st. louis rams

yes they lose today but they still are in first place in the nfc west. the rams are having the best season they have had in the past three years. being from st louis i have always supported the rams it just has been hard the past few years because they have been so bad. since the new head coach came in and the new general manger took over the rams have started to look like a better team and have gotten better players.  with this years draft class playing so well the rams have become the best team in the nfc west. sam bradford is playing like the best quarterback in the divisions and is going to win the rookie of the year. the rams are not quite at the top of the league yet but in the next few years they will be one of the best teams after the player grow ore and a few more good drafts.

next semester

last week i finally got my scheduled set for next semester. i decided that i would not be taking Bio next semester. instead i took chemistry because i like chem better and i find it more interesting.  due to this change the rest of my schedule had to bee reworked so that i still had 4.5 credits. along with chem i am taking rise and fall of early empire which is a history class. i am very excited for this class because history is one of my favorite topics and i might decide to become a history major. also i will be taking statical methods and  intermediate comm both of which will be just class for my general education class. also i will be taking a .5 credit. this class is very important for me this year. because i am taking this class i will be able to go over to England during may term. this class will be about castle and churches. i am looking forward for the reason that this is a history class and i get to go over to England.

watching movies

over the past few day i have watch all of the Indiana Jones movies. after watching these movies it i started to realize that i have seen a lot a lot a TV while i have been at college. even right now as i write this blog i am watching football. i watch anything from movies to comedies to dramas, to sports all in the same day. to me watching Tv is a way to relax and let of some steam after classes. also having the tv on with some sort of sporting event makes be work hard and be less distracted my out side noise. also all of these movies seem to have the same themes and ideas in them. they all seem to introduce the main characters and then present the problem. that his point the characters begin to overcome the problem and it starts to look like everything is going to be happy then all of the sudden something goes wrong. the main character then happens to solve the problem and save the day and then live happy. also many movies seem to be main with the idea of a squeal and always leave some idea open for so that they can make more money.

winter break

right now as i write all of these blogs and get ready to study for bio again i cannot stop thinking about upcoming winter break. i am looking forward to not only see my friends and family but also just to be able to relax. this year for break i will spend the first few days at home while my brother finishes up his classes. my family and i will then go off to Colorado to see my grandmother. i cannot wait to see her for i have not seen her for close to a year now. also i am looking forward to see my cousins there for i have not seen them for about 4 years now. also during break i will be going to the doctor to have my hip look at again and possible get surgery done. i hope though that the doctor will tell be that i should begin to run again soon because i miss it so much. also over break i plan on relaxing after all of my class are over and i get time to spend by myself. the only problem with my break is that i have to come back on Jan 5th for indoor track. the problem with this is even thought it does not really make me miss much time as i will get to hang out with my friends a lot is that i probably will not be able to run so it will be really boring at practices.   

timeline

For my final project i chose to read the novel timeline by Michael Crichton. i thought this was a very good book both from a science and historian points of view. the science though it was differently exaggerated it still was rooted in science that is taking place right now. the science was really cool in how it dealt with quantum physics to make the characters travel back in time. how Crichton explains the use of quantum physics it is really good in that it lets the reader begin to understand quantum physics with confusing the reader with how complex quantum physics is. the historical part of the novel is accurate and also has some ideas that seem right. it is obvious the Crichton researched the time period greatly to make sure that it was correct and his character would fit in. also the areas do exists and there is ongoing research on them. the idea that the knight were still able to move in their armor and were really big men makes scenes over the smaller versions that are out there. the k\larger knights would have been able to fight and have armor but still be able to move around a defeat a quicker person. overall Timeline is a really good novel.   

studying

coming to college has made be become a better studier. in high school i did not study at all for test and did well on them to the tune of mainly just A. i thought that i could do the same in college as i did in high school. i realized that this is not possible an i have stated to study more for class. my first few test i did well on and really did not have to study. in Bio though my tests grades started dropping now to low B so i realized that to keep my scholarship i need to study more for class. to become a better studier i have set times up that all i use them for is to study for different class. i usually go  over my notes and make sure i read the questions in the book over the chapters and if i can not answer them i read them again to make sure i know what is in the ideas of the topic. also i have started to leave time open on days before test so that i can study homework and test. another thing that i do so that i get better score is to eat a good breakfast and get a good night sleep. i plan on using this same strategy for both my chem and bio final on Monday and Tuesday. 

