Words from an MHCC Saint
The Sun…[sigh]…Its Beautiful.
Back to back days of 80+ degree weather; I absolutely cannot complain. Hope you guys are enjoying it! If you’re not………………GET OUT THERE!
Be Cool and Hang with Yo Mommy!
Let me explain.
In case you don’t know, I work at a movie theater. This is quite fitting, because I absolutely love watching movies…especially action-comedy. Probably my favorite perk is being able to go watch movies for…wait for it…F-R-E-E booya! Being a college student, doing stuff for free is music to my ears.
Anyway. On Friday, Zac Efron has a new movie coming out called The Lucky One. Yeah its a chick-flick. Yeah its Zac Efron. Yeah I’m a guy. But, I’m still going to see it (and its free…so I’m not losing out on anything)! This is where the mama part comes in. I sort of have a date with my mom to go watch this movie on Friday, and I think it will be a nice afternoon. Maybe you won’t see this new chick-flick with your mom, but maybe you could do something special for her. Grab her some coffee while she is working. Buy her dinner…scratch that, offer to make her dinner! Schedule her an afternoon at the spa (mega win points!). Just do something. I mean…ITS YOUR MOM PEOPLE!!
-David Butler
Well that quote pretty much punched me in the face! How many times do we limit ourselves to what feels comfortable, or what we think we’re capable of doing? Maybe its time to level up your life like I’m trying…
As I’ve said in previous posts, I’m trying to improve my physical condition. Not only must I be eating the right foods, but I must also be conditioning and pushing my body to grow. I’ve been doing a lot of research from a website called nerdfitness.com, and it is absolutely awesome! In addition to my personal research and proper food consumption, I’ve enrolled into a PE class and have started playing basketball during the open gyms here on campus. Definitely sweating my guts out, but it’ll be worth it soon enough!
So today, I was walking to the cubicle, and all of the sudden I saw an amazing looking cake sitting on the counter free to anyone. Pretty sure I heard it say my name…Are you kidding me!?! In the past, I’d immediately go for it, I mean its free cake!! However, I’m in the process of transitioning to saying no to the junk food(easier said than done!). I think this quote caputres the scenerio quite well…”Remember: if what you were doing was working, you’d already…be where you want to be. If you want incredible results, you’re going to need to make incredible sacrifices.” Okay, so not taking the slice of cake wasn’t an “incredible sacrifice,” but it was a step in the right direction! Baby steps people. Baby steps.
Changes start with you! Here’s a link if you’re interested in the nerd fitness stuff, and what I mean when referring to leveling up your life. http://nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/03/03/game-of-life/
Good luck with your adventures,
-David Butler
Considering the SOAR team's purpose, I guess I might receive a bit of a biased answer, but I was wondering if you could tell me about MHCC and your feelings on it. I'm considering coadmitting there and at PSU next fall.
Greetings,
To give you a simple answer…do it!
To be completely honest, I think what you’re planning on doing is quite smart. Depending on what you’re focused on, MHCC can definitely help you through your college career. We have about 120 different options here at MHCC. The two most common degrees are career technical degrees and our transfer programs. The technical degrees (Nursing, Automotive, Integrated Media, Funeral Services, etc.) are essentially designed to have you study at MHCC for 2-years in your specific field, and then take your newly-obtained degree into the work force. The transfer degrees (Business, Engineering, etc.) are designed to give you the prerequisites needed to transfer to a four-year university. By strictly looking at the opportunity cost of going to a four-year university and a community college, I can say both have advantages. A community college is by far more affordable, but a four-year bachelor’s degree is more prestigious. Our transfer degrees give you the “best of both worlds” in my opinion. I think the best way to describe this is to share my story. I graduated from high school (class of 2011) and had a little money, but not enough to cover a four-year university education. I originally had dreaded the idea of attending a community college, because I felt I was missing out on something that students were getting while going to a four-year university.
Okay, now this is completely unbiased. I am a young college student, so here me out. I think going to a community college (MHCC, CCC, PCC), if you aren’t able to pay for a four-year university education out of pocket (scholarships, work-study, etc.), is the best decision a college student could make. There are loans available, but I’ve tried to stay away from them, and recommend you to as well if possible. Back to my story…I’m pursuing a business transfer degree at MHCC in hopes of transferring to a four-year university (UO, PSU, etc.). The transfer degree is essentially a “block transfer,” meaning I will finish my two-years at MHCC, then transfer to a four-year university as a junior. At the four-year university, I am then able to focus the remaining two-years solely in my field (business, literature, engineering, etc.) where I may need to take a prerequisite or two at the university depending on their requirements. Now that I have seen exactly how much money I am saving, I love the idea of attending a community college, MHCC specifically.
In your case, I strongly recommend dual-enrolling, or even pursuing one of the transfer degrees offered at MHCC. If you can take classes at MHCC that can transfer to PSU, I would urge you to do so, because again, it saves you money. Being a young male college student, I love the idea of saving money!
So I hope that gives you the information you need to make your decision. Feel free to respond, or drop me an email at outreach@mhcc.edu if you have any further questions or want to continue discussing your next step.
Look forward to hearing from you,
David Butler, SOAR Leader
Goodbye Winter Term 2012
And this is what the “ABC” with a line through button does.
