Yesterday was orientation. That meant I had to get up early so I could be at the IMU at 8:15. Being me, I got there early, waited for it to start, and then was the first in the line for picking stuff up. They gave me a folder, some papers, and one of those little paper-thin backpack things that no one really uses after orientation, and many don't even use then. I had my real backpack with me, so I stuffed that at the bottom.
I went upstairs to get my Iowa One Card (for those of you who went to Iowa State, this is the equivalent of the ISUCard). They took my picture, and offered me a free t-shirt for liking the IMU on facebook. I actually turned it down, though they were quite insistent that it was really easy. I got the card, and went to wait for the long introduction speech thing. After that was small group, which let me figure out a class schedule ahead of meeting with my advisor. This ended at around 11:30, and my advisor meeting wasn't until 1. I hung out around downtown, got lunch at the mall, and waited.
I met with my advisor, and he told me that a class that I found to be full while searching earlier was one I HAD to take this semester--it's only offered in the fall, and it's a prerequisite for some classes that are only offered in the spring. I told him it was full, and after some phone calls, he told me to get on a wait list for it. I went to register for classes, tried to get on the wait list, but the wait list site kept sending me broken links, so I had to email the webmaster. He pulled some strings so I could sign up for the wait list, and so I signed up. Shortly after signing up for that, I checked to see if there was an opening. There was. I tried to register for the class, but the system wouldn't let me. I went to bed still not registered for the class. Naturally, the first thing I did this morning was register for that class, which thankfully still had the opening.
So now I'm fully registered for the first of (hopefully) 3 semesters at Iowa. With around 50 credits (or semester hours, depending on who is naming them) before I have all the graduation requirements met, I have to take some slightly heavy semesters--or I could go 4 light semesters, but I want to be done. This fall will be 17 credits--9 Chemistry, 3 English, and 5 Spanish. As far as my schedule goes, it varies from day to day. Every day starts at 8:30 with a chemistry course. Days end at either 11:20 (Mondays without Spanish tests), 4:20 (Mondays with Spanish tests, Tuesdays without Physical Chemistry tests, Thursdays, and Fridays), 6:20 (Wednesdays) or 8:00 (Tuesdays with Physical Chemistry tests).
I may have to do some practice runs on some of my in-between classes walks--Chemistry to English and English to Chemistry. The Chemistry classes are even in the same room, so it's slightly a waste to have to leave in between. These are also my morning classes three days a week, so I'm sure I'll get good at them eventually. Sadly, Iowa doesn't have floor plans of their buildings online, so I can't prepare as well as I could at Iowa State--another way the Cyclones are spoiled. I actually have to go there to find out where rooms are. I've got a month and a half to get all that figured out, so I'm not worried.
30 June 2011
26 June 2011
72 hours of fun
A fair bit has happened these past three days, and I'm quite sleepy--even after an afternoon nap. Let's start with Friday.
Friday, I woke up around 6:15, which seems to be happening a lot--even though my alarm is set for 7. I usually stay in bed until I hear my roommate's car leave--he works at 7--then I get up and shower. After hearing his car leave, I stayed in bed a little longer, trying to sleep, but after about ten minutes I gave up and started to head to the shower. When I left my room, there was my roommate. I showered, confused as to why he was back. A while later, he came out of his room, because he couldn't sleep. Apparently, what had happened was he slept with his contacts in, and this caused him pain. He said he nearly crashed three times within a few blocks of driving, so he just called in sick and came back. He then spent most of the day playing The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on his N64.
That afternoon, my future roommate showed up, because we were going to hang out. He wanted to help me learn to drive, so I hopped behind the wheel of his car and we were off. We got lost on some country roads north of Solon, saw a hawk and a deer, fishtailed a little bit on a gravel road, eventually found our way back to Solon, then came back and drove around downtown. Upon returning, I realized I had driven for about 2 and a half hours--most of it lost on country roads. Shortly after that, my phone received texts saying he was on his way.....three hours after they were sent.
I spent most of Saturday watching Stargate SG-1. 13 episodes in one day may have been a bit much. I also watched the movie Eight Men Out. As a White Sox fan, that story just makes me sad....and angry....and sad.
