The Strange

Life feels very weird right now.

I'm not sure why. I don't feel upset, but I'm not exactly happy either. I feel like I'm perched atop a parabolic vertex of life happiness.

This seems like such a weird place to be at. Where am I going to go? My senses tell me that SOMETHING is going to happen soon.

Things are way too neutral in my life right now, and I know that life doesn't work this way. Will something really bad happen that will ruin this for me? Or will something great happen and gift me with a level of happiness I haven't felt for almost a year now?

I feel out of control. Not running rampant, but pinned in a tight corner between the walls of uncertainty and fear. What has me cornered? What part of my life is intimidating me to the point where I have backed away and surrendered control?

I don't know what it is. I need to empower myself. I need to leave this parabolic vertex, or this metaphorical corner of intimidation.

I know what I want in life, and I need to go for it. This awkwardness should not be allowed to corner me.

Friendship:Tolerance

I used to be someone who would quietly disassociate myself with anyone I had some kind of problem with. Things have changed, and my tolerance has shifted to a slightly different part of the spectrum.

I'm still an incredibly peaceful and caring friend, but I have less tolerance for disrespect. I can only put up with so much, and unless I care greatly about your impression of me, I will gladly tell you to 'fuck off' if you attack me on a personal level.

I don't need any of your bullshit, just as you honestly don't need any of mine. A true friend will only corner you for the sake of intervention. A true friend will not attack you, outright insult you, or do things that will further escalate an already heated situation of which they are responsible for to begin with.

I understand the 'friendship:tolerance' ratio more than ever. Treat me with respect, and ABSOLUTELY expect it back. I won't let you down.

I am someone who prides myself on being a great friend. Unless we have developed some serious issues, I am willing to put up with most of your bullshit. I will put a great amount of effort into trying to understand your issues, and even more so in how you are affected by them.

I am a proud human being. I don't need to tolerate you, but I will do so if the good side of you is stronger than the bad. If you treat your friends like shit, don't be surprised when they figure out that they are much better off without you.

Watch Your Back

In my opinion, one of the most important things to remember in life is that everybody has their own unique agenda.

It's easy enough to forget that every human being has their own sense of perception crafting what they view as reality. The true reality is that there are billions of people with their own lives, their own ideas, and importantly, their own goals.

In life you will be deceived, you will be verbally shat on, and someone at some point will craft all the justification they need for the sake of treating you like shit. In many cases they will do this entirely guilt-free, and instead actually feel quite proud for doing it.

We live in an incredibly dynamic world. Ideas are shared almost instantly from anywhere in the world. With these ideas being open, people divide quickly into various cultural groups of which they feel they most belong. In my opinion, the reality is that for every single one of us, we are alone.

Be careful who you associate with, but remember that anyone can hurt you. People are selfish, but they have every reason to be. It's not cruel. It's simply a survival instinct at work.

Don't be afraid to let your guard down, but always keep in mind that everyone is ultimately out for themselves.

A Note About Happiness

So, I think I am actually going to get back into updating this blog. I've had kind of a "roller-coaster" year so far, so why not? Being stressed, or constantly "riding an emotional tide" is always the best time to update a blog.

So, let's see here:

The biggest thing on my mind is the fact that my girlfriend left me. We were only together for about four and a half months, but the relationship meant a lot to me. I haven't stopped feeling like shit about the fact that things ended. Not so much the way it ended, but simply because of the fact that something great was put to rest. Part of my mind understands the situation completely, but another part of my mind refuses to believe any of it.

I have started to abandon my thoughts on this matter. As much as it meant to me, it's ultimately not worth stressing over. I have other stuff going on. I have a new car, I still have some awesome friends, I love my job, and my apartment kicks a lot of ass. It really sucks that things played out the way they did, but if the feelings aren't mutual... realistically, it's not worth chasing after it. I've been distressed enough as it is, so now I am focused on being happy again. Life goes on... if she comes back, I will be incredibly happy, but if not... there's nothing I could have done about it anyway.

Here's what I have been happy about:


A)

This week I managed to hit the one-year mark for my current job. I am proud of myself because I have received plenty of great feedback throughout this time. It's so awesome to be working for such a large corporation and knowing that I am one out of only five people that control the IT scene within this company. We manage everything computer-related. I am the ONLY PC Technician within the entire corporation. I work directly under our Network Administrator. It's a pretty awesome job. I have had a couple of days that have been stressful, but overall it's a pretty relaxing job. I get paid well, work with awesome people, and I feel important in this company.

B)

My apartment. This place is three times the size of my former apartment. It also only costs me about $100 more a month. I have my own dedicated internet connection through Comcast with a 20 mb/s line, a large living room, and a cozy bedroom. I recently bought a 10" memory-foam mattress, and the thing works miracles on my back. I have an epic surround system in my living room, and after playing games on my TV with that surround sound... there's almost NO going back to crappy sound. This place is AWESOME, and it's my new home.

C)

New car! I got rid of my Santa Fe... it managed to hit almost 340,000 miles on it. ...that's 90,000 miles further than the Earth from the moon. I now have a 2010 Impreza... it's badass! I love it. So much better with the gas mileage too. My Santa Fe was so worn down that I was starting to spend about $100/week on gas. The Impreza is just shy of $50, and gas prices have gone up significantly since I owned my Santa Fe.

