Mondo Mayhem

Mondo Mayhem now has a new home

2004-12-13T13:57:00.000-05:00

This will be my last post on Mondo Mayhem. I know this particular blog was short-lived, but I've got a new home thanks to a deal I cut with Izzy, so now I'm on Typepad. My new home is Prognosis Negative. It's at jatser.typepad.com. I already move all the posts from this blog to that one, and I'm currently in the process of building and designing the site, which should be in a final form by the end of the week. So, same stuff basically, just new address. I always wanted to name my blog PN, I just couldn't under blogger, so that's why there's a name change. So see ya' there.

PS: I will keep this site up as long as blogger allows it. Later.

Jatser

The First Snow

2004-12-11T17:30:00.000-05:00

The first snow of the season hit us here in Northeast Ohio today, a bit late compared to other years. I find as I grow older, I dread the snow more and more for the driving conditions that follow. But still, I love to have a white Christmas.

Laura, being a teacher, loves the snow as much as her students, for that entails time off. If only hospitals had snow days...

Of course, lots of people would die from the sudden staff shortages, and mass chaos would ensue, but I'd get to sleep in.

Batman is a Homosexual

2004-12-10T18:53:00.000-05:00

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Mondo Review - Blade Trinity

2004-12-10T16:06:00.000-05:00

Saw Blade: Trinity last night with Izzy since Laura was all tuckered out after dealing with hell-spawn teenagers all day. I really enjoyed the first Blade, which was the first of a great line of subsequent Marvel-based movies. Blade II, while a good movie in its own right, went with a darker, more gothic look that I didn't really enjoy, and I thought the premise was a little silly (reapers eating vampires like vamps eat people).

I went into Blade: Trinity with low expectations, wanting merely a movie that would have some good action, some humor, and a decent plotline. While I thought the movie was okay, I think it just barely delivered on the above.

Basically, without getting into spoilers, Blade joins a group of new vampire hunters called "night-stalkers" to defeat a new enemy while on the run from the law.

This time out, the man who wrote the first two Blade movies comes to the director's chair for the first time, and he does a decent job. Nothing extraordinary, it's basically your typical Bruckheimer film. The style is a bit of the first and second movie melded together, at times very clean, other times gritty and shaky. I hated the times when the camera jumps around real fast to quick jump shots of one character then the other (I call it the Bay effect), as it sometimes made things a little confusing. It's a trend in action movies lately and I guess I just have to get used to it.

I won't give any spoilers for the story, but overall I was underwhelmed. The main villain is laughable. He's set up as this major badass in the beginning, then half-way through the film ends up running from Blade, just to sword-fight him in the end. Very lame. The other bad guys are pretty weak here too, with no good explanations as to why this group of vamps is important (are they the leading clan, or just the one' s to discover the new bad guy, or what?). The ending is also a let-down, with no satisfying resolutions, just a lingering "to be continued" vibe that hangs in the air while the many plotholes opened up throughout the movie are never resolved.

The acting was decent on the hero side. Wesley Snipes has Blade down by now, which is to say he can pose with a sword well and grunt out things while looking cool. Ryan Reynolds (AKA Van Wilder) provides some comic relief as Blade's wise-cracking foil, but just manages to be a little more irritating than funny. Jessica Biel does her job, looking hot while performing maneuvers and knocking out 200+ lbs bad guys with her 90 lbs frame.

One funny thing we both noticed is that Goyer has a hard-on for the iPod. It's featured in several close-ups, there's dialogue and shots of Jessica making her playlists, and she dons her ear-buds before every battle because it's said "she likes to fight to her own background music". Now, I love my iPod, but even I thought this was gratuitous and just came out plain silly.

Overall, I give Blade: Trinity a C+.

Best Buy Line Lady, What Gives?

2004-12-09T19:35:00.000-05:00

At Best Buy today, picking up some good deals on X-Box games for my brother. Now, what is it about Best Buy that makes the store so busy no matter when you go? I've been to this place several times at all hours of the day, and it's always full (like Wal-Mart). Do people work anymore?

