The dreaded task of doing laundry maybe is what haunts us all this halloween season. The sorting, washing, waiting, folding- a hassle? Most would say yes. But here in the Hewett and Manchester residence halls, we are lucky enough to have our own website which lets us know when our clothes will be done; whether it's in the washer or dryer. Therefore, if you're in the middle of finishing a rough draft of a paper or your favorite episode of How I Met Your Mother, there's no need to go all the way downstairs to check your laundry. You simply go to www.laundryview.com and click on which building you reside in and it will show all washers and dryers and the times left in the cycle. Pretty convenient, right? Another great feature to the washers here in Hewett and Manchester is that they lock when you start a load of laundry. So no need to worry about sticky fingers stealing all of your clothes away! I wish I could say the same about the dryers, however they are great for drying your clothes in an orderly fashion; having them come out warm and smelling like home.
Friday, October 21, 2011
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Wheres the Snack?
When you are hungry at Illinois State university you go to one place to eat delicious food, that place is the dining center. When you first walk into market place at Linkins Center, you are over whelmed with all of the food that is there. The first thing you see when you walk in is a pizza and pasta station. Every day, they have different verity of pizza there for you to eat such as pepperoni, sausage, cheese, and different types of specials. Next to the pizza is pasta with bread sticks. They give you different types of pasta each day to pick from. When you give a glance to the other side of the pizza, there is a sandwich bar where you can make your own sandwich. This sandwich bar gives you a lot of options to that you are able to put on your sandwich, such as different meats, cheeses, toppings, and spices. Next you can move to the grill where you have a lot of options to pick from. They are able to grill things such as hamburgers, cheese burgers, tacos, chicken, and french fries. These are all options that you are able to ask for and the grill it up right in front of you, so it is fresh. If you do not like any of them, then you are able to go to the well-known Mongolian grill you are able to get some Mongolian prepared food. You have a lot of options to pick from before they start grilling them. You can pick from noodles to rice to vegetables. As you can see, there are a lot of options that you are able to pick from. From hot food to cold food, there is always an option for you to have.
The Hookah Lounge
The Smokers Den is located in downtown Bloomington on Main Street is a very cool place and I would recommend everybody check it out at least once. Now the Smokers Den is a hookah lounge and when I went with buddies to this place I had a lot of preconceived notions about a place like this I felt like a hookah lounge was a place for hipsters and other random people but when I went inside the place was pretty cool it had a movie playing for their customers the movie Gladiator. Smoking hookah was one flat rate of only $5 regardless of how many people you are with so it is very cheap. The place was also packed we had to wait to be seated the only had seating in the lounge was in the front of the building. The owner told us that the basement was under construction and soon the whole top floor would be where the hookahs and different shisha (tobacco) will be on display while down stairs will become the lounge where you and your friends can enjoy the hookah. When we finally were seated we started striking up conversations with people all around us everybody there was really friendly and some people were pretty interesting. One person had been hitch hiking across the USA. Now the way a hookah works is on top is a bowl and that is where the shisha is placed under that is a wind guard and inside the wind guard is hot coals. Under the hot coals is a tube that runs down till it hits a plate which the tube goes through and only allows the tobacco smoke through the tube continues to go down father till it hits the end at the water jar where the smoke is released into the chamber to smooth out the smoke then finally the smoke travels out another tube and then finally to your mouth.
Laundry at Watterson
One experience that most of us have to deal with is doing laundry. For some of us it’s a first and others its second nature. Personally I have been doing my own laundry for at least 6 years now and I have done it at home and at multiple laundry mats before but I must say that laundry at the schools laundry mat is the worst. The school tries to sell their laundry machines off as “state of the art” but I think they are anything but that. For example last time I did my laundry I had to put my cloths through 2 drying cycles for a total of 2 hours and my clothes were still damp. This is ridiculous considering the fact that we are paying top dollar for a service that is sub-par. One thing that I will take from the college laundry experience is a new reflex to cringe at just the thought of laundry. One of the things that I will enjoy the most about moving out of the dorms in the future is that I won’t have to deal with the dreadfully long laundry process.
