The Carleton and Andy new Regime

Just in case some loose eyes are watching I decided to hide the identities of certain people.

So in case you alumni haven't heard Ode ball got shut down by security last week. It didn't seem like a big deal especially since 2 of the kegs were pretty much tapped and the third was about 3/4 done, which Marco's housemate ended up saving in his fridge for like 2 days afterward. It was actually pretty hilarious because it was evident that security had taken the time to scout out the scene and plan out their raid as if they were a swat team. The security van came in through one side while two security guards on bikes sprinted in through the other side. It was probably the most priceless thing I've seen security do. They even held the kegs for us/confiscated them. They explained that they were only doing their jobs, which is true. Since the new head of Campus Activities started he has been strict about busting any unregistered party. We all figured we would just have to talk to the dean and we would get a slap on the wrist since they took my name and Maco's name down. However typical Ode freshmen girl got way to trashed and ended up going to the hospital at 7:00pm. We were a bit worried for the girl, but figured everything would end up okay. So me and Marco proceeded to continue drinking and destroyed parts of Fieldnorth as the night progressed.

Well it turns out that girl had to talk to the Odaf dean since she went to the hospital. She apparently spilled her guts out and explained the entire operation. The Odaf dean called the Barleton dean who eventually called Da Clarkster (Oh Shit!). Mark eventually received an e-mail from our dean to come in and talk about the situation. After speaking with her Marco decided to contact Da Clarkster and talk to him about the incident. Before this conference happened the new and old captains decided to have our own little summit so that everyone got briefed on what the dean said and to get Marco ready for Da Clarkster. We agreed that the whole incident was just an unfortunate event, and we were all sorry that this was reflected on the swim team name. Marco came back from the meeting however explaining how Da Clarkster seemed like he wanted to make some very drastic changes. According to Marco, Da Clarkster was thinking of prohibiting alcohol use at any of the swim team functions. Marco stood his ground and explained many of the disadvantages to this new policy. This might have made Da Clarkster think but he did make it clear though that if some people were not willing to follow whatever policy he implements then there is no room on the team for that person. Several of us have mentioned how this is going to effect the team if he does not allow us to drink. I think the new captains would like to compromise some but not to much. After all Da Clarkster is the only coach on this campus who is making such a big deal about this issue. According to Marco even the dean said we can have parties but to just register them. What do you guys think should be said to Da Clarkster to try and save many of the traditions that have made every year so special, because many of them are in danger.

I just received an e-mail by the dean here at Barleton a few hours ago to come in and meet with her about the issue. I'm not exactly sure what she is going to ask me but it will be interesting to see how the next few weeks unfold especially with some of the events that are planned for the rest of the term.

Los Ochos Rancheros?

I'm overstepping Tim's post because before talking about dates, I wanna bring up something Alfie and I were talking about when we took a run in the Arb yesterday (yay midterm break!):

As much fun as it would be, can we agree that Vegas is out? Let's try Vegas in 5 years when we are all a little more financially secure because, as I told Alfredo yesterday, when I hit up Vegas, I'm gonna wanna go big. And I'm gonna wanna throw some money away, which I don't know if I will have as a college student.

But we were seriously considering the "Mexico Option." Now Alfredo can say more about what it like on the ranch. But I know for sure there are horses. He said activities would be limited, but we could ranchy stuff (read: drunk horse riding). He also said that its about a 2 hour drive to the ocean. Maybe a day trip? The cons are that the plane ticket would be more expensive. I just picture us all dressed up like rancheros, drinking XX and Tequila, all while Tim and Alfredo yell at Nonberg in spanish.

So If I was boiling it down between Mexico and Utah, I would think like this:

The Guzman Ranch
Pros: Free housing, Warmth, Exotic Location, Beach nearby, Horses, intimate setting, small mexican ranch town life?, Mexican FOOD!
Cons: Cost of Ticket, possibly limited activities, maybe not freedom of transportation?, no hot tub

The Nonberg Mountain Hideaway
Pros: Free housing and transportation, Ski opportunities (although like $80 a day, right?),
intimate setting, small ski town life, cook for ourselves, a hot tub, possibility of driving there (road trip?), we can still talk in spanish
Cons: no horses, more expensive once we get there perhaps? the main thing is there is no horses.


Just exploring our options some more.

Not My Chair, Not My Problem....

...That's what Chris Bateman always says. That's right, Bateman likes Drinking Out of Cups. FYI.

If you read this and don't immediately exclaim "I'm in!"...

