Category: Writings

Hey Guys.

Ok. I’m back from Costa Rica. It was a rewarding experience where I learned a lot about the Spanish language, the Costa Rican culture, and how many insect bites my body can handle. I hope to see have a digitized version of my trip (and thoughts and pictures) online in the near future. Right now I have about 30 projects I’m trying to get going (for better or worse) and hopefully I’ll get them all done.

First off – washing the dishes.

Of course, the trip wasn’t without its costs. My bank account is reeling from my expenditures, and I’ll have to take these next months carefully. No Vegas gambling spree for me.

The site theme you are viewing is called La Nacion, which is a national newspaper in Costa Rica. You can view La Nacion Online, but I patterned this style off of the actual newspaper (not the web portal). It’s really simple – a huge change from the effects / graphics intense “Hillside” style that you just got down watching.

In any case, I just wanted to say “Hi” again, let you know that I’m not dead and that I haven’t forgotten you.

Yes!

I’m done with finals!!

It was long, it was tough, and I am beat right now.

Hey – guess what. May 9th – May 19th I’ll be in Costa Rica. Wanna check on my progress? Check out Charting on Awayken. I will try to post regularly while on my trip, and I will hopefully put up a Vacation / Travel page in it’s place later on.

I wish everyone a great week. I know that some of you still have finals to take (ouch), so I wish you good luck.

Oh, yeah, new theme. It’s pretty neat, but it only really works in Firefox. Eeek.

Long ago, when I was in a paranormal phase, I signed up for a newsletter. They had been silent for a good deal of time, and just recently have started sending out emails again. The organization is called the Center For Inquiry, or CFI, and they actually are anti-paranormal. I guess I didn’t read very carefully. In any case, this is the last email they sent me.

Dear Friend of the Center for Inquiry,

As you probably know, science and reason are under attack in virtually every area of society. Nowhere is this more dangerous than in matters of public health.

The Center for Inquiry is dedicated to free and scientific inquiry. You share these goals and you are likely to be as worried over the epidemic of irrationalism, pseudoscience, and quackery that is invading medicine and mental health practices as we are. Now you can do something about it.

Former New England Journal of Medicine editors Marcia Angell, M.D., and Jerome Kassirer, M.D., said, “It is time for the scientific community to stop giving alternative medicine a free ride. There cannot be two kinds of medicine — conventional and alternative. There is only medicine that has been adequately tested and medicine that has not, medicine that works and medicine that may or may not work.”

On April 14, defenders of science-based medicine suffered another major setback when a U.S. District Court in Utah overruled the Food and Drug Administration’s decision to ban the sale of potentially deadly herbal remedies that contain the powerful stimulant ephedrine. After collecting a decade of evidence linking ephedra-containing supplements to more than 150 deaths, the FDA banned these products as a danger to the public. Despite this evidence, the court ruled that federal law prohibits the FDA from banning a dietary supplement based on weighing its risks against its benefits.

Many hospitals and medical centers have jumped on the lucrative alternative and complimentary-medicine bandwagon to offer therapies that aren’t supported by scientific evidence, while medical schools are integrating irrational and pseudoscientific practices into their curricula.

The mental health fields are also in crisis. The public’s perception of mental health practice is shaped far more today by self-help books, radio psychologists, and sensational media stories of dramatic “cures” than by objective scientific evaluations. Self-proclaimed gurus are often heralded in the mass media, even though their treatments have not been submitted to scientific study.

In response to this alarming epidemic of antiscience in medicine and mental health practice, CFI established the Commission for Scientific Medicine and Mental Health (CSMMH) in November 2003. The Commission began by taking over sponsorship of the CFI’s two peer-reviewed publications, The Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine (SRAM) and The Scientific Review of Mental Health Practice (SRMHP).

It’s time to start holding alternative medicine accountable. You can help stop the erosion of the scientific foundations of medicine and mental health practices. We are outmanned, outgunned, and clearly out-funded.

Demonstrate your concern by joining us and making the most generous contribution that you can to support the investigations, programs, and publications. We need to keep healthcare practitioners and YOU (the public) informed of the danger of “New Age” therapies now flooding the market. It’s easy and so important. However you decide to give, please do so today, so we can continue to make a difference tomorrow.

Thank you very much for all your past, present, and future support.

With best regards,
Andrew Skolnick
Executive Director
Commission for Scientific Medicine and Mental Health

P.S. — We are a non-profit receiving no government funding … our main source of income comes from informed and interested people like you.

