MISC Bren Stuff

So...while procrastinating on my 110 pages of reading I have to do for classes tomorrow, I thought I'd update on a few random stuff.

1) Bren is doing a student mentor thing this year. It's student started and student run. This is the first year they're doing it. Basically it's a 2nd year student (all volunteers) takes on about 5 1st year students, introduces themselves, and is there as a - well - mentor for whatever we need help with navigating Bren! My mentor has a horse, likes Harry Potter (she only mentioned it because I told her), and is a EPE/CMRM dual specialization! EPE is what I want to specialize in and the CMRM (Coastal Marine Resource Management) is also an interest I have and would like to take classes in, but not dual specialize in. So...she's perfect for me! She just brought her horse here too. She said I can come with her sometime when she goes to see her horse too. :D

2) I have 4 classes this semester. One of them is 2 weeks of lecture with 4 discussions throughout November. But...I have 2 finals and 2 final projects. Three of my four classes have the finals/projects due by Tues, December 8th and that's finals week. If my last class (I have yet to go to it) also has the due date on the 8th, there's a possibility I could come home a few days earlier than expected! (Last day of the quarter is the 12th.) So far I only have 1 midterm too. I will be writing a lot of papers, but that's to be expected in a grad program. It seems like most of the profs (in general) do projects/papers instead of normal "test" finals and they don't have required text books too. That's kind of nice. I think Bren is one of the only programs that realizes a) students don't buy text books and b) students don't buy text books from the campus. We were actually told that Bren no longer requires the profs to submit book requests through the campus. So they have their own "list" they compile each quarter for students to let us get our books however we want. That's kind of nice and a lot of profs, to help with waste, post readings on-line for us to read or print at our will.

3) Today it dawned on me that I'm in a graduate program. Or maybe it's just the format I'm not used to since CSUMB teaches by teachers writing on the board most times; we had classes and labs with the same prof; and we didn't have TAs. Every class has a TA, a lecture, and separate discussion section. It could be because these are core classes so having a discussion with 90 students is not as easy as having 30 students. :P Anyway, it just kind of dawned on me today. Not sure exactly what triggered it, but it did.

Anyway, it's 4:40 pm and I have no excuse NOT to do my reading now. :) I already cleaned my sheets and towels; I ate earlier and have food for tonight; I cleaned up all my Bren e-mails and responded to stuff I needed to do; and updated my planner and school materials for my classes. So...off to read about climate change and ecological stuff.

First Day of Class!

As expected or one would expect, it was pretty boring and non-eventful. We did get to sleep in this morning simply because our first class (ESM 201) was canceled since the professor is out of town. So I got to sleep in about an hour this morning :) ESM 203 (Earth System Science for Environmental Management) started at 11 and it was basically an intro lecture. It's supposedly a very hard class (after talking with second year students that is the consensus), but we'll see how it goes. :) The grade thresholds are pretty interesting...A/A- to 85% and B at 70%. I can't even think about a C because anything below a B (B- and beyond) is considered failing according to UCSB's Grad Division (not Bren). Thank goodness B-'s aren't a normal issue for me!

We had a 15 minute break and got to back into the big lecture hall again for the "Bren Town Hall." It was basically a few key people who were there to answer questions for us and give some information about what they think is great about Bren and what we should do to utilize our time here at Bren. We have a half-hour break now (I'm eating lunch and typing this in our student computer room right now) and then we have math camp from 2-5pm. At 5-6pm is the reception for the entire Bren community. To say the least, it's been a LONG day. I guess it's no different if I had class, then a workshop/colloquia, and discussion after that, but that's even a long day (8:30am to 4pm)!

Tomorrow I come home for Chris's birthday. :) I'm excited to see everyone back home (and the kitties and bunny, especially Jasmine!) and I'll especially be thankful for the cooler weather! I think I may have an issue in the cold...Santa Barbara is much hotter than Monterey (it's 77 now and 62 in Monterey), but it's not SUPER hot either. I am going to have to suck it up and wear more shorts and lighter clothes, though. A bunch of us sat outside in the sun after class for no more than 15 minutes and then went back inside for the Town Hall. I could FEEL myself cooling off in the room. I toasted! I am darker, for sure, but it's not bad. I try to sit in the shade as much as possible (thank goodness Bren's courtyard has lots of trees planted in the middle with benches), but I can't do a whole lot for the fact I bike from one end of campus to the other twice a day. Not to mention my short trips into town to buy stuff (half hour round trip). *shrugs* I must admit it's kind of a novelty to see a blue sky almost everyday...I don't think I've gotten used to it yet and I've been here for 2 weeks now. :) We did have one day of fog (all day) and a few days of it being overcast in the morning, though.

