Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Training...

Into my second week of a new training program. Running in the rain was actually pretty cool, although I always worry about slipping and falling (and after tearing up my ankle just a few months ago that always seems like it likely). Anyone I am trying to make the most out of my NIKE + shoes and iPod. I decided to create a new running playlist tonight. Here it is (in no particular order):

Diamonds From Sierra Leone - Kanye West
All Falls Down - Kanye West
Get By - Talib Kweli
I Want You - King of Leon
We Belong Together - Mariah Carey
Can't Tell Me Nothing - Kanye West
Death of Autotune - Jay-Z
Poker Face - Lady Gaga
99 Problems - Jay-Z
Touch the Sky - Kanye West
Just Dance - Lady Gaga
Get Busy - The Roots
List of Demands - Saul Williams
The People - Common
Go! - Common
Rock Your Body - Justin Timberlake
30 Something - Jay-Z
Hard Knock Life - Jay-Z

*I would like to say that I can't believe that as of thirty minutes ago I now own a Justin Timberlake and Lady Gaga song(s).

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Big Love May Be The Worst Show I Have Ever Seen..

I remember where I was when BIG LOVE first premiered on HBO. I also remember thinking, "wow they are starting the series with Bill Paxton showing his bare ass." I remember really enjoying the show. Including the use of God Only Knows by the Beach Boys as the show's theme. Well, many years later I now watch Big Love as if it were a great car that broken down almost overnight. I am trying like hell to still enjoy Big Love but they are making it SUPER difficult. Here are a list of some of my general complaints:

crazy plot lines:
Don;t believe me? I kid you not when I sum up one of the critical plot lines by saying "A polygamist mormon teams up with native americans to open up a family friendly casino in Utah." Huh? Can anyone wrap there freaking headed around that. Doesn't it sound like I am just making up sentences using random nouns? Thats the plot folks.

While watching episode one of season four I heard the super annoying Nicolette use the terms fry sauce? Really. I just heard ketchup referred to as "fry sauce." Come on how much longer are they trying to relay to us that she is "folksy" and isn't as "progressive/modern" as the other wives. She grew up in a polygamist compound. Her ridiculous hair and dress give it away. I get it! We are four seasons in. You don't have beat me over the head with it by having her refer to ketchup as fry sauce. It's unnecessary.

Septuagenarians trying to kill one another. What is with this storyline continuing after more than four seasons. At first it was very dark, then it was kind of funny watching old people trying to kill each other but now its just absurd. Its not funny anymore watching old people try to stab each other. As a matter of fact it's so bad it makes me want to stab myself.

Damnit BIG LOVE get it together. Please, or might have to find something else to do with my Sunday Night. Because at this point, its not TV, it's not HBO, it's just pathetic.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Martin Luther King Jr. Day...

I know I have posted this before but its just so incredibly eerie and inspiring considering what would happen to Dr. King within 24 hours. May his message continue to resonate as we stumble forward towards a more perfect world:

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Mom, I'm Sorry...

Even though she will never see this (because she doesn't own a computer), I want to apologize to my mom. Weekend cleaning around the house was a normal part of childhood. What made it different around my home however was that my mom would always get very tired of the way the house would look. Well, because we lacked the money to buy new things to change the look of rooms she would always reorganize the way the room looked. She was never happy with the look of the room. It would trip me out that she would spend an entire Saturday moving super duper heavy furniture just to give our living a dinning room a "fresh" look.
Well, I have learned over the past six years that I am the same way. I always move furniture around trying to maximize space and to see if I can make my living space "hipper" or more "guest friendly". Its been 6 months and I have already rearranged my living room twice and completely rearranged my bedroom this weekend. At UCSB people would always make fun of me because my room never looked the same twice. In the words of Prince, "maybe I'm just like my mother/she's never satisfied."
So mom after all those years of poking fun at you for being an amateur indoor decorator, I want to say that I'm sorry and I love you. I guess we are both equally crazy.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Why Twitter Is My New Favorite Social Networking Site





So when I got a Twitter account a little over a year ago I really enjoyed it. And then I fell out of love it. I started missing facebook and all its wonderful features. Well over the past few months the fiery passion in my loins for Twitter has been reignited. I will try to briefly explain why I really enjoy Twitter and its distinct advantages over Facebook. I will also try to cover some of its downsides.

