Props to Unions

Yes, I mean that. Don't get me wrong. I HATE unions. But check out this article. Unions have done what I previously thought was impossible. They've made French people even lazier.

What Would You Do With $20k???

Well, it doesn't really matter. I just read this article about a Congressional estimate of the total economic impact of the war in Iraq. I consider myself pretty knowledgable when it comes to world events and politics, but even I was shocked when I got to the 5th paragraph. Over $20k per family of 4 will be spent on the war through 2008. Of course, I am not 4 people, but since 2002, I've likely paid close to the same amount of federal taxes as the "average" family of 4. While I'm still doing OK financially, aside from the mountains of b-school debt I have, it's still depressing to think of all the ways I could spend $20k (disclaimer: I understand I haven't actually paid $20k in additional taxes yet, but who do you think will eventually be paying for all these Bush-era budget deficits?). So what does $20,900 mean to me?

- Almost 18 months of rent
- Anywhere between 10-30 weekends in Vegas
- Almost 7,000 Washington Apple shots (inside joke from this past weekend)
- 6 or 7 more trips to go watch the Superbowl (yes, I know the Eagles won't play in another Superbowl in my life)
- And, of course, 1,045 lappies

For the sake of the gentlemen's club industry, PLEASE end this war Pres. Bush.

A Stroll Down Memory Lane...

A crazy sequence of events has happened over the last 10 or so hours. Well, not "events", per se...but anyways. For once in my life, I'll just get to the point.

As I was sitting in my Entertainment Marketing class today, I noticed a guy sitting behind me whose name plate (we all have these name plates that we put up in class so Profs know who they are talking to) says "Alexander Du". I had seen the guy, who is in my year, plenty of times before, but never really had a conversation with him, let alone noticed his full name until today.

Anyways, the reason I noticed his name was because, back when I was in elementary school (waaaaayyy the fuck back - 1st-3rd grade), I had a friend named Alex Du. In fact, he was my best friend at the time (sorry, Anuj/Shashank). Given that I transferred out of the school, El Dorado, at the end of 3rd grade, I honestly don't remember if I ever even said a proper goodbye to Alex, or if I kept in touch with him for even a little while after that. I mean, it was literally 19 years ago, and this was obviously in the days before 3rd graders carried cellphones. And I've had a lot of "memory lapses" since then. I digress.

So later this evening, when I got home, I opened up the UCLA Anderson Class of 2008 Facebook (basically a Yearbook, except no "Have a great summer!" and "KIT"s written at the end of it). I wanted to see where this kid was from, and, sure enough, he is from Orange, CA, where El Dorado is located, and graduated college the same year I did. So rather than waiting to see him on campus, I sent him an email, asking if he went to El Dorado for 1st and 2nd grade.

About a half an hour later, this is the response I got:

"Yes I did! You know what’s funny is that I thought I asked you about this during the 80s party last year, and you gave me a weird look, so I thought I was a moron because I thought you were someone that you weren’t."

For reference, the 80s Party was last September, at the end of Orientation when I was but an innocent 1st year. It was an open bar, which probably explains a) why I gave him a weird look and b) why I don't remember the incident one little bit.

In any event, I am totally amazed by what has just happened. What are the odds you somehow randomly re-connect with your best friend from 19 f*cking years ago??? I was admittedly a little surprised I even remembered his full name to notice it. I'm looking forward to having lunch with him next week, to share memories of naptime (save the gay jokes) and skipping Kindergarden. Ahhh, a simpler time.