Ten tips for time management
The great Zoo Boo pumpkin carve of 2009
For God and country
Ten tips for time management
Paige Gordeneer
Staff Writer
With the semester well under way students are learning the difficulties of managing school and work schedules and their social lives. Being a student and working at the same time can be challenging and efficient time management is crucial.
Several students have different methods for time management and each method varies depending on who the person is.
Here are a few methods students from the area use to manage their time:
- “I say do your homework as soon as you can when you get out of class and manage times when you can work around your what your class schedule is.”
— Casey Barnes
- “ I pretty much just make sure that I do some studying ever day, even when I don’t have classes so that I don’t get overwhelmed at any point. I have to find time every day no matter what.”
—Jillian McDade
- “Google docs is pretty sweet. It’s a word processor. I don’t have to print stuff at home. I just do it at class usually. That might save some time too.”
—Elliot Travis
- “Well I leave 30 minutes early for work to get there on time and I stay as long as I can so I can get more hours in at work. Also, I do homework as soon as I get it.”
—Michael Worthington
- “It’s hard. I’ve just started getting the hang of it. At first I was really overwhelmed, especially since I have two jobs now. But, what I do is I try to get done everything that is due first. Like, I have a break in between my morning and afternoon class every day, so I do whatever homework is due in the morning first, and then save the rest for my break. It gives me something to do, and I don’t waste gas driving home during that break.”
—Amanda Willerick
- “I take a 20 minute nap everyday, even if I don’t fall asleep, just to let my mind rest.”
—Brittani Mackey
- “I make sure that I don’t procrastinate. I also use a planner so I know that things are written down and organized.”
—Kierstin Elliot
- “Keep a calendar! That is for sure. Between work and school and actually having a life, it saves me!”
—Krista Newsum
- “I have a white board at home with my husband’s schedule and mine in two different colors. It really helps manage our time. I also use the calender in my phone for mobile access. I know it may seem frivolous or even tedious to some, but outlining your week including your work times school times and any extra plans may help you to visualize all you have going on and then you can block in times for homework, studying, going out etc.”
—Aly Warren
- “I set alarms on my cell phone to go off at different intervals as a heads up to help me be on time to work and school.”
—Cory Gordeneer
Do what works best for you. After all, it is your time. Use it wisely.
The great Zoo Boo
pumpkin carve of 2009
Michael W. Ghere
Guest Writer
My wife Star and I arrived at Binder Park Zoo at exactly 4:00pm, on Wednesday, October 7, to the classic sounds of “The Monster Mash” and the smell of autumn in the air. We were graciously greeted by a volunteer and instructed on where to go, the rules, and what refreshments were being offered this year. After we each got our carving knife and pumpkin gut-scooper, we headed towards a huge wagon overflowing with pumpkins of all sizes. I of course chose the biggest one I could see. I carried it over to the picnic tables; although I love children, I had no desire to be surrounded by them. Besides, my design required that I have a higher surface space in which to work so it wouldn’t roll around.
We were instructed to carve our hole in the bottom of the pumpkins so that they could be carried around easily by the stem, and Christmas lights were to be strung along the bottom and inserted up into them to simulate the candle effect. I designed my pumpkin to resemble a Michigan University Football helmet. Since my pumpkin was so big, and it was more oval than round, I decided to place it on its side with the stem at the rear of the “helmet.” I cut my hole as small as possible to allow my hand and part of my arm to slip inside. My plan was to scrape and dump, not grab and pull. I scraped for all my miniature shovel was worth and dumped the remains into a bucket.
I decided to carve the wing and striped design of the “Wolverine” on the top of the pumpkin first. Instead of actually carving into it, I merely cut the pattern out by inserting the knife only a quarter inch into the pumpkin. I then proceeded to pry up the outer pumpkin shell inside the pattern lines. This made the three lines and curvy brow a very light orange-yellow color, thus separating it from the bright but dark orange of the rest of the pumpkin. Quick sports fact here, the Michigan head coach put this pattern on the helmets of the wide receivers so the quarterback could spot them more easily down field. I designed my pumpkin without the aid of a premade pattern. Those pumpkin-carving prefabricated stencil books take almost all of the creativity out of carving a Jack-o-lantern at Halloween. If that is what people want, fine, but Halloween pumpkins should remind us of snowflakes. No two should look exactly the same.
Then came the most challenging part of the entire project…carving the face mask. There are several different styles of face masks; depending on which position the player is, there is a specific design. For example, a kicker’s face mask has barely any protection, thus creating bigger holes in the pumpkin and providing little support. I decided to go with a generic version with as many “lintels and posts” as I could get away with in order to make it as sturdy as possible. As I stepped back from what I viewed (and most Wolverine fans would agree) as a holiday masterpiece, I was suddenly saddened. I did not get to take my artwork home. Oh well, at least it would bring a lot of joy to the many Michigan fans of all ages who would be strolling through the zoo during the next several weeks. Plus, I did not have to worry at all about cleaning up. That’s the great thing about this pumpkin carve, not to mention the free doughnuts, cider and hot cocoa.
After my triumphant creation, I was greeted by a handful of boos and hisses, apparently most of the zoo volunteers were from State. But it didn’t really matter, most of the children and other guests cheered as I walked to the transport wagon. I was swamped with people taking photos.
On the way home, I imagined how awesome that Wolverine-o-lantern would look sitting among the other pumpkins along the zoo trail.
For God and country
Kenny Clevenger
Staff Writer
“God is dead.” This quote scares me. For we as Americans depend on the very idea that God is alive, and working. If God is dead, then freedom as we know it has died too.
American freedom starts in the very unique Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — that to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men.”
This distinctive idea that we are endowed by our creator the right to be free before we were born has inspired groups for generations to fight for their own freedom. This thought cast the shackles off slaves, lifted the chains off the religiously oppressed, and moved women and minorities to the ballot box to be counted. They all realized that no other human being can stifle the right to be free because rights come from God, not man.
While the Declaration of Independence echoes around the world, one word of that pronouncement stands out among all the rest. Creator.
At the time our Declaration of Independence all nations were ruled by a monarchy, many of whom were authoritarian tyrants. They had the noble belief that they were anointed by God to rule those less fortunate. Americans knew that monarchs held no closer relation to God than any other human being, and so they were to be treated the same as you and I. They also knew that freedom comes not at the sword of a monarch but from the hand of god.
Our whole system of government revolves around the idea that you are born free, and no one can take the right to be free from you. Recent attacks on the Christian institution of America only rocks the foundation of the very design of freedom; that rights come from God and not a government. If we allow government to decide what is best for us, we must remember that a government has the power to take away everything it gives to us.
If we abandon this belief in God, freedom will fail. If God no longer guarantees rights who is to guarantee them? Man? Government? We have seen in Earth’s long history what happens when human beings’ liberties are put in the hands of other humans and government. Death, destruction, pain and agony all followed the abuse of power of Hitler, Stalin, Muammar al-Qaddafi, Kim Jung Il, Saddam Hussein and Slobodan Milosevic.
When the Bolsheviks staged their revolution of Russia, they destroyed its church and forced atheism as its official religion. The Bolsheviks banished the idea of freedom for a reason. They knew that if the people of their nation looked to a higher being than the state, they would rise up against the rulers of their government and force freedom.
As we head into the next century, let us not abandon our Christian foundation. Leave in God We Trust on our money. Let us pledge to One Nation Under God. Let us live on with the idea that has made us the greatest democracy this world has ever seen. If we stay true to our own belief in freedom, we will spread it like wildfire.