Celebrating the Fourth of July at UT Tyler

Today is July the second, which means that in two days fireworks will light the night sky during a national celebration of Independence Day.  Most people will host grand parties with plenty of food and obviously a lot of fireworks.  Do you have any plans? If not, then perhaps I can help. If you have already started planning your celebration, then maybe I can help you along the way!  If you are interested in throwing an amazing fourth of July celebration without paying an absurd price, then read on!

Beating the heat at UT Tyler

Summer is rapidly approaching us here at the University of Texas at Tyler.  The past couple of weeks have seen temperatures as high as 95 degree already! Some people love the warmth of summer, but I cannot stand the heat and humidity.  Rather than embrace the heat, I prefer to find other things to do things that will avoid the boiling temperatures.  If you are like me, keep reading to get some new ideas on what to do during the summer to have fun while still avoiding the heat!

UT Orientation Leader 2014!!!

     It's that time of the year again!! Orientation season is upon us! Orientation is part of the new student program here at The University of Texas at Tyler. It helps incoming freshman transition to college. It also provides a different experience as they participate in a different program that exposes the campus and its resources to them. I can't wait for the sessions to start!

Summertime at UT Tyler

We did it! This school year at UT Tyler has finally drawn to an end, and not a moment too soon.  So, now that you are finally not stressing about school, how are you going to spend your summer? Are you going to just sit back and watch the next three months fly by, or are you going to get out and be productive? If you are the considering the latter, then read on! 

The Mystique of As Seen on TV Products: Can You Resist?

Ah, summer: the time of the year when the days are the long and the nights are awesome, there’s no class schedules to keep up with, and no finals to stress over. Let the Netflix binging begin! While some use the summer as a chance to take their passports and go all over the world, others use summer as a chance to unwind and have a nice “staycation”. Want to know some of the fun from having that staycation? Getting to see some of the hilarious, “how have I lived my entire life without this product” As Seen on TV commercials!!

I’ve compiled a list of some of the best As Seen on TV products that really caught my eye. Many of them are available at a Wal-Mart near you!

When in doubt, go with bacon!

-Perfect Bacon Bowl: because scrambled eggs on a plate is so passé! Cure the gustatory doldrums with a bacon bowl. Delectable bacon is the answer to all of life’s problems. Don’t know what to put with your boring, old macaroni and cheese? The answer is always bacon.

Call me Harry Potter, because this is magic!

-Moo Mixer: you will never have to struggle with having to mix chocolate milk with a spoon again. The struggle doesn’t have to be real anymore, folks! Press the trigger on the cow print handle and watch it automatically stir. No longer will you have to stir chocolate milk like a muggle! 

-Ice Cream Magic: so I know that the intended audience for this product is most likely small children, however I know many college students that would be super excited over this product.  with a variety of options such as chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry available, how can one’s inner child possibly be suppressed? I know mine can’t. I am planning an escapade to Sonic for a milkshake as I type this because I don’t have an Ice Cream Magic yet.

Ice cream is the most amazing thing <3

-Chillow: as anyone in Texas can attest to, it gets super extremely hot in the summer. The chillow is a pillow that you can put in the refrigerator and it will get cold! This is very handy here because it is absolutely unbearable to sleep on a hot pillow when it is hot outside and there is only so much air conditioning can do.  I’m already on my way to trying to develop a Chillow bed. I’m thinking of calling it “The Chill-ed”. Don’t take it from me! It’s as good as patented!

If I can get my hair to look like this, I will be winning. Just add pink!

-Air Curler: this looks really cool! Like honestly. The reviews said it worked pretty decently for both long and short hair. It also seems like it wouldn’t damage hair as badly as my usual morning routine of blow drying and straightening/curling it in the mornings. Instead of doing both, I’m just doing one and it would be on a lower setting! As long as one uses hairspray or mousse, the curls should hold. This one is definitely worth a try. 

 While some most As Seen on TV products are just silly and make the people in the commercials look like they are completely inept at living, there are some that are worth a closer look!

Giving back to the High School Debate Community

Being a member of the UT Tyler debate team means that I don’t have a lot of weekends to do things, and I very rarely have time to leave Tyler just because we are usually working at the debate office.  However, the past couple of weeks I have had the great opportunity to help give back to the community that made me who I am.

