Well hello everyone. I don't have anything too interesting to update about but it's Princeton's alumni weekend and apparently every single graduating class gets a special blazer to wear in some unique color. Normally orange. And apparently 24,000 people come to it. So there's 24,000 people walking around Princeton in bright tiger stripes and orange colors. It's quite interesting. My boss told me I should come back at night to watch thte drunks stumble around haha. Anyway, I figure it's as good a time as any to upload a picture of where I'm working, so here ya go: The Corella and Bertram F. Bonner Foundation

P.S. I took this on the iPhone, what a photo!

Weekend today and tomorrow, driving to Kentucky for the week to conduct the Summer Leadership Institute and Congress track for Bonner for the week and then back here on next Mondayish. So, expect some updates from Kentucky.

Idea

Ok, so I found some back roads and used those to go to and from work today which was much less stressful than taking these insane highways. However, I still got lost 3 or 4 times. So, my final getting lost act was simple. I didn't turn early enough for my road so I had to go across the highway and make a U-turn. So, I made the turn and was waiting at the light to come back across the road and, oblivious to me I was sitting in the wrong place in the "waiting to cross the road line" which infuriated a man who was trying to get beside me in the line coming from what I believe was a bank on the side of the road. So, he maneuvered beside me and gave me a large armed "WTF!?" look, to which I simply smiled and waved a pathetic "sorry". Well, this purely was not enough for the man who, as I turned my head forward, launched into what looked like an uncontrollable hatred spasm directed towards his window in my direction. I didn't look at him for fear of death, but definitely saw some flailing, pointing, I believe cursing, and rage; so much rage. Anyway Here's what I've got today:


So I'm watching Worst Case Scenario with the amazing Bear Grylls and I've come up with a couple alternate scenarios he didn't cover:

Worst Case Scenario:
0) You've got a bad haircut, how to rectify the situation
1) A British man is following you on a lonely road
2) Your dog won't stop shedding and you've got bad allergies
3) Your wallet is in your back pocket. The pocket is buttoned and you have jam on your hands
4) You spent the night with your concubine while telling your wife you were working late. Concubine's lipstick is on your collar.
5) Your new favorite song didn't sync on your iPhone - you're already in the car.
6) You forgot your pants this morning.
7) That guy from the Bourne Identity is hiding in your basement and you can't figure out how to describe him to the authorities

I think New Jersans created their roadways in effort to confuse any and all newcomer to this state so that no one stays here. Really. Every time I find the exit I need, or the "jug handle" I have to make my proper non-left turn in, it's never correct. And every highway leads to another highway. And I swear the whole North, East, South, West is completely invalid here. I feel like I'm constantly going left. which I thought was East, but is actually West, but I have no idea what way it actually is. And to top that off, it's illegal to turn left here! This all leaves me completely confused and asking my iPhone for directions to simply get off the road I live on (no, really). And the iPhone seems to have an affinity for telling "oh by the way, you're currently driving through A FOREST!!!!!" when in fact I'm not.
This isn't actually Jersey, but it should be:

Yeah, I know you shouldn't start a sentence with "and", and I know that I did a few times above that photo, but this driving puts my unadultered fury over proper grammar. Truthfully, I drove home nice and slow today and the ride wasn't bad at all (granted, it was 1.5hrs to go 23 miles), but I'm going to attempt to leave here at 7:30am to get to my job maybe 5 minutes early tomorrow. So here I am, going to sleep at 11ish and waking up at probably 6:30 to the bird that wakes up outside my window at 5:51 every morning. I feel like I've aged 198,974 years in three days!

Also, almost ran out of gas on the highway of stoplights today..which has walls on both sides. I'm 73.8% sure that if I were to run out of gas there I would just be kicked out of New Jersey. There would be no trial, no assistance, just a man pointing his finger in WHATEVER DIRECTION you take to leave Jersey. Maybe that would be helpful, because I don't know what direction that is.

This Is No Situation

(Before you read this, start the YouTube song below so you can enjoy both at the same time!) (Unless you're not into that kind of thing, in which case, just read on)

So I have been in New Jersey for approximately 25 hours and I still have not run into The Situation, Paulie D, nor Snookie. So, so far I basically just feel lied to and cheated. This is the real Jersey that I know.
Though for a moment I did glimpse this rare view of the real New Jersey

Anyway, NJ isn't too bad; when you're not driving. It's awful in that sense. I love driving, and I feel like I'm nuts driving here. Highways that have stoplights - what!? That's antitheoretical (and that's not a word). So today was my first day at the Foundation and it was pretty fun. I got lost on the ride there and ended up on Rutger's campus and about 20 mins late, but everyone is really laid back so that was nice. We found out that we'll be heading to Kentucky for the Summer Leadership Institute on Monday for a week next Monday, which should be interesting. I'm to present on being a leader so they say. We'll see how that ends up. Dude, Princeton's campus is awesome. I haven't had a ton of time to really survey it yet because I'm still scared to drive slowly enough to look - but it seems really nice. Honesty, I don't have much else to say, so I'lljust link you to a song that I think is awesome as of late. B.o.B. is putting out some great music. This is with Rivers Cuomo of Weezer:

It Begins

Well hello, I didn't see you there. So for the Stetson Bonner Summer of Service we're supposed to keep a blog and blog once a week about our experiences. So, here is my first blog post. It's Friday night, May 21st, 2010 and tomorrow morning I'll be leaving on a journey to the Bonner Foundation for the national internship. It's a 16 hour drive and I've just packed the car. Well, if you know me, I sold my car - my beloved 1986 Nissan 300zx - a while ago and somewhat out of necessity and because it fit the bill I picked up this little bad boy

Yup. It's small but all of my stuff is packed in and we'll start the trip tomorrow! I'm stopping halfway at the suggestion that I wouldn't be able to make it in one stint (we'll see about that the way back!) so I'll be in NJ by mid Sunday. I guess I'll be getting there, unpacking, finding out where I'm working, sleeping, and then starting work Monday morning. Talk about hitting the ground running - we already have stuff to do! Anyway, I'll probably update from the road when I stop to stretch or something, later.