Memories of Hayward Field

I don't expect very many people reading here to care about this, but I'm posting this for myself as well as my readers.

The 2008 Olympic track and field trials are being held in Eugene this week, at the University of Oregon's famous T&F facility: Hayward Field.



I don't have a ticket to the trials, but I do have a small history with Hayward Field. Today, I'm going to post my fading recollections of the times I have spent in that old place watching people run and throw and jump.

My first experience with Hayward Field came during a campus tour I took just after my junior year of high school. We had made our way to the athletic side of campus, and before I knew it we were standing before an oval track, framed by old covered bleachers. There were a few people jogging on the track, as usual. "So this is Hayward Field," I said to myself. It was almost a religious moment. I'm not a huge fan of track and field myself, but to be at a place I had heard so much about was very touching.

Next, I came to Hayward for the 1999 Oregon high school track and field championships. There were a few people from my school competing, so I wanted to go watch them perform. I really enjoyed myself, fully taking in the festive atmosphere. I sat in the old bleachers, the East Grandstands:



It's the same feeling you get sitting in the upper balcony of McArthur court, without the vertigo. They're wood bleachers, not quite comfortable, but the history and atmosphere completely make up for that. It was very exciting to sit where thousands people sat while watching Steve Prefontaine.

My first impressions of Hayward as a track facility were great. I think it's a wonderful place to watch a track meet. You can see every event but the hammer right from your very seat. When the crowd gets going, the noise reverberating around the grandstand covers, there's nothing like it.

Of course, I ended up attending the University of Oregon, and I took in a few meets while I was there. One thing I liked about the meets was the liberal seating policy. At least when I was a student, you were allowed to sit wherever you fancied. I'd switch between the East and West grandstands. One has history, and the other is closer to the finish line. If I recall correctly, I attended the Pepsi Invitational. I can't recall if I went to the Twilight meet. In my sophomore year, I actually lived right across from Hayward Field. That was nice! I'm pretty sure that we didn't even need a ticket to get in, just a student I.D. My years there were not the glory years for Duck track and field. The crowds weren't very large.

I did experience one large crowd at Hayward, though: the crowd at the 2002 Prefontaine Classic. In non-championship meet years, the Pre Classic is the most prestigious meet of the year. I wanted to attend one, so I paid for a ticket (I think it was around $18 or something like that, I can't really remember). As luck would have it, I picked a great year to go. Alan Webb, a high schooler at the time, was entered in the mile. There was a buzz surrounding his appearance, and it was well justified. Webb broke the high school record in the mile that day, and his performance in the mile is said to be one of the all-time memorable Hayward performances. There were other great events to watch, but that was the one I remember best.

The Pre Classic was my first encounter with ticketed seating for Hayward, and I ended up sitting somewhere in the first twenty rows of the West Grandstands:



Not a bad place to sit! It was a packed house that day. That makes the seating even more uncomfortable, but who cares when there are so many great events to watch?

I can't recall attending any other meets after the 2002 Pre Classic. Even though I'm not a track nut, I think I should look into buying a ticket for next year's event. Maybe I'll even attend the NCAA championships or something like that. At the very least, I'll attend a Duck meet.

I hope you enjoyed my memories of track meets and sunny days. By the way, I took all of the above photos of the facility. If you'd like more information about Hayward Field, you can find it here.

College Memories

Part Two:

Part one can be found here.

I loved coming back to campus every fall. It's such a great place to be, and it feels like coming home whenever I go there. When I attended school there, it was almost literally coming home again because I lived on campus for eight months out of the year or however long it is. It was so refreshing to come back and be somewhere I'm very comfortable. It was nice seeing all the buildings and open spaces, the student union, the squirrels running around. It was nice coming to the lobby of Carson Hall, the place where many students eat and get their mail (and the place I lived two years of my years at the university). It was just refreshing to go through the whole process another year and settle in.

Once all of my stuff was put in my room, it was time to unpack. I'd usually have some music going while I chose places to put everything. The computer was the main thing to set up, and it was always cool to set it up and hook everything up and turn it on. The dorms at the university have an incredibly fast internet connection, so I was always excited to surf the web and have everything load FAST!

After unpacking, which never really took all that long, I'd either relax in my room or go downstairs to eat. Of course I'd check the mail and find the usual "welcome back to school" things the university gives you. Then it was time to go into the cafeteria and have that first meal. It was an all-you-can-eat buffet and, even though it wasn't always that great, it was comforting to go through that routine again. There was always anticipation about what would be served for your first dinner meal. Hopefully it would be something good! That first night would be the beginning of many meals a student would eat over the course of the school year.

