Musical Weekend

A while back (months) some friends decided to have a musical weekend. The always wonderful Wine & Spirit played at the Altar Bar once again drawing a crowd. Free Candy also made their Pittsburgh debut the same night. They played two shows that weekend, one following Wine & Spirit at the Altar Bar and again at the Hard Rock Cafe two days later. They celebrated the occasion by giving away free candy as their name suggests they do. But apparently many people at the Hard Rock are not fans of candy, because the night ended with many pieces left.

So while at these small concerts I decided to break out my handy dandy camera and take some pictures. (Who's surprised?) There were many worthy shots and even a few videos. This was my first time trying to capture some videos with my Nikon D3100 and I learned a very important lesson, a tripod helps a ton. Unfortunately I don't have one, so I'll stick with still shots.

One thing that surprised me is the quality of the lighting at the Altar Bar. The stage is pretty evenly lit allowing for me to concentrate more on composition and less on worrying about whether the shot will require extensive post processing. The back of the stage is lit as much as the front even though it is under a quite large overhanging platform. I was even better than the Hard Rock's lighting.

More people from Slippery Rock attended these concerts than usual which isn't hard to do when there are two Slippery Rock bands playing. I even managed to catch up with a few friends. When not taking pictures, there was always someone to talk to. This needs to happen more often.

The Altar Bar

A few weekends ago I attended a concert at the Altar Bar in Pittsburgh and tested out my new 55-200mm lens. The wonderful band Wine & Spirit was playing along with several other local bands providing me with plenty opportunity for testing under various conditions.

I'm not quite used to how much it zooms in. All the cameras and lenses I've used in the past didn't even come close to the amount of magnification it performs. My least magnifying lens is 18mm. That's more than 10x magnification! It may seem insignificant to you but to someone like me who's only seen that amount of magnification in microscopes it is kind of a big deal.

The lens far exceeded my expectations for zoom. I was able to capture close-ups of the people at the back of the stage.

This was also the first time I need to switch lenses while on my feet. Things happen so quickly at the concerts that there is no time to return to my camera bag to swich lenses. I was nervous through the whole procedure. I kept my other lens in a small bag over my shoulder so I wouldn't need to carry my big camera bag. When the time came to switch, I brought the small bag to my front and opened it. Once there I switched the lenses and put the bag back behind me. All this while being careful nobody walked into me, it is a bar after all.

Braddock

About a week ago was the first SRU Braddock Care Break of the year. Just like all prior care breaks to Braddock, we performed various tasks in Braddock, North Braddock, and Turtle Creek (not crick). Some of those tasks were picking up litter, painting, helping at the local food bank, and cleaning up the library. Even though individually they may seem insignificant compared to the larger community, it is by these small steps that the communities and residents benefit.



This year held particular significance for me. See, this was my first care break as an alum. You might be asking why I would attend an event organized for students. The answer is simple, it's a worthy cause. Braddock is one of the most run-down and impoverished communities perhaps in the nation. It wasn't always that way and there are people who want to see it return to its former glory. I met some of those people the first time I attend a Braddock care break. Seeing their dedication made me realize how bad things can be even a few miles from my home.



Last year I missed an opportunity to attend one of these care breaks. Coming back this year reminded me of how my work makes a difference in the community. Its something everyone should experience. If you have a chance to volunteer in your or any community, don't pass it up. Your work will be appreciated potentially more than any you've ever done.

Not Much New Here

I recently purchased a new camera (Nikon D3100) and wanted to shoot some victims people with it. Wine & Spirit presented me with the first opportunity with their little concert at Garfield Artworks with Verona Red and Atlas. And it was an excellent opportunity to test how the camera performs in low light. The artworks had only one light directed toward the stage. In the photo above you can see it shining on the left side of the image. Plus it didn't help that all the walls and ceiling were stark white creating a poor background. Needless to say I didn't get many shots I consider worthy of public viewing.

More importantly I heard and met a wonderful new band! Verona Red played songs which I didn't want to end. All of their songs impressed me, which is quite an accomplishment. You should listen to them on their myspace page. They also had some of the coolest merchandise I've seen in a while. If you didn't attend the concert you really missed out. The band has local ties so there's a good chance they'll return in the future for you to see and hear.

Focusing

Wow, three months since last time. That can't be good. I have to check facebook and twitter to remember everything since then.

