Quotes, Quips, and Comebacks

A combination of forces have led me to decide that I need to have a OneLost section dedicated to quotations and other quips I hear throughout the weeks. The first, and probably greatest, is once again Laura Nelson, who showed me with her "Verbatim" section on "USC Transcribed" that out of context quotes can be just about the funniest thing imaginable. The second is this semester's English professor, one Dr. David Nunnery. Dr. Nunnery is perhaps, borderline the funniest intellectual I have ever met. He is good for one or two REALLY good lines a class.

This section will eventually get its own nifty graphic header (ala "Now Playing" and "Ring Out Ahoya," but until the Photoshop muse decides to make a visit, it will have to remain purely text.

To start everyone out, I will give you two backlogged quotes by Dr. Nunnery, and one uttered today by German Professor John Pustejovsky.

Dr. David Nunnery, on the importance of citation:

For the rest of the day I will be teaching APA formatting. Apparently inhaling out of the tailpipe of a car wasn't an option.

Dr. David Nunnery, on the perils of misinterpreting Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken"

It's not about being the young individualist and taking the road less traveled. That's a dumb thing to do in the woods

Dr. John Pustejovsky on the Electors of the Holy Roman Empire

Student 1: So were there 7 or 12 electors?
Student 2: Maybe they rotated between seven and 12.
Student 3: So did some of the electors become "not electors?"
Dr. P: Yes, that's where they got the title "formerly known as prince. HAHA, Pusto made a funny."

And so your day just got a little funnier. Glad I could help.

I have two more banked David Nunnery quotes so hopefully the man continues to tickle the old wit.

OneLost out from balmy Milwaukee (60 degrees tomorrow!)

Ring Out Ahoya: Marquette Basketball Update v. University of Wisconsin

Yesterday was THE big day...Wisconsin-Madison, #22 in the polls, in Milwaukee, at OUR Bradley Center, playing THE Marquette Golden Eagles. Shall it suffice to say that mind mind was blown and will be for weeks to come after last night...let me begin the tale.

A prelude to this matchup. Wisconsin and Marquette are obviously rivals, being the only two BCS conference basketball schools (Big 10 and Big East respectively) in the state. The rivalry is historically rather nasty, with no love lost amongst neither fans nor players/coaches/ball boys/random people associated with the either programs. A popular cry during game day that I will paraphrase to keep this blog family rated is "Buck the Fadgers"...yeah...figure that one out all you savvy adult readers. To compound the drama, last year Marquette strolled into the Kohl Center in Madison and oh so causally ended UW's 28-game home win streak and recent dominance in the MU-UW game. This year we got them on our court: the task? Show that we are STILL the best basketball school in the state.

Now that you know the run-up, let me tell you my part of the story. My basketball odyssey began yesterday at 1:30 when I took my place in the back of the line that had already formed outside the Bradley Center. Some guys from my floor had been there since 12:30...am...as in...the night before. It was a warm and snuggley 10 degrees outside and underneath my undershirt, long sleeve shirt, short sleeve shirt, sweatshirt, and winter coat I was already getting excited.

Anticipation only built at around 2:30 when Head Coach Buzz Williams (who we all love) came out and shook everyone in line's hand, thanking us for our support. After he went back inside and we all calmed down he sent the ENTIRE team out to high five us and joke around. Highlight of this was when someone laid out a UM Badgers T-Shirt for all the players to wipe their feet on. Wes Matthews got us all riled up by throwing it up in the air and proclaiming that he was about to show his hometown why MU was the greatest (Matthews grew up in Madison and was Wisconsin's Mr. Basketball his senior year, beating out UW forward Marcus Landry...this still rubs UW people the wrong way).

Joe Fulce and Chris Otule greet the crowd

The line waiting game meets with Buzz

With all this excitement it felt like the wait until the 7:00 pm door opening would be quick, but alas, it was not to be. For the next five hours we basically just stood there, finding ways to pass the time (riddles, ordering Subway, a dramatic retelling of the Christmas story while huddled together for warmth). Finally, at around 6:30 they let us in, MU fans sprinting and slipping all over the floors to claim their lower bowl seats and free T-Shirts.

