Terry McMahon's Awesome Blog

So when Aaron Block called and told me that his brother Stefan had written a novel, I have to admit I was skeptical. Stefan, who I'd gotten to know up at their family cottage in New Hampshire and had since moved to NYC, was already in the midst of a burgeoning career in film documentary just a couple of years outside of college. Maybe he'd gotten sick of it or something, but even then, who doesn't want to write a novel?

Then Aaron told me that Stefan had found a publisher, which then reminded me of that annoying old Xerox ad that ends with "and now everyone can get published!" I mean, I could find a publisher. I couldn't find a good publisher, but I could go around calling myself "a published author" if I felt like it.

Then I discovered that Stefan's publisher is some joint called Random House, his book was being translated into 11 languages, he was going on a book tour, and it was getting reviewed by major critics. That sounded absurd, but I thought, well, I'll believe it when I see it.

I've seen it. Stefan's book comes out tomorrow, and courtesy of Aaron, here are some excerpts from reviews:

---
Janet Maslin of The New York Times described his novel as:

"[an] emotional roller coaster ... 'The Story of Forgetting' is as
true to the anguish of [its] questions as it is ablaze with love and
vitality ... Mr. Block taps into the life force that gives [his
characters] a human, heart-wrenching answer ... a fresh, beguiling
novel."

---
Tina Jordan of Entertainment Weekly claims that:

"Block weaves together his disparate narrative strands with a deft
hand, tingeing his tale with a lovely touch of the fantastic."

---
Melissa Katsoulis of The Financial Times states that his novel is:

"Blisteringly good ... The redemptive qualities of storytelling are
gloriously displayed in this astonishing first novel, which confirms
Block as a strong new talent."

---
Publishers Weekly in a Starred Review has stated that:

"... this astounding debut captures an air of the fantastical while
presenting one family's heartfelt battle with Alzheimer's ... Block
displays an innate gift for developing believable characters each with
his own distinct voice. The result is a story that's compulsive and
transporting."

---
Mike Shea of Texas Monthly raves that:

"STEFAN MERRILL BLOCK is a talent ... [he] can write big: By tracing
[a] lineage through generations, he gives his narrative scope and
power. But it's the intimate moments--husbands, wives, sons, and
daughters devastated by the effects of Alzheimer's--that make The Story
of Forgetting, well, unforgettable."

---
Steve Giegerich of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch claims that Stefan's
novel is:

"nuanced yet intensely personal literature ... [Block's] investment in
vivid character development pays off handsomely in a tightly
structured narrative that moves flawlessly from start to finish ...
The brilliance of 'The Story of Forgetting,' poetic and spiritual, is
undeniable."

---
Kirkus Review claims that

"...what makes this novel special is Block's grasp of the emotional
devastation wrought by Alzheimer's ... the melancholy that must
accompany even the closest bonds once this disease has struck. A
sensitive fictional interpretation of family tragedy."

---

So, suffice it to say that Stefan's book is kind of a big deal. I will buy it at the launch party because I'm so awesome and supportive, but I am pretty sure it will be a passable read. The Financial Times said so!

Posted by Terry McMahon at 11:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This is one hell of an idea.

Posted by Terry McMahon at 11:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Do you like swords? Do you have more swords than you need, but fewer swords than you want? Well, I have news for you: Terry McMahon's Awesome Blog is proud to announce our OFFICIAL swords dealership: KING OF SWORDS. That's www.kingofswords.com. If you want medieval swords, samurai swords, anime swords, fantasy swords, or final fantasy swords, then KING OF SWORDS is for you.

KING OF SWORDS: where's your sword?

Posted by Terry McMahon at 9:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So I had a great time at the Haverford reunion last weekend, even if I haven't posted anything about it in a week. I met my goal of running the Nature Trail twice in a row, which I always wanted to do before graduation and never did, and, I suppose, seeing so many people for the first time in five years was fun too. I hoped we'd lie in the grass and have deep conversations until 4am about our lives and where we've been and where we're headed, but it seems like we just drank. I left before the second night, though, so maybe I should have been more patient.

I also talked to the new president, who despite not having collegiate administrative experience seems to be really on the ball, i.e. he acted interested in what I had to say. Seriously, I think he'll be fine, but what do I know.

Anyway, onto the pictures. I took these with my new digital camera, so I have no idea what the settings are or why everything looks so blurry. It's a relatively inexpensive camera (AND I bought it with Lexis points, seriously) so maybe it's just not good enough. Anyway, I have about a 30-pixel-wide column here, so I'm linking each photo to itself so you can see more than the left quintile of it. Comments below each shot.

OK, this is scene-setting. My alma mater has a pretty campus!

Another scene-setter. The class of 2002 stayed in Comfort. (For everyone who didn't go to Haverford or live around there, that is actually the name of a dorm, and it's named after a real person. The traditionally fratty house is named after a guy named Drinker. I'm not making this up.)

I know, this is just getting excessive. But that was the last shot of stuff that looks the same as it always did.

So I seemed not to have any problems graduating from a college with the world's largest rubber floor as its basketball court and a dank pit for its cardio room, but evidently modern students needed the campus center green to have a gigantic athletic center in the middle of it.

Yeah, so it's an understated building, except that it's enormous and has "HAVERFORD" spelled out in giant red letters on the side that light up at night. (That's actually true.) In retrospect, my biggest regret in taking my new camera's original 16mb memory card to the reunion is that I can't show the walkway between the Coop and the new athletic building. It's actually really nice: on the right there's a hill curving down into a flower garden, and on the left there's a series of outdoor tables (with umbrellas? I don't remember) that would have been really nice in the warmer months. These kids have no idea how good they have it.

Here's Exhibit A. Again, the cardio room when I went there was a dank pit. It seriously was the wrestling room, until they decided it was too grimy for wrestling, and they threw in (literally) like two treadmills, an elliptical, a rowing machine, a Nautilus and some free weights. We did just fine without "space" or "a nice view" or "natural light." When I first saw this place I seriously almost went in and started screaming at the kids in there. A little abject terror would be good for the little SOBs. I'll move on.

OK, so on to the Coop, which has been completely redone. I apologize for the bars; it was closed when the alumni showed up so it was hard to get a good shot. Again, what kind of place is the Coop if they sell more than grilled cheese sandwiches and fries? Also, I forgot to check, but does this look like they took out Skeeters or what? Who's with me on bringing cheese-filled breadsticks national? It'd be bigger than pizza!

This is more or less a shot from the same place, 180 degrees turned around. I counted only two HDTVs in the Coop, which I think is what we had in there too. (Actually, for the record, when we went it was almost impossible to find anywhere on campus where we could watch WWF. No, we didn't have cable in the dorms.) Also, note the restaurant-quality tables. Seriously, did they decide that prospective students and their families who go to the eatery directly next door to the admissions office just might want to see something that makes them think the facilities might be nice enough to justify $40,000/year? What would give them that impression?

OK, now I'm just bitter. Note the DC has a better drink selection too. The DC has the same ice cream dispenser that you can see in the Coop photo too; no answer on whether it works 35% of the time.

There's a kindergarten by the cricket house!!! I have no idea who goes there, if it's children of faculty or staff or just some new revenue trick. Hopefully the presence of children around is convincing the college students to start asking each other out and stop turning each other down, but that's probably too much to ask. Also, I can still remember the first time I went in that cricket house on the left; it was a week ago when I went to reunion and drank.

Posted by Terry McMahon at 12:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Thanks to my cousin Allison for the tip:

1. go to www.google.com
2. click on "maps"
3. click on "get directions"
4. type "New York" in the first box (the "from" box)
5. type "London" in the second box (the "to" box)
6. scroll down to step #23

Posted by Terry McMahon at 1:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Links ... of interest!

• The Onion's satire-free sister site, The AV Club, has a couple of really interesting interviews lately. The interview with Mindy Kaling, The Office's Kelly Kapoor and a writer on the show herself, is pretty fascinating, but maybe only if you have the common sense and decency to watch the show.

• But I was really surprised by the interview with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who spent the 90s as the kid on Third Rock from the Sun, which would have been a typical pretentious-actor interview except that Gordon-Levitt comes off less as pretentious and more as a guy really dedicated to his work. And since all of us are curious what it'd be like to be a Hollywood actor, it's a pretty neat read.

• NYU Law has been on a string of favorable treatment on self-described legal tabloid Above the Law lately, mostly because of the terrific Law Revue show put on last week. Law Revue is a traditional school variety show, but during intermission they put up pre-made videos that are sometimes funnier than the rest of the show. This year's show featured not one but two videos, both of which were featured on ATL: this Apple parody, which mostly pokes fun at NYU for not having a waitlist for classes (yes, you have to sit at your computer and keep checking to see if a spot has opened up) or letting students use Macs on exams (even though Macs can use formerly PC-only software now), though of course there are shots at Columbia too.

  The next video is even better, a parody of law-firm life and Michael Jackson: "Bill It."

  Finally, in the NYU-is-awesome celebration, ATL put up the Law Revue intermission video from 2006, which was also very funny, covering the Early Interview Week in which most firm-destined students participate at the beginning of 2L year. While the video might look a little flippant, everyone (at least everyone but the d-bags) realizes how lucky they are to have these employment opportunities, but, really, try doing 35 interviews in a week sometime and see if you don't go stir crazy. Also note that the story of the summer associate who got drunk at a firm event, jumped off the boat and had to be rescued by the Coast Guard is ... true!

• The New Republic has a really interesting article on Republicans appealing to the worst in the electorate - racism, sexism, you know the deal - to tar Democrats as unelectable. The examples are subtle but fascinating.

• Another TNR article, this time on the Bush administration's love of international law - at least when it helps their case.

  Posted by Terry McMahon at 10:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Thanks to Common Sense Dancing for posting this link to the Best of Tina Fey on Weekend Update. It's hilarious.

I'd also like to say I'm glad that NBC put this together, but I'm going to call them up and ask them if, instead of throwing the money away, they can just sell access to the SNL archives online and then give me the money. They'd end up with the same amount of money, but I and the whole fucking world would profit. Isn't there some general-welfare clause somewhere we can use to hammer them into opening up the old sketches? It's understandable that they wouldn't grasp the potential in the pre-YouTube era, but especially since NBC aggressively shuts off uploaded SNL clips, they have to know there's a huge market out there. I would LOVE to see all the Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer sketches again.

Posted by Terry McMahon at 1:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Discussing stuff like this really demeans us all.

Posted by Terry McMahon at 5:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From this morning's Hotline (subscription required):

"When bad things happen to good people, it's probably fate. When bad things happen to bad people, it's probably Jack Bauer" -- Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), in a promo for Fox (Roll Call).

P.S. 24 fans should check out CTURookie.com. Awesome!

Posted by Terry McMahon at 11:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I wrote this on the train a few weeks ago, and certain computer explosions have kept me from posting the finished version. I'm not sure whether to be mortified of this post or not, but when in doubt, take the risk. Also I'm pretty sure none of the links work.

So for the next week or so you'll be able to read a NYT Magazine article about kids in NYC and LA who realize how cool they are, and find ways to sell it. I find this abhorrent and I don't mind saying so, and I finally figured out what exactly rubs me the wrong way. These kids are attempting to reject authority, and all they're doing is buying into some other authority. Here's a quote:

What, exactly, did that culture or lifestyle consist of — aside from buying products that represent it?

Bobby did his best to clue me in. “It’s just the idea of trying to be rebellious,” he said. “Or trying to be a little bit anti, questioning government or your parents. Trying to do something different.”

So this is the first time i've ever seriously thought, "kids these days," which I admit is both troubling and sad. But this has never been about what I think is hip. If you want to be cool, be yourself. If you think you can sell it, more power to you. But if you're defining cool, instead of listening to what everyone else thinks, you're just getting a higher position in the same game. Here's a choice quote:

“We were the first generation, and only one, to enjoy sneaker consumption on our own terms,” Bobbito Garcia declares in his book about sneaker-hunting in the 1970’s and 80’s, “Where’d You Get Those?"

Posted by Terry McMahon at 12:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The New York Times Magazine's ten-questions host, Deborah Solomon, hits it out of the park in this Sunday's paper:

I always think the only real advantage of being rich is not having to fly coach.

Posted by Terry McMahon at 12:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

One of my favorite anecdotes about life in New York City is that my once and future residence of NYU Law's Mercer Street dorm is on the same block as a club that I had no idea even existed the first month I was there. It's a club with "a more underground nature" as the New York Times put it, where a "dim staircase descends into a brick-vaulted basement." That's right, if you check out their article before the dread cloud of TimesSelect takes hold, you can read about how the club at Broadway and Bleecker is now a Strokes/Drew Barrymore-spotted gay bar. That's right, if I win another dance-off there, this time it probably won't be against a girl. (Let's note that I did it on a messed-up knee too: when you got it, you got it.) But how weird is it that the New York Times is writing about a place that's right nearby?

