Boredom and Procrastination of a Med Student

I did it!!

2011-03-24T08:20:00.000-07:00

I sent my mean message. I left out the part about how he should pay me now because unless he drops out of my brother's wedding he will have to see me again. Partly because I chickened out and partly because a few of my friends thought that he may actually do that to avoid having to pay someone back for something.
I just said that it was getting ridiculous and I didn't have time to sit around waiting for him not to show up today so he would have to find a way to bring me the money at work tomorrow. Now I'm gonna go work out because it makes me feel less bad for being mean.

I came so close to being mean today

2011-03-22T13:33:00.000-07:00

There's this guy who owes me $34 for a concert ticket that i bought. Two of my friends and I were going to the 30 Seconds to Mars concert together, and this guy was around while we were making plans for it and said he wanted to go. I do not like this guy at all. I think he is a giant ass and lies like it is his job, but he's friends with my brother. Now I hate being mean to people; someone can be a complete ass to me, and if I am mean back I will still go home and cry over the fact that I was mean because I seem to want everyone to never ever feel bad about anything, and if there is the slightest chance that I may have made someone feel even a little bit bad, I feel like a terrible person. As a result of this, when he said he wanted to come to the concert, I couldn't say no. I bought tickets for everyone because it was just easier that way. The show got rescheduled from november to february, and the day of the concert there was a giant snow storm. Supposedly this guy got stuck in Florida (but as I have already stated he lies like it is his job so I don't know if I believe that). But he never told me he wouldn't be able to make it to the concert, and the only reason I found out is that one of my friends told me that he was in Florida. Oddly enough I was unable to get rid of a ticket to a concert that wasn't sold out, in the middle of a snowstorm, on a day's notice.
He needs to pay me back despite not going to the show; if he'd given me like a week notice instead of a day I may be more lenient, but no. I have been trying to get him to pay me back since october now, and he was supposed to meet me today to give me the money. Except he didn't show up. I got home all ready to send him a nasty message telling him that he needed to pay me back before I left for spring break on saturday and that unless he was planning on dropping out of my brother's wedding he was going to have to see me eventually and I wasn't going to forget about the money so he may as well just pay me back now. I was gonna be so proud of myself. Just as I was sitting down to do it though, he texted me and said he got stuck at the doctors office (thanks for texting me after I wasted 20 minutes waiting for you) and that he could meet me at the same time tomorrow. So we'll see what tomorrow brings. Maybe I will get to send my nasty message yet. And immediately feel like a terrible person and cry after. I need to work on that

Do you know how much a polar bear weighs?

2011-03-11T17:52:00.000-08:00

Over the course of my life, I have found that men have an interesting idea of what would be a succesful way to try to pick up a girl at a bar/date a girl. Most of the ways I've encountered, while not great ways to actually get a girl, are great ways to get the girl and her friends to talk about you, albeit they'll be discussing either how much of an ass you are or how ridiculous you are. At least you'll be on the girl's radar, right? Wrong, so very very wrong.

When trying to pick up a girl at a bar, probably not the greatest idea to be a complete ass to her friends the entire night and then tell her "your friend has been trying really hard to get with me, but I'm really interested in you." Or anything along the lines of that. Even if the girl was clueless to the fact that you were being an ass to her friends, they will tell her. And unless the girl you're trying to get with is a total bitch, that line is far more likely to get you a drink in the face than anything else.

If you have to resort to holding a girl's hand and telling her that you won't let go until she gives you her phone number, she would probably rather saw off said hand than give you her number. Have some self-respect.

If a girl's friends come up to her and tell her that they really need her to go somewhere with them right that second, and she goes, she somehow signaled to them that she is not interested in you. Personally, my friends and I use the ever subtle thumbs up or thumbs down. If this happens, I would say its okay to try to talk to the girl one more time. If the same thing happens again, she's not interested! Attempting to talk to her four or five more times is not going to get her to think "oh, he's trying so hard maybe I should give him a chance." It's going to get her to think "this kid is super annoying, what the f do I have to do to get him to leave me alone?!"

