Dairy Bar Daydream

If you ever want to attend a truly amazing a cappella concert, you have to attend the United Way A Cappella concert in Bailey Auditorium.  This year’s concert featured 13 of Cornell’s a cappella groups and a guest appearance from Kinetic and One Love.  This being my first a cappella concert, I loved hearing 2 songs from each group.  With an announcer  who was enthusiastic, humorous, and extremely entertaining the two and a half hour show was amazing.  I mean, when a concert starts out with “You’ve Got a C” by the Hangovers, you know you are in for a good night.

http://hangovers.com/media/media.html (and check out their version of “You’ve Got a C”).  I loved hearing Hearsay sing less popular songs too-especially since I learned some songs that I want to download!  Then, to top it all off, Kinetic and One Love made a guest appearance.  The two members of this group are both Cornell graduates and are remembered for the lyrics they wrote and had become the second most popular song in the nation this summer: Airplanes (sung by B.O.B).  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8ZAUAPbD2E Here’s their latest song, once again based on life in Ithaca and at Cornell.

So if you’re ever looking for musical mischief on a Friday night, find it at an a cappella concert!

About two weeks ago, I walked across the Ag Quad quite perplexed by the gigantic pile of soil sitting in front of the main entrance of Robert Hall.  Upon getting closer, I noticed that someone had torn up all the grass in that area as well; leaving a barren soil wasteland.

This week as I ventured across the quad, there was no soil to be found, but instead, I saw what can only be described as a bench made completely from soil and grass.

Cornell takes Going Green to a whole new level.

Now, Cornell has always been extremely committed to the Green Revolution, especially since implementing the “Green Building Initiative” back in 2008.  This initiative states that any building project over $5 million must be at least Silver LEED certified.  Take Weill Hall for example.  This 250,000  square foot building that is the new home of the Weill Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology was given a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold certification (built in 2008).  I applaud the university for making an effort to reduce our carbon footprint, but green benches? It’s an extremely unique and unexpected idea; and students seem to be enjoying it! I haven’t had a chance to try it out, but I’ll be sure to give you my opinion when I do!

Interested in learning more about Cornell’s Green Building Initiative or the Cornell Sustainable Campus program?

Check it out at: http://www.sustainablecampus.cornell.edu/greenbuildings/greenbuildings.cfm

As the wonderful weather of Ithaca finally broke from the dull, drizzly, gray to a much more suitable temperature and sunny disposition, my house-mates and I ventured out to the Cornell Orchards.  As sad as I am to admit, this is my first trip to the Orchards as a true Cornellian.  The last time I went there, I stopped to ask for directions to East Hill Plaza as a high school junior.  This time, I went with the specific purpose of obtaining some flavorful honey candy whereas my house-mates really wanted to actually do some apple-picking.

Unfortunately we realized once we arrived that this is not a “U-Pick” operation and the only picking we would be doing was picking up the items for sale in the store.  However, an outing with my house-mates Stephanie and Rebecca would never be complete without some entertaining photographic evidence.  Now I realize this trailer probably wasn’t set-up just for our benefit but it was too good of a photo opportunity to pass up on.

Stephanie and I with our purchases

In the end, I did get my honey candy and Rebecca and Stephanie were able to leave with some honey sticks and a bunch of apples. While we missed the cider by a week (their expecting it to be ready for Homecoming next weekend), the Orchards are definitely a place not to be missed at Cornell with the offering of locally grown fresh fruit and a peaceful escape from the technological world we are immersed in every day!

You know those classes you strategically attempted to avoid in high school? Or even those classes that you were able to skate by in because you had a pretty good memory and could do some last minute studying? Well here at Cornell, they have that wonderful “strategy” figured out and force you to take all those classes in order to get that wonderful diploma we’re all striving for.  The class that I’ve always dreaded is Chemistry. I’ll apologize now to those people who enjoy the subject or possibly find themselves majoring in the subject (more power to you!).  I, however, cannot wrap my mind around why it matters whether an electron is in an s, p, d, or f-orbital.  The electron is going to continue moving in that orbital whether I know it is or not.  I feel like I’m back in high school but honestly, I find myself asking the question, “Why does it matter to me?”

Part of this rant is in the heat of the moment after having had a less than satisfactory day in chem lab, where the ultimate low point was attempting to get my drawer of supplies (beakers, test tubes, etc) out when it went crashing to the floor, breaking no less than 5 pieces of glassware.  I’m sure if I were looking for a lesson here, there would be boatloads of great chemistry lessons related to kinetic energy or gravity or such, but I’ll leave that to the experts!

While there will always be a lack of chemistry between myself and the actual subject of chemistry, I will admit that Chem 1560 is entertaining at least.  The professor asks us to step outside our comfort zone, outside of the idea that we all have to have the exact same numbers and there’s only one right answer.  He asks us to consider the Order of Magnitude-meaning “close-enough” counts.  So basically we’re back to rounding and roughly estimating numbers and weights.  Maybe there’s hope for me and chemistry yet! If I only have to estimate answers-that means I can almost be right and still get the grade I’m looking for, right? Hopefully my professor agrees with my logic!

