Let the Countdown Begin!

I like Countdowns (but hate counting - how tragic). So I thought I'd do a countdown post. I got the idea because Joe Sjo last friday night whispered in my ear and goes "8 Days... 8 Days..."

We got a bunch of good times coming up in the next chunk of days.

In almost exactly 3 days from now, the team will be heading up to the U of M for this season's Conference Meet. Everyone is pretty fuckin stoked. Heading up on the bus, moving into our hotel rooms, and having team meetings... I get chills just thinkin about it.

Then 3 action packed days later, we finish up Conference (btw: I'm thinking of blogging about the meet during it, thoughts?), hop around happily in the Radisson lobby, eat some sub sandwiches and then get jittery because we want to make it back for...

Men's team 40s!! 40 (or 80... or more) ounces of good times, memories, and bro-ing out with the men's team including special guests Elliot Bartis, David Nonberg, Tim Foran and maybe Jared Plotz? Drankin in Hill and then if it gets shut down after its gets to crazy when the women come over we'll head to either Dow or Davis.

Then the next weekend is the Conference Party, which I'm pretty stoked about. Following tradition, nothing will be revealed prior to the event.

AND THEN the following weekend is Schlaefer and K. Sloan's Goodbye Bash, since they are both graduating early and won't be around much spring term. In Schlaef's email to the rest of Dow asking us if we are willing to host he said:

I would like to have a mega rager - stay up til sunrise, drink obscene amounts, people passed out on floors, etc. - on March 6th, a Saturday, as a farewell to Carleton for Kelsey and I. Sound alright? hope so

Should be a good time.

And then it gets towards the end of the term, but looking to one big event comin up:
SPRING TERM! and my 21st as well! Pretty Pumped about this.

So RECAP:

73 Hours until Bus Leaves for U of M
152 Hours till men's team 40oz's
162 Hours until Tavern Breakfast?
13 Days until Conference Party
12 Days until the new tradition of drunk dining hall the night before the Conference Party
20 Days until Schlaef's Mega Rager

Good times ahead to be sure.*

Oh and BTW: Hey Ted, What day is it in the International Year of Stadium 110?



*Hours and days may not be entirely accurate. I hate counting.

I Accept Your Challenge, Minnesota!

This my perspective on the Minnesota Challenge. Alfredo's will be comin shortly.

So a few weeks ago, after the Northfield Mini-Invite against Grinnel, Andy sent out the taper groups via email. He said he would sent it mid afternoon. It was a very unproductive day - I just sat by my computer and pressed refresh every five minutes from 3pm till 9pm, when the email finally came. As usual, I skipped the paragraph that says "now more than ever we need to act as a team" (by the way, upon further checking, its the exact same wording he used in previous years - can you say copy and paste?) and checked the lists. Alas, I didn't make the conference squad.

I was extremely bummed at first. I remember being bummed my freshman year, not only because I partially thought I should've been on there instead of someone else, but also because I worked so hard. But this year, the squad was fastest 17 people who would score, so my sadness was mostly because I really had worked my ass off this season.

So I was bummed for a while, and then finally got over it and recognized (with some help) that my attitude was extremely selfish and not helping the team at all. I turned my frown upside down and started to truly enjoy the taper. Well Andy got a little crazy, telling some new taper-tales and also making up a new Carleton Cheer that he is obsessed with (we humor him and do it at meets - he goes crazy).

The two-week taper went by fast and then BAM! It was game time. The MN Challenge. I agree with Alfredo that it was one of the hardest meets I've swum, because I had 8 swims total (all relays and then 3 indiv events) but it was all finals, so it wasn't as much rest as conference. My meet went like this:

Session 1 / Friday Night
50 free in the 200 freelay - 23.5
50 free (indiv) - 24.26
100 free in the 400 medley relay - 51.94

Session 2 / Saturday Morning
50 fly in the 200 Medley relay - 26.32
100 fly - 58.71
200 free leading of the 800 freelay - 1:55.64

Session 3 / Saturday Night
200 fly - 2:18.08
100 free in the 400 freelay - 52.74

(Full Results)

Overall, I'm delighted. Lifetime bests in my 50, 100, 200 frees and my 100 fly. My 200 fly time is a second off my best from last year at conference, but my 200 fly wasn't as strong this season in general as it was last year. I kinda choked in my indiv 50 free and my 100 free in the 400 freelay, but I'm really happy with my swims overall. After I didn't make conference team, my goal times were readjusted to just beat my times from conference last year, which I was hesitant if I could do because of the dramatic and short taper. But the non real events/warm up day on Friday really got me pumped.

It was dual pool format, which made cheering kinda difficult because there was sometimes a lot going on at the same time and wasn't as straight forward as conference. But being at the U really got everyone excited, to be tapering or to be so close to Conference. I'm so pumped for Conference. It's going to be great, but tough for us as a team. But I think it helped for A) our strong freshman class to see how good the Carleton Taper can be and B) what its like to swim at the U.

