around my arm. Honestly, I don't care if it has a clock, or even has speakers, as long as it plays all of the normal AM and FM stations. Really, is that too much to ask for?
After much searching, the closest thing I could find was the following:
A Sony ICF-M410V "Clutch Radio", not too big, headphone jack, runs off of 3 AA batteries OR AC Adaptor (not included). A bunch of features I didn't need, but that's okay, as long as it works. Sounded like it had everything I asked for and more, so I bought one at Target for $40 last week, plus another $10-15 for a "Universal AC Adaptor". Kind of a lot to pay for a stupid radio, but again, as long as it worked, I'd be happy.
I brought it all to work and opened everything, only to find that the AC adaptor I got did not fit this radio. What kind of crap is that. I was so annoyed at this point that I decided to take a picture of this when I got home to share my anger with all my internet friends (that means all you guys who are still patiently reading my story, props to you for making it this far):
As you can see, the AC adaptor came with 6 different plugs to try, and not a single one fit in this radio. I don't know how something like that happens, but it's true.
Is there no established standard plug size for AC adaptors in small household appliances? Apparently not. Well, I guess there's at least 7 different standards (6 supported by GE and 1 by Sony), if not more.
I looked through the radio's manual and it said something like this: "Use only the recommended AC power adaptor", which is Sony part number AC-E45HG. Then I went to Best Buy yesterday and looked for the Sony adapter, and the only thing I could find that was close to that part number was a Sony AC-E45A, an "Light and Slim" model designed "For Travel". Not an exact match, but hey, it's made by Sony, and the part numbers are so close, why not give it a shot? So I dropped $20 and just bought the stupid thing.
Unfortunately the story does not end here, and there is no happy ending. I brought the new adaptor to work this morning and plugged it into the radio, and to my relief, it did fit in the socket. But to my dismay, the adaptor produced so much interference that most AM stations were completely drowned out by static. Meanwhile the FM reception, which was already pretty horrible using batteries, was made even worse.
I looked back at the box for the AC adaptor and one of the notes said "Do not use this AC adaptor with a radio as it may cause some noises". "Some noises" eh? What a freaking joke. $20 for an AC adaptor that doesn't work with an appliance which was made by the same company. A company that is supposedly the best on the planet when it comes to quality electronics, I might add.
For those of you who don't know much about electronics, an AC adaptor is probably one of the most basic items you can get in the electronics world. People use them with everything from that blender in your kitchen to the Nintendo system you played as a kid. And I can pretty much guarantee that it costs nowhere near $20 to make one, especially if you are a huge company capable of mass production.
The fact that Sony was cheap enough to not include one with their radio is one thing. But to make an adaptor that interferes with its own product and then sell it to people for $20 is entirely unacceptable. I know it wasn't the exact part number recommended by the manual, but if you're going to make people buy a separate adaptor with your radio, at least make that adaptor easier to get than your crappy adaptor.
I just searched online for the AC-E45HG, and Amazon carries one for $30. THIRTY-FREAKING-DOLLARS for an AC adaptor. If I were to order that, it would mean a total of SEVENTY-FREAKING-DOLLARS to fulfill my simple request for a radio that doesn't need batteries and supports headphones. Only three words can describe this situation: LU. DA. CRIS.
After writing my long story, I think the rest of my time tonight will be spent at Target returning the "Clutch Radio" that wasn't so clutch, and the "Universal AC Adaptor" that wasn't so universal. I'll have to wait until this weekend before I can return that worthless Sony AC Adaptor too. And all this will do is bring me back where I was to begin with - no radio, just one big colossal waste of time and effort.
I don't know where I go from here. Keep searching for radios online and looking in every electronics store I go to? One idea I had was radio AM/FM tuners that plug into a USB port or PCI slot and let you listen through your computer, kind of like a TV tuner card or something. But I haven't seen any yet, and I don't know if they actually exist.
