Mizzou Disc Golf Course, Frolf Course, whatever

(missouri.edu)

Awhile back I googled Mizzou disc golf course and it came up with nothing. Then I asked my friend Andy Patton, who plays the wonderful sport frequently, about which course he uses and he gave me all 18 holes over the phone. Wonderful guy. If you find yourself on Mizzou campus and fancy a game of frolf, here's one option:

1. From corner of College and University, through archway, to fire hydrant.
2. Hit red emergency phone by giant tree.
3. Towards Memorial Union, throw from 1st intersection of sidewalks to statue of kids outside HDFS building on left.
4. Through arch at Memorial Union to hit light post on left.
5. From stage on Lowry Mall to hit square fountain.
6. Scoot over from square fountain to throw through two trees to hit circular bench across 9th st.
7. From back steps of Jesse through columns to hit informational pedestal.
8. From pedestal to orange sculpture through hoop.
9. From sculpture to hit Thomas Jefferson.
10. From far column to mini Washington Memorial.
11. From fire hydrant to Beatle Bailey.
12. From circle drive at Alumni Center blue handicap square to bench by parking garage.
13. From 'No Parking' sign at Newman Center to land in Bank of America circle by Cornell.
14. From Buisness School platform/porch to Tiger
15. From Tiger to Brady Fountain
16. From Brady fountain to Law School trashcan.
17. From Speakers' circle to Emergency red thing between the circle and Lowry.
18. From big ball on stick sculpture (by Lowry Hall - A&S) to other metal sculpture on Lowry Mall.


Try it out. Enjoy!

End Results of Senior Year Tour

This whole senior year tour thing has been awesome. It's made me appreciate my time at Mizzou a whole lot more. Although I still have a couple things that I haven't done, I'd prefer it that way. Or else I'd feel like I tapped out the city. There needs to be the potential for more things to do. The things I haven't done are go to the Wardrobe (thrift store that has dime and quarter days - where everything in the store can be bought for a 10 or 25 cents), go to the 63 Diner (whatever), and go in the tunnels under Mizzou (this is difficult and hot and there are reportedly video cameras down there, I don't know).

BUT, I did finally get to go to the Mizzou Observatory!! And, since my blog comes up when you google Mizzou Observatory, I'm going to give the information on it, since Mizzou sucks at this.

It's open on most Wednesdays from 8-10pm on the top (5th) floor of the Physics building, which is next door to the new Life Sciences building on College Ave. Take the elevator. It's just two Physics professors up there and they'll show you how to work the massive telescope. Perfect for dates. Do it.

We went up there twice when it wasn't open and waited hours for them to come open it. When you come out of the elevator, it's the door to your left. The door in front of you goes out onto the roof of the Physics building (which is also pretty cool, as it is one of the highest points in Columbia and you can see a lot of stuff).

Thanks to Julie for the photos.

Brother Jed and Sister Cindy on Sally Jesse Rafael in 1988

Thanks to Marion for this.

the Gap is back?

...well, the Sartorialist says so. Looking online, they seem kind of the same as ever. Maybe a few less "what were you thinking?" pieces. The Gap has always been kind of bland to me, but I guess the reason they exist is to provide foundation pieces that anyone can look good in. Sweet, but kind of boring. Especially when fashion right now is all about oddity (it seems to me). Even their "European Collection" is kind of boring. Oh well. I really like the look above, but I'm pretty sure I've seen people at Mizzou sport it. And (as much as I love my state) if Missouri's doing it, something must be off in the design department.

Something I'll miss from college: Spring at Mizzou

Something Else I'll Miss From College: Passive-Aggressive White Boards

Actually, come to think of it, I'll still have roommates once I move back to STL (woo, Sharon and Allie!) - So, hopefully we'll have a white board to blame each other with.

Things I will miss about Columbia #2

risking my life crossing 4 lanes of traffic 4-6 times a day on College Ave.

March 22 - I want to add to this post, saying that the street sign in the picture is now non-existant. While walking back from class on Thursday, I noticed that it had been mowed down by (I suspect) a car or some other large object, probably being driven by someone under the influence of something. RIP.

Brief Senior Tour Update

(columbiamissourian.com)

MU Basketball Game - finally went to one. It was kind of sad because Mizzou isn't that great this season. It was literally the last home game of the season - my last chance. Patrick went with me (after 1.5 hours of convincing). We only stayed for about 45 min, and found out later that Mizzou beat Iowa State in two over times. Dang it.

Universal Thrift: kind of like a garage sale in a building (I know that's what most thrift stores are like, but this seemed crappier). Mostly home furnishing stuff. Did not meet expectations.

CJ's Hot Wings: absolutely wonderful. Went with Julie and Stacey. Really really good food and quite cheap. You know you're in the right restaurant when construction workers come in for dinner after work. They know.

