So I just have to say this was a fun week!!! It was only a four day week so that was definitely a plus for me- no school this past Friday!!! :) Monday, I had my classes and did nothing as usual. Tuesday was the same. Wednesday was normalish. On Wednesday night, I stayed up until past midnight to help my friend Jimmie celebrate his 21st birthday on Thursday! His sister came over and celebrated in the traditional way that is the 21st birthday. I did not partake since I had an early day on Thursday. Thursday was fine. But Thursday night was AWESOME!!! 

I got to go to Cirque du Soleil with my friends Kristy and Maria! It was freaking AMAZING!!! It was the show Saltimbanco and was full of single performers and cast performances and flying high stunts and awesome showmanship and just extraordinary make-believe skills! We had so much and it was just across the river at the Bank of Kentucky Center on Northern Kentucky University's (NKU) campus so that was just a stroke of good luck to have it so close! It's never been this close that I know of in the last few years! The bad part of it all was we weren't allowed to take pictures because "if your camera goes flashy then our performers go crashy" (that's what the woman in the beginning told us- she was one of the performers so when she said it, it was funny as heck- the intro, not the part about crashing). My favorite part was when Eddy (that's what the program named him as) went up and down this imaginary hallway and opened all these doors and one was a closet full of toys. Such as a yo-yo that he played with, a bat, and then a ball that became an interactive part with the audience (one guy did well, a woman managed to "throw" the ball short and then too far, and then a man who threw the ball at Eddy but when Eddy tried to hit it with the bat, the ball flew into his mouth and then he ended up swallowing it. He tried using the bathroom to get it out but the toilet was already clogged so when he tried to flush it, the bathroom filled up with water and he became submerged in the water. He called someone on his "cell phone" and they let him out and flooded out and knockd down some other performers. I will remind you, though, that none of this was real and all of this was done with just Eddy on the stage. No props. Just him, his body movements, and his sound effects. It was freaking HILARIOUS!!!). I ended up buying the DVD of the show for my parents since it was their anniversary, but it's also so I can see it again and enjoy the fun I had all over again. 

Some of the other acts were two women doing high flying acrobatic work, a juggler that used like 12 balls, two muscle men (hot!), four high flying bungee cord performers (they were AMAZING!), a woman with these two balls flying around on these string things (I don't know what it was so I can't explain it), and some awesome singing (it was all in French so I have no idea what they were trying to sing but I got shivers anyway so it must've been awesome whatever they were singing). And of course, everytime they just "said" something, it was just jibber jabber in some made up language and I didn't understand a word of it but it was funny as heck! :) 

We had an amazing time and 2 and half hours was too short! I want to go again as soon as I can because Cirque du Soleil is just an amazing demonstration of creativity, ingenuity, athleticism, and pure genius! Wow... just... wow...! 

Friday I had off so I did some service hours as Mercer Elementary School on the East Side and got about 6 hours worth in. Then I had to go "rescue" my brother. His car broke down on the side of East 275 so I had to pick him up and follow the tow truck to the car repair shop. Then Saturday I got to go to the home football game. We lost to Anderson University but I got to hang out during the game with my parents so I had a ton of fun doing that. Then my mom and I did some errands and now here we are! :) Tomorrow I'll go back to school and it's all down hill from here. We're in the home stretch, half way done with the semester and just half of it to go! Only 8 more weeks! Amazing how fast school has flown by...! I'm ready for a real long break but I'm not ready to get to the end just yet... It'll be too much fun just getting there!!! :)

 

Well I'm sitting here listening to Coldplay and one of favorite songs comes on.It called warning sign off their "A Rush of B-s to The Head". It made me think about my situation at school. One thing about college is being held accountable for your own actions. Well I recently received an early warning report from one of my teachers. This is basically telling you that you aren't doing well and the report contains details about how to change that. So upon receiving this I realized that I have to turn things around. It wasn't because I wasn't studying or that I'm not smart all I needed to do was change how I study. I realized waiting until the test comes then cramming isn't very successful. I now study my notes every day and things seem to be working out. It only takes about an hour or two which I used to spend online or playing videos games. Setting a schedule of days has also been helpful for me and it leads me to not do anything wasteful when I should be doing something that's important. I came to the point in my life were I really have to grow up because trying to find a job without a college diploma is extremely hard. I had to sit out a spring semester and trying to find a job or at least a good paying job is nearly impossible unless it's backbreaking work. I commend those people but that isn't my future and if I keep slacking then I will soon run out of chances. The college has given me that second chance and I really can't afford to blow this wonderful opportunity or I'll end up in a place, I don't want to be doing something I don't want to do.

