December 2008
4 posts
gmail love
I’m lovin’ these new themes for Gmail! I keep changing mine because I like all of them so much that I can’t pick just one. Right now I’m using Tea House. I like how the sky changes according to the time of day (it’s 3:44 now, and the sun is setting on my little tea house). I was using one called Bus Stop the other day, and when it started snowing, it changed the...
my guilty pleasure
Ohh Gossip Girl. Your vapid characters and ridiculously dramatic storylines are not something I would normally feel compelled to watch. But that’s not all you get when you watch GG. There are also hunky boys and foxy ladies and lots and lots of fab designer clothes to make any fashion-conscious girl salivate. I love escaping into my little GG dream world, where money is no object, everyone...
first snow
I briefly stopped by U of I again this weekend on my way back to Chicago. This time, the campus was covered in a fresh layer of snow! We didn’t get any snow in St. Louis over Thanksgiving, so it was a pleasant surprise to find the quad all painted in powdery white.
Quad at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana
Engineering Campus at the University of Illinois
turkey day, at last!
Here’s the lovely Laux family Thanksgiving spread. My mom woke up extra early to start cookin’ the bird, and I rolled out of bed just in time to see it coming out of the oven. Forgot to snap a photo of it, though. I think Anna probably has one I can get later…
I brought Anna, my Spanish roommate, home with me so she could experience our wonderfully American traditions over the...
November 2008
6 posts
i love cheese
The very very worst part about dieting, for me, is that I don’t get to eat cheese. I crave cheese even more than chocolate. In tribute to my favorite food, I’m going to list all the cheesy things that I’d love to munch on right now:
cheese fries - the ultimate munchie
Cheez-Its
string cheese
Cheese & Onion Pringles
a cheese quesadilla
a cheese pizza..oh deep dish,...
flash sux
Get out of my life, Flash. I have no time to do anything productive because I can’t stop messing around with this ridiculous program. It’s turning my brain into soup. And it’s so addictive. An addictive, brain-melting program. I’m making a portfolio web site in Flash right now, and I have an epiphany everytime I get something to work. After 2 hours of tinkering, I got one...
a chat with elvis
Elvis brought Wheat Thins, and there was no way I was going to be able to resist those. I ate like half the box, so now I owe him one. Unfortunately, that means I have to show up to be an extra in his film project. Ugh filmmakers. And yeah, his name is actually Elvis. He was named after Elvis (pronounced ‘el-vice’), the norse god of wisdom. I was hoping his mom was a crazy Elvis...
podcasts
I don’t listen to any podcasts. Several years ago when I first heard about them I tried subscribing to a few, but they would just pile up in my iTunes, and I rarely got around to listening to them. They were all music-themed, and one I remember in particular was about indie music in Canada. I thought maybe I would discover some cool new bands from listening to Canadian broadcasts. I think...
illini weekend
I’m going to U of I this weekend to visit my family. My brother goes to school there, and my parents and sisters are coming up from St. Louis, I’m coming down, and we’re all going to meet in the middle. I like going there every once in awhile, to see what it’s like being on a real, traditional college campus. It’s so much different from here. I still don’t think...
chicago
October 2008
10 posts
multimedia
I’m really interested in the multimedia aspect of journalism, which is pretty much why I signed up for this course. It seems like there are a lot more job oppurtunities involving video/photo/audio editing and web design than there are for writing, so I think it’s important for all of us to learn these kinds of skills. I was really excited to find out from one of the class readings that...
ugh, halloween.
I’m not too psyched about Halloween this year. Well, actually I’m never really too thrilled when it rolls around. I hate stressing about coming up with a costume…I don’t want it to be lame, but I don’t want to put too much effort into it either. I think I will get around this by just not participating this year. I’d really rather not have to see a bunch of girls...
hello, kitty
I decided 2 days ago that I’m going to drop my Web minor so I can take the Echo class instead. I’m kindof sad, but I think it’s the best thing to do. I know that having some of my work published in the magazine will definitely help, no matter what I end up doing. And I heard it’s a really cool class, so that’s another plus.
