Boredom by Class

Im sitting here right now in this class called Matlab. You can really hardly call it a class.  This woman gets up in front of us and rambles for 50 minutes every Tuesday, and Thursday, then every week we have a "lab" due. Our labs are our homework.  We are writing computer programs.  For a computer programmer this stuff would be simple, for us however, not so much, I have talked to tons of people in my class and nobody seems to understand what in the world is going on. I have a few tricks up my sleeve to get these labs done, and thankfully my roommate seems to know what he is doing and has gotten me an A on all of my labs that he has helped me with.  I have either an A or a B in this class, so its not a bad grade, but believe me its not without struggle.

Wow, for example we are working on lab7 this week, she just said to the class "im going to take you back to lab 3." LADY!! NOBODY CARES about the past labs we have done, help us with the labs that are due this week and the future. Dang. Really though, I though I was starting to understand what was going on cause like 4 of our labs were just building on each other and was the same senario, no here comes lab5 and im like whaaaaaaaaa!!

You may ask me, why am I not paying attention in class, and why am I blogging in class. Well, my answer to that is, whether I pay attention or not, she teaches nothing that helps us. Im being serious. Ask any of the 80 people in this class, they will tell you the same thing. SHE CANT TEACH.  We literally have to teach ourselves how to do labs that are due every Thursday at 11:59. If I count this week, then there is 4 labs and a final exam remaining, so thats not bad, and if I dont count this week, there is 3 labs and a final exam left. The final exam is going to take me probably all of 25 minutes to take on December 1st, because she doesnt give her final during finals week. She gives it on the last day of class. One of my other teachers (my favorite class) doesnt even have a final, so I actually only have 2 finals. Woo Hoo!!

I have a cal3 test Friday, Ive been meeting with my professor to get some tutoring, and he told me today that "I think your getting this stuff!!" What a relief, its about time I score higher than average on a test. So say a prayer for me, and keep your fingers crossed that I can pull off an exceptional test grade this time.

At 4:30 today I have a SOS teambuilding day. It wasnt mandatory for us, but I thought "hey, ya know I have nothing else to do, so why not go?" Sooooo, I am.

I had the O'Neal Austin Awards Luncheon this past Friday. I was so honored that Trudy wanted me to come and share that time with her!  It was in the McCartney Suite in Shelby Center.  Let me just tell you that suite is pretty, and it has a terrace out on the back that overlooks Jordan and Kingsley Courtyards, and then the South Patio and South Courtyard.  Trudy, Mary Anne, Josh Edwards, and me also got to tour the new Mechanical Engineering building!! It was awesome, I am so excited for that building to get turned over to Auburn, and start having classes in it! I was also one of the first students to be able to go inside the building! The luncheon though. We had an amazing lunch. Ceaser salad, lasagna, pasta, and for dessert lemon cake or turtle cake. Of course, sweet tea, unsweet tea, and water too.  I was so full after that. After I got done with my first plate, Trudy said "go get you some more Austin, there is plenty." I was thinking, "yessssss ma'am, dont mind if I do." After we all ate, there was the recognition and awarding of the top students with the O'neal Austin awards! Then Josh got recognized for being the recipent of the O'Neal Austin scholarship! One day I hope I am able to be one of the students that recieves those awesome awards in Oneils name, or the scholarship. Even if I dont, Im extremely glad I was invited, and I wanna say thank you to Trudy again for letting me come!!

Thats about it for right now, shes close to being done with class, so I have successfully wasted the time that I would be bored otherwise. As always, stay tuned for more. I know I dont write as much as I used to, but I remember that I have a blog now, and that I can write on it, so hopefully soon ill get back to everynight.  Ill have pictures soon I promise, theres alot to show you all. Soooo yea, everyone have a great day, anddddd thats all!

Jersey Shore Season Finale'

Im backkkkkk.....again.

Well what to say this time.

