New

Wow, what a holiday season! I had the best intentions of posting, thinking that while I was on vacation I would have plenty of time to do so. My family, and by family I really mean my mom, even asked a couple of times, "Have you made a new video?" But as I was thinking about taking the time to do so I became exaughisted by the idea... I really just wanted to relax and spend time with the ones I love. So, that's what I did.

Now, that I'm back into the swing of things I can blog all about it! So the quick and dirty on my vacation: Christmas at home in Charleston - AMAZING! It was 76 degrees on Christmas day and 78 the day after. Jesus was really blessing me with the weather. It had been almost a year since I'd been home and I was sorely missing the beautiful environment of my childhood. I spent mornings walking on the beach with my mom and our dog rivers, evening catching movies with my stepdad. A couple afternoons with my sister, and a whole day with my dad (which even included a mad dash to the toy store for a replacement for my little brother's gift from santa--a big deal and a lot of fun)! All in all it was so good. At the end of my time there I ended up getting sick with some throat disease, but after a z-pack and some advil I was good to go!

New Years was spent in one of my favorite cities... The Big Apple. And even better it was spent with one of my best friends. Rachel, who has just moved to Manhattan with a sweet law firm doing international law, got us great VIP tickets to an Irish pub right off time square. At 11:30 we ran down the street caught the countdown and the ball... sang Steve Wonder's "It's a Wonderful World" and then partied on. Another treat was that my uncle was in town and so I got to spend some really wonderful time with him, and even got to go hangout in the Zegna showroom. It was beautiful and there were several coats that I fell in love with! Ex.A...

So the holidays were great. I'm now back at home, back at work, and back at school. Speaking of which, I already have an assignment for my new phd course on curriculum. I'm really excited about the course, the prof is one of my favorite in the program and from the reading it seems like the class will be challenging in the best of ways! Thanks for taking the time to catch up with me~ Read. Think. Respond> leave a comment.

Happy Holidays

Hello Blog Buddies!
Sorry I've been out for a few weeks. Work got crazy and then I went on vacation for Thanksgiving. Speaking of.... I hope all of you had a fantastic Holiday. I was able to share mine with some close family members. That's right I packed up the jeep and headed to a little piece of paradise known as "Rockin' Chair Farm" aka my grandparent's house.

Yes, yes... Mom and Papi (my grandparents) are doing well. I am blessed to have them in my life and enjoy every moment I get to spend with them. Along with the great time I had with them my sacrificed the warm waters of Charleston to brave the cold tundra above the Mason Dixon line! Thanks Mom! Additionally my uncle/godfather flew in from NYC. Getting to spend a few days with them was really fantastic. Here's quick play by play:

Day 1- Arrive to the farm-get greeted by the fastest tongue in the north east (Hiedi our german short-haired pointer)
Day 2- Horseback riding and vino
Day 3- Horseback riding (this time in the snow) Italian Dinner (done the right way by my uncle and I)... and more vino
Day 4- TURKEY AND PAPI'S FAMOUS STUFFING.... and the best Vino I've ever had in my life (Howell at the Moon Cab. Sav.)
Day 5- Everyone says emotional good byes and heads home... This is when I actually needed some vino.

Not to be disappointed my mom grabbed some sweet shots of the horse and me... He doesn't seem so small when your standing next to him....

The First Case of Cured HIV

It seems like this past months has been full of firsts for us as humankind. The election of the first black man (GO OBAMA!)as President for the US, the first Female President of Liberia, and now the first person cured of HIV/AIDS! Tremendous strides are made everyday by ordinary people doing extraordinary things. May we all take strength and courage from these people to continue such acts. Check out the story below. Even though it's is small step in the process; it is a magnificent breakthrough and provacator of Hope!

Twilight Series

It's getting cold outside... Check out what I've been reading as I settle in for a long winter.

Haze: A documentary on College Drinking

Do you think the drinking age should be lowered? It's an interesting idea, but I'm not convinced it would help with the current status of student culture. This film shares the devistating reality of student drinking. And take it from someone who knows... this isn't an exageration.

