Thursday, December 12, 2013

Frozen

It's finals week and everything at Coe is winding down for the year. I don't have a lot to say for my final blog post, but I do want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and tell one story before signing off until next year.

Last Sunday I decided to go for my usual run at the Sac & Fox Trail. That wouldn't be very interesting just by itself, but when I woke up it was snowing. Usually if this happens I will forgo running outside and head for the treadmill and indoor track. This time, however, I decided to brave the wind, cold, and snow to keep experiencing the great outdoors. The run was fun although one thing you don't realize about running with snow falling is that it gets in your eyes every other step. I spent half the time running blind just hoping I didn't go off the trail into the river. The end result of my run looked like this:

Yes, that is ice.
As you can see, all the snow and sweat froze. If you look at that picture and think, "wow that's cool!" then you're probably a little bit crazy - like me. If you look at that picture and think "wow, that's crazy" then you're definitely correct, but will probably miss out on some cool experiences like running through a snowstorm. 

That's all for this year! Hope the holiday's are great, and I will be back at the start of the tennis season.

More Than a Woman

Laura Birky '16, and two other classmates, produced this video for a class project.  Both myself, and Mark Kroll '16 served as interviewees.

More Than a Woman

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Woolf Update


Mike Woolf '14 spent much time off the court this past semester engaged in an internship. As a result, Tim Palmer, Aaron Collins and he
were published for their work as part of the Birkey Investment Fund. 

A summary from Woolf:

We researched U.S. Silica Holdings (SLCA) and presented our findings to a board who bought the stock.  


The report itself was published on the following website:
seekingalpha.com

Executive Summary
U.S. Silica Holdings (SLCA) is an up-and-coming company that has a promising future. It operates in the sand and gravel mining industry and it is experiencing an increased demand for its products. U.S. Silica is a large influence in an industry that is competitive through many local companies. Environmental regulations are a potential issue, due to oil fracking which is its most profitable business. U.S. Silica is taking steps to improving its business through these regulations. It also has a constant revenue from its other sector which provides silica for industrial use. Steadily increasing revenue and earnings trends show possible growth in the company. Other financials, such as forward P/E also show that there is promise in U.S. Silica.

Sunday, December 8, 2013

An Eventful Saturday!

The Student Alumni Association (SAA) hosted a Kids' Holiday party Saturday morning.  Emmie and Sasha were ecstatic to have been greeted and checked in by Jordan (assisting with the event).


The Kohawk Tennis Holiday party followed.  The teams, and a few alumni, gathered to eat pizza before traipsing over to Eby to watch and support the Men's Basketball team.  Coe won in the 3rd OT.





The Racquet Center was taken over by the Fiala's Friday evening.  Both Mark and Mary had a benchmark birthday this year.  Megan, Molly & Mindy threw a surprise party to celebrate.....the parents thought they were joining the Kohawk Tennis Holiday party.  They were in fact invited to our earlier, actual, party but the sisters couldn't figure out how to make both work.



Thursday, December 5, 2013

Thanksgiving Adventure



I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving break and had feasts of epic proportions. I went back to Dallas over the holiday to spend time with friends and family, but instead of telling you some boring tale about Thanksgiving dinner I thought I would go in a different direction today.

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving was a fairly typical day which involved me doing very little besides helping my sister prepare food for the following day. And even in this instance of cooking, my main contribution involved eating everything, or as I like to call it: taste testing. About mid-afternoon I went to pick up a friend from work. The day was beautiful and since I had been eating for most of it I felt the time was right for a nice jog.

Through the beautiful city

When I arrived to get my friend, before I could ask about running I was greeted with this question: “you want to go kayaking?” Judging by her reaction to my reaction, I must've looked like I didn't want to go. In my defense, I had my mind on other plans, and it took a few minutes to readjust my thinking. It’s kind of like missing your turn with a navigation system, it just takes a moment for everything to change to the new setting. So after some initial wavering on my part we started loading the kayak.

This is where things started to get interesting. The kayak seated two people and was fairly long. The vehicle we had was a 4-door Chevy Cobalt. Automobile aficionados will probably notice this is not a large vehicle. No matter, we threw that kayak on top and tied it down to anything we could find. After 30 minutes of wrangling we finally had everything in place all the while praying fervently that the roof didn’t turn into a floor by collapsing.

Nothing odd about that at all.