On a similar note, there is never a reason to ask a girl out four or five times. Ask her out once, she says no, move on. (If it's a legit no. Sometimes "I'm busy" really does mean I'm busy). If you really can't move on, and a few months later you think it may be reasonable to do so, ask her out again. If she says no again, for real MOVE ON! A. She's not interested and is clearly not changing her mind. Girls aren't that indecisive. For me, if I made the decision once, unless you do something amazing to persuade me otherwise, my mind is made. The only things I'm ever indecisive are what to wear and what to eat. Otherwise, I rarely change my mind. B. If you're thinking you can wear her down eventually and get her to say yes, are you serious?! You really want a girl who didn't actually want to go out with you, but was so desperate to get you to shut-up that she said yes anyway? Come on.

Don't tell a girl that you and your friends took a vote and decided that she was the hottest girl in the bar. It comes across as pretty creepy; seems like you're more interested in a gang bang than anything else, and unless a girl has some serious issues (the kind of issues that make her likely to stand outside your window and watch you sleep for a few years after the fact) she's not interested in that. Nor is she interested in being the reason you get bragging rights amongst your friends.

Never EVER try to grab a girl as she walks by. Especially when there is another girl draped over you. And trying to grab a girl is even more creepy than the above method of attempting to get a girl. Touching people you don't know is never appropriate. Great way to get arrested or sued, but unless you're looking to do either of those things, probably not a great idea.

If you are going to ask a girl out, ask her out. Don't ask if maybe you could take her to dinner sometime (and if her response to this is I'm busy, she is so very, very not even a little bit interested. She can't even be bothered to come up with a plausable, nice excuse. That right there is a flat-out NO). Ask a girl if she would go to dinner with you on a specific night. If you're halfway asking a girl out, she's really just going to be wondering what else you only do halfway. Man up and ask the girl out.

If a girl ever talks to you or around you about how hot she thinks a guy other than you is, she is not going to date you. The only way a girl that is interested in you is going to do this is if she is that girl and is playing games with you. And if you are trying to get with that girl, you are in a whole different ball game and deserve what you get out of that situation.

I know I've run into some more absolutely ridiculous scenarios, but those are all I can think of for now. And, with regards to the title of this post, the average weight of the adult male polar bear is 900lbs or about 410kg while the average female weighs 500lbs or about 230kg. And I desperately want a man to use that line on me so I can drop that knowledge bomb on him and see what happens. I don't think people in the real world ever try that one though. Here's hoping

Movie Lists

2011-03-05T15:34:00.000-08:00

I recently came to the realization that I write in this blog one of two times. The first is during commercials and halftime of basketball games. The second is while I'm watching movies. I think everyone knows my favorite basketball team, but I've decided to make a list of my favorite and least favorite movies. Mostly because I'm bored and don't want ot study.
Favorites: (Pretty much once you get past like 2 on the list the order's interchangable depending on my mood)
10. Top Gun- From the time I was 4 or 5 until I was like 11, I would watch this movie all the time! The video I had of it was worn out in places. Basically it's navy pilots competing to see who the best of the best is.
9. You've Got Mail- Cutest movie ever. If you've managed to get this far in life without knowing what this movie is about, you probably don't like romantic comedies and shouldn't watch it anyway.
8. Fight Club- Guy meets a rando dude on a plane then moves in with him when his apartment explodes. They start an underground fight club that spreads. Guys beating each other up and destroying things. Fantastic
7. Into the Wild- Kid graduates college, gives away his money, and hitch hikes around the country, eventually to alaska, without telling anyone. Everytime I see it it makes me want to just go off and become a hermit. I think I'd last about five minutes.
6. Boondock Saints- Vigilantes kill mob guys. First, its hilarious. Second, its just amazing. Guys with guns, and super creative ways of killing a lot of bad people at a time. It doesn't get much better than that.
5. Moulin Rouge- Guy moves to Paris to be a writer and falls in love with a prostitute while writing a musical for her brothel. Super sappy movie. I watch it when I'm in a really really bad mood. It makes me cry every time.
4. Saint Ralph- Kid's dad is dead and when his mom goes into a coma he's told it would take a miracle to wake her up. He falls and hits his head in gym class and dreams that God in a santa suit told him that winning the boston marathon is the miracle needed to wake his mom up so he starts training for it. Some parts are super funny. I've seen it like 5 or 6 times, but I still cry through like the whole thing everytime. I really like sad movies. I don't know why.
3. Good Will Hunting- Genius gets arrested for hitting a cop. A professor at MIT gets him out of jail time by saying he'll work with and make him see a shrink. Another one that's super funny at times and super sad at times. Has Matt Damon in it and I love him so that may be part of why I like it so much, but it really is just a fantastic movie
2. Love & Basketball- Title pretty much says it all. I've never seen a movie with basketball as an integral part of the plot line that I didn't love, but this one is my favorite. Lots of basketball, great love story. What more could you ask for?
1. Life as a House- This has been my favorite movie since I was like 13 or 14. Its about a guy who finds out he has four months to live so he makes his estranged son live with him for the summer and help him build his dream house.

