ACT Registration

The season of standardized testing has arrived and with it the frustration of all the paperwork and fees to prepare for them.This Fall I decided I wanted to take the ACT test one time before my free ACT test the school provides in March. I didn't want to take the one in September because school had only just started and I also didn't want to wait until December because I didn't feel like my score would improve much between the 3 month gap. This left me with the October test date.
 Unfortunately I waited until the last week of registration to register and pay for my test and my mom could only help me on the very last day after school. So in the last few hours of registration left I filled out all the information  I could and had to wait for my mom a few minutes to come and fill in and submit the credit card information. When we were finished I hit the submit button and it automatically logged me out. I thought this was weird since before we submitted the page talked about uploading a photo for the admission ticket. I quickly logged back in to find where I should upload my photo and print out my ticket. However I could not find one thing about my transaction and all the information I had filled out, a good 7 or 8 pages were now completely blank.
 I decided to send an email to the company to ask whether I had actually registered or not and went about the rest of my day. This was on the 18th of September, a Friday, on the following Wednesday I finally received a response email telling me they could find no evidence of my registration and if I still wanted to register I would have to pay the $25 late fee. My mom decided to call the company to see if since we had tried to register on time and their processing server screwed up we still had to pay the late fee. The person who responded told us their server had been working correctly all day when we tried to register and it was a problem on our side, they said this might happen if you wait too long to submit your information. So apparently the few minutes I waited for my mom to help me was too long for their server to wait and it lost all my information that had taken at least half an hour to fill out all the way.
The moral of my story is when you decide to register for the ACT have all your information ready to go including any billing information so you don't have to fill out 8 pages of information more than one time before it can work. Also be sure to register at least a few days before the deadline so if you have any technical difficulties or if the ACT website is being weird you won't be punished for it.
In case you're wondering I decided to wait and do the December ACT so I wouldn't have to pay the 25 extra dollars and I will save that money to take the P-SAT instead.This blog post really helped me with my decision, and it might help you with your test planning.
xoxo Kamel

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UPDATE: I did end up taking the ACT in December. When I filled out my information this time I made sure that my mom was ready to go when I needed her so the page wasn't inactive for longer then 5 minutes. This time the registration went through and immediately came to a new page with new instructions for uploading a picture and printing my ticket. So the ACT website does work you just can't leave it inactive for even a small amount of time. I hope this helps. <3/Kamel

D&C 60:4

Here is a chalkboard rendition of part of D&C 60:4. The way I interpret it's message is the Lord's  "jewels"  will not necessarily sparkle on this Earth but in Heaven. The World's standards for fame and power are not the same as those from God. God will favor those who are meek and humble, who give service out of love, and those who are willing to follow his example and keep his commandments. This is one of my favorite scriptures and I wanted to share it with you this Sunday.
Love, Kamel

Lego Lowrider Convertible

Hi there it's Tyler with another Lego creation. This time I made a classic 1960's low-rider convertible. First of all I tried to replicate what an old style car's lights would look like.

You might have noticed the front is a little more detailed and shaped than the back, but I tried my best not to make it too dull. Also on the sides I had a really holey wall, I covered that with side panels.

I had an odd number of seats, I just did this so all three of my Lego people could fit. 

One of the features of this model is that you can open up the hood and reveal an engine. I tried to put in some of the parts that would be in a real engine, for example I put in a radiator on the left and windshield wiper fluid right next to it.

In this picture you can see the interior and how I arranged the seats.You can also see the steering wheel and the parking brake right next to the driver's seat.

In these final pictures you can see the convertible compared to some of my other Lego things. The boat is probably the closest one in size and height to the convertible.