After that little adventure all we had to do was drive through Dallas to get to White Rock Lake which literally sits just east of downtown. If you want to get some strange looks just drive through Dallas in a small car with a bright red kayak attached to the roof. You will stand out, perhaps if we could’ve disguised the kayak with a cowboy hat then no one would have noticed. After all this we didn’t get to the lake until around 5:15 which in Dallas means you have about 30 minutes of daylight left. Now it was my friends turn to waver on whether or not we should go ahead with the plan, but I had already changed my mind once and was therefore unable to do so again.

If you want a cool experience then being on a calm lake at sunset will always qualify. The panorama was great, and we had the lake to ourselves because nobody else was crazy enough to head out for kayaking in the dark. After a few minutes we learned how to row in unison and work as a team which is much better for propelling a craft through water. If you want to work on you relationship with others, then just go out in a two person kayak. Afterwards you will either have an unshakable bond or hate each other for life.

Next week is the last post of the year, I’ll be back in January for the start of school. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving… even if it wasn’t as cool as mine



Monday, December 2, 2013

42 Days.....

......until Men's Tennis practice gets underway!






Fall Semester Classes end Monday, December 9th 





















Final Exams conclude Saturday, December 14th





Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Happy Thanksgiving!


As sang by one of the younger member of Kohawk Tennis (my daughter):


"Give thanks for sweet ice cream; for ducks in a row.
Give thanks for great stories, which help you to grow."

Coe College and Kohawk Tennis wishes you well in the days ahead.  Enjoy family, friends, healthy food and your own "stories" as they unfold!

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Holiday Cheer

The holiday season is about to kick into full swing next week with Thanksgiving and the even bigger Black Friday celebrations bringing on the full feeling of holiday cheer. I’m sure we’re all excited for the holiday season and all the joyous feelings that it entails. I’ve been getting in the holiday spirit in a slightly different way from the norm of eating and shopping until you either develop Type II Diabetes or Bankruptcy – both detrimental to your health I’m sure. I have re-started my boxing lessons because nothing says Merry Christmas like a right hook to the face.

and a Happy New Year!

Now I’ve never been in a fight before in my life. My plan, if I ever get in a rough spot, is to follow comedian Rodney Carrington’s advice and just take my pants off… because no one wants to fight the naked guy. Or I would use my speed and run away as quickly as my feet could carry me. Obviously neither one of these plans inspires confidence and after successfully navigating my whole life thus far with nary an incident involving fisticuffs I have decided now is the time to learn how to fight.

So a couple of times a week, I wrap the wrists, don the mitts, and take the shirt off (in some ways I guess unclothing myself is still part of my fighting plan?) and work to learn the sweet science. I wish I could say I am the next de la Hoya, Mayweather, and Pacquiao all wrapped into one

And now, Gold-Money Pac Maaaaaaaaannnn!!!

Sadly for several weeks the first 30 minutes of each lesson was spent re-learning how to not swing like an idiot. Seemingly simple combos caused my brain to blow a gasket, “Oh sorry, when you said to throw a jab, punch, and 2 hooks I thought you just wanted 4 straight punches followed by me leaning my face into your swing.”

Finally after much practice and Zen-like patience from my instructor I have gotten to where it only takes 5 minutes at the beginning of each session for me to become un-stupid. It’s been great progress. In the course of our journey we found out something most people would find odd: I’m a much better southpaw than righty and my best punches definitely come from my left. This is not surprising for those that know I throw a baseball left-handed. I was always better at most tasks with my left hand until my pre-k teacher – who apparently was stuck in 1850 – decided I needed to be right handed and thus have no advantages in life. Thanks God I never threw anything in class, or I probably would’ve had to switch that too.

Left hands are of the devil or something

I realize that in the previous paragraph I have quite possibly given away my biggest advantage in a fight. If you’re reading this and plan on accosting me then please forget the fact that I will start out right handed and switch midway through to southpaw in an attempt to confuse you and land a big left on your face.  Otherwise I am ready for the holiday shopping season and all the joy that brings. Now that I think about it, I better go hit the heavy bag to make sure I have plenty of joy to spread around. 

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!


Friday, November 15, 2013

Kohawks Receive Best App Award


Tyler Wilson '14, Mike Cranwill and Lucais Piot from Prof. Chen's Entrepreneurship class formed a team called Studera to produce a mobile app to help manage study hours for fraternities/sororities. Tyler and Mike traveled to Des Moines last weekend to participate in a start-up event known as CodeDay Iowa. They polished their app and won the Best App Award at the competition. Congratulations to Tyler, Mike and Lucais on a job well done!

