Cory's Blog

            It was absolutely gorgeous on Saturday; at least that is what everyone told me. You see, I was in the library studying all the live-long day. About five and a half hours of my time was spent inside making flashcards, preparing study guides, and getting myself mentally ready to tackle finals. With all that time I spent studying on Saturday, I felt like I deserved a “Cory” day before I dove into finals.

            Lucky for me, Brad and I found an adult baseball league to play in. That is correct, not slow pitch intramural softball, but real live hardball! Brad played in a game a couple of weeks ago, and I got to debut yesterday. Our game was in Kingstree here somewhere in South Carolina. I honestly have no idea where it actually is in the state, we just followed the other guys on the team there and back.

            I was really excited to get to play because I haven’t really played baseball since I graduated high school two years ago. I had some nerves too, because I was facing real live pitching, not that slow-pitch lob stuff I have become accustomed to playing intramural softball.

            In any case, Brad pitched and did a great job. I played first base, and while I didn’t do anything spectacular, I didn’t embarrass myself either. At the plate, I walked a couple of times, reached on an error, and I had a hustling double.

            Allow me to tell you a little about that “hustling double” as I cal lit. I hit a little fly ball in between left and center field, and I saw that it dropped. A simple single right? Well, I play the game the right way (in my own humble opinion that is), and I noticed that the second baseman and shortstop were out getting the ball, and there was no one covering second base! I decided to go for it, and when I saw the play was going to be close, I made a beautiful headfirst slide into second. I was safe, but also caked in dirt! Not exactly a pretty sight, but I felt like a little leaguer getting a chance to dive and get my uniform dirty!

            We ended up winning the game, but I have yet to try to tackle my dirty baseball laundry. Back in the day, Mom usually handled that mess, but I guess I will have to suck it up and put my bottle of Shout to good use!

            Anyways, that was my Sunday diversion before studying, but now I am in full test taking mode. I spent some significant time and the library today; on top of studying my organic chemistry flashcards on the elliptical machine at Blatt (call me Mr. Multitasker). I intend to keep at the books the rest of the week so I will be ready to dive headfirst into my tests with no problems. Hopefully I will come out of the tests a little cleaner than that dive into second!

Take care everybody!

Posted by Cory at 08:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

            Summer blockbusters are coming right around the bend. If you are like me, you cannot wait for the big summer movies to come out. There is nothing like escaping a hot summer day in the movie theater. It seems like this summer there is a plethora of sequels coming our way. With everything from the third Spiderman to Shrek the Third, Hollywood is taking movies that have success and getting everything they can out of them. Personally, I myself am sort of like a “sequel” this summer. Imagine the following in the typical “theater trailer” voice:

            “Last summer, he came out of nowhere to aid the incoming freshman and transfer students alike. He showed up early each day and wowed both students and parents alike with his wit, charm, and overall knowledge of USC. Now, this former orientation leader returns this summer as a team leader to lead a new crop of orientation leaders through freshman orientation. Will he be able to handle the responsibility? Will he be able to handle the commitment? Will he be able to wake up at 6:30 five days a week and work for ten hours? These questions and more will be answered this summer at orientation. Will you be there?”

            Alright, hokey personal trailer aside, the point I am trying to make is that I will be at your orientation this summer as a Team Leader. So, you will get a chance to meet the “real” person behind the words.  Another point is that you should probably sign up as soon as you can. Days for certain majors are already filling up and the sooner you can get there and sign up for classes, the better. In all honesty, classes due fill on a first come first served basis, so the sooner you can get to orientation, the better chance you will get at the “perfect” schedule, whichever that may be for you.

            I can tell you from my experience as an orientation leader last summer that the day of orientation can be a little hectic, but it is also a lot of fun. I know several students that met some of their best friends at orientation

            Like I said, the day itself can be sort of long, but you learn all kinds of important information, and the most important thing is you sign up for your classes. You also have the option of taking a dorm tour, as well as visiting the health center, library, career center, or the financial aid office (a parent’s favorite).

            So, I recommend you get on registering before you run out of dates available to you, especially if you are from out of state. Do not be afraid of coming to orientation, it was honestly the best job I had because it is so much fun to meet you bright eyed freshman and help y’all out in any way I can. I can also remember how much fun my actual day of orientation was (although it’s hard to believe it was almost two years ago!)

