An MIT Alumni Association Publication
slice Topics

Search | Slice of MIT

Recommended

Guest blogger: Flat Tim Beaver

Flat Tim Beaver wearing a seat belt.
Safety first!

Hello, MIT community! My name is Flat Tim. You've likely heard of my cousin, Tim the Beaver. Although you probably don't know it, I am a member of the MIT Admissions Office. I don’t get to admit students but neither do I have to read applications.

However, I am a popular figure every fall when I visit different areas of the country to meet prospective students and educational counselors (those alumni volunteers who interview and recruit applicants).

My cousin pretty much sticks to campus, but I like to travel. And I don’t even need memberships in frequent-flyer plans or a rental car, since I just catch a ride with my friends in Admissions when they go out on the road.

Flat Tim Beaver meets a badger
Flat Tim Beaver meets a badger.

As you can see, we always wear our seat belts.

I've had a pretty busy couple of years! I’ve checked out The Big Easy, got lucky in Las Vegas (I won 21 cents), remembered the Alamo, checked out Half Dome, trekked the Oregon Trail, and asked an SR-71 pilot for a lift home (he told me I needed to fly commercial).

I have learned to love coffee (Starbucks, my friends don't give me a choice), enjoyed ice cream and milkshakes in California, and savored deep-dish pizza in Chicago.

Flat Tim Beaver enjoying an In-N-Out shake in California.
Enjoying an In-N-Out shake in California.

I even got to visit to that school in Pasadena last year (you know the one I'm talking about) and checked out their cannon, but the pictures are classified, and I was incognito so you wouldn’t recognize me anyway.

Now that all of my Admissions Officer friends have settled in for the winter to read applications, I get to take a break and enjoy our beautiful campus here in Cambridge.

Though, to be honest, sometimes I wish I got to travel a little in the winter. It gets pretty cold here as I'm sure you remember.

I asked my friends in the Alumni Association if they would allow me to share the pictures from my travels over the last 18 months.

I hope you enjoy seeing some of the places I have been. Check out more on my blog, The Adventures of Flat Tim.

I can hardly wait to find out where my journeys will take me next year. Perhaps I’ll come to see you!

Left: Tim at Multnomah Falls in Oregon, the second-highest year-round waterfall in the US. Right: Tim at the Married Giants’ grave in Seville, Ohio.
Left: Tim at Multnomah Falls in Oregon, the second-highest year-round waterfall in the US. Right: Tim at the Married Giants’ grave in Seville, Ohio.

Flat Tim Beaver with a cup of coffee
Just chillin' here in Cambridge.

Filed Under

Comments

Oliver Filippi

Wed, 11/27/2013 3:08am

TIM made a personal appearance at the West Coast, Class of '59 50 + (actually 52nd in 2011) reunion in Napa (wine country, CA).

TIM appeared in true magical form. TIM was the creation of "The Amazing Ollie Filippi" (the magician) and his '59 classmate, George Luedeke, Jr. [who, at the time, were living a few blocks away from each other in Encinitas, CA - just north of San Diego] .

TIM lost his deep brown color and turned white when reminded of the grades on the first Freshman physics quiz. All of the '59'ers in attendance shouted out in unison the class average - an unforgettable 36 !

Fortunately, TIM regained his color when he announced that he had beaten class average.

Related Articles