Funny Conversations for You, Incredibly Painful for Others

I pride myself on being a good observer, and when I observe something that is funny, I usually just chuckle to myself. If I find something really funny, I share it with those around me. When I find something really, really funny, I share it with all of you. Hence this post.

As an extrovert, I love conversations. I love to listen to them, analyze them, and reflect on them. Even my own. Which got me thinking - have I ever thought I was having a funny, clever, or intriguing conversation when it was really just a boring, lame conversation that happens ALL THE TIME? Here are some examples of conversations that I think people have when they're in certain situations, which they think are funny, clever, or insightful, but are actually probably incredibly boring and painful for others around.

SCENARIO #1: Chinese Buffet
Have you ever been to a Chinese buffet and had a conversation before entering about how you were gonna "wreck this place" or how they were "gonna lose money on you"? I bet you have. How about after you're done, and you say something like "Oh man, you're gonna have to get a stretcher to take me out of here." You probably think it's very funny, but I can guarantee you, the employees must hear this conversation at least 100 times a day.

SCENARIO #2: Dollar Store
I know I'm not the only person who's ever gone into a dollar store begrudgingly or "just to look" and found some cool stuff in there. This is all well and good, until this conversation ensues: "They actually have some good stuff in here!" (As if there would be a million of these stores in existence if they sold nothing but crap, by the way.) "I can't believe they sell this stuff for $1!!! I better make sure everything's a dollar (coincidently this is often the store name). Ma'am? Is everything in here just a dollar?"

SCENARIO #3: Gas Station
While I've never worked at a gas station, I have done a considerable amount of field research on this one since I commute so much and know most gas station attendants by name. Every time I am in the gas station, someone inevitably talks about gas prices to the clerk, as if his or her conversation repertoire is limited to the price of oil or, better yet, they have some control over it. Talk to them about anything else besides gas prices. How the Wiggles are breaking up. Whether the Browns will cover the spread this week. Danny DeVito drunk on The View. Anything. I can understand the occassional comment, but give these people a break. Furthermore, I've noticed that these conversations take one of two turns.

The first is what I like to call the "hell in a handbasket" conversation. This entails some talk about how expensive gas is, followed by some loose ramblings about how he's going to have to sell his dog, put his child up on EBAY, or donate an organ to pay for gas if it gets any higher. Then he promptly buys cigarettes and a 20 oz. soda.

The second turn is what I call "insider info" whereby the customer tries to get the inside scoop on when prices will fall or increase, as if anyone has any idea. "Well sir, judging by the price of crude oil in Saskatchewan, the latest S&P 500 trends, and wildfires in the northern plains, you should see a 8 cent increase tomorrow at around 1:15, give or take a minute."

Concluding Thought
These conversations must stop for the sake of my sanity, and more importantly the sanity of those people who work in these environments. My sanity has enough stress due to this crazy weather here in the Midwest. I tell you what, this weather is so unpredictable. Hot, cold, 65 one day, 35 the next. I tell you....

This is Our Country... Just Ask John

I'm probably like most Americans in that when commercials come on the radio or the tv, I usually tune them out. Our culture has become so bombarded with advertisements, that we have become oblivious to many of them. This forces those in advertising and marketing (I was once a marketing person!) to become more creative in how they deliver their messages to us. Some companies are putting their ads on eggs, others are turning to advertisements in the bathroom. Some use in-flight advertisements on napkins, others use those creative little games that come up as pop-ups on your computer screen.

And some, well, they just bombard you with advertisements in the conventional way.

Take for instance, Chevy's new ad campaign, which features a washed up, leftist, pompous, John Mellencamp ever so annoyingly reminding us that "this is our country." I remember watching the World Series when this commercial began, and thinking, "Wow, this could get annoying very fast." And it did. Not only did the commercial run 4 times as much as any other commercial in the World Series time slots , it's trickled over into every other tv programming area. It's out of control.

Usually when I become overly irritated by an advertisement, I boycott the product and try my best to persuade others to do so. In this instance, I can't. My father works for General Motors, so I can't boycott them. I also happen to drive a GM vehicle. So does Erica.

I'm not sure what I'm more upset about. The fact that the song is so outright annoying and impossible to shake from your memory, or the fact that John Mellencamp is trying to restore patriotism in the country. I don't know what I'm going to do.