Posted by Terry McMahon at 9:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Warren Buffett gets it:

Certainly neither Susie nor I ever thought we should pass huge amounts of money along to our children. Our kids are great. But I would argue that when your kids have all the advantages anyway, in terms of how they grow up and the opportunities they have for education, including what they learn at home - I would say it's neither right nor rational to be flooding them with money.

In effect, they've had a gigantic headstart in a society that aspires to be a meritocracy. Dynastic mega-wealth would further tilt the playing field that we ought to be trying instead to level.

Posted by Terry McMahon at 11:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's a shame this blog design doesn't work as well for wide images anymore, because Penny Arcade is frequently hilarious and deserves to be splattered on the screen, instead of shoved into a tiny little link. But it's worth going to. Click it.

This one is worth a link too. You know it's true if you read it in the paper.

Reminder: The Spider-Man 3 teaser just came out, and it looks awesome. The Venom storyline sounds ridiculous if it's described to you, but here the implausibility of it is turned into fear of the unknown. I'm so excited. Only ten more months!

Finally, this article is hilarious and so, so true. It's like I'm a real New Yorker now! (Except I still hate the Yankees.)

Posted by Terry McMahon at 1:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Now onto the really important stuff (no, not just this):

In a poll conducted by Us Weekly, 87 percent of respondents said they had less respect for Spears after her sitdown with Matt Lauer. Meanwhile, the New York Post reported that the NBC crew filming the interview was so startled by Spears' disheveled appearance when they arrived that they thought they had the wrong day.

Posted by Terry McMahon at 8:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This can definitely count as the real post.

See, I'm even more boring in real life than on the blog. He looks a lot like his mommy here:

This looks ridiculous. But I can tell you, I am sincere when I talk to the baby:

Arrrrr:

Posted by Terry McMahon at 12:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

First off, adorable baby alert:

I know the column's too narrow here to see the whole thing, so go here for the full version. CLICK THE LINK. Isn't he a cutie???

Other things going on:

• Speaking of photos of really new things, these are supposedly screenshots from a magazine of a game for Nintendo's upcoming Revolution console. It looks good, but, again, it comes out of a magazine. Note again the fascinating hand-held control structure.

• Chuck Klosterman, who's like Bill Simmons without the sports, writes about sports here, specifically, the five problems for us as baseball fans and Americans upon Barry Bonds' steroid-fueled passing of Babe Ruth on the career home run chart. All told, it's a fascinating read.

• This is not news, but an interesting revelation. I remember as a youngster reading an anecdote in a Baseball Hall of Shame book about an English-speaking and Spanish-speaking outfield combo who kept colliding with each other, so the English-speaking guy learned to say "Yo la tengo!" which is Spanish for "I got it!" Hilarious, no? Cross-cultural communications at its finest.

  In any event, years later I discovered (never very closely, sorry) that there's a band called Yo La Tengo, and I always thought that was the weirdest coincidence: a band with a phrase as its name is weird enough, and then it's the punchline to one of those weakly amusing baseball stories of years past. Could the band have possibly gotten its name from the same story I read? As I just discovered, absolutely. The outfielders were Richie Ashburn and Elio Chacon on the 1962 Mets.

• I was talking to someone in Alaska a while back, and she was shocked to discover that at one point in the past Alaska actually had Democratic senators. I hope that conveys how anachronistic it seems, then, that one of those Democrats who used to represent Alaska in the Senate is running for president. He was an anti-war Democrat during Vietnam, and he's going to be anti-war again. This is the first time I've seen someone run for president who hasn't served in office in 26 years. In any event, he's the first official candidate.

• I always love Wikipedia entries on the occult that are presented straight. "In similarity to her Thelemic counterpart The Great Beast 666, Babalon is seen as being both an Egregore and an Office, the taker of this office is known as The Scarlet Woman." I had no idea. Also, I'm pretty sure the real Great Beast has a better grasp of punctuation.

• But if you want to see something really horrifying, look at Wikipedia's list of famous Scientologists. The number of people you'll lose faith in will be outstanding. Mary Bono? Soleil Moon Frye?? Patrick Swayze?!? I hope Xenu really is the time of your life, Swayze.

• In news almost as traumatic as putting billions of souls around volcanos and blowing them up, releasing their souls into the atmosphere, someone in San Diego just made a video of the bottom of the 10th inning of Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. The second-greatest baseball comeback ever? Or just a horrible, horrible moment? Check out the video and decide for yourself.

• Are you going to try to tell me I didn't need a new cell phone with a camera? Look at this:

  

  And this:

  

  Again, for the full versions click here and here. Did I keep it like that? Looks like you'll have to call me on my new number and find out!

  Posted by Terry McMahon at 1:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Congratulations to Laura, Peter, and last but not least Smore, now hereby renamed Anderson Williams Kovacs. As of Sunday, 4/9 at 5:30pm, Laura and Peter have a son. And I have a nephew! I still remember when Laura and I were little, and now she has a baby of her own! Very exciting. I also remember last summer, when we kept waiting to see if Laura was pregnant, and a couple of times it looked like maybe, and no, then it looked like maybe, then pretty sure, then almost definitely, and now, let's say we were confident that this time, Laura was pregnant. The new mommy and daddy will both be great parents (the rest of the family's not too shabby either), so as long as we remember to raise him Red Sox, the little boy's going to be all set. Congratulations to everybody!!

Posted by Terry McMahon at 8:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Noted espn.com columnist Bill Simmons, author of the Red Sox book I got for Christmas, has been solidifying his status as one of the major voices of his generation (and you think I'm kidding) by doing a series of interviews with seriously fascinating people, like NBA Commissioner David Stern, Red Sox superhero Curt Schilling, and the guy who made "The OC." Most recently, he talked with New Yorker writer Malcolm Gladwell, better known as the author of "Blink" and "The Tipping Point." In Part 2 of the wide-ranging, fascinating interview, Gladwell talks about his potential as an NBA general manager:

Gladwell: Here's the real question. If I was GM of the Knicks, would I be doing a better job of managing the team than Thomas? I believe, somewhat immodestly, that the answer is yes. And I say this even though it is abundantly clear that Thomas knows several thousand times more about basketball than I do. I've never picked up a basketball. I couldn't diagram a play to save my life. I would put my level of basketball knowledge, among hard core fans, in the 25th percentile.

So why do I think I would be better? There's a famous experiment done by a wonderful psychologist at Columbia University named Dan Goldstein. He goes to a class of American college students and asks them which city they think is bigger -- San Antonio or San Diego. The students are divided. Then he goes to an equivalent class of German college students and asks the same question. This time the class votes overwhelmingly for San Diego. The right answer? San Diego. So the Germans are smarter, at least on this question, than the American kids. But that's not because they know more about American geography. It's because they know less. They've never heard of San Antonio. But they've heard of San Diego and using only that rule of thumb, they figure San Diego must be bigger. The American students know way more. They know all about San Antonio. They know it's in Texas and that Texas is booming. They know it has a pro basketball team, so it must be a pretty big market. Some of them may have been in San Antonio and taken forever to drive from one side of town to another -- and that, and a thousand other stray facts about Texas and San Antonio, have the effect of muddling their judgment and preventing them from getting the right answer.

I'd be the equivalent of the German student. I know nothing about basketball, so I'd make only the safest, most obvious decisions. I'd read John Hollinger and Chad Ford and I'd print out your mid-season NBA roundup and post it on my blackboard. I'd look at the box scores every morning, and watch Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith on TNT. Would I have made the disastrous Marbury trade? Of course not. I'd wonder why Jerry Colangelo -- who I know is a lot smarter than I am -- was so willing to part with him.

Eventually, they push to play somewhere else, and only because they want to be paid like a franchise player without the responsibility of carrying a franchise. That's why McGrady left Orlando. That's why Carter left Toronto. That's why Davis left New Orleans. That's why KG will push to leave Minnesota this summer.

P.S. You can try this at home without having to know the intricacies of the NBA or the TX-22 congressional race. When you get a call on your cell phone, stop and think about who it might be before you look. You'd be surprised how much of what happens can be predicted if you think it through.

Posted by Terry McMahon at 2:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I recently ran a search on solving a minor problem that comes up whenever I start up the old version of AIM (the new version, Triton, is buggier than a New England summer night) and, happily, wound up on the Microsoft website. I got this hilariously useful error message:

SYMPTOMS

When you attempt to start your computer, an error message similar to the following may appear:

Xmlparse.dll cannot be found.

CAUSE

This error can occur when you have America Online Instant Messenger (AIM) in the Startup group.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, disable AIM or remove AIM from the Startup group.

Posted by Terry McMahon at 11:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Thanks to 12eight for the heads up - and the awesome Red Sox news!

Posted by Terry McMahon at 1:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

http://www.dilbert.com/comics/dilbert/archive/images/dilbert2006020523365.jpg

Posted by Terry McMahon at 2:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

NBC Cancels 'West Wing' After 7 Seasons

The series finale will be May 14, preceded by a one-hour retrospective. The campaign to replace the fictional Josiah Bartlet as president will be settled, NBC said.

"The Office" will go off the air at the end of March so star Steve Carell can film a movie, Reilly said.

Posted by Terry McMahon at 6:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I am always trying to find a good example of when Overheard in New York takes a funny conversation and makes it funnier with the headline. Finally:

Maybe He Was Doing Her a Favor

Girl: I heard on CNN today that this woman in France just received the first successful face transplant after she was mauled by her Labrador. They replaced like her whole nose and lips and chin or something.
Guy: Whoa.
Girl: I know!
Guy: I mean, I thought Labradors were, like, really friendly.

--19th & 8th

Posted by Terry McMahon at 12:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Talk about your horrifying moments: I have this friend Jill who was in all my law school classes last semester, and she just wrote a blog post about how she discovered a message board of guys obsessed with her, and, let's say, pretty vocal about stuff they should probably keep private. (What exactly is a "hate-fuck"?) You may or may not want to read this message board itself, but Jill's post is pretty terrible. What an awful thing to go through.

Now, I've certainly had extended periods of being a dateless internet dork, so it's not like I've never seen guys like this, or their mature, thoughtful level of discussion. I should also say that I fully support a well-made joke about potentially sensitive topics, and that is not what these guys are doing. So to help the world become a better place, here are my tips for posting on the internet without (here's hoping) getting publicly revealed as an asshole:

1. Understand when people may read what you're saying. I take potshots at people all the time on this blog, and I would make the exact same points (maybe not the exact same words) to their faces. None of these guys have the balls to be this cruel in person, partly because they're wusses and mostly because they're just shooting off and don't believe what they're saying. I'm sure it never occurred to most of them that Jill would actually find this site and read it. Guess what, chumps: that's your problem, not hers.

   So here's a suggestion: if you're going to post in public, be comfortable with the possibility of whoever you're trashing reading your comments. If, most likely, you're disparaging a video-game publisher, consider if there's a hard-working, talented, good-intentioned Squaresoft employee who's going to stare at the wall for ten minutes after reading your comments on Final Fantasy. Can you make the same point without being a jerk about it? Now, if your post involves awful sexual comments about a person who goes to the same school as you, it's a little more straightforward: don't be a fucking moron. Think about who might read it, and what they might think, before you write a horrifying post. Sometimes this takes practice. Try anyway.

2. If you're not being funny, you're just being creepy. My offensive jokes are hilarious because I keep the premise to things that no one could possibly take seriously, and I limit my audience to people who trust my intentions. To demonstrate, here's a fun fact: I support equal rights for boys and girls, I don't know why we didn't pass the ERA, and unlike Newt Gingrich, I don't think women will get "infections" if they were on the front lines of battle. I think women should be allowed to make their own decisions in life, from high-salaried Manhattan lawyer with no free time to homemaker and mother with no free time to Democratic Senate candidate with no free time. (I also support women sleeping in, the free time thing is a coincidence.)

   So that's my opinion on feminism. If I want to make a joke that involves women's rights, I have a challenge: the butt of the joke can't be "the feminazis," but rather the idea itself of taking me seriously. That's why I always get a kick out of pretending to oppose women's suffrage: it's not a statement of opinion, it's a joke about statements of stupid opinions. If this exciting wordplay sounds too complicated (I'm not saying it's easy, or that I'm perfect at it), limit your attempts to small groups of trusted friends. Fair? Keep your message board posting to who's going to replace Leo on The West Wing.