I was just checking my Yahoo! mail, and I had 206 bulk mail items. I last cleared it out yesterday. What’s more disturbing is that most of them address me as “Val”, not “Miles”.

Today was the Drama Club’s End of the Year party was tonight. We met in the Karl Mundt Library’s basement. This is where the members of the most dramatic club on campus gather to give each other awards, and then we go home and melt them down into tiny Buddhas.

Tonight was surprising. I didn’t think I would even be nominated for anything this year, considering I hardly did anything. But, to my surprise, I did win a Theatre Service Award for directing… I think… Then I got a nice post-it note cube for writing those two skits, a neat Shakespeare handbag for directing (even though Shakespeare was a playwright), and a $10 in Chamber Bucks for selling the most candles. It was really quite a shock.

Megan won a Theatre Service Award also, and she received a tiny radio boombox thing for having the best costume. Our theme for the evening was The 70’s, so Megan had a green flower dress that she got from Holly, bell-bottom pants, yellow hoop earings, and flowers in her hair. I had grungy jeans, my guards jacket, and a shirt that said, “Make Love, Not War”. Meg and I saw some people at Taco John’s, and they were friends of mine, and when they asked me why I was dressed like that, I told them that it was Vietnam War Reenactment Night at Jersey’s.

HA! I laughed for hours about that.

As intermission, Bob and Matt played some covers of come music from the era of which was aforementioned heretoward above. They do a good job playing them twangers. I enjoyed it.

After the awards were done, we had elections.

President: Miles Rausch
Vice President / Treasurer: Holly Smith
Secretary / Webmaster: Megan Flynn

Homecoming King: Ben Fox (Miles Rausch – alternate)
Homecoming Queen: Megan Flynn (Bob’s guitar – alternate)

Then we handed out the new T-shirts that we never actually ordered. They’re like the old ones (with the same typo), but the colors are inversed. Bam baby!

New Pope Elected

Apr 19, 2005 – By Philip Pullella and Crispian Balmer

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – A new pope was elected by Roman Catholic cardinals on Tuesday to succeed John Paul II. The election of the 265th pontiff on only the second day of a conclave in the Vatican’s frescoed Sistine Chapel was signaled by white smoke from the chapel chimney and the tolling of the bells of St. Peter’s Basilica.

But there were many minutes of confusion over the color of the smoke, which initially seemed gray, before the bells began tolling to signal the successful election.

Even Vatican Radio had initially said the color of the smoke was unclear. Black smoke indicates an inconclusive vote.

Tens of thousands of people in the square cheered when the vote was confirmed.

It was only the third time in a century that a pope had been chosen on the second day of a conclave. The name of the new leader of 1.1 billion Roman Catholics was to be announced shortly.

He was to appear on the main balcony of the basilica to deliver his first public address.

The 115 red-robed cardinals from 52 countries who were eligible to elect a new pontiff started their secret meeting on Monday. Three earlier votes had been inconclusive.

A candidate required a two-thirds majority or at least 77 votes to become pope.

Pope John Paul II died on April 2 after serving as pontiff for 26 years – the third longest papacy in Church history.

NEW POPE FACES DAUNTING CHALLENGES

The new pope will face the daunting task of following one of the most dynamic papacies in history but also one that divided the Church between conservatives and moderates.

The election came more quickly than most Vatican experts had predicted. They expected the new pope to emerge on Wednesday or Thursday. The front-runner going into the conclave was German cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, standard-bearer for the conservative heirs of John Paul and the late pope’s doctrinal watchdog.

But earlier on Tuesday both experts and bookmakers had said Ratzinger’s candidacy was weakening.

The 20th century’s eight conclaves lasted from two to five days, with the average just over three days.

Some 15 cardinals have been touted as potential popes, among them Italy’s Dionigi Tettamanzi, Honduran Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga, India’s Ivan Dias and Austria’s Christoph Schoenborn.

Before the conclave door shut on Monday, Ratzinger made a final appeal to his fellow electors to protect traditional teachings and to shun the “dictatorship of relativism.”

Ratzinger made no mention of the challenges that other cardinals and ordinary Catholics say should top the agenda such as poverty, Islam, science, sexual morality and Church reform.

(Additional reporting by Clara Ferreira-Marques, Phil Stewart and Jane Barrett in Vatican City)

Hey Kids!

First off, a big round of applause to Tony for posting twice in one day on his site.

