End of semester drag begins

Thursday, November 6th, 2008 | Campus | No Comments

I have always been the kid who craved the first day of school. I couldn’t get enough of beginning homework on August afternoons and opening that new, fresh pack of Bics.

Yes, I’m aware I’m a dork. After being this way for 21 years, I’ve learned to embrace it.

BUT it is this time of the semester that always makes me feel a little crazy for liking school. For some reason about the first or second week of November I cannot stand school. Maybe it’s the end of semester rush to get everything in and the projects that take way too much time, but I honestly would rather work at Wal-Mart than finish the semester. (Yes, I’m implying working at Wal-Mart is a horrible thing.)

Fall semester almost always feels like it’s in some sort of stand still at the end, which doesn’t help. 

It’s also this time of year that I crave a road trip. I would love to just forget school and drive to the beach or some random town with friend. I guess it’s a way to get out of the scholastically obsessed rut I’m in. 

Oh well, I guess I’ll have to wait for Thanksgiving Break before I get any sort of relief.

Journalist working with the nuts and bolts

Monday, October 27th, 2008 | Campus | No Comments

One of the best days I have ever had happened this past weekend at a high school robotics competition. No lie. I was decked out in full vertical black and white stripes and manned the field of robots trying to build an airplane. I’m not kidding. I took down the four-quadrant playing field while arguing over who got to carry which pieces up the hill to be loaded on the trailer. It seriously was an amazing day.

I volunteered for the all-day Alabama BEST competition in the Student Act.  I was a referee for the middle and high school boys and girls that have spent the past six weeks building a robot from supplied and obtained materials. Each team had to move airplane parts across a threshold and assemble the parts and attempt to “fly” the airplane all with the robot.

The passion these kids put into this single day made every second worth being there. Schools were dressed as Indians and did not stop dancing for a moment. Even though the individual school bands, consisting of no more than 10 members each, tried to out play each other and the D.J., it was still a great time. There were actually ear plugs for sale because of the excitement that filled the area.

I, being a journalism major, was definitely out-numbered by the engineering kids, but I stood out and made us, non-technical students, proud. P.S.- I am going to be one of the big, bad referees at SouthBEST, the important competition.  It is an experience for any major, even if you are reminded all day that you are not on an engineering path.

There was this one team’s battery that died, and they were disqualified for a round. The driver began to tear up and just like Pavlov’s dog, I began to swell up in response. I know how it feels to work so passionately and have a minor mistake set you back. I wanted to hug him, but I figured there were probably some rules against that.

The day was amazing. If you run into me over the next week, you won’t miss a moment of what happened. I stepped out of my routine surroundings and found something I could potentially love.

Closed Concourse creates convolution, congestion ‘cross campus

Monday, October 13th, 2008 | Campus | 3 Comments

Score. I’m first to get to the subject.

After being reduced to half its size because of re-pavement the entire semester, our beloved Concourse is now completely closed. Or did you not notice?

Apparently, the chain link fences that bar students from traversing the Concourse will be taken away in four weeks, when the area is opened Nov. 7. Well, we’ll be on the edge of our seats.

Now typically, when someone uses that phrase, it’s with a sarcastic, snarky tone. But I’m entirely serious, and I’m sure the majority of students share my sentiments. We can’t wait for this travesty to come to an end… and it’s been going on for all of one day.

I’ve only had three classes outside of Haley Center in my three years at Auburn, so the Concourse has become a second home to me. That being said, when I attempted to take my usual route to class today, only to be obstructed by some makeshift roadblock, a brilliant Jason Lee line from “Mallrats” came to mind — “What is this monstrosity?”

Clouds of dust and jangling bulldozers plague what was once a beautiful campus. And it’s not like the Concourse is some obscure shortcut between buildings. It’s the heart of campus and probably the most-travelled area. Though, now of course, no one can use it. This is without a doubt the worst part of the situation. Forget the ear-damaging harmonies of a massive construction site that are as much of a blight on our once welcoming campus as Episode 1 was on the Star Wars saga.

Nope, the worst part is the detours and congestion that this project has created. Today, the Haley Center was packed with detouring students because that seemed like the best way to get to class. Which it would have been, had thousands of people not all had the same idea.

Haley is known as the most confusing building on campus, but as I said, it’s been my on-campus abode for the last three years, so I know it pretty well. But I’ll give it to you, if you’re not used to the building, it can be somewhat of a labyrinth, especially when there are a lot of people in there… Hey! I think this is coming full circle!

This untimely  project is funneling students through the Haley Center, most of whom (I’m guessing) don’t normally have to navigate the building. I saw several people with furrowed brows one-eighty in bewilderment as they tried to figure out which side of the building the were going to exit on… It’s a really great thing when you have thousands of people with pretty time-specific itineraries sandwiched into hallways in a very mosh-pit-like fashion, then you realize many of those people don’t really know where they’re going. I swear, at one point if we were moving any slower, we would have been completely stopped.

I understand the Concourse was in need of renovation, but this timing is pretty pitiful. Construction started immediately after a three-month summer break and doubled in the thick of a semester. And again, it’s scheduled to be finished just a little over a month before our month-long Christmas break… So why couldn’t it have been finished then? I’m trying to be understanding, and I do comprehend that there is a lot going on in terms of campus renovation, but it was bad enough when the Concourse was reduced to a single-file lane in each direction, but having that direct route was still a better means of traversing campus than cutting through an overpopulated building, or conceding to being late. Or not going to class at all.

