This is the week I get some of that internet money. Yes my friends, by the end of this week I should be holding a check from The Google for 102.06 dollars. When I got AdSense almost a year ago my goal was to have enough money in a year to buy a forty of Colt45. I underestimated my earning potential (you guys) by about 330%. The question is what should I do with my new found wealth. Since I really don't feel I have done anything to earn this money, I figure that I should spend it on something cool. I am open to idea's, but I have a few in mind.
Blogging party
This could be one of two things; a party for myself and fellow blog readers paid for by my blogging earnings, or it could be just a party that I liveblog during. Either way it would be a celebration of my blogging prowess, in which everyone would be required to read some of my posts aloud and discuss my pure blogging genius. But I really want to make use this money for more than a keg of Keystone Light.
Low risk long term retirement savings account
Um, yeah you know in like a long time this money will be worth more and then I can like, do things with the money I got from when I blogged during college. This sounds lame.
Fight Ann Arbor's unfair chicken ordinance
I don't know how much money it takes to fight city hall. Especially when my lawyer fee's are covered in my tuition. If I have any money left over though I can use it to file a permit, build, and care for Elwood Blues.
Rent a midget
I wonder how long you can get a midget for $102.
Put it into the AR-15 fund
I still haven't bought my assault rifle, mostly because they cost more monies than the intertubes provides. This could start the fund. The other reason I haven't bought one is that if I move to Chicago next year, I would have to get rid of it because of their Assault Weapons Ban.
Give it to charity
ha.
Build the zipline
I have always wanted to make a zipline from the third story of our house up the street to Bell's pizza. That way I wouldn't have to walk all the way downstairs to go to Bell's.
Become a day trader
I could get an E-Trade account, and become a day trader. Then I could get enough money to do everything listed above. Except give it to charity of course. I really don't know much about the stock market or investing, but I do have a Stocks application on my iPhone. If I make money then wooo! or else I can enjoy the financial crises like all other Americans.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Friday, October 24, 2008
I work hard for my money
I got up this morning at 6:45 am. I rolled into work to do a 6 hour charter. The charter was to drive a bunch of student to the Target on Main Street for some corporate thing. They were supposed to be ready at 7:30. They didn't board the bus until 8:10. I then drove them to target and went back to base. I didn't have to pick them up again until 12:30 in the afternoon. That left me with a good amount of time.
I drove home and got some books and papers so I could study. I also grabbed some breakfast while I was home. I came back and started reading Call of the Wild at the table in the break room. Then I sat on the couch. Then I laid down on the couch. Then I was asleep. Eventually I started snoring and one of my co-workers woke me up. We started talking about how inefficient the bus system is. Of course, as we were talking both of us were getting paid to sit around the break room. Anyways he told me that I should present my ideas to management. So I spent the next 40 minutes outlining one of my ideas that I believe would save the department $10,000 a year and reduce fleet miles by 2,500 miles a year. I told this to my supervisor, and he said I should look into it further. Though I don't know if I want to spend my spare time doing free consulting.
Anyways, it was about time to go get the kids from Target. I decided to stop on the way for a McChicken and Double Cheeseburger. Then I sat in the Target parking lot for 20 minutes waiting for them to come out. When I thought about it I couldn't believe that they would pay to charter a bus to take them to Target. The price to charter a bus is $60 per hour, with a minimum of $180 dollars. So their 6 hour charter for the 25 of them cost $360. They could have taken cab's down there for less money. $360 to take 25 people 2 miles away and back. Wow.
So I dropped them back off at Campus and then I went to go finish of another driver's charter. It was a bunch of High School kids going to some thing at the B-School. I sat in my bus for about half an hour and then drove them back to Huron High School. Then I drove back to base and went home.
I worked over 7 hours today and spent approximately 40 minutes driving people around.
No one explicitly enjoys working, but most people have to in order to make money. So if you must work you should make as much as you can for the least amount of effort and least amount of risk. The only problem is that effort generally affects pay rate. So most high paying jobs require a considerable amount of effort (generally in time and mental strain). But what's weird is that most low paying jobs also require a great deal of effort like being a janitor or coal miner (generally physical). So the best jobs then are the ones that pay well for very little actual work like the students who work at the information desk's or in the fishbowl. It makes me wonder why some people work really hard at jobs that pay so little money, when really anyone can drive a bus, or become a receptionist or something.
So take three jobs students generally have; Cafeteria Worker, Tutor, Drug Dealer, and my job, Bus Driver. On a scale of one to five (five being the highest) here is how I would rate them in effort, risk and payment. Assuming no one gets any satisfaction from their job of course.
