Audio- Technologically Challenged

I have not been able to figure out how to post my audio recording of this post from GarageBand to WordPress. When it comes to selecting the actual file, I am unable to highlight it. I do not know how to fix this problem but here is the written version of what I was essentially talking about:

 

 

Hello out there!  This is Eric Weber coming at you with my very first podcast for RUnation. So i want to talk about Rutger’s move to the Big Ten Conference. Im sure people are sick of hearing about the constant changing of the NCAA and which team is leaving which conference to join up with another one. But this decision has huge implications for our school. I think the decision is awesome.

Right now the big 10 conference shares revenue from tv deals that total up to over 200 million dollars.That leaves  Each school with a fat sum of 24.6 million dollars each. Now,  we wont be able to get in on our full share of this money for 6 years which definitely sucks but thats the price for being the incoming freshman of the conference. its predicted that by 2017 each team in the big ten will be receiving about 40 million dollars each! by then we will have our full share, along with a completely new identity as a school. With that kind of money we can give back to the students by reducing admission costs,build and upgrade facilities like the Rac for basketball, and the track on Livingston.

Our sports programs are clearly going to benefit  but theres no doubt its going to take a few years of adjusting.coaches will most likely have new recruiting stratagies. the goal will be to keep our states star athletes in new jersey while attracting out of state talent to our school. the perks of being in a dominant conference along with a well-respected  academic program  will be more than enough to attract our best athletes along with ones from across the nation. OUr state breeds talent in football, track, basketball, lacrosse, baseball, wrestling, and soccer players in the nation.walk-on opportunities will no doubt go down. student athletes will have to get used to cross country traveling for games and meets. but the advantages of this move far outweigh the costs.

some feel that this move is unfair to the sports programs that are not as big as the football program. Most of our other teams aren’t as primed with big-time talent and have lacked the amount of funding that the football program has had in recent years. Money has been pouring into our athletic programs, but in comparison to the big ten conference spending, we will be the second lowest spending athletic department in the big ten.  competition we have been seeing in the big east isn’t even comparable to what they will be up against in a few years. but after some sure growing pains I know that we’ll work our way to the top of the big ten.

Fans will be treated to the most competitive sports showdowns in the country every week. I think this is deserved considering that All the support that our students have given to the sports programs, like the 8 million dollars that came out of student fees put towards athletics in 2010 will pay off with big. WE have put too much money and time into building up our school in academics and sports. The new buildings on Livingston, and the 102 million dollar project on high point solutions stadium is proof of this.

With all the money that will be coming in, our school will see a rapid change. There will be A boost in enrolled students and our sports programs will be upgraded to match the most competitive schools in the country.We will be regarded as one of the premiere colleges for research, academics, and sports.

Finals!

Just about to start finals week! Remember, there are ways to reduce some of the stress….

1. Exercise- Put your headphones in, pick your favorite music, and go on a long run! Exercise reduces stress and keeps you awake.

2. Christmas music!!- Pandora station for Christmas music changed my day yesterday. Try it out! —–> PANDORA ROCKS

3. Sleep- Or at least try to. Insanity will kick in either way, so getting a few extra hours of sleep will help you finish up the last stretch of doom.

 

GOODLUCK ON FINALS EVERYONE!!!

Gamers Rejoice

College is a time for learning, experimenting new ideas and philosophies, meeting new people, understanding who you are, and wasting an absurd amount of time. Napping, eating, socializing, and video games can go a long way in consuming crazy amounts of this time.

Video games are fun. This makes it very easy to engage in playing them for hours. But if  you don’t agree that they are fun , then you have to admit that they are at least entertaining. I like to play multiplayer action games like Super Smash Bros,Mortal Combat, and even the occasional COD. What do these games have in common? They involve friends gathering around to do their best to embarrass each other. It creates a comfortable environment where everyone involved participates in busting each other’s balls. These games drive eager attempts to reclaim (in my case claim) the glory of winning. These games that I have mentioned are action packed and better for your mental health than you think.

The real benefits are not the social ones. That’s right, with all the negative criticism of video gamers spending too much time in virtual worlds, there proves to be more positive side affects than previously thought.

Action packed games actually provide positive effects after playing

It is a common notion that staring at a screen damages eyesight. When it comes to action packed video games, this statement is false. Of course if you play for five hours everyday there will surely be negative effects on sight. Daphne Bavelier is a brain scientist that focuses on how the brain works. Her studies found that people who play video games actually have better vision on average then non-gamers. Attention to detail is enhanced as well. This may seem odd at first. How can staring at a bright screen with more action going on than you can handle possibly help your sight? The eyes of gamers are trained to focus on detail in the game. With so much going on at once, their ability to focus in on the vital information helps towards better sight.

Many have thought that those who play video games are more easily distracted . This is also false. It’s been found that gamers have a better tracking ability and attention span when playing a healthy amount of action games.

