Apparently, all is not well at Rose. Kober mentioned this topic in his blog, but I’m echoing it here because I find it so interesting.

A number of students, staff, and faculty are unhappy with Jack Midgley, Rose-Hulman’s new president. There is so much discontent, in fact, that the students/faculty are holding a rally on Friday called “Hit the Road Jack,” and the faculty are meeting on May 3rd to consider a motion of no confidence in Midgley.

The group has set up a web site to further their cause. Like I mentioned before, it’s not just a bunch of malcontent students. Several ranking faculty members, notably Dr. Dan Moore, have voiced their support for the cause. In addition to that, Scott Jones resigned from the Rose-Hulman Board of Trustees in February over the issue, or rather, over the board’s inaction.

Should be interesting to see how this plays out…

May 3rd Update: The faculty passed a motion of no confidence by a sizeable majority.

A little while ago, Samuel L. Jackson reprised his Pulp Fiction role as Jules Winnfield. The twist? Jules is now coaching youth hockey. The result is rather entertaining.

Within the past month, a photo of me appeared in the nationally-circulated USA Hockey Magazine (total circulation ~500,000). This represents my third appearance in the national media (the previous two being a part in an MSNBC article and a mention in a national Pontiac magazine). All three happened within the last 12 months. I’m on a roll!

This afternoon, I ducked out of the beautiful weather into a dark theater to watch Sin City.

The thing that struck me first was not the movie itself; rather, it was the lack of advertisements before the movie. Sure, I was forced to sit through 15 minutes of movie trailers, but I didn’t have to deal with any stupid Pepsi or Ford cinemercials. Ah, it reminds me of the good old days, four years ago, before they started putting full-on ads before movies.

In my opinion, Sin City is a very well done movie. I liked it for its style, its writing, and its unabashed yet appropriate use of CG. It’s original and therefore refreshing. Oh yeah; it had a Porsche 550 Spyder too (what a classy touch!). I won’t say more about the movie lest I ruin it for the uninitiated.

I liked it well enough to move it to #6 on my all-time favorite movies list. In order, the top seven are: Pulp Fiction, The Shawshank Redemption, The Sting, Fight Club, The Usual Suspects, Sin City, and The Game. Honorable mention goes to The Bourne Identity, The Thomas Crown Affair (1999), The Godfather, and Groundhog Day. For the record, the worst movie I have ever seen is Radio Flyer — yuck.

Anyhow, see Sin City. It’s (sinfully?) good.

Did you know that Subway is discontinuing their Sub Club customer loyalty program? That’s the one where you buy eight six-inch subs (or equivalent) and get one six-inch sub free (with purchase of medium beverage). If you play it right, by perhaps buying eight veggie subs and then cashing in for a top-of-the-line Alaskan Salmon sub, it works out to about an 18% discount.

Although the change caught me off-guard, I shouldn’t be too surprised. Compared to its competitors, Subway seems to already have the value price point. Where else can you get a sub sandwich for under three bucks? (That’s a rhetorical question; I don’t actually want examples of how I’m wrong. If you’re thinking, “But, Bob’s Subs over on Main has them for $1.23,” then, well, that’s great, go patronize Bob. Around here, in the burgeoning Twin Cities metropolis, Cousin’s and Quizzno’s are the only competition, and they can’t match Subway’s price. Plus, I can walk to a Subway from my office. But I digress…)

Aaaaanyway, a decent sub costs about $2.99 in this market, plus tax, bringing the total to a reasonable $3.18. That’s not bad. In fact, it costs me more in gas money to commute every day than it does to buy a sub sandwich (33 miles round trip / 22.5 mpg average * $2.51/gal = $3.68).

I tend not to think too much about the cost of driving. At some level I know that I’m burning $0.11 per mile in gas, not to mention the depreciation of my car and the consumption of things like tires. I suppose I’m lucky in that I don’t have to worry about such things. If I feel like driving 30 miles on a whim, then I’m going to do it! Driving hedonism, I suppose.

Like I mentioned, tires are insatiably consumed by the winding roads. This past weekend, I switched out my winter tires/wheels and replaced them with my summer tires/wheels. Just one problem: my summer tires were on their last legs. Nearly bald, and severely cupped, they cried out for replacement. Today I heeded their call and replaced them with a new set of Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3s. They look sweet and perform even better. They’re smooth, quiet, and grip like hell (ask me how I know :-). They’re not even all that expensive: if they last 25,000 miles, the cost is only $0.03 per mile. Unfortunately, they probably won’t last 25,000 miles, in part because of my planned activity for this weekend: a driving school.

The local BMW club is holding a driving school this weekend in which I am taking part. It’s being held at a track just south of the Twin Cities, and includes everything from slalom to a skidpad. It’s not really a road course school; I’ll do that next. Instead, it’s an opportunity to become intimately familiar with the (relatively) low-speed (<55mph) handling limits of one’s car. Should be a great time!