The bus ride home was ridiculous. After such a long day, we were all delirious. Almost rocked the mini-sugar loaf bus over when the pizza guy arrived straight to our bus door. It was a crazy ride home. Then a bunch of the team met up and the taper group drank while the conference people danced more crazily than the drunks and then many people went to mid winter ball. You really couldn't tell who was drinking and who wasn't. It was a blast.

And so my focus changes a bit. I'm gonna catch up on work this week, and then turn my attention towards Conference. Afterwards, I'm really gonna work on staying in shape. As I said to Ian Holman when he got back from Spain after the fall. "I feel like I haven't seen you since last WINTER because last spring you were always training for the triathlon and I was always... drinking." So I'm gonna try to still do the same amount of drinking. Maybe more? My (2nd) 21st birthday is coming up! But just lift and run more.

Now on to midterms and sleep. Now Tim, let's hear about that first day on the job soon!

A Dowist Perspective

So the term is over and for a few of us (sorry non-Carleton folks), winter break has started.

First, a few updates:

I think where I left off last was when the men’s team Tasted the Rainbow on Halloween. I said I was gonna write a whole post on it. But now I feel as if too late. I could probably write a whole novel on the night, although not from my perspective, which is missing completely… I’ll just say this: We started at 8 and I don’t remember anything after 9:45pm. 12 shots in an hour and a half is NOT a good idea, but hell I knew what I was getting into. We went through the rainbow, then did primary colors, then did our favorites. Allegedly, people were trying to make me drink water as early as 10:30 and I was two people I don’t know tried to take me home and put me to bed. I also know that I woke up at 5am in Davis 304 (Sjoberg’s current room) not knowing where I was, how I got there, or what was going on. I also felt great. But that is because of the massive purging that occurred around midnight…

So clearly the rainbow was a success.

On the last day of classes we had a flippy cup swim party at Dow. It started out with just the swim team, and then a jewgressive when through my house because of one of my housemates (the swimmers challenged them to a few rounds of flippy cup), and then all hell broke loose. The place blew up. It reminded me of that one party we had in the winter of last year in Stadium when the hall director came. Not only was it packed to the brink insider, there were probably about 100 people outside. The RAs kept wandering outside asking people, “Does anyone know who lives here?!” And supposedly the hall director came and was ignored by everyone she talked to. Security eventually came at 12:47 exactly and shut it all down. If you want to hear really funny stories, talk to Alfredo about this evening - you won't be disappointed.

Finals came and went. They sucked. Much of my time was spent on papers. But to give myself a pick me up in the middle of writing them, I would watch the video that Nonberg acted in for his friend’s project. Nonberg, your zombie walk made me laugh out loud so hard that some girl in the library asked me to keep it down or move to the 4^th floor. I recommend everyone watches it. It was so good that Mia and I thought we’d send it to btin.

Overall, I’d say this was my worst term at Carleton. But I won’t bore you about that. It mostly was because of my classes - very hard they were. But I think the fact that I had the best term of my life in the spring made this one seem worse than it really was. I do think that the living situation played a part as well. Living with swimmers is just so much easier. I think its the fact that everyone is on the same page and all. I’m very much looking forward to the break though, which is going to be much different than winter breaks past, mostly because of the difference in the training trip.

For those of you that don’t know, the team is doing something different in terms of winter break training this year.

Starting Monday of next week, the whole team (I think except for one or two people) is meeting back at Carleton to train. We are going to train twice a day for a week. Practices are 8-10 or 10-12 and 2-4 or 4-6. Morning practices are lift/swim (four days a week for sprinter and 2 days a week for distance) or all swim, and the swim is mostly technique based (filming, experimental stuff, etc). Afternoons are, as Andy put it to me one day when we were teaching SwimFit, “We are really gonna hammer you guys.”

OH! And practices are all gendered, which will be a fairly new experience for the team. It should be fun, since we don’t get that opportunity much during the normal season. But it also will be weird because we probably won’t see the women’s team during meals either, because we are cooking our own meals in the floor kitchens (because Bone Ape Tit isn’t open during the break).

So yeah, we are cooking our own meals. And because our room/board over the Northfield part of the training trip is covered by some fund from the Athletic Dept, we don’t have to pay for our food. The original plan was to have us buy all of our food and then give the business office receipts. Turns out, they are just gonna put the money ($22 a day!!!) directly in our checking accounts. And if we don’t spend it all, we get to keep it… Obviously, this part is awesome because I’m a thrifty/stingy asshole. We had a good chuckle about how if Jared was here, he’d be eating PB sandwhiches for the whole trip.

We also are going to go a Macalester Invite on the 5^th of Dec, which I’m glad about, because I have not been doing so well at meets this year and I want another opportunity before January.