Maybe I can try making one myself, using my electrical engineering expertise. Haha.... too bad I forgot everything we did in that ECE 210 lab. OR, maybe I should go back to U of I and convince some sucker ECE undergrad student to make one for his senior project and give it to me? Hey, I can probably dangle like $10 in front of those guys and I'm sure someone would jump at the opportunity to serve me. That's worth at least like 4 drinks at the bar in college land. If only someone had given us 10 bucks for making an Ultra-fast Signaling System for Quantum Cryptography back in the day.
*****
Oh man, looking back at our Senior Design project was pretty funny. If any of you out there are really bored, check out our presentation at that link. Our diagrams feature "Alice" sending to "Bob" with "Eve" the "eavesdropper". Also the picture of 2 people holding hands, I think that one was taken from album art on a Pumpkins CD. We were so clever.
By the way, the Superbowl exceeded my expectations (see last blog). Not the greatest game, and only saw a few good commercials, but overall, it was aiiight. Thanks again to Anuj for hosting, it was a solid SB party with good food and peeps. The best part was when Olivia, Vira, and Chras kept making the rest of us watch the Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet.
We live in a day and age when the AM/FM radio has become almost an archaic piece of technology. Not saying that nobody uses it anymore, but the technological advances in the past few decades have made the basic radio seem so primitive by comparison.
I remember in one of my underclass ECE courses in college (I think ECE 210), one of our weekly lab assignments was to make a radio out of basic circuit components. It took maybe an hour to do, and was supposed to be a pretty trivial exercise. Also, I think someone in the Gilligan's Island crew was able to put together a homemade radio, and that was probably one of the more believable parts of that show.
In any case, I guess my point is that by today's standards, AM/FM radios aren't typically thought of as being especially complicated or advanced, electronics-wise. Radio definitely isn't cutting-edge or "cool" by any stretch of the imagination.
And why would anyone think it was? For starters, we've now got satellite radio that offers better quality and hundreds more channels than you can get from your local AM/FM stations. Or you can listen to streaming radio off the Internet and make Mark Cuban richer, which also provides many more options than your plain old clock radio.
Not to mention, everybody and their sister now have iPods, that let them store thousands of songs on a little portable device. Who needs radio when you've got your entire music library in the palm of your hand, and can listen to it anywhere you want, without having to worry about bad reception?
I could write more about things like portable DVD players, DVD-Audio, TV's, HDTV, and so on. But the real reason I decided to write this blog was because of my recent experience in trying to buy a radio to listen to at work. So I will try to stick to that for now.
When I'm at work and need some background noise, I typically just listen to mp3s off my computer. And that works fine for the most part, but no matter how many songs I have in my music library, eventually I get sick of the limited selection of listening material. The old classics like Alice In Chains - "No Excuses", 2Pac - "Hit 'em Up", or Britney Spears - "Lucky" are great for a couple hours, but at some point I need a little of the current variety to shake things up. Recently I have been so desperate for something new that I find myself listening to Ashlee Simpson and Maroon 5, two of the worst "artists" in today's music scene. The worst part is that I know they suck, yet I still made the effort to download their songs and listen to them.
That's where the need for an AM/FM radio comes in. It would be nice to listen to not just the latest music, but occasionally check in with what's going on in the morning shows, and sports talk on the AM stations. One thing I especially wanted to catch was the weekly Bruce Weber segment on the Score, Thursdays during the 11am hour (there's my obligatory Illini reference for this entry).
I've tried streaming radio from the internet, but I think our company blocks that stuff, so it hasn't worked for me so far. Not all the local stations I want are available online anyways. Also, my cell phone has an FM radio feature, but it doesn't get good reception and I don't like listening in only one ear. Makes me feel like half a man or something. And it doesn't solve my AM radio problem either. Otherwise, I might've actually gotten one of those headphones with both ears and just dealt with the bad reception.
I decided that the best solution would be to look for a simple portable radio and bring it to work. What I need is something that:
1. Plugs into an outlet
2. Fits on my desk
3. Has a headphone jack
Digital tuning and presets would be nice too, but not required. Seemed like an easy find to me.
After all, I just wrote a whole spiel on how advanced technology is these days, and how many new forms of entertainment media have become accessible since the first radio was invented. You'd think that finding an AM/FM radio with those few basic features would be much easier than getting something like, say, a 60 GB iPod with image-viewing capabilities, or a PDA/cell phone/Blackberry/5.2 megapixel camera all in one.
