College is teaching me what not to do...

I am an education major and have already learned countless ways to teach young'uns in ways that make them want to learn, that make them learn effectively, and that make them remember my every word. I have sat in very informative classes in which inspiring ideas have found my brain and captured my attention. But the biggest thing I am learning in college is what not to do. Not a week goes by when I feel like I must look like a cartoon character with smoke coming out of my ears. My professors piss me off on an extremely regular basis. If you asked me how I am liking school I would readily say I love it, becuase I do, but that doesn't quite counterbalance the bad moods those doctors continually put me in.
I just got out of a meeting with a professor who handed me back all of my work from the entire semester, and who gave me a C on my midterm because my answers weren't long enough. There was no required length attatched to the answers beforehand so I was a bit baffled because my professor said "I can tell you understood the ideas, you just didn't talk about them enough." WHAT! "Well you have your peers to thank for that, alot of them gave at least a paragraph for each question." I wasn't aware that we were graded based on how well our peers did. If she had read my midterm first and saw that I understood the ideas, and answered the questions sufficiently yet shortly, would she have graded the rest of the midterms badly because they took a paragraph to say what I could say in three sentences?

The Best Rainy Day Ever

I am supposed to be writing a paper on the use of the word wit in John Dryden's and Alexander Pope's poems, I know that sounds exciting but what I would rather do is write about my day. With the end of the semester approaching quickly I have been less motivated to attend class and more motivated to sleep. I fought that urge this morning and dutifully drove the fiveish blocks to school (call me lazy, I don't care). I received an interesting email this morning informing me that the Chris Matthews College tour would be making a stop in West Chester and would be bringing Barack Obama with it! The tickets were to go on "sale" at noon. I my head I thought, getting there at eleven would be smart, but my body said "no....sleep". So at eleven I slept for a little while and convinced myself that I would go at noon and if I got a ticket it was meant to be. I arrived at noon and in all the excitement I forgot to put some quarters in the meter (a sure way to pay 20 dollars to park for 45 minutes). Oh well I thought, its Obama. Evelyn and I got in line which started almost right behind us because it wrapped the entire way around a building which began to suprise me with its magnitude. What I thought would be a half-hour thing turned into a 2 and a half hour ordeal. I missed an entire class and stood in the freezing rain for longer than I thought I had the endurance for. Apparently I like Barack Obama. We met a wonderful person name Laura who half way through went on a coffee run for us, and who towards the end we realized graduated from Twin Valley and has some of our best friends in common. The entire situation was coupled with the fact that there was only a limited number of tickets, which gave us close to no hope for getting one. We watched people give up, but we stood fast and strong. And glory be we got tickets! Standing room only mind you, we won't make the mistake of being late this time! But I will be able to see Barack Obama in the flesh...

Today's Mission: Obtain a Delicious Carbonated, Yet Healthy, Drink

I woke up this morning with an agenda, this never happens, and even if it does happen, there is usually zero motivation to fufill my agenda. Today, however, was very different. I want to find one of two wonderful drinks that I have recently fallen in love with. One is an Izze which is fruit juice with carbonated water, the other is a POM tea which is pomegranete tea mixed with myriads of different flavors. I could just visit the local Starbucks, but I don't want just one of these drinks, I want a bulk collection.

This is my 'I have mission' stance, ask anybody (by anybody I mean my Mom and RJ).


I put on some clothes, always essential, and check to make sure that I look worthy of the Izze and Pom tea.


Lookin good...

I get in my car. My plan of attack is check out every grocery store in the tri-county area. Starting with a one Genuardis which I am only about 25% sure I know the location of. I feel like in a dream I have been there before so I head to out find this well laid out and friendly grocery store.

On the way I look out my window to see my favorite street, my home.


I drive for a while not knowing the whereabouts of my destination. And because the heavens smile upon me I found this wonderful place.


However, apparently there is no justice in the world and I know that following the ideas of karma you aren't really supposed to expect good things to happen to you unless you intentionally do good things for someone else, but you know...it could start with you being the receiver of good! That is what I am always crossing my fingers for, not today though....not today. There were no deliciously fuity and carbonated or pomegranete teas to speak of at that dang Genuardis.

So because my car is running on empty and I have to work in an hour, I give up and return to my apartment to use my safety resource. First I put on the shoes that deserve to walk to Starbucks.


I go to nearest Starbucks. When I think about how much I love this place I feel absolutely no feelings of cliche whatsoever ...I will explain these deep feelings in a later post.

This wonderful place...


Provides me with this...


And a very good piece of coffee cake to boot.
I have done further research and will consult my local Wegmans later this evening to drain it of its Izze and POM tea resources.

How my family does Christmas

First we exchange names...we don't try to keep the names a secret, it's too difficult and pointless, and besides, how would be buy gifts for one another without directly consulting the giftee.
On Christmas morning we wake up way too early (like 9:30, we all agree this is early, excepting the mother and the father).
Jesse and the Christmas bear make us breakfast

Then the gifting starts

I am finally a true student of West Chester, all I need is UGGs to complete my transformation courtesy of Kathryn



What? A ski jacket that will keep you alive in the Arctic, the Jungle, and the Desert, that can turn into a tent, a bomb shelter, and an SUV all in one half hour?

This one is just a ski jacket, although it does offer the ability to become just a fleece...

Now, what makes the Burkholder Christmas different from everybody else's, is that those looks of suprise and excitement are only partially genuine. All of those gifts were hand picked by the person on the receiving end. I picked out those sweatpants and was present at the point of purchase, I also took them to the dry cleaner's to have them hemmed. My brother picked that jacket out and watched me buy it for him, and my sister also picked her present and tried it on when it came in the mail to make sure it was the right fit and color. The excitement you see in these pictures is becuase we have known exactly what we are getting, where it is hiding, and that we cannot use it until Christmas. Does this make our Christmas less fun? No, it however has the adverse affect, it tends to make our Christmas not only fun, but funny. It's just how we do in Burkholderland.

p.s. here is a card I made for a very special family. Made with ink taken out of a ball point pen and painted onto the paper.

It her birthday

I will use my first post to honor a wondeful woman who I am proud to call my friend.