Over the past few days, facebook has slowly rolled out a brand new chat feature.

From the looks of it, it seems very similar to gmail chat in that your chat window stays within the browser along the bottom.  I’ve had a handful of conversations using it, and it seems to be working fine.

CNN.com posted an article today about the launch of new feature, and I was fortunate enough to be asked about the launch and about social networking sites in general.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/04/08/facebook.chat/index.html

Now the real question is, will the introduction of facebook chat slowly render AIM obsolete?  With more and more messaging programs moving to in-browser format, will client-based chat programs become a thing of the past?

Personally, even though I still have AIM logged in on my home computer, I find that I’m using it less and less while I am increasing my usage of programs like g-chat within Google.  I feel that the introduction of facebook chat will only augment that further.  Remember AIM profiles?  Perhaps it’s only me, but I never check AIM profiles anymore.  When AIM 6.0 came out and you could now hover over a screen name to see an away message and it negated the need to right-click to view the away message on the profile.  Now we’ve moved to an age where facebook and myspace profiles have been the thing to replace AIM profiles.

It’s interesting to think about the years ahead and how we’re going to continue to evolve in this idea of “staying connected”.  I remember how excited I was when got my own e-mail address when I was about twelve and how I built my own website on Tripod.  Now, things like e-mail, facebook and the Internet are so ingrained in our culture that we’re now more “connected” then we ever were before.  Is it for the better?  Hopefully.

This past weekend was Relay For Life at Penn 2008. The forecast called for rain, so they moved the event inside to the Palestra. Because of scheduling conflicts at the Palestra, the event was shortened to seven hours and went until 3am.

Despite the shortened event, the 1,800+ attendees at this year’s Relay all appeared to have a great time. Hats off to the Relay Committee for packing in a night of entertainment and activities while striking the balance with events to honor and remember the cancer survivors that we there to celebrate.

At the end of the night, the final tally was $165,770!

Donations can still be made at http://events.cancer.org/penn.

Here’s a picture of the Luminaria ceremony. More picture can be found in the Gallery.

I’m going to write once again about Relay For Life since it’s THIS FRIDAY.

NUTSHELL VERSION:

Join My Relay Team (Penn Alumni and Family) – http://main.acsevents.org/goto/pennalumni
If You Can’t Come, Then Donate – http://main.acsevents.org/goto/cshulse

EVENT DETAILS:

Relay For Life at Penn
American Cancer Society
April 4th to April 5th (8pm to 8am)
Franklin Field (33rd and South St)
Rain Location: The Palestra (33rd and South St)
Philadelphia
http://events.cancer.org/penn

LONG VERSION:

Relay For Life is an overnight event that celebrate cancer survivors, remember loved ones who perished, and raise money for the fight against cancer. Teams of eight to 15 members gather with tents and sleeping bags with the goal of keeping on person on the track at all times.

I was on the committee that started Penn’s Relay For Life five years ago. I got involved because my mother is an eleven-year breast cancer survivor and my grandfather passed away from bone cancer when I was young. In the first year we had about 50 people and we raised $1,000. The event has grown to huge proportions since then, and last year we had 1,200 people and we raised $130,000! This year we already have 1,500 people registered and we’re looking to raise $200,000.

Our 2008 event is THIS FRIDAY, April 4th at Franklin Field on Penn’s Campus from 8pm to 8am. It starts at 8pm with Opening Ceremonies and the first lap which is lead by the cancer survivors in attendance, and after that we’ve got a whole line-up of activities including local bands, a wing-eating contest, touch-football tournaments, Guitar Hero Shred-Off, karaoke, and a root beer pong tournament. Individuals and teams will also be raising donations at the event. In the past, teams have done things like selling hot drinks, hosting raffles, and one group even did a kissing booth. People put up tents right on the turf of Franklin Field and stay up all night long. At 8am, we bring in some breakfast for the participants and then present an oversized check to the American Cancer Society with the total amount.

Donations on my donation page would be appreciated, but what I’d really like is for people to sign up and come out to the event at http://main.acsevents.org/goto/pennalumni. If you’d like to donate, visit my donation page at http://main.acsevents.org/goto/cshulse.

Corey

Dear Super Smash Bros Brawl,

You come out tonight at midnight. After an initial December launch date, then a delay to February, and then another delay until March 9, the day has finally arrived where we will finally meet.

Ever since I bought my Wii in 2007, I have been waiting for today. All I’m saying is that you better be the most awesome game ever. The last time I was this excited about getting a video game, it was Where In Time Is Carmen Sandiego for the NES. And that game came with a desk encyclopedia which you used to help beat it. True story: I still have that Encyclopedia.

