Leaving for Atlanta tomorrow night.

- Transportation (properly decorated) CHECK

- Place to crash halfway (thanks merfdawg CHECK

- Final Four first session tickets in possession CHECK (I almost cried when I saw the tickets)

- Hotel in ATL CHECK

Of course I have to be wickedly sick for all this though. I started getting sick Monday, fever came back Tuesday, I slogged through yesterday and had no chance of going anywhere today. My entire head is clogged up. Even putting regular clothes on is making me sweat. Ugh. The good thing is that I had similar symptoms when I left for Winston-Salem and that turned out well (although I can do without the stomach virus in Atlanta). So here's hoping my shitty health leads to basketball victory. The only thing I have left to do is getting my eyebrows waxed cause they're a mess...thankfully the salon is in the basement of my building cause otherwise, it would be me and some scissors - BAD IDEA heh.

So yeah, 6:07 PM Saturday night I will be in Section 332 of the Georgia Dome in Atlanta seeing my Hoyas hopefully destroy Ohio State for the second NCAA tournament in a row.

THE HOYAS AND I ARE GOING TO THE FINAL FOUR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

UNC gave us an amazing fight but my Hoyas fought until the very end. Ohio State beware, my Hoyas are hittin' the ATL.

It was a weekend of the Dudley Cosmetolgical University and Inn, MD 20/20 hobo wine, Rap Snacks, "I sexed Mutombo and it was painful", Busch Light showers, the evil bitch goddess that is Prissy Polly's, the new Vern for ya, the Pop Shoppe, Waffle House runs, three holes in the wall, Kernersville - Make Your Own Fun, another lack of pants, the $9.83 XL brandy glass, Hero House, the Pizza Hut lunch buffet, fat and happy fans, Scooby Doo, two people worshipping the porcelain gods, The 7'2" Experience, "Love Generation", ranch Doritos, safe rooms, Green motherfuckers and of course, TWO HOYAS NCAA TOURNAMENT WINS.

And as all weekends surrounded by my crazy, dysfunctional, lovable Hoya Blue family are, it was wonderful.

Here's to Winston-Salem and more imporantly, FOUR MORE WINS.

Hoya fucking saxa.

Yeah, that's right, my team won the fucking Big East Championship in spectactular fashion yesterday. And Roy Hibbert totally made Aaron (Emmaus sucks) Gray his bitch.

The game was amazing. Closing down a bar with Jeff Green's family across from Madison Square Garden was amazing. And doing all of it in 25 hours? Freaking crazy. (Seriously, I left DC at 3:30 yesterday and got back into DC at 4:30 today).

Now it's a #2 seed and on to Winston Salem! I will (most likely) be there Thursday to see us dismantle Belmont and then Saturday to see us play the winner of BC and Texas Tech. SIX MORE WINS BABY. SIX. MORE. WINS.

I AM GOING TO THE BIG EAST CHAMPIONSHIP AT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN TOMORROW.

AND MY TEAM IS GONNA WIN.

So yeah...how are y'all? I'm sore and tired and exhausted as always. My boss has been saying for awhile that she still needs to cut hours and today I decided to volunteer myself. It's a trial schedule for now but probably starting next week I get to come in later and leave at the same time. It saves her hours and lets me sleep more which I really need. Between my hands, my insomnia and every other sore part of my body I'm just physically spent by this job. I'm dead when I come home and even more so on weekend. And I'm tired of feeling like crap.

Hopefully working 7 hours a day will be a little less stressful on my body than 8.5. Besides, unless we have shipments or floor moves, it's silly for me to come in two hours before opening. As much as I can use the money (and I really can) there's no use. I sit there with nothing to do...I've started bringing books to work as a result. There's no use for them to pay me for 2 hours of me sitting and reading in the back and no use for me to be up at 7AM to race into work. If the money or work situation changes we can always go back but it's definitely worthwhile to try now. I want to do things at night and on weekends and as it is now, I just can't. I either need to sleep or put my feet up or whatever. I'm hoping that the two weeks I have off soon for my surgery will do me some good.

I also have (hopefully) lots of basketball to look forward to in the next few weeks. God willing I'll be in NYC Saturday night...I won't say more about that lest I jinx it. And next week hopefully the NCAA tournament. There's 4 first/second round sites that are accessible and 4 that are not. The 4 good ones are Winston Salem (which would be absolutely PERFECT for 138937838735 reasons), Buffalo, Columbus and Lexington. The other 4 are impossible (namely Spokane, WA). So God willing again, I'm heading out of town Wednesday/Thursday of next week.

