the reality of the situation

The Point of a Blog

2011-11-30T23:53:00.001-05:00

So, lately I've been wondering why I still have this blog. I don't use it very often, and when I do, I hardly ever talk about anything meaningful. If I was just some random person who happened to stumble across this blog, I'd probably read a sentence or two, give up, and never come back.

The reason for this post, then, is to ask my readers (if I have any), what direction I should go with this blog. I don't even know at this point if I should keep it, but some part of me won't let me shut it down just yet. I'm not going to renew my website this year, so that won't be around much longer, but Blogger is free, so I don't have a reason not to hold on to this for a little while longer.

Any ideas would be wonderfully helpful. Otherwise I'll just go on giving boring, overly wordy break-downs of my non-exciting day-to-day life.

Speaking of which, not a whole lot has really happened in the past month and a half. It's funny how quickly you can fall into a new routine. I've gotten so used to working at ServiceLink and living in my new apartment that I have difficulties distinguishing the days and I automatically drive to one or the other if I don't pay attention to where I'm supposed to be heading.

Christmas is coming up. I don't know if I'm excited or dreading it. I need to learn how to budget, after Christmas is over and I've shopped for all of the people that I want to buy gifts for.

As far as the rest of my life goes, at this point I'm just taking things a day at a time. I don't know what I'm doing after the holidays. I don't think I'll be going back to school in the fall. I don't know where else to look for a better job. I don't want to move away any time soon but think I might have to start looking for work in another state. I don't know what kind of work I'd look for, though. I need some guidance or something; I'm pretty lost right now.

Well, that's all I've got for you tonight. I was a little less verbose than usual, but only because I don't want to ramble on about nothing at all.

Later,

Joshua

Changing

2011-10-16T23:31:00.000-04:00

They say life is full of changes.

Well, lately that seems to be the case for me. I have recently (two days ago) stopped working for Walmart, and tomorrow (or today if I don't finish this post soon) I start a new job at a company called ServiceLink. I will no longer be working in retail. No longer will I have to deal with customers. Now I will be working with a computer, at a desk. My job title is Searcher, though I'm not sure as yet what all it entails. I will learn; I'm quite good at learning.

I have also recently (yesterday I think?) signed a lease for a new apartment. I will be living with my father again for the next year, but this time he will be my roommate. In a strange turn of events, we both needed a new place at about the same time.

Oh, I guess that requires an explanation. After trying as hard as I could to keep my relationship with Megan working this summer, her and I have broken up. The fact was neither of us was happy with the other person, nor had we been for some time. Things were not getting better between us...and so I'm single again.

I really don't know what to say about that. Embarrassingly enough, what I miss most right now is my dog. I've been staying with my mother, and Ollie, who I purchased and whose training I began three years ago before I left for school, is no longer my dog. I have come to realize this over the years when I am home from school, but never as much as these past few days (weeks? I can't remember how long I've been here now...maybe a week...). But anyhow, Ollie is now definitely Jeff's dog. I have no doubt that Ollie still loves me, and he does still listen to me, but he is a different dog than when I first met him. He doesn't act as he once did because of all the time he has spent here.

I know that sounds ridiculous, but at this point I wouldn't want to take Ollie with me even if I could. I miss Viggo. He was my dog. He acts the way he does because of the time he has spent with me and the efforts I have put into training him. He still has some trouble (the worst of which is his separation anxiety), but I love him to death and he is too cute for me to stay mad at for long. The worst part about moving out of Megan's apartment has so far been that I don't get to see Viggo. It's not that I'm not allowed; in fact, Megan has already asked me multiple times to go over and take him for walks and spend time with him. No. The problem is that I don't feel comfortable in that apartment anymore. I am an intruder and it upsets me just to be there.

Yesterday, though, things started to sink in. I have a new job and a new apartment, and yet I don't feel very happy about either. The new job is nice, but I have no one to celebrate with. The new apartment is nice, too, but I'm not moving with her.

She was my life. Every life decision for the past three years have involved my future with her. Now I don't know what to do. What future is left? She was supposed to be there. She was supposed to be forever.

Starting over...I never realized how painful it would be.

And I don't know how to move on.

And I still miss my dog. I sound like a bad song.

Preapproved

2011-08-04T20:16:00.000-04:00

Well, I have been living with Megan this summer in the apartment she moved into last year, and to be honest, I'm quite ready to get out of the place. Everything seems to be coming down around us: there are a lot more problems that need to be fixed than I can possibly handle. On top of that, our neighbors are not always the nicest people and are rarely easy to deal with. The dog is also making things complicated because the lack of a yard and the amount of time we spend out of the house leaves him hyper all the time. Between that and his separation anxiety, he spends most of the day barking, which only upsets my neighbors more.

Thus, instead of looking for another apartment, I thought that Megan and I might be better suited to look for a house of our own.

We went to our credit union and started a mortgage pre-approval application about a month ago, and we've kind of been looking at what places we might be interested in noncommittally while we waited to here if we were approved or not.

Well, on Tuesday we were approved for a mortgage. We didn't ask for much, but we were approved for what we asked for. Now all we need to do is pull a bit more money together and find a place that we both like and that we can afford.

The problem lies in the fact that I don't know if it's a good idea right now. When we just started the application process, Megan's parents had just started their divorce proceedings. Between the divorce of her parents and the stress of applying for a mortgage, Megan got a little scared and we nearly broke up. The agreement we came to was that we would stay together but not be engaged right now because of all of the trouble we have been having. After dealing with a long distance relationship for three years, living together is difficult.

So we're approved for a mortgage, but I don't know if I should even bother looking for a house...

Thanks for listening. I've been a little whiny today.

D.C. and Sick Days

2011-03-26T22:06:00.002-04:00

Well, I am sick. I spent the last week suffering with what has been identified as the flu, as well as possibly a sinus infection and possibly strep throat. I must be doing some serious damage to my immune system because I rarely get sick and this was just awful. I finally could not take it any longer on Friday when I woke up with trouble breathing. I walked to the clinic on campus and met the new Nurse Practitioner, Lori. She was a very nice woman, and she told me I had to take Friday off so that I can sleep, and then gave me some medication to take to fight the flu and the infections. Now I'm on an antibiotic for ten days and Robitussin DM and Pseudoephed until they run out.

After sleeping most of the day yesterday, and of course with the help of the medication, I feel a lot better already. I know I'm not fully recovered, but I felt well enough this morning to go in to work today, and as the day progressed I felt better and better. I think tomorrow I'm going to try drinking coffee again, but I didn't want to chance it yesterday or today considering how much my throat was bothering me. I do know that I'm going through a bit of caffeine withdrawal, though.

Besides the illness, though, I've been doing fairly well since last we spoke. I spent a week at home for spring break, and the weather was very nice for most of that week. Actually, I think I need to spend some time on that week...

I left school on March 4, but I didn't go straight home. I stopped in Meadville to visit Trae, who I haven't seen in ages. It was nice to spend some time with him. I arrived in time for dinner on Friday night and spent the entire day getting a tour of Allegheny College and Meadville on Saturday. Trae is doing well; in fact, he is just finishing his spring break this weekend. I had a good time, and I was very happy to see Trae again after such a long time. I'm hoping that we'll be able to spend some time together this summer so that it won't be another year before we see each other.

So, late that Saturday I arrived home, and I spent most of the week relaxing and trying to train Megan's new puppy. He's a horrible menace and won't listen at all; I even tried using a shock collar on him, but he just takes the shock and keeps going. I need to get a book to learn how to keep him from jumping on people, trying to run out the door, and most importantly, to get him to stop chewing on remotes and other valuables. The good news is that we finally found something that works for walking. We were thinking of buying a bite collar at Petsmart, but we decided to try it out before purchasing. I'm happy we did because just like the regular collar, Viggo just pulled and pulled. I was afraid that the spikes would really hurt him if he kept pulling like that, so we went with something else called a gentle leader. The leader straps around his nose without holding his mouth shut, and if he pulls it pulls his head down. I didn't expect it to work as well as it did. The first time I walked him with the leader on, he walked right by my side without pulling a bit. In fact, the biggest issue I had was that he didn't like the leader strapped around his nose and he spent a lot of time trying to take it off, which usually ended up wrapping his legs up in the leash. I think after a while he'll get used to it, and I'm just happy that he's not pulling so much now.

The most important thing that happened over break, though, was the birth of my niece, Teagan Bailey. Beth went into labor on Thursday night, and we received the call around 12:30AM. We did all that we could to rush out to Steubenville, but that was the one day when the weather was not nice. In fact, it had started snowing when the sun set and by the time we got the call the roads were covered and it was still coming down. It took us a while just to get out of Beaver Falls, and we didn't make it to the hospital until after 3. The problem was, we had been up all day Thursday, and sleeping in the car was impossible, so we were all exhausted. The "waiting room" was more like a hallway with some chairs on one wall and a coke machine on the other, so sleeping there was fairly difficult as well. We waited for twelve hours after our arrival for Teagan to be born at 3:10PM on March 11. She was born 4 pounds, 13 ounces and 19 inches long. She's adorable, and I was so upset that I had to leave so soon after her birth.

I came back to Mansfield that Sunday and spent a week with little to show for it. This past weekend, though, I took a field trip to Washington D.C. with my Sociology class. I enjoyed visiting the Holocaust Museum, and I also was able to visit a homeless shelter, though I didn't enjoy that as much. Most of the time, though, I spent meandering around D.C. taking pictures of things that I found interesting. I took a ton of photos. They are all up on facebook and deviantart, as well as a photo gallery on my Web site. Seriously, check them out if you haven't already. I know I might be tooting my own horn, but I think a few of them are really good.

Well, that's about it. I've arrived back to the time when my illness began, and I've already told you about that. I'm hoping that I'll be feeling even better tomorrow; I'd like to head over to the gym if I'm feeling up to it. I haven't been to the gym since I got back from spring break, and though the weather was nice enough for a four mile run last Friday, it's cold again and I need to exercise.

Later,
Joshua

Can You Say Snow?

2011-02-25T22:35:00.000-05:00

So, we've had four snow days in the past month. As far as I can tell you, that's a university record. To be honest, today was the only one that I felt was entirely justified, and the only one that I used productively. During the other three snow days, I did a lot of sleeping and sitting in front of my computer playing games, and not a whole lot else. Today I got up early, washed my sheets (more on that later), went to the gym, and went in to work early to make up for all the call-offs. Now I'm finishing up the rest of my laundry and considering going to Wal-Mart (but only if the snow is done because I'm not cleaning off my car just for it to get covered again).

Okay, so I mentioned above there would be more on why I had to wash my sheets. My roommate has been seeing this girl for a couple of weeks now, and last night they went out drinking together (as far as I know, neither is 21 yet). Well, the only reason I know they were drinking is because when I got back to my room after working on my geometry partner project with Lauren she was lying on his bed and he was not letting her go back to her room. That in itself, though, wasn't enough to let me know that she was completely hammered. What tipped me off, though, was the vomit. I had just curled up in bed when I heard her vomit, and felt some hit my leg. On a side note, I'm already mad about the bed situation because my roommate brought his drum set this semester and now his bed is up against the back wall, with the head of his bed right next to the foot of mine. So when she threw up, she had no where to spew but right over the side of his bed, and right onto mine. Wonderful. I was disgusted, afraid I was going to join her in throwing up, and downright pissed off. I jumped out of bed and left the room for a walk around the building so that I didn't start yelling. I came back to the room long enough to strip my sheets from my bed and grab my shower stuff. When I returned after my shower, she was crying, presumably because I embarrassed her, and the room smelled terrible. Without sheets to sleep on my bed, and not wanting to live with the smell all night, I left to sleep on the sofa in the lounge. Let me be honest, that was the worst night's sleep I've had in a very long time, and that's saying something. So this morning when I got up, the first thing I did was wash my sheets.

Otherwise, my semester has been fairly uneventful. I've been trudging through my classes, and doing well enough. Someone stole one of my text books last week, and now I have no book to read to prepare me for the midterm I have coming up on Wednesday...At least my friend Nichole has a book that I can borrow this weekend to catch up on the three chapters that I was trying to read when the book was stolen. Oh, I suppose the story is kind of important. I took the book to work with me on Saturday, since Saturdays are very slow at Manser and my supervisor lets me read when no one is in the food court. Well, when we got busy, I set the book in the cubby behind me, and about half an hour later when I went to grab it I noticed it was gone. I've heard nothing from the campus police, leading me to believe that it was stolen and not just accidentally taken. I just can't figure out why someone would steal a family life text book; it's barely worth $50 and probably not even worth that much because there's a data set that came with the book that I still have.

The only class I am happy to be in is regression analysis, though I'm not entirely sure what we are doing. I didn't get the book until the Wednesday before the one just past (2/16) due to a mix up with the postal service, and I really need to sit down and read through chapter 2 (I did get to read chapter 1 this week) so that I can figure out what we're doing in class. The symbol manipulation is really cool, though, and I've had little trouble with that. However, I don't yet know exactly why we've been manipulating the symbols. Oh well. Our first test is on Wednesday and I'm nervous. Dr. Lienhard's tests are difficult.

Well, I think that's about it. I've got five tests next week (maybe, not sure since we've had all these snow days), and then spring break starts on Friday. I'm going to head over to Meadville Friday night to hang out with Trae, then head home sometime Saturday evening and spend a week away from school. I doubt that week is going to make me feel better about finishing this semester. Oh well. I'm almost done and so ready to be.

Later,
Joshua

Long Awaited Update

2011-02-05T23:11:00.001-05:00

Well, I'm sure some of you care a bit about how little I've been updating recently. I am sorry for that. As I mentioned on my home page, I have been dealing with a lot lately and updating my blog and site have been the last things on my mind.

Since we last spoke, I finished my last fall semester, somehow with a 4.00. I'm excited that I kept up my grade point average when I thought for sure I had messed it up. I went home for a month, and during that month a lot happened. My Grandma died, and it was a very painful time. I wasn't (and probably still am not) entirely rational for the rest of the time I was home, and decided to do something dumb: I helped Megan get a dog. I knew it was a bad idea, but I couldn't say no, so now she's got a new puppy. I'll have photos of him up on facebook by the end of the night, and they're already up on deviantart. His name is Viggo, and he's a black lab, border collie mix, probably with some shepherd in there as well. We took him home when we were getting Dad's cat, Squeaky Z, updated on his shots. The vet we went to was taking care of him (she named him), and she was looking for a good home for him. It turns out Megan was looking for a good dog, and the rest is history. We're still training him, and Megan's neighbors probably hate us for him, but he's adorable even if he's a big pain.

I've started my final semester at Mansfield. I'm taking a ton of general education classes that I'd rather not be taking, and I dropped Electricity and Magnetism II in favor of another math class, Complex Variables. I also stopped working at Wal-Mart this semester in favor of Manser and tutoring so that I can stop stressing so much. It's been helpful so far, but now I don't have the constant pressure to do my homework, and thus have been procrastinating a lot.

Over the break I put in applications to the University of Pittsburgh and Binghamton University for graduate school. I'm hoping to hear back from them sometime this month. I'm really hoping the I'll get in at Pitt because I want to be closer to home.

I finally updated my site (for the most part). Technolock no longer exists, and I had links to that site on every page, so I had to go through and remove them all. I also added new pictures, so check it out.

I've been pretty bad lately with my extra cash. For Christmas I bought me and Megan a new 42" LED Vizio HDTV, as well as a Vizio Blu-Ray player to go along with it. I have also been buying a lot of books, and so my online bookshelf is not up-to-date. I have to go through and figure out which books aren't on the page yet, and add them all. It might take some time because I'm not sure that I brought all the new books with me. Also, for Christmas I got a gift card to Amazon.com, and instead of using it for books or music, I bought a Zune HD (Microsoft's version of the ipod touch). I am very excited about it because it's much larger than my last mp3 player (16GB compared to 4GB), and it has a few exciting new features. The Zune comes with software, a lot like an ipod, that lets me download new music from Zune's site. The really interesting thing about the Zune (which I don't think the ipod does), is a feature called the Zune Pass. It's a monthly subscription that allows me to download as many songs as I want each month to sample, and I get to keep ten of them every month. It also has a few other features, including channels, which pick new music for me based on what I listen to and add that music to my Zune for the month so I can hear new stuff. The best feature of the Zune Pass has been the "Smart DJ" option. It works on the Zune itself, and even better on the computer. The Smart DJ will take a song or artist and create a playlist of similar music automatically. On the Zune it can only use the music I own, but on the computer it can use all of the music available through the Zune site, which is another way I hear new music constantly. All in all, I'm really excited, and I've been snatching a lot of new music, which is why my music library page on my site is not up-to-date. I'll work on fixing that, too, as soon as I get my actual music library in order.

Well, I've included all I can think of for now. I'll try and update again as soon as something interesting happens (maybe next week?).

Later,
Joshua

Chasing Twilight

2010-10-27T00:34:00.002-04:00

Guess what!? This weekend I finished work on a book of my poetry. Best of all, I had it published through a site called Lulu.com that my dad suggested to me, and now it's available for sale! Seriously, check it out!

