Cold vs. Hot

So, would you prefer hot or cold weather? It is getting that time of year where the temperature is cooling down and it is nice in the day and cool at night. It is perfect by many standards. But that means it is not long before the inevitable cold comes and it is winter. Different people have different opinions about cold and hot weather and many of these opinions stem from where they are from. If someone is from further south, they usually prefer warmer weather to the cold favoring northerners. Each season has its plusses and minuses to them. Here are a few of the things that I find to be good and bad about each season

Winter:

Pros: Wear nice clothes, Snuggle up, warm fires, hot chocolate, holiday food, Snow (in small amounts and in short duration)...

Cons: the stuffiness of heaters, freezing outside, frozen extremities, sun never quite warms you up, takes forever to warm up a car, being pale....

Summer

Pros: warmth, tanning, swimming, beach, outdoor activities, not having to wear half your wardrobe at once...

Cons: Heat stroke, too hot, scalding leather seats, air conditioning, hot outside...cold inside, sweating...

What other reasons do you have to like or hate each season? Comment below.

Christmas or Not...

So it is getting that time of the year again where Christmas is on the mind. Stores are starting to put out Christmas things (which is way to early for it to be out, but that is a different topic). My personal debate this year, as it was the last couple years, is if I should go home for Thanksgiving and decorate our house for christmas, then take it down after the holiday. That means that I would 1. Have to go home for Thanksgiving, 2. Spend part of that short time decorating the house, 3. After I graduate and go home Dec. 15th fix any problems with the lights, 4. Get them picked up before I have to be wherever for my new job (which is in the air as I have no clue what is going on in my life 45 days from now, but that is also another topic for future blogging). It is a big debate, and I know that it would be nice, but annoying and costly at the same time. The problem is that as I begin to listen to Christmas music, I am going to get in the spirit and want to decorate. Picture of the decorated house is below...

Christmas is a great time of the year and tons of fun. The cold, decorations, spirit, family, and can't forget the presents. Different people celebrate Christmas differently, but it is huge in my family. So whether or not the Bethlehem Star is lit to illuminate the Glow to the Flows this year, Marry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you and yours.
oh, and here is the best christmas song... It is by John David Webster and Point of Grace.

Video by someone else, the one that featured our house is no longer online. 

Resident Assistants vs. Residents

In college campuses everywhere a war is raging between peers that keep the law and those that push it. There are a group of students that are hired by the university to ruin and destroy the social life and fun of their peers in exchange for housing benefits and money. This is what many On-Campus residents who have gotten in trouble from an RA would have you believe, but the job is much different than that. Every University has different requirements and specifications for their RAs and put a different level of emphasis on different job activities. Some schools focus more on policy enforcement, others place more emphasis on programing or even community building, and others more on being a resource.

I am an RA for the University of North Carolina Wilmington in the University Apartments area, picture of my area above. I am over 64 residents and 2 buildings. At UNCW, RAs go through extensive training to be a resource and deal with the different issues that may arise on a college campus. They put an emphasis on being a community builder and resource for residents on our areas. We are there to help get them connected and become part of the college community. We put on programs for out residents within our own buildings or within the area. A second function of our job is policy enforcement and the democratic/paperwork side of our job. The reason for writing residents up is to build a safer, better community. It takes a lot for most RAs to write up a resident (partly due to the amount of work it takes). A minor alcohol write up can take 30min to an hour with the residents documenting the situation, then up to another hour after that writing up a report of what happened and submitting paperwork to the judicial system. This is why there are few RAs that are pen happy when it comes to write-ups. 

I work on a Staff of 12 RAs, an ARC (who is a Grad Student) and an RC. We work together to program, deal with situations and support our residents. We help each other out and work as a team. Each staff on campus is a different size depending on the number of residents and the area style. A picture of my staff is below.

As I said, job responsibilities at different universities vary. Here is a description of an RA position at UNCW vs. a description of the position at UF. It is different due to the size. If you like helping out others and being a resource, the RA position is good for you. If you don't wanna be an RA, just respect your RA.

Good Tip: being friends with your RA reduces the likelihood of getting in trouble. 

The iPad vs. The Kindle

So technology lovers have formed different opinions on may on the popular portable electronic devices. Among these argued factors is the digital reader or the iPad. The iPad is a touchscreen portable computer that allows access to the internet, the ability to read electronic documents, play music, use the many different applications possible on the iPad offered by apple and numerous other features from photo editing to astronomy navigation. On the other hand, the kindle offers the top in a digital reader. The new kindle has connected in internet and the ability to access and edit word and pdf documents. The kindle as with the ipad comes with a 3G option, the biggest differentiating factor in the connect-ability of the two devices is in the contact to connect to 3G. The Kindle offers unlimited 3G without any monthly cost. The user just pays an additional $50 upon purchase and they have access to the internet for life. The iPad on the other hand charges a monthly data plan through a cellular company. This differential is a huge difference between the two options. When looking at the two portable devices it in large depends on the user and what he or she is wanting to use the device for. If the user is mainly focused on reading and word based functions, the Kindle is more functional and has a much smaller price tag. If a user wants a all around computing device that can do basic functions that almost any computer can do the iPad is more along the lines the user would be interested. The price tag is much higher for the iPad though at an additional 300-500 dollars depending on the version of the device desired. If I was to pick a device for free I would have to go with the iPad, but in looking at price and function in terms of what I have already technology wise in an iPhone and MacBook, I would choose the Kindle. For school purposes the Kindle is perfect and offers high function at a lower cost.