the truest of forms

Starting somewhere during freshman year, the force that is Facebook was opened up to the school I attend, and it immediately started taking over people’s lives. Many of my friends would spend hours…every…day…searching profiles, sending messages, looking at pictures and (oh boy!) poking people. I rarely dabbled in Facebook, and for about 2 years I’d occasionally sign on, read a message or two and then fly out of there. It scared me! If was around it too long, it gave me the jeepers. It was almost as if it had a voice of its own calling out to me…”c’mon, look at suchandsuch’s pictures! It doesn’t matter that you haven’t spoken to that person in 2-3 years! Do it, do it! …Or atleast poke them!”

I’m not someone who necessarily blames institutions for other people’s abuses of what they have to offer. I’m not going to walk around pointing fingers at Big Tobacco as the sole reason that teenagers smoke (by the way, I hate the Truth and JEL half the time… that’s another post altogether), so I’m not going to blame Facebook for creating the monstrosity that it is. But, people waste their lives away on this thing, and this truth coupled with my sparing use of it led to the deactivation of my account a couple of months ago. “I’m free!” was the exclamation I uttered after I completed the task, and this so inspired a buddy of mine that he used my quote in a persuasive speech that was aimed at getting people away from Facebook. I have since argued with many friends about my perspective and reasons for escaping the dragon. These include:

1) Facebook creates artificial relationships!! People communicate to one another superficially and randomly and don’t really even know each other! A student learns another’s name, becomes “friends” with them and then they say hi to one another (not in person) every 3 weeks or so…oh boy! Not only that, the communication between one another rarely reaches substantial levels of conversation. Instead of calling a friend, they Facebook someone and call it good. Ridiculous.

2) Facebook helps out weirdos. Sure there are privacy measures and all that junk, but I’ve heard far too many stories about guys that some girl kind of knows that ends up stalking her/sending weird messages. People even ask each other out on it! Yech.

3) Facebook adds yet another sub-level of communication for our society. In the past, people communicated solely by speaking to one another or by written letter…then we got the telephone…then e-mail, then cell phones, then text messaging and now Facebook!! Ughh. Nowadays, if someone wants to get to know another person (perhaps of the opposite sex) it all starts at this bottom rung that is Facebook…where has all the direct communication gone?

4) It’s another distraction in day to day life that keeps people from homework, talking to roommates and activities. The U.S. thrive on distractions, and this is another one.

5) Clinging. Girlfriends/boyfriends can keep can keep contacting/looking up pictures of ex-girlfriends and boyfriends. People with crushes that will never, ever come to fruition can spend all the time they want looking at pictures of their obsession. Relationships that would have otherwise gone naturally to the wayside are clung to via Facebook and which leads into ghosts of relationships that are simply unnecessary.

All of that being said, and there are more reasons yet, I still am tempted to return to Facebook for a few reasons…

1) Finding e-mail addresses of those who you don’t normally see or don’t attend your school

2) You are reminded of birthdays….(I miss a lot of them)

3) People no longer e-mail pictures to you…they put them on Facebook. I wish this was not true.

I wish that Facebook had never been invented. But, I still may return to it, use it sparingly yet again and try to take advantage of the positives that it can have if used correctly. Thoughts?

Here I am at work again with some time to kill! So I figure I’ll throw out some opinions on CDs again…Again, I’m gearing toward the more mainstream records I own…well, maybe I will, maybe not.

Lifehouse – No Name Face

Okay, I can’t rank these in order from best to worst because the tracks in this CD are too good and too close together in quality…these are my top 3 in no particular order.

1. “Everything”

2. “Simon”

3. “Hanging by a Moment”

Matchbox Twenty – Yourself or Someone Like You …Okay, this one’s tough too

1. “3 AM”

2. “Long Day”

3. “Argue”

Coldplay – X & Y

1. “Fix You”

2. “Swallowed in the Sea”

3. “Speed of Sound”

Keane – Hopes and Fears

1. “Somewhere Only We Know”

2. “Bedshaped”

3.  “We Might as Well be Strangers”

Sleeping at Last – Ghosts

1. “A Skeleton of Something More”

2. “Say”

3. “Currents”

Those are the choices! Feel free to debate. If you don’t own the last two albums, especially, you need to go buy them. Right now….Do it!

Over time I’ve found some amazing videos online while passing the day away at work…here are some great ones.

