Octoburrrrr.......

So, I'm sorry i've been late on the whole monthly update thing.

At the beginning of September I went on a Camping and Kayaking trip over the weekend to Jordanelle Resevoir with an organization promoting adaptive recreation and such. It was extremely fun, especially getting into the kayak and racing around. I also stayed in a tent that is big enough to fit under with my wheelchair and then sleep on a cot with a paco-pad and sleeping bag. The person in the kayak with me was my physical therapist in the hospital, but now we are just very good buds. Her mom died a month after mine while I was in the hospital, so we have a very good connection.

School is going very good! It's a lot easier than high school, so far, and therefore am not too stressed out with things. As far as majoring goes, I went to a Major Exploration Expo where they had all the possible majors/minors/intern/study abroad/whatever you could possibly do with an education. I checked out the bussiness table and decided that minoring in bussiness would be more interesting than majoring and so I'm going to do the extra cources for that and am very exciting. It basically gives a general overview of all the different categories of business (finance, marketing, accounting, management) and then you pick a couple of elective cources that look interesting. As far as the majoring goes....i'm still exploring but I'm going to look into Geology. When I was in fourth grade we had a rock project and learned about the ways rocks are made and the different types, and I loved it. My mom had a friend who is a geologist and so he gave me a bunch of rocks for my collection and told me all about it. So I think I'll take some general education classes in geology and see where it takes me. Another incentive to go into that field is that the department will actually pay for you to get a degree with them. Apparently former students make big bucks in the oil industry and then send money to the department. Depending on how good your GPA is, they'll give you some scholarship money. Woot woot!

So far my favorite class is History of Rock n' Roll. It is very interesting and makes you appreciate the stuff even more, if that's even possible. We've just finished the Psychadelic Era (Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, etc.) basically rock n' roll on LSD. We listen to music and he tells us about the bands that were influential of the era and what was going on culturally if it had an impact, and all sorts of good stuff. We're gonna be getting into the Proto-Punk and Punk era pretty soon, which should be interesting. I'm not a big fan of punk, but i'm hoping after this class i'll maybe be able to appreciate it more, who knows.

Well Utah has been pretty interesting lately. It's basically rained the past couple of weeks which is kinda rare seeing as how Utah is in a desert, not to be confused with dessert. Right now it's cloudy and last night there was a big thunderstorm, woke me up from my sleep and then i couldn't get back to sleep afterwards. But because of the rain it's starting to get cooler. Rain is very interesting when in a wheelchair because your lap gets all wet and then when you get into the car you have to sit there with the car door open while you break down the chair to put in the car. At least it's not snowing yet. I can't wait to drive up a hill in snow, and then wheel around in it...make sure i put chains on my tires.

Well nothing else really to report. Thanks everyone for all your support and love!

P.s. Brian, I still have my Patriots stickers and jersey, so don't worry!

Not quite a month later, but pretty close......

HELLO!
So I started school, and there has been a change to my schedule. Instead of Survey of Jazz I am now taking History of Rock n' Roll and I love the class! I had to change the schedule around because of time issues and accessibility. It's been crazy trying to plot my route from one place to another while trying to avoid stairs and very large hills! But so far it's been going well. The first day of class was a little hectic because of parking. All the handicapped parking was taken so I had to settle for the spots where the pay meters are. Parking enforcement was already out looking for violators, and one even came by on his bike while I was putting my chair together. I didn't put any money in the meters a) because i was in a rush, b) i didn't want to, and c) because i'm too short. When I went back later that afternoon there was no ticket and I saw other disabled parking stickers on other cars that were in the same lot. I now have figured out that I have an advantage of parking in the Faculty/Staff parking lot with the disabled sticker. I don't have to fight the crowded student lots!!! But I'm staying at home for now and commuting to school in my new car. So far classes have been pretty mellow, just introductions and such. I have left my math class early twice because of reviewing and I feel like I know everything we're reviewing pretty well so far, so instead of hitting my head over my lap repeatedly, I decide to leave early! Isn't college great?!?
Well that's all I can think of so far. I'll try and keep you posted and not wait forever to write again, but there are no guarentees!

Catching up.....

So, I'm sorry if i've disappointed some people by not "blogging" as often as I should (cough Brian), but if it makes you feel any better, I write in my journal probably every 1-12 months, so so far I'm doing better than that.
Well to catch you all up to date. I havn't been doing much this summer, just hanging out at home, like a teenager should be. I have been doing a lot of handcycling and actually cycled a 5k at the end of june. I got 1st place in the "Women's Handcycling Division". There were only 2 people in the division, but whatever it takes to get a medal and some free vouchers for IHOP, i suppose i won't complain.
I recently had my orientation up at the University of Utah and i registered for classes. I'm pretty excited about starting as a fill time student again, as well as starting college. I'm planning on taking College Algebra, some Writing course, LEAP (which is service oriented and will get rid of 3 of my courses that i need, and is year long so i get to know people a lot more), as well as a Survey of Jazz class. I'm pretty excited, and am getting sick of people asking what i'm going to study. I'm undecided for future reference and decided that if i did make a decision i would just end up changing it. I'm also not to excited about all the hills at the U. It's built on a mountain and therefore i will probably get very buff just trying to get to class, but luckily the University Disabilty Services are able to relocate any classes if they are not accessible, so that's nice. I was down at the BYU campus the other day and did notice that it is very much more accessible than the U, so I guess they have one up on the U, that and the fact that they have to most newly weds on campus :-) GO UTES!! Hehehhe....
This past week I've been hanging out with my cousin from Canada, so that's been fun having a buddy to drive around with in my new car. I got an 07' Subaru Outback about a month ago, which has been majorly fun to drive. Handicapped parking is a major perk for being disabled too. I have a handcontrol that connects to the brake and the gas, and is put together in such a way that it doesn't interfere with the pedals if say one of you would want to drive the car, which will probably not happen, especially Brian :-D! And against Brian's protest i did take out the New England Patriots sticker he taped into the back window. I'm sure he'll get over it when the Patriots win the Super Bowl and then rub it in my face for not being a true fan.
Other than that, that's basically all that has been going on so far. I'll probably be doing some camping within the next month with a group called TRAILS (therapeutic recreation and independant lifestyles) which is geared to getting people specific to SCI (spinal cord injuries) and getting them out into the community and doing things like handcycling, kayaking, camping, all sorts of different things. So i'm good buds with a lot of the people in that, and my therapists from rehab actually volunteer for this, so i see them a lot.
So i hope this was adequate enough to wet your tastebuds until next time!!!!

So I got a blog.....

So, I got tired to being a bad friend and never replying to any of your e-mails, because they all asked the same things and i would only reply to one of you, SO! here it is, the way you can track my every move! Don't tell the cops!