Welcome to NCSU

I had heard about ulcerative colitis before, but I never expected to get it. I really thought my insides were coming right out. The stomach pains were severe and so was the diarrhea. When I went to my doctor, I thought that maybe I had some strain of the flu, well it has been in the forefront of the headlines, but it turned out it was colitis. I was relieved to find out that I could help control it with diet and that there were other Ulcerative Colitis Treatment options available.

Now I have my ulcerative colitis under control and it is nice to be free without having to feel under the weather all the time. Running off to the bathroom all the time is no way to live. I mean it doesn't sound like it would be that big of a deal, but when you are living it, man is it inconvenient, and embarrassing. So many times I would avoid doing things when my colitis would flare up, because I didn't want to have to explain why I would keep running off. And let's face it no one really wants to sit around talking about your bowel functions over dinner or on a date. It is just not something that makes for good conversation. I mean I think that it would be easier to sit around discussing cancer treatments over dinner. Colitis is just something that most people don't know about, and most people don't want to know about.

I have joined an online support group, because I like to be able to discuss the issues and new treatment options that are becoming available with others who don't find it repulsive to talk about this illness. I mean don't get me wrong, I do have the support of my family and I can talk to them, but it is difficult for me to discuss this issue with anyone else. I guess I am just a private person. I haven't even told my boyfriend yet. Although, we haven't been dating that long, I know that I will need to make him aware of my condition. I am just waiting for the right moment, to talk to him about this.

Right now people are struggling. It would have been nice if everyone was educated (and stuck to what they learned about know about using credit cards) before we had this terrible financial situation. But now that we are in the midst of it, we need to shape up and start learning more so we can dig ourselves out of this hole and get ready for the future.

There are a lot of terms that people don't know or understand when they are applying for credit and this can turn into a bad situation.

Credit card balance transfer is a term that is a little confusing to some people. You need to read all of the fine print when looking into balance transfers. This could be a way though to help you out in reducing credit card debt. It can help you to pay down the balance without incurring a ton of interest. 0 apr balance transfer is something else that can confuse people. A lot of consumers are looking for a deal and when they read print that says 0% they jump for it and don't investigate further.

A little while ago the credit card bill of rights was signed by Obama. This credit card reform says that creditors can't increase the interest rate during the first 12 months of the account being open. It also states that the creditors need to notify the consumer at least 45 days ahead of a change in the contract and provide a 30 day notice of account closure.

It also doesn't allow a college student to open a credit card without proof that they can pay it back. This is vital because college students right now are opening cards and digging themselves into a hole. Many view credit cards as free money and then they get far into debt before they have even graduated and gone out o their own. It is sad to see and is also hurting our economy.

With this new bill, hopefully our country will get back in shape financially. Obviously it is going to take a while to get this all sorted out and everyone on the right foot but I honestly think that we are taking the right steps towards a better economy and that it is just a matter of time before we are on top of our game again.

So many times I hear students talking about opening their own website and it is truly amazing to me that they really think that for about $50 a month that they can run their own online business. I am not really sure if they just think that the traffic is going to come running to them, or if they honestly believe that their site is so much better than anyone elses, and that is how it works. I mean what new internet business owners need to realize is the magnitude of the world wide web. After all, when it first began there was a hope that you would be able to bring your business into the top of the search engines, and sometimes over time this would actually happen. Now though the internet has changed a lot and if you are planning to open a business online then hiring an SEO management company is an important part of your online marketing plan.

Now, many small business owners don't realize that they need the help of an SEO marketing firm until they are online and wondering why they don't have the traffic to their site. They begin by assessing the look of their site, prices and the product or service that they are offering. Eventually, most realize that what they are missing is a good SEO, and this is usually when they begin surfing the net to find a company that can help them market their site. The problem is that many people looking to cut corners and save money hire on a cheap SEO company, and as far as Search Engine Optimization goes, you will find that what you pay for is usually what you get. This is one area of your business that you are going to have to pay more for, if you hope to have a top ranking website in a search engine like Google.

The important thing to realize right off the bat, is if you are looking to start up a new online business, you will need to hire an SEO management company and that is that, so just figure the cost of a good one into your start up costs, and your business will really take off.

I remember when I was a junior and senior in high school and every single thing that we did was to prepare us for college or to get into the college of our choice. The high school I went to was a big on doing everything possible to prepare us. We spent hours and hours writing essays to practice for the ACT and SAT.

I even remember as freshman going to the fair about AP courses and talking about Recognition of Prior Learning and sitting in on a lecture by one of the advisors and hearing about how every junior and senior (and many of the sophomores even) took AP classes and basically if you didn't you were looked down on.