MRI

While i was home for thanksgiving i went to have an MRI on my hip. i need this MRI because i had first felt pain in my hip about month and a half before i went to have the MRI and the pain had not gone now after many different treatment types or exercises. getting the MRI done was kinda weird. first they made sure you had no metal anywhere on your body before the would even yet you in the MRI room. they then strap you now so you really could not move unless you really had to. i got to listen to music otherwise they wanted me to lay still for about half an hour while the machine did its work. i think i fell asleep because it did not seem like i was in there for  a half an hour. what was kinda funny though was that the doctor asked me about my other hip/butt muscle first than the one i had hurt. the reason for this was that on my way to my car after IS i was riding my scooter and hit some ice and took a hard spill on the ice and it left a nice bruise on my butt. after the MRI machine stop the doctor just let me walk out and go home with out any more test. i got the results back a few days later and learn that i might have a particle larburm tear in my hip which means that i get to go back to the doctor over my winter break keeping my streak of seeing a doctor after each break. 

Thanksgiving

thanksgiving is a time that we get to spend with family. for my family that usually just means my dad, mom ,brother and myself. this year was special in that there was not extra people there just that i was there. since i am going to college in Iowa and i am originally from St. louis i have not seen my family much in the past four months. this year i real saw the true meaning of thanksgiving by just coming home. also it was good to be able to see my parents and brother and not just talk to them on the phone. there was some part of be who wonders why i am in Iowa but i feel that i like it here as long as i get to go home once an a while. the other part of thanksgiving that i liked was not having to do laundry or cook. while i was home i was able to learn how my brother baseball was going something i did not care about in high school but i realized i missed small talk with my family. being home did make me miss college in the freedoms that college lets be have. also being at home made be thing about how even though we can dislike our family at times that it is still important to get to see them and talk to them at times because they are still family.

global warming

i believe that global warming is a real thing but unlike which side i was on at the debate i do not fully believe that. i believe that the real truth lies in between the two sides. i fully believe that the heating and cooling of the earth is a natural process.  this is supported by the fact that the earth has had periods of hot and cold times before. also the earth has changed before as evident by the fact that the Sahara desert was once a tropical place and now it is a desert.  i do believe that humans might have some effect on how this process in that we might have speed it up but not have started it. humans claim that they started global warming but in reality it is most likely part of a larger natural process that we have just speed up. the biggest thing about global warming for me is the simple fact that we do not have enough information about what has happen in the past to really know what is happening in the present.

studying for a test in bio

tonight i am trying to study for my upcoming test in biology. This might seem like a common thing for most people but this is one of the first times i have studied in the past few years.  for all of high school i have never had to study due to the way that i am able to memorized facts and equations in a class. since i have these memorized i do not have to study and am able to recall them for a test. coming to college i knew that i might have to change this because the class were harder and there was more information. for the first few test i was still able to go with out studying but even though my grades were good they were not as good as i wanted them to be. so tonight i have decided to study and it has been fun so far.  between my crazy floor mates and the TV  i have been trying to stay concentrated and feel like i am make some progress.

state of fear

after reading state of fear there is one chapter that stands out to me as the most important chapter in the novel.  this chapter does not really contribute to the story plot or even have to do with global warming. this chapter is when professor Hoffman is talking about how governments control people by fear.  this might sound like it is completely untrue but if you thing about it it actually makes sense.  the presidents that are consider the best and greatest leaders are those who lead during a war. one reason for this is because the nation fear something it was untied and the lead was able to use his powers more effectually. in times when leaders are not very strong if you look you see that there is no major immediate threat letting the people become diverse and not have as much faith in the government.  Hoffman is not saying that global warming is all government lies but he is saying that the government did try to make it larger so that they had a threat so they could have more power. the state of fear is something that is really and it is true that the governments do want a fear that is dire so that they have better control of the populations living under them.   

State of Fear Enviromentally

After reading the novel State of Fear for IS101 i have decided to blog about the issues that are presented mainly the issue dealing with global warming. Micheal Crichton based his novel on how environmentalist are trying to cause more natural issues to  make the public more scared of global warming.  it is obvious that Crichton is not a support of global warming as the heroes of the story all end up believing that global warming is false. also the bad guys of the story are the ELF which is an extreme environmentalist group. from reading this novel it got me thinking about my own feeling towards global warming. first i should point out the new term for global warming is now called global climate change. if you have not figured out which side i support from my statements in class i feel that there s not enough evidence to support global climate change or disprove global climate change but i do lead more to the side of it is not true. i feel this way because there is some evince that the earth goes in big warming and cooling cycles and humans have no control over these cycles.  also it is hard to believe that this increase in temperature  is not cause partially my all the more humans that now live on this plant. also i feel that the global warming  is not something that we can solve over night but rather something that we need more information and time to figure out if we can ever effect what is happening on this planet.