Move-in week was the week before school, so I'd usually have anywhere from three to five days to just relax and settle back into the swing of things. That was nice, because it allowed time to enjoy the campus and enjoy the dorm room before the real studying began. At some point, I'd go to the bookstore and buy whatever books I knew I needed for upcoming classes. That's another story entirely and it's somewhere in the archives. Book buying is a stressful experience, and then there's the long walk back to the room with a huge bag full of textbooks. When I got back, I'd always take a glance at each book to see what was in store for me during the upcoming term.

It was nice just to enjoy the campus before classes started. Maybe I'd take a walk around and see all my favorite spots. I'd browse in the shops near campus and usually get a new CD to listen to from the music store. Maybe I'd go out to eat at one of the local restaurants. I'd always make time for my favorite fast food stop, Burger King, which was not too far from the dorms. Saturday would bring a football game, the first game where the student section would be full. No matter what I did that weekend, it was always enjoyable.

Monday would come, and with it would come the first classes of the school year. That part wasn't all that hard. If I didn't know where my classes were, I'd always check things out the week before classes began. That first day would bring you together with all the other students, anxiously waiting to find out what's on the syllabus and what the professor is like. Homework would usually be assigned right from the get-go, so relaxation time was over. The school year had begun and with it came the reading assignments and thoughts of upcoming papers and tests.
I'm out of college now, but I still enjoy remembering what back-to-school was like. I love being on the University of Oregon campus and I did enjoy staying in the dorms, even with the negative stuff like late night partiers and dirty bathrooms. Back to school time means being young, alive, and embracing the school year full on. It was always a great time for me and I remember it all very fondly.

College Memories

Part One:

I haven't done this in a long time! Many of you might be clueless about this neglected feature on my blog, so I'll give you some details. I went to college at the University Of Oregon from 1999 to 2003. Last year, I started telling occasional stories about my years there. Stories about living in the dorms, classes I took, and other little things that I remember fondly. School is starting at the UO again this week, and even though I'm not a student anymore I still get excited when this time of year comes around. Today, I'm going to write about random memories I have of back-to-school time. Warning! This post is going to be rambling, random and informal.

I lived in the dorms all four years of college. Yeah, I was a dork. Truthfully, I didn't mind it that much because it was easier than living at home. I was close to classes, close to everything going on, and I didn't have to cook. We live far out in the suburbs and I don't drive, so commuting to classes would have been a huge hassle. Living on campus allowed me to go from class to my room in just a few minutes, saving hours in commute time. That time was spent either studying or relaxing.

Also, who wouldn't want to live on such a beautiful campus? Sure it was busy when school was in session, but there were times it was peaceful and quiet. It was like living in a park, except with buildings all around.

Move in day would come, and I'd be all packed up. I don't think I ever packed too much for my rooms, but I would ALWAYS bring too many books. I suppose it was a comfort thing. The main thing of course was moving the computer. The desks in the dorm rooms are small, so fitting the computer on them was always tough. Somehow we always managed to fit it in.

When we'd arrive on campus and finally find a place to park and unload, I'd go check in, get my key, and find my room. There's something fascinating about opening the room for the first time each year and seeing it empty and barren. The desks are spotless, the beds aren't made, and the chairs are tucked in ever so gently into the desks. It takes a while to make it feel like home, and of course it will NEVER again be so nice and neat until it's time to move out.

The first two years I was there, part of the moving-in ritual involved meeting the roommate. It's nervewracking meeting the person you'll share that tiny space with for most of the next year. There are decisions to be made: Who gets which side of the room? Where does the TV go? Who took care of the fridge? The rooms are basically the same on each side, so the toughest choice is what side you pick.

The last two years I had a single room, which was actually a double room that only I occupied. Luckily I got the same room both years. It was so nice to be able to do whatever I wanted in the room without worrying about waking a roommate. I could also decorate however I wanted and put stuff wherever I chose.

I'll continue this later so that there's not a huge post to read through.

*edit* part two can be found here.

I have an urge to blog, but have absolutely nothing to talk about, so today I'll give you another installment of

College Memories

Today I'll share a couple humorous stories from some of my college classes.

