Today marks the last day of relaxation that I get before it is time to matriculate to college. That is actually the wrong usage of the word because I am not going from high school to college this time, but rather from college level to college level, or more plainly my sophomore year. I seem to make things more complicated than they really are. How funny!
The day was mainly spent texting on my new cell phone that I acquired the day before. Because someone had ran into the pole that supported the power line for the street, the power was out for a good five hours or so. I was horrified because with what limited cool air we had in the house (the air conditioner has been broken since last week, I just found out that it took the company about a week to find the part and get it shipped from Florida, it should come in tomorrow). The fans and the air conditioner that sits in the window is our only source of cool air. Because of the power outage they went out. All of my stuff in the room was rendered useless after a while because the batteries all went dead as they weren't able to recharge. The only thing I could do was read the Supernaturalist (written by Eoin Coifer) and text message my friend Shannon. This was quite a good time though but it became hot. My step mom came home and we left for sometime to go to my grandma's house. She was luckily in the area that had power (she lives only a few blocks away) so we were able to cool down there. Needless to say the day was wasted because of the power outage.
Previously, I was able to go out and finally get my own cell phone package of my own. The Phone that I got was the Nokia 6133 which is quite amazing thus far. I love it for all of its cool and nifty features, it has a great LCD screen, touch pad, interface, camera, and the like. The bill costs me about $67 a month for all of the features (300 minutes, unlimited nights and weekends (nights start at 9), unlimited messages, My Faves (5 people in any network free). I was kicked off of my parents plan because I couldn't stay within the 100 minute limit that they had given me. Regardless, having the phone will definitely improve my communication skills with people that I talk to and such, especially since AIM is on it.
Well I am preparing for VCU steadfastly. My chemistry professor sent out one of those introduction emails to the class letting us know that class for Thursday morning was canceled (recitation session), so I will only go to four classes on Thursday of next week. Saturday I do think that I have to be at Cinemas to show two movies, in fact Saturday and Sunday. It kind of crept upon me like a thief in the night, so I was unprepared once I found that out today. Regardless I should be moved in on time in order to start the movies promptly at 7:30 if the need arises on Sunday.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Whats Been Going On?
No I have not vanished from the world as you know it. In fact I have been quite good actually. The little summer that I was able to enjoy is quickly ending. In a mere three or four days I will be moving back into VCU. This time, though, I will be in the West Grace Street Honors Housing. If I remember, I was so glad last semester to get placed in this building rather than Cabaniss. Because Cabaniss is a bus ride away from where all of my classes are at it was a hassle. West Grace Housing is located on the Monroe Park Campus, which is where all of my classes are all held. So it was more advantageous to be placed in a room on this campus rather than the other one. However, neither place are where I would ideally want to stay as I would prefer to be in the Upperclassman apartments which is just one street away from West Grace Street.
My summer has been filled with great joy, suspense, sadness, and even promise. Starting with the saddest part is the fact that several members of my church, Fourth Baptist Church passed away this year. Several deacons and deaconesses, a members husband, and other people seemed to vanish this summer. I was not able to go to any of their funerals, which I wish I had. They were all so influential and inspiring but I guess as a song says "everything changes".
I was able to experience moderate joy this summer in being able to finally purchase a Nintendo Wii as well as be able to spend some time with a few friends while I was at VCU. When I came home I was also able to go out to eat with Phylicia, which is always a good part with coming home. I do get to spend time with her. I was almost able to spend time with DeAnna, Lakiesha, and Jeff but things didnt go as planned for her birthday as I was not able to to attend the fun on the beach.
