Day: October 11, 2012

Change Pending (Except at the ATMs): Obama in LA

smackyjackjack1 Comment

Last Sunday I went and saw Barack Obama speak at the Nokia Theater in LA.  There weren’t really many other people preforming or speaking other than Los Angeles’ Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, San Antonio’s Mayor Julian Castro, George Clooney, Earth Wind and Fire, Jennifer Hudson, Katy Perry, Jon Bon Jovi and Stevie Wonder.

My big shirt and I at the rally

So, let’s try to do this succinctly.

Musically, Bon Jovi…was Bon Jovi (not a good thing), and Stevie Wonder…was Stevie Wonder (good thing).

Okay, now on to why I’m actually writing. Let’s go down the list of the three keynote speakers.

Antonio Villaraigosa came out looking like a promoter for San Manuel Indian Casino. His tie-less suit and unbuttoned top three buttons on his shirt made him fit right in with the LA crowd that was at the Nokia theater that night. But Villaraigosa swallowed his obvious bitterness about speaking before Julian Castro and gave a short speech to introduce the next acts and discuss his allegiance to president Obama. He threw his support behind Obama and welcomed everyone to the fund bolstering night that I was looking forward to.

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The Cowardly Insect

frog31 Comment

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An insect walks down a street.

Using its six insect feet.

The insect sees a spider walk.

It chases another insect down the block.

The other gets pierced with a sword-like fang.

The insects’ cowardice does not wane.

A day passes, the other insect is dead.

All that remains is a decomposed head.

The insect walks down the block.

Like its predecessor it gets caught.

The insect cries and pleas for help.

Another insect hears its whelp.

The other insect watches and runs away.

It decides to return another day.

A day passes, the other insect is dead.

All that remains is a decomposed head.

The Forgotten Players (Sucks to be you guys!)

backinphillyLeave a comment

The National Football League has 267 legendary players that have been enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. This club of incredible athletes grows every year when new enshrines are chosen to join the group.

For whatever reason, I found myself wondering…who was the first person drafted in the league’s first ever draft? I found my answer rather quickly.

The Philadelphia Eagles were granted the first ever NFL draft pick. They decided to begin the tradition of Eagle mediocrity by selecting halfback Jay Berwanger. The year was 1936. That means that if you are 76 years or older, congratulations! You were alive for the first NFL draft.

The reason this pick was so mediocre? Berwanger never played professional ball. Eagles drafted him, traded him to the Bears, and the Bears never worked out a contract with the greedy running back. This is also the first documented contract dispute in NFL history.

This brings me back to the beginning where I was discussing the Hall. I got to thinking…are there any NFL drafts that did not yield a single Hall of Famer?

The answer…is yes. However, there aren’t many.

Be it known, this does not include the years that I have been alive. This also only applies to drafts where all players are eligible to enter the Hall. For those that don’t know the rules of induction, a player must be retired for at least 5 years before he can be inducted. Once he has been retired for 5 years, he then has 15 years of eligibility. If 15 years pass, the player is no longer eligible for induction. Basically, if you aren’t inducted within 20 years of your retirement, you are forgotten. That’s just the way it is.

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Going Solo

Daphne PsaledakisLeave a comment

Some of you may recall a previous post I have made, called “Backpacking Excursion“. If you aren’t, then what you need to know is that my 8th Grade ODE trip was backpacking from Aspen, Colorado to an adjacent town called Marble.

We spent three days hiking thirty something miles, and the fourth day was spent sitting alone in the woods with nothing but a sleeping bag, water bottle, and tarp. Along with a journal we had been given at the beginning of the trip.

We had been preparing for all of a week for our 24 hour solo. That morning we woke up, and gathered around the center of the camp. I’d like to say it was a campfire, but it was much too warm for that. We made ourselves breakfast, which wasn’t more than a small bowl of oatmeal that had come in a pack.

We began talking about what we were about to do, and eventually our patrol leader started leading us to our individual camps. Some were farther away from the main camp, nowhere near anyone else. Others, like me, were placed just out of sight of our numerous tents, and with others just across a mini ravine.

The ravine

I would much rather have been the girl way out in the middle of nowhere.

The solo started out fine. I wasn’t particularly worried, as everyone I had talked to who completed the program described it as a life-changing experience.

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Promise me, Dear Lapland.

eternity10301 Comment


Do you remember the promise, Lapland?

I know you do.

Covering the whole of northern Finland, Lapland is said to be the true home of Santa. No surprise then, this place really comes into its own at Christmas. Imagine cozy log cabins, crackling campfires and husky sleds and reindeer sleighs swishing through the snow. Plus, there are plenty of ways to get out into the wilderness, like snowmobiling and skiing.

And that is the place that hides at almost the northern top of the world, also the deepest corner within my heart.

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App Review: Civilization Revolution

frog3Leave a comment

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Hello. As anyone who goes to OVS knows, gaming has been banned in the dorms. There is a grayish area however (More of a ignorable area). iPhone Apps, more specifically iPhone Games can be amazing.

The game we will be looking at today is Civilization Revolution, an IOS spin off of the critically acclaimed Civilization series.

In Civilization Revolution you are given an open goal, build a civilization and mold it into a world dominating empire. One of the standout features in this game is the variation in victory. There are four ways to win Civilization Revolution; you must achieve a Technological victory, a Domination Victory, an Economic Victory, or a Cultural Victory.

Upon starting a new game the player must choose a leader for their nation, selectable leaders are drawn from great (sometimes bad) rulers from history. These leaders are not drawn from any one-time period but are as varied as Abraham Lincoln to Cleopatra. The leader you chose effects which city you start in and also gives you a unique ability.

After selecting your leader you are dropped onto a randomly generated continent. You are given one warrior and a city (what you are given varies with difficulty). You are then free to research the basics of civilizations such as writing or pottery (Yes I know the game starts rather slow). As you research more technologies, new technologies become available at a extremely fast rate. It will not take much time (or skill) to be begin researching advanced technologies such as gunpowder or flight. You must choose your research carefully, not necessarily because of the in game time limit, but because of the threats of other nations.

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Molly Malone

kirbyfullyloadedLeave a comment

I love Irish music.

Even when it’s sad, which it often is, there is something lovely and haunting about it.

Anyway, when I was little, we still used tape players.

Oh yes, those ancient things, tapes.  Not CDs (which are fast becoming antiques), not iPods, cassette tapes.

I lived in San Diego, so my parents did a lot of driving with me in the car, and I listened to books and music on tape.

My mom used to play these “We Sing” tapes.

Which were, in their essence, recordings of overly enthusiastic kids singing loud classic children’s songs.  I used to sing along, but there were only three songs I really liked.

My favorite song was about a sweet Irish fishmonger who died.  I know.  Sad right?

I never knew the song title, and the tape got lost so I soon forgot about it.

But yesterday, after nearly 13 years, I heard that sad, Irish song again.

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