sagrl

I'm Still Alive- if you were wondering

Sun, 05 Feb 2006 06:03:05 GMT

I was looking at my journal today and realized that I haven't updated in a really long time. So...if you're interested:

El Salvador was amazing. Ask me about it sometime.

2nd Semester starts Monday and I am taking Modern Physics, Electronics, Math Methods, and the Literary Experience. I think I might move into my physics office as I will probably be spending all of my time in Olin anyway. See you at the end of the semester!

I visited Josh yesterday. Got my internet fixed (at least for now). Yay!

Yep...that's about it.

Food?

Thu, 11 Aug 2005 14:10:20 GMT

Hey everybody!

So, camp is over now, and everyone is getting ready to go back to school. I think that it would be fun if we got together one last time before we all go our separate ways to school and such. What do you guys think? When are you leaving for school? What time/day would work best?

Yep...I think that's all. Hope you are all having/had a great summer.

But It's May!

Sun, 01 May 2005 17:42:33 GMT

Rain showers this morning mixing with snow showers during the afternoon hours. Cold. High 43F. Winds WNW at 20 to 30 mph.

Cold. I agree.

Today I was greeted by light snow flurries as I left the cafeteria to come back to my dorm. This is sick and wrong! IT'S MAY! ...Why?...I don't understand! (read whiny like).

Earth to Mother Nature! Earth to Mother Nature...come in mother nature...It's May. Just thought I'd let you know...Over and out.

Traying

Sun, 20 Mar 2005 09:20:17 GMT

Just wanted to let you all know, that traying is the coolest thing since peanut butter and jelly and you should all try it sometime (if you haven't already). Not that any of you could try it without getting such an excessive amount of snow that class is canceled (after all of mine were already over, grrr) and roads are closed. So here's the basics (just in case this snowy situation happens somewhere besides MN):

1. Steal, I mean, um, "borrow" a tray from the cafeteria.
2. Check for sufficient amount of snow on the ground.
3. Gather friends.
4. Find a good hill (Old Main is popular tradition, but the hill behind Pittman works better).
5. Figure out how to fit your large body on the small caf tray.
6. Go traying down the hill!!!
7. Now that you are experienced and have created a path, try a train made by holding on to the feet of the person behind you (this the really fun part)

Great!! You all pass the crash course on traying. Now try it!!!

Initiation

Sat, 22 Jan 2005 06:34:44 GMT

Remind me why I chose to come to college in Minnesota!!

Tonight I was officially initiated to the weather Minnesota is so famous for. It's about 12:00 and we're walking back to the dorm after watching The Incredibles. None of my favorite sidewalks (or any sidewalks for that matter) are visible as they a burried under inches of snow. Oh and the snow is still coming. And it's windy. Next time I choose a Minnesota school I will try to make sure that it's not on top of a hill where it's really windy. We are running so that we will have to spend less time outside. On the way back we had to stop in buildings twice to thaw out and build up the motivation to go out again and face the wind and cold. Conviently there is a parking lot between my dorm and the closest building. It's know as the frozen tundra and now I understand why. The wind is brutal and the distance is long with out any buildings blocking the wind or places to stop to warm up. As we approach the dorm we have to jump over a nice sized snow drift to get back on the sidewalk that leads to the door. As we approach the door we are running directly into the wind. I sheild my face while others attempt to walk backwards. But finally we made it inside. And then I had to wait for my fingers to thaw out. They hurt they were so cold, and I was wearing gloves too! Even the Minnesotans with me say that this is the worst weather they have ever seen. Welcome the Minnesota, you idiot! Welcome to Minnesota, Kristen.

Presidential Election

Tue, 02 Nov 2004 20:37:06 GMT

Hooray!!! I voted today!!! Did you?

I also got a card for the St. Peter Public Library.

Sat, 23 Oct 2004 16:09:15 GMT

I'm Home!!!

Taize

Mon, 18 Oct 2004 04:31:14 GMT

Taize: a contempletive church service that involves songs which can be sung in many different languages. Consists of repetive chants, a couple of bible verses, prayers. Good for stress relief.

So I went to the chapel for the service (see above) tonight and I was finally formally introduced to this girl that I seem to see everywhere I go. It's wierd when you see somebody so frequently and you don't know their name, but now I do (know her name, I mean). It's Dorea.

Anyways we were talking and it turns out she is a horn player, and a physics major, and in Curriculum II, and from out of state.

So that was a wierd and exciting conicidence. And now I will be able to wave at her during the ten times a day I pass her and not feel like a complete dork.

Yep, so that's the excitement for my day.

Twin Cities Here I Come!!!

Sat, 16 Oct 2004 05:37:08 GMT

Yeah, so we're going to the twin cities tomorrow for my Historical Perspectives class. We are going to go to some art museums and see a play. So, I am very excited!!!

Was looking at the syllabuses for my classes and noticing that I have three tests on Friday of next week! 3! Out of 4 classes!!! That's insane!! It's stressful just thinking about the stress that will ensue next week. On the plus side, as soon as I get through my tests, I will be able to go home to Lincoln, NE, because we get Monday and Tuesday off for "reading break"

Foam Swords!

