Politics

Uh-Oh. This will probably end up messy.

Unsurprisingly, I've been hearing a lot recently about the candidates and their running mates, Obama-Biden and McCain-Palin. Of course the political atmosphere here in Boston is much different than it is in my sleepy town of Pearland, Texas; but as a college voter, disillusioned from media coverage and political speeches (no matter how nice they sound), this post is less about my support for one candidate over the other, and more about my interest in people's response to the political process.

I grew up, like most school kids, being taught to respect other people even when you disagree with them. And as universally as most people agree that "everyone has their own opinion" and "respect" and all this, the second the issue becomes political, tolerance and understanding are tossed out the window. Issues have no perspective, they become either my way, or you're inbred-idiotic-communistic-death-of-america-brainwashed view. What the heck? Why?

In any other context, most people don't feel the need to heave their beliefs on another person: "I'm a vegetarian" "I like Cauliflower" "I'm buddhist". If any of those statements were followed with "You're wrong because--" then most everyone would agree that that person is a jerk, insensitive and narrow minded. But if it becomes "I like McCain's stance on foreign policy" "I am for abortion" "Obama lacks experience" it's no longer an opinion, it's a personal attack on your values, and whoever illustrates the counterpoint is judged in favor of the majority of conversation.

I know it's a bit ramblish (rambly? consisting of large amounts of ramblitude?) but the political system bothers me. Anything more than a vaguery can't possibly be supported by the entire country, or even the entire political party. McCain-Palin is a War Hero and Soccer Mom to some; and a Degenerate and a Greenhorn to others. The point of all this I suppose is that next time you get into a political discussion with someone, keep in mind that they don't believe what they believe solely to destroy america and piss you off. They have honest and, dare I say, VALID reasons for their beliefs, and they are just as personal to them as yours are to you. There are good arguments for both sides of every major issue, that's what makes them issues. The real way to bring about a major change in our country is to quit being so divisive, and maybe work together, novel idea eh?

I'm a Blogger!

WOOOHOO!

I'm a blogger!

As in, an admissions blogger! That means I'll get paid to tell people my opinion! Isn't that basically the perfect job?

There have been so many incredibly exciting things going on here at MIT as of late, I apologize for the lack of posts. I truly, truly love this place.

HOORAY Internet!

I've been having problems with my internet lately, being sporadic, or nonexistant. I went to Information Services & Technology, and they gave me a FREE ethernet cable. Now my internet is super-fast! Hooray!

Mexican, Babies, Delays, Sponge, Cake, Crowds, and Bed Bath & Disaster.

Ok guys, I know you've anxiously been waiting, clicking refresh on my blog, eager to read what I have to say about MIT. Let me be brief, and honest:

I am home.

But more on that later, here is more of a chronological description of how and when things happened:

Thursday:
Thursdays are crazy days for me (err, they used to be). I tutored two (horrendous) children Thursday mornings and then usually spent the rest of the day in Silverlake hanging out with friends or what have you. This particular Thursday was different because my going away party was that night, so after tutoring, I high tailed it over to Misty's house to start setting up for our party. The decorations were pretty awesome, we went to a party MEGA STORE known as Arne's where they literally have anything you've ever thought about.

Exhibit A: Obama and McCain masks.

Sadly, we passed on those masks and opted for balloons instead. we? oh right I almost forgot, Misty is going to Emerson so we decided to have a joint party.

Party was fantastic, all the last people I wanted to see and say goodbye to were there, and there was this awesome cake.

It's like eating art.

I got some really cool presents (drinktionary, excellent cologne, hand-made MIT mug. I repeat HAND-MADE) and then I got some.....well...surprising presents (let's not talk about that). I got home late Thursday night and was too distracted to finish packing, and instead I slept.

Friday:
Friday was my last day and the day Kim left so it was all sorts of crazy, physically, emotionally, can't-find-freakin'-boxes-ally, the works. I had one huge box with all my stuff in it, only to find out it was too big to ship so then I ended up using a whole bunch of smaller boxes. I also discovered that if you roll your shirts tightly like a sleeping bag, you can fit WAY more plus they don't wrinkle.

After all the packing, my family went out to dinner one last time. What did I eat you ask? Did I take a picture? Better my friend, I took TWO! And made a panoramic! Behold:

mmm. Delicious!

delicious fajitas and citrus tea. With my belly full, my bags packed, my suitcase stuffed, and my contacts taken out, I was ready to leave.

Saturday:
Saturday was my travel day, and I hate flying (flying coach anyway.) Thank God I had the Watchmen (Thank you Kim! That's not transitive though, Kim is not God). No joke my flights were full of babies with cries timed on par with a wet fart on match point at Wimbledon. I nearly choked one. Arriving in Massachusetts though I met Snively downstairs and we took the MIT shuttle back to campus. I'm ready to move in to my dorm, but oh no! the key to the key room has been lost. (Ironic nay?) Snively and I ate dinner at Anna's Taqueria on campus, I bought him a cookie, and moved in. Good Day.

Sunday:
Everything on campus is closed on sunday, which means I had a fairly uneventful day until that night where I rode the "T" to Boston Common and saw Tropic Thunder. Raunchy, tasteless, offensive, and totally hilarious. (I should write those review quotes they play on commercials). Robert Downey Jr. was brilliant.

Monday: Busy day for me today, I had to drop of my forms with MIT Medical, go to Student Financial Services to make a withdraw for my dorm stuff, deposit two checks, and go to Bed Bath & Beyond. Look how much I walked:

View Larger Map

Dang. There was a mix-up at Bed Bath and Beyond so instead of showing up and getting my boxes of stuff, I showed up, and the manager had to print my shipping receipt, confirm my name, look for boxes, can't find them, try a different name, call the store I registered with, print out content list and shop for the things himself. He said it would take 5 minutes. It took 48.

but I'm back in my room with all my stuff, happy as can be. Tomorrow I'll post about my dorm. Simmons Hall!

