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Only in Montana...

According to an AP article, a University of Montana drama student accused of shoving a pumpkin pie into the face of a shopping-mall Santa Claus has been charged with misdemeanor assault.

The student reportedly threw the pie into the Santa's face and shouted, "What do you think of that, Santa?"

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Paolo Does Europe - Sept. 15

I'm back at my favorite hostel: Ballmer's at Interlaken. Coincidentally, I'm back in the same room, too. I probably should have asked for a different room, but those front desk girls are so damn hot they could tell me to go sleep in a cave in the Alps and I'd gladly start hiking.

I'm here because Como sucked. Or I should say that it wasn't great. It surely is beautiful, very similar to the lakes surrounding Interlaken, but the water's a darker blue compared to the turquise water here, and the mountains surrounding Como are a bit less dramatic.

There's a hell of a lot of money in Como and you can see that represented in the gorgeous, clean towns. Everything is just too expensive for me and old people (60+) are the only ones vacationing there because they're the only ones who can dig into their retirement and afford the lavish lifestyle.

The hostel in Como was fairly empty. Again, Como is filled with old people, like an Italian Palm Springs, so hostels aren't the choice accommodation for that audience. Even the one guy in my room had to be in his late 30s.

I was originally going to stay at Como for three nights, but I had quite enough after one night and make the long trek back here to Interlaken because:

  1. When I first came here a few weeks back, I was a bit jetlagged and didn't see much.
  2. I want to see Grindelwald and hike around the Alps a bit.
  3. I have to go canyoning. Nearly everyone I've talked to who has been to Interlaken says canyoning is the shit, so I'm doing it for a full day tomorrow.

I just got done watching Australia vs. Wales in the rugby World Cup. It was great fun watching it with all these people from all over the globe. The rivalries and drinking were equally fierce.

It's a Friday night and I'm sure the club will be poppin' downstairs, but I'm just not feeling it tonight. I need to rest for tomorrow's adventure. And now, some pictures of Como:

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focuspoint show tonight (Friday) at Hell's Kitchen in Tacoma! Yes, you can order your American Apparel focuspoint shirt at the show AND get pre-sale tickets for the January High Dive show. Gosh. $20 for both, which is SWEET because the shirts will first be available for pickup at the High Dive show. How nice.

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You might recall my post last year in which I expressed how creeped out I was by Facebook's then-fresh "News Feed. " The News Feed basically lets users know what their friends are doing on their Facebook accounts, in real time. I have since referred to Facebook as STALKERbook."

This week, premier social networking incumbent MySpace announced efforts to mimic competitor Facebook's creepiness with "friend updates," which notify users when their friends update profiles, photos and other information.

According to a Dow Jones article, "MySpace is the most popular social network in the U.S., with nearly 59 million unique users last month, according to Nielsen Online. Facebook has one-third the number of users, but is growing more quickly and lately has stolen some the spotlight MySpace enjoyed."

No doubt, I have maintained both my MySpace and Facebook accounts out of neccesity. Online social networks fall just behind cell phones in the line of most utilized communication tools. My friend and drummer Danny (aka Crazy Man of '07) told me the other day he uses MySpace messages more than email now.

I remember the good old days of social networking, B.C. (before creepiness). In the B.C. days, you could update your profile or photos and not worry people instantly knowing what you've done. You didn't have to think about people going online just to quench voyeristic tendencies. Ignorance was bliss.

And what happened to plain, old-fashioned stalking? I almost miss the novelty paranoia that people were spying on me by climbing trees or sitting in cars outside my apartment. Now all a stalker has to do is log-in. How anti-climatic.

If this blog and Facebook weren't enough, now you all have yet another tools to track me, and each other, in a continually transparent and accessible world. Congratulations. The terrorists are winning.

Personal lives will still happen behind closed doors. Just consider those to be screen doors from here on out.