Props & Drops

Allright, I know I’ve really been slacking off on this whole blogging thing. But I figure that since the year is coming to a close, a little summary post might be in order. So here’s a little year in review….my version of “props and drops” for the year at Fisher.

**Props to the snow day on Valentine’s day.

**Props to the new online housing system, which let us choose our new room in literally under four minutes. Definitely beats standing in line.

--Drops to whoever messed with my car in the Murphy lot back in January. Actually, drops to Murphy lot in general.

**Props to talking your way out of parking tickets (not that I’ve successfully used that technique or anything….).

--Drops to the fact that Lavery Lawn was fenced off all year. Maybe it won’t kill us, but it’s aggravating to have to walk a hundred yards out of the way to get to Basil—especially when it’s raining or snowing. As it was yesterday. Snow in April? What’s up with that?

**Props to the football and men’s basketball teams for making the NCAAs.

**Props to SGA, etc, getting three buses to take kids to Alliance, Ohio for the Final Four in December. I’m sure it wasn’t fun when one of the buses t-boned a truck, but it was nice of them to make the trip convenient for a lot of people.

--Drops to the lack of support at Homecoming. Literally the entire student section cleared out at halftime to go to a party at Naz, of all places. I realize it was raining, but seriously, if you already sat through the first half, you’re not going to get much wetter if you tough it out another hour.

--Drops to getting stranded at U of R after the Courage Bowl. The student shuttle (which was supposed to run every 15 minutes) took and hour and a half to get us…and Fisher had no idea where the bus was when we got worried and called them. Nothing beats standing on a hostile rival campus in the dark!

**Props to student involvement.

--Drops to laundry room etiquette on this campus (where's Megan?)

**Props to random 3 a.m. conversations with people.

--Drops to my RA, who was never around and thus let our floor run wild all year. I have nothing against people having fun, but when I’m trying to sleep, I’d like to do just that…not be woken up by people playing soccer in the hall or drunk guys I’ve never seen before knocking on the door and hitting on me. Oh, and last night, in the one night he decides to make an appearance on the floor, my RA was running up and down the hall WITH them…outstanding.

**Props to good pizza coupons. What? Broke college kids need to eat! Thanks, Mark’s.

--Drops to the lack of buttermilk ranch chicken in the dining hall this year. Seriously, they had it like twice.

**Props to my roommate putting up with all my insane shenanigans all year.

--Drops to drama. The last time I checked, this wasn’t high school.

**Props to Olive Garden.

**Props to random adventures (Toronto, Massachusetts, Ohio, NYC…what a year).

--Drops to the general lack of communication between various groups on campus (students, student leaders, administration, etc). It’s not so much certain issues themselves (like parking) that cause problems on campus; it’s how they’re handled. Administration needs to not be dodgy, students needs to actively seek to be kept in the know, and student leadership should facilitate that process by acting as an advocate for students….not behaving like puppets and middlemen.

**Props to meeting so many amazing people in college.

--Drops to the fact that we all be apart during summer.

--Drops to finals. If the next week and a half doesn’t kill me, nothing will.

**Props to those crazy kids who went and cleaned up New Orleans over Spring Break. I only say crazy because they act all modest, like they didn’t make a difference. Y’all did us proud.

Last but certainly not least….Props to the Courier. Because it’s been an amazing year. And definite props to our trip to the conference in New York City, which was easily the best weekend of the year, hands down.

But drops to JetBlue. Definite drops to JetBlue.

That’s all, she wrote. Good luck on finals, everyone. Don’t forget to pick up the last edition of the Cardinal Courier for this year when it hits stands tomorrow. Also check out the first-ever edition of C Magazine on Friday, and Cardinal Courier Online on Monday. That’s right, we’ve been busy. Later!

Sharp Dressed Men

I look forward to the end of the semester for several reasons. Going home and hanging out with the Kendall crew is always a good time, but there is one other reason I look forward to those last couple weeks of a semester and that reason is...presentations.

I know what you're thinking. Who in their right mind likes doing presentations? Well, no one likes to do that; I like presentations for another reason. Because of presentations, the men of Fisher are forced to actually attempt to look presentable for a change.

Seriously boys, you look good at the end of every semester. There's nothing wrong with rocking a shirt and tie...it's actually quite nice for a change. I may be so impressed though because you set such a low standard for yourself. (The whole sweatpants and 5 o' clock shadow look isn't the greatest look of all time, sorry to break it to you.)

So I guess I will just enjoy the next couple weeks when the boys are forced to clean up and look nice. Too bad it will all be over soon. Sigh.

White Easter?

So I woke up this morning (very psyched because my mom er uh the easter bunny still hooks me up with a sweet basket) and I could have sworn it was another holiday...I swear there is more snow today than there was on Christmas!

What gives? I love having snow on Christmas (and that day exclusively) and now it is really coming down here in Kendall, NY. Boo. I hate winter.

I took all of my winter stuff home from college and now I feel like I have to bust my scarf back out. That is one thing I don't like about our school schedule...we leave so early that we can't enjoy the sunshine together. Last year Fisherpalooza was a bust because of rain, but this year we might have to have a snow day!

Al Gore is talking up his global warming crap (all the while racking up a pretty hefty energy bill) but I'm really not seeing it. I took a look at the 10-day forecast....40's all week.

I guess it was pretty fitting that my mom got me a bunch of chocolate penguins for Easter.

I love this new online housing deal seriously. No longer does anyone have to wait in the long lines around Kearney. Props to res life for having this new invention. I registered for my new room (Keough 333) this morning in less than two minutes. I hope everyone else enjoys, yes, enjoys registering for housing next semester.

93 more meals to go...

I think I did a poor job choosing a meal plan.

You would think after four years here at Fisher I would know better too, but apparently not. I didn't even realize it until a few days ago. I was about to enter the dining hall, when the person in front of me asked how many meals she had left this semester. She had around 28. So when my card was swiped next, I was informed that I had 100 meals left. If you're thinking that's a lot of meat loaf and pizza then you're right. So it appears that I paid for way to many meals his semester, a luxury that a broke college student such as myself does not have.

So that makes the score, Bon App - 1 Scott - 0, right?

Not so fast.

