Web accessiblility.

Making our websites more accesible for all users will be beneficial to our business. There are many people with disabilities or that are just inept at using websites. We could make our websites accessible for the elderly and the disabled by making easier web tools. This would even help those without a disability. It is already required in many countries for websites to be accessible for users with disabilities. Some web barriers are due to poor web design, web browser, or assistive technology. Many corporations don't even know their website is not easily accessible and don't know how to change it. Organizations not yet invested in web accessibility may be enticed by the accolades others get from their efforts. Involving users early in the web process will allow for better development, improved products for the users, and other benefits for the stakeholders. Many sites have text that is hard to read, audio that is not clear, and controls that are difficult to click. We can improve all of these by the customization system in our computers. Improving our website is a crucial step in moving our business forward. Not only will it allow for more users to browse our site it will also provide easier readibility and controls. We should not discriminate based on one's ability to use the internet, instead we should make our website available for all users.

Fire

I am sorry to inform you that a fire broke out at 10 pm Thursday night. All residents in the near by area have been evacuated and should be able to return tommorrow pending on permission from the local authorities. Because of the diverse nature of materials in the plant, the cause of the fire is unknown but this facility does not carry dangerous chlorine gas and the fire is not spreading to other businesses. Dozens of people have been sent to the hospital with breathing problems but many have already been released. The North Carolina State Department of Enviroment and Natural Resources had not detected anything out of the ordinary in the air. We would like to thank the local police and fire departments for their quick and brave actions. If you have any questions you can call the EQIS toll-free hot line.

listening skills

I have been disappoint in our listening skills during the group meetings lately. We do have an open speaking policy but we need to respect the presenters. I am tired of people interrupting others, asking questions that have already been answered, and exhibiting poor listening habits. Change is in order so we will not be so dysfunctional. I am giving you five points to help improve your listening skills. The first point is to turnoff cell phones or any other device that will distract you from listening so that you can be alert. Be able to relate and understand the information that is being delivered. Give the speaker your eyes and ears during the presentation so that you can pay attention to the body language. Be able to understand the speaker's position and motivate a similar answer. Lastly I want everyone to respect the presenter and not to judge him or her because of their beliefs. These five points will help each of us be better listeners. We need to be able to critically listen in meetings, this is something we have not been able to do. I am positive that these new points will greatly improve our enviroment and that we can execute each point perfectly. I am looking forward to see our group grow.

Comic-Con

Comic-Con is a national convention were fans of movies, videos games, and comic books can get together. Many people at Comic-Con dress up as their favorite character, and some even have pretend battles with their nemesis. While visiting Comic-Con, the fans can enjoy a wide variety of merchandise, souvenirs, art shows, games, and awards. With so many different events going every body is bound to have fun. Many special guests also show up at Comic-Con. This provides a fan a chance to talk with the actor that plays their favorite character or get an auto-graph from the creators of their favorite comic. A variety of food and beverages can be purchased at Comic-Con while one is viewing all the features that are offered. The 42nd annual Comic-Con is being held in San Diego California, July 21-24. Hotels reservations can be found online as well as the names of the special guests that are attending. Information will continued to be updated at comic-con.org.

The Rams

The St. Louis Rams are having a horrible season. Overshadowed by the win less record of the Miami Dolphins the once powerful offensive attack known as the greatest show on turf has fell off it's thrown as one of the NFL elite teams. Injuries have plagued the team all season with the offense only playing one game this entire year with all of its starters. They got rid of Mike Martz and the type of program great coach Dick Vermeil left has been completely decimated. Since we have approached the giving season all I want for Christmas is for the Rams to earn a high draft pick so we can finally get one of the many linebackers coming out of college this year and fix our horrible defense that has been played with all year long by the other teams in the NFL.

Christmas

I have been in DeKalb, IL for six months. I have not seen or heard the sound of the ciity I grew to love for the past 18 year of my life. Unlike most students at Northern I am not from the Chicago area. I have come to agree with Dorothy's statement, "there's no place like home. All of my problems will be fixed in six days, now that we have come to the end of the semester and christmas has approached. I can not wait until I go back to the city of St. Louis, MO. I want to see the ARCH, the muddy Mississippi River, and go to Forest Park and ice skate. My families tradition is to place the star on the tree on the night of Thansgiving, but since I have been in college I was not able to raise my four year old cousins to place the star on top the tree. Christmas is not about the presents I will get from my family it's about the time we will spend with each other sharing stories and memories of those who can not be with us this year.

definition of gender

Friday, October 26, 2007

Definition of Gender
I believe that genders is the different types of behaviors that are associated with a specific sex. in our society women are the emotional ones who worry about things and who put feeling into situation they become apart of. Men are not supposed to show much emotion. They are supposed to be hard core and keep their emotion out of situations.I believe that as a child males and females are typically raised to be either masculine or feminine. When a baby girl is born the doctors put colors such as pink and purple around them an in their nursery, because those colors are associated with the females sex. When baby boys are born they are put into nurseries that are either filled with sports themes or colors such as red and blue. Girls are raised with more etiquette than boys as well. When a mother teaches a young girl to wear a dress or skirt and how to carry a purse she teaches her the proper techniques that society feels is necessary to be a respectable young woman. Though young boys are taught by their father to wear a suit or to act in a chivalrous way when dealing with females, etiquette on their behavior is not emphasized as much as it is for young girls. Boys are often introduced to sport more than females , because it is look upon as something guys do. Every guy can remember the first time their father took them outside, gave them a ball and played catch for the first time or showed them how to dribble. A lot of males see sports as an option to being successful and being in the spotlight. The varsity quarterback or the star basketball player are usually the most popular people in High School and guys love popularity. Women on the other hand are taught things such as how to cook, sow, or are given dolls to play with. Their mother teaches them things that women have been taught for a long time as far as how to manage a household and prepare a meal. Even the dolls they are given come with a house or some type of home appliance that teaches them how to use it and instills in their minds that this is something a woman is supposed to know how to do.

Support your schools athletics

Many students on the campus of Northern Illinois University complain about the schools athletics and how badly some of the programs are doing. If more of the 26,000 enrolled in Northern would come and support their programs they would reap the benefits of division one programs. More fans at both men's and women's basketball games will show Sport Broadcasters that NIU fans want to see there teams play and more of the games will be broadcast on national television. Currently only receives national television during the football season and the school earns millions of dollars, but not enough to fund the many projects that have been introduced to fix problems around the university. If NIU students can sell out the Convocation Center during both men's and women's basketball games this seasons the school will receive million of dollars. The money earned can go towards things such as better dorms on campus, More state of the art technology, and even building a pool in the recreation center. I challenge all students to attend on game this year and Everyone will see the benefits of supporting our teams. Besides what else is there to do on Tuesday and Friday nights before everyone goes out and parties.

Why People Should not have Animals

Domesticating animals is one of the more popular things to do for families. Parents go out and get their children a dog or a cat and everyone has no problem with it. Earlier this year Atlanta Falcons Quarterback Micheal Vick was arrested on dog fighting charges. Many animals activists stood outside the courthouse and protested how the acts against the animals were inhumane, but when cameras were put on the protesters many of them had dogs on leashes with clothing outside with them protesting. Why is it okay for humans to have animals inside their home. Many people believe that their animal is apart of there family, but when did animals say they wanted to be caged or exploited for human pleasure.