On top of that, Dale heard about it, and she suggested something even more awesome than selling it online. I chose to have an ISBN assigned to my book, and because of that Dale thinks she can order it for the Local Authors Section at the Borders store she works at. She even said that I might be able to have a book signing. That's going to take some time, though, because I need to finish the assignment of my ISBN and then we have to wait until Dale can order it for her store.

In the mean time, though, it is still available for sale Here. I hope you'll check it out and consider buying.

Later,
Joshua

Wal-Mart World

2010-10-09T01:48:00.000-04:00

So, I have been spending a lot of time this semester at Wal-Mart. In general this wouldn't be such a bad thing, but it's become a bit more than I thought I was in for.

The biggest reason I feel so overwhelmed is because this store is run much differently than my last store. In Chippewa, the store was big, the staff was big, and we were well prepared for big business. Here in Mansfield, the store is small, and in general would not require a large staff. However, due to a recent boom in the natural gas industry in this area, and because school is now in session, the business is growing at this store everyday. The problem is that the amount of staff has not grown; in fact, it has declined since I started working here. That leaves a giant disparity between the amount of staff required to perform the business we are performing and the amount that we actually have.

The problem this raises is not one that everyone feels the immediate consequences of. For me, though, working in dairy has been difficult because dairy is not a service area. That means that when other departments that are service areas are short handed, I have to fill in. Since I started at the Mansfield Wal-Mart, I have worked in dairy/frozen, deli, as a cashier, a stockman, a door greeter, and in electronics. I have also helped in toys a few times and helped the receiving crew. A new spot is opening up in the deli and that is where I am trying to get moved because I honestly just can't handle being thrown into a new area every night. Deli is a service area, so I can't be taken from the deli.

Other than Wal-Mart dominating my life, I've just been trying to get back on track with classes. Every time I turn around I feel as if I've lost a week or two. Suddenly it's a week from fall break and I'm sitting here wondering what happened to the first half of my semester.

My classes are all going fairly well. I am truly enjoying my Electricity and Magnetism class, as well as my Real Analysis class (though my professor is a little too picky for my taste). The class I'm having the most trouble with is actually the class that should be the easiest: History of Mathematics. What could be more straightforward than learning about the origins of math? Apparently a lot of things, especially if you're teaching them online and you know nothing of good site setup. I feel like I'm hunting around the Web site looking for work that I'm supposed to be doing most of the time. I never feel caught up in the class because each week we're supposed to be reading two or three chapters, doing problems, asking questions, and taking a quiz. On top of all of that I am supposed to be making a PowerPoint Presentation soon and I need to start working on a 15 page paper. Suffice it to say I'd be much happier had I been able to stay in Modern Algebra.

As far as things go, that's about my entire semester thus far. I am killing myself between work and class, and I have very little free time left. A huge part of me wants to quit Wal-Mart and start back at just Manser to reduce some stress. However, I can't bring myself to give up the opportunity, and more important, the money, and Wal-Mart is providing me. I mean, honestly, if I get moved into the deli, I'm going to be making over nine dollars an hour. Manser isn't paying me anywhere near that. However, Manser is a lot more laid back and more convenient for me because I wouldn't have to drive to work everyday. Still, I have been bringing home about $500 every two weeks at Wal-Mart, and another $100 from Manser in that two weeks, and I just can't bring myself to give it up now that I finally have a chance to save some money. I'm completely caught up with my bills and I still have money in the bank. This week my car battery needed replaced and I didn't have to feel like the world was ending. I might be killing myself with work, but I'm not stressed over money anymore, and that is a huge deal for me.

As for killing myself with work, I am currently able to keep up. If my classes get any more challenging, I am going to have to ask for a few less hours at Wal-Mart. However, as of right now I have A's in all of my classes and I don't really see that changing any time soon. The only thing that would be nice would be a bit more drive to get my work done a few days ahead of time so that I'm not rushing to finish it all the night before it's due. Well, that's not the only thing. It would be very nice if I had some time to hang out with some friends. I was considering changing my availability at Wal-Mart so that I can start going back to the Math Club meetings each Thursday. I originally thought that I'd be able to make a few meetings a month, but I haven't had a Thursday off yet this semester.

Well, it's a work in progress, but other than being a little exhausted, things are looking pretty good. I'm ready for some time off, so thank goodness for fall break next weekend, but I'm not ready to quit just yet.

Thanks for listening,
Joshua

The Final Year Begins

2010-09-02T18:43:00.000-04:00

So, I am now approaching the end of the first week back at Mansfield. This is to be my last fall semester here, and I don't know what to think about that.

What I do know is that obtaining my books has been a serious pain in the butt. Last year I had my book scholarships that I used to buy my books, and that made it easy to just walk into the bookstore and grab them all without feeling like I just spend $500. This year, though, I have no scholarship for books, so I have had some trouble. Matters weren't helped by the fact that I showed up to school broke, but that's another part of the story. Either way, I didn't even buy my books from the bookstore. I had told everyone that I was going to stop buying from the bookstore after my first year, but I could only use my scholarships at the bookstore, so I ended up buy from there last year. This year, though, I am glad to say that I bought my three required books much cheaper than the bookstore offered. For example, my Real Analysis book would have cost $180 new and $130 used at the bookstore. I found it online for $9.99. Also, I bought my Numerical Analysis book from a friend who dropped the class for $40 less than the bookstore wanted. If I had gotten paid before today, though, I could have had them all ordered already, and not have to wait another week for them to come in.

So, I don't remember the last time I updated this blog. I think I mentioned something about Megan possibly getting an apartment with Tasha. Well, Mercedes decided to move in with them, and on the eleventh they all had their first apartment. So far there hasn't been too much tension, and things were looking very good when I left to come up to school. Just about everything was unpacked, looking neat, and things were working out smoothly enough between the three roommates. I'm just sad that I had to come up to school so soon after they finally moved in.

Otherwise, I'm just hoping that things start to pick up soon. My classes have been going slow so far, and I don't have enough hours at Wal-Mart yet. Maybe next week I'll pick up another shift at Manser if Wal-Mart doesn't give me more time, and then I won't be so bored. Oh, I suppose I should mention here that my transfer did go through, and I am currently a dairy associate at Wal-Mart, though I am hoping that will change soon. There is an opening in the electronics department now, and I put in for it, but I am not sure I'll be able to get it considering the fact that I haven't been working at this store for very long. On top of Wal-Mart, I am putting in a night a week working for Manser still, but this year Vicki has me working in Grill 155. It reminds me a lot of the Hot Dog Shoppe, only we make a lot more stuff here and there are no hot dogs.

In the mean time, though, I have nothing to do for the night. I have to go shopping later (I finally got my discount card!), but otherwise I have no plans. Most of my friends transferred to other schools or were Nursing majors and moved to Sayre campus to finish their degree, so I don't have many people to hang out with. Oh well. I think I'm going to go lift some weights; I have to build up some muscle so I can perform all the heavy lifting my new job requires of me.

Later,
Joshua.

Flying By

2010-08-02T07:45:00.001-04:00

So, it just came to my attention that everyone else has updated this summer and I have not.

On the other hand, the summer's gone by so quickly, I hardly even realized that it is already August. Wow. I think my last update was about how I finally found a job after a long struggle. Well, since then I've been enjoying my job at Wal-Mart. It turns out I have a real knack for retail, though some people still throw me for a loop. For example, I have noticed that many people that know nothing of computers ask the most difficult to answer questions. One of the more common questions that I've gotten and had a difficult time dealing with at first is, "Do you sell Skype?" For those that don't know, Skype is free to download anytime online, and the only things you have to pay for are calls to land lines. The good news is, most people that ask if we sell Skype really just need a webcam to use Skype at home and think the software comes with it, which is easy enough to explain. However, I guess some people want to buy Skype phone cards so they can pay for their calls on Skype, and we don't sell though. We do sell internet phones and phone adapters that connect a regular phone to Skype, though.

That's beyond the point. What I'm trying to say is that I've been enjoying my job and it turns out I'm pretty good at it. I still wish I was paid commission, because I'd be making bank. The other day I sold three televisions and five laptops, and though I don't know exactly how much that came to, I am sure I'd have had a nice chunk of change if I were making commission. It is what it is, though, and I'm not going to complain because I'm getting paid well.

Oh, and besides electronics, I've been working a lot in the photo lab because they've been short handed. Supposedly this week there are two employees returning, one from vacation and the other from medical leave, and they should no longer be short handed, but we'll see how that works out. Either way, I have found that working in the photo lab is even better than working in the electronics department. I spend my day printing pictures and helping customers understand the computers. I get to sell cameras and other photography accessories. I suppose that the photo center just appeals more to me because I like photography and I like being around all of the cameras and pictures. Whatever it is, I really like working in the photo lab and hope that when I transfer I can work in the photo lab of that Wal-Mart, too.

Besides work, my summer has been pretty busy. I've been spending a lot of time with Megan to make up for time we've lost over the past year and for time we'll lose again in the next year. I am four or five weeks into an online summer course called Social Psychology that will allow me to graduate a year early, and I'm doing pretty well in the course. Right now I have a pretty strong A, and though I've been procrastinating a lot, I think I can hold that out for the next two weeks.

All in all, I am just surprised that there are only twenty odd days left before I go back to school. I am excited because I do miss school a lot, especially recently, but I am also a little bummed because everything has gone by so quickly. I mean, Megan is supposed to be moving out in a week from tomorrow, which I am super excited about, and I'm not going to be around long to help out. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Bekah's friend Tasha got in a fight with her father and has been looking for a place to live, and with a little help from me, Megan and Tasha found another roomate and an apartment for six hundred dollars a month that the three of them can live in. So I'm going to help them get moved in, but then I have to go back to school...

Thanks for listening.

Later,
Joshua

The Search Concludes

2010-05-31T01:02:00.000-04:00

So, I finally got hired at a real job. For those of you that are just tuning in, I explained my troubles finding work in My Summer Conundrum. Either way, last week I finally got a call back from Wal-Mart (after I had already called them and they had told me there were no openings, but I'm not complaining). I went in on Monday for my first interview, and I must have impressed the people interviewing me, because they called me back the next day for a follow up interview on Wednesday.

On Wednesday I had a strange interview, which was only strange because I'm not really sure it could be considered an interview. Mostly it was me signing some papers and the manager telling me what my job description would be and then explaining that there would be a background check, which I had to sign to release, and that I needed to take a urine test. After all was said and done with the manager, whose name I believe was Margaret (sp?), I made my way to the front of the store to take the urine test at the new clinic thing they have now. Either way, when all was said and done, I was so confident that I was going to pass that I bought two uniforms and headed home.

Well, sure enough, on Friday the results must have came back because I received another call asking me to come in for Orientation on Tuesday. Here's the best part, unlike those other two jobs that I had interviews at, this training is paid! That means that, as of Tuesday, I will finally be making money again.

Oh, and I figure I should mention somewhere that I was hired to work in the Electronics Department. RadioShack can kiss my butt. They never called me back, even though I called them twice. Oh well, I'll just work at Wal-Mart and sell electronics there.

Okay, since I've been attempting to make some spare cash whenever I can, I've been offering my services mowing lawns. It is because of these offers that I have received my new name. I have been renamed Mowbane, slayer of lawn mowers near and far. The story starts at my dad's house on Thursday. I ordered a pizza and headed over to Dad's because I was going to mow his lawn. I grabbed the pizza on the way there, had a few slices, then went downstairs to get the lawn mower. I opened the garage door, put gas in the mower, pulled the mower outside, and attempted to start the mower. Unfortunately, the mower would not start. I pulled the cord more times than I could count, but I could not get the mower to start. The mower has a gas leak, and I'm thinking maybe the gas is leaking into the motor and flooding it (but really, I know nothing about motors so please don't take my word for it).

Then, on Saturday, I went to my Uncle Rick's house to mow his lawn. I got to his house, grabbed my sun glasses (which I had lost last year and Uncle Rick had found and left out for me), and headed out to the shed to get the lawn mower. I pulled the mower out of the shed, primed it, and started the engine. Unlike Dad's mower, Uncle Rick's started on the first pull. However, the motor was coughing and straining quite a bit, and when I hit the tall grass it shut off. I thought maybe the motor just needed to get warmed up, so I pulled out of the tall grass and pulled the cord to start the engine, and when I did, oil shot out of the exhaust. I immediately let go of the bar to shut the engine off, but it seems the damage had been done. Soon oil began leaking out of the air filter (which I thought at first was the oil filter because of the amount of oil leaking out of it), and despite my efforts, I could not find the source of the problem. I found a broken bolt, but Jeff (my step-father) does not think the bolt caused the problem. He thinks that a gasket blew or there was a problem with a piston. Either way, the lawn mower is completely screwed.

So, in the past week, I have killed two lawn mowers. Beware! Do not let me around your lawn mower, or it may mysteriously explode.

Well, I need to head to bed. I have to get up in the morning so I can go see the Hookstown Parade with the family for Memorial Day. Good night all.

Later,
Joshua

My Summer Conundrum

2010-05-20T11:16:00.000-04:00

So, I have been home for nearly two weeks now. I have run into some serious problems finding work. I have put in quite a few applications at many different places, but as of right now I have not received any call backs. I called a few of the places, only to be told that they had not reviewed any applications, or found that they were actually unable to hire new employees at the present time. Though I had planned to call the rest, I became disheartened, and combined with one other important happening, I found it difficult to call and face more rejection.

The other important happening was a company that contacted me after finding my resume on CareerBuilder. For those of you that do not use CareerBuilder, I don't really have much to say about it other than it got me this call. None of the places I found on the site that I applied for have contacted me, and at least two of them I was unable to complete the applications for strange, unexplained reasons.

Anyhow, needless to say, I was excited when I received a call from Bankers Life and Casualty Company, and decided to go in for what the woman called a "group discussion session." I was excited, until my mother told me that Rebekah received the exact same phone call, went in for the discussion meeting, and came out dissatisfied. Still, being desperate for a job (and secretly believing that Bekah wasn't happy because the job was probably more work than she was willing to put forth), I went to the meeting. After roughly an hour (which is about how long it took me to drive to said meeting), I left the meeting with new knowledge of this fantastic company that I could sell life insurance and other services to seniors, making commissions on sales and probably earning a great deal of money.

Again, needless to say, I was truly excited when I received a call back from Bankers the next day, saying they wanted to have me in for a second (and final) group interview. I went in on Monday, expecting it to be an explanatory meeting, but the man talking to us really only explained two things. The first thing he explained was the pay (which had already been partially covered in the first session and really didn't need such crucial explanation, especially before any of us were even offered a job). The second thing he explained, after sitting us through another boring PowerPoint Presentation and going into all of his success stories, was that we needed roughly a thousand dollars to "start our business." You see, it turns out that we wouldn't actually be employees of Bankers; we'd be subcontractors. This really meant three things. One, we'd be required to pay for our own licensing, Errors and Omissions Insurance, transportation, and any other expense incurred while selling this insurance. Two, the company would offer us no benefits other than "quality pay" (that is, if you were "willing to put forth the effort."). Finally, the company would require us to PAY THEM a start up fee (after paying for licensing and for the E&O Insurance). Needless to say, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. I was told that if I had the thousand bucks to "start my business," they would provide me unpaid training next month sometime, after I take my licensing exam. That being said, I promptly wrote on my response paper that I would prefer not to receive any more calls from Bankers, and left the building, extremely dissatisfied.

So, I was, again, jobless and hopeless. Until I found an add in the newspaper for summer work. Most of the people that asked me about it were skeptical because the add said only that it was summer work with good pay, flexible schedules, and no experience necessary; no where in the add did it mention a company name, or a job description. Either way, intrigued by the idea of having summer work, I called the number. When I first called, I spoke to a woman that said she was having computer problems and would call me back the next day. She called me during the fateful second interview with Bankers, and I was not really in the mood to call back after that, so I waited until Tuesday to call her back.

Immediately I was set up with an interview, though I had sent in no information about myself. Again simply excited that I had the opportunity to get a job, I went in for the interview. The place was shabby and looked like it may have been tossed together overnight, but I gave them the benefit of the doubt. I filled out an application and was called into the manager's office, where I sat on a folding chair and he asked me why I wanted to work for Vector (though at this point, I still had no idea what that work entailed). I made up some bull shit and the guy seemed happy, so I went back into the conference room where I was instructed to wait for a group interview. (At this point I should have been leery. The group interview thing is no longer something I'm willing to get excited about.)

The manager came in a few minutes later, gave us a flipping sales pitch, then explained why his company was so great and how we could make tons of money selling CutCo knives to people in their homes (but we won't sell door to door). After that, we were each called back into his office and he asked us what we liked most about this job opportunity, then he said, and I'll never be able to forget this, "Well, Josh, you know I can't hire everybody...but I really think you'd be a great fit for this position." He went on to compliment my resume and tell me that he liked me because I kept great eye contact with him and laughed at his jokes during the group interview, which showed that I'm a "down to earth guy" who's willing to be himself around others. Again, by now I should have been ready to bolt, but something about how he went through the whole script caught me off guard. So I scheduled some unpaid training with them to start today at one.

