Back to Morgantown

Spring Break has officially ended and the WVU libraries are packed with students completing homework and papers they should have completed over the week. This week I was able to pretty much finish my history capstone paper, its still a little rough, and though its not what I expected at the beginning of the semester I am happy with my research project. I was also able to read a couple books.


The best out of all them was "The Lady MacBeth of Ltsenk District" by Nikolai Leskov. This book, written in 1865 was an amazing novella about a women who falls in love with a peasant, and the ensuing actions she takes to keeper her lover. I also read a short biography of Martin Luther by Stephen Nichols. As Christian and product of the Catholic school system, I find religious history interesting. I also began reading "Blowback" by Chalmers Johnson for by history class on US foreign Policy. I have only read the first few chapters, and I can agree with some of his arguments.


During my week off, I also watched a handful of movies and by far "Death at a Funeral" was the best. This dark comedy had an amazing story, cast, and I would recommend it to anyone. Another film I finally saw was "Into the Wild", this film based on a book by the same name, by the way the book is one of my all time favs, did an accurate job of telling the story of Christopher McCandles and is just as moving as the book.


Tonight the on HBO the fourth installment of the John Adams story will be shown. I have not read the book the series is based on, it actually been in my to read pile for a year, but the story from what I have read about Adams does an excellent job; watch it!

Holly!

Spring Break has been amazingly lackluster. Besides catching up on my school work I have the responsibility, nay, the privilege of my babysitting my parents new puppy. Holly is seven week old Miniature Schnauzer. She needs constant attention or she'll eat your shoes with her amazingly sharp teeth. However, she is very lovable, and enjoys torturing our thirteen year old Siamese cat Tibbs.




Tomorrow is an amazingly important day in history, not only do the WVU Mountaineers play in the Sweet Sixteen, but my brother turns 21. Not that anyone reads this blog, and not that anyone who may happen upon here knows my brother, but my brother is one of those people who is the loudest, funniest, and life of any room or party he may attend. I have feeling its going to wild night.

Last Saturday, I and some of my classmates attended the regional Phi Alpha Theta conference in lovely Buckhannon, WV. We went there to present our research papers and just generally bs with other nerds who enjoy the study of history. Now. going into this I never believed I would win a any awards so not winning didn't bother me; however, as a competitive person (ask my room ates they won't play video games with me anymore) my pride was a little hurt. Anyways I just have three words to leave this off with:

LET'S GO MOUNTAINEERS

Madness

March really is madness, and I am truly thankful for Spring break because now I can finally catch up on all the school work I have been pushing off. Like those three papers I have to write, those four books I have to read, and lets not forget about that job I need to find. With all that work I need to do, I am instead relaxing watching the NCAA tournament. I'm pretty excited that tomorrow my team will be playing Duke and wish I could be in DC to watch, but I will be presenting a paper at a Phi Alpha Theta conference.



One thing I never understood about Spring break is why do students fell the need to go somewhere and just get completely obliterated? I can do that any night of the week. They only thing that makes Spring break better is that its at the beach, if you like the beach. This is my first year in college that I have not gone anywhere for break. I went skiing twice and last year I went to Poland and had blast everywhere. I'm just curious what makes the beach the ideal Spring break destination?



Last weekend, after booking it home from NYC, I went to Pittsburgh for St. Patrick's day and I just want to say that bar hoping in the South Side was a blast and I can't wait to do it again.

One Hellish Week

This week, while the Democratic party began to self implode, I worked my way through two more midterms and turned in an outline and rough draft for my capstone class (My paper happens to focus on German Expellees after WWII). After taking four exams in the past two weeks I am burnt out and look forward to an restful weekend in the library researching. As graduation quickly approaches I am now searching for a job or an internship especially since I was rejected from graduate school. However, I plan on reapplying next year (I really think that I rushed into the entire process which made my applications look sloppy). As for the job search, next weekend I am going to NYC for the Big East job fair which should be fun, yet I will miss what I am sure will be an awesome lecture on Russian prison tattoos. With the popularity of Eastern Promises, our Slavic studies program is bringing in a guest lecturer next Friday, but I will be in the city.



The business news is not looking so good this week either. With rising inflation and the current recession, the job market for new graduates looks the bleakest in years (except for my roommate who was hired by the consulting giant Accenture), and a Wall Street Journal article reports that job cuts have already begun. The EU Central Bank decided yesterday that they will fight off inflation instead of trying to increase growth . . . the opposite of the Fed. Yet, the Fed's plan to grow the economy instead of focusing on inflation seems to failing as reports today indicate that the economy may have negative growth this quarter.



This week I began reading "Crime and Punishment" by the famous Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky, which I must say is interesting. The plot and the story is intriguing, but the style or maybe the translation makes the work some what confusing. Also this week the film "Into the Wild" came out on DVD, and I can't wait to see it because the book of the same title is amazing and one of my all time favorites.