Memories

My friend Jaclyn, commonly referred to Jacky the Fatty, or just Fatty [don't worry the name-calling is mutual], wrote a blog post about all of the memories [or most of them] she made in college. Right now I am thinking about [since she signed off of Facebook while I was talking to her] some the memories I have made since being in college. Here are a few for the friends in Mobile....

Sophomore year I wake up to move down here to Mobile from Goose Creek and my car has been tagged by some friends. They over did it for sure! They put Vaseline on the car and forks and put them in the yard, put glitter on the car, toilet paper............yeah. So I was delayed two hours leaving the house. When we take off the radio stopped working and hasn't worked since then. GREAT way to start off college!

I got involved in BCM on campus and the Meteorology Club, and met some GREAT friends. If you know me at all then you know that I am pretty shy and take a while to warm up to people. I will never forget the first friends I met at Picklefish [a pizza joint for those not from Mobile].....Frederick Schmidt & Miranda Hayes. Fred asked me where I was from and I said SC and that started the whole NC vs. SC debate! Miranda is from NC and promises that NC is better than SC......I of course disagreed. So I start to hang out with Fred and Miranda and soon learn that Miranda is a work-aholic! I talked to Fred about music, went to his orchestra concert, and joined the DWBC orchestra with him. A friendship was born with Fred, Miranda, and Jaclyn, a friendship that will never be broken.

As for the BCM, it didn't kick off that easy. I joined a FiSH group [bible study for freshmen and transfer students] and my leaders were BJ & Stephen. Yea you should see where this is going........I didn't talk much or hang out with much. We went to Foosackley's every bible study b/c I was the only one that showed up. Foosackley's I thought was stupid because they only had 6 options! Side note: I love that place now thanks to their ranch! Right, back to the BCM....but I started to warm up to them and joke around. One night after Merge we went to BWW and BJ asked me "hey do you want to watch Heroes Monday night?" Umm.....yeah heck yes! So our great friendship was born right there!

Just to recap: friends at the BCM & MET Club.....great start! Several events popped up like the Fall Festivals at church where some of us dressed up as the Scooby Doo gang! I totally rocked Shaggy! Then a surprise birthday party for Fred that I totally rocked with Jaclyn! He had no idea.....this was the first time one of my plans actually worked out! BJ and me continued to hang out and get wrapped up in Heroes. We spent hours talking and getting to know each other.

Want a timeline?? Good because so do I! We are currently on Spring Semester 2009! It started off with Jaclyn's birthday in which Miranda and me decorated her car. We put flower pedals from a local tree and wrote on her windows. Second coolest thing that happened was that Zach Trost gave me a box of Dinosaur Oatmeal! Totally wicked!!! SeCAPS 2009 came around and I was supposed to get an award for helping out but because I was not an AMS member I couldn't get it....lame. I was later named a co-coordinator for SeCAPS 2010, working under Jaclyn. That was Spring 2009.....I lived in CHS for Summer 2009. Now onto Fall 2010!!!

For Fall I moved into the Grove (blah!) with Fred and Colin (woohoo!). Season 4 was getting started for Heroes. BJ and me found out that Miranda's bf liked Heroes too! We invited him over and watched the premiere and had a little party! It now once again Halloween time and I found this cool cake on the Hershey's web-site [insert fatty joke from Jaclyn, Miranda, and Ashley] titled "Cemetery Cake." It featured my favorite chocolate bar: HERSHEY COOKIES & CREAM! I sent it to BJ and we baked it! To let you know how it was, lets just say it was a square of goodness and it looked well-decorated! It was so popular that we were asked to make another for the BCM "Halloween" party! At this party I dressed up as THING 2 and Miranda was THING 1! I scared some people for sure! This was also the first year for South's football team so there were festivities all over the place! I also joined Jerrod Brown in the kitchen cooking BCM lunches every Wednesday......yea me in a kitchen is not a good thing but I survived!

Now onto Spring 2010! It was the year of firsts for sure! I got my first official job at the USA Bookstore in the softgoods department. It snowed in Mobile and a few of us went up to BJ's house to play in the snow....good times! Went to my first Mardi Gras parade and got a bunch of beads [get your mind of the gutter!], I didn't have to do anything to get them. They were throwing them everywhere! Then it was time for SeCAPS 2010 and Jaclyn, Rachael, and me did a great job....of course! We had a fun time planning it dealing with some crazy people, putting that program together......oh goodness. Then it was the release of JUST DANCE on the wii and the madness began! Fast forward to a sad time....the graduation of Fred & Jaclyn. We all went out to eat to say bye at Tropical Smoothie [their favorite place and the only place I could get them to go]. Shrek & Fiona were moving on :(

Now to Fall 2010 [almost to the present]! I moved in with BJ into the Betas. So yea football games again except this time I was being paid to work at them instead of volunteering....pretty nice. Also was the start of my Synoptic class career with Lab 2! I must say that Lab 2 has some crazy people and I am one of them! Good times talking about dying cold fronts, mocking Dallas, not humming b/c it makes Rachael upset, etc. Now we are at Halloween time again [weird that there is a memory at Halloween every year] with The Carnival event at the BCM that I planned! It turned out great! The greatest costume goes to BJ for sure as he dressed up as the Joker and freaked me out when I walked into the room! gosh.....he was legit. That ends the Fall semester, I don't have big social life thanks to Synoptic. It ended on a great note with Josh asking Miranda to marry him!! Her closest friends were there which was nice and was great to see! Glad for them!

