The Final Fear

     Well it's finally in front of my face and approaching fast. I now know why they call it "he**" week. I have a ton on my plate and don't quite know where to start. I have tests in Biology and Chemistry, a Biology lab presentation and final, a presentation and paper in IS, and a final paper in English with the option to revise previous ones. It is definitely something new I am experiencing, and I have already been stressing out about these last two weeks before they even got here. It is going to be tough and it's suppose to be, and I do realize that and need to be thankful for how easy the end of the semester will be, though I don't feel the easiness right now. As I further on in my education the final's weeks are going to get larger and more intense, so I have set up goals for this semester to get study habits down that will benefit me the best in these crunch time situations because I will need them for the future. Well, back to the big plate. Wish me luck!

Andromeda Strain

First off I want to say thank you very much for the pizza it was very good! The movie days came at perfect timing for me. I needed a little break in between my classes. The Adromeda Strain was a very interesting movie overall. I was extremely interested in the science behind the discovery of the disease. It had all the parts of science that I enjoy and the methods they used during their experiments were even more appealing because I could relate with some of the tests being done, and the terms from what we've gone over in lecture. However, some of the scenes and events were a bit extreme for the situations. Such as the security lasers and the creepy music in the background when they would discover the disease. These events made the movie more hilarious than suspensful in those scenes. Nevertheless, I felt it was a great overall film for the seventies. In my opinion, I feel the book would be more appealing and intense than the movie because you could view the characters and the events in your own perspective which could possibly be more modern day.

Next

Michael Crichton is hands down my favorite author up to this point. I absolutely loved his book, Next. The science and suspense of the novel and how he takes all the different individuals lives and molds them together at the end of the book is absolutely entertaining. The genetic engineering aspect of this novel makes me want to pursue that field even more because there is so much out there that has yet to be discovered. It was an absolute thriller that I recommend to anyone who is in the Biology field. The way he writes his books is so interesting too because it forces you to stay intrigued throughout the whole story. He skips around from chapter to chapter talking about all these different characters and how their lives are being affected by genetics, and then all of a sudden at the end they all some how inter-twine and connect. I personally love his style because it's almost as a mystery and I always am trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together before the book is finished. He has definitely strengthened my interest in science, and I will continue to read his books in the future!

Thanksgiving Break

This year's Thanksgiving break is probably going to one I cherish greatly. I never thought it would be this hard to come back to school but it is. I was so glad to go back to see all my family and friends again and all that has changed. It was a pretty crazy break too. I went from one day having Thanksgiving and outraging Christmas shopping to a day filled with the pain of getting shots and my teeth worked on at my appointments. I also attended a couple basketball practices where I got to see my old teammates and coaches and was able to scrimmage with them.  Later in the week, the whole family went over to my granparents house and helped move furniture around because my Grandma decided to get new carpet in the upstairs rooms. It was very nice and everything, but wasn't exactly my idea of spending my break. It was alright though because I still got the whole deay with my family and was able to get a good meal then as well. I really do miss the break now. I knew it was going to go fast but never thought it'd go as fast as it did. Now I'm sitting here writing this blog in my dorm room and trying to plan out how I'm going to endure the next few weeks until Christmas break. It will definitely be a new and interesting experience that's for sure.

Thanksgiving

I'm so excited to go home this upcoming week for Thanksgiving break. It's so odd how you can go from living with your parents and siblings and wanting them out of your hair; to the complete opposite and can't wait to have them back and seeing all of them again. I haven't been able to see my family in such a long time and I never thought that I would ever experience home sickness. It's not horrible but I definitely want to be back. However, this year's Thanksgiving is a little different than what is has been in previous years. By little different I mean a lot different. We aren't even really having one! I couldn't believe it when my mom told me. She said we have to help move furniture at my grandma's house because she's getting new carpet. Now I'm completely fine with that and I want to see my grandparents, but I don't see how that would completely halt the whole holiday.  I really hope we can get something figured out because Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays to celebrate. The food is absolutely delicious, and then the rest of the day you just get to relax and watch the football game with everyone. No matter what I seriously can't wait to be back but I really hope we can work something out.

