Justine Byrd

Hi, I'm Justine Byrd and I'm originally from El Paso, Texas.  Back home I spent most of my time at our hockey rink since there isn't all that much to do there.  After I graduated high school I took a year off so I could play hockey and get recruited to a college/university.  I decided to move to Laguna Hills, California so I could play for the Anaheim Lady Ducks who I was a tournament player for the previous year.  After a few months on the team, I left the Ducks to go play for a Junior Women's Hockey team based out of Boston called the Boston Shamrocks.  From there, my hockey skills grew and I was recruited by numerous schools.  Obviously I chose to go to Nichols.  Once the season ended, I moved back to California and lived with my best friend, Tori, who also played on the Ducks and Shammies with me.  I lived in Huntington Beach this time on a street that was about a 5 min skate from the beach.  Every morning I woke up to skate down to the beach to go surfing, I'd tan, and then in the afternoon it was bonfire time.  I was a total beach bum.  As it got a little further into summer, a company named, Gidget, took me on as a surfer, sales person, and skateboard designer.  It was pretty much the easiest job in the world.  All I had to do was walk around at the beach in an article of their clothing which they gave to me for free, or wear their rash guards while surfing, or customize skateboards.  Once the summer came to an end, Tori and I packed up my car and drove from Cali to Texas to see my family for a week then we drove from Texas to Massachusetts.  I am now currently a Freshman at Nichols who is on the Women's Ice Hockey team.  I haven't got to play very much this year because at the beginning of the season I had surgery, and the 2 weeks I was cleared for I ended up breaking my ankle during one of our practices.  It's been a tough season for me, but I hope to come back next year injury free.

From this course I hope to gain more knowledge on better and more efficient ways to create powerpoints.  Also, just learning about technology in general and different programs would be very helpful, especially with class assignments.

Recently, I heard about a cruise ship sinking off the coast of Italy.  The ship sinking is very sad because 11 people lost their lives, and the only thing that pops into my mind when I read this and see the pictures is the Titanic (although this is not nearly as tragic).  Not only am I interested in this because something similar to this has happened before, but from what I've read, the captain fled the ship first.  I always thought the captain was suppose to stay on the ship until all the passengers were off.  I'm just wondering if that's true, will he end up being charged with anything?  I found this news story about it, http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/19/travel/italy-ship-survivors/index.html?hpt=wo_c2