My classes didn't start until noon but I woke up early to eat breakfast and because basically my whole hall has morning classes so people were moving around. Differential Equations doesn't seem that bad at all and I actually understood the assigned homework. The explorations with computing class is really dumb - I'm glad it's once a week. It's basically a lecture that we get points for attending and then we have small homework assignments. I guess it's a guaranteed 'A' though if I go. I got a quick break and then went to Computer Science I which I can't judge because we did nothing. It is taught by a grad student and he just told us some ground rules and then told us we really didn't need the book if we wanted to return it for a refund. Linear Algebra seems very easy but the way the book makes you do the problems is just irritating. I can solve the problems easily but they want you to do it their way, which takes forever. For some reason I'm having more problems in that class than diffy. equations.

I think I might be the only freshman in my differential equations class. When we were waiting for the class before us to get out everyone seemed like they knew where they were and knew what they were doing but I was over by the wall being all antsy. There's about an even split with males/females in there which is cool I guess - none of my other classes are like that.

I ate breakfast and lunch with some guys in my section of the dorm and then dinner we ate with the girl I spoke about in earlier posts. She seemed like she enjoyed her classes which was good but she got a lot of homework.

Tomorrow I only have the English class which is probably nothing and then I have Computer Science I way later in the day. So basically I have to get up for a crappy class.

So today has been a big nothing day! We finally got to wake up late - well 10, and basically just ate brunch and then came back and did nothing for a while. We checked the Union to see if they had my English book yet, which they didn't, and then went to the buildings that our classes will be in so we knew exactly where everything is. After that I returned to the room and continued to do nothing.

Somewhere mixed in with the nothings I walked around and talked to a few people around the dorm for my socializing of the day. I saw some guys playing a game and talked to them for a little bit. They seem pretty cool but everytime I've been past their room they have always been playing games. I also dropped by the girl's room I spoke about earlier. She had her door open and I stopped in and said hello. The biology majors here have been loaded up with a bunch of credits and she showed me this huge pile of books she needs for the classes. She also has a second floor room which is much larger than our crap third floor room. Anyway, we also ate lunch with a lot of people from our hall and our RA. That was pretty fun I guess.

Classes begin tomorrow and my feelings are the same as before. Worried about math and excited for computer classes. I hope I'll meet some cool people in class. I know it sounds mean but I really don't care for 95% of the people in my major that I have spoken to.

I'll probably post tomorrow - who knows really.

I ate a small dinner around 5 ish and then basically just sat around until we were going to a movie. Adam came over and we played Fuzion Frenzy or something that TJ brought for XBox. 8:30 quickly came and we went to watch the movie, School of Rock, in a building right near my hall. It was pretty good.

I mentioned the gathering at the sports complex but when we got back from the movie everyone was still in the dorms so it looks like few if anyone even went to it. I guess the hill is too big to go up at night! We decided to stay inside instead of going to the gathering.

I guess there isn't that much more luck in the socializing department for today. The house building thing scored points for me with the RA for sure and the other guys from my hall appear to know who I am now when I pass by their rooms, which is good. I was planning on visiting someone on the second floor of our dorm today but she always has her door closed. I believe she's there sometimes but I am worried for some reason. Socializing has never been one of my strong points. When people have their doors open it forces me to acknowledge them because they can see me and I can see them. With doors closed it forces me to initiate the meeting. Kinda weird huh? I guess I never really thought about it that way until today.

Judging from people's away messages over the past few days it looks like most of my friends back home have either moved in to school or are in the process of doing so in the next few days. I hope all of them have great luck in finding some friends and a group of people that you feel comfortable with.