Second, I’m considering a total redesign of the website. Not sure yet, not sure how major, and not sure if I’ll wait until after Listen is done or not.

Third, I got a new bed. And I have slept on it. And it was amazing.

I was doing the statistics in my head last night. When I left to go to college, I had had a nice bed at home. When you get to college, though, they make you get a dorm bed. This is a tiny, half-person-sized cots. The kind they give you in the military because you can’t really ever get comfortable, and therefore won’t be sound asleep when some third world country’s militia group manages to slip by our $2 billion of technology to slit your throat.

I spent a year at college, then I went back to Big Stone. In my absense, however, my family had rearranged the house. Now, instead of having my nice bed, Molly had it. So, I was forced to sleep in a bunk bed. I go from cot to bunk bed.

This continues until I decide to stay in Madison for the next summer. My mom goes to an auction and buys me a bed (how sweet of her). Guess what. This one actually has the Pentagon seal on it. It’s the same tiny cot bed I just got out of by moving off campus. How much does my family hate me…

I’ve used that bed for the better part of two years by now. I finally decide that, if I go off to grad school, I don’t want to bring this cruddy, used twin-sized bed with me. I want a real bed. So, with some proding from Megan and her Mom (neither of which wanted to start doing their taxes), I go to Montgomery’s Furniture store. Here they are even having a sale on all matresses.

What did I get? A full-sized Chiro mattress. Now, I’m not for sure, but I think that this link will show you what it looks like.

Last night was my second night with it. I, of course, had needed sheets and such for the bed, and I was busy all day on Monday. So, I decided to trust Megan to get me new sheets (mistake 1), gave her a blank check (mistake 2), and told her she could buy me one pillow (mistake 3). That girl does love to shop.

She did pick very nice looking sheets, bought two pillows (of two different kinds to keep me guessing), and then bought two throw pillows. What do I need with throw pillows? God only knows. I was a bit incredulous, but she did buy everything on sale, which is a good step for her.

Night 1

Night 1 went okay. There was all this buildup to it. Megan had been very excited for my bed, citing “Now you won’t have back problems”, but I think she’s just looking forward to taking naps on Saturday afternoons while I work on homework. In any case, there was much ado about the bed. Would it be magical? Would it fix all my problems? How was it?

Well, it kinda sucked. I used the fluffier pillow first. I was really hot all night, and sweaty, and I should have opened the window more, but Haji was right by the window. Verdict: disappointing.

Night 2

Night 2, however, had much more pressure on it. This night had to redeem Night 1, to set everything right. I chose the firmer pillow, I moved Haji away from the window, and I opened the window all the way. The room was quite a bit cooled down as I fell asleep.

Last night was great. I think I’ll stick with the firmer pillow. And I think Haji will be much happier where she is right now. And I love my new bed.

And, of course, with 6 pillows I can now practice jumping from a second story window. Score!

This weekend I spent a wonderful time with several of my fellow Drama Club members.

The highlights are :

1. The Lion King
2. Zeno’s Cafe
3. Brave New Workshop: Martha Stewart’s Prison Jamboree
4. Mass at St. Bonaventure
5. 4 awesome CDs that I made for Megan
6. Quiznos Subs
7. Take Me Out
8. The City
9. Nice weather

The lowlights are :

1. Drama
2. Long car rides
3. Hot car rides
4. The cost
5. Car trouble
6. Getting lost
7. Crappy wireless internet
8. Late nights

We saw Brave New Workshop first. This was good and bad. It was good because it’s always a pleasure to see the satirical skits that put on, poking fun at nearly everything. It was a little disappointing because this was a special show. What they did was to reperform skits from years past. At least two were from the show last year, and at least two were from the show the year before that. This meant that there weren’t very many skits that were new to me, but it was still funny to see. And the improv at the end was good, too.

We then saw The Lion King. This was, without a doubt, the higlight. Even though none of us were sitting together, we managed to find each other at intermission and afterwards. The show was fantastic. From every standpoint of theatre (writing, directing, costuming, set construction, choreography, acting, etc…) this show was always creative and awe-inspiring from scene to scene and song to song.

The last show that we saw was Take Me Out. It was about a Baseball player who comes out of the closet, and all the consequences that it had on the team and his friends. There was quite a bit of male nudity in it, largely because they were showering for about 20 minutes. I can see that the nudity did have a part in the story, but it was a bit distracting. I mean, there was a lot of it, and it didn’t really make me uncomfortable (except for Megan’s ogling), it just seemed like they wrote it into the script to be “edgy” or “boundary pushing” or something.

