RPInsider

Plenty to do this weekend! Take advantage of free events and roaming Alumni.  If you see anybody that looks lost, you should probably help them.

Don’t forget your school spirit!

Friday October 2

Get a job! at the career fair.  It begins at 10 AM in the Armory.  More information is available at careerfair.rpi.edu.

If you’re into esoteric physics lectures, check out “Toward the ultimate laws of nature: dark matter, supersymmetry, the LHC, and string theory,” a lecture by Gordon Kane of the University of Michigan at 3:30 PM in Sage 3303.

This isn’t on campus, but Starbucks’ Via Taste Challenge begins at 5 PM, and they’re offering free coffee.

Join Hillel celebrate Sukkot with Shabbat dinner at 6:30 in the Shelnutt Gallery.  Free.

Women’s hockey opens their season at 7 PM in the Houston Field House as they battle the Wayne State Warriors.  Free.

UPAC is showing The Taking of Pelham 123 at 7, 9:30, and midnight.  $2.50. DCC 308.

Get your Fifteen Minutes of Fame at the Ground Zero Open Mic Night at 8 PM in the basement of Nugent Hall.  Free.

Dirty Paris, Timbre Coup, and Deja play at Revolution Hall downtown starting at 8 PM.  $10.

Read more…

Share Uncategorized career fair, ECAV, EMPAC, ground zero, hockey, homecoming, physics, Rev Hall, to do, Troy

Troy is beautiful, especially when it's sunny!

It’s not always so sunny in Troy… but we were curious about how the Capital District compares to other places in the United States.  We were hoping that we would find some comforting data that we could be worse off, but as it turns out, according to city-data.com, Albany ranks 88th on the list of least amount of sunshine for all cities in the Nation over 50,000.  But, it turns out that we have sunshine for 52.7% of the time!  Unfortunately, the months with the lowest sunshine are those when it is most cold.  Check out the graph below!

Read more…

Share Uncategorized Albany, Troy, weather

According to a blogger for the Times Union (I found out through AOA), Tosca and Illium Cafe have both closed due to tax reasons.   They won’t be open “for the foreseeable future.”  RPI, we’ll have to settle for Spillin’ the Beans, the Daily Grind, Flavour Cafe, River Street Cafe, Marmora Cafe, Cafe Deli-licious, Mocha Blend Espresso Bar, Cafe Mezza Luna, Francesca’s, Jazzman’s, and Java++ (I apologize if I forgot any or if any of those have closed, too).

Share Uncategorized Illium, taxes, Times Union, Tosca, Troy

Friday, 9/18

I’ve heard it made people cry… “Up” is playing at UPAC Cinema tonight at the usual times: 7, 9:30, and midnight.  Tickets are $2.50

If you want to laugh, Sheer Idiocy is performing at 8 PM in Mother’s in the Union.  They’re the improv comedy group, and it’s usually a pretty good time.  FREE.

Get your 15 minutes of fame at Ground Zero.  They’re having their “BiWeakly Open Mike,” which I assume is a biweekly open mic.  Free.  In the basement of Nugent Hall (use the entrance closer to Bouton Road).

Read more…

Share Uncategorized Albany, music, to do, Troy

The thinker-in-chief is due to visit Troy next monday!

Well this is big news. It seems that on Monday, the capital district will be getting a special visit from a certain “commander-in-chief”. The big O (that’s Obama, not Oprah) will be in Troy at HVCC around 11am to give a speech on the “emerging economic and high tech jobs in the region’s economy“. HVCC’s opening of a solar energy training center at the Luther Forest Technology Campus will certainly be mentioned. Secret Service agents have been spotted at Albany International scoping out the site for the presidential visit. It would have been awesome if Dr. Jackson could have pulled some strings and gotten him here for a bit. She is on PCAST after all. No word on whether or not the appearance will be open to the public. We’ll be sure to keep you posted!

More here, and Times Union here and here.

Share Uncategorized economy, hvcc, Obama, politics, Troy

Do you visit at any of these places?