Honorable mentions: The Dark Knight (I'm a little bit in love w/ the Joker. Is that weird?), Inception, P.S. I Love you, Now & Then, Pride & Prejudice, Finding Forrester, Save the Last Dance, Ever After, Coach Carter (I'm watching it right now)

Worst movies:
1. Drive me Crazy- I will admit that I like this movie more and more everytime I see it (though I hated it enough the first time that it's kind of amazing I've seen it more than once). It's so bad though.
2. The Princess and the Frog- I don't know if this was bad, so much as disappointing. I was so excited for it, and then the music and story line were both just not up to par with the Disney movies I grew up watching.
3. The Spirit- I did not like this movie at all. I thought it was so boring.
4. Fighting- I was expecting this to be bad, but it had Channing Tatum in it so I saw it anyway. Big mistake
I'm sure there are many more, but I can't think of them right now

Bucket List

2011-03-03T15:35:00.000-08:00

I've never actually made a bucket list, but I know a lot of people that have, and I feel like I should so I will right not. Or at least part of one; I'll probably get bored before I make the whole thing. Some items will have explanations. Some will not.

1. Go skydiving. A friend of mine actually suggested we go the other day. I'm not sure if he was serious though. We were talking about third year and I was saying how it was stressing me out not to know what my schedule would be like, and he suggested it because he thought I needed to do something where I'm "not in control." Little did he know that that's a dream of mine and I would do it in two seconds flat if someone came with me. I said as much, so well see where that goes...I may have to bring it up again.
2. Get a tattoo (soon I swear).
3. Go to a pro basketball and pro football game. I've been to pro baseball, lacrosse, soccer, and hockey. Pro basketball may happen this year (fingers crossed that that works out). For pro football, I'm still working on finding a team I want to cheer for before I see a game
4. Mardi Gras in New Orleans
5. Learn to dribble a basketball between my legs and shoot a three well
6. Go to Vegas. I was supposed to do that for fall break a couple years ago but then my mom got cancer so I went home instead. When I finally go, I want to get married there. Not a real wedding, just a fake one that I get annulled the next day.
7. Go to Europe. I've actually been there twice, but only England and Spain and I want to see Italy and France and Germany and Ireland and every other country. I may go to Ireland for the ND opener next year. When I told my mom that she told me I should go there for a month...I'd be all for that (I have to take time off a month at a time fourth year).
8. Do a triathalon. I could for sure do the swimming part, and if I fix my bike/slash get a better one I could definitely do that part, so I just need to work on the running part.
9. Half-marathon. Again with the running...once I do that this will change to marathon.
10. Buy a corvette. Dream car right there.
11. Write a book. I'm actually trying to work on one now, but I don't have a lot of free time

Things I've done that are on the bucket lists of other people I know and would be on mine if I hadn't done them:
1. New Year's in times square. Would not do that again unless I was actually close enough for all the pre-midnight entertainment. Was a good time though
2. Macy's Day Parade. I'd do that again...it was cool.
3. Go to Hawaii...I'd so go back there forever
4. Go to Niagara Falls. I live there (within 20 minutes anyway) so not I've been there quite a few times.

Now I'm bored. I'm going to watch Finding Forrester

HALFTIME!!

