Pink Eyed Jim’s Blog

I went to the Problogger Meetup at The Speakeasy on Amsterdam Ave in New York last night. It was a fun trip - the first time I’ve ever ventured in to New York without even a friend and it was a lot of fun. I got four free drinks (three compliments of Chitika, one compliments of Abby, the cute bartender) and I talked to a few interesting folks. Most notably of the bunch were of course Darren himself, but also Aaron Brazell of b5media, Perry Klaussen at Hoboken411.com, Nick O’Neill from Capital Interactive, and Adam Edwards from HitTail.

It was a great night, and I enjoyed the company of everyone I met. I’m looking forward to the next one.

Our cheerleaders still leave something to the imagination…

Yes, I have all the pics if you want them. You’ll just have to contact me for them…

All I can say is “Aw, man.” At least these letters weren’t sent to all the 3,000+ dead US servicemen and women since the Iraq war began.

The US Army is to apologise to the families of officers killed or wounded in action who were sent letters urging them to return to active duty.

The letters were sent to more than 5,100 Army officers listed as recently having left the military.

But this figure included about 75 officers killed in action and about 200 wounded in action.

Sheesh.

Well, it’s been a crazy year so far, and I doubt these last two weeks will change that prognosis. So here’s a look back at what affected me in 2006, and then a look ahead for 2007. This is partly because Darren Rowse, an Aussie blogger ten years my senior, to the day, is running a contest over on Problogger.net for Year-in-Review posts.
2006 was the year that everyone finally started to take the internet seriously as a medium. Watch any American newscast and mixed in with old stock footage, you’ll see youtube clips. Reporters get information on people from their myspace profiles. Time magazine voted “you” (as in the users that have turned the internet into this giant content-sharing web) as person of the year. Yep, the internets are really moving on up.
The USA is about to enter its fourth year in Iraq. I kept telling people, “It’s just not Vietnam” but now it’s been longer in Iraq than in the European theater of WWII.
I lost my best friend this year.
Medical marijuana and marijuana decriminalization initiatives were on several ballots this year, but most lost by about a ten percent margin. Dutch border towns have begun making it illegal for non-Netherlanders to purchase or posess marijuana. Marijuana is reportedly the #1 cash crop in the USA, too.
Blah blah blah Michael Richards, blah blah blah Democrats in control of both House and Senate. Blah blah blah North Korea.
Now onto 2007…
Bush will be giving his “new direction” on Iraq in early January, so we’ll see what we’re going to do to turn the tide of this thing. Hah.
I’m going back to The Netherlands in March!
Oh and my final prediction for 2007 is that pinkeyedjim.com and fuckingnastyshit.com are both going to hit their tipping points (FNS is a lot closer than PEJ, but they’re both gonna do it).

It’ll be fun to check this post this time next year when we do our 2007 year in review.

See you in cyberspace.

That’s right folks, you have something in common with Adolph Hitler.

Congratulations!

Ok, so you want to know what it is?

You and Hitler have both been Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year.”

Time’s January 2, 1939 Cover, featuring Adolph Hitler as “Man of the Year”

So again: Congratulations!

On today’s Leonard Lopate Show, there were two very interesting guests, Dr. John Halpern, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Associate Director of Alcohol & Drug Abuse Research at McLean Hospital; and Dr. Michael Mithoefer, a psychiatrist based in Charleston, SC. The two guests talked about their extensive research into therapeutic psychedelics, and their own work with illicit drugs and therapy. They correct quite a few misconceptions toward psychedelic drugs in the process, it’s quite interesting, really. I recommend giving it a listen.
If you want to hear the full segment, click here to download it in mp3 format, if you just want to read about it, here’s the site.

If you’re stalking me, be sure to check out the RU game tonight at 7:30 PM EST on ESPN. I won’t be there, I’ll be watching from my home a mile away, and awaiting the riots which will ensue soon after.

Maybe I’ll get a new TV.