the scavenger

Last week, the uni (it's what Australians call college) had Orientation-week.  O-week was something I never paid attention to at Davis (did we even have such a thing?), but here it's a big deal.  Some +150 booths full of clubs and companies trying to recruit with enticing items and giveaways for 3 days.  3 days of wandering students, 3 days of looking at campus maps, and 3 days of free BBQ.  That's right, with every big club that can afford it, comes with a BBQ that lures you into learning about something (usually not BBQ).  Oh, the deceit! The deception!  You mean... you're not white? (10 points for knowing the movie reference)

... Well, I've always been one to rise above the influence and seeing my situation as a starving student, who was I not to take advantage of the system.  Sociology Major BBQ? Yes, I'm taking sociology 101.  Women's Right BBQ?  Yes, separate but equal.  Catholic BBQ? Yes, say hi to the big guy.


And as a connoisseur of free food, I'm well accustomed to incomplete burger patties and 2 bottom halves of the buns.  But in Sydney, they do it well.  I'm talking about sausages, and good ones at that.  There's no frozen, pre-cooked, need to be boiled, cylinders of pink; these are all hot, juicy and fresh-off-the-iron sausages.

hello gorgeous

Though that was not the thing that won me over..  At every free BBQ, there was always someone to offer grilled onions.  GRILLED ONIONS!!  the only place I can think of that even offers grilled onions is In-N-Out... and you have to order that from the 'secret menu'.   And to add to this ingenious they've replaced the hot dog buns with a slice of bread!  A SLICE OF BREAD!!! lets dig deeper and look at the pros and cons of this technology:

Bread Slice:

Arrows: Not to Scale

Pros:

1. Delicious and Fresh (due to short shelf life)
2. Flexible to fit the hand and ergonomic goals
3. Due to the porous nature of bread, it absorbs ketchup evenly
4. When placed diagonally, the sausage: carb ratio is optimal.  Also, when biting on one end, the other end doesn't spill out and prevents the 'grenade effect' (source needed).
5. The corners that stick up, act as a reservoir for the grilled onions.

Cons:

1. Texas Toast is unheard of.

Hot Dog Bun:

Why would you eat this?

Pros:

1. It is made of bread

Cons:

1. It sucks.

Anyways, so now that classes have begun, I'm reminiscent of the good old Davis days: hanging out on the quad, late night trips to McDonalds, yelling at people in bike circles, etc... and in that instant I've realized, I'm a grad student.  Has my outlook on studying changed?... well i'm supposed to be reading papers, but instead I've written this.