2011-02-26T16:57:00.000-08:00

Halftime of the ND game and I need something to do until it starts again, so I decided to make a list of my favorite things about the team this year, first as a basketball fan, then as a girl.
As a basketball fan:
1. Tim Abromaitis. The team has a lot of great players, but he is pretty fantastic. And not just because he is my favorite player. He knocks down threes like it is his job, but he can also dominate underneath. He sets great screens and has great cutting abilities (I feel like that's a weird way of saying that, but I can't think of a better way). And currently, he is basically dominating Hazell defensively. It makes me quite happy.
2. Young players not playing like they're young. Specifically Atkins and Cooley. Atkins has the highest assist to turnover ratio in the big east, and he is a freshman. He was having some trouble with taking point under pressure at the beginning of big east play, but he's improved that so much. And Cooley still makes some young mistakes, but for the most part, he is a great presence underneath.
3. Fouls. We pretty much get fouled like it is our job. And then we make our fts (most of the time anyway). In one game, it was either louisville or usf, Abro was 9 of 9 from the line: refer to #1 for my opinion on that.
4. Assists. It's just what we do.
5. 6'8"ish. 4 of our 5 starters. And not only are they big, but they can shoot threes (except Ty, but he does other things). Big is always helpful in basketball

As a girl:
1. Abro's arms. Really just abro in general, but I feel like anyone, man or woman, has to admire his arms. I wish my arms looked like that. But not really, cause I'm a girl, and that would be kind of gross. I feel like this could go under as a fan as well cause that situation has got to help him out with shooting and like intimidating the other team or something.
2. Joey Brooks's smile. It's just a very nice smile. It's like one of those infectious smiles. I see him smile and it just makes me happy.
3. The team's on-court personality. They just always seem so calm and collected. It's great. And they always seem very classy. I like classy.
4. Intelligence. I mean, yeah, you kind of expect that given that its Notre Dame, but still, it's just nice to look on the court and know that the players are not only athletic, but intelligent. In my opinion, it makes them a more respectable team.

That'a all. More game watching now

I make interesting decisions

2011-02-24T18:03:00.000-08:00

A few days ago I needed to shave my legs to go to work (as a lifeguard...nothing weird), and there was a little daddy long legs on my shower wall. I am terrified of spiders (once i was vacuuming my room at school, I saw a spider on the vaccuum and freaked out, but the vacuum was between me and the door so I had to call one of my friends to come take the vacuum out of my room before I would move out of the corner), but I had just learned about phobias, and I hate killing things, so I decided to just let the spider be while I shaved. Bad idea. Everytime the spider moved, I jumped out of my skin. Totally fine if I were doing anything but shaving, but in this case, almost everytime the spider moved and I jumped out of my skin, I had a razor pressed to it. Luckily the razor was dull so no injury was sustained. Amazingly it took like four times of the razors nearly impaling me (okay razors don't impale, but you get the picture) for me to realize that that probably was not the best time to face my fear of spiders. Besides, if I'm going to face fears, I should probably start with the less socially acceptable ones, like balloons.
On an unrelated note, a few days ago, Notre Dame lost to West Virginia, and I had a revelation about one of the reasons I don't like when my team loses. I felt like an ass when I discovered this reason because it was that I don't like seeing the fans from the other team happy. It's not that I want to see them unhappy, I just feel like I probably deserve to be happy due to a win more. Its really presumptuous of me, but I look at the fans, and I feel like they're probably not as good of fans as I am. I mean they probably wouldn't have even been there if they weren't playing a ranked opponent. And I always wonder how many games they waited outside for an hour+ just to be near the front (not because they wanted to be on tv, but because they wanted to see the game better). Or if they would be there after their team had gone on say a seven game losing streak (not to keep bringing that heartbreaking situation up, but it happened). And I sat outside for literally 4-5 hours for NIT games. How many other fans would do that? I was an awesome enough fan that when I went back to a game a few weeks ago (2 years after graduating) players that I'd never even met still recognized me. Clearly I deserve to see my team win more than the stupid bandwagon fans. And I know that there may very well be fans of that school just as intense, if not more intense (that actually may not be 100% possible) than me, but it's tough for me to imagine that they are, so I hate seeing them get excited over their team winning. Especially when its because my team is losing, but really just in general.

