Wednesday, August 22, 2012

2 Days

Puppy!

Donnie got a puppy!!! :D It is a Husky and Lab mix. He is so adorable! I will post a picture in the next post. Donnie named this little puppy Apollo. I really like his name. :) 


Finishing Packing for Real

Yesterday, we spent a lot of time packing my stuff and hauling it over to Chris's Trailer. We had to completely rearrange the trailer though so that everything fit more efficiently. 


Sorry for this post not being very long..


~R

Monday, August 20, 2012

3 Days

Time To Finish Packing

It's about time to finish packing and loading my stuff into the trailer to be ready to head out on Thursday. I am getting excited, but I am also very nervous. I know it is going to be very hard for my mom to let me go, but I'm very glad that she is going up north with me to help me get settled into my dorm. These past few days are meant for spending time with my family and saying my goodbyes. 


Roommate Situation

So far, I have not been reassigned a roommate since Larissa Grundmanis had to begin her college career in the spring instead of this fall, in a couple weeks. I have been checking online to see if one has been placed with me almost every day. No one has yet though. It simply says that I am placed in a two person room, and what my address is for the dorm.


Netflix

I really love Netflix. My dad has it, so I kind of just use the online portion of it for me. He might think it's weird that he has movies that he "supposedly" had already watched, but really.... It was me. Haha! Anyway, I think Netflix is really going to come in handy up north when I don't want to go out and get a movie, but I just feel like watching one. That's what I usually do now anyway. I can watch movies any time!! I really like the convenience of it all. 

Netflix has a pretty big movie bank. However, I was very sad to find out that they do not have the Titanic!!! What the heck?! That is one of the most popular movies ever, and they don't have it?! That's just crazy to me....... I really wanted to watch it one time too. 


Last Textbook

I received my last textbook today. This last textbook is based on human prehistory. It seems like a wonderful textbook, if you know what I mean. I am so into Anthropology and Archaeology. It all fascinates me! I just can't wait to get started! I do have a feeling though that I will be doing many reports on different aspects of these studies. This last textbook was for the class Prehistory & Archaeology


Little Princes

I finally finished my Summer Reading book, The Little Princes. That book is so wonderful. I cannot believe I had not heard about it before I was assigned to read it for Reading on Inquiry for Michigan Tech! I am very excited, however, that I get to meet the author, Conor Grennan. He seems like such an amazing person for having done what he has for the trafficked children in Nepal. I never really knew much about Nepal to begin with, but I think it is a place that you definitely have to get used to. 

There is even a part at the end where he talks about what happened after the end of the story. He had the children of Little Princes read the book. They really enjoyed their parts in the story. They also asked Conor why he did not put in some stories like the one about him being bitten by a Nepali dog, and how Conor is afraid of the Nepali dogs. These parts just made me laugh. It shows how awesome those kids are.

What makes the book even more interesting is that it is all true. The Next Generation Nepal (NGN) is still around in Nepal! It's just a wonderful thing to know about, to know that the trafficked children have hope in Nepal. No children should be taken from their parents like that in any place in this world of ours. It just isn't right. 


Until I write again, I hope everyone is well.



~R

4 Days

Scholarships

Scholarships are the greatest things in the world. I am so appreciative of the Masons of the Masonic Temple in Caro, Michigan for awarding me the scholarship that they have. Without it, I would be scraping by just to go to Michigan Tech. I appreciate every bit of help that I can get when it comes to financing my college education. It is very important to me that I further my education to the best of my abilities, and that is exactly what I am trying to do. 

Speaking of scholarships, I received my first scholarship yesterday at the Masonic Temple in Caro, Michigan. It was definitely an interesting presentation to attend. I also was able to talk to a couple of my classmates from Mayville. I spoke to Steven E Richardson and Gabby Heida. It was great being able to see them. 


Everyone's Leaving!

