November 20, 2009 | Posted by warren
Hmmmmmm is what we say when we get ready to dig into a good meal, when we are relaxing, or when we are just trying to make it through life. In some instances, we will use this expression over the course of a very short time.
For me, I used “hmmmmmm” in nearly all three cases today, and in the past week in general.
Considering Case I, I had a great Turkey Meal at the 29th Street Cafe, which is a restaurant just two minutes away from campus ( maybe three if you are a slow walker). It’s ready in just 10 minutes or so, and it tastes delicious. I hope that my frequent dining there will not drive up the price of turkey for others this holiday season.
Now, just today, I had the privilege of relaxing (well this is a relative term….I still have plenty of stress that won’t go away till the last final is done and gone with for the semester) for the first time in about oooo let’s say the whole semester. I sat down and watched TV for a few minutes, read my favorite magazine (Well a tie between Flying magazine and The Economist), and in general free to let my thoughts wander.
In case three, well hmmmmm…. it’s about balancing conserving energy for finals, and giving enough effort now to keep strong in all of your classes….The end of the semester is near. While it’s important to look forward to the holidays, and to use those thoughts to relax a bit, it’s important to not let your vision wander too far down the road, so that you lose perspective of the present, what is at your very feet! I’m sitting here writing this blog, eyeballing my countdown calendar on my desktop…..14 days, 0 hrs, 5 minutes, and 50 seconds left till the end of my last class.
Cautious optimisim? Too looking forward to the end? It’s a personal balance.
So, whenever, and for whatever reason you find yourself saying hmmmmmm just think about why you are saying it. Enjoy this week, and I will see you again on Thanksgiving Day!
Safe travels to all those traveling!
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November 12, 2009 | Posted by warren
Well, hello again! As always, I try to bring you what the good news is happening around campus along with some isolated parable concerning my new bulletain.
Well this week is homecoming…which basically means the same thing as in high school but with the added luxury of many opportunities to spend loads of time with friends and even family if they’re nearby.
Along with the football game (well I can not editorialize that much about Stanford on this blog….please check back later for updated remarks 
), there have been countless activities leading up to homecoming this week that have really made time fly….right on through the week.
From cookouts, to scavenger hunts, to karaoke competitions the campus has been bustling with school spirit and pride ! It really brings out the best Trojan in all of us.
On that note, the semester is almost winding down….while I am counnting down the days until Thanksgiving, I am mindful that only a few days beyond that are finals….now more so than ever is the time to regather your efforts, no matter how big or small they have been this far, and redouble them so that at the end of the semester, you can say you gave it your best, and say “man it was worth my while!”
That goes for college students and high school students alike! For many who are applying for potential Fall 2010 admission, remember that your fall semester of your senior year grades are the last ones reported before your application is sent off. While not the whole story, the last chapter in your academic book that is sent off to colleges is particularly important. So too are the spring ones, but without good fall semester grades, that might not make a difference.
So take time to enjoy the nice times that come your way. Take the time to relax, to enjoy, but also remember how to keep things in perspective…remember the motivation that drives you to perform your best. Always deliver the goods!
Fight on this weekend against Stanford!
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November 5, 2009 | Posted by warren
Everyone has a place to go to just get away from it all. When it all seems be going South, there’s always that place or activity which seems to make everything seem, well, okay.
I’ve preached before, and still do that college is about learning a balance. Work hard, play hard. How do I play hard, or better yet, how do I like to relax a bit so I can work hard again?
For me, it’s an interesting twist. One of my favorite things to do (a bit geeky, admittedly) is to go down to the In & Out Burger on Sepulveda Boulevard right by LAX. Now, this isn’t your normal dining expereience. Not only do you get a great burger for a great price….not only do you get to dip your fries in your chocolate milkshake, which just tastes out of this world…not only do you get to watch the sun set right into the Pacific Ocean (if you’re there at the right time ), but you also get to watch planes come over your head at like 100 feet. And, no I’m not talking smaller aircraft like Cessnas and Beeches, but heavy iron like Boeing 747’s and Boeing 777’s. For me, this is heaven. Considering that since I was six, I have been obsessed with flying planes (and anything about them), I could bore nearly anyone (except for one of my other pilot buddies ) by just sitting at In and Out or on the grass in the park next door, and just watch planes (and listen to them on my scanner!).
