Ahem, ladies and gentlemen, we have currently a week to go before the autumn quarter officially ends and I don't know about you but I am pretty excited. There are a few bits of news I'd like to share with you all before you undertake the mighty task of studying for your upcoming finals. For my environmental science class we just got done finishing group posters illustrating different chapters of the UW common book "Field Notes from a Catastrophe."
If you guys haven't' read the book then I really suggest you take a look at the posters. It''ll also be a good learning opportunity for those who have read the book because it will provide some nice visual representations of global warming. The great thing about it is that you all can read the posters for each chapter and it's like reading the entire book. There was so much information and it was hard to place it all on a tri-fold poster but our group managed to get only the essentials of the chapter. Some groups are doing the same chapter so you might find two posters on (for ex.) chapter 3. But the information that would be on both of these posters would not overlap as each poster has some unique data from the book. I wonder if you will be able to locate mine (hint: my name is on the top left corner of the poster and it has a black background with the earth in the middle). After you guys have finished reading this blog, of course, go check out our environmental posters located in the CUSP office!
So, where you all in school when the campus shut down at 3:30 due to inclement weather? I didn't know you could shut down school just over some rain but I guess it must have been pouring really hard. The freeway was practically jammed so I skipped the traffic and took the city route going through downtown Bothell. I had heard from several classmates that there is severe flooding in Centralia and that Governor Gregoire had estimated the destruction to be over $1 billion.
Now that's some major damage! It's was pretty wierd because the flood happened so fast that no one really had any warnings. I heard over the radio that there have been 100's of rescues and 3 confirmed deaths in the area. The national guard had been brought in as well to help.
Soo..lets move on to a somewhat happier subject shall we? The term FINALS, what has it meant for you? For me it encompasses the words: stress, anxiety, panic, fear, hunger, sleepiness, confusion, tense, suffering, sweat, worriment, uncertainty, restlessness, and agitation. Okay, well maybe I got carried away just a bit there, but you catch my drift. It's funny how we experiene a mix of emotions in the days leading up to the finals but then once the finals are over we get this huge sense of relief and freedom. All I have to do is get past Wednesday of next week I am in the clear. I don't know if I've mentioned this already but I have a final exam, a reflective essay and two take home exams that require some much needed attention. But this is nothing compared to the workload that some of my peers are preparing for this weekend.
Did you all take advantage of the snow this past weekend? It seemed like it wouldn't stop as the snow kept on piling up. It started snowing while I was at work and since it was my first time driving in the snow I was a little apprehensive in heading back home. Yet, it was easier than I thought as the roads hadn't turned to ice yet. It was funny because when the first few drops of snow fell many of my coworkers thought it wouldn't stick to the ground but only after about a good 30 minutes the whole parking lot as well as the trees were completely white! After I got home I had to go to Tacoma to watch my brother's basketball game against Lincoln High School and I came to find out it was snowing in Tacoma too! I hope it snows again this weekend, not that I'll have anytime to play in it, but it would be a nice view to look at from my room.
Well that's about all the time I have for today because I have to go to work in a few. As we enter the final stretch of the autumn quarter I would just to say that these last few months have truly been one of the greatest for me intellectually. I have grown in ways I thought would take years for me to reach and I have expanded my realm of thinking. I am already excited for the next quarter, and I guarantee that I will be blogging to you all during the Christmas season. GOOD LUCK ON THE FINALS!
aminm11@u.washington.edu