End of the semester review

Well, we’re sitting here in class and the guy who gets paid to talk at us told us we have to write about our changed impressions of journalism and blogging and all that good stuff since the beginning of the semester.

KWANZAIII!!!

In a hilarious twist, beloved computer nerd slash journalism professor slash wanna-be rockstar Scott Brodeur sent the whitest white kids in his class of mostly white kids to be the only white kids crashing the UMass Amherst Kwanzaa celebration instead of forcing us to present our boring photo gallery projects, because he probably sensed that we don’t have much left of our souls, and please sir, we’d just like to make it to winter break with a little dignity intact. That may hold true for my classmates, but unfortunately I volunteered to live blog the event with Twitter, which is ok because I didn’t have a soul to begin with.

How to: Change a tire and check your brake system for air

I originally was going to post pictures from when I lived in France and my trips to other countries around Europe, which I will do eventually, but I decided to do something a little different. Today, my wife and I were checking one of our cars for air in the brake system because the brakes are a little unresponsive, and I told her to grab my phone and take pictures so I could make a little how-to for anyone who might be clueless as to how to change a tire or check their brake fluid.

For anyone who likes good photography…

You’ve gotta check out Boston.com’s The Big Picture. As a journalist, I should play around more with photography than I do, and I’ve always been envious of great photographers.

Right away, this site hits you with powerful images, living up to the name, as they’re huge and in your face. If I could take a single photo as good as one of these, I’d be happy, let alone if I could produce these kinds of results on a regular basis.

Aix-en-Provence

Since I showed that Obama flickr gallery in class, and then Brodeur assigned us to blog about a photo gallery we like, I had to come up with something else.

Hell YES

I’m more relieved than anything. I’m so relieved to not have to endure another knock-down, drag-out fight, whether we win or lose. A decisive victory is what we needed, as a country, and I couldn’t be happier with the results. Actually, I’d be happier if we had more control of Congress, but I guess a majority is good enough.

Congratulations, President-Elect Obama.

CNN

Wolf Blitzer takes away my political erection.

Half-drunk and giddy

I’m planning on making this election night memorable. I wonder if this will become one of those moments, like when JFK was assassinated, or 9/11, where everyone knows exactly where they were when it happened.

Anyway, I’m getting the European view of the election right now, with a Frenchman and some Bulgarians, and we’re all unanimously pro-Obama. From what we’ve heard, from friends and family abroad, everyone else in the world is, too. GEE I WONDER WHY.

Journalist Porn

That’s what election night coverage is, and I can’t deny that I get a little bit of a nerd hard-on for sitting down with a beer and glueing myself to live TV and, this year, blog coverage.

But if Obama has to give a concession speech in the wee hours, I’m going to cry. Seriously. I haven’t cried in a long time, but I’ll weep like a child if he loses.

It’s in the contract

My wife buys me Lucky Charms because she knows it’s a condition of my love.