Life After Connecticut College

What a week it has been! Everyone in my office is gearing up for Insights, which is basically two days (tonight and tomorrow) for alumni volunteers who will celebrate a reunion either in 2009 or 2010 to come together to start planning their reunions (if that seems like planning things way too far ahead of time, just keep in mind that Reunion 2009 will have a tropical theme, and it takes longer than you might think roll all of a fully-grown camel's hair into dreadlocks). Compounding the chaos is the fact that the Board of Trustees and the Alumni Board of Directors are both here and that this week we're holding the annual Dinners with 12 Strangers for students, alumni, faculty, and staff, so the sheer number of VIPs, VVIPs, and NNVIBSPIPs (Not Necessarily Very Important But Still Pretty Important People) that are around is a little staggering. However, it's a great opportunity to really energize all three groups, so I'm glad that everyone is here at the same time....

....Speaking of multiple Conn people being in the same place, my good buddy and classmate Laura "What can Laura Brown do for you?" Brown (she's very helpful) is moving to New London! Last week she started a great new job at the High Hopes Therapeutic Riding center in Old Lyme. She likes Old Lyme but feels that it is too expensive and not young enough for her (it's a good place to raise a family, but she's looking for a good place to raise a ruckus), so instead she'll be living here in the lovely Whaling City (city motto: Juventus Sine Pecunia). Since she is a small, blond 23-year-old woman (represent), she asked me to accompany her on her apartment search, which I was happy to do since I'll also be looking for an apartment later in the spring (plus I find it flattering that she thought I would be at all intimidating to potential swindlers/rapists). Over the last few days, we've seen some of the best and the worst that New London has to offer, and surprisingly the best and the worst both cost pretty much the same. Laura got frustrated that she couldn't find anything in her price range that she liked, but her hopes were buoyed by learning that my current apartment is quite nice yet inexplicably inexpensive; I suspect that my low rent is a result of having what some people might consider a "bad address" (I live at 666 Poltergeist Terrace). Fortunately, there were a few places that she did like, so I'm sure she'll be able to find something that fits her budget and her aesthetic sensibilities.

While Laura transitions to a new job and a new home, seemingly countless other people in my life are approaching a different life milestone: having a baby. For example, one of the Annual Fund's wonderful, youthful, magnanimous assistants (they read the blog), Nancy "Jean Luc" Picard, welcomed a brand new granddaughter to the world a few weeks ago, and let me just thank sweet gentle Jesus that this kid is adorable, as perhaps my greatest character flaw is that I am terrible at pretending that non-cute kids are cute. Another one of my coworkers and fellow alum, Beth "Swimming" Poole '00 (that joke is funnier when you consider that she was on the swim team when she was a student at Conn), is pregnant with her first baby. Obviously this is a very exciting time for her and her husband, but what makes me the most excited is that there is very good chance that the kid will be born on Floralia, and since Beth's husband Andrew is also an alum, that means that there is also a very good chance that their child will go to Conn, and that means that it is entirely possible that he or she will celebrate his or her 21st birthday on Floralia! What could be better?

Okay, with all that stuff out of the way, it's time to get to what really matters: last night's episode of Lost! Oh my clucking gourd, that show is BANANAS (that sentence contains 20% of your recommended daily intake of fruits and vegetables). I don't want to spoil anything for anybody (that's Nate's job), but I will say that it had possibly the biggest reveal in the history of the show (the biggest reveal in my own history was probably the time that I bent over to pick up a bag of peanuts at a Milwaukee Brewers game and my butt crack ended up on the Jumbotron). Also, I'll once again advise anyone out there who doesn't watch Lost to go immediately to the video store, buy the first three season on DVD, watch them all, get up to date on this season at ABC.com, and prepare for what I'm sure will be a mind-blowing episode next week (that sentence has a secret joke in it that only Lost fans will be able to detect; non-Lost fans, e-mail me if you want a different joke unrelated to Lost to make up for it).

Okey doke, time to wrap this motha up! I'll catch y'all next week with an update about Insights and all dat bidness.

Posted by Chris Reilly at 4:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I had some funnier titles in mind, but I figured I wrote Annals of Penn Law Vol. 1 No. 1, so I might as well do a No. 2. As you may remember, I was not particularly impressed with my first law class experience; however, the class has certainly grown on me. We've gone from reading about the history of vaccinations and the propoganda campaigns that have gone along with them to new born and pre-natal screening. Both of these public health categories have raised and continue to raise ethical problems, especially when these programs are legislatively mandated. As far as disease case reporting is concerned, HIV and AIDS has been one of the most difficult public health dilemmas in recent history because of the associated stigmas, discrimination, political rights, and the lack of curative treatments for it. Fortunately, this is rapidly changing, which changes our conception of what should be mandated. Legally speaking, many of the cases surrounding these public health issues have been very interesting to analyze and difficult to solve, despite some very meticulous statutes.

YES, I know that's all crazy interesting, but I'm sure someone will read that. Anyway, since my time-of-my-life experience in New Orleans I've been to some craptastic club swim meets at the University of Maryland and the University of Virginia. UMD has an unbelievable pool, one of the best in the world, and it was exciting just to go there. UVA also has a pretty nice pool, but has an even more nicer campus (I know that's incorrect grammar, but easy A with Dean Ray was the only English Class I took! (It really was a great class)). If you have never been there I recommend it. The campus is uniformly georgian/classical architecture, has some nice green spaces, and the great town of Charlottesville to its credit as well. ALSO, although only half my readers will care, the pizza restaraunt Mellow Mushroom has the hottest wait staff ever. ALL of you will be glad to know that it has good food. Maybe not as good as a New England or New York pizza place, but it still tastes nice.

The work is piling on, so I better get back to it. I'll report on the rest of my classes later. As for the architecture of UVA's campus, if I got it wrong, please feel free to correct me. Take care team camel.

