Caleb

The End of One Chapter.... The Start of Another

2008-05-05T12:23:00.008-04:00

It's that time of the year again, where the hustle and bustle of exams meets the excitement of almost being done. Except this year, I'm not as excited. It's incredible how four years of your life can leave you in the blink of an eye.

I remember when I first came to UT, I was excited, but I was really excited about getting through college, finding a job, and being on my own. I guess things change when you are faced with those decisions and the thought that you are leaving a place that you have called home for the past four years.

I don't mean to be a downer because in some ways I am very excited about what is ahead. I thought for my last blog I would offer a little bit of advice for you future college students as well as says a few thank you's and goodbye's.

To my boys:
You know who you are. We have had an incredible past four years whether it was tailgating, going to BWW to watch the Braves, going to concerts, studying until the wee hours of the morning, playing ping-pong, doing inappropriate things at Lipsync, or just grabbing some Gus's at 2Am. You guys have been incredible, and I know that each of you will go great things one day. Thanks for all that you have done for me, and please keep in touch. I'll see you guys at the island.

The parents:
I don't even know where to begin. I know that it was difficult for yall to let me go away for four years, but I want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to do so. I have learned so much and grown in so many ways. When I think about how I want to live my life and how I want to raise a family, I always look right to you guys. Yall have been an incredible influence on my life, and I could never fully repay you for all that you have done. Thank you so much for investing in my life. I promise one day it will all pay off. I love you guys so much, and I am so grateful for all that yall have done for me.

The Group:
There are so many incredible organizations at UT, and you guys are definitely the best. Being apart of this group is the greatest honor I have ever received. Yall have influenced me and my way of thinking in so many ways and for that I am very thankful. I know that you all will continue to do great things for the University. Remain nameless.

Keaton:
I don't know many relationships that start their first five months together nearly 1000 miles from each other, but I do know that you are worth the long distance and the wait. I can't begin to tell you how proud I am of you and your accomplishments. You are the strongest person I know! Thanks for seeing this through with me, and I promise one day I will make it worth it for you! Continue to chase your dreams and know that I will always be there to help and support you. "There's nothing fancy about the way I love you, but it sure is fancy how you love me."

Prospective Students:
I know exactly where you guys are right now. I remember being in High School and feeling excited and nervous about the opportunity of going to college. College is a great place and can be some of the best four (or five) years of your lives! My advice for you is never take a single moment of college for granted. There will be good times and there will bad. There will difficult days and there will be incredible opportunities. When you leave college, you may never remember all the different meetings you attended or every test that you struggled to study for, but you will remember the unique moments that have defined your college career and the friends that you made along the way.

Good luck to everyone and thanks to those who influenced my life. Until next time, stay classy Readers!

The Showcase

2008-04-01T17:23:00.004-04:00

As Resident Assistants, we are required to do a certain number of programs/events each month for our floors and our our residence hall. These programs can be as simple as dinner and a movie or as complex as the program we had this weekend.

Every year in April, Clement Hall hosts its largest program known as Showcase of Souls. This program provides an opportunity for local bands, singers, dancers, DJ's, and other talents to showcase their abilities in front of hundreds of people.

The program typically cost around $1200 which provides food, stage, sound equipment, chairs, and other key essentials. We are able to get funding through different organizations on campus like the United Residents Hall Association and the Clement Hall Residents Association.

Throughout the program, we provide free hamburgers, hot dogs, and drinks to all students who attend. This year we were fortunate enough to have Red Bull come and participate (i.e. Give lots of free Red Bull!!!!) which translated into really hyper college students. To end the afternoon, we hosted a 3-on-3 basketball tournament which was a blast! Overall, it was a great program.

Well that's all I have for now. Until next time, Stay Classy Readers.