Of course, if you haven't figured out where this blog is going by now, the answer is never that simple. For the past few weeks, I've been looking all over the place for my radio. I've checked Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, Circuit City, Radio Shack, and a few online sites like eBay and Amazon, but haven't found anything that fits my needs.
I saw plenty of clock radios that plug into wall outlets, and are small, but none of them have headphone jacks. Then there's all the walkman-type radios, which have headphone jacks, digital presets, and obviously small enough, but they are all battery operated. I've already got a whole bunch of old stereo systems at home that don't need batteries, and have headphone jacks, but they're all way too big to bring to work.
I just don't get it. If a second year college student can make a radio, or a bunch of people stranded on an island can piece one together, how hard can it be for any electronics company to manufacture a radio that uses headphones and runs off of standard wall-outlet power, and isn't the size of a boombox?
See, if radios were obsolete, that would be one thing. With all the other options out there when it comes to portable audio entertainment, I understand if manufacturers stopped making AM/FM radios, kind of like how you don't see MiniDiscs that much anymore, and VHS is quickly going away.
But that's not the case. It makes me angrier to see all the other options out there when it comes to radios, but nothing that meets my 3 simple requirements. I walk down the aisle at Best Buy and there's clock radios with both "snooze" AND "nap" buttons. Radios that project the time onto the ceiling. Radios the size of a pack of gum, radios that pick up special weather stations, and radios that are designed to fit under your cabinets in the kitchen.
Again, all I want is a reasonably small radio that doesn't need batteries and lets me listen to it through headphones. I don't care if it works in the shower or straps around my arm. Honestly, I don't care if it has a clock, or even has speakers, as long as it plays all of the normal AM and FM stations. Really, is that too much to ask for?
After much searching, the closest thing I could find was the following:
A Sony ICF-M410V "Clutch Radio", not too big, headphone jack, runs off of 3 AA batteries OR AC Adaptor (not included). A bunch of features I didn't need, but that's okay, as long as it works. Sounded like it had everything I asked for and more, so I bought one at Target for $40 last week, plus another $10-15 for a "Universal AC Adaptor". Kind of a lot to pay for a stupid radio, but again, as long as it worked, I'd be happy.
I brought it all to work and opened everything, only to find that the AC adaptor I got did not fit this radio. What kind of crap is that. I was so annoyed at this point that I decided to take a picture of this when I got home to share my anger with all my internet friends (that means all you guys who are still patiently reading my story, props to you for making it this far):
As you can see, the AC adaptor came with 6 different plugs to try, and not a single one fit in this radio. I don't know how something like that happens, but it's true.
Is there no established standard plug size for AC adaptors in small household appliances? Apparently not. Well, I guess there's at least 7 different standards (6 supported by GE and 1 by Sony), if not more.
I looked through the radio's manual and it said something like this: "Use only the recommended AC power adaptor", which is Sony part number AC-E45HG. Then I went to Best Buy yesterday and looked for the Sony adapter, and the only thing I could find that was close to that part number was a Sony AC-E45A, an "Light and Slim" model designed "For Travel". Not an exact match, but hey, it's made by Sony, and the part numbers are so close, why not give it a shot? So I dropped $20 and just bought the stupid thing.
Unfortunately the story does not end here, and there is no happy ending. I brought the new adaptor to work this morning and plugged it into the radio, and to my relief, it did fit in the socket. But to my dismay, the adaptor produced so much interference that most AM stations were completely drowned out by static. Meanwhile the FM reception, which was already pretty horrible using batteries, was made even worse.
I looked back at the box for the AC adaptor and one of the notes said "Do not use this AC adaptor with a radio as it may cause some noises". "Some noises" eh? What a freaking joke. $20 for an AC adaptor that doesn't work with an appliance which was made by the same company. A company that is supposedly the best on the planet when it comes to quality electronics, I might add.
For those of you who don't know much about electronics, an AC adaptor is probably one of the most basic items you can get in the electronics world. People use them with everything from that blender in your kitchen to the Nintendo system you played as a kid. And I can pretty much guarantee that it costs nowhere near $20 to make one, especially if you are a huge company capable of mass production.
