Back to School

So my two week school break is done.  Tomorrow it is back to the grind.  I feel as if I've gained 10 lbs in those two weeks since I haven't been to a spin class or to the gym. 

I am excited for my first fall semester at college.  Sure, I was excited for spring too but fall is when most of the excitement is.  Fall is when the majority of the new students are coming in.  It is also a return from summer break, which is the longest break.  Winter break is only a couple of weeks and doesn't create the sense of truly being away the way that summer break does.  Most importantly, fall means football.  Not just any football either, college football.

Now is the time to break out the portable grills, face paint and rally towels.  I couldn't care less that my beloved Golden Panthers--there is a rumor going around that they will be dropping the Golden--are 1-23 over the past two seasons and not expected to be much better this season.  Personally, after seeing the strides they've made between the spring football game and this summer's scrimmages, I'm rather optimistic about this season.  I plan on tailgating my happy little rear end off this year.  All of our home games are 7 p.m. games, which leaves plenty of time for tailgating, grilling, drinking, tossing around the old pigskin and whatever else comes to mind.

As far as school goes, I've coordinated a perfect Tuesday-Thursday schedule.  My first class starts at 9:30 and the last one ends at 3:15.  That allows me to attend a 7:30 spin class at the gym with plenty of time to shower and stop at the campus Starbucks on my way to my first class.  It also means that I can beat traffic on the turnpike and be home by five o'clock on school days to help Tina with dinner.  On top of all that, only having to drive to campus two days a week saves a ton on gas and allows me three whole week days to devote to studying.

Top priority right now is this weekend because I am Atlanta bound.  For the last two years my friend Mike and I have been going to Tuscaloosa, Alabama for the Crimson Tide's season opener.  You see, the first weekend of college football always falls on or around Mike's birthday.  His wife, Amanda, or his mother usually get him tickets to the opening game and we make the road trip.  Lat year we were joined by Mike's brother as well as their childhood friend Ron.  

This year, the game is being played in Atlanta as some kind of SEC vs. ACC challenge and the Tide are playing Clemson.  Ron will be joining us again.  I can't wait.  I am leaving Thursday following school, spending Thursday night in Jacksonville, driving up to Atlanta on Friday, going to the game on Saturday and flying home on Sunday.  Should be tons of fun.  I'll try to take tons of pictures to post.  

Got my voucher for the USF game!

Is there any excitement on campus for the upcoming football season?  I know I am excited.  Even more so now that I got my game ticket voucher for the home opener.  For those of you that don't know or if, like in my case, all your email from the school goes directly into the spam catcher, vouchers for student tickets are available at the ticket office until August 1.  Only one voucher per student id and for the USF game no student guest tickets will be given.  I inquired at the ticket office about guest tickets for subsequent games and was told that students will be allowed to purchase one guest ticket for $10.

Apparently, in previous years students were given 2 tickets--1 student and 1 guest--for each game.  Those days are over.  Someone has to pay for the new stadium and I don't mind a bit.  Our conference rivals to the North in Boca can't get funding for a new stadium and they went to a bowl game last year and have a national championship winning coach.

Here's the email about student tix:

July 23, 2008

Dear Student,

I hope you are enjoying your summer. I would like to remind you of our
exciting upcoming season and some important ticket information. Our
first home football game in our new on-campus stadium is scheduled to
kick-off on Saturday, September 20 at 7 pm, against the University of
South Florida. We are expecting a sold out crowd of 20,000 fans, and we
want to make sure you are included and not left outside the gate!

To reserve your ticket to this historic first game, the following steps
must be followed:

1. Stop by the FIU ticket office between July 28 and August 1, 2008,
with your valid student ID to receive a voucher for the game. (One
voucher per student, you may not pick up vouchers for other students)
The ticket office will be open from 9am-5pm Monday-Friday.

2. In the event you cannot make it to the FIU ticket office by August 1,
2008, please mail a letter to the address below stating that you would
like a voucher.  You may then pick up your voucher prior to September 1,
2008.   The letter must be postmarked by August 1, 2008.

