The End is Near

The semester is coming to an end and it seemed like just yesterday that we were moving in. This semester flew by and there were a lot of new memories made. Classes went well this semester and I'm looking forward to next semester. Blogging was difficult for me this semester though. I could never seem to find things to write about early in the semester and found myself falling behind. I came to realize there were no rules or regulations on blogging. I began to blog about anything and everything and overall I am pretty satisfied with the result. I enjoyed this unique teaching method. I sure beat writing a paper. I hope you enjoy me blog!

Pablo Francisco

As you may be able to tell I am a big stand-up comedy fan. I have watched several performers over the last couple of years, and tried to incorporate my favorites into my blog. Here is another one of my favorite comedians. His name is Pablo Francisco and he is known for doing several impersonations and voices. In the video above he does a whole movie trailer using several voices.

Jeff Dunham

Jeff Dunham is a ventriloquist and a comedian. He is hilarious and amazing at what he does. He barely moves his lips and really brings his characters to life. He makes all of his characters relatable. In the movie above he uses a character named Walter. Walter is your typical elderly person in a bad mood. He uses several characters throughout his show. He came to Rochester this summer and I was planning on going to his show, but was late in getting my tickets.

Black Friday

Black Friday is a joke! I will never participate no matter how good the deals are. First off I hate waking up early and secondly I hate shopping. If your one of those people who go out shopping on Black Friday your crazy. This year several people got injured and one man even died, due to these crazy shoppers's stupidity. I would rather just pay the extra money and sleep in. I know several people who participate in Black Friday and I love to make fun of them.

Today’s Toys

What has happened to all the toys that use to be popular when I was young? I was watching TV the other day and saw a commercial for a digital camera for younger kids that could go under water. I also saw a toy where you can draw pictures on a screen and then press a button to print the drawing. When I was little we had to make up our own games. The local neighborhood kids would always get together and play games like hide-and-go-seek and ghosts in the graveyard. The kids today tend to stay inside and play video games. That might be one reason why obesity among younger people had become a problem. The toys that were popular when I was younger no longer appeal to kids. I remember when yoyos where a big deal at school. If you didn't have a yoyo, you weren't cool. I knew how to do several tricks and I thought yoyos were the coolest toy on earth. Another toy that has seemed to disappear is beanie babies. I collected beanie babies for several years and I have around 50 of them. Now they are not popular and I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the 50 beanie babies I have. The new technology put into toys today is unbelievable.

Ear Problems

I have always had ear problems ever since I was a youngster. As far as I can remember I have been getting ear infections constantly. I practically lived in the pediatric care when I was little and got to know the doctors and nurses pretty well. The doctors had to change my antibiotics several times because my body became immune to some of them. At the age of four I had my first ear surgery. I had tubes put in both ears and as a four year old it was the worst experience ever. I had to wear earplugs in the shower and in water. My family went to the local pool and lakes constantly and it was embarrassing having to wear ear plugs. After a year of so the tubes were gone, but not for long. When I was seven the doctors decided I needed tubes put back in my ears. So once again I had tubes put in both ears but this time they were permanent until the doctor decided to take them out. I had them in my ears for about a year in a half when the doctor decided to take them out. The doctor used a tool and reached in my ear and ripped them out. Taking them our hurt more than putting them in, and when the doctor took them out it made a loud ripping noise in my ear. I thought I was finally done having ear problems and surgeries, but once again I was wrong. When I was eleven years old, the doctor realized that something more than tubes had to be done. So he ordered me to have another surgery where they would take my adenoids out and put tubes back in my ears. This surgery was the most painful of the three because I couldn't swallow for about a week. Over the next couple years I had follow up checkups and the doctor always told me things were looking good, until I was fourteen years old. The doctor informed my mom and me that my eardrum had experienced some damage and that it needed to be reconstructed. I would need about a week to recover so my mom had the brilliant idea of scheduling it during spring break. After the doctor described the surgery I was pretty nervous. After waking up from surgery I was in immense pain. I just remember the nurse asking me, "On a scale of 1to 10 how bad is the pain." I replied to her 8 and they gave me more pain killers. I haven't had an ear surgery since that one, and I believe my hearing has improved.

Computer Science 103

I just finished my last computer science 103 homework for the semester. Although the homework and class took a lot of time and work, I learned a lot. I now know many things about Microsoft office 2007. I would recommend this class to others. As long as you stay on top of your work you will do fine. This class has also helped me in my other classes. I have learned many techniques to format my works in word, PowerPoint, excel, and access. I have used some of these techniques in creating my blog. I am very glad I took computer science 103, but I am also glad it is almost over.

