The LIW Small Talk Thread

[winelover23]

CTek - Just saw your pic on the newlywed thread of the coral beach. What kind of camera do you have?

 

[princesss]

Date: 3/18/2010 2:35:19 PM
Author: elrohwen
P, that sounds like so much fun! Man, I miss college...

El, M''s first year he helped with the protest rally (I had to sign a petition opposing continental drift) and a few other things, but the best was the one that could (still) get him in trouble.

So, here''s a poll: If you were walking out of the library late at night, and a blindingly white guy in navy blue sparkly women''s panties and running shoes ran up and hit you in the face with a whipped cream pie, would you:

a) file a police report
b) laugh
c) be annoyed and chase after him
d) be annoyed, but laugh

 

[vc10um]

Date: 3/18/2010 2:34:01 PM
Author: elrohwen

Date: 3/18/2010 2:23:11 PM
Author: Clairitek
That is a HUGE percentage! I had no idea your undergrad had such a large Greek system. Who woulda thunk it??

Perhaps if my discipline of engineering had been more female-heavy I might not have joined. I was in dire need of some female companionship when I joined my sorority my second semester. As you know, mechanical engineering is really male dominated. I''d say about 50% of the women in engineering at my grad school are in chemical engineering. I loved having a balance of male and female friends in my life and both sides benefitted from my dual involvement. We would have a booze cruise once a year and I always sold tickets to my engineering friends and they loved having a chance to meet more women than the handful in our department. Conversely, the girls liked having some guys on the cruise that weren''t already someone''s boyfriend, as pretty much all of the other male guests were. Fun times all around!
Actually, last October one of my sorority girlfriends married one of my engineering friends. I was the MOH.

Man I am really into the rambling today. Sorry guys. I''m just totally high on life right now. Sunshine (and accepted job offers and progress in our bathroom renovation) works wonders for my mood.

I just made up that stat from an old memory, but it looks like I was right on: http://collegeprowler.com/cornell-university/greek-life/

Greek life was really popular! Every party I went to freshman and sophomore year was at a frat.

My major was also 50% female which was awesome. We had a great mix of people. My non-ChemE engineering friends would meet the ChemE girls and joke that they were changing their major to the one with all the hot girls

I love your booze cruise! That sounds like so much fun

And no problem with rambling. I swear all of my posts today have been been way too long. I must be in a chatty mood.

Greek Life was about 18% of Michigan''s campus. I know, I was a tour guide and had to throw out that statistic twice a week.

I was in the Marching Band. We had better parties than the frats, lol.

I was also in the service sorority associated with the band (Squirrly is my sister!) and we were dry.

I had all the companionship I needed, lol!

 

[elrohwen]

Date: 3/18/2010 2:46:01 PM
Author: princesss

Date: 3/18/2010 2:35:19 PM
Author: elrohwen
P, that sounds like so much fun! Man, I miss college...

El, M''s first year he helped with the protest rally (I had to sign a petition opposing continental drift) and a few other things, but the best was the one that could (still) get him in trouble.

So, here''s a poll: If you were walking out of the library late at night, and a blindingly white guy in navy blue sparkly women''s panties and running shoes ran up and hit you in the face with a whipped cream pie, would you:

a) file a police report
b) laugh
c) be annoyed and chase after him
d) be annoyed, but laugh

D! I would absolutely be annoyed, but I would also think it was pretty funny.

 

[vc10um]

Date: 3/18/2010 2:46:01 PM
Author: princesss

Date: 3/18/2010 2:35:19 PM
Author: elrohwen
P, that sounds like so much fun! Man, I miss college...

El, M''s first year he helped with the protest rally (I had to sign a petition opposing continental drift) and a few other things, but the best was the one that could (still) get him in trouble.

So, here''s a poll: If you were walking out of the library late at night, and a blindingly white guy in navy blue sparkly women''s panties and running shoes ran up and hit you in the face with a whipped cream pie, would you:

a) file a police report
b) laugh
c) be annoyed and chase after him
d) be annoyed, but laugh

d. As long as it didn''t ruin what I was wearing. If that was the case: c.

 

[princesss]

Date: 3/18/2010 2:49:57 PM
Author: elrohwen

Date: 3/18/2010 2:46:01 PM
Author: princesss

Date: 3/18/2010 2:35:19 PM
Author: elrohwen
P, that sounds like so much fun! Man, I miss college...

El, M''s first year he helped with the protest rally (I had to sign a petition opposing continental drift) and a few other things, but the best was the one that could (still) get him in trouble.

