Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Mark's LiveJournal:

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Sunday, September 16th, 2007
9:31 am	For anyone who still checks this thing, I thought I'd give a quick update on my life. (Especially since so much has changed since you last saw me.) I'll try to make this somewhat short. When I came to campus I started working on a research project for one of my professors. It's something I've really enjoyed...a new form of learning that I've never had the opportunity to experience before. Well, during one of our meetings he asked me what my GPA is. I told him, and he said that if I haven't done it yet, I should strongly consider getting my Masters degree. I entertained the idea of staying here an extra year and a half (I'd graduate in May 2009 and I'd do an internship next summer). Then I thought, if I could get all of my tuition paid for it wouldn't be a bad idea - it's something I really think I'd enjoy. Plus, I'd still be 22 when graduating with a Masters so it's not like I'd really be behind everyone else financially. So I looked at everything I had to do on August 30, and I found out the application deadline is October 1, but they recommend everything be in by September 1. Haha...obviously that wasn't going to happen, but I still figured I could make the October 1 deadline. I signed up for the GRE (like the SAT for grad students), studied my ass off for a week, then took it this past Wednesday. I did really well - 800 (perfect) on the Quantitative section (which is what really matters) and 560 on Verbal. There's also an essay portion. I don't know what my score is on that yet, but I feel like I did really well. We'll see. I also had to get three letters of recommendation for grad school, so I figured out who I wanted to use and they are all in the process of writing them for me. I've made my mind up that if I get grad school paid for (which is very likely at this point) then I'm definitely staying. Kinda weird considering a month ago I was so ready to go out into the real world and start working. But hey, I figured what the hell, why not if it's something I enjoy? Life other than that is really great too. I'm really happy right now and excited about a million things going on right now. Someday if things take a break for a little while I'll give y'all a call to catch up. Hope everyone's doing well! Current Mood: excited Current Music: O.A.R. - Hey Girl (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, August 6th, 2007
8:37 am	Reflections on Summer I haven't used this thing in a long time, and since a few of you have made efforts to keep the whole LJ thing alive, I might as well. This won't go into too much detail, but here goes nothing... This summer was great - I can't imagine many ways that it could've been better. First of all, I loved my internship. I learned sooo much this summer at the refinery, and I really want to work at one after I graduate. My supervisor and mentor both said that they would gladly hire me, and if I ever need a reference to let them know. However, I made the quick decision (only 30 minutes before my final review) to try to get a job at the refinery near Chicago. I was debating whether to take a job that I know I can have in Texas City, or go a little out of my way and try to get a job at a different refinery. I'm not sure where I would rather work, but I decided on Chicago because I don't think I'll get many chances after the next few years to live in the heart of a city and have lots of fun. It'll be more expensive and I'll miss my family here, but I don't think those are necessarily worth giving up a unique opportunity at this point. Plus, this isn't a permanent decision. After 3.5 years I'll have many chances to live wherever I want. Anyways, whether I work in Chicago, Texas City, or somewhere else, I just hope I keep learning as much as I learned this past summer. I've never in my life felt as successful or excited about my future as I do now. Now for the friends. The interns were a fun group of people. I didn't get to hang out with them as much as I would've liked because they all lived more than an hour away, but I had some great times with them. I didn't necessarily enjoy working with them all, but there were so many different types of people with different backgrounds, which always made things intereseting. I will miss a lot of those guys. Then three of my friends from U of I came down last weekend - Ben, Banjo, and Gange (Laura). I had one of the best weekends of my life (I'm not exagerrating) with them. We did all sorts of fun stuff and never really got bored...oh, and there was no drama. I'm so sick of drama - it was nice to get a weekend without it. Now onto the future. I'm ready to go back to school. I'm excited about classes, and I'm excited to be doing some undergraduate research for one of my professors this semester. Plus I miss my college friends a lot. Seeing those three last weekend made me want to see more of them. And while Ben is a Marine now, I want to see him again before going to TBS, plus Banjo and Gange are a lot of fun too. I'm looking forward to spending lots of quality time with them this semester. That being said, I'm ready to graduate. I was worried that I would regret graduating early, but after this summer, I just want to go out and work. Ask me again in four months and I might be regretting it, but right now, I truly think this is the best thing for me. So here's to a summer of new experiences, knowledge gained, fun times, and great friends. And here's to the future - no one knows what's in store for us, but I'm excited to find out. Current Mood: thoughtful Current Music: Kenny Chesney - Never Wanted Nothing More (Comment on this)
