HI
First of all I just want to start by appologiz for the ridiculously long span since my last post. Shame on me. A lot has happened in the last month, which has absolutely flown by. To start off with, I just got back from Chicago where I had gone with Mom and Dad to the 2008 Kitchen and Batch Convention (my Dad owns a cabinetry store). It was a lot of fun, but a lot of driving and a lot of getting lost. I forgot how stressful it was to travel with my Dad in the same car. We stayed in Oak Brook, outside of Chicago, and I found the time to do some last minute shopping for my hiking trip. I needed to take back some boots that just weren't working out and pick up some others, and I'm happy to say that they fit like a dream. I also got some trail food, a rainproof pack-cover, and a sleeping pad repair kit. Fun, fun. This brings the total spent for the Appalachian Trail hike to somewhere around 2,000. Not fun fun on the wallet.
Only two weeks of school remain before finals week. This means I will have to pay for my procrastination in the library, trying to finish up a 15 page Planning Law paper, which I have yet to start. Other than that, I only have 1 other final in Geology 100. That class has actually been a lot of fun and I recommend it for a core class if you are searching. My other classes, Creative Writing and Project Management, just require turning in a portfolio, which I like.
The truth is that I won't even be in Muncie for finals week. I will be a couple thousand miles away in Las Vegas, I kid you not. I will be attending the 2008 American Planning Association (APA) Conference. What an incredibly awesome way to end my college career. Then, on May 3, I will graduate (if I get that paper finished), and four days later I will going south to Georgia to start the Appalachian Trail.
My next entry I will be posting the list of all the supplies I had to buy for the hike and describe the whole thing in a little more detail.
BYE
Hi.
So, guess what. Next week is Spring Break. There is also three inches of ice on the ground at the moment. Not very "Spring-y" if you ask this guy. It doesn't help that I am going to be staying in Indiana for the entire break. So all of you people going to a beach or any of the other 49 states, don't forget me and send a postcard or something.
At this point in the year I am so incredibly excited about the end of school. This surprises me because I am a Senior and most people in my shoes what to stay put; near their friends and away from a full-time job. I am really going to miss my friends, but at the end of the year, me and my friend/roommate Brandon are thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail - something we have been planning for two or three years. If I wasn't embarking on this journey I think I would a little different outlook on the end of my education. With this excitement about the hike, I have found it very hard to be motivated about anything other than ordering hiking gear online (which is actually a lot of fun even though I am dropping a lot of money).
For those of you who are interested in this, spittinpigeon on Youtube created an awesome video:
Appalachian Trail
My only major plan for Spring Break is having wisdom teeth yanked out of my head. All three of them. I had the choice of going on a cruise but I thought being sedated and waking up in pain would be much more enjoyable. Maybe my mom will make me drinks and food just like an island girl somewhere in the tropics...probably not thought.
Spring Break also means a time for big tests. Mid-terms always fall around this time of year, and even though I only had one, I still feel for all of you. That's it for now, and if you are going anywhere next week or anytime on a Spring Break, do be careful and get back safely.
Bye.
Hi.
If you are reading this and live in Indiana I want to remind you that it is disgusting out right now. If you are a current college student, I feel your pain, and may it not be too long before this everlasting slush dries up and disappears. For all of you high school students, be grateful for once that a big yellow bus comes to pick you up, or that you have the privilege of driving to school, because once you get to college, those pleasures disappear. I am going to try and not curse myself by saying this, but I HAVE NOT fallen on the ice yet (knock on wood).
Gone are the days of knowing that school is going to be canceled due to a couple inches of snow. It was proven last year that they only cancel college classes when the conditions become absolutely hellashish. Only when my car was buried, tree limbs were collapsing, power lines were snapping, and water pipes were freezing did they cancel classes. The other day I had a Vitamin Water in my bag and it froze on the walk to class. Therefore, I would gladly invite faculty or administration to stay a night at my place and make the 20 minute walk in the morning that most students share. I don't know, maybe opinions would change. I don't know, maybe I should quit griping. Thank God for the Blue Loop (shuttle that extends out to the neighborhoods).
I don't expect any relief soon because it the time of year for mid-terms, and we all know that the sun does not shine brightly or warmly during that period.
Bye.
Hi,
So last week I had to take the Writing Competency Examination. This is a mandatory exam that ALL students must take (and pass) in order to graduate from Ball State University. You can take the exam usually anytime after your Sophomore year, and here I am waiting until the last semester of my Senior year. Ugh.... So I went, and I was giving a topic to write about: Hands-on Learning in Your Department and How it Has Shaped You Into More of a Professional...ugh. Three pages, college-ruled, and in ink. I absolutely had writing anything in ink. I am not a hand-writer. There experience was awful, but I think that I did well on the exam. I better have, or I won't be graduating. So, a word of the wise, don't wait until your last semester to take the writing comp exam.
