I've been really type lazy lately. Last night I managed to get my first two entries done and realized that out of the 67 hours my 1 credit requires me to do, I did 66 in the first two weeks. Given I signed up for 10 weeks, its amazing how much I've already done in just what is now my third week. Today went to Giants mini camp which was cool, since its the first pro "event" outside of baseball I've ever attended. If there's one thing that was immediately clear, pro football players are massive. I got to see reporting during the off-season at its best, although now that the NBA just wrapped up we'll hopefully jump into that next week with the Draft.

All else is well I suppose.

-Mikhail

Man Bob Martin is gonna enjoy reading my 1st week journal thats for sure. Today I went in at 1 instead of 4 after Scags asked me to come in and log the Yankees game. So I'm sitting around watching the game and they decide to let me go out and do post-game. I rode off with 27 year veteran Vince to Yankee Stadium and first pick up my one day press pass (note the correct spelling of my name).



After that we headed down through the press elevator, that I pointed out to my brother during our visit last month, to the press room where crews from NBC4, NY1, YES Network and SNY were already hanging out. The game still wasn't over and we watched the last inning and a half on one of the many HDTVs lining the concourse of the stadium, while we waited for Girardi to come down. Yankees down 4 in the 9th and they cut the lead in half, but couldn't pull off the comeback this time.

Girardi came in maybe within five minutes of the last out and in between that time some 20 other reporters swarmed in (about six of them being Japanese media in a game where Matsui only pinch-hit, I suppose this has been regular since he's come over to the states though). Not a lot of questions for Girardi, since the obvious focus in a game like this is his trust of Mo, so we headed to the clubhouse. I got handed the CBS2 microphone and stuck it in front of the monstrous CC Sabathia (for as big a guy as he is, he's pretty soft spoken), Johnny Damon (and his extra spiky hair) and Mariano Rivera (who a security guard said would've liked to seen him pitch to Longoria because he's "Mo" and reciprocated that statement).

After the interviews we headed out to this Little League game where A-Rod and Richard Gere were coaching the two teams facing each other. A-Rod was not nearly as excited as Gere was in his managerial role, but did go to the mound congratulated the pitcher for a fine outing before taking him out and walking back to the bench with him. A very awesome day indeed!

-Mikhail

Today, I met a couple of anchors. First was Maurice DuBois early in the day while I was eating a bagel, and he nodded and I nodded back. He said "Hey how's it going?" and I couldn't say anything, since I had a mouth full of bagel. Shortly before I left I met Sam Ryan who does sports and she let me have some trail mix. Good times. Anyway, today I just logged a couple matches from the French Open, some sound bytes from the Yankees post-game and shots of the seagulls and midges from during the game.

-Mikhail

Day One at CBS, pretty good. I got a nice tour of the massive CBS Broadcasting Center, which takes up the entire city block of 56th and 57th between 10th and 11th Avenues. I'm sure a lot more shoot there, but so far I've seen the news studio (and its ballin ass control room), the 106 and Park set (which I didn't know they still aired), Guiding Light (which won't be airing much longer soon), the CBS Sports desk where they do NFL Today and March Madness coverage (those studios were locked though). Otherwise it was a lot of just familiarizing with the system and some of the equipment, but not a lot. Considering I'm gonna have to write a journal on this once a week for my credit, it wouldn't be a bad idea to just write for my memory's sake later. So far I've really only talked to three of the other five interns there today and they seem pretty chill, including one from Penn State, go figure.

-Mikhail

Week 3 of 3, time has really flown by and yet it really hasn't. After all it IS still May and I've already been home for 24 days. The fact I've spent between 14 and 18 days in my room, proves how really interesting my vacation has been thus far. Not really, last week I hung out with the jerks and went to the Yankees game. Tuesday I got really messed up playing Wizards and while a fun time, I haven't had a desire to go outside since. I'm a weekend away from starting my internship at CBS2 which will add an element of activity for the next 10 weeks to fill the hours I've spent playing my Marlins franchise on MLB 2K9. But later today I get to party with a friend from school in which I'm 98% sure will have the highest concentration of people wearing adidas track jackets in Manhattan. Heating up? Hope so.

-Mikhail

Week 2 of 3 of do-nothings definitely much better. All the jerks are back in the city so I've gotten to hangout with them the last 3 days and possibly later tonight and more this weekend. Definitely lots of things left to do before the intern orientation June 1st, so yeah.

-Mikhail

Week 1 of 3 do-nothings is almost complete. I've gone outside for no more than 30 minutes total since Sunday when I spent about an hour and half going to the Ed Sullivan Theater to request tickets for the Late Show and getting Jamba Juice. So really the last time I was out for a considerable time was last Friday. It might be a result of the absolute shit sleep schedule I always have during breaks, which leads to it being 2:30 and I still haven't even rolled out of bed to brush my teeth. I'm hoping I can stop that tomorrow since I'll make a valiant effort to go to the Door and then see one of my favorite people in the world, Katie!

Aside from that all this time breathing my own air, while watching Bob Ross (damn shame they only give him once a week now, also the difficulty of finding clips of him online), I've thought of just about everything:

- When am I gonna take driving lessons?
- I've met fans of other AL East teams except the Blue Jays, need to meet some Canadians.
- How am I possibly gonna work and make no money this summer?
- Am I ever gonna get around to reading Living on the Black?
- How long is it really gonna take for me to get the Big Boss Emblem in MGS4?
- Is it weird that I've been a pretty apathetic about how things kinda left off with Cat?
- Will I actually make time to go re-register as a voter in New York?
- How is it that I care so much about a girl I've at most talked to for 15 minutes?
- I really need to get new shoooooooooooooeeess.
- Who could I possibly get to go see The Price is Right with for Spring Break next year?
- I really should have done those extra credits for 387 and 405 (would've have a sweet GPA)

Hopefully a more exciting week awaits.

-Mikhail

Well intertubers, I got the internship with WCBS-TV! I got interviewed by the head of the sports department today with my hair quite crazy (because there was no hot water in the morning so I skipped the shower) and dressed in my extra-wrinkled suit. Had a good half-hour chat about sports (naturally), the layoffs at the station, union jobs, and briefly possible tasks and availability. I'm pretty excited about this especially since its likely that I'd get to work at a few games. If you couldn't tell already, I am home.

-Mikhail

The very dirty ads for the Quiznos Toasty Torpedo sandwiches suddenly all make sense. I had one for the first time today and the first observation upon my first bite is that its the most phallic sandwich you'll ever have. That's why the oven really wants some torpedo in it, because the thing is a friggin foot and a half long! Add in the fact that its on ciabatta, which is typically a pretty hard bread (although theirs isn't really), and you've got some sexed up metaphors.

-Mikhail

I'm not sure if it has ever been mentioned on this blog, but I along with my brother have a genuine obsession for a man name Paul Lukas and his column on ESPN's Page 2 (and now blog as well), Uni Watch: The Obsessive Study of Athletics Aesthetics. I was just reading an absolutely hilarious article about NYY Steak, in Yankee Stadium.

-Mikhail

I meant to post this earlier today shortly after it happened, but my BlackBerry was being incompetent. Anywho, I was waiting for the bus looking around bored as shit and saw this ant dragging around a leaf. So I'm just watching it going across the sidewalk, when this chick walks by and steps right on the poor guy. It didn't get crushed, but it was so distraught and lost the leaf it was carrying it around and just scrambled back to its hill presumably. That's all really.

-Mikhail

Hey party people, so I've got 3 of the most intense classwork days ever. Tomorrow I've got my presentation for 381 on universal service. We decided to make a replica of your typical Zach Morris cell phone, which this guy in my group made look absolutely badass. I'll have a pic of that hopefully soon. After that I'm directing my project 4 for 283, which might be the thing I'm most worried about. Wednesday I got a test for 387, which shouldn't be too bad. Thursday is really just busy for 283 again working on the other two groups projects. Still working on getting the internship secured, so more words on that soon I'm sure. I'm going home May 5th, so I have a nice 5 day weekend to enjoy, not worrying about work and stuff and of course looking for a party to crash.

-Mikhail

Man, I really wish I had gone to that British Sea Power concert I got a ticket to last year. I listen to them nonstop now. Oh well, catch them around next time.

Edit: This led to me looking at some of my other favorite bands websites and I found a very interesting movie about Rogue Wave's drummer Pat Spurgeon. He is apparently looking for a kidney donation and in the meantime is still performing! I haven't gotten a chance to watch it myself, but I'm sure it is an awesome flick (featuring live performances from Ben Gibbard, Nada Surf, and of course Rogue Wave among others I'm sure). You can read more on that at dtourmovie.com as well as make a donation and download an exclusive Rogue Wave song.


