Greg Nilsen

Just a quick post today, but CNN.com is reporting on a study that shows that college students are becoming more vain. Clearly, the people conducting the study completed college at least 30 years ago, or they would have saved themselves the trouble of stating the obvious to all of us.

While the article even tries to spin it in a good light (stating that narcissism may even be good in some situations, specifically citing having the courage to go to American Idol auditions…that's right, even William Hung), the truth is that there a number of people in my generation and the next coming generation are going to be in a lot of trouble when they realize that the "You're special!" and "You can do whatever you want!" hippy feel-good mantras leave them stuck in a go-nowhere job, because they never put the effort into developing marketable skillsets, and lonely, because they put their image above all meaningful friendships and relationships.

Granted, this won't happen to everyone, but even if it happens to as much as a quarter of graduates, it's a shame.

Besides, if we were all special, then nobody would be special!

Well, my old car (1998 Toyota Camry LE) finally came to an end, so we went car shopping and got a great deal on a new 2007 Toyota Camry LE this weekend, as pictured above. Gotta say I'm a big fan of the comfort and durability of the vehicle and brand, so it stayed high on my list when it came to test drives. Then when I finally got a chance to drive it, both the wife and I were sold.

I gotta say, it's a nice upgrade from my old wheels!

I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but yes, I am a Lost viewer. I wasn't until the fall, and hearing so much about it I decided to check into what all the hubbub was about. I got a hold of the first two seasons and managed to go through them in about two weeks (that was like 30 hours worth), and I was quickly addicted.

The interesting thing about Lost is that nobody's fully informed about anything. Normally, a writer will either write directly from the main character perspective (where others know what is going on, but we learn along with the character), or from the 3rd person perspective (where we know what's going on, waiting for the main character to catch up). However, on Lost, we get a strange mix. Not only do we know some things that the characters do not and learn many things along with the characters, but the characters also have these backstories that influence their actions that we only get glimpses of from time to time. It makes for an interesting dynamic, but with a large cast of main characters it can get a bit confusing or disjointed.

However, most of the time Lost manages to stay on course. Despite many of the recent criticisms of the show by people who are growing impatient for answers, I am growing excited about the future of the show. The answers to the show's mysteries isn't the important part, but it's how they come together. When Lost does finish up in the next few years, it's going to be BIG, and I'm excited about that.

Things are going to get good!

Last night, my wife was busy with homework early in the evening, so we decided to let the DVR pick up the debut of "The Amazing Race: All-Stars" for us at 8pm. A few hours later, we decided to watch it when she was done with her work, and what did we get when we pressed play? The second half of "60 Minutes", and then the first half of "The Amazing Race". Boy, were we miffed.

Now, this was more common practice in the fall when NFL games would run long and push all the evening programming back, but last I checked, the Super Bowl was played two weeks ago. Now, seing as mid-Febuary is a dead season for sports and CBS has been advertising this premier since the final episode of the 10th race that concluded in early December, you'd think that they'd try to stick firmly to the 8pm advertised time. However, it appears that the afternoon's golf match (the ever popular Nissan Open ) ran long, but still should have completed well before the start of "60 Minutes".

Honestly, I haven't seen a popular show toyed around this much sind Fox and Matt Groening butted heads over "Futurama". Way to blow it CBS!

It can come from out of nowhere
Hit you when you're safe and warm

- Overwhelming, by Everclear

If you haven't heard already, it's been a rough time for my family recently. My mother has been in and out of the hospital for treatment of a brain tumor for almost two weeks now, and it's beginning to take it's toll on the rest of us as well. It doesn't help that vehicles are breaking down (the tranny on my Camry went last weekend, and we're going to have to find time to do some car shopping eventually), the hospitals have had a number of communications breakdowns that helped to cause unnecessary stress, mom wasn't eating due to the ensuing radiation treatments and medications, and nobody's getting much sleep (including whoever has stayed the night in the hospital the last few nights to keep my mom in bed and rebuilding her strength because the hospital has been short-staffed with nurses due to the inclimate weather).

It's just a lot to deal with right now, and I know we could all use your prayers!

Am I the only one weirded out when they come across somebody talking on their cell phone while using the facilities in a public bathroom? I've run into it several times in the last few weeks, and it bothers me. Not only is it poor ettiquette because nobody on the other end wants to hear you grunting and flushing and nobody else in the bathroom wants in on your conversation, but it's also very poor hygiene. If you get germs or viruses on your phone while using it on the can, washing your hands while still on the phone doesn't clean your phone, and the next time you touch it you just get them back.

Next time, just hang up before you go!

Well, I've made some changes to the appearance of the blog. Pretty major changes, but the same general feel. I just wanted to give it a more professional appearance.

Any opinions?

The really good news is that I'm now more able to adapt layouts to fit my blog software, and this came together in just a few evenings!

Update: Aparrently we're having a few issues with IE 6 (what else?), which I'll try to look into this evening.

Update #2: I think I've gotten all the IE 6 and IE 5.5 issues resolved now. Let me know if you have any othr problems.

I'm still amazed by all the hubub from Boston since Wednesday about the Adult Swim promotion gone awry. Expecially now that they've got the two guys who put up the promotions in custody, because they really don't deserve to be there.

Make sure you take the 2 minutes to watch the "A scary 'promotion'" video linked from that page and the "Web video shows men placing light boards around Boston" video on this page. You'll quickly realize how rediculous it was that someone mistake something that looks like it was made with a Lite-Brite for a bomb. Plus, the promotions went up in nine other major cities, and none of them called in bomb threats.

I'm sure the city of Boston is looking for someone to hold responsible (both morally and financially) for this situation, where they appear to have blown over a half-million dollars dealing with these "potential bombs". However, they'd probably be better off fessing up to their own mistakes in the situation and moving on. But these are politicians heading the charge, so don't expect that to happen. However this ends, it's probably going to be badly, and it'll probably cost more than a half-million in taxpayer money. Thankfully, I don't live in Massachusetts, so I don't have to help foot the bill.

Oh, and you might want to think about throwing that old Lite-Brite away, or someone might think you're building a bomb….

UPDATE: Well, it looks like the city got Turner Broadcasting to foot the bill for their overzealous response, as well as provide $1 million in "goodwill funds" that will be divided amongst the agencies to provide emergency response training, among other initiatives. I'd love to be in one of those training classes as the instructor went back and forth between a package C4 and a Lite-Brite going "bomb", "not bomb", "bomb", "not bomb".

Well, I've completed my January Challenge, and it's time to reflect upon it…

First, I feel better for it. I think I've lost a little bit of weight (it feels like it, though I haven't officially checked), and I definately don't feel so dependent on the sugar and caffeine of pop. I'll still have it from time to time, but definately not at the rate I had previously.

Second, it put things in perspective and has me wondering what else I can cut back on in my diet and life, as well as what things I need to increase, like exercise. I'd love to get back to playing sports for fun and exercise. It also made me think about what I am eating, and about some of the choices that we are not always given with our diets.

Third, I saw some things from a different perspective. When we would go out to eat, there were some restaurants that made it very difficult to find a refreshment that wasn't pop or water (because after drinking nearly a gallon of water while at work, I wanted something with some taste to go with my meal). I also better understand the troubles addicts have in stopping their bad habbits. There were a few times I was around people drinking pop and I found it very difficult to restrain myself.

This has been a good experience for me, and now I just need to follow through on the changes that have been brought to light during this time. Again, easier said than done.