I am not saying that what Micheal Vick did was right, but animals were not placed on this planet for human self interest. They are exploited in animal shows, zoos, and circuses and no one complains about the way these animals are being treated. Those who protest for the fair treatment of animals don't think about how placing dogs in homes, regulating when they can or cannot go outside, or regulating when they can or cannot eat is harming the animals. They say that the animal is happy, because it being treated fairly, but is being the possession of another being considered fair treatment.

What I Don't Understand About Finals.

I really don't get why some teachers give a chapter test out only a few days before finals. I mean come on why would you do that. I that that if you were going to have a chapter test then that should just be the final its self. We are all working really hard and studying a lot so we do well on are first finals here at NIU. So why do teachers think that it makes sense to make us all study real hard on several chapters and then four days later have a test on the whole book. I think that in order for us to do good on either a final that covers the whole book or a chapter test then teachers should give us a break and if they want are grades to go up they should pick one of the two test. I fell as though we are already stressed out a ton and they already know this and they still proceed to assign a ton of homework and two test with in four days. I just don't understand what they are thinking when they give all of this work to us. My roommate is taking a really hard course and the teacher assigned a chapter test and their final on the same day. I mean would anyone be able to tell me how you think that she is going to do well on both of those test? Although she is studying a lot for these test she still isn't sure how well she is going to do on these test. Which I didn't mention before was that her grade relies on her test score in that class. So some of these teachers who cram all of these test in at the end of the semester don't realize what harm it is doing to some of the kids grades especially when you put in a chapter test on the same day as a finial. Therefore I still am not sure about why we take a chapter test a few days before finals.

Plastic Surgery

A few weeks ago one of our classmates presented a persuasive speech regarding the negative sides of plastic surgery. She mentioned Kanye West’s mother and her tragic death due to plastic surgery. I can clearly see why the speaker thinks that plastic surgery is extremely dangerous. I’m here to stand up for plastic surgery and say that it has had a positive impact on my life, better yet, my health.

When I was younger, my brother accidently hit my face with a basketball and broke my nose. It was painful. At first the injury was not so noticeable, but as I grew older my face changed and the broken bone was affecting my breathing. This breathing problem held me back from playing certain sports in school. I grew tired of it, and I decided to undergo rhinoplasty, also know as the nose job. Everything turned out great during and after my surgery. I can’t imagine how much worst my health would be if I hadn’t found a solution to my breathing problem.

Too Many Drugs

We all get sick once in a while and we take medicine, but have you ever been on so much medication that it actually makes you sick before making you better? This is what I’m currently suffering from. At first, I was diagnosed with a medical condition, and I was prescribed Effexor XR. This medicine’s side effects make me weak and dizzy, so to control that I have to take Meclizine. Because of this combination, I have trouble sleeping, so I have to take Lorazepam on top of the other two.

I’m only 20 years old and I’m on more medication than my mother. That scares me because it makes me think about how many medications I will be taking when I’m older. I know my health should come first but it really sucks. I had to give up my cell phone because I could not afford the bill and the $110 per month of medication. I hope I have somewhat encouraged you to take your health seriously and not take it for granted. www.webmd.com

The College Experience

We are pretty much done with the first semester of our college experience. I feel like it was just yesterday when I was moving into the dorms. I remember being excited about this huge new change in my life. Most things turned out like I expected which is a good thing because I had already prepared for the changes. All my older siblings have attended college and they gave me the insight on what to expect and look out for. They warned me about bad teachers, tough assignments, completely different types of people, and overall an experience to enjoy and never forget.

I truly love the college life because I have matured and become more responsible and independent. Not everyone understands the whole college experience, so they don’t appreciate it. A way to think about it is to think… when will you ever get another opportunity to live out on your own with your peers where you don’t have your parents telling you how to behave? College is about being free and discovering yourself.

a raise?

A couple weeks ago, I emailed my boss about when I will be returning to work over winter break. In the email I stated something about discussing the possibility of me getting a raise for when I come back, and then I did not receive a response. I don't know if my boss simply got side tracked and forgot to respond, or if i pushed the wrong buttons asking for a raise. It made me wonder, what is the best way to ask for a raise? I wasn't rude when I asked for the raise, and I've only received one raise after working there for over a year, so it is well overdue. I'm not worried about being fired or anything serious because of my question, but I do not know how to handle the next email I need to send because I did not get a response.

I am not in this situation, but I think that some jobs might take advantage of their younger employees. They may think that because they are younger and have less experience in the work world that they do not need to promote or give raises to their younger employees. They might also think that the employee will never ask for a raise, and therefore, will only give a raise if it is asked for. I think that when it comes to money, you need to stand up and ask for what you want because it will never just be handed to you. Need help asking for a raise? Visit http://humanresources.about.com/od/salaryandbenefits/a/ask_raise.htm and here are some don't when it comes to asking for a raise http://www.forbes.com/2006/01/04/careers-work-employment-cx_sr_0105bizbasics.html

ahhh finals

I can't wait for finals to be over. I'm already stressing out way too much about what I have to study, the grades I have to earn on the tests, and what my GPA will be depending on the grades I get on the finals. It was really important to me to start off with really good grades because it is hard to raise your GPA if you start out poorly. I'm on the border between grades in most of my classes, so that just makes everything worse. In at least two situations, I have to get an A on the final to earn an A in the class. It makes you think, is it even worth it to kill myself studying to get an A that will be nearly impossible to achieve? If I don't, I know I will regret it later and all of the "what ifs" will come into play.

It seems like a lot of people scramble toward the end of a semester to earn every possible point to earn the best grade possible, myself included. Next semester I'm going to try to start of stronger so I don't have to worry about as many things at the end of the semester. For tips on surviving your finals week, http://www.utexas.edu/student/utlc/cs/exam-week.html.

Long Distance Relationships...

When you go off to college with a boyfriend or girlfriend who goes to another college you usually go into a long distance relationship with a very positive attitude. You think that we are in love, there is no one else for me, and he/she won't do anything to hurt me. Although you may believe all of those things the odds of your long distance relationship working out is slim to none. I went into a long distance relationship with all of those different thoughts in my head and as many times as people told me that things probably won't work out, I ignored all of it because all that I could thing about is being with him. Then I started going out more and meeting different people, by doing this I didn't loose interest in him. I just lost a lot of time to talk to him, I also was always busy and he would want to talk on the phone for hours every night which I was not able to do. Finally it got to the point that we would not even talk on the phone everyday, not even a "hi". Thats when I realized that this relationship isn't going to work out and that we both have a lot to do and don't have time in our lives right now for each other. Although some of the time long distance relationships don't work out there is a very slim chance that they do. Therefore when going into a long distance relationship even though you think that things are going to workout they usually don't. 

True Friends.

