Dave Eggers is stalking me through mediocre YA literature

The book in question: . There's more info here, but this isn't really a recommendation. I only started reading this because all of the other interesting new YA books are either gone or I've read them already and I'm kind of getting bored with Dave Itzkoff's Lads. It doesn't necessarily suck (Lads, that is), it's just that in the non-crazy-hilarious moments, it gets a bit--not whiny...petulant, maybe? Cranky? I feel bad saying this, because all in all I like the book, and the funny parts are numerous and really damn funny. Maybe I was expecting more of an exploration of the Maxim-ness and less just description of it? In any case, Itzkoff should be commended for the sheer number of times he uses the word "gay", and not in the homosexual way. I know it's horribly offensive, but sometimes that's the only way you can describe certain things. Like the Kentucky license plate.
Seriously, and back onto my original point, why does this half-assed attempt at teenaged suspense keep name-dropping Eggers? Is it some kind of bet? Written by buddies of his? Thankfully, it does not share his writing style. To prove this, I will now give you a synopsis of what I've read so far (I'm about half-way through):

I'm Tom. This is my journal, my only friend. [That's pronounced gournal: guess I'm not all smart like you] Alice is so pretty, but she must never know my secret. Oh, that deep dark secret of mine. Oh oh, my secret. That former life I had before I came to New York. I'm going to mysteriously drop names from that time, but never tell even you, my journal, my only friend, about it.

The school librarian just called to schedule a field trip...on a day that there is no school.
Also, if people would listen to what the nice lady who is paid to sit there and help them says, maybe she wouldn't have to get up, away from her blog entry, to show them that, if something is a TV program, it will be in the TV program slot. Like the nice lady just said.
Professionalism!!