THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2005
WWW.KANSAN.COM
Televisions at recreation center a waste of money
PAGE 5A
Have you been to the Student Recreation Fitness Center lately? Have you seen the new televisions on the exercise machines? Did you read that great quote in the Kansan last week about how students love the televisions mounted on the elliptical machines?
oat, oat
Rachelle Saathoff, Lawrence sophomore said, "I'd rather just listen to music. For me, it's too hard to concentrate on TV when you're working out," in the Aug. 24, 2005 edition of the Kansan.
Apparently while working out, people were complaining that they were being forced to watch a channel they didn't like, said Mary Chappell, director of Recreation Services.
I'm glad with all the budget cuts, we still have enough money to fix the leaky roof
DAN HOYT
opinion@kansan.com
and add televisions to the exercise equipment.
We must have the best Student Recreation Fitness Center around if the only thing we can do to improve it is put televisions on the machines.
Maybe next week we could buy more fancy, cool and expensive equipment or maybe we could just buy two more bench presses so we don't have to wait in line for 45 minutes to use one.
After thinking about it, however, I decided the televisions sound much cooler. Next week, I'll bring my Xbox
and play Halo 2 while using the treadmill. That would be cool!
Or next year, let's just get the University to pay to have an Xbox mounted onto the treadmill.
That would be even better! Maybe we can get them to option for old school Nintendo, and then we can play Track and Field right on the treadmill! It'd be like running virtually and physically.
Or maybe we could get some Dance Dance Revolution's in the recreation center!
That's sort of like exercising, right?
I don't watch much TV but I do play a lot of video games and I think that would be a cool way to spend several hundred dollars.
Spending that money would be easily worth it. After all,
it'd be a cosmic tragedy if I had to do an entire workout and not watch the latest episode of, The Biggest Loser on MTV.
I would just die if I wasn't entertained for an hour or so while I rode a stationary bicycle.
OK. Now, I'll be serious. These are all dumb ideas. I can't ever imagine having so much money that I would buy an elliptical machine with a television mounted on it. Why does the recreation center seem to think we need, not just one, but several television-mounted treadmills? I want another bench press.
Last year, an article ran on the opinion page about the University using Band-Aid solutions to fix problems like overcrowding in the recreation center and at the Wescoe Underground.
It takes a good 45 minutes to get on one of those and I bet they could buy three new bench presses for the price of one of those unnecessary televisions.
Instead of using that money maybe the rec center could have saved the it for something it could use later when it's adding onto the building.
But, even in Wescoe Underground, there is a nice big, LCD flat screen television hanging off a pillar.
Only a small number of people can see the television, and they don't pay attention to it.
Why did it have to be such a nice television? Why couldn't we get a used television if it was going to be in such a useless place?
less place. I'd bet that most of you didn't know there was a television in the Wescoe Underground.
All I'm asking is that we don't buy dumb, unnecessary things when we have better places to spend money.
I just want the people making the decisions about what to do with our money to consider if what they are buying is necessary or a waste of money.
Hoyt is an Spearville junior in journalism.
Free for All
Call 864-0500
For all callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. Kansan editors reserve the right to omit comments. Slanderous and obscene statements will not be printed. Phone numbers of all incoming calls are recorded.
Welcome to the University of Kansas, Brandon Rush, and you complete the fab four. Can't wait for basketball season!
Thank you Free for All editor for the editor's note!
I hate the parking department, and here's why: I just saw that they have spies. I saw a guy write a freakin' ticket, and then he went to class. He put on his bag, and went to class. A spy!
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My American studies professor hates America. They should change the name to Anti-American studies.
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Actually, it was more because BTK sent a computer disk to his church than because of DNA testing that he got caught.
Ryan Good is completely insane, the biggest tragedy since 9/11 was losing to Bucknell last season.
So I was wondering how many countries will come to our aid with the hurricane, kind of like we did with the tsunami.
Using produce and county fairs to defend Kansas isn't the best defense, Erica Prather.
Thanks to the Japanese guy in the library who taught me how to say "You're hot" in Japanese!
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For all you military protestors out there, move your ass to Cuba and see how you like a real dictator.
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Hey, Ryan Good, there is no way the NCAA reversal on its ban should be even mentioned next to 9/11. Get a clue, man.
Free for All should get it own section.
I just saw a Lawrence cop turn on their lights just to get through a traffic light, and then they turned them off. That's not fair. Isn't that illegal?
There is a Kansan editor who wants to go to Missouri for the weekend. This is unacceptable!
What's the singular sense of shambooze? (Editor's note:
I shambooze. You shamboozle. He shambozles.
We shambooze. You all shambozle. They shambooze.)
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I don't know what's cooler: a DU calling the Free for All after-parties, or a DU digging?
I don't know what's cooler: a DU calling the Free for All about after-parties, or a DU giggling?
Why do people bitch about military recruiters on campus, but not about the Mormons on campus?
Just hit it and forget it, man. Hit it and forget it.
The most annoying thing about the crossword puzzle is that sometimes you don't have enough squares so you have to write really small.
