1. As anyone who went to college knows, free pizza brings out the worst in humanity. A stampede almost broke out at the MSNBC camp in the EpiCentre when staffers carried slices into the crowd. At one point, a security guard turned to me and said, “I didn’t know people went this crazy over free pizza!” I later saw him fighting his way toward the exit, slice in hand.

2. People walking on the street are either scowling, smoking or running into friends they haven’t seen in years. Elbows fly in the air, though not in the way Ludacris advocates.

3. Get close enough and you’ll hear cops drop some great one-liners. My favorite from Wednesday happened at a protest just outside Time Warner Cable Arena. One cop turned to another and asked how long he thought the small group would stick around. Not long, he replied. “They’ve been walking a lot, and they’re not used to cardio.”

4. For the first time in my life I regret not getting into TV journalism. Not only are anchors given prime real estate in the convention - conventioneers treat even the most obscure cable news reporter like she’s Madonna.

5. The print-press core is about as diverse as the delegates at the Republican National Convention.