Depression

Depression is a serious issue that not everyone believes is a serious as it is. People who have no experience with depression seem to think that those who have been depressed are just sad people who want attention. However, that is not exactly the case. Being depressed can be miserable. It can also lead to self harm, suicide, and loss of loved ones through shutting them out. Those who are depressed feel like they are alone no matter what, even if they are with a group of friends. Depression isn't a choice, it's a mental health issue. If you are depressed you can stop enjoying daily life and activities and feel like you are trapped just waiting for the end. Also, those who are depressed tend to overthink every situation and make things a lot worse than the situation really is. Often times, those who are depressed refuse to seek medical attention because they want to avoid talking about it as much as possible. Being depressed can be like being trapped in your own mind and no way to leave because your mind will not let you and random thoughts just keep coming into your head. Along with not enjoying daily life, depression can cause people to eat more or less, sleep more or less, become extremely irritable and frustrated over something small, and tends to warp reality into something miserable. So, if you know someone is depressed, listen to them and if they ever think about self harm or suicide, contact someone that can help them with their problem. They are not just wanting attention. But, often times, people who just experience a bad occurrence tend to act depressed only for the purpose of wanting sympathy and attention from others while being depressed, people tend to not feel happiness even when things are going good. Depressed people also try to hide the fact that they are depressed by putting on a happy face for their peers so they don't draw any attention. One example of this would easily be Robin Williams. Robin Williams starred in many comedies and was even a stand up comedian. He was arguably one of the funniest people anyone has ever known. However, he could not deal with his depression anymore and ended up committing suicide. If you were to look at Williams, you would have never thought he was depressed because of how happy he always seems. There's a difference between acting depressed and wanting attention and have a psychological issue.

Top 5 Favorite Movies

1. Anchorman

My favorite movie of all time is easily Anchorman starring Will Ferrell. I feel like everyone has seen this movie at least once. I can literally quote this movie from begging to end. The movie is hilarious in many different ways. The movie involves a news team that is ranked number 1 over all of the other news teams. Will Ferrell's character is Ron Burgandy and he is the lead anchor on channel 4 news. They cover ridiculous stories like a water skiing squirrel, a cat fashion show, and the biggest story of them all is a rare pregnant panda. A new anchor comes in named Veronica Corningstone and the whole team tries to hook up with her. Ron's life takes a turn after Corningstone reads the news because run could not make it to the studio after his dog, Baxter, was punted off of a bridge. The competition ends when Corningstone puts a vulgar message on the teleprompter and Ron reads it on live television and is then fired. This movie is relatively dumb but is a must watch.

2. The Social Network

Although some people may think this movie is boring, I am extremely interested in it and entertained by it because of my love with technology and computers. This movie is based on the beginning of Facebook, started by Mark Zuckerberg. It follows his travels through Harvard and his beginning of Facebook as just a collegiate way to communicate with other students. However, he runs into trouble with lawsuits of the Winklevoss brothers who also attended Harvard and claims that Zuckerberg stole their idea. Zuckerberg was also sued by his best freind, Eduardo Saverin, after being removed as CFO of the company because of a falling out between Zuckerberg and Sean Parker, creator of Napster. I find this movie extremely interesting and highly recommend it.

3. Forrest Gump

This movie should probably be ranked higher because it is loved by so many but I decided to put it as number 3. This movie starts Tom Hanks and follows Forrest Gump throughout his life as he is telling the stories while waiting for a bus on a park bench. The movie starts with Gump's difficulties growing up and real historical events that he was involved in. The movie covers so many events and is also a thriller, drama, and romance because of his love for Jenny. This is definitely one of the best movies I have ever seen.

4. The Shawshank Redemption

I never get tired of watching this movie. This movie stars Morgan Freeman and occurs at Shawshank prison. The plot of this movie is just prison life in general and eventually leads to Andy Dufrain's escape of the prison after he was falsely accused of a murder. This movie is exciting and just a great watch and if you have yet to see it you must take the time to watch it. 

5. John Q

I just recently watched this movie for the third time with my girlfriend and realized how much I actually enjoy watching this movie. It stars Denzel Washington, whose character is John Archibald. The movie follows John's journey to find his son a new heart after collapsing at a baseball game because of his enlarged heart. John's son's heart is roughly 3 times the size of any other 9 year old. However, because John is relatively poor, he does not have enough money to make a down payment for the heart transplant for his son so he sells everything and the whole community helps by donating as much as they can for John's son. After finding out that his son is going to be released from the hospital prior to his surgery, John holds the hospital at gun point and refuses to leave until is son is put on the list for his surgery. I don't want to spoil too much but this movie is a great tear jerker and is also a thriller and I highly recommend this film. 