Thanks for reading see you next time,

Tyler

Adoption Extravaganza

I just wanted any local readers to know about an upcoming adoption event for the animal shelter I volunteer at.
Where: Logan PetSmart
When: 11 Friday 2:00-6:00pm
           12 Saturday 10:00am-6:00pm
           13 Sunday 3:00-6:00pm
This is a great event where you can adopt a new furry friend. We just got 20 new dogs from California plus cute cats & kittens and some adorable bunnies. If you can't make it this weekend you can always come visit the shelter at 2370 West 200 North Logan, UT 84321 or call at (435)-792-3920. They are open  Monday-Friday from 9am-6pm and Saturday from 12pm-5pm.
You can always see all the cute animal at their website.
cachehumane.org

Thriftbook.com Review

I recently got this text book for my Chemistry Concurrent Enrollment class. New from the school's bookstore it was $82.00 but this version is fairly old so I decided to order it online used. I had a gift card from Barnes and Nobles so I looked on their site and I found a steal of a deal for this book, however when I ordered I found out they sold the book to me through a third party seller under the name of Silver Arch Books. When this company sent me a confirmation email I found out they actually are part of Thriftbooks.com (what the heck!) Anyway ordered the book on a Wednesday night and they shipped it on Thursday from St. Louis, they told me it would take 4-14 days for it to get here. However they did not provide any information about what shipping company they used and never sent a tracking link even when I requested one, they said to ask for it later when they had the info?(I asked through email.) Anyway I ended up getting the textbook two weeks later (the very last day of their estimation) it was wrapped in  rather flimsy plastic packaging, especially since it was a textbook. The condition is what I expected it to be in for what they called "acceptable condition" tattered corners, highlighting and writing inside, regular usage signs. I have mixed feelings about this company and it's customer service but I guess what can you expect for an under priced textbook. If you do consider using this company just expect your package very late and don't think you'll get any customer service from them. I know Thriftbooks.com has many companies under it's name, here is an Amazon.com thread with more reviews and all their names. I guess I learned my lesson, if it's too good to be true it probably is.

If you are interested in the textbook here is a link to it from Amazon, an actually reliable seller from my experience.

Chemistry-Changing-Times-10th-Edition

"Yolanda" Arizona Jeans Co. Combat Boots

I got these boots a couple weeks ago for the start of school at JC Penny's. I have been wearing them now for about a week at school and have walked home in them a couple times and they seem to be very well built. They are also super cute! I got the brown ones like the one in the pic above but there were also some very cute black ones with grey gingham stripes. You can either leave them snapped down or lace them up into a regular boot, so far I've only had them down but when winter starts to take over they will come in handy for rainy day boots.The tread is like any regular boot or shoe, nothing special and there is about an inch of a heel but it doesn't really bother me, like I said you can do serious hiking in them if you need to walk home ;) I did put Journey's protect all spray on them and they seemed to take the product well so they are now waterproofed. As for sizing I am normally from size 9-10 and I got a  size 10 so they run a bit smaller than other shoes.Overall I am very happy with these, we'll see how they do in the winter but so far I haven't had any problems with them.

Here is a link to them on JC Penny's site.
yolanda-womens-ankle-boots

Metallic Sharpies

Photo Source from sharpie.com

I recently got a package of these Sharpie markers to try out. I found these at Hobby Lobby and the pack of 3 cost $6.99. The bronze color kinda seemed almost dried out when I first tested it, it would draw a little then fizzle out, but once I kept using it it started working fine like the others. I'm thinking maybe the ink just wasn't quite flowing through the tip yet, but now that it's started it works fine. All of the colors are beautiful the silver and gold are actually very neutral, but the bronze (my favorite) is a shimmery warm almost rose gold color. The gold isn't a classic yellow gold like on jewelry, it almost has a hit of grey to it, but the silver is a classic sterling sliver color, it is very light and not dark at all. The smell to these are different from your classic sharpie stench but not worse, just different (and no I'm not a druggie, I've just lost a few brain cells in art more than once) I can't say anything about how long they last because I haven't had them long enough but they seem to have the same amount of use as regular sharpies. Overall I like these and would buy them again without hesitation.

This is not the exact pack I got but pretty close on Amazon.
Metallic Sharpies on Amazon