What’s up!

 

I haven’t really talked about it much yet this year so here it goes, I’m gonna tell ya guys about the MSJ wrestling team! As I’m sure some of you know, I am on the Mount St. Joseph wrestling team.  This will be my second year serving as captain and I guess it’s kinda my job to promote the team.  Or at least that’s my justification!

 

Last year we had a new head coach, Casey Stouffer, and it was sort of an experimental year in terms of scheduling and conditioning.  We had a few scheduling difficulties with matches being scheduled too close to each other that led to some of the team members getting burned out from losing weight too often and too quickly.  I think we all learned from that and the schedule is a little more spaced out this year.  This is a very good thing. I cut a lot of weight last year and there was one week where we had four weigh-ins in one week, and that killed me!

 

This year however, we have a lot of new freshman that should prove to be some tough competitors.  Last year, we ended the season with roughly 15 athletes.  This year, we have about 35 coming into the season.  We’ve had a few guys drop off the team after the first two weeks of two-a-day practices, but overall, I’m impressed with the work ethic and dedication of the majority of the freshman class.

 

Some things we are looking forward to are the Second Annual Takedown Clinic/Tournament we are hosting for high school wrestlers this Saturday, October 11 and our season opener at Eastern Michigan University, which is a Division I open tournament. That tournament is a good test of how good of shape we are in since we will be competing with some Division I and II athletes.  Last year, we won about 14 matches and had a few people place, and of course we are looking to do better this year.  And I don’t see that as being unreasonable at all!

 

We have a few home meets this year, which is a big improvement of the one that we had last year.  Our home opener is December 2 against Ohio Northern University at 7:00 pm, followed by our dual with Division I Purdue on December 21 at noon.  This is going to be a huge match! Not many Division III teams have a chance to dual a Division I team. We had the opportunity to dual Purdue last year at their home gym and we competed fairly well, so if you can, come to this meet and support the MSJ Maulers!  Then we close our home meets with a tri-meet with University of Indianapolis and Notre Dame College on February 10.

 

I’m sure I’ll be keeping you guys posted on how our season unfolds as it happens!

 

See ya!

 

>Eric M.

This past weekend was beyond words. I attended the Metanoia Retreat (Change of Heart) for the third time of my college career. My first year here at the school I had attended it because my friends said that it would be a fun weekend to get away for a while. This is when those friends became some of my best friends. My sophomore year at the school, I was on the team to lead the retreat, that was a great experience all in itself not only for the inner-faith aspect but for learning aspects of leadership. This year I chose to attend the retreat again due to the changes that have been made in it - each change was definitely for the better and was very impressive. I learned so much more about myself and about living life in general because each person had such an open heart. I had gone to Kairos in high school and loved it but didn't gain from it like the way I have in these retreats in college. Each person that I have had a chance to talk to through the retreats held by the Mount has become a new friend. This past Retreat Weekend, I have been able to make some new best friends. My heart has been opened up in to taking more chances and making my choices not only for my own sake of well-being but for every person around me. Every person in my life has had some kind of effect, whether it be for betther or worse, in the end. Every thing that happens is another life lesson, and therefore a good experience. My entire life I have been a firm believer in that everything happens for a reason. This retreat has made that belief even stronger. I have been able to open my heart to change and for believing every day is a new lesson in my life. This retreat has helped me to become a stronger, more relaxed, more faithful, and open to change kind of person. And last but certainly not least a much bigger fan of HUGS!!!

Thanks again for reading!!!

 THESE ARE SOME OF THE GREATEST PEOPLE YOU COULD EVER MEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've found out that I have one of the weirdest personalities that I've ever encountered. Let me explain. 

I love being busy. I do. That's why I was so bored this summer. I had a summer baby-sitting job for which I had to literally sit in the living room of this family's house for about four hours a day because the two girls I was "baby-sitting" were 14 and 11. They really didn't needed to be "sat" but they needed someone to drive them to activities, piano lessons, volunteer work, to their schools' summer programs, etc. The parents worked in combination 4 of 5 days a week and needed me to cover those days that they couldn't drive their daughters around. So that's what I did. But most days we didn't do diddily sqwat. I got very bored, very fast. I've completed 2 and 1/2 full cross-stitch projects in the last two summers. That's how bored I was.  

