Almost done with school...and a garden in place!!

              Wow, a ton to catch up on.  First off I did really well on my last Analytical Chemistry test...got a 97%!!!  Then we had Thanksgiving break and it was such a relief to be able to relax and enjoy the break instead of having to do a ton of stuff that would be due right when getting back.  Thanksgiving was really wonderful, got to see and spend time with my grandparents and also my greataunt.  And the next day we decorated for Christmas.  I didn't go out anywhere on Black Friday for shopping...never reallly wanted anything so bad that I was willing to wait in one of those lines for it.  Then back to a week of class in which I had finals for two classes and started my take home final/project for the third. 
              I had a bit of an interesting experience yesterday. Decorating for Christmas and setting up a vegetable garden in the same day.  Even after over seven years of living in Florida, I still think as though we live in a place that has more distinct seasons, instead of hot and rainy for summer months and slightly cooler and dry the rest of the year.  Shorts and tanktops on Christmas Day are still hard to comprhend, but it is usually warm enough to wear them.  Anyway, it was a great day yesterday setting up the garden.  I already had some raised beds set up, but they were getting too much shade in the area where they were placed...so we moved them to a sunnier spot. 
              Christmas decorating went well, but I didn't get to partake in a lot of it because I spent the majority of my time working on my final paper for virology.  It took a lot of work and was a very time consuming process because of  all the primary literature sources that I had to look up for it...but at Sunday afternoon at about 1:30pm I was ecstatic because I had finally finished it.  Of course that meant I now had time to fiddle with strings of lights to determine why they weren't working; this was a futile effort however because after replacing a ton of bulbs, there was no difference...oh well, you can't say I didn't try. 
                Then in the afternoon, we put a couple of tomato plants into the beds and I also transplanted two of my pepper plants, but I don't know if they are going to survive the move.  We also purchased quite a few seedpackets and one of these containers that had peat pots in them so you are able to start the seedlings indoors and then put them out into the garden.  Some of the plants we are going to try are carrots, peppers, squash, cucumbers, peas, beans, and of course the tomatoes.  There may be a few more but I can't actually recall them right now.  In addition to these, we also planted a blackberry bush.  Don't know what will happen with it, but we did get one of those kits to test the pH of the soil and so now we know what to add so that it is in the correct range. 
                So now I have I handed in my Virology project, I took my final exam in Medical terminology (which was kind of difficult but I am not concerned because I am pretty much guaranteed an A in the class based on the scores of my other three tests and the extra credit papers I did), and I also took my final exam in Scienc in the Movies last Tuesday ( Very easy if you studied for it, all  multiple choice and short answer...and I already learned I scored a 102% on it...Woo hoo!!!) so it is really coming down to the end.  I have my final class in senior seminar coming up...we actually have a party on the last day and are doing a toast to our futures  My sister even made cookies for me to bring to the class since some people are bringing a fruit dish..some are bringing cups and napkings, etc.  I was just going to pick up some store bought cookies at Publix, but she went all out, making a recipe with dried cranberries, chocolate chips, and toffee pieces in them.  They taste so good!!!
        I plan on going to Zumba class again tonight.  It is supposed to be up and running again so I can't wait to go...there are only going to be a couple more classes until it is the end of the semester.  So cross your fingers it isn't cancelled!!  What else...oh yes, The Hunger Games.  I have gotten more than halfway through this book and if I wasn;t having to spend time studying or doing projects for school, I would have been done a long time ago.  It really is addictive and I know that I am going to have to get and read the other books in the series.   I have also gotten a lot more done on my Tilted Duster.  It is a really fun project and I just hope that I have enough yarn in order to finish it.  I will post pictures of it when I have more progress done on it.

Catching up

It has been a pretty great week so far.   Busy but interesting and fun as well.

