Win or Fail Thursday

Hey Bloggers,
I'm starting a new segment on the blog called "Win or Fail Thursday". I chose Thursday because there's a W in win and Wednesday, and an f in fail and Friday, and Thursday is in between the two. At least once every Thursday, I'll link a photo or video and you tell me if you think it's a win or fail. Here's the first one. Is it a win or fail that this center has support for survivors of homicide?

Response to Westboro Baptist Church's high school protest

Back To The Blogging

Season's Greetings Bloggers,
I just realized it's been a while since I posted a blog. I know you've all been desperately awaiting my new post, just sitting on the site refreshing it every ten seconds. Well, probably not, but I'm sure at least one person will be excited to see that I've updated...and if that's not true, someone please at least pretend.
I'm going to forgo the usual anecdote and get straight to the topic at hand. There's a hospital in Maryland that recently banned cameras in the delivery room until five minutes after the birth. They say it's for the mother's privacy. That's very sweet and considerate of them, but aren't the cameramen usually the husbands, fathers or other people employed by the mother? How, then, are you protecting the aforementioned(dibs) mother by refusing cameras? I'm more inclined to believe that this is a preemptive measure to avoid evidence in a malpractice suit should something go wrong during the birth, as suggested by my comrades at Fox News. Further evidence supporting this theory is the fact that the mother in the case that made this matter public was delivering her eighth child. I'm pretty sure that someone who has delivered seven previous children isn't that concerned about privacy. The board at that hospital should find a new cop out.
Another big story emerging in the news: a group of journalists, or more accurately one member and blogger, is petitioning to have the term "illegal immigrants" changed to "undocumented immigrants". He sas that the current term is unconstitutional. I say whether you call them illegal, undocumented, undeclared, unregistered, or unofficial, they're still in the county how? Illegally. I'm all for rights for children of immigrants, who didn't have a choice in whether they followed our laws or not. I even support some kind of protection for those who are holding steady employment and doing honest work. Do I believe they should be forced to apply for citizenship? Yes. But instead of putting all of this time and energy into prosecuting the ones that we have here, let's beef up the borders to keep more from slipping through. Then we can decide what we want to call the ones still here.
In my last post( or maybe the one before that; they're all kind of a blur right now) I mentioned something about fruit having ovaries. According to my roommate and comrade Nick "TheOperation", this is true, because they have seeds. Fascinating.
Well that's all for right now. I'll try to be more consistent with my posts as we enter the new year. Also, I recently acquired the iPhone 4, so expect me to do a little bit of video blogging in the near future. Please let me know what you think of the videos as I post them. Until then, see you around...or, actually, I guess you'll see me, eh?
Many blessings to you and yours,
Sam

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Mind Warps and Heartbreak

Greetings fellow travelers,
I was sitting in the Union the other day, watching TV before class, when a 7Up commercial came on. Suddenly, the guy next to me said, "Hey, ya'll wanna know why it's called 7Up? It's because of the 7th element." One of his friends said, "Lithium?" "No stupid, that's number 3!" Another one said, "Yeah man, number 7 is platinum. What's platinum got to do with 7Up?!" A fourth member retorted, "Platinum is 78, what's wrong with you?!" This went on for about 5 minutes, then I googled the periodic table and said "number 7 is Nitrogen." There was a pause, and the group turned to the original speaker. "What's nitrogen got to do with soda?" "Man this dude lyin, it's not nitrogen! Now shut up the show's back on." Let me tell you, if you've never seen a group of guys with sagging pants and backwards hats arguing about the periodic table, you haven't experienced life.
Which would you like first, the mind warp or the heartbreak? Either one? Well, you're easy to please. I'll start with the heartbreak, because I feel like it's the more important topic, and a matter that should be addressed immediately. While I was on my road trip last week, we stopped at a hotel for the night, and went to Taco Bell for some sustenance(dibs). We got to the drive-thru, and I politely requested 3 chicken flat bread sandwiches. The voice in the talking box(because that's what I call it, you see, the talking box), politely responded that they no longer sold chicken flat bread sandwiches. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the best way to get business is getting rid of the best thing that ever happened to your restaurant. Apparently, they call it a promotion. Well I call it stupid. But let me be clear, Taco Bell is still a fine establishment, very nice indeed...despite the fact that they've taken away one of the happy spots in my life, I'll still give them my business...though I'll admit, maybe not quite as often.
Now I told you that the heartbreak was more important than the mind warp. That's because the mind warp is about Twilight. Question: If Cedric Diggory was turned into a vampire after Voldemort killed him, does that mean that Remus Lupin turned into a vampire werewolf? I think that would just squash the whole Edward/Jacob debate right there, don't you? It would certainly solve all of Bella's problems.
Fun fact for you: I recently found out the origin of the superstition about breaking mirrors. Apparently, back in the olden days, mirrors were uber(thanks to Soup for the word) expensive, and if you broke one, it would take 7 years to save up the money to replace it. It really makes you appreciate those reflective surfaces, doesn't it?
Hope you all have a great week. I won't, because I have finals. Right now I'm blowing a virtual raspberry to all of you who don't.
Live long and blog,
Sam
P.S.
Fruits have ovaries. I'll elaborate next time.

