Good news by e-mail came my way this morning: My group scored 100/100 on our Computer Architecture project. Our presentation was “the best of the term.” Man, that feels good.

I got back to the great state of Minnesota on Friday, but not before stopping in a quiet little town called Madison to pick up my friend Paul. In reality, Madison is anything but docile and small: Home to the University of Wisconsin Madison and The Onion, Madison is everything that I wish Terre Haute to be. Who couldn’t like a place where the tallest point in the city is a badger? Just to make sure that everybody knew I was from Minnesota, I wore my Gophers hockey jersey. You see, the Badgers were playing a series with the Gophers in Minneapolis that weekend, and there is a healthy rivalry between the two. Imagine wearing a Team USA hockey jersey in Toronto last Sunday – you get the picture. Some people gave me awkward glances but, fortunately, nobody painted a giant badger on my car. Thing is, I’d bet that most people can’t tell the difference between a badger and a gopher. Perhaps due to my infiltration into hostile Badger Country, the Gophers swept the lesser rodents in the series.

As we were leaving Madison, I noticed a very nice Porsche/BMW dealership along the road, yet another amenity that Terre Haute lacks. If one wants to see Porsches (remember, two syllables!), one must trek over to Indianapolis. Quite a way to go just to see the finest automobiles ever built. Which reminds me… Chris Welty wrote a humorous series of articles entitled “Porsching,” which I highly recommend. Look closely at the URL, and you’ll realize that Vassar isn’t just a Simpsons creation; it’s a real school, with real students like my friend Liz.

Seems that Rose just released Winter Quarter grades on the Registrar’s page. Here’s a live look at my reaction. *sound of me alt-tabbing over to the other window* *sound of me alt-tabbing back to this window* Woohoo! First 4.00 quarter at Rose!