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In the 3rd Week of Classes Already!
Wow time flies, I can't believe it's already the third week of classes for me. I have a lot in store in the next couple of weeks so let me recap.
In my Advance Remote Sensing class we are continuing work on our environmental assessment project on Blacks Run. Last week we did some GPS on several points around the stream so that we can use them as georeference points later on, to help us with the correctness of the data that we our analyzing on the stream. It was really nice getting out of the classroom and just walking along Blacks Run recording GPS coordinates. I am now working with my professor, Michaela Buenemann, on analyzing the history of Blacks Run and to see how the run has shifted over the years by looking in JMU's archives of aerial photographs of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County. I'm really excited to have this extra work because any experience I can get with such a real project I know will help me in the future.
Last week I also had the Mr./Ms. JMU Greek Pageant. I'm a little embarrassed to say but I actually won the pageant. It was a lot of fun doing it, although a bit nerve racking at times. But I knew it was all in good fun, and more importantly for a good cause, i.e. The Big Event. What was also really great though is that as part of my prize I won my organization $200 to put towards our philanthropy so I was really happy that I could contribute in such a way.
Some other really exciting news is that tomorrow I am going down to Tampa, FL! I know it sounds like a crazy random road trip, but I am actually going to a Water Polo tournament down there. The teams down there are usually really good so I don't know how well we'll do, but I'm not too worried about that. What I'm really looking forward to is the warmer weather, and the beach. It should be a nice change from the Shenandoah Valley, although lately the weather has been really nice here as well.
Well that's all for now, hope everyone has a great day!
Posted by Simeon on January 25, 2006 03:01 PM | Link | Email Simeon
One more week closer to the end of my undergrad career
Well, last week came and went with a blur. A lot happen in the days that I had not posted a blog and for that I apologize. Hopefully I will be able to recap everything else I had done the rest of the week. Well I have three other classes that I have attended besides the two I told you all about last week. I am also taking Basic Acting with Thomas Arthur, Wilderness Management with William Cook, and GPS with Dr. Jack Gentile.
Wilderness management sounds like it will be an interesting class. It won't be your standard lecture according to Professor Cook, but instead we will be going out into the field into areas that are designated as wilderness areas. Here we will learn about qualities which the government looks at when making it a wilderness area. We will also be investigating the wilderness in general to learn to appreciate it more. In the classroom we are learning about government regulations, because the government determines which areas will become protected and which areas could be used for timber, and other industrial resources. Learning all of this will hopefully prove me well in the future because I would like to try out the field of wilderness conservation at least for a while in my career.
In my GPS class we are learning the basic fundamentals of GPS. This is one of the classes that I am really excited about because GPS is turning into one of the fastest growing and most in demand technological fields in the geographic and business community. So far we learned the basics of how it works, and later on are going to learn how to collect data in the field with one of the several GPS units the GIS program has, as well as learning to process the data. It seems really interesting and I look forward to going to the class again.
Finally I have a class which seems to come stright out of left field, Basic Acting. An easy elective... maybe... but I think I could learn a lot in this class as well. I know that when I graduate I want to work with people, and what I am already learning is how to present myself better in front of my peers because of this acting class. Overall the class makes me more cognicent of my actions and words, and so I think taking this class will prove to be beneficial in the way I present myself. Plus I'll admit it, I like being the center of attention, so acting class seems like a natural fit.
Besides classes, last week I also got back into Water Polo. I did a lot of swimming leading up to the begining of practices. Also last week I started rehearsal for the Mr./Ms. Greek Pagent at JMU. The pagent is a fundraiser to help raise money for a campus wide volunteer event known as "The Big Event" wherein all of the JMU community comes out and volunteers in Harrisonburg. The pagent is between all of the Greek organizations that were willing to participate. I am representing my Honors fraternity Phi Sigma Pi. Honestly I am just having a lot of fun with it, so I really am not taking this or myself to seriously and my talent and the way I dress I'm sure will show that. Hopefully there will be a photographer at the event so I can post some pictures of it later.
Also I enjoyed a long weekend this past week due to Martin Luther King Jr.'s Birthday, so me and 8 of my friends spent the entire day hiking at a mountain a couple minutes from Natural Bridge called Devil's Marbleyard. Now I know I am not the most experienced hiker and definitely do not even consider myself a climber but the Marbleyard was probably one of the best, most fun, and coolest hikes/climbs you could probably ever do. I called it a hike/climb because the entire mountain consisted of huge boulders that we climbed all the way to the top. It was such a great view to look down from once we made it to the top, and it was also perfect weather. It was cool but not cold.
Climbing the marbleyard, and the creek on the trail up to the mountain.
Me and my best friend Sam having some fun crossing the creek, and maybe 1/7th of the mountain we scaled.
Overall it's been a great week and I can't wait to share more of it with you all later!
Posted by Simeon on January 19, 2006 08:31 AM | Link | Email Simeon
Back to school!
Sorry everyone it has been so long since I have last written a blog, but finals week pretty much swamped me, and by the end I was looking forward to my long break. Which wasn't that long; 3 weeks is a relatively short amount of time by college break standards. But there is an upside to such a short break - I got to come back to JMU that much sooner! During break I spent a lot of time with the family. I don't really visit home at all during the semester so I make sure to hang out with my mom and dad when I'm at home. I also saw a lot of friends. It's always nice to see those old friends from high school and catch up on all the old times. Besides that, I worked or hung out with my girlfriend. It was a pretty relaxing break. Oh yeah! I forgot one thing, I went to the Capital One Bowl in Orlando for the day! It was really nice to go from 40 degree VA to 80 degree Orlando. And I got some pretty amazing seats, 20 rows back from the 40 yard line. It was a good game between Auburn and Wisconsin, and I was glad I was sitting on the winning side of Wisconsin!
But I'm glad I'm back. Classes started and it is looking to be a very promising year. I'm taking some really interesting Geography classes and one awesome elective. This past Monday I had two classes, Advaned Remote Sensing with Michaela Buenemann. She is one of the new professors that started last semester. From what I hear though she is a good teacher and I look forward to learning in her class. In Remote Sensing we work with a lot of imaging and try to take as much data from the images as we can using many scientific techniques. In our class we are going to apply what we learn in a project on Blacks Run, which is a creek in bad shape here in Harrisonburg. I'm really excited about this because the environment is something that I am very passionate about and to use GIS with it is what I hope to do at some point down the road. The other class is one of the core classes I have to take for my Geography BS. It is Human Geography. I'm taking it with Dr. Tacy. It seems like its going to be an interesting class because we are going to watch movies that really portray the culture of an area, and talk about it within a geographic context.
That was the first day of classes for me. I'll write soon to let you all know how my Tuesday/Thursday classes will shape up.
Posted by Simeon on January 10, 2006 02:09 PM | Link | Email Simeon