Maybe I should quit being so mad when this song comes on, and applaud Chevy's innovative marketing strategy. I wonder if this would work. As I consult my magic 8 ball widget on my mac for an answer, it says "outlook doubtful."

At least it didn't say "Yes. This is your country."

10 days after Devil's Night, Saginaw still burning

I'm often happy when I see my college town in the news, much less a lead story on CNN.com. But, not for things like this. Pay special attention to the final comment by Saginaw's Chief of Police, whose keen intellect and foresight are nothing short of brilliant.

10 DAYS AFTER DEVIL'S NIGHT, FIRES STILL ABLAZING

Late Wednesday and early Thursday, four fires erupted on the same block, causing more than $70,000 in damage. No one was injured.

"Why would anybody keep doing this?" Battalion Chief Donald Coleman asked.

Firefighters have battled more than 50 fires since the October 30 spree in which 16 houses, most of them vacant, burned. Since then, homes, cars and garbage have been set ablaze.

Widespread arson fires on the night before Halloween, dubbed Devil's Night, started years ago in Detroit. Saginaw, a city of about 60,000 residents, later began seeing copycat arsons.

Police have said a police officer trained in arson investigation will be working with Fire Marshal Gregory Barton to sift through charred homes, interview potential witnesses and track down leads.

"I think criminals would be a little less inclined to burn things down if they think they might be caught," Police Chief Gerald H. Cliff said.

You and Me Eatin’ Crackers in the Dark

I think a semi truck has helped me realize what marriage will be like.

A few nights ago, I was driving back into Oxford to pick Erica up to eat dinner. We were going to go out to eat, to El Burrito Loco (only the best for us). As I was traveling down the winding road of 73, I realized something was very different. The entire town was blacked out. There were only emergency flood lights, which provided little more than a hint that a building or road might be approaching.

As Erica got into the car, we decided we would just go back to my apartment and wait out the outage. We arrived at the Brillo Pad (my apartment), lit a series of tea light candles left by my old roommate, and proceeded to talk. We were certain that the power would come back on any minute.

Sometimes certainties quickly become fallacies.

2 hours later, we’re still in the dark. We have no heat, no way to obtain food (we’re both assured that we will soon starve to death), and nothing to do. We spend the two hours talking and progressively adding layers of clothes to our chilling bodies.

It’s now been three hours, and we decide we have to eat something. We scout out the dry foods in the kitchen, only to find that crackers are our only option. As some may realize, you’re not supposed to open your refrigerator during a power outage, because moisture will enter and if the power is out long enough, you’ll spoil all of your food. Despite our fathers’ voices in our conscience, we open the refrigerator and grabbed whatever we could. I must admit that despite the fact that ice water was running through my veins, I was only manage to grab some leftover chicken alfredo pasta and a block of cheese.

So there we were. In the dark. Cold. Eating cold leftover pasta, drinking room temperature water, eating crackers and cheese, chatting about nothing….. and loving every minute of it.

We later learned that a semi truck ran into the main power transformer in Oxford, thus knocking out the power for the whole town.

Although it was a little difficult to hear Erica talking toward the end of the night because the earmuffs were muzzling the sound of her voice, I think she said something about hoping that we have a lifetime of these moments. I hope we do, too.

Headlines: Dr. Evil, Laxatives, Sports

In the course of daily readings, I come across some pretty funny stuff. I thought I'd share some with you (whoever it is that actually read this). I have put forth some actual headlines that I found today, along with the headlines that I would chose. I also provide some brief commentary on them.

Actual Headline: “Inmate Uses Laxatives to Escape Prison”
Mine: “Laxatives Help Inmate Squirt from Prison”

This was a story ran on 10/20/2006. An inmate in an Australian prison took a lot of laxatives and lost 37 pounds so he could fit through the 6 inch gap in the prison bars. He was successful, but was later caught. I doubt this story gets much press. If they used my headline instead, I suspect they’d get much more ink.

Actual Headline: “North Korea Not Planning Further Nuclear Tests”
Mine: “No Time for Tests, Kim Jong-Il in Need of More Dr. Evil Suits”

North Korea said today (Oct. 20) that they aren’t planning further tests. Is this a sign of them conceding? Hardly. I think it’s more of a sign that Kim Jong-Il needs more Dr. Evil suits for all the publicity he is getting. Look at him. You know he likes to keep it fresh. I’m pretty sure they have the same tailor.