Sun, 26 Sep 2004 04:41:42 GMT

Friday night I went to "gaming club" and we fought with foam swords. They played by Monty Python rules. If you get hit in the leg, you lose your leg, if you get hit in the arm, you lose your arm, if you get hit in the torso, you die.

It was interesting trying to hit people from the other team while bouncing on one leg. I was not very successful, but I still had fun.

I also learned how to play Cribbage, though not at gaming club.

Classes

Sat, 11 Sep 2004 22:36:08 GMT

Loads of homework to do this weekend. Bummer

I finally got my schedual figured out. I dropped my chemistry class and joined a math class. The math class is a proofs course, so that should be, um, "interesting". Its kind of scary, becuase the course would fulfill a writing requirement (if I didn't already have that taken care of). It will be good though. I would have prefered a class like statistics or something more numbers intensive, but that wouldn't work with my schedual.

Started band on Thursday. There are about 10 horns in the group, which is very exciting! We practice three nights a week and are also going to have sectionals. There's also another horn player in my section, which is cool. We're playing a song with lots of umpas for the horns. Stupid Sousa. Fairest of the Fair, actually. I swear I've played it before, but I can't remember when and with what group. Anybody know?

Classes

Wed, 08 Sep 2004 19:28:22 GMT

My classes finally started today. Went to historical perspectives and Biblical Tradition in the morning. Both are going to be interesting classes, but lots of reading. We actually got to talking about "What is History?" in historical perspectives, which I appreciated because mostly we just went over syllabus and rules and junk like that.

My Bib Trad teacher speaks in a slow monotone, so I might start falling asleep in his class.

The class I am most excited about is physics. Our prof seems really cool. I walked in today and there was an engineering joke up. I would retell it, but I would butcher it in the process and then it wouldn't be funny. It's a class of 38 students and a grand total of four females in the class. I am proud to count myself as one of them. Woohoo.

Maybe I'll start my homework. Maybe not.

HOORAY for IT!!!

Mon, 06 Sep 2004 18:51:31 GMT

Yay!!! The IT guys came!!! This is my first message from my computer. You may now enjoy the thought of me writing from my "spacious" room instead of the computer lab. I am so excited!!

The British?

Mon, 06 Sep 2004 14:06:32 GMT

The IT people are coming!!! The IT people are coming!!!

What's wrong with Ernie?

Sun, 05 Sep 2004 13:28:04 GMT

I know I told you I would write about the rest of my day as a homeless man, but instead I am going to rant.

My computer doesn't work!! It's driving me insane. Mostly the fact that I have to come to the computer lab to use the internet. So yeah. It turns on, but it won't shut down or open any programs. I'm sure if I messed around with it long enough could get something to work, but as it is I am not patient enough for that and haven't really had any time because my day is jam packed with orientation junk.

Yesterday I learned about fire safety and lots of rules. Did you know that 1 in 4 women will be sexually assaulted? How about that 2/3 of Gustavus students drink? And let me tell you that significantly less than 2/3 of Gustavus students are over 21. That's probably why they have substance free housing (which I am in...YIPPEEE). Most of the people I've talked to on my floor chose to be in substance free housing, so that is really cool.

Went to a candlelight service at the chapel last night. It was very cool, but not very heavily attended. I think I am going to like being at a Lutheran college.

Also went to see a hypnotist. It was funny...really funny.

A Guy Named John

Fri, 03 Sep 2004 04:59:17 GMT

I'm just finishing up with the community service immersion that I went on and orientation starts Saturday. Our group (12 freshman) returned from the Twin Cities last night (or early this morning, rather). It was a really interesting week. I learned a lot about different social issues.

On Tuesday we did a homeless situation that helped me to think of homelessness in new ways. Each group (3 students) was given a person to be for the day. so, I was a man named John. I had been living in a shelter, but I was on day 89 of the 90 day limited stay. Part of the program I was involved in at the shelter required that I have a job and put a percent of what I earned into a savings account. John had $1,082 in his savings account. So, we went looking for apartments. We spent an hour and a half trying to get to our first destination using a very confusing bus system (they didn't give us a map). A guy on the bus heard us sounding lost and confused and like complete idiots and took us by the transit building (which had maps) on his way to work.

So, we finally got to the apartment (we were given a couple addresses and had to find the rest on our own). The guy showed us the room for $330 a month with $100 down payment (inside of the $450/mon that we could afford). It was smaller than a dorm room, had a fridge, bed, microwave, cupboards, and that was it. It was not a nice neighborhood by any means, but it did have a nice view of the interstate. The place itself was clean with a nice lounge and activities for tentents. The guy we met with there informed us of another organization not far away that could provide us with leads to other affordable apartments, but when we got there we discovered it was closed on Mondays.

We ate at the soup kitchen and the lady I sat with kept talking about how if she were in 7th grade she would take home ec.