Anyway, I'm in line, it's pretty damn long. Looking at all the impulse buy products they put there to get you to buy them on a whim. There's Robosapiens ( a lady actually gets one on impulse, they go for a hundred dollars each!), batteries, small doo-dads, yadda yadda yadda.

Then I get to the end of the line to where the registers kick in. However, I notice there's a lady there, a Best Buy employee. She says hi, asks me how I'm doing, then points me to register 6 and tells me to go there.

Here's the thing. Register 6 is one of the most busy. There are 5 other registers less busy. So, do I do as the lady says, or pick my own line? What would the consequences be? Would she yell? Call security? Cold-cock me?

I never found out. Like the non-confrontational dork I am, I followed her advice. Of course I got behind a lady buying $300 in DVDs, she actually wants to know about the magazine deal, and the register lady loses her conterfeit-finding magic marker, while boatloads of people fly through in the lines parallel to me.

I am a cursed man.

An Open Letter to Puzz 3d

2004-12-08T14:21:00.000-05:00

Dear Purveyors of Tri-Dimensional Puzzle Goodness,

Hello Puzz 3D. I am Jatser, a mid-twenties geek from Ohio (sorry about the election). Anyways, my fiancee Laura and I were watching an episode of "Everybody Loves Raymond", where Ray and his mother-in-law were bonding over a puzzle. Laura and I like to "bond", so we went out to get some of that puzzle goodness. Suffice to say, we ended up getting a Puzz 3D because, well, an extra dimension of puzzling must equal even more fun. We went with the model "Minas Tirith" from Lord of the Rings, because I am a huge dork.

Laura was sleeping, so I decided to dive in and see what this thing was all about (for all those dirty thinkers, I'm talking about the puzzle). So I open it up, and the first thing I notice is that it's all foam. Okay, I think, I see why, it needs to be cheap and be able to fit well together in 3 dimensions, so that's cool. Static electricity might be a problem, but whatever.

Then I read the directions. It turns out I have to remove all the "bad" pieces with red dots on them, that these are not real puzzle pieces but left-overs of the puzzle-making process. Not only that, but most of the good pieces have holes in them to fit in three dimensions, but most of these need punched out by yours truly. Thanks a lot Puzz 3D. Not only did I spend an hour and a half separating the good pieces from the bad like some evil puzzle segregationist, but I had to spend another hour punching holes out of the good pieces so they would fit. Thanks for taking the fun out of the whole puzzle process.

We paid $29.99 for a puzzle that wasn't even ready for putting together yet. I felt like I was the last worker on the assembly line. If you guys ever have any competition in the 3D puzzle market, be sure that I will choose your competitors over you any day of the week.

Your Disgruntled Puzzle Geek,
Jatser

In Honor

2004-12-07T13:59:00.000-05:00

In honor of all those men and women who gave their lives serving this nation 63 years ago at Pearl Harbor, and those who continue to serve their country, we all thank you.

And to Michael Bay, who directed the cinematic abortion that was Pearl Harbor, may you never touch a movie of import again.

Trey Parker - "End of an Act":

I miss you more than Michael Bay missed the mark,
When he made Pearl Harbor.
I miss you more then that movie missed the point,
And that’s an awful lot girl.
And now, now you've gone away,
And all I'm trying to say,
Is Pearl Harbor sucked and I miss you.

I need you like Ben Affleck needs acting school,
He was terrible in that film.
I need you like Cuba Gooding needed a bigger part,
He's way better then Ben Affleck.
And now all I can think about is your smile,
And that shitty movie too,
Pearl Harbor sucked and I miss you.

(Interlude)

Why does Michael Bay get to keep on making movies.
I guess Pearl Harbor sucked,
Just a little bit more then I miss you.

