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

Unacceptable.

Today is April 28, 2010. I have been living in VT my entire life, but I do not remember ever having to put up with this much snow at the end of April. I know that this isn't a lot of snow, but it kinda is when you consider the fact that it is the end of April.

It isn't all bad though. I didn't really think of the possibility that one of my classes might be canceled today until a friend of mine asked me about it. It looks like I don't have Calculus for Engineering today, and quite honestly... I don't have a problem with that! Friday we get grades back from an exam we had last week, and then we have final exams for all of our classes all of next week. It shouldn't actually be too stressful. I am only worried about Calculus because... well... it is Calculus. I think I will do well though. I am just going to have to study for a very long time. I studied for 6.5-7 hours for the last Calculus exam, and that wasn't even the final.

I will have my Physics final on Monday morning, Calculus for Engineering and Perl Programming exams on Tuesday, and then Electronics for Computer Engineers Thursday afternoon. My Electronics and Perl classes both allow for open notes and open book, but Calculus is going to mainly be based on memorization and proficiency in said mathematical torture-- I mean concepts.

Next week I should be getting an e-mail that tells me where I will be placed next year as a Resident Assistant. All of the RAs are extremely curious about where they will be placed. Everyone is pretty much praying that they don't get into the Nutting residence hall. That building gets a lot of criticism for several reasons. There is a floor there that is dedicated to Dairy Farm students. Nothing really against the students themselves, but non-Dairy students have every right to complain about the smell of manure in their residence hall. The building is also weirdly placed away from most of the important buildings. You have to walk up steep paths in order to get anywhere, and it really only benefits you if you have classes in Green or in the Auto. Tech. Center. The building is also known to be a party building. I am not sure why, but it seems like a lot of party-people love to hang out at Nutting. Just some of the many reasons why it is nicknamed "The Nut Hut" and "The Nut House."

Well that is all I really have for now. I plan on updating this blog at least once or twice more before the school year officially ends, but in the mean time I would really like it if this snow would disappear... at least until December.

Second Semester - Week 11

Photo Taken from Facebook Fan Page

Last week was spring vacation week for my friends and I at Vermont Tech. I enjoyed the break from insane piles of homework, and was enjoying the fact that I could sleep in and dedicate plenty of time to my video games. I was actually focused on one particular assignment over break, and that would be my analytical report assignment for Technical Communications. The report is due this Friday, has to be roughly 8 pages, and mine is focused on the study of Quantum computing.

Quantum computing has been an extremely interesting topic to research because it is the next step for the computer industry. Quantum computing will mean that computers are exponentially faster, and have exponentially more storage space while using far less power consumption. These will likely be the kinds of computers that people will be using when I am 40 or 50 years old, and I am really looking forward to seeing how fast they will operate.

I have a pretty busy week set out for me this week. I started it off by having an interview for one of the Resident Assistant positions for next year. I got back from that interview not too long ago. There were 6 different people interviewing me at the same time, and I am pretty sure that my interview went well. I remember last summer when I was nervous about being interviewed by one person, and now future interviews are going to be much easier for me.

This Friday is when my analytical report is due, and when a huge assignment for my PERL Programming class is due. Lots of work to do... I better get back to doing it. :P