The owners of Jupiter’s Pizza, the Highdive, Cowboy Monkey, Guido’s and Soma (I’m probably missing one in there) have added yet another downtown Champaign bar to their list. Seven Saints is slated to open at 32 Chester St. around the first week of April. From the News-Gazette:
“Seven Saints will offer a casual atmosphere, a full bar with tap beers and a full kitchen to serve high-end bar food such as gourmet burgers, salads and appetizers…it will hold 150 people inside, and a few tables outside in nice weather will be available to accommodate smokers…”

Here is an interesting site concerning the recent decision by Lawrence C. Eppley, President of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees, to remove Chief Illiniwek as the official symbol for the University of Illinois. Pro-Chiefers are saying that Eppley acted unjustly by not actually having the Board of Trustees vote on the issue.

From the Chicago Sun-Times article by Dave Newbart published on 28 Feb 07:
“School spokesman Tom Hardy said the decision was made by “university leadership.” A statement posted on the board’s Web site — and later quietly removed — said board Chairman Larry Eppley conferred individually with colleagues and they reached a consensus. No public vote by the board of trustees was necessary, the statement claimed. Trustee David Dorris said his understanding was this decision would be made by the university administration, which oversees things like athletics and the marching band. (Presumably, even the assistant band director could have pulled the plug, considering it was his predecessor in 1926 who created the chief in the first place.) “

From DumpEppley.com:
“Eppley Violated By-Law by Reversing 1990 Board Resolution (updated 02/26/07)

After Trustee David Dorris said Eppley could not legally take the action he did, DumpEppley.com did some research and found the minutes from the 1990 meeting (pg 109 and 110) that officially named the Chief as the University’s official symbol. We found that Article IV, Section 3 of the Board of Trustees By-Laws, clearly states, “The Executive Committee functions as an instrument of the board and shall possess all the powers of the board when in session, provided that it shall not overrule, revise, or change the previous acts of the board, or take from regular or special committees any business referred to them by the board.”

The site is worth a look no matter your position on the Chief. The fact that this decision was done in such a seemingly “underhanded manner” does raise a few eye brows. No one seems to be proud of the decision because that would almost certainly affect their alumni donations, which is a vital resource for this (if not all) universities.

Update:
It looks like because of all the confusion over the decision to oust Chief Illiniwek, the Board of Trustees has agreed to a formal vote on the matter at their next board meeting. -via Chicago Sun-Times
The vote was made and the Chief is out. -via Daily Illini

This week the Illini Apple Center announced that they are officially an Apple Authorized Service Center. This Monday through Friday (March 5th-9th) the IAC will host free “Lunch-&-Learn” sessions where you can learn a little bit more about your Mac and have lunch at the same time. With topics ranging from Mac 101 to Video Blogging, the events seem to be geared toward the casual everyday Mac user. The only session that I am somewhat interested in is the “Leopard Preview” being held this Friday at noon. Are they just going to show the streaming Leopard preview that Jobs presented last year? I can’t imagine they could do much else. I’m assuming they have some sort of generic presentation that is in use at every other Apple Store.

If you’re interested in these events or need a place to take your broken Mac… More »

I love these salt and pepper shakers! $24.00 at A+R Store

On Friday March 4th 2005, I awoke to the sound of the neighboring frat house’s stereo system pumping out the same Rick Dee’s Top 40 garbage it always did. It was unusually early for the partying to be taking place, but I shrugged it off and readied myself for the end of the week trudge to class. I put on my favorite shirt at the time, which happened to be blue, not knowing that this decision would later play a significant role in the day’s events.

As soon as I stepped outside, I knew something was up. At first I credited the surge of drunk sorostitutes and the like to the seeming coincidence of it being one of the first nice days of the year and the beginning of a weekend. However, my life as a blissfully unaware freshman changed with the first drunken slur that was thrown my way. “Hey! Why aren’t you wearin’ green?! What’s your f*ckin’ problem?!”, yelled the Abercrombieaglepostal clad FratBrat. Yes, it was true. I was not wearing green. But why would this boy and his friends, who were all curiously tan for early March, find it so important to point out to me the obvious fact that I was not wearing green. What was the big deal? Although I was annoyed at the comment, it jostled me into noticing that there really was an overabundance of green t-shirt wearing going on that Friday. When I finally made it to class, I asked one of my friends what was with all the green and carrying-on in the streets? I mean, didn’t those idiots know that St. Patrick’s day was well over a week away? My friend guilelessly replied, “Dude, it’s Unofficial. You know, the Friday before St. Patrick’s Day? Well, it’s actually two Friday’s ahead this year because of Open House, but yeah it’s basically a day where you wake up and start drinking and drink all day or until you pass out, get arrested or die”. This new holiday that I had just been informed of seemed to be pretty amazing to me, mostly because of the influence it had on people. I mean, most of the kids out there celebrating wouldn’t wake up that early early to go to class. But give them a good reason, say to start working on their keg, then no problem. They’re all over it.

2 years later, I still loathe having to leave an extra 10 minutes early for class in order to pick my way through the vomit covered sidewalks. The insulting comments still come my way, as I refuse to wear green, but I just smile and know that I’m really not missing out on anything.

Note: I can’t find the original Eagle Man (you’ll notice the one posted above has a different voice and some “advanced” CG) and the Victory Auto Wreckers commercial also got a new voice over, but other than that it’s the same.

I stumbled upon this site just a little bit ago and thought it deserved a mention on my page. Yoshihiko Satoh created these pieces for an exhibit in Japan a few years ago. I think they are pretty extreme and I can’t imagine where he got all those guitars.

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This aired the night of the Oscar’s. I like the Jerry Lewis and “The Dude” bits.

I’m currently stuck in Phoenix because of a delayed flight, so what better time to post an update, right? Ever since I received a sewing machine as a present for Christmas, I’ve been paying more attention to fabrics. A couple of my favorite sites are ReproDepot and Contemporary Cloth. I’m not much of a girly girl, but I do think that florals have been making a comeback as of late. A few of these would make great pillows or lining for purses.

I finished up with a second place in the Half-Arabian Working Cow Horse Amateur to Ride class. My score was a 70, which I was pleased with considering I haven’t worked a cow since last September.

Crystal won both her classes with Pink, the Open and the Open Championship, with a 74.5 and a 74 respectively. Overall, it was a good show. The weather was great, there wasn’t much drama and I had a great time seeing all the people I only seem to see at horse shows. Now I just need to order my pictures!

Note on the scoring: The highest and lowest scores were dropped and the remaining scores were added together. A score of 70 means you completed everything well and didn’t accumulate any penalties or additional points. Anything above a 70 reflects the amount of additional points rewarded to the maneuvers. The average scores for most amateur to ride working western classes (e.g. working cow horse, reining) is somewhere in the mid to high 60s…at least in the Arab world!