...

 ... Still walking, harvesting, writing spies, pics from Alaska, updates coming soon...

1.  "Hawk up"
2.  Dismiss Spanish speaking families.
3.  Video welcome from President of North Georgia.
4.  Why orientation discussion.
5.  Class changes at end of day today.
6.  UNG swag
7.  Meet orientation leaders.


8.  Nudge students to check emails.
9.  First year is crucial for success.
10.  "Flight Training"... intro to college class.
11.  Discussion about academic advisors.  One mandatory meeting per semester.
12.  Faculty advisors after 45 hours, higher level contacts.
13.  The earlier ou get with advisor,  the better.
14.  Get with academic advisor about transferring credits.
15.  Learning support.   Intro classes to set up for higher level class.  Don't jump into high level math.
16.  Core IMPACTS.  (Core curriculum)
     A.  LANGUAGES.  Two classes. Institutional Priority.  Language classes, etc. 
     B.  MATH.  At least one class.
     C.  POLITICAL SCIENCE/ HISTORY.  One.
     D.  ARTS HUMANITIES ETHICS.  LITERATURE,  or intermediate language.  Art class.
     E.  WRITING.  COMPOSITION.
     F.  SCIENCE.  Three classes.  Science, with lab.  One more math or technology.
     G.  SOCIAL SCIE CE.  Two classes.  PSYCHOLOGY, etc.
     H.  Field of study classes.
     I.  Flight Training.  "How to do college" class.

17.  Meet early with advisors. Academic Advising Website and the Advising Tools Page.
18. Check emails daily.
19.  Visit advisors web page.
20.  Register as time opens.
21.  Four years?  15 hours a semester,  unless adding summer too.
22.  Registration for Spring starts roughly second week of November.  Based on seniority, timing is.
23.  Ferpa.  (Fernando)  Grades can only be disclosed to student.  Federal law.  Students can sign waiver allowing parents.
24.  Students get with advisor  - online booking system on account.  Or email.  30-45 minutes per session.


25.  Tip.  Wait until week of class starts, and THEN purchase books.
26.  Get involved.
27.  Nigel Nook sleeping pods!
28.  Nigel Career Closet.  If you have a job opportunity?  Free fits!
29.  Food pantry
30.  Meal plan
31.  Tutoring, free resource.
32.  Student cards get local discounts.
33.  Pick your own path.

Financial aid. 

34.  FASFA.  
   You could work at campus.
    "Scholarship Universe."
35.  Maddie has a green sticker, which means she's completed requirements for financial aid. Look at "Offer Page." Scroll further for scholarships, grants available. Scroll further, there is loan info. 6.52% on federal loans.
36.  CPoS Federal Aid. Course Program of Study.  I don't know what this is.
37.  HOPE gives you $191 per credit hour, bachelor's degree.  About the cost of course classes.
38.  FASFA is based on two years ago taxes. 
39.  67% of classes you need to pass to keep HOPE.  Need to keep a 3.0 GPA.  This is checked after 30, 60, and 90 credit hours.
40.  HOPE ends at at 127 hours.

Billing.

1.  Deadlines.  Friday, August 14, 3pm.
2.  Where.  In person 8-4.  No credit card at office.
Payment kiosks.  Mail.  Online.  Don't recommend mail.
3.  Checks student name AND ID.  Must be equal to invoice.
4.  Mail?  Care of Bursars office.
5.  529 payment?
6.  Online 3% if using credit card.
7.  Web check recommended.  No additional fees.
8.  Check invoices because fluctuations in classes can affect cost.
9.  Optional grad guard insurance.
10.  "Estimated aid" -not paid yet, but submitted.
11.  Authorize Users button.
12.  Detailed Activity Invoice.  Look for aid you expect to se there.
13.  Books are online, cost may be added on invoice.
14.  Telnet Payment Plan.  Automatically drawn out payment on 20th of each month.
August 7th deadline.  Then Friday, August 24th.
15.  Refunds are done as direct deposits.  Select refund process on tuition page.  About third week of semester.
16.  Include student name and ID in all communications.
17.  Invoice is on BANNER, students page.
18.  Encourage student jobs.  Flexible hours.  It's right here.
19.  Ask a lot of questions!




20.  KNW ratatouille studying and reading



Conversation prompts for students:
What excites you?
How are you feeling?
How are your students feeling?

41% students experience mental stress 3-4 days a week.  Existing in life is stress.  And on top of that, college.

Reward system for good grades



"Discipline without direction is drudgery."

If Dad goes to college, heres the person to contact:
Cory.thornton@ung.edu

Puzzles and Megaladonut

Maddie is closing out the summer just chilling - today she finished a puzzle with a nice summer beach theme to it.  

We were working on our next series today, a returnto SPY GAMES.  Should be fun!  Lots of writing, deadlines, etc.