Everyone seems to be leaving for college this week! It's crazy. Steven E left this morning to head off to Grand Valley State University. Gabby moves on Friday to attend Ferris State University. Aaron Moody left already, and he is at Central Michigan University. Siara Diechman is already attending Ross Medical in Davison, Michigan.

It just seems to me that everyone is finally going their separate ways. Speaking of separate ways, I head out in 3 days! 


~R

5 Days

Cultural Anthropology Book

Well, it seems that the book that I had to order the second time is on its way to the U.P. I had it sent to my address there because I didn't want to take the chance of it being stuck down here at home instead of up north where I needed it to be for my classes. 

Textbooks Are Here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Two of my textbooks arrived! I received my Introductory Statistics and one of the two books for my Prehistory & Archaeology class. I was so excited! I hope the other book that I have yet to receive here at home will come tomorrow or the next day. If not, I am going to have to start trying to figure out where it is. The statistics book looks terrifying. I have no idea about anything remotely close to statistics. I'm more of an Algebra/Trigonometry person rather than statistics. I just hope that the class isn't too difficult. I have a feeling I'm am still going to be using the Learning Centers up there a lot in the Math Department. I have been told that the Math Department up there isn't the best. Even if they are not the best, I will do my best. 

Learning Centers

Learning Centers are places that you can go to get help with homework or to work out some concepts that are giving you trouble with students and faculty that are there to do just that, help you. I really love the idea of being able to go somewhere to get help if I need it. It makes it a lot more laid back, I think.

There is a different learning center in different areas on campus for each of the different areas of study. There is a Math Learning Center. There is a Science Learning Center. There is a History Learning Center.. Etc..... 

Another awesome aspect about Michigan Tech is that there are computer labs for each department as well. There is a lab for every learning department, such as the Social Sciences. There is one for Chemistry. There is also one for Engineering.. Etc... They have all of these separated so that each computer on campus does not need all of the possible programs for every department. The computers in the certain computer labs have programs that their field of study will need. The labs are wonderful places to work on projects because they do indeed have all of the programs on the computers that someone would need in their field of study. It's a wonderful idea as well, I think. 


Anyway, until I write again. The countdown is still counting down!


~R

Friday, August 17, 2012

6 Days

Facebook Post That I Couldn't Go Without Watching!

This Facebook post was something that I simply could not go without watching when I saw the name of it!

John Oliver Talks About Michigan Tech!

You just have to click on the link and watch the whole video! It's very funny! 


Posts by Michigan Tech Freshmen on the Freshmen 2012 Facebook Page.

I love looking through all of the posts on the Freshmen page because I always find things like these on there:


Huskies!






This picture just cracked me up the first time I saw it because of the Husky-on-husky aspect of it.. I just never thought I would see a Husky *dog* wearing a husky *hat* at any point in my life! 

Just a little blurb about this photo, I think this husky's eyes are so intense!!!! Like he's looking into someone's soul! Haha! 






Joke's on who?

"Honk if you dropped off your DAUGHTER." - Frat Boys. 

Well, I suppose it might be an effective way of finding out how many freshmen girls are on campus?! I don't know. Who would even honk at that?! Do they want their daughter to be prowled upon by guys weird enough to do this in the first place?! 

Anyway, this post was kind of funny to me because the caption that went with the post was asking whether or not we would see stuff like that next weekend during drop off for Freshmen. 

I could definitely see that happening too because of the guy to girl ratio at Michigan Tech being about 1 to 5.

Although, I might have you know that it seems like there are a lot of Freshmen this year that are girls. Even, with an increase in the female population, I'm pretty sure the ratio will not even budge. 


Commenting

I have noticed that in the past.... EVER... There have not been any comments on any of my posts. I believe I made it so that anyone can comment, but I'm not sure until someone actually comments?! Yeah, thanks. Haha! Anyway, go ahead and comment, and I'll let you know what's going on in the next post.


Talk to you later, Alligators!


