Thanksgiving Break

Sorry I didn't get a blog in last week, I had a lot going on in preparing for my Physics test on Friday and totally forgot. 

Anyways, today I'm going to write about Thanksgiving break and how fantastic of a time it really is.  It's a very close second in my favorite breaks (out of three...) behind Winter break.  It's just so perfect getting away for a week right when the academic grind starts to get really tough.  Obviously, the food on Thanksgiving can't be beat either, it's just superb.  Hanging around the extended family, with drinks, food and football is just something that can't be beat. I'm especially excited for this Thanksgiving to just talk to all of my family members and brag and boast and tell stories about Virginia Tech. My conversations last year were mostly along the lines of, "OH, Andrew how's RPI?" "It's okay, really tough." "Yeah I bet, and it's cold up there too, how's lacrosse?" "It's hard too, we've had a lot of snow and sub twenty degree weather". Something like that. I wasn't completely set on transferring at that point but it was a thought, so I wasn't extremely enthusiastic about it all. But this year's going to be different and I can't wait.  And because of Summer classes it's been a while since I've gotten to spend time at home or with my friends so that's exciting as well.  I'm even leaving early on Thursday with a friend of mine to spend some time visiting friends at UVA, so that'll be fun as well.  Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving break!

Side note: Here's the Men's Lacrosse schedule for the Spring in case you guys want to make a game.

Sat.	3/1	1:00 PM	South Carolina	Salem, VA
Sun.	3/2	1:00 PM	Wake Forest	Winston Salem, NC
Sun.	3/9	1:00 PM	Cal Poly	San Luis Obispo, CA
Tues.	3/11	7:00 PM	UCSB	Santa Barbara, CA
Fri.	3/14	2:00 PM	Loyola Marymount	Los Angeles, CA
Sat.	3/22	2:00 PM	Pittsburgh	Blacksburg, VA
Sun.	3/23	12:00 PM	Georgia	Blacksburg, VA
Fri.	3/28	7:00 PM	Clemson	Baltimore, MD
Sun.	3/30	12:00 PM	Connecticut	Baltimore, MD
Sat.	4/5	3:00 PM	Kentucky	Lexington, KY
Sun.	4/6	1:00 PM	West Virginia	Knoxville, TN
Fri.	4/11	8:00 PM	Tennessee	Blacksburg, VA
Sun.	4/13	3:00 PM	George Washington	Blacksburg, VA
Fri.	4/18	8:00 PM	Liberty	Lynchburg, VA
Fri. – Sun.	4/25 - 27		SELC Tournament	Duluth, GA

Bus Rides

So today our lacrosse team leaves for Clemson and I decided to write about my experiences with away trips during my just more than one year long collegiate career to this point.

All of the trips, up until this coming spring break, have been taken on coach busses.  Very comfortable but, when taken for long periods of time just get outright boring.  Of course there are always movies, phone games, sleep and whatever else you can think of to entertain yourself.  The longest of which came last spring break when my team made the trek from Troy, New York to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  A total of 27 hours, just about 13 hours each way was absolutely brutal.  The year prior, when they’d gone to Florida, the team all went out the night before and in turn everyone got their fair share of sleep on the short plane ride.  But our coach wasn’t too keen about the cost of flying so he chose a bus last year.  We ended up playing a game that Friday, leaving that night and driving all through it.  It was brutal to say the least.  On the trip there, the kids who were already sick got everyone else sick. We lived in four houses, so those who weren’t sick by then got sick. And on the way back, when all the formerly sick kids felt better, they caught the cold again. So that was unpleasant.  But more or less it was a fun trip and I enjoyed being out of New York for the week.

Another notable trip we took last year was up to “North Country” as referred to by locals as the area above “Upstate” New York. We were on our way to play Saint Lawrence University and on the way we stopped in Lake Placid, New York and visited the Olympic facilities there and even got to see the hockey rink where the Miracle on Ice happened, that was really awesome. Here’s a 120 foot ski jump we saw that was used in the 1980 Olympics:

Our trip to Rochester to play Rochester Institute of Technology was pretty strange. The hotel we stayed at that night had 3 groups staying in it: The RPI men’s lacrosse team, the Philadelphia Wings (professional indoor team) and the Erotic Arts Convention of New York… So that last one included people of all shapes and sizes and to say the least, I saw some strange, disturbing outfits and people that I’d rather not remember.