Tailgating Thief

Monday, October 13th, 2008 | Campus | 1 Comment

I have been tailgating for three football seasons now, and my parents have been coming to games every year as well. This season my friends and I have started gathering all of our parents together to tailgate for all the home games. It is free food and always a grand time with the parents sharing embarrassing stories amongst themselves concerning all of us in our diaper days.

We usually go to one of our friend’s houses that lives right off campus for conviency. For the Arkansas game, we decided that we should move on campus so our parents could get a better feel of the spirit. We assured them from personal experience that all of our stuff would be fine during the game.

Well, as you can probably see where I am going with this, we came back to find two of our coolers had been stolen. There were a total of five coolers, but only one had wheels. That one, of course was taken, and the other had a strap that could be easily thrown over the shoulder.

As you have may guessed, both coolers consisted of beer. But, there was another cooler that had a higher quality of beer in it, but no wheels. And not to mention the 20 bottles of liquor sitting out on the table that were not touched.

Honestly, if you are going to steal something, don’t you think you should go for the good stuff? You are already a thief, step up your game and take the expensive stuff and leave me my PBR!

“Second star to the right and straight on til morning”

Friday, October 10th, 2008 | Campus | No Comments

Pan and his Lost Boys

When it rains it pours

Thursday, October 9th, 2008 | Campus | No Comments

It happens every semester. I don’t know why it still catches me off guard, but as soon as midterm rolls around I get swamped with school work.

You would think that as a senior, by now I would be able to see the projects coming from a mile away, but it just doesn’t happen.

Every semester I start out strong, planner and syllabus in hand, writing down every assignment my professors give me. Then, fast forward a few weeks, and ask me where my planner is.

I guess poor time-management skills are to blame for my being overwhelmed, but it might also be an extreme case of senioritis.

Four years of different versions of basically the same type of paper or test at the same point in the school year have started to take a toll on my brain. Instead of feeling like a student, I’m starting to feel more like a robot.

I’m not asking for less assignments, I just wish there was some way that they could be more spread out over the course of the semester, instead of packing them into one week.

Also, it never fails, whenever a week stuffed with school work rolls around, it is also the week when everything that could go wrong does go wrong, adding to the anxiety. This will be the week when I get locked out of my apartment, forget to e-mail my assignment and my car gets towed.

I don’t know, it’s probably just me and my incredibly bad luck that small misfortunes have a tendency of building on top of each other, but Thanksgiving can’t come soon enough.

Music Appreciation Overload

Sunday, October 5th, 2008 | Campus | 1 Comment

As i’m trying to think of something to write a blog about, I conveniently remember I have a Music Appreciation test on Tuesday and I feel like if at least one person reads this they might be saved from the agony i’m being forced through with this class. The amount of work required for this class is ridiculous compared to any other class i’ve taken at Auburn. Throughout the semester there are 6 tests each 2 weeks apart and a cumulative final. Now to some this might not appear like a lot and maybe I just like complaining about the class, but for me thats just a bit too much for a fine arts core class. If anyone is sharing my struggle let me know I say we revolt against the music department and overthrow it. Except the portion that deals with the marching band, they will be pardoned.

Rod G.

The lone visiting player

Thursday, October 2nd, 2008 | Campus | 3 Comments

For my first Blog post, I would like to point out something that has been bothering me for several months now.

In an effort to make improvements to Jordan-Hare stadium last year, the athletic department (or someone) added new signs, canopies and murals to the outside of the stadium. Other than the canopies being totally the wrong color orange, there was one other problem.

One of the signs on the outside of the stadium reads, in large orange and blue letters, “VISITING PLAYER’S GUEST TICKETS.”

Hopefully, as college students you see the problem with that sign. As a copy editor, the problem haunts me in my sleep. For those of you who are still lost, the wording on the sign implies there is only one visiting player.

The meaning, however, is not the problem. The problem is that Auburn University does everything it can to promote its athletic department as one that cares about academics. A glaring error on a large sign on the stadium does nothing to promote that image. I gave the sign some time, hoping maybe someone important would notice it and speak up, but apparently it’s just me, and it’s not just a one-time thing.

In the new student center the signs read “ATM’s” and “Outtake’s.” Unless these places own something, it’s wrong.

So, I would hope that now that this error has been brought to the attention of someone, something will be done before I am forced to use the grammar correction stickers provided in the back of my copy of “Eats, Shoots and Leaves.”

Until, then we will continue to show our visiting players’ guests how we apparently do grammar in Alabama.

Concourse construction becoming irritating

Thursday, October 2nd, 2008 | Campus | 1 Comment

I would like to start out by saying this is my first public blog, so if deemed terrible by readers … oh well. Every now and then, the University finds it necessary to start one construction project or another in an attempt to keep our campus beautiful. They have good hearts for that, but once in a while the project isn’t convenient for students. With those construction projects, if ever I need to walk around/near/on them, I get tense or frustrated.

Take for example our lovely Concourse. This project is somewhat necessary in a we-want-students-to-stop-tripping-on-the-bricks kind of way. But then they close off have the walkway and, here’s where my tension/frustration begins, this also runs into the construction still on-going at the Student Center. In that small area where have the Concourse is closed and the other side is fenced in, 3,463,454 students must walk through between classes. An exaggerated number, yes. But it sure seems like that many are coming through when I’m trying to get to work or class.

I understand the need to finish projects before the cold of winter sets in, but could it be more coordinated? I do have ’snaps’ for the University or whoever designed the Concourse brick area around the Student Center. From what I’ve seen through prison-like gates and fences it’s beautiful. (I heard someone use ’snaps’ the other day and I’m guessing it’s making a return)