So, I went to another play at the FGCU theater lab on Friday and I have to say that after the five plays I have seen throughout my years here, it was the best one!!  The theater lab is very small and so there weren't many seats for the audience (I would say no more than 35-40 people were in the audience), but in this case it was nice and it allowed the theater to put on a play that was more intimate.  The scenery was really nice, it was as if we were outside in a snowy forest of birch trees in Siberia where the play was taking place.  The play was actually a rendition of the famous Chekhov play called 'Three Sisters'.  The actors were absolutely fantastic.  I think the biggest disappointment is that such a small percentage of the student population attends these plays and for a larger university, you would think that more funds would be allocated to building up this department.  I hope that it gets more publicity and a bigger following and venue in years to come.

Then on Saturday I went and saw the fourth twilight movie.  I usually wait until a movie has been out for awhile to go, and I wasn't really excited to see this one.  I knew I would go see it eventually, but I hadn't been waiting for it to come out like I had for some of the ones in the past.  But I didn't really have much going on that night and I thought that I might as well go and see it.  I couldn't believe how good it was.  They did a wonderful job of staying true to what happened in the book, but threw in a lot of laughs.  I loved the way they ended it.  Since they divided the fourth book, Breaking Dawn, into two movie installments, I had been curious to where they would stop.  But I think they did it perfectly and there were quite a few gasps in the audience as they showed the very last moment of this first movie.  I won't give anything away, but I would actually consider seeing this one in theaters again.  It was that good.

They showed a few previews for upcoming movies before they showed the Twilight movie.  One of them was for the Hunger Games, which is a widely popular book series which I have yet to read.  But I think I am going to try to read it before the movie comes out since we have quite a while until then.  There are a few other movies coming out that I am excited to go see, and one of them is 'One for the Money' based off of Janet Evanovich's book series.  I have read most of the series and the first five or six books were my absolute favorites.  The book is written so wonderfully that I would be reading it and laughing hysterically.  I don't think I have read another book series that was as funny as this one!

Well, I better get to finishing another senior seminar paper and studying for the analytical chem test.  The paper is another interesting one, a letter to my current self from my 25 years in the future self (kind of hard to write as I am having to try and think of what my future self would tell the current me what is important in life and what lessons I am learning now will I carry through my life.  Difficult, but interesting.  Unfortunately the analytical chemistry is just difficult and very uninteresting...but come Tuesday at 4:45, it is goodbye school, hello Thanksgiving break!!!

Where does the time go...

  I can't believe that it is already the middle of November and Thanksgiving is next week already.  The time really seems to just fly by.  But I do love this time of year (so many holidays, birthdays, etc. all at once!!!) so I am not complaining too much.

             Friday was fun as we went out to a restaurant called Ariani's. It is this really nice Italian restaurant and the food there is delicious.  I really liked the way they have the place decorated; it is very cozy feeling and they designed the restaurant in a way that since there are so many partitions, it doesn't seem crowded at all.  I ended up ordering the linguine with meatballs and had the Chocolate Suicide cake for desert.  I had a hard time choosing though, all of the options sounded really great, especially all of the desert choices.

             Then on Saturday, we went to the Coconut Festival.  It is held every year and the last time I had gone was maybe six or seven years ago during the first time it was held.  It was so different this year, I couldn't believe how much it had grown over the years.  They had a ton of carnival rides and games and they had a huge stage with some really great bands playing.  There was this one band called Draw the Line.  They were an Aerosmith tribute band and the lead singer even looked a lot like and acted exactly like Steven Tyler. They were really great and we had a wonderful time.  They had fireworks afterwards, and honestly, these were some of the best fireworks I have seen in a long time, even better than the 4th of July.  I am still astonished how many people were there and how big the festival had gotten.  Of course, it seems like the coconut is no longer the central focus and the only time I ever saw anything having to do with coconuts was on some signs advertising for the event as well as some coconut shaped containers that people had their drinks served in. 