Attack of the Clones

2004-12-07T13:26:00.000-05:00

Izzy and I had nothing to do, and as dangerous as that possibility is, we went to the mall just to pass the time and look for a Genesis all-in-one controller I'd seen a while back. Anyway, we wandered through the action figure aisle, amused and jealous of kids today with their awesome figures, and suddenly I stopped. There towards the bottom was a General Rieekan action figure, and it looked remarkably like John Kerry! Of course, people often see John Kerry look-a-likes (I've heard he looks like one of the trees from the Wizard of OZ ), but this was unique. I then realized a lot of politicians look like Star Wars characters. For instance:

As mentioned above, or how about:

They seem to be related. Or how about this one:

I could see ol' Joe manipulating a bunch of truckers into embargoing Connecticut to rise to the presidency. That's all for now. Jats out.

Favorite Quote of the Day

2004-12-06T16:29:00.000-05:00

"Well, girlfriend went shopping last night and bought me the Darth Vader voice changing headgear (you know, the one with the full Vader mask?). Apparently, it turned her on, because the only way we could do it last night is with that damn thing on. Best $30 bucks she ever spent."

-Casey72, on CHUD.com Message Boards

How about it, hun, give it a try?

Book Recommendations

2004-12-06T15:16:00.000-05:00

If you're like me, you have at least one person on your Christmas gift list who is an avid reader. And I thought I'd post about some recommendations for books to get that bibliophile you know and love.

Here are some links:

Economist's Books of the Year

New York Times Book Review's 100 Notable Books of the Year

Amazon.com's Best Books of 2004

This year I discovered Steven King's Dark Tower series, and I highly recommend you read the 7 book series if you haven't already. I never really got into King before, but after I read Dark Tower 1, I find myself looking forward to picking up some of his other novels (I hear the Stand is especially good).

On a more sour note, I just found out that Jon "Pompous jackass" Stewart's book, America, has been named book of the year by Publisher's weekly. And the downward spiral of society continues inexorably down the drain.

While I find some of these questionable (I heard Clinton's autobiography was a real let-down, not to mention the above disgrace), there are some great recommendations in here. I'd tell you what I'm getting, but my significant other reads this blog, and she's already too good at guessing what she' s getting for Christmas. Good shopping all!

This is what I'm waiting for next May

2004-12-05T22:02:00.000-05:00

Click here for a larger version.

I love being a nerd.

Road Rage Cards

2004-12-05T15:23:00.000-05:00

Have you ever been cut off in traffic? Tailgated? And yet feel totally powerless?

Izzy and I were driving one day and were lamenting that someone should invent cards that you could hold up and give people the business for the above offenses. Well, someone has.

Visit above for a great Christmas gift! It's a book with lots of different messages you can send to that asshole in front of you (or behind you). Even mirror images so they can be read through the rear-view mirror of the guy in front of you going 50 in a 65!

Tell 'em Large Marge sent ya'!

In Defense of My Fiancee

2004-12-04T23:48:00.000-05:00

I've noticed that a lot of my posts lately have perhaps shed my wonderful, patient, loving, intelligent, and very beautiful fiancee (as well as being half-blind or drugged up according to Izzy) as somewhat of a nagging, bossy person. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I count my blessings every day to be with such a wonderful creation of God, and I await with baited breath every day the upcoming day of our marriage.

And this post has nothing to do with the fact that she is sitting right next to me.

Just kidding, I love ya' babe.

Mission Impossible Style!

2004-12-04T10:15:00.000-05:00

I'm writing this post from inside the confines of a Canton-area highschool, very sneakily and spy-like. Allow me to explain.

Once again I've been asked (meaning dragged) by my fiancee to help out with grading the kiddos for a local speech competition as they have no other judges. So here I am, in the same situation I wrote about a month ago (about the dumbing down of the average highschooler). Anyway, I don't have to judge for an hour so I started exploring the premises.

