Piracy

Currently I'm taking HTY 103 which is United States history 1 and I had been debating wether to go to class friday morning before vacation. On one hand I really wanted to leave campus and get home before the storm hit Orono or got further north and I could of left around 9am if I didn't attend class, but on the other hand I would of had no idea what he had talked about in class and wouldn't have gotten any notes for that class, which is not good. So I decided I couldn't miss that class and we ended up talking about piracy and the war of 1812. Then the other day I stumble upon an interesting article about piracy today and what is going on in todays politics and the start of the article talked about some of the stuff we covered in class. Its funny because I never thought some of my classes would really make a difference in my day to day life but it was nice getting to read the article and be like "yea I knew that"

Anyways if you would like to read the article its here at the New York Times online titled Somali Piracy is larger issue after Hostage Deaths (published Feb 26).

Snow Storm

Can I just say this is the most snow I've seen in a really long time? We have had so much snow this winter its unbelievable! The storm on Friday was ridiculous, 6-10 inches on snow and sleet on the day that we are supposed to leave for vacation?!?! Okay so the dorm stay open until saturday at 9am instead of 5pm friday but the dining halls all closed early and it was like a blizzard out and we had to walk across campus in the snow to get food. I honestly think that classes on friday should of been canceled, I mean some classes were for some people but all of them should of been canceled in my opinion. Some people have to drive a ways to get home, like people that live out of state or just plain far away. I personally hate being outside when its snowing out, and windy out, and just plain cold, and during the week I never get up before 9 so it was a bigger hassle for me to leave saturday morning, not to mention the lack of coordination of my group going home saturday had.

Anyways enough about all that, on saturday when I got home I helped my mom and brothers shovel outside. My mom and older brother were shoveling off the roof and there was like 3-4 feet of snow up there! They dumped it all into the driveway in front of our garage and then me and my little brother were shoveling it off the driveway into the grass area... well let me tell you it was not so fun. Shoveling sucks. I feel bad for anyone that doesn't have a snowblower or plow and a very long driveway. Honestly I think people with snowblowers and plows should just go around and see if neighbors need any help. I feel like not many people do this anymore. Anyways I'm so thankful to our neighbor who helped plow our driveway after the big storm, and I'm so thankful that another neighbor came by and helped use his snowblower to move the snow in the driveway from the roof out of the way that was blocking the garage. I'm so sore from shoveling and can only imagine how much longer it would of taken if no one had helped us out and how much sorer I would of been.

Super Powers?!?!

So all you comic book fanatics, movie lovers, or TV viewers or readers out there, what do you think the best super power or special ability of all time would be?

I know at some point all of you may have wondered what it would be like to have a super power or special ability or thought about what the coolest one would be. I was never a huge fan of any super heros and I wasn't in to comic books, I used to watch a lot of tv shows on CN and NICK but the thing that stood out the most to me was when I was about 10 years old this movie came in 2002 called Clockstoppers and it became my favorite movie instantly, I loved Zac (Jesse Bradford) and Francesca (Paula Garcés) and the special watch that could basically freeze time (they were just moving super fast that everything else appeared to stop moving). So from then on I've always thought it would be cool to have that special ability. Below is the trailer in case you've never seen it.

 

I also post this question because something funny occurred the other day. It was after 2 in the morning when my friend went to take a shower and it was about 3am when he got back to the dorm room. He apologized for taking so long and stated that the reason it took so long was because he had been thinking about what the coolest super power would be. His top choice would be the ability to freeze time. His second top choice was the ability to shoot beverages out of his fingertips, having a different beverage come out of each fingertip. I found this rather amusing as he proceeded to dance around making sound effects as he pretended to fill up peoples cups at an imaginary party.

Winter Festival

What is your favorite part about winter carnival or winter festival at your high school or college? What were some of the activities that they had available?

My favorite part about the winter carnival here at UMaine was the free skate on the mall. My friend Phoebe and I tried our luck skating on the makeshift ice rink they made on the mall. We ended up laughing the whole time because I had never used hockey skates before and they were kind of to big for me so I was wobbling all over the place, almost face planting several times, and her skates were to stiff and she could hardly move in them. There was one part on the ice rink where it was rather bumpy and uneven and we told ourselves to avoid that region but we always ended up going over it anyhow and made a fool of ourselves trying not to fall by flailing our arms about and cussing under our breath. We showed up late for all the activities on the mall but in a way it was a good thing because only the 8 or so people left on the ice saw us trying to skate.

Superbowl XLV

So I'm not a huge fan of football and I don't really follow any specific team, but the superbowl was on this weekend. The Steelers vs. the Packers. At the superbowl party I was attending, there were mostly Packers fans, not alot of Steelers fans. One of my best friends fathers was born and raised in Pittsburgh and is a huge Steelers fan, so I knew he would be disappointed with the ending score of the game. Now I know alot of people watch the game just for the commercials, but I also heard that this game was the most viewed in history, partly due to the hype that there might not be an NFL anymore, but I won't get into that... so here are some of the commercials in case you missed them. Did anyone else have any other favorites?
USAToday- Superbowl XLV

Bomb Threat? What?!?!

What a lovely Sunday evening I had this week. I was enjoying a nice nap when my phone started vibrating insanely, informing me that someone was calling me. I missed the call but looked at my phone and saw I had 5 new texts, one of which was from the UMaine system, thinking "sweet I hope its going to say theres a snow day tomorrow" to my shock it said "Bomb threat reported at UMaines Cumberland Hall. Stay away. Police are investigating."Then an RA was on our floor knocking on all the doors saying we had to get out immediately and couldn't tell us anything else. So for about 2 hours we had to find somewhere else to be as police searched the building and brought in dogs to help search. After receiving another message saying "police have declared Cumberland Hall safe for occupancy, following their investigation into a bomb threat reported this afternoon." everyone retuned to the building and later we discovered that there had been graffiti on the wall suggesting that there was a bomb in one of the bathrooms, and that the only thing found was valve oil used for band instruments that have petroleum in it, which is apparently used in some bombs.

Bangor Daily News-UMaine dorm evacuated after bomb threat

Introduction

So first off let me tell you a little about me and this blog and why I'm writing it and such. I'm a first year student at UMaine in Orono, and this is my second semester of college here. For one of my classes we were required to create a blog, so here I am making a blog about my experiences here at UMaine, sadly you wont get to see my first hand reactions to my first semester here away from home but I'll be posting mostly about current events here on campus, interesting stuff I learn in class, or funny stuff that happens with my friends.

Anyways more about me, I'm the middle child in my family, and the first fledgling to leave the nest. I have two brothers, my older brother decided to go to community college and live at home until he's saved up enough to get his own place, and my little brother is in 8th grade. I live on campus here at UMaine 2 hours away from home, and I don't get to visit my family much. At first its a shock being away from home, but once you make friends on your floor and in your classes, living at college is like living with your friends (minus the ability to use their kitchen to make decent food). The other big change for me was the lack of motivation I had in the mornings to get up and go to class, no more mum alarm clock in the morning for me, and the lack of a routine schedule is nice but first semester I spent my time doing frivolous things and come finals time I was stressed out to the max, but everything ended up fine. So bring on the new semester!