Mom's Present

From my last post, the world now knows that Wednesday was my mom's birthday. My dad and I decided on a joint present, at least in a way. He had the idea and bought the present, and for my part, I baked my mom's cake and offered to set the present up.

I started grinning like mad when the majestic stainless steel and glossy white robotic stork gently set the box wrapped in silk on the doorstep very friendly UPS delivery woman appeared at the door and had me sign for the cardboard box she said was from Apple. That's right—it's a brand new computer; the white MacBook, to be exact.

So, today I will be setting it up. My mom must have thought I was crazy when I called her today at work and asked to make absolutely sure she didn't mind missing the initial setup, her new computer's first startup and first time connecting to the internet, etc. But I already knew I was crazy, so that's ok. She said she doesn't mind.

Mom, I hope you enjoy your new MacBook. You are an amazingly patient person, especially if you can stand the constant appearance of the spinning beach ball on your iBook G3. But hopefully that won't be a problem anymore, or at least not until your '09 MacBook can be considered "vintage."

I love you, Mom! Happy Birthday!

Thanks for Asking...

Yeah, yeah.  I'll get back to my breakfast and homework in just a second.  But this just made me laugh, even though I know it was sent out in all seriousness and that a lot of guys would be interested.  (Please keep in mind that I am a woman.)

My email inbox, as of a minute ago:  "Would you like to become a part of [the] only all male engineering fraternity on the Virginia Tech campus?"


Um. 


No thanks.  


(Disclaimer:  There is a Greek women in engineering organization here.  But I have enough on my plate.)


EDIT:  I just got some emails mentioning said women's engineering sorority, just to be fair.  They too went to the entire listserv.  

=D

Merry Late Christmas, everyone! I always miss holiday posts or manage to post something silly, don't I? Of course, I'm sure you read about my mom's and my extremely exciting Christmas Day here (and if you didn't, you should, hint hint). My mom gives me waaaaaay too much credit. I'm just glad I could help and that we made it to Texas safely.

We finally got around to opening presents on the 26th, since my mom and I were too exhausted from flying. It was fun, as opening presents always is. I also got to show my grandparents the tablet Virginia Tech's Engineering department requires me to use. It is a laptop computer, but one can write on the screen using a special stylus. To make that easier, the display of the laptop turns around and flips down so one can use it as a clipboard or make writing while at a desk easier.

After I showed them my tablet and told them about the amazing opportunities they had, my granddad left for a moment. Us girls kept talking, and my mom told me to pull up RoMeLa's website so I could show them what I was getting involved with. Just as I was returning from the computer room, my granddad was back, carrying a long rectangular leather case. Since my mom had mentioned that my granddad was planning to show me his slide rules at some point, I had an idea of what was in that case. My face lit up, and he showed me a little of how to work it. He unfortunately can't remember all of it, but he's worked hard. He deserves a break.

So, while everyone was watching the news that night, I dug around on the interwebs to learn how to use my newly-inherited Pickett N4-ES. It was apparently the TI-89 of slide rules back in his day (for those not familiar with Texas Instruments' lineup, it's a crazy-awesome calculator that can do a lot of stuff). I'm still learning how to use the N4-ES, but I plan to keep going. I can multiply, divide, and do exponents now. I still plan to use my TI-89 for my math classes, especially since I think my professors would not appreciate me using a non-calculator during tests, but I am still just blown away that I get to now learn how to use a slide rule. Especially one I inherited from an engineer I admire very much. Thank you so much, Granddad! I love it!

Yay!

Today was a really good day.  My roommate for next academic year and I just signed a pre-lease on a nice apartment that is really close to campus.  (Yeah, in Blacksburg, if you need an apartment for school, you gotta sign early.  There's a little bit of a housing crunch, and while there are some spots for second-, third-, and fourth-years in the residence halls, there's not much.  Housing isn't guaranteed after your freshman year, so many just move off their second year.  Every upperclassman I have talked to said that if you don't sign early, you have to hope the housing lottery is in your favor, or else you might end up in a not-so-desirable apartment.)  Anyway, I'm very happy about that.

Annnnnd... I just took my last exam!  I'm done for the semester!

I'm also required to leave 24 hours after my last exam, so I'd better finish packing.  So... Northern VA, see you soon.

