Testing Center Burnett Hall

     Walking into Burnett Hall on the City Campus of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln you see a door that leads into a room that is jam packed full of students and computers. Stacked in rows and rows are Macintosh computers that are all wired into the network so that anyone can come use them. This certain testing center is open for many hours and the schedule allows you to be very flexible when you have to take a test there.
      One thing that I have noticed on my multiple trips to this place is the amount of stress that tends to emulate from this room. When you walk by you can almost feel the static in the air. Students crowd around the door during busy times when all the computers are full. Each one has a notebook or textbook out, doing a little last minute cramming. There are also students that flood the hallway benches that seem to just not be ready to try the test itself and come out there to sprawl out and study with some headphones in, dead to the world.
       On the other hand, there are students that come in and see the line and before even thinking, turn right around and walk right back out the door. I was one of those students today. I didn't want to sit and dread the test I was about to take, so I went and got a snack and a coffee. I figured I shouldn't be hungry and tired during my test anyway. So I head back to that static, a room full of students that stress so much because these tests they are taking are a matter of passing and failing, life and death in some cases. But not all is bad in the testing center, every once in a while someone passes with flying colors and leaves the room with a smile on their face.

Alone In My Treestand

      As I walk into the woods at 5:30 in the morning, I can feel the crisp,cool air filling my lungs. It is early October and I am getting out into the woods for my first hunt of the year. It is pitch black and all I can see is what is lit up by my headlamp. Crossing the creek just about to my tree stand I feel that familiar feeling of anticipation and how anxious I had been to get back into the woods. It has been far too long.
       Once to my tree, the sun just getting ready to rise above the horizon, I begin to climb. My feet are firmly planted on the screw-in pegs that I had put in when I put the stand in. After the invigorating climb twenty five feet up into my tree stand, I begin to pull up my bow and arrow.
       Finally, I am situated into my stand and ready to relax. There is something about sitting in a tree, in below freezing weather, that has a calming effect on me. The tree sways back and forth in the wind and creaks and moans like it is alive underneath you. When I close my eyes, I can really take in my surroundings before the sun fully comes up. Listening to the wind whip through the trees, the wildlife become to come to life. Everything seems to come out with the sun, all at once, like a gift for me and only me to see that morning.
        Set up on a river bank tends to always allow for the most wildlife viewing. Once the sun is up enough that I can make out what everything is, I begin to look around. Nothing knows that I am there, I am secluded up in my tree hidden from the world, with the perfect spot to spy. This is the key place that I could sit for hours upon hours and never get bored.

Husker Tailgates

      There is the parking lot just to the north side of the Lincoln Journal Star parking lot in downtown Lincoln, Nebraska that comes alive on Husker game days. I park here every day of the week when I go to school at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and it is always just seems like an empty parking lot to me. But on game day saturdays there is not a spot in this parking lot that isn't taken by a fan.

      Tents, buses, RV's, and trailers full of televisions and beer coolers flow into the parking lot. As everything is unpacked the drinking begins and the festivities start. There is loud music and football chants to be heard all around and can be heard for blocks all the way into downtown Lincoln. The streets now run red with people wearing their husker gear and heading to their favorite hangouts. And everyone seems to stop by here just to see what is going on. Hundreds of people are packed into this parking lot and bang against eachother while they move around. Beer flows like water, and the football games are shown on all the TVs in everyone's tailgate spot.
     As the game comes closer and its time for the fans to move to funnel into the stadium, the parking lot thins out. There is more room to walk around and to play games and everything isn't so bunched together. The beer still flows and who ever is left behind from the game watches here and still has a great time. This past weekend was the first time I was at this particular tailgate and now I know that it won't be my last.

Fishing Past-time

   Near the house where I grew up most of the second part of my educational process, is a little farm pond. Every year I cannot wait for the fishing season to start just because of this one pond. As I sit on this pond, in my little aluminum john boat, I reflect on everything and kind of clear my head. Its my own little slice of heaven.

Pond at Sun down w/ dead tree

   I usually head out after dinner with my tackle box, my fishing pole, and at least a couple beers. Just nice to be able to go and get away and relax, and digest! As I sit there paddling around this 1 and a half acre pond I notice things that tend to change over time. The water levels going from such a high level last year and overflowing over the dam, to now where it seems like the pond is half its size. There is an old tree in the middle of the pond that must have been there forever. It just recently rotted out and lost the whole upper half of the tree into the water, this created new habitat for all the fish that I am trying to catch. The water is warm like bath water and filled with pond weeds and other dead trees. They seem to move everyday too with the wind making a brand new scene every time I am there. The birds are chirping and the bullfrogs are croaking as loud as they can. The turtles pop up and down curious on what I am doing in the water, looking for a quick free meal. And of course, the fish, dart in and out of logs and the weeds as I paddle by.
   I find my favorite spot underneath a tall tree on the bank that always yields the biggest, hardest hitting fish. I cast out and as I am reeling my lure in, I am anxious with anticipation for that powerful tug of the line that I love to feel. When a fish is hooked on your line there is almost a mini adrenaline rush every time. Once your fight with the largemouth bass is over and you get it into the boat you realize that this is one of the greatest things on earth. The relaxation and the great scenery is what draws me back everyday, and the hard hitting bass are what keep me around for hours at a time. My favorite place on earth is a great night on my john boat, paddling around, listening to RHCP pandora station on my phone, catching as many fish as I can. There's nothing better than that.