April Fool's Day!

April Fool’s Day has a very interesting history. According to http://www.april-fools.us/history-april-fools.htm, April Fool’s Day started in about 1582 in France under Charles IX. New Year’s Week used to be March 25 to April 1; however, it was changed to January 1. Since communication traveled slowly only some people were informed and some refused to acknowledge the change. Those people were labeled “fools.” The harassing continued and evolved into pranks. Some good pranks according to the internet:

• There is the classic, draw eyebrows and moustache on their face when the person is asleep.
• Freeze water in a cereal bowl, then put cereal on top and serve.
• Put baby powder in the hair dryer, their head will be pure white.
• Place a life saver under the shower head, when they start drying off the towel will stick to them.
• Place a small alarm clock set for 4am under their bed.
• Take 20 or more disposable cups and fill them with water stapled together and put them on their desk or floor.
• There is the classic, post it note under the mouse so the cursor won’t move.
• Pop off a few keys on the keyboard and switch them around. (Only if the person is a “hunt and peck” typist)
• Place a small water balloon in the toe of the person’s shoe.
• Ask them if they can balance a drink on their hand. Place your hand palm down on the table and balance a drink. Bet the other person they cannot do the same thing on both hands at once then leave. They will be stuck.
• Go into Microsoft Word and change the auto-correct so it misspells common words. Replace with words like “a” and “however” with “dog” and “moon”.
• Turn the brightness control all the way up and the contrast all the way down. The screen should appear blank.
• Go to Start, Settings, Control Panel to find the option for mouse. On the buttons tab, change the buttons configuration to switch the primary and secondary buttons of the mouse. Now when they click nothing will work as expected.
• Change the person’s homepage to www.welcometonternet.org.

I hope everyone has a wonderful April 1st!

Spring is Here!

Well, we are half way through the second semester of freshman and all of a sudden my semester picked up drastically. The first half (the half before spring break) I was ahead on all my work and did not stay up late to do homework. After 10pm, I was normally not doing any homework…maybe a couple days I was getting ahead or reviewing but nothing intense. The week after I got back from spring break I was up until about 2:30am studying or doing homework or something. Then that Friday, we had a physics test from 5:30pm to 7:30pm and it was also Women’s Preview Weekend. Women’s Preview Weekend is when the first year girls in Hypatia host a senior in high who has been accepted into the engineering program at Virginia Tech. This way they will be able to get a feel for the engineering program here at Virginia Tech. I did not have to pick up my girl before the test because she had a soccer game and so she did not get here until about 11:30pm.


The work load piled up. We have an inventor test and mid-term test both in engineering on Wednesday this week but they gave us more homework this week than they have all semester. We have to do two drawings in inventor, download Matlab, do a 40min tutorial in Matlab, make a flowchart in Viso and test it in Matlab to see if it works, and do an isometric drawing free hand. To me, that is a lot of work because normally it is prepare for your quiz on Wednesday, do a chapter in inventor, and read a chapter in the engineer design book. I just do not understand because we have a test this week they pile on the homework so we cannot study for it. The homework is due Monday mornings at 9:00am. My other classes have not picked up much. For extracurricular activities, there is something going on almost every weekend until summer. This weekend was Women’s Preview Weekend; coming up there is Big Event, Relay For Life, and Easter. Maybe a couple free weekends and we are out for summer in the middle of May. This semester has just flown by because this week we are already requesting classes for next year, Fall 2010.


I cannot believe that is it spring all ready. It was nice because Ritas had free Italian Ice for the first day of spring last Saturday. Shorts, t-shirts, and flip flops have been the normal dress for everyone this weekend. I hope everyone is having a great time in this nice spring weather and not having to miss out on the nice weather because of homework.

Spring Break!

My spring break was amazing…I did not want to leave home but the funny thing is I did not want to leave Virginia Tech for spring break. I love both places so much it. The best part about break was sleeping in, hanging out, and no worries or stress; however, I wish I did a little more homework than I did but that is my fault because I had time to do the homework. I just choose not to do it. The first night I was home I slept for 13 hours it was amazing. I went to bed at 12:30 am and I woke up at 1:20 pm. The next day I was refreshed. During that night, I remember I woke up and I could not figure out where I was then I was like oh yeah I am at home and smiled. I just had not been home in about seven weeks. The first weekend I was back my cousin had come into town for the CAA tournament. She went to Old Dominion University and the tournament was in Richmond. That was nice that I was able to spend two nights in a row with her. I miss her a lot. Then I spent Monday night at my grandma’s house and stayed with her until Tuesday afternoon. Tuesday I spent with my best friend…we went to a friend house, went on a bike ride, saw Alice and Wonderland in 3D (that was a great movie), and talked. It was great to catch up and enjoy the nice weather. I remember it was 62 degrees that day. Wednesday and Thursday I spent just relaxing at home, laundry, a little homework, and chores. My other side of the family came in on Friday so I hung out with them until the left. That evening I went to a party. It was great to see all my friends that I had not seen since winter break. The only downer was not every college had the same week off. Then before I knew it I was heading back to Virginia Tech to start the busy part of this semester. I hope all of you had amazing spring break like I did.