bieng hurt

i run cross country for the Wartburg Knights. that is something that i am very proud to be able to say to people when i first meet them.  the truth is that that statement is not completely true. yes i am part of the team and attend both meets and practices but i am not able to run at all.  about a month ago i felt a little bit of pain in my hip so i stop running and went back to the trainer.  since that initially time feeling pain i have tried running four different times and every time it hurts in less that ten minutes of running. i have been going to the trainer everyday and have yet to really get any better no matter what treatment we had tried.  so last Thursday i went to a doctor to see what he thought the problem was with my hip.  he told me that my IT band was tight because my butt muscles were weak. i was told the only way that i will feel better is to do more exercises to strengthen my hip and butt muscles.  so i hope that through these exercises i will be able to get better and run like i was before my injury that has sideline me for a month and at least two more weeks.       

Going home

for the first time since i went off two college i went  home this weekend.  the reason i went home was that i need to see a doctor about the pain that i have in my hip.  i was told that my butt muscles are weak and i need to strengthen them by doing exercises.since this was my first time home it was really weird and made me think about how i have been liking college.  i realized that so far i have liked having more freedom to do the things that i want to do.  also i like having more personal room and the ability to stay awake and do my own things. i miss my family and my moms cooking.  more importantly i miss not having my brother as someone who i can always talk to and have as a friend. driving home from college was not fun because it was six hours and really boring with no one to talk to about anything.  overall i have decided that i like being a t college but i waish the cooking was better. 

Social Change Wheel

Before class on Wednesday i had never seen the social change wheel.  after looking at it i decided that i would fit under three different groups.  these three groups are Direct Service, Socially Responsible Daily behavior and community building.  all three of these groups are groups that are easily fit into my life with out much effort on my part.  this sounds really bad when i say it like that but it is the true.  personally i feel that i would like to do more than just the stuff that fits easily in my life.  i would like to do more things to help make change in my community and world.  there are many things that i fell that i could do even with most of my time being taken up with school. i hope to join the Habit For a Humanity soon and just help out more in the community.

What makes a leader

What makes a good leader? that is one of the questions that seems to be asked in every classes that I take.  each time there seems to be a different view of not only what makes a good leader but also what even  a leader is.  from all of the different response i have heard from both students and teachers but also from personal experiences i have an idea of the characteristics of the leader that i what to be following.  A good leader has to be one who takes charge and leads by example this is important because if you just yell and scream at someone to do something than it will never get done.  also a leader must be able to motivate his or her follows to do what the leader wants to see them do.  a good leader is also a good listener because if you do not listen to what your follows are saying than you might get away from their ideas.  final a good leader must be able to overcome a setback or defeat and still have faith in their cause. in my life i have lead a group many times in class but most of these leadership positions i my mind really are not true leadership positions unless in is a large group project. the biggest leadership position that i held was i was senior patrol leader of my boy scout troop which is the highest scout held position.  in truth i did not want most of the group leadership positions in school or i really did not want to be the senior patrol leader but once i took the position i felt it was my duty to try to be as good as leader as i good.  i never had a problem being the leader it is just that if i can avoid the spotlight. i would rather be the one who did the work in the background and got some credit but was not the star of the show.  that said i strongly feel that a group can not survive if they do not have a leader so many times if no one wants to step up and lead i will  become the leader because i do have confidence in my ability as a leader.  i am not trying to brag or sound self center i am just saying that a leader will not do well if they are confident in their ability.  a leader gets lots of credit for the groups success but a good leader will always remember that the whole group help not just the leader.

religion

in my life the one thing that seems to be something that is always being debated.  this simple thing is religion. i believe that religion is one of the two cause of all wars.  when you think about it all wars are fought over religion or land or both.  there are many different types of religion all of which have different believes and gods.  i am not here to tell you which religion just to stop and look and the religions a little more.  ever one things that each religion is different and does not have anything in common with other religions.  this is not true all of the christian religions are very similar with only a few different beliefs but their fundamental ideas are the same. same actually goes with  Christian Islam and Muslim religions all are based of of the same god they just differ one how they interned who Christ is.  the other religions all still share the same basic idea in that hey all try to explain what humans do not understand like death and creation.  in many case science that tries to prove that their is no god ends up fall short in some way.  the big bang theory has never been able to prove what cause the big bang just what happens after the bang.  i personally believe that their is some force that guides the world but really do know much about him.      

