New Grad Lounge and Foosball!Dave Wipf, Fall 2002 Dear graduate students,In the course of human events, engineering schools are formed containing graduate students and graduate student lounges. Unfortunately, these lounges are often reminiscent of utility closets and fail to attract even the most socially challenged graduate students. In an effort to alleviate this problem at UCSD, the ECE department has recently renovated/expanded our once inhospitable lounge into a bustling dreamland of vibrant social interaction where the intellectual nectar flows like wine and the stigma of being an ECE dork melts away. To accomplish this goal, the department added a foosball table and all the trappings of an exotic, five-star resort. Given that our university is composed of a diverse, multicultural community, many may be asking, "What is foosball?" Interestingly, foosball is derived from the root words 'foosb' meaning 'extreme fun for' and 'all' meaning 'all'. (Some people have erroneously assumed that foosball is derived from 'foos' and 'ball', but this wouldn't make any sense, because what the hell is a ball?) Anyway, foosball is a game where competitors control arrays of faceless, monopedal figurines. It's a lot like soccer, only here the players have been jousted laterally through their midriffs forming sadistic human kabobs that spin in mindless uniformity to bludgeon an object towards a goal. Sounds like fun to me; however, if you would for some reason prefer a different form of activity for this space, please send an email to itstoolate@ece.ucsd.edu. In addition to this wooden, quasi field of dreams, you may be wondering what other amenities will be provided in the new lounge. First, we should note that through a macroscopic version of asexual reproduction, the old lounge has split into two voluptuous new lounges: an eating room and a foosball/socializing room. THOSE CAUGHT EATING IN THE FOOSBALL ROOM WILL BE PUNISHED SEVERELY. THOSE CAUGHT PLAYING FOOSBALL IN THE EATING ROOM WILL BE TAUNTED SINCE THERE IS NO FOOSBALL TABLE THERE. Additionally, a computer has been placed in one of the rooms and we will be providing complementary chips and a flashy new copy of the Bingo toolbox from Matlab. Finally, for you outdoorsy types we will be painting colored spots on the asphalt by the loading docks so you can play twister until the C in ECE stands for contortionist. For the small fraction of readers that have continued on this far, I have one closing thought. If you would like to volunteer to improve the lounge or get involved with the planning of ECE activities, please contact the graduate student council (ece-gsc-l@ece.ucsd.edu). Remember, we are the world, we are the children, we are the ones who make a brighter day so let's start giving. Only not to children, to the future of our ECE department. I close with an inspirational Haiku poem: Where should I donate? Best regards, |