messages that make me smile

Justin

so in 5 years when i start calling people to partner in on a sustainability consulting startup, i expect u to answer

until then, have an awesome life

peace.

Caitie

oh i will

Justin

and happy birthday i guess

After a week of tough realizations, snow days in the middle of the week that messed up my brain and made me think it was the weekend on Wednesday, and working my butt off to be made to feel inferior, it made me feel just a little bit good.

compounding

A really interesting narrative about overpopulation and growth my Econ professor told me a week ago:

"Imagine that you put bacteria in a beaker. The population doubles every minute, and after an hour's time, the beaker is completely full of bacteria - no more room for them to reproduce or populate. You sit and observe the bacteria as they reproduce. At what time is the beaker half full?






Answer: A minute before the beaker is full."




Moral of the story: We're doing alright now, and we find ways to adjust to the population growth that is happening in the world, but we won't know we're screwed until a split second before it happens.

Mind-boggling.

Things I can still do while I'm 22

Get cheap (and I mean, cheap - $69 per segment, or $99 for long-haul segments) flights through Air Tran U.

Thanks for making me feel young, Aunt Donna!

overwhelmed

I love my birthday. As far as I'm concerned, it's the best day in the entire year. I have several family members and friends who share my birthday including my mom, my "wife" Ilana, my "sisters" Caty and Whitney, K.Zim, and Gavin. I went out on Tuesday night with some friends. I don't know if it was just a coincidence, but even the bar tenders who checked my ID didn't seem to care about this birthday. "Oh, you're just turning 22. Big deal. You won't be here to tip me next year, so what do I care?"

I was still excited for my birthday, but around 11:50pm I started freaking out. I wanted time to stop. I wasn't ready to turn another year older. As the clock rang 12, people around me started hugging me and congratulating me and wishing me a happy birthday, but on the inside, I was screaming, "NO!! I DON'T WANT IT TO HAPPEN! I'M NOT HAPPY!"

I woke up on the morning of my birthday to a foot of snow and ice, and the following email:

Oxford campus is now closed Wednesday, Jan. 28.

Good. I was too depressed to go to class anyways.

For a few years now, I've been told that soon I will be 22, graduated, and moving on to the "real world". Now, one of those three things has come true and my feelings are...overwhelming. I feel like I'm going through the 5 stages of grief.

1. Denial. I'm not 22. I'm not graduating in 4 months. I'm staying in Oxford with my friends forever.
2. Anger. Eff. I am 22. This SUCKS. I don't WANT to be this old. WAH.
3. Bargaining. C'mon. ONE more year of bumming around at Miami wouldn't hurt anyone.
4. Depression. [I'm in this stage now] This includes me laying on my couch, not knowing what to do with myself because I can't handle my age.
5. Acceptance. Waiting for this to happen.

Hopefully this weekends festivities with 100 of my closest friends will be just the jump start I need to start this new year.

feelings on snow

Miami canceled class after 4pm today! Consequently, my last class of the day, History of Miami University, starts at 3:30. Standard. I made the mistake of coming home to shower and now I'm comfortable and the pile of laundry I have to do is looming, so I won't be making it. Happy early birthday to me. Ten total inches are expected from last night until tomorrow morning.

Speaking of which, the snow is making it difficult to convince my friends to go out so that I can ring in my 22nd with a beverage in hand. I'm not going to accept any excuses.

I'm hoping and praying that people don't wimp out on AIESEC info sessions because of the snow. Last semester, a hurricane thwarted a couple of our sessions. I'm fully expecting balls of fire to fall from the sky during interviews.

BAH. I just got an email from my History of Miami professor reminding us that we should probably come to class since we have an in-class writing assignment. Eff. I should probably get dressed...

put away childish things

Tuesday, January 20th was a day I'd been looking forward to for a very, very long time. First, it was Inauguration Day! Finally, after 8 years of having to travel and feel ashamed to be an American, I am able to stand up proudly. I love my President. Not only do I think he's adorable, but I think he's going to do an incredible job as the 44th President of the United States.