Anyway, I need to go. Gotta go to math camp now. :)

Weekend, Writing Assessment, and MISC

Saturday was math camp at 9am to noon. We got out around 11am and Ashley, Krista, Jane and I hopped into Jane's car and drove 40 minutes south to Ventura to go to Target! Yes, that's right, we drove 40 minutes to get to get to Target. :P I bought a mattress pad for my bed to help make it not so soft. I can't figure out if it's too soft now or if I'm simply adjusting to it. I think I'm just adjusting to it, but it definitely isn't hard anymore. It feels MUCH better to sleep on now.

Chris came down after his Stats test on Saturday. We had some things to talk about, which turned out well and it really good to see him. We went to this place in Goleta called YoYumYum and it's really neat! It's all frozen yogurt and they have about a dozen different flavors (maybe more...). You pick up a container size and you can fill it with however much frozen yogurt and however many types you want. Then they have a "toppings" section afterwards and they have fresh fruit, chocolate, cereals, candy, etc that you can top your frozen yogurt with. How you pay is you weigh your yogurt cup and it's $0.35/oz. So it's kind of fun! It's like you're in a candy store and getting a Coldstone at the same time! The frozen yogurt was really good too. Chris also took me to COSTCO and treated me to some stuff I wanted and I bought a tall mirror for my room (cheap one, but it works!). Sunday Tori came up to see me, which was fun. So I had lots of visitors this weekend, which was nice. We went to Woodstock's (same place I went to the other day with my classmates). It's a quick walk from the apartment.

Today was the math workshop and writing assessment. We were given 7 articles and we had to read 3-5 of them. They were all about biofuels and ranged from negative to positive articles (most of them were pretty much on the negative end). We had 2 hours to write the policy brief and at least 2 people will review our piece and give us areas we need to work on. If it's REALLY needed, they'll recommend we take the 2 unit writing class in the winter (it's coupled with another class of ours). They also have a "communications center" that will also help us with our writing. I'm pretty sure I failed to write a policy brief, but at least I wrote about the current issues/policies around biofuels. Then again, I may have missed a few policies too. Basically, I ended up writing a paper about how biofuels currently aren't good. They aren't looking at our knowledge about biofuels, but rather our clarity, flow, and organization. I think I did pretty well, but we'll see!

It's kind of funny and cool being in such a small program. Not only do we have the career and communications centers, but they're also doing Excel workshops for beginners and intermediate levels for our class. I'll probably sign up for the intermediate one sometime next week.

Anyway, the rest of this week is pretty easy. Classes start on Thursday, but one of them is canceled so I think I only have 1 class that day. LoL Tomorrow I just have the math workshop; Wednesday is the Grad Division meeting and math camp; Thursday is class, math camp, meeting professors social, and the Bren Program reception. So...I guess Thursday will be my busiest day this week. Friday I leave at 9am on the bus for Monterey. I'll be missing the last math camp (mostly review and whatever was missed) and the career workshop on resume and the announcement of the winners from the ice breakers. I'm sad to miss the ice breaker announcement! They'll probably show pictures from that day and I really want to see that. I hope we win, though! Shame I won't be there for the prize, but whatever. LoL

Anyway, tomorrow I get to sleep in! Math camp is at 1:30pm tomorrow. :) I might bike to the shopping center here, but I'm not sure. I thought about going to Albertson's to buy some more food, but I really don't need more food. I'll need to buy lunch meat before the week is out for next week so I might just do that, but other than buying more bread and lettuce, I've been pretty good. I might buy a few miscellaneous stuff I want that I didn't think about before, but they can also wait too. I do need to think up alternatives for lunch. We have a kitchen (microwave and 'fridge) we can use in Bren, which is good, but I've been eating a sandwich for lunch for a week now and it's getting old. LoL Since I'll be bringing lunch, I need to find alternatives that I can easily bring. I'll think up stuff I'm sure. I have been eating more and less, at the same time, here. I'm actually attempting to eat a breakfast every morning (oatmeal, bought more of that at Target) because it sticks with me better; I eat a lunch (sandwich, fruit or veggies, rice crackers, and a drink); and sometimes I eat a snack and dinner or supper and dinner. :P Today was a supper and dinner day. I had oatmeal this morning, ate my lunch, and came back after the writing assessment starving! I cooked up the chicken my parents got me when they were here, had a salad, and some sugar snap peas, but I ended up eating TWO pieces of chicken (granted, they were thinly cut) and was hungry again a few hours later! So I had a grilled cheese sandwich. Which...is not doing well in my stomach. I seem to have gotten to the stage, even with Lactaid, I just can't eat dairy. For one grilled cheese sandwich, I took 4 Lactaid - 4. Two with the first bite and 2 with the last 3 bites. I'm STILL feeling the effects of eating the cheese. So I need to either invest in Yakults, which do help me, or just stay away from dairy altogether. Haven't decided yet... :P

Oh! My Gerbera Daisy, which was dying when I left, is growing new leaves! I'm happy about that since one of the 3 plants really DID die. I at least have 2 plants left still growing. We'll see how it does, though. I'm tempted to just give up on it and get a new plant, but I can't throw away a plant that's still growing. My other two plants are doing well here. We don't get any direct sunlight so I can't get plants that need it, but we get a lot of indirect sunlight so they do well when I open the blinds. I am glad we don't get direct sunlight. It'd be a bummer sitting at my desk, trying to work, and having the sun blaze into my room.