In terms of an effort to payment rate, I would guess the best job on campus would be dealing drugs. But the only problem is that it is a high risk job. Injury's and arrests would deter me from doing it. The amount of effort that is involved driving a bus to the amount of payment is pretty good. Of course I risk getting a ticket (which is rare in a bus) or getting into an accident. I'm not certain that I have the best job on campus but I feel like compared to many other jobs mine is significantly less taxing and the pay is very decent.
I will say that being a Minority Peer Advisor in a residence hall is probably the best job on campus in terms of effort to pay. Apparently the time commitment is only 15-20 hours a week and for that you get free room and board and a cash stipend of about $3,000.
P.S. I coded the table in HTML myself. Booya! But I can't figure out the gap between the text and the table.
I drove home and got some books and papers so I could study. I also grabbed some breakfast while I was home. I came back and started reading Call of the Wild at the table in the break room. Then I sat on the couch. Then I laid down on the couch. Then I was asleep. Eventually I started snoring and one of my co-workers woke me up. We started talking about how inefficient the bus system is. Of course, as we were talking both of us were getting paid to sit around the break room. Anyways he told me that I should present my ideas to management. So I spent the next 40 minutes outlining one of my ideas that I believe would save the department $10,000 a year and reduce fleet miles by 2,500 miles a year. I told this to my supervisor, and he said I should look into it further. Though I don't know if I want to spend my spare time doing free consulting.
Anyways, it was about time to go get the kids from Target. I decided to stop on the way for a McChicken and Double Cheeseburger. Then I sat in the Target parking lot for 20 minutes waiting for them to come out. When I thought about it I couldn't believe that they would pay to charter a bus to take them to Target. The price to charter a bus is $60 per hour, with a minimum of $180 dollars. So their 6 hour charter for the 25 of them cost $360. They could have taken cab's down there for less money. $360 to take 25 people 2 miles away and back. Wow.
So I dropped them back off at Campus and then I went to go finish of another driver's charter. It was a bunch of High School kids going to some thing at the B-School. I sat in my bus for about half an hour and then drove them back to Huron High School. Then I drove back to base and went home.
I worked over 7 hours today and spent approximately 40 minutes driving people around.
No one explicitly enjoys working, but most people have to in order to make money. So if you must work you should make as much as you can for the least amount of effort and least amount of risk. The only problem is that effort generally affects pay rate. So most high paying jobs require a considerable amount of effort (generally in time and mental strain). But what's weird is that most low paying jobs also require a great deal of effort like being a janitor or coal miner (generally physical). So the best jobs then are the ones that pay well for very little actual work like the students who work at the information desk's or in the fishbowl. It makes me wonder why some people work really hard at jobs that pay so little money, when really anyone can drive a bus, or become a receptionist or something.
So take three jobs students generally have; Cafeteria Worker, Tutor, Drug Dealer, and my job, Bus Driver. On a scale of one to five (five being the highest) here is how I would rate them in effort, risk and payment. Assuming no one gets any satisfaction from their job of course.
| Job | Effort | Risk | Payment |
| Cafeteria Worker | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| Tutor | 3 | 0 | 4 |
| Drug Dealer | 1 | 5 | 5 |
| Bus Driver | 2 | 1 | 3 |
In terms of an effort to payment rate, I would guess the best job on campus would be dealing drugs. But the only problem is that it is a high risk job. Injury's and arrests would deter me from doing it. The amount of effort that is involved driving a bus to the amount of payment is pretty good. Of course I risk getting a ticket (which is rare in a bus) or getting into an accident. I'm not certain that I have the best job on campus but I feel like compared to many other jobs mine is significantly less taxing and the pay is very decent.
I will say that being a Minority Peer Advisor in a residence hall is probably the best job on campus in terms of effort to pay. Apparently the time commitment is only 15-20 hours a week and for that you get free room and board and a cash stipend of about $3,000.
P.S. I coded the table in HTML myself. Booya! But I can't figure out the gap between the text and the table.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Box house: we're big on page 6C
There is an article in the paper today about the box house. Did you know Tom Champion started the box house?
Here is the link to the story.
http://www.michigandaily.com/content/2008-10-22/party-must-go
I'm just getting all sorts of press coverage these days.
Here is the link to the story.
http://www.michigandaily.com/content/2008-10-22/party-must-go
I'm just getting all sorts of press coverage these days.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
The Penn State Weekend
Around 1pm on Friday Mark, James, Dave and I left Ann Arbor on a trip to see Michigan play Penn State. I had gotten the tickets this summer and was lucky because they sold out within 5 minutes of going on sale. I packed 6 shirts, 5 of them were Michigan shirts.
