So tonight ends another chapter in my life I suppose. This was the first summer I've lived away from home and I suppose it marks the official point where I've moved out of my parents house.

I'm stopping in for a couple of days just to get organized and get packed for my trip to England. I leave Saturday.

I keep telling myself a month isn't a long time, but saying my goodbyes tonight, made me realize, these are the people I see every single day. Absolutely every single day I'm alive, I see one or more of these folks. They are my family outside of Pittsburgh. Now I'm leaving these folks for a month. I feel like I'm going to miss a great deal by not spending the time with them.

On the other hand I cannot wait to get out of here. I feel like I could use the fresh start. I just need to drop everything Erie, Penn State, Pittsburgh, and emotionally related. Drop it all and start fresh. I'm flying thousands of miles away from any problem or confusion I have here and I can't spend time worrying about it until August. That in itself is a great feeling. Its not one of a permanent fix, but one where I know I'll come back with a better perspective and ability to size up who and what is actually important to me in life. The last two weeks have shaken that whole issue up for me.

I am 100% sure it is going to be a fast month. I have some amazing trips planned and I'm going to be meeting a lot of new people. Soon it will be time to start back to school, start back to research, and start back to those "cares in the world."

So we'll see. I'm nervous, excited, sad, and happy to be leaving all for different reasons I don't really care to share with anyone but myself at this point. So here is cheers to me, to a safe, fun, and exciting trip.

-Much growing and learning to be done in the next 5 weeks. To everyone still here, please bear with me, I'm hoping to have lots of pictures, stories, and experiences to share, but I'm sure I'm going to be one of those annoying folks that starts everything with, "Well, in England..." So just tell me to shut my trap when I do.

Last Note: There were somethings I wanted to tell some people (mostly one person) that I wish I could have. I guess I didn't b/c it was a mix of too scared and partly a 'why bother?' kind of thing. It wouldn't have helped anything to say something I guess, who knows, maybe I'll regret it later and can worry about it then.

All this blogging activity from my friends has motivated me

So I guess the reason I stopped writing two times ago now was because I couldn't be honest and put on here what I wanted to say. I couldn't put it on here because...someone might read it. Thats really the reason every time I stop blogging I guess. But low and behold, I move past whatever it is and I start it up again when I'm bored.

Since May 9th...yeah...a lot has happened. I guess the short of it being, I'm living in Erie this summer. I have a job at the ERIE office as a researcher. I have a grant to further my own research on a topic of my choosing (Leading Business Cycle Metropolitan Statistical Areas). I got a job with UPS as a box handler but decided that the commute along with taxes was not gonna make the job worth it so I quit before I even started the job. I felt bad about wasting their time but they were not going to give me enough hours a day to make the job worth it.

Oh, in now 14 days I leave for England for a month. Yeah. Thats pretty big. I'm really really excited. I saw some pictures of the campus and it looks beautiful! There are initial plans in the works for Paris, Rome, Dublin, Stonehenge, London of course, and Scotland. I'm going to come back so broke!

I've been spending a lot of time with friends doing a lot of fun things. Erie is a great town to be in in the summer. There are concerts, block parties, festivals, etc. If I really wanted to go out every night to something I could most likely find something. Not to forget just State Street in general. I haven't spent a whole lot of time bar hopping because I'm trying to save money for the trip, but I've had a few great nights there.

In general my work and research is going well. I built an MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area) database that tracks the changes from 1950 through 1999 (2003+ forthcoming). I was very proud of that because it was a lot of data gathering and formatting but also because it involved a bit of coding. I don't really know how to computer program but I had a little bit of it in high school so I just started playing with it and got it to do what I needed it to do. I wont really waste my time or yours explaining it b/c I know no one likes to read/talk economics outside of economics majors and I don't think any of them are reading this.

Back to the 'burgh on the 11th for Dentist, Em's 21rst birthday!, Science Center Lunch!!, and meeting with a long lost friend for a bit before back up the highway. I'll be back in Pittsburgh on Wednesday to pack and get ready for my trip.


For the most part you can leave it at I'm generally happy and healthy. Are there things I wish were different, sure. But its nothing too serious I suppose. I am excited for London but I'm also excited to start the next semester...senior year...its a big one.

I don't really know what to say. Its been an semi-interesting and fast year.

I wouldn't say I've grown in any particular way other then the experience with the day to day. I've met several new people I'm better off for knowing and I've lost track of several old people that at the time I was better for knowing and now we've gone our own way.

I've had my ups, downs, successes, crushes, disappointments, lonely moments, tired moments, happy moments, moments of triumph and failure like everyone has in the course of a year.

I'm tired now. I can say that without any reserve. I don't have the energy I did at the start of the semester and I have a few new aches and pains I'm sure are stress related. Overall it was a decent year. One left.

So...I got an A in public economics. Mathematically I didn't think that was possible. This could be a very good semester grade wise! Not a 4.0, but possibly close depending on how well Intermediate Econ goes. At the moment, the worst grade I'm looking at is an A- in Finance 301 which is freaking amazing b/c I hated that class with a passion.

So I guess its been...a month...yeah...

In that time a good bit has happened.

The search for a new place to live next year is continuing. Looked at a house the other day and did not like it as much as the first place we looked at. Turned in the credit check forms and I am hoping we hear back from the guy very soon because I want to have that set before I leave for summer. The place we are looking at now is nice because it is within walking distance if you don't mind a 20 min walk. Its separate rooms which will be nice because that is what I grew up with and what I am used to. I'm an annoying person generally and I'm sure my roommate would appreciate some space too.

Speaking of summer, the ball is now rolling on a place to live this summer. Just waiting to get the final OK to get started with that. Its gonna be tricky working this out with the lease and such but we'll see how that goes.

