Road Tripping: Maryland - NCAA lacrosse, part 2

Last time, we left off with Cornell maintaining a two-goal lead over Maryland. (Two goals isn't a lot in lacrosse. It’s usually pretty “safe” in other sports, but then again, you could be the Revolution, go into the half leading 4-1, and then go on to tie the game. @Philadelphia Union, September 7, 2011. I heard this one on the radio for myself. Not forgetting it anytime soon.)

Then about ten minutes into the second half, Cornell started scoring and pulling ahead of Maryland. By the time we reached the final minutes of the game, Cornell had an eight-goal lead, and unless Maryland was going to score a goal every fifteen seconds, we were moving on in the tournament. Cornell finished the game for a 16-8 victory, and it made facing the six hours in a bus back to Ithaca so much less miserable.

Plus, the band got to be on TV. Here’s the story: we played “Give my Regards to Davy” (our fight song, usually just referred to as Davy) seventeen or eighteen times and the one time they televised us playing it, we were doing horizontal running Davy.  (After fifteen goals, we start doing variations on Davy – horizontal running Davy involves lying on your back on the bleachers and kicking your legs in the air like you’re running . . . while playing Davy.  Not my idea.)  Thank you, national TV.  But if anyone has some sort of screenshot
of the pep band on TV from this game(Sunday, May 12 at noon, Cornell vs. Maryland men’s NCAA Division I lacrosse), feel free to send it my way. I (and the band) would appreciate it.

View of the game from the pep band's seats

After the game, we left the stadium in high spirits and started the six hour bus ride back to Cornell. At some point in the afternoon, most of the band fell asleep . . . again. Hey, riding the bus takes a lot out of a person.  I mean, it’s high intensity cardiovascular activity mentally straining we were tired college students.  Along the 

way, we stopped for dinner, and then climbed back on the bus for the last leg of our journey.

By the time we reached the band room (four whole minutes early) it was late, so I hauled myself back to my dorm room, ignored the fact that I could have been studying for my math final, and went to sleep. Completely worth it. And if I’d been around the next Saturday (I had just gotten home the Friday night before) I would've done the trip again.

(Cornell beat Ohio State at that game 16-6, but lost the weekend after that to Duke. The game was televised on ESPN2, which I’m only slightly more convinced exists than ESPN U.)

Road Tripping: Maryland - NCAA lacrosse, part 1

After an undefeated season in the Ivy League, Cornell’s men’s lacrosse team managed to lose to Princeton in the semifinal game of the Ivy League playoffs. Cornell still got an unseeded berth in the NCAA tournament, but that meant we would be the away team and have to travel to Maryland. Due to another scheduled event, the band would be making the entire trip in a day. Six hours there, six hours back, all on the day before my math final. Naturally, I signed up to go.

The game was scheduled to begin at 1, so we were supposed to arrive at the stadium at noon, so we planned to leave Ithaca by 5. In the morning. I set a ridiculous number of alarms to make sure I would make it to the band room by 4:45 and packed everything in advance. I have to say, campus is quiet at 4:30 am.

By 5, the bus was loaded and pulling out of the Cornell campus. It was still too dark to see anything, so everyone went (back) to sleep. After a couple hours, the sun finally came up, and a little after that, we stopped for breakfast at a gas station/rest stop. My junior year of high school, the band was taking a trip down to DC by bus, and we discovered the pickle in a bag, which apparently is closely related to peeled hard boiled eggs, because ever since then, I've found these two items at almost every rest stop I've been to. They were there, as usual, sharing a fridge next to the coffee machines. I had oatmeal for breakfast.

Very early morning on the bus

Slightly later morning on the bus . . . when the sun finally came up

More driving, lots of two lane highway and cows and corn fields, and then we arrived in College Park. When we entered the stadium, I have to admit, it was pretty impressive. Byrd Stadium has about double the capacity of Schoellkopf Field, and it’s actually a stadium. But for all the staff workers they had, it still didn't stop them from not knowing we were coming. Next time, we send messenger pigeons and smoke signals ahead of us.