I was lucky to go to such a great school because I ended up getting into every single college I applied to (which was like 16!!!) and I'm pretty sure all of my friends did too (at least their top few choices for sure). So I guess all of the prep work and studying and drilling and even resume writing paid off. Because now I have no problem writing essays or managing my time or handling outside activities while keeping my grades up.

I think the best part (and also scariest part) of high school was the college fair. In our gym (which was enormous since we had 4000 students) schools from all over would come and give out Promotional Products and give speeches about what's great about it.

It was mandatory for us to go, every year starting freshman year (and even as seniors after we chose our college so that we can mingle with our school and get to know people) because we could start the process early and then meet with our advisor to map out our goals and the steps we needed to take to reach them. Also we would get the chance to meet new people from the schools that we were looking at each year and get their perspective on the college or university as well as what kinds of activities they are involved with and also what their major is. I remember talking to someone who was in a sorority at my school and I had never put much thought into before that meeting but then afterwards I did and I ended up joining one and I couldn't imagine my life any other way. These kinds of opportunities are really great even if you don't realize until way later.

Everyone keeps saying we need to cut back and stop needless spending. I have felt this way even before the economic crunch. I think that too many people spend money that they can't afford for things that on some level they believe they "need" but really don't. I believe in bargain shopping and always getting a deal. Just because I want for something doesn't mean that I run right to the local department store and pay full price, just so I can have it right now. On this note, I would much prefer to tuck away in my mind the item I am looking for and shop around until I find such a good deal on that item that I must get it right then and there. If you put an idea in your head, you will be surprised how quickly you will find exactly what you are looking for at exactly the right price.

For instance, I recently decided that I really just needed a new look in my living room. The sofas were still in excellent condition, but the TV stand and the tables and table lamps just had to go. They were actually making the couches look bad. Well, I didn't just run to the store and get some new stuff, I just started picturing what I wanted and how much I wanted to spend. I started taking the opportunity to browse furniture stores and furniture stores ads and such to get ideas of what was out there and how much I thought I could get away with spending. A few weeks later, still looking for the items I needed at a reasonable price, I went into a local furniture warehouse and started looking at the TV Stands that they had there and I was amazed but there was a TV stand, floor model, as is for $25. And this item was regularly $329. I was delighted to find out that the reason was there was a scratch and a few nicks along the wood in the back of the unit, however when set up on the wall, no one would see the problems and the front was beautiful. While I was there I decided to pick up two beautiful modern table lamps for a song. When I took these items home and got everything rearranged, I was amazed at how much better the whole room looked. Not only that but I decided that the tables could be sanded and refinished for about $30 and basically my room got a modern make over for about $100. It is amazing what you can do when you set your mind to it.

Some people just don't get it. They worry about saving money, but they don't really give much thought to saving the earth. It is amazing to me that so many people don't realize how lucky we are and how many valuable resources we have available to us. It is important that we learn more about green technology, because although most people by now know about recycling, and saving the planet, it is ironic to me that many people don't think about how much of the earths resources we are using to run our computers. Whether you are e-mailing, surfing the web or using video conferencing, you would be surprised how much energy our new computer technology is burning through, and the more popular the internet gets the more resources it burns. Fortunately now there are many companies out there realizing the need for green computing and this really does help, but yet on the individual level many people don't realize that using the computer is burning energy. We still have a long way to go in educating the people of the world as to what burns energy. I think that perhaps the problem is that many people don't realize how much of the worlds resources we use in our everyday activities, just because it has all become so mindless. More needs to be done to come up with real solutions to help save the world, and these need to be the items available in stores and online. The more availability of these products and the simpler we make it for the average consumer, the bigger result we will see. If all that is available for purchase are green light bulb, recycled paper products, and so forth, then that is what people would choose because they wouldn't have a choice.

Now there are even energy reducing searches provided by Google and a million other ways to help take care of the planet. The selfish attitude of the people to say that they won't be around to see the destruction of the earth, so who cares, is just so mindless it is frustrating!

We are talking about hormones and ethics right now in one of my classes and we had a discussion recently about HGH. Basically it is a human growth hormone that is used to help increase your metabolism and muscle mass. We also talked about HGH for sale and whether or not this product was okay for the public. Or stem cell research and even cloning animals and doing scientific research on human beings (even with their consent) and even what is okay and what isn't okay to do to mice.

We often have discussions similar to this one because when you get to this class that I am taking now, you are either a pre-med (of some kind), pre-dentistry or pre-pharm major. These majors are extremely demanding and all require a lot of chemistry, biology and science and math overall.

However, people don't always talk about the psychology that goes hand in hand with our majors. You need to learn about side effects to drugs and also what a drug or medical procedure could do to someone. Also, we talk about what we believe in ethically speaking when it comes to medicine (gene tracing, morning after pill, hormone injections etc).

