Halfway Through Second Semester!

Image Taken from Vermont Technical College Facebook Fan Page

Hard to believe, but half of this semester is already completed! I am 3/4 of the way to completing my second year of college at Vermont Tech., and things have been going quite well. I know that it has been 5 weeks since I last updated my blog, but I have been super busy they past 5 weeks with studying Calculus for Engineering and Electronics for Computer Engineers.

I wouldn't say that I am kicking ass in Calculus, but I am doing well enough to where I am probably averaging somewhere around a 75. This really isn't too bad for me because math has always been something that I have had minor problems with. The big thing with me is that I seem to master concepts AFTER I have been tested on them, so my grades don't actually reflect my true knowledge of the material. I will take a test on one subject, get somewhere around a 75 or 80 on it, and then a week later it will seem like I have mastery of it! It is kind of a pain in the ass, but I don't let it bother me because the fact that I am learning the material is truly the important factor.

In Calculus we have looked at the various ways to take the derivative of functions, applications using derivatives, solving for tangents and normals, and related rates. For the majority of the class up to this point I was learning the material simply because I knew that it would come in handy for later courses, BUT I wasn't sure exactly how I could use my newly discovered mathematical abilities. Earlier in the week we started looking at "related rates" which is, as it sounds, two or more rates that increase alongside one another. An example of this would be blowing up a balloon. As the balloon inflates the volume increases, the surface area increases, and so does the radius at the center of the balloon. It is pretty cool stuff, and this topic is the first mathematical topic that I have ever been introduced to that actually gave me a sense of newly found power... I think that it is because I had countless ideas popping into my head as to what these mathematical processes could allow me to solve. I was thinking primarily along the lines of circuits because that is the subject within my major where I will be using calculus the most.

Electronics for Computer Engineers has been going amazingly well. It is easily my favorite class because it is perfectly focused on what my major is about. We have been learning how to make circuits that amplify signals, circuits that can add two values and convert to binary output, and how to make switches that toggle on and off based on the conditions we have them wired to operate with.

I have been studying some pretty cool stuff this semester, but the cooler the topics the more advanced they are. I am learning some amazing things, but at the same time my work is getting significantly more challenging. This will continue until graduation, obviously, but I am more than looking forward to it. Bring it on, college! I am ready to kick your ass! :D

Year Two: Semester Two: Week Two! :D

Rocking Out

My first semester for sophomore year has been completed! My GPA is now just over a 3.0, and now I am in more advanced courses. I am taking Calculus for Engineers, Electronics for Computer Engineering Majors, PERL Programming, Technical Communications, and Work Energy and Conservation (Physics).

My courses definitely have been giving me more homework than I was given throughout my last three semesters, but we are learning some pretty cool stuff. It makes sense that as the courses get more challenging that they would also get more interesting.

In Electronics for CEM we are learning more about how the circuits work on an atomic level. My previous circuits courses looked at the basic forms of circuit analysis, but this course seems to pay more attention to the individual components. We learn about how they are constructed, and how their construction allows them to function in the way that they do. It is very interesting stuff because these are the same components that we rely on for every day things. My major will teach me all the ins and outs about all of these components, and by the time I graduate I should be able to have quite a thorough understanding of how they react to one another. :)

My Calculus for Engineering course is also more interesting then I thought it would be. I think that it is because we are exploring an area of math that I haven't explored before. I have been doing extremely well with all of the homework up to this point, but I know that I need to make sure that I stay on top of it because it is really easy to fall behind in that class. We are given a lot of work to do each night, and if we don't build a proper foundation with previous topics then present and future topics will be significantly harder to learn about. College courses are not about learning what you need to learn in order to pass the next exam... they are about developing a thorough understanding of the material being presented, and doing so even if you have to go "out of your way" to learn it.

We haven't done much in PERL Programming yet because that is simply writing programs using a scripting language. The language is great for regular expressions, file handling, and for writing programs in a timely manner.

Work Energy & Conservation is my physics course this semester, and it simply expands on the physics course that I had last semester. We are in the process of reviewing what we learned last semester, so I have yet to experience any of the new topics we are expected to cover.

Technical Communications is a pretty good class. My professor happens to be my all-time favorite English teacher/professor. Technical Communications is basically meant to teach students how to write technical documents. This includes resumes, cover letters, letters of resignation, proposals etc... Throughout this semester we will be writing an analytical report that is 8-10 pages, and covers a topic of our choice based on technology.

