Kyle’s Blog

Sorry for the ridiculously long time it has taken me to write since the last post.  I had my final interview with Teach for America yesterday, so that took up a lot of my time preparing for it but also trying to get weeks worth of homework done ahead of time so I could focus only on TFA.  I seriously neglected quite a few things in the meantime, like workand friends, so my bad to those people too.  Lastly, I neglected something until today as well which surpised me, applying for graduation.  I am now officially an applicant for graduation at the University of Connecticut, and it was a surreal experience writing down all the classes I have taken in four years here.  Minus the hassle of having to convert all my course numbers (the university switched from a three to a four number course catalog this year), it was a relatively easy process.  I’ve filled out more paperwork and applied for more things in the last three or four weeks than I ever have in my life including for college (only applied to two schools).

It feels great to have TFA off my back and I can’t wait to get back to enjoying all the things about senior year.  I went to the Syracuse UConn basketball game last night and caught the second half since I was stuck in traffic coming back from the interview.  Nothing in the world made me happier than sitting there yelling at Eric Devendorf and Andy Rautins, who may be my least favorite Syracuse basketball players of all time.  They are probably our true rivals in all sports, even if they like to think lowly Georgetown is their current rival (probably because they might have a chance at beating them).  I’m planning on camping out for the last home game at Gampel I’ll ever go to against Notre Dame in a couple weeks, so I’ll be sure to take pictures and blog about that experience for everyone.

By the way Debbie Downer and the Wet Blanket Kill Joys finally has their team t-shirts, and they look sick.  Our co-rec flag football team runs 18 deep, and only 8 play at a time so it’s a whole lot of fun and intimidating to see so many people.  Right now we are 3-0 in flag football winning 27-0, 31-0, and 32-0.  It’s nice to have my first touchdown pass of every game be the winning score with our shutdown defense.  Our last game of the regular season is tonight, and its probably against the toughest opponent we’ve seen yet so hopefully we can keep that up.  We also have a co-rec Inntertube water polo team, which yes sounds really odd, but it the most fun intramural at UConn by far.  We also have a game in that tonight, and we’re 2-0 there winning 42-0 (serious blowout) and 24-6.  Lastly our men’s basketball team somehow managed to win our game last tuesday night 45-31.  Basketball is easily our worst sport, so to get any win in that is shocking.  Here are some pictures of this year’s flag football team and then last years water polo team, but there all the same kids that play this year.

Football

Water Polo

My schedule for my last semester at UConn is finally all set.  Can’t say I’m the happiest person in the world, but I’ll deal.  I won’t be able to complete my Communication Sciences minor because the Communications department hardly has enough spots in all of its classes for its own majors.  I do understand those spots go to Comm majors first, and that’s why I’m unable to enter, it just sucks a little bit to be one class short and not have the opportunity to finish.  There should be a better way, but since I can’t think of it right now, oh well.

So I’m taking an Introduction to Entrepreneurship class which should be the first in a series of three entrepreneurship classes for my major.  I already took the other two, but I do wish I knew this should have been the first one.  It’s definitely a fuller view of the beginning of entrepreneurship and I think it would have served me well before I jumped right in.  I’m also taking the required Business Writing course, and that’s it for graduation requirements, only four credits that are going to make a real difference for me at the end of the year.  To be a full time student (you need 12 credits for that) I signed up for three more classes.  I’m taking Gender and Communication and Organizational Communication for the forgotten attempt at my Comm minor.  Both classes are really interesting, the Gender one is also offered as a Women’s Studies class, something I’ve definitely never taken before so it’s a cool viewpoint.  Lastly I’m taking Intermediate Marketing Communications, which is offered in the Business School, and is a Marketing major class but had a few spots open.  It’s a holistic view of marketing, and is giving me appreciation for what it actually means to work in that department.

All in all it should be a pretty easy semester, I’ll be honest.  I’m focusing on having a lot of fun this semester and just doing what I need to in my classes to get by.  Probably not the most motivated thing you’ll ever here, but I’m never going to have such little responsibility ever again so I want to make sure I get the most out of it and have no regrets.  College is a lot of different things to different people all at the same time, if you follow that.  I won’t let myself not learn, not take advantage of career opportunities, or not take life seriously; but I’ll be sure to occasionally let myself go a little bit, for fun, and for sanity.

