Unless I somehow manage to fail a 100-question Scantron test in my undergrad class on Thursday, I have survived my first year of grad school! Between statistics class and the winter, it was rough going there for awhile, but things are a lot nicer now that classes are over and it's warm. In celebration, I went to the public library to check out a nice juicy stack of pleasure reading.

This weekend I participated in a strange Wisconsin tradition: drinking out of a boot. I'd heard of "getting a boot" before, but had never actually seen it in person. It is a curious ritual with many rules:
1. One must be sure that the toe of the boot points up as one drinks.
2. One must never allow the boot to touch the table.
3. After one takes a drink, one must flick the boot before passing it to the next person, though adherence to this practice is not strict.
4. And finally, if one finishes the boot, the person who passed you the boot must purchase the next boot. This, of course, encourages that most holy of Wisconsin pasttimes, Perfecting the Art of Chugging Beer.

It's probably the most fun you can have with a life-sized glass boot, and I now feel further initiated into the First Wisconsin Church of Beer. Seriously, I've never met drinkers like Wisconsininians before, and not just the drunk frat guys. It's like a lifestyle, where the goal isn't to get as drunk as possible, it's just to drink. Kind of like wine is for French people, I guess. Except instead of a fine Burgundy, it's Pabst.