and I’m not talking about Jersey Shore. NYTimes.com has a great article about how the upcoming show “Our Little Genius” may traumatize its contestants, who are young children!

This show seems like it could easily traumatize a kid who gets a wrong answer and loses several hundred thousand dollars for his family! Is it time for some kind of reality show ethics committee or is that going to far in itself by censoring free speech and limiting opportunity?

I guess I should have written this post months ago. Maybe even years ago… but what the heck should I do with this blog? Facebook has entirely taken over for my blog and anything I would have posted here I post there instead.

I suppose I can pick a topic and try to share topical things on this blog… make it useful to a certain set of people. I could make it a journal of sorts, as I learn various aspects of my new role as a market research analyst (my internship has been extended twice already).

Does anyone even read this any more? I’m going to put Google Ads on the site in the hopes that it cuts some of my losses on Web hosting.

I figured I’d let the blogosphere know: I’m almost three weeks into an internship at Pepsi and loving it. My coworkers - and the summer interns - are great. The work is interesting. I’m learning a lot. There is unlimited free Mountain Dew. What more could a guy want? I guess a shorter commute would be nice. The hour and a half is actually a pretty relaxing journey, though.

Interesting NYT article about combining religion and social networking technology.

I had a crazy trip to Boston this weekend. Both ways, the driver got lost and actually asked the passengers for directions! Luckily, everyone had smartphones and could easily provide assistance. On the way into New Haven, the driver got lost multiple times and would have driven around for who knows how long if I hadn’t jumped into the seat behind him and given him turn-by-turn directions.

I was curious how the driver got his directions in the first place, so I asked. He handed me a sheet of paper that contained a giant paragraph of all-caps text explaining how to get from point A to point B. It didn’t even have line breaks between steps! If he made a single wrong turn (he made about twenty) he would be lost. Why wouldn’t Greyhound give their drivers a GPS? Is it so expensive?

How come every time Facebook makes some change, my news feed is full of people complaining? Is this a vocal minority or do most people dislike it when Facebook makes changes? They are about to offer people usernames (optional, I think) and I’ve already seen a bunch of people posting some kind of complaint about it on their status.

My personal opinion is that Facebook has gotten better and better over the years and I’m usually pretty happy when I see it evolving. Even when I do dislike a change (e.g. including comments inline with the feed) I eventually accept it and stop caring.

Facebook is such an emotional thing for people, it’s interesting to see how attached people get to it. How do you feel about Facebook’s evolution?

I figured I may as well declare it to the blogosphere: I’m finished with school!

I graduate this coming Monday. Starting on June 1st, I’ll begin a summer internship at the Yale Case Research Team where I’ll be contributing to Web-based business cases. This is a killer internship because I not only get paid and get experience working on business cases, but I also get to look around for a full-time job. I can take days off to interview and if I land something, I can give my notice and leave the internship. Since I’ll be in New Haven, I’ll be hanging out with some of my fellow classmates and playing as much golf as possible!

If anyone would like to play a round on the #1 college golf course in the country, please come and visit.

I was thrilled to read that Tropicana will be reverting to its old package design. Last year, Tropicana replaced one of the most effective package designs I’ve ever seen with a lame, generic, difficult-to-read design that nobody particularly liked. People all over the Internet were complaining about it and I never heard one positive comment regarding the new design. Amazingly, Tropicana listened and is reverting to their original design with the easy to read color coding. Bravo Tropicana for listening to your customers!

NYTimes article here.

I just got a spam mail today with some fake job opportunity and a sketchy link to a Chinese Web site. It made me think how the spam industry can benefit by staying current on people’s needs and insecurities. Shame on these people!

P.S. If anyone has a real job opportunity for me, I’m still looking! Former software developer looking to do strategy/consulting/marketing. Unlimited potential!

A lot of folks like to talk to me about their ideas for solving the US financial crisis after I tell them that I’m in business school. Since I’m not much of a “finance guy” I don’t really have any of my own brilliant ideas to solve the crisis, but I just read a great couple of articles in the NY Times which sounded pretty convincing to me.

One of the more interesting points that the authors suggest is that instead of bailing out the big banks, we try to rescue the homeowners who are unable to pay off their mortgages. This suggestion seems both liberal and conservative at the same time! I don’t know if I completely agree with the idea, since what good is owning a home if you don’t have a job? I am no expert, so draw your own conclusions from these excellent articles: Criticisms of the financial system and suggestions as to how to fix the system

I’ve always found the concept of smoking doctors to be very ironic, so I thought I’d share this article about a collection of cigarette ads featuring endorsements from medical professionals and other celebrities. I didn’t know Santa smoked Pall Malls!

I rarely have patience to read through a very long Times article, but I actually did read these two long and fascinating NYT Magazine articles in the last couple of weeks. I highly recommend them to anyone interested in sociology, politcs, psychology, or any mix of the three.

Is Obama the End of Black Politics? is about how the concept of “Black Politics” - that is, the relevance and meaning of blacks in politics - may change forever if Obama gets elected. Fascinating points of view in this article.

The Trolls Among Us is an anthropological study of Internet subculture and its evils. What is the effect of anonymity on morality? Very fascinating.

What the…? [bison grunting] You guys okay? We’re trapped, and there’s seven of us. There’s no way we’ll fit in there. There’s room for eight. Oh, forget it, we have too many beverages. There’s, like, 12 cup holders in here. But what about this bison? [bison grunts] That thing got my blood a-boilin’. It’s probably just the seat warmer. (male announcer) seating for eight. only from honda…

Read this out loud and try not to smile. How do they come up with this stuff???

Lots of people ask me what it’s like growing up in New York city. This NY Times article about billboards that use video cameras to see who is looking at them gave me a thought that adds some color to what it’s like in New York. People interviewed in the article characterized these cameras as an invasion of privacy. It’s odd, but walking on the street with thousands of people around you actually feels more “private” than walking around in your apartment building! It seems weird but I can definitely relate to the feeling of freedom and anonymity when I’m walking around the city.

Woo hoo! 1 year down, 1 to go. I truly feel like a different person than I was just 9 months ago. I’ll be back in NYC in mid-late May and I’ll be living in midtown west. I’m very excited for this summer.