Something To Blog About

It's been too long since I posted. I know I'm behind, and I apologize for that. It's been a crazy couple of weeks. End of the semester, you know how it is. I'm getting lazy, and I need to whip myself back into shape. Let's get it.
Oh, first things first: I saw the the midnight premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, and all I have to say is: is it July yet?! I can't wait for Part 2. Heartbroken about the death of Hedwig and Dobby. I would have much preferred that they kill of Ron. Hedwig and Dobby were much better friends. Unfortunately, as usually happens in movie adaptations, a lot of vital information was left out. For example, Harry's argument with Remus, as well Kreacher's tale. I know you're pressed for time when making movies, but seriously, some stuff can't be changed. It's about remaining true to the books for me. The Battle of Hogwarts in part 2 better be amazing times 14. For those of you that haven't seen the movie yet, there's a couple of Harry-Hermione scenes that you know Daniel Radcliffe has been praying for since Prison of Azkaban. You'll know what I mean when you see them.
Something else to talk about: They're taking 4Lokos off of the shelves. I know that's probably old news for some of you, but I still think it's worth mentioning. Their reasoning? Apparently, alcohol and caffeine are a dangerous mix. Hmm, who would've thunk it?
Ole Miss is no longer bowl eligible. Ah well, we gave it a great shot at the Magnolia Bowl. Maybe next year. Even if we're not the best, I feel like we're the best. That's called school spirit, peons!
Last thing: More of a request, really. This whole thinking of six things to talk about is getting strenuous(dibs). So how about if you all start leaving me requests(either on here of Facebook) about what you want me to talk about, and I'll do it. Also, if you don't have a blogger account, get one and follow me. It'll help me become more well known. Thanks much. Have a happy Thanksgiving, and find much to be thankful for.
Until the powers that be bring us together again,
Sam

I Finally Got A New Hair Wax!

Friends, Romans, Black Bears,
No, I didn't get a new hair wax. Nick did. He was quite excited about it. Way more excited than any guy should ever be about getting a new hair wax. But that's just my opinion.
Why am I wasting your time and my blog talking about Nick's hair care products? Because I promised I would dedicate my next post to him, and the day I break a promise to a friend is the day Baton Rouge stops smelling like corn dogs(in layman's terms, never). On to more important things. After 3 straight losses to SEC colleagues, Ole Miss pulled out a respectable win against...well, some school called the Ragin Cajuns. That's a stupid name for a team(says the Black Bears). How do you even make a mascot for that? Anyway, good job Team Yogi. Follow up question, with our new mascot, can we switch from the Jaws theme to the Whinnie the Pooh song? No? I didn't think so. At least we have SOME self respect left.
Moving on to NFL, Randy Moss might have found himself a new nickname: Rolling Stone. He's now joined his 3rd team this season. After leaving my favorite team, the Patriots, he joined the Vikings(a team I know nothing about and care nothing about). Now he's with my other favorite team, the Titans. Let's see if he can work some magic with Vince.
One last football comment: Les Miles ate grass. I just saw it on ESPN. I have nothing else to say about L-S-Who.
Final topic for the day: I was helping my dad pick a dental care plan, and on the list of things not covered, the last thing was vaccum cleaners. How in the halibut(3 points if you recognize the reference) did vaccum cleaners end up on the list? What could have possibly happened that they felt obliged to formally say "No, you can not use your dental plan to purchase a vaccum cleaner"?
That's all for now. I know this was short, but I'm oddly tired. Haven't been getting regular sleep. I think I'm becoming an insomniac. Oh well. Until next time, you'll miss me more than I'll miss you.
Legitimately yours,
Sam

