Founders Day Chapel

Today was the Founders Day chapel service. I wish I could say that I went, but that would be a lie because I slept through it, on accident of course. I did hear from multiple people that is was a good chapel service. Palm Beach Atlantic University was established in 1968, so this year marks the 40th Anniversary of our great institution. The founding President, Dr. Jess Moody (pictured at right), introduced this year’s chapel speaker, current President, Dr. David Clark (on left side). The University has had five presidents before Dr. Clark in the 40 year history, Clark started at PBA in 2003. It is amazing to think about all of the great leaders PBA has had over the years and even more interesting to think about how much the campus has changed. God has definitely been good to PBA. Hopefully the next President of our school can fill the shoes of the great men that have gone before him.

On a related note, I just wanted to discuss the whole aspect of chapel at PBA. I am sure that many people may be nervous and uninformed on what chapel actually is. Students are only required to go to 24 chapels each academic year. Every year there are nearly 100 chapel opportunities for students to attend. These range from the normal weekly chapels, which I will explain in a little bit, to conferences, movie nights, guest speakers and the Newman Club chapel (which is a Friday Catholic liturgy of the Word service). It is clearly not hard to get your chapel time in. During a regular chapel week there is chapel everyday Monday through Thursday. The Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday chapel is contemporary usually with the chapel praise band playing the worship songs. Thursday chapel, my favorite and usual chapel day, is the traditional chapel service. I grew up in a traditional church and enjoy that type of service but it is easy for you to find your place in the chapel calendar, worshiping God in the way that works best for you.

random thoughts for today.

Hello all,
Well, this past weekend was very fun…it was Vanessa’s birthday and I’m pretty sure she already wrote about how her boyfriend came to surprise her. Can I just say that it was one of the most fun surprises I have ever seen! We all had known for weeks that he was coming and she had no idea! It was great!

Here are some of random thoughts for the day:
I am ever grateful to Baxter 2nd floor because without it, I wouldn’t have found some of my best friends. I love my friends so much and am getting depressed thinking about not living with them after graduation.

I’ve learned that I much prefer day classes to night classes…mostly just for the fact that I have a very hard time sitting in one classroom for 4 hours. My night class was let out early last night and so I was able to hang out with some friends and watch a little TV…24 and FRIENDS is always good.

I am reading a book called The Silent Language for one of my classes. It is mostly about what people unknowingly communicate through time and space within cultures. I like learning about cultural differences and how that effects our communication. Also, reading about different cultures makes me want to watch the Travel Channel…and then visit wherever they go!

My sister goes to school near Chicago and although I am excited for her new experiences in college, I am in no way envious of her…mostly because I love living in Florida. I can’t do cold weather for more than a few weeks. I love the sunshine.

Ok, well, I’ve got to go to class soon…so I hope you have enjoyed the randomness that is how I think! Until next time…

Birthday Surprises and Pridefest.

I had the best birthday weekend ever. I'm a big fan of surprises, and I was definitely surprised on Friday. On Thursday, my friend Ricky asked Amy and I if we wanted to get lunch at Common Ground at 12 p.m. the next day (which was my birthday), and I didn't suspect anything because we usually go to CG together for lunch. Well, it's almost 12 and Ricky called Amy and told us he was done with his "meeting" and was walking over to CG, so we could leave to come meet him. When I walked in, I noticed that the big booth was filled with a bunch of my friends, and then I noticed someone in the middle was sitting with his arm blocking view of his face and looking down. I wondered who it was, and I just assumed it was someone else’s friend. Then he looked up, and it was my boyfriend. He surprised me and came down from Virginia-where he goes to school- for the weekend! I was so shocked when I saw him; I asked him if he was really there. haha. It was great. We all went out to dinner at Macaroni Grill that night and then I went back to Jordan's house and his mom had a cake and gift for me. It was a great night :)



This weekend, I also had to take pictures at Pridefest for my internship. What an experience it was. The thing that bothered me the most though, was that there were Christian protesters there, holding huge signs and shouting through a megaphone at all the people. While I do believe that homosexuality is a sin, we are all sinners, and shouting at people is not the way to bring someone to salvation. Everyone was booing at the protesters and saying "haters, go home!" I felt ashamed to have these people representing Christ and other Christians. Later on, as the parade was ending and everyone was heading down to the park where booths and festivities were set up, the protestors continued to yell at people and started to attract a crowd around them. I was pushing my way through trying to get pictures and find out what was going on and holding my camera over my head trying to capture what I couldn’t see. One of the protesters ended up getting arrested for disorderly conduct because he put his hands on one of the cops who were trying to break up the riot. It was quite an event. It was really heartbreaking to me though. I just wanted these people to know that Jesus loves them, and that Christians aren’t all like these people. I understand that God does have anger towards people who sin against him, but he still loves these people despite their sin. I'm pretty sure the people at the parade aren’t going to want to have anything to do with the god that these two men were portraying.