Well...with that, I should hit the sack (try to maintain a normal sleep schedule, especially since my first class is at 8:30). I haven't read much since being here too. I finished one book that I had started back in Monterey. I'm Hoping to get back into reading as a pass time. Should start that soon since I'll be stuck in my room doing homework and studying more often than I am now. :) That reminds me...I need to find the Goleta Public Library...

Orientation: Day 4 and 5?

I can't even keep track of the orientation days anymore...That and the day of the week. It'll be good to start class to help me with that!

Orientation yesterday was the math workshop and Bren 101 (basically going over some logistics from the handbook and stuff like that). Today was the math workshop or "math camp" and resume workshop (I have to redo my entire resume!). Not too exciting for either day. :)

After the resume workshop today I went out with about 10 other Brennies to hang out a pizza place down the road from where we live. About half of us road our bikes over. I just bought a soda and they all bought drinks and we just sat and talked outside. It was nice to get to hang out with my fellow classmates and everything. After that we went to a "sports bar" not even a block away so a few of them could do shots. It was a bar, but it's the smallest bar I've ever seen (course, having only been in 1...I can't base that off of anything!). I think our apartment has more square footage than the actual sitting/standing area of that bar. I kid you not. Plus, it was inside and it was getting cold outside. I, once again, didn't buy anything, but it was fun talking to everyone. After a while, though, I just couldn't take the literal yelling at everyone and my ears/head were starting to hurt from the noise and the yelling. It's hard to yell a conversation and breath at the same time! So I came back early and Jane came with me. I have to tell you, there are a lot of people who came from the San Francisco area.

Anyway, I'm about to hit the sack because there's math workshop tomorrow at 9am, but also because I'm not sleeping well on this bed they gave us. I'm going to have to invest in a memory foam pad or a good pad because the bed is simply too hard for me. It's not soft, so my back doesn't hurt like a bad mattress, but it's too hard! So my back aches in between the shoulder blades instead and I'm waking up a lot throughout the night. I also find I'm sleeping at an angle too. Not sure why that is...I had to switch pillows too. My contour pillow wasn't comfortable with the bed. Go figure...

Jane and I have found, though, as nice as our view is, living next to the soccer field is quickly having its downfalls. This morning at 6am they were mowing the lawn (I woke up to it, no one else did, though). At 7am there was soccer practice (or ultimate frisbee practice?). At 9am it was the other sport (soccer or ultimate frisbee). Also, funny enough, there were a few Killdeer birds outside our window and they make a TON of noise and they woke me up at one point too. Jane and I went on Wednesday to a San Clemente information meeting and I guess the noise from the soccer fields is a pretty common complaint and I guess when the garbage gets picked up it's loud too. We all laugh because it's not the players that are an issue, it's the parents. :P Least for the games. For practice, it tends to just be the teams in general when they yell at each other.

With that, I'm off!

Orientation: Days 2 and 3

So we're 2 days into our math workshop and it's going good. It's a PhD student who is teaching it. She makes it pretty interesting and is a good teacher. I remember now I've never liked intervals and I STILL don't like intervals. I struggle with them (I get the overall concept), but I don't like them! I remember doing them back in 4th grade and making teeth on the little arrow to help with the concept of "greater than" and "less than." You put teeth on the inside of the arrow like a shark mouth opening and the one that "ate" the other number was bigger. Yes, I sometimes still have to refer back to it. LoL That and the bigger side (the opening) was the "greater" number and the pointy small side was the "smaller" number. All sorts of tricks to help me try and remember!

Anyway, it's going good. We're starting limits and derivatives in the next 2 days. It's kind of hard to concentrate in class and those seats we sit in our kind of weird. They're attached and swivel out to one side so you can get in and out, but I never quite sit in a position I really want to. Plus, you're pretty crammed in. It is kind of nice to get into the groove of going back, but it also feels like a false start. I'm trying to treat the class as if it's a real class and not an optional thing. I definitely am ready to start classes and get to know the professors though.

