Air Scare Force One Photoshoot = epic fail

Apparently some White House officials found the need to take updated photos of Air Force One around the Statue of Liberty. I'm not entirely sure who cares if the photos are updated or not but what do I care about is that someone thought it was a bright idea to fly a 747 and an F-16 Fighter Jet in a NO-FLY ZONE in NEW YORK..and then decide not to tell anyone about it? The Federal Aviation Administration definitely knew that flying a presidential jet so close to Ground Zero would stir up fear on the streets, but they went along with this boondoggle anyways. Of course, mass hysteria ensued amongst New Yorkers. I don't blame them. Low-flying jets around the Statue of Liberty and other important buildings? Tell me what American wouldn't suspect terrorist activity when seeing that. Way to go guys. The head buffoon that approved of this was director of the White House military office, Louis Caldera. You know what grinds my gears even more? The total cost of this photo shoot was $328,000. We are in a serious recession here, people are losing their homes, the national unemployment rate is at 11%, banks are going under, and some White House officials really felt the need to spend $328,000 of tax-payer money on a photo? A file photo of Air Force One? It's going in a file! Who cares! Louis Caldera has apologized, as has President Obama. Apology shamomolgy man; Mr. Caldera needs to be fired immediately. Like a boss.

How come nobody has heard of using Photoshop? What a load of morons.

The Swine Flu Epidemic (Possibly Soon To Be Pandemic)

Great. Infected Mexican pigs are spreading a virus around like mad. Last week I was watching CNN and heard something about a Swine Flu Virus going around in Mexico. I thought it was something minor and that maybe I'll lay off eating pork for a while.


Wrong.

As of today, April 29th, 2009, swine flu has spread across several American states as well as countries on several continents, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, and New Zealand. I read this in the Los Angeles Times today:

Arizona, Massachusetts, Michigan and Nevada joined the list of states with new cases. Texas said its total has now climbed to 16 cases; New York has 51, and California has 15.

This afternoon, the Marine Corps said that a Marine at the Twentynine Palms, Calif., base has been confirmed to have the virus. About 30 men at the base who have come into contact with him have been quarantined.

Riverside County Health Officer Eric Frykman also said that four probable cases have been identified in the county. Two of them, an 87-year-old woman and an unrelated 5-year-old girl, have been hospitalized. The other patients are teenage girls from Corona and Indio.

Living in LA with so many people who often visit Mexico on the weekends, let's face it: I'm scared. I just heard on the local news that a student at Cal State Long Beach who's exhibiting the symptoms is currently undergoing tests. This thing is moving closer and closer to home.

The World Health Organization had also announced in Geneva today that there is absolutely no sign that the spread of this Swine Flu/H1N1 Virus is slowing down. After hearing this, now I'm definitely scared. In addition, my don't eat pork theory has been proven irrelevant. There hasn't even been any proof yet that consuming tainted pork can cause one to develop the illness. I'm not sure if stocking up on masks is going to do much; it sounds pretty Y2K-let's-hoard-tons-of-food-and-water status to me.I guess all you can really do is keep washing your hands and stay away from any shady looking individuals. Trust me, I've been sanitizing like you would not believe lately. What can one really do? Go into hiding? Maybe I'll set up a bunker underneath my house.I hope the WHO and other researchers/scientists get this under control soon because this is clearly a force to be reckoned with.



Curse you, you wretched swine!

Alas, you can always count on my hero, Stephen T. Colbert, to make light of the situation:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Days of Swine and Doses
colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor First 100 Days

Cherimoya Makes Me Say, "Oh-Ya"

Is this seriously an entry about fruit?

Yes, yes it is. You see, I thought I was pretty "with it" when it comes to knowing about the uncommon fruits that are in existence (durian, loquat, jackfruit, etc..) but sure enough, there are plenty out there for me to discover. A while back, Sameer was telling me how cool it is that one of his suitemates has a cherimoya tree back home. I was majorly confused. What in the name of Sweet Jesus is a CHERIMOYA TREE? After he told me about it [and after it was confirmed that apparently everyone seems to know about this glorious fruit besides me], I was definitely interested in trying this thing. I consulted Wikipedia and learned that cherimoya is native to the Andean-valleys of Ecuador and Peru. I had forgotten about all of this until last week when I was out shopping in the valley. Outside the mall there was a farmer's market going on and much to my surprise there was a vendor selling a grip of cherimoya. Bought it, went home, tried it and oh my

THIS SHIZZ IS AMAZING.

Some of you might be reading this and are now shaking your head that it took me 22 years to discover this existed, and then some of you may also now be interested in trying this heavenly fruit. For the latter group, let me tell you..it pretty much tastes like the love child of a pineapple and a strawberry whose father is a banana. Does that analogy even make sense? hmmm oh well. Think of it as a really good mixed fruit smoothie. Conclusion: cherimoya is bomb!

