Dr. Phil's Dreamwidth Journal

So... the Northwestern Wildcats were 2-0 going into this weekend's games. I had not realized that they'd made the #23 spot in both major polls. NU hasn't been in the NCAA Division I top 25 since October 2013 -- I remember, because I was still in the hospital watching them. Now don't get too excited. We haven't hit the rest of the Big Ten juggernaut yet, so most years any top 25 ranking happens early in the season. On the other hand, some of the mighty Big Ten teams have struggled early. Michigan has lost a game. And #1 Ohio State was tied 10-10 at the half with Northern Illinois today -- they only won by 20-13, not a Buckeye slaughterfest. I keep telling people, you've got to take the Huskies seriously.

Just before I went to take my nap at 12:10, after a late breakfast following my ER adventures (DW) (LJ), I remembered that the Northwestern game was actually going to be on in West Michigan.

#23 Northwestern at Duke, 12:30pm on MyTV -- cable channel 789.

No problem, I figured they'd still be at it when I got up in two hours. And they were. Northwestern, wearing white and new dumb looking Wildcat logo helmets -- much prefer the simple N logo -- was ahead 12-7 with most of the third quarter to go. So as we settled down to lunch, it was Northwestern football.

Duke managed a field goal, and it was 12-10. Then we got a touchdown and the game ended at 19-10.

Hey, ho, Northwestern is three-and-oh! Go Cats!

Dr. Phil

Posted on Dreamwidth
Crossposted on LiveJournal

Somehow I managed to live in the same dorm for four years at Northwestern. This wasn't easy, given that one had to survive a housing lottery. And being the social animal I've always been -- I wanted a single room and wanted nothing to do with sharing a room with a roommate. (grin) So I managed to get into Foster House, 2253 Sheridan Road, my freshman year. Room 108, right in the SW corner, with windows on two sides and across the hall from Room 101, Tim the RHC/RA, Resident Adviser for Foster House and Resident Hall Coordinator for Small Houses North. Alas, I lost the lottery the first year, and Gary Murakami, who had the ha-ha room on the first floor, was able to move into the much more spacious Room 108. Eventually, I got off the waiting list and got Room 308, which because of the first floor lounge, was NOT two floors above 108, but in the NW corner of the dorm, at the end of the hall. Next to me was the fire escape, whose landing was shared with CCS next door. If you went up the fire escape, there was a sort of patio up there, built onto the arched bridge between Foster and CCS.

I survived the lottery two more times and stayed in Room 308.

Way back on 26 August 2011 we drove around the campus and released a monarch butterfly in front of Foster House (DW). Who knew this would be the last year of Foster House? Oh, the building is still there, but it has been absorbed into CCS -- the College of Cultural and Community Studies -- the first Residential College at NU, established in 1971 -- five years before I started college.

In summer 2012, CCS underwent major renovations. Foster House, which was an all-male dorm since its construction, was combined with CCS through the addition of a central bridge and staircase and consolidation of mechanical rooms and facilities. Because of the university’s decision to relocated three fraternities into what was once university housing, GREEN house was moved into the new combined 2303 Sheridan. CCS members live in the second and third floors of the combined building, and GREEN house members live on the third, fourth, and fifth floors.

I found all this out because Book 2 of my YA trilogy takes place partly at Northwestern as the princesses go to college in America. And I've been using a lot of resources to track the changes from those idyllic years in the dorm, 1976-80, and the years working at NU and living in Wilmette 1980-84.

So there I was tonight, checking out the fraternities in the north quads, because there's been some movement. 2251 Sheridan used to be Kappa Sigma -- now it's ZBT -- for example. But when I hovered over the interactive NU campus map at my old home, it just said College of Cultural and Community Studies.

Say it ain't so? I mean, the "Foster Home for Single Men Who Couldn't Get Dates" was an institution since 1903. And who could forget the confusion between Foster House north of Tech and Foster-Walker Complex several blocks south, which was a giant coed dorm of single rooms literally furnished by Playskool? The kids these days call Foster-Walker "Plex" now. Who knew?