Today started off normally. I got up at 4:30, knowing that I was on the schedule for setup at 6. My roommate and I picked up his fiancee, and headed over. At 6, there were only 4 people there, counting my roommate's fiancee... And we couldn't use the loading dock... And the normal children's ministry area was taken. When asking why, the head of the tech side of things found out we weren't on the Marriott's schedule for that day. (3 more people showed up by that point--so 7, when we normally have about 10)
As proof that God loves Veritas, the personnel decided to let us have our normal room anyway. Nobody else was using it, and there was even a smaller room nearby for the kids. Unfortunately, there had been a wedding reception in our usual room the night before, so they had to change it over last-minute. They were a real blessing. I wonder if they've ever had to change a room around while the group they were setting it up for was also setting up their own stuff.
While hooking the main speakers onto the truss system, I dropped a piece of one of the safety cables, and it bounced under the stage. While one guy on the floor was looking for it, I leaned out, trying to see it so I could point it out to him. I overbalanced, so I had a choice to make. My options were:
Friday, I woke up around 6:15, which seems to be happening a lot--even though my alarm is set for 7. I usually stay in bed until I hear my roommate's car leave--he works at 7--then I get up and shower. After hearing his car leave, I stayed in bed a little longer, trying to sleep, but after about ten minutes I gave up and started to head to the shower. When I left my room, there was my roommate. I showered, confused as to why he was back. A while later, he came out of his room, because he couldn't sleep. Apparently, what had happened was he slept with his contacts in, and this caused him pain. He said he nearly crashed three times within a few blocks of driving, so he just called in sick and came back. He then spent most of the day playing The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on his N64.
That afternoon, my future roommate showed up, because we were going to hang out. He wanted to help me learn to drive, so I hopped behind the wheel of his car and we were off. We got lost on some country roads north of Solon, saw a hawk and a deer, fishtailed a little bit on a gravel road, eventually found our way back to Solon, then came back and drove around downtown. Upon returning, I realized I had driven for about 2 and a half hours--most of it lost on country roads. Shortly after that, my phone received texts saying he was on his way.....three hours after they were sent.
I spent most of Saturday watching Stargate SG-1. 13 episodes in one day may have been a bit much. I also watched the movie Eight Men Out. As a White Sox fan, that story just makes me sad....and angry....and sad.
Today started off normally. I got up at 4:30, knowing that I was on the schedule for setup at 6. My roommate and I picked up his fiancee, and headed over. At 6, there were only 4 people there, counting my roommate's fiancee... And we couldn't use the loading dock... And the normal children's ministry area was taken. When asking why, the head of the tech side of things found out we weren't on the Marriott's schedule for that day. (3 more people showed up by that point--so 7, when we normally have about 10)
As proof that God loves Veritas, the personnel decided to let us have our normal room anyway. Nobody else was using it, and there was even a smaller room nearby for the kids. Unfortunately, there had been a wedding reception in our usual room the night before, so they had to change it over last-minute. They were a real blessing. I wonder if they've ever had to change a room around while the group they were setting it up for was also setting up their own stuff.
While hooking the main speakers onto the truss system, I dropped a piece of one of the safety cables, and it bounced under the stage. While one guy on the floor was looking for it, I leaned out, trying to see it so I could point it out to him. I overbalanced, so I had a choice to make. My options were:
- Do nothing and simply fall on his back
- Step on his back
- Jump over him and try not to hurt myself on landing
- Grab the truss to steady myself
Options 1 and 4 didn't occur to me at the time. 4 was probably the best option, but having not thought of that, I went with 3. I jumped. I couldn't manage to get my feet under myself and land properly, so I fell to my knees and injured myself. (Don't worry, I'm fine now)
We also had two new projectors, so we got to set those up as well--and not go through the hassle of setting up the old one. During practice, the female vocalist was laughing at all the techies fawning over the image clarity offered by the new projectors, but hey, we're kinda nerdy.
Everything was ready in time for church, so most people there wouldn't have even known about the booking issue--or anything else. But like I said, sleepy now.
23 June 2011
That's no hoop, it's a space station!