Over the summer I remember talking to my friends all the time saying how we are going to keep in contact with each other and we will always be there for one another for what ever reason. My parents told me before I left for college that I am going to make a lot of new friends ( which I had already known) and I probably wouldn't see nor talk to few if any of my old friends. As most of us would react to that, I got very upset with my parents and told them that they did not know what they were talking about and these people have been my best friends for over eight years of my life. I think they just gave up and was sick of fighting about this issue because they knew what was going to happen as soon as I left. The first few weeks that I was here I would text message my friends a lot because I was already very busy and didn't have much time for phone calls. As time has passed I stopped talking to one person at a time. Since I have left for college I have really learned the definition of a true friend which isn't someone who is there when they need something to wear, or to hang out with when no one is around. A true friend is someone who will be there for you no matter what and would do almost anything for you. Here at NIU it had made me realize who was and wasn't my true friends and as much as we hate to say it my parents were right when they told me that sooner or later even though I thought that the people who I spent eight years of my live with would soon be gone with in weeks. I have also learned that as people go off to college the change and you really don't have as much in common as you thought. Over all I think that even though you still keep in contact with you so called "true friends" from home you will soon realize like I did that some people that you think are your friends really are not. 

New Classes!

How many of us can't wait till the next semester starts? There are many things that I am both looking forward to and going to miss at the same time. I am going to miss all of the different friends that I have made through out the last couple of months here at NIU. I am also going to miss all the different classes that I have taken through out the semester as well as some of the teachers. There are also many new and exciting things to come alone with starting a new semester such as meeting new people, starting a new class, going into different buildings, and starting off your class with an "A". The reason I like starting off new classes is you get the chance to meet new people and start new friends. The good thing about that is that you get to keep you old friends that you made the semester before. I also think it is exciting to start a new class and find out who your new teacher is. Usually on the first day of class you will be able to tell if you are going to like them a lot or have a lot of problems with them. I also think it is cool that we get to go in all different buildings because most of us have only had classes in a few although they have walked past many of them. The main reason that I enjoy starting off a new semester is because you start off with a new beginning and have an "A" if you did not do to well during you first semester you are able to know where you stand and what you need to do to get the GPA that you want.

Snow After Break.

For some of us who don't live around here or are from places what are much warmer. The snow that we have gotten is just the start of it. Right now everyone is complaining and all of the buses are full. Although they try and plow the streets and shovel the side walks they are not always going to be able to get all the snow so, not only do we have to worry about how cold it is to walk to our next class because the bus is going to be full but, not slipping on our way there. The problems of getting to and from class are not what this blog is about. This blog is about how this is not the worst of the snow. The snow is only going to get worse especially when we get back from break. It is going to be colder than ever and the wind is even going to start blowing harder. The buses are going to be full and the side walks are going to have a lot of snow on them. Also, while walking through the street not only in the slush gross and dirty but, very easy to slip on and we have to cross the street to get to all of our classes. We all walk around outside and complain while we are walking to where we need to go but, in reality things are only going to just get worse and it is going to last much longer then a few weeks. 

Soooooo NASTY!!!!

I recently read the Housing and Dining Fines blog by unforgivable and I thought about my floor’s restrooms. First of all, I live on an all girls floor which probably makes you think, okay nice and clean, right? Wrong!!! I have never in my life seen a nastier bathroom. I don’t know what is wrong with these girls but it’s quite serious. The types of disgusting situations in the bathroom range from toilet paper all over the floors, unflushed toilets, urine and poop on the toilet seat and bloody pads on the floor. I no longer utilize this particular bathroom; instead, I use the other bathroom on the floor which is somewhat cleaner. We have had floor meetings to discuss these problems and to encourage people to clean after themselves. However, the meetings are useless and the bathroom continues to be bombed. A couple of us, from my floor along with the C.A., have met and tried to figure out a solution to this but we cannot seem to come up with a good one. She told us about the fines, but in my opinion this is unfair. So what can we do? Any suggestions?

What to Look Forward to Over Break...

There are many things that I  am looking forward to do over break but, I am not sure which I am most excited about. Is it sleeping in my own bed, being able to see all of my friends from home again, real food, or just hanging out with your family. I personally can't wait to go home to see my family.  My family and I are very close and I can't wait to just sit around with the fire place on and watch a movie and catch up with my mom. My mom and I are very close and I am able to go to her with anything and know that no one else will find out.  I am also really excited just to be able to wake up and see my family and be in my own house. I am also very close to my dad, I have not been able to talk to him as much as I have wanted to these past couple of weeks so it will be good to finally be able to talk to him whenever I want. I also am excited to go home to go golfing with my little brother. We go to the golf dome which is a indoor driving range and hit golf balls almost everyday. We usually have little games because he always thinks that he is better than me. Over all there are many different things that I am looking forward to over break but, I am most excited to see my family.

What Really Is a Warning?....

Apparently people here at NIU consider the definition of warning something much different then I do. When I hear the warning the definition that pops into my head is, that you did something wrong and don't do it again or else you get in trouble. Well here at NIU apparently a warning consists of a fine as well. One day I was burning an inscent which I didn't think that it was to big or a deal because most of my friends do it out here and I have done it a couple times before. So I had this inscent burning and I left to go to my friends dorm for a couple of minutes. Well, right when I got to my friends dorm my phone rings, and it was my roommate. I wasn't to sure why she was calling me because I had just talked to here about ten minutes before that. When she said " oh by the way you just got written up for burning your inscents, and you have to go and see the CA as soon as you get back". That made me really nervous, so I made my friend come up to the room with me to go and talk to my CA which I was really scared about. She told me that I was just going to get written up and that nothing else was going to happen. While a couple of days ago, I went over to my mail box to see if I had anything and I had a fine for twenty five dollars! I was shocked and very angry, I still and very unsure on what to do because I don't want to pay it because she said i was getting written up and this was just a warning if it happens again. Over all I think that NIU housing needs to stop trying to fine us for every little thing and learn what the word warning means.

Housing and Dining Fines

I check my mail just about everyday hoping for a card or maybe a peice of junkmail. Recently I got a bit of a suprise. A letter from Housing and Dining. I figured " oh great, just anyther bill I'm gonna have to play, or some new announcment telling me of some new policy." But I was wrong it was a fine for 3 dollars. "three dollars?" i think, "what could I possibly get a three dollar fine for?" Then i read through the letter and it says that it is because the toliet was clogged with a bananna. Ok, I know it sounds funny but how does everyone get fined for the toilet being clogged? I know they need money for the plumbing costs but how are you seriously going to fine every person on the floor because some kid decided he was gonna be funny and shove a bananna in the toilet? I know I may sound cheap but i just think is kind of unfair. The best part is if you refuse to pay for it, it will count as an encumberance on your account and they could decided to lock your account to register for classes. Some of the fines Housing and Dining have are insane. Like the chairs in the dorms that come with the room cost $150 if you lose or break it. These chair are worth $40 tops and it just seems like they are just racking in money for things that shouldn't cost that much.

Downlaoding Music

As time goes by I still can't help but think how music downloading sites, such as the old Napster or Limewire, are killing the record industry. I personally am against downloading music and think that music downloading sites should be shut down. A lot of people argue and say it is not a big deal because the artists are already rich. That may or may not be true but one of my arguements is that it is also taking away money from the people who work at the record company. Not the big CEOs or producers but the little people. The janitors for the buildings or even the secretary answering phones. It is unfair to steal music. Would you go to a store and steal a hundred shirts, or go to the grocery store and steal groceries? Then why would you steal hundreds or even thousands of songs. I know music is a form of expression but it is also a product. These sites take away from this and can even cripple smaller record companies that are just getting started leaving only the large name industries such as warner brothers or geffin. Music downloading needs to be stopped before it does even more damage to the record industry.