Benny Hin  – I’m all about making fun of this guy

Beckham Collection – Simply unbelievable

One amazing kick – I think this ball was juiced…

Great Commercial #1 – One of my suite’s favorites

Great Commercial #2 – My roommate Tim loves this…especially the very last line

The Best Dunk I’ve Ever Seen – Vince Carter over a 7′ 2” center…wow

I hope you enjoy!

My predictions for the NFL…were pretty mediocre.

I said:                                                                                      Actual:

NFC divisional champs

Cowboys, Bears, Panthers, Seahawks                                 Eagles, Bears, Saints, Seahawks

Wild card teams: Bucs, Eagles                                              Cowboys, Giants

AFC divisional champs

Patriots, Bengals, Colts, Broncos                                          Patriots, Ravens, Colts, Chargers

Wild card teams: Steelers, Chiefs                                        Jets, Chiefs

So I ended up getting 7 out of 12 playoff teams in the end, which isn’t great, but not too bad…I only got 4 out of 8 divison winners…ech. The NFL is so random! And I definitely didn’t mind having the Broncos not make the playoffs since my 49ers reached my goal of 7-9 for the season!! Boo ya. Watch out for them next year. Frank Gore is the man.

Here are my predictions for the playoffs: At the beginning of the year I said the Colts would win it all, which I will back…As of now, this is how I think it’ll happen, though.

Rd. 1 – Colts over Chiefs. Patriots beat Jets (in a close one). Eagles kill the Giants. Cowboys beat Seahawks.

Rd. 2 – Bears beat ‘Boys. Saints over Eagles. Colts win vs. the Ravens (barely). Chargers over the Patriots.

Rd. 3 – Saints beat Bears. Chargers beat Colts.

Rd. 4 – Chargers out last the Saints to win Super Bowl XLI. Atleast I think that’s the Super Bowl # this year…

For the second time in three years, I am the champion of my fantasy football league!! The Speculator, NY Beavers overcame all odds and defeated the #2 and #1 seeds en route to a sweet championship victory. It’s hard to tell what motivated my team to perform so well under pressure, or exactly how I was able to win this year… Was it incredible team drafting, strategy and organization? Of course. Was it basically because Steven Jackson was unbelievable in the final few weeks? Umm…that was a big part of it. How about just plain luck? Yeah, probably…but that’s not as fun.

Anyway, I’m proud to take home the trophy again this year, and we’ll see how everything pans out next season. And though there are rumors, I’m not calling myself a dynasty unless I win next year…then maybe. By the way, we need to institute some sort of traveling trophy for this league for the winner…but I’m guessing that I’ll have to come up with one, because no one will really want to send me one…

Special thanks for my championship go out to: Steven Jackson, Donald Driver, the Ravens’ defense, Kellen Winslow, Chris Cooley, and Nate Kaeding…and Reggie Brown I guess.

No help to me at all this year, in the end: Jake Delhomme, David Carr, Cadillac Williams and Chris Chambers. Good bye and good riddance.

Although I haven’t seen any of the episodes from this season, I’ve been going through season 2 of The Office on DVD with my roommates. I am willing to say undoubtedly that this is (or at least was last year) the BEST SHOW ON TELEVISION. Hands down. The comedic writing is the best since I’ve seen since Seinfeld, and the characters are hilarious. Steve Carell (Michael Scott, the boss), Rainn Wilson (Dwight) and John Krasinski (Jim) carry the show, but all the members of the cast were well-chosen. Hopefully someday I’ll be able to start watching this season with some regularity, but for now, season 2 is cracking me up.  Watch this show or buy the DVDs, you won’t regret it!!

I haven’t written on this thing for awhile! I guess I’ve run out of ideas lately and also been a little stretched for time. But I’ve decided to do a post or two rating the top songs on some quality albums. I’ll try to stick to ones that people know more about so they will argue/comment more. The top songs are in order, I’m not just throwing 3 out there. Let me know your picks!

Counting Crows – Recovering the Satellites (This is THE BEST Counting Crows album)

Top Songs

1. “Angels of the Silences”

2. “I’m Not Sleeping”

3. “A Long December”

U2 – The Best of: 1980-1990

1. “Pride (In the name of love)”

2. “With or Without You”

3. “Sunday Bloody Sunday”

Further Seems Forever – How to Start a Fire

1. “On Legendary”

2. “Pride War”

3. “The Deep”
Dave Matthews Band – Before These Crowded Streets (“Grey Street” from Busted Stuff is their best song, btw…)

1. “The Last Stop”

2. “The Stone”

3. “Stay (Wasting Time)”

Goo Goo Dolls – Dizzy Up the Girl

1. “Iris”

2. “Dizzy”

3. “Black Balloon”

Although I don’t really care about the NBA all that much, there’s one player that plays in Minnesota that I do feel a little bit sorry for. He is incredibly talented and surrounded by losers and management that has terrible drafts and ugly trades…and has been for his entire career. I recently went to a T-Wolves game and saw Kevin Garnett in person, and the effort he shows despite the environment around him is pretty incredible. Kevin, you deserve better. ASK TO BE TRADED. NOW. I think even Minnesotans would be happier in the long run…to see their idol do well elsewhere. Anyway, the Sports Guy agrees with me and articulates this much better in his article.

