So Thanksgiving break went by in the blink of an eye. Before I knew, I was sleeping in my bed at the dorms and I was preparing for the torturous Monday that I just encountered. 

But my break wasn’t all that bad, but I’m certain I’ve had better. I went home Tuesday night after my ASL class and slept at home that night. Then Wednesday morning at 6:30 AM, my mom and I made the 4 ½ hour drive to Pigeon Forge, TN, to meet up with some of her friends to hang out for a bit. We shopped, went out, and just had some good general girl fun (say that ten times fast lol). They ended up going home on Wednesday night but Mom and I spent the night in Tennessee. Then on Thursday morning, Thanksgiving, we went up through Gatlinburg, surprised there were people out and shops were open, but we went up into the mountains to Cade’s Cove and drove around on the path up there observing the natural scenery. It took three hours to drive the 25 miles up the mountains, the 11 mile trail, and the 25 miles back into Gatlinburg. It was excruciatingly slow but my mom and I had fun in the car making fun of all the other holiday drivers. ;) We ended up leaving for home at 2:30 PM and got to my aunt’s house at 7 PM. We were tired, I was hungry, and I was exhausted from driving in the car for almost 8 hours (Cade’s Cove trip + the drive home). The Thanksgiving meal at my aunt’s was good and we had fun hanging out and just being goofy. For example, my uncle had my two younger cousins, Lexie who is 8 and Jake who is 4, put on a circus and do acrobatic tricks for us in the middle of the living room. Of course, my other cousin, Sean who is 1, wanted to join in and he tried doing his own flips, unsuccessfully might I add.  

Friday was Black Friday and my mom and I went out again and shopped till my feet just about fell off my legs. It was fun though and I got some gifts for people crossed off my list so it was productive to say the least. Then on Saturday my brother and I spent 4 hours raking leaves for my mom (she’s showing up a lot in this isn’t she? Wow… lol). Of course, on Sunday we were looking out into the expansive backyard and my mom said, “Wow… it looks…” and I said, “Desolate.” And she said, “No. I was gonna say pristine.” Lol But later she did say it looked a bit desolate so ha! She agreed with me! Lol I like the leaves on the ground, just as much as I like snow on the ground. I just don’t like to clean either of them up, but again, who does? J 

Sunday I spent the day watching the Bengals lose again, but what else is new? I also watched the Steelers-Patriots game so that was fun. I like both teams so I didn’t care who’d win (I’ll prolly get flack for that later but oh well). Then I came back to school for school this week and the exams are next week so… 

Only four more full school days left and four exam days and then break! I’m going on vacation with three of my girl friends from Friday, Dec. 12^th-Sunday, Dec. 14^th, so I am really looking forward to that! But it’s getting down to the wire and I am stressed beyond belief but I really don’t have that much to do. I just need to calm down and breathe and I’ll be fine. That is some good advice for everyone though. J Until next time, breathe evenly and deep and all will be fine… J Now, if I can just remember that for myself… ;)

Hey everyone!

Turkey day is rapidly approaching and I have to say it is one of my most favorite holidays.  It might have something to do with the fact that I love to eat and always put my diet on hold during the season to enjoy Thanksgiving as much as possible.  My reasoning for this is that I am extremely thankful for how fortunate I am to be able to stuff my face and spend time with my family. So my weight cutting for wrestling can wait. Sorry Coach.

As I said, I am extremely thankful for all the things I have:  heated house, a great family, warm clothes, food, clean water, great friends, an amazing girlfriend, and a caring church among other things.  Many people are not as fortunate as I am and Thanksgiving usually reminds me of these people more than any other time of year.  This week is Homelessness Awareness Week and the College of Mount St Joseph is hosting a week full of events to share homeless perspectives with the students and the rest of the community. 

The week starts with a representative speaker from the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless. Homeless experiences will be shared, followed by a question/answer session about life on the streets. “Street Vibes”, a newspaper written by the homeless of Cincinnati, will also be available.  Tuesday, the movie “Dark Days” will be shown. This film is biographical documentary about homeless who live in abandoned tunnels in New York. Then Wednesday, the Mount’s Quad will turn into Shantytown.  Students will make shelters out of cardboard in the Quad and participate in a mock soup kitchen.  Then the students will actually spend the night in their cardboard shacks outside in the elements!  The week ends with a candlelight vigil in Shantytown on Thursday night and a reflection on connections between homelessness and our faith and how we are called to help the homeless. 