Alright so before this post starts, I have to share a theory with you all that I’ve developed since high school. It’s called “Snow-Day Mentality”. Basically it boils down to the fact that you have to expect the worst and therefore prepare yourself for it. Don’t hope for the best, just accept the worst-case scenario because you’ll be a lot less high strung, and the lows won’t get so low. That sounds really ominous, but it helps the highs be really high too. Insert snow days. All through out elementary to high school whenever someone told me it was going to snow I never listened. I always did all of my homework, all of my reading, and prepared my fullest for the next day. I didn’t want to get suckered into thinking something fantastic was going to happen, and then be utterly dissapointed when my alarm went off and school was still on. So whenever school did get cancelled, I was stoked. I was ready for a sick day of doing whatever I wanted with no responsibility, and therefore I dubbed my general be prepared for anything mentality “Snow Day Mentality”. OK now that I’ve changed millions of lives, here’s the tie-in.

Today was a snow day here at UConn. For some that means a big save because they didn’t get their reading done for their quiz (cough my roommate cough), while for others it just means a day off. For me this snow day got me to do something I haven’t done in a very long time…absolutely nothing. I chose to do absolute jack. I sat around, I watched TV, I got up for a bowl of cereal, I sat back down watched some more TV, went to the computer, laid in bed, had a few text conversations, checked some sports scores, ate a free grinder my roommate went out and got for us, watched some more TV. I even wrote an email to my roommate today that said and I quote “Sayin nothing”. I have not left my apartment. I have not gotten out of my pj’s. I slept til 11, and I even took a nap at some point today, I don’t remember when because it just blended into my nothingness.

Here’s hoping you all did the same thing today. There will be plenty of days in your lives to be productive, to get things done, to save the world. You have to savor the days you can just chill out, recharge the batteries, and get ready to go at it some other time. Let’s be honest whether you’re a senior in high school or in college or a middle-aged working person, the days you can just do nothing start dwindling as soon as your potty-trained. Trust me, whatever you didn’t do today can get done tomorrow. Congrats to everyone who is hearing back about colleges everywhere, you probably had a few less nothing days than I’ve had.

You know what’s fun? Coming back to school. I would also usually answer going to the gym to play some basketball, or maybe work out downstairs with the free weights or go run on a treadmill, soothe some stress. However these few weeks here at school are a little like “hell weeks” if you every played a high school sport. You know those first couple practices where the coach runs you to the ground to show you how tough they are, and how serious this sport is really going to be, and how utterly ridiculous the fact that I have to go run five miles even though I throw a shotput three times a week is? Well I’m going to make a wildly far-reaching analogy that the first few weeks here at school are exactly like that. Every kid (including me…especially me) comes back a tad bit larger than they once were after break, call it the christmas pie, call it the new years beverages of choice, or call it bad decision #37 when you watch the fifth hour in a row of Law and Order, either way everyone gains weight over that time.

Right around the time students are taking a look down and noticing a little extra roll in their priorly manageable stomach area, they also say to themselves “Holy crap, spring break is in 6 weeks!” You know what that means? At least 95% of the student body is trying to cram themselves into our student recreational facility. Not only was it difficult to do that before since the gym isn’t the biggest place in the world, but now think about it you’re adding a whole lot more volume with all the extra flab lying around.

How is this like hell week you ask? Well as I’m sure you all know at least a few kids quit the team. For whatever reason they say they hate the coach, they say they don’t need to run to do their sport, they’d rather play in a rec league, or they are just really really lazy. Quadruple the percentage of kids that quit the team and you have how many kids end up stop going to the gym by about February 17th. That’s a completely arbitrary number, but it is an exact science. I’m not saying I’m the most avid gym goer, probably three or four times a week including intramurals, but right around mid-February it’s a lot easier to get a game of pickup, a lot easier to get a racquetball court, and a whole lot easier to not have to wait an hour to get a treadmill. Whatever their reasons are, “I have a lot of studying to do”, “I need to focus more on my job”, “It’s too amazingly cold”, or “Honestly who cares I’m a stone cold fox already”, most people come up with one to forget their pain.

