Survey

1. Are you in a relationship?
Nope.

2. Do you hate more than 3 people?
Yes. Julie Guill at least three others I'm sure.

3. How many houses have you lived in?
Not counting apartments, 5.

4. What is your favorite candy bar?
Hershey's Special Dark

5. What are your favorite shoes?
Flip flops.

7. What was your least favorite subject this year?
Haven't taken classes in 2007 but I'm sure I'll hate my Statistics class at Purdue this fall

8. What was your favorite subject this year?
I'm sure my Machine Design class at Purdue will beat the Statistics class

9. Do you own a Britney Spears CD?
No.

10. Have you ever thrown up in public?
Like two months ago when I vomited at a bar AT the bar into a half cup of beer because Misha made me do a shot of vodka (and I knew I would throw up). I proceeded to leave the cup and my feet next to the bar, walk to the other side of the bar and order another beer. Puke and rally bitches.

11. Name something that's always on your mind.
Sex.

12. What is your favorite music genre?
Depends on my mood and time of day.

13. What is your sign?
Scorpio.

14. What time were you born?
9ish at night.

15. Do you like beer?
Unequivocally so.

16. Have you ever made a prank call?
I can't recall any one time but I'm sure I have.

17. What is the most embarrassing CD you own?
Ace of Base.

18. What are your favorite colors?
Blue & White

21. Summer or winter?
Summer.

22. Spring or fall?
Fall is Penn State football season.

23. What is your favorite color to wear?
Green.

24. Pepsi or Sprite?
Coke

25. What color is your cell phone?
Silver

26. Where is your second home?
Michigan

27. Have you ever slapped someone?
Outside of in-jest slaps, no.

28. Have you ever had a cavity?
Two when I was young.


29. How many lamps are in your bedroom?
1

30. How many video games do you own?
Four but I'm selling my Xbox 360. Anybody want to buy it?

31. What was your first pet?
Freckles, my Brittany Spaniel.

32. Have you ever had braces?
Even had head gear. I was hot.

33. Do looks matter?
Absolutely. I'm not kissing a pig no matter how much personality she has.

34. Do you use lipstick?
Nope.

35. Name 3 teachers from your school?
Mitchell, Day, & Moll.

36. American Eagle or Abercrombie?
Abercrombie

37. Are you too forgiving?
Yes.

38. How many kids do you want to have?
Unsure if I want them.

39. Do you own something from Hot Topic?
Nope.

40. What is your favorite breakfast?
Belgian waffles.

41. Do you own a gun?
No but I want to buy a Browning over-under double barrel shotgun.... and a Glock 22.

42. Have you ever thought you were in love?
Yes and I was.

43. When was the last time you cried?
Don't know.

44. What did you do 2 nights ago?
Got drunk and made out with somebody I shouldn't have

45. When was the last time you went to Olive Garden?
Three months ago with Samantha.

46. Have you ever called your teacher dude?
Yes.

47. Have you ever been in a castle?
Yes, Neuschwanstein in Germany.

48. What are your nicknames?
Snyder, Snyd, Le Snyd, & Hugs.

49. Do you know anyone named Bertha?
Nope.

50. Have you ever been to Kentucky?
Not that I recall.

51. Do you own something from Banana Republic?
Yes. I love that store but nothing ever fits through the shoulders for me.

53. Have you ever called someone Boo?
Yes.

54. Do you smoke?
On occasion with booze present.

55. Do you own a diamond ring?
Nope.

56. Are you happy with your life right now?
It could be better. It could be worse. I'm content.

57. Do you dye your hair?
Nope. But I've thought about it... to get rid of the grey.

60. What were you doing May of 1994?
Laughing about John "One Nut Kruk" Kruk's one nuttedness.

61. Do you own a Backstreet Boys CD?
I made a compilation disc for work once. But it got ruined.

62. McDonalds or Wendy's?
Burger King.

63. Do you like yourself?
More than I used to.

64. Are you closer to your mother or father?
Mother.

65. Favorite feature of the opposite sex?
Calves

66. Are you afraid of the dark?
Nope.

67. Have you ever eaten paste?
Don't recall ever doing it, but I'm sure I have or will in the future. I take stupid dares.

68. Do you own a web cam?
Nope.

69. Do u like anyone?
Yes.

Gas & Stupid People

So May 15th came and went. Thank fucking god. I'm referring to the National Do Not Buy Gas Day and more importantly to the annoying emails and text messages I got all weekend. You know the one I'm talking about.