Then we head to Puerto Rico! Group flight, which should be awesomely chaotic. In PR, we are practicing from 6-8 and then 3-5 and we gotta drive to the pool. The hotel we are staying at is a different one from when the team went before. This one doesn’t have kitchenetts – only a microwave and a minifridge (which should be interesting). But we do get like an amazing continental breakfast (with like omelets and stuff).

Then we all head back to campus and train like hell for 3 or 4 days until the 18^th, when we all go home for the rest of the break. Andy said those three days are gonna be the hardest of the whole time.

Should be a pretty cool time!

We’ll that’s all I really gotta say. I’ll leave ya with this.

Do You Guys Still Organize Your Life By Weeks? or WTF: It's 8th week

Well I think its time for a good ol Carleton update.

Let's start with one of our most common threads: swimming. Bottom line - its goin well. We are well into our 2nd three-week cycle. So its been a bit more intense, except for Halloween practice, which made me miss the class of 2009 quite a bit. We turned in our forms for winter housing last week, which made me realize how close winter break really is. We are on campus from November 29th to the 7th of December then off to Puerto Rico for a week and then again for about 4 days. Pete is already planning some pranks that he wants to pull on the basketball team. And Joe is planning the party we are gonna have the last night. Are any of you gonna be in the area?

Most of the freshmen boys have acclimated well. Some of them are still a little awkward/shy, but I think its just their personality. We got one with humor similar to Casey, a few hardscore partiers (for their grade), a spacecase/"baller", and some funny dudes. They good people. Its kind of weird because it makes me think of when some of you guys were Juniors and I was a Freshman. And then also when you guys were freshman and Free-Ho and Will were Juniors. I think the college social system is prone to Juniors being more willing to better befriend freshman as opposed to sophomores and freshman. But its just a hypothesis.

So Dan Deacon came to campus this past Thursday. I actually started exploring his stuff a few weeks ago and I like it for the most part. But I like most electronic/techno stuff. I'm not as good as talking about music as Ted, Tim and Bk are. But I know what I like. I didn't stay long because of morning practice, but I'm glad I went because he is a really good performer. He likes to get the whole audience involved, which I always appreciate as a concert goer. Plus he's a legit name (a rarity for Carleton). I will, however, admit that I was kinda annoyed with some of the audience members. There are quite a bit of pretentious muisc snobs are Carleton.

So H1N1 has hit Carleton by storm. I remeber last year joking about it a bit, but it's kind of crazy how its affecting our year. Professors are more lenient about attendence and students now have a better excuse to feed professors when telling them why they aren't gonna go to class. One of my professors is pretty paranoid because she doesn't want her kids getting sick. And actually Andy is pretty crazy about it too. He frequently reminds us to wash our hands and he has been telling us to shun members of the team who are sick and to stay as far away from them as possible. He got sick this week though with like a fever of 104! As far as numbers go, According to Carleton's H1N1 Influenza Website,

"Simply put, the College is experiencing nearly double the amount in the number of reported influenza-like illnesses (ILIs) this week compared to last. So far, we’ve had 114 new cases reported this week alone, compared to 65 cases reported last week."

When it gets cold out, its going to be even worse... Winter is gonna be crazy in terms of sickness.

Last night we also tasted the rainbow... but I'm too lazy right now, so I'll update on that later.

A Carleton College Week One of Fall Term 2009 Update from Third Year Student Mark "Scourge of the Midwest" Olson

A man without a mustache is like a cup of tea without sugar.
-English Proverb

I like that quote and it reminded me of when Ted and I (and sorta Nonberg, although he cheated) did mustache club.



Okay, So here is my Carleton update. I forget that several of those who read this blog are not anywhere near Carleton.

Swimming Stuff:
So on Wednesday, we had our first team meeting. First things first, the email said there would be snacks. Upon arrival, I soon found out... that there were actually no snacks to be found. I made my unhappiness known to a few select individuals. There were a lot of us there. I think the girls have somewhere between 5-9 freshman, and the guys have about 12ish. I know some are on the fence though. The coaches and captains introduces themselves and then we broke off into genders, where we did introductions and a lil Q & A for the freshman. Then that was pretty much it. We went to a team dinner at Burton, which has experienced some changes (I'll explain later).

The freshman seem cool. Rumors are that some have a bit of a cockiness to them (I don't know what about, exactly - someone just said that). I think they just might be freshman, and I'll give em a chance. Some are quite cool though. Some of the guys played knock out today, which was tight. A few of the fresh ones showed up and a couple of them were pretty damn good (Momoru, for example). I think the Cocktail Party is going to be a gee golly good time.

