Bugs and a Packing List
I love stepping out from working all day into the moon light and warm air. However, while driving home the other night I soon heard pattering on my windshield. Could it be raining? As I looked closer I realized that I hadn’t been totally oblivious as I walked to my car that evening. The noise […]
The Travel Tips You Need This Summer
It’s 2016 and that means everyone wants the best thing for the cheapest price. All are looking for great deals so that dreams can become a reality and as travel season comes swooping in, the searching goes into overdrive. Here are a few helpful insights to keep in mind as you search for deals, pack up your bags, and head off on your adventure.
Searching for deals:
- Flights can be expensive in general but the prices seem to sky rocket during the summer. However, there are ways around this! Flying on an off day is better when buying tickets (for example a Tuesday instead of a Friday) for two reasons, 1-its cheaper that way and 2-you might just luck out with less people on your flight thus getting you a better seat. Oh yeah and….BUY YOUR TICKETS EARLY!! If you are planning a vacation, go ahead and book the tickets as soon as you get the money because the longer you wait the higher the price will be. One last thing about flying is that there are small cheap planes you can get onto that are less than $100, the only downside being that they are very specifically located and if you aren’t going to that particular place, you can’t get the deal.
- If you have the time, there are other (less expensive) options available. For example, trains do still exist in America and can take you all over the country for pretty low prices. If you have the time and add it in as part of the vacation, it really is a good deal. Rolling along countryside with your significant other by your side…what could be better? Of course there are also bus systems which are even cheaper than the trains.
- Booking hotels? Sometimes if you book it with your flight you can get a better deal; saving you money. Use all of the discounts that you can-you would be surprised what family with military or AARP discounts will do to help. The least you can do is ask!
Prep Work:
- Packing can get super stressful, depending on the duration of your trip and there are a few things to keep in mind that can help ease the burden. Some people over plan everything while others pack a few hours before and hope they didn’t forget anything. Try to fall somewhere in between. Make a list so as not to forget anything but don’t overpack.
- Paying extra money at the airport because you had to bring 10 extra outfits “just in case” is not fun. Plus, you always want to save room for any shopping you will do while you are on the trip; so weigh the suitcase prior to leaving and give yourself some leeway.
- It also helps if while you pack you also clean up, so that when you come home, exhausted from all of the travel and none stop activities, you won’t feel super stressed due to a messy house.
Pick your adventure wisely and then enjoy every moment of it because before you know it, those few days will only be a memory and you will be back to every day things. Take lots of pictures to keep your memories fresh and do the things you love but never get the chance to do. Most importantly, HAVE FUN!
How to Survive the First Semester of College
Whether you are staying on campus or staying home with family, your first semester of college can be a stressful time in your life. New classes, new professors, a new place to live, and being away from home provide new challenges for which you may not be prepared. Good news for some, college gives you an academic fresh start. Students who have done poorly in high school are no longer dogged with a low GPA. Students who have done well in high school often already have the organizational skills needed to be successful in college.
A quarter of all students drop out of college in their freshman year, and less than half survive past the sophomore year. The best way to ensure that you are part of the half that makes it to graduation day is to start off on the right foot. Let’s look at a few things that will give you the best foundation to launch a great academic experience.
- Don’t overload. Taking too many classes in your first semester will only cause you unnecessary stress. As you browse your course catalogue, you will undoubtedly find many courses that sound amazing. You know that you need to commit to your core classes as well. To keep from becoming overwhelmed, take 4 or 5 classes at most.
- Go to Orientation. Bring a pad of paper and a pen. The college wants you to succeed. The orientation will not only provide you with school policies but also ways that you can involve yourself in college life. Getting to know the campus and what is offered will save you time and aggravation.
- Meet your Academic Advisor. Academic advisors are there to guide you through your educational experience. They know that you are just starting out, and they understand that you may not be familiar with how this whole thing works. Your advisor can help you plan and pick classes that will best fit your major. Stay in touch with them even after picking classes as you will need their help at the end of the semester when you are choosing classes again! The goal of the Academic Advisor is to see you succeed and see you walk across the stage.