Posted by Sam Garner at 4:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hello folks! What an exciting week it has been! Political debates, Prince Harry in Afghanistan (and now not), oil at $103 dollars, and the approved execution of the notorious “Chemical Ali,” a cousin of Saddam Hussein were some top stories. And then we have my life, filled with irritable clients, Judd’s and Lichtenstein’s, and brisk weather to top it all off. We are finally getting into the swing of things with the opening of two viewings today and many more clients coming demanding free catalogues and our Christie's top notch client service. Basically uneventful, but it getz that monaay monaay (or enough to barely survive in the city). It has left some free time during the evenings to continue my side research into electromagnets and time-travel theories…

Which brings me to LOST! (Sorry to all your folks who are dying to read more about my life, but Thursdays are hard to just skip by, what with all the trouble in the world and my overwhelming nerdness, but I’ll let you know when something exciting happens)…
Well, last night’s was a doozy. The episode was Desmond-centric and introduced a whole new type of ‘flash-back’ with confirmation of time-travel, or something of that sort. We finally met up with the freighter (on which it is December 24th, whereas on the island it happens to be their 96th day, or December 26th) which is manned by fellow time-traveler Minkowski, a guy from Florida, and a burly tattooed man named Keamy from Las Vegas (w00t w00t), and Ben’s agent (cough cough my guess Michael cough) who happens to not only let Desmond and Sayid free but also sabotaged the radio as a worker for Ben (he still has love and guilt for the Losties even after his betrayal). We also got to see Desmond in the army, Desmond in distress, and Desmond in love (aww). Much like the episode from last season, Flashes Before Your Eyes, Desmond leads a lucid dream-esque flashback, except after last night’s episode we can now officially confirm them as time travels (at least of consciousness).

We have Desmond, who in order to save himself must convince Oxford Faraday to believe that he actually has traveled through time and in order to do that Future Faraday must tell Desmond certain coordinates for Oxford Faraday’s machine which in turn will blast Eloise, the Oxford rat, with a pink glow (much like PKD’s Valis, which I mentioned in the previous blog, where the protagonist is continually zapped by a pink laser and being revealed visions of the future) and zip her consciousness into the future to learn the path around the maze that he built this morning and has yet to run her through. Whoa. Now once Desmond has convinced Oxford man that he is the real deal, Faraday will tell him he needs to find a ‘Constant’ in both his present and future selves (or is it past and present selves?). This, obviously is the love of his life, Penny Widmore, daughter of the uber-rich and illustrious Charles Widmore, who just so happens to be bidding for the journal of a man aboard the Black Rock (which is lot 2342). So in the midst of jumping consciousness from 1996 to 2004 (8 years) Desmond has to reach contact with Penny in both periods to save himself. In the meantime his brain has essentially lost all that has occurred in those 8 years. This has some connections to Faraday, which I will write about later. Now with all this time travel apparently happening (Desmond with the explosion of the hatch and his episode happening in the midst of a lightning storm, Minkowski and his fellow island seeker, and possibly Danielle Rousseau’s crew [who were admittedly exposed to radiation, she being pregnant did not partake in those experiments]) we can only hope that Lidelhoff and Abram steer clear of having a paradox, such as that penned by Rene Barjavel in 1943 as the “Grandfather Paradox.”

Faraday has, for me at least, become one of the more intricate and interesting characters. Every aspect of the island and its physical/chronological properties are somehow tied to his research, of which in turn I believe has greatly affected his ability to remember (the card test done by Charlotte on the beach, crying for an unknown reason when he hears of Oceanic 815, his inability to properly recognize [I think so, he could have been covering up] Desmond and his ‘constant’ relationship with him), as Desmond mentions to Oxford Faraday before the Eloise experiment that the radiation vest does not protect his head, like Desmond’s exposure to the electromagnetic radiation of the Swan Station and the lightning. It is possible that the same type of memory affects on Desmond could be happening to Faraday, although seemingly at a lesser degree. We know that if it isn’t already happening, that Faraday fears that he will get into the same rut as Desmond, and therefore at the end reassures himself with a note in his journal that Desmond is his ‘constant.’

All in all it was an incredible episode, confirming the time-travel(esque) theories that have been floating around (the orientation video of the Orchid station at Comic-con) and allowed us to delve deeper into the intricacies of time and space on and off the island. Looking forward to next week; hopefully we’ll get a glimpse at Ben’s man on the freighter and more time with Desmond.

Posted by Nate Borgelt at 1:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

One of the things I miss most about college is that the weekend started Friday mornings (I was not of those lucky ones whose weekends started on Thursdays). Now, I have to wait until Friday evening, which is much too long. Friday is THE longest day of the week by far, mostly because I just can't wait for the weekend to start. And then, of course, the weekend just flies by and next thing I know it's Monday again. So I try to make sure that my weekends are jam-packed full of fun. And, that, they have been...

Last weekend, the long President's Day weekend, was full of adventure and surprise. It all started out swell. Abby Ballou and I had planned to drive to Greenwich, CT and then take Metro-North to NYC. This was made impossible by several occurrences. While driving down I-84W, something flew off the car in front of us and gave us a flat tire. As Abby called AAA (Association of Apathetic Asses), I attempted to change the flat with confidence since I have successfully done so before. Much to my dismay, a combination of darkness, frigid wind, and a lack of a tire iron (to loosen the bolts on the rim) made it futile. An hour and a half later and several attempts at finding someone other than AAA to help us out, our AAA man showed up in his big truck. Just as we were getting excited to get going, our man informs us that our spare is flat. Are you kidding me?! Nope. Luckily, our guy is the only person at AAA that is helpful and he took our spare to a gas station to fill up with air. However, this wasted only more our precious time and we were left with only a little over an hour to drive 70 miles on a spare, which we could only drive 55mph on. Talk about cutting it dangerously close! We manage to get to the New Haven station (since we obviously were not going to make it to Greenwich) with about 2 minutes to spare... which ended up being not enough. Abby and I stood on the platform and watched the last train of the day pull away. Bastards. Nevertheless, we did manage to get to New York. We arrived in the city at 1:30am via Greyhound.

