Thumbs Down to Old Man Winter. I’ve had enough of this cold weather and am ready for the time when I can wear shorts and sandals all the time. All you kids who are going to Panama City for spring break should bring back some of the warm weather from Florida, as long as that’s the only thing you bring back. We don’t need illegitimate Salukis conceived or hurt feelings in the process of retrieving mild weather. Looks like we have to tough it up for a few more weeks and deal with it, but at least we aren’t still getting pounded by snow like they are up north.’

Thumbs Down to those who criticize the Dawg Pound. I’m sure you’re all familiar with the phrase ‘If you can’t take the heat stay out of the kitchen’ – well if you don’t like the behavior of the student section, don’t sit near sthe Dawg Pound.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m not condoning those idiots who continually scream the f-word and act like complete morons. Get those drunken idiots out of there. Despite the bad PR recently, I think the Dawg Pound’s behavior this year is nowhere near the level it has been in the past, or anywhere near the intensity of other student sections across the country. Despite how hopped up the powers that be get over what happens at the games, it could always be worse.

Thumbs Down to Facebook for making people insane. I obsess over the thing like everybody else does, but sometimes I get this feeling that Facebook is a giant conspiracy to take over and consume the minds of everyone who signs up for the darn thing. Facebook does officialize everything after all. Friendships? Well we all know that you aren’t real friends until you are friends on Facebook. Relationships? Now you can break up with someone in a snap and can do so in a way that completely removes any form of interaction in the process.

Facebook, for many, is an addiction. Look at how people obsess over their statuses, pictures and pages; and now that they have chat, some people don’t know what to do with themselves. It’s a sickness.

It’s a sickness that makes me wish I would have thought of the idea in the first place. Then people would remember me for inventing Facebook like they do Al Gore for inventing the Internet or solving global warming.

Thumbs Down to the process you have to go through to change your webmail password. Is it really necessary for me to have a symbol, a capital letter and a number and have more than eight digits? My bank doesn’t make it that complicated to get money, and I’m way more concerned about my bank account than I am my SIUC webmail account. There has to be an easier way to get a secure password than the nuclear launch code sequence we go through now to check e-mail.

Thumbs Down to rent increases this fall throughout the city to help pay for two additional property inspectors. I’m not saying there isn’t a need for inspectors to help rid Carbondale of its slum-like housing in some areas, but the city-imposed fee of $35 per unit will most likely be paid out of the tenants’ pockets, not the slumlords who have left their properties in despair while still collecting rent. It’s Carbondale bureaucracy at its best.

Fruth is a graduate student in curriculum and instruction.