Friday, April 13th, 2007
3:50 pm	Blah. Life is hard. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Saturday, December 9th, 2006
12:24 pm	Wow... I shaved my head yesterday. If you'd like to see a picture, check my Facebook profile. I like it, but I think it'll take a lot of getting used to for everyone else. I like the idea of not having hat hair. Anyways, I guess everyone gets to see it in person in about a week and a half. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, November 29th, 2006
4:37 pm	Summer I will officially be working at the BP refinery for the summer. That is all. (8 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, November 21st, 2006
10:45 am	This Summer Looks like I'll be in the Houston-ish area this summer. Either in Texas City (with BP) or in Greenspoint (North Houston, with Exxon Mobil). Probably Texas City. I wish I didn't have to be out of the Chicago area though... It sucks enough having to wait a couple weeks at a time to see Stephanie. Now I guess I'll get to see her once (maybe twice) over the summer. But the good news is my chance of getting a full-time position in the Chicago area greatly increases if I take the Texas City job. Good news - I've had three interviews and three offers. Bad news - none of them are in Chicago or Illinois. Good news - I'll be in Houston close to a lot of family and friends this summer. Bad news - the girlfriend won't be here. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, September 9th, 2006
9:47 am	I'm only doing this for you, Laura! ESPN College Gameday guy: "So, Lance [Armstrong], how's the training for the New York Marathon going? You gonna win it?" Lance: "Yeah, barefoot." ESPN College Gameday guy: "Good. Down with the Kenyans!" ---------------------------------------------------------- I figured I'd update to keep all my fans happy. Life's been pretty good. My classes are pretty tough and they're going to get much worse when labs start up (this week). I also have Engineering Expo Monday-Wednesday, so I'm going to try to find an internship for the summer. I really hope to get a job with Boeing, since they're now headquartered in Chicago, but we'll see. Texas and Ohio State face off tonight. I'm pretty excited...Texas better win. Illinois got so embarrassed earlier today that I think all of my college football bad luck is gone for the day. Let's hope so anyways... Stephanie's coming back tomorrow night. I can't wait to see her again. I know it sounds pathetic, and it's not like I'm hating life or being all depressed when she's gone...it's just much better here when she's around. Anyways, I have to clean up my apartment for the game tonight, go shopping for a couple things, and cheer on my Longhorns! Current Mood: excited (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, August 13th, 2006
9:34 am	As of last night, Stephanie and I are safely in Sugar Land. The trip went a little quicker than expected - only 15.5 hours. Just letting everyone know we're here. Today will be pretty full though between church, showing Stephanie around town a little, and going to see The Lion King, which I'm very excited about. Quick birthday post: I had a great day. A certain girlfriend of mine was wearing something very sexy when I got back from class, and she got me some great gifts - a dish towel as a gag gift (that we saw at Target and were laughing at), a shot glass set, a wine glass set, a double picture frame with pictures of us, and best of all a Roger Clemens photo thing. It's awesome. And she made me dinner and a cake, AND we watched the Family Guy movie. It was a wonderful day. I have great news. We're going to the Astros game on Tuesday, and last I checked, it'll be Roger Clemens vs. Mark Prior. I can't wait to go to the Juice Box again! Hope everyone's doing well. Sorry to cut this short, but it's time to hop in the shower. (8 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, July 21st, 2006
1:24 pm	I just played NFL Blitz, set on difficult with 6 minute quarters. Here's how I did: 164-36, Cowboys over the Colts (I was Dallas) I got 1769 total yards and 30 sacks. That is all. I wish there was a level harder than difficult... (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, July 18th, 2006
10:58 pm	My Apartment I just went around this morning and took some pictures of my apartment so those of you in Sugar Land, Virginia, or Minnesota can see where I live now. ( Home. ) (17 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, July 17th, 2006
11:33 am	Here I am at work with nothing to do. No one's in the chat room asking questions, I graded everything I need to, I responded to all of the e-mails that I've gotten, so now I just sit and wait until 11:55. Meanwhile, I will be making 4 dollars today updating my LiveJournal. Not too shabby... First of all, I would like to congratulate the University of Texas for their wonderful athletics. Last night, there were two ESPYs given out for best college athlete - one for men and one for women. UT captured them both. Vince Young, who deserves Reggie Bush's Heisman as well, and Cat Osterman, the star softball pitcher. That's pretty impressive that one school got both awards. Vince Young got three ESPYs last night, two more for best game and for best championship performance. VY is a hoss. Not a whole lot is going on right now. I went with Stephanie to look for apartments in Chicago on Saturday, and I had a very productive day yesterday. Worked on homework right after church and finished by about 4:00, which left me the evening to relax and clean my apartment. Tonight, one of Stephanie's coworkers, Shannon, and her boyfriend, Dave, are coming over and I'm making chicken parmesian. Hopefully it turns out good. I have a test on Wednesday, which shouldn't be too bad. I expect to make A's in both of my classes this summer. For anyone interested, I plan on going out for my birthday on July 29, a Saturday. So don't make plans if you're in town, and if you want to come into town, these are your plans. Anyways, I should get going because someone just walked in and I don't want to look like I'm not doing anything, even though there's nothing to do. (9 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, July 7th, 2006
