It started about a year ago.  I was getting a sandwich at my campus library’s cafe, and I saw them.  Miss Vickie’s Kettle Cooked potato chips.  I’d never had kettle cooked potato chips before, so I was intrigued.  I took a bad of that, and ended up eating it all.  That started my love affair with kettle cooked potato chips.

Ever since then, I’ve made it a point to get some when they are relatively chip, and to find a variety I like as much as Miss Vickie’s, which isn’t sold in large bags, at least not in this part of the U.S.  I haven’t yet been able to quite succeed.  Miss Vickie’s chips have a certain texture and thickness to them, and also a certain taste, that I can’t precisely match with other brands.  I never expected to get the exact same chips, as that’s impossible, but something close would be nice.

I think the closest chip thus far has been the Cap Code brand kettle chips.  They’re pretty nice.  I has some whilst at the Greater Hartford Open this summer, and I must say, they come in a close second.  Right now, however, mostly due to price, I’m stuck with Lays.  I don’t know…I like ’em, but they’re just not the same.

Gah, wasn’t able to post for the last two days, and didn’t get my Dymersion Video entry up, so I’m going to try and do a quickie for right after this entry, and I’ll leave the debate questions edition until next week’s episode. EDIT: Unfortunately, while I got the episode on tape, something seem to be either wrong with the tape, or the read heads on my camera (meaning they need cleaning), so I won’t be able to have an episode for this week.  I’ll try and upload it on Monday, though.

I had two very good days between yesterday and today. Last night, despite a few technical bumps (including one major one with the cameras that we were able to deal with before the show), they went well. We had good content, and a lot of it. Whenever a technical glitch occurred, for the most part, the anchors were able to deal with it professionally and promptly. And overall, everyone really stepped up to make sure things went smoothly.

Then I went to this bar/cafe a little downtown called Corleone’s, where two of our anchors were playing music. I had a lot of fun listening to them, and they’re really good at it, too.

Then this afternoon, I was one among four who shot an interview with the U.S. Congressman from my district, Joe Courtney. We asked him some questions about the recently signed Higher Education Access Act, which will provide $19 billion in Pell grants in the next five years. He was very friendly, and the shots looked great. So, we’ll be putting some of that on the news next week, and it should make for a good package.

Alright, off to finish lunch and see if I can do a quickie Dymersion Video for you all.

Ooh, I hate not updating for so long.  This time, I blame it on the need to focus on last Saturday’s Eastern Expedition shoot.  I didn’t have all the contestants until Thursday, and then some people dropped out at the last minute (and one just didn’t show up), so I was freaking out.  I’m pretty calm now, though.  The shows were a bit of a bumpy ride, given the fact that we have a new host, but I think that in the end, they’ll be good.  So, that’s that.

For some reason, I seemed to have had a huge appetite today.  I’ll eat something, and then like fifteen minutes after I’m done with my food, I’ll be hungry again.  Not massively hungry, as if I feel like I’m starving, but something that just feels like I could use a snack.

So, I try to stop the feeling with some food, but it keeps coming.  I know, as a fairly small guy, that I hardly need a lot of food, yet the feeling remains.  Haven’t had an appetite this ravenous since I was on Prednisone on and off throughout my teenage years (god, that makes me seem old).

I don’t know if it’s because I have a test today, or what.  Guess I’ll find out if it goes away after I take the test.

Anyway, sleep is needed to do good on a test, so time for that.

As I’ve referred to in profiles of myself on various sites (Facebook, LJ, MySpace, etc.), I’ve never been a huge partier. I’m not a fan of crowded spaces, though I’ll go to them if there’s a need or want. I love visiting Manhattan, for instance, which isn’t exactly a quiet place. My ideal situation is something with 6-12 people that I know well. Call it being shy (which might not be far off the mark), or whatever you want, it’s just my thing. To this extent, I’ve never been to many parties in my college career.

I’m not alone in this. One of my roommates also doesn’t seem to go to many parties. My aunt didn’t go to many in her college years. And I’m sure there’s many others. There are several reasons for this, and “being shy” is only one of them.

I tend to have a great fear of doing the wrong thing. I remember that I was highly angry at myself when I received my first and only detention in seventh grade for not handing in homework at time. And so I began my college career with a rather anti-underage drinking view. I changed my view somewhat after the first year, but continued only going to parties myself only occasionally over the next two years.

Now I’m in my Senior year, and I’ve probably been to more parties, or to the bar, in the last month than I ever did in the previous three years. A lot of people I know have noticed this, and here’s the two reasons why:

1) It’s my last year here, and I know that while I’ll be able to hang out with people whenever the occasion occurs, I’ll never have the chance to do it again during my college years. You can hang out in a lot of places, but parties are one way to do it.

2) I’m 21 now, and thus that “getting caught” fear is now more or less gone. You’ll probably be hard-pressed to get me to a dorm party, but off campus? Fair game.

