This past weekend was Homecoming at Rose. I spent the vast majority of the time hanging out with my Brothers at the Pike house. The overall mood was much more energetic when compared to last year.

As always, it was good to see everybody. The conversations tended to start in a predictable fashion (“Where are you living?” “Where do you work?” “How do you like it?”), but many swung to more interesting topics. It seemed like I knew almost everybody at the house on at least an acquaintance level.

The chapter appears to be in good shape. Rush is going well and is (apparently) better organized than it has ever been. Improvements have been made to the house, most notably the (yet another?) remodeling of the formal lounge. Homecoming was well-organized and well-executed.

One of the neat things that the actives did during homecoming was to have a huge bonfire at the house. The fuel? A large pile of pallets. Once the fire got going, the flames were immense and the heat was intense. Good times.

The alumni were their usual messy selves, so I spearheaded an effort to clean up part of that mess in the house on Sunday morning. Tyler, Ben Leonard, and Edmonson pitched in, too.

Sunday night, I went to a chapter meeting for the first time in 16 months. In the meeting, I was surprised to find that I had been voted “Pike of the Week” for my cleaning efforts. I found it quite amusing.

The award was special in another way: my very first “Pike of the Week” award was four years ago, on September 24, 2001. What was it for? Cleaning up the house after homecoming. Thus, both my first and likely my last PoW were for the same task.

All in all, it was a good weekend.

A couple of days ago, Minnesota raised the speed limit on over 900 miles of highways from 55 mph to 60 mph. The stated goal? Reduce speeding. A cynic would note that speeding would be reduced because speeds up to 60 mph would no longer count as speeding. However, a keener eye would see a different story.

Minnesota has a law nicknamed the “Dimler Amendment” that prevents speeding infractions from appearing on one’s driving record so long as the offense takes place in a 55 mph zone and the speed is less than 65 mph. The key number is 55 mph – not 60 mph. Thus, the increased speed limit actually leads to steeper penalties for a person going 65 despite the absolute speed excess being lower. Clever!

Saturday was a day of cultural enlightenment. Or, at least, entertainment.

I attended my first Gopher football game, which just so happened to be the University of Minnesota’s homecoming game. Who were they playing? None other than 11^th-ranked Purdue.

The game was one of the best sporting contests that I have ever witnessed live. The only experience that trumps it is watching the Wild beat the Avalanche in the playoffs.

The Gophers and the Boilermakers put on quite a battle. The Gophers were up by six going into the fourth quarter but managed to find themselves down by eight with about 6:00 to go. At that point some of the less loyal fans started leaving, but the team didn’t give up. The Gophers managed to score a touchdown with about 90 seconds left, and then they managed to convert to tie the game at 28. Overtime!

In overtime, Purdue got a touchdown; the Gophers responded in kind. For the second overtime, the U lead off with a touchdown. Purdue began its drive. Before long, it was fourth and one. The Purdue QB went to pass. Would they complete? No! The Gophers won!

What made the game even more enjoyable is that the buddy I went with, Kyle, who managed to get the tickets in the first place, is a Purdue fan. There’s nothing like a little rivalry to make things more exciting!

Later in the evening, I attended a concert at the McGuire Theater in the new Walker Art Center, thanks to some tickets from my friend Angela. The performance included three bands: Blood on the Wall, 13 & God, and Black Dice. Here are three succinct reviews of their performances:

• Blood on the Wall: Somebody really needs to tell these people that they can’t sing. They tried for the smoky-voice sound, but it was just so off-key and stressed that it didn’t work. The alt-rock sound was good save for the anti-singing.
• Black Dice: Dear God, I have never heard anything that gave me such abject displeasure. The noise from this band (and I do mean noise — they are a noise band) was so bloody loud that, even if it had been musically interesting, it was too painful to hear. The house was full at the start of their performance; by the time they finished, the theater was half empty. Half of the audience walked out during their set! Some saint passed out earplugs about halfway through the nightmare, which made it somewhat bearable.
• 13 & God: These guys were good. And I don’t mean “good compared to the other two bands;” I mean “good” — full stop. They do a sort of electronica/rap/alt-rock fusion. The band members are quite talented. The end product is sufficiently different from the mainstream to be interesting yet sufficiently musical to be enjoyable. I recommend seeing them in concert if you have a chance (note: I say “in concert” deliberately because, in my opinion, the live experience is far superior to the studio version)

As for the theater itself, one could definitely tell that it was in an art museum. The aesthetics trumped the ergonomics, but the good acoustics tipped the scales enough to make it an enjoyable venue.

In summary: the Gophers rule, Purdue sucks, Blood on the Wall needs voice lessons and/or better monitor speakers, Black Dice was literally painful to hear, and 13 & God is very good.

How often do adults get snow days? Rather infrequently. In fact, I’ve never had a snow day as an adult. Today changed that.

Sort of.

Blizzards don’t typically occur in September, even here in Minnesota. On the other hand, September thunderstorms can be quite powerful, such as the one that menaced the Twin Cities last night. Tornado warnings, high winds, hail — the works. Having lived through many such storms, I didn’t think much of it at the time.

This morning, I drove to work as usual. Everything seemed perfectly normal until I exited the freeway to get to my office and was greeted by a long queue of cars. All the way up and down the street, the stoplights were off. As I looked closer, I noticed that none of the buildings were burning lights and that numerous tree limbs littered the lawns and street gutters.

A quarter mile farther, and I crested a hill, which gave me a full view of my office’s parking lot. Save for a number of branches and a half-dozen cars, the mammoth lot was empty.

Empty? That could only mean… YES!!! Storm day! A quick conversation with the lone on-duty security guard confirmed that the office was indeed closed for the day.

At the moment, something like 160,000 buildings are without power in the metro area. In addition to my office, another half-dozen of my company’s buildings are closed, as are two dozen school districts.

The only question now is, what should I do with my free day?

Rose went co-ed a decade ago. Is it time for St. Mary-of-the-Woods to do the same?

NPR reported this morning that “the Woods,” a women-only Catholic college in Terre Haute, admitted two men to its programs for the first time. Intrigued by what would motivate such a change, I did some investigation. It turns out that the NPR bit was slightly misleading: the Woods’ on-campus undergraduate program remains exclusively for those of the finer sex. The change? Men can now enroll in the distance education program. Not earth-shattering, but a change nonetheless. (source)