Showing posts with label Life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Life. Show all posts

October 04, 2014

The Train Ride to Williamsburg


Throughout the day, I took some notes on my experience taking the train from Richmond's Main Street Station to Williamsburg Transit Center. I did for my Uncovering Richmond class to talk about the regional transit. Overall, I was impressed with the speed and reliability of getting to Williamsburg, but what I saw was immense opportunity to bring commuter rail to Richmond, simply by using existing infrastructure. 

Pt. I – Commuting to the Station and In-Station Experience

There's a charm to the station when you first arrive here.There's a charm to the station when you first arrive here.

I'm currently sitting in the waiting room of the Richmond Main Street Station (RVM) waiting for the Northeast Regional train to Williamsburg. I'm doing this out of a mix of a class assignment (write about regional transit and share the experience), and sheer curiosity to see how trains outside of the New England/upper Mid-Atlantic run and operate.
byUnknown
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10/04/2014 11:10:00 PM

Train Ride to Williamsburg from Richmond

The Train Ride to Williamsburg Throughout the day, I took some notes on my experience taking the train from Richmond's Main Street St...
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September 22, 2014

For months I've entertained the idea of returning to blogging, and getting back in the swing of writing out my thoughts and observations, and well, I've decided to get back into it. With it, I'm hoping to regain a grasp of being able to write and convey my thoughts more professionally, and better thought-out. Also, it might help organize my thought process more effectively, which lately, has been so scattered for the past few weeks. 

Since I've last blogged, my interests, passions, and goals have vastly changed &mbsp; the dreams of journalism, soccer beat writing, music writing and potentially teaching are long gone. Now, they've been replaced with the vague notions of city reform, city design, anti-suburbanism, mass transit, and redesigning the way we travel, and the way we see how we live. Essentially, my interests are the outline of typical urban planning and city design collegiate courses, which should be a given after two years of focusing my studies and investing my energy and interest into this field, and wanting to dedicate a portion of my life towards it. 

Where I am now is the beginning the final chapter of my undergraduate studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. To sound painfully cliche, it is has been nothing more than a foundation of my learning, and that my studies have only begun. Maybe it's simply growing up, but as I've ascended through college, there is always something more to know, and absorbing the knowledge is not as easy as we all wish it could be. In fact, that's most likely the case. I truly will not really grasp my understanding of the professions within my major (Urban and Regional Planning) until I am entering graduate school, which I am to do at VCU, as well as the entry level positions in the working world, or if I am able to achieve a dream of mine, running a transit company that can transform how we see travel. 

Now that my ridiculous exile return paragraphs have finished, I can now begin this stupid blog. 
byUnknown
in
9/22/2014 10:54:00 PM

Back At It Again, Hello

For months I've entertained the idea of returning to blogging, and getting back in the swing of writing out my thoughts and observation...
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October 25, 2011

I never previously blogged about my HIST 201 paper, primarily because it is a boring subject to blog about, and in our day and age, blogs are by far the most boring thing to read. But if I'm still keeping your eyes glued to your glowing screens, here I go: There was a paper in HIST 201 that focused on two articles arguing about the Great Depression. I had to analyze them and see which article made the stronger argument.
byUnknown
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10/25/2011 02:51:00 PM

75's across the board

I never previously blogged about my HIST 201 paper, primarily because it is a boring subject to blog about, and in our day and age, blogs ar...
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October 10, 2011

It's about fucking time some random...shenanigans occurred in my dorm. To be fair, in a suite style building that's 17 stories tall, that's no easy task, yet this fearless trio did just that.

