EPISODE 3: Lamont meets Emmy

Fiction by Joe Selmont

How twisty the winding twists of fateful fate can be, my friend. As I stared around the somewhat packed Commons, waiting for the cook to give the ready signal for my deliciously greasy burger, the tiniest hint of optimism lurked into my thoughts: perhaps this won’t be such a gut-wrenchingly disastrous semester after all.

Right, right. My name is Lamont Harpe. I live, work, and study at UAA. Blah blah blah. I study French lit. Etcetera, etcetera. The Fall 2012 semester was officially underway, and I had just spent the weekend moving back into the dorms – which, well, was unpleasant – and then there was Kickoff – which was pleasant – and that was followed by an utterly failed attempt to organize my life in preparation for classes: on this Monday which marked the beginning of a new academic year, I had not resolved my annual financial aid fiasco, I had not purchased textbooks, my shelf on the fridge was barren, and I had recently

Debut post for graphic artist Jenna! Roosdett

Jenna! Roosdett, by ... Jenna! Roosdett.

We thought it would be fun to have a blog contributor deliver just visuals about back-to-campus life. And in Jenna! Roosdett, an artist whose work is seen widely on campus because she does all the graphics for Student Activities (and they do a LOT!), we found our candidate. Thank you, Jenna!, for stepping up. 

Like everyone, she's been slammed with work and classes all week. So her first post is a product from her life drawing class. But, here's Jenna! to tell you about herself and her first drawing for the Life Hacks blog.

Hi there. As you probably see, my name is Jenna! and I'm working towards my BFA in Graphic Design and Photography as well as working with Student Activities as their Graphics Team Manager.

As this semester starts, the peak of my college career seems not too far away. Having to balance GERs as well as three Art studios in a row on some

Getting here: Bus and Bike-on-Bus

UAA Parking Services is more than just parking!

The Parking Services office also coordinates alternative transportation programs to help UAA achieve a more sustainable carbon footprint. Besides managing the paved surfaces that store our vehicles on a daily basis, parking services also provides ways to get to campus that don’t involve driving your car.

I'll cover bus and bike here, and follow up in a later post with Zimrides, Hertz on demand, and the nuts and bolts of Seawolf Shuttle.

Bus and Bike

Blackboard Mobile Learn: one of life's little gems

What Blackboard Mobile Learn looks like.

IT Services mobilized Blackboard Mobile Learn last semester, and if you haven't taken advantage of it yet, don't wait another minute. They've got a nice, straightforward announcement about it in their Knowledge Base, called "Blackboard Mobile Learn."

This Blackboard feature lets you check grades, read handouts, look at assignments anytime, anywhere. It works on iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. It also works on Android devices. And it works on BlackBerry smartphone devices.

• Android download site
• Apple Apps

And here's a handy little 3-page PDF that lays out all the features for each type of device. 

I hear hungry Seawolves. Come eat NOW at USUAA.

Good morning Seawolves! Are you hungry? Are you looking for some adventure in your life? Stop by the USUAA office this morning and grab some breakfast with your Student Senators! This year, we will try to provide breakfast at least once a month on Thursdays, so come fill your empty, shrinking college stomachs!

In other news, I feel like the semester has started on a great foot. Today is the last day of the first week of classes for most of us, and look! We survived! I am celebrating my last day of classes this week by going to the fair, where I will eat at every booth until my stomach can't take it anymore. Hopefully the weather will hold off until my ferris wheel ride is complete.

Going back to my last blog, how many of you tried the Redbull/Nerds or gum tricks? You only have a small window of time to make friends in class, so beware. After the first two weeks people assume you don't like them, and the rest of your semester will be in classroom silence, which is great for your professor, sad for your social life.

Tia of Tia's Gourmet Hot Dogs is my MOM!

But perhaps you made all the friends you could handle at Campus Kickoff, in which case I will ask: Did you try a reindeer sausage at Tia's Gourmet Hot Dogs and Sausages stand?!

Well, I'll have you know that when I am not being Student Body President, I work for Tia (better known as Mom to me, thanks). I have worked at a hot dog stand every summer since I was 12, fun fact.

Enjoy your last day of classes for the week, and stop by the USUAA office and let them know what you like/ love/ hate about UAA.

-- Alejandra Buitrago
USUAA Student Body President

How 'bout that parking lot?

You can’t miss it. Once one of the biggest asphalt stretches on campus, right next to the UAA/APU Consortium Library. Only right now, it’s half a field of dirt with big yellow machinery rolling around on it. Look a little closer and you’ll see the beginnings of a new diagonal walkway that will make crossing this parking lot to the CPISB and other east side buildings easier and safer.

New sidewalk connecting Library and CPISB.

