W+M versus VCU (sounds easy right?)

 

For the Saturday, and Sunday during my Spring Break the Draper family headed to central Virginia to visit both Virginia Commonwealth University, and the College of William and Mary.  I didn't take a single picture at Virginia Commonwealth University, so does that mean that William and Mary is the better school? I don't think that should stand as the deciding factor, even though it is an accurate indicator.

First we stopped in Richmond, actually first stopped an hour before that for lunch at Cracker Barrel, and to fill up the tank with gas.  It's interesting to realize that during most road trips we decide to eat at the all-American comfort food serving Cracker Barrel.  It is also one of my mom's favorite restaurants, and since it was her birthday weekend the choice was hers. 

Virginia Commonwealth University was a very clean, and welcoming campus.  I enjoyed the new buildings that surrounded the polite, academic orientated kids.  We actually had the opportunity to walk into one of the freshman dorms here, and the hallways were tight with a foul smell.  Poor freshman, but at least it was only mandatory for the first year.  The William and Mary dorms were much more spacious, and clean.  Unlike VCU, we got to see a common area at William and Mary where both girls and boys could hang out together.  When I am looking for a college campus, I would prefer to have a common area with bathrooms that are cleaned by the staff instead of by the students.

 The photo above was taken at the William and Mary Sunken Gardens, and we took a few too many pictures here...  However, it was absolute beautiful, and both schools being in Virgina really excite me.  I believe anyone could go anywhere in the state of Virginia, and not have to look far in order to find a good view.  Both campus's had a major gardens, and I really liked how students could use this area to hold activities for either clubs, or intramural sports.  

Both libraries were spectacular.  I actually preferred the Virginia Commonwealth University, to William and Mary, because I felt like there was much more space, and VCU library seemed more developed.  Both facilities had mac workstations with high end editing software which was very thrilling.  When I am in college I see myself making videos, perhaps pursuing the fruits of my you tube channel, and having an editing station to my disposal would be great.

Both schools have cheer teams, and Greek life which are both things I am also looking for.  The Greek life at William and Mary is more developed because they actually have sorority houses on campus.

 The football stadium at William and Mary was absolutely massive.  It seemed bigger than many of the schools that I visited.  I really would love a big football field, because that means a big team, and impressive cheerleaders.  I can't wait until I get to cheer in college, because cheer is something I am truly passionate about.  Although education comes first, and both schools offer a great teaching program, for the educational career I want to go into, it really bums me out that VCU doesn't have a football team.  William and Mary is a beautiful school, and they are part of the NCAA division 1 team.

To wrap up the review on both of these schools let me tell you they both seem challenging to get into.  Virginia Commonwealth University is more of a fall back school if anything, and William and Mary might just be my dream school.  I really can't wait to get into those buffet lines, and attend these schools.  I just have to raise my GPA, and test scores, and maybe my dreams will become reality.

Who Are You Most Like?

Celebrity Quizzes are available online to discover someones famous doppelgänger.  I read the story of Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald. After reading how Gatsby obtains and exercises his riches to win a girl I began to wonder if I was like any one in the book.  Am I like Gatsby? Curiosity hits us all and if you want to know you relate to the most then read this article to become aware with how each character conducts themselves and what their major flaws are.  Maybe you are more like Gatsby than you think!

Gatsby is non stop thinking about how he can win Daisy’s love.  There is nothing striking about Daisy other than the fact that she is dumb, and has hopes her daughter will turn out to be “a beautiful little fool”.  Despite these flaws, Gatsby still wants her, and tries to get her as if she is a prize.  The capricious desire to attain Daisy’s love is stalker-like, but Gatsby provides his one and only goal is to make the circumstances just right so Daisy will love him.  He is disconnected from his own parties, since the celebrations are just stepping stone events to his ultimate goal being Daisy. Gatsby’s personality flaw includes his juvenile appearance that he can’t rely on his opinion to be confident and needs the approval of others.  Feeling like he wasn’t good enough for Daisy he broke it off with her which encouraged him to become successful so he could win her again.

