Our deepest sympathies go out to their families and friends. They were well loved and appreciated by those in the college and will be deeply missed.

“May light perpetual shine upon them.”

With graduation behind me, it also got me thinking about what, exactly, my role as a student blogger has been. I’m brave enough to admit it– I signed up for this gig because it was initially supposed to be a paid position. (They later revoked that idea though, because they didn’t want it to look like we were being sponsored/bribed to say the right thing.)  Admittedly, blogs are a bit archaic, since most college-aged students communicate through Facebook (and twitter, myspace, etc, etc….)  And while I like to think otherwise, I’m also brave enough to admit there are only a handful of people out of the 6 billion on this planet that have ever read my blog, let alone visit regularly– and I think I am related to at least 2 of them.

So why have I been blogging for the last three years?

Under the guise of being a community do-gooder and FAQ superwoman to all prospective students and parents, I think it’s safe to say this blog was largely for myself. And while it may have been forgotten by most SHC administrators and never discovered by most prospective parents, it’s strangely satisfying to have a record of these tumultous college years. 

I’ve watched myself move from a rural school district in NoMansLand, PA to State College; to me, it was like moving to a mecca of civilization. Looking back, I can safely say first semester freshman year was the biggest turning point in my life. It was the first time I was totally on my own to decide how much I wanted to study, what “morals” I wanted to uphold, and how I wanted to spend my free time. Academically, it was also the most challenging point of college. Coming from my small rural public school to Penn State main campus is regarded as the equivalent of attending Harvard–and for a good reason. I couldn’t believe how hard classes were. I was constantly studying, felt like I was always behind  everyone else, and barely pulled a B+ in Bio 110H. I even took Math141 over the summer because I was afraid I couldn’t handle it on top of the rest of my classes. And I seriously doubted that I belonged here with these seemingly brilliant people. 

After a summer at home, I regrouped. Sophomore year, the playing field began to level, and I finally understood the reason I felt like I was drowning in my classes was because my high school prep wasn’t as rigorous as the other students. This marked a relief when I realized I wasn’t dumb, or a failure. I became best friends with the upperclassmen on the SHC student council. I still regard these students as some of the strongest role models I had in college: they managed to do everything they loved, stand up for what they believed in, and (for the most part) keep on top of thier whole game. All while having a LOT of fun and owning everyone in classes. Spring of sophomore year was also the time when I was forced to face a harsh Real World truth: when you’re pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, it takes a lot longer to get to the top. While everyone’s dad/family friend/neighbor was landing them dream internships, I was frustrated and angry that I had nobody to rely on but myself. But with hard work and an extensive google search, I managed to land myself a good summer fellowship through Emory University. Against my anxious mom’s wishes, I hope for the best and moved to Atlanta for the summer. 

Since I thought State College was a mecca, you can imagine how I felt moving to Atlanta and working in center city at Georgia State University. This was another chance to reinvent myself. I was only going to know these people for 10 weeks, so I could be whoever I wanted and do whatever I chose to, and I figured my actions wouldn’t have any impact on the “real” Meg people knew from home. I had an amazing summer, but realized trying to absolve onself of personal responsibilty just because you “can” is a bad idea. Valuable lesson. 

Following the paths of my aforementioned sophomore year role models, I started doing really well in classes and having a lot of fun in my free time. This was also the point when one’s academic success was based purely on how hard you’d worked in the previous two years, not what high school you came from. Spring semester, my roommate and 4 other best friends all went abroad/co-op. I moved into a single dorm room. Having my closest friends all gone felt, obviously, really lonely.  Due to a bevy of unusual employment/medical/academic issues with my family back at home, I had to make a lot of trips back and forth between home and Penn State. We were experiencing some pretty significant family strains, but in a bizarre way, it made a positive impact on my person decisions and responsibilities. Importantly, these issues  helped me prioritize. It was the first time I stepped back and realized school wasn’t nearly as important as I once thought it to be. 

Thanks to some hard work, the success of my Atlanta internship, and a few lucky stars shining down on me, I was accepted to a summer research fellowship at MIT. I was much more sucessful at remaining true to myself, and while work was very demanding, I was constantly reminded that my research wasn’t the only important thing in my life. I met some amazing people, went on great adventures in Boston, and kept in tight contact with my family. 