I'm determined to use the rest of these meals, after all already paid for them and I am a big fan of food so there's no problem there. I've already started doubling up meals at the Fishbowl, you know getting three Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches instead of one or purchasing a few Snapples here and there. I'll update my situation in the last issue of the Courier for this semester (hopefully) and maybe I'll even buy you a meal sometime.

Anyway, the message here is beware what meal plan you choose next semester. Get more dining dollars (there always handy) and less meal swipes. But if you do have too many meals, then it's never too late to use them. And as for me, there's only 93 more meals to go...

Hillary Clinton ain't From the South...or NY for that matter

It was brought to my attention that Hillary Clinton faked a southern accent while speaking at First Baptist Church in Selma, Alabama on March 5th. Don't believe me? Listen to this:

http://www.wmcstations.com/Global/story.asp?S=6178779

What a moron! Hillary, come on.

First you pretend to be a loyal New Yorker. (PLEASE, NY is just a stepping stone to you and we all know it.)

Then you pretend to be a feminist (Uh, what feminist in their right mind would have stayed with Bill after his fun with an intern? She obviously stayed with him for political reasons.)

Now this?! Please Hillary before you try to represent a country, figure out how to represent yourself. You can't please everyone, so pick an identity and stick with it.

If Bush thought Kerry was a flip-flopper then I seriously wonder what he thinks of Mrs. Clinton. Just think of the fantastic nick name Bush would have given her...it would have been a great campaign. In all seriousness, I would just call her delusional.

Who wants to marry a Republican?

How did Bush get re-elected? (Please don’t go into logistics here, I know he has some Floridian connections, but that’s not what I’m getting into.) Seriously though, this guy is a terrible speaker and has a heinous laugh. While I can’t stand his politics, I have to admit there is something about this guy that people like. (Especially old women who probably only voted for him because he was “cute.”) I’m going to delve into what it is about Republicans that women are attracted to.

First off, they aren’t gay. I have no problems at all with homosexuals, but I’m not exactly their type if you catch my drift. Trust me there a few guys that I would love to wake up and suddenly be in love with me, but I won’t name any names coughcoughAdamcoughcough.

Secondly, they have money or at least appear to have money. I really think it bothered people that Kerry had a sugar momma, or a ketchup momma, how you phrase it is entirely up to you. I don’t care what any girl says; money talks (and gets dates!)

Along with the whole money thing, Republicans tend to be good dressers. I have seen some pretty haggard looking liberals out there. Republican men wouldn’t be caught dead in public wearing Birkenstocks and a tye dye t-shirt; excluding the Republican Dave Matthew’s Band fans of course. Republicans also seem to shower regularly and get an occasional haircut, which is always a plus.

Next off, they seem to be pretty informed on current events. It is easy for a Democrat guy to complain about politics, but it takes knowledge for a Republican to defend themselves. They are easy targets, so Republicans need to back their arguments up with facts. Democrats can say just about anything and get away with it, but you get a Republican trying to say something nice about Bush and hell, you better be able to prove it buddy!

Finally, Republicans are family men. Every girl loves a guy who still calls his mom everyday to tell her he loves her. Just look at Bush, his mother is everywhere he is. I’m willing to bet that his mother still reads him a bedtime story and tucks him into bed at night. Now I know that sounds creepy to think about a grown man getting tucked in, but come on, it’s Bush, he’s cute like that.

My fellow Democrats are probably going to disown me for this, but that’s okay, I’m more of a moderate anyways.

Is jetBlue smarter than a 5th grader?

It's been while since my last post, so I have a few different things to rant about.

The first thing, is something that I noticed during spring break. Some people went on vacation to tropical locales and some went to New Orleans to lend a helping hand. As for me, I took it easy and tried to catch up on sleep. I also watched a little TV and I got a chance to see some shows that my family liked to watch. Namely, reality shows, game shows and the painful combination of the two.

At the beginning of the reality show craze a few years ago, there were a few that I was into. Including the underrated Anderson Cooper vehicle, The Mole. I loved this show, I even made a sports related theory out of it that I mentioned in my last column.

The show's premise was simple: find out who the mole was. But this was harder than you might think. During the numerous missions the mole's job was to do make the others fail the mission, but to do it so they don't detect you. At the end of the show, the contestants had to take a quiz that asked them questions about the mole. Sometimes it seemed impossible to tell who the mole was because there was contestants that were so incompetent that they were candidates.

Like I mentioned in my column, this relates perfectly to sports because a lot of times there is one player who is good and seems to have the will to win, but skillfully messes up causes the team to fail. The example of this I like to use is A-Rod. Of course, many people won't get this analogy anymore because The Mole was ruined by the monstrosity that was Celebrity Mole, which featured the likes of Kathy Griffin and one of the Baldwin brothers that no one cares about. And that opened the door for other horrible reality/game shows. There's too many to list here, but one specific one that I want to mention (and I'm ashamed to say I caught my family watching) is Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?

There is so many things wrong with this show, i don't know where to begin. I mean, it's a show meant to humiliate and prove how stupid Americans are and it's hosted by Jeff Foxworthy. A man who's made a living off redneck jokes and stupidity. Now, he's going to snicker as a 11-year old outsmarts an accountant. Does anyone else see something wrong here?

Secondly, the questions aren't that easy to begin with. Sure, there's a few softballs in there, but that's the same with almost any gameshow. One question that I remember was: what geological time period are we currently in? What' that? Is that a 5th grade question at Mensa Elementary school? (the answer by the way is the Cenozoic era). These kids aren't even real 5th graders, they're actors. Freaking rocket science, cheating 5th graders! Anyway, in conclusion, I vote that this show be renamed to: The Idiot Show (sorry, no offense).

Now, I'm sure people might agree with me that 5th Grader isn't the best show. But here's a new one for you, I don't like American Idol. I think it's stupid, a glorified karaoke contest with annoying judges and a host that I really wish someone would punch in the face.

Seriously, I don't get the appeal of this. I love music, but I would much rather watch 24, Lost or The Office than this hour-long, repetitive crapfest. Please, someone put in the comments section why this show is so great.