...?

Ok, so those of you puzzling at my last three posts may wonder whether my blog got eaten by the dreaded Question Mark Monster or something.  Nope.  And as much as I would like to say a cute kitty decided to go to sleep on my keyboard, I don't have one.  The probable culprit:  I tried to blog from my phone earlier about the flurries and my flu shot.  (By the way:  We had a few flurries today, though not enough to actually show up on the ground.  And I got my flu shot.)  Why that posted three posts full of question marks and random letters, I don't know.  Though  I did get confirmation texts from Blogger on my phone saying that all three of my posts posted successfully...  Maybe instead of me getting the flu, my blog posts did?  

Anyway.  I can't decide whether I should delete them or leave them for the hilarity factor.  If you have an opinion one way or the other, please share.  In the meantime, I'm going to go hide from the dreaded Question Mark Monster.

I never thought I'd be so happy to hear that a Windows computer was working again!

My tablet should be ready to be picked up!  I could have picked it up today if I had gotten the voicemail before the bookstore closed (oops; I had my phone on silent) but I can get it tomorrow at 9AM!  Finally!

=D

Dorm Cookin'

So.  I bought some 75% organic Macaroni and Cheese (individual serving packets) on Thursday, and I finally decided to try one.  After buying a little tupperware-ish bowl from the general store, I set to making the pasta part of the M&C.  I used the measuring cup my mom so graciously lent me to take to college to make the pasta.

But, the microwave, so enthusiastic to actually help make a meal, was extra hot.  After about a minute, I had to stop the thing because the water nearly boiled over (glad I was watching it!)(And so, yes, watched water can boil.).  I took it out, stirred the al crunchy pasta, and put it back in to try again.  About ten seconds later I had to stop it, as it was boiling over again.  But the pasta wasn't done yet.

So, the next five minutes or so were spent stopping the microwave, stirring the pasta, and starting it again, stopping just before the white foam reached the top of the measuring cup.  I hope I didn't drive my neighbors nuts.  But eventually, the pasta was al dente the way it was supposed to be, and I could stop babysitting the microwave and actually add the cheese part of Mac&Cheese.

That is probably the brightest yellow cheese sauce I have ever seen.  It was pretty good taste-wise, but it looked almost radioactively yellow.  I suspect the dorm room lights; the cheese powder looked perfectly normal to me.  Or maybe they went a little food coloring-happy.  (Maybe that was the 25% non-organic part.)

But all in all, a successful food venture.  Except for the one poor noodle that landed on the floor and ended up in the trash.  Poor little guy.

So tune in next time on Dorm Cookin' for more adventures with Laura and her roommate's microwave.  Fun for the whole hall!

Cookies, Hair, and Bruce's Fossa

Today wasn't exactly a norm day.  Even though I usually only have one Friday class (and it gets cancelled every Friday on which we have a take-home quiz, like last Friday), today was different.  Maybe it just felt that way because we were dedicatedly getting classes off, and a large percentage of the campus population was elsewhere.  A friend of mine and I spent the day together.  We went to Crumb and Get It (see last post), which was amazing, even though we didn't do custom cookies.  We split a chocolate-chocolate chip cookie (chocolate dough and chips) and a chocolate-Andes cookie (chocolate dough with Andes mints), which were delicious.  She then showed me the public library, which was pretty cool, and then we did some homework, ate at Hokie Grill, and hung out for a couple hours.  And now I'm back at my dorm room.

Researching hair styles.

I don't know what I want to do with my hair, exactly.  And I have until November to decide, but it's still bugging me.  I want it significantly shorter, that's for sure.  Mid-neck length or so.  Long hair is a hassle, especially since I don't always blow dry my hair.  And even when I do, it frizzes and the front parts start doing their crazy little curvey-wavy thing.  So I guess I should look for a messy hair style.  Or should I get a perm?  How do those work?  And how long do they last?  I'm sick of my hair looking good for only a couple hours at a time…

On a completely unrelated note, I just discovered the name (and the function) of that weird little dip right under your nose and above your lips:  the philtrum, infranasal depression, or Bruce's Fossa.  I've always wondered.  Apparently it allows the lips to make a wider range of expressions than would otherwise be physically possible.  Which is pretty cool.  God thinks of everything, doesn't He?