   So back to the instant case, these assholes may have tried to be clever or amusing, but it's clear from where their jokes were directed that the point wasn't to be funny. They were just being dicks, and pretending to make jokes as a disguise. That doesn't count as a joke. That counts as being a shithead.

   (For those in the know, this is different than when my friend got deaned in front of contracts class for two reasons: one, the message boards here are public and can be viewed without an invite or a login, and two, there's no question that the victim here was an intentional target. Not cool.)

3. Learn how to go after someone. There's nothing wrong itself with feeling threatened by a strident feminist, what's right or wrong is how you react to that feeling. Protip: going after someone personally is awful, with the added bonus of making you look like an idiot. If you disagree with someone, shoot down their ideas. If you can't do that, then either you're wrong or you haven't thought about it long enough. If you think someone really is a terrible person, then make it clear that you're divorcing their personal actions from their opinions (as I just did in the second and third sentences in this paragraph). Figure out what your problem is with someone, and go after that, and that alone. Don't get desperate for targets.

4. Pick your battles, geniuses. You can't beat back a movement by browbeating one person. If you trash someone on a message board, guess what? They're still going to feel the same way, and pretty much no one will notice. If you really want to tear down feminism, apply to the Heritage Foundation or donate to Ralph Reed or something. Message-board discussions never, ever go anywhere.

I can't imagine having to read people saying horrible personal things about me, just because they feel threatened my opinion. I guess in our futuristic internet world, that's the price you pay to speak your mind.

Posted by Terry McMahon at 2:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I've been saying "Happy Holidays" for weeks now, doing my part as a foot soldier in the all-important "War on Christmas." My arch-conservative readers must be furrowing their brows, wondering: how could someone who's been wishing people only happy holidays like some member of al-Qaeda now be wishing a Merry Christmas? It's all so confusing.

Here's a hint: It's Christmas! I hope everyone reading this, and even everyone not reading this, has a happy Christmas. If you're not Christian, that's okay, you can have a happy December 25th as you contemplate your future in the fiery pits of places you don't believe exist. I would offer happier tidings, but all the holiday cheer and this wonderful french toast casserole (!) confection that Peter made has forced me to expound all my good feelings already. Good times!

Now, here's the thing about "Happy Holidays," and why we've started this massive imaginary War on Christmas: "Happy Holidays" is the perfect thing to say during the Christmas season. Let me count the ways:

1. Most days during Christmas season, it's not Christmas. Christmas Eve, absolutely. Christmas Day, you'd be crazy to say anything else. But if you think I'm going to be wishing people a Merry Christmas on December 6th and November 27th, you got another thing coming, buddy.
   
2. I like to wish people "Happy Holidays" because I want them to have happy times during the holidays. I know this is going to be another calculus problem here, but a reference to "holidays" doesn't always amount to a rejection of Christianity. Sometimes I just hope that people have an enjoyable season that starts at Thanksgiving and continues through New Year's, with either Christmas or Hanukkah or Kwanzaa or whatever.
   
3. Some dipshits actually go and not be Christian. And since a lot of them celebrate holidays during this season anyway, "Happy Holidays" covers them too. "I like to include people" is just another of the hard-hitting truths you get here at Terry McMahon's Awesome Blog.

So to everyone: Merry Christmas!

Posted by Terry McMahon at 2:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I don't know if the anxiety of law school finals is making me imagine things, or it's making this actually happen, or if this is just happening naturally, but I was looking in the mirror and I'm pretty sure. It's happening.

I now have a great suggestion for anyone looking to get me a Christmas present.

Posted by Terry McMahon at 3:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Me at the Apple Store: SoHo represents, like, the total failure of everything Jesus fought for.
(Pause)
Guy I said that probably too close to: Truer words have never been spoken.
Galvin: ... I was waiting for someone to say that.

Also, I said this one several times: "You know what I love about SoHo? It's the place where weak souls go to hate themselves for everything wrong with them." Also, people don't know how to walk. Quick quiz: if you're walking five abreast, how often should you stop in the middle of the sidewalk?

I love it here. I was saying to Galvin and his brother that I keep forgetting where the Angelika movie theater is, despite the fact that a) it's a block and a half away from where I live, b) it's literally across the street from where I jog on the roof (I can see it on every lap), and c) I keep telling Galvin that we have to go to that movie theater right by me. So as we're walking, say, a block from the Angelika on Houston, this girl also walking down the street says, "You didn't know where the Angelika is? It's right there!" Always the charmer, I reply, "yeah, actually, these guys were just getting on my case about that too, so, we're all set, but, thanks." See? I can be cutting too.

Posted by Terry McMahon at 1:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I know you've been waiting as long as I have to turn this blog into a dating advice column as well as a left-wing political ranting mechanism, and it looks like now's the time. I found this gem in a very lengthy New York Times Magazine article by Maureen Dowd. ("Look, if you're just going to talk about dating in your political column, why don't you write a book about it?") Anyway:

I knew this before fashion magazines became crowded with crinolines, bows, ruffles, leopard-skin scarves, 50's party dresses and other sartorial equivalents of flirting and with articles like "The Return of Hard to Get." ("I think it behooves us to stop offering each other these pearls of feminism, to stop saying, 'So, why don't you call him?"' a writer lectured in Mademoiselle. "Some men must have the thrill of the chase.")

Now, I understand most chicks want an assertive guy who's not a wuss and who's not going to keep saying "I don't know, what do you want to do?" So if someone were to say, instead, that they'd only go out with a guy who made the first move, that's fine by me. It's your life. Because here's my concern: I couldn't even tell you what this thrill is. Maybe I'm just not hanging out with enough asshole jocks, but the best I can tell is that "the thrill of the chase" is either the thrill of calling a chick and not having her call back, or the thrill of getting turned down for dates until eventually she says yes. I admit, law school is continually revealing that I'm a huge idiot, so you may have to explain or clarify with monosyllabic words, because I'd really love to know. My email address is terrymcmahon -at- gmail.com, for those of you not interested in flaming and/or responding via the comments section. Feel free to comment on here too.

P.S. Before I get brought up in front of contracts class for my use of the word "chick," I must repeat my long-standing position that I will happily drop it in favor of any better female equivalent of "guy." (Yeah, didn't think so.)

Posted by Terry McMahon at 9:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

No comment necessary.

Posted by Terry McMahon at 9:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

funny how videos sometimes turn out differently than you expect.

first watch this one.

then watch this one.

Posted by Terry McMahon at 10:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm predisposed to like Kanye West, because he's the second rapper (after Eminem) I've ever gotten into. But Kanye's one of those guys who keeps coming through for you in the clutch. Let's look at NBC's press release after their telethon last night:

Tonight's telecast was a live television event wrought with emotion. Kanye West departed from the scripted comments that were prepared for him and his opinions in no way represent the views of the networks. It would be most unfortunate if the efforts of the artists who participated tonight and the generosity of millions of Americans who are helping those in need are overshadowed by one person's opinion.

Appearing two-thirds through the program, he claimed "George Bush doesn't care about black people" and said America is set up "to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off as slow as possible."

As for his second comment, that the country is designed to help the less well-off as slowly as possible, can anyone disagree at that point? Whenever a disaster is oncoming, it's always the people without cars, without family members in other cities who can take them in, and without a heavy-duty TV/radio/internet communications network who don't get out in time. And when they don't get out in time, they're the ones who get to stand in neck-deep sewage water until they die, get stored and shoved around like cattle, or get shot by roving gangs of desperate criminals. The government's preparation here is obviously appalling, but will any of this be fixed for the next big disaster? Does anyone really think at this point that there's a plan for what happens when Los Angeles falls apart in a massive earthquake?

People like Kanye West have every right to say outrageous things. They're pissed, and they should be. The big question is whether George Bush is pissed off too.

Posted by Terry McMahon at 1:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I just got back from one of NYU's two gyms, this one being the older gym that just so happens to be about a block from my apartment. Let me say, for the record, that rock climbing is awesome: not only do they have a rock climbing wall, which is itself great, but they have two rock climbing machines. That's right, you have these two rock-climbing walls, about eight feet tall, and you can actually set them to scroll. Like you start climbing, and the wall moves down at a certain rate. Despite having my backpack and civilian clothes on (i.e. not gym clothes), I hopped on immediately. This is my second time rock climbing, so I slipped off, repeatedly, at first, but literally exactly when the cute girls left I got a handle on things. It was exhiliarating. There's an outdoor track and tennis courts on the roof. (Note to everyone in NYC: I want to play tennis.)

So apparently NYU Law made a huge mistake in admitting me. Actually, I'm sure that's not true, but I've certainly felt unbelievably confused in several classes so far. Everyone, as in literally everyone I talked to who's finished a year of law school, says this happens to them and everyone else, but I'll tell you, it hits you like a ton of bricks. Apparently Chas has a book with a chapter called, "Don't Read This Until You're The Dumbest Person In The Class." I think I'm getting there.

That said, though, I keep getting more and more positive reinforcement from everyone. I was talking to the guys at a Federalist Society meeting last night (come on, free pizza) and they said the people who raise their hands the most in class are the least likely to do well on the final. (The final, by the way, is the only grade.) Apparently one guy said the only guy he knew who spoke a lot in class and did well spoke a lot because he only started his comments with "I don't understand..." So I'll probably be okay.

No, I still haven't unpacked.

Posted by Terry McMahon at 3:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Motley Fool's headlines are walking on sunshine. Get it? Katrina and the Waves were a band.

New York temperatures, 11:37am: 83 degrees, feels like 90.

Posted by Terry McMahon at 11:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

All right, well I live in a new state now. Just so everyone knows, law school is going fine, inasmuch as I have yet to take a class. Several experienced members of the NYU Law family have suggested that if you work hard enough to get a B or B+ in your classes, you will probably get a reasonable approximation of your dream job. And thanks to the widest curve this side of Britney Spears (oh tag), pretty much everyone gets a B or B+. So I am not likely to end up destitute.

I regret coming here wholeheartedly. No, I just made that up. Speaking as someone who thought of Raleigh, NC as a huge place with tons to do and everything so close, it is surreal to be literally a block from a Best Buy, with a McDonald's, several hot dog stands, some type of wholesale liquidators, and Subways of the sandwich and transportative kind, all in between. The law school students are friendly and funny and interesting, as expected. I'm not getting enough sleep (nap today though) and I am already worried about not doing enough work, so those are both good signs for my long-term success.

Anyway, I'm boring myself writing this, so I'll leave you to email me if I'm omitting anything. What I really want to write about today is Gov. Brian Schweitzer of Montana. Montana politics went through a bit of an upheaval last November when Democrats took over the governor's office and both houses of the state legislature, thanks in large part to Schweitzer's down-home progressive populism. I really like the guy. He claimed he was bipartisan and picked a GOP running mate to prove it, and when a new liquor store opened up in Montana, he showed up for the opening - and downed a shot for the press. Read this fabulous profile in Salon to find out more, but at the very least see what he looks like:

And there's nothing I love in a great politician more than their reinforcement of my admiration. Apparently Schweitzer thinks he can actually lower gas prices - nationally - and the crazy thing is, it just might work. Let me excerpt the best parts:

Montana's governor wants to solve America's rising energy costs using a technology discovered in Germany 80 years ago that converts coal into gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel.

The Fischer-Tropsch technology, discovered by German researchers in 1923 and later used by the Nazis to convert coal into wartime fuels, was not economical as long as oil cost less than $30 a barrel.

But with U.S. crude oil now hitting more than double that price, Gov. Brian Schweitzer's plan is getting more attention across the country and some analysts are taking him very seriously.

Montana is "sitting on more energy than they have in the Middle East," Schweitzer told Reuters in an interview this week.

(P.S. I would be remiss in writing about Montana Democratic politics without writing about Jon Tester, who looks like a gym teacher, is having a Pearl Jam concert as a campaign event, and I'm absolutely convinced will beat Conrad Burns to become Montana's next U.S. Senator. This is what Tester looks like:

He launched his campaign with a statewide tour in an 18-wheeler. On the back of the truck it said, "You're behind the right guy." Check out his awesome campaign website here.)

Posted by Terry McMahon at 10:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

You know, with family members you really think you know them. While growing up, they're the one constant in your life: as everything else changes, and keeps changing, they're always there, and always there for you. It's like you know them better than you know anyone else.

Then they go and get pregnant.

Laura and I started off doing everything more or less a year apart, since she's more or less exactly one year older than me. Birth, kindergarten, SATs, college, and, uh, from there it kind of dropped off. Someone had to go get married, a lifestyle choice I have yet to match (he has a blog? and he's unmarried?), and now this.