Actual Headline: “Yanks Implode: Out in 4”
Mine: “Tigers Roar in Four”

Seriously. Give the Tigers some credit. They’re a team. Not a collection of overpaid, self-centered individuals. That’s all.

Actual Headline: “Candidate Endorses Use of Textbooks to Stop School Shootings”
Mine: “Candidate Out of Ideas to Stop Violence, Wants Name in News for Elections”

This story is almost too much. A republican candidate for state superintendent of schools in Oklahoma said Thursday he wants thick used textbooks placed under every student's desk so they can use them for self-defense during school shootings. "People might think it's kind of weird, crazy," said Republican Bill Crozier of Union City, Oklahoma, a teacher and former Air Force security officer. "It is a practical thing; it's something you can do. It might be a way to deflect those bullets until police go there."

Sometimes it’s hard to be a republican when there are stories like this.

Let’s suppose, for a minute, that this actually works, and a students successfully fends off a would be school shooter. What might some headlines be?

“Prentice Hall Protects Pupils”?

“Books Useful for Students After All”?

“Rumsfeld Right All Along: Books, not Armor, Answer for Iraq”?

Maybe not. Seems like the appropriate headline would be:

“Bush Caps Inaugural Safety Institute Opening with Personal Gun Safety Research Study.”

Ha. I think that’s pretty funny.

Blog is Back!

After a rather mysterious disappearance, my blog is back! Thanks to blogger.com. More to come soon. In the mean time, go Tigers!

Passions Collide: Leadership and Sports

Anyone who knows me can attest to the fact that I am fanatical about both leadership and sports. I've been thinking about these two facets of my life a lot lately for a couple of reasons. First, it's a great time to be a sportsfan. Both college and professional football are in full swing. Baseball playoffs are down to four teams, and it's been a wild, wild postseason already. NBA is also starting up. In addition, I've been thinking a lot about what sort of PhD program I'd like to pursue in two years. I've started doing some initial research about various programs and strands of research, and will continue to meet with an organizational leadership professor at Miami University to think through my decision.

Despite the personal attention that these two topics consume, I rarely think about them together.

Sports fans hear a lot about leadership if they even tune into a single game or read any editorial. However, I tend not to pay attention to much of this talk mainly because it simply reinforces the positional, elitist, "leaders are born" mentality that plagues our society. "So and so is the leader of this team," or "Which one of these guys is going to step up and be a true leader?" seem to be all that one hears. However, I think that the savvy sports fans are witnessing a paradigm shift in sports in recent years, and even more so, right before their own eyes.

The 2006 Detroit Tigers were picked to finish last in their division. Coming off a 119 game losing season just two years prior (for those who aren't baseball dorks, the all-time loss record for any team in baseball is 120 games), the Tigers were picked to finish in last place. Furthermore, they didn't have any "big name" players, their payroll wasn't very substantial, and there were many more "big market" teams that had everything the Tigers lacked. Somehow, despite overwhelming doubt, the Tigers won over 90 games this year. Once they entered the playoffs with the 7 other teams, no one gave the Tigers a chance. After all, their first round opponent was the highly touted New York Yankees. With a $220 million dollar payroll (almost 4 times that of the Tigers), a roster full of all-starts and proven winners, and and endless pit of money and talent at their disposal, the Yankees should have won. All 25 ESPN analysts picked the Yankees to defeat the Tigers, and 18 of those picked the Yankees to win it all. Well, the Yanks were bounced from the playoffs in 4 short games. After their monumental loss, their underperforming star (Alex Rodriguez) was rumored to be on the trade block, their hall of fame manager who has led the team to 11 straight postseasons was almost assuredly going to be fired, and the entire city of New York was in disarray.

What this simple example illustrates is that thinking about leadership in terms of accolades and positionality will undoubtably fail. And when the ship sinks, the blame game takes center stage. After the Yankees loss, headlines were filled with blame: Alex Rodriguez can't get the big hit, their starting pitching stinks, and their manager isn't doing his job. I could go on and on.

Very few had the real story: the leadership of the Detroit Tigers.

A group of committed, passionate, selfless individuals who weren't concerned about what others thought, but rather about playing the game of baseball.

Listen to any of the Tigers talk about their success. They rarely talk about themselves individually, their stats, or what others say about them. Instead, they all do their part to ensure that they are creating an environment where everyone can contribute to the team's success.

