A quick word before I run off to math

I have about half an hour to kill before math, so I figured I'd try and be semi productive and write something. 

Since I'm going to Statistics, here's one for you: yesterday, over the course of my travels, I sent and received 829 text messages. I was secretly hoping to break 1,000 but it's okay. I'll live. 

This morning I took a shower, and again had to fight myself to get out. The air in the bathroom is too cold in the morning to take showers, but alas, I did not want to melt, so I got out eventually. 

And since I'm now trying to make these posts more interesting by throwing pictures in, here's one I took several weeks ago.

They put a vice grip in the place of a faucet handle.

The end.

I'm Home! (The other home)

Wheeeee!!!

So, lets see. I got to Penn Station at 10:40AM. I was meeting up with Amtrak's train 54: Vermonter. It was scheduled to pull in at 10:46 and leave at 11:30. I checked the arrivals board, and slickly found out that my train was pulling on track 9. The track was not listed under the departures, so most people didn't know where to wait. I waited near track nine, facing the status board that everyone else looks at, ready to rush straight to my train as soon as it was announced. Yes!

Sorry, I couldn't get a clear picture!

I was the third person down the escalator to the train. I knew there was a stampede of people behind me, and I needed to find a seat. Since my train was coming from Washington, it was already decently filled. And this would be a full train. I walked into the first car, and down to the middle. This is how the seats work. All the seats in one half of the car face forward, and the seats in the other half of the car face backward. In the middle, they meet, so you technically have four seats, but there is no room between them, so only two can sit there. There is barely enough room for your legs. This means i had a footrest, and would totally sit there. I sat next to the person who was there, because he seemed alright. 

He left two stops later, and was replaced by another guy who stayed for two stops, and then a High School sophomore for the majority of the rest of the trip. He was nice, and we talked on and off.

Here's more about the trip:

• I got to lounge out on my awesome seats
• We had to wait an extra 25 minutes in Springfield, MA because the Southbound Vermonter was running late, and we needed to wait for it to clear the tracks. As a result, our train ran 30 minutes late for the rest of the trip
• In Palmer, MA the train switched tracks, and switched direction. As a result, everyone who was originally facing forward was now facing backwards. I, however, simply switched to the other side of my seats. 
• There were many college kids
• I knew a good 5-6 of them

Overall, the ride was awesome. We got in to Essex Junction-Burlington at 9:15PM, 46 minutes late. It was a nine hour and forty-five minute trip. Honestly, I enjoyed it. I love planes, trains and cars (not automobiles), and I surprisingly did not get bored. I had a plethora of magazines with me, but I only read one. For the rest of the ride, I just relaxed and was happy, and talked to my seatmate. It was pretty darn good.


And then, the guys in 303 were kind enough to drop by on their way back to Bankus to pick me up at the train station. I crammed myself and my bags into the back, and enjoyed the ride!
Our driving song was "Shots," which if you've been reading closely, you'll know it was my take-off song for my trip home. Also, our arrival song was "Like a G6." An awesome way to end an awesome day.


So, that is that. I enjoyed my trip, and I'm really happy to be back and see everyone. Here is the GPS log from my trip. Note that I only activated it upon leaving Port Chester.

GPS tracking powered by InstaMapper.com

I'm really quite stressed

And it is due to many things that either are unexplainable, or only get to be discussed with an elite group of people. 

This is probably going to be a long rambling post, and wont make much sense, but I'm really only writing it to try and clear my mind. No one is forcing you to read this.

I just got back from seeing Due Date with Matt and Daniel. I'm not really sure if the movie was good or not, I cannot really make up my mind. I don't think I was in the best mood, and that may not have helped at all. Like, something funny would happen, and I would be like "meh." Loews 84th street kinda gets on my nerves, as does Loews Lincoln Square. I can't really fit in the darn seats anymore, and its just too uncomfortable. I have no legroom at all, and I am just paranoid that I'll end up bashing the seat of the person in front of me. That's why several years ago, I made AMC Empire 25 on Times Square my primary theater. Stadium seating is wayy better. 