That was from last summer, look how awesome he is! I wish him the best.

BRING ON THE WAVE!

-Mikhail

So, Letterman came back from break today, but guess what? The friggin CBS affiliate here sucks dick and has a blacked out picture! This feels like the brief time that Letterman was simulcast on CBS radio many years back.

Minus: I don't know when commercials are and can't mute it.
Plus: Don't have to see Zach Efron's creepy looking face!
Push: Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic of ESPN Radio's Mike and Mike in the Morning are gonna be on. This is particularly peculiar because I don't listen to the show, but whenever they get a perspective from the duo during Sportscenter there's a picture. Of course since they're making a television appearance I won't be seeing it, just listening.

Personal life is being very interesting, but once again saving that for another post. Looking forward to the weekend though, New York on Friday, Relay for Life most of Saturday and last parties of the semester! Woooooo!

-Mikhail

As of this moment I only have 3 weeks of classes left in the semester. Time has flown right by since spring break and overall things are working quite well. Just taped my project three for my production class, where I made my directing debut. The practice really got me into a good flow, but overall it was quite sloppy. The second take was much much better, things worked out really well and I did some more creative shot selections than the group before, which made me happy. I think a third take may have made it perfect, but I didn't want to have our guest bored. By the way, my job was made really easier when the host/guest combo was absolutely gorgeous. I can't wait to see how it actually came out on tape though. Campus is definitely gonna be a little empty since many went home for Easter, but most of my primary comrades are hanging around so I'm sure we'll find something to do.

-Mikhail

So it appears that next weekend I won't have any plans! Sure Jim may end up finding us a party to go to, but aside from that no work since the baseball team will be on the road and I don't think I have anything due next week (probably do, but I don't know it yet). I have something in mind that I could be doing, but more on that for another day. Anyway this weekend was just fine. Registered for the fall, partied a bit Saturday night, ran into many people that I was not expecting to see, which is always welcome. It is safe to say that I'm doing pretty okay...well except for losing to the Angels in MLB 2K9, but I'll recover.

-Mikhail

I'm supposed to be writing on the relationship between citizenship and consumerism right now. If the deadline wasn't changed to 5PM as opposed the noon, like it was before Wednesday, writing this right now would an issue I'd say. But the great thing is that I intend on getting this done before I go to sleep. Why? you may ask, well let's say I have 3 other cans of Red Bull waiting in case I do start thinking about sleep. Anyway, baseball has been in my thoughts all week. Started working the baseball games last week and have two more this weekend, me and my brother ordered Yankees tickets on Tuesday and baseball is starting back up in 9 days. I'm hoping any plans for Friday night won't be bothered by my having to register on Saturday, but that might be the case unfortunately. Maybe I'll try something I'm not so used to doing instead or maybe I'll catch up on all those movies I downloaded, but haven't seen. Well, back to the citizen-consumer, joy!

-Mikhail

Back to the old grind it is. First day of the second half of the semester is through. Nice and quick as is always the special on a Monday, it kinda sets up the rest of the week especially once I'm back home from Innovation Park on Tuesdays it really means I have to do the same thing I just did for Wednesday and Thursday. Again, although I hate the idleness, not having classes on Friday is the shit.

A quick note Spring Break: good, but boring many days.
Highlights: uncarded boozing, inconvenient raving and trials of being a lifeguard with Franco and Lopez; a visit to The Door, briefly saw everyone I wanted to see though lacking the nice sit-down chat; Red Mango > pinkberry (yeah, I said it); usual Katz's Delicatessen family trip, never fails.

The phone interview Friday, went well one could say. I think producer Lisa Ammerman, may have been slightly impressed with my knowledge of the show, though it felt more like a viewer feedback survey than me trying to get an internship. Unfortunately they were filled up for the summer and of course asked if I could take the fall or spring next year to do it instead, but this is another of the Harrisburg groin pulls, that maybe I'd be able to do if I were here for all four (should've changed majors sooner). Oh well at least that saves me going Hollywood and turning out like this (yes, it's still funny!).

Finally, I just finished working out my schedule for the fall, since registration is next Saturday. At the end of it I'll have 2 credits left for the major, 3 credits left for the minor, which obviously means Ballroom Dancing and/or Dinosaur Extinction for Spring 2010. Here's the catch: 1 class on Mondays and Wednesdays, 4 classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:45AM-3:45PM (almost high school-like hours). I'll see what the advisor thinks of it, considering he told me not to take 381 and 387 together this semester and I did anyway.

-Mikhail

Well tubers, I'd like to let you know that for the first time in few months (definitely the first time this year), that my major stresses have gone in decline. Got papers, presentations, projects out of the way. Applications for internships, cover letters and the simplest resume ever done. I'm going into Spring Break, just finishing the awesome home basketball season for Penn State (most for home wins in a season by the way). Still got a little work ahead during the break, like securing an internship. I have a phone interview with a producer from The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson next Friday, so I'm gonna be figuring out what a summer in Los Angeles may cause me. I'm hoping this week will entail a good bit of relaxing, especially since I'll be home the entire spring break for once.

-Mikhail

I have a really great weekend story to tell, but I am absolutely too lazy to write it. I feel you should all know this intertubers. My efforts should really be on writing a paper on the makers of BlackBerry and soon enough they will be. You know me, I'll always save it for another time.

-Mikhail

Last week at this time I was writing maybe the worst paper I've written since probably any of my middle school book reports. You know how I know it was the worst paper? I got my grade with critique back later that night and I got a 30/60 on it. Fortunately I can redo it since, my group arranged to have the paper moved back (and apparently I got this confused with a nonexistent paper). Thing is I have no motivation to rewrite it, especially when I've got internship stuff to take care of, another paper due next Friday that I haven't even thought about and getting ready to go home next Friday. By the way, my spring break starts in a week. Had I not signed up to work the basketball game next Thursday, this time next week I'd be home in front my big ass TV. Have I ever mentioned how much I enjoy that TV? Well it needs some honorable mention. I'm not sure how I plan to pull this off considering that my Friday and Saturday this week include snowtubing, a men's basketball game and State Patty's Day madness. You know bad things are going to happen, but hopefully not enough that I won't be able to get my shit together on Sunday.

-Mikhail

THON 09 has finally passed and it definitely was my favorite of three I've been at so far for many reasons.
1. I was already here at the Park, no need to drive 2 hours from Middletown and get a hotel we wouldn't spend much time at anyway.
2. I got to work the webcast which initially I was fine with only doing one shift, but something about looking for good shots of the crowd is always fun for me. What I usually look for is people with interesting hats, there sure were a lot of them.
3. I knew many more people dancing and just straight up involved than I did in previous years. Until this year my network was limited to the dancers from my campus. This year it was them, my Blue & White people, people I work with during basketball that were working the webcast or something related and just the various people I see pretty much everyday.
4. The people that I knew dancing were people I have varying amounts of closeness with. First there's Tim one of the B&W dancers, until last week I didn't think he even knew my name, yet when I get on the floor and find him he's glad to see me down there. I'm gonna have to talk to him some more at meetings, cool guy. Next is my friend/audio and video production partner Jackie, I've known her for about 6 weeks and we've bonded well through our love for chocolate and our Korean teacher. She's one of the few people I interact with pretty regularly this semester so being able to cheer her on was a delight. Finally my #1 brother Micah. It was a plan that we came up with after our crazy night during last year's THON, he'd dance and I was going to be his moraler. Well only one of us managed to live up to that, but I was there with him during the final stretch. What was interesting about the floor pass situation was that though there had been a somewhat laid out shift schedule, Micah always asked that I come down. It was definitely a result of our adventure last year, since he was sure I was going to be around (except from 6-7AM when I felt like I needed to shower), which I was and takes me to my last point.
5. I realized the absolute need for me to be dancing next year. I've said it a lot recently since I wasn't chosen to dance this year and that is it would be a great way to go out as a senior dancing. All the time I've put into THON and it culminates that way? There's no doubt it would be fantastic. Watching how Micah was up for pretty much the entire time until the end when things were slowing down and Tim being able to show signs delusion, though not really showing any major fatigue, set up a real challenge for me to match. On the other hand, when I saw Jackie during the final hour, she was crying from the pain in her knees pretty much keeping her glued to the spot she was in. The fight was still in her and that was what I expected from her as well as Micah and Tim, and I know it'll be there if I'm going for 46.

I want to make my presence felt early and known that I'm going to dance in THON 2010, by any means. Its the perfect ending to my involvement with the event as an undergrad, as well as the potential scenario of dancing with three of my favorite people in the world Katie, Amanda and the Little One.

