This weather is great…knock on wood, if you can knock on the finest oak you can find, or better yet go outside and get a real living tree (I find it works the best). But seriously people, the weather has been teasing us ALL year. Every time that I think its getting nice out, the warm weather only lasts for a day or two. But this time I think Spring is really here! And you know what I love about spring?

Of course you don’t thats why I am going to tell you…It seems that this wonderful weather just puts everyone in an extraordinary mood. People are so influenced by the weather that I think you could get away with about anything… I think I could default on a couple loans and the bank would just be so giddy from the weather that they wouldn’t care. Heck, I could probably get away with not turning in my paper due tomorrow, not going to chapel, not wearing a shirt to class, starting a food fight in the MP, or even forking President Edwards front lawn.

I hope you all realize that I wrote that last paragraph facetiously and I am really not going to do any of that stuff. And on a side note (which I am sure you have realized by now my brain works in side notes…I don’t really stay on topic that well) a really love the word “facetiously” and I think I am going to tell you what I say every time I use the word. Are you ready for it? If you look at “facetiously” closely there is something unique about the word…Can you see it? Look again… “facetiously“… that’s right it has every vowel in order in the word!!! How exciting! And on a side note to my side note, I have recently heard that not only is y considered sometimes a vowel, but now w is considered sometimes a vowel…yea I think its weird. The reasoning behind this I’ve heard is that because…well let me just show you what I found on a forum at (http://www.englishforums.com/English/WhenIsWAVowel/mwbn/post.htm)

A good reason to include Y and W as vowels (vowel letters, actually) is that they pair with other vowel letters to create digraphs which have characteristic sounds. “AY”, “EY”, “OY”, “AW”, “EW”, “OW”. But when not at the end of a word, these are “AI”, “EI”, “OI”, “AU”, “EU”, “OU”. (Of course there are exceptions. That’s how English is!) Because Y and I form a pair that substitute for each other, and W and U also, it’s not such a bad idea to include both when introducing the concept to children.

Furthermore,

…there are two words in the english language that use the letter “w” as a vowel.

The first is “cwm” pronounced “coom” which is the basin at the bottom of a mountain sometimes containing a lake and the other is “crwth” which is an ancient celtic musical instrument. Hope this answers your question.

So yea I am really off topic now but I hope you all learned something from me today! WAIT there is one more useless fact I have for you…The longest word you can type on one letter of your keyboard is indeed “typewriter” and yep you just looked at your keyboard! Haha…too much fun.

Thanks for listening today!

Its been fun kickin’ useless knowledge your way.

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Just kidding….its me, Zach. Like you couldn’t tell from the picture.

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

So…if you have read any of my blogs from last semester, you well know that my roommate and I were addicted to the show Heroes.   Really though, addicted doesn’t accurately describe our craze, it was like catnip for college kids.  We stayed up into the wee hours of the night watching episode after episode from the season 1 dvd.  Well, we have now seen every episode from the 2 seasons, but because of the writers’ strike we haven’t seen a new episode for months now…Luckily, for Christmas my grandparents got me something else that I could hooked on.  I had never heard of it until I opened it, but the Planet Earth dvd set is probably the coolest thing I have ever seen.

If you don’t know, Planet Earth was a BBC Emmy-Award Winning TV series that demonstrates the greatest parts of the earth and wildlife that many of us never see.   Let me tell you, it is UN-BE-LIEVABLE.  I swear I wasn’t even interested in nature that much, but this dvd has really changed that for me.  There are 11 episodes in the set which take you from the North Pole to vast plains, to the depths of caves to the heights of the highest mountains, and even takes you in to the ocean.  The footage in this dvd is amazing.  You all really should see it sometime.  Some of the rarest, most amazing animals are caught on video in their natural habitat, and it rocks my world.

We watched an episode about every night until we were done with them all, and I am not ashamed to say I plan on watching them again.   It hasn’t really taken over my life like Heroes did, but that really is a good thing.

