rodzik@www

So it's been a bit of a long week, or at least Wednesday made it feel that way. The dreaded day of atonement was this past Wednesday, when I took the GRE (also known as the LameRE) at 7 AM. I rocked the essays, then I rocked the verbal and the math. Then I went "man I hope the next section is another math section instead of another verbal section" (they give you an unscored, experimental section of one or the other, but you never know which section it is). Of course, it was another verbal section, and unlike the first one, this one rocked me. It must've been the scored one too, because my verbal score wasn't quite what I was hoping for. After freaking out over my verbal score for a while I looked up some average scores for acceptances into the programs I'm interested in and realized it was still above average, so that was a relief.

And then something completely different happened. I went to my first "fair" on Rose-Hulman's campus since Sophomore year - the grad school fair. I figured talking to some grad schools would be a good way to round out the day, so I went even though I wasn't particularly interested in any of them. I suppose it's a good thing I did, because in addition to getting some information out of it (as well as freebies like a frisbee), after about 5-10 minutes of talking to the Air Force Institute of Technology reps they accepted me into their Masters program on the spot...didn't see that one coming! I still have to send in some paperwork, but they said to just list them as references and I'm good to go: no essays, no application fee, nothing difficult at all. So at least if I don't get into GT (let's hope I do though) I already have a safety school! Although after looking through their information booklets it looks like their program might be better suited towards my fields of interest, but we'll see...

My first SGA meeting was this past Tuesday, and it was rather uneventful. We approved some money for explosives and pyrotechnics for the homecoming bonfire (it'll be sweet, trust me ) after making sure we were getting a good deal, and then Brian Green suggested that we no longer be the "Fightin' Engineers," and I don't really see that happening. Kidwell and I's first finance committee meeting is this Sunday. There's only one spending request and it looks to be legit, so I don't think the hammer of fiscal responsibility will be dropping for at least another week.

Fortunately the weather warmed up again. I went for a nice spring workout yesterday and it felt good for it to be mid/upper 80s and humid. That link just made me lose the game.

And first formals are this weekend: tonight and Sunday. This new rush schedule is weird.

It's cold here and it's still the beginning of September. The low on Wednesday is 39 degrees. That's only SEVEN degrees above FREEZING and it's SEPTEMBER. It's still technically Summer and the low is 39 degrees. Ugh...only one more winter in this city and I'm gone forever!

Foam went well. We had enough foam this time, though the specific solution was having issues keeping up with the dancing, but at least we didn't run out and have to make an emergency supply run like last time. Nobody did anything stupid, meaning I now only have to be paranoid about one more party (Halloween) before I can fully enjoy our official parties again! We also had a good crowd going in the cave before and after the party, as well as some people in and out during the party as well, so that was nice.

Saturday I also had the pleasure of watching Georgia Tech obliterate Notre Dame, which was a welcome relief from last season's opener when GT got the shaft from the refs. Unfortunately the Seminoles lost their third straight Bowden Bowl tonight...they had me convinced they could pull it off with that late rally but then Weatherford screwed it all up again.

Today I got bored so I ran 4.3 miles. Then I did 800 jump-ropes. Then I did 70 push-ups and 50 triangle-pushups. I figure that might happen a lot this quarter with the amount of free time I'll have, so hopefully I'll manage to stay in shape. I just hope I'm not too sore tomorrow.

Chapter tonight was hot as hell. I'm not sure what was wrong with the third floor A/C but it was a sauna, and it sure didn't help that I was in a shirt/tie. That and Kidwell and I got elected as Pike's SGA representatives for this year. We were planning on doing that next quarter but it looks like Operation Introduce Fiscal Responsibility is going to kick off a bit earlier than planned.

I'm going to be painting my chest for the women's volleyball games this weekend. Rush starts Saturday at noon with dorm storming, followed by informals, meaning I can finally stop ignoring 25% of the Rose population. GT will stomp Samford at 1:30 PM that day.

In just over two weeks I take the GRE. I've also been working on some of my application and fellowship essays. I figured it would be a good idea to get the GRE out of the way early so I know whether I need to take it again, can get my applications in early if I do well enough, and don't get caught trying to schedule it around homecoming and fall break. It's make or break time...

Also, you may have noticed a shift in my posting style. I've decided to try out a more brief, to-the-point, and stream of consciousness writing style in the hopes that it won't result in some of the really long essays I've written in the past. We'll see how it works out...