Alitalia Update

Not much new...I just had my Italian oral, so now I'm only down to one final E BASTA! I tried calling Alitalia to see if they knew if they were going on strike for my flight or not earlier today, and they still don't know. They said to call back tomorrow sometime in the morning to find out for sure. So the children don't even know if they're going to carry out their childish plan yet or not. I'd rather know for sure that my flight wasn't going to take off than to be stuck here in limbo waiting to hear word.

Alitalia is on Strike

Great. I'm already stressed out enough with finals, and I find out this morning that Alitalia (along with other Italian-run transportation services) is going on strike. If you didn't already know, I've already had the last leg of my flight cancelled, which resulted in me having five connections. I fly from here to Milan, Milan to London, London to San Francisco, San Francisco to Los Angeles, and Los Angeles to Ontario. Alitalia is the first two legs of that, up until London. So if Alitalia strikes and my flight isn't flying on Friday, that screws up the rest of my flights, possibly resulting in me missing my main flight, from London to San Francisco. I don't even want to begin to think what might happen if that were to occur, with me joining in the thousands of other angry travelers trying to get put on later flights that have only two seats open. Not a pretty picture.

They just had to strike on Friday. Out of all the days that we're here, I just want to go home, and they're not letting me. But we don't know for sure if our particular flights will be canceled or if we'll be lucky and the strike won't go into effect until later in the day.

Fireplaces

A little something I wrote in writing the other day; rather than have it go to waste, I decided to publish it on here (it was the result of an assignment that I didn't understand the question, but luckily I read the question again and I can re-do it now). So here it is:

“There’s something about fires—and specifically fireplaces—that I will always hold dear to my heart; I never knew something so primitive could instill so much joy in me, as it has for millions of people over thousands of years in the past. I’m finding more and more as every subsequent day passes that it seems to be the small things in life that mater the most, and seem to take the pace of life by the reigns just long enough for you to step back and enjoy it for a few seconds.”
I remember parting with the property my parents swore to live on for the rest of their lives, going on a long, solitary, walk covering almost the whole section of property and giving me plenty of time to reflect on my boyhood. I came upon one of my favorite spots on the property, with a hidden view that I discovered when I was eight years old and that remains one of my treasured secrets to the best of my knowledge. I climbed up the tree and simply gazed out over the view for what must have been hours, soaking up every little detail of the natural beauty that surrounded me. I knew that I would be moving to suburbia, with the distance in between my neighbor’s houses going from two miles as the bird flies to two yards at best. But I tried not to let that bother me, as I erased unnecessary thoughts from my memory and started over with a blank slate and recording each and every sensation, not letting an ounce of information escape. And as a result of this, I have one of the most vivid memories of my life, too much information to express through writing, through art, even through a movie—its true and uncompromised expression accessible only to the mind of the boy who wasn’t ready to let go.

A Mighty Wind

"Non altrimenti fatto che d'un vento
impetuoso per li avversi ardori,
che fier la selva e sanz' alcun rattento

li rami schianta, abbatte e porta fori;
dinanzi polveroso va superbo,
e fa fuggir le fiere e li pastori."


"It sounded like a mighty wind, made violent by waves of heat, that strikes the forest and with unchecked force shatters the branches, hurls them away, and, magnificent in its roiling cloud of dust, drives on, putting beast and shepherd to flight."

-Dante's Inferno

Jesi/International Fencing Tournament

Yes, Jesi is in Italy, east of Florence and near the coast. So let me begin with what happened Thursday night.

Andy's birthday was on Friday, so we decided to celebrate it Thursday evening since two of us weren't going to be there on Friday. So dinner that night was very good, at a place near Faces. If you want directions, just let me know. After that, we decided to go to Michael Collins, and that was packed full of people from NYU who happened to be there the same night. When that bar closed, we went over to JJ's for a little while, then I decided to leave. Since I wasn't willing to spend € 15,00 getting myself back home by taxi, I decided to walk it. I hadn't packed for the weekend trip yet, so I was a little nervous. I arrived back on campus roughly around 2am, and packed in about 15 minutes. I went to bed, all set to go for Friday.

My alarm woke up, and me being my usual self I let myself hit the snooze button several times before I actually woke up. When I did, I took a brief shower, and went looking for the pants I had worn the night before to get my wallet and keys out of them. But for some strange reason, they were nowhere to be found--and after about 15 minutes of searching with the help of my roommates, who had been rudely awoken by my searching, they were still lost. Finally, I got the idea to go looking in the room next door to ours (they're frequently in our room, especially after a night of drinking (ooh that sounds bad--don't take it in a sexual way or anything....wow I'll shut up now). And sure enough, one of the "sister" roommates had taken my Levis unintentionally when she apparently picked up her jacket. Now over 15 minutes later than I had anticipated leaving, I had to run to catch the bus. Of course when you're late, there's always more traffic than usual, so the bus got to the train station just 5 minutes before my train was set to depart. Already exhausted and out of breath, I boarded the train as they were blowing the final boarding call whistle.

After changing trains in Foligno, I boarded a Eurostar train bound for Jesi, my final destination. I sat down and began to listen to my iPod, and I looked over and noticed a woman reading a book. I did a double-take, and I said, "Barbara?" she quickly looked up, and then her eyes lit up, and she quickly said "Hi Christopher!" then nudged Jessica, who was asleep at the time, and told her I was sitting next to them. We caught up with what had been happening in our lives since we last saw each other at Prom, then we talked about how things had been going at NYU and Stanford of late. The train arrived at the Jesi station, and I used my Italian skills (yeah right) to get us to the hotel. We checked in, toured around the town a little, and joined the rest of the team for dinner that night.

Saturday: the day I will remember for quite some time. It was my first time seeing a fencing competition, and an international one at that, so I was pretty excited despite the fact that we had to be up and ready by 6:45 in the morning. Jessica fenced and was unfortunately placed into a small pool of fencers (5 instead of six) automatically lowering her standings overall in the tournament. (The rules for fencing and for the tournaments are extremely complicated, so I won't bother to talk about it too much). But in the end, she went up against the person who ended up winning the whole competition during eliminations, and was thus eliminated, as was most of the USA team, during the first tier of eliminations. Only two USA fencers made it to the third tier, the top 16 fencers. Then the number one USA fencer at the tournament was eliminated, and a rookie that has been showing extreme talent recently at the age of 13, made it to the top 8 international fencers. Unfortunately, that's as far as she made it, eventually tying for fifth place overall with another fencer from Belgium (I think). An Italian fencer ended up beating the French fencer, and the day ended over 14 hours after it had began. We were all dead, and we were just spectators the whole day; I can't even begin to imagine what the fencers felt like.

We went for some quick pizza to go from a local place that was recommended by the bellhop of the hotel, and it ended up being pretty good. After that, we called it a night since we were deadbeat tired, and I woke up this morning, got ready, arrived at the train station without a hitch, and got back in Florence around 12 o’clock.

Now, time for work, and time to hunker down until the end of the semester. But I did download a bunch of Christmas songs, so I’ve been listening to those, getting me in the mood of the season and making me anxious to go back home.

Procrastination

I thought it would end after high school, but it only gets worse. Here I am writing this, and I have a two-page essay due the day after tomorrow (with other 6-7 page essays due not too far in the future). And I plan on going down to the gym to work out later tonight. I've had since Thursday night (well, maybe Friday because Thursday nights are always party nights anyways) to do all of my work, and I've decided to wait until after nine on Sunday to start my work. I guess it's really true that I do work better under pressure...but it feels like I'm always pushing the limits. Usually when you feel that way your behavior changes, but procrastination has the opposite effect on you--you end up doing it more and more, seeing how far you can push yourself, always starting to work later and later and challenging yourself more and more. That's what I see it as: my life doesn't have enough challenges in it at the moment, so I have to wait until they build up and then use them all together to fulfill the needs of my extreme version of a Type-A personality that I was born with. So now would probably be a good time to start writing that essay, but I'll probably just let Facebook take up the empty spaces left in the time between now and when I go to bed.

Gratzie Roma, e ciao!

