Cabs

Any night I work past 7 o'clock, which is a lot more than I would like to admit, I get to take a cab home. Cabs are funny things. The idea of having someone drive you wherever your heart desires makes you feel like one of the elite or royalty. But the actual experience is far from it.

Cabs smell. They do. There is no denying it. No matter what ethnicity the driver is or what kind of car it is it's a smelly experience. The smell is usually a weird hybrid of cheap car air-freshener and a full grown man's body odor. Look, don't get me wrong, if I sat in an enclosed space for 12 hours a day I'd stink that thing up too. It's inevitable. If you've never experienced cab odor all you have to do is not shower for 2 days, stick a bar of soap up against your arm pit, and then sniff both at the same time. There you go, cab odor.

They never want to take credit cards. They only want cash. One time I owed a driver $20 when I told him I wanted to pay by card he freaked out and practically begged me to pay him in cash. I only had $10. He took it, no hesitation. Are the percentages being taken away from these credit card transactions that big that they'd rather take 1/2 of what I really owe them? That system seems flawed.

Cab drivers are always doing two things: Listening to really loud and weird techno music, and having a phone conversation with someone in a different language. But they're no normal conversations. They're at least 4 hours long (trust me I've peeked at their screens) and the driver is talking in the quietest voice ever. Like he is trying to keep whatever he is saying a secret. First off, who is talking to these guys for 4 hours? And why are they being so quiet about it. Maybe they're talking about how some young white kid just got in their cab and they bet he is going to want to pay me with a credit card.

Last, but not least, cabs are scary dangerous. It seems that every night I get in one I have stepped into an action thriller movie where the driver knows about a bomb on the other side of town and there is a timer counting down the end of civilization as we know it. I watched a cab get up to 80 MPH on service streets. I've gotten slightly, and sometimes more than slightly, car-sick in just about every cab ride home. Can't we just slow down a little. I'll stop trying to listen in on your whispered conversation I can't understand anyway.

Till next time (which I hope isn't too far away). Oh, and for those of you out there already playing Christmas music, please reference isitchristmas.com. There you go. Wait till after Thanksgiving. Give thanks then you can have over a month of holly jolly musical cheer. I am not a Scrooge. I love Christmas. It is one of my most favorite holidays all year. I just think it's getting a little crazy that Christmas creeps out as early as Halloween. If this continues soon we'll be singing songs about some Pumpkin-headed Turkey Claus in the month of Octonovemcember. Respect Thanksgiving. Bye.

The Windy City and Uncle Leo

I have been in Chicago for over three months now. So I'm basically a local, right? This is a fascinating city. The architecture still has me looking up and the food makes me feel like I've finally found that place my stomach has been rumbling for my whole life. It's been great and I am happy I am here. My Ladygirl and I are loving it even if we are poor and don't really know how to be adults yet. What does a 401K do exactly?

On August 27th I started as a Junior Copywriter at Leo Burnett. After a 10-week internship I was offered a job to start working on the Allstate Team. This has all been so unreal. I still can't believe it's happening. I have been working for three weeks and I am still waiting for someone to walk up and tell me to get out of their desk.

For any of you who don't know about Leo Burnett feel free to check out a previous post I did when I was offered the internship about their work. I am extremely lucky to get my foot in the door of this industry through such an amazing agency. So far, it's been a lot of hard work. I have one campaign done and under my belt. It's a local campaign so you probably won't see any of it (Yes, it really does exist. I'm not just saying that to cover up that it isn't real). But, I am working hard on some great projects, and who knows, maybe they'll take one of the weird ideas that comes out of this Manboy's head and turn it into a commercial or something. Crazier things have happened... right?

Well, hope you enjoyed this quick update on Manboy. Stay tuned for new posts coming soon. Here is a little hint at what my next post will be about. What's yellow, goes about 85 mph at all times, and smells like the hybrid of cheap car air fresheners and extreme BO? Yep, you guessed. Taxis!

My Thoughts On My Current Thoughts

What if I wrote down every thought I had? It took me a couple tries to type the word "thought" in that last sentence so I just thought, "Wow, I really can't type today." Now I'm thinking this kind of a blog post might be a mistake. No one cares what I'm thinking. But how do I know that? I keep a majority of my thoughts to myself. What if my thoughts are simply fascinating and the world is just dying to hear what I am thinking.