I am actually surprised that it took so long for me to update my blog. It has been quite a while since I last did so. I did quite well on all of my exams from last semester, and I ended up passing Technical Math with a B-. Statistically, a student has a single letter grade difference between Technical Math and Calculus for Engineering. This means that if you were to get a B in Technical Math then you should get a C in Calculus. As a final note I would like to present my goal for this semester: I want to beat the statistics. Instead of my grade dropping by a letter grade... I want it to go up by one, pass with an A, and in turn be exempt from the final exam. It is going to take a huge effort on my part... but I am doing quite well with keeping that going so far. ;)

Week 14 - Final Week of Classes

My Roommate

Week 14 is in full swing, and it is the last week of classes for this semester. This week is expected to be a busy week as loads of assignments are expected to be turned in, course material is expected to be wrapped up, and studying begins for next week's finals. I am confident that I will do well on my finals. I plan on focusing most of my attention on my Technical Math exam, and then focusing my attention primarily on Newton Mechanics (physics). I have the majority of my exams towards the end of the week, so that means that I won't have to be on campus for the whole week. I plan on staying at home during the days that I don't have exams, so that I can relax and do my studying there. I like being at Vermont Tech., but nothing beats the comforts of home.

Everyone has been quite busy, and it is expected to pick-up as the week progresses. It will be nice though once exams are finally out of the way. After exam week we are given three weeks off for Christmas vacation. Definitely looking forward to it. We will be back on campus on January 10th to start our second semester. I plan on posting my new schedule possibly over break, but if I can't manage to do so over break then I will be sure to have it up shortly after getting back.

Other than exam-prep and getting assignments out of the way, there really isn't too much else going on this week. I am not complaining though. :P

The picture above is of my roommate, and you can see that there are some clothes hanging from the pipes on the ceiling. Him and his girlfriend had just finished their laundry, and the clothes are hanging to dry. I thought that it would be funny to show in a picture... the reason why? I don't have damn clue. :D

Week 13 - Final Exams Quickly Approaching

Whew! It has been a long time since I last posted anything to my blog, but it is mainly due to the fact that the majority of week 12 I was in New York City. I had an extremely fun time while I was there. Vermont Tech paid for everything on the trip with the exception of food. Some of my friends and I were given paid-for access to the Interop conference in New York City. The conference is basically made up of various large business promoting their newly developed technologies to other businesses, but we got to see some of these technologies as students. It was a pretty cool conference.

One of the booths was for a single computer chip that was driving 256 different HD videos through 4 separate HD monitors with them all playing at the same time. We all thought that was quite cool, but another booth actually showed off a network monitoring program that can track every device that is connected to a network. The company behind it, known as Splunk>, had a live feed running that showed a map of the world and a red dot for each person in the world who was trying to hack into the Interop conference at that point in time. We saw dots all throughout parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa. The east coast of the United States was also filled quite heavily with red dots. Companies like Microsoft, IBM, and Cisco all had booths at the conference showing off various developments. There was also a booth based on a new type of search engine. Most search engines, like Google, have you enter in keywords and then a list of related websites is returned to help you find the answer. This new search engine, called WolframAlpha, actually takes the keywords you have entered and spits out all the relevant information it can find based on extremely complex mathematical algorithms. It is really cool! I entered in my birthday and it gave me a list of related information based on my birthday. Give it a shot! WolframAlpha.

We also got to walk around the city quite a bit. By Tuesday night my legs and feet were absolutely killing me from all the walking I had done that day, but I loved being in the city. The college paid for our hotel in Secaucus, New Jersey, a tour for all of us to go to the top of the Empire State Building, and even a trip to Ellis Island to see the Statue of Liberty. :D I took a lot of amazing photos. I had been to Boston before this. I thought that Boston was pretty cool, but like most people who have been to New York City say-- nothing compares to New York City. It is the largest and most populated city in the United States. Over 8 million people live there, and over a million people work in Wall Street alone. The Wall Street crowd gets out at 5pm, so we made absolutely sure we weren't near that area around that time because that is when things get a bit 'crowded.'

Normally I only post a single picture with my posts. I do this to keep things interesting, but I also limit myself because I know that the Blogger (the host site for this blog) limits how much space I have available to me. I am going to make an exception though. I had such a great time in New York City, and I feel it is important that it is known that Vermont Tech pays for trips like these, so I am going to post a couple more pictures at the end of this post from the top of the Empire State Building. :D

As my final topic: I have two weeks left of classes for this semester and then I have a week of final exams. Final exams are always stressful, but it is easy to be optimistic because we all know that after we are done with our exams we are able to go home for Christmas vacation for a solid 3 weeks of laziness. I am definitely looking forward to it. I am pretty sure that we were given an extra vacation this year, but maybe that is just me. We had last week off, and the week before that is when I went to New York City (6 hour ride by the way...), so it is crazy to think that in a few more weeks we will have a few weeks off. :D

Also: A HUGE thanks goes out to Lauri Sybel for making this trip happen. Lauri is the Career Services Counselor at Vermont Tech., and I am pretty sure that she has played the biggest part in Vermont Tech's famous job placement rate. Vermont Tech has had a 98% job placement rate for students within four months of graduation, and they have maintained that for over 15 years straight. These are jobs that are related to the students majors, and have shown great success.