-Mikhail

Looks like things eased up a little. I went into today thinking this is only the beginning of an absolutely miserable week. Not so much anymore fortunately. First off I got a test on Wednesday and in class we looked at review questions which were ridiculously easy. Then almost had a heart attack when in the beginning of 405 teachers all like "Team 2 presentation on Wednesday" someone in the back (an alleged group member) asked why it wasn't moved back, and said that only the paper was pushed back not the presentation. We were only doing a workshop on our papers so the only person I knew in our group called over the other two that were in class and we hammered shit out. Then we talks to teacher and she's cool with pushing it to Monday. Fantastic! Quiz tomorrow and yeah, I feel much better.

-Mikhail

Strange Realization Time: Miki Deez fries and Pepsi negate each others taste. (try it)

I'm hitting a busy time you could say. I'm supposed to be reading 44 pages of McChesney and his beef with the media. This reading was for Monday by the way, but she mentioned that its a big part of the test. frig. In two weeks I got a paper, a presentation, a quiz and an exam, also it'll be THON weekend. If I make it out alive, I'll let you know.

-Mikhail

I've been thinking about the summer a lot lately. Obviously not in a "I'M FUCKIN SICK OF WINTER ALREADY" way, you know winter is my happy time, but in a "what am I going to do this summer" way. It's weird, for 5 years my summer plans have been easily laid out. I mean last year was a little different (at least the beginning of it), but this year everything will be different. The only for sure thing is that I will be interning somewhere. That somewhere though is a huge question, its a matter of whether my gateway to transportation will be a MetroCard or a passport. Even with the passport I'd end up either on the West Coast or across the pond. Well at least part of the decision will be made this weekend. Speaking of this weekend, I'm excited for some much needed boozing during this luau thing on Friday and hopefully during the Super Bowl.

-Mikhail

Things are good in the world, not just mine, but really everyone else it's probably safe to say. Great weekend, got twisted mah niggas, made out with some random bitch, and had french toast at 2:30 in the morning. Also convinced our waiter to drive us home since the taxi companies in the are were being dicks. Penn State beat Michigan in basketball and not only was it a good game to watch, our production was flawless. The camerawork was good, the replays were fantastic *boasts* and just straight up error-free...except for Kiss Cam, but thats never easy to do. Only three days of class this week, yay!!

-Mikhail

Today I made an observation that I'm surprised I didn't catch earlier. I was watching The Price is Right (now a Monday and Wednesday treat for this semester) and they show one of the many life insurance ads (in between the diabetes testing supplies and diaper ads) and the dude mentions how he was watching a commercial for (insert life insurance provider) and how he was going to call and apply for it. Why is it that aside from the spots Alex Trebek does, that insurance ads usually refer to another ad that may have never been actually shown on television? This may be the only product/service that uses this tactic, if it isn't I'd like to see and example.

In other news, first day of class and you know it is what it is. Reading syllabi and finding the best route to class. For some reason campus seems really empty and considering how many people I met last year that went to study abroad this semester. So, I'm going to use that as reasoning for now. Two classes today, first being my Intro to Telecommunications Management at 4:15 with my major advisor teaching, which should be coo. Then a stunning revelation in my Political Economy of Communications class, I have never had hot teacher. Damn. Mondays and Wednesdays are going to pass.

-Mikhail

Well, winter break is drawing to a close and I'm of course excited to be headed back to dear old State. My fucked up sleep schedule has peaked in the last week, which has led to me watching a lot of the Food Network in the afternoon. I got to see Bobby Flay fuck up his grilled red snapper. Just yesterday I had been wondering if they ever messed up the dish on these "in the kitchen" shows and low and behold I get to see it happen.

Well this time next week I'll be back to the Price is Right and 3 hours of the CNN Newsroom. This time around I'll also have a remote again!

-Mikhail

So I just spent the last hour reading through all of my old posts. I'm really impressed with how much things have changed and stayed the same with both my writing style and my development as a person. Great strides on both sides, if one had an hour to spend reading a bunch of nothing I'd imagine they would notice it too. This started as a blog for my freshman English class in Fall 2006 and now it's a collection of the times I've been willing and able to reflect on things going on. It is good that I've gone from "w00t!!s" to "yay!!s", even better that I capitalize the beginnings of my sentences, that I always have some slip of mind where a word is missing and possibly altering what I'm trying to say. Hopefully this lasts another two years, maybe even longer, definitely so now that my readership may be at its all-time high. Good for me, I say, good for you too.

On that note, I caught my January 3rd, 2008 post, which had a pretty solid layout of things to look forward to in 2008. I did every single thing on there except for two (the notebook of thoughts from myself and others and going to new area outside the Northeast).
Here are things for 2009:
- stick to the workout plan I started at the end of the semester, add more to it as well
- do the alternative Spring Break thing with Habitat for Humanity (I alluded to this earlier)
- get another internship (seriously this time with Letterman)
- go to several Yankees games) making up for last year
- figure out a way to go outside the country between now and the summer 2010
- get my driver's license
- arrange hangout time with people I actually want to see, especially if I don't hangout with them very often.

This definitely isn't as great as last year's list, but it'll be something to stick to...even if I pretty much forget that I'm doing them.

-Mikhail

edit: Nevermind the new area portion, I did go to Long Island twice in two months. A bit of a stretch, but I've never been there before that.

Well another year passing and a damn good one at that. A lot of really cool things happened, a lot of not so cool things happened and honestly I feel like I learned quite a lot about myself. Aside from the crazy endurance test that THON was, I didn't really retain anything from the first four and a half months. Actually there was this: if someone tells you they like you and at the same time you're chasing some chick that doesn't seem to really think much at all, don't be stupid. I went out on two dates with each of them and I seriously didn't figure this out earlier. It was the end of the semester anyway and I was not gonna see either of them again, but really *facepalm*.

The mid-May to August was a lot of very interesting things going on in my life. As well as seeing alot of shows (DeVotchKa, Rogue Wave, Death Cab for Cutie, Yeasayer and The National) and chillin with the jerks, it was a lot of work for me. I got my first retail job at the candy store that shall not be named. Although I already knew that retail was not a field I would ever consider working in, I had a PS3 to buy on June 12th and there was no way around that (of course the only time I'd ever go to a midnight release would be for MGS4). In retrospect the job was really not all that bad, the pay was good, the people were cool, the job fairly easy usually (sometimes I literally walked around the store all day). But really, how could 34-year-old Dylan Lauren picture her business venture as a literal interpretation of a candyland? There had to have been some kind of 6-year-old consult or elves or something for that place to look and sound the way it does. The moment that I truly said it was enough was a Saturday night during which a group of maybe 20 teenage girls were on a spree courtesy of a frugal uncle. This guy seriously paid for more than $800 in overpriced candies, with this birthday insisting on getting more. when I was done on my end a single guy comes up with a single item and I say pretty smugly "Wow, there's only one of you! Thank you, Sir!"

So after those four weeks of fun, I went back to the Door for my 5th and final summer. I made that announcement early and really it seemed that everyone else that had been returning for at least the last 3 years had the same plans in mind. This summer more than ever I felt like I had a project that I really could make my own even though it wasn't even my idea. Though I wasn't new to facilitating a workshop I was definitely new to dedicating all my work to it. My lesson plans were done weekly instead of the night before, I had a project that affected the program year round instead of just the summer AND I had my own desk! I sacrificed hangout time with one of the most important people in my life, but its clear that might have been the right way to do it. Still my old job was to keep him from having a stroke, definitely looked sometimes like he was damn near close to it.

Finally the fall semester. Finally at University Park, where there are never dull moments and always a party going on yet I found myself on many nights (at least until November) not doing anything. There's a lot of reasons for that, but I did get a good run going towards the end of the semester, definitely good thing going into the spring. I started doing things focused on my career, doing the internship with Intercollegiate Athletics capturing the best of Penn State sports and doing the club thing with PSNTV are both very fun and just keeping my skills honed. Again I realize another thing: if you're trying to get with some chick and at the same time finding out one chick that is pretty interested in you is just straight weird, don't be stupid. That case is unfortunate though, I'm stuck running into one, while I won't see the other til next fall. Oh well, I'm sure 2009 will be enjoyable enough that when the summer passes things will only get better.

