It’s in the contract

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

For those of you who don’t get it

In tonight’s Writing for the Web class we were asked to find a YouTube video, embed it and write about it.

Unfortunately, we were told not to come up with any 2girls1cup or Rick Rolls, so instead I picked a video that details, in simple language, the electoral process for the U.S. presidency, titled Electing a US President in Plain English.

Catch-up

I’ve been a little busy lately, and blogging has taken sort of a back seat to real-life stuff, but this isn’t going to be a “sorry for not blogging!” post. Instead I’ll spend the time catching people up on what’s been going on.

Ivona, my wife, moved up to Amherst a couple days earlier than expected, last Monday; she had been working on Martha’s Vineyard after I left, and I was going back every weekend to work. Now we’re up here full-time and starting to settle into our apartment (read: now that she’s here I have to get my shit together and actually live like a real human being). It’s pretty exciting for us, as it’s the first place we’ve lived together that is completely ours and we are financially independent of everyone for the first time together. It’s a little scary, and spending hours upon hours in Bed, Bath & Beyond, the mall and mattress stores is a little tiring, but after much time putting together Ikea furniture and sorting through boxes, we’re getting there.

Another election…

Another substanceless debate.

Don’t get me wrong, I watched it, and I like to watch the debates, but I’m not an “undecided voter,” and I know I’m watching the debate to see my candidate stomp the other candidate. John McCain is not going to impress me enough at this point to earn my vote, and I don’t watch it to find out what his platform is.

I also don’t expect politicians to stay on topic or answer questions completely, but this debate more than any other left me disappointed for many reasons; it was tame, uninteresting posturing, and at least in other debates I’ve seen they brush upon the subject they’re supposed to be talking about.

Good times at Rao’s

I spend too many hours a week either at Rao’s or the library, writing papers or doing computer science projects. It’s a big departure from previous years of being a student, during which I could scarcely be bothered to interrupt my social life, or any other aspect of my life, to actually study. Taking a year off and driving a garbage truck gives you some perspective, I guess.

Anyway, aside from doing more school work than I ever have before, I’ve been spending more time with my brother than I have since high school. As twins, it’s been sort of strange that since we both ended up at UMass we drifted apart a lot, having different groups of friends, being involved in different activities, and studying different things, but it made sense in a big way. Everyone always says “Wow, I wish I had a twin,” or they ask me what it’s like. There are cool things about it, and having an automatic best friend who was always around was, for the most part, a good thing. I think when we got to college, though, we had this need to go out and see what else was out there, to see what life was like with our own, separate friends and not to share everything. So, we didn’t hang out as much and I was happy about it in a lot of ways, and we became very different people in many respects (and I’m obviously the better of the two).

Beauty and the Beast

How’s that for a cheesy headline?

In today’s class, we were asked to spend a few minutes perusing the new site, The Daily Beast. I’d heard of this mentioned, either at the Daily Dish, Wonkette, or BoingBoing, I can’t remember which, but didn’t get around to checking it out until now.

Last minute

I know I’m a little late on this, but it’s been a hectic week.

Last week for class, we watched Jonathan Safran Foer, author of the books Everything is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, speak at the UMass Fine Arts Center. Foer’s second book, a fictionalized account of 9/11 from the perspective of a particularly clever young boy (that’s the best I can do for a summary since I haven’t read it, to be honest), was read by all the smart and nerdy kids at UMass as part of their Dean’s Book course for Commonwealth College.

About to be kicked off a boat on Martha’s Vineyard

so I can’t elaborate too much, but if you don’t know about Wonkette, check it out. I remember hearing about this blog in a media criticism class a couple years ago and never really taking the time to look around, but I started reading it yesterday and find myself checking for updates any time I’m near a computer. It’s refreshing to see someone just unleash the way she does, without censoring herself. I love reading Andrew Sullivan, and Ben Smith, but she adds a humor element that I find myself needing after I get angry/depressed from the other two.

I’ll be in a cab until Sunday afternoon, with short breaks for food pellets and water, sleep if I’m lucky, so I’ll update whenever I’m near Wi-Fi (read: picking up rich assholes at the airport), which is a rare pleasure this late in the season.

Maybe next time I’m at the Iron Horse…

…it’ll be to see professor Scott Brodeur rock out as the frontman of band Storybox. For all my classmates, and anyone else who might be interested, you can check out some of their songs on their MySpace.

I think we should request an end-of-the-semester concert to celebrate, or at least get free tickets to his next show; I think my wife would enjoy the mellower, more jazzy songs, but I’m a fan of Bouncing Days. Has anyone ever told you you sound a little like the lead singer of They Might Be Giants, Scott?

Why illegal immigration looks like such a good idea

When people in my cab or bus ask me about my wife, and eventually the conversation rolls around to the “citizenship issue,” they’re always amazed when I tell them how long the immigration and naturalization process actually takes. Most just assume that since we got married she’s automatically a citizen, just like that, even in the post-9/11 world.

If only it were so simple.