~R

Thursday, August 16, 2012

7 Days

Cellular Service/Carriers

Around here, where I live, the biggest carriers are: Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, Thumb Cellular, and possibly a couple other smaller names. Anyway, I have a phone through Verizon, but I also have my brother's old phone from his plan through Sprint.    **I never know when that is going to change though. If he doesn't pay the bill, no phones for neither him nor me.**   Anyway, The cell service up north is basically just Verizon. I have been told that only Verizon and AT&T work up in that area, but I'm not quite sure. I haven't tested the Sprint phone out up there. The only reason I like the Sprint phone is because it is a smart phone. Yes, a smartphone. It's a hand-me-down, but it's like new to me! I do really like it. However, the part about possibly not having service at some point down my timeline makes me not want to trust the phone. Therefore, my mother told me to keep the Verizon phone so that I would have a phone just in case Donnie bails on paying the bill. 


The Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal by Conor Grennan

So far, I have loved this book from beginning to where I am now. I know that most of the other people that are going to be Freshman have already read the book completely, but I'd rather have the story fresh in my mind for orientation week and speaking about it with other Freshmen. According to the Orientation Week schedule, we have a certain time period where we must sit together in groups and talk about the Summer Reading Book. I don't really mind talking about this book though because it is a great book. I was so thrilled to find out that it is a true story. I know it is not entirely a good situation, with children being trafficked and all, but just to know that someone, Conor Grennan, would go WAY out of his way to help save children and reunite them with their families is amazing.

If you want to know more about this book, here is the description on the back and a link to where you can buy it online for yourself (or it is also at Meijer):

In search of adventure, twenty-nine-year-old Conor Grennan embarked on a yearlong journey around the globe, beginning with a three-month stint volunteering at an orphanage in civil war-torn Nepal. Bet a shocking truth would forever change his life: these rambunctious, resilient children were not orphans at all but had been taken from their families by child traffickers who falsely promised to keep them safe from war before abandoning them in the teeming chaos of Kathmandu. For Conor, what started as a footloose ramble became a dangerous, dedicated mission to unite youngsters he had grown to love with the parents they had been stolen from---a breathtaking adventure, as Conor risked everything in the treacherous Nepalese mountains to bring the children home.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8564644-little-princes 

Does this story not sound awesome and inspiring?! I was definitely inspired to try to make the best of every situation.


Travelling

I believe that I will be travelling the farthest for college out of all of my Class of 2012 from Mayville. However, we did have one that went into the service, Daniel Dusenberry. He just might end up travelling farther.. Not right away of course, but I'm still proud of what he is doing for our country. Anyway, a trip to my University will take about 9 - 10 hours depending on weather. With the trailer, it might just be around 9.5 hours to get there. Even though most of the travel is on highways, once you get into the U.P. it is more or less a 55mph speed limit all the way from the bridge to Houghton. I think that may feel like it takes longer anyway. It takes about 4 hours from where I am to get to the Mackinac Bridge, and then another 4 hours or so to get across the U.P. 

Speaking of the U.P. I was supposed to go see my one friend Ashlee that lives up there now.   **She, unfortunately, goes to my University's rival University.**    Ashlee goes to NMU (Northern Michigan University). I will have to figure something out.. I would really like to see her again and hang out. She is one of the funniest people you will ever meet!

Gas prices

This is a little heading below the bigger one of travelling. Gas prices need to go down a lot right about now. I would appreciate that VERY MUCH ECONOMY! There is really no real reason why gas prices have to be around $4.00 a gallon! NO REASON!!! And just because you can, does not make it okay! Some people are just so greedy. 

If you are wondering who I believe is to blame for this? I blame the CEOs of the oil companies who think they need billions of dollars all the time. Yeah, no. You don't. It is not required to live in a mansion when there is only you and a wife and possibly a kid.. A mansion is way too big and just requires more maintenance. Really.. If you didn't buy such large houses... or multiple houses, you would not need so much money to begin with! Duh! Anyway, I do not, in any way, blame the people who work at the gas stations. They are just doing their job. I understand that. That is why I would never take out my feelings on someone who is working at the gas station itself because I know that they are not entirely to blame. 

