Happy New Year!

I can’t believe it’s time for yet another one of these but here we go. Goodbye 2008 and hello 2009.

I started out in January hearing about possible candidates for the election and became very anti-Huckabee, among others. I went out to see the Quadrantids meteor shower with Wrylie but apparently we missed it and went tromping around in two feet of snow for nothing, which was fun nevertheless. I started playing Perfect World and I bought a Wii. I decided to attempt Blog365. I bought Guitar Hero for the Wii and became addicted to Perfect World. Classes started again in mid-January and I had a pretty hefty workload.

Things really started picking up for me in February in terms of workload. Macroeconomics ended up being pretty difficult for me but Ethan helped me through it. March was much the same way and went by in a blur.

April brought in some very strange weather and storms. I discovered Pandora. I managed to get through the rest of the semester mid-May and breathed a sigh of relief when I got Bs or above in everything but Macroeconomics, which was a crap class anyway.

I ended up landing two jobs for the summer months of June and July: as a concession worker at a local pool’s concession stand and as an intern for my city’s ERP department working with database transfers. It turns out the internship wasn’t as grand as I had hoped and I mostly got stuck working with Excel spreadsheets for six hours a day. There was supposed to be the “storm of the century” in June which ended up being a dud. There were lots of storms in the summer and I heard more tornado sirens than I had in several years. I continued to level up in Perfect World.

I started school again in August with 16 hours of classes, which was a real drag. I worked a lot and even picked up a second job in September with the web team at my university’s Housing and Dining Services. (I get to work with PHP and MySQL a lot, which is a dream come true.) I ended up dropping a class because of an asshole grad student who thought he was a hot-shot teacher. October zipped right by and before I knew it I was voting for the first time in a very important election in November. Thanksgiving break was a breath of fresh air, but unfortunately I still had a lot of homework that needed to be done. Tuesday, November 25 would be one of the best moments of my life thus far because I got to go see The Smashing Pumpkins live in Kansas City at the Midland Theatre. It was amazing, there are hardly words to describe - besides maybe “Good Times” (anyone who was there that night will understand).

December was busy as all get out with final papers, projects and exams pushing right up until the very last minute. I had to get an extension for the first time on a project and everything worked out in the end. I actually ended up getting better grades that semester than I ever had in college with four Bs and an A. The A was in moral philosophy, which I was quite proud of.

Here’s to 2008 and a happy 2009.

So as I mentioned in my last post, I went to a Smashing Pumpkins concert on Tuesday, November 25. It was at the Midland Theater in Kansas City, Missouri and it was amazing. Craig, Jake and I had 14th row seats very close to the stage and it was fantastic. Read the rest of this entry »

Sorry I didn’t get to this sooner - it’s quite amazing how homework and projects pile up until I just don’t have time for anything anymore.

So I voted last Tuesday. I could have sent in an advance ballot, but I wanted to do it the “real way” the first time. The Kansas State University Democrats had shuttles going back and forth from the student union to the polls all day so that was nice. I had to go to a nursing home to vote, so that was kinda weird, but it was okay. It was strange because nobody even asked me for my ID or proof of address. I just had to tell the election attendant (is that what they’re called?) my name, she asked me what my address was, I told her, she checked to make sure it matched and I was on my way. They had electronic voting machines with touchscreens. I was quite amazed that they had such technology after all I’ve heard about the crappy voting machines in, say, Florida. It only took me five minutes, if that, to cast my ballot and get my “I voted!” sticker. Watching the poll results roll in was quite fun, too. It was exhilarating and exciting and all kinds of awesome. I did not enjoy the obnoxious girls in my dorm’s hallway spouting about Obama being the anti-Christ and how the apocalypse was nigh but I didn’t really expect anything else out of them. I’m surprised they know how to read. Anyway, I digress. It was just really cool, if that’s the right word, to have voted and been a part of an election. I’m super glad that Palin went back to Alaska where she can do minimal damage to the US, too. Hooray for that.

Thanksgiving break starts on November 26th and I’m really pumped. Not to mention… I don’t think I’ve talked about this here and I can’t believe it now that I think about it… I bought Smashing Pumpkins tickets awhile back since they’re going to be in Kansas City on November 25th. Myself and some friends are going and we’ve got 14th row tickets which isn’t too bad. I’m still in shock about getting to see my favorite band play and I’m really excited. I’m trying not to get my hopes up too high because I don’t want to go and be disappointed, but it’s very hard. So if anyone else happens to be going to the same show in Kansas City on the 25th, I’ll be there and you should say “hi” as long as you’re not a creepy stalkerish person.

As usual, I’ve got quite a bit of work to do before I’m allowed on “break”. I put this in quotes because I’ve got a rather interesting project for my logic class that I’m doing with a friend of mine that we’ll probably have to work on over this “break”. I just really want this semester to be over with. I’m only taking 13 hours next semester just because 16 was entirely too much this semester since I’m working so much. I don’t even remember what I enrolled in, but I do know that I have a 7:30 a.m. class next semester which is going to suck big time. I hate walking to class in the dark.

The time is upon us. I’ll be voting tomorrow. I’ve had to think long and hard about who I’m voting for but in the end I realized I only had one option. I’ll be voting for Obama tomorrow based upon the fact that I truly despise the McCain/Palin ticket. Read the rest of this entry »

So, er, yeah. Since I last posted, classes have begun and I’ve also started my job at the university yearbook as the webmaster for the second year. It’s been interesting to say the least.

My class load isn’t too bad - I’m taking 16 hours, but if you count the C/C++ lab that only counts for one credit hour but really lasts for two - then it’s really around 17. So 17 hours of class a week on top of 10+ for the yearbook makes me pretty busy most of the time. Read the rest of this entry »