Highscools, I find, are all pretty much the same. They all have the same smell (sort of sweat mixed with faint BO and lysol), they all have tiled walls. The bathrooms are always vandalized with no doors on the stalls. No wonder kids don't grasp the concept of privacy anymore. Amateur artwork hangs all over the place. And, as for this school, it's a maze of hallways and stairs, so I decided to explore.

I passed the same lady twice, who asked me if I was lost. I said no, just walking, and thankfully she allowed me to continue my adventure. I passed 2 gyms, an auditorium, a whole wing dedicated to industrial arts, a much smaller science wing, and then decided to go upstairs. This is where I found Nirvana.

I came around the corner, and a faint glow filled the air. I walked forward, to see a sight almost as grand as the Israelites must have witnessed when coming out of the desert 3000 years ago.

Rows and rows of Macintoshes. All newer G5's. Playtime.

I hacked into one (well not really, just guest password guest), and here I am, posting like a naughty little man from a computer library in Canton, Ohio. This is as exciting as life gets for me, I'm afraid. But, just for a little while, I have an adventure to fill the hour. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to go exploring the internets...

Observations Vol. 1

2004-12-03T13:04:00.000-05:00

1. Sorry for that very Live-Journalesque article just now, had to get it off my chest.

2. Child actors seem to never really grow up. Is that because they retain child-like features, or is it because we're very familiar with what they looked like as kids, and see them the same way now?

3. No one uses their turn signals anymore. Very rarely do I see it, just when people make big turns. Never for lane changes. Never to show intent of course. Never. I hate this.

4. People who drive while talking on the cell phones are 90% of the people above, and they also have a strong propensity to drive slow in the left lane. Fuck all of you who have to discuss your "important" business while driving a 2-ton vehicle at 55 mph with half of your already canine-level attention.

5. Walmart sucks. I mean it really sucks. They pay their employees shit for shinola. They use monopolistic practices to stay on top. They build over ancient Indian burial grounds to expand their outlets. The people you see shopping at these places are the lowest form of humanity. And the aisles are as narrow as hell as they pile in more crap. But man, are those low prices!

Christ, I'm losing my hair!

2004-12-03T12:46:00.000-05:00

Every morning I wake up, I see a mat of hair on my pillow. It's fucking depressing. I'm 24, I don't deserve this. Maybe I'm over-reacting, but I don't want to look like Anthony Edwards circa ER 3rd season.

I just have a lot of hair. That's it. And I shed a lot. That's the ticket.

I love denial.

Quote of the Week

2004-12-02T00:29:00.000-05:00

From AICN:" I’ve seen a lot of truly great films this year... movies like THE INCREDIBLES or ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND or KINSEY or THE LIFE AQUATIC or SILMIDO or SPRING, SUMMER, FALL, WINTER... AND SPRING or BEFORE SUNSET. Those are lasting works of art, powerful films that say something about the human condition. And not one of them features Baby Godzilla driving a goddamn car. And that’s why GODZILLA: FINAL WARS earns a special place in my heart"

-Moriarty

Gift-Finding for the Inept

2004-12-01T13:40:00.000-05:00

It's been a while, but I'm back to writing. Just not much to write about lately. I'm waiting for 25+ of my anesthesia interviews to arrive, good or bad news, and I just came off a hell of a Thanksgiving. My family really puts me through the wringer for the holidays...

I find myself this year at a loss to try to find good gifts for everyone. I think I got my fiancee done, which is the important thing, and I think she's going to be happy. But my parents especially, what the hell do they want? They have no hobbies, no outside interests at all. They work, come home, eat and sleep. They care for nothing else really. Kinda hard to buy for people like that. I've tried using "gift idea" sites on the internet, but most are miserable failures, like C-Net's Gift Guide I wrote of earlier. Guess Mom will get a bread box and Dad will get a back massager...

Someone needs to create a good gift-finding engine that you can search with parameters such as age, relationship, interests, and direct you to sites or products that others with similar attributes like. Guess I'll have to keep doing it the hard way.

This is Dr. Crane, I'm Listening...

