Almost another year come and gone
I've been meaning to post, but, as I continually remind whoever out there in the e-world who might still be reading this old thing that's drastically reduced in intellectual fortitude as time has progressed, life has been busy! Busy but not in a bad way.

My Hokies made it to the SUGAR BOWL after an impressive end of the season STOMPING on Maryland at home on a Thursday night, sending UVa back to C-ville minus their previous hopes of being ACC Champs, and then finishing up the season by going down to Miami and embarassing them which wrapped up our title as ACC Champs OUTRIGHT! All-in-all it was a great season... our only two losses weren't BAD. The first of which was our sesaon opener against the #1 team in the nation USC. The other loss was to NC State and could've been won if we hadn't botched the field goal in the last few seconds. I actually had a ticket for the Miami game and was going to travel down with Robbie (Hokiepundit) and some other people from the Navigators, but then had to sell my ticket because a professor scheduled a test the day my group was leaving and also had a GINORMOUS project due at the beginning of the week after the Miami game. (OH WELL) As a good 2nd place to actually seeing the game in person, I did get to go to Cassell Colleseum to welcome the team back that night after the win! THAT PLACE WAS PACKED!!!! it was insane. that's all I can really say about it... insane.

Anyway, in less than a week (Jan. 1) I'll be leaving from the Richmond Airport on a GIGANTIC PlANE (it has to hold more than 330 people) to go to New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl. This will be my first bowl game after not getting to go for my first two years in the Marching Virginians. I'll have to say, going to the sugar bowl for my first bowl trip almost makes up for the two that I didn't get to go to. So I'll spend 4 AWESOME days, with some AMAAZING people, in a CRAAAAZY town all to cheer on my BELOVED HOKIES! :) That's right... GOOOO HOKIES! BEAT AUBURN!

My semester ended up pretty well.... acutally a lot better than I had expected after taking my final exams. The only class I didn't get an A in was my thermodynamics class and I managed to pull off an A- there! WOW! Also I found out after talking to one of my professors (and my advisor) that I'll most likely start doing undergraduate research with him next semester. Right now the plan is for me to do analytical and physical aerodynamics research on winglets (and possibly other wing tip modifications such as "c-wings" and "box wings"). I'm kinda excited.

Oh and I also put in an application to work at Space Camp this summer, so maybe that will come through. My other options right now are to go back to Cincinnati to work at GE Aircraft Engines for another term OR to stay in Blacksburg and continue my research work that I start this semester (provided that I get the research grant that I'll be applying for in the first few weeks of the spring semester). I don't know if I want to go back to Cincy. I mean I had a GREAT time socially and it paid quite well. But, I'm not really excited about the job itself... I'm kinda getting afraid of boxing myself into propulsion if I work too many terms with them. All the positions I've applied for with Boeing (their application process is done all online) have all come back saying that I am no longer being considered for the position, so its looking doubtful that Boeing's even an option for this summer.

The week before Tech classes start I'm going on a ski trip with Dave and Trisha maybe someone else (any of you tech people I know want to go??? I think we have an extra spot). We're going to Snowshoe. We have some package deal... 3 night stay in one of the lodges, 4 days of lift-tickets. I'm looking forward to it... but I'm expecting to be UBER-sore once the trip is over. I've never been skiing for more than one day at a time, so this is going to be pretty strenuous on my body I think. Its also been a while since I've been snowskiing at all (i think since my senior or junior year in high school).

I went to the first ACC basketball game that Tech had. We played UNC at Cassell Colluseum! We held in there pretty well during the first half but UNC showed their true talent in the second half and pulled WAY ahead. Oh well... in a few years we'll probably be able to even go out on the court with these hard-core ACC teams and not look like we're a rec team against them.

Dave got me one of those new VT football jersies for Christmas. Its really nice... me gusta mucho! I got him a VT snow hat and a ghostbusters t-shirt. He needed a new snow hat for the ski trip and since he likes the ghostbusters soo much, I decided he needed a shirt too. I guess we've kinda been dating now for 8 months now.... its hard to say

Christmas eve service was a great again! I love Christmas eve service at my church.... besides the fact that its a gorgeous service, it always is a reminder of the TRUE story of Christmas and a chance to worship God's gift to us in honor of the birth of his Son Jesus. After all the normal reading of scripture and singing of the related hymns, just before the Lord's Supper. Our Pastor gave a nice message about the similarities & differences between secular and Christian Christmas celebration/traditions.