This last weekend I went to Muncie Gras, and it was interesting. Muncie Gras is a yearly event that the city of Muncie holds in their downtown, simulating the party that happens in New Orleans. This was my first trip to the event, and I'm glad I went because it was quite the experience. I believe there were 8 - 10 thousand people around, all shouting and throwing sparkly things at one another. It is good to know if you are city shopping for college, that the city does fun things like this every now and then.
I have senioritis badly, and I damn well deserve it. I'm getting pretty tired of school and walking to class. It's like my roommate said, "I just want to have an 8 - 5 job, where I can take a bus or walk, and work all day, then come home and have no homework." That's how I feel. The thrill of being away from parents dies really soon, you get tired of being poor, and wearing a backpack half of the time is not much fun either. I have Spring Break in a matter of weeks, so that might be the break I am looking for.
The same roommate I just mentioned just screamed and threw something in his room....he must have senioritis much worse than me...
Bye.
Hi,
It is a place that has such nicknames as "The Death Center." This simple nickname is a clear indication that students here at Ball State do not enjoy going to the Health Center. Today, I found myself sitting in that crowded waiting room, patiently (emphasis on patiently) awaiting them to call my name. I was tucked away in a corner because I wasn't feeling ill (just there for a check-up) and didn't want to find out what everyone else was there for. After an hour of waiting, I was finally called in the back where I had to wait yet again (you know the procedure).
I don't think the Health Center really deserves the nickname "The Death Center." Over my four years here, I have always had good experiences with the medical staff, both doctors and nurses. They are always kind and courteous and tend to spend a little more time with you - and devote a little more eye-contact - than most other walk-in clinics. The problem is that it just takes sooooooo long to be called back, but remember, Ball State is practically a city with 20,000 residents, and this one little Health Center is the only place to go if you are feeling not-so-good. It is also a huge benefit to us that may face large expenses at other walk-ins.
So maybe the next time you find yourself sitting in the Health Center, cursing under your breath, giving the person next to you crazy looks, and reading a magazine you aren't remotely interested in, just remember that when you leave, you will probably start feeling better really soon.
Bye.
Ball State Health Center:
Hours of Operation
Mon., Thurs., Fri. : 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. (Recommended best times are @ 9:30 and 10:30 a.m.)
Tues., Wed.: 9:00 a.m. - 6:30 p.m
phone# 765-285-8431
Hi,
So here's a little info about college. You have to have certain number of credits in order to graduate. Sound familiar? Yes, you probably had this same routine in high school. What I am really enjoying as of know - and what most seniors are probably experiencing - is the absolute enjoyment of not having a totally cramped schedule.
For seven (long) semester I either had 16 - 18 credit hours, and one of these classes was my Urban Planning studio which is 12 hours per week alone (and only worth 4 credit hours...). Sometimes I found myself painfully busy. No time to relax at home, watch the football game, or even eat a cooked meal. It was incredibly hard to even hold a real job amidst this crazy schedule, but I made it through, and now I'm in another world completely. I do not have class on Friday. I'll say it again, I do not have class on Friday, and on Mondays and Wednesday, I don't have a class until 5 p.m. As Borat might say, "It's nice!!"
However, with this newly found freedom, I made a personal decision to find something construction to do in spare time, that way I wasn't sleeping in until none or drinking to many beverages the night before. I already have a job working for Aspen, but I decided to help my Dad who just started a cabinetry business. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I'm going to go and help out (work at the front desk) from 10 - 4 p.m. I think this will really help me stay focused and to not feel guilty about being so lazy...
As far as winter break went, it was really great. A great friend of mine got married, I spent new years at a lake house, Santa was really good to me, and I made a trip up to Chicago to visit another good friend of mine.
Bye.
Hi,
I'm stressed.
I usually feel this way around this time of the year. The beginning of December means that finals are on their way. Winter break is great, but you have to do finals and all the projects before you get there. I actually don't have any final "exams," just a very large load of papers and documents to create. I remember thinking in high school that a five page paper was torture...try to 15's. Here is all that I have to do:
1. Already finished my 15 page term paper for Center City Revitalization
2. Write and design a grant document for Grant Writing. I'm creating a program called MECA (Muncie Energy Conservation and Affordability) that is geared towards obtaining CFLs (compact fluorescent lamp) and distributing them to people around Muncie, in exchange for their old incandescent bulbs. CFLs are much, much, much better. They save a lot of energy, and each bulb can save you $50 a year in energy savings. This project will probably be 20-25 pages.
