Almost There

The end of the semester is within sight. Most of my classes have final projects and papers due next week. I wish it was all over. I wish I didn't have to do it at all.

In my last post I said that nothing went awry with regard to my scheduling. Just after that something almost did. One of the classes I signed up for was under-enrolled. When that happens the class is most often canceled. The last time this happened it was a class which included a trip to London that was canceled. This time it is the very last class I need for graduation. Luckily it is the same for everyone else in the class as well. The provost has graciously allowed the class to continue with only 5 people.

The weather here still has not made up its mind as to what season it is. One day it is closer to summer the next it is back to winter. The past few it has been snowing so I think that it might be winter to stay pretty soon.

I'm really looking forward to Thanksgiving. It's my second favorite holiday, the first being St. Valentine's Day. I have not been home since fall break at the beginning of October and am looking forward to seeing my family again. This is actually the longest I've been away from home. Before, I went home monthly for various reasons. Now I simply don't need to and haven't been going. It's definitely going to be nice to go home.

Tonight is Slippery Rock's Light Up Night. It starts about an hour from now, but I'm not sure if I'm going to go. Even though it is beautiful outside, I have a ton of work to complete. Most of it due Monday. And I know I'm not going to have time this weekend to do it. On Friday night I am participating in a fund raiser for St. Jude Hospital called Up 'til 2 For St. Jude. On Saturday I will be celebrating a friend's birthday (not all day so I will have some time). Also, sometime this weekend an old friend will be visiting. Then finally on Sunday is the Gym Class Heroes concert. I just bought my ticket yesterday, and was surprised that they haven't sold out already. I also have a meeting Sunday immediately after the concert which will take up the last moments of my weekend.

First Snow

Last week was the first snow of the season here in Slippery Rock.



Two years ago when it snowed in the spring semester the snow didn't melt for two months. If you don't know, there are only three seasons here in Slippery Rock. One is summer. It doesn't last very long. The second is winter. This lasts considerably longer than the others. The third is actually just a transition between the two. Also the weather seems to jump between the seasons whenever it wants to. Last week it was snowing, this week it's almost 70, and next week it is supposed to snow again.

This week also marks the beginning of scheduling for the spring semester. I scheduled myself earlier yesterday. Just on a side note, scheduling has never gone smoothly for me. Something has always gone wrong. Most often it is a course that is filled by the time I register. This time nothing has gone wrong. It's about time.

Homecoming

This past week was homecoming. For the first time, one of my friends was on the homecoming court. Campaigning for someone on court is quite exciting. For about 2 weeks you can brag about your friend as much as you want. It also means that voting was easier for me.

Throughout the week there were homecoming related events all leading up to the parade and game on Saturday. The pep rally and concert were the largest of these and a lot of fun. The concert this year was Day 26 and Live In Color. I am not familiar with them but tried to go see tham anyway. People started lining up several hours in advance. I didn't show up till about an hour before the doors were supposed to open. The concert was delayed 45 minutes though, so since I was tired of standing in line I left before going in, but heard that it was amazing.

Two nights ago was my event as house council president. We organized a paint a pumpkin event for Watson Hall. W e bought 100 pumpkins for the residents of Watson to take and paint for halloween. We also had pumpkin pie, apple pie, and apple cider for everyone. At the end we had only about 30 pumpkins left. Everyone who attended had a good time, or so I hear.

Fall Break

Just as I begin to get comfortable in my routine and recover from all illness comes fall break.

It is what I consider the most pointless break of them all. It is only two days off just as everyone becomes acquianted with the semester.
I am looking forward to going back to school though. That is because when I get back the trees will be changing colors to show off their autumn splendor. The view in some parts of Slippery Rock, and even some places on campus, is extremely beautiful. The campus really looks beautiful in every season. (Winter has the added benefit of more cancelled classes than the others) I especially like Autumn though because as a photographer I prefer more colorful pictures. There is about a 1 week window in which the foliage will look its best. During that week I tend to be happier as the campus just amazes me.

I'm really excited for homecoming this year. Many of my friends are on the homecoming planning committee this year. They are trying to make homecoming a big tradition here on campus. Even though I'm not on the committee I am doing everything I can to help them succeed. Also, I know half of the homecoming court again, so I will have to base my choices for homecoming king and queen on more than that. Regardless, I'm going to be in the parade again this year. The parade is a big part of the community and I feel great to be a part of it. The only downside is that I will have to get up really early on a Saturday to prepare. After that, it is an awesome time.

