Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Philadelphia Adventure Update 10-03-07

I realize I have been neglecting my Blogular duties as of late. I am trying to make up for it with an extra long post, so read on if you like, or ignore it and get on with your life. Here we go!
I would first like to state that I have not let our fancy new lifestyle and living with the fabulously wealthy change me at all. I am the same old Tracy Constantine that I was back in Elk Grove. Of course Laura reminded me this morning that I do introduce myself by the name Professor Pennypacker when I'm around people from our new place. Here is a picture of what I look like now, just to prove there hasn't been any changes.
Now that we got that out of the way, let's continue shall we? I took some photos on my walk around the University of Pennsylvania campus a few days ago. The school was founded in the 1700's by a man named Ben Franklin. There are a few statues of him around the campus, like classic Captain Kirk in Chair pose at the start of the blog post. I am truly impressed with this campus and how much it looks like Mr. Toads wild ride at Disneyland. Here are some pictures of the classic architecture. This campus just oozes fancy shmancyness at every corner. I am quite impressed. There are several people walking around talking on cell phones congratulating themselves at how awesomely rich they are all day long. This University is indeed a Rich Person factory. I assume they have a required course on caviar consumption and how to speak to the "Help".
I then found this statue. It seems like your every day run of the mill statue of a very important professor. That is until you look closer. If you'll take notice of his left foot. He is standing on a bat/snake demon thingy. I am not making this up. Here is a closer picture. I asked a very important looking man as he walked by what the deal was with the demon thing. His answer was exactly this "Hmm. I've never noticed that before. That's weird."
I then took a closer look at his face. It has the unmistakable expression of "Oh My Gosh, I think I just stepped in something awful" look. I have no idea what kind of symbolism this bat demon could be. Unless this professor conquered his demons? Like alcoholism, or gambling, or earning too many diplomas. Or perhaps it's a quite literal representation of when this man single footadly stomped these unholy bat demons out of existence. I suppose we may never know. Unless I were to Google it...but I don't have that kind of time!
Moving on. My daughter and I went to the UPenn museum of very old slightly damaged goods. It turned out to be quite dull. Except for a few highlights. Like these...
This guy wins the award for the best mustache of any of the former presidents of this museum. The closest runner up was a woman...Then we move on to this very cool crystal ball on top of a dragon. I looked into it and saw the future. Only about 20 minutes into the future, which isn't really very helpful. Maybe that's why it's here instead of in use somewhere.
Then there was the Egypt wing. It was pretty cool. Especially the MUMMY room! There were actual mummy's in there, which is a bit creepy. I bet when the Egyptian Priests were preparing the bodies for mummification they weren't expecting the final mummy's to be laid to an eternal rest in a Museum in Philadelphia. I found this skull to be particularly interesting. It had no markings or descriptions. It was simply a skull sitting with a plate and a book. I am assuming that his name was something very Egyptian, like Carl...and that we was reading a book and eating dinner when suddenly, he choked to death. His final wish was to have his head removed and sent to Philadelphia to rest in a museum. That's what I think anyway.
Then we move on to this guy. The only thing cool about this statue was that it confirmed my belief that the Romans had very cool hair.
The last cool thing about the museum was a bunch of gold coins from the Constantine empire days. I tried to explain to the guard why the coins should belong to me as my last name is Constantine. I even went as far as to say that I was sent here from the past to collect the coins for my Dad, the Emperor Constantine. The guard was busy on her cell phone so I simply moved on.
Which brings us to our last stop. The University of Pennsylvania stadium. You may not think that it is very significant. It's just an ordinary stadium where a very mediocre team plays football. You see that's where you are wrong. I explained before, this school was founded by Ben Franklin. At this very stadium Ben Franklin fought Thomas Jefferson in a gladiator match. Here is what I think it may have looked like.

I hope you have enjoyed this super sized edition of the Philadelphia Adventure! Stay Tuned for more!

Tracy

11 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Here's the Other Side of the Story: I disagree that the University is fancy-pants. There is an "established" and academic look to it. The buildings are very old and the styles are from various eras. Most buildings tell what famous architect designed them. Also, since undergraduate tuition is about $40,000 a year, I don't think anyone is rich. In fact, most of us seem equally broke. The only people who can go around dreaming about all the money they'll have after the student loans are paid off are the Wharton students. Us pre-meds know we are going to be broke for a long time and we all have the heaviest backpacks and look the most tired. In conclusion, not fancy in the ultra-mod domus way, more like Hogwarts without Dumbledore.
Laura -the Penn student

11:56 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Your new assignment: walk into one of the classes just before it starts. Introduce yourself as a visiting professor. Begin to lecture until the actual professor shows up. Get mad at him/her for inviting you when they clearly intended to teach that day themselves. Extra points if you can get them to apologize to YOU for the mix up.

1:08 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I actually once had a servant who made the bricks for the buildings of the university. He kept singing the ever popular song, "A million baked bricks on the wall, take one down and pass it around, 999,999 baked bricks on the wall...."

2:10 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I refuse to leave you a comment.

10:03 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Also, the reason the dragon didn't let you see farther into the future is because you looked into the wrong ball.

10:05 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Also, that previous comment wasn't a comment.

10:06 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

First off, dahling, you look mahvelous! The Mr. Peanut look suits you to a Tee.
Second, where's the ivy?! You simply must plant some ivy next time you and M are on campus so when Laura reminisces about college she can use the term "ivy-covered walls of my alma mater" like Thurston and I do.
Bravo, Prof. Pennypacker for your keen eye and astute assesment of the Ben Franklin statue. Very few people realize the connection between James T. Kirk and his ancestor, Benjamin Tiberius Franklin.
And about that Edgar Fahs Smith statue - one may think that perhaps he's crushing the demon of ignorance or something like that but most people have forgotten that he was affectionately known as 'Stinky' because, boy, did his feet ever reek! Alas, he lived prior to the invention of Odor Eaters, poor fellow. So the artist put the demon there as a good natured tribute to the devilishly smelly feet of good ol' "Stinky" Smith. So now you know.
Ta-ta for now, my dear. Thank you for the tour.

10:53 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You should write a textbook. Your commentaries make me laugh out loud!

3:21 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

If I was cool, like the kids these days, I'd say LOL, but then I'd have kick myself in the teeth.

3:22 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh yeah, and I will pay you money if you take on the "Visiting Professor" challenge! It would be prank worth of the auspicious history of UPenn.

3:23 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I need a cooler name--any suggestions?

3:24 PM  

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