The Truth Shall Set You Free

So I appealed a $22 parking ticket at the university's office of parking management last week. I was parked in my spot, but I had forgotten to hang my tag. I figured it wouldn't be a big deal to get this one dropped. When I got to the office, I was surprised to see 6 or 7 other people waiting for their chance to plead their case also. So I signed in and waited. And waited. I watched as each of these defendants were called into Conference Room 203.

I noticed that alot of people waiting had a nervous look to them. First of all, it's just a parking ticket. It's not like we're trying to score Celine Dion tickets. Second of all, it's a parking ticket. There's probably just some overworked, underpaid chick back there and as long as I maintain eye contact and talk in a deep voice this should be cake. Finally, it's my turn to enter the 'court room'..

"Close the door behind you. Take a seat here on the left," said the Napoleonic man at the end of the table.

(Two imperative sentences in a row. Balding. Glasses. Dammit! Switch to Plan B: Pretend to be apologetic and make this guy believe I think he's important.)

He reads over my ticket. "So what do you want?"

"Well, the ticket is accurate but I actually have a spot in that parking lot. It was raining and I was in a hurry, so consequently I forgot to take my hangtag out of my glovebox."

Before I finished saying 'consequently' he had slammed down the university's complete parking bylaws. "Why don't you do us both a favor and read rule 83B?"

(I don't really see why I need to read this outloud. You clearly know it, since you have it highlighted. Furthermore, some of those words are pretty big.)

So after throwing his weight around a little more, he finally looks up my parking id and sees my story checks out. "Since you don't have any prior offenses, I'm going to drop your fine. But I'm still going to find you guilty and if this ever happens again, I won't let it go. There are rules here. It's like you, you're training to be a doctor. So what if you forgot to place stitches after cutting someone up?"

Hahaha.. right.

He then took out my appeals form and filled it out. I noticed that he wrote "Quilty" next to the area designated for plea. Now I haven't consulted with the Summer of Dev legal staff,



but isn't the plea what the defendant declares?

Also, why would I admit to having properties of a quilt?

Oh well, I guess it all worked out as I expected. I'm still the man.

I got a speeding ticket the next day for going 36 mph in a 25. I almost spontaneously combusted with anger.

Music: Upcoming Concerts

I just wanted to alert everyone of a few upcoming concerts coming through Charleston and Columbia:

Feb 22nd - Willie Nelson - Township Auditorium

Feb 24th - O.A.R. - Township Auditorium

March 3rd - James Taylor - North Charleston

April 8th - Kid Rock - Ladson Fairgrounds

April 14th - Drive By Truckers and Cowboy Mouth - Ladson Fairgrounds

April 15th - Lynyrd Skynyrd - Ladson Fairgrounds

Throw Sister Hazel and Bon Jovi somewhere in that mix too.

Also, check this out. If this doesn't make you burst out in laughter, you might not have a pulse.

In Vino Veritas

It looks like I hit my limit on wine for the year just in the month of January. Pinot, cab, merlot, riesling.. just pour it all together, it all ends up in the same place. One of the events during the 72 hours of dinner, dancing, drinking, debauchery, and dessert was school-sponsored. These are always fun because after 40 hours of lectures and labs it always fun to see peoples' strictly-social side. I guess that's similar to a bizzaro personality. Interestingly though, I think that some of us wear our Mr. Hyde persona much more than our aspiring-to-be Dr. Jekyll yang.

(Sergeant Major Damselfish, Abudefduf saxatilis)

Another key event of the weekend was a wedding party for a former high school classmate. I don't think that many of our graduating class have been together since commencement. It was weird, I only saw everyone as they were in high school. Maybe it was because we all reverted from being in our mid-twenties to 15 year olds. After about 3 minutes of banal small talk, it was time for us to resume where we left off. The cut-throat wit came out. Running jokes that ran out from junior year resurfaced. And were retold. And retold. Someone brought up the fact that our ten year reunion is quickly approaching. That had me thinking, I don't think I'm anywhere near where I thought I'd be 6 years removed from high school (for better and for worse). Maybe that's just a mid ten year reunion crisis.

Oh well, I guess it could be worse..

Pics are up. For those that didn't take or have forgotten 8th grade Latin, the title means 'The truth is in the wine.'

