A couple weeks ago I got a Joost invite. I won’t tell you how I got it (it involved ninja skills), but I have it installed on my Macbook.

Joost a little different then what I thought it would be. I suppose that I need to keep in mind that it is still in beta. I thought that prime time networks like NBC, FOX, etc., would be streaming things on there. I guess I really didn’t read what it was all about.

I like choosing to watch whatever I want, whenever I want. I don’t watch that much t.v. (about 45 minutes a day), but I do watch some sitcoms on TV Links whenever I’m doing light homework. On Joost I mostly watch the IndieFlix channel. I LOVE Indie Movies. Thing is, they’re hard to come by. Especially short films. Joost provides the opportunity to watch great, I mean GREAT, films that I couldn’t normally see anywhere else. I think it also helps out the budding producers/writers/actors. It is a win-win.

I also watch National Geographic on Joost. I know, I’m a nerd, but it’s good programming to have running in the background when I’m supposed to be studying Spanish verbs.

Alright, I’ll pop the question:

Would you like a Joost invite?

If so, leave an email address in the comments.

p.s.  I think it would be really great to have the 2008 Summer Olympics on Joost.  I’m going to be working all summer, and I would like to watch as much as I can.  Or whatever I can.  I don’t really want to watch the running.  Except for the hurdles.  But I would like to watch the Summer Olympics online, even if Joost doesn’t give it to me.

When I was younger I did a lot with Awana Clubs. It was fun for a perfectionist like myself. I memorized scores of Bible verses, always trying to be the best on the sticker charts. I completed my workbooks–multiple times (yeah, I know…). And the other day, as I was cleaning out my closet, I came across these:

Why, look at all those trophies! And you can’t see it, but that one in the back is particularly large. It has a cup on top. What glorious pay off!

Every year, near the end of the school year, there is a pine car race.  The older (as in like 50+ years crowd) leaders really get into this.  It’s not just a race– it’s a design competition as well.  Those old people spend months preparing their little blocks of wood for this one special day.  And they are sore losers too, let me tell you.

So as you can see, I made a rock concert on a moving car.  I painted and adjusted my brother’s little 2-inch plastic construction workers.  I crafted the guitar out of clay and the guitar’s neck was made out of staple-gun nails.  I also made a drum set with drummer (the big bass drum even had a tom–because I am that knit-picky), but you can’t see that in the picture.  I don’t think the church folk liked the whole rock concert idea.  It is, after all FROM THE MOUTH OF SATAN!

The other car is the Partridge Family Bus.  I hand painted that sucker.  I don’t think the judges really got the joke, because I lost 1st place in design to a rolling Kleenex box.

Someone should make earbuds and an iPod mod that monitors your pulse.  That way, when your pulse gets to a certain level, your iPod shuts off.

This is useful for listening to music/recorded books at night.  Once you fall asleep, the iPod shuts off, saving battery life and frustration of trying to find where you left off at.

Despite the fact that my phone rarely is not on roaming, does not have an antenna, and is more moody than a PMSing woman, it does take pictures. And that is all I use it for.

Today, as I sat the Diamondbacks vs. Mets baseball game, I started thinking about how American that game was.

I spotted the owner of the Diamondbacks team, and as I was walking out after the Dbacks lost (6-2) I saw all of the expensive cars in the valet parking. That game is a game for the rich as well as for the not-so-rich.

The 7th inning stretch is to honor the 27th American president– William Howard Taft.

Hot dogs, cotton candy, and Budweiser– you can’t get any more American than that.

“Take Me Out to the Baaaall Game” is pretty much the most American song ever. As a kid, you learn that song before you learn the Star Spangled Banner and America the Beautiful.

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that American classic cultural symbols ain’t what they used to be. Today, as I walked into the game, I was given a margarita glass (that was made of plastic). It is, after all, Cinco de Mayo.

Cinco de Mayo is a Mexican-American tradition. Cinco de Mayo is celebrated more in America than in Mexico. And, whether the American Public likes it or not, Mexican traditions are hitting main-stream America.

When I say, “American Public” I usually think of white, middle-class, business people. The “American Public” as refered to on the news is the same. But actually, the “American Public” where I live is much more Hispanic than Caucasian. I am white. I am a minority.

Where I live, Mexican culture is much more celebrated than American culture. That was kind of an obtuse statement, because (most) of the people where I live are Americans. Mexican culture is now American culture.

When I look around, I see red, white, and green.  I rarely see red, white, and blue.  In my family, we eat more Mexican food than American food, and no one even speaks Spanish.

I participate in Mexican-Catholic celebrations almost every month, and I am neither Mexican nor Catholic.

So as I sat there at the baseball game, surrounded by Mets fans singing the Jose Reyes song (it’s actually the “Ole” song, substituting “Jose” for “Ole”), I realized all of this.  And it hit me like a bat hitting a pinata.  Mexican culture is American culture.  Mexican culture is my culture.