NEWS

• I wonder if the inventor of skillet splatter guards experimented to determine a correct width of wire and area between wires to maintain proper ventilation of steam while reducing the amount of “splatter” ending up on the stove or if he/she just decided on a random number that seemed to work/using window screen values.
• Slime Mold Art! Using media as a base for the fungus while drawing “outlines” with antifungal laced media. It would be cool to see your “designs” as being alive.
• Glow in the Dark: Slime Mold Art! Transforming the slime mold cultures with the pGlo fluorescent protein. First you have Art… then you turn on the black light and your “creature” glows!
• March 8th should be known as graphic viewing day... Penis', Blood, Gore, and Sex should be in every movie or show you watch during the day.

Due to all the snow from the “springtime” nor’easter in Boston, Ross and I had the opportunity to take a road trip back to Chicago. The night before we were checking up on the scheduled departures to find that the last 3 flights of the night were canceled and the first 3 flights the next day were canceled. 6 canceled flights = mucho unhappy United passengers that have a higher priority than either Ross or Myself. After short deliberation, we decided that renting a car and hauling ass across the Appalachian mountains towards Illinois was the most viable option to get Ross home in time for his 8AM work shift on Tuesday.

This was also an opportunity to drive down 95 (instead of the MassPike) and pass through my hometown and then through Rhode Island/Providence and Connecticut effectively adding two new states to Ross’ map. It’s always interesting to tell someone else the most random of facts that you have picked up over the years about your old “stomping grounds.”

After our tour of North Attleboro we stopped at Wendy’s for some good ol’ fashioned foodage… We then drove through “Quahog” and Providence down 95 south and into CT stopping off near Mystic, Connecticut so Ross could procure some Starbucks.. It always amazes me how small Rhode Island actually is. The majority of this first leg the roads were pretty clear and the snow was minimal. The only building around after the exit was a Marriot Hotel partially obscured by the sudden increase in snowfall. Upon closer inspection we discovered this Stephen King/The Shining Hotel actually housed the Starbucks. With a quick stop and a switch of drivers we jumped back on the highway… ignoring the rest of the state since there really isn’t anything there. I explained to Ross that Connecticut is the unfortunate filler between Providence and New York City.

We decided to bypass NYC by circling around the city through White Plains and the southern part of Westchester eventually making our way into New Jersey and unexpectedly added state to our Road Trip Roster. We tried to get food at Quiznos but apparently all the workers decided that the snowstorm was much to menacing to actually show up for work… We had to settle for Wendy’s for the second time in one day. We made quick work of New Jersey with myself at the wheel and Ross nodding off in the passenger seat.

The car has no auxiliary input cord so we have been forced to listen to the local radio stations. *gasp*. It has been an interesting transition from the pop/rock music selections found in Boston and Rhode Island, the subtle switch to light country in CT, the urban and newly imported sounds of NYC while in NY and Jersey, a change to 50% Jesus Classics in Eastern PA, a return to pop/Rock and Oldies, and finally settling on Country towards the middle of PA. Keeping up with scanning the available stations has been a full time job.

So here we are in our Blue Camry in the middle of the Pennsylvania Wilds… yes, there was a sign announcing that we were entering the Wilds; coincidentally we were nearing an empty tank. Without knowing exactly what PA meant by the Wilds we panicked and took the first exit for gas to find ourselves on a deserted road that winds upward around a hill to a solitary light… a Citgo sign. Our beacon of hope!! It was literally the only sign of civilization in the area that we could see with everything else around us pitch-dark woods and mountains. The one fact of this “pit stop” that excited me the most was the Trucker Shower! I was wondering for the majority of the trip where Truckers cleaned themselves and now I know that some gas stations along major trucking routes have showers for Truckers… Alas it was locked when I tried to check it out and didn’t feel like explaining to the creepy attendant why I wanted to check it out when the general bathroom was available.

Ross dispatched the remainder of PA without much fanfare, arriving at our 3^rd and last Wendy’s of the evening just 4 miles shy of the Ohio border.

During PA we decided to start listing the songs and artists that kept repeating on the radio and how many times each was played. Below is our final tally!

Nicole Brizzolara is one of those people that you meet and you instantly fall in love with them. It was St Patty’s Day 2005 and I had recently gotten both of my nipples pierced. I was in the middle of my relationship with John and we were both visiting Hemsworth in her dorm room for the festivities. We got SHITFACED… and then got busted by the RA on duty… who we all did not like… I decided I didn’t give a shit, ripped off my shirt with her in the room, and started flicking my nipple rings at her, then decided to run down the hall showing them to everyone. That’s when I ran into this girl Nicole who had also been busted that evening. I flicked my nipples at her, she swooned, and we fell in love. She is an amazingly bright and loving person who went on MANY an adventure with me over the years. She was my Punky Brewster and always will be and I will always be her Mookie.

One happy memory was when we took Italian together with my friend Trank the 1^st semester it was offered at Emmanuel College. The teacher Giovanna (hometown: Rome, Italy) instantly gravitated to the two of us always making jokes and being loud. On the first day of class Gio asked everyone their preferred names. I said that mine was Mike… Nicole chimed in that my name was “MOOOOKIE”.. This led Gio to pronounce my name as “Mee-Key” (kinda like Mickey).