So, did we just forget school was starting Aug. 27? No-o-o-o-t exactly. We weren’t able to resolve design issues for the project until July and really debated whether to launch it this year or hold off. We knew we’d be pushing the end-of-summer, start-of-the semester schedule, but knowing we had safety issues with the current layout, we decided to press ahead.

So, yes. It's late. But here's the good news: We're adding 14 additional parking spots to this lot.

Jumping for Kaladi!

Photos by Studio Valette.

Fun photos from 2012 Campus Kickoff! Put a paper cup in their hand (with a red goat on it), and Seawolves will tell you how they feel about it! Find more of them over at UAA's Facebook page.

Dale Tran shared these photos with our blog. He's posting more of them over at the Kaladi Brothers - Official Fan Page. They are the creative inspiration of Studio Valette.

If you want to know the hours you can get some java and a snack on campus, bookmark this UAA webpage. It's got hours for Kaladi, Fireside Cafe, Cuddy Marketplace, Subway, Mein Bowl, etc.  For when you need fuel!

Meet your friendly Club Council Chair

Doesn't bite. Likes making new friends.

I'm totally new to blogging, but it seems interesting and I'm always excited to help people however I can.

I'll start by telling you a little about myself. This is my third year at UAA, and I would say that I finally feel comfortable with the amount of responsibilities I've taken on. I am currently the Chair of Club Council (CC), but in my first two years I was involved with several clubs and held positions in a few.

I have been the Vice Chair of CC, the Vice President of ASCE and RHA, a senator for USUAA, and a few others. This does not include my job as an RA or PM for Residence Life, my ANSEP involvement, work for Tlingit and Haida groups, theatre opportunitie, or church involvement. If you would like help escaping a busy life of too many commitments, I can probably help you with that. Over-extension is not something I recommend. That, or I can make you feel better knowing that someone else has shared your situation.

Tips from the Prez: I'm listening; Nerds & Redbull works; the power of gum

After a long day of classes, and getting to see some old faces and friends, it's so nice to step into my office for a few minutes, and read the papers in the “USUAA Comments and Suggestions” jar (which yes, it did use to be a coffee jar that one of the Senators creatively wrapped in tissue paper and a tape). It's nice to see that although there are many complaints about UAA, there are good things too, like our beautiful green grass.

Some of complaints are valid ones. Yes, parking does suck and everyone agrees, but there are always ways around it. As I said at the Presidential debates last semester, learn to walk. If I can walk around in heels and a bag full of books and binders, you can do it too!

Other complaints are new to me, such as housing and the dorms, and they are all valuable and give me insight into how to better do my job. It's sad to see that most students don't realize there is a student government, nor that they are

Ohhhhh-noooo! A parking ticket!

So you received a parking ticket, now what?

Citations are issued for many reasons. If you have the correct parking permit properly affixed and displayed, if you are in a valid parking space, or have purchased a pay & park permit that is visible on the driver’s side dash, you have little reason to be concerned. Citations are issued when these criteria are not met. Maybe you overstayed the time limit in a loading zone? Maybe you forgot to display your parking permit or the time ran out on your parking meter? Maybe you haven’t received your permit and don’t know how to print a temporary permit?

Some words of advice: If you come back to a parking ticket on you window, don’t panic. First, review the information on the front of the citation. Photos are taken when citations are issued to help ensure that a permit was not overlooked and that

UAA's library, at your service even more hours in a day

Welcome back to campus everyone! Here at the UAA/APU Consortium Library we’ve been working hard all summer to bring you some great new services, space, and resources. All the cool stuff will be highlighted in this and future blog posts, so please check back frequently.

Our big news is that the library that you have come to know and love is even better than before. Starting this week, we are now operating as an After Hours Study Facility for all UAA and APU students, faculty, and staff!

Here’s how it works: After 10 p.m. every Sunday through Thursday, the gate from the Social Sciences Building is closed and our front doors are locked. But there is now a fancy new card swiper at the library’s south plaza door (the

EPISODE 2: Lamont, feeling woeful and dismayed

Fiction, by Joe Selmont

As I laid face down on one of the couches in the Student Union with my headphones blasting some Ray Charles at top volume (“Georgia, Georgia, no peace, no peace I find!”), I tenderly rubbed my temples in a counterclockwise motion. Holy cannoli, thought I, life just refuses to get better.

For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Lamont Harpe. I attend classes at UAA, I work at UAA, I live at UAA, and have done so for four years now. God willing, I’ll graduate by the end of this year with a degree in French lit. I guess I’ll pick up from where I left off last time, which was at the end of a strenuous day. This last Friday I moved back into the dorms after couch hopping all summer, and the short version of the story goes something like this: it sucked, a lot. But at least I was through the worst of it – or so I thought.