It was a nice weekend, but I got little sleep last night because I had to wake up at 5am to go to the airport with my boyfriend. Today coffee is my best friend.

Mike Huckabee visits PBA!

As Richard mentioned in his blog, Mike Huckabee came to speak on campus the other day. I got to attend the brunch before chapel and then I went to chapel and got to briefly meet him afterwards. The picture above is Huckabee, my friend Chiara and me.

During election time I didn’t know much about Mike Huckabee, but I have gotten to know a lot more about him since then. With his television show on Fox news I feel that he has gotten a lot of exposure and his voice is being heard. I agree with Huckabee on a lot of topics, especially his view on abortion and the role of government.

During the brunch Huckabee said that he believes the reason people voted for Obama was not because they trusted the government more than they trusted themselves, but because they thought he would bring them up, rather than down. He calls this “vertical politics,” which is where voters make decisions based on whether they believe the nominee will bring them up or down, not on how far on the left or right side they stand.

Magic Filet Mignon

This has been an extremely busy, but rewarding week. Like I explained in my blog (on March 24) Governor Huckabee was on campus for two days. I got the privilege of working at the event at the Breakers Hotel on Tuesday night. There were a few hundred community members from around West Palm and Palm Beach Island. When I say that I worked the event, I really mean that I was just greeting and directing people to the ballroom. Going to the event would have been worth it if I just got to hear the Governor speak, and play his bass guitar. Oh but there is more. I got to eat the amazing food that the guests paid $200 a plate for. When I say amazing that is a complete understatement, what I really mean is incredible, astounding and remarkable. Maybe even the best food I have ever had. We had melt in your mouth filet mignon, risotto and a delicious salad (now that is something I have never said before I am sure, do not count on it ever coming out of my mouth again). The desert was a banana split of sorts (not the same kind you had in elementary school), more of an adult banana split with frozen chocolate covered bananas and delectable ice cream. It is currently 11:30 in the morning but I am getting very hungry so I better quit this discussion and move in a different direction…


On a completely unrelated note but almost just as exciting for me – the Orlando Magic beat the Boston Celtics last night. It was pretty cool (and seeing since I was born and raised in Orlando) I am and forever will be a Magic fan. I think that Dwight Howard is a beast and he had some pretty sweet plays last night at the game in Orlando (saddly I watched on ESPN). If you happen to be walking around the Towers and Lakeview parking lot on campus I bet you will be able to find my door – a huge Superman (Dwight Howard) poster will guide your way.

My Classes

Since this is my last semester at PBA, I'm not taking very many classes. Here are the ones that I am:

1. European History II - I have this class on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8am. While I don't enjoy waking up that early, the class is a good one. Dr. Hembree is a great teacher, and I learn a lot about European history.
2. Politics of Developing Nations - Although I disagree with Dr. Calhoun on many issues concerning politics, interesting topics and issues are brought up in the class. I also learn a lot about the history of non-Western cultures.
3. Public History - Since I want to pursue a master's degree in Museum Studies, this class is especially interesting for me. Dr. Chapman brings up all of the major issues that are being dealt with in public history today.
4. Leadership and Organizational Effectiveness for Ministry - While this is not my favorite class, Dr. Grenz does teach us many of the important issues in church leadership today.
5. Introductory Biology Lab - This is my only class that is not on Tuesday and Thursday, and it's my only class on Friday. I took the lecture portion of the class a couple of semesters ago, and I wish I had taken them at the same time. It's not too bad, but sometimes I forget some of the points that are still fresh in everyone else's mind.

Also, Mike Huckabee spoke on campus today. While I really enjoyed both of the events, I wish he had spoken some about the FairTax.

That's it.

Special Guest Speaker

This is a huge week in the life of Palm Beach Atlantic University. Each year we have a big event, this is actually the 5th year, called the Ethics and Character Lecture Series. A prominent speaker comes to campus and provides his (or her) viewpoint on ethics and character. It sounds simple enough, right? Anyways, this year the students (and faculty) at PBA are especially excited because the keynote speaker is former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. Governor Huckabee is an extremely important evangelical and conservative leader and it is amazing that such a small school as PBA could bring him in to speak.

The Governor gets into West Palm Beach this afternoon (Tuesday March 24) and will be speaking at an event hosted by PBA for community members tonight at the Breakers Hotel on Palm Beach Island. I actually get the privilege to help with this event where a seat is $200 a person. I am pretty excited.