Actually, all told it's not much of a surprise. Avid readers of Laura's blog will know that she'd been trying for some time, plus, you know, there is the four-year-marriage thing. So yesterday when I got a call at 9:10am and discovered it was my sister, I had a sneaking suspicion what it would be about, since no one calls me at 9:10am, much less my sister. So as the voicemail kicked in, I thought to myself, "well, she wouldn't announce this on an answering machine message, so let's see if she just tells me to call her back. Also if she's in a wicked good mood." Sure enough, she came through on both counts. And sure enough, my sister is pregnant.

Fortunately, trying to get pregnant is, like finding a job, one of those trying life endeavors with a really sudden payoff. And, unlike finding a job, pregnancy offers another payoff 9-10 months later when Laura goes through the most painful experience possible in existence. Congratulations to Laura and Peter both, and here's to a happy, healthy mommy and baby. (P.S. This is still weird. My sister is NOT a "mommy." That, you'll note, is mommy's job. Am I right, people?)

Anyway, not that this is relevant, but Laura notes at the end of her post on pregnancy that the plural of vagina is vaginae. Look, she brought it up, not me. Anyway, this is true because vagina is a Latin word meaning, you know, the obvious, plus it's also a semi-obscure word for "sheath," as in, what you put your sword into. And sure enough, a semi-obscure word for "sword" is everyone's favorite word, penis. Aren't you glad you're familiar with Latin declensions?

Posted by Terry McMahon at 9:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Galvin turns heel on Family Guy in his blog tonight, and none too soon. I've decided that when someone writes what I've been thinking and/or planning to make a blog post out of, I will be happy for them and proudly link it. Fair? So check out Galvin's blog and remind yourself how awesome Galvin writes. In a nutshell: this is getting really formulaic, and it's a pretty thin formula.

(Double photos this time since, believe it or not by request, I'm showing shots of my hot new Alienware. First photo is the open computer along with the Nalgene bottles which will eventually destroy it, and second photo is the closed case so you can see the Alienware logo blazing on the cover. When the aliens actually arrive these things will be worth more than gold.)

Posted by Terry McMahon at 11:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So Jessica Simpson raised alarms recently that her trip to Iraq was actually a lot more dangerous than the ensuing TV special implied. Here's some of what she said:

It was unbelievable. They didn't show a lot of what really went on with the enemy attacks and the shelling. There was so much stuff that went on and somehow the tapes got mysteriously misplaced.

It put everything in perspective for me. It really did teach me the definition of sacrifice. I can't even fathom being out there right now. I was ready to come home.

(As for the photo, you're going to have to settle for scenic repeats. I think Lake Winnipesaukee looks better at day than during sunset.)

Posted by Terry McMahon at 12:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Yes, I took this crummy photo, deal with it. From left we have Kentucky state Sen. Daniel Mongiardo, who almost beat Jim Bunning for the U.S. Senate last fall, Tony Miller, the congressional candidate from Louisville for whom I press secretaried last year, some woman I don't recognize, then another former employer, U.S. Senator and personal hero John Edwards, visiting Louisville for a rally and fundraiser and speaking with Kentucky state Sen. and all-around good guy Gerald Neal. Nice group of folks; plus, if you're wondering who Edwards is blocking in this shot, just know that I expect to write a disparaging essay about him next year. See, I love introducing new questions just as I'm answering others. I'll tell you what I mean.

I have yet to meet anyone who didn't enjoy the Harry Potter books. Sure I have met plenty of people who think the Harry Potter books are stupid, and the worldwide phenomenon thereof is pointless, but those people have never read Harry Potter. Everyone who's read them thinks they're great.

I think the naysayers expect something like this, a run-of-the-mill book about evil prophecies and the third full moon and the secret society of No One Gives A Shit. So believe me, I understand when you think this will be yet another book about the supernatural that's been so done to death that it's just impossible to care anymore, and the only people who would read it are people desperate for something similar to Harry Potter before the next Harry Potter comes out. If Harry Potter were like that, I'd be complaining too. Of course, I'd have tried reading one of the books first.

Fortunately, if you haven't read one of the books first, Harry Potter is better than you can imagine. The Harry Potter series, in a nutshell, is exactly what you wish fantasy books had been like when you were growing up. Sure, the magical elements always add to the plot and the atmosphere, never a quick trick created solely as a one-time plot device. In fact, as noted in a great New York Times review today, the Harry Potter series works because of its perfect combination of whimsy and humanity: how endless imagination is mixed with real life. You've got your hidden magical platform at King's Cross, a map that can tell you where everyone is in the castle, a hat that can peer into your soul, and both stairways and paintings that move, but you've also got dorm rooms, showing up for class unprepared, friends sulking at each other, unfair detentions and finally making the sports team only to lose the match when you fall off your broom and wake up in the hospital. J.K. Rowling isn't setting you up here for disappointment: the ominous-sounding titles aren't just dumb concepts made up to sound scary. Rather, each book is named after a central theme in a well-developed plotline that forces Harry into events and discoveries that increase his (and the reader's) understanding of the magical world and Harry's eventual showdown with an increasingly evil antagonist. Put another way, you're not getting ripped off here.

But more than anything, what I love about the Harry Potter books is how easily J.K. Rowling can embrace elements of fantasy with no apparent hindrance. I know if I were writing about an invented magical sport, or entire academic disciplines based on imaginary concepts, or even instantaneously appearing dinners, I would spend all my time hesitating about whether my ideas are creative enough or if I'm writing myself into a corner. Somehow, Rowling just seems to run with it and have the characters react as if they were normal human beings, leaving the rest (I assume) to a really terrific continuity editor. All told, the Harry Potter books are fun and inventive, but more than anything they're really fulfilling. If you've ever thought about ghosts, spells, or magicians, steaming cauldrons, forbidden woods, or mysterious evils, this is what you've been waiting for.

So that's why Harrison's being such an idiot. For everyone who didn't miss the train at 9 3/4, now we can discuss what I thought of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. First I'll run through my impressions of the previous five books, in relation to each other:

Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone: Great!

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: Also great, but not as good as the first.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: Best one yet!

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: Even better than the third. An exciting concept with a thrilling, completely unexpected ending that changed the way I anticipated the next three books.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Okay, this one was disappointing; I thought Rowling made a major misstep with the plot here. Personally, I would have had the magical world react to the events at the end of the fourth book in a completely opposite way than they did, i.e. how they wound up doing by the beginning of the sixth book. We all knew we'd be going down this road eventually, so I thought these prevailing attitudes here made it kind of a waste of a book. This is the only time in the Harry Potter series where I've thought, "oh come on, let's get on with it." Also, you can't tell me this book wasn't too long.

So after Order of the Phoenix I was a mite concerned Rowling had lost her touch, and fortunately that's not at all the case. It's hard to say this early out whether Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is the best book in the series to date, but darned if it isn't close. The plot, which again I thought had been stalled for a while, becomes genuinely intriguing almost immediately and goes strong the whole way through. The "who dies" issue basically went as it should have to set up the final book, but the way Rowling made it happen is just fantastic, raising more questions than it answers. I certainly can't wait for the final book, but I'm also thrilled I got to read this one. Harry Potter books are great.

I tell people that I liked The Da Vinci Code so much because Dan Brown does such a good job of continually resolving mysteries while introducing new ones and still leaving open the great central questions of his book until the very end. I should give Rowling credit for doing the same in the Harry Potter books too. In each episode we learn more about Harry or Voldemort or the secret past of major characters, all while the one-shot plotline of each book develops and ends. As a result, I leave every Harry Potter book glad I read it and eager to read more. What am I going to do after the next one?

Posted by Terry McMahon at 1:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)

All right, I am in the market for a new computer, and I just sent out an email to some friends to get their feedback. I'm going to post it here to get some more opinions. Bear in mind a couple of things:

1. Because of law school, I need to get a Windows-based laptop.
2. I am going with Alienware for the manufacturer because I hear they're awesome and the more well-known manufacturers (Dell, HP, Gateway) all suck. Feel free to comment if this isn't true.
3. The only TV I own is a small, seven-year-old TV/VCR with a broken antenna that, frankly, I oppose more than John Roberts opposes Roe v. Wade. NYU provides free cable to its dorms (at least this one) so I want a TV tuner setup that will a) let me watch and record cable TV, hopefully to resemble a DVR, and b) let me play my Gamecube on it.

So here's the computer I like from Alienware. Here's the link, but I don't think that goes to my customized model. If anyone who knows me personally wants to look at the customized specs, let me know, but for now here are the major specs:

Intel(r) Pentium(r) M 755 2.0GHz 2MB L2 Cache 400MHZ FSB
Intel(r) PRO/Wireless 2200 b/g Wireless Card
1GB DDR PC-2700 at 333MHz - 2x512MB SO-DIMMs
60GB 5400 RPM ATA100
8X Dual Layer DVD+/-RW / 24X CD-RW Combo w/Software

So there we are. Alienware is currently listing that at $1782. I'd want to get other stuff though, namely:

1. This external USB tuner for $129. I can route in a coax for the cable, which I think I have, and I'd have to get a $10 svideo cable to get a decent picture off the Gamecube.
2. An iPod shuffle, which is 512MB at $100. I was only interested in a thumbnail drive at first, but this would also be an mp3 player, which I could theoretically use on the subway, and isn't horrifically more expensive.
3. An external HD, one of the ones from here. I don't know which brand to buy but I'd like 160GB. They seem to be around $150.
4. USB keyboard, mouse and gamepad, since this Alienware machine doesn't seem to have the old connectors for my current stuff. Plus, you need a gamepad with a working "right" button if you want to use Jay Buhner's cannonlike arm in Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball for the SNES, so it's time to upgrade that anyway. Yes, I will have time to do this in law school. I find it cathartic.
5. A USB hub, since this Alienware machine has three ports and I'd need USB for the shuffle, the USB tuner, the external HD, the keyboard, the mouse and the controller, and maybe stuff I'm forgetting. Apparently a normal hub would expand my capacity to six USB ports, which I think is fine.

That runs me over budget, but it'd be one hell of a machine. I'd like feedback on those moral decisions I've made above, plus I have some more exciting questions:

1. I heard from a fairly reliable source that you can get internal HDs and put them into external adapters. Is this risky? It would be less expensive and more space.
2. If I did get an external HD, who should I get it from? Does it matter?
3. Am I getting too much memory? Is there such a thing? And which is better again, 1x1024 or 2x512?
4. I don't need a better wireless card, right? I'm assuming it would be pointless.
5. I'm getting a DVD burner as set up. It's $100 less to just get a 24x10x24 CD-RW / 8X DVD Combo; how likely is it that I would use a DVD burner?

Thanks in advance. This may or may not be the post that gets me linked from DailyKos and careers my blog out of obscurity, but, as stated, all opinions are welcome.

(The photo is not a reference to Anne Murray's hit single "Time, Don't Run Out On Me," but rather a photo of the new clock in the cabana. Look at the phone book for comparison; that's a big clock.)

Posted by Terry McMahon at 11:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

All right, at this point I have to give kudos to my friends Alex and Natalia's brilliant strategy for enhancing their social life. Now, I know, I'm shouting out to folks who will never read my blog, but there's a reason: their Tuesday night cookouts.

Look, I won't waltz around it here: I know a lot of people who don't have a lot of friends around where they're living, and weekly events are a great way to get a social life. Nat & Alex hold a cookout every Tuesday night, getting a lot of food themselves and encouraging people to bring their own stuff. Tonight we made grilled pizzas using about a million different weird toppings; I stayed away from the vegetables and put on ricotta, cheddar and mozzarella, plus sour cream, cream cheese, and pesto to go with straight-up pizza sauce. Now that's good pizza. In previous weeks we've put hamburgers in marinade, grilled provolone by itself and ate it with a fork, and even, sometimes, made hot dogs and put them in hot dog buns with ketchup. Also tonight Alex made some weird mint drink that may or may not have been alcoholic, and I mixed it with a Stewart's orange cream soda. I may not be as good a cook as some members of the family, but I am no less creative.

But the food is not the appeal of the cookouts. Alex and Nat invite all their friends, and encourage them to bring along anyone else. We're about four or five weeks in, and we had a dozen people tonight, four or five of whom I've never met. Of course no one comes every week, but you get a good group each time out, and you make a whole lot of new friends. The two of them have already made plans to continue Tuesday nights even during indoors weather, so who knows how long this kind of event will last.