Fall Break!

Today is the official start of Fall Break (aka we get today and today only off of school).  A lot of people on my hall went home, and while that would have been nice, I felt that driving ten hours round trip would take too much of a giant chunk out of the weekend for me to really be able to enjoy the weekend at home.  I want to be able to go home, shop, hang out with my parents, hang out with friends, play with Radar, sleep in my own bed, get a haircut… and one weekend wouldn't cut it, or at least not this time.  I'm waiting until Thanksgiving, since Virginia Tech is nice enough to give us a week off plus weekends.  Plus, I'll get to see my awesome parents on Parents Weekend, for which I am very excited.  So I'm saving gas and staying here right now.

By the way, to all of you fashion-conscious people:  I want my hair cut short, but I'm not sure what I want done with it.  If you have any suggestions (shorter than shoulder length), please tell me.  I want it short, easy to maintain, and cute, but I'm not sure what I can get away with with my crazy hair.  (humidity = frizz)

Well, I'm probably going to go try out Crumb and Get It pretty soon.  It's like Coldstone ice cream, but with cookies.  Very excited.  I've decided to try out the local off-campus cuisine this weekend.  So… I should go do that.  Yeah.

In the meantime, does anyone want to make any guesses as to how many fire drills I will have this month?  No prizes if you guess right, but the knowledge that you won, of course, is always a terriffic prize.  I'm guessing five.

My tablet is insane, part 2

So.  Since my tablet refuses to boot properly, I probably won't see it until Thursday, and it will probably be wiped and I'll get to spend next Friday refilling it with programs.  Oh fun.  I get to borrow someone else's computer (or something… I dunno) to do my (OneNote format exclusive) Engineering homework, which is LAME.  Why isn't there something for Windows that allows you to boot off a disk, dig around in the hard drive (because sometimes it's possible to save a computer without wiping it clean, even if you can't start off the drive!  I think I've done it before on my Macs!), save important stuff, and then reinstall the system?  For Macs, all you need are the system install discs.  They do all of that, and sometimes you don't even need to reinstall the system.  Much less wipe the hard drive.

Argh.  I have to admit that Windows, when it works, is bearable to use.  It has useful software that won't run on my (ancient) Mac.  But it is certainly hard to perform diagnostics on something that won't start up off the nonexistent system install disk and is not user friendly when broken.

I miss being able to use my Mac for everything.  (And no, don't say that it's nice that now I get to use my Mac for everything.  Half the software I need does not come on a Mac, especially not one as old and as non-Intel as mine.)

Sorry if I sound non-professional here, and I'm sorry if I'm offending your favorite computer platform or something.  I'm just frustrated and would rather rant in text than scream, punch a pillow, etc.

My tablet is INSANE!

So.  I am writing this from my Mac (which I love) instead of from my school tablet (which, up until a few hours ago, hasn't been too bad) because… well, you know how the definition of insanity is that you do something over and over and over again just the same way, yet you expect different results?  Yeah.  My tablet is trying to start up.  Over.  And over. And over.  I've changed what settings I can without actually being able to get to the operating system, yet it still hangs at one particular point in startup.  If I try to boot from a CD, it is either a CD that will wipe my hard drive (BAD, since I have taken some important notes since I last backed up my computer) or… it is a CD  that tries to start me up in a version of Knoppix.  A very limited text-only version of Knoppix, I might add.  Open source OS's are cool, but not when I don't know how to use them, and the commands I find for them online don't actually work, or at least not with the version on the CD.

Might I mention that I am spoiled, since my Mac rarely acts up, and if it does, I have the system install CDs which WON'T try to wipe the hard drive and will let me start it up and try to get stuff off the drive before wiping it?  I wish such  things existed for Windoze.  I am sick of being frustrated.  Some things just make sense.

Right after I finish my Vector Geometry test tomorrow, I am so going to one of the Computer help people.  Argh.

Bis Donnerstag Abend!

Well, if you were a freshman Engineering student on the VT campus this week, you'd be a bit nervous.

The first big Engineering test is Thursday night.  So I'll be a bit sparse(r) until then.