This Spring the Virginia Tech Men’s Lacrosse team is heading to beautiful, sunny California! I can’t wait. We’re going to visit the Santa Monica pier and have the opportunity to play some very competitive MCLA teams in UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly. It should be a great time, but right now I know everyone on this bus has their minds set on this weekend in Clemson.  Should be a big statement tournament for our team and program as a whole. I’ll be sure to write next week about how it all goes down.

Have a good weekend!

Relief

So for the last half hour I've been sitting with my laptop in front of the television with absolutely no idea what to write about.  I could write about Halloween last night but I'm not sure there would be a ton of substance in that. I could write about how stressful all the studying and work have been in the last two weeks but I'm sure you all are completely aware of that struggle.  So I'm going to write about the bright side of hell weeks, when they're over.

In the last two weeks I had tests in Physics II and Multivariable Calculus. I know two tests in two weeks doesn't sound bad compared to what some have scheduled but these last two weeks were crucial.  My first tests in both classes did not go as planned to say the least. Because of that, the two tests that I just had are going to be very important when it comes to grades.  Just a little cherry on top of the stress sundae I was eating. Luckily I did well on my Physics exam, scoring 28% better than my first one. Thankfully the two weeks are over and I have this weekend and next to unwind. I can't wait. Having less to worry about when it comes to school is the greatest feeling, absolutely divine.

On top of being done with tests for a few days, the end of the week brought Halloween weekend which is always a great time and a laugh.  It also brought us a week closer to the VT Men's Lacrosse teams 2014 season debut in our tournament at Clemson next weekend. With a revamped program and a lot of returning and new talent, we should send a serious message with our games this coming weekend. I'll absolutely be back to blog about those games once they've happened, and ideally pictures will be included.

So that's my thoughts for the week. hope everybody has an exciting and safe Halloween weekend. Enjoy it. Don't take the weekends for granted because all of us need a breath of fresh air among the stress that comes with going to college. Sit back and relax, even if you don't think you have the time to.

Procrastinating as We Speak

The title is a little bit misleading... Yes, I am procrastinating, but I've also already done a lot of studying and put a lot of focused time into preparing for my impending doom that will come in the form of a Physics II exam at 5:30.  I'm extremely worried because after my last exam, which I thought went fantastically, I was disappointed to find out that I got a 48%. Woohoo! Yeah! Sweet! Not.

These exams are formatted in a seemingly simple fashion, but I suppose I must've been simpler than the test that day in order to get just less than half the questions correct... The teachers create and solve a set of sixty physics problems that have to do with the chapters that we've been "studying" and distribute their solutions via scholar.  Twenty-five questions "virtually identical" to twenty-five of the sixty solved problems will be seen again on the exam, AND, here's the kicker, we can make a formula sheet! Ah it seems so simple how could I have possibly screwed up so badly?

The night prior, a Thursday night, was the men's lacrosse teams first social of the year with the women of delta delta delta.  I had a grand ole time and at the end of the night I found myself sleeping on a sofa in the lacrosse house.  Thinking back on it, we had designated drivers... Why didn't anybody tell me that they were leaving before I fell asleep? Anyways, I woke up the next day around 8 AM on the day of the test.  Not too worried, I walked home with a little help from the Blacksburg Transit in the rain.  Once I got back to my apartment I crashed on my bed, planning on a two or three hour nap before my physics class at 12:20. But what do I do?? I overslept it! I overslept a class that started at noon! Way to go Andrew, that was just awesome.  Now it's one o' clock and I've got a test in four and a half hours and a hangover the size of an elephant.  I'd never been so out of it before.  So I texted my friend and hustled my way to Torgerson to get some studying done before my exam. Like today, I had my formula sheet finished with equations to every problem from the sixty problem set and I thought, what could go wrong? (not that things hadn't already) So i studied continuously in a haze for the next four hours and once I got out of my test I was confident. I'd never felt so good about a physics test in my life. Clearly it was false confidence as almost all the questions I missed were off by .1 or had the wrong sign in front of it. I didn't put enough information on my formula sheet to pick out the changes and make the necessary adjustments in my calculations.

