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(19 years of age or older in AL) Biking professors brave the elements BY LAUREN WAVRA lwavra@cord.edu With the recent im-provement in weather, more students and faculty can be seen taking advan-tage of the extended day-light. For faculty members Bill Snyder and Donald Brummond, the warmer temperatures make their passion for walking and cycling more convenient, even though these hobbies do not go into hibernation for the colder months of the year. As someone who played basketball and ran for sev-eral years, Dr. Snyder says that exercise is impor-tant to him. By combining transportation to campus and exercise, he is able to be more economical with his time. “I could drive but then when I drive back I’d be compelled to exercise--so why not combine getting back and forth into work with exercise,” Snyder said. Snyder walks to school throughout the year, in-cluding the winter months. “If it’s like ten or twenty degrees below freezing, it’s … much more uncomfort-able for me to have to go out into my car and sit there and start it up and drive- -freezing to death--until the heater starts going,” Snyder said. “I think that starting a car beforehand just really wastes fuel, so I try not to do that unless it’s unbelievably cold.” Snyder walks to school under most conditions via either the Lindenwood or Gooseberry Park paths. Once he arrives at his of-fice, he stretches and then changes into his work clothes, hung on his office door. “See, I keep my pants behind my door over here, and I keep extra socks and things,” Snyder said. Though Snyder does oc-casionally ride his Bianchi bike to school--comparing the midwestern terrain to Ireland and Nova Sco-tia’s-- he prefers walking because of the increased health benefits. “Biking--I don’t know if it’s as good an exercise as power walking is, because you’re not using your up-per body,” Snyder said. Physics Professor Don-ald Brummond, an avid biker, says that he actually prefers to ride his bike in the winter months. “When it gets nice out like this, there are a lot of tourists out--it gets a little dangerous,” he said. “And it’s easier to dress [for bik-ing] in the winter time. You just assume it’s going to be cold.” Brummond, who has been a cyclist since the age of four has spent 20 years in the bike industry, going on bike tours across the world . “I’ve ridden bike [any-where] from central Green-land to the Antarctic continent--and a bunch of places in between,” Brum-mond said. “I suppose at this point I’ve ridden close to 250,000 miles.” Though Brummond has toured in locations across the globe, some of his favorite places include the Gaspé Peninsula in Quebec, the Pacific Crest bicycle trail and New Zea-land. He also opted to live car-free in Wellington, New Zealand, for a year. “Bicycle touring is an immensely rewarding experience,” Brummond said. Brummond’s most re-cent tour was in Nova Sco-tia, where he biked approx-imately 1,300 miles and had the opportunity to experi-ence the rich history and culture of the Canadian islands he visited. “The thing that’s great about bicycling is how you meet people--you’re gener-ally regarded as more ap-proachable and less threat-ening,” Brummond said. “Many times when you’re touring, you have people inviting you to stay at their houses and it’s quite fun.” During his bicycle tour-ing excursions, Brummond often does not know where he will be spending the night. This unanticipated suspense is part of the thrill of bicycle touring. “The adventure begins when the plan leaves off,” Brummond said. Though Brummond has experience as a mountain biker, a racer, and an off-road touring cyclist, he says that one of the most important rides for him is his ride to work. “If I don’t ride to school, I’m not in a very good mood all day,” Brummond said with a chuckle. “It just makes me feel better.” One of Brummond’s favorite aspects about cy-cling is that it allows people to travel at a natural pace. Whereas cars move too fast for people and walking is too slow for most people, cycling is just the right fit, according to Brummond. “When you go in a car-- it’s too fast--you don’t take in the surroundings. And when you walk . it’s too slow,” Brummond said. “But in cycling, you just have a different involve-ment. The information that your body is taking in is at a comfortable pace and it just feels good.” Despite the benefits of cycling, Snyder, may always prefer his winter walks to work for one sim-ple reason. “It’s kind of thrilling to walk when it’s really, re-ally cold. There’s a sort … of danger or something.” Snyder said. Thrifting: Where to save a buck BY KALEY SIEVERT ksiever1@cord.edu College students live with a constant struggle to be able to buy spring clothes, a book to trigger their imagination or a cof-fee maker for the caffeine crazed--all while trying to save a buck. With most of their mon-ey spent on tuition and text-books, Cobbers little lee-way to buy the extras they may want, and thrift shops may just be the answer to this problem. Senior Haley Anderson loves to go thrift shopping, but said that both main-stream and thrift stores have something good to of-fer, it just depends on what you are looking for. “I go to thrift shops for looking for really unique things and for items that are hard to find in a main-stream store,” Anderson said. “At a mainstream store you are looking for something specifically new.” She recently went to a Goodwill in her hometown