I'm almost done here, but there is one last thing I have to address. And this Bud's for you jetBlue. I love your TV screens and luxurious leg room, but I'm not a big fan of hanging around an airport for 8 hours more or less because of your incompetence.

That's what I did last week in JFK along with the rest of the Courier staff, the staff of the Medaille paper and several other disgruntled travelers looking to commute to Rochester. The weather was far from ideal, so I expected a few delays, but nothing like this. Every other plane had left JFK without a hitch except ours. First, because they couldn't find a stewardess in Florida where our plane was waiting. I would have volunteered to pass out water and blue tortilla chips for an hour to spare the extra wait, but no, they eventually found a stewardess and the plane arrived at JFK around 11. That's not too bad, right?

Well, jetBlue (and possibly some twisted fate) weren't done screwing with us yet.

While the plane was waiting for us on the tarmac, a rouge baggage car somehow managed to run into our plane and defy the 1 in 1,ooo,ooo odds that this would happen. Considering that our plane had a dent in it and we would now have to wait for another, coupled with the fact that it was St. Patrick day, led to a march to the JFK bar.

A bar that had conveniently closed sometime before 11:30.. on a Saturday.. on a holiday known for drinking. No problem though, there was booze next door in the airport convenient store. And boy do they know how to cheer disgruntled travelers up, by charging 6 dollars for one 12 0z. bottle of Budweiser. Or how about nearly 8 bucks for a Mike's.

Eventually, we made our way on the plane and took off around 2 am. The pilot was cracking jokes and in good spirit, this relieved some of my angry. At least, until we arrived in Rochester to find out that a quarter of the people on the plane had their luggage lost, including our advisor who happened to be wearing a jetBlue hat!

With that being said, I'd like to congratulate jetBlue as the next contestant on Are you smarter than a 5th grader? Only on Fox.

Bluetooth Blues

Now that I am no longer hungover from St. Patrick's Day, I thought this would be a perfect time to post. I want to talk about this one technology that has been irking me for awhile now. Here's a scenario:

Imagine you are walking across campus and the person walking next to you is chatting away. Assuming they are talking to you (because you are the only one in sight) you begin to chat back. All of a sudden they flash you a disgusted look and say "Uhhh, excuse me, I am on the phone!" They then point to a little thing attached to their ear, sigh rudely, then walk away continuing their conversation.

What I am talking to you about is that little bluetooth thing that people use as a telephone attached to their ear:

Are these little gadgets really necessary? I can picture people using them in the car or at work while on a computer, but I do not see a purpose to just wearing it around all day. Is it really that much of a nuisance to have to hold a cell phone up to your ear? I mean, I haven't found it to be too much of a problem to do so, but maybe I'm just like really athletic or strong or something.

I think these little gadgets make people feel important. To be honest, they are annoying to everyone around them! It has happened to me a few times where I will be standing in line at a grocery store and the person in front of me is chatting away while the cashier is trying to simply ask credit or debit? The person will then act like the cashier is completely rude for interrupting their cell phone conversation that a) they shouldn't be having while someone is trying to wait on them and b) probably isn't that important in the first place.

Maybe I'm alone on this one, but geez I think these things are obnoxious and annoying. Excuuuuse everyone else for not being able to see the little thing in your ear and being polite by talking back when we think you are trying to have a conversation with us. Do me a favor and only use these things when necessary, because if not I might have to tell you to "suck it."

Life in the Big Easy

So for spring break this year I decided to go on the New Orleans trip. To be completely honest, I had a lot of reservations about going. I thought that it was going to be this religious mission trip and everyone on the trip would reject me for my vulgar ways. (It's terrible, but I do have quite the potty mouth.) Thankfully, this was not the case. This trip was probably one of the best experiences I have ever had and I would do it again in a heartbeat. I thought I would compile a few fun facts from the trip that you may enjoy, but possibly only those that went on the trip can truly appreciate.

-Cold showers outside everyday.
-The 8 bottles of vodka I found in the convent. (I guess nuns like to party, much like a tuxedo t-shirt wearing Jesus.)
-Sleeping in a gym with about 100 people. (The snoring was UNBELIEVABLE!)
-That weird girl from Marywood College who played her Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes ring tone at 6:30 in the morning. (Uh hello, people are trying to sleep!)
-Our "security guard" that didn't really make us feel all that secure.
-The kickball championship game. (My team won...whoo!)
-Professor Liles snapping pictures of anything and everything.
-Our three hour bus tour on which we all fell asleep. (The tour guide knew everyone..."those kids didn't turn out so well.")
-The ice cream man! HELLO!
-The weird lady at Loyolla College who said MMMM after any statement.
-Waiting hours for food then having the other college kids eat it all and we didn't get anything.
-Incredibly bumpy van rides.

After reading that you might be wondering, what exactly did these kids do on their trip? Well, we gutted a convent and some houses; but more importantly, we made friendships. On the flight home from Atlanta we boarded the plane then ended up having to sit there for an hour waiting for our pilot to arrive from another flight. I was absolutely miserable and just wanted to go home. All of a sudden some Fisher kids start breaking into song. Before we knew it, pretty much the entire plane was singing "Buttercup." Even though I was incredibly miserable I couldn't help but smile after a couple verses because why should I be upset about being stuck on a plane with an amazing group of people?

I know a lot of the New Orleans residents thanked us for being there, but you know what? I would like to thank them for offering me such a rewarding experience. Honestly, if you ever have a chance to go down there, even on vacation, please take it. You will have an incredible time.

Boise or Bust....Halfway there :)

Hello everybody-

Greetings from Nebraska. At the present moment it is 8 AM, an hour earlier than back home, which has caused me issues already.

So lets see where to begin. Tuesday BW and I were supposed to leave at 5am from Rochester, however his car decided to throw a hissyfit and we didnt get his car back from the shop until 4:30 PM so we left then. Just Tuesday we drove from Rochester to Buffalo, then through Erie, PA, on to Ohio. We stopped for the night in Toledo, Ohio. It was interesting. There were two motels in Toledo...one was so shady I couldnt find its sign, the other was a Kings Inn which, I have atleast heard of. We shacked up at the Kings Inn for all of about 6 hours (all during which I had nightmares that bed bugs were attacking me). We woke up at 7am yesterday and got ready and on the rode in less than an hour. We drove yesterday for over 14 hours....well my boyfriend drove for 14 hours to be exact. We passed the state lines of Indiana, Illinois, a five minute trip into Michigan to bypass traffic, Iowa and now here I sit in Nebraska.

