Difficulty filling full gas tanks are just the beginning of the rising gas prices which have forced many people to cut back on vacations and other areas of spending.

Gas prices bring a grimace to anyone’s face these days with the prices gradually climbing higher and higher and no end in sight.

It started out gradually, but now gas is reaching a price that is causing people to start asking questions and taking action, especially through social networking Websites like Facebook. Several groups and events have been formed to combat rising gas prices through various ways from not buying gas for a day to not buying gas from oil companies like Exxon Mobil Corp. and Mobil Corp. Sarah Thompson from Greensboro, N.C., had a similar idea and started the Facebook event “No Gas Day.”

According to Thompson, the event started in the beginning of March and was a result of the growing frustration of gas prices and Thompson and her family having a hard time getting by because of it. Even so, it was a specific occurence that fueled the start of Thompson’s “No Gas Day.”

“I had to go out of town for my father’s surgery and ended up having to buy three tanks of gas that pay period instead of my usual one and it really sank us,” Thompson said. “After reflecting how much we’d spend on food and groceries as well because those prices have gone up due to gas because of shipping into the stores, I just decided I wanted to do something about it.”

The Facebook group has more than 1 million people attending the event, which will occur on March 31. According to Thompson, for one day, people will avoid getting gas and hoping the enormous influence of Facebook will help with that.

“Facebook is kind of like a dividing cell, you send it to two or three people and they send it to two or three people, and it really spreads quickly that way,” Thomson said. “I only originally sent it to my 370 friends that I personally have on my Facebook and just said ‘Spread the word.’ Within two weeks we had a million people.”

However, fuel prices do not only affect individuals, but businesses and institutions, including Augusta State University. According to Karl Munschy, director of business services, who is in charge of a variety of tasks, including maintaining the finances of the Augusta State shuttle buses and the fuel that runs them, gas prices have affected them.

Even though gas prices have not gone high enough to affect what students have to pay, and won’t for quite a while, Munschy said, there have been changes in the budgeting of gas with the costs of the shuttle buses, according to the contract Augusta State has with Horizon Motor Coach, which supplies the shuttle buses.

“We get an extra charge on our invoice for the fuel and we’ve been getting an extra charge most of this year, actually all of this year, since July 1 because fuel prices have been so high,” Munschy said. “We budgeted that in, in the beginning, so right now we’re OK.”

However, the rising gas prices did not just come out of nowhere. According to Jurgen Brauer, professor of economics, the increasing gas prices is mostly based on expectation.

“If the oil trader believes that tomorrow they can’t get any oil, they demand more oil today,” Brauer said. “Whenever there’s more demand, the price goes up and so that higher price that is passed on to the oil companies and to the refineries and to the consumer for gasoline for the car.”

The climbing gas prices are primarily affected by the situation in Libya, Africa, with the rebellions and the expectation that the situation will worsen, spill over into other oil-rich countries, like Saudi Arabia, and decrease the oil supply, Brauer said.

“The oil traders who secure the supplies ahead of time then can sell it for really high prices,” Brauer said. “It’s basically market psychology where people try to anticipate what happens in the future and bring the future into the present so we won’t have quite as high prices in the future by having some higher prices now.”

However, many Americans are still struggling with the gradually rising gas prices and have caused people to cut back on expenditures and vacations to accommodate the cost of this necessity. However, people, like Thompson, have fought back against this situation.

“I just wanted (“No Gas Day”) to be more of a wakeup call, that something needs to be done,” Thompson said. “I think capitalism has kind of run amuck in this country, and capitalism goes both ways and (people) decide what we think is a fair product, not them.”

Students are going to have to spend more time in the library once the changes to the HOPE scholarship are made. According to Cynthia Parks, director of financial aid, students will only be able to lose HOPE once.

There is still hope for the HOPE scholarship.

Despite rumors regarding the state of the HOPE scholarship, most students will still be able to attend school with little out-of-pocket costs.