So I leave you with some funny stuff I found yesterday and today: (Sorry the pictures are tiny.  If you click on them, they might open slightly larger.  Maybe Thursday after the test I'll be able to figure out how to make them readable... sorry!)

I find it funny that the only non-colloquial word that means “cheesy” has to specify that it actually means “like cheese.”  Which is a funny phrase anyway.  “How does it taste?” “Like cheese!”  Lol lol lol.  I kill me. (This is from my favorite German-English dictionary, by the way.  http://dict.leo.org )

Thank you for telling me you can’t get on the wireless, Windows.  I appreciate the notification.  But it isn’t necessary, since I turned the wireless switch OFF since my dorm room doesn’t get wireless.  No wonder!  =)

Okay, I'm done.  Off to do homework and go to SLEEP before I get sick or loopy.  Or both.  

Your Virginia Tech Information Source: Cars and AC!

Well, after a long hiatus, I checked my Google Analytics page again.  And the search results that get people here, other than the "diabetic waffles" one (lol) seem to be on the topics of whether freshmen at Virginia Tech can have cars and whether the dorms are air conditioned.

So, the answers:
Freshmen can have cars.  You have to get a parking permit, and you can only park in Lane Stadium or the Cage (Duck Pond Lot) if you live on campus, and if you park in Lane, you have to move for football games, but you may have a car.  It's pretty useful; even though the bus system here is pretty good, it's nice to not have to depend on it.  So you can spend as many hours in Wal-mart as you want.

Are the dorms air conditioned?  Only a couple, but unfortunately for freshmen they're pretty much upperclassmen dorms.  I think the RLC theme dorm is in one of them, though, and that's available to freshmen.  But for the most part, no.  But you know what?  It isn't a big deal.  There are lots of places to study and work that are air conditioned (including all dining halls, which rocks), and it really isn't that hot here.  It does get pretty warm some days, but right now, on my fourth week, I am perfectly comfortable in my dorm wearing a t-shirt and jeans.  Of course, it's nearly midnight, but even during the day, having a couple fans on makes it comfortable.

Also keep in mind that even an air-conditioned building will seem warm after you walk five minutes to get there and get all sweaty.  At least in this season.  But after a few minutes, you cool off and it's fine.

But to all people who may become freshmen at VT sometime soon:  bring fans.  That's what helps keep it cool, along with keeping the window open.  In some of the dorms, you can even keep the window open when it is raining without any problems; I live in Slusher Wing and have no problem.  If you put a fan in your window, the room stays cooler.

The question in a few weeks:  When do the radiators turn on, and how hot do the rooms get?

Can't help you there.  Yet.

I survived Engineering Expo!

I started freaking out slightly on Monday night.

About Expo.

It's Virginia Tech's big Engineering career fair. I had not really talked to recruiters before, or at least not with motives of, you know, some day earning my own money and having a career. Real Life still scares me, mainly just because it is unknown.

But at least I know how to talk to recruiters now. I talked to four companies, and I have to say that's pretty good for a painfully shy freshman. Several of the recruiters were surprised to see freshmen out on the floor. I was a bit of an extra surprise, since my name tag actually said I was a sophomore. Why? I got 30 hours of AP credit. Not a bad reason, but I'm still a newbie.

I had heard conflicting opinions on how students were supposed to dress. Lots of people said that business casual was the absolute minimum, and if you overdress a bit, you stand out in a good way. Then I heard an older student say that she was more nervous when she overdressed, so she suggested just wear business casual. I opted for the dressier option; these people came many miles to talk to us and possibly hire us. And they are successful enough to come tell us about what they do and get us excited about it. So I wore my two suit jackets from Ann Taylor Loft and some dressy pants. (One jacket per day. I just realized that that looks like I wore two at once. No, that would be standing out in a bad way.)

Pretty much all the recruiters I talked to were really nice. I didn't get to hand out any résumés, but that's okay. There's an Internship and Co-op fair in the spring, which is more what I'll want. Though now I have fifteen copies of my résumé printed on nice résumé paper with the watermark going the right way (to say nothing of the eight or nine I printed with the watermark backwards...).

Well, I have an assignment to do on the experience. I didn't get any interviews or offered any internships, but I got something a lot more valuable: I learned to talk to the people who can get you those things.

I'm guessing I'll be freaking out about Expo a lot less next year...

