Well I suppose introductions are in order. My name is Jeets. Once upon a time, I had a blog. And I’m an alcoholic. (Wait, what?) Some time in early April I began a month-long, marathon interview process that landed me a pretty sweet job. If you missed the results of how that turned out, click here, here, here, here, here, here, here, or here.

But, much like Mark McGwire, I’m not here to talk about the past. Life moves on! It’s been a whirlwind, and while I didn’t love every second of it, I can’t imagine a better job to have had right out of college. I worked with some extremely talented and gracious people who taught me more than I could ever really express. And I got to do it all in Austin, Texas. What more could you ask for?

I’m not sure what’s next for me. I’m going home for a little bit starting Saturday. After that, it’s a crapshoot. If you know anyone who needs somebody in need of a guy who makes youtube videos mocking Rick Perry, let me know.

If only technology were at a place where I could embed some of my favorite videos on this blog for your viewing pleasure! CATCH UP, SCIENCE!!! (To wit:)

And for the record, I have no idea who made these.

Hello and welcome to the real world, where it’s the last week of college for me. Please take a moment and evaluate what this moment in my life means to you. Thank you. The world is now sufficiently revolving around me, and I am able to continue. Here we go.

If anyone’s heard from April, let me know. The month, not the high-fastening pants-wearer and journalist who is inexplicably and constantly clad in yellow. Somehow it’s May, the greatest of the months. This one is going to be particularly blockbuster-esque, as it involves the end of school (and therefore learning) in my life, my MJ birthday, and several high-profile visits for graduation and afterward.

That’s right, the fam is coming, en mass, to Austin, Texas. The first wave arrives on Wednesday the 20th and the next on Thursday the 21st. Graduation dinner is set for Friday night at Z’Tejas, some cl@$$y joint up in the Arboretum area (Latin for trees… you’re welcome). This will be my aunt and uncle’s first trip to Texas, so it will be fun to show off the city to another set of Pennsylvanians. To the fam: expect much Tex-Mex and BBQ, to go along with the requisite hooplah and ballyhoo of family gatherings. We’ll miss the Jens, Eli, Micah, Piper and Dave, but I maaaaaay be stickin’ around for a little while longer, so there’s still time.

If you’ve gotten this far, you’ve realized this post has no point, so I’m going to toss in a few random thoughts. Take’em or leave’em. The Penguins… gah! Down two to the Caps. Both close games, too. Also, should I get a one-day pass for ACL? Saturday is looking pretty good, but $85 is a lot for just a day. Finally, The Reliques were on the cover of DT Weekend, the insert in Thursday’s Daily Texan. This is a pretty huge deal.

Alright, that’s it. Send your complaints to

So yesterday, Candace posted a rant about Twitter on her blog “life is a playlist.” This is a response to that post.

First of all, I refuse to be the knight in shining armor to come along and defend every twit who ever tweeted on Twitter. It’s not my job, and it’s not my view, either. But as a former skeptic, I will say that Twitter is surprisingly useful and interesting. Or, it can be.

I should also point out that Twitter does themselves absolutely no favors in putting their best face forward. They have an introductory video that everyone is supposed to watch before signing up. It’s about two minutes long. Below is an excerpt. The assumptions are astounding:

So, what are you doing? It’s one of the first questions we often ask friends and family. Even if the answer is just mowing the lawn or cooking dinner, it’s interesting to us. It makes us feel connected and a part of each others lives. Unfortunately, most of our day-to-day lives are hidden from people that care. Of course, we have e-mail and blogs and phones to keep us connected. But you wouldn’t send an e-mail to a friend to tell them you’re having coffee. Your friend doesn’t need to know that. But what about people that want to know about the little things that happen in your life? Real life happens between blog posts and e-mails. And now, there’s a way to share.

Take a step back. Let’s examine the logic of this. We have needs and wants. E-mails are for needs, Twittering is for wants? Is this what they’re getting at? Either way it comes off as a terrible marketing strategy. Think about how dull your day to day life is. NOW LET’S BROADCAST IT!

To their question “But what about people that want to know about the little things…?” my answer is really? At this point a lot of people say “get a life” and worry about your own crap. But let’s be honest with ourselves. Though we may enjoy our lives and the stuff that happens during our day, an extremely small fraction of that is worth saying aloud, let alone “microblogging.” So not only are the people losers who post that they’re “eating a sandwich,” so are those who are just dying to know what kind of bread you used.

