Yes, three London headlines in a row, but they are warranted. Today I moved into my flat with the other boys. The place is amazing. Once I have the ability to upload pictures you'll see what I mean. I was originally supposed to live in the same flat as kara, but it didn't work out. This is fine though b/c we are about 2 blocks from each other. Today I get a mobile phone. We'll see how that works out.

So aside from this we have been doing a little pub crawling. I really like heading to the pubs here. They are very relaxed and just a good time. When you want raucous you head to a club. So I've been to two so far and I've liked them both a lot.

I still can't get over the british accent. I feel like they are just trying to seem cool. It is an odd phenomenon. Okay, this screen is goin' haywire so I am going to go. Pictures, soon.

I have to say, in the 36 or so hours I have been in London things have been great. I like a good amount of people in our group and london has tons to offer. Kara and I already have something like 10 shows lined up to go to. I'll post a list of those shows next time I get to the internet cafe.

Yesterday we did a lot of normal orientation type stuff. We got there and they explained to us that we need to be respectful of British culture and to be nice to our internship people. Basically they told us things we should already know but they are probably under some kind of obligation to tell us. Then we did the ice breaker, which I actually think should have been longer and a little more interactive. We just did the thing where you had to find someone who flosses daily or has a twin or hates chocolate and get their signiature. It is fun but you don't get to talk to people. Moving on, the best part of the day was when the police officer came to talk to us. He actually was informative and was also pretty funny, so it worked out well.

Now I am about to go on a bus tour for two hours to see London. I hope we get to get out and stop to see things and it's not just a few hours trapped in a bus. I'll soon find out.

I have made it friends. Granted I got here 16 hours later than I had expected, but I am here. Mine and Kara's plane was scheduled to take off at 5pm sunday, but was delayed. So, we decided to get on the 9pm flight since it was more convenient overall. Dumb for us. We get there and as soon as we arrive the sign says "Flight is Delayed." The guy comes on the megaphone and says "I'm sorry but I have some bad news. The plane has a broken engine and cannot take off this evening. The next 747 arrives in the morning. The flight will leave at 8am." Woo-freakin-hoo. So we go back home, go to sleep, wake up and head back. When we arrive all is well and we hang out for a while. We go back to the gate and it is delayed another hour. We cry at this point, but know it will be ok. Finally, at 9:10 we are on the plane and it is moving. We arrived at midnight london time on Monday. I am glad to have made it.

Today was our first day of orientation and everyone on the program seems really cool. I think this going to be a lot of fun. The only thing that really sucks is that I didn't get a design internship. I got one at a music PR place. The good news about it is that Kara got the same one. So I'll let you know how that all works out next week. For now, I am going to go try and get a cell phone since my flat won't have a land line. What's a boy to do. Adios.

I will be on a 777 to London and will not return until July 22nd. I am pumped and nearly packed.

Just to let you know, I will be posting updates on this page regularly and also sending out email updates. If you would like to get the updates via email, let me know. I will definitely add you on the list. I am exhausted so I am going to sleep now, but you will get a post from London as soon as I can get to a computer.

Cheers.

Nothing glamorous, just things I need. I haven't had a wrist watch since junior high. I've had 3 pocket watches over the last few years but none of them lasted very long. Usually they would break, only partially, and then I would not make time to get them fixed. I am hoping this watch will last a bit longer. I had this theory that if I didn't have a watch on I would enjoy what I was doing more. Since I'm not always looking at a watch to see when the party ends, I could just enjoy and hope someone else would know when things were over. So I think of watches as very adult items. It is a sign of responsibility. Sometime soon I may burn my watch as a rejection of said responsibility.

In the next 15 minutes Jannelle and Jenny will be here. They are coming in from Madison for the Cubs game, which is my first of 2 this week. Jenny and I are going to take Jannelle out for a night on the town. We want to show her the beauties of Chicago and splendors it has to offer. In other words, we're going to go downtown and get dinner. We're not sure where we're going but Jenny was thinking either El Presidente or the Billy Goat. If you have a suggestion, I'll be glad to take it. Ah, it seems as though Jenny and Jannelle are here. I will update you on our adventures sometime tomorrow.

After a good deal of packing and unpacking I have arrived in Riverwoods, IL. This is the first time I have left for the summer and not been excited to go home. All of my friends are staying in Madison this summer except for 2. It is tough to leave knowing that everyone is still living at school. Still, I am leaving them to go to London so I can't do any complaining. And I like being home and seeing the people I can't see all year.

