Another Semester

It is official the fall semester starts next week, and it puts me one semester closer to the goal of graduation. We did have one last adventure before going back, and it took place in Yellowstone National Park. Growing up my family would go to Yellowstone at least one a year for a vacation I thought maybe I should continue that tradition with my family. I was shocked to discover that my wife of almost 7 years has only ever been to Old Faithful once and never camped in the park. With this camping trip I not only had two wide eyed girls but one in awe wife. It was cute to watch my children light up with each animal that came into view. To hear there little excited voices asking questions about Old Faithful, geysers, and any bug that came into view. Most of all it was entertaining to watch as my wife experienced more of Yellowstone for the first time. :)

Did you know!

My CIS teacher showed us this clip of information and I thought it had a lot of amazing information. So I decided to share it with everyone.  The First one is the one my teacher showed my class just follow the link bellow.  The second one is one I found online and it almost shows the same information.

1.  Click on the link bellow to view it.

http://release.theplatform.com/content.select?pid=x7aVOMrlfkkijQwcLllwk6WjB5JE0zrF

 

2.  Click on the play button to view it.

Projects

Yesterday I had a presentation due in my biology lab.  My group decided to find information on amphibians to present.  Well I was chosen to create the power point while everyone else would send me the important points of there parts.  Well It did not turn out that way.  What happened was one person sent me information that I could not open because it was corrupt.  The second one sent me information but not in the format that would have helped me make the presentation.  So not only did I have to create the power point but I had to sift through all the information and find the key points to present.  I did not mind much until I realized that I had forgotten and missed the dead line for an online quiz because I was spending so much time on the presentation.  Then I was not very happy good thing that my grad could take the hit and not be effected by it too much.  But it was not only my quiz that I missed but study time for a math test.  My math class is one that I'm struggling in and I know that it is my fault for letting it go and not worrying about it.  It just never seem like there is enough time in the day for everything that I need to do.  Lately it feels like I start something and the next minuet it is 1 a.m. and I'm no were near being done or understanding what I'm studding.  I think that I have a learning block or something I just can not grasp things very quickly and it is not limited to math and biology but every class that I have taken (minus the P.E. ones) have turned out that way.  Questions that I should know the answer to I draw a complete blank even if we just went over the answer five seconds ago.  What could help me remember? 

 Why can't I remember?  That are the question I keep trying to find an answer to.

Here is a picture of an amphibian that I did my presentation on it is called a caecilian

Great Deals for Collage Students

Just this semester I learned about some great deals for collage students that I feel like I should pass along.  First off I have a Computer Information class and as part of the classes home page is this link.  It is a deal that Microsoft puts on for collage students.  You half to be a student with 0.5 credits and have a valid edu email address.  The deal is you can purchase the 700.00 dollar office suite which includes everything that Microsoft has made for the price of 59.95 dollars.  The site is called "The Ultimate Steal" and not only does it give collage students this great deal on office 2007 but several other deals on other software.  I will  post any other deals I come across and if you know of one and want to share the tip to other then just reply to this post and leave a link to the sight.

Spring Break :)

For spring break this semester we decided to go on a mine vacation to Utah.  More specifically we went to Ogden and Sandy Utah.  The trip was just the right amount of distance form home so that you could easily forget all your worry's and enjoy your self.

  Our first stop on our vacation was at the dinosaur museum in Ogden.  Where my girls along with some of their friends discovered dinosaurs around every corner.  I wished we could have gone a little slower so we could read about each exhibit.  But when children think that they are discovering something new around every bend they race to be the first to see it.  From my stand point it was very amusing to watch their excitement increases with each passing minuet, and I rather enjoyed just watching their faces with every new discovery. 

To top it off the museum had some very fun activities that, for a fee, you could dig up polished rock out of their gravel pit.  While my girls were busy doing that I was picking out some geodes that I wanted to have cut.  Over all the museum was very effective in getting me to forget my worry's.

Next we went to the Mayan restaurant, the food was good and the entertainment was amazing.  This restaurant's boasts that you will have a South American jungle experience. You sit in the branches of a three story tree full of rain forest animals.  Its entertainment is centered around a water fall, taller than the tree that stands across form it, where actors will jump into a pool some 60 feet below. 

To finish up our vacation we took our kid to the build a bear workshop in the gateway mall.  Where my girls enjoyed giving their bears a air bath and picking out clothing for their bears. 

This vacation was the best that I have had in a very long time.  In fact it was so good that I completely forgot about all of my homework that was due when spring break ended. 

