Finals week... then A BREAK!

Well, it is Finals Week… DUN Dun dun!!!

These finals are bitter sweet for me because I don’t want any of my classes to end. I have awesome professors and I am learning about the coolest things. What am I going to do when it is all over? I guess I will just have to look forward to the upcoming Spring semester when I can start all over again, because it is inevitable, finals are happening, and they are coming fast!

Let me tell you the best way to get through finals week. It requires a lot of sugar! I always go and buy a bag of peanut M&M's and a bag of some sort of fruity candy. This Semester I got some Starburst Crazy Beans!

Took this picture of my candy stash... unfortunately these only lasted me 2 days. :(

It is crazy to think about how much weight is placed on these finals. They are your way to prove how well you have picked up what your professors are putting down, if you know what I mean. When all is said and done, all that you have learned is being compacted into a measly little two hour test. Sure it’s stressful, but that doesn’t mean that there is not time for any fun. In fact, tonight there is a SILENT DANCE in the library. Everybody pops their headphones in and dances like crazy to their own tunes for a half hour. Then at 10:00 exactly everybody howls like crazy! Yelling all of your stress away. After the howl is over every goes back to studying like crazy. Studying is important, but not going crazy is almost just as important. I've got a video of the beginnings of the dance from last year. It starts with a few peple and grows to a TON of people! Thirty minutes later, everything is back to normal.

This is what all of you future aggies have to look forward to!!!!

Festival of TREES!

Last Friday, I was spending some time down in Salt Lake City with some friends and we decided to go to the Festival of Trees. I know that many festival of trees are going on right now around this time, but I'm sure there are none that are bigger than this one!

Up-side-down Tree

Lots of trees

This festival had HUNDREDS of christmas trees. Two performing stages with back to back performances all night long. We saw performances ranging from clogging grandma's to showtune choirs with 5 year old soloists. There were also gingerbread houses, Christmas quilts and my favorite, Christmas FUDGE for sale.

The whole festival was put on by the Primary Childrens Hospital as a fundraisor. They raise over 1.6 million dollars from this event every year! It was so fun to kick off the Christmas season with an event of this calibur!

UTAH STATE TREE!!!

Let the Holidays begin!!!

The Death of Me! (But I'm still alive)

Last week, my entire week was taken up by Corporate Finance. I had an exam on Friday and every waking hour that wasn't spent in meetings, or class, or work was spent in my finance text book.

I am happy to report that I got an A- on my Exam! Happy day! What can I say... Finance isn't exactly my cup of tea. I have to work really hard for good grades in that class and an A- represents hours of tireless studying, lots of hot chocolate drinking from the cafe in the library, and lots of studying with groups of friends. 

My Chick-Fil-A sandwich was a heart

I was able to take a little break to go to College Night with some friends at Chick-Fil-A. They have buy one #1 combo meal and get another for free on Tuesday Nights! Sometimes I buy 2 meals for myself (because it is really for the price of 1) and sometimes I share my other meal with a friend. This time I took a picture of my sandwich because it was showin' me some love! You can see for yourself why.

The cool kids call it Po-Bev

Tons of students watching the performances

Once a month, ASUSU has an event called Poetry and a Beverage. We all call it Po-Bev for short. This weekend was the November Po-Bev and it was a blast! There were hundreds of people there and there were some really cool performances. Po-Bev is basically an open mic night. Anybody can sign up to perform and you can do anything you want. Most people will play a musical instrument or sing a karaoke song, some people recite poetry from their favorite author and others recite poetry that they’ve written.

Every month the beverage is something different. This time it was milk and cookies. It was really fun to hang out with some friends, watch some friends share their talents, and to eat some milk and cookies.

Chillin' at Po-Bev

Career Exploration

Center for Economic Development Conference Room

This past week I had an AWESOME opportunity! The School of Business has a program that allows students to explore different career options. We drove down to Salt Lake super early in the morning and had appointments all day long. One of my favorite companies that we visited was a non-profit organization called Center for Economic Development. This company was located on one of the top floors in a tall building. We met in their conference room where you could see the entire Salt Lake Valley out of these HUGE windows.



The Capital Building

Some of our other visits included an investor, the Governor’s office, some political campaign consultants and the Chamber of Commerce. It was such a rich experience. I learned so much! It was great to be able to take a day to think about my future. Because of that day, I have spent some time rethinking some of my goals. Being a student is the best part of my life so far! The options are endless and every day, new opportunities present themselves! Utah State has opened so many doors for me. I can't wait to see what’s in store for me these next few days and months!

