Sunday, November 14, 2010

The 15th State

I'm currently in Louisville, Kentucky for an internship that is fulfilling the requirements of my Nonprofit Leadership Graduate Certificate. I'm not sure Louisville is somewhere I'd want to live forever but I am enjoying the warmer fall temperatures. Between the internship and the two graduate classes I'm taking this semester things have been a bit chaotic. Only three more credits next semester and I'm done! Woot! Until then it's back to the books for the next four weeks...

Monday, August 30, 2010

Lazy Summer Days...

After spending the first seven weeks of summer working at a youth camp down in Pennsylvania I returned home for a night before heading to Vermont for a relaxing week on the lake with the family.

Enjoying the sunset on Lake Champlain

I returned home from Vermont just in time for school. Classes started last week and while I'm not in Minnesota this semester I'm taking two online classes as part of the nonprofit leadership certificate program that I'm combining with my masters degree. I'm also searching for an internship with a nonprofit organization. Ideally this should have been done back in July but with the technology regulations at the camp where I was working, and only having contact with the outside world one day a week it was a challenge to set up interviews, complete applications, etc. If anyone has connections with a nonprofit organization looking for an intern this fall, email me ASAP! The only two requirements I have are it must be with a nonprofit and I need to be somewhere that I have decent internet service to complete my classwork - in other words I should probably stay in the U.S.

Yesterday the weather was beautiful and sunny so I decided to take on a DIY home project. The cart on the back porch before, and after.

From rusty and brown to forest GREEN!

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Signs of Summer in Upstate NY

Spring time in the valley

Green meadow along the road

Daisies!

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Illini 4000 Awesomeness


Who would have thought I4K withdrawal would be a lifetime disorder? As I write this the 2010 Illini 4000 team has raised $95,740! (YOU GUYS ROCK!) They have yet to start their ride and I'm already completely envious and itching to tour again. Anyone up for joining me on a grad school capstone project ride next spring?! (I'm only partially kidding - so, where do you want to go?)

On a side note and a little plea... I4K screened "What People Do" last week. I have been patiently waiting 3-years and have YET to see this! If anyone with "connections" happens to read this and could make this happen, a second donation out of my check book could be arranged. :)

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Bicycle

Hello 60 degree weather how I've missed you! Today I went exploring the bicycle trail system around the Mankato area. Some of the trails were closed due to the height of the local rivers which run near the trails but it was a beautiful day for a ride.

Bicycle Parking

Snowy trail ahead - this is when I decided it was time to turn around

Sunday, February 28, 2010

New York

Hello! I'm currently back in New York for two weeks as I have a summer job interview later this week and then spring break next week. It's hard to believe that it could possibly be spring break already but apparently time flies when you do homework 24/7!

On my way home from Minnesota I made a detour through Iowa and into central Illinois where I stopped and visited some amazing I4k'ers in Champagin-Urbana. Despite my relatively last minute notice that I was going to be in town about eight of us were able to get together for a mini reunion. It was great to see them and catch up, it also reminded me just how much I miss the awesomeness of I4K.

Speaking of I4K - they just recently launched a new website! This years team is nearly twice the size of the original team and has been hard at work having already raised over $55,000! Check them out at www.illini4000.org

One of my favorite photos from I4K 2K8

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Hello February

Brain Food? Dinner on a budget.

12 hours of class, 156 hours of homework, repeat. Life is good.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Minnesota

Hello from Minnesota! Due to popular request I'm revitalizing the blog - though I can't promise that I'll be writing daily or even weekly, just as my schedule permits.

It's been quite some time since I last posted here and while I'd really planned to blog last summer from Ghana that didn't go as planned (dial-up internet is not all that compatible with modern web design). But here I am, in Minnesota fresh off quitting my real job and currently working on the core courses part of my graduate program at MSUM.

I arrived in Minnesota on Saturday, January 9th after three wonderful days of driving. Originally the plan was to drive out in two days but then snow hit and well there is no denying mother nature the power to make snow. I made a planned stop in Normal, Illinois along the way where I spent a night with my friend Alex from I4K 1.0 catching up on everything that's happened over the past two years while refreshing many I4K memories. I still miss I4k oh so much!

My first day of class was the 11th of January. I'm taking four classes this semester - which is apparently a lot from the reaction I get when I say I'm taking four classes. One of the classes is an online/occasional Saturday class so I really haven't gotten a true taste of it just yet but I can honestly say that I like the other three classes a lot! I have a lot of reading to do which can be time consuming but other than that the work isn't that bad at all. I don't know a whole lot of people yet but the people in my major seem like a pretty cool group.

The weather hasn't been too bad thus far and has actually been above average temperature wise since I arrived something I will not complain about. There is still quite a bit of snow on the ground but we're suppose to get a rain/snow mix this weekend so that could make things interesting. I went to the grocery store today so I should be good to stay inside and spend the next three days doing homework. 150 days until summer!

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“It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.”

~Ernest Hemingway