Thought of the Day: Call Me!

Okay, so in celebration of our presidents (minus the current one), I decided to throw a party at my place last night. It was fun. There were lots of good people there and we all had a great time. I shared a six pack of Heineken and New Castle with my roommate, and later enjoyed some of our left over Coors Lights (there always better when your drunk). So as you can imagine it was a good night.

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Thought of the Day: Our Generation

Hello, my name is Chris. I am a 20 year-old college student and I would rather watch VH1 reruns of Flavor of Love than pay any attention to what is going on in the world right now. I know there are problems in this country and beyond, but I just don't care that much.

Okay, that's not really true, but I promise you that's what many others think of our generation. So why is it that they peg us as being lazy, impatient, and unconcerned?

Well, because we kind of are. Now I know that I am generalizing when I say this. In fact, I know many people our age that are very intelligent and active in politics, but I also know a lot of people who are not, and who could care less.

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Thought of The Day: Headphones

Last weekend when I visited my parents I accidentally left my ipod headphones on the living room table. As soon as I hopped on the train back to my apartment I felt the peril of not having them. I noticed that the first thing I did after I sat down was reach for my ipod. I found my ipod, but no headphones.

Am I a victim of my own habits? Am I really that attached to my ipod?

Yes.

This is because without my ipod, I did not know what to do with myself. Honestly, I do not think most of us would. Whenever I travel on a train or a bus I always see about half the people on it listening to their mp3 players and most of them are college students.

So this whole week I have not used my ipod. Not on the train, not going to class, not at home, not at the park. And you know what?

It SUCKED!

I was going through withdrawals (at least for the first few days). I have become so accustom to this piece of technology that I almost needed it. To be honest thought, it also opened my eyes. I experienced so much more by not having headphones blocking out the world. For example, when I was long boarding I could actually hear all the angry people yelling at me to get the fuck of the road.

Well, I went back home last night and I am now free to separate myself from the world again. To be honest thought, I am not sure if I want to. I mean, for a little while I actually enjoyed it. I felt more connected with the city around me. It may be stupid, but I think you should all try not using your ipod for a few days, see what happens. Who knows, maybe you will meet someone interesting.

Cheers!

College Kid: Brack

Thought of The Day: OMFG I'm a Junior!

So I woke up this morning and had an epiphany. I am a junior in college and I do not have a clue as to what I want to do with my life.

You see, once you enter your junior year things start changing. You are no longer the innocent freshman who can slide through school with out a worry. As juniors (and I can imagine much more as Seniors) we have to come to the realization that our college career may end soon and we are going to have to get a job.

Yeah about that...

I'm thinking NO.

I mean honestly who wants a job? I've had many and trust me there no fun. So I have come up with a plan of action. I think I am going to start investing in my future. I think I should save about $2,000 and invest it in a company like Google. Let it grow for 2 years and cash out at graduation. If things go well I could have about $40,000 by the time I finish school. From there I have two options:

A) Move down to the Caribbean and open a bar.

B) Move to California and become a hippie.

Of course before I can invest my $2,000 I need to actually get it. Anyone hiring?

Cheers!

College Kid: Brack

Thought of The Day: Crosswalks

So the other night, as my friends and I journeyed back to my Boston apartment, I came to a crosswalk (a few actually). As I walked up to it my first response was to stop and look both ways, which I did. My second response was to check to make sure the crosswalk signal said go -- or more recognizably, "Little White Walking Man." After a few moments I thought about this and it very much shocked me.

I realized the idea of a machine letting you know when it is safe to cross the street is incredibly ridiculous.

Do we not have eyes? Are we humans so stupid that we can not gage the danger of an oncoming car? Have we become so lazy that we depend on a machine to give us information we could easily process on our own?

These were all interesting questions, but what interested me even more was the fact that even though the crosswalk said do not go, we still went. As most of you know this is not an uncommon activity for crosswalk users. The unofficial rule in most places is that when there are no cars, you cross. Of course, town officials will probably tell you that crosswalk signals are there for pubic safety, but if people do not adhere to them in the first place then how are they protecting us?

They are not, and they are wasting a lot of tax dollars.

Think about it.

Cheers!

The College Kids

Thought of The Day: How Much Do We Waste?

Here are some crazy statistics:

• In the U.S., 4.39 pounds of trash per day and up to 56 tons of trash per year are created by the average person.
• Every year we fill enough garbage trucks to form a line that would stretch from the earth, halfway to the moon.
• We throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour.
• We throw away enough aluminum cans to rebuild our commercial air fleet every three months, and enough iron and steel to supply all our nation's automakers every day.
• Throwing away one aluminum can wastes as much energy as if that can were 1/2 full of gasoline.
• Every year, nearly 900,000,000 trees are cut down to provide raw materials for American paper and pulp mills.
• Recycling an aluminum soda can saves 96% of the energy used to make a can from ore, and produces 95% less air pollution and 97% less water pollution.
• Sixty percent of the world's lead supply comes from recycled batteries.
• It takes 90% less energy to recycle an aluminum can than to make one from scratch.

For some good ways to stop your waste go here.