Daisy grew up wealthy and did not have to worry about an education or how to get a career, as being born in the East Egg was successful enough.  She fell in love with a poor solider which supports the fact that being from the East Egg money was not an issue for her.   The only female that this blog post has included, is Daisy and her major character flaw is that she is helplessly naive.  This is clear to the reader when her husband cheats on her, and she believes he will have the common sense to change his behavior, and eventually stop.  Later, she realizes his open relationship status is not changing. Daisy wishes she stayed the fool she was, and hopes her daughter will not have to deal with such heart break and that she is a beautiful little fool. After Gatsby ends the relationship, she searches for a way to painlessly move on, which results in her hasty decision to marry Tom the very next day.  

Do you feel like you might be like a spin off of Gatsby?  Perhaps Tom is more like you than you think.  The capricious love that Tom has for other ladies, that are not Daisy, is inappropriate and rude.  He is a married man, and this shows his issues toward commitment.  Instead of being fixated on one girl like Gatsby is, Tom is attached to the fantasy life of being in love with multiple women.  The one women who he is married to gets talked down to as if she is not worth it.  He doesn’t know about the affair with Gatsby, but when Daisy explains she is leaving it becomes clear as to what the reason was.  He turns out to be okay with this, as he has several ladies to choose from.  He is not a romantic, but rather just in it for the lust.

Nick is from the East Egg and he is from old money, but decides to live in a place where people with new money are.  He does this because he is unselfish, and particularly fascinated to be around different people, rather than be around people he has seen his whole life.  He is fascinated with Gatsby’s life, just like Gatsby is fascinated with Daisy.  Nick is nosy as he wants to know more about Gatsby’s life, when he really shouldn’t be.  However, Nick does get his questions answered since Gatsby is after Daisy and Nick is her brother.

The Great Gatsby is filled with trait driven characters, perhaps you have a match that you are similar too!  If so, consider that fictional characters are always solely fictional, sometimes they are based on real people.  If your friends, or enemies, write novels beware that perhaps there is someone characterized to have similar traits as you do.

POST UVA COLLEGE VISIT

My family and I dedicated a little less the 24 hours to this trip.  The two hour drive was worth the experience at Charlottesville.  First thing we did was check into our hotel that evening, and as I fell asleep that night knowing there was a big day tomorrow.  November 27th consisted of not only Thanksgiving dinner, but also the opportunity to explore the University of Virginia campus.  We did not have a tour scheduled, so we walked around aimlessly, and wandered to the University hospital, and tugged on several doors that were locked.

At Charlottesville it was 40 degrees Fahrenheit of face numbing weather, so we found refuge in the University of Virginia hospital.  The hospital had a modern design to it, and I love to be surrounded by such a innovated architecture.  Everything seemed to be well maintained, and there was a piano in the lobby which I desperately wanted to play.  However, there was already another musician playing a guitar, so for me to play my song over his would have been unnecessarily rude.  I know I could have politely asked if I could play a song, but for heavens sake I am still just learning and I am not ready to perform anything.  What's funny is that it didn't even occur to me that I probably need permission from someone who worked in the hospital, but in my eyes the only obstacle was the other talent.  We stepped outside where we would look into the windows of buildings and decide if they were classrooms, offices, or dorms.  It was fun to gather up the context clues around a location to decipher what that area was.

By peaking into one building we saw that it seemed to have a enough room to sit around 8-10 families, and there was a huge sign in front of it that said, "Little Johns Deli".  From this we decided it was a place we could eat.  We didn't make a nebulous decision to eat here, rather a twitter user replied to my dad recommending this restaurant.  To say the least, we were not disappointed with their whole grain, all-natural ingredient made sandwich options it was a great place to have breakfast.  The original plan was to eat somewhere on campus, but having it be Thanksgiving all the campus cafeterias were closed.  We made reservations to eat at the Omni Hotel buffet for Thanksgiving dinner which we consumed at around 1.  We got home by dinner time, but I was too full to eat anything, so I skipped that meal.  Which wasn't a bad thing considering I ate 5 plates at the buffet.

Overall, visiting UVA was a great experience.  I liked seeing a small town surround the UVA campus, and it kind of gave a colonial vibe to it.  Compared to George Washington University and Georgetown University which are both surrounded by metropolitan lifestyles.  I love Virginia weather, and so the location makes me love UVA even more.  When we were driving home I was thinking about the pro's and the con's of UVA, and honestly could not come up with one negative aspect.  I want to make a lot of money, so the Darden School of Business would be a great fit for graduate school.  Although, UVA does offer an undergraduate degree it is very expensive when I could get the same education and credit elsewhere for much less.  I haven't visited many undergraduate colleges, so I can't compare it to anything I have seen before.  The University of Virginia is talked about constantly at my school, and now I can finally contribute my first hand thoughts, also I can keep this style of school in mind when I visit others like it.

