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The delayed, belated goodbye

Evan Carr — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 16:11:07 -0700

Well sorry I haven't even posted in months, guys. I burned out last semester, but did well anyway. Certain professors and others can sure get on my nerves during those times. Thankfully I'm done with that and I am having a great summer as a karaoke star. If you want to read more about how I've been doing, check out Scrambled Brain.

http://upstateevan.blogspot.com/

The past month

Evan Carr — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 10:22:01 -0800

Hey guys, well I had quite a Winter Break and first 1/3 of the semester. I got to see some friends and relatives return, and I spent time with them. The early part of this semester was quite hectic. I had six classes, and decided to drop the one that I didn't need to graduate. I felt kind of guilty about dropping the class, but I was almost going insane and losing sleep at nights trying to do all this work, show up to all of my classes, and take part in other aspects of my life. Sometimes we make ill-advised decisions in life (that's why we need advisors). We make these spontaneous decisions when we think they "sound like good ideas at the time", but in fact, we are not ready to do these things. Sometimes you may have to give up something (even if only temporarily) in order to stay focused on the more essential things in life. I am glad to have most of my sanity back. If you want a more in-depth look on how my life has been going, check out my latest post (and continue looking for updates after) at http://upstateevan.blogspot.com.

The "final" week before "finals"

Evan Carr — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 04:43:31 -0800

Well, I can't say too much about this last week...except that I am excited to soon get a break! Last week I've been finishing projects, listening to/watching presentations, getting final grades back, and preparing to write final essays and study for final exams. I did have another get-together with my friends Mitchell and William. Mitchell and I checked out the "last" yoga session for the "first" time. Yoga is a great way to stay in/get in better shape and to relax between studying, working, and going to classes. It's free, and the yoga class generally meets on Monday evenings at 5:15 p.m. to around 6:30 p.m. (sometimes earlier). We also ate dinner at Fuji (great hibachi chicken and steak, and you have to love their sweet carrots) and spent the rest of the evening at Barnes & Noble reading and snacking. Let's go into this final week ready to do our best so we can have relaxing break time.

A much needed break

Evan Carr — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 13:55:35 -0800

I hope you all had a pretty awesome Thanksgiving break! Over the last five days, I've had to take advantage of my extra work hours (hey, more $$$) and got the chance to bond some more with my co-workers. I'm thankful for the people I work with; they are such a diverse and creative bunch! (Not to mention, hilarious if you ever see any of their Facebook videos) I am thankful for the extra "revenue" (business-talk here) that came in for me, so I can go spend it with my friends, possibly add to my wardrobe, and buy some new gadgets and what-not. I am thankful for my cousin, Josh, who I (and my family) saw over this week for Thanksgiving. Josh had just arrived home after a one-year, three-month assignment in England, and headed on a two-month trip to Australia on Saturday. (By the way, he is posting his pictures at http://glenraven.wordpress.com/) I am thankful for the rest of my family as well; we have all been there for each other and kept each other entertained since the passing of my grandmother two months ago. I am thankful for people that I have met (and the friends that I have made) throughout my life. I spent some time with a good friend Friday night enjoying some Mexican food, hanging out at Barnes & Noble, and going to a movie. I'm also thankful for other blessings such as being able to taste good food and drink, watch and listen to great films, music, plays, and television programs, read good books (not necessarily most text books), smell great aromas, and feel a loved one's touch. Those are the things in our lives for which I think we can all give thanks.

Happy Thanksgiving day!

Evan Carr — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 22:34:49 -0800

Well I hope you all make it a good one! I won't be getting too much of a break this week, because I work for a local movie theater. Therefore they need me to work extra hours this week, but I do get nights off to be with family and friends. Plus I will make more money this week. I will probably do a lot of resting on Saturday morning/early afternoon (because I have to work that night, too) and Sunday. Again, whatever you guys are doing for Thanksgiving, make the best of it!

Your blogging friend,

Evan

Happy Thanksgiving

Stephanie Mathis — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 07:32:06 -0800

Well fellow students it's that time of year! Woohoo! That break we've all needed! And right before exams!! THANKSGIVING! Thank goodness, I have very much needed a break and as it would happen most of my teachers canceled classes the two days of classes also so even more of a break! Now I get five days to study up before exams! It's the time of year for us to start thinking what we're thankful for, for me I'm thankful of coarse for my family who without which I would not be here at Upstate, my friends for keeping my head up even when it's really hard, Upstate for giving us three days off for Thanksgiving :D, my boyfriend for catching me when everything else let me fall and keeping up with things around the house while my face has been in a book, and oh there are many more things I'm thankful for but for now I'll say that's all. I have done some of my practicum observations for two separate classes and I am officially pumped to get in a classroom! I can't wait! My favorite was Boiling Springs Intermediate fifth grade, those kids were awesome and so well behaved! They were all excited to learn and all still looked up to their teacher, I really can't wait! Sometimes I just have to pause and remind myself 2010 is NOT that far away... *sigh* I'm sure one day I'll believe it he-he. Well I wish you all a very happy break and a super Happy Thanksgiving!! Best of luck on those exams too! :)
Steph