Weird, spontaneous, and random freewriting:

I look outside the window and see pitch black. It’s too early to worry about what time it is, and I have to be at my meeting place at roughly the same time that my train arrives. Not happening.

Two red lights stare back at me from the outskirts of the train station as we are departing, most likely a train being serviced. The wheels grind against the cold steel rails and vibrate the car I’m in; we’re slowly but surely gaining speed. A train just passed, but it wasn’t a blur so I can tell that we haven’t been cleared for full speed yet. We just passed through the second largest train station of Florence, “Firenze Campo Marte.”

Thinking about later today, I realize how long ago it has been sine I have confessed. I’m going to try to do that today at the Vatican. So many people asked me to pray for them at school yesterday. I’ll keep my promise.

The woman seated across from me looks as though she has been having personal problems lately, and also looks like she’s headed to Rome for business. She’s trying to sleep in an awkward position, as anyone who has ever flown an overnight flight or train well knows that the seats aren’t the most comfortable things in the world. Her husband just came back to comfort her, possibly after the loss of a loved one.

It’s amazing to me how many people on campus call themselves religious, yet none of them go to their churches or synagogues or temples. Sometimes I feel as if I’m a lone piece of debris, scattered by the religious bomb that hit the world the generation before mine. “It’s amazing that you go to mass every weekend. I can’t even remember the last time I went. Maybe for Christmas last year.” Phrases like that are not all that uncommon anymore. It’s scary.

The train is moving along at top speed now, and I have to look into the distance in order to see things without having them blurred. There is an eerie fog that settles like a blanket over the ominous lake outside, and the first light of the sunrise is just beginning to utter its first breaths. Numerous cypress trees in the distance line the roads and stand tall like proud soldiers waiting to bravely serve their country.

After a nap, I realize that we’re here, in Rome already. The train operator announces the obvious, that we’re entering the Rome Termini station, in Italian of course. Time to put this laptop away, to rush off of the train, find a taxi, and see the new Pope in person for the very first time.

Grazie Roma e ciao!

Politics abound: cafeteria food, the elections on tuesday, and my classes for next semester

First and foremost, the story behind the cafeteria food. For those of you who aren't on the Florence campus, or who don't eat here, let's just say that I'm not the type to complain, and for me to be complaining about the food here is a big statement. On tuesday, after getting absolutely fed up with the food here on campus, I decided to finally write and put into action the petition that I had promised my fellow roommates and students on campus to write. I wrote the whole thing in a day, and went around knocking on doors that night getting signatures. All in all, we were able to get 83 signatures out of the roughly 100 students on campus, with only two students who were asked to sign refusing to do so. So I think it was a general concensus that something had to be done about the food on campus. We were so successful in getting attention from the university community that it hit back home, and an article was published in the Washington Square News, NYU's newspaper. (You can see the article here, which is cool because it mentions me towards the end). Alexah Farah and I met on friday to discus what could be changed (within reason) and what could be added to the food to make it more tolerable. So hopefully in the next few days we'll see some drastic improvements in the quality and variety of the food here on campus.


That said, since this is a blog about politics, I would be a fool not to comment on the election results on Tuesday. For me, it's bittersweet: my home state, California, re-elected Arnold for Governor, which was definantly a good thing; but I'm afraid I can't say the same thing about the House or the Senate. Now, America, we have a psycho liberal left-wing extremist who is third in line to run our country: Nancy Pelosi. For those of you who had Coach Klein with me last year, you know the famous talks that he gave about Ms. Pelosi, and how he pointed out specifics about here that made it almost impossible for anyone in class to see any good qualities or values in her that could prove to be beneficial to the country as a whole. But ignorant America too busy with their own lives to care about politics followed the stance of the liberal, agenda-seeking, biased media and voted Democrat. I must say that the Republicans had their fair share of screw-ups, from Rush Limbaugh's attack on Michael J. Fox (I disagree with the way he worded what he had to say, but still think it carries some clout), to the Florida scandal, to Rumsfeld's handeling of the war in Iraq (which happens to be blamed solely on Bush by the liberal media, by the way). But these are all very personal problems, and if the american people would have taken a second to step back and to see this point, I think we would have had a very different outcome in the elections. But the bottom line is that the decision has been made, there's no changing it now. I just hope the people realize that they elected the party, especially in the house, that is in a phase of radical extremism behind Pelosi, and the power they trusted them with to completely devalue and screw up our country. Can't wait until 2008!

And lastly, my registration for next semester is a little complicated. I've decided not to take Italian next semester, as I have already taken 4 years of Spanish in high school and can test out of the language requirement for NYU's CAS next year. So in its place, I've decided to take a rigorous poli sci course, "European Union Policies and Politics" taught by one of the two original professors here at the Florence campus, Roberto D'Alimonte. He is the main contact for any political news for CNN, MSNBC, FOX, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, the Wall Street Journal, and the San Francisco Chronicle, and his class isn't offered back at the NYC campus. So I've decided to include that information in my petition that I have to write to our dean, explaining to him that a) I can indeed place out of the language requirement and b) I have significant reasons why I want to take this particular course in place of the Italian class.

So, bottom line, my life has been filled with politics and the political processes involved with them lately, and I'm loving it.

Train Tickets, Hostel Reservations, and Bank of America Fiascos

After finally deciding between going to Rome and visiting my great Aunts and Uncles or going to Germany (specifically Munich) and Zurich (in Switzerland), I decided on Rome. So I went online and bought my train ticket last night, and after researching many hostels in Rome, I had picked out the ideal one. The train ticket confirmation email came, with me (supposedly) leaving this morning at 7:53 for Rome on a high speed train. I went downstairs to print it out, came back up, and when I tried to book the hostel, it said that my credit card had been frozen and that I needed to contact my bank. I thought it was just a glitch, so I tried again, and the same thing happened. Well, then I tried to book the return train ticket, and that didn't work either. I started to get worried, but decided that I would try in the morning, thinking they put a hold on the train ticket for a short period of time.

I woke up in the morning, went online, and tried again. I checked my balance, just to be sure, but I had plenty of money left on the card. But no, it still said that it was frozen. So then I panicked, and not realizing what time it was, I called my parents. My mom helped me through it, and after moving the train ticket to tomorrow at 7:53, using her credit card to pay for the hostel, and getting the fraud freeze taken off of the card (which, by the way, took 2 hours, because you can't exactly dial toll-free numbers from Italy, and the credit on my cell phone ran out from talking to my mom, and and and....it was horrible.).

What a great way to start off the month.

So, now I'm leaving for Rome tomorrow morning at 7:53, I have a hostel reserved, and I can use my card again in about two hours once California processes the info.

But the morning wasn't a total loss: you know how sometimes you have something important to ask someone, but you don't really know how to ask it? Well, that person asked me what I've been meaning to ask for quite some time, and now I feel so much better, finally coming down from the clouds and standing on solid, hard ground.

I'l post again when I get back!

Ciao!

Midterms are OVER!

Midterms are over! Finito! Sopra! BASTA!

Ora è tempo al partito! Vado in Svizzera!

2 down, 1 to go

I got my Italian midterm back yesterday, and I did better on it than I expected, so that got me in the mood to study a lot last night for today's midterm (cultural, with Nicholson). That went extremely well, and I had one of those feelings that you get after you take a huge test that just makes you feel--accomplished. Social is tomorrow, and that one I'm a little more worried about.

I decided to go ahead and donate blood today, even though I had a midterm, and it all worked out well in the end. But ever since I donated I've had an upset stomach that won't seem to go away with pepto, but I still feel good about donating. Good feelings all around, I guess, which is a little weird in the middle of midterms. But starting friday we have 10 days off, and I can't wait.

Well, time to study, again.

-OUT-

Midterms

I got a 24/25 on my Italian Oral midterm today, so that gave me a little confidence for tomorrow's written midterm. Then next week on wednesday I have my Social midterm, and on Thursday is my Cultural midterm. So basically, I'm going to have my face buried in notes and books, and not surface until next friday. Well, I might go out this friday night.

We'll see.