I was not carded when I bought my ticket. Matt was next to me at the next cashier, and he was carded. When my cashier heard him be carded, she kinda smiled, and then glanced at me. I can't decide if I like being carded or not. 

This morning, I went for a ride with my dad, and got to work on my skills driving a stick shift. Being in the city and all doesn't really give me the chance to learn or practice. It's really more fun to drive a manual transmission, provided that you do not live in a big city. 

Tomorrow, I'm taking the train back to Champlain. My train leaves at 11:30AM. I am not packed. I am not ready. I have not been able to think about it. I need to get things done, but my mind has not yet been cleared. I'm anxious to go back and see everyone, and that includes my fish. I'm not thrilled about the work that needs to be done, but I'm probably overreacting, and I'll manage. I am thrilled, in general. I think. That made little sense. I hear it has been snowing up in Burlington this week, and I'm really excited for that. I want to go snowboarding as soon as possible. That would be sweet. 

If you don't have anything to do tomorrow, send me a text. I'll be on the train for nine hours. Nifty, huh? I'm excited for it though, I haven't really been able to travel any long distance by train before. So, send me a text, and I'll be sure to reply (unless I cant for some reason, which in that case you will not receive a reply).

Alright, I think that this post has fulfilled most of its purpose to calm me down. On another note, I find that this blog is lacking in images. So I'm going to do my best to try and include more of them. Even if they are completely unrelated.

Here's one I took this summer in Aruba:

That's one way to learn your shapes...

 

You best check yoself before you wreck yoself

Tonight was fun,

Unless you consider the random mood that I'm in at the moment which is

Going to annoy me

All night long,

Yay

Taxi ride at 4:30AM? Pretty good

So, last night I needed to go home at 4:30 in the morning. It's a long story, but I was in Brooklyn, and I just wanted to be in my own bed. So I stepped outside in the darn coldness with Mom, who isn't actually my mom, but she comes darn close. After missing a cab by one block, and seeing none in the distance, I got annoyed and my teeth started to chatter.

Thankfully, after about eight or so minutes, I saw a taxi approaching in the distance. Flagged him down, and hopped in. I was relieved. Normally taxi drivers don't converse too much, but it was quiet, and he kindly asked me how I was this evening. I explained to him that I wasn't feeling so well, and I decided that I wanted to go home; he was sympathetic. I learned that he too was about to go home before I flagged him down, which made me feel a tad guilty, but he reminded me that it was the cost of doing business. We chatted a little more, and then were quiet for the rest of the ride.

I love the city in the early morning; it's close to empty, but all the streetlights still keep things bright. There's no traffic, and all is quiet. Except for a bunch of stupid traffic lights on the West Side that kept tripping us up. I got home at 5, and he wished me a good night, and told me to feel better. I did the same, and ran upstairs to the comfort of my own bed.

I just discovered that my bag was inspected when I flew home

Usually the piece of paper telling you so is on top. But it wasn't. My stuff was not disturbed.
They were probably checking out the bottle of maple syrup at the bottom...And, well, I guess they pushed the paper back down with the bottle. 

I was reaching around looking for a belt, when I felt the piece of paper, which I pulled out.

I'm pretty much indifferent...

Random ramblings from a slightly annoyed Ben

I'm in one of those moods where every little thing gets on my nerves. I hate that. I end up getting tackled with all the stressful things on my mind, and then I don't know what to do. So, I thought that I would try complaining about some random things instead.

First up: Countdown Clocks

The MTA has finally gotten around to turning on most of the countdown clocks that have been installed on the West Side Lines... Now, a select few of you know about my obsession about these countdown clocks. Matt has probably had to deal with it the most (Because his station had them activated long before others). But they turned them on at Wall Street, right after I graduate high school. Now this is just plain unfair. Also, since 96th street has been undergoing a complete renovation, they have not even been installed at my stop. Therefore, I have never been able to truly appreciate them...