Weird week

Evan Carr — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 02:55:09 -0800

Well, as you all probably know, this is the second-to-last full week of classes. One class I am in didn't even meet all week. Instead, we worked on an assignment during our "off-hours" and turned it in on Thursday. The other classes consisted of reading notes and watching videos, working on projects, and working on PowerPoint/video presentations. The highlight of my week was our religion lectures, where we spent nearly an entire class discussing excommunication (being ignored by fellow church members for committing a certain sin).

Other than that, if you saw my last blog post, I spent some time with some friends eating Mellow Mushroom pizza and browsing books at Barnes & Noble. This week was pretty legendary for what it's worth!

Hang in there friends.

You've got to have friends...

Evan Carr — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:00:27 -0800

Friends are there throughout your lives,
Friends help you through school,
Friends study and work together,
Friends meet at the library,
Friends go eat pizza together,
Friends try to go to movies together,
Friends find nothing is playing at the movies together,
Friends go book browsing at Barnes & Noble together,
Friends find other friends at Barnes & Noble,
And finally...good friends call it a good night.

Friends...an important part of your "Senior Experience".

Wow it's been a while!

Stephanie Mathis — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 06:50:42 -0800

Hello everyone!
I can't believe how long it's been since I was on last. As any of you reading probably already know classes are getting to that last grind. And it has completely taken up a lot more time than before. All of my teachers have been squeezing in all those final graded assignments for the semester with projects, presentations, and essays! Only 23 days left until the last day of classes!! Crunch time is ON! That's a little over three weeks guys!! And then you have all the local stores decorating for Christmas!! Yikes! I'm sure you don't need the stress either but it's only 44 days away. It won't be long before the mall and wal-mart are packed to the walls. Black Friday is only 17 days away! Man oh man. I'm sure you didn't come here to read all my stressful countdowns, therefore I will try to find something else to talk about. I found out last week I graduate Spring 2010, and while that's later than I expected but I'm still excited! There are quite a few things I always wanted to do before graduating, and I still hope to accomplish them! So now I have 2 years!
I'd like to (in no particular order):

* Go on a road trip (maybe camping depending on wildlife)

* Go camping (i already bought a tent, just need it assembled :))
* Go to bed early
* Get an A+ in more than one class in one semester
* Travel overseas

* Learn more about photography

* Learn to love cooking

* Learn to do a cart wheel :)

* Learn to manage money better

* Dance in the rain (probably better suited for summer :P)

* Volunteer more at Boiling Springs Elementary :)

* Go to the Florida Keys

And wow the list could just keep going! Have a lovely week!!

Steph

Hank's "Hills" have many suitors

Evan Carr — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 23:55:51 -0800

I know this is unrelated to "The Senior Experience", but since I blogged about Fox's cancellation of "King of the Hill", I thought I should post this information.

Reportedly "King of the Hill" is being considered for running on ABC starting in the 2009-2010 television season. This would be one of the rare times that a primetime network show plays on two different networks in the same television season (Fox will finish its run of "King" in the middle of the 2009-2010 season).

http://digg.com/comics_animation/ABC_Might_Rescue_King_Of_The_Hill

Not only is ABC after "King"; Cartoon Network's Adult Swim has grabbed the cable rights for January 2009.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/inc/quickread/e3i083596716ab8fb8673f0d9bc325dec88?KeepThis=true&TB_iframe=true&height=310&width=600

Winding down towards Winter

Evan Carr — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 12:27:47 -0800

Hey all! This week I am studying Christianity in religion (where I have an extra credit opportunity to do a paper on Mithra), preparing for final projects in Data Warehousing (for which I had to write a three-page paper) and IT Project Management, do some reading for Survey of Mass Communications, and read and write for Writing & Computers (in which I have an optional reflection essay, other extra credit opportunities with wikis, and a final presentation on user-generated content).

