Husky Life

Read/Heard: Thousands of copies of the Nov. 2 edition of the The Daily Campus were found in trashcans across campus, according to a brief in the paper.

The paper had to print 2,000 copies to replenish the supply of papers on campus, the brief said.

Here’s a copy of the paper that went missing:

Seen: That said I saw a woman carrying a stack of papers out of McMahon Hall Tuesday morning (named after the late senator Brien McMahon.)

Ironically, the front page story of that day involved the McMahon rally. Now, that’s breakfast with a side of irony.

That day’s paper also included the police blotter.

Seen: A note slipped under my door which read something like ‘Do it in the ballot booth.’ Apparently some student organization wanted to use an attention-getting message to get students to vote at the Mansfield Community Center, the closest polling place to campus.

Seen: Several of my friends had ‘I voted today’ badges on Facebook. That’s nice because anyone who sent in an absentee ballot did not get a sticker .

Heard: The identity of three UConn students was challenged by election checkers at the polls. The moderator rejected the challenges.

Aside from a UConn ID and verification from the university registrar, most students don’t have ID which bears their dorm address.

When I first heard that U.S. Sen. candidate Linda McMahon was coming to campus, I knew it would be news. But I didn’t imagine that it would be newsworthy for this reason:

STORRS, Conn. (AP) — A rally at the University of Connecticut for Senate candidate Linda McMahon ended abruptly when students got involved in a skirmish.

The Republican candidate was visiting the campus in Storrs on Monday.

Several students from a domestic violence awareness group were in attendance. A 24-year-old student says a McMahon supporter tore down the sign he was holding that accused McMahon of profiting from violence against women – a reference to McMahon’s role as a World Wrestling Entertainment executive.

Sound off: Were you there? What did you see happen? Post a comment about your experience. They can be anonymous.

Update: For a play-by-play of what happened, check out tomorrow’s Daily Campus.

Heard: Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the USA.”

Seen: A man dressed up as Jesus singing that song Friday evening in the Student Union.

Not seen: Somebody dressed up as a firefighter in the Student Union. That would have been funny since there was a fire drill during karaoke.

Also seen/heard: A girl in a UConn sweatshirt? who sang “Paparazzi” almost like GaGa and stole the microphone from a faux Jay-Z in “Empire State of Mind” just in time to snag an out-of-this world solo.

Bad quality cell phone video:

Hey UConn: what’s the craziest costume you’ve seen? Comment here!

Did: Today I rocked the vote, but not at the polls.

I voted in my dorm room.

There were no lines of people waiting to get their name checked off a list, no monstrous green voting machines that they used when I was in elementary school or tabulator that they use to day.

I circled the bubbles on my yellow absentee ballot.

I placed the ballot inside of a small envelope, which I had to sign.

Then, I placed the envelope inside of another envelope marked something along the lines of “official election mail.” A couple of minutes later, I bought a stamp at the UConn Co-op and placed it in their mail bin.

I had voted.

It wasn’t as exciting as my last experience voting in the primaries, which you can read about in my first-person account published over the summer in Greenwich Time.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get a “I voted today” sticker.

But I did get my opportunity to vote. Many people around the world fight for a chance to have a say in their governments. The least I can do is circle a few bubbles, sign an envelope or two and place it in the mail.

For the record, college students who live on a campus away from home can vote in their college district or their home district. I chose to vote at in Greenwich. As much as I like it here in Storrs, I consider Greenwich to be my home.

Sound off: For college students or alumni, where did you vote while you were/are in school and why?

Heard: A live band playing The Beatles’ “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” in the co-op. A cashier told me a group of professors or staff were the performers.

Freshman year I used Skype not just to keep in contact with people, but to combat the homesickness of finally living away from college.

As a sophomore, you can say I get collegesick. A couple days after I’m home, I miss Storrs. But that’s a different story.

Now I use Skype just to stay in contact with my friends who I am too busy to see since sophomore year got a lot more time-consuming than freshman year.

Seen: Yesterday two of my good friends — they happen to be twins who were in the trombone section with me for four years at GHS — finally got Skype. I hadn’t seen them since the summer because of my busy schedule up here, but it was awesome to be able to have a face-to-face conversation and crack jokes without typing enough words to fill a novel.

Heard? Maybe we’ll have a Skype jam session. Although something tells me its not a good idea to play the trombone in the dorm — at least not during quiet hours.

And only to imagine that my parents had only had one payphone in the hall…

P.S. Heard: The room by the lunch line was playing “Clair de lune” last time I walked by. A bit different than DMX and Owl City…

One of the most popular dining halls here in Storrs is South. It’s one of the larger dining halls on campus — maybe the largest — and has a huge selection of food. So around 6ish, a long line sometimes forms as people wait for the cashier to swipe ID cards for dining hall access. But waiting in line has gotten more interesting lately…

Heard: “Fireflies” by Owl City playing from a room that faces the queue. Previously heard: DMX’s “X Gon’ Give It To Ya.”

Saw: A LCD monitor in the windowsill of the open window asking for requests with a phone number and ‘ladies get priority.’

Very creative…

File photo of Blumenthal at a rally/Kelly Nigro via Flickr

Read: My buddy Joe reported on Richard Blumenthal’s Wednesday visit to UConn.

You can read his Daily Campus article here.

Blumenthal, a Greenwich resident and current attorney general for Connecticut, is running for U.S. Senate.

Did: “Sudden Death” assignment for journalism lab. That means you have to find a newsworthy event on campus, interview people about it and produce a 400-500 word article in two hours or less. I had fun with it and spoke with some animal rights activists on Fairfield Way.

Heard: One of my friends had a lab a couple hours after mine. He said many people from his class reported on Blumenthal’s speech. The problem? They didn’t have time to hear the beginning or end of his talk.