Keep in mind I’m saying all this, while being a twitterer myself. There are a few aspects of Twitter that make it worthwhile and not the most annoying form of social networking to date. And they are:

1. Links. As a news junkie, I appreciate a good scoop on a news story as much as the next guy. Reporters (that is, the famous ones, and we’ll get to that point in a minute) can upload stories at an incredible rate this day and age, but it’s even faster to post a 140 character message before you type up your 3 sentence blog post that Hillary Clinton accidentally made a fart joke into a live mic. (Note: She did not fart into a live mic. That would be crass.) Essentially Web sites like “TinyUrl” make Twitter possible. They take long Web addresses and shrink them to 25 characters, so you can still add witty comment and people will know what they’re clicking on. Like so: Candace’s blog post, shrunk to 25 characters http://tinyurl.com/dzoyvv

2. People that matter. In general, there are two kinds of people on Twitter: the beautiful people and the rest of us. The rest of us are busy describing the rye bread and salami of our delicious sandwiches, while the beautiful people (who are more than likely not actually beautiful, but are important in some way—politics, entertainment, sports, international chess champions, etc.) are telling us things that are interesting. This is where there is a slight divergence of opinion, not surprisingly, since we all have different tastes. I like politics, and so following George Snuffleupagus is interesting to me. (Note: John McCain is not. John McCain is that annoying friend on Facebook that updates his status every HOUR, and you know what I mean) Since Snuffy is reading breaking news stories and reporting himself, he can pass along interesting things he reads and finds. Kind of nice, right?

3. I thought for a long time, and there is no #3. That’s pretty much it. Advocates try to push these sob stories about how a reporter in Egypt got arrested for free speech and he tweeted this to his friends and they came to his rescue immediately. But for you and me, this is as likely as Pitt winning the NCAA Tournament (I WENT THERE).

So there you have it. My half-hearted, luke-warm, guilt-ridden defense of Twitter. Take it or leave it.

The University of Texas was rocked to its core today with news of impropriety in the student government elections held last week. The Daily Texan’s Sean Beherec reported that a student government board co-chairman tried soliciting votes for a particular ticket via e-mail to a secret society.

In short, people are LOSING THEIR MINDS over this. As evidenced by the picture, The Daily Texan felt it appropriate to dwarf their own flag with the headline that spans two lines in all caps. The only thing missing is three to five exclamation points. Furthermore, their journalistic credibility still stands tall by the fact that they scanned the e-mail that was supplied to their office anonymously (DEEP THROAT!).

Unfortunately for the paper, their credibility for not being a group of D-bags drops, due to the fact that they published everyone’s e-mail address when they scanned the e-mail. Classy move.

As I walked around campus today, I conducted random “man on the street” interviews about this crisis. “My life has no meaning now,” cried one woman from a balcony on the Main Building, while dangling a baby over the edge. Cries of rage and desperation rose up among the crowd as she shouted from the balcony. We later discovered the child’s name to be “Blanket.”

Groups dressed all in black roamed around campus, pulling at their hair and beating their breasts. One man fired a semi-automatic gun in the air several times. Bystanders said they believed this was an appropriate response to today’s news.

Let me help you out with a little more perspective. For years student government has run as an aristocracy. A mythical “binder” containing all the rules and bylaws for on-campus campaigning was passed from class to class. This party system was nobly dissolved by the current administration and independent candidates campaigned against one another. Even still, this Liam O’Rourke character won this year’s by almost 4,000 votes (only 10,000 votes were cast). That is a lot.

The election board co-chair, who is apparently just some dude who looks way too old to be concerned about ridiculous student government elections, sent a letter out in support of O’Rourke. The e-mail recipients were all part of a secret campus organization that apparently goes by the name “Zesty.” (….lingering to allow that to set in.) The e-mail begins, “Dear Zesty friends.” Seriously.

The e-mail sender, Cesar Martinez Espinosa, broke the sender list down individually, asking for their help from whatever organization these Zesties were in. For example: “Matt R — please twitter constantly with all you friends - especially in Spanish.” Example #2: “Cody - I think it would be great if you were to dance at Monday’s game with a Liam-Shara t-shirt.” Obviously all solid ideas. The man had been thinking, you see.

He closes with the letters “ZFL” which can obviously only mean “Zesty for Life.” Thank you for that. Seriously.

