Well I am entrenched in Syllabus Week (WooHoo!) and figured it was time for an update.

I have 15 credits this semester, a pretty normal workload for the normal student.  While I am doing way more work than in Fall 2009, it is still a slower semester for me.  I am taking:

Security and Risk Analysis 468: Visual Analytics for Security Intelligence

Econ 302: Intermediate Micro-Economic Analysis

English 202D: Business Writing

Criminology 100: Introduction to Criminal Justice

Information Science and Technology 432: Legal and Regulatory Environment of Information Science and Technology

I would say that I am most worried about Econ 302 as I am no economics major, but I don’t think it will be all that bad.  One of the big projects for English 202D is creating a blog (gasp!) about my professional work.  Sadly neither this one or my previous blog (russwbeck.wordpress.com) will count, so attempt number three at blogging looks to be in the works.  After preliminary glances at my syllabi I have a few busy weeks ahead of me (3 midterms in 3 days for instance), but also should only have one final.  Here’s to hoping it isn’t on Friday!

I hope the rest of you Penn State students have a great semester, but for now, let’s celebrate Syllabus week before we actually have to do real work!

Last season Hines Ward and Troy Polamalu suffered from injuries that could have sidelined them from playing in crucial playoff games.  Polamalu never missed a game and Ward was able to play in the Super Bowl because of a new and innovating treatment being used by not only those two, but also by a few MLB and Soccer players along with thousands of recreational athletes.

What is the treatment, you may ask? Steroids?  A new exercise?  Nope. Read the rest of this entry

While I was in Orlando, my Great Grandmother sadly passed away. What was weird was that my cousin and I were just talking about her and how she wasn’t doing so well, less than 30 minutes later I got the call. My Great-Grandmother’s first husband, my Great-Grandfather by blood, died in the Battle of the Bulge in 1945. She was born with a heart condition that at the time (1920) killed more than 90% of those born with it, but she lived. She had a stroke in her 80s, and wasn’t supposed to ever move again. One night my Grandmother and Aunt were with her in the hospital and asked God for a sign that we shouldn’t pull the plug, at that moment the power in the Altoona Hospital flickered, went out and came back on…we let her live and she not only moved again, but talked and moved back to her house to live on her own for a few more years until being placed into a home. She once bought coffee from Hooters and only complained that the coffee was cold. She was married for 61 years when my Great-Grandfather died.

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Now that I am a few days removed from my trip to Orlando, I figured I would share some thoughts.

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