Actually, CCS was squeezed between Foster and Goodrich -- they really needed room and by conquering Foster House, they share their enlarged territory with GREEN House, which itself was displace by moving frats around. Goodrich looks like it's Pi Kappa Alpha now.

So it's more of a surprise than anything. I'm not going to stop giving to NU because they took away my dorm. (absurd-grin) Hell, Allison hasn't been an all-women's dorm in years, for example. Back in the 70s it was called the Virgin Vault. College students are such asses. The last all-women's dorm is Hobart House -- and THEY call it affectionately Ho House. No, really, it's on their web page. And it, too, is a residential college.

And what's this air conditioning business I keep seeing in campus housing? I bet they changed the sidewalks along Sheridan Road so you don't walk uphill both ways any more. (cranky-old-grin)

Meanwhile, I shall shed a tear for Foster House, which is no longer just Foster House.

(sniff)

Dr. Phil

Posted on Dreamwidth
Crossposted on LiveJournal

Ah, The Difference Thrice Dozen Years Doth Make

In my email queue this morning was the current e-newsletter from my alma mater, Northwestern. In it was this little bit:

Undergraduate tuition at Northwestern will increase 4.3 percent to $43,380 for the 2012-2013 academic year from the current year’s $41,592. Room and board also will increase 4.3 percent.

Ouch.

Now realize that (a) NU is the only private university in the twelve schools of the Big Ten, (b) that college tuition rates have been rising above the rate of inflation for the last couple of decades and (c) I knew that the tuition rate was high. Still, I hadn't actually paid any attention to the numbers in quite some time.

When I Was A Lad... (Shakes Fist At Kids On His Lawn)

In September of 1976, tuition and room and board exceeded $6000 at Northwestern for the first time -- and that was greeted with howls of protests from the students and complaints from the parents. Now mind, that then as now, very few Northwestern students paid the full bore tuition and room & board out of pocket. Most of us were on some sort of scholarships or loans.

My folks normally bought a new Chevy every four years, so 1976 would've been a new car year. Instead, our 1972 Chevy Malibu soldiered on until it was replaced by one of the first 1981 Chevrolet Cavaliers. You could say that my college was our new car, except that I ended up with a 1979 Chevy Suburban in my senior year, so you could say I lucked out big time.

Part of this was helped out by the fact that my PSAT scores qualified me for a National Merit Scholarship -- and my father's employer CIBA-Geigy actually had corporate National Merit Scholarships available for some dependents, so I earned the max amount of $1500 for four years. A lot of National Merit Finalists end up getting the equivalent of a hearty handshake for their efforts, so this was nice. Both myself and Mrs. Dr. Phil managed to get through college and graduate schools with minimal student loan burdens -- which we have long ago paid off in full.

Still, the economics of books and expenses and travel and the cost of going to school were all so very different in those days of the seemingly innocent Ford and Carter Administrations. So raise a glass in salute of all students, public or private, who are battling the dark forces of financial ruin in order to further their education.

Dr. Phil

NORTHWESTERN 28 Nebraska 25

Two things. Thing the First -- If it wasn't for our cable getting the Big Ten Network, I'd probably never get to see NU play football. Thing the Second -- Most of the time getting to see My Teams is a losing proposition. They can be winning and the moment I tune in, it all derails. Not that the Wildcats can't win a game. But we're the smallest school in the Big Ten and a tough private school to boot, so it ain't easy.

Then there's whole Twelve Teams in the Big Ten conference. This year we welcomed the University of Nebraska. Back in the 60s and 70s, when all the important bowl games were crowded on New Year's Day -- as is proper -- I have many memories of watching the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the middle of the afternoon. Of course the danger of letting Nebraska in is they could run the table over the traditional Big Ten teams.

So when I saw that at 3:30 on Saturday that BTN was going to show Northwestern at Nebraska, I knew I had to watch the game. And prepared to be pummeled.

But that's not what happened. Northwestern scored first and managed to hang on for the 28-25 win. Nebraska tried the ol' onside kick after their last score. The problem with the onside kick is that it's a trick play that everyone knows it's coming. To mix things up, they tried kicking to the wrong side, but NU smothered the ball, took a knee and headed off with the win.

