With an ocean, a twenty-four-hour plane ride and a closet door separating him from his family and friends in Australia, College freshman Alec Webley was facing the frightening prospect of coming out without a clear support system. Unsure of how to approach his friends and family "who had only known me as straight," Webley sought the help of the Queer Student Alliance's program for questioning and closeted students.

When my buddy Eric and I were driving cross country, we stayed a few days with his uncle in Erie, Pa. He was a great host, buying us dinner and taking us to the shooting range where we fired many weapons that I had previously thought illegal in America. In exchange, he asked us one favor: buy fireworks for him.

Nothing starts my morning off quite like a parade of e-mails from Career Services. I typically browse through the various opportunities daily before I hit the delete key. On occasion, something interesting may catch my eye, so I save the e-mail from a quick and easy death.

A few days ago, I received a job offer. Fueled by the prospect of finally having some cash to burn, I ecstatically embarked on a shopping spree downtown. But somewhere between Sephora and Victoria's Secret, I found myself beset by hapless males doing their Valentine's Day shopping.

The Quakers seek revenge today and pray for an upset tomorrow. This afternoon, the No. 28 Quakers (11-4) will take the mat against aspiring rival Columbia. Last year the Lions upset the then-No. 16 ranked Quakers by a score of 22-12. But this time, the Lions won't have home-mat advantage, a factor that some Quakers believe played a role in last season's loss.

It's time to throw on those party shoes, tune up the vocal chords and belt out some tunes. What song? Marilyn Monroe's "Happy birthday Mr. President," of course. Luckily, for those who can't carry a tune in a bucket, there's another way to celebrate this President's Day weekend.

It may be the weekend, but the Penn women's tennis team has an exam on Saturday. The subject: Virginia Commonwealth, in Richmond, Va. "I think this weekend we're going to find out how we're playing," coach Mike Dowd said. "When we're playing a team of this level we're going to find out where we are as a team and what we're going to need to work on afterwards.

Avery Lawrence is a College senior from Charlottesville, Va. His e-mail address is lawrence@dailypennsylvanian.com.

Wednesday's practice for the men's squash team was just like any other - relaxed, with plenty of jokes and racquets flying around. For four seniors this week of practice at the Ringe Squash Courts will be their last. Coming up on the last hurrah of their squash careers at this weekend's College Squash Association Championship, the eldest Quakers want their departure to be memorable.

Services like Net Flix and On-Demand might be the most convenient options for movie-viewers, but the Independent Video Library's new owner aims to add some local flavor to the movie experience. Oliver Assiran, who recently bought the video store located at 40th and Locust streets, has begun a series of changes designed to turn the business into more than just a video store.

Modern inventions aren't all about robots and moving sidewalks - Penn students' creative ideas may now include a social impact component, too. PennVention - the annual student-run innovation competition organized by the Weiss Tech House - recently announced the Meltwater Social Impact Award, which aims "to support a student team that has an idea for a product or service that can help the local or global community," said Wharton and Engineering junior Matthew Owens, the PennVention co-chair.

Penn is granting graduate students higher stipends to keep its programs competitive and to increase access and aid. The University announced yesterday that the minimum stipend for Ph.D students who receive nine-month fellowships will increase by 6.7 percent to $19,200 starting this September.

Feeling crappy? You're not the only one. Universities around the country have been experiencing recent outbreaks of influenza. At Penn, the trend is the same. Student Health is trying to manage this year's increased number of flu cases, however, this flu season is not atypical, said Evelyn Wiener, director of Student Health Service.

e discussed recommendations on streamlining the visa process for foreign students last week, a move that comes as the number of foreign scholars in the United States is rising. At Penn, the international-student population jumped by about 800 students last year compared to the year before, said Rodolfo Altamirano, Director of the Office of International Programs, and some foreign students said they welcomed efforts to ease the visa process.

When it comes to senior-level administrations across the nation and at Penn, women may have broken the glass ceiling, but minorities may still have a few punches to go. Across higher education, 45 percent of senior-level administrators are female but only 16 percent are minorities, according to a survey conducted earlier this month by the American Council on Education.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton will speak in Irvine Auditorium on Feb. 28 at 11 a.m., the University announced in a press release yesterday. His address will open the "Kerner Plus 40" Symposium, an event sponsored by the Penn Africana Studies Department, Annenberg School for Communication and the Institute for Advanced Journalism Studies at North Carolina A&T; State University.

A gunman killed five people and injured 16 before taking his own life during a "suicidal rampage" at Northern Illinois University on Thursday, according to the Associated Press. The shooter, 27-year old Stephen Kazmierczak was a former student of the university who had no prior arrest record.