The good news is, I am not going to the training. Last night my rational mind finally got the better of me and made me do some research online (which I usually do before I even apply for a job but really had no time to do in this case because I was given an interview as soon as I called). I typed "Vector Marketing" into the search bar, and the search assistant tried to tell me that I really wanted to search for "Vector Marketing Scam," (by the way, "Vector Marketing Scam was number one on the search assistant, even before "Vector Marketing Corporation") but I went with my original search anyhow to avoid bias. The first five links were Vector sites, none of which really said anything other than exactly what the manager said during my "interview." The sixth site was Vector Market, Scam or Not? It turns out, after searching nearly fifty sites on two search engines, and reading about Vector on Wikipedia, that I've come to the conclusion that Vector is pretty much a scam. Basically, they hire unsuspecting, unknowing high school graduates and college students to sell these knives, which, while decent knives, are not worth the price, as outlined on this consumer review.

Anyhow, I decided not to waste my time and gas money going back out there. I thought about going in and asking some really tough questions and trying to get a few other kids to see the light, but, to be honest, it's just not worth it. Still, that leaves me, again, jobless. Anyone have any good ideas for work?

Nearing the End

2010-04-21T20:55:00.000-04:00

So, this semester is quickly drawing to a close. I think that there's about a week and a half of class left, and then I have to take three or four finals. Mostly, the semester's been fairly mundane. I haven't done a whole lot worth talking about lately, but there is something I just found out that is worth consideration.

I am a fourth semester student at Mansfield University, currently majoring in Mathematics Education. Over the past year, I've had to radically rethink my planned schedule for my time here at Mansfield for a few good reasons. The first thing that happened was I decided it was more in my interest to leave the honors program so that I could take the classes that I wanted to take and not worry about staying later or possibly negatively affecting my grade point average just so that I can graduate "with honors." All in all, it was a good decision that I cannot regret.

This past semester, because of Analog Electronics, I have been forced to drop my minor in Physics. The reason is simple, not only would I have had to complete Analog, but I would have been forced to take at least one more course with Dr. Ambrosio, and I simply cannot fathom sitting through two semesters with him. His class was absolutely awful, and though I probably could have gotten an A, it would have been a pointless waste of my time. (If you're wondering, getting an A would have been easy because at the end of the semester Dr. Ambrosio curves all of the grades based on who did the most work, and no one was doing any work, so everyone would have had A's and B's.)

What that basically leaves me with is a degree in Mathematics Education (BSE.Mathematics), which is still pretty awesome. However, with a little tweaking, I found that I can "dual" major with Applied Mathematics as well (BS.Mathematics: Applied). Well, after talking to a friend of mine, who happens to be a professor here at Mansfield, it was brought to my attention that it might be more beneficial for me to drop the Education degree and devote my studies to a degree in Applied Math alone. At first, this seemed like a terrible idea, even though she suggested that I could get a master's degree in Education if I still wanted to teach. However, since I couldn't ignore her suggestion, I looked into it, and it turns out that if I can get a loan for a single summer course (roughly a grand), I can graduate next spring with a bachelor's degree in Applied Mathematics.

After talking with my adviser and a few other professors, I've learned that if I graduate next spring, I could literally complete my Master's in Education from Mansfield by the end of 2012, not long after I would graduate with a Bachelor's in Mathematics Education if I stay on my current path. This, at first, seems like an amazing idea. Of course, there's always a catch. The catch is quite simple, if I take this path, I will have more trouble achieving my long term goal of getting my doctorate because I will then have to get a second master's degree in mathematics later, probably without funding.

Of course, there is a final path I can choose. I would never have considered this path if not for my Topology professor, Dr. Haner. He suggested that I apply to grad schools, not for education, but for Applied Mathematics. That way, if I can find a school that will fund me, I can work straight through my master's degree and begin work on my doctorate immediately. Haner told me that I could (more than likely) get accepted and funded for a doctoral program if I keep my grades up and get some killer letters of recommendation. If I take that path, in six to eight years (unless I seriously screw up) I can have a Ph.D.

Finally, a path that seems perfect, right? Wrong. The problem with this last path is simple: I won't really start working at the capacity necessary to support a family until I have my Ph.D. and find a job. In other words, I will be a student until I am at least twenty six (more like twenty seven or twenty eight). The idea of attempting to start a family while I am still a full time student, especially a full time student working towards a doctorate, is just something that I can't conceive. Now, if I could finish the program by 2016, the problem would be minimal (except that I still have to think about Megan and the fact that I can't keep uprooting her), but very few people finish a doctoral program in five years, and I am having difficulty making that decision.

This is my current dillema. The fact that I have a deadline makes it even worse. Oh, I didn't mention that if I want to graduate next year I need to fill out a change of major form and apply for graduation before the end of this semester. (At least I think there will be issues if I don't. I was sent an email saying I need to apply for graduation a year in advance.) Either way, I am having a lot of trouble deciding, and I really don't know what to do here. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks,
Joshua

Break's Over

2010-03-15T10:03:00.000-04:00

Well, I said I would update this soon, so I decided I should update. Sorry I did not get around to it last week. I was distracted by all of the other things I had going on at home. I did have a good time over break, though. I was able to spend a lot of time with Megan, and to spend a lot of time with my family. I played cards with Megan three times, once with friends, once with Beth, and once with Megan's parents. A lot happened this past week, but a lot has happened since my last real update, so I will try to bring everyone up to date.

For starters, my semester is going fairly well. I am now half way through with all of my classes, and the only problem I am having is with Analog Electronics. I tried to talk to the professor, and even his department chair, about the problems I am having with the course, but it doesn't look like that got me very far. I really need a tutor or something to help me through the homework because I don't know how to do it, and I don't expect that he'll be teaching us how to do it any time soon. Unfortunately, there are no tutors for the course, so I may have to talk to Chris, who is also in the class and is the only person that seems to understand what is going on, for help on the homework. Currently I'm four assignments behind, and further behind on the labs now because I do not have time to go in after class to catch up with the labs. I wonder if I can get the software to work on the labs in my room in my spare time?

The biggest thing that has happened since the last time I updated was that Megan came up to look at a place I thought we might be able to live in starting next semester. Megan and I have been planning on moving in together after she finished her degree, and that is after this semester. Since I still have two more years, our plan is to find a place around my school to live in until I graduate. We are still working out the details for what happens after I graduate, but the point I'm trying to make is that we need to find a place to live if she plans on moving up here. Well, a few weeks ago I was talking to a man I work with, Troy, about this, and he mentioned that he was planning on moving out of his trailer and into a house, which he's always wanted, this spring. He told me that we could work out a deal and I could take the trailer from him if I wanted it. When all is said and done, the deal on the trailer ended up being a lot cheaper than any deal I've seen for an apartment, so I suggested to Megan that we take it.

Well, even though neither Megan nor I really want to live in a trailer park, because living in the trailer would be hundreds of dollars cheaper a month than living in an apartment would be, and because living in the trailer means that we can have pets, we both decided that looking into the place would be a really good idea. Megan drove out last Friday (the eighth) so that we could go see the trailer together. Unfortunately, we could not get a hold of Troy because his wife was in the hospital, and we were unable to see the trailer. I still feel awful that Megan wasted her time and money to drive out here for nothing, but I can't do anything about it.

Either way, we spent that night and the next morning looking through the newspaper and penny savers to try and find some other place to live. Every single apartment listed was far too expensive or already leased or rented, so we did not see a single place the entire time Megan was here. Still, I am going to talk to Troy, tonight hopefully, and see if I can go and see the trailer sometime soon. I am upset that we were unable to get in touch with him while Megan was here, but I am still hopeful that the deal he offered me is still valid. Otherwise, I am going to be spending a lot of time looking for an apartment that I can afford.

The worst possible outcome is that I cannot find a place and I have to stay on campus another year or two. In which case Megan has the option of moving into an apartment of her own in Beaver County, or living at home for another year or two. I have hopes that even if we can't find a place to live around Mansfield, Megan can find an apartment in Beaver County and live on her own until I finish school and join her there. However, I am not saying that is the path I most want to follow. I still want to find a place around here.

Well, I have to head off to class. I should be updating again soon, hopefully with good news.

Later,
Joshua

Reconfiguration

2010-03-04T18:56:00.003-05:00

Well, if you haven't already noticed, I recently had to reconfigure my entire site. The reason for this was quite simple (though the means were not). Blogger sent me an email last month that said by the end of March I will no longer be able to update my blog via FTP because they were dropping FTP support. Apparently they have a ton of new things to add to the site, but are unable to add them because the FTP portion of the site is lagging and takes too long to update. Either way, it really stunk for me because I was one of the users who still updates his blog via FTP. According to the email I got, though, there are not may of us left that are even relatively active, so I totally understand the reasoning behind dropping FTP support.

Still, the drop affected me because, while I could keep the old blogs on my site permanently, after this month I would no longer be able to update them. Therefore I decided it was in my best interest to reconfigure. I dropped A Little Deeper because it was an old blog and the only real reason I was holding onto it was all of the poetry it contained. Not that any of that poetry was easy to find, but it was there. If you noticed, I brought with me to the reality of the situation all of the old posts from A Little Deeper that were not poetry related (probably because I'm a pack rat and can't find it in myself to get rid of them). I moved this blog to a blogspot account page, which you already know because you're visiting it on said page. I also rid this blog of all poetry related posts.

The reason for getting rid of the poetry was simple: I decided to add all of my poetry into one location on my web site. I made a Virtual Book of Poetry on my site, which contains, as far as I know, every poem and lyric I've ever written. I figured that I could justify getting rid of a blog that way, which saves time and space, and also makes it easier for my readers to find my poetry, even if most of the stuff that was difficult to find probably wasn't worth finding.

So, where does that leave me? I am left annoyed that I had to do this update, but glad that I did it. I am very happy with the new Virtual Book, especially considering how much time and effort I put into making it. I will be adding poetry directly to this book from now on. Therefore, this blog will now be devoted purely to updates in my life, and not poetry. Also, since Megan's blog was set up through my site as well, I had to move it to a blogspot account. Both of us have decided to keep our blogs and continue updating, even though they can no longer appear on my site.

I'm supposed to add something about how life has been lately, but I have other things I need to get to tonight. I'll try to update next week during Spring Break.

Later,
Joshua

Update: Semester 4

2010-01-31T23:26:00.003-05:00

Well, I suppose I should update this thing. I'm bored, and I don't feel like doing my homework, and since I haven't written anything in here in a while, this feels like a great way to use some time.

For starters, I don't think I've written yet this semester, but I am back in Mansfield. My semester started out great (cough cough), because I had to leave home early to work on my first night back until midnight. Then I had Analog Electronics the next morning at eight thirty, and I figured that it would be a pretty cool class. Unfortunately, I figured wrong. My professor, while extremely intelligent, is completely lacking in two major areas. One, he does not seem to live in the same reality that the rest of us reside in. For example, last week he asked us to take a quiz on material that was not covered in class (because we have yet to cover any material in class, which would not have been so bad if the material had been in the book. However, I have been reading the book (because, like I said, he's not really teaching us anything), and none of the information was there, either. The other area he's lacking in is understandability. We have already had two homework assignments due, and though I have yet to turn in the second one because I do not know how to do it, I finished the first one. However, I had to go to his office for help on the first homework assignment, and not only did he not seem to understand that I was confused, he simply took one look at the problem and said, "It's as easy as this." Then he plopped an answer down, and I really had to spend a bit more time looking at what he had done before I really understood what was going on. His understandability isn't helped by the fact that he has a very thick accent. Now I have to go to his office again to ask him about the second assignment, which was due on Thursday, but I didn't have time to start it until Wednesday and he hasn't had office hours that I could attend since.

My other classes are mostly better. With the exception of Linear Algebra, which is moving extremely slow and is very boring, I am having a good time in my classes. I really like Modern Physics because right now we're working with special relativity, which is awesome. Basically, as things approach the speed of light, which is a constant no matter what inertial reference frame it is in, time dilates and distances shrink. Topology is pretty cool, too, because we've been spending our time with proofs for the past few weeks and we should be moving into topological spaces soon. Differential Equations is a great class, too. Uncle Phil (our professor) is a funny guy, and he moves at a great pace. I love the class because on the first day, he handed us our syllabi, then said, "That's the bureaucratic nonsense. Let's get started." Then we moved right into the material. I love it.

Otherwise, I had a few other setbacks this semester as well. My friend Tara, left Mansfield for a different school this semester. I was getting really good at ping pong because of her, and now I have no one to play pong with at twelve thirty at night when I can't sleep. I've had a few other minor things here and there that have left me feeling pretty alone at times, too.

The good news, though, is that I am really getting into Math Club this semester, and we already had one great Math Club party that I had a really good time at. Also, I have made a few other friends lately that have been around to hang with now. I've got a long time before I can come home again, though, and I'm really hoping this semester gets a little better. Work is boring, but because I'm working four nights a week till twelve thirty and getting up at seven five days a week, I'm exhausted most of the time. Still, the money is nice and I really need it right now.

Oh well. I've said all I can think to say. I'll update again when I think about it.

Later,
Joshua

Heading Home for the Holidays

2009-12-14T16:19:00.002-05:00

Well, I am heading home on Wednesday for my holiday break. I am pretty well packed already and extremely excited to go home. I took my Ed Psych final today and aced it (like there were many other options on such an easy test), and am preparing for my physics final on Wednesday morning. After Physics at eight (yuck), I have a Calculus final at 10 and a Discrete Structures final at 1. I'm not worried at all about Calc; Howard gives us a practice test that spells out exactly what will be on the test, and everything we've done so far has been fairly easy. I'm a little worried about Discrete, but most of the test is a review, and I'm not worried about the new stuff. In fact, the test should be a breeze if I study the one section that I had a little difficulty with before the last test. All in all, my Physics test is going to be by far my hardest test.

Where does that put my grades, one might ask? Well, currently I have an A for sure in Ed Psych, and unless I do something really stupid, and A in Calc and Discrete. I have an A currently in Physics, but that could change if I mess up the final enough, though I think I'll keep that A. The only class I'm honestly unsure of is English Composition 2. Last week the class ended when we finished revising our essays, of which we had to write two. I originally got an B on the first one and an A- on the second, and my professor said that it is impossible to get a worse grade. I did all of the other assignments as well, so I am sure that I'll have at least an A- for the semester. I'm hoping that I was able to pull that up to an A with the revisions. I put a lot more effort into that class than I put into most of my other classes this semester and I would like to see it pay off.

For now, though, I'm just bored. I have sheets in the washer, that I need to go move to the drier in a few minutes. I have to work tonight at six. Tomorrow I'm planning on going swimming in the morning to waste some time and destress before my Physics final. Otherwise, I have little left to do here in Mansfield before I leave on Wednesday directly after my last final exam. There are a few more things that need to be packed, like my computer and some clothes that I'll be washing tomorrow, but for the most part I'm ready to get the heck outta here. I've got a lot planned over the break, and my only wish is that I had some source of income. If anyone needs someone to shovel and salt their walk-/drive-ways, let me know. I'll gladly do it for a small fee. Otherwise, I'm thinking of selling some of my pokemon cards as a way to get rid of some old things that I don't need and possibly make some money in the process. How much do you think I can get for the entire original base set?

Well, I have to go switch over my laundry. I'll probably post again soon.

Later,
Joshua

Mid-Terms are Due

2009-10-22T23:08:00.002-04:00

Well, it's that time again, the middle of the semester. All of my professors are preparing to submit the grades for midterms, but I'm not really worried. To be honest, this semester has been extremely boring for me. I really enjoy Physics and Discrete Structures, but the work isn't difficult. The rest of my classes are not really enjoyable for me. I just go to them because I have to, and I really hate looking at classes like that.

For one, I really wish that calculus was a faster pace. If we were doing more, I'd probably really like that class, too, but as it goes, we're still working on partial derivatives and haven't even started anything fun yet. I really wish I had my professor from the last two semesters of calculus. Haner made the class fun and interesting, and kept a fairly decent pace. Howard (he likes us to call him Howard because his wife, also Dr. Iseri, works in the math department here as well), uses way too many examples and really assigns more work than necessary. We get homework every night, but none of it is anything more than busy work. The homework never helps reinforce the lesson in any way other than having more examples. Either way, I've been fairly annoyed with calculus, and though I try to have fun, find it difficult when I have yet to learn anything new.

Educational Psychology is even worse. I go to that class three times a week and wonder why I'm wasting my time there. The professor comes in and talks in circles for an hour, and I leave more confused than when I came in. I don't know what we're doing in the class, and I can't figure out what the point of the class is, either. I've sat in there for half a semester already, and still haven't found one thing worth committing to memory. I've taken a test and two quizzes, though, and aced them all, so I guess I'm "learning."

English Composition II is another story. Going to class is annoying because the class is built around debate and in class writing. Granted, this structure wouldn't be so bad, if the professor gave us more than five minutes to write and if the students that generally enter into the debates weren't the stubborn idiots that put forth an opinion with nothing to back it up and refuse to listen to reason. We just had our first essay handed back, and I got a C+, which is apparently decent for him. I found out today that just about everything I ever learned about grammar was pretty much a lie. I got an F on the grammar portion of the essay, though I thought I did fairly well. Either way, I had to do a paper about all of the grammar mistakes I made, looking up all of the mistakes in the grammar book we were given and giving a reason why I was wrong and writing the correction out. I think he does it for theatrics, to be honest. I looked around the class, and every single person had an F for grammar. It's just annoying that he's going to drag my grade down because I put a comma in where it may or may not have been used, but whatever.

