H1N1, etc.

Hello Everybody-

Just thought I would give a quick update on my illness. While in Michigan with AAMB we were given water bottles to share. The next day in the evening I noticed my throat was sore. By Monday I was coughing and had a really sore throat. Tuesday I began running a fever and had frequent coughing, but the sore throat was leaving. Wednesday morning I went to Purdue University Student Health Center (PUSH) at 8:30 am. After going through vitals and a questionnaire with the Flu nurse I was diagnosed with the H1N1 Influenza virus. I was prescribed Tamiflu and was confined to my room until the following Monday. On Thursday I noticed erratic sinus behavior (pain, bloody discharge, etc.) and I believed that to be due to a small sinus infection.

Come Saturday, the fever was gone, and I have believed the flu to be leaving, however my cough was worsening, as was the runny nose. No other symptoms present. Monday I could no longer tolerate the cough and wheezing, so I made a Doctor's appointment for Tuesday. Tuesday I was told I have bronchitis complications due to Asthma and was prescribed a large amount of Predinsone and Codine cough suppresant. I have been coughing a lot and have had a runny nose, but otherwise I feel fine.

I should be back to a healthy state for the Thanksgiving Holiday. Thanks for your prayers.

Christmas List

These are items I am thinking about getting, and would make great Christmas presents:

-Khaki Cargo Pants size 38x30
-Jeans size 38x30
-Boxers size L
-No show socks (shoe size 12)

-4 Piece Porter Cable Drill/Saw Combo set from Lowe's
-Mechanic's ratchet wrench set

-Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium DVD, or $120 for the purchase of it
-Microsoft Office 2007 Home and Student DVD, or $150 for the purchase of it
-2 GB 200-pin DDR2 SO-DIMM RAM, or $40 for the purchase of it

-Crock pot
-Waffle Iron
-Blender
-Toaster
-Knife Set/Block
-Kitchen Utensils
-Cutting board

Coco Key Water Resort Takes Top Honors

We won a very good award!

Click Here to Read More

Greetings

Hello all.

Will be home October 9th through 13th for the annual Fall Break. Key Lime Cove on that Saturday and Six Flags on Columbus Day. Very Busy, no time to write more :(

Wish List

I have begun writing down things that I want that I plan on asking for, for Christmas and my birthday, etc. Of course, they are large items, so cash/giftcards for the merchants provided on the list would be appreciated. I know it is very early for this, but if I didn't start writing stuff down today, I would forget what I want, and if items go on sale before the holidays this might help you out!

You can find the list by clicking this: LIST

Indiana Beach 2009

Indiana Beach rocked this year! Check out my story and pictures here: http://tinyurl.com/INB2009

Since sunday, swine flu outbreaks have gone from 1 to 47 to 67 to 120. I use my hand sanitizer religiously and wash my hands a lot as well. Can't afford H1N1!

Boiler Up!

Even though they teach it at BGR every year, the "unpublished" words of "Hail Purdue!" are "Fire Up!" and not "Boiler Up." So it goes something like this: "...Ever greatful, ever true, thus we raise our song anew, FIRE UP, of the days..." I know, it's a band nerd thing, but seriously it was that way long before the phrase "Boiler Up" ever existed.

That being said, the weather in West Lafayette today is gorgeous. Let's hope this weather is here to stay. Yesterday at band practice, I was able to march to the field and learn halftime drill. However, due to the nature of my injury, I did not participate in Pregame practice, but instead Ian learned my spot. I plan on marching this weekend in everything BUT pregame on the field. I will fill a Game Day Staff position for that performance.

Come see the Boilermaker football team take on the Toledo Rockets this Saturday at Noon!

Foot pains

Friday, after a soaking wet Marching Band rehearsal, I headed back to my room and changed into some flip flops, shorts, and a fresh tee shirt. Then walked across campus for dinner, across campus back to my room, across campus to Chris' place, then to Emily's place, to Qdoba, then back to my residence. About halfway through the evening I noticed a slight pain in my left foot. By the end of the night I could no longer walk without stopping frequently.

Saturday morning, I awoke to even worse pain. I had my friend Jordyn take me to Sigma Medical to get it checked out. I was diagnosed with tendinitis in my left foot, and was given an ASO cast and a prescription anti-inflammatory. It looks doubtful I'll be marching at this weekend's matchup with the University of Toledo, but hopeful for the following game on the 20th.

Six Flags Great America Whips Up Culinary Feat for Food Network Show “Dinner: Impossible”

Taken from www.sixflags.com:

Theme park food will never look the same after Aug. 26 when Six Flags Great America is featured on the Food Network's “Dinner: Impossible” staring celebrity chef Robert Irvine. The episode will be centered on Chef Irvine's culinary challenge to prepare a gourmet meal to 250 coaster enthusiasts in nine hours using traditional theme park foods found at Six Flags Great America.

The clock is ticking and Chef Irvine has to overcome several setbacks to make the challenge. Can he find creative ways to prepare traditional theme park food such as hot dogs, funnel cake and popcorn? Can he prepare enough food for 250 hungry coaster enthusiasts in nine hours? Can he make it across the park to find groceries and back in time to prepare a meal that would earn him “Six Flags?”

Tune in to Food Network on Wed., Aug. 26 at 9 p.m. to find out if Chef Irvine can complete his challenge and face perhaps the toughest challenge yet — riding Raging Bull on a full stomach.

5th!