I have a deviated septum

2011-02-19T18:37:00.000-08:00

I didn't always have a deviated septum, and I don't know how it happened. All I can think of is that movie with Ben Stiller where he marries the girl from 27 dresses then falls in love with the girl from Made of Honor on their honeymoon, and the girl says she has a deviated septum from snorting coke or someting like that. I don't snort coke (or anything else for that matter), but now I'm afraid people will think that I do because I have a deviated septum. I also think it may be part of the reason that I keep getting sick. Either that or I just don't have an immune system. One of the two.

I get a snow day!!!!!!

2011-02-01T19:43:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow, I get my first snow day since high school. I don't remember if I got any snow days my senior year of high school, but I know my junior year I got a tropical storm day at the beginning of the year. Either way its been over 5 years since I got a surprise day off that I didn't give to myself. I'm so excited. I'm currently up past my bedtime watching reruns of the office (I've probably seen all of these episodes 5 or 6 times but I love it so much). Its barely snowing right now, and were supposed to get a foot, but its supposed to take 24 hrs so I'm kind of surprised that everything is closing. I'm supposed to go to a 30 Seconds to Mars concert tomorrow night. On one hand I really really hope it doesn't get cancelled cause I'm so excited for it, but on the other hand it would be nice if it were in like april and may so I could go and wait in line for hours and get a good spot and not have to drive through snow storms and whatnot.
Last week, I went out on Monday night, as I always do. Notre Dame had just beat Pitt (#2 team in NCAA bball at the time), and I was pretty excited. I told everyone there about it, and they didn't care. Then, in the middle of a conversation, I saw that espn was showing highlights of the game and got super excited and told everyone to watch. The general consensus was that no one else there really cared about basketball in general. I was there with all guys. I think I need to end up with a man that likes sports. That is the conclusion that I came to. I consider a love for sports one of the things that makes a man a man, and I don't want to be the man in any future relationships that I might have. Also, what guy doesn't like sports?! I thought that that was just like in their genetic code or something. I would just say that maybe these guys just like other sports, but I don't think its true.
On a similar note, since I left ND, I feel like I have to make excuses when I can't go out because there's a sporting event that I want to watch. At ND that was normal, but apparently in the real world that is weird. Especially if you are a girl. So if you ever ask me to do something and I come up with some half-assed excuse or no excuse at all and just say I can't, its probably because I'm watching some sort of sporting event. Its nothing personal.