• Bacchus Wood Fire
• Big Apple Pizza
• Flavour Café
• Holmes and Watson
• Illium Café
• Manory’s Restaurant
• Minissale’s Café
• Notty Pine Tavern
• Tosca

Well, according to RPI’s website, you can now use RAD (Rensselaer Advantage Dollars) to make purchases at those locations.  This has been a push of the Student Senate for several years, and we here at RPInsider are glad to see that it has finally been implemented.  For those of you living in the new Blitman Commons downtown, you can now have your parents pay for all kinds of stuff that are only blocks away!  Tosca is expensive — go there and see if your parents notice.  Just tell them you spent it on laundry… they probably haven’t heard that it’s free yet.
I especially like the fact that the Press Release fails to mention that this idea was conceived by students and that students have been working to implement it for years.  They make it seem like Dr. Jackson’s idea, which isn’t wholly true.

But hey, as long as it happened, we’re happy.

Share Uncategorized blitman, community, Dr. Jackson, RAD, Troy

Word on the street is that those pesky parking meters along Sage and 15th are now only required between 8am-5pm M-F, with a new 4-hour maximum. They are being reprogrammed, and are having their signage changed to quell the confusion.

See! Your voice DOES matter!

picture: flickr user chaosinjune

Share Uncategorized parking, transportation, Troy

Next Stop? Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

IT’S THAT TIME OF THE YEAR! NRB! WoOoOoOoO!!!!!11!!1!

NRB began yesterday. The freshmen class showed up to participate in a week of BBQ’s behind Commons, awkward dances in the Union, clubs showcasing themselves and their activities, a walk downtown for Welcomefest ‘09, and a version of the Olympics. It’s a time when the one thing people have in common is feeling out of place. NRB is designed to help you (the freshman) find commonalities, even if searching for commonalities is all that you have in common. (Make sense?) Take advantage of people being open and friendly because faster than you can say “Navigating Rensselaer and Beyond,” people find their group and become cliquey.

You might be surprised though. It isn’t rare to be very close with friends you made during NRB down the line, or for the clubs to whom you give some time this week to allow you to take a leadership position in the future. This orientation of the RPI community and campus is what you make of it. RPI has a lot to offer. You just have to go find it. Our job? Trying to make that task easier.

Welcome, Class of 2013.

Oh, and if you’re interested in helping us and the community out by doing some light-hearted journalism, our contact info is available here

Share Uncategorized FYE, NRB, Troy

Looking at these gets me in the mood for some pastries.

250 Broadway in downtown Troy will soon be filled with fresh breads and other delicious baked goods. The old site of Le Marche Vert is being taken over by Chris Snye, better known as “The Placid Baker” from the Troy Farmers Market. The planned offerings include artisan breads, pastries, cookies, cakes and quick sandwiches. A soft opening is on the way soon, with a grand opening during this month’s Troy Night Out on June 23. Living in the new dorm (Blitman) on 6th Ave next year? Just walk down the street to enjoy all the treats that The Placid Baker has to offer. (If they only took RAD…) I can’t wait to stop by when the fall rolls around!

Table Hopping and the TU Business Blog have more.

photo: flickr user avlxyz

Share Uncategorized food, restaurants, Troy

Lots of little children in EMPAC.

In a noteworthy gesture, RPI has decided to donate 55 string instruments to the Troy city schools. The instruments cost $24,000 and were delivered in Feb and March to the elementary schools, to help get the third and fourth grade strings program back in place. Our famed EMPAC director Johannes Goebel was apparently instrumental (no pun intended) in getting this to happen. He has cited his growth and love for music while studying abroad in high school in Los Angeles, CA. The Troy students played in a concert in the EMPAC concert hall earlier today, warming the audiences’ musical hearts. No word on why the announcement was delayed until now.

rpi press release

troy record

picture: the enlarged city school district of troy, new york.  (Yes, that’s really what it’s called.)

Share Uncategorized community, EMPAC, Troy, violins