Cory's Blog

I must begin this blog by first apologizing for my lack of activity. This whole “vacation” thing is kind of nice. No class, no tests, no homework. You would think that with all of this extra time on my hands that I would have no problem churning out a few blogs for your vacation reading pleasure. The funny thing is that the busier I am, the more blogs I get done, which is kind of ironic if you ask me. Anyways, on to what this post is all about. If you can search your memory banks for a second and remember way back at the beginning of the semester when I talked about goals for the semester. Well, I think it is important to look back and see how well those goals ended up. So, it is time to debrief and see how I did this semester. First and foremost my main semester goal was to make straight A’s. I can tell you that it looked iffy for a while there, but I was able to pull it out, make all A’s and meet that goal! Next goal was to join a pharmacy organization. No problem there as I actually went and joined two. A third goal was to simply run for a pharmacy student government position. Seeing as how I was able to become the vice president of our class, I think I actually exceeded that goal. Now, I know it looks like that I was able to accomplish all my goals, but that is simply not the case. I fell short in a couple of places. For example, one of my goals was to win the softball championship. If you remember from my post “Southern Avenged”, the Sultans of the South came up just short in the championship game. Unfortunately, I don’t have a chance to try and meet that goal until next fall’s co-ed softball season. Another sports related goal that I wasn’t able to meet was making it to the championship game in racquetball. I came up one round short, but luckily I can avenge that one this spring. I also had some weekly goals that I did a pretty good job of meeting as well. I was able to lift weights three times a week, and for the most part I hit golf walls weekly. They may not seem like huge goals, but being able to stay in shape by lifting weights and relaxing at the driving range went a long way to keeping me in good shape to take care of my business in the classroom. As you can see, I was able to meet most of the more “important” goals this semester, and my shortcomings came mostly in the sports department. In the grand scheme of things, I think getting the grades is more important than that intramural championship t-shirt, no matter how nice it may have been to wear and show off. As I look forward to next semester, I will make a new set of goals one of which will to definitely work on that racquetball serve. Anyways, that’s all I have for now sports fans, keep on enjoying that break and I will try and get back to you as soon as I can. Take care!

Posted by Cory at 07:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

            The holiday season is truly upon us, and I am not talking about the “holiday” season that starts the day after Halloween when Christmas decorations go on sale. I am talking about the true season, the one where snow starts falling, carolers start caroling, and everyone seems to be in a happy frame of mind. That is, unless you are at the airport.

            This weekend I felt the holiday cheer as I experienced firsthand the pitfalls of holiday travel. Allow me to explain.

            As you may have been able to tell from my previous blogs lamenting the stresses facing us students, I was quite ready to get home on Saturday after a very long week of finals that capped off a very difficult semester. So, when my friend Jesse drove me to the airport for my 2:15 flight, I was hoping that in a mere eight hours, I would be back at home sweet home in Tucson. Unfortunately, when the flight out of Columbia was delayed for 45 minutes, I got the feeling that it was going to be a long day.

            Despite the delay, I wasn’t too worried about my flight leaving late because I had a 2 hour layover in Houston, so cutting that down was alright by me. However, as I got off the plane and checked out the “big board” in Houston, I noticed my flight to Tucson had been pushed back until 9:30. So, that 2-hour layover was now a 5-hour layover in, admittedly, one of my least favorite airports (sorry to all you Houstonians out there).

            What is a guy to do for 5 hours? Well I needed to recharge the Ipod of course, and as I sat there letting the juice flow into the batteries, I was still a little bored. I decided to people watch, but my inquiring mind wouldn’t let me end it at that, so I started playing a game by taking tallies of unique people. For example, I saw two sets of twins during my layover. In addition, I tallied 17 people running to catch their flight, all of which made it by the way.

            Anyways, with my weird timewaster behind me, it was finally time to get on the 737 for the last leg home. I turned on the movie Superbad on my fully charged Ipod, and before I could put my seat in the upright position, it was time to land! Boy was I glad to get home after my 12 hours trek across country. I suppose a challenging semester deserved an equally challenging trip home. It was only fitting. Anyways, once home I got a burrito from Nico’s, one of my top restaurants, and promptly hit the sack because I was tuckered right out.

