Boo to parking restrictions and road closures. A good half (which also happens to be the half that’s closest to the Tempe campus) of Lot 59 has been closed this past week to allow for the laying down of new asphalt. While we recognize that this is probably good in the long run (no more potholes or cracks, and nice new painted parking-spot lines), it sure has sucked trying to battle the other hundreds of students for half as many parking spots as are usually available. Not to mention, Mill Avenue is still torn up on the west side of the Tempe campus, Rio Salado Parkway between Rural Road and McClintock Drive is closed during nights as of yesterday, and Mill Avenue between University Drive and Third Street is closed today and the rest of the weekend for the Spring Festival of the Arts. Maybe it really is time we break out our trusty Razor scooter.
Bravo to Twitter.com, the micro-blogging sensation that is sweeping the nation. The popular social-networking Web site has been around for a while, but it has finally caught on with a new crowd: older people. More and more politicians and celebrities (and parents and professionals) are jumping aboard daily. With our senior generations starting to tweet to their hearts’ content, the site has quickly become the world’s latest “it” thing. If nothing else, it is worth it to follow Shaq’s ongoing hilarity, including Dairy Queen pictures and “Random Acts of Shaqness.” (And yes, all of the previous sentences contain 140 characters or less.)
Boo to downtown Phoenix parking meters. Their formerly low rate of $0.60 per hour and convenient 5 p.m. shut-off time will be missed. Next time we’re forced to drive downtown (either because we’re running too late to catch the light rail or because classes require an unwieldy load of books), we will undoubtedly bemoan our lack of quarters. $1.50 an hour? That sounds like the highway robbery we’ve come to expect at the Tempe campus. And if our outrage seems disproportionate to what may only amount to a few cents, remember this: We could be using that change toward some ramen noodles — the only dinner we can afford anyway.
Bravo to Charli Turner Thorne’s women’s basketball team for its unlikely run to the Sweet 16. It is one thing to lose your leading scorer in the last regular-season game of the year, but it’s quite another to have your career-assists leader and the heart and soul of your team go down in the second half of a game in which you are trailing a highly ranked foe. Every player on the team has pitched in to fill the void left by Dymond Simon, and when Briann January had to leave in the second half of the team’s game against Florida State on Monday, the Sun Devils rose when the chips were down in a thrilling come-from-behind win. Here’s hoping for a dance in the Elite Eight.
