Broadway Anyone?

For anyone who is like me and loves broadway, you can feel my pain when I say that I was not able to get tickets to see Chicago this past weekend! I was so upset, but luckily I have seen it before and if anyone gets an opportunity to see it, I highly recommend it. But off the subject of tragedies of my life, tonight as I was watching American Idol tonight (Yes, I am one of the geeks that watches the show) they were performing songs by Andrew Lloyd Webber. If you do not know who Andrew Webber is, I suggest you go back to living under your rock. Andrew Webber and Tim Rice have collaborated to create some of the most memorable and most successful broadway shows EVER! Andrew Webber has composed 13 musicals, his awards include seven Tony Awards, three Grammy Awards, and Oscar, two International Emmys, seven Olivier Awards, a Golden Globe, and the Kennedy Center Honors. His most popular musicals include the Phantom of the Opera, Cats, Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Andrew Webber has created great musical's with great songs and is without a doubt the best composer of our time, and is still continuing to make music. For those of you who are interested in Webber plays you will be glad to hear that there are some coming to El Paso soon. Luckily Chicago is coming back April 26th and 27th. Cats will be performing at NMSU on the 27th of April. I will definitely be at one of the Chicago shows, so hope to see you there, and if you are not a musical fan, I urge you to give it a shot and go see a play. If you did not like it, at least you can always say you gave it a shot, but Webber musicals are awesome!

The Border Patrol

In towns where illegal immigrants are common such as El Paso, the Border Patrol can be a personal subject to talk about. Before I knew anything about the border patrol, I thought they hired almost anyone, and were given a brief orientation on the job, then just drive around the city all day. After a very close friend of mine decided that he wanted to pursue the border patrol as his career, I can say without a doubt it is nothing like I had imagined. Before even being considered for a position, you must pass an entrance exam with at least a grade of 70. The test lasts 4 hours and consists of a logical reasoning test, and either a artificial language or spanish test. An hour after taking the test you are given the results if you have either passed or not, if fail you have to wait 3 months before being eligible to retake the test. After passing the test, you are given paper work to fill out from an extensive background check, must give your finger prints, and are scheduled for an oral interview and medical and fitness exam 30 days after you pass the test. When the oral interview comes, you are interviewed by 3 agents which will ask you a series of questions, the interview is a pass or fail basis. If fail, you have to wait 6 months before being able to retry again. If pass the interview, you move on to the medical exam, if pass that you than move on to the fitness exam. Which you must complete 25 sit up in a minute, 20 push ups in a minute, and a 5 minutes step cadence test. If you fail any part of the physical test, you have to wait 3 months before being able to retry. If you pass the interview, medical and fitness exam, you wait till your background and everything clears out, you are sent to training in New Mexico. Training can last from 8 weeks to 16 weeks (depending on your knowledge of spanish) While in training you must pass all classes with at least a 70, then the last test at training is a fitness test. Which you must complete a obstacle course in 2 min and 20 sec or less, 220 yard dash in 46 sec or less, and run a 1 1/2 miles in 13 minutes or less. If you fail any part of the physical exam, you must redo the whole training process, and have to wait 3 months before baing able to retry. After training and being stationed at your main station, you are on a probation period for 2 years. As you can see the border patrol look very closely at who they hire, and is not just a walk in the park like I had imagined it was to join!

Where has time gone?

Looking at the calender, I can't believe how fast this year has gone by. My daughter is going to be 1 Year Old sunday and there is only 5 weeks left in the semester, and I am pretty certain it will go by quickly for everyone waiting in anticipation for summer to come. During my first year of college I can say that I have learned alot from my college experience. I remember last semester, the first week of school crying because I had anticipated the work just to be like high school, but found that was not the case very quickly. College has helped me not only academically, but has taught me a great lesson in time management. For those like me who have children, work, and attend school learning good time management is a necessity. Even though I have barely touched the surface in my academic career, I have learned alot this year. But, I cannot wait for summer to come, me and my daughter are going to Tampa to see my grandmother and are going to Disney Land, and Sear World so it will be a blast. I hope everyone has a good rest of the semester and I wish you a early happy summer!