Parallel Johnny

Sigh… now that Thanksgiving has past, its officially the final stretch — The semester, Christmas, New Years…Its all weeks away.

Thanksgiving gives us the great sense of “time out”, but its false. Now that I’ve had my four day weekend, I’ve become lethargic at a time when I absolutely cannot afford to. Projects, presentations, finals; they’re all piling up. Christmas shopping: just my dad’s is done. Plans for New Year’s: none yet. I know that this is all going to hit me last minute.

Ah well, enough procrastinating. Back to my lab report.

Oh, for anyone that cares, I’ve been touching up Less-Sober.com. Cam has recently updated. I redid the syndication feed and I’m quite proud of the SQL query I wrote up to do it.

One more thing (my ADD is acting up), does anyone know of some software web app or website for publishing wishlists? I may have to make it myself, but it’d be nice if someone has already written one.

The weekend has been pretty fun, so far. On Wednesday night, Lauren and I went up to McGees. Larry V. and Nate ‘Shaft’ S. were up there as wel as all the fun regulars. Thursday was Hectic, but I survived.

Last night, Adam suggested we go to the Double Olive in Grosse Pointe Park. I’ve been meaning to go for a while, but having someone else interested in going made it certain.

So Adam, Chrissy Wo, her friend Karen, Lauren and I all went to the Double Olive. It was an amazing place. First off, I learned about it because Darren Revell left me a message saying he was spinning there every Friday and Saturday night. I was skeptic about it being really expensive, but it turned out to be very reasonable.

It was a very comfortable martini lounge; very warm. I took a look at the beer list and they had about 40 or so beers from around the world. I spotted the Polish lager, Zywiec (see my Beer Blog I entry). The beers ranged from $3 - $5. I also had a bottle of Hacker-Pshnorr (500 ml) for only $5. I had Adam try it, but he didnt like it and felt bad about it (Its no big, Adam). The Girls ordered martini’s that only came to $7 each. They were slightly larger than Goodnight Gracie’s and a few bucks cheaper. Also, within 10 minutes of sitting down, a waitress came around and offered us complementary White Russian shots with Starbucks Liquor.

So it had a great atmosphere, Darren Revell spinning great music, great prices, and Hitchhiker’s Guide playing on a projector screen.
A++. I will definitely be returning.

I warn you, this is not a typical post. Includes topics like religion and politics….

Last Sunday, like most Sundays, I went to church. For those unfamiliar with the process, there comes a time in the service where someone reads off names and causes to pray for and everyone replies, “Hear our prayer.” Finally the person says, “For our own silent intentions…” or something to that effect and a moment a silence where you go over in you head your own thoughts. This past Sunday was a bit different for me. I felt as if I was forgetting something. Of course, I always think of my loved ones and friends, especially those who are having hard times, but was that all? This irked me a bit, but never stopped me. The service went on, ended and I headed home.

Recently, I mentioned WDET had brought back one of my favorite programs, This American Life. Last week’s episode: Strangers In a Strange Land. It was a series of stories on the Iraq war, but not from the words of a journalist as most have become accustomed to. These stories were from three men in the military who kept in touch with America through their blogs. These were very real stories, published as they occurred. I cannot describe how realistic these blogs were, but they certainly reminded me that I did overlook something in church that day.

The mainstream media has begun to downplay the ongoing events overseas. No longer is it front page news. The media has a strong role in what you think is important or not. When the papers decide to stop mentioning the fights, people start to believe that the problems have disappeared. This isn’t the case.

What I would like most out of this post is some recognition to these military men and woman who have decided to take on journalism themselves. I encourage you to either read some blog entries from a few well known blogs or to at least listen to the This American Life episode where some stories are read. I promise it will be well worth your time.

Some Blogs Mentioned in the Show:
livejournal user rebelcoyote
Captain Chuck Ziegenfuss
And Anonymous blogger’s A Day in Iraq.

Listen to the Show Here (RealMedia)

Oh yeah, Monday night. Time for some 30 cent wings and half off pizza.

It never ceases to amaze me how many pop culture references Family Guy can squeeze into a single episode.

Peanut Butter Jelly Time (Original)
Somewhere Thats Green (Little Shop of Horrors)

Tonight I’m going to see Brian perform a piece from Dave Brubeck.

Then its a date with Lauren.  Dinner and a movie maybe?

These socialite sites have been getting out of hand.  First I discover that socialite sites are no longer exclusive to humans.  Then I realize that Adam has a more interesting profile for his pet than he does on his own Myspace Profile.

That brings me to MySpace, a place for friends [and other random people you don’t know, but you’ll claim them as a friend anyway, because hey, we all know its really just a contest to see who can have the most friends.] and Facebook…no tagline [but we’re more sophisticated than myspace cause we’re educated]. These two sites have been duking it out for some time, now; A ‘there shall be only one’ kind of epic battle

Read the rest at No-Good-Reason.net