In late October I visited SRU for homecoming. Every year, my photos of homecoming are technically nice but lacking compositionally. This year was no different. The weather is usually overcast giving soft shadows and pleasant textures. But there always seems to be something in the frame which I don't want.



The success of my homecoming photos motivated me to once again participate in Project 365. I loved the first year doing it and learned a lot about photography. This time, I will be trying to do the same, but with more enthusiasm. It's been a lackluster beginning, but I expect to improve shortly. This year's phots can be found in my Take 2 set.

In other news...

I recently began messing around with Unity. For someone who's worked almost exclusively in 2D it is a bit daunting to add the third dimension. Right now I'm still going through tutorials and such. If you know of any good resources please let me know about them in the comments. So far the most difficult part is understanding the choices of the makers of the tutorials. The engine is capable of primarily running two languages, JavaScript and C#. For some odd reason the developers chose to write everything in JavaScript. I understand how it makes the engine more approachable, but JavaScript leaves too many questions unanswered.

If that last paragraph interests you, you will be glad to know I started a new blog focusing exclusively on my software engineering antics. it is very young and my experience with technical writing is limited to the few papers from my computer science classes. Give it time, I very much want to make it succeed. Check it out at brianturner.info.

Time to go prepare for the AFC Championship. GO STEELERS!

Blog Action Day 2010: Water

Water, a substance necessary for a person to live. Yet, as many as "one in eight" people in the world today don't have access to clean water. It might be hard for some people to imagine given the ubiquity of water in developed nations. Let's say you turned on your tap and thick, brown water with a strong stench came out. This might happen for a number of reasons, but you would only have to deal with it for typically less than a few hours. Water like this is a fact of life for many people living in Africa. Some people even walk for miles to retrieve water like this.

The easiest, and most beneficial solution to this is to build a well within close walking distance of the locales that need water. Wells provide a source of water that is close where it is put to use. This reduces time spent transporting water allowing that time to be spent on more beneficial activities, like education and healthcare. It also provides naturally filtered water as opposed to water that may come from a contaminated pool or stream.

Unfortunately, many villages are unable to afford the building of a well. Digging a well requires time, effort, and money. The process involves large equipment which small villages cannot even rent due to cost.

This is where you can help. Many charities like water.org allow you to donate money to help build wells. Donating is easy and it takes only a few minutes. Your donation can help provide a person with safe water for life.

If donating money is not enough for you, take another step. Do what this Slippery Rock Professor did. (Regular readers should have seen this coming)



Dr. Wukich, an art professor at Slippery Rock University, makes water filters from clay and straw or sawdust. He then takes these water filters to developing countries to demonstrate the effectiveness of them to the locals. Then he does what any professor would do and teaches them how to make these water filters. The raw materials, clay and straw, are easy for anybody to obtain cheaply or even freely. The clay and straw are then mixed and pressed into a bowl shape. Once dry, the filter can be used again and again to filter water. You can see more about the process documented by the Braddock Library Water Filter Project.

Through even a little work you can help people around the world gain access to water like that seen at the beginning of the post.

http://www.charitywater.org/whywater/
http://water.org/solutions/digging/

Almost Moved

Back in August I said goodbye to the place I've called home for the past five years. Slippery Rock is a wonderful place and I would love to call it home again in the future. But for now, home is Pittsburgh.

I'm now living in a two apartment house in the Dormont neighborhood of Pittsburgh. The house formerly belonged to my grandmother who lived there for almost 60 years. During that time, her and my grandfather performed minor repairs but never major renovations. The only exception is the garage which they built. Because of this, the house (construction, furnishings, etc.) is in almost exactly the same state it was when my grandparents moved into it. Most of the construction is still the original from whenever it was built. The wiring is mostly original, which makes three prong outlets scarce. Living rooms are organized so that a fireplace is the focus as opposed to the modern custom of a TV. The cellar is leaky and contains no ventilation whatsoever. And the internet is a far far away place which requires substantial travel to venture even remotely close to it.

Some of these issues have been resolved. Communication utilities (i.e. TV, phone, and internet) have been combined into one, cheaper provider. Accessible wiring has been updated to follow modern building codes. Fireplaces are difficult to change so those will remain the same. All these changes got me thinking about what the house would be like if it were not split into two apartments. Either I have a really good imagination or it's damn nice. It has a master bedroom, 2 regular bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, full kitchen, dining room, living room, entrance, bonus room, cellar, and attic. The bonus room has a wonderful view with ample natural light making it perfect for a reading room or study.