            We even spent a couple of bucks to try that game where you toss rings and try to get one to land on the top of a beer bottle.  Even though it is so unlikely we would have won (and by the way, we didn't) it was still fun to just try it.  Afterwards, however, I realized that it is pretty much impossible to win because the lady working the tent showed some people who just walked up how the ring has to land onto the beer bottle.  Since the diameter oof the inner circle of the ring is only a little bit bigger that the beer bottle, there was absolutely no room for error and I think it is probably a one in a million chance of actually getting it on there.

          Now, as far as academics, I presented my power point project in Science in the Movies class today about The Day after Tomorrow.  I think it went fairly well, now I can just sit back next week and watch the rest of the people in the class who haven't presented take their turn.  It is quite a relief that it is over. I am glad I went and now it is done with and now I don't have to think about it anymore.  I have a Virology epidemiology assignment due on Monday and my third Analytical Chemistry test due on Tuesday, so along with the regular work there is a lot coming up, but at least it will all be over by the time Thanksgiving comes around!

Another day gone...

Lately I have been going to a Zumba class.  Actually, I only went to one class so far, but it was fantastic and I really felt like I got a lot out of it.  I was very excited to go again, but I just found out now that it has been cancelled for the next few upcoming weeks.  Uggh, it just figures.  So we will see what happens with that; I hope the classes get back on schedule soon.

This science in the movies class I am taking is pretty interesting.  I just finished a paper in which we had to watch a movie that was fiction, but contained science in it, and then write a paper on how accurate and realistic the science was based on how the movie portrayed it.  I chose to watch 'The Day After Tomorrow'.   I have watched this movie so many times, it just made sense to do it.  The craziest thing was that after I did research, I learned it is based off some scientifically sound underlying concepts.  The whole idea that the thermohaline circulation can shut down due to a large influx of fresh water from glaciers that are melting because of global warming is a possibility. 

However, the movie goes quite astray when it shows that the whole world enters into a new ice age.  In actuality, only areas that are warmed by the circulation pattern would be affected and it would be probably a ten degree drop in temps at most.  Another thing is this type of abrupt climate change would occur over a period of decades, not days.  So, now I learned about how global warming could cause cooling in certain areas. Pretty interesting!!!

Last excitement for the day, ended up getting Rita's ice.  I always go for the Strawberry, not sure why.  Even during the one time I got a different flavor, halfway through I was wishing I had gone with the strawberry instead, even though it still tasted really good.

Nothing Much Except....

I applied to graduate today.  It is super early and I still have to finish up the spring semester, but there was something about sitting in the advisers office and watching her going through all of my credits, checking over anything I might be missing, that really made it clear that my college career is going to be coming to a close soon. Good news in that I am not missing anything and I only have to finish out the spring semester with the classes I have already registered for.  Bio degree, here I come!

Just trying to make sure I am getting everything I need to get done for PA school application process ready and complete. I am just waiting on my GRE scores, they should be coming in tomorrow so fingers crossed!!

I have really been craving chili for awhile.  We make this meatless version of it and it has kidney beans, corn and diced tomatoes, plus a bunch of different spices in it and then serve it over orzo or rotini noodles.  A different kind of version, not sure if it should really even be called chili, but it is great.  SO, I will try to remember to make it soon.  Hopefully I will be able to post at least every couple of days from now on if I am diligent enough....we will see.

Oktoberfest!

Went to the Oktoberfest today.  It is a large celebation they have at the Cape Coral German American Social Cub for two weekends in October each year.  There was an unbelievable amount of people there; the place was absolutely packed and more people just seemed to be pouring in.  Whenever we attend the Oktoberfest, I automatically know what I am going to get to eat, Potato Pancakes.  Two crisp delicious potato pancakes served with applesauce on the side.  Delicious!!!  We spent most of the time wandering around the differnt booths and sitting under the giant tent listening to the music.  The band that played there this year was really wonderful; very lively and they really played some great music!