Anyway, I like to be busy. But then I discover that I get agitated while being busy. Or maybe it's when I get too busy. Take this past Thursday. I was supposed to have class 10-11:15 AM, then I was supposed to have one meeting at 11:30 and then another at 12 PM that was off-campus so we (a group of us were going) had to leave at 11:40 to get there but we had to be back in time for class at 12:45 PM. Then I was to have class until 3:30 and then I had another meeting at 5 PM. Well, as it turned out, the two meetings at 11:30 and 12 were cancelled. I was actually kinda excited that I got to have a full day but at the same time, I was agitated that I had to do all this running around lacking the time to breathe. So in the end, I guess it worked out okay. 

But then on the days I'm bored, like Friday, I get just as agitated. On Friday, I woke up at 9 AM to conduct an interview at 10 AM and I was supposed to have class 11-11:50 AM but the teacher was sick so class got cancelled and my next class wasn't until 2 PM. So I had nothing to do between the hours of 10:30 AM-12:30 PM. I ended up getting some laundry done and read some of a new book I got ("Public Secrets") but that was it. After my afternoon class I did more homework while I watched part of "The Patriot" (LOVE! that movie!) and then I went home for the weekend. I got home, caught up on my shows on DVR ("House," "Project Runway," but I couldn't find "Eureka"), and then went out to dinner with my parents at Main Street Cafe in Newtown (I/My parents [I guess I don't technically 'live' there anymore since I dorm] live on the East Side of Cincinnati). 

You have a lot of down time while you're living on campus. I never realized that. When I commuted, it was all about when to schedule my driving times around the rush hour Downtown and when to leave and when to come, etc. But here in the dorms, it's more like, what do you want to do when you don't have anything to do? There's only so much homework to do and only so many TV shows and movies you can watch. I also try to stay ahead in making CAB flyers and working on my article(s) for Dateline but again, there's only so much to do. I'm sure I'll come up with something... 

And this weekend shouldn't be anything extravagant either. I'll prolly watch TV or go shopping with my mom on Saturday and Sunday I know our family will sit down and scream at the TV as the Bengals play the Cowboys (and prolly lose in the process but we'll still keep our hopes up). :) 

Next week should be fun though! That's what I'm really looking forward to! We'll be heading into our 7th week of school (I can't believe how fast school is moving along this year!) so we have our mid-semester break on Friday so no school! But on Thursday night, my friend Kristy and my roommate/friend Maria and I will going to the Cirque du Soleil show at the Bank of Kentucky Center at Northern Kentucky University! It's so exciting! I read their book my Senior year of high school in my cermaics class (it was supposed to inspire more creativity in our work but I don't think it worked) and ever since then, I've just really been interested in thier performances and the work and elegance and fun that goes into each show. The show this time is Saltimbanco, meaning "to jump on a bench" in Italian, and it delves into the world that is the urban. It explores the city and the streets and the hustle and bustle of city life, according to their website (http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/CirqueDuSoleil/en/default.htm#). It looks absolutely AMAZING and I cannot wait to go!!! :D 

I'm sure I'll have another blog up soon, and it will be full of the details and fun of the Cirque du Soleil show and I can't wait to share it with everyone!!! So until next time, did you ever figure out if a tree would hear you if you fell in a forest? ;) lol

 