On Wednesday the Governor will be having brunch with Student Leaders at the University. It will be an excellent opportunity for the Leaders to learn how to develop better Christian ethics and character. Immediately following the brunch, Governor Huckabee will be addressing the entire PBA community with the main keynote speech in the Rubin Arena during the regular chapel hour.

While I was researching (not really, just reading Wikipedia entries) I found out that both Governor Huckabee and former President Bill Clinton were both born in a small town in the southwest corner of Arkansas called Hope. It just goes to show that you do not have to be from a huge city like New York or Chicago to rise up and make a difference in this world, you just need a little hope (pun totally intended).

Birthday Weekend!

It was my birthday this weekend, as previously mentioned. My friends are amazing, might I add. Story time: so Friday afternoon we (Vanessa, Anna Grace, Hannah and me) went to show Hannah around West Palm Beach because she was going back to Arkansas the next day. So, as we drive right by where we were supposed to go, Anna Grace turns to me and tells me that I am going to be kidnapped and taken somewhere. So I am blindfolded in the car and waiting in great anticipation for where we are going! Eventually I can feel that we have pulled onto gravel, but I still didn’t know where we were. Someone pulled me out of the car and I stood there blindfolded for a few minutes. Finally, someone took my blindfold off and there was a bonfire going and all of my closest friends were there too! It was so much fun and I was so surprised! It had been pouring rain earlier that day and so they were worried that it might get rained out, but it didn’t it was a beautiful evening! The sunset was fantastic! We roasted marshmallows and made s’mores too! So so so much fun!

Saturday was my actual birthday and I just hung out with my friends again and talked to my family and some friends from home on the phone. It was good. That is one of my favorite things, just hanging out with friends. We don’t necessarily have to be doing anything; just being with them is fun. Always good times. Sunday, I did pretty much the same thing. I went to church with some friends and just kind of did nothing for the rest of the afternoon. I went through pictures from this weekend and hung out with my roommates and other friends. Again, good times. But now I’m a little behind on homework, so that will have to be caught up on sometime. Oh well. Ok, well that was pretty much my [amazing] weekend in a nutshell. Until next time…

Geography

Yesterday, I went for a walk from Towers to Lake Worth Rd and back (approximately 13.5 miles). I saw a lot of interesting buildings, such as a Crematory Society, a bakery and a couple of churches. The National Cremation Society had a sign that said: "That's my wish." There were some pigeons hanging out on the building, and it kind of looked creepy.

Lake Worth is supposedly "where the tropics begin." I read somewhere that Lake Worth has a high population of Finnish people, but I didn't see any evidence of it (specifically, flags). Finns and tropics are usually not associated with each other. I did see enough evidence to lead me to believe that hippies might reside in Lake Worth. More research may be needed for this conclusion, though.

While I walked, I listened to some lectures on the Geography of Europe that I downloaded from iTunesU. The professor discussed the European Union, de facto countries in Europe, and agriculture in Europe. It was really interesting.

Birthdays, Fajitas, and Monsoons.

Hey Folks!

It’s the end of another week here at PBA…..and everywhere else too I suppose. But my birthday is this weekend, so that should provide some entertainment. Vanessa’s birthday is at the end of next week, so that is fun that our birthday’s are so close. We have lived together, first suitemates and now roommates, for the last 3 years, so we usually have birthday celebrations together. Last year, our friends took us out to Outback Steakhouse for our birthday, along with one of our old suitemates Jeanette whose birthday is also the same week as Vanessa and mine. It was so cheerful! And I'm sure that this year will be just as fun! PS - the coasters that we are holding say, "it's out bloomin birthday!" In case you were wondering.

Random discovery at PBA: ok, so one of the campus dining facilities is called Common Ground Café. It has varied in the food choices for all 4 years that I have been here. Their food is okay, but this week I realized something new…..they have chicken fajitas. Now, I have always seen these on the menu options, but never really considered them, mostly because I was scared to try it and didn’t want to waste money on something I was not going to enjoy. Well, it turns out that they are pretty darn good! There is a tortilla and chicken (obviously) with some cheese and a little pepper and onion action sometimes too! Yum.

Also, just in case no one believed Ricky in his last blog, let me tell you that there was a mini-monsoon here today. I walked out of class and it started to lightly rain. Within 10 seconds of this it began to pour! No kidding. And the sun was brightly shining just minutes ago. The monsoon lasted for around 20 minutes and then it just stopped raining. I am looking forward to the sunshine again. Hopefully it will be a lovely and bright sun-shiny day in West Palm for my birthday!!!