UPDATE: Pictures wouldn't load for some reason. May try again later. :P

Week 11 - Interop Conference Next Week!

Gloomy Photoshop Picture of Myself :P

I planned on making a post last week, but I found that I was quite busy with homework and studying for a math exam, so I didn't have enough time to post anything. I had another math exam last Friday. I am pretty sure this is #5 for that class, and I am also quite confident that I did an amazing job on it. Exam #4 I got an 86 on, but I am confident that I did even better on this one than I did the last one. I can't wait to get the exam back. Two out of three classes were cancelled today. Physics and Technical Math were cancelled, but I didn't go to C-Programming either because she posts all of her notes on blackboard, and I was feeling kind of sick anyway. The past couple of days I have had this random eye pain in my left eye socket. I think it is because there was a day when I got well over12 hours of sleep.... insane? nope. Not when you consider the fact that I am a college student. :D

Next week, Monday through Wednesday, Vermont Tech. is paying for my friends and I to attend a tech conference in New York City. The event is called Interop, and it focuses on the latest technologies being released in the Information Technology and Networking fields. I can't wait for the conference! Not only will it be cool to go to a professional tech conference, but being in New York City is going to be a lot of fun. I have been to Boston before with a friend of mine, but this will be my first time going to New York City. I know for sure it is going to be a lot of fun. Vermont Tech is paying for everything except for the costs of food. We get to stay in a hotel for free, get into the conference for free, and free transportation.

One of the coolest things about this trip, and the when it takes place, is the fact that the following week is Thanksgiving break. I have classes all of this week, but next week I will only have classes on Thursday and Friday, and then I have a whole week off! When I get back from Thanksgiving break I will have two weeks of classes, and then a week of final exams for the semester. I have said it countless times, but I really can't believe how quickly the semester is flying by. Hard to believe that shortly after having a week off I will have 3 weeks off for Christmas vacation. I am not complaining though. :D

Here is a link to more information about the Interop conference:

http://www.interop.com/newyork/conference/overview.php

POST #100!!! - Also Week #9

:D THIS IS POST #100!!!! :D

Last Tuesday was the annual October Fiesta at Vermont Tech. I was paid to be a photographer for the event. It was nice to go around and take a bunch of pictures, and know that I was getting paid to do what I would have been doing anyway. I ended up taking 214 pictures in a 3-hour period, and I am getting paid $100 for it. That means that I made roughly $33/hr, or about 50 cents for each picture I took. October Fiesta was a lot of fun. There was a live circus act performed by two well-known entertainers, and there were several games and activities taking place sponsored by the school and student clubs.

I talked to one of the circus people before his act started, and I thought I recognized him, but I wasn't sure. Not too long after that I saw him teaching some students how to juggle, and that is when the bells went off. I realized immediately that this guy (pictured above) was Troy, and he runs Circus Smirkus, a travelling circus that teaches young kids how to do circus acts. I remembered him, and even more-so the way he taught, from Vershire Elementary School as far back as second grade! It was cool being able to see him again because I suddenly remembered all the different things that my friends and I did during Circus Smirkus at my elementary school. The school made it an annual thing for Circus Smirkus to teach us how to do circus acts, and it was always Troy that would show up. He told me during October Fiesta that he always loved going to Vershire Elementary School. and that he remembered me a bit also. He said, "Wow! Now you are making me feel old! As weird as it may sound, I probably have pictures of you guys somewhere." It was cool seeing him again. I remember a lot of things from Vershire Elementary School, but a lot of the cool people that ran the place kinda disappeared over the years, so it is nice when I meet up with them again.

