Man, this economy sucks

I know that it has been a while since my last post, but I have a good reason…..okay no I don’t. I have just been lazy. So sue me. But I am writing tonight because man oh man does this economy stink. I have been applying to PR jobs left and right and guess how many interviews I’ve had? Zero. Zip. Bupkis. Not only cannot I not find a job, but the Ducks are mediocre, the Mariners finished with the second-worst record in baseball, the Seahawks look like the Hawks of the Ric Mirer era, AND my Sonics are now the freaking Thunder. You know who I blame for all of this? George W. Bush. Maybe not all of it or even any of it, but he’s a pretty good scapegoat, so screw you Mr. Bush! I have now done something that I wished I would never have to do. I have gotten a job at Albertsons in Beaverton. *Sigh*. Makes me wanna cry. Well I don’t even technically have a job with them yet. I had to take a drug test yesterday and I have yet to hear from them, but if I pass my drug test then I finally have a job. The day before the test though I had a PB&J sandwich with bread that had poppy seeds in it so maybe I screwed myself. (Not really, it was only half a sandwich but I’m in a complaining mood). 

The one silver lining to this fall is that Barack Obama is leading in the polls against scary man McCain. Never before have I been so invested in a candidate. I feel a positive potential for our country for the first time since I was in junior high. But regardless of your voting preference remember to inform yourself on the candidates and vote. And please don’t be so angry about politics, regardless of who gets elected (even though I’d be sad if McCain did) the USA will be fine. Unless Sarah Palin ends up as president. She scares the living hell out of me.

My Dead Car

I drive a Honda Accord. Or at least I used to. My beloved Honda has bit the dust. Croaked. Gone to the big parking lot in the sky. Now this car was not a junker, but a 2002 model. So what went wrong? My transmission decided that it didn’t want to work anymore. I went to the local Honda dealership (I refuse to give them free advertising) to have them look at my transmission because it was jerking when it shifted. Upon further instruction it turned out that I needed over $4000 in repairs. FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS?! That wasn’t even including labor which tacked on another $2000. My car is not nearly worth that much. So the decision was made by my Dad to give me the car of my recently deceased Aunt Martha. So if you see a silver Toyota Rav 4 driving around with a yellow O on it and a California License with “Eek 47″ on it then that’s me. 

So if there is anybody out there that is looking for a 2002 Honda Accord V-6 that needs transmission work then let me know.

Shameful Greeks

So I recently came upon an article on bannedinhollywood.com, about a Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and their new rush t-shirts. I encourage you to read the story, but if you don’t here is a very brief synopsis. So, Bruce Ivins, guy who sent anthrax to political leaders and news stations in 2001, was apparently obsessed with the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority chapter at Princeton. The Kappa chapter at UCLA caught on to this and decided that it would be a good idea to create a rush shirt saying “At Kappa, We Drive Men Crazy”.

What the shirt says is not what makes me so upset, what the chapter’s president says about the shirt is what makes me so upset. The chapter president, Lauren Richards, says “To me, this just proves the elite status that Kappa carries nationally. Potential rushees should feel proud that he believed us [to be] important enough to associate with. There’s untapped potential with being a sister of Kappa Kappa Gamma.” UNTAPPED POTENTIAL?! Are you freaking kidding me? I don’t see any positives in being associated with a psychopathic terrorist who ended up committing suicide. 

Maybe it is due to the fact that at my Sigma Chi chapter we tried hard to maintain a positive public image that this bothers me so much. It truly shows just how changing stereotypes of the greek system is an uphill battle, and as long as people like this draw attention to their chapters for all the wrong reasons it will be impossible to change. I am proud to be a Greek, but I am disappointed in how some Greeks do not live up to values and ideals that they claim they do

Back from Vacation

Sorry for my temporary absence, but I was enjoying some vacation time with my family. I went to a small lake/water reservoir in northern California. My family and I have been going to this Alta, CA for 20 years. It is amazing how repeating one vacation can add to the value of the trip. 

 

So, now I am back in Beaverton and waiting to begin my internship doing PR work with the Oregon Zoo. I am very excited to begin and cannot wait for the valuable experience that I will earn. This isn’t a very interesting post, but I promise that my next post will be a lot more interesting.

I’ve got a fever (not literally)

So I have become addicted to sports blogs such as Deadspin, Awful Announcing and Addicted to Quack, and they have started to talk more and more about football. I want the football season to start so bad I am going crazy. I’m excited to see how the Ducks do, and I hope that the Seahawks can pull off another playoff run in Mike Holmgren’s last season. Us sports fans are currently stuck in one of the more boring parts of the year, an endless stretch of regular season baseball. Now I love baseball but my Mariners are pretty much the worst team in the league so there is nothing really to keep me captivated at this time. 

So, while I cannot wait for football season to start Terra is not a huge fan of football (I will try to change this) and therefore we will be having a battle for the remote during the season. Is anybody as excited as me? And do you have any predictions for the upcoming college and pro seasons?

Random Thoughts

So I had to get up to go to work today at 6 a.m. and turned on the television to help me wake up. Terra is obsessed with Jon and Kate Plus 8 so, naturally, the TV was on TLC. The early morning version of TLC made me question children’s television. The show that was on was entitled “Hip-Hop Harry”.

This has convinced me that America’s obsession with hip-hop culture has gone a smidgen too far. This is so absolutely ridiculous, I lack the necessary words to express my disbelief. I encourage you to look up some more videos or get up at the crack of dawn to watch this show.

On a more serious note, author Randy Pausch has died today. I know I am not the first to report this but I encourage anybody who sees this to go out and read his book “The Last Lecture”. He has great wisdom and tells a very heartwarming story of his love for his family. I am also particularly fond of this book because my Aunt Martha gave me this book as a graduation gift. She was always the “Book Aunt”, as my cousins and I dubbed her, and always put great thought into the books she gave us for our birthdays or other celebrations. A little over a week later I found out that my Aunt had passed away in her sleep. “The Last Lecture” was a tragically poignant book for the situation. I greatly miss my aunt but her memory will live on forever in the books she gave to her nieces and nephews.

Kickin it in Beaverton

I have officially lived in Beaverton, Oregon for 10 days, but it feels like it has been a lot longer. My girlfriend, Terra, and I have been trying to make our little apartment feel more like a home. This has included trips to IKEA (yes, multiple trips) and other home stores in the area. Prior to moving to Beaverton my only connection to the city were through other members of my fraternity, Sigma Chi. These kids had their own language, full of video game lingo and, quite frankly, could get quite annoying. But now I realize just how awesome this town really is. There are some great restaurants and I just recently discovered the nearby countryside. Too beautiful. 

So I have a little bit of time off until I begin my internship at the Oregon Zoo (no, I am not going to be shoveling poop) and I needed money. I did something I never thought I would do, I joined a Temp Agency. Now in order not to hurt my pride too much I signed on to do work at a distribution center, lots of heavy lifting, and I am only doing it until I go on vacation on the 31st. But hey, I get paid $10/hour it could be worth it