“Do not buy gas on May 15, 2007. In April 1997, there was a ‘gas out’ conducted nationwide in protest of gas prices. Gasoline dropped 30 cents a gallon overnight… There are 73,000,000-plus Americans currently on the internet network, and the average car takes about $30 to $50 to fill up. If all users did not go to the pump on the 15th, it would take $2,292,000,000 out of the rich oil company’s pockets for just one day. So please do not go to the gas station on May 15, and let’s try to put a dent in the Middle Eastern oil industry for at least one day.”

First and foremost ... "Internet network?" Uh... that's like saying Yankees fans are a nuisance irritation. The Internet is the network fuck nuts.

Second... 73,000,000 American on this internet network? With a recent Pew research study stating that 77% of 18-29 year olds, 75% of 30-49 year olds, 58% of 50-64 year olds, and 22% of 65-death year olds are on the net. My guess is any kid old enough to play Nintendo is on the net, coupled with a population of over 300,000,000 people, the number should be around 150,000,000 or more for people on the "internet network."

Third, let's assume 73,000,000 Americans are on the net and we get all of them to not buy gas on May 15th, it's not going to cost them $2.292 billion. Why? Ok, so who reading this blog actually fills up their tank every day of the week? Um... not me. I have a normal commute, a midsize sedan, and I fill up about once a week. Let's put that me as the average. So, I drive about 15,000 miles a year and I average between the city and highway about 24 mpg (about 20 in the city, and 31 on the highway). Doing simple math, I use 625 gallons of gas a year. My tank holds 16.4 gallons but I typically fill up with about 1.5 gallons left so lets say I refill every 15 gallons. That means I refill 41.67 times year or every 8.75 days. For sake of an argument I'll round down to 8 days. So using this math, only one in eight people will fill up per day. So 73,000,000 people just became 9,125,000 and $2,292,000,000 just became $365,000,000 -- A big vast difference.

And now here's comes the biggest flaw of logic. The oil companies are not actually losing $365,000,000. Why? Because you'll end up just refilling the day before or day after this "boycott." The monthly average will still be the same and the oil companies are just laughing at you. And I say "boycott" in quotations on purpose. A real boycott requires actual sacrifice. Re-arranging the day you buy gas is not sacrifice. Sacrifice is moving closer to work, riding your bike more, buying a more fuel efficient vehicle. "Boycotting" for one day may make you feel better but it doesn't actually do a damn thing.

And to people who say "but lets just boycott Exxon-Mobil," you're foolish as well. You see gas prices are at $3 a gallon because of the laws of Supply & Demand. Gas prices increase because the cost of a barrel of oil increases. That is because the demand for the product has increased. Exxon-Mobil and other companies do not control the cost of oil. And to others who say they make too much. Yes they made about $36 billion last year on a total revenue of $328 billion. $36 billion sounds like a lot but that's simply only 11%. Most companies like to have a profit of 10-12%. That's normal for a good, stable company. 11% is not ridiculous. In contrast, Citigroup profits were 20.5% (24.64/120.24 billion), Altria posts profits of 15% (10.41/68.92 billion) and yet people don't complain about corporate profits when buying Kraft Mac & Cheese.

And more importantly adjusted for inflation, the increase in the cost of gas has risen steadily since before the time of Jesus. I believe adjusted gas was most expensive in 1981, not now. So stop complaining. Here's a chart of the last 35 years adjusted for inflation:



(Ignore the red circles. I made this chart for another article about GM's stock price in relation to gas prices. You can find that here)

Sure there's a steep climb since 2003 but hmm... haven't we been fighting a war in the area we get our oil from since 2003? Hmm... maybe that's it and not the oil companies fault. That's like blaming Hershey's when they raise prices because the price of Cacao from South America skyrockets. Or let's of course ignore the fact that this decade has seen an enormous middle class surge in India, China, and other third world countries. Take a look at the auto industry. Everyone is investing in China (where GM (mainly Buick) is #1 and VW is a close second) and India many times more than in any other part of the country. A growing middle class has meant another enormous surge in the demand for oil. Get a clue you idiots.