-Mikhail

I had a pretty awesome birthday. My grandfather came from Massachusetts for the Christmas Eve party a day early, which was great since I hadn't seen him in more than a year. It was a pretty cool thing to think that he's 85 and for has looked basically the same my entire life. Encouraging I'd say. My brother got me Living on the Black which I had been dying to read since the being of the summer and my parents got me a new watch. Then of course had dinner with the jerks and played Apples after some cake. Next year is gonna just be about the same I'm sure, except no one will probably remember it without pictures. Another great Christmas Eve with the family, which of course never fails to end without being twisted mah niggas. I'm never really anxious for time to pass by, but 2009 flew right by until the fall, it'd be pretty alright.

-Mikhail

I think the peak of High Definition Television viewing has been achieved. Bear Grylls cooking and eating a turtle. Thank you Discovery Channel.

-Mikhail

Correction: Bear Grylls jumping in and getting out of a sinkhole, the peak of HDTV.

Is it weird that not even a day home for winter break I'm already thinking spring break? Not for any particularly bad reason, actually it's a really good and humble reason. More to come.

-Mikhail

I've had a very interesting realization over the last week. Ready? Okay here it is: People think I'm good for someone. How did this come to be? Well, I went out with my friend Ricky last week to this party at his friend's place and we're just talking about things (I hadn't seen him a few weeks before that) and since then he started seeing some chick (whom before I eventually meet later that night, swears I met her at the party I last saw Ricky at). The majority of the talk I had with her on the way back to our building was about how she thinks I would be perfect for someone. I seriously talked to her for about an hour going back and forth about this because I just thought it was really funny. Most of this actually came from talks she'd been having Ricky I think. Anyway, then again last night my boy Kevin is trying to get me into looking out for "Ethiopian chicks" since he started dating one a few weeks ago. This really has made me think the last few hours, since the one chick I've been bothering all semester is heading abroad and won't see her til next fall, that its time I become that guy. You know the one you try to set your friends up with. How that'll work out is yet to be determined, but I think I've got a good trial period ahead.

-Mikhail

Wonderful weekend most definitely. Well worth staying around for Saturday to see Penn State dominate Michigan State for the BigTen title. Came home yesterday afternoon and watched the Raiders offense wake up to rape the Donkeys. Today I went to Katz's and had some most awesome pastrami because thats the only way they do it. Hopefully get to see the jerks and other assorted significant people in my city life.

-Mikhail

I'm still coughing rather violently, needless to say it sucks ass. Anyway, so things are pretty cool right now. FInally got the nerve to start talking with this chick from downstairs in person instead of just leaving drunken notes on her board. I invited her to the hell party, but unfortunately she ended up elsewhere, but I got her number which is never a bad thing. So the hell party wasn't not very hellish at all. They had a band and a jungle juice that tasted like Robitussin and Milwaukee's Beast as my friend calls it. The only thing really hellish about it was its location all the way in carajoland. Saturday had its day set on being absolutely miserable. Rain all morning and through game time. It was hard rain, light rain, sideways rain, and another rain Forrest Gump could think of. Naturally after the game, it was pretty nice out, but later that night, very windy. I went to this chicks 21st and that was alright at best. Then went to my other friend's party which was better, definitely more happening, but until my escort left to go pick up her drunk roommates I wasn't there for much longer. Then I got pizza and on my way out and back to my place someone calls out "MIK!" and look across the street and its a couple of my bros! We caught up on things since initiation, mostly on how they got ritual down, but then we went to this party which was like the other two parties that night, alright. Home in a week!

-Mikhail

I've had this nagging cough for the past three nights and it sucks ass. I've made some good progress this week in just about everything. I'll try and go into detail whenever I'm not coughing my lungs up.

-Mikhail

Anytime things just feel like they're going to get bad they don't or something else compensates for that. Why I'm saying that is beyond me, especially since for the most part things have been going quite well. Last night I got quite fucked up, to the point of throwing up once I decided to call it a night. I really hate when that happens, but I did kind of ask for it by drinking that jungle juice. This morning I got my 2nd ever hangover, first since that second night of freshman year, and it was quite the killer. This definitely was not anything I needed this morning considering I was doing two games today at 12. I ate a bagel and drank some gatorade, but stomach was having a tough time agreeing, fortunately it did enough to not find my head in the toilet again. I get to the BJC a little late but so was everyone else. After we ran down the plans for the day, we got some food which is different from doing the soccer games in which the only compensation we got for that was the hot chocolate on that cold fuckin night (definitely won't complain about that). I felt pretty good by tip-off, which was good because it would have sucked to be throwing up on the court. This was a pretty cool experience overall, in that I hadn't gone to an actual basketball game in an arena and that my first experience was on the floor for a good portion of it, something surely most people don't ever do. Also what is good about doing basketball is since the Big Ten covers alot of basketball games we get to just do more b-roll stuff and things that will be shown on the JumboTron or in a highlight, which also means we don't get limited by the use of a tripod. Needless to say, guess who's pretty excited about watching home games for free (even better if they were really good this season...not likely though). After that I hung out with one of my floormates, even though we were really just supposed to be studying for our test Tuesday, but fuck that! It's been a while since I was able to just bullshit with someone and of course I'm someone that needs to do that.

-Mikhail

Pretty happenin day today I'd say. Bullshitted with Ally in meteorology especially since that jerk hadn't been in class lately so that was cool. Then met up with my group and got our outline together. Laterwards I skipped Nutrition and went and saw that sly dog President Bill Clinton and spoke great things about the O man. Then on my way to the soccer game I ran into Joe Paterno. He was driving his BMW looking to get onto Bigler and I was crossing and he looks at me and lets me cross and I can only nod smile back at him. Then I get back to my room to a nice little note on my board of someone stopping by and of course me not being there. This weekend is gonna be great, but unfortunately no Halloween fun for me.

-Mikhail

It has been a week since I learned maybe the most shocking thing, well really in my life. No it wasn't so much that I gained another 10 pounds, but that I'm like not fit at all. I was well below average in my arm and abdomen strength, well below in my VO2 MAX test (that's how you measure the body's ability to circulate oxygenated blood), surprisingly below average in leg strength and oddly enough I'm pretty flexible. So really I'm just gonna start moving around. I need to end my sedentary lifestyle and hopefully my going to the track today is a pleasant step in the right direction.

-Mikhail

yeah.

-Mikhail

I've been reconnected with the world for an hour and already feel significant improvement in lifestyle. When you live without all the communications devices in your life you really see how much of your daily activity revolves around it. The two times I had to break my technology depravation were when I saw Wall-E because they were showing it for free this weekend and of course I hadn't seen it and when I had to register for spring classes this morning, which if I should've really registered for on Thursday but didn't know that. Anyway, what made it really hard this weekend was that I knew alot of people went home so it wasn't likely that I'd be seeing too many people anyway. Today was not bad at all, probably because of the likelihood of running into random people on the way to and from classes and therefore potential opportunities to set up times to meet up later. Well now that thats behind me time to write whatever it is I gotta write for the class.

-Mikhail

Oh it was one of those days today. Nothing spectacular to report, which is odd because I'm writing about it. Lately the highlight of my day has been pointing out things I've learned in my Meteorology class. I've never thought the weather was as interesting as it is from a meteorologist's stand point, but hey nothing really is until you see it from another perspective...well there is one thing, accounting I bet.

Another interesting Tuesday ahead (they always are), which can only mean that there's three days left in my week and therefore the weekend is just around the corner. I'm hoping the Rally in the Valley crew can get together again, for instant good times. Either that or I find an excuse to bother a downstairs neighbor of mine.

A better post in 3 days I assure you.

-Mikhail

If you catch this blog somewhat regularly (although not recently), you know of my stance in the Late Night talk show world. Letterman/Ferguson is where its at and really tonight may have been a good enough pedestal for my argument. So here's the story, economy in the shitter and potential government bailout is looming, our boys in Washington gotta go decide whether to go with it or not. Sometime this morning (let's say its still Wednesday), Obama calls up McCain like "yo, I don't know if you heard this or not, but we should probably go to work and put aside this campaigning stuff until we figure out a temporary fix to this mess, because you and I both know, whoever wins gotta really fix this." McCain didn't get the initial call, but they did speak at some point today and figured "yeah let's, in fact let's just put it off all together until we actually figure something out."

Here's where it gets good (for the first time readers I am NOT about to bash on pushing the debates), McCain was going to appear on the Late Show tonight, as Obama did a couple weeks ago, and says "hey, you know what's on the up and up, I gotta go down to Washington and take care of business, I've suspended my campaign even!" Letterman doesn't like it a bit and thinks something is up (this is coming from a man that clearly respects him and knows he wouldn't skip out for just anything). Presumably, McCain was going to have 2-3 segments on the show tonight, so instead they call up old friend Keith Olbermann to chat about why this is maybe. Live Feed from just on the studios of 57th and 5th Ave, and our buddy John McCain is talking to Katie Couric on the CBS Evening News. Now I did actually watch what he said during the interview with Couric and from what I gathered I found it just so odd that he literally said everything that he likely would've said on Letterman, but as Dave said "maybe he missed his flight."

