Everyone knows the frustration of sitting bumper to bumper in 5 o'clock traffic, or getting stuck for hours in a construction zone.
Hey! How are ya? We're back at school again and that means a lot of the same old work, the same old conversations, the same old beer and the same old friends - if only I could remember their names.
It's 3 p.m. Friday. I meet Steve Cooper, a third-year College student, at the Bank of America on the Corner.
The sites and sounds outside University dorm windows mostly are pleasant. Lawnies have the lush Lawn, Hereford residents have Charlottesville's serene hills and Brown College boasts proximity to central Grounds.
Streaker, dancer scrubbed Students enjoying the Rotunda Sing Wednesday night saw a little dance with their songs. Fourth-year College student Patrick Sweet, who works as a Rotunda guard, was one of the mysterious performers in the upstairs window of the Rotunda.
University students don't have to travel to Greece to dine on excellent Mediterranean fare. Located on the Corner, Cafe Europa combines the quick service of a fast food establishment with the authentic taste and pleasant aura of an upscale restaurant. Inside the intimate cafe, light blue tables with colorful purple and white flower centerpieces add to the simple, yet classy look of the restaurant.
Dry times Some may believe in performing special summer rain dances to solve water shortages and others may simply pray, but University officials are advocating a water conservation program to save community reservoirs. The drought, which struck many areas of Virginia beginning in early summer, has left community reservoirs to 80 percent of their capacity. Energy Program Manager Tony Motto said city officials issue mandatory water restrictions when reservoirs are depleted to 60 percent. Currently, the city of Charlottesville and Albemarle County have asked all residents and businesses to try their best to save water. "We need a hurricane with steady rains for a couple of days to get our reservoirs up to capacity," Motto said. Until then, the University is advocating voluntary water restrictions.
BUENOS AIRES-The first two weeks in a foreign country can seem like a long, long time. You have to take in so much information in such a brief period, making the days seem like they drag on forever.
Without a close examination, this year's incoming class of first years may appear to be just like all the rest.
The ISIS man leaveth University students using the new Integrated Student Information System Online can find more than class enrollment.
A new year at college brings a renewal of that precious sense of freedom - freedom to set your own schedule, go where you want when you want, freedom to involve yourself in activities and organizations, and freedom to make a difference.
As I embark on my second year of college, I must pause to reflect on the changes in my life since I first applied to the University. A lot has changed since high school.
A new restaurant with a familiar name has opened its doors on Fontaine Ave. Guadalajara, famous among students for its affordable food and endless supply of chips and salsa, debuted its new branch about two weeks ago. But now that there are three Guadalajaras to choose from, one on Route 29 and one on the Downtown Mall, students may have to ask the question--which one do I want to eat at? Well, as it turns out, it depends on what you're looking for. The new Guadalajara offers quite a different atmosphere than the other branches.
BUENOS AIRES--Well, I finally made it down here. Long flights, like the one from Miami to Buenos Aires, always allow time for some personal reflection, particularly if you are traveling by yourself. So, I thought, "Why am I spending an entire semester thousands of miles away from my home, my school and my family and friends?" That's a good question.
It was fourth-year College student Jessica Krechel's last summer before she had to enter the "real world," and she wanted it to count. "I'm going to be a fourth year and I have to get a job," Krechel said.
If this critic can stop just one person from wasting their money on "The Blair Witch Project," then maybe, just maybe, she will feel as though she has done some good. Never has a supposedly "scary" film been as disappointing as this lame concept movie.
There's something about Julia Roberts and weddings. In her new movie "Runaway Bride," Roberts is faced with yet another dilemma in which bridesmaids, bouquets and marches down the aisle serve as wallpaper for an entertaining yet predictable romantic comedy. This time Roberts plays small town legend Maggie Carpenter, whose history as a pathological marriage dodger brings her widespread infamy in the form of a USA Today column. Journalist Ike Graham, played by Richard Gere, is responsible for spreading the news of the Runaway Bride who, in his opinion, is one in a long list of malicious man eaters.
Before beginning, this critic has a confession to make: he is the world's number-one fan of the film "Pretty Woman." That nearly decade-old fairy tale married tenderness, laughter and love in a seamless manner that no romantic comedy has been able to match since.
Sometimes, as the song says, love just ain't enough. Apparently, the late director Stanley Kubrick had that message in mind during the three years it took him to assemble his final film, "Eyes Wide Shut." Kubrick, the overzealous perfectionist whose film triumvirate of "Dr. Strangelove," "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "A Clockwork Orange" catapulted him into the ranks of America's premiere directors, died just days after putting together his final cut of the much-ballyhooed, and equally bleak movie.
