Friday, January 27, 2006 Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of The press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition The Government for a redress of grievances. - The First Ammendment to the U.S. Constitution The Behrend Beacon „ric News Editor Beacon Jennifer Haight Assistant Managing Editor Penn State Erie, The Behrend College First Floor, The J. Elmer Reed Union Building Station Road, Erie, PA 16563 Contact the Beacon at: Telephone: (814) 898-6488 Fax: (814) 898-6019 It's not you it's me By Ben Raymond staff writer bar23s@psu.edu You want to know what really grinds my gears...relationships. Whether you are in a relationship or trying to get into one, I've realized one thing: you just can't win. There are so many obstacles to go through that it hardly seems worth it anymore, at least in my case. One theory has been brought to my attention: the Jerk Theory. It seems that girls tend to be more attracted to the had boy image as opposed to the nice guy. The less attention a guy pays to a girl, the more she wants him to notice her. I have witnessed this on many nights, whether it's out in public or just in the apartment quad. Acting like a jerk does not work. It must be some thing you are born with. By the time most girls grow out of their bad boy phase, the nice guys will have given up. This does not apply to all girls but it seems that being the nice guy only earns you the "You're such a great friend, why can't I find someone like you" or "Let's just be friends." If they really wanted someone like me, then why not date the real thing? I understand that these phrases mean that they might not be looking for a relationship at that time or they aren't interested in me and are just trying to be nice about it, and that is fine. These are much better than some of the true-life definitions of different phrases. For starters, the phrase "we'll see," means no. If you ask a girl out and she says we'll see, then just forget about it. Then, there is the ever popular, "You're ••••••••••••••••••••••••• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Beacon Thumbs Up - Men who read Cosmopolitan - Successful Delta Chi gaming night - Three shows open an abundance of casting parts. - Steelers appearing in the Super Bowl ••••••••••••••••••••••••• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Annie Sevin, Editor in Chief Rob Frank, Managing Editor Courtney Kaplin, Advertising Manager Randy Martell, Public Relations Manager Kim Young, Adviser Patrick Webster Sports Editor Chris LaFuria Opinion Editor Daniel Mitchell Humor Editor Jerry Pohl like a brother to me" which is equiva lent to being punched in the throat. And for those "lucky enough" to be in a relationship, you're not out of the woods either. Relationships are all about give and take. I want to be able to give a girl the attention she deserves and not take away anything from what she wants to do. In certain situations when a girl asks you what you're thinking, she really wants you to guess what she's thinking and tell her that. Most of the time our opinion doesn't matter anyway. Take for example, going out to eat. Asking a girl where she wants to eat is like hold ing kryptonite in Superman's face. They already know where they want to go, but they want us to pick in case the food is bad so it's our fault. Granted ik (tot, [l\fi CJI\I Student Life Editors KJ Margraff Jr. Sean Mhilo Calendar Page Editor Siobhan Conway Copy Editors Kate Kelecseny Rachael Conway Justin Plansinis Photography Michelle Vera Suroviec Beacon Thumbs Down or N° - Jesus being off Facebook - Limited Gatorade flavors - No midnightbingo in January - Slush on sidewalks - 8 a.m. classes Submission Guidelines The Beacon welcomes readers to share their views on this page. Letters and commentary pieces can be submit ted by email to opinion@psu.edu or directly to the Beacon office, located in the Reed Building. Letters should be limited to 350 words and commentaries should be limited to 700 words. The more concise the submission, the less we will be forced to edit it for space concerns and the more likely we are to run the submis sion. All submissions must include the writer's year in school, major and name as The Beacon does not publish anony mous letters. Deadline for any submission is 5 p.m. Tuesday afternoon for inclusion in the Friday issue. All sub missions are considered, but because of space limitations, some may not be published. All submissions must include consent to be edited before they can be edited for publication. they might just be being thoughtful, the majority of the time it's because they have already made up their mind. In order to even hear phrases like that, I would have to date. This brings me to my next issue: time management. When I tell people that I am a Communications major, I am used to hearing the jokes about how they wish they had as much free time as I do. I would not like to be an engineer because I am terrible at math, but for one day I would like to see them go a week in my shoes. When I am not in class, I'm working on projects for a number of other activities. Among other things, I am the nightclub chair for the Lion Entertainment Board and I am in the process of planning this year's battle of the bands. While I enjoy all of my extracurricu lar activities during the week, by the time I get back to my apartment all I really want to do is watch Conan and fall asleep. In the dating world, there is what is known as "game." This refers to a person's ability to attract others. My game can be categorized as mini mal to none. I would like to date, but maybe if I met someone that was inter ested in me, I could make time for them. Relationships are all about give and take. I want to be able to give a girl the attention she deserves and not take away anything from what she wants to do. Relationships are tricky, but if you can make them work, they are worth the time. I hope that if you have the oppor tunity to date then do so. Of all the things that I could do, going out on a nice date tops the list. 100 „„.. ...it, .9 Nip Have a "Thumbs Up" or "Thumbs Down" ? Send Suggestions to opinion@psu.edu Opinion of the week "We can't leave any child behind so we leave them all behind so that behind becomes the front" Quote by: Bryce Sayers Phones are off the hook By KJ Margraff Jr. student life editor SLeditor@psu.edu Personally, I'm just amazed at tech nology. In the last five years or so, cel lular phone companies have been able to develop the technology capable of annoying me with just about every song ever written. Just once I would like to be able to walk through Bruno's without hearing "Let me see your grill" by Nelly or "Photograph" by Nickleback when I pass a table of stu dents. It's bad enough that the radio stations overplay every song that's on the top 20 list, and now everybody and their mother's uncle has a music ring tone to overplay them even more. What ever happened to the nice, plain and simple "ring ring ring"? I know people found those simple ring tones repetitive and annoying, but at least I knew when my phone was ring ing. I didn't have to sit there and say "wow, I love this song, funny how it plays on the radio so often... oh wait, that's not the radio; it's my phone." But even now I have no good options for a basic fin ler. Most I hones come 3 I The Behrend Beacon 'k,~ ~,,..::"'!'""'.!:''';i!'i: . : „ ,i;.i::. : ',o:. t . : ;iii'4i':;: ; !. , :::,:.: : .].:,,i:•:',.i- ,! :::..iii!.1i.ii. ,, .: : . :i i.1.1. 1 . . :', i ii: . i:1- ; ii_; .:1rtii...'..;.]1.;.,,::!::,.:':::':!!;.!:::t!,':i4ii..!..!.'41!:':.';'"-::11-.k,.:;.iPiit.:!0:'i);,,.4.;11 pre-loaded with a king's share of annoying ditties instead of ringers. Some of them are almost bad enough to lead me to download a song ring tone...almost. Along those lines, I can't imagine why anyone would want to pay the extra money to have a song played for people who are calling you. I called a friend the other day only to hear a computer tell me, "While you wait, lis ten to this song" and I heard one of the oldest most annoying country songs I know. Needless to say, I was not pleased. I doubt I'll call the friend very often now knowing what to expect when I do. One good thing I will admit about this new fad is that people are able to express their personality quite a bit more. A person's musical taste tells a lot about them. And guys who hate country music can weed out any girls he might have a musical conflict with just by calling them. So, next time you decide to down load a song on your phone so you can feel cool in the hallways, just remem ber: the first time someone hears it you may be cool, but after that your just anno the rest of us. ~~~. ~ ~, °~::~,. -._.