We made great time and got to the house where we were staying at around 7pm. The guy we were staying with had worked with Dave and James over the summer and lived right near downtown State College. It was a first floor apartment of a house, and was centerpieced by a 96 inch projection screen. Soon after we got there everyone else left to get a keg and I was alone when a girl came in who I could only describe as "loony". She had taken 3 Five Hour Energies and for some reason thought they were additive and she would be hopped up for 15 hours. I think she was on drugs. That night, the house had a party and we got to hang out with this kid's friends. We were amazed to find that they play "NBA Jams" rules in beer pong. I thought that was original to Ann Arbor. They had a pair of police grade handcuffs lying around and after a few drinks it seemed like a good idea to cuff one of Dave's wrists. I then found out that they didn't have a key, oops. We got a call from my buddy Rob saying that he was at a great party a few blocks away. We headed over to the house he was staying at, and Dave headed off to find a police officer to undo his handcuffs. At the other party were severely accosted by Penn State fans, in much they same way we would accost them, verbally not physically. We went back to our house and found that Dave had quite the time explaining to the cops why he was semi-handcuffed.
After getting back, it was pretty late and I had told my cousin Mike that I would meet him for breakfast at 10 on Saturday. Unfortunately, there was still a party going on, and I was exhausted. So I decided to go out and sleep in the car. At 5:19 in the morning I woke up in the front seat of a Dodge Stratus and couldn't feel my extremities. I headed back inside and found a piece of flooring. During the party they had the door open, so even inside it was around 50 degrees. It was the worst night of sleep I have gotten in a long time.
On gameday we woke up and headed to meet up with my cousin and his wife Lynne and their friends Jeff and Melissa. Breakfast consisted of Long Island Iced Tea's and Nachos. We then said hi to my Aunt and Uncle for a minute and then headed over to the stadium with is all the way across campus from downtown. Surrounding the stadium are a bunch of large fields where most of the tailgating takes place. Mike took us to a few tailgates where we were either welcomed or despised. The ones that despised us made us drink heavily. In the 50 minutes before game time Mark and I drank between 7 - 8 beers and I slapped the bag. Heading towards the stadium I tried to jump a wire fence and failed miserably and landed on my head. Like most reasonable schools, open intox laws are relaxed on gamedays, so we stood outside the stadium and chugged beers.
Our seats were in the Michigan section of the upper bowl of the stadium. Having been to a good number of college stadiums I must say that Beaver Stadium is one of my favorites. It really felt like a pro stadium, complete with a sound system and advertising (boo!). It reminded me a little bit of Ben-Hill-Griffin stadium at Florida in terms of intimidation factor. The first quarter and a half was great. The last 40 minutes was a painful hope-shattering, realization of our destitute.
After the game we wen't to get some slices of pizza that I still have heartburn from 24 hours later. Then we went to the bar to drink away the pain. We got some personal pitchers and after kicking our ass, most of the PSU fans were pretty nice. We talked to one alumni who was impressed at the amount of football games that we go to. He then bought us a pitcher and split it with us. That's right, we had a Penn State fan buying us drinks at the bar.
Mark and I then met back up with Mike and Melissa because I had bet a pitcher that Michigan would cover the 23.5 point spread. We went to a basement bar that had a huge number of beers on tap. I just drank Yeungling because I rarely get to order it in Michigan. We were pretty tired at this point and after a couple of pitchers we decided to pack it in. We staggered home and found some space on the floor to sleep. I think that night there were 15 people in a three bedroom apartment.
This morning I felt like complete garbage. My two roommates Brick and Andy had come out with a kid who was continuing on to Philly on Sunday so we told Brick we would give him a ride home if he sat bitch the entire way. Andy on the other hand, had to find his own way home from Happy Valley, and somehow managed to make it back to Ann Arbor with some random kids he met. We found my roommate brick at the Hooters in State College at 11 am on Sunday. The drive back went pretty well.
The trip wasn't nearly as crazy as the UT weekend but it was still fun. We kept running into other Michigan fans we know, and there was a good showing of Michigan fans at the game. The Penn State fans were as expected, hostile but not terribly bad. Downtown State College is great, with a good college town feel and lots to do. The loudness of the Beaver Stadium makes me wonder why our 110,000 fans are so quiet. Overall it was a really fun trip and one that I would definitely go again.