Oh Desis

My cousin shared this video with me the other day. It's an Indian Microsoft commercial and it's pretty funny..and true

Put Me on the Chicago Bulls Bandwagon

Things that come to mind when I think about elementary school: Power Rangers, dodgeball, Zack Morris and Kelly Kapowski, ice cream men who actually sold ice cream and not cocaine, and The Chicago Bulls. You were clearly a fool if you were not a Bulls fan in the 90s. Jordan, Pippen, and even you Mr. Rodman = amazing. Once that era ended and Kobe came onto the scene, I was back to being strictly Lakers. Fast forward to the 2009 NBA Playoffs. This last Saturday I'm in my usual playoffs viewing spot on couch glued to the television. Game one: Celtics vs. Bulls. I was really expecting a blowout by the Celtics - it was brought to my attention that the Bulls had made some big trades towards the end of the season and I was not to take this series lightly. I didn't really believe it. Boy was that person right. Derrick Rose is a beast and these new era Bulls are a force to be reckoned with! Truth be told this is the only series I have any interest in now. Like I said, I'm jumping on the Chicago Bulls Bandwagon. Trust me, I never do this. The 2007 Golden State Warriors? Yeah I didn't care. Could it be because they're making fools out of a team I absolutely despise? Maybe, but it cannot be the only reason. Anywho, I'm officially rooting for the Bulls! Obviously not to win the whole thing, but to go further than I had anticipated. Go Chicago!!! and will someone please tell KG I prefer he stays inside the locker room from now on? It's better that way.

Treasures From My Bedroom: Physics Lab Notebook

I clean my room far less often than I should, but whenever I do actually clean it, I always come across some sort of hidden treasure; last night it happened to be my old Physics 2LA notebook.


Treasure: Lab Notebook (Used October - December 2005)
Location: under the bed
What Qualifies it to be a Treasure: It was a reminder that I did not and actually still do not understand physics whatsoever. I find the TA's confusion quite comical.








owned.

Revelation in My Life: Sunday Sucks

I decided years ago that Sunday is by far the worst day of the week. In high school it meant I was not going to get any sleep that night because I more likely than not had multiple assignments and projects assigned months ago due Monday. In college, Amandeep usually felt the necessity to get the heck out of town by Friday leaving me alone in an apartment the entire weekend. Let's not forget I went to school in Riverside. UCR might as well have been a commuter school. Come Friday, everyone peaces out and goes to SD, Orange County, or LA. I could definitely find some exciting things to do over the weekend with whoever would be left in the city [thank you friends for sticking around, you know who you are] but by Sunday, it's just not a good feeling.

Think about my Sundays NOW. Oh my gosh. Yes, there are times when I go out and what not, but remember this blog is not going to detail that; I'm here to tell you about the other things and the other Sundays. Come Sunday, I usually contemplate anything and everything going on in my life, sometimes I end up picking unnecessary fights with people, watch really awful television, I EVEN EXERCISE SOMETIMES. Whoa there.

So this Sunday? So far mother has brought home this fine specimen from the grocery store. Not sure if this will end up being the highlight of my Sunday but it's definitely in contention:



Me: what is this?
Mom: it said cauliflower...looks like a hybrid

I have heard of broccoflower, but um, this purple.

Another Fallen Soldier

I don't believe this: Bonni now has a Twitter account. She gave in! Outrage. I woke up this morning to find an IM that read "I must confess:" and there was a link put into tiny-URL code..trying to mask it? For shame, my friend. You have now joined the 140-character-limit-micro-blogging-omg-this-is-a-constant-facebook-status phenomenon.

Oh Here We Go

Peer pressure, that’s all I have to say. It’s not like I’m new to the blog world; I’ve been livejournaling [read: whining] since I was in high school. Sometime last year I had considered starting a new blog elsewhere but then got caught up with my senior year of college alongside preparing for a rather intense standardized test. Since then, many of my friends have become bloggers themselves and have decided to coerce me into starting one as well. Meesa and Sameer, I'm talking to you two specifically. For months now I have been pestered. I have even been threatened that if I do not start my own blog, it will be started for me. Not an empty threat: I know there's a fake myspace out of there for me so I do not want to take any chances. Stubborn as I am I told them all I had no intention to do so and provided a variety of reasons why it would not be a good idea for me to be blogging [all I would do is blabber about nonsense, my life is not very interesting to be written or read about, I do not think very many people would read it, etc.]. I was sticking to my theory until the other day I had a conversation that went something like this:

Friend: omg why do you still not have a blog? You need one

Me: for the last time it’ll be too boring - my life has become boring! I don’t have much to write about

Friend: dude that’s what the blog should be about…your life after college and how it is getting boring. It will make a case about how you should be in grad school

Me: genius


So here I am now, and much like Seinfeld, this is going to be a blog about nothing. I don’t plan on really detailing every single one of my thoughts or anything like that; but moreover let the people in my life realize how much I long to start school already. People see me as a post-graduate living some sort of fantasy life. Yes, based on what I tell you personally, you may see it as a fantasy life. This blog is here to prove otherwise...to tell you what REALLY goes on a day to day basis. You know something is up when everyday I pray to know when and where I will be attending school. The point of this blog is to make my point. People wanted this so I’m just giving the people what they want...democracy son.