The last 12 hours have been filled with two major ceremonies.  Last night was the Falls School of Business banquet.  Students got to wine and dine (minus the wine) with faculty and staff of the FSB.  Awards were given to students, honors were directed to certain faculty, students spoke, people laughed and it was a good time.  The first big realization that the end is near – graduation is coming.

    Today was senior chapel.  All graduating students were requested (and most showed) to line up in the Decker breezeway in cap and gown attire.  A prequel for what will come in 9 days.  It’s kind of sad because it reminded me of High School graduation, only four short and yet long years ago.  Much has changed since then.  The world around me is different.  The world abroad is different.  I am different.  I’ve grown and changed and today was a reminder of how far I’ve come…and hopefully, how much farther I have to go.

-Jon   

Yea…it’s been kinda like that lately for me.   Are you having trouble sleeping?  Do find it hard to make yourself go to class?  Do you feel like doing nothing but playing video games all day?  Are you  letting your personal hygiene slip a bit because not showering allows you to sleep an extra 15 minutes?  Do you just feel stressed out about everything?  If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you probably suffer from Ihaventhadabreakinawhileandneedtogetawayfromschoolforaweek disorder.  Statistics show that this disorder is very common in college students in the later weeks of February.  97% of students at AU suffer from this condition, so don’t feel alone.  While I cannot prescribe any form of medication I do have a remedy for you…its called SPRING BREAK.

I know we are all looking forward to it.  Whether you’re going south to the beach, north to the colder weather, or just going home to chill, you are most likely counting down the days to Spring Break…9 days…7 school days…I find that many people take different approaches in anticipating spring break.. There are some who count down the minutes and seconds until their last class, there are some who know its coming but really don’t even know when, and then there are those who don’t have any idea when it is and usually are really surprised when they realize they are the only ones left on campus, and then my favorite are the people who quit everything and just sit in their rooms and stare at the walls for 3 weeks straight waiting for the break to come.

I really do understand right now that school can be really stressful these few weeks proceeding SB, but I do have one piece of advice to help you get through.  In the 3 weeks that precede SB I have always found that there is one of those weeks in which it feels like you have a thousand tests, and two billion papers to write.  In order to maintain sanity, pick out that week in your mind and tell yourself that if you get through that week you will make it to SB.  My week was last week, and in particular there were two days that just killed me, but I got through them and there is nothing that can stop me now!  So try to pick out a week, call it “your week” and punch it in the mouth!

Good luck,

Mr. Gray

(Yes ladies and gentlemen, those are my smart glasses. When I put them on I feel inclined to write about something ingenious-well maybe that’s a stretch).

As you sit there right now reading this what are you thinking? Let me tell you, most likely if its not the weekend you are thinking, “Man, I like this Zach Gray and his blogs, but I wish it were the weekend.” And if its already the weekend you are sitting there thinking, “Man, I like this Zach Gray and his blogs, I just wish I had a longer weekend to read more of his stuff.” Yea, maybe you do or don’t like me, but that’s beside the point; the real issue is how much we as human beings love the weekend! So what can we do to increase overall joy in human life? Give us more weekend!!! How can one deny that this is a good idea? There are several reasons for which I believe that the weekend should be extended…

So, I propose a 4-day workweek and and 3-day weekend. All we would need to do is take the 40-hour/5-day workweek and make it a 40-hour/4-day workweek. If you do the simple math it simply means that you work 10 hours a day rather than 8. What is 2 hours a day? Its definitely worth another day of weekend fun! Schools and colleges should do the same thing as well. College students on the high end take about 17 hours per semester, which averages to 3.4 hours of class per day. If we went to the 4-day week students would gain a whole day without class and only have to go to class on average for 4.25 hours per day. Students, what is 0.85 hours (51 minutes) a day? Shoot I know I could just eat a quicker lunch, watch a little less TV, or just not take quite as many naps (although they are great).

What are the positive effects of a 4-day week? One of the biggest benefits is evident when you consider what we in a 5-day week call “hump day.” “Hump day” is Wednesday, the exact middle of the week, the day that when it is over we all feel great because we know we are in the 2nd half of the week. I mean, seriously, everyone loves Thursday and Friday because you know the week is almost over.

