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09.30.05 || Six Weeks GoneIn thinking about this semester, it seems to be flying by. I'm not sure if that because this is my last fling, my last semester in college life or because I've been keeping rather busy. I'm not a full time student, I'm basically done with school, two classes left I'm taking right now, which means I’ll be graduating with a BS in Mechanical Engineering come December. This is basically a vacation to me; it’s very nice after 5 years of engineering work, classes, internships, and all the other stuff that goes along with it.
My main job now is finding one. I went to the job fair here at NIU on Wednesday, and plan attending the Engineering job fair, as well as the internship fair next week. Listing my resume on company’s website, and other online job search sites, in an attempt to find the ultimate job.
With that said, my photography and videography (whiteography) business is going well, very well actually. We’ve been keeping very busy, so if I don’t find a job in engineering, or other similar field, I really could pursue my photography business. Lots have asked why I'm in engineering, considering my own business is thriving. It’s an option, and that’s the way I like it.
Sixteen weeks seems long when classes are hard, and tests are tough, but this vacation is nice. With the semesters midpoint hitting soon, I have to make the best of this semester, leave NIU on a good note, and get ready for the real world, I'm just not sure I'm ready for it, this vacation is nice, only 10 more weeks.
09.27.05 || What is a Spatula?
Now we’ve come to the biggest question of the day: What is a Spatula? Thinking of growing up, hearing your parents talking about a spatula in the kitchen maybe grandma asking you to get one, what do you get? This has become a neighboring debate, so I present it here, what is your thinking of what a spatula is: #1 or #2 or both? Comment to state your opinion. (Krissy, I already know your opinion)
#1
A rubber or silicon flexible tool used to scrape bowls to get the remaining pudding or other soft creamy substance out.
#2
A harder plastic or metal flat ended tool used to flip hamburgers, or other solid food items.
09.20.05 || TCF Bank
I really don’t see what problem people have with TCF. I have no affiliation with TCF, I just don’t think they are a bad bank. So many people I talk to rip on them, because they ‘charge weird fees’ or ‘screwed them over’. Well I'm sorry bud, but if you write a check for $31 and you have $30 in your account ANY bank will charge you overdraft fees. Really I haven’t seen any solid proof that would give reason to believe that TCF is a horrible bank like some people make them out to be. The reason I mention this is because the Northern Star has an article today about it:
http://www.northernstar.info/articles/?id=11374
The article talks about how this one person had fees, which she shouldn’t have gotten, she went through a mess to get them resolved but the article even states: “In the end, she got the overdraft fees back and successfully paid the bill, but she was not happy.” Alright, so what’s your problem, I doubt anyone can tell me a bank that hasn’t put someone through hell at one point, YOU GOT YOUR MONEY BACK, give it up! Yes, I wasn’t happy when TCF charged me wrongly either, but I called, and complained about it, and they reversed the fee, problem solved.
Others complain that TCF has a whole bunch of hidden charges, including if you use your ATM card as a credit card, or something similar, that they get some $.30 fee. I don’t know what their talking about, I've used my ATM card and I sure don’t have any fees on my statements. In talking to someone just a few days ago, they stated that their bank didn’t charge for using any ATM, no matter who owns the ATM. Saying that, I really don’t think people are comparing the same accounts. No your free student TCF account does not include free ATM transactions for non-TCF ATM’s, however other non-student checking accounts through TCF have that option. So we can't compare our home bank account, that you have to have a $500 balance and you get 1.00001% interest, to the FREE student TCF account.
The article also mentioned that “Many students, however, have complaints with the bank. On www.livejournal.com, for example, 28 comments on an entry on TCF Bank were posted by members unhappy with the bank’s service. Only one of the entries is favorable.” I searched the NIU community for a bit, and I sure don’t find anything about TCF. I do remember seeing something though, just was not able to find it, but I don’t remember only one person saying TCF was good, I thought others did and I'm pretty sure I did.
I'm not saying TCF is the ultimate bank, I have Old Second, and Castle as well, I'm just saying location wise TCF is the best choice. Depending on where I go after college, I may close my account at TCF, just depends on what they offer and what other banks offer, however for anyone going to college on campus it only makes sense to have a TCF account, purely for convenience. Also like the article stated, most people are from the Chicago area, and that’s where TCF is predominate. There’s got to be a reason “From 1999 to 2003, TCF experienced the fourth-largest period of growth of any bank branch in the U.S.”
I also posted this on NIU Livejournal, check it out for other students comments.