Since I've been living in the dorm room setting for the last few years I've learned several key aspects of the DOs and DON'Ts of college life. My freshman year I brought just about everything I owned to my dorm and only used about half of it. Due to this, I have understood the meaning of being a pack-rat. I tend to keep EVERYTHING and throw away NOTHING. I've also have had several different roommate moments, good and bad. It all comes in the territory of dorming. So here are some hints: DO throw away papers from the 7th and 8th grade. That writing style won't do you much good in college. DO donate old t-shirts that you never wear. They may be in perfectly good condition but if you never wear them give them to someone who may need them. DO keep what's important to you. If someone wrote you a letter that at some point in your life gave you the biggest smile you could imagine, hold on to it, it may bring you that same smile again on a cold, rainy day. DO bring shower shoes. Our matinence team in the dorms are great people and do a great job, but you never know what could be tracking around on that floor. It's a matter of self-hygiene. DO NOT take over your room every time you want to be with your significant other. Of course you want some alone time and being in college, its some times more difficult to find shared free time for relationships. This does not mean your roommate should suffer. Work out ahead of time when you can have the room to yourself, with a significant other, with your roommate, or simply let your roommate have their time too! Also, set a rule of who can be in the room at certain study times and such. Your first priority for being here is to be a student. So that brings up another point. DO focus on school first. That is the reason you are here. Your friends should understand if you have a test the next day when they want you to go out for pizza with them! I am one of the first to understand procrastination so if you really do leave your studying time for testing the night before = take it! You will need it. In order to try to avoid procrastination, though, think of what you need to get done by certain times for each day. Like tomorrow I have a paper that I am going to work on with a teacher before the class starts [have I actually started that paper yet -> no, but this blog is due at midnight ] I am making sure that at least nothing will be late. But Do give yourself an earlier deadline than what was originally assigned. This way you can have it done in enough time to look over it, get your teacher, roommate, or someone to look over it as well. The more eyes to read over that 10 page paper you wrote in an hour the better! With the procrastination comes late hours - meaning lack of sleep! DO NOT overstress yourself. Working too late on papers can cause too much stress in addition to the lack of sleep that you will cause yourself for every all-nighter you pull. It's all bad - believe me! And of course you will need to keep yourself awake for every night you stay up in the lounges. DO NOT consume too many energy drinks either. You will then crash eventually and get in to even worse sleeping habits and won't be as attentive as needed in each class. Perhaps this is where I should make out the point that I have a pretty bad case of Attention Deficit Disorder. I get very easily distracted in classes! So here comes another hint. DO NOT get addicted to facebook. I am. And I tend to feed my addiction on an hourly basis. While it is a great communication device to keep in touch with old friends and to plan events and get involved with programs during a hectic semester of classes, it is also a horrible distraction (for example, considering how much i love taking pictures - i have over 140 albums). However, every time that I do check my facebook, I check my e-mail. DO check your e-mail as often as possible. When they say it is the main source of communication they aren't kidding. I get at least ten e-mails a day about events and programs coming up, in addition to e-mails from teachers and such about classes and activities that I am involved in. Which brings yet another hint. DO get involved. A lot of people tend to leave for the weekends because we are a 'dry campus'. That doesn't mean there aren't other ways to have fun. There are football games to go to - STUDENTS GET IN FREE! Campus Activities Board, is always coming up with fun events for the entire campus, not just dormers - that's right - commuters too! Campus Ministry works hard to put retreats together for everyone! Each floor in the dorms has weekly activities that you can join in on. The more the welcome - ALWAYS! 

 

Alright, well, I could go on and on with more hints but I think you get the jist of it! I hope you are able to gain from this and I will put more up as the semester goes along! 

Stay tuned for next week and thanks again for reading!!!

a look at my own dorm room!

 

and of course my laptop is open and i'm pretty sure that is on the facebook screen

Hey guys!

 

I was sittin here thinking about what I should write about this week and I was thinking about my weekend and if anything would be interesting to anyone reading this.  Then I realized that I can just tell you what I did so you can get an idea of what to do around here in your downtime!

 

I know I listed some things to do in one of my earlier blogs, so I won’t repeat those.  I will repeat how sometimes people have misconceptions about the Mount and how there is nothing to do because we are a smaller institution.  Those people couldn’t be more wrong! We may be smaller, but we know how to have fun! And the fact that downtown Cincinnati is about five minutes from campus helps a little too. 

 

My weekend started out with the Mount St. Joseph volleyball tournament that hosted about six NCAA Division III women’s volleyball teams.  I actually was working the scoring table at the tournament for the weekend, which is the best seat in the house! After the tournament concluded on Friday, I headed straight for Chipotle (I have to keep up with my training for intramural soccer) and then headed to one of my buddy’s houses to hang out for a few hours. 