Secondly, it was Bid Day. After the turmoil of a week and a half of recruitment - waking up way too early, staying at the suite for 8 hours at a time, talking to girls for what seemed like forever (I honestly don't understand how guys can stand it!). Nt to mention, the heartbreak that comes with talking to a girl who I know would be perfect for Alpha Omicron Pi and our sisterhood...and then not seeing her on the list of girls coming back for the next round. It's a kind of drama that no guy or GDI (god-damn independent!) could ever understand. But when it comes down to it, we had the best recruitment and return rate in years, we met a ton of amazing girls, and after all of that turmoil and drama, all of our worked hard we got to meet our new baby panda pledge class at 6:00pm on Tuesday night!

Since I knew I wouldn't be able to make it back to my place to watch the Inauguration Ceremony, I found out that MacMillan would have a viewing starting at 11:30am. I strolled in at about that time to find the hall filled with anticipation and, more importantly, TONS of people. Luckily, I found a seat in the back next to Erin and Dan. We held back tears as we listened to Aretha Franklin sing "My Country Tis of Thee", heard a preacher say the benediction, and finally, Biden take the Vice-Presidential oath. Before he could take his oath, the clock struck noon and the entire room burst into applause as Barack Obama replaced George W. Bush as the 44th President of the United States!

It seemed like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. When I started traveling, Bush was our President. There have been countless times that I've been misjudged because of a preconceived notion of Americans due to our leader.

Next, Obama was sworn in and started his speech. What really hit me was the bible quote he used: "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things." This quote holds a lot of meaning for me in various other organizations that I'm in. I think we tend to put a lot of weight on the President to make things better, when in reality it is the responsibility of all Americans to grow up and take charge of our country and our lives.

I carried on with the rest of my day somewhat normally, but with a definite air of anticipation for the new pledge class I was about to meet. Like last year, I offered to drive girls from the suite to Balcony uptown. I arrived at the suite and looked at the list, and was excited to see that I recognized a ton of names of girls that I talked to during recruitment and LOVED! As the nervous, excited new members filed in, I started talking to them, hugged the ones I remembered from recruitment, and even found a fellow Limian! Fifty beautiful, adorable new members. I drove a car-full up to Balcony as we chatted, and then ran upstairs to join the rest of the old members. The babies walked in and we clapped and screamed for them, our sophomores and juniors were matched up with their "Little Hearts" (temporary littles), and we socialized as we waited for the photographers to get there. I found my little heart Whitney, who now has a little heart of her own (my grand-little heart, Lauren!). I was delighted to discover that Lauren was in the group that I drove to Balcony! This seems to be a trend, because I drove Whitney up to Balcony last year for her bid night. Whitney even wore a scarf this year, because she remembered that last year I wore a scarf and she wanted to be a good big heart like I was.
Finally the photographers arrived and we got our chapter and pledge class pictures taken.

After an extremely filling dinner at Fiesta Charra with Kelly and Natalie, we went home to get ready to go out. I watched Beyonce sing at the Inaugural Ball, and started bawling while Barack and Michelle danced. Good way to start off the night. I always imagined that I would go out like crazy on January 20th, 2009, but I was so exhausted from the excitement of the Inauguration, classes, and Bid Night that I could only stand a vodka cranberry at BW3s and then a couple beers at Stadium before I went home.

Fifty new beautiful sisters, and a new president, all in one day. What more could I ask for?

Miami ranks 7th among medium-sized schools in the Peace Corps Top Colleges and Universities, producing 39 Peace Corps volunteers in 2008.

facts of life

As excited as I am thinking about probably spending the next two years in the Peace Corps, I've already been forced to make some really unfortunate decisions. I know that inevitably, it's probably for the best, but I guess thinking about my future is one of the cons of being a second semester senior.

