Why is there no dislike button??

I have discovered one of the most awkward experiences known to man this week. It was horrifying and unexpected. We all know that Facebook has taken over the world. Rarely do you see a computer screen where Facebook is not up, or at least on one of the tabs. We all see people looking at other people’s pictures, and we all do it too, but have you ever caught someone looking at your pictures? It is weird, especially when they realize that you know they are looking at them, looking at your pictures.

Over the weekend I had befriended a few of my ASU classmates via "the social network”. Most of them are people in my Glee group for my gender and communication class, but a couple were in my Philosophy class. I made my way into class and took my seat in the second to last row. As I have mentioned in my blog, Anti-freeze and Shovels, we all have laptops in front of us in class. While waiting for class to start I opened my Facebook and noticed that the kid in front of me had requested that we become Facebook friends. I figured it would not hurt to have an easy way to access a member of my class. I mean you never know when you might need to double check on assignment requirements, due dates, or test dates right? So I added him and thought nothing of it.

A few minutes later I noticed he was looking at my profile page. That in itself was a little awkward but not out of the ordinary, but then he started looking at my pictures. I will be the first to admit that I too do this when I make a new Facebook friend. Looking at pictures of other people is really fun, but I never thought about how awkward it would be for that person, especially if they happened to be sitting behind you in class. I felt a little violated, which is funny because I was the one who put those pictures up for others to see. I think it stemmed from the fact that I do not know this person at all. Therefore, what concern does he have with my summer biggest loser contest I had at work?

Well, as he browsed through my pictures he must have thought one of the girls in my pictures was cute because he left my page and started looking at her pictures. What single guy has not done this? I bet everyone has at one point or another, myself included, but it is really weird to watch someone doing it with your Facebook page and friends.

One would think that I would have learned my lesson, but later that day I did the exact same thing to a new Facebook friend in my Gender and Communication class. I had made the friend request over the weekend, and this potential friend accepted that request at some point during this particular day. I did not get on Facebook until this new Facebook friend was sitting right next to me. What was the first thing I did? Any guesses?? If you guessed that I looked at this new friend’s pictures you are correct. That is right, I did the exact same thing to this new friend that my new friend had done to me in Philosophy class. The only difference is I realized that my new friend was witnessing me doing this, and that my friends is even more awkward than seeing someone look at your pictures.

JB

Flannel and fun.

While I was sitting in class one day (actually it was the day I wrote 99 out of 10) Cameron sent me a message through facebook chat.  He asked me if I had heard of Devilpalooza.  I informed him that I had not.  He explained that it was an event put on by the school that included a free concert.  Casey and I thought that a concert sounded like a cool idea and we agreed to accompany Cameron to the event.

Upon arrival at the field where the concert was being held I was surprised that along with a free concert, I would also receive a pat down.  It was not a TSA grade pat down, but I had a man’s hand on my butt nonetheless.  I felt for the guy doing the frisking, he was less excited about it than the friskees.

After that wonderful experience we headed in towards the crowd who was listening to The Maine.  I thought I was entering an Al Borland tribute concert.

Al Borland from Home Improvement

I am dead serious.  There was more flannel there than in Paul Bunyan’s closet.  I could not help but take some pictures.  Here are a few of them:

It was incredible.  Most of these are from the back cause I did not want people to think I was creeping on them.

After I got a hold of myself I remembered that it was a concert and I settled back and enjoyed the fun.  The fun is, of course referring to the band fun.  The former lead singer of The Format heads this awesome band.  They sound great live too.  Here, have a look and listen:

Here is the only semi-decent picture I got from my camera:

Speaking of Als does not the drummer look a little like Weird Al Yankovic from a distance?

Well this was my first attempt at blogging with pictures and video.  I hope you all enjoyed seeing the concert through my eyes.

JB

Everyone is an Expert

I found myself at Life Time Fitness in Gilbert at 6:00 AM when I overheard this conversation:

Man 1: “Hey man, I told you that the ‘Pack’ were gonna win that game.”

Man 2: “Yeah you did, I just couldn’t believe how Rodgers broke down that coverage.”

Man 1: “Dude I saw that coming from a mile away.  It was apparent that Polamalu was not 100%.  When I re-watched the conference championship game I saw that he didn’t have that extra gear.

Also it was apparent that the Steelers would not be able to defend the five wide set that the Packers like to use so much.

Plus, I told you Jennings was the most underrated receiver in the NFL."

Man 2: “Well not only that but the O-Line for the Packers took Harrison out of the game, I mean he had one sack but it looked like Green Bay was ready for everything the Steelers threw at Rodgers.”

Man 1: “Yeah, well you need to watch more film man.  I NEED (emphasis included) hit the sauna, I’ll see you later.”

Man 2: “Later.”