 

My First College Semester at Muskingum University

Muskingum University

So far, my choice of attending Muskingum University has not let me down. I enjoy the atmosphere here and the people here are usually friendly and there are plenty of sources that can assist students in their college success.

Ups of Muskingum

This semester I have enjoyed almost every aspect of Muskingum University. The college atmosphere here is amazing. Pretty much everyone here is extremely friendly, especially the upper classmen because they are all willing to help freshman with things they don't know or just giving tips for ways to study for tests or finals. At first I did not feel at home here but I assume pretty much all incoming frosh feel this way at the beginning but it grows on you the longer you stay here and you start to feel like you belong. Another thing that can make you feel more at home is by attending campus events and hanging out with friends that you come to know through being involved and socializing. Most of the professors if not all of them are extremely willing to help with any questions or problems you have, especially if you show that you are dedicated and take the courses seriously. All the staff wants is for you to graduate from college and proceed to be successful throughout the rest of your life. However, you have to show that you are working hard and putting forth some effort into your courses. There is also other ways for student to utilize some of the campus tools such as student success center. Student tutors that are majoring in that program or are efficient in that subject are there for any study tips or just for helping you with something you don't understand. Another thing I like about this campus is that it is pretty cheap especially if you did well in high school and Muskingum hands out thousands of dollars to student in scholarships and it is easy to pay for your tuition and you may not be in as much debt attending here as you may be if you attended another school. Personally, I received a $14,000 scholarship and I only have to pay about $2,500 a semester even though I may have some debt because of loans I doubt it would be as much as some other schools.  

Downs of Muskingum

Some of the things I don't like about this campus is the food in the dining halls this campus has to offer. The dining halls do not offer a wide variety of food because typically they have the same thing over and over again. Like honestly, I can't even count the amount of times I went in to eat and they have tacos.  Another thing is that because this is a rather aged campus, not all the buildings are air conditioned. Mainly Montgomery. But that building is so extremely hot during the hot days. One thing I wish would change is that the Chess Center would be open earlier than 10 A.M. because I enjoy waking up early and working out in the morning so I can get it done before classes and not have to worry about working it into my schedule at other times in the evening when I need to do homework. Those are about the only things I can complain about at this college.

Netflix and Chill

Top 5 Netflix Series Recommendations

1. White Collar

White Collar is a crime show starring Matt Bomer. Bomer's character in this show is Neal Caffery. Caffrey is known for his accomplishments and success as a notorious art thief. Caffrey starts off by escaping from prison simply by just walking out disguised as a prison guard. He then tries to find clues that lead to his discovery of his love, Kate. However, Caffrey is caught by leading inspector of White Collar division, Peter Burke. Burke helps Caffrey avoid another 5 years in prison by allowing him to work in White Collar division as a CI under Peter's watch. Caffery has his own criminal assistance working with him and his name is Moz. Both of these two work together to help White Collar capture and justify other criminals. I was so glued to this show and could not stop watching it. It was by far the best series I have watched on Netflix and I was more than upset when I finished it because I could no longer watch it. Never was there a dull moment and the ending was phenomenal. I highly suggest this series.

2. Prison Break

Prison Break is another show I was extremely entertained by. Lincoln Burrows, the brother of main character Michael Scofield, was framed for the murder of the brother of the Vice President of the United States. After designing the prison himself and also doing plenty of research on the prison, Michael Scofield tattoes his body with the lay out and escape plans of the prison. He then fires a sidearm in a bank so that he could receive five years in prison and help his brother along with other fugitives escape from prison. I did not think another series could beat this show but I ranked it number 2 because White Collar was just too good to me. Each season has about 23 episodes, each about 45 minutes long and I could not be more pleased with this series. If you decide to watch the series, I highly recommend watching the hour and a half movie at the end of it all to fully understand the ending. It was one of the best endings I have seen and was not let down at all. 