            If you hadn’t noticed, holiday travel can be quite a mess, and for us out of staters it is a fact of life, but with a little ingenuity and a good attitude, any trip home can be made into an adventure. I am going to try and keep up my blogs while I am home, although this “vacation” thing is pretty sweet. I don’t know what to do with no tests to worry about! Anyways, look out for some fun “stuff” from me over the next few weeks as I recharge my own batteries and enjoy some time off. Take care folks!

Posted by Cory at 11:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

            I don’t believe in superstitions, it’s bad luck. I will allow you a moment to let the irony of that phrase sink in before I continue. Is it starting to stick? Good. In any case, most of us have some kind of superstition, ritual, or idiosyncrasy that makes us unique. For those athletes out there, I think I speak for us all when I say during a winning streak, those socks and uniform are not going to get washed. However, superstition is not relegated to the playing field or court.

            During finals week, none of us students really seem to get a lot of sleep. Our lives consist of a waking up, eating, studying, studying, maybe napping, eating, and getting to bed way too late. Since there is not a lot of time for “showering” or “laundry” people tend to wear the same clothes for a day or two (or 6 sad but true) at a time. Should a test go well with your favorite Carolina “hoodie”, or your focus be exceptional with that hat you were wearing in the library, it immediately can become “lucky” and will be worn for the duration of finals.

            “Lucky” items are not just limited to clothes; I have known people who had their special pencil or pen just for test taking days. I personally won’t confirm or deny having “used the same pencil for every test during this semester,” but I will say that when you find one that works for you, you just don’t want to give it up.

            The whole point of finding something to bring you luck may be more than the physical act of having the item, but more to give you that mental edge. If you have used the same calculator to practice, and then use a different one on the test, you feel less comfortable. If that pair of sweats felt good going over your flashcards last night, than wear em’ to class and feel good taking the test! While they may not be “lucky” you will feel more comfortable in your environment while taking the exam.

            Now, if I may return to the sports motif for a moment. Some of you may be familiar with professional hockey players and their playoff ritual. During the postseason, they grow what is known as a “playoff beard.” I have always thought that to be a pretty cool tradition, and since finals are like my playoffs, I wanted to grow a “finals beard.” Unfortunately for me, my facial hair doesn’t quite grow in thick enough on my baby face for a real beard, so I had to settle on a “finals goatee” since it does at least kinda grow in. Just an update, with two finals left, it has been going strong for three weeks, and so far, with the power of the “finals goatee,” I feel pretty good about my tests so far.

            Anyways, those are my superstitious musings for the day. As I mentioned, I still have two pretty large finals to go, and I must be off to the books. Everyone take care and good “luck” with whatever you may need it for!

Posted by Cory at 10:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

            So my blogging activity has been slack the last few days, that much is obvious. Don’t worry, I have a good excuse though: you see, finals start tomorrow, and I have been huddled over tables, desks, and anything else that can hold my notebook for the last week or so. You read me right; I said I have been studying for a week. In the rough and tumble world of finals, if you don’t start early, you put yourself in a major hole, and as the saying goes, “Rather start too early and be safe than start too late and be sorry.”

            On the subject of starting early, I have been doing just that this weekend over at the Thomas Cooper Library. During finals week, they stay open 24 hours as usual during the week, but also open up their doors all day on the weekends for us hard studying students. Unfortunately, seating can be tougher to find than at a Carolina Clemson football game, and so I have been over there to stake out my table by 9:30 in the morning yesterday and today.

            The early bird truly does get the worm, or at least the table as by noon. It felt like every table on the main floor was occupied. I know my friend Tim had to share one with me because by the time he got there around 2, he was out of luck finding a table for himself.

            Anyways, me and my early morning self sat at said table today from 9:30 until nearly 4 in the afternoon and despite being in one location for such a long time, I feel like I got a lot accomplished. The key with finals is to break up the material into smaller parts so that you are not overwhelmed, and so I was able to stay on top of my biochemistry (which is tomorrow by the way), pharmaceutics, and microbiology. Don’t worry about pathophysiology though; just because I didn’t mention it doesn’t mean I haven’t been studying it nightly before bed as a sleep aid (did I say sleep aid? I meant study aid).