Chocolate and Brothers

Saturday we took a trip to Perugia, about a two hour train ride outside of Florence, for the annual Chocolate Festival. There were signs proclaiming everywhere that over the years this chocolate festival has made Perugia the "chocolate capitol of Europe." I have to admit, I was a little skeptical at first, assuming that Belgium or Switzerland would be more chocolate oriented than Perugia, but I tried to remain open minded. We came up out of the train station to the main street of Perigua, a quaint city in Umbria, Italy, and were immediately rushed along by the rivers of people streaming through the streets. Hundreds of chocolate "tents" had spiced hot chocolates, chocolate dipped bananas, churros with chocolate, chocolate crêpes, chocolate spaghetti, and of course, millions of assortments of chocolate bars, balls, candies, and liqueurs. By the end of the day, I had tried many things, and I thought I would have a huge sugar high, but I really didn't. All in all, it was well worth getting up at 6:30 in the morning in order to catch the train down there, although I still remain skeptical as to whether or not it can be called the chocolate capitol of Europe.

I was sitting in class today, taking notes on an intense (and therefore extremely boring) lecture about Tacitus' The Annals of Imperial Rome, when all of the sudden my professor looks down at her cell phone (which was on silent) and immediately blew up in front of us, as it seems all Italians have the genetic ability to do. "Dunque, WHY does my fratello (brother) ALWAYS insist on calling me on a Monday morning when he KNOWS that I might be a little busy with this concept of WORK?" in a heavily accented italian accent, which instantly brought me back up to my senses from the state of drowsiness I had already begun to fall into. "He always says, 'Why you never answer, why you never pick up?' and I tell him every time that I DO have a JOB, and can't exactly stop the world for a few minutes to GOSSIP. 3 times he has called me in the past 10 minutes." Someone in the class said, "Well, maybe it's an emergency?" Then my professor said, "Well, I can't imagine who it could be, because I JUST talked to my mother on the DRIVE OVER HERE! AARRUUGGHHH! [my poor attempt at trying to phonetically spell what noise came out of this stereotypical short Italian woman]" and seemed as though she was about to run out of the room. Then, just as is the cultural norm, she picks right back up where she left off on the lecture, in a perfectly normal tone of voice, and acts as if nothing had just transpired. Why can't we do that in the states? Just learn to say whatever's on your mind at the moment, not matter how embarassing, crude, annoying or rude it may be, then get over it in a matter of seconds. If you've never seen it before, you're definantly missing out on a unique adventure.

I love Italy

Myspace Profile Update Finished

I had a lot of time on my hands today, and instead of doing homework like I should have I decided to finish updating my myspace. There's lots of pictures added as filmloops under the "interests" section, a new song, new background picture...almost everything is new or updated. Check it out: http://www.myspace.com/bmw_teen and let me know what you think.

You know you're from California when...

I found this on a facebook group, and immediately joined. Everything is so true! You'll really appreciate it if you're from California. If you're not, well then you can read a little about our state that visitors usually find out the hard way when the visit.

You know your from California when...../Californians are better because............

Everyone hates cops

You live next door to Mexicans

You say "like" and "for sure" and "right on" and "dude" and "totally" and "peace out" and "chill" and "tight" and "bro" and "hell of" and "hella"(Nor Cal only) and "faded" and "stoked" and "fo sho" and I say them often

You know what real cheese taste like.

All the porn you watch is made here, cause we fuck better and thats how it is.

You don't get snowdays off because theres only snow in Mammoth, Tahoe, Shasta, and Big Bear.

You can wear sandals all year long.

You go to the Beach - not "down to the shore."

You know 65 mph really means 100.

When someone cuts you off, they get the horn and the finger and high speed chase cuz we dont fuck around on the road.

The drinking age is 21 but everyone starts at 14 (legally 18 if you live close enough to the border).

Our governor can kick your governors ass.

You can go out at midnight.

You judge people based on what area code they live in, and when asked where you're from, you give your area code.

You might get looked at funny by locals when your on vacation in their state, but when they find out your from California you turn into a Greek GOD.

We don't stop at stop signs... we do a "california roll"
No cop no stop baby!

You can get fresh and REAL Mexican food 24 hours a day.

All the TV shows you "other" states watch get filmed here.

EVERYONE smokes weed. no exceptions.

We're the Golden State. Not the Cheese State. Not the Garden State.....GOLDEN!!!

We have In-N-Out (Arizona and Vegas are lucky we share that with them).

We have the most representation in the House of Representatives, which means our opinion means more than yours, which means we're better than you.

The best athletes come from here.

We got disneyland....wut now!

We call it soda, not pop.

Oh, and no one from California calls it Cali... that's how we know you're not from around here.

The fastest part of your commute is down your driveway.

You were born somewhere else.

Your sense of direction=Toward the ocean and away from the ocean.

You eat an In n Out burger at least once a week!!!

You know how to eat an artichoke.

The primary bugs that you worry about are electronic.

Your car has bullet-proof windows.

Left is right and right is wrong.

Your monthly house payments exceed your annual income.

You can't find your other earring because your son/brother is wearing it.

You drive to your neighborhood block party.

Your family tree contains "significant others."

You don't exterminate your roaches, you smoke them.

You see 25 lawyers chasing an ambulance.

More than clothes come out of the closets.

You go to a tanning salon before going to the beach.

More money is spent on facelifts than on diapers.

Smoking in your office is not optional.

You pack shorts and a T-shirt for skiing in the snow, and a sweater and a wetsuit for the beach.

When you can't schedule a meeting because you must "do lunch."

Your children learn to walk in Birkenstocks.

You'll reluctantly miss yoga class to wait for the hot tub repairman.

You consult your horoscope before planning your day.

All highways into the state say: "no fruits."

All highways out of the state say: "Go back."

The Terminator is your governor

You can't remember . . . is pot illegal?

It's barely sprinkling rain and there's a report on every news station: "STORM WATCH"

You actually get these jokes and pass them on to other friends from California.

Your coworker has 8 body piercings and none are visible.

You make over $300,000 and still can't afford a house.

You take a bus and are shocked at two people carrying on a conversation in English.

You don't care what race people are because you're too busy wondering what gender they are.

You have a very strong opinion about where your coffee beans are grown and can taste the difference between Sumatran and Ethiopian.

You know which restaurant serves the freshest arugula.

It's barely sprinkling rain outside, so you leave for work an hour early to avoid all the weather-related accidents.

A really great parking space can totally move you to tears.

A low speed police pursuit will interrupt ANY TV broadcast.

Gas costs $1.00 per gallon more than anywhere else in the U.S.

A man gets on the bus in full leather regalia and crotchless chaps. You don't even notice.

Unlike back home, the guy at 8:30 am at Starbucks wearing the baseball cap and sunglasses who looks like George Clooney IS George Clooney.

Your car insurance costs as much as your house payment.

The normal symbols on restrooms mean "people wearing pants" and "people wearing skirts".

Your hairdresser is straight, your plumber is gay, the woman who delivers your mail is into S &M, and your Mary Kay rep is a guy in drag.

Both you AND your dog have therapists.

You have to leave the big company meeting early because Billy Blanks himself is teaching the 4:00 PM Tae Bo class.

You pass an elementary school playground and the children are all busy with their cell phones or pagers.

[Source: http://nyu.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2211572727

At the hands of Nokia's Wibree, could Bluetooth be on the ropes?

http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/wp-trackback.php?p=3707
Worth reading for you tech buffs out there. This is hot off the press. Google doesn't even have it in its search engine yet.

By ZDNet's David Berlind -- Now this is interesting. In an incredibly bold move that has all the makings of a gauntlet, Nokia, a company known for including Bluetooth support in its handsets, has released what appears to be a Bluetooth substitute that it's calling WiBree. According to a Reuters story that we're carrying on ZDNet's News channel (subscribe), Wibree [...]

Supreme Court Hears Deportation Debate

"The Supreme Court wrestled with the question of whether convictions for minor crimes should force the deportation of legal immigrants, as justices heard the first oral arguments of the new term Tuesday."