The most disappointing thing about this summer was the fact that I seemed to spend an excessive amount of money that I had received from a stipend. Originally I was only going to spend about 500$ on a Nintendo Wii and a TV, but I went a little bit excessive. I used a majority of the funds on eating out and cooking. This was quite expensive because cooking required a great deal of materials. Eating out was as I seemed to realize quite cheaper. I also spent some money on shoes because the shoes I had started to feel quite uncomfortable. A bit more of the funds was used on miscellaneous things such as books (3) and DVD's (about 10), games (4), shoes (2, converse and adidas), crocs (2, the most regrettable purchase), and a gift for a friend. Much of the spending issue came with the problem that the stuff came from online, for example because I couldn't find a Wii in the store I had to pay 100$ more for it online. The TV was actually on sale and in my range, I bought three games, which was acceptable. I shouldn't have bought the crocs, though they are great to wear around in the room. The shoes were most needed and the DVD's I could live without. If anything, I shouldn't have got big eyed with the amount of money and just stayed with buying the games, the shoes, and the TV and food, this would have gave me an acceptable range of only spending about 500-700$.
The second disappointing thing and perhaps most suspenseful was the fact that I was not able to gather enough funds to pay for college. None of my one time only scholarships were able to be renewed. I was able to get the Toyota Community Scholars Scholarship renewed though (about $2500) and the VCU Deans Scholarship one renewed ($3950). The rest of the remaining cost of school has to come out of the pockets of either me or my parents. We went through the path of getting a loan, however with the fact that I am not able to have any credit (not only do you have to have established it through paying bills, but you have to make at least $1500 a month) and the fact that my dad has been through some financial hardship in the past (medical costs and house costs when my mother was sick), we weren't able to get those loans. There is one last place that we are trying and if we dont get that then we will have to pay out of our pockets. Essentially though, in 2009 we will be able to get one. What this means is that my year is going to spent applying for as many scholarships as possible. For a partial amount of time I was considering not going back to school, but because this would result in the lose of my scholarships this wouldn't have been a wise decision.
There are a few promising things that I am going to be keeping a watch out for this year. I do hope to apply to get into yet another summer program for science this year. I hope that I really do make it, I dont know which one yet but I am going to keep an eye out for one. I am also doing great things in the field of collecting past shows on DVD. Because I have stopped and been able to overcome my addiction to buying video games at random (there are only three I want and I have been able to really keep track of my purchases so I have enough for them because they are spread apart by a month at least) I am now going to focus on trying to get tv shows that I want on DVD. I was able to get Ducktales and Xiaolin Showdown this past school year using my many Barnes and Noble Discounts. This summer I was able to get Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends and Ben 10. I also was able to search online and discover that they are coming out with the final part to the Ducktales Collection, Ben 10 second season is coming out, and Yu-Gi-Oh is being released. I would try to get Tale Spin and others but I have to save money so I wont go too far into this buying craze. Get Ducktales is the first priority and that is only 30$ in November, Yu-Gi-Oh can wait a while because there are parts of the seasons missing and I have to wait for Amazon to lower the price.
This upcoming year should really be quite enjoyable. I am going to make it my next best goal to really keep this updated as well. If not daily maybe at least once a week. I move into VCU on Saturday August 18th, hopefully everything works out well.
My summer has been filled with great joy, suspense, sadness, and even promise. Starting with the saddest part is the fact that several members of my church, Fourth Baptist Church passed away this year. Several deacons and deaconesses, a members husband, and other people seemed to vanish this summer. I was not able to go to any of their funerals, which I wish I had. They were all so influential and inspiring but I guess as a song says "everything changes".
I was able to experience moderate joy this summer in being able to finally purchase a Nintendo Wii as well as be able to spend some time with a few friends while I was at VCU. When I came home I was also able to go out to eat with Phylicia, which is always a good part with coming home. I do get to spend time with her. I was almost able to spend time with DeAnna, Lakiesha, and Jeff but things didnt go as planned for her birthday as I was not able to to attend the fun on the beach.