Winter Wonderland?

Remember when we were little kids and winter was the best time ever? Playing in the snow, making snowmen, and having snowball fights. We would wait and wait until the snow finally fell. And when it did, we would be begging our parents to let us go outside and play in the snow. We didn't even care how cold it was, we would spend hours outside. We could be frozen from head to toe and we wouldn't want to come in until our parents forced us to. I miss those days. It seems like the older you get, the more you dislike winter. The reason little kids like winter so much is because they don't realize how many bad things happen in the winter. Little kids just see the fun snow and snow days at school. But the older you get, you see the other things like driving on the horrible snowy, icey roads. You have to go and clean the snow off of your car and deal with the other people on the road. Also, as an adult, you have the responsibility of shoveling. You have to get outside and shovel the snow off of the drive way just so you can actually go out. Not many adults go out and play in the snow, but apparently college students love it. I've never seen so many people wanting to play in the snow as I did the other night. It is exciting because it was the first big snow of the year. I just like the snow because it makes everything prettier. When the snow first falls it covers everything and makes everything look so pure and clean. But then the cars come through and make the snow dirty and slushy. I still like winter, I just hate driving in the snow!

Winter Break

Winter break is going to be interesting. When I went home for Thanksgiving break, for only about a week, it was weird. It is not only weird going home now, but it is boring. Don't get me wrong, I like going home and seeing my friends from high school, but it isn't as much fun as being here. When I go home, it is just like being in high school again. I have all the same rules that I had living at home. I like being here and being able to do whatever I want, any time I want. I can make all my own decisions and I have so much more freedom. But when I go home I have all the rules again and I can't do what I want. I can't stay out late, I can't have friends over any time I want to, and I can't go out any time I want. Another thing is my friends. When I went home for Thanksgiving break, it was already a little weird with my friends from high school. We have hardly seen each other since school stared and being together now, things are a little strange. I never expected that it would be strange to hang out with them again, but it definitely is. Another thing about friends and going home is the fact that here, my friends are always around. I can open my door and a lot of my friends are within a hundred foot radius. I can walk down the hall instead of driving to their house when I'm at home. When I'm here, I can hang out with friends any time of day. I can hang out with them until late in the night, and no one can complain. It just seems like everything is more fun here, even doing nothing. But when I go home, I am not going to be able to have as much fun. Not only because there are so many more rules, but because home is jsut not as much fun!

The NFL Network

The NFL Network has to be the absolute worst idea in NFL history. You start this network that higlights various big games this year. Dallas V. Green Bay, Chicago V. Washington. Both games with the potential for a lot of people to watch it. But guess what? You can't becuase you havn't paid the money to watch the wopping 3 or 4 games that they showcase. So you are forced to watch ESPN for updates instead of seeing the actual game. As if the NFL doesn't get enough money. Endorsements, Merchandise, video games, insanely high priced tickets, and what else, a network to gain more money. I think football should be football and should stay on cable. The NFL Network needs to be stopped.
http://www.nfl.com/nflnetwork

Styrene Food Containers

I read an article in the Northern Star earlier this year and I believe it is something that people should know about. It is about the food containers in stevenson and how they can do damage to your health. I think it is something that should be and issue and they should consider banning all the food containers. According to the article these containers can give you headaches, make you dizzy,make you have a hard time concentrating and many other affects. I think they should stop using them and go with paper plates. This would help the enviroment and prevent all those health problems. Since this article there has not been much talk about the issue and I believe it is something that should gain more attention. Here is the link to the Northen Star article.
http://www.northernstar.info/article.php?id=728

Text Books

One of the most ridiculous things about paying for school, is the cost of books. I don't remember exactly how much money I spent on books, but I remember it being a lot. I was shocked at how much they actually cost. There are books that I have that I didn't even use this semester, but I bought them at the beginning of the semester. The end of the semester rolls around, and I find myself looking at my stack of books, trying to figure out which ones I can return to the bookstore. Unfortunately, there aren't that many. I sold back my psychology book today; $55 at the beginning of the semester, and I got $36 back today. That is one of only about three books that I will be able to return. And from what I am hearing from people, you don't get much money back, even if the books are in good condition. The thing that makes me mad, is the text books that can't be returned. Among a few of them, my UNIV 101 book is not returnable, and I never used it once! That is twenty eight dollars wasted on a book that will never serve any purpose. I am hoping to be able to return a couple more of my books and make a little bit more money back. Because I just know that in about a month, I will be doing it all over again; spending hundreds of dollars on books that I may never use. A bunch of the people on my floor are planning on having a book burning night. Maybe this will help make me feel a little better about the whole text book issue.

I'll Do It Later...

Why is procrastinating so easy? I have always been one of those people who waits until the last minute to do things. It's not that I'm lazy, I just always put things off until I can't possibly put them off any longer. I guess that is why I have become one of those people who work so well under pressure. If I know something has to get done soon, it will be easier for me to do it. Especially since I've started at NIU, I've been procrastinating worse than I ever have. That is one of the problems with living in the dorm. There is always something going on, no matter what time it is or what day it is. It could be a Monday at 2 AM and there will be people in the hall or in the lounge, doing something fun. Or it could be daytime and there will be things going on, distracting me from what I really SHOULD be doing. I like to procrastinate so much that the other day when I was supposed to be doing homework, I cleaned my room. I hate cleaning my room; that is how much I didn't want to do my homework. There is always something to do here, even if it is "nothing", it is still fun, and definitely more fun than doing homework. Doing "nothing" in the dorms is what has been keeping me from my work all semester. That is kind of a problem about living in the dorm because there is always someone who is bored and wanting to hang out. Or there is actually something going on, and you would rather do that than do what you are supposed to be doing. I know it is bad to say, but at least I am having fun; I get my work done eventually.

Kanye West

Kanye West has grown so much over the years starting his line of albums with college dropout and moving forward to late registration and now on to new better things with graduation. People have grown to respect and appreciate much of his work. Kanye West is now a much better artist and as the times changed, he realized what people like to hear he adapted a new form of music. His work is more of art and has meaning behind the words that he says in his songs. Kanye is a much different type of lyrical artist than most of the other artists out there. He has a difference sense of style in the way he dresses, his disposition, and his music. Kanye has a gift and it is a shame he had to lose his mother. He put his heart and soul into his music for his mother as well. That is why Kanye is so different he is a genuine kid from Chicago and made it big through his dedication and all of the ways he changed the game. More on Kanye can be googled or this site:http://www.askmen.com/men/entertainment_150/155_kanye_west.html

Who Invented Final Exams?

Whoever it was that invented final exams, should be hurt. It is one of the dumbest ideas. Obviously you either learned the material or you didn't, and that is judged when you take the regular tests. I am not looking forward to next week at all. Thankfully I don't have a final in every class, but I definitely have enough to be more than satisfied. I have never really known how to study, and studying for something like finals is toture to me. Even the thought of next week makes me cringe. I don't want to take my finals! Especially for chemistry, my hardest class. I don't even know where to begin studying for chemistry. I haven't understood anything since the beginning of the semester, so I don't see the point in studying so hard, if I don't understand any of the material anyway. I think it's stupid that finals could have such a great effect on your grade. It is ridiculous that you could have a good grade going into the final, and then you take one test and it could change your grade completely. If you are on the borderline of getting the next higher grade, and then you take the test and don't do so great and there goes your good grade. I have always felt like teachers enjoy giving final exams and making them hard just to watch students suffer. I have never been a good test taker either and final exams are usually multiple choice tests, that makes it even harder. All I can say is that when next Thursday rolls around, and I am done with my finals, I am going to be so happy!

