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Students Loans Are Profitable Niche for Credit Unions
The Rundown
- Credit unions poised to prove that student loans are viable investments.
- Slight growth last year has increased the industry's comfort level.
- Emphasizing the differences between federal and private student loans is key for credit unions.
Last year was not the most glowing year for student loans, reputation-wise. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's release of numerous negative comments from the public on their experiences as private student loan borrowers, comparisons of student loans to the burst mortgage bubble and the fact that national student loan debt grew to nearly $900 billion has led to questions about how wise it really is to make or take out a student loan.
But credit unions in the private student lending business are set on turning bad news to good and hope to prove that private student loans are viable investments for credit unions and their members. In 2012, while private student loans remained a small sliver of credit unions' total loan portfolios, their popularity grew. According to Callahan & Associates, private student loans compose 0.32% of credit unions' total loan portfolios as of third-quarter 2012, a small hike from third-quarter 2011's 0.23%.
The Washington-based research and analysis firm also reported outstanding private student loans at credit unions total just over $1.9 billion as of third-quarter 2012–an increase of around $600 million in the past year–and the number of credit unions that hold private student loan balances grew from 488 in 2011 to 581 in 2012.
This slight growth is likely due to an elevated comfort level with student lending among credit unions, according to Mike Long, executive vice president and chief credit officer for the $1.6 billion, Madison, Wis.-based University of Wisconsin Credit Union, and executive vice president and chief operating officer for student lending CUSO CU Campus Resources, and Jim Holt, vice president of sales operations for student lending CUSO Credit Union Student Choice.
"Generally, credit unions are becoming more comfortable with this asset, as credit unions get more mature with offering this product to their members," Long said. "Obviously, there's a need for these loans, and I can see where credit unions fit in, but we're still as credit unions not comfortable with being able to predict how these loans will ultimately repay. As more data starts coming in on maturing portfolios, then we can show that these loans will perform if you underwrite them properly."
In their quest to dispel myths about student loans, emphasizing the stark differences between federal and private student loans is key for credit unions. For one, the asset quality of private student loans at credit unions is much better than that of federal student loans, with a 1.45% delinquency rate and a 1.05% annualized net charge-off rate, Callahan said.
In a Nov. 6 white paper, "Demystifying Private Student Loans," authored by financial services writer Jim Jerving and produced by CU Campus Resources and Credit Union Student Choice, TransUnion data show all private student loans with a 5.33% delinquency rate and federal student loans with a 12.31% delinquency rate.
"This is partially due to the fact that unlike federal loans, which are need-based, the loans that credit unions offer are underwritten by credit and other risk criteria and scrutinized before acceptance just like any other type of loan that they offer," said Andrew Bolton, senior industry analyst for Callahan. "They are not very similar to federal loans because those are granted without any sort of credit underwriting or risk evaluation of the borrower."
In the white paper, Jerving points out that federal loan balances increased by 97% from 2007 to 2012, to $766 billion, while private student loan balances remained somewhat stagnant during that time period, reaching $127 billion in 2012. He also stresses that student loans should not be compared to the mortgage meltdown, as mortgages were held by financial institutions and totaled $8.1 trillion, while student loans total $893 billion and are mostly backed by the federal government. "Student loan debt does not threaten the financial system as did the mortgage crisis," he stated.
And those borrower complaints released by CFPB, Long and Holt say, mostly had to do with poor loan servicing–something credit unions can't be blamed for.
"Credit unions completely provide much different service," Holt said. "It's all about member service, helping educate them, making sure that they realize that these are loans and making sure that they exhaust all of the more affordable solutions first. In fact, one of the things that I found to be interesting was the CFPB cited that 12.4% of private student loan borrowers applied for aid but elected not to take out Stafford loans. So here's an example that shows the need for education, and this is where credit unions, once again, are making a difference."
UW Credit Union demonstrated positive private student loan performance in 2012, with an outstanding private student loan portfolio totaling around $74 million, 35% of those loans in repayment, a delinquency rate of 1.5% and charge-off rate of 0.2%, Long said.
The $188.6 million, Wall, N.J.-based First Financial Federal Credit Union, which offers the cuScholar Private Student Loan and cuGrad Private Student Loan Consolidation products through a partnership with financial technology company Fynanz, has a $5.6 million private student loan portfolio with 2.5% of loans in repayment and a delinquency rate of just 0.01%, said Alice Stevens, chief operating officer for First Financial FCU and chair for cuStudentLoans LLC.
Stevens said the rules of First Financial FCU's private student lending program are strict enough to help eliminate the worry that students won't be able to find jobs or make their loan payments when they graduate. She said the majority of borrowers have cosigners, the program requires an in-school payment of $25 per month, and the credit union can stop distributing funds if payments are not made, for example.
Of the private student loans originated through CU Campus Resources and Credit Union Student Choice, 90% and 97% of them carry a co-signer, respectively, according to Long and Holt. The strong presence of co-signers greatly eases credit unions' fears of lending to students who will soon enter a competitive job market, they both said.
"What also helps is the fact that [Credit Union Student Choice] offers repayment relief, and that really helps members upon graduating who may be underemployed," Holt said. "They may find that their payments are high and have some heartburn over making them consistently, so we offer these graduated repayment options to help them avoid slipping into early delinquency and default."
The benefits of private student lending for credit unions go beyond the opportunity to attract and build relationships with young members. Experts say the financial benefits of private student loans are not often talked about but are very real.
"Many credit unions are offering auto loans at rates below 2% to their members, whereas a private student loan can yield sort of an average variable rate yield in the 5% range, even in this ultra low interest rate environment," Long said. "So where credit unions are struggling with loan to share ratios, where they've got more deposits coming in than they can possibly lend out and are having to invest that money in very low interest rates, this is another product that can deliver returns back to the credit union in the form of interest margin, which can boost their ultimate net income and their capital ratios over time."
Stevens noted that one reason why First Financial FCU entered the private student lending market was because the credit union was nearing its regulatory cap for outstanding business loans and needed a new way to keep up with loan portfolio runoffs.
"Our private student lending program allows us to make strong loans with a good net yield over more than 6%," she said. "They're good performing loans, they're healthy for the credit union and we feel like we're helping members."
Holt and Long predicted that along with credit unions' continued interest in making private student loans, 2013 will bring more involvement in student loan consolidation programs. Long suggests credit unions take a proactive role in student loan consolidation by contacting their local credit bureaus to find out how many of their members are struggling to pay back student loans they obtained from other financial institutions.
Bolton added that going into next year, he believes credit unions with private student loan portfolios will continue to be conservative with the number of student loans they make, and that credit unions entering the private student loan market will do so on a trial basis and with assistance from student lending CUSOs.
Today's college grads may not be guaranteed jobs straight out of school, but that hasn't stopped credit unions from lending to them. By taking a cautious approach, diligently following underwriting standards, and educating students to help ensure they only borrow amounts they need and believe they can afford to pay back, credit unions are making private student lending programs worth their while.


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From the smart Insignia Design to the top-of-the range Elite Nav, the New Insignia Sports Tourer range gives you a selection of five models with a host of options.
With prices starting from £18,685* for the Design model, all New Insignia Sports Tourer come with the following levels of specification as standard: Front camera system with Forward collision alert, automatic city emergency braking, following distance indicator and lane departure warning. Plus Vauxhall OnStar®, DAB radio with Bluetooth®, leather covered steering wheel, keyless entry and start.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
When running the tests, I'm occasionally getting SocketExceptions (which don't fail the test suite) with the message "Broken pipe". I think these stem from one end of the nREPL socket trying to write to the socket after the other end has gone away.
There's an existing test (ensure-closeable) that explicitly expects a SocketException to be raised if the socket has had .close called directly on it, rather than having the other end hang up, which I think is what the "Broken pipe" tells us. I'm curious as to whether this is important for some reason I haven't seen, or whether catching all SocketExceptions on transport/bencode's write function and returning nil would be appropriate.
If the end doing the socket closing actually should affect the behavior, we could sniff the exception message, but that feels a bit yucky.
I can actually reproduce this in "real life" by firing up an nREPL server / client (`reply --nrepl --port 9999`), then attaching to it (`reply --nrepl --attach 9999`), and in the attached client, run (Thread/sleep 10000) and immediately kill the process. Then the "Broken pipe" exception shows up in the original REPL with the server in the same process.
I've got a patch for this in my bitbucket fork (socket-exception branch): https://bitbucket.org/trptcolin/nrepl/changeset/4a432f3ce95a
What do we really want to happen when a SocketException (or really, any error) occurs?
I'm all for better error handling/reporting, but it shouldn't obfuscate what's going wrong. Catching and squelching isn't doing anyone any favors. That could be particularly confusing if done at the transport level. "You mean all the messages I've been sending have been dropped on the floor silently, and I was supposed to be checking for a nil return?"
Yeah, you're right. Although, isn't checking for a nil return already necessary to account for timeouts?
What about having a server-side transport error handler that's rebindable, and re-throws by default? Or maybe we could collect errors somewhere, similar to what clojure.core/agent-error does.
The more I think about it, the less important this seems, though - mainly an annoyance when running tests.
Was simply a disconnection stacktrace due to a client closing up prior to an evaluation response being written to the transport.
Fixed in https://github.com/clojure/tools.nrepl/commit/2d90bdd4fe14298bbfcaab52ecdea48781c71604


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Pawlet Historical Society to host photography exhibit
There will be an Opening Reception from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. Refreshments will be served.
The exhibit will be up through Dec. 9 and will focus on the photographs of four Pawlet photographers: Archie W. Burdick (1866-1936), Helen Mary Bushee (1862-1947), Ella Josephine Clark (1893-1980) and Neil Rappaport (1942-1998). There will also be some early photographs of the town taken by unknown photographers.
The earliest photograph in the exhibit was taken c. 1890 and the latest c. 1985. Burdick was a photographer who worked with glass plate negatives and was particularly active in West Pawlet in 1911. Bushee also worked with glass plate negatives and became the Town Clerk in 1911 after her father, Orlando Bushee. She remained in that position until 1930 and took pictures from about 1900 to1910. Clark is remembered for her photo postcards that were sold for many years in all the local stores. She began taking pictures in 1910 when she asked her father for a camera for her birthday. Rappaport came to live in Pawlet in 1969 and for 30 years he primarily photographed the people of the town - at work, at play and in settings of their own choosing. The Pawlet Public Library is open Tuesday - Saturday. Please take the time to stop by and see this exhibit of photographs of Pawlet spanning almost 100 years.
For more information about the photographic exhibit contact Rappaport (802-645-0993). For library hours call (802) 325-3123.
If you'd like to leave a comment (or a tip or a question) about this story with the editors, please email us. We also welcome letters to the editor for publication; you can do that by filling out our letters form and submitting it to the newsroom.


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Mimeo - How to Setup
Mimeo is designed to be an easy to setup, per-table replication solution. Please don't feel overwhelmed at the length of this HowTo or all the options shown in the doc file. The extension has many options available, but I've tried to keep its basic use pretty simple, which is what is covered here. Many of the options may not be relevant for your initial needs, but they're there when/if you need them. This document will go over installing and setting up mimeo from the ground up and get each of the different types of replication working.
