well its coming down to it! there is less than two weeks left of this semester and i'm ready for it to be finalized! i don't know how i managed it but i have not had one test all semester and I have no schedulded exam to take. I have one final project, 2 final papers, and 2 more concerts, and then i'm done! my last event for campus minisitry was last night. I also had my first concert for college chorale last night. our final concert is tonight in the mater dei chapel at 7:30. we had our concert for mount singers on the wednesday before thanksgiving break and our final show will be next friday after the semester is over when we perform at the festival of lights. my final project is for my flameworking class and oh my goodness i am ready to finish it! i'll have a picture of it on here SOON! My final papers are for Ethics and Religion and they are both on their way to be done! I've got these next two weeks to focus on preparing myself for next semester: i can set time away for work, homework, exercise, sleep if need be, and clubs/organizations. I'm ready to start the next semester. I'm ready to take on new challenges. I'm ready to learn new material. I'm ready to further my education. I'm ready!

This winter break is going to be awesome! when i was home for thanksgiving break i was able to go in to my work at Hallmark from the summer and tell my manager about my availability for the winter break and she told me my name is still in the system! i'm happy! I need that job!

 only two more weeks left - I'm making it work!!!!

Hey guys!

It is officially wrestling season!  The team kicked off the season this past weekend at the Eastern Michigan University Open Tournament up in Ypsilanti, Michigan.  We took about 30 guys up to EMU on Saturday to compete with some very tough teams. Most teams in attendance were NCAA Division I teams.  As some of you know, the Mount is a NCAA Division III team, so competing against Div. I is pretty exciting.  Not many Div. III teams get to see that kind of competition. 

The day started off early, with weigh ins around 7 a.m. and wrestling beginning around 9. The tournament was broken into two divisions, the freshman sophomore division (comprised of freshman and sophomores), and the open division (everyone else).  Being a junior, I competed against the upper classmen, facing four Division I opponents, three of which were starters for their team.  I ended the day with two wins, taking out the Cleveland State starter and his backup. As a team, we faired pretty well considering the competition level we were facing. We ended the day with about 25 wins total, which is pretty good in my book! We had two champs in the freshman sophomore division, Dave Harris at 149 and Corey McGrady at 184.  Congrats to these two!

The day ended around 6 p.m. and we had a 4 hour bus ride back home. I am pretty happy with the trip.  It’s always nice to compete against some of the best athletes in the sport and know you can hang with them, that’s how well head coach Casey Stouffer trains us here at the Mount. 

If you’re interested in the stats of the tournament and how the season progresses from here, you can check out our info on the Mount’s website under athletics and I thank you for your support!

>Eric M.

We're in our second week of school, about to start the third and I'm already starting to feel the pressure of school weighing down on me. I have homework out the wazoo and so many things for CAB and Dateline that it's driving me insane. I'm sure I don't want it any other way, I get bored way too easily and if I keep my work load heavy then I won't get bored and I'll be able to have a lot of fun doing a lot of things even though it doesn't seem like I'm having that much fun- but I totally am. :) LOL

 But this was a good weekend for me! I went to the Mount's first home football game yesterday and we beat the Wilmington Quakers 21-7 so that was pretty awesome! I went with my friends Sam, Jimmie, Tom, Nicole, and others. We had a ton of fun hanging out in the perfect 80 degree weather! :)

 Then today we went to the Newport Aquarium. When I say we, I mean the executive board of the CAB (Campus Activities Board). There was: Ally the president, Brittany the VP, me as publicity, Molly our secretary, Brittani our Cincinnati Connections Chair, then also James and Justin our 'assistants', then also Tim Bessler, the Assistant Dean of Students. We got to go on a private tour of the Aquarium. We were checking out the space for the upcoming Spring Formal on April 18, 2009. Dates fill up fast for functions at the Aquarium so we had to act fast and we had a ton of fun this morning! We were seeing things most people don't get to see on a normal trip there and we were talking about some amazing things we can do for our dance. One thing that I know I'm super psyched about is the animal encounter. We have the chance to get a penguin or two to come and hang out with us during the dance! They come in a little wagon that says penguin mobile on it and then we can take pictures, pet, and 'play' with them in about 25 minute increments. I am SO excited about that! I mean I know the dance is a fars way off and we have to get through Homecoming first (October 24th) but this is just so exciting and so different from what the Mount is used to that I am just dancing out of my skin trying to be patient and wait for this to happen! This is gonna be one THE premiere events that CAB will be putting on this year and I am just SO excited! (Can't you tell!? Alright, alright. I'm shutting up! lol)

 Later tonight I get to hang out with my family as they come to visit me. My mom really misses me and even though we talk every day, she still misses me. Dorming is different than living at home, obviously. But it's different in the fact that I feel like I'm living in some sort of weird hotel kind of thing and that if I want to go home, I can at any time. I just really miss my pets (two cats, Milo and Domino, and my dog, Ranger) and sleeping in my own bed... But this is where being busy comes in and that way I don't have too much time to think about all those things and those people that I miss the most...

 It's a goregous day outside and I can hear through my open window the soccer game going on in the stadium across the way. I feel like going outside and doing whatever I feel like... So go out and enjoy the sunshine and blow off some start of term steam! :) 

The first is me and Tom at the game. Tom's a fellow blogger. The second is the final score of the football game. The third are two of the penguins that could visit us at Spring Formal. And the last is part of the ballroom that the Aquarium has that we can use if we so decide to. :)

I thought I would catch you guys up on happenings in the art department.  The Interior Design department just hired on a new faculty member Elizabeth Bartley.  Now we have two full time professors and three part time.  Kim Burke and Elizabeth Bartley have taught me studio classes.  Nodas Papadimas has taught me one studio class, Construction Technologies, and is currently teaching me Environmental Technologies.  Leeann Thomas who works for DEI taught me Drafting 2 and Rendering.  And lastly Nauman Mysorweala taught me AutoCAD and Advanced AutoCAD. 

Adjusting to each persons teaching style has always in the beginning taken some adjustment on the students and teachers part.  But each semester I have come out with such a wonderful appreciation for each one of my professors.  Each one of them has taught me invaluable information that I will always carry with me.  I look up to many of them as sources of inspiration and try to emulate their own philosophies but also integrate them into my own. Currently Elizabeth is teaching my studio class, and we are working on creating a Boutique Hotel for baby boomers.  Elizabeth again brings such a different dynamic to our classroom, but it’s a really wonderful, refreshing approach to design.  She is really able to challenge you in a design perspective but also on an intellectual level that completely correlates to the design problem.  I think Elizabeth will fit in well and really become a great resource for us. Well I think I pretty much caught ya up!