So, I made SOS Callouts!! I am officially an SOS OL for 2012-2013, and might I add, pretty dang happy about it! In case you didnt know that stands for Successfully Orienting Students Orientation Leader!  I was one of the OL's chosen out of about 60 people. I was pretty excited. At callouts I was the second person called! At first I heard "from _____, Ashante Smith." Next, was what made me so excited! "From Muscle Shoals, AL. Austin Lansdell!!"  It was a pretty great feeling. After all of us were called out, we went to the front of Cater Hall and took a group picture.  After a that we went up to the top of Haley Center, also called the Eagles Nest and had our first meeting!! We did a intro of ourselves. The usual, name, from, major, class, and then favorite tv show. My favorite tv show was obviously Jersey Shore and The Disney Channel. Believe it or not im not the only 20 year old kid at heart in Auburn. Cause another guy said Phineas & Ferb as their favorite tv show.  Then we split into halves and we did alot of get to know you things.  Tuesday I have a "Teambuilding Day" from 4:30-6:00.  It was optional but hey why not! Ill go!

So, Ms. Trudy Craft-Austin, messaged me earlier and asked did I get a invitation to the AU Engineering Luncheon. I didnt, but I was supposed to because she requested I did. So tomorrow, I will be attending a luncheon! It should be pretty cool, and im excited about it! I dont have alot to say about it right now, cause it of course hasnt happened yet. I will for sure fill everyone in on it after I go tomorrow!

Ahhhh, October 20. Jerzday. Season Finale' of Jersey Shore Season 4. Im pretty bummed about this. Many people think that this show is stupid, retarded, dumb, but I dont. I love it. Yea, I mean its not like a documentary, or anything and im not learning anything. Come on though, let me enjoy my Jersey Shore. Whats it matter if  said person doesnt like it.  If they dont, then dont watch it. I will say that Mike gets on my nerves, and no, nobody really likes him, he is the next Angelina of the house, but I like the show. SO, to Vinny, Snooki, Jenni, Pauly D, Deena, Sammi, Ron, and Mike, An awesome season in Italy. Cant wait for Season 5 and the spin-off shows, and hopefully more seasons to come after this.

Thats all I got to say right now really. Have a goodnight everybody and turn to MTV and watch Jersey Shore Finale' right now!!

Welcome Back, Austin....Long time no read.

Hellooooo, everybody.

Well, Im back, for tonight, after ehhhh prolly a month and a half I finally got Upmy butt in gear and decided I should write again.  This blog wont conatin any pictures, due to the lack of me having to transfer them from my phone, sort them in to their respective folders, and upload them. I promise a blog dedicated to pictures in the near future. Probably not tomorrow because I have a Cal3 test Friday, but it will appear in the following days very soon.

So, since I left you last,  Auburn has won all but 1 game, and wouldnt you know that the game was on my birthday weekend.  Yea, it was. My parents, Cameron, his parents, Lakken, Molly, and Quinton were all posted up in my apartment watching the game.  No matter how mad I got, they still lost.  At least I didnt start kicking things and throwing things around like I did during the South Carolina game.  I know, I know, getting mad and yelling/violence doesnt help them win the game, but hey you gotta try your best to help out somehow.

Hmmmm,  well, tomorrow Oct 6th I have my first round interview to be an Orientation Leader for SOS Transfer Orientation.  Yea, Im nervous, but im trying to be confident too.  I really think I would like to be apart of this, so I really do hope that I make it.  Second round interviews and callouts are next week.  Wish me luck!!  Basically an OL is just a tour guide and info giver to transfer students.  Ill have a group of 10-15 transfers that are mine for the day and we will go hide in a corner and make fun of people.  Not really, we prolly will go hide in a corner somewhere and call it our "fort" or something, but ill tell them about the amazing Auburn University,  give them a tour of campus, eat lunch with them, and all that fun stuff.  Im pretty excited, so lets hope I make this!

An update on my sweet tea addiction, yesterday, I drank a whole pitcher, by myself.