Christmas Decorations

Christmas decorations at my house get a little crazy. My mom is an interior designer and tends to go a little overboard with the Christmas decorations. She has a collection of over 100 miniature Santa's. We also put up three trees though out our house. When company comes over they are amazed at the decorations in our house. It's nice to go home to a well decorated house, it just puts me right in the Christmas mood.

New IPhone

I recently got a new phone, because my old one was a piece of crap. I couldn't hear out of it and when I talked the recipient couldn't hear me and it was really fuzzy. I have had bad luck with the last two phones I have got. The first one I couldn't hear the caller and the text messages never seemed to work. Then my second one got dropped a couple of times which messed up the speaker. I couldn't hear and neither could the recipients of my calls. I went into the phone store and was browsing the different phones, and decided to go with the Iphone. So far I really enjoy it and it has all the bells and whistles a phone can have. It is amazing how far cell phones have come in the last couple of years. I remember when cell phones first came out and they were practically portable house phones. Cell phones have gotten a lot smaller and the technology on them is unbelievable. I hope my luck has changed and this phone can last me for many years to come.

Christmas Break

Christmas break cannot get here soon enough. This semester has been pretty stressful and a three week break is much needed. My finals end on Wednesday the 17^th and I'm planning on heading home that day. Over break I am planning on working at Panera and earning a little extra cash. I am also planning on hanging out with my family, friends, and skiing. For Christmas my family always goes to Wisconsin to visit my aunt, uncle, and cousins. The Christmas season always puts me in a good mood and once break begins it will be the icing on the cake. The countdown has begun until I will be going home, sipping hot chocolate, and listening to Christmas music.

Baseball

Baseball has been a large part of my life ever since I could remember. I have traveled all around the Midwest to play in tournaments. One of the most memorable tournaments was one in Omaha Nebraska. We were thirteen years old, and it's one of the nation's largest little league tournaments. We lost our first four games and we weren't playing very well. On the last day of the tournament we played a team from Colorado who was suppose to be really good. Before the game the coach informed me that I was going to be the starting pitcher. The opponent got a few hits in the first inning but after that I held them hitless. It was one of the most fun games I've ever played in. I received a lot of praise from my coaches and fellow teammates.

I continued my baseball career into high school. In the past few years our baseball program has been one of the best in the State. When I was a junior we had the opportunity to go to the state tournament. This was our schools first time ever making it to the state baseball tournament. We attended a banquet where they had notable baseball players' talk. We ended up losing our first game and winning the other four. We took fifth place in the state tournament. I will never forget the memories of playing with all my friends, hanging out in the hotel, and the success we achieved.

Dexter

Dexter is a showtime series about a forensic worker who lives a secret life as a murderer. He doesn't just murder people for fun but rather he murders people who have killed others. He hunts his victims and takes their lives. He was taught how to cover his tracts by his foster father, who was a police officer. Dexter had a close relationship with his foster father and learned many things from him. Dexter is hunting an "ice truck killer" but can't seem to find a lead on him. The ice truck killer has killed several victims and knows Dexter is trying to find him. The ice truck killer breaks into Dexter's house and gets a better understanding of who he is by observing his stuff. He taunts Dexter by killing people and leaving his victim's bodies in locations he saw in Dexter's photo album. Dexter doesn't see the ice truck killer as a threat but rather he feels they are playing a game with one another. This is a very interesting and intense series.

Treasure Island Casino

Although Rochester is a pretty big city there always seems to be nothing to do. One activity my friends and I enjoy is going to the casino. The gambling age in Minnesota is 18, which is unique because in most states it is 21. Usually we win a little or lose a little, until this one day my friend and I went. We got there at around 7 o'clock and it was a school night. We were only planning on staying there for an hour or so. The night started off slow and both of us were losing money. After about an hour of so we were down to our last little bit of money and were getting ready to leave. We stopped at the Roulette machine and put in the last of our money. The first couple of spins we didn't win anything, but our luck changed. All of a sudden our numbers started to hit and we were raking in the money. We ended up leaving the Roulette machine both up more than three hundred dollars. Then we sat down at the black jack table and played a couple of hands. Usually I'm not very lucky at black jack and always seem to lose but tonight was different. The first five hands I played I won them all. After losing the next couple of hands I decided I had enough. I ended up winning four hundred and thirty dollars that night. We didn't get home until around 2:30 in the morning and we had school the next day at 7:40. Our parents weren't too thrilled about our late night. That was the most I have ever won at the casino.

Worse Job Ever!