of Alexandria to look for cute items to decorate her apartment with next year. Along with thrift shop-ping, Anderson enjoys spending a day looking for great deals at garage sales. “If people really love to go thrift shopping they should look into going out looking for garage sales too in the summer,” Anderson said. “It’s fun to go out on a Saturday morning and find a sale.” For thrift shopping in the Fargo/Moorhead area, Anderson prefers Savers. “The Savers in Fargo is a hit or miss,” Anderson said. “Sometimes you find good stuff and sometimes you don’t.” Anderson also heard that the Moorhead Thrift Shop is a great place to go as well. Located just off of Main street, Moorhead Thrift Shop is filled with a large collection of items that cover the store from floor to ceiling. It has a variety of books ranging from ro-mance, to Reader Digest editions from the 1960s, to mysteries, to religious books with a sign overhead that says, “Those who read succeed!!!” Customers of the quaint store are greeted by a smil-ing sign and kind staff, who would remind anyone of their sweet grandparents. Littered on glass and wood shelving are a variety of knick knacks. Bronze shoes, soap dispensers, cro-cheted baskets, yarn hous-es and floral tea pots. At first glance the thrift shop may look like it has nothing of interest for a college student, but a cus-tomer can find the hidden treasures they’re looking for. “You’ll often find the stuff you’re looking for or want, mixed in with what you don’t want,” a female worker remarked as she watched me wander the store. On the other side of the store, a couple of racks of shoes are displayed. Among a lot of brown and black flats, retro tennis shoes and a few pairs of sensible heels, is a pair of black, flo-ral flats with a buckle deco-rating the toe. Dakota Boys and Girls Thrift Store can be found in North, South and West Fargo, and Dilworth, Minn. About three times the size of Moorhead’s thrift shop, Dakota Boys and Girls in North Fargo appears to be a small store housed in-side a white square build-ing on the corner of a busy street. Once inside, the store expands to hold a va-riety of merchandise from used electronics and games to cosmetics and shoes. The store includes a larger amount of clothes including swimsuits, old prom dresses and summer dresses, all labeled by size. Some of the merchan-dise even includes items that can be found at Target, according to a couple of shoppers who shop regular-ly at Dakota Boys and Girls Thrift Shops. Their collection of shoes goes beyond neutral flats and sensible heels and in-cludes flip flops, wedges, sandals,and boots. Includ-ing an odd selection of more than 12 pairs of black combat boots. Walk a little further into the store and there is a small alcove where the books are held. Like the Moorhead Thrift Shop, there was a lot of romance. It was as if Nora Roberts, a popular romance novelist had taken over. However, among the romance was also a collection of general fiction and mystery/mur-ders. In the back of the store, among the children’s toys and opposite of the used electronics are shelves overflowing with board and trivia games. Among the games were Boggle, Trivial Pursuit DVD Pop Culture edition and Scene It (Dis-ney Channel version). Dakota Boys and Girls had everything that Moor-head Thrift shop had to of-fer, with a few exceptions, but in bigger quantity. Plato’s Closet, a thrift store found in a small strip mall off of 45th St. in Fargo, not only has a large selection of merchandise, but most of it is recent top designer and brand names. Unlike Moorhead Thrift Shop and Dakota Boys and Girls, it is more focused on clothing and accessories geared towards teens and young adults. On the outside windows, graphic posters label the different styles of clothing they have to offer; Skater Style, Night Out, Everyday Basics, Print Party and Per-fectly Preppy. From wall to wall there are racks of clothing from American Eagle, Hollister, Abercrombie and Fitch, Rue 21 and many more. Male students also have a section to look in. Walk straight to the back of the store and racks of jeans, plaid shirts, sweaters and graphic tees are found. The brand names here are Obey, Billabong, Abercrombie, Express and many more. Similar to the women’s section, the men’s cloth-ing racks are topped by a variety of shoes including Nike, Adidas and Vans. The prices in Plato’s Closet range from around $1-3 to $200, depending on the brand name and type of clothing, said Sadie Fluto, employee and 2008 Concor-dia Alumnus. “The top brand name clothes and designers is 75 percent off normal prices here,” Fluto said. Fluto got the job at Plato’s Closet through net-working. She knew the owner’s friend and was in fashion at the time, which landed her the job. Like any other thrift shop, Plato’s closet accepts donations, but are more selective with what they put in the store. Fluto’s co-worker said they will buy current styles in generally good condition and donate the rest of what they don’t keep to local churches. Surrounded by local thrift shops, Concordia stu-dents are able to get what they need for a reasonable price without breaking their pockets. A student can get that new pair of flip flops, that dress for a night out, another edition of Scene It, without the guilt of spending money they could have used for their next textbook. MADDIE MALAT Above: Brummond poses with his vehicle of choice
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