Tri-Kap Does Tough Mudder

Early this summer, a few brothers of Tri-Kap decided to travel up to Montreal and compete in a Tough Mudder competition. Tough Mudder is a 10 mile obstacle course, where teammates must work together overcome obstacles such as 10 foot wall climbs, swimming through water tanks filled with ice, mud crawls, all separated by stretches of course where we could walk, but chose to run. It was an ultimate test of strength, stamina, and willpower.

All of us both started and ended the race together in under three hours. It was tough, and seemed impossible to continue at points, but we were able to push each other to the end and all earn the title "Tough Mudder." The beers waiting for us at the finish line didn't hurt!

Pictured left to right:  Tri-Kap '15s Justin Lee,  Will Bollenbach, Marty Gatens,  Nish Ravichandran, Anka Tezcan, and friend Alexander Steele

Yours in Kappa,

Marty Gatens 

Summer Vice President

Boston gathering

A big thank you goes out to Andrew Jean-Louis '09, Dana Cetlin '80, Luke Turechek '03, and Saad Hasan '03 for hosting the Boston gathering on June 6.  Tri-Kaps ranging from 70's to current undergrads made it out to Lir to celebrate each other over food and drink. Good times were had by all, and the format of the next Boston Tri-Kap gathering is already under works.  Can you say Kappa grill-a-thon? 

Many of the Tri-Kaps who attended the Boston Reunion

Dartmouth Commencement

Some of Tri-Kap's newest alumni gathered on the lawn before commencement. 

Congratulations and best of luck to the Class of 2013. We look forward to seeing you and all our alumni brothers returning soon to your home here at 1 Webster Avenue.

Yours in Kappa,

 2013-2014 Undergraduate Executive Board

San Francisco Reunion

Thank you to Nannan Hu ’06, Brian Crane ’06 and Chris Ehrlich ’92 for hosting nearly 25 Tri-Kaps from the ‘60s to recent grads at last week’s San Francisco Reunion!  The group got together at Cantina on Thursday, May 16 for a night of food and drinks.  Those in attendance reported a great time, and a desire to continue to get together and engage with Tri-Kap.

 Chris Ehrlich '92 and Dan Crisafulli '87

 Most of the Tri-Kaps in attendance at the San Francisco Reunion

 Jason Kobilka '03, Peter Robinson '79, Peter's son Nico (soon to be Dartmouth '17), Derek Nee '02 and Nannan Hu '06

Nannan Hu '06 and Kenny Ireland '66

Eddy Vaisberg '12, Leonard "Smacks" Chang '11, Jinwoo Baik '11, Adam Merber '10, Sam Kennedy '09

 

Miao's Local Off-Term

This winter I spent fifteen weeks working at Renesys, a local internet intelligence company located a few minutes north of town. With the new school schedule granting students an extended winter break, I decided to make the most of it and began work a few weeks after enjoying Thanksgiving. While many find Hanover winters miserable and gloomy, these past few months have been a well-needed and balanced combination of work experience, leisure, and relaxation.

On the job, I was immersed in an fast-paced environment that had aspects of both data research and internet monitoring. Live events all over the world had propagating effects that directly influenced our work, ranging from the network outages caused by the Syrian civil war to the opening of a submarine internet cable into Cuba. By analyzing the types of responses that certain devices, such as routers and computers, were returning to our servers, we were able to compile vast amounts of data regarding the structure of the internet. We would then use computing clusters that rivaled the power of those in Thayer or Sudikoff to convert, filter, and produce easily understandable interpretations for clients and further use in data analysis.

Without the lingering burden of homework, I found myself with much more time to hang out with friends, hit the gym, and attend campus events. And while I'm very much looking forward to what spring term will bring me, I'll always consider this term a very successful and meaningful one.

I would highly recommend and encourage any students thinking about off-term options to consider enjoying the benefits and comfort of Hanover while working in any of the region's wide spectrum of industries.

YiK,

Kevin Miao '14

2nd Annual Tri-Kap NYC Reunion

   On Wednesday, February 13, Tri-Kap brothers from 5 generations gathered at Dewey's Flatiron in Manhattan for our 2nd Annual New York City Tri-Kap Reunion.

   

   It was great to see brothers who attended last year and many new faces as well.  Over food and drinks (and a couple chugs and house songs) in our private space, brothers caught up with each other, shared stories and heard about the impressive crop of undergraduates in Hanover and the upcoming Tri-Kap Capital Campaign to rebuild the house at 1 Webster Avenue.