So, in my last post, I mentioned that I still had a couple hoops to jump through before starting at Iowa. Today, I tried to finish the last one I could before Wednesday (which is the "fun" of Orientation).
I had to prove that I had had my shots, so I called up my doctor's office. They had me leave a message, then called me back. It turns out, they don't have records for my infant inoculations. I don't know where else to call to get that information, so I'm sort of trapped on that one. They did have the records for the meningitis and hepatitis series that I started in 2004--then never finished.
After learning this, I was a little upset, so I walked down to Capanna and got some gelato while listening to Gungor. That calmed me down immensely.
Looking at the form again, it looks like I only need to prove immunity to measles, mumps, and rubella--and I've got a semester to get that done. Then again, searching further indicates that proving this would cost me $271, or I can get the MMR shots again (two rounds of shots) for $182. So while it's not as bad as I thought--I was worried I wouldn't be able to register for the fall, or I'd have to make about 2 dozen phone calls in the next 5 days--but it still sucks. Hooray for disappearing medical records.
I had to prove that I had had my shots, so I called up my doctor's office. They had me leave a message, then called me back. It turns out, they don't have records for my infant inoculations. I don't know where else to call to get that information, so I'm sort of trapped on that one. They did have the records for the meningitis and hepatitis series that I started in 2004--then never finished.
After learning this, I was a little upset, so I walked down to Capanna and got some gelato while listening to Gungor. That calmed me down immensely.
Looking at the form again, it looks like I only need to prove immunity to measles, mumps, and rubella--and I've got a semester to get that done. Then again, searching further indicates that proving this would cost me $271, or I can get the MMR shots again (two rounds of shots) for $182. So while it's not as bad as I thought--I was worried I wouldn't be able to register for the fall, or I'd have to make about 2 dozen phone calls in the next 5 days--but it still sucks. Hooray for disappearing medical records.
22 June 2011
Review
Anyway, while walking home from jumping through some hoops for this fall, I got to thinking about this picture, and my life since this picture.
The kid in this picture had his head impaled on a tent pole, went off to public school and made everything look easy, came in 2nd in the Math Olympiad in 4th grade, and won it in the 5th grade (yes, that is what it sounds like--a math competition that was school-wide, complete with a little plastic trophy). He skipped 6th grade, went to classes at both his middle school and Central Academy--which had classes for the ends of the spectrum, but not the middle--got picked on by the other nerds, met a boy named Pete, and got kicked out of Central due to laziness.
He utterly rejected God, went to high school, picking fights with groups of older kids, skated through classes, and met up with Pete again. He graduated from high school on his 17th birthday, ecstatic that he wouldn't have to go to that building again. A short time later, Pete gave him a Bible, even though he still rejected God.
He took a year off before starting at Iowa State. He made many poor decisions, and spent 5 years wasting time and money by not trying, eventually flunking out. However, the 5th year was the most important. That was the year he accepted Christ. After flunking out, he spent a year in Ames, and heard about an opportunity. He moved to Iowa City, went to community college for a year, then applied to (and got accepted to) the University of Iowa, where he'll start in the fall--assuming he jumps through all the necessary hoops (only a couple left).
14 June 2011
Kalk
So, I just got to thinking about the name I post under on the site. "Kalk". Most of you know that it's the first half of my last name. Others know that it is one of the only nicknames I got in high school that I actually tolerated, and even liked. Here's the full story.
In high school, I was a loser. Those that have seen the picture from my first ISUCard--or remember me from when I first became a Christ-follower know what I looked like. Fat, long hair, glasses, poor hygiene, quiet, nerdy....I was the complete package. I had a couple friends--one of whom was working on showing me Christ's love, and eventually gave me my first Bible--but no one really was allowed too close to me. So it was a real shock when one guy started calling me "cool". He wasn't one of the people I considered friends, so it was even stranger. It was he that gave me the nickname "Kalk".
So, very soon I started using that every time I needed a username for something. I used it in most of my email addresses. I also used it during my hardcore gamer days in all my character names, and my name on the guild's message board. (I just took a trip back and looked at it, and I still rank #6 on the list of most posts, and my last one was July 5, 2007--though the last post, other than some new person saying "hi", was in 2008) So yeah, I took the name given from someone who said I was cool, and used it in nerdy places. That'll teach you for calling me cool.