…then you can mail your Stadium Membership Card to 3707 Grand Ave S, Apt 202, Minneapolis, MN 55409 where it will be promptly destroyed.

Nonberg and I were chatting on Facebook earlier this evening (as we normally do), discussing my new profile picture. Nonberg remarked that it made him nostalgic for our college years. I concurred, explaining that I too missed college, Stadium, and life under the bleachers. And then something miraculous happened – one of us had perhaps the best idea that anyone in Stadium has had thus far. I don’t know whose idea it was, and frankly, I don’t care because it’s so damn good. Read further:

My friends, we’re going to go on a trip. Stadium style! Isn’t this crazy? A trip! We're doing this because we must begin to get together, as one, annually. If we don't, despite Facebook's existence, we will not stay in touch forever. Thus, we start a tradition and then we get to party together and relive our college days every year!

Through minimal discussion, we narrowed our options down to two. In spite of not conferring with any of you prior to this decision, we’re both confident that through a full Stadium discussion we would have all come to the same conclusion. So, we’re avoiding the discussion. Think of it kind of like that time we planned a party on a Tuesday – that was dumb, because we didn’t actually figure anything out. On Thursday, we got back to planning. And the party happened, and would have happened, in any case.

So, the options are:

1) The most populous city in Nevada… the seat of Clark County… The Entertainment Capitol of the World… the home of The Strip… Sin City… the city with the largest number of churches per capita in this beautiful country of ours… the unincorporated communities of Paradise and Winchester… the 28th most populous city in the U.S.,. 36°10′30″N 115°08′11″W… more popularly known as Las Vegas, Nevada.

2) The home of three ski resorts, including two that hosted skiing events at a recent Winter Olympics… a town that straddles the border between Wasatch and Summit counties… the home of the Sundance Film Festival, the U.S. Ski Team, AND the Australian Freestyle Ski Team… according the Forbes Magazine, one of the 20 prettiest towns in the country… 40°39′34″N 111°29′59″W… What town is this, you ask? Park City, Utah.

There are pros and cons to either of these options:
-Were we to travel to Park City, Nonberg has graciously offered us his house and transportation while we were there. This is incredible. If we went to Las Vegas, we would not have such luxuries. We would probably stay in shitty hotels and share beds. We would also probably rent cars if we wanted to get around (or steal a police car)

-Were we to travel to Las Vegas, we would be able to gamble, lose our concept of time, have access to a plethora of hookers, eat at expensive buffets, and watch the Bellagio fountains. However, contrary to popular belief, we would NOT be able to breathe pure oxygen when we gambled. We would also not be able to ski, party intimately in a house, enjoy the small ski town life, or cook for ourselves.

-Park City offers us a more relaxed vacation experience: we would be able to sit leisurely in a hot tub (it fits eight!), sipping brews as the snow fell around us. I would imagine that the nightlife in Park City during the winter is quite fun.

-Las Vegas offers us a more intense vacation experience: we would gamble, drink, and party constantly for an unspecified number of days straight. I have heard that Las Vegas nightlife is decent, as well.

So it comes down to this: relax with the bros, or party non-stop with the bros? Either way, it's a bros only vacation. At closing, the poll to the right will reflect the will of the people. When the people have spoken, our destination will be chosen (assuming feasibility). The next step is deciding whether we actually want to do this, finding a date (March 2011?), etc etc. The idea is that we make this far enough in advance so that we can all afford it, find a date that works, etc. I know this is planning and not typical, but we must do it for success' sake.

Impressions?

What are your first impressions of Carleton's new president?

Seems like a bit less of an academic than Oden (actually, not a whole lot of academic papers et cetera on his CV). I'm willing to bet he speaks at least 8 fewer languages than Oden.

But it looks like he's got a lot of administrative experience and was extremely effective. And it seems the committee was impressed with his personal demeanor throughout the entire process.

Did any of you current Carls see him speak or anything during the selection process? I'm curious to hear what you think.

P-P-P-PLASMA

I haven't had a REAL post since early January. Not too much has changed in my life since then, but still, news is news.