3. Final project for my ArcGIS class. This is a comprehensive evaluation of the skills that we have learned throughout the semester. This means that we have to make 17 maps, combine them for land suitability analysis for a development, and create a presentation that displays our decision (the top three sites for the development). Sorry if you have no idea what I'm talking about.
4. I have to write a final 1000-1500 word term paper for a natural resources class. I don't know much on this one yet, so let's leave it at that.
Well, I better get back to work.
Bye.
I'm hanging out with one of my roommates at the moment, doing absolutely nothing, and it feels so great. That is the best thing about Thanksgiving Break. It is one of the first real opportunities of the semester to let you decompress and just be lazy and get caught up on work that you may be behind on. That's exactly what I plan on doing, besides eating an obscene amount of food come Thursday.
I've been asked a lot lately what my favorite Thanksgiving food was, and I repeatedly answered "chicken and noodles." I think just about 90% of the food that sits in front of me during the feast is excellent, but the chicken and noodles really do it for me. I'll be spending the day up north at my uncles which is always a good time. We usually eat, and play games or ride ATVs around until everyone is ready to head home. I'll probably come back to Muncie on Friday or Saturday, and get all the schoolwork I need to finish, well, finished.
Then it's only a matter of three weeks until Winter Break (another great time to decompress). I have to admit though, this senior year is passing rather fast, and I don't know what to think about that. A lifetime of work might be a little too close around the corner...
Hi,
So after awhile, the video of the trip is finally complete. I only submitted a few videos to it, but Brandon Winter was the person responsible for the majority of the video. Hope you enjoy.
Bye
Format: wmv
Duration: 8:32
Hi,
So it's just after the middle of fall semester. This means that it is time to start investigating and choosing which classes I will be taking next semester. Shockingly, this is my last time doing this at Ball State. After looking at my DAPR (confusing acronym for a sheet that tells you what classes you need to take) I realized that there are only a few classes left that I NEED to take. It looks like I will only be having 12 credit hours of class for the first time! I'm used to having that many hours for one class alone (Planning Studio), which I no longer have to take. This means that I will have anywhere from 12 - 15 more free hours a week. This can make a college senior pretty happy.
My schedule looks like this so far:
- Geology 100 (My last core class requirement)
- Economics 345 (An econ class all planning students must take)
- Planning Law (Gives you a taste of policy-based planning)
- Planning Internship (which I've already completed)
- And maybe some creative writing elective (because I like to write, creatively)
Ball State has a very simple class selection network. This makes the task of choosing classes less of a burden, and everyone likes that. It's just important that you get an early start, because nothing is worse that wanting to get into a class, but only to find out that there are no more seats available.
Fall Break weekend was a lot of fun. On Friday I helped a friend's Mom move into her new house in Noblesville. It was an all day adventure that ended with a drive back to my hometown of Frankton and getting dinner with my parents. Saturday was Rugby day. We played White River in Indianapolis in a long 80 min. match that we won. After the game I drove to a park in Ohio to meet some friends for a night of camping. Good times.
Bye.
Out on a hike...
Hi,
Well, here I am, back from Colorado. The Urban Planning trip to Denver was a blast. I had a great time with all my colleagues and saw a lot of awesome places. I never made a visit to Denver this summer while I was living in the mountains, so I was happy to learn that Denver was our destination for this year's field study. The majority of our trip involved visiting redevelopment projects in the outer ring of the city core. One of these, Stapleton, is the largest redevelopment project in the country. It was an old airport that they have converted into a "mixed-use" development with over 30,000 units for rent or purchase.
Getting to Denver may not have been as enjoyable as the actual time spent there. Actually, it wasn't. I generally enjoy flying, and avoiding the highways. So, when I discovered that we would get out to Denver (a little over 1000 miles) by bus and train, I had mixed emotions. I have traveled by bus before, (including a nightmarish sixth grade journey to Boston that took 22 hours) but never by train. I had always heard good things about traveling the country by train, so I wasn't too worried. I should have been. We boarded the train in Galesburg, Illinois, around 4:30 pm and it would take us 17 long hours to get to Denver from there. Everything was alright until it came time to try and sleep. It felt more like we were traveling in a wagon than on a train. I think I would have sleep better if I took a pillow and blanket onto the tilt-a-whirl. The train car shook so much, and was so noisy, that I only managed to sleep for about an hour. Eventually, all 43 smelly, grumpy, and tired students arrived in Denver, just in time to start our first tour.
Note: We are putting together a video of clips and pictures from the trip that I will put on here as soon as it is done.
This weekend is homecoming weekend. So all this week, the school has been electing the best looking, building large bonfires, and putting up decorations. Hopefully our football team can get the win. I might not be there because we are having dinner for my Dad's birthday. Surely I could catch the game on TV...
