Once again I find myself on campus before my friends have eventhought of getting out of their warm beds...

I came early this morning to see if I could catch Dr. Millerbefore her 9:00 class so that I could talk to her about possibly getting andalternate individual assignment to take the place of the group assignment we'vebeen working on because I haven't been able to work with my group lately. I emailed a group member earlier this week, but she did not email meback, so I have no idea where we are with our project is at the moment. Well, it turns out that Dr. Miller not only has a 9:00 class and a 10:00class, but she also has an 8:00 class... so I hope I can catch her in betweenone of three classes.

I have parked myself in the lobby (once again) and I'm enjoyingthe quiet peace of a campus that is waking up around me.  It looks to meas if three papers are being written, a science test is being studied for andFacebook is making money.  Yep, other than professors arriving for theirclasses on this Friday morning, that's pretty much all that's going on. What do I plan to do??  Well, while I wait for Dr. Miller I plan ongetting some work done.  I need to print out my application for summeremployment here at the Mount, I need to do my WebCT reflections for my servicelearning in Santoro's class, I need to organize my thoughts and research for myresearch paper on gifted education, I need to brainstorm an idea for my unitplan for AED and I need to finish my Praxis Summaries for chapters 14, 15 and16 in SED.  Oh boy!

I'll keep pushing until it's all done, I've been through worse, I can do this, but not just by telling myself I can do it... I'm going to have to talk the talk AND walk the walk in order for anything to happen!  Wish me luck... 

Facebook. Who hasn't heard of it? Walk into the lobby of the classroom building or the lounge where the commuters hang out and you will see at least 3 people with their laptops open, drooling and pointing at the newest gossip on Facebook. Social networking goes far beyond Facebook (there's Myspace, Twitter, bebo, flickr, tumblr...just to name a few), however Facebook seems to be all the rage among college students. It is even, on occasion, integrated into the classroom. 98% of my friends have an account, as do I. But at what cost?

Privacy is hard to keep on the internet, and as a young, carefree, excitable college student, I am eager to jump on any kind of social bandwagon that's going to allow me to communicate with my peers more easily and effectively. I use it to pass the time between classes, to keep up with old high school friends across the country, and even to talk about homework. I have set up a group for the MSJ graphic design students, where we can come together and talk about assignments, professors, critiques or just share funny design-related links. With all the positive features of Facebook, it's easy to forget how it is a double-edged sword. Anything I may post to Facebook, including pictures, can be taken and used against me by the people I allow to access my profile. Photos can be used to incriminate others, and words may be easily twisted or taken out of context. 

It is easy to forget these things, because everybody on your friends list is your 'friend'...right? Perhaps, but you can never be sure. This week I cleaned out over 300 people from my "friends list" that I felt did not need to know my every move or have access to my Facebook life.  I have to say, it certainly felt good. I have two specific friends who refuse to even have a Facebook account. Their reasoning? "If people felt they could talk to me over Facebook, the face-to-face interaction would eventually lessen if not stop all together". This is a good point, and one I certainly think about every time I log on to the site. I can't say I am ready to give it up completely quite yet, but as I come closer and closer to the "real world" and being an adult with a career; the less interest I have in maintaining my account.

Hey everyone. I have to say, I am SO happy to be able to be typing this right now. No no, that wasn't sarcasm...for once. These past two weeks have been a little unpredictable and frustrating with the internet on campus. I don't know the entire story, but there were "electrical problems" in the library, resulting in us losing internet for long periods of time the week before spring break. WHAT! NO INTERNETS???  What is a college student to do?!?! 

Well, for most people it was just a mere annoyance. However being a graphic design major, most of my classes right now involve heavy internet and computer work. So every time I would boot up my trusty mac and see the "Unable to Connect" dialog box, I would get dizzy. In fact, my palms started sweating and I began having the shakes. My roommate even considered painting our room navy blue to help me cope with my Facebook withdrawals. Then we realized the dean would probably not be too happy or understanding when it came time to take the paint off. 

Anyways, we finally got the problem fixed (or so we are told), and all connections (internet, email, webCT, etc) are back. For now. Either way, the entire ordeal made my fellow classmates and I realize how huge of a role technology plays in our academic and social lives. What's that cliche saying...."You never know what you've got until it's gone". Yeah, well.....dang, I missed you internet. Over and out. 

my gosh do i have a lot to share. well to begin. the one hour of facebook per day - not so successful. i've been on facebook a lot for the past couple weeks but i still have not been late with anything so there is still a great sense of progress in my procrastination post lent.

this past friday was the spring fest in which i got to meet made avail. which is a band from my hometown. the lead singer actually is friends with some of the st. rita alumni. which is where i did colorguard for 2 years. that was a lot of fun!

i spent a lot of time with my dear friend and fellow blogger, andi, at the spring fest too.

 the spring fest overall was a great success in addition to the week beforehand with a great spring formal ticket when i got to pet a penguin and sharks!

he was so frickin cute!!!!!!!!!!!

i was the only one in that group reaching down for a while. i just kept sticking my arm down there to pet them!

Saturday then was the leadership retreat in which i was able to hear presentations about fundraising, ethical leadership, and publicity and promotion. all by some of my favorite people

Dr. Aretz has some great ideas about our college's future leadership plans and Betheny Herr (one of my wonderful bosses for this blog) is always so enthused about her job!!!

in addition to all of this excitement. i also attended the habitat for humanity reunion type dinner for all of the spring break trip members. as a whole, we gave our advisor, Dr. Reed, a framed picture of the team overall from the trip.

The weekend was definitely a great way to start my last week of classes as a junior in college.

And the week started off great as well!

On Monday I had received the Merit Scholarship through Project EXCEL at their graduation gala. Myself and two other girls, Clare Zilly (fellow blogger) and Kaitlin Bode, from the EXCEL program had earned these scholarships due to our success not only through the program but through the Mount as students and examples of the Mission Statement. It truly is an honor!!!

And today the excitement continued! This morning, I had a meeting at the Bayley Place across the street for a position through the summer employment grant and I got the position! Of course a requirement for it was to get a TB shot.... (((I DON'T LIKE NEEDLES))) but everything else has been so good that I honestly didn't even notice that portion of it.

Things are going so well for me right now that I can't help but to smile about everything!

I'm excited, also, for the DVD to come out of our play for the semester. Joseph came out so well, and I wouldn't have had so much fun without my friends being in it with me and great support from additional friends, as well as family.

(((Another thank you to my habitat board for a great year!!!)))

within the first 12 hours of being back on facebook i received over 100 notifications in reference to my return and my missing pictures. one comment was from a friend mentioning that facebook has nearly 3000 pictures of me. that was shortly after i posted 6 albums alone from just one week.

so with that, i'm officially back on the book. this morning is when the first challenge arised with my post-lenten goal. i woke up and first checked my e-mail. and then went to facebook. i will be honest. i spent an hour and half on facebook this morning when i first woke up. however. for the next three hours once i logged off i was able to stay off of facebook while i worked on e-mails, papers, and more. so while this addiction still exists, i can finally say no to facebook without any struggle!

these next three weeks (YES THREE WEEKS) left of school are crucial on time! i have due dates and events as well as several meetings to attain to and i will not let facebook tear me away. my strain from facebook for the last couple months has truly helped this semester in means of my procrastination. these next few weeks will NOT go well if i let facebook get in the way so i am setting a rule for myself. i will not allow more than one hour of facebook per day. while i'd prefer to stay to no more than 30 minutes a day after going for 2 months without.... i still am catching up with a lot of things on facebook and i tend to lose track of time while on it (like this morning).

there could still possibly be days where i don't go on facebook at all. it's a challenge that i will have to take on day by day. wish me luck!

thanks again for reading!!!

its 2:30 on Sunday April 12, 2009 so that means HAPPY EASTER to all you readers and your families.

 that also means i'm back on facebook. it's already been interesting just from signing on because i couldn't even remember my password! but i got it reset and i'm back on.

 i signed on to see several new requests messages notifications etc.

27 messages
34 notifications
13 friend requests
7 event invitations
33 other requests
and 1 new update

so i made it! i have successfully reached my goal of no access to facebook from february 25th to april 12th. i am very proud! however. this will be difficult to adjust to. i am not liking the new face of this addictive book. we'll see what happens.

i'll update with more details on what will happen next after i actually go through each message notification etc.....

today, the Joseph performance made MSJ musical history! 525 tickets sold for today's matinee and around 1900 members of the audience over all for 6 consistent nights of perfomances. i am proud to say that this was definitely a rewarding time in my life!

however, the best part of the entire day (weekend, really!) was my mother coming in to see me. last week when she told me that she would be driving out to cincinnati on april 5th to see a show i started crying! i hadn't seen my mother or anyone from chicago since january 12th when i left after xmas break so you could say they were definitely HAPPY tears! 

but within the musical intself, it was an incredible show. I've loved this play since 2001 and have known that order of colors on joseph's coat since day one of chicago children's choir so it was definitely fun to be able to perform such an amazing play with so many close friends. I was even able to make some new friends within the play so i'm ecstatic that it all happened.

((( it's a process to look as great as we did))) ((these joseph girls are hot to go)))

i'm anxious to see what happens for next year's show. i'd love to perform again so i hope the opportunity arises again next year for another amazing performance by the music department.

more pictures will have to wait till after easter once i'm back on facebook :)

it's weird to say that I haven't been on facebook for over a month. as stated previously, I'm the kind of facebooker that logs on every hour of every day. the first week wasn't so horrible because i've been on a no facebook streak twice in the past. once because several people doubted my ability and challenged me to not go on for a week. and the other was because no computer was available at all. this current act is purely for my own personal challenge, as is the lenton promise. and while it is weird to say it - i'm also very proud to say that i have not been on facebook. so then since i'm giving it up for Lent - what about Easter morning?

I decided to research a bit about the Lenton promise. I came across www.catholic.org and found a section about the reaon for giving up something and what happens once Lent is over. I thought I would share what I was able to take from it.

Many promises start with the youth of Lent giving up some kind of candy or junk food or even pop. I recall one of my first Lent promises. I gave up gum for lent and kept telling my parents how excited I was for Easter morning for a lot of gum to be in my Easter basket. Looking back on that occaision, as a junior in college, I am realizing how effective it is to give up something more challenging or meaningful, and what a difference it makes to do something else. by exchanging a lack of one object or addiction with a good deed or something of a more positive nature. by giving up facebook, I am able to pay more attention to my e-mail and paperwork and also spend the time doing more productive things around the college campus and in my life. a portion of the reading on www.catholic.org shared a story about a man who asked his kids how their Lenten promises were going. one of the boys spoke up and expressed his excitement about not fighting with his siblings but then became anxious for Easter morning so he would not have to give it up anymore. well what about me for facebook? i still feel to this day, since i originally challenged myself on Ash Wednesday, to see how long I can really go without facebook. While that's not exactly a part of the Lenten promise, I feel that if I continue with the challenge I will be able to show my ability in surpassing the original goal. i'll be able to prove myself that i can control my procrastination and therefore can better fight my attention deficit. yay me!

I have just over a week left of No FaCeBoOk and i'm anxious to see how I can continue with the progress even after Easter is over!

So I have decided that I need to eliminate clutter and the distractions around my room.  It is very hard living in a dorm room to not have distractions around you while you are doing your homework.  I have cut out most of my Facebook and Myspaeing.  I feel that it is distracting, non educational and it has all gotten to be too big of a deal.

You can’t get through college with a 3.6 GPA spending endless hours on these so called “social networking sites”.  I have to say they are fun and you keep in touch and up to date on everything.  That is a plus but that’s what a phone is for.  If I really care what is up with you and would have checked your Facebook and/ or Myspace, chances are you are in the “favorites” in my phone.

College is difficult.  Especially second semester of your freshman year it can be difficult.  You are used to an easy load of work and easy intro classes first semester.  You get into the nitty gritty stuff that is harder during your second semester.  Being as involved as I am you become over whelmed and need to figure out a way to overcome that feeling.

Cutting out these distractions is a good start, next maybe try asking for help.  If that doesn’t work use your planner and write EVERYTHING in it.  College is not like high school where you can get through it without your planner.  You need your planner and your syllabus to survive.  It is very hard to remember to check your planner and syllabus on a regular basis.  However, you must do so.

After cutting out these distractions I have found it easier to get by and get through the days and the long, late nights.  Also snacks help!  Gotta love pizza and Cheetos at 2am!!! MMMHMMM!!!

Till Next Time eat some pizza and Cheetos for me!

Matthew T.

well like i said in my last post, more rules are coming up about these 40 days WITHOUT facebook. i'm sure many of you are familiar with the website www.picnik.com where you are able to edit any picture of your liking with cute borders, text, pictures, coloring, and more. well i was on it the other day making some pictures for a friends and i remembered the option to post the picture straight to facebook. well - i say NO! no access to the page at all. i will simply save the pictures to my flashdrive in the mean time. i also decided to change the rule about other friends showing pictures. i don't want to see anything posted on facebook pages for these 40 days.

i truly want to live these days without any facebook. while it can come in to discussion, i want to live like it doesn't exist. what was my life like before facebook took over us college students and became a source of procrastination. i've had a number of people ask me what i'm going to do after Lent is over. will I just get back on to facebook like i used to. i really hope not. within the last week i have gotten so much more work done and have actually had time to relax, get to bed at an earlier hour, and truly sit down and hang out with friends. that was all one week. what will the rest of the month do??

keep tuned! i'm sure there will be more rules!

((here are a couple of the pictures i created for my friend, christy. she's a big fan of trees ))