The most disappointing thing about this summer was the fact that I seemed to spend an excessive amount of money that I had received from a stipend. Originally I was only going to spend about 500$ on a Nintendo Wii and a TV, but I went a little bit excessive. I used a majority of the funds on eating out and cooking. This was quite expensive because cooking required a great deal of materials. Eating out was as I seemed to realize quite cheaper. I also spent some money on shoes because the shoes I had started to feel quite uncomfortable. A bit more of the funds was used on miscellaneous things such as books (3) and DVD's (about 10), games (4), shoes (2, converse and adidas), crocs (2, the most regrettable purchase), and a gift for a friend. Much of the spending issue came with the problem that the stuff came from online, for example because I couldn't find a Wii in the store I had to pay 100$ more for it online. The TV was actually on sale and in my range, I bought three games, which was acceptable. I shouldn't have bought the crocs, though they are great to wear around in the room. The shoes were most needed and the DVD's I could live without. If anything, I shouldn't have got big eyed with the amount of money and just stayed with buying the games, the shoes, and the TV and food, this would have gave me an acceptable range of only spending about 500-700$.
The second disappointing thing and perhaps most suspenseful was the fact that I was not able to gather enough funds to pay for college. None of my one time only scholarships were able to be renewed. I was able to get the Toyota Community Scholars Scholarship renewed though (about $2500) and the VCU Deans Scholarship one renewed ($3950). The rest of the remaining cost of school has to come out of the pockets of either me or my parents. We went through the path of getting a loan, however with the fact that I am not able to have any credit (not only do you have to have established it through paying bills, but you have to make at least $1500 a month) and the fact that my dad has been through some financial hardship in the past (medical costs and house costs when my mother was sick), we weren't able to get those loans. There is one last place that we are trying and if we dont get that then we will have to pay out of our pockets. Essentially though, in 2009 we will be able to get one. What this means is that my year is going to spent applying for as many scholarships as possible. For a partial amount of time I was considering not going back to school, but because this would result in the lose of my scholarships this wouldn't have been a wise decision.
There are a few promising things that I am going to be keeping a watch out for this year. I do hope to apply to get into yet another summer program for science this year. I hope that I really do make it, I dont know which one yet but I am going to keep an eye out for one. I am also doing great things in the field of collecting past shows on DVD. Because I have stopped and been able to overcome my addiction to buying video games at random (there are only three I want and I have been able to really keep track of my purchases so I have enough for them because they are spread apart by a month at least) I am now going to focus on trying to get tv shows that I want on DVD. I was able to get Ducktales and Xiaolin Showdown this past school year using my many Barnes and Noble Discounts. This summer I was able to get Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends and Ben 10. I also was able to search online and discover that they are coming out with the final part to the Ducktales Collection, Ben 10 second season is coming out, and Yu-Gi-Oh is being released. I would try to get Tale Spin and others but I have to save money so I wont go too far into this buying craze. Get Ducktales is the first priority and that is only 30$ in November, Yu-Gi-Oh can wait a while because there are parts of the seasons missing and I have to wait for Amazon to lower the price.
This upcoming year should really be quite enjoyable. I am going to make it my next best goal to really keep this updated as well. If not daily maybe at least once a week. I move into VCU on Saturday August 18th, hopefully everything works out well.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
HHMI: Lab Research Reviewed
Tuesday was the final day of the HHMI program. The program itself came to a close with a closing seminar that took place on Friday morning and concluded on Monday afternoon. It was quite entertaining as we were able to present our findings and give a final word on what we took from the summer research experience. Of course, I was able to say that I enjoyed the hands-on experience with many of the radioactive assays that we were able to perform.
The general avenue that we took for the design of the research program consisted of mainly trial and error techniques. Dr. Stewart and I did have a bit of guidance as each successive assay gave us new findings. I wont speak of many but one such indication enabled us to alter our protein usage to a smaller amount and to increase the speed of the assay from lasting ten minutes, to going to last a mere 30 seconds. I managed to learn valuable skills that enabled me to constantly write down new protocols. Protocols that consisted of honing in on the right quantity of solution to use in our protein analysis (Bio Rad was one of them, this one used a plate reader that is able to detect protein concentration through the use of dyes and spectrophotometry). Other protocols varied in their meaning, most of them we altered the usage of chemicals and times. Each of which were vital in trying to figure out the nature of our toxin and looking at its effects on our inhibitors and such. Ironically, although the actual writing of the protocol put me to sleep, actually doing the protocol was enjoyable. The worst part was, and still remains to be the part about making buffer solutions. Let me tell you, they can take in excess of eight hours to make.