A key ingredient in the Tigers success is their manager, Jim Leyland. He is the definition of a humble, committed leader. Consider this: he is the only manager in baseball who wears cleats to all of the games. He does this because he doesn't believe in being on a different level than his team. When the press hounds him for sound bites, he consistently deflects credit to the team. He recognizes those who are doing a good job, but always keeps the team as paramount, not individuals.

So here's to the Tigers. Great American story of 2006, and great case study of true leadership. Best of luck in the rest of the playoffs.

Crocs and Irrational Fears

I think that everyone has some sort of irrational fear. Some are more popular, like fear of clowns (someone I know has this fear, and shE shall RemaIn indesCribAble). My fear, for many years, has been escalators. I've always been certain that I was going to end up trapped in one at some point in my life. Laugh it up. Where did I acquire this irrational angst from? My sister and mother. When I was young they told me that I better keep my shoes tied at all times or else the escalator was going to suck me up. (side note: I have recalled this information to both of them since, to which they adamantly deny all of it). I used to have vivid dreams about hungry escalators trapping me for long periods of time. In fact, it still comes up every now and again in my dreams.
I was in Washington D.C. this past spring, and they have gigantic escalators. Admittedly, I was a bit nervous on them. But, I press on. And, I continue to press on... until this:

In an ABC news report this week, they identified numerous instances where children wearing crocs were getting stuck in escalators. Here is an excerpt:

"Some people have reported that kids wearing Crocs have had their feet sucked into the side of escalators. Some businesses have even posted warning signs near their escalators saying if you're wearing Crocs, be careful."

Great. Just what I needed. For those who don't know, I LOOOOVVVEEE my crocs. Despite harassment from friends, fiances, and passerbys, I still love them. And will continue to love them, even if it means greatly increasing the likelihood that one of my worst fears will come true - getting stuck in an escalator. But hey, at least while I'm stuck and the target of public sneering, my feet will be comfortable in my crocs.

One of My Favorite Games

One of my absolute favorite games to play with other people isn't a "game" per se. It's more of a funny thing that I started doing a long while ago and have grown quite fond of it. Here's how it goes:

In regular conversation, someone will become excited about a great deal that they got, how many of something there were, or how quickly they arrived somewhere. After they preface the story, he/she will ask you to guess the particular number or price. The best thing to do in this situation is to guess extremely low or high. This generally deflates the person's story, but it makes for a really, really good laugh. Here are some examples:

Scenario A
Excited Person: "Check out my new dress. Guess how much I got this for?!?!?"
You: "Three dollars."
Excited Person: (with wind out of sails) "no, it was twenty dollars."
You: (smile)

Scenario B
Excited Person: "Guess how far we rode our bikes today?"
You: "300 miles."
Excited Person: "No. Just 25."

Scenario C (this one came courtesy of my friend Dave I taught him this game, too)
Dave's Friend: "Guess how much I paid for these plates?"
Dave: "15,000 riyals."
Dave's Friend: (general look of deflation)

Now, you may be thinking "wow, this guy is a pretty big jerk." Not so. In fact, the other person usually laughs a lot too. Then you teach them the game, and they become filled with joy as well. In fact, I'm a joy spreader. Not a jerk.

Everything I love is being discontinued...

Sometimes I feel like I'm the Truman Show. You know the one where someone's life is being broadcast for all the world to see unbenounced to the person. Am I paranoid? No. My Truman Show is a bit different. It's not about relationships per se, it's about products. Call it a "Marketing Truman Show" if you will. Here's why:

There have been three products that hit the market in the last year that I have absolutely loved - in fact, I've been crazy about them. The first, and probably most prolific, is fresh spinach that comes in the easy container. I have always known salads were good for me, and I'd love to eat them, but I was never a big fan of iceberg lettuce. Introduce fresh spinach - uniform, stays fresh, tastes good. I loved it. I told numerous people about it. Just as soon as I develop an affinaty for it, boom. FDA recall. So long spinach. At least you're not Pluto.


Second product. As an unfortunate allergy sufferer (thanks Mom!) and a contact lens wearer, I always have dry eyes at some point in time. No contact solution, rewetting drops, or combination thereof seem to keep my lenses moist all day. That was until I found "MoistureLoc" by Renu. This was the product I had been waiting for (I can end a sentence in a preposition, so shush). This product was no rub, no hassle, no dryness. Amazing. I told countless people about this product as well. Turns out, Bausch & Lomb recall the entire product line because of eye infections and bacteria growth. Great. (side note: my former roommate knew of the recall a full two months before I did, and never told me about it.)

