PKT25: Summer 2001
I'd graduated. Why did I live in the house one more summer? That's a long story.
After my co-op, I was less than enthused about working as a computer programmer. I'd spent much of my super senior year interviewing, which seemed to confirm my thoughts in that direction. That wasn't because the interviews had gone poorly, quite the contrary. I was interviewing for an assortment of Cleveland area software companies and consulting firms. The consulting interviews, in particular, went very well. With McKinsey, I survived three or four interviews and was given a verbal offer. However, they then asked for my GPA, because it wasn't on my resume. Well, the reason it wasn't on my resume was that it wasn't great. I got a 2.85 when all was said and done, which isn't terribly but certainly isn't lighting the world on fire. The guy from McKinsey said they only hired people with at least a 3.4. I pointed out that if they were really super smart consultants, maybe they should ask for that information up front and save themselves a lot of effort. He at least had the courtesy to be embarrassed. When people tell you McKinsey only hires the best and brightest, take it with a grain of salt.
It was funny the first time, but when the exact same thing happened with Accenture, (three interviews, verbal offer contingent on GPA and mine was too low) I was really, really irritated. For extra fun, a few years later a good friend of mine who worked at Accenture told me that I would unquestionably have been one of the smarter people who worked there and tried to get me to apply. Anyway, these were the only two times in my post-college life that my GPA ever mattered for anything. I also had an offer from my future employer, which I turned down, and a bunch of other interviews that were in various stages of completion when I pulled the plug on them.
Instead, I had decided to sign up for Marine Corps OCS at Quantico. Originally, I was supposed to go in June 2021, right after graduation. Unfortunately, I broke a bone in my foot. It healed fine, but the enforced time off my feet meant I couldn't work out effectively to meet the timeline for the final fitness test. Instead, I was scheduled for January 2022. I decided to live in Cleveland one more summer and then head home to North Dakota for four months.
I lived in the Bakery with Steve that summer, which was the only semester that I lived somewhere besides the second floor and the only semester that I had a roommate who actually shared the same room with me, as opposed to having one either I walked through their room to get to mine or vice versa. Since Steve is an easy guy to get along with (and because I can sleep through nearly anything), it worked out fine.
I had what I thought would be my last ever radio show. I decided to mix it up and do a show called The Crossroads and the Watchtower, which was Tuesday mornings. My format swapped very week with blues ("The Crossroads") one week followed by freeform ("The Watchtower") the next week. I didn't know it at the time, but the "some genre + freeform" combo would be my main format for the next 19 years of radio.
From a work perspective, I was no longer a student, so I couldn't work my sweet student job at CWRUPhone. Instead, I got a summer job at minimum wage working the counter at the Boarding House Deli, which was next to the Boarding House Tavern on Euclid. It was an easy enough job, especially since I'd run a register in high school, although my boss Marty who owned the place was more than a little paranoid. I'd get up comparatively early, working through the lunch rush, and then hit the gym.
For fun, I played summer league ultimate for the first time. Frank, who had also graduated, was my team's captain. That year we had a stacked team full of tall fast people and good handlers. Unfortunately, on the day of the tournament most of those people couldn't make it or had to leave partway through the day, and we ended up playing the finals savage (meaning no subs) against a team that not only had plenty of subs but also had two guys from Jawbone, which was the all-Ohio team or something like that. We lost by a close margin. It's probably a sign of how comparatively good shape I was in by that point that this game didn't kill me.
I had a fitness test two weeks into September, and the actives graciously let me crash in the Red Room until I took that test and drove back to North Dakota around September 14. This let me attend the wedding of Ron ( Class of 98) and his college sweetheart Diane (who had lived on my floor in the dorm my freshman year) in the Buffalo area. That was over Labor Day weekend. I hadn't actually RSVPed (the only time I have EVER done that) and was prepared to go to a bar during the reception, but thankfully there was room for me. I spent most of the night talking to Davis.
Anyway, this late fitness test is why I was in Cleveland on 9/11. As you can imagine, the vibe at the fitness test was quite a bit different than it had been at the prior test. I did well on the test (pull-ups, situps, running) but was still a little too heavy for the height/weight standards, so I was told to get my weight down to 180 for January. I drove home the next day and my time living at the Phi Kappa Theta house was complete... but not my time as a brother.