The biggest news is that I chose my thesis advisor! HOLY CRAP LIFE DECISIONS. This is basically the biggest decision I've made since choosing to be a physics major. And I think it was a far more difficult decision to make. All fall semester I met with professors. I started out looking at research groups that worked with carbon nanotubes, graphene, nanoparticle science, and just generic nanotechnology. The research was interesting and the professors were great advisors, but I couldn't see myself working in those fields for the rest of my life..not to mention some of them didn't have funding. I started to branch out a bit and looked in the bioengineering department. It is important to consider here that I didn't take a single biology course in college. Needless to say, meeting with those professors was awkward because they would talk about weird shit like chondrocytes. I didn't even know what a protein was (its a sequence of amino acids)! So I met with them and they loved the fact that I was a physics major and I'm pretty sure they assumed that I could easily learn (memorize) all the biology I needed to. At this point I was determined to work in the bioengineering department because I really liked the idea of my research helping to improve people's lives and health. Unfortunately, the two professors whose research interested me most did not have funding so I couldn't join their group. I was very close to working with one of them to apply for a fellowship, but we stopped because we didn't think we would have enough time to complete it. This was all last semester.

Then, one day about a month ago, I got an email from a professor who had taught a course I took the previous semester. He studies plasma-surface interactions. His email basically said, "(obligatory hello sentence). If you haven't found an advisor, I have a very exciting research project I'd like to discuss with you." I was intrigued. How exciting could it be? I had nothing to lose, so I met with him. Turns out that his new project was about how plasmas interact with biological surfaces! It was a great combination of amazing science combined with the ability to increase public health! The best part is that the groundwork for this area has yet to be laid out. It would be so exciting to be a part of the foundation of a brand new field. I talked with his current graduate students and they all said that he was a very good advisor and that his lab has a great reputation in the plasma world. Also, it seems like I'll be learning a lot because I'll be getting into the nittygritty of how the equipment works; I won't just be turning giving my samples to a technician. In case you couldn't tell, I joined his lab and now I work in the Institute for Electronics and Applied Physics. I really like the two other grad students in the group. There are also two post-docs that I don't know well yet, but I'm going to be working closely with one of them and he doesn't speak english too well. What we'll be doing is creating a plasma at atmospheric instead of at low pressure. One thing we'll be working with has been called a plasma needle and it looks like a mini-lightsaber

Other than that, I've been just livin-n-shit. I went to a party with my sister and my friend Will in DC that was straight out of a movie. We parked the car and walked up to this loading dock where a big dude patted us down for weapons. The place was called "the warehouse loft" and when we walked in there was hardly any lighting and extremely loud music. At one point I was waiting in line to go to the bathroom and these people were taking forever so I started banging on the door. Then this guy and two girls come out and I was thinking to myself "wow, did that guy just have a threesome?" I was impressed until later on my friend told me that they were probably snorting coke. Sheesh! Anyway, my sister introduced me to her very attractive friend who had beaten final fantasy 13 before I did...such a rare breed of woman.

Last weekend I went to a party at a grad students house. It was the first time I had partied with the older graduate students. It was a shitload of fun. The two guys from my lab were there, and it was really nice to see them let loose. Perhaps the strangest part is how hard these grad students party (mostly physics majors I might add), but I guess it shouldn't be that weird to me considering the ocho had 3 physicists.

My brother has a new show that will be airing on USA. It's called Covert Affairs and stars the girl from Coyote Ugly who also happened to be the pink power ranger. I've seen the pilot and I think its pretty good. You can watch the trailer online. It's sort of like Alias...but I've never seen Alias so I don't know. I've just read the comparison.

For those who don't know, Liz is moving out here in late July. I'm really excited for that. The long distance thing is such a pain in the butt. I'm moving out of my current place on May 31st and moving back in with my parents for a couple months. I don't think it will be too bad. I already go back home once a weekend anyway. Plus I'll be saving a lot of money.

LATER ALL. No fun websites, hilarious videos, countdowns, or raps.

Throw Caution to the Wind: Spring Term 2010

It's spring term! I thought I'd share some of the great times we've had so far here at Carleton and keep you guys in the loop of the fun that is soon to come.

Let me say that its been great so far. I have a little more work than last year's spring term, but that's also because I took BS classes (except for Harry's class). So one of my classes is a lot of reading ALONG with a big ongoing research paper (25-pages) that is supposed to get us into the comps-mindset. It blows. But hopefully my comps will come out of this paper, which would make my fall next year so much easier. The important thing to remember as I do work is to "Throw Caution to the Wind," which is what Alfredo, Anna and I decided is the theme for Spring Term 2010 (Although Anna rarely complies).

The Synchro Show was first weekend. It was the weekend after my birthday, so I personally was still emotionally, physically and mentally recovering. But it was still quite fun. Except for that glass breaking and me having to change from drunken synchro member to head guard.