Third product. So, from time to time, my feet happen to smell. To combat this, I've used many products that you may find at your local grocery store, only to be disappointed. My fiance (girlfriend at the time) out of the good nature of her heart (or disgust...whichever) bought me some foot spray from True Blue Spa from Bath and Body works (where she used to be employed). I loved this stuff! No more foot odor, feet felt nice, worked all day! Gone. Discontinued. You can't even get the stuff on Ebay. In fact, this stuff is so elusive, that I couldn't even find a picture of it on the internet! Crazy.

In conclusion, if anyone knows something that I don't about these products, or why everything I like keeps getting taken away from me, please advice. Until then, keep on truckin'.

As Summer Comes to a Close..

It seems to be getting a little chillier every morning, which only means one thing: summer is drawing to a close. What a great summer it's been. Here are some reflections/thoughts from summer in no particular order:

1. People are generally in much better moods in the summer.
   
2. There will never be a better song about the summer months than Summertime by DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince.
   
3. It's always tough to say goodbye to good friends - especially the ones that you've been through enough with to know that they are indeed good friends.
4. UDF is a saving grace for some many that call Oxford home.
5. Baseball is still the greatest game in the world, even if the only playoffs that the Red Sox will be a part of will be in Madden '07.
6. Skyline Chili is still beloved by Cincinnatians, but hated by those outside the Greater Cincinnati area, including me.
   
7. I can't think of a single greater invention/innovation in the last 10 years that brings people (especially men) together in a more meaningful way than Fantasy Football. Strategy, sports, trash talk, competition, glory... beautiful.
8. It's time we quit ignorning the correlation between gas prices and summertime. I know the laws of supply and demand. If more people drive in the summer (which they do) demand goes up. Does that mean there is a shortage of supply? Can anyone explain this? Anyone who thinks oil companies aren't laughing all the way to the bank are asleep at the wheel (no pun intended).
9. Having someone to share your life with makes everyday better.
10. Life never works out the way you planned it, but it always works out for the better.
    

Have You Ever Played This Game?

I played a great game tonight and I'm sure you've played it too. If you're anything like me when you grocery shop, you use the "start at the first aisle and go up and down each aisle" strategy. While this strategy has a great number of benefits (i.e., cover a lot of ground quickly, able to recognize things you'd otherwise forget, exercise), it does, however, have a few setbacks - namely, running alongside someone else who has the exact same strategy as you.

So, I'm in the grocery store tonight, and I begin at the first aisle. I scurry down the lengthy line of shelving, make a turn to go down to the next aisle, and run into a woman going to the next aisle. I smile half-heartedly and continue about my business. I quickly move into the next aisle, only to be confronted by the same woman. I now have a choice: do I acknowledg her with another smile, ignore her, strike up coversation, say something witty... I don't know. So I opted for the ignorning strategy. I continue onto what becomes a 30 minute game of weaving in and out of aisles and meeting somewhere in the middle with my new friend. It was almost as if we were involved in an intricate dance within the aisles. Sometimes she would lead, other times I would (this of course means that I would arrive in the next aisle before her). It was all the elegance that one such Kroger could handle.

Now here's my question: Is there some sort of social ettiquette that I should have adhered to in this situation?

Get In, Hang On, and Get Out!

Prompted by some feedback about this blog (e.g., "what the heck is this thing about?", "it doesn't make any sense") I figured I would try to explain its purpose a bit more. I thought about writing something clever to explain it, but I stumbled across this picture. What a beautiful juxtaposition. God loves you, but this particular piece of land, well, it's mine. And I don't love you, so stay out. Why you may ask? Because you lie.

This is a place for me to explore contradictions in life - whatever that turns out to be. It's a good way for me to process things. And a way to keep track of interesting things I read.
This weekend should be a good one. Erica is taking me to a Dwight Yoakam concert. Should be an evening of some great hick-a-billa rock and the all too common "out-of-place" concert experience that I regularly find myself in. Usually, about 1% of the population at concerts I attend are within 2 years of my age. I suspect that Bingo-Rama of Dayton may experience a dip in the megapot coverall this Saturday due to Dwight's concert.

