No Rugby Pictures This Week

I was planning on taking some pictures of the Blacksburg Rugby friendly match against Huntington and Virginia Tech this weekend. As I was getting ready to go take them, I set my camera back down and decided not to go.

I think I was being bothered that I was not playing. And after numerous gout attacks over the last couple of years, I haven't been able to participate. The more annoying part is that I doubt I will be able to again since even walking can be mildly painful, much less running or scrumming. I think watching everyone else having a good time out there while I am confined to the sidelines is starting to get to me.

I think another reason I am feeling less inclined to take pictures is that I know almost no one on the team now. Since I am not playing, I am not getting to know the new people. Turnover on the team can be high sometimes since we do get a good number of college guys on the team that eventually graduate and move away. So, outside of the team leadership that I do know, no one else out there was familiar to me, and that didn't help with the decision of whether or not to go take pictures.

Maybe I will not be in such a bummed mood for the next home game.

Virginia Tech Football

So, it is that time again. Soon, Virginia Tech will be hittin gthe field again in an attempt to get a National Championship.

Here are my ACC predictions for Week 1.
All of the teams playing a non-Div I team should win which include:
Boston College over Weber State
Florida State over Samford
Wake Forest over Presbyterian
North Carolina State over Western Carolina
Georgia Tech over South Carolina State
Miami(FL) over Florida A&M
Duke over Elon
UVA over Richmond (but with UVA, maybe the Spiders will give them a rough time)

For the "real" games of the weekend:
Clemson over North Texas
Maryland losing to Navy
Virginia Tech losing to Boise State
North Carolina losing to LSU

And yes, I can hear the cries of sacrilege from my fellow Hokies, but I am still picking Boise State to win using last year's statistical numbers.

Caesar Cipher Lesson

I have prepared a lesson on the Caesar Cipher. You will need Adobe Reader 9 or higher to view this presentation.

Caesar Cipher Presentation

Starcraft II

I just finished Starcraft II: Episode 1 "Wings of Liberty" this last week. Nice game. It plays virtually identical to Starcraft. Some people were disappointed, but why change a winning formula?

I did love that the missions were not "you are base 1 and you need to wipe out base 2" like most Real Time Strategy games. Some people were complaining that they felt cheated that they only get to play the Terran missions. Again, that is a gripe of a few. Starcraft had 9 missions(maybe 10) for each of the 3 races. This one focuses mostly on the Terrans with 26 or 27 missions to tell their story. The other two races will get their turns.

But, for anyone who hasn't seen it yet, this was the pre-release trailer for the game.

Rugby in Blacksburg

Believe it or not, rugby is gaining in popularity in the United States. This is evident that the town of Blacksburg, Virginia actually has three teams. Virginia Tech has both a collegiate men's and women's team and there is an adult men's team in Blacksburg itself.

Many people seem to avoid coming out for rugby since they think the rules are too confusing or that they don't have the build for it. I would like to dispel some of these negative reasons for not coming out to play. While at first the rules may seem confusing, it is no more confusing than learning any other new sport. Then, people think that they don't have the right build for the sport. As long as you can run, you can play rugby. You can be tall and thin, short and fast, or even have a stockier build. There are many different positions that have different functions.

The season for Blacksburg Rugby will be starting next week (28 August) with a friendly non-divisional match against Huntington, WV's team. All of Blacksburg's home games are played behind the Kroger on Main Street and they will usually start at noon.

Feel free to come out and watch. The information for the team can be found at http://www.blacksburgrugby.com

My AFOQT Results and Disappointment with AF Recruiters

This is something I still hold a grudge against. Every year, Virginia Tech's Engineering department sponsors an Engineering Expo career fair. The Air Force recruiters show up for this one, but skip out on the Business school's career fair which is the following day.

Back in 2004, 2005 and 2006, I had talked to the recruiters briefly about getting a commission. I was practically blown off by the recruiters since they were wanting "engineering students only" and that I was older than most of my peers.

Here is where my gripe comes in. I was older because I had spent 10 years in the Air Force. I had left to work on getting a degree in hopes of getting a commission. I was a 3C051 Communications/Computer Systems Specialist and then retrained to eventually become a 1A471 Instructor of Air Battle Management. I had hoped of getting a job as either a 13Bx Air Battle Manager, 14Nx Intelligence, 33Sx Communications/Computer Systems Officer.

I had finished my degree in Business Information Technology and graduated Magna Cum Laude from Virginia Tech. I had already knocked out my AFOQT prior to leaving the service. But, the recruiters still did not even call me back after talking to them at the career fair. Now, I am past the 36 year old age cutoff. So the Air Force is no longer an option for me. Such a shame since I truly enjoyed the military.

But, when one door closes, another door opens. While it is not the life I had planned for, I do not think I could trade it for anything else.

By the way.. here are my test results....

World of Warcraft

I have had many characters. Some are still there even though I never play them, others have been deleted forever. But this is my workhorse character. If there is an achievement to get, this is the character that will get it.

Thurissa on Gul'dan is my main character on World of Warcraft.

As much of a time sink that WoW has been for me, I thought I should honor the character that eats up most of my time. I must say that I love the Draenei female's "No" emote.