Tyler is a Senior on the men's team this year.  He has been a consistent smiling (always!) face in the Racquet Center for four years now....in and out of season....and will certainly be missed next year.   

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Cycling Project

Today I did something a little bit weird… or weird for me at least. Now you may be wondering what could be weird for someone who runs 12 mile obstacle courses for fun, reads books over cosmology, and rides a bicycle 10 miles for cup of coffee in solitude. Well today I did that immensely weird thing known as driving my truck.

Complete Madness

Yes while most people spend a great deal of their lives tethered to their vehicles, something as seemingly normal as firing up the car is a huge detour from my usual day. I’ve talked before about how I’m slowly dipping my toe into the world of cycling, and over the last few months I have eschewed driving for biking in most instances. Luckily my house next to Coe enables me to ride my bike to work as well as downtown. If I have a little free time and want to partake in a new coffee shop or do a little reading I can takeoff for my destination with no problems. This riding has been helped out a great deal by the amount of bike lanes being added around Cedar Rapids. It turns out those lanes aren’t just for passing on the right like I was previously led to believe. Those lanes are actually for bicycles and the people said bikes carry. One drawback of this whole system is that people in cars are most often hell bent on crashing into cyclists like a big game of pin ball.

One more biker and we get an extra ball!

I haven’t biked a lot back home but I’m sure this little problem would be even more prominent there. If you’re not polluting or killing something with your daily commute then the license gets taken away. I have no doubt that for my previous statements I’ll probably be forced to sacrifice a vegan before being allowed back in the state.

We need you to prove your loyalty before proceeding into the state.

Here is my next project: I have reset the Trip Meter on my truck’s odometer and plan on seeing how far I drive in the next few weeks. At the same time I will track how many miles I bike each week. And I hope this project gets carried out with more vigor than some of my previous ideas like my New Year’s Resolutions which are laying scattered in my mind like confetti in Times Square. I won’t count the time I am away for Thanksgiving or Christmas since I won’t have my car or bike with me while I’m gone. That would obviously make no sense for the purposes of this project. Some of you will probably point out that we are heading steadily toward winter and I’m not exactly a huge fan of the cold, but I plan on continuing this endeavor even when faced with the cold. I rode 20 miles yesterday with a starting temperature of 27 degrees and quite enjoyed myself. I know that sounds like madness, but for me driving my truck? That sounds like madness.


Total Miles Driven today: 8

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Tough Rules to Live By

We all know that a few weeks ago I took a little trip to Texas, and while a good deal of that time was spent eating, drinking coffee, and just generally spending money this was not the original reason for planning the trip. Yes this was first and foremost a trip about masochism, and as promised it’s time to detail little adventure in all its tear-filled, mud-stained, blood-filled glory. As an added bonus I'll add some rules to race by that have come to me the hard way.

A Tough Mudder for those who do not know is a 12 mile course usually filled with 24 obstacles. These obstacles range from something as simple as running up muddy hills to something as sadistic as a water filled trench with dangling overhead wires that deliver an electric shock when touched (and it’s impossible to avoid all the wires). My starting wave was on the second day of the event. Couple that with the fact that it rained heavily all night and you can start to imagine just how muddy things were.

We arrived at the course location south of Dallas and were met with our 1st test even before the event started: a 1 ½ mile walk from the parking lot to the starting area. This was unexpected but when you’re planning on running 12 miles anyway what’s a couple extra gonna hurt? After registration, signing your death waiver, and marking your bib number on your forehead in permanent marker you’re all set to go. This brings me to my first rule for running a Tough Mudder – or any race for that matter. Don’t fear the port-o-potty. I learned this the hard way during my first Mudder. After properly eating and hydrating all week, you had better stop for a little visit to pay the water bill, or there will be hell to pay while you’re out on the course. There are things nearly all people have natural aversions to such as snakes, spiders, and port-o-pottys, but you better close your eyes and pretend it’s a bad dream while you’re in there; otherwise you’ll end up living a nightmare out on the course.

Now for rule 2 for running a Tough Mudder: don’t try to avoid the mud! Without fail everyone at the beginning of every race I’ve done runs around the mud holes in the beginning. We’re about to experience an obstacle that’s actual name is the “Mud Mile” and they’re worried about getting dirty in the 1st mile!?

Oh yeah, it looks like a lovely place

Just look at the starting area. Yeah, it’s not getting any better from there, so no trying to avoid getting dirty at the beginning. Or like an old college professor used to tell me, “sometimes you just gotta drop your pants and slide on the ice.” I’m a little confused as to how that advice is helpful here but that’s okay because that leads directly into rule number 3: Get a little confused and disoriented. Take a look at this picture. I have no idea what part of the course this was. Sometime after mile 4? Maybe?



