Video of the Week: Blog Five!

From last week's episode of scrubs, as I promised. The Todd.

The Family Speaks.

Seung-Hui Cho's family released a statement today through the AP wire. MSN has a story about in now. Interesting read.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18201501/

No More Router Reboot!

Finally got my new Buffalo router in the mail today, took a few minutes to set up (more like an hour, but that's ok), and now I'm done with random reboots that my old D-Link router had. What's that mean? It means I don't get disconnected in the middle of games anymore. Yay!

Other than that, I didn't have much to do. Talked about cosmetic surgery in public health, which would have been more interesting if I knew anyone that had cosmetic surgery done...

I also watched the new Scrubs, and if I can find a YouTube video, I'll share a clip. Otherwise, it's one of my favorites in 6 seasons worth. One of those "His Story" shows, but it was definitely creative, and funnier than most episodes. I love the role people, and this one let them shine. If you get a chance to grab a copy, check it out. <3 It.

Crazy People Do Crazy Things

Not much going on today (I know, I know, for shame).

But some new news from out of VaTech that I thought was worth sharing. Apparently the attacks were not spontaneous, but planned for a long time by a very, very deranged person. So what can we learn? Give a hug. Even the semblance of love means a lot to even the most estranged people. Seriously. Give me a hug.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/18/vtech.shooting/index.html

Light Up the Sky

I was just talking about this new Yellowcard song before writing, so that's the reason for the title (among others).

Anyways, I went to Ben and Jerry's today for Free Cone Day. I didn't get any pictures unfortunately, since I forgot. Otherwise, I was impressed with the turnout and the service. I waited 20 minutes and 40 minutes for two scoops on the day and the turnover time was exceptionally better than last year's mess. Happy to say I enjoyed a nice scoop of New York Super Fudge and a classic cone full of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. Yum.

After B&J2, Maggie and I went to this Pre-med workshop hosted by P. Review and some Admissions advisory group. We got some information about the MCAT and the AAMC admissions process, which was really good to think about. In response I thought of a moderately decent idea for a personal statement.

The personal statement is really a way to say why you want to be a doctor, why you want to practice medicine, and I think it's hard to pinpoint an exact moment, or an exact reason you want to save lives, but one idea is thematically seductive.

Heroes and the hero complex. I grew up swimming in the culture of the superhero. The myth of the savior stood above all other hopes and dreams. The simple ability to save a life, provide hope in times of dire need, and engender strength to stand up against the injustices of the world , just by being a hero, seemed so attractive. But I didn't have superstrength, spider senses, or Green Lantern's ring. Instead, I had a desire to help the world in whatever way I could, and that was to strive for the opportunity to benefit the individual lives of patients through medicine. I felt that if I could be a doctor, then I could satisfy that inner desire to be a hero and save the world. I felt that I could save the world one patient at a time.

Just an idea, I suppose.

I Suppose It's a Little Insensitive

Condolences go out to all the friends and family of the victims of today's shootings at VaTech. It's a real tragedy - senselessly violent and violently senseless, I suppose.

If you haven't heard, and I highly doubt you haven't heard, but a man (I'm assuming a college student) shot and killed two people in a VaTech dormitory in the morning, then fled. While the police thought he had left the campus, he had actually gone back and went into Norris Hall, the engineering building, and opened fire on a classroom, killing 30 and wounding several (~30) more students. Then, he apparently shot himself. As of right now, they have no positive ID on the shooter, nor any motive for the incident, which is what makes it so frightening. How could anyone do this? Where were the signs of distress before today? What was going on? Could it happen here?

I'll say this about Berkeley. This place isn't the safest city in the world, and this campus is a little off-center in every respect. So to think something like this could happen on similar college campus, in a quiet, unassuming town like Blacksburg, is scary. Just think about a guy running around with a gun on Sproul Plaza, or a sniper posted on the top of Barrows. It can be a bit disturbing and I hope, I really, really hope, that nothing like that ever happens here. Happens anywhere, for that matter. This is a tragedy, and there's no other way to describe it. There's no other way to react than to stand and stare agape at the pictures of tragedy. There's a great deal of sorrow from so many people that had been and would have been touched by the lives that were taken today and I think it's best to share in that. It's a tragedy and we should feel it.

Still, while I hope that this incident doesn't spread and trigger copycats elsewhere, at the same time, I have other fears that might appear in response to this shooting, much like the tightening of security after Columbine. Administrators will try to enact restrictive and reactionary policy, and I hope that they will be limited in scope and nature. While this tragedy is great, I hope it doesn't lead to the loss of our freedoms as students and as citizens. That's my greatest fear, and I suppose that it's a little insensitive given the situation, I don't think it's unfair to suggest a course of events that will try to prevent something like this from ever happening again. Let's just hope it doesn't take any more sacrifice to ensure it.