It’s just my little escape. Planes from around the world coming in right over your head…a burger in one hand and camera in the other! It’s my favorite place to snap some amazing shots…you can see planes lined up 6 or 7 deep miles out on approach at night.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I love being on campus, I love working hard, but what sometimes is overlooked is how to get away from it all without going too far away. This is how I do it!
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October 29, 2009 | Posted by warren
So it is that time of year again to depart from the real, and endulge your imagination by exploring your subconscious! With hard work in school, we owe it to ourselves to take at least one solid weekend off to have a bit of fun and go out and live it up in an out of the ordinary way!
So, I’d like to share a bit of my (very lucky plans for Halloween). I found out a few days ago that my halloween will be spent in Las Vegas with some of my old high school friends and you betcha my family as well! What a great mix!
It has been such a long time since I have been to Las Vegas, …the lights, the food, the excitment, shows, fun, swimming pools, you name it! So, loading up some old friends in such a great show town should be fabulous! I’m really looking forward to it, and hope it will be a good reward for all the hard work I have put in so far this semester on my studies. Remember, it’s all about working hard, and playing hard! It’s about keeping the right balance of producing and sharpening the saw (e.g. taking time to relax).
On top of that, I found out I will be going to see my favorite football team play against my (now) least favorite player in the NFL: Favre, even though he is a great player: The Packers v. The Vikings. What a game this will be! GO PACK! It’s going to be cold up there in Green Bay, but I am hoping that all the yelling and commotion will keep me warm. I remember the last time I went to a Packers game, which was last season against the Vikings again, there was a guy that was dressed up as a Lobster boat man, you know one of the guys that just wears the water resistant overalls….no shirt….well the catch is that it was 15*F outside!
Ooo the memories. I feel so lucky to have such a jam paked weekend coming up, and can’t wait for it. In the mean time though, a midterm between now and them, then two more on the other side of it. Balance is key! Work hard, play hard!
See you next week! GO PACK!
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October 22, 2009 | Posted by warren
You know…..college as a freshman is a whole new experience…..new people…new location…new responsibilities…and not to mention new freedoms! Nobody there to tell you what to do. I’ll save it for another blog to say that this new found freedom for freshmen is a two-sided sword. What I can say though, as a sophomore, is that in the midst enormous amounts of academic work, combined with other extracurricular activities that you might take on, it’s not only important to keep perspective, but also to remember who is behind you all of the time!
I bring this up because this weekend is parent’s weekend here at USC, and I am really looking forward to seeing my folks! It’s great to talk to them on the phone….and I’m always a bit sad to hang up, because no matter whether it’s good news or bad news, or just to check in, it’s great to know that along with my friends, I have a strong family behind me. In both spiritual and emotional terms, they’re the ones that spot you when you are short.
So, I’ve said a bit in my blog….and perhaps seemingly without a well defined point besides my personal views on family. Well, to those reading as incoming freshmen, you will understand, and as for current students, well you understand.
What I want to get across this week is that it’s parent’s weekend, and along with the other great traditions at USC (see earlier blogs) it’s a chance for me to show my parents (both Trojan Alums themselves) how far USC has come, and how we are getting better every day. It’s a day to be a peacock if you will, and show them where you call “home.”
In that respect this weekend is one of the best of the semester, it’s great to see family, and most importantly, it’s great to share with them somewhere so important to me, the place where I call home for the next few years, as well as the people and professors I will call friends for life. What a great combo!
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October 14, 2009 | Posted by warren
It’s raining outside! What the heck is up with that! For the last two days, we have had rain here in LA. This is not normal for the true Southern-Californiaite who is used to the 70-80s range of temperatures under the bright sunny sky.
So, when I heard the rain was coming our way, I was taken a bit off guard, and had to prepare myself for a weak of gray rain. What better thing to write about than the good places to shop right around campus (and if you’re lucky enough to find someone with a car {you will be able to, just make sure you buy dinner } the perhaps nicer places a bit farther away.