The neat thing (this is for all those animal lovers out there) is the student who is teaching us the calc workshop brings her dog Mattie (female dog) with her. It's a medium size dog, tan, and one of those "scruffy" looking dogs. The dog is really easy going and just sleeps during our entire class. She likes people too. Well...Allison, our instructor, got her as a rescue dog from Hurricane Katrina. There's a local animal shelter/group who went down to New Orleans to help and they brought back 7 dogs and 9 cats. Mattie when brought back was 16 pounds (she's now 32lbs and healthy), had a heart worm, and sores all over her legs. She shouldn't have been a "normal" candidate to be rescued, but they did and now Allison has her and they're best friends and she brings the dog with her everywhere.

Yesterday after the math workshop was computer orientation day. I was the 3rd group and 4 hours between the math workshop and my orientation time so I came back to the apartment (Jane had the first group that started at 1). I called the financial aid office to figure out why my financial aid was missing $87. It turns out it's missing because of transaction fees and some other things for the financial aid. Fantastic. I get money taken out because of fees to get financial aid to pay my fees.

After that I went back to campus for the computer orientation. It was just a basic "here's our username and your password." They also gave us our code to use when we want access into Bren after hours (we got our fingerprint scanned today, which is used to get into the building with the code). They were very strict about our password to log onto the computers, though! They're preset passwords and we don't get to change them and if they find out we ever give our password to someone else, we can get our privileges revoked forever. Other than that, they were really laid back. We can eat in the computer labs, hang out whenever, etc, etc. We also found out we have our @umail.ucsb.edu e-mail addresses from the campus, but we also get a @bren.ucsb.edu e-mail address too. After we graduate, apparently they'll forward all our e-mails to the @bren address to another e-mail address of our choosing. I think it's lifelong.

Today was just math workshop and getting our photo taken and fingerprint scanned. Pretty relaxed, though it did take about 2 hours to get the fingerprint and photo taken. The photo is put up on a password access only website so the professors and us can look at them to learn faces and names. I also found out that our class has 90 students in it. I guess they add 10 students everywhere or something. They probably won't exceed 100, though. Simply because they don't have a room large enough to accommodate more than 100 and then the class is too large to be intimate enough.

Tomorrow is math workshop, Bren 101 (informational, logistics, student handbook session), and the optional tour of the building.

Orientation: Day #1

I probably won't do this everyday for orientation or maybe I will. All I know right now is that I'm exhausted. So much physical activities! LoL Okay, that's not a bad thing, but it's "hot" out right now and I sweated today! SWEATED! I've sweated everyday I've been here!

Actually, I don't think I wrote anything about yesterday. I biked to the small shopping center yesterday. I didn't time myself going there, but coming back it took me about 15 minutes to come back. That's not bad. I went to Kmart to get another cable lock (one that fit through my bike seat) and then decided to go to Borders and Home Depot since I had to cross the street to get to the other bike lane. It made just as much sense to just cross the street than make a left. :P That Borders is about the same size as ours (maybe a tad smaller) square-footage wise. It's definitely smaller product wise. Then again, I think our store is at one of the bigger tiers for product. Anyway, after biking back I just hung out in my room. The funny thing about yesterday was yesterday at 9am an Ultimate Frisbee game started up. I woke up to this cheering and thought there were cheerleaders outside my window (great...). Turns out it was just team cheers! They played for most of the day. Then, lo and behold, SOCCER teams showed up again! So I had ultimate frisbee and soccer to watch outside my window for a bit. It was kind of funny.

Today was first day of orientation and it started at 9:30. Jane and I decided to walk to Bren, which is about a 20 minute walk. Not too bad. They gave us a quick debriefing and EVERYONE went around and introduced themselves (name, where you call "home," where you got your degree, what degree were you awarded, what is a significant job/experience, and what is one thing you like to do in your free time). You learned a lot about your fellow students then. After we finished that it was lunch time! A bunch of us went to the UCen to get lunch and our student IDs. We got the free black and white ones. The colored ones are ACCESS cards, cost $20, and you can use it like an ATM card. Didn't need the ATM card and I'm a poor grad student! I found the Wells Fargo ATMs too. They're RIGHT outside an entrance to the UCen so that's nice. I got a sandwich at one of the food places. I will definitely NOT be making it a habit to buy food at the UCen. My sandwich, as good as it was, was $7.99. Then I got a drink. So my lunch was $10. Yeah...bringing lunches now!

Afterwards we went back for 4.25 hours of the Career Development Team doing ice breakers. We first started with a scavenger hunt, which was kind of fun. It involved a lot of walking, but you could talk to everyone in your team of 6-7 people pretty easily. They had us go all over the place - bookstore, counseling/career development, multicultural building for the graduate division office, the financial/billing place, etc. They had a list of things we had to do and they gave us a disposable camera. We had to take at least 15 photos (including the ones they assigned us - about 8). "Extra points" were given to those who were creative in their photos. We had some pretty funny ones. Like we had to have a staff member in a photo and the staff member we wanted was taking a photo of another team so we all stood around her and pointed to her. We also took one in this fountain that wasn't filled with water (tiles were falling off, etc). We all sat in it like we were in a jacuzzi tub. Another photo was with another team and we all posed like it was a West Side Story fight (one team on one side, the other on the other side). There's another one in this building (Cheadle Hall) where we found a painting of Mr. Cheadle. So we all sat around the photo and looked at it like it was storytime (Indian style sitting). We had some other ones too. Definitely creative!

