VTTI

My first year of college had its ups and downs. I didn't do so hot grade wise my first semester, but I'm slowly but surely smoothing out the bumps this semester.  I realized that engineering wasn't for me and I transferred into the Agribusiness Management major. However, there is one thing that has stayed consistent throughout my freshman year of college, my job. At the beginning of the year, my mom wanted me to get a work study job because I had been granted some work study money on my financial aid report. I had no problem with this because I love having a little extra money on the side. I went to the Hokies for Hire website and discovered numerous open positions. After emailing a few people about the openings, I quickly got a reply from the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI). For those of you who aren't familiar with VTTI, it is the universities largest research facility. They specialize in making cars and the highways they drive on safer and less expensive. The job description sounded fairly simple but interesting. Basically I would be helping out around the offices with little odds and ends. I went to VTTI and interviewed for the position. Within one hour, the secretary called and offered me a job. I was very pleased and immediately accepted the offer. The job doesn't pay a mint by any means, but its a great way to make a little bit of spending money. On a typical workday, I start by filling all of the printers and copy machines with paper. Next, I deliver any mail or packages that weren't delivered the previous day. Then at 11 AM and 3:30 PM, we make a "run" to campus. We basically just take the a state car and deliver any envelopes or packages from workers at VTTI to other people around campus. Some other jobs I do at work include: cleaning conference rooms, setting up food and coffee for conferences, assisting workers with their projects, and washing the research cars. I finished up my last day of work at VTTI for the semester yesterday, but I plan to work there again next semester.

http://www.vtti.vt.edu/

Blacksburg Zombie Attack

Most people thought that Chuck Norris had killed the last zombie, however this wasn't actually the case. Chuck Norris punched Michele Obama the Zombie so hard she went all the way to Washington, D.C. For a few months all was well in Blacksburg. When football season came around, this drastically changed. When the crowd started cheering to Enter Sandman, a flaming Michelle Obama flew out of the sky. Only this time, Seth Greenberg was right behind her. His head was burning brighter than a plasma cutter, he was back for revenge! He dived in and immediately took a huge bite out of Frank Beamer's arm. The police tried to contain him but they ended up getting bit themselves. Frank Beamer exclaimed, "bring out the special teams," but by this time he was already turning into a zombie himself. Meanwhile, Michele was distracting all of the fans by blinding them with her jaw dropping beauty. She used her zombie powers to perform a spell and make her seem much more beautiful than she actually is. Just when everyone thought all hope was lost, David Wilson made his second appearance but this time he was packing some heat. He had apparently robbed the Radford ammunition plant, and had an atomic bomb on his back. He strapped Michelle and Seth to it and ran them into the middle of the ocean like it was a football. He set off the bomb when he returned to Lane Stadium and blew the remaining zombies into oblivion.

The End of the School Year

The end of the spring semester has its advantages and disadvantages. It’s very exciting for most students because it means it’s almost time to go home for a long summer break. However, it also has some unpleasant disadvantages. As any college student knows, the end of a semester is usually the most dreaded part of the year due to final exams. On top of finals, most classes have their largest projects and papers due at the end of the year. When you add all of this work up and put it in a short two week period, a huge amount of stress is inevitable. The key to finals and large projects is time management. College students always seem to complain about not having enough time to do everything, but this is usually not the case. In most cases, if a student sits back and looks at how they used their time in the past week, they will realize that a large portion of it was used doing things that don’t pertain to schoolwork. While these may not be bad things at by any means, they take away valuable time that could be used doing schoolwork. Some of these activities include: playing video games, browsing the internet, watching television, and indulging in social media. I know personally that I have been guilty of doing all of these activities instead of schoolwork at one point or the other. I’m not saying that it easy to get everything done and still have time to play, but it’s quite possible if one manages their time correctly. According to California Polytechnic State University, improper time management and procrastination can lead to large amounts of stress and anxiety. In order to avoid this, students should avoid waiting until the last minute to complete assignments and study for tests.

 http://sas.calpoly.edu/asc/ssl/procrastination.html

Slow Pitch Softball

Baseball has always been a sport I enjoyed. I never really got into it past little league due to the fact that I was a cross country and track runner in high school. Watching baseball is another one of my favorite things to do. I’ve always been a huge Red Sox fan although it has been harder to keep up lately with my busy college schedule. Being into baseball, I was very happy to find out that Tech offered intramural slow pitch softball. Slow pitch softball is usually a whole lot less intense than regular baseball, although it still offers the enjoyment and thrill of playing baseball. It also doesn’t require the protective equipment baseball requires since the ball isn’t being launched at speeds up to 100 miles per hour. According to Wikipedia, softball originated as a form of offseason training for baseball players in the late 1800’s. Like the name implies, softballs used to actually be soft. In fact the first “softball” was actually a boxing glove according to Wikipedia. Due to the fact that a softball was actually soft, it could be used to practice baseball indoors during the winter months. As technology evolved and indoor batting cages and pitching machines emerged, baseball players could practice with baseballs in the offseason. However, the game of softball didn’t bite the dust; it emerged as its own sport. It became popular at events such as picnics and other gatherings. Today, slow pitch softball has become very popular with retired baseball players. It allows them to enjoy all the features of baseball in a much less intense setting. Unfortunately, our intramural team didn’t make it far in the tournament here at Tech this year. However, it just gives us even more motivation to practice and do even better next year. I would suggest slow pitch softball for anyone who enjoys baseball and having a great time with friends.

