I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I was in Houston, Texas for Thanksgiving this year. I took some pictures, if you scroll down on the left, click on the Thanksgiving '04 link to see them. A special thanks goes out to Lizzie & Mark for hosting this year. I had a great time. A very special thanks goes out to everyone who helped me plan the surprise. I wish I got a picture of it, it was definitely a classic moment. And a super duper thanks goes out to the bestest person in the world for saying "Thanksgiving would not have been worth it if I (Anjali) didn't show up".

Apparently this sign portrays Houston perfectly!



College basketball has started! I've watched a few good games so far. Congrats to Syracuse for winning the Coaches vs Cancer tournament. This week is the Annual ACC/Big 10 tournament. I'm excited to watch the Duke/Michigan State game tonight and the Wake Forest/Illinois game tomorrow. I hope they will be real exciting.

I've decided not to get the Georgetown season tickets this year. They were quite expensive and most of the good Big East teams are coming down here. I do think I will go to the Illinois/Georgetown game on Dec. 9th. Anyone want to join me?

A co-worker just sent me this link (Harvard Sucks). It is probably one of the greatest pranks ever done. Check it out.

Bad news people. The FCC said it would cost more for us to choose what channels we want instead of having to pick cable packages.

A six-month study of "a la carte" cable and satellite pricing, ordered by Congress, found that consumers would save money on their monthly bills only if they pick and pay for fewer than nine channels.

This got me thinking, if network channels were already included and I get to choose the cable channels I wanted which ones would I choose. Here is my list:

1. ESPN
2. ESPN2
3. Fox Sports Net (they show ACC basketball games)
4. TLC
5. Discovery
6. Bravo
7. HBO
8. Showtime
9. USA (maybe)

I can not think of any other channels that I would like, so it would seem that I would benefit from the "a la carte" mode than the bulk packages. My question to everyone is, what channels would you choose? Do you think you can live without some channels in order to have a smaller bill. Or do you think the cable companies have it right by offering us packages and it's worth paying for it?

I received some feedback about the new design. Most of you liked it but didn't like the comments. I understand, it's annoying to sign in to comment. I think I implemented the old comment form back in. Let me know if there are any problems.

Aaah, the depression is wearing off. No, not the depression left after the election, the post-college basketball depression is beginning to be lifted. That's right, college basketball is set to resume pretty soon. YAY!!!

As a side note, this post was originally going to write a letter to President Bush about the election. I have been really upset about the tone of the country in regards to "morality". I have been confused for awhile lately, particulaly in regards to "faith". President Bush has said that his "faith" has been derived from his religion. How can you run the country based on your religion since the very basic aspect of this country is separation of state and church. There was a reason our forefathers left England. England had the ability to be the greatest nation in this world but they let religion destroy them. I would like to see that America stay as great as it, but if the government insists on passing laws based on "morality" the country will just repeat England's demise. I am not saying that England is no longer a super-power, I'm insinuating that it could've been the "Greatest" country in the world. It is no surprise that there is a quote out there "History repeats itself"...

Anyway, I digress. I am not as eloquent as many other people out there who feel somewhat similiar to what I feel. This particular NY Times editorial was very good. Here is a non-liberal editorial in the NY Times. I do tend to agree with David Brooks, I do not think scores of voters voted because they were against gay marriage, I think people were under the impression, President Bush will keep them safer.

Back to college basketball...

I am proud to say that my Bucknell Bison men's basketball team is ranked #1 in their conference. They are supposedly the team to beat this year. Here is the article. Also, from the Blue Ribbon Yearbook:

Quite simply, the Bison seem primed to begin a two-year run that could include a couple of PL titles and trips to the NCAA Tournament. They're solid inside and out and have enough depth to weather minor injury problems.

As long as Flannery can keep everyone happy with playing time, the Bison will roll in the Patriot League, particularly in their new Sojka Center where they were 10-2 last year, including a 7-0 mark in the league.

How exciting is that! Bucknell actually could make the NCAA Tournament! I haven't been this psyched for Bucknell Men's Basketball in awhile. Hopefully all the pre-season talk will turn out to be correct.

Since everyone else has standings, I will have my own. Drum roll please.

Anjali's Top 10 Men's College Basketball Rankings
1. Kansas
2. North Carolina
3. Georgia Tech
4. Wake Forest
5. Syracuse
6. Kentucky
7. Connecticut
8. Oklahoma State
9. Duke
10. Illinois

Yes, I know not much different than other rankings...but how the hell are you supposed to make rankings if the teams haven't played yet!

I think I am beginning to hate elections. I went to bed last night at 12:45am and I still did not know who is the freakin president. And what is up with Tom Daschle not winning.

As always after a close election the electoral college debates appears. Many people feel that it is antiquated and should be revised. Other people feel that if it is not broken why change it? If you are regular reader of this website you will remember that I blasted ESPN columnist John Clayton for thinking the NFL OT rules should not be changed because it still works. And I will challenge that point of veiw once again. Even if it does seem to be working, things can always be improved. The electoral college had a time and purpose 200 years ago when we did not have the technology we do have today. Presidential candidates did not have the means to go to every state, every town to campaign. In fact, at one point it was considered beneath them to talk to the general public. Even our founding fathers thought the general public was stupid! Just kidding, actually they did not want the President to be elected by a direct popular vote not because they doubted the public intelligence but rather they feared that without enough information about candidates from outside their state, people would vote for the candidate from their state or region. Than what would happen is the state with the most people would end up electing the President, which obviously is not fair.

I do not feel that my vote counts less if the Electoral College does not vote the same way I do. If you think about it than you would want your vote to count more than other people's vote.

So, how should the voting process be changed? I'm not quite sure I am ready to give full power to the general public. I feel that this current election many people did not fundamentally understand the issues. I'm also scared of the one issue voters, those who will vote for the candidate who supports their view on one issue. They could end up voting in a person who does not have the leadership abilities or has completely insane viewpoints for other issues. Also, campaigning has become very vicious. Many candidates trying to find the skeletons in their opponents closet to prove that their opponent is unworthy. How are the general public supposed to choose a candidate if all they see is mud-slinging?

What I do believe in is that people should start paying attention to their local elections more carefully. Your vote does count in those elections! Become aware of the issues of your community, listen to the various candidates. Because what is most likely going to happen is that you will be most affected by what happens in your state than your country.

I have no answer on the Electoral College but here is a good paper that talks about the history, the changes made and how it works today. I strongly suggest people take a look at this before they cry out and say the Electoral College sucks without knowing the background as to why it was created. Remember, I am not saying it is great, but I do believe it needs to be changed.