Husky Life

Donovan Hennneberg-Verity via Flickr

What’s good Luda da buddha?

Heard: Ludacris is scheduled to come to UConn.

According to a Facebook group, which was created by Student Union Board of Governors member (SUBOG), he will be at the Jorg from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 13. Ticket info can be found here.

Seen: This morning I woke up with around 30 Facebook notifications. I checked my wall. Thirty posts wished me a “Happy Birthday.” Many had exclamation points. Some had smiley faces.

The problem?

It wasn’t my birthday.

My half-birthday? More like quarter-birthday. I was born in June, not October.

It’s tradition to write on someone’s wall, an open message board on a person’s Facebook page, when it’s someone’s birthday. So my buddies changed my birthday last night, a change I would not notice until that little bit of information showed up on a feed broadcast to 600+ people. Normally, that would have been midnight, when my “birthday” would officially begin and show up on my feed. But since I’m under the weather, I went to bed long before then and noticed at 7 a.m. That’s like 11 million years in Facebook-college time.

It was entertaining to see how many of my Facebook friends didn’t actually know when my actual birthday was. But it was really cool that two of my good friends challenged the status quo. They brazenly said it wasn’t my birthday among many birthday greetings.

Heard: “Feel better” -the cashier at Husky Pizza, after I asked for some soda water while talking with my mom on my cell phone about how I wasn’t feeling good. That was much appreciated.

Heard: I chatted with Colbert today in a conference call with 22? college journalists. We discussed his upcoming “March to Keep Fear Alive” in Washington.

Fellow Comedy Central comedian, Jon Stewart, is planning to host a “Rally to Restore Sanity” on the same day at the same time: noon-3 p.m. on the National Mall. Thousands of people say they will attend the events, according to Facebook.

Said: I had the oppertunity to ask two questions. Colbert provided witty responses to both. Check out Tuesday’s Daily Campus at dailycampus.com to find out what he said.

Updated Oct. 12:

Daily Campus story is here.

Links to other college outlets and mainstream media on the topic here.

College trends: The Boston Globe posted an interesting article a couple of days ago regarding the decline in professors offering final exams:

Across the country, there is growing evidence that final exams — once considered so important that universities named a week after them — are being abandoned or diminished, replaced by take-home tests, papers, projects, or group presentations. Anecdotally, longtime professors say they have been noticing the trend for years.

This semester at UConn, I am enrolled in five classes. Two of them, an English class and a journalism class, have papers due during midterm week. In prior semesters, I’ve had Englishy-type courses that have essays or portfolios. But so far every math and science class I have taken — not many and all intro — have had midterms and finals.

What’s your take? How many exams do you have this midterm season? Are high stakes tests like midterms and finals really disappearing?

Heard and seen: UConn Marching Band practicing in a drizzle on their field by Towers. As I ran by them, I heard them practicing an arrangement of what sounded like “Jai Ho” from “Slumdog Millionaire” fame.

Here are some observations from my second football game:

-Seen: First, mad props to John Dearborn whose team enthusiasm got the attention of many photographers, including one from the Associated Press. His photo and AP caption is on the right.
-Heard: Random person: “How did you get that hair?” John: “UConn Co-op.”

John Dearborn of Ansonia, Conn, shows his team spirit for Connecticut before an NCAA college football game against Vanderbilt in East Hartford, Conn., on Saturday, Oct. 2, 2010.(AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

-Heard: I’ve been conditioned to reach for my keys every time I hear the intro to Guns n’ Roses’ “Welcome To The Jungle.” It’s part of a UConn tradition. Ironically, The Jungle was the nickname for the North Campus residence halls a couple of years back. I heard it used to be “Animal House,” UConn style.

-Seen: Beer everywhere. Beer in the sinks. Beer in people’s hands. Beer in the tailgate area. Beer in the stands.

-Did: played the role of de facto drummer. I stood on the front row and got to imitate the marching bands using the sides of the stadium.

-Heard: a derogatory term I usually hear people call referees at basketball games. This time it was aimed at a person in the UConn student section who was supposedly wearing a Vandy sweatshirt.

-Seen: The real, live dog Jonathan, the Husky, strutting across Rentschler’s Kentucky Blue Grass. Also seen, someone in the Jonathan the mascot costume.

-Comments: Football game memories? Share here!

When the EIC of The Daily Campus told me that President Barack Obama was going to hold a conference call with college reporters and we could join, I jumped on it.

Seriously, how often does a college student have a chance to interact with the president?

I happened to (coincidentally) have Newswriting I at the time. My professor gracefully let me leave early so I could make the call.

While I did not ask a question — Obama took four — I thought it was exciting to be on the conference line knowing I had the opportunity to perhaps ask the president a question.

Now I’m curious as to whether Obama will further connect with college journalists. More conference calls perhaps?

And I’m also wondering whether Obama or Biden plan to visit UConn in the future.

To hear more about the call and Obama’s comments on the high cost of tuition at public universities, check out my article in The Daily Campus tomorrow.

I’ve seen soccer and basketball games, but I haven’t ventured off-campus to see football in my 1+ years here in Storrs.

Today, I made the journey to Rentschler Field to see the UConn v. Buffalo Game.

An enthusiastic fan (this picture happens not to be of me) gets an especially good view of the game

UConn won!

Here’s a photo and some notes on the experience of sitting in the student section:

-People were giving out Whole Foods/UConn branded bandanas.
-Band played “Iron Man” — just like I use to play in the GHS Marching Band.
-Water bottles were $4/each. For obvious reasons, students were not allowed to bring their own containers into the stadium. Unfortunately, it was really hot out.
-Corollary: it was a really sunny day.
-Some random people in the student section sang “Who Let The Dogs Out” during the game. Fun fact: a friend of a friend who went to the game attends BU, so I guess the song could apply to her school’s teams as well.
-Learned a new tradition: “Stick it in.” When UConn enters an opponent’s red zone, the student section moves their hands from left to right to the drumming of the marching band. After a few seconds, we move our hands forwards and back and shout “Stick it in!”

All in all, nice day!

Maybe a couple fewer…

Many community assistants, UConn’s version of the R.A., post posters and rules in the halls of dorms across campus. I snapped this shot with my cell phone camera a couple of minutes ago when I was visiting a friend in a nearby dorm. It’s got to be one of the more creative approaches to reminding people of the rules set out in their housing contracts.