Still, I prefer the less crowded atmosphere, even though I know many people thrive in it. Even last night, though I enjoyed being where I was, I was more comfortable when most of the people had left, and there was less of a crowd. I don’t know how to explain it. It’s just me.

So, if anyone was wondering why my sudden increase in appearances at parties and at the bar (though I could never go before this year, so it may be a moot point), that’s why.

You might remember how I griped about my university’s student employment office last month.  Well, we’ve gone from A New Hope (when I finally got hired this semester) to The Empire Strikes Back, because of an email I received today.  It let me know that I’m going to lose my work study because apparently I don’t have a job!

Is everyone who works in that office an idiot?  Not only can I not make more in an hour than last year – this, despite the fact that no matter how much I receive per hour, it will never affect how much I can get in a semester – but they can’t even keep organized!  It is amazing that in this day in age with computers that they can’t keep simple records of who’s employed.

I blame their lack of notification to my supervisor before the semester began of the issue they had with my pay rate.   I would have been perfectly fine with an explanation then.  A little disappointed perhaps, but mostly okay.  But no.  That was that second time in two years they waited until I was back at school to tell me these things.

I think overall that things will be fine.  I’ll go to my boss tomorrow, and he’ll call them, and things will be straightened out.  They haven’t taken my money yet (so says the eweb system), so there’s probably a grace period for those who might want to get a job before losing it.  I’ll tell you though, if it does disappear, or if it had disappeared right away, there’d be hell to pay.  Because I know if it does go away, I’ll never see it again, since I’m sure their excuse will be that “we have no more money to spend on it.”  In that’d case, I’d want an operating fund job, or I go straight to the President of the university.

I’m sick of dealing with these people, and am glad I’ll no have to do so once I’m out of here.  Hopefully real HR departments are better, but I don’t know.  Experiences, anyone?

Are there ever days or weeks where it feels like you’re riding the emotional roller coaster?  I’m guessing there are some of those times for everyone.  I know today was one for me…

Last night was pretty good.  Didn’t go to the bar, but my roommate had some pretty cool people over.  So, I was going up that first hill, you might say.

I wake up really not wanting to go to my Macroeconomics class.  However, I know I’ll be starting a downward trend if I don’t, since it’s a tough class.  So, I go.  It turns out to be a pretty slow moving class today (as all of them have been), so I’m happy to get back to my room.  So, now I’ve gone down into a pretty deep first valley.

Once back at my dorm, I zoomed quickly up another hill, and maybe even a loop or two when an email from scifi.com reminds me that the Season 4 Premiere of Stargate Atlantis is tonight.  That, combined with the second to last episode of this season of Doctor Who (which should prove to be an exciting one), I was feeling pretty good.  Got right over the Macroeconomics class.

So, I got some stuff done for the club I’m in, and went to my Communication Research class, which, despite the horror stories from people who’ve had him in the past, is moderately enjoyable to sit through and learn.  So, I’m zooming right along on some level ground.

Got out of there, and had to go get a flier for the club approved, which I did.  Then I had the idea to go and capture the segment videos for Expedition I was just sent.   Called my dad to see when he was going to pick me up today.

You ever see those movies where the roller coaster is going through a loop and it stops at the top?  Well, that’s where I am right now, because of some pretty bad news I received while talking to my dad.

My grandfather on my mom’s side has died.

Not all the details are known, but I know he committed suicide, probably from a combination of anti-depressant drugs (I think stemming from his time in Vietnam) and years of rather heavy drinking.  Those two are not a good combination, to say the least.

I’m don’t know a lot about how he was before Vietnam, but after, I gather he was a pretty heavy drinker, which led to the divorce.  Unfortunately, that never stopped, and he married and divorced again in the years since divorcing from my grandmother.

He was a soldier that went to Vietnam for two tours, and as a para-trooper, got exposed to the toxic Agent Orange gas, which affected both him and his children.  Luckily, I guess you could say, my mom was born before he went to Vietnam, so does not have the have the same things as his other children.

I didn’t know him well in my younger years, only seeing him every once in a while, since he hopped in residence from Florida to Connecticut to Massachusetts.  But he loved to visit other places, and aside from his military-based travel, he’s gone from coast to coast in this country.

After one of these travels, he ended up found without his van somewhere in the Southwest U.S. (think it was California), after which he came to live with us for a period of time so that we could keep an eye on him and help him out.  Though I didn’t get to know him that much better (since I was here at school 5 days a week), I did get to know him a bit better.  After living with us, he lived at an assisted-living center, and then semi-independently at my aunt’s house (my mom’s half-sister).  They bought a house with two apartments, and he lived in one of those.

But his love for the warmth of places like Florida still called for him, and so, after about a year, he flew down there to live across the street from my mom’s other half-sister.  I last say him when he drove up with them to attend my great-grandmother’s wake in June.

I have only one thing to say…

RIP Richard Martikainen