Monday, July 24, 2006
Boulder vs Champaign, own3d
Hey it’s not Friday morning, but it sure is close. Sunday evening (Monday morning by posting time). A quick update on my summer goals and then I will backtrack and talk about my trips to New York and U of I. Poker has been a disaster lately. I have managed to play but have been getting killed. Today was much better and hopefully I will be getting back on the right track soon. Danny won a seat at the World Series of Poker via an online free-roll. He plans on selling the seat but if he is unable to, I would love to see him make a ton of money. If he does I hope he sticks it in everyone’s face. Too bad he would never do that.
Exercising is almost back on track. I have worked hard for the last week and done some two-a-days, skipped rest days, and after I run tonight will be back on schedule. My 8 week program is 5 weeks done and the other day I ran the farthest distance I have ever run, 6 miles. I am happy with the results so far and I am considering training to run a 5 minute mile after these 8 weeks are up. I’ll keep you posted.
Guitar playing is still moving along very slowly, but I have some ideas as far as song-writing and I plan to implement them shortly. And now, I’ll move onto some stories about my trips to New York and Champaign.
U of I:
U of I was the only school other than Colorado that I applied to, but seeing as I never visited, I hardly considered it when I decided to go to CU. This fact is important because it triggered some thought that I will get into later. First a trip report.
The weekend after 4th of July is always Greek Week at U of I. I’m not sure how the tradition started but it is the one weekend all of the Greeks travel back to Champaign and party. If I was to visit, this weekend seemed to be best. I went down with Rob (a Sammy (Sigma Alpha Mu)), Jason Shiftman (his frat brother from Stevenson High), Lauren (Rob’s girlfriend), Lindsey Margolis, and Suzie Berman (flashback to Jr High). The first thing I noticed was that Rob’s apartment is both cool and ridiculous. It is very well set up for a social atmosphere. You can see like 7 parties going on at once on a weekend night, but it looks like a prison with more generous accommodations, like prison deluxe. I will try to share pictures if I can get my camera to work (that story will come later). There is not much to tell about my trip, I went to the bars (which are 19 in U of I, weird but cool), played golf, and went for a run around town. It was a short weekend trip. I attempted to go to the U of I Sarkis, but it was closed for the summer. I had a good time and decided despite the fact that Rob’s frat was full of somewhat annoying people and I was unable to find any of them interested in going to Hooters on Saturday night to watch UFC 61.
On my run through the U of I campus and many parts of my trip I continually thought about what my life would be like if I went to U of I. Or in other words, how my life would be different. Obviously I would have different friends, a different girlfriend (if any), my weekend activities would have to be different, and I would probably drink considerably more heavily. The real question is, would I be different? More happy? Less happy?
I am fairly certain if I went to U of I, I would have made equally great friends in some fraternity that suited me well. I would have had great, albeit different, life experiences. Does this mean that if I substitute one decision for another, would I be different? I would argue that Boulder and U of I are dynamically different. I would certainly be affected and changed. I am so happy I am going to University of Colorado and am even more charged about returning for one last lap.
Seeing as I am supposed to write again this morning in my journal, I will use the nest entry to talk about my trip to NY.
Exercising is almost back on track. I have worked hard for the last week and done some two-a-days, skipped rest days, and after I run tonight will be back on schedule. My 8 week program is 5 weeks done and the other day I ran the farthest distance I have ever run, 6 miles. I am happy with the results so far and I am considering training to run a 5 minute mile after these 8 weeks are up. I’ll keep you posted.
Guitar playing is still moving along very slowly, but I have some ideas as far as song-writing and I plan to implement them shortly. And now, I’ll move onto some stories about my trips to New York and Champaign.
U of I:
U of I was the only school other than Colorado that I applied to, but seeing as I never visited, I hardly considered it when I decided to go to CU. This fact is important because it triggered some thought that I will get into later. First a trip report.
The weekend after 4th of July is always Greek Week at U of I. I’m not sure how the tradition started but it is the one weekend all of the Greeks travel back to Champaign and party. If I was to visit, this weekend seemed to be best. I went down with Rob (a Sammy (Sigma Alpha Mu)), Jason Shiftman (his frat brother from Stevenson High), Lauren (Rob’s girlfriend), Lindsey Margolis, and Suzie Berman (flashback to Jr High). The first thing I noticed was that Rob’s apartment is both cool and ridiculous. It is very well set up for a social atmosphere. You can see like 7 parties going on at once on a weekend night, but it looks like a prison with more generous accommodations, like prison deluxe. I will try to share pictures if I can get my camera to work (that story will come later). There is not much to tell about my trip, I went to the bars (which are 19 in U of I, weird but cool), played golf, and went for a run around town. It was a short weekend trip. I attempted to go to the U of I Sarkis, but it was closed for the summer. I had a good time and decided despite the fact that Rob’s frat was full of somewhat annoying people and I was unable to find any of them interested in going to Hooters on Saturday night to watch UFC 61.
On my run through the U of I campus and many parts of my trip I continually thought about what my life would be like if I went to U of I. Or in other words, how my life would be different. Obviously I would have different friends, a different girlfriend (if any), my weekend activities would have to be different, and I would probably drink considerably more heavily. The real question is, would I be different? More happy? Less happy?
I am fairly certain if I went to U of I, I would have made equally great friends in some fraternity that suited me well. I would have had great, albeit different, life experiences. Does this mean that if I substitute one decision for another, would I be different? I would argue that Boulder and U of I are dynamically different. I would certainly be affected and changed. I am so happy I am going to University of Colorado and am even more charged about returning for one last lap.
Seeing as I am supposed to write again this morning in my journal, I will use the nest entry to talk about my trip to NY.