Being done with yesterday's preference round is a relief after nearly two weeks of hardcore sorority recruitment, but there's a note of sadness as well. I held my tears in to the best of my ability while listening to my sisters speak about their experiences. Okay, so I failed a few times. But I'm only human. Only a human filled with lots of estrogen, too many emotions, lots of germs, not enough antibodies, and not nearly enough sleep.

It's hard to believe that tomorrow we will have a new pledge class. It was bad enough last year when we realized we wouldn't be the babies anymore. After my big graduated last semester, I became the "biggest" in my tiny little AOPi family. My little and I, the only remaining, stuck it out, and we're more than ready for a new addition - I just don't know if I'm ready to be a grand-big! It sounds so old. I had so much respect (and fear!) for my grand-big when I was initiated into my family two years ago. She was so mature, so involved, and only a junior. How will my grand-little feel when she sees me? I mean, I'm pretty impressive...and I'm a senior. About 60 girls will become AOPi pledges tomorrow night at 5pm. That's 60 girls that I will be rushing to get to know in the few remaining weeks I have until I'm both an AOPi and a Miami alum.

Time goes by too fast. I mean, I turn 22 in 9 days - I should have realized that. I get attached to people quickly, I fall deeply and desperately in love with each and every one of my friends, and then inevitably, everyone leaves each other. It's a fact of life. People graduate, they move, they fight, they break up, they die, and they go to Africa for two years to volunteer for the Peace Corps.

I have spent the last 3 years frequenting AIESEC conferences and spending my time there creating some of the best friends I've ever had for a week. I can safely say that I continue to talk to a large percentage of them on a semi-regular basis. But why do I do that to myself? Why do I find people like K. Zim from AIESEC Arizona, who is not only my birthday buddy but my other half. Or M.O.M., better known to me as MILF from AIESEC Kansas. I'm pretty sure we're in a contest to see who can become famous-er. I hope I win.

A small part of me wishes my heart would have learned this by now. That part swells to the size of a watermelon that puts an enormous lump in my throat, makes it hard to breathe, and makes my chest feel like it's going to explode during times like these when I have to hurt people, and in so doing hurt myself even more.

But would I give up the incredible, intense, life-altering, staggeringly debilitating and yet somehow empowering friendships I have made over the last 3 and a half years, and will continue to torture myself by making for the next semester?

Absolutely not.

Sometimes Miami pride pops up randomly in my life. This video Eric showed me today was one of these times.



Watch as much as you can stand of the video...

Somewhere around minute 3:00 will explain why my pride flared.

history of miami university

This semester I chose to take a class called History of Miami University. Some might find it odd that I register for such a class in my last semester, but this year being the Bicentennial made me really interested in discovering what's been going on here for the past 200 years.

One of the prospects I'm really excited about is that Miami is creating a Campus Heritage Building Inventory Report. Nothing like this has ever existed in the past. There's a lot of lore and history surrounding each building and landmark at Miami, but they want to make a very concrete report. Students in the class have the option of creating their own report on a building of their choice by researching in the archives and other readily available to students that will be added to the compilation. I'm really excited to get started on this project and be a part of not only learning about Miami's history, but creating and researching it as well.

Today our professor asked us to write our names and majors on a piece of paper - pretty standard - but he also asked us to write a little bit about what experience we have learning about and researching Miami's history. I thought my mini-essay was pretty darn good so I thought I'd share because it puts into words how I feel about Miami.