Liberal education in schools

Since we have been discussing in class about  liberal educations and the benefits of a liberal education one major question that i have been think of is if liberal education is a better way to learn than why are all schools up to college level all the non liberal education?  First in my mind i define a liberal education as an education in which the student learns because he or she wants to learns the topic and not because the are forced.  in my high school we were taught my the teachers in the traditional way which is that the teachers just tell the students the information to the students and their is no discussion on the topic.  The students are like buckets just being filled up with water or in this case knowledge.  I feel that the reason that the schools teach in a non liberal education to students below the college level comes non to two different things.  first is that at that level it is not very practical to implant the liberal education system.  This is because the it takes a different approach and more time for a teacher to teach in a liberal way because in stead of just giving out facts and then testing the students the teacher has to guide the student in there own learning.  also another trouble with implanting this system is because it would be tough for the states to measure the improvement of schools.  the other overall problem with making lower levels in to a liberal education system is that it takes a certain attitude to be a liberal student and most high school students do not want to be their so even if it was a liberal education system they would not treat it like it was.  

time management

As you can see by when ni am posting this blog i still have work to do on my time management skills.  when i was in high school i had little to know time management skills for two reasons.  First all of my time was mapped out so that i went from one thing to an other with out much free time to do what ever i wanted.  Second there was the fact that my parents keep me in on time and pretty much did my time management for me.  As i know have been at college for close to a month i have realize that i need to get a little bit better on my time management skills.  i would not say that i am the worst person in managing my time but i am far from the best.  i biggest issue i feel that i have in managing my time is to not procrastinate until the last minute.  i set time out for activities and when i am going to do homework and study partly because i run cross country which force me to use my time wisely.  i one problem is i feel that i have time to do ti later and keep pushing everything back until the dead line is here and i have to rush and feel as though i did not do my best work.  i have gotten better though and i am working hard on trying to not procrastinate by setting deadline in my mind and on a planner that are in front of the real deadline causing me to finish early and then giving be more time to fix my mistakes.

Liberal education

After doing the readings in class I am starting to get a new idea of what a liberal education is.  Before I did the readings I really did not know much about a liberal education.  I originally thought that a liberal education was more along the lines of liberal arts. I had this believe that to be liberal educated meant you got a degree in a liberal arts field and had taken course in many different subjects as well so that you were a more rounded learner.  These reading have taught me that my idea of a liberal education was even close to what a liberal education truly is.  According to Giamatti a liberal education is the the study of something for its own benefits and not because you want to get an a on a test or a good job later on in life.  To me a liberal education is a little bit more than just how Giamatti states it.  I personal feel that to be truly liberally educated you no not have to have a love for learning but rather you must want to learn because it is want you are truly passionate about. I feel that i had been a liberal educated student in certain subjects and in other class have just got a normal education.  In history I have always study extra not because i want to be the top student or even get an A on the test ( i usually did though) i study extra because i loved study history and want to learn as much as i could about the topic.  At Wartburg i feel that there are some classes that push a liberal education while others just educate you almost as though you are in a factory.  I think that Wartburg tries to liberally educate its students but it is so hard to actually make students be liberal educated.  the first problem is as hard as the college and professors try the students are the ones that decided if they are going to be liberal educated.  if the student wants to be educated in a open minded fashion than it is really easy to educate them liberal because they want it.  on the other hand if they only want to go through college to get a degree than there is no way you are truly going to be able to liberally educate those students.  i feel that the best way to go through life is to try to be a liberal learner because you will be able to learn things better and fast because you want to learn them not because you feel you have to. 

Living in a dorm

Having only one sibling i have always had my own room at home.  Now that I am at college I have to share a room with a roommate.  This has been a new experience that i am still getting use to.  When i first thought of going of to college one of my biggest worries was having to share a room.  the only time that i have had to share a room before was at camp and when family came over.  to me share a room meant the loss of personal space and even a place where i could be alone.  when i got to college i was worried about how well my room mate and i would get along.  So far my roommate and i have gotten along just fine.  we are not best friends or anything but we do get along and do not get in each other way when we are sleeping or doing homework.  it helps that my room is huge because we have a four person room for two people.  Living with a roommate has taught me many different things about myself and life.  First it is not that hard living with someone else.  all it takes is a few scarifies from each person and both people can be happy.  also from living in a dorm room i have learn of the stuff that i thought i need and could not live without is really not that important.  I use to always watch certain TV show and movies but now i realize that there are better things to do.  i have learn about how you can trust people being from St. Louis i would never think to leave anything unattended but now i trust my roommate with all of my self and the people on my floor not to steal from me.  Also i have learn not to eat all the time.  Going off to college has been difficult but it has so far been fun and even though it is a lot different from being at home i feel like i am at home in a way.