Actually it doesn't seem that long but I guess I'll say it was because I've been up for a while. Each hall in our dorm has to do two community service projects (if I haven't mentioned it before) and we were going to help build a house for Habitat For Humanity but we heard that the foundation wasn't even in so they would have nothing for us to do. So TJ and I woke up and figured we would just be sent back to our room when we got the Union but instead they said that they would love for us to help them with the foundation. After a 20 min drive we got to the house location and it was a horribly dug hole - a very muddy one and I only have my sneakers with me here. They had us cut some wood, nail some stuff, and dig a trench three feet deep for a water pipe. The trench was almost impossible to dig. The ground was rock solid. Overall, it was VERY unorganized. It seemed like no one knew what they were doing including the people who build houses for a living. I'm just glad I went so it counted towards our hall's community service requirement.

We got home and after changing out of muddy clothes I went up to the football field where we had to have our lunch. Yes, had to have it, up there. They want to break an attendance record so they forced us to eat up there if we wanted lunch. Oh yea, they also didn't feed us breakfast or brunch (which is normally served on weekends) so everyone was hungry. Anyway, the football field is kinda nice except the hill to sit on is very steep and was invested with tons of bugs. We left around the half and we were winning by 17.

Now that classes are getting closer I'm getting more and more nervous about my math classes. I'm just fine with the computer science and english ones but I'm worried the math classes will be way past what I actually know in math. Also, most people in those classes already have college experience and the professor knows that. I really hope I can keep up with what's going on and everything.

Anyway, there is a gathering tonight at the sports complex up this giant hill here and I'll probably be going to that. It's mostly just if you want to play games with people but I want to go more for finding new friends to hang out with. I might stop by people's rooms tonight too and see if I can meet people that way.

Well today was rather uneventful. I went to two "workshops" early. One was the seven study habits you should have which was a total waste of time. The second was a math workshop that gave a basic skills practice test for Calc I students. I don't know why I went, but I guess it gets me into math again. Then from about 3PM on I had nothing to do at all so I bought some headphones because I forgot mine and watched some field games that were going on. I even tried walking down the halls going into people's rooms and talking to them but few seemed to even care. Almost everyone in our hall plays computer games all the time and there are very few girls around to talk to.

Tonight was a freshman talent show and comedy presentation. It was really funny. The comedian they brought in was just amazingly funny. It was three hours long and all three hours were great. I think orientation overall was worth it because I met some people, but to me it seemed a little long. I don't know though, I guess I'll have to be the judge of how good it was after I see how my new relationships work out.

I've been very happy and very distressed during this past week and I guess I'm glad it happened to me. While I hate the sad times, the fun times have been overwhelming. The whole college atmosphere is unbelievable and just being around people having fun or hanging out with friends cheers your spirits up. I love the campus here and I'm excited for classes to start and to meet new people, male and female, and create relationships that will last a long time. I'm trying to be socialable and over time I hope I succeed at it.

I'll keep my spirits up while I can and hopefully I can continue to meet new people.

Like I said before, I made an appointment with an advisor to ask about what classes I should actually be taking because I had way too few credits. Well she said I could take a differential equations class but once I went to register I wasn't able to get into it. I was lacking the prerequisites according to the site. Also, the English classes were ALL full when I started registering. Every half an hour they would open two seats in each of them and then it would be a mad dash to see who would get them. I ended up getting some thing about "our past" which isn't that bad I guess because the professor seemed cool when he was a part of our discussion group. Registering for that class took about an hour! After that I checked the P.E. classes and they were almost all full. I had the option of beginning hockey, skating, and golf which all require walks to get to the place to do the activity. I just decided to not take P.E. this semester. Anyway, later I went to the math department and they waived my prerequisite for the class and I was able to register, finally.

My classes should be the following:

Monday:
Intro to Differential Equations 12:05-12:55
Explorations in Computing 01:05-01:55
Computer Science I 03:05-03:55
Linear Algebra 04:05-04:55

Tuesday:
English Class (the past one) 08:05-09:20
Computer Science I 03:05-03:55

Wednesday:
Intro to Differential Equations 12:05-12:55
Computer Science I 03:05-03:55
Linear Algebra 04:05-04:55

Thursday:
English Class (the past one) 08:05-09:20
Computer Science I 03:05-03:55

Friday:
Intro to Differential Equations 12:05-12:55
Linear Algebra 04:05-04:55


I like how each class is fairly short and that there are no labs as of right now. I'm hoping that the math classes don't give me too much of a challenge though. I also don't like how all the classes are in the afternoon except for English. I didn't get to pick any of the times except I *sort of* got to pick English.