Ok, well, to those who are reading, have a great weekend!

Bring Your Sunscreen…and Your Umbrella

Today I awoke into the beautiful sunshine of West Palm Beach. It is currently a balmy 73 degrees outside with a nice cool breeze. Not to rub it in if you live in Michigan or something, but I was just looking around weather.com® and noticing the weather around the country – mostly up north. It is much colder everywhere else. It is even snowing in some places. This is just unreal to me. Do not get me wrong I like snow, for like a week, while I am skiing or something but it gets old. I am a native Floridian hailing from the Orlando area (the real Orlando, not Disney World) and I really do not like cold weather at all. The sunny and warm weather brought me to PBA kind of, although it was not the actual main cause of me coming to PBA, just a huge bonus. The beach being so close is a great asset and allows many days of tanning or beach fun – providing that you go to class and keep your GPA up enough to stay here all 4 years.

I am not going to lie to you. The vast majority of days spent in West Palm Beach are close to perfect especially during the winter. Yesterday was not one of those days. All of Palm Beach Atlantic University awoke for our morning classes to what could only be described as a monsoon outside. Not to be completely cliché, but it was raining cats and dogs. Luckily I found a huge umbrella last semester. Now I know what you are thinking, I did not steal this umbrella, it was left in my Towers Apartment by a former occupant. I would recommend everyone to get a super huge umbrella for those random days where it rains because as they say, when it rains in West Palm it actually pours. You can get by with a small umbrella but it is much more fun to be able to save your friends from being washed away, on your way to class.

Let's have a tea party...

This week is going by pretty fast. I can't believe tomorrow is already Friday.

Right now, my roommate's friend/my new friend, Hannah, is here staying with us for her Spring Break. Hannah goes to the University of Arkansas and this is actually her first time in Florida. I love being with people when they experience Florida for the first time, because I was born and raised here and it’s a place that I love. It’s fun to watch people get excited over palm trees and the ocean.

This weekend is Amy’s birthday, so if you can comment on these blogs, or if you see her, be sure to wish her a happy birthday!!

This weekend is going to be a busy one for me, but I feel that I am getting back into the swing of things, after being sick and not doing a whole lot over Spring Break.

As a Journalism major, I am required to complete a 90-hour internship before I graduate. I am currently doing my internship with the Lake Worth Herald, a small weekly newspaper in Lake Worth. The experience has taught me a lot so far. I am learning how to work on deadline, which is something I have always struggled with. In the newspaper world, deadlines are vital. I’ve also had my articles published in the paper, which is very fun to experience! This experience is also teaching me to have more confidence in myself, and to do things as I think of them instead of waiting. Sometimes it is nerve-wrecking to pick up the phone and call a complete stranger to ask them questions about a story that I am writing, but it’s gotten easier with time.

This weekend I am going to be very busy with assignments. I am writing two articles and I am taking pictures at the Reggae Fest in Lake Worth on Saturday. This shall be a unique experience, I’m sure. I’ve never been to a reggae concert, but I think the music is cool and it will be cool to go out and take pictures and use a press pass to get into the event for free! I’ll try to post some pictures up here if I can.

Also, one of the articles that I am writing is about the Tax Day Tea Party. If you haven’t heard about it, you can find out more info at taxdayteaparty.com. It is basically a reenactment of the Boston Tea Party in protest of big government spending. There are events going on in cities all over the U.S. Some cities are already having protests, but everyone is going to protest together on April 15th, which is tax day. If this is something you feel strongly about, find out if there is a protest planned near you and join in!

Well, that is all for now internet friends. I hope you all are having a lovely week.

Tangerines, 24, Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Publix.

So, it’s the first week after Spring Break and I already miss hanging out with my sister and stealing tangerines from our neighbor’s tree, but that’s okay because I’m back at school with all my other friends! And that is cheerful.

I have a Ministry class that didn’t start until the middle of the semester and it is on Monday nights from 6-10. I don’t really know that many people in the class because it is a lot of night students and just a few daytime students. It is a good class though, we talk about everything that we have learned in all other ministry classes and apply it to the books we read and our papers. But, because it goes until 10 this means that I cannot watch 24. A few months ago this would not have mattered, but some of my friends brainwashed me into watching it and now I really like it! Jack Bauer is pretty cool. So I came back from class and there were only ten minutes left in the show, and I watched it even though I knew it was going to spoil the rest of the show whenever I watched it online. Whatever, it’s okay.

