My Amazon experience

When you read the title, did you think I meant The Amazon as in South America or Amazon as in the website? I personally mean Amazon the website, so all of you who were interested in hearing about my journey in South America can start playing Pac-Man or feeding my Llama.

For the first time this year, I asked my sister to get me an Amazon.com gift card. Being the generous sister that she is, she has given me a substantial amount of money to spend (that wasn't being sarcastic either. When it comes to money, she's way more generous than I am!) Anyway, I have been buying different books from there. I got Student Edition - Case for Faith, Praying the Psalms, Beyond Discipline, and The Middle East for Dummies. I have spent a total of...$33.07. For four books plus shipping and handling, that is pretty awesome! There was only one book that I was disappointed with the quality (let's just say it was not like new)...but I bought it for $8.59 (and that included shipping and handling) and if I bought this book at a store, it would be about $17.95, so it's still okay. My suggestion to all of you would be to give Amazon.com a chance if you haven't already. It's well worth it.

I'm excited for the Math Conference tomorrow and the Super Bowl on Sunday! I'm more excited for the Super Bowl to be honest. But, the math conference will be good because we all can use tips on how to teach kids math. All I remember in grade-school math was how much I hated coordinates and shapes. I did well on tests, but I always did bad on the homework. What gives?

I'll have more updates on my classes. I'm really enjoying Raquetball. I am probably near the bottom of the list when it comes to top players in my class, but I am still having fun and getting a work-out. Plus with my height, I am able to do low serves which makes the tall people have to work hard. TAKE THAT TALL PEOPLE!

I hope you all have a great rest of the day.

Eustress Vs. Distress

To describe what my semester is going to be like, I am going to quote one of my professors. He said, "There are two types of stress. There is Eustress which is good, and there is Distress which can kill you. I am offering you Eustress. Have a great weekend."

Even though I am not taking a whole lot of hours, I still have a pretty nice class-load and work today. The main thing I did today, as a matter of fact, was buy a Calendar and a Planner and write out what was due and when it was due. This helped to relieve some of the stress I was feeling. Here are the classes I am taking

1. Beginning Raquetball
2. Geography of the Middle East
3. Mathematics Methodology
4. Methods and Techniques of Behavior Management
5. Practicum

Those look like fun classes, don't they? I only need three of those for my major. I'll give you a hint which three they are...they are the odd numbered ones! I needed to be a full-time student, so I had to fill up some classes. I'm excited about both of those classes though. They are really interesting and I think they will help a lot.

Other than that, I am also really excited because I got a webcam! I needed it for a class I have this semester, and I have been goofing off with it. Some people got Facebook messages with me using it...so I hope they enjoy it as much as I did.

This has been a great week so far; My good friend came to church and the sermon/music were awesome; college life-groups started up on Monday night and we not only had a good turn-out but we have a great topic we are discussing; I got to spend a day with John and even see his plant in the midst of helping to move, I had class yesterday (which was eustressful!); and today I got to play with a webcam as well as get myself organized! Let's just see what Friday and Saturday bring!

That's it for me. I hope you all have a great rest of the day!

Football & Sunflower Seeds

So...only one of my predictions came true during the wild card playoffs. For the sake of making certain teams do well and certain teams to not do well, I will not make any predictions for the remainder of the playoffs.

Santa brought me some low sodium sunflower seeds in my stocking this year. I started eating them, and I couldn't stop. It became a routine. I would sit in my chair, eat some sunflower seeds, and watch some TV. When I ran out, I didn't know what to do. I tried popcorn, but it didn't do the trick. I had a Popsicle, but it wasn't the same. I even tried just eating peanuts. But it didn't have the same thrill of cracking those little sunflower seeds and eating that little goodness that is inside of it. So a couple of days ago, I bought another pack of sunflower seeds. I am eating them as I type this post; sunflower seeds and Sweet Tea. I am also watching King of the Hill.

Could life get any better right now? We'll see :-)

Relaxing Days

If you were on the outside looking in on how I spent my day, you would probably think that I did nothing. From a stand-point of what I usually do, I would say that's true. I basically just watched TV and ate today! I would say the two highlights of my day were ordering a pizza, and getting a book in the mail that I ordered from amazon.com. I read the first chapter, and I am really excited about introducing it to my Lifegroup! It is Case for Faith - Student Edition. You can't really find it in the stores, but I got a better deal online anyway. It covers basically six different sections

1. If there's a loving God, why is there so much pain and suffering in the world?
2. If miracles contradict science, how can any rational person believe they are true?
3. If God really created the Universe, then why does science point to evolution as the origin of life?
4. If Jesus is the only way to heaven, then what about the millions of people who never heard of him?
5. If God cares about the people he created, how could he send many of them to hell?
6. If I still have doubts, is it possible to be a Christian?

I think that this will be a good book to study. Some of it it seems like we have covered, but Lee Strobel and Jane Vogel put it together so rationally that it is just a good way of representing the material.

Something I have discovered about my personality is that when I have "relaxing days," it seems like my mind never gives me time to relax. I have thought of so many different things today. When I woke up, I just laid for about an hour or two just thinking about different aspects of life. I thought about my friends and stuff they are going through right now, what next semester holds for school and ministries (both college and youth), and how I would react in certain situations. Even after I got up and watched TV, I kept analyzing characters and asking how their lives would be different if they made different choices (particularly embracing their faith) and what I would do in that situation. Fun and relaxing, isn't it?

I did watch a good amount of ESPN and read some more about what the Broncos are doing and my picks for the wild card games tomorrow. I think Indianapolis will win in the AFC game (I hope they kick the tar out of San Diego after what happened with Denver). I am hoping the Cardinals win tomorrow, but I think realistically the Falcons will win. I haven't really seen Arizona put any real effort the past couple of games, and I don't see how you can just suddenly have a win mentality if you haven't been giving it your all the past couple of games. For Sunday, I believe the Eagles will beat the Vikings and Miami will beat Baltimore. We'll see though...

This is a long post, so I will end it. Have a great rest of the day!