Voting

A class on politics and government should be mandatory to teens under the age of 18. Many people feel that their vote does not account for anything, but it does. Imagine if it were more than just many people and it were all people felt this way, how would society elect the president of the United States. The importance of voting in today’s society is stressed greatly by many people. People want those who turn 18 to register to vote immediately and vote once the election time comes. The problem with that is, the amount of those that turn 18 do not know very much on the topic of voting and the president, if they even register to vote. After sending out a survey, I found that many people at the age of 18 have little knowledge of the president and politics. This is a problem because if they register and vote what is it that they are basing their decision on who they are voting for? Voting is a privilege and an honor that many people do not experience. The website has a few interesting key facts on voting:http://www.liberalsforelectoralreform.com/

Psycology 102

People say that colleges are meant to prepare you for the type of lifestyle one should expect after their years at a University. So if that is the case, why is it that they make certain courses so incredibly hard? For example Psychology102 is one of the hardest classes I have ever taken. It is bad enough that every teacher you get in college thinks that their class is the ONLY class that you have and pile on the homework and papers but to have a class where a majority of the teachers are not even teachers. The teachers are only student teachers in training. These factors do not help a student grow as a person. Psychology is a very demanding subject as is. The fact that you are covering so many other classes and that the material is extremely difficult are not helpful in allowing a student to succeed. There are many different topics that need to be covered and it is too stressful on the students to make such a low level course one of the most difficult classes generally their first year as a student. Visit this website and you can see some of the information required of all psychology levels. http://www.niu.edu/psyc/

Children Driving

I was 4 years old the first time I got behind the wheel of a car. My grandfather taught me how to drive out in the country roads just outside of Chenoa, Illinois. He also taught me brother, who is four years older than me at the same time. My grandfather would take us out whenever we stayed up in Chenoa with him and grandmother. This scared my mother to no end. But through this, I became the driver I am today. I’ve had only one accident, and that was completely not my fault. I’ve had no speeding or parking tickets, and I’ve become well aware of what a car can do. Learning how to drive so young gave me perspective and allowed me to learn over a longer period of time than those who simply started driving when they got their permit. We’re raising the number of required hours in the car because there are so many accidents among teenagers, but if they learned to drive the way I did, they would be better off and there would be less traffic accidents.

Fraternity Life

Joining a fraternity is a long stressful process. I have just joined a fraternity withing Northern Illinois University called Chi-Sigma-Tau. It is an Asian interest fraternity and is growing quickly. Fraternity represent many things. They stand for brotherhood, commitment, and loyalty. All fraternities and sororities included have their own ways of handling business and are very different in their mission statements or their goals. They have different connections and each process is different. These processes have a huge significance on the person that is trying to get in, it is life changing. Joining a fraternity or sorority is an asset to one who commits because it is life lasting and you make many connections through the fraternity for jobs, and it looks good on a resume. It is also a way to integrate into the University and community. Most fraternities or sororities have minimum hours for community service and library study time. Fraternities and sororities are a way to grow as a person and become stronger in every aspect of life.
In fact, Chi-Sigma-Tau has their own website: http://www.chisigmatau.com/

Men's Volleyball

Men's Volleyball is a sport that most people don't take seriously. It is originally a girl's sport but if you give it a chance, it is an intense game. It is growing in many high schools and is even an Olympic sport. Men's volleyball is an under rated sport but it is not an easy sport to handle when you play with people who know what they are doing.
It is very fast moving and people can spike the ball at pretty powerful speeds. It is also not easy being a setter. The game revolves around the setter like a pitcher in baseball or softball. The setter sets the tone of the game. I was a setter for my days and was converted into a labero. Labero is the defensive specialist, basically the best passer on the team. Labero's job is to bump the ball to the setter and have the setter set to the hitters for a spike.
Men's volleyball has become harder and it is a lot of fun if you can get a hang of it. This is a link to one of the most amazing volley's i have ever seen. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpoIzpip_TQ

16" Softball

16" Softball is an amazing sport. It is very different from baseball and has a lot to offer. It seems to be the same as baseball but in reality, it is a very different sport. First of all it is played with no gloves and the ball is called a "clincher." The ball is a bigger ball that is 16" around and it is hard as rock for the first three innings of play. It is very fun and exciting because it can be played by people of all ages because the pitch is a lob and it can be hit easier because it known as a hitting sport. It is a lot of fun and is only in Chicago for the most part. It is something that everyone should try. Here is a small video on softball. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBC2PWtnrZA&feature=related

Suicide

In my life, I’ve gone through a lot of tragedies. Recently, a friend of a very good friend of mine committed suicide. She was devastated, and it took me several days to bring her back from that. Would anyone like to know how I did that? Suicide is a choice, influenced by no other person. She kept saying, as many people do, “I wish that I could’ve done something.” The truth is that many people don’t know if a person needs help in a dire situation. People blame themselves for the untimely death of a loved one. What no one is willing to accept, is that they have no say in the final decision of that person. If he or she really wants to die, then he or she will. I attempted suicide a few times, and since I didn’t have access to a gun, failure was fortunate/unfortunate byproduct. But in retrospect, if I really wanted to die, I would have found a way, I made a choice whether I knew it or not. No one had a clue I needed help till I came forward to my parents. I understand the mindset of those who commit suicide. So I know you can’t force someone to change their mind. It’s about a choice, suicide should not be illegal. And those who left behind should not dwell on the person’s death, or their worst of times. They should look back on the life of their loved one and accept that it was their choice.

Death Penalty and Drug Addicts in Prison

I personally don’t believe in the death penalty, I think that it is useless to confine a person for years and then just kill them. We justify that the punishment should fit the crime; so if you kill someone, you disserve to die. But notice we do not use that policy with other crimes. If we murder murderers, it would be logical to rape rapists, and torture torturers, but do we do that? No, why not? It sounds good on paper. But we can’t do that to people because it is too inhumane, so we have to do the worst possible thing to punish the criminal. People claim the worst possible thing we can do to these criminals is to take their life away from them, but for me that seems as if we are letting them off scot free. If they’re dead, then there is no possible remorse for the prisoner to have.
Others claim that it is stupid for us to pay in taxes to keep these criminals alive. This brings me to another idea which is the basis of my views on Capital Punishment. Drug addicts make up now make up a majority of those who are currently in prison. And though rehabilitation is available, the average inmate only stays 80% of their sentence, so a vast majority do not finish the programs and leave prison and come right back for the same reason. Drug abusers should not be imprisoned; they should be put through mandatory rehab. With the money that is saved by keeping drug addicts out of prison, we can afford to keep the real criminals in prison for the rest of their lives and not let them have the satisfaction of dying quickly.

Is It Really Their fault?