Either way, my semester is really not difficult. There's a lot of work to be done, but mostly I'm just...existing. I really miss Megan, and I think I'm borderline depressed. I don't seem to have the same emotions that I usually do. I'm not sleeping well, and I'm tired all the time. I don't know how to describe it, but most of the time I go around just feeling blah. I don't want to do my work, or much of anything, really. I've been trying to work out regularly, which I think would help, but getting the will to go work out is really difficult. I don't know what else to do, really. Hopefully this will end next semester, but in the mean time, I'm just going to go on existing.

A Few Weeks Late...

2009-09-27T20:07:00.002-04:00

Well, I know that I had said I would catch up when I got back to school, so I guess I'm a few weeks late. I should have posted a while ago, and I'm sorry. If you forgive me, I'd like to update you on how I've been lately.

I have already finished four weeks of class. I was expecting most of my classes to be harder than they actually are. The only class I'm having any struggle with is General Physics II. Calculus III is really easy so far, and I'm not expecting it to get harder. English Composition II hasn't been difficult, but our first essay is coming up. Educational Psychology is a joke. Discrete Structures, which I was expecting to be a geometry kind of class, is actually a mathematical theory kind of class. Although I never really liked geometry, mathematical theory is right up my alley. In fact, Discrete Structures is my favorite course so far this semester. The work is difficult, but not so much that I can't enjoy it. I know that my abstract math theory class is my favorite, but oh well; I love math.

Otherwise, the semester has been fairly stressful, just like always. I have been working thirty hours a week, on top of twenty hours of class and homework. Unfortunately, that doesn't leave a whole lot of time for other things. I haven't been sleeping well, and I've been tired a lot lately. Megan and I have had a few disagreements, and though we've resolved them all, they add to my stress when they're happening. Still, I find time for fun and recreational reading, and I am honestly having a good time.

I suppose the real reason I never updated until now is that there has been nothing to talk about. There still isn't. I mean, I've just been going through the motions for the most part. Nothing very interesting has happened. I guess I just wanted to put something new on here because I am attempting to avoid doing my physics homework. Speaking of which, I have been having a lot of trouble with my physics homework as of late, and I have been looking for every reason to avoid it. Most of the concepts of electrostatics make sense to me, but a few of them still allude me. I am attempting to grasp the concept of an electric potential, and what exactly capacitance is a measure of. Also, a lot of the math has gotten extremely complex, such as vector integrals over a changing direction. I like the class, but the homework is very stressful, and the wording in the book does not make it any easier, so I've been avoiding it and putting it off.

Well, I suppose I should get to my physics homework. I'll update again when something new happens.

Later,
Joshua

Preparing for Year Two

2009-08-19T23:37:00.002-04:00

So, my summer is nearly over. I have less than two weeks before class starts on August 31, and yet I have packed almost nothing.

I suppose that the reason I have yet to pack is that a huge part of me does not want to leave again. For the longest time, I thought that leaving would be easy. I thought that I had nothing to leave behind, but man was I wrong. I have so much to miss when I go to school, that if it weren't for the fact that I love my school as much as I do, I would be looking for a new place to go for my second year. Either way, I was in a lot more pain than I expected last year when I left, and that is fueling my procrastination, and making it harder for me to prepare myself for school.

I suppose I should get online and order my books tomorrow. I also need to start packing and figure out what I will need to buy for my room this year. I started a list, but it still needs some work. A visit to my Grandma Speicher is in order as well: she has some school supplies for me if I want them, and I won't begrudge free stuff.

Yesterday my boss from Manser called me to ask when I could start working. It was kind of a wake up call. I am very happy that I have a job waiting for me. I left the Hot Dog Shoppe in early June, thinking that I had a job secured, but I was rejected because I was leaving after the summer. I put in a few more applications, and even had another interview, but I wasn't able to find another job for the last two months of summer. I found some work with Bacorn Inc., a construction company owned by the father of my sister's boy friend. However, after a few weeks of work, they ran out of things for me to do with my limited skills. So, for the past three weeks, I have been without work.

I've been a little down lately, and I have been trying to keep active, but I have been sleeping too much and staying up too late and doing too little around the house. This, I believe, is yet another reason why I haven't packed.

Either way, tomorrow, I hope, will be different. I have been putting off mowing the lawn at my dad's house to hang with Megan and because of rain, and it needs mowed badly. After mowing the lawn, I need to go to the bank and find out why I haven't gotten a statement all summer. Megan also wants to go to the mall tomorrow, and I need to do a bit of shopping for my dorm. I doubt I will have time to start packing tomorrow, but I will definitely get it done this weekend.

Still, as class approaches, I am getting excited to go back. I do miss my friends, and I do truly enjoy my classes. My next post will be from Mansfield. By the way, I am sorry that I haven't posted much this summer, but I haven't had much of an urge to get online. I haven't written much this summer, either. I hope that I'll be able to write again soon. Talk to you again in Mansfield.

Later,
Joshua

Finally Summer

2009-05-21T21:06:00.002-04:00

Well, I have been home for a few weeks now, and summer has been going pretty well for me. I have been working a lot at the Hot Dog Shoppe again, but I have found some time to do a lot of work at home. There is not a lot about work that I would like to talk about, but there is plenty I have been up to since coming home.

The thing I'm most excited about is that I've helped to start a garden at my Mom's house. My Mom found some area behind our garage that looks like it was a garden at one point, and she and Jeff weeded the spot for a better look. When I came home, I found myself with a little bit of extra cash and decided that I wanted to start a garden. Mom was excited about the idea, and off to The Home Depot we went. After quite a while, we selected quite a few starter plants that we wanted to grow.

After a slight misunderstanding with my debit card, I wrote a check and we brought the plants home. I have been very happy to spend time in the garden almost every day since then. In fact, the next day I went to Wal-mart with Megan and purchased a few more starter plants as well as a few packages of seeds. I bought a planter and soil, and planted some herbs as well. Megan's father, Allen, also gave me some beans to plant, so I found some room in another planter lying around and placed them there. All in all, I am really liking this gardening thing.

Yesterday, when I went to water the garden, I noticed that there were quite a few weeds that needed to come out. I spent the next hour pulling weeds, and in the process I found that all six of radish plants, which I had planted from seeds, have sprouted. I also found today that it looks like at least two of the cucumber plants that I planted from seeds have sprouted. The onion bulbs we planted are doing very well too. In fact, with the exception of the lettuce heads I planted and the strawberry bulbs that Brittany planted, it appears that every plant in the garden is doing very well. None of the herbs or beans have sprouted yet, but I am hoping that they will soon.

I've also mowed the lawn at both houses at least once, which is a lot more work than I realized. I suppose I'll get better at it with more practice, but my dad always made it look a lot easier than what I experienced.

I have really been getting into the Penguins' games lately. I started listening to the games back in December on 105.9, The X, when I was home for break, and that really got my interested. Since the Pens have gotten into the playoffs, I have been watching the games on TV. In fact, I am watching Game 2 of the Pens v. Hurricanes playoff series. We just took the lead again, 4-3. Go Pens!!

Otherwise, I am still trying to get settled in. I have been staying up too late, and as a result not being able to get up when I should. I have not finished unpacking yet. In fact, I have been unpacking slowly but surely, finding things when I need them. However, I really need to finish cleaning the bedroom upstairs, because I do not have enough room in the downstairs room that I have to share. I need my own place to keep my stuff that is not the floor of my father's bedroom. I also need to find a dresser so that I can put my clothes away. Currently they are either sitting atop Ollie's kennel or in a basket on the floor next to the kennel.

I did, however, get all of my books unpacked. I was unable to fill the giant bookcase that my mother bought me for my birthday last year. I built it over winter break, and have been slowly putting all of my books into it. I finally brought them all home and got them all in, but I only used three and a half of the five shelves.

I suppose I should get moving. I am supposed to get all of the boxes out of the bedroom upstairs and hopefully find a mattress to sleep on, and sleep up there tonight. I'll try to check back in soon. Later.

End Game

2009-04-14T23:08:00.004-04:00

Well, the spring semester is nearly over. Currently, I have a 4.0, but I still have plenty of room for error. I cannot say that I can screw up my classes so horribly that I end with anything lower than a B in all of them, but I can still significantly reduce my GPA. Not that I think I will. I am not worried about any of my classes, except for Physics. We still have another test, then a final exam to worry about. However, I think I can scrape out an A somehow.

Otherwise, I only have a lot of work ahead of me. I am behind on all of my homework because I went home this past weekend for Easter and did not finish anything while I was there. On top of all of that, I have to finish creating a ten minute presentation for my Personal Development class and write a six page paper for Humanities. I also have to finish the reading for Psychology and write another two page paper for that before the final exam. This Friday is a final test in Calculus before the final, and even though I am not too worried about it, I know I need to study a bit more before then.

I am a little excited for the end of the semester, but, once again I must not allow myself to become over-excited, or I will not be able to focus. Still, I am very ready for summer, and I cannot wait to be home for a few months.

As I mentioned, I was home this weekend for Easter, and what a weekend it was. On Friday, I went on a date with Megan. We went to dinner, stopped at Borders, and then went to see Fast and Furious. The movie was fantastic, and I highly recommend it to everyone. Saturday was hectic as well, as I had an eye appointment, and attempted to do laundry as well as my homework, and failed to finish either. On Sunday I celebrated Easter, which was the most hectic part of the entire weekend.

I was awakened on Sunday by Ollie, who was jumping on me and licking me as soon as he wanted to go outside. I took him out, then hopped in the shower. Beth called and asked for a ride to Mom's house, so I had to rush out of the house to go and get Beth, then head over to Megan's house to pick her up as well. From Megan's house we all went back to Mom's house for breakfast, where I spent some time with my grandmother and great aunt Stephie. Breakfast was great, and after breakfast we had an egg hunt. Danny and Gianna were supposed to be finding eggs, but Gianna left with Brittany to go to Brittany's mother's house, and so Danny was left to find eggs alone. Instead of making him the only one to search for eggs, I was given the task of hiding eggs for Kali to find. That was fun, as I hid Kali's eggs in very difficult positions, and she had a difficult time finding them.

After the egg hunt, Megan and I returned to her house with Ollie to finish icing her cake and start getting dinner ready at her house. I was invited to eat with her family the day before, and I was hard pressed to decline the offer. However, Ollie was not getting along with Oscar, so I had to take Ollie home. When we returned, we finished setting the table and awaited the rest of the guests. Dinner was fantastic, but I had eaten so much by the time I was done that I felt as though I was going to be sick. Still, I found room in my stomach for a piece of Megan's cake, then I went home and finished packing. I left very late because of dinner. I did not get on the road until nearly seven that night, and did not get back to school until midnight.

Even though the weekend went by too quickly, I am excited that I get to return home again on May 1. My mother is coming up to help me drive all of my belongings home, and she is bringing Megan up with her. I am going to give them a tour of the campus and spend a nice five hour drive with Megan on the way home. I cannot wait.

Well, I guess I have to buckle down and get some work done. My next post will probably be from Beaver Falls after I've finished this semester!

The Honor Class

2009-03-20T23:24:00.002-04:00

For the past three days, my friend Trae has been visiting me. He was on spring break this week, and we have not seen each other since summer camp, so he drove to Mansfield to see me. On Wednesday he arrived around one thirty in the afternoon, and he did not leave until about the same time today.

I was very happy to see Trae again. He is one of the best friends I made at camp, and although we have not seen each other since last August, we have kept in touch through email and Facebook. For me, Trae is very much like the sickly brother I never had. He has quite a few health problems, but I admire him because of his ability to take it all in stride. He makes jokes about his problems and does his best to live normally instead of just breaking down. I have never met a stronger individual in my life, and I doubt if I will meet many more people with the intrinsic drive that Trae possesses.

Although I was not able to spend as much time as I would have liked to with Trae, we still had a good time together. We made jokes at other people's expenses, caught up on what we've missed, and spent some time talking about life in general. I had wanted to show him around my campus, but my work schedule was overloaded this week (of course I would have extra hours on the one week that I don't want them), and I was also overloaded with homework. Still, Trae showed himself around the campus while I was working or at class. I made sure he did not have to pay for food, but unfortunately there are not many places to park without a permit, and Trae got a parking ticket. He justified that the ticket was not nearly as much as he was expecting to pay for food, so he would not let me pay for the ticket.

He was pretty funny, too. We reminisced about summer camp experiences and related college experiences. He always seemed to have a joke ready to lighten the mood. On the drive down to Williamsport and back, Trae was a constant conversant, which is something I really enjoy while I'm driving. He was also quick to make fun of me when I missed the exit, not just once, but twice.

Today he had to say good bye, but not before giving me something. He handed me a white booklet from the OA Family Banquet, and told me to look inside. (For all of those that do not know, the OA, or the Order of the Arrow, is an honor group within the Boy Scouts of America. The Family Banquet is a night when our entire Lodge gathers to eat and award its members.) I was unable to attend the Banquet due to money problems and also a scheduling conflict, so I thought that Trae wanted to show me something that had happened during the Banquet. Inside the booklet where two envelopes, each containing a different lodge flap. (A lodge flap is a patch that identifies the lodge of the wearer. Each lodge has many different flaps for different occasions.) The first flap was the one I would have received if I had been at the Banquet, and the second was a kind of award because it contained "Team Enda '08," which is the mark of the actor. I knew I would be receiving that one because I was a part of quite a few ceremonies last year. I was about to close the booklet when he told me not to. He told me to read the page where the envelopes were placed, and I noticed that a friend and fellow Freedom Staff member Greg was accepted into the Vigil class of 2009.

I was excited for Greg, and expressed my gratitude towards Trae for showing me that information. However, as I was about to close the booklet again, Trae told me to stop and turn the page. My name appeared on the next page with a full biography, just as Greg's had, and I was speechless. Of all people, I never thought that I would stand a chance to earn my Vigil Honor, and now the chance has been presented to me. I was selected by the lodge committee, and I must now complete an ordeal of sorts to obtain the Vigil Honor. Still, I am having difficulty accepting that I am a member of the Vigil class of 2009.

I will be undergoing my trial at Heritage Reservation during the weekend of May 15 through May 17. I am not entirely sure what I must do, but I intend to prevail. Wish me luck.

A Few Spare Minutes

2009-03-17T09:32:00.002-04:00

Well, I have a few minutes to spare and decided that writing a new post wouldn't be a bad idea. Megan having a blog gives me a greater incentive to post; whenever she posts I feel as if I am obligated to do so as well. (Plus I really actually enjoy this once I get started. It's like exercising; I think it's going to be really difficult and painful, but in the end I feel really good.)

Either way, I just figured I'd give my "avid readers" a quick update:

For starters, spring break was February 25 through March 8, and it was a lot of fun. I went home, spent time with Megan, avoided all of my homework, got a new phone, and otherwise spent all of my money. I'm broke now, but at least it was worth it.

Megan had class that week, and, like everything else, the timing of her spring break was just "perfect." She started break on March 9. Of course. At least she got her new job and left the Hot Dog Shoppe. She was miserable at the Hot Dog Shoppe and now she seems much happier.

Speaking of the Hot Dog Shoppe, I worked there over break, and it was pretty easy compared to what I'm used to. Still, there was a lot going on and the stress level in the kitchen was constantly at a high.

Well, I came home on the eighth and started class again on the ninth. I've had nothing major going on except we took an exam in physics, which I quite literally aced. I received a score of 180, which is the total number of points available. The test, however, is taken out of 150 because it is so difficult. That's a big plus for me. We have an exam coming up in calculus on Friday, but I feel very prepared for it.

Speaking of calculus, last night I stumbled upon an integral and I have no idea how to do it. If anyone knows how to solve the integral of (sinx/x)dx, please let me know. Otherwise, I'm going to ask my professor when I see him.

Well, I ran out of time long before I ran out of things to say. Maybe when I have more time I'll post again, but probably not for another few weeks. Besides what I mentioned above, nothing interesting has been going on. I'll try to keep you updated when things happen.

Extensible Extensions

2009-02-20T22:30:00.002-05:00

So, lately I've been teaching myself more about Web design, and one of the biggest things that I've been trying to learn is XML. The reason I've been trying to teach myself XML is because it is the parent language to XHTML, which will soon replace HTML as the basic web page designing language.

XML, however, is more than just a language to create web pages. XML is a language that allows code writers to develop their own "tags" (technically called elements) to better define the content within the page. These elements can then be defined within an XSL document to change the format of the elements. The really nifty thing about XSL is its ability to "transform" one XML document into a multitude of different XML vocabularies, like XHTML.

Anyhow, for the past few weeks, in my fleeting spare time, I have been studying XML and how to use it to my advantage. I have only made two XML pages, and each has its own XSL style sheet to go along with it, but I am well on my way to better understanding basic XML. I would like to learn a little more, however, and will hopefully have time to learn more this summer.