Animal Dreams

In class I choose to side with the group of students who hated the book.  I feel that hated or loved the book was an impossible decision to make for me personally.  There has never been a book that I have absolutely  hated or a book that I have loved either.  Animal Dreams had a lot of interesting parts but also it had parts that seemed out of place.  Personally I felt that animal dreams was trying to get across the point that one cannot run from their past or life in generally.  Codi is always trying to forget about her past and how she was an outsider.  Since Codi felt and believe this she failed to see that she had been part of the community.  Your past is your past and if you do not like how your past is there is no point in running because you will always be carry inside of you what you are trying to escape from.  The best thing to do is what Codi finally did and that is to go face your demons.  when Codi went back to Grace she first believe that everyone would not like her and that they would still cause her to be the outsider.  In truth Codi was already part of the community and she could not remember the parts of her life in which she was included.  Also through out the book Codi struggles with her father who is losing his mind.  To be this is one of the critical parts of the book because it makes Codi look deeper every part of her life.  Codi is no longer able just to look at her life with no contact to the rest of the world.  Due to her fathers loss of memory Codi has to try to help her father who she believes she dislikes because she thinks he made her an outsider.  I feel that animal dreams had strong themes that made me think about my own life and how at times I have made myself the outsider.  Also reading Animal Dreams I was able to relate to Codi because I also left home.  In part i left for the same reasons Codi did but at the same time I feel that I am different from Codi.  I left home because I because i wanted to get away from my parents but more importantly I want to make my own identity.  Unlike Codi I did not run and turn my back  but rather I ran to move froward with life but will always be looking back at times.  The reason that I supported the group that disliked the book was because i felt that Codi was not being person she wanted to be and she was just complaining and not trying to fix it.  I felt like that Codi knew what was wrong with her life and even how to fix it but she just chose not to.  Overall i liked this novel for its strong themes and characters but there were parts of the novel that i felt did not belong in the novel and seemed out of place.

Jurassic Park

After watching Jurassic Park for the second time in two weeks after not watching in for years I realized that there is a lot more to this movie beside the amazing action scenes.  When I usually watch this movie all I really watching for is when the main characters are being chased by the dinosaurs.  However this time since I had seen the movie less than a week ago I was not completely focused on the chase scenes and because of this I was able to see a lot more of the science and larger questions being asked in the movie.  From the discussion in class and watching the movie I realized how much there is to the movie.  Micheal Crichton is asking question through out the movie about really deep issues not usually associated with blockbuster movies.  The two biggest questions that I feel he asks.  The first question is what is ethical.  In my view Crichton is asking the world just because we have the technology do we have to use.  I believe that Crichton makes his view on this question very clear in the movie.  With the dinosaurs getting lose and killing people Crichton is showing his view that he feels that we do not have to use every technology we have.  Personally I agree with Mr Crichton because if we used all the technology that we had access all of the time the world would have ended along ago. If you are wondering how the world would have ended my I reminded you have the nuclear bombs that could have been used in the cold war.  Also this question in my mind begins to touch on the larger question about god .  In this movie humans begin to play with what many people believe is a power that only God should have.  In my  mind I make the job to if we can bring extinct species back to life than what makes us sure that there is a God.  Personally I believe there is a God but it does make you wonder if humans had that power than what power does God have. The second question I believe Micheal Crichton asks in his movie is when have we took our technology to far and who gets to determined this.  The first part of the question is kinda like the first question I discussed in many ways but is also different in one main way.  The first question ask more if we have it should we use it while the second question asks more how far should we try to go with technology.  Should we try to make it so that we never will die or  should we make a something that can kill all life on earth in a single push of a button.  Both of these things would give the holder unlimited power which brings about the second part of the questions in who should be the one who controls or decides when we have advanced far enough.  Personally I think this is one of those question like what is the meaning of life that we will me asking for the rest of eternity.  For a movie that to many is just a cool dinosaur movie to me Jurassic Park asks so many more questions many of which touch on the very complicated questions about human nature.    

first blog

this is my first blog about how much running i have been doing for the past week.  the last week i have been average close to 9 miles a day