Regarding Northwestern University

This would be my second game at Northwestern University, on the Northern outskirts of Chicago. Set in Skokie, Illinois the Wildcat stadium brings a great view of the endless Lake Michigan, the Baha'i Temple to the north, and the glorious skyline to the south. Although I was working, I was still filled with a great feeling of nostalgia, remembering the times I use to live in Chicago, near Rogers Park. I wasted no time in taking in the Chicago culture, as soon as I got there, by hitting up nearby stores, eating at a fancy pizza restaurant, stopping in on a bookstore, and then catching a movie. The set day with Kealy, went very smooth and for lunch we went to a grease pit to get some good Vienna Beef Hot Dogs, (Classic Chicago)... Later that evening, I met up with an old college friend, Nikki Larsen, at a bar in Skokie. We had several drinks, pizza, and some good times... The next morning I was very tired, yet the Lake Michigan breeze brought me some added energy. Game day went very smooth, and since Northwestern was playing Michigan State, I had my whole family watching the game back in Battle Creek, Michigan. The game turned out to be an extremely exciting one, with a rocking-loud stadium. Michigan State managed to pull a great comeback in the final seconds of the game. After tear-down I drove to Rogers Park, to sit by the beach for a while and smoke a good cigar. I had an enjoyable drive home back to Indy, yet as usual I cannot wait for my return back to this great city.

Current Film Review: The Social Network

I remember it was sophomore year at Sterling Apartments, and we were all sitting on the couch watching some TV. Lauren had her laptop out, and was hyping about this new program on the internet called TheFacebook. It was basically a social network for people in college. The idea sounded brilliant to me, and as soon as I got home that night, I created my own profile, and began to spread the word. Throughout my college years, checking my Facebook page became as frequent if not more than checking my email. It's been nearly six years since I set up my account, and to this day I still enjoy the many conveniences of this social network.

So when the film, The Social Network, began to emerge, I knew it would be extremely interesting to catch this story about the creation of Facebook. I finally saw it this past Thursday in Skokie, Illinois and can say that it lived up to its praise, and is full of extremely interesting information about the company. The story revolves around the creator of Facebook, Mark Zuckerburg, as well as his college friends and co-creators. The film portrays Zuckerburg as an extremely quick and witty person, socially awkward, and an utter genius. As a student at Harvard University, he comes to prominence one night, when he creates a website known as the FaceMash, which receives over 10,000 hits in less than 3 hours... He thus becomes a celebrity on campus, and is recruited to help design another website known as the Harvard Connection. It becomes clear in the movie, that Zuckerburg steals their idea to create his own social network. The film then goes back and forth between the creation of Facebook, and the two major lawsuits of the company. One being by the creators of the Harvard Connection, claiming that Zuckerburg stole their idea, and in the end manage to receive a settlement of 65 million dollars. The other being, Zuckerburg's friend and co-founder, Eduardo Saverin, who also won a settlement. The film kept my interest the entire time, mostly due to the true subject matter. Yet I would say the only weak point, was the acting, especially with Justin Timberlake's terrible performance as the founder of Napster. To me the film goes beyond the creation of Facebook, and captures the lifestyle of these rich spoiled Ivy league students, who have no concept of money. With all that said I would say this could be one of the best dramas of the year, and truly worthy of some Academy recognition.

Regarding The Ohio State University

I've always thought it quite amusing how Ohio State University refers to themselves as "THE" Ohio State University. So finally I got the chance to work a game there, and see one of the nations best football programs in action. Now I think I've been through Columbus, OH several times, yet hardly remember a time where I actually stayed there. So as far as I can remember, this was my first time there... Although the skyline was quite impressive the city itself was not; full of construction, closed roads, street beggars, etc... All businesses and restaurants were closed by 3:30 pm, which made it quite inconvenient to walk around and find some dinner...


The campus on the other hand was very nice, and the stadium itself was an amazing site, like a giant Roman Pantheon, sitting over 102,000. I worked both days with Tim Kealy, my old Mountain-West counter-part, trying to ignore his obnoxious character, and take it the environment. After two full days working on the campus, I came to conclude that it is surely the football program that grants Ohio State the entitlement of "THE"... With it's massive stadium, it's entertaining band, it's glorious flag-pole, and of course it's number 2 ranked football team in the nation... I would say the only downside to the program, might be their annoying fans, or maybe this was just because they were rooting against my alma-matter of Indiana. All-in-all as amazing as Ohio State may be, I still prefer Michigan football, and can't wait for the big game against the two power-houses.