Stay hungry, stay foolish. Was one of the messages that 50-year-old Steve Jobs, CEO and co-founder of Apple Computer wanted to send to the graduates of Stanford University earlier today. Jobs was the commencement speaker at the graduation and talked for a little more than 15 minutes.

The main message that Jobs wanted to give these graduates was that no matter what they did in life and how successful they were, that they should do what they love and love what they do. Jobs knows first-hand that this matters and that it is very important.

Jobs spoke about three different stories and all three had the same type of message. That message being that everything happens for a reason and to do what you love.

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them backwards.” Jobs said. He was referring to the fact that no matter how much something doesn’t make sense or seems unfair when it happens, that it will eventually

Everything that happens good or bad, will eventually make sense in the grand scheme of things. This was a major message that Jobs was trying to convey to these graduates. All three stories that Jobs talked about had this message and they all had an optimistic approach to them.

Jobs knows now that everything that has happened to him, turned out to benefit him and that giving up was not an option. He feels that all of the decisions he made helped shape him and shape who he is today and what he is today.

“The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again.” Jobs explained as he referred to being fired from Apple and starting over again. Even though this was a tough time for Jobs, he got over the initial shock and started anew.

He said this was one of the most creative times of his life and that being fired let him be that way and let him be even more successful than before. In hindsight, he explained that being fired was one of the best things to happen to him.

Talking about himself was not the only thing that Jobs did. His stories all came back to the message that everything does happen for a reason and to do what you love. Without doing what you love, then your best work will not happen.

Jobs left these graduates with thoughts of their future and how nobody truly knows what will happen to them or around them. But he did tell them that settling is not an option.

“Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition, they somehow already know what you want to become, everything else is secondary.” Jobs said.

That about summed up everything that he had said. It let the graduates know that finding what you love in life is the most important thing and that until that is reached, you have to keep looking.

As the clock slowly ticked away, the players on the Whitewater Men’s basketball team had a familiar feeling, that feeling was winning.

*Last Friday night in the Williams Center on the UW- Whitewater campus, the Whitewater Warhawks beat the La Crosse Eagles 66-55, in a game that was much closer than the final score seemed to suggest.*

The Warhawks fought hard and played as a team to earn the victory. This wasn’t an easy game because it was a conference tournament game, so records were thrown out the window.

“We played decent, but we are a way better team than how we played.” Senior Forward Alex Edmunds said after the game ended. Even without playing their best, the Warhawks did show they can play through adversity and contain their composure.

Holly Petrauskas, student at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, said “I enjoyed watching it, it was pretty intense and it was a close game.”  For the better part of the game, it was neck and neck.

The lead changed a couple of different times in the second half and it looked like it would go down to the wire. Fortunately for the Warhawks, they pulled away at the end with some timely shots and solid defense.

Alex Edmunds and the rest of the defense played solid and forced some turnovers near the end of the game, which ending up being a key factor in winning the game for the Warhawks. Along with the solid defense, the free throws helped the Warhawks pull out the game in their favor.

In the second half alone, the Warhawks made 24 free throws and 26 for the game. Amanda Sedlmeier, student at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, said “I’m glad they won, but there were too many fouls and that made me lose interest in the game.” Luckily, that was the only thing the Warhawks lost on Friday.

Even though the Warhawks lost their next game in the conference championship game, they still made the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament and are playing Northwestern of Minnesota on Friday, March 2. They are looking to have a deep run in the tournament and hopefully make the championship game.

600 individuals have lost their jobs at the Susquehanna Steel Corporation, but it will affect everyone who lives in Kittatinny. The mayor has proposed a new budget for the upcoming year and it reflects the hardships of this time.

Since the loss of nearly half of its workers due to the blast furnace being shut down, the Susquehanna Steel Corporation has cost the city nearly $400,000 in taxable revenue. Along with that the assessed value of property in Kittatinny has decreased by 10%. Putting the mayor in a tough position to figure a balanced and fair budget for all.

“There will be no pay raises this year, but pay cuts are not off the table.” Mayor Gustavus Petykiewicz said. This was one of the many aspects of the proposed budget that Petykiewics discussed.

Along with no pay raises, this proposed budget includes garbage pickup being paid privately, and the city tax rate increasing to 4.3 mills. Other aspects of this proposed budget have not gotten positive feedback.

Chief of police Roman Hruska, has not liked the idea of two police officers being let go and has even said that he does not feel comfortable living in the city if that is the case. “I will take a 10% cut in pay immediately if the mayor will do so as well.” Hruska pleaded.

Even in this trying year, Petykiewicz has decided to include buying a new police cruiser into the proposed budget. “Two cars are needed, we cannot have only one working car in the event of an emergency.” Petykiewicz said.

Possibly the most controversial part of the proposed budget is the increase in the city tax rate from 4 mills to 4.3. This would mean more taxes for the people who have lost their jobs and have less money to go around.

 Petykiewicz understand that these are tough times for everyone who lives in Kittatinny and knows tough decisions have to be made. “Kittatinny has to eventually diversify jobs and go away from relying on just one industry.” Petykiewicz explained.

This proposed budget is just the beginning of what is to surely be a hotly contested subject for months to come and not everyone is going to be happy or satisfied. But since Kittatinny is in this situation, it mine as well make the best out of the worst.

Being a college student is a challenge all by itself, but what if you had to live with diabetes as well? That is what Emily Gruen has to deal with and it hasn’t gotten any easier.

Gruen was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when she was 12 years old. She has been dealing with it ever since.

She would have to prick her finger to make sure her blood sugars weren’t too high or too low after every meal. If they are too low she always has either some chocolate or a soda to get it back to a healthy level.

This wasn’t a completely new thing for her though, because her younger sister had also been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes many years earlier. This made the news of having type 1 diabetes not as shocking or as scary to her.

“I knew that having diabetes would be a tough thing for me, but having my family around and them already knowing how to deal with it, helped a lot.”

She has now been living with type 1 diabetes for about 8 years now and moving away to college hasn’t made it any easier.

“At first it was a tough adjustment, the first month was really hard, but now I’m getting used to it, the same way I did when I first got it.” She said.

Gruen attends the University of Wisconsin-Lacrosse, but goes home about once a month to make it an easier transition. When she goes home she always gets snacks along with insulin and other supplies she needs.

“Going home is just as much of a comfort thing as it is a restocking trip” she joked.

Being away from her family has made going away for college an even harder transition than the average freshman. Type 1 diabetes is something that she has to deal with everyday and even minor slip ups can be dangerous.

When asked if diabetes had changed her goals moving forward she said, “It’s been tough and I know it will keep being tough, but that hasn’t stopped me from trying to accomplish my goals and having the life I want to have.”

Next Sunday as many of you guys know is the Super Bowl. I am usually very excited to watch it, but this year not so much. This years Super Bowl should have the Packers playing the Patriots, but since the Packers played their worst game of the year against the Giants they won’t be playing. Still makes me a little upset that the great season they were having ended without a Super Bowl, but oh well. I still will watch the Super Bowl, but it won’t be as fun as last years.

Welcome to Blogs.uww.edu. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!