I really encourage you to catch an episode if you can!  I know here on campus a group is getting together to watch it, if you can you should join them!!

And hey, what better way to celebrate man month than a little bit of nature!

So grow a beard and get outside…and if you don’t feel up for spelunking just rent the dvd!

Enjoy life.

Thanks,

Zachary

  Brrrrrr….it is soooo cold! I really am getting tired of this freezing cold weather! I don’t know about you but I don’t like having my nose freeze off on the way to class each day! So just a couple of weeks ago (yea I know I should have posted on the topic sooner, but hey I have been busy) AU had its first on campus dance EVER. Now…before you go and think that we are really uncool, just understand that we have been having dances for AU students for a long time, they just were never allowed on campus. Those headlines in the local newspapers that say “First AU Dance Ever”…well just know that it really wasn’t our first dance. BUT, it was our first on campus which made it a pretty sweet event! Tons of people came to dance (sorry I don’t have any official numbers…hundreds though!) and we all had a great time! I would post some photos but I didn’t take my camera with me because I didn’t really think the girls would dig that. Also at the dance there was a nice little lounge upstairs (the dance was in the gym) where they served cupcakes and coffee and smoothies for free!!! I kinda thought of the upstairs area as a little VIP lounge…only everyone could go there. It was great standing uptop and looking down on the dance floor and watching people act a fool out there! (kinda creepy that I was watching, but really fun to watch those people who tried so hard to dance, but well…you know, couldn’t – dont worry I am one of thsoe people).

Well it was a great time and I look forward to many more in the future!

Peace and love.

#40

 How’s it going?  I hope you all have been having a great break!  After Christmas the basketball team came back to campus for practice and games.  It has been a lot of fun.  Its what athletes dream of when they are growing up:  playing ball and gettin paid…haha just kidding were not geting paid but it is great because all we have to worry about is playing ball.  No class, no homework, just playing basketball and hangin out with the guys.  We go out to eat for lunch and dinner everyday and when were not eating or practicing were sitting in Smith Hall playing Mario Kart 64 for hours on end.  Its been fun too because we have had a big stretch of games.  We played six games in less than two weeks.  And none of us are complaining about that.

Aside from all of the fun, one of our teammates, Josh Bellamy, lost his mother to cancer this past week.  So if you could, please keep he and his family in your hearts and prayers.  Its been a tough time for him, but I think as a team we have been able to lift up his spirits by just being there for him.  Also, cherish your time you have with your loved ones.  I urge you to not take you family for granted, accept their love and let them you know that you love them.  Whenever you can, enjoy being with the ones you love.

To Josh and his family.

God bless.

Hello children.  By now you should all realize that it is almost Christmas time!  And trust me, if you have never experienced Christmas before, it truly is a wonderful time! I am so ready to go home for break and celebrate the holiday.  Decorate the tree, ice and decorate cookies, watch Christmas classics such as Home Alone and Elf, eat ham, drink hot cocoa, and spend time with my family.

The semester is almost over and next week is finals!!!  You know what?  People talk about finals week being horrible, but personally I think its great.  There’s no class, all you have to do is study a little.  The rest of the time you can just socialize with friends, play video games, or play in the snow!  By the way, that snow last week was the best packing snow I have ever seen.  The snow was so wet that you could pack it tight until it was as hard as ice.  I am just glad I didn’t take a snowball to the head or I might have suffered a serious head injury.  I also so some serious snow forts out in the Smith/Rice courtyard that looked pretty sweet.

Anyway…enough of my rambling.  Christmas is only 15 days away!  So start getting excited (well keep studying for finals too) and start listening to your Christmas music and watching your Christmas movies!  And hey… I better start seeing some Christmas sweaters!

Ho ho ho…

º¿º Zach

Hey everyone! Today I come to with kind of a complaint, and I hope you will hear me out. First, you must know that I am kind of a computer nerd…yea I admit it. I have been using the computer as long as most of us have been walking. When you were playing with your matchbox cars I was screwing up the computer so badly that dad had to take hours to fix it (usually I would just change the color schemes in Windows 3.1 so badly that everything was the same color so you couldn’t tell what any of the text on the icons said).