Last week I also had an exam in my Technical Math class. I didn't actually know for sure that I had this exam until Wednesday, so it kinda caught me by surprise. Even though I basically had two days for a notice I actually ended up kicking ass on this exam. I find out what my grade on it is tomorrow. I hope that I got something at least within the 80s range. :D

This week is week #9. There are 15 weeks total in the semester, and it is hard to believe that half of the school year is almost over already. College definitely moves a hell of a lot faster than high school does. How quickly things flow in college can be a good thing AND a bad thing. Sometimes you simply want time to stop, and then you can have time to do everything you need to do, and also everything you want to do. On the flip-side, it is nice occasionally when things seem to fly right by. If it is simply a few weeks before a vacation-- let it get here, but if it is two hours before a paper is due, and you just barely realize that you are missing something important-- then time just needs to slow the hell down. :P

Well, I think that is all I got for now. I have been quite busy recently. I have two lab reports to type up tonight for Physics tomorrow, some math homework to do, and I will also be jamming out in the student Music Club later on tonight. :D

Week 7 - Vacation Next Week!

I am relieved to know that all of next week I have vacation time. Wednesday is just about over, and tomorrow and Friday are going to be easy days. I had two exams earlier today. My first exam was for Newton Mechanics (Physics), and my second one was for C-Programming. I pretty much beat the crap out of both of my exams to the point that they were begging for mercy. I should be getting the results from my last math exam tomorrow. I am hoping that I didn't do too bad on it, but if I did then it simply means that I will have to up my game.

I meant to post something earlier in the week, but I have been extremely busy this week. I ended up moving out of Old Dorm 201, and now I am rooming with a friend of mine in the same building, but on the opposite end. In my old room I was lucky if I got even the tiniest bit of WiFi, but in this new room I get the best signal I can possibly get. It is a 1 gb/s wireless-n connection.

I just barely got out of History of Rock & Roll. I was actually bored out of my mind because we started to explore Doo-Wop music tonight. I am not really into that kind of music, so it made the class drag on more than usual.

All in all I am having a great week. It was stressful for a couple of days, but the rest of this week will be extremely easy, and then I have a well-needed whole week off to be lazy for a while. I am thinking that I might visit my high-school at some point and hang out with my old band teacher. I also think it is cool to talk to my old teachers and let them know what I am doing in college. A lot of people who are actually local to Vermont Tech end up passing it off because they assume that a school so close to home can't be worth going to, but in reality this school provides a very competitive education... trust me... they work the hell out of their students! It is totally worth it, so it is good to show my old teachers just how quickly I am learning the vast amounts of information that the college throws at me. :D

That is all I got for now. I may or may not be posting over vacation. It depends on how lazy I am feeling... :P

Trip to Burlington

Burlington, VT

Wow! I cannot describe how crazy things are this year compared to last year. I am not even in the middle of my sixth week, but I have already had three exams. I also have a Technical Math exam this Friday, and a C Programming Exam next Wednesday. I am looking forward to vacation more than most people can understand. I have the rest of this week and all of next week, but then I have a whole week off for vacation time. To say it is well needed would be an understatement.

The amount of work I am given this year, including the new challenges, far outweighs the work from my first year. Computer Engineering Technology is believed to be the toughest major at Vermont Tech. It is so challenging that it apparently has a 57% failure rate. This means that 57% of those that originally entered my major didn't survive to see graduation. Of course, this includes all possibilities. People change majors, people have financial trouble that goes with any college, people get into bad habits (or get worse), and countless other things that go beyond the academic side of things. What does this tell me exactly? It tells me that I am going to have to work my ass off. I know this is what I want, and I want it enough to where I am confident that I will graduate with a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Engineering Technology and be part of that remaining 43%. :D

This year it seems like the stress, in part, comes from me developing my time management skills. My schedule is a bit different than last year. Last year I could hold off doing homework during the night, and this would be because I had time before my classes the following day to do the work. This year I am left to do my homework during the night, or immediately after class. College isn't simply about studying your given major. It is also about studying yourself. I am still in the process of discovering which study habits work best for me, but I just hope that I am not taking too long to do so.

I need to keep myself on track. I have some minor things that I feel like I need to get sorted out soon. I need to start using my binders now that my notes and handouts are piling up. I need to start sorting through my notes, rewriting them, and combining multiple pages of notes into single pages of ultra-useful notes. This process is something they preach during freshman orientation, and while it seemed like 'such a drag' having to listen to it at that time... I can tell that it is actually great advice.

For the most part I have been doing an amazing job with getting my work done correctly and turned in on time. The thing that I am starting to see now, although small, is the snowball effect starting. All college students know how dangerous the snowball effect is. You get a single late assignment, a single missed assignment, or a single class missed... it all builds up. At this stage I have nothing to worry about. I just need to do extra math problems every now and then. I am good with stopping the snowball effect in its tracks, and long before it gets out of hand.

