“I just have to run in the bank real quick…”

Ever heard this phrase uttered before? I know have, and I know I’ve said it on more than one occasion. Thing is you know it’s a flat out lie. Nobody has ever been able to run into the bank, deposit their check, and be out in two minutes. It’s just physically impossible. The DMV gets a bad reputation…. it’s the banks we should be chastizing. A few things about banks:

- Why doesn’t the ATM give you the exact money you need? You know how easy it would be to just slip a couple singles, fives, or tens in there? And you better not want more than $200, because apparently that machine can’t handle that kind of pressure. They have tubes at the drive-thru that go straight to the teller in nanoseconds, but I can’t take out $25 if I want. Boo.

- Is there always someone that is at a teller for the duration of your visit or is it just me? Here it is: the line is six deep, two people are being helped. One is like you, just cashing their check after a hard day of work. The other is doing one of three things – A) cashing in $542.36 worth of pennies they’ve been saving since Gerald Ford was in office, B) chatting with everyone at the bank because there’s always that one person who somehow knows everyone, or C) trying to deposit $50 and withdraw $50 at the same time and can’t understand what happened to the $50 they deposited. Why are these people at the bank at the same time you are? Because life isn’t fair.

- The banks just don’t keep regular hours. Ever. Why they open at 10am and close at 4pm on Monday, then open at 9:30am and 6pm on Tuesday just doesn’t make sense to me. I’m not above writing down the hours on a piece of paper for safe keeping, but a little uniformity would be nice. Especially for college students who rely on measly paychecks to be in their account the next day so they can go to the bar over the weekend.

- How do you qualify to be a bank teller? To me, I just can’t see an instance where someone would walk into a bank and inquire about a job. I’m sure the pay is great and the hours must be nice, but anyone I’ve ever seen working at the bank is either 60 years old or just dropped out of cosmotlogy school. I don’t know what qualifies those folks to handle our money, but I digress. Maybe soon enough they’ll have their own desk where they can greet me as I walk in….”How are you today?”…”I’m at the bank, withdrawing $17 because I don’t have $20 in my bank account, so what do you think?”

On the other hand…maybe I should just be happy my bank is still open.

 

4:43: Sorry, we close at 4:41 on Thursday

Random thoughts…

Just some stupid things that have been going through my mind lately…

- That terrible song by Kid Rock that has been blasting through the airwaves all summer may possibly be the worst song of the year. The singer/actor/pimp/cowboy/American badass really stepped up his game on this one. Let’s see…he stole the beats from two classic rock songs. Not one folks, two!! How can that even be considered a song? Then he made a super cool video to go along, with him and his “friends” partying all summer long apparently on Mr. Rock’s boat. How original. And perhaps the most egregious of all, he did the whole “hey, it’s summer…I should make a song that corresponds with said season!” Great idea, Kid, I can’t wait to hear “Trailer Park Christmas” this December. The sad part is that when artists use these songs to make money, it really does work. My mom was a big fan of this song over the summer, stating “his songs are so fun!” Then I played “Bawitdaba” for her and I think she regretted the decision

- While we’re on the music/Kid Rock topic, what is the sudden fascination with artists making country albums? Kid Rock, Jessica Simpson….and now Hootie? I mean, Hootie!! They can’t do this to us. My friends from home love country and torture me with regularity because I’d rather watch a Lifetime movie marathon then listen to that. I can deal with people who like country, but when you take Hootie from me, it’s personal. What’s next…rap is going to take Chris Martin from me? Oh wait, they…actually I like that song. Plus Coldplay hasn’t put out anything good in like 7 years.

- Here’s a conversation I hope to have someday:

Me: Hey, how was the game yesterday? Did you win?

Lacrosse Player: How did you know I was on the team?

Me: Well maybe it’s the fact the your sweatshirt says QU Lacrosse. And so do your shorts. And your hat. And the tag on your backpack. And the fact that you brought your stick to class.

Lacrosse player: Yeah, I guess those are good clues.

Me: Yeah, it’s cool. Hey, at least everyone knows you’re here on scholarship. Good for you.

Lacrosse Player: Yeah, isn’t that sweet, bro?

Me: No

- I no longer live in the dorms on campus, but can someone answer this for me: why has Quinnipiac never put air conditioning in the residence halls? On a particularly hot day last week, I walked past Irma and Dana and just shook my head. Those poor kids. I remember my days in Commons where I would shower roughly 6 times a day just to keep cool. You’d think they would give us something, anything. In the winter, they jack the heat up through the roof, but in the warm months, they leave the students looking for cool air like a singed koala looking for a 24-hour burn center. I’m sure many students have complained over the years and it shocks me that the school hasn’d done anything about it.

What am I talking about? I’m not shocked. The Mets have a better chance of winning the World Series than students do getting some air conditioning.

 

Anyway, those are my thoughts for the week. Hopefully I can get some better stuff up here by this weekend. Thanks for reading.

Say it isn’t so!!