And look at me here. I’m obviously deranged at this point, otherwise I wouldn’t be smiling

I don't even smile when I'm happy

So after you’ve successfully succumbed to full dementia and paranoia you have to keep slogging through. I mean that literally. It’s muddy. I fell more times than I can even count because I only have 10 fingers and am not wearing sandals. Let’s just say it was a lot of falling. I spent a fair amount of my time crawling up hills on my hands and knees because I had no traction – and the same balance as a baby deer.

So after all 12 miles you have just one obstacle left and you’re home free. Unfortunately this obstacle is the 2nd time you’re going to get shocked today. The last Tough Mudder I ran, the “Electroshock Therapy” as they call it, gave me such a shock that I was knocked out for a few seconds and was welcomed lovingly by the grounds sweet embrace. In a clear sign that Life felt bad for last year, this time I was spared any shocks! I almost have regained my faith in a fair universe… almost. Once it’s all over and you’ve got your free shirt and headband and negotiated for some extra Clif Bars because, after all, you deserve them, it’s time for one last thing. Rule number 4: take a post race picture. Here is me after my race last year post-unconscious

It was a great day

In this year’s post race picture, sadly, I wasn’t nearly as dirty looking

Yes, in case you were wondering, I do actually have friends


There it is, my Tough Mudder experience or the parts of it that I can recall. And the rules to race by the next time you decided to be less boring. 

Saturday, November 2, 2013

D3 Pre-Season Rankings

The Fall/Pre-Season Rankings have been released for NCAA D3 by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association and for the first time since 2004 the Crimson & Gold were represented in the Men's National Singles and Doubles listings.

Noah Sprinkel is slotted in at the 21st spot in the National singles, and Riley Galbraith makes his first ranking a good one, teaming with Noah as the 25th doubles pair in the country.

In the Central Region (one of 4 regions across the country) Tai Lucero was ranked 16th. Jordan Ferree makes her debut in the rankings, teaming with Tai as the #12 pair. On the Men's side, Noah begins the year at #5, while Riley appears at #16. In doubles they are ranked #6. Both Teams carryover their 2013 Spring rankings to start the 2014 season. The Women will begin the year at #12 and the Men at #7.

In May of 2014 the NCAA will select 8 singles players and 4 doubles pairs from the Central Region to vie for the NCAA Individual Championships which be held in Claremont, California at the Biszantz Familty Tennis Center on the campus of the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges.

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Weekend Getaway

We all know that the weather last week wasn’t up to my exacting standards. To show my displeasure with Earth I decided to take a last second trip down to Texas for the weekend, and by last second I mean I had been planning this trip for months. I went home to run in a Tough Mudder (I’ll give a full account of that next week) and see my mother for her birthday.

When I landed and walked outside the terminal I was met by a clear, blue sky; no wind to speak of; and a perfect temperature of 70 degrees. I immediately texted Coach Rodgers and told him I may not come back. This feeling was only compounded a few moments later when I ate lunch at the Mellow Mushroom. I know this sounds like the not-to-coy title of a place selling psychedelics in the back room – and honestly I think my waitress may have imbibed more than a few times in her life – but the pizza was delicious. Have you ever had a roasted red potato pizza? I hadn’t either until I sank my teeth into that little slice o’heaven.

He's wrong, it's actually when you have roasted red potato pizza

Once you have pizza like that your day can’t be anything but good. If you get in a car wreck, your wife leaves with your best friend, and the bank takes the house? “I’ll worry about that tomorrow, right now this pizza is just too good to worry about anything else.” And it also had sour cream, caramelized onions, and some mystery sauce that probably took 3 years off my life. The rest of that evening was pretty tame, I just had about 5 pieces of cornbread because I love cornbread… and anything edible apparently.

The next day I went to Brewed in Fort Worth which is a coffee/brew house which had a great iced cinnamon latte. I was with a coffee connoisseur this time so there was only a limited amount of awkwardness emanating from me. That’s not to say I didn’t do anything awkward – I almost knock my seat over when I sat down – but I kept it to a minimum. Brewed was just the preamble to the full meal at Cheesecake Factory. My whole family was there to celebrate my mom’s birthday. I went all out and split a salad. Yes I know what you’re thinking but I didn’t want to eat poorly before my race the next day. Of course, I immediately destroyed any good I had done by ordering a cheesecake. I couldn’t help myself! It had caramel, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, and Butterfinger!