Anyway, the picture above is a picture of me in Burlington, VT. The college sponsored a trip to Burlington this past Sunday, and I was quick to take advantage of it. I got to hang out with some friends of mine, and even a friend who I don't get to see too often. My friend goes to Champlain College for Electronic Game Development, and he gave me a tour of the place on Sunday. It is a pretty cool college. All of the buildings have extremely modern/fancy architectural designs, and the whole campus seems to be connected by stone walkways and buildings.

That is all I have right now. It is getting late... or early, so I should go to bed. I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow, but at least it marks the end of the beginning of the week. ;)

Week 5 Almost Over :P

Week five is almost over! I say it all the time, but the weeks definitely go by faster when you are in college. This year seems to be moving even faster than last year did. I am pretty sure it is because I am given more work to do.

Anyway, tomorrow I will be taking a quiz in Newton Mechanics (Physics). I found out earlier in the week that I am averaging somewhere around 85% for my current grade in that class. This is GREAT news. This means that if I keep this up throughout the semester, but also push a little bit harder, then I should be able to hit the 90 mark. Doing so will mean that I won't have to take the final exam for Physics. :D

The same kind of thing applies to my math course, but the chances of me getting the 85 that is needed for final exam exemption is a longshot. It would be nice... in fact, it would be absolutely amazing to not have to take a math final, but I know that I will have to.

I am going home for the weekend after my math class gets out tomorrow. My math class ends at 1:50 p.m., and I hope to head out shortly after that. I have already been home a couple of times this week because I had an old friend of mine spend the night at the college so that he could get a feel for what college courses are like. We have gone to school together from kindergarten to ninth grade, and that is when he dropped out of highschool to get his GED. Now I am gonna try and help him get into Vermont Tech. He hopes to be part of the Information Technology major because not only does it interest him, but it is a very light math load compared to the other majors. I am in the 5-year program (to make my first couple of years easier), but I have to take a total of ten different math courses while I am here. Information Technology only requires somewhere around three or four math courses total! My major also deals with the toughest math course offered at the college. It is a course so innocently named 'Applied Math,' but in reality it is like the Sirens from the Greek tales of Homer.

I have been spending plenty of time hanging out with friends this year. It is crazy how much stuff I have already learned this school year including a few things that I even learned about myself. This past week alone I have discovered that I *might* actually be a decent singer, and there is even a certain girl at the college that I *might* be interested in. ;)

Week 5 - Activating "College Mode" =D

Main Walkway Down to Green & Admin.

It is hard to believe, but it is already my 5th week as a college sophomore. It is easy to see that the coursework here has become more challenging, but I love how quickly I am learning topics that are completely new to me. I have a physics course which has trained me to look at math problems in a more effective way.

I used to stare blankly at word problems in math because I did a crappy job with collecting information used to solve the problems. With physics though the problems are related to the real world. They are so easy to visualize that they have trained me to look at word problems in a different way. I can picture a soccer ball being launched at 12.3 m/s at an angle of 50° off of a cliff 20m in height. I can use common sense to assume that the acceleration of gravity, 9.8m/s², is a factor with how quickly the ball will accelerate during free-fall.

I am also enjoying my C Programming class. Before this course I had absolutely no experience with the Unix operation system, but now I use it once a week at the very least. We write, compile, debug, and copy our programs and files directly from the Unix server. It is pretty cool. The operating system is simple, it is only text-based, but it definitely is quite powerful. Pretty much every operating system out there is based in some way or another on Unix.

My classes are definitely going well so far. I definitely am given a bunch of work, it can seem like too much occasionally, but I am clearly getting what my family and I are paying for. The education here at Vermont Tech works quite well. With what I have already learned here I almost wish I could go back in time with what I now know and do highschool all over again. I guarantee I would easily be able to graduate with a 4.0 GPA, or at least something close to that.

I had an exam in Newton Mechanics (Physics) last Wednesday. I received a grade somewhere in the 80s range on that exam. I also had a Technical Math exam last Friday, but I don't find out how well I did on that until tomorrow's math class. I am hoping that my grade turns out even better than I think it will, but it is a math course, so it is hard to say. Chances are I will find that I didn't do as well as I thought I did based on the fact that exams are usually quite picky. You have to write everything in a special way, and if you break form at all then you get points docked off. You will still get points docked regardless of whether or not you got the correct answer. It gets frustrating sometimes, but I understand that most of the majors here are for people entering fields where they simply won't be allowed to make mistakes. I am in the Computer Engineering Major. It is hard to say, due to all the things my major covers, what I will be doing after graduation. If I make a single mistake with my work in the future then it is completely possible that a piece of equipment could be completely ruined, a person could be placed in harms way, or my employer could lose thousands of dollars due to the time needed to fix one of my simple mistakes. If you are an engineer... if you are a doctor... you CANNOT make mistakes. :P