According to Cynthia Parks, director of Financial Aid, the fall will bring some changes to the HOPE scholarship. The HOPE scholarship will no longer cover 100 percent of tuition. Instead, HOPE will only cover 90 percent and will no longer provide funds for books and fees.

“I do not perceive it is going to be a large impact for students,” Parks said. “They may want to plan on an increase of about $1,000 a semester more than what they are normally used to seeing, because that is going to compensate for the lose of books and the fee amount.”

Despite these cuts, there will be another new stipulation to the HOPE scholarship. According to Parks, students will only be able to lose HOPE once. In the past, students were able to lose and regain the scholarship several times. According to Parks, roughly 20 percent of the student body depends on the HOPE scholarship.

“Once parents and students sit down and take a look at the overall picture they will find that it is not going to be a major impact,” Parks said, “It is something that can be addressed and handled either by students getting a summer job and earning the extra money or cutting back on some of the expenses.”

Even with all the changes, administrators and faculty at Augusta State University do not predict a decrease in student enrollment. In fact, they predict the exact opposite effect will happen. According to President William A. Bloodworth Jr., the HOPE scholarship will likely increase the enrollment of Augusta State.

“There is no doubt that the HOPE scholarship program increased student mobility,” Bloodworth said.

According to Bloodworth, when the HOPE scholarship began, many students left home. The HOPE scholarship was established to give everyone the ability to receive a higher education Therese Rosier, Vice President for Business Operations said.

“(In the past) we were strictly a commuter institution,” Bloodworth said.

However, that may not be the case anymore. When the HOPE scholarship stops paying 100 percent of tuition, Bloodworth said he could see the enrollment rate rise at Augusta State. For the 14 years preceding the HOPE scholarship, Bloodworth figured that the mean of the students in the entire University System of Georgia attending Augusta State was 2.93 percent.

He figured if this number of students was currently enrolled at Augusta State the enrollment would be around 9,000 students. Currently the enrollment rate is 6,900. Therefore, students may find it more financially viable to attend Augusta State versus other colleges.

One thing Bloodworth said was that Augusta State is behind the curve when it comes to “things” that attract students to universities. Multiple sports complexes and flashy students centers is not what Augusta State can offer. However, according to Bloodworth, there is a major reason for this.

“We had to improve our educational facilities, this place way ugly,” Bloodworth said. “It was unsafe. So, we had to get rid of the six old buildings that were housing 75 percent of our classes. We had to build the Science Hall, Allgood Hall and University Hall. While we were doing that, other schools (were building) housing, students recreations centers, etc. and we were just trying to concentrate on building classrooms. So, we get behind the curve. If you go to Armstrong Atlantic in Savannah it is like you are going through an Olympic village.”

According to Bloodworth, other institutions, like Valdosta State, were able to take advantage of the students that were mobile.

Despite Bloodworth’s prediction, Bill Reese, professor in the Sociology, Criminal Justice and Social Work Department, said he feels as though this cut may have a negative impact on some students.

“You never know what the cut point is,” Reese said. “Some kids may just barely have enough money to go and that is with the HOPE and now they are just beneath it and they can’t go.”

Reese did agree that students who will no longer be able to receive HOPE; they will have to find a less expensive ways to earn a college education. Reese did express his concerns that if a student cannot receive a full tuition scholarship they may not be able to attend school at the same pace they would have.

“Anything that interferes with a kid going to school has decreased the chances that that kid will ever get a college degree, and that’s not good,” he said.

Yet, Parks said there are parts of Augusta State that will appeal to students and their wallets.

“I am sure that parents and students will be looking more at their finances once all this happens,” Parks said. “We do have a lower tuition rate right now than some of the larger institutions.”