It's Shark Week, and Mom got ussome Megaldonut Coffee, a giant shark meets doughnuts themed coffees.  Really fun!

Big stormsrolledthroughtonight.  Loud here, but damaging elsewhere.   Jasper had a monument struck by lightning, bursting marble into exploding shattered remains.  There was a tornado up there too.

Tonight we finished "Unseen Academicals," which was fun.  The big soccer match is over, and there's a happy ending for all, we except Andy Shank, perhaps.   Now on to the next book!

We prayed,  and now time for rest!

Pacific Rim

We went to eye doctor this morning to get Maddie better prescription.   She was thinking it was time, and with school around the corner it's a good idea.  

We ate at Melow Mushroomafter that  a nice meal together,  and quiet too.  Mom and i usuallyget the glutenfree PacificRim,  while Maddie got wings.

back totaekwondo tonight.  Quite a few fellow students were returning from Little Rock,  where there was a big national championship.   They had fun and there were some winners too.  The Edges moved up in rank themselves,  and it was fun for the students trying to remember Mrs. Edge's new rank before addressing her.

Quiet day.  Not feeling great.  We read tonight,  we prayed, and got some sleep.

The Cardiac Kids

We finished up out 2026 "At the Movies" series with KidPak today, and it went well - we did a new movie this morning, the recent Mario movie, and the message turned out well.  We had enough time to do a few games in there too, so we pulled out some classic games from the past, an animated race from an "At the Movies" with stunt racers that was a classic some years ago.

We had Princess Peach, Mario and Luigi out there greeting the kids, and it was just a nice time this morning at KidPak.  Here's a frog on the outside door, ready for a quiet nap this afternoon:

Maddie was with Nate's family, celebrating a big moment for them, so Mom and I went home and the thought was to watch a quiet Braves game and take a nap before anything else.

Then this happened.  This was an epic baseball game, and eleven-inning stress factory that just kept you on the edge of your seat for much of the game.  And the thing is, the Braves have been in a lot of these one-run contests lately, so there's a lot of tension to these games.  Fortunately, they've been coming out on top of late, but wow, it's no wonder the announcer has started calling the Atlanta Braves the "Cardiac Kids."

So after the game, we gathered our things, and we did something fun - we went to Camp Meeting.  There's a Union Grove Camp Meeting once a year up very close to where I used to live, and in fact I went to it over thirty years ago now.  I can still remember the songs we sang there, "It's Beginning to Rain" and others.  I have a lot of good memories of Camp Meeting, and our friend CJ from KidPak has been telling us to come back each year.

We're glad we said yes!  It was a really great service, a great time of fellowship and catching up with some old familiar faces.   We had a great time with some old songs and following that a great message from a guy we haven't heard before - or at least not before yesterday.  Yesterday, it just so happened that Mom heard a message from this same guy while down at another conference.  So it was quite the coincidence that he was there tonight.  And it was quite the coincidence that we saw many other Free Chapel people involved in worship or just there to enjoy the service.  It was great, and it went late - we got home pretty late, so much so that there wasn't time to read.  But we had a great day, that much is certain.  We said our prayers, and then it was off to sleep!

Stripers Double Header!

Today was a lot of fun!  We went to Gwinnett Field today to see not one but two Gwinnett Stripers games, one of them postponed from yesterday's big rain deluge.  Because it was a double-header, each game was only about seven innings long.  But check out this line-up on the Stripers:

This was for the first game.  We literally had two NL MVPs playing on a minor league team at the same time, plus Murphy and Kim.  And ironically, the same exact starting pitcher here for the Stripers was pitching for the Atlanta Braves when we went to go see them last weekend.  

It was Christmas in July, so there was lots of Christmas music playing today, and Christmas trees set up throughout the stadium, plus plenty of decorations too.  Santa was there for pictures, and in fact Maddie did her official photo with Santa here tonight at the ballpark and it turned out really well.  

Mom and I posed with the Grinch, meeting him for a while, and there was Chipper too - all decked out in a Santa suit.  Here's Chipper chasing around a giant cockroach through the stands and up where I was standing by:  

How fun it was to see Santa throw out the first pitch.  The national anthem was sung by a church from Gainesville that did really well.  And as for the games themselves, we had a superteam in that first contest, so the Stripers had a nice first game there.

We saw just about everyone get a hit, including Acuna and Kim, who got a two-RBI double.  In the second game we got to see Rowdy Tellez get a few RBIs, and Andrew McCutcheon get a home run.

There was a lot of action today, and two solid victories.  The second game didn't feature as many of those all-stars from the first game, but it was good to see some of our Braves players there, and watch them do really well.