I got up early today and felt better for a while, I guess. My schedule has been pretty screwed up ever since the AP credits were transferred over and the computer science placement results. This morning I went to the computer science advisor offices and met with someone. I finally got someone to tell me how many credits I *should* be taking and she also gave me a different class to register for instead of the math class I had planned to take. There are still seats open in the class so I hope they stay open until I get to register at 3 PM. I'll post my final schedule after I finish. I'm thankful I won't have ANY labs this semester!

Oh yea, for some reason they put all my classes later in the day. So if everything goes as planned my earliest class will probably be noon, which isn't the way I wanted it.

Today is pretty much register for English classes here and nothing special is going on. I have been bored for about an hour and a half in the dorm so far. Later tonight there are two lectures about stuff I don't care about but I'll probably go because I have nothing else to do. There is also a "dance" at one of the dorms. I wonder what that will be like.

After a few more days in school at orientation I have mixed feelings. In high school I was branded as quiet, shy, and some sort of gaming nerd. Now that college has started I can reinvent myself and become whatever I want basically. I *want* to be someone who is socialable and someone who girls actually notice instead of see through. This, in my opinion, is a very hard goal to achieve especially with the limited amount of females here (seriously, there is ONE in my whole entire major this year). While I've been forcing myself to talk to anyone who will listen to me I've made little progress. Few of the people in my orientation "team" even talk about normal things and most girls don't even help the conversation at all. Basically, I'd say I made two "friends", and by friends I mean people who actually talk to me more than once. I did actually find someone normal in my computer science group to talk to and he's pretty cool and one of the girls in Biology who lives in the same dorm is also friendly.

I was excited for college because I could create a different me and meet a lot of different people than I've seen at our small high school. I've done the stuff I should have done - leave my door open, go to social events, and created conversation with people around me. I suppose you could say I have many aquantainces around the campus. Could this be because classes haven't actually started and I don't see the same people every day? Possibly. I'll need to wait and see once they start next Monday I guess.

While I'll try and keep up the things I am doing it is obviously discouraging. I'd rather be over at a new friend's dorm room doing something instead of sitting here typing while I'm wasting time.

Orientation is getting to be very irritating. Today was by far the most busy day. We had to discuss Frankenstein early in the day and then had two "team meetings" throughout the rest of the day. Included in that mix was some health talk, diversity speech, and job/career speech. We had small breaks in between things for meals.

The team meeting are horrible. I've always wanted to be a computer science or computer science related major since the start of high school but after seeing the people in the same major it almost makes me want to change or something. Almost all of them have a very strange look to them. Who knows, maybe I do too and I don't notice it :). Almost all of them also crack really stupid jokes - and they all laugh. I've only been here a few days and I've already heard many jokes with compuer science majors at the center of the joke - kinda sad really.

Overall, I guess I'm enjoying my time here. My days usually begin very well and as the day goes on and people talk to me less and less the day seems to get worse.

I've finally moved in and things have been all crazy the last few days. When we got there we took about an hour to get everything out of the car and upstairs. The dorm looked like total crap when we got in, maybe because nothing was in it yet. The dresser leans forward and until we fixed it with some cardboard it would fall towards you if you opened more than two drawers at a time. The bunk bed was by far the worst thing about the room. It shakes, a lot. The first night sleeping on it was horrible and neither TJ or I got any sleep at all because if one of us moved the whole thing would shake. Basically, yesterday was a big pile of crap mostly.

Today looked up and down I guess. We woke up and went to the loft building seminar which was pretty dumb. When we got back we tried to figure out ways to fix the bunk bed. Later on my dad wedged my tape measure between the wall and the bed and it stopped shaking. So I went around and found someone with some extra pieces of 2x4 and we put that next to the bed so it is stable now.

