Nice "thank you" from the Pride

Sent from my Palm Centro smartphone.

Uno H2O by candlelight

Sent from my Palm Centro smartphone.

Candlelights in the kitchen

The power went out about 45 minutes ago just as the sun goes down. My mom lit a few candles to keep us from stepping on Ginger.

Sent from my Palm Centro smartphone.

I think they assembled Ginger wrong at the puppy factory

Sent from my Palm Centro smartphone.

25 Things...

I finally got tagged in some of those "25 Things" notes so I figured I'd sit down and come up with a list. It took me a long time and I wrote too much, as usual. But the rule is that you have to do one of these if you've been tagged and then you have to tag 25 people. Choosing 25 people is difficult, I know, but we all have to try.

1. I spend way too much time on the computer and in front of the TV. Most of the time, I'm doing both at the same time. It's beyond being a couch potato. I like to call it "learning" and "being aware of my world."

2. Before I was even ten years old, I've been a TV news nerd. It's kind of a long story but my dad bought a video camera, I started playing with it, I found out my my friend's dad worked at CBS News, then I started filming mock "2 News" newscasts in my basement with my family and friends. I started Channel 2 watching in the fall of 1996 (I was the only fifth grader who watched the news!) and have been a fan of that channel ever since, despite their inconsistency and lack of appreciation of people.

3. I never did the whole college tour/search thing. I applied to only one school: Hofstra. Then I accepted their acceptance before having even visited the campus once. It sounds like a careless way to go about making such an important decision but Hofstra was really my only option. I wanted to stay close to home and major in Broadcast Journalism. I made myself sick the summer between high school and college because I was so nervous about it all but I think it worked out just fine. I just worry too much.

4. Joining WRHU was the best decision I ever made in college. It was almost like joining a fraternity in that you immediately were friends with a ton of people. At the risk of sounding overly dramatic, WRHU gave me a sense of purpose. It also proved to me that I really wanted to do go into broadcasting as a producer and that I was up for the challenge. Operating the board was scary and I felt like I had a mini-heart attack each time I pressed a button but I got over it with time and practice. I both loved and hated being a radio anchor. It let me act out my childhood fantasies but I also hated reading in front of people (I didn't care about the faceless people who were listening; I was mostly worried about the other kids in the studio). I eventually decided to not be on the air anymore and just produce and engineer but I loved it. My only regret is that I didn't join sooner.

5. When I was around three years old, I went to a speech therapist every Saturday morning. I pretty much couldn't be understood. I don't remember much about it except that "clock" and "yellow" were among the many words that really tripped me up and there was a mean kid there who always knocked my blocks down in the waiting room. I still have speech problems and it gets even worse when I'm conscious of it. I try to hide it by not saying certain words and sounds but that often results in some form of stuttering, which is an even bigger disaster. It is very possible that this condition is made worse by my tendency to over think things.

6. It took a long time to get my license. The thought of driving freaked me out and I never could trust myself behind the wheel. I was worried about killing myself and/or innocent bystanders. I felt bad asking my friends to drive me around so I didn't but they did anyway because they're awesome. Then my mom finally scheduled some private lessons for me in the summer of 2006 (before my junior year) and that did the trick. I finally passed my road test on October 2nd but still didn't want to drive. I hadn't driven on "big roads" yet. As silly as this sounds, I used my lessons learned from WRHU (you'll feel more confident with practice, etc.) to push myself and it was actually a need to anchor and produce at WRHU's Newsline over spring break in 2007 that got me to drive myself to school by myself. After that, it got easier.

7. Not driving was actually a blessing in disguise. Had I been able to drive when college started, I most likely would have been a commuter. I didn't want to share a room or live "away" (a.k.a. a half hour) from home. But because I couldn't, I was forced to dorm at school and it was a great thing for me.

8. I got to live my dream when WCBS-TV let me intern there in the summer of 2007 (before senior year). All those years of watching closely and blogging about the station finally paid off. I even thanked my parents for putting up with all of that over the years. I loved being inside a TV station for more than just a quick tour and to see how things came together. It was also a thrill to be able to meet all of the people I had watched for years on TV and the hardworking people I never knew existed. And to say that I was "living my dream" is not an exaggeration; I have had a few dreams where I get to wander the halls of the CBS Broadcast Center and run into news anchors and reporters. And then it came true, only it was somehow even better. Then for them to actually pay me to freelance there a few times was amazing. It was an unforgettable experience and I think about it (a.k.a. "live in the past") often. It's just too bad that so many great people have left since then.