- Meet your professors. Professors will post Office Hours in the syllabus. Particularly in the beginning of the year, they will find themselves quite lonely during this time. Swing by and introduce yourself. This will give you time to feel out the professor, making a good impression at the same time.
- Always go to class. This seems like a no-brainer, but going to class is important. It may seem tempting to steal one more day of summer, what’s one class going to hurt? In a 16 week semester where you only take two classes a week, the answer is, a lot. Not only do you miss a chance to ask the professor to explain greater details during the class, but absences count towards a participation grade. If you know you are going to miss a class, tell your professor ahead of time. Maintaining communication with your professor shows them that you are responsible, and take their class seriously.
College is your new beginning. This is a time of chrysalis. You will be expected to grow and mature. Take your time, plan carefully, be thorough, stay positive, and succeed. You can do it!
College Dorm Life: Linens, Laundry, and Toiletries
When we are preparing for college dorm life, we think of all the essentials; books, pencils, paper, backpack, and tablet. On college move-in day, the most important things you will unpack are the ones that help you feel at home right away. That sweet new notebook with the adjustable thingamajig will be great in class, […]
College Dorm Life: Keep Your Room Organized
Your first few weeks in college and your new college dorm life can be exciting, yet also stressful. New professors, new friends, and a new place to live can turn your world upside-down. Staying organized is the best and easiest way to cut down on those stress levels. Dorm rooms are notoriously small, with the average size being less than 225 square feet. That is a 15×15 room that you will likely be sharing with at least one other person. Here are a few creative ideas to keep your dorm room organized.
1 Sketch your room
It might sound grade school, but the first thing you should do is make a scale drawing of your room and the immobile contents. This can be done on graph paper that you can keep in your wallet or purse, or even digitally drawn on a tablet or phone and kept in the cloud for easy access everywhere. The advantage here is that you know how much room you really have when shopping for organizers or furniture.
2 Remember the purpose
Your dorm is your home away from home, but it is also your personal space to study and work. Posters of your favorite band may remind you of home, but it is also important to design a practical study zone. Use wall space efficiently by adding cork boards or white boards to help you remember your class schedules and test dates, or even keep a countdown until the days until you can return home to see family!
3 Think on three dimensions
Since horizontal space is limited, think up and think under. Bed risers can release an additional 20 cubic feet of space. Instead of just barely being able to cram a shoebox under your bed, you can fit up to 10 milk crate style organizers under your bed. That’s a lot of space to store those extra shoes, sports equipment, and towels, and extra sheets. Make use of desk cubbies to store writing tablets and keep homework projects organized and off your desk.
4 Keep it clean
Communal showers mean lugging your stuff to the shower room and back. Make your life easier by keeping your bath gear in a single tote. There are a variety of carry-alls on the market, ranging from simple buckets to multi-drawer organizers. If you’re looking for something masculine, try a fishing tackle box! Remember, shower areas tend to be steamy and wet, your choice of toiletry organizer should be made in such a way that it allows air to circulate.
Your comfort at college may have a great deal to do with your success. Staying organized will help you with both comfort and staying focused on the classwork. Students may spend as much as 14 hours a day in their dorms between sleeping and studying. Make the best use of your space to cut the clutter and give yourself the best shot at success!
Season of Firsts: Strong leadership helps Flames Football make history
From Liberty Journal
Winter/Spring 2015 : By Mitzi Bible
Liberty University President Jerry Falwell told the Flames Football team that he had waited since 1973, when he attended Liberty’s first football game at age 11, to witness the celebration that erupted in the locker room after the 26-21 defeat of James Madison University on Nov. 29. It marked Liberty’s first playoff game.
“I was so proud of Athletic Director Jeff Barber, Coach Turner Gill, and the players for finally breaking down that barrier for Liberty University,” said Falwell, who received the game ball from Gill in the locker room that night. “It was a combination of 40 years of waiting, praying, and hoping. I told the players that they were the team with the character and the heart to push it over the line for us, and that every penny we’d invested in that program was worth it.”