Stuff I read:

• I was reading a summarative report on the future of state universities by the Kellogg Commission today and stumbled upon something that struck a cord with me. The topic was the fundamental mission of colleges/universities. Many past presidents had carefully selected declarations about higher education's mission ripe with buzzwords. These were all pretty interesting, but none of this was what struck me. They interviewed a group of students (imagine that?!?!) about what the mission of their institutions should be. One student responded, "The mindset should be about getting in, hanging on, and getting out." I love it.
  

• Eleven years after their high school graduation, only about 55% of those who ever entered a two-or four-year institution had obtained an education credential of any kind (i.e., certificate, degree).

So you're a little bit older...

Well, I finally turned the big 25 yesterday. This was a great birthday for me as I am right where I need to be. I have a great family, loving fiance, awesome friends, a great job, and a sense of peace that only comes along with following a greater plan. It was hard to be away from my family for my birthday, but they sent me a package full of goodies that I opened with Erica. Erica also made me a birthday cake, which was fantastic. We also went to Fiesta Charra for dinner, which was a lot of fun. I could eat there everday. Chimichanga Me anyone? As Erica would probably tell you, I probably don't need anymore weird/strange ideas to occupy my time!


I came upon this in my readings today. I wonder why these were the top 10 most searched words on dictionary.com? I think the #1 is because of President Bush. Any thoughts?

The 10 words queried most frequently by users of Merriam-Webster's online dictionary in 2005:
1. integrity
2. refugee
3. contempt
4. filibuster
5. insipid
6. tsunami
7. pandemic
8. conclave
9. levee
10. inept

Thoughts... and more reasons to hate Wal-Mart

Hello there. This post is developed almost entirely to Wal-Mart. I fell in love with this picture on the right, and thought I'd share it with all of you along with some more reasons to hate Wal-Mart.

• When asked whether they are in the top 1 percrent of income, 20 percent of Americans said yes, and 19% more said they expected to be in their lifetime.

Reasons to hate Wal-Mart seem to be as abundant as long-haired Mac users these days. Here are a few that you may not already know:

• Wal-Mart has an annual turnover rate of 50%.
• When you think you are buying cheap at Wal-Mart, remember that you are paying in taxes for cheap prices (e.g., with no health care, most employees rely on emergency room care for their families).
  
• Talk amongst co-workers at Wal-Mart that does not directly relate to work is called "stealing time" from the company.

In recapitulation, don't shop at Wal-Mart, and remember the poor. The end.

New Website

I've given some thought to what my next new adventure is going to be, and I've decided that I am going to build and maintain a website. I've actually thought about this for quite some time, and wanted to come up with something really creative and innovative. So, my first thought was to register www.talktostrangers.com. This would be a website that encouraged others to talk to people on the street, the grocery store, the airport checkout counter, whatever... and report what good/interesting things happen. It's no secret that we live in an ever-increasingly isolated world, so I thought this might be cool. This was a pretty good idea I thought, but the domain was already in use.

Then I had an epiphany the other day. Everyone in the world has had a crazy roommate - either someone you directly lived with, or someone/some people in your apartment complex that was just.... well... weird. Whether it's the guy who wears rec specs every day for the better part of two years, the man who eats pizza for every meal, or the roommate you had freshmen year who took pictures of you while you slept, hearing these stories are hysterical. And, there is no way to exchange such stories except when you and your friends gather. What if there was a way to read, listen to, and exchange these stories (complete with pictures, of course) in a digital format? Welcome to www.weirdroommates.com It shouldn't take me long to get something up there, so check back often.

In other news, here are some more interesting things I read today:

• 15% of the women who have given birth in the United States from 2000-2003 were not citizens.
  
• States in the Northeast have higher percentage of unmarried-partner households, teenage childbirths, and get married later in life (median age 29 for men, 26-27 for women)
  

The beginning of findings and thoughts...

So I just had a grand idea - as a lot of my life revolves around the piecemeal of random thoughts that sometimes teeter on the edge of being intelligent only to be lost by further thought, I decided that I will keep track of these thoughts here - for all of you to see. This will also serve as a personal means of accessing these thoughts. Furthermore, much of my current job is to read and scan oodles of publications, magazines, and books. I will be able to keep a lot of the information here in a coherent (let's hope) fashion.