As of right now I have a 4.0 this semester. Okay, so I only have one grade posted, but you can't take that away from me. My final grades should be ok actually. I did pretty well this semester.

Time to get to all this stuff I have to do.

I am going to get you updated on everything that has been up in the last couple days. I have been a little lax on the posting. Yesterday I spent the whole day doing just about nothing. I woke up at 1:30pm, which was such a nice change of pace. I haven't had a chance to sleep in that late in about 2 months. Freshman year I slept in that late 3 times a week, minimum. Granted that probably wasn't the best thing for me, but it was nice to be that lazy for a while. After some sleeping and a couple bowls of cereal, I went out and did some promotional stuff for Capitol. Nothing too exciting, just a lot of dropping off. The rest of the evening was devoted to cleaning up the apartment. I agreed to have Jannelle's birthday coctail party at my house. Now I have had one other party at my place all year and it was the Indecision 2000 party (courtesy of the Daily Show), so this was essentially a first. I even went out and bought the liquor, which is pretty odd if you know me at all (if you don't, I don't drink and haven't for about 5 years). Still, it was kind of fun. The party itself was an undeniable success. There were about 20 people here and it was absurdly packed considering I live alone, which implies it a space meant for one person. Although 5 could fit comfortably hanging out, 20 was a bit much. I couldn't complain because everyone was happy and my apartment was clean when it was all said and done.

After the part we moved on to the Whitehorse, where our friend Chuck bartends. It was only the close friends at this point so it wasn't nearly as crowded/crazy. It was incredibly odd because they had on techno music and the place was packed. Techno music in there is kind of odd, if you are unaware. Nonetheless, we had a big thing of nachos and I was happy. We went to another bar and all went well. I can't complain. Jannelle was happy too, which is what really mattered.

Today I ran an absurd amount of errands. I am leaving to go back to Chicago tomorrow so I had to hold my mail, shut of cable, sell back books, blah blah blah. It was necessary but is now done. Tonight we had the first meeting for the Underture Project. I'm not sure that I've spoken about this. It is a group my friends and I have formed to help promote and activate independent artists in Madison. There is a huge arts project being done called the Overture Project. There was a $100 million grant that was put towards redoing the civic center and expanding the arts district. Sounds good, right? Wrong. All it means is more show and events that college students can't afford unless it is a birthday/anniversary/hallmark holiday. So we are creating a group to combat this evil doing. I will provide more information and a web address to you once they are available. So at the meeting tonight we created a plan of action and worked on a mission statement. Then Jenny, Matt, Lisa and I went to Borders. It felt a lot like high school. When you're a suburban kid and under 18 the only thing you can really do on the weekend is go to the movies, rent a movie or go to Borders. Otherwise, you have to leave for the city. So we looked at all the magazines, the art books, the comics and Lisa checked out this book called "Nine Steps to Financial Freedom." We thought it was odd since it is meant for people who have money to manage, but if it makes her feel more secure I won't make a peep. I ended up buying the Actionscript book from O'Reilly publishing to foster my nerdiness. I'm just not nerdy enough and it's gotta change. Afterwards everyone went home and Jenny and I made some pasta to get rid of some of my food. I have too much and I am leaving. After the food, we get closer to now.

Woh, the guy from "high rollers" on Discovery Channel has a dad who is a dean at UW. This guy won the world series of poker and went home with $1,000,000. I'm guessing he's good. I think all good poker players should work for insurance agencies to see when people are lying. Since they are so good at reading people they should put it to good use.

This post is too long. It will self destruct in 5...4...3..........

I am tired but I just had a whole lot of fun enjoying jannelle's birthday with her and all of my friends. Kara and I gave her the best present and she loved it. I was going to link to it, but the site is down. It is this little stuffed guy from Urban Outfitters. I will link tomorrow and you will see. I am glad she had a good birthday.

Tomorrow is packing day.

I just took their workout on their website and scored a 25 out of 30. Here is the message they gave, which I hope is legible. Either way the alt tag will have the info needed to read it.

I am now tempted to take their official test to see if I get in and then to go to a meeting just to see what they're like. Do you think people are really snotty? Do you think they talk about important things or whether or not the Cubs won? Speaking of the Cubs, they are SUCKING. I am getting a little upset, but it's ok. So long as they don't suck when I see them next week. So I think when I get back from London I will take the Mensa test and try to get into Mensa, just to be able to report back. I just couldn't imagine what it is really like and I need to find out. So if you are already a member of Mensa, let me know.