Here is a question to ponder:

If you were to work at a gas station, would you be obligated to buy gas there? What if it cheaper across the road? Might you be reprehended for buying gas elsewhere? 



Anyway, that's all for now. I will post again possibly tomorrow.


~R

Final Decision.

I finally made the decision to try my luck with buying online again for my Cultural Anthropology book. I used a different site this time. I also had the book sent up north to my dorm there just in case shipping takes longer than expected.. I thought that would be the best option.

Now that that is all taken care of, I am trying to fix my computer before heading up north... It's being pretty slow compared to normal.. I am running a disk defrag right now, and waiting to see if that does it any good. However, the darn defragmenter is slow too!!!

Well, since I finally had made the decision about whether to buy online again or not, I figured I would write an update on the whole situation. 

I believe it may be getting to be that time of night... The time of night when I either want to go to bed or watch a movie... I'm not sure which it'll be just yet.

Well, good night.


~R

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Back to packing.

Who knew that it would take so much time to pack everything you need for college?!?! Well.... Besides the people already in college, that is... Anyway, it does take quite a while.. I just hope I don't forget something important because I can't simply come home to get it whenever. It's a little more difficult than that.
Anyway, on the topic of how I am packing, I'm using tubs. I have about five tubs to my name, all of which are full....




I got most of my clothes packed.. Well, all of them except the ones I need for this last week.

It is all seeming to come together so quickly. I could never have been ready though without the help of my mother, Karlene Bennett. She helped me out with just about everything while preparing for college.. She helped me figure out what I would need. EVERYTHING. 

Now that all of my tubs are full, my mom and I moved them all from my bedroom to the basement where we will then, eventually, sometime soon, take them over to the trailer that Christopher will be pulling up north with all of his things in it. If mom thinks that I have a lot of stuff, she has no idea... Christopher has so much stuff! The darn trailer, mind you - this trailer is not small, is almost completely full. He says that he still has to repack it, but I know there is still a lot of stuff in there. No matter what he says.

Speaking of the trailer, Christopher and I still have to take it for a test drive to make sure that his truck can haul all of the stuff that he is going to have in there... His truck does have a weight limit for how much it can haul, so at least Chris is mindful of that much.

Oh!!!! My mom actually found those sheets for laundry that have both the soap and softener in them! I was so excited! I thought they had stopped making them, but she found them at Rite-Aid in Lapeer. That made me very happy!

Anyway, THE COUNTDOWN CONTINUES!

Only 7 days.


~R

Receiving so many things from Michigan Tech lately.

Lately, there have been many thing that I have been sent from Michigan Tech regarding the start of school.    **The countdown is in full swing! 7 days!**    The first thing was a postcard from my Orientation Team Leader whose name is Kimberly. The second was a Campus Bookstore 2012-2013 Student Service Guide. 



These are the coupons from the
Student Service Guide.
This Student Service Guide came with 4 different coupons. The first
coupon was for $5 off any 1 hard cover textbook. The second 
coupon was for $5 off any 1 Michigan Tech Sweatshirt. The third
coupon was for 25% off any 1 Michigan Tech insignia item. The fourth and final coupon was for a FREE Cup of Coffee from the Library Café.
I think it is pretty nice of the University to send out coupons, but I know
that they do that so they make people want to buy their merchandise. Of
course, that isn't entirely a bad strategy. Especially when they send those
coupons out to incoming freshman who really need coupons like those. 

I showed my mother these coupons and told her that if she came up north, I could buy her a free cup of coffee at the Library Café! She just laughed..

I still have yet to decide about whether or not to chance my luck again with the online stores or just wait and buy my Cultural Anthropology book from the Michigan Tech Bookstore...? 