D)

Family. My family is awesome. My parents kick ass, my brothers kick ass, my closest friends... they kick serious ass. My nephew is incredibly smart and turning into quite the character. At four years old, that kid comes up with some pretty clever stuff. He also has the best imagination I have ever seen. He somehow gets me to visualize the superhero scenes that he is acting out. Gotta love it.

Summary:

My girlfriend is gone. ...so what. Yes, I still have incredibly strong feelings for her, and I greatly miss what we had, but I still have plenty of stuff going on for me. I refuse to be unhappy. I'm focused on getting shit done. Since the breakup, I've rearranged my apartment. I didn't originally have a separate living-room and bedroom because I was lacking the furniture for it. I keep shit organized now. I won't let anything bring me down... I sound like I am bragging, but not with this relationship ending. With this relationship ending, I need to focus on what I have going for me. I need to reflect on my life because it allows me to see that things aren't bad... they are just less-great... and I am okay with that now.

Please let me have my pride, and don't judge me for it.

The Real World

Well, BEFORE I even graduated I got a phone call from an international corporation letting me know that I got the job as their PC Technician!

Vermont Tech's job placement has been 98% within 4 months of graduation, but I never realized I would have a job this quickly!

Just to clear things up. Originally I was planning on going straight through Vermont Tech's Bachelor program for Computer Engineering Technology, but then I saw a job posting for a company that has a great reputation. I won't name the company on here because this is my personal blog, and my personal and work lives should stay separate from one another.

I was simply looking for a summer job, but instead I was offered a full-time position at a great company with great people, and great benefits as the tasty frosting on the cake. The told me that it would be in my "best interests" to not go back to college immediately after summer.

They offer full medical insurance, dental insurance, life insurance, 401k retirement plan, disability insurance, long-term disability insurance, up to 80% tuition reimbursement, mileage reimbursement (for business travel), and a few other perks. :D

Pretty awesome job! Within two months of graduating from college I have since moved into my own apartment, bought some of my own fancy furniture, live within 35 minutes of MOST of my family and friends, and only 15 minutes to work.

I am keeping an extremely detailed budget so that I can keep track of ever cent I get, and every cent I spend. My next goal is to get a new car, and that should be happening in a month or so. I just need to do a lot of research because dealers are conmen (haha), and I'll need to look into full coverage insurance. :D

Well, I REALLY should have been in bed about an hour ago, so I am going to pass out now. :)

GRADUATING ON MAY 7TH.

It's going to feel weird, but next year I will not be coming back to Vermont Tech.

I have decided that I will graduate this year with an Associate's Degree and focus primarily on seeking employment.

I want to work. I feel like I am more than ready to work, and I really want to prove myself as being a valuable part of a great company. I will probably continue my education at Vermont Tech in the future, but I am not sure how long it will be from now before that happens. I have every intention of still getting my Bachelor's Degree in Computer Engineering, but for now I have decided to postpone my last two years at this college.

For the most part, I love this place. There ARE some things about this place that I absolutely will not miss, but overall I have been happy with my time here.

Things have changed, and things continue to change.

Not all of these changes I necessarily agree with.

I am currently on the hunt for job openings, but I am confident that I have already found the perfect match. I won't post publicly what the perfect match is, but I really really hope that I got the job. It will be a HUGE step forward for me, and it's the opportunity I have been looking for.

I left my interview with this company and I was feeling great about how everything went. Interviews are typically about presenting yourself to a company and impressing them, in a sense, with your qualifications. This interview was different in the sense that the company impressed me. I walked into the building to what seemed like nothing but happy people.

The best part? The fact that I am 100% sure that I impressed this company for simply being who I am. I am an incredibly honest person, and this wasn't going to be any different. I believe I impressed them solely off of my own personal achievements and character.

I cannot express how much I really hope I get this job, and I am already confident that I would love working at their company. I feel like my interview was a gateway to something great, and I hope that the company will let me in.

I have been told that I have amazing work ethics, and I myself believe I do too. I believe in pulling my own weight, and I also believe in getting things done the right way. Being an RA this year has taught me countless invaluable skills, and it has also taught me that not everyone who gets the job allows themselves to learn these skills. You have to actually do the RA job in order to gain the skills from it.

What have I learned and/or refined with being an RA?

LEADERSHIP.

CONFLICT RESOLUTION.

INCIDENT REPORTING.

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT.

MANAGEMENT.

TEAMWORK.

EVENT PLANNING.

INTEGRITY.

ADMINISTRATION.

It's been nothing but a HUGE learning experience that I feel has more than prepared me for the real world. I want to get out. I want to be successful now. I want to move onto a different part of my life.

I CANNOT express how excited I am for my future at this point!

I'm graduating in TWO weeks! My FIRST college degree! There will be more, but this is a great first step! I also only have 2 days left of classes this school year and barely anything to do for finals this semester... these 2 weeks are going to fly right by.

I'll miss seeing my amazing friends on a daily basis, I'll miss the college atmosphere, I'll miss my great professors, I'll miss my favorite Computer Engineering professor and his iconic sense of humor and his ability to teach everything, and I'll miss being the President of Vermont Tech's Music Club.

I'm onto new things!

WISH ME LUCK!!!

The above picture is of (most) of my college band in the Music Club during the "Morey Music Mania" event that I planned/organized for my dorm building.

YEAR #3: ALMOST OVER.