After lunch we continued to search for apartments and found the amount we needed only to discover that we had lost our job. We had to find a day labor agency, because any situation would require a paycheck by Friday. So we got on the bus and asked the bus driver if he knew of any day labor agencies. It turns out that his wife volunteered at one and he knew of several others. Some other people on the bus helped us too, so we found the day labor place much more quickly than we had found the apartments.

I have more to say about my struggles as a homeless guy named John, but I shant bore you with them any more tonight.

Moving Up in the United States

Sun, 29 Aug 2004 03:56:28 GMT

That is if north is truly up. Yeah. Never mind. It's a physics thing.

So, here I am in the computer lab at Gustavus. I moved in earlier today. It was nice moving in, because I am here a week before everyone else and didn't have to deal with the mass chaos that ensues during move in. HA!

When I first started taking my stuff in I thought there is no way this is all going to fit in here. But it did. As I was moving boxes I heard someone call my name. It turned out to be somebody I had met in Chicago on my church trip two summers ago. I had known she was coming to Gustavus, but didn't know she was going on the community service immersion, so that was cool.

The weather is really nice right now. Its cool, but not so cool that you need a jacket. The moon is amazingly beautiful tonight and in St. Peter you can actually see the stars (or at least more stars than you can see in Lincoln). My room is a different story entirely. It is really hot in my room. I guess this is a good sign-knowing that our heaters will work when it gets to be cold MN winter. I am thinking about calling my room a sauna and charing admission in order to ward off the impending doom of paying for my textbooks (my Physics book is $150!-and that's just one book). Of course this might not work as all of the college students could just go to their own rooms.

As we were walking back to the dorm tonight the girls were complaining about what a long walk it was and how the freshman parking was "all the way on the other side of campus". I was smirking to myself thinking about what my friends at UNO, UNL, and U Iowa would have to say about this. Gustavus is really a very small campus when compared to any of those. And "all the way across campus" is at max the distance between niehart and the stadium-maybe a little farther. Perimeter parking at UNL is more expensive and farther away, if I am to trust Bernstien's account of the situation.

I'm leaving for the Twin Cities tomorrow to do community service work and learn about social justice. will be gone for a week. I'm very excited, but I must be going to bed now in order to get up tomorrow morning.

Betty Bought Some Better Frisbees

Fri, 27 Aug 2004 14:53:47 GMT

So, I'm leaving today around noon. I've been apathetic about college this summer and now in the past couple of days I have actually started to get excited and nervous, but mostly excited. All I have left to do is pack the van and find a better frisbee than the ones I got free from the JD Edwards program (which don't work very well). So, goodbye everybody. See you at Christmas, if not before.

Tue, 24 Aug 2004 21:32:39 GMT

2 mores days until I leave for MN. I think I have a significant amount of packing done, but there is still so much stuff to do before I leave. Like, send letters that have been sitting on my desk for a month. And make my room look semi-presentable (in case it needs to be used for something while I'm gone) and buy a comforter and unplug my cd player and alarm clock (to pack). Yep. I know I'm going to forget something that I've reminded myself to do many times and then I'll just feel stupid.

Mon, 23 Aug 2004 14:09:24 GMT

I'm leaving Friday and am currently in the process of packing. I live in t-shirts and it is very tempting to take too many. Bummer. How many t-shirts should a person take to college? What about a thesaurus? Is it necessary or will a dictionary do? No, I should probably get a thesaurus. It would come in handy. Now that you guys are at college and realizing what you all forgot tell me what I should bring....please?

In other news, I watched Spaceballs last night with Rachel.

May the Schwartz be with you.

"Shopping Spree" -Or as close as it gets for me

Sat, 21 Aug 2004 14:03:15 GMT

Yesterday my mother and I spent the whole day garage saling for college stuff. These were my finds of the day:

Bed Loft (with a desk and a bunch of other junk): $20
....And it was going to cost me $75/year to rent!

So we got that at 8 and looked for a loveseat the rest of the morning and afternoon. We didn't find one but I did get a bathroom caddy for 50 cents and some fake flowers for my mother and something to hang on the back of a door that you can hang towels and coats and other things on.

Finally at 4:30 we found the loveseat! Its navy blue with a vine/floral pattern (but its not frilly). So, its not my first choice in design, but the price was right ($25) and its comfy and its the right size-we hope.

I also got carpet for my dorm room. Yaay...

So now all I have to do is figure out how I'm going to fit all of this stuff into our van and then into my dorm room.

Graduation Gifts

Fri, 20 Aug 2004 02:48:27 GMT

Today I drove all over Lincoln delivering graduation gifts. I got to meet Becca's roommate and neighbor, Kelly (or should I say Thomas?). Josh has a sweet dorm room. Very spacious. Also includes bathroom. NO FAIR!

Anyways, I talked to my roommate tonight and tomorrow I am going shopping for loveseats.

She Came in the Mail!

Sun, 08 Aug 2004 19:11:28 GMT

My roommate came in the mail last week and I got to talk to her yesterday. She seems really nice and I can't wait to meet her! Her name is Jill and she is from Minnesota. She plays in the band (flute) and is going to major in Chemistry or Geology.