Zes!

Oh zeah, finished the German. I probablz should take mz kezboard out of German lazout though, since the z and y are switched and the punctuation is funnz. For instance, if I have to tzpe something along the lines of "Iäm feeling hilarious todaz,", I have to remember where the actual apostrophe is. Since the apostrophe kez turns into the ä kez. And semicolons are shift-comma, and that hzphen there was actuallz on the ? kez, and that ? was shift-ß. Which is the American hzphen kez. Ack. Sorrz if this is a bit difficult to read. Bleh. Anzone want to trz pronouncing it?

*pushes shift-alt to get things NORMAL*

Though I do enjoy learning the keyboard, especially since otherwise, I would have to dig around in the Symbols pallete in MSWord to find umlauts and essets. Oh, I miss being able to use Macs for school assignments. All you have to do there is push option-u and whatever you want to have an umlaut, or for the essets, option-s. Easy. Silly Microsoft!

Anyway. I'ma go do more homework. Gobblerfest is tomorrow, and also probably a Walmart trip (before the roads get crazy for THE GAME ON SATURDAY that I have a ticket for! Oh man, if it were gonna be cold on Saturday afternoon, I would totally buy the maroon gloves with little maroon and orange pompoms on each finger. So very cute! But I'm a cheapskate. I'll at least wait until it's cold.

(joking. If I don't use my money sparingly, I will learn firsthand why the stereotype says college students beg their parents for money consistently.)

Week 1 = Over!

Hi!

I survived my first week of college! I did a bit of schedule shuffling this week, too, which was a bit confusing. I may have already mentioned that I used my AP Calculus credit to get out of Calc 1 and 2 and just do Linear Algebra and Vector Geometry at the same time. Neither are reported to be really hard, so I'm not worried. And since I was really bored in German 2105, I switched into German 3105, where they're analyzing films and stuff. I'm still a little nervous about it, since it's a class full of non-freshmen and you actually have to talk about stuff in German pretty much the entire time... even new words are usually defined in German, not English. But I'm excited; this looks like exactly what I needed. And the people in the class are genuinely interested in learning German. Which rocks. The only bad part: I had a week's worth of German 3105 work to make up (still not 100% done) since I missed the first two classes. Oh well.

Anyway, I have to admit I'm a bit freaked out about my meal plan. I have *finds receipt* exactly $390.69 with which to feed myself until December 18th. I guess it will help me not gain the Freshman 8 (The seniors in my church were told that "Freshman 15" is an exaggeration, and that usually freshmen gain only 8 pounds. But still.)(Man, I really should ban the parenthesis keys on my keyboard. I commentate parenthetically waaaay too much. Ending comment... now.) if I have to watch how much I'm eating, but still. I didn't realize how much food cost. And students even get half-price on nearly everything in the dining halls, unless the cashier forgets to press the "student with meal plan" button. Which has thankfully only happened to me once. Well, I guess I now know why college students can be won over by free food!

Ooh, I should mention my favorite food place. First of all, I like coffee and baked goods. It turns out that there is a coffee shop, similar to Starbucks (but it serves ice cream as well) that uses Dining Dollars. And the prices are *gasp* reasonable! It's also a great atmosphere; I did much of my Deutsch homework there this afternoon, and while I was there, there were people playing chess, having what looked like a first meeting for a small club that was just starting up, having coffee with a professor, and some people I'm pretty sure I saw at nlcf this morning discussing the Bible. It's great. <3

And I'm not just doing academics either. I'm already in InterVarsity and Cru small groups (I'll try both organizations this semester, and if I feel like God wants me to drop one, I will) that have their first meetings this week, and I can actually remember the names of the leaders! They have had a lot of mixers, and I've tried to go to pretty much everything. ("Tried" meaning that when I got lost going to the large IV group meeting on Friday because I accidentally ended up on the exact opposite side of campus, I actually tried to find the building for about an hour before giving up. And yes, it was an accident. I keep accidentally mixing up the academic and residential sides of campus on the map...) And I'm probably going to try to get involved in the Society of Women Engineers and maybe even the Society of Women in Computing. And hopefully a design team of some sort. Ooh, and there's a group that meets at a certain restaurant on Thursday nights and has dinner conversations in German. =) There's so much here.