Haha…yea thats really me! I was blonde for a while.

So anyway…back to my complaint.  So being someone who likes to use the computer and appreciates all that if can do, I really am angry AIM (AOL instant messenger).  For those of you who have used AIM (which I assume is just about all of you) those two stupid noises it makes when you send and receive messages drive me NUTS!!! Its just stupid.  The only purpose I can ever see for the received message noise is if you would happen to be away from the computer in your room, but that doesn’t happen very often.  I mean is AOL trying to make us feel better by giving us a happy little “do-doo” when we receive a message?  Do we really need that to boost our self-esteem (”yes i just got an IM”)?  I mean if you’re sitting at your computer you already get AIM blinking at you from the program bar in bright orange (the program bouncing up and down on the dock if you’re using an Apple).  Is that not enough?  Do we need the sound?  Come on people, I really don’t think we do.  So let me help you…go to AIM (if you’re using 6.5.5.2, otherwise it may be slightly different) click on Edit…then Settings..then on the left side there should be a button that says Sounds…the just select the two boxes that say play no sound when I receive/send a message.  By doing this you will not only become more indie (or cooler because you’re different), but you will also be doing your roommate(s) and friends down the hall a favor.  I mean come on, we are all adults here, we don’t need to publicly let one another know when we send and receive instant messages.

Anyway… I really need to step off of my soap box (I am really sorry if I complained a lot today, at least I was a cute lil’ kid right?).  But, I hope you all understand my point, which is that we need to be aware of those stupid little obnoxious things computer programs do, and know that almost all of the time you CAN turn those features off.  Just because AOL came out with undoubtedly the most famous computer sound “You’ve got mail!” (I mean they did make a movie about it) doesn’t mean that all of their sounds are great ideas!

So make a decision now please…either turn those silly sounds off or start saying “doo-do” after every sentence you say when talking in person or over the phone.

Thanks for listening!

“doo-do”

Hello friends.

Sorry it has been so long since I have posted, but my computer’s power supply went bad and I have been in the process of getting a new one and putting it in my computer for at least a week. And then once I finally got it working it was Thanksgiving break and I couldn’t use it. Phew…its feels good to back in the blogoshpere.

So I hope you all had a wonderful break. I was here on campus for the majority of break due to our Thanksgiving Sam Pierce Classic in which we played a game on Friday and Saturday and were victorious in both. Over the weekend the basketball players who live on campus have to live in Smith Hall because its the only dorm that is kept open, and hanging out in the dorm with all the guys was a lot of fun. We hooked an XBOX up to the big screen TV and played a lot of Halo.

As for the actual holiday, I don’t know about you guys, but I chowed down on some great food. Turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, green beans, ham, stuffing, and my favorite…rolls (wow I think I ate one every 15 minutes for 6 hours straight…yes I felt a little full). And then…we had dessert…mmmmm boy. And besides all the great food, it was great to get to spend quality time with my family, and engage in some great games of Euchre.

Well everyone its great to have you all back on campus as it was a little lonely this weekend. I hope you all had a great break!

I leave while giving thanks…

Zach

Soo… let’s say it’s 8:00 in the evening, you have a big paper due tomorrow morning and all that you have done is type your name at the top of the page. But, nonetheless you are just not in the mood to type a paper. So what can you do to waste time until you are ready to start typing? Let me give you my top 10 list of things to do that waste time…

10 – Go to facebook and click on a person’s name who is your friend. Then look at their list of friends and click on one of them. Continue this trend until your right finger is sore.

9 – Go download the StumbleUpon toolbar, and then click the icon that takes you to random super-sweet web sites every time you click it. (If you don’t know what I am talking about go to stumbleupon.com and download the toolbar and start wasting time!!!)

8 – Go to youtube. And if you don’t know whose videos to watch then check out some Dave Barnes videos (http://youtube.com/user/THEdavebarnes)

7 – Pop in Mario Kart 64 and play for hours.  If you get bored invite some friends in for a battle.