In between all this fixing of the house my time has been spent working on programming challenges. At the moment I am working on Packing Your Dropbox. I was very eager to try this one because of how well I can pack things efficiently. The thing is I never really analyzed what algorithm I was using. Upon thinking about it I found the crucial part is finding the largest sides which fit together perfectly. However the challenge is different as it does not provide the boundaries, instead asking that they be calculated. More on this when I have a final working solution.

The other challenge is finding a new host for my Facebook app, My Nickname. Since I first created the app I have been able to use free hosting providers. Facebook recently updated its developer platform to have more features and be more secure. Unfortunately, my current provider doesn't support Facebook's new API at my current cost of free. I had a hard enough time finding any provider which supported the old API. There don't seem to be any providers which freely support the new API. Now I'm faced with a choice: host it myself or pay for hosting.

Problem Solved

Shortly after my last post something interesting happened that has not happened to me before. The hard drive to my only computer filled up. The culprit: Porn Photos. This is an issue I've been dealing with for a few years now by removing something else whenever I took pictures. Well, I finally ran out of things which can be removed. All that remained other than my pictures was Windows itself, Office, Picasa, iTunes, Dropbox, and Firefox. Typically, I take it as a good sign whenever I must make room for pictures. However, it reached a point where my computer stopped functioning.

Fixing it was simple once I got started. After sorting out the hardware, I used GParted to copy the entire contents of the old drive to the new one. That only took an hour to complete. Upon rebooting I disabled the old one with the intention of enabling it soon to use as a backup location.

My bicycle was also fixed and to commemorate the occasion I decided to go out and take photos. My favorite way to take photos is to go for a ride on my bike so it getting fixed worked out nicely. I went on a short ride from my apartment in Slippery Rock to the point where the road leading to the outlets is blocked off and back again. (which is about 12 miles if you're curious) Here is a shot from campus on my way back.



Also I finally was able to fit Team Fortress 2 on my computer again. If you ever feel like playing my Steam ID is steakPinball.

Almost Done

For the past few weeks I have been working on a website for a Sport Management class on Facilities & Planning. Today is the day of the event, and the conclusion of it will bring relief to many people including me. The primary focus of the class is to plan a charity banquet. The charity is Charlie Batch's Best of the Batch program which benefits youth in disadvantaged communities in Pittsburgh and the US. Even though I am not in the class, I was responsible for the event website http://www.banquentintheburgh.com/. I was honored when they asked me to make it, and will be forever grateful to the members of the class.

I learned a lot from making this website. It is the first time I used Lightbox and IPTC data embedded into photos in the wild. PHP handled generating the code which Lightbox requires quite well. The content of the gallery page is being entirely generated from the folder hierarchy which means adding to the page is as simple as putting a folder in a specific location. Through making it, I ran into the curious caption bug of Lightbox for which there is no perfect fix. You can check the source for my fix.

This is the first time the end of the semester feels no different from the rest of the semester. It is quite strange to be so close to graduation and yet feel like things will be no different a month from now even when I know they will. First of all, I will no longer be a student. Second, and closely related to the first, I will lose my part time job working for the university. Third, I will be living in my own house. In the past, all this real world stuff seemed like it was such a big deal. However, now it doesn't seem that way anymore.

Oh, and when my work from the video game programming class is ready for release it definitely will show up here.

System Error

It won't stop snowing here in Slippery Rock.

A little over a month ago I began working at SRU's Web Services. Over the past few months they have been working on migrating the current website to a new system. The current system, Site Builder Toolkit, has reached its limit and is no longer effectively managing the site. The new system, Microsoft SharePoint, promises to be much more scalable. However, it does not seem to be very stable. Everyday there is a different problem requiring a different solution. Yesterday, all the users received 'access denied' messages. Today's problem is that some people, including me, are not able to create new pages in the site. Being a student worker, I have no ability to resolve these problems myself and must wait for somebody else to handle it. Here's hoping these problems don't persist through the launch of the site.

Last week was the due date for proposals in my video game programming course. Today, I find out if my proposal was accepted or not. If it was I will begin work as soon as I get home and will report all progress here. Working on this project will nicely make up for the lack of video games I've been playing.