Here's the one at Wall Street:

 

Fine, whatever.

I realize now that I do not really have anything else to complain about. Oh, I know, I miss my Student MetroCard. It is not as fun swiping through turnstiles at full speed when you know that it just cost you $2.25. Plus, the neon green cards were awesome!

Ahh, and christmas trees are almost here...As evidenced by the arrivals of these:

Oh, and I saw a trailer truck full of trees going down Broadway, so they're pretty much here! 

Well, I think that's all for now. Probably. 

Keys?!?!?

Back from College, I'm now having to remember to carry my keys around with me. This is a pain. Being able to leave the house with nothing but my ID is so much easier. In addition, since I reorganized where things are stored in my pants pockets, there is no comfortable location for my keys. So I put them in my jacket. Which is mostly alright. But I still have to remember to take them with me....

If I ever get my own house, I'm installing digital locks.

Yes, I would like a refund...

So, I was browsing through jetBlue's fares to see if there was anywhere I could go for a cheap one or two day adventure when I noticed that the fare for my flight home in December went down by $27. Naturally, I was annoyed. I read through their fare policy, and it seemed to indicate that I had to inform them of the lower fare on the same day that I booked my original flight. I was annoyed and confused, but I decided to call them anyway, ready with several arguing points.

The first thing I was told was that my flight home was moved to about half an hour earlier. Okay, that's fine. Then I asked about the price drop...and she went right ahead and gave me credit for a future flight. Well, that was easy. It turns out that the low fare policy I was reading only applied to lower fares found on other sites, and I was still entitled to the refund. Yay! jetBlue is my friend :)

Aside from that, I'm doing my best to relax while in NY, but there is minimal work that I have to do before I go back to CampChamp. I look forward to getting that completed soon!

Whee!

Wheeee!

So, first full day back, and I went on a 220 mile round trip road trip. (Hahaha, round trip road trip)

Anyway, we went upstate, I did some shopping, got some stuff. I really get annoyed with Gap's selection of boxers. It's all seasonal designs, and I just realized that means that I have to buy everything in the summer to get the cool stuff. Otherwise it's all boring holiday nonsense. And I'm not going to wear Santa boxers. I did my usual rounds of Gap, Oakley, Timberland. Didn't go to Swiss Army because I decided that I wouldn't be interested in what they probably had, and besides, I didn't really need that much. Oh, and I went to Columbia Outdoor for the first time. It's completely across the mall, so I hesitated for a while as to whether I wanted to go. I ended up buying a new wallet after about 15 minutes of looking at it. We'll see if I switch over...

On the way back, I realized that it gets pitch black at 6PM. I don't really mind driving at night. In fact, I think that I am more comfortable with it. Reason being is that it is easier to keep track of the cars around me because I can see their lights. So, I can know that a car is on my side just by noticing the headlights. Not that I don't keep track of my surroundings during the day, it just makes it easier when the lights are there. 


So, I'm home again. And thats that!


Whoo!

I'm Home!

And really happy too :)

My day went a little like this:

I met with Professor Kelly at 9:00, went back to Bankus, and got my stuff together. Walked over to Main street, and caught the bus to UMall. Transferred at UMall to the Burlington Circulator, which took me to the airport. Travel time: 25 Minutes. Not too bad

It's now 10:15. I walked up to the counter, dropped my bag off, and proceeded to security. What would they find this time? The good news is that they were in a good mood, and seemed nicer than my last encounter with them. The bad news is that they inevitably find something weird on the x-ray. They had to go through my bag and run things separately three times before they figured out what it was... Apparently my keychain looks like a knife. 