The fact that Sony was cheap enough to not include one with their radio is one thing. But to make an adaptor that interferes with its own product and then sell it to people for $20 is entirely unacceptable. I know it wasn't the exact part number recommended by the manual, but if you're going to make people buy a separate adaptor with your radio, at least make that adaptor easier to get than your crappy adaptor.
I just searched online for the AC-E45HG, and Amazon carries one for $30. THIRTY-FREAKING-DOLLARS for an AC adaptor. If I were to order that, it would mean a total of SEVENTY-FREAKING-DOLLARS to fulfill my simple request for a radio that doesn't need batteries and supports headphones. Only three words can describe this situation: LU. DA. CRIS.
After writing my long story, I think the rest of my time tonight will be spent at Target returning the "Clutch Radio" that wasn't so clutch, and the "Universal AC Adaptor" that wasn't so universal. I'll have to wait until this weekend before I can return that worthless Sony AC Adaptor too. And all this will do is bring me back where I was to begin with - no radio, just one big colossal waste of time and effort.
I don't know where I go from here. Keep searching for radios online and looking in every electronics store I go to? One idea I had was radio AM/FM tuners that plug into a USB port or PCI slot and let you listen through your computer, kind of like a TV tuner card or something. But I haven't seen any yet, and I don't know if they actually exist.
Maybe I can try making one myself, using my electrical engineering expertise. Haha.... too bad I forgot everything we did in that ECE 210 lab. OR, maybe I should go back to U of I and convince some sucker ECE undergrad student to make one for his senior project and give it to me? Hey, I can probably dangle like $10 in front of those guys and I'm sure someone would jump at the opportunity to serve me. That's worth at least like 4 drinks at the bar in college land. If only someone had given us 10 bucks for making an Ultra-fast Signaling System for Quantum Cryptography back in the day.
*****
Oh man, looking back at our Senior Design project was pretty funny. If any of you out there are really bored, check out our presentation at that link. Our diagrams feature "Alice" sending to "Bob" with "Eve" the "eavesdropper". Also the picture of 2 people holding hands, I think that one was taken from album art on a Pumpkins CD. We were so clever.
By the way, the Superbowl exceeded my expectations (see last blog). Not the greatest game, and only saw a few good commercials, but overall, it was aiiight. Thanks again to Anuj for hosting, it was a solid SB party with good food and peeps. The best part was when Olivia, Vira, and Chras kept making the rest of us watch the Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet.
Thursday, February 03, 2005
Superbowl XXXVIV
I don't know if I have ever been more apathetic about a Superbowl. Is it because:
A) I don't care who wins or what happens in the game. Don't like either the Patriots or Eagles.
B) Not expecting any good commercials. I read an article somewhere that this year advertisers were going more with "feel-good humor" as opposed to years past. That sucks. "Feel-good humor" is usually not very funny at all.
C) Not expecting a good halftime show. Only a few years ago we had Britney at her prime performing in the Superbowl halftime show, and now all we got is Paul McCartney. (Sorry if any of you out there are Paul McCartney fans, but I am not at all excited to see his performance. Actually I take that back - I'm not sorry. Paul McCartney blows. Paul McCartney is for losers.)
D) Sick of football after a long stressful fantasy season in McNown League. I've even been debating whether or not to continue doing fantasy football next year, just don't know if I can handle another 17 weeks of ups and downs. It'll be like Emmitt Smith retiring, only without ever winning a championship title, setting any career records, or achieving greatness at all.
E) My attention is in full-blown College Basketball mode right now. If ever I have been obsessed about a particular sports team, it would be this 2004-05 Illinois Men's Basketball team. If they make the Final Four I will be very thrilled. If they go on to win a National Championship, I will be a very, very happy, happy man for many many years.
Anyways, I guess it's a little of every choice above, but I'm not sure which is the biggest factor. Oh well. Who really cares what I think or why I think it, right? I'll probably still watch the game and do the Superbowl party thing, just not that excited about the supposed "biggest sporting event of the year" right now.