Let me just say this, I love this country, its beautiful and I'm lucky to have this opportunity but its true, everything here is so FLAT. All around from Indiana to here we've seen a million farms, cows, horses, even sheep. Its interesting but I think if my boyfriend ever see's a farm after this trip he'll kill Old McDonald.

Today begins another journey, this time we're going to finish driving through Nebraska on to Wyoming and Utah.

I'll write soon, hopefully from Boise!

-K

To Tan or Not to Tan?

First of all, whoo! Spring break is almost here! Now that I have that covered, it’s time to discuss spring break preparation. In recent years it has become quite prevalent that in the weeks preceding spring break, it is a requirement to hang out in brightly-lit coffins; or uh, tanning beds.

This year I decided to take part in this tradition mainly because I convinced myself that if I did not do it, I would suffer severe sunburn as I tear down houses in New Orleans. (Hey if I’m doing something good, I might as well look good doing it!) So after dropping fifteen bucks at Island Tan, my journey of skin darkening began.

I have some issues with the whole tanning thing. First of all, how long should I go? If I go for too short of a time, it makes no difference, but if I go too long, I end up looking like a lobster. Me, being smart because I’m in honors, opted for the go too long and get the most for my money route. That was a big mistake.

I go for a good seven minutes, and those seven minutes ended up ruining my life for the next two days. I seriously could not even sleep. I got out of bed like three times to just stand in a cold shower, which felt good but also horrendous because having something striking your skin in that state is not such a great thing. Despite my efforts, I suffered two sleepless nights. I thought tanning was supposed to be relaxing!

While the aftermath of tanning wasn’t relaxing, either is the actual action of tanning. I already feel awkward enough being naked in a public place, but then I have to think about what naked person was in here before me. Yeah, I know they “spray down” the bed, but come on, how clean does it really get?

So after being grossed out thinking about who was in there before me, I have flashbacks to terrible horror films where girls get locked into tanning beds and killed. You have your classic I Still Know What You Did Last Summer scene where the killer chains her in there and turns up the heat, then you have the more recent Final Destination Three where for whatever reason the two girls get trapped in the beds and basically explode. Gross.

After all of this stressing out and uncomfortable sun burns I think I’ve decided that next spring break I’ll skip the tanning and spend the fifteen dollars on beer because hey, I’ll be 21 by then.

The Oscars and Idaho

Ok so last night, the Oscars. It had some props of course but the show in general was a drop.

Highlights:
-Ellen asking Spielberg to take a photo of her and Clint Eastwood for her Myspace...yeah
-Scorsese winning FINALLY
-Jennifer Hudson kicking butt and winning
-Celine Dion singing, ok she has weird facial expressions but the woman can sing!

Not so highlights:
-Peter O'Toole....as my roommate said "he's got one foot in the grave".
-Beyonce and Jennifer Hudson dueling it out on stage in a vocal battle.
-Forest Whitaker winning best lead actor. I cannot stand him. Leonardo Dicaprio deserved to win.
-After Celine sang, the Italian guy going up on stage with a blind-non reading teleprompted Clint Eastwood. The man gave his speech in Italian and Clint Eastwood translated...yeah ok. Even Kate Winslet had the WTF face going on.


Ok I will stop now about the Oscars. Onto other news that is so much more important.

I've been told by Craig that I have a duty to all of you to write a blog about my journey that is coming up. My boyfriend (referred to here after as BW or Boy Wonder) just got a job in Boise, Idaho. YAY BW! Go you. So BW must go to Boise and start his 3 month co-op but he wants his car. So I have been elected co-pilot on our lil trek across the country. Yeah New York to Idaho? Ever glanced at Idaho on a map? It's not close...at all. I decided to help you all out and include a link with a map(http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=rochester+to+boise&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=62.70117,112.851563&ie=UTF8&z=4&om=1)

Far right? Yep. But atleast it is only one way. BW is being a good guy and buying me a plane ticket home. That will be a predicament in itself. I'm flying Boise to Seattle, Seattle to Washington D.C., D.C. to Syracuse and then driving back to Rochester from there Sunday morning. Yeah I have French class at 9am Monday...

I think that just about covers my rants for the day. I wont be updating for a few days unfortunately. I'm going to see my other Boy Wonder, Johnny Mayer :) Tuesday night I will be MIA and quite possibly sneaking backstage.

-K

ps. if you guys read this and like my blogs lemme know! Positive feedback is your friend :)

How to Get a Girl in 10 Days

Okay. I’ve had it. We have tried to clue you in, but it just isn’t working. Boys, you really need to work on your etiquette with the ladies. I mean, come on, do you really think that what you are doing is working? I’ll give you a few rules to live by so we can both breathe a little easier.

First of all, if you are not my boyfriend, you cannot call me “baby.” Last I checked I’m 20 years old. That makes me a grown woman, so how about you treat me like one.

Speaking of how you refer to women, we are not impressed or really all that flattered when you call us “hot.” All that shows us is that you want to get in our pants, not have a meaningful relationship with us which believe it or not, is something we are kind of looking for. If you must compliment our looks, go with pretty or even beautiful, we are more appreciative of that.

Another thing, do not act surprised when I do not know who Payton Manning is. Not all people care about professional sports. I don’t expect you to know what happened last week on Grey’s Anatomy, so don’t expect me to know what team won the Super Bowl. (Besides, we only watch that for the commercials.)

I have two words for you; video games. I know it’s hard to believe, but we don’t really find amusement out of watching you kill people while you play Doom. I know you feel all manly when you play, but honestly, it is boring and quite gross. Plus if you are going to play videogames when we are with you, don’t refuse to let us play. We are trying to cooperate here, so how about you share?

Don’t make yourself too available. We enjoy a little bit of a challenge. Get us interested, and then make us come to you. If we really want to talk to you, we will IM you or call you, so just be patient.