We also went to a unversity welcome thing that was pretty funny. There was a professor who told us about how much it actually snows and how long the Winter is up here. I can only describe it as very funny. After that we had our first hall meeting and some of the RAs just told us some basic rules about the halls. We then got to go eat some ice cream, which was pretty good I guess.

Things seem to be going better now. I'm thinking everything will be fine except for the awkwardness of the shower and bathrooms. The food so far has been excellent which is really cool. Although my dorm has old and crappy furniture I think I can deal with it - unless something breaks or the bed starts shaking again.

Yesterday I took down the computer I normally use and setup my old one. For some reason it took about three hours to do all of that (and to pack all the computer stuff). I have this external hard drive that lights up when it has power to it - lights up pink and bright blue and it's really annoying. My dad and I finally figured out a way to open it and we clipped the wires so it doesn't make light anymore!

I also had some people over last night to watch Kill Bill Vol. 2 and to play some ESPN NFL 2K5. Kill Bill wasn't very good, but maybe that's because I was expecting a lot of violence.

Today I just need to finish packing last minute stuff and things that I was using but need to be packed for college like my alarm clock and XBox.

We should be leaving tomorrow around 7 or 8 in the morning so I have no idea when I'll be posting next. My Internet connection is supposed to be activated but I wouldn't be surprised if the people were really busy and I couldn't get online for a few days. Either way, I'll post when I can.

Yesterday was my last day of work for a while. I guess it was an okay day... nothing could go THAT wrong in only four hours though. Anyway, it was my last day but it was the first day I got paid. Kinda weird, but whatever - I was only working a month or so for them anyway.

After work I called TJ because I saw them outside the doors at work but we were already closed. They ended up going over to his house so I went over there after dinner. We mostly played ESPN NFL2K5. Which ever team Steve was on lost so we think he's bad luck or something like that.

Today will be spent preparing more for college. We have most of the crap I need ready but we probably will double check it. I'm also planning on taking down my computer today. My monitor is pretty big and fragile because it's LCD so we have to figure out a way to keep it from moving around a lot in the car - especially moving up and down because the adjusting piece for that moves a LOT. After I take it down I'll setup my old computer which I don't mind at all. I have to make sure that one is running well and everything like that.

I was hoping to beat Doom 3 before I left for school but it isn't going to happen. I played for about 3 hours yesterday waiting for the end to come every time I passed a level but I still think I'm three "sections" away and each section could contain three levels which each take about 45 minutes to complete. I guess I'll have to finish the game in college.

After spending most of the day at work I came home and then had to run out and pick up some stuff. My parents are in Chicago for another funeral (for someone I never met) so my brother and I ate out. Later in the night I saw Sarah and some others for probably the last time before college. It seems like there are so many people that I'd like to say good luck/bye to, but too little time I guess. It's not like I'm leaving forever though so I guess it doesn't matter that much.

Tomorrow I have another eye exam to make sure I want the new contacts and then a last-minute haircut before college. After that is the last day of work from about 3-8ish. It was pretty busy today and we only have two people working tomorrow night so I'm wondering if I just might be register all night. I guess that would be okay with me.

Today was basically a work day. Nothing new happened.

I worked from 12-7 so I woke up later and then when I got home just watched the Packer game. At work the truck came about 1:30 and we had to unload it. It turned out to be about 450 boxes so it was a medium load I guess. The new way they unload trucks is much easier than before though. It is still frustrating though because they have too many people putting boxes on the belt and not enough people taking them off and they don't seem to understand that. The rest of the day was spent unpacking boxes. Basically unpacking loads and loads of Christmas crap. It's fun unpacking boxes when you know that there is different stuff in a lot of them but when I know that almost all of them are Christmas it takes the fun out of it, especially since Christmas stuff is always packed so tightly in the box so it doesn't break.