            Now, if you want to know the answers to the “movie trailer” come in to orientation and check me, the “leading man,” out. Take care!

Posted by Cory at 05:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

            You can put one “A” on the board, and in my most difficult class too! That is correct folks, I did well enough on my last physics test to maintain my good grade and exempt the final. Dr. Johnson (our physics professor) has a policy that you can exempt the final if you wish. Another option is to take the final have it count as two tests and have your lowest test score replaced. Overall, I find it pretty fair, but I am a little biased of course.

            Some folks, however, are sitting on that magic bubble just percentage points below the grade they desire. While a few have resorted to pleading with Dr. Johnson, others have come to the realization that they must bite the bullet and take the final, or just take the lower grade. It all comes down to what kind of grade they want, and also where the physics final sits in relation to their other finals.

            Speaking of finals schedules, this may be a good time to remind you that myself, and the rest of the USC “Blog Army” as I affectionately refer to us, have finals starting one week from today. What does this mean for all of you? Just expect a few less posts as we prepare for the final push of the year. Personally, since I exempted my physics final on the 4^th of May, I have my Sports Psychology final on the 5^th, and then Anatomy on Monday the 7^th, and Organic Chemistry on Tuesday the 8^th. Then I will finally have a taste of freedom and summertime!

            Hold on though, I am getting just a bit ahead of myself. I still have a bunch of studying to get done, not to mention a couple more weeks of fun here in Woodrow. At least I know that there is one less final bearing down on me since I am forever done with physics! Take care!

Posted by Cory at 07:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

            You win some and you lose some. In my world, this adage is ringing ever so true. In case you missed my last post, I was in an ecstatic mood because we won our men’s intramural championship. That victory was great, I was happy, but it was championship weekend, and there were more games to be played.

            After my men’s basketball game yesterday I had my intramural softball championship game. I had high hopes of bringing home another championship t-shirt, but it was just not to be. We played against the team of PE majors, and if they teach PE like they play softball, our nation’s youth will be in top shape in no time. In a game that was shortened due to the mercy run rule, they hit 6 homeruns in 3 innings! I have never seen a power display like that put on. While they did hit the cover off the ball, we didn’t help ourselves out, me included. I have played a lot of 1^st base in my life, but you wouldn’t have known it by the way I played last night. I had a couple of ugly errors that hurt our chances at winning.

            While we did lose, and I did play poorly in the field, I ended the year nicely hitting the ball. Although I have struggled with the bat all season, my last at bat I hit the hardest ball I can remember since I have been playing softball at USC. It was a screamer to center field, and as I was heading into second base, the guy coaching third was waving me on: I was going for a triple! He was yelling for me to stand up, meaning there was not going to be a play, but at the last second, he told me to slide! I got down in a hurry, and in a blur of dust, cleats, and glove, I was safe at third! Unfortunately, the ground is pretty rough, and I ended up with a nice boo-boo, or if you prefer “owie”, on my knee (I hope you enjoy my “little kid injury speak”). To add insult to injury, I was stranded at 3^rd and we lost the game. I think the most frustrating part was that I waited until my last at bat of the season to finally hit the ball hard. Not to mention I don’t get to wear eye black until co-ed softball in the fall!

            Today brought the racquetball final four. I was matched up against Dan, the proclaimed “best player at USC”. People aren’t just handed those kinds of reputations, and he had definitely earned it. I gave him a couple of good games and played hard, but in the end I was my own worst enemy with too many unforced errors, which is something you cannot afford to do against such a polished player. I ended up losing both games 15-4. On the bright side, he was a grad student, along with most of the players I have played against. Hopefully by the time I am in my last year of pharmacy school here they’ll have graduated and I can be the old guy ruling the racquetball courts!

            Anyways, that is the intramural report for the spring semester sports fans. In total, I have one championship, two losses, and a lot of great memories to look back on. Now I have to put my championship weekend behind me as I prepare for my organic chemistry lab final on Wednesday. Take care!