Well, until I write again, I send all of my love.

~R


P.S. I may just write again very soon. Haha. 

Are you worth it?

This poem really spoke to me when I read it not five minutes ago...



"Dear Lord/Lest I continue/My complacent way/Help me to remember/Somehow out there/A man died for me today/As long as there be a war/I then must/Ask and Answer/Am I worth dying for?"

~Anonymous.


This poem was kept in the pocket of Eleanor Roosevelt during World War II. What a great woman. 


~R 


P.S. Are you worth it?

Book delay.

It turns out, one of the books that I ordered had a problem with it.. I am now being refunded the full book price. It is kind of a bummer though because I was excited to have bought all my books successfully online. Turns out that things are not always what they seem. Now, I have a dilemma. I don't know whether I should try buying another book online or buying one from the bookstore up north... I know it will definitely be more expensive at the bookstore, but at least I will know that I will have the correct book. What do you think? Should I try my luck with online again? Or pay through the roof at the University Bookstore?
This is the book that I have to search for again.....
The one with the most enticing cover at that!! Grrrrr......

On the other hand, the rest of my books were sent out today. I am hoping to get them soon!

Another thing, I met one of my brother's and his fiancé today! They were both awesome! Their names are Edgar and Jennel. They are getting married very soon and are very cute together. Donnie, my brother; Erika, Donnie's girlfriend; and Christopher, my boyfriend; all went with me to meet them. Edgar and Jennel made dinner, chicken and mashed potatoes! MY FAVORITE! Then, we watched a couple movies. It was nice not being pressured about answering questions about myself that I thought might happen. It was just laid back. I really enjoyed spending some time with them.

College is getting closer and closer! I leave in about a week! It's so intense! I still have to finish packing..... And get my stuff into Chris's trailor/truck/my mom's vehicle. Haha! Anyway, I am still very anxious about going to college. I know I will have a lot of fun though meeting new people. I like making new friends. I hope I make a ton! Or at least some......... Well, I believe it's time for me to check Facebook one last time for the night, and hit the hay.

Good Night World!

~R

Monday, August 13, 2012

College Textbook Shopping.

When in high school, I most definitely took for granted that my course books were already paid for. Now that I'm about to begin college in a couple weeks, I know what it is like to have to get my own books for school. I have probably spent about 7 hours looking for the right books! It's crazy. I really didn't want to have to pay full price for textbooks at the bookstore at the University, so I turned to the internet for assistance. My school's website gives the name, edition, and ISBN number for each book so that we may find our books of our own accord. I found that very helpful in my search. The one thing that was difficult and kind of off-putting was that I do not know the people that these books are coming from. That's basically the only downside of the whole situation. However, I have emailed on of the sellers about my Introductory Statistics book because I didn't know if the Cd that was supposed to come with it would or not. She emailed me back right away, and she said that she's going to send the book and then look for the Cd and send that to me free of charge. I thought that was very nice of her.

I believe that I spent considerably less than a lot of people will by shopping online for my books because, in total, my books cost me about $180 dollars. I think that's awesome! I have heard of people spending about 3-400 dollars on textbooks PER SEMESTER! I just think that's insane. I am going to try to stick with buying on line if I can help it.

Did you know, that you can either buy or rent textbooks?! I found that out during my search for the right books. There is a button for buy or rent. However, I found it better to buy because you can always sell the books back to someone else.. Considering that the rental price was sometimes larger than what I found the books to be for me buying them. I believe I made the right decisions about what books I bought though.

I will most definitely inform you about how it all turned out, the books getting here I mean.

Thanks for reading.

~R



P.S. These are pictures of the books that I have for this semester.

This is for my World Peoples and Environments class. 

These two are for my Prehistory & Archaeology class.

This one is for my Statistical Methods class. 