Hhmm, let me see now. I'm going to attempt to see what the attourney from the New York State Defenders Association has to run with here--oh wait a minute; they don't have anything to run with. I think it's ridiculous that the case has gotten as far as the supreme court, and that they actually decided to hear it. I point out the majority of other countries and their policies on the issue to back my case. I'm studying in Italy under a student visa, so in effect I am a legal immigrant (for a year) under Italian law. However, since I am not a citizen, if I were to even forget to buy a bus ticket (the buses in Florence are state-run) and failed to present one after boarding a bus, they can legally drag me off of the bus, take me to the nearest ATM and have me withdraw the anywhere from € 70,00 (roughly $89.00) to € 240,00 ( $305.00). If I didn't have that much in my bank account, or refused to pay, etc. I, as well as any citizen, can be arrested and put in jail until I either pay up, opt out for community service, or serve time. In many EU countries, if you are arrested and you are a legal immigrant, they have every right to deport you. Another example: the Carabinieri (a form of police here) catch me publicly intoxicated, ask for identification, see that I am here on a student visa, and can immediately revoke my visa, and thus have me deported. It's that simple.

Now here we're not just talking about forgetting to buy a bus ticket, we're talking about drug possession. So the NY State Defenders want to make sure that the aliens can continue to possess drugs during their visit, because we want them to continue trafficking and feeding the supply lines that pump drugs into our schools and society. A little cocaine never hurt anyone, right? We should wait until they have multiple offenses under their belt, rather than nip the problem at the bud.

"...an immigration judge and review panel as well as a federal appeals court all concluded that his crime should be considered an aggravated felony, which severely limits immigrants' ability to fight off deportation, be granted asylum or become naturalized U.S. citizens."
[Source: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003288044_scotus04.html]

If they all concluded that this should be classifed as "an aggravated felony" then that's the least I would expect. But let's look at what Deputy Solicitor General Edwin Kneedler said:

"Defending the government's approach, [he] said the law as Congress wrote it "looks to state law." If a drug crime is a felony under state law, it is a felony that leads to deportation under federal law."

Uh, what's the problem here boys? I say that precedent stands in this case. Deport them after their first offense. Period. We tend to have this forgiving attitude towards immigration and illegal acts relating to immigrants, including immigrants that are illegal themselves. I don't see the logic in forgiving someone who has broken the law. And that goes for both citizens and non-citizens alike.

Don't give me that BS that, "Oh, you don't know what it's like to try to get into the US, and how selective they are." I had to work my butt off my whole life in order to get to where I am now; in life, you get what you work for, and if you take all of that hard work for granted by breaking a law, then you should be punished accordingly. It's that simple.

A Heartfelt Pick-Me-Up From my Cousin

I was debating for a while whether or not I should post this--if it was too personal, or if it was blog material. Well, I obviously decided to post it, and since today is "The Feast of the Guardian Angels," I thought it was appropriate. I dedicate this to all of you out there who are going through a little homesickness.



"The thing is, though the days will be long and sometimes seem to drag by as you are homesick, just do everything you can to be anywhere but wallowing in that, because in two blinks you will be coming back home, and then before you know it the year will be over and it will have felt like a short summer camp and you will be looking back wishing that you had done more, seen more, experienced more, learned more, laughed more, felt uncomfortable more,met more people, ate more, looked around more... you get it. This is something old people say, but life goes by fast. A year is the smallest amount of time and don't let your head convince you otherwise. Don't worry you are not missing a damn thing back home. When you get back everything will be exactly as it was- you are the most exciting thing happening, just because you are experiencing a lot and changing a lot don't think that the same thing is happening to everyone here without you because it just isn't!

I love you!
Send me some pictures!"

Isn't having a large family a wonderful blessing? It always seems to be the little things in life like this that make you or break you.

Too Far Behind

I was going to post about politics, but there's just been too much going on and not enough time for me to post. I have articles that I emailed to myself from a week and a half ago, so I just decided to finally post after feeling guilty about not posting in a while.

I got a job on campus, and basically all it's been so far is me buzzing people in to one of the villas on campus, and me doing my homework for four hours. But I'm getting paid $8.50 per hour to do my homework, so I'm not complaining. I just got a part in this semester's play, "Lysistrata," but I don't know that any of you have heard of it before (I hadn't). In case you're curious, I'm one of the two "Male Chorus" members that narate the play. I didn't want a lead part, and specifically told thm that, because I don't think I would have time for it, so I'm glad I got that part. Three out of five of my roommates are also in it, and one of my roommates (the one from San Francisco) got the lead.

Other than that, not much has been happening other than studying. I had my second Italian test today, and have written a couple of papers per class. So far I love my writing class, and my social and cultural classes aren't too far behind. I think Italian is my least favorite, but I'm not sure why. Maybe it's just because we have to go to it every day.

So much news, but too sick to post.

There's so much news going on, but I've been too sick to post. Sorry. I'll get to all of it this weekend. Out.

This Most Wonderful Teacher of the Second Grade

Freewriting: sitting down for 10 minutes and writing whatever comes to your mind at that time. There's only one rule to freewriting, and that is to never stop writing for that time period. Anything else goes. Here's what popped into my mind the other day during freewriting, and I thought it was something I could share, because we all have our own version of my second grade teacher in our lives.

There was a fire in stilled in me at a very young age
By this most wonderful teacher of the second grade.
She had shiny black hair, a warm, welcoming face,
All of the students loved her dearly and with well-deserved grace.
There was her method of teaching, her story times too;
A little lava lamp on her desk behind me, easily in view.
She taught us how to multiply, subtract and divide,
And about the unfortunate Abe Lincoln and just how he died.

Friday sing inspired me to join choir, and it was more fun with her at our side,
When she walked she looked graceful, with a rather unique stride.
After her as a teacher no-one else would do;
But with the fire growing ever stronger, I didn't have to worry about "who."
The fire helped with our illness in a way no doctor could,
It kept burning and burning as I'm sure she knew it would.

As I sit here today I remember my past,
All those years ago when I first sat in her class.
My friends all around me all remember her too,
How easy it is to place her in the category of the few.
If I meet her again I will thank her and hug her so tight,
For the gift of fire she gave us that melts away all fright.

Buon Giorno, Italia!

I consider myself extremely lucky to be studying in the city where the name of the crayon "Burnt Sienna" came from (it's the distinct color of the rooftops here in the city that every building by law must use for their roofing material). I am studying in a place whose soul and core culture revolve around oil, bread, and wine. I go to school in a place where morals still exist, and Sunday really is a day of rest because everything closes for business. Religion is deeply rooted in Florence and throughout Italy; Romulus killed Remus, the founder of Rome, just as Cain killed Able. There is an almost indescribable harmony that exists in and around the city, and seems to course through it like the lifeblood. You can actually walk by yourself downtown after the sun has set. You don't need a car, or even public transportation to live, and Wal-Mart mentalities don't exist when it comes to stores; every store has its own specialty. Bookstores, clothing stores, wine shops, cheese shops, meat markets, fruit stands, grocery stores, cell phone stores, stores devoted solely to speakers, gelaterias (ice cream parlors), and little convenience stores called Tabaccis (tah-batch-ees). Things are so different here, and I think that's a nice break to the industrialized, cold, culture-lacking, isolated, sparse, consumer oriented society that we live in, in the states. I'll miss lots of creature comforts during my year abroad, but this is a gratifying extended vacation to be enjoyed, remembered, and cherished for years to come.

Buon giorno, Italia!

Ford appoints Boeing executive as CEO

You know the American car industry is hurting when Ford Motor Company appoints Alan R. Mulally, a top executive at Boeing Company, to be its CEO and president. Although Bill Ford held onto the Chairman title, he relinquished the majority of his power to someone who has never worked in the auto industry, but who is familiar with aircraft instead. This has only been done by one company before, Fiat, of Italy, and they made the transition fairly recently. Who knows what will happen in the coming years; either Ford will continue to lose its ground in the industry or they will somehow miraculously recover from the major pitfalls they've experienced in the past 5 years or so.