Bloodworth seconded this idea stating that the cuts will have a greater effect on students who want to attend larger universities. He explained that Valdosta State charges its students $855 in mandatory fees and Augusta State charges much less. So, Bloodworth said the students, faculty and staff will have to wait and see if this is going to be a factor now for students. He said he believes the tuition sticker shock is going to be higher for students at research universities.

“These other schools were able to take advantage of this student mobility, and we weren’t,” he said.

Numerous types of dangerous bacteria live on surfaces common for human contact, especially the floor. Eating food that has come into contact with the floor can lead to severe illness or even death from such bacteria.

In less than five seconds anyone could ingest salmonella and E. coli.

The phrase “Promptly picked up is not considered fallen” is believed to have originated in Russia. In the United States, it is called the five- second rule. The belief is that if fallen food is picked up within five seconds- no harm, no foul.

“You know that germs are here,” Diane Robillard, a registered nurse practitioner said. “There are high school kids here today, students from nursing coming in from the hospital; there are people from all over the place who come to school when they’re not feeling well. When students drop stuff on the floor, should they pick it up and eat it? It’s probably not worth it.”

Regardless of the amount of time, bacteria will cling to food. The variables that determine the amount of bacteria that will transfer to the food are the type of surface and the kind of food, according to scientists at Clemson University. They found that bacteria attach to food almost instantly on contact. The scientists put salmonella on tile, wood, and carpet and placed bologna and bread on the surface for five seconds. They found that more than 99 percent of bacterial cells were transferred from the tile and wood. The transfer to carpet was 68 percent. Even if a food is not moist or porous like meat and bread, bacteria still has the ability to attach itself to it.

Some bacteria release a compound called biofilm. This substance allows it to adhere to different types of surfaces and even food. Clemson scientist discovered that salmonella could live for up to four weeks on dry surfaces. The immune system is designed to fight off diseases, but if enough foreign bacteria enters the body, it can cause sickness and even death.

“Somebody who is immunocompromised would have an immune system that struggles to fight off something that would normally make us sick, some sort of pathogen,” Chris Bates, assistant professor of biology said. “A person with a normal immune system would get sick, but they would recover. Most of us, after a day or two, we’re fine. But someone who is immuno-compromised, they may need additional help to try to fight off that pathogen in the form of antibiotics or an anti-viral.”

According to Bates, it is hard to limit what type of germs a person may find on the floor. Germs are everywhere. They are all around.

“It depends on where people are coming from,” Bates said. “And the muddier it is, the more stuff people can literally track in.”

When feet are placed on a table or a chair, those same germs have been transferred to that area. The rule of thumb is when it comes to eating food that dropped on the floor or table, apply the no second rule.

The price for eating contaminated french fries far outweighs the price of the fries.

“For that two or three cents of your french fries, or even if it’s $2 or $4 if you dropped the whole thing, (being) sick for a day or two, or three or four, that would cost you a lot more,” Robillard said.

Computers in the campus “Mac” Lab currently help students complete more technologically advanced tasks. Information Technology said it is looking to further improve campus technology.

While new technology comes and goes, the University strives to stay ahead of the curve.

Just recently, Augusta State moved to a new email portal system, myASU, after the previous portal’s publisher offered no software updates for more than seven years. The newer system boasts more storage capacity for emails along with updates every few months.

Now, the Office of Information Technology Services has its sights on other things.

“Every year, we look to upgrade the hardware and software on campus to keep it current,” said Chip Matson, director of Information Technology. “A lot of it really depends on what is out there”

One such upgrade that is currently being tested involves updating the current wireless network, Wireless Access at ASU, or WASSU.

“We are right now in the process of doing a wireless network upgrade to have it faster and more secure,” Matson said. “We already have it in (University Hall) and now have expanded to Allgood (Hall). We will eventually cover the whole campus with what is called a wireless mesh network, which is more secure than our current setup.”

According to Matson, the newer software is more frequently requiring that students should be able to access it from their mobile devices.