Furthermore, "boycotting" the figure head company in a market doesn't do shit. Let's say we all boycott Exxon-Mobil and nobody buys their gas. Sure the demand for their gas will drop, supply will go up and their prices will fall. But nobody is buying their gas so it won't matter. But here's the kicker, with Exxon-Mobil not selling any gas, every other company will be selling more. These companies will have the same supply but have an increased demand and thus they will raise prices. This problem will escalate until people realize the problem and start buying gas at Exxon Mobil again and the market will settle back down. Point of the story, you'll end up paying more during the boycott for no gain.

The root of the gas problem is demand. Demand is going up every year. The only way to decrease demand is to lower your usage but people don't want to do that. Therefore I suggest that we bomb China, India, Canada, Northeast Jersey (just because), Sicily (because I'm sick of people telling me how cool they are because they're Sicilian -- guess what... I don't care) and Ohio (who really lives there anyway?). Eliminating these areas and others will decrease demand, increase supply, and lower the price of a barrel of oil on the open market. Or we could reduce our consumption... but then again that's not exactly the American way.

Either way though, stop stuffing my inbox with stupid boycotts that have absolutely no chance of doing a goddamn thing.

Oh, and I bought gas on May 15th just in spite of all you dumb fucks.

Stupid people make me lose faith in humanity.

Traffic

Courtesy of Autoblog, I have a video to share with you all today. It's a video of soldiers somewhere in Iraq navigating traffic. Enjoy.



Shocked? Well, think of it this way. If they stop and sit in the traffic, the soldiers become a sitting duck target for an idiot with an IED. So... would you want to be polite and sit in traffic? Nope? Neither would I. I mean... it's not a polite thing to do and probably pisses off a lot of Iraqis but if it keeps you AND them alive I suppose its understandable. It's saves them because many more Iraqis get killed when IEDs go off in urban areas than soldiers do. I'll put it to you this way... would you want to be in your car stuck in traffic in front or behind a US Military HUMVEE? Once again, neither would I.

Besides, think of it this way. What would you do if you saw a speeding HUMVEE behind you with a 0.50 caliber machine mounted on it, and blaring it's horn? Personally, I'd pull over before he tried to bump me off the road.

My favorite part has got to be when the driver bumps the bus. Of course... isn't this what bumpers are for... you know... bumping?

Dumbass

Just another piece of evidence proving that you can be a dumbass and still make lots of money in the music business. Akon, or otherwise known as Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam (yes, that's his actual name), is just a giant dumbass.

You'd think that a rapper putting an album out would double check what he was saying so he didn't sound like an idiot but no, not Akon. You see, in his latest song Smack That, Akon mispronounces the name of Lamborghini's newest car, the Gallardo. Here's the lyric.

I feel you creepin', I can see you from my shadow.
Wanna jump up in my Lamborghini Gallardo.
Maybe go to my place and just kick it, like Taebo.
And possibly bend you over.

Instead of pronouncing it correctly as Gui-yar-do, genius Akon says Ga-lar-do. This wouldn't be so bad except for the fact that he owns one, drives it daily and tells everybody about it. It's an orange one to boot. Doesn't he know that all Lamborghini's should be yellow? At the very least though, you'd think that the local Lamborghini dealer would have "smacked that" and made him say it right when he was buying it. Guess not.

Get a clue Akon.

Decisions

So now that I've graduated, its time to think of what to do about grad school. Should I start immediately? I think that's pretty obvious. I'm not married. I don't have any kids and well, I have too much time on my hands right now. So, it's definitely time to go back to school.

The problem I'm having is not where to go but what to study. I know I eventually want my MBA maybe with a Management, Finance, or Economics focus but that's down the line. Right now, I want to go back to school for something technical. The obvious choice is a M.Eng. or M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, but is it?

I just started my career and have no idea where its going to go. I spoke to my supervisor about this and when he asked me where I saw myself... I didn't have an answer. Hell, I don't even know if the aerospace industry is where I want to stay let alone if I want to stay in test engineering or move to reliability, design, manufacturing, or into engineering management.

So without knowing all of this, how can one choose a program to study? Areas that I'm considering are Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or a custom Engineering Science program that focuses on Quality, Decision Making and Engineering Systems. The E. Sci degree is interesting and could be useful but wouldn't an MBA with a management focus cover all of this? So that keeps making me lean back to Mechanical Engineering. But, do I really want to do that?

The question that I keep asking myself is "will an M.Eng. be marketable for me." The reason I doubt its marketability is because I definitely see myself going into project management. I don't see myself being a lab rat my entire career but being a lab rat is something that I can see myself enjoying for the next ten years.

