Benning Piece

In reflection on the Benning piece, it surprised me somewhat to see the classification of Wartburg among colleges from a religion standpoint. I always saw Wartburg as a rather religious school, with faith being a big part of students lives. In some regards it is, but overall the school does have a very secular feel to it. I of course like this feeling, the idea that you can be religious but not do so openly. Faith has always been a big portion of my life, but it is not something I like talking about with other people. For me, faith is deeply personal, and not something I talk about with others. I really don't feel that this is a problem in any way. Even among other aspects of life, my family has always been rather "keep to ourselves". We dont really have many people that we are good friends with, just ourselves. We are a very close family, and in some way I feel like we are different than other people, and maybe thats why we havent really met many people that we really "hit it off with". A lot of that has to do with the fact that we came from a larger city to a smaller town. People are so fundamentally different in small towns compared to bigger cities, so perhaps that is why we never really connected with anybody in small town Algona.

Being back.....

Now that Ive had a few days to relax and gain some better perspective, Iam excited to start this week. I didnt realize last week but there is very little time left until the end of the semester! I have one project, one big test, and everything else is business as usual. With not even three weeks to go, I can't believe that I will be back home sooner than I know it. This next week is going to be crunch time for me, I plan to complete my IS paper and get started on the final presentation. If all goes well, I will have the paper completed a week ahead of time with an entire week to revise. As far as my other classes, Calculus is hit or miss. Iam doing everything that I can, and right now all i can do is hope that I survive the semester with a B or higher. That is my goal, this class as been one of the hardest I have taken and at this point I just want it to be over. For Bio and Chem, from what I have heard there are no scary end of the year tests or projects, just a lab poster which my group and I just happened to complete last week!!! Getting away from Waverly for a while really helped me to get some much needed rest and recharge for the final push to the finish. If all goes well, I will finish out the semester with 3 A's, and probably one B, thanks to my horrible calculus skills.

National Meet

This past saturday, a lot of events collided into one day here at Wartburg. We had a nationally important football game, a basketball game, and the Division 3 National Championship Cross Country meet. I spent most of my time at the cross country meet, wearing a badge labeled "official" and herding people out of the starting area like I was cool. It did feel pretty cool, I felt like I was somehow contributing to the performances by directing spectators away from the start, thereby allowing runners to warm-up unhindered. I got so into it that I told one specific old guy to politely go to the side like all the others, when I did he just looked at me like I was an idiot and kept walking by me, eventually asking me what I was doing there. Logan then came over and told me he was allowed to go by because of his pass, the only problem was that his pass looked like all the other ones I was now told to clear out as well, the guy eventually said that he was in charge of the whole meet and I felt like a total idiot. Aside from feeling like a total moron, on one hand I was kinda mad too. 1) How was I supposed to know who the old geyser was? 2) Why didn't he mention that when I first said something? As if he assumed everybody knew who he was. Why did he just walk by me just a jerk? I obviously had an "official" badge on. Overall, I was mad, felt like and idiot, and decided to just forget the whole incident and never stop old guys ever again.

One final effort

Before thanksgiving break, before four and a half days of rest, before seeing my family and eating some good home cooking, I have to 1) take a big bio test, 2) finish group calculus homework, and 3) meet with my bio lab group to get started on our microcosm final project. All of these things are colliding on the final days of school this week and all are things I cant blow off, I have to put full effort into them in order to help my grade. What I need this next three days is one last burst of effort, and tonight was a hell of a good start. I completed my calculus individual homework, got 3/4 of the group homework completed, and got some great studying in for my bio test. I'm more prepared then I have ever been for a bio test, and I can't wait to take it on tomorrow. The only thing i'am worried about is my microcosm, it is due the tuesday we come back, is worth 70 pts, and I have no clue how we are going to construct it due to the fact that nothing on building a giant poster has been discussed in class!! Hopefully my group members will know more than I do, as I have recieved no information on how to pull this off. Whatever the case, I have all day tuesday to work on it and I plan on using whatever time I need to get a good chunk of it done. One last burst, thats all I need, and I can go home and relax without worrying about any surprises waiting for me when I come back.