09.18.05 || Football: NIU vs Tennessee Tech
It seemed to be a pretty easy game, not much of a challenge for NIU, even though the Ref’s were sure throwing a lot of yellow flags. Tailgating was crazy as usual, and me not working for the Northern Star anymore, this is why I take the pictures. I took a few hundred as usual, and I posted some of them here. So if you didn’t get to the game, or would like to look at parts of the game, check out my pictures.
Click pictureI also posted this in NIU Livejournal , you can look at comments there, if any.
09.08.05 || iPod nano
What will Apple come up with next? The iPod craze just keeps continuing, I really don’t see a fall in it anytime soon. Bill Gates must be jealous; Apple has pulled themselves out of a slump, with these new inventions.
The latest of the iPod family is the iPod nano. It’s quite small, just a mere .27 inches, and up to 4 GB of space so it holds quite a bit. I can't see myself getting an iPod in the near future, but they are a grand idea. I would rather have more compact flash cards, they are more useful, I have a laptop if I want to listen to music or view pictures. In all actuality, it’s a lot cheaper for a laptop on a cost per use basis. If you look at what you can do with an iPod or any portable MP3 player, and compare it to what you can do with one of the little laptop computers, a laptop is much more worth its money. I'm talking about the less than 5 lb class of laptops, not those 8-10 lb clunker laptops with the 17 inch screen. What do you want one of the 23 inch screen on your laptop? That makes it not so portable now doesn’t it. Anyways laptops you can not only view pictures and listen to music, but edit pictures, have a much bigger hard drive, and a simple thing like type a paper. You sure can't do that with a portable MP3 player. Granted if you do a lot of jogging, or places where you couldn’t have a laptop sitting there, alright, then it’s worth it, but I personally don’t have that use.
Anyway, what you think of this new item to the apple family? Hate that you just bought an iPod and now they come up with something even smaller and lighter?
09.03.05 || Katrina ....
Kanye West just said “Bush does not care about black people” on Larry King Live on CNN. I learned later that it’s from NBC, and they already have a disclaimer out about this statement, basically saying West was not supposed to say that, and he does not reflect the views of NBC.
Wow…. I was rather surprised that was said on national TV. Anyway, I am sure many people have views on how things are being handled after Katrina, I do as well. I am probably only one of the many people doing this, but I am going to set this place for comments on what I and other people think about Katrina stuff.
So about, Kayne, I'd say I have to agree with him, it took him how many days to go down there, and why was it that Bush was so slow on getting them help?? He sure was quick to give money to Asia for the Tsunami, but had a hard time opening oil reserves and sending help?
So, New Orleans is a place that is what, at least 8 feet below sea level, when it is a few feet from the sea? How stupid of a place is that to build. They’ve just been lucky for the last 200 years that this didn’t happen earlier. Like another person I’ve talked to said, “I hope New Orleans never rebuilds,” I rather agree with them. It’s a rather stupid place for a city, and the original settlement is actually on higher ground, and is fine right now, not under water.
CNN just said, “President did acknowledge that the support was slow coming”. Well duh.
So a hurricane. A hurricane came to a place right by a big body of water, a very large body of water. Hurricanes are known, rather well known too, and guess what people, YOU KNOW THEY ARE COMING! We’re not talking about a tornado here, not an earthquake, no, we’re talking about something that can be predicted what, like up to a week in advance? So guess what, you live by a big body of water, and well you know a hurricane is coming, GET OUT, duh! I realize that area is something like 65% black, and mostly poor, but you don’t need a car to get out of the area, and if you couldn’t get on the bus that was evacuating the area, you have two feet. They had at least 3 days to know they were going to be close to being hit by the storm, you can walk pretty far in 3 days. Maybe you have to get out of your home, your only place, but living on the street is better than dying in your house to me. Maybe this isn’t practical, but I still feel they could have done something, but they refused to.
Also I have heard the people going down there to rescue people had to evacuate themselves because they were being shot at. Also a military helicopter was being shot at. I'm sorry but if you are going to do that, you don’t deserve to be rescued. Now, it’s probably one person who wants to steal stuff and shoots at rescuers because they would stop them from getting their goods. So maybe those people should be shot themselves. I did see some lady from the military say that they would have to use force to regain control of the city, and well, I totally agree with her. If you must shoot someone because you are trying to help them and they are shooting at you, they should be dead.
Alright there’s a few, I have many other views about this, look in my comments for my other views I think of.