And for those of you who inquired about me after my post Friday night, things are much better. Not perfect, but getting better than it was.

We really should win the Big East regular season title more often. It's a lot more fun this way.

We really need to do impromptu celebratory barbecues more often as well. Yet again, I LOVE BEING A HOYA.

This is not for all you lovely Pitt students/alums on my friends list but rather your immature compatriots:

To the Pitt fans who vandalized the Georgetown campus,

May you be punished severely for what you did. We beat you, get over it. That's no excuse for vandalizing our campus with vulgar spray painting. The majority of our fans treated yours with respect or at least dignity yesterday and this is how you repay us? Other than winning the game we did nothing to you so why must you feel the need to do shit like this? Believe me, payback will be sought by my fellow Hoyas and I am sure that photos have already been sent to various officials at Pitt. Hopefully the culprits will be caught and retribution sought.

Very unhappily,
A Georgetown Hoya

If you're wondering what that's all about, Georgetown beat Pitt yesterday here in Washington to take first place in the Big East basketball standings. After the game ended a number of Pitt fans went over to the Georgetown campus and defaced the huge HOYA SAXA sign at the school entrance with things I don't want to repeat here. The only fans we have gotten into it with this year was the West Virginia fans because they were giving it even worse to us and well, they're from West Virginia. We did nothing to the Pitt fans who turned out to MCI yesterday and this is what they do to us in return? I just don't get why people do shit like this. Like I said, nothing against all my friends who go/have gone to Pitt because it really is a good school and you guys all got great educations there. It's just a shame that a few of your people had to represent the school so badly yesterday.

That being said, I like being in first place. It's a gooooood feeling seeing as how we haven't won a regular season title in ten years (not since Iverson's last year). So yeah, good times. Magic number to clinch is 1 - we play at Syracuse (yuuucccck) tomorrow and at home against UConn on Saturday. I think we can pull it off. Very nice reunion with my boys as well yesterday. All in all, a great day.

When I get more pictures and have more time/energy to write (most likely Tuesday), I'll spill the details. The 100th Anniversary of Georgetown Basketball gala was worth every fucking penny that it's taking out of my hurting bank account.

For now, me and one of my favorite players from the current team, Sead Dizdarevic:

Guess who happens to be a Georgetown alum?

Walter Egan, College class of 1970.

Nice.

I found out because he's performing in an all-alum cabaret in NYC in a few weeks. I just found that hilariously funny. Just one step closer to FM.

In other news, no word on jobs. Still trying to cope without a comp. I downloaded a few games onto John's comp to keep me entertained. No "Colonel's Bequest" (one of the greatest games EVER)...but I am now addicted to SimTower.

The latest set of US News national college rankings have been released here: http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/brief/natudoc/tier1/t1natudoc_brief.php

The good news is that Georgetown is back up two spots from last year. We're tied with UVA now. We're usually tied with Carnegie Mellon. But anyways, the rise in rankings will be somewhat of a relief to many on campus. I know we shouldn't hold onto the ranking so tightly but many use this as their first source in determining college quality.

Georgetown is a better academic school than half the schools ranked above it. The main reason our ranking remains so low is money. As I've probably said before, Georgetown is rather poor. We have money but we manage and spend it so poorly that it makes us look quite bad compared with Harvard and Yale's massive endowments. This isn't a new trend either. Georgetown's financial mismanagement dates to far before my father even attended there. Every GTown alumnus can tell you any number of stories about money woes that occurred while they were on the Hilltop.

Nevertheless, a 2 point rise in the rankings is good for us. Hopefully it will keep going back up.

The state of Hoya Blue has reached a fever pitch. Hoya Blue is supposed to be the student athletic booster group on the Georgetown campus but due to nepotism and just plain ridiculousness, it has deteriorated into nothing but a drinking group whose primary goal is to provide as much cheap beer as possible. Tonight, Hoya Blue was supposed to meet their fate and a group of reformers was going to call them on their sins. It may be the SFS geek in me coming out, but the best way that I can describe the standoff between Hoya Blue and the people trying to reform it tonight is using a Cold War analogy.

In such an analogy, the reformers (the group I'm in) are the protagonist, the United States if you will. They are stronger, they have better ideas, and eventually they are going to win. The current Hoya Blue board is Russia - they're fading and are in serious denial about it.

