Stories

It's been a busy week, with plenty happening to keep my life busy.

Among other things, I have been accosted by facebook spam through the kind gesture of two Augsburg friends who clearly didn't want to study. I have also been participating in another puppy dog mishap, along with the "pressures" of finals that college allows. Within this same time frame, I also had the opportunity to cover the NCAA volleyball Regional tournament in Minneapolis, watching the Minnesota Gophers advance to the Final Four, where they will be headed this week.

All these topics have stories, hence the name of today's blog.

We'll tell these stories, some shorter, some longer, in reverse order.

1. I'm not in Kansas anymore.

Today, I rolled out of bed to head to my last final of the school year. It was about 12:30, and the final started at 1 p.m. I already felt lazy since I hadn't studied for it, and would be rolling in to class with about two minutes to spare. Everyone knows, you need to show up early on finals day, to get a good seat, and to make sure you don't miss the test.

Walking into the classroom, I remembered things just aren't the same at Augsburg. At 10:58, about two-thirds of the class had shown up, and the professor was nowhere to be seen. I started to wonder if I could've squeezed in another 20 minutes of sleep. At 10:06 sharp, our professor entered with exams, and we got them passed out by 10:12, which coincidentally was the moment the final student leisurely strolled through the door.

2. It's 2 a.m. Tuesday morning, and I'm finally about to get to bed following a very long night of discussions, but I figure I might as well check facebook. To my surprise, I find notifications informing me that I've been tagged in upwards of 20 photos with two Augsburg women I rarely hang out with.

I head to check up on this, to find these two have spent their evening tagging random people in the backgrounds or foregrounds of photo's as me. They tagged several white males, one black male, one of the golden lions from frat row, a picture of the Metrodome filled during a vikings game, and to top it off, I my name also popped up as one of their grandmothers. I was ACTUALLY in the background of two photos.

When I asked what prompted this onset of spam, the response was "because you're our favorite student at the U of M." This line is a joke concerning the biggest complaint I get from people at Augsburg, claiming I wear too much clothing with the Gophers' logo, or hang out too much at the U of M. What the response does not do is offer a real answer to the question of why... but I'm pretty sure at least one of these girls are dropped off at Augsburg by one very short bus... so...

3. My Mistake

It's 10 p.m. Monday evening, and I've just finished a list of tasks. I've finished taking the dog outside using a 20-foot orange extension cord as a lease, and sheepishly saying hi to about five people walking by to stare. I've also finished mopping the floors, finding new rugs to spread out in the dining room entryway for shoes, and cleaning off tables full of messes. Frustrated, I foolishly head to the dry-erase board and write the following message, which four-fifth's of our house has agreed upon: "The dog will not return following Christmas break, as the house is neither willing nor capable of taking care of said dog. This is especially true with three of us being involved in spring sports."

The fifth member enters the house while I'm baking a pizza and trying to calm down. She reads the board, about her dog, and it's clear a fight's about to begin concerning the future of the dog. A house meeting is called, but it won't start until 11 p.m...

4. Big Daddy Nightmare

It's about 7 p.m. Monday evening when I returned home from Augsburg, following a final exam, work, and baseball. I entered the house to the usual slew of roommates and adopted roommates, put my shoes on the same muddy dining room floor, and headed to the living room to sit by the coffee table littered with trash and glasses from days earlier.

"We have a problem," I was notified by one of the adoptees. "Eddie's leash is missing."

Eddie being the dog, and Aubrey, the dog's owner, having been gone since 11 a.m., I assumed this could turn into a sticky situation eventually. I headed upstairs to look for the leash, but got sidetracked. By the time I made it back downstairs, Eddie, who had previously been running around the house, was in his kennel. On the wood paneled living room floor was newspaper galore, and on the couch watching TV as if nothing had happened, was the remainder of the crew.

5. The babysitter

It's Friday, the last day of classes, and I'm trying to get into my last class, Spanish 102, when the professor grabs me at the door.

"Mark, do you have any late work for me?"

I shake my head no, and offer a weak "Sorry, I don't."

She literally pulls me aside. "Have you seen the new email I sent out with everyone's grades?"

I had. "Yes, I think I'm sitting at a 68.9 percent." There were still 90 points to be had, (all in tests or quizzes) and I had done the math earlier,I would need about 82 percent of those 90 points to grab a 2.0 in the class. My lowest test score of the semester to date was 89 percent. I wasn't about to tell Professor Kate any of this.

She whispered. "Mark, you are very close to not being able to achieve a 2.0! Why aren't you doing the makeup work?"

I mumbled something about it being a busy week, and apologized again.

She wasn't finished. "I'm going to extend the deadline for you until Monday. Make sure you bring some in."

And with that, the weekend that I already had plans for just got a little busier.



The volleyball matches would be a long story, and this has already taken longer than expected, so instead of the play-by-play, I'll just give you two tidbits about it that didn't make the Gophersports blog.

First, on Friday I sat directly next to ESPN's Stephanie Jenkins. ESPN wasn't taping on Friday, and was pretty much there to research and prep for the Elite Eight match on Saturday. She was watching the match right next to me, and we had already chatted a little bit through the night when Minnesota's 5'4" libero Christine Tan made an amazing dig, letting out a high-pitched noise as she did so.

"Oh my gosh, did that girl just squeak?" Stephanie Jenkins asked me. I started laughing in the midst of trying to write my blog.

*Day Two, Minnesota freshman Tabitha Love continues to tear up the competition with a 21 kill night, and one of the 150 comments I get through the live blog, and one I chose not to publish... "Does anyone know if Tabitha Love is single?" Yup, you get all kinds.

And there you have it. Something to occupy you while you are avoiding finals or work, or trying to find something to put yourself to sleep... please use reading this as your way to do that, instead of tagging me in random photos. Thanks!