The first is about an astronomy class I took during one of my last semesters. It was a huge class with probably 300-400 people. As you can imagine, it took forever to do anything with a class that size. The professor was kind of a goofball, but a good guy nonetheless. Anyway, my story is about the day we were to take our last "midterm" before the final exam. We all got to the lecture hall pretty much on time, and sat around and waited for the professor to arrive with the tests. And waited. And waited. And waited some more. After a while, we were all wondering if he'd show up at all and people started leaving. Finally, after probably 40 minutes, he did show up with probably only half or less of the class still there. Because he was so late, he gave those of us remaining a choice to either take the midterm right then, or wait until the final exam to take it after we finished our final. If I remember correctly, he would take the best score out of two if we took it both times. I took it the first time, and figured I did well enough to not have to take it again. It was pretty crazy waiting for the professor for that long, on the day of an exam no less!

My second story is about a grammar class I took my freshman year in the Journalism school. There were around 200 of us in that class. Every Friday we took a short quiz and turned in our homework. One of those Fridays, we showed up to find the doors to our lecture hall locked! The professor in that class tried to find someone with a key but did not succeed. So she had us all take our quizzes while piled up out on the floor and the stairs outside the lecture hall! I'm sure it must have looked odd for an entire class to be doing their work in the hallway instead of in the lecture hall.

Those were just two of the craziest days I had during my college years. If I think of more, I'll write about them another time.

College Memories

I haven't done one of these in a while. For those who are fairly new, "college memories" is a series of random stories that I write about my college experiences (I went from Fall '99-Summer '03).

This time I'm going to write about basketball games. The college basketball season has started so this is a good time to talk about some of the games I went to and what they were like.

I probably should have gone to more games than I did when I was there. I didn't go to every game, but I went to quite a few. Basketball games at the U of O are very popular with the students, and the teams are usually pretty good. There's always a lot of energy and excitement at a Duck hoops game. The home games are played in the old basketball arena on campus, McArthur Court also known as Mac Court or "The Pit." It's a 1920s-era concrete building with a small court and seating area that holds about 9,000 people. A lot of the building is old - most of the seats except for student seating, bathrooms, stairs, that sort of thing. Some of the seats have obstructed views from posts holding the stands up or other things that get in the way.

The seats are all packed in close together and are fairly close to the court itself, so things can get a little crazy. The effect of getting 9,000 loud and psyched basketball fans in that small space is pretty incredible. Mac Court is known as one of the toughest places to play basketball on the west coast, and if things get wild enough the baskets and scoreboard can sometimes shake from the vibrations of students clapping and stomping and jumping up and down. At men's games, about half the court-level seating is reserved for the student fan group known as the "Pit Crew." This is a group of very loyal basketball fans who show up early, wear color coordinated Pit Crew T-shirts, and get the team and the crowd revved up with their yelling and chants and high energy level. A guy I knew in high school ended up as the "leader" of the Pit Crew for a few years, and he definitely had a lot of spirit for his team. The Pit Crew can sometimes get a little rowdy and controversial, but it's definitely the heart and soul of the Duck game crowds.

Mac Court is definitely a great place to see a basketball game, even if a little uncomfortable at times. One reason I liked it is because it's just a short walk away from the campus dorms, unlike the football stadium which is away from campus and across the river. I've seen many a great game there, especially in the first couple years I was in school. I attended one game against, I think, Stanford with a friend from high school named Jeff who was also a student at the university. It was my freshman year, and we arrived a bit late to the game because I had forgotten my ticket in my room! So by the time I got my ticket again and we got to the arena, there were very few places to sit. We had to trek up a few flights of stairs to the third balcony way up at the top of the building. It was quite hot up there, and the seats were very steep and uncomfortable, but we had a pretty good view of the court! I can't remember if we could see the whole thing though. That was the first and only time I had to sit up on the third level, thankfully.

I also attended many women's basketball games in addition to the men's games. The women's games are a bit different than normal. It's more of a family atmosphere, and fewer students attend so there's not the same noise level. It's still fun to watch them play though. There's a lot of good teamwork involved, and the women play just as hard as the men. I still remember the "senior night" game I went to when the team graduated a very special class of some very special players. One of them ended up in the WNBA. I really enjoyed watching the last game of a great group of talented women.

I also saw the Harlem Globetrotters play a game at Mac. I begged my dad to take me to see them when they came to town, and I did not regret it. They were highly entertaining and hilarious to watch and I had a big smile on my face the entire game and beyond. That's one memory about Mac Court that I'll always cherish.