I have completed my exams and I don't have to think, on the clock at least, for another three and a half months. It still hasn't completely hit though. I think once I start packing up to go home it will hit. I have to admit though, it'll be nice to get away and head to London. That reminds me that I really haven't spoken much about this. This summer I'll be spending two months in London on a internship program. As cool as it will be to live in London, I am just as excited to be in a big city. I am always so inspired by the big city. There is just something about all the people and the high tech architecture (spelling?). The point is that I am really excited.

Tonight Jannelle and I had a relaxing evening. We went to a movie, watched Law and Order and ate chinese food, a combination that is worthy of only the best of the best. We went to see Momento, and it was my second time seeing it. I enjoyed it just as much this time and I actually came to some kind of conclusion this time. The first viewing was incredibly perplexing and left me with a very uneasy feeling. This time, I was at peace with the end of the movie. I would tell you my feelings on the end but I don't want to ruin it for anyone who hasn't seen it yet. If you really want to know how I feel, ask me.

Tomorrow I am having a coctail party at my house for Jannelle's 20th birthday. This is the first and last party I am having in this apartment. I think it's funny that this is happening for the first time with only three days left in Madison until next year.

Okay, I am going to head to sleep since I only got 4 hours last night. Buenas Noches.

I have an exam in 5.5 hours, I shoiuld be sleeping, but I am studying instead. Should I just stay up? I'll let you know what happens around noon.

Why am I procrastinating? In less that 12 hours I will be done. God damn me.

I've realized I am something of a "hit-whore." I am constantly checking the hits on my site. This all goes into the argument as to whether or not blogs are self-indulgent (if you could call it an argument). Obviously, they are. Anyway, I have debated finding ways to get more links, but then I think I am just doing it to feel better about myself. Really, I think it is just that I want more people to check out my site and what I have to say. I am entertained and the rest of the virtual world should be as well.

So I just got a new digital camera and I thought I would grace you with a couple photos.

Well, those are the first of many I hope.

I don't have too much time to update right now, but I wanted to apologize for the server problems. As I had mentioned before, my server admin is having some problems right now so please be patient.

Today is the last day I will be studying until September. I like the idea of that right now. I am going to be at the library all day so email me if you'd like.

I nearly forgot to discuss my viewing of The Mummy. Unlike most critics, I enjoyed The Mummy. There are times in life where you have to just let go and enjoy the idiocy of a film. If you don't know the story, it is about a mummy (surprise surprise) that is brought back to life by a librarian, her brother, a heroic battleman and an egyptian warden. The story is complete fluff with tons of action. The Mummy is to guys what Bridget Jones Diary is to women. They are testosterone/estrogen releases. Nonetheless, if you like action then you can't deny how much fun The Mummy is.

Here's a little story I forgot to mention last time I posted. So last night JP and I went to have dinner at one of our teacher's house. The thing is, we were invited by her son. This may sound a bit odd at first but her son, Rey, had been helping us learn ASP on the side whenever we had time. Jenny and I were especially excited because we would have Matt, who used to be the chef at L'etoile, as our cook. If you're not from madison and you have never heard of this restaurant, it's very fancy and damn good. So you could imagine our excitement. There ended up being 6 people there including myself and Jenny. Everyone there was extremely nice and fun to hang out with, which helped keep things fun. Now for the meal. I will not go into too much detail, but I want you to get an idea of what we got to experience. We started the night with a salmon dip on a bed of greens, that was so tasty. It was like a lighter lox spread. After this hors d'ourve, we moved inside for the appetizer, which was my favorite of the whole meal. We had an asparagus layed over greens, with a citrus almond mayonnaise and oranges on the side. This alone sounds great, but the asparagus would have been amazing on their own. They were from the famers market and were huge and unbelievably tasty. I am going to go on saturday and bring some home for my dad so he can drool too. Back to the meal though. The main course was pork, which is something I would not normally eat, but this was an exception. We had pork tenderloin with this green top that Matt said was spanish, but i can't remember it's contents. It was layed over a bed of wheat berries, ramps (i'll explain) and bacon. This was delicious, especially the ramps. Matt explained that ramps are only in season twice a year and are somewhere between an onion and garlic with the leaves looking and tasting like spinach. If you've ever had pearl onions, this is what the bulb tasted like. They were amazing. Dessert was a rhubarb and strawberry tart that was a perfect way to end the meal.