It was technically today, since it was a hair past midnight, but my roommate's friends came by to see if my roommate was there. He was not, and before they could head out, we heard this loud crash in my suite's common room. Naturally, I slowly get up off my computer, and lunge to the door. Instantly, I see a guy fall down screaming, wearing a banana suit. Attacking the poor banana dude is a another guy in a gorilla suit, and he is just outright relentlessly mauling the guy in a banana suit.
byUnknown
in ,
10/10/2011 08:34:00 PM

Gorilla man, banana man and cameraman

It's about fucking time some random...shenanigans occurred in my dorm. To be fair, in a suite style building that's 17 stories tall,...
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To keep this prolonged and cruel story all short and sweet, some inconsiderate, likely drunk, fucking asswipe dipshit, thought he was an invincible badass and pulled the fire alarm at Brandt Hall. Located in downtown Richmond, the residence hall stands 17 stories into the sky, and likely houses well over 1,200 kids. Adjacent to Brandt, is an 18 story, rather older dorm named Rhoads Hall, housing an additional thousand or more students.
byUnknown
in ,
10/10/2011 08:22:00 PM

2:30 a.m. fire drill

To keep this prolonged and cruel story all short and sweet, some inconsiderate, likely drunk, fucking asswipe dipshit, thought he was an inv...
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October 06, 2011



I suppose at VCU, it is a necessity for everyone to have that half-a-dozen clan of indie/hipster friends that you can show of your ability to be sarcastic with, and make a fool of yourself citing stereotypes of the label for the label-less. With that, there is going to be that one dude, who is just an artsy person, but doesn't exhibit hipster rhetorics. For now, we're going to just go with the name "Dan" to describe him. One: because that's his name. Two: because it's only his first name.
byUnknown
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10/06/2011 04:43:00 PM

Trolling Brandt, one piece of paper at a time

I suppose at VCU, it is a necessity for everyone to have that half-a-dozen clan of indie/hipster friends that you can show of your abi...
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October 05, 2011

Lane Stadium, the home (American) football field for the Virginia Tech Hokies. W.K. and I spent two hours and 45 minutes looking for our friend's tailgate. We never found it.

This past weekend, me and Mike Willis ventured out of central Virginia outward to the Appalachians, specifically the Blacksburg area, which is an informal term given to the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (lets be real, this place exists because of the school), which itself is a formal term given to Virginia Tech. And at Virginia Tech, often abbreviated VT, which thankfully saves paper when typing blogs, nearly every single one of my friends decided to go there for 13th grade.
byUnknown
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10/05/2011 02:40:00 PM

Virginia Tech Trip '11

Lane Stadium, the home (American) football field for the Virginia Tech Hokies. W.K. and I spent two hours and 45 minutes looking for our f...
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September 26, 2011


Evidently, it all begins with the lifestyle of living in a city, since Virginia Commonwealth University is an urban campus right in core (Mr. Foster would pretend to be proud/impressed) of Richmond. Growing up in the sleepy, semi-fringe zone of Clifton, moving in a dorm that overlooks downtown Richmond is an outrageously contrasting difference. Seriously. The reality of seeing more buildings than trees on a daily basis is something foreign to me. Actually, when I think of it. If I look in the horizon I see more trees, but that's for a different day of sharing tree tak. That's not exactly something that stirs of interest, and in this context environmentalists would snore to this paragraph.

To focus more, let's talk about the negatives first, since that's what everyone these days has a talent for, complaining. And to sound more friendly, I will say, venting since that's apparently healthy: elevators. Going up and down the elevators are a trip of their own. Especially in a 17-story building, where stopping six or seven times on the way up or down the elevator or nothing out of the ordinary. It now causes me to leave for class slightly earlier thanks to the elevator trip that sometimes takes three to four minutes. That's not necessarily long, but for an elevator ride, that's rather lengthly.

But the advantage is, since it's an urban campus, everything is condensed into a few city blocks making the longest walk to a class take about five or six minutes, if you exclude the journey on the elevator. More time is probably spent just waiting for an elevator or the crosswalk signal to turn into the white walking figure than walking to class itself.

Next, I guess I'll delve into food. The food in the dining hall is nothing worth bragging about, other than probably the pizza. The rest? Not necessarily bad, but bearably edible. That's all I have to put forth about that topic.