I also had class this morning because I decided I wanted to take class on Saturday mornings, go figure.  It is medical terminology and it actually is pretty interesting and probably will be important to know later because if you know all the meanings of different parts, you can break down and know the meanings of a lot of different medical terms.So I like the topic, but being stuck in a lecture room for three hours every Saturday morning isn't the most exciting thing.

In good news, I received a large order of yarn, books, patterns, and few other things I ordered online.  Very excited about their arrival since I have been waiting to order these items for quite a while.  Now just the challenge of figuring out what yarn to use to make what pattern???

Until next time, J.

Almost a year later!

The view from Fira, Santorini!

Hello Again!

Sorry to have not written in so long.  Since this blog had started out as a class project, I was unsure of what to do with it once the class ended.  Well that was a little less than a year ago now, and I have just been letting it sit so I think it is time to give a bit of an update of what is going on.  In regards to Colloquium class,  I still appreciate everything I learned in that class and all of the trips we went on, if only for the sole purpose that it was so different from any other class I have ever attended.  In other news...my college career is nearing the finish line.  I plan to graduate in the spring with a major in biology as well as a minor in both chemistry and interdisciplinary studies.  The real question is where do I go from here???  I think that is probably the question on the minds of almost everyone about to graduate.

I have decided that I would like to pursue a career in medicine and I have been working towards the goal of becoming a Physician Assistant, taking the necessary classes and filling out applications.  There is no telling what will happen, but I am keeping my fingers crossed.  Otherwise, I have a few ideas for backup options that will keep me headed on the right path, so the situation doesn't seem quite that dire just yet.

I did want to mention that one of the classes I am taking this semester I find to be absolutely amazing.  It is called Senior Seminar and is sort of a capstone to everything we have done up to this point, but it really challenges you to think about your life.  I had to write a 10-12 page paper about my life story so far and try to find the thread that runs through it, connecting my life events.  Let me tell you, doing this assignment really makes you think about the choices you have made in the past and how they relate to where you are now and where you are headed.  Just by writing the paper and reading over it, I grew to know myself even more so and discovered some things I hadn't previously known.  It is a class that makes you think about life and how what we do really does make a difference, whether it is good or bad.  You don't get too many of those courses when majoring in the sciences so it really was refreshing.

I have been on a hiatus from knitting for awhile...getting back into the swing of things with school kind of put knitting on the back burner for a bit.  But I am getting restless and when I pulled out my half completed project a few days ago, I just wanted to jump right into it.  It is such a relaxing and peaceful hobby that it actually helps me to de-stress so I am going to try and take some time each day, even if it is just fifteen minutes, to knit a bit.  My current project is the Tilted Duster which is a wonderful pattern written by Norah Gaughan. I am have finished both sleeves, both front pieces, and I had actually finished the back piece first, but it came out kind of wonky, so I am currently redoing it.  It is fun to knit, but I have procrastinated on it so of course it seems like I have started it forever ago.  I would say it would be nice to finish it before the weather gets cold enough to wear it ( since we are in Florida, I should still have a decent amount of time :)  but knowing me, I will finish it just in time for next summer.

Well, that is the update so far.  I will try to post more often so I can stay up to date on all the happenings. 

P.S.   Here are some Europe pictures from a trip over the summer.  Fantastic, Mediterranean cruises are highly recommended!!

