Jared’s Blog 

Sometimes I engage in things that are…well for lack of a better word ridiculous. This time I am speaking about a secret event called “Operation Over The Top.” Let me explain:

Eight weeks ago, my best friend Ross Frye was challenged to an arm wrestling competition by one of his friends. With his competitive nature he decided to make it an epic event by allowing for a training period of 7 weeks.

Needless to say we decided to take the event over the top by creating T shirts, work out regiments, and weekly strategy sessions:

(This is a picture of, from left to right, Ross Frye and Bill Holt–Ross Frye’s coach and arguably the strongest guy on campus [it should be noted that Bill is also # 1 in his six year doctoral physical therapy class, bringing a entirely new meaning to muscle head]) –Sorry Ladies, they are both taken men.

We decided to hold the event at Humphry’s Bar and Grill, SLU main 21+ hang out. After a fierce battle with adrenaline and Judas Priest blaring Ross was eventually defeated. We spent the rest of the night at Humps, as it is affectionately known, rocking out with our “Team Frye” tshirts on:

Team Frye before the event

Lets just say the event was so Epic that people who I don’t even know came up later in the week and asked me about the results for “Operation Over The Top.”

Team Frye After The event

Ross and his competitor during the Epic Battle.

This week I was treated to two amazing meals by a good friend of mine, John Lamb who works with SLU’s Theatre department designing all of the publications and running the Box office, and by one of my Professors Neil Hackett.

For both meals we traveled one block East to Pappy’s, a Mephsis Style BBQ house. I call it a house instead of a restaurant because the atmosphere of the eatery makes you instantly feel like you have been their a hundred times before and the staff treats you as if you were an old friend. The shop is set up with more traditional seating in the front and a set of large picnic tables, complimenting the standard blues music, causing spontaneous head bobbing to the beat, in the back.

One word of advice, don’t let the long lines scare you away. From my limited visits I have come to realize that Pappy’s is use to a packed house as they tear through huge lines in not time flat.

As far as the food is concerned, some may claim that I do not have a refined palate due to the standard college canned vegetable and Romin noodle diet but let me assure you that the food is both tasty and affordable.

Pappy’s is just another one of the reasons why I love living in St. Louis, some may never realize it but we are within a walk skip or jump (depending on your preferred form of locomotion) from just about everything you could ever want.

Bottom Line Pappy’s BBQ is comfortable, casual, affordable, and most of all delicious.

I’m Pretty sure the guy in the Red shirt is Pappy, Owner and founder, and that the Guy in the light blue jacket is a member of or Department of Public Safety (one of the campus police officers) But I could be wrong.

Finally, St. Louis Spring is here! I love spring time on campus, the blooming trees and floors give off the best smell and people are starting to come out in the quad in droves. The bad part is that this is crunch time for most students so while we want to be lounging around, such as in the following picture, we are stuck in completing assignments that should have been started months ago :

P.S I thouroughly enjoyed that Ice Cream cone I got from Griesedieck Cafeteria. In case you were wondering, its swirl.

Even with all of my homework, I did make it out to the SLU V. Wash U rugby game held on campus. There must have been 120 students there at the game cheering SLU on. I want to give a shout out to one of my friends, Chris Luyster, who rocked a couple of guys with some amazing tackles.

(Hes the guy on the far left with the crazed look in his eyes)

On a different note one thing you should know is that the guys I live with are die-hard soccer fans. Which means that we are all Grade A cheerers. Wouldn’t you know that in the second half my roommates and I got a penalty called against SLU for heckling the other team. Opps. Regardless of the penalty, SLU went on to Destroy Wash U 21 to ZERO

This week was a little odd:

First the Midwest was struck by an earthquake…No, I am not kidding. Apparently it was 5.4 on the Richter scale. I unfortunately slept through it (probably due to the fact that I sleep on the top bunk, and I simply assumed the shaking was my roommate having a really bad dream)

I finally finished my Criminal Justice Capstone paper. It has been a huge stressor and I couldn’t be happier that it is done (well technically it is not 100% completed until I finish polishing it up and get it turned in).

Yesterday was a Campus wide event called Relay for Life. More than a third of the campus turns out every year to help raise awareness and money for fighting cancer. It is an all night affair, so most people are probably drained this morning.

On a different note, I saw a sign in the Busch Student Center the other day that said 10 class days left…As a graduating senior this is exciting and terrifying all at the same time. But lamenting about college will have to come on a different post.

Two amazing things happened this past week:

First, my good friend Kevin Crookshank and I competed in the St. Louis Marathon, completing 26.2 miles in a time of 3:54:59.

This is a shot of the start of the race with my good friend Kevin who ran the entire race with me. Notice how happy we are:

This is Kevin and me at the end of the race. Notice how unhappy we are… Congratulations to Kevin for pounding out his first marathon in under 4 hours!

Second, the new Chaifetz Arena opened on campus.

It looks AMAZING! I was so impressed by the size and the quality.

During the event, Anheuser Busch held free tastings of their food and beer products at Lorenzini’s, Needless to say, Ben and I had an amazing time.

The St. Louis Marathon starts tomorrow morning at 7, and I am suffering from pre-race jitters. I have been training for several months now and am physically ready for the race. But last year’s fiasco has left me a little timid about the race.