• The Chronicle reported that a recent study by Nature showed that Wikipedia entries are about as accurate as entries in Encylopedia Britannica. I suspect this comes as a striking blow to those who believe that such information should only be produced by people who hold advanced specialized degrees. Might some be worried that someone with little or no formal advanced education have more to say?
  

• About half of the students currently enrolled in higher education are at community colleges. I think that is fascinating. It makes me wonder how well I (among others with a background from student affairs prepatory programs) are equipped to work with these students. What other implications does this have?
  

Job/Engagement

Well, for those of you who don't know, I have made plans to wed a one Ms. Erica Bischer on June 30, 2007. She's pretty fantastic, so I figured it was time! The next year should be an exciting roller coaster ride to say the least. (note: romanticism isn't my strong suit).

I've taken a hiatus from the ol' blog here, but will do so no longer. This helps me process a lot of information. For instance, Erica and I met with the priest in Oxford last night to continue our marriage prep work. He is a great guy, and a graduate of the College Student Personnel program at Miami. We took a test similar to Meyers-Briggs, which focuses on relationship issues. Although we won't get the official scoring back for another month, I am certain that I kicked her butt. Erica had to attend confession shortly after completing the test to repent of her sins of cheating and looking at my paper for the answers.

In other news, I started work at the Kettering Foundation a few weeks ago. I love it here. It's very interesting work, and should be a great two year stay. Soon it will be on for a Ph.D., and who knows what excitement that may bring. For now, my mind is open and bent toward learning more about democracy and civic engagement.

Hey, I gotta say, today was a good day...

So I felt sort of so-so today for the most part- probably just a bit overwhelmed with everything going on in this crazy land we call CSP. I decided that to brighten my day, I'd try to brighten someone else's. I sent Erica some flowers today, just for being her. She's been incredibly supportive of me and my wild antics over the past 4 1/2 years, and I hope I never become complacent or ungrateful for all that she does for me. I wanted to send her a pleasant smelling and visually appealing reminder of my appreciation, and well, given that I'm 5 hours away from her, it came in the form of a floral arrangement. It made her day, so it of course made mine.

Besides that, I turned in my resume for a job today that I am increasingly more excited about at Miami-Hamilton. Keep your fingers crossed. I feel as though I really connect with students there, which I would have never guessed from the outset of my experience there. Their student body is comprised of a great deal of diversity, which I can certainly appreciate. Plus, you'd be hard pressed to spend more than $5 in their cafeteria, which is a major bonus of being there.

I've definitely learned from my recent hiatus from my everyday reality while away at conferences that music is a major part of my life. I was deprived of music most of our journey, which I never thought would be such a problem. Music puts me at ease, helps me escape troubling thoughts, challenges me to think of things in new ways, or just takes me back to a place in time that I can't help but miss. Plus, how can one not be in a good mood when hearing Biggie Smalls? (I told you this thing was going to be pretty profound).

Well, chalk up another day that I can't seem to link any sort of complex or entirely meaning thoughts together. Nonetheless, in the words of a very famous author, "I gotta say, today was a good day."

In the Beginning

Well, I must admit that I'm happy that you've stumbled upon this. My best guess is that I created this blog not because I jumped on the bandwagon (hey, I do self-author afterall), but because I feel that I have a lot of ideas that run through my mind, and I don't take the time to write them all down or to pursue them any further than initial thoughts. So, I am hoping that this will be the first of many insightful entries- or at worst entertaining.

So, I recently learned that my wonderful girlfriend, Erica, is going to be coming to Miami University for the College Student Personnel program. I'm so excited for her! She's pretty fantastic, and I know she has great things ahead of her. I've made the commitment to stay around here while she is in school. It's sort of a weird feeling- On one hand, there are a lot of cool jobs elsewhere that I would love to do, but on the other, there is one exceptionally cool woman in Oxford. The choice was clear for me when I quickly realized that Erica makes me happier and more fulfilled than any job ever could. So, here I am :)

I just returned home from the 12 day tour of NASPA and ACPA (both higher ed conferences). It was a great journey, one in which I learned more about myself than anything that the curriculum could have ever provided. It was another reminder that I am constantly surrounded by great people at Miami University.

I'd love to hear from anyone who might stumble across this. I suspect that future blog entries will take a slightly less "personal journal" tone and a greater tone of thoughts/concepts about things. If that brief commercial doesn't bring you back, I don't know what will.