I'd Kill For A Pinkie

What's up, earthlings? I know I've been scarce(dibs) lately, but last week was a busy week. And this one's even busier. I'm writing this while I'm supposed to be finishing my developmental psych paper and studying for my criminal justice exam(both tomorrow), but I couldn't leave Nick in suspense of the new post any longer. This probably won't be a phenomenal one, but it's best to stay in the practice of posting. All right, we got a lot to talk about, where should we begin? Oh yeah, anecdote. I hate squirrels. If you know me, you already knew this. If you don't know me...well, you pretty much do now, because the basic concept of Sam is "I hate squirrels". Not all of them, just the ones on the Ole Miss campus. They're obnoxious, overbearing, and one time they attacked me with acorns from the safety of a tree...cowards. That being said, I have gained a temporary respect for them. Last week I saw one jogging through the Circle with three pecans in his mouth, then jump into the middle of the street and stare down a Yukon. Question: where did he get the pecans. I've never seen a pecan tree on campus before. The wonders of life.
Not my best one, I know, just had to say it. Maybe this will make up for it; over the course of Halloween weekend, I saw 4 Waldos, 2 Ash Ketchums, Tiger Woods and his wife (complete with golf club), a red telly tubby, Captain Planet, and Beetle Juice. Also, I was attacked on my way to class on Thursday by a ten-year-old ninja and an 11-year-old SWAT member. Best Halloween week ever.
Well, not really. Ole Miss lost. I ain't even mad, yo...actually, I'm lying, I'm actually quite miffed(dibs). It's not like I expected us to blow the number one team out of the water, but I was also hoping we'd live higher than the standards set for us by every other team. It's games like this one that make me rejoice for not having purchased season tickets. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not gonna be one of those people that rags on his own team. However, I'm also not going to be one of those people that won't admit when some changes need to be made. One of those changes is getting Masoli to throw the ball. Now I know, it's crazy to think about a quarterback throwing the ball, but hey it's also crazy to change your mascot to Winnie the Pooh; what can I say, we're risk takers down here.
Keeping up with my random switch in between topics, last week it was announced that production on Sony Walkmans would be stopped. This marks the end of an era. If you have one of these sitting around somewhere, get it in working order. It'll be worth money some day.
Young Jeezy announced a new release date for "Thug Motivation 103", saying it will come out on December 14th. It's gonna be a cold winter. But then again, it was also supposed to be a cold summer. And a cold autumn. I'll believe it when I've got the CD in my hands. Come on, Snowman. Also, it looks like "King Uncaged" will be put on hold because...well because the King got caged again. T.I. was busted last month on marijuana charges, leading to his parole being revoked. As far as I know, he surrendered himself today to start an 11 month sentence. I don't want to say he deserved it because I'm fan, but if you can't utilize(dibs) the second chances offered to you, you don't deserve them. Also, the name of the album has been changed to "No Mercy". Fitting, since the judge showed no mercy. The new sentencing came not long after T.I. talked a suicidal man off of a 22 story roof, an act some people are calling a "publicity stunt" to get some good favor. I hope that's not true. The new album release date is said to be December 7th. Back to back releases from the biggest names in Atlanta...hope the Rubber Band Man and Snowman can come through for us.
All right, I'm tired of typing, so that's all I have. Until next time, you won't hear from me.
Shalom,
Sam
P.S.: If you're wandering about the title of this blog, I watched Casper last night. That was the funniest line. Deal with it.