Tomorrow I work from 8-4 and I'm not sure what they are going to have me do. The managers never do register (they think they are better than that or something) but there is a guy who comes in when we open so I don't know if he'll be doing register or if I will be doing it. I kinda hope I am beause I'm real sick of unpacking stuff. Wednesday the "boss' boss" or something is coming into the store. According to my manager we have to get everything out on the shelves by then, which is impossible and she obviously doesn't see that.

My mom picked up a garbage can today at Wal-Mart for college and that is about all taht is new with college stuff.

And college = no work!

Yesterday wasn't that exciting. We went to Sam's Club to get some water and other stuff for college and I bought a mouse so I didn't have to use the crap one HP gives you. Later in the day I went over to Josh's house and got to see a bunch of people that I haven't seen in a while. Josh and Eric are both leaving for school soon. Anyway, that was pretty fun over there.

Today I just sat around, basically, until I went to work for a little while. The new manager was closing and all he really had me do was help him with the glass aisle which is a horrible mess. He told me yesterday they were working on it and two shelves fell and made a huge mess. All we had to do today was sort parts of the shelves. Tomorrow a truck comes in so I probably have to help unload it and unpack the boxes.

I'm debating about installing Ark Linux along side Windows XP on my main computer. I never really use Linux at all though so I don't know why I want to. Every so often I just feel like installing it and playing around in it. I haven't decided if I'm going to or not but I have the CD burned so if I choose to I may be posting from Linux in my next post.

Frankenstein is finished and wasn't that good. Now that I'm done with it I can do whatever until Saturday, so that's good news.

Work wasn't that bad I guess. I like the smaller shifts of 4 or 5 hours because then I don't really have to 'finish' any huge projects. Today all I did was help put stuff away, unpack boxes, and put together some furniture. It's fun to put together furniture now because the managers don't care at all how long it takes you. When I started I figured they'd want it done ASAP but they don't seem to care very much.

One of my first days on the job I noticed a LED light that is powered by your computer's USB port and I thought it was pretty cool. Later that week my dad noticed it too and I just decided I'd get it (only $2). When I went to get it last week they weren't there any more. Well today when I was rearranging the storage area I found them behind some clocks no one ever buys. I bought one and brought it home and it is pretty cool. The wire is flexable so you can aim it to something and it will stay there. Pretty good deal for $2. If you want one come by and get them in the back of the store.

I saw this morning that my RAM was going to be delivered today and I was hoping to get it before I went to work but it came 10 minutes after I left, according to my parents. I installed it after dinner and it worked without any problems, thankfully. The last time I bought some RAM it didn't work in my computer, my older one at least. It was even designed for my configuration - no idea what its problem was. Anyway, I'm glad to see the computer seems to be taking the RAM fine.

Oh, and I don't work tomorrow!

8 days 'til college.

I worked the register all day, like I thought I would. You could say it wasn't as bad as work normally is, but I still hated it. There's just something that bugs me about working there. For some reason I agreed to work tomorrow too.

The only other thing that I really did today was think about which class I want to take if I can get a math class waived. I can take any lab science but I'd probably pick Chemistry or Physics. I hate Chemistry but it's probably not all that bad. Maybe I'll just decide when I get there.

Frankenstein is almost done. I'd say by Sunday I'll be finished, finally.

I read a page today that told about some of the things they have planned for orientation. It seems like it will be a pretty decent time.

What is it, 9 days until college now?

I was expecting a call from work today because of the truck delivery, but I never got it! I am very happy though, I did not want to go in and lift all that crap again. When we went to the mall today I saw the truck backing into the store and saw some of the employees outside waiting to unload. I work tomorrow though so I wonder what they'll have me do. I'm working open to almost close to I wouldn't be surprised if they put me on register while they redid the Christmas section.