This document assumes the following:
- pg_jobmon's schema will be jobmon
- mimeo's schema will be mimeo
- dblink's schema will be dblink
- source database will be called sourcedb
- destination database will be called destinationdb
- mimeo's source database role and special schema for dml replication will be mimeo
pg_jobmon Setup
Both pg_jobmon and mimeo require the dblink extension which is an additionally supplied module that PostgreSQL comes with. Neither extension requires dblink to be in any specific schema. Please see the core documentation for more information on obtaining and installing this extension - http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/contrib.html
Please see the pg_jobmon docs and my wiki for more information on setup and use of pg_jobmon. https://github.com/keithf4/pg_jobmon http://keithf4.com/pg_jobmon
Mimeo Base Setup
Download mimeo from Github using your preferred method. It's recommended to clone the repository to easily get future updates.
git clone git://github.com/keithf4/mimeo.git
To create the files that PostgreSQL requires for extension installation and place them in the correct location, use (gnu) make
make install
Install the extension on the destination database. Mimeo does not require a specific schema, but it cannot be changed after installation. Also be aware that if you're going to use DML replication, this exact same schema must be created on the source database (more on that later)
destinationdb=# create schema mimeo;
destinationdb=# create extension mimeo schema mimeo;
Any role that will be calling the functions in mimeo will need to be granted usage privileges on the mimeo schema and execution privileges on the refresh functions. That role will also, obviously, need permissions on the destination tables to select, insert, update, delete & truncate.
destinationdb=# GRANT USAGE ON SCHEMA mimeo to some_role;
destinationdb=# GRANT EXECUTE ON FUNCTION mimeo.refresh_snap(text,boolean) to some_role;
destinationdb=# GRANT EXECUTE ON FUNCTION...
If you just want to grant execute to all mimeo functions, you can do a much easier command
destinationdb=# GRANT EXECUTE ON ALL FUNCTIONS IN SCHEMA mimeo TO some_role;
Source Databases
Every source database needs to have its connection information stored in mimeo's dblink_mapping table on the destination database. You can have as many source databases as you need, which makes creating a central replication destination for many master databases easy. All data is pulled by the destination database, never pushed by the source.
INSERT INTO mimeo.dblink_mapping (data_source, username, pwd)
VALUES ('host=remote.host port=5432 dbname=sourcedb', 'mimeo', 'password');
You will also have to grant, at a minimum, SELECT privileges on all tables that will be replicated with mimeo for all replication types. For DML replication types, it is required to create a schema on the source database with the exact same name as the schema where mimeo was installed on the destination. Also grant ownership of the schema to the source database mimeo role. For each table that will be a source for DML replication, TRIGGER privileges will have to be given to the the source database mimeo role. For example, the below commands are all run on the source database.
CREATE SCHEMA mimeo;
ALTER SCHEMA mimeo OWNER TO mimeo;
GRANT TRIGGER ON public.dml_test_source TO mimeo;
Replication Setup
Ensure all source databases have their pg_hba.conf file set accordingly to allow this remote connection.
Each of the replication types has its own maker (and destroyer) function. The dblink_id that is created when you enter data into the dblink_mapping table is used for every maker function to tell mimeo which source database to use. For snapshot and incremental, the only permissions needed are the ones listed above and to create tables on the destination database.
Snapshot replication is the easiest to setup, but should be limited to smaller tables since it truncates the destination table and repulls all the source data every time it is run.
destinationdb=# SELECT mimeo.snapshot_maker('public.snap_test_source', 1);
NOTICE: Inserting record in mimeo.refresh_config
NOTICE: Insert successful
NOTICE: attempting first snapshot
NOTICE: attempting second snapshot
NOTICE: all done
Snapshot is unique, however, in that it can automatically replicate column changes (add, drop, rename, & limited changing of data type). If you have any special permissions or constraints set on the destination snap table, you'll need to use the post_script array column to store commands to be replayed if the source columns ever do change. It's actually recommended to not have the same constraints on the destination since that can slow down the replication process. As long as the constraints exist on the source, and the only thing populating the destination tables is mimeo, you shouldn't run into data inconsistancies. But if you feel the need to do this, be aware that for constraints, there are two underlying snap tables. When a snap table is refreshed, there is a view that swaps between which one it points to. This is done to keep locking at a minimum while a refresh is done. But it also means that you have to create constraints on both underlying snap tables.
UPDATE mimeo.refresh_config_snap SET post_script = '{"ALTER TABLE public.snap_test_source_snap1 ADD CHECK (col1 < 100)"
, "ALTER TABLE public.snap_test_source_snap2 ADD CHECK (col1 < 100)"
, "GRANT select ON public.snap_test_source TO omniti"}'
WHERE dest_table = 'public.snap_test_source';
Incremental replication is useful when the source table has a timestamp column that is set at EVERY insert or update. Incremental also DOES NOT replicate deletes. Many other per-table replication methods rely solely on triggers on the source database (and mimeo does as well as you'll see later). But when a table has a special column like this, it's very easy to do replication without the overhead of triggers and this can greatly ease the load on the source database when a table receive a high rate of inserts (tracking web page hits for example). There's two types of incremental replication: inserter & updater. If the table only ever gets inserts (or that's all you care about replicating), the inserter replication type is best to use since it has less overhead than the updater replication. Updater will also replicate rows if that same timestamp column is set on every update in addition to when it's inserted. Updater replication requires that the source table have either a primary or unique key. Inserter replication requires no primary/unique keys.
destinationdb=# SELECT mimeo.inserter_maker('public.inserter_test_source', 'insert_timestamp', 1);
NOTICE: Snapshotting source table to pull all current source data...
NOTICE: table "inserter_test_source_snap1" does not exist, skipping
CONTEXT: SQL statement "DROP TABLE IF EXISTS mimeo_source.inserter_test_source_snap1"
PL/pgSQL function snapshot_destroyer(text,text) line 45 at EXECUTE statement
SQL statement "SELECT mimeo.snapshot_destroyer(p_dest_table, 'ARCHIVE')"
PL/pgSQL function inserter_maker(text,text,integer,interval,text,text[],text,boolean) line 43 at PERFORM
NOTICE: table "inserter_test_source_snap2" does not exist, skipping
CONTEXT: SQL statement "DROP TABLE IF EXISTS mimeo_source.inserter_test_source_snap2"
PL/pgSQL function snapshot_destroyer(text,text) line 46 at EXECUTE statement
SQL statement "SELECT mimeo.snapshot_destroyer(p_dest_table, 'ARCHIVE')"
PL/pgSQL function inserter_maker(text,text,integer,interval,text,text[],text,boolean) line 43 at PERFORM
NOTICE: Snapshot complete.
NOTICE: Getting the maximum destination timestamp...
NOTICE: Inserting data into config table
NOTICE: Done
You can ignore most of the output of the maker functions. As long as the NOTICE: Done line shows up, everything went as planned. The maker functions all internally make use of the snapshot replication method to do the initial data pull which is why you see the above references to it.
The key piece of both inserter & updater replication is the "control" column which is the second argument in the maker function call (insert_timestamp in the example). This is the column that MUST be a timestamp and is set on every insert and/or update.
DML Replication is used when neither snapshot nor incremental is convenient. This can handle replicating all Inserts, Updates and Deletes on a source table to the destination. Like most DML based replication methods, this is done using triggers on the source table to track these changes in order to replay them on the destination. As long as the permissions have been set properly as shown above, the maker function will take care of setting all this up for you.
destinationdb=# SELECT mimeo.dml_maker('public.dml_test_source', 1, p_dest_table := 'dest_schema.dml_test_dest');
NOTICE: Creating objects on source database (function, trigger & queue table)...
NOTICE: Snapshotting source table to pull all current source data...
NOTICE: table "dml_test_dest_snap1" does not exist, skipping
CONTEXT: SQL statement "DROP TABLE IF EXISTS mimeo_dest.dml_test_dest_snap1"
PL/pgSQL function snapshot_destroyer(text,text) line 45 at EXECUTE statement
SQL statement "SELECT mimeo.snapshot_destroyer(p_dest_table, 'ARCHIVE')"
PL/pgSQL function dml_maker(text,integer,text,text[],text,boolean,text[],text[]) line 156 at PERFORM
NOTICE: table "dml_test_dest_snap2" does not exist, skipping
CONTEXT: SQL statement "DROP TABLE IF EXISTS mimeo_dest.dml_test_dest_snap2"
PL/pgSQL function snapshot_destroyer(text,text) line 46 at EXECUTE statement
SQL statement "SELECT mimeo.snapshot_destroyer(p_dest_table, 'ARCHIVE')"
PL/pgSQL function dml_maker(text,integer,text,text[],text,boolean,text[],text[]) line 156 at PERFORM
NOTICE: Inserting data into config table
NOTICE: Done
In this example, I've used the option to give the destination table a different schema and name than the source. This option is available in all the replication methods. I've also shown how to use named arguments in the function call to set a specific one. This is used extensively to set different options in Mimeo, so if you're not familiar with it, please check the PostgreSQL documentation.
Mimeo has another special kind of DML replication called logdel. This is used to keep rows that are deleted from the source on the destination table (ie. log deleted rows). This is useful in data warehousing environments where every update of a table's rows isn't required for record keeping, but the last values of any deleted row must be kept. This replication method will add a special column on the destination table called mimeo_source_deleted which is a timestamp of when the row was deleted on the source. Other than this, it works exactly the same as normal DML replication
Refreshing the Destination
To keep the destination tables up to date, there's a set of refresh functions for each type. Each of them all take the destination table as the argument.
destinationdb=# SELECT mimeo.refresh_dml('dest_schema.dml_test_dest');
There are additional options for each refresh type that can allow you to do things like completely refresh all the data on the destination or change the number of rows obtained in a single run. See the mimeo.md doc file for more details.
PostgreSQL has no internal scheduler (something that I hope someday is fixed), so you'll have to use an external scheduler like cron to run the refresh jobs. To help make this a little easier so you don't have to schedule each and every replication job individually, a function to run every job of a certain type has been provided. You can schedule how often a job will run using the period column in the mimeo.refresh_config table with an interval value.
destinationdb=# update mimeo.refresh_config set period = '1 day' where dest_table = 'dest_schema.dml_test_dest';
destinationdb=# select * from mimeo.refresh_config where dest_table = 'dest_schema.dml_test_dest';
dest_table | dest_schema.dml_test_dest
type | dml
dblink | 1
last_run | 2012-11-08 01:00:00
filter |
condition |
period | 1 day
batch_limit | 10000
This will cause the replication job to run daily at the time listed for last_run. You can manually change the last_run value to whatever you wish if you need to reschedule the job to start running at a certain time.
You can now use the run_refresh() function to run your refresh jobs. The first argument, which is required, is the type of replication jobs to run (snap, inserter, updater, dml, or logdel). The second argument is optional and tells the scheduler how many of that job type to grab for that run. They are run sequentially in the order of the job's last_run value, not in parallel. If this argument is not given, the default is 4. An example crontab running all replication types is below.
00,10,20,30,40,50 * * * * psql -c "select mimeo.run_refresh('snap');" >/dev/null
01,11,21,31,41,51 * * * * psql -c "select mimeo.run_refresh('inserter', 10);" >/dev/null
02,12,22,32,42,52 * * * * psql -c "select mimeo.run_refresh('updater', 10);" >/dev/null
03,13,23,33,43,53 * * * * psql -c "select mimeo.run_refresh('dml', 10);" >/dev/null
04,14,24,34,44,54 * * * * psql -c "select mimeo.run_refresh('logdel', 10);" >/dev/null
This sets things up to run each job type at least every ten minutes. run_refresh() grabs all the jobs of the specified type, ordered ascending by last_run and if a job hasn't run within it's specified period, it will be added to the queue for that run up to the maximum given by the second argument (10 in the example). If there are no jobs that need to run, run_refresh just does nothing.