This may be worse for you than drinking and driving

Afterward came the real exciting part: I spent 2 ½ hours at REI buying things for my trip to Big Bend. Do you know how easily you can spend all your money in that place? Let me give you a hint: very easy. I’m not quite sure how much I spent because I didn’t check the prices on anything. I figured it was better this way, so I wouldn’t back out due to some little complaint from my conscience like “if you spend that much you won’t have any money for food.” You know, something trivial like that. The rest of my trip was centered around the Tough Mudder which I took part in on Sunday. I’ll detail that next week, but my writing this post is a good indication that I survived. No promises though.

I'll take one of everything


Before coming back to Iowa on Monday I went to another hipster coffee shop in south Dallas called Oddfellows and then since I wasn’t feeling jittery enough I went to Coffee House Café in north Dallas. Yeah I may be developing a problem, but my iced vanilla latte was delicious. Despite all this I still managed to sleep the whole plane ride back. I was a bit tired from sleep deprivation over the past 3 days. Tune in next week as in chronicle my journey through a 12 mile obstacle course and cause everyone to believe I’m a masochist. 

Monday, October 28, 2013

Peace. Love. Coe.

A common question asked of college students is why they chose their respective school. Your mom's friends ask during breaks back home, co-workers ask to make conversation, and friends ask to see if there is a legitimate reason for you leaving them and choosing a different school. I can't express how thankful I am that the reasons Coe is so great never include "the party scene" or "well, that's where all the people from my high school go."

See, Coe is more special than that. It's a diamond in the rough, a hidden treasure, a well-kept secret. 

Campus is gorgeous this time of year. The fall colored leaves tumble gently through the crisp Iowa air, and lay gently on the grass. Walking to class it's impossible not to notice the crimson and gold leaves reminding me that Coe isn't just an academic institution (recently named one of the top 100 Private Liberal Arts colleges in the country), it's an atmosphere that resonates in the faculty, administration, students and landscape alike. Even the numerous squirrels are apart of this unique atmosphere.

I go to Coe because some of the most amazing people I have ever met are here, and continue to come here. This is hardly coincidental. It takes a certain type of person to believe in the welcoming culture of Coe. Indeed, it's a leap of faith choosing a college. Luckily for all of us, it's choice that proves worth making on a daily basis. Not only have I been challenged and expanded intellectually, I have also been broadened emotionally. I truly have become a more well rounded human being in just nearly 3 semesters, a latent product of being a Kohawk that is simply priceless.

The following 2 and half years hold a number of opportunities for further growth and I could not be more excited. As Kohawk volleyball player, Erin Dalke, and I have said since deciding on coming to Coe together...

Peace. Love. Coe.

Weekend Recap

Thursday evening was Coe's Annual Playground of Science.  Students in the science department assist in the community event, which hosts 1,000+ kids!  Emmie has attended the past three years.  This year, she saved her marshmellows from the molecule building station to put on her ice cream (created using liquid nitrogen).  Daken Starkenburg '14 was present to help, as was supporters of the tennis program, Kaylee Johnson '17 and Sam Kerby '14.

Kaylee demonstrating to Emmie.
Fire dancing to the sound waves.
Saturday and Sunday marked our Annual Campus Showdown Tournaments!  Jordan Ferree '15 was top dog on Saturday, and Riley Galbraith '16 picked up his 3rd straight title on Sunday.  Ryan Hickman '16 took 2nd, Victor Khristenko '11 3rd and Alex Bernt '17 4th.  As always, appreciate the support displayed by our parents here at Coe.....was great to have Moklestad's, Bernt's, Galbraith's, etc in attendance.

Emmie had a hot chocolate and coffee stand both Saturday and Sunday.
She also put together an obstacle course.  By Sunday, it was rather extensive.  She had all of the participants doing push-ups at some point throughout the day.....hope this does not constitute an NCAA violation since I'm not allowed to train players in the off-season.

Friday, October 25, 2013

2013 Iowa Conference Women's Tennis Awards Announced

Story here.

"Coe College senior Tai Lucero (Odessa, Texas/Permian) has been selected Iowa Conference Women's Tennis Player of the Year for the 2013 season, while Coe assistant coach Kris Diehl has been selected as the 2013 Iowa Conference Women's Tennis Coach of the Year."

Honestly, I am grateful to have been awarded COY.  However, I accept on behalf of Coach Rodgers, and alongside Coach Brad.

