Graduate Study Lounge

Found on the sixth floor of the main library of West Chester University is a graduate study lounge. The graduate study lounge comes complete with a standard library table suitable for six people, a love seat, and a fairly large padded chair to match the love seat. To gain access to the room, one must have the appropriate five-digit keypad code. Luckily I possess the correct code. I'm not exactly sure how one goes about legitimately gaining access to the room, but I was told the code early last Fall by a recently graduated graduate student and I have happily used it since.

What brought me to write this post is the way students refuse to share the room. There are over one thousand graduate students at West Chester University and, based on a terribly unscientific poll, only a small portion of those students are aware that the graduate study lounge exists. I trust this is the case because those that know about it guard the secret of it like a middle school crush.

It is wonderful to sit in said study lounge and see the faces of people who walk up to the door, only to see someone else occupying the room. There is plenty of room for at least five people to study privately and quietly with adequate room for their computes, books, notepads, etc but people refuse to share the space.

I may never understand people but at least they're fun to watch.

The End May Be In Sight

So last night, I got to stay up really late to finish my final paper of my first year of grad school. I ended up going to bed at 4.30 and waking up at 5.45. I don't normally rise that early, but my car is in the shop so Jenna had to take me to work this morning and while I don't start until 9, she started at 7 this morning. That meant that I got to meander about West Chester University and borough for a few hours. I was able to edit my freshly written paper and watch some political coverage on CNN from the dining area of Burger King. They had a brief back-and-forth between the campaign managers of Clinton and Obama.

In case you were wondering, there's really no chance Clinton can win the nomination, but don't tell her or Howard Wolfson. He went on for several minutes about how she can successfully win the nomination. If they have a strong showing in the rest of the remaining primaries, and they can convince most of the remaining superdelegates that she is more electable based on a carefully chosen set of polls and criteria, and if you seat M*ch*gan and Florida, then she's got a chance. To me, an Obama supporter, it sound just a bit beyond ridiculous. David Axelrod was then given a chance to explain why Obama will win and he, more or less, said, "Because of everything Howard just said. That can't all happen at once." Of course, he was a bit more measured than that but I think I've captured the sentiment.

Anyway, the Clinton campaign reminds me of a basketball team that's down by 20 with 15 seconds remaining, yet they continue to foul. But in this case, they also are working to convince the referees that their shots made during the warm-up should count, too.

Do we now get to focus on McCain?

Speaking of McCain, Arianna Huffington wrote a fairly scathing article the other day. If you haven't read it I would suggest that you do so.

Final Fitness Revolution Update

So I have definitely slacked in the last several weeks. I haven't been writing here, I haven't been working out, and I haven't been eating too well. It's a lot easier to eat well if you're a vegan. It may not taste as good, but it's better for the insides. School has been a beast and it won't stop for at least three weeks. But after that? sweet bliss. I'll have a few weeks off (from school, not work) before my summer class starts.

I've talked to my wonderful wife about my disappointing fitness results and she's not nearly as disappointed as I am in me. She's been very encouraging and mentioned that planning the end of the revolution--the home stretch--to coincide with the home stretch of my semester might not have been the wisest decision. Anyway, I'm blaming my slacker ways on school and I'm happy with that. But fear not! This is not the end of the fitness revolution. I plan to continue the exercise and before too long I will reach my goal of 215 lbs. This morning I weighed in at 227 lbs. It's a few pound gain from my lowest, but it's a total loss of 12 pounds during the revolution. I feel better and a bit fitter and that motivates me to keep it up.

Thanks for caring and thanks for being my friend!

Barack Obama at WCUPA

Today, Barack Obama and Chris Matthews will appear in the Sikes Student Union Theater of the West Chester University of Pennsylvania. Apparently, there's some sort of primary coming up in PA? Anyway, some of my peers lined up at 830 on Monday in preparation for the 1200 box-office opening. I, unfortunately, had to work so I didn't get a ticket (they were free with a WCUPA ID-card). I wish it weren't a taping of Hardball, but Obama hanging out at my university is a pretty cool deal. I figure that I'll try to hang around downtown a bit this afternoon in hopes of seeing the Senator and future President. GOBAMA!