I'm super dumb sometimes

2011-01-26T18:34:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, I think I just forget to use my brain, and the past few days have been a prime example of that. I'll start with today. I was leaving school, and driving a route I've driven about ten million times. I left out of one entrance to the parking lot, and each entrance has a traffic light at it. As soon as I got out onto the road, I apparently decided that there was no longer any need to pay attention to my surroundings, and when I got to the next entrance to the parking lot, I completely forgot about this traffic light concept. The light was red, but I didn't realize that until I saw it in my rearview mirror. Sadly there was a camera on the light so I will be getting a ticket. This is, however, the third time in the past year and a half that I've accidently run a red light; I guess if I only get a ticket one of every three times I'm not paying enough attention to see a red light, its not too bad. I think there should be different punishments for accidently running a red light vs. doing it on purpose though. If you accidently kill someone you don't get the same punishment as if you do it on purpose. Just saying.
I guess running the red light is less dumb and more me just living in my own little world. In my next story, I really was just dumb, really really dumb. Yesterday, I had to go grocery shopping. It was tuesday and I had been out of food in my apartment since thursday. Before grocery shopping I went clothes shopping and had a couple of bags from that. I knew it was going to take more than one trip to my car to get all my bags, and on my first trip I took my bags of clothes plus a six-pack of bottles of diet coke and a twelve pack of cans. I got everything to my apartment and my hands were pretty full so I had to put down the 12-pack of pop to unlock my door. I picked it back up, went inside, and for some reason I decided that I needed to lock my door again (I really didn't need to. I was dropping off the stuff I had in my hands, putting a potato in the microwave for dinner, and going back out to my car). It obviously would have been far too much effort to put the pop down again, and I really wanted to save some time 'cause I was really hungry. Well, apparently, while the cardboard container is strong enough to hold all 12 cans of pop under normal conditions, it does not have the strength for one to hold it with two fingers in the handle while trying to use one corner of the case to flip the lock on a door. The container ripped, and given how full my hands were, I couldn't even attempt to catch it. So instead of saving time, I ended up cleaning an exploded can of pop off of the floor in my foyer (luckily only one exploded). I'd like to say that I learned my lesson, but I'll probably just do the same thing next time.
My last story is a little bit of dumb mixed in with a lot of unhealthy obsesssion. I had a test in neurology on monday, which, going into this weekend, I knew I was not ready for. That's actually the reason that I went 4 days of having no food in my apartment...I felt guilty going grocery shopping instead of studying. Apparently I did not feel guilty watching 2 hours of Notre Dame basketball, 4.5 hours of John Isner tennis (what's really bad about that is that I didn't watch it live so I knew in advance that it was 4.5 hrs long, and I knew he lost, yet I still decided that watching that match was a better idea than studying), and both nfl conference championships (I don't even like any of the teams that were playing, and yet I still felt that I had to watch the games). So, not only do I apparently find sporting events to be more important than studying for medical school, but I also find them to be more important than eating. Yesterday I tried saying I don't have an obsession with sports and that I just like them a lot. I think I was wrong. I think I have a problem. I also think I'm 100% okay with that.

My Saturday Night

2011-01-15T14:22:00.000-08:00

It is saturday night, and I just got back from Chipotle and am settling down to watch Love & Basketball and Saint Ralph. Two of my favorite movies. I just started chewing a piece of gum before I went to Chipotle so now i feel like I have to wait to eat my food because if I spit my gum out now I'll be wasting it. So I'm writing in here instead of eating.
On Thursday, I came home at noon for lunch like normal and watched some tv while I was home. When I came back at 5:30, my cable had magically turned from standard to basic minus 3 or 4 channels. And I haven't been able to get a hold of the company that is my landlord (and is supposed to provide me with cable) so that I can bitch them out. Everytime I turn on my tv I try to turn on tbs; it has yet to magically reappear so I am without reruns of friends or the office. Even worse, I am without access to channels showing big east basketball and there is an ND game tomorrow. I can just watch it on my computer which is what I always did for away games on the big east network when I was at ND, but I was so excited to have big east network as part of my cable! (I don't really. I have sports new york which for some reason turns into the big east network during games even though there are only 2 teams from the big east in ny. not that im complaining. Just kind of weird).
I realize that not having cable is probably not the best excuse for staying in and watching movies on a saturday night. The real reason is that I am dateless (as per usual) and most of my friends live in other states. And I've been really sick all week. The last reason also means I haven't been able to work out all week (I tried on Tuesday, it didn't feel good). All I've been hearing on the rare occasion that I turn on the radio is all these ways to lose weight. My favorite is ironing. If I recall correctly, they are touting it as this amazing improvement over sitting on your ass because you can burn 70 calories an hour doing it. I really hope that this is a failure on the part of my memory, because personally, I burn at least 70 calories an hour by sitting on my ass so why would I iron if I can get the same benefit from doing absolutely nothing. Not that any of this is an issue because I own an iron and no ironing board. Also I don't know how to iron. Maybe that's why I don't have dates. Maybe men look at me and just know that this is a girl that has no idea how to do something as simple as use an iron. On Wednesday, a friend of mine, who I have actually gone on a date with, asked me to help him find an ugly sweater. I told him I would and he asked if I would be able to use sewing skills to make it uglier. I informed him that my sewing skills are severely lacking, and he never texted me back. So maybe my lack of domestic skills really is the reason. Or maybe its because I'm scared of talking to people that I don't know. Its probably the first reason though.
My gum still has a lot of flavor, but my chipotle smells delcious. It will be the first real dinner I've had since sunday. All I've eaten for dinner this week is frozen vegtables or salad. Its just so much easier than making real food. Also a fuse blew in my kitchen on thursday because I tried using my microwave and dishwasher at the same time (my apartment is super modern and awesome), so I was too frustrated to cook. I'm going to end this entry and start my super awesome, not at all loserish, saturday evening activities (I am actually really excited for my night).