The neatest thing that I've come into contact with has to be XForms. XForms are a new type of Web forms meant to replace basic HTML forms, which are out of date and difficult to manage without knowing JavaScript. As I do not know much about JavaScript, the idea of being able to use a form without knowing JavaScript intrigued me. I am hoping to learn more about JavaScript this summer, but as of now my knowledge is slim. Either way, I have been tinkering with XForms a little lately, and even though they first upset me because they did not seem to make sense, I quickly found my error and have been attempting to learn more. The problems currently are numerous: XForms are not supported on IE7, so I had to download Firefox; XForms are very new, so finding examples is very difficult; and finally, the only good source of information of XForms is the World Wide Web Consortium, but the language used on the site is impossibly technical and difficult to read. Needless to say, as of right now, my knowledge of XForms is so slim that I do not even know enough to post anything online yet.

Otherwise, my life has been fairly ordinary lately. Besides missing Megan way too much, school has been progressing on a much more normal basis. I'm sleeping again, though still not as much as I should be. I'm finally getting back on my feet financially, and I think that I should be able to stop saying I'm broke by this time next month.

I come home for spring break on February 25, and I will very much enjoy the much needed break.

Well, once again, I was unable to be brief, but I am finally finished talking.

Later,
Joshua

The Proposal

2009-02-10T00:50:00.002-05:00

So, this past weekend I went home to celebrate mine and Megan's first year anniversary. Although I did not want to leave on Sunday, which really ruined my day, the rest of the weekend was amazing.

For starters, I missed her so much that on Friday I wanted to do something nice for her, so I bought an orange Crush for her and was going to put it into a bouquet of red and yellow and orange roses. The reason for this is that orange is her favorite color, yellow and red come next, and she loves roses. I bought the Crush because of its name, and I wrote "I've got a" above "Crush" and "on you" below it. However, I ran into a few problems. First of all, I could not find a bouquet with red, yellow, and orange roses at the last minute. I was thinking of getting a small bouquet in each color and combining them, but there was only one size orange bouquet, a dozen roses, and there were no fully yellow bouquets. I ended up simply buying a dozen red roses. The other problem was that I forgot the Crush at my mother's house, so in the end I only gave her the roses.

Then I spent the rest of the day with her, watching movies and going out for dinner and finally ending at an improv show done by The Cellar Dwellers, which was very funny. When I finally took her home I did not want to leave, but I left and spent the night getting everything ready for the next day, which was THE day.

I suppose a bit of back story is necessary. I have been avoiding posting about this so that Megan did not find out, but for months I have been considering proposing to Megan. After spending December with her, I knew for a fact that I wanted to, so I started trying to figure out what kind of ring to get her and what her ring size is. It was not until the day that I went home in January for Megan's birthday that I realized how badly I wanted to propose to her. Megan was more to me than just my girl friend, but when I talked about her I had to call her that because I had nothing else to call her. I wanted something else, something more. Also, after going home to see her, I realized that I wanted her to be mine in the greatest way possible, which right now is to be my fiance. I spoke to my mother on the drive back to Mansfield in January, and I decided that since I had some extra money I would get the ring and set a date for when I was to propose. The date I had in mind was Saturday, February 7.

I had done everything to prepare for Saturday. I had talked to my parents about proposing. I had asked her parents' permission. I had planned exactly what I wanted to say and how I was going to go about surprising her. I knew exactly what I wanted to do, even down to how I was going to hide a camera so that I could record the entire thing. Unfortunately, I hid the camera a little too well, and it recorded nothing but forty five minutes of the glove that I accidentally covered the lens with. Still, I had lost a lot of sleep in the weeks between the time I purchased the ring and the day of the proposal, and everything had to be perfect.

Saturday did not go exactly as I had expected, at least before dinner. We had a lot of fun on Saturday. Megan and I worked on her blog before getting the dogs and going to Petsmart. On the way to Petsmart I stopped and got a license for Ollie. Then Ollie and Oscar got to walk around in Petsmart, and we picked out a new toy for each of them. We were also going to get their nails trimmed, but they appeared a little busy and we had not made reservations so we were hesitant to see if they did walk-ins. Either way, the first toy that Megan picked for Oscar she ended up putting back, but Ollie saw her grab it and put it down, and he went and attacked it. I ended up buying him two toys because he chewed that one up before we left the aisle and I had already decided to get him the other toy.

After leaving Petsmart, Megan and I returned Oscar to her house, then went to my mom's house to watch a few movies and just spend some time alone. I really needed that time with her; I don't get to spend time truly alone with Megan very often. We ended up watching the last forty minutes or so of Ultraviolet and most of another movie that I can't even remember now. Either way, at some point I decided that we needed to go to Walmart and get what we needed to start dinner, so we left and went for supplies. After a quick stop at Megan's for a recipie and a change of pants (Megan "fell" in the snow, a.k.a. we were playing and I pushed her), we sped over to Walmart for the supplies necessary to make chicken salad.

We then headed back to my mom's house, now empty save us two and Ollie, and preceded to make a delicious chicken salad. Megan did an amazing job with the chicken, and it was probably some of the best fried chicken I've had in my entire life. While we were setting the table and putting the perishables away, I kept sending Megan over to the second kitchen not only because there was no room in the first refridgerator, but also because I was trying to set up the camera and get the ring into my pocket. Finally we sat down and had dinner, which was delectible, and after we finished I cleaned the table. I then offered ice cream to Megan, which was key to my plot to surprise her with the ring. She was pretty full, though, so she wanted to share a bowl. Of course, she also wanted to help me make it. I had to argue with her, telling her at first that I wanted to take care of her, then finally tell her to sit down and shut up because I'm going to serve her. I couldn't believe it, but that worked, and she sat.

I placed the ring box under the bowl of ice cream, and I walked over to her with the bowl in my hand. I handed her the bowl, and when she took it, she spotted the ring box. I dropped to one knee and opened the box, then asked her to marry me. She was dumbstruck. Before that moment I had never seen Megan speechless. She started to cry, but the tears never touched her cheeks. At first all she could do was smile and nod, and finally she said yes, of course. I placed the ring on her finger, and my girl friend became my fiance. Honestly, I have never been more happy about a single event in my entire life. I love Megan with all of my being and I want to spend the rest of my life with her. I am elated that she said yes.

Either way, Megan also posted about this event. I figured you'd like to hear her side of the story. I would also like to note that she said the ring is the most beautiful ring ever, but she failed to provide a picture of it. I currently only have the image from the jeweler's website, but the ring is just as amazing in person as it is in this picture according to Megan, her mom, my mom, and a lot of other people. Here are the pictures that I have:

Once again, I apologize for the length of this post.

Later,
Joshua

The Busy Bee

2009-02-02T13:11:00.003-05:00

So, I've been rather busy lately. Last week I once again pushed a great deal of my homework to the weekend because I spent three nights working until midnight, and after work I did not want to stay up and do homework. Well, then on Thursday I won a gift card to the campus bookstore for the third highest GPA in the sophomore class. First of all, that threw me off because I thought I was a freshman, but apparently after twenty four credits the university considers you a sophomore, and I have thirty four. Either way, I was elated, and went to the book store on Friday to take advantage of the spirit sale, which takes twenty percent off all MU Logo items.

However, once I arrived at the book store, I could not decide what I wanted to buy. I was thinking of buying a scarf and a new coffee mug, or a new blanket, a new hat and t-shirt, or a new hoodie. None of these options really appealed to me, so I went to look at the books. I was thinking of teaching myself JavaScript this summer, so I figured I might grab a JavaScript book if there was one in stock. I quickly located the HTML for Dummies book, but I could not find one on JavaScript. However, right next to HTML for Dummies book was a book simply titled XHTML. I was confused and intrigued. I before then I had seen HTML and XML, but never XHTML.

Well, as I had guessed, XHTML is a combination of HTML and XML, however, it is a bit more complicated than that. In all actuality, XHTML is an XML vocabulary that uses the HTML tags as its markup elements. Either way, I read a little of the introduction to the book and decided to make it my purchase. I spent all day Friday reading it, and then started reformatting my site into XHTML on Saturday night. By 2:00AM I had nearly finished converting half of joshlaughlin.com from HTML to XHTML, and I started again yesterday once I finished all of the homework I had been putting off.

As of now, the entirety of joshlaughlin.com, including this blog and the reality of the situation, have been converted to XHTML.

When I find some free time I am going to use the book to help me learn more about dXHTML, or dynamic XHTML. I would like to make my site more dynamic and user friendly, and hopefully attract some more viewers.

Either way, I failed at trying to be more concise, sorry. I hope you check out my site and try to spot the differences. They're very minute, but I did fix a lot of errors in my code and a few broken links. Keep on the watch for new additions because I'm really in the web design mood lately.

Later,
Joshua

Snow Days

2009-01-28T11:56:00.004-05:00

Well, one of my classes was cancelled today, but not all of them. Either way, that gives me three hours with nothing to do but work on my homework, which I'm nearly done with, and play around on the internet.

Last night I got a message from my dad on Facebook about a website called WebValuer. He said that he found it and typed in joshlaughlin.com, and guess what? My site is worth 322.50! If I sold joshlaughlin.com right now, which I'm not apt to do, I would be able to make a quick three hundred dollars.

Either way, that got me thinking: how else can I make money on this site that I'm paying each year to upkeep? I decided to look into ways to advertise on my site so that I can actually make bring money in since I'm paying for the website.

I was pretty excited to hear that joshlaughlin.com, which is a newer site and made by me, an amatuer at web design at best, is valued higher than Laughlinsinpa.com, my dad's web site. In fact, laughlinsinpa.com did not even show up with a value!

Either way, I spent a lot of time last night bringing my web site up to speed so that it would look better and be more likely to be approved when the advertising companies look at it to decide if I can advertise on my site. In fact, I was up until after three working, and didn't fall asleep until nearly four. I woke up today just in time to get dressed, pour a cup of coffee, and run out the door for physics.

Speaking of coffee, I'm quite literally running off of coffee right now. I've had three cups, and without it I think I'd be dead asleep. I'm going to crash tonight. Early bed time for Josh.

Hm, did I mention yet that I got a 4.0 GPA last semester? I was very excited, and I dove right into my classes this semester, just to get out of the water right away and go home for Megan's birthday on January 18. I put myself really behind on my homework, and it took me the rest of last week to catch up. The good news is, though, that I'm basically caught up now, so I'm not as stressed. However, this week has been stressful in that I've been unable to get a good night's sleep and have been getting up late. Then I feel rushed, which is when I start forgetting things. I've locked myself out of my room twice already this week, and I missed lunch on Monday because of it. My meal card is attached to my keys, which I left in my room, and without it or them I could not eat. Darn.

Either way, I know it's been awhile since I last posted, but, honestly this time, I think I'm going to get back into this for a little while. I've got a little bit more free time this semester and I should be able to post at least once a week. The stories may not be that interesting, but who knows? Cool things happen to me all the time that I never report.

Welp, that's all I got. Thanks.

Later,
Joshua

Just About Turkey Time

2008-11-23T22:04:00.002-05:00

So, I'm leaving on Tuesday. It's Sunday now, and I've got ALL of my work done! I'm so excited to come home for almost an entire week.

I was a little stressed this month, though. I went home at the end of October and came back November 2. Between then and now I had six papers to write. I had a five page abstract essay due the first Friday, a two page paper about community service due the next Wednesday, a four page paper about educational philosophy due the second Friday, a six page term paper for humanities due the third Wednesday, and a ten page research report due tomorrow. I also wrote a paper for my observations for my intro to education class which is due when I come back from Turkey Break. Either way, this month was overloaded with reports, and I felt the stress.

I'm finally done with them all! Tonight, at nine 'o clock PM, I finished the ten page research report, works cited page and all. It was the most difficult report I've written all semester, and I'm glad to be done with it.

Tomorrow is my last day of class before Turkey Day, and I've got very little to do. I have to critic a speech in Oral Comm, take a quick exam in Calculus, take notes in Intro to Ed, participate in discussion in Humanities, and cram for a final exam in Comp. After class I have a few hours to work, then I'm done!

On Tuesday I plan on leaving as soon as I wake up. Therefore, I need to do a little preparation first. After work tomorrow I am going to load all of my stuff into my NEW CAR, then take it to the gas station and fill it up. I'll just have to get up, shower, and go on Tuesday morning. I'm planning to be home by 2PM Tuesday, and I can't wait.

Then I don't have to come back till Sunday, and after a week of class and a week of finals, I'll be coming home again for a whole month. I so can't wait for this semester to be over.

Anyhow, I figured I should let you all know that a few weeks ago I bought a new car. The cavalier wasn't working so well, and wouldn't pass inspection, so I figured it would be easier to buy a new car than to put another thousand dollars into the junker. It's a 2000 Pontiac Bonneville, and it's in great shape. The car is in my name, and so is the insurance, and I'm so happy to have it! I can't wait to drive it home as it will be the first time I'll get to drive it for more than ten minutes at a time. Also, it's got cruise control, which is a huge plus because the cavalier didn't.

I guess that's all I've got for now. Thanks for reading.

Later,
Joshua

Almost Half Way

2008-09-28T23:38:00.002-04:00

I had a really good message prepared for all of you to read, but blogger deleted half of it.

I don't want to write any more.

Suffice it to say that I am almost half way done with this semester, and I'm testing in all of my classes. By the end of the day Wednesday, I'll have had an exam in Calculus, Humanities, and Communications.

I'm coming home on October tenth to visit my family and Megan and Ollie, and to observe two lessons for my Introduction to Education class.

I'm sorry this post is not as good as it should be. Blame Blogger. I'm really upset right now.

Later,
Joshua

One Week Down

2008-08-28T21:53:00.002-04:00

So, I've been at Mansfield for a week now. I have five classes to go to tomorrow, and then I'm done until next Tuesday, when I only have one class.

I'm really happy to be here, and other than this searing hunger that came over me for some reason beyond my comprehension just now, I've had a great week. I've gone through all of my classes at least once at this point; five of them meet on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and one meets on Wednesday only. Also, I have a lab for Calculus on Tuesday and Thursday. All of my classes are pretty cool, and I'm really only worried about my English Composition class.

I've met quite a few people, and I've made a few friends. In my communications class I interviewed a guy named Andrew, and he seems pretty cool, but I don't know if he's the kind of guy I'd hang out with. I met two really cool people that I do hang out with in my Calculus class, Steven and Alexa. I met Steven at orientation, and he was the same major as me until recently, and Alexa is pretty fun to hang out with, even if she's kind of quirky. In my Intro to Ed class I met an artist whose name is Emma, and she reminds me a lot of a few of my friends from Beaver Falls. Steven is also in my Humanities class and my Freshman Seminar. Also in my Freshman Seminar is Kim, who I met on the first Friday and who is also in the Honor's program with me.

All in all, I'm very glad to be here and I am having a great time. I can't wait to come home for Winter Break, but I'm sure it will be easy to stay here until then.

Moving to Mansfield

2008-08-21T21:51:00.003-04:00

So, I'm reporting, for the first time, in Mansfield, PA.

I'm a little nervous. I'm almost positive that I can handle the classes and that I can handle the work load, but what I'm really afraid of is meeting new people. I now have the very opportunity that I've always wanted, and I'm too afraid to take it. There's a dance tonight that I don't think I will attend; it's all just too much for one day.

Either way, I've just taken the next big step in my life: I've moved out of my parents' houses and am now living in a dorm room five hours away. Speaking of the dorm room, it's very nice. There's no carpet, but that's alright because it's very hot during the day and the tile floor keeps it cool. There's plenty of space, but there's not many places to set things down. I've dominated my desk (which was provided) with my computer and printer and clock. My stereo dominated the top of my dresser (also provided). The bed isn't much smaller than what I'm used to, and the closet has plenty of space. However, I couldn't figure out where to put my coffee pot. Also, when I finally plugged the pot in, I realized that I forgot to bring a coffee cup...oops.

With my new dorm room also came my new roomate, Derek. Derek is a Music Education major, and he's pretty cool. He seems to be into a lot of the same things I am, and he's not stuck up or rude in any way that I've seen. He's kind of quiet. Him and I have pretty much exhausted all of the conversation topics that I can come up with, and we are just sitting in silence right now.

Derek is pretty lucky, though, because his girl friend is also going to school here, and he knows at least a few other people here. I'm pretty much alone. I don't know anyone. I miss my girl friend dearly, and meeting people is really difficult for me. I don't know what I'm going to do...

I also really miss Ollie, my puppie. I didn't post last week, but I got a puppie a week ago. His name is Ollie and he's a Jack Russel. He's stolen my heart and I miss him very much. I've set it all up that my step-father (Jeff) will be watching him and training him while I'm gone.

Otherwise, I've been setting up all my stuff and trying to catch up on paper work. I've got a lot to do, and I'm going to get going.

The Scores Are In

2008-07-20T01:19:00.003-04:00

So, today I returned home from camp to visit and go to my sister's birthday party. When I finally made it to my dad's house, I found that I had quite a bit of mail waiting for me. I got a few important letters, but the most important envelope contained my scores from the AP tests I took back in May.

