Higher Ed makes GAWKER

History in the making. And a great read for higher ed dorks (And love to the write in vote for those of us who took "Administration of Student Life/Why XXX Thinks Everyone Should Go To A Small, Very Expensive Liberal Arts College").
For extra amusement, check out the original poll.

Also, the TIME article on Obesity and HE would be more interesting if it tied in socioeconomic status. For some reason, I think obesity rates increase as income drops. But, confirming that could blow the article, since we all know college going drops almost exponentially with income.

Ok, I'm done being a nerd for this afternoon.

Addendum:
There's a good discussion on this topic HERE, Thanks Em!!

How do you know you're an adult?

I have found two clear lines:

1) Cool summer weather is not disappointing, but a blessing (especially when it falls on moving day). Doesn't matter to me if its 60 degrees out at night and the pool water is getting chilly. I haven't even been in a pool (well, a non-hotel pool) all summer. Or last summer. And weather in the 70s? OK!

2) You need movers. There is a point in everyone's life when its just not practical anymore to scrounge up friends/acquaintances/anyone you know who likes beer and pizza enough to haul boxes and furniture out of one apartment and into another. This point is clearly demarkated when said friends would hate you forever after spending their entire day on said move (especially when it involves two flights of steep, narrow stairs and a pretty substantial amount of furniture that has never seen a dorm room).

Hello late-20s.

On Traffic.

I've gotten spoiled having moved out of the NY Metro area. I don't content with serious traffic on a daily basis anymore. But yesterday...karma, or something like it, bit me. After an 18 hr flight (plus 2 hours check in/exit customs and and hour luggage collection/entrance customs), I got to chill outside JFK with my bags and about 20 people waiting to pick up their relatives from some (presumably Caribbean) location while my parents meandered for two hours through early morning rush hour (why they didn't leave prior to 7:30 am, when I called to tell them I was through customs, I have no idea). Then we took a two hour ride for the 18 miles home. I bummed around for a while, had lunch and a pedicure, and saw my grandmother, who gave me six bags of Chips Ahoy. I managed talk her out of the Ensure. (I'm not sure if just doesn't like it much, and has it because the doctor recommended it for her to put some weight back on, or if she really thinks I could possibly have a need for it, in which case she needs some glasses.) And I got on the road to PA at 2:50 pm, thinking I'd miss the traffic and slide into Philly well before 5...

Not so much. The day turned into a even crueler joke of the roads, beginning with a ten mile backup from an overturned dump trunk on the turnpike. 3.5 hours later, I made it to my new apt to sign the lease, and then sat in construction for another 90 min to go to my till-next-Monday-abode. Sweet.

But this time in traffic did have some positive yields:

1) Apparently there's fake cows out there somewhere. The Cream-O-Land truck's graphic (sadly somewhat hard to view on their website) clearly says their product is made from "real cows," leading to me question where the rest of our milk is coming from. Perhaps I should be buying organic, or I'm risking milk from...fake cows??

2) I saw a billboard for 1060AM. So, it turns out, there IS a Philadelphia equivalent of 1010WINS, one of the few NY things I miss. It even has a "give us 22 minutes we'll give you the world" thing going on (Both are CBS radio stations though, so I guess its not slogan-theft). While I am very pleased with this find, they need to recruit less grating announcers.

off off and away

I leave for South Africa tomorrow night. Actually, I'm driving up to NJ tonight and South Africa at 5:20 tomorrow night. For some reason I am unaware of, we're supposed to be at the airport 3 hours prior to departure. Since the traffic to JFK can be horrid, my poor dad is taking the day off to drive me and one of my cohort/co-travelers to the airport. I'm reasonably sure that if we leave at noon we'll be there by 2, but poor Dad is going to hit serious Friday afternoon traffic leaving the city. Oh well.

I also just found out this guy I went to college with is going to some sort of rugby camp in Durban the same time I'll be there. Our paths won't cross, since I'll be in Cape Town and Johannesburg, but its still sort of cool. (Not that having half of my cohort come on the trip isn't cool too!!)

I'm really excited. It took a while. This has been in the works for so long, its almost snuck up on me. I've spent a good portion of today printing out our "recommended readings" to read on the plane, since that just hasn't happened. At least I finished Mandela's autobiography...and I did manage to pack without staying up half the night (probably over pack at that). I'm pretty convinced I forgot something though. I don't need contacts anymore, so its not that. My passport and tickets are in my purse, so not that...my earrings are lost at the gym (so I might buy myself a present abroad!)...I know my camera and charger is in my backpack along with the converter, and my roommate is bringing an Ipod plug and a blackberry (eek, but could be useful)...oh well. Not like I'm going on Safari.

On a side note, lets note how not flat South Africa is...I was reading a little blurb recently about a woman who set a new world record for time (as in total days) to run a marathon on every continent. She remarked that the Soweto (just outside Johannesburg) marathon was not only crazily hot, but also really hilly. Runners World mag also did a write up on the Comrades Marathon recently. Its not actually a marathon, but an ultra -- 50+ miles and HILLY, hills that according to the article, dwarf Boston's Heartbreak Hill. Scary. The elite take 6 hrs to finish, and the training programs on the site aim for sub-9hr and sub-11hr. I'll pass, thanks :)