Med school (or in this case pre-med or pre-professional school) is the place to establish your beliefs and where you stand on certain issues. Because in these types of career paths you are going to be faced with questions like if HGH should be sold to the public and your beliefs on it or if you are a pharmacist you need to know about side effects to drugs and dealing with patients and also right now it is up to the pharmacist practicing at that particular pharmacy to decide how they feel about something like the morning after pill. It is now when you need to decide how you feel about sensitive issues like these so that you can stand strong under your beliefs when you are actively doing your career.

So although some of these discussions can get very (very) heated and even sometimes really off topic, they are always interesting and extremely important to have at this time. Right now we are building the core of our careers, we are learning basics and getting to know ourselves and our potentials and we also need to know and stand by what we believe.

A friend and I have been considering opening a business together when we get out of school. We both know some about computers, but we decided that with the technology of today, we should each take a computer training course to help with our knowledge and so we can take full advantage of all the incredible online business tools available. We decided that instead of taking the same cbt course that it would be better if we each took a different course so that we can make sure that we get all the information that we need. I decided to take a course that came highly recommended by a friend to help learn all about all the computer apps that are available. John decided to take a course that he found online that claims to offer a+ certification training in computer and online technology. Each of the courses cost us about the same and I really thought that his course sounded more professional, but I figured that we can teach each other what we learned and pass along any necessary information to the other. Well, honestly, I really thought that there would be a lot of overlap between the two different computer classes, but the truth is that we both learned a lot of really helpful information that we can really see integrating into our business.

We are really looking forward to opening our repair shop. A lot of people say that we are crazy for considering opening a new business in this economy, but I know that this is a wise business to open while the economy is in trouble. Realize that most people won't want to go out and replace their household items, and therefore more people will be looking for reasonable repairs for these items. That is where John and I plan to fill the need, making ours a very profitable business, I can assure you. Plus with all the computer tech information we have just learned, our business will be high tech and low cost. Can't wait to get started in this new venture...

My mother has been considering going back to school, however she has arthritis and some days are just better than others for her getting around. She is starting to feel like there are no options available for her, because traditional school may not work if she winds up missing too many classes, yet she is intimidated by e-learning, because she doesn't feel very sure about herself when it comes to her computer knowledge. I decided to try and help her get a little more knowledgeable about her computer and the resources that are available online. The first thing that I noticed was that I couldn't even access the enterprise learning library because her internet connection was so slow. That is when I found out that she is still using dial-up because she claims that she can't get any DSL or cable internet in her area. Well, I looked into it and found her a high speed internet connection for her home computer, and this will allow her to have good access to the internet consistently which is extremely important if you are looking to take classes and work online. A good solid high speed connection is key. Anyway now I have her taking an online computer class that will take her through the basics and provide her with a+ certification when she is through. This will help her to learn what she needs to know about working online, plus I really think that if she has some sort of certification this will also help her to feel more confident.

We have looked into a few online classes and I have assured my mother that computer knowledge that you need for these types of classes is very basic and user friendly. After all, they don't want to make it too difficult for people to take online classes and at this point, although most people have some information and knowledge about computers, for some it is still very new, and they can't navigate well through sites. It is a far different world from the computer information highway that first came to be. Now you can know very little about computers and still be able to accomplish quite a bit online.

We just returned home from a friends wedding and it was by far the most incredible wedding that I have ever attended. The wedding and reception were in Hawaii, and since it was someone that I have been friends with for years, I just knew when I got the invitation that we were going, and honestly it was a great excuse to head off the Hawaii, especially this time of year. Anyway, since we were there we decided to spend the week, and Jess and I had a blast, so much so I didn't want to come home, but such is life I am afraid.

Well, there is something so romantic about a wedding, the love in the air thing or something. I don't really know what it is, but when you are all dressed up and dancing and eating ghirardelli chocolate, that's right this was one of those weddings with a chocolate fountain and lots of wedding candy and incredible food from wall to wall. So much food, that honestly it was hard to make up your mind what to eat first. The offered so many appetizers and all different nations of stations, everything ranging from American food to Chinese food and Italian food to some items from Honduras. It was just incredible. It was hard to believe that the whole event only lasted for about 5 hours, and yet there was so much food. Then I began to worry about the waste of the event, while Jess was just totally obsessed with the arrangements of candy, especially the chocolate roses, which were on the bride and grooms table. He was right they were incredible, we even took some pictures of them, because the tops were colored red, and they even had little thorns and sprigs in green. It was really neat.

I told Jess when we get married, we will definitely have to have chocolate roses, because that is just awesome and besides Jess has such a sweet tooth, he really wanted to take a taste of them, but I told him that I would try to find some chocolate roses for him, however the one woman I talked to said they only carry those around valentines day. I know that somewhere I should be able to special order a chocolate rose for Jess, but I think I will wait until he forgets about it, that will make the surprise more fun!