So, here''s a poll: If you were walking out of the library late at night, and a blindingly white guy in navy blue sparkly women''s panties and running shoes ran up and hit you in the face with a whipped cream pie, would you:

a) file a police report
b) laugh
c) be annoyed and chase after him
d) be annoyed, but laugh

D! I would absolutely be annoyed, but I would also think it was pretty funny.

Exactly! I would be mad, but come on! It''s so absurd it''s hilarious.

Apparently the guy didn''t think so, though. He filed a report with the cops. Within his rights, but really, dude?

 

[winelover23]

e) I''d grab the dude and pull his underwear up over his head then beat the hell out of him.

 

[Clairitek]

Date: 3/18/2010 2:35:19 PM
Author: elrohwen
P, that sounds like so much fun! Man, I miss college...

Agreed. That does sound fun!

DH and his friends created a fake fraternity called the Air Force. It came about after watching far too much Top Gun. They all had call signs. DH had the idea for what they called missions. Every week they would put 3 missions written on an index card into the pot. They would each draw two missions. They got 5 points for the first mission completed and then 2 points for the second one. If someone "touched" a mission back to the author the author had to complete it or else they would lose 3 points. They ranged from time consuming (i.e. accurately score an entire Phillies game) to pranks (i.e. antique another Air Force member in the presence of at least 3 other members -happened to DH when we all met up to play some two hand touch football-) or embarrassing (i.e. serenade me with a cheesy hair band monster ballad in front of my apartment). It was hilarious watching them do this stuff to each other.

DHs missions also included
not being able to eat hot food for a week
having to speak like a robot any time he was in the apartment they shared, if he screwed up he had to say "Dos not compute." and leave the apartment and come back in
make a triceratops out of marshmallows and pocky, tuck his arms into his shirt, and demloish the dino like a T-Rex
find out someone else''s mission and complete it before they did. for this he had to drink 4 2-liter bottles of soda in a 24 hour period

Last year they had a rap battle league on facebook. DH is shockingly good at writing raps. Sometimes I would catch him performing them. They were particularly hilarious because of how much dirt they all had on each other. One of them wrote a rap based on a "Old, New, Borrowed, Blue" theme when battling DH since he is the only married/engaged one in the group (they are all 23 now).

Awww I DO miss college!

 

[elrohwen]

Date: 3/18/2010 2:48:17 PM
Author: vc10um
Greek Life was about 18% of Michigan''s campus. I know, I was a tour guide and had to throw out that statistic twice a week.

I was in the Marching Band. We had better parties than the frats, lol.

I was also in the service sorority associated with the band (Squirrly is my sister!) and we were dry.

I had all the companionship I needed, lol!

Our marching band people were also crazy partiers! They had "band houses" - instead of a few people getting places together, like we did, they would live 20 to a house just like a real frat. I knew one or two of them, but they generally weren''t engineers so I didn''t know any well enough to go to their parties.

I did go to some crew parties! Lots of crew guys were engineers and they also had a big party house.

 

[Clairitek]

Date: 3/18/2010 2:44:49 PM
Author: winelover23
CTek - Just saw your pic on the newlywed thread of the coral beach. What kind of camera do you have?

Hmmm good question. I think its a little Nikon Coolpix? I believe DH picked it up for $100 on CL, new. I''ll check when I get home. It wasn''t anything special but it does have a decent macro mode.

 

[princesss]

Date: 3/18/2010 2:52:07 PM
Author: winelover23
e) I''d grab the dude and pull his underwear up over his head then beat the hell out of him.

I knew I liked you for a reason.

 

[elrohwen]

Date: 3/18/2010 2:52:36 PM
Author: Clairitek

Date: 3/18/2010 2:35:19 PM
Author: elrohwen
P, that sounds like so much fun! Man, I miss college...

Agreed. That does sound fun!

DH and his friends created a fake fraternity called the Air Force. It came about after watching far too much Top Gun. They all had call signs. DH had the idea for what they called missions. Every week they would put 3 missions written on an index card into the pot. They would each draw two missions. They got 5 points for the first mission completed and then 2 points for the second one. If someone 'touched' a mission back to the author the author had to complete it or else they would lose 3 points. They ranged from time consuming (i.e. accurately score an entire Phillies game) to pranks (i.e. antique another Air Force member in the presence of at least 3 other members -happened to DH when we all met up to play some two hand touch football-) or embarrassing (i.e. serenade me with a cheesy hair band monster ballad in front of my apartment). It was hilarious watching them do this stuff to each other.

