More Muncie

You might have your fill of our Ball State trip, but here are some pics since I couldn't post any with the iPod Touch. This is the main drag, all two blocks of it. On 7:30 on a Wednesday night, it was a ghost town. When we sat down to eat, we looked up at the TVs to realize the the school's undefeated football team was playing a Wednesday night prime-time game on ESPN.


The building where we stayed (3rd floor hotel), gave our talk (Forum room on the 2nd floor) also had a bowling alley (lower level). So we bowled the night we arrived as well as the afternoon before the talk, and after the talk with our pal Tim who drove down from Chicago and some of our new friends. All that pin action showed that I'm good for no more than three games in 24 hours. That's when I peaked at 130, and proceeded to go under the Mendoza Line (100) from then on.


The art department eatery was a lot like a mall food court. The on-campus Barnes & Noble offered food as well.


Eric's laptop bit the dust, so we had to bring an old one out of retirement. As a result, it took some retooling to get the video parts of the presentation to work. These clips are a relatively new part of GR talks, and they definitely make a difference.


After a lot of wandering and little wondering, we finally found the Asians on campus. No, not at the museum (above) but at the AASU meeting (below). We got to sit in on their leadership council discussion which, despite rumors, was not a "clusterfuck." I thought it was cool how their membership is very Pan Asian--and then some.


The AASA members were cool, and the audience was quite receptive, asked good questions, and stuck around afterward for bowling and more food. It turned out a few of them are linked to the school's magazine program, and I was glad they seemed to approve of what we're doing with GR.


We left the campus at 7:00 am to catch our flight from the airport in Indianapolis. Apparently, it's going to be shut down in less than a week in favor of a brand new one right next door. I hope it has the same Jughead-inspired architecture.


The way back provided time for a little sleep and a head start in music reviews for the next issue.


It's deadline time once more, meaning long hours are in the forecast, but doing talks like this definitely helps me get by. Not only because it's an honor to be asked to travel and blab about what we do to strangers (who become friends) but also because the process reminds me just how unique, interesting, and hopefully important it is. Most students would kill to do something like we do when they graduate! Too bad we're not hiring; we're having too much fun to delegate.