How to beat the post-spring break blues? Free food, of course!

Spring break is over [single tear]. But mother nature and CU have thrown you a bone in the form of beautiful weather and ample free food. Here are some of the best bets for this week:

First Descents Club CU Meeting
If free food isn't enough to get you out of the house, how about a Cosmo's 2008 bachelor of the year and an opportunity to do good in the great outdoors?

When? Monday, March 29, 7 pm
Where? UMC Room 415, CU Campus
What? Seriously, look at this guy. I hear his name is Brad Ludden. I also hear that, in addition to being deemed "sexy" by a popular ladymag, he also helps cancer survivors by taking them on kayaking trips and other adventures. I also hear that there will be free food at this organizational meeting.


Culture Sip: Afro-Brazilian Culture
What does Brazil taste like? I don't know, but I really want to find out...
When? Thursday, April 1, 2 pm
Where? Dennis Small Cultural Center, UMC Room 457, CU Campus
What? The CU Capoeira Angola Club will be performing (that's fighting + dancing + music, yo!) and serving up some Brazilian treats. Yum!



BONUS: Stealth Free Food Opportunity -- Aerospace Engineering Sciences - K.D. Wood Colloquium, "Design Assessment on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's 4th Anniversary at Mars," presentation by Jim Chapel of Lockheed Martin Space Systems"

There's no free food advertised, but this colloquium is at noon, and we all know that the aerospace engineering department has more money than the j-school...
When? Wednesday, March 31, 12 pm
Where? Bechtel Collaboratory, Discovery Learning Center, 1095 Regent Drive, CU Campus
What? The location alone is enough to peak my interest...there's really a room called a "collaboratory" at CU? Yes, there is. And in that room you can learn how one designs a satellite that collects imagery of Mars down to a 30 cm resolution. Keep your ears peeled for sexy keywords aerobraking and "orbit insertion".

For full details on these events, check the Get Smart Eat Free Google Calendar (see below):
Queer Women in Community, Monday, 6 pm, UMC Room 416
Passover Seder, Monday, 7 pm, UMC Room 235
UMC Intermission, Tuesday, 6 pm, UMC Dining Hall
Congressman Polis visits, Tuesday, 7 pm, UMC Room 235
"Who Does She Think She Is" at the Women's Resource Center Movie Night, Wednesday, 3 pm, UMC Room 416
"Tapped" (movie), Wednesday, 5:30 pm, Cristol Chemistry
Energy Frontiers, Thursday, 9:30 am to 6 pm, Discovery Learning Center (1095 Regent Drive)
RISE Symposium, Friday, 10 am to 3:00 pm, Old Main
International Student Coffee Hour, Friday, 4 pm, UMC Dining Hall

Entrepreneurs Unfed

Event: Entrepreneurs Unplugged
Date: March 15, 2010
Venue: ATLAS building, CU campus
Food: F+ (nothing left but the chaff: one broken cookie, 3 cubes of cheese and a few dry crackers)
Level of awkwardness: D- (worst job interview ever)

Here's the description of the event from the ATLAS site:

ATLAS Institute, Silicon Flatirons and ITP present Tyler Tysdal, Managing Director of Mantucket Capital as featured entrepreneur. His investment background includes buyouts, restructurings, hedge funds and several entrepreneurial ventures.

Entrepreneurs Unplugged is a meeting place where faculty, students and community members can learn about entrepreneurship. Each meeting features food, drink and an experienced entrepreneur to discuss their startup.

Here's what it really should have said:

Men and women in ties and high heels will be pretending to schmooze while gazing forlornly at a tray with three cubes of cheese, a basket of cookie crumbs, and a bucket of ice that used to house Diet Coke. Stick on name tag strongly encouraged.

I got there 5 minutes before the event was supposed to start and this is the scene I found. Needless to say, I grabbed the last (broken!) cookie and was out of there before the talk started.

HOWEVER -- I think entrepreneurship might just be a good skill for an aspiring journalist to learn, so I plan on returning to this event in the future. For reals!

If you go next time (Monday, April 19): Pack a blazer or some loafers and arrive 15 minutes early. Bring a copy of the Wall Street Journal or a friend to avoid networking awkwardness.

[Image: D'Arcy Norman, shared with a Creative Commons Attribution License]

Fashion show! Fashion show! Fashion show at night!

Event: prAna Spring Fashion Show
Date: March 12, 2010
Venue: Prana store, downtown Boulder (1147 Pearl St.)
Food: B- (honeydew melon wrapped in prosciutto that looked delicious but turned to awkward strings in my teeth;
Drinks: A+(+++++++) (Oskar Blues beer, Leopold Brothers liqueurs and vodka, Izze soda -- for mixing, duh!)

Free booze is a magical thing. Prana took that magic, put it in a can, and served it next to a sandy runway filled with dogs, yoga pants, dreadlocks and colorful patterns. And did I mention the soundtrack? MIA. (Yay!) I can't say I remember many (uh, ok, any) of the fashions (although, I've seen enough prAna to make a pretty good guess...), but that wasn't the point. I do remember the Oskar Blues brews and creative liqueurs from Leopold Brothers Distillery.

Here begins my ode to Leopold Brothers:
Blackberries. Tart cherries. Mountain herbs. Peaches. Cranberries. These are all things I'd traditionally prefer to eat in solid -- or gelatinous, at least -- form. But Leopold Brothers Distillery convinced me that the absolute best way to consume all of these things is in the form of liquid from a tiny plastic shot cup. They even convinced me that flavored whiskey isn't a sin! Their liqueurs were pretty much perfect: flavorful but not cloying, smooth but with a healthy bite. I've been planning a pilgrimage to their Distillery (in Denver) pretty much ever since I had my first taste.

Bottom line: Free booze makes earth tones, head scarves and bare feet so much more tolerable. I'm counting the days until the fall fashion show.

[Image: Leopold Brothers Distillery]