Only two weeks left of classes for this school year!!

I recently had a job interview for a job that looks like an absolute perfect match for me. After this semester, I will have my Associate's Degree in Computer Engineering Technology, so if I get this job then I am probably not going to be returning to Vermont Tech any time soon.

I plan on getting my Bachelor's Degree, but I am not sure when I am going to get it. I was originally going to jump into the Bachelor's program and finish up my last two years at Vermont Tech., but various things have come up that are making me reconsider.

I currently do not know for sure as to whether RAs next year are going to be given an option between a stipend OR a double-room-fee waiver, or if the waiver will be the only option. I can't afford to go to Vermont Tech anymore without having a job to pay for it. The loan payments increase every year, so my parents and I have to pay more money every month for every year of college. I can't live on campus as an RA if I am only getting an exemption from being charged for my room. I NEED income in order to make loan payments, and it's impossible to have a well-paying job to afford college while also being an RA. This is why my interests are being pushed away from the college. Why collect more debt when certain jobs are now available that could seriously push your career forward? That's what I am focusing on now.

I REALLY hope I get this job. I am confident that it will be a great experience, and it would be a huge step forward for me.

I'm also kinda getting sick of the college atmosphere. I have been here for 3 years now. Do I really want to be here for the next 2 years on top of that? I mean, I love being here, but 5 years is a long time. I feel like I have been here long enough, and amazing opportunities are now coming up for me that I would be foolish to NOT act on.

I am ready. I want to have a great job with great people, and I want to be doing things that I have always loved doing. I am confident that the interviews I had went incredibly well, and I should be hearing back from this company within the next week as to whether or not I got the job. I would likely be starting immediately after this school year ends... which would be great because I really want to work this summer.

The picture above is of a guitar tuner that I have been making with my Arduino board. The Arduino board is a programmable microcontroller that you can pretty much program to do whatever you want so long as all the other hardware is there. I programmed my board so that it has two buttons. One button goes to the next note in the standard scale, and the other button goes to the previous note. Each of these notes have a distinct frequency for their sound. To generate the frequency through the output pin, I have a formula within my program that calculates how long the signal must be HIGH and how long the signal must be LOW. It then takes this signal and outputs it through a transducer (which in this case is a speaker). It's a really cool project, and I have enjoyed making it!

I had to adjust my tuner (basically, I had to tune it with a professional tuner) because the commands within the software I wrote happen to produce extra delays on my Arduino board. These delays effect the output of my sound, so to fine-tune my guitar tuner I had to compensate for the difference. The notes, on average, ended up being roughly 8.67 Hz lower than they were supposed to be. I just added 8.67 to all of the programmed frequencies, and currently its most accurate not is an A5.

Well, I can't believe this year has gone by so quickly. I'm extremely excited, nervous, and hopeful, about getting a special phone call next week from a company that I would REALLY love to work for. It will be crazy not coming back to campus next year, but it is all for the best of reasons, and if I get this job then I am going to be incredibly excited for where things are headed. :D

Back From San Francisco!

Well, my trip to San Francisco was absolutely amazing!!

My first-and-second-ever flights took place on Wednesday morning through to Wednesday night. We left the airport in Burlington, landed a couple hours later in Chicago, and then several hours later in San Francisco. On my second flight I had to give into my hunger and I actually coughed up $9 for an (obviously overpriced) turkey sandwich. It tasted great, but it definitely wasn't worth $9. It's just the airline business taking advantage of people who have to pack light and can't make room for extra food.

My first plane trip was a REALLY cool experience. Lauri, the awesome career services counselor for Vermont Tech., kept checking in on my to make sure I wasn't too nervous about the flight, but I was having a pretty awesome time watching the land below us disappear as we approached the clouds. I knew that the plane had to go fast in order to take off, but it is one thing "knowing" something from common sense, and another when you actually experience it first-hand. Our first plane was a tiny plane that you could barely stand up in. It had two rows of seats on one side, and a single row of seats on the other. There were so few people on the plane that my friends and I were pretty much free to sit wherever we wanted to.

I got some awesome video footage of the first plane taking off, and some awesome footage of the plane landing in Chicago. The famous airport in Chicago was the coolest one I saw during the whole trip. It had a brontosaurus skeleton, fancy ceilings with flashing neon lights, and several other really cool things that cannot be described with just word.

When we landed in San Francisco and checked into our hotel, a lot of my friends were starving. We ended up walking around the streets of San Francisco to get a feel for the place and get comfortable, but then we were absolutely surprised by the crazy amounts of homeless people. We sat in Subway... probably a block a way from our hotel, and while we were eating our sandwiches some crazy/old homeless guy with a big white beard was outside of the shop and he was making these growling and grunting noises. We probably saw 13 homeless people on Wednesday night alone... maybe even more. It's because the city is relatively warm throughout the whole year, so people can actually survive living outside. It's not like Vermont where we have our crazy Nor-easter snowstorms that can even make living inside a house difficult.

Thursday we spent the day taking an amazing tour of Google's 500,000 sq. ft. campus in Palo Alto, California... otherwise known as the famous Silicon Valley. Google has everything... free massage parlors, dining areas/cafeterias, swimming pools, gym memberships, laundry rooms, outdoor sports, Google bikes, and even reserved parking for pregnant women. Their entrance lobby even had two gigantic Android phones that were fully-functional! My friends were playing some of the games that use the touch screen controls, and it seemed to work amazingly well.