By senior year, I was still feeling pretty low remembering what a mess my life was during the end of junior year. Then, like out of a movie, something clicked— and everything was perfect again.  My family life was finally sorted back out. I moved into an apartment off campus with my best friend. Our friends are over at our apartment almost every night, catching up on our most-watched tv shows. I re-evaluated the principles I’d been using to guide my actions. I make more time now than ever for the once-in-a-lifetime college stuff. I’m ten times happier and less stressed than ever before. I had the opportunity to visit cities all over the country while I was interviewing. And now, after all those years of pushing myself to the limits, I landed my dream. I’m training for my PhD in neuroscience at MIT. 

Graduating meant a lot to me. It means, sadly, leaving the place that truly molded me into the person—maybe even “adult”– that I am today. It means leaving the best friends I have ever had. But it also means earning my degree, with honors! My dad didn’t have the opporunity to go to college, so this last one really means the most. And in 5-8 years, I’ll be the first person in my whole family (aunts, uncles, cousins, etc) to ever earn an advanced graduate degree. Someday, they’ll call me DR. KRENCH! 

Graduation weekend was one of the happiest and saddest times of my life. I know that sounds melodramatic, but it really was. Before Penn State, I had I never really had a group of close friends, I never loved the town where I lived… just never really felt connected to anything (besides my family). I am so grateful for the amazing friends I’ve made, and all of the once-in-a-lifetime opportunities Penn State provided for me that I never thought would have been possible.

In the bookstore before I left Happy Valley for the last time, I was asking my sister if she thought I should get a regular Penn State car sticker or one that said Alumni.  Passing by, a woman overheard me and said, “Oh honey, get the alumni one! You earned it, you deserve it.” And I burst into tears. I never cry. I cried at the honors medal ceremony, through half of my graduation, and now here in the middle of the Penn State bookstore. And then all the way home.

I’ve grown a lot in four years. There have been some incredible times, and some very difficult times. I’m sure my graduate years will bring a lot of the same, with heavy emphasis on the difficult times. But looking back, it means a lot to know I pulled myself up from nothing to earn this, to make my own dreams come true. And it means a lot to know my friends and everyone in my family will be cheering me on through my PhD.

I cannot thank you enough, Dear Old State. Without you, none of this would have been possible!!! I’ll miss you dearly… and no matter where I go, I promise a little part of my heart will ALWAYS, always be a Nittany Lion.

Yes, the thesis was finished on time.  It was a harrowing process at times, but I’m grateful to have two advisors that really put in the time and effort to make sure what I was writing was honors-caliber.  I’m proud of how it turned out, but I would definitely say to classes coming after me that the best advice I can give is “start yesterday”.  The thesis is not a beast to be rushed.

I’m moving out of the dorms for the final time on Thursday to spend a week at home before returning for a final 24 hours in Happy Valley as an undergraduate.  It’s been an amazing four years, and I’ll miss many things about dorm life – the foremost of which is probably the many, many friendships I’ve developed with my neighbors.  I will likely never again be in a living situation quite like this, and I will miss it.

For those of you that didn’t know, I will be attending Temple University’s Ambler Campus in the fall to pursue a master’s degree in community and regional planning under a full fellowship.  It’s a two-year program with night classes,  so it will be different than here, but I am excited about returning to Philadelphia with my family and favorite places.  Four years in the middle of central Pennsylvania was nice, but I am far more suited for megalopolis living.

It’s been an amazing ride, and I’d like to thank the SHC for giving me the opportunity to share some of it with you.  Good night and good luck!

It’s a big mystery how people actually find places to live off campus. Also, whenever you start tossing around the idea of moving off campus, you generally get the response, “It’s a lot cheaper.” But everyone is very vague on the details. So before moving off campus last year, I exercised my mad Excel skills and figured out the finances. 

NOTE!! If you plan to move off campus, start your search EARLY. As in, September. Leases open on October 1, and trust me, a lot of places are totally full by Thanksgiving break.