   

   Many thanks to Sunil Bhagavath '03, Max David '12 and Sean Wilson '80 for helping to organize the evening and to the ~50 brothers who attended. We hope to see many more brothers at other reunion events around the country and in Hanover in the future. Here is a picture of many who attended our NYC Reunion.

A crowd of Tri-Kap brothers enjoy an evening at Dewey's Flatiron
during the 2nd Annual NYC Tri-Kap Reunion

Yours in Kappa,

Michael Brasher '10

Board of Alumni

World-Renowned Physicist Visits Tri-Kap

   On Tuesday, the brotherhood had the opportunity to host Dartmouth Professor Marcelo Gleiser for an hour while he discussed his current research with those in attendance. Professor Gleiser is a world-famous physicist who works to popularize science to benefit the whole of humanity. He has written three books on the origins of the universe and has a weekly feature on NPR. 

Professor Marcelo Gleiser (seated right of center), addresses
a crowd of inquisitive Tri-Kaps.

   He came to Tri-Kap to discuss his studies in the realm of theoretical physics and their implications for intelligent life in the universe. For example, his most recent research has been into whether or not our universe is one large simulation -- think The Sims on a universal scale. Turns out there is not really much of a way to prove whether we are or not, so "don't worry about it."
   
   There was strong attendance by the brotherhood, and every seat was filled as Professor Gleiser answered numerous questions from inquisitive brothers. Even though he eventually needed to rush out to continue his work, his visit left everyone in attendance pondering very big questions for a long time afterward.


YiK,
Vince Marriott
Academic Chair

China Trip

After being in Hanover for four straight terms, it was great to enjoy Dartmouth's new six-week winter break by traveling around China. On this trip, my goal was to go beyond the commercialized metropolises of the new global power and discover the natural beauty of the landscape, as well as learn about the different minority (non-Han) cultures in Southwest China. After flying from Shanghai into Kunming, capital of Yunnan Province and China's gateway to Southeast Asia, I visited the Stone Forest, an amazing park filled with stone formations said to be around 270 million years old. It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007. 

During the two weeks that I spent in Yunnan, I traveled as far up as 13,000 feet above sea level. Along the way, I was struck by the beauty in the way the clouds and the sky seemed to linger right over the horizon. By the end, I had learned a little Tibetan after spending a night at a Tibetan's home for a party (and sharing some drinks with our host), almost getting hitched to our host's daughters, gotten absolutely sick of Yak meat, and gained a greater understanding of people whose lifestyles have only recently started changing after hundreds of years of stagnancy. The rest of time in China was spent doing conventional touristy things in big cities. By the end of my trip, I felt refreshed and ready to return to our home at 1 Webster. 

If anyone is interested in visiting that part of China and needs any travel tips, feel free to let me know. I definitely recommend it. 

Yours In Kappa,

Anthony Zhao '14

Projector: I hardly even know her!

Last term the brotherhood purchased a projector from Best Buy to replace the TV that was devastatingly broken over the summer. It took two months to get here, but it is now finally installed in the first floor library. The screen measures 106 inches diagonally. That's 8.8 feet or about two times as tall as Paul Wagdalt '13, Tri-Kap's president. For all you technofiles out there, the projector is an Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 3020 3D 3LCD projector. We haven't tried the 3D mode out yet but I'm sure it will add a lot of depth to the viewing experience.

But wait, what if the projector is broken just like the TV was? - you must be asking yourself. Well we thought of that, and have made it really difficult to break this one. The projector is tied down in a wooden case mounted on the ceiling, the speakers are at the top of the walls out of reach to most, the receiver is locked up, the screen retracts, and the door to the library has a combo lock, preventing any non-brothers from entering the room. I have also sent many stern emails to the brotherhood about protecting this room.

Anthony Zhao '14 enjoying a RomCom on the new projector.

This projector has helped revive the library and turned it back into a room where you can always expect to find a handful of brothers hanging out. It has already proven invaluable to our house in creating a great space for brothers to bond with each other. From romantic comedies, like the one Anthony Zhao '14 is watching in this picture, to super bowl football games, the projector surely will light the way to a stronger Tri-Kap brotherhood.

YiK,

Chris Woods '13

Treasurer

Tri-Kap NYC Reunion

Please join fellow Tri-Kap alumni from the New York City area for our next Tri-Kap reunion event on Wednesday, February 13th at Dewey's Flatiron. Tri-Kaps from all decades had a great time last year when we all last got together. Please go to http://trikapnyc2013.eventbrite.com/ for all the details and to RSVP. Help us spread the word. We'll see you on the 13th!

Yours In Kappa,

Michael Brasher '10