Hopefully this helped you get your initial table replications set up and working. For further options, please see the mimeo.md file for all the available functions and their arguments and descriptions of all the config tables. If you need further assistance, I'm usually lurking in #postgresql on Freenode IRC (keithf4) or you can send questions or bug reports via the github page.


text:
Front Range > Mount Bierstadt > Climber's Log
Mount Bierstadt Climber's Log
[ Sign the Climber's Log ]
|Route Climbed: Standard West-face Date Climbed: Feb 14, 2004
|Climbed with a party of four. Our first 14er and first winter ascent in recent years. Great conditions with temps around freezing and practically no wind. Hardpack, patchy snow. Snowshoes very neccessary for crossing the willows, but not otherwise. Axes useful but not critical. Great views and good times.
|Posted Mar 18, 2004 10:21 am
|Aaron Reid
|Route Climbed: Standard Date Climbed: Jan. 30th, 2004
|Climbed in overcast conditions with snow flurries throughout the day with a large CMC group. I'd blazed up this trail in summer like it was a casual hike, but not today. My first time above 12,000ft in 3 months took a little getting used to, but I eventually made it to the top. Trail was well packed in places, and fresh snow from the day made the descent interesting but fun. Carried an ice axe and snowshoes all the way up and down but they never left my pack. Fun day.
|Posted Feb 28, 2004 12:41 pm
|Route Climbed: Guanella Pass Trailhead Date Climbed: 1-17-04
|This was my first 14'er. The snow was not bad at all and the willows gave very little problems, the winds picked up though and that was a fun fight, gusts were at 40 mph with temps in the single digits. Reached the summit just over the three-hour mark. Great view from the top.
|Posted Jan 19, 2004 1:56 pm
|Route Climbed: West slopes Date Climbed: July 1999
|My second 14er - since climbed three times more. The sawtooth ridge to Evans is a fun scramble, but the willows on the way out are a pain. The easiest winter 14er.
|Posted Jan 10, 2004 7:24 pm
|Route Climbed: Western Slope - Guanella Pass Date Climbed: 12/06/2003
|a simple short climb did it in just under 3 hours round trip. my first winter weather summit. 45mph winds and below 0 degrees winds made this one a challenge. wonderful views... email me if you are interested in a great high rez panorama shot from the summit. firstname.lastname@example.com
|Posted Dec 8, 2003 3:37 pm
|Route Climbed: Sawtooth Date Climbed: 8/23/02
|Climbed Bierstadt and Evans in one trip via the Sawtooth ridge.
|Posted Dec 3, 2003 1:03 am
|Route Climbed: N/W Ridge Date Climbed: Multiple
|This is a common winter hike for me. I usually take my husky, Nikita, with me.
|Posted Nov 15, 2003 1:41 pm
|Route Climbed: Guenella Pass Date Climbed: August 30, 2003
|My friend's first 14er! Perfect day for a hike!
|Posted Oct 21, 2003 5:03 pm
|Route Climbed: Guanella Pass Date Climbed: October 14, 2003
|My first 14er. You can see just as far from the top of a grain bin in North Dakota, but the climb is colder and not as much fun. I was a little intimidated, as I'm pretty inexperienced and there was only one other car in the parking lot. But, I made it and it was a lot of fun. I would, however, recommend bringing one more sandwhich than you think you'll need!
|Posted Oct 15, 2003 9:55 pm
|Route Climbed: Guanella Pass Date Climbed: July 29th, 2002
|I've climbed this mountain twice now. I decided to do this so a coworker of mine could climb his first fourteener. It took him quite a while but he eventually made it. The first time I did this mountain it was my 3rd. Beautiful (but crowded) hike. I'd rather do it during the week or climb Square Top across the road instead.
|Posted Oct 5, 2003 8:21 pm
|Route Climbed: Western Slope - Guanella Pass Date Climbed: July 16, 2003
|We attempted this last summer, but the weather kept us from reaching the top.
This time we left much earlier and reached the summit easily. Great hike, close to Denver. It will be a regular hike for us in the future.
|Posted Aug 25, 2003 9:30 am
|Route Climbed: Western Slope from Guanella Pass Date Climbed: August 23, 2003
|This was # 3 and I took the "Sawtooth" on over to Evans for # 4. The Bierstadt trail was shaded the majority of the morning, which made it nice and cool. My wife and I made it to the summit with a good pace of 2 hrs. The summit was really crowded but that did not take anything away from the experience. The "Sawtooth" was AMAZING; enough said. Thanks to Patrick for organizing the trip and Brant for sharing the experience.
|Posted Aug 24, 2003 7:48 pm
|Route Climbed: Western Slope Guanella Pass Date Climbed: July 14, 2003
|This was my first fourteener, and according to the CMC summit log, this was the first 14er for quite a few other hikers as well. I made the summit in about 1.5 hours. This is a pretty easy hike for a 14er. The boardwalks through the infamous willows sure are nice. There were quite a few other hikers on the trail, and the parking lots at the trailhead were almost full. I had good weather for the hike, partly cloudy and not very windy at all, even at the summit.
|Posted Aug 22, 2003 2:39 pm
|Route Climbed: West Slope via Guanella Pass Date Climbed: August 9, 3003
|Got a really late start around 2:00 PM after waiting for a storms to pass. The clouds were off and on that day. Most people were exiting the mountain as we were heading up. We got pulverized by rain and hail, but the skies were blue when we hit the summit, and because of the storms, there was only one other couple on the entire mountainside, a rare treat for Bierstadt.
|Posted Aug 11, 2003 10:12 am
|Route Climbed: Geunella Pass Date Climbed: September 12, 2001
|First fourteener. Great day.
|Posted Jul 29, 2003 1:01 am
|Route Climbed: West Slopes to Sawtooth Date Climbed: July 9, 2003
|Made the trip with my wife on one of the most beautiful days I've seen in a while. Could see Long's to Pikes and all the way to Holy Cross. No snow and very few people. Crossed the sawtooth to Evans and Spalding.
|Posted Jul 9, 2003 4:26 pm
|Route Climbed: Guanella Pass Date Climbed: 6/21/2003
|Great trip. Wanted to do the Sawtooth to Evans but my 11 year old daughter got altitude sickness. She made it to 13,500. I was very proud of her for her determination (this was her 1st attempt at a 14er). I waited at camp until my nephew returned, I then made a solo late afternoon climb (thanks Rick). We probably would not have attempted the Sawtooth anyway because there was a little too much snow.
|Posted Jul 5, 2003 8:41 pm
|Route Climbed: Guanella Pass Date Climbed: June 12, 2003
|Had a great day going to the top. Not very difficult, but it was a challenge sticking to the trail due to the many snow fields I had to cross. I made the mistake of following two climbers ahead of me who went strait for the summit rather than angling towards the south ridge and following it to the summit. This just caused me to have to do more boulder scrambling. I spent an hour on the summit with great views of Longs, Grays, Torreys, Pikes and Mount of the Holy Cross.
|Posted Jun 22, 2003 7:18 am
|Route Climbed: West Slope(Guanella Pass) Date Climbed: Jun 03, 03
|Climbed with Jennifer. Late start at 9:15 am, but the weather cooperated until we were back at the jeep. Very easy hike. The willows were quite muddy and the creek was pretty high. There was a very small log to cross the creek which we decided not to use, we went a little north and crossed on a nice dam, small island, and rock. A few snowfields to cross, but snowshoes were not necessary. Highly recommended for a first 14'er or a lowlander.
|Posted Jun 7, 2003 3:51 pm
|Route Climbed: W Flank from Guanella Pass Date Climbed: summer, 1993 (?)
Date Climbed: Mar 24, 2012
|Guessing the time and route taken (I remember we didn't do Evans that trip, and the other options seem way too long). Another 14er I did with my Dad. I remember there was good weather.
3.24.'12: w/ Faith- W slopes, from Guanella Pass. Road plowed as far as (?) Lake (@ 10,850', ~1.5 mi. or so from the actual pass). Nice break after resort skiing for 6 days straight. Extra 3 or so miles, plus some great, repeated, postholing, made for a full day. Left parking lot 10.06, summited @ 14.39, hung out @ summit (great to be in the Colorado high Rockies again!), left summit @ 15.22, back @ parking lot @ 18.44. Great day!
|Posted Mar 24, 2003 5:57 pm


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What disaster? 4 global crises that deserve more attention...
Today is a day of observance mostly unknown to people outside of the international relief and development world -- the International Day for Disaster Reduction.
But with the American media largely preoccupied with the goings-on of our dysfunctional political environment, I'm taking the opportunity to commemorate this day you've likely never heard of by talking about four disasters you've probably not heard too much about.
These disasters impact vulnerable children and families, and they deserve more attention.
Drought and famine in the Horn of Africa
Dek and his family wait to be registered at Dadaab Refugee Camp, Kenya. ©2011 Jon Warren/World Vision
What's going on: Five countries -- Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Tanzania and Djibouti -- have been severely impacted by drought and famine, causing major population displacement as people escape areas affected by food shortages and famine.
Scale of disaster: Needs and stats vary by country, but some 13 million people face food insecurity as of September. In Somalia alone, the United Nations reports that there are 450,000 malnourished children -- 190,000 of whom are suffering severe acute malnutrition.
How it got this bad: Consecutive failed rains, inflated food prices, reduced crop yield, and eroded coping mechanisms all contribute to the current devastating state of food insecurity.
What World Vision is doing: World Vision is implementing life-saving interventions for 2.5 million children and families across four countries, in the areas of food security; nutrition; water, sanitation, and hygiene; livelihood recovery; and child protection.
Read more posts about the East Africa food crisis. Donate to our Horn of Africa Food Crisis Fund.
Typhoons in the Philippines
Families line up in the floodwater at a World Vision food and water distribution just one week after Typhoon Nesat and Nalgae. ©2011 Crislyn Joy A. Felisilda/World Vision
What's going on: Back-to-back typhoons Nesat and Nalgae significantly impacted multiple regions of Luzon Island, including the metropolitan area surrounding Manila, the capital city of the Philippines.
Scale of disaster: Some 3 million people are affected, with a death toll of at least 100.
What World Vision is doing: World Vision will implement a six-month emergency response plan, responding to at least seven towns in Isabela and 32,000 families in the impacted areas of Bulacan and Zambales with relief goods and psychosocial support for children.
Read more about our response to the typhoons in the Philippines. Donate to World Vision's Disaster Response Fund.
Severe flooding in Cambodia
What's going on: Widespread, severe flooding has hit areas throughout the country -- the result of typhoons and higher than expected rainfall.
Scale of disaster: More than 200,000 households have been affected; the known death toll at this time is 172 (52 of whom are children). Additionally, 17 of Cambodia's 24 provinces are impacted, with more than 300 schools closed.
What World Vision is doing: World Vision is carrying out assessments to determine the immediate needs of children and families in our development program areas, which have been severely affected.
Donate to World Vision's Disaster Response Fund to support our relief efforts in disasters like this one.
Monsoon rains in Thailand
What's going on: Severe flooding following torrential monsoon rains has caused the worst flooding Thailand has seen in 50 years. Cities and industrial zones are under water, massive areas of rice fields are flooded, and the government is struggling to manage the flow of millions of cubic meters of water headed south toward Bangkok, the capital city. It's estimated that the flooding will have a $3.4 billion impact on the economy.
Scale of disaster: The government of Thailand has declared disaster areas in 30 of Thailand's 76 provinces; the death toll is currently uncertain.
What World Vision is doing: World Vision will support families in the rehabilitation process in at least four area development programs and in areas where needs are most pressing. Our team aims to reach 9,000 people.
Donate to World Vision's Disaster Response Fund to support our relief efforts in disasters like this one.
* * *
When disasters like these strike, families living in poverty are often hit first and hardest -- and they have the fewest resources available to cope and recover. In a time when economic uncertainty affects so many American families, it is also good to remember others in the world whose hardships are life-threatening. Today offers an opportunity to reflect on how we can help reduce the impact of disasters on vulnerable families everywhere.
What other global disasters or crises deserve more public attention? Why? How can we build more awareness around them and inspire more action?
Elizabeth Ranade-Janis is a program officer with World Vision's humanitarian and emergency affairs team. Based in Washington, D.C., Elizabeth has degrees in international studies from Ohio State University and a master's degree in public policy & international development from Georgetown University.


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Every year around this time I preach the same sermon.
We are one month into hurricane season and thankfully there has been nothing sighted in the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico. But the last thing we need to do is become complacent. Now is the time to get ready for hurricane season by doing all of those things that the National Weather Service deems important. Now is the time to get those trees cut down or trimmed.
Raymond Mercer would ease a "chaw" of "Day's Work" from one side of his jaw to the other. He'd squint off toward the back of the Parke Theater. He'd squat down on his haunches and expertly ease a load of juice equal distance between the toes of his trail worn Red Wings. He'd peer up at Luke Finley's dark-colored mule. He'd squint back toward the theater again, spit and slightly nod his head up and down. We all breathed a sigh of relief. He bought the animal!
Like a lot of people, I was shocked when I heard the news that Michael Jackson had died. To me, it was like losing a member of the family. It really didn't sink in right away either. Only after I got home and turned to CNN did I realize that Michael, as I call him, was gone forever.
Everyone has a favorite Michael story. And no one ever forgets the first time they saw Michael on television and definitely no one forgets the first time they saw Michael in person.
On behalf of America's Second Harvest of the Big Bend, we want to thank the citizens of Gadsden County for your generous support of the 2009 Stamp Out Hunger food drive held May 9. We also want to thank the Quincy post office and the many letter carriers for all of your work in collecting the food.
I would like to add to the accolades of Rev. Jake Till, who died recently after a very fruitful life.
Several very good writers left out this very important ministry of Till's, and I would like to add it to the record.
Till served for at least 25 years as chaplain to the Florida State Prison in Quincy. He preached to, counseled and baptized incarcerated young men; I would estimate around 2,500. I am tempted to wager that very few of these men never came back to prison but were instead released to a glorious adventure that Till described to them every Sunday.
I would like to thank Gadsden County Commissioner Doug Croley (Dist. 2) and Robert Presnell, director of the county's road and bridges department, and the county commissioners for their help in fixing Frank Smith Road.
Something is stirring. The Gadsden County Coalition for Change believes that students need for us to substantially raise the bar for education. The coalition is the latest of several groups, besides our heroic teachers and school board, to recognize the critical need to get students, parents, grandparents and neighbors involved in this timely endeavor for the sake of our county and our country.
East Gadsden High School held its Senior Class Night May 20, themed "A Night with the Stars." It's a tradition that has come to be expected. The young ladies were beautiful in their extravagant gowns and the young gentlemen were handsome and ready to take on the world in their tuxedos. How lovely they all looked.
The gymnasium was decorated by caring hands to fit the theme. The program noted that the decorations were done by Special Occasions by Robin; however, we offer a much-needed correction and recognition for those responsible for it.
Copyright © 2018
The Gadsden County Times is your source for local news, sports, events and information in Gadsden County and Quincy, FL, and the surrounding area.


text: backCenter for American Progress interviews religion professor11.30.2012The Grace and the Mess: Religion, Feminism, and Reproductive JusticeBy Sally Steenland | November 26, 2012This interview is part of a series profiling leaders of the Faith and Reproductive Justice Leadership Institute, a project of CAP's Faith and Progressive Policy Initiative. The Institute provides faith-based leaders working on reproductive justice with training and resources in order to strengthen and raise the visibility of their work. You can learn more about this project here.Caryn D. Riswold is a feminist theologian in the Lutheran tradition. She is associate professor of religion and chair of gender and women's studies at Illinois College in Jacksonville, where she has worked for over a decade teaching undergraduates to think critically and creatively about religion. She's a blogger at Patheos where she looks at religion, politics, social justice, and pop culture. Caryn earned her doctorate degree from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, holds a master's from the Claremont School of Theology, and received her B.A. from Augustana College in her childhood hometown of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Below is an excerpt from the interview as it appears on the Center for American Progresswebsite. Sally Steenland: I want to ask about a post you wrote two days after the election. You called it "Now what?" What did you mean by the question? And how did you answer it?Caryn Riswold: I wrote the post primarily because I think that especially when we are happy about an election result, as I was, we have to be reminded that there's still a lot of work to do. It's easy to get caught up in the celebrations—and I think there is a lot for us to celebrate in this election—but there's also a lot of work to be done.What I did was highlight two responses I thought were helpful and represented different perspectives. The first came from Kim Moore, a public health activist who I had the privilege to meet through the Center for American Progress. She talks about how change is an ongoing process that requires action from the collective. I like the way she said that because we still have women who need health care, veterans who need jobs. Voting is only the beginning.The other response was from Mark Hanson, the presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Very different perspective, very different work. But one of the things he says that I think is important is that we have to keep talking to each other. Whether or not we are happy with the election, or how our candidates or issues came out, we need a willingness to listen to each other and even to imagine a different way to live and work together in the world.These are two very different people doing different work, but they're both reminding us we have work to do and that is my fundamental answer to the question, "Now what?" Read the complete interview and hear the audio file.About Illinois CollegeFounded in 1829, Illinois College is a residential liberal arts college fostering academic excellence rooted in opportunities for experiential learning while preparing students for lifelong success. The college is located in Jacksonville, Ill. With an enrollment of about 1,000 students, the college offers over 50 undergraduate programs and a Master of Arts in Education degree program. In 1932 the society of Phi Beta Kappa established a chapter at Illinois College, and it remains one of only 11 in the state.Illinois College is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association.Visit www.ic.edu or call 217-245-3467 for more information.Media Contact InformationOffice of Marketing and CommunicationsAmy RourkeWriter and Public Relations Manager217.245.3419back


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Original projections to replace the current central station were in excess of $8 million, but Cochran said Tuesday he feels a facility can be built for $6.5 million, which would include all architect fees and property acquisition costs associated with the project.
There are at least three looming deficiencies of the current station, which Cochran outlined. The first is the roof, which he said is collapsing.
Although the roof is replaceable, other deficiencies are not as easily fixed. The fire bays are not deep enough to house a larger ladder truck. The station currently has a 75-foot ladder truck.
"It will not reach some of the heights of some of the buildings that we need to," Cochran said. "... If the ladder truck is ever going to be replaced, it needs to be replaced with at least an 85-foot."
In addition to the needs for more space for housing fire vehicles, the interior of the facility is not adequate. Cochran said the fire station needs more space for offices and training.
One possibility for keeping costs to a minimum and at the same time maximizing the benefit of a new facility would be to develop a "full concept" design that can be built in phases. The first phase would meet the current needs of the RFD, but would allow for future expansion of the facility as the city and its fire protection needs grow.
Although a more modern central fire station is needed, Cochran said a new facility won't guarantee a direct impact on the city's ISO fire rating.
"What that can do, probably, is to strengthen our capability in retaining a Class 3, but I can't sit here and tell you there's going to be landmark difference in our ISO rating," he said.
An alternative solution proposed Tuesday was the possibility of purchasing land adjacent to the current central fire station and using that to expand the station.
City officials continue to weigh the options and have yet to determine a clear direction for the proposed sales tax expansion.
One option proposed Tuesday would allow $6.5 million for a new fire station, $5.5 million for a proposed aquatic center, $1.3 million for other Recreation and Parks Department projects, one-eighth of a cent for economic development and the remainder of the projected $39 million in revenues for streets and drainage projects.
Once finalized, a special election will be held to allow voter to either allow or deny extension of the city's sales tax.


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Hey everyone, I had a question about character movement for a text base c++ game I wanted to create for sometime. I am fairly new at programming in C++ ( about 6 months) or any other programming language, so I do not know how to make my character move?
I want to be able to move my character, the "@" sign lol, using the arrow keys. I've tried googling and looking it up on the forums, but I could only find a few which talked not that much about the topic and didn't really have no explanation on how to use or why.
Does any one know of a link to a good tutorial? Or if any one could write me a fragment of the function ( not a whole program, ofcourse..)
and explain how it works?


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an amazing likeness
And the racing continues! Good luck and fleet feet to all racers - have fun!
Apr 28 - vegefrog @ Providence Heart and Sole 5 miler, 5.0 miles, Columbia, SC
May 5th – cameraready @ Indy Mini Marathon, 13.1 miles, Indianapolis, IN
May 6th - HappyFeat @ Forrest 5k, 5k, Port Gamble, WA
May 6th - MidnightRunner @ Lincoln Half Marathon, 13.1 miles, Lincoln, NE
I've done my best to live the right way. I get up every morning and go to work each day. (for now)
Good luck all!
This is my first 5 miler so I'm sure to PR! It's a womens only race, should be interesting. Unfortunately, it's going to be around 85 degrees, YUCK! My goal is 8 minute miles, or under 40 minutes.
I know I'll have fun at the Forest 5K trail race, especially since a friend is joining me to run it. Although she is typically slower than me in races, I think we'll probably run it together and just have a good time. I don't plan to try to run fast since I've had a particularly bad week (think I got sick from fleabites, but that's another story) and a pyriformis-type pain for several weeks that I'm working on resolving, both problems inhibiting speed. But thanks for the well-wishes...good things can happen on race day....and who knows? maybe I'll be feeling alot better by then.
Go as long as you can, and then take another step.
My goal is 8 minute miles, or under 40 minutes.
My goal is 8 minute miles, or under 40 minutes.
Guess you nailed that....Nice! And an top AG place as well. That's a good day. A keeper.
Former runner
The weather is helping me with my taper this week. I see sunny skies as I look out the window right now but the radar show an ominous storm heading this way. The same thing happened yesterday. By the time I got home to get ready for an easy run it was raining pretty hard. Oh well, I'm about as ready as I'll be for Saturday. Looks like it should be nice and warm for the race.
Yep, I had a pretty great day Saturday I really didn't think I would win an AG award with 700 women running, but I guess there were a few 5K's in town that occupied the super speedsters.
Good luck Ross!
My husband is from Loogootee, IN and he remembers running the Indy Mini Marathon when he was younger. His time when he was 13 years old was about 10 minutes faster then my current time. He likes to point this out, but I like to point out that if he tried to do a half marathon right now he would likely die, LOL.
Just received the "It's going to be hot" email from the race organizers. Forecast calls for 70° at the start and 75° by 10am. Shouldn't be too bad except for a chance of storms by 9am. On the plus side we probably won't need gloves or cast-off clothes this year.
Good luck to everyone racing this weekend.


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After Gov. Rick Perry's calls for universities to make college more affordable, Texas Tech administrators have a lot to talk about.
Freezing tuition
On Monday, Perry proposed a four-year tuition freeze for incoming college freshmen.
Tech Interim President Lawrence Schovanec said the freeze is "something we'll obviously consider."
The University of Texas at Dallas has had a fixed tuition in place for several years, Schovanec explained, adding that UT-Dallas also has the highest tuition in the state for a public university.
The average student at UT-Dallas pays more than $11,500, according to the Associated Press.
"Many of these initiatives, we want to study the issue, and I think we want to be responsive to what the legislature eventually says," Schovanec said.
Tech System Chancellor Kent Hance was not available for an interview on the subject.
Schovanec recognizes some believe a tuition freeze would provide stability not only in projected revenue for the institution, but also in costs for students. He also acknowledged the belief a tuition freeze would encourage students to graduate in four years.
Perry said less than 30 percent of students at Texas' four-year institutions graduate in four years, and only 58 percent earn a degree within six years.
"I think you have to look at an institution that's done this — UT-Dallas," Schovanec said. "Their tuition is higher. They have to project costs, and in some ways, it might be the case that students will be paying even more up front in order to compensate for the fact that the cost will be fixed. We haven't analyzed that in enough detail for me to be specific."
Tech Faculty Senate President Daniel Nathan said he believes it will be particularly difficult for an institution like Tech to freeze tuition because of its enrollment goals.
The Tech administration aims to have 40,000 students enrolled by 2020. Hance told the Avalanche-Journal in September he is confident the number will be reached earlier.
Nathan believes a fixed tuition will not cause graduation rates to improve, but will instead cause them to decline.
In August, Hance said because of budget restraints, Tech had to increase the number of students in each class. The average ratio went from 22 students per faculty member to 24.
Nathan believes a tuition freeze will make Tech unable to hire more faculty. When students receive less direct contact with faculty, they are less likely to succeed.
Unless Tech finds another source of funding, Nathan said, he doesn't believe the university will fare well in a tuition freeze.
"Our tuition is very low. (Compared to) other public institutions, even public institutions in the state, we are a bargain," he said. "Other institutions, again, may be able to handle the freeze because they are already charging more for tuition. I think our position may be unique in that respect. ... I do think Tech is particularly vulnerable on this account, in my perspective, in a way other institutions might not be so vulnerable."
Rising costs
The Associated Press reported in late September that the average student at a state university in Texas is paying 55 percent more for their education than a decade ago when state lawmakers deregulated tuition and allowed campuses to start setting their own prices.
The Dallas Morning News reported tuition and fees now cost state residents an average of more than $7,500. Before deregulation, average costs were more than $4,000.
Fall 2012 tuition and fees for a Tech student taking 15 hours total $4,621. The cost has almost doubled since fall 2003, when tuition and fees for 15 hours was $2,372.
The AP reported state support for public research universities fell 20 percent between 2002 and 2010, after accounting for inflation and increased enrollment of about 320,000 students nationally, according to the report recently published by the National Science Board.
Schovanec said currently, roughly 29 percent of Tech's expenses are derived from state support. Ten years ago, it was 45 percent.
During 2011-12 and 2012-13, the Tech System lost $61 million in funding cuts, Schovanec said.
Cuts have come out of administration positions, maintenance and operation. The priority has been to retain the university's teaching capacity. The ability to hire new faculty primarily derives from local resources, he added.
"In a sense, public institutions are behaving more and more like private institutions," Schovanec said. "Private institutions have no state support. They operate off their endowments and tuition, primarily, and we use those resources more and more."
The university is "obsessed" with increasing scholarship support, Schovanec said. This year's budget provided an additional $2.2 million in scholarship funds over the previous year.
Tech also responds more aggressively when faculty members get offers from private institutions or other public institutions.
Schovanec said several faculty members receive offers from other schools every year. It's cost effective to keep them, as opposed to doing a search to replace them, he said, plus the university retains the quality.
Nathan said he has seen some of the best faculty leave Tech — not just to private institutions — but to public institutions that are comparable in size.
"The reason is faculty salaries at Tech are in the lowest 25 percent, the lowest 20 percent in some cases," he said.
However, faculty are less concerned with salaries, and more concerned with increasing the number of faculty, he added. They want to improve access to courses and quality and quantity of research.
The AP reported that while public research universities managed to increase instructional spending 10 percent between 1999 and 2009, about $10,000 per student, private universities increased such spending 25 percent over that period, and now spend more than twice as much per student on teaching as their public counterparts.
Instructional expenditure per student at Tech is close to $8,500 for students enrolled in 12 credit hours, Schovanec said, though it may not be an exact comparison to the figures in the AP report.
"That is low compared to most emerging research universities," he said. "That is also something we try to increase. ... If you keep in mind that Tech is still a bargain, so most of our numbers will be a bit on the low end. We typically rank in the bottom three in the Big 12 (Conference) in terms of cost per student and the indebtedness of our students when they graduate. That's good."
Creating a $10,000 degree
The governor also renewed his call for universities to create bachelor degree options for $10,000 or less. Last year, Perry challenged universities to come up with degrees that cost $10,000 or less, and said that so far, nine institutions in Texas currently offer or have announced plans for such degrees.
Angelo State University, a member of the Tech System, announced Wednesday a proposed degree program that aligns scholarships with the existing Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies program. The program provides a four-year path to graduation under the $10,000 cap for up to 120 semester credit hours.
The program will be open to Texas residents who present an ACT score of 27 or greater or a combined SAT critical reading and math score of 1220 or better, according to an ASU news release. Students will be required to maintain a GPA of 3.5 or better. The program also will be open to transfer students with a 3.5 or better GPA.
"The advantages of our program with the academic requirement are that students can spend their four years entirely at Angelo State and can complete a bachelor's degree in interdisciplinary studies in 120 semester credit hours," ASU President Joseph C. Rallo said in a statement. "Under our academic criteria, the students will be academically equipped to meet the challenge, whether they are new students or returning students."
Schovanec said a $10,000 degree plan is being discussed at Tech. There is not a timeline for when a plan may be announced, he said, and it would be premature to say how the university may achieve such a degree.
"This is something that we are studying, and most of these $10,000 degree programs are focused on special areas of study, and sometimes they are directed toward a special population of students," Schovanec said. "We are looking at all those different options."
Nathan believes it seems impossible to implement such a degree at Tech. He said many schools are transferring credits and giving scholarship money to make it seem like the degree costs less than $10,000.
He believes most of the universities are misleading the public about the cost of the degrees.
"It's literally impossible to do, in a standard four-year format where students are taking roughly 120 credit hours of real college courses from ... people who are instructors to professors," he said. "Between classes and labs and classrooms and energy uses and faculty salaries and administration of programs, $10,000 seems quite impossible these days unless there is state help, which there hasn't been for many years."
The AP contributed to this report.
To comment on this story:
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.This Week's Calendar | Galleries | Music @ the Clubs
Deadline for Calendar and Art in the Galleries submissions are noon on Thursday, a week before the issue that covers your event. Send an e-mail with event, date, time, location and cost to attend to firstname.lastname@example.com
thurs, march 10
Sunrise 6:34am; Sunset 6:12pm, Av High 55; Av Low 36
Art/Craft Art in the Round, 6-9pm, Sarver Winery, 25600 Mayola Ln. FREE.
Film Moro No Brasil & Samba workshop w/Kelly Tavares, 6pm, Mills International Center, UO. FREE.
Poto Mitan: Haitian Women Pillars of the Global Economy, 6:30pm, Willamette 110, UO. FREE.
Gatherings Sleep Fair, 4-8pm, Sacred Heart at RiverBend, 3333 RiverBend Dr., Spfd. FREE.
Cottage Grove Chamber of Commerce Business Faire, 4:30-7:30pm, Cottage Grove Community Center, 700 E. Gibbs Ave., Cottage Grove. FREE.
Arts-Focused Business After Hours, 5-7pm, Hult Center, see http://bit.ly/eoauB6 for tickets. $8-$20.
Lane County Fair Board, 5-7pm, Lane Events Center, 796 W. 13th Ave.
Lane County Home & Garden Show, 5-9pm today & tomorrow, 10am-9pm Saturday, 10am-5pm Sunday, Lane Events Center, 796 13th Ave. FREE w/canned food don.
Small Business Clinic: Ask the Experts, drop-in advice & mentoring from SCORE counselors, 5-6:30pm, downtown library. FREE.
Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee Meeting, 5:30pm, Atrium Building, 99 W. 10th Ave.
Police Commission Meeting, 5:30pm, City Hall, 777 Pearl St.
Deep Listening for Veterans & Allies, w/interpretion into Spanish, childcare, 6pm, Trauma Healing Project, 2222 Coburg Rd., 687-9447. FREE.
Hearing Loss Assocation Meeting: CapTel phone w/Cindy Campbell, assistive listening devices & loop listening system, real time captioning provided, 7-9pm, Hilyard Community Center, 2580 Hilyard St. FREE.
Science Pub: "Not a Drop to Drink: Water Purification Challenges in the 21st Century" w/Darren Johnson, 7pm, Cozmic Pizza. FREE.
Health Reiki Tummo healing clinic, 5:30-7:30pm, 15 N. Cedar St., call 914-0431 for appt. Don.
Kids/Families Wonderful Ones Storytime, 1-year-olds w/caregivers, 10:15am & 11am, Downtown Library, info at 682-8316. FREE.
Preschool Storytime, ages 3-6 w/caregivers, 11am, Sheldon Branch Library, 1566 Coburg Rd., info at 682-8316. FREE.
Lectures/Classes "Pop Culture from a Multipolar Japan" w/Roland Kelts, author & journalist, 4pm, Knight Library, UO, info at 346-1521. FREE.
Tie Dye & Tofu Panel: Oregon Country Fair & Saturday Market, 6-7:15pm, Lane County Historical Society, 740 W. 13th Ave. FREE.
"Breakthrough, Transforming Fear into Compasion" w/Richard Forer, Jewish author, sponsored by Al-Nakba Awareness Project & Arab Student Union, 7pm, Chiles 128, UO. FREE.
Cascade Mycological Society: "Fungal Mimicry, A Volunteers Experience w/a Unique Neotropical Study," 7pm, 115 Building 16, LCC, 4000 E. 30th Ave. FREE.
Music Iris DeMent, singer-songwriter, 7:30pm, The Shedd. $22-$32.
Lane Concert Choir, Lane Chamber Choir, Lane Gospel Choir, 7:30pm, LCC, 4000 E. 30th Ave. $5, $3 stu., staff & sr.
Portland Baroque Orchestra: Bachs "St. John Passion," 7:30pm, Beall Hall, UO, 346-4363. $29 & up, $10 college stu.
Riverside Chamber Symphony Concert, 7:30pm, United Lutheran Church, 2230 Washington St. $5 sug. don.
Greensky Bluegrass, 9pm, Sam Bonds. $10.
On the Air "Arts Journal," SHOcase performance in Hult lobby, 9pm, cable channel 29.
