Spring break

What does gay clubs, hair plugs, my hatred of Starbucks have in common?

A few years ago I made a trip to Chicago with a couple of friends of mine, Dylan and Mary Jane. The 8 hour drive was split up between us, Dylan drove the first leg then Mary was in the middle, she's always in the middle. I of course was the only one who willing to drive into Chicago itself. We were staying in down town and managed to get in during rush hour. Once again, I always end up in large cities during rush hour, Albuquerque, Phoenix, Chicago, St. Louis, etc.

Funny thing is I suffer from anxiety. I hold it together and try and pretend that it doesn’t bother me. None of my friends have ever figured out that I am scared as hell to be driving in mass amounts of traffic. The fear comes from the fact that the larger the group of people the more stupid they act. Now put all that idiocracy into large metal death boxes. Add into the equation that people are competitive which leads to offensive driving. If everyone would just take a deep breath and respect the mightiness of the car then my fear of the road would not be so great.

We make it the hotel just fine, go out to eat, and then crash out for the night. Although our first day is not that exciting, it get better.

Day two starts out with us getting up early and going to a medical office. Dylan needed to get his hair plugs checked. It was the one-year mark and I guess they needed to be checked. The view from the doctor’s office was amazing. The high rise next to us had a pool and garden on the roof.

The food in big cities is amazing. Compared to the food I had in Chicago, every restaurant in Kearney taste like I’m eating out of a trash can. This makes no sense because the meals in Chicago were not more expensive then eating out in Kearney. I love food but I have been spoiled by my travels.

This trip to Chicago also leads to my hatred of Starbucks. I am ad major and therefore a brand whore. I do love brand name stuff but it has to be quality. First off Starbucks is not quality. Second, there is no need for two Starbucks to be on the exact same block. They were even on the same side of the street. I consider this overdoing it. That was the day I swore I would never drink Starbucks coffee.

Later that night we go out on the town. We hope on the L train and head out. We get off in an area of town known as “boys town.” I have never seen so many Leather, porn, and bondage shops in such a short walk.

We get to a club, have some drinks, and are having a good time. Next thing you know Mary Jane and I get kicked out for being strait girls. There was no way they could prove we were strait but we were asked to leave because they didn’t want “strait girls” in their club. WTF?!?

Well a couple of men there over heard this and invited us to an afterhours club down the street. We ended up seven sheets to the wind and I was the only one sober enough to get us back to the hotel. This included getting on the right L train and navigating the 8 blocks after we get off the train. Not to mention the trying to talk the drunks into believing I knew where we were. So how did I end up being the only one who was hung over? I don’t know but I now know what gay clubs, hair plugs, and my hatred of Starbucks have in common. It was my spring break trip to Chicago.

Quote of the Day

Weather and Safety

I have seen class canceled on days that were nice, there just happen to be lots of snow. On these days people could have gotten to class and the streets were clear to drive on, you just had to be motivated enough to dig yourself out of the drive way.

But on days like today it is dangerous to get from class to class. That's the point to snow days right? To keep us safe. It was 11:30am before I saw public safety deicing the sidewalks between the buildings. At 10:45am it was to dangerous to get from main campus out to west center because of the ice. I decided to skip class to save myself.

My fear of the ice comes from last year, right before valentines day, I feel on the ice and hurt myself quite badly. It took weeks for me to heal. While it is funny to watch people fall on the ice, the safety of students needs to be considered. It is even unsafe driving in the parking lots on campus.

Most people that do fall won't report it either. This is a problem because when falls on campus go unreported then the university doesn't know how dangerous it really is. This leads them to continue to let students walk to class in unsafe conditions.

Today is worse then any of the snow days I've seen the school give. Why is no one concerned for our safety?

X-Files

So I have watched every episode of the x-file at least twice. I own the box set but not the movies. Yes I have seen them a couple of times, too.

The first few seasons are my favorite, I was never a huge fan of the whole "I lost my sister to aliens" boo hoo. But they all fallow the outline.

So to my point - there is an outline for the show and every episode fallows this outline.