McDonalds has to be one of the worst places to work. I started working there when I was fifteen years old, and I HATED IT! I got paid minimum wage which was $5.25 at the time I started. The first day of work I was the "fry boy." I stood there putting baskets of fries in oil which would splash and burn my arms. To top it off the fry station felt like a desert. I could have sworn it was about 120 degrees. I went home after my first day smelling like a French fry, all sweaty, and with a bunch of burns on my arm. A few days later I went back to work and luckily I got to do the registers. After learning where all the buttons were on the registers it wasn't so bad, except the fact that every customer that walked in the door you had to greet them by yelling, "welcome to McDonalds." After working there for a few months I knew how to do everything from drive through, to making the food. Every day after work I would go home smelling like a cheeseburger. It was stressful work with customers yelling at me, and managers yelling at me. Work just wasn't fun and the pay was horrible. After working there for almost a year I decided it was time to find a new job. I began applying at several different places. I got an interview at Panera a few days later. The day before my interview my manager at McDonalds called me into her office. She sat me down and asked if I was interested in becoming a manager. I replied that I had to think about it. After my interview with Panera I was granted the job and decided I would rather work there than McDonalds. So the next time I worked at McDonalds I put in my two weeks' notice, which didn't impress my managers too much. I still believe that McDonalds is the worse job in the world.

Skiing

Now that the winter season is here I am looking forward to doing one of my favorite activities, skiing. I have been downhill skiing for about four years now, and I have finally got the hang of it. Over winter break my friends and I get a month long pass at the local ski hill, Welch Village. Almost every day over break we wake up early and go skiing for the day.

I haven't always enjoyed skiing though. The first time I went I was a sophomore in high school. We drove up to the ski lodge and all I could see was steep hills, with skiers flying down them. I began to feel nervous and wasn't sure if I really wanted to go skiing anymore. My friends convinced me, and I rented my equipment. I put my skis on right before the ski lift and didn't realize how hard it was to move. I used my poles to push myself toward the ski lift, but ended up falling and caused the ski lift operator to stop the lift. I got back on my feet and took a seat on the ski lift. After a short ride up the hill it was time to get off. I boosted myself out of the ski lift and once again I fell, and caused the ski lift operator to stop the ski lift. My friends taught me the proper techniques to stop, weave, and keep my balance. After practicing on the smaller hills for a while I thought I was ready for a little bigger hill. So we rode up on the ski lift to the more difficult hills. We started skiing down the hill but somehow veered off to the wrong path and ended up going down the most difficult hill. Well actually I didn't really ski down the hill but rather fell down the hill. After my first ski trip I was sore for several days, and wasn't sure if skiing was for me. A few days later my friend asked me if I wanted to go skiing again and I agreed. This time things went more smoothly and I found a new hobby.

Rodney Carrington

Rodney Carrington is one of my favorite comics. He's not only a comic but a musician and has toured all over the US. He also had his own TV show for a while called Rodney. Earlier on in the school year I had a chance to head home and go to a Rodney Carrington concert. The tickets were a little spendy at fifty dollars apiece but it was well worth the price. The concert was held at Treasure Island Resort and Casino which is located in Red Wing MN, about forty five minutes away from Rochester. We got to the concert early and found our seats. We watched the people as they began to fill the auditorium. There were a ton of really intoxicated people and a lot of "rednecks." Rodney put on a great concert and sang some of his well known songs such as chicken song, put your clothes back on, and son of a rap star. I had bought his DVD before going to his show, and thought the show and DVD would be very similar. I was surprised when most of his material was new material. He incorporated many new stories and songs but also performed the old favorites. Getting to see Rodney Carrington in person is an experience I will never forget.

Minnesota Gophers Hockey Game

Over Thanksgiving break I had the opportunity to go to my first college hockey game, which was the Minnesota Gophers against Denver. I went the University of Minnesota to visit a high school friend, and we ended up getting tickets to the hockey game. I walked into the arena and was amazed at how big of an arena it was for a college hockey team. People began to pour into the arena and the game ended up being sold out. Hockey is my favorite sport to watch, and I was excited to finally watch the Gophers play. They took the ice for the first period and the crowd erupted in cheers. From the beginning of the game to the end of the game the crowd was relentless. They had a variety of cheers for every situation. They sang songs, taunted the other team, yelled and screamed; it was a great environment for a sporting event. Minnesota played a great game and won by the score of 4-0. The player of the game was the goalie, Alex Kangas, who happens to be from my home town of Rochester Minnesota. I'm planning on going to a few more hockey games over Christmas break.

Here’s Your Sign

I found this photo of a hilarious sign located in New Mexico. I suppose the local church wasn't a big fan of the adult video store, so they retaliated. People will think twice before going into that store. I think we need to put up more signs like this around the US.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving! What a great holiday. Not having to worry about getting gifts for anyone and all you do is eat, eat, and eat. The food is amazing. Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, pie, ect. It makes me hungry just thinking about it. My family and I spent this Thanksgiving at my aunt and uncles house which is about half an hour away from where I live. I was thankful I could spend the holiday with my family. There were many things I was thankful for this thanksgiving including; family, friend, not having school for a week, food, shelter, and many other things. I can't wait until the next Thanksgiving!