DHs missions also included
not being able to eat hot food for a week
having to speak like a robot any time he was in the apartment they shared, if he screwed up he had to say 'Dos not compute.' and leave the apartment and come back in
make a triceratops out of marshmallows and pocky, tuck his arms into his shirt, and demloish the dino like a T-Rex
find out someone else's mission and complete it before they did. for this he had to drink 4 2-liter bottles of soda in a 24 hour period

Last year they had a rap battle league on facebook. DH is shockingly good at writing raps. Sometimes I would catch him performing them. They were particularly hilarious because of how much dirt they all had on each other. One of them wrote a rap based on a 'Old, New, Borrowed, Blue' theme when battling DH since he is the only married/engaged one in the group (they are all 23 now).

Awww I DO miss college!

AWESOME! I think I would get along with your DH very well

We were all so uncreative now that I think about it! Our chapter of AIChE (American Institute of Chemical Engineers - a very serious professional group) was basically a drinking club for us

We would fundraise with pint glasses, tshirts (made so much money off of ones that said "Cornell Engineering - Where your best hasn't been good enough since 1865") then we would spend the money on DotWs - Drink of the Week (though we only had one per month). We would basically throw a themed part at 5pm on a Friday and invite all of our professors. The profs would come for the beginning, when we had the "good" drinks, then they would leave and we would get drunk on cheap beer

On of my roommates was a MatSci engineer and they were jealous of our DotWs, so they started Friday Forties at Four. Lol. Oh, and Mimosa Mondays - they would show up at my apartment at 7am and make pancakes and drink.

 

[sunnyd]

Date: 3/18/2010 2:46:01 PM
Author: princesss

Date: 3/18/2010 2:35:19 PM
Author: elrohwen
P, that sounds like so much fun! Man, I miss college...

El, M''s first year he helped with the protest rally (I had to sign a petition opposing continental drift) and a few other things, but the best was the one that could (still) get him in trouble.

So, here''s a poll: If you were walking out of the library late at night, and a blindingly white guy in navy blue sparkly women''s panties and running shoes ran up and hit you in the face with a whipped cream pie, would you:

a) file a police report
b) laugh
c) be annoyed and chase after him
d) be annoyed, but laugh

Bahahahaha!!!! D, totally.

 

[Clairitek]

Date: 3/18/2010 2:54:22 PM
Author: elrohwen

Date: 3/18/2010 2:48:17 PM
Author: vc10um
Greek Life was about 18% of Michigan''s campus. I know, I was a tour guide and had to throw out that statistic twice a week.

I was in the Marching Band. We had better parties than the frats, lol.

I was also in the service sorority associated with the band (Squirrly is my sister!) and we were dry.

I had all the companionship I needed, lol!

Our marching band people were also crazy partiers! They had ''band houses'' - instead of a few people getting places together, like we did, they would live 20 to a house just like a real frat. I knew one or two of them, but they generally weren''t engineers so I didn''t know any well enough to go to their parties.

I did go to some crew parties! Lots of crew guys were engineers and they also had a big party house.

This is an odd occurrence I have seen at many schools. Almost the entire varsity boat my jr and sr years was in mechanical engineering. The coxwain was in chemical (male, but very small) and then there was one other guy in civil. One of my office mates was in materials engineering and he was also on crew. Hmm.

 

[elrohwen]

Date: 3/18/2010 3:02:08 PM
Author: Clairitek

Date: 3/18/2010 2:54:22 PM
Author: elrohwen

Date: 3/18/2010 2:48:17 PM
Author: vc10um
Greek Life was about 18% of Michigan''s campus. I know, I was a tour guide and had to throw out that statistic twice a week.

I was in the Marching Band. We had better parties than the frats, lol.

I was also in the service sorority associated with the band (Squirrly is my sister!) and we were dry.

I had all the companionship I needed, lol!

Our marching band people were also crazy partiers! They had ''band houses'' - instead of a few people getting places together, like we did, they would live 20 to a house just like a real frat. I knew one or two of them, but they generally weren''t engineers so I didn''t know any well enough to go to their parties.

I did go to some crew parties! Lots of crew guys were engineers and they also had a big party house.

This is an odd occurrence I have seen at many schools. Almost the entire varsity boat my jr and sr years was in mechanical engineering. The coxwain was in chemical (male, but very small) and then there was one other guy in civil. One of my office mates was in materials engineering and he was also on crew. Hmm.

Now that I think about it, they were pretty much all MechEngineers with a few Industrial Engineers.