The other place that we spent a great deal of time at was the Mall of America. Megan was in love. We had to hold her back as we walked to the food court. She practically sprinted there. I was happy to have spent hardly any money. I figured, in a mall that size, that there should be at least one store that interested me, but there wasn’t. Maybe we needed more time to walk around, but all my purchases were restricted to food. Megan did get some new clothes (and that is an understatement). I’m just not a Mall kind of guy. Give me a website any day.

I think that’s about it. Wow – first thing that I’ve written in ages. And I am so bloody tired…

Pope John Paul II has died at the age of 84, ending one of the longest papacies in history.

Here are some of the reactions from around the world to the announcement of the pontiff’s death.

We all feel like orphans this evening.

Vatican Undersecretary of State Archbishop Leonardo Sandri

A good and faithful servant of God has been called home.

The world has lost a champion of peace and freedom.

US President George W Bush

I was deeply saddened by the death of Pope John Paul II.

Quite apart from his role as a spiritual guide to more than a billion men, women and children, he was a tireless advocate of peace, a true pioneer in interfaith dialogue and a strong force for critical self-evaluation by the Church itself.

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan

The world has lost a religious leader who was “revered across people of all faiths and none.”

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair

This mourning deeply marks France as well as every French person, who identifies with the message of the Catholic Church.

French President Jacques Chirac

History will… record that John Paul II made a vital contribution to the democratic transformation of central and eastern Europe, and to the end of the Cold War.

Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin

The angels welcome you.

Vatican TV

Israel, the Jewish people and the entire world, lost today a great champion of reconciliation and brotherhood between the faiths.

This is a great loss, first and foremost for the Catholic Church and its hundreds of millions of believers, but also for humanity as a whole.

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom

Well, last night I decided that me and Megan had no further to go in our relationships growing period and I took her to Riddles Jewelery and let her pick out a ring. Thank god she picked a cheap one, only $275. Best part is I can pay it off in smaller payments so it doesnt’ break my bank.

It was a very surreal moment. Megan was crying and I don’t think I’m any less of a man for crying myself.

I didn’t do it in any special kind of way, I waiting for her at her blue van when her class finished up and had roses under her windshield. I had gotten her extra set of keys from her house and put the ring on the drivers seat. Then she came out, saw everything and I came out from my hiding spot behind a car in the parking lot.

There was a group of like 4 people who witnessed it, they just kinda smiled, whispered to themselves, and kinda clapped. Being me, I took a bow.

No date is set yet, but it’s pretty big news. I havent’ called anyone yet cause I really havent’ had time. Cause then after that I had Math and Leisure Club meeting and she had RA practice and than we decided we’d tell people at a later date. So sorry everyone, I’ll call later and give you all the specifics once we have them.

Wish us luck.

I hope everyone has a fun and safe Easter.

And I still have no new ideas for Awayken.Com. You people are terrible at brainstorming. You’re all fired.

But, not today. I’ll wait unti tomorrow.

Consider this a contest!

If anyone still checks this site, you’ve seen that it’s grown a little scarce for content. My m.o. lately has been to simply cut-and-paste my way into your hearts. This is not acceptible. Well, it is, but I’m ready for something new.

The humourous prose days of this site may be at an end. For a while, there really wasn’t anything funny to write about, and now I just don’t feel up to it. I’ve been quite busy developing Listen, a fun-sized side project. The site, though, has come a long way, and I’m not just going to toss it out.

What do I need from you? Ideas! What should Awayken.Com become? What would you like to see my creative and misguided coding efforts devoted to next? Or should I just cut my losses and give up? Your input is appreciated (HAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!) and I will read every comment made. Of course, in the end, I will probably just do what I want and give credit to no one.

Megan Flynn is now the Vice President of DSU. All will bow to her power.

You are “When the Curious Girl Realizes She is Under Glass”. You like thoughts of being with loved ones and being devoted. You tend to be selfish, but in an artistic way, or at least you claim it is for art. Oh yeah, and pills are very good friends of yours. (or they should be.)

Which BRIGHT EYES song are you?

Brought to you by Quizilla.

This Day and Age – Slideshow : http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/15623892/

View their official site: [link]

And listen to their Purevolume account: [link]

“in the movies, on the bigscreen i’d make you mine.”

“if this were highschool or just homecoming, we’d dance all night.”