rodzik@www

So Hachfeld came into my room at the beginning of the week complaining about finals, and I responded to him with a Haiku. It was pretty good so I wrote it down, and then came up with some more.

Finals Week
Don't have energy
To do all of this shit here
F*** this place it sucks

Alumnus
I graduated
I bet you wish you did too
I have no homework

Terre Haute
Terre Haute is cool
Just kidding, no it isn't
It smells and is cold

Miami
Ice storm in the Haute
Good thing we're in Miami
It is nice and warm!

Cruise
Cruise is leaving soon
It's going to be awesome
Oh yea I am pumped

So I finished up my final academic obligations as a Rose-Hulman student yesterday. I'm done, and once grades are finalized I'll have a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Software Engineering (double major) from one of the top undergraduate engineering schools in the country. I suppose it hasn't really hit me yet, but I'm thinking it should in the next couple days, or at the latest when I don't have to go to class next quarter while everyone else does...

In other school related news, I'm freaking out about Georgia Tech. They've had my completed application for over a month now, and everyone else's was due February 1st, so they're pouring through all of them. And every day there's still no word back. Ugh...I'm going insane. They better let me know soon, and they better say yes!

Tonight I officially became an alumnus member of the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity. Since even before I signed my bid card with Pike my freshman year I have poured tons of my time and energy into this chapter, and it was an excellent feeling to become an alumni. I finished with Exec at the end of last quarter, and did not take a new chairmanship (although I've been our SGA rep all year), and despite this I still stayed involved, attending Exec and Chapter meetings, among other events. I did so because I still cared and wanted to make a difference. But I will no longer be a student here at the end of this week, and as of chapter tonight, I am no longer an active member of this Fraternity.

I still plan on staying involved next quarter, but certainly a lot less so than I was this quarter, or previous quarters. It's not my chapter anymore, it's up to those whose chapter it still is to take the appropriate actions and lead this chapter in the right direction. I'll still offer my input when I feel it's necessary, but will likely comment a lot less frequently than I usually do.

It's a bit weird to think that I don't have a direct say in what the chapter does anymore, but at the same time, the chapter no longer has a say in what I do. My actions are no longer governed by by-laws, a constitution, and reams of policies. Not that these were ever negative, but not being required to show up to a handful of events, not feeling obligated to participate in Exec or Chapter, and not being subject to fines is certainly a breath of fresh air.

At the same time, I was nominated for the chapter's Greek of the Year award tonight. I made it to the 3rd or 4th run-off (down to 3 candidates) and then lost, but oh well, it was close. It was still nice to make it that far, and while formal recognitions aren't necessarily of particular importance, I suppose it would've been nice to receive something more than some Pike of the Week or Chairman of the Week certificates. Though, I'm not really surprised given the visibility of the fun I have compared to the work I do...

So I just realized it's been over two months since my last update. I knew I hadn't updated in a while but I guess I stopped caring, as really I've just been too lazy to update this lately. Senioritis has set in as much as it possibly can, although I was busy in the last few months with some fellowship applications and my grad school applications. My Georgia Tech application is now 100% finalized, so I'm waiting anxiously on hearing back from them. I've also got all 3 of my fellowship applications complete, along with references submitted, but I won't hear from any of them until mid-late March. I decided to return to the same office this summer as I was at last summer, even though 9 different offices offered me a position with them, as I really enjoyed my work last year and look forward to seeing what's been done with it.

I'm super pumped right now about graduation. I have a decent amount of work between now and then, but the really hard parts of this quarter (not that they were all too bad, what with 5 day weekends and all ) are over. This quarter has been a nice preparation for how I'll fill my time next quarter, as figuring out what to do with 5 days off was a bit tricky; next quarter I'll have true 7 day weekends, so maybe I'll actually get some of the work done for Pike and for my website that I was planning on doing this quarter.

I'm going on 3 spring breaks. It's going to be awesome. At the beginning of finals week Bander and I are driving down to Miami, and then a few days later our 7 day Carnival cruise departs Miami for a 7 day adventure to Cozumel, Grand Cayman, and Ocho Rios. It's going to be amazing. Then we'll head back up here, maybe after a few days hanging out at Miami, and I'll chill out here for a week just having fun until everyone else in the country goes on their spring break. Right now the plan is for me to head down to Daytona Beach with a group of DG's and some guys from ISU. Then back here for a week (March Madness!!!) and then it's off to spring break with the Pike crew on Rose's spring break. And then I just chill out here having a great time until Commencement.

I'm not going to lie, I'm a bit off course in terms of Commencement right now. I used to be dying to get out of here but right now the prospect of leaving (but I certainly won't miss this weather, HOLY CRAP it's -16 with wind chill outside right now) has me a bit concerned for a variety of reasons. But I'll get into that later...

Things like this give me hope that things can actually go the right way in this world. Mogadishu is certainly no picnic, yet a small group of troops has brought peace to at least some areas of the city in a chaotic country.