As you can see, this meal was god damn perfect. I think I will enjoy being friends with Matt (even though this implies that I will use him for his cooking skills, I really did enjoy his company).

Oh, and for those who are looking for an end to the gun running saga, I hope to have one by tomorrow. I am going to call the detective who is working the case and ask if they've found the guy.

If you feel like it, say happy birthday to her. She's 17, which means that she no longer has official curfew. I always remember not caring about curfew. I think it helped that I didn't drink/smoke/etc. and my parents were well aware of this. They didn't think I would be off with hoodlems or selling my body to get crack. So, my curfew was somewhat leniant, even though I had one until I graduated.

Today I took my second to last exam of the year. This one was especially relieving because it was the more difficult of the two I had left, criminal law. But now it is gone and I will not have to worry about it anymore. All I have left is black music, which I have a bunch of reading to do for. Still, reading for that class really isn't much of a chore. When you're reading about the story of black musicians and their rise to prominence, you can't really complain. Although I am still somewhat regretting taking the class because I needed the time. I could have read the book and gotten the same thing out of the class that I am now. The only difference is I wouldn't have heard all of the songs that we listened to in class.

Now I am going to go watch The Mummy. I got sucked into the hype so I thought I'd rent the first one. I'll let you know what I think.

Under no circumstance should people be allowed to wear socks with sandals in public.

This is my favorite show on television (excluding Law and Order, of course). It is funny, witty, interesting and, believe it or not, has something to do with law. Ed is the only show to successfully combine bowling with law, which is a winning combination. Think about it--wouldn't it be great if you could talk about a case with your lawyer over 10 frames? I think law would be a lot less stressful if they involved bowling. Anyway, I think that the show is great and I would be happy to watch it with you anytime you'd like.

It's crackdown time. I have my criminal law final tomorrow and there is no time left for me to screw around. This is fine though because if I do well in this class I will have really good grades this semester. The funny thing is, I really don't care about grades that much. It just turned out that I have a lot of topics that I'm good at. And as much as I don't care about grades, there is a part of me that enjoys getting good ones, just not enough to stress out about it. That is actually another one of my pet peeves--people's preoccupation with grades. Now I know it matters if you are going on to graduate school but otherwise it is just a waste of time to crave the A. I have a little below a 3.0 and I'm fine with that. I might even be going to grad school and it still doesn't bother me. I don't know, I just feel like learning is put on the backburner for grades. I have very few friends who are taking classes because they want to. Either it is fills a requirement or it is something like relaxation. Woh, time to stop. Two rants in two days is too much (that line could have been on Full House).

Miss Puerto Rico just won the Miss Universe Paegant and it was held in Puerto Rico. I think that is unfair. She should not be allowed to win. Miss Israel should have won. She was hot and she was Jewish, a winning combination. Miss Universe is funny. Going back to yesterday's rant, it is funny that Miss Universe is a beauty paegant and Mr. Universe is a body building competition.

I am out of useless points. All you should do now is go read the review of Dashboard Confessional and see how they compare the album to webblogging. They also manage to bash webblogging, although their points are valid for some bloggers.

These past two days I have spent time teaching myself PHP. It took me a while to get some of the software setup to test it on my machine, but once I got it ready it was pretty much smooth sailing. I'm excited to be learning this because it is a great database scripting language and it is free. ASP is good, from what I know, but it costs money to use. Anyway, I am going to be using PHP in the site I am creating for the Music Committee. The one you will see there is not my site, it is the one that is up right now. My site is located here.

Earlier this evening I had a discussion with Jenny about how conformity is more rampant than ever, or maybe I have just been noticing it more. It began today when I went to get a sandwich at this new place that opened today in Madison called "Bialy Brown's." It is modeled after a Jewish deli, but I am 99% sure no one involved in the restaurant's development is Jewish. Anyway, the place is located between the two biggest private dorms on campus, The Statesider and The Towers. These two dorms are notorious for having bratty, rich kids and a high greek population (frats/sororities, not the ethnicity). So there were a group of guys there and I couldn't help but listen to them talk since I was there alone. I was listening to one of the kids talk about his life in the Statesider for a while, and then him talking to the female at the register. Everything he said sounded like it was scripted. I had heard the same exact conversation a few hundred times when I lived in the Statesider my freshman year. It was somewhat painful to listen to.

