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NEWS / FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2010 / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
VALENTINE'S DAY
Singles search for love at SUA speed dating event
BY ELLIOT METZ emetz@kansan.com
It seems like everyone has a favorite pick-up line.
And last night at Student Union Activities' Date Night, everyone was ready to use them. Some of the one-liners were brilliant in their simplicity. Michael Packard, a senior from Salina, went with the Anchorman classic, "Do you know who I am?"
On the other hand, some people decided it was best to go big or go home.
Molly Iler, a junior from Summit, N.J., opted to go big with her line "I'm pretty effing awesome. You should want this."
As KeSha's "Tik Tok" and Lady GaGa's "Bad Romance" echoed through the Hawk's Nest in the Kansas Union, 60 singles milled around hoping to, at the very least, have a good time.
Each table had a balloon with a playing card written on it, and after 10 minutes at a table, each single would receive a assignment for their next table in the form of corresponding playing card. The singles had a notecard on which they could write the name of anyone they were interested in talking to again. If there was mutual interest, the SUA workers of the event would send both singles an e-mail with the person's phone number.
But some people decided not to stick to the rules.
Michael Packard and Angela Sutton, a freshman from Marysville, got paired up at two tables in a row. With time running short at the last table, Packard went for the home run: he asked for her phone number and out to a dinner date at a Mexican restaurant.
Packard, however, considered last night their first official date.
"It will sure be a great story."
Sutton replied when she was asked how she would remember the night.
One topic on everyone's mind was the true value of Valentine's Day. Contrary to movie clichés, not all women are big fans of the holiday.
"I just don't like it at all," said Jeni Burrows, a freshman from Belle Plaine. "It's all about the teddy bears and the chocolate and the jewelry."
By that same token, there are men out there who place a high value the romantic holiday.
"I'm a romantic, so I love it," said Marcus Hollinger, a sophomore from Lexington, Ky., said. "The whole concept of love is starting to die out, and it's important that it stay strong. So whether I'm single, in a relationship or taking a woman out for the first time, I just love it."
Edited by Kelly Gibson
NATIONAL
Explosion under sidewalk sends flames up building
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — An explosion in a transformer underneath a Manhattan sidewalk sent flames up the front of a landmark building Thursday, shattering windows and blackening the front of several stories. No injuries were reported.
Fighthouses hose away broken glass in front of a blackened building at Sixth Avenue and 20th Street, after an electrical transformer underneath the sidewalk exploded Tuesday in New York.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Consolidated Edison spokesman Christopher Olert said the transformer was in a vault below the front of the seven-story building. An investigation was under way into the cause.
Deputy Fire Chief James Daly said firefighters were initially called out for a report of smoke coming out of a manhole.
Chance Dibben/KANSAN
He said firefighters had been out all night to deal with manhole fires because of runoff from snow and salt coming into contact with electrical grids below ground.
Carol Paplin, who works for an office furniture dealership on the sixth floor of the building on Sixth Avenue in the Chelsea district, said she detected a sulfur odor as she approached the building at 10:30 a.m., but as she got to the entrance the smell faded and she went inside.
Firefighters arrived at 10:44 a.m. to respond to the report of smoke and evacuated a Radio Shack store, Daly said.
Building workers were told via the public address system that there was a fire on the sidewalk but not to be alarmed, Paplin said.
About 11:20, the explosion happened, with the fireball reaching three stories high.
"It was a pretty powerful explosion," Daly said.
Another announcement instructed those in the building to evacuate using a back staircase.
About 50 to 100 people were evacuated from the building.
It took firefighters an hour and 45 minutes to bring the blaze under control, but Daly said there was minimal damage to the building because it is fireproof.
The building is part of the Ladies' Mile Historic District, so named for the shops and stores that were along parts of Broadway toward the end
The structure, known as the Simpson, Crawford and Simpson building,"is an incredibly important building historically and architecturally," said Elisabeth de Bourbon, spokeswoman for the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission.
of the 19th century. That area was given its designation in 1989.
Students at the SUA sponsored Date Night participate in speed dating Thursday night at the Hawk's Nest located on the first floor of the Kansas Union. The event drew more than 60 people looking for love and friendship.
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