    
Another one of my favorite memories was on Halloween night 2005 when Nicole and I went to Allston to find some Halloween party. We got out of the cab and proceeded to walk down the street when 5 or 6 guys dressed in SWAT gear jumped out of the bushes and surrounded us. They proceeded to push and drag us into a house down the street where there was a random party going on. Nicole then pretended to be sexually curious and was hit on by a lesbian. Several of my friends randomly showed up at the same party as well leading for a hysterically fun evening.

Nicole moved back home to Franklin and has pursued her life goals in a different way. I send her messages every once in a while but I haven't seen her in 2 years.
 

The next few people are from the years 2005-2007. Through my friend Meg Hemsworth I met Mike Scalise, Christina “Ginger” Hart, and Kari Lynch. We were all biology majors and Emmanuel but they were in the class of 2007. We bonded strongly during our Organic Chemistry course where I would help them with homework and hold study groups before tests.
      

<-- Mike    
  <-- Ginger
<-- Kari




 
  

I met Mike first. He was 23, complex, and needed a roommate. I jumped at the chance. He was my best friend for 1.5 years. Our favorite hobby was getting wasted and stumbling to StarMarket for latenight “Sushri.” Mike and Mike did everything together and we were always there for each other. Ginger and Kari came later. I met them through Mike and we all became a small close group studying together, eating together, and going out together. Most nights we would head over to Hems’ place for drunken card games or head out to Mission hill to scope out some party that Ginger or Mike had heard about.

At one point I heard that the three of them were thinking about getting an apartment and as shady as this sounds having just met them I told them I would totally be interested in being the 4^th roommate.

The summer of 2006 we all spent in our separate states. Ginger in NH, Kari in ME, Mike in NY, and me in MA being a Resident Assistant (how I met Ryan/Anden). We would send late night messages about the parties we were going to have, the cool furniture that we were bringing, and the meals we loved to cook and/eat. Move in day was one of the happiest and saddest of my life. I was finally on my own. My mother and John (pseudo ex at this point) were helping me move my stuff in. John was driving me over and helped unload one of my last loads from my dorm room. He got into his car, drove away, and didn’t talk to me for 3 months. (DEVASTATED).

To drown out my emotional onslaught from my abandonment I focused all of my attention on the apartment with my huge TV, fold out couch, kitchen table, DJ speakers, 4 new sets of pots and pans, 2 bathrooms (1 girls and 1 boys), great neighbors, my queen size bed, and a great view from the back porch. Over the summer I had rediscovered an old friend Devin who I became VERY close to during this first semester in my new apartment. We dated for a bit until I couldn’t handle the stress of having a relationship right after John.

There were tough times in the apartment with the roommates. First was Ginger who was argumentative with me about party policy (silly). Then it was Mike and his developing depression and recluse personality culminating in the death of his myspace girlfriend (never proved). But the ultimate fight ended up being between by Kari, her boyfriend, and myself. New Years 2007 did not go as Kari or I planned. The subsequent month saw me (and Ginger) staying away from the apartment more and coming back when we thought no one would be there. Mike decided that Ginger and I were picking on Kari so he took her side (Didn’t know there was sides). Ginger and I banded together. One final day I was sick of coming home from a long cold day at school to see Kari’s boyfriend sitting on MY couch, watching MY TV, using MY DVD player, and playing MY Gamecube (aka I never got to use them.. yes.. petty) so I moved my electronics into my room. Kari and her boyfriend couldn’t take this latest insult and subsequently broke down, flipped out, and threatened my life. After that, I ignored them both, and spoke seldom to Mike, who didn’t talk to anyone anyway. Ginger and I spent all of our time out of the apartment; She at her boyfriends, and I at Ryan/Anden’s.

- I miss Mike... I tried contacting him once but received a less than warm reply. I was friends with his sister so whenever I would see her around Boston I would ask her about him to try to see how he was but he either never heard of my questioning or didn’t care to contact me.

- I still communicate with Ginger (VERY RARELY) but our relationship is still positive despite the time and the problems we have had.

- Kari is still with her boyfriend (I think) and I hope that she is happy and that she doesn’t feel angry when she thinks of the past/me.

Where are John McCain's writings exploring the vexing moral issues of our time? Where are his position papers setting forth his careful consideration of foreign policy, the welfare state, education, America's moral responsibility in the world, etc., etc., etc.?

John McCain graduated 894th in a class of 899 at the Naval Academy at Annapolis. His father and grandfather were four star admirals in the Navy. Some have suggested that might have played a role in McCain being admitted. His academic record was awful. And it shows over and over again whenever McCain is called upon to think on his feet.

He no longer allows reporters unfettered access to him aboard the "Straight Talk Express" for a reason. He simply makes too many mistakes. Unless he's reciting talking points or reading from notes or a TelePrompTer, John McCain is lost. He can drop bon mots at a bowling alley or diner -- short glib responses that get a chuckle, but beyond that McCain gets in over his head very quickly.

I am sick and tired of the president of the United States embarrassing me. The world we live in is too complex to entrust it to someone else whose idea of intellectual curiosity and grasp of foreign policy issues is to tell us he can look into Vladimir Putin's eyes and see into his soul.