How cold was it? This cold:

Click on the frosted mouse ears above (or click here) to see 57 of the 400 pictures I took over six days. And be thankful I spared you all the video…

See ya’ real soon!

The University of Pennsylvania, the Ivy League school founded by Benjamin Franklin, beat Harvard University’s endowment by choosing the right stock pickers, investing in credit strategies and boosting its Treasury bonds.

The Philadelphia university’s stocks outperformed market indexes, said Kristin Gilbertson, chief investment officer of the fund. Penn’s endowment fell 16 percent in the year ended June 30 to $5.2 billion, better than Harvard’s estimated 30 percent decline and the 26 percent loss for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, including dividends.

Penn, where endowment returns have funded 9 percent of the budget, has limited layoffs and spending cuts and will enter the school year with a balanced budget, President Amy Gutmann said this week. Investment losses at Harvard and Yale University, whose endowment declined an estimated 25 percent, have forced those universities to reduce budgets and fire workers. In the past year, endowment earnings covered more than a third of spending at Harvard and Yale, the wealthiest U.S. schools.

OK, so we’re crowing here about a 16% drop in value, but still – it could have been much worse. Way to go, Quakers!

The MST3K-like commentary is from a fellow band alum and her family.

First the slot machines, now this…

To be expected, I guess.  But here’s the part the geek in me found most fascinating:

Housing Services is also installing a “Laundry Alert System” by the end of October, [Penn spokeswoman Barbara] Lea-Kruger wrote. The system will allow residents to choose a laundry room based on availability of machines and will send out an alert when the laundry is completed.

I can see it now:  ”Hold on, Mom – I’ve got another call.  <Click> <Pause> <Click> That was the laundry machine – my whites are done.  I’ll call you later…”

Since this is the first time anyone has made such a request, I figured the least I could do is comply.

Mel Foreman – this post’s for you!

For the uninitiated, that button in the background is a representation of Claes Oldenburg & Coosje Van Bruggen’s Split Button, which sits in front of Van Pelt Library at the center of the University of Pennsylvania’s campus.

Penn grad in the art department, I take it?

(Hat tip: Zach Klitzman)

A Harvard Man and a Penn Man are standing at adjoining urinals. After both men finish urinating, the Harvard man goes to the sink to wash his hands, but the Penn man heads straight for the door.

Disgusted, the Harvard man says, “You know, at Harvard, they teach us to wash our hands after we go to the bathroom.”

The Penn man turns and replies, “Really? Well, at Penn, they teach us not to pee on our hands.”

The Harvard University Marching Band has set a Guinness World Record in October, 2006 by creating a baton measuring more than twelve feet long and using it to conduct the band during their halftime show.

As a proud alumnus of the University of Pennsylvania Band, I sent an e-mail to the band’s director, R. Greer Cheeseman III and it’s Assistant Director, Dr. Kushol Gupta, suggesting we show Harvard who’s boss by shattering the record at our homecoming game the following year.

What ensued was a coordinated four month effort by more than a dozen members of the Penn Band (including several engineers) to build the baton, issue a press release, and throw a kick-ass party after the game to celebrate (complete with actual batons for the kids and other cool souvenirs!).

Here’s a photo collection from the event, and here’s the video:

I’ve been helping the Penn Band to break a Guinness World Record:

Penn Band Attempts to Set Guinness World Record for Oversized Conductor’s Baton
October 18, 2007

Penn Band Attempts to Set Guinness World Record for Oversized Conductor’s Baton

WHO: University of Pennsylvania marching band
WHAT: Unveiling of 15 foot, 8 inch conductors baton
WHEN: Oct. 20, 2007, around 1 p.m.
WHERE: Franklin Field
33rd and Spruce streets

Penn’s marching band will unveil the world’s largest conductor’s baton during the halftime program at the Penn football game against Yale. The band has submitted the baton for inclusion in the Guinness Book of World Records. Band Director Greer Cheeseman will lead the band using the oversized, nearly 10-pound baton. Its more than 15 times the size of an ordinary baton, which weighs several ounces and is 12 to 16 inches long.

Band members, many of whom are engineering students, and alumni crafted the baton using wood and cork, the same materials as an ordinary baton.

For full coverage, including pictures and behind the scenes commentary, watch this space on Sunday…

UPDATE: Did I say Sunday? OK, so it’s late Tuesday night. Took a while to get the video done & uploaded. So sue me. Anyway, the full report (including links to pictures and video) is here.

“I just wanted to let everyone know that I am finally getting off this rock: I will blast into space as part of Space Shuttle mission STS-123, currently scheduled to launch on Feb. 14. I’ll perform a spacewalk, and then stay behind as a flight engineer on the International Space Station for expeditions 16 and 17. This long-duration spaceflight is planned for about six months. I promise to take a good group portrait when our orbit takes us over Philly: I’ll only have time to take one shot, so don’t blink.”

Godspeed, Garrett Reisman. Sorry you’ll be missing the reunion this year, but it sounds like you’ve got a pretty good excuse.