Issue No. 4: Halloween!

So, most Halloweens I usually spend in the Library with a big bag of candy studying. This year, I decided to have some fun. My friends Mallory and Jonathan Hummer took me out to lunch to the olive garden where we got to spend some good quality time with them. They are one of my best friends, but we don't get to hang so often because Jon is so busy with school and I'm so busy with school, and Mallory is busy with work, helping to support Jon (her husband).
After lunch, while we were heading home, we saw probably one of the best costumes I've ever seen. Below is the picture of Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne from Dumb and Dumber. It was so awesome. They were just riding around town on their mo-ped, it was pretty entertaining.


When we got home, we got all dressed up in her costumes and headed to my best friend Katie's house. Mallory dressed up as the evil queen from snow white, Jon dressed up as a ninja, and I dressed up as a 1920's gangster. And their dog, Bing (He's a little shitzu) dressed up as a little devil. He's so cute!















In our fabulous costumes we all baked and decorated Halloween cookies. It was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed myself. I really thought that this Halloween was better than any of my previous Halloweens.

Issue No. 3: Fall Updating

So I've entered a new semester at Colorado State University. It is my second to last semester here at the University and I'm excited. I really can't believe it is November already, time has flown by so incredibly fast. So far this Fall Semester has been extremely busy for me which is why I've been lacking in my updates.

So this semester the classes I'm taking consist of: Human Osteology (the study of bones) where we learn how to identify human remains, and determine their age, sex and how they died. I'm also taking Social Welfare Policy for my Social Work Major, as well as Generalist Practice with Communities and Organizations. I'm also a TA (Teaching Assistant) for one of my professors and a facilitator for the class. I'm really enjoying all of my classes, but they have all come with a lot of work this semester.
















Currently this semester my Communities and Organizations class has assigned us a group project in which we are to develop an assessment and plan to be involved in the community or to involve the community as a whole. My group's topic was Health Care. This is a hot issue currently in the United States and has captured our attention on the national and community level. Because this is a widely debated issue, and with President Obama's current proposal of health care reform is being considered by the House of Representatives and US Sentate, we found it appropriate to become more knowledgeable about. Also, because Health Care is a National issue, and affects everyone no matter what social class, socio-economic status, gender, race etc,. It also affects the Colorado State University community.

Because it affects the CSU community, our group wanted to do something that would help promote awareness and educate the community about the current health care issues and the proposed reform. So we've decided to stage a Health Care informational discussion panel. We've been working really hard on this panel for 2 months now and we're actually having it on Nov. 20th at the University. Currently we have Colorado State Representative Randy Fischer, Congresswoman Betsy Markey of the 35th district of Colorado, Lee Thielen: Excutive Director of the Colorado Association of Local Public Health Officials and member of the Board of Health for Colorado, as well as Dr. Kathlene Waller who is a medical physician at CSU.

These individuals and their positions they hold are great assets to our discussion panel that provide credibility, expertise and the education necessary to inform the CSU community about the Health Care Issues. We are really excited to put this on and we are proud of our hard work.

That is the main project I've been working on since school as started. Another project I'm working on is a mock debate about HIV/AIDS in Federal and State Prisons in the United States. We are researching the current legislation that is being reviewed by the US senate and was passed by the House of Representatives: the Stop AIDS in Prisons ACT of 2009. This legislation is to help stop the spread of HIV/AIDS in prisons by promoting safe sex and distribution of condoms. It is a very interesting piece of legislation that you should look into.

Something New this semester as well, I've decided to join the CSU Senate. So I am now one of the Senators for the College of Applied Human Sciences. It's quite formal and involves a lot of work but I'm really enjoying it. I'm learning a lot about how our government works in the US and how to read, write and pass legislation. I hope that this will be useful later in my career, whatever path I may choose. I'm also on the College of Applied Human Sciences Dean's Leadership Council, we set up events and promote credibility of our college. We do a lot of volunteering as well, I also really enjoy this.

In October, we had our Homecoming. And as I do every year, I ran the Homecoming 5K Race. It was a lot of fun. However, this year, it had snowed the morning of the race, and it had snowed a lot! We still had the race and it was freezing. Surprisingly I did better than last year's race. My time was 29:39. I think I did a descent job considering the unexpected weather. I ran again with my friend Mo, he did a great job too. I also attended our Homecoming game, but unfortunately we lost to Utah State.

So far everything else is going well and I'm enjoying every minute as a student in my senior year of college!

Issue No. 2: Summer Updating

So, It has been since last Semester that I made the last post, So I have some updating to do. I'll just give a brief synopsis of what has happened over this last summer of 2009.