Every summer, hundreds of high school debaters pay to attend debate camps across the state of Texas. I had the fortune of working at one a couple of weeks ago.  I was on staff at the Texas Speech and Debate Camp, hosted by East Texas Baptist University. 

Together, with 4 other staff members, we helped almost 30 debaters from the east Texas high school debate community work on their policy debate skills.  This was my second year working at the camp, but my experience was even better than last year!

The camp was a week long, and featured a variety of lectures from each of the staff members as well as plenty of practice rounds for each of the debaters to participate in, followed by a tournament at the end of the camp to allow the debaters to utilize some of the skills that they had developed while at the camp.  For those that follow the blog and read my last post about the camp that I attended as a student, it was a very similar schedule and format for the camp. 

I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to work with.  I had such a great time working and helping students develop their skills as debaters.  It was such a joy to work and give back to the community that I was a part of for four years of high school.  My goal has always been to graduate from college and teach high school while coaching debate.  With this camp, I have had the opportunity to get a taste of that life, and I can’t wait. 

I also had the chance to go back to my former high school and help their debate team for a week as they get ready for the upcoming season that starts in less than a month.  It was a week of fun as I helped them prepare their different argumentative positions and helped teach new debaters the basics of policy debate.

Both of these camps were such a blast to work at, and I can’t wait until next summer to do it all again.  I have had such a blast working and helping out this community and I hope that I can continue to do this for many years. I would encourage each student that attends college to not forget about your roots.  If you ever have the opportunity to go and give back to any events you participated in during high school, take advantage of it.  It is always nice to make your community or event a better place.

This is the Student Center, where the campers had time to prepare themselves for the camp tournament while at the Texas Speech and Debate Camp.

Geocaching Adventures in Tyler, Texas

     Anyone that is looking for a fun activity this summer in Tyler, look no further.  If you enjoy the outdoors, riddles and puzzles, and general adventuring of some form, there is an activity perfect for you: Geocaching.   An exciting outdoor activity, it is perfect for everyone, and 100% accessible to anyone with GPS technology.

     

     Geocaching is a real-world treasure hunting/scavenger hunt that utilizes GPS-devices to navigate to different geocaches (containers) hidden around the world.  On the Geocaching website (or on the smart phone app), your zip code or general location is all you need, and you will be given the GPS coordinates to all nearby geocaches for you to go discover!  Once you find the geocache, be sure to log your name on the log sheet, and if there are prizes inside the container, feel free to reward yourself! Just remember, it is common courtesy in the activity to leave something as well, that way the geocache remains fun for everyone who finds it.

A puzzle-based geocache
hunt, found in the Houston area

The fake log.
A popular geocache disguise. 

     The concept behind Geocaching is a simple one, but it delivers some seriously entertaining results.  First time members of the Geocaching experience find that geocaches are easy to find at first; these are the geocaches found mostly in urban settings, such as in public parks, parking lots, or other residential areas.  However, commitment to the activity leads to more challenging geocaches, as well as varying genres of geocaches, such as night searches, multi-step, riddle-based, micro-caches, challenge-caches, and many more.  Just look to the difficulty level next to the geocache description on their website to see how much adventuring will be required! 

    

    Now, for UT Tyler students that are interested, you need not look far for your first geocache.  According to the Geocaching website, there are nine geocaches hidden within our fine University grounds, all waiting for you to discover them!  Use the campus map with the map given on the Geocaching website if you need more help finding a certain geocache.  There are even more in the general Tyler area, all you need to do is look them up on the website, and then enjoy!

One of the geocaches on the
UT Tyler campus.
Go find it, and bring tweezers!!

     

     If you start the activity and want to contribute, create your own geocache!  Check out the rules and procedures on the Geocaching website for more information!  Some geocaches have been in existence for over ten years, constantly discovered by avid geocachers!  Get in contact with members of the UT Tyler Outdoor Adventures Program and see if they would be interested in the activity as well. 

     
     Find the website for more information about this activity!  If you are bored this summer, and are looking for a fun adventure that will continually provide excitement the more you commit to it, Geocaching is just for you!

Castles, Castles, and More Castles II

Continued from Castles, Castles, and more Castles….

Lindisfarne Castle on Holy Island

After a plane delay, 10 hour plane ride, and 2 hour ride on the Britrail, I found myself (along with my family) in Wallsend just on the outskirts of Newcastle in Northumbria (Northern England). On the first day we took a taxi around to a few castles within a car rides distance from where we were staying (more on that in a future blog).