Lamont, bereft. (Illustration by Ted Kincaid)

The master of unpreparedness that I am, I knew I would have to spend the rest of the weekend racing around in a last ditch effort to throw together everything I needed for the upcoming semester. Plus I was working a booth for my job at Campus Kickoff, so getting anything done on Saturday was out of the question. In the end, Kickoff turned out awesome, so the delay was worth it. In fact, looking back, it was the only positive note in an otherwise catastrophic weekend. There was improv comedy by Horatio Sanz AND the new action flick The Avengers! Then some lucky sons of guns won Alaska Airline tickets. I would have killed for one of those, but, alas, I didn’t win. Nor did I have much in terms of money, making it impossible to purchase all the stuff I needed to survive the semester. And the list of “stuff I needed” was growing needlessly long as summer came to a close.

Best coffee on campus?

Tell us where and what! Favorite barista?

And now a word from your President

Four books, three chapters, two emails, one meeting and zero lunch -- and it's only been the first day.

This will be my life for the next nine months. School has a way of wrapping itself around me year after year. Outside of the day-to-day classes, there are day-to-day meetings, phone calls and emails that all add up to one thing: USUAA Student Body President. In addition to the normal class load that every student has, I have a few things on top of that, such as meetings with the chancellor or the dean, sitting in on Board of Regents meetings, as well as being a constant voice for the student body.

The first week of school is always a whirlwind, but the first week of school when your the newly elected student body president, is feeling half-petrified, and half-excited. How do you be president of

Don't miss out on 'The Perk' at UC

When I finished up some financial aid paperwork and registered for another class today at the University Center, I realized that I should tell you about something many students don’t know about: The UAA Limited Edition Bookstore at the University Center has a coffee shop, UAA Perk!

Hillary, the barista, makes the best coffee in Anchorage and can make pretty much any drink you ask for. My newest favorite is the White Chocolate Mocha Frappe. So while you are waiting to register for another class, get your financial aid situated, or before taking your Accuplacer, just stop by the coffee shop down the hall and get a drink.

-- Fabian

Five easy ways to stay connected

We recommend you bookmark these and then you'll never be in the dark about what's happening at UAA. Part of the fun of going to school or working at a University is all the amazing resources -- expert speakers, performance arts, music events, debates -- that go on. Don't miss out.

http://www.facebook.com/UAAnchorage

1

UAA's Facebook page.
Like us!

We also have a digest of social media sites run by
UAA entities around campus, here. Check them out, like them, too. If you want to be included in
this social media listing, send your site to uaa_news@uaa.alaska.edu

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http://www.uaa.alaska.edu/calendar/

UAA's Master Calendar. You can select just one small channel of the calendar, like Arts & Entertainment, or Students, or Lectures. Or select Master Calendar and see everything happening at UAA.  Submit your items to uaa_news@uaa.alaska.edu.

UAA wireless takes giant leap forward

Maybe you've had this experience. You're on campus, you pick up your phone to do a quick Google search, and find out that you're disconnected -- again -- from Internet service.

Well, that experience is about to get a whole lot better. IT Services has been working to create a one-stop set up with UAA's wireless, so that once you link up, you stay linked up. Day after day after day, when you are on campus. They will pull the trigger on this helpful service on Tuesday, Sept. 4.

This will make use of smartphones on campus so much easier!

Catch up on the news at this link, and watch for the how-to's that will be posted to this story when they are ready this week.

-- the team at IT Services

EPISODE 1: Lamont Harpe crash-lands back in the dorms

Fiction, by Joe Selmont

As I sat cross-legged waiting for the Seawolf Shuttle and the setting sun reflected off the UAA Campus Bookstore windows, I couldn’t help but think, what an awful, terrible, outrageously sucky day.
 

Okay. Introductions. My name is Lamont Harpe. My friends call me L. Ron Hubbard. I go to UAA. I work at UAA. I live at UAA. My love life is in shambles, but at least my cumulative GPA is above a 3.5. I’ve studied French literature at this fine university for four years, and am especially fond of Proust. And I hate nothing so much as scrambling to move into the UAA dorms on the same day as 900 other students.
 

Lamont ponders his options. (Artwork by Ted Kincaid)

My family lives in Palmer, but I didn’t want to deal with that mess, so I spent the summer hopping from couch to couch and probably drinking too much. (But that’s what the Alcohol, Drug, and Wellness Educator is for, right?) While I undeniably had a blast goofing off all summer – bicycling around, obsessing over The Game of Thrones books, tipping too heavily to cute bartenders – I did not exactly “plan” for the upcoming school year. Let it suffice to say that my belongings were scattered across various apartments and homes in the Anchorage area, my parents STILL hadn’t filled out their section of the FAFSA, and I had enough money for books or food, but not for both. So let me tell you about my day…

Get the 411 on student health and wellness

SHCC offers this online health mag. Click here!

