Snoop Doggy Dogg

I had a really great idea for this blog entry, and there was no way for it to happen so I don’t know what I’m going to do.

I’ve lost the clichéd light at the end of my tunnel. Tunnel vision.

Hummm….

Haaaaa.

Okay.

My idea was this…

I was going to write this entry while listening to Snoop Dogg’s hit single “Drop It Like It’s Hot” over and over and over on my iPod. It would be have sweet! It would have completely drawn you into the entry.

It would have started your weekend off right!

But…my iPod doesn’t have that song. It used to. It did. It used to.

But now it doesn’t.

Either way, it’s Friday afternoon, and what am I still doing on this computer? Actually, what are YOU still doing on your computer? Man, that just got me depressed. That got me sad.

Snap your fingers, that’s as long as it took to 180 my mood here.

Now I’m doubly sad, and I may very well break out in tears at any moment here. First, my idea for this entry is gone and now I’m thinking of all the happy, active people who are already getting their weekend on.

WILL can cheer me up somehow, as I’m sure it has you mucho times over the years. Maybe I’ll turn the dial to the FM classical music. Maybe. I’ll turn the dial.

I could surf the site some more. Listen to some of the broadcasts I missed this morning by downloading the podcasts.

Somehow, I get sadder and sadder. This is a poor pit of sadness that I’m falling into. It’s a Friday and I should be happy. You should be happy. But I’m not.

I’m not happy because my anticipation went overboard. My anticipation is a cup overflowing. Continually overflowing.

Overflowing.

No, he didn't ask me

Sooooooo…

WILL’s Internet director (and my boss) Jack Brighton is at meetings in Seattle for the rest of the week. I’ve never been to Seattle, but Jack says a lot of great things about it.

Take pictures Jack. Bring me back some pictures.

Either way, Jack has the utmost confidence in me as his internet intern. Last night, I get an email from him, and this is what he wrote:

Have fun while I'm gone (I mean work hard), and don't burn down the house...

Um…yeah. Obviously, Jack has a great sense of humor, and he’s a really great and knowledgeable and understanding and helpful guy. I’ve been his intern for almost six weeks. I know enough to not go burning down the WILL building. No, he should’ve said something else.

Like, “And don’t make me the topic of your next two blog posts while I’m gone!”

Haha, and he thought having me convert old cassettes to digital audio files would keep me busy! Life is good.

Moving past the perpetually interesting topic of Jack Brighton, I consider this tedious job of converting audiocassettes a process to grand benefit of mankind. Some of these tapes are ancient and have some really important material on them.

Soon, they’ll all be available at the click of a mouse while you’re visiting the WILL site!

Not only that, WILL will have tons and tons of extra space to store more useful things like toothpaste and new shoelaces (both of which I could really use).

Aight, that’s about it for me. Things are literally starting to fade out as I continue my 10-day homework-induced boycott of sleep. Until next time, peeeaaace!

My Mongolian chocolate

Today could probably be considered a monumental day at WILL although you wouldn’t know it by hanging around the newsroom.

The printer is still puttin’ ink to paper like a New York Times printing press at deadline. I in particular am affected by this because my cubicle is conveniently positioned such that my head is about six inches away from the buzzing bugger of a machine.

I can’t get mad at it, though, because without it there would be no news! That, and it’s just a printer.

Somehow, through all this humming and buzzing and murmuring normalcy is something quite out of the ordinary. And it’s just in the other room in the form of a large, black box! In the words of the late Hunter S., Hoho!

Either way, don’t confuse this large, cold mass of metal and lights to be just another computer. No, this happens to be a large, cold mass of metal and lights that also happens to stream radio waves over the internet. Streaming, as they call it, happens to be proliferating like the baby name “Aiden.”

Basically, radio streaming WILL online means a couple things for you and me, as avid listeners:

1) WILL will soon be easily be accessed online.
2) WILL will soon be easily be accessed online to those vacationing in Mongolia.

What a grand day it is! Knowing that I can listen to WILL even if I happen to be in Outer Mongolia (which I frequently am) is a very calming sentiment. This is just another strong step for the station as it heads into the bright future of the digital age.

So as Jack and I continue to set up this wiz-bang of a contraption, there will be only one last pressing and important question to consider:

How to stream mounds of chocolate to Outer Mongolia.

Chocolate and WILL – a winning combination right there! Peace!

As good as...my pretzels

The best thing about my life as an intern is this bag of Rold Gold pretzels...barely beating out learning how to render a 105-minute earthquake talk for WILL's video archive (coming soon!).

Honestly, though, haven't you felt that strong craving for a bag of 3.5 servings worth of salty, wonderful, baked pretzels? That's why the folks at WILL secretly endorse Frito Lay...for a constant supply of these succulent treats (jk, jk)! Rold Gold pretzels beat out homemade brownies any day!

Today's Chicago Tribune says the city is looking to provide Wi-Fi internet access to its millions and millions and millions of residents (Total population: 2,862,244 - ed). This is a great time to be a Chicagoan.

Soon, a matrix of little, tiny zeros and ones will blanket commuters, large buildings and...Grant Park. A major metropolitan area will be another step closer to looking, acting and working like a well-oiled machine. Heck, maybe a omnipotent machine will be a mayoral candidate in the distant future! Tomorrow, Keanu Reeves won't be all that good of a fighter. This could be a problem in the future...for Keanu.

But, today is today!

Wireless Internet is great for the economy and great for our knowledge. It's all coming together at the perfect time. For the economy, sales of laptops, Blackberries and Sidekicks all skyrocket (Buy! Buy!, Jim Cramer...Buy!). For our knowledge, sites like WILL will be more available.

Not only will WILL radio be live streaming soon, but a great (and I really mean great) video archive is in the works! Internet director Jack Brighton and I will be working on these things extensively in the remaining 11 (or is it 12?) weeks of the spring '06 semester.

They'll be up and running in no-time. Let the City of Wind and everyone else check it out!

With unfettered access to Wi-Fi and WILL online, a world-class city like Chicago needs only one more thing: Rold Gold Pretzels!

The WILL intern

As far as I'm concerned, the best invention of the 21st Century is the Weblog. How else would a WILL intern/UIUC undergrad get a chance to speak about life in Champaign?!

As the semester roles on, I'll keep you updated on all the happenings at the University's NPR- and PBS-affliate. You'll get the down-low on not just what you see everyday on the TV, radio or online, but also the what you DON'T see.

The Full Nelson is your fly on the WILL newroom wall!

Talk to ya soon.