Matt on J/S 2004:

I concur with Mike, the evening was most memorable! It turned out being more fun than we had even hoped, I think.

Of course Chrissy looked magnificent and even though she had been quite sick for the past 24 hours or so leading up to JS she gladly followed on the adventures of the evening and maintained a wonderfully positive attitude. She made the whole weekend for me. :-)

(awww)

Seriously though, she was the perfect date. Now, I know Mike said that about Molly, so it kind of begs the question. Can there be more than one person who is the perfect date? Well, I guess so! Actually, it makes sense that since people (take, for example, Mike and myself) are different, our perfect dates will need to be different and so they can both be, in all legitimacy, the perfect date. (But mine was still lovelier) ;-).

Mike talked about the JS part of the evening, so I'll brush over that except to say that the jazz band was great! Good choice for the event, dancing or none.

Fact: there are scary people in Cinci.

Fact: we walked by a bunch of them.

Opinion: Mike and I together are intimidating and manly enough to deter any scary Cincinnati native that we might have encountered on our walk.

The king penguins weren't that boring. I mean, they spent most of their time standing in a group and looking pseudo-sophisticated or grooming, but occasionally they would wander--as a group-- to another part of the exhibit and continue their photo op posture. The coolest critters at the aquarium (other than the four of us, naturally) were the Four Eyes fish and the rainbow jelly fish.

Anyway, I'm exhausted. It was a great weekend. We had some quality roommate bonding time. Speaking of which, I am going to go enjoy sleeping in my own bed and not worry about stray knees. ;-)

-matt

J/S...how can adequately describe the wonderful 24 hours that were a part of my J/S weekend?! Guess I should start with my date!

Molly was absolutely beautiful and was the perfect date! You'd think she goes to such formal events every weekend! ;-) So while everything else I mention helped make J/S a memorable event, going with Molly was by far the reason the night was so special!

The Class of 2005, particularly the JS committee did a wonderful job planning the actual JS event. Props to them...especially Kev!! The ballrooms were beautiful, the food delicious and the program well planned. And they allowed us plenty of time to get lots of pictures...I think I took more pictures in one night then I normally take in a month! One highlight was getting the chance to take a group picture...rather pictureS...of those senior nursing majors who were at J/S...at least most of those who were there. It should be a really good picture! Anyway, the actual banquet didn't last nearly as long as they said it would which provided us plenty of time to carry out our after JS plans...

...ok, so we didn't really have that much planned for after JS. Matt and I just planned to find a nice place to walk along the river. After finding some not so nice spots in Cincy we (Matt, Chrissy, Molly and I) found the bridge that crosses the Ohio River near the two Cincy ball fields and so we enjoyed a nice evening stroll across the river and then along side the river. We took several pictures with the brightly lit city in the background while on the bridge and on the banks of the river...hopefully the pictures turn out well!! Not sure when we decided we were cold enough and had walked enough but I think around midnight we left downtown Cincy and went to our hotel.

Today we went to Newport on the Levee which is also on the Kentucky side of the Ohio River and just a few blocks from the convention center we were at last night. The place is basically a collection of really nice stores and restaurants and the Newport Aquarium all right along the Ohio River. We went through the aquarium soon after it opened and think we spent close to 3 hours in there looking at all the sea animals God has created! His creativity and imagination is truly endless!! While there were many cool things to watch I think my favorite part was watching the penguins play...at least the small ones. The King penguins were very boring and just walked back and forth in the tank. The little ones had fun (at least it looked like they were having fun!) diving into the water, hopping back out and doing it all over again. It was just fun to sit and watch them. After the aquarium we had lunch at Jonny Rockets which is modeled after a 50's diner. The food, at least mine, was pretty good but kinda expensive and our waiter had quite a bad attitude. But we were able to eat outside and enjoy the beautiful weather. Following lunch we were able to continue enjoying the weather by walking across the Purple People Bridge (once again over the Ohio River :-)) and walking along the river watching people, watching people walk dogs and watching random objects float down stream. It was so much fun to enjoy each others company and just sit and watch the river without worrying about upcoming tests and projects! Eventually it was time to head back to school and about 24 hours after leaving campus we were back and ready for a nap or maybe just bed! :-) Not sure if matt's going to blog about J/S but now you have my version of the night! Again, it was a wonderful evening and a fitting end to my Cedarville experience!