I think any of the choices I'm thinking about are good so it all comes down to making a decision and sticking with it.

Ugh... school sucks.

Help

Here are two great Dilbert cartoons that succinctly illustrate how I feel when people me to help them with their computer problems.

People who ask for help and don't want to learn annoy me the most. If I'm going to help, I expect you to pay attention and learn something because I don't want to help you again for the same reason. The "I don't care what happened or how to fix it... just do it" attitude and mentality pisses me off. If you knew how you broke it, you wouldn't have broken it in the first place. Get a clue.

Residence

Come January 2nd, 2007, I will be a resident of New Haven, CT and I can't wait. Two weeks ago, I drove up to Connecticut to check out some places to live. Thankfully, I was helped by Misha and Vanessa who live in the area.

After the first two places sucking horribly, I checked out a third place that I had found through Craigslist. It was a gorgeous old house in New Haven, about two minutes from downtown and Yale. According to the house residents, its a $7 cab ride to the nice bars in town and only a 20 minute drive to work (of which traffic is minimal).

The best part though is that the residents in the house. Instead of the pedophiliac looking middle aged gay dude of the first place, I'll be living with two cute girls in their mid twenties who self proclaim to like to go out a lot. I can't wait. Hopefully, they'll have a lot of hot friends I can meet.

So, if anybody will be in New Haven make sure to give me a ring.

Sweetness

I can now upload to a blog from within Microsoft Word 2007. This is so fucking dope. No longer do I have to deal with Blogger's crappy interface and piss poor attempt of a spell checker. It's too bad my computer at home is a Mac and I don't have my own copy of Word 2007. I definitely recommend picking up Office 2007. It's so dope with an entire new look and streamlined interface that is so much more efficient and attractive to boot.

Ugly

For the past two weeks, no matter where I go I can't escape girls wearing this outfit. Penn State, Detroit, Pittsburgh... it doesn't matter. Everywhere I go, I run into girls, who otherwise would be hot, wearing this ugly ass outfit.


What the fuck is up with it and where did it come from? Sex & The City isn't on anymore so girls are no longer stealing every fashion and social idea from it so it must have been in a magazine. Most likely it was one page after a list of 101 things to turn your man on, which by the way are: 1. Feed him 2. Fuck him 3. Shut up the fuck up 4. Repeat.

But seriously, who thinks this outfit looks good? It looks fucking retarded. It looks like a mix between bad 80s fashion and Olivia Newton-John's bad girl outfit in Grease. Girls, ditch the ugly belt and switch out the red heels for black ones. You'll look much better. Or just go naked. That works too.

All girls should take fashion advice from me. I'm awesome.

Tags: Fashion

Wheels

With my recent job offer from Sikorsky coming in, I decided it was time to return the Jimmy and buy a car. Let me tell you, it's hard to find a Saab in central Pennsylvania let alone a Saab with a manual transmission here. Luckily the dealer in town just picked this one up at auction and called me about it.





It's a 2003 Saab 9-3 Arc in Cosmic Blue with pretty much every option. The best part is that even though it's a 2003, it only has 24,000 miles on it. I love the color so much. It stands out from everything else in a parking lot.

The car drives like a dream. A 210 horsepower turbo 2.0L engine with a six speed manual transmission... mmm. I already have gotten it up to 120 mph on a back country road. Its so fast. I'm going to get so many speeding tickets.


Tags: Saab

Milestone

Well the job search has reached a milestone for me. No, it wasn't the first interview or even the first career fair but it is another first. I got my first rejection letter today. I knew even before opening it when I saw the small, thin envelope. Oh well, I didn't want to work for Williams anyway, nor did I want to live in Houston, TX.

To celebrate, I hung the letter up on my wall with the line "We regret to inform you" highlighted in hopes that it'll inspire me to continue applying to companies that won't hire me. Hopefully, I can fill the entire door with rejection letters before I get an offer. I'm coming after your record Budura.

Tags: Jobs

Nooooo

Chieh's website is no longer available. Where else can I find the mathematical formula for love amidst the ever elegant Macromedia Flash setup? Nowhere I say. I'm crying inside, I swear.

Tags: Douchebag

Stingray

After a night of drinking, following the end of the Penn State - Youngstown State game, Pineapples came up with a trio of songs off the top of his head. The first was a song about Steve Irwin. The second was about Scott Peterson and the third was about Bobby Brown.