I also went to quite a few games with my basketball-crazy friend Mike. We always had a great time no matter what team the Ducks were playing. One game I'll remember was when the team played the University of Washington. They are a big rival of the Ducks, so tensions are always high when the two teams play. That night, the game atmosphere was out of this world. The teams ended up playing a close game and the closer the Ducks came to getting a lead, the louder the crowd got. It got so loud it was nearly deafening. The noise reaches a point where it's almost a physical energy pulsating through you from head to toe. Things went down to the wire and there was overtime too. In the end the Ducks lost, but they kept it close and the crowd was loving it. I'll never forget how it felt to be in a crowd like that during a game like that.

College Memories

This time I'll talk a bit about the local campus music store, Face The Music. It's a local music store that's been around forever in various places near campus, and it's the closest music store to the university. So, as you can imagine, many students go there when looking for new tunes.

When I first started college, the store was in a semi-big spot on the strip of store space that lines the avenue just west of the university campus. They had a large selection of full-priced, popular discs. The discs were in quite a few different categories: the typical rock and pop, country, jazz, soundtracks, reggae, and such. They also had a very large selection of used discs selling for anywhere from $6 to $10. Such a great deal, if you can find what you're looking for.

The store moved to a new, smaller location just a few storefronts down from where they were, and they STILL have everything I've described above. Because it's a smaller space, they don't have quite the large selection they used to have. They still have a good selection though, for the most part. You can't always find what you want, but if you're looking for something popular your chances are good. They still buy and sell used CDs, and I'd say about half the store is space for those used discs. They guarantee their used stuff, and I've never had a problem with anything I've purchased there. They also sell stuff like stickers, used DVDs, and a few other things.

One cool service they offer is special orders. You can tell them the name of the artist and album you're looking for, and if their sources have it they'll order it for you. Special orders usually arrive within a week or two, and they call you to tell you your order is in. I've used that service a few times, and it's very helpful. It was very convenient to be able to just walk a few minutes from the dorms and pick up a new CD rather than commuting across town to some other store.

The people working there are cool, usually fellow college students. It's a hip little music store and very college-student oriented. It might not have the huge selection of other stores, but the convenience makes it a good choice. Another cool thing is that they offer coupons, printed in the local papers! They're good for a couple bucks off a new or used disc, and the last few times I've bought stuff from them they have allowed me to keep using my old coupon! I think that's a great thing and I love them for it.

One negative thing about the store is that their prices for non-used CDs are a little high. But I gladly paid the extra few dollars once in a while for the ability to pick up my music and not have to travel very far. Also, the money (presumably) stays local, so I'd much rather pay full price to support local places. OK, maybe I haven't always done that, but I think I've bought my fair share of music from these local places.

That's my Face The Music story!! I have fond memories of buying cool music from that store, and it was an important part of my college experience.

College Memories

This installment of "College Memories" is about the great chore of university life: buying textbooks!

At the U of Oregon, your only choice for textbook-buying was the University Bookstore, unless you wanted to search the used bookstores or the internet. The used bookstores actually had a decent selection of used books for classes, but I usually just used the school bookstore because it was easier. Also, in many cases the school store would buy back the textbooks it sold at about half or a little more than half of the original sale price. So that way, you could at least get some of your money back at the end of the term. Many books you couldn't sell back, though, because of new editions published or they just weren't in demand for future terms.

At the University Bookstore, the area for book sales was upstairs. Most of the room was dedicated to sales of normal books not used for classes, also known as "general" books. The textbook area was in the back of the room, in a semi-open room of its own. The books were stacked in cases that were lined up in rows, or in cases all around the walls. There were even bookcases out near the general books. With all those rows of books to search through, one needed to take a look at the map of the textbook area to see where each subject was located. Or, if you knew where the subject would be, you could just go there directly. Each bookcase was marked with the subject name for easier finding, and each stack of books for a particular class listed the subject name, number of the class, professor's name, name of the book, and the assigned number of the class. That way, you were sure to find the exact books you needed for any class.

There are three ways of finding out which books you need in your classes. You could just browse the stacks and look for your professor and class; you could wait until the professor handed out the syllabus on the first day; or, the easiest way, you could go online to the bookstore's website and use the class numbers to get a list of which books you needed. You'd get a list of the books, marked with price and whether the book was optional or required. Print out that list, take it with you to the bookstore, and you're good to go.