A Guide to Driving in the Snow

2011-01-12T16:51:00.000-08:00

If you are going to live in Buffalo, NY, you need to know how to drive in the snow. You would think people would understand this, yet the past 2 years have taught me that people here are clueless about what to do with their cars when it snows. Now I don't claim to be an expert. Despite living in Buffalo for all but 4 years of my life, last year was the first time I ever drove in the snow. I got my liscence when I was 17, but was carless until I was 21; as a result I either got a ride from my parents or borrowed their car-anytime it was snowy, I opted for the ride. The first year that I had my car, I was at ND, and there was absolutely no use for it. The only reasons I left campus were for bars ($2 cab rides make the idea of driving to bars a joke) or to go shopping/out to eat with my friends who all have bigger cars than mine. Now, given that I have been driving in snow for a grand total of 1.5 winters now, you would think I would be the white-knuckled driver annoying everyone around me, but there are a disturbing number of people living in Buffalo who seem to think snow is an immediate excuse to forget how to drive. As a result, I have decided to compile a list of pointers on how to drive (and not to drive) in the snow:

1. Start slowly, turn slowly, stop slowly. The time in between starting, stopping, and turning does not need to be that slow. Slowing down a little is good, but there is never any need to be driving 5 mph. If I can get out of my car and walk faster than you are driving, you need to give some serious thought to moving out of Buffalo. And by give some serious thought to, I really mean pack your bags while the snow is on the road, and once the plows have finished their job, just start driving south.

2. In America, we drive on the right side of the road; snow does not change this. I understand that when there is snow on the street, it becomes difficult to see lines on multi-lane streets; taking up more than one lane is acceptable. Driving on the wrong side of the street...not so much. There was a woman today, driving in front of me down a side street, on the wrong side. Now it was quite obvious that this was not a one way street-cars were parked on the opposite side facing the opposite way, and at least two cars had gone by us on the other side of the street. But for some reason, this woman decided to just switch sides of the street and start driving on the left. Apparently this is a common trend as later my friend told me that she had seen a woman that morning driving on the wrong side of a double yellow line because the other side of the street was clearer. Last time I checked, snow does not give you permission to break traffic laws.

3. And on the breaking traffic laws topic, here is a list of weather conditions in which it is illegal to block side streets and intersections: sunny, cloudy, rainy, hail, sleet, SNOW, tornado, hurricane, tropical storm, wintery mix, and thunderstorm. The only condition in which I feel like it would maybe be acceptable to block an intersection is if you have just entered into one and look up to see a giant tsunami coming towards you. In this case, if you feel like you have a better chance of escaping alive by getting out of your car and running in the opposite direction, by all means, leave your car in the intersection. I don't think anyone is going to be doing too much driving at that moment in time anyway. However, once that tsunami is over and the flooding has subsided, you'd better go move your car. Or maybe just call a tow truck. I suppose you could do the same with a tornado so that probably shouldn't be in the weather conditions list. Especially since the tornado is pretty likely to move your car for you anyway. If you ever find yourself in either situation though, I would suggest turning your car around and driving away instead of running. Unless you're superhuman, you can drive faster than you can run. And if you are superhuman, do us all a favor and throw/push your car out of the intersection before you run away. Thanks

4. Red means stop. Cars slide in snow, so if you didn't heed my advice in #1, and your car slips into the intersection, by all means, run the red light. Speeding up to get through the light is not the same as slipping through it. People in Buffalo speed up through red lights all the time, but there should really be less of that when its snowing. You shouldn't be trying tot do anything fast let alone run red lights fast. It seems to happen more when its snowing though. People are kind of dumb sometimes.