Both Santa and Jesus have lists.... Santa checks his list twice to see who's naughty and who's nice. Jesus keeps a list of people who follow him--"The Lamb's book of Life". The difference is that Santa is trying to take people off the list (clearly he wants to get rid of people because he checks it TWICE), but God is continually trying to add people to his list... once you're on God's list, you're on for good, because he writes the names in his blood.

Both the secular Christmas and the Christian Christmas have gifts. Santa keeps his gifts in his bag.... comes flying in on his sleigh that lands on your roof. THEN, he mysteriously manages to fit down the chimney and put them under your tree... These are nice gifts... lots of times they're just what we wanted, but they can only make you happy for a little while. On the other hand Jesus' gift is forever.... its the gift of eternal life!

Both Christmas celebrations involve trees. Of course there is the tree that Santa puts the gifts under.... its really pretty and all.. But then, Jesus' gift to us was himself on the 'tree'

Every Christmas, I'm reminded of how fortunate I have been during my life. My family, my opportunities, my church, my home, everything I own, my school, my clothes.... everything. I'm SO blessed to have what I do. Of course, my family isn't the wealthiest family I know (goodness... no.... not by a LONG SHOT). To some this could be depressing, but we have SO much more than SOOOO MANY people in the world and even more than the possessions.... we have such a LOVING family. I don't think I could've asked for a more loving home to grow up in. It disturbed me the other day when reading my little brother's Christmas blog entry to see a little bit of what he wrote: "if i thought about all of the material things i had, i would be very sad because my family wasn't blessed with much, but we know how to look at what counts and it's definately each other that means something..."

I mean he knows that the most important thing is that we 'look at what counts' but I was shocked to see that he didn't think we were blessed. We definitely don't have as much money as some families that live around us and that our friends are from, but that doesn't mean we aren't blessed.... Anyway.... I think he'll learn soon enough.

Speaking of my brother, he applied to Tech earlier in the fall. Actually he applied 'early admission' but was deferred to regular admission. He doesn't have the BEST grades.... I mean they're decent, but Tech has become more and more competitive over the years... even since I applied, so I just want to say if you can say a little prayer for him to get in that'd be great. I know he wants to come to Tech REALLY badly. He hasn't applied anywhere else (mainly because my father insisted that since he didn't know what he wants to do with his life, that if he doesn't get into Tech right away that he go to Virginia Western, the local community college, until he can transfer to Tech). My dad never went to a normal college, only community-type colleges, so he's really pushing VA Western for Matt. And I can't say anything bad really about the education you receive there. Its definitely DRASTICALLY cheaper and you're taught the same curriculum (at least for the first 2 years of basic coursework) because most professors come straight from Tech and most courses are designed in conjunction with VT so that its very easy for students to transfer. HOWEVER, what I've noticed over the past few years is that the people I know that go to VWCC end up never letting go of high school. Many don't really grow up out of the 'high school' mentality until they're thrown into the 'real world' after receiving their degrees. I'm not saying that everyone is this way.... I'm just saying that A LOT of the people I know were this way. And I think my brother needs a little bit of the 'college lifestyle and independence' to help him mature emotionally and help him prepare to live in the real world after college. Not to mention going to VWCC would cause him to miss out on the musical opportunities that he is so active in and so talented in.

Anyway........ hanging out with the family was once again LOTS of fun... just the normal Christams traditions. My parents managed to surprise me this year by getting me a DVD player! :) I thought I was going to be able to borrow one my aunt had bought for the trailer at the lake last year, but it turned out that she had taken that home with her this fall to use. I think they overheard me asking about it and decided that I could get some good use out of a dvd player instead of using my laptop for playing movies!.

Lindsay's going to New Zealand next semester, so, as of right now, I have the entire room to myself! Don't get me wrong, I love living with lindsay, but if she's not going to be there, I'd just prefer not be assigned a new roommate.

Oh yeah.... and I've ordered a dress for the Bandquet off of ebay, and my aunt and I found a BEAUTIFUL dress to wear for ring dance. I know its all the way on April 1, but we wanted to make sure I found something great for ring dance.... you only get to go to your college ring dance once (well at least the one for your year). I can't wait to wear it now.... i might end up getting it out and just sitting in my dorm room this winter in it! hahaha... j/k

Anyway, I spent 3 days MASSIVELY cleaning my room... it looks a LOT better now and I can actually put my clean underwear in a drawer now instead of just leaving it lying on top of my dresser!

Okay... i'm going to end this entry now.
:)
that is all