Really, though, it's a smart move for anyone: hold a weekly, low-stress, low-obligation event, and don't hold it on a weekend. That way people can come without worrying about a whole lot of other plans, leave whenever they feel like, and you get to make new friends while keeping up with your old ones. Plus, since it's happening already with a group of people, you can invite new friends into your life without having to make a big deal or setting a date or changing your plans for them. (One guy I met tonight had been in a class with Alex three years ago, and then ran into him at the supermarket. What are you supposed to do, invite him out to a movie?) I really think this would work for most people who have a core group of three or four friends they could start with. So I think I'm going to give it a try this fall, even if it's for something as lame as study groups. It's a good idea.

Also, today Scott McClellan refused to answer any questions on Karl Rove being the Valerie Plame leaker, not once, not twice, nor thrice - but 35 times. Is the wall closing in on Karl Rove? That would make me even happier than fulfilling my plan to punch Scott McClellan someday when he returns to the private sector. Not as happy as the grilled provolone made me though - you can put oregano in it, and it becomes transcendent. I'm not making this up.

(If the title above sounds a little strange to you, it's from Jimmy Eat World's awesome "A Praise Chorus." Nice, huh? And sorry about the UFOs in the photo.)

Posted by Terry McMahon at 12:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

In honor of my first refreshing dip in the ocean of the season today (and my second, and the third if the day continues to develop as planned), I will reveal some prior comments on my opinion of the beach.

From The Email, 8/25/03:

so going to RI this past weekend was a total blast... I really needed some perspective too after leading the same routine basically nonstop for five months, so going back home, where not everybody cares deeply what adam nagourney wrote today, really helped a lot. I have some good adam nagourney stories by the way if the name rings a bell. anyway, the weather was perfect and I got a killer tan. well, a killer sunburn anyway. the water was the warmest I remember it either. the beach for me is like my rock, and thankfully not literally. I keep these pictures of it on my desk so I can always remind myself that no matter how shitty my day goes, the beach will always be there. assuming we elect a democrat next time.

From The Email, 12/14/03:

also in the office I put up a couple photos of the beach I go to in RI; I'm not sure if I've ever shown you these pictures but believe me, on a great day there I literally stand there in the water and wonder how on earth I could ever want to be someplace else. anyway, I have the pictures up there as a reminder that no matter what may happen to me down here, I will always have that to go back to. helps a lot actually on the bad days.

From The Email, 4/24/04:

by the way, I am the guy to talk about the ocean. I did grow up on it, but by the time I reached around 18 I didn't particularly care anymore and I was going maybe 5 times a year, despite the beach being literally about four miles from my house. then I spent a summer in the humidity at haverford during the summer - we have no air conditioning here at home, and growing up I never once noticed - and now every time I'm here during the summer I go to the beach, sunny day or not. I remember one summer during college I was back for 13 days and went to the beach 15 times. I totally love it, it revitalizes my spirit every time I go on a sunny day, and every time I go for a walk down the beach I realize how truly lucky I've been to have grown up in such a beautiful place. new england is not renowned as a summer vacation destination, but the water in the summer is fine (about 68 degrees, cold for only the first minute or so) and the beach, the water, and even the town is staggeringly beautiful. every time I'm in the water on a sunny summer day I consciously wonder why I would ever want to be someplace else. the sand is smooth, and there's barely any seaweed or jellyfish too, and nothing in the way of human pollutants. it's really a treat; if I'm ever here during the summer you really should make a visit. also I read my grandfather's one book of fiction a couple years ago, a short novel about a country club tennis pro's assistant learning to grow up or something, and the protagonist would walk the golf course when he needed time to think, and the book talked a little bit about having a place to go to just walk around when you need that time to think. and I thought that was great that my grandfather thought that way, because I walk up and down the beach (about a mile or so between a river - "Look, Michael - a river" "... or a fjord..." - and where the rocky part starts up) whenever I want to be by myself. the ocean, of course, is beautiful at night. and not everyone is so lucky, but the beach club I go to is right on the shore, and having a dinner on a warm summer night, with the ocean right out there, is really pleasant in a way I can't describe. if I don't have a cool summer breeze around me during those months, I really miss it. forgive how much of this is repeated but it's a delight to think about.

From The Email, 8/24/04:

and in fact this trip was exactly what I was looking for, I assume yours was the same. I have already gone on and on about the beach at least twice, this time I'll limit my ramblings to just say that my stress level didn't go down until I finally went in the water. I don't think there's anywhere I'm happier. my grandfather says now, "I've known a lot of people who have left rhode island. they've all come back." also the water temperature was a thrilling discussion this weekend, the club said it was 62 degrees, which was preposterous (I'd say around 66-67) and also we believe this year's ocean set the record for greatest disparity between how it feels when you first step in and how it feels after you've been in for a few minutes. also the waves were solid, not great, and everyone went in at one point or another so it was a good family experience. finally, while friday and saturday were a little cloudy and unfortunate, sunday was terrific. I was in the water on sunday and I honestly thought to myself, "this is the best possible use of my time." I didn't go to the beach today (working and then the flight) but it was another fabulous day, and I got to enjoy it for the brief hour or so I had to just sit around at home. at that point (around 2) the family was all at the beach, except for my grandparents and an aunt who came back early, so we just sat around on our porch. it may be a little unfair, but my grandparents actually built their house on an eight-acre expanse of slowly rolling hills surrounded by lush green trees. I am right that rhode island is boring in winter, but in the summer it is truly beautiful. add to that the complete lack of humidity, and all in all sitting outside on the porch (screened in) is just about the best thing you can do.

It takes a special kind of audacity to repeat the same thoughts over and over with the conviction each time that it's an original remark. I guess that, along with our shared love of baloney and cheese with mayonnaise sandwiches, is something else I have in common with George W. Bush. Anyway, I hope you enjoy these pretty beach pictures I put up occasionally; trust me when I tell you that these pictures are just as good as experiencing the beach itself. Ah, no, I can't even pretend that's true. I may be underemployed with no social life here, but the beach still puts me ahead. (And for the record, today the temperature was 63 and it felt cold for about 15 seconds. There is nothing better than bodysurfing.)

Posted by Terry McMahon at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Because I won't always have my Saturday nights free:

Mary Bono is a Scientologist. So is Liz Phair.

Tonight's Colorado Rockies win is the only 1-0 game in the 11-year history of Coors Field.

Synchronicity is not just a Police album. From Wikipedia's entry thereof:

A well-known example of synchronicity involves plum pudding. It is the true story of the French writer �mile Deschamps who in 1805 is treated to some plum pudding by the stranger Monsieur de Fontgibu. Ten years later, he encounters plum pudding on the menu of a Paris restaurant, and wants to order some, but the waiter tells him the last dish has already been served to another customer, who turns out to be M. de Fontgibu. Many years later in 1832 �mile Deschamps is at a diner, and is once again offered plum pudding. He recalls the earlier incident and tells his friends that only M. de Fontgibu is missing to make the setting complete, and in the same instant the now senile M. de Fontgibu enters the room by mistake.

Posted by Terry McMahon at 1:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Great weekend up at Lake Winnipesaukee, with many an opportunity both for sober, wide-ranging reflection and for making fun of idiots who don't know they've graduated from college yet. Certain themes of certain conversations reminded me of my friend Galvin's "third-party friends rule," which I repeat here.

Based on what I've just said, do you care about my friend Galvin? If you know him, yes, and if you don't, I'm guessing no. (Moms excepted from this rule. Hi Mom!) The reason you don't care about my friend Galvin is that simply mentioning someone as my friend doesn't make him interesting. If I tell how Galvin's face turns red after only one drink, that he taught English in Japan for two years, or that he considers Super Mario Land to be canon, that might be interesting.

I mention all this because, I believe, most things most people say about their third-party friends fall under the Third-Party Friend Rule, i.e. no one cares. Did your friend from high school get engaged? Great! I'm sure she's nice. Otherwise, I don't care. Explain why it's different from the other 20,000 people who got engaged yesterday, or stop talking about it. You spent the Outkast concert with some guy named Evan? Awesome! I hope you had a good time. But I don't give a shit about Evan's musical stylings, so that's why I asked you about Outkast.

In sum, here's the Third-Party Friend Rule: if your audience doesn't know the person you're talking about, your anecdote has to be interesting to your audience, not just to you. Also, no one I know who will read this has ever been half as bad as the good folks who inspired this post, so worry you not. Let's just call this a public service announcement.

P.S. My intro on Lake Winnipesaukee counts, because all I'm saying is that I went there. How is that interesting?
P.P.S. Putting up a picture of (L-R) me and Aaron also counts, because I haven't explained who Aaron is, or why I always look so attractive.
P.P.P.S. I hope, by this point, Galvin doesn't count, because I've explained several interesting details and that's pretty much all he's got. Well, except his high-def TV. Hi Galvin!

Posted by Terry McMahon at 10:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Percent foggier today's jog was, as compared to the above photo: 1000
Times I saw someone who I'm almost positive was a shirtless and ocean-bound U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT): 1
Seconds after I went just too far away that I realized I could have just shouted "Hey, senator!" and found out for sure, especially since I was wearing an Edwards for President T-shirt: about 3
Minutes later that I realized I should have asked Senator Dodd, if that were indeed him, what the story is with Rehnquist: about 3
Number of solid 9's who sat talking to each other on the wall the whole time I was there, presumably about that hot John Edwards supporter: 2
Number of bugs I inhaled during the homestretch: 1
Percent of remaining time I spent wondering whether the bug was still in my throat, if I should keep swallowing, or if I should keep hacking: 100
Times I had to stomp on the pavement to remind pedestrians ahead of me that they don't own the fucking road: 2
Times I've superkicked someone into the ocean, career: regrettably, zero

Posted by Terry McMahon at 8:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

So I called the Narragansett Chamber of Commerce today to find out how long Narragansett Beach is, i.e. from Narrow River to where the beach meets the wall. "I don't think we keep that kind of statistics," says the woman who answers, in that tone that lets you know she resents you even asked. That tone always bothers me, so I decided to stretch out how long she had to talk to me. "Okay, great, thanks." (Half-beat.) "So do you know anyone else who might know?" "Well, I know the Narragansett Town Hall doesn't keep those statistics either. They keep statistics on property values and population information, but not what you're looking for." Thanks!

I didn't know the number of the Narragansett Town Hall, but I had Parks & Recreation, so it still counts as calling up the town. "Parks & Recreation." "Yeah, hi, I had a question you might be able to help me with. How long is Narragansett Beach? Like from Narrow River all the way back to the wall." "Uhhhh... let me check." (Long pause.) "1.2 miles."

Man, too bad nobody keeps those statistics. So the moral of that story is to trust the knowledge of people who actually deal with this stuff for a living. Anyway, the number itself is actually great news. For reference, these days I've been parking my car at the end of the wall, and starting my jog from there. (For out-of-towners, "the wall" is a sidewalk/wall combination they put up where the ocean just hits rocks instead of sand. So, ocean, rocks, wall. Very scenic too.) According to much more easily obtained information, the wall runs 0.8 miles from the end to where you can go down onto the beach. From there I jog the 1.2 miles to Narrow River, back, to the river again, back again, and then the 0.8 miles back to my car, for a sum total of, apparently, 6.4 miles. Now, I may go a bit less, because I can't really tell where the wall ends and I just go to the last trash can instead of ... well, I don't know what I'd be going towards. Oncoming traffic?

In any case, even if I'm cheating that's awesome, because my previous PR for distance was 5.35 miles, and now I'm doing about 6.4 every time I run (like, for example, today) with a large part of that on the beach. Plus, a few weeks ago I tried doing just the beach for three laps, and at 1.2 miles each way that puts my new personal record at 7.2 miles, and that's all beach running. That's awesome. Lung capacity is terrific.

Confidential to GBC: And I tried a protein shake! I got vanilla. Will I wake up tomorrow with cut muscles and spider-sense?

REMINDER: You can see what Narragansett Beach looks like from this webcam here. On clear days you can see the top of the wall at the bottom of the photo. So that's what I look at when I jog. How's the treadmill?

Posted by Terry McMahon at 9:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As you may have heard (look, I get behind during the week) Time magazine recently published a ten-questions interview with CIA head Porter Goss in which he says he knows where Osama is, but he can't actually get him because of sovereignty issues. I assume this means Pakistan will get pissed if we don't get him with Pakistani troops, or something, but here's what Goss actually said:

But when you go to the very difficult question of dealing with sanctuaries in sovereign states, you're dealing with a problem of our sense of international obligation, fair play.

I have an excellent idea of where he is.

Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.

Fortunately, as the Daily Show pointed out last night, this still left time for the final question: "You're into organic gardening. How did that happen?" My guess is that finding Osama only takes so much time once you already know where he is. Amazing.