After being inspired by my father, who ran half-marathons during his four years in the Air Force, I decided to test my perseverance and dedication by signing up for the St. Louis Marathon last year:

On the day of the marathon, I found myself making idle chitchat with other runners also waiting for the race to begin. When the horn sounded, I immediately found myself among a mass of athletes. The marathon challenged every part of my being and revealed a part of me that I did not know existed. I was able to maintain a good pace during the first 17 miles and was actually ahead of my target four-hour time until mile 18. The crowd of runners in conjunction with the narrowing street forced me onto the outskirts of the lane, where I stepped into an open sewer grate twisting my ankle. I was faced with two options. I could call for assistance and be transported back to the start or I could continue under my own power for the remaining eight miles. I decided to push through the pain, stay focused, and try to complete the marathon in less than four hours. As I approached the last half-mile, I could see the race clock ticking away towards four hours. Though injured and exhausted, my perseverance and commitment paid off when I crossed the finish line with a time of three hours and fifty-eight minutes and fifty-nine seconds. I would not find out until a week later that I had actually fractured my ankle at mile 18.

Soooooo… the goal for this race — on top of a time of 3:55 — is to end uninjured!

Let me tell you about my favorite Thursday night activity. Located on SLU’s campus is a restaurant called Iggy’s Cantina. On top of having good food, Iggy’s is also home to the Thursday night scene at SLU. Thanks largely impart to a band named “Griffin and the Gargoyles.”

The first time I saw Griffin and the Gargoyles was during Welcome Week this past summer. The band rocked out at Grand Center for the first annual SLU Block Party:

I was pretty impressed by these guys at the event and I was blown away when I discovered they were going to be playing every Thursday at the local SLU cantina. I was even more shocked when I discovered that the lead Singer, Garland Griffin, graduated from SLU!

The highest compliment I can give “Griffin and the Gargoyles” is the following statement:

The only reason I go out on Thursday nights is because of “Griffin and the Gargoyles.” Keep up the good work guys, I’ll see you on Thursday.

It took coming to college to enjoy the meaning of spring break. I’m not sure about the rest of you, but my little school, Gibault in Waterloo, Ill., never got a spring break. So this year I decided to make the most of it by heading west to Colorado for snow skiing. Along the way I discovered a couple of interesting things:

1) Kansas and Eastern Colorado are the most boring states to drive through in the history of mankind.

2) Gas is really expensive.

3) Fact: Alcohol affects you twice as much at higher altitudes.

4) Double Black Diamonds are not something you put on your finger. (Consequently we all had an “OMG, what were we thinking?” moment.)

5) Shaking carbonated beverages really does cause them to shoot out all over the place.

7) Wearing sunscreen is a MUST on the mountain. Notice any sunburn?

6) Wearing a helmet while skiing saved my life a couple of times because I was doing things like what I’m doing in the following pictures:

7) A trip’s success depends more on the people you spend it with then the activity you do. I would like to give a shout-out to:

Morgan Muller (man, it really smells like what’s up in here), Sara Bronder (in fact the entire Sweeney and Bronder family, thanks for picking us up, Jamie), Elise G’Sell, and Ben Yorke

The weather has finally turned relatively nice, which is the reason why I have not been up to date with my blog. I have spent as much time outside as possible via running, walking to my class, walking with friends, or walking to my friends classes. Tomorrow is supposed to be around 70 and I cannot wait! So the newest buzz on campus is about spring break, I think every SLU student is ready to shake the cabin fever. 

I guess another reason for my absence of blogs has been the insane amounts of reading I have done lately. Be it ancient Greece or Probation and Parole policy, my senior year is keeping me quite busy.

So yesterday I took an hour out of my week to tackle the obscure things that I have needed to do for over 3 months, like finally doing laundry (ok that is a semi joke), sowing a seam on my favorite shirt, or finally organizing all of my school paperwork and emails that has accumulated. I think im going to make it a once a month tradition to have an obscure chore night.

Time for a quick update:

1) So apparently the weather people we some what correct in their predictions, although the snow isn’t sticking around.

2) As of today we are one month away from the marathon, man where did the time fly.

3) My midterm week is shaping up to be a breeze, which is amazing because I cannot wait for Spring Break!!

4) I finally finished with a project for my work that took approximately 38 hours to complete.

5) I have been constantly adding to my list of people I need to take out for a drink/have coffee with sometime (that includes you Lauren, Kelsey, and Rehan) (although I do not enjoy hot drinks, which is not a problem anymore thanks to starbucks and their 3,000 calorie Mocha Icies)

 6) Speaking of coffee, through an unfortunate mix up with my roommate, I recently discovered that Diet Coke should add and new Coffee flavor to their brand.

7) Starting yesterday a good friend of mine, Ryan Weesin, will be spending the weekend with us on one of our lovely couches (we even fabreezed the place for him). He graduated in December and is currently perusing a career in production management and promotions for large recording artists.

And most importantly my Little Brother Is going up for his Eagle Scout Award tonight and I couldn’t be Prouder!

Happy Thursday!

P.S Grandma, the apple butter was Delicious! but unfortunately it didn’t last long in our apartment of hungry boys.