Then this evening I was watching the end of "Surprise Weddings 2" and listening to one of the women profess her love to her boyfriend. Again, scripted. I could easily have been watching a Dawson's Creek or One Life to Live. She said things like, "I have loved you every day these last three years, and I want to love you every day as your wife." Many of you probably just said, "Awwwwww." Yes, this "Awwww" is somewhat warranted, but this is the end of Sleepless in Seatle not the beginning of this couple's life together.

This all brings me to my main point, which is that there are so few people who think independently. Yeah, it's easier to fall into a stereotype because you can more easily find friends and partners, but aren't you cheating yourself? I think it just gets back to one of this country's worst problems: self-identity. There are tons of people that think so little of themselves. I wish I had some answer for the problem, but instead all I can do is just rant. I really think that most of our problems come out of inflated or poor self-identity. Well, I have gone on and on long enough and have given little to no resolution, so I will cut my loses and go to bed now.

I'd just like to thank all of you who read my journal. I just noticed my visitors passed 2000 in the last 6 months and I thought I would thank all ya'll.

Keep reading and get pumped for an absurd amount of pictures this summer.

First things first, go to Dennis Interactive right now. It is some seriously hot design. Now yes, design is hot and that is good, but he has something better. He has an amazing version of Q-Bert that is so addictive you will play for hours. Just go do it. Now!

So I will tell you about the rest of my life now. I forgot to mention something that Jannelle said last friday (I was caught up in the whole girl-i-have-a-crush-on-complimenting-me thing). So on friday I was wearing a jean jacket and my battered old Cubs hat. It's the one that has a little bear holding a bat on it. We were both getting our food at lunch party and she saw me from behind. As soon as we sat down she explained that she didn't say hi in line because she didn't recognize me. She thought I looked like Billy Crystal circa City Slickers (one, not two). That is easily the best worst comment I have gotten ever. I don't think it was a compliment, but I'll take it that way. What's funnier is that the comment preceeded my decision to watch When Harry Met Sally on saturday night. I'm going to be getting a digital camera really soon, so I will recreate the look in a couple days and let you make the decision.

I took my first final exam today and it was too easy. I only studied for about 4 hours total and there was only one question that made me flinch. This is a good sign because I was very close to an AB. For those of you unfamiliar with the Univ. of Wisconsin grading scheme, an AB is both an A- and a B+, which do not exist in our system. When I finished I had that wonder feeling of knowing you have nothing to do for a good while. Granted, I have things I should be doing, but nothing that I have to do, which is why I am going to Dog Eat Dog tonight for dinner, which is the best hot dog joint in madison. Next time you go to Madison, or if you leave here, go check it out. It's on the Capitol Square.

One final note. I found a link to this blog called Adam The Robot from Amplified to Rock and it had one of the cutest things I had ever read. If you go there and scroll down a few posts you will see a comment he made about The Promise Ring. He talks about them like nobody had ever heard of them before. It is nice that someone can have such a fresh perspective on a band that has been doing the same thing for quite some time now. I don't want you to get the wrong idea--I cry during "Oh Amy" just like everyone else. Still, bless you Adam the Robot for having such a fresh perspective.

Just when you think your gun trafficking escapades can go no further, think agin. About 10 minutes ago there was a loud knock on my door. It was a big, smelly man who didn't look happy. The first thing I thought was, "Oh my God, this guy wants to kill me. If he's buying guns I'm sure it isn't his first. I mean, these were some big guns." A long thought, but it was there. He soon explained he was a private investigator and I was able to relax, a little. I told him that there was already a detective on the case and I gave him the information. He told me that there were around 45 people who had been screwed out of their money. This brings a new update to our numbers:

Number of phone calls: 10
Number of people screwed over: approx. 45
Number of calls from Gunbroker.com: 2
Number of calls to police by other people: 2 (at least)
Number of calls to FBI by other people: 1 (at least)
Number of calls to Police by me: 2
Number of visits by Police Detective: 1
Number of visits by a Private Investigator: 1

One thing I forgot to mention was two run-ins I had with mailed packages. On Friday morning I was woken up by my mailman with a package. He handed it to me and I looked it over. It was a plain brown box with only one computer-printed label with my name, address and the number five on it. There was no return address. If you're anything like me, you immediately think that it is a bomb and someone wants to kill me for my supposed gun running. Well, I respond by opening the package as far away from me as possible, pretending that by holding it away from me I will not be blown to bits when the bomb goes off. I slowly cut the tape and then I open it very slowly because the bomb is pressure sensitive...right. I get past the tape and there is brown packing paper. I pull it away and there is McSweeney's fifth edition. It was a relief, but not nearly as cool.