I really don't know if you can call this meeting successful per se. Mainly because the Hoya Blue board that is currently in place either refuses to or is too stupid to see what a joke they've become. We basically wrote "HYPOCRITE" on their foreheads but little came of it. At the center of it all is my friend Kurt. Kurt is one of the most enthusiastic Georgetown sports fans you will ever see. He deserves to be in charge of this club and even the board knows this, and yet, they refuse to let this happen. They've managed to finagle one of their lackeys into next year's board.

To continue the Cold War analogy, I liken the current HB chairman as Brezhnev with hopes that his lackeys that he leaves behind represent Andropov and Chernenko (aka basically being irrelevant until fading into obscurity). There is a chance that one of his lackeys can become head of HB next year and this must be stopped. I implore anyone who cares about the future of Georgetown athletics to come to the HB elections (date: TBA in the next 2 weeks) and prevent this from happening. By voting Kurt in as president and Tom in as treasurer, you're not only give them what they want and deserve, you're benefitting yourself as well. Kurt, Tom and the rest of the reformers want Hoya Blue to live up to the potential that it once had, the potential to be a hugely successful student-run promotion for varsity athletic teams at Georgetown.

I'm not denying that beer is a major factor in the college experience but when it comes to an athletic booster club, the sports should come first, second and third. Sure, they can break off and continue to run their yearly events (which is the only thing they've done well in the past few years) but these events have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with Georgetown athletics and everything to do with getting drunk. And when we tried to point this and all the other hypocritical behavior of the HB board out to them, they lied right to our faces.

And another point - some of those HB board bitches (who I have never EVER seen at any Georgetown athletic event and I go to a fair amount of them) continued to insist that prior HB membership experience was key to selecting next year's board. The problem is, other than being on the board in the past, there is no way to justify being an "active HB member". Either you were on the mailing list or you weren't, that's about it. And the HB board was not very welcoming to outsiders. They never advertised club or board meetings. They only sent out informational emails when the athletic department told them to. They even let kids who bugged them enough onto the board and then shut them out of the administrative process once the school year started.

I have seen far too many clubs at this university fall into this trap - where leadership is rotated between the select few that are let into the circle and every other kid who wants to be involved or has good ideas is left by the wayside. Sadly the College Republicans is one of those groups and used nepotism to prevent me from entering the circle but that's another rant for another day. At least this time around we have a chance to end this vicious cycle of nepotism and brownnosing and we have a chance to finally get our voices heard. Again Georgetown - if you care about sports even in the slightest (even if you only go to a handful of basketball games a year) - don't you want an active student spirit group that is well-respected and well-staffed? Or do you want a handful of drunken fools that sit around all day and make asses out of themselves on the bus back from the MCI Center? It's your choice Georgetown but when the HB elections occur, I hope you make the right one.

http://www.playboy.com/on-campus/collegebars/tombs/

Makes me wonder why I don't spend more time there. There's always doing 99 Days next year though...

Cold is gradually getting better. Skipped my first class this morning to sleep in. We're doing nothing but presentations for the rest of the year so you pretty much only have to show up when it's your turn. Quite nice.

Finally ordered my new pair of Doc Martens sandals. The soles on my current pair are pretty much shot (I've had them since the middle of high school). And when I got the straps repaired last year at the Towne Cobbler, he said I'd only be able to salvage the straps if I wanted them resoled so I didn't bother. There were on sale at Nordstrom for 80 bucks. They were 70 at zappos.com but they only had the size above and below mine (UK 6). So they suxxors.

I <3 my sandals though:


Tomorrow is gonna suck majorly:
11:30-1 Class
1-4 Lunch/Work
4-6 Class
6-7:30 Dinner/Work
7:30-8:30 Group meeting for USFP memo
8:30-9:30 Hoya Blue meeting

So kitsune714, I won't be available for TAR. I'm getting it taped but won't be able to get the tape until Friday so if you get the torrent before hand, that would be awesome.

Lastly, everyone go wish singmad a very happy 21st birthday. C'mon already! SCOOT!

I have had a cough for over a month now.

I have had a cold since Tuesday night and a really bad cold/fever since late Wednesday night.

I am fucking miserable.

There is not enough cough syrup in the world to help me right now it seems. I could really go for some of that Hibernol stuff they use to have on SNL. That giant cup of medicine that you drink that forces you to sleep through cold and flu season. I could really go for some of that right now because I cannot get any work done feeling like this. I've been on a combination of 3-4 medicines for over two weeks now and I'm NOT GETTING BETTER. I'm on asthma meds because I have restrictive airways (basically if I have any sign of a cold, my airways shrivel up and I can't breathe well and I cough a lot), prescription strength cough syrup and Tylenol with codeine. Ugh.