After leaving Google, we then headed over to Apple. A somewhat recent Vermont Tech grad from the Computer Engineering Major (who was also a Morey RA at one point), is now the Project Manager for two security teams at Apple! On Mac OSX, when you are asked for your password, his team helps write all of the code that controls that functionality. It was cool meeting him because he is one of my professor's old roommates, and he was also in the same major that I am now, AND he was once a Morey Hall RA like I am now. It's just cool for me to see someone who is doing so well, and knowing that I am at least kind of on the same track as he once was.

Friday was the day that we went to the 2011 Game Developer's Conference! We got to see developer's and designers work on technologies for the newest games right on the show floor. We watched as someone from AMD (as in the former ATi) mold a human face using a modeling program. I also got to see Crysis 2 being played in 3D and it looked pretty damn good. I ended up walking around the whole show floor several times, but it was cool being there because you have to be either a college student, or in the game industry as a developer etc, or with the press in order to go to this event.

Overall this trip was an absolutely amazing experience. California is such an beautiful state (in the right neighborhoods). We went down to Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39 where you get a great view of both the Golden Gate Bridge AND of Alcatraz. We topped our trip off by eating dinner and having some drinks at the Hard Rock Cafe right in San Francsico. I had a Long Island Iced Tea (one of my favorite drinks)... it was mixed to perfection, and I was even allowed to keep the fancy glass that the drink came in.

I will never forget this trip, and I can never thank Lauri or Vermont Tech enough for making it possible. I went to California with some amazing friends of mine! Google! Apple! GDC! Pier 39! What more could I ask for?!

I can tell you right now though... we got back to Vermont and we were experiencing a crazy blizzard. I could feel the cold air a lot more than I ever used to because I had gotten used to it being about 76 degrees in San Francisco. It's too bad it is sooo f#cking cold here! Haha

SAN FRANCISCO IN SIX DAYS!!!! :D

It is incredibly hard to believe, but six days from now I will be getting on plane (for the first time in my life), AND I will be heading out to San Francisco!! I am incredibly excited for this trip, and I know that it is going to be an amazing time. I never once thought that I would ever be able to go to GDC because it is restricted to college students, game developers, and the press. Most people do not know what the Game Developer's Conference is, so then I have to explain to them that it is one of the two largest gaming events that take place in the world on a yearly basis.

HUGE gaming corporations go to these conferences. ALL of the major businesses show up annually. Companies like Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, IBM, Google, Insomniac Games, Ubisoft, EA, and most of the gaming companies that you can probably think about... including a Minecraft booth this year!! :D (Minecraft is an incredibly addicting computer game... in case you don't already know... in which case you need to find out what I am talking about lol)

Well, I gotta turn in for the night! My RA duty for the night is now over since it is well past 12:00 am, so I should probably pass out soon. I have no problem with just letting these days go by because...


SAN FRANCISCO IN SIX DAYS!!!! SAN FRANCISCO!!!! OMFG!!! WOO HOOOOO!!!! GAME DEVELOPER'S CONFERENCE!!!!!!!! HELLLZZZZ YEAH!!!! :D

^ excited. :D

Better Thoughts & San Francisco in One Month!

The majority of my life I have been a calm, collected, and level-headed individual. I do a whole lot of thinking, I have a lot of consideration for various things, and a lot of respect for many people. I have been told in the past that I do a great job of seeing things for how they are, that I am great friend, and that 99% of the time I don't let anything cloud my judgment.

With that said, there still are times that this kinda falls apart for me, but I am still learning things in life. When I get extremely stressed out... I begin to lose my "cool." It's a natural thing for people, but this should hopefully provide a better understanding about my previous post.

I don't believe that I should delete my last post though because this is, in fact, my personal blog. While I don't post things that are too insanely personal on here, I still wrote it and it was important to me at the time.

I am glad to say though that I am back on track. I'm not letting the things that were bothering me before bother me anymore. I know what I care about, I know what I want in life, and I am not going to let anyone or any thing get in the way of that.

Know what else is great? Vermont Tech is taking me to San Francisco in less than a month for the Game Developer's Conference!!! It's going to be such an awesome time, and as of now I haven't been any further out of New England than New York City, so it is definitely a time that I will never forget!

I have a lot to look forward to. I really do. I just need to stop focusing on things that are out of my control, and accept the fact that not everyone is willing to put in the same amount of effort as I am when it comes to one doing their job. I guess I am okay with that now... it sucks when I have to clean up after others, but their bad work habits aren't exactly going to do anything to help them out in the future.

Looking forward to GDC 2011!!!

Also, another very important date: Next week will mark my girlfriend and I's second month together! We will be spending plenty of time together next weekend since after this week VTC has a week-long vacation. :D

This Semester is Going to Kick Ass! :D

First off, I have an amazing schedule this semester! I have Wednesdays and Fridays off completely (with the exception of RA duty on Wednesday night, but still... no classes), and on Mondays I only have a System Admin lab! :D

My schedule and two upcoming events are shown above. :D

This semester is also going to kick ass because I have nothing but awesome professors this time around. Such a huge turnaround from last semester when it seemed like nobody knew what they were doing. I even have one professor who people claim to be the best instructor they have ever had and this guy is teaching half of my course. :D

Well, this update is a short one, but that's really all I have for now. I am not sure when I will post again, but hopefully it won't be too-too long from now.