2004-11-24T12:49:00.000-05:00

Today I have experienced yet another of what I call "Frasier" moments, where someone I don't even know is telling me their life story, like I'm a psychiatrist or something. Today it was while I was getting a haircut, and, as we all know, hair-dressers like to gab. But this lady, she takes the cake, plate and all.

It began casually enough. How are you? What do you do? Then, I can't remember how, talk turned to her family. She went on and on, and not just idle chit-chat, no. This was personal, deep shit. Like my brother is an alcoholic, I can't afford to keep digging him out of trouble, my mom hates me, I'm thinking of leaving my husband shit.

Now, I know I am a relatively closed-off person. I don't discuss a lot of things, even with family and friends. But what could compel a person to spill all her deepest neuroses on me? I just want my haircut. I kept thinking "Am I the only guy who gets this random, weird treatment from people? Does it say 'Please tell me all of your problems, I'm interested and I can help' on my back?". Maybe this is how Dr. Phil stared out.

I dunno, I guess I'm just lucky that way.

Highlights from a Trivial Pursuit Game, Vol.1

2004-11-21T00:25:00.000-05:00

From tonight's Trivial Pursuit game, between my roomie, my fiancee, and I:

"Who care who rolls for first, we end up just going left anyways, just fucking go!"

"You can be brown, the color of poo, and failure."

Yours truly forgetting the difference between quotation marks and parentheses.

Q: In Marvel Comics, who finds the planets for Galactus to consume?
A : "courtesy of my fiancee" : Captain Planet

Also, according to my fiancee, Sammy (the Bull) Gravano advised Hitler.

My answer to one question was (butter). My fiancee : (sorry, the correct answer is artificial butter). Play continues.

As usual we don't finish the game.

The Cellphone - Scourge of Humanity

2004-11-20T17:34:00.000-05:00

I notice upon my jaunty strolls about town that you people are really into this "cellphone" thing. Stop It. It's simply undignified.

I walk through the local target, waiting for the future Mrs. Jatser to get done clothes shopping. Since I have yet to grow up, I go to the toy aisles and electronic aisles, perusing if you will. Not 5 feet have I gone and there is a woman on her cell, talking about her day, in the middle of the aisle, blocking all means of passing. Because she is expending all 47 neurons she has on this conversation, she is oblivious to the world.

I turn, not 10 feet later another technological cow grazing the bandwidth pastures, her fat ass and target-brand buggy taking up another intersection.

This is even worse at Wal-Mart, where the aisles are 5 inches apart to stock pile upon pile of useless inventory made by 5 year-old Laotian prostitutes.

How was your day?

C-Net Holiday Sexism

2004-11-19T16:56:00.000-05:00

Has anyone checked out the C-Net 2004 Holiday Gift Guide? As usual, C-Net manages to subtly dog apple and be somewhat sexist at the same time. If you check out the gift ideas for son and husband, you get entries for "top-rated gear" and "guys love gadgets". So what do they recommend? Dell Dimension 8400, IBM Thinkpad X40, the Rio Carbon, Dell Inspiron XPS, and the Archos Gmini400. etc. As they say, "These cutting-edge gadgets are sure to thrill even the most digital kid." Whatever.

But how about wife and daughter? What do they get? Well, according to Crap-Net, they need gifts that not only offer "excellent features and performance, they're also compact and stylish." It continues "Your wife or girlfriend may not be a gadget hound, but the right technology will make her busy life a little easier." That's why she needs an eMachines T3256, and in the same fucking breath, an Apple Powerbook G4! Let Tech-Savvy dad and son get the Dells and Rios, they're smarter than you. You need something pretty. Get an iPod Mini or an Apple iMac G5. They'll match your shoes!

Now, to tell the truth, I think the women are coming out with the better deal here overall. Sure, Apple's products are pretty, but don't hold that against them. They are superior products to any of those other Wintel machines. But let the stereotypes continue on C-Net. That's all those ignorant slobs know.