Posted by Cory at 08:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

            “I don’t care how rough the water is boys, at the end of the day, you bring the ship in.” These are the words of former Chicago Cubs pitcher and broadcaster Steve Stone. Those words typify my experience today. You see, here at USC, the championship game for intramurals is known in short as “The ‘Ship.” Today was our intramural men’s basketball championship, and we definitely were going to have to weather some adversity if we were to bring the ‘ship home.

            The first object in our path was that Tim and Nick had their co-ed championship game right before our men’s game, so they were going to be tired. Having a couple of tired players wouldn’t be too much of an issue if we had a substitute on our bench, which brings me to issue number two: Brad, one of most important scorers was out of town. So, we were going to be tired, and down an important player. Would we be able to win it all? Well, if we were, we wouldn’t be able to dwell on what we couldn’t change.

            The game started well, even though we were down about 6 points midway through the first half. Then we really started to turn it on, thanks in part to a three pointer from the corner by yours truly. At halftime, we were up 5 against a much bigger and more athletic team. The second half, we came out intense and quickly built our lead up. There was to be no drama at the end of this game as we ended up winning handily by 20 points! The ‘ship was ours! What is the prize of winning the ‘ship? Why, it is the all important intramural champions t-shirt, and bragging rights of course!

            This is my first time winning an intramural championship, and it feels phenomenal. We got to the championship game for men’s basketball last year and lost, and I have not been able to bring home the softball ‘ship yet, so this feels pretty good. I hope that when y’all get here, you get involved with intramural sports; it’s a great way to have fun, get exercise, and just maybe win the ‘ship!

Posted by Cory at 09:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

            Hello ladies and gents. Today I am coming to you not from my cozy room in Woodrow, but from the fifth floor of the Thomas Cooper Library’s computer lab. The reason? You see, my laptop had a little “incident” this Tuesday. When I say “incident” I mean that my monitor stopped “working” and won’t “turn on”. Have no fear, the laptop itself hums along like a dream, but the screen is so dark it is useless for me to use. How convenient, too, that the warranty ran out on March 10^th? Not exactly the luckiest situation for me. As far as dealing with my problem, for the week I have been stealing moments on the computers in the Library to check me email.

            This situation brings up some common questions I hear from incoming freshman. The first is “Do I even need a computer?” The answer to this question is no. You do not need a computer. All of the academic buildings on campus have computer labs for your use. In addition to these buildings, there are labs in the Bates House residence hall, as well as Columbia hall and Patterson hall. So, if you are in one of those residence halls, you will have computer access. However, there is still the lab in the Thomas Cooper Library at your disposal as well. One of the benefits of the computers in the library is that since the library now stays open 24 hours a day during the week, you can always get to a computer.

            The second question I typically get is “Should I bring a laptop or a desktop?” The answer to this comes down to personal preference. A laptop is nice because it is convenient and there is wireless around campus should you choose to take your laptop around to work. Also, there is the ease of bringing it home with you as well. However, a desktop is cheaper, and as far as access around campus, I find that simply using a flash drive beats lugging around your documents to work on at computers around campus without carrying an expensive laptop with you.

            So, there you go. I have given you the “tech talk” that most students and parents are curious about. Personally, I have gotten used to having a computer all the time in my room, so going without one is a little weird, but I have adjusted. Also, since it is just the screen, I can go get a nice flat screen monitor to hook up, and it should (hopefully) work just fine.

            Anyways, I hope you have learned a little something about computers on campus. Now, I have to go get me a nice monitor so I can get back to writing to y’all from my cozy room in Woodrow. Have a swell weekend!

Posted by Cory at 12:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

            I got a fever, and the only prescription is more spring weather. Allow me to explain: The weather here can change on a dime, but I foolishly figured that once our first warm streak in March came, it would be warm until October or November. However, I knew from last year that we got a cold snap after spring break, so I held on to my winter clothes a few extra weeks.

            A couple weeks ago, it had been sunny and warm pretty consistently, and so I decided to clear out some closet space and put my winter clothes away. It was shorts and T-shirts until next fall right? Wrong, the past week, as some of you who read up north know, we have had a little bit of a cold snap.