I also got the chance to see a few good friends this past weekend. My friends Paul and Trey were here on Sunday from the Clemson area (Paul studies business/finance at Clemson while Trey runs a business with his friends Chris, Dallas, and Adam called ADynamic and works at the local Jittery Joe's coffeehouse). I spent time with Paul and our good friend Gary at Fuji, and then Gary, Paul, and I went to Barnes & Noble where we ran into Trey. I also saw my Project Management professor out enjoying himself. Another friend of Trey's, Robbie, was also there. Then on Monday I tried to go to the free yoga class, but it was cancelled. Later that evening I spent time with my friends William and Mitchell dining at the delicious Hickory Tavern ($5 wings on Mondays). William had trouble finding the Hickory Tavern, so I had to explain to him quite a few times how to get there (it is on the East side of Spartanburg). Obviously we weren't in school this past Tuesday, so I slept late, voted, and got my free doughnut and coffee (courtesy of Krispy Kreme and Pine Street Starbucks). I spent some more time with William at Starbucks and we both headed over to IHoP and met his friend Jennifer. Later that evening, change arose. On Wednesday and Friday we discussed some interesting things in Comparative Religions.

http://tlphillipsjr.blogspot.com/ (Trey's blog)

Finally, I attended USC Upstate's first Media Day on Saturday. Many people working in the media came to speak and share with us their experiences in their fields, including people from right here at USC Upstate (shout outs to Mr. Nick Catto, the web developer who has some responsibility for my being a student blogger, Ms. Natalie Brown, Mr. Catto's partner-in-crime, and Professor/Journalist Mitch Weiss who teaches two journalism classes here-Investigative Reporting and Media Management), The Spartanburg Herald-Journal, The Greenville News, Fox Carolina (another shout out to Mr. Jeff Moreau who not only anchors the 6:30 news and THE Ten O'Clock News, but also taught Speech for Radio and TV for a semester), Spartanburg Magazine, BMW, and 107.3 JAMZ radio. Many students alike were in attendance for the event, whether they are in high school or in college, and whether they are communications majors or not. After the speeches and introductions, the different media specialists had separate rooms reserved for questions on their specialties (Radio/TV, Print, New Media). Afterward, Pizza Hut pizza was served. Thanks to Professors Jimm Cox, Chioma Ugochukwu, and Gary Mattingly for putting this event together for all of us.

http://www.mrcatto.com/ (Mr. Nick Catto's Web Design business)

http://www.uscupstate.edu/press/article.aspx?id=21814

Finally this week if you watch the Midnight Madness video that was made for USC Upstate, you will find me in the clip for a few seconds (at 1:44 to 1:47). Talk about shameless self-promotion!

Thrills and Chills

Evan Carr — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 06:42:56 -0700

Well it has been another week of test this, test that, paper this, and paper that. The tests I once again do not feel too confident about (but one I could have done better - Survey of Mass Comm. - if I studied a little more that day instead of napping). The other test was my Comparative Religion test on Judaism. The papers I kind of enjoyed writing (one was a Web site analysis comparing two sites on Yahoo!: "The 50 Coolest Websites" and "25 Websites You Can't Live Without"; the other was a research paper on the definition of user-generated content-for example, this blog I am writing right now). I still have one blog to finish (http://upstateevan.blogspot.com/), some "wiki" writing/editing and Diigo (Web site boomarking) additions to finish, a short (one page) write-up for Data Warehousing on my final project, some Creative Commons Workshop work for Writing & Computers, and reading my chapters on Christianity for Religion.

Now that all is said and done about my academic week, I can talk about how the rest of my week has been. For Halloween I took a night off from work and spent time with a couple of friends. We chilled at the Waffle House, almost went to Hickory Tavern, checked out Downtown Spartanburg, and ended up at the midnight showing of "The Anointing of Dracula" at Converse College's Hazel B. Abbott theater. "The Anointing of Dracula" was a well-written, well-acted, and well-designed play, know where it is okay to park at Converse College, Hickory Tavern's wait staff gave us immediate service before we changed our minds about being there, chocolate chip double waffles with syrup are pretty good, and Waffle House has a new breakfast item called the burger biscuit.

Speaking of which, if you are lacking anything to do on Halloween (or any given night), here are some suggestions for fun places to go and things to do:

Go to Converse College's "The Anointing of Dracula" (if they do this again)
Check out Hub-Bub's happenings such as Soapbox Sessions at http://www.hub-bub.com/events/
Go to Interlude coffee shop; they usually have live music or movie nights
Go to Wild Wing, Delaney's, Chief's, Hickory Tavern, Nu-Way, Sonny's Brick Oven, Mellow Mushroom, or any other similar place
Watch a movie at the Spartan 16
Play mini-golf, arcade games, batting cages, or ride go-karts at Blessed Fun at Funtasia
Go bowling at one of the local alleys
Check out an art gallery
Look for downtown street festivals, such as Music on Main or Jazz on the Square
Relive your inner child and check out one of Spartanburg County's haunted trails
Chill at Krispy Kreme, Starbucks, Barnes & Noble, Panera Bread, Waffle House, Denny's, or IHoP
Chill at the public library
Find events on your campus or other college campuses
Join a gym, work out, and take some free classes
Give blood (or help your community out in another way)
Enjoy a night eating out or having ice cream
Find free dance classes in your area

http://www.rte.ie/arts/2008/1101/kingofthehill.html

On a note somewhat related to The Senior Experience, many of you may also be as big of fans of the animated series "King of the Hill" as I am. Well, Fox has decided to cancel the series, with their last new episodes airing during the 2009-2010 television season. Many people of all ages loved this show and could identify with propane salesman Hank Hill and his love for and conflicts with his family, his co-workers, his friends, his neighbors, and the many con-artists or otherwise greedy characters who appeared on the show. At least Fox did let "King" run 10 years longer than they did with another hilarious. critically-acclaimed yet low-rated series, "Arrested Development", which can be seen on G4 Sunday nights at 11-midnight. Thankfully "King" has a bright future in reruns for years to come. You can catch the series multiple times a day on cable's FX and weekday afternoons from 4-5 on the Upstate's WHNS-Fox Carolina (Channel 21).

That does it for this week's edition of "The Senior Experience".

Getting there

Stephanie Mathis — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 05:40:50 -0700

Well we are about 6 weeks into classes with about 9 more weeks to go, hopefully they will go by as steadily as the past 6 weeks have. I cannot wait for fall break!! Woo hoo! 7 days and counting! I have no clue what I will do with the time, though I'm just sure most of my teachers will load us up with homework to answer that question. Seeing as how all of a sudden it is fall I doubt going to the beach would be much fun, not to mention gas prices! This morning I woke up and got ready for work, however, when I walked out the door it was quite a shock! I know it has been chilly in the mornings for a week or so but WOW! this morning was much colder!
Last night was also much colder than I expected. I dragged my boyfriend out to the Rocktoberfest here on campus and met up with a few friends to watch the Nappy Roots play and just hang out. We had a really great time! Food, icees, and fun lol. The icees were a little uncomfortable when we were already freezing, but hey it's part of the experience right ;). I also signed up to possibly join CAB (Campus Activities Board), which I am both excited and nervous about. I tend to sign up for all these things and then not have any down time and loose my mind! I just hope it will be fun.
<img src="http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g221/butterfly_8499/1001081926a.jpg">
Well it's about that time.. off to Children's Lit. which is hands down my favorite class ever! :) If you ever have the opportunity to take a class with Dr. Greta Freeman absolutely do it!! Ok. Have a great end of the week and weekend! Until next time! <3

A week behind

Stephanie Mathis — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 02:14:22 -0700

Well I had all intentions of posting another blog last week and somehow I got overloaded with projects, work, and class "stuff". Can you believe the there is only 2 and a half short weeks until Fall break!? I can't wait. I have no plans and am really, really excited about it! :)

I recently (last week) started taking the Yoga classes here on campus and am having a lot of fun with it! Last week was the first class I went to and the first time I'd ever done anything like that. Needless to say the next day walking was not very comfortable, but I felt better :). This week I just felt better, no pain!! I recommend it to everyone because it really helps you chill out and relax after a long day of classes. Plus there are so many people in there and if we get more we get to move to a bigger room! In case you're interested they are every Monday at 5:15pm in the CLC room 309.

Classes so far are going pretty well. Most of my teachers are preparing our first tests of the semester, while some of my classes have already had tests. Can I just say that Math 231 is much much harder than I had imagined. The concepts really aren't that difficult but the class is only 50 minutes long and the textbook is not easy to understand. Any education majors out there that haven't taken this class yet, don't expect it to be a cake class.. because it is FAR from it! I was under the idea, "hey it's elementary math! Super easy!!" but no.

Well I have loads of homework to work on, so until next time! I hope you all have a fantastic day! And good luck in your classes!

~*Steph

Good'day mate!

Stephanie Mathis — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 01:18:51 -0700

So I suppose an introduction is in order!

Well hello! I'm Stephanie Mathis.

I'm somewhere around the middle of my sophomore year trying to get a Bachelor's in Elementary Education. I came to Upstate my freshman year in 2002 and now after a bumpy road I am right back where I left off, only a little bit older. I'm 9,013 days old :) see if you can figure that one out!! (Don't worry it took me a while to figure it up ;) ) Haha I'm 24. I love music! It's kind of my outlet, besides blogging of coarse. ;) I like photography but have never had any formal training, which I would love!