I personally don't think you can fix what both Jacques A. Nasser (two CEO's ago) and Bill Ford have done with the company. Ford cars are pieces of crap; just ask anyone who owns one and they'll tell you. They're in the shop more than they're on the road, and have become a disgrace to the auto industry. I hate to see such a great company go down the drains so much so that Toyota was able to overcome them in US auto sales, to be the number two selling car company in the country, behind GM. I hope Mulally can work his magic as he did with Boeing, and can turn around America's car company. [Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/06/business/06ford.html?th&emc=th]

Picked up my books, went to church

I went to church at Il Duomo yesterday, and because I had missed the mass in English Saturday evening I went to the mass in Italian and basically muttered the English equivalent of what the priest was saying under my breath. I could understand everything here and there, but my Spanish failed to help me understand the homily, especially. Then today after my first class (which was amazing, by the way, and sounds like it's going to be really cool) I went into town to get my books from the English bookstore, and it ended up being about a block away from Il Duomo. I haven't gotten 4 of my books yet, but I was able to get 17 of them (I got everything I need for my classes for first semester). Here's the laundry list, if you're interested, or are curious and want to compare our books for freshman year:

The Story of Art - Gombrich
Oxford Study Bible - Oxford
St. Thomas Aquinas on Politics and Ethics - Aquinas
The Analects - Confucius
The Odyssey - Homer
The Inferno - Dante
Metamorphoses - Ovid
History of the Peloponnesian War - Thucydides
The Politics - Aristotle
Confessions - Saint Augustine
The Koran
The Annals of Imperial Rome - Tacitus
The Lost Days of Socrates - Plato
The Republic - Plato
Gilgamesh - Stephen Mitchell
The Bacchae and Other Plays - Euripides
The Wasps/The Poet and the Women/The Frogs - Aristophanes
The Republic - The Laws - Cicero
La Pietra - Olivares
...and last but not least:
Tao Te Ching - Stephen Mitchell

Well, I have my Intensive Italian class at 6:00 pm (it's 4:31 pm right now) and we're going to go play volleyball at the campus net (If you haven't seen my pictures of the campus yet, just email me and I'll email you the link to the pics).

Oh, and I heard about Steve Irwin (or however you spell his name), and I think it's really ironic how he didn't die from a croc or an alligator, but instead from a sting ray. People seem to think that's funny, but I don't agree. Just thought I'd express that. My prayers go out to his family and friends.

Latest Updates from Firenze

Basically, I've been too busy and lazy to post on here since I've gotten here, partying almost every night (well, we watched a movie last night, but still we were up talking until 3:20 am) and with orientation it's even less time to be on here. So I'm just going to copy what I wrote my parents to tell you what has been happening the past couple of days. Bear with the wording, because I didn't direct it to a general audience, and a lot of the stuff has been edited out by me. (too personal) =)

------------------------------

.......Sorry I didn't log on last night, but we were out busy
buying groceries with a huge group of people after all of our
orientations, as well as getting cell phones and doing research about
them. So yes, I bought a cell phone yesterday after being strongly
recommended by the administration here to get one. It wasn't too
expensive, only € 75,00 with the € 10,00 pre-paid card. I haven't yet
set up the voicemail because all of the instructions on how to do so
are in Italian, but once I call Vodafone (the service provider, if
you're interested their website is Vodafone.it and there's luckily an
option at the bottom to read the site in english) to get them to
switch all of the programming into english I'll set it up. But my cell
phone number (calling from the US) is 011 39 3466191534. One really nice thing about it is
that incoming calls are free (for me of course) and you can buy more
pre-paid minutes from the phone as long as you're in the vodafone
service area (the best coverage in all of Europe and GB). Oh, and the
phone I bought isn't anything special, but if I were to switch to
Cingular, Sprint, AT&T or Tmobile in the US I could use it back there
too. (Verizon is a pain because they have internal SIM cards, and use
a different network than in Europe, which uses GSM, so my phone
wouldn't have worked over here even if I had brought it). Oh, and the
other thing I learned at the cell phone orientation yesterday is that
the calling card I have requires you to dial a 1-800 number in the
states, and that's not possible from anywhere but inside the country.
Complicated, I know, but I'm just mainly going to use the phone for
emergencies, text messaging (only 15 cents to send text messages,
which is really cheap; incoming are free) for incoming calls, and if I
somehow get really lost and need to call friends to get directions.

In other news: I bought batteries at the grocery store yesterday, so
my camera is back in operation (finally)! Today in about 15 minutes
our CRA's (Community Residence Assistants) are taking us out into the
city on a walking tour to all of the best grocery stores, the best dry
cleaning places, the best gelaterias, the best restaurants for bargain
prices, etc. So I'll be sure to take lots of pictures for that.

Survival Italian yesterday was very interesting; our orientation
teacher spoke only Italian to us and I was actually able to understand
most of it when she spoke slowly. I was able to find out that her
husband is from Los Angeles, but they've lived in New York for the
past 7 years (all in Italian). The cell phone orientation was good,
and that's where I learned all about the phone networks, plans, etc.....

------------------------------------

2 days ago

....Ah, it was nice actually hearing all of your voices again, and I can't
wait until I can see you all again (hopefully soon!) I still haven't
had a chance to go into the city to buy batteries for the camera, but
if you could see the room right now you guys would be impressed at how
clean it is, even though there's 5 of us in one room. Well, our room
has also become the "hang out" room for a bunch of us in Natalia. I'm
sorry to hear about Sandy and her strange behavior, and I hope she
realizes that I'm gone soon so she'll stop. I'll definitely say some
prayers for the business...that sounds good! Well, after all of the
orientations tomorrow I'll have to send you an email/chat with you.
Once classes start on monday, and I find out whether or not I'm going
to work on campus, we should be able to set up a schedule to
(hopefully) video chat. Well, I'm getting ready to go to bed, because
survival Italian is at 9:30 tomorrow morning after breakfast...

I'm in Florence!

Sorry I didn’t post sooner, but I’ve been extremely busy with orientations and check in, registration/immigration, and partying. On top of all that, I’m still recovering from the horrendous jet lag that’s starting to really catch up with me, after my adrenaline ran out yesterday. So here goes:

----------------------------------------

By the time I post this I’ll be in Italy. So I made it safe. I’m writing this while I’m on the plane to London, and I thought I’d start writing now because I’d be too tired by the time I got to Italy. So here goes.

I arrived at Ontario airport this morning at around 6:30 am, and when I went to check in, of course, Murphy ruled and my flight to San Francisco was cancelled. Now, I checked to make sure that it wasn’t cancelled at around 10:00 pm the night before, and it wasn’t. So something happened during the night to cancel it. So the United ticket person said there was a flight to LAX from Ontario and that there was a flight to London from there that left at 1:15pm. (Which is about 30 minutes later than I would arrive had I stayed on my original course, so it’s a good thing I have a 3-hour layover to work with to clear customs and to allow for any other surprises along the way.) So I said sure, that sounds great, and she booked me on the flights. Well, then I was put on a puddle jumper (or a poor excuse for one) that was supposedly a United “express” flight, and that was an experience. It’s a two-propeller plane that had about 12 seats in it, total. But I thought it would be fine because it’s such a short flight from ONT to LAX. But, again Murphy did his thing and the flight, which only took 17 minutes, was delayed 30 minutes due to weather.

Well, I arrived at LAX in one piece, a little shaken because a flight on a two-prop plane is rickety to say the least, but otherwise fine. I got to the airport at around 7:55 am and my flight to London wasn’t until 1:15 pm, so I killed time by listening to my iPod. It came time to board, I got pat down by TSA, and to my delight the woman at the ticket counter had upgraded my London flight (the longest leg of the trip) to United’s Economy plus, which has a ton of leg room and more comfortable seats. So here I am, about 4,000 miles until I reach London, 2:53 into the flight, writing this because I’m sick of looking at the information map that gives you details about the trip so far.

My mom wrote me this really heartfelt letter to me and stuck it in my laptop for me to read when I got on the plane, and I had to stop reading it in order to stop from crying. I’ll defiantly miss them while I’m in Florence, as well as all of my friends, some of which took me out to dinner and the beach multiple times last week. The reality of all this hit me hard when I read the letter, yet at the same time all of this still doesn’t seem real. I guess once I step into my dorm and meet my roommates it will all sink in, permanently.

Well, once I wake up from my severe jet lag, I’ll be sure to write again and tell you how the rest of the trip went, and all about my new life in Italy. Farewell to my past, which I will always remember, and hello to the new horizon that has opened up to me.