If someone gets drunk and gets into their car and kills a pedestrian, should they be held accountable? I read a comment under the “Bad Santa!”, that says the guy in the Santa suit was drunk and didn’t know what he was doing when he attempted to abduct a child. Does that person’s simple inability to not consciously know what his or her actions are give that person a free pass? That is just stupid. A crime, even under the influence of a willingly taken foreign substance, is still a crime. A person always has a choice. That is what laws are for, to deter people from making wrong choices. If a person imbibes a mind altering substance and commits a crime other than if the imbibing was a criminal offence, then that person should be heard responsible. If my actions directly caused the death of another, then I should be the one to be punished. I expect nothing more out of other people than I do out of myself.

Kucinich 08!!!

My vote in the primary is for Representative Dennis Kucinich. Unfortunately he is being overshadowed by two other Democrats, Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama. Kucinich is the best person to be president of the United States because out of all the other candidates (on both sides), Mr. Kucinich is the only candidate who has time and again, been straight forward with the American people. He has stuck to his convictions and he is the only candidate who will socialize healthcare in the United States and take the profit out of Health Insurance companies. His bill, HR 676, will provide full healthcare to every United States citizen, with no exceptions. Another thing that distinguishes him from most of the rest of the pack is his stance on full civil rights for homosexuals, and his stance on absolute diplomacy and against the use of war as a bargaining chip. Mr. Kucinich’s stance is that we should treat people like people.

Facebook

I’m sure everyone has heard of myspace before. It was the best thing to do on the computer since the Sims. Designing your own “space”, putting your own pictures up and finding new friends was basically all it’s about. Pretty soon, myspace was all about who had the most friends, who could look the most emo in their pictures, and basically, a place to down talk people you didn’t like instead of saying it to your face. Then there was facebook, almost like myspace, but better. It was only for college students and that was verified by your college email address. This turned out to be a great alternative to that other website, called myspace.

Soon after I made my facebook account, I really started to enjoy it. Yes, it did take some time to get used to, but nothing like myspace. No goofy backgrounds, no three million picture slideshows and no thirteen year olds trying to act cool and hang out with the high school seniors. Currently, facebook is open to high schoolers, which kind of takes away from us college students. Also new to facebook are these new, stupid, annoying applications. It seems like every time I log in to check my facebook, I have five new application notices. Relax people. With this kind of nonsense, facebook will soon become a newer version of myspace. I don’t understand why people constantly take something that is fine just the way it is and end up screwing it up!!

Optional Finals

Well it’s finally the end of the semester and finals are next week. As it looks right now, I will have to take two finals, put together a portfolio for English, and I have one optional final. Whether I take the optional final or not depends on what my final grade is in that particular class. If my final grade isn’t where I want it to be, I have the option to take the final, which would replace the lowest test grade for the semester.

I think most or all college classes should revolve around this philosophy. It’s a great idea and it will relieve tons of stress that is put on to us students these final days of the semester. As we all know, everyone can have a bad day or not feel well the day of an exam in their selected class. Sometimes, they will get lucky and get a decent grade on the exam, but most of the time, it ends up being a train wreck. With that one bad test, your grade is hurt by it and is nowhere where it should be. That’s where the optional final should come in. This will really prove if you know the material that was covered not only in one part of the semester, but as a semester in general. This is a great alternative from a final to either make or break your grade, to pretty much helping you out at the end of the semester

University Plaza?

I don't even know where to begin... Well, I have made 4 close friends at NIU and we have been talking for quite some time about living together next year. We have checked out apartments and haven't found one with 5 rooms that is reasonalbe. A friend and I came to the conclusion that University Plaza might be a better idea. We went and checked it out a couple of days ago and really liked it. The rooms are very nice and spacey. They have their own bathroom and walk in closets. You can also get a room that has a living room in the middle. The whole format reminds me of a hotel! You even get housekeeping! haha There is a nice size swimming pool, hot tub and 2 saunas. UP has their own gym with bikes and weights. They have a ping pong table and air hockey and pool tables. It seems like a very good choice to live. It is pricey, but so is an apartment and school.

We do have one problem about it thought. Since there is five of us, its an odd number. We are trying to find another roommate so we can each have our own room but still share the place. This is causing alot of problems between the five of us because me and this other girl are set on living her. Our parents like it better and it just fits us. We don't want to rush into getting an apartment when we are still 18 and still have about 6 years in Dekalb. I still don't know what to do though. Hopefully it all works out in the long run and all 5 of us stick together!!

http://www.uplaza.com/
That is the website that shows you just how great of a place UP is to live.

Michael Jackson

Today I was working on my homework, while I was listening to my itunes. I was playing through my music by shuffle, and Michal Jackson came on. It was great. It defiantly made me stop and listen. Michael Jackson was awesome! His old music was so good. I don’t understand what happen to him. A while ago I watched a show about him on VH1. He had an odd childhood. His dad was crazy! He also became the lead singer of Jackson Five, when he was really young. He did not have a normal childhood. That might have caused him to grow up differently, but he is really messed up now. Many celebrities had childhoods like his, and they didn’t end up living in Neverland. It was only ten years ago that he was still making hit songs. What went wrong? Maybe all of those plastic surgeries affected his brain. What is Michael Jackson doing right now? He was always in the media. Paparazzi followed him everywhere, but the last time I heard any thing about him was when he was being charged for molesting children. What does he think about himself? Is he happy? Here is the website for Michael Jackson Fan club, maybe they have some answers.
http://www.mjfanclub.net/home/index.php

A Christmas Story

There is one thing that I can not wait for when it come to Christmas besides the presents. it is to be able to watch the Christmas Story for twenty-four hours. trust me i watch it about ten times through that period. It is an awesome movie you have the dad the has to get everything for cheap or get a deal on it. then you have the "fragile box that must be Italian.". The leg in the wind that the old man won in the contest and he thought would be a bowling lane. The mom would always turn off the leg light but not every other light in the house and say we need to save electricity to the dad. then you have Ralph the kid that would shot his eye out with his Red Rider BB gun. he of course would go on to do this but would say an icicle feel off the roof. i have never seen some one complain for something as much as he did for the gun. then my favorite scene when the kid stick his tongue to the flag pole because he was triple dog dared to do it. the best part about it was that everyone in the class just left him out there when the bell rang and no one told a teacher. the fire department came and got him lose from the pole. this is why i watch the movie so many times because it just makes me laugh all the time. Cant forget to mention the Bumpus Hounds.

Snow

Last night was awesome it was snowing from about four o'clock to I don't even know when it stopped. It brought back the memories that I have made from my childhood from living in Minnesota. When I was younger me and my friends would go sledding every day after school because one of my friends had a giant hill in his back yard. We would have sled wars were you have two or more teams and you try to push the other teams of of there sleds so that you are able to make it all the way to the bottom of the hill on your sled. That is how the winner was decided. Every once in a while we would take the game to the trees that were off to the side of the hill but we still had hill to go down. This made it interesting because you now had to be able to dodge the trees and be able to knock people off their sleds. there are so many different things that you are able to do in the snow. me and my best friend that lived down the block from me would always play our brother in snow ball fights. We would spend weeks getting ready for these fights. we would be making forts one team would have the back yard and the other would have the front yard. Every day we would make snow balls and hide. We would hide them on their side so when we went to attack we would not have to go back to and get them from our fort. Those are my best memories from playing in the snow.