  It's a chunk of metal. I guess I can see how it may show up looking like a small pocket knife. Although I've had it for at least five years, and no one has ever complained about it. See, if they actually asked the passengers questions beyond "Is there anything sharp or dangerous in your bag?" then it would probably be easier to figure things out. If they told me what they were looking for, I'd probably be able to pinpoint it. Not to mention the fact that they mess up my neatly packed bag...

Okay, fine. It's 10:35 now, so I make my way to the gate. Then I sit, and wait. I'm in row 3, which means I may not be one of the first on, but I am first off. We started boarding about 20 minutes late, but somehow managed to push back at 11:11. One minute late. 

Oh, also, It was snowing. How annoying. It starts snowing when I leave...Anyway, my take off song was "Shots" by LMFAO, feat that Lil guy. 

It's pretty amazing how big UVM is, especially when you look at it from the air. My goal was to find Champlain, and Bankus Hall, so I kept scanning the ground. I saw Shaws, and knew I had looked too far over. I turned my head to the left, and managed to see Bankus just before we disappeared into the clouds.

And then...We landed. Back in NY, I made my way to the carousel, positioned myself and waited for my bag. Got my bag, called my Dad, and I was home free!

And that is that.

Can't wait to see everyone!

Did you know that Drake is Canadian?

Neither did I...

Fire Drill :D

So, we just had our first fire drill. It was fun, but there weren't enough stairs to run down. Here's how it went:

I'm standing in 303, watching "Don't mess with the Zohan" and I hear a buzzer in the distance. As I'm wondering what it is, it spreads to the room. Yay! Fire alarm! Flashing lights!
 I calmly walk over to my room, open the door, put down my deck of cards, grab my sunglasses, throw on some shoes, and then head downstairs, assuming that it's probably a drill since our dorm does not really contain annoying people who do dumb things that set off alarms (knock on wood). I then realize that I wanted to use the fire exit on the side, because it's one of the rare times that I would get to use it. But at the last minute, I decided not to. I figured I would rather go out front with everyone else. After opening three of the heavy staircase doors (since I went down the back staircase), I went through the lobby where Public Safety was standing, and proceeded to the end of the sidewalk. After confirming that It was only a drill, I realized that it was slightly less of an adrenaline rush than I anticipated. Maybe it would be better in the middle of the night (although we dont really need that).

If you're wondering why the staircase doors were closed, it's because they're fire doors that are magnetically held open, but are released when the fire alarm is activated.

We are required to evacuate within two minutes (which is quite a bit of time for 44 people to leave), and we made it out in 1:35. I kinda want to set a "fastest evacuation" record, but that's doubtful, because even with my casual walk, I wasn't the last one out...


On a side note, when I was saying something to Jen from Public Safety, I unconsciously put my hand on her shoulder (which is something I do often), but she didn't seem to like it, so then it was slightly awkward. I didn't do it on purpose!

2 Days left!

I'm so excited!
So, my second class on Friday just got canceled because we were super productive today. My first class is canceled, but I have to meet with my professor at 9AM.

My flight is at 7PM. 
This is slightly frustrating, because now I'll be sitting around the whole day waiting for my flight.
Here are my options:

There is a flight at 12:42PM. I could: 
Pay $40 to have a confirmed seat on this earlier flight, 
or go to the airport early, and fly standby at no additional cost. 

However, if I don't make it onto the earlier flight, I would have to go back to Champlain at a moderate inconvenience since they eliminated the bus that goes straight from town to the airport, and then go back to the airport later. As much as I love the airport, 6 hours is a little bit too long for me!

Or: Do nothing, and just appreciate the fact that I am flying home at some point that evening. 
 


The $40 option has pretty much been ruled out already, so whether I dare to fly standby will probably be a last minute decision based on how many open seats are on the flight. 


Chances are, I'll probably just stick with my 7PM flight...But, who knows?




And...My mom sent me brownies! They're awesome and yummy. *hee*


Or, I could call JetBlue and ask them very nicely if they would move me up without charging me. After all, they could probably make more money reselling my ticket to some last minute passenger who needs the seat. 