And with that, I am officially done with Winter Term 2012. For some reason, this term was brutal. I don’t know if it was just because I wasn’t motivated to do well, or if I was working too much. Eh? Last term I had the same schedule, but it felt like a breeze. So much that I contemplated taking 20 credits Winter Term. I’m glad I didn’t though, because I barely made it this term with 16. My 4.0 GPA still stands, but I was definitely sweating it towards the end.
I do know however next term I’m making some changes in my life (for the better)…and I’m going to stick to it! For the past two terms I’ve been taking 16 credits and working two jobs. Its definitely manageable, but I don’t want to look back at this time in my life with regret. Regretting not having fun and being too focused on work and school. Now don’t get me wrong, those are totally important, but no so much as to drive myself to the point of utter exhaustion.
Currently, I’m signed up for 11 credits. I wanted to do this so I could have time to focus on work and relationships with others during spring term. Relationships is a very important part of life that we could all use an improvement in. I mean we are humans…we were created to have fellowship with others. Fellowship? Hmm, Lord of the Rings. I want to watch those movies now…
Anyway, I know next term I’m trying to improve how I deal with those around me and the friendships I already have. Perhaps this next season in your life you can focus on an area in your own life. Family. Friends. Attitude. Work. School. Health. Siblings. Spouse. Personal Issues.
“The worst thing you can do is nothing.” -Theodore Roosevelt
Good luck to ya!
Final’s Week…
…………is lame, but also pretty cool. Okay, yes we have to study an insane amount for finals, but you only have to go to your class once this week! I had an Economics final Monday at 8:00am, and a Spanish final right after that at 10:00am. But now I am officially done with those classes. Booya! Now, should I study for Accounting or go hangout with friends…Hmmm
Yay Random: “Isn’t politics a funny word? ‘Poli’ means ‘many’ in Latin, and ‘tic’ means ‘blood sucking creatures’…”
Ahhhh yeah!
-David Butler
It is….Friday! Time for some movies!
[happy sigh] Today is an absolutely beautiful day. Its Friday, the sun is out, blue skies, done with school/work responsibilities by noon…man, its going to be a good day! Last night I saw Safe House and This Means War, and they were awesome movies. First off, Safe House was definitely one of the most intense movies I’ve seen in quite a long time; I was very impressed. It was non-stop explosions and mayhem! So good! This Means War, on the other hand, was simply a hilarious movie. There were a few times I felt the audience got mad at our group because we were laughing so hard. If you haven’t seen these two movies yet, then I recommend you do so this weekend. Also, Act of Valor comes out today, and after watching the trailer, I’m sure you’ll have to pick your jaw up off the ground like everyone else who has seen watched it. Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUkKuImX_ok. Well, there is my shout out for movies to watch this weekend. Have fun kiddies!
-David Butler
Febuary…[looks at calender] 3, 2012
8i8i8itg6yhn gbvhgh byy <—-that’s what happens when you try and type with your face…
It is absolutely beautiful!! Not a cloud in sight!
Did you know:
* Billboard advertising is banned in Alaska.
* Kangaroos cannot move their legs independently.
* Items transported via ship is called cargo, while items transported via car is called shipments.
* There is a town/city named Lincoln in every state of the USA.
* Hippo’s are responsible for more human deaths in Africa than any other animal.
Bet you learned something you didn’t already know. You’re welcome.
Snow. Oregon. This Weekend. Yay!
Hmm…its cold and light sprinkles of rain, but what do you expect, I mean this is Oregon son! Its supposed to snow tomorrow, which is awesome! Epic super awesome. Epsupeawe! (epic+super+awesome…shut up haters!) Anyway…snow…Snow…Winter…January…February…December…Christmas…Santa (fyi:lower case santa gets a red squigly line)…no. no. back to —-> snow…Christmas…yes. So this Christmas, in regards to the weather, could have been so much more enjoyable had we had snow. But what hurt even more is every time I heard the song “White Christmas,” ya know, the “IIIIIII’m dreaming of a wuhite chrispmas” song, something inside of me kept becoming really sad once I heard this beautiful song. I’m guessing this is because I dream of a white Christmas every stinkin’ year, but its usually cloudy or rainy. =lameness! Except for three or four years ago when we had the huge snow storm for the first or second week in January. It basically shut everything down for a week…that was epsupeawe! Well it was cool the first three days, then cabin fever kicked in and we had to turn to canabali…but I’d be willing to do it again. Maybe I should to Mini-soda——> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_ku3oY4hss I think snow is beautiful! So…once I heard the weather homies say its suppose to snow the next few days, my excitement definitely exploded.
I think it’ll be a very cold, but very epsupeawe weekend! Don’t stay inside all weekend long…get out there and go for a walk while its snowing! I went for a run in the snow one year…yes it was freezing, but it was sooooooo ooo ooooo pretty!
Give your dads and moms kisses and hugs, and let them know how much they mean to you! Be safe, and have fun! Just because the “Happy Season’s Greetings Holidays Christmas-time” is over doesn’t mean you have to go back to being a grinch all year!
Challenge: Bless someone this week! Maybe its buying them a drink from starbucks or taking someone out to dinner. Maybe its even a “hey, thanks for being my boss” note!
In Conclusion…
Be Safe. Be Nice. Be Your Dream, and have fun doing it!
Adios my snow-loving comrades!
-David
Winter Term 2012 Week #1
It is windy, and therefore, we are cold. We will write something more exciting after our brains thaw…