As I stare out the window

And there goes another car through the stop sign. Since it has been so long since my last post I have a ton I want to say, but that's not going to happen all at once.
First off, I successfully finished Project 365. It is such an accomplishment that it needs mentioning even two months after completing it.

This is my last photo from the whole series. Someday they will be made into an arrangement.

Volkswagen stole my idea when they made this video:

Blog Action Day

Today is Blog Action Day and I thought I could contribute.

This year's topic is climate change so I will be talking about the environmentally friendly movements in Slippery Rock. Some people think it is quite difficult to do anything beneficial to the environment or that nobody will listen about the environment. Slippery Rock is proof that this is not true.

Slippery Rock University campus has a large campground on it. This camp has a long history at the school. The major attraction in the winter is the giant ski hill which people go sledding down whenever they feel like avoiding classwork. Accompanying this is the ski lodge. It holds many facilities for making the ride down the hill more enjoyable like a fire, picnic tables, and shelter from the all too common wind. All of this was threatened by a proposal to turn the campground into a parking lot. When the students got wind of this they were outraged. They formed a group called Leave It Green which voiced to the university that the students wanted the campground to stay even if it meant having to walk an extra half mile to the parking lot.

The campground is here to stay but Leave it Green didn't stop just because it was secure. Almost half of the students at Slippery Rock are commuters. A lot of them live just barely off campus (think across the street) and drive to class everyday. To curb this behavior the Green Bike Initiative was started by Dan Wilson. A bunch of bikes were brought together and made available for anybody in the slippery rock community to use. These bikes are still in use today, but the system has changed only slightly. The Green Bike Initiative also accepts bicycle donations for use in the program. And yes, all the bikes are actually green.

Recently, environmental friendliness has become a major affair on campus. To help with the movement the Green Fund was started. Every semester $20,000 is set aside to help projects which are environmentally friendly. One of the recent projects to receive some of this money is the NextBus GPS tracking system servicing the shuttles. There are two buses which drive campus and the community for the students to ride. Often times it is slightly off schedule. The NextBus system provides a website and phone number for students to check arrival times for each stop. The idea is that if students can more reliably predict when the bus will come, then they won't resort to driving everywhere.

That's all for this year's blog action day. Don't forget, everyday is an opportunity for change.

Autumn in Slippery Rock

Dang, I sure messed up that more posts thing.

I wasn't quite prepared for how much work school was going to be. This year I have an apartment with one other person. I don't really want to talk about the situation, it's a sore subject. Anyway, I advise anybody looking for a place to live in Slippery Rock to stay away from The Ivy. I strongly doubt their ability to count above three.

This is my first time ever taking a photography class. Results have been mixed. The first critique resulted in my photo being related to dying dreams and the death of Santa Claus. The next one consisted of two photos, one which was basically perfect and the other somewhat mediocre. Since I am not in the beginner's class I feel like I'm doing just fine. The true test will be when I must use film. I began photography when I bought my first digital camera and have never used film. While I'm curious about it, the thought of photos being related to my grade scares me. This isn't the first art class I've taken, but it is the first that I began learning outside of class. One of my photos is used by a website/blog on average once a week, which to me is a testament to my ability. (Flickr also lists me as one of the featured photographers of Slippery Rock) Hopefully I don't end up hating photography because I'm taking a class as has happened with every other hobby I took a class for.

There are lots of topics which I thought about putting in here, but I didn't write them down and I can't remember them. I typically use Evernote for this type of thing. Speaking of Evernote one use I have found for it is making a playlist for my school radio show. Whenever I hear a song which fits into my show I add it to the list to look-up in the station's library.

This Summer

So this summer wasn't an entire loss.

The Starlite Car Cruise, which claims to be the largest car cruise on the east coast, takes place every Friday during the summer at the North Way Christian Community Church. It has been a staple of my summers for the past few years. They have everything from the Model T to Lamborghinis, but mostly classic cars. If you have ever seen a classic car driving around western PA on a Friday chances are that it was heading to/from this event. The best part is that it is sponsored entirely by local businesses so everything is free (except the food). There are even prizes for cars of the weekly theme. The theme when I attended was horsepower but all cars are welcome. The photo above was taken there. Some of my favorite photos over the years have been of cars at the car cruise.

