Author: jrmole

  • Projects

    Projects

    The two most famous projects that occur each year are Interhovse and Ditch Day, which every house participates in. However, lots of moles also like to also work on smaller-scale projects throughout the year. Here is a (very small) sampling of cool projects that I remember from last year: Hellride This annual tradition, peculiar to…

  • Hot Tub Party!

    Hot Tub Party!

    Every summer we put together our homemade hot tub in the courtyard. We fill it with hot water from as many janitorial sinks as we can reach with available hoses, and voila, instant party. This summer we decided to utilize our gazebo left over from Interhovse. Somehow our hot tub pieces magically fit inside the…

  • Adventures in Santa Monica

    Adventures in Santa Monica

    Hi, my name is Liz, and Marissa is forcing me to add this line at gunpoint. I’m a senior, a ChE, and hoping to graduate without horrible gunshot-related trauma. Contrary to popular belief, techers do get (far) off campus on occasion. On this rare and happy event, we tend to roam, and on this particular day…

  • Vignette

    Open scene: A quiet weekday evening in Blacker Hovse.  The South Hovse complex fire alarm goes off. All the Moles file out onto the lawn by the Athenaeum. Enter Security Guard.   Security Guard: No one here is in trouble, I just need some information about what happened here before we can turn the fire…

  • A Backcountry Adventure

    A Backcountry Adventure

    Lots of Moles enjoy doing outdoorsy things — we have a yearly Hovse camping trip in the desert, a yearly ski trip in the Sierra Nevadas, and plenty of outings that people organize throughout the year. Caltech is in a great place if you like this sort of thing — Pasadena is nestled right against…

  • A Courtyard Inventory

    A Courtyard Inventory

    Blacker Courtyard has a habitual tendency to accumulate bizarre things. From half-finished weekend projects to Interhovse and Ditch Day remnants to the spoils of dumpster diving adventures, there are always interesting gadgets to play with. From my vantage point on our swingy couch, here are a few of the interesting things I can see lying…

  • An Overture to Summertime

    An Overture to Summertime

    So far the living has been pretty easy around here since term ended. If you stroll around the Hovse, you might find Moles making liquid nitrogen Dippin’ Dots in the courtyard, watching movies in the Library, having inexplicably odd conversations in the Lounge or experimenting in alley kitchens. You may very likely get sucked into…

  • Hello and Welcome…

    … to the Utmost Institution of Gracious Living, the Church and Hovse of Blacker! (The two being one and inseparable.) We are one of the eight student residences here at Caltech, located south of the Olive Walk, which makes us a Hovse (very different from those Houses of the blustery north!). You might hear members…