8:41 am	Quick Baseball Update Astros are back up to .500. Liriano got screwed. He deserves a spot on the All-Star team. Why can't the Twins or Astros get any love? Joe Mauer doesn't even get the start, even though his BA is about 100 points higher than Rodriguez's. I did my part and voted for Liriano five times. Seriously. This is terrible. 9-1 with a 1.99 ERA! What the hell? (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, July 6th, 2006
2:40 pm	Great Weekend I just had one of the best weekends ever. I got to go up to Minnesota and North Dakota for "Durow Day" (Stephanie's mom's family reunion thingy). So this time I got to meet the extended family. We all had a good time, and I really hit it off with her family. We went to a lake and I got to play volleyball, jet ski, go tubing, ride in the pontoon boat, and eat lots of good food. And I got to play lots of cards, which always makes me happy. The 36 hours in the car (including 18 driving) over the weekend was worth it. I'm excited to come back to Sugar Land. Our schedule is already filling up. We're gonna get in Saturday night or Sunday early afternoon, then we're supposed to go see The Lion King at 6:30 - the last day it's in town! Then Monday is baseball, Tuesday we're going to an Astros game, we're gonna spend two days at my dad's beach house, and we're leaving either on Saturday or Sunday, depending on whether we're gonna take two days to drive or not. I'm sure we'll be spending a lot of time with my family (my sister's coming into town too) so I don't know how much I'll be able to hang out with all you Sugar Landers. But I can't wait to show Stephanie around and for her to meet everyone. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, June 28th, 2006
10:35 am	I played tennis with Goetsch, Joe, and Stephanie yesterday (although I didn't personally get to play with Stephanie). I had a great time. I really hope we can do this every week. Stephanie, don't forget to get a racket this weekend. I'll try to remind you, but I've never been very good at remembering stuff like that. Anyways, I'm watching Wimbeldon right now because Will and Grace doesn't come on for another half hour. They were talking about vollying and I remembered when I would practice vollying with my dad at First Colony Middle School while my sister was at soccer practice on Wednesdays. We would always pretend to be Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi. I would usually be Andre Agassi because I liked him more. I miss those days sometimes. Sometimes I wish I lived closer to home so I could do stuff like play tennis with my dad. I guess I have Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks. Karaoke tonight! (7 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, June 23rd, 2006
2:41 pm	I lost a bet to Stephanie yesterday. We bet who would win the Astros-Twins game. I should've known that Liriano was gonna kill us, but I really wanted to believe that Roger would win his first game back. Anyways, here are the terms: 1. I can't watch any of the College World Series championship match, and 2. I can't check Fantasy Baseball until Monday. (Don't worry, I already switched my pitchers around, so it won't affect anything. I just can't see how I'm doing.) So there ya have it. Time to go to class. Exam on Monday... (9 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, June 21st, 2006
1:07 pm	Here's an obligatory Livejournal update. Not a whole lot has been going on. I've been a little more active recently than before. I started playing tennis every week with Heather. I've been walking around every day to class and stuff. I got so out of shape those couple of weeks I had nowhere to go all day. Oh well, I'm getting better. The Twins and Astros play on Thursday and it's being aired on ESPN. I'm excited about that. Roger Clemens is coming back, AND it's Stephanie's team vs. my team. Hopefully the outcome is better than last night's. School's going well overall. No complaints. Work is slow, but I just sent an e-mail out to all of my students to tell them to do their assignments more quickly, so that may pick up. It wouldn't be a bad thing if that were to happen. I feel like I still have too much free time. It's nice being able to watch TV though, haha. Anyways, I hope everyone in Texas is doing well. I'm coming into town approximately the 13th-19th, so mark your calendars. (I won't be in Sugar Land the WHOLE time, but definitely for a few days.) (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, June 14th, 2006