Next they had us do a few things on the beach. We all stood in a circle and questions like "who needs a place to live still?" or "Who wants to do yoga?" were asked. Those who wanted/did those things went to the middle of the circle and quickly conferred about things. Then we did a team building thing where they had a HUGE beach ball and we were split into two teams. The goal was to have every team member touch the beach ball while in the air without holding it, touching it twice, and having two people touch it at the same time. Our team tried a number of different ways: two lines facing each other, "tap" back and forth between each other, chaos circle where everyone just went for it and stepped out, and one single line where we "tapped" the ball backwards over our heads with some "safety" people on the sides. The last one worked, though it got a little chaotic at the end of the line. :P It was tough! There's about 100 MESM students (the largest class to date) and that's 50 people who have to touch a beach ball without it falling.

Afterward they brought us back for a snack. They had water, Hane's soda, beer (yes, you read that, beer), chips, salsa, a chicken mixture, beans, and cheese. They also gave us a choice of trail mix, snickers, milky way, skittles, starburst, and other candy as a snack to eat while back in the room. I have to tell you, Bren definitely knows how to feed and water us! :)

Back inside they had us do another thing where a team of 6-7 people got together and wrote down as many things they could find they all had in common and one unique thing no one else did. It was fun, though tough to find something we all had in common. It was a lot of everyone but one or two people had someone in common. :P They brought us back in and we read them out loud so everyone got to hear it. There were some really funny things.

Overall, the day was pretty good. I was roasting outside on the beach, though. I'm not burned or anything, but my right arm looks darker. I don't know why only one arm is darker, but it is. I don't have a farmer's tan, but I've got a gradient going. :P So I'll have to watch that. I dislike farmer's tans a LOT. (Mom, I have sunscreen! I didn't burn or need a hat too.) My fellow students seem really nice too. We all got along pretty well and I learned a lot of names (the whole point of today). A good portion of the students are from CA and a good portion of those people are from the SF Bay Area. I did see a few students I met at the Admitted Students' Day again today too. That was neat. We also have students from India, Nigeria, and Japan. A few other students who have lived in the US only a few years (Brazil and another one from India). We have one Chinese student who seems pretty new, but not fresh from another country.

Tomorrow is the first day of the math workshop (9am-noon) and computer orientation. I got the last group orientation so I'll have 4 hours of nothing in between (bummer), but I can go to the SAAB to get my bus sticker at least! I guess there's a special Bren school password you need to access the wireless there. I also found out the significance of why my school e-mail goes "@umail.ucsb.edu." The "umail" changes for each department, I'd guess. At least for Bren's e-mail address it goes "@bren.ucsb.edu."That's used for our listservs and staff/faculty e-mail addresses.

Anyway, I guess that's really all for now. I'm exhausted and sweaty all over! Tomorrow Jane and I want to try biking to campus. I probably will for sure since I'll be returning back to the apartment after the math workshop and then biking back.

Soccer and Biking

I got up today to the sound of soccer being played...Great! I went to sleep to the sound of soccer being played! I feel like the only sport around here is soccer!

Okay, to explain. UCSB (for those who don't know) doesn't have a football team. So soccer is "their" big sport. If you looked at my apartment photos you'll see my view is of soccer fields and a stadium! That stadium is the soccer field for UCSB. Last night there was a game against the Rutgers (NJ school). The game started at 8pm. The PA started at 8:30. People were let in at 7pm (looong line!). We can hear the PA perfectly from our room! I didn't end up going out last night (way too tired) so I ended up hearing every time a goal was made. "Gooooaaaaallllll.....!!!!!" We won 4-0. (Another game on Sunday.)

So then this morning I wake up around 7:30am, up for 10 minutes, and then go back to sleep. Wake up again at 8 and 8:30am. I finally got up at 9am. But, thanks to Jane, local soccer teams (high school? elementary? middle school?) were play soccer at 7:30am when we both woke up then! It is now 4:35pm and they're STILL playing soccer. LoL There are 4 soccer fields outside of our room. We happen to be RIGHT in the middle of all 4 fields. So I've been catching a few glimpses of soccer throughout the day.

Anyway, just a few minutes ago I decided to bike to campus from our apartment to see how long it takes and to see how to get there before the masses of students arrive. It took me 10 minutes and that's with getting lost (I had to turn around once) and biking at a pretty slow pace (wasn't constantly peddling). Not bad! After I found Bren and kind of took my time going back, I decided to see if I could make it to the shopping center close by. Biking straight from the UCen and all the way to the corner of El Colegio and Storke wore me out! LoL I timed it from the apartment and it's about 7 minutes, which is about half the distance. So it'll take me about 15-20 minutes to bike to the shopping center. Not bad!