Study Group

2008-03-27T12:37:00.003-04:00

Some people study best by themselves, but I have realized over the past four years that I perform much better when I study in groups. I've been very fortunate to have the same study-buddy for the past three years. Drew and I started studying together when we took Organic Chemistry our sophomore year. That group has now grown, and it has only made for a better study environment. When we all get together, we like to spread all our papers, laptops, books, and food and get cracking on whatever test is coming up. The picture to the left was taken the other day while we were studying for our biochemistry exam. I told you that I would let you know how it went, and I think we all did pretty well. I know I made a few dumb mistakes when I was rushing through the 5 page test, but overall, I felt fairly confident about it.

Undergrad has really helped prepare me for what's to come in Dental School. Starting your freshman year, you begin to develop your own study habits (hopefully good one's) and see what works best for you. I'll be the first to admit that coming out of high school I did not know how to properly study or prepare for tests, but now I feel more confident than ever that with a little preparation and trying my best to avoid procrastinating, I can do well on a test. That's a little tid-bit of wisdom from me. Anyways, expect another blog coming soon. I've got a really big weekend coming up, and I can't wait to tell you all about it! Until then, Stay Classy Readers.

Spring Break 08!

2008-03-25T11:52:00.003-04:00

Spring Break time - a college students nirvana. After the start of a long spring semester, nothing is better than a pre-summer beach trip. This spring break, I decided to head to Perdido Key, Florida for a nice relaxing trip with some of my best friends. Of those friends, is Mr. KC Gordon who you see to the right in the picture. KC is a perfect example of how living on campus your freshman year can lead to lasting friendships. He and I met during freshman Spanish but soon realized that we lived right across the hall from each other. Now he is one of my closest friends, and I felt it was only appropriate to put him on the blog and give him a little shout out (and because Momma Gordon was going to kill me if she didn't start seeing her son on here. Just Kidding. PS: Great cookies Momma Gordon. Thank you so much!)

It has been a while since I wrote last, and I apologize. This semester has been considerably more stressful and busy that I expected. Normally it's because I'm taking 17 hours of chemistry classes and labs, but this semester has been difficult because I'm graduating and searching for internships and making sure that I have everything ready to apply for Dental School. I'm only taking 13 hours, which still hasn't been a cake walk, but I am also taking this Kaplan prep course for my DAT (Dental Admissions Test). This class is intense! It meets twice a week for three hours, and there is a lot of pre-homework and post-homework! I can't complain though because the class is doing a great job of reminding me about biology and chemistry that I haven't seen since freshman year of college.

I have a huge biochemistry test Wednesday so I am about to go meet with my study group to start working on it right now. I'll let you know how it goes. Expect more blogs coming soon. Until then, Stay Classy Readers.

Great Weekend

2008-02-05T15:14:00.001-05:00

It was another busy but great weekend in Knoxville, TN. Friday night, Thompson Bowling Arena (UT basketball arena) hosted a Brad Paisley concert, and it was incredible! The concert led off with Chuck Wicks, Rodney Adkins, and then Brad finished it off. TB Arena was packed! I don't think there was an empty seat in the house. I went with a bunch of my friends, and we had a great time. Friday was an exciting night!

I did something Saturday that I hate to even admit because its completely against my religion (joke), but I was forced to do it. I had no choice - I studied all day Saturday. I know it's a terrible way to spend my day off, but I had two huge exams on Monday, and I knew that since Sunday was the Superbowl, I would struggle to get any studying done. So that was my Saturday, but I felt very productive at the end of the day, and it was for the best.

Sunday was Superbowl Sunday, and I did manage to get some studying done but very little. Instead, my friends and I all bought a bunch of food and had a Superbowl party and my friend's apartment. We had Cox's famous chicken, stuffed mushrooms, sausage balls, chex mix, shrimp cocktail, cheese dip, mashed potatoes, green beans, and banana pudding. It was all very yummy! Not to mention the game was definitely one to remember! All in all it was a great weekend.

I hope all of your weekends were as good as mine. Got to do some laundry. Until next time, Stay Classy Readers.