I feel like I should be able to remember a lot more about what happened that summer in the house, but it's basically all gone. Aside from Steve, I can't even tell you who else lived in the house that 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, Fall 1999, Spring 2000, Summer 2000, Fall 2000, Spring 2001, Summer 2001
Events
Detour, Blackout, Boo at the Zoo, Chapter Meetings, Serenading, Greek Week, Rush Events, Formal, Retreat, School's Out
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, Video Games, Restaurants
Additional Commentary
Black Books, Boo at the Zoo & Blackout, More Boo at the Zoo & Blackout, Chapter Meetings
After my co-op, I was less than enthused about working as a computer programmer. I'd spent much of my super senior year interviewing, which seemed to confirm my thoughts in that direction. That wasn't because the interviews had gone poorly, quite the contrary. I was interviewing for an assortment of Cleveland area software companies and consulting firms. The consulting interviews, in particular, went very well. With McKinsey, I survived three or four interviews and was given a verbal offer. However, they then asked for my GPA, because it wasn't on my resume. Well, the reason it wasn't on my resume was that it wasn't great. I got a 2.85 when all was said and done, which isn't terribly but certainly isn't lighting the world on fire. The guy from McKinsey said they only hired people with at least a 3.4. I pointed out that if they were really super smart consultants, maybe they should ask for that information up front and save themselves a lot of effort. He at least had the courtesy to be embarrassed. When people tell you McKinsey only hires the best and brightest, take it with a grain of salt.
It was funny the first time, but when the exact same thing happened with Accenture, (three interviews, verbal offer contingent on GPA and mine was too low) I was really, really irritated. For extra fun, a few years later a good friend of mine who worked at Accenture told me that I would unquestionably have been one of the smarter people who worked there and tried to get me to apply. Anyway, these were the only two times in my post-college life that my GPA ever mattered for anything. I also had an offer from my future employer, which I turned down, and a bunch of other interviews that were in various stages of completion when I pulled the plug on them.
Instead, I had decided to sign up for Marine Corps OCS at Quantico. Originally, I was supposed to go in June 2021, right after graduation. Unfortunately, I broke a bone in my foot. It healed fine, but the enforced time off my feet meant I couldn't work out effectively to meet the timeline for the final fitness test. Instead, I was scheduled for January 2022. I decided to live in Cleveland one more summer and then head home to North Dakota for four months.
I lived in the Bakery with Steve that summer, which was the only semester that I lived somewhere besides the second floor and the only semester that I had a roommate who actually shared the same room with me, as opposed to having one either I walked through their room to get to mine or vice versa. Since Steve is an easy guy to get along with (and because I can sleep through nearly anything), it worked out fine.
I had what I thought would be my last ever radio show. I decided to mix it up and do a show called The Crossroads and the Watchtower, which was Tuesday mornings. My format swapped very week with blues ("The Crossroads") one week followed by freeform ("The Watchtower") the next week. I didn't know it at the time, but the "some genre + freeform" combo would be my main format for the next 19 years of radio.
From a work perspective, I was no longer a student, so I couldn't work my sweet student job at CWRUPhone. Instead, I got a summer job at minimum wage working the counter at the Boarding House Deli, which was next to the Boarding House Tavern on Euclid. It was an easy enough job, especially since I'd run a register in high school, although my boss Marty who owned the place was more than a little paranoid. I'd get up comparatively early, working through the lunch rush, and then hit the gym.
For fun, I played summer league ultimate for the first time. Frank, who had also graduated, was my team's captain. That year we had a stacked team full of tall fast people and good handlers. Unfortunately, on the day of the tournament most of those people couldn't make it or had to leave partway through the day, and we ended up playing the finals savage (meaning no subs) against a team that not only had plenty of subs but also had two guys from Jawbone, which was the all-Ohio team or something like that. We lost by a close margin. It's probably a sign of how comparatively good shape I was in by that point that this game didn't kill me.
I had a fitness test two weeks into September, and the actives graciously let me crash in the Red Room until I took that test and drove back to North Dakota around September 14. This let me attend the wedding of Ron ( Class of 98) and his college sweetheart Diane (who had lived on my floor in the dorm my freshman year) in the Buffalo area. That was over Labor Day weekend. I hadn't actually RSVPed (the only time I have EVER done that) and was prepared to go to a bar during the reception, but thankfully there was room for me. I spent most of the night talking to Davis.
Anyway, this late fitness test is why I was in Cleveland on 9/11. As you can imagine, the vibe at the fitness test was quite a bit different than it had been at the prior test. I did well on the test (pull-ups, situps, running) but was still a little too heavy for the height/weight standards, so I was told to get my weight down to 180 for January. I drove home the next day and my time living at the Phi Kappa Theta house was complete... but not my time as a brother.
I feel like I should be able to remember a lot more about what happened that summer in the house, but it's basically all gone. Aside from Steve, I can't even tell you who else lived in the house that 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, Fall 1999, Spring 2000, Summer 2000, Fall 2000, Spring 2001, Summer 2001
Events
Detour, Blackout, Boo at the Zoo, Chapter Meetings, Serenading, Greek Week, Rush Events, Formal, Retreat, School's Out
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, Video Games, Restaurants
Additional Commentary
Black Books, Boo at the Zoo & Blackout, More Boo at the Zoo & Blackout, Chapter Meetings