Posted by Terry McMahon at 12:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Yeah, so, look, I'm linking Drudge. Monday morning Drudge broke news that GQ plans a feature on the soldiers guarding Saddam Hussein, and what they've told him. The whole Drudge article (NB: temporary link) is an enjoyable read, but here are my favorite revelations:

� While having little positive to say about either President George W. Bush or his father, George H. W. Bush, he expresses a desire to be �friends� with them.

� He also expresses a longing for the days when Ronald Reagan was still president.

� He says that he never had an association with Osama bin Laden.

� He loves Doritos chips and Raisin Bran Crunch cereal�but he won�t touch Froot Loops.

Posted by Terry McMahon at 12:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Moving story in USA Today, uh, today. Apparently this pregnant woman had an undiagnosed brain tumor that caused her brain functions to fail last month, and they're trying to keep her alive long enough to give birth to a premature baby. There's no controversy here (everyone agrees she would have wanted them to keep trying) but it's a really sad story. Not only do you have the really sweet tale of a couple who clearly loved each other, but the story goes a lot emotionally deeper than you'd expect from USA Today:

Torres has quit his job as a commercial printing salesman and has moved into Susan's hospital room. He speaks to his wife, making small talk about the family and letting her know what's on his schedule for the day. For Torres, the routine is something solid to grasp in a life he says �was blown to pieces� nearly six weeks ago and continues to be rocked by aftershocks.

Susan, for instance, has had pneumonia recently and is fighting a persistent fever. Torres says the couple's son is staying with grandparents but continues to ask, �Where's Mommy?� Saying �in the hospital� is wearing out as an answer, Torres says. And Torres' relationship with God, whom he has loved since childhood, is showing signs of strain. �Some days,� says Torres, an active Catholic, �I am pretty damned angry with him.�
...
�How many rocks are they going to throw in your cart before you can't pull it anymore� he says he asks himself. �The answer, apparently, is a lot.�

Torres says he doesn't understand why his family has been singled out for suffering.

Posted by Terry McMahon at 10:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Apparently one of Bush's former chief economists is now claiming that the World Trade Center attacks were a "controlled demolition," i.e. the government blew them up. Admittedly, I'm not sure how well high-ranking economists are brought into the loop on military matters (or are experts in how large objects collapse) but wow, shouldn't a prominent member of the administration not fall for conspiracy theories? And shouldn't he shut up about it if he did? And why is the Washington Times reporting it?

Still, It reminds me of an incident I recall from deciding to go watch the 9/11 coverage on TV (yikes, what a mistake). I could have sworn I saw the second tower blow up in the middle while it was collapsing. I noted it at the time and someone said it was probably a gas leak, but I never saw this confirmed. I have asked around, and I seem to be the only one who remembers this. Could I really be wrong here?

Or have they gotten to you too?

Posted by Terry McMahon at 11:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I'm sure we're all vaguely familiar that polygamy still exists in the Utah hinterlands, and how funny it all is. But yikes, this shit is serious:

The freckle-faced 17-year-old said he was left to fend for himself last year after being forced out of Colorado City, Ariz., a town about 40 miles east of here, just over the state line.

"I couldn't see how my mom would let them do what they did to me," he said.

When he tried to visit her on Mother's Day, he said, she told him to stay away. When he begged to give her a present, she said she wanted nothing.

"I am dead to her now," he said.

Gideon is one of the "Lost Boys," a group of more than 400 teenagers � some as young as 13 � who authorities in Utah and Arizona say have fled or been driven out of the polygamous enclaves of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City over the last four years.

Some say they were sometimes given as little as two hours' notice before being driven to St. George or nearby Hurricane, Utah, and left like unwanted pets along the road.

Authorities say the teens aren't really being expelled for what they watch or wear, but rather to reduce competition for women in places where men can have dozens of wives.

"It's a mathematical thing. If you are marrying all these girls to one man, what do you do with all the boys?" said Utah Atty. Gen. Mark Shurtleff, who has had boys in his office crying to see their mothers. "People have said to me: 'Why don't you prosecute the parents?' But the kids don't want their parents prosecuted; they want us to get the No. 1 bad guy � Warren Jeffs. He is chiefly responsible for kicking out these boys."

The 49-year-old Jeffs is the prophet, or leader, of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The FLDS, as it is known, controls Hildale and Colorado City.

According to Gideon, he is one of 71 children born to his father, 73-year-old Dan Barlow, and his father's eight wives.

The Barlows were among Colorado City's first settlers and have served as political leaders and lawmen. Gideon's father was mayor.

But last year Jeffs called a meeting. He announced that Dan Barlow and 20 other men were being expelled. His reasons were never fully explained.

Then he "reassigned" their wives and children to other men, say local authorities and witnesses.

Posted by Terry McMahon at 10:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Congrats to my favorite sister Laura and her awesome brother-in-law Peter on their fourth wedding anniversary. They each made blog posts about it and they're both really sweet. Here's Laura's and here's Peter's. Congrats you crazy kids.

Posted by Terry McMahon at 10:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

You may have become acquainted a few months ago with the Social Security Administration's list of top baby names. There's a ton of stuff you can do with it, from looking at the top 1000 names of 2004 or seeing how your name's popularity has trended over the past hundred years.

You can also look at the results from 1980, when girls had normal names like Jennifer and Amanda and not shit like Madison. Madison! Seriously, click the link: it is now the #3 girls' name, behind only Emily and Emma.

Unfortunately, in the halls of reasoned discussion calling Madison a stupid girl's name is tough to do without proof. I was prepared, mind you, to do so anyway without proof, but fortunately I don't have the need. Here's a choice remark from the Wikipedia entry on the 1984 movie Splash (yeah, the one about the mermaid):

The film is credited with popularizing the name "Madison" for girls. In the film, Daryl Hannah's character takes her name from Madison Avenue after walking past a road sign. Hanks' character comments that it is not a real name as, at the time, it was a rather unusual name for a woman. However, in the years since the film was released in theatres and re-released on VHS and then DVD, the name's popularity has skyrocketed.

P.S. Yeah, I'm using Wikipedia as a source. Stop complaining and read it yourself.

Posted by Terry McMahon at 10:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I love getting life lessons from famous people. I also strongly recommend going up to New Hampshire in midterm election years, because that's when presidential candidates first visit small groups and linger around afterwards, giving regular folks a real chance to talk to future noisemakers. In August 2002, I saw Howard Dean at Hermano's Restaurant in Concord. His speech was great: he was talking about real issues that everyone else was ignoring, and his record in Vermont is both successful and creative. What struck me, though, was a curtain-raiser article in the paper that morning about Dean's life and career, mentioning that he had spent a winter in Aspen, doing nothing but skiing and holding down some unloading-trucks sort of job.

So that's what I asked him about: should I go spend the winter skiing after the 2002 elections? First he said, "Well, if you're going to go skiing, do it in Vermont." He was still the governor. Then he said, "Listen, I actually learned as much from a year skiing about what I didn't like as I did about what I did like. But it was a great experience, and listen, you're going to be working hard for the rest of your life. Take some time for yourself and get a better sense of who you are."

Good advice, and it all showed up on C-Span too. (You can buy the tape!) Today David Brooks, whose last column I ravaged, as you may recall, makes a similar point in a more extended way:

The most interesting part of this Deep Throat business is Bob Woodward's description, in Thursday's Washington Post, of the state he was in when he met Mark Felt. He had graduated from Yale and was finishing a tour in the Navy, but he had no idea of what he wanted to do with his life. He was plagued by "angst and a sense of drift," and stricken by "considerable anxiety."
...
Places like Washington and New York attract large numbers of ambitious young people who have spent their short lives engaged in highly structured striving: getting good grades, getting into college. Suddenly they are spit out into the vast, anarchic world of adulthood, surrounded by a teeming horde of scrambling peers, and a chaos of possibilities and pitfalls. They discover that though they are really good at manipulating the world of classrooms, they have no clue about how actual careers develop, how people move from post to post.

And all they have to do to find their way amid this confusion is to answer one little question: What is the meaning and purpose of my life?

Having said that, though, I'm thinking less of Bob Woodward and David Brooks and more of the people I know from the 2002 graduating class. I always believed that you more or less graduated, got a job, and stayed in that job until and unless you found something else you wanted to do instead, that is, lots of opportunity and free-flowing movement. I never expected that post-college life was actually like The Graduate (without the plastics, or, I guess, the sex with neighbors), but here it is: literally everyone I know from that year either went straight to grad school or has spent an extended amount of time unemployed and listless, usually at home and with no apparent prospects. Again, this has happened to literally everyone who didn't go straight through to graduate school.

I find when discussing this with people that the operative word is "momentum." Your life, especially through college, seems to be thrusting you towards some happy, wealthy and fulfilling future, and then a few things don't go your way and all of a sudden you're stuck nowhere with nothing on the horizon. The idea of losing and trying to regain momentum, first off, seems to describe the feeling pretty well. Plus, it illustrates the gravity of the situation: you have plenty of people like Bob Woodward, who, as Brooks points out, went through this phase and turned out to be the hero of Watergate and now frightens White Houses into telling him all their secrets for no political benefit. (OK, that's another post.) In contrast, though, when you enter this kind of phase, you're not sure whether it really is a phase, or maybe this is where your life starts to slowly decline.

I don't think it has to be that way. I take all the chances I can get to recommend Stephen Covey's guide for life, the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, but in general, stepping out of the rat race is the perfect time to reevaluate who you are and where you're going. It's tough because having a good attitude doesn't always solve your problems, and taking the chance to catch up on baseball and video games isn't necessarily going to get you a job either. But if you can remind yourself how many people get into the exact same situation and calm down a bit, the time off can turn out to be a momentary and corrective blip.

Still, it's tough: when you lose momentum, it's hard to imagine anything else, and when you're back on track, it's the last thing you want to think about. Kudos to Bob Woodward and David Brooks for bringing it up. It's like A-Rod going to therapy for playing for such a shitty baseball team: it happens to everyone, and it's nothing to be ashamed of.

Posted by Terry McMahon at 11:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ok, imagine this scenario: your college has an intensive freshman orientation program. You enjoy it a lot, you feel like it helped you adjust to college. You apply to be one of the sophomores who lives with next year's freshmen and shows them around, and you get in. You get to know one of the students running the program, he becomes a friend, you and his then-girlfriend share an apartment for the summer (mom, it's not how it sounds). The next year you apply to be one of the students running the organization, with this guy as the chair. Again you interview with him, again you get on, and you proceed to spend 50 hours a week hashing out what it means to orient freshmen, who the hell should be doing it, and what everyone should be doing to get trained and oriented. Eventually the hours, the conflicts of interest and the fact that college kids shouldn't be running this themselves gets to everyone, and the committee functionally collapses. Everyone gangs up on the chair, you try to play it down the middle with vague amounts of success. After more late nights than anyone cares to remember, you wrap up the program. You stay friends with the chair, take his advice not to become chair yourself the next year, start getting more sleep. He graduates and goes to New Mexico to study computer science, you graduate and write press releases for losing political candidates.

All told, it's enough to think you know someone. At least until they become a contestant on Average Joe. You could say I consider this an unexpected event. Will it be enough to make me actually watch Average Joe? Developing...

Thanks to Aaron Clauset for sending a vague email about an Average Joe watch party without mentioning that he's a fucking cast member, and to Mike Ranen, his spirit still in college four years after his body graduated. Thanks for reading the blog, Mike!

Posted by Terry McMahon at 10:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I suspect my post headings tonight are mostly going to be expletives, get ready now.

First topic: Someone is commenting my old posts left and right with a series of links on how you and whatever subculture with which you associate can find dating happiness online. Here's a sample:

free match || matchmaking namibia || speed dating || personals dating || california singles || swedish match || match boxes || matchmaking services || winnipeg singles || matchmaking agencies || sacramento dating ||

Click at your own risk. I've been eagerly awaiting the moment I have more comments than posts, but I'm not sure this is the way to do it. So should I go back and delete all these comments again, or should I just roll with it? Does anyone really mind?

Posted by Terry McMahon at 8:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

See, I drive fine, if you take things into context. I noticed when I went to college that everyone says people drive crazy in their hometown, as if it's a point of pride. "Oh man, you're going to have to get used to these Philly drivers then." "This is bad, but man, it's nowhere near as bad as it is in New Jersey." And so on. Turns out there's quite a competition.

Turns out I win! Or maybe I lose. Either way, Rhode Island apparently has the worst drivers in the country. A recent study gave written driver's tests to a bunch of current drivers, and it turns out the folks in Rhode Island averaged 71 out of 100, eight points above failing and the lowest in the country. So I guess if you're passing a driver who's scribbling a written test on top of the steering wheel, you're all set unless he has an Ocean State license plate.

