Flatirons Hiking

So this week, my older brother Karl was in town. Having graduated from CU in 2005, the guy knows Boulder and its surrounding activities pretty well, mainly focusing on everything outdoors. I requested that we hike the flatirons- I've seen the pictures from tons of friends who had done it, and I wanted to get my very own picture of our lovely campus from the mountains!
The view of Boulder from the top was breathtaking or rather, I was just still out of breath from the climbing up the trail, which was steep and rocky but not excruciatingly difficult. The only major danger we faced resulted in some kid pushing a relatively huge (think big watermelon-sized) rock off the trail above us and failing to warn anyone below of the boulder of death hurling down the mountain.
Luckily, the rest of the hike went on without incident and was definitely worth the climb for the gorgeous view of Boulder you get at the end!

My New Favorite Method of Procrastination

Generally speaking, I am a relatively good student. When it comes down to it, I'll do the assignment. Given, more often than I'd like to admit it's the day before my work is due, but overall I keep on top of things.
On those days when I have nothing to do (or rather, that I want to do :P) I turn to StumbleUpon.
Basically, it's the internet finding everything you never knew you loved and sticking it in a convenient button, alike so:Every time you click, a new page pops up from a category that you specified when you first installed the program (Art, photography, cooking, bikes, etc.). By clicking the little thumbs-up or thumbs-down, Stumble becomes even more you-specific and bookmarks thumbs-up pages for you.
Today I even stumbled upon a site that prods you to do your written work- you chose varying levels of annoyance and the website makes sure that you get a certain number of words or minutes of writing done. Check it out here!
Other cool stuff Stumble has brought to me-
-Pimped out drainpipes
-College ruled, that creates your schedule in a pretty, printable weekly sheet.
-The Top 10 Candy Stores of NYC

Seriously, the possibilities are endless. Whatever you love most in life stumble will find for you in all kinds of super interesting stuff on the web.
Sadly, it's only available for Mozilla Firefox (not Internet Explorer) which you should all be using anyway because it is less likely to be targeted for viruses; so you can protect your laptop and get a cool program! :)
Once you've installed Firefox, click here to install Stumble and begin procrastinating. Best of luck in all your web-based wanderings! :)

Surving the Dining Hall Recipes #1

At this point in the year, I think I'm correct in saying that most of us are looking forward to a serious Thanksgiving dinner or food at home more than we ever imagined we would. Let's face it... the dining hall food will get you by and is sometimes surprisingly delicious, but there are definitely those nights where you grab a plate, walk from one end of the line to the other, and end up having a piece of bread and carrot sticks.
I was having a particularly anti-dorm food week this week, and I discovered some creative and delicious ways to use what the halls provide everyday- sandwich fixings and the salad bar- to create delicious eats that are seriously reminiscent of elementary school and packing your lunch back in the day. Hopefully you can hold yourself over until Fall break with these ideas:

1. Peanut Butter, Honey, and Banana Sandwich
It's really, really impossible to find these ingredients and not have them taste good- which makes it an excellent standby when you're really hungry.

2. Ants on a Log
In case you weren't aware, ants on a log is super yummy- and although it's another peanut butter based dish (I think that was my theme this week :P) it rocks pretty hard.
3. BLT
BLT's are classic, delicious, and super easy. You don't even have to cook the bacon here and the toasters are really, really hard to mess up.

4. Breakfast
Breakfast is actually a good chance to get normal food- bagels, waffles, and basic fruit is excellent in the morning, especially at Libby. The waffle makers even have the CU logo on them! I just noticed that the other day and made a waffle just to test it out. They ended up tasting really good besides looking very school spirit filled and cool looking. :)

5. Deli Bar
And, of course, make your own sandwich. Can't skip that one! You can also have them toasted/grilled at chef's stations if you bring your food over and ask them to pop it on a hot surface for a few minutes which is also tasty.