A nice afternoon when nursing a cold.

Go you Northwestern...

Dr. Phil

Sacrificial Lamb Week

Seems a lot of big football teams schedule non-conference games, often against lower tier opponents, for their first game. So there I was, flipping channels after the Cubs game hit a 7th inning rain delay, and ABC was showing Western Michigan University at Michigan. While The Ohio State University was beating up on Akron 42-0, Western had bravely scored first blood, 7-0. Then 7-7, then the Broncos were about to score and Michigan intercepted and ran it back for a TD. Michigan scored again, but must've missed an extra point, 20-7.

At this point I changed channels. So color me surprised when I checked the score and saw the final as 34-10 -- not bad, Broncos. But there was a cryptic note, cut off. So I investigated on ESPN. Seems both teams agreed to call the game near the end of the 3rd quarter -- due to lightning.

The Wolverines were driving for another score when the game was suspended because of lightning. Nearly an hour later, the game was called with the result and statistics standing in what school officials say is the first weather-shortened game in the 132-year history of college football's winningest team.

Huh.

Not sure I've ever heard of a football game called before.

Meanwhile Northwestern played a more regular non-conference foe and had a more civilized win, NU 24 Boston College 17. Ah, a real college football game. (grin)

Dr. Phil

Forty Years Ago...

Saturday 1 May 1971, the results of the 1970 Railpax bill are the formal start of operations of the National Rail Passenger Corporation, more commonly known as Amtrak. On that day about half of the nation's intercity, transcontinental and non-commuter passenger trains ceased operations and nearly all the remaining routes taken over by Amtrak. Notable holdouts included Southern Railways, which maintained their Southern Crescent and Peidmont passenger trains on their own.

Though I was in junior high in the time, I was involved with the small Maple Avenue Model Railroad Club out of Greenwich CT, which also operated the monthly mimeographed newsletter The Railway Gazette News and the passenger train advocacy group The Railroad Preservation Society. We may have been few, but Greg Thorson and Harry Funk wrote, called and visited a lot of people in the government, railroads and Amtrak -- and we actually accomplished some changes.

Thirty Years Ago...

Friday 1 May 1981, I started working full-time at the Northwestern University Library as a Library Assistant I in the Search Department (Pre-Order Searching). It was a hot day and I decided to give up shaving after irritating the hell out of my face. The previous two years I'd grown a beard in the winter, especially as I was working out in the cold nights delivering Chicago Tribunes.

But thirty years ago I gave up shaving and haven't given up that since. (grin)

Just thoughts for today.

Dr. Phil

Breaking News...

Here in the states, at around 10:45pm EDT, NBC News is reporting that Osama bin Laden is now dead. There will be more about this, as the Internet erupts.

49 Hours To be Precise

Under DST2007, this was the weekend of "Fall Back" from the twice annual clock changes. Only one device -- an alarm clock -- automatically fails the DST2007 test. Even our digital thermostat with the new furnace knows both sets of DST rules and so pretty much only those date insensitive clocks needed to be changed.

With recent weather dipping down into the mid-20s and low-30s at night, and a couple of visible flakeages during Friday afternoon in West Michigan, it's been some nice fall weather lately. Today on Sunday it's finally the full blue sky and sunny I've wanted in order to shoot some reference photos with different lenses and settings with my Kodak DCS Pro SLR/n. (Update: wrote this note too early, haze settling in, it's wan sunlight and no bright blue sky anymore.)

The Bagel To Batteries To Litter Triangle Trade

We went out to Holland yesterday on errands. Stocked up on bagels -- got two baker's dozen. Felt good that I didn't get them in Kalamazoo on Friday, because Saturday they were half price. Then ran by the Holland Post Office to mail my mother's birthday card, and found they had a 4pm pickup which the Allendale P.O. doesn't, so that was a win. Then circled back and located a new Batteries Plus store. Our two Motorola Razr cellphones need new batteries, but I couldn't find any Motorola replacements that weren't actually old stock. Bought a pair of new Rayovac Li ion batteries, so unlike everyone else in the world, we'll continue to have cell phones that are two-and-a-half years old. Shocking, I know. Mrs. Dr. Phil also got a new watch battery for her Pulsar watch with no numbers and no second hand, which was got in Hancock MI back in the late 80s, I think.