Nationals!

This weekend our girls cross country team made history once again in Oshkosh, Wisconsin at the 2011 Division III Cross Country Championships. Despite the conditions they ran incredibly well. The team overall got sixth in the nation, with freshman Alana Enasbit and and senior Emily Eimers receiving all american honors. They ran throough so much adversity this season, with injuries and other mishaps, that it was just releaving to see them become so successful at the end. I'm am so extremely proud of them and it definitely pumps me up for next season. I'm definitely ready to be on board and do my part so that maybe I will be the one running out at the national meet next year. It's a pretty big goal, but I always felt if you want something bad enough you'll go get it. That is exactly my focus for next year and even this upcoming track season. Everything I do this spring is going to be a step forward to getting me to where I want to be next season. I can't wait to get started and begin another amazing season with the whole cross country family!

Cross Country Regionals

     Cross Country Regionals was held at the Max Cross Country Course at Wartburg this year. Throughout my whole experience during my first season I'd have to say it was one of my top five favorite experiences by far. I wasn't able to be on the course running, though I will be next year, but instead I was with my other teammates who participated in an all out cheering section. We painted our bodies in orange and black with various letters and words written on our bodies. I even had a knight costume that I wore while we ran around the course screaming for both the men.s and woman's teams.
     It was a blast to see so many people come together to support the runners; it really showed what a true family we were. However, one of my most memorable moments was when I looked over to the Luther group and saw a guy in a norse outfit staring me down. I didn't really know why he was doing it, but then one of my teammates told me to go out into the middle and challenge him. So of course I did and it felt like one of the most epic battle scenes was about to occur. But instead when I raised my sword our whole team went charging wildly and circled around them chanting we are Wartburg. It was one of the greatest moments ever by far. Hopefully next year though I will retire the knight suit and instead be on the line waiting for that gun to go off.

State of Fear Review

     I was extremely entertained by the ending of State of Fear. I usually don't enjoy reading, especially extremely long text, but I absolutely enjoyed it. I have never been so engulfed in a book ever in my life. I was completely wrapped up in the action of the Gareda Island section when they had to go against a terrifying cannibalistic tribe and the ELF corporation in order to reduce the effects of the tsunami. I was really able to relate to this section through other stories and movies I have read and seen. Movies such as Tears of the Sun, and Blood Diamond, helped me create visuals of the events and characters in the cannibalistic village part. These films take place in South African villages, but they still posess some of the same characters and rituals. They have child soldiers which capture and kill off intruders, and they also have scenes that portray the same events as they did in the book. Overall I really enjoyed this book because it engaged me one hundred percent throught the whole read. I'm very excited to start into Next for our next novel project. I think Michael Crichton is an outstanding author.

State of Fear Review

 It was one of the last few weeks of the summer. I finished buying  all my books online and was now waiting for all of them to be shipped to me. I received all my textbooks, none being a huge surprise, mostly filled with content and pictures and all of the standard length a textbook should be. Then I got to a small but decently shaped square box. I opened it up and saw that it was the State of Fear. I picked up the book, turned it to the side, and opened it to the last page dreading what the numerical result would be. I have never in my life read a book that was seven hundred and ninety-eight pages long! I was in shock and when I heard we'd have to have it done in a weeks worth time I started panicing a little because I can't sit and read two hundred pages  in one sitting. So I started the book this week to get ahead of the game, and I must say the terror of the book has definitely calmed down. Eventhough it is a long read it is by far one of the most interesting books I've read. I'm loving the scientific base and how the conflict of the story keeps rising. I find myself sometimes even losing track of time because I'm so into it. I'm glad we are studying Michael Crichton and reading his works because I have found him to be an extremely interesting and entertaining author as well as a director.