Well, I tried sleeping, and I probably got the equivalent of about 20 minutes, and now I’ve completely given up. I’ll just have to deal with the repercussions later. I looked at the map/info display a little while ago, and it was a chilly -70 degrees Fahrenheit outside. We just passed over a place in Greenland called “Godthab” and we’ve had a steady tailwind of about 24 mph most of the way, so we should be getting into London a little earlier than planned. Then I just have to get my bags and clear customs, then I re-check them and I wait, and wait. That’s the part that’s going to kill me, because I can already feel how tired I am (having gotten up at 4:15am pacific time and, oh, it’s now 8:50pm pacific time). But oh well. The payoff in the end is well worth all of this.

I hope my roommates aren’t going to be too annoying, but I’ve already seen 62 out of the 100 classmates on Facebook, and giving the ratio of girls to guys at the NYC campus (4 girls : 1 guy) my options for roommates are limited.

I would love to talk about politics, but I honestly haven’t seen the news in a couple of days. It was so bad that I heard about the plane crash in Kentucky by word of mouth at the apple store. (Yeah, I know.) I tried getting online at LAX but you had to pay for the wi-fi. Hopefully at Heathrow they’ll have free wi-fi, but you never know. I don’t remember if they did or not the last time I was there, because we were so tired. Looks like I’m going to be living off of Starbucks in London, and then I’ll just have to find a local café in Milan to get me through to Florence. I’m really glad that lady put me in Economy Plus, because otherwise I’d be eating my knees.

"Plan B" Abortion Pill

"Abortion opponents threatened political retribution, however, and were displeased when President Bush backed the agency’s decision. 'Let there be no mistake about it,” said the Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer, president of Human Life International, an anti-abortion group based in Virginia. “Today’s decision lies at the feet of President Bush and has created a lasting rift with the Catholic faithful who comprise a large part of his support base.' " [Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/25/health/25fda.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin}

Just one more thing about Bush that irks me.

The pill just gives unresponsible people another means of avoidresponsibilitylity. I was and still remain completely opposed to the pill, and anything that deals with birth control or abortions in general. It all goes against my morals, religion, beliefs, thoughts, and respect for life. I firmly stand behind the hundreds of millions of couples that can actually be responsible for their actions, and don't need a pill to be a backup, "Plan B" alternative to responsibility. This is a disgrace to what this country is promoting, and is a horrific statement as to where we're going in the future. I think this will actually have an adverse affect on people and will lead to an increase in abortions. But we'll see.

Deciding to have a child is a choice, but the child itself is not, by any means, a choice.

7 Days...

I have one week left, and what did I find a couple of days ago that's eating up 90% of my time awake? Second Life, or as the "lingo" goes in the game, SL. I read an article in a magazine a while ago, and decided to check it out. I was expecting something fairly primitive looking, but I was amazed when I downloaded the client and logged on for the first time under "Christopher Longduk" (I purposely picked a similar name to my own so that people could find me easily, and "Longduk" was the closest of the choices to my real last name). People were flying around me, typing chat messages to each-other, and the amazing thing is that we all looked different because they have an amazing "avatar" editor in the game, where you're even able to edit the position of your cheekbones.

Last night I was getting the hang of things, and this guy who was supposedly a "Sith Leader" (a.k.a. his "second life" was a geek, if it wasn't his first already) and he taught me the basics of building, and how everything in the game was built by other people using very basic shapes that everyone can build. And there's no limit to what you can build; everything from an intricate piece of clothing to a roman coliseum (which I was amazed when I saw one the other day).

SL is free to download, but if you want to own land or buy things that other people have made in the game, you have to provide them with a credit card. Then you get Linden Dollars, or L$ for short. It acts as real currency, which has a daily exchange rate. L$1,000 is about $3.98 US. There's literally no limit to what you can do in SL; you can attend classes in a classroom that is identical to the one you normally have class in, or take a cooking class in SL and learn how to make the perfect veal.

Check it out and download the client from http://www.secondlife.com and look me up! (Christopher Longduk). Just be sure that your second life doesn't eat away at your first.

Bolsa Chica/Karaoke

Some of my friends and I went to Bolsa Chica yesterday and had a bonfire, lots of fun, and long, deep walks along the beach (yeah right). Well, we did walk along the beach, but I don't consider "The Baywatch Walk" to be a long, deep walk. We roasted some hot dogs and later had some smores, and then we left for Karaoke. After a little drama over who was forced to go in the car that was going home, and who was able to come in my car, we got it all figured out. Then we went to Elvis!? Karaoke until about 1 in the morning, and we got home at around 2 in the morning. Didn't wake up until 11 this morning. Good times.

Thanksgiving in August

We had the whole family over today to have thanksgiving dinner with me, because they obviously don't celebrate thanksgiving in Italy. But mostly it was just to say goodbye and to wish me luck until they will undoubtedly see me again in December. But the whole dinner was served, and now I have that over-stuffed feeling that everyone gets during Thanksgiving, and I've become extremely lazy. But today was one less day in the way between me and Firenze!

30% of Americans don't know when 9/11 was

Yeah, you read the title right.

"Some 30 percent of Americans cannot say in what year the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks against New York's World Trade Center and the
Pentagon in Washington took place, according to a poll published in the Washington Post newspaper...of that group, six percent gave an earlier year, eight percent gave a later year, and 16 percent admitted they had no idea whatsoever." [Source: The Washington Post]

Since the poll is by the Washington Post, I have some severe doubts about the group of people they surveyed. Is there any data as to how many people were surveyed? Can this poll really be generalized? Were all of the poll takers readers of the Washington Post? Are they all lacking any traces of what might be a cerebrum, like the readers of the Washington Post?

Or did the Washington Post just make up this number, like data they have produced in the past has been? Need proof? Read Godless, by Ann Coulter. Trust me, you'll never want to read another word from a liberal news source, once you see how common it is for them to skew or even make up information to help them accomplish their sick political agendas. I wouldn't be a bit suprised if they just decided to make this number up, or if they only interviewed crazy, mentally challenged individuals that couldn't tell you what month of the year it was if their life depended on it. Maybe it's their way of showing you how (supposedly) 30% of America doesn't remember the motives behind the war, and using that as backup for them of why we shouldn't have fought it in the first place. They're probably trying to combat what the World Trade Center movie has reminded us, that what we're fighting for in Iraq really does matter.

Increased Security makes my life more complicated

Unless you've been sleeping or living in a hole somewhere, you know all about the whole security threat today in london. Now, London isn't allowing any flights into or out of the airport that have ANY carry on baggage with them, including Laptops, cell phones, iPods, and any other electronic devices that could potentially set off a bomb. This is supposedly because the 20-25 terrorists planned to blow up all 10 planes using a liquid explosive inside a gatorade bottle, and set off the bomb with a disposable camera's flash bulb. In the US, we're still at least allowed the same carry on bags, and we can still carry on electronics, but absolutely no liquids/gels. So no toothpaste, hair gel, hand sanitizer, bottles of water, contact solution, mayonase on sandwitches your mom made....nothing. But, since I'm flying through London Heathrow to get to Florence, I don't even get to carry on anything! Oh, and not that this really matters to me, but for other people's information, you now MUST take off your shoes going through security at the airport; it's no longer optional. And that's just as of 6:00 tonight; earlier in the day, you were still allowed to have a carry on going through london, but now even that's changed. No exceptions. So who knows if they'll allow you to check the two carry on items that you used to be able to take, or if you'll be limited to two bags.

If that happens, I'll be shipping a crap load of stuff to my dorm. Just some additional charges to add to the nice fat bill from NYU.

