Secrets of the Sweet 16 Revealed!

Plan on watching the games at your local bar? Bring along one or two of these “did you know” facts about the Sweet 16 to cheer up your buddies as their brackets implode.

By Sanjay Acharya via Wikimedia Commons

Wichita State – The original Pizza Hut was opened in Wichita in 1958 by two enterprising students. The name? They were told the restaurant looked like…well, you can guess the rest. The building was relocated to the campus from its downtown location and serves as an inspiration to undergrads:  ”if you build it, they will eat it.”

The Persistence of Food

The upcoming release of the flick “Looper” has sparked conversations about the possibility of time travel. Physicists discount the notion – something about the improbability of quarks, black holes and sun spots occurring simultaneously to produce the necessary quantum vector spatial shift.

Scientific mumbo jumbo. Time travel’s as simple as queuing up “California Dreamin’” on Spotify. WHOOSH!! I’m back in Colgate University’s pub, creatively named The Pub. The jukebox is pumping out the Mamas and Papas (it was stocked with music in 1965 and no one ever updated the selections), and I’m downing a quarter draft, waiting for the presidential debate between Dukakis and Bush Sr.

Beer Hall Throwdown in Munich: Hofbrauhaus vs. Augustiner

He’d lost his Tyrolean hat at some point during the evening but didn’t seem to notice as he lay in my lap mumbling, “Bella. Bella.” Since I don’t speak German and his English was poor, he decided to throw out some Italian, the international language of love.

Looking for an authentic beer hall experience in Munich? Try the Augustiner brewery for a chance to get up close and personal (maybe a bit too personal?) with the locals.

Philadelphia: A 24-Hour Tasting Menu

Philadelphia’s recent marketing campaign is crafted to combat its reputation as the poor red-headed stepcousin of every other American city.

“Eat me” would have worked too.

Field of Dreams: A Visit to Training Camp

Preseason football games can’t really be considered games since no one cares who wins or loses. The starters participate for a limited number of series and, even with the restricted play, run the risk of season-ending injury. I avoid watching them and never attend. Why should I start the negative thinking in July when it’s still possible to remain optimistic that maybe, just maybe, this is our year to be Super Bowl Champions? A girl’s got a right to dream.

Bowled Over

My sister moved to Poland in February 2011, a two-year corporate reassignment. She’s based in Wroclaw, formerly Breslau, Germany. The town of Boleslawiec (Say it 3 times fast. I dare you.) is located approximately 120 kilometers from Wroclaw and is famous for the handcrafted pottery produced there for over 350 years, according to the Museum of Ceramics.  I attempted a visit but was thwarted at the train station. Of the thirty or so people milling about, no one spoke enough English to convince me that the train I was about to board was the right one. Because I only had three days in Poland, I could not afford to wake up from my travel nap in a distant, unidentifiable, unpronounceable eastern European burg.