New Blog!

Big changes call for big blog posts! Last month I moved from the great city of Chicago to the great city of Detroit. I want to throw myself headlong into the culture and spirit of Detroit so I have started a new blog project, called Detroit Happens. I want to write about the places and people that make up where Detroit really Happens. I hope you will continue to follow my adventures and writing and I want to hear where you think Detroit Happens.

On the Verge

Two years and thousands of words later, I have finally earned my Masters degree in New Media Studies. I’ve had about a week without classes to catch up on life and another week on a wild wild west road trip with the bf. So now what? well I’m not sure quite sure yet. I think my blog needs to develop and grow with me, but I’m still trying to figure out what I want this blog to become. So I apologize for the lack of posts as I finished school and remembered what life without a syllabus is like. Now bare with me for a little while longer as I explore the web a little more and see where I want to plant my seed.

What your browsing history says about you

Like most people, my biggest fear in life is that I died before clearing my browsing history. There in lies my deepest darkest and dumbest search terms. Youtube and Google have created this toy that lets you mold your own life story using search terms. “Search Stories”. So I present to you – Whereever life takes you, the heart will always lead you home.

Kanye’s Workout Plan

Spring is here, and time again for me to find a half marathon to train for, pull out my running shoes, and get back on Lake Shore Drive for some long runs. The most stressful part of this process is not figuring out how to get my winter body back into fighting shape, but what to listen to on those 10 milers. Last summer was full of Girl Talk and The Hood Internet. Nothing tops a remixed beat to hit the pavement with. But I decided that when I can name every song sampled in Girl Talk’s “Play your Part, pt 1” it’s time for something new. I ran my issue by my musical spiritual leader, JayeL, and he recommended The White Panda. Then I found Paste contributor Josh Jackson’s “80 Best Workout Songs”. I guess it’s only appropriate that I do the Chicago Rock ‘n Roll Half Marathon now.

And the Webby goes to

Not ONLY is today Cinco De Mayo, but the Webby awards were announced! This gave me some fresh new sites to follow (not that need more to add to the 40+ sites that are already filling up my RSS feed) while sipping the required margarita, listening to the required Rodrigo y Gabriela, and wearing the required sombrero (I hope you’re picturing me sitting at my laptop wearing a sombrero; it would make my day.)

So what Webby award winning sites have earned a spot in my no-standards-whatsoever RSS? Check it

Broken Secrets – because I could use some more useless knowledge in my vocabulary

1000 Awesome Things – I just added it to my RSS, then realized that I voted it into my winner’s circle last year also. Two time winner!

I Wanna Go There – I’ve been on a travel blog kick lately, and I think the tag line for this site hits the nail on the head of what I, and so many others, want to get out of travel. “This is travel, not tourism.” It’s a social and informal platform to plan your next trip. The site has bottled those invaluable conversations you have while at the bus stop, on the chairlift, in the hostel bunkroom with fellow travelers and locals. Sorry Rick Steves.

Whiskey Girl

As I head down to the drrrty south to hang out with my favorite ATLians, JayeL and LJ, this weekend I will share a little country cronin’ with you. Anyone that knows me knows that I have a severe love/hate/mostly hate relationship with country music, but rising star Lissie has a voice that can’t be ignored. I want to share a bottle of whiskey and a sad story with her on some back porch swing. Lissie grew up on the banks of the Mississippi, recorded her new EP, Why You Runnin?, in Nashville, and now lives in a barn in Cali, just far enough into the sunshine state to bring out her freckles yet far enough away from LA to avoid any comparison to the Dixie Chicks. She seems like a sweeter version of Those Darlins. Perhaps my interest in country is limited to honkey tonk girls….

Little Lovin’ – Lissie by  jencwaters

Island Tunes – Lost Style

Do you get chills when you hear “Bad Robot”? If you watch LOST, you must know the feeling. I have nightmares of ominous strings playing in the background as Locke appears from behind a coconut tree. Only the producers of LOST could turn an island paradise into the purgatory of black smoke and time travel that is LOST. And that is due in large part to the music. Which is exactly what I want on my iPod when I’m trying to get through a long day of data entry!

But dark and ominous background music aside, there are some great songs that fit into LOST. I seem to remember during the good ol’ days when the cast only had to worry about pressing the button every 108 minutes in the Swan there were some good tunes spinning on the record player. So Amazon blog, ChordStrike, has created a playlist of every song played thus far on the show. Highlights include Patsy Cline, The Kinks, Perry Como, Brenda Lee, and Petula Clark

Daley of the Dead

I discovered in the fall my true calling in life. To be in a flash mod (Preferably one with Oprah and Will.I.Am)

Turns out zombie flash mobsters invaded Daley Plaza last weekend! So my mission for this summer is to somehow get involved in one of these. Anyone know where to begin?

ChatRoulette: A Lifetime Supply of Jokes and Pervs

Ohhhh Chatroulette (click at your own risk). I knew there was a reason my pop culture subconscious didn’t want me to research what you are. I know we are all jaded by what the Internet holds, especially since the story broke about the hamster on a piano, but when I discovered Chat Roulette, which connects you via webcam with a random person from somewhere in the world, my mind went straight to all the pervs that your parents used to warm you about in chat rooms in middle school. They once again reer their pervy little heads, except this time we can see them! Per usual, Jon Stewart reports on it’s horror best.

Although, once Ben Folds shows up, it’s a party….

World Water Day

In observance of World Water Day (as well as my last name), I think it’s my civil duty to voice my confused and slightly amazed hatred of bottled water. I just don’t understand how it has gotten to such a “must-have” level, and I hate that people have fallen for what is obviously an empty marketing ploy to get us to buy more……stuff. This project by Annie Leonard, The Story of Stuff, has a section that answers my questions and informs people of the issue of bottled water better than my confused angry rants could.