            At any rate, I have started early and often putting in the hours, and hopefully I will be able to reap the benefits once this week is over and I can enjoy my winter break! There is a light at the end of the tunnel! Well, I best be getting out of here, there is still much to be done, but I will do my best to check in with you guys this week to update my progress. Take care!

Posted by Cory at 10:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

            Do you remember the scene in the movie “Dodgeball” when the “Average Joe’s” plays their first match against the girl scouts, and loses? Do you remember that thanks to a positive test for performance enhancers on the Girl Scout team, that Average Joe’s were awarded the win regardless of their pathetic and embarrassing performance? And do you remember how they went on the win the championship? Well, some fellow pharmacy students and I had that same experience, minus the part about beating the girls and winning the championship. Allow me to explain so this may become clearer for you.

            Intramural sports puts on a Holiday Dodgeball event every December before finals as a way to wrap up the Fall Semester and in my opinion, offer a great stress reliever as well. Since I am in pharmacy school, and there seems to be just a tad bit of stress (understatement folks), and most of my fellow students would agree with me on the stress thing, I thought it would be a fun idea to enter a pharmacy school team into the tournament.

            Our team name was the “P-1 Punishers”, and I thought it did a nice job of conveying our status as P1 Pharmacy school students as ruthless athletes that punish you on the dodgeball court! In actuality, half of that name turned out to be true.

            We arrived at the Strom and began playing around 7. The tournament consisted of pool play and a single elimination bracket based on the seeding from your record in the pool. Seeing as how our little team had never played together before, I thought we did an admirable job going 1-1 in our co-ed pool. The Punishers had some confidence going into the bracket!

            Unfortunately for us, we got matched up against “Yeah, Those Girls” a “Co-ed” team only in the sense they were in the Co-ed bracket. They were actually an all girls team, but were the only all girls team to sign up, so they were pushed to the co-ed bracket. A racket could be heard throughout the gym when they were victorious in their first game in pool play. Surely we would have no trouble dispatching this team of females, what with our three male advantage.

            Not so fast my friend. In what seemed like almost a blur, our team of pharmacy school dodgeball slingers were on the losing end of the first round of the bracket at the hands of “Yeah, those girls.” I wasn’t sure what hurt more: my chronically sore throwing shoulder or my severely bruised pride! In any case, our team member Doni had the worst of it since her roommate was on the other team! Doni must have lost a bet or something because she was buying her roomie dinner last night after the match, not to mention losing bragging rights.

            Win or lose. Pride or none, we had a great time getting out, taking a break, relieving some stress, and getting some exercise. While we still have to face the daunting task of finals, at least we were able to blow off a little steam, have a laugh at our own expense, and in my opinion, have the opportunity for a little class bonding. Here is a picture of your 2007 “P-1 Punishers.”

 http://uscbloggers.com/cory/dodge_ball_%2812%29.JPG

            As for me, I think I will go ice my shoulder, and put a warm compress on that wounded pride because that loss is one that is going to sting for a while. That’s all I have for now for you folks, but take care and try to remember those 5 D’s of Dodgeball so that the same fate doesn’t befall you. Take care!

 

Posted by Cory at 12:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Freshman co-ed softball. Freshman men’s flag football. Freshman men’s and co-ed basketball. These are all of the sports that the intramural team “Southern Avengers” has either beaten us, or, in the case I will get to in a moment, tied when they should have lost. So, with last night’s co-ed softball semifinal game, we were matched up yet again with the Southern Avengers and their stacked team of whiners, criers, and most importantly, intramural staff. Yessir and yes m’am, they always seem to gain at least a slight edge by complaining and getting a call to go their way now and then. It comes as no coincidence they have the head student of intramurals as the captain their team.

            A game against the Southern Avengers during freshman year in softball still burns bright in the minds of me and the rest of the Sultans of the South co-ed softball team. We were down two runs going into the last inning, and had tied the score. Our best hitter, and fellow Arizonan Chad (Sport Management 08’), was at the plate with the winning run on third base. He hit a slow ground ball to first which he easily beat out, but was called out! I was livid, he was livid, our whole team was livid, and the Southern Avengers escaped defeat yet again, thanks in no small part to a little help from their friends.