Of all of the scores, the only one I was upset about was my English score. I knew I did poorly on the test, but I thought I did at least enough to get a four. By the way, for those that don't know, a five is the highest score possible, a four is accepted by most colleges, and a three is still alright. A three is like a high C low B. Either way, I got a three on my English score, and I'm upset about that.

However, my other scores were fantastic. I got a five on my Physics exam! I was so excited to see that. My Chemistry score was also awesome. As far as I know, I think that my score was the best Chemistry score in Beaver Falls in a long time. Because of the scheduling issues, AP Chemistry class cannot finish all of the book, which must be finished to know all of what will be on the test. We went through about fourteen of twenty one chapters or so. For this reason, most people are lucky to get a two on this exam. I got a three! I know it sounds like I'm denying a three above and excited over one now, but I felt a lot more prepared for the English exam and a four was a possibility, while a three for the Chemistry exam is pretty unheard of.

I'm still really pumped about my physics score.

Either way, I just wanted to let everyone know how I did.

Later,
Joshua

I'm Getting Old

2008-05-20T19:57:00.003-04:00

Wow, I feel old...

Tonight I sat in on my scout troop's committee meeting. My father asked me to be there to take notes as he was unable to attend.

All the boys in the troop were having fun, as I was sitting there shivering. It got really cold, really quick.

There was no picnic table, so we sat on the bleachers. The other members of the committee passed the time by telling stories. I feel really, old...

Man, I'm already eighteen. I cannot believe it...

Senior Day 2008

2008-04-21T15:02:00.002-04:00

April 18th, 2008 was officially one of the most anticipated days of my life so far. Basically, this day decided whether or not I graduated. I had to prepare a portfolio to present to a group of teachers and members of the community. I also had to present my graduation project to another group of individuals. Finally, I had to take interview in which I was asked questions about my academic career so far and my future plans.

The stress of this enormous work load coupled with my school work and a part-time job was almost enough to make me give up, but I didn't. I rose to the challenge, and prevailed.

Each of the three presentations is scored on a rubric. There are five areas for each, and each area is worth four points. Therefore, each presentation is graded out of twenty points. An eighteen or above (at least 90 percent) is considered passing with honors. Between eight and seventeen is considered satisfactory. Students must have at least a satisfactory grade to pass the portfolio and project. The interview is only taken by students who are hoping to graduate with honors. Therefore, students must pass the interview with honors to graduate with honors.

I'm jubilant. I not only received passing grade on all three, but I received perfect scores, not only on one or two, but on all three! I almost can't believe it. Very, very few people ever get perfect scores on all of their presentations, but I did. I stressed and worked so much to earn those scores, though, so I am very proud of them.

I just wanted to let everyone know that I made it past senior day on top. Getting past that means that no matter what I do now, I graduate. However, as I just fought my way back up to first in my class, I will not be quitting any time soon.

Mansfield U

2008-02-23T23:16:00.003-05:00

Well, I know it's been a long time since I posted last, but today was the first noteworthy day I've had in a long time.

Today my father and I drove five hours to visit Mansfield University, a university in northern central Pennsylvania which has accepted me. I wanted to get a look at the campus, and so we began our adventure.

I was a little nervous at first, because we didn't really plan it out that well. It was all sort of last minute, and we didn't call anyone ahead. Anyhow, when we got into the first building, the Student Union, it was completely empty. There were computers, and video games, and televisions, and pool tables, and they were all empty. Not one person was in the building. If that's not disconcerting, I don't know what is.

Well, from there we went to the library. It was HUGE . There were four floors of books, and each of them was bigger than any library I've ever been to. If I stood at the end of one row, I could see row after row after row down the room. I've never actually seen that many books, but it was quite exciting. I wish I had had some time to actually see all the books and figure out how they were set up.

After the library, we had lunch in the cafeteria. It was good.

We then went down to the fitness center, and talked with a senior. She was a secondary education major for history, and the other girl working at the center was an education major as well. Both of them said it was a great education school, which is good for me.

After that, we walked back to the car, and drove around to all of the tougher places to get to. It was getting cold and I had forgotten my coat in the car. The campus is beautiful, and quite large.

I was upset mostly by the fact that neither my father nor myself remembered to bring a camera. I didn't get a single picture all day.

We are planning to go back in March on a scheduled visitation day. This time, I'll get to see the dorms, ask more questions, and take pictures!

Later,
Joshua

Updating My "Avid" Readers

2007-11-17T00:26:00.003-05:00

Alright, for all of you that don't know, I do not post often enough. I am sorry. (Not really. I'm still going to go on posting as little as possible.)

Okay, I suppose some updates are in order. First and foremost: I will be taking my test for my driver's license on November 27. I will tell you how that goes, because I await it anxiously, and I want you to as well. I have been driving in my new car quite a bit, and I am getting very comfortable driving it. My aunt took me out to parallel park this past weekend, and I did quite well. In fact, I did better than she did. Of course, we were using traffic cones, which she was not used to, but I still did better. Ha!

Uh, well, I don't really know much else to talk about. Unlike my father, who can ramble on for days about what happened in an hour, I cannot find much interesting about my life. OH WAIT! I almost forgot.

Yesterday, which was thursday, November 15, I went to a conference called the World Affair's Institute. It was in fact a fantastic experience, and reminded me a lot of NYLC in that there was a lot of ways that the students got to participate. We went in to the Pittsburgh Convention Center, and had a nice Continental Breakfast. After which we heard two speakers talk about what is to come from China. After the discussion, which was particularly interesting because the two speakers had opposing views, we students were allowed to question the speakers. Many did, and most of the questions were very good.

After the question and answer session, we all went to lunch. Lunch was alright, but the pepper was watery and I didn't like the chicken too much. After lunch we had another discussion with two other speakers, which was followed by another vigorous question and answer session.

The best part, though, was what we did next. All of the students were split into twenty five groups and asked to discuss as a group a senario about China's future. We were to come up with a policy decision and present it to the "executive board," which was really just the panel members from each discussion.

Anyhow, I had a lot of fun, and I learned quite a bit about China that I would have never even guessed before. I recommend younger students to aim for this Institute if they are interested in politics. I only wish it were longer.

Um, that's pretty much all I got. FBLA's semiformal is coming up on December 8th, and I've been working a lot to get that set up. Otherwise, I haven't been doing much interesting lately.

I will try to post a bit more often, but it will still be probably no more than two or three times a month, if that. I will aim for at least once a month, though. I would also like to appologize for the lack of new poetry, but I have been having a bit of writer's block. What little I have written is not worth posting. Heck, it's not worth reading. Farewell to all.

Later,
Joshua

Zoom Zoom Zoom

2007-10-03T13:24:00.000-04:00

Guess what?!

I bought a car!!!

Yeah, I know, I'm awsome.

Anyhow, the past few weeks I have been looking into buying a car that I could use to take my drivers test in. Also, I just wanted a car. Either way, I was looking for a good car for about two weeks. It wasn't really until last Monday, September 24, that I found something good. The car I saw in the newspaper was a 1993 Buick Skylark, but it only had sixty-two thousand miles on it. The man only wanted $1800 for it, so I called him. He told me that he had to get it inspected, and asked me to call back on Thursday.

Well, Thursday came around and I called him. Unfortunately, he said that once he insured it, he pretty much couldn't keep people away from it. He said he expected it to be sold by the end of the day, and I could not go see it that night or the next, so, I said thank you and then resumed my search. Well, I got onto Times Online and looked for another car. This time I had great luck. The add I saw was for a 1994 Chevy Cavalier. The man was only asking $800 for it.

That's really cheap! Or so I thought, so I called him. He told me that the car had 94,940 miles on it. That's not too bad at all, considering most of the cars I'd called about in the few weeks prior had well over a hundred thousand. I scheduled a time to go and look at it, because it seemed like a promising deal. The man had to work Saturday afternoon, so I went and saw it around 8pm Saturday.

My dad picked me up and we drove over to Ellwood to see this car. I was half expecting it to be a huge rust bucket, but once we got there I saw that it was actually pretty nice looking, at least on the outside. I was still a little leary, so gave it a full check up. I turned the car on. My father looked under the hood to see if everything was running properly. After it all checked out, we took it for a quick test drive around the block. The man selling it told me that he had just changed the brakes, so, we tested those. They worked great. The only real thing that we were worried about was the noise coming from the muffler, but the man told us that it was just loose.

Still a little hesitant, we got a flashlight and checked out underneath. Nothing looked damaged, and the car itself seemed to be in really good shape. Well, the man told us that it needed a new battery and that the inspection had just expired the month before. To me, though, that didn't seem like that big of a deal. I asked my dad what he thought, and he said that it seemed like a really good offer, especially when the man said that he would lower the price down from $800 to $700. We wrote the check and scheduled a time to transfer the title.

I went three nights without sleep from excitement. It wasn't until yesterday, which was Tuesday October 2, that the title was transfered over and the car became officially mine. Here's a picture of my car:

It is a very nice car, and I got to drive it home, well, with my stepfather sitting in the front seat of course, since I do not have my license yet. It drives well, and it's very comfortable. I really like my new car, and I can't stop talking about it.

Last night, after scouts, my stepfather and I took a better look at it. There were a few loose edges that I couldn't figure out, and he could. For example, I thought that the brake light was out, but he opened it up and saw that it was just loose. Upon tightening it, he put it back and it worked. I also could not figure out how to turn on my indoor "dome" light. He found the switch and showed me how to work it. We also looked underneath it to make sure that the muffler and exhaust were not damaged. They were a bit loose, but undamaged otherwise. I talked to my father and my step father, and both said that tightening the muffler is really not a huge deal.

We took a better look under the hood and found that it needed coolant, which we promptly filled, because it was EMPTY. I mean, it was very empty. My step father was surprised that the car was still running.

Anyhow, I am very proud of myself. I have recently purchased a very nice car with my own money which I earned through my work. To be quite honest, I feel that I am finally living up to the standards that I feel all people should have to live up to.

Now all I have to do is practice a bit more and take my test. It shouldn't be much longer now till I have my license and I can drive wherever I want...

School to Date and Other Things

2007-09-27T21:57:00.001-04:00

Well, school started just a little while ago. We have had about 23 days of school so far. My classes are going fine. I wish I was doing a bit better in AP English 12, but I have the only A in my class, so I suppose I shouldn't complain.

I would like to appologize for the problems with my archives. I do not know why they are still pointing at the old site. I will be fixing that problem within the next week.

Uh, I went to a college fair this past week. I found a few good colleges and I plan on putting in a few applications.

Uh, wow, this is tougher than I thought. I'll post more later...

Later,
Joshua "Two" Laughlin

It's Alive!

2007-09-16T22:02:00.000-04:00

It's alive! Finally, my web site, it's fully operational. If you are reading this right now, you are currently on joshlaughlin.com! It has taken quite a while, but it actually works!

Also, the photo albums I promised are all there. NYLC photos are finally up, and it's only been like three months. Camp Freedom photos are new, but they are up as well. Take a look. All of the photos in those two areas I took myself.

Anyhow, take a look around joshlaughlin.com, and give me any suggestions you can think of. I'm always open for suggestions.

Also, I took out the original opening page because it was getting old, but if anyone has a good idea for another site opening page, drop me a line.

In The End: It DOES Matter

2007-06-18T09:44:00.000-04:00

Well, here I sit, back where I started, but in reality I'm a long way away from there. I'm sitting ten feet from the chair I sat in the first day I got here, but I'm really ten days away, ten years away, ten lives away. Everyday this week has presented me with a new experience, a new outlook on life, and new friends. I sit here now an entirely different person, one who knows what it takes to be a leader, one who is ready to stand up and become that leader.

I'm not going to talk about everything that happened this week, because that would take far too long, but I will say this much. I never thought saying good bye could be so difficult. These people that I've spent these last ten days with have become great friends of mine, and I don't know what I'll do without being able to see them everyday. I don't know how to say good bye, and I'm not sure I want to. I've had so much fun, and learned so much more, but in the end, what really matters are the friendships I've made, and the amazing people I've met.

I know you don't know them, but I have to find someway to say good bye, and I'm a little too afraid to do it in person. Sarah, you've been a great friend, and I'll never be able to forget your addicting laugh. Emma, thanks for always being there, even when I didn't want you to be. Rachael, I'm surely telling Heather that you look just like her. Andrew, thanks for stepping up and showing me how to take charge, even if it made you less popular with the "cool" kids. Philip, James, thanks for putting up with me everyday, I know that being my roomate must not have been easy. Josh, thanks for taking my name and for making me laugh. Keerthighaan, thank you for being a great friend, I won't forget to send you those pictures. Camille, you were a fantastic mentor and I'm glad that you were in charge of my group, I couldn't have asked for a better FA. Abbie, you were the first person I met, and therefore the last that I can say good bye too. I didn't get to talk to you much during the week, but I haven't forgotten you.

I would like to thank everyone for a fantastic experience. I'll be contacting everyone that put their name on my list. Lane, make sure you follow up on your goals, six weeks goes by quick.

I will hopefully be putting most of my pictures on my site sometime in the near future, so if you wish to see them, just keep checking. I'm aiming for sometime this week to have it all updated.

This is Joshua Laughlin, reluctantly signing out of NYLC.

Good bye and good luck my fellow scholars, no, my friends.

NYLC

2007-06-09T12:32:00.000-04:00

Well, here I am in McLean, Virginia, waiting to check into the Best Western at 8401 Westpark Drive. I've got some time, and thought I'd post an update. I'm here, so I didn't chicken out, and there are a few other kids here as well. Most are waiting to check in at one.

I'm still extremely nervous, but I've taken the first step in getting here. The ride itself wasn't all that bad. Sure, it was four hours, but it was supposed to be a five hour drive. We made good time, and there wasn't much traffic. Getting up at 5:30 this morning still wasn't too great.

I feel as if I recognize a few of these kids from elsewhere, but I know for a fact that I don't know any of them.

Well, I'll try and keep posting as often as possible.

Later,
Joshua

Schools Out..Summer Fun?

2007-06-07T23:44:00.000-04:00

Well, school's finally out for the year. This past week has been the longest week ever, but I still kept my 4.0, which is good. I was worried for a little bit there about getting an A on Miss Selby's final, but I did get the A in the end.

Next up, NYLC. I'm already mostly packed. I'll be in D.C. from June 9 to June 18 for that, so that does mean I get ten days without work!

Then I get some time for summer fun. Yeah, right. I have to read 10 books this summer, as well as finish three chapters in my AP Chem book and a chapter in my Calc book. I also have to write four reports and prepare for a quiz my first day of school next year! I'm starting to think I might be in a little over my head.

Otherwise, I haven't really had time to write lately. I've been farely busy studying for finals and reading. I actually was pretty upset that I didn't get my site updated as soon as I had hoped. I did get it updated, actually, but not as soon as I would have liked.

That's all I got.

Later,
Joshua

The Count Down Begins Again

2007-05-26T19:41:00.000-04:00

Well, once again I am counting down to the final day of school. Four days this week and four the next, making a total of eight days left. Although, the final day of school is somewhat pointless, because we only go for an hour or two...

Anyhow, I can't believe it's almost over. I feel like it's only just begun, and the assignments are just starting. Really, I actually have homework this weekend, which is something I cannot usually say. But, the final book report for English is due on tuesday, final exams start next week, and I can already feel the call of summer.

That call, though, will have to wait a few more days. As I believe I have previously mentioned, I was accepted to go to Washington D.C. for a National Leadership conference. NYLC starts on June ninth for me, and it doesn't end until June eighteenth, so, I have but one day to prepare for it once school is out. With school ending on June seventh, I'm kind of anxious to get going and meet some new people.

Well, other than that, I have not much left to say. One more thing comes to mind, though. I have previously mentioned the FBLA Web Site, I believe, and would like to announce that the Beaver Falls High School Business Wing Web Site is now fully operational. I have finally got a few more pages up and running, and I hope for some more by the end of the school year. Check it out, please?

Otherwise, that's about it. I've written no other poems lately, and I've done little else but finish the Dark Tower Series. The ending was not what I expected, but the books were definitely worth every penny. I highly recommend them.

That's all I got.

Later,
Joshua Laughlin

Oops...

2007-04-11T15:07:00.000-04:00

Well, I haven't actually been using this blog very much lately. Once I got my Web site up and running and looking great, I didn't really have a reason to post on here. I guess I can let you in on what's been going on.

To start, I've been trying to get into this National Young Leader's Conference in Washington D.C. this summer. I've been fundraising, but things aren't looking all that good so far.

Next off, I officially hate my job. I'm hoping to find a new one as soon as I can get off my butt and look for one. There is one new rule I'm setting for all my future jobs: I refuse to work with food.

I just got my report card, it seems my suspicions were confirmed. I received, once again, a 4.0. It always seems to get boring around the time I get my report card. It's not really exciting to get a 4.0 then, but when I'm doing the work, I've always made sure that it stays that way. It's a weird feeling, to do all that work for a little piece of paper that looks just like the last 27 I've gotten over the years. The only things that change are the classes.