Incidentally, the story is hilarious but I don't think it's true. There are certain Rhode Island stereotypes - the rolling stop, and who really needs a turn signal - but driving here is no more difficult than anywhere else I've been. In fact, driving around here is a lot easier than in a lot of other places, mostly because drivers here are rational. Have you ever noticed that Florida drivers don't understand the concept of a high-speed lane? Here's how you can tell if that matters: does the thought of slow cars driving right next to each other in every single lane upset you? If you're like me and Marlins ace Josh Beckett, it probably does.

Or we can just blame Florida for being the weird state. Truthfully, I suspect driver talent is pretty evenly divided across our fair country. (Not around the world though: those Italians drive with a death wish.) So I'm happy to call it a truce: just get out of my fucking lane or I'll hit you with a big shell. You wanna get rolled?

Posted by Terry McMahon at 1:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm in love with Mandy Moore. That's right, Mandy Moore. Apparently a few years back there were some guys in Minneapolis who wanted to do a really good covers album, and not only did they get Mandy Moore to do the singing, but they got it released as a Mandy Moore album.

So, apparently Mandy Moore tells people not to listen to her first two albums because they're so terrible, an admirable decision, and she makes up for it with the cover album. There are a few songs most people would recognize (Carole King's "I Feel The Earth Move" and Blondie's "One Way Or Another" are both on there), but the striking track to me is the single, XTC's "Senses Working Overtime." Now, this is a semi-obscure song, in that you'd probably only know it if you like XTC or happened to listen to alternative rock in the 80s. "Senses Working Overtime" is one of my favorites, so I was thrilled to discover this song was remade, and more thrilled to discover the remake is pretty good. I found the video of Mandy Moore doing the song live on Craig Kilborn's show in 2003, and it is awesome. She sings it more clearly than XTC, so I can finally figure out more of the words, but better yet, she does it sincerely, like she genuinely appreciates the song.

I think I'm in love. Anyone know if she lives in the West Village?

Posted by Terry McMahon at 12:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The Washington Post finally climbs down from its high horse to talk about the real issues facing our country today:

And so it began, as it has countless times before. Bledsoe and Rogers have been puffing up the barbecue feud between eastern North Carolina and western North Carolina for decades. Bledsoe -- a former newspaper columnist turned best-selling crime book author -- is undeniably Mr. Western-Style, extolling the virtues of melty-tender pork shoulders glazed with a ketchup-based sauce. Rogers is adamantly Mr. Eastern-Style, pontificating about the vinegar-heavy morsels of whole hog favored Down East along North Carolina's coast.
...
"People who would put ketchup in the sauce they feed to innocent children are capable of most anything," Rogers told his readers in the Raleigh News & Observer after word leaked about the barbecue festival bill. "Let the word go forth from this time and place that we, the Eastern North Carolina purveyors of pure barbecue, will not be roadkill for our western kin."
...
"I guess it's the ultimate pork-barreling," said state Rep. Jerry Dockham, a Republican who co-sponsored the bill that would give the barbecue festival in his home county the state's imprimatur.
...
The eastern-style advocates can rightly stake a claim as North Carolina's original barbecue. They smoke an entire hog, or cook it over electrical coils, and slather the meat in a sauce made from vinegar -- usually apple cider -- black pepper and red pepper flakes.

The western style, according to legend, developed in the 1920s in Lexington, where cash-strapped country folk bought barbecue sold from tents outside the courthouse. The meat came from the cheapest part of the pig -- the shoulder. The sauce was sweeter, with heavy doses of sugar and ketchup, some black pepper and only a dash of vinegar.

Posted by Terry McMahon at 5:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Took them long enough. At least they've only discovered the radiation, and not the terrible reason why I'm doing it:

The D'Souza family lives in the home on Timberwood Court, and claims the aluminium pieces are necessary to protect them from unknown neighbors who have been bombarding them with radio waves and making them sick.

"(It's) a shield to protect against radiation, because microwave radiation is reflected off of aluminium, so it's a protective measure," resident Sarah D'Souza said.

The D'Souzas said the bombardment began after the first anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and that the radio waves have caused them health problems ranging from headaches to lupus.

Posted by Terry McMahon at 1:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

OK, I'm back and ready to start scribbling. More posts to follow shortly.

Posted by Terry McMahon at 12:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

You may remember my East Coast Road Trip Journal from late 2002. You may also remember that Carl Knutson was the only person to respond to my pleas for feedback. As a result, once Carl arrives in RI this afternoon, all you chumps become second-rate.

In other words, posting may become sparse starting now, through the weekend. Deal with it. If Frist doesn't have the votes, don't say I didn't warn you.

Posted by Terry McMahon at 1:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I'm not even sure myself how I got to reading about the joys and pitfalls of studying correspondence between 19th-century upper-class New England sisters, but I found an interesting passage. (In the article I mean, I'm just reading Slate here.)

For 19th-century women, though, letter-writing and even journal-keeping were quasi-public activities. The "black art," as Mary Peabody referred to the skills required in correspondence, was practiced intensively by schoolgirls and young women, who frequently commented in their letters on both the form and substance of the mail they received as they worked to develop a mature style. Travel journals served as entertainment at "reading parties" for groups of women friends eager for news of the world, before they were passed by hand among a wider network of acquaintances and eventually down through the generations.

Honestly, I think we do have a problem with writing instruction these days. Maybe the fault doesn't lie with the teachers, and people just abandon writing and forget how to do it; anyone who's been in a button-down work environment and read company emails knows that most people write like chumps. But I do think the writing we get taught in school isn't that effective; all you really learn to do is write academic papers. It's not necessarily often that people have to learn how to write charming and witty essays, but it certainly helps when you can. (I write a mean thank-you note, I'll tell you what.)

I hope this blog is somewhat insightful, but the real reason I'm doing it is to practice my writing skills. (And send out hilarious links to my friends. And to see what kind of hits I get.) Unfortunately, not everyone is going to take up a blog or care about their writing quality when they do. That's why I think a little more instruction in the black art may be just what we need.

Posted by Terry McMahon at 11:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I think this New York Times op-ed (soon to be paid-access only!) is on why it's so bad that an American bought a controlling interest in Manchester United, the New York Yankees of soccer. Eventually though it starts twisting into a history of English football, and we get this gem:

There was surely a tradition of jingoist xenophobia in English soccer, memorably expressed by Vincent Mulchrone, a columnist for The Daily Mail, on the morning England was to play West Germany in the 1966 World Cup. "West Germany may beat us at our national sport today, but that would be only fair," he wrote. "We beat them twice at theirs."

Posted by Terry McMahon at 5:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This problem won't be affecting me (thank you, Lexis-Nexis) but it looks like it's going to become harder to find each new iteration of how David Brooks thinks Democrats are so far out of touch with regular Americans. Starting September, the New York Times will be charging $49.95 annually for access to their Op-Ed columns. First the crossword puzzle, now this! Maureen Dowd's off my Christmas card list, that's for sure.

Here's a link, though apparently no one else knows anything more than I've already mentioned.

Posted by Terry McMahon at 5:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yes, I plan on making three posts a week about Dave Chappelle for the rest of my life. Actually, I might not have to, as he's doing his part to drop out of public view or interest by himself. Drudge has an exclusive on an upcoming Time exclusive:

Dave Chappelle Found! Talks Exclusively with TIME Magazine in South Africa

"I figured, Let me just cut myself off from everybody, take a minute and pull a Flintstone-stop a speeding car by using my feet as the brakes. I am surprised at what I would do for $50 million. I am surprised at what people around me would do for me to have $50 million," Dave Chappelle tells TIME's Christopher John Farley in an exclusive interview.

CHAPPELLE tells TIME he's not in mental hospital or drug rehab, debunking earlier reports in ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY and elsewhere.

Posted by Terry McMahon at 9:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The first time I watched Arrested Development was a night a year or two ago where, for reasons undisclosed, I had nothing to do but watch TV. After the Simpsons, I decided to watch the next show until it bored me and I changed the channel. I can't say I watch Arrested Development regularly, but it has never, ever bored me. That's why I'm happy to say, mostly for bigger fans than me out there, that it appears Arrested Development is being renewed. I'll spare you the claptrap from this hideous E! Online gossip piece, and just get you the details:

Though they're still dotting I's and crossing T's on the final documents, I'm told Fox network and 20th Century Fox studio are "99.9 percent of the way there" to reaching an agreement on the new season. According to these highly placed sources, it looks very likely that Arrested Development will be coming back not only for a full season of 22 episodes but actually two full seasons of 22 episodes. How freaking fantastic is that?

I am well aware this sounds far-fetched, as my friends at Defamer have pointed out. But I'm told the reason Fox network wants to go with 44 episodes instead of 22 is that by ordering bulk, the licensing fee will be cheaper.

Posted by Terry McMahon at 11:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm never going to see half the movies this guy reviews, but every so often you get a little gem that makes it all worth it. My personal favorite Ebertism is when he spends too much time talking about a peripheral (or unrelated) topic, because he just doesn't like the movie that much. The latest example is from his review of Mondovino, a movie apparently intended to convince us that Big Wine is making all wine across the world taste the same. A more depressing Sideways? Anyway, this is what he writes:

He makes this argument in a film that is too long and needlessly mannered. There is no particular reason for a restless hand-held camera in a documentary about wine. If we are watching a documentary about cockfighting or the flight of the bumblebee, we can see the logic of a jumpy camera, but vineyards don't move around much and are easy to keep in frame. I am more permissive about Nossiter's other camera strategy, which is to interrupt a shot whenever a dog comes into view, in order to focus on the dog. This I understand. Whenever a dog appears at a social occasion, I immediately interrupt my conversation to greet the dog, and often find myself turning back to its owner with regret.

Posted by Terry McMahon at 7:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I think you already knew most of my posts were inoperative, but here's proof: according to Gawker, which I admit I read, Dave Chappelle has been in a mental institution since April. Get well soon, bitch!

Posted by Terry McMahon at 4:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I remarked last night that Pearl Jam is the Ken Griffey Jr. of rock music. For the uninitiated: Griffey had about ten amazing years, got injured, got injured again, kept getting injured, and hasn't had a really great year since back when we assumed the economy would never stop growing. Pearl Jam had three awesome albums, then tried and failed to break the backs of Ticketmaster, then made their next single a duet with some guy doing Pakistani music, and since then, their albums have been nowhere near as good as their first few. So with both these acts here, everyone still kind of hopes they'll be their old selves again, but we don't really expect it.

So. Greatest analogy ever?

Posted by Terry McMahon at 10:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Newsweek's got an interesting look online at the repeated delays in the next season of Chappelle's Show. From what I gather, it looks like it's nothing too disconcerting: Chappelle's overnight transition from cult hero to $50 million megastar has him a little rattled, and then Comedy Central's not thrilled that he wants to get even more extreme with his race-based humor.

So I'm not that concerned; the new material mentioned in the article sounds hilarious and, at the very least, up to Chappelle's already sterling standards. But the issue with the network has me a little piqued. Sure, the debate between the network hacks and the talent over crossing these imaginary taboos is as old as TV itself (and probably older), but that's what's special about Dave Chappelle. Every time I watch the show, I'm just stunned: I should be grossly offended, but I'm not. Remember the racial draft? Or the one where he brought in John Mayer to show that white people actually can dance? How about the one where Eddie Murphy's brother Charlie challenged Prince and his friends to a game of midnight basketball, and Prince showed up in purple from head to toe, and still beat the shit out of them? (OK, that last one wasn't about race, but man was that funny.)

So let me put it this way: If Dave Chappelle's going to cross the line, he would have done it twenty times already. Let the guy play.