Today is Wednesday. It is the first Wednesday of the month.  Well around 11:55 I was minding my own business in the kitchen at home warming up some of the ever so wonderful Granny and PawPaw Chicken Stew.  All of a sudden I hear this wailing noise.  Now for any of you that live in Muscle Shoals, or have ever heard these "federal warning signals" in Muscle Shoals you know of the oscillating whooooooo noise they make. Welllllll not in Auburn.  In Auburn, they are a bit more tamed.  They start off as a low whoooo, then rise to a certain pitch and just stay there and wail.  What am I talking about? Da da daaaaaa....tornado sirens.  So back to the story, im minding my business in the kitchen and i hear this lovely wailing noise, so me being me, instead of going to my closet and hiding, my first instinct is to run outside.  I figure, "hey if by some chance it is a tornado, ill just hang on to my balcony railing for dear life, and if I can ill run back inside." Well, I look around and I see nothing but blue sky, and hear nothing but this hellatious wailing. So my though process goes as follows: "This is either a civil defense siren and we are being bombed, in which case I should prolly go inside and get under my bed with my pillows, seeing as i have 9 pillows, a thick comforter, and a blanket, I should survive.  This could be a blue sky tornado though, in which case I want to stay outside and see what it looks like, but I should prolly do the same thing and go inside, but instead of under my bed I should get in my closet.  My last though was, they could just be testing the sirens.  Its more than likely the latter of the 3 thoughs, but hey.  I have to take all possibilities into consideration."  *end though process*  So this though process happened in a matter of about 5 seconds, after which, I decided to just go climb on my bed and watch tv.  I didnt see any harm in the weather outside or hear any explosions, so I figured I was ok.   About 45 mins later, I hear about 3 different tv weather alerts going off.  Mind you, it is still blue sky clear, not a cloud in sight weather outside.  I got a little curious, but not enough to actually get up and take cover, so I causally looked outside my window, saw nothing, and decided that if I were to hear something, id grab the nearest pillow, and my Beanie Baby, Buzz and make a dive for the floor.  I was thinkin Matrix action here people.  It turns out that I still have no clue what was up.  Actually I just lied, I do know what it was, they were testing everything. This happened in September too.

I have an iTouch.  It is one of my children. Sadly enough at 563 songs, about 25 apps, and 115 pictures its getting close to topping out at its max 8GB storage.  Im not sure what im going to do when that happens.  Hopefully Ill by some off chance happen to find another iTouch that is randomly laying around that says "take me" or maybe I can use my Nano back in Muscle Shoals, in which case I will have to pry out my my Dads hands.....hmmmmm.

I have a Jabawokeez mask now....I scared Cameron with it.  I think thats sufficient enough typing for that.  He jumped, I laughed.

OH, I pretty much killed my Matlab midterm the other day. I mean I went beast mode on that test.  If I was a bear out in the wild and that test was a...um, what do bears eat?  Ok nevermind, if I was a lion in the savannah, and that test was an antelope, I would be knawing, and tearing, and going ham on that test (those of you who dont know what "going ham" means, its a good thing in this situation). I just though it would enlighten you all on this milestone.

I recently went to McDonalds and got a gameboard for Monopoly.  I have 3 of the game board peices.  One of which is half of what you need to win one million dollars.  Now, I know my luck, and I know that ill never score the other game piece needed to win that million dollars, but I like to hope that I could.

Ohhhhh, I feel like I am just rambling now.  I am actually.  So ill stop here, and try to think of more of my entertaining and humorous (I hope) stories and post them for you all later!

I shall now go get a glass of pineapple juice....

Just Go With It....

Your probably wondering what the heck "Just Go With It" means, wellllll it means that I have nothing in specific to write about today, sooooo Im just gonna go with it. 

Let me see what pictures I can find right quick....

Okay, so lets start with Shelby Center, McCartney Terrace, and Wiggins Mechanical Engineering Hall.



This is my part of campus. Literally, its named "Austin Hall...." nahhhh, I wish. It is my part of campus though.  With the exception of Parker Hall, this is where my classes are held this year, and as I progress into the higher courses of my major I will spend most of my time here.  They are actually the newest buildings on campus. Shelby Center is only 3 years old, and the rest of the engineering complex is not yet finished.  The front of Shelby faces Magnolia Street.  And at the back there is McCartney Terrace (not finished or Id show you a picture), and Kingsley Courtyard (5th picture) and a twin courtyard to that on the opposite side named Jordan courtyard.  When McCartney Terrace is finished, this will be an absolute beautiful complex.  Im proud to say this is where my major is.  The first and third pictures are actually the Wiggins Mechanical Engineering Hall.  We are so awesome that we even have copper gutters on our buildings.... beat that!

So remember how I was talking about the different sizes of the amazing Tiger Transit busses?  Well, I though I would take a picture and give you a better visualization of them.

In the front is the largest of the busses, and the back one is the smallest. The one im on while taking this picture is actually the medium sized bus, but its not very much smaller than the large ones actually.