(The title of the post originated from my feeling ashamed at the miscellany of my previous post today, considering the magnitude and gravity of today's events. I'll keep it there to lighten the mood, but I don't want to feel as if I'm ignoring the world and what happened today. Sorry.)

I'm Warren Buffett Part Deux

Deux sounds like Ducks, doesn't it? Two days, +3%. At this rate, I'll be up 400% on the year!

Yes, absurd, short term gains are pretty meaningless given the long-term holding nature of the investment. But hey, it feels nice to be +75 without doing any work. And I'm happy I got in before 1Q earnings were announced this week, although most of the work today was rooted in the HUGE Sallie Mae buyout, announced at $25 billion from JP Morgan and Bank of America. Hopefully that'll keep the bulls running and keep my investment in Contrarian in the black for awhile.

On another note. The Ducks are up 3-0 on the Wild in Round 1 of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs. As John Buccigross said on ESPN:

No. 2 Ducks vs. No. 7 Wild
Unless the Wild sign David Ortiz, this series will be over this week. It's early, but this playoff picture is playing into the Ducks' hands. If the top three seeds advance, the Ducks get the Canucks. A tough matchup, but one Anaheim should win. Then, the Ducks would get either a Detroit team who would have had a very physical series versus the Sharks, or the Sharks or Predators, who could be worn down.

Of course I'm happy to hear about this, but I disagree with one small point. I don't think David Ortiz could save the Wild from the broom this year. The Ducks are dominating both sides of the ice, Bryzgalov is playing well, and...they're the Ducks. Doubleplusawesomo.

Yellowcard at the Greek

This post is a little bit late, which is unfortunate, but that's how it goes sometimes...

Anyways, new Video of the Week in the sidebar, click on it for a larger play. If you've seen it already, you know it's the Peyton Manning United Way short from SNL a few weeks back, and you know it's hilarious and worth watching again. If you haven't seen it, you now know that you should, because it's hilarious and worth worthing atleast once.

So, yesterday was the big Spring Concert in support of Darfur relief featuring Mates of State, Aesop Rock, and obviously Yellowcard. Now, for $5, I'll see nearly any show with nearly anyone, but Yellowcard is pretty good for $5 even if I'm not their biggest fan.



Anyways, Maggie and I went to the Greek around 2:30 only to be greeted with a ridiculously long line waiting to get in. No idea why, since the show was supposed to start at 2:00pm, but we got in pretty quickly regardless. For the first set, we sat near the right side of the lower amphitheatre to listen to Mates of State, which I kind of regret since the bass overpowered the vocals a lot and it was hard to hear. But, I really enjoyed their set, and ended up picking up their last two albums after the show (both of which I'm listening too at the moment). I'm a big fan of guy/girl harmonizing in songs, e.g. Nothing Better from The Postal Service and "Set the Fire to the Third Bar" from Snow Patrol, and Mates of State is basically a guy/girl group doing their thing. If you're into solid indie stuff, then you probably already know, if not, check it out. I'm really into "Ha ha" right now, but that's probably cause I think the way she laughs is funny.



Aesop Rock followed Mates of State, and it was definitely not the right place for him to do his thing. The Greek was first, half empty, and second, emo-Berkeley kids wanting a Yellowcard fix; so, a rapping hip-hopper from NY with lyrics NO ONE understood didn't do so well. If more people got into, it definitely would've been stronger, but no one did. So it kinda sucked. Sorry.



Yeah. Yellowcard. When people really get into a show, it's really fun. People started crowding the pit and pushing people around, jumping up and down, and waving their arms in the air. Maggie really got into the songs too, so it definitely helped right my mood after the dismal showing for Aesop Rock. The set was a bit short song-wise, but since they took 5 minute breaks between every song, it dragged it out for awhile (although, by their own admission, they were out of shape). Still, I definitely enjoyed the show. They really performed, got the crowd going, improvised, and made it a real concert; not just playing songs for people (which was a problem with Mates of State, but I digress). They even played two songs from their unreleased new album, "Fighting" and "Light Up the Sky". I liked both songs, but "Fighting" was definitely more typical Yellowcard and the one I got into more, so take that for what it's worth.



After the show, they started throwing random stuff into the pit. Mostly guitar picks, but after people started clearing and the crew started cleaning up, they threw a few sets of drumsticks. I, of course, missed it, because I'm dumb. But, I did get an autograph from the fiddler, Sean Mackin and a quick close-up shot before he had to get on the bus to leave.



As always, check out the web album for more pics, and you'll be as happy as me :P

Back to listening to Mates of State and Arcade Fire.

Out.