Statistically Significant

Another week in the life of Hoxie.

I made some big moves in the world of graduate school applications this week, submitting applications to UNC Chapel Hill and Harvard. Berkeley should be submitted later today, which will make me more than halfway done with getting apps out the door. Hoping to finish all remaining apps later this week before heading home for the holidays!

The big event of the week was the arrival of a good friend of mine from high school, Caitlin. She’s applying to med school right now and had interviews at Tufts and Harvard. Rather than fork over the big bucks for a Boston hotel, she spent a few nights on an air mattress in the dining room. She and I were both pretty busy during the week, but yesterday we headed down to Harvard Square and had some fun Christmas shopping and getting some food. (Sadly, the only picture that we took was a candid shot on her iPhone in my pantry to appease her mom.)

While out Christmas shopping, I picked up a great game for myself that I’ve meaning to acquire for a while now: Set. Julia introduced me to Set last year, and we usually play a few games whenever we get together. Now that I own it, maybe she won’t trounce me quite as badly. Set is the Official Hoxie Holiday Gift Recommendation for Less Than $20 of 2009. Pick it up for the smart person in your life today.

And speaking of Julia, I’m heading down to her new apartment for a Chanukah party later this evening. I don’t think I’ve been to a Chanukah party since about sixth grade, when I got all of my gelt stolen and swore I’d never spin another dreidel, but I think tonight should be a little bit better.

Going back to Fort Lauderdale on Saturday, can’t wait!

Another week in the life of Hoxie. ‘Tis the season to be busy, and I never got around to posting last weekend, but there were a couple of quick things I wanted to mention:

First, my website has officially moved into Spot #1 on Google, so if you’re feeling lucky with “Hoxie Ackerman,” you get me! All it took was one link from another website to this one… Page Rank + unique name = awesome. In my second Bing search ever, it turns out that my Facebook page is still beating out my website in Microsoft Land, but I’m much more concerned with my Google standings.

Second, last weekend I had the pleasure of heading down to Quincy Market to meet up with fellow ex-Pine Crestian Caryn and The Touchtones, an all-female a cappella group coming to you straight from Cornell University. Despite the cold weather and the security guards who forced them to move after their first couple of songs (was it the out-of-control pyrotechnics and crowd surfing or the lack of a performance permit?), they persevered and sang some very cool stuff. Rock on! (I managed to snap two pictures on my cell phone before stuffing my hand back into my glove and pocket, check them out!)

And finally, although we still have a couple more weeks to go before it’s officially winter, it certainly feels/looks a lot like winter’s already here. We had some snowfall last weekend, and I’ve ridden my bike through single-digit temperatures to get to work at a couple of times. (Random phone pic I took of the Commons while riding by last weekend.) Brr!