As for Spring 2011, it is not over and is just getting started! Pretty eventful thus far though! Went to Disney World with the family and raced back to make it to Synoptic Lab just in time. Planning SeCAPS 2011 which is next weekend! Oh boy! Also putting in my two week notice at the Bookstore and hoping that the Disney Store will hire me! Great start thus far....

Great memories and great friends! Thanks Jaclyn for the idea!

Walt Disney World

The day I was coming back to Mobile from Christmas Break I talked to my Mom about going to Disney World. My sister had already planned everything and I was EXTREMELY jealous that I was not going. I talked to her and we worked it out so that I could go. I would just miss one day of class and Mom was okay with that. I would drive down Sat Jan. 22nd and return Monday late Jan. 24th. Not an extremely long trip but I needed it! Here is my trip to the "Happiest Place on Earth!"

I left about 6:00 AM Saturday morning with Voltage and pop-tarts ready for the 8 hour drive from Mobile to Orlando. The drive from Mobile to Orlando is EXTREMELY boring. Most of it is I-10 and there is nothing on that interstate. I suffered through 5 hours on that interstate and then another 3 hours on some more interstate and made it there about 2:45 PM [EST] to Orlando! I found the resort we were staying at with some trouble but my Mom led me to the right place. I made a Disney CD and had it blasting when I turned into Walt Disney World. The hotel we stayed at was the Disney All Star Movies Resort and each building featured a different movie [101 Dalmatians, Toy Story, Fantasia, Mighty Ducks, Love Bug]. We stayed in the 101 Dalmatians building. I of course preferred the Toy Story building but the 101 Dalmatians building was my second choice. I met up with Dad, Mom, Randall, sister and her family. They were all asleep though lol.

Dad was not asleep and we talked about what to do. We had dinner plans but had several hours free before that. We went to Downtown Disney which has restaurants and stuff but also has the largest Disney Store I have ever seen! I ended up buying a shirt and it is probably the coolest shirt I have. It has lightning going across the front and the lightning forms into an outline of Mickey's head. It sums me up pretty well. Dad and me went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner.

We went to the Hoop-Dee-Doo dinner show. It was a country-style showed but HILARIOUS! My sister laughed at everything and she laughs very loud. I told her to laugh quietier but she didn't listen....she never does. We went back to the hotel and went to bed, had to be up early to go to the first theme park!

Joanna [my sister] and her family, and Dad went to the Animal Kingdom Park while Randall, Mom and me went to the Disney Hollywood Studios Park. This park features rides from all of the classic movies and it is all about movies. We started out with the Narnia ride then went Under the Sea with the Little Mermaid ride. We then took a ride through America's greatest movies including Tarzan, Mary Poppins, Wizard of Oz, etc. After that it was 3D time with The Muppets and the stunts show of Indiana Jones. We had reservations for the 50's Cafe but they were behind schedule and we wanted to see a parade at 3. It was the PIXAR parade!!! We ended up getting a burger and sitting for an hour waiting for the parade. It was a great parade! It featured all of the movies from PIXAR except Cars. After the parade it was time to hit up the PIXAR Studios Plaza to ride Toy Story Mania ride. However it was shut down for technical difficulties. We decided to go on the "Backlot Tour" which featured props from various movies and showed some of the bigger props used in some of the movies. After that we went back to Toy Story Mania and it was fixed!!! We used our 'fastpass' and walked right it. It was like a carnival shooting game but everything was digital and in 3D. I LOVED it! After that we got dinner and then went to the Fantasmic! show, which is based off of Fantasia (for those who wouldn't make that connection). This was my favorite part of the day. The show was amazing.....it had water features, fireworks, lights, music, and anything else Disney could throw into it. It is a MUST see if you go to this park. We ended the night by going back to the hotel and going to bed after great fun at Disney Hollywood Studios.

