Plastic is on its way out. Recently, White Dog Cafe on 34th and Sansom streets decided to stop selling bottled water because of environmental concerns. While it's not a widespread movement, crusaders against Aquafina have a point - bottled water does carry high transportation and disposal costs.

Just because the voter-registration deadline has passed, don't expect the Locust Walk tables that were previously covered with registration forms to disappear. Now that they have done their best to make sure students have registered, political and civic-engagement groups on campus want to make sure those students vote on election day.

As I awkwardly balanced the clipboard on my knee, I scribbled my information onto a voter registration form. While I walked away from the Obama campaign worker who assured me that my registration was now all set, I commented to my friend that the whole voter registration system seemed remarkably inefficient.

It's not just about the numbers. A new tool called CollegeSpeak aims to encourage students to value personal criteria over rankings and reputation when picking a school - and some elite colleges are signing on to the idea. The Web site - which is being developed by the Education Conservancy - uses a questionnaire to help students find colleges that best match their priorities.

While the majority of the graduating senior class was looking for jobs last spring, Dean Merrill was in search of something a little different: a golf coach. After captaining the Quakers last season, the former college standout is pursuing a pro career, choosing the picturesque conditions of the Sunshine State as ground zero for his training.

Slept through a 9 a.m. lecture? Penn tech gurus want to help you catch up. Exactly a year after the inception of iTunesU as a resource for the Penn community, administrators are looking for the best way to put classroom content online. One option is iTunesU, an online digital media database located in the iTunes Store that allows department administrators and Information Technology workers to upload audio and video files to the system.

When University of the Arts president Sean Buffington began speaking about being an openly gay man, he chose to begin with a disclaimer on his own biases. "I am not a gay or lesbian studies expert. This is based on my own experiences, insights [and] prejudices," said Buffington as he addressed an audience at Steinhardt Hall, sponsored by the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Center.

While violent crime on Penn's campus has largely decreased this year, some property crimes, like burglary and bike theft, have risen significantly in 2008. Violent crimes, such as robberies and assaults, are down 42 percent for the year. This trend held for September, with six violent offenses reported this year, down from 12 in the same month in 2007.

Meeting the presidents of College Republicans and Penn Democrats together for coffee, it's hard to ignore the elephant - or donkey - in the room. However, the way College juniors Zac Byer and Lauren Burdette, the respective presidents of the most prominent politically right and left groups on campus tell it, theirs is a friendship based on similarities, not difference.

As Lehigh forward Kyle Evans took his overtime shot from 30 yards out, Penn keeper Drew Healy lost his footing on the dewey turf. The ball ricocheted off the left post and into the net for the game-winning goal. "That's a save [Healy] makes 99 percent of the time," Penn coach Rudy Fuller said.

The hippest street in town will soon be a little shorter. The South Street Bridge, which connects the University to Center City and the Schuylkill Expressway, is slated to close in early December, Penn officials hosting a Commuter Fair said yesterday. The 2,000-foot bridge will be replaced in its entirety from 27th Street to Convention Avenue at a cost of $50 million, according to the City of Philadelphia Department of Streets.

Left-leaning political magazine Dissent, which has featured work by several Penn professors and President Amy Gutmann, will partner with the University of Pennsylvania Press to alleviate its operation expenses. Penn Press will take over the business side of the magazine, including design, promotion and subscriptions.

The days of students sending files to themselves and waiting in line for computers at Van Pelt may finally be over. Information Systems and Computing is working on configuring a wireless network that would allow students to print directly from their personal computers to Penn-networked printers in libraries and academic buildings.

Let's talk about sex, baby. At least, Trojan Condoms thinks Penn students should. Trojan, which just released its 2008 Sexual Health Report Card, placed Penn 21st out of 129 schools surveyed about the availability of "sexual health resources and information to their students," according to the study pamphlet.

I often wonder about the point of many things: "recommended" books for class, bug-eye sunglasses, the food court at 34th and Walnut streets. But my recent ponderings have been about the Benjamin Franklin Scholars program. The majority of BFS students are mysteriously selected as incoming freshmen and must take at least one Benjamin Franklin seminar per year to graduate with recognition as a scholar.

The Quakers' trainers are being kept busy this week. Two key players - cornerback Tyson Maugle and running back Bradford Blackmon - suffered injuries in Saturday's win over Dartmouth. As reported in yesterday's DP, Maugle broke his nose in three places. According to coach Al Bagnoli, he underwent "a procedure" today and is doubtful for this weekend's game at Georgetown.

Janice Dow is a College sophomore from Los Angeles, Calif. Her e-mail address is dow@dailypennsylvanian.com.