During my time studying the past few months, I decided during the course of the day that I needed a break. I brought my iPod and started watching TV shows. I was able to do this because I owned the DVD and converted to my iPod. But then I discovered podcasting.

I know I am a little slow on the curve, but it is absolutely terrific. It keeps me up to date on everything. The videos are great. I watch ABC World News everyday at lunch. Before podcasts my only news source of news was the Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

My favorite pitchstone are Cubscast, News-Gazette.com Illini sports, and Comedy Central Stand-Up to name a few. Any of these podcasts can easily be found using iTunes. Simply connect to the iTunes Store and search for podcast's in the search bar.

They are completely FREE and extremely convenient. They have mixes for working out so your routine never gets dull.

Also if you have a Mac I found a little trick to downloading any mp3 from myspace.com or any video from youtube.com You simply open Safari, go to Window and click activity. Then you double-click on the file and it starts to download. If you do not own a Mac... odds are you don't, then you can go to www.viloader.net and simply follow the directions. It doesn't work for myspace but that's it for now.

Well it is 2007. I'm only two years away from my 10 year high school reunion. Yeah kind of weird.

I posted some pictures that Amanda had taken on our terrific New Year's Eve at the Chicago Hilton on Michigan Avenue. Pretty freakin' awesome. Even though I'm looking forward to the new challenges 2007 will bring, I had a great 2006. I saw a bunch of bands. Everyone from Shakira to the Killer's to Styx. I went to Las Vegas for the first time. Had a great summer hanging out by the pool at my apartment. And I even went back to Cancun for the first time since I got sick really really sick back in 2000.

I am looking forward to going to Lubo's wedding in August, I'm sure it will be one of those times you never forget. Good friends and great times.

And the greatest thing about 2006 is... ROCKY BALBOA!!!! Well maybe not the greatest thing about 2006 but I can't seem to go a day without quoting a line from that movie. If anything Borat was the funniest and edgiest movie that has come out in a long time.

Hello all,

I suggest you all check out my Halloween pictures by viewing my Gallery

We all went to 115 Bourbon Street again this year and it was awesome once again. A picture says a thousand words so be sure to check them out. I dressed up like a modern demon... last year I was a prisoner and so was 50 other people. I liked my costume so much that I made a vow to use make up every year instead of buying a generic costume.

I am returning to my alma mater. I don't really have a place to stay anymore. I am nearly 25 now. I didn't join a frat... well I did but I didn't go threw pledge week, so I am not a brother. Almost all of my friends have moved away or graduated by now... with the exception of Jeff. It doesn't seem that long ago that I was borrowing Greg's ID to sneak into a bar that carded for 19 year olds and up.

It is nearly 7 years later. I had my whole life ahead of me... who am I kidding, I still have my whole life ahead of me. I am not one of those people who think I will die at an early age. My father is amazed he has lived as long as he has. It is always hard to go back to a place where you have had so many memories. I rarely speak to anyone I attended college with anymore.

Recently over Yom Kippur, my family asked me if I could change the past, would I go to a different school? I undoubtedly said no. I didn't even apply to another University, I figured that if I didn't get in... I wouldn't be happy anywhere else.

If anything, I am a little more well-rounded. I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up, but I don't think I ever will. That is why I think my friends and the people close to me are so important. Without them, life wouldn't be as fun.

When I go back, it is going to be different. The people, the places, what's cool and what's not will all be different. I think that I'm ok with that. After all, if we couldn't adapt and evolve life would cease to exist.

July 31, 2006
Ladies and gentlemen,
leaders of the world. I, the Prime Minister of Israel, am speaking to you from Jerusalem in the face of the terrible pictures from Kfar Kana. Any human heart, wherever it is, must sicken and recoil at the sight of such pictures. There are no words of comfort that can mitigate the enormity of this tragedy. Still, I am looking you straight in the eye and telling you that the State of Israel will continue its military campaign in Lebanon.

The Israel Defense Forces will continue to attack targets from which missiles and Katyusha rockets are fired at hospitals, old age homes and kindergartens in Israel. I have instructed the security forces and the IDF to continue to hunt for the Katyusha stockpiles and launch sites from which these savages are bombarding the State of Israel.