This morning I went to get the trial for my new contacts. These have much more of a blue tint to them than my other ones. I was wondering if they got the wrong eye color for them but when I looked in the mirror they appeared to not mess up my eye color. I guess the tint varies by brand or something. Anyway, these are weighted in the bottom so once I put them in she said it would take a minute or two for them to fully be adjusted. They felt alright and I could see fine so I'll wear them for a few more days and then probably order more. The doctor also mentioned that almost all patients that complained about eye irritation used Renu contact solution. According to her it is by far the worst at killing bacteria. I guess this isn't surprising to me at all. ShopKo probably gave me the contacts and contact solution that they made the most profit off of. No way I'm going back there for eye care.

Kohls shopping was annoying. I don't like clothes shopping at all. I got a shirt or two, I can't remember. My dad thought I needed a new tie too so we picked up another one along with a better belt. We had a card for an additional 15% off so I thought I'd buy some new shoes while I was there but I didn't care for many of the ones they had. I don't know why, I used to like almost all Nike type sneakers. Now I seem to like shoes that are mostly white and without a lot of curves. I guess I just really liked my Adidas ones. While we were in the mall I stopped by Gamestop and mentioned to the manager that I dropped off my dorm address for shipping Halo 2. I just wanted to make sure that he knew about it in case the other guy forgot about it.

Doom 3 has gotten harder lately. I was wondering when I would get a change of scenery in the game (most of the game is taking place indoors) and I finally got it when I got pulled into Hell. I was excited but it ended up being very irritating. I began the level with no weapons and then only got certain ones throughout the level. I had all my good weapons stocked up just for this level, but they were left back on Earth. Anyway, the level is extremely hard for me. On Earth levels I can tell what is killing me because it is on fire or obviously doesn't belong there. On Hell I can't tell what is actually alive because everything is red and well, Hell-ish. Hell ranks up there with "The Library" in Halo as my most hated video game levels. After the level I again lost my acquired weapons but I returned to Earth, which is good. I think there are very few levels left but I really want to get the BFG weapon (BFG stands for something, use your imagination) but I haven't found it yet.

Frankenstein is about 2/3 finished and I should be able to finish it by next week. I don't really care for it still but at least it is more interesting now. After I finish reading I guess I should see what MTU actually wants me to know about it so I can be ready for orientation.

I guess I'll make a countdown to college in each post, I have nothing better to do.

10 days until MTU

Today was pretty busy I guess. I got to catch up on sleep early in the day and then after lunch I went over to work and told them next week would be the last before school started. She said she knew it was soon but she didn't have it in writing so she was glad I came in. She also said I could call about a week ahead whenever I could work on holidays.

Next, my mom, dad, and I worked on figuring out what I have and still need for college. I had made a checklist of stuff that MTU suggested I bring and I have almost all of it now. All the stuff actually doesn't take up that much room so that's good. I'm sure all the clothing will though.

Tonight we went to Men's Warehouse and bought a sport coat and pants for college, just in case I need it for any career day things or something like that. I haven't worn a sport coat in a long time so all of the ones we had, even my brother's old ones, didn't fit well.

The rest of the day was spent reading the book for school and messing around with computer stuff. I finally decided to put the backup battery in my PDA so I could get it setup for school again. I left it alone for too long and it ate the watch battery so everything was whiped off the memory. Everything is back now and I will hopefully be using it more for school assignments and scheduling stuff.

I also downloaded and installed Windows XP SP 2 today. I read a few reviews and they mostly liked it so I just decided to get it before school just in case anything went wrong. Everything installed fine on the laptop and desktop so they are all set to go now. One of the new features is a better firewall, but I don't like how it controls program access to the Internet so I probably won't use it.

Finally, in the last geeky thing I did today I decided to get 512mb more RAM for my computer. With the TV tuner program constantly running I've always noticed slowdown and I figured I'd just get the RAM now instead of after school starts. Luckily, Newegg had a deal for the day and it was about $20 off the normal price so I'm pretty happy with that, assuming the RAM works.

Tomorrow my mom wants to take me to Kohls to get some extra clothes for school. I also have another eye appointment in the morning to get my new contacts. When I went earlier last week she said a different brand may fix my irritation problem (mostly because my current brand is the "budget" brand of contact) so I'm hoping those work out well. The rest of the day I'll probably continue to read Frankenstein so I can just get it over with.