Entry # 10: Final Goodbye to Colloquium

I really can't believe this semester is almost over.  I know I say this every semester, but now more than ever before, the time has just disappeared.  I learned so many important things in this class that it would be near impossible for me to list them all, but what really made a huge connection to me is the link between sustainability and the need of implementing this in our health care system.  After reading about the need for Reinvention of Health care in the text, writing a paper on it, and giving a presentation on the topic, I have learned a great deal about the status of the health care system in the United States as well as in other parts of the world.  I have learned also about what changes need to be implemented in order to prevent the occurrence of disease rather than just the treatment.  I was glad to be able to learn about this as I plan to have a career in the health field one day and the connection between sustainability and health care was made very clear in the ways that the health care system needs to be greened.
       The one thing that I really loved about this class was the first-hand experiences I received that I probably never would have had if I hadn't taken it.  I loved all of the field trips we took to Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, ECHO, and downtown Fort. Myers, as well as the walks around campus.  It was wonderful to be able to see all of these places.  I hadn't been on an actual class field trip since probably middle school and it was a wonderful experience to learn new knowledge in an exciting new place along with my classmates.  However, in all honesty, I really found the quizzes to be one of the more difficult aspects in this class as it was difficult to remember specific knowledge about the stories I had read, especially when they were each only a couple of questions. 
       I think the thing that affected me the most out of this class was the service learning.  If I wasn't required to do this, I would never have gone out to volunteer at the Randell Research Center and learn about the Calusa Indians there while cleaning up the center as well as meeting two other girls from FGCU while volunteering there.  I also would not have known about 350.org which has such an important message.  On 10/10/10, we planted 350 plants on campus and cleaned up litter, and afterwards, I went to the main website and saw how people from all over the world were participating in events as well on the same day.  It made me feel like I had been a small part of a global movement, something that was much bigger than myself.  If not for colloquium, I would not have experienced all of the things I have listed in this post, and these are the experiences that I will remember for the rest of my life.  I'm so glad that my colloquium class brought information about sustainability into the classroom and into my life as well.

Entry #9: Field Trip to Downtown Ft. Myers

       For our third field trip, my class took a trip to Downtown Fort. Myers.  It was very exciting to be learning the history of Ft. Myers and to see pictures of areas we were currently in from many years beforehand.  I loved walking up and down the city streets, and viewing the water in the Calusahatchee was the perfect ending to the day, even though it had started out a little wet when we started the trip.  The place in the city that made me feel most comfortable and energized was by the water.  It was very beautiful to see the buildings highlighted by the setting sun as well as the looking out into the distance over the river.  It is peaceful there, but also lively as there are many boats in the marina and people riding by on their bicycles next to the dock.  The urban landscape that we witnessed on this field trip was very exciting, and not calming at all.
          Everywhere you look, you see people moving and walking all the time, as though everyone has somewhere important to be.  It almost makes you feel as if you need to get going to places and doing different things as well.  The areas in the city that are without plants and greenery definitely feel much harsher than the areas with plants.  The green that stands out among the concrete buildings is comforting and soothing to the eye, and it adds a feeling of peace.  However, when walking around downtown, I noticed that there were not a lot of parks in the urban environment.  There was a very small park filled with palm trees that was quite lovely, but even though there may be more wildlife in this one area, overall I did not really see evidence of wildlife in the urban spaces.  I really feel a connection to the city as it has such an energizing feeling to it.  I do enjoy to be in open spaces, with only nature as far as the eye can see, but there is just a powerful and awe-inspiring feeling to city life and the hustle and bustle of it all.  It is as if it has its own persona and character.

       A large amount of city space is actually devoted to vehicles.  There are several parking garages where one can leave their vehicles, as well as lots and streets in which people will park along.  Garages cost the most to park as it is one dollar per hour to park there (with a limit of five dollars per day), and the cheapest is that in some area parking lots you can park for free, but only for a couple of hours.  The largest generator of parking need would be for the many people who commute and work in the area as there are many law offices, and large corporate buildings.  Certain businesses will arrange to share parking as there is a limited amount of space and it it easier to do this.  For example, a government building might use a certain parking lot for its employees during the week, and then on Sundays, that lot may be used by a nearby church for its members. 