The Future of Reality

2004-11-19T15:50:00.000-05:00

Watching Fear Factor the other day, and discussing it today with Izzy, we got to thinking of the future of reality TV. I mean, on Fear Factor we see people consuming live insects, sometimes them biting back, as well as sexual organs and other unthinkable edibles. The both of us would have a real hard time doing the eating challenges, even for great quantities of cash, simply because of the gag reflex.

But I, liking to often leap logic like Superman and making overreaching suppositions, thought about this: when will we see murder on TV?

What would your price be? If you're willing to go on national TV and eat a bull's penis, would you kill a man for some amount of money? A billion dollars? What if he were a criminal? Or already sentenced to death? Where's the line you'd cross? It's only a slippery slope from there...

Fuck Jon Stewart

2004-11-19T11:29:00.000-05:00

Yeah, that's right. I don't like him. I know every fucking single one of you do. Hey, I used to love the guy. I now have no respect for him.

I still enjoy watching the daily show, mind you. I enjoy it as a comedy program, and don't get my news from it, like a lot of "hip" people these days. Yeah, I read the recent study, lots of college educated people watch the Daily Show. Maybe they just like the show for laughs, like I do. But if you get your main source of news from Comedy Central, I weep for you.

Anyway, back to Jon-Jon. Everyone is hero-worshipping this guy on the net. In case you don't know, it stems from the incident on CNN's Crossfire, when, as a guest, Jon started petulantly accusing Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson for hurting the "democratic process" and proceeded to call Tucker a "dick".

Here's a typical response from John Q. Internet: " I've heard people talk about "The Daily Show" as an oasis of sanity, a public service. I couldn't agree more. Stewart's appearance on "Crossfire" was another public service. He went on and acted as if the show's purpose really was to confront tough issues, instead of being the political equivalent of pro wrestling. Given a chance to say absolutely what he thought, Stewart took it. He accomplished what almost never happens on television anymore: He made the dots come alive."
-"Charles", on Salon.com

Now, honestly, how naive and full of horse-shit can you get? I mean, he made the dots come alive? Come on! He was brought on as a guest to promote a book, and he ends up toasting not only the hosts but the entire premise of the show he is on. If you have ever watched Crossfire before, it's not like pro-wrestling at all. You have a panel of left and right-minded, very talented and experienced hosts who debate the issues. Politics works today because it's a two-party system. Crossfire is simply an extension of that.
Jon said, and I'm paraphrasing here, that he wanted more real and civilized discourse, to talk honestly about issues that matter. I think he's missing the whole point, and, if he actually did watch the show, would see that they talk about issues that matter every broadcast, and the fact that they disagree as they do is a sign of a healthy political climate, and, besides, good for the ratings. If you think a show as Jon describes would last 2 seconds on cable or network TV, you're in la-la land. And besides, we have PBS for that.
I like James Carville's take on the incident, and I wish he was there when Jon was on so he could have torn him apart. "I think he's funny," said Carville. "I just think he's a pompous ass."
Better words were never spoken. And kudos to Crossfire for airing the segment and allowing public discourse over it.

Template Frustrations

2004-11-16T13:34:00.000-05:00

I don't know if I am just cursed, or have the worst luck in the universe, but these last two days have been very frustrating.

Latest setback: my damn template code for the webpage doesn't display right. All I see is what looks like the ends of the right-most parts of the code. I tries copy and pasting, and even opening up the source through the browser, to no avail. I can't edit code I can't see. I guess this is a malfunction on blogger's end. I tried 3 different browsers, all the same result. I guess all I can do is wait it out.

Update: Got it working when I tried to copy and paste the source code again, weird though.

2004-11-15T22:37:00.000-05:00

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

Redesign

2004-11-15T22:31:00.000-05:00

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog. Again.

