Pestilent Platitudes: A last promenade around Madison, for awhile...

After being in Madison, Wis. since the Clinton presidency, I've finally decided to head out and make the move to a far away, exotic city of...Chicago.

I'll miss this town, but won't be too far away from the familiarities of the Midwest. I'll be just west of Wicker Park and east of Humboldt Park. Yeah, in 2 days I'll be a FIB.

Looking Back when I started my undergrad here in 2000:

- Tuition per semester was $1,700, as opposed to nearly $3,000 today
- People whined that Clinton was too conservative. Well, that hasn't changed in Madison.
- The U.S. was not embroiled in a war.
- Al Gore was boring.
- Cafe Assisi was the popular coffee institution located above what is now the Reebok store. I miss that cafe.
- Students learned our grades via a computer-generated voice over the phone. She got pissed when C's were earned.
- I could still smoke a cigarette in dive bars.
- The world trade center was still standing.
- The U.S. had a budget surplus.
- Swing dancing was the hip thing to do, and people listened to ska.

Much has changed. In a way, Madison seems more yuppyish, and I've definitely become more libertarian. (I toyed with socialism while a freshman; it was a phase, along with philosophy classes...).

Today, in the midst of packing my things, I biked around to check out a few of my favorite things. Among them:

Memorial Union (duh)