“Hump day” as illustrated by this hill above, or can be thought of as the hump of a hippo or camel, can be dissolved into nothing! What do I mean? Well, please consider the following…(Thanks Bill Nye the Science Guy)… What is the middle day between 4 days? There is no middle. So with a 4-day week you fall asleep Tuesday night, and instead of having to get over the hump, or get through Wednesday, you automatically jump to the second half of the week. I know, this really is amazing! Between 11:59:59 p.m. on Tuesday night and 12:00:00 a.m. Wednesday morning you would experience the passingover from the first half of the week to the second half.

Some may ask how this idea of a 4-day work week would affect the economy. I strongly believe that it would help boost the economy. If we simply added Friday to the weekend, Thursday would be the new end of the week and restaurant and movie sales would boost upward on Thursdays. Furthermore, Friday could still be a fun night for people to go out and do things and put money into the economy. Also, does a three day weekend not promote travel? Families will have more opportunities for family vacations. Not only does this help travel agencies, but it helps you! How? You don’t have to drive to work 5 days a week! You drive only 4 days a week. So you have that little extra gas money to spend on something else!!!

So what do you think? I know a shorter week could help depression because people would have an extra day to relax and if they need to, get more work done for school or their job. This could also give people more time to be active and do what they want. What is a more valuable use of time…two hours after work and dinner each night to watch mindless reality TV, or a whole day to go do something productive (build a barn, paint a fence, play flag football with your buds, go shopping-ladies).

So let’s do it people. Let’s demand this reform. We can make this happen.

Let me know what you think, I really am up for suggestions, comments, or criticism.

*Footnote: the idea of a 4-day week is not originally my own, it came from the noggin of a highly respected woman named Jessica Eberwine.

Can’t wait for the weekend!

Catch ya later.

Summer time was great for me! I worked, hung out with my family and friends, relaxed and just took it all in, one day at a time. Man…time really flies when you’re having fun. Now, I’m back at good ol’ AU balancing schedules, hanging with friends and trying to find the time to sleep. My sophomore year has just gotten underway, but it seems like campus has been buzzing for quite some time now. Homework, projects, papers and emails are already beginning to clutter my desk, and campus is already busting with great activities like Disco Dancing and Donuts, Novus Dux Skate Night, and the classic Square Dance. All of the fall sports like football, soccer and volleyball are in the heat of competition, and there are already budding whispers about conditioning for winter sports. After a very informative and VERY busy interest week, the social clubs and campus organizations/groups are beginning to recruit members and plan for the school year. Goodness gracious…so many things and it’s only been the first two weeks! Everything is really falling into place and building a great foundation for a great year. I can already tell that this year is probably going to be a little crazy, but I’m really excited!!!

So why is it good to be on a smaller campus like AU?  Do let me explain… So here’s the scenario… It’s Friday, I am tired because I was up too late on Thursday night for no reason, and I am so ready for the weekend.  So I am taking a quiz in Calculus (so fun! – that’s sarcasm in case you couldn’t tell) and I finish and I am dragging… what do I need?  I need a latte!  So its 11:50 and I have a class at 12:00… I don’t have time! – or do I?   If I hurry, I just may be able to get down to Mocha Joe’s and get a drink and make it to class by 12.  So I rush down there, no one’s in line – phew – I order a Mocha Joe (this is like a regular Mocha only they use chocolate milk to make it rather than regular milk…mmmmm… it’s so delish).  So I hurry, carefully as not to spill my precious Mocha Joe made by the one and only Mocha Joe’s, over to Hartung for my next class and I sit down.  I see kids in the room…but only a few… I look at my phone to see what time it is.  I was five minutes early!

And you’re asking me…so what?  You tell me on what other campus in the world can you get to the dining hall, get a first class latte, and get to class in FIVE minutes.  It’s amazing… I love it.

If you’re at a big school you barely have time to breathe between classes because you have 10 minutes to make a 15 minute walk.  I mean, if you’re at IU you may have to take the bus to class, do they serve lattes on the bus? I think not.

Well there you go… one more reason why AU rocks my socks off!