Finally, the comments on the online version of this story are simply fantastic. I’m going to post this entire comment because if I took any part of it out of context, you might be confused. Don’t get me wrong, you’ll still be confused, but I want you to know you’re seeing the entire thing:

Why are people like oh he just sent a single email. what damage could that have done. if you read the details of the email you’ll see the diff focus groups.
when we start talking sororities and fraternities. all the need to do is to vote and get their sister and brother fraternities to vote for specific name.

and then they got the emails of the entire student body n spammed the heck outta us. and then theese eyes of texas that have got their hands everywhere, also have it down the pants of many other organizations…n the chain just goes on.
Believe me hun, one email can do alotta damage

That poster’s name is “Keshav and transparency= paradox” (Keshav being our current president). Highlighting done by me for emphasis.

I have absolutely no way to end this post, but with the words of Phillip Tau, the losing candidate who thinks that if this e-mail had not been sent, he would gained close to 4,000 votes (i.e., a 40 percent swing).

“I would put my life on it that if it wasn’t for all this helping of Liam and Shara, then I’m pretty sure that there would have been a runoff,” Tau said.

Hey friends. So, slightly inspired by my brother’s birthday videos for Eli (seen here and here), I decided I wanted to figure out how iMovie works. In an unrelated note, my friend Sarah Dossey and fellow bandmate Sarah Monteen, known as The Reliques (REL-icks), released their first CD last night. The EP, titled “Peacock Wood,” features five tracks that the two have worked on over the past few months. It is, to put it mildly, fantastic.

Anyway, to combine those two ideas above, I decided to put to their music some photos I’ve taken over the years. I hope I’m not stepping on any toes or infringing on any copyright laws, and if I am, I’m sure I’ll be served with papers soon. But anyway, below is my little ode to their new release.

The song is called “Reconciled” and it’s the first track on the EP. Enjoy the beautiful harmonies, and if you want more information about The Reliques, check out their MySpace page.

Also, apologies that the photos don’t really go with the music at all. They’re really just “something to look at.” And apologies for ending a sentence with a preposition.

This and two other tracks can be found on their MySpace page as well. “Peacock Wood” is $5.

What a day. I’m still a bit shocked from the Steelers’ amazing Superbowl victory last night. Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow (i.e., six more weeks of winter). I fell asleep for an hour in the Union this afternoon. So much for one Monday!

Actually, that leads me to something. In fairness to… myself, I was trying to read for government, but the Sandman got the better of me. This happens. A lot. I think maybe when I was a baby my parents would force me to read to make me stop crying/fall asleep at night. Makes sense, right?

Anyway, I had something I needed to attend at 4 p.m., so I decided maybe I needed a bit of coffee to get me through. Needless to say, I hit up the ‘Steins. (That’s Einstein Bros. to Joint n00bs. One of my better titles, I might add.) After grabbing a quick cup-o-joe, I headed back to campus.

But before I could get there, I was accosted by… let’s say, an attractive young person of the feminine persuasion. “You love WHAT?” she asked. After telling myself three times not to say “you,” I thought to myself… hmm, doesn’t the combo of sleep marks/dried drool on my face and the cup of coffee in my hand speak for itself? “Coffee!” I said, still half-asleep. And then I looked down and realized I had on my “I [heart] UT” shirt. Oh.

“UT!” I said, totally playing it cool. Yeah. That first thing was a joke. She continued to laugh and smile the entire time, and, if you’ll allow me, I’d like to think it was “laughing with me.” Anyway, at this point I’m past her, and she asks, “What about the environment?” I quickly picked up the coffee lid I had thrown into Guadalupe (muttering, “come and get me, litter cops!”), and hid the oil can I had planned on dumping on a defenseless duckling and replied, “A little bit!”

Then, it couldn’t have been thirty feet down the drag, and I ran into another one of Greenpeace’s minions. It’s quite possible this one was a clone of the other, or vice versa. I’m pretty sure Greenpeace is into that kind of thing. Anyway, this one was much more direct and personal: “What’s your favorite color?” Who asks that? It’s been years since a girl asked me my favorite color. Roughly second grade, I’d say. I just blushed, said I was sorry and kept walking. “Why are you sorry?” YOU’RE KILLING ME!

Anyway, it’s a genius PR/recruiting campaign they’ve got going. All of a sudden I forgot, for just a moment, that these are the nuts that go out in boats and try to harpoon whalers (i.e. humans). But I write this as a warning: stay strong. You don’t want to wake up one day with Azrielle staring you in the face, asking you to drink the Kool-Aid with her. Or do you?