So, in case you didnt know....im awesome.  Im so awesome, that the other day I went grocery shopping.  You havent been grocery shopping if you havent been with me.  Although, its prolly not as fun with people with me.  I royally confuse myself while shopping. I have no rhyme or reason, or no method to it.  I pick random isles and go down them, grab stuff, then when Im finally done.  I look through all the stuff I picked up and weed out about half of it because I realize that I didnt want it for real. It just seemed good at the time.  Thats not actually the awesome part though.  The part that most everybody would find entertaining if they actually could watch me and not be with me is the talking.  I constantly mumble to myself.  Things like "you have got to be kidding me," and "where the heck is that stuff," etc.  I was in good ole Wal*Mart for about an hour and I literally talked to myself the entire time.  Im also awesome enough that one of the managers noticed.  I was standing in line to check out, and all the lines were backed up to the point where you were gonna have to wait 20 minutes to check out. So this random manager lady came up to me and said, "if your ready you can go to the money center and she will check you out!" SCORE! Just me, nobody else was send up there.  Thats what you call winning.

So right now, as I type there is a drumset, a drumset player, and obnixous noise coming from somewhere in the apartment complex.  Now usually I wouldnt mind drumset.  You all know I was on the drumline, and I love percussion.  This has been going on for about an hour though, and its gotten progressive louder over the hour.  It is to the point now where it sounds like we are being bombed....not cool.  To top that off, the people above me seem to have found a way to tap dance on a carpet floor. Cameron and I have even tried yelling through the roof, but still they insist on tap dancing or wrestling or whatever they are doing to sound like my ceiling is about fall in. Austin is about to go ninja mode on somebody.

Hang on I have a text message.

I miss my dogs, Freckles and Buddy.  I miss them so much.  Now I cant bring them down here cause where one goes the other goes, and they have their big backyard back at home.  I would like a dog though for the apartment.  Not just any dog though.  I want a Siberian Huskey....a white one....completely white. I saw one the other day and it was so pretty.

 

Thats it!  Im not sure of a name yet. I have a wholeeeee long list of them that I will have to narrow down.  Alot deal with snow, and ice, and the artic.  I think thats a fitting name, but we will just have to see!

I got a few more pictures of around campus that Ill show you now.

Bicycles, bicycles, bicycles, everywhere.  Ill walk, thanks. If I rode a bike I would take people out left and right.

There is a better picture of The Concourse where my awkward finger isnt in the way of the picture and its actually a stand and snap, not a casual walk by and hope the picture turns out good kinda picture.

Below is a picture of where Mell Hall used to stand.  One day I arrived on campus and it was there,  3 hours later, it wasnt.  I was like, alrighty then, bye bye Mell Hall.

Finally we have Parker Hall. I have Physics I and Calculus III in there.  Not the most attractive building on campus.

I shall be finishing this blog out with two pictures of the best structure on campus....Jordan-Hare Stadium!!



Lets Take a Ride....Tiger Transit!

And now, we have post 2 of 2 for the night.

Tiger Transit.  I truely believe that this bus system is God's gift to college transportation, I really do.  I read on Facebook today tons and tons of status that had to do with the terrible parking at UNA.  I have delt with that parking before, and it only added to my list of things I despised about UNA.  Now, mind you, I didnt like going to school there, but thats my opinion.  Some people do, it just was not for me in the slightest bit.

Tiger Transit is God sent though.  I walk to the stop at our apartment complex about 30 minutes before class, and one of 3 busses that is on my "College Loop" route, comes within 10 minutes and picks me up to take me to the heart of campus.  It doesnt get much better than that.  Im not wasting any of my gas and better yet, not having to fight for a parking spot 15 minutes before a class that will take 14 minutes to walk to.  Going to campus, our apartments are the 2nd to last stop, so we are literally on Mell Street in Auburn, 10 minutes after getting on the bus. Coming home this means we are 2nd to last stop, but who cares, gives you time to take a nice little ride through Auburn and look around. 

This picture is on the inside of one of the "College Loop" busses, they are all the same type of bus, some a little larger and some a little smaller than others, but generally they are the same. 

I pass the Art Museum everyday on my way to campus. Pretty cool building, actully, and very pretty inside.

Here we are on campus at Katherine Cooper Cater Hall.  If im not mistaken,  Cater Hall used to be the presidents mansion until it was moved to a larger house somewhere else on campus.  Cater now houses undergraduate studies and honors college, I think.