This whole week will hopefully raise awareness of the seriousness of the homeless situation, not only in Cincinnati, but all over the country, especially when so many jobs are being terminated these days.  I know I’m going to try to make an effort to help out in some way.  I’m not too sure how just yet, I’m involved in a small food drive type event at my church that is gathering items to host a Thanksgiving dinner for needy families, but I’d like to do a little more.  I would like to call on any of you reading this to try to help out a little as well. Any little thing helps.

Let me give you an example of something my cousin, Paige, did a few months ago.  Paige took about forty bucks and bought a handful of gift cards to Arby’s.  She took the gift cards downtown and just walked around.  If she crossed paths with a homeless person, she would ask them if they liked Arby’s and give them a gift card.  Then she would hang out and talk with the people and get to know them a little. She heard some pretty crazy stories along with some real heartbreakers.  Paige has done this a few times now and it has gotten to the point where if she’s downtown, she has people coming up to her and thanking her for the gift cards and the meal they purchased with them. 

I have a lot of respect for my cousin for doing this and I hope that I can find the time and money to do something half as decent as what she did.  I challenge you to do something too!

Have a great week!

>Eric M.

Hey guys!

For those of you who don’t know, Cincinnati recognizes daylight savings time.  This means that that a couple weeks ago, we all turned our clocks back an hour to allow for more light in the morning.  It was designed to save on energy for the workplace. But I have a problem with this.

This time of year is obviously wrestling season (my earlier blogs might have clued you in on that) and we have morning and afternoon practice.  Morning practice takes place early enough that I’m still driving in the dark to get to practice and afternoon practice takes place just late enough to be dark once again on my way home. The constant darkness starts to take its toll and get a tad depressing.  And all this on top of the stress of school, wrestling, family obligations, and a combination of all three.  School work is getting tougher, I need to make weight every week now, and the holidays draw a lot of work and time at home. 

But guess what? I have some tips on how I avoid getting stuck in the rut of depression caused by all this stuff.

First and foremost, in regards to wrestling and making weight, I watch what I eat very closely.  I’m nothing close to a doctor, so don’t take my word for anything, but the way I keep my diet helps my energy levels.  I take a B vitamin complex, which helps with the healthy maintenance of the nervous system among other things. I also take my protein shakes that help my muscles recover to keep my body from hurting too much more.  Bodily pain tends to weigh heavy on your mind and keep you from focusing.  I also take ice baths to help my muscles recover quicker as well. 

Along with the supplements, I keep my vegetable and protein intake high and sugar, sodium, and carbohydrate intake low. I don’t know how much this affects my mood, but it helps me make my weight.

In regards to the other factors, I make sure I go to every class (I have yet to skip a class this semester) so that way I don’t get buried in missed work or struggle to find the notes for the missed lectures.  This is hard to do. The last thing I want to do is wake up from a hard practice and get to class. But you gotta make yourself do it.  Speaking of waking up, sleep is vital! I try to get as much sleep as I can, which usually falls between 4 and 5 hours a night, which I know is too low.

Other helpful tips to keep energy levels up that I have found to be successful include a workout routine and chill time.  I’ve found a regular workout routine (as long as it’s not too intensive) increases my energy levels and happiness.  Chill time for me would include napping, watching a movie or two, and talking and hangin out with my girlfriend, Katelyn, and my teammates and friends.  Video games, meditating, listening to music, and other enjoyable activities tend to help as well.

Well I gotta try to increase my sleep time tonight! I hope this might help you cope with the long, cold, sometimes depressing winter months. Just remember, spring is just around the corner!

See ya!

> Eric M.

Cars. I hate them so much sometimes. So last year I was a commuter, and not once did I ever have any kind of car trouble. Like, none at all. The worst it ever got was when I took an hour and 15 minutes to get to school on the first major snow of the year and people were sooooo slow getting places on the highway. I got to class half hour later. That's the worst that I can remember... 

But as soon as I move into the dorms! Then that's when the car decides to be a pain in the butt! Ugh... I've never had a real good history of cars so far... I tend to be on the paranoid side of cars and I mistrust them- especially when they make noises I don't understand. The first car my parents "bought" me- I had to pay for a quarter of it (combined with my brother, we bought half of the car)- was a 1997 Ford Taurus and it was a P.O.S. We ended up nicknaming the car "Lurch" for obvious reasons. It was literally lurch when it shifted from first to second gear on acceleration. We ended up having to learn how to take our foot off the gas at the right time, just like a manual car with a shifter, just so we could possibly attempt to have a smooth shift from one gear to the next. It was sooo annoying... We ended up having to sell it and we got another car. A 1998 Chevy Lumina (and later that became my car and my brother got a manual 1991 Honda Civic). 