9. When the school nurse told me in second grade that I needed glasses, I had a temper tantrum. No way. But then I got glasses and realized how much I had been missing. Then in sixth grade, I got contacts and loved them. I could see even better and they never got foggy or rained on. Then, despite liking the way I looked in glasses better (I thought my face was too plain without them), I took the plunge and got LASIK on February 22nd last year (the anniversary is approaching!). It was scary but the results have been amazing. My eye doctor estimated by vision to be 20/1500. I'm still not sure if he was joking or not but he said that I was "off the charts" (I needed glasses and contacts for distance but reading was still a distance for me). Just a few hours after my eyes had been cut open, I was able to read lower-third graphics on TV. The doctor told me five weeks later that I had 20/20 vision. Amazing stuff.

10. I'm thankful that I have a job. I'm even more thankful that it's connected to my passion of television news. Sure, printing scripts and being told to fetch water for certain people makes me feel like an intern (it's even below what I did when I actually WAS an intern), but you've got to start somewhere and I hope it's made me a more humble person (and I hope that doesn't vanish as soon as I mention being humble). While it was awesome to be at a news organization on Election Night 2008, I felt useless because there was almost nothing for me to do. It was and is a horrible feeling. I decided that night that I'm going to be producing Election Night 2012. (That's if I'm not a news director by then. Hey, dream big!)

11. I sometimes think that I want to quit broadcasting and go into teaching. It comes from a desire to do something meaningful, something that's not exactly being fulfilled at this moment. But I don't think I'm going to change course... If I did, then I wouldn't reach my 2012 goal, now would I?

12. I often think about how lucky I am for the friends I have and the situation I'm in. If I had taken a different class or had chosen to back away from certain people, things could be very different. Does anyone else ever think about that? Have you ever thought about how you might have even BETTER friends had you taken a different course in life? Well I have but I reached the conclusion that it would be pretty impossible.

13. I love the Mets and I can't wait for the season to start. Just the sounds of the ballpark on TV during spring training are enough to get me hyped. I learned how to score games a few years ago and enjoy doing it, even when I'm just sitting at home and watching the game on SNY (or ESPN if I must). It helps me remember the events of the game better. Some people make the mistake of relying on me as some sort of Mets or baseball expert; I'm not. I don't know my history like I should, I still don't pay attention to a lot of the game's aspects, and I'm not as aware of other teams and players as I should be.

14. I was fortunate enough to go to 11 games at Shea last year (and I believe my record was 6-5). My family tries to get tickets to a game once a month. Then my friends and I will buy some cheap upper deck tickets. And Uncle Eric sometimes scores some awesome field level box seats. I love it. I just hope that the prices aren't too crazy this year at Citi Field and that I actually get to go to some games. And hopefully last-minute games with friends will be possible as well.

15. I also like going to other ballparks. I saw a game at Citizens Bank Park and at Fenway Park last year. The year before, my family traveled to CBP and RFK to see the Mets. Everyone says this but I'd love to be able to go to all of the ballparks. Maybe one day when I'm rich and famous.

16. My other team is the Hofstra Pride, specifically the men's basketball team. Until my buddy Joe got me to go to a game in the spring semester of my sophomore year (February 2, 2006 to be exact), I had never gone to anything. Aurimas Kieza scored a three-pointer at the buzzer to give us a 65-63 victory over ODU and it was exciting. The next thing I knew, I was almost trampled by people as the students rushed onto the court (I was pretty much the only one who did not -- I didn't know what was going on). I finally understood how people sometimes die in stampedes. But I was hooked and have traveled with the team to St. Joe's in Philly, Richmond for the CAA Tournament in 2007, Rhode Island, MSG for the Holiday Festival, Stony Brook, UMass Amherst and Northeastern. My favorite part is standing up the whole game and screaming. It's therapeutic.

17. It took me longer than it should for me to realize what "Hofstra Pride" meant. I thought it was so dumb to name a team after the proudness you feel for it. (Remarkably, the lions in the logo didn't give it away for me.) I'm not going to admit how long it took me for figure this out (because even I don't remember exactly when it was -- I think I blocked out that traumatic event).

18. I have 19 Mets tee-shirts (and that's lower than what it used to be -- I only recently got rid of the ones that I had as a kid and no longer fit me) and 13 Hofstra Pride ones (most of them were free). I have four $80 Mets jerseys but only paid the full price for one of them: a David Wright batting practice one. I got a white Mike Cameron one for $30 after he left (and before we knew about the steroids) and found both a Billy Wagner and a Pedro Martinez jersey for $5 last month.

