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

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

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

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