There are many things I enjoy about attending Weber State University.  I think it's a nice, big campus, with relatively easy access to all the essential classes.  I like some of the new buildings they've built in the last few years to compensate for the old nasties that had been there since the fifties.  I especially like the fact that every single one of my classes in my major has been taught by a professor with an accredited PhD, giving me opportunities to associate with peop...

I'll admit it; I'm the kind of person who can talk my way around (and out of) anything. I'll gab your ear off until you'll just drop whatever issue you have or you've completely forgotten what you were asking or confronting me about. And no, I'm not saying I'm going to stop doing that. I mean, that's just me - that's like asking Shakira to stop being sexy or telling Ricky Gervais he can't be awkward and funny anymore. It just isn't happening. However, there is a lot of crap I ...

It was a bright and breezy morning, with just the right kind of chill that seeps into your bones and makes you long for warmer weather or at least a thicker coat. I was stepping out of the Smith's grocery store, pleased to have just purchased the obligatory vegetable tray that my branch wanted me to bring for our New Year's Eve festival at the bank this afternoon. (I'm tired of always being assigned the relish tray, simply because they like the dip that Momma Jones - and, due to her tutelag...

I heard this story earlier today on the radio show I listen to, and was absolutely disgusted by it. I can't believe that people still think that we should loosen our gun laws. SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - Three men, including a small-town police chief, were indicted Thursday on involuntary manslaughter counts in the gun-fair death of an 8-year-old who accidentally shot himself in the head with an Uzi that a prosecutor said he never should have been allowed to handle. The club where...

It's true. I've been feeling ill for the last week and a half. Originally, I thought it was a bug of some kind. I don't think it is anymore. In fact, I'm afraid I'm going to feel sick like this for the next, oh, seven or eight months. 'Why', you ask? Because I'm really, really nervous. Ever since I went and had a good talk with my professors and have been looking into graduate programs with some degree of depth and seriousness, I've been sick to my stomach. That's it - I don't h...

So this took longer than I thought it would to get around to writing up, but I've got to get something posted before too much time passes and I forget how awesome it was.  Because this show was exactly that - AWESOME. I arrived at the Urban Lounge early - the tickets said the show started at 9pm, so I rolled up about 8:30.  Not a soul was there; the doors were locked up and the 'Open' sign was off.  So I chilled in the car, listening to Polar Bear's eponymous album (because I ...

Rather than write a set of long reviews that no-one will read or care about, I decided to write a slew of small reviews (that no-one will read or care about). But anyway. Cloud Cult: Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes) (Indie/Existential Rock) This is Cloud Cult's latest release (and purportedly their last for a while, possibly ever), and is well worth a listen. It's streamlined, focused, and well-written. It's a bit shorter than other albums, and nearly every track ...

I was doing some homework for my online class (History of Rock Music) this weekend. Our chapters this weekend were a mixed bunch, with a chapter on funk and disco and another on the development of rap. Now, rap and hip-hop are music styles that have long escaped me. I've always sorta liked house music like the Beastie Boys (and their instrumental stuff has always been my favorite, oddly enough), but never really got into the hip-hop scene. Recently, I've found a few hip-hop artists wh...

A quick post, because I'm ditching class and feel like making one: Been listening to a lot of Cloud Cult lately. After the rainy-day miasma that was the election season, I was in serious need of a pick-me-up, and few bands can do it with the aplomb of Cloud Cult . But this morning I've been enjoying their latest (and supposedly last - say it ain't so, guys) release, Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes) , and I've been moved by one of the songs on the record. (Expect a revie...

A collection of my thoughts over the past few days, elucidated for mass consumption: I'm so beyond ready for this election season to be over. I'm tired of the scraggly old fart and the smooth, slippery young dude. I'm sick of the hairplugs and caribou Barbie. I'm done with the constant noise, noise, noise, noise. Call me the Presidential Politics Grinch, but I'm ready for it all to grind to a screeching halt. Once the election is over, I wonder how long before the ethers of the '...

A collection of my thoughts over the past few days, elucidated for mass consumption: I'm so beyond ready for this election season to be over. I'm tired of the scraggly old fart and the smooth, slippery young dude. I'm sick of the hairplugs and caribou Barbie. I'm done with the constant noise, noise, noise, noise. Call me the Presidential Politics Grinch, but I'm ready for it all to grind to a screeching halt. Once the election is over, I wonder how long before the ethers of the '...

A PARENTHETICAL, DIGRESSION-FILLED TALE I've worked really hard at maintaining a rather sizable list of nemeses over the years, and many of them are my enemies without even knowing it. (Funny story - my arch-nemesis and number one rival is actually Rachel Ray, and I don't even think I need to tell you why. However, if you want to know more, either e-mail me or ask in the comments. Maybe I'll divulge the story someday.) However, one who knows for a fact he's on my pooplist is Bill O'Re...

A PARENTHETICAL, DIGRESSION-FILLED TALE I've worked really hard at maintaining a rather sizable list of nemeses over the years, and many of them are my enemies without even knowing it. (Funny story - my arch-nemesis and number one rival is actually Rachel Ray, and I don't even think I need to tell you why. However, if you want to know more, either e-mail me or ask in the comments. Maybe I'll divulge the story someday.) However, one who knows for a fact he's on my pooplist is Bill O'Re...

I read a thought-provoking article this morning from the Deseret News' incomparable John Florez (by far one of their best editorial writers - he's on the money quite often) explaining about the need for ethics reform in the state of Utah. He makes some compelling arguments for ethics reform, and why it seems so distant. To quote from the article itself: Any effort to introduce reform legislation each year gets killed and never sees the light of day. And those in power grab more each y...

Polar Bear: Polar Bear Year: 2008 click here for the artist's site It was March of this year when I heard Polar Bear's 2005 album Held On the Tips of Fingers . I found it completely moving; it was overwhelming. I didn't think that anything would surpass what I thought about their sophomore effort. However, when I heard that they were finally releasing a follow-up this year, my interest was beyond piqued - and my curiosity was rewarded tenfold. Part of what I found so im...