The person we ended up working with, however, seemed to be nice, and we eventually took our seats right behind Cornell’s bench. We could almost understand what the players and coaches were yelling about. Almost.

As usual, it was blindingly bright, but also windy. Fantastic combination. Right at the beginning of the game, Cornell scored two goals, but then things slowed down and the teams went into the half with the score 4-6 in favor of Cornell. We were allowed to play during halftime (sometimes at away games the home team plays ads through the entire break or gives us about seven minutes to try and cram an entire set in . . . Syracuse), including the Alma Mater. As per tradition since sometime before I got to Cornell, the Alma Mater is played at halftime of most sporting events or before the third period of hockey.

The last away game I went to, we went into halftime with a similar score, then lost, and that game wasn't even as big as this one. So we were hopeful, but I wasn't going to get my hopes up too far.

Tune in next time for the exciting finale of the game, as well as six more hours on the band bus.

So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish, part 1 of 3

In acknowledgement of the fact that I have now survived my freshman year of college (been home for a week), there are some people I should recognize who made my year as fantastic as it was.

At Cornell (I'll see most of you in the fall; congratulations to the class of 2013):

The professors who were truly enthusiastic about teaching hoards of clueless freshmen. Any demonstrations were an added bonus and were appreciated by me at least, especially if they involved fire and/or explosions.

The TAs who endured endless questioning, complaining, whining and confusion while trying to help us understand homework/labs/lecture/the meaning of life.

All the engineers who suffered through classes with me. There’s nothing like bonding over Green’s Theorem and Avogadro’s Law.
My fellow ChemEs. To the class of 2016: Here’s to three more years to come. To W8: Thanks again, guys (even if one of us might be having a problem choosing his/her major).

5-3 (my unit in the dorm I was living in) and our perfectly normal late-night middle-of-the-hallway conversations.

The staff and climbers at Cornell Outdoor Education/Lindseth/my rock climbing class for 1) teaching me the basics of rock climbing, 2) belaying me, and 3) just being a fun group of people.

AAIV, for friendship, fellowship, sailing ships, and challenging me to grow in my faith.

Cornell Productions for hiring me at the best job I've ever had. When they said no experience necessary, I guess they meant it.

The big red pep band, especially the clarinet section. #LGR

At home:

The attendees of my home church, who were always ready to welcome me home.

My friends from high school, because they’re that cool.

And lastly, my family, since they’re the ones paying for my education, supporting me through this college thing, transporting me to and from Ithaca . . . you know, small things like that.

What I've Learned at Cornell (Take Two)

No, this is still not a philosophical discussion about institutes of higher education, but this post will have a slightly more academic focus than the last one . . . make that a very slightly more academic focus.
In an attempt to sound vaguely serious about this, here goes:

1. Independent study in the lab (or: What to do when faced with beakers with questionable pasts, three funnels, and no test tube rack): General Chemistry lab drawers tend to be stocked with things like the test tube with the burnt sugar stuck to the bottom and the possibly cracked beaker, and sometimes we may have had a tendency to play musical lab equipment. Equipment notwithstanding, we were forced to do lab work without much guidance (don’t worry, we were still supervised). Sometimes we were given a goal and had to come up with our own procedures, which I guess was probably useful in preparing us for the future, when we’re not going to get step by step instructions for everything. In fact, we’re going to have to come up with our own goals as well. . . . The world should probably start preparing for me right about . . . now.

2. How to put your best foot forward (or: How to sell yourself): Good news; it doesn't end with college applications! At the start of spring semester, I decided I wanted to get a job and join the workforce of disgruntled, underpaid student employees at Cornell.* Job applications require you to again, present yourself in a positive way, but this time, instead of taking $50,000 of your money every year for four years, they give you minimum wage. I really don’t have any foolproof advice for getting a job (or getting into college), but don’t sell yourself short and also don’t try to be something you aren't. Especially if your potential employer is going to ask for a demonstration of backwards curling while riding a unicycle.