FIU Ticket Office
11200 SW 8th Street GPA 111
Miami, FL 33199

3. Bring the voucher with your valid student ID to the stadium on
September 20.  All ID cards will be swiped at Gate 6 on the northeast
corner of the stadium.

Only the students who have a voucher and a valid student ID will be
guaranteed admission to the first game.  In the event there are seats
still remaining on game day, students will be admitted until the stadium
reaches maximum capacity.  We regret in advance that some students may
be turned away.

We certainly appreciate your support of our Golden Panthers and of our
new era of FIU Football. Be a part of our new traditions, spirit,
stadium and attitude!

We hope to see you at all the games this season!


Pete Garcia
Director of Athletics

  

You're probably asking yourselves why, right?

I started at Florida International University in the spring of 2008 as a Marine Biology major.  That lasted less than a week once I realized that I hate science classes.  I changed my major to English Education and now, thanks to the budget cuts, it's English, just English.

My wife, Tina, and I decided about two years ago that it would be best if we just bit the bullet, I quit working, we move in with my parents--awkward, I know--in order to save expenses, and I went to school full-time so that I could finish and we could move on with our lives.  So in that two years we got our affairs in order, so to speak, and I finished the AA degree that I had been toiling on, part-time, for years.  Finishing even an Associates degree is difficult when you're taking one class per semester, hence the decision to drop everything and finish school.  At the rate I was going it was more likely that I would receive an AARP card before I earned a Bachelor's degree.

I'll save the awkward tales of being 36 years old, married and living with your parents for another day.  Right now I want to talk about being a full-time college student for the first time.  I also want to try and avoid lecturing anyone, giving you the "see what happens if you don't stay focused" or "don't make the same mistakes I made" speeches.  Personally, I think the best way to learn is to make mistakes and I'm glad my parents, my mother in particular, allowed me to find that out.  Would I like to be further along in life than I currently am?  Absolutely.  Do I think my wife deserves better than living with her in-laws while her late bloomer husband gets his shit together?  Without a doubt.  Do I realize that there are some of you reading this thinking, "What a LOSER!" Yes.  And believe me, I think the same thing about myself almost daily.  It's a blow to the ego every time I have to tell someone I meet on campus that I live with my parents.  But it is what it is.

Did I mention that I live in Boynton Beach and have a 136 mile round trip commute two or three days a week?

So why this blog?

Well, I realized after a few weeks on campus that I really am an invisible student.  Age wise, I fall in between the typical post high school student and the late in life, tired of my career and want to find something new while I still have time student.  It seems that the few students that I have encountered that are my age are working on a second or third degree, not their first. 

So why do I say invisible?  Well, I get ignored when walking down the GC halls.  When the Greeks are recruiting for rush I don't really expect anyone to hand me one of those little cards asking me to rush Pike or Sig Ep so I don't take offense when they don't.  This isn't the movies and I'm not Vince Vaughn, Will Ferrell or Luke Wilson.  If someone does invite me to a party on frat row its like Christmas time to me (it happened once last spring, almost certainly by mistake)  I'm too old to be a frat guy, I know that.

But when student elections were going on at the end of spring, not one of those SGA hopefuls handed me one of their cards, buttons or t-shirts.  No one wanted my vote.  Is their some age cap unbeknownst to me?  Can the 30+ students not vote?  Well, I vote for Paige (sp?) and Adam, that much I remember.  

I went to the spring football game, too.  Over and over I was solicited for season tickets and when I told the solicitors that I was a student they looked at me as if I was joking.  To top that off, most of them called me sir.  SIR!  I'm 36 years old for Christ's sake, I'm not a sir.  Speaking of the spring football game, I will be getting to the obvious lack of support for our athletic programs by the student body in another post.  You guys do realize that you get to watch Division I college sports for FREE don't you?  My wife graduated from Florida and believe me, the students up there would kill for the opportunity to see the Gators for free.  Most of them have to pin their football ticket hopes on a lottery system.  We've got it made at FIU.

Well, this post was supposed to be a short introduction and I've rambled on.  I don't know how much I'll blog until fall semester starts.  After all, I won't start publicizing this blog on campus until then.  Right now no one even knows this blog exists.  

If anyone does stumble across this, please leave me comments.

Later,

ELI3