To join or not to join?

Joining a fraternity may or may not seem appealing to everyone. I know coming to college I had no intention of joining and there wasn’t going to be much that could change my mind. It just so happens that my roommate turned out to be a member of one and it kind of interested me. I soon found myself wanting to join so bad that I couldn’t stop talking about it. Now that I’m officially initiated, it feels so good and its one of the best decisions I have made throughout my life.

Many people who hear the word “Fraternity” or “Frat house” think of crazy parties, tons of girls and being the big guys on campus. Yes, I’m not going to lie, it is a fun time, but that’s not the only reason I chose to join one. The main reason is because its becoming apart of a brotherhood, a family, that you can rely on and count on for the rest of your college career and possibly the rest of your life. Being apart of this is an indescribable feeling that I want everyone to feel.

Another reason why I chose to join is because of what it gives to the community and charities. Recently in the fall, our fraternity held women’s tugs, which is a tug of war match between the sororities. It was five dollars to get in and you were good for the rest of the day. All the money that was raised went to breast cancer research and none was taken for a profit. This was also a great feeling that I had because I knew I did something to help cure a serious illness that many men and women have. In the end, I’m so glad I made this decision. I think before anyone goes out and judges a frat by what they have heard or seen on T.V., they should take the time to go around and actually find out what frats are all about and what it means to them. Trust me, I did and I couldn’t be happier.

It's gettin' hot in here!!

I’m sure almost everyone around the Chicago land area noticed a summer-like October this year. Yes, it was nice and a little surprising, but it totally took away the “fall feeling”. It was so bad that the annual LaSalle Marathon was stopped half way through due to the insane temperatures and unfortunately one man passed away from participating in it. There is only one reason for this unusual weather and that is global warming.
Whether you believe in it or not, global warming is indeed taking effect and has been for the last few years.

The major cause that leads to global warming is the burning of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are burned by driving, mining, industrial work and burning garbage. CO2 is the leading gas that causes global warming and the majority of it comes from driving and from factories. Methane is also a gas that contributes to global warming and that gas is released from the burning of garbage and landfills in general.

Two ways to prevent these gases from endangering our atmosphere even more than they already have are to start driving fuel efficient cars and start recycling. Hybrid cars are the best alternative to driving regular cars. They get many miles to the gallon, which will limit the amount of gas burned, therefore limiting the amount of CO2 getting into the atmosphere. If you choose not to drive a hybrid vehicle, try to drive a car that gets more than twenty-five miles to the gallon. If everyone in the country were to participate in this, the amount of CO2 released into the atmosphere will be minimal. Recycling will also limit the amount of gas released because the country will not have to mine for glass, plastic or metals. Mining releases methane into the air, which is also bad for the environment. By reusing these products, we can control the amount of mining the United States does. If we as a country don’t do anything about this soon, it will be way too late.

I Need Food

Getting to sleep at a reasonable hour in college is hard for some. Whether you’re up to study, complete homework, can’t sleep or just want to be up, everyone has their own reasons. I no when I’m up until 1:30 or 2, I sometimes get hungry and want to eat something. It’s hard to make anything in the dorms if my roommate is sleeping and we all know that college students aren’t made of money, so ordering out is almost out of the question. So what am I supposed to do? I feel that if the dorms were open twenty-four hours, I wouldn’t have this problem.

Grant, Douglas and Neptune cafes are all closed by nine o’clock and the only food left available is fried, fatty food from Stevenson or Lincoln. Right there, I can identify two major problems with that. First of all, who wants to eat fried, fatty food at night? I can almost bet that the food which is offered was made earlier in the day anyway, so it makes it even worse. The least the cafes can offer is something healthy and fresh, just so the whole university doesn’t become a blimp. Second of all, what if I don’t live in either Stevenson or Lincoln? I then have to walk at ten o’clock to one of these dorms. Now I know they aren’t far away from the other dorms, but there is still a lot of crime that goes around at night. I want to make sure that I’m always safe, wherever I go.

In the end, the only real solution to all these problems is to have all the dorms open twenty-four hours and offer fresh, healthy food to eat. It will solve the problems for the late night owls and people who also like to eat healthy. It will also prevent people walking from dorm to dorm in the night, making the campus a little safer.

Mooooovies

Around Christmas time, there are usually a lot of good movies in the theaters. I don't even know what movies are in theaters right now because I feel like I never watch TV anymore, and now I don't see commercials for the movies. The only movies that are coming soon that I've heard of are I Am Legend and Walk Hard, which I think looks really ridiculous. After looking at moviefone, (http://movies.aol.com/) I remembered seeing something about a new Johnny Depp movie called Sweeney Todd, and a couple of other interesting movies. There is another National Treasure and Alien vs. Predator, but there isn't too much that's jumping out at me. In high school, I went to movies a lot, and now that I'm here I feel like I haven't gone to a movie in a long time. There are more movie reviews on http://www.rottentomatoes.com/.

On Christmas day, my family goes to a movie every year. You might think that most families are busy on Christmas day visiting their families and celebrating the holiday, but surprisingly, the movie theaters are very busy. We try to go in the early afternoon after we've opened all of our gifts and beat the rush. By the time we leave our movie, the parking lots are always full.

I'm going to have to start watching more commercials to figure out which movie I'm going to see on Christmas day. Any recommendations?

Sean Taylor

This for all of those people that don't like football. Sean Taylor was by far one of the best players to ever play the game. He was the type player that was able to turn the game around for his team in one play. He was like the Devin Hester of the Redskins. He was able to play every position on the field that his size would let him. It was terrible to hear the news that he was shot yes he had a rough past with some people but that doesn't mean that people should be killed for that. i thought that it was a nice jester for the redskins to start the game with only ten players n the field. I thought it was cool to see the sign in the stadium. This was a person that just loved to play the game and could play any position on the field as I said earlier. he also the only player that I have seen layout a kicker in the Pro Bowl.
R.I.P Sean Taylor

Always there to dissapoint us

Every Sunday, that I’m home, I go over to my boyfriends’ house and we watch the bear’s game, which has been our tradition for over a year now. We got really into watching it together while the bears were hot last year, but this year we ending up more disappointed after every game. I don’t understand that a team that just went to the super bowl last year could be just so bad this year. When I watch them play it almost looks like the bears’ defense wants Grossman to be pummeled by those huge linebackers. It looks as if they just don’t care anymore about winning. I can’t help, but yell at the television more often now because of all the ridiculous error the bears have. The most embarrassing statistic about the bears is that they hold the number one position in the league in drops. This is pretty pathetic for a team that was in the super bowl just last year. I wish I could understand what happened to them in such a short period of time to make them this bad. Most of the games they have lost, like Sundays’, have come at the very end of the game, it’s like they think they have it in the bag so they stop putting a 100 percent into it. I think the bears really need to regroup and figure out what’s going wrong, especially with their defense and do something about it. Well let’s hope for a better game next week. Sad to say, Grossman is actually starting to impress me.
http://www.chicagobears.com/news/NewsStory.asp?story_id=4149