In high school, I was a loser. Those that have seen the picture from my first ISUCard--or remember me from when I first became a Christ-follower know what I looked like. Fat, long hair, glasses, poor hygiene, quiet, nerdy....I was the complete package. I had a couple friends--one of whom was working on showing me Christ's love, and eventually gave me my first Bible--but no one really was allowed too close to me. So it was a real shock when one guy started calling me "cool". He wasn't one of the people I considered friends, so it was even stranger. It was he that gave me the nickname "Kalk".
So, very soon I started using that every time I needed a username for something. I used it in most of my email addresses. I also used it during my hardcore gamer days in all my character names, and my name on the guild's message board. (I just took a trip back and looked at it, and I still rank #6 on the list of most posts, and my last one was July 5, 2007--though the last post, other than some new person saying "hi", was in 2008) So yeah, I took the name given from someone who said I was cool, and used it in nerdy places. That'll teach you for calling me cool.
13 June 2011
Basements
Today started out normally. I woke up, showered, dressed, and then proceeded to hang out in my apartment. As I was making plans to head out for a walk--about an hour before I planned to leave--I got a text. It asked if I was ready. I thought for a second, then remembered that we were signing the lease today.
We got to the office, read over the lease, and signed it. We're going to be living on a road called "Bittersweet Court". Why anybody would name a street that, I don't know. We'll have a small lake in between us and Fareway, so groceries will be easy to obtain. We'll also be within walking distance (though, as I've mentioned before, walking distance for me can be a long distance) of a few other Veritas-ers, so hanging out won't be hard.
The place itself is a nice 3-bedroom townhouse, with a view of the lake. I claimed the basement, because we were told that the basements are a little more difficult to heat than the rest of the place, and I like the cold.
Anyway, I'm excited about the new place, even though I don't know who the third roommate will be--we're still working on getting a third guy signed up, but there are a couple of guys in line.
We got to the office, read over the lease, and signed it. We're going to be living on a road called "Bittersweet Court". Why anybody would name a street that, I don't know. We'll have a small lake in between us and Fareway, so groceries will be easy to obtain. We'll also be within walking distance (though, as I've mentioned before, walking distance for me can be a long distance) of a few other Veritas-ers, so hanging out won't be hard.
The place itself is a nice 3-bedroom townhouse, with a view of the lake. I claimed the basement, because we were told that the basements are a little more difficult to heat than the rest of the place, and I like the cold.
Anyway, I'm excited about the new place, even though I don't know who the third roommate will be--we're still working on getting a third guy signed up, but there are a couple of guys in line.
07 June 2011
I is a Hawkeye
Well, it finally happened. I got the acceptance letter from the University of Iowa today. That is to say, it was delivered today...to my "home address"...in Des Moines...rather than my "residing address" in Iowa City, so my dad had to call and tell me that it had arrived. Naturally, I changed my address before doing much else. Shortly after accepting the acceptance the internet in our apartment exploded with joy. And by "exploded with joy", I mean it stopped working for about 5 minutes. So even the internet doesn't like my becoming a Hawkeye. Well, there are still some hoops they want me to jump through before I can be in classes and such, but at least the wait is over.
In side news, the first Iowa City Summer Salt is in a little over an hour, so I'm excited for that. And our first Veritas at the Marriott was a smashing success (read Mark's blog for a summary--I think most of you read his anyway). We need to get faster at setup, but when you consider that we only had about 4 people that knew what they were doing, we did quite well. For those of you not here, or that didn't notice, we had a new system for this past week. Hopefully, we'll get as good with this setup as we did with the old.
In side news, the first Iowa City Summer Salt is in a little over an hour, so I'm excited for that. And our first Veritas at the Marriott was a smashing success (read Mark's blog for a summary--I think most of you read his anyway). We need to get faster at setup, but when you consider that we only had about 4 people that knew what they were doing, we did quite well. For those of you not here, or that didn't notice, we had a new system for this past week. Hopefully, we'll get as good with this setup as we did with the old.
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