Thanks

Zach

 

P.S. The colder it gets the more you enjoy the small campus J

So my new favorite thing about college is the freedom I have to do my homework just whenever and wherever I feel like it!  If I want to get up at 6 in the a.m. and go to a computer lab and type up a paper I can!  If I want to go to Mocha Joe’s on weeknights and do my math homework I can do that too.  Heck, if I want to go sit outside in the rain and read my Western Civilization history book I can.  Personally, I like to try to start my paper at 10 in the p.m. which really means I start at midnight and finish at 4 the next morn.

So right now (even though many people are out having fun at the Fall Festival which is full of “Hayrides, pumpkin carving, apple bobbing, sack races, tricks, and treats…”) I am sitting at my desk in my boxers, listening to music, waiting for my laundry to finish, typing my blog and starting my research paper on war no one can do anything about it – sure you can all laugh and make fun of me, but I am in the mood to work.  So why am I in my boxers?  Well… so I was down in the basement putting a load of laundry in (and remember I live on the 4^th floor) and I pulled out a pair of dirty jeans and dropped them in and then “Crud!” I just realized that I was wearing a pair of jeans for like the third day strait (yes that’s sanitary…my mom told me so!).  And don’t get me wrong I have enough jeans to get through the next week, but these were a brand new, awesome, free (I won a $50 Old Navy gift certificate as a door prize at the Career/Job Fair here on campus last week) pair of jeans.  So, by now you probably forget what I was talking about, but the point is I had to wash the jeans and instead of making the hike of 5 flights (64 steps) of stairs to get some pants to put on I decided just to throw them in and go back up to my room in my boxers. 

So this is a lame picture of my workspace I know… but there was no one else around on a Friday night to take it for me…

On a more serious note, my real point is that Anderson University offers its students a lot of freedom in choices they (we) make.  Not only do I have the freedom to go to certain computer labs at any hour of the night to study, but I have learned that I am very free to disagree.  Yes, this is a Christian atmosphere, but it’s a very welcoming one.  There are tons of people here and we all don’t believe in exactly the same things, but that’s ok.  In my Honors Class we focus on Just War Theory and Pacifism.  We often discuss how the Bible views war, and how we each interpret the Bible.  I have found out that it doesn’t matter if you have views that are very different from everyone else, the professors and the students here are all very open to each other’s ideas.  Furthermore, just this Wednesday we were having our Focus Group here on 4^th floor and we began discussing a few passages in the Bible.  Some people had some serious questions about the Bible, and at Anderson University no one is scrutinized for asking tough questions about faith. 

In conclusion I just want to brag about how open and how awesome of a school this really is. 

I must now go switch over my laundry and get on to my much dreaded paper on war… eww… so its not my favorite subject, but its still a fun class.

 

I truly wish all of you a wonderful weekend,

 

Zach

 

You know what’s really cool (besides ice cream and naps)?  Having something in school to get excited about.  This year is the very first time for the Anderson University Honors group, and it has been tons of fun so far.  The group consists of me and 17 other freshman who had to submit applications and do an interview to get in the Honors Program.  Yea…I know… its scary thinking that I made it in.  To start the year off we all came to AU before the rest of the freshman and spent three days together doing super fun activities.  We got to explore our personality traits and learn how we can best work with others.  The most fun activity we did was getting to decide what we would do in one night if we could do anything we wanted to.  There were two groups, and one group wanted to rent an island for the night and have a bit party while the other group wanted to use a time machine and travel everywhere in the world in one night.  The Honors program requires that we students take one special class together each semester.  This semester we are taking War and Peace in Western Civilization taught by Dr. Murphy and Dr. Radaker and we meet five days a week.  We delve into many topics relating to past and current wars.  It actually is very interesting.

Besides being extremely smart, I have found that all of these honors kids (adults…nope we’re still kids) are just flat out awesome people.   We have had so much fun hanging out and going and doing stuff together.  Last weekend we had dinner at Dr. Radaker’s house and then some of us went to Indy to a sports comedy club which turned out to be a blast.  Its kind of funny because I have heard other people talking about the Honors Program group as a “cult” because we do so much stuff together.  Don’t worry were not a cult, we just exclude everyone else from things we do together (just kidding).

 

It has been great meeting so many new people and making awesome new friends.  Knowing that I get to spend one hour each day in class with these people gives me a little more motivation to get up in the morning. 

 

Zach