After minutes of searching for and gathering all the required textbooks for all your classes, you'd take your stack of them (sometimes small, but sometimes very large and heavy) to the line leading to the cashiers. This is the aggravating part, because you have to wait forever and inch along the line, which snaked in and out of the stacks of general books from all the way in the back of the store, to the front. Once you finally reached the cashiers, you'd be directed to the next available checkout and hand the cashier person your stack of books. They'd scan them all, put them all in the colorful Donald Duck bag the bookstore gave with every purchase, ask for your student I.D., and then give you the receipt and tell you the last date you could sell them back. You'd haul your yellow Donald Duck bag full of heavy books and be on your way!

As for prices, the books were quite expensive!! Some books could be anywhere from $100 to $300. Little novels for English classes were usually $10 to $15. Most of the other books were somewhere in between those extremes. The high prices are caused by new editions being printed, and the inclusion of study guides, CD-ROMs and more unnecessary extras to drive up the price. Even with the bookstore discount of 10% for faculty and students, the books were still pretty expensive. Books are definitely a major expense for every college student, every single term.

If one did not wish to purchase the expensive books, there was another option: some professors put the books for their classes on reserve at the University Library. While not exactly convenient, reading the reserve books is a way to keep expenses down and still be able to keep up.

Well, that's the story of book-buying at college! It's quite the ordeal, but yet it's an ordeal that all students share in common.

College Memories

In my Sophomore year, I lived in a music-themed dorm. Oh, excuse me, not a dorm but a "residence hall" as the Housing authorities want us to call the little rooms where the students live. I had actually signed up for the building that they told me would be the substance-free (i.e. drug free) hall, but it turned out to be the music hall instead. I decided it was too much trouble to try to move to another hall, so I just stayed where I was signed up.

I thought the music hall would be full of music majors who played instruments like flute, saxophone, and violin. As it turned out, many of the students who stayed in the hall were guitarists or just loved music in general. Because of that, we had some, well, interesting people living in our building. We had a few real crazy characters, but all of the people there were cool guys and gals.

Once a semester, our hall would have a "music night" in the student lounge, and those are some cherished memories for me. The couches were set up so that there was a sort of stage at the back of the lounge where people would perform. The audience would sit on the couches and on the floor and wherever they could find a spot. Lots of pizza and other snacks were provided, and for a few hours the people that had signed up to perform would get up and do their thing.

A lot of the bands/musicians were really good! There was a lot of rock going on, and some piano too. My roommate even did a poem and drum performance at one of the music nights. One time, a guy performed the Super Mario Brothers theme song on his guitar!! That got a lot of laughs. Some of the songs were funny, and some were really beautiful. Most of all, I just thought it was cool for us all to gather around and just celebrate music and the making of that music. It was neat to see what our hallmates could do, and what sort of songs turned them on.

We had three music nights in all, and each one was cool in its own way. I had a blast watching all the musicians, and I felt that those nights brought us a little closer as a community.

Sometime, I'll tell maybe a few more stories about my dorm that year. Not all of them good stories! For now, I'll say that during fire drills that year, we had to cross the street and stand on the other side!! That was NOT very fun.

College Memories

A nice progression from the last "college memories" post is a post about the class I mentioned last time: Scandinavian Mythology and Folklore. I took the class in the spring term of my sophomore year, 2001. It was taught by my teacher in Norwegian class, Linda. As soon as I heard about it, and learned that Linda would be teaching it, I knew I wanted to take it. She encouraged me to take it, and so I signed up for it when the time came.

The class was held on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12:30 P.M.-1:50 P.M. Because my Norwegian class was held from 11:00-11:50 A.M., I had a very short time to each lunch (as detailed in the previous post). So each Tuesday and Thursday I'd come into class with my smoothie, sipping away as Linda talked to us about the day's lesson.

On the first day, our class got a rude surprise. We all gathered room we were first assigned to, only to discover that people from another class were coming in that room too. The room was a bit too big for us anyway, but apparently there was some mix-up in room scheduling. After that, we tried to get assigned to the correct room, only to discover then that on one of the days class was held, our new room was assigned a different class in the last half of our class period!! So on one of the days we has class in the room the entire time, and on the other day we had to move to yet another room for the last half of the class. All of these classrooms were in the same building, by the way. What craziness!!