“The university system is planning right now to replace Georgia VIEW in the next 18 months or so,” Matson said. “One of the criteria for the new system is mobile device support. Students will be able to look at materials more easily on their cell phone, iPad or whatever they might have.”

Corey Baxter, senior communications major and business specialist at the Apple Store said Apple Inc. is active in improving the quality of hardware and software implemented by educational institutes.

“We really want to know what you are using right now and how we could possibly make it better,” Baxter said. “We invite people to come to our store and ask them what they are currently using and what they are using it for. We then analyze their needs and offer suggestions that could better their current system.”

With the recent introduction of the iPad 2, companies are moving more towards tablet computers for their portability, and Matson said he wants Augusta State to be a step ahead of the tablet trend.

“We are looking to push our services out to where the students are instead of saying that you have to come here to get it,” Matson said. “It just makes it more convenient. If you want to sit out in a lobby and look at material in a comfortable chair, then you can do it.”

Baxter has also witnessed the current trend of tablet computers, such as the iPad, since working for the Apple Store.

“The biggest thing right now in either medical or educational institutions is the iPad,” he said. “It has a big interface to use with applications specific to their needs.”

Baxter, who also owns an iPad, noted how beneficial such technology is for students on campus.

“I just know from my experience from using (the iPad) in class that basic things like word processing and power points are made that much easier,” he said. “It also has task management, so you can put in homework assignments so you can see when they are due with a calendar you can integrate it into.”

David Bollinger, sophomore biology major, said he uses his iPhone 4 to accomplish similar tasks.

“I use my phone a lot in class to make sure I didn’t miss any assignments,” he said. “If something is mentioned in class that I didn’t understand, I can look it up right there on my phone.”

According to Matson, there have been efforts in the past to integrate the newer iPods and iPads into the classroom but with little success. One such effort allowed students to download missed lectures to their iPods. However, while successful in the first few months of the program, students have progressively lost interest in the software.

Matson also said that the cost of mass purchasing such technology as the iPad acts as a deterrent.

“We could purchase the hardware for the students to rent but we don’t want to buy anything that may go unused,” he said. “(The hardware) is getting cheaper and cheaper every year, but students would just prefer to use their own systems that they can do whatever they want with.”

The Jaguar Student Activities Board is promoting sports like soccer as well as healthy eating habits during its Play for Your Health field day. The goal is to encourage kids to take care of their bodies.

JAB promotes healthy eating and exercise for families with a game-filled field day called Play for Your Health.

The Jaguar Activities Board has put together another event as part of the Family Fun Series. This time, the day will be a field day; there will be fun, classic games and prizes to win.

“The goal of this event is to educate young students about healthy living because this is not learned as much in school anymore,” said Annie LaForce, assistant director of programs.

According to Tiffany Burch, the family programming chair, the idea for this event came from the news media about Michelle Obama’s Obesity Bill. This gave the incentive to create an activity for kids to eat healthy and exercise.

LaForce, who plans on bringing her 3-year-old son to the event, expressed a feeling of obligation to support the First Lady.

Although the event is directed towards kids, Burch explained that teens and adults are welcome as well because healthcare is important for everyone. The main goal is to teach people how to take care of their bodies.

The activities will include jump rope, egg races, relay races, and healthy foods, such as “ants on a log” (celery, peanut butter and raisins), LaForce said.

Jaguar Activities Board member, Dominique Tucker, explained that Play for Your Health is important for everyone. Even though the event is great to teach kids, he said everyone can learn from it because it is so easy to forget. Students especially slack off on nutritional meals and ignore exercise during a stressful semester.

“With the turnout we have had with past Family Fun Series events, I think the turnout will be great because we have a lot of ‘usual’ parents that are excited,” Tucker said.

Tucker, who said the spring time is perfect to be outside, will be bringing his younger brother whom he has recently been trying dissuade from playing video games.