The general avenue that we took for the design of the research program consisted of mainly trial and error techniques. Dr. Stewart and I did have a bit of guidance as each successive assay gave us new findings. I wont speak of many but one such indication enabled us to alter our protein usage to a smaller amount and to increase the speed of the assay from lasting ten minutes, to going to last a mere 30 seconds. I managed to learn valuable skills that enabled me to constantly write down new protocols. Protocols that consisted of honing in on the right quantity of solution to use in our protein analysis (Bio Rad was one of them, this one used a plate reader that is able to detect protein concentration through the use of dyes and spectrophotometry). Other protocols varied in their meaning, most of them we altered the usage of chemicals and times. Each of which were vital in trying to figure out the nature of our toxin and looking at its effects on our inhibitors and such. Ironically, although the actual writing of the protocol put me to sleep, actually doing the protocol was enjoyable. The worst part was, and still remains to be the part about making buffer solutions. Let me tell you, they can take in excess of eight hours to make.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Insight: What Drives Me
I have spent the last several weeks puzzling over several things in my life. These have all driven me to total seclusion in my room at times, for they have been of nearly paramount dimensions. Today is perhaps the first day that I have finally emerged from the room in high spirits. I have finally realized the areas that are really controlling my life and dictating the direction that I turn in. It is my ultimate goal, nonetheless, that I gain from this project a truly changed outlook of life.
The environments and events that take place all around me have all served to really define who I am today. Most of which is still present and still undermines and forms the basic foundation as to which I find myself seeking to be motivated by. It served and continues to serve as my motivation. It drives me to work towards my goals, and it even determines the direction that I take to get what I need. There are simply three things that I have discovered that serve some part, in some way to really give me that push to work and move forward.
1. Acknowledgment-Tristan has discovered that he seeks to ultimately gain some sort of acknowledgment and recognition from his parents. As he has striven to gain the best grades possible, and accomplish other things, he has discovered that he is a bit unsatisfied with his parents acknowledgment of this. He ultimately seeks to please them in everything so that he can have their nod of approval and receive great praise and love from them.
2. Anger- Tristan has discovered that he is extremely angry with the world. The world is an unfair place. Having lost the most important thing in his life, he is now angered with the fact that this event has happened to him. Unfortunately he boils over heavily with vengeance daily. Although nothing can be done, his anger with this one fact alone has driven him constantly to the point of completely breaking down. In order to not erupt into fury, he channels all of his anger into his schoolwork. Only in times of great anger could he make his best grades.
3. Fear-Tristan is afraid of many things around him. Although he may not show it outwardly, he is secretly always in fear. That is why he seems to always be on guard and is always such a hard person to communicate with. His fear has driven him to become a total loner at times. Only when someone has thrust them self or either proves to be a truly exceptional person will he completely reveal himself to that person. His fear of the past, the present, and the future has really dictated life. He has a fear of the secret motives of strangers; simply put, he is afraid of people and social events.
In the next insight we will explore, Happiness...
The environments and events that take place all around me have all served to really define who I am today. Most of which is still present and still undermines and forms the basic foundation as to which I find myself seeking to be motivated by. It served and continues to serve as my motivation. It drives me to work towards my goals, and it even determines the direction that I take to get what I need. There are simply three things that I have discovered that serve some part, in some way to really give me that push to work and move forward.
1. Acknowledgment-Tristan has discovered that he seeks to ultimately gain some sort of acknowledgment and recognition from his parents. As he has striven to gain the best grades possible, and accomplish other things, he has discovered that he is a bit unsatisfied with his parents acknowledgment of this. He ultimately seeks to please them in everything so that he can have their nod of approval and receive great praise and love from them.