Hehe

It's about 8:30AM on Tuesday

And I think I'm going to skip breakfast. I had a granola bar. See, I never used to eat breakfast in High School or Middle School, I'd wake up and go. But now, I have more time between when I wake up and have to go to class, so I end up going to eat.

I'm sure this is not a good thing, so I'm going to see whether I can get through my 9:30 class without breakfast (even though I technically broke the fast with the granola bar).

That, and the fact that there are only three more days until I go home is awesome!!!

-Benjamin

4 Days left!!!!

Until I go home...Something that I am really excited about. My flight leaves at 7:01PM on Friday, and I will be back in the city shortly after that. I can't wait to see everyone.

I know it's only Monday, but for some reason, it feels like the week is already flying by (which is a weird feeling). I hope it doesn't end up going really slow, and then annoying the heck out of me.

I have to start thinking about packing for my week at home, which is weird, because, well, it just is. I have to pack. 

I put this in the fish tank. I figured they needed a change of scenery. 

And finally, parked the vans in the wrong spot this morning. I just walked out to take a picture, but someone took out Van 2. How annoying. Anyway:

Not okay...

 The end

I burned my fingers on my bagel this morning...

Okay, it wasn't that bad, but it hurt. Ben suggested that I tell you about it. Someone must have turned the heat up on the toaster. That also brings up the point that they should have full size plates by the toaster, because the plates they have now are for like the really small desserts. They can only fit one piece of toast, or half a bagel. That's annoying, and you have to stack the food, which leads to a mess. 

So, it's Thursday. The wonderfully long day... I just signed up for a trip to NYC. Now, you may be thinking "why the hell is Ben signing up for a trip to NYC?"

Well, why not? Yes, it's a week after Thanksgiving, and two weeks later I'll be going back for the holidays, but really, why not??? It's going to be a fun experience pretending to be a tourist, and being on the road with cool people. So there. If you'll be in the city that weekend, you should come hang out (unless I don't like you, which in that case, I don't know why you are reading this). Drat, I just realized that it's the first weekend that I would have a chance to go snowboarding. Oh well, maybe I'll manage to go during the week.

So there. I'm doing my laundry right now, because it's time to do it. Hehe.

The end

See, making friends with everyone is awesome

A week or two ago, I made friends with Penny Cross, who works in the cafe.  We bonded over my discussion about how much I eat, and she agreed with me because she has two teenagers of her own. So, we cheerfully say hello every time we pass each other. Tonight at late nite, I was eating with Peter, Shelby, and Hannah, and out of nowhere, she appears with a plate with four cookies. 

Now, I'm not talking about the normal tiny cookies that they have. These were big, chocolate chunk cookies. It turns out that Penny is one of the new supervisors, and she wanted to ask us about our opinions on the food. So, we happily talked to her and ate, and that was just awesome.

The cookies, which were warm, with melty chocolate came from the Shelburne Museum, and they were delicious.

See, it's awesome to become friends with whoever you can!

:D

Where the heck is the snow?!?!?!

It's raining again! How is it that we have not gotten any real snow yet? Come on! It's like 31 degrees outside, and there's a mix of light hail and rain. This is obnoxious!

On another note, my room smells like swagger, because someone sprayed Old Spice next door. I had to turn the fan on, but it doesn't seem to be doing a great job of getting rid of the smell. How annoying. 

I had math this morning, which is my only class on Mondays...I have a paper to write for Rhetoric tomorrow that I don't feel like starting, and I'm kind of hungry. So, I decided to write this post instead. 

Recently, Peter and I have been watching the British TV series "Top Gear" which is quite hilarious (to us, anyway). I was also quite disappointed in last night's episode of Family Guy.

Anything else? I can't think of anything, so that's all for now.

Stop messing with time!

I hate Daylight Saving Time. It's so stupid, pointless and annoying. Just leave the time alone. Yes, right now we "gained" an hour, but that's just because we "lost" one several months ago...That really gets on my nerves. Stop messing with things!