You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake.
You must know of the ninja. Fact. The ninja is a mammal. Ninjas fight all the time. The purpose of a ninja is to flip out and kill people.
Free For All, what's up? It's me again. Dude, what happened this weekend? I called you never called me back! We had fun anyway, it was cool. Well, we might be getting some food later, so just call me back Free For All. So... yeah! Just call me back. Awesome.
I don't know what's cooler: a GDI or a DU pre-pre-party
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Free For All, why are the Fraser elevators slower than Mangino in the 100 meter dash?
I was walking around campus, and I noticed a lot of people on crutches. Must be all the fights breaking out at Abe and Jake's on Saturday nights.
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Freshman 15? I've lost two pounds since moving to Lawrence. I love those hills!
Chancellor Bob, keep sitting in your ivy tower whilst your subjects await their hotdog cart! You've ignored our pleas for far too long! You will rue the day you left us bereft of our beloved hotdog cart.
And I woke up with my cowboy boots still on.
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▼ TALK TO US
I think the question isn't how well the football team will play, but where do I need to go to get tickets for the bowl game? Game Mangino!
I live and die by my love for New York city, and my disdain for Kansas and the Midwest, but I must say that the article by Erica Prather to New Yorkers was probably the best thing I ever read in the Kansan. It completely changed my outlook,
Jonathan Kealing, managing editor
864-4844 or jealking at kansan.com
Austin Caster, editor
864-4543 or acaster@kansan.com
thanks, Erica!
John Morgan, sales director
864-4462 or addirector@kansan.
com
I'm from Florida, and yes, we do have hurricane days.
Sarah Connelly, business manager 864-4014 or adddirector@kansan.com
You know what's crap? Basketball players and football players on scholarship getting in bar fights all the time while the rest of us work our butts off to pay tuition.
Thanks for making us look like Mizzou basketball players and students by beating people up all the time. Come on, KU.
Matthew Sevik, opinion editor
84-4924 or msevk@iansan.com
Malcolm Gibson, general manager,
news adviser
864-7667 or mgibson@kansan.com
adviser
884-7666 or jweaver@kansan.com
Jennifer Weaver, sales and marketing
adviser
weaver@kansas.com
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We can't even get away from television at the Rec!
Kevin McKernan/KANSAN
HUMP DAY
Your boyfriend has crabs
Columnist's Note: Hump Day is the most important collaboration of words since the Constitution. Every two weeks, I will tackle a subject with the intent to provide advice for all students seeking help with relationships and doing the nasty.
ERIC JORGENSEN opinion@kansan.com
A troubled freshman girl came to me last weekend with a problem. She asked to remain anonymous.
For this column we will refer to her as "Bemily." Bemily asked, "Eric, I have a boyfriend back home. We don't go to the same school now, what should I do?"
I will tell you what I told her:
Give him the ol' heave-ho. Any freshman girl, or any girl for that matter, who has a boyfriend more than 10 miles away, needs to cut the anchor and start partaking in a little thing we call college.
There are many good reasons to leave hometown Harry. I will tell you two.
First of all, he's cheating on you.
The odds that your high school sweetie is sitting on his couch, staring forward, thinking only of you are about as rare as finding Courtney Love out of rehab.
tures or your hepatitis results, he's telling his boys how he was doing the no-pants dance with Swamp Thing's ugly sister.
Then, while you are showing your roommates your prom pie-
The fact is, while you are playing little Miss Faithful, he's out getting busy with some random girl who he will regret when he wakes up with a burning sensation in the worst possible place.
I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news, ladies. You just need to face reality. This is not high school anymore.
Your boyfriend is not going to open your locker or write you sappy little notes. He does
"While you are showing your roommates your prom pictures, he's telling his boys how he was doing the no-pants dance with Swamp Thing's ugly sister."
And you know alcohol is not going to tell him to leave the
not have to leave your house by midnight. He can stay drunker than Nick Nolte at a German beer festival until he goes home for Thanksgiving.
Brazilian twins alone.
It plays out like this. You will go out to dinner. Then you will probably pick up the check, because he lost all his money in a "peeing-for-distance" competition. Then you hook up.
There are literally thousands of eligible bachelors at the University of Kansas waiting for you to become available. Ladies, you need to embrace this, and them, in a night of kinky, roommate-waking sex.
What happens when you see him again?
Another reason you need to lose the guy back home is simple. You can't tell me there isn't at least one guy on campus you wouldn't strip all your clothes and inhibitions for.
To prove your hometown boyfriend is not the one, I have a test for you. Walk up to the guy in class, across the hall, or whomever you have been eyeing. Go right up to him, look him in the eye and say, "I only want to have sex with my boyfriend for the rest of my life." I guarantee you can't do it.
Great, now you have crabs,
too! See what happens when
you come to college with a
boyfriend? You end up with an
itchy case of V.D.
To Bemily, and all the other girls with long-distance relationships: Don't risk getting crabs. Break up with your hometown boyfriend.
Eric Jorgensen is a Baldwin City junior in Journalism.
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