The following Saturday, the team faced another top-ranked team, No. 5 Villanova, in the second round. After a hard-fought game on Villanova turf, the Flames ended a successful season with a 29-22 loss. The game was further proof that Liberty has what it takes to be a contender for a national championship.
For those who watched Liberty University and its football program being built from the ground up more than 40 years ago, the milestones reached in the 2014 season hold even more significance. They prove that the original vision of Liberty’s founder, the late Dr. Jerry Falwell, to use athletics as a means to reach young people and bring national exposure to the university and its mission, is being fulfilled.
“I think what’s different about us is we have the potential to be the only conservative evangelical Christian school to play at the highest levels of the NCAA, and that was the vision for Liberty from the beginning,” President Falwell said. “That’s what our goal has always been.”
The nation got a peek into Liberty’s “football crusade” in a New York Times feature in 2012, where the reporter acknowledged, “There is no pulpit as well lighted as the end zone of a national championship game” and that Liberty may well be headed there. Last summer, Liberty’s aspirations were reported once again by USA Today, which covered the university’s dreams of moving to the FBS level for athletics and the “high-resource reality” that Liberty has what it takes to make it happen. Falwell told the reporter: “Athletics isn’t our mission, but it has the potential to shine a light on our mission like nothing else ever can.”
The light is certainly shining brighter now.
The right time
Jeff Barber arrived on the scene in 2006 as Liberty’s director of athletics, after more than a decade of working for a nationally known collegiate athletics program at the University of South Carolina. Since then, he has spearheaded an impressive number of improvements and new construction projects to equip coaches with world-class facilities. These facilities have boosted the programs and helped coaches recruit next-level student-athletes. A multimillion-dollar expansion to Williams Stadium, the home of Liberty’s football program, was completed in 2010, and the stadium was nationally recognized as one of the top FCS facilities in the country by the Sports Network. Over the last seven years, Liberty has constructed new athletics venues for baseball, softball, field hockey, tennis, golf, and lacrosse, plus given state-of-the-art renovations to the playing and practice facilities for basketball, volleyball, soccer, and track and field.
In 2012, Barber’s efforts were recognized when he was named the FCS Under Armour AD of the Year for the Southeast Region by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics.
“When Jeff came, he had a real vision for what he wanted to see happen at Liberty,” Falwell said. “He had an eye for how he thought the facilities should look and just making it classy in every way. He had the right advice for me on how to get us from where we were to the next level. All of our programs would not be where they are now if it weren’t for Jeff Barber coming in.”
Asked why he would leave such a nationally known program to take the helm at Liberty, Barber said, “God orchestrated the whole thing.”
“Everything that I did in the 20 years before I came here was really preparing me for what Liberty needed at this time in its history,” he said.
Hearing the vision for Liberty athletics for the first time sealed the deal.
“As a Christian, I bought into that (vision) immediately, and I understood what it is. I’ve been in the SEC, I’ve been in other conferences, and I’ve seen firsthand what a successful athletics program can do — how it can affect a school — and I can’t think of a better school to be affected by a quality top 20 college football program than Liberty University,” Barber said. “It’s a school that’s sending out Christian teachers, Christian aviators, and Christian nurses, and athletics is just a tool to build this university. For me, it was about seeing the vision and then knowing that I could also play a small part in helping that come to reality.”
Barber’s leadership at Liberty has yielded an unprecedented seven consecutive Big South Sasser Cup trophies and 63 conference titles.
Barber points to the commitment and support President Falwell has shown the football program that has allowed it to achieve this level of success.
“He has always been very supportive of it, from the coaching staff to the facilities to all the pieces that are part of the football program. President Falwell is 100 percent behind us.”
One of those pieces was the joint decision to bring Turner Gill on board as head coach in December 2011. The former All-America quarterback from Nebraska and former head coach at Kansas and Buffalo brought his winning college football background to the Flames as its eighth head coach.
When Liberty began its search for a new coach, Falwell said the goal was to find “the best Christian college football coach in the country.”
“It seemed like every consultant we talked to, it all came back to Turner Gill,” he said. “We interviewed him and saw immediately why. … I’ve watched him in the last few weeks, and over the last three years, and I’ve seen him build character in the players that I never saw before. They have so much heart on the field. No matter how far down they are, they don’t quit fighting. They keep coming back. I just think that comes from a coach who leads by example. He’s definitely the right man in the right place at the right time for Liberty.”