The balance of effort may be hard to achieve because you can’t expect us to do all the work. A good thing to remember is if you say you are going to call, then call. If you make plans with us, don’t cancel, we set aside that time for you. Don’t make promises you can’t keep. When you do make plans with us, try to make them somewhat decent. Burger King is not a date. Taco Bell is also not a date.

Please don’t act like a child, you are an adult. If we take a little extra time getting ready, you don’t have to whine about it. After all, we are trying to make ourselves presentable for you genius, so maybe you could learn to appreciate the effort.

Finally, if you actually rope us in, there are three things you need to remember: Valentine’s Day, our birthday, and most importantly, our anniversary. Forgetting any of these three things may be detrimental to your health. I’m not kidding. We remember every little detail about our relationship, so asking you to remember these three little dates is not asking for much.

Honestly boys, if you take these things into consideration, you might be able to attract yourself a nice girl. It really isn’t that difficult to do, just be a good guy.

Grammy bologna

The grammys are dead.

I know this might be old news for people given the Grammys happened almost two weeks ago. The Grateful Dead were given a lifetime achievement award and referred to as "the mother of all jambands." The Grammys recognized the j-word but how come there isn't a "jamband" category or how come these bands aren't included in other categories?

The Grammys also blew their chance at honoring the godfather of soul James Brown. Christina Aguilera was the best available to honor him? That blows holes in my universe!

John Mayer in the pop category? What is happening?

They obviously spent all their resources on the Police getting back together considering Mary J. Blige performed like five times and spoke about 55 minutes during her 27 grammy wins. That must be a record.

The Grateful Dead are far from retirement. Why not ask them to play?

Britney...Bald...Oh My!

Hello all,

Sorry for the lack of updates, please forgive me!

OK so how about I get a phone call from my dear roomie this morning :

C: Hey did you know what Britney did?
K: Of course....she shaved her freaking head!
C: How did you know already?
K: Remember...I have an addiction to People.com?

Yeah so how about them apples? Britney goes off the deep end, checks in and out of rehab and ends up with more tattoo's and bald. I don't even know where to begin on that so I'll just refrain entirely. Although it was quite funny to be standing in Haffey tonight and hear someone on their cellphone laughing "she shaved her head...bald....for real!" Endless amusement I tell you.

OK so on to other music like news. Anyone here watch the Grammys last week? I know I'm a little late on that and I take all the blame for that one! Props go out to the Dixie Chicks for rocking the Grammys and stealing the thunder and awards. Drops I am sad to admit involve my dearly beloved imaginary husband John Mayer. The performance with John Legend and Corinne Bailey Ray? Snoozefest. Now I love me some Johnny Mayer, and I'm a new fan of CBR but I've never really understood the buzz with John Legend (if you do please let me know!) but that performance was just terrible, it was like OK you sing, now I'll sing, OK you too now. But MAJOR props are due for Johnny Mayer winning 2 more awards to add to his collection.

I only have one comment to make toward Christina Aguilera's performance: James would be like a proud daddy hearing that.

With all that said I'm now off to continue educating myself,

K

PS: Congrats to all that participated in Teddi!!!

Riding the Pine - Dunk-o-Rama edition

One of the best things about NBA All-Star weekend is the dunk contest.

It's true that recent editions of this contest has lacked the excitement and buzz that it used to when the likes of Air Jordan, Dominique Wilkins and Spud Webb were throwing down jams. The contest was revived a little thanks to another true dunk master: Vince Carter. But since Carter there hasn't been many memorable dunk contests. Which is a shame because these young competitors are raising the bar for creative and challenging dunks with each passing year. But still, who can name one of these players? That's the main problem, there aren't any big stars competing any more.

But with All-Star weekend in Vegas this year, the dunk contest was primed to be one of the best ever. And while some of the dunks in the championship round failed to be great, this year's battle of the dunk artists was still one of the more entertaining events in a while.

The actually dunkers may not have been household names, but a star-studded cast of judges made up for that. Jordan, Dr. J, Carter and Kobe were just a hand full of dunking maestros that were now judging their successors.

The dunkers that stood out the most for me were: defending champion Nate Robinson (who still needs to grow a few inches to be able to ride a roller coaster), Dwight Howard (who was by far, the biggest star in this year's contest) and high-flying Celtic Gerald Green.

For time considerations, I'll skip ahead to the top dunks of the night. First off, there was Dwight Howard's "sticker" dunk where he leaped up and tagged the top of the backboard with an ingenious sticker that depicted his smiling mug. At the same time he layed down a furious dunk. Now, I want to know two things: how do you get a sticker of your own face (because I would like to purchase several Scott Pukos stickers) and why did the judges give this dunk such a low score. You would think it was Dwight Schrute dunking not Howard with that low score.

Next there was Nate Robinson's cadre of dunks. He one last year, but to me it was tainted by the fact that his cool dunk took about 50 tries and an hour to finally get down. He should have got marked down for boring an entire arena and National Audience. Still, Robinson's a crowd favorite because of his small stature and epic leaping ability. Seriously, if I could jump as high as this man than I would jump or skip everywhere I went instead of walking. I would jump over little children in the street just for fun. Leaping ability like this is usually only scene in video games like NBA Jam and Super Mario (and if Robinson is Mario than that would make Gerald Green Luigi). Unfortunately, Robinson's downfall was that he took too many tries to produce his final dunk. Which opened the door for the 2007 dunking king.....

Gerald Green. Green had several jaw-dropping slams including the leaping over a table to receive a perfect score of 50 from the judges. The funniest moment of the night came on one his better dunks. Green's teammate Paul Pierce brought out a card-board cutout of Robinson for Green to dunk over. But instead Robinson stormed on the court and demanded that Green dunk over his real self instead of his cardboard counterpart. Green successfully hurdled Robinson and completed the dunk to a mixed reaction from a crowd that was both exhilarated by the dunk and also secretly disappointed that Green didn't end up kicking Robinson in the face (which he almost did).

Green was a deserving winner and he helped bring back the buzz for what is really a cool and unique event. But on another, more disturbing note, what was up with the Spurs mascot? I have no idea why there mascot is a giant coyote wearing a Tim Duncan jersey, but his bulbous and bulging green eyes are creepy. How does this mascot not frighten children and single handily bring down the Spurs home attendance. Or maybe their mascot isn't just a normal coyote, but a rabies-infested creature that resides in Texas. Yeah, maybe that's it.