Can't handle the dorm food anymore

I’m sure that I’m not the only person that is very sick of dorm food. I prefer to starve over eating some nasty, grease filled food that has been sitting out for who knows how long. I don’t see why, with all the money we pay to go here, that they can’t have better meals. I once ordered a cheeseburger and the cheese wasn’t even close to being cooked on the meat, it really looked like someone just threw the cheese on there after it was cooked. I really have to force myself some days to go downstairs and get something to eat. I stand there in line for awhile and think, what gross food do I want today? Chicken nuggets and fries are usually my safest bet, but I get so sick of the same food all the time. I also don’t understand why Grant can’t have a cafeteria like Steven son does when we pay the same amount of money to go here. I would walk over to Stevenson, but I don’t think I should have to freeze or get blown over by the wind just to get a good meal. Having bad food in the dorms makes people go and have to spend more money at the grocery store so people have “normal” food to eat. I know I spend a lot of money every week or so on more groceries for our room. I also would like to know why they don’t have like little snacks, like bags of chips or granola bars downstairs. Sometimes I just want a small snack and they don’t offer anything like that in the Grant cafeteria. So not only are we paying for our meals plans that we don’t finish during the week, but the extra groceries were paying for, for the food we’re not getting in the cafeteria.
http://www.collegebound.net/content/article/eat-up-the-dish-on-college-meals/1371/

Why do teachers overload us this last week?

I will never understand why teachers love to overload us with homework during the last week of school. This is not only happening to me here in college, but it happened it high school too. I had a speech last week, a paper to write this week and another 100 point assignment due on Thursday. I think teachers need to use this time in better ways, like reviewing for their finals. Overloading us the week before only make us more stressed because we put the homework before studying because we need all the points that we can get in the class. So in a way the teachers are setting us up to do bad, why not take the last few days or so to help us go over everything so we do better on our finals. I also believe that this is another reason why finals shouldn’t be worth as much as they are because teachers make us do so much work during the rest of the school year. Maybe by placing less stress on finals and more on papers and other smaller tests we would all do a lot better in our classes. Right now I am between a B and a C in my sociology class because I completely forgot about one 25 point assignment and now there is no homework, papers or quizzes to help me make that up, so I have to get a very high B on the final, which just makes me feel more stressed about everything. Not only do we now have to worry about finishing about papers, speeches etc., but we have to pack up our rooms within 24 hours of our last final, which just adds to the amount of stress most of us are already feeling. I personally feel I have no time to relax just for a little while anymore and that teachers should stop overloading us within the last week of school.
http://www.massage-tools.com/stress-relief.html

Rock of love 2

Reality shows are part of everyone’s lives now. I first feel victim to survivor and then into real world, where I realized how messed up these people are. They ruin their home lives just to be on tv. I eventually stopped watching reality television; mostly because I didn’t have time to watch every episode anymore, but then one day I saw the first episode of Rock of Love with Bret Michaels. I was addicted to watching the girls go crazy and fight with one another over this guy. Even though the show was absolutely fascinating to me I just couldn’t help but wonder how this guy thought that one of these girls was really going to be his new wife. I don’t understand how people think that they can find love on television. These girls that came onto the show were so much more concerned with having their sort lived fame than falling in love with Bret Michaels. Of all the girls on the show I always loved the one girl named Jess, she was very young and obviously not ready to be a wife or mother, but nevertheless she was the only one who was a genuine person. At the end of the show he chose Jess to be his “rock of love”. Later on the media let out that Jess couldn’t stand Bret and left him shortly after the show ended. Now MTV is coming out with Rock of Love 2, not with another male heartthrob, but with Bret Michaels, again! I can’t believe that he thinks that these new girls are going to really care for him and that he is really going to find the love of his life in a girl who is probably only interested in his money.
http://blog.vh1.com/2007-10-09/rock-of-love-2-rocker/

Spice Girl Lovers

I’m sure that most of you girls listened to the Spice Girls when you were younger. I know I was addicted to them; I sang their songs, made up dances to their songs and even had my one birthday party based on the Spice Girls where me and my friends went to see the movie. I as well as millions of other girls across the world was crushed when I found out the Spice Girls broke up; my dream has been to see them in concert and now I have the chance. I know this sounds very childish, but I would give anything to go to their concert in Chicago and dance to all their best hits one more time. I was so excited to learn that they got back together to do one more world tour. I think it’s great that they can put aside all their differences that they had and do this for the millions of girls that never had the chance to see them show off their girl power!!! Today I was watching the E! True Hollywood story about them and I just sat there and smiled as I remembered all the crazy outfits they used to wear and about all the songs that I feel in love with. I would definitely say that the spice girls really started my interest in music and to see them in concert would really be a memorable moment in my life. I think older people can compare this to if the Beatles decided to do a world tour; people would pay any amount of money to see them. The Spice Girls were a big part of many girls, including mine, lives growing up because they were like role models to us. I haven’t gotten my tickets yet because I haven’t found someone who loved the spice girls as much as I did yet, but I will be at that concert!!!
http://www.spicegirls.co.uk/

Dorms or Apartment?

As freshmen, we are required to live in the dorms opposed to living in an apartment. I have no problem with this because it's quite convenient. When I first moved into the dorms I felt a bit lonely because I didn't know anyone. I was living with a complete stranger, let alone sharing a floor with even more strangers. However, a few days later our C.A. held a floor meeting in the lounge. We all attended because we were curious to what it was all about. Our C.A. did this to give us an opportunity to introduce ourselves and get to know a little about each other. After this we all felt comfortable, and we developed new friendships. Another reason why I believe living in the dorms is convenient is because everything is included. I mean we pay for housng and dining and this comes with computer labs, access to internet, cable channels, laundry rooms, dining halls, and assisting front desk services. This is a great combination for us as freshmen because it makes it easy to adjust to the new college life. Now, if we started off with apatments, I believe that everything would be different and difficult. We would have to pay bills, make our own breakfast, lunch, dinner, and who knows how much more. I'm pretty sure many freshmen would become overwhelmed, frustrated, and eventually fail or drop out of college. It would be too much to handle as a freshmen. So when is the right time to get an apartment? Perhaps junior year, senior year, or never.

I need a break from this food.

Are there any other Lincoln residents that are completely sick of the food downstairs? I was sick of it a LONG time ago, but last week really got to me. I have the $55 per week plan, and i still had $30 on Friday night because everything that was downstairs during the week was either the same or did not look appetizing to me. Everyone knows one side is always exactly the same, but it seems like the other side is getting worse also. There is always pasta, chicken, chicken patties, pizza, and fries.

So what do you do when there isn't anything on the right said that you like and you're completely sick of everything on the left? I think this was why I had so much leftover money last week. If there wasn't always cereal downstairs I don't know what I would do. It's almost impossible to eat healthy late at night with the food they have for the grill, everything is fried. I understand that there are a lot of reasons why the food is the way it is, like allergies, preparation times, and stuff like that, but I think they can mix it up a little more. I don't always feel like waiting in a line out the door at dog pound deli, or walking all the way to Stevenson in the cold. I guess I'm just lazy. This is probably another reason why I can not wait to go home for a month. I really need a break from this food.


Here's a ranking of campus food from schools across the country,
http://www.princetonreview.com/college/research/rankings/rankingDetailspr07.aspcategoryID=6&topicID=45
and here's where to check what's being served here,
http://www.housing.niu.edu/dining/