With over 900 student clubs and organizations on campus, there are a plethora of opportunities to get involved with a group that shares your passions and interests.  Sometimes, you may be forced to choose between two great groups such as different fraternities or sororities.  As an Aggie, I am proud to say that today, Alpha Zeta (the co-ed honor’s agriculture frat on campus) once again did a phenomenal job putting together Ag Day for the Fall semester.

Each semester AZ organizes one day where different agricultural groups on campus can show what they do and help educate the Cornell community about what we do day in and day out.  While extremely affordable meals and drinks attract some students, most of the people who stop by are more intrigued as to why there is a cow with a hole in it’s side (also known as a “fistulated cow”) than the food.  The best part about Ag Day is that it fosters community amongst the agricultural groups on campus and continues to help the public perception of agriculture.  It’s always great to see the quad swarming with students who are truly passionate about the reason Cornell exists.  So I’d like to give a shout out to all the members of Alpha Zeta fraternity for all your hardwork in regards to Ag Day-once again it was a huge success!

One of the greatest parts of being an Agricultural Education major is the freedom to experience a multitude of classes throughout CALS.  This major requires me to take classes in Applied Economics and Management, Crop and Soil Sciences, Animal Science, Food Science, Entomology and more.  This semester I am fortunate enough to be enrolled in ENTOM 2640- Practical Beekeeping and Managment.  Practical Beekeeping is an extremely hands-on class that will give me the knowledge to be able to start-up my own apiary if I so choose once I have completed my degree. Now you may be wondering what you might do as a student in ENTOM 2640.  Well I would like to show you:

No gloves, no protective gear; just me and the bees

Professor Nick Calderone believes that if we are to handle bees, we should all be comfortable around them.  After looking at bees in their hives, we were able to see some of their social behavior in action.  Attached to the wire is a small box that houses the Queen.  These worker bees respond to the Queen and “swarm” around her.  On my hand there are about 6,000 bees-no gloves, no protective gear-they’re all touching my skin.  And the best part is: the swarm consisted of nearly 16,000 bees total so I’m not even holding half of them! I’m not sure I can accurately describe how this felt; my comparison would be if you’ve ever been to a fair or an amusement park and used one of those foot massage machines.  Next time you see one, put your hand on it-it’s similar to holding thousands of bees!

Another great part of this class is that we will be able to visit local apiasts (beekeepers) and discuss their business and the industry.  In mid-October, we do have an extremely tough assignment though; we have to bring in empty jars.  You see, by mid-October the bees will have collected plenty of honey, so we will be extracting the honey and then will learn processing techniques while we walk away with plenty of honey for every student in the class! How awesome is that?

This is just one of hundreds of classes that I have looked forward to taking! With classes like Magical Mushrooms and Mischievous Molds and Wines to Vines I can promise that you will never have trouble finding classes to take! If you’re looking for a great class, definitely check out ENTOM 2600 (Biology of the Bee) and ENTOM 2640 (Practical Beekeeping) but be warned; they are currently only offered every other fall!

College life can be extremely exciting and very spontaneous.  However, as an Animal Science major, there has always been one thing I am sure of: I will have to traipse 30 minutes to Morrison Hall for my guaranteed 9:05 a.m. animal science lecture at least twice a week.  The highlight of my hike to class always came when I was able to stop in the Dairy Bar, get one of the amazingly flavored muffins (Banana Chocolate Pudding Muffins are amazing!) and a large caffeinated beverage to wake me up enough to take decent notes.  However, it is with extreme sadness, that I made my way to Morrison this past week and was unable to par-take in this tradition.

Sadly, the Cornell Dairy Bar officially closed it’s doors on June 18th, 2010 and will not be open for the next couple years due to the renovation project that will bring Stocking Hall into the 21st century.  This has drastic effects throughout our campus.  For instance, now the closest on-campus eatery for students in Morrison is Synopsis Cafe in Weil Hall or possibly Mandibles in Mann Library. Without the Dairy Bar to provide sustenance have a few options: 1- get up 15 minutes earlier (causing a loss of extremely valuable sleep) and pack a lunch. 2-walk back to Synopsis or Mandibles (which provides more exercise) and lose valuable time studying in the main lobby of Morrison. Or option 3- skip the snacks and meals altogether and wait until after your classes are over (promoting a less-than-healthy decision).

As for the repercussions concerning our beloved Cornell ice cream and milk supplies, never fear! Inside Stocking Hall is where milk was pasteurized and then turned into delicious flavors such as Bavarian Raspberry Fudge and Pumpkin ice creams.  Fortunately for us, Cornell saw fit to contract out both of these endeavors to two local companies.  Now, Byrne Dairy has agreed to pasteurize the milk produced by our Dairy herd while none other than Purity ice cream will help supply us with the ice cream flavors we know and love! I would like to send my sincere thanks to both of these companies who will continue to aid in my love for all things ice cream! And if you’re looking for a Cornell Ice Cream fix, the ice cream was also moved to Trillium Express in Kennedy Hall!

While I will admit it is a slight inconvenience that I will never be able to enter the Dairy Bar during the duration of my time at Cornell, I look forward to eventually coming back and seeing the new and improved Dairy Bar!