Someone just walked by with pizza and its smell made me think of how badly I want to eat food right now. My internship is really awesome because so far I've only had to pay for lunch one time a week. There is always some meeting on some floor in this building that is catered and its never all eaten. So some genius good Samaritan created a Facebook group for all employees to post on when there is food on their floor so the rest of us can share in the spoils. There have been no posts today so I am sad and my stomach is calling me bad names.

I think a lot about food. Why is food so good? Well, let me rephrase that. Why is good food so good? Cereal is a great food. Pizza, most the time, good. Cheeseburgers, hard to make a not-good cheeseburger. Gosh, I want a cheeseburger. I miss In-N-Out.

Let's talk about In-N-Out, because I'm thinking about it. In-N-Out has the best burger in the world. That isn't a thought, that's a fact. Everyone, all 4 of you (up one reader woohoo!) who just read that and think otherwise, you're wrong, and you smell. I think the most common retort to In-N-Out being the best is Five Guys. While they have great tasting burgers they still aren't as glorious as In-N-Out's. "But their fries are so much better!" That's nice, but we're not talking about fries sweetheart. Plus, I find it a little ridiculous and borderline unconstitutional that I should pay over $10 for a double cheeseburger meal. I also find the word "ridiculous" ridiculous. Back to the matter at hand though, In-N-Out is the best. Any person who has spent 6 weeks in New York for a summer internship might bring up Shake Shack as a contendor. Let me say this, no. You lived in New York for a short stint so you think you need to be as hipster and cynical as the rest of them out there and you fight back at simple truths. Simple truth = In-N-Out has the best cheeseburger known to man.  >_< = face of New York summer intern fighting back.

These are my thoughts as of right now. Some of you might be thinking, "Hey! Aren't you at work?  Shouldn't you be doing some actual work?" To you, mom, I say this is part of my work. Alright, my mom didn't say that. In fact, I am pretty sure that she isn't even aware of what a blog really is or that I have one. The great thing about being a copywriter at an advertising agency is they encourage anything that helps get our creative juices flowing. So if a funny YouTube video or sitting outside under the shade of a tree gets me creative, right on!

Final thoughts: Enjoy the 4th of July next week! It might be the best holiday of the whole year, I'm not sure, I'll have to think about that. I think I will spend it eating great food. Nope, I know I will be spending it eating great food. I think that is all for today. I just thought, "Man, I really need to end this blog post. Anyone who just read all of that probably hates me. Please don't hate me. I NEED TO BE LIKED!" Ok, bye.

I'm still not there

I know what all (3) of you are thinking. It has been a while since I have written on here. Well lay off me, I've been busy. A lot has happened to Manboy since you heard from me last.

1. I graduated from a four-year univeristy. Yeah, that happened. I don't ever have to sleep through another class again.

2. Me and my Womangirl traveled across the world and visited Taiwan, China, and Hong Kong. It was an amazing experience, mostly because I was with people that are the same size as me.

3. We moved to Chicago! I have officially started my new internship at Leo Burnett. I am a working Manboy.

Don't worry though. Even though I am doing all these adult things I can assure you that I will forever remain a Manboy and never officially grow up no matter how hard the world tries to make me.

Cereal is still my go to meal (Reese's Puffs, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and Honey Nut Cheerios by the punch bowl). I still jump with excitement when I hear an ice cream truck. Legos interest me more than any magazine or book. I am constantly making sound effects (usually a fart or an explosion noise, sometimes a combination of the two). I am tempted to use the the handles as monkey bars on every train I step on. I make my wife race me. Clowns still legitimately scare me. 

So you see, I ain't growing up any time soon. 

That is all for now. Till next time (which will be soon, I promise). Go out and enjoy your summer. Sleep in, blow something up, or play video games all day. Just make sure you always have a couple bucks on you in case you hear the ice-cream truck down the street.

I've Got Nothing to Say

I have been struggling for the past few days trying to figure out what I should write about on here. Not a lot has come to my mind. I have been keeping super busy though. Still working my Manboy buns off to get my advertising portfolio right to where I want it to be. I don't want to just give up since I have an internship already lined up. I have found something I am so passionate about that I am willing to work hard on all the time, even though I could coast if I wanted to. Did you know I have a website for my portfolio? I have a link on my site that takes you to this blog but I don't think I have ever mentioned my site on here before. Here it is, natesteele.com. I just wanted to make sure you two knew about each other. If you already knew about my site there are some new things on there, like the Internet Explorer 9 campaign. Enjoy.