PRE-UVA College Visit

I occasionally feel like there is not enough hours in a day, and I can not plan for my future.  However, this Thanksgiving break I am taking a few hours away from my days off, so I can decide if the University of Virginia is my kind of school.  I would like to visit the Darden School of Business,  since when after I graduate I was considering to go into business.  Although, I really don't want to stay close to home... for reasons...  I want to take college as an opportunity to jump from the nest and live independently.  I think I will really like just being by myself, and having the only responsibilities be me.  I will keep you guys updated on what I thought of the school once I get back :D

Americans United as Americans?

Task:  Evaluate the extent to which the colonists developed a sense of identity and unity as Americans by the eve of the Revolution?  Use your knowledge of the period 1750 to 1776 to answer the question.

Thought Process:  Hi there!  Alright time to get started.  First things first do you understand the prompt?  We are asked to EVALUATE aka provide evidence for the REASON as to how colonists developed as a nation, but the days preceding the Revolution.  We are to use 1750 all the way up to 1776, which means a few years prior to the French and Indian War until right before the Declaration of Independence was signed.

Come up with a list of reasons that you can use to support your point!

• 
  French and Indian War (1754-1763) The British (and the Americans) won this battle!  It definitely boosted their moral... even though later it led to debts, and taxes to pay for those debts.
• Lexington and Concord (1775)  This is when the British had their first attack.  They experienced the Guerrilla warfare of the Americans for the first time.  Here the Americans united especially when they created the "one if by land, two if by sea" system to alert the colonists of the British arrival.  Paul Revere and William Dawes galloped to Lexington from Charlottesville. Warning other that the "regulars" were coming.
• Battle at Bunker Hill (1775)  This is an interesting one, because although the American lost they felt like they won.  During the first 2 attempts of the British to attack the Americans, they failed.  The third attempt was successful since the Americans ran out of ammunition, HOWEVER the British suffered heavy looses.  This battle led the Americans to believe that they needed full force on the war efforts, and all eligible men needed to fight in the war.
• Boston Tea Party (1776) This caused great commotion because the extreme radicals dumped expensive tea into the ocean causing the British to impose the Coercive acts so that they could pay for all the damages.
• Groups of people like the Committees of Correspondence, the Continental Congress, and the Sons of Liberty were formed in order to create a new government system.  They were grouped together with the common interest of wanting to cede away from the British.

Great now we can work!  We can use the process my teacher gave me which is the X, however, A, B, C, therefore Y.  X is the counter argument, weird I know.  I have always been told to never have the other side in the essay.  A, B, and C are all the point to support YOUR POINT, which is the Y in the picture.

Let's write a thesis shall we?

The Americans were divided between the Loyalists and the Patriots, however through the boosted moral at Bunker Hill, the desire to over throw the royal control through the Boston Tea Party, and rebel group formations, the Americans had formed a sense of unity and American identity prior to America actually being created.

Cat + Mouse

In effort to not try to push and shove words into my memory and actually learn it.  This is why I have come up with a way to utilize these words on my blog!!

Before school many students are rushing to get ready because they slapped the snooze button one too many times. Students always prevaricate when they talk about how they forgot, yet claim to have done, their homework.  I see it as foolish to try to deceive a teacher in this way.  They think they can get away with just forgetting do it if they swear to get it done.  It's not like the teacher would be vituperative, because school isn't the place where children are disciplined.  The downside is that teens get a zero in that low percentage category, but that is a zero for the easiest section to get perfect in.  No one is trying to beat you down, it's not a cat and mouse game at school… the only way it gets any close to that is the catty girls at school.

Knife Course

I went to a knife class to learn different cutting techniques.  I learned a bunch of information and I was sure to record it all in my binder.  Now, it is transcribed and ready for me to share to you.  I broke this into categories of what the instructor went over, so I tried to make it easy to follow.   He was really funny so maybe I will include a follow blog post of the jokes he made :)  But the jokes where so good that I can't remember them.