So everyone, wait it out, ignore the long lines and pick up a different activity. Run on the indoor track at night, relive the YMCA days and swim in the pool with the older professors, or just try calling earlier for a court reservation. Just keep pushing through those first couple weeks, and you’re regular workout routine will come back, don’t get discouraged, I’m here for you waiting in line for the treadmill.

So there will be more posts now that school has started up again, today is the last technical day of break as school starts tomorrow although many people are already feeling the heat of impending work. Hopefully this last semester will have lots of interesting things to talk about, I know I’m half extremely excited half extremely dreadful of whats going to happen.

So the title of this post is two fold, neither of which have anything to do with this semester. First its the line from a song by The Starting Line who is a top three band of mine and one everyone should check out. Second, I had my first ever foray into New Jersey for an extended time this past week. I’ve heard the countless Jersey jokes too…blowouts, hair gel, jersey girls, pollution, glowsticks, Springsteen, and Bon Jovi; but I can now assuredly tell you that at least half of those are false.

I visited my girlfriend about two hours to the south before she goes to Italy for the semester, and I got to see all of the best things Jersey has to offer. The shore was an experience even if everything was closed down for winter and jughandles sure were a great time, but unfortunately I didn’t need to fill up the tank so I couldn’t risk my squeaky clean record by pumping my own gas. I also wasn’t able to get any italian ice or go to an italian deli for lunch, but I did get some delicious ice cream down by the shore and a fantastic hibachi dinner. All in all it was a great time, and I’m looking forward to going back in the summer to see it.

There are certain things I’m really proud of in my life, and there are certain things I’m not. One thing for sure, thank god I didn’t go to a certain New Jersey Big East affiliate that isn’t Seton Hall.

This past weekend our uncle invited a bunch of our extended family up to his ski cabin on Killington Mountain up in Vermont.  I haven’t gone skiing yet this year so I was excited to go up there for the first time since last January.  I’ve been skiing since I was three years old on skis a foot long being held by one of my parents the whole way down, but I dont think I’ve seen much of my extended family since that exact same time.

It’s always difficult to stay in touch with sports every day in high school and new friendships and the like, but I hadn’t seen or really heard from or even mentioned any of my second cousins since probably middle school, they actually all live up near UConn so my town seemed light years away.  It was a good time getting to know all of them and to find out a little more about your roots.

The skiing was fantastic.  It was a little cold and windy but you should probably expect that on the tops of mountains.  It was sunny both days and the views were spectacular being able to see mountains in New Hampshire, Canada, and New York no matter where you looked.  I was able to ski all different trails, from the old favoirte green circles of Great Eastern and Great Northern to the double black diamonds of the rarely opened Devil’s Fiddle which was a lot of fun and Outer Limits.  Although lift ticket prices and lodge food are ridiculously expensive, Killington is absolutely the place to go if you’re interested in a great skiing challenge, I’ll have to try and convince some friends to go this semester.

Devil's Fiddle on Bear Mountain

photo credit: killingtonblog.com

It’s official.  I have finally began the post graduate search and have something to show for it.  I applied for two different jobs this week, which should be just the beginning of the amount of jobs I’ll have to apply for in order to actually receive an offer.  Seems as though there are an extremely limited amount of places to work with hiring freezes across the country so I am making the effort now to possibly work full-time rather than focus on graduate school.  Counter-intuitive? Maybe, but if I can convince someone I’m worth hiring now I’ll probably be a valued employee for later on.

I also finally finished my application to Teach for America today.  It is definitely one of the most prestigious programs to be a part of in the US, and an absolute challenge to get in.  I know saying I applied leaves me open to then having to admit whether or not I get in later in the year, which could be great or not so much, but I figure if I don’t get in and I think I’m capable that means I really am comfortable with the type of people they do let in to help one of the country’s greatest problems.  I’ve been working on this application for what seems like months now as I put it off the first time because I didn’t think I was ready to apply and the second time because interviews were during finals, so I should be finding out within a month or two what this holds for me.

It’s definitely weird taking the next step, but eventually how great it is around here is going to have to end, so might as well try and be prepared.  Keep you updated as always…send questions if you feel like it.

Happy New Year to everyone and I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas while I’m at it.  New Years has always been a bit of a dissapointment in the past, it’s the holiday that has the most anticpation, and then as soon as the ball drops and you scream, you look around and realize, wow this might actually be one of the earliest ending parties of the year.