2. Anger- Tristan has discovered that he is extremely angry with the world. The world is an unfair place. Having lost the most important thing in his life, he is now angered with the fact that this event has happened to him. Unfortunately he boils over heavily with vengeance daily. Although nothing can be done, his anger with this one fact alone has driven him constantly to the point of completely breaking down. In order to not erupt into fury, he channels all of his anger into his schoolwork. Only in times of great anger could he make his best grades.
3. Fear-Tristan is afraid of many things around him. Although he may not show it outwardly, he is secretly always in fear. That is why he seems to always be on guard and is always such a hard person to communicate with. His fear has driven him to become a total loner at times. Only when someone has thrust them self or either proves to be a truly exceptional person will he completely reveal himself to that person. His fear of the past, the present, and the future has really dictated life. He has a fear of the secret motives of strangers; simply put, he is afraid of people and social events.
In the next insight we will explore, Happiness...
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Midterm Report
HHMI Summer program is beginning to sap some of my life energy out of me. The most difficult aspect of the program has been finding a way to balance the events in the lab with the events of the program itself such as the classroom sessions. These sessions are quite interesting though but then the lab itself is interesting to. Building upon this as well, my mentor also has a few events come up now and again and then I have additional stuff with VCU that pops up too (for example like giving a campus tour because someone took my Saturday one or having to do a transcript request). But all in all I have been able to manage it.
Progress has been made nonetheless. I have managed to continue to conduct and perform several assays. We have been able to calculate the protein concentration within our plasma membranes and microsomes by doing a simple biorad analysis on the plate counter (which works by using light to analyze the content). We have also been able to conduct several uptake assays with the membranes and microsomes and seeing how they are affected by the addition of inhibitors in the presence of the radioactive aflatoxin. We are able to get numbers from this by simply using a machine that is able to count the radiation that is given off by the substances (a scintillation reader).
I have also continued to go on my quest of finding a major. I know that I have said that I am a Bioinformatics major, but I just don't feel any excitement from it. It is a nice and promising major but it doesn't seem like it will be all that thrilling to do for the rest of my life. I could manage doing it and all but when the cover is removed I want to really do something else. I almost want to do something non science even. In the sciences I can possibly see myself as a Paleontologist or people who study early Earth formation and such, that seems thrilling. I can also see myself as a museum curator or something, nothing too heavy in history though but more like science history. Right now I just don't know what I want. Ultimately though, I would not mind being one of the scientists, like the ones from Jurassic Park, who work to bring back dinosaurs from amber and such. I go to meet with my adviser to discuss additional things to do with my path. Right now I am leaning toward a double major in Bioinformatics and Clinical Laboratory Sciences, which seems to be something else that is interesting, I might get to work with pathogens and microbes (exciting).
Basically that is what has been going on for about the past few weeks of my silence. So hopefully I will have a bit much more to talk about.
Progress has been made nonetheless. I have managed to continue to conduct and perform several assays. We have been able to calculate the protein concentration within our plasma membranes and microsomes by doing a simple biorad analysis on the plate counter (which works by using light to analyze the content). We have also been able to conduct several uptake assays with the membranes and microsomes and seeing how they are affected by the addition of inhibitors in the presence of the radioactive aflatoxin. We are able to get numbers from this by simply using a machine that is able to count the radiation that is given off by the substances (a scintillation reader).
I have also continued to go on my quest of finding a major. I know that I have said that I am a Bioinformatics major, but I just don't feel any excitement from it. It is a nice and promising major but it doesn't seem like it will be all that thrilling to do for the rest of my life. I could manage doing it and all but when the cover is removed I want to really do something else. I almost want to do something non science even. In the sciences I can possibly see myself as a Paleontologist or people who study early Earth formation and such, that seems thrilling. I can also see myself as a museum curator or something, nothing too heavy in history though but more like science history. Right now I just don't know what I want. Ultimately though, I would not mind being one of the scientists, like the ones from Jurassic Park, who work to bring back dinosaurs from amber and such. I go to meet with my adviser to discuss additional things to do with my path. Right now I am leaning toward a double major in Bioinformatics and Clinical Laboratory Sciences, which seems to be something else that is interesting, I might get to work with pathogens and microbes (exciting).