Yesterday, when I got home I looked in my mailbox and I noticed a receipt saying I had a package to pick up at the post office because they couldn't deliver it. I could go and pick it up at 4pm. This is where I got suspicious because they never let you get the package the same day. Still, it was from a company called Action Express so I just figured I had ordered a CD and had forgotten about it. I went to the Post Office around 4:30 and handed them the slip. The man took the slip, went in back and stayed there for about a minute and a half. This was longer than usual and I heard some talking going on, so I was suspicious again. A different man emerged who looked to be in middle management instead of a clerk position. He explained to me that the package was recalled by the sender. I said, "Eh?" He told me he was sorry and stared at me until I left. It wasn't until today that I realized this was probably the police trying to get me into the post office to try and ID me. When I showed up and I wasn't an overweight cripple they thought "Damn" and let me go. I am going to ask the detective about this later.

At this point you know everything that I do about this. I hope you are enjoying this crazy adventure. Please let me know what you think.

This morning around 7:30am, a detective from the Madison Police Department came to my house to discuss the saga. I explained to her everything that I knew, showed her an email and played her a couple phone messages. She seemed convinced that I wasn't the one, which is good. As much fun as this has been, I definitely wouldn't want the police thinking I am the one. She does think that someone has stolen my identity though and was condifent that I shouldn't have any other problems with this.

While she was here she mentioned the guy had been using a mailbox at a bank in University Square to pick up his money. She also said that the man picking up the money was slightly overweight and in a wheelchair, both things I am not. Still, I am tempted to play detective and figure out what is going on for myself. I know this is a bad idea, and I won't follow through, but I would like to hang out there and look for this guy. I just want to see him and see what kind of a nut uses someone elses name and steals money from dozens of people.

That's all I have to say on that, and this may be the last chapter in this adventure. I'll keep you posted as usual.

Right now, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle is on tv. This is the first R rated movie I saw in a movie theater. I was about 12 and I went with my girlfriendat the time, if you could call her that, and another "couple" to the movies. We bought tickets for Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot, which is easily Sylvestor Stalone's worst movie, a feat in its own right, and then we went into the bathroom. After a couple minutes we walked into the theater for The Hand... It was completely worth it. The movie had violence, nudity and foul language--exactly what I had been hoping for. I still haven't seen Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot, and I don't plan to, but please don't tell my mom. She'd be devastated.

I'm assuming all of you are familiar with The Spark's Fat Project, so I ask you to check out a new and different, independent project. It is...The Mustache Project. I found the link from Five Dollar Foundation's site. It is 84 days of brilliance.

On other linking notes, I have a song you need to download. It is called I.M. Me by this girl named Britney Cleary. If nothing else, click on that link and check out the lyrics. Unlike elizabeth, I kind of liked the song, in a horrible way.

And that was the most linking I have done in a while.

GUN RUNNING SAGA: Updated facts

Number of phone calls: 9
Number of people screwed over: approx. 20
Number of calls from Gunbroker.com: 2
Number of calls to police by other people: 2 (at least)
Number of calls to FBI by other people: 1 (at least)
Number of calls to Police by me: 2

There is more than just what the numbers tell you. This saturday a man from gunbroker.com called and let me know that a "special investigator" will be calling. He also told me that the phone number the man was using was an 800 number combining my area code and the last four numbers of my phone number. So it means the guy is definitely using my identity, not some other Matt Jacobs. Today, after talking to my dad, I decided to call the police and let them know my side of the story. I called the detectives' department and told them about what's going on. They had me call this self-report line to report what I know; if someone files a criminal complaint then they will contact me. So for now everything is alright, but I hope that this "special investigator" calls so that I can talk to him and finally clear everything up, since I'll be gone in a couple weeks.

I bet you think this is where my police adventures end. Well, you are quite wrong. About a week and a half ago I left my discman and headphones in the Union after my Radiohead listening party. The next morning they were put in lost and found and when I checked a couple hours later, they were already gone. The head of lost and found and I figured out that it was more than likely stolen. Today I went in to talk to Bob, the head of lost and found, and we called the police to come in so I could file a report. The man came and I filed my report giving him all the information I could about the incident. He was nice about it and said he would call me back sometime in the next couple days. I really hope those turn up since I don't feel like buying new stuff again. I do have a limited supply of cash, unfortunately.