I took a tour of McGuffey Museum. My friend works there and I was amazed at how interested I was in Miami's history. Since the first day I stepped foot on Miami's campus, I've had a great deal of pride and spirit for my school - not in the way that Ohio State students love their football team, or Yale students might boast that they made it to the top of Princeton Review's ranking system. There's a certain unity that all Miami students have that I have a hard time explaining to friends at other schools. From the outside looking in, we're all cliquey - placed into our respective sororities and fraternities, College Dems or Republicans, club sports teams, and various other organizations. However, I can't help but notice that I feel connected to every single student at this university somehow. I want to discover why, and I think this class will help me figure it out.

thoughts on the last first day

Someone thought it was a good idea to...shall we say...anti-prepare for our EB meeting last night. I was feeling it in the morning when I woke up at 9am for the Racquetball class that Kelly convinced me to register for last night. Since the class is all the way across campus, she picked my scrubby butt up. So much for looking good on my last first day!

We finally found the room in Withrow, and I was pleasantly surprised to see my friend Will, a fellow econ major. We'd been struggling to take a class together since our Calc class freshman year and the miserable Econometrics class sophomore year that I try really hard to banish from my memory.

Our instructor waltzed in, looking pretty darn good, if you ask me. He opened his mouth and I almost died. A Kiwi accent. Then, he asked the class how many of us have experience playing racquetball. Approximately half the class raised their hands.

"Good, because I don't know how to play, so you'll have to teach me."

I can say with pretty fair certainty that mine was not the only jaw that fell to the floor at that point.

We left the class after only 15 minutes which gave me some time to go to Shriver with Will while he bought books and I browsed. One particular section of English 111 is reading Fight Club. Some people have all the luck.

I carried on by going to my Environmental Econ class with Elliot. I sat unhappily in the back row with Eric, since we were apparently the only ones not to get there 15 minutes early. It gave me the chance to look around the room and recognize at least 6 familiar faces. Adam, a kid I've had a couple Econ classes with before, turned around and said "I didn't realize you were THE Caitie H..." Caught me by surprise, needless to say, and I asked what he meant. He went on to say that we have a lot of mutual friends, and he knows a few people in AIESEC. I made a mental note to ask Fakler what she says about me behind my back. I'm glad it was only that, and I wouldn't have to go home and search for myself on JuicyCampus.

My Environmental Econ class is going to be very fun. Elliot is hilarious. His example for externalities was when students who live next door to him have a party, so he has to suffer through the noise and trash, but he isn't invited. He is also clinically dyslexic. He wrote "socail v. indvidual" on the board. I giggled. I couldn't help myself. I then went on to make myself look like a huge dork when he asked the class who had read Coase's Theorem. Everyone else who raised their hands read it for a class. I was the only one who read it for fun. Dog garnit. We also have to do a group project on an issue - he's going to assign the groups. By my calculations, though, the chances that there will be someone I know in my group is pretty good. The only bad thing about the class is that he has a test scheduled for the day after Green Beer Day - the Friday before Spring Break starts. We spent the next 15 minutes discussing the moral dilemma of such a thing, and he pretty much convinced himself that this is an awful, awful idea.

Done with classes for the day, I went home to check my DARS and make sure I had all the classes I need to graduate. To my dismay, I discovered that I need a 4 hour stats class to graduate with a Quantitative Economics degree. Luckily, it's with a professor that I've taken two classes with before, and I recognized several names on the roster. It won't be that bad after all.

GMM was fairly normal. About half the LC showed up, but it wasn't a mandatory meeting, as it's the first day of classes. Only 3 of the 16 people on the sales team were in that group though, so when we broke out into tracks my meeting was not as successful as, say, the recruitment meeting (suck it, Mason). I'll just have to send another angry email detailing how important and generally kick-ass sales is. After getting dinner with Eric, Francis, Zach and Kate, I went home to enjoy a very long and wonderful phone conversation that kept me from doing my homework before Gossip Girl came on. In my opinion, phone calls are underrated and I wish they happened more often.

I played soccer with some friends to top off the night. I played for 13 years but haven't been able to get out on the field much in the past couple years, so it was nice to finally be able to do that again.

All in all, a really great first day of classes. I'm finding it hard to believe it's my last one. I'm really glad, though, that my classes are filled with friends and people I know. This semester is going to rock.

where has the big 10 gone?