UPDATE:
I just updated my schedule on the blog's right-side pane and I noticed that for my previous schedule I forgot to change "Spring 2010" to "Fall 2010." Of course now it is the proper "Spring 2011."

22 Years Old, 1000+ Visits to My Blog :D

It's quite impressive, but two years ago I started this blog, and even though it hasn't been as actively updated as I originally intended it has managed to reach over 1000 views!

Last Saturday I had a birthday party at my house and about 40 friends came over. To make sure this was a good time I also set it up so that the VTC Music Club would be prepared to play 8 songs at the party. We ended up playing Basketcase, Say it Ain't So, Fade to Black, Creep, Closing Time, Lonely Day, Welcome Home, and Toxicity. The video above is a recording of the Vermont Tech Music Club playing "Closing Time" by Semisonic. It's too bad that you can't hear my solos too well, but the camera was being overloaded from all the sound. We kicked so much ass!! :D

Yesterday was officially my 22nd birthday. Out of all the birthdays I have had yesterday didn't truly feel like my birthday with the exception of having a couple hundred posts on my Facebook wall. There are a couple of great things that have been going on recently, but I won't post about those until things progress a bit further. I don't want to give out too many details, but I am sure that a certain thing is going to change soon, and I am greatly looking forward to it. :D

This week is stressful because it is final exams week AND I am an RA. All buildings and floors on campus are on 24-hour quiet hours right now meaning that residents must be quiet for every hour of every day this week. As an RA, I get to be one of the people to enforce that. It's tough because it seems unreasonable at 3:00 pm to bitch at people to quiet down, but at the same time... everyone has studying to do, and the less stressed out they can be going into an exam the better. I'll be honest. I let some of their noise slide. As important as it is for things to be quiet I also feel like it is important to take breaks and socialize too. I have definitely spoken up about people who were being too loud for this week though. Music is a big problem here because a lot of people in this building have impressive sound systems, and the bass loves to carry down the hallway.

Tomorrow I have my final exam for Object-Oriented Programming, and then on Friday I have my exam for Microcomputer Techniques. I already had my Physics II exam, and I did horribly on it. Oh well though. I know this is college and they expect you to do a lot of studying outside of the lectures and labs, but the fact of the matter is: If your professors suck, then you probably will too.

This semester has been such a nightmare for me. There have been a few things that have made me extremely happy, but overall... there have been a lot of crazy BS things this semester. The good things I LOVE, but the bad things are killing me.

I have ONE awesome professor this semester. I have Skoda for Networks, and though I have only actually met him twice I know that he is a really cool professor, and he even does a great job of teaching us the material even though it is an online course.

My other professors have made me unhappy too many times this year. My first and second year, I loved coming here. This year has been different though. Time management is a huge part of it, but my professors aren't doing anything to help. I am developing a certain level of disgust for this place, and that is probably what I hate most about this semester. I don't think that shitty professors should be allowed to encourage someone like me to start disliking Vermont Tech.

Don't get me wrong. I love it HERE, but I most certainly hate the courses I have this semester, and I think that it is total bullshit because the main challenge in every single one of my courses (except for Networks of course) is that the professors simply cannot teach the material.

I even had one professor say that he has been incredibly lazy this year, overloaded himself with teaching courses, and that the majority of the assignments we had he is just going to give everybody a 100 on because he is too lazy to grade everything. He came right out and told all of his students about this. Yeah, I understand that I am benefiting from this grade-wise, but what am I really getting out of it?

I am not going to lie. I have been doing horrible this semester. Yeah, I have a lot of stuff I am responsible for this semester, but that's not the problem. I think that I have made it very clear as to what the problem is, and I think that it is unfortunate that no matter how loud I make my voice nobody here seems to listen. I am just ONE person. I can bitch all I want, but no action will be taken to change anything unless there is a long period of time where the same shit keeps happening. You know what this means? nothing ever happens to fix what's broken at VTC. Not from what I can see anyway.

As far as I am concerned: Yes, I still love it here, but it's not because of the coursework, and I also don't think that this school deserves its #7 ranking on the top schools in the north east. Not if they let shit like this slide.

Well, I am done ranting about this topic. I think that I have talked about it way too much. This week has been going great, and tonight was a lot of fun. I am going to start focusing more on the fun things because it's almost Christmas break. Soon I will be home, and I can stay there for 3 weeks without all the craziness I have to put up with on campus.

I hope everyone reading this has a great Christmas break etc!!! :D

Change of Heart? Not quite yet.

This semester has been a mixed bag, and I am not entirely sure what I think about that.

I have gone through my first and second years of college at Vermont Tech., and I have loved the place, but I have been feeling a bit differently this semester. Maybe it is just because I am too busy as a person on campus, but I honestly don't think so.

I think the problem is the professors I have to put up with this semester, and Vermont Tech's lack of disciplinary action towards the professors who have proven, countless times throughout history, that they cannot teach the material they are expected to teach. What will Vermont Tech do when one of their students feels the need to speak to the Deans of the college directly about issues regarding a professor? You would think that they would thoroughly investigate the professor's portfolio, look at average grades and pass/fail rates of students throughout the years, and then use that information as evidence that MAYBE, JUST MAYBE they should be given an ultimatum:

Clean up your act, or get the fuck out.