Shifting gears, I have been working on a facebook app for quite some time. When I first started I was quite enthusiastic about it. Unknowingly at the time, I made a poor decision about my hosting provider. Being a cheap college student I went with a free hosting provider. After making a ton of progress and just before release the provider closed down with no warning. Everything which was not backed up was lost, that constitutes everything I made because I hadn't backed up any of it. All the code along with the entire database was lost. That happened a little over a year ago. This story should be a lesson about backing up data and free hosting providers. Since then I have found another free provider (don't say anything) with a better record. Now the application is up and running better than before. The first version did not use any javascript. The new version uses it with plans to use more. The Facebook Javascript (FBJS) sandbox is more capable than I had originally thought. I didn't even have to deal with the nitty-gritty of AJAX. FBJS has a high level AJAX class to handle everything! For those wondering, the application allows one to give nicknames to his/her friends. It's called My Nickname. The next feature to be released is a profile box.

The other major achievement of my summer is the understanding of the impact of people in photographs. If you know my photography habits this goes without saying, but I like candid photos. The problem with that is most people in candid photos don't like them. My habits saw a shift this summer. I now take hardly any photos of people, and when I do they are usually small and far away. Replacing candid shots is macro shots. Macro pictures don't typically work with people. So I have taken drastically fewer photos of people. Looking back at the macro photos I keep thinking, "ok it's cool, but not engrossing." When I go back to school in a few weeks I will be working on photographing people. (Roomies be warned) This was all made possible by the Project 365 which I am participating in. If you have no clue what that is go read my post just before starting it.

Side note: The frequency of these posts is lower than I like, that will be changing.

The Heat of Summer

A rose from my grandmother's garden.

This summer has been quite different from previous ones. Most notably is that I'm not taking any classes. For the past two summers I've been taking classes at Slippery Rock University. A year ago I made a 3D animation.

I know that for some people getting a new phone is not a big deal. For me it is. That's because four years ago I got my first cell phone and have been using it ever since, until it just up and died. Nothing came in or went out of my phone. So I got a new phone the day after I realized it was walking, but not talking. My new phone is the Samsung Alias 2. It's a pretty cool phone. The keyboard uses what Verizon calls e-ink. The proper term is organic LED, the same technology which the Kindle uses. I quickly realized that it was not functioning properly and returned to the store for a replacement. Hopefully this one will last until Verizon gets the iPhone. (More on that later)

About a week from today I will be halfway through with my Project 365. For those readers who don't know what Project 365 is here is a little description. It is a photography project in which the only requirement is to take a picture everyday. My first attempt lasted until I lost my camera in the snow. This time I'm not going to let something like losing my camera stop me, though I really hope that doesn't happen. The picture featured above is one of my recent submissions. I hope you like it. Doing a project like this forces me to be more creative by making me look at everyday objects differently.

Until next time

Summer is Calling

Bad news first
The year is coming to a close and what should be an exciting time is not going to be. I should have graduated at the conclusion of the semester. Originally I was to be a student for 4.5 years. But last summer I jumbled classes so that I could graduate in  May this year. It looked like everything was going well until this semester when I was just overworked and could not give enough time to all of my classes. I have to go back to the plan of graduating after 4.5 years. I was rather disappointed when I realized I had to go back to that plan. I can still be happy for my friends though. My best friends are moving on to the real world and while I wish I was joining them I can still give them an encouraging send off.


Just below Slippery Rock Falls

Earlier today I went to Slippery Rock Falls for the first time ever. It was just to help somebody whose car would not start, but I had the opportunity to spend some time at the falls. The water was freezing cold since it is only the start of warm weather here. After 5 seconds of my feet in the water it was painful. I am told that the water levels are lower in august so that people can walk out into the middle of the creek and swim in the warmer water. I almost fell into the creek twice from (of all things) slipping on a rock. At least now I can claim that I slipped on a rock while at Slippery Rock. Anyway, we finally were able to start the car and return to campus.

This is likely my last post of the school year. Feel free to leave any questions or comments anytime though.

Back from D.C.

Not long after going to San Francisco I went on a trip to Washington, D.C. The trip was sponsored by the honors program. Every year they have a trip during the spring semester shortly after spring break. Last year it was to Savannah, GA. This year it was to Washington.