They said it couldn’t be done. Rico, my beautiful gun-metal gray Ford Taurus is in Austin, Texas. The only casualty: $180 from my bank account, going to the Loogootee Police Department in the nothingness state of Indiana. All tolled, that’s not too bad.

I rolled out of the driveway Friday morning with my friends Jackie, Jordan and Eliot, leaving behind the -3.5 degree temperatures of Western Pennsylvania. After a couple pit stops, we arrived in Cincinnati, Ohio for lunch with a friend of mine from high school, Sara Roper. After one of the best lunches of my life (sandwiches from a local deli–hot pastrami and cheese!), we got back on the road and charged quickly through Kentucky and slowly through Indiana.

But not slowly enough, apparently. The sun set slowly in front of us, and after hopping outside to take a few pictures next to an abandoned set of boxcars on winding railroad tracks, we wound our way along highway 50, weaving in and out of small towns as we went. One of these towns, Loogootee, apparently had a problem with the way I was trying to get the hell out of it. I guess it could have been worse: the officer could have mistaken the girls’ knitting needles for drug paraphernalia, or I could have gone O.J. Simpson all over the guy and driven continuously at 35 mph (which it turns out is the speed limit in Loogootee). I considered briefly asking the officer “DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?”–the old standard of people who think they’re mildly famous (if only this guy knew how many daily readers I have…)

We arrived at family friends of Jordan’s in Lawrenceville, Illinois at around 7:45. I think. To be perfectly honest, no one really knows what time it was, because apparently this town lies at the vortex of the universe, where cell phone clocks hop back and forth between eastern and central time zones. After 8.5 hours of driving, it felt good to sit back and relax with pizza and beer. The next morning, we were off again, this time to Memphis, Tennessee.

Before we got there, I added a few “new states” to my list (which also included Kentucky). We traveled mostly through Missouri and briefly through Arkansas (two new ones, unless you count an airport in Kansas City) before crossing the Mississippi into Memphis. At this point, the car was sufficiently funkified, so I hit the showers before heading down the Beale Street (think Marc Cohn’s “Walking in Memphis”). We had ribs for dinner at the Rum Boogie Cafe and watched the band that performed afterward. Later, we moved on to B.B. King’s Blues Club and caught “The B.B. King All Stars” who did a 12-minute medley based off Ben E. King’s “Stand By Me.” Great stuff—a city I could definitely get to know better.

The next morning, we got up at 6:30 (I owe you guys) so we could hit Austin at about 5:30—the start time of the Steelers game against the Ravens. In case you missed it, uh, PITTSBURGH’S GOING TO THE SUPERBOWL!!!!! To be honest, the last day was a little grueling. We managed to save the longest travel day for last, but we split the driving three ways, which certainly helped.

Sure enough, we hit Austin at around 5:30 p.m. and everyone was still speaking to each other! No small feat in itself. I’m sure I’ve left some details out, but if you’ve made it this far, you’re either related to me, or I will probably be discussing the trip with you in person or by phone. Anyway, the driving wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be. I recommend it.

But I might bypass Loogootee.

Today, I am bored out of my mind. And, lucky for you, that means I’m turning to the Joint to somehow fix that. Will it? Probably not. I’ll probably write about half of this, get bored, lean about 90 degrees to the left on this couch and call it an afternoon, waking up sometime mid-Pardon the Interruption.

But in the meantime, let’s talk sports. Full disclosure: for some reason, I hate change. Always have. And every single year, when it’s time to change from baseball season to football, I hate football for about a week. The transition from hockey to baseball isn’t a terrible one, but it still throws me. However, the shift from football to basketball is my own personal Hell. For starters, I absolutely refuse to watch “professional” basketball (i.e. the NBA, and yes, those quotations around professional are sarcasm quotes). But to be perfectly honest, college basketball isn’t much better. Sure, I go to one of the best schools in the country at the sport… but we’re also exceptional at swimming, track and chess (last one’s a guess, but who’s going to doubt it?), and you don’t see me champing at the bit to watch those “activities.” (sarcasm, again)

I realize people are going to hate me for this, but that’s okay. I’m sure I lost half my readership during the election, anyway. But it’s just not my bag. I get into March Madness, but that’s about all I can take (and it’s a result of gambling, not the sport itself). I mean, one team runs down court, puts the ball in the hoop, and then the other team does likewise. When that doesn’t happen, and my team fails to score, anxiety begins to set in. When Vince Young or Colt McCoy give me anxiety, they (almost–barring November 1, 2008 from memory) always end the night on a good note (…or pass, or run). Simply put, basketball is too volatile for me. Begin your quiet loathing… now!