Back to School

2008-01-29T23:09:00.000-05:00

So we have officially been back to school now for about three weeks, and let me tell you, it is difficult getting back into it after having a nice month off for Christmas break. It's difficult getting used to going to bed at a decent hour, waking up early, sitting in classes, doing homework, and going to all the required meetings each week. It took me about three weeks, but I think I am finally ready to start working hard, and it could not be a better time to get motivated. Next week I have a couple very important exams, and I have already started studying and getting prepared for them. They are sure to be a doozie.

The spring is so different from the fall. I know that seems very obvious, and I guess it is, but the atmosphere and the whole mentality of the spring is just not even close to that of the fall. I think a lot of it probably has to do with the fact that there are no football games on the weekends, but the spring seems to be much more devoted and dedicated to academics which explains why I typically perform better in the spring. This semester shouldn't be too terrible though. It's the last semester before I graduate so I am only taking 13 hours, and I have no Tuesday or Thursday classes. It's really nice. Well, I have some homework to finish before tomorrow so until next time, Stay Classy Readers.

Colorado

2007-12-27T13:12:00.002-05:00

There are many benefits to being a college student. One of those benefits is that you get a lot of student discounts. After a little research by my friend Stephen, we found a great deal to go to Breckenridge, Colorado for a week of snow skiing. I felt like such a grown-up. I paid for everything by myself, and we set up our flight, rental car, and where we were staying without any assistance (we're kind of a big deal).

It was a great trip. The weather was perfect and the snow could not have been better. The whole trip went so smoothly that I expected something would eventually go wrong, and I was right. While driving back from the Nashville airport to Chattanooga, the car broke down, and we were forced to stay in a motel an additional night. Other than that night, the trip was a great success and a great time. I'm going to miss being a college student when I graduate. I'll have to start paying full price for everything. Well until next time, stay classy readers.

I might be a nerd

2007-11-13T00:34:00.001-05:00

So here's the thing. Chemistry is really hard! When I was thinking about what I wanted my major to be when I got to college, I felt like chemistry would have been a pretty wise decision for many reasons. First, chemistry was a joke in high school and so I figured it couldn't be too bad in college. And if I could do well in college then that would have to look good when I was applying to dental school. True, but the problem is that it's really hard, and it's not easy to do well in chemistry.

I remember when I first started chemistry at UT everyone told me the horror stories about organic chemistry and how if you passed with a "C", you should be thrilled. I'll admit, organic was no breeze, but it in no way compares to the level of difficulty of BIOPHYSICAL CHEMISTRY. It just sounds terrible doesn't it? Well it is, trust me! Imagine taking a class that focuses on the most dreaded college classes: chemistry, biology, physics, and calculus all rolled into one.

That is what I have been dealing with on a daily basis. I guess it's just the price you have to pay, but man it is rough. The picture shows my friend, Drew, and myself as we work in our lab preparing samples for one of our experiments. Our lives are consumed by chemistry. I would say on average we spend close to 6 or 8 hours a night outside of class working on lab reports, homework, and studying for exams. Needless to say, we get pretty sick of each other at the end of the semester.

I'm sorry if I'm scaring any of you future science majors. College in general is difficult, but it is a lot of fun at the same time. It has been a rough past four years with chemistry, but I don't think I would trade it for another major. I've learned a lot and my professors have been very helpful. It's true that in the process I have even started to "like" chemistry, and I'm not afraid to throw around some chemistry knowledge when hanging out with friends. I guess I've turned into a chemistry nerd. It happens to the best of us. Well I'm going to quit rambling about how difficult my life is because it's not really that bad. Until next time, stay classy readers.

What a week....

2007-11-03T15:50:00.001-04:00

It has been a wild week, and it all began after one of the most exciting football games I have ever seen. Anyone who watches or keeps up with college football knows exactly what I am talking about: Tennessee vs. South Carolina. The day started off with a great tailgate that included tender marinated steaks and lots of great friends, and it continued to Neyland Stadium.

South Carolina was ranked in the top twenty five (around 16 I think), and we weren't even ranked so not many people gave us a shot at winning. After scoring 21 in the first half and not allowing USC to get on the scoreboard, our offense went cold in the second half and USC managed to make an incredible come back and eventually take the lead. The game ended up going into overtime and a missed kick by USC's kicker ensured our victory. It was an unbelievable game!