Gill said his own decision to come to Liberty was not unlike Barber’s — the challenge was intriguing. When President Falwell laid out the goal for the football program — going to the FBS level — Gill said that’s what excited him about the job.
“I had coached and played at the FBS level … I thought it was very exciting that with my experience I could help this university accomplish that goal,” he said. “They told me, ‘We don’t know when it’s going to happen, but we know it’s going to happen.’ So I just took a leap of faith.”
Walking by faith is nothing new to Turner Gill. Gill’s experience had prepared him for the challenge, too.
“People told me that I would never end up playing quarterback. I went to the University of Nebraska and established myself as an African-American quarterback — my family always talked about it, that it would be someday, and how come it couldn’t be me?” he said. “I’ve always been able to prove something to people; give me an opportunity, and I will see if I can do it. This situation (coming to Liberty) was very similar to some of the things that happened in my life and brought me to where I am today.”
It was a decision he has never regretted.
“It’s an honor and a privilege to be at this university because of all of the people who have been here before me — the late Dr. Jerry Falwell, the mission, the vision, the core values he set before us,” Gill said. “For me to have the opportunity to try and live up to that is amazing. I’ve still got some work to do, but I’m hoping to be a good example of that.”
The faith factor
For both Barber and Gill, the chance to merge their faith with their careers was a major draw.
“It’s the first thing we start from, whether we are hiring staff or hiring coaches, it has to start with faith; it has to start with a Christian coach, Christian staff, people who believe in what Liberty stands for, and not only believe it, but embrace it,” Barber said. “I don’t think we could be successful in this business at Liberty if we have people who try to hide the fact that we’re a Christian university when they are Christians themselves. That’s what makes us unique and gives us an opportunity to do things at a very high level.”
There is hardly ever an interview with Coach Gill where you won’t hear him say, “To God be the glory.” His faith is obvious, bold, and genuine — on and off the field.
“The goal is, number one, to honor God, to be an example for Him as a man of God, as a husband, as a father — and when I say a father, I am also talking about as a ‘father’ of the student-athletes that I coach and I teach — and also to represent this university well, training Champions for Christ,” Gill said.
He uses Scripture as his foundation.
“I’m always starting from where the Bible says how we need to act,” Gill said. “I can freely speak about Scripture and give examples of what it says about how men need to be acting in the game of football, their academics, their spiritual lives, and their social lives. It is a great feeling for me to know that I can walk into work every single day and I don’t have to worry about what I say or how I say it. It is about the Lord, and I can freely do that.”
For Barber and Gill, their faith has also been the foundation for a great working relationship. The two pray together regularly — during weekly meetings, in the hotel the night before a road game, and sometimes even on the field before kickoff.
And just as athletes are trained to do, the Flames have followed the lead of their athletic director and coach, shining their own lights for the Lord.
“I watch our team praying together with the other team after the game, win or lose,” Falwell said. “That’s what’s so unique and special about our program — that’s the difference. Their faith gives them an advantage in knowing that there’s something greater than the ballgame. When the losses come, they’re not as bitter because they know there’s more to life than just winning or losing, and when the wins come, they’re even that much sweeter.”
B-E-L-I-E-V-E
When Head Coach Turner Gill hired his coaching staff, he said the first thing he did was set out the vision.
“Our vision is to inspire each other, to glorify Christ on and off the field, by striving to be conference and national champions. So everything we say, everything we do, has to be within that frame.”
Gill’s staff know this vision in the form of one word: Believe. It’s an acronym that serves as their own mission statement:
B – Build Champions for Christ
E – Empower people by encouragement
L – Learn to press on toward the goal
I – Influence by being a positive role model
E – Expect great effort all the time
V – Visualize excellence
E – Enjoy the college football experience
Ten ODU football games will be televised this fall
By Harry Minium
The Virginian-Pilot ©
June 16, 2015
Since it was created 11 months ago, the American Sports Network has become the primary television outlet for Old Dominion football and basketball. That role became even more pronounced Monday, when the network announced that seven of the 30 Conference USA football games it will televise this fall will involve ODU.