Time to take a break, calm down, and then finish this post later.

...

Okay:

I have to admit though: Maybe as a student I am being too harsh? Maybe I should be more direct with speaking to my professors about my personal issues? I don't know. I guess maybe I worry about them having some kind of future grudge against me, and then the possibility that they will look at me as "that one guy that complains," but who knows.

I still love this place. I started writing this post while I was a bit pissed off at the infamous 'system' but then I decided to take a break, and now I am continuing this post while I am in a more relaxed state. I have a lot on my plate this semester. When I tell people that I am the President of the Music Club, that I am a Resident Assistant, and that I am working on my 3rd year of college they like to look at me as if I am appraising myself too much or something. I really am not that type of person. I mean, I CAN be when I am feeling extra proud of myself, but 90 something percent of the time I am simply stating the fact that I have 3 major responsibilities I have to stay on top of along with other responsibilities that come with life.

For instance on top of all this:

I would really like to finally have a girlfriend for the first time ever. I strongly feel like I NEED and DESERVE a girlfriend (hence the all-caps typing), and I have a slight suspicion that I am making significant progress on this matter, but who knows. I am the nervous and shy type who isn't really on top of their game until I realize I am more than comfortable with the situation. I have a long history of liking different people, but then things get nowhere. Maybe things are going to change soon? I hope so.

So much on my mind, but only so many things that can be thought about at once.

While writing this I have realized something though. I have friends I can vent to, yes, but in my state of 'super-busy-ness' I seem to have forgotten just how much of a stress reliever writing on this blog actually is. I can vent, and it is me talking, and who knows? maybe people are actively reading this. It is just me here.

This was a long post because I haven't updated in a while, but (as mentioned before) I will really try to update more often now. I just need to get other stuff figured out, but I should be back to blogging actively in no time. ...I hope. :D

"A NIGHTMARE IN MOREY"

Week 10 already?!? I find that to be extremely hard to believe, but when I look at my calendar and count up the weeks I know that it must be true. We are almost 2/3 of the way done with this semester, and I have to say that it has been a stressful one. The majority of the stress is due to how busy I have been with being an RA, being President of the Music Club, and of course with doing coursework. Now as far as getting perfect grades this semester, I have failed. This is perfectly fine by me though!

The class that I am doing horribly in is Microcomputer Techniques, but I am not alone! This class has a long history of being waaaay tougher than it needs to be. The main reason why this course is incredibly challenging is because the professor is clearly incapable of doing his job. We are expected to build circuits and then write software which we can then program to our boards, but the professor's very own code rarely works even when he says it will. He rarely helps any out in the labs or lectures, he loves to bring his kids into labs and lectures, and he always shows up at least 5-10 minutes late to each lecture. He makes me question what the hell my family and I are paying for because he is not providing a quality education... hell... he isn't providing any kind of education at all beyond the whole "Hey, I am professor [insert his name here] and I am an asshole."

Well, today I had a meeting with the Acting Dean of Academic Affairs regarding my issues with said professor (and also the issues of others in the class), so I am hoping that things can turn around. The problem is that things need to turn around quickly. Next Monday is the very last day to withdraw from any class and simply receive a 'W' for a grade. This means that it does not affect your GPA, but withdrawing after this date will take whatever grade you left off with and calculate it with your GPA. I know that it is most likely in my best interest to withdraw from the course. The problem is that a "Full Time" student is considered to be a student who is taking at least 12 credit hours for the semester, and dropping Microcomputer Techniques will put me down to 11.

Well, time for other news! I have come up with a great idea for a floor event for my 2nd floor residents! This floor event will be taking place on the night of Halloween. I went out and bought about $45 worth of candy and misc. drinks to increase the odds that my residents will have a great time. We will also be watching a movie, but I am not actually allowed to say what movie we will be watching. I took a picture of the stuff, and you can see it below:

I also had an Object-Oriented Programming mid-term the first week back from our last vacation, and I am pretty sure that I will be finding out the results today when I go to my lecture. This Thursday I have my 2nd hourly exam in Physics II. The Physics II exam will be covering topics related to Wave Motion and Sound.

As an "overview of what's new" I would say that me basically failing Microcomputer Techniques is kinda crappy, but at the same time it should give me plenty more time to get other things sorted out. If I withdraw from the class then I will feel kinda funny about being here, and that is too bad, but I won't have classes on Mondays or Fridays, and then I will only have my Networks lab on Wednesdays. Tuesdays and Thursdays would be the only days that remain as they are now.

Well, that is it for now! Maybe with my new free time I can actually manage to start updating this blog some more. It has been a while since my last post, but time is really flying right by with how busy I am! :P

I'm The Music Club's New President!

Last Thursday the VTC Music Club held an election to determine who would be the President of the club this year. The votes came in and every single one of them ended up being in my favor! I am now the President of the Music Club, and I am quite happy with this.

I made a list of goals during my Freshman year that I expected to have completed by the time I graduated. These goals likely won't be mentioned on the blog until my senior year, but currently this year I have scratched off the "Be an RA" and "Be President of the Music Club" goals! It is pretty cool.