Outdoors/Recreation Walk with Us, weekly self-led neighborhood walking group, ages 50 & up, 9:30-10:30am today & Thursday, March 17, meet at Petersen Barn Community Center, 870 Berntzen Rd. FREE.
Bike Riding for Seniors, weekly in-town rides, helmets required, 10:30am, Campbell Community Center, 155 High St., reg. at 682-5218. FREE.
Sun Moo Do Yoga, Zen martial arts, 11:30am-1pm, 1 World Currency Center, 55 W. Broadway. FREE.
Seniors Zumba, 4:30-5:15pm today & Tuesday, FREE; Zumba Fitness, 5:30-6:30pm today & Tuesday, $5, Irving Grange, 1011 Irvington Dr., info at 556-3850
Drop-in Kayaking, bring equipment, no instruction provided, ages 12 & up, 8-10pm today & Thursday, March 17, Echo Hollow Pool, 1655 Echo Hollow Rd. $5.
Social Dance Dancing Freedom w/Michael Zeligs, 7-9:30pm, 1 World Currency Center, 55 W. Broadway. FREE.
Israeli Folk Dance w/Amalya, 7-9pm, Temple Beth Israel, 1175 E. 29th Ave. FREE.
Theater The Honky Tonk Show, 6pm today, tomorrow & Saturday, Star Theatre; continues through April 16, 989 Juniper St., Junction City, call 998-3862 for tickets. $10.
No Shame Eugene Theater Workshop, write, direct & act in original 5-min. pieces, 7:30-9:30pm, 126 W. Broadway. FREE.
Off the Map, 7:30pm today, tomorrow & Saturday, South Eugene High School, 400 E. 19th Ave. $8, $5 stu. & sr.
My Name is Rachel Corrie, 8pm today, tomorrow & Saturday, Lord Leebrick Theatre, 540 Charnelton St., info at 465-1506.
Volunteer Nearby Nature Spring New Volunteer Orientation, leading school nature walks, no experience required, 6:30-8pm, downtown library, info at www.nearbynature.org or 687-9699.
fri, march 11
Sunrise 6:32am; Sunset 6:14pm, Av High 55; Av Low 36
Benefits Friends of Springfield Library: 2nd Annual Book Sale, most books $1, cash only, benefits library services, collections & programs, 10am-4pm, Springfield Library, 225 5th St., Spfd.
Rictus, The Blimp & Drone, 10% bar sales to Eugene Reign Womens Rugby Club after 10pm, Diablos Downtown Lounge, 959 Pearl St.
Dance UO Dance: Winter Loft, 8pm, Dougherty Dance Theatre, UO. $5, $3 stu. & sr.
Film InterWeave Movie Night, 8: The Mormon Proposition, 6pm potluck, 7pm movie, Unitarian Universalist Church, 477 E. 40th Ave. Don. new/clean socks to Egan Warming Centers.
Nordic Film Series: OHorten, 7pm, Lawrence 177, UO. FREE.
Gatherings I-5 Willamette River Bridge Community Advisory Group & Project Development Team, 9am, Springfield ODOT Offices, 644 A St., Spfd.
City Club of Eugene: "Human Trafficking: Here, There & Everywhere," 11:50am-1:15pm, Eugene Hilton, 66 E. 6th Ave. $5, mem. FREE.
Public Safety Answering Point/911 Board Meeting, noon, Central Lane Communications, 1735 W. 2nd Ave.
Lane County Legislative Committee, 2-4pm, Public Service Building, 125 E. 8th Ave.
EWEB Centennial Anniversary, 3-5pm, 500 E. 4th. FREE.
Solidarity Rally w/AFSCME & SEIU, 4:45pm, Eugene Convention Center steps, 66 E. 6th Ave., info at 953-3522.
Green Drinks, monthly gathering of progressives, 5-7pm, New Day Bakery, 449 Blair Blvd. FREE.
McKenzie Watershed Council, 6pm, McKenzie Fire & Rescue, 42870 McKenzie Hwy., Leaburg.
Eugene Astronomical Society Star Party, dusk, College Hill Reservoir, 24th & Lawrence. FREE.
Game Night, bring board game or use house game, 7pm, Divine Cupcake, 1680 W. 11th Ave. FREE.
Trivia Night, 8pm, Rogue Public House, 844 Olive St. FREE.
Lane County Home & Garden Show continues. See Thursday, March 10.
Kids/Families Baby Storytime, ages 0-1 w/caregivers, 10:15am & 11:15am, downtown library. FREE.
Preschool Storytime, ages 3-6 w/caregivers, 10:15am, Bethel Branch Library, 1990 Echo Hollow Rd. FREE.
Family Board Games, ages 6 & up, noon-3pm, Springfield Library, 225 5th St., Spfd. FREE.
Music Kutsinhira March Marimba Magic: Boka Boys, Kutsinhira All-Stars Marimba, Zvakanaka;®7; World, Zimbabwean, $7-10 general, $5 students
Lil Rev, ukulele, 7:30-9:30pm, Tsunami Books, 2585 Willamette St. $10.
Eugene Opera: The Mikado, 7:30pm today & tomorrow, 2:30pm Sunday, Hult Center. $20-$89.
Irish Traditional Music w/Kevin Burke & Cal Scott, 8pm, Beall Hall, UO. $13, $9 stu. & sr.
Moonalice, Lost Creek Gang, psychedelic rock, 9pm, WOW Hall. $8 adv., $10 door.
Portland Underground Country Review, Whopner County Country All-Stars, rock, 9:30pm, Sam Bonds. $5.
Outdoors/Recreation Alpine Adaptive Ski Program offers downhill skiing for children (8 & up) and adults with physical disabilities, all experience levels, transportation available, every Friday & Sunday through March 13, Hoodoo Ski Area, info and registration at 682-5311.
Walk •n Talkers, weekly self-led 3-5 mi. walking group w/coffee stop, ages 50 & up, 9am, meet at Campbell Community Center, 155 High St. FREE.
Bike Riding for Fun & Fitness, weekly seniors bike ride, helmets required, 9:30am-noon, Campbell Community Center, 155 High St. FREE.
Sun Moo Do (Zen Martial Arts), 12:30-2:30pm, 1 World Currency Center, 55 W. Broadway. FREE.
Kundalini Yoga, 6-7pm, 1 World Currency Center, 55 W. Broadway. FREE.
Social Dance Unleash the Beast Dancing w/Benjamin Luskin, 3:15-4:15pm, 1 World Currency Center, 55 W. Broadway. FREE.
Contact Improvisation Jam, 6-8pm, Musical Feet Studio, 420 W. 12th Ave., info at 753-2255. $5-$10 sliding scale.
Contra Dance, 7:30pm workshop, 8pm dance, Cesar Chavez School, 1510 W. 14th Ave. $8, $6 stu. & mem.
Friday Night Dance: Tango, 8:30-10pm, Staver Dance Sport, 41 E. 6th Ave. $10.
Salsa Dance w/DJ Pachuco, lesson included, 21 & up, 9:30pm, Davis Restaurant, 94 W. Broadway. $5.
Spiritual Interfaith Prayer Service: "The Gift of Peace," 6:45pm, First Christian Church, 1166 Oak St. FREE.
Theater The Wizard of Oz, all-youth cast, 7pm today, 2pm & 7pm tomorrow, 3pm Sunday, Crows Nest Theater, 855 W. 1st Ave.
Hamlet, 7:30pm today & tomorrow; through March 19, Marist High School, 1900 Kingsley Rd., tickets at www.seatyourself.biz/marist
Radio Redux Players: Casablanca, 7:30pm today & tomorrow, 2pm Sunday, Wildish Community Theater, 630 Main St., Spfd. $12, $7 stu. & sr.
bobrauschenbergamerica, 8pm today & tomorrow, Robinson Theatre, UO. $14, $12 staff & sr., $7 UO stu.
The Drowsy Chaperone, 8pm today & tomorrow, 2pm Sunday; through March 26, Actors Cabaret, 996 Willamette St., see www.actorscabaret.org for info. $16-$41.95.
Follies, 8pm today & tomorrow, 2pm Sunday; through April 2, Very Little Theatre, 2350 Hilyard St. $13 & $18.
The Honky Tonk Show continues. See Thursday, March 10.
My Name is Rachel Corrie continues. See Thursday, March 10.
Off the Map continues. See Thursday, March 10.
sat, march 12
Sunrise 6:30am; Sunset 6:15pm, Av High 55; Av Low 36
Art/Craft Fill a Bag for a Buck Sale, 10am-3pm today, 11am-2pm tomorrow, MECCA, 449 Willamette St.
First Saturday Public Tour, 1pm, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, UO. $5, $3 sr., stu. & mem. FREE.
Benefits Run for the Shamrock, benefits Sheldon High track & field program, 5k & 10k, fast course, 9:30am, Alton Baker Park. $15-$20.
Art for a Reason, art sale & silent auction, fundraiser for Dance for a Reason, gifting to Oregon Arts Alliance, 10am-5pm, REACH Center, 2520 Harris St.
Emerald Valley Opry, Willamette High and Shasta Jazz Bands, benefit for Bethel Schools music programs, 5:30pm, Willamette High School, 1801 Echo Hollow Rd. $6, $5 sr., $3 ages 7-16, under 7 FREE.
Dinner & a Movie: Ki Duk Kims Spring, Summer, Fall, WinterÄ & Spring (2003), Evelyn Hess reading from To the Woods, benefit for Lorane spay/neuter clinic, 6pm Lorane Grange, Old Lorane Hwy & Lorane Orchard Rd. $7 sug. don.
Carnaval Brasil: Samba Ja, Calonga, Sun Bossa, WOU Brasil Combo, benefit for Students Helping Street Kids International, 8pm, Cozmic Pizza. $10, $8 stu.
Comedy Shann Carr, dancing & comedy, 7-11pm, The City at Kowloons, 2222 MLK Jr. Blvd., see www.hotflashdances.com for info. $8-$10.
Dance Ballet Northwest Academy: Coppelia, 2pm & 7pm, Hult Center. $15.
Film Elastic Documentary, Parafiction, Video Essays, art by Digital Art program students of UO, noon-2pm, Bijou Art Cinema, 492 E. 13th Ave. FREE.
Gatherings American Association of University Women, Eleanor Roosevelt (Lura Pierce) visits, 9:30am, 10am brunch, Westminster Presbyterian Church, 777 Coburg Rd., reg. 344-4267. $12.
Daffodil Drive & Festival, bring well water for nitrate testing, 10am-4pm today & tomorrow, Long Tom Grange, 25855 Ferguson Rd., Junction City. FREE.
McKenzie River Cat Club Annual Show, 10am-4pm today & tomorrow, Lane Events Center, 796 W. 13th Ave. $4, $3 youth & sr., under 6 & over 85 FREE.
Ridgeline Montessori Public Charter School Pre-Lottery Information Session, childcare by reservation, 10am, info at www.ridgeline.org or 681-9662.
Eugene Irish Cultural Festival, 10:30am-6:30pm, Sheldon High School, 2455 Willakenzie Rd., see eugeneirishfest.org for info. $10, $7 stu. & sr., 5 & under FREE.
Community Cooperative Winter Market, local crafts, noon-6pm, 1 World Currency Community Center, 55 W. Broadway. FREE.