How does one find an apartment in State College? Personally, my future roommate and I just picked an autumn afternoon to wander around downtown to find potential apartment buildings we liked. Pretty much all places for rent will have a sign posted saying who they are rented through, or you can always search the internet for the apartment building name. If you are overwhelmed by the thought of aimlessly perusing the steets,  you can always start your search by browsing the web. There are a plethora of small real estate companies around State College, but a few of the bigger ones are: The Apartment Store (http://www.apartmentstore.com/state-college/), GN Realty (http://www.gnrealty.com/), and ARPM (http://www.arpm.com/).

Once you have made a list of apartments you are interested in, go visit the office of the real estate agency. Ask to see their list of prices, ask if they have any place else they think you’d be interested in, and arrange to meet with a real estate agent to go visit an apartment in each of the buildings you’ve listed. 

THINGS TO CONSIDER WHEN CHOOSING AN APARTMENT

• Location! Do you want to be within walking distance of campus? Make sure you define with your future roommate what “walking distance” is. Ask current apartment resident how long it takes to walk to center campus landmarks (Willard building, the HUB, etc).
• Location! Would you be comfortable living out in one of the complexes down Atherton, where you would have to take a bus in? Keep in mind, those apartments are somewhat less convenient, but offer cleaner/bigger space for less money.  Ask residents if they think this location is annoying or a non-issue.
• Location! Living in the middle of Beaver Ave may seem like a good idea at 3:00 on Tuesday afternoon, but come Thursday, Friday, Saturday night, you may regret your decision. Keep noise levels in mind! Do you and your roommate mind if you are living in a noisy area with lots of night life? Examples: near a bar, frat house, or Canyon Pizza. Talk with residents who live in the apartment to see if downtown noise is a problem or if it’s totally manageable. 
• Price: Discuss finances with your roommate beforehand to see what their pricerange is. Ask real estate agent if your rent includes utilities: heat, electric, water, cable, internet, etc. If it doesn’t, ask current residents about what they pay for those. 
• Parking: Do you/your roommate have a car? Lots of apartments charge BIG bucks for parking; it’s not uncommon to see prices up to $100/month. Ask if the building has parking, how much it would cost, and whether or not it is guarteed for residents. If it doesn’t have parking, find out where the nearest municple parking garage or street permit parking area is, and inquire about price/availability. 
• Furnishings: Are you looking for an unfurnished or furnished apartment? Talk with your rommate and your parents about what you would need to stock the apartment; you might be surprised how much stuff you can put together. If you’re living with the same person for 2+ years, it might be worth it to invest in furniture, since you’ll pay more for rent if you live in a furnished place.
• Own rooms? You’ll be hard pressed to find an affordable place that lets you have your own rooms. See if you’re OK sharing, or if separate rooms is a must.
• Extras: You might also want to consider little extras: is there [indoor] bike parking? Does the apartment have washer/dryer facilities, or do you need to take stuff to a laundry mat? Does it smell strongly of the restaurant you’re living above?

Once you’ve got all that worked out and you have some contenders, here’s how I worked out the price. My example numbers from 2 years ago are included at the end of each bullet in bold.

For the dorms, find out how much you are paying per semester for:

• Go to your bursar account on elion and find out how much you’re paying in room (aka rent). Alternatively, go to PSU Housing + Food Services site (http://www.hfs.psu.edu/rates/fall09spring10.shtml). $1910
• Consult bursar account or HFS website and find out how much you pay for board (aka groceries). As far as food is concerned, you might also want to factor in any additional money you add… for example, I usually added about $150/semester to my regular meal plan #3. $1765+$150 = $1915
• Figure out how much you are paying for on-campus parking, if applicable. $360
• Factor in additional special living option fees, such as $25 for living in Simmons/Atheron. $25
• Talk with your friends/parents to see if there are any other on-campus-only fees you’re paying.
• For one school year, add and multiple by 2. =(Room+Board+Parking+Fees)*2=$8420

And then, for each apartment, list how much you would each be paying for:

• Rent, per month $830 total/2 people = $415
• Discuss with your parents about how much money you should spend on food, per month $225
• Parking, per semester $0
• Utilities, per month   Cable:$40/mo/2 people= $20
• Ideally, you will only be paying rent and utilies for 9.5 months, and you will find a summer sublet. So, WITH SUBLET, =(rent*9.5+food*9.5+parking*2+utilities*9.5) =$6175
• Realistically, there are a LOT more summer sublets available than there are people to rent them out. You should figure out how much it would cost to pay rent for the entire year, and see if the apartment is also finanically feasible WITHOUT SUBLET =(rent*12+food*9.5+parking*2+utilities*9.5)=$7125

Beware: some real estate agencies we looked at offered a 9.5 month lease, for a higher rent/mo. It seemed like that would be easier because we wouldn’t have to sublet.. but then, it turned out the higher rent for 9.5 months was the same price as regular rent for 12 months. So we weren’t saving any money. 

In the end, we’re saving about $1000 this year by moving off campus. But this was the cheapest apartment we looked into– most places didn’t result in very significant savings. If nothing else, doing this math can help ensure you are only paying the SAME you would to live on campus, and not spending more. 

And above all, the money was NOT more valuable than my years spent in the dorms! Now that I’m a senior, living off campus is nice, but I wouldn’t trade my 3 years in Simmons for anything!!

Graduate degrees are divided into two types: professional degrees (med school, dental school, law school…) and non-professional degrees (PhD). If you want a professional degree, you will end up coming out of grad school with about $250,000 in debt– but on the bright side, you’ll make a ton of money shortly after graduating and for the rest of your life. Professional schools also require you pay for your own interviews, so if you apply to 10 schools all over the country, you’re in rough financial shape. 

IF you are interested in a PhD, graduate schools pay for your interviews, and also pay you to go to school. In general, the institution will cover the cost of your tuition and health insurance, and provide a yearly stipend of $25,000-$30,000 to live on. So in that sense, it’s sort of like getting a job.  A job that requires, on average, a minimum work weeks of 50-60 hours plus teaching/doing coursework, and an indefinite time commitment in the range of 5.3 years. 

If you want to go to go grad school for a non-professional degree, you also have to take the SATs– oh excuse me, I mean the GREs. The Graduate Record Examinations are essentially the same as the SATs. They test your ability to write, measure how many random vocabularly words you can define, and test your algebra and analytical thinking skills. The big difference is that you take GREs on the computer, which is a WEIRD change from paper-based tests. As with the SATs, there are also specific subject tests for biology, english, etc, that you may have to take for your grad program.

“They” tell you to apply to 10-15 graduate programs. I started with a list of about 20 programs that I looked in to, and wheedled down my final list based on the neuroscience research projects and faculty at the institutions. (And location, since I decided I’m ready for a city school.) Applications were available in early fall, and were due between Dec 1 and January 1.

Beginning mid December and ending last week, I received interview invitations from 8 of my 10 schools. (YAY!) Being invited to an interview means they’re pretty serious about admitting you to the program, and want to bring you to campus for a weekend divided into 50/50 faculty interviews and recruitment events. Most schools give you a choice of 2 weekends to interview, while others only give you one. Interview season is about 6 weeks long, so scheduling is pretty difficult to begin with– and becomes more so when your interview offers trickle in over the course of two months. I couldn’t fit everything, so I ended up cancelling one interview, leaving me with 7 in 6 weeks. 

And the nominees are: University of Pennsylvania, Vanderbilt, UC San Diego, UC San Francisco, UCLA, Emory University, and MIT. 

7 interviews in 6 weeks, during the height of the academic semester? Yes. In spite of the fact that I scheduled NO classes on Monday or Friday trying to avoid missing all of my classes, it was a fruitless battle. Many schools require you arrive on Wednesday night or Thursday afternoon. Some are really wacky, and cut days right out of the middle of the week. So for the 6 weeks preceding spring break, I can attend exactly 5 days of class. In case you’re wondering, this went over okay with some of my teachers, and very poorly with others. I had to withdraw from a class for the first time ever, and I am looking at the prospect of  ”no higher than a B” in another. Gross.

But back to the sunny side! The interviews have been amazing so far, and having all expenses paid made it easy for me to apply to the programs I loved, without having to economize based on what I could afford to visit. I was at U Penn last week, and just got back from Vanderbilt. (In case you were wondering: Nashville, TN is everything you imagine it to be.) Next up, I leave bright and early tomorrow morning for UCSD! They’re interesting experiences, so you’ll hear from me again soon….

