It's back! Alright, well, time

It's back!

Alright, well, time for another college update. But first, I need to update since tuesday. Tuesday, I don't recall doing anything. If I remember, I'll let you know.

Wednesday, we left for Baltimore and got in about 5:00 to our hotel and then at 6:40 went with my brother Joe (older, Hopkins senior) to a place called Bycicles. Appetizer: Sashimi Tuna with Avacado something ... WOW! Some of the best Sashimi I've had in a while. Incredible. Dinner: Spicy Mahi-mahi with linquine and cilantro and other spices. Damn good as well. Oh, it had some shrimp too. Desert: Some really good chocolate cake. All the adults got tipsy, and then the following transpired:

We were talking about Joe and his girlfriend, and my mom was going off on how Joe should end the relationship if he doesn't want to get married. It was totally illogical, but we wont' touch on that and basically Joe says to her "Mom, you even told us that Dad wasn't your first boyfriend" (or somethig like that, there was a reference to how as a kid I think she DID tell us that Dad was her first, but that's I guess what you tell your kids till they're older). Mom replies back with something like "I did date before your father, I had dated a lot" and Jimmy goes "Mom was a ho." Joe and I were already laughing about the dated a lot comment and this comment from jim just fueled the fire and we were laughing uncontrollably. Even my Dad chuckled slightly. Needless to say, the mother unit gets really pissed off, and yells at all of us and tries telling us that we're chauvinist pigs. And the best part was that then she tries telling us that we get it from none other than ... our father? This was too much for us, we can't stop laughing (most of it internal, cause she's yelling) and afterwards we kept cracking jokes that the Hanauer men are pigs and we get it from Dad. right.

Thursday we spent the day in Washington, DC. We ate lunch with Emily this time at a restaurant in Georgetown called the Peacock Cafe. Good bread, but the burger I got was kind of ... different. It had goganzala cheese. I should have just ordered a regular burger. But yeah, the restaurant is pretty good otherwise, desert was INCREDIBLE. This chocolate souflet thingy (called the Chocolate volcano). Only news on Emily was that she lit her friend's kitchen on fire the other day. Rest of the afternoon was spent walking from George Washington University to the Thomas Jefferson memorial and back (the way there along the patomic, the way back through the FDR memorial). We then drive the Charlottesville, VA where we check in at the Cavelier Inn (a best western) and then eat at this little restaurant right next to it where we get potato skins that were ... incredible.

Friday I do the whole UVA bit. I still love UVA, just like I did in Seventh Grade when I saw it. Secret Societies (I'm thinking if I go I'm going to start my own), dorms are twice as big as Illinois's dorms, and best of all ... this was the first school I went to where there was a constant flow of good looking girls. Do not get confused, this doesn't mean every girl at UVA is good looking, it just means that you could always look around and fine one. Whereas the other schools I saw it was once every now and then you saw a girl that was good looking. UIllinois, as large as the school is, I didn't really see any. WashU, again, same thing (even my parents commented that they didnt' see any good looking girls). So I guess thus is the nature of smart schools ... or maybe private schools? No, cause Illinois is public. And UVA is technically smart. I dunno, but I don't think any of the schools I applied to are as bad as Hopkins, so that's good.

My only problem with UVA is that it sounds like it would be pretty hard by their curriculum to double major. So I'd be stuck doing just engineering, and on top of that I dont' think the Computer Engineering at UVA is as good as Northwestern or WashU's (although I dunno ... perhaps a good time to ask that JLew lend me that US News and World Report book thingy). WashU told me I could double major pretty easily with the Engineering and business school. Northwestern, I havent talked to, but that was all one of my information sessions was about, was how so many students double major and they encourage it. (but with NU, I think it'd be engineering and Economics, I dont' think they have an undergrad business school). Plus NU's coop program definitely seems the strongest.

But yeah, UVA food supposedly isn't bad (according to two students), the campus was beautiful even though it was totally rainy, everyone was nice, the campus was booming with activity (again, rainy, so this was a change, cause the other schools were all rainy too), etc. I really think the only flaw is that I don't think I can do the business and engineering deal, or coop. UVA students do coop, but only a small few. Whereas Northwestern a third of the enginnering students coop (in contradicition to my cousin amy's remarks that NU had no coop program). So I still don't know. I'll do a pro/con chart after I see northwestern. (I've already got it formulating)

We got a tour of the school, engineering panel discussion, engineering tour, dorm rooms tour (old dorm hall style, new dorm hall style, and new dorm suite style are the choice, we toured all three, I like the suites best I think). OH, and according to one girl UVA is an XBOX college. Rawk.

We drove back that afternoon, but not before eating at the hardware store. (it's a restaurant, called the hardware store). We ate there five years ago when we were looking at UVA for Joe, and it was just as good this time around. We got in about 12:00. I have 60 pages left in "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" by Dave Eggers. Great book, I'll finish it tonight.

Yesterday I got some work done, picked up the dog from the kennel, and then around 8:00 I walked from here to waterfront for thunder. I made it at about 9:10, and then walked around so that I wasn't standing in someone's view for too long, then when the fireworks started I just watched from the sidewalk (once everyone's realizes that everybody usually stands up they stop complaining that I'm standing in front of them because now they're standing and it doesn't matter) and then i walked home. Got back around 11:10, totally exhausted (the walk up my hill I think burns more energy than the entire walk to waterfront and back (I drove it last year to double check it was doable ... I think 3 miles? 4?)

So that was that. Today I took this quiz, see how you do.

Spork.