Bad News Bio

     Previously last week in Biology class we had a test over cellular respirtation and photosynthesis. It was a lot of material to cover and very detailed. I felt that I had a good general background, but the results showed otherwise. My score showed up on the wrong end of the spectrum and I was very disappointed with myself. I knew college was going to be a challenging experience but I didn't know it was going to be a complete struggle. I sat down for a little while in my room after I got back from Biology that morning and sat back and thought of ways that I could get my goals back on track. As a solution, I set up to personal conferences. One with my advisor and the other with Dr. McClung himself. I expressed to both of them that health care is my future and my passion. I just needed to know how to make that possible.
     Both of them gave me great study tips and different methods to absorb the information I was learning. I have already seen changes in my confidence on assignments and tests, and I also catch myself interacting more in class and understanding the concepts before they are even explained in lecture. I really feel that these new methods of learning and keeping touch with my teachers on a personal level will definitely help me excel throughout the remainder of my schooling at Wartburg.

Wartburg College Social Change

          At Wartburg they stress how community engagement and service is extremely helpful to bettering your life for the future. Through direct service and practicing socially responsible behavior everyday I feel that I reach out to my communtiy and get involved. With direct service I am able to build my resume and also earn volunteer hours which are needed to furthur my education. Another valuable gift I receive from volunteering is learning how to interact with the people around you to achieve a common goal. It develops great leadership skills as well as team building and learning how to reach out and care for others.
          Along with working together with other people, I also have learned to bring my responsibility skills to a personal level. Through daily responsible acts, I help keep the living environments in a comforting manner by cleaning up after myself and making sure the public facilities look the same as they did before I used them. Being independent individuals we all need to step up to the plate and make sure that we practice these skills and habits everyday, so they become natural when we enter the real world.

Conference at Luther!!!

         It was the last weekend of my freshman cross country season. Every workout I had ran, and all the miles I'd put in up to this point all came down down to one final race. It was the Conference 8K at Luther College. The course was fairly flat except for one mountainous hill which we had to run up three times throughout the race. We prepared well the previous week, and dialed down our mileage, so we could be in prime condition for the weekend. I was extremely excited and nervous for the race. I had big goals coming into this race that needed to be met by the end of the season. My previous best time was twenty-nine minutes and thirty-four seconds, but my goal was to be in the twenty-eight minute range. This meant a forty second improvement was needed and seeing the incline and length of the hill was making me kind of nervous. I just kept telling myself it was my last race and whenever I felt pain I just needed to push harder.
          Racing time finally came. My blood was rushing and my adrenaline at its peak. There was no holding back this race. The gun went off and I entered the first mile faster than I had all season. I was strolling pretty well and already got the first hill out of the way. Moving up the hill the second time and down to the flat stretch of the race I was feeling pretty smooth, but could tell I was moving faster than usual cause I was starting to fatigue. I just kept my pace and battled through miles two, three, and four. Then for the last time I charged up the reverse side of the hill which completely burned me of everything I had. I thought I was walking, but once I reached the top I just told myself it was all down hill from there and I started my six hundred meter kick. I was completely in the zone, and not feeling or hearing a thing. It was all just a blur as I was flying down the hill into the final turn.
          Two hundred meters left and two kids within passing distance. I looked up at the clock towards the finsh and realized I had a little over twenty eight seconds to complete my goal. I just let it all go and started a full out sprint towards the finish line. With my body completely numb and everything seeming so surreal, that twenty and some odd seconds felt like minutes. In the end however, I passed the two runners and accomplished my goal with a time of twenty-eight minutes and fifty-seven seconds. I was very proud of myself, and it just went to show when you give your absolute best you can accomplish anything.

Casino Royale

The next morning, after the friday night horrors were shook out, are weekend of fun continued. The ten freshmen guys all got up early to go run at nine o clock, so we could get it out of the way. After that we ate breakfast in the Mensa and then began on our three hour journey up to Minnesota. One of my teammates just turned eighteen on the twenty second so we all thought it'd be cool to head up to Mall of America and the Mysitc Lake Casino. None of us have ever been to the mall or a casino so it was a really cool experience. In the mall we were able to still live out the kids in us in Nikelodeon Universe. Where we rode rides in side the theme park. From my view they were right up there with the rides at Adventureland so I'd have to say they were pretty legit. Then once we were done with the rides, we walked around for a little while then headed to the casino. The casino was by far my favorite experience during the whole trip. Though I lost fifteen dollars, it was fun to see one of my friends put in twenty cents and come out with ninety bucks! We also got to experience slot dogs which in my opinion were so disgusting that they were actually good. A casino will be the only place I ever eat those slimy things. All in all this weekend was a great team bonding event and I can't wait to do it again next year!