That is the car I still have. It's a good car since it's 10 years old and it only currently has 60,000 miles on it. I've personally put on 16,000 miles on it since April of 2007. But we were doing good, changing the oil, filling the fluids up, changing blades, etc. and spending obscene amounts on gas. (So happy btw that gas is now $2.29!!! It's a drop of almost $2 in 6 weeks- it peaked at the time of the infamous "storm" and I think we all know what I'm talking about) But now its being stupid!!! Let me explain... 

On Tuesday night this past week, my friend Maria and I went out and on the way back, the car decided to "sputter" and jerk forward and back while I was driving. Kind of reminiscent of Lurch. I was riding on empty on gas so I eventually put in like 4 gallons on the way back but that didn't stop it from doing the lurch 4 or 5 times. Then I called my dad, who is not bad at diagnosing car problems, and he said it might be a dirty fuel filter. I fixed that on Wednesday morning and the entire day I drove the car, it didn't do anything. I thought it was fixed. Then on the way home from school I was driving along and I was turning left from Delhi-Fairbanks onto River Road and in the middle of turn, the car did the lurchy thing again. I freaked out. I decided to go slow- under 35 mph- and was gonna stick to slow roads to my house (there's a route through Downtown and follows the river to the East Side that I chose [River Road, Mehring Way, Eggleston, Pete Rose Way, Eastern, Kellogg). It did the lurching thing FIFTEEN (15) times before I had to pull over. On the turn from Eggleston to Pete Rose, I turned, it lurched and didn't stop lurching. At that point I figured out something wrong with the acceleration part of the car- something with the fuel pump or fuel injector. So I pulled over in a parking lot, called my mother, called my father, called my brother, and called a pick-up truck. My mom I had to call so she wouldn't freak out that I was pulled over to the side of a road; my father so he knew the car was going to the shop so he could pay for it ;) for me (we have a very trusty mechanic in Newtown so it's all good); my brother so he could come get me; and tow-truck for obvious reasons. 

The kicker of all this is the fact that my brother's car broke down two weeks ago. It broke down on a Friday, I picked him up, he was without a car for a week, got it back the next Friday and had it break down the following Tuesday. So he got it back on the Friday that my car broke down so we got to drive his car home after we got mine into the shop. Our cars just aren't doing well are they? 

So I'm without a car this week and I have places to go and places to be and I can't get there... :( I hate being without a car and it's annoying having to depend on others to get some place. I was lucky Tom (fellow blogger and a best friend of mine) went home this weekend so I caught a ride back with him on Sunday night. That's a great thing about living less than a mile from one of your best friends. :) 

After all is said and done, I'm without a car, I still don't trust cars, and I much more prefer the movie over the real thing...

Well this weekend is the Mount's homecoming football game! We are playing the Franklin Grizzlies at 1:30 on Saturday. In celebration of the game, the school has several activities going on around the campus. The dorm wars began last night with a presentation of the flags. This past Monday I helped to decorate our floor's flag. We were given a dark green for our color so we decided our team's name would be the Ninja Frogs. A lot of creativity was put in to the flag and because of how much fabric we were given we were able to make headbands and wrist bands for every girl on the floor. I wasn't able to go to the flag presentation, but according to the pictures I'm pretty sure we had the best ! There were a couple other different activities last night to begin the dorm wars. They had a checker/chess tournement, talent show, puzzle making, and more!

There was another big activity on campus today, the Push-Cart Parade. Some of the clubs/organizations at the Mount were given an opportunity to decorate a push-cart to make it look like a float from a parade to represent their club with the Homecoming theme in mind - Monster Mash. As being on the Campus Ministry Leadership Team, I was able to help out with decorating our cart. We were able to find the perfect passage to use for our cart, Revelations 13:1-2: 

"Then I stood on the sand of the sea. I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads. On his horns were ten crowns, and on his heads, blasphemous names. The beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. "

How perfect is it that we the Mount Lions are playing the Franklin Grizzlies for our Monster Mash Homecoming? So our team ended up creating a seven headed lion with a MSJ jersey pouncing over a cowering grizzly bear. The parade today gave us the opportunity to see what kind of creatitivy the clubs have on campus. It was really exciting to see .

