Monday, October 15, 2007

Tooth Fairy Has Nothing On Me

Tooth fairy, jeez, talk about an overrated gig. Sneak in while people are sleeping, switch a tooth for some money. Real hard.

Try this.

Try randomly inheriting about ten pounds of elk meat from a professor. I thought it was going to work out something like-

TM: "Hey Alex, would you like some elk meat? I'm cleaning out my freezer."
Me: "Sure TM, sounds great." (Thinking in my head- Huh, I'd better ask S if I can use her freezer before TM brings it in. Is she bringing that tomorrow? Wed? I'll ask her.)

NOT THE WAY IT WORKED OUT

(story continuing)
TM: "Great! Come on out to the car and help me bring in this cooler, ok?"
Me: "Sure" it's not like I'm late for class or anything already. (I was. Again. Re-occuring problem here)

We head out to her car and sure enough, she's got a cooler full of elk in the back. We take it inside and split it between myself and the other sucker, I mean, recipient. Now the challenge is finding somewhere to store this so it doesn't defrost. My little tiny dorm fridge? Hardly a big enough freezer to put my chacos in, much less ten pounds of meat.

Here goes Alex, walking through the Union, approaching random people who might have freezers stashed in their office. "Hi! I'm the elk meat fairy! Would you like some elk meat?" Well, lets just suffice it to say that I managed to give away a couple pounds, not too shabby. I don't know if I would take a package of elk meat from some person wandering the hallways with a white plastic trashbag in hand.

It all turned out great though. A good friend is letting me use her freezer (chacos already inside, still lots of room!) to store the meat until I can get it to Sara somehow. Taaa Daaa!

Yeah, who's the elk fairy? I am.

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Happy Family Weekend

Nothing says "Happy Family Weekend" like your mother telling you that your "lifestyle choice" is a sin and she is just waiting for you to wake up and change. Among other similarly warm fuzzy things.

I don't think she'll ever be proud of me unless I'm straight.



In other news. Happy National Coming Out day. Here is a video I think is awesome. I'm just going to watch this and hope for a little while. Not my story, but still encouraging.

Monday, October 8, 2007

Oh No...Where'd It Go?

So earlier this week I did something very exciting (for me). I finally turned in my passport application. It costed a pretty penny, the picture isn't going to be awesome, but in six to eight weeks I should have a passport! That's exciting. The passport is the first step in starting the process for my after graduation plans.

I actually had to go to the post office twice. See, the first time I forgot to take my birth certificate. The second time, I was on top of my stuff. I remembered all the paperwork, signed where necessary, paid the money and headed back home. When I got home, a startling revelation came over me.

I FORGOT MY BIRTH CERTIFICATE. Oh no, what a thing to lose, jeez. Half-way panicking I called the post office and explained the situation. I spoke to a very nice guy who explained that they will send the birth certificate to the state department, and I will get it back when I recieve my passport. Basically, just don't do anything where you need it for the next eight weeks. Huh. I see the reasoning, my only complaint is that NO ONE EVER TOLD ME. I've been looking at the passport process for a while and have I seen anything about the fact that they take your birth certificate? No. Not anything.

I guess it's even a pretty common occurance because the people I have told say that they did the same thing. My question is only, why the heck didn't I know? Seriously people.

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

A Dilemma of Constitutional Proportions

I'm so proud to be able to work with the people I do in Student Government (SGA). They are intelligent, usually well spoken, offer many perspectives and they know their stuff. Part of this I attribute to the fact that I outlined an expectation early in the year that basically says we can fight all we want in the meetings, but once SGA has made a decision I expect everybody to stand behind it. This is a good thing because people don't hesitate to offer differing opinions during discussion.

Tonight however, discussion is on a very serious level. First some information.

There are a couple of classes on campus wherein the purpose is for the students to learn about planing, organizing and producing a program on campus. These programs are anything from the re-occuring bouldering competition, funk-yer-junk bike race ,kayak water polo to the one-time event of speakers or other happenings.

One of the main objectives in the class is to learn, find, and obtain outside funding. For this purpose the department will often reject requests for money. Students are encouraged to go find funding from a variety of different sources. These sources can include, but are not limited to: SGA, Program Council, local businesses, and corporate sponsors.

Now the tricky part. SGA has $3000 set aside for bills each semester. Bills are to help supplement and provide students with various opportunities ranging from conferences, competitions, and programs. However, in the constitution it says this...

"ARTICLE III. STUDENT FEES

Section 1. All students who are currently enrolled in Western State College of Colorado shall pay a yearly Student
Government Association fee to fund non-academic and extracurricular activities, clubs and events."


If a program is open to the public, benefiting excellent non-profit organizations, good for recruitment and retention, do these facts overshadow the fact that this program is being put on because students need the credit? What takes precedance? Is there a grey area?

The issue is going out to the Associated Student Body this week. Voting should happen next week. There is talk about killing the bill before it gets to voting. I'm wondering if I should think about excersizing the option of veto, if the bill passed. Technically, the bill is unconstitutional.