Celebrity Encounter...

Hello, I know it's late but I had to blog about my night.
I think I'm starting to get the hang of this video blogging thing. I hope all of you have a great night's sleep!

Video Blog Experiment

Hello Everyone!!!
So, today I'm trying to figure out how I can video blog. I know it can be done and its probably not that hard, but I have no idea how to do it. What I do know is my new Mac ROCKS, so it has the capability, I just have to get the know how. If all goes well, you'll see a little test video I made? Please comment if you can or cannot see the video, so that I can try to work out any kinks in the system. ~Ciao!

Tina Fay does it again!

Another home run... my favorite part is the direct quote from Palin's actual interview!

SNL Tina Fey and Amy Polar

I imagine most of you have seen this.  I have several times... it is probably one of the best SNL sketches of all time!  

Roots & Wings

Who says you can't talk about Politics with those you love?  Well, it doesn't matter who said it, it's wrong.  This past week I found myself shooting emails back and forth between my mom, grandfather and uncle about some recent political propaganda we were watching/reading.  And these weren't cute, fun, heterogeneous, emails about our overwhelming support for the same candidate.  

With my uncle as a fairly liberal democrat; my grandfather as an experienced retired military republican; my mom as a consistent republican with democratic overtones, and myself as a registered independent who usually falls into the democratic party over issues, but the republican party over theory... suffice it to say that there were all sorts of perspectives!  WHICH WAS THE BEST PART!!!  It is one of the things that as I have grown I have come to absolutely love about my family.  

We encourage open communication about our perspectives... We argue, we bring to the table evidence, and there's always personal life experiences... But we respect each other, listen to each other, and let our opinions grow throughout.  As a 25 year old, I find this type of interaction invaluable!  It is a time when I can come to the proverbial family dinner table as a fully respected member of the family to feast.  I am never made to feel like I should be at the kids table, or that my ideas are foolish.  I am embraced as well as challenged; given roots and wings.  I see that people can completely disagree and still Love each other fully.  This, in and of itself, is an amazing sight... and you know what?  This is where I see it. This is where I see the true answers for making our world a better place, and for restoring God's kingdom.  Right there when I notice the other-centered love that my family can display in the most secret of ways.  This is when I know I am love and so I can love.  My family is only a tiny, broken, mirror of the Love that God has shown us through his Son.  This is where my hope lies, and there is my treasure too.  

Wanna know something funny?  For the longest time, I avoided any  ideologic conflict with my family.  This meant that politics, religion, ideas about right and wrong, were off the table.  How I longed for such discussion.  I was scared that I might lose my family's love if I disagreed with them.  I'll never forget the day my Uncle asked me my opinion about a political matter.  I was shocked by his inquiry into my thinking, my ideas, my understanding.  I felt as if I mattered, I felt valid, I felt like a person.  Don't be afraid to talk to those around you; just make sure you're ready to listen.  All we need is Roots & Wings... Roots to give us support and Wings to let us fly!

Race Against Racism

    371 was the number pinned to my chest, and 30:01 was the time that I finished.  With the wind at my back, the road glistening with last night's rain, and steam rising from my sweat soaked head I participated in Penn State's Annual Race against Racism! 

    This year over a hundred people raced with the top runner wearing a pair of jeans and running a 16:12; second place when to a young man in a bow-tie and suit(16:20)---that's almost three consecutive 5min miles; which makes me sick!  But I was happy with my time and happy that I was able to aid in this worthy cause.  All the proceeds from the race go towards educational and awareness diversity programing done on campus.  It's one small way we can continue breaking down racial barriers and squashing the ignorance that damages so many people's lives.  Plus, what a great way to get a good run in on a beautiful saturday morning.    

New Home

Hello everyone!  

I hope you are all doing well.  Sorry its been a while since my last post... but lets face it:  If any of you work in higher education you can relate to the fact that the months of August and September are dead zones for our lives.  As many of you know I have started my new job and moved into my new home.   AND I LOVE IT!  

For those of you who don't, let me quickly fill you in:  So, not only did I get accepted into the number one Higher Education PhD in the country but then I also got offered a job to work in their res life.  It was far too good to pass up, so I moved about three hours away to the town of State College, PA  and started working/going to school at The Pennsylvania State University.  

That's right I'm rocking it out in the Big Ten, and man is it BIG!  Going from a school of 2,000 to a school of almost 45,000 is quite the shock, but I think I'm getting the hang of it.  So my job is similar to the one that I had at Geneva but larger and more responsibilities.  I oversee three buildings which adds up to about 900 residents.  The area of students I help to oversee with four other people is about 3,000 students.  My new boss is great, he's very supportive and expects a lot but also gives me the freedom to do my job the way I think is best!  I'm still trying to find and build a group of supportive friends, but I am deeply impressed with the people I work around and their care of me and others.  My RA staff is also amazing!  I was a little worried about inheriting a staff, but they have proven themselves to be really great.  So, that's the quick rundown on what I'm doing.  So, if you haven't checked out the trailer I posted below... you really need to!  I met the guy who is organizing this group of artists and this film... the film is great and it is something that the world needs to see.  Join me in becoming an abolitionist, and help to set free the 27 Million slaves world-wide... Because I'm not for sale. You are not for sale.  No one should be for sale.

CHECK OUT THIS TRAILER!

Freecycle: Green and Free!

Recycle, Reduce, and Reuse... a phrase synonymous with the green arrows of the recycling triangle, and you'd be hard pressed to find anyone under the age of 40 not familiar with this mantra; but the newest trend going along with this phrase involves one of my favorite words... FREE!

Freecycle is an easy-to-use system that allows us to unclutter your house, find sweet new-to-you items, and help help the environment all in the same fell swoop. So here's the basic concept: You have something you no longer want, but is still usable... instead of throwing it away-you use an online social network to offer it to others in your area. Its kinda like the Internet version of putting your stuff on the curb to let others pick it up. The best part is this is one way that you can reduce trash, while donating goods that others can use! Its environmentally friendly and a great way to donate to other who may be in need.

Want to try it? Go to www. freecycle.org; or you can just Google "freecycle". Another cool option is to check out craigslist... its basically a huge free classified online database. You can search and post free items there too!

Wondering about me.... Thanks for all the emails, comments, and facebook messages asking me what I'm doing next year. Not trying to build the suspense any longer, but I hope to be able to share the details of my move within the next week or week and a half. I just want to work out all the details before I post to the world my decision. I do know this much I will be moving out of Western PA in a couple of months.

Green Thought of the Day:

Extra! Extra!

If every newspaper reader in the United States

recycled just one typical Sunday Paper,

they could help create 212 million pounds of

cellulose insulation! That's enough to insulate 118,767

Habitat for Humanity houses; which is nearly twice as many

houses as all the Habitat homes build in America so far.

the whole WORLD is going GREEN

Its not just the seasonal change that has prompted the vitalization of my blog, in keeping with the coming spring I wanted to start sharing some cool easy information about ways that we can Go Green, in our everyday lives. I'm also hoping that having some deeper purpose than my own life's ramblings will spark many posts with some sort of regularity.

I was recently on a flight back from DC and came across a Sky Magazine (this one was Delta's) that caught my eye. The entire magazine was oriented toward everything Green. Everything I noticed except for the advertisements; but hey, I guess that have to make money some how.

As I began to read the first few articles, I found myself completely absorbed by the information. The articles really were completely green. The magazine had taken all of their normal areas of focus and concentrated everything from food reviews, to vacationing, to business and politics through the lens of energy conservation and environmental stewardship. I was captured by this adventurous move and deeply impressed with this moral move... whether a terrific PR move or an artless concern for humanities future-I like it!

So, green thought for the day: Can it!

One soft drink can recycled by each elementary student

in America would save 24.8 million cans. That would be

enough aluminum to create a 21 Boeing 737 airplane.