Then on Ferguson, who really has been fired up lately about everything in the news (which is not from his Scottish blood in this case). A man that is ready to participate in his first general election is most definitely qualified to speak on the behalf of the public due to his fresh American eyes that are now looking from the inside. Ferguson did not mock based on his ditching of Letterman, but that he's not living up to the Democratic process. There are no suspending of the Democratic process he says. He was done with McCain, and went on to talk about the economy. He didn't say anything that every person that isn't on Wall Street already knows or thinks, but he was bold enough to just go out and say it. Not many people in the media are ever willing to challenge people with money or power and this is why the Worldwide Pants boys never get the credit on the ratings edge. Our country needs to challenge itself right now. The people that are the least American don't live on the other side of the globe, they live on the inside surrounded by a gate.

-Mikhail

edit: forgot to include some necessary citations
"Where's John McCain?" http://lateshow.cbs.com/latenight/lateshow/dave_tv/highlights/index/php/bigshowhighlight.phtml
McCain on CBS Evening News http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4476356n
Obama Suggests Joint Statement http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/24/senate-dems-call-mccains_n_129009.html
Craig Ferguson's Monologue 9/24/08 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DuQGqIZCWE

HE-MO-GLO-BIN *clap**clap**clap**clap**clap* HE-MO-GLO-BIN *clap**clap**clap**clap**clap* HE-MO-GLO-BIN *clap**clap**clap**clap**clap* HE-MO-GLO-BIN *clap**clap**clap**clap**clap*

Anyway, Rally in the Valley Friday night, its gonna be awesome. White House against Illinois. Probably getting twisted mah niggas a few times this weekend.

Life is good, obviously.

-Mikhail

For one instance I would like to describe my very interesting day. Here it goes, I'm going to start with my sociology class (sure I had two classes before that, but things were slow until then). I'd like to remind you first that it is a RACE AND ETHNIC RELATIONS course, so with that said we were talking about biological and sociological differences between races. Towards the end of class we got up to statistics about blacks and hispanics having higher drop-out rates in high school than other groups, to which some chick interjects (the microphone I might add) "yeah, in my high school I think the reason that was is that the blacks and hispanics were out getting pregnant meaning that two people would have to drop-out at a time." Everyone in the class was just dumbfounded, especially given that it was the end of class, people were more than anxious to leave now even while mouthing "WHAT THE FUCK!" I'm pretty sure it even shook Sam Richards (the prof) a bit...maybe turning off her mic. According to a few people in my discussion group that met afterwards, some black girl jetted out just after she said that. What a wonderful thing to know that this ignorant girl can pick up her Coach bag and go about the rest of her day saying that in a RACE AND ETHNIC RELATIONS class. Funny enough, Sam today was making emphasis about how white people shouldn't feel bad about being white.

On a much lighter note! After discussion group I went to the first Blue & White meeting, which was cool. Followed by the Rally in the Valley committee meeting which was fantastic. Met some awesome people while pondering one of the all time great debates "cheese or oral sex?"

-Mikhail

Hey world, once again just chillin. This week has been alot of business between class and various meetings which is good for me and finally finding people on facebook. For whatever reason the latter has been more difficult than previous years. Some people are just straight up difficult to find, but I'm back to my old tricks. Last week I got twisted with my floormates Markos and James some place off-campus. I also started my internship, where I operate the camera that does the stream for the men's and women's soccer games on gopsusports.com. That's really all I got.

-Mikhail

Things of course are going great as I imagined. I've seen pretty much everyone I've wanted to see from Harrisburg that has come up here, as well as the ones that came up for the game on Saturday. Classes have been alright so far, professors are all cool, the workload hasn't been overwhelming yet, but that might change by next week. I've checked out pretty much every club that I had any relative interest in so I'm pretty much winding it down to just PSNTV, Blue & White Society and the improv group. I'm still in the process of getting my internship, so hopefully within the next week I'm doing some work with that.

-Mikhail

So now that summer is over I figure I'd go back to the regular just random posts when I feel like. First few days at University Park have been pretty cool. Haven't gone partying yet, but I'm sure that'll change this weekend. Meeting some cool peoples, classes aren't too shabby so far. Professors are chill so I think I'll tough it out. I've been checking out alot of clubs, trying to figure which ones I'll stick with, as well as getting in line with an internship during the fall filming and editing Penn State athletics games and putting them online. Good times ahead!

-Mikhail

Well last week home. Its been a great summer once again. Lots of good times with the jerks, good times at the Door. Its hard to believe that my time there is pretty much done, but who knows might end up working there again if the situation allows it. Well, a lot of packing in my immediate future. I'm looking forward to meeting some cool new people and seeing the few cool people I know already.

-Mikhail

Man its been a little while. A lot has changed since last post. Manny Ramirez is on the Dodgers now, Brett Favre is a Jet and I have a BlackBerry, which I'm posting this from actually. Two weeks from today I'll be getting ready for class (hopefully asleep at this time). Got another 12 days here to enjoy. Last week at the Door should be good and then one week to just get everything together. This year is gonna be awesome!

-Mikhail

Good week since last. Doing the work thing, always fun and crazy. Tried and Indian food and hookah which were both great. Drank with my family Saturday after working the All-Star FanFest. Sunday bought clothes and met Don Mattingly who was signing autographs at Foot Locker. Then hung out with David and Franco, More work this week, hopefully flies by.

-Mikhail

Man its been a good two weeks since last post. Working at The Door has never been as great as this year. Definitely alot more grateful for it since working at a certain designer's daughter's store. I went to Economy Candy, and to Katz's for some pastrami. Needless to say great fuckin afternoon. Friday saw the fireworks, which was bad ass surprisingly. Saturday at Vice's brothers' graduation bbq, which was great as well. I'm hoping I get paid this week, considering I really need to get some paper flow.

-Mikhail

I've had a nice week off since leaving Dylan's. I'm well rested, my legs and feet don't hurt as much, and mental stability has returned. I finished MGS4 last week, not much after my last post. Snake can finally rest like I have the last week. On Wednesday I went to the Penn State Communications mentoring thing at the Hearst Tower. It's a beautiful building there and got to see one of my favorite people there which was nice. Went to the museum and drank with the jerks on Saturday, good times of course. Tomorrow I go back to where I'm supposed to be the Door. I got a very busy summer ahead, so it should be interesting.

-Mikhail

Tomorrow's my last day at Dylan's, which is great. Got my PS3 on Thursday with David. MGS4 is just spectacular. I'm almost done with it I think and the story is coming together nicely as usual. On Wednesday I get to go to the Hearst Tower for a speed mentoring deal for communications majors at Penn State. That should be interesting. Football tickets on sale tomorrow morning so looking forward to that.

-Mikhail

Its my last full week at Dylan's and I start off closing Sunday, Monday and Tuesday off and the rest of the week work 1-10. Death Cab and Rogue Wave tomorrow night, very excited. Sneaking out on Thursday, whether its in the wee hours or just before noon.

-Mikhail

Last week needless to say was really up and down. I discovered my absolute hate for working at Dylan's because its just straight up creepy to spend the day in. The hours have been really exhausting especially since I closed both Friday and Saturday. During those two days though I got to talk more with a couple of my coworkers, both can understand my desire to leave (one of which actually is around the same time I am). That's what kind of sucks about it because for the most part everyone there is pretty chill. Anyway, today I went to the Door to get a gist of this year's plan. I'm definitely excited about that as always, so it makes me more anxious to get the next two weeks out of the way. Less than 11 days til MGS4, wooooooooooo! Oh yeah, observation for the week: what is this new fascination with Avante Garde?


-Mikhail

Interesting week since last post. Went to see DeVotchKa on Tuesday night, which was amazing. Immediately prior to that I got a call to come in and work at Dylan's Candy Bar. Started on Wednesday, worked crazily Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Its not a terrible job at all, but it really isn't my type of thing. I'm gonna stick with it until its time to work at the Door so I can get MGS4 woooooooo and pay off other miscellaneous debts. In the meantime I can tell tales of customers I've had.

So here's one: This chick is standing at bulk candies in front of the Sour Patch Kids.
Me: Need some help?
Lady: Do you guys sell individual flavors of Sour Patch Kids, I need the red ones?
Me: No, you know we do have the Sour Patch Cherries.
Lady: Yeah, I saw those, but my boyfriend only likes the red Sour Patch Kids. He'll buy a pack eat the red ones and throw them out.
Me: Okay, you have fun with that.