 

[Clairitek]

Date: 3/18/2010 2:48:17 PM
Author: vc10um
Greek Life was about 18% of Michigan's campus. I know, I was a tour guide and had to throw out that statistic twice a week.

I was in the Marching Band. We had better parties than the frats, lol.

I was also in the service sorority associated with the band (Squirrly is my sister!) and we were dry.

I had all the companionship I needed, lol!

Thankfully my sorority took care of a great social life and provided plenty of service opportunities.

The 18% doesn't surprise me about UM since its such a big school and has great sports teams. It seems that the schools that have really amazing D1 sports also have pretty healthy Greek systems.

ETA: I can imagine that being in the marching band at such a big football school is a great way to always be able to see the games (aren't those tickets expensive?) and stay involved, even if you don't play football. It looked like the marching band at GA Tech (when I was there for one whole semester) had a great time. My friend was in the marching band at Alabama (and coincidentally is now at UM for grad school).

 

[elrohwen]

Date: 3/18/2010 3:04:05 PM
Author: Clairitek

Date: 3/18/2010 2:48:17 PM
Author: vc10um
Greek Life was about 18% of Michigan's campus. I know, I was a tour guide and had to throw out that statistic twice a week.

I was in the Marching Band. We had better parties than the frats, lol.

I was also in the service sorority associated with the band (Squirrly is my sister!) and we were dry.

I had all the companionship I needed, lol!

Thankfully my sorority took care of a great social life and provided plenty of service opportunities.

The 18% doesn't surprise me about UM since its such a big school and has great sports teams. It seems that the schools that have really amazing D1 sports also have pretty healthy Greek systems.

I love that Cornell goes totally against that theory - our sports teams suck!! Haha. Well, our hockey team is pretty good, and lacrosse is good, but otherwise awful. Maybe Greek is so popular because people don't have sports to occupy their time

 

[Clairitek]

Date: 3/18/2010 3:07:12 PM
Author: elrohwen

Date: 3/18/2010 3:04:05 PM
Author: Clairitek

Date: 3/18/2010 2:48:17 PM
Author: vc10um
Greek Life was about 18% of Michigan''s campus. I know, I was a tour guide and had to throw out that statistic twice a week.

I was in the Marching Band. We had better parties than the frats, lol.

I was also in the service sorority associated with the band (Squirrly is my sister!) and we were dry.

I had all the companionship I needed, lol!

Thankfully my sorority took care of a great social life and provided plenty of service opportunities.

The 18% doesn''t surprise me about UM since its such a big school and has great sports teams. It seems that the schools that have really amazing D1 sports also have pretty healthy Greek systems.

I love that Cornell goes totally against that theory - our sports teams suck!! Haha. Well, our hockey team is pretty good, and lacrosse is good, but otherwise awful. Maybe Greek is so popular because people don''t have sports to occupy their time

My advisor''s son goes to Cornell. The kid is getting a physics degree in 3 years and is going to a really prestigious graduate school. So you can imagine my surprise upon hearing that the Greek system is huge there! The kid is definitely not a social guy though. He does physics problems for a fun time on the weekend.
Are you counting service organizations as well in that total? Or just the traditional ones?

 

[4ever]

Ick, I have to leave in 40 mins for a job interview and I feel physically sick from nerves.

 

[elrohwen]

Date: 3/18/2010 3:17:05 PM
Author: Clairitek
My advisor''s son goes to Cornell. The kid is getting a physics degree in 3 years and is going to a really prestigious graduate school. So you can imagine my surprise upon hearing that the Greek system is huge there! The kid is definitely not a social guy though. He does physics problems for a fun time on the weekend.
Are you counting service organizations as well in that total? Or just the traditional ones?

I''m counting both, but there were very few service organizations I think. There was a Chemistry frat and maybe a few other non-traditional ones, but for the most part those are standard frats/sororities. The little paragraph on the link I posted really describes the attitude toward them very accurately!

I think one reason we had so many is that a huge part of the school is the Hotel School. The hotelies were notoriously social and big partiers, so they balanced out the nerdy anti-social types

 

[elrohwen]

Good luck, Future Girl! Just practice your responses and questions and you''ll do great!

 

[winelover23]

Date: 3/18/2010 3:21:17 PM
Author: 4ever
Ick, I have to leave in 40 mins for a job interview and I feel physically sick from nerves.

You''ve got it in the bag! No worries!

 

[Clairitek]

Date: 3/18/2010 3:34:07 PM
Author: winelover23

Date: 3/18/2010 3:21:17 PM
Author: 4ever
Ick, I have to leave in 40 mins for a job interview and I feel physically sick from nerves.