Followers > Friends:
So I looked at the number of friends I had on Facebook two weeks ago. 320. after about a half hour of combing through folks I cut that down to 260. Not bad, but I still had 260 friends. Many of them are people I dont talk to but their pictures still end up in my newsfeed. Along with their status updates, news of who they just became friends with, wall posting and their invitations to events that I have zero intention of attending. I could unfriend them but there is always that hesitation. "What if they notice?" "But they are still friends with one of these other people I still talk to." So on and so forth.
Just last night a student asked me to be her friend on facebook. I have nothing against her and I dont mind if she has access
to my page, but I dont want access to her's and I dont want to be bombarded with her news and updates. I dont want to commit to a "relationship" that I dont
want just so she can see my dang news feed. Twitter solves this problem for me. If she were on Twitter she could simply follow me and that would be that. I would have one new follower but I wouldn't be forced to "follow" her. None of her tweets would show up on my feed stream and I could go on living my life. If for whatever reason I needed to block her later on I could totally do that.

While Facebook forces you into a shotgun type wedding with people, Twitter allows you to casually keep tabs with people you care about without forcing them to do anything they don't want to do.
My Friends, My News
Facebook is great because it lets me keep up with my friends (and as I mentioned above, keeps me updated with people I dont care about). But facebook rarely keeps me informed. I love reading the news, following the latest on my latest sports teams, getting the 411 on upcoming tech gadgets. But I get none of that on Facebook. Before I maximized my twitter experience I would have to skim facebook to see if there was anything I cared about and then go onto Google Reader (which is an RSS feed page that collects new stories from different websites and media outlets that I subscribe to). While Google Reader is helpful because it collects all the news that I ask for and care about it takes several steps to get to the actual article to read it. I have to click on the media "LA Times Front Page" for example.
Then I see all the articles. I click on one and I see a preview page. Then I have to click on the preview page in order to open up the actual article.Twitter solves this for me too. It combines following my friends and getting my news. I merely follow different news agencies and websites and i get their updates (which include links to their articles) in real time. Plus I get the added benefit of also getting my friend's updates from the same place.
I can give a great example of this from today. When Conan O'Brien released his press release regarding his future at NBC I got immediate info from Twitter (three articles from three different media outlets). From Facebook: nada. I have friends who I know love Conan but there were no updates or links to the latest info. Or when the earthquake hit Hati. Some people mentioned it in wall posts but there was no actual info. With Twitter I get the news and my friend's reactions. Advantage: Twitter.

How Twitter Can Get Better:
Photos: Twitter does a good job of letting you post photos (usually the mobile kind) to your page. There are times where I wish it could have a photo album type function but I doubt it will. There are times when Dana White (President of the Ultimate Fighting Championship) posts pics of fighters getting ready in their locker rooms. But there are so many that it kinda bombards your news feed (though that can be fixed with the use of Lists - which I wont go into here). Anyway, at least in this aspect I say Facebook has a hand up on its competition but its not a deal breaker for me.

Who Uses Twitter: I am of the age that most of my friends started using Facebook during their college years. They are now in their late twenties and for them Facebook IS social networking. Add that to the fact that people mock Twitter and many of them are reluctant to join. Many people argue that Twitter is just filled with people giving piffy comments and stupid updates. To them I say, "yea and how is Facebook different...?". Twitter is the new kid on the block and a lot of my friends are set in their ways but I hope that more and more people will see Twitter as a way to start clean on the internet and as a better way to keep and touch and get the news/info they care about.

Friday, January 8, 2010

Todays Worst Person In The World...

We all know the Clippers are losers but I didnt know that just being associated with the team made you a failure.

According to the charges against Smith, he and a business partner convinced a retired school teacher to put up his paid house (valued at over 700,000 dollars) for a loan that would be used to purchase a plot of land for development in Dana Point, CA. Smith told his friend that the loan was one hundred percent guaranteed. But then the real estate bubble burst and the development project went kaput. The retired school teacher is going to lose his home. Oh and did I mention that the same retired school teacher who is about to be thrown out on the street also has an inoperable brain tumor.

At least when the Clippers player stink up Stales Center people just lose out on the 100.00 bucks they payed to see the game, they dont lose the house.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

One of Those Things I Can't Believe Or Understand...

Heidi Fleiss became famous in the mid-1990. She was the Hollywood Madam. She ran an escort service that served the rich and famous. My question was how in the hell did that happen. Who came to this monster and thought, "yea I want this lady to find me a woman that I can pay to have sex with." How hard up for sex must a dude be to come to THIS woman. Also isnt this the equivalent of a fat person owning and running a gym? Like in a rational world it doesnt make sense. I dont know, maybe this is just nonsense but I just cant believe that this woman was a prominent madam.

Monday, January 4, 2010

Happy New Year?

So I have a question. What is the cut off with wishing people a "happy new year"? For example, if I dont see someone until feb 16th do i still have to say "happy new year?" What is the statue of limitations on wishing someone a "Happy New Year?" just thinking out loud. By the way, this is the kind of stuff I think at while I am at work.