The next day [Monday] we went to the Magic Kingdom Park, and everybody went this time. Of course we had two young children who wanted to ride the kid rides and see the characters which was cool with me. I was in Disney World so I couldn't complain that much. As soon as you walk in you see Cinderella's Castle and that truly is a great sight! We went through the castle and started to see characters. We saw the following characters: Evil Stepsisters, Fairy Godmother, Pinnochio, Ariel & Prince Eric, Alladin & Jasmine, Cinderella, Belle & the Beast, Woody and Jesse, Peter Pan, Cpt. Hook, Mickey & Minnie, and the list goes on. We rode several rides and hit up most of the park. Some of the good rides we rode were: Peter Pan, It's a Small World, Snow White, Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger, Jungle Cruise, & Pirates of the Caribbean. We ended the night with the Disney Electrical Parade which was pretty neat....the kids really enjoyed it. Before we left we took some last minute photos in front of Cinderella Castle. Caroline didn't make it out of the park before she was asleep. She had a great time!

We all had a great time and I want to go back ASAP! There hasn't been a day that hasn't gone by, in which I think about Disney World. It truly is a stress-free place! You are surrounded by characters you grow up with, music from the classics, and everything Disney! I LOVE it there!

I have tons of more photos and you can go to my facebook and look at them while reading this. They go in the order of events as this blog post. Also in case you were wondering I am listening to Disney music while writing it ;)

Until next time....

Disney Fanatic

If you know me then you should know that I am a Disney Fanatic! Ever since last Summer and I have been all about Disney. I have:

• Watched documentaries about the theme parks
• Joined the Disney Movie Club
• Downloaded Disney music
• Visited the Disney Store quite often
• Started to follow all type of Disney accounts on Twitter
• Went to Walt Disney World

That last one has been the most special. [How ironic that Mulan starts to play on my iPOD while I'm typing this.] I went to Disney World the first week of classes and it was AMAZING!!!!! Later today I am going to write a post about it!

Have to go to Hydrology......exciting

Until next time....

Music Has Power

For Christmas I got an iPOD and I love it! Whenever I am upset, sad, or happy I am listening to it. I listen to music when I'm walking to class, driving around, forecasting, and working on stuff around the room. I choose songs that are motivating and have a lively beat. Recently it has been mainly Owl City and Disney songs but the playlist changes about every month.

Music has a power to change things! Recently I have been faced with a tough decision and I have decided what to do. If everything works out, then the consequences of this decision will change everything, but for the good. Music helped me calm my racing mind and make the right decision.

I am not saying that the music led me to the right decision but it helped me think things through. God lead me in the right direction through the music from artists such as Chris Tomlin, Crowder, and Owl City. I pray that everything works out and now I put it in God's hands.

I am listening to it right now while writing this post....here are the songs that played while writing it:

• "Zero to Hero" from Hercules
• "Kiss the Girl" from Little Mermaid
• "You are My Joy" by DC*B
• "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz

Until next time....

Despise it!

I hate cold weather!

the end.

Promise Kept

I promised a while ago that I would write a blog post about "case studies," well here it is....

Case Studies are something we do in Synoptic 1 & 2 and I truly believe that they were created to torment us as students by adding stress, frustration, and anger to our already hectic lives. Before I explain what they are, it would be nice to have a mental picture, so let me save you the trouble of using your brain and provide that mental picture:

There you go....that is a case study map. They are these huge weather maps that we have to analyze and there are 5 maps for each installment and we get two installments each semester.

Each map has different things we have to analyze but before we go into there, there is something that must be said. The atmosphere has several different layers as everybody knows and weather occurs in the Troposphere layer which is right above the surface. In Meteorology we break that layer into different layers of constant pressure. Here are the pressure levels we use starting at the surface and going up in height:

• Surface
• 850 mb [approx. 5,000 feet up]
• 700 mb [approx. 10,000 feet up]
• 500 mb [approx. 18,000 feet up]
• 300 mb [approx. 30,000 feet up]

We get a map for each of these levels and now we will go into what we have to analyze for each level:

Surface:

• Isobars [lines of constant pressure]
• Highs & Lows
• Cold & Warm Fronts
• Areas of precipitation
• Areas of fog, haze, and dust

850 mb:

• Isobars/Isoheights
• Warm & Cold Air Advection - Basically the movement of cold and warm air [that probably didn't explain anything lol]
• Low/High Heights

700 mb:

• Isobars/Isoheights
• Areas of dry and moist air
• Low/High Heights

500 mb:

• Isobars/Isoheights
• Troughs/Ridges
• Areas of positive/negative vorticity
• Low/High Heights

300 mb:

• Isobars/Isoheights
• Wind speeds
• Upper level Jet maximas

You might not know everything I mentioned but the point is that each map requires a lot of shading and takes hours to complete. The entire case study takes days, and are given a full month to complete. You go through a lot of colored pencils and produce a lot of eraser shavings. The teacher is particular in the grading. The isobars have to be straight and not too wavy, there must be no pencil marks, everything has a certain color that you must shade it, etc.

We [the students] don't look forward to these but we have to do them. We get our first installment for this semester on Thursday! Here we go....