The almost two hour wait inside was a GODSEND. It felt so good to take off all the warm clothes and just sit, especially knowing that I had three hours of standing and jumping ahead of me. Introductions were highlighted by streams of blue and gold smoke and the loudest cheers the student section has produced this year. EVERY seat was full, all the way up to the top of the upper deck. Attendance count showed that there were, in all, over 18,00 people at last night's game, the vast majority of them in blue and gold.

The first half was...disappointing. After scoring the game's fist points, Marquette fell serious victim to an inability to shoot and UW's three point prowess. Only our ability to get to the foul line kept us in the game, MU 27, UW 33 at half.

In the second half we looked like a new team. Defensively the guess hustled their butts off and on offense we scrapped for every point we could get. The point margin stayed within one or two scores for most of the half (which meant the students were jumping, screaming, cheering, or dancing the entire half) until Jerel McNeal hit a 3 pointer at the 5:26 mark to give us the lead. The Eagles held that lead for the rest of the game until the final whistle blew and the whole state knew by a 61-58 margin that the best team in Wisconsin sits between 9th and 22nd streets in Milwaukee.

Not many photos from inside the BC (terrible lighting conditions for my poor camera), but here are two videos to give you a glimpse of the atmosphere.





Finals week starts now...which means One Lost will be hitting the books. That also means I might post more as a way to blow off finals stress.

OneLost out...to the library to hit the books one last time in 2008

A Holiday Miracle - With Basketball!

Wow, a whole lot of blogable material today! After morning class and such Joe and I decided to go the "Miracle on the Mall"- a holiday tree lighting and charity benefit for a shelter for women suffering from alcoholism. My friend, Leah Todd was singing with the Gold 'n Blues a capella group, so going over to the mall in support seemed worth it.

Boy was it COLD. I would estimate, unscientifically, that the wind chill was probably between 5 and 10 degrees. I'm certainly not looking forward to standing in that for 6 hours tomorrow...more on that later. Anyhow, speakers from the school and the shelter both gave short speechs in front of Joan of Arc Chapel before they blessed the tree (perk of being a Jesuit school) and flipped the switch. The choir sang some more songs before we all headed into Cudahy Hall for cider, hot chocolate, and holiday cookies. I think that I heard someone say the Residents Hall Assc. made a $278 donation to the shelter from its fundraiser...not bad for college students, but not great either.

The slideshow below is a product of my new fascination with multimedia(again, spurred by Laura Nelson) and fancy little viewers (with sound now!) Press play for a slideshow effect or push your mouse toward the left and right sides of the box to scroll through. If you hit play, you will be serenaded by the sweet sounds of the Gold 'n Blues sing a mash-up of 12 Days of Christmas and Toto's "Africa."



Immeaditly following gorging our selfs with cookies, Joe, Matt, Joe ("Bruno"), and I went over to the AMU to hit up the Spirit Shop for a holiday sale and meet and greet with the basketball team. I was able to pick up some x-mas gifts on sale and also get photos with almost
the entire team. Another slideshow viewer, same rules apply, but this time the song is the fight song: "Ring Out A'Hoya" by the Marquette Pep Band (thanks to the Marquette Sports Wiki).



As for the aforementioned standing in the cold. I will be heading over to the Bradley Center at 1 pm tomorrow to line up to get into the Wisconsin-Marquette game. Tip-off: 8:30 pm. Yes folks, that's over 6 hours of waiting outside in line for a 2 hour basketball game. It's also the biggest one of young season. Not only are we instate rivals, we are basically ranked the same. In the AP Poll, Marquette is #25 and Wisconsin in unranked. In the USA Today poll, Marquette is unranked and Wisconsin is #22 (tied with Miami, FL). This one is going to be nuts. Did I mention I get a free T-Shirt...yeah, it's that good.

I will be vigorously twittering from line tomorrow, some of which have the potential to be funny (college kids + boredom + booze). Keep checking back at OneLost or have my twitters sent to your phone (follow the link the twitter bar). If you don't know what twitter is, here is my earlier post.

More pics from late November to come...also, I will make a post after the UM-MU game with photos and other such multimedia.