But what's passed is past, I've got a much more in depth formula sheet today, got a little bit of sleep between studying until 2 AM and a workout this morning at 6:30 AM, and I'm totally sober and ready to take on exam two. Well, at least I think I am. I might be hyping myself up a little bit but I guess that's what I need since I've got to make this grade significantly better than my last one.

Better Ingredients, Better Pizza

Last Winter, and the beginning of this Summer found me working at Papa Johns Pizza. Yes, yes it is true. Better ingredients, better pizza is actually quite factual.  I've come to realize that after working at Papa Johns for around three months.  It really doesn't even compare, just look at the commercials of the competitors.  Pizza hut has their "Big Dinner Deal" which includes a square pizza, some breadsticks and something else for a very low price.  First off, you just can't toss dough into a square. That shit is pre-made and it's oh so obvious to the trained eye. Second, if they were to put out that many breadsticks and square pizzas all around dinner time for such a cheap price, they probably get bombarded.  And, as I've come to learn, when you get loaded with orders they take longer and longer to make and put through the oven. I'm sure they wouldn't keep the prices so low if they knew it'd slow their service so significantly.  But it only takes half the time to make because all they have to do is sauce a pre-made dough template and top the pizza, pull the frozen breadsticks out of the freezer and throw them in the oven. Easy. At Papa Johns we would've had to grab dough out of the tray, still in a lump mass, aerate the dough with spiked rollers and flatten it, toss the dough, stretch the dough and then sauce and top the pizza.  All before putting it in the oven.  The process of tossing dough can take anywhere from 1-3 minutes depending on experience.  This may seem insignificant, but when you're working a dinner rush or a big pre-order it can set you back a very significant amount as opposed to doing the same work with a pre-made dough.  Breadsticks are another story... Well, not really, it's much the same. Making breadsticks involves aerating the dough, just as before, much more stretching, and then cutting before topping them with Italian season and then putting them in the oven.  Bottom line, I dislike Pizza Hut and the way they go about pizza. Oh, and stuffed crust is a very complicated concept if you actually make the dough. It'd actually require tossing the dough, which in some of their deals it seems that Pizza Hut does not, then finding a string of cheese that could span the circumference of the pizza which would have dough rolled over it.  It can be done with legitimacy, but again it would slow production in a very significant way that I cannot believe would be practical to a businessman. If anyone has worked at Pizza Hut and can disprove my claims I'd love to hear it. But for now and until I hear otherwise, I'm siding with Papa Johns and their real tossed dough and fresh ingredients when it comes to pizza.

On another note, Papa Johns is not my favorite type of pizza, just my favorite fast food version.  My favorite pizza comes from a small, family owned pizza parlor in Troy, New York where my old school was located.  This parlor was named "Big Apple Pizzeria", but we called it "Pizza Bella".  I'm not totally sure why. Anyways, this place had an excellent sauce to dough to toppings ratio and had the greatest combinations of ingredients in their pizza. My favorite being a nice slice of chicken, bacon, ranch. Also, they're open until two in the morning so that was always a great late night snack. It's not as big as a Benny's slice but I assure you, the taste for just $3 is absolutely superb.

The Stereotypes of a Lacrosse Player

****Disclaimer: I don't enjoy when people stereotype lacrosse players with negative connotations, I just happen to fit the part.****

Today I'm going to write to you all about the stereotypes, both false and true that accompany playing lacrosse.  First, if you're not familiar, watch this video and you'll feel like you know everything.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nqg01Nk3SYI

This is known to the viewing audience as the most stereotypical lax bro to ever grace the Earth.  Although the video is clearly satirical, it holds many truths and I will show you how they apply to me and my life.

I do name my sticks. Judge me. If you don't care for your sticks they won't care for you when you're on the field. It sounds superstitious and strange but an ignored stick won't play how you want it to.  My closet is full of pastel button downs, bow ties and boat shoes.  Most of the Summer you can find me wearing a lacrosse pinnie of some sort, whether it's from a camp or a former team.  My choices for pants over the Summer and spring include exclusively pastel shorts and athletic shorts. Except on game day; dressing nice is a must on game day. Most of the time when I hang out with my friends on breaks it involves ripping a little bit of cheddar (heading to the nearest turf field/backyard and having a shoot around on an empty net). This is all purely coincidence, by the way. I'm not a huge fan of being called a lax bro at all.