Homecoming also means that it is time once again to start choosing your classes for the next semester. I am really excited about the upcoming semester because it will be my first one that I don't have a studio. Studio is a 12 hour per-week class that all students in the CAP program are in. So for the past three and a half years I have been in a studio Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 1 - 5 p.m. I guess I just don't know what I will do with 12 extra hours of time.
Here are some pictures from the trip that my professor Dr. Keuhl took:
On the bus..
Boarding the train...
Touring Stapleton
Meeting with a developer at Belmar
And me finally sleeping on the train...
Bye.
Hi,
It's been a few days, but rest assured, I'm still alive and well, as well as I can be when it's 92 degrees out at the end of September... If you're reading this and you are anyone where the humidity level remains below 15%, I envy you, and I'm coming to visit. Spending the summer in Colorado seriously ruined me.
Speaking of Colorado, I'll be making that long voyage out there once again. The Urban Planning Department is taking a six day field study in Denver, which we're leaving for on Tuesday. Here's a breakdown:
- 7 hour bus ride to southern Illinois where we will board an Amtrak train.
- 17 more hours on the train until we arrive in Denver.
- Tours of planning developments, transportation systems, and other urban studies for four days.
- Then, (you guessed it) we have to come back to Indiana, and we're not flying.
I don't know where exactly the train route is, but I'm sure it goes through Kansas. Going through Kansas is about at fun as sunbathing in Death Valley. When returning this summer, I did the entire drive all at once. All 21 hours of it. And I hit Kansas around 8 pm, which meant that for the next seven (7) hours I might as well been driving on the dark side of the moon. So, I will be bringing plenty of books and music to keep me entertained. Hopefully when I get back I'll have some cool pictures to post.
It's hard to believe, but I'm already taking mid-terms. I think I only have one, but still, where have these first weeks gone? I have my test in an ArcGIS (Geographic Informations Systems) which is an urban planning based class. It's a fun class where we just make useful statistical maps that show a lot of information about different places.
Rugby is going...ok. I feel bad because I don't have a good class schedule that allows me to go to all the practices, so therefore, I don't get as much playing time as before. On top of that, I'm getting old, and I find myself hobbling around more and more. However, I'll probably keep playing through the rest of the semester because I enjoy hanging out with all of the guys and enjoy being active (once-in-a-while).
Now, on to Halo. To tell you a little bit about me, I'm kind of an electronics junky. I can't write HTML, hot-wire a car, or tell you exactly how satellites work, but I enjoy all things that you plug into a wall. Most of my savings goes into electronics, such as a fairly new LCD TV, my new home theater surround sound setup, XBOX 360, and other elements... I'm a really big movie and videogame buff as well. And if you haven't heard, Halo 3 just came out earlier this week. It broke the record for largest single-day earning for any media release, which I think it was somewhere around $170 million. So, after saying goodbye to my girlfriend (thanks for understanding), I jumped on to XBOX live and did some serious gaming. Time-wasting up, study skills down.
This weekend should be a good time. I have a rugby match on Saturday in Anderson at two, then heading back to Muncie. I might try to get home and see the parents, because I think my Mom forgets what I look like, and that makes me feel bad. If you are a high school student reading this: when you go to college, keep in touch with your parents. They do love you, and if you are good, they might come to town and buy you groceries...
Bye
Hi,
This entry couples as my first entry, and also my About Me entry which can be found on the menu to the left. First off, thanks for viewing my student blog! My name is Drew Alexander, and I hope you're here because you have some sort of interest in Ball State University, because...that's what this is all about. Speaking of Ball State, I am currently a Senior in the Urban Planning Department. Urban Planning is one of the three facets of the CAP (College of Architecture and Planning) program, with the others being Landscape Architecture and, of course, Architecture. I have a lot of knowledge about each field, but after three years in planning it's definitely my strong suit.
If you're a high school student, or a curious parent, looking for information I like to think that I'm very well rounded in the whole "college experience." I had a year in the dorms, so I know how to use a microwave and sleep on a tiny bed. I've lived off-campus with roommates for three years, so I know a little bit about sharing bathrooms and playing roshambo over daily chores. I've worked a job all throughout school, so I can tell you about how to manage time and the good jobs for the college lifestyle. I've been a part of a college club sport (Ball State Men's Rugby Club) for two years, so I can share some insight on groups and activities available. And, finally, I've been part of a very exciting major that has taken me all over the U.S. and beyond, so I have knowledge about field studies and travel opportunities. I hope that's not too large of a nutshell....
So, please, feel free to ask me any questions if you're curious. If not, I hope you just might enjoy my posts as the year passes.
Bye.