Semantics

Have met a few 30-somethings in the last week. Apparently I missed the chance to meet several more at a mixer for "non-traditional" students during orientation week. I knew about it, but assumed "non-traditional" was the politically correct term for, well, NON-traditional students. Whose "traditions" are we talking about anyway? I'm not sure I'm not offended by the term.

Ouch

Just watched the Pats-Broncos game. Ouch, I said. I might need to take the rest of the season off. I can tell you that the Patriots have not yet played their best football of the year, and that they are still a lock to win their division, but they are a shadow of their former greatness. No one likes to see their team get manhandled, but when you do so at the opportunity cost of three precious hours studying the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the pain is truly gutting.

Finding My Rhythm

As recently as Tuesday I was voicing my displeasure with the campus shuttle and asking why the school bothers to post a schedule when the buses are never on time. The shuttle is an extension of the Syracuse public system, but is free for students, and -- now that I've learned how to read the schedule correctly -- actually runs with the precision of a Taiwanese "Swiss" watch (which is pretty damn good). We'll see what happens when the snow flies, but for now I'm able to plan my commute (such as it is) almost to the minute. If I wasn't already, I've become fiercely protective of my time; minutes wasted at the bus stop felt like irreparable damage to my budding legal career.

In a previous post I might have expressed some misgivings about the (relative) remoteness of my apartment, but in talking with some colleagues, proximity to the main campus seems to come at the expense of safety. The school's security office has a full-disclosure policy, and as a result students receive regular e-mails (nearly two per week so far) about near-campus muggings, batteries, and the like. Also, grapevine talk of off-campus break-ins are not uncommon. Up until this week, the incidents had seemingly been confined to the late hours and known trouble spots, but a report of an early-evening assault near one of the main dining halls came as a surprise.

Still, I don't see a need to change any aspects of my personal routine -- apart from no longer patronizing a bodega in the heart of a neighborhood I should probably avoid. I stumbled across the place my first weekend here in search of groceries and loaded up on their selection of 2-for-$3 expired cereal. Well, not exactly expired. The labels read "better" if consumed one month before my actual date of purchase, but I can't taste the difference.