The Friends Reunion

I'm sure most have found out by now that the original cast of Friends has agreed to have a short comeback. They're each getting paid 5 million to be in four 1 hour episodes. That payday seems like alot, but keep in mind they were making a million per episode when they were originally on the air.

Now most people are aware that I'm not a fan of that hit series. Personally, I found their comedy as hilarious as Gallagher. And I'm sure everyone knows the real reason Friends lasted on the air so long- the actresses weren't allowed to wear a bra during their ten-season run. Seriously, pay attention the next time you catch a rerun and see if anything jumps out at you.

On tangential note, I'm looking forward to a personal friends reunion this weekend.

Nintendo Power

I stumbled across this the other day. It's an old nintendo catalog from 1990 whose pages were scanned to a website. I'm sure all my fellow 21 year olds that are in their prime will be able to relate to this.

(Click on the above picture.)

I am amazed that Nintendo had products in so many markets. They sold clothes, cartoons, furniture, watches, karaoke machines, and of course- video games. I think I owned 7 of the products pictured on the site. Be sure to read the captions that were added.

Camp Capers: Shuck-n-Suck

Camp Capers: Shuck-n-Suck was held this past weekend and was a definite success. Earlier in the week I was doubtful the event would occur, since winds were clocked at 45 mph in the Charleston harbor (for reference, a tropical storm averages 39 mph winds). Luckily, twenty people considered camping in January on an island in the Atlantic Ocean to be a good idea.. and they were rewarded with more than just the t-shirt.



Here is some satellite imagery of the campsite courtesy of Google Maps.



Pics are uploaded. Stay tuned for Camp Capers: Gone Hog Wild. Coming soon.

Politics: The DoJ vs. Google

Bumper Sticker: 'If you're not infuriated, you're not paying attention.'

I'm not big into politics. The only thing I care about the left wing or right wing is that it's dipped into the succulent Ranchilada sauce (Wild Wing). But I think the Bush administration is going overboard on this one. In an effort to help safeguard children from accessing pornography, Bush and company want Google to surrender logs of how pornography appears in web searches. For example, ideally a search for 'hot chicks' should return a link for poultry and not Brianna Banks. For one thing, this would probably reveal Google's innovative, heavily-guarded search algorithms.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for a safe internet.. but somehow I feel there's a sinister motive behind this subpeona for information. Maybe it's just the conspiracy theorist in me. Or maybe it's because I've kept up with the news recently. This subpeona for information from Google comes a few weeks after the NSA wiretapping fiasco. What the hell is going on here? It's like ol' George and Dick wake up each morning and challenge each other to see who can disregard the Constitution (read as: Essence of this country) the most. What ever happened to the days of politicians just getting their fulfillment in illegal activities by choking strippers? Oh Hell, here we go..

"Well Dev, I guess you forgot about 9/11.."

Nope, I sure haven't. I remember first seeing what happened on a tv in the lobby of the Darla Moore School of Business. I remember being glued to CNN and Reuters for 12 hours straight. Actually, I don't even want to get into all that.

Does anyone remember the 90s? Remember having faith in the government. I hate watching the news now. I hate that I instictively wonder what cover-up or scandal each news story is about.

I find it amusing that we quickly disagree with oppressive governments in other countries, yet there is little anger when our liberties are disregarded. Interestingly, it took a subpeona of Google archives to make me write something. I guess I don't like people messing with one of sexiest, innovative tech companies of our time (Apple is a distant second). Anywho, it's not a real big deal.. the Department of Justice tried taking on Microsoft and failed. I doubt they'll fare much better with Google.

My Sanctuary

I took the killer attack wolf dog to the dog park this past weekend. I love going there, it truly is my sanctuary. There are plenty of picnic tables to doze off on, a tranquil pond and other eye-candy, and best of all my dog can terrorize pets and people other than me. So as we're walking in, I notice this middle-aged couple at one of the benches and they have their golden retrievers with them. Then, out of nowhere, the lady begins screaming. I guess screaming is an understatement, she began shrieking as if she were being attacked or like she saw a deadly ghost. And during all this, her dogs are just idly sitting there.

I didn't really think anything of this, maybe this is how she trained her pets? Maybe she's German? Who knows?