Basically that is what has been going on for about the past few weeks of my silence. So hopefully I will have a bit much more to talk about.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
High Definition
It seems that we are finally going to experience an actually real and true first week of the actual HHMI program. There is not any summit or anything of that sort that will keep the participants of the program out of their labs.
I am actually starting to stay in lab for longer periods of time. The methods and experimenting is a bit challenging as we have been writing and trying to devise a new protocol in order to isolate several particles in the cell that we want. This is of course called Cellular Differentiation in which you take a large flask of cells and then put them through the centrifuge in order to sort the substances in the cell by weight. The first is the heaviest things to come out and this is usually the nucleus. What the project and what we have been thus far in the lab is that we have been trying to isolate the plasma membrane and microsomes within the cell. I have done several things so far with this as well. I have performed right now, Four Bio rad tests, which basically looks at the protein content within the cells. All of this is just practice really for me. I have to learn these processes and techniques well enough to be able to do them on my own without any help. And to move on from this subject, I have been attempting to take notes thus far on that which has been done.
I am having a few second thoughts about my career and major. That is all that I am saying for now.
Ah that was really all that has been done and of course, HHMI presentations. Here is a list of them. Only half the group presented.
The Tympanic Membrane: Reconstruction of the Tympanic Membrane and Repair of Perforations “Allison D”
Treacher Collins Syndrome Research: Creating a Mouse Model to Study the Genetic Disorder “Heather Cross”
Do Glutamate Receptors Exist in the Rodent Immune System “Cathryn Kurkjian”
How Does HCT Decrease Cellular Aflatoxin Accumulations "Tristan Hayes" presentation is in my File Box on my facebook profile?
Collagen Self Assembly Mechanism “Mary Beth Bird”
Zebrafish CaMK-II Beta 2 “Ludmila Francescatto”
The Use of HDACi to inhibit Pathways involved with Endotoxic Shock “Sung Lee”
Metastatic Cancer Cells and the significance of Vimentin, ZBP-8 and Sumoylatin “Maimuna Bruce”
Sequence Homology Using Automated Pattern Discovery “Derek Austin”
Sedation Effects in Mechanically Ventilated Patients “Patrick Headley”
Modulation of PL Kinase activity By Drugs “Sam Aboagye”
Descriptions were omitted, full powerpoints are all going to be made available, I believe
I am actually starting to stay in lab for longer periods of time. The methods and experimenting is a bit challenging as we have been writing and trying to devise a new protocol in order to isolate several particles in the cell that we want. This is of course called Cellular Differentiation in which you take a large flask of cells and then put them through the centrifuge in order to sort the substances in the cell by weight. The first is the heaviest things to come out and this is usually the nucleus. What the project and what we have been thus far in the lab is that we have been trying to isolate the plasma membrane and microsomes within the cell. I have done several things so far with this as well. I have performed right now, Four Bio rad tests, which basically looks at the protein content within the cells. All of this is just practice really for me. I have to learn these processes and techniques well enough to be able to do them on my own without any help. And to move on from this subject, I have been attempting to take notes thus far on that which has been done.
I am having a few second thoughts about my career and major. That is all that I am saying for now.
Ah that was really all that has been done and of course, HHMI presentations. Here is a list of them. Only half the group presented.
The Tympanic Membrane: Reconstruction of the Tympanic Membrane and Repair of Perforations “Allison D”
Treacher Collins Syndrome Research: Creating a Mouse Model to Study the Genetic Disorder “Heather Cross”
Do Glutamate Receptors Exist in the Rodent Immune System “Cathryn Kurkjian”
How Does HCT Decrease Cellular Aflatoxin Accumulations "Tristan Hayes" presentation is in my File Box on my facebook profile?