I haven’t really written about sports in awhile, so I feel like anyone reading whatever I put up here might be a little deprived….so let’s do it.

I’m definitely frustrated and confused by Iowa football. Who would’ve thought that Drew Tate’s senior season would end up being a “rebuilding” year? I’m sure injuries are hurting this team…but losing to Indiana, Northwestern and uughh…Minnesota in the same season? I’m speechless.

I’m pumped about the 49ers, though! Sure, they may not have a good quarterback…or much offense to speak of, really, but our defense and Frank Gore have been pretty stellar…or atleast it seems like it. Maybe everyone just has a down week against the 49ers…but I’m taking it and running with it. In your face, Vikings fans, the 49ers at 5-5 have a better record than you and are only one game back in the West.

Taking sort of a tangent off of that subject, I liked Mike Nolan’s look on Sunday. Wearing a dress suit on the football field is pretty sleek and classy. Can we get the always frazzled-looking Bill Belichick to sign up for this idea?

My former classmate and high school football star Adrian Arrington had 5 catches for 90 yards and a TD against Ohio State on Saturday. It’s pretty cool to see that he’s progressing and improving on the biggest stage in college sports…and I like name dropping.

I’m pretty proud of the Cubs, so I’ll give them a little credit. Though I’m not a fan, they’re putting up some money and trying to make themselves better. Needless to say, Alfonso Soriano is not a bad place to start. Peter Gammons actually thinks that that move, along with a couple others, will allow them to be a possible contender next year…we’ll just have to see, anything can happen with Piniella at the helm.

What? Justin Morneau just won the AL MVP? I’m really surprised that he beat out Jeter, but I guess we just witnessed an east-cost-bias backlash, and that’s just fine by me. This leaves the Twins with the following postseason awards: Batting title – Joe Mauer, Cy Young, MVP – Justin Morneau. Pretty darn impressive. I think we should add “biggest posteason letdown…again” award to the list, though. I mean, c’mon, the A’s?? A sweep?

Fantasy Football -

I hate LaDainian Tomlinson. I had a pretty bad week, but I was still leading 80-75 with my kicker still left to play…except that, oh wait, Kyle still had Tomlinson yet to play as well…and then he scored 48 points. 48!!! As in, over half of my total score! 19 touchdowns in a 6 game span is pretty unbelievable. If he wasn’t so effective maybe my kicker, Kaeding, could get a few more points for me.

Nathan lost McNabb! This = good for those of us who have a shot at the title..not like I’m wishing harm on the guy or anything. It’s not going to cripple the Rangers, but it’s a blow. Now, if only I could get LT could pull a hamstring or something…

Somehow the Panthers have gotten into first place without Jake Delhomme really doing anything..basically ever. I curse the day I gave the man enough respect to draft him!

I’m also bitter about what is happening down in Miami. Chris Chambers is supposed to be the #1 guy! Stop throwing to Marty Booker and that Welker guy (or whatever his name is)!! Argh….

Being a student at Bethel with a bunch of different activities and things to attend to has kept me from being able to watch very much television. In general, I don’t really miss it (except for a number of football games). Anyway, I found that whenever I did watch a show or a sporting event in the past month or two, I couldn’t get away from the mindless political ads for the elections that took place on Monday. I know I’m speaking for a lot of people when I say that I felt must less motivated to vote with every superficial, name-calling, mudslinging advertisement that came across the screen. I don’t wonder why our voting percentages have been free-falling over the years (although I don’t know about any of the numbers from this election) with all the garbage coming out of both of these camps. I propose a radical and freeing new way to advertise for the running for various public offices: 1. Actually talk about your own perspectives on important issues… or really any issues for that matter… and 2. ONLY talk about one’s (squi’s) own agenda and plans for what will be done if one gets into the position!!! Or…continue to perpetuate the apathy that is held to so strongly by a lot of American people on this matter.