The adventures in car trouble did not end there. On Sunday, we attempted to make our way back to Boston, but first we had to find a place to get a tire. Ha. No such luck. So we left NYC early Monday morning hoping that the folks at Firestone in New Haven would fit us into their tight schedule. While driving around New Haven looking for the place, the engine light started to blink. Like we needed more trouble. On the bright side, at least this happened before the tire was fixed rather than after. So we sat in the icebox that was Firestone for who-knows-how-long until finally the car was ready. And that is the end of our adventure, which Abby is going to turn into a great country hit. Look for it in the near future.

This weekend was not nearly as adventurous, but still quite eventful. Here, in Boston, we had some snow on Friday that made for much fun. I love how snow turns most people of any age into giddy children. There are few things that are better than a good snow fight. Also occurring in Boston this weekend was the Silent Dance Experiment. These guys called Banditos Misteriosos (Spanish for Mysterious Bandits) decided to gather some people at Faneuil Hall who would all dance to music that was silent to the general public. This was accomplished by downloading a song from their website, putting it on our iPods, syncing our watches, showing up at the intended time, inserting our headphones, and hitting play at the same time. Then we just danced and followed the instructions in the song. It was a lot of fun! Following our fun dance experiment, Allen Penniman, Jehanne Junguenet, Rachel Mandell, Seth Solway, and I played a game of Scrabble at a quaint cafe called Francesca's Cafe in the South End. Apparently this was not my weekend for winning games since I lost terribly in Scrabble and had previously lost a game of Catch Phrase on Friday night with this same group of people. All I have to say about that is that I'm going to win next time. I will be unmerciful.

To finish off my weekend, I baked some delicious oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and am currently watching the Academy Awards. Speaking of which, I cannot believe that Cate Blanchett didn't win Best Supporting Actress. Anyway, I'm going to go stuff my face with cookies and milk. Until next time...

One final thing, check out the Boston Silent Dance Experiment: http://www.misteriosos.org/

Posted by Marissa Velarde at 8:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The past several weeks have been a continuous extravaganza of family, friends, dogs, and of course, work. In between the hectic days at Christie's, where our sales season is just getting started, I have been graced with the presence of my parents, who were in the city for the Westminster Dog show, which also happens to be the second oldest sporting event in the United States after the Kentucky Derby. This being their 10th year in attending, they had the privilege of an additional 2 tickets, which my girlfriend and I gladly accepted…

Being a regular watcher on TV (Chris and I would take bets on the winners, watching every night in our smoking jackets and sipping on port or cognac) I was more than excited to actually be present at the event. It is a unique opportunity to get up close and personal with the dogs because it is a ‘benched’ competition, meaning that all the breeders, handlers, and dogs are required to be on the premises from 8 in the morning until 8 at night, when the finals begin. Making our rounds in the benching area, Robyn and I were continually “awing” as we moved from breed to breed petting and conversing with the dogs and their owners. I was particularly excited to see a whole bunch of my favorites, the Bull Terriers, and Robyn’s favorites, the Golden Retrievers, which were just incredibly gorgeous this year (although she claims, and I have no doubt, that her old dog Rudy was the most beautiful Golden ever, and would have destroyed these animals in any competition, be it in the ring or at Yahtzee). It was a very exciting two days, capped off with an incredibly tense finale in which our favorite, and vocal, beagle Uno won Best in Show. The next days involved late nights with both my parents and Robyn’s, in celebration of many festive events! For starters, the week before was Robyn’s brother’s final week in the Navy after serving for 10 years and many deployments across the world as chief engineer on several missile destroyers. Additionally, Robyn graduated last week from Sotheby’s Institute of Art with her Masters in American Fine and Decorative Arts (MAFDA), possibly one of the longest acronyms for a degree ever. Throughout the ceremony I was trying to think of all the different things that MAFDA could stand for, but Chris being the pro on those things, I’ll leave it up to him. Afterwards we attended the University Club in midtown, a swanky classy club where we had a private room and not less than three different drinks on the table per person. We then finished up the night at the bar at the Peninsula Hotel with our old bartender friend Juan. Needless to say that work the next day was rather painful. This weekend I am heading down to outside of Washington to stay at Robyn’s beach house and get away from the city. It is a much needed excursion and will hopefully refuel me for a couple more weeks of muggy city weather and crowded streets.
And of course last night was Lost night, full of more questions and more mind!@#$s.
POSSIBLE SPOILERS!
The previous couple episodes definitely have set up puzzling scenarios about the nature of the island, most notably the time questions thanks to Faraday’s experiment. The payload shot from the freighter was 31 minutes late, so does that mean that time on the island is 31 minutes at a steady difference, or does time run 84% slower (but that just makes a lot of things seem crazylike, like the Black Rock, Adam and Eve, but then again we have the new character Charlotte Staples Lewis [um, C.S. Lewis, where in Narnia a few seconds on Earth equals days] or maybe it is just some weird location/electromagnetic disturbance in GPS type things... But then this week we learn at the end that the helicopter hasn’t even reached the freighter after two days. We know Sayid gets off the island, so the helicopter isn’t gone, it’s just, well, ‘gone.’ It might be in a sort of time rift where time seems to pass regularly on the helicopter in this area (such as on the island time seems to flow regularly, but we know it isn’t). It is possible that the time dilation could depend on the mass of the object; radio/light travels instantaneously, the missile, a small but fast object takes 31 minutes, and the helicopter, a much larger and not very fast object takes much longer. The delay could also simply not be linear.
I was very excited about the book which Locke hands to Ben, Valis, by my favorite author Philip K. Dick. One thing that Lost does a great job of is small tidbits, mostly literary, of information regarding their overall plot. From Sayid’s discovery of Ben’s secret room behind a bookshelf of Islamic texts, to the insatiable reading of books by Sawyer (side note: the book he was reading this previous episode was The Invention of Morel, which is a book about a fugitive hiding on an island in the South Pacific), the writers love throwing in cultural references. Anways, Valis is about a man who receives ‘transmissions’ from ‘God’ through purple lasers emitting down on him be an extraterrestrial satellite. Now, how would this relate to Lost… Well, multiple theories purport to the ‘alternate reality’ within which the losties are thrust when they are marooned. Valis is essentially an entire tale of an alternate reality and its blending with what the narrator perceive as ‘real,’ and well, that has something to do with the current situation the losties are in. Basically I was just really excited because I love PKD.
And now for the mind!@#$ at the end: Aaron. So, we have Aaron, Claire’s or Kate’s. Now I’m not sure where I stand on this right now, but there are several clues which push us both ways. Now we have seen Walt’s ability to grow rather fast, and Aaron at the end looks like he, if Kate’s son (through Sawyer), could have garnered that feature of children on the island. That could be a reason Jack doesn’t want to see the child of Kate, who he loves, and Sawyer. It could also be that somehow Jack found out about Claire being his half sister and therefore Aaron his nephew, which might, in some weird way, conjure thoughts of his father which he can’t face just yet. Then again, like typical Lost, we don’t have the whole story. Claire and Aaron could have boarded a helicopter per Desmond’s vision and something simply happened to Claire on the freighter.
NEW INGENIOUS SPONTANIOUS THEORY: Jack’s story about 8 people being alive and 6 surviving through the help of Kate (the story at the trial) in my opinion is what happens AFTER they get off the island. They are ‘rescued’ by the boaties only to be marooned again on another island which can eventually be found by rescue parties. This would make Jack telling the truth and what the cover-up that the O6 are all hiding: all the events before a second island. You heard it here first!
As for the Ben/Miles conversation, that is for another day (secret code anyone?)…