            I told our team that it was not going to happen this year. We were going to remain calm in the face of any poor calls, complaining, and smack talk from the Southern Avengers. With our game plan in place, we took the field at 7 PM under the lights eager for the semifinal game.

            As a player and the coach of our team, I can objectively say that it was the best game we have played all year, and perhaps the best in my three years here. We scored runs, made smart and great plays in the field, and despite their loaded lineup hitting a few deep home runs, we stayed in the game. In our last at bat before the final inning and with the score tied, we managed to push across a run before the final inning began. I told the team before we took the field that we needed to take care of them in order because they had the bottom of their lineup up, and if anyone got on, their home run hitters would get a chance to do some damage.

            First man up was their captain and my “arch nemesis” for the last three years. We managed to get him out. Next up was a girl. Brad got her to strike out. My heart raced, the tension was high, and their leadoff hitter who had hurt us all game with his line drives to right center was up. True to form, he hit a sinking to the gap right center field that had extra bases written all over it when our right center fielder Thomas came in and made an amazing shoe string grab! We had done it! We had beaten the hated Southern Avengers, and earned a spot in the championship. Mentally and physically it took everything we had to win that one, and it felt like winning a championship in itself.

            It was a great team effort, and I feel good knowing that I pulled my weight, smacking three hits with five runs batted in, along with a handsome headfirst slide into second base. Here check it out. It is a little blurry, but that navy blob is me sliding headfirst safely into second.

http://uscbloggers.com/cory/SAFE%21.jpg

 

            This story doesn’t have a completely happy ending unfortunately as we couldn’t finish the job and lost in the championship game later that night. As a team, the euphoria of the huge win was replaced with stunned silence. I told them that they played great regardless, how much fun it was, and that there is always next year of course.

            Despite not “finishing” the job, the umpires congratulated us, and in fact were quite happy we had beat the Southern Avengers due to their incessant complaining over the course of the whole year. Again, a small consolation prize, but a prize nonetheless. That win wasn’t just for us on the Sultans of the South, it was for all of our friends who had suffered at the hands of those dreaded Southern Avengers, be it flag football, volleyball, or basketball. All I can do now is relish that win we had, look back over how much fun the season was, and wait until next September when co-ed softball season rolls around and try to go all the way. Until next time, keep swinging for the fences and take care!

Posted by Cory at 10:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

            I never used to be one for public speaking. When it came to getting in front of people, be it to give a speech or presentation, I was never quite comfortable. I most certainly would never been anyone’s first choice to give a speech, that’s for sure. Oh, how the times have changed though! Yesterday, I was chosen to give the opening speech for the “USC Challenge,” an academic quiz bowl competition put on every year by my honor society, Alpha Lambda Delta.

            My journey to the podium began this past week on Tuesday at our final meeting before the challenge. We were hammering out the details and making sure everything was going to run smoothly. The meeting ended and I headed back to my apartment to study for my lab final. The next day, I received an email from our advisor saying that I had been chosen to give the opening address, an honor usually reserved for the President of Alpha Lambda Delta, not just a junior advisor such as myself. Well, I just happen to actually enjoy getting in front of people and talking (at least now I do after a few years at USC), so I jumped at the opportunity.

            So, I met with my advisor to see what I had to cover in the speech, and also asked him why I was giving the speech. He said that it was nearly a unanimous decision on the part of the other members that I be the one. Go figure!

            Saturday came around, and I practiced up, and delivered a pretty solid opening speech. While it wasn’t my best, it was still pretty good. I admit I still have some work to do in the public speaking department, but I have come a long way since I came here to USC. I have gone from a decent, but nervous and unwillingly public speaker to the one who is chosen by his peers to give a speech and enjoys doing it! How about that?

            My morning speech aside, I spent the  rest of the day helping to track the scores coming in, keeping some of the volunteers organized, and putting buzzer systems (what the participants used to answer) away. I guess you could say I was a jack of all trades (and a master of none as my old baseball coach often joked). Overall, the day went quite well as all of our high school teams showed how smart they were, and while there could only be one winner at the end of the day, I can honestly say each team put me to shame with their immense knowledge. That’s all I have for now everybody. Take care!

Posted by Cory at 02:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)