So, I thought I’d start by talking about the convenient setup of shopping outlets right next to USC.
Just North of campus:
1) We have the famous Dollar Dollar store, which stocks all of your daily stuff you might need, from umbrellas, to water, to even batteries, and glasses {and even fish…if you want to start an aquarium in all this rain} all under one roof for a great price. We all like this as struggling college students. I have no doubt that without USC students, that store would not be able to stay open.
2) Superior Groceries. With all this cold gloomy weather, it’s a great time to have a nice glass of hot chocolate and some s’mores. It’s nice to know that right a block away from campus, you can get all your goodies you need to feel some cheer in this rain within a 5 minute walking distance from most freshman dorms on campus (Parkside-10mins).
3) Goodwill Store- Perhaps underadvertized in the regular media, Goodwill store has quite a few unfound treasures. I found some of them and now I get to keep them. So if you’re looking to get suited up for a specifically themed event/form of weather/party, this is a good place to go. Definitely worth a browse.
Next Level up: Car ride, and reasonable outlets
Target: The name is self-explanatory. On LaCienega. Off I-10. 10 minute drive.
Santa Monica Pier/3rd Street Promenade: A great place to eat and shop. I seriously recommend you eat while you are there. The sun, the fountains, the visiting street performers each contribute in a unique dimension to the character and vive of the area. It’s a lot of fun even if you don’t spend a cent to just look at these acts. However, if you do want to shop, you’ll see an Apple store, cinemas, Armani, American Eagle, Abercrombie, the Gap, and great restaurants!
Real Up Scale (Save your paychecks!)
Visit Rodeo Drive. As college students, perhaps some things are only meant to be seen and not owned. Things like $100,000 cars and $30,000 watches. Nonetheless, it is kind of cool to see some of the things money can buy (we all know that it can’t buy friends and happiness) on the extreme end of Dollar Dollar. Rodeo drive is basically in the heart of Beverly Hills. A must before you graduate. Who knows, if you do well at USC, one might shop there from time to time after graduation.
Shopping is fun in LA. This is by far a non-exhaustive list. Just an idea on where to shop for rain gear (and many other goods). Just opening your imagination as to what you can be doing/shopping for upon your arrival to USC.
Till next week!
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October 8, 2009 | Posted by warren
USC Football, USC baseball, USC basketball, all of our fellow Trojan teams do quite well for themselves as individuals as well as representing our university. Of course it’s fun to go and watch a few of these games, eat a few burgers and even a few slices of pizza, but what playing sports to loose calories rather than watching sports to take in calories? What to do?
In follow up to last week’s post titled the Midterm Blues, I’m pretty happy to talk about how there are loads of opportunities to have a nice time both inside of campus and right outside of it to go enjoy yourself and relax while doing some sports!
Just last week, to get a bit of relaxation between my midterms, I hit up a few beaches all within a 20 mintue drive from campus. Although pretty much any beach in Socal is above average by national standards, I particullarly like Santa Monica Beach, right by the pier. It’s really a nice place to go for a run, take a swim, or do some stretching (or even yoga if you are so inclined!) with the sound of the crashing waves in the background, a nice light sea breeze cooling you down, and an awesome view of the Malibu Mountains just north of Los Angeles! If you like to do a bit of fishing, you’ll be joined by a group of nearly 40 people nearly any day along the pier.
For the golfers, a place even closer than a drive to the beach is the Westchester Golf Course. I went there last week to go practice a bit of driving. Although I was epically unsuccessful in driving more than 50 yards, I still enjoyed playing well into the sunset, and even on into the night with their lighted range (and 9 hole course!). It’s a cool place to hit up, especially when there is an In & Out burger right next door! The good news is that it is cheap! A full course: under $20. Just want to practice your drive? Around $10 at time of writing.
What I can’t forget to say though is the awesome amount of sports you can play here on campus. There are dozens of sports with a variety of different level teams (from beginners to experts) who play right here on campus. Here’s the link to check it out.
http://sait.usc.edu/recsports/index.asp
Don’t want to play on a team? Well there’s lots of room on the center grass of the track to burn off some steam. If you want weights, the Lyon Center is our weight facility, and if you want to take the swim of an Olympian, we have the Mc Donald’s swimming pool where the swimming portion of the Olymics were held in 1984 (yes, here at USC!). I guess, in all these words, the important point is that there is never a shortage of sports to play both on and off campus to relax amd meet some fabulous people.