Saturday started with class, which started out as kind of a drag but ended up being kinda fun.  Then I worked the second day of the volleyball tournament and saw the Mount’s team dominate. After the tournament, I headed to Ft. Wright, Kentucky (which is right across the river, about a ten minute drive) with my girlfriend, Katelyn, to watch my old wrestling drill partner fight his first Mixed Martial Arts fight at an amateur event.  That was crazy! I had been to a couple amateur fights and the venue wasn’t the best I’ve been to, but there were probably about 50 Mount students there to support Elliott. I thought that was pretty cool.  (For those of you who care, Elliott won in the first round by knockout by a trapped arm chest to back suplex)  After the fight, pretty much everyone from the fight and quite a few more students all met up at the wrestling house for a little victory celebration, which was a blast! 

 

Sunday, I woke up around nine and Katelyn and I headed downtown to tailgate for the Bengals game. They were playin the Cleveland Browns, which is a big rivalry.  The tailgating was fun and the experience of bein at the game was fun, but the actual game sucked.  It seemed as if both teams should have lost, just one (the Bengals) seemed to lose worse than the other! It’s okay though, I still had fun and I had good company so it was all good. 

 

So there’s the list of stuff I did this weekend.  There was a lot goin on, as usual. The campus and the city usually offer some fun and exciting things that keep me busy.  I hope some of you get to experience some of these things and enjoy them as much as I have!

 

> Eric M.    

Hello again, gang!

Man, this year’s been going ridiculously fast! We’ve already been in school for more than a month. In some ways, it feels like it’s been a lot longer than that since school started, but it doesn’t feel like we’ve been at the classes all that long! And I received an email today that the schedule is already up for next semester! That means it’s already time to start planning for the second half of the year… gah!

Anyway, in light of all this craziness, I thought I’d tell you a bit about what I get to experience the very most attending college here: The experience of being a Mount student! Want to know what it’s like? Come along!

I can’t tell you exactly what everyone’s experience is going to be like, as I don’t take every major. (I almost never even go in the science building, I’m an art major!) But I can tell you a couple of things that are true across the board. Hopefully over the next couple weeks, I can tell you guys what it’s like here at the Mount.

Firstly, for anyone who’s new, the College of Mount Saint Joseph is located on the west side of Cincinnati, Ohio, and we’re right on the side of Delhi road. It takes about 15 minutes to get to the center of downtown from here. My permanent home is on the east side of Cincinnati, off of Salem road. It takes me 35-45 minutes to get to the college from the east side of town, depending on traffic. If there’s no traffic at all, I can make it in 30 minutes!

For those who have the opportunity, if you live as far from the Mount as I do, I’d highly recommend looking into living on campus. This is my second year living on campus, and I’m very glad I do. I have friends that attend the Mount that live close to where I live an commute, and it seems pretty stressful, coming through downtown. I’ll write a blog all about it later this year, but if I don’t wake up till 10 minutes before my morning classes, I can make it on time!

I’ve been asked by a great many people this one very simple question: Why the Mount? Why didn’t I go to University of Cincinnati or Northern Kentucky University? Wouldn’t those have saved me money?

It’s true that the Mount is going to be more expensive (generally) than those schools. But there’s many things to consider about the Mount where the Mount’s got lots of stuff to show off, in my mind!

First, after my presidential scholarship from the Mount, my actual tuition is almost identical to what I’d pay going to UC. The Mount gives out a ton of scholarships. I really don’t know a single person that goes here that pays the full amount for tuition. So go ahead an apply, you never know what might happen!

Secondly, the Mount has a ton of stuff that UC or NKU can’t really offer me. They’re both good schools, but here’s a few reasons the Mount won out!

A big reason for me was that the Mount, being a much smaller school, had time to treat me much more personally than UC or NKU did. The Mount toured my mother and I around the school one on one with a tour guide. At UC I was in a 30+ person group with one tour guide. Also, class size at the Mount is waaaaaaaay smaller than the bigger schools. My brother attends UC, and he frequently has seminars and other basic classes that have anywhere from 50 and frequently up to 500 or more students. Here at the Mount, my general freshman courses, which are the biggest I’ve had so far, had about 30 students each in my Art Seminar and my Freshman Seminar. The smaller school affords you more of a personal presence on campus. For me personally both the head of the Art department and the head of the English department (The heads of my major and my minor) both know me by my first name. That wouldn’t be terribly likely at UC.

As the next few weeks go on, I hope to tell you more about the specifics of what it’s like here at the Mount. And the longer I’m here, the more I’m beginning to love it! I hope you guys will tag along as we go through this year.

It’s gonna be a blast! Stick around, folks! I’ll write more next week!