At the beginning of the summer, my best friend from Pennsylvania came out and visited me. I showed her what Colorado was all about. We went hiking,

check out downtown Denver,

we visited the Swetzville Zoo here in Fort Collins and just had an overall blast.

It was her first time being anywhere past New York or Virginia. I think it was a good experience for her. It is definitely a different atmosphere out here in the West.

All Summer I worked at Colorado State University Student Financial Services and Bethesda Lutheran Communities. I really enjoyed working although some days were more rough than others. I also played basketball with the guys from my church on Monday nights, I think I've gotten better at playing since then.

Later in the Summer I had a harder time. My car's engine needed to be replaced because we had a huge thunderstorm here in Fort Collins and a flash flood and as I was driving home one night from basketball, my car sank in the streets. Luckily I had friends close by that helped me get out of the flooding car and to safety. My car was not so lucky and it killed the engine. I did get my engine replaced at the end of the summer, but was without a car for about a month. That wasn't a big deal because everything is so close that I can bike to it.

Also later in the Summer I got really sick with a sinus infection and pink eye all at once. Luckily it only lasted a couple of weeks, but due to the infection and coughing so much, I cracked one of my ribs. It was a painful healing process and it lasted 6-8 weeks, in fact, I still have to be careful because I could still hurt it.

Well that was my summer in a nutshell. The next post will be the updates for this semester thus far.

Issue no. 1

College Life



College life is busy, very busy. I juggle 17-18 credit hours of school, homework, 2 jobs and I volunteer. Since it’s so hard to keep up with everyone once in a while, I decided to start a newsletter. I know, I know, I should have started this newsletter my freshman year of college, but what’s done is done. The purpose of this newsletter is to update all of my loved ones about my college life because I’m terrible at calling.
To start off, I am now a Junior in College, next year (Fall 2009) I will be in my Senior year at Colorado State University. I love it here; there are so many fun things to do and things to see here in the lovely Fort Collins, Colorado. The education is not too bad either. Actually I love school, and I can’t seem to get enough of it.


I am majoring in Social Work here at CSU with a minor in Anthropology. It is a lot of work, but the classes are very interesting and I enjoy going to them. Although the classes are very intriguing and insightful, school isn’t the only thing that I do.
I enjoy going to the football games with my friends (top right) and I busy myself with various activities such as the CSU 5K Homecoming Race I ran in this last year (bottom right). I also volunteer with the Habitat for Humanity and am involved in many church activities. Between these activities, school and my 2 jobs, I remain quite occupied.





In with the New, Out with the Old


This last year there has been a lot of changes for me, especially in my current living situation. Last year I had 2 wonderful roommates. Mallory and Elisa were the 2 best roommates I could ever ask for, they also became my best friends. They say that good things can’t last forever, and it seems to hold true.

Mallory became engaged and got married this last summer, and Elisa moved to Utah because she found a good teaching job. It happened so fast and it was hard to deal with. However, we are all still the best of friends. Mallory and her husband Jon, live down the street from me and I hang out with them quite often. Just this last week I went with my friend Mo and we visited Elisa to see how she was doing. We had a lot of fun and it was great to see her.
My two new roommates aren’t all that great, one is a vegan who doesn’t want me to use chemicals in the house and the other uses candles to light her room on fire (accidentally of course).




Other Highlights



Besides the everyday life of school, work, volunteering and activities of my life, I’ve also experienced various other things this last year. I’ve received different opportunities to participate in activities and events I never expected.
Over Christmas break I was able to go to Pennsylvania to see my Dad, Cam and Tiffany. While I was there I got to hold Tiffany’s pride and joy, my new nephew Kevan. We also visited New York City to see all of the Christmas lights and the tree.
I’ve also been able to attend a few Colorado Avalanche NHL hockey games which have been extremely thrilling for me and I try to attend these games annually. Although they aren’t doing well this year, I still enjoy watching the games and keeping up with the team. I also attended a Colorado Nuggets NBA game which also fun, but not as exciting as the NHL games I go to.
I’ve also been involved in other activities, in my spare time I take ice skating lessons and I create websites for small starter businesses.




What's coming Up



My Junior year of college is coming to an end. I continue to study hard to maintain my 3.5 GPA, and I will remain as busy as I am now. School ends the second week of May and summer break will begin.
This summer my friend from Pennsylvania is planning on visiting me for a week. It will be her first time out of state and so I plan on showing her what Colorado is all about.
I’ll be working a lot this summer, probably 40-65 hours a week all summer long. My plan is to save up enough money so I don’t have to work my last semester of my senior year. My last semester of my senior year I will be doing an internship and they advise you not to work. So we’ll see how that goes.
On top of everything else, I hope that I’ll be able to kick back, work, and do some relaxing this summer to prepare myself for the next school year.

I hope all is well with everyone, and I love you all very much.