never stop cruising

home from the bahamas with brittany, chea, tyler and jon. couldn't have been more of what i wanted out of a cruise to gorgeous islands in 80-degree weather. had the trip planned for months and saved up for it for the same amount of time. it's rewarding to work hard toward something and have it all pay off. carnival fascination — i will be back.

share your itunes, share your soul

your itunes music library. it says a lot about you. how organized you are. what your personality actually consists of. everything — especially your 25 most played. hack onto peoples' music at work or in a coffee shop. it's fun to guess who's library is who's. have fun

hangovers are for winners

at what point does drinking heavily on a wednesday night with your best friends become unacceptable and frowned upon? is there an age? is it when you have a serious relationship? is it when you're a parent? is it when it starts to affect your job? what if none of that, like, ever happens?

infused with detroit

this week has been filled with detroit sports. monday the crew headed to the joe for an original six matchup: wings vs. rangers. on tuesday we watched the pistons battle the nba-best spurs, both games in great seats. stubhub offers $3 seats that are hard to pass up. i'm grateful for the opportunity to be in the hub of major detroit happenings. i really do love this city and all that's given me since birth. tough. gritty. struggling. but real. head up, press on. det-ermination.

broke yet independent, and loving it

this is my first year as an adult. ok, i graduated in may 2009, moved to oklahoma city as an intern. then i came back to michigan and worked as a full-time reporter yet lived in east lansing. no one is an adult in east lansing. i certainly didn't pretend like i was. then i moved to royal oak. year 2011 is the first full year where i can honestly call myself an adult. i am paying off two student loans. and a hefty credit card bill. and a car payment, not a lease. and an electric bill. and a heating bill. and a water bill. and cable/internet. and a cell phone. and health insurance. and car insurance. oh, and renter's insurance, too. and i have a tax consultant because my paychecks are untaxed. life is way too real.

but to be honest, i kinda like it. my parents don't pay for anything in my name at all. i'm completely removed from all attachments. sure, it'd be nice to have help but there's something about independence that reigns king over everything else. i don't need help. i have three jobs and always find a way to get by. someday, i'll have a savings. but for now? i'm good.

a bitter cold. a bitter hate.

i hate winter. i hate being cold. i hate thinking to myself, "i need to put on another layer." i hate that i need coffee simply to not DIE. i hate brushing my car off. i hate that i even need to own an ice scraper. i hate that my car takes 20 minutes to heat up. i hate driving with other moronic michiganders in the snow who of course think going 50 in a 35 on an icy road is appropriate. i hate that i can't afford to move south. i hate that i'm shivering while typing this. i hate snowmen. i hate shovels. i hate icicles. i hate people who text and drive in the winter. i hate that i don't own more wool socks. i hate that i have to even write that sentence at all. i hate that people from miami take their weather for granted. i hate that i have to "vacation" in the winter to see the sun. i hate that i don't live on a beach. i hate snow plows. i hate michigan's lack of road salt this week. i hate you if you disagree with me whatsoever. i hate how morbid this post was. i love that i don't care.

guerilla marketing with stars, bananas and mushrooms

I don't know about you, but when I'm on a bicycle, I imagine shooting red shells at fellow riders or going invincible by tracking over a shiny yellow star.
And apparently some Nintendo-crazed, Portlandian street artists are on my wave length too — anonymously painting pictures of items from Mario Kart on N. Williams Avenue's bike lane.
According to Wikipedia, "typically, guerrilla marketing campaigns are unexpected and unconventional; potentially interactive and consumers are targeted in unexpected places."
You'd assume this wasn't done to promote Nintendo or the Wii's latest Mario Kart racing games, but hilariously enough, whoever took it upon themselves to be original like this helped the company's cause.
How many Portland residents will bust out and dust off their old N64 controllers or inquire about purchasing the system or game offCraig's List or eBay?
Unexpected and unnecessary advertising from a third-party source is sometimes the most effective. While Nintendo's sales won't skyrocket in Portland because of this, it's fun to think about how marketing can oddly — and effectively — be used.
Original story with video here.