We will not hesitate, we will not apologize and we will not back off. If they continue to launch missiles into Israel from Kfar Kana, we will continue to bomb Kfar Kana. Today, tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. Here, there and everywhere. The children of

Kfar Kana could now be sleeping peacefully in their homes, unmolested, had the agents of the devil not taken over their land and turned the lives of our children into hell.

Ladies and gentlemen, itâ??s time you understood: the Jewish state will no longer be trampled upon. We will no longer allow anyone to exploit population centers in order to bomb our citizens. No one will be able to hide anymore behind women and children in order to kill our women and children. This anarchy is over. You can condemn us, you can boycott us, you can stop visiting us and, if necessary, we will stop visiting you.

Today I am serving as the voice of six million bombarded Israeli citizens who serve as the voice of six million murdered Jews who were melted down to dust and ashes by savages in Europe. In both cases, those responsible for these evil acts were, and are, barbarians devoid of all humanity, who set themselves one simple goal: to wipe the Jewish race off the face of the earth, as Adolph Hitler said, or to wipe the State of Israel off the map, as Mahmoud Ahmedinjad proclaims.

And you - just as you did not take those words seriously then, you are ignoring them again now. And that, ladies and gentlemen, leaders of the world, will not happen again. Never again will we wait for bombs that never came to hit the gas chambers. Never again will we wait for salvation that never arrives. Now we have our own air force. The Jewish people are now capable of standing up to those who seek their destruction - those people will no longer be able to hide behind women and children. They will no longer be able to evade their responsibility.

Every place from which a Katyusha is fired into the State of Israel will be a legitimate target for us to attack. This must be stated clearly and publicly, once and for all. You are welcome to judge us, to ostracize us, to boycott us and to vilify us. But to kill us? Absolutely not.

Four months ago I was elected by hundreds of thousands of citizens to the office of Prime Minister of the government of Israel, on the basis of my plan for unilaterally withdrawing from 90 percent of the areas of Judea and Samaria, the birth place and cradle of the Jewish people; to end most of the occupation and to enable the Palestinian people to turn over a new leaf and to calm things down until conditions are ripe for attaining a permanent settlement between us.

The Prime Minister who preceded me, Ariel Sharon, made a full withdrawal from the Gaza Strip back to the international border, and gave the Palestinians there a chance to build a new reality for themselves. The Prime Minister who preceded him, Ehud Barak, ended the lengthy Israeli presence in Lebanon and pulled the IDF back to the international border, leaving the land of the cedars to flourish, develop and establish its democracy and its economy.

What did the State of Israel get in exchange for all of this? Did we win even one minute of quiet? Was our hand, outstretched in peace, met with a handshake of encouragement? Ehud Barak's peace initiative at Camp David let loose on us a wave of suicide bombers who smashed and blew to pieces over 1,000 citizens, men, women and children. I don't remember you being so enraged then. Maybe that happened because we did not allow TV close-ups of the dismembered body parts of the Israeli youngsters at the Dolphinarium? Or of the shattered lives of the people butchered while celebrating the Passover seder at the Park Hotel in Netanya? What can you do - that's the way we are. We don't wave body parts at the camera. We grieve quietly.

We do not dance on the roofs at the sight of the bodies of our enemy's children - we express genuine sorrow and regret. That is the monstrous behavior of our enemies. Now they have risen up against us. Tomorrow they will rise up against you. You are already familiar with the murderous taste of this terror. And you will taste more .




And Ariel Sharon's withdrawal from Gaza. What did it get us? A barrage of Kassem missiles fired at peaceful settlements and the kidnapping of soldiers. Then too, I don't recall you reacting with such alarm. And for six years, the withdrawal from Lebanon has drawn the vituperation and crimes of a dangerous, extremist Iranian agent, who took over an entire country in the name of religious fanaticism and is trying to take Israel hostage on his way to Jerusalem - and from there to Paris and London.

An enormous terrorist infrastructure has been established by Iran on our border, threatening our citizens, growing stronger before our very eyes, awaiting the moment when the land of the Ayatollahs becomes a nuclear power in order to bring us to our knees. And make no mistake - we won't go down alone. You, the leaders of the free and enlightened world, will go down along with us.

So today, here and now, I am putting an end to this parade of hypocrisy. I don't recall such a wave of reaction in the face of the 100 citizens killed every single day in Iraq. Sunnis kill Shiites who kill Sunnis, and all of them kill Americans - and the world remains silent. And I am hard pressed to recall a similar reaction when the Russians destroyed entire villages and burned down large cities in order to repress the revolt in Chechnya. And when NATO bombed Kosovo for almost three months and crushed the civilian population - then you also kept silent. What is it about us, the Jews, the minority, the persecuted, that arouses this cosmic sense of justice in you? What do we have that all the others don't?