Okay, Burton - Bad things first: The long tables are gone. Instead they have been replaces by small tables that are perpendicular to the windows/wall. They seat about 6 - 8. This new format does fit more people in the space. However, it is terrible for team unity. I've already started a "Comment Card Campaign." Louise, Brenner and Djem are quite enthusiastic about writing serious and silly cards about the issue. Boo short tables.

Another change is the elimination of Mundo Latino... Instead there is a World station that will supposably serve mundo latino-like dishes occasionally, but has only served bad curry for the past week. (Also this new World station is where heartland prairie used to be and the heartlannd is now where mundo latino used to be...) Boo no Mundo Latino.

They have also changed the entry way to the Sevy side of Burton. Now the ONLY enterance is through the double doors by the bathroom. That big block door where we used to enter is now always closed. Boo it being harder to sneak in.

Also (this is temporary but it still sucks), the new freshman dining hall workers are still scared to give more than the serving size their boss says they can. MEANING that I had to go up and get THREE plates full of Sweet Potatoe Fries, because the little chubby white girl freshman was to afraid of the big black chef. Hopefully this will subside soon. Boo incompetent dining hall workers and fear mongering supervisors.

Positive changes to Burton (there are only a few):
The mysterious room behind the double doors which where right by our long table and the coat rack is now a dining area. There are a few bigger tables and the team is considering taking over that room each dinner. (Providing more space there gives them less of a reason to not change back to the long tables, right?)

There is now a tray return over by the tea room. Although I do not use the tea room (like at all), this is good for the Carleton community.

Also, on an unrelated note, last weekend Caitlin and Black Ice stopped by when Megan's townhouse (Euchster) threw a lil rager! Good times were had by all.

Okay, that was the Burton Dining Hall Status Report Tangent and Carleton Status Report. Over and Out.

nationals 2009

Well, nationals is over; it's finally time to relax, and blog about it. I'm spending the day sitting on the couch watching the basketball tournament, but I'll take some time to give an update on the last few days.

The swimming was incredibly fast, see the 18 out of 36 national records that were set at the meet. The tech suits definitely made a difference, if you need more proof see the Santa Cruz 400 freestyle relay, where they decided to wear speedos instead of their tech suits and added 6 seconds from prelims. However, everyone seemed to fare differently using the new suits. I swam my first three races with a Blueseventy, but decided that I wasn't comfortable in it and swam better in the Lzr legsuit, so I switched to that for the last three races. Westby also felt that the blueseventy wasn't working for him and wore a Lzr jammer for his breaststrokes. Some people certainly swam well and even set records in both blueseventies and lzrs, but it seemed like they worked differently for everyone. The whole suit aspect of swimming is getting pretty complicated and ridiculous if you ask me.

Anyway, on to the actual swimming. I was pretty happy with the way it turned out for me. I dropped a little off my 200 IM and 200 breast times from conference. I missed the top 8 in my 400 IM but was happy to come back and take ninth with a better swim at night. I ended up in 25th with 34 points.

The women had a very successful meet, finishing in 17th with 49 points, their strongest finish since the Marsman era ended in 2005. The highlight from the first day was the 200 medley relay which finished 13th. The time was second in Carleton history only to their conference time. The highlight on the second day was Maggie's 200 freestyle. After a great swim in the morning she dropped another eight tenths at night to win the consolation final out of lane one in maybe the most exciting race for Carleton of the weekend. On the third day Kate just missed the top sixteen in her hundred breast but posted her best time ever which was just 0.45 seconds off the school record. On the final day, Kale took the school record in the 200 backstroke back away from Maggie finishing seventh for her first All-American citation, her final swim was the 4th time that record has been set this year.

The other non-swimming highlights included the CBS man stalking the Alexander's all weekend, the senior gifts of ten dollar chocolate bunnies (way better than flowers), the Haucks getting coaches of the meet and the Oles getting what appeared to be a mini-fridge for taking fourth, and dinner at the Loring Pasta Bar, which apparently turns into a salsa dancing club after 11 on Saturdays.

Thank you to everyone who was there cheering and timing and to everyone who wasn't there but was cheering anyway. It was a great meet.

More national video!

Here is the piece from Day 3. Hope everyone likes it.

We <3 Ted

Ted is a BAMF.
Taken from Carleton's Athletic Site:


MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- Senior Ted Marschall (Burnsville, Minn.) added another All-America honorable mention award to his swimming résumé after winning the consolation finals in the 400-yard individual medley at the 2009 NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships. Marschall amassed 23 points in the team competition. Without the help of other teammates or relays, he is 18th out of 41 programs to score at the national meet.




I know i've been glued to my screen looking at the live results. But i'm pissed because the "live video" that is provided my MAC/ CBS isn't working and sooo... I sit at my computer and press "Last Completed Heat" about every 4 min or so...

But how 'bout them Knights? Eh? You gotta love them. And i wish I was there to cheer them/you guys on. Keep up the great work Knights! And way to go Ted!