I have some pretty good goals for the club this year. The past couple of years it has been tough for the club to move forward in terms of growth and progress. Everything has been extremely unorganized, and the club was really just a handful of students (including myself) just going down to the Music Room to jam without taking things too seriously. This year I would like things to be different. This year I would progress to made to where we can actually get a band or two going that sounds relatively good and can play in front of crowds for talent shows, coffee houses, and other related events. We likely won't be able to accomplish every goal that I have set forth for the club, but even if we only accomplish a few of them then we still will have succeeded. :D

Well, that is all I really have for an update at this point. I have also been super busy, it is getting late, and it is time for me to return my RA stuff since I am now off duty for the night... the next step is bed! :D

Start of My 3rd Year!!! :D

This year is off to a great start. It is definitely going to be a lot more stressful then my previous years at Vermont Tech., but it has certain perks that I have been enjoying. I really love the fact that I am a Resident Assistant this year even though it puts far more responsibility on my shoulders. I have always been someone who enjoys having a lot of stuff to do. It actually helps me stay focused on whatever work I am expected to complete, and I have actually found that when I only have a couple of things to do that I actually begin to slack off more.

Maybe it is something about having a checklist... all I know is that it really works for me. :P

In other news!

I really like the people who live on my floor in Morey. I know that it is still the beginning of the school year, and I also know that it would be foolish to not expect any future conflicts on my floor, but I have been getting great vibes from my residents. They are very well behaved, and the majority of them are very respectful freshmen. There have been a few different times where I had to stop hall sports (a violation of residence life policy), but so far everyone seems to be having a great time and they are not destroying stuff along the way.

Last year there was a special section of Morey known as "Man Hall" and it was given that evil name because the residents who lived in that section of the building were typically those who didn't bathe regularly. This year I ended up renaming it to "Geek Hall" because I saw that this year's residents are a very different group. They are all really cool people, they all socialize with one another, and they organize their own events even though they just barely met about a week ago. The hall was only name "Geek Hall" for a day or so though. Some of the residents came up with a better name. They suggested that it be renamed to "I.B.A Hall" or "Intellectual Badass Hall." I liked the sound of it so I used some window markers to write "I.B.A Hall" on the door window leading into the hallway.

Well, I have some stuff that I need to get done before I pass out for the night, so I am going to have to cut this post short.

The photo above is of a "rave" party that some residents of my floor set up all on their own. The president of the WVTC radio club lives on my floor, so they ended up setting up his equipment in the Morey conference room. It was a really fun time. I am not one to dance, and I don't really care for techno/electronica, but it was still cool to hang out down there.

Well, that is all for now, but hopefully I will have more to post by next week! :D

Summer Vacation Ending Quickly!

So, here it is nearing the final half hour of August 2nd, 2010. Including tomorrow I have 11 days left of my official vacation. I can honestly say that I have mixed thoughts though.

This past summer has been a whole lot of fun, which was nice, but nobody was hiring... at all. What few jobs there actually were ended up being scooped up by people who heard about them before anyone else. I live in Vershire, VT so I don't hear about jobs too often. This past summer I applied to 6 or 7 different places, and a couple of them let me know that while my resume and application did look impressive, they simply cannot hire anyone for a temporary summer job. They look at me, like my resume and job app, but then see that I am heading back to college in August.

Last summer I worked just over a month and a half painting houses with my uncle, Rick. It pays well, especially for how easy the job is, but it isn't anything I could ever be proud of beyond the simple fact of having a job at that given time. I want to be able to work the first week I am out of college, and stop working the week before I go back, but the opportunity simply hasn't presented itself. Every request for employment has simply been denied. I actually ended up doing my own thing during one week of summer. I hooked up a sound system for a great friend/instructor of mine, repaired a computer at a local childcare center, and even played guitar for pay. I averaged about $20 an hour while doing these three things, but I only worked for 5 hours.

This got me thinking. Next summer I am going to advertise my talents and hobbies. I am going to let people in my area know that I have the skills needed to fix their computers, and I will make sure that I am giving them a great deal on the service. I am obviously going to apply to as many business I can next summer to try and get a real job going, but I am already planning things that I could fall back on. I NEED to be able to work. If the jobs aren't there then it is still up to me to do what I can. I would much rather be working hard at a job then staying at home doing nothing all day.

The good thing is that I will be going back to college in 11 days to start my training as a Resident Assistant. As mentioned before, I am really looking forward to doing this. I am usually an extremely enthusiastic (some would also call this self-motivated) person when it comes to things that can push me forward. Yes, I know that there will likely be certain situations that get out of hand, but I would much rather go into the job smiling and hoping for the best. It is part of the preparation process. I have trained myself to get excited when it comes to accomplishing goals. I have always been a goal-oriented person, so getting excited about having a job as a Resident Assistant will make it more likely that I will be off to a great start.

This weekend I have a party at my house. It will be my last party of the summer before going back to Vermont Tech. I always enjoy seeing my friends. It is funny to say this, but I can't always be sure if the feeling is mutual towards me, but I try my best to make it so people will have fun.

In other news, I have been hanging out with a great friend of mine. Another great friend who, before recently, I haven't seen since 9th grade. He was in the Navy for a couple of years, and now he is interested in going to college. I introduced him to Vermont Tech., and thanks to their "Rolling Admissions" program in the fall he might actually be able to start as soon as this next semester. I really hope that he makes it in, and it will be really cool if he is able to start this next semester. I wrote him a recommendation letter and mailed it out earlier today. I have full confidence that Vermont Tech will accept him into the college, and in my mind it is just a matter of when he starts. The Navy is willing to pay for 80% of the costs, and the other 20% is something he is currently figuring out. I know he will do well there, and of course I will be there to help him out should he ever need or want it. :D

Well, that is it for now! This was a really long post so I probably post again until I am actually back at my college. I will be an RA, so hopefully that will give me more things to talk about!