After we got the room scheduling figured out, we set to the business of learning about Scandinavian myths and folk tales. There were only about 15 people in the class, I'd say. The class was divided into four units, based on which textbook we'd be reading. The first book was about ancient Nordic mythology - Thor, Odin, Ragnarok and all that. It was highly interesting! And the textbook was fun and easy to understand. The second book was about Scandinavian superstitions and folk beliefs. HIGHLY interesting stuff!! Basically, we learned about the little rituals and beliefs that people hundreds of years ago had in the Scandinavian countries. The book for that was very informative.

The third book we read was a little compilation of Nordic ballads and songs. That unit interested me a lot, because some of the modern Scandinavian music I listen to is based on old ballads. I set up a day with Linda where I would bring in some of my Scandinavian CDs and play some of the ballads that have been modernized for my classmates. I even printed out translations of the lyrics for them and gave each student a copy. That was a fun day!! I love sharing my music.

The fourth book was about Norwegian folk tales collected by Asbjornsen and Moe. Three Billy Goats Gruff is one tale you would all recognize. I read Billy Goats Gruff in Norwegian for the class one day, and that was kind of nerve-wracking!

The final project for the class was something that each student could select. We each had to write a paper and present it in some way to the class. I chose to research the Finnish national folk tale known as the "Kalevala." I figured that I'd done so much research on Norwegian things that I ought to give Finland a try too.

I ended up getting an A in the class!! It was a blast, and I'm so very glad I took it.

College Memories

I think I'll start a new thing where I'll tell little stories and recollections about my days in college from 1999 to 2003. This will give me something to blog about as well as provide a break from my nonstop music talk. I might talk about some of my actual academic experiences but, for the most part, these posts will be about the things that happened outside the classroom. Let's face it, that's the kind of stuff that's usually more exciting to talk about.

My first little story is about that favorite college activity: eating. My first three years at the University, the student union (which is a HUGE building) had one restaurant in the food court called Jamba Juice. The place sold lots of delicious fruit smoothies, as well as pizza and a few other things. I'd often eat there for lunch and get two of their BIG slices of pepperoni pizza. Many napkins required!! Sometimes I'd only get one slice. Other times I'd get two cheese slices to go, which only cost me about $4, and take them to my room to eat.

Another favorite was their "Strawberries Wild" smoothie. The ingredients according to jambajuice.com are apple-strawberry juice blend, nonfat frozen yogurt, frozen strawberries, frozen bananas, and ice. Strawberries Wild was SO DAMN DELICIOUS!! It was sweet and full of strawberry goodness, and it made my tastebuds very happy. I rarely drank any other flavor of their smoothies; Strawberries Wild was the one for me.

I was at Jamba Juice so often that one guy who regularly worked there knew me by name! And knew what I'd likely want to order. That came in handy my sophomore year when I took two classes that were only a half hour apart during the lunch hour, Norwegian and Scandinavian Mythology and Folklore. That meant I had to get lunch and haul myself off to class as quick as I could. The second class, Scandinavian Folklore, was a class that I really wanted to take, and it was on Tuesdays and Thursdays. So, every Tuesday and Thursday I would hurry over to the student union, get a Strawberries Wild smoothie, and take it with me to class so I wouldn't be hungry all afternoon. The classroom(s) we were in technically didn't allow food or drink, but I didn't care! I didn't have any time to eat lunch. It was worth the trouble, though, because it was a class I wanted very much to take. I was willing to make sacrifices for a satisfying educational experience.

The dining room that Jamba Juice was located in was VERY nice: Lots of light, coming from these circular light fixtures on the ceiling. Tables all around, and a few booths. It was very open and bright. I don't know why, but I've always enjoyed that dining room.

Last memory about Jamba Juice: One night in my junior year, around 7 or 8, I was sitting in my room studying when I get a call on the phone. It was a Jamba Juice employee, informing me that I had won a pizza!! They called a random number on campus every night and gave that person a free pizza. So I went over and claimed my prize. They were gonna give me a free soda too, but my hands were full from carrying the pizza! So I had to decline. That was a nice evening for sure.

*8/30/04* I forgot to mention that Jamba Juice left the student union before my senior year, so that was the end of the Jamba Juice experience for me!! The restaurant they put in JJ's place also served smoothies, but I never bothered to try any of them because I knew they wouldn't compare to my memories of JJ smoothies. AND the new place did not serve pizza! Oh well, at least I had three good years of smoothies and huge slices of pizza.