We made great time and got to the house where we were staying at around 7pm. The guy we were staying with had worked with Dave and James over the summer and lived right near downtown State College. It was a first floor apartment of a house, and was centerpieced by a 96 inch projection screen. Soon after we got there everyone else left to get a keg and I was alone when a girl came in who I could only describe as "loony". She had taken 3 Five Hour Energies and for some reason thought they were additive and she would be hopped up for 15 hours. I think she was on drugs. That night, the house had a party and we got to hang out with this kid's friends. We were amazed to find that they play "NBA Jams" rules in beer pong. I thought that was original to Ann Arbor. They had a pair of police grade handcuffs lying around and after a few drinks it seemed like a good idea to cuff one of Dave's wrists. I then found out that they didn't have a key, oops. We got a call from my buddy Rob saying that he was at a great party a few blocks away. We headed over to the house he was staying at, and Dave headed off to find a police officer to undo his handcuffs. At the other party were severely accosted by Penn State fans, in much they same way we would accost them, verbally not physically. We went back to our house and found that Dave had quite the time explaining to the cops why he was semi-handcuffed.
After getting back, it was pretty late and I had told my cousin Mike that I would meet him for breakfast at 10 on Saturday. Unfortunately, there was still a party going on, and I was exhausted. So I decided to go out and sleep in the car. At 5:19 in the morning I woke up in the front seat of a Dodge Stratus and couldn't feel my extremities. I headed back inside and found a piece of flooring. During the party they had the door open, so even inside it was around 50 degrees. It was the worst night of sleep I have gotten in a long time.
On gameday we woke up and headed to meet up with my cousin and his wife Lynne and their friends Jeff and Melissa. Breakfast consisted of Long Island Iced Tea's and Nachos. We then said hi to my Aunt and Uncle for a minute and then headed over to the stadium with is all the way across campus from downtown. Surrounding the stadium are a bunch of large fields where most of the tailgating takes place. Mike took us to a few tailgates where we were either welcomed or despised. The ones that despised us made us drink heavily. In the 50 minutes before game time Mark and I drank between 7 - 8 beers and I slapped the bag. Heading towards the stadium I tried to jump a wire fence and failed miserably and landed on my head. Like most reasonable schools, open intox laws are relaxed on gamedays, so we stood outside the stadium and chugged beers.
Our seats were in the Michigan section of the upper bowl of the stadium. Having been to a good number of college stadiums I must say that Beaver Stadium is one of my favorites. It really felt like a pro stadium, complete with a sound system and advertising (boo!). It reminded me a little bit of Ben-Hill-Griffin stadium at Florida in terms of intimidation factor. The first quarter and a half was great. The last 40 minutes was a painful hope-shattering, realization of our destitute.
After the game we wen't to get some slices of pizza that I still have heartburn from 24 hours later. Then we went to the bar to drink away the pain. We got some personal pitchers and after kicking our ass, most of the PSU fans were pretty nice. We talked to one alumni who was impressed at the amount of football games that we go to. He then bought us a pitcher and split it with us. That's right, we had a Penn State fan buying us drinks at the bar.
Mark and I then met back up with Mike and Melissa because I had bet a pitcher that Michigan would cover the 23.5 point spread. We went to a basement bar that had a huge number of beers on tap. I just drank Yeungling because I rarely get to order it in Michigan. We were pretty tired at this point and after a couple of pitchers we decided to pack it in. We staggered home and found some space on the floor to sleep. I think that night there were 15 people in a three bedroom apartment.
This morning I felt like complete garbage. My two roommates Brick and Andy had come out with a kid who was continuing on to Philly on Sunday so we told Brick we would give him a ride home if he sat bitch the entire way. Andy on the other hand, had to find his own way home from Happy Valley, and somehow managed to make it back to Ann Arbor with some random kids he met. We found my roommate brick at the Hooters in State College at 11 am on Sunday. The drive back went pretty well.
The trip wasn't nearly as crazy as the UT weekend but it was still fun. We kept running into other Michigan fans we know, and there was a good showing of Michigan fans at the game. The Penn State fans were as expected, hostile but not terribly bad. Downtown State College is great, with a good college town feel and lots to do. The loudness of the Beaver Stadium makes me wonder why our 110,000 fans are so quiet. Overall it was a really fun trip and one that I would definitely go again.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Brian Starts a Third Blog
I've started a third blog. This blog isn't dedicated to me, or a man who scares the shit out of me, or even a fast food restaurant. This is a blog that details all of the hypothetical situations that I encounter. It is over at ultimatehypotheticals.blogspot.com
The idea is that people (including you) can contribute hypotheticals to the blog. You know, if you're in the car and you're wondering if it would be worse to be a midget or have elephantiasis this is the place to get some opinions. So if you want to contribute to the blog let me know and I will add you as a contributor. At the very least check it out and answer some of the questions that are raging in my head.