Anyhow, life is pretty much normal. I found out a few weeks ago that I didn't make it into Governor's School this summer. That really sucked. Otherwise, I'm pretty okay. I'm looking into colleges and I'm looking for scholarship opportunities. It's never too early to start. The only problem is, I don't know what I want to go to school for. There are just too many choices, and I'm just too indecisive.

That's basically all I got. Talk to you all later.

Joshua

Walkin in a Winter Wonderland

2007-01-30T15:03:00.000-05:00

Well, if you don't know, this weekend was the weekend of the OA Winterfest. I had a blast. I got to see a ton of people that I haven't seen since camp this past summer, and all of it during a weekend of fun.

Pool, ping pong, tubing, snowball fights, and card games were just some of the things that could be done for enjoyment while at winterfest. Some people went sledding, while others just stayed inside and played games. Some picked up a snowball and hurled it at someone or something every once in a while, yet others chose to get in a full fledged battle.

For me, this weekend was one I'll never forget. Old friends, and new friends alike, made this an exciting weekend for me. I can't wait for the next time I get to see all of my friends again, and the next snowball battle I can join in on.

And yet it all ended so quickly.

I guess the weekend was like a snowball fight. It was really fun, but it ended just the way every snowball fight ends, when someone gets hit in the face and everyone scatters.

♠Joshua Laughlin♠

Down the Lane

2006-11-26T12:08:00.001-05:00

So, if you can't tell, I've been rather busy lately, and honestly, I've had very little to talk about. My life has been really repedative lately, and I don't think you want to hear the same narrative over and over again.

If you cannot tell, I've had writer's block for quite some time now. Don't think that I haven't tried, because I I've started so many times that I cannot even count them all. I ripped far too many pages out of my notebook in the past month. As soon as I finish a poem, I'll post it all for my *cough* "valued readers" *cough*.

So, I've gotten like 10 hours of sleep this weekend, because I worked until 11:30 on Friday, and had to get up at five in the morning on Saturday for the pancake breakfast that my scout troop was holding. Who in their right mind is going to get up and come to a pancake breakfast at seven in the morning on a Saturday? Anyhow, once that was over, we had a surprise birthday party for my sister, Elizabeth, because she is turning 21 in a few days. And once that was over, Beth invited us to go bowling, so I went bowling, at midnight. We didn't get home until almost four in the morning, so, I had been up for twenty three hours. I got like six hours of sleep last night, and now I'm really tired, but I get to sleep in tomorrow until like two in the afternoon, so it's all good.

As I was saying, we went bowling last night. Christopher reserved two lanes for his group of friends, and one for me and my "small" group. Well, Corrine went bowling with us last night, and I invited Kevin because I was supposed to go out with him last night anyhow. We drove him to the bowling alley, but we had no way to get him home, because Beth was not going to drive us home last night. So, to get him home, Kevin called Brandon Filinger. Of course, Brandon called two of his friends, and it ended up that my one lane had more people on it then Christopher's two lanes combined. We had to pass Corrine over to them, and the man at the counter gave us one more lane, so we were able to bowl five games. I was actually doing fantastic, because I was trying to do what my father was teaching me the last time we went bowling. I was kicking everyone's butt, and Beth was mad because she was a worse bowler than I was. Every game, she thought she was going to beat me, but I somehow came out with a higher score every time.

Anyhow, that's life. We ended up playing around at like 2:30, and Brandon got our lanes shut down, but we had fun. Otherwise, my week has been pretty mundane. Thanksgiving was this week, and I ate a lot, but other then that I don't remember much. I hope everyone else ate a lot on Thanksgiving, and got fat, like I am getting. I have to stop eating pie, because I had three pieced this week.

Well, that's all I got.

Later,

♠Joshua Laughlin♠

Faster Than Fast, Quicker Than Quick

2006-11-04T01:11:00.000-05:00

Welp, I'm going to try and say this all as quickly as possible.

I've been trying to get everything moved onto my web site. As of right now, most everything is working, and I think that I am going to correct the only mistage right after I post this. As you can tell, everything is being moved successfully.

I have recently been moved to work on Grill 1 at the Hot Dog Shoppe. This was a surprise to me, but it seems that I'm fast enough for Chuck, so, I must be fast. Chuck told me I did a great job today, but that I still needed a little trimming around the edges. Well, today was a Friday, of course I'm not going to do perfect if my first major time on Grill 1 is a Friday.

Otherwise, I'm good. I just finished Hell on Ice The Saga of the Jeanette, and the second book in the Dark Tower Series, The Drawing of the Three. I am currently working on a book called Crime and Punishment, and when I am finished with that I will be reading Grapes of Wrath for a school book report.

I suppose I cannot make a quick overview of anything, because I love details. Oh well...

Later,

♠Joshua Laughlin♠

Midnight Musings

2006-10-21T00:19:00.000-04:00

Well, I just got off of work...a half an hour ago. If you haven't looked at the time tag yet, it's 12:00 am. Yeah, and this is day 2 I've worked this late, in a row.

I have to request less hours...I am losing too much sleep over this job. Otherwise I am uneffected.

I'm getting all of my work done in school, in fact I am actually reading a book at my own liesure right now. I'm not getting very far, because it's an old book and it's written in sailor's jargon, but it's a good book from what I can understand. I've read a few of the passages three or four times.

Also, it's rather late, and I couldn't come up with a catchy and creative title, so I just looked at the book sitting next to me, "Twilight Musings," and put Midnight instead. You all thought it was creative though, didn't you?

Oh yes, I suppose sinse it has been so long sinse my last post that none of you have heard about my fight.

I got in a fight with a fry basket. Well, that's when I found out that hot metal has an advantage over skin...the fact that it burns the skin might be it, but I'm not too sure. I do know this, it only takes a couple of seconds to created quite a burn. This one is an eighth of an inch wide and 2 and a half inches long. I just got through the peeling period, so now for a few weeks I'll have nice fresh pink skin there. That's going to be something I won't be able to forget for quite some time...if you know what I mean.

Otherwise, I'm going out to a camporee tomorrow. I'm not all too sure what it's about, so I'll hopfully update you Sunday before I go to work with the same rediculous hours as these past two nights. At least I requested tomorrow off...

I suppose I've said enough. If anyone is still reading at this point, pat yourself on the back. You're devoted readers, and I applaud you. This is the place where I should put some big secret that the lazy people would miss...hm...what to say...what to say...oh man...I don't know. Make something up for yourselves. Pretend I said something really cool right here, and tell everyone else that they need to update their blogs, because I'm starting to think that the whole "blogging" thing has gone out of style. It's a good thing that I never started for the fad in the first place.

Later,

♠Joshua Laughlin♠

And It's Been a While

2006-10-03T22:37:00.000-04:00

Well, as you can see, it has been a while sinse the last time I posted. Actually, I've been quite busy, for I haven't been on the computer for my own leisure in over a week, closer to ten days.

Well here I am, wasting my life on this computer. I just finished my book, Don Quixote, and took my test on it this morning. I have come to the conclusion that I will never read a nine hundred page book for a report again. That was a hassel, though the book was amazing. The one problem, though, with my reading that book is that as of late I have been speaking in Old English. I have even been thinking oddly, my thoughts all sounding much like those of Don Quixote de La Mancha, of course without all of the insane thoughts of being a Knight Errant.

I have not written poem, lyric, verse, or anything else for that matter, except of course two articles for my journalism class, sinse the last time I posted.

Well, here I am, now almost a month sinse the last time I have written anything, in a long drag and stuck within writer's lag. I am hoping that now that my book is complete I will be able to sit back and have some free time. Hopefully with this free time I will be able to write down some of my thoughts, for I have many and none have been recorded in this past month.

On another note, I am excelling well in the Hot Dog Shoppe. I am currently working both friars and on grill 2. For all of you that do not know, grill 2 is the grill that prepares the hot dogs for the orders in. I am working now twenty five to thirty hours a week, though I may have to ask for a few less hours. We shall see in due time.

Otherwise, I have nothing left to say. Stay strong, and use your minds always and constantly, for without them we are all lost. Lastly, to quote Don Quixote himself, "You must consider what you are, seeking to know yourself, which is the most difficult task conceivable."

Later,
Joshua

The Fries, They BURN!

2006-09-07T16:08:00.000-04:00

So, last night I started work at the Hot Dog Shoppe, and let me tell you, fries hurt. Not only does the grease burn if the fries miss the basket, but the fries BURNed most when I was trying to put them into packages. That little tool that I had to use to pick up the fries is not as easy to use as I thought it was. The tool I use is like a funnel, except the funnel is flat and open. I scoop the fries into the top, and they're supposed to come slowly out the bottom and into the bowl or bag that I'm putting them into. Unfortunately, it's not that simple. The fries fall out in every direction, because it's not a closed funnel, as I have already said. So, while I'm holding the bowl or the bag that I'm putting fries in, most of the fries are falling off the sides of the funnel and onto my HANDS! Yeah, that hurts. They're REALLY hot fries.

Otherwise, we're working towards our first paper in journalism class starting today. Our first deadline is next friday, a week from tomorrow, but I've finished my two articles already. I'm going to have them checked tomorrow for "substance" and errors, correct them, and hopefully have them in by Monday.

I am officially bogged down with homework this evening, and yet here I am, waisting valuable time on this blasted computer. I got a rediculous assignment today, that should have been due Monday, but of course we're not going to take our time, so it's due tomorrow. The good news is that it's only a one hundred point assignment, so if I screw it up, it's not like I'll be losing a lot of points. You see, that's sarcasm.

Well, that's my life, mostly. Yeah, I know, boring.

Later,
Joshua

Catnap

2006-09-01T18:19:00.000-04:00

Well, the first week of school is over. I officially got my first bit of homework today. At least it was work assigned to be done outside of class. I finished it at school today, so, in essence, I had no homework.

As I said before, the classes are alright. I enjoy most of my classes, but there are a few that I don't really like. I am really enjoying my journalism and web page design classes, because they're on topics that interest me, and I like the teachers.

So, yesterday during eighth period (web page design class) I all of the sudden got extremely tired. I don't know why. So, I had a meeting for FBLA yesterday, and I was practically sleeping through the meeting, and I'm the vice president. I walked home, thinking that it would help wake me up, but as soon as I got home, I had to lie down. Not long after I lied down I fell asleep, not to wake up for a couple of hours. Now, I'm not one to take naps. In fact, I haven't taken a nap during the day for a long, long time. At least not outside of camp. Yesterday I just needed a nap.

Well, that's about all of my boring life. No, wait! My first day at work is this upcomming Wednesday.

Later,
Joshua

And The Late Bell Rings

2006-08-29T17:31:00.000-04:00

So, School started today. Luckily, I finished all of my summer reading this past weekend. Unfortunately, the class that I had to read for wasn't even in session today.

I have Ms. Selby FIRST PERIOD. Otherwise, my schedual is great. I'm in a programming class and a web page design class, and even though I didn't get to go to the programming class, I think it's going to be great, because I have the same teacher for web page design.

Well, school was alright today. Some of the classes were good, others were not so good. I don't know what I'm going to think in six months or so, but right now I think everything will be fine.

So, yesterday I went to my orientation for my upcoming job at the Hot Dog Shoppe. Well, I was told to be there at 1:30. The orientation didn't start until 3:00. I was there an hour and a half too early. I was never called and told that the time was changed. Oh well.

Well, I have to go.

Later,
Joshua

Homework's Due

2006-08-24T14:05:00.000-04:00

Wow, this summer went fast.

Camp was fun, and I met a bunch of new people. I had a few new experiences, like a nail in my foot. But all in all, it felt way too much like a dream. Tell you what, though, coming home was a big wake up on reality. I was thrown right back into the real world.

I had forgotten how much goes on in one week. Which is about how long I've been home. At least at camp, there weren't many surprises, which is what I like, and what I grew used to, but here at home, there's something new going on all the time. It's hard to keep up, when I'm used to traveling at such a slow and generally smooth pace. I've been home just a little over a week, and it feels like I've been home for a month or two.

To top it all off, I still have to read one more book. I'm reading Stephen King's Novel "The Gunslinger," and it's fantastic. Unfortunately, I'm having trouble finding time to read it. Between the mass hysteria at my mother's house and the few things I need to do, such as chores and check my email, at my father's house, I haven't really been able to get very far.

I'm also hopefully getting a new job. I put in an application, went to an interview, and this Monday I have to go to a training session. I'm hoping that the training will go alright, and that I can start working as early as next weekend (the first weekend in September).

I also figured out how to fix my blog so that my friend Fran's blog can be viewed from a link on the side of my blog. I had to figure it out by myself, because my father fixed the other links to my family's blogs. It took a while, but it looks good, so go check out his blog, he's new and he needs some comments.

Well, that's life after camp. It takes a while, but I'm starting to get used to it again.

Later,
Joshua

Closing Up

2006-08-14T23:49:00.000-04:00

Well, I came home.

Camp is over...Thank God. (Seriously)

Well, closing the camp is killer. Even worse this year then last, because this year we were pretty much done on Saturday. If you don't know, that's the day that the last campers leave. We worked until nine that night. I got the SPECIAL jobs. I got to go clean the latrines (big holes in the ground with toilet seats over them). Then I got to scrub the trash cans. Then on Sunday, I had the amazing opportunity to be voluntold to clean the showers.

Week eight was pretty good, though. I had an awsome troop to site guide, though there were only four boys. They were fun, and I think they really looked up to me. They asked for my mailing address before they left, I'm expecting a letter sometime soon. I taught them how to play poker, and Texas Hold'em, and Blackjack. That was fun. They built a bridge. It was pretty nice. They were also exceptional at folding tents. The tents that they folded were better then the tents that some of the staff folded.

My area, however, was chaos this week. On the five mile hike we took this week, one kid got a nosebleed. While I was helping him, we were stopped for about ten minutes, two kids got into a fight. I had to break that up, and separate them. That was fun.

All in all, the summer was pretty good. I had some good times, and I got screwed over quite a bit, but it was alright. I'm not going back next year for sure, but maybe the year after next?

Welp, that's about it. I haven't had time to write anything, so, I've got nothing else.

Later,
Joshua

Final Countdown

2006-08-05T21:37:00.000-04:00

So, here I am, for what, the forth time this summer, sitting in front of this computer.

I finally remembered my poems, but it doesn't matter much now, because the count went from two to four, and I'd have posted them in a week anyhow.

Speaking of which, I'll be back for good in a week from this coming Monday. I do believe that is the Fourteenth of August. So, instead of the twelve days at home, I'll get fourteen, plus four, so eighteen.

That's quite an accomplishment for me!

Well, I think I'll post those poems now...

See You All Next Monday,
Trevor The Angry Beaver

The Forgetful Beaver

2006-07-15T16:15:00.000-04:00

Ok, here I am again, at home. I came home, and this was the one time I planned to be here. I still forgot my notebook. I'll have to give it too my dad tomorrow. My two new poems should be on here soon. I know I've been saying that for quite a while now.

So, this week I got a new nick-name. Someone looked at me one night and said, "You know, I think I'm gonna start calling you Angry Beaver!" So, now I'm not only Trevor, I'm The Angry Beaver. Unfortunately, I'm very forgetful. I've renamed myself The Forgetful Beaver. No one will accept it. Oh well.

I looked in my notebook, there are only two poems, the third one is still a work in process. It may take a while. I don't know if I'll even finish it. I may scrap it. It's not that great. Otherwise, I like the other two. They aren't my favorites, but I at least like them, and if you've ever talked to me about my poetry, that's saying a lot.

Well, my foot's healing all good now, though I still can't swim. I did get to go canoeing this week. That was fun. I havn't gone canoeing in a while. I had to put my foot in a plastic bag, though.

As for the rest of the week, it was pretty routine. Wait, I did get my brotherhood. For all of you that have no idea about scouting, it's like level two in the Order of the Arrow. There are only three levels. Other then that, it was an ordinary week. It rained a lot, but we made it through.

I'm sad, though, because for the first two weeks, I was getting a letter every other day. These past two weeks I've received one.

Well, I hope everyone out there is having a great summer, hopefully my new poems will be on here in a few days, because by now they're not exactly new. I wrote them about a month ago now. Sorry about that.

I'm outtie,
Joshua/Trevor/TheAngryBeaver

Hey! That's Not Grass!

2006-07-09T20:59:00.000-04:00

Alright, so here I am again, at home. Otherwise, where I was not expecting to be for another week or two. So, it's only been two weeks, wow. I just started week five, but then I had to leave. I'm not going to be at camp for the first day of program tomorrow, which bites, but I'm not getting disciplined for it. Actually, I had to come home. The grass is a little sharp on the far end of the aquatics area. Well, the nails sticking out of the log that's hidden in the grass is at least. So, I stepped on a nail, and I went to the hospital. The U-town hospital has got to be the worst hospital ever. I had to get an X-ray, and a tetanus shot. I wasn't allowed to walk on my foot in the hospital, so this guy wheeled me around in a wheelchair. He pushed the chair so slow. A baby could have crawled faster then this guy was pushing me. So I found out I may need surgery, which is why I'm back, for a second opinion. Otherwise, yesterday I got to shoot a twelve-gage shotgun with a professional, and of course Kevin Dowling. Kevin is my ultimate boss at camp. He's the reservation director, and some other fancy stuff. So, you know, spending a day with him is a good way to make yourself look good. I did terrible, though. Those clay pigeons are hard to hit, and they move fast. Oh well, a one hit for every five shots isn't that bad. Well, I have now two, or three poems I have to post. I still don't have them. I'll have to mail them home, and have my dad post them. Yeah, that will work. They should be here sometime within the next three weeks.

iChEeRaLoT, you are not boring.