As I mentioned in an earlier post when I was hanging out at school after finals, there are quite a few people with on and off-campus apartments that stick around once they’re upperclassmen.  One of my friends decided he’d have a New Year’s party at his off-campus apartment, and invited all of his friends from home and then his friends from UConn.  It was a really good time as everyone dressed up a little extra nicely per his directions.  Sometimes you really remember that your UConn friends are for better or worse your family for four straight years, no parents to fall back on all the time, no personal room at home where you are isolated for a while, you’re always out in the open and anything that happens to you happens to all of you, and it was definitely great to spend a cool holiday with a good amount of the UConn crew.

My New Year resolution?  Every year it’s to lose weight, and I’ve been decently successful in the past, but never hit the number.  This year I’m going to use some reverse psychology on myself and say its not to gain any weight, maybe I can trick myself…so smart

‘Twas two days before Christmas when all hit the fan

Not a present was purchased, not even for the Hannon clan,

The streets were full with ridiculous traffic,

I had hopes that woman I just cut off would be nicer with a gesture less graphic;

The mall was packed, so many shoppers in all their glory,

While visions of unhappy little kids yelled “GET THIS FOR ME!;

And my coat riding shotgun and I as the driver,

Just hoping that after this Christmas I’d be a survivor

When in the back of my mind arose an idea,

There’s a better place to shop than Best Buy or Ikea.

Away back to home I flew like a flash,

To go to bed early and wake up and spend some cash.

The sun was rising after a new-fallen snow

To the UConn Co-Op I knew I could go,

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,

The realization that I’ve already shopped their every year,

With a lack of enthusiasm, so dreary and not into it,

I knew in a moment that I was an idiot.

More rapid than eagles old presents they came,

And I whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

“Now, sweatshirt! now, t-shirt! now, mug and hat!

On, headphones! on laptop! on, UConn emblazoned this and that!

To the bottom of the tree! You took me away from the mall!

Not Circuit City! Not Toys R Us! Not Target at all!”

As I looked back with tears of nostalgia in my eye,

I now knew I had to man up, I had to be the guy,

The one who knows exactly what presents to get,

This Christmas I would not say my match has been met.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof

The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.

As I drew in my hand, and was turning around,

Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,

And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;

He said “Hey now Kyle, what will you get for your friends?”,

And he looked like to me, a means to an end.

I said for anyone? I haven’t a clue!

Maybe a UConn chess set? Or a checkerboard colored white and blue!

Maybe one of those awesome outside tents,

Something they could use while tailgating at The Rent;

A home basketball jersey, Adrien number four?,

I know that’s definitely something I could go for;

Score some Dairy Bar ice cream to put in to the belly?

That might shake after the holidays like a bowlful of jelly.

So Santa says loudly right into my ear,

ARE YOU HONESTLY KIDDING? I’ll kick you in the rear;

You’ve been at that school for four years already,

Time to buy something for the ones you love other than that UConn teddy;

Buy them a few cd’s, a couple movies or a video game,

Whatever you get stop being so lame,

What are you doing anyway that you can’t buy a nice gift,

Get off of your butt and through the stores you will sift!;

Oh you’re writing for your blog trying to pass the time,

Oh you needed a website to help you with some of your rhymes?.

Good thing this is the best poem ever, now it end it off right,

“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night.”

Finals officially ended last Saturday, and pretty much the entire campus heads home as quick as possible after exams to cleanse themselves of their ridiculously long nights in the library or the study lounge.  I’ve never been a fan of leaving right away since UConn gets out a little earlier than most schools and friends from home aren’t back yet, so I usually stick around as long as I can in the dorm (til around the Sunday after finals).

This year I have an on campus apartment with a bridged lease that lasts throughout all the breaks and a good portion of the summer.  So while everyone else at other schools is taking finals and most of UConn’s community has left my roommates and I are hanging out enjoying the empty gym, lack of foot and vehicle traffic, and just hanging out in our single rooms with full kitchen and living room, much nicer than sitting at home with at least a ten minute car ride to see civilization.

If you have the opportunity to do any research or have a campus job or really any reason to stick around UConn, you should definitely do it.  Storrs might look a little bland on the outside, but when no one else is around you really do begin to appreciate all that UConn has to offer, and you can take advantage of all of that when there are breaks in the academic calendar!