19. I hate to go shopping for clothes, unless it's at Modell's or something. My mom once made me go shopping with her for me at Kohl's and we were there for something like 45 minutes. I thought I was going to pass out from the boredom/exhaustion. (I know I'm pathetic.)

20. I'm a total geek when it comes to grammar. I always type "I" instead of "i" and use my apostrophes, even on IMs and text messages. I can't stand when people don't know certain basic things. When someone uses an apostrophe to make something plural, I want to cry. People who don't know they're/there/their or your/you're make me upset. I also hate when people type things like "I should of went there" (there are actually two mistakes there -- if you can't find then, please DON'T tell me!). Then again, as elitist as I sometimes can be, I make typos all the time. I even make "thinkos" sometimes. I'm constantly learning that I'm using grammar incorrectly so there's always room for improvement.

21. Misuse and abuse of the word "literally" is a recent pet peeve of mine. I define misuse to be use of the word for a figurative statement. Example: "I literally jumped out of my skin." As Debra Barone put it, you'd be dead if you literally did that! Then there's the abuse, where people say "literally" when they really don't need to. Example: "He literally walked right by me." If you took the L-word out of there, the meaning would be no different as there is no figurative way to look at that as far as I am aware. One night in my senior year, I joined nine Facebook groups to express my outrage. There! That'll show the world!! Similarly, misuse of the word "ironic" bugs me but I have trouble explaining that one so just Google it if you're concerned.

22. I'm kind of ashamed to admit this but I was never really "into" music much as a kid. That all changed the summer before college, I think, when I downloaded iTunes. I went through all of my dad's CDs in the 100-CD changer thing and other boxes stored in the basement and put the best stuff on my computer. All of that great music was suddenly accessible and I realized that I DID like music. I sort of rediscovered it all for myself. This list is going to be far from complete but Billy Joel is obviously my favorite, with U2, Coldplay and The Who close behind. Very honorable mentions go to The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, The Doors, Pink Floyd, Guns 'N' Roses, Santana, Steely Dan, Elton John, The Cars, John Mellencamp, Chicago, Santana, and a bunch of others that I'm forgetting right now. iTunes changed my life and I'm not even an Apple fan.

23. Speaking of "changing my life," I figured that the end of college was as good a time to do it as any. The main thing was getting into better shape and losing some weight. That meant trading in my kids' chicken fingers and fries for salads at restaurants and not snacking as much. I wrote about all of that in a previous note ( http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=34642331213 -- and just as a follow-up: I managed to get down to around -29 pounds right before Thanksgiving but then the progress halted and reversed and I've been holding at around -26... I'm trying to get back into losing weight again). Also, when my family was away in Africa for 11 days without me, I went to a different barber and cut off almost all of my hair ( http://geoffreysorensen.blogspot.com/2008/06/haircut.html ) doing something different for the first time since I was old enough to get a haircut. It felt great. Too bad my mom and Nana didn't care for that decision too much.

24. I'm not a religious person at all and everyone knows that. But no one knows this about me until now: I guess I'm a little bit spiritual or however you want to put it. I've said a little prayer each night since 2003. I don't even know if I'm doing it "right" but it's important for me. Surprised? Yeah, I'm kind of surprised that I'm admitting that, too.

25. My grandparents own a "trailer" upstate in the Adirondacks right by Brant Lake. We have a boat there. The family gets together at several points over the course of every summer and it's just awesome. The big holiday is Fourth of July. We're all there together walking to the cemetery at midnight, hanging out at the beach during the day, taking the boat out for some tubing or skiing or just plain relaxing, getting Make-Your-Own-Sundaes (or "MYOS") at Stewart's after jumping off cliffs at the Black Hole, making s'mores and playing with glowsticks by the campfire in the evening, and looking for shooting stars on the beach at night. This past summer was probably the best one yet because I stayed up with Grandma and Grandpa before everyone got there for the Fourth and stayed up another whole week with them after. I got to hang out with my friends (who range in age from 4 to 18 -- yes, you read that right -- I feel like they're my younger cousins because I've watched them grow up over the years) and take the boat out for hours and hours just to enjoy the sun. I had no responsibilities and I felt like I was much younger than my 21 years claimed me to be. "Hakuna Matata." Brant Lake is a magical place.