Here I am...

Sorry for not keeping in good contact. :( I thought I'd make a post to let you all know that I am still alive and well (for the most part), and almost caught up on my homework.
Two weekends ago was winter carnival which meant that we had Thursday and Friday to party and work on snow statues. The theme was "ancient worlds come to play in snowy drift of today". There were a couple of trojan horses, babylon, poseiden...etc. I worked on Solomans Temple with St. Als as an all-nighter. Winter Carnival was insane craziness beyond your imagination. There were people all over campus working on snow statues all night long in -25 degree wind chills. The audio engineering students made a wicked huge sound system made from snow and people were rocking out/dancing all night long.



St. Als ended up getting first place (or maybe second, I'm not sure) in student organizations on our snow statue. I also played on a snow volleyball team when there was a -35 degree wind chill. It was pretty intense!!




In other news, I like it up here. I have been incredibly blessed with an awesome Catholic group of friends and good roommates. I'll actually be getting a house with someone from St. Als and her friend, along with my current roommate, so I'm pretty excited about that. (I signed the lease Wednesday!)
Weather up here has been pretty nice lately...we've had enough sun to keep all 3 of my plants alive, so it must count for something.
In my spare time (which is really nonexistant, but I sometimes neglect my homework...) I've been snowshoeing, snowboarding, climbing (see photo @ left) and working 2 jobs. I work in a env. eng. lab doing lake superior water research on nutrients and carbon activity and at the outdoor adventure program leading snowshoe trips, hikes etc. and renting out equipment.
Oh, I also have a pretty incredible friend (boy), Dan, who I get to spend a lot of time with...he's pretty amazing. :D
This summer, I'm not sure what I'm doing, but I probably won't be home much. In June, I'll be in Bolivia doing some research/developing a drinking water system/sanitation system for a rural village. (That leaves the month of May for cramming Espanol!) Whew! I think that's all.
No, it's actually not. Classes are super tough!! My brain is in constant overload!! Haha. I'm not the brightest crayon in the box (or the most intelligent person at an engineering school), I've found, but I do the best I can. Ideally, I'd like to use my future degree in the missionary field, so it's always nice to have a higher goal to look to (and daydream about when I want to throw a tantrum in calc class!!).
I think of ya'll back home and pray for you often. Know that you're welcome to visit anytime! I promise you would have nothing less than a Keewenawesome time, eh. ;)

Goodbye Blog!

Yes, my personal blog is now gone. So for all of your who rarely or never checked it anyway, since I don't keep it updated, you can now be glad you don't have to think about checking something you didn't want to anyway.....

Anyways, enjoy this beauuuuuuuuutiful weather and don't let thoughts of Spring Break distract you from your studies (like I am :).

new cell-phone

We now have a new cell-phone service in our family. The new addition was met with great glee and excitement. We didn't name it though cause it already had a name and besides that is just creepy. It is verizon. So now all you friends of ours with verizon phones can call and talk for free...and you probably should because my shiny new phone is begging to be used. I've told it to be patient, but it is young yet and still has lots to learn. Like how voice recognition should work, "call jen"
"Do you wish to call Rachael ( pronounced raw-cheAl)"
"no"
"Please state the name or number you wish to call"
"call jen"
" your an injun?"
"Shut up you stupid thing, and call jen"
" I'm sorry that command is not recognized"
"gahhh"
"Do you wish to call Josh? ( pronounced Joo sh)"
"No"
I have found it is easier to just find the number in my contacts....
The camera on it is sweet tho, even has a flash...
my number is still the same number, but Joel and Daniel have new numbers....

hmmm....

hmm... I need to find a new church...

The Ark is a bad place

According to the NFL.

I heard on 88.1 this morning that some Baptist Churches had Super Bowl parties, and according to the NFL, the church couldn't collect money for entering the party. Now, I am not saying the Ark is Baptist, but the Ark did collect five dollars from everyone to eat, so does that make it wrong? Well, what about betting on the game? You are in deed collecting money from someone if you win (like I did with my dad), so does that make it wrong according to the NFL. If anything, not only the betters and/or the party doers, the NFL is benefitting because people are watching them. Who cares NFL.

Go Colts!

he's still alive

so heres the news. I haven't been putting anything in his water, by the way. I did some research an I think Shvown has something called "the bloat". In normal people terms, its fish constipation. You may laugh and say "ew." But it's actually not that uncommon and can kill them. I tried helping Shvown out yesterday by warming his jar up some because he has been lethargic and it was discovered that bettas, being tropical, prefer warm water. It doesn't take a scientist to tell you (well it might) that when gasses are warmed up they will expand more than liquids. So, for example the gas stuck in Shvown would expand more than say, the water he is swimming in when the whole system is warmed up (this is also why cold water can hold higher concentrations of air). So, in conclusion Shvown became more boyant (spelling) when his jar was warmed. I figured his "near-deathness" had something to do with the temperature change and allowed it to cool, and apparently that did the trick. Now I just got to fix his "being plugged up". The best system I've heard is don't feed them for a few days to a week. Don't worry animal lovers, that isn't a big deal for a fish, he'll be fine, or at least better than dead.