I keep forgetting school doesn't start next week...Move-in is on the 19th (a week from today). So I get another week to get used to the campus before mayhem breaks loose! Bren also changed the orientation schedule some too. So I'm only missing the math workshop the Friday I leave. Not bad! It seems like they took out some stuff and added in a 3rd group for different things. At least it seems more streamlined now. If you're interested, you can look at the orientation schedule here.

I have a few more things I have to take care of (student ID card, bus sticker, and calling the financial aid office to ask about my miss $87) and then I'll be 100% ready for the quarter to start. I'll take care of all that next week.

Pictures of Apartment

I took some photos of the apartment today and added a few from my dad today. You can view the pictures here.

Today, Jane and I went to the Health center to see if we both could make appointments for next week. Unfortunately for us, the times available were all during Bren Orientation times. So...we have to call next week and ask them to put us into the system so we can make our own appointment and check for more times. I don't get why they couldn't have us all set-up to access our health insurance and appointments by now! Bren has it set-up where our insurance is supposed to start on the 1st of Sept. Everyone else starts the 20th or 24th. Honestly, I basically don't have health insurance till everyone else does and I'm supposed to have it 3 weeks earlier. Something they definitely need to work on!

After that we went to the CSO (Campus Safety Officer) office to get our bikes registered. So my bike now has a National Bike Registry sticker and registration (lasts 10 years, costs $10, and law enforcement offices can access it) and a California Bicycle License. They last 3 years (expire on Dec 31st of the 3rd year) and cost $6. They also stamped/engraved onto the frame of the bike (where the pedals are, underneath there) the county it was registered and the month/year. With my two locks (I'm hoping my u-lock is wide enough...) and two registrations, I can't get more "protection" for my bike than having someone watch it! The CSO said that she lost her seat once (I have a cable to help prevent that), but, after alcohol crimes (not sure what that is), bike theft is the worst thing on campus. Sometimes it's just a front tire, sometimes the seat, etc. She also said bike traffic gets pretty heavy once school starts too. So Jane and I joked saying we're going to be stuck in traffic, but it'll be bike traffic! Jane and I tomorrow and/or Saturday are going to try biking and walking to Bren to see how long it takes. We both want to switch off between walking and biking. We both need to brush up on the bike traffic rules/laws around here. I guess they're pretty picky about the bike rules and everyone yields for a bike on campus. The funny thing about going to the CSO today is we saw the campus police bikes and they're Specialized bikes! LoL So I have the same brand as the campus police bikes.

Jane and I also figured out that the stadium we can see from our window is the soccer stadium. So it'll be nice if we want to see a soccer game we can just walk to the stadium instead of having to drive/park and all that bothersome stuff.

I'm getting used to the planes taking off and landing at the airport too. It's kind of fun to watch when you're just zoning off into space. You suddenly see a plane take off. I still think it stinks that SB's airport doesn't have any flights that go to Monterey. Oh well. One day I will get over that! It's also kind of fun to see anyone who is playing on the soccer field too. I definitely like our view for sure.

Tonight we might go out with some other Bren students to this winery that has live music on Fridays. We'll see. I'm still adjusting to here, but it'll be fine. I'm hoping to rest up between now and Monday. Get 100% over my cold and get some sleep in! My bed seems a bit too hard for me. My back is fine (not my normal problem area), but the spot right between my shoulder blades is starting to bother me a little. It's not unusual for it to happen (I hold tension in that area), but it's particularly sore when I first wake up. I'm hoping it's just me needing to adjust. If it gets too bad, I might be making a stop somewhere to get something to "soften" up my bed a bit.

Anyway, with that. I think I'll grab something to eat and read for a bit. Maybe even nap.

I'm here!

Guess where I am! I'm in my apartment in Santa Barbara! I've finished unpacking everything. I just need to clean the dishes and stuff in the kitchen and put them away, but everything else is put away in a proper place! I'll take pictures later.

The apartment is on the 2nd floor, kind of at the end/middle. It's kind of complicated to explain, but we're in the middle of the complex or "village," but at the end of the row (there's a "pathway" through the middle of the complex). We're actually 2nd to last, but not bad. We have a view of the (or a) soccer field and the "mountains" too. MUCH better than a hallway, the inner part of the complex (view of the other rooms), the parking lot, or road. I also feel a little safer being on the second floor. I can leave my bedroom window open and all that. We have electronic key access into our apartment (think hotel key, but we "wave" this small black square-ish thing in front instead of swiping) and a personal key to our bedroom in the apartment. Kind of funny, but nice too. If you had a roommate you didn't get along with or they had a friend you didn't trust, you can lock your room!