My pre-launch pick for favorite character is going to have to be Lucas. I’ve sworn by Ness for years, but given everything I’ve read and seen (yes, I enjoy perusing various video game websites) Lucas is my initial pick.

Nerd Alert Approaching! GameStop is hosting the start of Brawl tournaments this afternoon. Basically, you go to a store and fight it out in 1-minute KO matches in a single-elimination bracket until there’s a store winner. Then you go one of 271 district sites the next weekend and if you win that, a regional competition two weeks after. If you’re still alive, you get an all expense trip to San Diego to compete in the finals. Round 1 recap will be forthcoming this evening.

Corey

A quick rant.

Tonight I was watching Wheel of Fortune. Let me establish first that I love that show and one of my life goals is to be on in. Also, for those who don’t know, I worked at Great Adventure for four years while in high school.

Now, the rant. On the first puzzle tonight, there was a prize back to go to Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, NJ. Wow! Cool. Except when they were describing the trip, they said it was “located just outside New York City!”

What a crock of manure. Anyone from that area knows that it’s nowhere near New York City. 70.3 miles to be exact! Up to two hours in traffic!

Here’s what Google Maps has to say:

I haven’t been to very many concerts in my life, but this past Thursday I saw the Foo Fighters.  I wanted to write down the set list, but the only thing I had in my pocket was the envelope my tickets came in.

In case you can’t read my chicken scratch, here is the set list from the February 21, 2008 Foo Fighters show at the Wachovia Spectrum in Philadelphia:

Let It Die
The Pretender
Times Like These
Breakdown
Learn To Fly
Cheer Up Boys (Your Make-Up is Running)
This is a Call
-Guitar Battle-
Stacked Actors
-Drum Solo-
Skin and Bones
Marigold
[My] Hero
-Triangle Solo-
Cold Day in the Sun
But Honestly
Everlong
Monkey Wrench
All My Life
Big Me
Long Road to Ruin
Best of You

Yes, you’re reading that right, there was a triangle solo.  It rocked the house.

Overall I was VERY happy with the list, but here’s a list of songs I would have liked them to have played:

See You
February Stars
A320
Disenchanted Lullaby
Next Year
M.I.A.

As the candy hearts poured into the fiery quasar a wondrous thing happened, why not? They vaporized into a mystical love radiation that spread across the universe destroying many, many planets, including two gangster planets and a cowboy world. But one planet was exactly the right distance to see the romantic rays but not be destroyed by them: Earth. So all over the world couples stood together in joy. And me, Zoidberg! And no one could have been happier unless it would have also been Valentine’s Day. What? It was? Hooray!

This basically sums up my feeling about Valentine’s Day.

Today marks the opening of the Star Wars exhibit being hosted by the Franklin Institute.

I dragged myself out of bed early this morning (read: 9am) and me, Kristine, and Jen went down to the museum to see the “Opening Ceremonies”, which included a lightsaber battle between Obi-Wan and Anakin, along with 70 Stormtroopers guarding the entrance.

Here’s a collage of the lightsaber battle:

Picture of the morning is right here (Photo Credit to Kristine Eiman):

Stormtroopers like puppies. Heard being said by Stormtrooper when he was holding the puppy: “You know, Stormtroopers have feelings too.” Also overheard by another Stormtrooper to a group of Stormtroopers: “Any of you know if we’re supposed to be doing anything besides standing here?”

Darth Vader also likes puppies:

All in all, a fun way to spend a Saturday monring.

Take a look at the other pictures from the event in the Gallery.

The exhibit runs from February 9th to May 4th. Link to the exhibit: http://www2.fi.edu/exhibits/traveling/starwars/.

This past Sunday was the greatest Super Bowl ever.  Clearly I am biased because I am a New York Giants fan, but you have to admit that was an amazing game.