One Lost out...to go stand in the cold for basketball

A Small Reminder of Home

I was awoken this morning by the harsh sounds of my cell alarm jolting me out of not just sleep but out of a weekend haze that had been utterly therapeutic. It was two days of utter unproductively and lack of commitment, which, as it turns out, was just what I needed to reenergize me for the final push until Thanksgiving Break. A brief breakdown of how "stressful" my Saturday and Sunday were.

Friday Night: Basketball game vs. Houston Baptist at 7:30 (our regular season home opener). I screamed and jumped until my legs and voice were soar and went back to Straz around 10:00, singing bad love songs at the top of my lungs the whole way home (with other people...not by myself...)

Saturday: Woke up at 8:00 for an 8:30 crew workout. Was utterly SLAUGHTERED by said workout (no comment as to whether Friday night had anything to do with this). We rowed two 30 minute pieces, which other than just destroying my legs, also gave me quite the butt soreness from sitting on that tiny, hard seat. Got back to my room at 11, went to bed for an hour nap....that lasted until 3. Called Dad (like a good little bear cub), went to Cobeen for pizza to celebrate a friend's birthday (official birthday wishes to Dani), then went and saw Dark Knight for $2 at Varsity Theater.

Sunday: Wake up bright and early at 11, go to the Annex to watch the Broncos (another WIN, the week can't be so bad now), cloister myself in the library to spend the rest of the night writing an English paper. Much to my surprise, the paper sort of pops itself out in just over an hour and a half. Go back to Straz, spend the rest of the night doing other work or lounging to celebrate my success.

Basically, the last few days have been perfect, until that damn alarm rung this morning. I know I'm feeling better, both in terms of sleep and this pesky 3 week cold breaking, because I can actually conceive of myself being able to get through the week, which is a marked improvement over last week.

This morning also brought a stunning realization that I made mental note to write of. Back in Alaska, I could wake up every morning, look outside, and no matter what I saw in the sky, I knew it would be cold. Up until now, the opposite was true in Milwaukee. If it was sunny when I woke up that meant sweatshirt and a nice day. If it was cloudy, jacket because it was going to be chilly and windy. Today was the first day that it has been sunny and also brutally cold and windy. From the cozy confines of the Raynor Bridge (where I am currently plopped) the day looks no different from all those perfect summer ones I got to experience in August, but my computer tells me its 32 degrees out.

It's good to be back home...at least in weather.

We have another basketball game tonight against Chicago State, a fact that is doing much to brighten my day. I will be sure to post recap and pictures of both that game and the Houston Baptist one in the next day or so.

One Lost out

A Little Bit of Homecooking

Today I had the distinct pleasure of an 8 a.m. Philosophy class that takes place all the way across campus in the most drab and depressing room imaginable. I'm not sure what the "higher ups" at Marquette were thinking when they decided that a class on logic and argument should take place at such an ungodly hour, but thanks to some "fortuitous" schedule conflicts, I get to enjoy the wonderful consequences of their decision making.

Now that I've gotten that off my chest, onto the title of this post. The "Homecooking" refers to both today's weather and the new love of my life. The big news flash of the day is IT'S FINALLY CLOUDY IN MILWAUKEE!. I never though I would enjoy walking outside into 55 degree heat with utterly overcast skies above so much. The truth is, I had almost been getting sick of the perfect blue skies, scorching heat and near-aquatic humidity. Imagine my delight when I woke up to find not just clouds in the sky, but actual raindrops on my bike seat. It almost felt like I was back in Anchorage again...but flatter....and more concrete....and less moose.

As for my new passion, she can only be described as a goddess. This woman, who I only met a few days ago, has changed my life in unimaginable ways. She is, of course, the wonderful breakfast chef in the Straz cafeteria. After I roll in from my aforementioned 8 a.m. class; tired, hungry, and broken, who should be there? It's her, waiting to serve me up my very own, custom made omelet. I honestly can't imagine living without her at this point. This lady deserves a pay raise or a statue or something. No camera this morning, but pictures will be coming soon so that all of you can appreciate how wonderful this food really is...