December 30, 2011

Well, I haven't had much for out-of-window shots recently.  My dorm view isn't spectacular, and there really hasn't been any kind of interesting weather to photograph.  In fact, it's been the mildest winter we've had in a long, long time thus far.  I'm on Christmas break right now (though it's nearly over), and we haven't had a single snowflake fall the entire time.  It's been in the 60's at times.  I'm certainly not complaining.  This is my kind of winter.

Anyway, just to post something, I thought I'd share a couple sunset photos from the Christmas on my mom's side of the family.  It was a really gorgeous sunset out on the farm.  It's one of the best I've ever seen to be honest...

December 3, 2011--First Real Snow

So, I know it's been a long time since I've posted here, but I've been ridiculously busy this semester with my RA job and with my classes.  Plus, the weather had been remarkably good up until today.  We've had incredibly high temperatures for this time of year.  Thanksgiving was last week, and it was in the 60's and 70's in most areas of Nebraska.  Unfortunately, I knew it was too good to last, and I woke up this morning to see this:

Revolting.  Absolutely revolting.  I am so not ready for winter.  Ugh, I guess the only good thing is that the crappy weather will force me to buckle down and get some studying done this weekend.  This has been a pretty rough semester for me due to difficult classes, crazy professors, and juggling my schoolwork with my RA responsibilities.  I have three cumulative finals coming up, and I need to go hardcore if I'm going to pull off A's in some of these classes.

Anyway, if the snow gets any worse (which I bet it will), I will post updates.  I've never had snow on this blog before, so I figure it's a nice change-up.

October 3, 2011

Well, I haven't posted here for quite some time, so I thought I'd thrown in a quick update.  What you're looking at above is near-sunset through my academic year window.  It was taken with my new--well, new  to me--Canon Rebel XSi.  I've only had a few days to mess around with it, so I'm still figuring out many of the settings.  However, I'm very pleased with the shots I've taken with it so far.  Manual is still a challenge, but I'll do some Googling to learn more about the settings.

Anyway, life has been busy.  Very busy.  Being an RA has been stressful at times, but now that school has kicked in, the residents themselves are easier to deal with.  It was party, party, party until the first round of tests sobered everybody.  I have some difficult classes.  My first round of tests didn't go as well as I wanted it to, but it wasn't disastrous.  Just gotta keep on truckin'...

I've also been going to Husker games, but I have East Stadium student tickets this year.  In other words, I have better seats.  After watching the Wisconsin vs. Nebraska game, though, I'm not sure how pleasant the remaining home games are going to be.  Anyway, I know this post is fairly random, but I felt obligated to keep this blog alive.  I have to go on duty rounds pretty quick, so I'll wrap this up for now!

September 2, 2011

Well, I haven't posted since the first day that people started moving in to this building.  That actually makes perfect sense now that I think about it.  Since people started flowing in, I have had precious little time for blogging or photography.  Fortunately, now I've settled into classes and gotten into a little more of a rhythm.  It wasn't easy at first...  After training and move-in ended, classes immediately started.  I've had some mischief on my floor these first couple weeks, and it was getting to me, so last weekend I ran home quick to relax before I had a nervous breakdown and killed someone.  Family time REALLY helped, and my second week of classes was considerably less stressful.  I didn't get to see my brother (it's harder to cross paths now that we're both in college), but I got to see my puppy and the rest of my family, so that was nice.  It's Labor Day Weekend, so my brother is actually home right now.  We'll be home at the same time eventually!

Anyway, to explain the picture, this is the sunset from tonight.  Right as the sun was going down, a nasty little red spot was heading towards Lincoln on radar from the west/southwest.  Shortly after this was taken, it absolutely POURED.  The wind blew, the rain was intense, and there was a ridiculous amount of lightning.  We were never in a warning, but it was enough to disrupt a lot of people's Friday night plans temporarily.  As for me, my Friday night plans have included making a Jeopardy game for a hall activity, painting my nails red with white polka dots (I'll explain why shortly), and watching the U.S. Open on television.  Everything is very Husker-y tonight: my nails, this tennis match, and the fact that tomorrow is gameday.  Roddick (from Nebraska) is playing Sock (an 18-year-old also from Nebraska).  Roddick just won, but Sock gave him a fight.

Well, that's really all!  I'm going to finish my nails and then probably go to bed.  I'm excited to go to the game tomorrow, but I'm not excited about the extremely strong chance of rain.  Yikes.  Hopefully we don't get rained out!

August 15, 2011 Double Rainbow

Yesterday, all of the potential sorority girls moved in for RUSH 2011.  Immediately before they were supposed to move in, a line of storms swept through the area.  At 8 a.m. sharp, there was torrential rain, nasty lightning, and a small number of brave people coming in to check their daughters into the dorm.  Right before the storm, I ran back up to my room to grab something.  When I looked out the window, I noticed that the sun in the east was creating a sweet double rainbow on the storm clouds in the west.  I snapped a couple pics in my room.  I had to work the check-in, so I had no choice but to take it through the window and try to reduce the glare as much as possible.

Anyway, move-in was hectic, but at least now we have some people in the building.  I'm glad to finally have some girls on my floor.  The girls are kept busy during Rush, but I'm hoping to actually meet and talk with some of them soon!

August 14, 2011 Sunset

Well, this blog isn't as dormant as I was expecting.  Anyway, today was glorious.  I had the entire day off of training, and I had plenty of time to get stuff done before sorority girls start moving in tomorrow for rush.  I was able to completely finish decorating my bulletin boards, so I'm done with arts and crafts for a few weeks.  I also was able to pick up some odds and ends to make my room more homey.  I definitely feel like my room has more of a personal touch than when I moved in.  I still done have a "5 star" room with amazing decorations, but it works for me.  

The weather was gorgeous today: around 80, sunny, with a slight breeze.  I pretty much saw none of my RA coworkers today, which is totally fine with me.  I like all of them, but I've been around people all day, every day since RA training began.  Being the introvert that I am, I needed to fly solo for a day to recharge.  Other than finishing up RA work, running errands, going for a walk, etc., I went out for a photography walk right before sunset and got the awesome pics above.  The sunsets and sunrises have been really impressive lately.  I don't know if it's the weather, the time of year, or the fact that I don't have to work nights anymore...

August 13, 2011 Sunrise

Well, initially I thought my academic year room was going to suck as far as scenery goes.  I don't live on a high floor and my main view is a parking lot.  However, the past few mornings before RA training, I have discovered that I get to experience a decent sunrise view from my window.  Sunrise pictures from me have been extremely rare in the past.  I'm not exactly the type of person who gets up at 6 a.m. or earlier.  Today, though, I woke up a little early and glanced through my blinds to see this.  I was impressed, so I decided to snap a photo before going back to sleep for a couple hours.

Anyway, RA training has been hectic to say the very least.  I've never looked forward to class so much in my life.  I'm just ready to meet the girls on my floor, get the first weekend out of the way, and get a regular schedule rolling.  Today we had a slight break because we went to Mahoney State Park with RAs from the same complex.  I would describe Mahoney as a "city person's state park".   To me, a state park is a little more wild: less mowed lawns, no chlorinated pools, no driving range or mini golf, etc.  My favorite parts of the park were the observation tower and the paddle boats.  The waterpark was fun, but GI has a far superior water park and that's something you can do in town.  I would have preferred something a little more woodsy, but it was still a fun day.  Tomorrow we (thank God), have the entire day off to chill or work on things.  I plan to get all of my floor crafts DONE tonight and early tomorrow. I am so sick of cutting paper....