I'm excited to go to class, but the no car thing worries me a little. I know once I get used to it and where everything is it'll be okay, but it still worries me. I do know, even if I had my license (still working on it!), there's no way I could afford the gas, insurance, upkeep and all that. As is, I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to pay my $60/month phone bill. LoL

I have to buy a few more things, but I have quite a lot already (in the way of things I need). Not a whole lot more I need. I'll mainly be buying food tomorrow. I do wish I had something up on the wall over my bed, though. It's so...plain...I have a calendar up next to the desk and one over the bookshelf next to the door, but the wall over my bed looks too plain. I wish I had brought a poster from home now. I could have brought a movie poster. Or I wish I bought one from the aquarium (more fitting). We'll see, though. I did bring my plants (even though one is dying and I'm not sure why considering I've kept it alive for 4-5 years now), which has helped cheer up my desk and room a great deal. I also have a small stained glass mobile with horse heads on it my mom got me for Christmas. So...at least the right side of my room (desk side) is cheerful. I suppose a bed is supposed to only be used for sleeping. LoL

I admit there are two weird things for me being in this room - so far. 1) I'm using a closet with doors. I know that sounds funny, but you have to remember I've had a walk-in closet for the past 9 years! My closet at home is all "organized." Here, everything is on the same bar. LoL Plus, I have to move doors to get to the other end of my closet. Sad, aren't I? 2) I have to leave my room to get to the bathroom. Again, sounds weird, but I've had my own personal bathroom IN my room for the past 9 years! My room is the old master bedroom. So you walk through my room door and there's a hallway with the bathroom and closet door off to the left. Sharing a bathroom isn't bad (I have done it before with my brothers and Kristi), it's just the fact I have to leave my room to use the bathroom. I am glad that each of us gets our own medicine cabinet, though. I managed to fill mine up somehow...Kind of sad considering I won't use the majority of that stuff much at all. Oh well.

Anyway, with that. I think I'll read and hit the sack. I haven't been sleeping much the past few days. Pictures to come!

The End of an Era: Borders

Monday was my final day for working for Borders. It was sad, but it was definitely time since our store (along with the company) is simply dying. As Chris says, I'm envied and hated by everyone at work. :P Envied because I got to leave; hated because I left. This week we've had a team from another store come in to help us get through our pallets of books we have sitting in our back warehouse (12 pallets?). Also, there's no incentive for me to transfer to another store too. The company doesn't care, why should I? On top of it, I really don't want to work my first two quarters (probably the year). Everyone recommends you not do that, if you can. I have enough loans to cover me through the years, so I am. Course, that means I am jobless! It feels weird since I'm also on leave from the aquarium too. I'll be going to school full-time and, by the way it sounds, I'll need all that time! I will miss my employee discount (33% off books/CDs, 20% DVDs, 10% mags), the ability to check out books from the store (hardcover and large paperbacks), and keeping up with the latest and newest books (almost every book I own I bought from Borders during my time there). I will also miss my co-workers who I got along with and had fun with. But, for all of that, I don't regret leaving or really miss it. It was definitely time.

For kicks and giggles, I thought I'd relive some of my more "memorable" customers/job requests from the past 5 years.

Customer #1: Adoption Lady - This Asian lady came into work to look up books about infanticide (think genocide, but for infants). First off, I've never been asked that at work before and I told her we didn't have anything in store. Then she started to tell me why she wanted it. Basically, because China has the population issue and only one child thing, there's been a lot of infant killings and all that. She was reading about it. She then asked me for another book, which we had in store. She said it was about these girls being adopted from China. I told her it sounded interesting because I'm adopted - WRONG thing to say! She immediately wanted to know where I was adopted from (I told her) and the next thing I know, I'm getting a lecture about how adopted children have suppressed rage and anger issues. I tried to tell her I don't think this is true and I get an ear full about how she adopted two kids from China (her daughter was found along the road) and she proceeds to tell me all about her two kids and their lives. (I feel like I know her kids problems really well...) She goes back to the anger issue and says, "I think I have some authority in this matter, considering I adopted two kids." I'm standing there thinking, "no." I tried to loose her 3 times too, but she'd find me after I helped a customer. FINALLY I got rid of her because I said, "I really need to work." And she said, "yeah, I have to go." *rolls eyes*

Customer #2: Fence Phone Lady - One of the funniest phone conversations I've had. Went something like this.

Me: Thank you for calling Borders in Sand City. This is Bethany. How may I help you?
Customer: Hi. What kind of borders do you have?
Me: Excuse me?
Customer: I'm looking for some borders for my backyard. Like a small fence.
Me: Uh...you called Borders. We're a bookstore.
Customer: Oh! I'm sorry! I'm new in town and I didn't know.