2013 All-Iowa Conference Women's Tennis
Most Valuable Player — Tai Lucero, Coe
Coach of the Year — Kris Diehl, Coe assistant
SinglesSchoolYearHometown/High School
Angie AllgoodCENSo.Muscatine, Iowa / Muscatine
Laura BirkyCOESo.Cedar Rapids, Iowa / Xavier
Jordan FerreeCOEJr.Pekin, Ill. / Pekin
Tai LuceroCOESr.Odessa, Texas / Permian
Amy SebastianCOESo.Mundelein, Ill. / Vernon Hills
Elizabeth DickhutLORJr.Appleton, Wis. / Xavier
Adriana DePaolisLUTJr.Shorewood, Minn. / Minnetonka
Maggie HelmsLUTSo.Moline, Ill. / Moline
Caroline TreisLUTFr.Brookfield, Wis. / Brookfield Central
Lola White-BaerLUTJr.Iowa City, Iowa / West
Melissa DavisWARSo.Lakewood, Colo. / D'Evelyn
Katheryn RossWARSo.Littleton, Colo. / Chatfield
DoublesSchoolYearHometown/High School
Angie AllgoodCENSo.Muscatine, Iowa / Muscatine
Megan DavisCENSo.Highlands Ranch, Colo. / Valor Christian
Laura BirkyCOESo.Cedar Rapids, Iowa / Xavier
Jordan FerreeCOEJr.Pekin, Ill. / Pekin
Tai LuceroCOESr.Odessa, Texas / Permian
Maggie HelmsLUTSo.Moline, Ill. / Moline
Honorable MentionSchoolYearHometown/High School
Elizabeth HoffmannCOESr.Cedar Rapids, Iowa / Xavier
Diannah WatsonCOESo.Frisco, Texas / Lone Star
Carrie CrabillLORFr.Dubuque, Iowa / Hempstead
Caroline RaineyLORJr.Cedar Rapids, Iowa / Prairie
Jenna MyersLUTSo.Cedar Rapids, Iowa / Linn-Mar
Jessie BehrerWARSr.Urbandale, Iowa / Urbandale





Thursday, October 24, 2013

The Craziest Thing Ever

October 2013 has certainly been a crazy month. The US government went offline, somehow the Grand Canyon was closed, healthcare websites are crashing like the Giants season, and it’s not even Halloween yet. On Tuesday I saw what has got to be the craziest thing that has happened in the whole month of October. While riding my bike to the school on Tuesday I got snowed on. I want that to sink in. Snowed on.

It was pretty much like this give or take a few feet

It may have not looked exactly like that, and there may have been zero accumulation – if we’re being factual then there was no accumulation – but that isn’t the point. Snow in October is not just unwelcome, or crazy, it is in fact an abomination! This may seem like a bit of overkill or hyperbole just to prove my point. I can assure you it is neither. October is supposed to be a fall month where the weather starts cooling and we’re treated to grand vistas of turning leaves. So what if this isn’t New England, I’ve been robbed of a very important season of my life! I know it’s important because I just said so in the last sentence which must make it true. Thank you very much Old Man Winter. I bet you’re just upset you couldn’t register for health care meaning you’ll never get rid of your cold and are just trying to give it to everyone else out of spite.

Also have I mentioned my caffeine intake has increased dramatically lately? I’m sure that has nothing to do with my shaky hands or jitteryness or my free-flowing rage at the weather – that last one has been present for years. I was afraid I would get more paranoid about crazy weather conspiracies because of this lifestyle change, but I put those thoughts to rest while I was on my back porch screaming at the illuminati. It was here, while trying to catch my breath, that I knew October snow is the craziest thing to befall us in my lifetime.

Crazier than this?

Just think about it. Snow is white, there is fairy tale character named Snow White, Snow White hangs out with a bunch of dwarves, dwarves are heavily featured in Peter Jackson’s new movie The Hobbit, The Hobbit was filmed in New Zealand, and New Zealand is in spring right now and thus has much nicer weather than us. This can lead to only one conclusion: New Zealand has figured out how to control the weather and is making their weather seem much nicer to help their tourism industry. It makes sense if you don’t think too hard. I know it may seem like I pulled that crazy idea out of nowhere, but you can just add that to the many crazy things that have happened this month.


Now, I have seen a lot of crazy things. I saw in the Matrix that Neo is the One, I saw Skyfall grossed over One Billion dollars worldwide, I even saw October Sky where rockets were falling everywhere. But even one flake of snow falling from the sky in October? That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever seen.