I managed to get my presentation review from Dean Krogh (really good except he wished I talked about the Reagan-Gorbachev Rejikavik summit more) and got 12 books at Lauinger for my term papers on George H.W. Bush and Desert Storm. I just can't work on the papers until I can go 5 seconds without hacking up a lung or having to blow my nose.

I've sat around since Wednesday night watching West Wing and golf mostly. I forced myself to go out tonight because I was sick of being cooped up (and I pretty much will be cooped up all weekend). I went to Chevy's with John and Godby and then watched the Nationals-Marlins game at Godby's place. I always have a good time with those two but I wish I didn't feel so miserable the whole time.

Okay, I'll stop complaining about being sick but I really am reaching a breaking point with this fucking cough. Off to watch more West Wing I guess because if there is a medicine that can cure me, thy name is Sam Seaborn :o)

If you care about the future of Georgetown athletics, please attend the Hoya Blue election meeting Tuesday night at 8:30 in the team room on the 2nd floor of McDonough. If you need any more info on why this meeting is so important, please email me at anf3(at)georgetown(dot)edu or leave a comment.

The head of choosing products at Vittles has to be from Philly because I was there today and they now sell BASSETS!!!

Way to make a Philly girl happy Georgetown.

Primary Selections: Course Title Cred Instructor Days Times Bldg Room
01 INAF-343-01 CASE STUDIES:AMER FOREIGN POL 3.0 Lake, Anthony MW 01:15PM - 02:30PM ICC 106

02 INAF-363-01 PRACTICING DIPLOMACY ABROAD 3.0 Schaffer, Howard B T 02:15PM - 04:05PM ICC 231

03 INAF-350-01 RELIGION & INTRNL AFFAIRS 3.0 Esposito, John L T 10:15AM - 12:05PM ICC 270

04 ENGL-315-01 BRITISH COMEDY OF MANNERS 3.0
MW 11:40AM - 12:55PM ICC 106

05 HIST-381-01 MILITARY HISTORY OF NATO 3.0 Kaplan, Lawrence S M 04:15PM - 06:30PM ICC 231




Alternate Selections: Course Title Cred Instructor Days Times Bldg Room
01 HIST-436-01 WOMEN & GENDER IN MODERN EUROPE 3.0 Horvath-Peterson, S W 02:15PM - 03:55PM ICC 216

02 GOVT-293-01 STATE/POL OF FORMER SOVIET UNION 3.0 Gustafson, Thane E TR 04:15PM - 05:30PM WGR 208

03 HIST-486-01 AMERICA IN VIETNAM 3.0 Tucker, Nancy B W 04:15PM - 05:55PM ICC 221B

04 ARTM-023-01 TRAD & POP MUSICS OF AMERICA 3.0 Del Donna, Anthony R TR 01:15PM - 02:30PM NN MCN

05 THEO-072-01 ETHICS & INTERNAT'L RELATIONS 3.0 Winters, Francis X TR 02:40PM - 03:55PM ICC 120


Dear God,

I know you're busy right now getting RSVP's from everyone but if you could find it in your heart to give me my primary schedule in its entirety, I would be ever so grateful. Because that schedule would rock hardcore.

Thank you,
Ali :o)

Spent most of the weekend away from here and now it's catching up to me. Went out to dinner and hung out with John on Friday, went to Memphis Steve's birthday party in Woodley Park last night and here I am. Good times though. Glad I missed the bomb threat on my building between 3AM and 6AM this morning.

So, I've worked it out (if all goes well) so that both my primary and alternative schedules for next semester give me two days off a week. Primary: Thursday and Friday, Alternative: Monday and Friday. I'm loving it. I'm basically going heavy next semester to make second semester as easy as possible (probably one subfield major course and an elective and that's it). So now that the block is off my preregistration (thanks for not paying the balance Dad), I'll be good to go tomorrow.

Much work until then though. I can tell you way too much about Reagan now.

I <3 random Clair Viglione sightings though. 23rd and Eye streets at around 1PM. Awesome.

And if you're wondering, I'm still in serious Mitch denial.

Except for this. Just in time for "Imitate a Ledgie" week on BIB, I wake up to read in my hometown newspaper this story:

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/113-03302005-469703.html

I hope to god Christy hasn't seen it. I fucking hate Justin Guarini.

And Rock class kicked ass today. We got to watch hair band videos for half an hour! You gotta love watching Bon Jovi, Poison and Whitesnake! WOOT.

Lastly, I updated the song meme hints:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/rwhip923/115611.html

(EDIT: I have the "Hollaback Girl" video if anyone wants it!)