Divided!

Definitely a simple but unavoidable observation. Before, under the Bush presidency, there would be certain individuals from my news feed who would make posts declaring the errors of the policy making. Now, it seems with Obama, there is another, completely new group of individuals exclaiming the errors with policy. Personally, I'm more politically declined and apathetic, so I prefer to take a hands-off approach and observe from the outside; although I wouldn't mind sharing ideas over a pint or two, but I can't think of a more boring place to do it than at the solitary confinement of my desk. Note: this is in no way intended to be an insult to individuals who enjoy writing about political thoughts and issues, because the majority of the time I enjoy reading these ideas, particularly of people I know and associate with. What makes these posts interesting is when an idea is brought up and explained, with rationales for agreement or derision. So often, "half-ideas" I feel get posted that lack direction and it really doesn't serve to bring up any new or interesting viewpoints but rather only serve to advance one's ideological close-mindedness.

80s Cartoon

YouTube is featuring 80s cartoons right now, and I watched a bit of He-Man. Not only is that best name for a hero, but I also love his Aryan-esque appearance, with the long blond hair and iron-cross emblazoned chest. And Skeletor is probably one of the coolest looking bad guys I've ever seen.

Stella!

I downloaded the Hulu Desktop for Mac application and now I can watch shows whenever the hell I want, even though you could do the same thing before, just as easily. After watching the series premier of "Michael and Michael Have Issues" last night, I'm motivated to watch the entire series of Stella, which is on Hulu. Hopefully this show doesn't get cancelled after a season or two which always seems to happen with good shows.

Chef BoyorTom

Hey! I love cooking. It's like a science lab experiment every time you do it. Tonight I made coq au vin and it turned out pretty OK. Actually I wasn't too disappointed. That could be due to the fact that my expectations were extremely low, but considering everything came out on nearly on time, the chicken wasn't undercooked, and I went the extra mile to make asparagus and bacon as a topping to the chicken, I'm pretty content with the result. The only complaint Greg had was that his dad wouldn't have overcooked the chicken. That brings up two points: a) I'm not a dad yet (at least to my knowledge), and therefore I should not be expected to cook chicken as a dad would, and b) That the chicken wasn't too overcooked in my opinion, although a little dry, I'm much more satisfied knowing I'm eating tender chicken rather than contracting Salmonella. Without a doubt that is a blatant cop out and excuse, but cooking is something I hope to get better at with time, so suck it.

Office 2010

To compete with Google, Microsoft is releasing their Office software on the web. Do I care? Not really, but in the future probably most software will be accessed via online servers it seems. Anyway, I only made this post because I wanted to share this advertisement for it. Apparantly it was made by some creative individual with a large budget. Needless to say, a vast improvement over the "Don't buy a Mac because they're too cool" ads.

NYC!

I wanted to say a big belated thank you to my homies Matt J, Anthony C, and Alex M for letting me come sleep on their couch (and floor) while I kicked it in the city for awhile. They were tremendous hosts and really showed me the side of the city from a dweller's perspective!

Moleskin or Blogger

I like writing in my moleskin, I think it's a worthwhile endeavor to keep track of one's thoughts, interests, and observations over time. This is not an observation that has come about as the result of any private versus public journal debate, but rather as a compromise between my innate desire of privacy and curiosity for discussing issues that pertain to me and those I interact with. Jotting down ideas in my journal allows me the opportunity to be perfectly candid without the perhaps arrogant and self-important concerns of thinking my problems are different from anyone else's; though they are different, they're problems nonetheless, and would much rather talk about them with a cold pint in front of me rather than on the faceless internet which might distract from interaction rather than foster and encourage it. Either way, I do like blogging and journaling, but I think more often than not, I choose to spend time writing in the moleskin simply due to the fact that there is also something unique and valuable in having a record of one's thoughts that are completely original and not shared with anyone but the creator. I'd go even a step further and say that it's entirely possible that having the confidence of knowing the thoughts are not going to be shared perhaps make them a bit more authentic than if they were written in a medium that was destined to be shared with others. Hmm I just had another thought: I was going to end this with some sort of conclusion, but then I realized another great point of a journal is being able to rant at random without having to follow typical guidelines of formal writing, thus making a conclusion non-essential. And yet I seem to have found a suitable conclusion for an obscure topic written in the midst of opacity.