PKT25: Summer 1999
The summer of 1999 at the end of my junior year was the first time that I lived in the house over the summer. In 1997 I had lived at home and in 1998 I was on co-op in Kentucky. In 1999 I had no particular place to go, so I stayed in the house. I didn't even move from the spring, as I stayed in the Oval Office.
There were no formal fraternity activities in the house during the summer. In fact, the summer was the only time that non-brothers officially lived in the house. We'd rent out rooms to other students (male and female) to help pay the bills. Rent was charged by size of the room and the number of people living in the room, with brothers paying a reduced rate. Cleaning was done by brothers just as it was during the school year.
While I was on campus for the summer, this didn't mean I was studying. Although many of the residents of the house took summer classes, I never did. Instead, I worked. I got a new student job in May working for CWRUPhone, the group at the university that took care of all things phone, networking and internet for the campus. I held this job through my graduation in 2001, working 40 hours/week in the summer and as much as 20 during the semesters. Well, working may be the wrong term. As I've noted previously, I did very little actual work at that job, but my employers didn't seem to care. I also made bank - I think my hourly wage was something like $9.50/hour or more. All this to sit in air conditioned comfort and practice programming and/or search the internet on an incredibly fast pipe with really great coworkers. Nice! I seem to recall that I got the job because my pledge brother Dolan knew somebody and recommended me, in which case I should have bought him more beers the last time I saw him.
So basically the summer of 1999 was:
- Work a sinecure student job for pretty good money by student.
- Work out at the gym.
- Host my first solo radio show every Monday morning from 5am to 7am. This, by the way, was my worst official time slot. The following summer I had Friday 5am to 7am, but that was a lot more tolerable than Monday morning for whatever reason.
- Have fun at the house. Volleyball, video games (playing them and watching others play them), surfing the internet and generally hanging out were the order of the day.
Honestly, it was pretty idyllic. I held no office in the house that summer, so I wasn't responsible for anything. Everyone should have a summer or two like this in their life.
Highlights of this summer:
- There were three PhiKap weddings in a row. Joe & Laura got married in Cleveland, Susan & May in West Virginia, and Neal & Rachel in their Ohio hometown. These were my first three of MANY PhiKap weddings that I've attended.
- In a world where new Star Wars media drops every week or so, it may be hard for people to understand how exciting the release of Star Wars Episode 1 was. For god's sake, people paid full price to see movies that were playing the first trailer and then walked out without seeing the movie. I have watched Entertainment Tonight exactly once in my life to see the first trailer, and so did almost everyone I knew. The movie itself is not great, and I still saw it in the theaters three times, the first two of them this summer.
The Ohio Alpha Beta Chapter of Phi Kappa Theta
The House Tour
Outside,
Main Floor Bedrooms,
Main Floor Public Rooms,
Basement Public Areas,
Basement Private Areas,
2nd Floor Big Bedrooms,
2nd Floor Small Bedrooms,
3rd Floor First Hallway,
3rd Floor Second Hallway,
Attic & Errata,
House Tour Commentary: Joe & Laura & Astrid,
House Tour Commentary: Jackal,
House Tour Commentary: Susan,
House Tour Commentary: Assorted
The Pledge Program
Bid Night, Schedule, Curriculum & Black Books, Big Brothers & Pledge Pins, Paddling, Initiation
Semesters
Fall 1996, Spring 1997, Fall 1997, Spring 1998, Fall 1998, Spring 1999, Summer 1999
Events
Detour, Blackout, Boo at the Zoo, Chapter Meetings, Serenading, Greek Week
Other
Full Series, My Rush Experience, Chapter History, Family Trees, National, Greek Life at CWRU, Fraternity Offices, Part 1, Fraternity Offices, Part 2, Fraternity Offices, Part 3, Demographics, Seniority, Bars, Ponding
Additional Commentary
Black Books, Boo at the Zoo & Blackout, More Boo at the Zoo & Blackout, Chapter Meetings
There were no formal fraternity activities in the house during the summer. In fact, the summer was the only time that non-brothers officially lived in the house. We'd rent out rooms to other students (male and female) to help pay the bills. Rent was charged by size of the room and the number of people living in the room, with brothers paying a reduced rate. Cleaning was done by brothers just as it was during the school year.
While I was on campus for the summer, this didn't mean I was studying. Although many of the residents of the house took summer classes, I never did. Instead, I worked. I got a new student job in May working for CWRUPhone, the group at the university that took care of all things phone, networking and internet for the campus. I held this job through my graduation in 2001, working 40 hours/week in the summer and as much as 20 during the semesters. Well, working may be the wrong term. As I've noted previously, I did very little actual work at that job, but my employers didn't seem to care. I also made bank - I think my hourly wage was something like $9.50/hour or more. All this to sit in air conditioned comfort and practice programming and/or search the internet on an incredibly fast pipe with really great coworkers. Nice! I seem to recall that I got the job because my pledge brother Dolan knew somebody and recommended me, in which case I should have bought him more beers the last time I saw him.
So basically the summer of 1999 was:
- Work a sinecure student job for pretty good money by student.
- Work out at the gym.
- Host my first solo radio show every Monday morning from 5am to 7am. This, by the way, was my worst official time slot. The following summer I had Friday 5am to 7am, but that was a lot more tolerable than Monday morning for whatever reason.
- Have fun at the house. Volleyball, video games (playing them and watching others play them), surfing the internet and generally hanging out were the order of the day.
Honestly, it was pretty idyllic. I held no office in the house that summer, so I wasn't responsible for anything. Everyone should have a summer or two like this in their life.
Highlights of this summer:
- There were three PhiKap weddings in a row. Joe & Laura got married in Cleveland, Susan & May in West Virginia, and Neal & Rachel in their Ohio hometown. These were my first three of MANY PhiKap weddings that I've attended.
- In a world where new Star Wars media drops every week or so, it may be hard for people to understand how exciting the release of Star Wars Episode 1 was. For god's sake, people paid full price to see movies that were playing the first trailer and then walked out without seeing the movie. I have watched Entertainment Tonight exactly once in my life to see the first trailer, and so did almost everyone I knew. The movie itself is not great, and I still saw it in the theaters three times, the first two of them this summer.
The Ohio Alpha Beta Chapter of Phi Kappa Theta
The House Tour
Outside,
Main Floor Bedrooms,
Main Floor Public Rooms,
Basement Public Areas,
Basement Private Areas,
2nd Floor Big Bedrooms,
2nd Floor Small Bedrooms,
3rd Floor First Hallway,
3rd Floor Second Hallway,
Attic & Errata,
House Tour Commentary: Joe & Laura & Astrid,
House Tour Commentary: Jackal,
House Tour Commentary: Susan,
House Tour Commentary: Assorted
The Pledge Program
Bid Night, Schedule, Curriculum & Black Books, Big Brothers & Pledge Pins, Paddling, Initiation
Semesters
Fall 1996, Spring 1997, Fall 1997, Spring 1998, Fall 1998, Spring 1999, Summer 1999
Events
Detour, Blackout, Boo at the Zoo, Chapter Meetings, Serenading, Greek Week
Other
Full Series, My Rush Experience, Chapter History, Family Trees, National, Greek Life at CWRU, Fraternity Offices, Part 1, Fraternity Offices, Part 2, Fraternity Offices, Part 3, Demographics, Seniority, Bars, Ponding
Additional Commentary
Black Books, Boo at the Zoo & Blackout, More Boo at the Zoo & Blackout, Chapter Meetings