Via [Clean Air Council]

Thought of The Day: Long Live the Interrobang

I am a writer. I write for this blog, I write for my classes, I write for leisure, I write when I am bored, and I even write when my mom calls me telling me I need to pay my $120 cell phone bill (I hate you Verizon).

Anyways...

Very commonly when I am writing I have the desire to express a question in an excited or surprised manor. Of course with the current shortcomings of the English language that is impossible. So when I write "why is Verizon ripping me off", you do not know if I am yelling or just politely asking.

I am not the only one who has noticed this. In 1962 Martin K. Speckter invented the interrobang, and it looks like this: ‽ Some people may know it as !?. The interrobang allows you to state a question in an excited manor, express excitement in the form of a question, or make a rhetorical question. Unfortunately, the interrobang is still not considered an official punctuation mark.

So what can we do? We can all fight for our right to use the interrobang. Talk to you English professor and let them know that when you wrote, "romeo oh romeo where for art thou romeo", you meant it!

[Wikipedia]

Cheers!

The College Kids

Thought of the Day - Orientation

At this point most of the freshman and transfer students reading this have or are in the process of doing orientation. Yesterday I had my orientation at Suffolk University, not as a freshman, but as a transfer student, and what a day it was. The day was completely normal until we started picking out classes.

Then it turned into a steel cage match. We were all stuffed into a lecture hall fighting to get an assistant to help us. It is August, and as you can imagine there are not many classes left, so that made things worse.

F-That.

I decided to go straight to the source: the advisers. After much struggle I was able to hunt one down. Her name was Jane. As Jane was helping me another adviser came to her and and tried to pull her away from me. She then flipped out on him, and told him she was busy. Jane helped me a lot, but I still had to meet with 2 other advisers. 4 hours and 6 headaches later, I was done.

I then went home and took a nap around 6 pm. That nap turned into a full nights sleep. When I woke up at 3:45 this morning, I had more energy than a 10-year-old.

Day 1 at Suffolk University: Success

Watching Your Adviser Flip Out On Someone: Priceless

Thank you Jane.

Thought of the Day - My Window is Next to the Dumpster

Since 6AM this morning the damn garbage trucks have been in and out of the parking lot picking up the excessive trash that was left by the returning students. My window being right near the dumpster allows it to wake me up every five minutes with a big gong like noise.

Dear Mr. Dumpster Noise Maker,

I would like to sleep in to at least ten. Could you do this dumpster last on your route?

Sincerely,

The kid in on the second floor of Pontigny Hall

Thought of the Day - Horns

Driving in and out of the city everyday you start to get an endless echo of horns in your head. You hear it so much that eventually it doesn't even phase you anymore.

I think people need to calm down in this country with the horns, people use them way to much for things they don't even need to.

Like the other day I was exiting the interstate and coming to the end of the off-ramp. I had one car behind me and I came to a complete stop while a car on the street I was turning onto went by. Not a second later did the mofo behind me beep. What did he want me to do? Side-swipe the guy?

In other countries people use their horns to say thank you or go-ahead, NOT to show anger.

Thought of the Day - Escalators

There are two different types of escalators in this world. The first kind are located in malls mostly. These escalators are mainly used by EXTREME lazy people that don't understand the concept that you are supposed to walk up them, thus getting you to the next floor quicker.

The other type of escalators are located in airports, subways, and many city areas. These escalators have two lanes. A fast lane (passing) and a slow (stand and scratch your ass) lane.

I won't even get started on moving sidewalks, they're a different breed.

College Kid Live

WickedCoolSteve coming at you, live from Panera Breads. I'm here this afternoon to introduce you all to one of our newest features, College Kids Live. We always have stuff on our minds that we'd love to share with you, and here's the first segment. We've been having massive growth in traffice recently, so we'll be adding new columns and features as time goes on. Enjoy!

The room is warm and bright with trendy jazz floating through the air. Sisson and I are sitting in a booth near the back, just watching everything float by here are a few groups around, and most people have some kind of Red Sox cap on. This is the heart of Sox territory and I don't even want to think of what the reaction to a Yankees cap would be... surely instant death.

A dude in a white button-down shirt, khakis, and tie sits down with four cups of water, all with a wedge of lemon. He has no idea that his comb-over is sticking straight up. He looks goofy to say the least.

The mood is relaxed, with a low murmor of conversation. A cold breeze from the AC is almost too much.

The comb-over's wife has just arrived at the table, and told him about the hair malfunction. It is fixed, and now is well at the table.

As we sit here, enjoying our $1.50 bottomless coffee, and observe the cast of interesting characters (comb-over man included) we can't help but think that we too are being silently judged by the people around us. Just as we see them as almost one-dimensional characters in some kind of movie, I am sure that they feel the same way about us. Despite the fact that there is so much attached to my life, they will likely never see or understand any of it. It's important to realize this and act accordingly. Don't ignore those whom you encounter. Smile, say hello, and think well towards those random people. After all, they're people too.

We've been here drinking coffee for about two hours now. So, with a BCL (blood caffeine level) of around .5, I put on my wicked badass aviators, and roll out here whistling Schools Out . Peace.