Farmers market

With people always stressing about how to eat healthy and where to buy the food, I thought it would be a good idea to mention the farmers market. In sb every Tuesday and Saturday the farmers market comes to town right on state st. It's basically stands of all kinds of fresh farmed foods ranging from meats and cheeses, to hummus, greens, and fruits. Although it's a tad more expensive than buying food at Ralph's or something there is no doubt things are fresh and super tasty. What's nice is the vendors will usually hook it up with a taste of the goods before you buy. I highly suggest checking it out. 

This is my buddy buying some fresh strawberries in quarters. One of the more humorous parts of that day. 

Final semester

My last semester at cc ins already in full swing. Half dozen lectures and five labs a week. It's pretty heavy but I figure as long as I have solid time management I'll be all set. The biology direction at sbcc is tough. Right now I'm enrolled in cell bio, organic chemistry, and physics. So far it's going pretty well. Granted, its not even two weeks into the semester but judging from the syllabus and previous course work experience I feel like I'll be able to manage it all. 

This is what's going on at the moment. Ochem lab. Reducing camphor to produce isoborneol

Snowboarding

This winter I finally got some time to head back to my California hometown to do some snowboarding. When I first moved I Cali in the fall of 2010 my destination was big bear lake. I ended up about 30 minutes away in arrow bear but spent most of my time at the mountain. In December I got all my hear together and headed up the hill with some friends to go ride. Unfortunately for the mountains this has been a historically dry winter so the snow wasn't exactly awesome but it was still a super fun time. Tickets are a little pricey especially when you're a broke college student but it's still cheaper than the trek to Tahoe. Overall, it's a great time going back to the mountain and spending some time snowboarding. 

This is the summit at bear mt. Pretty excellent. 

More activities

While on winter break I got lucky enough to be taken to pismo beach for the first time. After a two hour drive, I arrived at the beach and geared up for going ATVing. One of the most fun things I've done since living in Cali. In pismo there are sand dunes that stretch for thousands of acres that are open to the public for riding. The dunes range anywhere from 5ft to 100ft. Now I'm no expert so I wasn't to keen on heading down the giant dunes but I did a couple of times just taking it slow. Overall it was an excellent day and I highly suggest heading up to check it out. 

Me and an ATV in pismo

Winter break

Over winter break I discovered a bunch of new parts of California. By far my favorite of them was Lake Tahoe. Located on the California Nevada boarder, there is basically an unlimited number of things to do. When I went, about 13 of my friends and I rented a cabin in the Tahoe keys. We went for 4 days going snowboarding at Sierra and heavenly resorts. Only bummer was that this year has been a dry winter and there isn't a whole lot of snow. Still, we had a blast as we spent out days at the mountains and our nights at the casinos in Nevada. There a couple different one but we spent most of our time at harrahs. Solid spot and definitely a good time. Casinos are definitely one of the easiest places to make friends and cut loose with your friends. 

Here's what happens when you make friends with cool coats

Find some time to relax

One things to remember while studying for finals is it find times to take a break and get your mind of material. For me going to the beach with a couple dogs is a solid way to clear my mind so I can focus up. The typical routine I go by is 45 minutes on 15 minutes off. Study for 45 minutes straight then take a little 15 minute break. It's helpful for staying sharp and not getting overworked. Overall, don't allow yourself to become to stressed because then you'll just start forgetting things you know. Best of luck this week folks. 

Finals grind

Obviously everyone is a little stressed out with finals coming up. One thing I've found that helps me is studying in a group as opposed to by yourself a focused group is often more helpful than watching 100 khan academy videos on your own. Usually it's a group of 2-3 that i work with to get things done. The benefit is that if one person doesn't know the answer to a question pertaining to specific material, another person will. This advice is coming a little late but find study buddies right at the beginning of the semester. It makes schoolwork infinitely more bearable and often easier. Best of luck compadres. Hopefully you don't need to memorize tables like this