Paranormal Activity 3

     This weekend I experienced something I've never seen in my life. It was the very first time I watched the Paranormal Activity movies, including the third one which I saw in theaters this weekend. For starters, I am not one for scary movies and spooky things in general just give me the chills. I love to be the one to scare people but when it's the other way around, that's not me. I didn't really know what to expect when I saw the first one, but it wasn't a good sign when I was already terrified of the opening menu because all it had on it was play and everything else was pitch black. I have to say I was on the edge of my seat through the whole film, and the fact that it was shot like a home video scared the, "you know what," out of me. I don't believe in demons or paranormal activity, but they could very well be out there. No one really knows.
     The preparation of seeing the first two friday night really set me up well for what our whole team endured Friday night in the movie theatre. Once again I was the most scared before the movie even started because the trailers for the movies in the previews were absolutely horrifying. I also came in with the rumor i heard from my friends saying the last fifteen minutes of this movie will mess up your life. They almost did. Now I know you probably want to hear about the ending, but by chance if you do go I don't want to ruin it for you. So I will just leave it at that. I will say though, it was one of the coolest movies I ever watched so it is very fun, and I highly recommend going! 

The Moldy Monster

So far my roommate situation has gone very well this year. I have been extremely lucky to receive three extremely cool roommates. One being a cross coutry teammate and the others, two football players. We get along very well, and are fairly orgainzed and respectable of each other. There is just only one big scary problem. When Chase and I went to take out the trash today, we discovered a pizza sauce container completely filled with mold. We were terrified and wondered how long it has been sitting in our one roommate's garbage. They have been significantly slacking on their cleaning and hygene, and clothes and other trash have been rapidly accumulating on the floor. There are now mountains of clothes on their half of the room that are gradually growing to our side and something needs to be done. We just don't know what. Chase and I have decided to go with a passive approach of cleaning our side, so that they may see how nice our side looks and hopefully want to do the same.

Back on Course!

       Waking up at five thirty never felt so good until this last Saturday morning. For the last two weeks I've been fighting adversity, a foot injury, and the fear of whether or not my season was going to be cut short. My first collegiate season was not panning out to what I expected it to be. I had been doing a lot of cross training which included swimming and biking for one whole week, and then the week after I started slowly getting back into running again. My foot wasn't causing any pain and I was feeling pretty refreshed and ready to run once again. It had been three weeks since my last meet, and I was beyond excited when my alarm went off Saturday morning.
        We left campus at six o clock, and headed on a three hour bus ride to Maple Grove Golf Course in West Salem, Wisconsin where UW- LaCrosse hosted their cross country invitational. It was a bitter morning with a temperature in the upper fourties, and a brisk wind that definitely held as a factor. Nevertheless, we got a great warm up in and prepared ourselves for a great race. The gun went off and it was all positives from there on out. I ran the best race of my career and had personal best, cutting off thirty seconds from my previous time! I was very excited and so was coach, who stated to me after the race, "Welcome back, now lets go". That right there got me extremely pumped up, and I'm ready to work even harder these next two weeks in preparation for our conference meet.

