February 8th, 2008
As you boldly venture where few have gone before, namely the depths of Ben’s mind, prepare for a wild ride because this week has been jam packed. So let’s start the countdown as we prepare to blast off into the recap of this past week. In 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…. Let’s Go!
No, I have not returned to my childhood fantasy of wanting to be an astronaut. This week has been very important in the history of UR alumni. On Thursday, the first UR alumni launched into space on Atlantis. Leland Melvin, a football player while a student here, is part of the crew that successfully launched into space after weeks of delays. He will operate the robotic arm as part of their space walks during the trip. I’ve seen launches before but this was different. We had a huge party on campus with local TV networks covering it. They provided “space food” (Milky Ways, Moon Pies, Martian Punch, and Big Dippers) and everyone was really excited. We all cheered as it lifted off, but it was a pretty intense few moments afterwards while everyone watched in silence. Knowing someone who is on board really changed the viewing experience. I was amazed at how fast it was going. It rapidly increased speed from blast off to 4,000 miles per hour to almost 20,000 miles per hour. That is almost 5 miles per second. That’s crazy fast. It was a lot of fun and the campus is proud to have seen the first Spider launched into space.
TV crews covered our Space Launch Party
Our “Space Food”: Milky Way, Moon Pie, Martian Punch, and Big Dippers
LIFT OFF!!!
Even the mascot got in a space mood
Obiously, the space launch wasn’t the only super event this week. There were two others. Sunday was the Super Bowl and my Cabinet and I threw a Super Bowl party for Freshmen guys. We had a great turnout of 48 people and had to run to the store to get more food since we didn’t anticipate so many people. The Giants stunned the Patriots and you could hear the campus ringing with shouts after the Giants won if you happened to be outside. I have several friends who are diehard Patriots fans and they were crushed. I actually felt sorry for them, even though I would probably fall into the class of “Patriots hater”.
Our Super Bowl Party
We went through a lot of pizza. 20 to be exact.
My favorite Super Bowl commercial
The other super event was Super Tuesday, of course. Being a political election junkie, I thrived on this. I’ve been tracking polls daily and checking all of the new news. There was a party on campus to watch all of the results come in and it had a good turnout. Obama had a ton of supporters there and it easily could have been confused with an Obama rally. I had five web sites up and tracked the results minute by minute. However, the results were rather unclear and no true leaders emerged. I hate this. I am very organized in my life and hate chaos. This battle for the nomination is starting to drive my crazy. Maybe I’ve got OCD, that wouldn’t be a shocker. Anyways, I now need to make up my mind who I’m voting for and mail in my absentee ballot for Wisconsin very soon. Let the fun continue.
The Super Tuesday Results Viewing
Before I go any further, I must comment on the weather. It has been AMAZING. It reached 81 degrees and I was actually sweating in shorts and a T-shirt. It’s starting to cool down, but it was so nice to have sun and seventies. A bunch of my friends and I got together for a game of volleyball on the sand courts. The sand was cold and there were giant puddles and the ball was flat and the game wasn’t very competitive, but it felt so good to get back out there and play. The temperatures are dropping fast, so I’m trying to enjoy this spurt of good weather while I can.
Tuesday night was spent at an etiquette dinner. I am rather culturally challenged at times and really needed to learn why there are so many forks and spoons on the table. Several alumni came back and taught us important skills about work dinners and job interviews. It was great to talk to alumni and am finding the alumni here to be very supportive and great people. I tried to eat pasta “continental style”, but that failed miserably. I got a free seven course dinner out of it and many great skills which I desperately needed.
The main entree of our seven course meal
As far as classes go, things are pretty good. One teacher is getting slightly on my nerves, but I’m still very happy with how things are going. I finished my CORE paper regarding St. Augustine’s fear with regards to his conversion to Christianity. I thought it was really good. My teacher went over it with me today and liked it as well. The fact that I’m done two weeks early makes it even better. Calculus 2 has its first test next week and I have an Economics midterm on Monday. I did a group project for Leadership Studies analyzing “The Prince” by Machiavelli, a book which I thoroughly enjoyed. The project went well and I hope we get a good grade. It was 20% of our semester grade. For Sculpture, we turned in our first project, a skull, on Wednesday. Mine wasn’t perfect, but I thought it looked really good for me having no artistic talent. Oh, did I mention that it is 8 PM on a Friday night and I have finished all of my homework for the weekend. How great is that?
My finished skull from Sculpture
I tediously worked on that skull for a long time, with few apparent results
On Thursday night, I attended a three person play put on by one of our theater major classes. It was the Paula Vogel classic “The Baltimore Waltz”. I didn’t know what to expect, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was humorous and I can tell that they put a lot of time into it.
I also returned to InterVarsity for the first time in a long time. I had either been sick or had other conflicts during the time period. It was good to see everyone again. It was broiling hot in the room, but I hope to be able to keep going back.
On Monday, two of my good friends, Jimmy and Buddy, and I went to Capital Ale House for Dollar Burger Night. Oddly, we all ordered the same thing, but we had a great time. It was nice to get off campus.
Capital Ale House for Dollar Burger Night
Our chocolate cake that we had for dessert
After eating, we went shopping. We searched for Valentine gifts for Jimmy and just wandered around. I hope to do this more often and just get into Richmond and have some fun.
I found this stuffed animal in the Valentine’s aisle
That’s all for this week. I’ve got some events this weekend and then I begin the intense period of testing. Take care and I’ll be back before you now it.
Quote of the Week: “Leadership: The art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.” -Dwight D. Eisenhower
Thought to Ponder: If a fork were made of gold, would it still be considered silverware?
Shout Outs: All of the alumni out there
YouTube Video of the Week:
This is a classic on YouTube