3. Grey's Anatomy

Although I did not watch this full series, my girlfriend fell in love with this show and completely avoided everything else in life to watch it, so she insisted that I rank it number 3. Grey's Anatomy is a series following recent medical school grads through their years as surgical resisdents, mainly following the lives of Dr. Meredith Grey and her close group of classmates/friends. A regular episode takes you through the day of the residents and surgical attendings at the hospital and the excitement/tragedies they face on a day-to-day basis at a level 1 trauma unit. You also get close insight to the personal lives of the main characters in the series. With 10 seasons on Netflix and the 11th now airing Thursdays at 8pm on ABC, Grey's Anatomy has been able to keep people watching with the non-stop excitement, plot-twists, and love stories in each episode. Every 42 minute drama filled episode leaves you hanging off the edge of your seat just needing to know what will happen next. Although this is a complete 180 from the previous shows I've talked about, I would highly recommend Grey's Anatomy. Even though I have only seen about 6 episode in the middle of a season, I still could not make myself stop watching.

4. Dexter

I could not stop watching Dexter just because of the complexity of the whole show and how entertaining. I extremely enjoy crime shows and this one was one of the best. The show follows Dexter throughout his adult life. The story behind Dexter is that he has a dark side and his father showed him how to control this dark side. Dexter did this by killing people who he did not believe deserved to live or took life for granted. He killed his victims in a variety of ways and also disposed of their bodies efficiently. During each season, Dexter is attempting to kill one specific criminal or killer. Dexter was an extremely great watch throughout all 8 seasons. However, the ending was rather annoying and unsatisfying and ruined the whole show but I'll leave that up to you whether or not you want to find out what that is. 

5. Weeds

Weeds was a very different show compared to the other series that I recommended on this list. It is extremely funny if you have a somewhat raunchy sense of humor. The basic plot of this story is that a mother becomes a drug dealer in order to keep a sustainable family life. It can be sickening at times but it kept me laughing the whole time and I was extremely entertained. 

The Philadelphia Eagles

2015 Review of the Philadelphia Eagles

     As you can assume the Philadelphia Eagles are my favorite sports team and always have been and it frustrates me more than anything when they are successful with as much talent as they have. This year the Philadelphia Eagles are not performing as well as many had assumed after their preseason domination and acquiring of many new talents both offensively and defensively. The Eagles did however lose many players as well through trades and signings with other teams. The Eagles traded running back Lesean McCoy to the Buffalo Bills for linebacker Kiko Alonso who missed multiple seasons because of knee injuries and also traded Quarterback Nick Foles to the St. Louis Rams for Quarterback Sam Bradford, who was a Heisman winner and attended the University of Oklahoma and also missed multiple seasons because of the same injuries as Alonso. Philadelphia signed running backs Ryan Matthews from the San Diego Chargers along with Demarco Murray, former running back for the Dallas Cowboys, to assist Darren Sproles as the trio of running threats. The Eagles dominated the preseason by winning their first three games by huge margins and then losing their fourth to the New York Jets. During Bradford's first appearance as an Eagle in the third preseason game, his completion rating was perfect with a 10/10 outing. However, so far the eagles have not performed to their full potential this season, especially after Bradford was injured and the Eagles lost three straight games to rather easy games against the Miami Dolphins, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the Detroit Lions. With all of this frustration and poor performing, the Eagles still somehow have a shot at winning the division. Mostly because the NFC East is rather weak this year. 

What I think the Eagles should be doing?

     With Chip Kelley as the head coach for the Eagles, he has yet to figure out to use his threats efficiently. Demarco Murray was the leading rusher in the league with the Cowboys. This is because the Cowboys mostly use a singleback set and Murray had space to build speed and momentum to run between the tackles straight upfield. However, with Kelley's shotgun spread offense, Murray does not have the space or time to build up this speed and momentum. Also, with the Eagles run scheme, runs are designed to go more lateral and around the tackles than straight up the middle and Murray is not fast enough to gain yards this way with his size. That is why Mathews and Sproles are having more successful rushing seasons this year. Kelley needs a way to figure out how to utilize all three running backs efficiently and I think that is to run shotgun with Mathews and Sproles because they are fast enough to run around and get to the outside and with Murray get into a singleback or I formation so he can run the gain yards the best way he can. Running the ball is key in football because while being dominant this leaves opportunity to fool defenses with play action, which brings linebackers and safety forwards to bite on the run and leaves receivers wide open for great yardage. The Eagles defense is performing great this year for the most part but there is just not enough offensive efficiency to assist them and put points on the board.

Software Engineering

Software Engineering

What is Software Engineering?