Sorry for the recent changes. Just wanted to change up the colors, and, for some reason, I couldn't get the code to change right under my old profile, so I simply started a new one. Had to reinstall all the little do-dads in the sidebar, and, for some fucking reason Haloscan requires me to have this post in. If I try to delete it the new commnet system disappears. Oh well, third time is the charm as they say.

AICN's Jedi Councils

2004-11-15T17:28:00.000-05:00

I have long been a fan of AintitCool's Jedi Councils, where a roundtable of fans discuss the future of the Star Wars franchise and the latest and final installment, Revenge of the Sith. Well, the sixth Council just came out.

I've decided to provide links to the previous Councils, I couldn't find one place to find them all. They are listed below:

Jedi Council #6 November 15, 2004
Jedi Council #5 February 11, 2004
Jedi Council #4 October 26, 2003
Jedi Council #3 August 15, 2003
Jedi Council #2 August 4, 2003
Jedi Council #1 May 26, 2003

Check 'em out if you're into the whole spoiler game. It's interesting to see where the rumors go, if they turn out to be true, and who seems to be full of the most shit. Enjoy.

Haloscan Commenting Enabled

2004-11-15T14:55:00.000-05:00

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

This system is a whole lot better than the one Blogger uses. Thanks to Izzy for the recommendation.

White Shirts Experiment

2004-11-15T11:52:00.000-05:00

I have heard of this experiment being done before, and the results among most people are quite interesting. To take part in this experiment yourself, simply go here and follow the instructions. Let's see how many of you out there are wolves among the fold or bleeting sheep.

Youth - Now 50% More Stupider

2004-11-15T11:02:00.000-05:00

What a weekend I had. Never was near a computer, so I couldn't post. But I did participate in someting I thought was bloggable.

My fiancee is a high-school english teacher, and she also heads the school's speech team. They have meets every fortnight at different schools who all take turns hosting. Her team needed another judge, and I was the only one available on such short notice, so there I am, 7:00 AM Saturday on a bus for a 45 minute trip to judge.

While I must say the whole business was excrutiatingly boring for the most part, I have what you would call a morbid curiosity, and I like seeing what kids are like these days, and how much they know.

Now the scary thing about what I'm going to write is the fact that these are the smarter kids. The dumb ones don't like this stuff. This was definitely nerd central. But, I tell you as I live in breathe, these kids were not too bright. Now I know there are going to be some kids forced along, and some of them should be pretty bad at this, but overall I found that these kids, with very few exceptions, can't form logical arguments, back things up with cited facts, or present any of this information in a pleasing style.

It saddens me, really. I feel like I'm living in a country where everyone is dumbing down at a very fast rate. Just look around you....the signs are everywhere.

This One's for ALL the Ladies

2004-11-12T15:15:00.000-05:00

Ok. I'm sitting here, watching Real World/Road Rules Battle of the Sexes. Not because I ever watch MTV, mind you, but I'm sitting here nettin' on the internets while my roomie is watching it. Anywho, I've noticed something lately in male/female dynamics. Men can work together much better than women can work together. I know it sounds sexist, but let me explain.

I've noticed this phenomenon elsewhere too. The Apprentice comes to mind, where the women's team lost time and again until they got a fashion challenge. Men gel together better. You have the occasional butting of the heads, but they eventually get shit together. They realize one man can't take down the mammoth. Teamwork is required. Everyone is going to get the kill.

Women, on the other hand, don't work this way. That's why you never see a mural of a bunch of neanderthal women taking down a whooly rhino, or coming to any sort of consesus over anything. Women argue amongst themselves. They bicker and catfight while the men are getting their shit together. They can't just put aside their bullshit problems with each other for 2 seconds. Watch the Apprentice. You'll see what I mean.

Why is that? I mean, I know women are as smart as men, or smarter, and individually they can do just about anything (except pee standing up). But put 2 or more together, and you get situations that make palestinians and israelis shout "Come on, ladies, work together on this!"

PS: Navigating MTV online is like having a sugar rush and an epileptic seizure at the same time. Oh my head...

