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?
Monday, February 14, 2005
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.....
Sunday, January 30, 2005
25th Birthday Story
For the first time in a while, my birthday did not fall on a weekend day. I was actually kind of hoping to slide by this year without having to go through any of the birthday stuff. For one, I prefer to avoid having people make a scene for you at any restaurant. Also, being at an open bar party when everyone is trying to get you drinks leads to ugliness, more often than not. And just in general, I don't feel like my birthday should entitle me to any special treatment (i.e. gifts, lunches/dinners, cakes, cards, etc.), I just don't feel like I really deserve all that stuff.
As it turns out, my Monday birthday somehow ended up becoming more or less a weeklong event, a week which included pretty much all of the things I mentioned above. I guess my friends are more zealous and aware of my birthday than I expected. With only one exception, everything was great and I definitely want to say thanks to all you guys who made me feel special about turning 25.
The one exception, as many of you may be wondering right now, came Tuesday when I went out with the boys to watch the Illini-Wisconsin game. It was just supposed to be another normal night of wings and beer at Hooters, except on the car ride there, the following exchange happened:
Dave C: "What you guys doing this weekend? Going to Chras's birthday thing at Blyss?"
Diddy: "Yeah, probably"
Me: "Yeah, probably"
Dave C: "Yo Dudo, isn't your birthday around Chras's birthday?"
Me: (pauses to decide whether or not to lie) "ummmm..... yes it is"
Dave C: "What day is it?"
Me: "Errr.... it was yesterday"
Diddy: "Sheeee...."
Dave C: "Hmmmm....."
As a result of my decision not to lie, I was harrassed all night. Every time I finished my beer and turned around, it seemed like my cup was full again. It's almost as if someone (Dave) was pouring someone else's (John's) beer into mine the whole night. I had to put a pickle in my mouth and do a chicken dance around the place. And the best part is that John and Will have been telling everyone that I was staring at our waitress's boobs. (I wasn't, by the way. She was showing me something on her nametag - seriously.) Oh well, at least the Illini won that game, so it wasn't too bad of a night overall.
Anyways, like I said, everything else was great, so thanks again to everyone for all your efforts. And even if you forgot about my birthday, don't worry, my birthday honestly isn't a big deal to me either. It really isn't. The following is a story I decided to share that might partially explain why I'm not that into birthdays. (It's a stupid story, so be warned.)
10th Birthday Story
As of now, I have officially experienced 25 birthdays. Some of them were especially memorable, others not as much, but as much as I can remember, all were generally "happy birthdays".
All of them that is, except for one.
The only birthday that I can remember ever being unhappy in was my 10th birthday. It was a long time ago, but even now as I'm well into my 20's, every year when my birthday comes around, I still think about that one time when I had an "Un-Happy Birthday".
You all know how it is: back when we were little, every birthday was a big deal. I mean, when you're 6, it's huge (or as Trump would say, "YUGE") when you suddenly turn 7. A year was such a long time that we would sometimes count half-birthdays ("I'm 8-and-a-half"). So when it came time for me to turn 10, I was definitely looking forward to it with extra anticipation. I mean, it's double digits baby; if that's not a big deal, I don't know what is.
Anyways, it turns out that my parents did not share my enthusiasm for my turning 10. I mean, they planned all the usual goodies, the birthday party, cake, presents, etc., which was nice. But that stuff would have to wait for the weekend. My birthday happened to fall on a Wednesday that year (no I didn't remember this exact detail, I had to look it up), and as far as Mom and Dad were concerned, January 24th of 1990 was going to be pretty much exactly like January 23rd and January 25th of 1990.
Among other things, this meant that I would have to practice on the piano for my normal 1 hour per night. And that one thing was essentially what made me so unhappy on my 10th birthday.
Of course it sounds dumb right now, but remember, I was barely 10 years old. Like a lot of kids, I thought that on my birthday, I deserved special treatment. So if I didn't want to play piano that day, Mom and Dad should give me a break right? At least cut that time in half or something.
But there was no compromise. I can vividly remember playing the piano for possibly the angriest 60 minutes of my life, and then spending the rest of the night in my room feeling very salty about having to practice piano on my 10th birthday. Could it get any worse?
It was maybe 2 or 3 birthdays after that year when I realized just how stupid I was during that unhappy 10th. As I thought about how mad I was that night, and exactly why I was mad, it dawned on me that hey, maybe my birthday really isn't all that special. I mean, so what if I happened to be born on a certain day, big forking deal. Why should that entitle me to rule the universe every year when that day rolls around?
Don't get me wrong, the birthday treatment is a nice tradition, and I don't think it's bad at all to make people feel special on their birthdays. All I'm saying is that sometimes we might make too big a deal out of something that is just supposed to be a simple little occasion.