Electric Car goes 0-60 in 4 seconds

In my infinite boredom yesterday, I stumbled upon this car company based in San Carlos, CA (not too far from where I used to live) called Tesla Motors. So far, they have a roadster in the works that is 100% electric, has a range of 250 miles on a single charge, and goes 0-60 in 4 seconds. [Source: Tesla Motors] But that's exactly what you would expect, being a sister company of Lotus. With amazing design that subtly reminds you of the Lotus Elise, and screams sports car, you would have no clue that it was electric until you started it up. It has a top speed of about 130 mph, and when it's going fast it sounds like a jet engine. It has 240 hp, and only costs a penny per mile to drive. It only has two gears; first gear goes up to about 65 miles per hour, and second takes over from there. There is no reverse gear, instead the motor just spins backward. So, theoretically, you could go 130 mph in reverse. And, if you have the charger installed in your garage, the car is fully charged in about three hours. [Source: CNET Slideshow: Tesla Roadster]

Impressive, huh? The only downside is that it's not cheap; with extreme technological advances in lithium-ion batteries that the company had to develop, as well as the performance parts, it is targeted to cost about $89,000 for the first model, but the company hopes to make enough profits from those sales that it can invest in a cheaper, more family-friendly model that would cost about half that price. [Source: Tesla Motors blog]

Definitely a company to keep your eye on, both for new cars to be released and for investment purposes.

Alliance for Marriage Petition

In response to yesterday's post, if you agree with me and want to protect the definition of marriage from the small minority of radical activists in Washington, D.C. who are trying to change the definition of marriage as the union between a man and a woman, please sign the petition below! They are also trying to change how children are taught in both public and private schools, to include making references to marriage as being between "men and women" illegal.

"As in Canada, the consequences of radical activists redefining marriage will have devastating effects on American society and our children. One of these will be mandatory "same-sex" school curricula teaching children that their parents are "bigots" for believing that marriage is the union of a man and a woman. I truly wish I were being alarmist, but I'm not - if marriage is redefined, this is exactly what the law will mandate." [Source: Allianceformarrage.org]

So please, if you agree with me in supporting Allianceformarriage, sign the petition here:

http://www.allianceformarriage.org/site/PageServer?pagename=petition_r100

Thank You!

Apple's new direction, NY turning Conservative?

I know, I just got a new mac, so I may be a little biased. But what Mac in unveiling this year at WWDC should spark some interest in those who have brushed Apple aside in the past, as well as lodge fear into the minds of those who work at Microsoft and leading computer manufacturers such as Dell and HP. Apple has made a tremendous profit from the switch from PowerPC based computers to the new Intel based Macbooks. So much so that they've decided to make the full switch over to the new chips--including their professional series of computers such as the G5. You will be able to get a ridiculously fast G5 for roughly $1,000 less than what a comparable system from Dell would cost you. [ Source: Computerworld: WWDC: Jobs touts next Mac OS, unveils new pro machines, Xserve]

I read this other article today, and almost fell out of my chair when I read this really good news coming from the New York Times, which has traditionally been associated with the extreme liberal newspapers of the country, if not the most liberal of them all. Some of the excerpts that I enjoyed the most from the article were:

"John H. Mollenkopf, director of the Center for Urban Research at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, recalled that New York's proportion of Catholics was among the highest of any state's, and that many still tended to be more conservative than the general population."

"There's no question that the people of the city and state of New York are middle class in their thoughts, in their traditions, to a far greater degree than people give them credit for," Mr. Koch said in a weekend interview."

"When the presidential election results are parsed, New York, like much of the nation, is more a purple state than a bright red or blue one."

"Perhaps most telling of all, the state's highest court ruled last week that gay couples cannot legally marry, and explained its decision by suggesting that heterosexual parents might be better suited to child rearing."

After reading that sentence, my jaw dropped to the floor. Since I was in Vegas last week with a sketchy at best internet connection, I didn't exactly have a chance to keep up with the news. Thus, I had no clue that NY had accomplished this feat in their court system. I couldn't believe that the country's biggest city had broken the "norm" of politics when it comes to big cities in the country and decided to take a conservative stance on something.

Although I have nothing against gays, speaking from the perspective of a nephew that had a gay uncle die from AIDS ten years ago, I believe that gays should be able to live together and live normal lives, but I do not believe that they should be allowed to take part in the traditional, spiritual, and, most fundamentally, religious ceremony of marriage. I would prefer them to enter into a legally binding arrangement, such as a civil union, where they can enjoy the same rights and privileges of married couples. But to allow two individuals of the same sex to "marry," in my opinion as a member of the Catholic church, would be a huge disgrace to the core meaning of the ceremony and to the church.

In case you hadn't had enough

Just in case you hadn't had enough, Mel Gibson was bashed again in this video parody of signs. When will these people ever stop? Don't they have lives? It must have taken them hours upon hours to make that short film, and what did they accomplish in the end? Absolutely nothing.

http://www.bestweekever.tv/2006/08/07/icymi-mel-gets-mashed-again/

NYU c/o 2010 Sendoff in LA

After church today I went straight to LA for a welcome party hosted by two NYU alumni who have a son that is currently a sophomore at NYU. It was a lot of fun, and I got to meet a lot of NYU students that live in southern california. I ran into a fellow GSP student that lived in Florence for six months last year, and she was extremely helpful with tips and info about Italy and living over there as an American student. People I had friended on Facebook were there, so that was cool actually meeting them in person before I have to part and head off for Italy. (As if that's an unfortunate thing.) All in all, it lasted about two hours, then I went back home. A productive day, if I do say so myself. But it was a huge reminder of how little time I have left here in So cal. I'm going to miss all of you guys down here!

Got my laptop

I got my laptop today and I haven't been able to get off of it since. My new iPod is certainly getting used as well ;-) Other than that, I haven't been doing much. I haven't seen the news in days, and have been consistently getting 4 hours of sleep for about the past week or so. The days until I leave are getting limited, and it's becoming more and more evident with every hour that passes. I have to take my friend Joseph back to the airport tomorrow, then I should be blogging more consistently.

By the way, I saw Superman Returns yesterday, and I don't know why people thought it was a bad movie. Sure, it's not the greatest movie of the year, but it wasn't THAT bad.

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Thanks to ieeye for pointing out the iPod typo....I don't know what I was thinking. I've typed iLife, iMac, iWork...everything like that with no problems before.

Same boring news

We were all sitting around the hotel room watching the news today and kept seeing the same two stories: Mel Gibson, and the conflict in the middle east. I can't believe the yellow journalism that is going on, even at some of the news stations that are less prone to it.

First and foremost, Mel Gibson apologized, end of story. If he hadn't come out with the Passion movie that has seemed to create such a ruckus, none of this Anti-semitism reporting would have come out in the first place. But because he's a celebrity, and because he decided to make a movie that is extremely accurate to the gospels of the bible, the media has to attack him for what he said while he was (now legally) drunk. Yes, he should have been pulled over, and he shouldn't have been driving under the influence, but he was so drunk that he couldn't exactly control what he was saying at the time. Have you tried to control what you were saying while you're drunk? Now, I'm not anti-Semitic, nor do I believe that people have the right to single people out for what they believe in. That said, I'm moving on to my next qualm with the side of the media I saw expressed today. Or should I say, the only side of the media that was being expressed.

I'm sick and tired of turning on the news and hearing how the poor, little, helpless, and innocent country of Israel is being attacked by the brutish, thoughtless, animalistic, and terrorist-harboring Lebanese. Two Israeli soldiers are captured by Hezbollah militants and all hell breaks loose. Instead of trying to go get the soldiers back in a raid or other less damaging and problematic way, such as we would do and have done when journalists and soldiers have been captured by terrorists in Iraq, Israel instead decides to bomb them back with an over-the-top amount of force and without warning or a grace period. Then, Hezbollah, out of common sense, decides to fight back to defend itself. But no, they're not allowed to do that, they're supposed to just lay there in their lawn chairs and take massive hits and bombings (which, by the way, are WAY under-reported and downplayed) as if they could care less.

Most recently in the news, one of two Hezbollah rockets that were fired at Israel today, dating back to WWII, being highly unreliable and unpredictable, actually struck where it was supposed to, killing an unknown number of soldiers at a military outpost. Well, the extremely biased (even though they keep claiming that they're not) US media jumped all over the opportunity to show how Hezbollah is killing "numerous" "innocent Israelis" with their, what is conveniently being labeled as, "Weapons of mass destruction." Then Israel retaliates by bombing what has now totaled to be over 40 percent of Lebanon. [Source: Fox News Channel, 8/3/06] But that's okay, because the crazy terrorists of Hezbollah have attacked Israel numerous times, and they're not allowed to defend themselves. So they bomb them to death.