Florida won the National Championship in College football. Again. Big whoop. It's only been two years since the last time they did it. It isn't enough that this school is blessed with good weather - they have to have a monopoly on national championships. Something must be in the water down there in Gainesville. Or, rather, the Gatorade.

I haven't been a big college football fan for long. Until I was 14, living in the D.C. area and admiring the Redskins (when they had a winning record) was good enough. Then we moved to Ohio and college football hit me right in the face. Everyone I knew in either cheered on the Wolverines or the Buckeyes. I took the high road and decided to cheer on Notre Dame. I give a quiet little "woohoo" when the Fighting Irish decide they want to put forth a little effort and win a game. It doesn't happen often.

One of my biggest pet peeves is when Miami students cheer on another college football team more than our Redhawks. Yes, I realize Big Ben leaving was a huge blow to our program. I know we haven't had a winning record in years. But c'mon. We're sitting in class with these guys. When someone poured acid on our seal to make out the words "Go Bucks", I almost cried. Show a little respect to your alma mater, people.

So, Notre Dame isn't in a conference. The MAC leaves something to be desired. Even though I don't particularly care for Ohio State or Michigan, when they're playing an SEC or a Big 12 team, I cheer loud for the conference that seems to surround me. I'd do that for any Big 10 team, for that matter. And I think it's pretty nifty that within the words Big 10 is hidden an 11 (for the number of teams in the conference). Hehe. I'm a big ball of ecclectic football fan.

You can't help but love the Big 10. Seven of the eleven schools in the conference have AIESEC chapters. If I'm not mistaken, that's more than any other conference. Woo!

The Big 10 has a long history of beating each other up. It seems like every year, teams like Michigan, Ohio State, Illinois, Wisconsin, and other members leap frog each other in the rankings. Rivalries run deep - I don't think anyone who's seen a Michigan and an Ohio State fan in the same room or this commercial can argue that.



It seems like in the other conferences, one team is picked to go all the way - and no one GETS in their way. Good work Florida. No other SEC team even gave you a good game all season.

Six years since Ohio State won the National Championship. Six years too long. Next year, I want to see a Big 10 championship! And not in a sleasy way, like how other conferences do it.

Thank god one of my friends texted me about this incident because I saw it on the evening news. I probably would have flipped. No pun intended.


--

8 hurt when Miami University of Ohio glee club van overturns in Erie

Tuesday, January 06, 2009

The Associated Press

ERIE, Pa. -- A hospital spokeswoman says eight people have been injured when a van carrying Miami University of Ohio glee club members rolled over near Erie.

Hamot Medical Center spokeswoman Lucia Conti says four people were treated and released for injuries such as cuts and bruises and four others are under observation. She couldn't provide their conditions late this afternoon.

A volunteer firefighter says all the injuries are believed to be minor.

Authorities say the van was one of five taking people to a performance in Buffalo, N.Y., when it crashed on Interstate 90 east of Erie about 10:45 a.m. today.

--

Luckily, none of my friends on Glee Club were in the van. It's incredible that no one got seriously injured, because the van apparently rolled 3 or 4 times. Also luckily, none of their vocal chords were injured - which I think is the most important thing.

new years resolutions

1. Lose weight/be healthier. I'm joining Weight Watchers. I'm going to start working out again. Not because I think I'm fat, but I've been looking at pictures of myself from the past (i.e. last water ski season) and I'm realizing that there's a me in here that used to look a lot better than the me now. Time to work on that.

2. Stop living for other people. Start living for myself. I make decisions too much because it'll make other people happy and not because I want to make them. Speaking of which, I just saw this on TV and I really want it. Maybe it'll help with

3. Start living without regrets - and not in the crazy "it's my last semester, I'm gonna dooo ittttt alllll" way, but the "Let's stop making decisions that I regret and pretend like I don't" way.

kewl

The problem I've had with blogging after conferences: If you wait too long, the memories and "conference high" aren't as clear in my mind. But immediately afterwards, my thoughts seem to be too jumbled to get anything coherent out. I'll settle with about 24 hours after the fact.

