Ping-pong balls are the new free t-shirt

I remember when I would do anything for a free t-shirt. Sign up for a credit card? Sure! Hand out alcohol information at tailgates? Why not! However, considering these economic times, the free t-shirt is reserved for special occasions. Based on a piece of junk mail I recently received, it looks like Finish Line is opting for a much cheaper alternative: ping-pong balls.

Ok, that might seem like an odd promotion - if not for the immediate association between ping-pong balls and drinking games. But Finish Line didn't want to take any chances, so they went the extra mile to imply what you might do with these free ping-pong balls. Shoe Pong!

Wait, is that like beer pong? Noooo, beer doesn't have anything to do with this. The good people at Finish Line just want to encourage college aged shoe-buyers to be creative and come up with something to do with these ping-pong balls. You know, maybe like standing in teams of two throwing the balls into something - maybe even in a tournament in someone's basement. Who said anything about drinking?

What I learned: Finish Line is using beer pong to sell shoes, and they're not very sneaky about it.

It's not a dildo, it's a penis model

One look at my desk, and you'll realize how quickly I became comfortable talking about sex on a regular basis. Working in wellness, you never want to be out of arm's reach of a penis model and non-lubricated condom for an impromptu demonstration. And yes, I share an office.

Every so often, a visitor to my office will snicker at the penis model on my desk. At first, I forget that it's even there, and then quickly realize that it's probably not something they see every day.

You think that's bad? You wouldn't believe the type of ads that come up on Google after I search for things like:

• wooden penis model
• gonorrhea of the eye
• large image vaginal warts
• "silicone penis model" NOT dildo
• flavored condoms expiration time

You mean you don't search for those things at work? I find that hard to believe. The difference between me and you is that I have a better excuse!

What I learned: Sometimes a penis model and a dildo are the same thing. Sometimes having pictures of vaginas on your computer is allowed.

Students can fight to earn money and popularity in "Party In My Dorm" iPhone game

I came across this game when I was browsing the iTunes App Store. It's called "Party In My Dorm," and it's listed as a role playing game. Here is the description from the iTunes Store:

College is about to get more interesting. Get ready for the largest online party you've seen since moving out of your parents basement. Fill up the dorms with your crew while completing jobs and joining clubs to make your reputation soar. Every dance off and prank gets you one step closer to becoming the most popular student on campus!

While the game itself is obviously not targeted at grad students in college student personnel, or other student affairs professionals, it is interesting to see what 'kids these days' might be getting into. I played the game for a little while (I chose the Intellectual Hero avatar), until I read the on-screen caption after participating in a virtual fight.



"Fighting other students is the best way to earn money. Go forth and become the most popular student on campus!"

Really? When I saw this, I deleted the app. Am I the only one who is put off by the idea of college students fighting their way to popularity? That's not wellness!

What I learned: College-themed iPhone games shouldn't be taken too seriously, and probably include sexy cartoon characters.

Wait, is this Coke expired? Yes... yes it is.

It's time for a much needed Spring cleaning in the storage room (we're a little late on the 'spring' part). Tackling this racquetball court of crap was an all-morning job, but we finally sorted the boxes of condoms, lube, dental dams, and t-shirts into their appropriate piles. Although it still looks like piles of junk, at least now everything is nestled into little corners of organization.

Then again, a neat pile is still a pile.

Regrettably, 90% of our Coke stockpile is expired. Rather, it expired back in February around the same time as our late night event for which the product was originally intended. But we got the Coke through a request from Campus Activities, and they have a "deal" with Coke, right? Did they give us expired product?



In a word: Yes. Yes the Coke expired the same month we got it. Should I be so shocked? I don't work in event planning, but I hear this is a pretty typical move for getting rid of about-to-expire beverages. It's pretty harmless, unless you are planning to use the leftovers 6 months later and it's all gone to Flatsville.

Being the eco-friendly grad student that I am, I decided it would be best to personally open every can, pour the Coke down the sink in the janitor's closet, and recycle the cans. I didn't realize that opening cans of pop would turn out to be back-breaking labor, but it was! The janitor's sink was low to the ground, and I had 315 cans to go through in a confined space. I tried several strategies like the hunched-over-multi-pour, and the sit-on-the-floor-two-handed-pour. No matter how I tried to improve my efficiency, I always ended up in a position that strained my back and legs.

After an hour and ten minutes the task was complete, and I gave Mother Nature a big sarcastic "You're Welcome!"

What I learned: There's no such thing as free Coke, and when it's free it's probably expired. Also, wearing jeans to work makes manual labor totally worth it!

Identifying insects with simple internet searches

Nature walks are a great social activity, and our College Student Personnel organization (BGSDA) decided to add a photography contest to the hike. By taking the extra step to identify insects in the photos, you can use the internet to explore a personalized biology lesson.

As part of the Summer "Cruise" of pre-planned social events, the summer CSP grad students went to Wintergarden Park in Bowling Green, OH to snap some pics during a hike.

Here are a few more of my favorite shots (below). Basically, the micro-lense is my "thing" when it comes to nature photography. It's a lot of fun! The contest album is on Facebook where you can Like your favorites.

I thought it would be fun to try to identify the insects I spotted by using my favorite tool: the internet! In my experience, a lot of people don't realize just how powerful internet searches can be. They view Google as a portal for typing keywords to call up a specific site. I view it as more of a process, and if you want to find something, try being as blunt as possible.

Oncopeltus fasciatus

Here's the image search I used to identify this orange and black insect: "orange and black insect in Ohio" which produced a page full of images. I selected this image because it was a pretty good match to my own photo, however the pattern on the wing wasn't quite right. Turns out the image in the image search was a "false milkweed bug." Well if the false milkweed bug is pretty close, let's try searching for "milkweed bug." Bingo! The large milkweed bug (Oncopeltus fasciatus) is a perfect match.

Eristalis transversa

Let's try it again with the next insect. This one is a black and yellow fly, so let's search "black and yellow fly in Ohio" which brings up this photo. Looks good to me, this is a black and yellow hoverfly. Well, it turns out there are 6000 species of hoverfly covering over 200 genera. Thankfully, this gallery of North American Hoverflies was able to help me narrow the list to my best guess of Eristalis transversa.

Sigmoria sp.

Ok, I'll do one more. How about this photo of what is apparently a centipede. Based on an internet search for "black and yellow centipede in Ohio" I came upon this site with photos of what the author calls the cherry millipede. Looks pretty close, and the bugger is identified as a Sigmoria genus of millipede. It is, in fact, a millipede and not a centipede because millipedes have two pairs of legs per body segment.


Below are the rest of my nature walk photos. Looks like some wildflowers and yet another species of hoverfly. The hike itself was a fun way to socialize with my grad student peers, but taking the time to identify what I actually saw was an interesting self-taught lesson in insect species. By taking the next step and learning more about these buggers, I have a greater appreciation for my own photographs, and I learned something along the way!

What I learned: The Internet is a powerful learning tool, but it's not going to do all the work for you.