            Lucky for me, I kept a rain coat and a couple of sweatshirts out…just in case something like this past week happened. Last weekend, the lows got down into 30’s and it only got up to the mid 50’s during the day. On top of that, it was sunny, so it even looked warm outside, as if to tease me.

            By the middle of this past week, it was getting warm again, up into the 70’s, but by this weekend, it was cold and rainy. Yesterday, I nearly got blown away by some big time wind walking down to Strom for my basketball playoff game. Luckily, the only thing getting blown away was the other team (to clarify, we beat them pretty bad).

            So, here I sit, as it continues to blow a gale outside, but with sunshine at least. It is sitting on the short side of 70, but the rest of the week promises to have some sun and warmth at least. Just remember if you decide to come to Carolina, pack for all the seasons, because it seems like at any time, you can get any weather at any time: sun, rain, hot, cold or wind. As for me, I am still hoping for 6 months of sunshine and warmth!

Posted by Cory at 04:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

            Brad and I drove to the Palmetto Invitational Slugfest Softball Tournament in Aiken on Friday afternoon. Aiken, in case you were wondering, is only about a 50 minute drive west of Columbia. When we got to the tournament, we saw the other teams from colleges all over South Carolina. Our first match up was at 8 PM against a team from Clemson. I wish I could say that we represented USC, but unfortunately the game did not go too well. In a theme that would be repeated, it felt like we left our bats back in Columbia (figuratively of course) because we could not put together many hits, while the other team did. In the end, we lost by 10 runs.

            Our second game was not too much better as we lost by 10 again to a team from USC Aiken, and I personally felt like I was trying to hit a bowling ball with a broom stick when I was at the plate. I just could not get the ball out of the infield, and by the end of the night we were 0 and 2, and I had pulled a muscle running out a ground ball that turned into a double play against me. It was insult and injury all rolled into one Friday night. Not a great start of the tournament to say the least.

            However, one of the great things about baseball and in my case, softball, is that there is always another day to redeem yourself. Unfortunately, Saturday was not to be the “redemption day” for myself or the entire Courtesy Flush team. Our first game started out well enough, we actually came out and jumped ahead of the team from USC Upstate. It was our first lead of the tournament! Well, if you can detect a theme from what I have been telling you, this lead was short lived, and our bats went cold, and we lost again. There was a bright side: we didn’t lose by 10 runs at least!

            So, that was the end of pool play, and it was time for the single elimination time. Time to turn it on! Time to get the bats going! Time to play some defense! Time to go home! Wait, well, yes, after our only game in the single elimination round, it was time to go home after another bad defeat. We did go down fighting, but our rally in the last inning was too little too late.

            Despite the loss, I did have some fun, I mean, how can playing softball in the sunshine be bad? Plus, we lost soon enough to get back here to Columbia to see the Spring Football Game and pregame concert with Hootie and the Blowfish! So, all was not lost this weekend. I hope you enjoy some of the pictures from the tournament! Take care!

Here are a couple of pictures. One is from Saturday morning of the banner in the complex where we played in Aiken. The next is me looking mighty tough before our first game on Friday. This “tough guy” look was to be short lived as I failed to reach base and we lost by 10.

http://uscbloggers.com/cory/100_0850.jpg

http://uscbloggers.com/cory/100_0848.jpg

Posted by Cory at 10:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

            This is it, the big event that I had promised y’all was coming. Now, if I just went ahead and told you what the event was in the first couple of sentences, that would spoil the fun of the teaser I have had dangling in front of you all for the last week and a half. So first, I will give you a couple clues: first, it was a concert event that Carolina Productions put on. It was a hip-hop performer. He is just now really starting to get big. Finally, he is the only big time hip hop performer that sings about skateboarding (that I know of at least). Do you give up? I am talking about the Lupe Fiasco!

            There you go; the BIG event was a Lupe Fiasco concert this past Tuesday. It was definitely an exciting concert, but as the title of this blog suggests, there was a sort of “fiasco” that came along with the event. You see, the group Gym Class Heroes was supposed to open for Lupe, but they were sick, and had to cancel. This was disappointing to hear upon entering the Koger Center for the concert, but they promised us that they will come back to make up the show for us.