1 month in

So, it has been quite a while since my last post.

My fall semester has since started, and it is quite different from all the ones prior. I started off being so involved on campus this semester that I didn't really get anything done. I just went around from one meeting, to class, back to another meeting, then to lunch etc. This continued for about 2 weeks and now I've quit several activities. One class and a handful of organizations and I plan to continue to quit more. The reason being that three of my classes are 400 level and demand so much of my time that I need to quit practically everything else. Computer science students are not commonly involved on campus. The professors know this and assign projects with that in mind. It really bothers me because I care more about the organizations I am involved with than my classes. I know that some people will think that I need different priorities but what I'm doing for the organizations is so much more rewarding than class.

I have so busy that my hobby of photography has even lost some attention.

This is one the few pictures I have taken since starting classes.

Some of the things I've been doing for years are beginning to be replaced. I started with WSRU radio my freshman year. Back then it was still WRSK. Now I have quit it and moved on to other things. Before I was in it I never thought I could be on radio. But now I am struggling to get by without it.

This year is going to be the most difficult for me to get through. Partly because some of my best friends graduated last year and I will not be seeing them nearly as often as I would like. But also because I will have to actually focus on my classes. That might not seem so difficult until you understand that I hate computers. They are so difficult to work with. That is the reason I am a computer science major, because I want to make them easier to use.

In other news I have a new blog for Slippery Rock University admissions. They are featuring it on the Rock Blogs page. I will be posting back and forth between these two blogs now. One post there on here.

I wish I had something more interesting to say here but right now I am being inundated with classwork.

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And We're Off

So here's an idea. Why not have actual students tell about what it is like to go to Slippery Rock? That is the whole premise behind this blog. A student of Slippery Rock University describing my experiences in college.

But first, a little about myself. I am a senior Computer Science major. I also have a minor in Information Technology and am considering a minor in Philosophy. I am also involved with several extracurricular activities on campus. My favorites are the Honors Program, and Student Government Association. A lot of what I do is related to the honors program. I have found it to be one of the best things to be part of on campus. My favorite thing to do is photography. I take more pictures than everybody else that I know. I will probably feature a photo here from time to time.

But wait a minute this is about my experience at SRU, not about me.

We're now a month into the fall semester and my classes are becoming quite regular. That is to say that I know what to expect of each of them. My computer classes are my difficult classes, but I enjoy my liberal studies so much more. A few weeks ago I had a problem which landed me in the hospital for a few hours. There was nothing they could do about it, so I ended missing a few classes while I recovered. Stuff began to pile up rather quickly and I was having trouble dealing with all of it. Now I am almost completely caught up with the exception of one class. A few more days should be all I need. Normally those days would be a weekend, but this past weekend I went to Camp Allegheny to do some community service for the honors program. Many other members of the honors program went as well. We did a lot of painting for the camp. This wasn't the first time I had done community service at Camp Allegheny, but it was the most enjoyable.

Back to School (soon)

My summer is almost over even though it just started.

I highly doubt that I am going to go on a vacation this summer. Normally I go somewhere over the summer. This year it looks like I won't even make it to Kennywood. My summer break is actually going to be shorter than my winter break.

Since my last post I have finished the last summer class I was taking. I am pleased to say that I got all A's in my classes for the semester. That bumps my QPA up to 3.25. That is nice since technically that is the minimum required by the Honors Program (original site design by me). Speaking of the honors program, this year I am being a mentor for one of the newly accepted students. The purpose of the mentor program is so new students can easily join the program. Not that it is more difficult to join than be in the program. It's just that if the program staff had to answer every question from the new students they would not have much time left to run the program.

This year I am going to be a check in assistant. That kind of requires that I be there when other students come. Because of that I need to be there earlier than just about everyone else. That is nice since I will be with almost all of my friends but without the worry of class. The only other time that happens is during finals week, and everyone else is usually too stressed out over their finals to have fun (not me, finals don't really bother me).

Congratulations to Krista and Steve Winslow on your marriage. Take care in Florida.

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