I could have sworn that I had more to say, but I can't think of anything right now. How incredibly annoying...
So, uh...Here's the current status of my food drawer

And, uhh, this was my idea: (But not my room)

 

Saturday, Saturday!

So, on Thursday, for pretty much the whole day, there was an ambulance parked on campus. And by on campus, I mean like outside the auditorium, where you generally do not drive motor vehicles...There were no paramedics in sight, and it just sat there all day. Yes, it was Thursday, but they left at like 7PM, so I don't know what they were doing. I meant to take a picture, but I didn't get around to it, because I'm sure everyone would have been like "What the heck?"

Friday was a good day for packages...The mailroom staff finally acknowledged that they should know my name by now, since I'm there for a package several times a week. 

Can you guess what I got? Hint: No, you cant... (Okay, maybe you can guess one of them)

Yay for free packs of gum!

So, anyway, that was pretty fun. This morning, Peter and I went for breakfast at Denny's because of our general annoyance at the fact that we can't eat until 11:15 on the weekends. We then carried on to PetSmart where I bought some vacation feeders for our fish. I'll test them for a week to see if I feel that we can safely leave Bankus and Hall over break. We'll probably have to take them home.

Then we went to Shaw's. I may have mentioned this previously, but the last time I was there (October 10th), I spent about $9 on 4 AAA batteries. When I got home, I was really upset at that fact, and just flat out annoyed. So today, I returned them. Haha. And then I bought another pack for $4. These weren't silver, but I don't care...I didn't have to spend $9.

To sum this up, I still get really annoyed at people who cannot use the self-checkout machines at a reasonable speed. They should have like a training lane that people have to use. Honestly, I come pretty darn to matching the speed of a cashier when I use self-checkout, but when I have to wait on line and watch people search for barcodes, it kind of gets on my nerves.

Oh, and I almost forgot, I went to Boloco again yesterday and had a Teriyaki mini. Pretty good. I'm starting to get the hang of this intense variety...

Alright, that's about it for now.

Stay fly (like a G6)

Another rainy Thursday!?!?!?!

I went to Boloco again today. Those minis are perfect snacking size. I ended up having carnitas in my "summer" burrito, because he apparently thought that's what I asked for.

I don't really have the patience to write anything coherent right now. I'm sorry :(

Ahh, yes.

It's Wednesday! Which means that tomorrow is Thursday, the next day is Friday, and then it is the weekend! Awesome!

It's been pretty cold here. Wait, I lied. It's not really *that* cold. It is a decent temperature. Even though it's apparently 47 degrees outside...

I love getting packages. I got two today. I would say that I've probably gotten around 20 packages so far... I could probably go back and try and count the emails that they send to tell you there's a package, but I do not feel like doing that at the moment. 

I booked my flight home for the holidays yesterday (Not Thanksgiving, that's been done). My flight home is at 6AM Friday morning. I may or may not hate myself for having to wake up at 4:35. I'll probably be okay, I love flying :) Although I won't be too thrilled to encounter the inevitable argument with the TSA agent that has nothing better to do than search my completely non-suspicious belongings that early in the morning.

So, I've been listening to "The Wave" which is Champlain's internet radio station for pretty much the whole day. I have to say, it's not that bad...Although their "news update" is several weeks old, the music is still interesting.

This morning when I left for breakfast, the grass everywhere looked completely gray and dead, and I figured that it was so cold overnight that the grass had simply died. Now it looks all nice and green. Go figure.

In addition, I ordered three packs of almonds on amazon because I needed a healthy snack that sustains my hunger, and I'm happy to say that I like the almonds very much. Now I can get my daily dose of cyanide! Yum!

Today's Loot!

Yummy almonds hiding in my desk

 

Champlain has an internet radio station??

I had no Idea.....
How interesting!
Longer post hopefully comes soon!
http://radio.champlain.edu/