Dougie In My Snuggie

G'day folks. Before we get started on the blog, I'd like you all to take a minute and try a word association exercise with me. When I say "girl car", what's the first car that pops in your head? If it's Beetle, then good job. If it's something else, then pretend it's Beetle, because that's the whole point of my "rantecdote"(my new word for "rant" and "anecdote"...also, dibs). In the past week, I have seen 6 girls driving VW Beetles. Normal, right? Guess how many guys I've seen driving VW Beetles this week...go on guess...did you guess yet, because if you haven't then you're just wasting my time. The answer would be 6. What kind of world do we live in where there are just as many guys as girls driving Beetles? And actually, when did guys start driving Beetles, period? Doesn't seem right to me. One of them even had a dog in the backseat that looked like it should have been named FiFi. I would like to officially inform that man that his man-card has been revoked for a minimum of 2 years. He will be up for a parole hearing in 2012.
Speaking of man-cards, that makes me thing of man-cave songs(I love a good segue...dibs). Bruno Mars has a song out that completely fits this category-"The Lazy Song"(a special thanks to Nick "BillyBob" Broadway for playing this song in his car.) Major points to the Martian for the lyrics "I'll be lounging on my couch, just chilling in my Snuggie, turn to MTV so I can teach me how to Dougie". Upon hearing these lyrics, every real man should have gone straight home and Dougied in their Snuggie...I know I did. I'm officially a major Bruno Mars fan. Great song. I want to be in the music video.
While Bruno's career seems to be going well, there's a certain teen pop sensation who might have reached that point in his career where we start seeing him in the tabloids for mischief instead of music...and he hasn't even reached puberty yet! Last week, Justin Bieber was accused of assaulting someone...while playing laser tag...and the victim was 12. I'm not sure who I should judge more-Justine for hitting a 12 year old, or the 12 year old for getting beat up by a Canadian R&B star who has a thirteen-year old girls voice and his own nail polish line...oh I'm sorry, did you not hear about the nail polish line yet? You have now. The link is posted below. The line will even have colors named after his songs (eg,OMB!(bright red) and One Less Lonely Girl(lavender)). I mean, what else did you expect from somebody who's career was started by accident? Wander how that record executive feels now.
href="http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/39603721/ns/today-entertainment/">
I can't believe it. JB has actually made me too weak to blog anymore. That's all I have for you today. Until next time, keep these wise words in mind... "dance crazes come and go, dance crazes in cleverly named blankets with sleeves last forever."
Sam

Black Bears Do Live In Mississippi...And So Do Gators

I'd like to start off this post (and all subsequent(dibs) posts) with an anecdote. I was waiting for the bus the other day, and a car driving down the street stopped to pick up a friend that was walking. Okay, that's nice. What I don't find nice is that instead of getting right in the car and continuing on, this guy decided he wanted to stop and have a conversation with the driver before getting in. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but couldn't that conversation have waited until he was in the car? It just seems that that would have been more logical and respectful to other drivers. So you've got these guys carrying on while traffic builds up behind them, horns blowing and what not, and they don't even acknowledge the traffic that they're holding up. And then the cars decide they're not going to wait anymore, so they pull around them. I don't know about you, but a Hummer 3 trying to manuever through the small streets of Ole Miss's campus always strikes me as humorous. So I'm standing there, with my headphones in and a slight grin on my face, not even looking at the car that's causing my amusement, and I hear someone yelling. I look to my right, and one of the ninnies (as my good friend Nick would call them) in the car is hanging out the window screaming at me. I couldn't hear him because of said earphones, so I just nodded and got on the bus. Maybe my grin offended him. Maybe he was trying to take attention away from the fact that his driver has no sense of respect for others. All I know is, my parents taught me courtesy. Did theirs?
Hope everyone had a great weekend, despite Ole Miss's loss to Bama. It's always hard to get over a defeat, but I find that the best cure is a little catfishing. And if that fishing should evolve in to gator tracking...well, so be it.
I should probably elaborate on the gator tracking. I was in Greenville, MS this weekend on a service retreat with Rebels For Christ and we stayed in cabins near an alligator-friendly lake. We were also told that aforementioned (dibs) lake was catfish-friendly. So like any good old country boys, we got a couple poles, some night-crawlers and a Klondike bar and headed out. 30 seconds after we got to the lake, we realized that no self-respecting catfish is going to be out at 1 in the morning. Shining our flashlights onto the water, we caught sight of a pair of red eyes. After spending ten minutes debating whether or not we were looking at a beaver, we realized that was stupid and mentally slapped ourselves. We then spent another 20 minutes throwing sticks into the water to pinpoint the gator's location. We realized that this too was stupid, mentally berated (dibs) ourselves, and took a klondike break. I suppose the gator got tired of our rudeness, because he suddenly set his eyes from stun to kill(1 point for Nick) and swam towards us. We began gathering weapons we could use against said gator...because as we all know, the one thing college kids can do is take on the creature that survived the dinosaurs, the meteor that killed the dinosaurs, and the Clinton Administration. Nick realized he wasn't prepared for this and requested that we go into the cabin, take gator 101, then come out for the battle. I was with him until the "come out for battle" part of the plan. To make a long story not quite so long, we came to our senses and agreed that the best way to view a gator is not from three feet away, but from an observation post separated by 2 fences. When we got to the post, the flashlight stopped working and our junior assistant associate to the campus minister did what any philosophy major in his position would have done...he threw it at the gators.
I can't think of a way to top that, so I'll end it here for today. Until next time, (insert deep, philosophical sign-off here),
Sam
P.S.
In my last post, I ignorantly stated that black bears do not live in Mississippi. In Greenville, I saw a poster that proved me wrong. My sincerest apologies go out to the black bear population of Mississippi. Good day