Reflection of Schwartz and My College Experience

       Let me start off by saying that I'm not a big reader, and you'd probably never see me sitting down reading a book just for fun. However, let me say that the best advice I heard about college this week came from our very own IS 101 Reader, in the excerpt by Schwartz. In his excerpt, Schwartz identifies two main tactics of learning, mastery learning and performance learning. These two types of learning vary greatly with how content is absorbed and how well it is digested in the individual's mind. He conducted an experiment with his own college class to see if anyone still wanted an education just for the sake of learning without any reward. Surprisingly enough, he discovered that many students were more worried about the grade than the content of the class. This is the definition of performance based learning. I would have to consider myself a performance learner because that was the way I was raised up to be. I had always strived to keep a 4.0 GPA all through high school while managing four sports, and I did but I'd have to admit it was mostly for the scholarship and recognition at the end.
        As a collegiate student now I have found out that being a performance based learner is not the path to be taking. Grades do mean a lot to me, and a lot to my major because I need them to further my education. However,  I need to be more focused on learning the material and applying it to real life situations so I can buil a strong understanding of what I'm being taught. I need to become a mastery learner. I need to develop the skills to apply and memorize the crucial details of my subjects that will make me most successful in the future. With that also comes the enjoyment of just learning to learn, anjoy the challenges of discovering new ideas that will further me in my goals in the medical field. This excerpt was a great eye opener for me, and has definately changed my views on my classes, and why I'm here to get the education that I need to be great.
  

Facebook: How safe is it?

Facebook has been a roaring popularity for college students throughout the country. It has grown to become the largest communitcation network in the world, and has exploded in its various uses and applications. This interlinking program has allowed networks of people from all over the world to communicate with eachother and transfer web media, photos, and messages at the click of a button. However, little do many know that that button is more harmful than what one might assume. When you add friends on facebook it brings me to an analogy that may seem weird but at the same time fairly accurate. The exchanging of friends on facebook is the samething as exchanging sexual partners in real life. The risks and consequences compliment as well. Noticing that having one too many friends could put you at risk for a digital "STD", or virus. Adding one friend on facebook could actually expose you to almost fourteen others that you did not choose to be friends with. Your conversations no longer personal, and your privacy completely exposed. Once you put something on facebook, it is fair game to anyone who can view the subject. This includes all friends, professors, parents, bosses, etc... Pretty much anyone who may lie an impact on your life in the near future. Facebook is very dangerous, and what an individual decides to put on their page needs to be monitered and deeply thought about because before you know it one photo could completely destroy the dreams you've had since high school.

Chemtastrophe and Applebee's

This weekend was one of the most entertaining weekends I've had at Wartburg since I've been on campus. My girlfriend came over for the weekend and hung out with me and my roommates for awhile on Saturday. That night I then called up some of my cross friends, the one's that didn't go home for the weekend, and we decided that we all wanted to go to Applebee's to eat. What was thought to be a pretty expensive outting ended up being one of the greatest bargains I've ever experienced. We were able to snag six appetizers for only nineteen dollars! It was the best deal ever. We have now decided that we are going to alternate the bill and try to have an outting like that once a month with the freshman team. However, what goes up must come down. Chemistry was the downer. It is sunday night as of right now, 10:26 pm, and I have yet to find the answer to the last problem on my chemistry assignment. It has been almost two hours!!! So I must bid farewell now and try to accomplish the beast of a problem. Tootles.

Time to Pick up the Pace

This last week was kind of a rough one to get through, especially with all that was going on. I had a Biology test early in the week that I thought I did well on but got a different result. I had a slight case of strep throat which prevented me from running, and lastly my grades aren't where I wanted them to be at the beginning of the year and I don't really know how to get to that next level. I have really started to realize that high school for me was a breeze, and not having to be pushed, and always knowing what was being taught isn't helping me at all. I have tried different study habits and quiz myself, but I still can't pull the grades I want. The students and friends I've talked to just tell me that it's a step up and to be patient, but I can't afford to start at rock bottom and then hope to work my way up in the future because my major gets harder and harder along the way. This is why I need to pick up the pace in all aspects of my college life because to get to where I want to be as a student athlete I need to work harder.

Weekend with the Girlfriend and her Family

Had an outstanding overall weekend this week. First, beginning with the great meet, and following up with a great time with my girlfriend and her family in cedar falls. I started my morning with an enjoyable run with some teammates, and then after that headed out for UNI to watch the game with Rachael and her parents. It was really nice to see them and catch up on things. One of Rachael's friends and her boyfriend also attended with us and he was able to get us 2nd row seats on the fifty yard line! Sweetest seats in the house, and it was even better when the running back for UNI, who we knew from our hometown, tore up the field and played a major factor in blowing Western Illinois out of the water 38-10. After the game, we then went out to a brick oven style pizza place and had what I'd call the best pizza of my life! It was a great night and I can't wait to enjoy my weekends like that again sometime. It was a great way to get away from the stress and pressures of class.