South Park
One of my coworkers let me borrow his South Park DVDs, and during the past couple weeks I have already finished seasons 1, 2, and part of 3. I gotta say this show is hilarious. Even though it's been out since I was in high school and been a pretty popular show for years, I never really watched it on TV. An episode here or there, but that's about it. Little did I know that I was missing out on one of the best shows out there.
My favorite things to do right now are talking like Mr. Mackey the School Counselor ("Mary-JEW-ana's bad, m'kay? Don't do drugs, m'kay?"), and trying to talk like Cartman. Half the time, hearing Cartman's voice alone is enough to crack me up when I'm watching South Park, it doesn't even matter what he's saying. But so far my favorite line is in the "Succubus" episode when he gets all upset at his mom: "Eric, we have to go now." "But MO-OO-OO-MMM, I have to go tell CHE-EE-EFF that he's marrying a SUU-CCUU-BUUU-USS!!" I guess the line isn't funny in writing though, you gotta watch it to understand (Season 3, Disc 1). OH well.
Also, people have been telling me that I haven't even seen the best characters yet. If that is true, these next seasons must be mindblowingly funny. I am definitely looking forward to finding out.
*****
Haha... I just got an email in Outlook from my mom, subject line: "FW: Fw: Hugs". This oughta be fun.....
I don't know if I have ever been more apathetic about a Superbowl. Is it because:
A) I don't care who wins or what happens in the game. Don't like either the Patriots or Eagles.
B) Not expecting any good commercials. I read an article somewhere that this year advertisers were going more with "feel-good humor" as opposed to years past. That sucks. "Feel-good humor" is usually not very funny at all.
C) Not expecting a good halftime show. Only a few years ago we had Britney at her prime performing in the Superbowl halftime show, and now all we got is Paul McCartney. (Sorry if any of you out there are Paul McCartney fans, but I am not at all excited to see his performance. Actually I take that back - I'm not sorry. Paul McCartney blows. Paul McCartney is for losers.)
D) Sick of football after a long stressful fantasy season in McNown League. I've even been debating whether or not to continue doing fantasy football next year, just don't know if I can handle another 17 weeks of ups and downs. It'll be like Emmitt Smith retiring, only without ever winning a championship title, setting any career records, or achieving greatness at all.
E) My attention is in full-blown College Basketball mode right now. If ever I have been obsessed about a particular sports team, it would be this 2004-05 Illinois Men's Basketball team. If they make the Final Four I will be very thrilled. If they go on to win a National Championship, I will be a very, very happy, happy man for many many years.
Anyways, I guess it's a little of every choice above, but I'm not sure which is the biggest factor. Oh well. Who really cares what I think or why I think it, right? I'll probably still watch the game and do the Superbowl party thing, just not that excited about the supposed "biggest sporting event of the year" right now.
South Park
One of my coworkers let me borrow his South Park DVDs, and during the past couple weeks I have already finished seasons 1, 2, and part of 3. I gotta say this show is hilarious. Even though it's been out since I was in high school and been a pretty popular show for years, I never really watched it on TV. An episode here or there, but that's about it. Little did I know that I was missing out on one of the best shows out there.
My favorite things to do right now are talking like Mr. Mackey the School Counselor ("Mary-JEW-ana's bad, m'kay? Don't do drugs, m'kay?"), and trying to talk like Cartman. Half the time, hearing Cartman's voice alone is enough to crack me up when I'm watching South Park, it doesn't even matter what he's saying. But so far my favorite line is in the "Succubus" episode when he gets all upset at his mom: "Eric, we have to go now." "But MO-OO-OO-MMM, I have to go tell CHE-EE-EFF that he's marrying a SUU-CCUU-BUUU-USS!!" I guess the line isn't funny in writing though, you gotta watch it to understand (Season 3, Disc 1). OH well.
Also, people have been telling me that I haven't even seen the best characters yet. If that is true, these next seasons must be mindblowingly funny. I am definitely looking forward to finding out.
*****
Haha... I just got an email in Outlook from my mom, subject line: "FW: Fw: Hugs". This oughta be fun.....
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