We graduated in 2003, and have made less than a handful of trips back since. In the six short years since our departure, the school had underwent a fairly significant transformation on both the inside and outside. Most noticeably are the new dormitory and complete overhaul of the engineering buildings. The new dorm sits across from Tyson Hall (formally University Court where we spent a year). This new dorm is built using a similar design as Corrado, but appears to be twice as large as it uses a horseshoe layout.

The new engineering building was the most impressive by far. Here was a building that was barely standing, had some seriously frightening environmental items in the basement, and really had some seriously out-dated lab equipment. Started last year, the engineering building was nearly gutted (except for the exterior of the front of the building). Everything inside was completely different, elevator shafts were moved, the CS department was able to return to the building with the new space, the labs were upgraded, and the lecture halls were finally modern. While it was not quite finished, it was pretty close and I was completely blown away with the beauty of the project. This was something that really needed to be done about 10 years ago, but it appears to have been well worth the wait. The part that was disappointing was that it appeared that majority of the lab equipment was still the same old equipment that we spend countless hours troubleshooting (come on HP and Tek, give these guys something representative of the new building).

Aside from the new engineering building, there are other small changes to various campus buildings such as what appears to be a new congregation area in the commons to replace St. Mary’s. Also near the chapel is a new Notre Dame-like outdoor temple. Some other buildings that need some serious improvements like Buckley Center and Old Science still look the same way they did about 10 years ago (and probably well before that).

I have also heard that the CTS department that I had invested 4 years into is no more. Rumor has it that the formerly great IT department has been renamed to Technical Services and is charged with technical support of the student and lab issues only. All infrastructure-related initiatives have been apparently subcontracted out to Verizon Business. I don’t know what the administration structure is anymore, but I can imagine it is pretty simplistic. Most of the people that I had the pleasure of working for were laid-off in the process.  Shortly after we graduated, most of the CTS student help was disbanded as concerns were raised over students having too much access and responsibility. While I have mixed feelings on this, I do believe that this was serious mistake. It is true that we had more access than I think should have (I was the pinnacle of this as at one-time I held keys to the entire campus), and we very lucky that we did not encounter any liability issues. I mean with students have root access to the some of the most critical university systems, this is just inviting trouble, because despite your best efforts you will one day encounter students that are not as trustworthy. On the flip-side, we were good. Not just good, but damn good. The student staff was some of the most effective staff members ever in the CTS department, and in some cases educating their full-time staff counterparts. Aside from their effectiveness, the experience we gained from these positions was invaluable. To this day, I have benefited and applied from the lessons I learned from Telecomm (both the good and the bad) far more than any knowledge acquired from the classroom. It is very concerning to me that the next generation of students will not benefit as did, and be able to offer the same experience back in the future endeavors. With that, a huge thanks to Jason, Mike, and Kerry for their knowledge and wisdom that they passed on and the patience that they showed us.

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Is Rush really trying to gain sympathy from his listeners who are majority male, conservative or independent, from middle- to low- income tax brackets? Please vacate New York for some place like Nebraska or South Dakota, and don’t get lost on the way.

I had made arrangements to depart on UA581, leaving Chicago at 3:25p, arriving in PDX around 5:30p. Plenty of time to make the concert at 8:00p. Well, “plenty” was what I got.

So the whole cluster-fuck of a trip started like this:

~2:30p Gate change to Concourse B from Concourse C.

~3:05p Ready to board, all crew aboard, and first-class called up to board. Suddenly a problem has been discovered with the aircraft, need to change planes. Gate change #2.

~4:00p New plane located, however we need to change gates yet again. Gate change #3.

~4:15p Wrong gate, need to move again. Gate change #4.

~5:10p Supposed to be leaving at this point, however the crew is still “cleaning” the aircraft. At this point it is taking over an hour to polish it up.

~5:30p Still cleaning, however there are a lot more people entering the plane, and no one is coming out.

~6:00p Captain announces that there had been a security issue and the crew was instructed not to provide details. She apologizes and assures us the plane is safe and we are ready to board. The security issue was the crew found some book in Arabic with no owner, so according to United policy they had to sweep the plane and re-screen all bags.

~6:30p Almost ready to go, the captain is getting pissed that the boarding is taking so long. Announces that everyone needs to sit down in 60 seconds or else the crew many be flying illegally due to the time previously spent in flight. At this time four people get up and choose to hover around the bathroom. The crew is running around with their heads cutoff. Apparently they over booked a flight that was able to accommodate 20+ standbys, and they were looking for two volunteers to take another flight. Nothing was getting me off the plane. Finally the volunteers were selected and the door was closed.

~7:00p All alboard, finally we have pulled away from the gate only to stop on the tarmack. All outbound flights have been postponed due to a huge thunderstorm over head. Captain is on the PA wanted to start a trivia game to guess how fast the winds are, offering a bottle of wine to the winner.

~7:30p Tornado warning issued for O’Hare, some planes are returning to the gates.

~7:45p We are cleared for departure and get the hell out of ORD! Only four hours late!