Burch also shared that several student athletes will be at the event, including basketball players, baseball players and cheerleaders. They will be there teaching and sharing how they stay active and healthy as well as playing games with the kids.

JAB members said they want to give kids a great experience and show them how to have fun with outdoor activities again.

“If this goes well, we will definitely have more plans like this for the future,” Burch said. “I hope people see obesity and its problems. We need to do our best to teach how to eat and exercise, and I would like to continue doing this, depending on the turn out.”

What better way to teach about health than hosting an event filled with games, nutritional food and prizes? A spring day with kids running around instead of inside playing video games is exactly the kind of vision Burch, LaForce and the rest of the JAB faculty is hoping for. Faculty and students are encouraged to bring their families to this health event where health education will be made fun.

This much-anticipated and fun-filled field day will take place April 15 from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m. at the intramural sports field in between the Science Building and JSAC. With a valid JagCard, each student can receive two refundable $2 tickets. Each ticket after will be $3. Tickets will be available April 1.

Portico Publications suspending Metro Spirit publishing in March. The first issue of the new Metro Spirit will be on April 14.

A fresh off the press Metro Spirit will return to stands on April 14 with new, local ownership and a contemporary take on an old-school idea.

On Wednesday, March 2, 2011, Portico Publications announced the suspension of Metro Spirit with its final publication. The management team of Portico refused to comment any further about the suspension of the Metro Spirit other than “financial performance.”

“When (Portico) closed the doors a couple of weeks ago, their press release blamed the local economy and that has nothing to do with it,” said Joe White, new owner of Metro Spirit and owner of 15 House LLC. “It was how the paper has been run.”

Portico Publications, located in Charlottesville, Va., purchased the Metro Spirit in 2005 after local ownership since 1989. According to White, the paper has been in decline since Portico took ownership with only one thing to blame: distance.

“Revenues declined, page count declined, editorial quality declined,” White said. “It was owned by a company 1,000 miles away and they didn’t really pay any attention to it. That is 100 percent the reason (for its downfall).”

Austin Rhodes, local radio host for WGAC, will return as a columnist for the Metro Spirit. Rhodes left the publication in early December due to “editorial disagreements.”

“The Metro Spirit has been in trouble since the Portico takeover in 2005,” Rhodes said. “They tried to run the paper the way they ran their other two very successful alternative weeklies in college-oriented cities … Although (the Spirit) has an appeal to college students, it was not a ‘college paper.’ It was born in a political atmosphere based on community happenings and not built around the college, entertainment and social scene.”

Along with distance and editorial issues, signs of financial problems were evident of Portico Publications’ relationship with Metro Spirit, according to Shelby Menard, a freshman art major and former photographer for the Spirit, who said she experienced this downfall first hand.

“My paychecks would be really late,” Menard said. “I was supposed to get paid $30 every week for my photos. I worked every other week so I usually got paid at the end of the month. At one point, it was two months until I got a paycheck.”

Despite recent troubles, Portico Publications successfully produced an alternative weekly with a large “entertainment” presence in Augusta. However, White said he hopes to return the publication back to the original Spirit style — unique and news-oriented.

“When it first came out, there was nothing like it in Augusta,” White said. “It was an alternative newspaper, almost like a breath of fresh air. It always had an irreverent point of view and the topics covered were random. You never knew what was going to be in it until you picked it up. One week we were taking down a politician, the next week we were doing a fluff piece on Bill Clinton.”

According to Rhodes, the Spirit originally attracted a different audience. In turn, it created a reputation for being an unbiased news source that used a different approach to headline news. Rhodes validates the alternative style to news writing of the “old” Metro Spirit.

“It aimed at a person who wants a different take on news that they already heard,” Rhodes said. “The Spirit did a great job giving very interesting insight that nobody else did. That had been lacking since Portico took it over.”

New management will focus on one important aspect of successful journalism; growth. According to White, when Portico stopped publications, only 13,000 issues with a page count of 36 were being produced per week. Both he and his team are committed to publish 23,500 copies of a 56- page paper.