Posted by Nate Borgelt at 4:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is the 50th post on the Class of 2007 Blog! Congratulations to all the writers and readers who have made this e-xperiment a success (I, personally, want to thank the little people). Ah yes, it seems like only yesterday that I made my first mildly entertaining pun....

Right now I'm gearing up for a brief but (fingers-crossed) effective trip to Boston tomorrow. I only have two meetings, which will be nice because I'll have plenty of time to focus on just these two alumni on the train ride up. The only problem is that I'm not sure what I'll be doing about watching Lost tomorrow night! Hopefully I'll be able to meet up with fellow '07er Kerri "The Things They Kerried" Casey (she's a bit of a 'Nam buff) and a few other Camels to catch what will undoubtedly be another top-notch episode....

Speaking of the entertainment world, I've finally broken my puzzlingly-long streak of not going out to the movies! On Monday, stalwart roommate and general life caddy Mitch "Wicked Mitch of the Midwest" Herz and I caught Michael Clayton as part of the New London Winter Film Festival at the Garde Arts Center here in New London. For a film about the highly complex details of a six-year class action lawsuit against a global agricultural corporation, it was actually pretty exciting (Farm Wars Episode VI: Attack of the Potato Guns was much more boring). Tonight I'm headed out to Mystic to see There Will Be Blood, which I've been itching to catch for a while (huh, usually I itch after I catch something). I'll try to hit the gym beforehand, otherwise all this popcorn I've been eating will go straight to my thighs (you are the devil, Orville Redenbacher!).

On Friday, the Alumni office had a very successful panel featuring six alums who each spoke about one of the most popular courses of actions for students after they graduate (medical school, law school, non-profit work, professional synchronized skinny dipping, etc.). Everyone who attended had a great time, and each of the alumni panelists had some great advice, so I was really happy about how the event turned out.

This just in: a moment ago it was brought to my attention that there is a gigantic picture of me in the new issue of the College Voice! Current senior Adrian "AAADRIAAAAAN" Stover was kind enough to interview me about the Senior Giving program for this illustrious publication, and as many of you have realized by now, the sight of my face and hair makes everything I say about 50% funnier (I like to think of myself as a clown without any makeup). I'll figure out a way to get this baby digital so y'all can check it out.

Alrighthy, time for me to saddle up and head out. Check back in soon to read about how this Boston trip goes and how quickly the senior class shoots to 100% participation after seeing my stunning visage in the Voice. Hasta la pasta!

Posted by Chris Reilly at 2:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So I went to Ikea in New Haven. It was a very serious experience. I got there early for “Ikea breakfast” (who knew). Eggs, bacon, fried potatoes (pretty much Conn. Coll. food, but tasted a day older) and Swedish Pancakes. Which are apparently a hit. While I was waiting in the cafeteria style line with the other early shoppers this one lady was yelling at the Ikea staff. “Where are the pancakes! There’s no pancakes!” she was screaming from the little service island to the back of the cooking area 15 feet away. “There’s no more pancakes!” The service lady, who was doing her best with a near deaf old guy (who had detailed questions about Ikea cuisine) was telling the yeller that the pancakes were made “fresh” and would be out any minute. This woman yelled about her lack of pancakes until a guy came from the back carrying a tray five minutes later.

Swedish pancakes…a really big deal.

I bought a floor lamp for $6.99. I felt like I was shoplifting. Crate & Barrel was selling the same floor lamps for $35. With my saving I picked up other things I didn’t need, like a little plant with a nice pot. My place is real drab and the roommate DEFFINITELY don’t help.

I even contemplated buying a flower box. On a full stomach you buy all kinds of things you’ll never need or take care of.

On the way out, after paying for my stuff and paying for the plastic bags in which to carry it all (Europeans), the Ikea hits you with their $1 hotdogs, cinnamon-buns and soft serve.

Maybe all you Ikea veterans are over this. I was taken aback. I loaded up on like 6 cina-buns. And really wanted to dig into some of that cheap Swedish import food they sell as gourmet. Like the jars of caviar for 3.49. But the Swedes can’t fool me, and I thought I’ll just hit up Ikea on E-Trade, get rich, and buy some REAL expensive caviar.

