So, you know how you have that friend that has the best chance of being famous. Well, mine is one step closer to being there. Nick Krill is one of my friends from undergrad, who hung out in my room constantly freshman year, eventually moving in next door with one of my freshman roommates (Dum) sophomore year. He is in a band called the Spinto Band and they recently released an album . They are a really good band. (My favorite song is "Late") and lately they have been starting to get into the media, Spin has done a few blurbs on them as openers for concerts. They got to the point that MSNBC has written a review of them . I know MSNBC doesn't carry a lot of street cred in the music industry but that is still pretty cool.

Riding the coattails of others fame to nowhere,
-Jesse

So yes, (e:MK) is right, I do post frequently for 2 weeks, then disappear for 2 months. I should be better, but I won't, so deal with it sucka.

Things are going well here. Real school has started, with normal classes, not just one class consuming my entire life. I am taking Statistics, Managerial Economics for Public Administrators, State and Local Government Financial Management, and Public Organizations and Management. With the exception of Stats, I enjoy my classes. My professors are really good. You can definitely tell the difference in quality of professors in better programs. I also enjoy doing homework for my classes because they are all geared towards practical knowledge. They don't ask you to do 25 page research papers. They want memos and one page answers. Stuff that I will actually have to do when I graduate.

I also got a half-time graduate assistantship. It is nice to get both the pay and free credits from that. I also get a desk in an office I share with other grad assistants. It is nice to have a desk here that is all my own, but today when I went into the office it was a bit B.O.-ey Hopefully that won't be permanent. The GAship has been a bit frustrating because I haven't had much direction and have had problems with meeting with my professor but we are meeting tomorrow so hopefully that will sort everything out.

I have to get going so I get a seat in class. Talk to you later.

-Jesse

Today I am meeting with the Career Center at my school. Hopefully, they should be able to give me some guidance about my resume, career options, and about getting an internship this fall. I really need to get on that. Hopefully I can find someplace that will be good, fit my schedule and not be too demanding. I have a lot of work to do this weekend. I have at least one thing due in each of my classes next week.

Here are some miscelaneous items I have enjoyed lately:

Cliff Notes on R. Kelly's Trapped in the Closet. It is one of the funniest things I have seen on the internet. It is spot on in its imitation of cliff note's style. I especially enjoy the Notes Review Section with questions just like the ones in Cliff Notes. Here is a sample:

"Chapter 3

Summary

Sylvester stares in disbelief at Rufus, initially unwilling to believe that he’s really Rufus’s secret lover. Sylvester tells everyone that they are crazy, and he is leaving. Cathy tries to persuade him to stay, but he says that he has nothing to do with the present mess, and he has to get home. Cathy persuades him to stay, suggesting that the story of how this affair came about may be an interesting one.

Sylvester agrees to stay for three minutes while Rufus and Chuck explain themselves. Cathy lashes out at Rufus, asking him how he could do such a hurtful thing to her, but he counters her volley by reminding her that she’s lied to him and been adulterous as well. Cathy puts forth the opinion that a homosexual affair is much more unexpected and hurtful than her simple infidelity, but Rufus insists that since she hid a man with a gun in their closet she has no right to judge him.

Sylvester, sick of all the arguing, insists upon an explanation. Chuck explains that he and Rufus have been carrying on a secret affair for a year, sleeping in motels and doing their best to avoid discovery. This causes Cathy and Rufus to erupt into another argument, which frustrates and bewilders Sylvester. He fires a shot into the air to shock them into silence, and announces that he can’t handle any more of their fighting. He uses his cellular phone to call his house, and is shocked to hear a man’s voice answer.

Commentary

With Sylvester, Rufus, and Chuck now decidedly “out of the closet,” the situation erupts into conflict and violence. Sylvester seems incredibly conflicted in this chapter; his initial instinct is to leave, but Cathy manages to convince him to stay by appealing to his curiosity. Sylvester is both repulsed and intrigued by Rufus’s affair with Chuck; just as Rufus saw elements of himself in Sylvester, Sylvester clearly sees parallels to his own situation in Rufus and Chuck’s romance.

While he initially agreed to stay in the hope of witnessing an interesting dramatic spectacle, he became more and more eager to leave when Rufus and Cathy began fighting. It becomes clear that Sylvester has a strange aversion to conflict. Although he could leave at any time (since he has a gun and nothing to gain by staying), he seems to be staying in Rufus and Cathy’s apartment only to act as a mediator. He repeatedly demands that they stop fighting, although their affairs are truly none of his concern. This provides crucial insight into Sylvester’s character: the combination of habitual infidelity and extreme distaste for arguments among couples suggests that he was the product of a dysfunctional family, probably involving an abusive and unfaithful father. This might explain why Sylvester demands to be in control at all times.

Although he is a Casanova himself, Sylvester has an obvious aversion to being played. He becomes hurt when it is revealed that Cathy didn’t use her real name when she courted him at the nightclub, even though it has little bearing on his situation. Although he is unfaithful himself, he is stunned when, at the end of the chapter, a man answers the telephone at his house.

Glossary:

Deep shit: A difficult situation.

Y’all ass is crazy: Your entire ass is crazy.

Bitch, please: Used to express disbelief at a woman’s words.

Club hoppin’: Searching for sexual encounters or cheap thrills at nightclubs

I’ma: I am going to"

Amusing article on hurricane relief, fiscal conservatives, and how the fiscal conservatives always get the shaft to the social conservatives

"Fiscal conservatives are angry. Of course, they're always angry. They're like social conservatives that way. (The fiscal conservatives who are social conservatives, like Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., are so angry they can barely finish the crossword.) Instead of getting exercised about the radical homosexual agenda and prayer in school, the fiscal conservatives fume about stuff that bores the majority of the Fox News producers: balanced budgets and emergency supplemental funding. The other big difference is that current Republican leaders don't listen as attentively to fiscal conservatives. Terri Schiavo—she's worth a special session of Congress. No one beats it back to Washington on Air Force One to sign stricter spending legislation. Still, the fiscal conservatives soldier on. "We spend a lot of time in groups of 12 hoping for a tipping point," says one of their tribe, "another Tsongas or Ross Perot."

"The problem that always bedevils the fiscal conservatives is that they are directly targeting the horse-trading that makes government go. Start pulling out earmarks and you unravel support for the whole bill. Deny seniors their prescription-drug bill and you anger a bloc of voters far larger and more influential than those watching the pennies. When social conservatives balk, they represent massive organized blocs of voters who have shown their willingness to stay home. When fiscal conservatives balk, only a few thousand ornery Republicans in New Hampshire and Arizona abandon the party."

That is all for now.
-Jesse

Hey Di,
Happy Birthday!!!! :-)
-Jesse

Happy 22nd Birthday Mike. Hope you have a great day. Wish I could be there to got out with y'all.
-Jesse