The Open Bar.

    I’m not talking about an open bar in terms of alcohol, I’m talking about where I am sitting right now. Can you guess? I’ll give you three hints according to businessinsider.com. The first: the zip code that is the farthest away from one of their locations is in Adak, Alaska where you would need to travel 1,044 miles for their product. Second: There are more than 87,000 possible beverage combinations at this location. Any takers on where I’m sitting? Alright, I’ll give you the last hint if you haven’t already gotten it yet. Third and lastly: The company as a whole uses over 93 million gallons of milk per year, enough to fill 155 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Have you guessed it now?! I’m sitting inside a Starbucks!! But more specifically, I’m sitting at their bar. Have you ever sat there? If you haven’t you should try it sometime. This is where I go to do most of my school work. Sometimes I pop in my earbuds and listen to vocal-less ambient music if I really need to concentrate but for example now, I like to hear the background noise: the chatter from people ordering or speaking to one another, the sound of the milk being frothed, the register opening and closing, and now the sound of the blender mixer up someones frappuccino. You might think I’m crazy but there is one thing about sitting right here that truly infatuates me, it’s the mechanism of everyone working. There are very few businesses you can walk into and see how it all works, this is what I meant by the blog title: The Open Bar. Go sit at the bar the next time you’re in Starbucks, even if it’s only for a few minutes. I could sit here from open to close if I wanted to. Who knows maybe I’ll see you sitting up here sometime....


Krisztian Martin

A Sophomoric Attribute

Two years ago the British folk-rock band, Mumford and Sons swept the nation with the debut album Sigh No More. I remember getting to campus and hearing ‘Lion Man’ playing down the hallways of Albright. The album was a huge success, one that built a bridge between the top twenty listeners and the indie hipsters with melodies and lyrics that were loved by all ages. Now, two years have passed and the much-loved British band has just released their high anticipated- sophomore album, Babel. Usually this second album is the hardest to conquer. The best has already made such a strong impression on music gurus with their unique melodies and lovely lyrics that I figured it would be pretty hard for them to top the first album. After giving the album several good listens (I believe whole heartedly that before critiquing a CD you have to listen to it all the way through at least 4 times) I would say they gave a great effort and they are the same ol’ britsh band. But that’s just the issue, while the lyrics are somewhat inspiring and fresh, one might not be able to tell the first album from the second (at least not like any true music lover would be able to do). It’s great to hear your favorite band stay true to themselves, but in order to be great you have to be daring, and experimental. There’s no doubt that Mumford and Sons are a great band, but as of right now, they have fallen into somewhat a sophomoric slump. Soon they will be able to fiddle their way out and band to the top of the charts, until then, I’ll stick with the first release.

-Adair Kennedy 

War with the Squirrels!

Playing the innocent
Squirrel card.

     I have gone to Queens University of Charlotte for the past two and a half years. The campus is beautiful, the classes are small, and the squirrels are out of their flipping minds! I don’t know what it is, but the squirrels that roam our campus are psychotic. My theory is that they are ingesting not only our food, but perhaps some illicit substances that may be tossed out of some rule breaking students' windows. Regardless of the cause, the squirrels have some answering to do for their uncalled for actions.

     To begin with, they are not afraid of humans. This is understandable seeing as our two species live among each other in such close quarters. Secondly, the squirrels seem to enjoy it when a human gets really close, and then they FLIP OUT! I have had numerous occasions were I was minding my own business heading off to class and a squirrel has frozen directly in front of me, stared for a few seconds, and then done some sort of back flip tumble and scurried up a tree. It truly is a site to see. I think my favorite memory of the squirrels so far has been when I saw one eating an entire slice of pizza that it had pulled from the trash can near the coffee house.

Looking for his next victim!

They are learning
how to ride bicycles!

     Now, when discussing the squirrels with friends of mine I have found that some are convinced that the squirrels are actually “attacking” the students of Queens. One of my friends claims that the squirrels throw acorns at her whenever she walks under the large trees. This is completely unacceptable and frankly an act of war against the Queens students.

     You may be thinking that I am over exaggerating, but I challenge you to ask any Queens student “Hey have you noticed the squirrels?” and for you not to get a story similar to what I have described for you. 

In the meantime, prepare yourself, the squirrels are here…. and they mean business.

Until Next Time,

Jenna Buthman

They have eyes everywhere!

