NObama

I have decided to start prospecting the 2008 candidates. I did it last time and came up with a Dean/Clark or Dean/Edwards ticket, but was mistaken. I think that The fall of Howard Dean was utterly random, and could not been seen coming. If he had won the nomination, he would have come out strong enough to beat Bush because he was a better contrast to Bush than Kerry was. Dean is also a better speaker and would have had more leverage to work with in debates. So I am going to go out on a limb and call for either a Dean/Ford or a Dean/Lincoln ticket. Not Hillary. Not Obama. I am however, aware of the greatest flaw in my predictions: I not only weigh their feasibility, but also who I want to win. I like Clinton and Obama, but they are both unlikely Presidents. Hillary because of her history and husband, Obama because of his inexperience. Obama could be a VP candidate, but he won't. Not yet. Clinton couldn't be. I chose Dean, because I truly have no faith in Edwards. He brought absolutely nothing to the ticket last time, at least nothing more than any democrat would have. He is good looking and young and southern... and boring. Why Lincoln or Ford? Five reasons: #1 They are the furthest up the list of candidates that would be willing to start out in the passenger seat, and we all saw what happened last time with how much weaker a ticket is if filled by two former rivals. #2 Diversity. It is time. #3 They will ACTUALLY bring the some of the south (that's right Edwards, I'm talking to you). This criteria is what kept Russ Feingold off my ticket. He would be good, but you need a southerner if you want to beat a modern republican. #4 They have names of former Presidents, and that should count for something. This is bad news for Obama, because if they win (and let's hope they do) the next Presidential candidate would be a woman or a racial minority. I am not sure that the country will elect a black/black or woman/black ticket. He is young and there will be time for him, but I doubt it is as soon as everyone thinks.
But don't forget, my secret love is really the "big" DK!

Bring, bring.... bring, bring.... bring,BRAUGHT!

Sup Homies?! (if you read fast enough you just saw an interobang, and if you are reading really fast, you

JUST GOT DIEKED OUT. PSYCHE!!!) Yesterday I did the worlds coolest thing ever. I was waiting and waiting for this lady to help me at the book store, so finally I whipped out the cell (I am talking like this on purpose, for the record) and grabbed the business card from her desk. I then called the direct line for that phone and let it ring. She left the customer she was talking to and ran over to get it. I slyly hung up right before she got there, and returned my books! YEAH for me! On a side note, I now have all the books I need for classes, including a copied version of my out-of-print Latin text book.

Enlightenment 2: This time it's personal!

I haven't written as often in the past few weeks as I used to, but I think it has more to do with the fact that I haven't had anything that I thought was really interesting happen to me. I know what it is like to get cards or e-mails that are not really interesting except for the people who write them. I am trying to make sure that kind of thing doesn't happen here. I am getting really excited lately about the new software that is coming out recently. As you all know I am now a Gmail user, and I am really happy with it so far. It really shows how important human creativity is, even in the world of technology. The possibility to make a lot of the new programs and internet services have been around for a while: it is just that no one thought of them. I am also really excited about the new Apple operating system coming out in a few days. It has a lot of things that I really like, and the video editing software is getting cheaper and better all the time. I hope to get Final Cut express this summer and then if I can find some people over at Penn State who are half as fun to make movies with than Pat and Jake, then I might invest in a few more programs that aren't too much money (luckily the Penn State education discount is pretty good).
I just think that we are living in an amazing age. We are at a point in history where we can stop and say "history needn't repeat itself any longer" We can choose to move on. We have a global community and technology that is capable of feeding and powering the world indefinitely. We just have to change the way we manage things. There is a scale by which scientists grade civilizations:
Level 3 = Inter-stellar Travel
Level 2 = Star Manipulation
Level 1 = Global Control
Global Control means control over weather and zero dependence on fossil fuels. Most experts think that man kind will either reach this point in the next 200 years, or not at all. I think that we should feel really excited to be there while this amazing start of a new world begins. I guess the worst thing is that we have to be okay with the fact that we live in a civilization at level 0 for the time being.

Habemus Papam.

Ok. German pope. I think that the whole thing is a little dissapointing. The guy is the reason Vatican 2 failed. He is, almost by deifinition, everything that John Paul II was not. Now I am even more upset that the pope died before giving up his papacy, because he could have swayed the vote a little (or not, if you believe in the Holy Spirit: The Tito of the Trinity). The world needs a new face on Catholicism and Cristianity in general, not someone who is going to attack everybody. I can understand someone having different views on a lot of church issues, and me not being a christian doesn't give me much of a right to say what should go on in the church, but there are some issues that need to be discussed. For example: female priests. Condoms and homosexuality I can see are moral issues (for some), but women who want to preach the word of the lord? Even Jesus had that. This pope is a dissapointment, and I guess I will just have to wait until we have a new one if I want someone to look up to.
As a closing note, I would like to say that I often was at odds with the last pope. Most often my problems with him were associated with the fact that he wouldn't leave his post. He had so much courage and vision as far as the chruch went, but he himself admitted to great fear of what his life would be like if he was no longer pope. He was a great mind trapped in a body and a post that were no longer trully his to control.