After a very merry Lima get together on the night of the 26th which left me not in the condition to drive down to Oxford the night before our sojourn to St. Louis as planned, I got up at 5am and drove to Miami to meet Jess and Zach. After driving last year to and from St. Louis alone, I was excited to have company. Unfortunately, the assholes fell asleep for 2 and a half hours. Weather was not in our favor, and in the middle of Illinois we met up with torrential downpour and tornado warnings. In the middle of December. Lame.

One of the first things we did at the conference was set some goals. One of the problems I have with myself is that I do things to make other people happy, and rarely do things for myself, so I hoped to work on myself at this conference. Secondly, I wanted to figure out the answer to a question about my future I've been struggling with. Thirdly, as this was possibly my last National Conference, I wanted to live it to the fullest with no regrets.

Work hard, party harder was definitely a theme for the conference. After Opening Plenary, the super hero party went underway. Party ended, and two hours later Plenary started. This trend of sleep continued for the entire week.

It was great to see old friends and faces at the conference, but as always, I loved getting to know new people. Networking was key, and I wanted to discover more about what other LCs - particularly their BD teams - were doing to kick ass. I must say, I learned a lot, and met a lot of people I want to work together with. Another great thing about the conference was getting Miami known. We've been flying under the radar for FAR TOO LONG, and it's about time people saw how awesome we are! We were definitely all over the place, and it was awesome to sit at our station on the LC Fair session and watch how impressed people are with what we're doing.

Another great thing about the conference was having all of the internationals there. The PAI, and delegates from Poland and China were there! Learning best case practices from them, but most of all hearing their stories and partying with them was such a treat! I loved learning from JJ and Juan about the AIESEC Way, the AIESEC Experience, AIESEC 2010, and all of the things I've been hearing about internationally but we haven't implemented in the U.S. yet. Also, learning about all the possibilities of things we can do abroad - CEEDs, traineeships, Growth Networks, International Conferences, and more! We were able to Skype with the AIESEC Canada National Conference as well!

The MCP election was easily one of the most amazing experiences of my AIESEC XP. Being able to discuss and vote for the next leader of our country was incredible. I was so proud of each other candidates - they each had such a great campaign, and I would have been honored to have any of the three as my leader. Tiffany ended up winning and I am so excited to see all the amazing things she'll be able to do! Can't wait to see who the team is going to be!

Before 2008 was over, the LCPs had their first legislation. Legislation ended exactly when the fireworks started at 6pm, which was so fitting. We now have a compendium! We made lots of plans for our LC and worked on getting to know other LCs so they can help us. More than anything, I am proud to have been a part of the conference that made history for AIESEC U.S.

New Years Eve went by so quickly that it was like a blur. We celebrated the 60th anniversary, at dinner, dance our pants off, and before I knew it, we were counting down to 2009. They announced the superlatives,which Kansas easily dominated due to the fact that they stuffed the ballots, but I somehow won Loudest AIESECer. How that happened, I have no idea.

In the end, all of my goals were achieved except for one. I now have more questions about my future. The good news is that I now have more friends to help me make the decisions that I will be making over the next couple months.

WC was over way too quickly, but it seemed to have lasted forever, if that makes sense. Jess and I drove home alone and talked for most of the time about memories that we made and the good times that we had. Laughing randomly about something that happened was not an uncommon occurance. I woke up in my room this morning and quickly went into depression about the fact that Monica, Chloe, and Kaitlin's smiley faces weren't there to greet me. If I'm going to keep my sanity, LC road trips are going to have to happen - and soon!

welcome mike haywood!

Miami is no longer football coach-less! It's Mike Haywood, who was until recently the offensive coordinator for Notre Dame.

Welcome to the Home of the Redhawks!