3. Thinking on your feet (or: Improvisational lighting; or: No one knew the band was coming . . . again): Between pep band and Cornell Productions, I had my share of going with the flow this year. Working at Cornell Productions, I learned a lot by doing. You’re not getting paid to know the theory and history of different types of lighting; you’re getting paid to set up lighting and haul around sound equipment, chairs, and risers. Similarly, for whatever reason, the pep band would occasionally show up to events only to have the person in charge have no idea that twenty-five people with large metal and plastic objects would be there. That usually meant we’d have to watch our conductor for once extra closely for emergency cutoffs, especially if the announcer started frantically gesturing at us.

4. Responsibility and independence (or: You should still eat and sleep): When you get to college, you soon realize you can do almost anything you want to (almost anything being anything legal and within reason). Ice cream for breakfast? Sure. Sleep through morning classes then play video games during afternoon classes? Go right ahead. On the other hand, you can also skip meals to study and stay up to four in the morning doing homework. Choose wisely. (And really, don’t forget to eat and sleep.)

5. Office hours (or: What is the answer to the question of life, the universe, and everything?): When in doubt, guess three. And then go to office hours. This one depends on the TAs (and the professor), but if the TAs are good, and you have a few questions about the material no idea what the heck is going on in class, go to office hours. My intro to ChemE group and I spent a lot of time at office hours first semester. Mainly to comment on how confused we were, but we did also have a few legitimate questions. As an added bonus, if you stay long enough, the TAs will sometimes give away the answer to the ridiculous problem you've been assigned for homework. True story.

Bonus: Instrument maintenance (or: But actually, scrape out the yellow stuff in your clarinet mouthpiece): No, it was not mold. And yes, my clarinet magically plays a lot better now.

*So far, my work experiences have been overwhelmingly positive. I even make more than minimum wage. Also, this seems to be as good a time as any to say that besides returning to my job with Cornell Productions in the fall, I've also been accepted as a Cornell blogger. I know, you can’t wait for even more of my charming wit and intellect.

The Time Space Paradox

In my recent studies in advanced quantum physics introductory course to computer programming, I have come to the conclusion that you can either be fast or small.  Your program will either take half a millisecond and the memory of a supercomputer or the memory space of a pocket calculator and three years to run.  (Figures may be slightly exaggerated.)

I do have to say that I enjoyed my brief foray into the world of computer programming.  Not enough to become a CS (computer science) major, but enough to maybe take another programming class in the future.  Maybe.  If I’m not too busy memorizing carbon groups and maximizing yields from chemical processes.

Meanwhile, the last month or so of spring semester at Cornell managed to speed past, be incredibly time consuming, and require approximately one hundred percent of my available memory space.  How’s that for a time space paradox?  Besides finishing up my second round of prelims, I had work assignments every week, spent too much some time at the climbing wall, went to almost every pep band event, and ended with finals.

It was a little busy up on the hill.  But spring finally came to Ithaca, and it was a good month overall.

Spring on campus

I didn't fail any of my prelims, heard some good concerts at Bailey, had a lot of fun at lacrosse games, started working on some routes at the climbing wall, and . . . took finals.  No, I don’t really have anything good to say about taking finals.  I had two of my finals in Barton – the gym has an indoor track inside, to give you some idea of how big the space is.  The other one was in the Statler auditorium and the professor and the TAs didn't show up until five minutes after the final was scheduled to start.

All things considered, it was a solid finish to my first year of college. Don’t worry, you’re still going to hear about what I did in more detail. I’m kind of behind on posting, so this is partly a quick update on my life and partly an explanation for the drop off in posts during May. Still to come: a report from the pep band’s day trip to Maryland, some of my more athletic endeavors, several recaps on the semester and year, and probably more about food. . . . Definitely more about food.