Unprecedented, Game-changing Year Wrap-Up

I know, it's been awhile since I've posted. My computer was hijacked by Somali pirates and held for ransom. After 3 weeks of negotiation I got it back in exchange for an Elvis CD and few bars of soap. Who knew they were fans of The King?

I'd like to wrap up 2009 by mentioning a few of the most overused words and phrases of the year.

"Game-changer" - For awhile I thought this meant the machine at the arcade where you put a dollar in and it give you quarters. But apparently it's a newly-coined political term. I stay away from political TV and radio at all costs and I still hear this "word" everywhere. I'm sure it's much worse for those of you who actually seek out politics rather than avoid it. I still don't know what it means.

"Unprecedented" - Like this blog post, which has never been written before today, nothing that happens nowadays seems to have a precedent. You hear this word so much now, apparently we're doing all new things that have never been done before in the history of the universe.

"Now, more than ever" - Just watch TV commercials for an hour and count how many times this doozy comes up. "Now, more than ever, you need fire insurance", "Now, more than ever, we all need to start thinking about polar bears", "Now, more than ever, you need to buy bright pink nail polish". I'm sure it's because of the "recession" we're in (but if we're in a recession why was it a record-breaking year for the movie industry?) that advertisers think we need to hear that we need their product now much more than we did before. Now, more than ever, I will boycott any company that uses that phrase.

Anyway, here are a few more things to look forward to this year in Mike's Blog: the best burgers in Provo (as promised), random ideas that aren't big enough to merit an entire devoted post, unrelenting U of U bashing, and a running count of how many times I'm bothered by BYU employees about my facial hair. The count is already at 2 and it's the third day of school, so at this rate the total looks to be around 68.