I decided to go on a little bit of a rant for this post. I know that originally I said that I would try to post twice last week, but failed at doing even a single post. It was due to my exams, but it paid off. Anyway, on Wednesday I will have a guest on campus. I have an old friend of mine staying on campus tomorrow night so that he can see what my college courses are like on Wednesday. My schedule on Wednesday includes: Newton Mechanics, C Programming, Technical Math, and History of Rock & Roll. It should be good. :P

P.S: I forgot to mention that I am in "College Mode" now. It is a term I am using to describe the fact that I am just now getting back into my true college work habits. Getting work out of the way early, taking better notes in my classes, and even managing my time well enough to still hang out with my friends to do things like bowling ever Thursday night. :D

P.P.S: I chose the picture above because the walkway on campus is actually being completely replaced this year. It is looking pretty good, but the walkway in this picture is one of the last pictures taken of the original walkway. I will try to get a similar picture at some point during the week to show how it has changed.

Saw Kid Rock in Concert! :D

A Picture I Took of Kid Rock

My 3rd week is coming to an end. It has been a pretty good week though. Last weekend my family and I got to see Kid Rock live in concert at the Champlain Valley Fairgrounds in Essex, VT. It was an AMAZING concert because we were able to stand right up by the stage. There were so many fireworks that went off on stage, huge flames shooting up during brain-melting guitar solos, and so many flashing lights. It was a BADASS concert, and I was happy to get as many close-up shots as I did. They would have been better in quality, but the super-fast changes in lighting affected my camera's ability to adjust to what was going on. It was awesome when he told all the "ladies in the audience" to yell "KID! KID!" whenever he rose his left arm, and he told all the "dogs in the audience" to yell "ROCK! ROCK!" whenever he rose his right arm. This worked perfectly because he was able to get a loud chant of "KID! KID! ROCK! ROCK!" It was pretty cool. :D

Last night I, along with 10 other people, went to see the movie "9" on 09/09/09 at the Palace 9 theater at 9pm! It was a pretty good movie. It is an animated movie about the apocalypse, and life after human life on Earth. Tonight some friends and I are supposed to be going bowling like we did last Thursday. Thursday is also the night that I walk up to the Morey Hall and play guitar in the basement of the building with some kickass musicians. This year has started off quite strong, and I am loving it! :D

I guess that is all I got to write now. I will try to post at least twice next week. :P

P.S: I am getting paid to be a photographer! I will post more details as they come up. :D

Bowling Last Night - End of Week 2

Last night I went to the Music Club for the first time this year. I played guitar with a small group of great musicians from about 6pm to 8:30pm. It was a lot of fun because the music was an awesome mixture of blues and classic rock, and those happen to be my two favorite genres.

Shortly after leaving the Music Club a few of my friends and I went down to the Valley Bowl, the local bowling alley, and played three fun games of bowling. Vermont Tech. students are given a discount when they go there, so it was only $4 to play three games of bowling. It was a whole load of fun, and I am under the impression that my friends and I want to make it a weekly thing. I actually consumed about 2 litres of Pepsi within this short period of time, so I was quite hyper for the whole night. I ended up making several gutter shots, but out of everyone I was also the one who shot the most strikes. The first game I came in third out of five people, and the second game I came in second. The third game we ended up quitting towards the end because it was already after 11pm at that time. Overall it was a fun night, and it keeps what has been a great school year going strong.

So, it is the end of week two now! That means that I have thirteen more weeks left of this semester, and that tells me that I might need to increase the storage space within my skull... My brain might be expanding in size, yet limited by the space available... clearly I am joking, but it sure as hell feels that way sometimes! :D

First Week Over, Second Week Begins!

My first week of classes for my second year at Vermont Tech. went quite well. I can tell that my courses are more challenging this year compared to last year, but I am learning more at a faster rate so I am not complaining. I found out towards the end of last week that I might have a partial exemption from my Presentation Graphics course since I already have about 20 different certifications in what the class focuses on. My professor said that I will likely be able to skip class the next 5-6 weeks without penalty because it is all too simple for me.

You can see in this picture that I decided to move my side of my dorm room around a bit. I like this way a lot more, but my roommate and I are also going to be turning our beds into bunkbeds, and that should give both of us even more space. I can honestly say right now that I much prefer Old Dorm to Keenan. Old Dorm may be further from the dining hall, but it is noticeably closer to the buildings where classes usually take place.