On my 10th birthday, My Unreasonable Expectations + My Parent's Rational Expectations = Negative Fun. If it had been just any other day, I would have only been mildly annoyed about having to practice piano. It really wasn't my parents' fault for making me mad - it was my own fault for making myself mad.
So now, this memory kind of serves as a reminder to myself every January, that my birthday isn't really that much more important or different from any other day. That even though people may call me to say Happy Birthday, buy me presents and shots, and Todai may give me a coupon for a free meal, I should remember not to let it get out of hand.
On my birthday, I increment my age by 1 year. Everything else is just frosting on the cake.
More Thoughts
I didn't get as much pictures throughout the week as I wanted to, but I still have some. Maybe I will post them sometime.
My family gave me a new watch. I thought about taking a picture of it on my wrist and posting it too, but then it reminded me too much of Seinfeld where George was a hand model. So I didn't.
Illini vs. Wisconsin was a great game. Since I didn't think people were interested in reading about Illini basketball in every single entry, I have consciously tried to hold back from writing about them too much. But even the Arizona fan I know has been encouraging to write about them, so I'm taking that as a free pass to talk about the Illini as much as I feel like it. You don't have to ask twice.
This could be such a special season for the Fighting Illini and all the fans. In fact, it already has been very special. A lot of people believe that it would be good for this team to lose a game before tournament time, but I don't think I agree with that. Just because other undefeated teams haven't been doing well in March doesn't mean that this team can't. Fore one, unlike Stanford and St. Joe's last year, we have already played a bunch of very tough games this season and passed with flying colors in every situation. It's not a "weak" 21-0 record by any means. Now, as long as we still get a #1 seed, I wouldn't be that upset about a loss or two. But I can't help but imagine how awesome it could be if someday we could look back at the 2004-05 Fighting Illini as one of the legendary teams in the history of college basketball, as an unbeaten champion. That's getting way ahead of ourselves at this point though, for all I know, we might very well lose this next game at Michigan State. That's a very tough team, just a little inconsistent. So I'll stop talking for now, and we'll all just watch and see what happens with this season.
As I turned 25 this week, my car turned 40,000. In a little over 2 years I have put 40,000 miles on my baby, kind of scary to think about it. It's been a fantastic 40,000 miles too. Lots of great memories associated with this car already, and I really haven't had a single problem with it yet. I really hope I drive this car for at least another 10 years or even longer than that.
This is an interesting story: "I don't like Monday 24 January"
Looks like my birthday is a day of peak misery. (In Cartman's voice) "Sweet"
For the first time in a while, my birthday did not fall on a weekend day. I was actually kind of hoping to slide by this year without having to go through any of the birthday stuff. For one, I prefer to avoid having people make a scene for you at any restaurant. Also, being at an open bar party when everyone is trying to get you drinks leads to ugliness, more often than not. And just in general, I don't feel like my birthday should entitle me to any special treatment (i.e. gifts, lunches/dinners, cakes, cards, etc.), I just don't feel like I really deserve all that stuff.
As it turns out, my Monday birthday somehow ended up becoming more or less a weeklong event, a week which included pretty much all of the things I mentioned above. I guess my friends are more zealous and aware of my birthday than I expected. With only one exception, everything was great and I definitely want to say thanks to all you guys who made me feel special about turning 25.
The one exception, as many of you may be wondering right now, came Tuesday when I went out with the boys to watch the Illini-Wisconsin game. It was just supposed to be another normal night of wings and beer at Hooters, except on the car ride there, the following exchange happened:
Dave C: "What you guys doing this weekend? Going to Chras's birthday thing at Blyss?"
Diddy: "Yeah, probably"
Me: "Yeah, probably"
Dave C: "Yo Dudo, isn't your birthday around Chras's birthday?"
Me: (pauses to decide whether or not to lie) "ummmm..... yes it is"
Dave C: "What day is it?"
Me: "Errr.... it was yesterday"
Diddy: "Sheeee...."
Dave C: "Hmmmm....."
As a result of my decision not to lie, I was harrassed all night. Every time I finished my beer and turned around, it seemed like my cup was full again. It's almost as if someone (Dave) was pouring someone else's (John's) beer into mine the whole night. I had to put a pickle in my mouth and do a chicken dance around the place. And the best part is that John and Will have been telling everyone that I was staring at our waitress's boobs. (I wasn't, by the way. She was showing me something on her nametag - seriously.) Oh well, at least the Illini won that game, so it wasn't too bad of a night overall.
Anyways, like I said, everything else was great, so thanks again to everyone for all your efforts. And even if you forgot about my birthday, don't worry, my birthday honestly isn't a big deal to me either. It really isn't. The following is a story I decided to share that might partially explain why I'm not that into birthdays. (It's a stupid story, so be warned.)
10th Birthday Story
As of now, I have officially experienced 25 birthdays. Some of them were especially memorable, others not as much, but as much as I can remember, all were generally "happy birthdays".