Getting Ready for the Debate

I have spent numerous hours preparing for this debate, but it still doesn't feel like enough. Contrary to what I believe my colleagues believe, this debate is going to be an uphill battle for the "Natural" side. There is a wealth of information and opinions out there that say that climate change is human influenced, but the information for the other side is not as easily found. Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of information out there that provides evidence for the "natural" argument, but finding it requires a little more detective work than the mainstream climate arguments. For example, when I type in "global climate change" into Academic Search Complete I find a wealth of information relating to the subject, but 75% is "opinion research" (as I call it) that simply examines existing research and then tries to get you (the reader) to believe that climate change is a major issue and is man made. Finding research that simply presents the data, without an opinion on what caused it, is difficult at best, as scientists always want to try to "explain" why things are the way they are, and in this case the mainstream belief is that it is all man-made. I hope that my colleagues are putting as much time into this as I'am, I have some valid arguments, but there is still so much to cover, so many potential arguments to rebuke, I feel like we have a long way to go. Hopefully everything comes together tomorrow, and who knows, maybe our opponents did not take as much time to prepare as I'am anticipating?

Homestretch

Very soon, thanksgiving will be here and I will happily make the two-hour drive back to algona to see my family. I can't wait to get home. The last couple weeks have just dragged on and I can't wait to be able go home for the second time all year. Ever since the fall break I have lost a lot of motivation for school, that coupled with the ending of the cross country season has me kinda drained. Hopefully the long thanksgiving break will give me an opportunity to recharge a little and get a better perspective on things. Usually after a long break from school I come back ready to rock so hopefully the same thing happens after thanksgiving. Another thing that will definitely help my motivation is my return to running. Ever since I strained my soleus I have been taking some much needed time off and I'm ready to get back to exercising again. I have an important winter ahead of me, and good training will set the tone for the very long track season ahead of me. I have big goals for track, and accomplishing those goals is going to take an above average commitment. I will half to greatly build on my existing speed, and build strength in my lower legs, this will help me avoid injury and regain the speed I had during track last year. Overall, I'm feeling pretty confident, and over the course of next week I will be thinking of one thing, THANKSGIVING BREAK!!!!

Being off

Ever since cross country ended I have noticed just a few mild changes to not only my schedule, but my body as well. 1) I require about an hour or more less sleep every night to function and have energy, 2) I have a lot more time to do homework during the week, 3) I eat much less, my appetite is nothing compared to what it was during the season, and 4) I'm very anxious to do something physical. Taking this time off and forcing myself to stop running has done wonders for my body. My soleus strain has become much better, and the shin splints that plagued me the last week of practice have subsided. With my body feeling better, I'm anxious to start exercising again this week. This is the time of the year I enjoy the most. There is no pressure, and I can train at my own pace, if I feel like taking it easy I can and if I feel like really pushing it during a workout I can. It also gives me the opportunity to start lifting and cross training again. I like to think of the summer and winter offseasons and times to "build up", where I build up my athletiscism and fitness to prepare for the "tear down" that occurs during the season. I always train well in the wintertime, and this winter will be much more intense than the winters I had in high school. I have a massive facility to train in, and I have much more free time to schedule workouts into. I also have a great base to start with, as I'm coming off of a fantastic cross country season. All in all, it is all downhill from here to the end of the semester.

Easier....or did I just adapt?

Schoolwork over the last couple weeks has taken a turn for the easy. I actually just enjoyed my first weekend where I didn't have anything big that I had to accomplish. Calculus is finally coming along well, and my grades in IS, Chem, and Bio are way higher than I expected them to be. I feel like the first term was way harder than this one is shaping up to be, and I don't know if thats because the classes are just getting easier, or if I'm just finally used to the workload, and so it seeems as if things are getting easier. Whatever the case, I'am going to enjoy this brief period of easyness because once the end of semester projects start knocking, it is going to be nothing but stress, stress, and more stress. Luckily all my teachers have already given me the assignments that are due at semester, making it much easier for me to plan out what I have to do. I can set checkpoints for myself between now and december, and formulate time tables for each class. I'm also looking forward to this semester being OVER! Next semester, I'am taking my first religion class ever and calculus will be a distant memory. Overall, all I have heard is that second semester Bio and Chem are much harder than the first, but then again, these are the same people that told me I would struggle to get B's in the first semester, so I'm taking what they say with a grain of salt. Hopefully, i continue the streak I'm on and don't  get complacent. I hope to continue my success so far and not check out early, but with cross country ended, and all this free time, things are definitely looking good.