The idea is that people (including you) can contribute hypotheticals to the blog. You know, if you're in the car and you're wondering if it would be worse to be a midget or have elephantiasis this is the place to get some opinions. So if you want to contribute to the blog let me know and I will add you as a contributor. At the very least check it out and answer some of the questions that are raging in my head.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Brian is Mentioned in the Ann Arbor Chronicle
Even though I was quoted in the daily today, I don't think anyone noticed because I would expect some people to have made a mention of it to me.
But one of my friends did tell me that I received my own paragraph in the Ann Arbor Chronicle. Prepare to be hillarified.
But one of my friends did tell me that I received my own paragraph in the Ann Arbor Chronicle. Prepare to be hillarified.
Russell, who is listed as a “Campus Legend” in the UM online directory, stated that he had lived off campus on State Street for three years. He noted the recent zoning change to the Burns Park area as reflective of community sentiment against student encroachment into neighborhoods and said that the 601 S. Forest project would mitigate against such encroachment by providing an alternative to the substandard housing alternatives near single-family neighborhoods. Compared to other Big Ten institutions, Russell characterized some UM off-campus housing options as “slum housing.” He stated that the improvement of student housing is the responsibility of both city council and student government, and suggested that current student government might not necessarily be mindful of the support among many students for the project.They actually looked me up in the campus directory. Thank goodness I took out the part that said my favorite beverage was bathwater.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Brian Joins the Politcal Process
In high school I took alot of video classes to pass the time. Part of the classes involved assisting with the district TV stations coverage of everything from woman's softball to school plays. It's how I got my first sportscasting gig, doing the color commentary for woman's basketball. I also got to spend some time with the Shulkinator when we covered the school board meetings. I would usually sneak out of the broadcast booth to steal refreshments and to make public comments. I like making public comments because you can pretty much say anything you want until they cut your microphone.
Tonight I went to the Ann Arbor City Council meeting to voice my support for the development of 601 S. Forest. Unfortunately the developer caved under pressure and turned a great project into an average one. You should already know my opinion on the matter.
I got up and spoke about how it is a win-win-win for students, residents and the city. At the end I assured the council that despite MSA being against the project, students were in favor of improving off campus housing. It was at that point I stared down the MSA contingent. To be honest, why would MSA be against a project that would increase student off-campus housing? Wasn't part of your platform to improve off-campus housing? Do you honestly think that installing those 3 streetlights at East U. and Oakland counts as improving campus housing? A few minutes later the student body vice president came up and said "With no disrespect to Mr. Russell, no one has ever voted for him". He went on to talk about how MSA takes student input very seriously. Does that contradict itself?
I was quoted in an article in the Daily about it.
Anyways I better go back in two weeks to voice my concerns about the AA Chicken Ordinance being anti-student, pro-residents who don't live in the student ghetto.
Tonight I went to the Ann Arbor City Council meeting to voice my support for the development of 601 S. Forest. Unfortunately the developer caved under pressure and turned a great project into an average one. You should already know my opinion on the matter.
I got up and spoke about how it is a win-win-win for students, residents and the city. At the end I assured the council that despite MSA being against the project, students were in favor of improving off campus housing. It was at that point I stared down the MSA contingent. To be honest, why would MSA be against a project that would increase student off-campus housing? Wasn't part of your platform to improve off-campus housing? Do you honestly think that installing those 3 streetlights at East U. and Oakland counts as improving campus housing? A few minutes later the student body vice president came up and said "With no disrespect to Mr. Russell, no one has ever voted for him". He went on to talk about how MSA takes student input very seriously. Does that contradict itself?
I was quoted in an article in the Daily about it.
Anyways I better go back in two weeks to voice my concerns about the AA Chicken Ordinance being anti-student, pro-residents who don't live in the student ghetto.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
LOL
There is a lot to lol at today.
LoL @ me texting stadium staff "I'm afraid I might poop myself".
LoL @ Al in a Bear Suit on national TV.
LoL @ my first hate comments on my blog. I guess this means I've made it in the world of blogging. Next, I need to start a flame war with some Tally Hall fans.
LoL @ our tailgate being considered with the frats as the best tailgate, by a blog that I openly hate.
LoL @ me texting stadium staff "I'm afraid I might poop myself".
LoL @ Al in a Bear Suit on national TV.
LoL @ my first hate comments on my blog. I guess this means I've made it in the world of blogging. Next, I need to start a flame war with some Tally Hall fans.
LoL @ our tailgate being considered with the frats as the best tailgate, by a blog that I openly hate.
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