Here is something to write about: baseball. Baseball is a beautiful thing. I was born and raised in Southern California (anyone from there knows that you should never call it SOCAL, yuck!). Anyways, I have always been an Angels fan. They are a pretty legit team. ESPN Magazine ranked them #1 for getting bang for your buck the other year. Meaning, for how much the average ticket costs, you get the most out of them for how many times they win, the whole ballpark experience, and they even factored in food prices. Plus, we have Albert Pujols now, so that is going to be awesome. Unfortunately, I am convinced that the Angels have placed a curse on themselves. The curse of the name change.

The Angels started out as just the Los Angeles Angels. A little redundant for a city that literally means "the angels." Back when they first started in the early 60s, they were playing in a Los Angeles stadium. So, nothing wrong with that name. Then in '65, they became the California Angels and shortly after moved to Orange County (Anaheim). Sure why not? Back then there weren't a whole lot of California teams in the MLB. Why not have the best part of Southern California represent the whole state? Then Disney took over gave them awful uniforms and renamed them the Anaheim Angels. Fair enough, it is actually where they are located. This was probably the best name for them. They won the World Series with this name. Then something stupid happened. In 2005 they were renamed the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Now that doesn't make sense. Anaheim isn't in LA County. I believe this new owner and his crazy name change put a curse on them. I am convinced the Angels won't win another World Series until they change their name back to the Anaheim Angels.

Sorry if I bored you but if you hear "the curse of the name change" 50 years from now on Sports Center, know that you heard it hear first. Well, moving to Chicago, I guess I should get used to curses. Because the Cubs have gone 103 seasons without winning a World Series. I am really excited to spend a lot of time at Wrigley Field when we move out there. And maybe with a little bit of luck I can be there when the curse is broken. Up until a few weeks ago I could only imagine what that would be like. Thanks to the following commercial I have a better idea of how mind blowing it would be.

Questions of the Soul

I enjoy pondering. I like to ask questions. For example, how come Reese's Peanut Butter Cups Miniatures taste so much better than the regular sized ones? You know, questions of the soul. The following are some questions that might blow your mind. I am still picking up the smithereens (yeah, smithereens, what a great word...) Anyway, I am still picking them up of my own brain after asking myself these questions...

How come America is the only country with tornadoes? Seriously, when was the last time you heard about a tornado ripping apart some houses in Italy? How did we get stuck with these disasters? This is why I love California. No tornadoes. All we have to worry about out there is earthquakes, tsunamis, shark attacks, drought, and wildfires.

Why are there flotation devices under plane seats and not parachutes? I am willing to bet anything there a lot more people on planes that don't know how to fly than don't know how to swim. A majority of this country's flights don't even travel over large bodies of water anyways. Not to mention, the chances of you surviving a plane crash in the middle of an ocean are probably very slim. It really only happens if you're Tom Hanks and your about to make a two hour and twenty minute movie about becoming besties with a volleyball.

Why do we sing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" when we are already at one? Seems kind of redundant. Another sports question (because I am such an athletic jock): why do they call them stands when they are made for sitting? I am sure there is some historical answer that I imagine an old man answering something like this, "Back in my day they didn't have seats in the stands at sporting events so you had to stand, like a poor person." Oh, did I mention this imaginary old man is an elitist?

Well, that's all I can think for right now. I'll let you know if any more ponderous thoughts creep into my brain.

Laters skaters.

Where The Wind Blows

As promised in my last post there is something big I need to announce.

Manboy and my Ladygirl are moving to Chicago! I have accepted an internship offer to Leo Burnett. I am super stoked for so many reasons.

Leo Burnett has been blowing up the advertising world. They were voted for #1 agency by Young Guns, a world wide competition for students and industry rookies. They were also voted top 30 agencies to work for in 2012 by AdAge. Check out the environment I'll be "working" in here.

They are the geniuses behind the Samsung commercials. This is one of my personal favorites. Written by a friend of mine who graduated from BYU last year, great work Chad. They also do those cute Cheez-It commercials, like this one. Leo Burnett has also been known to cause a little mayhem. That's right, those geniuses.

I have never been to Chicago. But, I am excited to go there. I have heard nothing but great things about it. All I know about it is they have that giant silver bean thing, which I want to climb. It's also windy, which is fine. It is home of the Chicago Cubs, I am convinced I will be there for when they break the curse of the billy goat. And, they have good hot dogs, which I will eat.

We are both very excited. I start in June so until then I will be stuck in Utah. Finally after years and years of work I have found my way out.