The Governer's Office

Texas Roadhouse Group Project

Little girl painting a pumpkin

This semester I am taking a management class that teaches us how to manage organizations and people. For this class we are put into groups and we have to plan and carry out an event that raises money for a non profit organization. My group decided to team up with Texas Roadhouse, a restaurant here in Logan. Texas Roadhouse donated 10% of sales to our non profit organization. We planned some fun Halloween activities to go on in the parking lot of Texas Roadhouse to bring people to the restuarant. We had a Trunk or Treat, and we had Pumpkin Painting. Lots of little kids had a lot of fun getting candy from the trunks of cars and painting pumpkings in AGGIE colors.

Trunk or Treat Car
 

The Narrows!

This past week was Fall break! With the extra day without classes I went with a few friends down to the Zions Narrows in Southern Utah. We hiked from the top of the narrows all the way to the bottom for a total of 16 MILES! This hike wasn't just a normal hike either, it was through a river for the most part. We woke up at 4:30 and began hiking in the dark with frost on the ground and our frozen breath in the air. The first time that we had to cross a river, it was fridged! After crossing the river for the hundreth time, there was not more feeling in my feet which was actually a good thing because my legs were getting soar!

It was so early, I couldn't help but yawn

Sitting on a log! a good break from the river.

Despite all of the crazy hard things that we put ourselves through, it was all  worth it! I would do it again if I ever get the chance. That canyon was BEAUTIFUL! The walls were so narrow and so tall and the leaves were amazing bright fall colors. This midsemester break came just at the perfect time. LIFE IS GOOD!

Open Houses

This week I had the opportunity to go to the Utah State Davis County Open House. We have these open houses all over the state and in several other states too. I have always had a blast going to these open houses. It is so fun to talk to high school students who are thinking about Utah State. I was in charge of getting people to join the Facebook group. You all should join the group right now! It's called "USU incoming class 2013"

Utah State ROCKS! You'll never hear anything different. and if you come to one of our open houses, you can take a picture with Big Blue too.

See y'all up here soon!

Steve

Alien Babies and Chinese Takeout

my home remidy collection

  Well, This week has definitely been a little bit of a change of pace. I have begun to pass a couple of kidney stones and so I have spent a lot of time in my house taking pain killers and trying to sleep. Let me tell you, kidney stones are PAINFUL little suckers! I call them little alien babies because it feels like I have a little aliens crawling around inside of me. At one point I looked up online some home remedies to take care of these things and I went to the store and bought everything that could possibly help.
I missed a lot of class, but all of my professors are very understanding.

my Chinese takeout with football in the background

On Friday night, we had a football game being played at BYU in Provo. Provo is about 2 hours South of here. All of my friends headed down to that game. I couldn't go because I was in so much pain. I ordered some Chinese food for delivery and watched the game on ESPN all by myself. Fortunately I was able to talk to my friends during the game through texting and twitter.

The little alien babies haven't passed quite yet, I can't wait until they do! that will be a relief!

Welcome Home AGGIES!!! Homecoming Week!

Well, Homecoming is over. This week was a blast! Once again, fun activities going on every day of the week. I also got to see many of my old friends who have already graduated. Lots of Alumni were up here this week celebrating their roots! This week the activities ranged from a comedian to powder puff football. Some of my favorite activities were the Mr. USU pageant, and the Parade on Saturday Morning. Not even to mention the Awesome FOOTBALL GAME Saturday evening.

WHITE OUT!!! Homecoming Football Game

Mr. USU Contestants

I got to compete in the Mr. USU pageant this year. I was Mr. Business. Each college at Utah State, (all 8 of them), had a representative in the competition. We were judged on formal Western wear, an interview, swimwear and a talent. For my talent, to stay in touch with the western theme, I played a piano while sitting on a saddle thaI had placed onto  the piano bench. Some of the talents from the other guys were poetry, singing, and flipping from tables. It was a really fun competition to be involved in.

True Aggie Night!

Friday night we had our homecoming dance. lots of people came, and even more people showed up for True Aggie Night. Homcoming night is one of only TWO NIGHTS that anybody can kiss anybody on the "A" statue to become a true aggie. Usually you have to kiss an already true aggie to become a true aggie under a full moon. The line to kiss on the "A" was hundreds of people long. It was quite a sight. Good thing I am already a true aggie!

This semester has been a blast so far! I hope y'all have enjoyed experiencing it through my writing.

-Steve

Taking Care of Business

Hey guys,

Here at USU, we have been celebrating Business Week. I am on the Business Council at the Huntsman School of Business here at Utah State and I spent the better part of my summer planning this week. There are about 20 of us on the Business Council and we have all been working our butts off! Now, since the week is over, we finally get a break. Here are some of the activities that we had.

