You may have trouble making the trek from Hamilton to Butler without losing blood circulation, but the winter has its merits. Bwog strives to maintain its record of being jolly (even with purple fingers!). Including a few old faves, consider:

Garb:

Break out of your pre-finals slump and head over to Hewitt Dining Hall for WBAR’s Winter Formal for free unidentified giveaways, in addition to the free music and fun. Featured artists include Amen Dunes, Sweet Bulbs, Sleepies, Mr. Dream, and Midnight Magic. The Facebook event promises lots of dancing, so for all those tired of grinding in Campo, go get your grind on in Hewitt. The Village Voice seems to care about this event, and so should you! Doors open at 8.

But if dance parties aren’t your thing, check out a musical showcase hosted by Youth for Debate in Wien Lounge at 9 PM. Cupcakes, cookies, cider, and hot chocolate will be served in abundance!

Photo via Wikimedia Commons

Goodbye lawns, we barely knew ye. See you in the spring!

They’re baaaack!

Photo by DH

From the largest interdisciplinary fortress to the tiniest of urban meadows, no news is irrelevant. It’s about the bigger picture.

A broken chain has been spotted on Low Plaza, trespass while you can!

There is construction going on outside Nussbaum & Wu, so there is no outside seating (perhaps irrelevant in these current climes)

Butler Cafe was awarded an A grade in a sanitary inspection. Bwog abounds in Blue Java Pride.

There are men up in the trees, stringing lights for Christmas. If you’re lucky you’ll catch a test run.

Best of the Rest:

Entrance to the North-West Science building has been revealed. It is surprisingly roomy north-west-a-ways.

Pinnacle is undergoing transformation into Uni Café… it will probably still be kind of gross.

Is it boring? It is newsworthy! Boring Sides to tips@bwog.com

Alma Mater was spotted protesting Facilities’ proclamation of winter’s arrival last night.

45 degrees out, no signs of heat in most dorms, and the Christmas lights are going up.

Photo by JYH

It’s past noon, and you have no ambition to get out of your pajamas or stop mindlessly staring at your computer screen. This can only mean one thing–it’s time for Saturday Morning Cartoons!

Cartoons by Abigail Santner

Photo by Kate Linthicum

March is coming in like a Columbia lion, says Bwog’s personal meteorologist, albeit more like a Lion that actually wins once in a while.

Those sad suits at local TV stations are predicting one last whopper of a snowstorm for us in Manhattan.  8-12 inches of snow by 6:00 PM tomorrow, and perhaps a fair share of sleet, too.

So enjoy that little bit of hope when, tomorrow morning, bright-eyed and shaggy-haired for your 9:00 AM seminar, you think, just for a moment, that classes are canceled.

And since they won’t be, you can tell your folks over spring break how you trudged through the snow while PrezBo rode a sleigh a block and a half.

Shaky snowboarders

After all the hubub, nothing made more sense than to check out Winter Jam NYC yesterday.  The city government promised such exciting things as “The Future of Snowboarding Invitational” (original caps), an ice climbing wall, and trampoline entertainment, the last of which has no connection to winter as far as we can tell.

Upon arriving at the park, we were greeted by city park officials’ awkward grammatical constructions (“People who don’t–not–have kids with them can’t go through here”) meant to guide us through narrow gaps in the cement walls.  The park was covered in turf and topped with a layer of rather melty, muddy man-made snow.  Bored parents shepherded their children, many of whom were confounded by the complex social construction that is the Snowball Fight.

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As the revelries in Pittsburgh died down last night, a crowd of 13,000 gathered 65 miles northeast of the Super Bowl champions’ city to wait for the groundhog Punxsutawney Phil to predict how longer the winter will last. If the groundhog does not see its shadow, myth has it that spring will come early, an event that has only taken place 15 times since 1887. Sadly, the massive rodent cast a shadow and thus unknowingly predicted that winter will last another six weeks.

Bwog is wary of daring to question Phil’s prediction, but for the optimists out there, today’s weather would suggest that perhaps there’s been a fluke. See for yourself and join your squinting classmates on Low Steps as they wander outside into the sun for the first time since October.

We at Bwog are always on the lookout for useful websites. Bwog daily editor Eliza Shapiro brings us the backstory on GlovesIFound.com.

On one chilly day in early December, Brian Donahoe, CC ’12, was walking from John Jay to Hamilton when he happened upon a glove on the ground. He contemplated it for a moment, and decided not to pick it up, but then he got to thinking. “I thought about how it would never be reunited with its other half and I thought…I can make this better,” Donahoe tells Bwog triumphantly. Donahoe launched GlovesIFound shortly after with one simple goal: to reunite gloves found around Columbia’s campus and the greater metropolitan area with their owners.

Since December, Donahoe and a motley crew of uber-observant freshmen have snatched up abandoned gloves all over the place. They then post a picture of the glove and where it was found. This same group has also plastered the John Jay lobby with homemade posters. One depicts a drunk glove, a stoned glove, and two gloves having sex, reading: “its 11:47, do you know where your gloves are?” Another promotes the site as “the new Facebook.” So keep your eyes peeled for gloves, Bwog readers, Donahoe tells us they’re everywhere “if you just look for them.” Oh, the possibilities! 

Things slow down before reading week, but there’s plenty of winter cheer and music to look forward to.

Monday

Crash Test Dummies: We all love those slow-motion videos of dummies in cars, but what about the science of engineering for safety?  11:00 AM @ Davis Aud, Schapiro.

Tuesday

Columbia Classical Performers: Morningside’s musicians come out of the woodwork to give another splendid concert.  6:30 PM @ Philosophy Lounge.

Thursday

Tree Lighting and Yule Log Ceremony: Columbia’s annual winter traditions are back.  Hot chocolate, shiny lights, and Quigley’s Quaint Countdown.  5:45 PM @ College Walk.

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After saving so much cash earlier today, Bwog thought to splurge a little.  To reward ourselves after a rigorous day of studying, Bwog was in the mood for something warm and hearty.  Unfortunately Casa Fiesta refried beans didn’t cut it.  A second trip to Westside, however, yielded the makings of a gourmet dinner.  If you’re lucky and have extra time on your hands tomorrow night, Bwog suggests making a Pork Chop with Pomegranate and Fennel Salsa for your Sunday supper.

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Here is another joyful indication of the approaching holiday season: yesterday, local mom-and-pop coffee shop Starbucks began its annual tradition of serving coffee in wintry red cups. Bwog doesn’t even like Starbucks, and yet there’s something about Red Cup Day that makes us inordinately happy.

So, take your red cupped hot chocolate and take a stroll amongst College Walk’s secular tree lights. After all, whether it feels like winter or not (and today it definitely does not), classes end in a month!