The Best Job Ever

 Horseback riding is something that I have been interested In my entire life.  I started riding when I was five years old and continue to ride to this day.  My mom rode and my grandma also rode.  Therefore it was a given that I would also get into horses.  My grandma calls it the “horse bug”, meaning you either love horses or you’re just not interested in them.  I caught the ”horse bug” and began showing when I was five years old.  At first I just showed walk trot canter then I worked my way up to hunter jumper classes.  Horseback riding is my favorite sport and has been my passion throughout my entire life.  When I stopped going to horse shows I got a job working on a horse farm so that I could continue to be around horses.  During this job I have learned so much about farm management and how to care for horses. 

            What I love most about my job is, when I’m not doing farm work like cleaning stalls or feed buckets I am able to ride my horse.  My horse is named Moon River and I have had him since he was a baby.  Moon River’s mother was my mom’s horse Tiffany.  My mom rode Tiffany throughout high school and college and when Tiffany was too old to be ridden we bread her to a stallion named Indian Artifacts.  My coworker Jess who is a very talented horseback rider helped me work with moon in order to train him.  I was so proud the summer after my senior year when we won grand champion at the horse show. 

The other people I work with include Devon and Logan two boys who are my age who now go to Ohio State, and Miami of Ohio.  Logan’s younger brother Bronson also works at the farm when Logan is away at school.  Wendell and Amy also work and live at the farm.  My mom met Amy in college and the two have been best friends since then.  I love everyone I work with mainly because it has been the same group of people since junior year of high school.  I am very close to my farm family and love when I come home from school and we have family dinners.  It reminds me of the summer when we would have farm family field trips.  This is when we take half of a day off work and go do something fun.  One year we went canoeing and another year we went wakeboarding.  I love my job at the farm and truly believe it is the best job ever. 
-Anna 

Game Day in SEC Country

For fall break I decided that I was going to go home to Gainesville, Florida. It just so happened that while I was home for break, the Florida Gators played South Carolina in football. The Gators were ranked second in the country and South Carolina was ranked ninth.

If you aren’t aware, and you should be if you’ve had Dr. Neale for class, game day at Florida Field, affectionately known as the Swamp, is something special. I had been excited about the game for weeks. This was supposed to be South Carolina’s year to make it big and go to the national championship. This was another rebuilding year for Florida, until they went 6-0 and defeated several ranked teams.

ESPN’s College Gameday had come to Gainesville, choosing this game as the best game in the entire country. The game was at 3:30 so I got to my tailgate at 9 AM. I started tailgating at 10; there was a lot of food but more importantly many more drinks. I had a good time at the pregame party, and then the game started and my brother and I headed into the stadium.  

The pregame video on the big screen TV hypes up all 90,000 fans. Everyone is cheering and then the team runs into the field and things get on another level.

                Florida began by kicking off to South Carolina. On the first play of the game, their quarterback, Connor Shaw, was sacked, fumbled the ball, and Florida recovered on the 2 yard line. Jeff Driskel, Florida’s quarterback, threw a touchdown on the following play and the tone was set. Florida was winning 21-3 at halftime and by the end of the game the score was 44-11.

 

The story doesn’t end there though, after the game I met up with some friends who go to UF and we went to celebrate the victory at their apartment. Our celebration didn’t end till 4 or 5 in the morning. I would say that it was a pretty good senior year fall break. I got to see old friends, watch the Gators kick butt against the Gamecocks and celebrate the victory.

Iphone Incident

     Have you ever had a feeling like life was over or a feeling like your heart stopped for a second? Those types of moments are something serious. On October 15, 2012 which was a Monday, I dropped my IPhone pulling up my pants. This incident occurred at exactly 11:53 because I just left my Social Psychology class. I was wearing my grey basketball sweats that day. The pants are comfortable and all but the pockets are not deep at all. So as I was walking, I pulled up my pants because I know my coach hates that and it gives off a negative view of me. While pulling up my pants, my IPhone dropped out my pocket and hit face first on the screen. As soon as it hit, I heard glass shatter. It took me at least 2 minutes to pick the phone up because of the noise I heard. When I picked the phone up and looked at the screen, my day went bad from there. I didn’t do any work after that, which I was supposed to do a paper but instead of doing the paper I sat in the café for at least an hour mad. The part that made me mad was when I dropped it; it hit the corner on the cement, right beside the grass. My reaction wasn’t quick enough to kick it to the grass. After it hit the ground and shattered, I just kept wishing I could redo that moment all over again and kick it to the grass. Wishing doesn’t always come true, just letting you know because mine didn’t. Now I have to get my screen repaired. Coming from me and everyone with an IPhone, I advise you to get an Otter Box to protect the phone and the screen.

Antonio Stabler