List

Coffee, just a little bit. Italian or French roast. I'll probably bring it back home with my press pot over Thanksgiving break, anyways.

Scratch the sleeping bag. Stacy's roommate is at her boyfriend's that weekend, so I can have her bed. Yay!

And pie stuff. You know where the recipe is, and I already have a pie pan. Which yes, I will also bring back over break, since I plan to crank out pies like crazy. And then we can pick up eggs when we get out to Allegheny.

Check out Stacy's blog. She is very, very excited.

Thanks : ]

Short and Sweet

Mike Sharkey,


First of all, I would like to acknowledge that there are many areas in which we as editors can improve. The mistakes have been glaring and shameful, and correction is necessary if the Behrend Beacon is going to be a high quality newspaper.
However, the method of your correction leaves much to be desired. If you are demanding professionalism and excellence from your staff, then you should treat your staff with equal professionalism, and in a way that inspires excellence. There are ways to convey frustration and disappointment beyond foul language, mockery, and sexist remarks; there is a difference between correction and degradation. Please consider this in the future.



Respectfully yours,

Rachel Reeves

What do you think?

I just got an e-mail as a follow-up for my RA interview. It asked three questions; what was your favorite part, what part made you the most uncomfortable, and what is one last thing you want to leave with us?

Here is my answer to the last question:

"The final thought I want to leave you with is this. Behrend was not my first choice- I will be moving on to University Park for my Junior year. But I have decided that even though this is not what I had planned, I want to really, truly live here while I am at Behrend. I want to feel at home, and make friends, and really get the best out of this experience. Most importantly, I know that the best way to commit to a place is to give something to it, and I think that I have so much to offer as an RA. I don't want these two years to be just a means to an end, and I don't want a job that is just for the paycheck. I want to truly live here, and I think becoming an RA is the best way for me to achieve that."

I hope it's good, because I've already sent it. I think it's good, but it still feels risky. What do you think?

Nathan!

You have to join Facebook, if only for the sake of joining this group:

"Finney you lost your heart, a heart named Mike Belmont"

Also the cowbell group, a Bills' group, and a group made for the "I have a big head, and little arms!" line.

Plus, it would be a sweet way for us to keep in touch.

: ]

shopping list: brace yourself.

~all things needed for cookie pies

~pretzel fish

~pasta (penne, please)

~paper towels

~new starbucks to-go mug (i can pick that up myself)

~ mr clean magic erasers. more than one.

~ chocolate syrup

~ salt

~one of those dish-washing scrubby thingies

I'll bring back the lunch bag, complete with ice packs, and Nate's mix CD. And I'm makin pie!

: ]

Ring Ring

I found my landline phone number, and yes, you can call from a long distance.

(814) 217-2843

I have also just subscribed to the NPR Wait, Wait podcast. How cool am I?

: ]

Order of Business

1) Tragedy has struck and I cannot find my Starbuck's to-go mug. Please check to see if it is around the house or if I need to get a new one.

2) Old State Clothing Co: oldstate.com Tell me what you want and put the $ on my eLion card, then I can order everything and get 25% off.

3) Mom, I have your lunchbag and ice packs. As soon as I burn Nate's CD, I will mail both the CD and the lunchbag home.

4) HSBC? I still don't have my new username or password.

I WIN!

Ok. So I was poking around princetonreview.com, looking at University Park.

Their newspaper is ranked ten in the country. They have the tenth best college newspaper in the entire country.

Guess what Syracuse ranked.

Eighteen. MWAHAHAHAHA.

We beat them by eight whole places! Eight! One, Two, Three, Four (still not there) Five, Six, Seven, Eight!

I jumped out of my chair and did the Rocky victory dance at the top of the stairs thing. I swear, I heard music.

I win. I win I win I win I win.

Na-na-na-na-NA-na! *sticking tongue out towards the northeast*

Man, not only would my football team kick their sorry butts, but my paper does, too. Rachel: 1, Syracuse:0.