I had a great ego boost today...ok, that was very sarcastic... Mikala told me that I am not hot but that I have a great personality...isn't that the same as saying I am pretty ugly? :-)

I've been sad most of this week and when I am sad I don't blog! :-) But now I am not so sad any more but I still don't have anything to blog.

Today is our last day of formal NCLEX review and when we are done with the review we are done with all class responsibilities!! Very exciting...sometimes its still hard to believe that I am graduating in 10 days. But for now I am more focused on J/S which is tomorrow evening. We'll be spending the night in Cincy, having fun on Saturday in Cincy before returning to CU. Should be a wonderful two days!! Since I still don't know how to get pictures on here there won't be any pictures of J/S but I'll be sure to blog about it...and I am sure matt would love to blog about it as well. :-)

Oh, one highlight of my week was having the chance to talk to Micah!! It has been a very long time since we've seen each other and had been quite a while since we'd talked...he's planning to come down to Ft. Wayne in May to visit and that will be so cool!! I am so glad that he's going into the Navy with me...at least there will be Micah and Nikki to figure things out with me and we can all feel stupid together! :-)

For some reason I have been in a wonderful mood all weekend. Don't know if it's because of all the sunshine or because of all the fun I've had since Friday. Whatever the reason I've practically been floating on cloud 9...whereever that might be. :-) Anyway...today I was in the nursery at church. I've been there before but never have I seen the kids so wild! From the time we walked in until the time we gave them Goldfish for a snack they were running around, hitting and throwing things...it was kinda fun putting three of them in time out though. :-) And I definitely enjoyed the chance to have them sit on my lap and read them a story. Oh how I love kids!!

This afternoon was our senior reception at the Brown's house...I was looking forward to finally seeing the house up close and hopefully the inside and we weren't disappointed. The house is beautiful! I am not sure I'd like to live there because everything seemed so formal. And it wasn't as big as I thought it would be but plenty big for a family of 4. And it was a beautiful day so it was fun to sit outside under the trees and talk with friends and take a million pictures. The Browns are so nice and welcoming....I am sure they were exhausted by the time we got to their house but they were still smiling and willing to be in our pictures. The Lord definitely provided a wonderful man to take Dr. Dixon's place.

Finally, check out the following blog/journal written by two medical residents. They don't write too much but they have some interesting things to say about their residency. And the most recent one is about the ER so I found it particularly interesting! :-) Enjoy!!

And since everyone loves to hear what my roommate has to say here are matt's comments on tonight's Elliv:

"My thoughts on Elliv" by matt

I had a lovely date as well. :-) (and no, it wasn't Mike)

I was impressed with Elliv this year. The Emcee was much better than last year (i can only handle so much of two SGA presidents complaining about being marginalized by Cedarville society). And I agree with Mike that it seemed cleaner and overall had a nicer atmosphere than last years.

Last years acts were better, although a few this year i really liked. The latin dancing rocked. (nice job Lindsey, Ashley, Megan, Devon, Mark, and anyone else i know that did that). The tap dance/stomp routine was impressive. And there were a couple others that I appreciated. Mugabe can rap! :-)

The presentations seemed really boring this year. A couple of them were clever. (The Ruth cast performing a parody of Ruth was one of the funniest things all night!) But since half of the awards were for people or videos I really don't know or care much about they were hard to get into.

Finally, I think it's awesome that our college president pays bass guitar, wears a wig, and sings like the Beatles.

The end

Just got back from Elliv... Had a lovely date and a wonderful evening! :-) In some ways I enjoyed this year's Elliv more than I did last year. It did seem shorter and with less variety. But it was much cleaner and I appreciated that! Overall it was a good time filled with plenty of laughter and a time to enjoy being with friends. Has it really been 4 years?!

