Dear readers,

    You know it’s winter when snowflakes start swirling early in the morning and your ears glow a faint red from walking in below-zero temperatures for too long. In the blink of an eye, it’s more than halfway through the semester. This is a period of time loaded with midterms, tests, projects, and job applications. To complicate matters, class registration is also around the corner. In addition to figuring out what classes to take, you have to deal with the technical side of registration.

    Key points in enrolling successfully often include registering early, having fast reactions and a quality Internet connection. Students are assigned registration periods to submit course preferences for the next semester, which are determined by the number of class credits one has accumulated. They log on to the system a few minutes ahead, hover their mouse over the “submit button” and wait for the clock to strike the exact registration time. A split second could make all the difference for a popular class. A few minutes late to the game, you may be put on a very long waiting list. That really would be the case of an immensely popular class — every second counts, especially with the risk of a system overload. The webpage may not even be accessible, because everyone else, like you, are also desperate to get into their classes.

    Fortunately, there’s something other than work and registration to look forward to: Thanksgiving. We get a four-day weekend for the holiday, and, of course, great food. A banquet was hosted this past week on campus. It was a great pre-Thanksgiving celebration filled with friends, food and fun activities. In a very meaningful gesture, tickets, in the form of money or canned food, were donated to local soup kitchens for the homeless. I think it serves as a great reminder to us to appreciate what resources we have when all is put into perspective, and take action by embodying the spirit of the holiday: To thank and to give.

    Sincerely,

    Bingyin