Posted by Ross Jordan at 10:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Before I get into the nitty gritty details of my Men's Health world, I figured it might be useful to catch up on what I did in between graduation and the present. Of course, it'll be a relatively short entry, because I didn't do much. I left New London and settled into my parent's apartment on the upper west side of Manhattan. I sent my resume to every corner of the world (well, at least Manhattan), for months on end. I had the occasional interview, but none of them worked out. I worked as a personal assistant to the editor in chief at Cosmopolitan Magazine, Kate White. When I say personal assitant, I don't mean that I went to an office daily. I simply took care of random things that she couldn't get to in her ridiculously crazy life. This was my main way to keep busy and stay close to the magazine world. In September, I served on a jury, which was one way to get paid. (In one sentence, it was for attempted second degree murder. The trial was nearly as good as Law and Order, albeit longer and without the cross-examination melodrama.) A fellow juror recommended a temp agency, which I used for a few weeks. Then I got the call that change my life...

It was the Friday of my birthday celebration in late October, so I was already excited to get all my favorite people to Jake's Dilemma on the upper west side. While out scouting for new birthday shoes, Kate White called me and told me that the assistant position in their Beauty Department needed a temp. I thought it perfect that she called me while shoe shopping; I mean it was a totally Cosmo moment of mine, and Kate White--the ultimate Cosmo girl--sensed it. Ironically, the Beauty Director at Cosmo had jury duty, and wouldn't be able to fill the position until the trial finished. So, one of my birthday gifts was knowing I had a two or three week gig at Cosmopolitan for their beauty section.

Working for Cosmo's beauty section was a great learning experience. I learned that beauty is not simply about good bone structure. It does help to have fine features and a glowing personality, but the more important thing is having good lotions and potions. Although the subject matter for beauty writing isn't exactly up my alley, I did appreciate my time at Cosmo. I helped arrange beauty spread photo shoots. I also help pick products for the upcoming spring issues. It was great to see how another section of a women's magazine comes together, since I usually skipped over the beauty pages. I also realized that in terms of the limitless amount of beauty products there are on the market, I am not even low-maintenance, I'm no maintenance. Rest assured, however, that I now know the difference between a cleanser and a toner.

The Cosmo position also proved to be instrumental in landing the paid internship at Men's Health. While visiting Kate White in her office one day, I was discussing a job I applied for a few weeks earlier at Men's Health magazine's PR group. The PR position fell through when they didn't have the budget to pay for an intern. As I was recounting this to Kate, who sent a recommendation to HR, her assistant, Mina, came in to relay a message to Kate. Mina overheard me speaking about "Men's Health" and mentioned that she had done a six month internship with their editorial team. She also thought they'd be hiring for their next cycle of interns. Long and short, Mina sent a few emails with my attached resume, I had a phone interview, and then I got the job.

This was right around Thanksgiving. Since then I have been working at the Men's Health office in Emmaus, PA. (Rodale, their publisher, became successful with an agricultural magazine, which is why they're out in the farmlands of PA.) I live in Reading, with my aunt and uncle, and commute 40 mintues to MH.

I realize that this entry was a bit dry, but I felt the need to lay the ground work before I discuss being a graduate of a once-female college working in a Healthy Man's world, so to speak. See you next time!

Posted by Sophie Fitzgerald at 10:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Phew, I am back safe and sound in New London after my trip to Boston (total burrito count: only 1, but it was good), where I spent Sunday through yesterday morning attending a development conference and visiting alumni on behalf of the College. The trip was definitely successful, but since I worked on Saturday and Sunday and got back to the office around noon yesterday, my internal calendar is completely thrown off (you don't even want to know what condition my inner child is in). Last night I went to sleep around 8:00 (not on purpose) because I had been up until 2:00 the night before waiting in vain for a T ride that never came (wow, that would be a great song lyric). Fortunately, Conn put me up in a nice hotel, so I managed to rack up some solid rest in a limited amount of time....

....In typical Boston fashion, I bumped into multiple Conn alumni while I was up there (in case you don't know, approximately 43.8% of Boston's population is made up of Conn graduates). The first was Mike Strangfeld '03, who was working the bar at a restaurant called Sasso, which is across from the Pru. We didn't get a chance to chat about the College, but I figured that since he tends bar in downtown Boston he probably meets several dozen alums a day, so I decided not to bother him. The other run-in was with Erin Sullivan '07, with whom I ended up riding the T yesterday morning. She got off one stop ahead of me, and between our respective stations the train ended up getting stuck for over 30 minutes because another train further up the tracks "was having an equipment malfunction" (that's the politically correct term for "accidentally ran over a frat guy"). Should have stuck with my fellow camel and walked the rest of the way!

Despite the delay, I made it back to the hotel in time to quickly pack up, check out, un-valet my car, and hustle back to campus in time for a meeting between President Higdon and the Senior Giving Committee. I was actually a little bit nervous about it because I wanted as many people as possible to be there, and students' schedules are notoriously complex. We ended up having a good group in attendance, and the president gave a great talk about why giving, particular Senior Giving, is so important to the success of the College. One example that he cited that I found particularly powerful was that of an alumna who recently donated $1 million after being so inspired and impressed by the number of people from my class who made a gift as seniors. That only further underscored in my mind the importance of reaching 100% participation this year!

Somehow, regardless of the fact that I slept for almost 12 hours last night, I am still exhausted. I'm blaming my sluggishness on the unprecedented crappiness of the weather in New England over the last few days; on Sunday, there was even simultaneous snow, fog, and lightning, which I'm pretty sure is a sign of the oncoming apocalypse (as opposed to simultaneous stomach tattoos, 40s, and gangsta rapping, which is a sign of the oncoming Tupacalypse). Spring Break is coming up, so if anyone has any warm weather plans that I can tag along with let me know.

That's it for ol' C-Rei! I'll update you guys again after something interesting happens to me (which may not be for a while, since I plan on going to bed at 8:00 again tonight).

Posted by Chris Reilly at 9:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

A full time position is a mixed blessing. Sure you get paid, feel fulfilled, and are challenged daily, but you don't have all the free time that you did when you were floating your resume around. Free time that could be used to blog away. Men's Health is in the midst of closing its May issue, which means we're swamped here. Emmaus may not be as glamorous as you'd think, but it still manages to produce new and surprising monthly tidbits for washboard ab-ed men everywhere. Stay tuned for more news on the writing behind "Ask Men's Health" questions as well as the sidebars I wrote. Oddly enough, my recent college experience--not necessarily my personal experience--proved very useful for a college sex article. I'll holler soon.