I am thouroughly enjoying life right this minute.

My Rules:

OK. Evidently, I am much more introverted than I thought. I'm actually kind of surprised at myself. Oh well, whatever it takes.

So Dad's story about the ceramics class got me thinking. The best pots were cranked out by kids that made the most pots. Well, lately I've been trying to make a few, quality pots (metaphor) and it's gotten me almost nowhere. So, now I'm going to go for quantity. From now on, I am going to strike up conversation with at least two new people a day. Three would rock. I will get their names and try really hard to remember them. I will also take everything out of my room that I possibly can; I'll study at the library, or at the cafe, or on the porch of my res hall, or under some tree. I'll start going to the gym even though I don't like it too much - I'll try Pilates and cycling.

I'm filling you in because these new rules make me feel a lot better. I'm obviously worse at this than I thought, I mean, how many people need aquaintence quotas? But, I've come to terms with my lacking people skills, and I think I've found a way around them. Who knows, maybe they will become automatic. Practice makes perfect, right? I guess what I'm saying is, I find all of this kind of embarassing, so if you could not tease me, that would be great. But, I will be happy to tell you about my two-plus new aquaintences every day.

Hahaha. Oi ve.

The coffee is in the mail

Sounds like code. But it is true. Coffee and dad's cd from Sunday. It is about cave living, and I think you are in a little bit of a cave there in Erie, PA. The boy's are playing frisbee and I am putting off doing dishes. We are going to Lugia's, we will think of you and miss you.

Looking forward to this weekend, hope the weather is good. Do you want us to invite Nana and Papa for an after lunch tour? I wish I had something inspirational to blog about, but my nose is runny and me head is achey and I had 2 too many conversations and emails with Chris today.

This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 "Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. 7 Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper."

This is what the LORD says: "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Your dorm is your Babylon right now. You need to build and settle, plant and eat. You need to seek the peace and prosperity of your city because if it prospers so will you. And God will bring you to the place He has for you and you will walk into your future with hope.

I don't know if that is inspirational, but it is true. Did you know your mother has a gift for the prophetic? .............Look for your coffee tomorrow afternoon, check your mailbox (however that works!)

Dear Family,

Things I Would Like:

~Coffee. Italian or French roast, whatever.

~Another box of cinamon life

~Stamps and the stationary I left on the stairs

~Fillet Mingon and chocolate cheesecake.

So, I got an e-mail from the leader of Chi Alpha, Melanie. Meetings are Mondays at 7:00, and right now they're studying Peter. They are also planning some outdoorsy events before it gets too cold. I looked through pictures, and it looks like they have a lot of fun; canoeing, white water rafting. They have a trip to NYC in December. It looks like they get off campus often, the guys are fairly good-looking and none of the girls were wearing ankle-long denim skirts. It reminds me a lot of Young Life - when I looked at the pictures I felt like I could breathe again. So I"m going to go ahead and be hopeful about this one. They also have an Erie-wide meeting on Wednesdays, but I would have to drop the Entertainment Board for that. So I'll go a couple of weeks with Chi Alpha on Mondays and the entertainment board on Wednesdays, and then I'll pick one. I'm excited.

P.S. Reeves men - post!

To do list

Hey you - now I have new technology to give you a list of things to do. :) Have you gotten in touch with the Health people about your shot info? Get me a fax or address to send them the info they may need. They can keep you out of school next semester if the don't have the forms they need. Also have you gotten to your phone people so I can transfer phones?

Let me know what you will be wanting for food so I can have it for you when you come home next weekend. I will make what you want for dinner and then whatever to take with you for your freezer. Also I will try and remember to give you your stamps.
It is always good to talk to you, call anytime.

Love you lots - Mom

Mad Hatter's Tea/Move in Penn State

Here are a few pix of move in day and our Tea. The Parson's daughter was sorely missed, but a good time was had by all! The pix are in no special order. I'm just proud I got them all to show up. I'm thinking it should be a yearly tradition, it was a special afternoon spent with tea drinkers of all ages.