College in 11 days.

I arrived at work at 12, three other people came at that time too, and we started unloading the boxes that I didn't finish yesterday. Thankfully, the manager didn't appear to be mad or anything. The truck was supposed to come at 1 but at around 1:30 the manager started to get worried and she called and discovered the guy who manages the trucks was on vacation. About an hour after that we got two calls telling us that the truck was scheduled for Wed. instaed of today. She still wanted us around to put stuff away but I was very glad that I didn't have to unload the truck. Hopefully she doesn't call me in for Wed. too.

There were several customers today that were horrible. We had a shortage of carts because we were using most of them for storing stuff from boxes and I had two different ladies come up and ask me where to get them. One of them asked where she could get "a cart that actually wasn't being used by an employee". I just said we didn't have any - I like not being at the register because then I can be more mean than I normally would be there. The other lady had a baby and I guess wanted a place to put it down but I'm not about to empty my whole cart out just for her sake, which she actually asked me to do. The store is basically a dollar store for Grandmas, you can't expect the best treatment all the time.

When I got home my dad told me he got me two extension cords and a power strip for free at Menards for college. It's free with rebate but it's only a Menards gift card rebate. If you need some of that stuff for school you better head on over there and pick them up. He said they were selling pretty fast.

The next thing I have to think about is the loft design for the dorm room. TJ and I were thinking about having two separate things on each side of the room for our beds and then we could put stuff under it. Hopefully that will work. It it doesn't I'm sure we can come up with other ideas. We're supposed to have a "low" ceiling so we'll see how much room we actually have to even build a loft.

I thought I'd start to talk less about work in here but there is really nothing else for me to talk about every day. Today I had the task of finishing unpacking the rest of the boxes from the last shipment and sorting it. I thought I could get it done but after the day was over I was left with about 30 boxes and a crapload of cardboard I still had to get out. According to the person closing tonight the manager really wanted the boxes finished but there was no way I could finish it with just one person doing it. If she gives me crap about not getting it done tomorrow I'm pretty sure I won't be working there during any holidays - I don't want to deal with it. Tomorrow another truck comes in so I have to go and help unload and unpack it.

There really isn't anything else new. I haven't been able to eat "normal" food for a few days because my teeth have been tender from the braces, but they are almost perfect today, that's good I guess. I still haven't really started that book I'm supposed to read for college. I read two chapters a few weeks ago but I skipped the introduction and I guess that was put there so that the book makes sense. I'll have to go back and read that then.

Work is making me want college to come even sooner. I'm pretty excited to get there, like I mentioned before. I'm not really sure why I care so much, orientation seems boring to me. I guess I just want classes to start so I have something to do. Or maybe I just want it to start because then November 9th will come even sooner and Halo 2 will be in my hands.

I seem to be getting pretty far in Doom 3, I'm not sure how close I am to the end though. The game is fun but there are some really annoying enemies. I especially hate the spider things and the ghost things that look like flying babies. I hope they stop showing up in the game.

Oh yea, I found a link to Green Day's new single, American Idiot. Click here and then pick a stream to listen to.

Nothing new to report. After reading the employee check thing at work they found out that it was totally wrong. I guess I'll only be getting one check before I leave for school, and only like 2 days before I leave. Hopefully they don't mess up anything. Today at work was uneventful and tomorrow I have to work from open-close and we're supposed to open the rest of the boxes. I hope we can get that done.

Other than work, nothing has happened. I've come to realize that in exactly two weeks from today I will be in college. I didn't realize it was so close. I still need to finish the book we have to read though, so I better get going on it. Eventhough I wish Summer would go a little longer, I really want to start college and learning more nerdy stuff.

No big news to report about yesterday. Register all day at work (oh yea, they called me in). My manager told me there is a truck coming Monday and I am already scheduled to work that day. It's supposed to be a smaller shipment though, so that's good. I work again today and I'm pretty sure I do every day until Tuesday.