Posted by Sophie Fitzgerald at 10:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I haven't blogged for awhile, so I wanted to quickly tell you what I've been up to lately. My classes are going just dandily right now, but what I really want to talk about is my weekend. This past weekend, as part of a club swim team trip, I took a little 3-day trip to New Orleans! I have never been there before and it was incredible. Perhaps some people would enjoy other cities more, but being a music major, besides Vienna, this is the one place you learn about the most. It was fantastic to finally see a place that appreciates jazz. In the french quarter it seemed that every other bar or club had live music that was jazz, blues, or really bad cover bands. I even had the good fortune to hook up with my close friend Brenna Muller from Conn and then convinced the whole swim club to come with us to see New Orlean's own Ellis Marsalis (famed piano playin' father of Wynton)! It was a great show, even though he's 70 something, and the entire club ended up really enjoying the show (the ladies especially loved the sexy bass player). Speaking of sexy bass players...Chris Reilly has got the moves to make you groves.

Anyway, the entire charm of the city is great, it's like being in a jazz version of Pirates of the Caribbean. Also, unlike Philly (in so many ways), the entire service industry down there was fantastic. We got lovely drinking and hangover advice from the hostess at the House of Blues (which had surprisingly good food), and genuinely kind treatment almost everywhere we went. And, if you're interested to know, the death culture down there is really cool too. There are tons of voodoo shops, haunted tours, and cemetary tours. The cemetaries are especially neat because the tombs are all above ground so the coffins don't float out of the ground because most of the city is below sea level.

If anyone has not been there and you have a chance to go I highly recommend it. My weekend was some of the most fun I've ever had and some reminiscent of floralia, but along the Mississippi. I hope everyone is enjoying this blustery Feburary. Oh yeah, in reference to the title, some awesome guy at a bar really told the team that.

Posted by Sam Garner at 9:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I’m at work…and decided this would be a good time to throw down my first entry. Most of the time I’m running around being arty, but last Wednesday I attended a rally for immigrants’ rights in Danbury, CT. were some 4000 Portuguese and Latino immigrants gathered in front of the city’s municipal building to protest the passage of a controversial bill allowing the city police to be trained to assist ICE (the federal immigration police). Blurring the lines between the immigration task force and everyday law enforcement. Needless to say people fall on all sides of issues dealing with immigration and Danbury, CT, oddly enough, has become a focal point of the discussion.

It was a pretty serious experience, yelling in three different languages (English, Portuguese and Spanish) for three hours with immigrant and native protestors. Being in the middle of a crowd that large with so many charged emotions makes you feel as if anything could happen to turn a protest into a mob or a police officer guarding to attacking. But there were plenty of warm smiles and pats on the back from strangers who were happy for the support of an outsider that many of my fears went away.

For me this issue is about human rights and my fear of criminalizing a section of our population that is only here for want of a better life. That said I also believe illegal immigration is unfair to people who migrate to the states through our excruciatingly complicated and difficult citizenship process. In the end this issue is about those who have and those who don’t have and can’t get. I’ve seen Mexican poverty and America looks pretty tempting from down there.

Deep,

The boss man

Posted by Ross Jordan at 2:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Whew, I am glad it's Friday! I've got quite a busy weekend ahead of me, though, so I won't be able to get in as much couch time as I would like. It all kicks off at 4:00, when the entire Becker House staff will get together for a wine tasting courtesy of Scott Hafner '80, who runs a great vineyard out in California; thanks Scott! Later tonight, Mitch and I will probably go see There Will Be Blood, which, contrary to my previous understanding, is not the film adaptation of my post from last week about donating to the Red Cross (but then who did I option those production rights to?). I'm excited that the movie is finally playing around here because southeastern Connecticut is typically pretty bad about getting flicks that aren't in the mainstreamiest echelon of film (how many Dane Cook movies can a man see?).

The rest of the weekend will be pretty much entirely Conn-centric (see what I did there?).....

....Tomorrow I'll be staffing the Men's Ice Hockey alumni game as well as the Swimming & Diving alumni reception; both should be fun, but they still kind of cut into my Saturday. I had been planning on heading up to my parents' house in beautiful Nashua, NH, to work on my taxes with my dad (did somebody say PARTY?), but since the S&D event will probably go until 5:30 and my parents are typically in bed by 8:00, it's probably not going to work out. Instead, I'll stay in town tomorrow night and hang with fellow blogger Jaime "5 Feet of Heat" Pepper, who will be around to work on a physics paper on campus (I think I'd rather eat sandwiches and chat with water-bound alumni than try to eloquently describe the redshifts in the spectra of quasi-stellar objects in print).

Sunday through Tuesday I'll be up in Boston for a conference and to do visits with some alums. I'm actually pretty excited about it because this will be my first trip for the College where I'll be staying in a hotel, which definitely has its perks (I find that having someone deliver otherwise unremarkable food to your room on a cart and a silver platter just makes it taste better). It's also a chance for me to score some tasty burritos at Anna's Taqueria, which all the Bostonians out there probably know has some great 'ritos.

What I'm most enthusiastic about regarding this trip, however, is something unrelated to both Conn and to Boston. When traveling, I'm often running (sometimes literally) all over town from appointment to appointment, going outside and inside and just generally exerting myself to a degree that isn't conducive to looking good in a shirt and tie. Not surprisingly, this can result in unwanted underarm perspiration, which I find extremely distracting during a meeting. Fortunately, about a week ago I started using this new Gillette Clinical Strength antiperspirant that works incredibly well! The only drawback is that it costs about 10 times as much as the kind that I had been using; I guess confidence doesn't come cheap (except in alcoholic form). I've definitely got a couple long days ahead of me, so I'm eager to put this new product to the test. I predict that within five years Gillette will make every item in my bathroom; it's getting to the point where I don't even feel clean unless I've used at least two of their products that morning (which probably explains why my breath always smells like shaving cream).

