The CheckerBoard

seen/saw

/life

I hate when my wife uses her lavender bath salts. It makes her and the house smell like a grandmother.

Oh, I don't think the problem with journalism is the format... I think journalists are taught to be objective and straightforward when reporting a story, unless it's a column or whatnot, and I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. The problem with journalism is the desire to be first instead of right, which devolves into typos, misspellings, erroneous information, etc. It's a damn shame.

I think that anyone after my parents' generation is a lost cause when it comes to writing. The internet is a great thing, but when used incorrectly, can have dire consequences. The world may or may not be getting dumber but everyone sure as hell sounds like they are.

I think it's a combination of your thoughts and mine. Clincher sentences used apart from paragraphs tick me off. The mechanical misuse of these sentences make them seem more like elongated titles to a whole new chapter in a story, in my opinion, rather than as being a structural and integral part of the story as a whole.

Holy crap about the need for being first! When I followed another site, typos and misspellings were everywhere! Even in the weekly "insider" story, which should have a more relaxed appeal, one could find all sorts of Engrish problems.

I knew when I came here things would be different. It appears that Wes proofreads his stories most of the time, and I knew as much from his time at the TFP. As far as Ryan is concerned, Kevin had to know that Wes was a high-value writer, so Kevin also knew that needing a comparable writer was paramount to the success of this site.

Now if I have the hiring order backwards, then my apologies. Each writer is a compliment to the other. The point of all of this is that Ryan and Wes are two highly intelligent writers. If they are not highly intelligent, then they were taught well and received their education and criticism well. While I may not agree with the general format in today's reporting, the information is solid, as well as grammar and punctuation.

I'm trying to get a bulk of my work for the VIP Room done before the Super Bowl starts so I can actually try to enjoy the game ... but I need a bunch of things to fall into place for this to happen.

Cross your fingers for me.

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There is over 600 people on this board but no one is posting anything!

This might be my college capstone weekend. The weekend that has that little asterisk above it on the timeline that is my life.

I got drunk three times in two nights. Went to a birthday party Friday night. Drank half a fifth of Jagermeister. Drank at least 8 Fireball shots straight. And ended the night with Jim Bean whiskey on the rocks, no mix or chaser.

Wake up three hours later on the floor of my buddy's apartment. Head home (Cookeville) which is about an hour and a half away. It's 7:30 in the morning. My entire body hurts, but I'm not sure what to pin the blame on - sleeping on the floor, a hangover, or only getting three hours of sleep.

Cut to that afternoon, my best friend from high school is back after being stationed the last four years in Japan. We buy a 70 dollar fifth of Crown Royal and start downing shots of it at 5pm. We get plastered by around 8. We sober up by 10. We take a taxi to a bar. We get plastered by 1am. Then we take a taxi home. Once at my place, we make the questionable decision of walking/stumbling to a convenience store about a mile and a half out from where I live to buy cigarettes. Here's the thing - neither one of us smokes. But, using the logic that one only has while competely inebriated, I decided I was going to start smoking and bought three packs of Marlboro Menthols.

We hitchhike back home. We drink some more. Pass out at 4. Wake up at 7am. Work. And here I am, working on an important essay that's due tomorrow, with three packs of Marlboro Menthol cigarettes next to me and NO CLUE of what I am supposed to do with them.

Say no to alcohol, kids.

Just talked to my wife and kids over facetime from Korea. Amazing how far we've come with technology, and love to see my 7 year old blowing kisses from half a world away!

I wanna take a minute to rant about the Super Bowl. Not about the game, or the teams, or this "Is Eli better than Peyton?" nonsense. Nope. I wanna rant about all the 'stories' guffawing over MIA's middle finger.

Now, I'm not a prude by any interpretation of the word, but it seems to me that MIA throwing up a bird during the halftime performance -- which, by the way, I didn't even notice, and I was watching the thing -- isn't really newsworthy when compared to the softcore porn some companies pass as ads these days. The Adriana Lima teleflora ad for one, or that Kim kardashian skechers ad from a few months ago. I read an article about the NFL halftime show organizer apologizing because they had hoped to keep the Super Bowl family-friendly. Seriously? They think flipping the bird is more damaging to kids than an ad whose message, forgive my frankness, boils down to, "Buy me flowers and I'll let you do me." Baffles me. But it doesn't really surprise me, I guess. Whatevs. Go Giants.