Why Iowa State?

I have often been asked why I chose to attend Iowa State University. People don't understand why Minnesotans go to Iowa schools because we don't have reciprocity with Iowa. When I first began looking at schools I focused my search in Minnesota and Wisconsin. I visited several schools and it was a difficult decision to decide which schools to apply to. I began applying for schools including University of Minnesota, University of Wisconsin La Crosse, St. Cloud State, and University of Minnesota Duluth. It wasn't until viewing the Iowa State University commercials on TV that I considered going to ISU. I figured I had nothing to lose and I might as well visit. I really enjoyed the campus but the price of schooling was a problem. For an out of state student the tuition ended up being around $26,000 a year. I emailed the financial aid office and learned that Iowa State grants several scholarships to out of state students for academic excellence. I applied for admissions into ISU and also received several scholarships. Now I had to make a decision. I got into all the schools I applied for and I narrowed my choices down to three. It was between University of Minnesota Duluth, University of Wisconsin La Crosse, and Iowa State University. After pondering it for many days I decided Iowa State gave me the most opportunities. I don't regret my decision at all and love it here at Iowa State.

Funny News Clip

While doing my annotated bibliography I focused my research on documentaries and blogging. While doing my search I found many articles on how politics, blogging, and audiences affect the media. Most of them argued that the information presented in today's media is one-sided. It is meant to be appealing to a specific audience. I found this statement to be true, and after searching some news stories on YouTube. I found that most news stories are emotionally appealing or related to current affairs such as the election.

I finally found a news story that I found to be hilarious. It takes place at a local fair and the broadcaster interviews a young boy. The clip above explains it all. The broadcaster is astonished by the boys answer to her question. This news story was appealing to me because it isn't your typical "politically correct" story.

Dorm Life vs. Apartment Life

I am now a sophomore at Iowa State and have had a chance to experience both the dorm life and the apartment life. I spent my freshman year living in Lyon Hall which is a dorm in Richardson Court. Move in day was horrible. It felt as if it was about 120 degrees out and there were hundreds of students moving in. I finally had the chance to unpack all my stuff and got settled in. I didn't know any one going to Iowa State and the first couple of hours were nerve-racking. I walked around and met all the other students on my floor. I realized that everyone was in the same situation as I was. After getting to know my fellow floor mates for a few days we became friends and the tension began to ease. By the end of the year we were a very close friends and I met some friends for a lifetime.

I now live in an apartment with four other guys. Move in day was a lot less stressful, and the nervous feeling of going to college wasn't there. Instead there was a sense of excitement to reunite with all my friends. The apartment life wasn't stress free though. We had to furnish our apartment, so I bought a bed and other furnishings for my room. I had worked all summer to save my money for a new car, and it seemed to disappear after buying a bed and paying for rent. We also realized there were many more responsibilities in owning an apartment including chores, food, and living quarters.

Although there are many more responsibilities that go along with owning an apartment there are also many more freedoms. There aren't any CA's to monitor the students. When comparing the dorm life to the apartment life, I feel that every student should experience the dorms for at least one year. It is a lot easier to meet people and get involved in activities around campus. Once you have adapted to the college life, I feel that living in an apartment or house is a great option. It gives students more privacy and freedom .

Trip Back From Ames After Thanksgiving Break

The drive back to Ames from Thanksgiving Break is one that I will never forget. I woke up around 9:30, packed my bags, and was planning on being on the road by 11 o'clock. The weather in my home town of Rochester was horrible and it had been snowing throughout the night and into the morning. My mom suggested I wait until the snow passed over and then leave. After a few hours the snow seized and I was on the road around 2:30. The roads were plowed and the trip was going smoothly until about thirty miles into my trip. Then the snow began to pick up and it was difficult to see the road. As I continued the weather conditions worsened. The wind began to pick up and the roads became slippery. Every ten to twenty miles there were a few cars in the ditch, and there were several accidents along the way. The traffic eventually slowed down and for most of the trip I was traveling around 45 miles per hour. I was about thirty miles away from Ames and looking forward to finally getting back to my apartment when the traffic came to a halt. It took about ten minutes to travel a mile, and the driving conditions kept getting worse. At one point the car in front of me slammed on his brakes, and I began to break when my car began to slide on the ice. I stopped right before hitting the car in front of me and nearly went into the ditch. I finally made it back to Ames safely. The trip that usually takes around two and a half hours ended up taking me four in a half hours. It is a drive back that I will never forget.