Regarding Winterfeast, pt 1: preparations

Warning: I fail at names. If I don't remember your name, it's not that I don't like you. I forget *everybody's* name.

Winterfeast was good. I went on the evening cooking crew after Anime, and we went to the apartments to chop things.
Carl and Susanna had just joined us for that evening, so basically none of it made sense, but they both seemed to like it. It's the sort of thing that's really entertaining, provided you leave your left brain at the door.

We couldn't find the dates for the Lombard anywhere, and the apartment was not intended for more than one or two people cooking/working at a time. We had four or five going at any one time. I spent most of the evening dicing potatoes, another guy made pasty crusts, and Susanna chopped dried fruit (which was really annoying, since the fruit stuck to the knife). Then we kicked back and relaxed with the movie and Twilight reading.

I went to bed at 2:00, then got up in the late morning, remembered winterfeast was today after checking my email leisurely, and headed down to Ketler kitchen as fast as I could. That was the biggest cooking area available, and we were using it for the pork roasts. We then headed down to the apartments to do the bulk of the cooking.

While I stepped out for lunch (we were waiting on potatoes to cook, which would take a lot of time and tie up all both of our big pots) they finished cooking the potatoes and making pasty filling: potato, cheese, onion, and some other stuff. I pretty much stuck to pasties for the rest of the day. Another guy and I (gah, can't remember his name even though I knew it at the time) assembled them all, then spent a bunch of time baking them.

Then came the next big task, once everything was cooked: moving everything. Now, for those of you who haven't seen the campus, it has two sections: upper and lower. Upper campus has the academic buildings, dining halls, and dorms. Lower campus has the athletic fields and apartments. Now, the apartments are on the absolute corner of lower campus - on main street, in fact. Also, "upper" and "lower" aren't just directional conventions. upper campus is a good bit higher than lower campus, and the apartment was on the fourth floor. Between us, it took two or three trips max. But what did I get the second trip, but nearly all of the juice for the punch? That's a lot of juice. Thank you to the visiting alum who got a pair of the larger bottles for me. I need to go out and walk more.

What made it nice is that it was getting warm enough for T-shirts, and it was sunny to boot. That meant that I forgot my coat in the apartment. By the time I realized, it was too late to go get it. This means I did not take pictures, because my camera was in my coat pocket.

After getting the bulk of the food there, it was time for the pork. Me and a couple others spent the next fifteen minutes running back and forth with trays of meat (which smelled REALLY GOOD). Then it was finally time to begin.

Regarding tests

My first clump of tests just came up this week.

Monday: Foundations of Econ
Wednesday: Principles of Microeconomics
Thursday: Introduction to Psychology

I got the grade back on the first one; I made a 94, having misinterpreted one question and gotten partial credit for another.
I just took the second test; it was similar to the first one in many respects, this being the beginning of the course before the two classes diverge a whole lot. This one was more intensive, though. I think I still did well.

I've heard frightening stories about the philosophy tests for this professor. What I've been able to confirm so far are true. That the study guide is a disorganized, wall-of-text nightmare is all I will say. This class is my nemesis.

Also, happy Chinese New Year. a Chinese group has a booth here in the SAC, with some cool stuff about Chinese characters, Chinese chess, and fried rice. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to get an Asian dish with proper sticky rice around here - I haven't seen it in the dining hall for the better part of a month, and they didn't seem to use it here. It was still good, though.




Off to get back on the network (somebody changed the password on me) and study for Philosophy.

Regarding Maternal Hints ;)

Wait, I have a blog?

Anyway, not too much has been bloggable, except I have a cluster of tests. As of 4:00 today, it will be two down, and the horrible one to go. Class in 20, so I'll squeeze a post in.

So here's some random pictures:
Happy sidewalk gum says hai.


Dr. Hulsmann, who I've gotten the chance to talk with one on one, and went to his lecture on the national debt.


Pocky, in its natural habitat.


And a little art project:

Regarding pictures

A breakfast at MAP. I mangled my waffle when I got it out, but it still tasted really good. They've got a pair of wafflemakers there, so you can make gigantic Belgian waffles fresh. It's pretty awesome. Not a lot of pictures have turned out, since they were mostly taken in the dark.

Me at the bowling alley. Yay for blurry. Thanks to Peter for taking the pic.

On the bench: Eric (I think), Kevin (in the sports team T-shirt), and Jesse (blurry, in the white shirt). Rachel is standing at the table. I had one of her, but it didn't turn out. No really, it didn't turn out.

I'm sorry about the layout. A necessary dialog box isn't showing up.

Regarding Dr. Ritenour

Dr. Ritenour is awesome. You know you've got something when his syllabus says "Credit hours: The same number it takes to get to the center of a tootsie roll tootsie pop." He also throws in pop culture references, and is generally great. I wish I had him in the morning, because he loves to shout. Not in a bad way, but there is no way in heck that you're falling asleep in his class.

His quizzes are daily, but our first one was easy, and he says the others are just like it. They're basically just to make sure you did the reading, so they're not hard.

He also has bow tie friday, where men are encouraged to wear bow-ties. I made a duct tape one after dinner. I would send pictures, but my ability to upload is a bit compromised. I think I'll enjoy his classes.

Regarding safe travels

Please pray for Mom and Dad, who are flying back to AK (Alaska, not Arkansas coughcough) tomorrow morning while I am at class. Safe journeys, and good flight to both of you!

