... and we're back ...

After weeks of lounging around, watching movies, eating cheese by the log, fighting brothers for the good couch and driving up and down Oregon's freeways, we have returned to our natural surroundings.

For me, that's Snell Hall. It's my home when the newspaper is in production. In my spacious office, I have a couch, a fridge, a TV, the Internet and the AP Stylebook. Everything I need to survive for several days if something should happen. Such as a massive, class-canceling ice storm (according to AP style, of course, it would be Ice Storm 2007 -- Winter Blast).

But for now we get sunny skies as we all fan out across campus. We sit through the syllabus period. We hear the Geo 102 prof make the pitch we've heard nine times about how science applies to other disciplines, and therefore, we should not skip class, or, we'll die. We wonder if a tree fell through our classroom in December, or if by some fluke, the power is still out in Gilfillan Auditorium.

Instead, class begins in full force. Instead of just reading over the course schedule and reminding you that, no, you cannot cheat, professors begin to launch into the material, using words like "render" and "furthermore." You eye the clock as students begin to put their stuff away. The professor snaps that there are 10 minutes left in class and if you dare make a jolt for the back door, she will personally hunt you down at your home later this evening, where she will steal your beer and flunk you from her class. So you stay for the extra 10 minutes, during which, the professor goes through the syllabus.

* This is the first of what may be many posts that begin in The Daily Barometer news blog.