It was a nice time there at the game.  We got a Christmas ornament tonight, because that seemed pretty appropriate, right?  There were all kinds of characters, like the Pink Pig from the Festival of Trees.  And there were a lot of people all dressed up in the audience wearing Santa outfits or dressing up as elves or whatever!  It was a lot of fun.  We had our wings and our Cracker Jacks, of course, and just had a great time at the ol' ball game.

Nate was there too, and he and Maddie got on the Jumbotron for a good extended dance sequence to "Last Christmas," and earlier on, Nate actually caught one of the t-shirts that was thrown into the audience, so he got himself a Stripers shirt!  I have one too, I'm wearing it now - Mom got me a hat and t-shirt for the Stripers.  Tonight's big souvenir is that Christmas ornament, which will look great hanging from the tree this year.

We sat and talked with this elf for a good bit this afternoon...

Of course, you can't see the player's faces in these - but they're pictures of Atlanta Braves players doing their rehab assignments - a pretty huge amount of talent on there tonight.

We got home safely, and yeah, we're tired.  We read a bit from our book, did some of our online puzzles, and then it was time for some sleep!

Huge Rain

This blog eats up a lot of time spent writing, just erasing it from time to time.  I already wrote a lot here, and now I have to somehow do it again, but it's difficult enough to keep up with.  So I think bullet points might work.

*  Here's Maddie, hiding behind the chiropractic table.  She's been doing this all her life, jumping out and surprising Doc Williams when he starts asking us, "Where's Maddie?"  In these pictures, she's put here plush potato on her head inside the hoodie.

*  Here's Maddie eating rolls at Texas Roadhouse.  We had a nice meal after our pleasant visit to the chiropractor.  Maddie would be happy just eating these roll alone.

*  Afterwards we went to Hallmark Store and got some chocolates which are so rich in flavor that Mom and I shared one and that was more than enough.  We got a few ornaments on extreme sale (ones from last year), and looked at the ones for the upcoming year.  I think the Kermit the Frog one might be my favorite.

*  We dropped by the Aldi's and got some of those protein bars that Mom likes.

*  My blood pressure is back down, way down again.  I walked another 5K today at about 3.8 mph.  Touring around - virtually - South Dakota, and of course the goal is still that Mount Rushmore medal.

*  We got home and I worked on the skit for next month, and a few other things.

*  We saw the Braves defeat the Orioles in another nail-biter game that went to ten innings.  Really exciting stuff with a happy ending for us up in Baltimore.

*  The rain was huge today.  Over eight inches in Oakwood, with flooding and streets collapsing.  Glad we didn't go over in that direction!  At our house we got at least six inches of rain, which is huge.  Can't wait to see what this does with Lake Lanier.

*  The Stripers game was postponed today because of the rain, and that affects us tomorrow because tomorrow's game is now a double header.  We'll get there earlier tomorrow for two games, a full day of baseball, although each game is reduced to seven innings.  

*  We continued reading tonight - about fifty pages left, but the Unseen Academicals are about to play their big football game!

*  We closed the day with prayers and a good night's rest!

"I would have liked to have seen Montana"

We've been spending time working on our new series, "The Past of the Warrior," already pushing hard for the next series.  The booklet's finished, and now it's the other items along the way.  Big work day.

The Braves won again today, hitting homers and hanging on tight to win by just one run.  They beat the Padres for the series and now seem to be following a similar trajectory that they were at the beginning of the season with exciting games where they wind up on top.  Fun game to watch - and we'll get to see some more baseball in person this weekend, including a few Braves players on rehab assignment.  Actually, the Stripers team has a lot of familiar faces on it, and we're looking forward to seeing everyone play!

I'm walking again, this time around Wall Drug in a really fun virtual exploration of this iconic location.  I've been to Wall Drug a few times, and just love the place.  It's one of the ultimate Roadside America destinations, an absolute classic.  This virtual march towards Mount Rushmore has been great because I get to go back and see all the locations I used to visit a lot.  Miss them greatly.

Tonight in honor of Sam Neil's passing, we watched "The Hunt for Red October," which is such a great movie.  I haven't seen it in years, but I still remember so many of these lines and portions of the movie.  The classic line, "I would have liked to have seen Montana" is such a heartbreaking moment, but we can take heart because the next time we see Sam Neil in the movies, it's in Montana.  In "Jurassic Park," the dig site where we first meet Dr. Grant is actually in Montana.  I'm not sure if this was planned or not, but it's great, and so I like it.  Furthermore, I was just reminded of a fact that in "Jurassic Park," the first paleontologist we meet says that "you'll never get him out of Montana."  And one more thing:  in "Jurassic Park III," Dr. Grant drives a pick-up truck, something his character in "The Hunt for Red October" wanted to do.  Fun little inside connections there!

Anyway, tonight we read some more from "Unseen Academicals" and after that, we said our prayers.  It's been a good day today - time for some rest.