As I mentioned in my last post, my friends Jena and Johanna came in for the weekend from home. It was really nice to see them, especially since I may not see them all summer. Jena is going back to school for the summer and Jo is going to be spending the summer in DC. They'll be having fun but very far from me. We spent the weekend doing a lot of nothing and just enjoying each other's company. One thing we did was watch "When Harry Met Sally," one of my favorite movies. It is the original Meg Ryan-loves-someone-but-doesn't-know-it movie. Billy Crystal is also at his peak. If you still haven't seen this one, get out and do it.

So I have written a novella. Now I will do "homework."

I decided not to update for a while so that the Oh, Hello message was up for a while. I have more to write than I have time for, but I'll give you some big updates. My friends from home, Jena and Johanna, have been here since Saturday around 6:30. Then there are some more stats regarding the gun running saga. I have had 3 more people call and I am officially getting a call from the FBI. They may have to search my computer. They will find my MP3s. Maybe they'll take it and then I'll be in trouble. Anyway, I will tell you everything tomorrow.

Oh, Hello Media is having financial troubles. If you don't know who they are, they are the creaters of scribble.nu, gbook.nu and other sites. They have been a great help to the web community and very generous. They are asking for a little something, anything, in return. Please check out their statement and offer any help you possibly can. Thanks and I'm sure they will appreciate it.

PLEASE link this to your site so that Oh, Hello can get back on its feet.

GUN RUNNING SAGA: Facts as I know them...

Number of phone calls: 5
Number of people screwed over: approx. 20
Number of calls from Gunbroker.com: 1
Number of calls to police by screwed over dude: 1
Number of calls to FBI: 1

Yes, about 10 minutes ago I found a message on my machine explaining that this man wants his money back, that I should give everyone's back, and that he has called the Madison Police, FBI and some other important group. I thought it was out of hand before, but it has reached new heights. I am hoping to get a call from the police sometime soon. See, this stuff would probably worry me if I had done anything wrong but instead I would like to have someone from the police or the FBI [squeeling with excitement] call me up and ask about me running guns. Man, I can't help but laugh about this.

For this season the MLB is not allowing any radio stations to broadcast baseball games online. They have to do it through MLB.com, which I will not link, who forces you to pay to listen. This follows in the new theme of charging people to do just about anything on the internet. Now when a place like Outpost.com I don't mind so much that they started charging for shipping because it was generous to offer free overnight shipping. But when I listen to the baseball game online, still through WGN on mlb.com, I am listening to advertisements throughout the game and WGN is still paying the MLB to be able to broadcast the game. So why do I need to pay the MLB again? I think this is absurd.

Ah yes, today is wonderful day. I got a new CD, Unwound's newest, I spent time with buds at lunch party and the girl I have a crush on said I looked "really good in that" today. What could be better?

On another note, the gun running saga continues. I got another call yesterday and I hope for more today. So if you found this page hoping to buy guns from me, I'm sorry but I have no guns, I do not run and I do not run guns. Nor do I have enough guns to necesitate an entire rack (reference?).

Finally, my server is back up. Now you tens of people can look at this page again. I am relieved.

This gun running thing is officially out of hand. I have already gotten two more calls today from other people who ordered guns from this guy. My most recent caller informed me he was one of about 20 people who have ordered from this guy. For a while I thought it was a privelage to have my name; now it is a curse. Actually, I keep pretending it bothers me because you think it would bother you. Really, I just keep envisioning myself with a massive garage full of rifles, cammoflouge outfits and a huge cuban cigar. I'm playing poker with my other gun running buddies and a couple local mobsters (this is Madison, so there are only a couple mobsters, sorry) and having my "bitch" going to the closest restaurant to pick us up a meal. I hope it's something good because she always orders sh*t just to piss me off because she knows I don't like mushrooms. I have to go make a shipment. Goodbye.

I know I just discussed Spin yesterday, but I have an opinion I'd like to share. Why does a music magazine spend just a few pages on their music articles on Weezer and Tool, but write just short of an epic novel about cheerleaders? The story may be interesting and people may want to learn about the deaths of high school teenagers and they may want to hear it from Spin, but why dedicate 10+ pages to it? I'm sorry but this is something that seems a bit outlandish for a music magazine to do. I don't mind the occassional non-music item thrown in, but please don't make it a humungous story complete with a full page picture of one of the girl's senior pictures.

No one can see this right now because my server is down. It sucks.

If you can see this now, I am probably happy.

I apoligize to Jenny for calling her mysterious. I'm not sure what the inspiration for that was. I would also like to thank her for the praises of my new site design. Thanks Jenny.