Later,
Joshua/Trevor

Week Two: The Surprise Return

2006-06-25T00:40:00.000-04:00

So, I was expected a day of rest and relaxation after a long week with a bunch of rowdy scouts today. Well, I got it, but not where I expected it. My dad showed up at a quarter to one this afternoon, and I got to leave! I wasn't expecting to come home, I thought we were just going to go out, get some REAL FOOD, and stop and pick up a few things that I need, but it ended up with me showing up here. Therefore, this is Josh typing, not my father. I'm spending tonight in my own bed, and though I didn't get to do my laundry today, and I didn't get to sleep fourteen hours like I planned, I had a fun day. I came home for two reasons. Reason number one was because there was not a single ARBY'S in Uniontown. Reason numer two was because my dad was going to see Click tonight with my uncle, and I wanted to see the movie and spend some time with my uncle. As I said before, this was a surprise return, so I did not get a chance to bring my notebook, which contains a poem that I have written in this past week, and one that I've been working on for two. I can't remember it word for word, so I'm sorry, but you're going to have to wait for the new poem. I'll give it to my dad next weekend and he'll publish it for all of my valued readers, which I just found out I have. Someone named Jen has been reading my poems, not sure who that is, but thanks Jen. Someone else, iChEeRaLoT, has at least read one of my posts. I'm hoping she'll keep reading as well. Yey! I have readers now. Well, I guess that's it. NO WAIT!!!! I almost forgot to talk about Click. Alright, for all of you that want to see it because it looks like a great movie, yeah, think twice. This definitely wasn't my favorite Adam Sandler movie. It wasn't very funny, and it's ending is sort of storybook. I don't want to give anything else away, but I thought that it was going to be better. Alright, that's everything. Later everyone. (much later, probably)

Final Touches

2006-06-08T22:29:00.000-04:00

Hey, this will be my last post, at least probably, until August 16. I'm going again to summer camp for ten weeks this year, and of course there's no computer there. So, I'm here to make the final touches to my blog for this summer. There may or may not be posts here during the summer, posts about interesting going ons at camp, or poems that I have written, but they will not have been posted by me. Though the posts will be my thoughts, they will not have my heart, because I won't be able to post them personally, and I can't go off on my tangents if I'm not behind the keyboard. I hope you all have a great summer, and I can't wait to get back behind this keyboard and update you all on the great summer I've had. SCHOOL'S OUT!!...and I'm off to work. Ironical, ain't it?

The Great Finale

2006-06-06T15:19:00.000-04:00

We all know that everything has to end with a Great Finale. A fireworks show always has a fantastic ending, and all the books I've ever read have a finale that wrap up the text. So, naturally, a school year has to end with FINALS!!! Alright, I'm not trying to complain, but eight finals in two days is kind of ridiculous. All of the teachers wanted to do the finals last week, so that we could do two a day for four days, and use this week for make up and finishing lessons. The finals were all clumped into two days, though, and I'm SO HAPPY that they are over. I just got back my final book analysis from my English teacher (we did our final early in her class because it took five days) and I got an A. Not only that, but out of the two CP English 10 classes, MY grade was ranked third, that's third out nearly forty students. I'm so happy that the stress of finals, and school for that matter, is over. Now all I have to stress about is camp, which I leave for on Friday, that's three days to pack. Guess what, camp has a Great Finale too, it's called clean up week, and I can definitely wait for it.

New Game

2006-04-12T13:49:00.000-04:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've been rather busy, and I just got a new game. Well, just got it two weeks ago. I beat it the other night. The game is

Kingdom Hearts II. It's a fantastic game, and plays better than the first one did. There are a lot of new things the main character, Sora, can do. He can weild a second blade, and do a lot of awsome new moves. Not only that, there is a new thing on this game called reaction commands, so players can use different moves at different times to do things impossible on the first game.

For the people who played "A Chain of Memories" and didn't enjoy the card battling, don't worry, there are no cards in this game.

The first five hours or so, you are not Sora, but I don't want to spoil any more for the people that want to play it, so go get it and find out for yourself.

One last thing. I know that it's not that hard to get to the credits, but the game was designed to have more things to do to get one hundred percent complete. I found out after I beat the game that, not only was I no where near as close to one hundred percent as I thought I was, the parts I hadn't done were extremely difficult.

Hope you all have fun, and thanks for reading.

Down with the Sickness

2006-03-11T21:08:00.000-05:00

So, to understand this post, you are all going to need some back story.

Alright, I rarely, and I mean rarely, get sick. Of course, I get the occasional headache, but I rarely get very sick. So, I take for granted my good immune system. On Thursday of this past week, which was something like the ninth, I was listening to this song by Disturbed called Down With the Sickness, and the very next day, I was sick, which is kind of ironic.

I really had to go to school, and even though I felt miserable, I went so that I could take the three quizzes I had to take that morning. But, after third period, I knew there was no way that I was going to make it all day. I couldn't see straight, I couldn't walk, in fact, it probably looked like I was drunk. I was also freezing, but everyone kept telling me how hot it was that day. I asked my teacher in fourth period for a nurse’s pass, and when I got there I found out that I had a fever of almost 102 degrees, and I went home.

I no sooner got in the door before my older sister was pushing medicine down my throat. Then I was quarantined, which stunk, and after getting a bite to eat, I fell asleep. I woke up four hours later, and my head still hurt, so I took a couple of pain relievers, and after a while I was feeling fine. We went out to eat that night, and I was coughing a lot the whole time. My throat still hurts. Well, we came home and I took some motrine, and then I fell asleep again, but I didn't sleep that well.

Of course, I can't be like normal people and sleep in on Saturdays, so I had to get up at 8:30 in the morning. I was coughing all day again, but I didn't feel lightheaded till I came home from working on my merit badges. I earned two that are required for my Eagle scout, which means I now have enough to be a Life scout, which is cool.

Well, I still feel really bad, and I officially hate being sick. I hate missing school, because then I have to make up all that work. So, I'm hoping that I'll be better by Monday, and maybe I will become immune to this strain of whatever attacked me and won't have to deal with it again for a while.

Update

2006-02-21T16:09:00.000-05:00

Alright, for all of my treasured readers, which I think is up to around six, here's a small update.

I just got accepted into the National Honor Society in my high school, so I must be doing something right.

I just received a letter from a British Publishing Company that wants to put one of my poems in their book. That would make me an international writer. I guess I'm a better writer than I thought...

That's about it. I'm starting a new book soon, 1984 I think...so that should be interesting. I'll tell you what I think about it a little later, after I've read it. Fahrenheit 451 and To Kill a Mockingbird were good books though, and I suggest all of you read them.

Alright

2006-02-11T19:35:00.000-05:00

so, I feel kinda obligated to write something in here, because I am again behind Bekah, but this time by two posts. I'm not exactly sure what to write. Hm....hm....um...I really don't know. Alright, let's try this:
For all of you that live in caves, the Steelers won the Superbowl last week, and for all of you that don't know Roman Numerals, it was the 40th superbowl. It took me a while to figure that one out...so I thought I'd share my findings. On the note of the Steeler's victory, can we just get over it? It's over, and chances are we won't win another Superbowl in quite a few years, so, let's just let the past stay in the past because it's not like there's a lot of people in America that don't know that there was a Superbowl and who won. Alright?
On another note, I'm thinking somewhere around an A, because that's a high note, my father purchased a new big screen television this past week. He's been wanting to for years, I on the other hand, think though it is nice, that a television is boring and overrated. Go grab a good book and read the day away. Let your imagination take you on a journey that television destroyes. In fact, lately I've been reading a book for my College Prep English class called FAHRENHEIT 451 . It is a very good book and I recomend it for everyone to read.
Well, other than that, this weekend has been fairly mundane, except for today I found out that my great aunt has cancer and is dying of it. I would like to ask that we pray for her, not for her to live longer than she should, because she has already suffered enough, and needs to move on, but that her death means something, and she dies happily and goes happily to a better place. Thank you all.

Die Groundhog

2006-02-08T15:25:00.000-05:00

As most of you know, about a week ago was groundhog day. Of course, there is always six more weeks of winter after groundhog day, and this year spring starts on March 20, but this holiday is fun and so it has lived on for a long time. Well, we were having good weather that day, in fact, the weather had been good for almost a week or two before that, so the groundhog saw his shadow, got scared, and predicted six more weeks of a bad winter. I thought nothing of it, until now. Only days after the prediction, the weather took a turn for the worse. It has been cold and snowy for days now, and before the groundhog said that it was going to be a hard winter, everything was great. I was loving the early spring weather, and now that dumb groundhog has messed it all up. So, I say die groundhog, die.
Ah haha, Ah hahahaha

What kind of soul are you?

2006-02-06T21:58:00.000-05:00

I found this in my father's blog and thought that it would be kinda neat to fill out and throw in here for a little treat to all of my readers. If you like it, you can go ahead and take the link at the bottom and answer the questions to get your own. Tell me what you think, and if this sounds at all like me, please?

You Are a Seeker Soul

You are on a quest for knowledge and life challenges.
You love to be curious and ask a ton of questions.
Since you know so much, you make for an interesting conversationalist.
Mentally alert, you can outwit almost anyone (and have fun doing it!).

Very introspective, you can be silently critical of others.
And your quiet nature makes it difficult for people to get to know you.
You see yourself as a philosopher, and you take everything philosophically.
Your main talent is expressing and communicating ideas.

Souls you are most compatible with: Hunter Soul and Visionary Soul

What Kind of Soul Are You?

I took the test again because there were questions that I could have answered differently, and I couldn't help but take it again, so, here is the second outcome, how about you tell me which sounds more like me?

You Are a Visionary Soul

You are a curious person, always in a state of awareness.
Connected to all things spiritual, you are very connected to your soul.
You are wise and bright: able to reason and be reasonable.
Occasionally, you get quite depressed and have dark feelings.

You have great vision and can be very insightful.
In fact, you are often profound in a way that surprises yourself.
Visionary souls like you can be the best type of friend.
You are intuitive, understanding, sympathetic, and a good healer.

Souls you are most compatible with: Old Soul and Peacemaker Soul

What Kind of Soul Are You?

Yey!!

2006-01-28T22:54:00.000-05:00

Yep, I had another good weekend, and it's only Saturday.
I felt like I had to post, though, because I was behind Bekah, and that's pretty bad. So here's my post, don't wear it out.
Well, today started off with me dragging my butt out of bed(not something I normally have to do) and going off to scouts to clean the church for this service project thingy that we have to do for the merit badge we're working on. The room in specific that we cleaned is this little old and decrepit room with walls that are falling apart. When we entered the room this morning, it was a distugsting mess. It had two long shelves on the back wall and there were two wires above that holding up some long boards and the American flag, and in the back corner were three little shelves packed to the brim with canvas tents. After spending nearly five hours in that little room, I can confidently say that it now has six small shelves in the back, spreading from both sides of the room, all organized and semi neat. The floor is swept(because three to ten years of dust swept away can really make a difference), and we have found a new place to put all of the awards that the troop has earned over the years.
The transforation is colossal, going from the space to fit only one to two people to being able to fit a lot of people, such as close to ten, to look at all the awards. I myself cannot believe the cleaning efforts put in by the boys of troop 481 today to get not only that room, but a gigantic stove all cleaned in about six hours! I am happy to be with a troop that can get things done, and cannot wait for everyone else to see the changes we have made to that little old room back there.

What a weekend

2006-01-16T21:30:00.000-05:00

All I can really say about this weekend is wow.

It was kinda boring, but in a fun way, I mean, i got to spend tons of time, watching horrible movies, with my dad. Plus we got to go and take a bunch of pictures in hookstown on Saturday, even though it was freezing outside, which is amazing because on Friday it was literally above 70 degrees outside.

It snowed this weekend, so I won a bet I made with my dad, he doesn't want to admit it...but he lost, again.

But best of all is how my weekend is ending. My friends are having good weekends, which automatically puts me in a good mood, and I just watched my dad put spongebob sheets on his bed, which is totally fricken hilarious. My sister just gave me a slip for a free small order of McDonald's fries, which are my favorite, so I think I'll be stopping there after school tomorrow.

All around, this has been a pretty good weekend, and I can't wait for another one like it...I should have a new poem on here soon, I have to put some finishing touches on it, then I will be posting it on here. Just thought you'd like to know.

Happy New Year

2006-01-02T17:07:00.002-05:00

Happy New Year everyone.

It's 2006, so celebrate.

Oh no, that means school is starting back up again.

Oh well, that's life.

At least the break was nice.

I hope you all had a good holiday.

See you all soon, well, at least I'll be writing more soon.

Achievements

2005-11-04T21:12:00.001-05:00

Just thought I'd let all of my valued readers, which I'm sure I have so few of, I mean many of, know of a few things that I've accomplished lately. Well, I lettered in Cross Country, and this is my first year, in fact, this is the first time I've been involved in a sport. I also got nominated to have two of my poems published in books. One is going to be a normal poetry book while the other is a book of the best poets of 2005. I'm really starting to try and better my poetry and I think it is starting to show now with these nominations. Thank you all for reading, and have a nice day.

Home at Last

2005-08-16T18:23:00.000-04:00

I'm finnally home. Yes, it's over. I liked it, but there were a few things that I didn't enjoy about the staff. Althogh, that is what happens when you spend so much time with people; you notice everything that they do wrong or differently from you. I'm not sure, but I think that I may go back next year. If so, it will probably be for the few scouts that I got to know and want to see again and help them further themselves in scouting. Well I hope you all had a good summer, but mine is going to end in two weeks, so I didn't get much of a summer, just work. I loved being out there, so I really can't complain much.

Summer Camp...camp...camp

2005-06-09T16:10:00.000-04:00

I'm leaving to work at camp soon, and I'll be there all summer, so, this will be my last post in almost three months!

I'd like to leave you all with some words of wisdom, but first I have to think of some.

Here they are.

Do not worry about what others think of you, you are what you want to be, not what they think you are.

No one can bring you down unless you allow them to.

You should always try to treat others politely, eventually you may get to them and they will stop thinking of you in the wrong light. If that does not work, just avoid the people whom you do not like in order to keep from doing wrongs against them.

Life is fast and can end at any moment, make sure you live life to the fullest, and be careful.

Quick Thoughts

2005-06-05T19:39:00.000-04:00

Change can come across you quickly. You should always be expecting what you are not ready for.

Life can be complicating, and at times it can feel like there is no point in going on, but there is always a reason to live, all you have to do is look a little deeper and find that reason.

Understanding life can be the most difficult thing in your life, but there has been a plan laid out for you and your choices will alter your path through life.

Bad choices can make your life seem unbearable, but remember, the choice is yours. Do not lose your only opportunity.

Songs

2005-05-30T21:17:00.000-04:00

Open Your Eyes
A boy just 13 on the corner for sale
Swallows his pride for another hit
Overpopulation there's no room in jail
But most of you don't give a sh*t
That your daughters are porno stars
And your sons sell death to kids
You're so lost in your little worlds
Your little worlds you'll never fix

Fade
I try to breathe
Memories overtaking me
I try to face them but
The thought is too
Much to conceive
I only know that
I can change
Everything else just stays the same
So now I step out of the darkness
That my life became

Staind Lyrics

Quick Thoughts

2005-05-22T00:22:00.000-04:00

If you feel like you are fading from a friend, it's not always the best idea to try harder to get back to normal. Sometimes you just need to hold back and wait out the problem, that may be the only way to keep your friends. Doing this may also lead to losing some of them, but you gain so much more from the ones that stay with you.

Being alone doesn't always mean you are the only person there.

Life can hurt, but doesn't everything else?

Some things can be confusing, but figuring out the true meaning can bring about so much knowledge and can actually change your life.

If hate is just the absense of love, and love is an artificial construct of our minds, then which makes more sense?

Quick Thoughts

2005-04-26T21:19:00.000-04:00

I am here alone thinking, and here is what I thought.

People are almost always alone when they don't want to be, because they repel others away in their bad moods.

Thinking about a problem too much can make it worse.

Also, people can mess up your day more than any thing that can happen to you during the day, that is unless you get seriously injured.

My final thought was that everyone should always have a person to talk to, and a back up just in case, because they are the ones you can call on when you are down or feel used. No one else will be there for you, no one else will notice, or if they notice, they will not care.

Quick Thoughts

2005-04-25T21:35:00.000-04:00

When I need someone most, no one is there, and here I am all alone, broken and scared. Why do I feel like nobody cares?

Quick Thoughts

2005-04-25T21:30:00.000-04:00

Not alone, not sure why. I looked down at life, and started to cry
Surrounded, but not. The unthinkable, thought.
This world is free for the taking, so take it.