Not everything is amazing, sadly. It doesn't look good for me getting private violin lessons right now, since people who are either music majors or in the symphony get top priority (and I am neither) and there are a lot of those people. But that's okay. I can always just work at my own pace. I still think the director was a bit miffed that I didn't bring my "good" instrument (I really don't think dorm rooms are secure enough to keep one's expensive instrument from being stolen. And bothering insurance companies isn't my idea of fun.) Oh well. Oh, and I heard that the internet security software everyone is supposed to install messes up the brand of computer I got, and mine has seemed a bit slower and more temperamental than it was before I installed the software. Maybe I'll take it to SWAT soon to see what suggestions they have. But it's usable. And it is pretty fun having a tablet. Even a Windows one. (Yeah, I still use my Powerbook for stuff too. Sometimes I'll have both computers up and running for some reason, and I think of this:



EDIT: Oops! At least on my monitor, the last panel is cut off. If you click the comic, you can see all of it on the Dilbert website.

EDIT: My spontaneous change of layout fixed the problem. w00t.)

=)

But I did get a ticket to the first home football game! I'm excited about that. The one we watched on TV yesterday (and by "we" I mean I watched it with Intervarsity) looked like a lot of fun, even though we (narrowly) lost.

Now, to finish the rest of the homework.

*Happy Dance*

Happy extremely belated Halloween! I'll post pictures of what I did later.

This past weekend, I got to visit Virginia Tech again, this time for a special open house/fall review program. There was an option to send in my application with my Open House/Fall Review registration, and if I did so, I would find out on the last day of the open house whether I got into Tech. So I did.

So, technically, the Fall Review part (the send-in-your-application-early part) was for minorities. Those of you who know me personally know I am as caucasian as it gets (not that skin color matters). However, I did a camp a couple of years ago for teenage girls interested in majoring in engineering. In engineering, women of any kind are minorities; I believe the ratio of men to women, on average, is something like five to one. In some fields, there are even fewer women. So technically, in engineering, I am a minority.

Virginia Tech hosted us fairly well (as opposed to our hotel, which kept us waiting for our room for a while)(but thankfully the receptionist was really nice). We had a nice buffet dinner before listening to a speaker or two and a panel of students who answered questions. The next day was the official everyone-can-come open house, and there were info sessions about different majors and the different colleges. Then came lunch.

And then we found out. Each person who had submitted his or her application early was called up individually and given a letter. We were all told to not open our letters until we got home (Dad told me to open it in the car.). After the letters were handed out, we left.

I opened my letter a few minutes after getting into the car. I had been a bit worried about my application; you always realize what you should have done in hindsight.

But I got in anyway. Dad was happy, and I called Mom and told her the news. It feels so good to know I'm already accepted to one school (the one I'll probably end up going to, no less). And this isn't early decision; it is non-binding. I can shop around. There are two or three more schools I want to apply to, but knowing I don't have to apply to a safety school will save some time.

Everytime I start thinking about college and my future career, I get excited. *mental happy dance*

More VT!

Today has been an informative day. I went to the General Engineering information session and learned a lot, such as the general freshman classes and about co-ops and internships. During that presentation, they mentioned that the Electrical and Computer Engineering info session was a 2 o'clock, so my dad and I went to that as well. That info session was much smaller (two parents, two teens, one department person) and a bit more informal, but we got a lot of questions answered. The woman who led that info session confirmed that, yes, Virginia Tech does do study-abroad programs with the Technische Universität Darmstadt (the one I got to visit in Germany). Sweet. And she said that people wanting to intern or co-op are not limited by the internships Virginia Tech students "usually" go to. I could blaze the trail and intern at Apple if I wanted. It would be a great way to find out if I actually want to be an engineer at my favorite computer technology company. I'll explore my options—I'm not only going to research Apple.

I actually took notes this time, so I won't bore everyone out there with every little bit of info I got so I can have a future reference. I found out the reason the Engineering department requires its students to use tablet computers: While taking notes in class, typing in mathmatical formulas or examples; graphing equations; and using Greek and other symbols is a bit tricky. One would have to either go into Paint or Matlab or some other mathematical notation program, quickly input the stuff, and then try to catch up on what the teacher said. But students can write on a tablet and convert the symbols later at a more relaxed pace. Hence, fewer mistakes.