Late night movies

Well, for the past couple nights, I have been staying up until wee hours of the morning to watch movies. On Saturday night, I was at a friend's house, Siara Diechman, and we watched the movies LOL and Going the Distance. Tonight, I watched The Lorax, Cyberbullying, and another movie that taught me that popularity isn't always what it's cracked up to be. Sometimes, being the underdog... Or, the less popular one, gives you the advantage. I love watching movies that cannot only make me laugh, but also teach me valuable life lessons. Well, I suppose it is finally time to say good night.. GOOD NIGHT!      ~R

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Tomorrow's Topic Blurb #2

College Textbook Shopping.

The musical talent of my fellow incoming freshmen.

It seems to me that there is so much musical talent in the individuals that are joining me this year as freshmen in college. Savannah Curtis is a fenominal artist. She sings and plays ukelele! Exceptionally well, if I might add. Another that is very good as well is Michael Lemmer! He sings and plays guitar. He performs mostly country music, which I think is awesome! There are also many other people with great musical talent. They play brass, woodwind, wind, and string instruments. I don't know if it is just me, or do most people that are going to a technical school sometime in their life play a musical instrument....? My high school band director/teacher told me that this is true because the ones who have the ability to give all of their time to music also tend to give a lot if their time to their studies as well. Thus, they tend to do better in school overall. I do have to agree with my high school band director, Mr. Scotty Adkins. All of the people that I have seen graduate while in band or a music group were almost always the ones who were in the top of their class. Take me, for example.. I was not first or second in my class, but I did, however, end up as 4th in my class after taking my senior year with a part time college load and a full time high school load. I even managed to stay in cheer throughout the year as well. Now that it is over with, I can most definitely say it was worth it to have given up so much in my last year in high school. It was worth it all because I also gained so much experience and skills that I know will help me move on to the next chapter of my life.... 4years of college at my college of choice, Michigan Technological University. I am stoked to have even been accepted, let alone follow through with all of my dreams of a higher education. Well, I shall write again later..       ~R

Tomorrow's Topic Blurb #1

The Musical Talent of My Fellow Incoming Freshman!

Alcohol Education...

Well, college seems to have already begun without the start of the semester. I was introduced to a pre-course that I had to take called "Alcoholedu" through my University's Freshmen Facebook page. Isn't that wonderful. I was just sitting there checking out what all of my future classmates were posting and BAM!!!!  They were talking about this weird alcohol education thing that we were supposed to complete. Heck! If it wasn't for all of the brilliant people that are going to my University, I wouldn't know half of what is going on! I do have to say though, they are some pretty intelligent individuals! They know "math humor!" MATH HUMOR! It's intense. Anyway, back to the whole Alcohol course.... The University is making each and every Freshman take this course, and it is for a grade! There is an exam at the end and everything. It's so ridiculous... But hey.. It has to be done, so I figured, why not complete it..? That's what I did today. I completed the Alcohol Education Part 1. Oh, yeah.... Did I forget to mention?! If you didn't find that we had to take this once annoying, they also issued a Part 2! Yeah.... Awesome, right? Not exactly.. This thing took me about 5 hours in total with frequent breaks to complete, and there is still a "Part 2." So, yeah. That is what I have been doing with my time lately. That and reading my Summer Reading book that is called The Little Princes by Conor Grennan. I wasn't entirely sure that I would like the book from the beginning, but I am now in love with the story. It is the tale of how one man's ambitions changed the lives of so many children and families in Nepal! It is just amazing to me to know that it is a true story! I am stoked to actually meet Conor Grennan during Orientation Week at college, which, by the way, is exactly 2 weeks and 1 day away! It's creeping up on me. It's all a bit crazy, but I am beyond excited. Anyway, before I write so much that I have nothing to write about tomorrow, I will end this blog on a good note and say that I cannot wait for college life, BUT I WILL. Good night.    ~R


This is one of the animation videos....
BTW.. The Answer is D.

This is the creepy guy from the video.