Here are my personal highlights from the 2007 NFL Season:

• Watching the opening game of the season against the Cowboys on Tay-Tay’s crazy 50-something inch TV.
• Being surrounded by Giants and Jets fans in a sports pub in London for the Giants/Jets game.
• Going to the Giants/Dolphins game at Wembley in London and NOT getting wet.
• Going to the Giants/Eagles game in Philadelphia.  Highlights include Eagles fans booing a mom and her two 6-year old kids who were wearing Giants gear.  Also a highlight:  The Giants winning (just like EVERY road game this year).
• Watching the first Giants/Patriots game from a concourse at a UNLV basketball game.
• Getting my first ever Giants jersey.  They didn’t have Jeff Feagles, so I got Michael Strahan (which I thank Drew, Kristine, Jerricka, Ryan and Stephanie for).
• Watching the Playoffs at Fox and Hound (Tampa), Chickies and Pete’s (Dallas), and the Crespi house (Green Bay).
• And clearly, the entire Super Bowl was amazing.  Highlights include eating a lot of wings, a “brownie pizza” courtesy of Wendy, and some blow-your-brains-out salsa courtesy of Kristine.  I also realized that I unfortunately curse a lot during sporting events, and in homage to xkcd, have created my own pie chart of “Sources of My Cursing” (See Figure 1a).

Favorite Commercial: Diet Pepsi Max.

Fun Fact Trivia Question:  There are four players active in the NFL today who are also in the 1991 video game Tecmo Super Bowl.  Two of them played in Super Bowl XLII.  Name them, and you’ll get a prize.

Congrats to the New York Football Giants, Super Bowl XLII Champions.

I’m writing this as a live-as-things-happen-post about NBC’s remake of American Gladiators. I’ve been so excited about this since I heard a few months ago that NBC was doing this.

Opening – AMAZING. Fireworks and a montage of Gladiator events. Hulk Hogan yelling things. This season, instead of just random joes, we’re getting back-stories on the 24 competitors, which I think is good because it allows the viewers to either sympathize with or dislike the contestants.

Tonight marks the two-hour premiere, and I will be doing the play-by-play of what I see. I am joined by my roommate and fellow blogger, Matt Crespi. He will be providing color commentary, and we’ll be reviewing the first competition in addition to reviewing the games and the Gladiators.

The Events:

Powerball – You have to put dodgeballs in five different buckets as Gladiators try to tackle you. The goals are a lot bigger than they were in the original.

Joust – It’s like old Joust, but now it’s on an elevated platform above a pool of water. Crespi has a new strategy. “If you think you’re going to lose, lie face down on the platform gripping the edges. It’s a guaranteed tie because nothing they’re allowed to do to you can knock you off at that point. Of course, you’re totally a pansy.”

Hang Tough – Jungle gym rings on steroids. A Gladiator chases you down and tries to pull you down into the water below.

Pyramid – You run up a padded pyramid Q*bert style. It’s a king-of-the-hill/agrocrag style mountain where your goal is to get past your Gladiator and get to the top in 30 seconds.

Hit and Run – You run back and forth across a bridge, while Gladiators hurl 100lb teardrop-shaped bags at you.

Earthquake – You wrestle on an elevated spinning platform and try to stay on for 30 seconds.

Gauntlet – Run thought a half-pipe with four Gladiators. It seems just like the original, but I don’t remember.

Wall – Fast-pasted climb up a rock wall with Gladiators chasing you.

Assault – You have five stations to shoot a nerf-like gun at a target while a Gladiator has a high-powered air gun that shoots tennis balls at you at 100 mph. A brand new (and awesome) addition is that if the competitor hits the target, there’s a “Gladiator Launcher” that shoots the Gladiator into a pool of water below.

Eliminator – See description during the commentary.

I am sad to see that the Atlasphere is NOT included in the new list of competitions. It was my favorite game on the old version.

The Competition:

Jessie Adams vs. Koya Webb

I’m rooting for Jessie in this one. She’s down to earth. She sells toilet paper. She’s doing this for her kids. WINNER. Koya is too happy. Crespi – “If she wins and becomes a Gladiator next season, her name would be Smiley.”

Anthony Abbatemarco vs. Chad Knight

Chad – I don’t like him and his kid son seems like a turd. OK, it’s not nice to insult a 7-year old, my apologies. He’s a skateboarder? In the words of The Professor, “Get a job!”
Anthony Abbatemarco – He’s a New York City Firefighter. He’s a nice guy. An All-American hero. I’m rooting for him.

Powerball

Jessie took a bad hit. She might be out of the completion. They showed slow-motion replays of her taking a spill. Crespi – “Slow motion doesn’t work as well on Gladiators as it does in the NFL.” Anthony took a huge lead, as he should.

Scores After Round 1
Koya 6 – Jessie 2
Anthony 12 – Chad 2

We’ve just gotten an injury update, and Jessie is out. I am very sad. Venus Ramos, a doctor, has been called up from her Rehab practice to replace Jessie. I’m still rooting for Venus over happy-go-lucky Koya.