Hope everyone manages to stay well-fed and that next week will be the fastest of the semester- Get excited for break! :)

Career Connections- Matchmakers of the Job World

Career connections' presentation this evening was long and somewhat tedious- and luckily, also extremely useful! :) Basically, career connections is a one stop shop for getting the most out of your degree- from finding jobs, internships and other real-world business opportunities to editing resumes and deciding on an area of emphasis, Career connections is the real deal- one upperclassman who came to talk to us got to go to a networking fair in NYC with over 150 CU alumni to get advice from.
CC also can give your application a boost with employers who are generally looking for Ivy League graduates- which means you could get the same employment opportunities as the kid sitting next to you from Harvard. Getting competitive internships allows you to experience a job and make the mistakes you're bound to make- without risking your career on learning how to do what you're supposed to.
Other advice offered by the older people who had used career connections extensively:
1. Go to your advisor every semester and make sure you're on track- do not be the guy who doesn't graduate because you don't have 3 core credits.
2.Get involved. This has probably been pounded into our brains more times than you can even count, but it's true- high school activities can't go on your college resume for more than a year. :( So much for DECA and FBLA...
3. Get to know your professors so you can beg them for letters of recommendation later... and do better in their classes. :)
4. Find what you love and go for it- pursue what interests you because in the end, that's where you will be the most successful.
I realize this all sounds like stuff that you'll be worrying about junior/senior year, but you have the chance to find internships even as a freshman.
Signing up on the Career Services website (Career Services is the overarching career service for the whole school, whereas Career Connections is Leeds-specific) allows you to scan through available positions and apply to any that sound intriguing, and if you're feeling lazy it can even provide you with a list of jobs that want you.
TO SIGN UP FOR THIS COOL STUFF: Click on the sign in link in the upper right hand corner, and when given the option to sign in click on register.

Me vs. BCOR 1010

So here I am, a survivor of both BCOR 1010 midterms! Horray! After such a grueling time on the frst midterm of the class (the average was 60-70%), I think most of us went in with a hope that this test would be a little easier on the grade. No such luck however as we recieved our 8 page monster in the Coors Events Center last night. I'm not sure about everyone else, but I was totally hit hard when we were asked to prepare a balance sheet and income statement from scratch. Needless to say, it was not an easy first question to open up the book to. Or really an easy question at all.
Just out of curiosity, did anyone actually run out of time on the test? I know I was cutting it close and I take tests quite fast usually.
Despite some serious studying beforehand, I still felt like I didn't know as much for this test as I did for the first one, which is definitely stressful since this one is 25% of our grade instead of the megar 15% of the first one! It seems like the recitation leaders are looking for more examples in our writing than I'm used to, so hopefully I improved in that respect. At least the week was a little less busy without class on Wednesday or recitation tomorrow! :)
I guess the next thing to turn to is our company project due at the end of the semester. I'm giving up some of my lovely free time from canceled recitation to work on it in one of the group rooms that you can reserve in the Koebel building. It's so awesome and way easier than I expected- just check out the library's website HERE and then you select your time slots and click enter! The rooms open during your time slot with your buff card and give you a really good place to do group work. Hope everyone did well on the midterm and enjoy a free hour tomorrow! :)

Technology, Media, and the Arts Certificate Program- Horray!

(Pictured Above: The ATLAS building this evening)

Hey again everyone! Today I decided to check out a presentation on the Technology, Media and Arts certificate (TMAC) that CU has- and it is super awesome! When I walked in I was expecting the program to be more computer and communications oriented, but that's definitely not the case! Within the program you get to take all kinds of sweet classes in digital art and media, so you get to learn how to make flash animations/games with Java, create websites, and take other art classes.
Into the technology section of the certificate, many of the classes overlap with the requirements for the Information Systems area of emphasis.
Benefits of the certificate include access to a private study lounge in the ATLAS building (basically brand new and so pretty!) and tons of media equipment like video cameras that you can check out to work on projects. They literally have to code your buffcard to open this lounge and some other study rooms because they are reserved only for Communications and TMAC students. Oftentimes for a senior thesis people create a website or project based around their major, because the certificate is available for anyone who attends CU-Boulder.
People in the business school can achieve this certificate without taking any extra classes if you plan it right as well- the classes you take for the certificate can apply to your core requirements and electives so there's no extra classes involved!
With 21 credits and classes ranging from "Music Video Projects for Social Change" to "Digital Poetry", the TMAC sounds like a really interesting way to gain a more media oriented education within technology fields.
If you're interested in the program, check out their website HERE! Their offices are also availiable in the ATLAS building, room 225. The program is growing really fast and has almost doubled in size in the last two years, so get in there quickly if you think it's something you're interested in! :)
The guy giving the presentation was actually the co-ordinator for the certificate, Dave Kalahar, who can meet with anyone interested and let them know how the program works. His email is david.kalahar@colorado.edu.
Hope this was helpful, good luck to everybody on the BCOR 1010 midterm tomorrow! Woo! :)