Upstate has changed so much since 2002! Besides getting bigger, there are a lot more events on campus than I remember! I encourage anyone not involved with anything at the school to get involved! It makes you a more "well rounded person" blah blah blah. But really.. I think it does, not to mention then you know more people on campus! I work in the administrative building on campus and feel like I have a lot more confidence this time around because I know all these people and places!

For those of you that like to have a face with a name here is a picture of me. I'm wearing a Spartan jacket, bag, AND mug! People that donated money to the USC Upstate family fund had a chance to win all that stuff!

Too bad I couldn't at least keep the mug :P It had a cute little spoon on the back to stir in all the unhealthy stuff into your coffee! Well I think for today I'll say my good-byes! I am after-all a student, so as always I have loads of homework to do!

Ta-Ta! Love, Steph

On surviving my first full week of college ...

Cory Bohon — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 15:26:39 -0700

As everyone should know, this past week was the first full week of classes at USC Upstate. As a freshman, I was a little nervous about how much work would be handed out, and just all-around not knowing what to expect.

The outcome? Well, it was a little better than I had first expected. My instructors are really nice, and seem to care about you as a student. The classes/work isn't much harder than what I had in high school (a bit surprising, but well appreciated). I'm looking forward to the next few months in the semester!**

The best part is that after a long, full week of classes, we get a three-day weekend! Happy Labor Day (even if you spell it with a "u").

**This statement may be retracted at any time without prior written acknowledgement.

Buying Books

Cory Bohon — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 12:35:36 -0700

Buying books is not a fun experience by any means. You have to spend lots of money! What is up with that? In my first experience buying books, I found that it pays off to "shop around."

The Upstate Book Store is a great place to purchase books, however, they have overhead costs for selling the books. You can often find your books online, and cheaper. If you can get the ISBNs of the required books, you are able to enter them into a book store search on Amazon.com or Half.com.

I had a lot of luck with Half.com. A computer science book that cost $61 at the Upstate book store sold for $8.50 on Half.com. Granted, it was a little worn, but perfectly usable.

There are plenty of times that you would need to purchase books at the Upstate Book Store. If you need your books in a hurry, online isn't for you (shipping times can often run into weeks depending on the seller). If you are saving over 50% on your books, you might want to purchase online, otherwise, shop at the book store. Some books are only available at the Upstate Book Store -- this will vary by course.

My O.A.R. Experience

Cory Bohon — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 12:36:52 -0700

I attended the July 21-22 O.A.R. (or Orientation, Advisement, and Registration). O.A.R. is an excellent way to meet people that might be in some (if not all) of your classes. While getting up at 6 a.m. isn't all that fun, the whole experience was worth it!

The first day was definitely interesting. The students took a Spanish placement test while the parents went to an information session. After the horrible? fun? Spanish placement test, the students went to the Hodge Gym for an "Icebreaker." We were divided up and placed into categories based on age, eye color, and majors -- this allowed us to learn a little more about our fellow freshmen.

After lunch (and after the power outage*), we met with an advisor who helped us pick classes for the fall semester. The advisors were very nice and made selecting classes easy.

On the second day we took another tour of the campus, went to information sessions on differing topics, finalized our fall class registration, and received our ID cards. Overall, this was the best day as the power didn't go out.

O.A.R. was definitely fun and gave us a full overview of what we needed to know about starting in the fall. If I could do anything over it would have been to "brush up" on my Spanish before attending.

*Yes, there really was a power outage. It was very hot outside too, which didn't help things, but somehow the staff managed to get back on schedule (most of us were even able to be advised).

Hey there

Cory Bohon — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 14:09:30 -0700

Hello everyone, my name is Cory Bohon and I will be blogging my first year experiences here at USC Upstate. I will try to keep this updated on a daily to weekly basis, so be sure to visit often (or subscribe via RSS -- link on the left hand side of the page)! I thought that this first post would be a great way to talk a little about myself and my reason for attending Upstate.

*waves*

I currently live in Inman and have been in the Spartanburg area my entire life. I attended high school in Landrum, SC. My major at Upstate is Computer Information Systems (CIS) with an emphasis on computer security. Technology has always been an important part of my life and I currently have a job as a professional blogger for AOL.

On this blog I will talk about student life and different experiences that I encounter throughout my freshman year. I am definitely having mixed feelings of anticipation and also anxiety about starting classes this August; however, I'm sure this is a normal part of starting this new journey. As we go throughout the first and second semesters I will be writing about different challenges that I encounter, as-well-as my experiences throughout my first year.

I am looking forward to what this great journey through higher education will bring me, and I am also looking forward to seeing you all on campus as we go throughout the year.