This is the lawn in front of Cater Hall. Its actually a very big lawn, and has this very pretty view of Samford Hall through the trees.

Here is the "backyard" of Cater Hall, also known as The Quad. Right ther where you see the concrete petitions is a little balcony type area that looks into the lower yard of The Quad.  This area is where callouts are held for things such as sports teams, cheerleading, band, etc.  I havent witnessed it yet, but I intend to go to a callout for something one day, if not be in a callout making a team!

This is The Concourse.  For my sake, it will get me from Parker Hall to Shelby Hall in roughly 7-10 minutes.  This walkway literally stretches the heart of campus.

In this first picture we  have me and my awkward self trying to snap a picture of Concourse looking towards Parker Hall.

The second picture is actually construction on them extending Concourse.

Finally, this last picture of this group is the part of The Concourse that branches off the main walkway and takes you to the intersection of Thatch and Mell.

You really never know what your gonna see on The Concourse.  Example on Tuesday, I saw this here banjo man. He was playing some legit down-home honkey-tonk banjo music, he literally made my day.  As well as him, you see skateboarders that are going like 600 mph.  You really want to say "fall" to them, but you know its mean, so you just let them speed on by, then the walkers, and the bikers.  Happy people, sad people, mad people. Students, teachers, and squirrels.  Its just a whole melting pot of different things on The Concourse

The Auburn University Bookstore, where even a pencil will cost you $50.  BUT since its Auburn, its totally worth it!!  This is the main bookstore at Auburn.  This is actually the legit bookstore too.  I know there is Tiger Rags, J&M, and Big Blue, but those are more of just apparel and fan gear.  This bookstore is actually where they sell text books and all the supplies you need for class.

This is a shot of our Student Center.  I dont have much to say about it right now.  Ive only been in there once this semester, and that was to find and take a picture with Aubie.

Even my shadow is happy at auburn.  He is just like me.  He even puts his thumbs up when I do!! Crazy how much alike we are!



As suggested by my wonderful cousin, and assistant to this blog, Jamie Lynn deFoor, next week I will be taking a play by play, hour by hour, account of my life, my classes, and my exploring to share with you all.  In the following days/weeks I will also try to get a more legit "virtual campus tour" for yall to see.  I promise I wont forget the road rage quotes and the people watching either. SOOOOO just keep readin, and keep laughing (hopefully), and come back for more!

College Guy=Gormet Chef?

This will be post 1 of 2 for tonight.

So the past 2 days after I have gotten home from class, I have decided to cook.  Not only does this save money, but it allows me to be creative.  Very creative indeed.  Now, mind you, it may not be best to be creative with food that your gonna eat approx 20 mins later, but since I was the only one eating these meals, I figured what the heck. Nobody else will know if it tastes bad.

Here are 2 of my latest creations....

Lets start with #1.  This dish is composed of 2 fried eggs and one over medium egg, all cooked individually in a mini-skillet that my wonderful Aunt Cheryl sent with me to Auburn.  These 3 eggs were cooked and then placed on a pool of hot sauce on the plate. Next they were topped with a little bit of smoked turkey and sprinkled with some parmesan cheese.  To finish it off, I added 4 fried jalapenos, 2 whole jalapenos, and a bit of salsa.  If you ask me I would say these are what you call gormet eggs.

Now on to #2.  This dish is a little more simple.  First defrost 2 salmon filets and heat up the George Foreman grill.  While the grill was heating up I halved 6 jalapeno peppers and 4 bananna peppers. When the grill was nice and hot,  I placed the banana peppers down then put the filets on top of that.  Now for seasoning.  Just a little big of regular salt, and a bit of Lowery's Seasoned Salt works just fine.  To top all of this off I put the halved jalapeno peppers on top of the filets and closed the grill.  This dish tasted pretty darn good if I do say so myself.

Subway....Eat Fresh!

Yes, the first of this here blog will indeed be about Subway.  More specifically this sandwich....



That ladies and gentlemen is a Subway Sandwich. If you couldn't understand that from the title and/or the napkins.  This is the only restaurant/fast food that I eat like its going out of business. Literally.  I have lived in Auburn 10 days....and I have had Subway 5 or 6 times, no that doesnt seem like alot, but its good either way.