EWEB Info Event: Trainsong neighborhood, lowering heating bills & replacing outdated wood stoves, 1-3pm, American Red Cross, 862 Bethel Dr.
Lane County Home & Garden Show continues. See Thursday, March 10.
Kids/Families Girls Rule! Parent-Daughter Fair, 9am-3pm, LCC, see www.opheliasplace.net for info. $5 sug. don.
Nearby Nature Quest: Nesting Neighbors, family style bird walk, make a wooden bird house, 10am-noon, reg. 687-9699. $5/family or $2/person, mem. FREE.
Nesting Neighbors Playshop: family event, make egg-shaped beeswax candle, 11am, Alvord Farm & Museum, reg. 968-1986. $3-$5 sug. don.
Family Day: Environmental Art, 11am-3pm, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, UO. FREE.
Dog Tale Time, build skills by reading to trained dogs, 2-3:30pm, downtown library, reg. 682-8316. FREE.
"Signs of Spring" Puppet Show, 2pm, Springfield Library, 225 5th St., Spfd. FREE.
Lectures/Classes Hands-on Composting Workshop, 10am-noon, GrassRoots Garden, 1465 Coburg Rd., info at 682-5542. FREE.
Store & Share Digital Photos Computer Class, no camera needed, Internet experience required, 10am-noon, downtown library, reg. 682-5450. FREE.
March Songwriters Workshop: Songwriting out of the Box, 11am-1pm, Tsunami Books, 2585 Willamette St., reg. firstname.lastname@example.com $5.
Literary Arts Eugene Poetry Slam w/Robert Hill Long & Davey Mac, 7pm sign up, 7:30 show, Tsunami Books, 2585 Willamette St. $5 min. don.
Music Suzuki Strings Program Winter Concert w/students ages 3-10, 11am, Beall Hall, UO. FREE.
Eugene Sacred Harp Singers, 2pm, Atrium Building courtyard, 10th & Olive. FREE.
Last Chance, aka Sam Jones & Bob Marquis, fiddle, banjo, 6:30pm, Tsunami Books, 2585 Willamette St. Don.
On the Rocks, Mind the Gap, Dorians Jazz Vocal Ensemble, a cappella, 7:30pm, South Eugene High School, 400 E. 19th Ave. $8, $5 stu.
Sunny Ledfurd, country, 9pm, WOW Hall. $15 adv., $18 door.
Mood Area 52, Underscore Orkestra, tango, jazz, swing, 9:30pm, Sam Bonds. $5.
The Mikado continues. See Friday.
Outdoors/Recreation Obsidians: hike Ridgeline trail, 6.2 miles, info & sign-up at www. obsidians.org
Coast Fork Council: Audubon Bird Walk, 8:30am & noon, Row River Nature Park, see www.coastfork.org for info.
GEARs Bike Ride: Daffodil Festival Long, 40 miles, 9am, North Eugene High School, 200 Silver Lane; Daffodil Festival Short, 20 miles, 10am, Safeway parking lot, 1755 Ivy St., Junction City, www.eugenegears.org FREE.
Eugene Reign Womens Rugby v. Budd Bay Bandits, 1pm, Agnes Steward Middle School, 900 S. 32nd St., Spfd. FREE.
Emerald Valley BMX, races following registration, reg. 3:30-4:30pm today; reg. 10am-11am tomorrow, Lane Events Center, 796 W. 13th Ave. $15 per bike, spectators FREE.
Pets Homes For Hounds Adoption Event, noon-4pm, Petsmart, 2847 Chad Dr., see www.homes4hounds.com for info.
Theater bobrauschenbergamerica continues. See Thursday, March 10.
The Honky Tonk Show continues. See Thursday, March 10.
My Name is Rachel Corrie continues. See Thursday, March 10.
Off the Map continues. See Thursday, March 10.
Casablanca continues. See Friday.
The Drowsy Chaperone continues. See Friday.
Hamlet continues. See Friday.
Follies continues. See Friday.
The Wizard of Oz continues. See Friday.
sun, march 13
Sunrise 7:29am; Sunset 7:16pm, Av High 56; Av Low 37
Art/Craft Fill a Bag for a Buck Sale continues. See Saturday.
Gatherings Oregon Green Free Open Meeting, Oregon medical marijuana community, 1-3pm, Emerald Peoples Utility District Building, 33733 Seavey Loop Rd., info at 461-0577. FREE.
Daffodil Drive & Festival continues. See Saturday.
Lane County Home & Garden Show continues. See Thursday, March 10.
McKenzie River Cat Club Annual Show continues. See Saturday.
Kids/Families Family Art Sunday: Tibet, 2-4pm, Emerald Art Center, 500 Main St., Spfd. FREE.
Family Music Time w/Carolynn & Jeff Langston, 3pm, downtown library. FREE.
Lectures/Classes Intro to eBooks, several brands on hand or bring one, basic computer & Internet skills required 2-4pm, downtown library, reg. 682-5450. FREE.
Womens Drumming w/Fana Bangoura, drums avail. upon request, 5-6:30pm, 1325 Jefferson St., reg. 679-3372. $65 for 5 classes, $15 drop-in.
Music Sunday Morning Music: Linda Danielson & Janet Naylor, Irish, 11am, Supreme Bean Coffee, 2864 Willamette St. FREE.
David Gross & Friends, acoustic, 1-3pm, Tsunami Books, 2585 Willamette St. FREE.
University Gospel Ensembles, 5pm, Beall Hall, UO. $8, $6 stu. & sr.
Planned Parenthood SOAR, local high school musicians, info on healthy adolescent sexuality, 6-11pm, Cozmic Pizza. FREE.
The Takeoff: Volifonix, E. T., Phenomenon Dance Co., funk, hip hop, dance, 8pm, WOW Hall. $5-$15 sliding scale.
Whitewater Ramble, acoustic, rock, 8:30pm, Sam Bonds. $5.
The Mikado continues. See Friday
Outdoors/Recreation Obsidians: cross-country ski Maiden Lake, 12 miles; snowshoe Little Nash, 5 miles, info & sign-up at www. obsidians.org
GEARs Bike Ride: Howe Lane via Dillard, 38 miles, 10am, Alton Baker Park, www.eugenegears.org FREE.
Alpine Adventures Adaptive Ski program continues. See Friday.
Emerald Valley BMX continues. See Saturday.
Social Dance East European Folk Ensemble, Kef, participatory Balkan folkdance w/instruction 7:30pm, Agate Hall, UO. FREE.
Theater The Drowsy Chaperone continues. See Friday.
Casablanca continues. See Friday.
Follies continues. See Friday.
The Wizard of Oz continues. See Friday.
mon, march 14
Sunrise 7:27am; Sunset 7:18pm, Av High 56; Av Low 37
Gatherings Depression Bipolar Support Alliance, peer support for people w/mood disorders, 7-8:30pm, First United Methodist Church, 1376 Olive St. FREE.
Bingo w/Tom Heinl & Scott K, 9pm, Sam Bonds. FREE.
Kids/Families Preschool Puppet Making Fun w/ Art, ages 3-6, dress for messy projects, Springfield Library, 225 5th St., Spfd. FREE.
Lectures/Classes Preschool Fun w/Art, ages 3-6, 10:30am, Springfield Library, 225 N. 5th St., Spfd. FREE.
Circus Jam, 5:15-6:30pm, 1 World Currency Center, 55 W. Broadway. FREE.
Literary Arts Poets of Canarium: Ish Klein, Robert Fernandez, Joshua Edwards, 6pm, downtown library. FREE.
On the Air City Club of Eugene: "Human Trafficking: Here, There & Everywhere," 6:30-7:30pm, KLCC 89.7 FM.
Permaculture Television, 7pm, cable channel 29.
Social Dance Breakdance Class, 6:45-7:45pm, 1 World Currency Center, 55 W. Broadway. FREE.
Spiritual Open Heart Meditation, drop-in, 5:30-6:30pm, Intro to Reiki Tummo, 6:30-7:30pm, 15 N. Cedar St., see www.heartsanctuary.org for info. Don.
A Jewish Guide to Life, book of Genesis today, 8-9:30pm, contact email@example.com for info. $10.
tues, march 15
Sunrise 7:26am; Sunset 7:19pm, Av High 56; Av Low 37
Benefit Dance Night for Las Vidas Mejoradas Stove Project w/DJ Sleeve, 8pm-midnight, Cowfish, 62 W. Broadway $0-$20 sliding scale don.
Film IWW Movie: The Case Against Coca-Cola, 7:30pm, Maitreya Buddhist Center, 55 W. Broadway. FREE.
Food/Drink Creswell Farmers Market, indoors, 4-6pm, 182 S. 2nd St., Creswell.
Gatherings Cascade Toastmasters, drop-ins welcome, 6:45-8:15am, Original Pancake House, 782 E. Broadway, call 343-3743 for info. FREE.
Child Center new building dedication center, 2:30pm, 3995 Marcola Rd., Spfd.
Adventure Center First Anniversary Celebration, 4-6:30pm 3312 Gateway St., Spfd., info at 484-5307. FREE.
1worldcurrency Meeting, 5-6pm; Circle of Children Meeting, 6-7pm, 1 World Currency Center, 55 W. Broadway. FREE.
AWAKE Support Group March Meeting: Nancy Graham, diet, 6:30-8pm, Sacred Heart, 3333 Riverbend Dr., Spfd. FREE.
Trivia Night, 7pm, Divine Cupcake, 1680 W. 11th Ave. FREE.
Kids/Families Terrific Twos Storytime, for 2-year-olds w/caregivers, 10:15am & 11am, downtown library, info at 682-8316. FREE.
Jammie Storytime, all ages, 7pm, Springfield Library, 225 5th St., Spfd. FREE.
Lectures/Classes Nature-Based Tourism Development, 9am-4pm, Evening for Entrepreneurs Event, 6-9pm, McKenzie River Mountain Resort, 51668 Blue River Dr., Blue River, reg. 822-3744. $5.
Patient & Medicine Providers Introduction, OMMA cardholders only, 4-6pm, Compassion Center, 2055 W. 12th Ave., reg. www.compassioncenter.net $15, $10 mem.
First Time Home Buyer Seminar, 6pm, Keller Williams Realty, 2644 Suzanne Way. FREE.
Backyard Ponds w/Loretta Downs, 7pm, Fern Ridge Library, 88026 Territorial Rd., Veneta. FREE.
Literary Arts Windfall Reading Series: Susan Rich & Amanda Powell, "Sense & Sensibility," 5:30pm, downtown library. FREE.
Music David Helfand & Justin Lader, Celtic harp & cello, 7pm, Springfield Library, 225 5th St., Spfd. FREE.
Maria Jette: Clair de Lune, 7:30pm, The Shedd. $18-$30.
Pre-Spring Choral Concert, 7:30pm, Springfield High School, 875 N. 7th St., Spfd. FREE.
Bluegrass Jam, 9pm, Sam Bonds. FREE.
Outdoors/Recreation Garden Fit, simple exercises for core strength, body mechanics and stretching, ages 18 & up, Willamalane Adult Activity Center, 215 W. C St., reg. 736-4444. $5, $6 out of district.
Zumba continues. See Thursday, March 10.