The schedule includes prime time, Saturday telecasts of ODU’s first two home games – Sept. 12 against Norfolk State and Sept. 19 against North Carolina State. Ten of ODU’s 12 games are slated for TV, one short of last year’s total.
Without ASN, the school’s football and basketball TV presence would be far less pronounced. Last basketball season, after Conference USA’s other TV networks announced they would televise just one ODU men’s basketball game, ASN picked up 13 Monarch contests.
Fox Sports picked up just two ODU football contests – home games with C-USA preseason favorite Western Kentucky on Oct. 31 and Texas-El Paso on Nov. 14 – during the initial round of TV selections on June 1. The CBS Sports Network did not pick up an ODU football game for the second year in a row. CBS wanted to do the N.C. State-ODU game on a Friday night for a national broadcast, but the Wolfpack declined.
That left ODU with just two TV games, the fewest in the 13-team league. However, thanks to ASN, the school’s TV profile is comparable with its C-USA rivals.
In addition to the N.C. State and NSU games, ASN will broadcast ODU’s contest at defending C-USA champion Marshall on Oct. 3 (3:30 p.m.), a home game with UNC Charlotte on Oct. 17 (3:30 p.m.), road games against Texas-San Antonio on Nov. 7 (7 p.m.) and Southern Mississippi on Nov. 21 (3:30 p.m.) and the home finale against Florida Atlantic on Nov. 28 (noon).
ESPN3, which broadcasts on the internet and over streaming devices, announced last week it will carry the opener on Sept. 5 at Eastern Michigan.
Norfolk State also picked up an additional broadcast – a Sept. 19 contest at Marshall at 3:30 p.m. will precede the N.C. State-ODU contest.
Athletic director Wood Selig acknowledged that without ASN, his school’s TV schedule “would not be a pretty picture.”
“I love ASN,” he said. “That’s the beauty of having a league that goes three tiers deep with television partners. It’s not like ASN is the minor leagues. They’re every bit as good as our Fox and CBS partners.”
ASN was created last summer by the Sinclair Broadcast Group, which has affiliates that reach nearly 40 percent of American TV homes. Conference USA was the first league to sign an agreement with the network, which has more of a national profile than Fox’s regional sports networks.
ASN’s broadcasts are syndicated onto regional cable TV networks that reach Boston, Philadelphia, and Chicago. ASN broadcasts in markets with the largest concentrations of ODU alumni, including Richmond, Washington, Roanoke-Lynchburg and Raleigh-Durham. It also reaches key recruiting markets for ODU with stations in Atlanta, Pittsburgh and Rochester, N.Y., as well as four in South Carolina.
Locally, ASN games are carried on WTVZ-TV. Station general manager Jeff McCallister said he’s excited to begin selling ads for the seven games, especially the N.C. State contest.
The station televised ACC football and basketball for years, but gave it up four years ago over rights fees. ASN games last season were also televised locally by Cox Communications and Comcast Sports. This fall, WTVZ will have exclusive rights to ODU and C-USA football and basketball games.
“This deal was put together pretty quickly last year,” McCallister said. “This year we have more time to sell it and more time to promote it properly.”
ODU officials were surprised the Sept. 26 home game against Appalachian State wasn’t chosen for broadcast. Appalachian State is a three-time Football Championship Subdivision national champion and has a large fan base. Both ODU and Appalachian made their FBS debut in 2014. Appalachian, which returns 20 starters, finished 7-5 and third in the Sun Belt Conference. ODU was 6-6 and tied for third in the C-USA East Division.
Having most of ODU’s road games on TV was critical this season, coach Bobby Wilder said. For the first time in seven seasons, the Monarchs won’t play a road game within an easy drive of Norfolk. Marshall, a seven-hour trip from Hampton Roads, is the closest.
“It’s a major challenge for our fans to travel with us this season,” Wilder said. “So it’s really important that four of our five road games will be televised.
“I think things worked out well. We have a great TV schedule.”