            The show itself did cost us 5 dollars, but this is much less than what you would pay for most typical concerts because Carolina Productions brought him here with part of their budget helped reduce the cost.  Lupe engaged the crowd, performed some of his hits, and I have to say the best part of the show was when he came into the crowd while he performed his “skateboarding autobiography” (my humble interpretation of the song, not his own words), the song “Kick Push”. He came right in front of Nick, Melisa, Tim and me. Melisa got a close up video of him as he came by too!

            Alas, there was a sad moment in the show. You see, Nick, Tim, and I had our playoff basketball game down Assembly Street at the Strom, so we had to duck out before he had completely finished, but it was worth it as we did win the game!

            So, I hope the buildup for this post was worth it. I know the buildup of waiting for the actual concert was worth it. We all had a blast, and hopefully we will get a chance to see Gym Class Heroes before the end of the year too.

            As for me, this weekend I am going to be in Aiken, South Carolina for the state intramural slow-pitch softball tournament. We will be playing other colleges from around the state, so wish me luck, and I will try to bring back some good stories (hopefully about a victory) for y’all! Take care!

Posted by Cory at 10:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

            This past Friday, I got to catch up with and have lunch with REM. No, I am not talking about the mega-rock band with such top hits as “It’s the End of the World as We Know It” and “Everybody Hurts” (this according to their top sellers on Itunes). I speak of Dr. Ronald Eugene Miller, thus REM are his initials. He is one of my professors from last year. He taught me English 101, and I liked his class so much I even signed up for his English 102 class at 8 in the morning! That is what I call dedication to his class, and also the fact that I am truly a morning person.

            Anyways, I thoroughly enjoyed his classes, and over the course of the year we became good friends. That is correct, I became friends with a professor. The fact that this was even able to occur is a testament to the class structure of English 101 and 102 classes which can be quite small to allow for more interaction. Both my classes had 10 or less people. What also allowed me to develop a good relationship were both his willingness to have office hours to work on papers, and my willingness to take advantage of them. We often would start to look at a paper, look it over for about 20 minutes, and spend the next 20 or thirty minutes just talking about day to day life, and whatever topic came up.

            Unfortunately for me, and all other students here at USC, Dr. Miller is teaching at another school now, but last summer during orientation I had a chance to catch with him, and I had the chance again last Friday. We met at Yesterday’s, which is one of my favorite restaurants down in the Five Points area. Shameless plug for Yesterday’s  aside, here is a picture of Dr. Miller and me at lunch in the restaurant.

 <img alt="me n ronald.jpg" src="http://uscbloggers.com/cory/me%20n%20ronald.jpg" width="1313" height="1444" />

            I personally had a great time catching up with him, and had it over a very tasty meal. Hopefully, we will get a chance to catch up yet again while I am here during this summer’s orientation. Overall, being in Dr. Miller’s class has definitely been one of my best experiences here, and just because he no longer teaches here does not mean that you can’t develop great relationships with your professors as well. In fact, I recommended it, not only will you enjoy your time and hopefully help you learn more, but it also comes in handy if and when you need a letter of recommendation.

            As for now, with the memory of lunch a few days old, I must turn my attention to this busy week of an anatomy and an organic chemistry test, along with relay for life on Friday, and the state slow-pitch softball tournament on Saturday. Until next time, take care!

Posted by Cory at 10:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

            Perseverance, persistence, patience and product. These are the four “p’s” of organic chemistry lab, according to me at least. I speak of organic chemistry lab because yesterday was my last one, and it actually worked!

            Now, it’s time to get down to the business of why I determined that these were the four p’s of lab. Let me begin with the first two: persistence and perseverance. Basically, labs don’t always work, which I have explained in another one of my blogs. This is totally normal. It is more about learning about why things work the way they do, and try to apply them. However, our organic lab has had a string of unsuccessful attempts the last few weeks, and so one must have a combination of perseverance/persistence to keep trying despite the frustration.

            Next, we have patience. As I mentioned, weeks without good results can be a bit frustrating, and I have had to be patient in thinking that I will finally get something to work. Not only is the weekly grind a pain sometimes, but the labs themselves take a long time (sometimes up to two to two and half hours) and patience is definitely necessary. Boiling something for 10 minutes, or waiting for a liquid to crystallize for half an hour can be pretty frustrating, and it takes some kind of patience to be able to wait.