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October 1, 2009 | Posted by warren
Abraham Lincoln once said that people are about as happy as they choose to be. In the midst of midterms, where students are all busy (and stressed) to perform to the best of their ability, things sometimes get out of perspective, and we loose sight of the bigger picture of things.
To me, the remedy to “Midterm Blues” is to remember the bigger picture, remember how fabulous it is to be in LA, studying my favorite thing in the whole world: airplanes! In the end it’s not all about number crunching and cramming for a midterm….rather its about the process of learning, which takes more than the short four years we spend here together at USC.
Seeing things in this light, balancing work with good play and “sharpening the saw” time is vital in maintaining a high productive balance. It’s important to recharge your batteries frequently.
Work in school is important, but so is having fun! Realising the proper balance is a big “game I played throughout my Freshman year, and still do today. College is a blast! And in the midst of midterms, it’s easy to loose sight of the bigger picture.
Going back to Abe…it’s important to keep sight of both work and fun things you do outside of school that are fun. If you get bogged down only with midterms this midterms that (considering my midterms are spread out over 4 weeks) life would be pretty rough.
Instead, I try to keep things in perspective through a good balance of having a blast both inside the classroom and outside. It really helps manage the “Midterm Blues!”
So far for me, two down (and well done!), and two to go! Knock on wood!
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September 21, 2009 | Posted by warren
This weekend was fabulous- a great escape to the stress that invariably comes with preparing for midterms. One of my pilot friends from my Aerospace classes and I went flying from Santa Monica airport to Long Beach, with over head passes over USC’s campus as well as downtown. What a way to top off the week….flying over the entire city, with its rows of lights from both cars and buildings to seeing the silver crescent reflection of the moon over the Pacific Ocean….flying this weekend had it all. Our goal was to maintain our currency for night time flying (basically, as pilots we have to have a certain amount of night take offs and landings within a prescribed amount of time). However, when you’re with a few buddies, it really is clockwork going through all the manuvers required to maintain currency.
To top that off, it was even better going out for a bite to eat at the Spitfire Grill right on the side of the runway, where we could watch the planes take off and land. For us Aerospace Engineers, we just can’t get enough of planes!
Our next flight is going to be to Las Vegas, and we hope that this will happen in the next two weeks. I’m stoked about it! However, now is the time to focus on midterms, and when two weeks from now comes! I’ll be off in the sky!
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September 14, 2009 | Posted by warren
There are many, many, rich traditions at USC. Some have to do with academics, some have to do with sports, some have to do with other extra-curricular activities, and some, well we don’t know where they came from.
Whatever the origin of this tradition, I want to share it with you, because it is one simple, small tradition, one that is light-hearted, yet delicious and important.
The tradition at USC is to make a run “Tommy’s Run” to Tommy’s Hamburger’s after a USC football victory. I recently partook in this ritual after USC’s smashing victory over San Jose State University where a large group of friends and I (along with hundreds others I didn’t know) flocked to the Original Tommy’s shack on Beverly Boulevard for some juicy burgers and fries. Why we associate a burger loaded with grease and fat (not to mention all the other things in the chily) with a great victory in football, I’ll never know. It just tastes good!
What I will say though, is that the time spent with friends talking about the game, talking about life, and just enjoying yourselves, be it with the Tommy’s tradition or any of the others we have at USC, makes some of the greatest memories here at USC. What I’m trying to say is that when you come to USC, you will be proud of your choice, like you belong. This is partly because of the rich tradition of USC which facilitates great involvment on everyone’s level. When I hear the marching band practicing (what seems like 24/7) I feel the pride of the school, of our song, and of our tradition. To me, when you feel like this, when you involve yourself in the tradition of your school, you are in for an unforgettable college experience.
Fight On! Let’s beat Washington!
Can I get a napkin for the Tommy’s burger?
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