And you can turn in your homework—handwritten on the computer, if you want—online.

I got to play with a tablet in the bookstore, and for a Microsoft/Windows-computer-maker product, it's not bad. The operating system is optimized for the pen and/or the trackpad/mouse, and it can recognize handwriting, etc. I wouldn't be surprised if one could download the teaching powerpoint presentations from Blackboard and then take notes directly on them. I like that!

I hope Apple makes a tablet. Maybe in time for me to go to college.

I forgot to mention this yesterday, and it isn't long. But there was another girl wearing an insulin pump on the tour. She saw mine but didn't say anything. Our tour guide mentioned something (I think the time he passed out while giving a tour (I think he is diabetic too, but I'm not sure)), and her mom mentioned that her daughter had diabetes. I, of course, said "Hey! I do too!"

Just thought it was cool. There wasn't as much of that diabetic-to-diabetic connection as I thought there would be, but we were on a a college tour and moderately distracted.

A few random VT facts:

-A person in their fifth year at VT (such as from their co-op,from missing classes while studying abroad, or from a five-year program like architecture or BSMS (five-year Bachelor's and Master's degree program) ) is called a SuperSenior.
-It is possible to do an internship and a study-abroad trip. The presenter at the General Engineering info session said one of her friends did just that. A co-op might be tricky, but VT is all about making the most out of college (hence the amazing undergrad research opportunities).
-Apparently, VT has more undergrad research opportunities than MIT. I'm starting to think that going to VT for undergrad would be a good idea, and I could go get my Master's at an elite school later.

It's almost time for supper. I should have asked one of the presenters what restaurants are good. Oh well; we'll wing it.

Google/Blogger, please fix your spell checker on Safari. Please.

Notes from Virginia Tech

I'm visiting Virginia Tech right now.

My dad and I are staying in the Best Western in Radford. It's a tiny little town. Virginia Tech and Blacksburg are a lot more interesting, but they're not far (it was just cheaper to get a hotel in Radford.)

So. My mom said I should write down what I'm learning about Tech. She suggested email or a blog entry. I'll just blog it, just in case anyone wants my opinion on Tech. Hey, why not?

Anyway. Blacksburg's streets are a bit confusing, especially since I was the lucky one to drive the almost five hours to get to VT and I was tired. But I'm sure I'd figure it out pretty quickly as a freshman.

I went on a campus tour and to a general information session. I got a few questions answered and learned some interesting tidbits about VT.

First, for everyone's peace of mind and safety, they've put up new safeguards to help prevent a new April 16th. That sort of tragedy could happen anywhere, but knowing that Virginia Tech is devoted to security is comforting.

One of the buildings is named ChemPhys. Er— the Chemical and Physics building. They don't have an awesome name for it because no one has donated $15ish million to that department. Unfortunately, as a probable engineering major, I will more than likely have several classes in there. Poor building.

VT does have air conditioning—in upperclassmen suite dorms, which are assigned by lottery. About 9000 people can live on campus, and about 5000 are freshmen. Some are international students. Freshmen get unairconditioned dorms, but the weather in the mountains is not usually as hot as it is here now. Everyone we have met says that this hot weather is very abnormal for Blacksburg. And when I did CTech^2 at VT last summer (camp for teenage girls interested in Engineering), we survived for two weeks in unairconditioned dorms by running four fans 24/7. It was actually fairly comfortable.

Several VT departments, such as Architecture, Interior Design, and Industrial Design are very competitive because the major size is so small. For one department, 90 people are accepted to fill a total of fourty slots.

Engineering is just competitive in general. VT is an excellent engineering school. The only school I might want to go to more (within a reasonable distance—I don't want to move too far off the East Coast just yet) is MIT. Yes, I know it's in Massachussetts. I would have to take Amtrak up there. And it's cold. I haven't seen the campus yet, though, because I think if I fall in love with MIT and get rejected, I'll be incredibly depressed. Visitation can wait until the highly unlikely time after I get into MIT. But I'll probably go to VT. It's great.