I am a HUGE football fan! If I get the chance to go to a game, I will. This weekend was awesome because I got the chance to actually go to two games!

The Mount had it's own home game on Saturday night at 6:30 PM against Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and unfortunately we lost 27-21 but it was still really fun. A bunch of my friends were there and my mom even made it to the game. :) We had fun talking, making fun of each, occassionally paying attention to the game, and then my family and my roomie Maria and I went out to each after the game. I love going to games here because the atmosphere is totally awesome and you never short on seeing people you know at the games. It is so fun!!! :D

Then today, I was able to get tickets to the Bengals/Browns game from my dad and I took my friend Sam to the game for her birthday. (Her birthday is in April but since she loves football, it only seemed fair to take her in the fall before her actual bday.) She is an even bigger football fan than I am- especially when it comes to the Bengals. She knows a ton of stats and records of the team and she is addicted to Shane Graham and Carson Palmer. Now while I'm a huge fan of the Bengals, there is still one player I do not like. I'm sure to get a ton of boo's on this but I don't care. I really do not like Chad. And yes, just saying his first name, most people know of whom I am referring to. Chad Johnson. Sorry, correction. Chad Ocho Cinco. That's right. He has legally changed his last name! It's so stupid! So here's a guy getting paid more money in one year than I'll prolly make in a lifetime, playing football. Well, he doesn't even really play! Not well at least. He rarely makes plays and he always seems to be botching the passes. And now, he has the audacity to change his last name. For gosh sakes... get over yourself! O! O! O! And what's more! Even though he has changed his last name, his jersey still says C. Johnson on it! Howdya like that!? I don't know... Whatever... Anywho... Sam and I went to the game and I thought it was going to be disgusting and vulgar because of the hatred the Bengals and the Browns share but it really wasn't that bad. Except for some crass humor walking in through the stadium gates, it really wasn't that bad. Someone did throw a beer bottle onto the field after the Browns scored their second touch down but that person was later ejected from the game... Some people should just really grow up. But it was a TON of fun and I really want to go back soon!

I love fall and I love football games and I especially love them together. I may go to the Bengals/Eagles game coming up or even the Bengals/Redskins game in December. I don't know. We'll see just how much my dad really loves me. ;) (He controls the tix that I'm allowed to use so maybe some good brown nosing- no pun intended- will go a long way) :) 

 

  

 

Pic 1 is me and my Mom at the home Mount football game. Pic 2 is part of the Mount home game. Pic 3 is me and Sam at the Bengals game. Pic 4 is an awesome shot of Shane Graham kicking off after we scored!!! :)

Hey everyone.  So here is what's going on.  One of my professors, who is new to the area, was asking what the deal is with eastsiders and westsiders around here.  This got me thinking a few things.  Where is this mysterious line that divides the Cincinnati area?  Ok, I am going to try to explain it as I learn it.  Pretend Cincinnati is an apple.  We are going to take an apple knife and cut this Cincinnati apple in half.  One side falls towards Cali.  The other side will fall towards Maryland.  Neither piece falls north or south.  So, in summary, we have the creation of the west and east sides of Cincinnati.  The west being composed of places like Cheviot, Delhi, Westwood, and Bridgetown.  The east side has Loveland, Milford, Blue Ash, and Mariemont.  I am actually from the far east.  A place called Owensville which is in the northeast part of Clermont County.

Coming to the Mount, which is on the west side and primarily composed of west siders, I came to realize that they aren't all that bad.  At least they are better than outsiders.  Of course there is the long running fight between the two sides, a kind of Cincinnati Civil War.  Really though, its not much more than a long running joke.  There are a lot of things that each side is known for.  West siders are known as the die hard sports fans, more community driven.  East siders are thought of often as more sophisticated, Starbucks loiterers.  The westies always use their trademark slogan, "west is the best".  The east side just responds by sitting back and checking their stocks.  These are all little stereotypes, some a little true, some not.  I've found that at the Mount, everyone gets along with everyone for the most part.  So, instead of a Civil War, I would have to give Cincinnati the new title of the Melting Pot. 

So sure our schools battle, our residents fued, and tempers boil sometimes.  Deep down we need to ask ourselves, which side is really better?  I would have to say whichever side is closer to Florida, which is neither.  Can't you see that we just need to get along.  The Mount is doing it.  I think that you can too.  See ya everyone.