-Mikhail

Beginning of week 2 of Summer of SIH!! The OCHO. Nothing really going on as you could suspect. Thursday I applied at Dylan's Candy Bar, some crazy candy shop on 60th & 3rd, interview went well so I hope to hear back. Afterwards bought Craig Ferguson's book Between the Bridge and the River read the first couple chapters and looks to be something good to read for the summer. Saturday had my first driving lesson, which wasn't too bad at all. Driving is fricken hard though, alot of things to consider when making any move at all. Hopefully in 6 lessons I know enough to pass the test and be on my way to drive around. Just heard from Greg about plans for the summer, so if I'm unemployed still by the end of the week, I might be getting an early start on that.

-Mikhail

Well, its great to be back home. Of course the way I officially know I'm home is when it only takes me 10 minutes to put shoes on, find the downstairs key and money and buy a slice of pizza and come back. I'm more than happy to be done with this year. This was definitely the toughest year ever because I missed out on a lot of good times. Whenever I saw my friends from last year they were easily the highlight of that week. It sucks that now most of them decided not to go to University Park, but I know I'll be seeing them during football season and other times.

On another note, I think this is gonna be a great summer. I've seen the people that I can see for now and thats the best way to start the vacation. Hopefully tomorrow, I can go get my driving lessons on while looking for work. I need some serious money this summer so that I can get MGS4 and PS3, new phone, new TV maybe, and pay off my credit card before going to University Park.

Good Times Ahead,
-Mikhail

Holy shit, I don't think I've ever been as sick as I've been this week. Officially I have an upper respiratory infection, which implies that not only is my throat all sore, but my nose and surrounding upper respiratory areas are all fucked up. I'm now trying to irritate my sore by gargling a simple saline solution and drinking highly acidic orange juice. I'm hoping my reverse psychology works because it really sucks. Only 2 weeks left of class and a few finals and i'll be home in 3 weeks time.

-Mikhail

I'm so sick of this place, it has really taken a toll on me mentally and physically. Last week I had to work on two major papers and study for a quiz that I was actually sick. Sure it was my usual change of weather sick, but it was really just pounding me bad. I saw a buddy of mine today from last year that unfortunately due to lame circumstances couldn't come back to school this year. He saw me and said "Mikhail, I'm glad to see you! You're like one of the most chill people I've ever met." I wish that were still true, but too many things here really make that impossible. There are some people, there are some rules, this place in general just is here to ruin your day and with proper combination of each it definitely will. And you know how they say things get better with time, well in this case its not because you get used to it, its because there's a time limit fortunately. My new situation at University Park is less than 5 months and I'm lucky enough to know that its not a drag on you, but rather enhancing. Classes are gonna suck already for me, but at least a friendlier atmosphere is there to keep from dreading them. Oh well, 5 weeks to go before I become a workaholic again.

-Mikhail

UPDATE!

So I'm working on this project for sociology, that is ridiculously difficult in that I never meet with my group. It always involves several exchanges of emails and text messages the day before a project or presentation is due. Its cool though, our group does the best at all of these things. Anyway, I've been playing MLB 2K8 lately, which is possibly the most frustrating video game ever. Their pitching interface is pretty innovative, but one would hope that when putting this in it'd be at least near perfect. After looking through the 2K forums I of course found I was not the only one with this problem and someone put up a very helpful diagram. Since seeking this advice I've won 4 of my last 5, with 3 shutouts and the other win taking a no hitter into the 8th inning before tossing a meatball that goes over right field.

7 to go.

-Mikhail

Here's an interesting article about joke-stealing.

Oh and me? Alive, eight weeks left in this hell-hole...can't complain.

-Mikhail

Here's an interesting video.

Spring Break coming up Thursday. I'm very excited about seeing my family again and going to Stony Brook to hangout with the jerks. I'm probably gonna go back next Thursday since allegedly I'm hanging out with some chick I've been meaning to meet up with for a while. This would be alot easier if this place had more housing or if I was more mobile. Anyway gotta get through anal-rape Wednesday (one with 3 scrumptious tests) and Thursday. Oh yeah, hopefully MLB 2K8 comes tomorrow, that should pass the time.

-Mikhail

You know...February wasn't at all too bad. My weekends this month have been incredible. On Saturday the ninth I went to New York with Katie and she ended up meeting my folks and the jerks as well. The Saturday after that we went to the University of Pennsylvania for our district conclave. It was great to meet brothers from other chapters and learn about what they do in their chapters. This weekend of course was THON 2008. Just like last year it was amazing, but this time the dancers were people I have been friends with for a good part of my college career. Me and Micah decided to spend the night at Bryce Jordan Center instead of going to the hotel, which was crazy because we really were like the dancers and had no idea what time it was. We did the line dance many times, sung and danced to songs we sure as hell knew we hated (my favorite being Adam suffering through "Blue") and met cool people such as my potential neighbors next semester and Gwen, who I'll refer to as "Micah's friend". Another great Penn State weekend.

-Mikhail

This Texas Ranger Doesn’t Play Baseball

With the rise of the Internet no one person has been given hero status more in the past three years than Chuck Norris. Before I became familiar with Chuck Norris in his current form, I found myself in one of the many dojos where he practiced in Harlem. His hero status has been assumed since he started appearing in his own feature films during the 70s where he of course roundhouse kicks fiends and takes names. In the 80s he had a cartoon show where he lead a team of a couple of kids and a helpful sumo wrestler pal fighting a crazy ninja and some dude with a freakish golden claw. In the 90s Chuck was Walker, Texas Ranger, who was fighting crime (while selling home gym systems at that) when Texas was having some serious issues apparently…for eight years too. Well in this decade Chuck Norris is now a supernatural being that until about two months ago, was greater than God.

One characteristic of the rise of Chuck is his continuous gain of power, which of course was helped by immense training, but was enhanced with the powers of his facial hair. The rise of this hero starts with a really big fall inn a fight scene with Bruce Lee. Not only does Bruce Lee beat him to death, he had hair ripped right off of his chest! In the 1980s he had a mustache while fighting ninjas in The Octagon. While on his Texas Ranger stint he had a full beard hiding another fist. Back to the Bruce Lee fight, no mustache...just wimpy sideburns.

In 2005, Chuck Norris became a phenomenon once again because people were learning more and more about what a brute, unforgiving force he was to humans, nature and pretty much the entire universe. Our beloved crime fighting Texan was not only striking fear into the eyes of criminals, but everything alive…maybe even dead in some cases. The Chuck Norris facts became an amazing hit and of course Chuck Norris being the man he is acknowledged the jokes and was willing to laugh at his own awesomeness.
Unfortunately it was time for another fall, when Chuck Norris decided to show that maybe God actually does have more power than what Chuck Norris gave to him. He began running ads to promote Bible study in schools, which of course to many shows that Chuck Norris may be a God fearing man, but he can snap your neck faster than you can blink. In late 2007, he sued a book publisher for releasing a book of the mythological Chuck Norris facts, which of course makes the threat of “Don’t F*** with Chuck” true because he’ll sue your ass.

Well now that that’s taken care of Chuck Norris has teamed with Mike Huckabee in a line of ads including “Huck-Chuck” facts, which were of course “Chuck Norris Approved”. By the way, this paper would not exist had Harry Truman decided to use the atomic bomb instead of use Chuck Norris, since it was more humane.

-Mikhail

Man I'm tired. Next two weekends should be cool. UPenn next Saturday with the boys. THON the week after that. Good times.

-Mikhail

So yesterday I went to New York for the day and it may have been one of the best 12 hour spans I've been in the city. Our time in there started with my first ride on the PATH stopping at where else but the in progress World Trade Center hub, which is a crazy sight in that you are right in "Ground Zero" watching people build stuff there after the reckoning the Cloverfield monster did. We went to Chipotle's for lunch although it was the first meal for most of us. Then we went canning at our respective spots having initially moderate success. We took a break and went our separate ways for the most part. I ended up going home where I had a nice hearty meal and then took a nap only to wake up to my brother playing Ken Griffey Jr.'s Slugfest on a N64 emulator. Six o'clock hit so I went back to meet up with the others. As it should be no surprise to anyone, cluster-fucked weekend service left us waiting at each stop while "traffic" cleared. We finally met up at Times Square where the characters finally started to appear including my favorite "I GOTTA SLEEP, GOTTA EAT, GOTTA SHIT, GOTTA COOK BREAKFAST MAAAAAAAAAN." While trying to figure out our next canning locale, we heard about a bar that serves as an underground Penn State Alum spot. We head down there and low and behold you can spot a banner that says "Welcome All Penn State Nittany Lions" We imediately think this is incredibly awesome and that about ends the trip. The entire time (especially after leaving my folks place) I thought that soon enough this is how life's going to be for me. Whether it'll be other trips to day trips to New York from school or after graduation, when I'm living far from my current home and just stop by to say "Hi!" to my family. Also this day helped to give me an idea of where to find fellow Penn Staters after my time at State College is done. Best Saturday so far this year and definitely top 10 lifetime.