Homecoming Tailgate 2011
clothing and after parties come to mind. As a student at Illinois State
University the word homecoming is now something different to me. I think of
homecoming as a gathering ceremony where all ages of alumni come back to their
former school- Illinois State University and celebrate their college career.
This must bring back youthful, life changing and crazy memories from the past
for plenty of Illinois State alumni. It is a time to kick back, grill a
hamburger and reminisce. I didn’t however actually attend the football game but
being a part of the tailgate was quite an experience. I don’t think I have seen
so many people wearing red in my life. There were so many people playing bags,
laughing and just having a good ol’ time. I can say I defiantly learned a
lesson from my experience at the tailgate… remember to bring your phone. There
are some similarities from college homecoming and high school homecoming.
People do go all out and wear anything crazy they can find that is red; the
fans sure do show their support for football teams. Being lost in a crowd where
everyone is wearing red makes it extremely difficult to find whoever you are
looking for. I am looking forward to next year hopefully it is just as fun and
maybe this time I will actually go into the game.
My first concert ever!
On October 4, 2011 my friend, his girlfriend, my girlfriend, and I went to the Castle theatre in downtown Bloomington. We went to the Anberlin concert. This was an amazing night. We took a cab to get there, and when we did we had to wait outside in line for about 15 minutes. When we got inside we didn’t get tickets. We just signed in. It was weird. People who were under 21 had to pay a one dollar fee and had to sit up in the balcony. That was stupid to me, but I didn’t care. Before we went upstairs, I bought an Anberlin t-shirt to remember the concert by. The concert started with two opening bands. The first was a band named Ferreday, they were a local band. The second was a band named Atomic Tom. Both of these bands were great, but definitely not as amazing as Anberlin. After the openings Anberlin came on stage. I was so excited. They played either 9 or 10 songs and they ended a half hour early. I knew most of the songs they played except for 2 or 3. They opened up with their song Reclusion. They finished with The Feel Good Drag. Our group took a lot of pictures, recorded videos, and sang our hearts out. It was amazing. After they got off, while we waited for the cab back home, we went and waited in the lobby. The other two bands; Ferreday and Atomic Tom were down there selling merchandise. I got free stickers from each band. Before we left I got a picture with the singer from Ferreday and a picture with the singer from Atomic Tom. After this we took the cab back to campus and went back to my dorm for bed.
Homecoming Isn't Just For Football
With the weather starting to cool down and the leaves falling off the trees that only means one thing, winter is right around the corner. Most people have no enjoyment with this season but when winter comes that means basketball season is here. On Friday October 14th ISU held Hoopfest for the 2011 homecoming. At first I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go watch a scrimmage with the guys team and the girls team, but boy was I glad that I went. They started off the night with introducing the whole girls and guys basketball team. The girls coach gave a nice typical preseason speech while the men’s coach put together a very corny but entertaining speech stating the goals for the upcoming season.
The First event of the night was the three point shootout. For this event it was teams of two, one girl one guy. Katie Broadway and Trey Blue led off the night with 16 three balls in the first round. Broadway/Blue advanced to the champion ship along with Katie Winge and John Wilkins advanced to the championship round. In the finals Broadway and Blue combined for 15 shots, but Winge and Wilkins just barely beat them with a last second shot by Wilkins to make their total 16 and the champions of the three point shootout.
The second event of the night was the dunk contest, this was the definitely the best part of the night. The junior Tyler Brown was stealing the show; from 360 dunks to between the legs he was doing it all. Brown and Jackie Carmichael were the two that advanced to the finals. Through the first round of the championship they both had a perfect score of 40, but it was Carmichael’s second dunk of Reggie the Redbird that created the separation. Carmichael beat out Brown by one point for the dunk contest champion.
After the dunk contest they held the women’s scrimmage. The red team defeated the black team 25-21. Alexis Jenkins was the leading scorer with 8 points followed by Jamie Russell who had seven points. The last event was the men’s scrimmage. The White team outscored the Red by two points with a final score 36-34. Carmichael led all the scorers with 11 points. Anthony Cousin scored the second most with 9 points.
So walking out of Hoopfest I was certainly glad that I went, and now I’m even more excited for basketball season to start.