The Nefarious CS

2004-11-12T13:20:00.000-05:00

Let's pow-wow, med students. I need your help.

You all know how the system expoits us. We're used, abused, and thrown in the trash like a used Kleenex. Well I want to take a stand. I want to make one little thing better. Just one. Maybe from there we can take on the harder things in life.

As you may or may not know, the 2nd step of the US Medical Licensing Exam is now two parts, a written CK (multiple choice) and a physical exam CS, where you must pay a GRAND to go to one of five centers in the US to have someone watch you perform and exam and assessment on a faux patient.

I thnk this is completely unnecessary. If you're like me, and you are self-financing your education, this extra expense is very hard on you. I had to use credit cards to pay for the damn thing. Secondly, we get tested for our exam abilities by our schools several times during our education. Do we really need a national test to tell us if we have good clinical assessment? I think not.

So let your voice be heard. When you take this test, fill out the eval. Be honest. I'm writing pretty much what you see above. And I know a lot of you agree with me. Let's see if we can get this damn thing changed for the better. That's one thing down on the list. Two hundred million to go.

FireFox ... Lovin It

2004-11-11T18:42:00.000-05:00

I am what you would call a mac enthusiast. Now, I'm not the type to lurk in message boards and hate on anyone using a wintel machine. Quite the contrary, I feel that whatever you like, good for you. I'm glad.
However, I came to love macs about 5 years ago, on one September Morn, at the then yet-to-be remodeled Spanton Hall, at the U 0f Akron. My Crappard Bell, which has since went out of business, was acting up again, and I went down the hall to use my friend's "Crapintosh" (I like the word crap, highly underrated), and I was sold. Since then, I have been faithful to Apple.
At first, I loved Safari, Apple's forray into web browsing. But lately, Safari has been really lagging on me. Every 3-4 pages, I get a hangup. And if I were to switch to Internet Explorer, I'd feel dirty (and probably contract Hepatitis C). That's why I'm glad Firefox went gold with 1.0 yesterday.
It's nice and fast, I like the simplicity of the design, and it has all the features I love in Safari, such as tabs, pop-up blocking, etc. My only complaint.......the scrolling sucks. It stutter-steps, if you know what I mean, like listening to Jimmy from Southpark trying to get something out. Everytime I try to scroll down my favorite pages, it's like, "hi there f-f-f-f-f-f-f-f-f-ellas". Frickin Sucks. Other than that, love everything else. Maybe it's not such a problem for the windows version? Anyone???

Mondo is Online.. I know, I know, how cool is that?

2004-11-11T18:24:00.000-05:00

Here I am, delving for the third time into the blogging world. I think a lot of people just getting into this thing have a few false starts, and I am no exception. I found that I just didn't enjoy writing while "walled in" so to speak. I would choose a frame of reference to write in, and try to write within that, often losing my unique perspective, the frame that is my life. I know. This sounds pretty pretentious, but hey, it takes a certain amount of gall to write of one's life on the web. You have to think, people will really give a shit. And, I suppose, by sheer numbers, some out there will. This place is for you, but it's mostly for me. I need a creative outlet. So unlike prior attempts, this blog is 100% me. No bullshit. I hope I have as much fun writing as anyone who stumbles upon my corner enjoys reading, or ridiculing, or reminiscing..... whatever. Just enjoy!

From the virtual desk of Jats.

All About Me

2003-01-01T13:01:00.000-05:00

This is just a small piece regarding yours truly. I'm 24 years old, lived in Ohio all my life. I am currently enrolled in my senior year of medical school. I am engaged to be married in July 2005. I envision this blog as a place to "let it all hang out", to mentally walk about in only my skivvies or even bare-assed, or, more approproately, bare-minded. I am a geek at heart. I love Star Wars, to the point of probably referencing it at least daily, much to the chagrin of my fiancee and roomie. I'm a movie fan, going weekly with the future Missus. Hope to add more here soon.