Social Dance Eugene Folk Dancers, weekly international folk dancing, 7:45pm, Willamalane Adult Activity Center, 215 W. C St., Spfd., info at 736-4444. $2.
wed, march 16
Sunrise 7:24am; Sunset 7:20pm, Av High 56; Av Low 37
Art/Craft Knitting & Craft Night, 6:30pm, Divine Cupcake, 1680 W. 11th Ave. FREE.
Benefits "Follies special showing to benefit the FZ chapter of the PEO Sisterhood, raising funds for scholarships for women, 6:45pm social gathering, 8pm show, The Very Little Theater, 2350 Hilyard St., info and tickets at 912-5327.
Blood Sweat & Beers" Benefit for Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, includes food & a pint, 7-10pm, 16 Tons, 265 E. 13th Ave. $10.
Film Physical Challenges: The Miracle Worker (1962), 1pm, Willamalane Adult Activity Center, 215 W. C St., Spfd. FREE.
Food/Drink The Corner Market, fresh local produce, noon-6pm, 295 River Rd., call 513-4527 for info.
Brew Tasting Wednesdays, 6pm, The Cork & Stein Bistro, 2108 Main St., Spfd., 736-9463. FREE.
Gatherings Petersen Barn Garden Club, 3:30-4:30pm, Petersen Barn Center, 870 Berntzen Rd., info at 682-5521. FREE.
Teen Gaming at Sheldon Branch Library, board, card and role-playing games, 3:30-5:30pm, info at 682-8316. FREE.
Eugene Coalition for Better School Food, 6-9pm, EWEB, 500 E. 4th Ave. FREE.
Bingo Night, 8pm, Rogue Public House, 844 Olive St. FREE.
Health Alternative Healing Circle, 6:15-7:15pm, 1 World Currency Center, 55 W. Broadway. FREE.
Kids/Families Lapsit Storytime, ages birth-3 w/adult, 10am, Springfield Library, 225 5th St., Spfd. FREE.
Preschool Storytime, ages 3-6, 10am, Springfield Library, 225 5th St., Spfd. FREE.
Preschool Storytime, ages 3-6 w/caregivers, 10:15am & 11am, downtown library, info at 682-8316. FREE.
Circle of Children School, 1:30-6pm, 1 World Currency Center, 55. W. Broadway. FREE.
Family Night: Rich Glauber "Music in Action!" 6pm, Cozmic Pizza. FREE.
Lectures/Classes English Country Life w/photographer Don Lyon, 1-3pm, OASIS at Macys, Valley River Center, reg. 687-9178. $12.
Learn Biblical Hebrew w/Shmuel Shalom Cohen, every Wednesday, 7:30-9:30pm, email info@eugenehebrewchaburah for info. FREE.
Music Lane Symphonic Band, Lane Percussion Ensemble, 7:30pm, LCC, 4000 E. 30th Ave. $5, $3 stu., staff & sr.
Punch Brothers, Scott Law, Tatiana Hargreaves Duo, 8pm, McDonald Theatre. $18 adv., $20 door.
Barrington Levy, reggae, 9pm, WOW Hall. $15 adv., $18 door.
Danny Shafer, Peter Wilde, acoustic, 9pm, Sam Bonds. $1-$5.
Spiritual A Course in Miracles Study Group, drop in, 10-11:45am, Unity of the Valley, 3912 Dillard Rd. Don.
Open Heart Meditation, drop-in, noon-12:30pm, Unity of the Valley, 3912 Dillard Rd., see www.heartsanctuary.org for info. Don.
Theater Corridor School: Wonkas Golden Ticket, 7pm today & tomorrow, Hult Center. $10.
Volunteer Hospice of Sacred Heart Volunteer Info Meeting, 1-3pm, Hospice Office, 677 E. 12th Ave.
thurs, march 17
Sunrise 7:22am; Sunset 7:21pm, Av High 56; Av Low 37
Film Josh Foxs Gasland, 6pm, Straub 146, UO. FREE.
Gatherings League of Women Voters Third Thursday: Fred Colgan of the Institutional Stove Project, 12:15pm, Mallard Banquet Hall, 725 W. 1st St., info at 343-7917. FREE.
Health Reiki Tummo healing clinic, 5:30-7:30pm, 15 N. Cedar St., call 914-0431 for appt. Don.
Kids/Families Wonderful Ones Storytime, 1-year-olds w/caregivers, 10:15am & 11am, Downtown Library, info at 682-8316. FREE.
Preschool Storytime, ages 3-6 w/caregivers, 11am, Sheldon Branch Library, 1566 Coburg Rd., info at 682-8316. FREE.
Lectures/Classes Genealogy Computer Class, online library tools, 2-4pm, downtown library, reg. 682-5450. FREE.
Music SHOcase: "Four Over Forty," barbershop quartet, 11:15am, Hult Center. FREE.
Doug MacLeod, singer-songwriter, 7pm, Cozmic Pizza. $12.
Sarah Chang Plays Brahms, violin, 8pm, Hult Center. $15-$59.
Warpaint, PVT, Yeltsin, Family Band, 8pm, WOW Hall. $10 adv., $12 door.
Ghillie Dhu & the Dont, celtic, 9pm, Sam Bonds. $1-$5.
Outdoors/Recreation Sun Moo Do Yoga, Zen martial arts, 11:30am-1pm, 1 World Currency Center, 55 W. Broadway. FREE.
Drop-in Kayaking continues. See Thursday, March 10.
Walk with Us continues. See Thursday, March 10.
Social Dance Dancing Freedom w/Michael Zeligs, 7-9:30pm, 1 World Currency Center, 55 W. Broadway. FREE.
Theater No Shame Eugene Theater Workshop, write, direct & act in original 5-min. pieces, 7:30-9:30pm, 126 W. Broadway. FREE.
Wonkas Golden Ticket continues. See Wednesday.
corvallis events
Note - Continuation dates for out-of-town events are listed under the first day of the event.
Thursday, March 10 Blood Pressure Screening by Appt., 9-10am, Corvallis Senior Center, 2601 N.W. Tyler Ave., reg. 766-6959. FREE.
CALYX 35th Anniversary No-Host Dinner Party, 6-8pm, Cloud9, 126 S.W. 1st St. FREE.
Friday, March 11 Corvallis Russian Troupe: Leading Ladies, performed in Russian, 7:30pm today, 4:30pm tomorrow, Withycombe Hall, OSU. $10, $6 stu. & sr., under 12 FREE.
Saturday, March 12 Corvallis Audubon Society: Who has been here? Family-friendly outdoor program, identifying tracks & scat, noon-2pm, Hesthavn Nature Center, 8590 Oak Creek Dr., contact firstname.lastname@example.com for info. $10/family sug. don.
Sunday, March 13 ¬, Balkan vocal duo, 3pm, Yoga Center of Corvallis, 111 N.W. 2nd St. $15, under 12 FREE.
Wednesday, March 16 Memory Screening by Appt., 9am-2pm, Corvallis Senior Center, 2601 N.W. Tyler Ave., reg. 766-6959. FREE.
Portfolio Reviews Class w/Robert Tomlinson, 7-8:30pm, The Arts Center, 700 S.W. Madison Ave. FREE.
attn: opps
Bowling for Abortion Access: set up teams anywhere, see http://tinyurl.com/nrobowls for info.
Parent-Child Martial Arts Class: aikido, ages 4 & up, 6-6:30pm Tuesdays, March 29-May 26, $70 for parent & one child, call 682-5373 for info.
NEFA National Theater Pilot, creating system of support for professional artist-led collaborative theater, application deadline March 31, see nefa.org for info.
National Developmental Disabilities month, a "Buck or two for Pearl Buck Center, see www.pearbuckcenter.com for info.
Oregon League of Conservation Voters: Lane County Wine Bottling Event, March 13, 1-4pm, see www.oclv.org for info.
Lane ACT transportation committee seeks applicants for ten citizen seats, info at www.laneact.org
Womens Gift seeks local art donations for Visions of Hope Auction, to benefit homeless kids & families in Lane County, contact Rae at 343-1036.
Clucks & Bucks Cooking Contest, see www.fosterfarms.com for info.
UO: LGBTQ Scholarships to students who excel in their contribution to the LGBTQ community, application deadline April 1, request application from email@example.com


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The Spike TV Guys Choice Awards take place this weekend, and the testosterone-heavy show always draws in big-name celebrities. Matthew McConaughey will be honored with guy of the year for 2014, and Sandra Bullock will receive the decade of hotness award on Saturday. In years past, stars like Jennifer Aniston, Brad Pitt, and Matt Damon have stopped by the bash to scoop up awards, joke around on stage, and mingle with their Hollywood pals. Things can get a little frisky during the show, too, like when Halle Berry made out with Jamie Foxx on stage in 2009 and when a giraffe got frisky with Olivia WIlde last year. Keep reading to see some of the best moments from the Guys Choice Awards over the past few years, and make sure to tune in to Spike TV on June 11 when the show airs at 9 p.m. EDT/PDT!
Guys Choice Awards Best Moments | Photos
Look Back at the Best Guys Choice Awards Moments!
Image Source: Getty


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I've been working on my entry foyer. This is the first house we've lived in that actually has an entry foyer. Exciting and scary all at the same time. I mean the entry is your home's first impression right? Since we moved in a year and a half ago I've been sort of neglecting the foyer because I was sceered of it. I've never been good at first impressions. I stink at interviews, and it always takes me a little while to warm up when I first meet people. I just really didn't know what I wanted our home's first impression to be. What do I want my home to say to people when they enter through the front door? What do I want the first impression of the Phillips family to be?
It took me until now to answer those questions. I'm slowly putting the pieces together to create an entrance that's functional and welcoming. One that gives guests a glimpse of our history and our personality. Very basically, we don't take life too seriously; and I really want that part of who we are to be conveyed. We're just putting the cards right out there where you can see 'em, so to speak.
I did something kind of bold and risky. It might not be every ones cup of tea, but I LOVE IT!
I painted a small portion of the wall area in the entry foyer with magnetic primer and chalk board paint.
I did three coats of magnetic primer (you have to keep mixing it so that the paint doesn't settle), and then followed with 2 coats of chalkboard paint (applied with a foam roller).
I Gorilla glued (thanks to the Jaunt I've got lots of Gorilla glue!) magnets to the back of the gold letters (Hobby Lobby – half price sale – $2/each).
I like the mix of the letters with the chalk. It just feels fun and whimsical. I decided to use the magnetic primer so that I'd be able to change things really easily without having to actually hang anything on the wall. This is going to be a fun little nook to change with the seasons.
You might also remember this chair from this post here.
With the help of some gold spray paint and some pinterest inspiration, it looks like this now. No joke the movie Goldmember was on t.v. the night that I sprayed this chair. I'm. not. kidding.
The pillow I made using fabric I already had and some no-sew hemming tape. I no-sewed up 3 sides then hot glued the bottom seam because I'm all gangster like that with my hot glue gun.
No one will ever know. If they have a problem with it, they can see the message above the chair. HA!
So that's one project done in the foyer and about 9 million more (give or take) to go! This one definitely packs a nice little punch of Phillips'
sarcasm personality.
When I was downloading the pictures for this post I found this.
|Never mind the vacuum cleaner cord in the background 😉
Someone hijacked my camera to snap a picture of themselves with the vampire teeth they got in the prize box at the dentist. Now you understand what we're dealing with here!
*Linking up at Cottage and Vine's room to room party, Tatertots and Jello, At The Picket Fence, The Shabby Nest , Young House Love