Now since I only have nine credits this semester and have way too much time on my hands, I pieced together a Stingray clip for YouTube. Enjoy.



External link for the clip.

Tags: Steve Irwin, Stingray, & Drunk

Anniversary

Today is September 11th and it's been five years since hmm... September 11th. It's such a good thing that we're celebrating the anniversary because I have clearly forgotten what happened. I think it was something about planes, right?

Of course I am sympathetic for the families but lets please acknowledge what these events truly are: publicity events for politicians to show how much they care and support us -- which they don't because the middle class does not financially support their campaigns. We only elect them.

I'm so sick and tired of hearing about 9/11. It's hard to turn on any media venue without hearing about it over and over again. Hearing that we are now in the post 9/11 age. How we dodged the bullet having Bush in the White House instead of Gore and Kerry. Hearing about how the world has changed so much since 9/11. Bullshit, not much has changed. There have only been two true changes: longer lines at the airport and a pointless war that hasn't affected many of us.

So excuse me if I yawn while reading about the memorial services.


Tags: Publicity

Rules

I'm in a bad mood. Partly because Notre Dame beat us today but mostly because of douchebags calling to harass me about it. The problem is that some people don't follow the rules of harassment, especially the rules of who is and is not allowed to harass me.

The case tonight was my brother decided to have his current girlfriend call me of which I haven't met yet. It would have been fine if he called me because he's family but I don't know her. I didn't even recognize the number and then she thought it was funny that I couldn't figure out who she was. Fuck you dumb bitch, stop annoying me. You go to Iona. Do they even have a football team?

So what are these rules? Here's the list of who's allowed to harass me.

• My family --- family is always allowed
• People who attend my school
• People who attend the opponent's school
• Alumni of both schools
• Very close friends

That's it. No more. Here's a list of people not allowed to harass me.

• People who don't go to college
• People who are fans of the opponent but don't attend there
• People I don't know or those I barely know
• and everyone else I've neglected to discuss

Another case of why I'm writing this was last year when Michigan beat us on the last play of the game, a friend of my brother called me to harass me. He's one of those loser bandwagon "I love Michigan" fans. Such a disgrace. Such a loser. It took a lot of will power to not drive home and beat his ass.

Failure to respect and obey these rules is justification for me kicking your ass and/or never speaking to you again. And no, its not just a game. We Penn Staters live and breath college football and its not our fault that you can't understand it. And you never will. Its impossible to understand what college football means to us and its impossible for me to explain it to you. Mostly because you go to no name colleges without football teams. But you don't see me calling you every weekend harassing you about how much your school sucks. Why? Because no ones heard of it douchebag. Shut up, hang up the phone, and put the cock back in your mouth.

Tags: College Football

Tradition

With all the hype about Notre Douche the past few weeks, I thought that a reality check was in order.

"You're going to hear all about the Notre Dame tradition and you know what, it doesn't mean a thing unless Knute Rockne leaps out of the ground and tackles you. Their field has one hundred yards and two goal posts, just like every other football field. When you put those black shoes on tomorrow, and you put on that jersey without your name on the back, and you put on that plain helmet on, that's tradition, PENN STATE'S tradition."

- Joe Paterno (before Penn State's 24-14 victory over Notre Dame in 1982)

Thanks Joe. This football season is going to be amazing.

Tags: Penn State, Notre Lame, & College Football

Legos

If the World Cup was played by Lego-men, this would be it. Be sure to look for the naked Lego-man streaking across the field.

Update
The link stopped working so here's another version from You Tube.



Tags: Legos, Soccer, & World+Cup

Quiz

A friend passed along to me a new quiz called the Hitler vs. Coulter Quiz. Given quotes, you are supposed to decide which person said it. Enjoy.

Here's the quiz.

Tags: Politics, Hitler, & Coulter

Texting

Today's conversation over text messaging with my youngest sibling:

Me: Bitch
Him: Cum guzzeling whore
Me: Its too bad mom missed you with the coat hanger
Him: Ok that was good i might just cry

Credit is due to Depressed Writer for teaching me one of the best insults ever.

Tags: Texting, Coat Hanger & Insults

Amendment

With the House of Representatives recent passing of an amendment to the Constitution that would ban flag burning and further reduce our civil liberties, especially our freedom of speech, I would like to revisit an entry that I wrote almost one year ago when this was in the news.

Link

Tags: Politics, Congress, Flag Burning, & Free Speech