Speaking of teeth, I snuck in a dentist appointment during my lunch break today. Typically a visit to the dentist is a breeze for me since I take pretty good care of my chompers, but today the dental hygienist found this one spot between two teeth where apparently I'm not flossing properly (nobody's perfect). She told me that there was a calculus buildup under my gum but that she could clear it out fairly easily. I told her to go for it and let her get underway; what resulted was one of the most severe gum lashings in the history of dentistry. She was picking at my gums like a mother lion tearing into a zebra carcass so that her cubs could feed (sorry, I've been watching a lot of Animal Planet lately). Fortunately, the bleeding has since subsided, but the emotional scars will last a lifetime (I'm so traumatized that I'm at a floss for words...).

Well, it's time for the wine tasting, so I'll wrap this post up. Check back soon for Ross's and Sophie's first posts!

Posted by Chris Reilly at 2:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

First off, I'd like to thank Chris for including me in the Life After Connecticut College blog. Although it is not entirely a dream come true, it's pretty high up on my list of things to do. Also, thanks for the nickname. I will definitely do by best to live up to it.

I guess I should tell you what I've been up to since graduation...

Well, during senior year I was incredibly stressed about graduation and entering the so-called "real world". I was unsure about everything in my life and decided there was only one solution: TRAVEL. My choice of destination was Ireland because why not. I like to refer to this period of my life as "my quarter-life crisis" (and yes, I know I stole this from a John Mayer song). So upon graduation I packed my rain gear and moved to Dublin in search of a job, an apartment, and some enlightenment. I ended up working in a pub called The Duke, which was apparently the preferred pub for many late writers including James Joyce. The job was a bit lame but I did meet a lot of interesting people and even ran into my Orgo professor, Timo Ovaska. It was so odd but just goes to prove it's a small world. As for my living situation, I lived in a very international apartment in the city center. I loved my apartment so long as my wretched roommate, France from France (!) wasn't around. In the end, I would say I found everything I was looking for. I highly recommended having your own quarter-life crisis.

Now, I live in Boston, along with 70% of CC Alumni. On most days, I enjoy the city of Boston. However, I hate, no, LOATH the MBTA (the public transportation system). I live on the B line and it makes me miserable. For those of you that know nothing about Boston and/or the MBTA, know this: the B line is your enemy. Thus, I usually walk to work. Ah, yes, work - must mention that, too. As Chris mentioned, I work at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in the Emergency Department as a Research Assistant. Things I like about my job: I wear scrubs, my shift is 10 to 6, and I get to experience ridiculous situations in the ED (aka the ER). Ask me about it sometime, I'll tell you some pretty funny stories.

That's all for now seeing as this post is too long. I bid you "adieu".

Posted by Marissa Velarde at 3:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

It's my pleasure to introduce our three new bloggers! I'm very excited to have each of these people on board, and I hope you'll check in frequently to hear about their lives. Also, I encourage everyone to post comments in response to what they say.

Sophie "Blond, Platinum Blond" Fitzgerald was an English major while at Conn and now writes for Men's Health magazine in Pennsylvania. She is actually a seasoned blogger, meaning that there is a lot of pressure on her to be extremely fascinating, funny, and insightful (no pressure (yes there is)).

Ross "The Boss" Jordan (nickname not my own) is an accomplished artist and currently works at Trinity College's Art department. In his free time, Ross enjoys being The Boss (Springstein be damned).

Finally, Marissa "Explains It All" Velarde (yes, I am aware that I used that joke in a previous post) is putting her experience as a Biology major to good use at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, where she works as a Research Assistant in Emergency Medicine. She is a big fan of the blog and considers it a dream come true to be a part of it (that may or may not be true).

Without any further ado, I'll let these guys start blogging!

Posted by Chris Reilly at 10:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After spending a weekend (and as he said, not enough time) with my still-pseudo roomie and fellow business entrepreneur Christopher T-Money Reilly, I did the whole work thing and was greatly anticipating the opening of the movie Cloverfield. I joined my fellow monster/zombie/vampire movie fanatic Jennie (an old friend of fellow Camel Sophie Fitzgerald ’07) for opening night at the busy and environmentally unfriendly Time’s Square cinemas for a night of popcorn, shaky-cam, and insane destruction. The movie was basically a conglomeration of my favorite things, and I walked out with a giant grin on my face, unlike some who had to run to the bathroom due to the Blair Witch style filmmaking (except, unlike the Blair Witch Project, this movie was, well, good.) To our surprise after the film (yes, film) ended, this idiot stood up and asked the audience “So, did you like our movie?” After several moments, the audience realized that this was one of the actors (T.J. Miller, who played Hud, and was the cameraman throughout the movie as well) and further realization that the rest of the cast was in fact present in the theatre as well. It was a wonderful surprise to meet with them (although Jennie failed in understanding the intricacies of my iPhone camera and produced a wonderful blurry image of our feet, which I believe is just as good as this T.J. definitely would have taken Chris’s attention off of me when I would be showing him the photo) and capped off a wonderful night of fun-filled adventure.
Several weeks later (which would be last night) I continued my J.J. Abrams extravaganza with the season 4 premiere of Lost (aka the best show ever.) After spending the preceding weeks with my girlfriend catching up on the previous 3 seasons with up to 5 hours of Lost a night after grueling days of work, I was more than ready to be amazed at the genius that is the show. Given that I have basically two shows that I watch (Lost and BSG [if you don’t know what that is an acronym for than don’t bother, I’m just too much of a nerd]) I was pumped to finally, after 9 months, watch a new episode. Beware; SPOILERS will follow along with incredibly genius theories on the happenings of those stranded by flight 815...

