You might remember that back in December, I suggested that the US World Cup team should wear 1950 throw-back jerseys for their openning match against England.

Well, it seems Bob Bradley is a reader here at the TWJ. Awesome! Check out the newly released US jerseys, which are (from top to bottom) the home uni, the away uni, and the third uni.

This summer, my phone fell into the ocean. So I have been making do with Brooklynne's 5-year-old motorola razr, waiting with baited breath for yesterday when my "new every two" benefit matured with Verizon.

Well, yesterday was also the day for me to go to my class in Greensboro, but just as I arrived at campus, my car blew a hose and sprayed antifreeze all over the parking lot.

Coincidentally, yesterday was ANOTHER snow storm in central NC. So I was in Greensboro, with a broken down car, and it is snowing big wet sloppy snow.

Ok Miles, what should I do? I should call Marshall. He can probably bring me some tools and take me to a parts store. Where's my phone? Oh, here it is. Now I just have to find his number in my contacts... wait come on... what the @#$!... the phone's display isn't working! How am I supposed to find a number in my phone if I can't see the display?

(After a few minutes of opening and closing the phone) Oh, finally! I can just make out enough to get the number... BEEP!... What?!... BEEP!.. (phone says low battery)... Low Battery ?!! I just had you plugged in the whole way from Durham to Greensboro!!!

Anyway, I finally got in touch with Marshall, but I ended up spending 3 hours in the cold replacing the hose on the car. Still, the fear of not being able to call for help made me particularly eager to get home and get the new (free) phone I am entitled to for being a loyal Verizon customer.

WRONG. In order to get a phone on par with the enV2 (the phone we currently have other than the afore mentioned razr), Verizon requires an additional $10/month data package. So my "free" upgrade will actually cost me $240 over the course of my contract, for services I don't want or need. Sure there are phones we could get for free, but they would be a step backwards from the models we have had in the past.

So in honor of Verizon's masterful squeezing of its customers, I googled "verizon sucks." I found many, many images and stories of people being gouged in similar ways but one wins the award for greatest act of phone rage protest. I posted it after the break due to iffy language in the memo line.  

I just finished reading Genesis, a science fiction novel by Bernard Beckett. I'm really drawn to sci-fi for some reason--it's one of my favorite genres for movies and TV--but I rarely like sci-fi books. I'm kind of a reading snob. I don't like bad writing, and I have a hard time lowering my standards even for simple pleasure reading. Most sci-fi fails to reach the bar.

Genesis, on the other hand, is very well written. The reader is basically listening in on a dissertation defense, which may sound rather boring, but it's not. The story moves along at a slow, but engaging clip until the last chapter, which suddenly becomes gripping. From the second or third chapter, I could guess the twist at the end, but the way it plays out is chilling in some strange way that I'm not sure I can easily explain.

The book wrestles with pinning down the essence of life, and how that essence is entertwined with sin and death. The final pages are fraught with irony, so it would make a great discussion piece... an all around great read. And at only 150 pages, you can finish it in only a few hours.

Bernard Beckett, I applaud you.