O-week 2009

We are winding down orientation week 2009 on the Rice campus. I have to say it's really fun and making me nostalgic to see the 900 new freshmen coming to campus. Afterall, I met Chris my first weekend on campus way back in 2002.

A fun thing about Rice is that there are no fraternities or sororities. Instead the dorms are referred to as colleges. Your college is your home during your time at Rice. It is what all alumni will ask you about. It creates bonds. It creates your college family.

Students cannot pick their college unless they are a legacy of that college. You can request a roommate but other than that you are randomly given a college. This prevents a student coming with 13 of their closest friends, all moving into the same dorm, and never branching out. Your meal plan works in your college's meal facility. No other colleges. You have to learn to live and coexist with your college mates.

All the students seem to love the system and it has bred a lot of college rivalries. Rice students are known for their pranks. Each college develops their own reputations and are taught which other colleges they prank and which ones they work together with to prank others.

Each college also has annual events they host on campus. These range from the traditional and classy affair all the way down to beer bike.

I think I might try to get involved in one of the colleges. Faculty and staff can be associates of the colleges and help out there. Toying with the idea.

Summer is over.

Chris started school Monday. The school year has begun. Routines are forming. I love it. Chris...well, let's just say he doesn't love it but it is necessary.

For our hurrah before he started this semester we took a day trip to Austin to see this:



I loved it; Chris tolerated it. He loved the two meals we got to eat out in Austin.

I may try out for a play here on the Rice campus. It is the same show I was in my freshman year in college and I didn't love the show then but maybe I'd like it more now. Who knows.

One week left in summer

We made it safely back from North Carolina but not without a few hitches. Sunday we got up at 5 am to drive Chris' dad and sister to the airport for their 7 am flight. We got back to the house about 7. Talked with his uncle and grandmother for a few hours. His aunt and her husband came over. Around 9:45 it was time to head to the airport for our flight. 11 am we said our good byes and hopped on our flight from Greenville to Charlotte. In Charlotte we were to have a 45 minute lay over then hop on a flight to Houston. Our tickets were confirmed but we had no seat assignment which basically means we're not making this flight even though we are there and ready.

We talk to the gate attendant who tells us we can volunteer to be bumped (since frankly we already are bumped anyway) and each get $350 flight vouchers, free meal, and standby tickets for the 3 PM flight. So we take it because the alternative is getting bumped and having nothing to show for it but a free meal and standby tickets for the next flight.

So we go and eat and then wait for the 3 PM flight. Unfortunately there were 14 of us with standby tickets and they were asking for volunteers to get bumped. It became very clear we were not going to get on this plane so we asked the gate attendant of US Airways would spot us another meal voucher because we were clearly going to be here for dinner. The complied so now we're up $700 in flight vouchers and $40 of free food. And we now have standby tickets for the 7 PM flight.

Eat our dinner, show up at the gate for the 7 PM flight to be met with the lovely "volunteers needed" sign. So we just take a wild guess that we are not going to get on this flight and ask for tickets for the 10 PM flight. In the meantime the 7 PM flight gets delayed to a 9:30 take off and the counter for the 10 PM flight gets packed.

Show up at the 10 PM gate to see "volunteers needed" so we just go and volunteer since we are clearly not getting on this flight either. Get another $700 in flight vouchers, more meal vouchers for dinner that night and breakfast the next morning, and a voucher for the hotel we will be staying in that night. Oh, and tickets on a 6 AM Continental flight to Houston since US Airways is apparently incapable of getting us home.

We made the 6 AM flight and I was at work by 9:30 AM Monday morning. I was completely exhausted and perhaps less focused than normal but I made it.

Chris family is handling Russell's passing very well. Everyone is understandably upset but taking care of things.

Chris' dad has taken this time to buy four funeral plots in North Carolina. One is intended for him and I'm guessing the others are for Chris, me, and Candice (Chris' sister). That's a little creepy and I don't think I want to be buried in North Carolina but for some reason buying the plots made Russ feel better so he did it.

And in other strange news, Chris' dad came back from North Carolina and sometime between Sunday and Tuesday decided he needed to get a Walt Disney World credit card to start building up points for a future visit. If you knew him you would know how random and completely fitting this is for him. I think he got nostalgic for family over the past week and thought about the happy memories he had with his kids there. So now he's saving for a future trip. I don't know when he's planning to take this trip or who with but I thought it was cute.

Sad week

Last week started with the unexpected passing of my bosses husband. They had been married for 35 years. He was an associate editor on my journal so I had gotten to know him a bit over the past few months.

She is observing the Jewish ritual of sitting shiva although she is aetheist. Because her husband mentioned that he thought he may be Buddhist before he passed she is sort of blending the Buddhist and Jewish rituals together. Maybe at a later date I'll write more on this since I did find this interesting.

On my way home from seeing my boss I called Chris to let him know I was on the way home. Less than 5 minutes later I walked through the door to find his dad just called to say his granddad passed away.

Tomorrow we leave for North Carolina where we will be until Sunday. Say a prayer for Chris and his family. Chris has never experienced a death in the family so this is particularly hard for him.