6 – Walk down the hall and try to find anyone that is available to talk.  If no one is around, then go to another floor.

5 – Check your email…if there is none, wait 5 minutes, check again.

4 – Stare at your computer screen and wait…WAIT…for someone to IM you.  I guess if you get the nerve you could IM someone on one of your 7 instant messaging programs.

3 – Study your fantasy football team and the available players in your league.  Keep studying until your team is as good as possible and you have memorized all of the important fantasy news.

2 – Start watching a new TV series on DVD.

1 – Go to the Haven to get some food, come back to the room and eat it.  Then, do one of the 9 above for 10 minutes and then go back to the Haven for more food.  Repeat until you feel sick.

Hey if these 10 don’t help you efficiently waste time then you could always read my blog!!!

Thanks for listening!

Z

 WARNING…it’s getting cold.  Don’t be fooled by this mild weather we have been having lately people, its still November tomorrow.  I think we are all getting fooled by this not so super cold weather.  When the cold comes it’s going to hit us all hard.  So what can we do? Well all that I can tell you is to be prepared, don’t think you can get by with we a long sleeve t-shirt and a pair of shorts.  Nuh uh.  Not gonna happen.  As I started searching for warmer clothes these past few weeks I got excited to find all my hoodies.  Hoodies are sweet (awesome, great, super-duper, enter your favorite adjective)!!!  I even went and bough a brand-new one from the bookstore. 

Hoodies, also known as a hooded sweatshirt, hoody, or bunny hug (wow who came up with that?), in their modern form originated in circa 1930.  The first ones were produced by Champion for laborers in frozen warehouses in New York.  Its popularity grew tremendously in the 1970s, at the same time that hip-hop was becoming popular in New York.  Also beneficial to the success of the hoodie was its appearance the movie Rocky.  Furthermore, it was very popular first in California where young skateboarders and surfers often wore hoodies.  The popularity then spread east.  The characteristics of the hoodie were evident in the Middle Ages:  formal clothing for Catholic Monks included a cowl, or long, decorative hood wore in addition to the robes.  The hoodie is characterized by a hood, a large frontal pocket, often a string in the hood to adjust the size, and sometimes a zipper in the front.  

The hoodie is quite possibly the most versatile garment of clothing on the planet Earth.  You can choose to wear the hood on your head and place your hands in the large front pocket for maximum warmth, or you can choose to put the hood down if it’s not so cold.  You can wear a nice hoodie (possibly one with a zipper or bottons) from your favorite animal-logo store (ie. American Eagle (the eagle), Abercrombie (the moose), Hollister Co. (the Seagull), Aeropostale (the cute lil’ dog), etc.) with a pair of jeans and you’re ready to go out a movie or dinner or whatever.  Meanwhile, you can wear a sports logo hoodie or a university hoodie with a pair of sweats for a more casual looks.  No matter what type of hoodie you are wearing, one of the advantages is that you can use the hood as a pillow when tired.  You just bunch the hood up in a ball on one shoulder and then rest your head there.  It makes for a good on-the-go pillow.  Furthermore, that front pocket is great.  Look how much stuff you can fit in there.  Phone, wallet, keys, deck of cards, a slice of pie, a Ricker’s soda-pop, your toy matchbox cars, your collection of bottle caps, and even you favorite stuffed animals!  Really though…that thing is a lot bigger than it looks!

So the bunny hug (if you don’t know what this is scroll back to the top and read more carefully this time) really is great, isn’t it!  I know I love it.  I am just going to leave you with this piece of advice…while doing research for this blog (no I don’t have all of this useful information in my head) I found that hoodies are looked down upon in the UK because many thieves use them when stealing as to hide their faces from security cameras.  Some shopping malls have even banned people from wearing hoodies. 

Soooo…if you go to the UK be careful wearing hoodies as you may be suspected of theft or being part of some thug society.

That’s all for now.

It’s cold, go buy a hoddie!