What was going on with me, you ask?  Academics went…uh, well (::sheepish grin::).  As a student with a ton of AP credit, you have a number of options for what you can do with the time you gain from not needing to take some introductory or general-education classes.  Many of my friends have picked up a second (or third) major, a minor (or two or more), taken graduate-level classes, or  spent a semester studying abroad.  I decided to take a slightly less academic path and instead threw myself headlong into the major national news story of the past year, the presidential election.  You may have heard that I am involved in Represent Penn State, the non-partisan student voter registration organization.  This year, our organization decided to form a coalition of other student organizations to effectively reach the entire student body with both voter registration information and Election Day information.  The coalition, called the PSUVote.org Coalition, went into classrooms, ran tables, and visited organization meetings to get students to participate.  I served as the chair of the coalition, which meant I got to work with a number of motivated students from other student groups as well as participate in a number of discussions and conference calls with state and national-level organizations working to make sure that students were successfully registering.  The work was long and difficult at times, but I think it taught me a number of useful real-world skills, including how to work with a range of people, including those you may disagree with at times.

So, given all of that, I chose to have a somewhat reduced academic course load for the fall semester so that I could devote the proper amount of time to politics.  I did do well in the courses I took, and a couple of them turned about to be enjoyable, like cartography.  (Yes,  cartography.)

I also began the  grad school application process.  I am applying to five schools for city and regional planning (or the equivalent): Penn, MIT, Temple, Rutgers, and Maryland.  The applications are just about finished, so stay tuned for the results later in the semester.

Speaking of applications – the reason we’re here is to discuss undergrad admissions.  I hope some of you reading came to the Fall Honors Preview Day in October; I would have been there, except that day was also the last day for voter registrations to be filed, so I was running around campus (and up to Bellefonte) all day.  My sister is a senior in high school right now, so I have a good idea what other high school seniors are feeling.  Hopefully, everyone submitted their SHC applications on time and are finishing up the rest of their applications.  Good luck to all of you!

That’s enough for now.  Remember, if you ever have any questions about the SHC, feel free to leave a comment.  Look for more posts from students in the SHC in the spring semester; we’ve got plenty of events to blog about.  Thanks for reading!

That’s the motto of my apartment these days. In some ways, it couldn’t be farther from the truth– my roommate and I were just discussing how much we hate to see this semester end because we liked our classes so much. We’re getting ready to “pursue our dreams” of studying English (my roommate) and neuroscience (me) at the graduate level to earn our doctorate degrees. We eat home-cooked dinners together almost every night. We even have a full sized, live Christmas tree. 

But it’s finals week. Papers, exams, GRAD SCHOOL APPs… those, we hate. Who doesn’t? Earlier this week, I felt more overwhelmed than I ever have during an exam period. Just thinking of the volume of exams and papers I needed to accomplish for classes, and perfecting my personal statements, and what if I don’t get into grad school, what if I’m not good enough, what will I ever do if I can’t go for my PhD? (And when am I going to go Christmas shopping?) I’ve felt just completely miserable about the immediate prospects of my life. 

Then, today I picked up the paper for the first time since we returned from Christmas break. After half an hour, I felt like the most unbelieveably selfish person on the planet. 

Which is worse, a country ravaged by a cholera epidemic or its own rebel war troops? Would you rather face a crisis dictated by disease or savage murder by your countrymen? Or what about riots in your country’s capital and major cities? And that was just the front page. 

It’s amazing to think we can get caught up in the minutiae of our own small lives to the point where we forget all of the incredible things that surround us. Millions of people would die for the opportunity to live somewhere where you can sleep soundly at night, assured you have food to eat and clean running water.

Finals week or no finals week– remember how fortunate you are.

It all started junior year. During an honors option meeting with my pharmacology professor, I mentioned I had been working in the Neural Engineering and Neuroprostheses lab; my graduate student mentor had just finished up at Penn State, so I wasn’t sure what project I would be working on next. Coincidently, my pharmacology professor said his lab at the Center for Developmental and Health Genetics was just laying out plans to start a collaboration with my current lab. After several meetings, myself and another undergrad decided we would work on different aspects of the new project. 