Everyone I've met here seems to love Blacksburg and Tech. The convenient bus system makes sure that, if the little town of Blacksburg gets boring, that one can visit other nearby litle towns, Target, Wal*Mart, the mall (actually a pretty nice mall!), etc. The food here is rated second best in the nation. The only college with better food is a school in New England that gets fresh lobster. Lobster is not a deciding factor in my college search, but good food is a plus.

General List of Facts:

-Around 20,000 apply. About 12,000 get in, hopefully to yield a class of 5,000. There's a 60% acceptance rate.
-One is more likely to graduate in five years if one does co-ops, internships, or study abroad trips. Seeing as I could make money doing a co-op or internship, that wouldn't be so bad. But would I still have to pay college tuition for the time I was working?
-The bike shop here is called Hokie Spokes. L. O. L. Cute.
-I might actually want to bring my bike, if I have a good bike lock. (I have to actually relearn how to ride it first, though. Things aren't close together in N.VA. People usually use cars.) The campus isn't tiny, and buses usually come every fifteen minutes. And there is generally a fifteen-minute passing period between classes. And though some buildings have parking lots, I would have to leave my dorm early to take the bus to the parking garage to get my car to drive myself to class and barely get there on time. Phew. (Dorms don't have parking lots. But freshmen can bring cars!)
-If someone gets scared to walk from a night class to her dorm room, she can call the police and have a police officer escort her. (or him.) Apparently, some girls like to jog at night but don't feel safe, so they get a police escort who—what else?—jogs with them. I'm not a jogger, and I don't like walking around at night. But it's good to know.
-The Department/Office/Whatever of Off Campus Housing can help students find good deals on apartments. There are a good number of apartments really close to campus for non-exorbitant rates. Our tour guide, a senior majoring in Sociology, said he shares a three-bedroom apartment with two buddies. Their total rent is $1000 per month. Doesn't sound like a bad deal to me, but I've never rented an apartment. But I know the prices in Northern VA are much higher, so this is at least better in comparison.
-Gas prices are lower here than in N.VA.
-In-state students: 70%. Out of state: 30%. No quotas. That's just how the applications come in.
-In the bridge that connects Torgerson Hall and another building, there is a nice little study area. It's pretty cool. And somewhere there are two computer labs; one is for Dells (Windoze) and another is for Macs. Because they… have to be apart. Seriously. You don't want those two labs to be too close. There'd be too many geeky shouting matches. It could get ugly.
-But Engineering majors apparently have to have a Windoze tablet. That's right: a tablet. The computers with which one can write on the screen. Doodle. Take notes on top of Powerpoints. Etc. I'll probably find out more at the Electrical and Computer Engineering info session tomorrow. I just found that little tidbit on the website. But I plan to bring a Mac to college as well. My poor Powerbook G4 is starting to slow down. I got it almost five years ago. So I might invest in a nice 15-inch MacBook Pro with a LED-lit screen and four times as much hard drive space as I have now. (Now: 40 GB. I have about 5 GB unused. Time to dump some files onto an external hard drive so I can actually use my computer this year.)

Okay, it's late. I'm tired. Hope you weren't too bored with my VT-information session. There might be more tomorrow. Along with the ECE Information Session, I hope to ask some questions at the Co-Op/Internship office. We'll see.


I steel hav noe speel checckre. Wondulful.

oh SNAP!

I noticed this at work and thought it was hilarious.



I'm trying to learn AutoCAD at my work (I am an assistant to an interior designer who runs her own business). So I was looking at the oh-so-helpful documentation to try to figure out how to draw straight horizontal or vertical lines. I discovered that that feature is a little button that says OSNAP and nearly burst out laughing.

If you do not understand, you probably aren't an American teenager. Don't feel bad. Just ask one for an explanation. Although I don't even really understand why people say "oh snap." I'll post a Wikipedia link.

Clicking here helps one understand the randomness factor I see in this phrase's use (or I just feel like posting a h*r link): http://www.homestarrunner.com/malloween.html

And the wiki link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oh_snap#.22Oh.2C_snap.21.22

Okay, so some rapper popularized it. And it is used as an expression of disbelief. At the moment, I'm in disbelief that AutoCAD would be this hip five years ago.

Wow. I didn't know this post would be so long. Oh well. Enjoy.

picture is from AutoCAD 2002, by the way