The rest of the week was not quite as exciting. Lots of tests, papers, and lab reports inhibited me from enjoying all of the festivities of Homecoming Week and even Halloween (and yes you can still trick-or-treat while you're in college). I made it through the week and feel pretty confident in all of the work that I accomplished and now I'm ready to relax this weekend.

Today we are playing Louisiana-Lafayette for our Homecoming game, but unfortunately I won't be able to go because I have to work in my Residence Hall. It's not too big of a deal; at least I can get some homework done for the upcoming week. Well, I am going to watch some football on TV before going to work. Until next time, stay classy readers.

Cabin Fever

2007-10-22T09:16:00.002-04:00

Knoxville is a very unique city due to its geographic location. Not only does Knoxville have a great downtown area and beautiful parks like World's Fair, but UT is also located right on the river, and the Smoky Mountains are only about forty five minutes away. I've lived on campus all four years and have loved it, but from time to time, it's fun to get away and experience what Knoxville has to offer.

After class on Friday, some friends and I rented a cabin for the night in Gatlinburg. Surprisingly, the cabin was fairly cheap and pretty nice. I have to admit that the task of choosing the cabin and booking it was on my shoulders, and for some reason, I booked the cabin without looking at the pictures. Probably not a good idea, but the cabin was in our price range and the outside picture of the cabin looked nice so I didn't worry about it too much. I say all that just to make the point that we did not really know what to expect.

The best or most unusual feature of the cabin was what we saw when we first walked in. Picture this: we enter into this snazzy living room equipped with a big TV, couches, a remote-controlled fireplace, a large kitchen, and a dining table. Nothing special, right? Not exactly. Behind the dining table was a red heart-shaped jacuzzi surrounded by stone, tile, and stained glass windows; classy, I know.

This jacuzzi looked like it had been taken out of the scene from Dumb and Dumber where Harry and Lloyd were floating in the bubble bath jacuzzi discussing Harry's x-girlfriend (Harry: "She wrote me a john-dear letter...something about me not listening enough, I don't know...I wasn't really paying attention."). You have to love Dumb and Dumber, it's a classic! Sorry, I know that was a bit off topic, but I felt like I would be doing you an injustice by not mentioning it. Needless to say, we were a little skeptical of the condition of everything else in the cabin after our discovery of the dinner jacuzzi, but we had a great time grilling burgers and hanging out anyways.

Saturday morning we woke up in time to check-out by 10 and headed back to Knoxville. Tennessee was playing Alabama at 12:30 so it was very important that we were sitting at a TV with food in hand before kick-off. Unfortunately, the game was not everything we expected it to be, and I'll just leave it at that, but the food was great!

Apparently the night in the cabin was not enough "outdoors-time" and so three of us drove back to Gatlinburg that afternoon in search of a place to do some real camping.

This was a thrown-together, last-minute, grab your pillow and comforter, type of camping trip, and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

We had a few ideas of where we wanted to go, but we had no idea that it was National Gatlinburg Camping Saturday (joke). Literally, every place we went was completely booked! Fortunately, we stumbled upon an open spot in Elkmont and set-up camp. It was a really cheap night because we still had a lot of leftover meat from the cabin and so we grilled it and enjoyed a good warm fire.

The best part about the night was probably the fact that none of our phones worked. Since we were so deep in the mountains and far from civilization, none of us had any service. You may think that's not a good thing, but it's kind of nice to be secluded from all of the worries of life. Naturally, as soon as we entered an area where we had service the following morning, our phones lit up with text messages and voice mails from friends wanting to know why we ignoring their calls.

Overall, it was a really fast paced weekend but a lot of fun, and I'm glad that I was able to enjoy a few of the activities that Knoxville offers. The amount of sleep I got this weekend was pretty limited so I'll probably be feeling it pretty heavily throughout this week, but hey, that's why we have naps. Until next time, stay classy readers.

It's Fall Break Time!!!!!