The every elusive top grade

We have all been though the experience of waiting in tense anticipation for our master peace to be handed back to us with the praise of the teacher. There would be a set of numbers written on the chalk board declaring where the grade for the assignment and how they fit in to the standard grading system. Then the moment has arrived with mounting excitement the teacher hands your master peace back to you. Upon glancing at the numbers written in red ink all the excitement vanishes like popping a balloon. You realize that your master peace was not as great as you had hoped it would be.

You see I never thought that this day would ever come where one of my assignments is marked as the top grade achieved out of the class. In my past educational history I have never had the honor of having the top score on any work that I have done. Most of my work would range some where in the middle close to the top but never quite the best. During my grade school years my efforts were fruitless I felt like a trout jumping up a water fall and not quite making it to the top to continue up the river. No matter how hard I tried it just was not enough to get to the top of the water fall I always fell short like the trout. Never being able to gain the top spot was a pattern that continued to plague me all through my high school years, even into collage. Even though I had always done my best I was now becoming so accustom to falling short that I believed it was always going to happen.

With my first English assignment being handed back today I did not want to get my hopes up just to get them dashed. With my previous experiences as undeniable proof I believed that there would be no change. My desired achievement would ever remain elusive like a deer evading the hunter. Then Monday the 4th of February rolled around like in the past, posted on the board was the range of points that would define what grade I achieved. So expecting another average grade my paper was handed back to me, without looking at the score on it I quickly shoved it into my binder as to conceal it form other students. Hopping that my professor would not go over and explain how her grading worked, so I could delay looking at my master peace ripped to peaces. I began taking out my note book and got ready to start taking notes on her lecture. However, my professor started into an explanation on her grading system and how the grades ranged. With dread creeping on me I pulled out my paper to asses the damage this time to my self-esteem.

Stunned at what my eyes were telling me thoughts like, This can’t be what I think I’m seeing and Could it possibly be true? When I heard my professors declare that the top grad received by a student was exactly the same number that I was looking at on my paper. Instantly my heart began to swell with pride as a renewed hope began to blossom replacing gloom and discouragement. Then sever thought rushed around my mind like, Mine is the best score there is none better than mine and finely! With this swelling realization I just wanted to jump up and yell “I did it!” But the lecture was starting and my moment was over after so many years and it was over just like that. It just didn’t seem fare that no one was congratulating me and partying, and where were the balloons and confetti?

The Gap Filler

Over the last few months lots has happened. My grades for my classes were all realy good and in the spring I will have a 17 creadit load. However, the benifits that I was receving from my job decided to cut me off after 6 months insted of a full year like they promised. This is only one of several issue I'm having with them changing there minds about something they have promised me.
On a good note just the other day my dd informed me that she has a green puppy named Charkie, lol. I'v been whating for the stage where she has imagenary friends. It is so fun to see her interact with her puppy. I wish I could rember my imagenary friend; can you rember any?

Thought for today

This semester I am taking a variety of classes one of which is U.S. History and culture. One of the interesting things that I have taken away from this class is the culture of the Native Americans tribes. For instance did you know that the women had the final say in any trade made by her husband. On top of that women were the ones who divided the food between the tribe. But the most interesting thing I learned was that most of the tribes traced the genealogy through there wife's side of the family.

Trying something new

Right now I'm sitting in the library at school ''studding'' for my quiz in geology at 11 and I needed a break. So I'm trying to make a post using my palm. It takes a little getting use to and is not as fast. Now for something new I call it the fact of the day. Did you know that the largest diamond found in the world was about the size of a bowling ball. Where is it now? It has been cut several times the largest piece is the size of a tennis ball. Currently adorns the top of the royal scepter of England.

Geology & College

If you were wondering where I found out about the giant quartz crystals, it was from my geology class. However, the information about this amazing discovery is a couple of months old, April 9 of 2007, which shows you just how much out of the loop I am. Now considering that my major is geology, I need to work on being better informed about this kind of thing.

A couple of weeks ago I started a class that I didn't think I would like that much. It is American History and Culture. It sounded like all the other boring history classes that I have taken in my life. I have been pleasantly surprised at the information that we as a class are covering, some I have never heard of or even thought about before. For instance, did you know that in the Native American culture before the Europeans came over was mostly a Matriarchal society? Meaning that the women were more in charge of things than the men. For example when men the women were married it was the man who would change his name, and their lineage was traced through the female side rather than the males side.

Kind of interesting.