Being the bridge between two different labs in two different departments– two different colleges, in fact– proved to have a new set of challenges. My work became far more independent, and I was responsible for developing methods and protocols, as well as meeting regularly with both research advisers to discuss the projects future directions. It took me the LONGEST time to get even the simplest things to work! But by May, I had completed enough research to submit an abstract (aka “summary”) to the SFN committee. 

In July, I heard back from SFN: our abstract had been accepted into the conference. At that time, I was working on a separate project at MIT, so I couldn’t resume the Penn State project until September. When I returned to State College, we were somewhat panicked to discover the machine we relied on for this project was broken and needed to be serviced. By the time it was repaired, October had rolled around. Crunch time!! I had less than two months to learn the new techniques and complete the entire second phase of the project. As is usually the case with research, something that should have been straightfoward was wrong…. and we had to spend another few weeks troubleshooting the whole process from start to finish. I was just starting to reallllly panick when, bingo, we found it and fixed the problem. Now it was crunch time x 10. 

After several long days and sleepless nights, I finished gathering the results and worked with my lab team to analyze the data. I created a 3′ x 5′ poster of the research to explain the background, methods, results, and future implications of our work. Then, my research adviser and I traveled to Washington, DC. 

Attending the SFN conference in DC was definitely one of the highlights of my undergraduate career. Image, 31,000 people, from all over the country and all over the world, in one place to discuss something we’re all excited about! There were thousands and thousands of research posters on display. The poster sessions were twice a day, for four hours, Saturday through Wednesday. It wouldn’t be humanly possible to get to all of them, so you can create an itinery/gameplan by searching for specific authors, topics, etc. The conference also consisted of forums, minisymposiums, and other informational sessions.

I was really nervous to even visit other posters, because I was afraid I wouldn’t have anything useful to say or wouldn’t be able to follow. Then, I was both surprised and proud to discover I knew enough to approach almost any poster that matched my background/interests, and follow along and ask educated questions! I was even able to give advice to people working in fields similar to my own. It was sort of amazing, like everything I had been working towards these past four years culminated in this one experience. I had really learned stuff in my classes, and more importantly, I could apply it to real world situations. 

I was even MORE nervous to have other people come visit my poster. I had a million thoughts going through my head: what if they told me my research was crap? My data couldn’t possibly be real? What if they asked me all sorts of questions I couldn’t answer? Worst of all, what if NOBODY stopped to see what I had been working on? After the first hour, my anxiety melted away.

I was amazed to see that people had actually looked up my abstract, and thought it was interesting enough to come to the poster. I had a pretty consistent flow of people too, which was exciting. Best of all, I was able to field questions and engage in scientific discourse with professionals in the field. I was totally shocked by how much other scientists wanted to discuss future directions and ways to make this work better. After the fact, my adviser told me one particular group of people who had stopped by (from Yale, University of Utah, and University of Bath) were THE premier scientists of this field,  and making contacts with them would definitely prove useful for the future of this project. (I’m really glad I didn’t know they were a big deal at the time– that way, I didn’t have any reason to be nervous in front of them.) It was an incredible environment, and really helped me understand the how essential collaboration and communication are in the sciences. (Here’s a photo of me with my poster, and me presenting my research to collegues from Stanford and the National University of Ireland!)

It was also like a mini reunion. One of my Penn State professors stopped by my poster, and I had the chance to see posters presented by other Penn State undergrad/grad students I know. I also attended a poster presented by my research lab members at Georgia State University (summer ‘07); it was great to catch up, and check out the status of the project I was working on last year. I also went to posters and went out to dinner with my research lab from MIT (summer ‘08). Later, they invited me to an MIT social. I met another undergrad who is applying to neuroscience grad programs, and she is actually an MIT student who is working in one of my top choice labs for graduate studies. Also, my roommate for the weekend was an undergrad from Stanford, which is another program I am applying to. I just can’t explain how awesome it is to get to meet these people. 

The experience really made me appreciate my adviser; he has been absolutely incredible. Lookin back, I am able to appreciate how he provided me with challenges and gave me space to work independently, yet he was always there to help me out when I needed it. He also came to SFN, and stayed with me at the poster until I was comfortable enough to go through the presentation and answer questions on my own. Good advisers are key to successful undergrad research experiences!! 