On another note, be sure to check out the new edition of the Courier on Wednesday and check out my column Riding the Pine, it's all about the Buffalo Sabres and judging by the number of slug hats I've seen on campus, pretty much everyone should be interested in reading about hockey's finest.

Wait, it's snowing outside?

How about that.

St. John Fisher College actually had a snow day today. The last snow day the school had came my freshman year (I'm a senior now), and it wasn't because of snow at all. That day afternoon classes were cancelled due to overwhelming wind gusts. I found out the hard way that day because I walked across the sidewalk to Basil (you remember this sidewalk right? Before it turned it to a pile of dirt) to my class only to find out that classes that day were cancelled. And let me tell you, it was definitely windy, I couldn't even walk in a straight line.

Today's snow day was a pleasant surprise though. I got to sleep in, which is always great. This snow day was a long time coming too. For the past few weeks we've had some frigid days and people having to walk from Founders (like me) or the Murph have walked 10-15 minutes everywhere they go. Add it all the trips to class/meals/work together and that's the equivalent of spending anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour outside in sub-zero degree temperatures. No wonder seemingly everyone on campus is sick.

Hopefully, people take it easy today and try to avoid the roads and enjoy the snow. And here's to hoping that Fisher's next snow day isn't another 3 years away.

Football, Ads and Frozen Tundra

Ok so it is now Monday and the madness has been had. The Colts won, go Peyton Manning. Good game.

Now that is over with, I am proud to say that I did not watch the Superbowl for more than 5 minutes. Yes call it sacrilegious and sinful but its true. The only reason I did watch was to catch a few commercials between the actual game. Sad. I know. Speaking of commercials did anyone catch the Doritos one? Good advertising there, Prof. Baron would be proud I think. I however cannot believe the one Coca-Cola spot. It was old! Here these companies are paying millions of dollars for a 30 second spot of prime advertisement and they use a old commercial. Now granted its not the worst commercial they've done (I'm partial to the Polar Bears during the holidays) but the Grand Theft Auto styled LOVE ad was just a little too blah for me.

On to other news, who else froze their butts off on campus this frigid morning? I live in Murphy and refused to make the trek this morning. God Bless S&S. I heart all of you! My motherly words of wisdom, do not wear shorts when there is a wind chill advisory (yes I saw it!).

Stay warm and cozy till next time!

-K

Riding the Pine - Super Bowl forecast

"We're not here to cause any trouble, we're just here to do the Super Bowl Shuffle." - 1985 Chicago Bears


Get ready for an upset on Sunday.

From talking to people on campus and from what I've read, the general consensus seems to be that Peyton Manning's laser rocket arm will guide the Indianapolis Colts to their first title since their Baltimore days. This will lead to dozens of columns praising good guys (like Manning and Tony Dungy) finally getting their ring and Manning doing commercials for every product from cell phones to RepHresh gel.

But I just don't see it happening. I'm actually rooting for the Colts. They remind me of the Super Bowl Bills team (they were both built by the genius of Bill Polian). But unfortunately for both myself and the Colts, those Bills teams never won the Super Bowl and the Colts may face a similar upset as the infamous Bills-Giants game (I know it's painful to bring up). The parallels are there and history has been known to repeat itself.

Not only that but this game also reminds me of the recent World Series and BCS Championship. The Cardinals and Gators weren't given much of a chance to win, yet they both came out on top - in relatively dominating fashion too.

I don't think the Bears will dominate , I think it will be close, but the Bears are better than they are perceived. The weak NFC is partially to blame for that, people just assume that because the rest of the conference is weak that it's champion must also be an also-ran. Not true. The Bears have an impress one-two punch of defense and special teams that has one several games single handily a few times already.

Against the Colts they'll need some offense too. This is the Colts biggest advantage. Especially at Quarterback where Manning is far superior to Rex Grossman (by the way, is that his real name or a nickname? His parents thought it was a good idea to name him Rex?). One thing that Grossman does real well though, is to throw the deep ball. And I think he'll connect on a few of these again Sunday. This will open up things enough for the Bears to pound the ball and control the clock and more importantly keeping Manning off the field.

This brings me to the quote at the top of the post. That, of course is a line from the hit song "The Super Bowl Shuffle." That was sung (and danced to) the last time the Bears made the big game. It was also the Bears only appearance in the Super Bowl until now. That team was one of the best and fun teams the NFL has ever seen. It even spawned the great "Super Fans" sketch on SNL that launched the always entertaining phrase: "Da Bears."

So if that was the Super Bowl shuffle, let's call this the Upset Shuffle. It will be especially painful for Manning (went to school at Tennessee) to lose to a Florida product like Grossman. But I guess that's the way of life for one of the game's greatest players - having to bare the pain of another championship-less year.

Score:
Bears- 27
Colts- 22

A few props and drops

Hey everyone, I have a few props and drops for you.

I'll start with the negative. Today that negative is focused squarely on the dining hall. Seriously, someone must think that we love to wait in line for 20 minutes before eating. Do they think we do this at home? Do they think that before Thanksgiving dinner my family lines up outside waiting to eat?

It's a given that we have to wait in line at the Fishbowl/Haffey Cafe, there's no avoiding that. But for the past two nights I went to the dinning hall at 6 and had to wait between 15-20 minutes for the main entree. This is at 6 PM waiting for the main meal that they serve! How could you not be prepared right in the middle of the dining hall hours? Did someone think that know one would possibly want to eat their dinner at 6 and it would be fine?

And there was nothing the poor servers could do but apologize to us, but we all know it wasn't there fault, there we just the ones to shoulder the blame. It was really someone in the kitchen that screwed up (two nights in a row, mind you).

Both times it was chicken too, so I apologize if the reason was something that was unavoidable (like equipment suddenly breaking or if they had to take time to kill the chickens first), but if I have to wait for my meal again tomorrow, then I'm going to start turning to Subway to satisfy my meals. At least there I won't have to wait as long.

(And by the way, if someone does know the reason why this happened then please post it in the comment section.)

