Monday, November 24, 2003
Back from Convention. Whew- that was a tiring weekend. Friday, left at 5 am and arrived in Charlotte at 6:30 pm...about 10.5 hours of driving plus a couple stops: breakfast (McDonalds), wine store/lunch (Shoney's), and massive tourist trap (JR cigarette outlet for Demetri). Our car was pretty fun though- Chris B, Demetri, Ryan, and myself. While the other car was asleep, we were goofing off and singing along to the radio. After we checked in at the hotel we had dinner at Pizzeria Uno, then checked in at the convention itself. There was a carnival deal going on during the bazaar, so I had some fun in the bouncy house and raced Ryan on the inflatable obstacle course. While he edged me out on the wall climb because he's tall enough to take the steps two at a time, it was close. Next time... And it should be pointed out that he crushed Chris B, who felt the need to warn, "I ran cross-country in high school." So by the transitive property of inflatable obstacle courses, I beat Chris. And that improves my self-esteem :P Then were regional activities and free time. But I wasn't feeling so great so I went to bed at 12:30 while everyone else roamed around the hotel and/or drank until about 2.
Saturday- woke up at 8 for breakfast, then went to the welcome address and keynote speaker. The speaker ("Chuckles") was an 88 year old alumni, and while he's done some interesting stuff in those 88 years, listening about it for over an hour, especially when it had nothing to do with PSP, was excessive. Two workshops after that, then a walk through downtown Charlotte and lunch at Rock Bottom. Charlotte is really nice, clean, and warm (70's). But eerily quiet- maybe just because it was a weekend, but most restaurants were closed and there weren't a whole lot of non-PSP people out on the streets. But damn were there a lot of fountains. Back to the hotel, ABC store, grocery store, and hotel again. Got all dressed up for the banquet, where there was a tasty but small dinner and we watched the same 3 chapters monopolize all the awards. Delta Alpha did win best event, though, for Karen's Walk, which I went to last spring. Then there was a dance, after a little preparation up in our room. Considering that hardly anyone likes to dance at our chapter's formals, this dance was insane. But insane in a good way- I think it really represents the celebration that National Convention is supposed to be. A lot of laughs watching our DA brothers getting friendly with some Tau's. Then the commotion just got to be too much, so we went up and hung out in the room for a while. "Giant PSP spoon" picture to come :P But Chris B didn't score any points that evening, to everyone's disappointment :(
Sunday- Slept til 8:40 because we forgot to set the alarm for 8. Got ready quickly, breakfast, and closing remarks/announcements. Then we packed up and left at 11. Stopped at a random Pink Cadillac Diner for lunch (I highly recommend the French Dip) and accidentally met up with the third car, which had left before us but made several stops since. Then I got to drive for 4 hours- yay! Stopped at Dairy Queen, then Waffle House for dinner. I was quite disappointed in the Waffle House...if their name is going to include the word "waffle", you'd think that their waffles were uncommonly good. But they were thin and hard, not light and fluffy. Booo. Got back to Ithaca a little after midnight, quite tired.
Skipped my 11:15 this morning, and Nutrition isn't a real class today, so only went to Animal Behavior. Then cleaned a bunch of tanks at the lab, and now I'm writing this, still from the lab. Time to go home.
Saturday- woke up at 8 for breakfast, then went to the welcome address and keynote speaker. The speaker ("Chuckles") was an 88 year old alumni, and while he's done some interesting stuff in those 88 years, listening about it for over an hour, especially when it had nothing to do with PSP, was excessive. Two workshops after that, then a walk through downtown Charlotte and lunch at Rock Bottom. Charlotte is really nice, clean, and warm (70's). But eerily quiet- maybe just because it was a weekend, but most restaurants were closed and there weren't a whole lot of non-PSP people out on the streets. But damn were there a lot of fountains. Back to the hotel, ABC store, grocery store, and hotel again. Got all dressed up for the banquet, where there was a tasty but small dinner and we watched the same 3 chapters monopolize all the awards. Delta Alpha did win best event, though, for Karen's Walk, which I went to last spring. Then there was a dance, after a little preparation up in our room. Considering that hardly anyone likes to dance at our chapter's formals, this dance was insane. But insane in a good way- I think it really represents the celebration that National Convention is supposed to be. A lot of laughs watching our DA brothers getting friendly with some Tau's. Then the commotion just got to be too much, so we went up and hung out in the room for a while. "Giant PSP spoon" picture to come :P But Chris B didn't score any points that evening, to everyone's disappointment :(
Sunday- Slept til 8:40 because we forgot to set the alarm for 8. Got ready quickly, breakfast, and closing remarks/announcements. Then we packed up and left at 11. Stopped at a random Pink Cadillac Diner for lunch (I highly recommend the French Dip) and accidentally met up with the third car, which had left before us but made several stops since. Then I got to drive for 4 hours- yay! Stopped at Dairy Queen, then Waffle House for dinner. I was quite disappointed in the Waffle House...if their name is going to include the word "waffle", you'd think that their waffles were uncommonly good. But they were thin and hard, not light and fluffy. Booo. Got back to Ithaca a little after midnight, quite tired.
Skipped my 11:15 this morning, and Nutrition isn't a real class today, so only went to Animal Behavior. Then cleaned a bunch of tanks at the lab, and now I'm writing this, still from the lab. Time to go home.