“We are just going to take it back to what it was, which is local, watch-dog journalism in the front half, and arts, entertainment and fun stuff in the back,” White said. “We will not be doing social work type of journalism. We are not going to be ethicacy journalism. It is going to be reporting straight down the middle.”

White also said if readers want to interact with the “new” Metro Spirit, they will have to pick up an issue on Thursdays. Metro Spirit will no longer have a Website, Facebook, Twitter or Tumblr. Despite being a 23-year-old institution with multiple, previous owners, the new Metro Spirit will encompass the old school Spirit in its design.

“It is a plan,” Rhodes said. “There is an active blueprint in place to bring the Spirit back to its roots and I think people are going to be very happy with what they see.”

A touch of Cuban culture will grace the campus when Juan de Marcos and The Afro-Cuban All Stars perform at the Maxwell Theatre.

The bandleader and his generationally diverse musicians play a mixture of many types of Cuban music. Their orchestra incorporates styles like bolero, salsa, son montuno, timba, guajira, rumba and abakua.

“(Cuban music) makes people dance, and it is special in terms of other cultures coming together,” said Juan de Marcos (González), the bandleader, tres player and producer for the Afro-Cuban All Stars. “Cuban people come from different countries. And there are different cultures from these countries. So for centuries, there have been Spanish people, which is a multi-tribal country. And then there are people from countries in Africa. And the combination of all these cultures make one.”

De Marcos, who was born in the Pueblo Nuevo barrio of Havana, is the son of Marcos González Mauriz, a vocalist under the leadership of conductor Arsenio Rodrguez.

De Marcos said his love for Cuban music and culture is a product of the his upbringing.

“My father used to be a singer,” de Marcos said. “So we used to have musicians over our house all the time.”

De Marcos, who is known for his tres playing ability, said the instrument “has a very special sound.” The tres, which is a 3-course, 6-string chordophone, is an instrument that was created in Cuba.

Despite this, de Marcos, received his doctorate in hydraulic engineering and began teaching at several universities. Yet in order to honor his father and culture, de Marcos said he decided to form a band that would merge the many cultures of Cuba.

“The first line-up featured people of my generation,” de Marcos said. “It was much more traditional.”

However, de Marcos expanded his orchestra to include younger generations as his line-ups began to change.

“The only way to preserve what we have is to (be apart of it),” de Marcos said. Today, the Afro-Cuban All Stars incorporates many instruments like the conga drums, flugelhorns, trumpets, trombones, a timbale, piano, bass and clarinet, as well as multiple singers with their own unique styles.

“In musical terms, I do write the music for the arrangements,” de Marcos said. “Sometimes I play the tres, sometimes I play the guitar, but normally I conduct the band.”

According to music critic Daniel Gioffre, the music of The Afro-Cuban All Stars “manages to sound both relaxed and forceful at the same time,” as the trumpets “blare with traditional Cuban bravado, evoking gentle romance and fiery passion with equal ease.”

As the key player in the Grammy Award-nominated band, de Marcos emphasized that he also receives help from his wife as a producer for the group, as well as his daughters who are musicians in the orchestra.

De Marcos said the bond with his fellow musicians is also what makes his job so wonderful.

As a native Spanish speaker, de Marcos fluently speaks English, Russian and other languages. The bandleader emphasized that it is important to learn and experience different ways of life around the world.

“You have to be in touch with people of this earth,” he said. “It is so important to know different cultures.”

And as advice to Augusta State University students who would like to become musicians in the future, de Marcos said it is hard work.

“You have to be straight with your ideas,” he said. “And if you want to make something really important for yourself, you have to stand on your (two feet).”

Although he and his band have performed all over the world, including Europe, Japan and Atlanta, de Marcos said he and his band are excited to perform for an Augusta crowd.