Dream House

As soon as I get out of college, I’m going to try to obtain a job as soon as possible. If this works out, I will probably work for a couple years and save up enough money to start building a house. My cousin and I already have a plot of land picked out in our hometown, Mathews, Virginia. Our boss owns the land and says he will sell it to us for a fair price. The piece of land is a little over 10 acres, which is plenty for a large garage and two houses. We plan to build the houses fairly far apart with the garage in between. This way we can still have some privacy from each other when we need it. We have both been neighbors since we were born, and we want to keep it that way. We’re both huge gear heads, which is the main reason we want to build a six bay garage, complete with heating and air condition. The land is shaped like a triangle with a long edge against the road and the tip away from the road. The plan is to build the houses closer to the long edge on the road and to put the garage out back closer to the tip of the triangle. For houses, we’re thinking of a single story rancher style with a floor space of about 2,000 square feet. This may seem small for today’s standards, but I grew up in a 1,650 square foot house with my sister and parents and it was enough room for me. We plan to build the houses with room for expansion just in case we don’t have enough room. Unfortunately for us, the cost of living in Virginia is slightly higher than the U.S. average according to bestplaces.net. However, in our minds it is worth the extra cost to live in our hometown, Mathews County.

Nags Head

With all this warm weather we’ve had lately, everyone knows that summer is getting closer. Summer is probably my favorite season of the year. Not just because we get out of school, but because I get to see all of my old friends. Last summer was very memorable for me due to my trip to Nags Head. I had been to Nags Head numerous times before, but this was the first time I had been without any other older adults. Yes we were all 18 or older, but it was still a whole new experience not having any parents there. We went the week after graduation, so I guess you could call it a senior trip. The first afternoon, we headed to the beach and got some sun. After that we went to the cottage and got in the hot tub as it started to rain. The cold rain hitting your skin while sitting in the hot water feels great. The next day we decided to take one of my buddy’s trucks on the beach even though it’s two wheel drive. This was definitely not one of our better ideas. It was all fun and games until we stopped in the sand and then tried to start moving again. Somehow we managed to push the truck out and get back to the road. Although it sucked at the time, it’s definitely fun to look back and laugh at it. The next day, we headed to the dunes at Jockeys Ridge. According to outerbanks.org, the dunes at Jockey’s Ridge are the largest natural sand dunes in the eastern United States. We had a bunch of other fun experiences that should probably not be mentioned on an English blog. All in all, we had an excellent time that I will never forget. I would recommend a trip to Nags Head to anyone that loves the beach.

New System for the Fusion

I’m one of the many freshmen at Virginia Tech who decided to bring a car along to college. Living in the middle of nowhere on the banks of the Chesapeake Bay, there are no buses or trains to take me all the way home when I want to go. Having a car at Tech also opens up a whole new book of job opportunities. I took advantage of this and obtained a work-study job at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute. The facility is located about three miles from Tech’s campus right off of 460. Although obtainable by bus, it is much easier accesses by car. Between driving to work twice a week and driving home at least once a month, I spend a lot of time in my car. Even though my 2006 Ford Fusion was well equipped from the factory, the audio just wasn’t cutting it for me anymore. I did some research on crutchfield.com and decided the first thing I wanted to add to the car was a subwoofer. According to Crutchfield, one 12 inch subwoofer would be perfect for my needs. Just as I was about to order a subwoofer and amplifier from Crutchfield, I spotted an amazing deal on craigslist.com. A fellow Hokie living in Foxridge had a 12” Alpine subwoofer and amp for sale for a dirt cheap price. I went and looked at the system and the individual demonstrated it in action. After seeing them in action, I settled on a price and bought the sub and amp. I was finally able to get around to installing the components in my car this weekend. I was a bit worried at first that the subwoofer wouldn’t be loud enough, but boy was I wrong. It adds a whole new level of sound to my car’s audio system and makes the music feel much more realistic. My friend liked my setup so much; he decided to purchase a sub for his car as well. The biggest lesson I learned from this experience is that anyone can save a lot of money by buying used and finding deals on websites like craigslist.com.