In a loud clear voice, looking you straight in the eye, I stand before you openly and I will not apologize. I will not capitulate. I will not whine. This is a battle for our freedom. For our humanity. For the right to lead normal lives within our recognized, legitimate borders. It is also your battle. I pray and I believe that now you will understand that. Because if you don't, you may regret it later, when it's too late.

Well after taking the summer off from my blog, I am back and I'm bringing the funk! I had a great summer. It kinda feels like when I was in 5th grade, and I had to write a paper on "Why I loved My Summer Vacation".

Now I haven't been off of the internet entirely. I started off on my space a lot but it is kinda getting old. Well I did a lot this summer. I went to Six Flags, Randolph festival, Pierogifest, bowled 6-8 times, went to Lollapalooza, went on vacation with Amanda to Vegas for the first time, and went to Cancun for the second time.

I would have liked to go downtown a few more times but the traffic on the Dan Ryan is ridiculous at 3-4 in the morning.

Make sure to check out my gallery with all of my pictures from August. The rest of my summer was spent by the pool. Peace out!

This is the one and only Michael Barrett action sucker punch!



As if things couldn't have gone worst for the Cubs. I assume that they just couldn't continue to lose the way they are. How can they be so bad? Yesterday, Amanda and I went to the Cubs game. Carlos Zambrano had the game wrapped up with a no hitter until the 7th inning. They still lose the game in the 9th because there isn't any moral or motivation to win.

They have a great team if everyone was healthy. But as of right now they are struggling, especially since Barrett has been sentenced for his actions, they will continue to hurt offensively. Michael Barrett was behind the plate Friday after appealing his 10-game suspension for his role in a bench-clearing melee last week when he punched A.J. Pierzynski of the White Sox. Shortly after the suspension was announced, Barrett said he had already filed an appeal, hoping to get the suspension reduced.

White Sox outfielder Brian Anderson got a five-game suspension and a fine for his participation in a brawl that led to four ejections. He was also appealing. White Sox third base coach Joey Cora was suspended two games, and Pierzynski, who knocked Barrett over at the plate prompting the punch, was fined. Barrett and Cora were also fined. Pierzynski said he is appealing the $2,000 fine. After he was punched, he went back to the dugout waving his arms and slapping hands with teammates.

Pierzynski is such a jerk, he really got everything that was coming to him. Especially after the incident in the next game, Pierzynski hit a home run and rubbed it in Carlos Zambrano's face. What a jerk! Glad to see the Cubs win that one, especially since Cubs victories come few and far between.

First order of business: To see new pictures see my Spring Photo's of 2006.


Secondly: since immigration is such a huge debate right now, I wanted to get a few things off my chest. If you choose to become an American citizen, you must do it legally. Just because you jumped a fence doesn't make you a legal citizen. You don't have the right to vote, a fair trial, or any of the freedoms we enjoy and that is not fair to us or them.

I remember when the illegal immigrants were demonstrating, I couldn't stop laughing. Here they are demonstrating, in America, but they can't vote. So if your a politician, you get to do whatever you want with these people since they essencially don't matter. People claim that we can not survive without illegal immigrants. This is a bold and wrong statement.

Illegal immigrants provide cheap labor for employers. This is true. But so does outsourcing our accounting, digital work and 1-800 help hotlines to India. However, the difference is that illegal immigrants are a drain on our economy. They don't pay taxes, they send their children to our public schools which make us, the American taxpayer, pick up the slack. It is not worth it to leave the system the way it is.

Don't get me wrong. I understand they are looking for a better life and are trying to provide for their family. However if they were such upstanding citizens, they would have applied for citizenship legally, as my grandparents and great-grandparents did.

I am not a republican, far from it. However this is one of the only things I have completely agreed with President Bush on. The fact of the matter is that we should have been securing and protecting our borders the day after September 11, 2001. The new way to fight wars is not in tanks or airplanes. It's suicide bombing, chemical warfare, and infiltrating our country and destroying it from the inside. We can't afford to let terrorists cross the desert, and we can't afford to let people live here that shouldn't be here in the first place.