So I take my dog to the pond area on the other side of the park and let him free. While watching after my juvenile delinquent, I continue to hear those shrieks every few minutes along with a barrage of expletives. I guess this was my first encounter with Tourette's.

Later in the afternoon, I notice another young couple walking around with some type of miniature dog. Of course Chap has to go chase it around. So I decide to give the couple a break and get ahold of him. Well, while the guy was bent over holding his weiner dog.. Chap walked behind him, lifted his leg and stealthily took a leak on the guy's pants. The chick that was with him was so focused on their dog that she didn't notice it either.

Since they didn't have a problem with getting peed on, I didn't either. So I decided to grab Chap and quickly exit the park. I bought him an assortment of dog bones and toys later that night.

Update: Nice hair ey

Our favorite mole-esque friend decided to supply me with more ammo for some reason.

Here is an update to the progressive, ground-breaking article 'Nice hair ey':

A Consumer Report

I've always thought of myself as a good consumer. I can see the practicality in a product, readily aknowledge arbitrage, and know the value of a dollar. I noticed something when I got home from the grocery store yesterday though. No, I didn't go to the crazy grocery store. [1, 2] Anyway, check the picture below.

Notice anything? I am a sucker for buying in multiples. I guess my thought process basically goes 'Well, I can buy this product for $X, but if I get Y of the product then I only have to pay $Z (where Z is an even dollar amount).'

'Hmm, we do need some Cokes at the house. I'll just grab this bottle, it's only $1.29. Holy shit, it must be my lucky day, I can get 3 bottles for $4! This works out well, because I was planning on drinking 6 liters of sugar water tonight.'

It's not like this thought process happened once. Judging by the picture, this ploy worked on almost every aisle from the juices to the butcher. Just from yesterday's spree alone, I'm stocked on Pop-tarts until 2012. I don't think the panoramic view on my camera could fit all of the Totinos frozen pizzas I bought. Kudos to the grocery store, they have definitely researched consumer habits.

Alas, there's more..

So then I was thinking, am I really getting ripped off here? For instance, I eat at mostly the same restaurants each month. Usually, I order the same thing from each restaurant. Don't get me wrong, I like to try new things.. but once I find a winner, I stick with it (i.e. Supremes from Bojangles, quesadillas from La Hacienda, Chris' Texas Cheesesteak from Waffle House, the SCAM roll from Wasabi, etc.). Naturally, this repititious behaviour carries over to what I buy at the store. So is the grocery store really pulling a fast on me, or is this a win-win situation where they sell more products and I'm just stealing a page out of the hard-working ant's playbook?

Nice Hair ey

In just 7 short years and about 2,300 Propecias, you too can have such flowing locks. It takes a childhood diet of paint chips and wild berries to dress like a Canadian though.



Speaking of stupid Canadia, I need to take a second to salute Rick Moranis ey. His filmography includes classics like Little Shop of Horrors and Spaceballs, but his real achievement is the movie he wrote, directed, and starred in- Strange Brew. If you're a beer drinker, I cannot emphasize how important it is that you watch this movie ey. Check if it's at your local video store, it's worth renting.

Ski Trip

This past weekend renewed my faith in skiing in North Carolina. The conditions were good and the slopes were empty.
The timing helped out.. I recommend for anyone planning on hitting the slopes in the Southeast to check out Sugar Mountain the weekend between New Year's and Martin Luther King.

Unfortunately I was a bit over-zealous in picking out my skiis, so I didn't get to fully appreciate the runs. They did help me impale a resting snowboarder.

Of course the weekend had its share of the usual buffoonery. Happy Birthday MB. Click 'My Pictures' to the right to check out the pics.

The Time Has Come

Well people, the moment you've been waiting for has finally arrived. That's right, I'm proudly announcing the SoD's Italian of the Year. Many were up for the award, but in the end the decision was easy. This year's award goes to none other than Columbia's own Ryan Wills.

Ryan, aptly nicknamed 'Talkie' by LJ, has accomplished alot this year: dog-sitting, cooking lasagna, and drunken boxing. Aside from chronically hanging out with Smokie, the marinara-drenched Talkie is also an expert on whatever's on your mind. Congratulations Ryan.

Hook 'Em

Texas by 10. I had to get this out before kick-off. I'll gladly eat crow if the 'Dynasty's' explosive offense dominates.