5. My last piece of advice: don't try to cut people off. I was driving through snow one day, and had my blinker on to make a right turn onto a side street. A car coming from the opposite direction wanted to turn left onto the same street. The driver decided that he wanted to turn onto the street really quick before I could. In normal weather conditions, this would have been fine-he'd have made it before I got close enough that I would've hit him (barely) and I just would have thought he was an ass. Instead, he turned onto the side street, fishtailed, and was blocking half of the street. I still thought he was an ass. Moral of the story: when its really snowy out, don't be an ass. You're just asking to get in an accident.

There is my advice for driving in the snow. On a highly related subject: I cannot wait until I finish school and can live somewhere that isn't Buffalo again

My first post

2011-01-11T17:39:00.000-08:00

I am sitting on my couch, watching Big East basketball, and making myself wait until at least 9:30 before I go to bed. What I should be doing is studying for neuro, but since my brain seems to have decided to take a vacation, I've decided to create a blog instead. Sorry if its not interesting...it will mostly be my own ramblings to myself, and I don't always make sense.

I am watching Rutgers play UConn right now. I desperately want Rutgers to win. I don't even really like them. I have nothing against them; I just normally don't care one way or the other whether they win or lose (unless of course they're playing ND in which case I want them to lose as miserably as possible). I do, however, hate UConn. They are probably my most despised team in the Big East. Or in the NCAA in general. I hate them a little less since Hasheem Thabeet graduated, but not much.

Small side bar on Hasheem: I will never understand why he garnered as much attention in his college days as he did. He wasn't even good, as evidenced by his entry into the NBA only to immediately fail into the D-league. His only talent is being 7+ feet tall. And having sharp elbows. And let's be honest, those tall guys are a dime a dozen. Anyone can do it if they try hard enough. Maybe that's not true--I tried to grow a foot once; I really wanted to dunk a basketball, and I thought it would be easier if I were 6'8" instead of 5'8". It didn't work as well as I wanted it to. I only got about an inch, and that may have just been improved posture. If anyone has any pointers, I'm still looking to grow some. Stretching a lot didn't work. I can, however, do a split now, so you win some you lose some. But back to my rant on Hasheem, in addition to being talentless, he's not very smart. My senior year, Hasheem wasn't a very good free throw shooter. So, in a very close game against ND, Hasheem got fouled and sat out the shots because he was "too hurt" to take them. He was not however to hurt to immediately reenter the game following the shots. First reaction is obviously he faked the injury so a better free throw shooter would take the shots. When Jim Calhoun was asked about this, his response was that he didn't think Hasheem was smart enough to think of that. Wow. Clearly this is a guy who should be getting media attention and becoming a possible role model for small children.

I'm watching this game come to a close and it is clear that UConn is going to win. It seems that the teams I want to win never do. Or more accurately, that the teams I want to lose never do. Perhaps it's because I usually want Notre Dame to win. And by usually I mean always. Any team is at an immediate disadvantage when they require that their player have functioning brains. Sometimes I think that I should just start liking schools that allow anyone to play for them and are more concerned with winning than providing futures for their players. If I did that though, I would likely immediately hate myself. Plus, when those teams play well, all they can brag about is the players athletic abilities. And when the teams play poorly, they don't really have a solid excuse. Right now ND basketball is pretty good. And they have a 100% graduation rate. And their 2nd leading scorer/leading rebounder graduated in 3 years and is working on getting his mba this year. No big deal though. I'm sure that happens at UConn all the time. And my senior year, when we had a pretty awful season with a 7 game losing streak, we also had a player blogging for the New York Times. How many other schools have players intelligent and eloquent enough to do that? Now, while I don't know for sure that the answer to the question is few to none, I would guess that it is. I'm pretty sure a lot of teams have a few moderately illiterate players; and those that can read, can't speak well enough to have the New York Times wanting any association with them. So long story short, I may have to deal with loving a team that doesn't always win its games, but at least the players have brains. And futures that don't involve metal bars.

And there is my rambling for the night. The game has ended and Rutgers has lost. Hope you enjoyed it, but if you didn't, then why have you read this far? Maybe next time I'll write about something other than basketball. Or maybe I won't write again. I tend to lack follow through on things like this. We'll see what future boredom and procrastination lead me to do