Cubs, Clinton and Carrell

So I was hoping that I'd have a new post up every week like clockwork, but with school and the mass amount of thoughts running through my brain everyday, picking one thing to blog about is going to be harder than I thought. Bare with me. Or maybe I should say "bear with me" after the votes were tallied and Ole Miss decided on the Rebel Black Bear as the new on field mascot. A totally logical choice, what with all the bears running through Oxford (in case you don't live in Oxford, this was sarcastic. There are no bears). I kind of feel bad about complaining, seeing as I missed the vote. But still, I find it hard to fathom(dibs)that so many people thought a bear was better than a landshark. Did nobody consider how many people would dress their babies up as sharks for the Grove? If that's not the cutest thing possible, I don't know what is. Granted, kids dressed up as bear cubs will still be moderately adorable. I'm still dressing up as a shark for Auburn so at least people have that much to look forward to.
Staying somewhat on the subject of Ole Miss, the esteemed 42ND president Bill Clinton was on campus today, showing his support for Travis Childers. I'll admit, I'm not a big Clinton fan(I'm not a small one either), but I still went by because when a president comes to your campus, you hear what he has to say. He's quite the charismatic speaker(as my dad would say), and he almost had me agreeing with him on everything...then I remembered he's a Democrat, so I kept walking. Seriously though, I did find myself agreeing with some things, and it just goes to show that you shouldn't let a man's political affiliations keep you from hearing his political views...they might mirror yours.
Now to switch gears completely. It's Thursday, which for any self-respecting American means it's Office night. As you know, we are in the midst of Steve Carrell's last season, which can only mean the end of the show all together. Who could possibly replace Michael Scott? Nobody that I've met. The show seems to have been going downhill lately anyway, since the marriage of Pam and Jim. They're relationship isn't quite as interesting now that it's a legal union, and Jim hasn't been nearly as funny or mischievous since they got married. I think the temporary co-manager position and the baby toned him down a bit. Understandable. Not acceptable, but understandable. I'm hoping Andy and Erin might pick up the slack, with Gabe taking up the roll of Roy. Wait, does that mean Gabe would attack Andy, who would be rescued by Kevin(because Dwight can't do it twice) and then get fired? Hmm, Erin+Andy times No Gabe=win/win situation.
That's all I can rack out of my brain for now. I'm hoping that as the posts continue, I'll start narrowing down to specific things I want to talk about instead of a potpourri(dibs) of useless information. As I said before, bear with me.
Signing off,
Sam

Rick On The List You Don't Want To Be On

So it's official. Rick Sanchez is now a free agent. Well not so much a free agent, more like unemployed. After his rant on XM radio last week, in which he accused comedian Jon Stewart of criticizing him because of his Latino heritage, and somewhat scoffed at the idea that Jews in America are an oppressed minority, CNN decided to let him go. While I don't want to say Rick had it coming-I enjoyed his show, particularly "Fotos del Dia" and the voice that exclaims "Oh, Dios Mio!"-I do believe he should have known better. You can't go on the radio and start downplaying the turmoil that a group of people once went through-that's bad taste. And specifically including your superiors in that group-that's just bad business. I seriously doubt that Stewart's ridicule of Sanchez was due to any disgruntlement that a Cuban-American was "almost at his level"; Stewart has never needed a reason to ridicule anybody, other than "this might make people laugh." Bottom line, Sanchez flew off the wall and took things to personally. When you're somebody in the limelight, especially a journalist going for a "hip" approach that I believe Sanchez often attempted, you just have to be ready for jokes. In my book, Rick has put himself with the likes of Michael Steele, who after being criticized for his spending of RNC funds pulled out the race card...although, Steele was specifically asked about race, and he's been known to have contradicting opinions, so that might be a topic for another blog. Anyway, I don't own a Twitter-because it's stupid and I don't respect it-, but I have checked out Rick's profile, and haven't seen anything from him regarding his comments on the radio. Oh well, better luck next time Ricky. I'm sure we'll see you down the road. Hopefully next time, you won't be on your own list.