I'm so Happy!

Check out the e-mail I got from one of the editors at the Beacon. I had written up and sent in the bit on being a freshman, and I didn't think that they would put it in. So last night Aeriale did copy editing and she told me that they were using it this week. But then I got this:

"Hey Rachel,

This is Chris Brown, the opinion editor on the Beacon. I just wanted to thank you for writing your article this week. We all thought it was very well written and a welcome inclusion to this week's paper. If you want to ever write an article for the opinion page again you are more than welcome to, I think you have a unique style and gift of words. I also want to encourage you to think about stopping by on Thursday nights while we are laying out to get to know the staff and maybe see what being an editor is all about, because I think you might find it interesting. If you have any questions about future articles or anything about the paper, feel free to email me. And thanks again for the great article."

I've been writing for them for one week, and I can submit an opinion piece on whatever I want whenever I want. And they want me to learn about editing. Which means they probably want me to be an editor. An editor! And it's only been one week!

I can't even wrap my mind around this...

Happy 21st!

Mom and Dad, check your e-mails! (1:00pm)

: ]

HAPPY FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL, NATE!

: ]

Piece of Cake

I just conducted the easiest interview in the history of the world. Rebecca showed up at exactly 2:30, and didn't stop talking for 20 minutes. I could hardly get a question in edgewise, and I didn't need to, anyways. I think she was reading my list, or my mind. This article is only supposed to be 500 words long, but I could practically write a novel.

And I guess I had hung in there fairly well, because when we were finished she asked how long I had been working with the Beacon. When I said, "About twenty minutes," and explained that it was my second week on campus, she asked what college I had attended before I transferred to Behrend. I told her that I had just graduated high school, and she was very surprised, and I waited until she left to jump for joy.

Take that, Olive Garden waitress!

So, Jen is sending me some article outlines her high school teacher gave her, and I'll spend some time writing up the article. It shouldn't be hard at all, I have plenty of information and I know exactly what I want to say. Then I'll finish up the freshman piece and turn that in, to see if they'll print it.

Tonight is a hall council meeting in my lobby. I'm going, because my RA mentioned that she was only asking girls that could bring something positive to the building. Then tomorrow night is an entertainment board meeting. Hopefully, that will set me up with Monday night meetings for the publicity team. And then the paper on Thursday nights.

Am I involved or what?

Packing chocolate

How good to have the college student home with us for a long weekend. I hope she enjoyed it as much as we did. It seemed a long time, maybe it was just all of the leaping that dragged out the time :)

Have a good 2 weeks until you are home again. Good luck with your interview, get your rest, and always try to travel with a buddy! We love you! momdadnate

I just looked out my window and discovered that I have an apple tree not ten feet from my room.

The Reeves Family Apple Tree curse has followed me to Pennsylvania!

Address:

I got my mailbox and my address! Here it is:

Rachel Reeves
PSU Behrend MB# 1540
5091 Station Rd
Erie, PA 16563


And I think I'm coming home this weekend. Almost all of the freshman, the vast majority of them, are going home, so there's not much point spending 3 days in an empty dorm. And then I can pick up all of the stuff I need, like double-sided tape and lots and lots of pasta. The only thing I'm worried about is if it will make it harder to come back to school. Anyways, I can get a ride up with Jen, my next-door neighboor from Pittsford on Friday afternon.

Love you all!

1/2 The School Are Steeler's Fans!

So I am officially a college student. This morning a bought a Stouffer's microwavable chicken pot pie meal for lunch tomorrow, and I have been looking foward to it all day.

I'm not liking orientation. I've met about 30 people today, had about 30 of the very short "What's your name, hometown, major?" conversations, and never seen the person again. I've hugged four strangers, thanks very much to embarassing ice breakers. And I can't make friends with boys because they all just think you're hitting on them. Oh, and the hall that all of the sessions are in is NOT air conditioned. Right now it feels like the idea is to jump into a clique before the door of opportunity slams shut, and I don't really socialize that way.