1. The show opens with someone who goes missing or a death.
2. Next Mulder and Scully go check it out.
3. Most of the time it is Mulder who comes up with some crazy off the wall idea of what really happened
4. Scully (most of the time) comes up with a scientific answer to what has happened
5. Of of the two of them gets into trouble
6. The other one saves them
7. Turns out that Mulder was mostly right and Scully wasn't completely wrong. (in later episodes Scully comes up with the crazy ideas and Doggett is the sane one but the plot outline is still the same)
8. Then there is the "moment" that will always take place between Mulder and Scully at some point in the show. But they can never hook up because that always ruins the show.

And that is the outline for x-file episodes.

Stephen King

Stephen King is celebrating 35 years of being published. I'm not sure how anyone else feels about King and I don't know how I feel about him. So Lets make a list.



Good things about Stephen King

1. The book IT was amazing!
2. He likes driving I-80 through Nebraska and this led to Children of the Corn.
3. Some of his books are entertaining and can hold my interest.
4. The Green Mile. Both book and movie.
5. The Ending of the movie The Myst

Not so good

1. His voice puts me to sleep when I am trying to listen to his books on tape.
2. The movie IT (Not really his fault)
3. Not all of his books are entertaining
4. The rest of the movie The Myst.


Well, I'm going to call this one a draw. I like some of his books and there is no doubt he is a writer. But I can't say I think he is the best writer I have ever read.

Editorial #3 UNK Issue

A paycheck is important to everyone. Bills and rent need to be paid, food to eat, and some entertainment is always a nice perk. At the University of Nebraska, across all campus, the budget is once again come into question. The economy is down and money needs to be cut from the budget. This is bound to have an effect on someone. It should be university staff paychecks that are affected.

Tuition is always on the rise at universities. This has a direct impact on students and their ability to afford a higher education. The University of Nebraska President James B. Milliken posted on his blog information regarding the Collegebound Nebraska program. This program helps with fees, books, and room and board. Tuition rates should not be a concern because they just added more money to this program and there are many other programs like it. The rise in tuition does not have enough of an impact on the budget to cover the problem.

The universities could let go of staff that isn’t tenured and put a freeze on hiring new employees. This solution only hurts the students. Not having enough professors to teach the classes means that class size increases. This is not good for the University of Nebraska at Kearney where the small class size is a drawing power. Putting a freeze on hiring other staff is not a plausible option either. When a custodian leaves then it is better to replace them. Having the remaining staff pick up the extra work leads to lowered productivity. An unhappy custodian means dirty buildings. These options for cutting the budget don’t make sense in a community like Kearney, Nebraska.

So what option does make sense for our community? Helping out a neighbor by taking a little less for ourselves is what makes Kearney a great community. If all the employees at the university go two weeks without pay then this will help to cut the budget without a neighbor or a friend completely losing their job. This solution would tighten up everyone’s purse strings but it would keep people from losing their job. If they don’t lose their job then they are not at risk of losing their house. In a small friendly community like Kearney we can afford to go without that little extra if it helps others. Lets all help a neighbor by giving up a paycheck for two weeks.

a paycheck is important to everyone

A paycheck is important to everyone. Bills and rent need to be paid, food to eat, and some entertainment is always a nice perk. At the University of Nebraska, across all campus, the budget is once again come into question. The economy is down and money needs to be cut from the budget. This is bound to have an effect on someone. It should be staff paychecks that are affected.

Tuition is always on the rise at universities. This has a direct impact on students and their ability to afford a higher education. The rise in tuition should not be a concern though. The University of Nebraska President James B. Milliken posted on his blog information regarding the Collegebound Nebraska program. This program helps with fees, books, and room and board. Tuition rates should not be a concern because they just added more money to this program and there are many other programs like it.

The universities could let go of staff that isn’t tenured and put a freeze on hiring new employees. This solution only hurts the students. Not having enough professors to teach the classes means that class size increases. This is not good for the University of Nebraska at Kearney where the small class size is a drawing power. Putting a freeze on hiring other staff is not a plausible option either. When a custodian leaves then it is better to replace them. Having the remaining staff pick up the extra work leads to lowered productivity. An unhappy custodian means dirty buildings. These options for cutting the budget don’t make sense in a community like Kearney, Nebraska.

So what option does make sense for our community? Helping out our neighbors by taking a little less for us is what makes living in Kearney great. If all the employees at the university go two weeks without pay then this will help to cut the budget without you neighbor or your friend completely losing their job.