Whats the perfect sub you ask? Well your in luck, I would be glad to tell you. 

First off you must ask for a footlong Sweet Onion Teryaki on flatbread, theres your base sandwich, and I might add, the best sandwich they offer.  Next cheese, I mostly get American, but I also choose the occasional Pepper Jack (you will soon learn that I love spicy).  After this entourage is assembled you must have it toasted.  They used to require the toasting of flatbread, but Im almost positive its a choice now because I have been asked everytime I have gone in the past few months.  So, moving on, after this is put together you add your veggies.  The list for these include lettuce, onion, banana peppers, and jalapenos.  Then to finally top off this marvelous sub, you add Sweet Onion Sauce and Chipolte Southwest sauce, and ta-da you have the perfect sub.  Try it sometime, I promise you will love it.

Yes, I am just as baffeled as you that I just typed a whole "report" on a Subway sub.

So moving on now, lets talk about my life in Auburn now.  It was my roommate and good friend Cameron Bonner's birthday this weekend (Friday), so I want to say on here, Happy Birthday Cam!  Cameron, his mom, Regina, Grandma, and I went to Logan's for his birthday dinner.  I had a wing sampler (spicy food yet again).  After this Cameron and I went to good ole' Wally World. Here we had to get ice cream and candles.  Well, we found the ice cream just fine.  The candles on the other hand, not so easy.  Here we are, two 19 year old guys, on the search for candles for a birthday cake.  Finally after about 10 minutes of searching we found them, and went to celebrate with cake and ice cream with the 4 of us, and some of Cameron's friends/some of my new friends. Very enjoyable night.

Moving on now.

Thanks to the amazing Regina Bonner, I now have an amazing Angry Birds t-shirt.  What better t-shirt could fit me?  I am already rockin the posters in my room, and if I could I would paint a scene from Angry Birds on EVERY wall of my apartment.  Im obsessed.

What else, what else....

Here is a few more shots from around campus.

1) The baseball field from the parking deck

2) Jordan-Hare Stadium close up. Which, by the way, seats 87,451 members of my Auburn family

3) Jordan-Hare from the parking deck

I find new and interesting pictures every day, as I journey from class to class.

The first and latter of the 3 pictures above were from before my lab tonight. My 3 hour lab tonight.......(insert blank stare here)

It actually wasnt that bad though, we all had a desktop computer at our lab desk, which I was in control of.  It made me feel like I was the head person/director of some tedious operation in a plant or nuclear system or something sitting in front of the computer.  I also have a very wild imagination too, so maybe it was just me that felt that way.

Finally for tonight, we have Draughon Library, where I will be attending "Study Partners," which in fact is just a fancy name for tutoring.  I dont blame Auburn though.  Tutor kinda sounds like your dumb and somebody is doing your stuff for you.  Study Partners, on the other hand, makes you feel like you, well, have a partner to study with, and not somebody to condone you if you dont understand something.  I will be recieving my assistance in Calculus 3, and possibly Physics 1.  Now dont get me wrong, I love science.  So, why may you ask would I get a Physics "Study Partner?"  Well, I am determined to do GREAT this semester in school, and therefore I will accept all the help I am offered.  My goal in my senior year is the Dean's List.  I made #7 in high school out of 175, so  I think Dean's List is a perfectly feasable goal!

Now, tomorrow,  I will update you all on our living room.  Thanks to my Ma and Daddy, and Regina and Larry, our living room is no longer dull, boring, and unwelcoming.  We now have a very large tv, a tv stand that me and Cameron put together,  a nifty lamp,  a light up Auburn glass thingy, and a centerpiece for our coffee table. 

Until then, I give you this....

Now, I know some people arent really a fan of Jersey Shore, but I on the other hand love it!  Its one of those shows that is so stupid its amazing.  Cameron and I both can be watching it in our rooms with our doors open, and we can both bust out laughing, and we know exactly what each other is watching.  So now, Im extremely ready for Thursd....excuse me, Jersday so we can watch it on our big screen!!! While it blares from all over the apartment.

So, I hope you all enjoyed this little blog, well not so little, but still I hope you enjoyed it all the same. I intend to go people watch in the next few days to inform you all on what I may find.  I also have some quotes from my road rage to share with you all.  So look forward to that, and that wraps this blog up!