St. Mary's Cross Country Meet

Had a great meet this weekend in Minnesota! We ran at St. Mary's University and it was by far my favorite course to compete on this season. It was located in a very mountainous area with a lot of trees and trails. It was very scenic and diverse with a lot of up and downs that just made it a very enjoyable race. Another reason it was so much fun was that I felt the best I've ever been at a race this season, got a personal best with my time; beating my old time by thirty seconds! I'm very excited for next meet and can't wait to improve!

Coming Home

Whoo! Finally the weekend and I can't wait to see my family. This week has really proven to me what a multi-active college life is like. I had at max, this whole week, six hours of sleep. The homework took on a whole new level as did practice, and I was introduced to my on campus job. I was very exhausted after this week but felt a great accomplishment once I completed it. Now I'm finally home for the weekend and enjoying my time with my parents and younger brother and sister. It feels like a great weight has been lifted off my shoulders now that I'm home, and I love being able to relax and just horse around. I like how I get to do my priorities at my own pace again instead of the structured schedule. I was able to run and complete my homework while enjoying a great night with my brother and sister and my lovely girlfriend Rachael, who attends UNI as a freshman. I'm so glad I got her because we are always there for each other when the going gets tough and we team up to get things done. But one more day and then back to the office again haha.

Jurassic Park

Jurassic Park has always been one of the classics on my list of movies to enjoy. Everytime I watch it; it still catches my interest. Even in cross this year on runs we'll hum the famous tune from the film when we get bored. It's just a very entertaining and also interesting movie to get into. This year in IS class, I have been introduced to watching that movie through a more scientific standpoint and it actually makes it a little more interesting. I am a biology major, so I love the science in the film and how they structured the genes in correct sequences to create life in what's been extinct for millions of years. On the otherhand though, I just finished reading the pages in Past Imperfect and they seem to have different views on Jurassic Park and how it was developed. They discussed three main problems with the film: how individuals misinterpret information, insufficient recognition of nature's complexity, and stereotypes of science and history. First, they stated that individuals are perceiving the wrong definitions of words and meanings from defintions created in the past. For example, Velociraptor, coming from the root "raptor", means "bird of prey". (Allen Grant pg. 31) But the correct defintion of raptor comes from the latin root, "rapere", which means to take by force. The next problem that arose was the insufficient recognition of nature's complexity. Scientists identify the line of impossibility here because it's not a restriction of imagination, but rather true and impossible to create on planet earth because all available records have vanished. Lastly, the third problem they conceived from this film were the stereotypes of science and history. A quote from page 33 states perfectly the definition of this idea. "Man must not go wher God did not intend." In the movie Dr. Malcom states that the dinosaurs had their shot and natural selection chose extinction. With this being true reviving the dinosaurs throws the course of nature completely out of proportion and messes with the balance of life. I enjoyed looking at this movie from this viewpoint because it let me explore my background in science and how movies can sometimes challenge the laws of life on this earth.

Source Cited:
Carnes, Mark C. Past Imperfect: History According to the Movies. New York: H. Holt, 1995

OH MY GOSH!

The first week of school is over and I'm already overwhelmed with homework, a job, and running. I knew that my major was going to be a stressor on my life and be tough to manage, but didn't know that the stress never takes breaks. We came back from our meet yesterday in Grinnell, where we placed fourth as a team, and came back and got a huge chunk of my homework done. I was very pumped that I got all that accomplished and thought I was going to have time to enjoy myself. Little did I know that when I checked my email this morning that my biology teacher added more homework over the weekend! Just like other freshman this has been a huge change for me that is kind of smacking me in the face from the start.  I don't know If I should keep the job or what but I just really need to find some techniques to make this year work as efficiently as possible. I know that college is supposed to challenge you and expand you as a learner, and I'm very excited for those challenges because I have huge goals. I just want to make sure I'm putting myself on the right path to achieve them and still enjoy my experience here at Wartburg.