Tonight the games will include sand volleyball, knock-out, and cornhole. I unfortunatley won't be able to attend those activities due to my night class but I'm sure it will be a lot of fun! Everyone in the dorms seems to be really excited about the activities! I'm anxious for tomorrow's games because I will actually be able to participate. My roomie and I will be our floor's team for the 3-legged race so it will definitely be interesting! After the activities, we will be having our homecoming dance in which everyone is invited to dress up in Halloween costumes, and for anyone who doesn't already know me, I like pirates! And therefore I will be dressing up as a Pirate Wench !

Then the perfect way to end the week is with the game on Saturday. I'm more than anxious to see the Lions beat the Grizzlies in the best game yet! 

Hey guys!

SO I lied about doing the Habitat for Humanity project last weekend. The plans fell through. BUT we did redeem ourselves as a respectable team by cleaning up the woods and walking trails around the part of campus known as Earth Connections which counted as community service hours.  The mission of Earth Connection is to explore ecology, demonstrate sustainability, and experience spirituality.  The team worked for four hours on Saturday to clean up the downed trees and other debris and decaying material that was left from the “hurricane” a few weeks ago.  It was a pretty cool experience where we got a lot of work done and got a little closer as a team. It’s also very gratifying to do some work without receiving any monetary compensation and doing it for the good of the community.  

Speaking of teams, the wrestling team will be hosting the Blue and Gold Showcase this Thursday, October 23 at 7:00p.m. in the Harrington Center.  This is an intersquad match, where we just wrestle our teammates to allow the school to get to know the team.  This should be pretty cool, there are about 15 matches scheduled and Coach Stouffer got us a spot light to hang from the ceiling of the gym to shine on the mat.  He’s going to turn off the rest of the lights in the gym and just leave the spotlight on. This should be pretty cool! If anyone is semi-interested in wrestling, or the Mount St. Joseph wrestling team, come out and support us Thursday night!

I would advise any who is going to commute to school to make sure their car is checked and maintenance. I bought my '97 Ford Taurus GL right before school started it had seemed to run fine. So it's Wednesday morning the day before my first big test and my car just dies on the highway. I'm sitting and wondering how could this be and I had been ignoring the blinking battery light. I figured I could get it towed to Car-X and be in and out with no problem.

I was wrong I had came in at 8:00 my class was at 10:00 and I didn't end up leaving there until almost 5:30. I made sure I emailed my teacher and she was nice enough to let me make it up on the following day. Back to my point about keeping your car up to date. If I would've paid just $60 in preventive maintenance I would have saved myself time in frustration. I ended up having to pay $370 for a new battery install and a new radiator.

As a commuter living so far away I've started riding the bus. I normally fill my gas tank up at the beginning of the week about $35-40 worth. When I catch the bus I'm paying $4.50 round trip.  $40-13.50= $26.50 in savings and total for the month about $106.

So I was a bad girl on Friday... :) I decided to skip classes (which was only 2) and I went on a field trip with my mom's classroom to a pumpkin patch!

That is one of the kewl things about Cincinnati- we have a TON of pumpkin patches. We went to Shaw Farm off of 131 in Milford (get off at the Milford- theater- exit on 275 and then follow that road straight and you'll eventually hit on your left- go for like 15 minutes) and it has pumpkins, a corn maze, a wooden maze (it's made of wood planks and only has one exit and one entrance right next to each other so you can let your kids go in and you can just stand watching the entrance/exit and they're bound to come out at some point or another), a hay ride you can take, and then a little shop you get candy, goods, food, drinks, and fun stuff in.

While we were there, we went on the hay ride and that was a blast! Then we got to see some animals- goats, a horse, chickens- that looked freaking hilarious! because they weren't the normal kind of chickens, they were ones with a ton of fluff and they looked like they were wearing boots around their feet, and some pigs. We also did a sensory activity. It was a bunch of boxes of corn with hidden objects and you had to find certain ones hidden in the corn. There were also boxes of mixed seeds and you had to identify what seed was what based on a diagram/chart they gave you. We also played in the mazes, played in the wooden "houses" which were just boards put up into house with no roofs so kids could go in and play and stick their heads out of them, found a pumpkin (those little tiny gourd ones- so cute!), and just ran around having fun!

This was also a part of my service hours for one of my classes, Human Exceptionalities. We need 30 hours to get a service learning credit, a free credit toward your total of credits that you can only do 3 times over the course of your 4 (or more) years at the Mount, and I'm working on that right now. So I got 5 hours helping out my mom on a field trip (these kids all have autism in some form or another) and I had fun in the process!!! :)

I love pumpkins!

For Homecoming we got a pumpkin shaped stress ball (just a balloon filled with sand) and it so much fun to play with!!! :)

I am a HUGE football fan! If I get the chance to go to a game, I will. This weekend was awesome because I got the chance to actually go to two games!

The Mount had it's own home game on Saturday night at 6:30 PM against Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and unfortunately we lost 27-21 but it was still really fun. A bunch of my friends were there and my mom even made it to the game. :) We had fun talking, making fun of each, occassionally paying attention to the game, and then my family and my roomie Maria and I went out to each after the game. I love going to games here because the atmosphere is totally awesome and you never short on seeing people you know at the games. It is so fun!!! :D

Then today, I was able to get tickets to the Bengals/Browns game from my dad and I took my friend Sam to the game for her birthday. (Her birthday is in April but since she loves football, it only seemed fair to take her in the fall before her actual bday.) She is an even bigger football fan than I am- especially when it comes to the Bengals. She knows a ton of stats and records of the team and she is addicted to Shane Graham and Carson Palmer. Now while I'm a huge fan of the Bengals, there is still one player I do not like. I'm sure to get a ton of boo's on this but I don't care. I really do not like Chad. And yes, just saying his first name, most people know of whom I am referring to. Chad Johnson. Sorry, correction. Chad Ocho Cinco. That's right. He has legally changed his last name! It's so stupid! So here's a guy getting paid more money in one year than I'll prolly make in a lifetime, playing football. Well, he doesn't even really play! Not well at least. He rarely makes plays and he always seems to be botching the passes. And now, he has the audacity to change his last name. For gosh sakes... get over yourself! O! O! O! And what's more! Even though he has changed his last name, his jersey still says C. Johnson on it! Howdya like that!? I don't know... Whatever... Anywho... Sam and I went to the game and I thought it was going to be disgusting and vulgar because of the hatred the Bengals and the Browns share but it really wasn't that bad. Except for some crass humor walking in through the stadium gates, it really wasn't that bad. Someone did throw a beer bottle onto the field after the Browns scored their second touch down but that person was later ejected from the game... Some people should just really grow up. But it was a TON of fun and I really want to go back soon!

I love fall and I love football games and I especially love them together. I may go to the Bengals/Eagles game coming up or even the Bengals/Redskins game in December. I don't know. We'll see just how much my dad really loves me. ;) (He controls the tix that I'm allowed to use so maybe some good brown nosing- no pun intended- will go a long way) :) 

Pic 1 is me and my Mom at the home Mount football game. Pic 2 is part of the Mount home game. Pic 3 is me and Sam at the Bengals game. Pic 4 is an awesome shot of Shane Graham kicking off after we scored!!! :)

Hey, what’s up everybody!

Life has pretty much returned to normal here in the tri-state area since the “hurricane” hit.  I’m pretty sure everyone has their power back now, although I did hear that some people just got it back TODAY, a week and two days after the storm! That would be terrible! There still is some visible damage to some of the houses around town. My prayers are still with those people.

On a different note, college is truckin on and most people are just taking or getting grades back from their first exams of the semester. Let me use this time to offer up some advice to potential college students, and this doesn’t just apply to Mount St. Joseph’s students:   

           DON’T

                             FREAK

                                          OUT!

A lot of students usually flip out when they are preparing for their first exams. There hasn’t been a lot of time to get to know your professors and identify their teaching style, let alone their assessment style.  True every class is different in the way exams are administered and the types of tests given, but usually students overanalyze the information being tested.  The most important thing to do is ask the professor how the test will be made up. If that doesn’t help, first off, just breathe and then start with studying the broad topics of the information being tested (this especially helps if you fall behind in your readings).  Then if you still have the motivation and time to study, focus on the more in-depth concepts being assessed. 

Just remember that you can only do as much as you can do. That makes a lot of sense, right? But it’s true! If you try to push yourself too hard, you will get stressed and forget half the stuff you studied, and that is just pointless.  So when taking your first exams, relax, take breaks when studying (and often: this keeps you focused), and just do as much as you can.  And worst case scenario, if you do terrible on the exam, you have the rest of the semester to work hard and bring up the grade, because you’ll know what to expect on the next exam!

Life’s too short to stress out over an exam!

>Eric M.