Yesterday I downloaded the new Weezer album. Some of you may be wondering how I could do such a thing. Well, I really wanted to hear it and I knew it was there, so I did. It's not like I won't be in line to buy it the night it comes out. So far the album places third of their releases (and for reference I would pick the blue album as first if I was pressured, but I hold them both very high in my list of favorite albums). Spin's recent article about them in their June issue mentions how the new album is not nearly as personal as the past two, which is quite clear. There aren't any songs where you can feel poor River's heart breaking. Still, there are a couple tracks that are as good as anything they've put out. I plan to start doing album reviews on the site when I feel like it, so I think this will be my inaugural review. So plan to read an album review sometime soon. Or you could plan to avoid it and read a review from a reputable site. Ah self-pity, I love you.

That reminds me. If you go to The Onion's AV Club site and read the Chris Ware interview you will understand the true meaning of self-pity. That article made me really sad for that man. If he weren't so freakin good at creating comics I would ask him to stop and save himself. But he rocks, so I can't ask him to ever stop.

If there is one thing that is universal it is the joy in seeing a blinking light on your answering machine. I had two messages this morning, one of them being possibly the most interesting message I have gotten in a long time. I had a message for a man asking me if I was ever going to send him the three GUNS he won from me in an online auction. Yes, you just read correctly. A man supposedly bought 3 guns from me and this man lives in Alabama. He left a number and I tried to call him back, but the line was busy. First I was kind of freaked out, but then I felt bad for the guys who won the auction, which is why I tried to call. About twenty minutes after my attempt a guy from the auction company called me and asked about the auction. I promptly told him I have never owned guns and I don't plan to ever own any guns for as long as I live. He was very nice and wished me well. Even though I am slightly appalled about my supposed gun running, the whole thing will make me a bit more excited next time I answer my phone. [Oh, and as I was writing this I received another call from the winner of the auction. He had a southern accent. 'Bama.]

I am watching last year's version of Hamlet and the first scene when Hamlet's friends see his father's ghost there is a monsterous Pepsi One machine behind them. It was absurd. I know product placement is unbelievably common now, but this was a bit much. You think a version of Hamlet, regardless of the time it is set in, could avoid a Pepsi ad. Damn.

Oh boy, today is just chock full of interesting tidbits. A mysterious JP pointed me to an article on Janet Jackson and the inspiration behind one of her new songs, "China Love." Janet contests that in a former life she was the daughter of an emperor and was dating a warrior. Unfortunately, they couldn't get together since she has to marry into nobility. I know, it's quite sad. And this, yes this, is the basis for the song China Love. I think what is most tickling is that she told this story to MTV and was probably quite serious. I guess when you're rich and famous you are much more likely to be completely insane.

Damn, I hate losing posts. It is one of the more frustrating things. It's all because of Netscape too. If it just wouldn't reload everytime you move the page or a frameset. Breathe out...so here's what I was going to say:

In today's New York Times there was an article about Pepsi-cola's newest product, Mountain Dew Code Red. Yeah, so the name alone is reason enough to get giddy, but I'll give you ample reason to chuckle in the next few sentences. The beverage is seemingly identical to regular Dew, but it is red and probably tastes different. As you read the article you realize just how much of a marketing ploy the drink is, but I guess every soda is a marketing plan in liquid form. The CEO of Pepsi said the following about the average Code Red drinker, "[He's a] kid with his hair on end, his eyes bugging out," Mr. Rodkin said. "He's a little bit on edge." Ah yes, so the young child is basically all hopped up on caffeine. Wonderful (and amusing). I can just picture this 13 year old boy with blonde spiky hair, baggy pants, a FUBU t-shirt and ruby red lips, tongue and teeth from the case of Code Red he just polished off. Mmmmm...Code Red. He's running around like Macaully Culkin in Home Alone after his parents leave, holding a 2 liter bottle of Code Red in each hand. Pepsi, there's your commercial. And in case you're wondering, both Mountain Dew products have 55 milligrams of Caffeine in a 12oz. can, which is only below Jolt Cola. This beverage is a blessing to all Americans.

At this point you have realized "Woh, this looks different." This is my new site and you will come here from now on. If you don't like it, I'm sorry. Now if you have something to say about the design then sign the guestbook or let me know via email. There will be small tweaks throughout the week so your help would be appreciated. I have been busy with this for way too long so I am going to bed. I will provide a lengthy post in the morning.