Joust

Venus – Lasted less than ten seconds.
Koya – Survived thirty seconds.

Hang Tough

Anthony – Cruised to an easy victory when Militia hurt his arm.
Chad – After some awful smack talk by Chad, Wolf grabbed onto Chad and pulled him down. Best part was when Wolf was being interviewed and proclaimed, “I’m mean everywhere!”

Scores after Round 2
Koya 11 – Venus 2
Anthony 22 – Chad 2

Earthquake

Venus – Body slammed! She survived though.

Koya – She was dominating, but Fury held on to a rope, spun around, and sent Koya flying off the platform. Wow!

Hit and Run

Anthony – Dominated once again. Crespi – “He’s not leaving anything for the trip home! He’s either coming back as a champion or coming back in a body bag. He’s got moxey coming out the wazoo!”

Scores After Round 3
Koya 11 – Venus 7
Anthony 32 – Chad 4

Pyramid

Venus – She’s a doctor. She keeps reminding us of this. Crespi – “Go! Scramble! Scuttle!”

More from Crespi – “Anthony’s unremitting effort reminds me of what Abraham Lincoln called ‘the last full measure of devotion.’ Of course, he was referring to dying for one’s country, and this is American Gladiators, but you can see it written all over his face. His entire existence is in this competition.”

Scores After Round 4
Koya 11 – Venus 12
Anthony 37 – Chad 4

Eliminator

The Emilinator is an insane obstical course, and in the ramped up version it’s even bigger and crazier than the orginal. For every point you lead over your opponent going into the Eliminator, you get a 1/2 second head start. Venus had a 1 point lead, thus she gets a 1/2 second head start.

And they’re off.

20 foot swim, under water, underneath the fire. 30 foot cargo net climb…

I am dumbfounded right now. I had to stop typing because Crespi and I were both in shock watching what can only be described as a train wreck. Seeing two competitors absolutely stretch and push their body beyond all physical limits is something that you can’t turn your head away from. Koya had a dominating lead, but collapsed on the travelator. Venus came back out of nowhere, rushed up the travelator, and burst through the wall, securing a place in the next round. The only thing I can compare it to is that clip of the marathon runner who absolutely collapsed just yards away from the finish line. If anyone has a link to that clip, I’ll post it.

(Added on February 5 – I found a halfway decent version of The Eliminator clip from that show on youtube.)
(Also added on February 5 – Here’s the dude I was talking about.  His name is Chris Legh.)
Crespi – “Venus’s victory embodied the tortoise’s mantra. Slow and steady won this race when, in the face of certain defeat, one comparatively lilliputian competitor resolved to finish at all costs–putting herself in position to exploit a fatal slip. And just as the tiny terrapin overcame the rabbits‘s overwhelming speed, so too did the resolve and spirit of Venus conquer the mighty giant that was Koya Webb.”

On the guys’ side, Chad had this to say: “Nothing’s over until one of us crossed the finish line.” How right he was. Chad was crushed by the firefighter, Anthony. Crespi – “If Anthony had just a little more time, he could have put that fire out and still won.”

OK, so for the rest of what the Eliminator is, and I’m just going to copy and paste this from Wikipedia. “The final event of every show in the main series, the Eliminator is an obstacle course. The first contender to finish wins the competition. The Contender with the most points entering The Eliminator is given a head start equal to one second for every two points in the lead. The contenders first climb onto a 10 foot platform with the help of a rope. They then dive off the platform into the pool and swim under the flaming surface. They exit the pool by climbing up a cargo net to a rolling log. After they reach the bottom of the log, they must negotiate the Hand Bike before walking down an inclined balance beam. When they reach the bottom of the beam, they must climb up the Pyramid and descend using the Zipline. After the Zipline, the contenders must run up the “Travelator” – an inclined treadmill – before crashing through a foam wall that marks the finish line.”

I might write another post about the Gladiators later, but here are my four favorites so far:

Toa – He did a taunt much in the style of a Haka, which is what the New Zealand National Rugby Team, the All-Blacks do.
Wolf – He’s awesome. He howls like a wolf. Go figure.
Crush – In my opinion, the most attractive the female Gladiators.
Hellga – Crespi – “Of course, there HAS to be a Gladiator named Hellga.”

In a nutshell, WOW. I love the new American Gladiators, and I look forward to watching more episodes. Negative points go to NBC, because as Crespi pointed out to me, The Monday at 8pm time slot conflicts with the BCS Championship tomorrow night. I’ll just record it and watch it after the fact.