Just Another Day in College

Hey!

So this week I've been slammed with homework and tests all during Homecoming week. Curse you professors for not letting me have a social life!

Anyways, the rivals of my old university always said that students there only learned how to be a farmer. They would make jokes about tipping cows and drinking beer. What's strange to me is that in my two semesters at this "red-neck" university, as people like to call it, I never dealt with or saw anything related to a farm. Interestingly enough, I had to change universities to finally see farm animals.

Confused? This week is Homecoming for my university and the theme is a county fair. One of the events planned was a petting zoo. And what better to have at a county fair petting zoo then goats, chickens, a pig, and BUNNIES! Below are some pics for your enjoyment!

All I have to say is that while I resent the criticisms of my old university about its agricultural program even though people go there for its awesome engineering program, I did find the animals to be a great way to relax a little before the three exams I have to take this week.

Automatic Toilets

Hello!

Just as a mini update on my life, I've been busy with schoolwork and clubs for a little under a month now and everything seems to be going smoothly.

Now on to the point of this post. Have you ever walked into the bathroom and noticed that the person who was in the stall before you didn't flush the toilet? That's happened to me on multiple occasions in classroom buildings, the library, random grocery stores, and even here in my suite. The thing that always crosses my mind when I see something like that is, "How do you forget to flush"? I mean if you're of college age or going grocery shopping, then you have probably been going to the bathroom by yourself for a long time and have had a LOT of practice flushing the toilet. So why am I bringing up this unsavory topic on my somewhat normal blog? I think I have come up with at least one reason for why people forget to flush. That reason? It's because of automatic toilets. You know the one's that have a sensor and flushes automatically when it senses motion? I think that we as Americans have been lulled into the belief that practically every public toilet is now automatic and thus after finishing our business, we just up and leave without checking to see if the toilet has flushed. Now I'm all for automatic toilets, they supposedly conserve water and apparently make our lives easier. But in my opinion it complicates our lives more. Sometimes the toilet flushes when you're not ready for it to flush. Sometimes it doesn't flush at all and you have to push the little button to manually get it to flush. And sometimes the amount of pressure it has isn't enough to properly flush. Plus if people continually think that manual toilets are in fact automatic, than it just makes the lives of other people who need to use the bathroom harder. People, at least women, tend to avoid toilets that haven't been flushed just leaving all that waste sitting in a toilet for every single person looking for an empty stall to see. And if no kind soul has flushed the toilet by the end of the day, then it's the custodian's job to see that the toilet has been flushed. I mean a custodian's job is hard enough, and having to see waste sitting in a toilet bowl for a whole day and having to flush it themselves cannot make a hard day's work any better.

I guess my point is, is that we Americans take certain things for granted. We become even lazier just expecting things to happen for us without us having to lift a finger. Now I know what I have just typed doesn't apply to everyone and some people may get offended, but I'm just stating an idea that I had.

College Kid Problems

Hey guys!

So once again, long time no blog. Basically just as a quick recap before I get on to the point of this post, I'm back at college, transferring was successful and I like it here so far, I've been so much busier here with all the things I'm doing and trying to do, hence the lack of posts. I'm so busy that basically the only time I'm in my room is to sleep.

Anyways, here I have work study money and so I've been basically selling myself going to job fairs and posting my resume on the school's online job database. Initially I was feeling discouraged because a lot of the people I know who have work study money got interviews for jobs pretty early on, or had already found a job, meanwhile I'm getting emails saying that positions had been filled or were no longer accepting applications. Then all of a sudden these past two weeks I get emails asking me to come in for an interview. At first it was just one, which is really all you need when looking for a job, and during the interview the people made it sound like I was a shoo-in. The catch? Well I had to talk to their boss first and she's a pretty big stickler for the rules and likes things a certain way. Now I follow the rules pretty closely myself, but something about the way the people interviewing me described her made her seem a little daunting. So after the first interview, I got another email from them the next day asking to meet their boss. This morning at 10 I met her and she seemed nice but never really let me get in a word. It was essentially a lecture about how she's not paying me to sit on Facebook. Flashback to the day of the first interview with, let's call them Lab 1, I get another email from another lab, Lab 2, asking me to come in the next morning at 10 for an interview with them. Now if you're paying close enough attention and I'm explaining this clearly enough, you'll notice that I'm supposed to have two different interviews at the same time. How did I manage that? I didn't. I emailed Lab 2 back saying that something had come up just after I responded back to him and asked to reschedule. He never got back to me until well past the initial 10 o'clock interview time. Returning to present day, I had just talked to the boss of Lab 1. I receive a third interview email from an after school program asking me to come in this afternoon at 4. Now after the interview with Lab 1, I was told that I would hear back tomorrow morning about what's going on with the job. So naturally because nothing was set in stone yet I agree to the interview at 4 with the after school program. So I attend the interview, after a horrifying 20 minute trek around campus and the surrounding streets to try to find the school, and discover that I'm only up against another person who if doesn't get back to the boss this afternoon, the job will be mine. She has already given me all the paperwork and essentially made it sound like I have no choice but to take the job if it is offered to me. I will hear from her this evening about what's going on.

So let's recap. I have three possible job offers and no idea what to do if I get all three. I haven't even interviewed with Lab 2 yet and don't really want to tell him I'll meet with him if it ends up that I get a job offer elsewhere. Deep down I really want the job in Lab 1 because it will give me research experience, but I would hate to deny the after school program job if I get it especially since it seemed like I couldn't say no. And seeing as I'm supposed to hear back from the after school job before I hear back from Lab 1, I'm afraid to say no to the after school job just to hear from Lab 1 that I didn't get the job. Now throw in Lab 2 and I feel bad for not getting back to him in a more timely manner because if he is my last resort, then that just looks bad on me.

I know I don't really have any right to complain because I'm sure there are plenty of kids who would love just one interview offer, but I really don't know what to do. I think this all stems back to my inability to say no to people and also makes me think of Rory Gilmore from the show Gilmore Girls where she rejects a job for her first choice job only to not get offered her dream job. I like the options but I'm afraid to say no to one and end up with no prospects in the end. I guess you could also say that this goes into my inability to make a decision also.

Well that's the major thing that's been going on in my life today, besides homework, classes, and club meetings. I guess that's college for you.