     Today, software engineers are responsible for the way everything technological that you own works. Software engineering is the application of engineering to the design, development, and maintenance of software. Engineers in this field typically research, design, develop, and test operating systems-level software, compilers, and network distribution software for medical, industrial, military, and communications. Software engineers incorporate high levels algorithms and and also high level mathematical formulas to assist them in their problem solving to create whatever project they are directed to create. If you are further interested in software engineering:

Software Engineering

Are there different types of software engineers?

      There are only a couple of different types of software engineers. These different software engineers are:

Computer Applications Software Engineers: These software engineers analyze user needs and design, construct, and maintain general computer application software. 


 Computer Systems Software Engineers: These software engineers coordinate the construction and maintenance of a company's computer systems and plan their future growth.

Software Engineering:

       Today, most software engineers have a bachelor's degree in computer science and usually do not have any background of engineering. Some occupations require a bachelor's degree in computer science or software engineering and other occupations require a master's degree computer science or you may need a master's degree in order to climb the ladder of a company or be promoted.  The current average annual salary for software engineers is $93,350/year. That stated salary is for those engineers that are hired by a company and are not free-lance engineers that do not know when their next pay check may be coming and also where or who that paycheck is coming from. The highest paying company for software engineers today is Google, paying their software engineering employees an average annual salary of over $127,000. Being a software engineer requires an open mind and dedication to problem solving and a love with technology. 

Why I'm interested in Software Engineering:

     I am attending Muskingum University to earn a Bachelor's Degree of Science in both Computer Science and Mathematics. I have a very strong desire for technology and I am extremely fascinated with they way technologies work and also the endless possibilities that technology and computers can achieve. My main focus is to have a career as a software engineer at a high-end corporation, such as Google, Apple, Yahoo, Bing, or somewhere of that relativity. I intend on being involved in many different internships to meet new possible employers. Another thing that caught my attention when I was researching software engineering was the average annual salary. $90,000+ a year sounds pretty good to me because one thing I hope to achieve in life is to never ever have to worry about not having the money to do something or just not to have money problems in general.

      

The Greatest Decision

The Decision to Lose Weight

     I made the decision to lose weight around the middle of March 2014. I was disappointed in the way I looked and decided to make an appointment to receive some assistance on how I should be eating because honestly I probably had the poorest eat habits possible. As a Junior in high school, I weighed approximately 310.7 pounds. This result shocked me and I felt absolutely terrible about myself. One of the causes of this obesity was that I had suffered a torn meniscus and MCL during football, so I just laid in my room for 3 months and didn't do anything except eat. After that day at the doctor's office, I decided to completely change both my eating habits as well as my exercise routines. Losing weight was not as difficult as I thought it would be because I had tried losing weight before and I could not do it so I just concluded that I was destined to be big and could only become even bigger. The result was amazing!

The Dedication and Way

     I had to lose this weight. Like I stated, I weight over 300 pounds at the age of 17. I immediately started eating extremely healthy. I had sacrificed a lot of types of foods. I did not eat any bread of any sort. I stopped eating pizza, candy, ice cream, desserts, chips and pretty much anything that was unhealthy for me. I made a transition from eating cookies and brownies for breakfast and ate a banana with peanut butter and a bottle of water instead. I also started to jog around the village that I lived in daily as well as football conditioning and lifting once I was able to return. During the summer  going into my Senior year, I started doing field maintenance on the high school baseball field for the Babe Ruth baseball teams. I worked in the sweltering heat for many hours a day dragging the field, lining, mowing, taking tarps off the field, and then cleaning the field after games. So, with all of this physical activity I was doing, the weight disappeared rather quickly. I lost my first 15 pounds in about 3 weeks and I was amazed because I didn't even feel like I was trying to lose weight. In all honesty, I felt like I was just living life ordinarily. After this result, I was obsessed with losing weight and wanted to keep doing it. I was eating around 1,500 calories a day and I consumed around 10 bottles of water a day. I was able to silence my constant hunger by being active.

Before and After

                   

                                 

                               Before (301.7 lbs)                         After (215.3 lbs)

As you can see I made a magnificent transformation and could not be happier with what I have done with myself. I am still trying to lose around another 15 pounds and I am fully determined to achieve that goal. However, what I have noticed is how your appearance effects the way people treat you. When you are as big as I was,people tend to find you gross and unattractive and this is not good for trying to find relationships. I wouldn't say that is exactly "right" but that is how society works today. But, losing this weight has helped me acquire my first girlfriend and I could not be happier with that. I was also able to perform much better without carrying all of that extra unnecessary weight. It also helped my emotional and mental wellness as well as my physical health. Losing weight was the best decision I have ever made, easily!