Hey guys.

I am sad to report that the Black Llamas (my intramural soccer team) posted their first loss to close the regular “season”.  We still get to play for first place in the playoffs, but it ruins our perfect season. I’m placing the blame on the fact that I have been watching my weight for my first wrestling tournament this weekend and haven’t walked through the doors at Chipotle in quite some time. Bottom line, we’ve been slacking on our training and I’ll be sure to get one of those burritos first thing when I get back from my tournament.

On a lighter note, advising season began last week and scheduling for classes next semester begins over the next few days.  This means that the semester is almost over! But that’s not the only good thing about advising season. Since I’m in the Education Department, I need to fulfill course requirements for both my major, History, and for the Education Department. After not looking at the course maps for each department for a while, I tend to forget what all I need to get done still before I graduate.  So when advising comes around, and I meet with both my advisors, I get a mental refreshment on the remaining course loads for my time here at the Mount.  And this semester I was pleasantly surprised! I wasn’t supposed to graduate on time due to a change in majors, but I have caught up my classes and am now on my way to graduating in four years. That’s great news! I won’t have to fork over an extra semester of tuition!  And I owe all this to my advisors. I sort of bounced around with my major advisors because I changed majors, then my history advisor was on sabbatical so I had a stand in. Now, I have my usual history advisor. I also have my Adolescent Young Adult (AYA) Education advisor that has really helped me stay on track and get things taken care of on time.

If any of my advisors read this, Jim, Buffy, Dr. Lynch, and Dr. West, thanks a lot and I appreciate the hard work you all have done to keep me on track!

To the rest of you, I’ll get back to ya next week!

>Eric M.

            I think transferring schools was the greatest thing I've ever done. It has allowed me to really “buckle down” and work on improving my grades, a year of weightlifting and I don't lose a year of eligibility. It's nice being able to go to school leave then all I have to do that night is study. Don't get me wrong I love and miss football but that's just the way NCAA guidelines work. To keep me in the football mentality I decided to participate in the school's intramural flag football. We play on Thursdays and it's a lot of fun. We've only had one game so far (one being canceled due to Hurricane Ike) but my team The Agents are 1-0. If you'd like you can follow our season by going here

”http://msj.edu/view/athletics/intramural-sports/fall-2008---thursday-flag-football.aspx”.

You don't have to be an athlete to play because I would say there are just as many athletes as non athletes. There are people that have never played football ever to people who've played up through high school Gender doesn't matter either there are girls that participate as well. I've done pretty well scored a TD but one of the best things about it is that it keeps me in shape. It's easy to come in as a transfer or freshman like myself and not know anyone so when your out there playing your naturally making friends. It's always good to be out and meeting people and even though i'm pretty introverted football is a good icebreaker.

Hey guys!

The third week of school is underway and everything is pretty much business as usual. I’ve had my first couple quizzes and larger papers due and I have a presentation due this Saturday in one of my Education courses.  Kinda stressful. But it’s alright, intramurals start tonight!

For those of you that don’t know, the Mount offers a wide variety of intramural sports.  This includes soccer, dodgeball, volleyball, basketball, pickleball, cornhole, and many others. All you need to do is get a few friends together, create a roster, and sign up! And the best part is, it’s totally free. Well, I guess the price is included in your tuition, so you might as well get your money’s worth!

 A bunch of my buddies got a soccer team together this year and we are lookin good! We have some big expectations.  I played soccer for Oak Hills High School for a couple years, but the majority of the team has little to no soccer experience.  But they all have talent and we have an intense training and conditioning schedule that consists of walking from the car in the parking lot of Chipotle and increasing our carb and protein intake by eating one of those HUGE burritos.  This workout plan has proved effective in past intramural seasons and I’m sure it will this year too. I’ll let ya know how it works out for us.

On a slightly more serious note, if you are planning on coming to the Mount, be sure to look into the intramurals.  It’s a fun way to get involved and it’ll give those of us who are slightly competitive in nature to compete during the offseason. 

>Eric M.