(Nothing confidential/secret will be shared though, so don't even ask.)

Summer Vacation! - Halfway Complete... :P

So! I am sure that it is well known by now that I don't post anywhere near as often as I used to, but here I am at the middle of my summer vacation, and I am FINALLY posting again!

My summer has been going quite well. A few weeks ago I had a huge college party which 20 college students from 4 different colleges were represented. It was a really fun time, and it is always great hanging out with my friends. We all have common interests, and we are only different where we should be. It was cool having students from 4 different colleges come over to my house and make new friends. I was finally able to meet some really cool students from Champlain College who I have been wanting to meet for a long time, and I previously only really "knew" them from Facebook. Facebook is a great tool, but it is important to understand that it doesn't compare to face-to-face communication.

I have been looking for a legitimate job throughout this summer, but I have yet to find one. It sucks when the economy is bad and nobody is hiring. I am thinking that if I don't get hired soon that I am going to start my own business that will only be operating during the summer months. I am thinking that I could start doing computer repairs, services, sound system setups, and other electronic services for pay instead of doing it for free like I used to. It makes sense because I have been doing stuff like this since I was probably 8 years old. I obviously wasn't really good at it back then, but the point is that I have had an interest in computers and electronics for a much longer time than any other subject. Professional computer repair and service companies charge outrageous amounts of money for simple jobs, but I am thinking that I could make some pretty good money while also giving people amazing deals on services that they can't find elsewhere. I could charge more for when I have to travel long distances, and that should cover the cost of gas and still guarantee profit will be made. It could be fun, and if successful then I could make it a much bigger deal after college.

I really love working with computers, and I really love learning about how all of the individual components actually work. I have found that with the education I have received even to this point from Vermont Tech that I can pinpoint very specific problems within computers that use to take me a much longer time to figure out. I understand the use of electrical power, different voltages as representing different levels of binary data, and how writing a computer program in what is basically the English language can translate to electrical signals that allow the computer to operate. Computer Engineering is an amazing major because it offers so much background to several different topics within the computer industry including circuit design, theory & application, software development, and network administration & information technology. It may be one of the two toughest majors at Vermont Tech., but I am extremely confident that it will pay off... because I already feel like it is.

It is hard to believe that half of my vacation is already complete, but I am really looking forward to going back to Vermont Tech on August 15th to be a Resident Assistant. I have a feeling that I am going to enjoy my campus job next year, and I am sure that on top of coursework this job will offer plenty of new things for me to learn. :D

Schedule for Fall 2010

With summer vacation coming right up I have decided to post my schedule for next semester, Fall 2010. Click on the photo to enlarge. :P

Year Two: FINALS WEEK.

It is only Monday, but this week has been nothing but studying for final exams. Today I had my final exam for Work Energy & Conservation (Physics), and I think that I did well on it.

Tomorrow at 8 am I have my Calculus for Engineering final exam, and then at 3 pm I have my Perl Programming final. This means that I am going to have plenty of studying to do tonight, but then on Wednesday I don't have any exams scheduled. After Calculus and Perl Programming I don't have an exam until Thursday, and that final is for Electronics for Computer Engineers. I am thinking that I am going to do amazingly well on my Electronics final because I have had pretty good grades all semester. I think that my current grade in that class (as in, before the final) is an 84 or an 86, so this final probably won't alter my grade too much.

Out of all of my exams it is the one for Calculus that I am spending the most time studying for. I currently have a 78 in Calculus. That grade isn't too bad, but I hope to bring it up as much as I can with my final exam. I was only 7 points away from being exempt from the final in a class called Calculus for Engineering, so I am still happy with my current grade. The class is quite challenging, but I have really loved it. I love learning new things, and Calculus throws so many new things at me in each and every lecture, so I can't help but like it. My Calculus class was also taught by one of my favorite math professors here. Her name is Professor Sharpe, and she does an amazing job with teaching all the different math topics. I will eventually be taking her Applied Math course, and that happens to be the toughest math course offered at Vermont Tech. My other favorite math professor would be Professor LaCroix (pronounced la-croy). He also does a pretty damn good job of teaching math to people who are new to various concepts. :D

The photo at the top of this post was taken by our Resident Director for Old Dorm, Emma Schumann. Emma is a really cool person, and a lot of people look at her as not only being a friend, but also as being this cool mother figure to the students. She does a great job with making residents of Old Dorm feel right at home, and she was the one who organized the Old Dorm events like the barbecue and group photo that it pictured above. It is cool to have a photo of a lot of the residents of Old Dorm. There were 4 pictures taken. The one that I posted to this blog is the peaceful one because I didn't think I should post the one with people making different obscene gestures to the camera... as funny as that may be. :D

I am really looking forward to getting all of these exams out of the way so I can finally start my summer vacation. I have been trying to find a place to work for over the summer, but it looks like nobody is hiring. I have applied for Staples and Best Buy, but I plan on making a list of several other places, and then apply for those too.