Posted by Terry McMahon at 8:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

All right, well I won't say this trip was useless, but I'm no closer to making a decision than I was three weeks ago. I went to Duke, thought I had to go there, went to UVa, thought I had to go THERE, and now I'm here thinking, "why on earth would I ever not go to NYU?" this is getting ridiculous.

students: This was the weak point of NYU's presentation, but I don't think it's anything to be concerned about. At Duke I had friends to stay with, and at UVa I hung out with a student host, but at NYU I didn't really get a chance to hang out with any current students and get a sense from them of what they're like. But I went to student panels and the like, and frankly they came across as just like the students at UVa or Duke, except the NYU students are probably a little more diverse and probably a little more from New York City. So basically what you'd expect.

professors: NYU had fewer events with professors than Duke did. That said, NYU sat a professor down at every eight-person table at lunch and let us grill them (speaking of grilling, the chicken was awesome too). There's no point in being shy at these things, and the guy answered all my concerns and then some. I asked him if a student strolled into his office asking if there was any work he could do, if the professor would let him, and the professor said, "oh, I only wish that would happen." (That's a great response, because wherever I go I'm going to try to latch on to the professors in whatever disciplines I'm interested in.) Like everyone, he embraced the idea of a law school in NYC, especially in contrast to his last position, at UVa. I asked him what he thought of UVa, and he said he loved his time there and would never say a bad word, and then he proceeded to say that the beer-and-softball atmosphere at UVa interferes with learning. At UVa, the idea of balance seemed really appealing, at NYU it felt like an unproductive use of my time. So, as always, I have no point.

the area: This is the big deal with NYU. I had assumed that a law school in NYC would be too unconcentrated for my tastes. I want to meet new people and make new connections, not just for professional reasons but to make new friends. I was a little concerned going in that NYU students would all be too distracted to form a tight community with the other students, but that seems not to be the case. The class size is the biggest (about 430 per class, in contrast to 360 at UVa and 200 at Duke), but like the other schools NYU Law first-years get put into 25- to 30-person sections that become really close, go have dinner at professors' houses and go out drinking together on the weekends. Like Duke, a premium was placed on initiative, but at NYU the reason was because there's an infinite array of choices in the city. The area itself is very nice too; the law school is on the southwest corner of Washington Square, so not only is there a beautiful park right outside the building but I can get weed any time I want to. (Mom, that's a joke.) The campus is located in the Village (I'm still not confident in my knowledge of the East-West Village geography) by a lot of sweet restaurants and stores and coffeeshops and the like. Plus when you leave the law school front door, the Empire State Building is right in front of you. How do you beat that?

the crushing amounts of debt: Well, like all the law schools I looked at, you can get a sweet gig out of law school, where you sell your existence to a law firm for as long as you can handle it. Duke and UVa claim it's easier to get an NYC firm job from them because NYU is more competitive, NYU claims it's easier to make contacts in the city when you're in the city too. Either way, NYU is the most expensive of the three, by a fair amount, because it's more expensive living in New York. Uncle Tim asks what 8-10,000 dollars is in terms of your whole life's path, and I've heard that a law school applicant should embrace the best school they get into for basically the same reason. NYU is indeed the highest ranked law school I got into, though since it's newly good, a school like Columbia supposedly has a better rep around the city. And since I'm concerned with the general picture here, not the edges, I don't really care.

differences with Duke and UVa: I could tell at the end of my time at Haverford that I was ready for a more exciting time of life: an extensive and complicated social scene, events happening all around, and people unencumbered by the social awkwardness that permeates the air on Haverford's campus. And honestly, three years later, I'm still waiting. I postponed having fun for campaigns, three times, and while I'm certainly not overburdened by responsibility with my current occupation of sleeping until noon, it's not that exciting either. UVa, socially, seems like a more mature version of Haverford, i.e. a big happy family. My memory of Duke could stand a little refreshing, but I'm pretty sure it felt like a more academic version of the Edwards campaign. I loved Haverford. I loved the Edwards campaign. Is my time better spent repeating one of those experiences, or starting the new one I've been waiting for?

Posted by Terry McMahon at 11:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Well, that was a pretty big surprise. I was really not expecting to like UVa all that much, but I actually really enjoyed it there. before I forget everything, here's the scoop:

students: I had heard that UVa Law students were a lot preppier, Republican and uptight than most law students. as for preppy, there were a few people wearing khakis on admitted students weekend, as opposed to just me at Duke, so I guess that means UVa people are about as preppy as I am, maybe less. there were certainly Republicans (and a fair number of people who were clearly preppy rich kids of prominent Virginians), and I hear the breakdown is about 2/3 Democrat and 1/3 Republican, which I might be able to handle. as for uptight, honestly, didn't see it. what struck me the most about UVa students, and this really did strike me, is that pretty much everyone loves being there. at Duke everyone seemed to like it, but everyone at UVa is thrilled, alumni apparently call law school the best three years of their lives, and the alumni giving percentage (like 47% I think) is the highest of any law school in the country, which the dean said was especially impressive for a longtime public school (the law school now funds itself exclusively from donations with no state support). that is pretty compelling to me; I mean if pretty much everyone loves it there, and you're going to get just as sweet a job when you graduate, why wouldn't I want to go there? also the chicks were hotter.

professors: Here I was a little disappointed as compared to Duke. This could have been an issue of presentation, as everything I liked about the student-professor interactions at Duke (easy to work together, really talented professors) is apparently true at UVa, but Duke had better events. At Duke they had a panel with three popular professors, so you got to see what they were like as people, and then they had an outdoor event where students and professors roamed around and talked to each other. At UVa they just had sample classes, which was good, but not as instructive as Duke's. I did go to a sample Con Law class and afterwards asked the professor if his generally accessible lecture was indicative of the law school experience. he said sort of, but when I mentioned that I was thinking of my future career as based on the fact that recent baseball GMs have tended to be law school grads, and he laughed and it turns out we're both red sox fans. he said he couldn't think of a better use of a law degree. plus if you take professors out to lunch, the student bar association picks up the tab.

shollitsville: actually, charlottesville is really one heck of a nice town. that area of virginia is really beautiful (it's at the foothills of the blue ridge mountains) and reminded me a lot of west virginia when I drove through it last year. UVa is a pretty big school to begin with, but the town does exist outside campus, which is nice, and there are at least two of those college-type streets with coffeehouses and bars, which is also nice, and there's a nice downtown-village promenade that's blocked to traffic where the street's made of bricks, and they have theaters and the like. the law school facilities are nicer than Duke's too. the downsides are that it's further from the beach, I don't know anyone there, and frankly it doesn't seem nearly as appealing as the research triangle area, which seems pretty vibrant even without the universities, as opposed to charlottesville which seems to depend on it.

crushing amounts of debt: UVa is actually a lot more expensive than I thought, and it's pretty tough to get residency as a law student. that said, it would be cheaper than Duke. the impression I got is that it's not quite as easy to get handed a law firm job, and I might have to take a little more initiative to get the job I want, but I also get the impression that if I'm reasonably successful percentile-wise, I wouldn't have a problem. I don't think the cost of living is especially different from durham.

differences with Duke: whereas the operative word at Duke seemed to be "initiative", as in your ability to do whatever you want as long as you speak up and ask someone, the operative word at UVa seems to be "balance." everyone seems to have fun, so much so that some people say UVa is just a "beer and softball" law school. but everyone there seems to like it, too. I'm not sure I can say the students seemed as impressive as when I was at Duke, but maybe that was just because I was less surprised on my second visit. really though, I'm starting to suspect that I just have a choice between really good law schools, and I'll love NYU just as much next week. we'll see!

Posted by Terry McMahon at 3:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Well, that went well. I am sure I'll forget a lot about my Duke visit on Friday and Saturday, so I'll post now to give everyone the heads up.

The students - Frankly, I was impressed. First off, everyone there was smart, and witty, and a solidly nice person. Everyone works pretty hard, but they said explicitly that everyone roots for each other to succeed. There are study groups if you want them, everyone goes bowling together, there are a ton of extracurriculars, and you're encouraged to take initiative and make your law school career your own thing. I spent a fair amount of time with some of the first-years, and they were all friendly, open and interested in me (and they laughed at my jokes), and the admitted students were fine too. (Everyone's a little shy during these things, but I found it a little overwhelming that there weren't chumps in any conversations; everyone had compelling backgrounds and interesting perspectives, and they were all funny and good-natured. Can't complain.

The professors - Well, as the story goes, the professors desperately want to work with students, and do everything they can to make that happen. Students work for professors during the year, they get hired during the summer as research assistants, and they get published with professors a lot of the time too. Here's an example: Erwin Chemerinsky was described to me by separate people as "a constitutional law god" who has apparently argued two or three cases before the Supreme Court this session. Anyhoo, he's charming and witty, and he says some of the students working for him had similar interests, some of them got to know him through class, and some of them just strolled in and asked how they could help. And apparently all the professors are similarly accessible; I must have talked to seven or eight of them at this faculty/student get-together the other night (last night?) and they all seemed to be pretty on the ball. I talked to a Haverford alum who's now a Duke Law professor and a leading figure in sports law (perhaps crucial in my quest to follow Theo Epstein from law school to being a GM), and, rumor has it, is representing Marion Jones in the BALCO "situation." He informed me that Paul Wellstone once won a national title in amateur wrestling. It was pretty solid.

The campus - Well, I spent Thursday night out with my friend Aaron at the Top of the Hill bar in Chapel Hill, on a patio about three floors up overlooking Franklin Street. This is the bar (and the time of year, I think) where Aaron and I two years ago kind of looked at each other and said, "why on earth did we not come here undergrad?" I haven't needed a jacket outside yet, and since the whole place has been built up in the past 30 years, all the roads and buildings are new and actually work right. Also, wow did I miss sweet tea. That shit is underrated. But the point is, having been away for so long I found it really easy to forget just how beautiful and fantastic the Research Triangle area is. Plus, as they say, the beaches and the mountains are both two hours away.

The unbelievably enormous amounts of debt - Well, it's a less frightening concept now than it was about two days ago. First off, if you're willing to go work at a firm for 5 years or so (as I certainly am, I hear it's not that bad), apparently it's easy to pay off your debt completely, as most people make in the vicinity of $125,000 a year at a firm. Now, how hard is it to get a job at a prestigious firm? Well, for starters, none of the first-years I met know anyone who hasn't gotten a summer job yet. Employment rates at graduation have hovered between about 95-97% in the last three years, and the employment rate nine months out is always 100%. About 500 firms come down to Duke every year to interview 200 students (per class) for positions, and many of them apparently come in intending to hire at least 2-3 Duke students. At most law schools you have to be in the top of the class to be highly recruited, but, as the story goes, at Duke that applies to pretty much everyone. Finally, and I didn't know this, apparently they include food/rent/expenses/miscellaneous in the overall cost, so I presumably wouldn't have to pay any more than what they charge me. There are more exciting things I've heard about the Duke employment situation; just ask!

Well, that's pretty much it. It feels like a good fit. Next up is UVa next Thursday and Friday, and then NYU the Friday after that.

Posted by Terry McMahon at 1:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

In case you were looking for it. From Saturday Night Live, and faqs.org:

(kids)
It's Happy!
It's Fun!
It's Happy Fun Ball!

(announcer)
Yes, it's Happy Fun Ball,
the toy sensation
that's sweeping the nation.
Only 14.95 at participating stores!

Get one Today

(background voice)
Warning: Pregnant women, the elderly, and children should avoid
prolonged exposure to Happy Fun Ball.

Caution: Happy Fun Ball may suddenly accelerate to dangerous speeds.

Happy Fun Ball contains a liquid core, which if exposed due to rupture
should not be touched, inhaled, or looked at.

Do not use Happy Fun Ball on concrete.

Discontinue use of Happy Fun Ball if any of the following occurs:

* Itching

* Vertigo

* Dizziness

* Tingling in extremities

* Loss of balance or coordination

* Slurred speech

* Temporary blindness

* Profuse Sweating

or

* Heart palpitations

If Happy Fun Ball begins to smoke, get away immediately. Seek shelter
and cover head.

Happy Fun Ball may stick to certain types of skin.

When not in use, Happy Fun Ball should be returned to its special container
and kept under refrigeration.

Failure to do so relieves the makers of Happy Fun Ball, Wacky Products
Incorporated, and its parent company, Global Chemical Unlimited, of
any and all liability.

Ingredients of Happy Fun Ball include an unknown glowing substance which
fell to Earth, presumably from outer space.

Happy Fun Ball has been shipped to our troops in Saudi Arabia and is
also being dropped by our warplanes on Iraq.

Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.

Happy Fun Ball comes with a lifetime guarantee.

(announcer)
Happy Fun Ball! Accept no substitutes!

Posted by Terry McMahon at 10:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

aight, I just downloaded the first episode of the american version of
the office from bittorrent, and I am shockingly impressed. I mean,
this isn't season 5 simpsons or anything, but they keep the spirit of
the british version much much more than I expected. here are my quick
thoughts:

1. STEVE CARELL is awesome as the Joker. actually, they took out the
David Brent character and Steve Carell plays an entirely new boss. he
is hilarious.

2. better theme music.

3. the first episode is scene-by-scene the same as the british
version, which almost left it not american enough.

4. the Tim and Dawn characters are both great; Tim is the character
who the guy now playing Arthur Dent played in the british version.
make sense? anyway, with Tim especially the similarities are
striking.

in conclusion, download it for yourself or find some way to get me to
send you the 170MB file.

Posted by Terry McMahon at 1:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)