Added to the list:
- Go to Mojo's (club/venue)
- Go to the Mizzou Observatory

Things I've had to look up for class: Link between Plastics and Estrogen

(vestaldesign.com)

Wired: "Reproductive Disorders Probably Caused by Common Plastic Ingredient, Scientists Say"

Wired: "Male Births Drop Mysteriously in US and Japan"

"The synthetic chemical called bisphenol-A is used to make dental sealants, sturdy microwavable plastics, linings for metal food-and-beverage containers, baby bottles, and numerous other products. When consumed, the chemical can mimic the effects of estrogen. Previous tests had found that bisphenol-A can leach into food and water and that it's widely prevalent in human blood." (Sciencenews.org: "Diabetes from a Plastic? Estrogen mimic provokes insulin resistance")

Frederick vom Saal (Mizzou researcher in this area) - "Researcher Provides Evidence Against Common Household Plastics"

PBS Frontline "Fooling Around with Nature" interview with Frederick vom Saal.

Wikipedia "Plastics": "Research in Environmental Health Perspectives finds that BPA - bisphenol-A (leached from the lining of tin cans, dental sealants and polycarbonate bottles) can increase body weight of lab animals' offspring, as well as impact hormone levels. A more recent animal study suggests that even low-level exposure to BPA results in insulin resistance, which can lead to inflammation and heart disease."

Um - so all major recent health issues are caused by plastic containers? Wonderful.

WebMD "Danger in Plastic Baby Bottles?: Common Plastics Chemical Linked to Genetic Damage" "Other animal studies have linked BPA to low sperm count, hyperactivity, early puberty, obesity, small testes size, and enlarged prostates. But Hunt's is the first study to suggest that BPA can affect future generations."

thegreenguide.com, "The Bisphenol-A Debate: A Suspect Chemical in Plastic Bottles and Cans": "Ninety-five percent of Americans were found to have the chemical in their urine in a 2004 biomonitoring study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)."

Which means that it's going into our water systems and into streams and rivers. Oh no.

Columbia Peace March

Here's the KOMU coverage of the 1,000 strong march for peace today in Columbia.

And...Julie and I are in the video (briefly). I think this is the first time I've ever been on TV, pretty exciting. And for a good cause.

Here are some of my pictures:

Shaking and drumming down 9th Street.

There were Journalism kids from Mizzou everywhere. I swear, everything in Columbia is very well documented because of the J-school. At one point he was hovering near a woman and she started yelling and riling up the crowd, almost because he was there. It reminded me of a part in Don DeLillo's White Noise, when there's a disaster somewhere but no news crews come and one of the characters says something like "Where were all the cameras? It's like it didn't even happen this way!"

math = cool

(primegrid.com)

I cannot overemphasize how much I do not value math. I'm taking the GRE (Graduate Record Examination) this Saturday and a portion of it is on math. Really, it's supposed to be math at a junior high level, but, as I studying up on it now I am gaining a lot more respect for myself for passing Pre-Algebra in 8th grade.

There is one thing that has always baffled me - prime numbers. I downloaded this program on my computer called SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) which scans for signs of alien life while my computer is idle. I know, I'm doing my part. But the same organization (BOINC) has a program (PrimeGrid) where you can use your extra computer power to search for new prime numbers. What? Exactly.

Well, studying for my GRE I re-learned what prime numbers actually are, and they're pretty cool. "A prime number is a number that is divisible only by itself and 1." Wanna know a quick and easy way to figure out if a huge number is prime? I know I do. "An integer is divisible by 3 (aka-not a prime number) if the sum of its digits is divisible by 3. For example, we know that 2,145 is divisible by 3 because 2+1+4+5=12, and 12 is divisible by 3." Whoa! Math is cool.

a crying baby was just carried into the computer lab, it's surreal seeing a baby on campus.

Senior Tour Update

(wikipedia) Columbia, MO

Well, it's been awhile since I started the Senior Year Tour project, and I've crossed a couple things off of my list. And I've added a couple things and crossed them off. Here we go:

1. Tonic nightclub: more enjoyable if you get there at 11pm instead of 10:30pm, like we did. Awesome event of the night: I was standing, looking over a railing, and I saw a guy out of the corner of my eye check me out and walk over. He started grinding his butt on me and I started laughing. He said "go ahead, you can touch it. I worked out for 10 hours today, go ahead." I just laughed and walked away.

2. True/False film festival. Fantastic. One of my favorite quotes from the event was when a yodeling musician was playing before 'American Teen' (very very good - check it out), who was in his mid-twenties and pretty cute. A woman in her fifties beside me leaned over and said, "He can yodel at me anytime." This made me want to date a guy whom older women think is attractive. I feel like they know what they're talking about.

3. Universal Thrifts update: Not open on Tuesdays, or whenever Jeff and I tried to go, but is most likely probably open on Saturdays only.

new things on the list:
7. Go to a Mizzou basketball game
8. Figure out where the 63 Diner is and go there
9. Go on a walk around downtown in the morning.