Regarding shinies (or, "mixed feelings")

One of the cooler things GCC does is give all of its new students computers. Part of our orientation on Friday was the distribution of the computers and a lecture about the college internet and such. He also lined up the freshman setup. It consists of a dual 1.83GHz HP tablet computer, with most of Microsoft's creative software installed. There was also a laptop case, a backpack, a printer, an 8GB thumb drive, and a Zune media player. Otherwise, the main gist was basically "here is your computer. Touch it and die." When we went to receive the computers, they sprung something new - sophomores (such as myself) got the old machine, which has 3 gig of RAM instead of 4, and no widescreen. Also, no Zune for us. That was disappointing, but we got the last laugh. The freshmen just barely missed out on the Zune HD, which the new people will be getting, but none of us will ever see.

So, this morning, I power up my computer and the little "loading" lights blink, but... nothing happens on the screen. So, I stop by tech support. Turns out, everyone else was using this time to get their computers fixed from the damage they had done to them over the break. It took quite a while to get to the desk, where they determined I had a hardware problem. Thus, they brought the computer in the back. Later that day, they discovered it was software, and therefore wiped the computer clean. Fortunately, the only data I had on it was a URL of the 40*70" Serenity poster I would use to cover up the "Dumb and Dumber" poster over my desk. (Summer Glau is so much better looking than Jim Carrey, even when she's looking disturbed and he's holding his ears out.)

Still don't have the college laptop back, but I did get my Mac on the network, so I can get interwebs now and start my blag. All (both of) you GCC Mac people: it's your proxies. Set them ALL.

I originally meant to opt out of the computers, since my Mac is a dual 2.56GHz with 4 Gig of ram, and is a widescreen to boot. Not to brag... Nonetheless, the college-issue tablet has its advantages, like the 6-hour travel battery. I have also decided i'm putting GIMP on it first chance I get, for obvious reasons (aka, drawing directly on the screen).

I'll be able to pick it up tomorrow around lunch.

Regarding noms (or, "Freshman 15, here I come")

My first impression of the food at GCC was admittedly quite tainted. I was up for the Austrian Student Scholars Conference in 2008, where we ate quite well in the private dining room. When, a little over two years later, we came up again to actually attend the institution, we started off eating in the old MAP dining room, a formal hall underneath the women's dorm. This was also of the more formal/upscale bent, but for more people.

After that, it was eating normally. Orientation started on Friday, and it went until Saturday. People arrived on Sunday, and classes started Monday. While the transfers like me were having orientation, the rest of the campus was having intersession (wintermester), with about a quarter of the campus in attendance. The dining facilities were running about half-capacity. Having skipped on-campus breakfast both times, I became acquainted with the facilities at Hicks, which is one of two main dining halls. There is also the MAP dining hall (not the old MAP, but the regular MAP) and the GeDunk ("Gee"), but I had no occasion to go to those yet.

Hicks had four buffets running: a salad bar, a pizza/pasta bar, a cereal station, and a "homestyle" buffet, which served whatever Boston-Market-type stuff that didn't fit in the other locations. There were also a few dessert options, plus ice cream. It was genuinely okay overall, and I could tell that I wasn't in Texas anymore. The hot wings were decidedly mild, and there were a couple "Asian" dishes I didn't bother to try - they looked wrong. Still, the peach crisp was good, and the "wing bar" day was quite nice; they also had a good selection of juice and non-carbonated drinks in their dispensers, which was nice - chocolate milk on tap, even.

Then came breakfast today. I went to MAP, which has more of a cafeteria feel to it than Hicks does - Hicks is more of a "cafe." I missed most of it, admittedly, since I made a beeline for the waffles I liked. But, I sat with a friend from before, and he had a ginormous omelette with a whole bunch of stuff in it. Apparently, I'd missed the hugely-popular made-to-order omelette station (the tip was, come in on the hour precisely, so the people going to class have already done so, and the rest have not arrived yet to clog up the line). That's on the list to do tomorrow, if I have time. If not, that's why God made Wednesdays.

So, I came in to Hicks for lunch, and they had started up *all* of their facilities. In addition to the other stuff, they had the burger bar, the bagel-sandwich bar, another sandwich station (or two), a Chipotle-type burrito station, and HOLY COW THEY HAVE A WOK STATION! Made-to-order hunan beef stir-fry, with your choice of fresh veggies, which the guy stir-fries while you watch. Oh yeah. I think I know where I'll be spending a lot of time. They use long-grain rice, but the vegetables count for enough that I don't mind too much ;).*

I'm now in the Student Union (aka the "Sack"), next to the GeDunk. It's a somewhat nicer facility, where you can buy food separate from your meal plan. Probably won't eat there much, simply because I don't want to pay when I've got perfectly good selection elsewhere.

I'm still carrying around my Crimson so I can remember the hours for the various eateries. The schedule is a bit squirrelly, but I imagine it's probably better that way when you're trying to serve 2,500 students. They seem to keep one facility open in the off-hours before, then open them both for the peak, then close the first for the tail end. Really a good idea when you think about it.

Haven't had dinner yet, but I bet it will be good. Scuttlebutt says Sunday brunch is the best, so looking forward to it.


*Yes, I am a stickler for rice. All Asian dishes should use short-grain sticky rice; it's a major texture difference.