Today I had my first quiz in my Newton Mechanics class (Physics). I am confident that I did well on it because the answers seemed to jump right out at me. This Friday I have my first 1-hour exam in Technical Math, and it will cover everything that we have gone over in the class up to this point. We are expected to have seven 1-hour exams in the class, but only six of them are going to count for the final grade. There will also be the normal final at the end of the semester to top it all off. This year I am actually not too worried about math. I am doing well with staying right on top of it. Right now it seems like my Physics course is my toughest one. I won't list reasons beyond the course material being challenging though. There are other reasons there, but I would rather not list them on here.

Well, hopefully I get around to updating the blog at least once more this week. It is a good practice. I find that it helps me stay focused on my work because it makes it easier to keep track of what I need to do, and what events are taking place... which reminds me! There is a big-wheel race going on tonight. Maybe I will take pictures and post them later. :D

Back @ Vermont Tech! :D

Old Dorm 201

I am back at Vermont Tech. for my sophomore year! I am starting my second year of college, and I am enjoying my new dorm room. I am in Old Dorm 201 this year. In Old Dorm you can actually move your furniture around, and the rooms are a little bit bigger. It is nice to have more freedom in the dorm room, but it is even nicer to be closer to the buildings where I will be taking most of my classes. It will be a further walk to the dining hall now, and the snack bar, but overall Old Dorm is more convenient. I also have the majority of my college friends living in the same building, so that makes it easier for us to all hang out. :D

I am looking forward to my first classes tomorrow. I have a pretty easy first day. I have Intro. to Newton Mechanics at 9am, and then C Programming at 10am. I then get a couple hours off before heading to Technical Math at 1pm. I know that the work this semester is going to be harder than last year's work, but it should also get to be more and more interesting as I progress through the years.

I am not sure of what I want to do right now on campus... should I go find some of my friends who have already moved in? should I check out the dining hall and see who is there? or should I relax and enjoy the comfort of my dorm room? :D

18 Days Left of Vacation...

HELLO! I know that I failed to update my blog as much as I said I would over the summer, but I got kinda carried away with other things that were going on, so I never really got around to it. Oops!

Anyway, my summer has been going great! Last weekend I had a college party at my house and it turned out to be very succesful! I invited all of my college friends, more than half of them made it, but for living so far away it was a great turnout! I REALLY can't wait to go back to school! I have 18 days left of a 4 month summer vacation... :D

For my first semester of my second year of college I will be taking Intro. to Newton Mechanics, C Programming, Presentation Graphics, Technical Math, and Intro. to Rock & Roll. :D

I am actually, really, honestly, going to get back into updating the blog frequently now that the school year is coming up!

Younger Brother Graduated

This past Saturday my younger brother, Chris, graduated from high school. It is pretty cool because he was the last person left in my family to graduate. Our high school is called Rivendell Academy, and even though we live in VT, the high school is located in NH.

Anyway, I am sure that everyone was happy with the length of the graduation. My graduating class last year had 52 graduates, but this year there were only 41. At this year's graduation there were also over $350,000 worth of scholarships given out to students! For a small school in NH, and a school graduating only 41 students, this amount in scholarship cash is quite impressive! :D

We had a huge party at my house after the graduation because it wasn't simply my brother's graduation party, but it was also my dad's birthday party AND my grandfather's birthday party. My dad is now 43, and my grandfather is now 80. Wow... with writing these numbers now I just realized that the age gap between my father and I is only 23 years, but the age gap between my father and my grandfather is a whopping 37. :D It is because my dad grew up in a family of 14 though, and he is one of the youngest in that family.

Well, I think that is all I have for right now. I have been looking for places that are hiring, but I never thought it would be this difficult to find a job over the summer. Nobody seems to be hiring right now, and it sucks because I really want a summer job.

My Fall 2009 Schedule

I am currently on summer vacation, but this is what my schedule will look like when I go back to Vermont Tech. for the fall 2009 term. I am really really really looking forward to it! :D

Yay! I Finally Got my License! (About damn time!)

Our Backyard - Pool & Apple Trees

I had my driving test on May 26th, and I managed to pass the test without a problem! I FINALLY got my license! I should have actually had it about 3-4 years ago, but a surgery that I had kept me from getting it for a few years. In the picture above you can also see my vehicle. It is the silver 2002 Hyundai Santa Fe, and it should be all registered and ready to drive legally on Wednesday. :D

I applied for a job at Staples in West Lebanon yesterday, and I might apply for a job at Best Buy later today. Now that I have a year of college under my belt, and good grades, it should be relatively easy to get a job at one of these places. Best Buy would be paying me $8.50 an hour, but Staples would be paying me $9.50 an hour. I actually have more interest in Best Buy as a store, but if Staples is going to be paying me more, for pretty much the same work, than I would much rather work there.