The UAA Student Health and Counseling Center is an integrated primary care clinic, offering Mental Health, Physical Health and Health Education services to the UAA campus. The SHCC is conveniently located on the West Campus in Rasmuson Hall.

Students enrolled in six or more credits are eligible for SHCC services. Eligibility provides routine primary mental and physical health appointments at no additional charge for the office visit. There are reasonable charges for procedural visits (biopsies, suturing, cyrotherapy), and greatly reduced fees for Laboratory, Pharmacy, and Radiology services, thanks to our community business partners.

Please check out our website for pricing on some of the most common lab requests, as well as pricing information on immunization services, and contraceptives available at the SHCC.  www.uaa.alaska.edu/studenthealth

WOW! Campus Kickoff Photo Albums are here!

Almost 150 photos of all the festivities over the weekend are in a tidy and impressive album RIGHT HERE! Find your face in the pictures! Thank you, Student Activities! We had a great Kickoff! And here is a link to the Campus Kickoff Facebook page.

Cama-i Room: Where friends meet

If you’ve never been to the Cama-i Room, please stop by. We’re located in the Lee Gorsuch Commons and open seven days a week. The Cama-i Room is a social gathering place that offers activities and programs from 4:30 pm to midnight. There are typically 20 visitors in the Cama-i Room each night and activities offered include: game nights, fry bread making, carving, beading and discussions with local Alaska Native elders and artists.

Come enjoy the many Welcome Week activities that are planned during the first week of classes, they include: pillow sewing, making fry bread, playing Wii, and creating an Alaska Native art piece.  Mark your calendar for the Pilot Bread Connection on Saturday, Sept. 8.  For more information and to sign up for the Pilot Bread Connection contact the ANROP/Cama-i Room Coordinator, Karla Booth at (907) 751-7452 or email ankhb@uaa.alaska.edu.

Bilbo Baggins is my idol

It’s cold outside. It’s wet. It’s dreary. And it’s only August.

My name is Jolene Almendarez, and I am a transfer student this semester from San Antonio College…in San Antonio, Texas (Duh!).

I am a journalism junior and was lucky enough to land the managing editor position at The Northern Light, UAA’s award winning newspaper, right out of the gate.

What do I have planned for this blog? A whole lot of whining. That’s right. I plan to whine my face off about missing San Antonio, but bear with me for a moment.

I plan to whine my face off because I am in the midst of a mid-twenties life crisis. I bailed on my hometown to try new things, meet new people and start living the adventurous life I was always meant to live! Yeaaaah, maaan!

Check out the 'Line cams' at UC; guess what the best time to go is?

Do you still have some business to do at the University Center but don’t know how busy we are? We recently brought our “Live-Cam Website” online that will now show you how long the lines are and what the current waiting time is. You can access the site at http://phb.uaa.alaska.edu/camera/

Generally, the best time to stop by the UC is before 11a.m.!

Fabian

English 111 in 60 seconds! Can it be true?

Two weeks before classes started, I (along with my cohort of five other TAs) began a rigorous training to prepare for the first several weeks of classes. With the guidance of our Composition Coordinator Dr. Jackie Cason, we were introduced to the curriculum and began developing and designing unit plans, daily plans, and course activities to engage our students throughout the semester.

One of our assignments during the training was to develop a "Concept in 60." Several of these videos can be found on YouTube, and the idea is to express a concept using multimodal presentations of text, audio, and visual elements in only 60 seconds.

Sixty seconds is not a very long time! While developing our "English 111 in 60" videos, we found ourselves making several rhetorical choices very similar to those we make as writers. While the focus

P-P-P-P-P-P-arking 101, or how to avoid 'combat parking'

Parking on campus the first couple weeks of school can be a little misleading to new students and returning staff. It would appear that there are not enough spaces to go around, that there are more cars on campus than actual people, that EVERYBODY must drive alone to campus, and that the best way to find a spot is to follow folks out to their cars, sit with your blinker on and wait for them to back out.

Here are a few tips and tricks to battle the atmosphere of combat parking on campus:

Let's get started, shall we?

Greetings, UAA community! And welcome to UAA Life Hacks 2012, a crowd-sourced back-to-campus blog aimed at getting you through the rigors of re-entry for fall semester -- with a little  help from all your campus friends.

If  Life Hacks  isn't a familiar term to you, here's what it means: tips to survive. It has a whole history, coming from the geek world of programmers and meaning "inelegant but effective workarounds." But it's been widely adopted by folks who want to get stuff done efficiently, so they still have time to play. We thought that sounded like a good mantra for the start of a new school year. Here's the whole history on Wikipedia.

By crowd-sourced, we mean we tapped experts across the UAA Anchorage campus.  Just take a look at our list of amazing bloggers: