A Founding Sister <>

Today I accepted a bid to become a founding member of Quinnipiac's newest sorority, Alpha Delta Pi. After a anxious and very exciting week of recruitment I had my fingers crossed all night and morning long that I wouldn't get the phone call telling me that unfortunately I have not been chosen. Luckily12 noon rolled around (taking it's sweet time I might add) without having received a phone call! I walked down the hall in the student center at promptly 12 noon and found balloons hugs and smiles waiting for me and the other women with me along with envelopes with our names on them.

We all officially accepted our bids to join ADPi by filling out some paperwork and congratulating each other, who we now call sisters!

I am very excited to have "come home to Alpha Delta Pi," and can't wait to start meeting all my gorgeous sisters and to learn more about ADPi. For the next few weeks we will get to know each other and what it is like to be a member of the first ever secret society for college women founded back in 1851 at Wesleyan College in Macon GA, the school also known for being the first to grant degrees to women.

This is going to be an exciting time, I am so proud and lucky to have this opportunity, here during my last year at QU. This is something I've always wanted to do but it was just never the right time or the right sorority, but I know "Coming Home to ADPi" is the right choice for me!
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Kasasa

I just received an email from a "bank" called Kasasa. Apparently they saw my blog and contacted me to let me know about this new way of banking designed for college students. I haven't done any research about it yet but it looked interesting.

Apparently you can use the interest made on your accounts (a rate they called "high" in the email) and put it towards credit on your iTunes account! For someone like me who loves to download new music the legal way via iTunes this could be REALLY cool!

(Pasted from the email)

You can read more about Kasasa on their blog at http://doyoukasasa.blogspot.com and can find some of their recent television commercials at http://www.youtube.com/doyoukasasa. A good summary about their products is here: http://doyoukasasa.blogspot.com/2009/05/kasasa-offers-something-different.html

Check it out! If you try it let me know how it is.

Happy Tuesday Night

FB Users: Check out my full blog at Chood214.blogspot.com

Long Distance Families

I have always known that I had family scattered around the US but didn't really know them too well. In the last couple years I have gotten to know my family and have gotten close to them. It's a pain that I can't describe to well, when I think about how far away they are and how expensive flights to Texas and Idaho are. My number one wish is that I could see my family whenever I wanted to and not have to worry about traveling across the country and spending hundreds of dollars to do it. It's so sad to have gotten so close with my cousin Julia that she's like a best friend only to have to say goodbye and only see her once or twice a year.

Now not only do I miss my cousins in Texas and Idaho but I have to think about family moving away from here, HOME. My family is really small but my extended family of cousins is so close and I love them very much so it kills me to think that we may not be together forever and that I may have the same pain of missing them that I do my cousins out west and down south. I have a dream of working in politics and that dream may take me to Washington DC in a year or two but I will be just as happy working in CT so that I can be close to my family. Family is the most important thing in the world. Without it what do you have left? I say nothing worth a dime.

If you are a student, or really anyone with responsibilities of any kind you know how stressful it can be to watch your "to-do" list grow and grow and never seem to shrink.

Today I am at work in the equipment room at the school of communication from 4-7pm. I brought my homework along (since it's just the start of the semester and no one is needing cameras yet) but as you can see I am procrastinating by blogging instead of reading. On top of the reading and other various assignments (like memorizing where, and how to spell, 23 Middle Eastern Countries are on a map for a quiz tomorrow) I can't seem to find my glasses, my roommate told me this morning that she is going home for the week because of flu like symptoms (so now I need to go Lysol my apartment), and clean up my room tonight before I fall asleep.

The problem is not always that I put my work off but that I spend so much time doing other things outside of school related things, like running home to hang out with family or attend an event or like tomorrow I will be driving an hour each way to spend some time with Janelle because she currently hates school (only a week into freshman year). I would not trade any of my time with family and friends for anything because I think it's the most important thing in the world, but it certainly leads to a few stressful days and some long nights and sleepy mornings.

I am going to sign off now and get to work on my "to-do" list and I suggest you do the same. :)

Link to my full blog: http://chood214.blogspot.com

Happy Friday :)

It's Friday morning and tonight I'm going to the Haddam Neck Fair with family and friends. That would be enough to put me in a good mood but I am just having a great day. It's absolutely beautiful outside and I feel great!

This morning I made breakfast, cleaned the chicken, did some laundry, finished up a little homework, and crossed some other items off my to-do list.

It's going to be a great day because I am going to make it that way.

Do yourself a favor today and make your day good no matter what happens.

HAPPY FRIDAY :)

Mario World gets more fuel efficient

This summer my purple '95 Jeep Grand Cherokee, fondly known as Yoshi (including my Beanie baby stuffed Yoshi that went everywhere I did) started to go down hill. For me it was the same as losing a good friend. I know this sounds silly but we were close.

Before I traded it in using the Cash for Clunkers, government sponsored, program Yoshi's front doors were both falling off (for the 4th time-the mechanic told me he wouldn't fix them anymore), the right front signal light was falling off, the back window stopped working, and no matter what setting it was on there was always hot air blowing out the vents!

I loved my jeep but seriously there comes a time when you have to say good bye. Kelly Blue Book online quoted my car at being worth about $600 so when I had the chance to get $4500 through the CARS program I leaped at it!

With some major support from mom, offering to split the payments and co-sign the loan with me it only took two days before I drove away from Yoshi in my brand new Barcelona Red 2009 Toyota Yaris (whom I've started calling Mario to keep the tradition- I guess my next car will have to be green and called Luigi).

I now get 34mpg highway over the, at most, 15mp that I got in Yoshi, meaning that when I decide I want to run home just to see Lily's new hair cut, or Janelle wants to have dinner over an hour away at Eastern CT State University the cost of driving there is less than half what it used to be, not to mention that I'm like 100x safer in Mario than I was Yoshi.

Having a brand new car means that I have to become more responsible like now! I now have car payments, on top of my new responsibilities of living in a house rather than a dorm, plus Mario is going to need maintenance more often than Yoshi, especially since I only changed Yoshi's oil 2x in four years!!

Well I am off to campus for class so when you fellow commuters are searching for a parking spot look for Mario :)

Swine Flu at QU??

******update******** (9-2-09 3:35pm)

Email just came with a link to the announcment made at 2:55pm

******Update****** (9-2-09 3:15pm)

Today on MyQ there is an announcement that was posted by John Morgan at 2:55 explaining the crisis management team's work to handle an H1N1 outbreak. Still no email or letter sent to parents or students and no mention of the school being shut down by the state health department if an outbreak happens.
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Today I had my second set of classes and in almost every class the professors have either talked about in detail or just briefly mentioned that the campus is working to prepare for a swine flu outbreak.

It seems from the professors that just mention it that they were only told to tell us that they are required to take attendance and report it if we are absent for two consecutive classes, but that's it!! In another class the professor gave a dramatic explanation of the possibility of sending us home and doing our course work online or having us come back January 3rd (which btw would mess up my plans to attend a 2 week seminar in Washington DC again this year) What I don't understand is why isn't QU sending out anything to the students or our parents directly??

The Washington Post is reporting that three federal agencies are teaming up with Sesame Street to teach children how to avoid the flu. It's obvious that work is being done to prevent an outbreak that is likely to happen with students returning to school, but still why haven't QU students been told?

I keep asking this same question because I am in a state of shock about it. I think it's great that QU is being prepared and is on top of this but having students find out via the rumor mill is only going to cause panic at some point right? If we are going to make it through flu season I think a little more communication is necessary.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/09/01/gesundheit_elmo_us_teams_with.html?hpid=topnews

Country Girl Moves to the Suburbs

When friends come to stay over at my lake house they often comment on the sound of the frogs in the cove and the crickets in the woods. They usually say how calming it is or how annoying it is and want the fan turned on (not just to keep cool but to drown out the noises of the great outdoors).

This morning I found myself in a similar situation. I was absolutely freezing last night (which is great because I love the fall) so I turned off the fan in the window, but what I woke up to was not so exciting! The sound of the cars driving back and forth past my new residence is extremely annoying!!! I can even hear the music come out of cars at all hours of the night and morning!! I guess tonight I will have to wear lots of layers so that I can keep my fan on!

Off to take care of some other things that are new to me living in a house rather than a dorm....garbage and cooking!!