Now, I do realize that Hezbollah has gone to some extremes of using humans as shields, but I believe that this is just a way for them to get attention to the growing problem of Israel. Over the years, we as a nation have favored Israel in wars and have aided them numerous times. We have also let them get away with things that should not be spoken of, and we're paying for that now. Israel now thinks that they can get away with killing hundreds, if not thousands of Lebanese civilians and militant members. And the media is going along with the traditional "Israel can do no wrong" method of dealing with what has become a major problematic nation in the middle east. There's now even a commercial airing about Israel, and how we as a nation should "stand with Israel" and continue supporting their actions during this time of crisis in the middle east. The commercial is from the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, and it states: "Israel is under attack, the civilians living under bomb shelters...I want to add my name to the list of those who will stand by Israel in these trying times...this is your time to stand with Israel in their time of need...I pray that God will speak to your heart, especially at this time, and that you will bless the people of Israel, when they need your blessing and your solidarity more than ever." [Source: http://www.wbur.org/news/2006/59592_20060721.asp] You're asked to donate to the "Emergency Israel Fund" both on their website (http://www.ifcj.org) and on their commercial. You should watch the commercial for yourself, if you haven't already seen it, then come up with your own opinions.

"She says it's so hard, it's so hard.....you're not alone, you're not alone."

I've been busy in Vegas

I've been busy in Vegas, but we're leaving mid-day tomorrow. I'm sorry I broke my promise of posting at least once every day, but I came to Vegas to have fun and party, not to worry about blogging. And the internet has either been too slow or too temperamental at the hotel (major server issues in LV) to bother posting (so I think you'll all forgive me for letting a couple of days slip there).

Yesterday, I rode the NY, NY roller coaster 7 times in a row, and by the end of the day I hurt so much that sitting in the hotel's whirlpool and our room's jacuzzi weren't enough to ease the pain. That is the most rough roller coaster I've ever been on--but at least it was fun. I've been mostly touring the new casinos since the last time I've been here, and I went to a few clubs, but other than that nothing TOO exciting. I've walked more in the past week than I've ever walked before in all of my Disneyland visits, and I know that for a fact as I'm sitting here with my feet up, relaxing. But overall, I've had a lot of fun and have taken a lot of pictures that I'll post on facebook later this week.

Just need to look at some more news articles about the middle east conflict, then I'll definitely post about that in the coming days, because I have some qualms with the media right now. But I'll save that for a future post.

Internet access issues

Well, I didn't get a chance to post anything yesterday because I was too lazy in the morning to come online, and at night the internet was down, so I couldn't. So I really meant to post, but I couldn't! Well, I've been pretty busy lately, and we're going to church pretty soon, so I'll see if I can post later tonight. But if I don't, you'll know why.

New video game looks promising

Will Wright talking at the 2005 Game Developer's Conference about 'Spore', which looks like it could possibly be the best video game ever. Just found this really interesting game online that was recommended to me by a friend. Check it out! It's a mixture of The Sims, Age of Empires, Risk, and Black and White. You're pretty much a god, controlling this single-celled organism when you first start out, keeping it out of the harmful bacteria's way, then when the organism (presumably the "spore") has grown enough, you can use an intuitive editor that's built into the game to "evolve" your organism by adding new methods of movement, weapons, mouths, feet, legs, arms...you name it. You eventually move up into a fish/ocean stage, then evolve your organism onto land. Once you've mated with a fellow organism, you get the option to become what is very similar to the role you play in Black and White. You get to evolve/control/edit multiple organisms similar to the one you just helped to evolve. It's really hard to explain, but I included a video (above) of the demo that was played at E3 this year that does a good job of showing you exactly what it's all about. Trust me, once you watch it you'll want to buy it. Now. But unfortunately, it's not going to be available until Feb of next year. Aaahhhh, well, we'll just have to wait until then.

"Controversial" BYU Professor

I came across this news article earlier today and was astounded to hear what these nutballs were saying. They think that 9/11 was "an inside job. Professor Steven Jones has found residue on the steel samples from the World Trade Center. We now know that it was taken down in a controlled demolition." But just who is this Professor? Well, he's a professor at BYU, and the university itself is trying to get him removed from teaching due to his radical and extreme "conspiracy theories" of 9/11. This is the same guy who also thinks that "the World Trade Center Twin Towers and WTC 7 were brought down by pre-positioned cutter charges."

Well, I have to question Mr. Jones' theories here. I personally saw video LIVE on CNN of a plane hitting the second WTC tower with such force that it caused the building to catch on fire. It was quite some time before the first building started to fall, clearly collapsing from the weight of the upper stories on the weakened framing and support structures of the building, onto the lower floors, which was enough weight to bring the tower down. The same was true for the second building falling down. Now, don't you think that if Bush really did want to blow up the World Trade Center, he would have just blown it up with explosives?

Oh, no. But this professor has found RESIDUE to prove otherwise, right? Well, he has indeed proclaimed to have found residue, but his findings have not been published in ANY scientific journals, which is a must for any groundbreaking data so that his findings can be reviewed by other scientists around the country, and have only been reviewed by his peers and friends. [Source: McIlvain, Ryan (December 5, 2005). Censor rumors quelled] Well, of course his friends are going to agree with him, they're all liberals as well, and don't think for themselves! Whatever he says comes straight from the heavens. No questions asked. Did anyone ever think that the same residue that he found might have come from one of the many businesses that were housed in the WTC towers? Might be a possibility, since the purported residue that was found had roughly 110 stories to be hiding on--in each tower.

Now he's trying to literally shove his controversial (a more fitting phrase might be "widely rejected") findings down his student's throats at BYU, and they're trying like mad to fight back. They're trying to get him removed from teaching, because he can't seem to teach them without trying to set in motion his flaky political agenda. I don't blame them. But comparably asinine groups like the ACLU are stepping in and trying to prevent that from happening. I do agree that everyone has a right to express their beliefs, just not when you're forced to take part in those beliefs, such as in a classroom. I had a severely right leaning AP government teacher last year, and he was not afraid to express his beliefs in the classroom. But at least he would allow anyone who had beliefs contrary to his to be heard by the rest of the classroom. But when the school has to issue public statements regarding this professor, you know that he's taking it a little too far:

The BYU physics department has issued a statement: "The university is aware that Professor Steven Jones's hypotheses and interpretations of evidence regarding the collapse of World Trade Center buildings are being questioned by a number of scholars and practitioners, including many of BYU's own faculty members. Professor Jones' department and college administrators are not convinced that his analyses and hypotheses have been submitted to relevant scientific venues that would ensure rigorous technical peer review." The Fulton College of Engineering and Technology department has also added, "The structural engineering faculty in the Fulton College of Engineering and Technology do not support the hypotheses of Professor Jones.".

[Source: McIlvain, Ryan (November 14, 2005). Prof. calls for 9/11 investigation]

So even if you don't agree with me somehow that maybe the buildings collapsed under enormous stress because two fully loaded, fully fueled 747 jets flew into them with an incredible amount of force, I would start asking questions about the credibility of his "scientific evidence" that "proves" otherwise. So please, in the future, and especially in college, don't just trust everything that comes out of some wacko's mouth. That seems to happen a lot more frequently with our friends from the left, so I would severely question anything that sounds out of the ordinary. Actually do some research and look into things before you turn around and regurgitate that same information, because it could turn out to be completely false.

Something started my creative blogging side...again

Coming home from church the other day I was waiting at the Schleisman/Archibald light, and this girl not too much older than me was in tears, barely able to look out of her eyes, and crying so hard that I could hear her with my windows up and the air on. I decided to roll down my window and ask if she was alright, and I was barely able to finish asking before the light turned green. She quickly said that she wasn't alright because her father had just died. I drove the remaining distance home, and on my way home I prayed for her and her family.

I then realized how much I miss my blogging days on xanga, and decided to go with Blogger, because I already use so many other things from Google, and decided that they have a solid reputation. I'm just hoping I'll commit to blogging now that it's become a little easier to do, and in Italy I can keep you guys posted. Well, dinner calls, so I guess that's it for day 1.