Friday marks the halfway point in my...
printer's row on everyblock
My neighborhood is pretty much the Colmbia College neighborhood, so these places I’m finding on everyblock should be familiar to everyone in class. Here are a few mildly interesting things that have popped up…
The new CVS under the Library Towers applied for a liquor license. Now instead of paying way too much for beer just at 7/11, I can also do it at CVS! Speaking of 7/11,...
debate 3.0
Well for the most part, this third debate was the same questions, same answers. I’m so sick of the “What programs will you cut now that the economy has gone to shit?” question. They’re not going to answer it, give it up already. One interesting question though, the one about the candidates’ negative ad campaigns. Didn’t see that one coming. And what was the...
the onset of senioritis
I skipped class today, just because I didn’t feel like going. I hardly ever do that. But last night I decided I wasn’t going to go, so I didn’t do the reading, didn’t set my alarm, and just laid back and watched Juno. And I don’t really regret it, either. My Wednesday class is so painful to sit through. Somehow, time actually moves slower in that room. And the guy...
books
I’m totally sucked into this book I’m reading for Blues as Literature. It’s called “Jazz,” by Toni Morrison. Apparently she is legendary, and I am totally ignorant for not having heard of her before. My teacher compared her to Twain and Dickens, which may be a stretch, but she is certainly talented. I really like that stream-of-consciousness style of writing. Hers has...
social web
I gotta say, I’m really skeptical of this Twitter nonsense. After doing all those readings for class, I felt I had to finally get on the site and check it out. So far I’m just annoyed. I’ve only got 3 friends on there, and I’m already annoyed at the number of messages they’re sending out. It just seems a bit conceited to think that people really care about every...
group work
In junior high I had a lot of bad group work experiences. I can’t point out any one horrible moment. I just remember always having to take the lead in my groups because I usually ended up with a bunch of slackers. Or I just wouldn’t trust my group members to get things done, or done well, so I’d want to do everything myself. I still don’t really like the idea of group work...
graduation
I’m starting to take care of all this nonsense I need to get done for graduation. It seems early, to me, to be starting on this, but everyone else at this school seems to think I’m running behind. So far I’ve filled out the graduation audit request, and I completed the FIT exam. That test is a joke. The examiner spent more time explaining how the exam works than I actually spent...
September 2008
8 posts
holidays on the emerald isle
I don’t have much to talk about right now. I’m just trying to get through this semester as quickly as I can. There are 79 more days now. I’m leaving the day after I get done with school, and if I could, I would leave the hour after I finish. It’s going to be really hard to make myself get on the plane to come back here when it’s all over. I would love more than...
dotcom
Wow, how has the Internet not impacted my life? I do just about everything online—I do homework, read news, shop for clothes, download music, order groceries, upload photos, chat with friends, store my documents, call my boyfriend. I’m on the Internet for 4 hours straight when I go to work (in a computer lab). I’m pretty much your standard Internet junkie. Most aspects of my life...
obamarama
I felt so excited when this election kicked off with Obama winning the Democratic ticket. It really seemed like, this time, things might actually be different. But now I’m starting to lose the faith. I still plan to vote for Obama (whenever my dang absentee ballot finally gets here!), but I just don’t feel as inspired by him anymore. I don’t know that he’s really going to...
wednesday
I’m finally starting to get settled in. Today is the 11th day. I’ve been overloaded with homework already, so that’s been taking my mind off things a bit. Trade magazine is a real pain, but I’m happy that I thought of a good industry to cover; I picked florists. Not because I have any special flower expertise, but I just think it will be a fun topic. Or at least a not too...
futurisms
My thoughts about the future of journalism… I think journalism is experiencing some exciting new changes. Journalism’s “move” to the internet excites me because I’m interested in web development and online technologies. I think it will be easy for upcoming, young journalists to get jobs because we are web savvy; we know how to work this new medium.
Though I think...
tuesday
The first week is the hardest. Colin’s been gone for 3 days, and I just can’t get used to it. I can’t concentrate on my work, I’m tired all the time, I don’t feel like eating. 94 more days now. I need to stop thinking in terms of days. It’s so strange, how last week went by so fast, and now this one is just dragging along so so slow. I hate obsessing over time....
thursday
2 more days til Colin leaves.