And now to my prop:
The beginning of floor hockey season tonight!
My team, The Unicorns of Death, begin our quest for the cup tonight. We bare the slogan: Impaling the Competition in 2007, so hopefully this is our year. But win of lose, you gotta love intermurals, they're a great source of fun and help you get some exercise and forget about work or school for a few hours.

So major props to them and Go Unicorns of Death!

Barbaro: a legacy of inspiration

When I woke up this morning, for the first time in over eight months, I didn’t immediately log onto the Blood Horse to see how Barbaro was. I already knew the answer. Last year’s Kentucky Derby winner, who won every race he finished, was euthanized yesterday morning due to complications from his breakdown in the Preakness. For those who followed the story, it’s impossible to believe yet that it’s over, especially not after Barbaro’s vet, Dr. Dean Richardson, said as recently as Jan. 2 that he thought the colt would be able to leave the hospital within weeks and live a normal, healthy life.

I can’t help thinking that things weren’t supposed to go this way. Barbaro was one of the best horses I’ve ever seen in terms of sheer talent—and I’ve seen a lot of horses. He was fast, he was brilliant and beautiful, and more than that—he was perfect. In six starts through the Kentucky Derby, he was never beaten, or even seriously challenged. He had heart—maybe more than anyone realized at the time. And he had style. The way he won the Derby, I really thought we were looking at the first Triple Crown winner in nearly three decades. That’s the way he deserves to be remembered.

The rest of it…I guess it just wasn’t meant to be. After the five hour surgery to repair his shattered leg, the colt’s rocky road began. By all accounts, "Bobby," as his owners called him, was a model patient, even when struck with the dreaded and painful hoof disease laminitis in July—the same condition that was responsible for the death of 1973 Triple Crown winner Secretariat. The colt got to have many more good days. And when it finally got to be too much, when it was time to let him go, his owners, Roy and Gretchen Jackson, were by his side until the end. Words are not enough—but my deepest condolences go out to them. If my heart is breaking, I cannot imagine what they are feeling.

"Certainly, grief is the price we all pay for love," Gretchen Jackson said at a press conference that afternoon.

It’s been over 24 hours now. It’s beginning to settle in. and I’m beginning to wonder what Barbaro’s legacy will be. I’ll remember his brilliance, of course. I’ll remember the Derby. But I’ll also remember the night after the Preakness, when I couldn’t sleep and sat up all night talking to other racing-enthused friends, fearing the worst, hoping for the best. I’ll remember the weeks following the accident, when every media outlet in the country focused on New Bolton; when an American public that normally doesn’t care about racing whatsoever, got behind Barbaro. I’ll remember how people covered the fences outside the barn with signs reading things like "God bless Barbaro," "Grow, hoof, grow," and "Keep fighting—our hero." How they mailed get-well cards to a horse. Now you know all those people weren’t from the same walks of life, the same religion, the same political party…somehow, they all believed in the same thing. That’s rare to see. I’ll remember Barbaro for being able to do that.

But more than that, I’ll remember that Barbaro inspired me. Life is not always perfect. Sometimes, things don’t turn out the way you had hoped or planned. It’s hard sometimes, it’s painful sometimes, and for lack of a better word, it just sucks sometimes. But there is no reason to not live, to not love. Even if, as Gretchen Jackson said, grief is the necessary consequence. I truly believe it’s worth it. Love is worth it. Believing in Barbaro was worth it, even in there will never be a happy ending. To paraphrase a movie I liked when I was little, maybe there is no such thing as a happy ending, because nothing truly ends. Physically, Barbaro may be gone, but certainly, we have memories. We have his legacy. And there is also the $1.2 million raised for the New Bolton Center through the "Barbaro Fund," which will go toward improving veterinary research and covering medical expenses for other injured racehorses.

Yesterday I went to class in the morning thinking of Barbaro. I knew about the latest setbacks, but I was hopeful. I believed he could make it. I walked out of class an hour later and found a text from my roommate. I opened it not knowing—"rip barbaro. im so sorry." I had class in five minutes. I stood in front of Basil with my legs shaking, not able to believe it. And then I walked to class. Because that’s how you honor a spirit like Barbaro’s.

I encourage everyone, in their darkest moment, to find "your" Barbaro. Find what inspires you, and let that be your drive to make it through the day. Let that be your inspiration. To keep living. To take risks. To get hurt. To take risks again. To tell someone you love them. To fight, against all odds.

"We were very lucky, very lucky," Jackson said of getting to be a part of Barbaro’s all-too-short life. Certainly, racing fans everywhere were lucky, too. Not just for getting to witness some of the more spectacular performances on the track in recent years, but for getting to witness the kind of courage and heart that’s so rare these days. Certainly, we grieve for the way it ended. But Jackson’s statement that followed is comfort enough for me.

"At least he’s out of his damn stall and running around somewhere with Secretariat, I hope."

Rest in peace, Bobby. You’ll never be forgotten.

HEY YOU GUYS!!!!

Even though this is my first post I am going to jump right into it. Last night George W. Bush gave his annual State of the Union address. I wonder how many Fisher students watched it on television? Did anyone even know it was even on? The state of the union seems dour but that isn't what I want to ramble about.

I was in a religion class during mid-term election this past year and the professor asked us, the day after the elections, who had voted. I raised my hand, alone. I was actually kind of pissed. One of the most important midterm elections in history and nobody in that class had voted.

Do college students understand what is at stake? I try to grasp this concept. It blows a hole in my universe when college students don't vote or understand what is going on in our world.

We need to spread the good word. Inform yourself. Inform your friends. It is never too late!!

No Worries,

Kevin

Hello all and welcome to my lil corner of the Courier web

Hello all and welcome to my lil corner of the Courier web. With that said I guess I should introduce myself.

My name is Kristina, I'm a junior here at Fisher, I am a Comm major with a minor in French. When I am not buried beneath my textbooks or French dictionary you can find me checking my e-mail, people.com and CNN.com constantly. I have a small (ok large) obsession with all things John Mayer, my beta fish John Mayer II is proof of this.

As for my plans for my beloved blog I just hope to share with all of you my rants and raves with the media today. I plan on focusing on the important things to our generation like politics and world news but also I want to give my opinions on the latest television shows (AI, House), new music and movies.