I promised myself that I would try and keep sports out of this blog as much as possible. I spend enough time at ESPN.com, Yahoo Sports, etc. to be declared a shareholder, so I feel like I should broaden my horizons. Sure my Boston bias will show through every once in a while, but I can’t help it. Like in this particular case, which is so catastrophic, President Bush should consider Foxboro, MA a national disaster area.

 

See those tendons tearing in his knee folks? At this exact moment, my heart was being torn from my chest. What seemed like another playoff run for the Pats has quickly turned into a dogfight for the division with the other three teams looking stronger than last year, particularly Buffalo. So the Patriots will be now be faced with the same situation that they were in 2001, when Brady came in as an unknown and led the team to their first Super Bowl.

The only difference is Matt Cassel isn’t replacing Drew Bledsoe. He’s replacing a future Hall of Fame quarterback and the reigning NFL MVP. I won’t lose faith yet, but the one team that always seems to find ways to win just lost the captain of its ship. And stormy weather may be in the forecast for the New England area (literally and figuratively, in case you haven’t looked outside).

 

On a brighter note, I have something fun planned for my next post that I want to try and I hope anyone who reads this enjoys it and comes back again. The quadnews.net appreciates all the people who have been reading so far and hope you continue to spread the word.

 

Step aside, Flavor Flav

I assume everyone has heard about John McCain’s choice for a running mate, Alaskan governor Sarah Palin. And if you’ve heard about her, then you’ve probably heard that she was a point guard in high school, was the mayor of the town of 9,000 people, is a member of the NRA and hunts (and eats) moose, has five kids, and was the runner-up for Ms. Alaska back in the day. You’ve probably heard her husband is a world champion snow machine driver who has a DUI on his record. You’ve heard her oldest son is being sent to Iraq, her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant with an Alaskan hockey player, and her infant son has Down’s syndrome (disclaimer: not meant to be funny).

Some people say she isn’t qualified to be a vice president. Others say she has more executive experience than either McCain or Obama. But win or lose, better or worse, Sarah Palin has a future in politics.

But Sarah, if you ever get tired of that, your family easily has a shot at a reality TV show.

Yeaaahhh boooyyyy

Perhaps not an obnoxious one featured on VH1 or E! (why is there an exclamation point?), but maybe on TLC or something. Just a day-to-day documentation of the everyday life of your family. This family seems like an inspiration to a lot of people who have daily struggles, who balance work with family, and always find time to have a vested interest in each other’s lives. People have troubles, make mistakes, but always have people around them that care about them.

Now chances are I won’t vote for McCain/Palin, but, along the lines of Hilary Clinton, Palin is an inspiration for young women, people who live in small towns,etc. and seems to have a promising career in politics. But who knows?

Maybe instead of having another D-list actor or the sister of a has-been singer getting their own TV show, we could get some insight on a great family, where the flavor of love doesn’t taste like crap.

 

Quick update: One of my favorite journalists, ESPN’s Bill Simmons, must be reading my blog! This is from his NFL Week 1 predictions, talking about HBO’s “Hard Knocks” show on the Dallas Cowboys. Check it out:

T.O. seems like a helluva guy, I love the plan for the new stadium, Felix Jones might rush for 10 yards a carry, Patrick Crayton might catch 90 balls, Tony Romo loves to win more than he hates to lose and Pacman Jones now makes me think of the guy who caught a sixth straight punt while holding the other five footballs. John McCain should hire the guys who did “Hard Knocks” to follow around Sarah Palin’s family for five weeks for a reality show. Combined with Palin’s speech last night, McCain could salvage this thing yet!

Great minds think alike, Bill. Let’s go Pats.

 

Let’s get to know each other first, real world

If only they waited for me...

 

I give up. The first few days of school has officially lost any shred of excitement that it ever had. Mom doesn’t take me to Old Navy to buy me new jeans anymore. My Boston Bruins lunchbox has long since been discarded. Trapper Keepers just aren’t cool anymore (Although I’m fairly certain that the first person to show up to class with on would be a cult hero).

Maybe I’m just being cynical because this is my last year of college and the real world isn’t just creeping up on me anymore, it’s built up the courage to stare me down from across the bar and debate whether to come over and weasel a drink out of me. Well guess what real world? I don’t have any money because I spent it all on gas.

Which brings me to Tuesday morning, my first real day of my senior year. Usually I get angry when I get stuck behind a school bus and have somewhere to be. It must be the Massachusetts in me that makes me so angry, but I digress. In any case, I drove behind the school bus for about two miles and was thoroughly entertained by the kids sitting in the back seat. Now I assumed it was some kind of summer camp because most elementary schools haven’t started yet, but in any event, the kids were having so much fun. They were laughing, messing with each other’s hats, probably telling girls they were gross and had cooties. Their innocence made me so envious, because I knew that my communications law and ethics I was on the way to scored about -300 on the excitement scale.

Part of me wanted to just go back to those days, when we traded baseball cards on the bus every morning (all the Nomar Garciaparra cards I traded for back in the day…shame on me). But I realize that as a college student, there will be a time years from now when I look back on college with reverance. So I decided that just biting my lip and giving my last year hell would be my best bet, no matter how scary it may seem.

But being able to buy beer legally does help take the edge off.