We left on Thursday morning taking a bus to our hotel in DC. We arrived later that day after a quick stop for lunch. Into the evening we had a trolley tour of the city stopping at some of the major sites to take pictures. We drove around the capitol building before coming to the Jefferson Memorial. That was the first location which we got off the trolley to take pictures. After that we went to the Iwo Jima Memorial. We spent a long time there and even so I was not able to check everything I wanted to. After that we went to the second most important place for me to see, the Lincoln Memorial. Abraham Lincoln is my favorite president in history. From there we saw the Washington Monument across the reflecting pool. Later we went to the White House. I got some sweet pictures of all of these places.

The following days consisted mostly of free time to do and see whatever we wanted in Washington but there were also some guided tours of the city.



My favorite place which I wasn't expecting was Arlington National Cemetery. I have great respect for the military personnel. The cemetery was very moving for me. Only the Holocaust Museum was more emotional.

I enjoyed this trip as much as any other trip (except perhaps the honors trip to Savannah last year). These trips in my opinion are the best benefit to being n the honors program.

Back From California

Slippery Rock just doesn't compare to San Francisco. I went there for spring break to do what is known as service learning. A group of students from SRU went there all together to do community service insead of a vaction, we call it Care Break. Even though it rained on more days than it did not we all still enjoyed it. If we had stayed in Slippery Rock it probably would have rained every day anyway.

While there we stayed and worked at The Presidio, one of the Golden Gate National Parks. We stayed in one of the old army barracks in the park. The Presidio has a popular volunteer program which people participate in every Wednesday and Saturday. We worked on many projects that the volunteers work on except we did it everyday for a week. Mostly we planted native plants and pulled out a week called oxalis (aka Bermuda buttercup). While we did that we learned a lot about many of the native species. My favorite was Miner's Lettuce. It is called thus because miners in the area during the gold rush ate it. I tried some and it does actually taste like luttuce. I loved the trip more than any vacation. It actually felt like a vacation because of the atmospere among all of the people who went. I suggest to everybody to attend a trip like this. My favorite part of the trip was working oin the coastal bluffs around one of the old army batteries. From it we could see the Golden Gate Bridge and had a beautiful view of the ocean. My only regret was that I had not done a care break earlier.

Almost There

This semester is going by faster than any other.



A lot has happened since my last post. This semester really did take me by surprise. I had to take some time off from posting while I got things under control. Hopefully it will stay that way.

The biggest interuption was the Mathematical Contest in Modeling. It is an international contest which takes place anually. The premise is that each 3 person team has 120 hours to solve a problem and write a paper about it. Last year, I competed for the first time and my team placed in the top 13% worldwide. The problem was to come up with a way to gerate sudoku boards. This year, the problem was to come up with a system wich can determine the best traffic flow control within a traffic circle. I won't find out my place this year until after the end of the semester (and hopefully graduation). Even with all of the prestige which comes with the competition I doubt that I will ever do it again. Both times I was left stressed because I was missing out on everything else happening while I was stuck working on this math problem.

House council has been a very big part of my life this year. That should be expected as I am the president of the Watson Hall house council. But it wasn't until now that I felt as though I was actually getting anything accomplished. We have some big plans for house council for the remainder of the year.

Midterm recess is approaching quickly (next week). Most people call it spring break, but I don't as it is not yet spring. Normally I just take a week off, go home, and relax. This year I am going on a care break. For anyone that doesn't know, a care break is a trip to another city in order to do community service. Slippery Rock University has a long history of participating in care breaks. I am going on the care break to San Fransisco. While there we will be doing landscaping at the Presidio. This trip has been the best thing to look forward to all year so I am looking forward to it more than anything else.

Next time you hear from me I will be back from California.

Spring Semester should actually be called Winter Semester

There has been snow on the ground since the start of the semester.



It is so cold that for the first time ever I witnessed pond hockey in Slippery Rock. This weather is not condusive to learning. Classes were getting cancelled for pure fact that the wind chill was 20 below. This does make for a lot of fun outside of class though. The ski hill is getting a ton of use along with the ski lodge. Sometimes there is even free hot chocolate in the ski lodge for everyone to enjoy. The hot chocolate really hits the spot when it is this cold out.

Classes this semster really took me by surprise. They started so suddenly and with so much work. This just makes me want to graduate even more just to get it over with. Luckily there are only 3 months left.Then I won't have to worry about classes anymore. After that I'll just have to worry about the real world. Some my friends who graduated last year are still surviving out in the real world so I figure it can't be so bad.

Just as a reminder feel free to leave questions/comments here and I'll get back to you ASAP.