            Finally, we have product. What is a lab if you don’t end up with any product? I will tell you, it was my last three labs. However, yesterday I was one of only two people in my 30 person lab that got the correct product! Let’s just say, if you want to make friends in organic chemistry lab, be the guy (or gal) with the product. Classmates were swarming to look at what I made, and to share results so they could write their lab reports. Even the lab Teaching Assistant was pleased to see me get something.

            You see, it took all of the four p’s: perseverance, persistence, patience, and, of course, product to finally have a successful lab. These are just some words to live by when you get up here at school. Remember to take your time, and try not to get overly frustrated, even if what you are working on doesn’t come out correct.
            That’s all for now folks. Take care!

Posted by Cory at 06:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

            I think that we have all seen those “talking heads” on CNN or MSNBC. You know, the ones who claim to be an “expert” and have all the answers for solving the world’s problems. Well, tonight, we had one of those “talking heads”, but he isn’t what you would call traditional. I speak of one Mo Rocca. Perhaps his name sounds familiar? He has been a correspondent on the Daily Show, and has appeared on numerous television shows portraying such an “expert.”

            His goal tonight was to educate us on how to be an expert at sounding like an expert and in doing so to also help us realize that who we see on TV may not all be the “experts” they claim to be. I know that may sound a little weird (not to mention an “expert” word overload), but you see Mo’s entire existence on television is based on his uncanny ability to deliver satire while portraying an expert. If you have caught any of his work on the Daily Show, you understand what I am talking about. To help give you another example of his work, Rocca has appeared on the “I love the 70’s 80’s and 90’s” shows on VH1, delivering his expert pop culture satire. Hopefully now you have a better picture of what his personality and work on TV is all about.

            As far as his actual lecture tonight, he gave us all a hilarious PowerPoint Presentation about his life, satire included. He ripped on former presidents, his old job as a writer for the children’s TV show Wishbone (that’s right, he worked on Wishbone!), and led us up through his tour of Presidential cemetery sites. The PowerPoint included some hilarious pictures that were quite obviously photo shopped to add humor, but it didn’t matter, because he kept the entire audience laughing.

            His final test to the audience to see if we had learned how to “sound like an expert” was to have four volunteers come up on stage in the Koger Center, and act out a script of them as “talking heads” for various networks. The funniest of the four volunteers was up on stage as a Food Network “talking head.” Every one of his responses included the famous phrase “BAM!”

            Mo Rocca’s point seemed to be that those who are on the cable news shows may not always be the “experts” they claim to be, and to not take all of their “expert” advice directly to heart. In any case, Carolina Productions hit another home run in my book by bringing in more great entertainment. This was one of the two “surprises” I promised you guys in one of my previous blogs. Stay tuned for the second one coming up in the next week and a half. It won’t disappoint. Take care. BAM!

Posted by Cory at 10:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

            This has to be lowest test grade in the history of my life. I mean, I have pretty high standards, but this is low by any standard. I got my organic chemistry test back on Thursday, and came to the quick realization that I actually received a 37! A 37? How does that even happen?

            I will tell you how it happens: First, I must have completely blanked on the multiple choice section because I got 4 out of 18! Then, the next problem was a legitimate tricky organic synthesis problem, and I got zero points for that, but so did a lot of people. So, that fact made me feel better about myself, for about a minute. Then, the simplest write out problems I just plumb got wrong. It must have just been that I was overconfident and didn’t read the whole part of the question, because I barely mustered any points on that section.

            Here’s the biggest kicker though: I didn’t see the last page of the test! Talk about adding insult to already a lot of injury.  I left it completely blank. Nothing, not even a scribble on the page. I thought that the test went a little too fast, but this explains how I got done so quickly.

            So there you go, Cory gets a 37 on his big organic test. I have nothing else to say. I hope you all have a better day than I am having.

PS. At this point of the blog, I would like you to take note of the date of publication. If you see April 1^st, you are correct. What is the significance? Why, it is April Fool’s of course! I just pulled a fast one on you guys! I really got a 103. I hope you enjoyed my little jest, I know I did. Take care!

Posted by Cory at 02:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)