Ithaca « white male consumer

SOB Story

Posted May 28th, 2007 at 5:46PM

I was assigned a story to write after graduating, with the college magazine. No contact info. Finally I get a phone number for the person’s parents. Call up, try to explain the situation, shot down within 30 seconds and hung up on. WTF?

What a prick.

I hate cold calling.

Hold On

Posted May 22nd, 2007 at 2:07PM

Killing myself just to keep alive, killing myself to survive

These last few days I’ve been doing some of the tourist things that abound in Ithaca. Wine tasting, hiking, looking at flowers at Cornell, sitting on the shores of lake Cayuga, eating good food. Commencement was on Sunday, so my parents came for that, and they’ll be staying nearly a week. We’ll be taking in everything that the Finger Lakes region offers that we’ve never experienced. I’ve snapped a lot of photographs, which can be seen at Flickr. I’m learning all of the subtleties of my Canon Rebel XTi, so photos are coming out better and better. I might want to invest in a macro lens and some lens hoods and polarizing filters though.

Graduation was fine: the actual ceremony surprisingly painless. But I was in a funk, and it’s pretty obvious why. It wasn’t about college ending (I’m ready) or my impending move from Ithaca (I’m thinking of staying). It’s the fact that there are maybe a half-dozen or so people I’ve met that I don’t really want to say adieu.. to.

One in particular.

Plenty of my peers are decent people. I get along with most of them. But I won’t miss them. Just like high school, or each year these past four, when friends and loose associates have graduated. OK, I’ll admit. It’s about a girl. Missed opportunities and kicking myself for never doing anything. Making the move.

But as Mr. Natural would say… Deal with it.

Sitting On The Hill, Looking Like A Lunatic

Posted May 8th, 2007 at 8:29PM

So the biggest downside to my apartment this year is the lack of internet. Occasionally last fall, we could snag a wireless signal from a neighbor, but winter caused that to end. And then, for awhile, it seemed like whoever’s signal it was, figured out how to mask it.

Today, I got adventurous, and tried to find the signal again. There was one spot on my porch, hidden from (nearly) all of the neighbors, where I could barely pick it up. But it was unusable. So, desperate, I climbed the hill behind our house. I didn’t go too far, perhaps ten feet up, and am now picking up the signal quite well. It’s buggy, and I fear that my display (or the illuminated apple on the back) is visible, but who cares. For now â€“ I’m connected once more!

Un-frickin-believable

Posted April 16th, 2007 at 10:31AM

So it’s snowing hard today. We were supposed to get all of the snow yesterday, but it was raining till I went to sleep, so now it’s snowing all day today. Driving with the summer tires on is very scary. I couldn’t make it up one tiny hill on the way to campus today, because there’s a 90* turn just before it, which I had to slowly do so I didn’t slide completely off the road. Having to go full-lock just to go straight really sucks. Especially when the roads aren’t even that bad.

I’ll say this much: I’m never going to curse at other drivers who’re going half the speed I’m going in inclement weather. I’ll just assume they’re running the wrong sort of tires and cut them some slack.

First an absolute blizzard in the middle of March. Now inches of snow in the middle of April. What a POS winter.

This Lovely Ithaca Weather

Posted April 7th, 2007 at 4:07PM

For a while there â€“ last week of March, first couple days of April â€“ we had beautiful sunny skies and temperatures in the 70s. Then, overnight, it dropped back below freezing and starting to flurry every day. The snow, huge fluffy flakes, accumulates overnight just to melt during the day. Repeat every night for the next several days.

This is more agonizing than if we hadn’t had a nice stretch of weather at all. This is the winter than would never arrive, and now â€“ never leave. Bleh.

My pipes froze two nights ago. I went to investigate and the door to the little room with the water heaters and miscellaneous plumbing had been open overnight. I burned the last of my wood last night. I can’t wait for the warmer weather to arrive for good.

Every Day Is Exactly The Same…

Posted December 5th, 2006 at 9:18PM

…But some are definitely worse than others.

I think I’m sick. I still have half a dozen papers floating over my head. It’s way too hot here. I’m tired. My cord of wood still hasn’t arrived. I could continue this forever. But instead, I’ll do that update that I’ve been meaning to do.

â€¢ Several weeks ago, for Thanksgiving break, I once again went to the SOA protest in Georgia. It was an alright time, but I think I’m completely past enjoying protests and actions of that sort. They don’t do it for me anymore, and they’re ineffectual.

â€¢ Some Ithacan reporter asked me a few questions yesterday. He was funny, a much worse interviewer than I. I’m getting better though, all of my interviews this semester have been quite easy and laidback.

â€¢ While I was down south, I visited a friend in Atlanta, and we went to a sports bar called The Dumpster. Enough information, right? The place was hilarious, everyone drank too much, it was a fun time. I met my friend’s new roommate, who’s into scooters. He goes to scooter rallies. Seriously, no one can bust my (or anyone elses) balls for going to MINI events ever again.

â€¢ I also ran the Tail of the Dragon twice. If this doesn’t make sense to you, that’s probably a good thing. For the people who do understand what this means. Well, that’s even better. For more information on Route-129, visit the “official” site. Also, check out my video that I made. I uploaded it onto YouTube, so check it out. I have no idea why, but I’m not able to insert YouTube videos into this blog like you see everywhere else. Something isn’t set up correctly.

â€¢ My cord of wood that I ordered more than a month ago is still not in my driveway or stacked neatly on my deck. First I was scheduled to get it the Wednesday of spring break. Then it was the Wednesday after that. Then it was this past Sunday. I get a time of delivery, I tell them where I live and directions, and then Sunday about noon I get a message saying that someone is in the hospital after an accident with a splitter and they won’t be able to deliver it today. Maybe tomorrow. (Today. It didn’t happen.) I’ll have to call them again tomorrow. I just want my wood. They better knock $20 off of the cost.

â€¢ Oh, and I put my snow tires on yesterday since it snowed an inch overnight. The MINI handles completely different, and I love the black rim look. I’ll have to take some pictures soon. They’re just steelies, but still. The car is slightly higher, it looks ready to rally!

That’s all. I’m now going to leave the Pub, go back to my apartment, and try to do some work before passing out. I hope I don’t have anything stronger than a cold. But it’s probably something like mono or bird flu. I’ve been exhausted for probably a week now. Bleh.

Ithacan Editorial

Posted November 27th, 2006 at 8:18PM

One thing I was able to actually accomplish recently was a short editorial for The Ithacan, for the issue right before Thanksgiving Break. It’s two weeks ago but might as well blog about it now. Better late than never.

Jonathan Anomalyâ€™s recent commentary could have gone one step further. Not only do single votes not matter, but the elections themselves often result in little progress.

The belief that the latest midterm elections will result in significant change is rooted in hope, not in any sort of reality. Faces might change, policy might be re-examined in the short-term, but the fundamental structures still exist and will continue.

Political actions speak louder than single votes

(I’m not sure what the title means and whether or not it reflects the content of the article. I naturally did not have a hand in creating it.)