BREAK IS HERE!!!

So, the kids are finally out! This past Friday night at 6:03 every student was out of my building, except my RA's who were subsequently out by 7:30 p.m. Since then, I've been able to sleep, nap, have a lie in and start reading a book. It's amazing!

It is a little creepy though, now that everyone is gone I can hear weird noises. Hissing pipes and clanging boiler switches... I'm sure I'll get lonely before too long, but for right now I'm loving it.
I'll be heading south for Christmas, which I can't wait for. I haven't been home since this past July and with all the snow that we've been getting here I can't wait to be home on the beach! If any of you are in the area or passing through let me know; we can do coffee or lunch or just chill downtown or at the beach. Can you tell what my mind is focused on... THE BEACH!

Here are some shot from Charleston... my house is like five miles from the island on the left. The on the right is Sunrise from Sullivan's.

Okay, I'll be home soon. I'm hoping to get some sweet shots while I'm there! Peace Out.

Thanksgiving Trip to NYC!!!

Okay, I know I said I was going to start blogging more and that that I was really working hard to make this a priority... I'm not going to say that this time. I'm just going to blog. I think that in the past I have never wanted to write on my blog without having pictures to post. I felt like I had to have something visually appealing to post too. Since the onset of several dear friends telling me to blog I have now realized that I should just create new posts with or without pics so that my loved ones can hear what's been going on in my life.
So, with that in mind: It's black Friday and I just spent the day shopping in New York City. Well shopping might denote buying which would be a misnomer. I actually was checking out tons of stores and hanging with the fam. I am here staying at my Uncle's (Chris) fabulous apartment with my sister-Courtney, mom-Jan, and grandmother "mom"- Barb. We all flew in yesterday morning to enjoy thanksgiving together in the city! We saw the last part of the Macy's Thanksgiving parade (where we also Lance Bass and his man of the month--I actually walked right with/next to him trying to get to a good viewing spot), before I ran into one of my best friends Rachel M. who is spending thanksgiving with her friends from new jersey. It was awesome running into people in the city; it really makes you feel like your not a tourist when that happens. We then had thanksgiving dinner at a great Thai restaurant called "yum yum". After which I went for a run, got a little lost in central park, and then we spent the rest of the night hanging out around the condo.
Today, we started off heading uptown to see Christmas windows, the first 24 hour apple store (which is this awesome clear cube), and had lunch at John's pizza. After lunch, my Uncle, Sister and I headed downtown. We went through Chinatown hit up little Italy, and then hit tons of stores! One of my favorite places was Unico... not sure about that spelling.
Okay, So I just spent half an hour on Google trying to find this store. I found an article talking about its opening a couple months ago. Here's what it said:
"The fabric of modern Japan is being woven into the streets of New York! With the autumn opening of UNIQLO's highly anticipated new global flagship store, SoHo will finally get to experience the contemporary Japanese style that has long been missing from this hot, international fashion mecca. UNIQLO is Japan's most popular apparel retailer and a worldwide leader in casual wear. The brand's mission is to empower all individuals through the clothing they choose to wear. Rather than become characterized by a brand, UNIQLO encourages its customers to integrate its pieces into their own unique style."
yeah... it was awesome! And my favorite part might have been how beautifully organized it was, you all know how OCD I am. I was like Lindsay Lohan in vodka shop... work that one out. Long story short I'm going back on Sunday to get some goods. Alright kids, well i need to hit they hay cause tomorrow is Cirque du Solei! Until next time, thanks for your continued support friends. Oh, and Clapp: It was great having you out in the BF. Hope your trip back was good!

Energy in Congress

Hey guys. Wanted to share an interesting article I found through a friend's blog. I heard a lecture at the end of the year all about the integration of a hydrogen economy. It was really cool to hear about the advances in using green hydrogen as a source of energy, but what was even more interesting was to hear and think about the possible implications for our world if we shift from a petroleum based economy. What do you Think? Is the energy crisis for real? What is our response as the largest users of this type of energy in the world? How involved should we be in securing free energy for developing countries? Check out this article....
www.opencongress.org/articles/view/214-Energy-Before-Immigration

The Catch-Up

So for those of you who don't know, I was working this summer in our Masters of Higher Education Department--which was great! The summer weeks were crazy so let me catch up a little.