I am SO happy I went to SFN. Having the opporunity to present my research and get feedback from other scientists in my field was an invaluable experience. More importantly, it helped build my confidence. I’m not looking forward to leaving Happy Valley– who ever is?– but now, I truly do believe I am capable of entering an advanced degree program and becoming a neuroscientist.

Life on Mars…

No, I’m not referring to little green martians. Life on Mars is the title of the 2008 Carnegie International art exhibit. 

Briefly, the Carnegie International show is hosted by the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, and occurs once every four years. Around 40 of the world’s leading contemporary artists created pieces about their interpretation of Life on Mars; you can read more about the exhibit here: http://blog.cmoa.org/CI08/the-exhibition/the-exhibition.php

This semester, I’m taking Art 100: Concepts and Creations in the Visual Arts. 

The class is designed for non-majors; its part classroom learning, part studio. It explores all sorts of unorthodox arts and modern artists. Our class, along with two other PSU art classes, went on a field trip to Pittsburgh to visit the Andy Warhol Museum  and the Carnegie. (The art department sponsored the trip, so the coach bus and museum admissions were paid for.) The museums were so awesome! Best of all, the Carnegie show was hosting an event for University Students night; the entire museum was full of other students, either from the area, or on a field trip like we were. They had a whole social area set up in one of the exhibition halls, complete with little hor d’eurves and an uber trendy DJ. It was probably the closest to a “happening” I’ll ever get…. I LOVE contemporary and conceptual art, so Life on Mars was probably one of the best art exhibits I have ever seen. If you can get to the museum, it’s definitely worth checking out!! 

Homecoming!!

If your [Dell] laptop has suddenly started crashing, or more specifically, is no longer connecting to wireless networks: it may be due to Microsoft Service Pack 3. From what I can gather through online forums, it seems like the service pack update was optional for awhile, but it was recently “pushed out” and automatically updated itself on some computers.

In order to install SP3 without a bunch of errors, you should follow these steps: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/950717/ one of which includes disabling your own antivirus software (e.g., Symantec, Norton, etc).

BUT if SP3 was pushed out onto your computer and automatically installed itself while you weren’t at the computer, you probably didn’t go through the dozen steps to ensure a smooth installation. In my case, antivirus software was running and caused trouble with SP3.

To Fix It: I attempted to re-install my wireless card. That was a BAD IDEA and did NOT fix anything. Rather you should probably take action in one of the following forms:

1) If you’re in a DIY mood, you can try these steps: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/953979/en-us

2) Check out this support page that microsoft put up just to deal with the mess SP3 has caused: http://support.microsoft.com/oas/default.aspx?ln=en-us&x=21&y=12&prid=11273&gprid=522131

3) ResCom, anyone…? I didn’t go this route, so I don’t know if they would be of any help, but you can see if PSU’s residential computing service technicians (http://www.rescom.psu.edu/) can sort it out.

Mac Motivation- My Story: This saga has gotten so long that I won’t bore you with the details anymore… A greatly abbreviated version: Called Dell, refused to help. Called Microsoft, initially refused to help, then finally did help (free of charge). Supposedly it was “fixed,” but my roommate couldn’t access wireless. When she fixed hers, I couldn’t access wireless or wired connections. Called Microsoft again. Additional hours with tech support…. this time, they helped me uninstall the plugin that was supposedly the root of these problems. Wired success. They recommended I call the wireless router company to fix the other part of the problem. Belkin was very helpful. Finally, it was all fixed!

OR not. Now, everytime I want to log on to PSU wireless using the VPN client, I have to reinstall the whole program.

(I’m starting to believe that one forced automatic update has forever screwed up my computer’s ability to access the internet.  I wonder if Macs ever have these problems? I may be starting to understand the devoted Mac user’s deep, unremitting love of all products that sport an apple logo.)

For your average Joe college kid, I possess a strong working knowledge of computers. I’m far from apathetic, and will go to great lengths demanding customer service from companies I invest in. So I’m left wondering, what do other people do when stuff like this happens?…..