-Mikhail

Friday night we had our usual brotherhood development starting at TGI Fridays and then at this pool hall. As we were leaving we decided to go to my friends place to just hangout some more. On the way there our newest brother Steve turned on his GPS to take us on our way over there. The GPS kept implying that we go straight ahead for about 6 miles, when our first and only possible turned was a little more than a block down. We took the only route we could go still "following" the GPS. After a couple of more turns out of our alleged way, Steve decided to restart the thing. So he did put in the destination and the same map came on. He looks through again and somehow then realizes that it was running on demo. Before he realized that we ended up on the right road that takes us straight to school on a complete stroke of luck.

-Mikhail

Well back to the 'burg Sunday. The break has been great, much better than last year's. I'm hoping the semester flies by while at the same time slow to enjoy.

-Mikhail

Bored as usual on this second (well now third) day of the newest of years, I began looking on Facebook, as I normally do when I'm bored, and started reading notes people have written for themselves on ways they're going to improve themselves for the upcoming year. I think this practice is the most arbitrary in "life-changing maneuvers" because you literally have decided that January 1st, 2008 is the day the rest of your life begins as opposed to it being the result of a personal event and/or epiphany any other time of the year (unless yours happened to have come around New Year's...Orl Korrect for you). With that said, instead of presenting ways I'm going to better myself this year, I'll submit to you a list of things for 2008:

• Somehow hover over a 2.0 GPA for my entrance to major requirement...pretty difficult with my 3.33 cumulative.
• Have a great time at THON considering it'll be the last with Harrisburg.
  
• Somehow manage to get a PS3 for when MGS4 comes out. (this should be higher on the list, but didn't think of it until now)
• Start a physical journal one which people can write their thoughts in as well, maybe just for the year as its gonna be one of these big transition years. (this was an idea I got from a great brother of mine Joe Marks)
• Intern somewhere (hopefully with David Letterdude or any other show network or cable)
• Work at The Door for a 5th straight summer
• Take time to go somewhere thats more North than Boston, more West than State College, more South than Charlottesville, East? not much there except Long Island...I guess I could go there too.
• Start life at University Park :-)

Well those are things certainly. Surely there's more to be covered, but I think I hit the points I know are coming up. As I sure learned last year more than ever, life is fuckin crazy. There's always something that is going to be changing and this year more than any other I remember, I'm expecting lots and lots of changes not only in my own life, but in the lives of the people around me and of course the country. So this is 2008, the year of things and stuff.

-Mikhail

Well the year is finally at its end. I don't remember a year where things were just as incredibly erratic as they've been. Honestly I've felt maybe every conceivable emotion this year particularly more amounts of rage than ever. Of course it wasn't all that, I also feel that people appreciate my association with them more than ever, this was definitely felt most all summer while working at the Door. Equally, I've never appreciated the people in my life more than ever, especially my family and friends at home since I spent such a long time away from them this semester. School couldn't have been any better especially now that only a semester is in my way from the nirvana of higher education: University Park. 2008 is gonna be great, with all kinds of SIH!!s and "shake that bear"s ahead.

-Mikhail

Holy shit! What am I still doing up!?

-Mikhail

So last night we spent a good part of the night hanging out with the our brothers Shippensburg. It was a wonderful time hearing stories about various mishaps including broken ankles, extremely hairy asses and a very numb penis. It's always good to hear stories that happen at other colleges because somehow they always seem relevant to your experience where ever you are.

-Mikhail

Interesting day today...I overslept and woke up 25 minutes late for my EARTH final, which was no biggie since I finished with time to spare anyway. On the way to class I noticed the ice storm did some work on campus, giving all the trees and glass a nice cool protective coating. After that I spent most of the day in front of the TV watching this George Mitchell report unfold. It was interesting in that for the most part everyone found out at the same time about the names that were in it. On my way to ECON I was told class was cancelled so I headed to the library where I finally downloaded the report. I skimmed through it myself for a couple of hours, reading the accounts about players that I'm familiar with. Jason Giambi's was interesting in that he was one of the few that was an isolated incident at the beginning of his time on steroids until he of course met Greg Anderson putting him in the BALCO picture. I think that may be the only reason why he can talk about it because there were no other parties involved and whenever he did them it was at home instead of being connected to Radomski, McNamee, Jason Grimsley or Canseco. There was one part that almost seems comical and I'll provide that excerpt from the report:

"During the 1998 season (around the time of the injections), Clemens showed McNamee a white bottle of Anadrol-50.[386] Clemens told McNamee he was not using it but wanted to know more about it. McNamee told Clemens not to use it. McNamee said he took the bottle and gave it to Canseco.[387]

[387] McNamee stated that he showed the bottle to Canseco because he thought that Canseco was knowledgeable and he felt comfortable approaching him. According to McNamee, Canseco volunteered to take the bottle."

Well I don't where the next step will go, but Michael Wilbon couldn't have said it any better in that it is an embarrassing day for baseball.

-Mikhail

I don't know what kinda posting schedule I'm on but here goes my story. This weekend has been a great representation of this entire semester. Good times with great people, something incredibly ridiculous that we all knew may have happened and did, and of course me not having my camera on me to capture such a wonderful moment (really should have grabbed it when I went back to get my ping-pong balls). Anyway, I'm really glad that I was able to share that time with the people I did. One thing is for sure, I gave out as many hugs last night as I have all semester combined.

-Mikhail

The semester is finally winding down. I just finished my last problem set for economics, have a few more parts to do for my portfolio on Louisville (which is actually an interesting city), memorize my scene for theater and start working on my final presentation on game shows for pop media. Other than schoolwork, life is alright. Nothing overwhelmingly special going on, but have what is looking to be a good weekend ahead. Home in 2 weeks :-)

-Mikhail

Damn I hate days like these when a mountain of work piles on to one day, especially since I'll have to stop for at least an hour to watch House. Oh, well thats college.

-Mikhail

Needless to say, I'm pretty excited about going home for next week. I'll have been away from home for almost 3 months and honestly never been more happy to be going back. The time here of course has been as interesting as ever meaning there's lots of material for a book to be published sometime. On Friday as soon as I get home, I'll be getting ready to go to my cousin's wedding which will be interesting, since I've never been to one. I'm more than ecstatic about seeing my awesome family and definitely sometime with the jerks as well.

In recent news, my weekend was pretty bland at best. Friday night I saw Dan in Real Life, which I lilked quite a bit. On Saturday I watched alot of college football since no one else was around to entertain. Much later in the night, I went my friend's place and drank, but the time there was brief and pretty awkward (perhaps this will be one of those stories for the book). Sunday was much of the same except football on the professional level and for the night time working at the Night of Giving, where I ended up buying a nice sweater. Hopefully this week goes by quickly and with some good times before Friday.

-Mikhail

MacBook is back in my hands with a bonus repaired top case. Now I gotta remember everything I had in here.

-Mikhail

Step 3 - Return

Product return pending (05-Nov-2007)

That was quick, I sent it in just on Friday. Well good to see things are about to come back to normal, maybe. Home is 11 days away, now that I've delayed my return just one day as to not miss any turkeys that may be cooked next Thursday. The call I made to Amtrak was rather amusing I'd say. The gent that helped me out with was real cool, definitely sounded like an old coot, which is what I imagined most Amtrak workers would be. You'll have to hear me explain this in person as it doesn't do him any justice in print, either that or call Amtrak yourself and have a reservation to change.

-Mikhail

It's safe to say this has been the most difficult weekend I've ever had. To start, in preperation for Saturday's events, on no evaluation of mine, we left at 4AM for State College to wait in line for College Gameday. Aside from a 2 hour nap earlier on Friday, I didn't sleep at all so I was up for about 30 hours straight noting that I've never fully gone 24 hours. I did get on television a few times (with help from my awesome banana costume), but it was just kinda boring being there even with our crazy pride + ESPN. We got lunch downtown and at the Creamery and on the walks to and fro people are saying "Hey Banana!" or singin "It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time" which was really cool. Sometime later we did some tailgaiting having nice bits of deep-fried chicken and turkey.