5:11 pm	Okay, time to make a quick update since I've been terrible about it. In fact, I made a promise that I'd update today by 3, but I took a nap instead. So here are a couple of the highlights of my life since my last update: -I got to go home for a couple days to gather my belongings and see as many friends/family as possible during that time. Then I drove back up to Champaign with my mom. -I moved into my apartment. Let me just say that I LOVE it. If anyone's ever in the area (like that would happen), let me know and you can stay here. I love having an apartment. It's great being able to cook, having as much or as little privacy as possible, and now I have room for all the stuff I could never bring up to school because of space issues. -I went to Minnesota and had a WONDERFUL time. It was beautiful (a bit hot, believe it or not), and I got to meet Stephanie's siblings and bff. Plus I got to go to a Twins game, where Lew Ford hit a walk off HR in the bottom of the 10th. I had a great time. -Classes started this week. They shouldn't be too hard, and they actually seem kind of interesting. We'll see if that changes or not, but I think this summer will be great. For those of you who care, I'll try to update more often. (8 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, May 10th, 2006
4:43 pm	I guess I have a little explaining to do about the last entry. Don't worry, I won't go into too many details, haha. Last night I took my last final exam (in Thermodynamics), and when I was done, I was exhausted. I had plans with Stephanie to go over and "hang out", spend the night, sleep in, make orange rolls, and lounge around for most of the day. I came home after the final and took a shower (because it had been a day and a half since my last one) then went over to her place. When I got there, I let myself in and went to her room. I opened the door, only to find a candle-lit room with a bottle of champagne and a certain sexy blonde sitting on her bed. She wasn't wearing much either. :) Oh yeah, and there was some soft music playing too. She came over and greeted me, asked if I wanted a glass of champagne, and told me, "Sorry I don't have any romantic music...Mariah Carey is the best I've got." I was literally speechless for about ten minutes. (If you don't believe me, ask her.) So that explains my last entry. As for my finals, I'm glad they're over. I did alright overall, I guess, but I was kinda dissappointed in a couple of them. One I don't think I did well at all, and another one I probably would've gotten a perfect score except I apparently can't take the determinant of a 3x3 matrix. Haha, oh well, I guess everyone makes stupid mistakes every once in a while. But I'm glad this school year is complete. I am now halfway (or more if I do that 3.5 year thing) done with college. Where'd the time go? Tonight is my church small group's final meeting. *tear* It's been a hell of a small group and I can't imagine it ever being this good again. For those of you that were wondering, it's not so much a church thing as it is a hang out with a few friends thing. Anyways, tonight we'll be playing Risk and possibly stealing a street sign (there's a street here called Goodwin). It should be a fun night. Tomorrow - go learn how to do my job, ice cream with Jen, clean up and pack. Friday - finish packing (hopefully), play catch with Cory, hang out with Banjo, (maybe) hang out with Ben Shea. Saturday - Stephanie gets back in town, my dad arrives, lunch with the two of them, dinner with Stephanie's parents. Sunday - go to Stephanie's commencement ceremony, move into my new apartment! Monday - come back to Texas in the evening. I've got a busy couple weeks coming up, but they should be fun. 23 more days, haha. :) (17 Comments |Comment on this)
10:46 am	In case there was any debate about the issue, I have the best girlfriend in the world. Current Mood: loved Current Music: Mariah Carey, hahaha (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, April 29th, 2006
12:02 pm	This one's for Laura Briggs Last night was Relay for Life, and I had a great time. I'm glad I didn't stay the whole night because I'd be dead right now if I did, but while I was there I had a lot of fun. Unfortunately, I didn't really make any new friends like I wanted to. In fact, I kinda ditched my group after about an hour and hung out with Lindsay the rest of the night. It sucked though because all of the people on my team that I remotely knew were seniors. What's the point in making a bunch of friends just before I never see them again? So I didn't do much with my team. I feel kinda bad, but had a good time anyways, so I also don't feel bad. For those of you that haven't done Relay for Life before, they had this big ceremony where they had a cancer survivor go up and give a little speech. It was a college student from Nebraska this year...her mom died I think six years ago from cancer, then she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer but overcame it, then her dad was diagnosed with caner and died when she went to college. Very sad. It's an amazing sight walking around the track with the stadium lights off, with all of the bags with glowsticks in them lining the track and spelling "HOPE" in the bleachers. Every bag represents a person who has died from, been diagnosed with, or overcome cancer. It made me think about how cancer has affected my life. I never got to meet one of my grandfathers, my step-grandfather passed away last semester, my step-grandmother was diagnosed with breast cancer (luckily I think they caught it all). Those are just three people that didn't have a huge impact on my life, and the fact that they had cancer still affected me in great ways. Anyways, I had a great time and feel like I did a great thing last night. So I'm in a good mood. :) Now I'll be kinda chillin' and doing homework until tonight when I get to take Stephanie out to dinner. I'm looking forward to that. :) In one week, one hour, and twenty minutes, I will be taking my Fluids final. Eeeek... Current Mood: accomplished Current Music: Billy Joel - Lullaby (1 Comment |Comment on this)