It started with going to ACSD, a huge student development conference which was being held in Minneapolis this year. I was recruiting, attending, and presenting at the conference. The conference was really good, and I had a blast in all three areas of responsibility. I had a ton of fun telling people about our Higher Education program and well very pleased with how my presentation went. I was presenting a workshop on the research I did for my Master's thesis. I got very positive feedback and even a bite in the publishing arena. I'll let you all know if things progress with this.

After ACSD, I flew straight to the" Big Apple", where I got to stay at my uncle Christian's, see two really good friends from high school that are now living and working there, and then met up with about 15 friends from College. We all went to a Pirates Yankee's game. The Pirates sucked big time, but it was great to hang out in Yankee Stadium before its torn down. It was awesome to look on the field and know that Babe Ruth played there.

A quick flight back to Pittsburgh, brought me home to get right back to work. For two weeks we were been busy with summer institutes. My friend Andy and I were organizing a lot of the social events for the students after class. We ended with huge banquet held this place called Shakespeare's, which is this huge recreated castle. We decided to do a murder mystery with everyone and the theme was a masquerade. Yours truly played the murderer! It was so much fun! But all good things come to an end.

After institutes I got the sweet chance to work with Dr. Guthrie some some cool research and publishing projects. With the end of July came the beginning of RD training, RA training, Freshman Orientation and the first weeks of the Semester... funny how two months can be so concisely summed up!? When in reality all those things were life-consuming for me.

I'm glad to share now that the semester is off to an fantastic start... problems and all. My staff of student leaders are great, I love them dearly, and Memorial Hall is rockin' it out! My staff has lots of stuff planned already for this semester so I'm sure you'll be seeing great footage about that. I also have a new digital camera, so if I can figure the tech side of it out I hope to post some video blogs too!

Thanks for reading... and Thanks for all the encouragement you guys give me to keep blogging... its cool to hear from you all. Just make sure to live your life in the real word over the virtual... Cause the real us is way better!

School's Out For Summer

Okay, so again it has been a while since my last post... but SO MUCH Happened!

The school year ended, I finished teaching, grading, oh and Finished my Masters. Which means I also finished my thesis, presented it, and passed! Actually, I ended up recieving the Masters of Higher Education Excellence in Scholarship Award... which included a small cash prize too.

All in all, the school year has passed along greatly. As I compare my last two years out of school, and my first "real" job, I don't think things could have been more different. I'll be honest my first year working at Geneva was harder than I ever immagined and I know that my family can attest to the many times I thought about throwing in the towel. This year has been the exact opposite. I love my job. I had an amazing staff of students working for me, and really was passionate about not only what I was doing, but the progress that was being made. It was truly amazing to see God bless my obedience, and it makes me look forward to next year even more. It also encourages me to remain obedient in the current trial of life. I have found myself so many times thinking that i am just tired of fighting with my sinful nature; seeing how God is faithful with such little things is an amazing representation of his promise to be faitful and miraculous in the big things too.

Another picture of God's faithfulness has been in the coming of spring and summer. I was blown away this year by how late into spring it was snowing. I dislike cold weather so much, and was continually upset by the surroundings I found myself in, but it has made me really appreciate how beautiful God creation is when the winter breaks. In the last three weeks I've been booked for two paid, YES PAID, speaking engagements. I've noticed when I am working on developing talks or even lectures, I am always searching for cool stories or metaphors that illustrate the points I'm working on. I guess I've just been in that mood lately, because everytime I walk outside I am blown away by the physical representations that God gives us with the world around us. Its like all of creation is an object lesson. Man, God is a a good teacher! Here take a look at some of the shots I grabbed today.

This one is Dave- he's been my house guest this past week as he waiting for his summer apartment to come open.