 

 Monday, we had Dogs with the Dean. Dean Anderson, the Dean of the School of Business, served over 600 hotdogs to the student body.

 

Tuesday we had a huge service project for the Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City, Utah. We wrote over 2,200 hand written letters, made over 1,100 rice warming bags, and folder over 500 non wilting, paper flowers. over 1200 students volunteered their time. Tuesday night, we had an ugly tie dance. Lots of people came wearing ugly ties.

Sowing rice bags for the service project

Business Council with Recycled Percussion

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To cap off the week, we had a concert on Old Main Hill on Friday night. I had the awesome opportunity of emceeing the concert. It was an absolute blast. We had 2 awesome acts. The first was Profetik, a band involving several students from here at USU. They opened for Recycled Percussion. Recycled Percussion gave an AWESOME show. They play a nightly show on the strip in Las Vegas and they were able to switch some things around to come up and perform for us right here in Logan, UT. Thousands of people came, the crowd filled Old Main Hill all the way to the top. And for those of you who don’t know, Old Main Hill is HUGE! I had such a fun time getting to know the guys in Recycled Percussion and watching them perform. It was the perfect capstone event to an awesome week!

 

I got most of the events on video and they should be up on the website soon. I can't wait for all of you to experience this week. It's been such a blast!

 

Till next time everyone.

 

Winning Team!!!

I believe that we DID win! I believe that we DID win! I believe that WE DID WIN!

Hello All! Steve here, writing all of my adventures after a wicked sweet weekend up here in Logan. We have been making it big up here with our latest football game. For those of you who are living under a rock, we beat one of our rivals, the University of Utah, in overtime. IT WAS EPIC!!! I lost my voice from yelling, and I had a huge headache from being in such a loud environment, but I wouldn't have changed a thing! Storming the field after a victory that was so well deserved produced a feeling that is hard to explain. Our football program is definitely up and coming and getting better and better every year.

Most of this week was spent catching up on homework for me. With the Week of Welcome last week and Business week next week, this week was the only week that I had time to really get ahead in my homework. I spent many hours in the HUB, one of the food courts on campus, eating and studying with my friends. I love to study in the HUB because I always run into a friend or two that I can catch up with. There are so many great people to get to know on campus!

Until next time, as they say here in USU athletics, BELIEVE IT!

WOW! Week of Welcome at Utah State

What’s up Guys! Steve here, writing again about all of my awesome adventures here at
Utah State. What a week! One week of classes have come and gone. Some parts fly by and some parts… well, didn’t fly by. There is lots of stress to be had during the first week of school, but here at Utah State there are so many activities going on to ease your mind. All week long there was music being played on the patio of the student center. I had a blast in-between classes listening to all of my talented friends and meeting new talented friends all at the same time.



80's dance -- EPIC

There were also tons of other things going on. Old Main hill was turned into the most gigantic theater that I have ever seen when they set up a HUGE blow up screen and played “The Avengers.” Hundreds of students showed up to that. Hundreds of students also attended the annual 80’s dance. Everybody dressed up in their best 80’s getup and danced to basically the greatest music of all time! It made me sad that I wasn’t born until the 90’s. I feel like I missed out on a great era!



Me and some friends at the game

Probably my favorite event of the week was our opening football game against Southern Utah University, we won by a ton! I had a blast watching the game with my friends and showing my school spirit by cheering with the entire student body! It was a good reminder as to why ESPN always ranks our student section as one of the top in the nation!

Life is Good! And once again Utah State welcomed back its students with a bang!

Till next time guys, live it up!

Ringin' in the new school year!

Hello Friends!

My name is Steve Mortenson. I am a student here at Utah State University and have been for several years now. I am studying business administration and I LOVE my major. I LOVE all of my classes and I also LOVE living up here in Logan. In fact, there is no other place that I would rather be! Life is good, Logan is great, and the friends and activities up here at Utah State are amazing.

I am sitting here on my couch in shock that classes start tomorrow. Where has this summer gone. It zipped by so fast, but I have had many fun times. I stayed in Logan all summer long. I was lucky to be a member of the A-Team here at Utah State. I helped with the orientation and registration of many incoming Freshman. Even though I was not taking classes, I was still able to be on campus almost every day for various reasons. What can I say, I feel deprived of my Utah State time if I go a few days without setting foot on campus, and we can't let that happen now can we?



The A-Team, best group of people you'll ever meet!

I am so excited to be able to be a part of the My Friends program. I am going to be posting on this blog regularly throughout the next school year. I will also be posting videos regularly about my adventures. Keep your arms and legs in the vehicle at all times because let me tell you, it is going to be a crazy ride! And I sure hope you end up loving every second of this adventure as much as me!

Till next time, Keep it real y'all.