I'm booking my ticket for England on Wednesday evening. Over all it looks like with the scholarship it might only cost me 50 bucks for the ticket! I'm so excited to go.

The research paper continues. I hit a snag with some nasty correlation and having to lag my variables. Got instructions today about how to fix that up. The rough draft was due last Monday but even the teacher recommended I set up this meeting with another teacher to get this stuff explained. I guess tonight/Wed will be my day to get the first rough draft totally written and turned in.

Oh, since the last post I have turned 21. That was a great night. I remember it all and I did not get sick. My parents helped me out with a pickup truck so I'm driving new wheels since my last post too!

This past weekend was initiation for the fraternity. It went really well and we now have 10 new members for our chapter! I was the Vice President of Pledge Education so it was nice to see the pledges finish and become official brothers. It is sort of like a capstone to finish up the fraternity for this year for me.

Next weekend is the fraternity formal and I'm looking forward to that. Not sure what the plans are yet exactly but I have a friend coming up to go with me.

This coming Tuesday is going to be elections for the frat. I was nominated to be the president and also Vice Pres. Pledge Education again. I am not sure yet which I really want to run for. I have a basic speech outlined for president and I will probably just wing the VPPE speech.

Oh, also today I started putting up flyers advertising for this hauling business I'd like to start now that I have a truck. I don't have the exact prices worked out, but I'd really like to start putting some extra money in my pocket since the research position I have isn't really brimming with hours.

Speaking of research I was approved for my summer research and will be doing that. On Wednesday I am hoping to turn my summer research into my thesis paper to kill two birds with one stone.

Also this summer I signed up for an online class to do class 1 of 3 to get an SAP certificate.

So, yeah, been crazy busy lately but none of it is really new. They are just all ongoing projects that keep piling up. With any luck I'll have summer housing, next semester housing, study abroad, research paper, fraternity stuff, and job stuff worked out in the next week and it will be smooth sailing into finals week. But who am I kidding, nothing ever goes that smoothly.

St. Pattys day and stupid group project

So yesterday was St. Pattys day. I guess as days go it was a decent one. Not a whole lot to report. A couple of friends stopped over last night to hangout and I got absolutely no work done at all.

I only have one class on Mondays so it was going to be a work day to get something...anything...done, but it was the holiday so that ruined that plan.

During my one class of the day however, I was supposed to have a meeting with the other member of my randomly assigned debate group. It is only the two of us mind you, and of course she didn't show up to class. I asked the teacher about it because it is not uncommon for this girl not to show up. The teacher said if I have problems the rest of the week to let her know. I think today I will have to email the girl and see if she got anything done on the project ...sigh, this is for the class that I really just do not want to do it anymore. It is the same one I have that Literature re-write due again on Friday.

Anyway, today is my busy day, so we'll see how it goes. I tried sleeping in till 9 today and I just kept waking up so I got up and started my daily routine.

So thats about it, a good St. Ps day and a crappy group. That was about it for yesterday.

Blurry vision!

So not too much to report, but you'll have to forgive any terrible mistakes with my typing. My vision right now is really blurry because I went swimming this evening!

The drive up from Pittsburgh was uneventful. Spent the rest of the afternoon catching up and looking at my roommates slide show of NYC. He got some amazing pictures.

So my other roommate says we're going swimming, do you want to go? And I decided since I was so lazy over break I'd go and splash around. It was a lot of fun because we had the whole pool to ourselves. Only thing is I spent a lot of time underwater and now I'm paying for it. But it was fun. I sort of miss swimming, I used to go everyday in the summer when I was a kid and also a good bit in high school for gym.

Anyway, back to classes tomorrow.

It'd be happy if I wrote this 3 hours ago.

So I forgot to update on Friday. The trend is already starting.

Anyway, I got back on Friday alright. I thought I got the Literature Review done but I got an email today saying she felt like I only scratched surface. I think I misinterpreted what I Literature Review is for last semester when I wrote my first official paper. But, anyway she sent me a bunch more citations to read and is having my revise it for this coming Friday. So...whatever. I really do not have a huge interest in the topic and I am writing it more because I have to than anything.

So Friday evening I spent with my family. Friday night I went and got coffee with a friend.

Saturday morning (today) I went out with Em and we went and got breakfast. It was really good to catch up. I haven't seen her in a month so I was glad we found a time that worked because I really didn't want to try to fit something in when I made my quick stop back for Easter next weekend. Also, we talked about figuring out a time that worked for her to come visit again since its been awhile since she has done that too. Nothing is planned yet, but we're working on it. So I picked her up around 10, and we didn't finish breakfast till about 1 =) good times. We're also looking into the weekend in April when Erie has the German festival and she could come up and chill that weekend and we could go think German thoughts.

So anyway, I had a wonderful morning and I get home and there is the email about the Lit Review on top of a whole bunch of stuff I get handed to me walking in the door. Not to mention 1/2 the Littles canceling on the meeting for Sunday which is aggravating but understandable.

I'm just not in a good mood, I think a lot of it is the lack of sunshine we've had. Also, for all the stuff I want to do with my obligations, there are two things I don't want to do. I don't want to be home but I'm also not looking forward to getting back to Erie as much as I thought. I think what I really need is a break from everything. No computer, no phone, no family, maybe a couple of good friends, and no responsibility or obligations. I do not want to think about all this crap for a bit. I would expect at the end of this semester to see me disappear for a few days before diving into my summer research.

**Em had me over her house last night to hang out. We watched a comedy troop that does all of Shakespeare's plays in one sitting. It was pretty funny to watch. It was a great ending to break and I put me back into a good mood for the ride back up.

**Also I'm playing around with that Rosetta Stone program. I think I am going to try to pick up basic Italian for the trip this summer.