> I'm off until Sunday to lovely Fresno, California (aka Crapville USA) to attend a journalism conference with my school's paper. Fresno is notorious for being more or less NoCal, and anyone who knows me knows my hatred for that wretched wasteland that is the north part of my state.

Now, now, Stephen. If you're going to be a journalism person, you must learn to spell. As you know, the correct spelling of the term that refers to the upper half of California is "NorCal." Please observe this headline in the San Diego Business Daily: http://www.sddt.com/Search/storyreader.cfm?SourceCode=n990602cc

In addition, a Google search of "NoCal" brought back 5,540 results, while a search of "NorCal" had 43,600 results. These numbers are quite obvious, and you must also take into consideration the fact that "NoCal" can also stand for "No Calories." This became obvious when I looked at the some of the links provided by Google.

That said, good luck in staying alive and overcoming your fear of Northern California. I've never been to Fresno, so you might be very accurate in your negative depiction of it, but that's as much as I will concede.

> I will also be competing in at least the news writing competition, which makes me slightly nervous since I really don't have a lot of experience. If you are so inclined, wish me luck. If you don't, I hate you and hope you're murdered by a pack of wild dogs before I get back.

We're too civilized to have packs of wild dogs here in Northern California. The news writing competition sounds both nerve-wracking and interesting, and if you don't win, then we'll know that your assessment of Fresno was correct.

Ellmyruh