Knife Safety:
Do not take knife and board together.  Instead just go with board.  Use back of the knife to scape off food.  Don’t plunge the knife into water.  To store keep the knife on a magnet or inside a bamboo block.  Not because it looks cool, but because you need to keep it somewhere where it is away from

Different Knives:
A pairing knife is used to cut small vegetables, and the other only knife you will need is a French chef knife.  A French chef blade has a rounded bottom and flat top, meanwhile a Santoku has a flat bottom and a rounded top.  Both the French chef blade and the Santoku do the same thing and give the same type of cut.

Caring For Knifes:
On the tip of the knife there are little pieces of metal that separate every so often, so a honer(hoe-ner not aw-ner) is used to put teeth back into position.  To use a honer you should be almost parallel to the blade and use a down and across motion.  Each side of the blade should be honed 20 times.  Overtime, the tip of the knife becomes dull, so you need to physically shave the blade 2 times a year with an electric sharpener.  To do so just run the blade through the coarse side about 10 times per side, and then through the smooth side 2 times per side, afterwords it should be honed.

Holding the Knife:
Right before the handle at the end of the blade should be the knifes balance point.  Hold the balance point with your index and thumb then wrap the 3 other fingers around the handle.

Using the Knife:
Press the tip down and use the back of the blade to chop the food.  Use a rocking motion to cut the food, and press the food through as if it was a car wash.  As you are pushing the food through be sure to grab the food with a claw grip, meaning the fingers are tucked away.  Aim for cutting the food in a way that they will all be a uniform size.

Other Tips:
If your cutting board is moving around on you that can be dangerous.  Therefore, place a wet paper towel underneath the board so it does not move.

Cutting Foods:
Cut a cucumber in half and then flesh side down start cutting it into uniform pieces.

Cutting a bell pepper can be easy simple cut of the sides and after all the sides are cut off the middle is what remains

To chiffonate basil layer the basil, roll it like a crepe, and then cut it into thin vertical strips.  To keep the basil fresh and to keep it from turning brown store it in cold water to use later as a pretty finishing garnish.

Cut off the root of an onion then cut slivers into the onion but not all the way through, then cut into the onion straight down to make cubes of onion that are roughly uniform in size.

To supreme an orange cut off the top and the bottom then cut around from top to bottom then cut out from the membrane.  Keep the membrane to make orange juice.

When buying a whole chicken drain out the juice over a trash can.  Then take out the gizzards and hearts out of the chicken and through them out.  Keep the necks and stuff them back into the chicken.  Cut off the fat near the bottom of the chicken.  Sometimes it is helpful to use a boning knife which is curvy and helps get around a bone, but a french knife works as well.  Pop the thigh of the chicken and cut off the whole leg.  Then to separate the thigh from the chicken leg look for a change in the color of skin and cut there.  The thigh will be yellow and the drumstick is purple.  Dislocate the chickens shoulder and cut down into the wing, so that all that is left is the body.  Cut off the little parts of the wing, because there is very little meat there anyways.  Cutting into the breast bone involves going to the side of the bone that sticks out of the chest.  Curve the knife around the body to get as much breast as you can.  The flap under the breast is the tenderloin, but if you cut up the next vertical piece, and then do a 2/3 cut, you will be left with 2 tenderloins.  It is easy to get 2 more if you take the piece you have left and cut it in half across the grain.  The oysters is right below the thigh and it is dark mean and it is the best part of the meat.

Different Kinds of Cuts:
A Julianne is a long thin strip, meanwhile a Brunoise is small cubes made from cutting up a Julianne.

Making Chicken Stock:
To the bones and water, about 1 inch above the bones,  and simmer for 8 hours and skim the fat you see within the first 1/2 an hour.  Then take a mirepoik, (2:1:1 ratio respectively) of onions, carrots, and celery.  Cook the mirepoik for 1/2 an hour and then strain it, finally add in parsley, peppercorns, garlic, bay leaves, thyme, and rosemary.  If it is thick then you are doing it right.  Get the mixture to be in gentle simmer with no lid which is one bubble every second.  It can easily be stored in ice cube trays or in baggies.

Do not make fish stock unless you have a venting hood.  The best kind of fish to make a stock out off is trout and rockfish.  Note:  If you are making a fish stock then use white fish and please make sure you have a vent hood, other wise you would want to sell your home, but it won't sell.