I am not going to bring everyone up to date on the show, for that would be way too much work, so I’ll leave that to my favorite website, Lostpedia. In “The Beginning of the End,” a Hurley-centric episode, we see a disturbed Hurley (by the reappearance of Charlie, who also happens to be dead) driving his estranged dad’s old Camaro through the streets of L.A. in a wild chase with some cops and upon being captured is interrogated by none other than the late Ana Lucia’s old mustached partner. This scene sets up the episode as the Losties are trying to get in contact with “Not Penny’s Boat” and reach rescue while Hugo and several others are trying to warn them that those on the boat are not who they say they are. In this journey Hurley is separated and comes upon the house of Jacob, the mysterious and omnipresent leader of the “Others.” Upon approaching it, one sees (or I believe it to be) Christian Shepherd, Jack’s dead father, rocking in Jacob’s chair until Hugo is scared away by the creepy eye that we last saw when Locke visited Jacob last season. Now for the theories…
Well, I'm sure that whoever Jacob is, he is the leader… maybe Jacob, through the interesting ability of the island to bring up, shall we say “ghosts,” needed a body so he took Christian’s? Jacob could very well be the personification of the island, because he was probably there when Ben arrived and before the Purge of the original Dharma members, because that was probably an order by Jacob to protect the island. At the same time, after Hurley is scared by the appearance of Jacob’s house, Locke miraculously appears in front of him. For all we know, Locke is dead too due to Ben’s cold attempted murder only (on the island) hours ago? These people coming back from the dead are just messing with my mind. And then there is also the whole time travel theory about the island, but that is for another blog.
For those of you who don’t watch this amazing show, DO. Your mind will be blown away. And for those of you who made it through this blog, I commend you. Trust me, there will be more to come. Alright, back to the Lost bulletin boards, I have some catching up to do with the fellow nerds.

Posted by Nate Borgelt at 11:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Oh man, the season premiere of Lost was last night, and it did not disappoint in the least! Anyone out there who is a fan definitely knows what I'm talking about, and anyone out there who isn't a fan should probably quit their job, rent the first three seasons on DVD, and catch up on last night's episode before this bullet train I like to call Season 4 gets away from them (I might be using a lot of locomotive metaphors in this post because I currently have "Runaway Train" by Soul Asylum stuck in my head). Also, my friends and loved ones should be advised that should they suffer a serious physical injury or emotional trauma during the hours of 9:00pm and 10:00pm Eastern Standard Time on any Thursday in the next few months, I will be unavailable to offer a ride to hospital or a shoulder to cry on (not that anyone who knows me would be dumb enough to seek me out in a time of crisis).

On to the big news I mentioned in the last post: I am very pleased to announce that we'll be adding three new writers to the Class of 2007 Blog! Rest assured that I have hand-selected the cream of the best (huh?), so be sure to check back in next week when they have their debut posts (barring any complications associated with the Writers' Guild strike)....

....So the other day I was talking with my friend Brent "To Own" Thomas, who is the governor of Abbey House and a fellow bass player, about how Abbey now has events every Friday night, which is a cool idea because, as all the Conn alumni out there know, Friday is usually the most boring night of the week on campus. Of course, we discussed the possibility of Welcome to Florida playing a show there in the near future, which we agreed would be fun, but he also asked me if I'd be interested in doing some stand-up comedy! Now, hopefully by this point you've been able to infer that I use approximately 97% of my mental capacity thinking up ways to make people laugh (the other 3% is devoted to memorizing Full House trivia), so by no means am I averse to the idea of entertaining. However, I somehow doubt that a couple dozen 21-year-olds who don't have to be awake before 3pm the next day will want to sit quietly and attentively in an underlit dorm living room and listen to a staff member crack jokes about the trials and tribulations of using a photocopier (but seriously folks, what's the deal with Internal Error 306? Why can't it detect the size of the original? This machine has more technology in it than a jet fighter, and you're telling me it can't figure out how big a piece of 8.5x11 paper is? For crying out loud, it has the size of the paper right there in the name!). Well, maybe I'll give it a shot and see if anyone shows up.

Speaking of people getting together, famed roommate Mitch "His &" Herz is several dinners deep into a new dating streak, which has not only inspired us to start drawing up plans for our own online dating service (tentatively titled MitchMatch.com) but which also has the potential to activate an underreported phenomenon whose existence I have observed both from afar and up close multiple times. This mysterious and powerful force of nature mandates that roommates must have the same romantic situation as often as possible; in other words, if either Mitch or I start dating somebody, the other will be inexplicably drawn into a relationship like ten cars full of coal being pulled into the station by a steam engine (I warned you). Plus with Groundhog Day tomorrow and Valentine's Day right around the corner, love is definitely in the air! I'll be sure to keep all of you posted on any new developments.

SuperBowl Sunday is only a few days away, meaning that it's time for me to temporarily switch the status of my gambling addiction from "recovering" to "relapsing." I've actually never lost money on a SuperBowl, so if anyone wants to get in on some sweet action just give me a shout (that statement came out a little dirtier than I had anticipated). I don't have any hard and fast plans yet, but since I had to work both days last weekend I might just lay low on the couch (I mean that literally). Bloggers, what are you guys doing for the game?

Later today I'm going to give blood up in Cro, which should be good because it's always hard to motivate myself to work out on Friday afternoons and this is a great excuse to get out of it (hey, that squishy ball they make you squeeze to get the blood pumping is kind of like exercise). My blood type is A negative, which I think is either the most or least common type, so when I donate they hook me up to a special machine that takes out twice as much blood as usual then pumps back in just the plasma. Apparently this lets them get double the platelets or something, but the weird thing is that you have to wait twice as long between donations when you give this way, so it doesn't seem like they actually end up gaining any additional blood (huh, I don't think I've ever used the phrase "gaining any additional blood" before). I guess I'll just worry about lying on my back and eating free cookies and they can worry about how and how often to separate the different components of human blood.

Tomorrow night, I'll be combining one of my least favorite activities with one of my favorites when I head to Cro's Nest to listen to my friends' band The Jump-Off (that's the "favorite" part). The catch is that it's Winter Formal tomorrow night, and few things make me feel as old and uneasy as being around a bunch of drunken current Conn students on campus. However, since most of the "collegiate" behavior will probably be going on in the '62 Room, I'll hopefully be able to assuage my discomfort somewhat by sticking close to the funk. If things get really awkward, I could always just grab a guitar and pretend to be in the band.

Yet another successful post on the books! Don't forget to check back soon to meet our three new bloggers!

Posted by Chris Reilly at 9:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)