Do the Right Thing

Mizzou shows free movies in auditoriums sometimes. Tonight was 'Do the Right Thing' by Spike Lee. There were 6 people there, including Julie, Awesome, and I. Man, that was a good film. I felt like the whole movie was filled with dichotomies. There is violence and non-violence. There is Black and everyone else. There is love and hate. And you have to do the right thing. One scene in particular struck me. Here ya go:

Redeeming my time in Memorial Union

The inscription around the Memorial Union clock reads 'In sapientia ambulate tempus redimentes' ('Walk in the ways of wisdom, redeeming the time')

Billary* at Mizzou

With little less than 36 hours notice, Bill Clinton came rolling into Columbia to campaign for his lady. He oddly came to our (fantastic) rec center instead of a more reasonable place like the Mizzou Arena, or even the Hearnes Center. Whatev. I mostly went because, well, it's Bill Clinton. I've always heard of his magnetism and phenomenal public speaking. Also, he was President, and that should count for something.

And he was good. He spoke for a whopping 40 minutes. He started out talking about the Mizzou basketball season, made a comment about Mizzou beating Arkansas in the Cotton Bowl, and kept on using "country" cliches like "three bricks shy of a full load" and referred to our state as"Missourah," which, my friend Jenna pointed out, only politicians and 80-year-old men from Mexico, MO, say.

Another funny line came from the dude standing behind us. When Clinton was talking about the economy and Bush's proposed plan for economic stimulus, he was explaining how most of the money went to the top 10%. The guy behind us said "...like you."

He talked about the environment, jobs, health care, the mortgage crisis, automated medical records, preventative care, Iraq, foreign policy, and increasing college scholarships. He made jokes about being politically correct, about being president, and I left liking him.

Later that night I was at a going-away party for my friend John, who is being deployed to Iraq. John's one of the most knowledge-hungry guys my age I know. He's absolutely fabulous. He told me that he's been hearing that Bill campaigning for Hillary has actually been hurting her more than helping (Truthdig article). In the middle of Bill Clinton's speech, a phone rang behind me. The guy picked it up and said, "We're at the Bill Clinton rally..."



*thanks to Ailsa for that.

Sondre Lerche in real life

I don't know too much about this Sondre Lerche character, but the 'Dan in Real Life' soundtrack is almost exclusively him, and it's amazing. Hooray for $1 movies at Mizzou!

We burned your town to the ground.

Chase Daniel for Heisman

I've been looking for a picture online of Kansas quarterback Todd Reesing with turf stuck in his helmet during the Mizzou-KU game and this is the best that I could do. It was amazing. Oh wait, there's a video of it (here).

Continuing on the Mizzou football theme, some friends and I went to a pep rally last night to send our boys down to San Antonio to play OU. It was cool, I guess. Claire and I realized that we really need to work on memorizing the words to the Mizzou fight songs (which are actually kind of hard). I saw Jeremy Maclin - who is amazing - so my night was complete. But not without the incredibly inspiring words of our QB Chase Daniel "It's this simple: Win." His rhetorical skills were the icing on the cake, especially since a video of him eating his own boogers (here) is going around Mizzou. Beautiful.

Thomas Kinkade for Mizzou

Oh man. I can't believe that Mizzou actually commissioned Thomas Kinkade to do a painting for our 50th Anniversary for our Museum of Art and Archeology. This is embarrassing. Buy one for $650 here.

Life, it is.

As I am working towards to goal of defining what my life passions are, different words, phrases, and ideas seem to fit together to create the larger vision. One of them comes from an email that wasn't written to me by a professor at Covenant Seminary. It is a broad question that shapes a lot of who Covenant Seminary is and their mission. This question makes me want to go to seminary there. "What do you see in terms of spiritual yearnings within contemporary (popular) culture (in the U.S.A. and globally)?"

I was sitting in my 'Cultural and Intellectual History of the US' class this morning and another image came to me. In contemporary church culture, so much is made of Acts 17, when Paul is preaching on Mars Hill. I think Christians enjoy the image of Paul citing the contemporary secular poets and thinkers to make his own case for the existence of one God and for salvation in Christ. It makes the case that the church shouldn't be a fortress on a hill, separated from society by huge walls of distrust and misunderstanding. It should be a city, with streets leading out, inviting trade and dialogue.

It just occurred to me that that is what inspires me too. My favorite part of being at Mizzou as a Christian is being in a sociology class and being able to see the image of God in the writers and other students as we all discuss culture and the nature of man in society. It's fantastic seeing that what the Bible says isn't all crap and that what it says about human nature and the way God created us in His image can be seen in everything we do. Even the ways we set up power elites and have class warfare speaks to our desire to have the God-like power that got us in this whole mess in the first place (Garden of Eden).

In my history class, my professor acts kind of like an Old Testament prophet, highlighting trends of thought that shifted the American culture. I want to learn how to do that. I want to look at a culture and say, "Here is the foundational issue. Here is where we do not believe God." That would be so cool.