Sunday, September 21, 2014

Dialing + Daily Life

Life is rolling along, and I'm into the swing of this semester.  And so far it's a pretty pleasant "swing".  Here's a glimpse of my day-to-day normal.  Basically, this post is a lot of lists.  I like lists!

Eating healthy in the Caf:

Although I think the Caf food is tasty, their healthy food variety is... not particularly various.  But it's okay.  Here are the more beneficial options available, along with their degree of availability.

pizzainn.com


Always there
- Raw oatmeal to mix with peanut butter
- Raisin bran
- Salad bar and vinaigrette dressing
- Scrambled eggs in the morning
- Lunch meat turkey
- Orange juice
- Vanilla or chocolate soymilk
- 2% milk
- Bananas, oranges, or apples





Sometimes there (one a week or less to 3X a week)
- Turkey bacon
- Whole wheat spaghetti
- Mashed potatoes
- Roast turkey or chicken
- Sweet or baked potato
- Some tofu dish, like with curry
- Cooked peas or carrots
- Raw carrots and celery

At the Hub (the other campus dining place where I work)
- Veggie burger on two slices of lettuce instead of a bun
- Sun chips
- Apple, walnut, feta cheese salad with poppyseed dressing
- Grilled chicken sandwich minus the bun
- Chicken filet salad
- "Naked" burrito (without the tortilla) + white tortilla chips

As you can see, that is a pretty limited menu there.  For a spoiled American.  But it's totally fine.  There's always church potlucks and the occasional sugary treat to mix things up.



This week's "learnin's":


[How I feel after every microbiology lab]

Here's some cool stuff I've learned in a typical week at NWC:
- how penicillin works
- how to stain bacteria purple or red to figure out what kind it is (Gram staining)
- how to assess a patient's pain
- the philosophical problem of fighting a child soldier as an American soldier 
- how to say "that's the last straw!" in Spanish.  

All my classes are real interesting.  I love learning :)


Dialing digits for donations:

Remember last year how Kara did Phonathon (they might call it something else at NWMS, I forget)?  She called alumni and parents of students to ask for scholarship donations, earning points to get that "oh so wonderful" bag of chips (poor Kara).

Anyway, I'm doing that too!  Although it's a bit different for me since we also take the prayer requests of people we call.  And I actually enjoy calling strangers on the phone (what a weirdo, right? haha)!  I'll have a little cubicle and that telemarketer-ish headset for three hours a week, dialing number after number of people all across the nation.  It's exciting!

That was a long and boring post, perhaps.  Hope your week is going as well as mine!

Arrivederci,
            E



Thursday, September 11, 2014

[Mostly] Selfies

This post will descend where no post has gone before: selfies. I don't have a smart phone, so I don't take a lot of selfies, but when I do, I take them with my computer and send them to my sister to communicate what I'm doing. Let us explore what the days have entailed:
I learned that even though I LOVE milk, I cannot finish a half-
gallon of milk before it goes bad. BUT I discovered the incredibly
cute alternative in this quart-sized carton!
I have a fantastic roommate who asked if I would like her to curl
my hair on a day we were dressing up. She did a really good job
and learned just how much hair I have on my head. (A lot.)
A history paper means a trip to the library. The third floor is very
sunny and also very quiet, which is fantastic!
This is the face I made on the one day that I left my umbrella in
my room and therefore got wet after class and spent an hour killing
time in a building between classes.
Asian Pears (one of my favorite fruits) were on sale for 99 cents
per pound! They are usually $1.99/lb, so I snatched a few up
during a roommate shopping to HyVee.
I got to check out this lovely camera for a photojournalism class.
It was truly wonderful, and if I had $1,000 lying around, I'd snatch
one of these babies up. They are certainly great!
For all you technical types, that a Rebel T41 with a 18-135mm lens.
 $$Chaching$$
It's September, so the nice, crisp weather is upon us! In my case,
this means the beginning of 6 months of never quite being warm
enough. Luckily, I can wear comfy sweaters, like this one, borrowed
from the lovely Olivia! Go UNI!
And finally, we conclude with pictures of what I spend most of my "free time" doing: Marching Band! No more selfies here! Lauren Bolt took most of these!

At Freshman Convocation

I'm behind Brett

That's me on the far left

Practicin'

Saturday, September 6, 2014

Red Pens and Sweet Dreams

prideinmadness.wordpress.com

News since we last "spoke":

- My anatomy professor from last year asked me to be his teacher's assistant!  That he would ask me is highly encouraging.  I believe he was one of the scientists who developed the worm vaccination given at veterinary clinics.  He is one of the smartest people I've ever met!  Anyway, I graded my first stack of quizzes and it was fun, although a little harder than I expected.  You have to be consistent with your grading on every problem of course, which is harder than it sounds (hopefully I'll do a lot better job next time)

- Two nights ago, I intentionally didn't do homework.  My conscience has slain me ever since.  I did not finish a video and did not read a textbook chapter because it was 11 p.m. and I decided that sleep was more important.  This is part of my new attitude that taking care of yourself must come first.  That night I still got only seven hours of sleep (which is the bare minimum I need to function and be a kind person and important stuff like that).  Still, I feel really badly about not doing all assigned homework.  In life, there are so many things you should do, and there is simply not enough time to do all of them.  If you have thoughts on this topic or disagree, I'd love to hear it in the comments!

cutestpaw.com


Billie, have you moved into Iowa yet?  I really want to hear about your adventurous summer!

Love, 
     E

P.S. Remind me to include room pix next post!