Also, I mean to update this blog at least once a week, but I have been relatively busy the past few weeks making sure that I was prepared for my driving test, and getting everything in order for job applications. As mentioned above, I have applied for Staples and plan on applying to Best Buy, but I very well might apply to one or two other places to make sure that I can get a job over the summer. I plan on taking at least half of the money that I make over the summer and sending it directly to my college loans, and that should still leave me with plenty of money to spend on whatever I want AND of course necessary things like gas for my vehicle etc...

The picture above is one of about 60 that I took of our backyard. I will likely be using a couple of these photos over the summer to post on my blog. I think that this is really all I have to post for now, but I should be getting calls for interviews soon, so I will be sure to post when I have more information. :D

A Lazy Day at Home

It feels weird to be suddenly taken away from the busy life. It is nice having nothing to do sometimes, but I also can't help but feel like I could be a bit more productive. I have gone through my first year of college, and it was a busy year. Now that I am home it feels like I have nothing to do. I plan on updating my resume later today, and then possibly applying to Best Buy over the internet.

Because of a couple of surgeries I had a while back I wasn't able to get my license when I should have. I have been going far too long without having a license, so I am relieved to FINALLY have a driving test scheduled for May 26th. I should be able to pass it without a problem because I think that I am actually a pretty good driver. Not having my license already is what is holding me back right now. It really sucks because I wanted to get out and start working immediately, but I don't have the transportation yet. I already have my own vehicle though. It is a silver 2002 Hyundai Santa Fe. When I apply to different places over the next week or so I need to make sure that I let them know that I won't have proper transportation until May 26th. It is good to be honest on applications, and this would avoid having them set up an interview time that wouldn't work for me.

Well that is all I got for now. I am going to try to keep this blog going throughout the summer months to make sure that it stays strong. :D

Yay! My First Year of College is Complete!

GRAND FINALE!!!

I meant to update this on Wednesday because that was officially my last day for this school year, but I had a hard time uploading the video above. I had a GREAT first year at Vermont Tech! I am glad that I chose a school that pushes students to be all that they can be. It seems like yesterday that I was moving into the college, and now I am already on my 2nd day of summer vacation. It is CRAZY how fast time flies by when you are constantly kept busy. I know that this first year was the easiest of them all. I know that next year I will be, yet again, faced with new challenges to overcome.... and I am REALLY looking forward to it.

My last few days at Vermont Tech (for my first year) were extremely stressful because of having to simultaneously pack my stuff to go home AND study for my final exams. I only had three final exams, but two of them I spent a lot of my time preparing for as I watched the clock quickly tick its way down. I am happy to have completed my first year of college because it gives me great amounts of pride knowing that I am first generation college student and have already made it this far. I know that I will miss my college friends over this long four month vacation, but I also feel like this 'extended' vacation is well needed.

My first year of college. It was definitely a time that I will never forget. I have met a large group of amazing and unique people who have made me laugh countless times. People who are true to who they are, and people that share the same passion for both music and technology that I do. I got to see Lowell Sanders and Rusty Dewees, two extremely funny stand-up comedians, a famous sword swallower who has been on Ripley's Believe it or Not!, a French comedian/juggler, and even two live bands that did an AMAZING job of ROCKing out at Vermont Tech.

I also got to go to an Eve 6 concert with three of my college friends. It was my first concert, and the band playing is the same famous band that does the song I marched out to (Here's to the Night) at my high school graduation. Not only did I get to see this band, but I got to be smashed up against the stage during their whole performance. I even had several close calls with being hit by the lead guitarist's guitar because of how close I was.

It was a great year. It was stressful, but I have learned that my dreams truly are a possibility. I have learned so much during this first year. I have built a robotic car that can detect collision and turn itself around, and even a small amplifier that can channel a signal from a microphone through a piece of fiber-optic wire and out to a speaker. I have experienced a new level of education. I am more proud now than I have ever been, but I know that this is simply the beginning. I look forward to the day when I receive my Bachelor's Degree in Computer Engineering Technology from Vermont Tech. It will be the proudest day of my life.

The video above is the grand finale of the end-of-the-year fireworks display on Tuesday night at Vermont Tech. I managed to pick my camera up at the PERFECT time to catch the whole grand finale. The screaming you hear throughout the video belongs to countless students on campus (that are nowhere near my camera by the way) who are extremely proud to be where they are. I share the same feeling. :-)