Earlier today we went to Justice's house (a couple from Cornerstone Baptist Church) and enjoyed a wonderful, homecooked Filipino meal! The chicken adobo was delicious and I stuffed myself on that and the rice. That too was fun but nothing can match the meals we had when Jon Nelson was around! :-)

Well, Mike made the mistake of leaving his blog vulnerable again so I get to type at you some more. :-)

In an effort to stir up controversy, I present to you this lovely number for consideration. It's probably my favorite song from My Fair Lady, a really good movie that i saw for the first time last night!

Anyway, that's all i have for now. Enjoy the fact that Cedarville is actually finally warm enough for the survival of carbon based life!

-the roommate

Gotta boast about the Indiana Pacer's so here ya go!

Wednesday night in Conseco Fieldhouse, the Indiana Pacers completed their most successful season ever with a 101-96 victory over the Chicago Bulls. The Pacers finished with a 61-21 record, the best in franchise history by two victories, and as Central Division champions. They also have the best record in the NBA and home-court advantage through the NBA Playoffs, including the NBA Finals, the first time in their NBA history they have achieved those feats. The Pacers became just the fifth team in the last six seasons to win 60 or more games and the first Eastern Conference team to win 60 since the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls.

The Pacers have been in the NBA Playoffs 14 of the last 15 seasons, one of the best playoff runs of any team in the NBA. Included in that stretch are one trip to the NBA Finals and five trips to the Conference Finals.

Go Pacer's!!!

Not a very exciting Easter this year. I've been stuck here all weekend because of work...I worked on Saturday and it was incredibly slow. Dr. Evans said it was probably the slowest he's seen the ED in the five years he's worked there. It finally picked up around 2:45 and between 3:30 and 5pm I was able to successful start 3 IVs!! I was very excited and after the 3rd one in a row I decided it was time to go home before I had an unsuccessful start. :-)

Follow up on my parking citations: The situation has been resolved (at least my involvement in it), the tickets revoked and my money returned to my account. So, once again I have my "pristine record!" I am kinda disappointed because other than my dad no one has given any exciting suggestions of how I should get demerits!

Anyway, I work again tomorrow and Tuesday so even though everyone will start returning, I won't see most of my friends for a couple more days. :-( It is hard to believe that this is our last week of preceptorship...only 3 more days in the ED! That's sad too...I've really enjoyed my time there and have learned so much. Do I feel ready to be a nurse? Well...it's still a scary thought! I've learned that pediatrics is definitely what I enjoy and will miss all the adorable kids.

Well, gotta keep up my reputation so I am going to bed! :-)

Mike has apparently taken the month (or so) off from blogging so this is the roommate (again). I will be writing for, if nothing else, my own amusement, because by this point all of Mike's readership has probably found some other site of interest such as this or this .

But we'll get back to those later. In the mean time, I will tell you what has been happening in the life of the ever elusive Michael. Mike has had a pristine record as a college student for almost four years. He has not gotten a demerit ever ! (Though we are plotting to change that. Any ideas for an exciting activity that would be both demeritable and exciting so that Mike can leave a legacy?) Anyway, all that came to the end less than a month before graduation when K. Michael, darling of the nursing department and Who's Who committees everywhere, found himself on the wrong side of the law. *Gasp!* Mike received two (yes, two!) parking citations and a severe financial penalties. The funniest part is that it wasn't even for his car and he had nothing to do with the violations! Now, speaking as both a concerned citizen and a justice on the highest de facto authority that exists at Cedarville University, the CU Student Court (yes, Cedarville does have a Student Court, believe it or not) this concerns me. Such injustic must be addressed!

In other news, Mike and i collected a total of 12 eggs during today's annual DAE Easter egg hunt. Yay for roommate bonding time!

So now that you've checked out the above websites and have a complete grasp on the issues, what do you think of the candidates? Anything about Kerry's platform that is appealing? And what should we do about the No Child Left Behind Act that all teachers seem to hate? Just some food for thought.

I've decided, in an effort to make this blog more user friendly, we are going to take a poll. What would you like to see discussed or disclosed? We will do our best to accomodate.

Thanks for reading and have a great day. :-)

-the roommate