We haven't been back to Froggies, but thats mostly because Mia and Alfredo have been working on their Chem comps and have been too busy on Thursday nights. But Joe and I were just discussing how we will soon make our triumphant return to Froggies and start to take over Ole-Night.

Easter was the other weekend. Very fun times. I had to be sober for the first half, but I took great photos. I'll put them on the ol Facebook sometime soon.

Tim's been down on weekends and we've went to the bars a few times. It's been good times. They are still exciting for me. So has paying for alcohol at the liquor store - which I have been doing too much... $ does NOT grow on trees... well sometimes.

The swim team is involved in a record number IMs this term! Softball is obviously the biggest hit (no pun intended... okay it was intended). But we also have a Frisbee, Basketball team, and supposedly a beach volleyball team in the works. Our softball team name this year is "The Maize and Blue Balls," which is what we first tried to name the Bowling Club, but CSA rejected it because the Admission Office wants to put clubs on their website. [*** EDIT: This just in: we DO have a volley ball IM team. The name is "The Beached Whales" - how timely]

Speaking of Bowling Club, its going well! We keep expanding, and we actually have THREE non-swimmers, so we are a legit club now and we aren't embezzling. But some members of the budget committee are starting to question whether to keep funding us as we expand. I believe one member said, "Guys, aren't we just giving them money to go bowling for free?" That is exactly what they are doing and its awesome.

Last weekend was battle of the bands and a bunch of us did a power hour. But the real good times are ahead for students at Carleton:
This weekend: OleBall, we are starting at 2pm and going until we drop. 3 kegs, 2 taps. A few handles for the after party. and then Ebony/Sayles Dance at night (like we'll make it that far).
5th Weekend: Midterm break. Holla. Some burrito/crow's nest action is gonna occur. Maybe I'll find some more ancient money in a Scientology book like last year.
6th Weekend: Progressive (anyone got good ideas for themes?)
7th Weekend: Rotblatt (Switched Weekends with spring concert!!! I fear change...)
8th Weekend: Spring Concert. Brother Ali is headlining. Should be great.
9th Weekend: Superhero Party

Good times? I think so. So even though Stadium is not my home currently, I'm still workin hard to live in a way that embodies "life under the bleachers."

There comes a time in every man's life when he must...

...quit his job and take another that pays more money and makes him work harder.

After much deliberation, I decided last Wednesday that now is my time. I'm leaving the relatively focused media portion of advertising to move into the relatively broad account management discipline. This means that instead of deciding where to place ads, I'm now going to be making sure that everybody works together, that the client knows what the agency is thinking, and that the agency knows what the client is thinking. I have people skills; I'm good at dealing with people. Don't you get that?

So, basically, through some alumni networking, I've managed to snag a job at a much larger/more prestigious agency working in a department that I'll enjoy more on a very intense and challenging automobile account. I will be working much harder and dedicating more of my life to this. I like the challenge.

Now that we've gotten the job news out of the way (and yes, Mark, I will post when I have worked for a while and tell you all about what I do), I can tell you all about how Johnny V and I had dinner in the Crow's Nest on Sunday night. We drank wine, ate delicious food, and peed off the top of Stadium. That's pretty much it.

There are plenty of other things that I could talk about, but I'm lazy so I'm done for now.

Foran out!

Spring Term Rap

"you know we on the bald spot with that midwest charm
"oh shit its a tornado better sound the alarm
better go in the dorms and f*(k with that girl you hooked up with in
sayles when you were drunk
cause lets face it thats how relationships start
man either that or you are one of those nerds who stays in and plays mario kart

In Spring Term people like to go cheer for CUT
Oh sh*t I forgot everyone would rather drink and work
on gettin their beer gut
Yes times like Joe's Easter and Rotblattare the best'
Cause when the cops give you that breathalyzer,
you certainly aint gonna pass that test.

Now for the ladies its the time when the coats come off and the skirts
come out

And like the flowers its like beauties spout

Everyone seems to fall in love

Good thing the health center gives a lecture on gloves

For the guys they sum up the courage

cause for so long they have felt discouraged

Cause in the winter they had no love to keep warm

But as the months went on they began to learn

Sh*t son, its all about Spring Term.

Yeah that guy sang I love

College he obviously wasn't at Carleton based on his lack of knowledge

For as our moto states

The Revelation / Announcement of Your Words Illuminate

Just like after finishing that keg you tend to self deprecate

So give it up for 10 weeks of fun

cause we will all be chillin in Spring Term under that Midwest Sun

I'm knee deep...

...