2007-10-15T14:47:00.001-04:00

I've never needed a break like I needed this Fall Break. In the past two weeks, I have had two midterms, two P-Chem homeworks, and a P-Chem lab report that took around twenty hours to complete. To say the least, I was worn out! Instead of planning an elaborate fall break full of fun activities and traveling, I took the simple route; going home. You can't lose when you decide to go home. My parents pampered me like they had not seen me in years. When I come in town, I get to choose what we eat for every meal, what I want to do during the day (even if it's just sleeping), and if I want to go out, they offer to pay. This is quite the difference from when I lived at home before going to college. I had one of the most relaxing and stress-free fall breaks ever. My mom made me some of the most incredible meals every night, I slept in every morning, and I watched Sports Center and football during the days.

I will admit that I was slightly active. A few times during the week I played flag football with my brother and friends, and we had a great time! Playing football is always a lot of fun, but it definitely shows me how out of shape I truly have become. When I was in high school, I played sports all the time and so I couldn't help but stay in shape. Now that I am in college, it's difficult to find the time to work out and stay on a consistent schedule.

I really wanted to go fishing while I was home, but the water was so low that it would have been tough to catch anything. I guess I'll have to wait until the spring to start fishing again.

The picture at the top shows two of my good friends Homer (on the left) and Dave (in the middle). I hope they don't mind that I posted them in this blog because I didn't ask them. If you ask me, I just made them famous, and they should probably thank me. Homer and Dave are both resident assistants with me in Clement, and we help keep each other sane when the job gets tough. The RA job is a great gig, but I will admit that it has its difficult moment. I can't complain though because how many jobs do you know of where you work where you live and you get paid to meet people. Being an RA has really been an excellent job for the past three years, and I would recommend it to anyone.

Well, I better start my homework and possibly do some laundry. I'll try to get some good pictures and maybe have a more compelling blog next time. Until then, stay classy readers.

The Beginning

2007-10-05T17:41:00.000-04:00

What's up readers? This is a pretty exciting time at the University of Tennessee as well as in my life. As you have probably already read from my profile, I am a senior trying to get through the wonderful world of chemistry. It's really weird being a senior in college. When I came to UT my freshmen year, I had no idea what I was doing or what I would do when I graduated, but I didn't care. I felt like I had all the time in the world to make those important decisions. Unfortunately, college has gone by so quickly and now I am staring down the end of a road that leads to growing up and making a living. I guess that's not a bad thing, but at the same time, I'm just not ready to be done with school. Lucky for me, I plan on attending Dental School, which means I have a solid four more years to be a student and not an employee.

I graduated from Baylor School in Chattanooga, TN in 2004 with a few more than 100 people in my class. When I was thinking of colleges to attend, the University of Tennessee was the last school on my list and was definitely my safety school. I knew that I wanted to focus on academics, and as much as I LOVED Tennessee Football, I felt like the atmosphere would be too overwhelming and the classes too large for me to succeed. Man was I wrong. I grudgingly went on a tour to UT (mainly because of my parents), but as much as I wanted to stand by my decision to go to a smaller college, I couldn't help but notice and love all that Tennessee offered. My parents were in love, and I was very pleased and so UT was the obvious choice. I can honestly say that it has been one of the best decisions I have made thus far, and Tennessee has helped define the person that I have become.

26,000 students can seem very overwhelming, but now that I am here, I wish there were more students. I played sports all through high school and never really had the opportunity to get involved with organizations and other groups. When I came to UT, it was one of my goals to get involved and meet people from all walks of life. I succeeded in doing that (maybe even a little too much), and it has made UT seem much smaller and more like home. UT has literally been my home for the past four years of my life, and it has been a great outlet for allowing me to mature as a person.

My goal here is not to try and convince you to come to Tennessee, but instead, just to let you see life at UT through my eyes. I would encourage anyone to come to Tennessee, but I understand that it may not be for everyone. Regardless, I hope to be an honest college student at the University of Tennessee and let you make that decision for yourself. Until next time, stay classy readers.