And the only other thing that is able to make basketball season worse than it already is, is Gus Johnson. ESPN has gone to the trouble of ranking the CBS announcer’s “Top 5 Calls.” Ugh, just when I got over hating Joe Buck, this guy comes along. Watch (or more accurately, listen, there’s no video content) the below. If you get past the 1:50 mark, I owe you a dollar.

Shouting… is not announcing. This is. (If you do one thing I ask from this post, watch that video. Trust me, you will not be disappointed. I may even predict tears from the laughter. Not to overplay my hand.)

This was simply too good to not pass along.

As we all know, finals season is upon us. As I walk around the University of Texas campus, there is much wailing and gnashing of teeth. Women are pulling their hair and men are beating their breasts. It is, in a word, turmoil.

My statistics final was this morning, and although I was doing fairly well in the class, I found the final to be somewhat harder than I had anticipated. As it turned out, my classmates agreed. I am now going to relay to you the first sentence of the e-mail, sent by my professor, Dr. Paul Adams, to his students after grading the exams. It is poetry:

In light of the stunning devastation produced by what I thought was a rather straightforward final exam, I’ve decided to slightly lower the grading cutoffs for the course.

So buck up, students! Occasionally ol’ Saint Nick appears in the form of urban studies professors, hoping not to crush your Christmas season (and soul) too badly. Good luck.

I hate to prematurely declare “I’m back,” but it certainly feels good to be winding down the semester. Today was the last day of classes, and finals begin mid-week next week. It’s incredibly hard to believe that we’re already five days into December, but in that vein, I’d like to catch you up on a few things going on in the wide world of Jeet (and beyond).

For starters, and as promised, I’m uploading my fourth and final podcast. I think I was a little spoiled after the last one (see here) because I had complete control over the project. Interviews can throw a wrench into pre-made plans, but I was pleased with the final product. The story is a profile of the plans of Austin Stone Community Church to build a campus-style facility in one of Austin’s worst neighborhoods. To listen to the podcast, click below:

Podcast 4 - The Austin Stone

Next up, my friend Sarah was on Austin radio this week! A little after 8 a.m. on Tuesdsay, Sam Marion called me to say that Sarah and her band “The Reliques” (comprised of herself and another Sarah) were the topic of discussion on the Bobby Bones show, which is one of the most popular morning shows in Austin (96.7 Kiss FM). You can listen to a couple of their songs on The Relique’s MySpace page. I recommend it.

In the off chance you’re not terribly in to Texas politics (I mean, who isn’t, right?), on my last day at Senator Hutchison’s office, she released a statement that indicated she is serious about running for governor of Texas. Check out the Politico story (i.e. national news), but don’t miss the Wayne Slater piece in the Dallas Morning News. The Burka Blog, which speculated she would resign from the senate in the near future was refuted by the DMN’s “Trail Blazers” blog and a statement by the senator herself that indicated she would remain a senator through at least late 2009. So what does all of this mean? Well, if she decides to become a candidate for governor, it means a primary showdown with current-Gov. Rick Perry (who won in 2006 with a staggering 39 percent of the vote, in an election where 11 percent went to “the guy in the wheelchair”) in March 2010. Stay tuned on this one.

In other news, Chris Matthews is a blemish on society. He apparently thinks he’s worthy of taking the senate seat of one of our country’s foremost leaders in public policy, Sen. Arlen Specter. I, of course, have no bias in this situation. Neither my education in journalistic ethics, nor my brief employment for Sen. Specter has any bearing on the fact that Matthews is literally the worst that cable news has produced (which is saying A LOT… for an example of his competition, I present to you: Nancy Grace). It’s going to be difficult to sit idly by and watch this thing unfold, if he decides to run.

And finally, I really like this song by The Clash “Train in Vain.” The YouTube video is just a slideshow since the song came out before MTV, so I recommend playing it while you’re working on other things. It feels good to be back!

Now I got a job, but it dont pay
I need new clothes, I need somewhere to stay
But without all these things I can do
But without your love I wont make it through
Did you stand by me? No, not at all