!!!BONUS BONUS!!!

Oh so you're left unfulfilled by that post, yearning for more? Ok, well since you insist (and because I love to talk about how cool MIT is) did you know MIT has an entire mobile website for folks with iPhones? Check out the pics:

You can access anything you'd ever want: Shuttle schedules, maps, phone numbers, ANYTHING! and since MIT has campus-wide WiFi, you can get it anywhere! (I heard that the entire 18.blah blah IP band spectrum is owned by MIT, meaning they own 1/256th of the Internet!)

**Double-Bonus**
I just found these pictures of the last trip I took to the beach, and figured they belong with this "last stuff" enjoy:

HOLY CRAP!!!!

Anyone see Michael Phelps in the 100 butterfly? I thought the 400 Relay was amazing with Jason Levak (EDIT: an anonymous tipster pointed out I meant Jason Lezak. Thanks. ) pulling it in at the end, but this is ridiculous, .01 seconds, that's a HUNDREDTH of a second. Ridiculous, absolutely incredible, and now he's tied for Spitz. I hope he pulls off 8, it would be amazing.



Also, today was my last day in Texas, expect a huge blog about it tomorrow (from MIT!! AHH)

Meteors and the Blue Screen Of Death!

so I was going to watch the meteor shower tonight (quick anecdote: I love meteor showers, though that shouldn't surprise you. I'm a nerd. I'm going to MIT) and thus prepared myself by sleeping as much as possible during the day (in other words, not changing my daily habits at all) and downing within 10% of the lethal dose of caffeine before leaving. I had a pickup truck (this is texas after all), blankets, pillows, and a red flashlight to keep my night vision from deteriorating. I'd even used a tool online to find the closest, darkest spot in the sky to watch the show from. Everything was set up to be an amazing display of the Perseids, and then:

clouds.

everywhere.

Damn. I tried watching for a little while just to make sure, but you can't see a blessed thing. Oh well, theres always next year.

Since I've been up and scourging the internet though, I found this picture and nearly laughed myself silly (I blame the caffeine).
Some of you may not recognize that that is the Olympic "Birds Nest" Stadium. (Anecdote #2: I think it's the most hideous piece of architectural crap I've ever seen). Others may not even recognize what is so remarkable about that photo. But look closely.
OMG! It's the windows Blue Screen of Death! AT THE OLYMPICS! Guess one of the computers couldn't do it's one job right.

OLYMPIC FAIL!

More eBay goodness!

So you're reading my blog and you think to yourself "my that droll chris mills, what charm, what wit, I just wish I could own his clothing!"

Fear not my creepy little friend, because I'm here to make your dreams come true!

head on over to eBay and check out my auctions. My username is cmills90.

Your fetish is my profit! (wasn't that the original pokemon slogan?)

Lego Mindstorms for sale

Hey blog readers! Have I got a deal for you*! It's my Lego Mindstorms robotics kit. All the lego stuff I used to build countless robots and machines. It made me love engineering and science, and helped me get into MIT**.

If you're interested you can check out the auction here.

Buy it for the legos, buy it for the coolness, buy it because you're a creepy stalker who has a shrine of my things in a closet somewhere, I don't mind!











*sort of
**not really

Bye Bye Beardie Part 2: The New Hairdo

I try and rhyme as much as possible. But as you may or may not have known, I no longer have a beard, and now I no longer have long hair. Check it out:

Very Likely to be the Coolest Thing You See Today

Unless of course you work on NASA's Phoenix lander crew or something.

Why High School Education Should Be Mandatory

Home

you know what's weird to think about? Leaving home in 11 days. I had this discussion with some of my friends leaving to different corners of Texas yesterday, and it got me thinking:

What is home anyway?

I mean for most people it's probably where you grew up, and where you're family is, but when does it change? When does somewhere else become you're home?

I think home is less of where your family is and more of where you feel happiest. Like when I move off in 11 days, I don't feel like I'm leaving home, I feel like I'm going home. I feel like I'm going to be incredibly happy in Boston. I'll miss my family, sure, but I'll come to visit them. I'll go visit my family, but my home will be in Massachusetts now. Thoughts anyone?


P.S. Hurricane Eduardo came in this morning. For those unfamiliar with Texas Geography, I live pretty close to Galveston, which was right in the middle of the projected path, but Eduardo didn't even make it to Hurricane status. It was Tropical Storm Eduardo (that's a lot like being the 5th string linebacker on the crappiest football team in existence.) It's barely even rained here, it's pretty lame.

August and water foutnains.

August is here, and with it I bid goodbye to my last full month in Texas. It's closing in so fast, two weeks are flying by like nothing. And what have I been up to lately? Well for one our sleepy little town in Pearland, TX is growing up to be quite a little suburb. Exhibit A is the Pearland Town Center which just opened this past Wednesday. It's an outdoor mall reminiscent of the shopping strips you find downtown or along the beach, anchored by Barnes & Noble, Macy's, and Dillards, with a Courtyard Mariott and above-retail apartments, our town is growing up pretty dang fast.

Walking around is nice, it's pretty and there was free red bull!

No no, they asked to take a picture with me!

but I did notice one strange anomaly. While walking around Gamestop, showing off my Guitar Hero abilities, I saw this:
Hmm......does that seem odd to anyone else? Water fountains in the middle of a store? Not even in Texas.

Other than that, I went and saw my friend James show last night at the Alley Theatre downtown. He wrote it, and it was put on by professional actors, and it was FANTASTIC. By far the best one there. No doubt he'll do great things at NYU.

MIT in exactly 14 days.