You''ve got it in the bag! No worries!

We''re here to cheer you on!!

 

[vc10um]

Date: 3/18/2010 2:54:22 PM
Author: elrohwen

Date: 3/18/2010 2:48:17 PM
Author: vc10um
Greek Life was about 18% of Michigan''s campus. I know, I was a tour guide and had to throw out that statistic twice a week.

I was in the Marching Band. We had better parties than the frats, lol.

I was also in the service sorority associated with the band (Squirrly is my sister!) and we were dry.

I had all the companionship I needed, lol!

Our marching band people were also crazy partiers! They had ''band houses'' - instead of a few people getting places together, like we did, they would live 20 to a house just like a real frat. I knew one or two of them, but they generally weren''t engineers so I didn''t know any well enough to go to their parties.

I did go to some crew parties! Lots of crew guys were engineers and they also had a big party house.

That''s where all the good parties were.

They weren''t huge houses, but MAN could we pack them with hot sweaty dancing drunk people.

The best part were section progressives, where you went from one member''s house to another and had a drink at each place...then the end house threw the band party for the week. The flags usually did ours on Halloween. It rocked.

 

[vc10um]

Date: 3/18/2010 3:38:04 PM
Author: Clairitek

Date: 3/18/2010 3:34:07 PM
Author: winelover23

Date: 3/18/2010 3:21:17 PM
Author: 4ever
Ick, I have to leave in 40 mins for a job interview and I feel physically sick from nerves.

You''ve got it in the bag! No worries!

We''re here to cheer you on!!

Go Future Girl!!! Best of luck! Just think of M running around in sparkly women''s undies...that''ll make you forget all your nerves!!!

 

[4ever]

Date: 3/18/2010 3:38:53 PM
Author: vc10um

Date: 3/18/2010 3:38:04 PM
Author: Clairitek

Date: 3/18/2010 3:34:07 PM
Author: winelover23

Date: 3/18/2010 3:21:17 PM
Author: 4ever
Ick, I have to leave in 40 mins for a job interview and I feel physically sick from nerves.

You''ve got it in the bag! No worries!

We''re here to cheer you on!!

Go Future Girl!!! Best of luck! Just think of M running around in sparkly women''s undies...that''ll make you forget all your nerves!!!

Hehe, thanks ladies! If I don''t get it at least it''s interview practice right?...and I can look at shoes on my way home to make me feel better. I''m off, ''see'' you all later.

 

[vc10um]

Date: 3/18/2010 3:52:08 PM
Author: 4ever

Date: 3/18/2010 3:38:53 PM
Author: vc10um

Date: 3/18/2010 3:38:04 PM
Author: Clairitek

Date: 3/18/2010 3:34:07 PM
Author: winelover23

Date: 3/18/2010 3:21:17 PM
Author: 4ever
Ick, I have to leave in 40 mins for a job interview and I feel physically sick from nerves.

You''ve got it in the bag! No worries!

We''re here to cheer you on!!

Go Future Girl!!! Best of luck! Just think of M running around in sparkly women''s undies...that''ll make you forget all your nerves!!!

Hehe, thanks ladies! If I don''t get it at least it''s interview practice right?...and I can look at shoes on my way home to make me feel better. I''m off, ''see'' you all later.

 

[4ever]

I''m back. I think it went ok, I was a little shy and answered some questions like a douche but I definatly have the skills they are after. Fingers crossed, it sounds like a really cool job and I want it SO BAD!

 

[winelover23]

Date: 3/18/2010 5:44:41 PM
Author: 4ever
I''m back. I think it went ok, I was a little shy and answered some questions like a douche but I definatly have the skills they are after. Fingers crossed, it sounds like a really cool job and I want it SO BAD!

Yay! I''m sure it went better than you think!

 

[4ever]

Date: 3/18/2010 6:08:44 PM
Author: winelover23

Date: 3/18/2010 5:44:41 PM
Author: 4ever
I'm back. I think it went ok, I was a little shy and answered some questions like a douche but I definatly have the skills they are after. Fingers crossed, it sounds like a really cool job and I want it SO BAD!

Yay! I'm sure it went better than you think!

I hope so, if they don't want me, it wasn't ment to be. And on the positive side it is sushi friday!

I didn't end up looking at shoes, I have shoe guilt: I have a loyalty card with my favourate shoe shop and at the end of a season the send you vouchers for discounts and free stuff depending on how much you spent last season....and I have some pretty good vouchers because I was about 1/2 a pair away from spending 1k on shoes!