Purdue's Civil Engineering program was named 5th best in the nation for schools where the highest degree is a doctorate, by US News and World Report. We're tied with MIT. Boiler Up!

New Pregame Show

2009 brings an entirely new halftime show to the All American Marching Band!

School Begins

And so school begins tomorrow :)

I made the band!

So yesterday the membership of the 2009 All American Marching Band was announced in the morning. I will be marching a 3 spot in the front rank of trumpets, the front rank of the band :) Front and center for me :]

1st Day Down!

Today was the first day of band camp 2009! While it was hot, and difficult, I felt band camp went very well today. Everyone's working really well together, and I have a great feeling about the season. Boiler Up!

At School

Hello all! I just wanted to write that I am now settled into my suite at Cary Quad. The rooms are big and roomy! Of course the A/C is blasted as it has been very hot here. Tomorrow morning band camp begins and should prove to be a very fun experience once again. I look forward to seeing friends once again. My heart goes out to the family of Professor Jay Gephart for losing their loving mother and wife, Carolyn. Please keep the Gepharts in your prayers. Time to get some sleep for the big day tomorrow, and as always, BOILER UP!

Summer Draws to a close

Dear friends,

The summer has come to an end. It saddens me and excites me at the very same time. The time went by so incredibly fast and it has been an adventure. Being a camp counselor for Travel Adventure Camp was an incredible experience. I hope to be with Outdoor Adventure Kamp (OAK) next summer. Working at Coco Key as a lifeguard additionally has proven to be a challenge, but one that I was ready for. I will always have good memories from this summer, from the kids, from my coworkers, my family and friends. Summer 2009 rocked.

Hello All

To all of you whom are new to my blog, I have posted a few links to share with you:

my twitter:
http://twitter.com/aambalex

my CF ridelist:
http://www.coasterfanatics.com/sec_members/member_ridelist.asp?id=103294

rcdb.com

I am sitting at Chili's at O'Hare enjoying an over priced breakfast taco and coffee. After much confusion and wandering, I am checked in. Stay tuned for SFO!

Today is move out day! 1 more final then I'm out!

Macy's, China, and all that jazz!

Last year the Purdue "All American" Marching Band was the first collegiate marching band in the United States to be invited by the Ministry of Culture of the People's Republic of China to perform in the Meet in Beijing Arts fest.

In 2010, AAMB will be the first band in the Big Ten to get accepted to performing in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City.

In just 11 days I will leave for Beijing China once again. This time I have a completely different objective. While still representing Purdue University, this time we will be studying Green Buildings and Sustainability. We will be in Beijing for six nights at TsingHua University. We will then travel by overnight train to Shanghai where we will spend five nights at Tongji University. We will be visiting places like the Bird's Nest, Water Cube, National Grand Theater, Botanical Gardens Greenhouse, World Expo and Low Energy Institute for engineering purposes, as well as tons of sightseeing.

School will wrap up here in about a week. And then soon after I depart.

Dead Week

It is dead week once again here in West Lafayette. We had a very good concert last Saturday and we are expecting a big marching band announcement this Friday. As soon as I know I will post it here and on facebook!

EEE PC

I have now had my EEE PC for nearly a month and I wanted to write a review of it.

First of all, let's look at battery life. When I am connected to WIFI and online writing emails or checking blogs and facebook, and nothing else is running, I am able to get 9 hours of battery life. 9 HOURS! No Joke! However, when iTunes is running, that is reduced to about 7 hours. When I watch movies off my hard drive, I can watch 2-3 movies with headphones before the battery will run out.

Then there's processing. I don't find a huge difference between this machine and a "faster, more powerful" computer. Sure, it takes a little longer to transfer via USB, but overall I am very impressed.

The screen is very bright and very crisp, and I am able to watch HD movies no problem, as long as I am not fast forwarding or rewinding often. The programs that are available for free online (pidgin, firefox, thunderbird, open office, vlc, etc.) all run very well on this machine. Also, the Wireless N card is super fast when I am in my room with my wireless N router.

All-in-all if you are in the market for a super small, high battery life laptop, I would highly, HIGHLY recommend the ASUS EEE PC 1000HE. Did I mention it runs Windows XP rather than Vista, so there are less bugs, and faster start-up/sleeping, etc.

4 Weeks

4 weeks left of Spring 2009!

Life as it is

Well hello there.

Today's entry is going to be much like a journal entry. Life is going well. I have good friends, and I'm staying alive in school. The weather is going to get better this week through the weekend, and things seem to be well. The trip to China in May is going to be incredible. Talking to the engineers who planned the Bird's Nest and Watercube is going to be a very unique opportunity. My HP computer is on it's way to HP for repair for some graphics issue. In the meantime, I have a new ASUS Eee PC 1000HE to keep me online and up to date. Boy do I love this computer, it is super small, quiet, efficient, and has an INCREDIBLE battery life. I would recommend this PC to anybody. The best part, it's just under $400 on Amazon.com. Well thats all for now, I'll write more later.

Concert Friday

Concert this Friday Night at Long Center in Lafayette.
Admission if FREE and the concert begins at 8pm.

Come and hear the sounds of the University, Varsity, and Collegiate Bands

Happy New Year

Hello and Happy 2009.

I am currently sitting at a Panera Bread in West Lafayette, In because they have free internet lol. I'm stuck at school only for 2 more days, then I get to return home once again, which will be nice. It's been a pretty good break, and I have no complaints really. I always enjoy the time I spend with my family.