D-day

Parting is fun. But the best parties happen at the conclusion of something the end of break, end of the semester, or the end of the year. Bottom line; greater ends result in better parties.

D-day occurs every year at the University of Rochester a week before the end of the year. D standing for Dandelion day officially. Unofficially Drunk day. It’s a party that starts the Saturday before classes end and lasts all day long.

The festivities beginning varies. Some start pre-gaming the night before, but most start early in the morning. Either way the whole campus is wasted midday.

Outsiders to the campus event, my friends and I showed up around 1. Walking through the dorms and suites was like touring a hospital during an epidemic. The average student was either passed out or about as conscious as carrot. This was at 1.

We had a few drinks at a friends dorm then went outside to enjoy the fair-like atmosphere. Coinciding with the hippie themed dandelion day Reel big fish played and a few other ska bands. There was a Ferris Wheel running the whole time too, but spinning and intoxication don’t mix. Not being fans of either of those scenes we just threw around a football and enjoyed the environemt. Including the hot freshman and good food.

All in all it was a great time. I rocked my D-day shirt and enjoyed their end of the year party. Ours will be coming soon and I’m pumped to start the summer off strong.

Squirrel fishing

It’s hard to catch a fish with your hands, they’re just too small and quick. So we outsmart them, using our crafty minds to our advantage, by fooling our speedy little friends into thinking our bait is fast food. When they fall for it, we rip them out of the water and smirk at our domination of swimming cartilage.

Squirrels have been enjoying the luxury of eluding our capture for generations. They laugh at us when we clumsily chase them around until they get bored and bail out up a tree. Without resorting to weapons, these little guys got us beat-- that is, until now.

Squirrels like nuts just like fish like worms. They're tasty. If I dangle a cupcake in front of your face you’d think about biting it too. So why not reel them in the same way we did with fish?

First off, there’s no need for a hook. Squirrels have hands and can latch onto nuts just fine. In fact, they’ll throw down for a nut. And so beings squirrel fishing.

It’s simple. Tie a string to a stick and fasten a nut onto other end. Crouch down near that bastard rodent that you’ve given up chasing and start fishing. Some Harvard guys have a nice website further describing all of this with pictures. Near the bottom of their page they have a very satisfying picture of a squirrel hanging onto a peanut while being pulling into the air like a dog latching onto a toy. I added the picture here to hook you in.

Happy fishing.

Red Wings and Football

We went to a Rochester Red Wings game yesterday for free. A local group called Starving scholars emailed us free tickets to the game, and who can pass up free tickets.

We had to get there an hour before the game to enjoy our free tickets but it turned out they had really cheap food setup there. I'm not a clunker, but 25 cent hot dogs is pretty sweet. They had good music playing at the starving scholar tent with the cheap food so it was a nice hangout place before the game.

The Red Wings ended up winning 4 hours later. I forgot how long baseball games were but the fireworks after the game ended the night nicely, or so we though.

We came back to our apartment and one of my roommates was passed, apparently after her game of 91 cup beer pong she played downstairs. They didn't even finish the game, but they took a picture before they started Someone decided it would be a good idea to play with the leftover alcohol, so we put ice cubes in the beer and played a round after it was cold.

Don't put ice cubes in beer. It's disgusting.

An hour later we decided to head over to UR to play some football on their turf field. They don't ever turn off the lights there so we figured it would be a good time, and it was. It was pouring rain, but we had a blast with our little 3 on 3 game running sideline to sideline. The numbers on the field were our end zones. We played for a long time then came back and crashed, thoroughly soaked and beat. Another great night.

Buffalo roadtrip

So we went to Buffalo last weekend and it was amazing, as expected.

It started out lame, I was the only white guy in the group we went up with so we had to see an Indian dance performance at UB, which was just as cool as it sounds. But I came for the after-party at one of the clubs downtown. Not only was the club packed but the entire block was partying, every place was out-the-door crowded.

An Indian girl who came with us bought me shots, called "crowns," which was awesome. It was a mixed crowd so I wasn't the only white person there, but it was a nice change of environment.

Buffalo clubs don't close until 4am and cover was only $6. In Rochester they close at 2am and it's $10 cover, not to mention the excess dudes. So I'm going to be going up in Buffalo again real soon, not that it didn't cost us.

When you park somewhere at 1am that says "public parking" and nobody is around would you assume it's probably free to park there? Not in Buffalo, and it cost us. Our car got towed and we ended up having to spend the night at that girls place who bought me shots. After paying the $220 fine at the Nazi tow station we were on our way back to Rochester.

Upcoming Summer fun, with a little work

Got work? Summer is almost here and I'm looking for a co-op. I've got a good shot at two different places one in Rochester and the other in Boston. They all want interviews, and not just one each. I'm going back for a second interview with the Rochester place net week. Why couldn't they just ask me all the questions they needed to ask the first time?

Ideally I'll be in Boston. I should here from them in a week and if it's good news I'll be flying down there for an interview, on their tab! Boston is huuuge, and cities like that are second only to tropical islands as a workplace in my book.