Spring Break 2009!

I will be driving to Mobile, Alabama over spring break and I will be boarding a cruise ship!  I am traveling to Yukutan, Mexico and to Cancun on the cruise, which will be a blast.  It is a 5 day cruise, so it's not a full week, which is good.  I plan on traveling home to see my parents when I get back, so I can at least see them for a few days since I feel like I haven't seen them in forever.  

There are about 20 of my friends (mostly seniors) going along, so we should have a great time.  I will be sure to take TONS of pictures while I'm gone so that I can share them with everyone.  

See you when I'm tan!

Geni - Family Geneology

Today I happened to stumble upon a website that allows you to create a family tree and easily add family members.  www.geni.com  Not only can you create a family tree, but you can also connect with people in your family.  This site reminds me a lot of Facebook, but just for families.  

You can add photos, add events, add family members, see what others have been up to, and view the family tree.  I think this could be really cool to use if everyone in the family signed up, since it is free.  I uploaded some photos already and created a family tree consisting of everyone in our immediate family.  

Setting this up also made me realize that I don't have everyone's email address, so I need to work on doing that.  

I posted a public version of the family below for you to see.  You can click on it and zoom in/out with the mouse or click and drag to see more.

View more of Nathan's tree  |  Get your own family tree at Geni.com

ULDM

This past weekend was the University of Louisville Dance Marathon.  I decided to sign up after hearing how much everyone else had enjoyed it in the past.  Kelly and I signed up a few weeks ago. There were also a bunch of Sigma Chi's(25) and KD's(22) that signed up this year which made it more fun.

ULDM is a fundraiser for Kosair's Children's Hospital.  Dancers sign up and raise money for the charity.  Last year ULDM was 24 hours long, but this year they lowered it to 18 hours.  It began on Friday at 6 pm and lasted until noon on Saturday.  I was a bit skeptical that this could actually keep me awake for 18 hours while locked in the SAC, but it ended up being a blast.

There were plenty of activities planned out for us throughout the 18 hours.  We danced a lot (naturally).  We danced on our own and were also taught various dances that we either exercised to or performed.  We were split up into three large groups and throughout the night we would get into our groups and go do activities.  There were also speakers who came and talked to us, most of which had been affected by cancer and had been helped by the Kosair's Children's Hospital.  

There was plenty of food provided for us.  We had about 5 meals and they were all delicious.  We had Buffalo Wild Wings, Texas Roadhouse, Krispy Kreme, and Chili's throughout our time there.

I managed to stay awake for the entire night (minus about 3 minutes when I passed out while laying down).  Staying busy the entire time helped a lot, but there were times when I just about fell down where I was standing I was so tired.  

In the end, there were 152 total dancers there and various numbers of volunteers throughout the 18 hours.  We raised a total of almost $38,000 for the charity, which was presented to a Kosair's representative at noon on Saturday.  Chili's was our corporate sponsor, and had donated lunch on Saturday.  In the end, Chili's presented Kosair's with a $500,000 check, which was very impressive and generous.

ULDM was a blast and I am very glad I participated this year.  It was challenging at points, but it was fun throughout.  It was for a great cause and getting to see some of the kids there who had been helped by Kosair's was very rewarding.  When I made it home on Saturday, I fell right asleep and didn't wake back up until about 5 pm.  Even then I was still tired and I went to bed early that night at about 12.  I only wish I had gone to these every year I had been here...

About Me

My name is Nathan White and I am currently a senior in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Louisville. I am also a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity here. I am currently in a Facebook official relationship with Kelly Jameson. We have been dating for almost 4 months and we are doing great.

I decided to begin this blog to write about the big things going on in my life. I plan on updating this blog often, talking about what's been keeping me busy. I will be writing this for my family and relatives so that they can hopefully keep up with me.