Where's Nate?

living large in the four-oh-eight. wicked large.

11.30.2006

rock on.

Here's a spoof of VH1s popular series Behind the Music starring my band, P-Hat. The script was written by our drummer and guitar player and edited by myself and one of our singers. It was screened at "Rock N Roll B-School", an annual comedy show put on by our clasmates. (Be forewarned: There are a few F-bombs in here.)



You gotta love rock and roll. Particularly when it's played by the most shamelessly self-promoting business school rock and roll band in Michigan history.

11.26.2006

you'll shoot your eye out.

My family is full of wacky holiday traditions. One of my favorites revolves around incessant quoting of "A Christmas Story." My brother knows it verbatim and I'm not far behind. For some reason, this film really strikes at the heart of what makes Christmas so...ironic.

So even though Christmas is a month away, this Cingular ad has been getting me in the holiday spirit (thanks GooTube):


And I'm not nearly as obsessed as this guy:


According to CNN, he literally bought the house from the movie and is selling leg lamps. Better hope the Bumpus hounds don't knock down the front door and steal his turkey.

11.18.2006

bo knows.



On the eve of the biggest Michigan-Ohio State football game of all time, the man who put Michigan football on the map passed away. Bo will almost certainly be watching this one, waving his arms, shouting at the refs.

We hope you'll be proud, Bo. And we miss you.

11.15.2006

two ships passing in the night.

Even tech companies, with their legendary emphasis on building "matrixed" organizations, can't avoid an inevitable by-product of growing too big, too fast: lack of internal communication.

Take Microsoft's Zune, for example. The supposed iPod-killer is in launch mode right now. And it's getting a bit of buzz from the tech press and devoted users. But TechCrunch makes an interesting observation today. Apparently, Zune is incompatible with Vista. Not cool.

I've always believed that Apple's competitive advantage lies in the fact that it is the only computer company that builds the hardware, software, operating system, and peripherals in house. This means that the Mac, iPod, iTunes, and OS X work together effortlessly in the most efficient computing platform on the planet.

No doubt, our friends in Redmond will get this sorted out. You don't spend nearly $6B annually in R&D to allow short-term mistakes like this to impact your long-term strategy. Yet another reason why I want to be an entrepreneur.

11.13.2006

oh how i hate ohio state.

What more could a college football fan ask for? Michigan v. Ohio State with the national championship berth on the line. Brilliant. While Ann Arbor-ites have a tendency to be respectful toward opposing fans, our neighbors to the south have a penchant for being complete and utter idiots. (This is a family blog, sorry.) Stories abound of Buckeye fans shattering windows on cars with Michigan plates and peeing on anything wearing maize and blue.

Whether any of this is true or not, our illustrious administration sent the following note to the student body today:

We know that it can be uncomfortable being in an opposing team's environment, especially when the stakes are so high. We would like to offer a few suggestions in order to help you stay safe and have a positive experience this weekend:
--Try carpooling to the game; if possible, drive a car with non- Michigan license plates.
--Keep your Michigan gear to a minimum, or wait until you are inside the stadium to display it.
--Stay with a group.
--Know and obey the laws regarding alcohol use.
--If you are of legal age to drink, use alcohol in moderation. Stay in the blue.
--Stay low-key; don't draw unnecessary attention to yourself.
--If verbally harrassed by opposing fans, don't take the bait.
--Avoid High Street in Columbus.


In a related note, I spoke to a friend today who is renting a car to drive down to Columbus and leaving her Michigan-plated sedan at home. I guess when your mascot is a nut and your crowd goes ridiculously spastic when your lame-ass band "dots the I" you might as well snap a few car antennas on the way back from your defeat. Go Blue.

11.06.2006

your civic duty.



Tomorrow's midterm election is arguably the most important since the Republicans took over in 1992. As Democrats, we were asleep at the wheel in 2000. And then again in 2004. The time has come to stand up and make our presence known. The time is now.

We are in a lousy world position, worse off than we were two years ago. And miles worse off than we were six years ago.

Consider the following link: Keith Olbermann
"Sen. John Kerry called him out Monday. He did it two years too late. He [has] been too cordial - just as Vice President Gore had been too cordial in 2000, just as millions of us have been too cordial ever since."

It's time to stop being cordial. So stand up. Raise your voice. Any name on your ballot with a capital "D" to the right of it deserves your consideration. And your vote.

Let's take control back of this great country. Let's save our nation from a downward economic and global spiral. Let's bring our troops back from Iraq. Let's make it possible for legislators to make smart decisions about critical rights issues like same sex marriages and universal health care.

If the Republicans take the House and the Senate again, we're in serious trouble. So don't stand by and let it happen. Be a member of the winning team. Make America a wonderful place to live again. A place that we are all proud of. A place that the citizens of the world admire.

Vote tomorrow. And vote Democrat.