Thumbs down to Burger King –

– for taking away students’ best (and pretty much only) 24-hour dining/hangout place for a few weeks. The dirty floors, unusual odor and memorable employees helped to make Evanston into the semblance of a college town. Now, it has been taken away from us. Gone for three weeks will be the chance to make more great memories at 1740 Orrington Ave.

Here’s hoping the remodeling doesn’t turn BK into some lame, yuppy place – like Cosi. That would just be a tragedy for all the kids out there who have come to know love those fantastic Whoppers and chicken fries.

Burger King has become a staple of the NU experience. Let’s hope that in three weeks there will be a familiar friend open 3 a.m. if we get the hankering for some food.

Thumbs up to NUIT –

– for grabbing charge of the disaster otherwise known as the Associated Student Government’s server. Constant student group Web site malfunctions had become part of everyday life here at Northwestern. Now, students receive an upgrade – albeit a slight one. Maybe now we can look forward to working servers and web sites that run. While we understand ASG’s do-it-yourself attitude, here’s one time when we’re glad the grown-ups stepped in to clean up the mess.

Thumbs down to THE longhorns –

– for stealing a win from one of the greatest sports dynasties of our lifetime. Seeing the greatness of the hunky Matt Leinart, the quick Reggie Bush and the hyper Pete Carroll made college football a must-see event once again.

Now, college football gets to be represented by the Birkenstock-wearing, tree smoking, Real World hosting tools of Austin, Texas.

It’s always sad to see a great champion take a fall. Now the Trojans, on a 34-game winning streak, will forever be asked “What could have been?” If only they had been able to stop Texas quarterback Vince Young on that late 4th-and-5. If only.

Class and tradition took a great fall Wednesday night.

Thumbs down to Norshore –

– for leaving ski-trippers out in the cold. Norshore Cab has always been to Northwestern students like an awful ex-fling. Yeah, it’s unreliable, and sometimes it screws us over. But sometimes you just need a ride, and you already have the number in your cell phone. But for hundreds of students who called Norshore to get a cab to O’Hare International Airport to fly to the university ski trip in Colorado, they were stood up one too many times.

According to students who called the cab service, wrongly thought a cab would be quicker than the bus organized by ski trip. Cabs ordered days in advance didn’t show up and the ones that did picked up the wrong people. The taxi madness resulted in people missing flights and 50 students were put on standby for the flight. Some didn’t arrive in Denver until the wee hours of the night. Norshore better make sure this type of thing never happens again. Or we’ll stop calling. Except we never actually will.

Thumbs up to THE clocktower –

– for finally getting the “Queer Eye” treatment. At the end of Fall Quarter, the clocktower’s victory color was changed from pink to purple. Sadly, we might never know if the change was the work of President Henry Bienen, an anonymous janitor or the mysterious hunchback who allegedly lives in the tower.

The Northwestern campus may be poorly lit, and infested with muggers and raccoons, but at least the clocktower is displaying the right colors. Students might not feel safe or warm while they’re walking home, but now they can feel some school spirit.

Highs and Lows reflects the opinion of The Daily’s editorial board.