I would love comments, critiques and messages of all kinds, so feel free to drop me a note!

This is just the beginning, much more later

-K

Welcome to the Cardinal Courier Blog

Hey everyone, I can see that I got beaten out for the first post, but I still wanted to say welcome to the new Cardinal Courier blog. Since our paper is only a bi-monthly publication this new online feature will help you guys get the scoop on campus. Feel free to leave your comments here or to email the Courier website.

Anyway, the majority of my posts will be my take on living at Fisher. This includes my own version of props and drops and I will also use this blog as a continuation of my Courier sports column: Riding the Pine (There is also a blogger account for Riding the Pine for old additions as well as the archives on the Courier website). I'll also talk about my adventures at Bon App. a lot since that's always fun (Like what ice cream is more infuriating: the enigma that is Spumoni or scooping what you think is mint ting-a-ling only to find out it's pistachio)

Here's something else for you to think about: My next column (for the Feb. 7 edition of the paper) will be a fresh take on the great Fisher-Naz rivalry that's tentatively called "Behind Enemy Lines."

So enjoy the new site/blog and stay tuned for more postings.

Oh, Murphy lot...

Well. I guess this is the first post on the blog….cool, I beat Scott for the honor. Anyway…I suppose this is introduction time. Hi. I’m Nicole. I’m a sophomore Communication/Journalism major and English writing minor, and I’m the Assistant News Editor for the Courier this semester. I’m from Rochester, and I think anyone who lives here for any length of time needs to visit Java’s downtown and go to WinterFest at Charlotte Beach at least once. I love anything and everything having to do with horses; I follow racing religiously, work at a therapeutic riding center for little kids, once jumped cross country on a runaway ex-racehorse, and I volunteer every summer at the Stuart Horse Trials, where US Olympian Darren Chiacchia will probably file a restraining order against me someday. I like Broadway musicals, and if you are friends with me (or live within earshot in Dorsey), you probably have heard "Defying Gravity" at least once. I’m happy when I’m crazy busy; according to my roommate, I "always go 60 miles an hour when you only need to go about ten." Speaking of my roommate, she’s a Comm major, too; she is into the broadcasting field and is one of the analysts on Fisher Sports Desk (although she doesn’t have a blog. So clearly, she’s not as cool as me).

So, I’m really not sure what to write about. Yesterday we were all in the Courier office putting the newspaper together, and Craig, the online editor, went "Hey, who wants to blog for the website?" and I went "Cool, give me something to do." Like I said, I’m happy being productive. So, since I’m not sure what to put in here, I suppose I’ll just write about what happened to me this morning….or more specifically, what happened to my car last night.

I didn’t have a car on campus until this semester. When I went to the Security desk to get my parking permit on the day we moved back in for the Spring semester, they told me that all the spots in the Dorsey lot were full, and gave me the choice of parking in the Murphy lot across the street, or parking in Park & Ride. Since there were some problems with cars being broken into in Park & Ride earlier this year, and since I’d like to have four tires and a CD player at the end of this semester, I opted for Murphy. Walking never hurt anyone.

This morning, I got up, got ready for work, and walked out to the Murphy lot. I started to brush the snow off the car, and hmm….something’s not right here. Then I realized that there was a scrape down the side of the door. Hmm, I don’t think that was there before. Then I realized that the passenger side windshield wiper blade was pulled off and dangling uselessly. So by that point, I was beginning to get angry. Walking around to the other side of the car, I found the booby trap—the broken beer bottle, no doubt the cause of the scrape, sitting directly behind my tire. Aha.

So, the current theory is that whoever messed with my car was having a little fun and still buzzed. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not morally opposed or anything to drinking, but there’s a point when you cross the line from harmless fun to not-so-harmless and downright troublesome. Peeing next to the driver’s side door (yes, they did that, too), even if it is a little disgusting, is a harmless prank. Actually breaking things and messing with someone else’s property is not a harmless prank. I don’t mind other people’s habits, unless it begins to inconvenience me. And being late to work because it was snowing this morning and I had to try to fix the wiper blade in order to drive there safely counts as a pretty big inconvenience. Paying to get the wiper fixed is going to be a pretty big inconvenience. People really need to grow up and learn how to control themselves and have some respect for others.

The response from security infuriates me as well. I visited them today to report the situation and ask if anything could be done about it. They apologized for the incident, then told me that given the environment I had brought my car into, these sort of things happen sometimes. According to them, Fisher is much safer than other campuses. And according to them, they are not responsible for what happened. I was sort of expecting that response. So then I asked if there were cameras in the lot, and if it was possible to find the culprit and maybe have them pay for damages? The response: "Well. Maybe. We’ll check the tapes. It could take awhile to find someone."

Excuse me? I do understand that I have a certain level of responsibility for my own car, and hey, that’s fine with me. It’s no different than parking in the lot by my old high school by the city (where I came out of the building once and found a flat tire). But Security is here to protect us, as students who are paying to study and live on campus. If they have the means to do anything about it, even if it’s just trying to find the person after the fact, they need to do it immediately—not in "awhile." Maybe they’ll care about it when the same person, or someone else, is wandering campus intoxicated and decides to break a window or better yet, vandalize a Security van. If it’s something that directly impacts them, maybe they’ll choose to begin taking action.

In the meantime….it is Rochester, it is January, it snows frequently, in case Security didn’t notice. I can’t really wait "awhile" to have the wiper blade fixed so I can drive safely. So I’m going to have that fixed myself and worry about finding whoever did it later. In all likelihood, it’s a lost cause.

So. Anyway. That’s my rant for the day. Maybe it made you think about the state of things on campus, maybe you ran out to check on your own car, or maybe you at least got some amusement out of my predicament. Anyway, I hope you got something out of it. Thanks for visiting the website, and be sure to keep checking it out; it’s cool, and they (Craig, John, and Mary) have been working really hard on it. And this whole blogging thing could get interesting (I hereby challenge everyone else to a Super Bowl blog face-off). Also, don’t forget to pick up the print edition of the Courier—our first edition of the semester hits newsstands around campus tomorrow!