Now, I'll go over a little vocabulary:

Flow: The hair the shows out of the back of a players helmet.
Snipe/Cheddar/Top Cheese: A high shot
GB: Ground ball
BTB: Behind the back (pass/shot)
Sauce: To win a 1 on 1 match-up effortlessly
Bag: A deep and undefined pocket in the stick head
Fish/scrub: A bad lacrosse player
Rip: A hard shot
Yard sale: When a defenseman knocks the offensive players stick out of his hands with a check


But I'll go back to the video.

Believe it or not, dodging through the hallways of a house, and to a lesser extent a school, is a lot of fun. As in the party scene, I don't believe I've ever tried to show off stick tricks to break the ice but I won't say it's a bad idea either. I do grow my hair out every year for the Spring season. I'm a firm believer in the mantra "Look good, play good" so how you look on the field does affect how good of a player I think you'll be. There are exceptions to the rule but as a whole it is fairly accurate.

So that's my insight on the stereotypes of a lacrosse player. And, although I hate to admit it I am in accordance with a fair amount of them.

Side note: my old school actually played the actor in the video in lacrosse a few years before I got there and they would all give him shit over this every year. It wouldn't be that cool because he's just in a viral video but he's kind of a celebrity in the lacrosse community.

And for comic relief, one more  vocab word.

Hospital/Buddy Pass: A high arching pass that leaves a player vulnerable to devastating hits... Like I was given in the video below! Haha those are never fun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMY1wNMGmUE

A Shorter and More Light-Hearted Post

"As I exchanged weight from my left foot to my right, quantities of brown liquid seeped out of my shoes".
Normally, that would seem like a miserable way to end a story. In this case, however, it was quite the opposite.  In the most exciting football game that I've seen from the stands at any level (which isn't many given that I played in high school) Virginia Tech emerged victorious with a triple overtime win over a Marshall University team with a very potent offense. But a lot happened before the approximately three hour game ended.

The first quarter came and went, and so did my roommate because he forgot to eat breakfast. BeamerBall was finally back and our offense was really clicking, too. Fourteen quick points and some thought we had the game in the bag.  Well, at least until Marshall's receivers refused to drop the deep ball and the Thundering Herd lived up to their name, storming their way down the field for a quick seven.  It hadn't begun raining yet but we all knew that the impending monsoon would soon be upon us.  The clouds were as gray as the spur the moment jerseys our boys wore against Alabama and the forecast called for rain, rain, and more rain.



The second quarter was a dull one.  The drizzle had started, and as that got going, it seemed like the Hokies were falling apart.  Our consistently stingy, lunch pail defense was allowing third down conversions like it was their job and it seemed like Marshall could take first downs at will.  Because of this, the team allowed two touchdowns during this span and went into the half down 21-14.  Normally this wouldn't be a worrisome score, but it is when you're a Tech fan playing against a theoretically weaker Marshall team.  With that in mind, more people left the game for fear of an embarrassing loss.

As the rain intensified, so did the game.  The third and fourth quarters were absolute madness and we were gasping for breath every chance we had. During the fourth we managed to put one more score on the board and tie the game up.  At this point the remaining fans were glued to the stands of Lane Stadium and overtime was upon us.

Defensive stand after defensive stand ensued as a suspenseful game only became more so.  The rain was coming down hard and even my so called "waterproof" jackets was soaked.  Dripping from head to toe we continued to bellow out the occasional "Let's go!" chant.  Finally, we punched it in and had a successful 2-point conversion.  All waiting on a defensive stop to clinch the victory, our boys came up big.  But to be fair there may have been some defensive pass interference that was left uncalled on the final play but a win is a win!

By the end of the game the dark brown Sperry's I was wearing were as heavy as logs and wet all the way through. As I exchanged weight from my left foot to my right, quantities of brown liquid seeped out of my shoes.  The leather was so damp that the dye was basically pouring out of my shoes. The walk to the bus and from the bus stop home were extremely cold and I was shivering the whole way, but being able to be a part of the fans who stuck around for the entire game was truly something special.  Maybe the goosebumps I got were from the wet and cold.  Or maybe I was still just that excited.

Go Hokies.