Chris' Journal |
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02/17/2009 11:54:47 PM
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Spring Break is next week and it needs to hurry!
I haven't blogged in a while, I have a lot to catch up on. This semester has been a little bit rough. My classes on their own aren't too difficult but I also buried myself in extra-curriculars. On top of class, my job as a student representative in admissions, and my job as a tutor, I've been working on the Staph. research that I and two other students have been doing and have been playing too much soccer, if there is such a possibility of too much soccer. My friend Jess got intramural indoor soccer started at the college this semester for the first time and I've been helping with that. I helped a bit with the planning, had a team registered in the league, and was a ref. Games were Monday and Wednesday nights, so nights when my team didn't have a game I was there to help out. I also had our indoor soccer club registered in a Tuesday night competitive league in Park City. So soccer plus class and work and coaching an Acadec team at a local high school pretty much filled up the first half of my week. Thursday and Friday was spent mostly in class, lab, or at work, then the weekend was spent scrambling to get my homework ready for the coming week.
But now both soccer leagues are over and I have started working a bit less so that I don't burn myself out. I guess sometimes it gets to the point where I can't do everything. I still play indoor soccer at least twice a week, usually just pick-up games or kicking it around with some friends for an hour or two. Recently people have seen our games and started joining in which is always cool.
We officially have a new president!!! (as of a few weeks ago). I was very excited for President Obama's inauguration since this election was the first election I was an active part of. The first half of my Spanish class was canceled because there was a showing of the inauguration in the Gore Auditorium. It was packed with students and faculty by the time I got there, barely any room at all. It was very cool to watch such an historical event with some of my teachers as well as the other students. I had a few friends that got tickets to the inauguration and I am very jealous that they were able to be there in person.
My group's research project is nearly complete. After testing about 100 students to see if they were communal carriers of Staph. and testing the positive results for antibiotic susceptibility, we are finally ready to present. We have been preparing our poster all weekend and it should be ready to print tomorrow for presentation at the Utah Conference for Undergraduate Research (UCUR) this Friday. I am excited to be presenting at my first poster conference, and also excited to have some conclusive results for this research. I'll be moving onto/starting another project this semester or possibly this summer. We'll just have to see. But either way, I'll be getting a bit more time back soon to do something with. I want to apply for an internship at a nearby lab. I'll keep you updated!
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01/07/2009 8:46:40 AM
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Back to School
Winter Break is officially over, classes start again today. Last semester ended pretty well. I got very lucky and my finals weren't terribly difficult. Of my 4 classes, I only had final exams in 2 of them and neither of those exams were cumulative. So I ended out the semester with 4 A's in my Honors Elections Course, my Undergraduate Research Hours, Political Economy of Conflict, and Genetics and a B+ in Spanish 2 which I can live with. Languages aren't my strong point.
My Winter Break was great though! We finally got a decent amout of snow during finals week so there was plenty over the break for snowboarding. I got a season pass to Snowbasin and went a lot over the break. I also finally had time to do some reading of my own that wasn't required for a class. I finished Brisingr, the third book in the Eragon series, and meant to find another good book to read but kinda forgot to. I was too busy sleeping, hanging out with old friends and playing video games. For Christmas my brother and I got Resistance 2 and Little Big Planet for the PS3 and Smash Bros Brawl, Guitar Hero World Tour, and Shawn White Snowboarding for the Wii. I was pretty excited. Resistance 2 is sweet and definitely my favorite video game.
But now it's back to classes. This semester I'm taking 2 Honors courses: The History and Philosophy of Science and Human Culture and Behavior. 2 Honors courses in one semester will be tougher, but I think that I'll enjoy these 2 enough that it won't kill me. I'm also taking Spanish 3 and Microbiology. I'm pretty excited for Micro, as well as History and Philosophy of Science. Both are taught by Dr. Anderson our premed advisor who I have done a lot of research with so that will be fun. This semester I'll be continuing working on the Staph. aureus research and will be picking up my public health research on attitudes towards immunizations in Utah. If all goes well I'll be presenting with the other Staph. research students (my roommate Chris and friend Courtney) at small conferences this spring and will be wrapping up my immunizations research later this year and publishing an article (fingers crossed on that one).
Chris and I can finally get fully settled into our house. Last semester our housing director, Cullen Green, told me about a new house the college bought and then asked if I'd like to move in with a roommate. Chris and I moved out of the apartments and into the house during finals week and were only there for a couple days. It's a nice house though. hardwood floor in the living room and dining room, nice kitchen, 2 bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs, and a 3rd bedroom downstairs. We can't use the downstairs room til fall though because they have to bring it up to fire code, so it's locked.
All and all, I'm pretty excited to be back. I definitely missed a lot of my friends that were out of state for the break and started to miss being at college doing my own thing. The break was very much needed and enjoyable, but now I'm ready to be back, hopefully.
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12/01/2008 10:03:59 AM
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Thanksgiving Break is over, back to school.
I definitely enjoyed my Thanksgiving Break. I took the Frontrunner Train home on Wednesday (unfortunately my car has required a bit of work lately so I didn't have it at the college) and just relaxed for the day, hung out with a couple of friends from high school who I hadn't seen since summer. Thursday was the big day, I helped my mom get some of our food together for the big family dinner at my aunt's house. We went to her house, had dinner and played Madgab and Catch Phrase (which my brother and I dominated) until our food had digested enough to make room for pies. I had a good time seeing the family and playing soccer with my cousin's little guys. Friday I went Black Friday shopping for the first time at The Gateway. A couple of friends and I woke up at 6 and shopped til about 10:30. It actually wasn't too crazy at all, I was surprised. I bought mostly sweaters, a couple dress shirts from American Eagle and a nice jacket. Did some cleaning and hanging out with the family for the rest of the day and hung our with my friend Em who goes to Weber later that night after her play. Didn't do much Saturday besides going to see Bolt with a friend from high school. It was a pretty funny movie. Sunday my brother and I went to get our season passes at Snow Basin. Later, my family had our own Thanksgiving, a tradition of ours. Afterwards I stole as many leftovers as I could and got my laundry together and headed back to the college. Unpacked last night and hung out with Tracy and my roommate Chris.
Unfortunately there still isn't much snow and Snow Basin is yet to open. They plan to make snow all week and have enough snow with the couple small storms we are supposed to get this week to open on Friday. I'll probably go home on Saturday to snowboard a bit, even if the snow is crap. I'll just use my old board so I don't trash my new one quite yet.
I am also counting down until winter break (when there should be enough snow to actually get some good time in on the mountain)! I have an Honors paper (that I should have had done before the break and am turning in late) and a Spanish presentation due this week, a second Honors paper due next week, my final lab report due in Genetics the following week, one Spanish Exam and one Genetics Exam. Sound a bit crazy, but after my Spanish presentation on Thursday things are spread out enough that it shouldn't be a problem. Bring on the Break!!!
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