Berkeley sure loves to think of itself as a trend setter. Few would deny: Berkeley is probably the most environmentally stylin’ kid in its (national) class.

In line with this, our campus has decided that old fashioned drinking fountains, the age old alternative to dizzyingly expensive bottled water, are so 2006. In the ‘09, it’s all about hydration stations.

You may have noticed a few of these newfangled adornments in the Recreational Sports Facility, near the weight room and martial arts area. Not intended for direct hydration, they shoot a powerful stream (twice as efficient as an old-school fountain!) downward—ideal for refilling canteens and water bottles.

They come as part of a campaign within the RSF, Cal Dining, and University Health Services to promote tap water and cut down on water bottles, whose plastic vessels are an environmental concern.

Image Source: Joshme17 under Creative Commons.
Quench your thirst the Berkeley way [Berkeleyan]

However, that being said, there was one thing from last year we’d kind of hoped we wouldn’t be reminded of ever again (except for, you know, every single solitary time we step onto campus). That was the sudden appearance of these.

But no, the university couldn’t leave well enough alone, so earlier this year we found ourselves face-to-faces with this and thus, by necessary extension, this.  And that, we naively thought, would be the end of that.

Unfortunately, today we were proven WRONG AGAIN when, to our mingled surprise and horror, we innocently opened our CalMail and were met with an invitation to have our picture taken in Christopher Irion’s PhotoBooth of UC Berkeley self-love, tomorrow from 4-8 p.m. at the Recreational Sports Facility.  Now, we are left to wonder in fear what part of campus they will violate with those obnoxious banners next.  Good lord, is nothing sacred anymore?

Image Source: Jill Cowan
Stop by the PhotoBooth at the RSF [Website]
Earlier: If You Build It, They Will Tag It

Apparently, Dodgeball and Ultimate Frisbee are kind of a big deal.

“Pretty much, we got there at 1 a.m., thinking that we were safe, but we still didn’t get our first, or even our second choice time. We have games at 6 o’clock on Fridays now,” said one vaguely disgruntled intramural soccer player, “It’s nuts.” Now that’s what we call dedication.

Student priority sign-ups ended on Friday, but if you’re more of the “apathetic rogue” type, the open entry period for “free agents” and teams who missed the first round starts on Tuesday at 7 a.m.

Image Source: Salgu Wissmath, Daily Cal
Intramural Sports Fall 2008 Entry [Cal Recreational Sports]

We are so over paying that irresistibly affordable $10/semester (and summer) for RSF gym membership, and wanted to turn the escapade into little more than a handful of trips to the gym at the beginning of the school year. In our defense, even when we did have time to burn off some minty Newman-O’s, waiting for our turn on the elliptical machines and watching MTV-U on the silent TV’s got old real fast.

Thankfully, those days are over! We discovered an RSF group dance class, “Island Grooves,” and it’s got us active, smiling and coming back for more. This class incorporates fresh, simple dance moves to the saucy and sultry sounds of artists like Denise Belfon and Uncle Bobby. We love the class instructor, Damie. She reminds us of a groovin’ Pippi Longstocking with her bright reddish-pink dyed hair, bubbly pep and infectious excitement for the routines and us dancers.

While the workout was very low-impact, as dancers whose experience extends no further than the less-than-classy classics, we loved being able to keep up with the instruction and getting silly in front of those huge dance room mirrors. The RSF Combatives is definitely the place to be on Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. this summer. Time to get off that couch potato booty and shake that groove thang!

Image Source: Pictureinfocus under Creative Commons
UCB Recreational Sports Facility [Web Site]
Earlier: Twisting and Turning Roller Coasters

Bears Necessity, the youngun of the Berkeley blogosphere, posted an interesting video about a Cal student. Filmed mostly in the RSF, it’s about a student’s quest to bulk up for the affection of a certain lady. We guess it’s the modern, college version of a romance.

We wish we could tell you when BN actually posted the vid, but the blogger recently has removed all dates (and bylines) from his post. What’s up with that? It’s all about transparency, dude. Did you see our bylines?

They’re sexy.

Student Special: Raging Bear [Bears Necessity]