Collagen Self Assembly Mechanism “Mary Beth Bird”
Zebrafish CaMK-II Beta 2 “Ludmila Francescatto”
The Use of HDACi to inhibit Pathways involved with Endotoxic Shock “Sung Lee”
Metastatic Cancer Cells and the significance of Vimentin, ZBP-8 and Sumoylatin “Maimuna Bruce”
Sequence Homology Using Automated Pattern Discovery “Derek Austin”
Sedation Effects in Mechanically Ventilated Patients “Patrick Headley”
Modulation of PL Kinase activity By Drugs “Sam Aboagye”
Descriptions were omitted, full powerpoints are all going to be made available, I believe
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Payment is Always Well Received
The rest of the week finished up quite smoothly with a great transition into the normal weekend. There was perhaps one simple highlight to the weekend and I will explain in great detail.
I managed to get to the bank on Thursday after I went to the lab for a tiny bit. I cashed the $1000 check that we get for the research. It was partitioned into two sets, one for a bit that I will carry around on hand and then the other half for the part that will stay in the bank. On about Saturday morning, the money appeared in the bank account at around 9 in the morning. I went ahead and proceeded to ordering a Nintendo Wii from Ebay. I also went and gave a tour on this same morning.
The tour proceeded without a single hitch. I had to alternate part of the trip though to accommodate for the many graduations that took place in and around the Stuart C. Siegal Center. I wont say that I rushed through the tour but I did finish within the normal time that a tour is done, if not faster. It was extremely hot outside and I really wanted to get into the cold but I had to digress. I like giving the tours as they are a nice thing to do on the Saturday morning and give me something to do. I did have two embarrassing moments though, they both involved VCU buildings being closed (usually during the normal fall and spring semesters the buildings are open, but of course during the summer semester they are closed unfortunately
).
Ah after the tour I went to the Gamestop that is located right underneath the VCU Ramz Hall. In this Gamestop I went ahead and preordered Pokemon Battle Revolution for my future Wii. I also eyed a Pokemon Ultimate Pokedex for Diamond and Pearl, and I bought that too. And finally, I also looked at another game for the Wii, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. I might even get it, really.
Saturday night, I went with a friend, Jordan, and we went with a Kuwaiti friend to the Short Pump mall. This mall is unreasonable expensive looking. I of course didnt buy anything from the stores. On the way out of the mall I was a bit disappointed because I could have stopped off at the Foot Locker or the Finish Line and bought a new pair of shoes. I didnt spend any money there. I also ran into a few friends of Jordan, who are here as part of a missionary training group around Richmond. They all were from Texas, so it was amazing to hear things about Waco, Texas and such.
The final stop on Saturday night was at a WalMart. It was hear that I bought a new TV. I Was surprised at the price of the TV, it was directly what I aimed for ($250). The TV is HDTV built in so it automatically converts and receives the HD signal. It is 19inches (seems bigger for some reason) and also goes up to 1080i. When I got back to Gladding Residence Center at VCU, I failed to get the coaxial cord to connect the cable cable to the actual TV, so I could watch anything, well spare the basic channels.
Sunday I went to church and had a blast. I love Grace Bible Church for some reason. Its simple style is to die for, especially its teaching. The only thing that is not so hot is the music because they do not actually have a choir, but rather everything is a congregational type song. They are nice, but I miss the style of my home gospel choir. Some of the songs they sing at GBC are similar to the ones we sing at FBC and a few other churches in my area, but these are mainly old hymns that are hardly ever sung in an alternate way. Well for one into gospel songs, the hymns sometimes do get a revamp and such. This is becoming more common nowadays. After I got out of church I walked down from GRC to Lowe's. The walk took about 20 minutes but it was really worth it. The cable cord I got works and I managed to get a Philly Cheesesteak from Dominic's that is usually in front of every Lowe's.