Gmail

I am as of this moment using my new Gmail account instead of my U of M account for e-mail. I had a Gmail account for a while, but I hadn't gotten around to switching to it. Today I set my U of M e-mail to forward all incoming mail to my new account so you can continue to send e-mails to my old address (the new one is schn0440@gmail.com). I am really happy I did it, because I really like to keep an empty mail box and so I delete all my old emails that I don't absolutely need (the exception being my e-mail from pat about Mr. Hodge). With Gmail I can archive them and not have to look at them, but still have them in an emergency or when I realize that I in fact DIDN'T remember that 9 digit confirmation number from apple.com. The other great thing is a spell check. I need that in my more important emails. There are a lot of cool features, and I recommend it to everyone. It is still in the beta stage, but if anyone wants an invitation, I can give it to them. The funniest thing is how much trouble my old U of M account is giving me in this last home stretch: it is taking forever to forward all my old e-mails to my new account.

Latin & Boxing

I had my first day of Spanish, Latin and Boxing today. They were all a lot of fun, but my Spanish teacher is a trip. There are a lot of people who want to get into the course (178 are on a waiting list and the class is supposed to be between 20 and 25 people. She made everyone who was signed up kick people out of a seat so that all the chairs were full with people who were supposed to be there plus however many people could find a seat and keep it because they weren't asked directly to get up. Then she kicked everyone out who wasn't sitting in a seat. This didn't go over well with the people who were forced to stand up after showing up early enough to get a seat and wait for class to start. At any rate it was interesting. I think that it won't be to hard to stay on the ball in my classes this semester. Boxing was a lot of fun, but I miss Matt. The guy I sparred with wasn't the sharpest tack, so I had to tell him what we were supposed to be doing the whole time. After boxing I went to practice this weird theater thing for my class. I am not really in to it, but it bothers me when the professor does what he wants instead of what we suggest. I don't really care, but I just think that this thing is supposed to be for our benefit, not his. While I was listening to him talk I had the realization that I don't care enough: he can do whatever he wants, and I will just go along with it. I don't HAVE to be in charge of everything. It was a very freeing felling for about 2 minutes. Then everybody was looking at me for an idea. I thought to myself 'Self, don't say anything. Just wait and see how long it takes for somebody else to say something. I will just do whatever the first person suggests'. It took a long time. Anyway, I'm tired and I feel good and I am going home.

New Semester

I just had my first class of the semester. I know those of you who are in school still are just about done with classes, so it might seem kind of odd. I am really happy that things are starting up again. I met some new people already and I am excited about my next class. That is it though for this week. None of my language courses start until next week, and these two classes only meet once a week, so I have a little more time before things actually start. I walked through Check Point Charlie today, and it made me think about how cool it is to live in this city. Having something like that be on your way to class is cool. I think it is funny because yesterday I saw a German Soap Opera in which two guys went for coffee and walked past the same spot, and I thought 'who actually goes past there in their real life?'. Anyway, class was interesting and I had a lot of fun. It was German Grammar, so it is just my style.

Oh, we threw a Mitch Hedberg party over the weekend. It was a lot of fun. We only had food he mentions in his routine, and we listened to two of his CD's. I know most of you don't know who he is, but he is really worth hearing.

"I was going to whiten my teeth, but instead I just got a tan." - Mitch Hedberg (1968-2005)

Last week my favorite comedian Mitch Hedberg died. He was 37, and took a lot of drugs. He died of a heart attack, but there was no investigation as to the cause. He was an amazing talent that I admired very much, and I am proud to say that I saw him perform live in his hometown of St. Paul MN. He was just reaching a level of notoriety to be able to do more and more things in the world of comedy. He wrote, directed, produced and stared in the film "Los Enchiladas". I was really torn up by his death. His comedy was of an amazing style that tore at the strings of the world we surround ourselves with, while also exposing our collective psyche as a culture.

I also wanted to talk about the Nobel Prize. I was reading about the history of the Nobel prize the other day, and I couldn't get over how interesting the topic was. I think that would be an awesome coffee table book or something: a brief synopsis of what every Nobel Prize was given for. The Literature ones aren't always given for individual works, but for the others it is usually pretty clear cut what the prize is for. One was for the MRI, one for Frontal Lobe Lobotomy... the list goes on and on.

Football, Loving my city, Melancholy

I just watched a Berlin Thunder (American Football) game at the Olympic Stadium here in Berlin. It was pretty fun, and we won. I guess they have won the Europe Cup each year for the last three years. It was fun too see people get excited about something they didn't even really understand. Don't get me wrong; a lot of them are hard-core football people and they know a bunch about it, but there was a lot of people who didn't cheer until the announcer told them exactly what had just happened on the field. Kind of surreal in any case.

On my way home I got a really long look at the city, from the old west to where I live over in the east. I really like the city, and I love that there is so much I still have to see here.

I can't explain the melancholy, but I just feel like kind of a jerk lately. It has been a while since I have actually done anything nice for anybody. I'll be fine, but I just don't feel at my awesomest.