She must have lived somewhere where Borders didn't exist. :P

Customer #3: Phone Complaint Guy - Working at a bookstore, you get a lot of complaints and some of them are off the wall and some of them are valid. In this case, it was completely stupid and happened my 2nd to last day at work. We were busy and the phone was ringing off the hook (pretty normal these days) and I was walking by a customer to help another customer and paged over our walkie talkies for someone to please answer the phone. The customer I walked by said, "Yeah, that phone is really annoying. Turn it off." I said, "I'm sorry sir, we're really busy." He said, "Well, it has the most annoying ring tone I've ever heard." As I'm walking away from him, I say, "I'm sorry, but the other ring tone option we have is even more annoying than this one, if you can believe it." I heard him mumble something, but I ignored it. Really? A phone ring tone? You're going to complain about that?! Especially when you're reading a book in a retail store, for free. Uh-huh...

Customer #4: Needy Customers - There are some instances where I think I work in a information center rather than a bookstore. Here a few examples:

Interior Designer: This guy comes into work saying he's moving into a new place and wants some ideas on what colors go together. His bedspread is a dark red color and he wanted to know what looked good with it. So I take him to the interior design section and pointed out some books for him (paint books). It's pretty standard that when you get something vague like that, you help the customer find a book that suits them or enough of an idea of what to look for that they can continue to shop on their own. Well, this guy was "helpless." He stood there and let ME flip through the books, asked ME what I thought, and when I told him THIS was a good book, he wouldn't take it! So, basically, I was a 15 minute interior designer. Told the guy which colors looked good together (what books were good also) and he walked out of the store not touching a book. *grumble, grumble*

Legal Advice: We get this phone call from this gentleman and he wants to know what the current bankruptcy law is. I have no clue (am I supposed to know everything?!) and I'm trying to find books that'll help him, but, in the mean time, he's getting mad. I come back saying, "I have no clue" and he asks for the manager. Uh-huh, swell. Luckily, the supervisor who talked to him actually DID know the new bankruptcy law. Can't win them all.

Personal Shopper: We love phone calls that go like this, "Hi, I'm looking for books on gemstones. Do you have any?" We say, "yes, we do. Is there one in particular you're looking for?" "No, but I'm looking for a book with this gem in it, can you go tell me which books have it?" So we go, check them out, get them all, tell them every title and the price and they go, "Great! Can you put <blank # of books> on hold for me? I'll come pick them up later." Honestly, can't YOU come into the store and look at them yourself?!

Personal Reader: Do you realize how many customers come to Borders (a bookstore) and then ask us to look something up or read something because they forgot their reading glasses? Honestly, I can't tell you how often it happens. "Will you, please? I forgot my glasses at home. *small chuckle*"

Customer #5: Need help, but not for books - Funny how it works, but working at Borders, you really have to have a general understanding of just about everything.

Directions: I can't tell you how many times I've had to give directions to people to Best Buy, the Aquarium, one particular building at CSUMB, Carmel, etc. It's amazing. We get a lot of people asking us to give directions on how to get to us (that's fine), but people will stop in our store to specifically ask for directions on how to get somewhere. Luckily for us, we sell maps! Not that we sell that many that way, but it helps.

Where to buy something: If we don't carry something in particular (like a game, globe, video game, dvd, cd, etc), we have to have back-up locations on where customers may find something like that - games: Target, globe: Target, video games: Best Buy, DVD/CD: Borders.com/Amazon.com, on-line, book weights: office supply store, etc.

The Kindle: We sell the Sony e-Reader at work. The Kindle is an exclusive amazon.com product (as they made it). I have to know the difference between the two, the pluses/minuses, about how much the books on-line cost, etc, etc, etc.

Customer #6: Germ Lady: I actually haven't seen her in a year or so, but she used to be a frequent customer at Borders. She has a phobia of germs. So she'd have you take her credit card out of a plastic bag, while she held the bag; she'd have us barely touch the bags/books when we handled them; she'd wipe down any chair she sat in and then leave her wipe in the crack of the chair for us to pick up. Oh yes, she was a joy to have in the store...

Customer #7: Russian Dictionary Guy: He got this name because he was first known for buying and returning Russian Dictionaries. He's since then moved on to other things, but we're pretty sure he was scamming us with the dictionaries at first. Now, we're all VERY wary of him and he STILL frequents the store a lot (I saw him last Sat). He also likes to take advantage of any new cashier. He'll purposefully try and get them to ring him up and then try to confuse them into giving him some discount or whatever. I've caught him a few times trying this and I get to walk over (the employee usually gives a "huh?" to him) and tell him the store policy, once again. He never pushes it when an oldie tells him what's-what too.

Well, I guess for now that's where I will leave it. Maybe I'll reminisce again about Borders another time, but - for now - that'll do. :)