And since the weather was fine, we drove over to Grandville to get some cat litter and some paper and a memory card. Finally home, just in time to watch most of the Northwestern football game.

Gas Prices On The Move

Suspicious of motives? Moi?

Gasoline in West Michigan has ping-ponged a bit of late, but just before the election it dropped down to $2.67.9/gal. After the election, when many business and big oil friendly politicians get elected, gas shot up 18¢/gal to $2.95.9/gal, dropped briefly to $2.90.9 Saturday morning, then up another 19¢ to $3.09/9/gal an hour later.

I heard a pundit on the news explaining that gas prices rose because (a) there was a fire at a small Chicago refinery and (b) the Federal Reserve dumped $600 billion into the money supply and "devalued the dollar". Ri-ight...

I think gas prices were kept low all summer, compared to an earlier prediction of $3.50/gal summer gas, by the BP oil spill in the Gulf and the Enbridge oil spill into the Kalamazoo River. Now that both of those are no longer daily news items, and those evil socialists in Washington have been roundly defeated, I am NOT surprised that gas prices are jumping. And now that we've broken the three buck barrier, I expect $3.50/gal gasoline Real Soon Now. The frugal local conservatives should chew on that for a while. (evil grin)

Football & Such

Illinois scores 65 points yesterday. In a football game. And still lose. Michigan won 67-65 in 3OT. I turned into NU scoring 3 TDs in a row against Penn State, then PSU managed to run 3 unanswered TDs before we turned away, finally beating Northwestern 35-21. Sigh. At least Joe Paterno got his 400th win.

Before last Sunday's 60 Minutes, we'd never heard of Zenyatta, the mare who was 19-0 and going for a 20-0 retirement at Saturday's Breeder's Cup Classic at Churchill Downs. Despite another example of her terrific out-of-last-place acceleration, she just barely lost. A 19-1 career.

Last weekend's football had been disastrous. Michigan State ran into the University of Iowa at home buzz saw -- I've always maintained that Iowa at home is one of the toughest games in the Big Ten. And undefeated #1 D-II Grand Valley State University went up to Houghton lost last weekend to Michigan Tech in football. Unbelievable.

I can't root for anybody.

Dr. Phil

First Stanza

Between Northwestern undergrad and Michigan Tech grad school, I worked for 2½ years in the Pre-Order Search Section between Order and the Cataloging Dept. at the Northwestern University Library. All three units were in Technical Services and all three were somewhat obsessed with accuracy. All of us had occasion to input data records and we worked hard at not making mistakes. One day someone was at one of the big IBM mainframe terminals and said, "Oops." A person at the next terminal said, "No 'Oops' at the terminal."

Refrain

Oops, I Did It Again,
(Oh No You Didn't)

Second Stanza

In grad school, I was sitting in the office debugging a FORTRAN program on Monday 19 October 1987 when one of the other grad students came in and said the stock market was crashing. At the time it was down nearly 300 points. It went on to drop over 500. I remember thinking that it was my generation's Great Depression being born and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it. I mean, I was in the middle of graduate school, busy working on my doctorate. I'd defended my MS thesis, but hadn't gotten around to finishing the revisions, so officially I didn't have any graduate degree. If the economy collapsed and the university started laying people off -- there really wasn't any place to go. It would be two years or so before I could take wing and try to go somewhere, assuming there was an economy left at the end of the day. So I shrugged and went back to debugging my program.

Turns out my reaction was common. Unlike 1929, there wasn't the same kind of people dabbling in the stock market in 1987. If the stock market was crashing, most people didn't care. Indeed, the U.S. economy didn't tank and within a year things were back to normal. Or at least normal for 1988.

Refrain

I don't care,
(I swear)
I don't care,
At all.