“We are going to show them different styles of Cuban music,” de Macros said. “… And I want people to be happier after they have left my show.”

The Afro-Cuban All Stars will make their debut performance in Augusta at the Maxwell Theatre on Tuesday, March 29 at 7 p.m.

At the intersection of Monte Sano Avenue and Henry Street, drivers are occasionally caught speeding and driving through the four-way stop sign. This area is called the “Monte Sano Speedway” by residents.

Attention all drivers! The “Monte Sano Speedway” is open for business and traffic patrol is answering complaints in the neighborhood.

In the Summerville Area near Monte Sano Avenue and Henry Street, patrolmen have recently been keeping an eye out for speeders and the classic “roll stop” at the four-way stop sign.

Charles Moore, a resident of the community and retiree, said that he hasn’t seen the patrolmen every day, but they do come from time to time.

“I’ve seen them periodically, not on a consistent basis,” Moore said. “They will either park half a block away to check to see if you’re going to do rolling stop or if you stop at all.”

Moore said the traffic in the area is normally an even flow, but became much heavier when the construction on Walton Way began.

That construction pushed a lot of traffic on his street causing a build up.

Other than the flow of consistent traffic, Moore said he has seen some fender benders on his street because of people talking on cellphones or because they didn’t yield to oncoming traffic.

“For whatever reason, they are going to do surveillance on this area,” Moore said. “This is the tip of the hill, so they are checking traffic that flows from Walton Way down to Wheeler Road and back.”

According to Maj. Richard Weaver of the Richmond County Uniform Patrol Division, the division doesn’t commonly target certain areas.

“The thing is, if we get complaints from a particular street then we will go out and work it for a while,” Weaver said. “Periodically we will go back and check it again.”

For Mark Fissel, a professor of history at Augusta State University and resident of Monte Sano Avenue, he said traffic has always been heavy, and the joke is that neighbors call it the “Monte Sano Speedway.”

“This section of Monte Sano from Henry Street to Walton Way is referred to as that, because people are

He also mentioned there is a lot of speeding that goes on and the traffic on Monte Sano is heavier than a normal residential street.

Having been in the neighborhood since 1998, Fissel said he hasn’t noticed the increase in patrolmen; however, one day he said he did see where they ticketed a lot of people at the four-way stop.

“I don’t think it’s necessarily because of the construction, but enrollment has gone up,” Fissel said. “We got more people coming through here and it’s just more traffic and there are more opportunities to give out tickets.”

According to Fissel, a lot of people do the rolling stop but he said there are times when people drive right through the four-way stop.

“Either they don’t see the stop sign or (they are) just in a hurry,” Fissel said. “I see (drivers run) that stop sign all the time.”

In addition, Fissel also said that while traffic is heavy on his street, it is not as dangerous as Monte Sano Avenue and Walton Way, where many accidents have occurred including a fatality.

The main thing now, according to Maj. Richard Weaver of the Richmond County Uniform Patrol Division, is that drivers should be tentative to their driving. He said they have a major problem with people on cell phones and texting while driving.

Weaver said that it’s not against the law yet to talk on cell phones while driving, but it is against the law to text while driving.

Since 2007, Augusta State University’s Web layout has remained unchanged, until now.

Heather Hopkins, Web developer in the Public Relations Office, has been constructing a new look for the Website over the past few months.

The redesign comes not long after MyASU officially replaced the old email portal, Pipeline, in November 2010. When this happened, many people opposed the change.

Because the redesign is of the entire aug.edu framework, Hopkins said that some people will be in opposition.

“Many people are used to the way the Website is,” Hopkins said. “Some people are worried about it being different.”

The purpose of the redesign is to make navigating through the Website an easier task.

“Our rule of thumb is that we want anything that someone’s looking for to be there within two clicks,” Hopkins said. “By having as much as possible in a centralized location, it is easier to find what you are looking for without a lot of extra effort.”