This morning we went to Packer Training Camp and I took a few pictures. We couldn't find a spot right up next to the fence so all but one of the pictures has the fence in it. It took me a while to figure out the manual zoom so a lot of the pictures turned out blurry or ended up with bad lighting because I didn't change the shutter speed. Anyway, here's a few.

Favre
Couch
Walker
Endzone Celebration

MTU activated my Internet access (or so I'm told) so I guess I won't have to wait very long to have the Internet when I get up there. I'm just hoping they didn't mess up part of the activation and it will take long to fix it, or something like that.

Early (sort of) this morning I had my braces put on. It seemed like it took forever, but I'm just glad it didn't go even longer. They only bother me a little bit right now so I guess I'll need to get used to them.

I also went and registered to vote today and requested an absentee ballot for the presidential election. That was pretty much painless - but I guess they want to make it that way so that they can get as many people as possible to vote. My dad and I also closed my bank account at Bank One because they don't have a branch in Houghton so we moved over to Wells Fargo. They have a nice college deal that got me some good benefits for the next 4 or 5 years. They also included a free DVD of my choice, but none of their choices are good.

Anyway, the way the day is going it looks like I'll just be sitting around tonight. I guess it's better than working though.

I went to Gamestop as soon as they opened but they had already sold all five copies they had left over. I guess they were all waiting there right when the store opened. I ended up getting Doom 3 from Best Buy, where they had a bunch of copies left. So far the game seems pretty cool. The visual effects are very cool.

Work was pretty bad today. Many people wanted to "look" at rugs and they were always ones that were hard to get at. We also had some lady come in who was tax exempt and figuring that out took forever. It's funny though, about 7:30 the lights turned off (not all of them) and then at 8:00 even more turned off so we had to close early. All the lights are on a timer I guess. Thankfully, I don't work again until Friday.

Tonight I decided to stop by Gamestop real quick to see what new games are out and/or cheap and they just happened to tell me they had left over Doom 3 that they are selling tomorrow. I thought I had pretty much talked myself out of buying the game but I guess I didn't fully do that. One of the managers showed me his game box (he bought it and was going home to play it soon) and I was pleased to see the minimum requirements weren't that bad. I stayed and talked to him for a while about how well it might perform on our computers and I just gave in and decided I'm going to go get it tomorrow. The only thing I am really lacking is a "newer" graphics card but I think my mainstream one will be fine. From what I've read online Doom 3 will work "fine" on the minimum requirements, and thankfully my computer can beat those specs.

I went to the eye doctor today for a last minute vision check before school and to order some more contacts. I've been having a problem with my left contact for some time now, towards the end of each month when the contact is getting close to being used for a month. I told her about it and I guess she's going to order a different kind for me to try out. I was hoping that she would find something wrong with the way ShopKo measured my eyesight so it would be obvious why my eye hurt, but she didn't. I'm kinda glad my vision didn't change in a year though.

Tomorrow I'll start out early and get my Doom 3 copy and then possibly switch banks, mostly for college reasons, and then work around 2. Tomorrow is the "sale" day at the store and it'll probably be really crazy all day. We're open later that day too, which I don't really like. I'm hoping that all the crazy people come and buy stuff during the morning so I don't have to deal with any of it.

Well the past few days have pretty much been full of work. 8 hours yesterday and another 9 today. It isn't that bad I guess though, because then I get more days off during the week. It seems like almost every customer doesn't get what the store is about so I have to explain that a lot. After all the confusion, I think the Tuesday sale might have some problems.

I tried ESPN NFL 2K5 online on July 30th so see if it was fixed but it wasn't. Yesterday I tried removing my memory card and it logged on! I have no idea what the problem really was. Even when I put it back in the game still worked. Whatever.

Greg Maddux didn't win his 300th game today and I'm kinda glad. I wanted to watch the game when that happened because he's such a good pitcher/guy. Plus Chicago would make a huge deal about it. Hopefully it will happen next game he starts.