Emmy's Summer

 This is a video of my traveling throughout my summer. My vacations were to Austin, Galveston and to Oakland/San Francisco, California. Whilst in California, I went to an awesome concert in Golden Gate park called Outside Lands. Footage from that concert is at the end of the video.When I was not taking these awesome trips I was at home taking an online developmental math course and biology and taking care of my new puppy, a Shnorkie (a Schnauzer and Yorkie) named Charlie.
                                     
               

SUPER SUMMER

Well folks, it's officially SUPER SUMMER!!!! I'm not a big fan of stepping on the new pavement they put down for the parking lots and it sticking to my feet. I'm also not a fan of sticking my head out of the window of my car like a dog since it's 150 in my car while it's only 108 outside. So, to help with your survival of the super summer here are a few helpful tips to help you get through the next few months.

Austin City Limits 2009.... SUPER HEAT!!!

Summer College Life

STRESS OVERLOAD

So you know how summer is supposed to be the time to relax and not stress about anything? I would like to meet whoever came up with that concept and prove them wrong by having them experience what my average day usually consists of:

6:15AM- Wake up and get in the shower

6:45AM- Get out of shower and make coffee

7:00AM- Start getting ready for work

7:40AM- Aim to leave my apt by this time

8:00AM-1:00PM- Work for the District Attorney

1:00PM- Leave work

1:15PM- Eat lunch at my apt

1:45PM- Leave my apt for class

2:00PM-4:20PM- Topics in Communications Class

4:00PM-9:00PM-Work at the Student Communications Center

9:00PM-Drive back to the apt

9:15PM- Eat dinner

9:45PM- 11:00PM Workout

11:10PM- Shower

11:30PM-12:15AM-Study

12:30AM-Sleep

This is a pretty accurate timeline of how my days will pan out until June 15th, and then I will be able subtract the Topics in Communications Class....which will take away a little stress. However, if you take a look at my planner for the next 4 months you will see that my stress has just begun.

You Stay Hydrated, Tyler

I stepped outside of my apartment earlier this week and it dawned upon me. As I wiped the layers of sweat that had already begun to accumulate on my forehead I realized something.... Summer is upon us.

Yes you could argue that it's been summer since the end of May and all and say, "look at me, look at me! I'm right and you're wrong!" but I would end up smacking you in the most humiliating fashion. Well... I may not smack you. Perhaps a good talking to would do the trick. Anyway, you really can't call is summer in Texas (especially East Texas) until the temperature rises to the 90s. When it gets into the triple digits we like to call that Super Summer. Luckily for us Super Summer has yet to hit us. So I have decided to start a blog series on tips for surviving the dreaded SUPER SUMMER!!!

Summer..... at UT Tyler

........... And then all was silent. Not the tick-tacking of keys on a laptop. Not the pitter-patter of shuffling feet as they make their way to class. Nor the heated tension pouring from the minds of students pushing for that perfect final grade. Only the rustling of fallen leaves and the incessant squawking of ducks remain.

Here in the call center there is just fellow blogger Megan Allen and I. The others have either graduated or gone home for the summer break. We shall be joined by more soon but until then we shall blog about the happenings at and around the University of Texas at Tyler during the summer. Believe me. Stuff happens. Like this for instance.

Dresses Only, this Spring

In response to Bianca's bloggie, I would have to agree that we hardly have seasons here in Tyler, but I could hardly complain. "Proper Spring-wear" is something I have no real idea about, but I'll tell you what I do know.


I like dresses. One can never be in a bad mood in a dress, and in the harsh Texas heat, they serve me well. I have dresses in every color- white, blue, black, pink. No matter my mood one will fit. I also adore them, because if I lose or gain a little bit of weight as the semester goes on, most dresses will still fit properly. They tend to be more forgiving than their two legged counterpart. 


For those of you that don't go for dresses,  I have compiled a list of trends I noticed from scrutinizing fashion blogs:
neons
denims
laces
knits
sheers
pastels
floral prints
tribal prints
hi-low skirts
trapeze tanks
music artist graphic tees & tanks
blazers 
gladiators
platforms
shoulder bags


The beauty is, these new trends are just old trends, so I hope you never threw anything away. 

Just because it is popular, 
doesn't mean I have to like it, though.