At about 2.5 hours before kickoff we're waiting in line and the gates open. Everyone is bumrushing to get in (which can be seen in the photo gallery here) and we all just get pushed in by the crazies behind us. Then the game itself was just...wow. As my buddy Jonny Mack put it "I've never seen the student section as pissed off as it is." and he was right. After a promising opening drive, the defense got trampled and we couldn't get anything running on offense. After our glowstick experiment failed, tons of ripped pompoms went in the air resulting in kind of a blizzard. Really cool looking, but didn't help at all.

Finally I get back at 2, meet with my theater teacher to work on my monologue which went very well. At around 4PM today, my MacBook literally died. I'm in the library now trying see what the issue is and from similar stories, it looks like I've had a hard drive failure. From the countless stories I've read in the forums, recovery is possible, but kinda hard considering my lack of an external hard drive and of course my financial circumstances. So from this point on expect little to no internet interaction from me until at least Thanksgiving or if I get the situation handled at an Apple Service Provider (which is in Mechanicsburg and not a terrible drive for whoever I go with). This is going to suck serious ass and I'll be sure to put updates here or on Facebook of things.

-Mikhail

Last night, while bored, I decided to read another essay from Greg's end-of-summer present Chuck Klosterman IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas and the article happened to be about lead singer of The Smiths, Steven Morrissey...although known more by just his surname or Moz since he went solo. Well it wasn't so much about him, but rather his new fan-hood of young latino folks. I found it so funny considering my semi-recent discovery of the Smiths and my status as a young latino. Its funny because the article is about a Los Angeles area Smiths/Morrissey convention in which the majority of the attendees are latinos in their late teens to early 20s and a few more pasty looking white people that saved by The Queen is Dead. Its a great article that I wish I could find online, but trust that its an interesting read.

-Mikhail

For the weekend which was supposed to be my untold homecoming, it ended up being really well spent. Friday night we had our Kappa Sigma semi-formal which turned out really well. The after-party was rockin, finally got my Flip Cup game going and got amazingly trashed. Saturday got up early for the Undergrad Open House which went well considering the grogginess due to the night before. Gave my first tour which went alright and went home and watched Penn State beat Indiana. I fell asleep right after the game and then a few hours later went canning for THON on 2nd Street where the drunken citizens of Harrisburg entertained and filled our cans. Also talked to the jerks as they got totally wasted, which was also fun adding to my great night. Had a really good night of sleep and woke up to do more canning at 1 today at the Hershey Outlets. Less drunk people, more kids and candy, but we also had the lion for a little while which is always entertaining. Then Red Robin for dinner and thats pretty much it.

-Mikhail

Another one of those amazing Penn State Saturdays...although outside of football we maybe wanted to stab our eardrums. Anywho, this college football season is ridiculous. Can't wait for the game against Ohio State which will be critical in deciding the national championship. Red Sox just got beat down in the 11th inning and the Rockies just keep on rollin. Raiders vs Chargers tomorrow should be a great game. I'll be home in almost a month wooooooooo.

-Mikhail

Never before have I had so much work I didn't want to do.

-Mikhail

This is going to be a very interesting off-season, that's all that needs to be said.

-Mikhail

With Penn State football having a slow start on the road and against the Big Ten, its been two great weekends for my other active teams. The Yankees of course completing the season long trek and making their way into their 13th straight playoff appearance with a wild card berth (further making our chances better considering the last 5 World Series winners were Wild Card winners). Then of course the Raiders displaying a much livelier offense already scoring more TDs than all of last year as well they've ended two 12-game losing streaks (last week an overall 12 game streak and this week a 12 game road streak).

With the rest of post-season baseball to figure out, I for one am rooting for a Colorado-San Diego 163 game season hopefully with Colorado making their way in just for kicks. At least half of New York may have done terrible things to themselves (the three I know may have already) in wake of the colossal Mets collapse. hope the Cubbies make the season worth while. Arizona sucks dick. I'm not too sure who to root for in the Red Sox/Angels series.

In other news things are going just fine here. The bulk of my extracurricular work has finally subsided, still haven't gotten my internet back even though I've completed my end of the deal. I've got like 187262108762319621 tests and assignments this week so I'll be busy.

Happy October hours away.

-Mikhail

It's good thing to have an outlet to let your mind speak. Two straight days of talking to this gorgeous chick (that I'm not the least bit interested in) bullshitting about how there are just people that you want to have nothing to do with (definitely not a great thing to talk about) as we watch for guys with nice calves (well she is, I just give approval).

In other pleasant news, I finally got my loan approved!

-Mikhail

Its weeks like this where I kinda wish there were someone recording every bit of my life so that my friends and family could see what it is I've been up to. So here it goes: This week (with an ass-load of help) I conducted interviews for Lion Ambassadors, which some were really good and others just horrific. As Vice President thats the majority of my job, so at least the bulk load of my duties is out. Finally had my hearing regarding my pirating and got off pretty light, probation for the rest of the semester, an online lesson thing about being a good "cyber citizen" and a four page paper on why copyright infringement is wrong. Bid dinner for Kappa Sigma making the obvious decision to not let in the pale anti-social motherfucker (being that we ARE a social fraternity). Finally the beginning of Kegs on 2nd softball off to an 0-2 start being outscored 30-5 (at least in two games unlike the Baltimore Orioles).

It goes without saying, life is good.

-Mikhail

Recipe For An Incredible Penn State Weekend:

• 59-0 raping of Florida International
• Division 1-AA team Appalachian State beating Michigan
• trip to the bookstore...just because
• HAMBURGERS
• beer + Amaretto = Dr. Pepper
• drunken volleyball
• meeting random motherfuckers and adding them on Facebook
• do it all again next week

-Mikhail

"Rest My Chemistry" sounds better when you're really drunk (or close to it...I can't really tell right now lol).

PSU feeling so good.

-Mikhail

PS: FIU = pwnt on Saturday.

Here's a pop culture moment for you. I'm going to go buy Mentos and think of how many times the Freshmaker has been found in television and film. I think it has more so than any other product except probably Coca-Cola. I wish I had evidence of this, but I'm too lazy to look for it now.

-Mikhail

So as another summer draws to a close it typically means around this time its my last day of work. Not different from any other year it was emotionally charged, but for some reason it wasn't so much the usual "I'm sad because its all over" but rather an overall sense of appreciation. As usual people having the great appreciation for my awesome boss Greg, but there was alot shown towards the rest of the staff and I receIved a nice share of it quite a few times over day. Its a really pleasant feeling I have to say. It isn't too often people really take the day out to just say thanks for everything people have done for you. At the end of the day its good to see people appreciate those that work hard all day and everyday and without a doubt anyone thats proud to call themselves staff of the Door sure fall fall into that category. Greg gave me a nice little gift that was well timed considering I have just finished Naked Pictures of Famous People and its another collection of political and pop-culture inspired essays (4 times the size of Jon Stewart's) that'll give me something to read on the way to school next week. The other thing about the end of the summer is always the question of whether or not I'll be back. The decision won't be made for quite a while, but it's always good to know I have job security.

-Mikhail

wooooooo Penn State football tickets ftw!


WE ARE...PENN STATE!!
SIH!!

So, as I promised myself after last paycheck, I finally went to Borders and found a few things of interest. First, I bought that book Against the Stream in which the author talks about his life and how Buddhism ended up changing him. Second, looking around I noticed the very familiar cover of Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures which I only recognized one song, so I decided to buy it. Third, browsing the humor section, I saw the Alphabet of Manliness (for those that are fans of Maddox), I'm sure its funny as hell, but I opted for Jon Stewart's Naked Pictures of Famous People which looks promising.

-Mikhail

Guys this week has been one of the very best I've had in a while. It started with Saturday going to Commerce Bank and getting some coins changed and getting $52 woooooooo. Then afterwards I went to the Letterman box office and applied for tickets and at the same time having someone from Penn State working there. Sunday my phone rings waking me up and its the Late Show calling to ask if I want to go on Monday so of course I say sure! so after getting out early from work me and Isaac go down hit up the Kwik-E-Mart then go to the taping which was frickin awesome. work has been alright this week, nothing too stressful. Tuesday, Interpol released Our Love To Admire, which I can finally listen to without feeling guilty at all. Wednesday tickets went on sale and unfortunately didn't have money for them :-/, also I started chatting with this awesome chick thats going to Penn State in the fall and we''ve hit it off pretty well so far :-). Thursday I meditated a little towards the last few minutes of work. Friday after a crazy day at the Door hungout with the jerks for David's birthday and just had a great time overall. And Saturday looks to be more of the same starting early in the morning with me buying an XBOX 360 wooooooo.

-Mikhail

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