Hopkins added that most of the student and faculty feedback regarding the redesign has been positive.

Junior biology major, Nick Cain, said he is in favor of the quick navigation aspect of the new layout.

“I believe the new design is more up-to-date and innovative because it lends itself to navigate on its own,” Cain said.

According to Hopkins, the Web has vastly changed since 2007, and the technology has greatly changed as well.

Hopkins said the new look for the site will accommodate the newer ways people use the Web.

“More people view the University’s Website on cellphones and tablets,” Hopkins said.

Not only will the site accord to changing technology, but will aslo adhere to Section 508 standards set by the government, according to Hopkins.

According to section508.gov, the standards require federal agencies to make electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities.

With these standards in place, accommodations to the Website are required for people that are either blind or deaf. For example, visionimpaired users may rely on text-tospeech software to interpret the text on the screen. Hearing-impaired users rely on captioned video content to interpret what is being said.

One noticeable change on the home page will be the placement of the links that most students access. Most links will be located in a slider on the main page. The MyASU link will be located on the top of the page.

The site will also be more graphically oriented. The new layout will include more images of the school and incorporate heavier graphic usage on the site.

Aside from the design aspect, graphics will highlight important links, Hopkins said.

For example, the Apply online link on the homepage will be a graphic.

“We are trying to emphasize applying online,” Hopkins said.

A few months following the implementation of the new design, a content management system will be added. The purpose of the content management system is to make it feasible for faculty and staff to make updates.

“It will be an absolutely fantastic content management system,” Hopkins said. “The new system will be easy to edit, like a word document. Professors will not need to know special coding.”

The new content management system will ensure consistency throughout the entire Website. Hopkins described the importance of having each page follow the same template.

“The point of the Website is to get your content to your users,” Hopkins said. “If every page is different, you have to retrain the user every single time they go to a different page.”

The current site will change over to the new design by the end of March.

When frustration comes or enters into our thought pattern, I have come to notice that we take on a whole new level of anger that we may be unaware of at that time.

OK, so we have all used the term frustration loosely and at that point when it does happen, we begin to act in a certain way and even begin to have a changed mood.

In the boiling point of this word, it seems as if nothing matters and caring is not an option, because we have reached our peak.

We have become overloaded with the hindrance of what got us into that place and our mental state of mind has been permanently altered.

Basically, we have become so drunk with emotions that are uncontrollable, and at that particular time, one can cause damage to anyone, if need be.

It is like the saying, “Misery loves company,” people who are hurt, or shall I say frustrated, sometimes like frustrating other people.

Am I guilty of letting myself become highly frustrated? Yes. But at this point in my life, I’m determined to let nothing frustrate me anymore, and you might as well do the same.

One may say, “I’m not that easily frustrated,” but as you will see in this piece, we will do a self examination and get free from frustration.

Let’s begin our checklist.

The first question is: What frustrates you so easily?

Think about it for a moment and as you are thinking, I will let my gaurd down so I can become free of this madness.

For myself, I’m not easily to my breaking point, but in the past I have let people frustrate me the most.

Second question is: How did you deal with it?

Well, for me, I either blew up at the person, or I was upset from that point on and let it linger on, until I went off on someone else.

Third question on the list is: Did it change the situation that you were mad about?

Again, I was upset but it never changed my situation, it only brought about more aggravation and you might say disorderly conduct.

The fourth question is: What behaviors come along with you being frustrated?

I start to have an attitude of I don’t care or I’m so irritated and I vent to someone else about what happened.

Final question is: How little of a matter caused you to act in this certain behavior or start to give up on everything at that moment?

I’ll leave that answer for you to decide, but the solution to all these questions is very simple to me now.

CHOICE. I have a choice to either let people ruin my day or create my own day and atmosphere.

Instead of letting them rub off on me, I can choose to scratch them off and not lose focus to create a sterile environment of living free of frustration.

The choice is yours, so what will you choose?