The TV works great in the dorm. One of the benefits with having the Built in HDTV receiver is that it automatically detects all the analog and digital signals. So, I guess unknown to a large portion of students. We get over 150 channels for TV from VCU's cable provider. Regular tvs dont pick up the signal which is why it is such a big surprise to me and many of my other friends. Ah, that is mainly what happened today. Oh yeah, I did run into Maurice (my old roomate) on Thursday and I also ran into Haris who will be here for Summer classes. We went to TT Lounge for the slush and boba drinks and the korean kitchen place for food.
I managed to get to the bank on Thursday after I went to the lab for a tiny bit. I cashed the $1000 check that we get for the research. It was partitioned into two sets, one for a bit that I will carry around on hand and then the other half for the part that will stay in the bank. On about Saturday morning, the money appeared in the bank account at around 9 in the morning. I went ahead and proceeded to ordering a Nintendo Wii from Ebay. I also went and gave a tour on this same morning.
The tour proceeded without a single hitch. I had to alternate part of the trip though to accommodate for the many graduations that took place in and around the Stuart C. Siegal Center. I wont say that I rushed through the tour but I did finish within the normal time that a tour is done, if not faster. It was extremely hot outside and I really wanted to get into the cold but I had to digress. I like giving the tours as they are a nice thing to do on the Saturday morning and give me something to do. I did have two embarrassing moments though, they both involved VCU buildings being closed (usually during the normal fall and spring semesters the buildings are open, but of course during the summer semester they are closed unfortunately
).
Ah after the tour I went to the Gamestop that is located right underneath the VCU Ramz Hall. In this Gamestop I went ahead and preordered Pokemon Battle Revolution for my future Wii. I also eyed a Pokemon Ultimate Pokedex for Diamond and Pearl, and I bought that too. And finally, I also looked at another game for the Wii, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. I might even get it, really.
Saturday night, I went with a friend, Jordan, and we went with a Kuwaiti friend to the Short Pump mall. This mall is unreasonable expensive looking. I of course didnt buy anything from the stores. On the way out of the mall I was a bit disappointed because I could have stopped off at the Foot Locker or the Finish Line and bought a new pair of shoes. I didnt spend any money there. I also ran into a few friends of Jordan, who are here as part of a missionary training group around Richmond. They all were from Texas, so it was amazing to hear things about Waco, Texas and such.
The final stop on Saturday night was at a WalMart. It was hear that I bought a new TV. I Was surprised at the price of the TV, it was directly what I aimed for ($250). The TV is HDTV built in so it automatically converts and receives the HD signal. It is 19inches (seems bigger for some reason) and also goes up to 1080i. When I got back to Gladding Residence Center at VCU, I failed to get the coaxial cord to connect the cable cable to the actual TV, so I could watch anything, well spare the basic channels.
Sunday I went to church and had a blast. I love Grace Bible Church for some reason. Its simple style is to die for, especially its teaching. The only thing that is not so hot is the music because they do not actually have a choir, but rather everything is a congregational type song. They are nice, but I miss the style of my home gospel choir. Some of the songs they sing at GBC are similar to the ones we sing at FBC and a few other churches in my area, but these are mainly old hymns that are hardly ever sung in an alternate way. Well for one into gospel songs, the hymns sometimes do get a revamp and such. This is becoming more common nowadays. After I got out of church I walked down from GRC to Lowe's. The walk took about 20 minutes but it was really worth it. The cable cord I got works and I managed to get a Philly Cheesesteak from Dominic's that is usually in front of every Lowe's.
The TV works great in the dorm. One of the benefits with having the Built in HDTV receiver is that it automatically detects all the analog and digital signals. So, I guess unknown to a large portion of students. We get over 150 channels for TV from VCU's cable provider. Regular tvs dont pick up the signal which is why it is such a big surprise to me and many of my other friends. Ah, that is mainly what happened today. Oh yeah, I did run into Maurice (my old roomate) on Thursday and I also ran into Haris who will be here for Summer classes. We went to TT Lounge for the slush and boba drinks and the korean kitchen place for food.
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