All of them that is, except for one.
The only birthday that I can remember ever being unhappy in was my 10th birthday. It was a long time ago, but even now as I'm well into my 20's, every year when my birthday comes around, I still think about that one time when I had an "Un-Happy Birthday".
You all know how it is: back when we were little, every birthday was a big deal. I mean, when you're 6, it's huge (or as Trump would say, "YUGE") when you suddenly turn 7. A year was such a long time that we would sometimes count half-birthdays ("I'm 8-and-a-half"). So when it came time for me to turn 10, I was definitely looking forward to it with extra anticipation. I mean, it's double digits baby; if that's not a big deal, I don't know what is.
Anyways, it turns out that my parents did not share my enthusiasm for my turning 10. I mean, they planned all the usual goodies, the birthday party, cake, presents, etc., which was nice. But that stuff would have to wait for the weekend. My birthday happened to fall on a Wednesday that year (no I didn't remember this exact detail, I had to look it up), and as far as Mom and Dad were concerned, January 24th of 1990 was going to be pretty much exactly like January 23rd and January 25th of 1990.
Among other things, this meant that I would have to practice on the piano for my normal 1 hour per night. And that one thing was essentially what made me so unhappy on my 10th birthday.
Of course it sounds dumb right now, but remember, I was barely 10 years old. Like a lot of kids, I thought that on my birthday, I deserved special treatment. So if I didn't want to play piano that day, Mom and Dad should give me a break right? At least cut that time in half or something.
But there was no compromise. I can vividly remember playing the piano for possibly the angriest 60 minutes of my life, and then spending the rest of the night in my room feeling very salty about having to practice piano on my 10th birthday. Could it get any worse?
It was maybe 2 or 3 birthdays after that year when I realized just how stupid I was during that unhappy 10th. As I thought about how mad I was that night, and exactly why I was mad, it dawned on me that hey, maybe my birthday really isn't all that special. I mean, so what if I happened to be born on a certain day, big forking deal. Why should that entitle me to rule the universe every year when that day rolls around?
Don't get me wrong, the birthday treatment is a nice tradition, and I don't think it's bad at all to make people feel special on their birthdays. All I'm saying is that sometimes we might make too big a deal out of something that is just supposed to be a simple little occasion.
On my 10th birthday, My Unreasonable Expectations + My Parent's Rational Expectations = Negative Fun. If it had been just any other day, I would have only been mildly annoyed about having to practice piano. It really wasn't my parents' fault for making me mad - it was my own fault for making myself mad.
So now, this memory kind of serves as a reminder to myself every January, that my birthday isn't really that much more important or different from any other day. That even though people may call me to say Happy Birthday, buy me presents and shots, and Todai may give me a coupon for a free meal, I should remember not to let it get out of hand.
On my birthday, I increment my age by 1 year. Everything else is just frosting on the cake.
More Thoughts
I didn't get as much pictures throughout the week as I wanted to, but I still have some. Maybe I will post them sometime.
My family gave me a new watch. I thought about taking a picture of it on my wrist and posting it too, but then it reminded me too much of Seinfeld where George was a hand model. So I didn't.
Illini vs. Wisconsin was a great game. Since I didn't think people were interested in reading about Illini basketball in every single entry, I have consciously tried to hold back from writing about them too much. But even the Arizona fan I know has been encouraging to write about them, so I'm taking that as a free pass to talk about the Illini as much as I feel like it. You don't have to ask twice.
This could be such a special season for the Fighting Illini and all the fans. In fact, it already has been very special. A lot of people believe that it would be good for this team to lose a game before tournament time, but I don't think I agree with that. Just because other undefeated teams haven't been doing well in March doesn't mean that this team can't. Fore one, unlike Stanford and St. Joe's last year, we have already played a bunch of very tough games this season and passed with flying colors in every situation. It's not a "weak" 21-0 record by any means. Now, as long as we still get a #1 seed, I wouldn't be that upset about a loss or two. But I can't help but imagine how awesome it could be if someday we could look back at the 2004-05 Fighting Illini as one of the legendary teams in the history of college basketball, as an unbeaten champion. That's getting way ahead of ourselves at this point though, for all I know, we might very well lose this next game at Michigan State. That's a very tough team, just a little inconsistent. So I'll stop talking for now, and we'll all just watch and see what happens with this season.
As I turned 25 this week, my car turned 40,000. In a little over 2 years I have put 40,000 miles on my baby, kind of scary to think about it. It's been a fantastic 40,000 miles too. Lots of great memories associated with this car already, and I really haven't had a single problem with it yet. I really hope I drive this car for at least another 10 years or even longer than that.
This is an interesting story: "I don't like Monday 24 January"
Looks like my birthday is a day of peak misery. (In Cartman's voice) "Sweet"
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