Because I just got back from Spring Break and have not gone grocery shopping I have nothing to eat in my apartment. All I have is almonds and cranberries and pasta. Oh, and the ingredients to make chocolate chip cookies. One of my suitemates and I decided that last night would be a good time to make them, being that we had no other foods in our apartment and so we made them last night and they were delicious of course. And now the only thing in my apartment for me to eat….is cookies. And that’s that.

For my Writing for Public Relations class I have to write a Media Kit which is just a lot of information about any organization and I’m not sure what I will write it on yet, but I’m thinking Publix Supermarkets. The best grocery store ever. No joke. Anyway, that should be interesting to write.

I think that this has been sufficiently random enough for my first blog post and I hope that I am not as tangent-y whenever I write again!
Until next time!

Wearing Green While Listening to Great Music

Today is St. Patrick's Day, I am wearing green. Not that me wearing a specific color shirt is something truly special. Green is my favorite color and I wear it very often, and a holiday like today is just another excuse to wear my favorite green shirt. Even though I am not Irish in any sense of the word I have always grown up celebrating this day. Nothing too special, there was always the fun game of pinching friends or family members who somehow forgot to wear green. Occasionally my Mom would make an Irish themed dinner or we would eat shamrock shaped cookies. It seems to me that many other PBA students have had the same experience in childhood as me. Most of my friends rolled out of bed this morning before their morning classes and managed to find a green shirt or other clothing item in their closet. Hopefully, most, if not all, of them were also able to find their shower and clean up a little!

PBA has a small St. Patrick’s Day celebration tonight that I am particularly excited about. We are having a Coffee House out on the Rinker Green. For those of you who do not know, PBA has many Coffee Houses during the year all run by Student Activities and usually all take place on Friday nights. There is an abundance of excellent musicians at PBA so the events are always a great way to start off your weekend with good music, good company and free Starbucks® coffee. Anything that you can get for free is just astounding, and with the price of coffee these days it always helps to get it free. Tonight three good bands Alexander, Leone and Cold Kerosene will be playing. Cold Kerosene was the winner of the annual battle of the bands contest a few weeks back so it will be a real treat to hear them play again.

Spring Break.

This Spring Break, I went home to Naples without any real plans. I was going to try to pick up some hours at my summer job, but they had just hired a bunch of new people and didn't have any for me. I thought this would leave me with a lot of free time to hang out with friends, but instead I got sick and spent the majority of my time indoors watching television.

Here are some things I did...
1. Saw Slumdog Millionaire. Amazing.
2. Watched FOX news a lot and now I know pretty much everything about Bernie Madoff.
3. Created a Tumblr account. http://vanessaelaine.tumblr.com/
4. Rediscovered the fact that old people can't drive.
5. Discovered Kohl's plays Brooke Frasier's music in their store. :)
6. Spent 4 hours talking at Jason's Deli with 2 amazing girls.
7. Found starfish on the beach.
8. Took antibiotics and Motrin and cough medicine Tuesday through Friday.

Now it is back to PBA and the real world. I have to go write an article for my internship at the Lake Worth Herald and start writing a Spanish paper for my Spanish Cinema class.

Living Close to Campus

This is my eighth and last semester at PBA, and I am not leaving Palm Beach County for the majority of Spring Break. A lot of students at PBA go home for these longer breaks (Spring, Fall, Easter, Christmas), while I can pretty much go home any time I want. Although I live in Tequesta, which is about a 20 or 30 minute drive from PBA, I decided to live on campus.

The price of gas from 2005 to 2008 was high due to the "gas bubble." Two daily thirty minutes drives could be quite costly, though my lodging cost would not change. Another reason that I decided to live on campus is the atmoshere of college life. While I still would have friends as a commuter, I may not have developed the stronger friendships that I have from living on campus. Also, my parents probably wanted to get rid of me. Just kidding.

I have lived with eight roommates and twenty-eight suitemates in six rooms and three halls at PBA. A lot of these people have become good friends, and I don't regret choosing to live on campus. By the way, Lakeview was my favorite dorm.

Spring Break / Mashed Potatoes

I'm Nick Graves, and I'm on Spring Break. I went home, like most people, but I only live like 20 minutes from PBA. So, I'm kind of always home. I'm trying to use my time wisely and get important stuff done (schoolwork, emailing people, working, eating, sleeping, etc.).

Yesterday, for dinner, I made mashed potatoes. I made this kind:

Gold potatoes make the best mashed potatoes. I have only made mashed potatoes twice, and the other time was in London. I did not use gold potatoes, unfortunately. It was still good though. Potatoes are originally from South America. They grow best in cooler climates, like high up in the Andes mountains, Idaho, or Ireland. Mashed potatoes happen to be my favorite food.