But there have been good things.

Convocation was good if a little boring; it put everything more into perspective. All of the professors and administraters had to process in gowns in no air conditioning. The chancellor and some students spoke, and then we sang the alma mater and split up into small groups.

My group - communications - is mentored by Prof Mester, the woman we met with last year. Which is a very good thing. I got to spend a couple of hours with the same twenty people, which was nice for a change. And it was a lot easier to get along with everyone when there was a discussion and something in common and an actual reason us to all be in the same room. So I think that once classes start, everything will be a whole lot less awkward and forced.

After dinner I went for a walk, and heard shouting coming through the woods. Organized kind of shouting as opposed to drunken shouting. So I found a trail through the woods (it wasn't dark) and walked for a few minutes, and a soccer field appeared out of nowhere. I watched the game for an hour before I got cold. After that was an actually decent comedian, unlike the one last night who relied almost wholy on sex for his material. Lets just say he knew his audience was 3/4 male.

The upperclassmen moved in today, and that just made the whole campus a lot more comfortable. Today there were three games of catch, two of frisbee, and a steel drum band.

I think I'm going to have breakfast in the dining hall and lunch in my room. I really miss a toaster, and the lunches are pretty much the same as the dinners. I think I can buy bread and deli meat, and I can stock up on soup, and I like breakfast more than lunch anyways. So I think I'll give that a try.

I asked Prof Mester what to get involved with on campus for my PR degree, and she said the communications club. So I will give that a try. I'll also be writing for the paper a little bit for one of my classes, and if I like that I can join the paper, although they don't it too seriously here. There's a club rush next weekend, and I'll spend some time there. I'm very much not the "Hey, party in Porcupine tonight!" kind of friend-maker.

So it's been interesting. I'm still in limbo, and I won't be comfortable until everything settles down. But that's no surprise. Miss you guys, love you!

List of Things To Do

Here's what I need to do in the next 10 days. 9, because I can't count moving day. Actually, 6, because of white-water rafting.

AUGH!

Mom - I need totes/boxes for packing and a first aide kit.

Dad - I need a laptop lock. Thanks for the thumbdrive!

Nate - I need you to dig out all of the books I've lent you that you haven't had time to read.

I need to sort though clothes, pack away winter clothes, launder warm weather clothes and throw out everything that I won't really wear. I need to clean out my desk and get all of my school supplies together. I need to buy enough toiletries to last a couple of months. I need to back up all of the music, pictures and writing on my laptop onto discs, especially my blog. I need to figure out my printer situation and buy ink cartridges. I need sticky tack.

I also need to get a haircut, take Nate to training camp, and have everybody over to the patio sometime next week.

Tonight I am
- sending out thank-you notes (finally, I know)
- filling out some library form Behrend sent me
- getting my ethernet hooked up online
- tracking down and filling out my meningitis form
- finding all of my overdue and almost-due library items
- making a packing list for rafting
- try and track down Lindsay

What am I forgetting?

Oh! We also have to wire money into my E-Lion card. Right.

Welcome

Hi family - Here's to our first posting in our new blog. I am looking forward to finding out what adventures we have waiting for us. I am also glad that I will have this to look back on to help my memory. You guys know how I can forget things. So anything you want to get in writing "for the record" this is a good place to do it.

It's Sunday afternoon, warm and humid. Rachel is shopping for school supplies and a bathrobe. I don't know why she needs one as the footy PJ's I bought her should suffice. The boys are watching Tiger play the final round of the PGA Championship. Golf is a feeble substitute for Football but we have a few weeks till The Season starts, so Tiger it is and then swim, chef's suprise for dinner and Bourne Something at Tinseltown.

The swing on the Patio is calling me, I think it is a great afternoon for a nap.
luvyas - mom