Alright, Man 1 had a couple intelligent points during the course of this conversation, but had a couple of completely ridiculous quotes as well. (not the least of which being, “I NEED to hit the sauna.”  I mean does anyone ever really NEED to hit the sauna?  I know it is nice but I still find it a luxury not a necessity.)  Now, the first thing that made me laugh was that this guy stated that he “re-watched the conference championship game...” I mean was that really necessary?  Were the Packers waiting by the phone for this guys analysis of the Steelers defensive schemes?  He then went on to say, “you need to watch more film man.” which made it necessary for me to put my notebook in front of my face so he would not see me laughing.  I do not think that Man 2 is suffering much from his lack of pre-game film study, but what do I know? I had the audacity to not even watch one of the conference championship games.

I stated above that Man 1 provided a couple intelligent points during this conversation.  I did not, however, mention that I saw Man 1 sitting on the couch in the locker room, watching a segment on SportsCenter in which one of the commentators made each of the points (almost word for word) that this man would go on to use in his conversation with Man 2.

Man 2, on the other hand, used a point that one of the sports-talk newscasters I like to listen to on my way to work made this morning on his show.  Leading me to believe he is also a fan of Doug and Wolf.

I find it very interesting how easily people steal other’s thoughts and ideas in order to sound like an expert.  Everything I heard from these men I had already heard from some of my favorite commentators. Neither of these men gave those commentators credit for their ideas.  It is a sort of verbal plagiarism that is rampant in our society.  I admit that, I too am guilty, from time to time, of this intellectual theft, although I do make a concerted effort to give credit to the person from whom I’v received my information.

I just find it funny that everyone has this unquenchable desire to be an expert in whatever it is they choose to discuss.  Well, I NEED to get to class.

JB

Freak Out!!!

In case you have not been on Facebook lately, or have no Facebook friends who live here in Arizona, you might not know it is cold.  I admit it is cold, but it absolutely cracks me up how people react to weather changes in Arizona.  If it drops below 50 degrees Fahrenheit another Ice Age is on the way.  On the other hand if it rains for more than a couple hours you would think all Arizonians were regretting their decision not to get on the arc that Noah built.  Just to put this recent cold streak in perspective (and by the way, this cold front is the result of a massive storm that is affecting most of the country) I have done some research on the temperatures in other cities across our great country.  

First off here is the High Temp. and Low Temp. from Phoenix Wednesday:

High: 43°

Low: 33°

Now here are three cities around the country and the Highs and Lows in each of them, along with the reason I picked them to use in my blog.

• Dallas: High: 21°,  Low: 14°, Super Bowl weekend is upon us, and the Super Bowl itself will be held in this Texas City.
• Billings: High: 15°, Low: -5°, A truly cold city.
• Salt Lake City: High: 21°, Low: 6°, I have a lot of friends in Utah and a lot of them are also Facebook friends of mine and I don’t recall a post about the weather Wednesday from any of them.

Alright now that we have established that it was a pretty warm day here in Phoenix if you compare it to these other cities, here are a few of my Facebook friends posts from Wednesday:

• "freezing my bollocks off.”
• "it is thirty something degrees outside....good thing my apartment is 90 degrees!! :-D"
• "Why is it so cold?!”
• "Dear Arizona, WHY ARE YOU SO COLD?? I do not have a thick enough jacket to protect me from cold piercing wind. Please stop. That is all. Love, Me”
• "its cold and i am not a fan..."
• "Walking to campus in that windchill was the most painful thing I have ever done"
• "At TPC Scottsdale freezing my tootsie off!!"
• "First taste of actual COLD in a long time, people in cold climates you are brave souls!"
• "don't worry everybody... its only 33 freakin degrees outside"
• "I want my 70 degree winter back.”

Alright, I am not saying that is is not cold, it is well below average.  I just find it funny how people react to the weather, and thought you might too.

JB

99 out of 10

Just a reminder that time is running out on the current poll question.  I would love to see more feedback.  I also welcome comments of any nature, from anyone who feels so inclined.  It is always nice to know who is reading what I write and how they respond to each topic.

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I do not know if any of you have ever taken a gender and communication class but it is interesting, to say the least.  There have not been any huge blow-ups yet, but the overwhelming feeling I get as I sit in class each day is that my professor is hoping it will happen.  She breezes over hot button issues like abortion, homosexuality, and free love as if they were common topics to discuss over tea.  She always pauses after her statement and looks to us to see if we want to comment, but as of right now there are only a few of my fellow students who participate frequently in classroom discussions, although that is beginning to change.  The past class almost everybody made at least one comment.  We were talking about the genderizing that takes place in American culture.  She asked for examples of genderization in America.  Many examples where given, but my favorite part of the conversation came when the topic of school uniforms was examined.  It started out as a skirt v. slacks debate.  My professor stated that she could not believe that skirts were still the requirement for girls while boys were permitted to wear slacks.  The guy sitting a few seats down from me stated that a lot of uniform wearing schools were allowing girls to wear slacks if they did not want to wear the skirts.  My teacher said that might be the case but 99 out of ten girls would still wear the skirts because that was the expectation.  I do not believe she realized the interesting ratio she threw out, but I find it hard to believe that 990% of girls are caving into social expectations.  That is just my personal opinion though.  I pointed out that it is very acceptable for women to where slacks in formal settings, although the idea of men in skirts still has not become acceptable.

JB