       The most convenient mass transit in the area would likely be the bus system.  In all likelihood, I would probably not use it as it would take more time than it would to use a car. I would definitely use a mass transit system, however, if it were in a place where it would be advantageous to take mass transit over the use of a personal vehicle.  There are different shopping malls and strip developments that have appeared along the highways that bypass the city, and these take a lot of potential business away from the cities.  With more opportunities to go to mega-chain stores, people don't need to go into the city to buy what they need from local businesses.  Therefore, a lot of money that could be put into the city and local business is being used elsewhere, and this hurts the city's economic lifeblood.  Before mega-stores, most people in cities would go down to their local grocery store, but now that huge chains have opened up nearby, there is less money being spent in local businesses.  This is a problem that doesn't occur just in Fort Myers, but everywhere, as people are attracted to the discounted prices (even though this may mean discounted value as well) and ease of access to strip developments and chain stores.

       Overall, this field trip was a wonderful experience and I had a great time during it.  I hope that I will be able to go back downtown soon for any upcoming events that are occurring in the area.  It was interesting to have learned how downtown Ft. Myers has changed so much from long ago up until now, and yet some buildings look like they haven't changed at all.

All of the pictures in this blog post are from http://www.picturesfrom.com/fort-myers/

Some of the information that was included in this post was learned from http://www.cityftmyers.com/

Entry #8: Major Pollutors

     As a society, we are consumers.  We buy things, use them up until we don't want them anymore, and then eventually dispose of them.  The question is however, where does all the waste that we have produced go??  Well, it ends up being transported to landfills.  The worst part is that toxic materials have to be disposed of as well, whether they come from factories, or health care industries disposing of hazardous materials.  These materials end up going back into the world in which we live.  We are, in essence, creating harmful, toxic wastes in order to produce the consumable items we so desire, and then putting this waste back into the Earth, creating negative impacts to the environment, and to all of those people who live in the vicinity of the waste disposal area.  I don't believe there is a true solution to disposing of toxic materials so they do not harm the environment or impact the health of the people in the nearby area, but there are several things that could be helpful.  Firstly, incineration of materials can be quite dangerous.  Even though it alleviates the build up of garbage, it can have far worse consequences.  When items are incinerated, the smoke will enter the air, and many times this smoke contains harmful chemicals.  These chemicals are being introduced into the air in which we breathe, a horrible concept to even consider.  To stop the incineration of certain toxic wastes would be a good way to lessen their negative impact.
       We have to try as hard as possible to keep toxic wastes separated from other ordinary waste.  By quarantining it and placing it in areas that are not in close proximity to human beings, we can try to decrease its destructiveness.  No matter what though, the environment will still be impacted by this.  I also believe that people who live in poorer neighborhoods are most definitely subjected to noxious industries more than those in rich neighborhoods.  People pay money so they can live in gated communities, and don't have to see the horrible side to the world in which we live.  Their garbage is placed out on the street, picked up by a garbage truck, and is never seen again.  There are no factories down the street polluting the air with smokestacks; there are community parks instead.  Unfortunately, the horrible aspects still exist; they are just hidden from the sight of those who have enough income in order to afford a blindfold, and are instead relocated to areas where people who don't have enough money to leave are exposed to the noxious industries and wastes instead.
        According to the website, http://www.scorecard.org/ , the top five polluters that are in my zip code are Munters Corp. in Ft. Myers, Precision Econowind Inc. in North Ft. Myers, KCS Intl. Shamrock Div. in Cape Coral, Action Craft in Cape Coral, and Polymer Casting (DBA Corinthian Marble) in Fort Myers.  The top polluter is Munters Corp. and what is extremely shocking is that out of the top eight polluters, they are releasing more than twice the amount of waste of the other seven combined.  Munters Corp. is releasing 159,572 pounds of waste, while the second highest, Precision Econowind Inc. is releasing  22,202 pounds of waste.  Munters Corp. is releasing methanol, formaldehyde, phenol, toluene, and methyl ethyl ketone into the air.  From their main website, http://www.munters.com/en/Munters-Corporate-Home/About-Munters/ , it was determined that Munters specializes in the creation of optimized indoor climate solutions that are energy efficient.  It surprised me to look at the website and read about them producing products that are energy efficient, and know that they are the biggest polluter of the environment, (through releases of pollutants into the air) by far in the area I live in.