At this point, I am at a loss of what else to really say, that sums up the major talking points about VCU for now.
byUnknown
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9/26/2011 05:42:00 PM

An average day at VCU thus far

Evidently, it all begins with the lifestyle of living in a city, since Virginia Commonwealth University is an urban campus right in core (M...
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EVERYONE IS GOING TO SKIP THIS SECTION BECAUSE SOCCER IS BORING.

An my God, do they! Perhaps the largest blessing in disguise getting that wait list ticket from George Mason University had to been this. Granted, there are probably a fair share of soccer fanatics like myself that trot the campus of Mason, but I have never seen so much love for clearly the best ever sport (half joking) in one condensed area. In fact, soccer might be more popular than American football here, and that's something that even I cannot believe. Now that I have said all that, someone will say VCU is full of hipsters and soccer is the hipster sport.
byUnknown
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9/26/2011 05:41:00 PM

VCU/Richmond loves soccer

EVERYONE IS GOING TO SKIP THIS SECTION BECAUSE SOCCER IS BORING. An my God, do they! Perhaps the largest blessing in disguise getting t...
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August 18, 2011

The Lone Star State continues to bring the country mounts of joy. As if FC Dallas nabbing a 1–0 road victory in Mexico to UNAM was great, and monumental, a rather secondary piece of news hits  the blogosphere.

That's Clint Dempsey, who scored twice for Fulham in the UEFA Europa League as the Cottages defeated Dnipro of Ukranie 3–0 in the first leg of the playoff round. Below are his goals.

 

Dempsey's First Goal



Dempsey's Second


 

FC Dallas 1-0 UNAM Pumas: CONCACAF Champions League Highlights

byUnknown
in ,
8/18/2011 05:17:00 PM

Texas soccer apex

The Lone Star State continues to bring the country mounts of joy. As if FC Dallas nabbing a 1–0 road victory in Mexico to UNAM was great, an...
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July 31, 2011

We had to, at least according to the fan about two rows behind us. He made sure that everyone within the vicinity could not only hear how amazing his seats were, but his outspoken knowledge of Manchester United, Barcelona and the game of soccer itself.
byUnknown
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7/31/2011 02:43:00 PM

Man U v. Barcelona: We almost had the best seats in FedEx!

We had to, at least according to the fan about two rows behind us. He made sure that everyone within the vicinity could not only hear how am...
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November 20, 2010

Perhaps it may help punch my ticket into going to George Mason University next fall.

Or...

It will help Jordan Frasier on his project with the Seattle Times.

Probably, (and inevitably) the second one.

To get to the point of this blog post, I'm doing a special blog series to share my "admissions stories" of funny and bizarre things that occur during the admissions process. Either way, it's bound to be interesting to see where these blogs take me from now until February; when the series is over.

The curious kid I am, I'm still wondering how on earth this guy found me. I have my theories.

Perhaps to get on his good side, and to help him out with his blog, here's a link to his blog. And his Twitter. Tweet him stuff, why not, talk to him about Mason if you're applying. He'll be happy you did.
byUnknown
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11/20/2010 11:32:00 PM

Connecting to GMU

Perhaps it may help punch my ticket into going to George Mason University next fall. Or... It will help Jordan Frasier on his project w...
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October 17, 2010



This is the second part of the whole "Landon Donovan vs. Steve Nash" series that EA Sports is doing. Nash is calling Donovan to schedule a time, and Donovan's being mock-interviewed on his opinions of Nash. A oversized, mega-Hummer pulls up with a jacuzzi in the back (Nash with nothing but boxers on) encouraging Donovan to play.

More stuff like that needs to happen in Fairfax, not always in Manhattan Beach.
byUnknown
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10/17/2010 09:08:00 PM

FIFA 11, with your hosts Steve Nash and Landon Donovan

This is the second part of the whole "Landon Donovan vs. Steve Nash" series that EA Sports is doing. Nash is calling Donovan to ...
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