Third Stanza

Thursday the New York Stock Exchange took a nosedive. For a brief amount of time the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down nearly a 1000 points, but that big drop only lasted like 90 seconds. Rumor has it that someone typed a sell order for 16 billion, instead of 16 million -- Citi denies this, but who asked them, hmm? Then automatic sell programs triggered on the big sell order and for a brief moment some stocks hit zero. Some want to blame the initial drop on concern about the Greek Debt. Some figure that some sort of correction was overdue.

The thing that killed me about Thursday was how much this was Not News. Yeah, I heard a bit in passing on NPR's All Things Considered, but if this was The End Of The U.S. Economy, you sure couldn't tell by the news. Indeed, the local TV news was dominated by coverage of the death of legendary Detroit Tiger's announcer Ernie Harwell. Thursday night NBC's Brian Williams was on The Late Show with David Letterman. I was not really paying attention, but they spent most of the time talking about last Saturday's incompetent Times Square car bomber and the unfolding ecological disaster off the coast of Louisiana. But a major stock dive? Just a few minutes right at the end. I expect tomorrow's Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me to be all over the (b)illion versus (m)illion issue, if it makes the show taping in time.

But the stock market wasn't much for news. Americans are weary of the economy -- and if some Wall Street fat cats got skinned on Thursday, then no doubt the sentiment is "good for them." Because the rest of all already had our retirement investments fleeced in 2008. What can they possibly take from us in 2010?

Meanwhile, neither Big Oil or Wall Street seems to get it, regarding why they need to be regulated for the good of everyone.

Refrain

And I'm free, I'm free fallin',
Everything is less than zero...

Chorus

Thank God for those financial institutions,
Too big to fail and,
Paying millions in big bonuses,
So they have the best and brightest,
Forever on the payroll.

Oops, I did it again.
(Oh no you didn't.)

Dr. Phil

The Good "NU"s

I do believe that my Northwestern University Wildcats finished the season 4th in the Big Ten at 8-4. Which put us in line, not only for a bowl game, but a much better bowl game than say the 6-6 Michigan State Spartans. Michigan Wolverines, you say? Who? Where are they this year? Home for the holidays? (grin)

Anyway, Northwestern will meet the Auburn Tigers, I believe for the first time ever, at the Outback Bowl in Tampa FL, at 11am EST on Friday 1 January 2010, New Year's Day -- the day where God intended big bowl games to be played.

General Rants

Don't get me started on the whole ruination of the bowl game system that the BCS has wrought these last years. I want closure. I want the bowl games to end after New Year's Day. As we wait for this Saturday, 12 December 2009, to see the Grand Valley State University Lakers take on Northwest Missouri State -- and you know this was the matchup everyone wanted -- for the NCAA Division II National Championship in Florence AL, 1pm on ESPN2, I am not going to hold my breath for a real Division I National Championship system.

But more to the point of NU's game on New Year's Day, I would like to point out one of my biggest pet peeves. Now, I dare you to go the homepage of the Outback Bowl site and find exactly WHEN the game is to be on. No, really. I'll wait.

Yeah, somewhere it does say New Year's Day. But the time? Why would you want to know something silly like the bloody time?

While it is probably almost reasonable that at some point during the end of 2009 most people will figure out that 1 January 2010, like 25 December 2009, falls on a Friday, in general most announcements made by most people (and NOT Dr. Phil) manage to omit the day of the week.

Let's think about this -- given the way our schedules are, in any given week the one piece of information that will right off the bat tell you whether you can do or watch some activity is the bloody day of the week. Our work schedules are based on the days of the week. Our class schedules. Our TV shows. Our days of worship. Some of our holidays. Why in the world would nearly everyone routinely NOT put the bloody day of the week? This band will be in concert in your town on 14 April 2010. Quick -- tell me if that's a school night. Idiots. Newspapers, advertisers, promoters, websites, radio stations -- they are all IDIOTS for not telling us that the 14th of April in 2010 is a Wednesday.

It's a little thing, I know, but... Please, I beg of you -- if you have to ever promote an event, make sure you mention the day of the week. It will make everyone so much happier. And doesn't our racing modern recession world need a little bit more happiness?

Oh, and please mention the time, too, if it's not too much trouble. And it isn't, is it? Too much trouble I mean. (double-trouble-grin)

Dr. Phil