What this means is that there are positive effects from video game play without the user ever knowing. I think video gamers are an untapped resource for improving mental health and promoting creativity.  Everyone can benefit from playing interactive games that are fun and have no visible purpose in improving cognitive abilities.

This is definitely encouraging considering how much time college students play Xbox and other platforms. Ok, I’m going to go play drunk driving Mario Cart now.

 

Not Enough Sleep

So it’s 1:15 am, and I am wired. But this is early! The night has only begun.

I find myself going to sleep at 2:30 in the morning on a regular basis. Do I want to? No, but every night the clock seems to run a little faster after midnight, and sure enough I lay in bed and find myself starring at the same numbers. I have a feeling that I’m not the only one.

School environment encourages these late nights. Living in a resident hall for the first year set the tone for insomnia. Dorm rooms suck so you want to spend as much time out of the room as possible. Lights were on 24/7 in the halls making it as deceitful as casinos hiding time with no clocks in sight.

We are catered until 12 am for take-out, which I use just about every night. We live in close proximity to an unlimited amount of kids the same age as us with the same exact mentality: procrastinate work as much as possible and when you can’t procrastinate any longer, stay up late talking with friends and pretend to not be checking Facebook routinely. 

There are a million reasons why college kids find themselves with less sleep than desired. Jobs, school work, clubs, organizations, sports, and everything in between contribute to the madness.

No matter the reason, students report on experiencing sleeping difficulties more often than any other age group. This is an unhealthy trend that has very negative side effects.

This sleep deprivation damages the ability to learn new material, remember learned material, and function at the highest possible level. Check out this article all about sleep and what it means to get enough of it.

How should we avoid the easy trap of getting no sleep? Well I can only speculate since I haven’t been able to change my ways in a year and half. But my goal for next semester is to fix this tiring problem. This is my game plan for getting more sleep:

1. Start homework sooner than the day before it’s due
2. Stop being a lazy shit and exercise everyday to avoid getting a “second wind” around 12 am.
3.  Stop napping during the day
4. Avoid starting conversations at 1 am about how much homework I have

Oldies in the Club

My brother is getting married this weekend who lives in Miami, so as temperatures steadily decline in New Jersey, I am enjoying beautiful 78 degree temperatures. Saying this is not (only) to brag, but it sets the scene for a hilarious observation I made last night. 

The club scene is obviously huge in Miami so for the bachelor party we went out and had a great time. As the night went on, and people started to fill the club, I noticed two phenomena I would have never imagined.

Slight Exaggeration

The first one is OLD PEOPLE! The difference between the middle aged folks in Miami than most other places is that they are so plastic surgery’ed up that you can’t tell whether they are 45 or 55 (they aren’t tricking anyone) and if they are always happy or if they’re faces are stuck like that. I honestly give them credit for having the motivation to stay out until 4 in the morning and later, but there is just something flat out creepy about having these oldies mixed in with the young blood at a club. Probably because you find old guys starring down girls dancing…or texting, which brings me to my next point. 

I always get annoyed when young people like myself forget how to socialize. It’s like every since we have gotten the ability to communicate with our friends wherever we are, we forgot how to talk and make friends with new people in different places in person. This is exactly what I found while at Segofredo. A mix between people talking, standing, and texting, drinking, oh and dancing(barely). How can you go out and spend money to get into a club where the music is bumping and be on your phone all night!? It’s crazy. I spent my night with my brother’s French friend finding as many things to stand on top of and dance.

 Miami is a strange place with excitement at every corner. I know that it all depends on where you go and when you go, so I have no doubt in my mind that every other place can blow my mind with craziness and fun. Some people hang on to their youth just a little too long, and should recognize when it’s time to call it a night, and some youth need to drop they’re addiction to phones and remember what it’s like to let loose and go crazy. 

I’m On a Bus!

This is the image that was generated for me using the Random Creative Commons Image Generator on my first try and I couldn’t be any happier. 

Even though this picture is one of a subway scene, it relates perfectly to our transportation system for Rutgers. Every day that I take a Rutgers bus I count how many people are staring down at their phone, how many are tuned in to their music, and how many are just sitting there, maybe doing the same thing i’m doing and observing. I am doing this usually while checking my phone every 5 minutes and listening to music. I try to switch it up every day whether or not I will completely tune out the world while traveling to class. I can’t help but think how much more friendly the Rutgers transportation experience can be if people were less engaged in their bubble. 

These are some of the things I notice while on the bus:

• It’s a constant battle to avoid making eye contact
• People with headphones in mark themselves as unapproachable
• If you start up a conversation, people will absolutely engage in it
• You can hear a pin drop on a packed bus 

I say that it’s a battle to avoid eye contact, because every time that I am sitting across from someone I can’t help but check them out. Girl, boy, or adult, I like to observe. This doesn’t mean that I creep on people, but I am certainly a fan of ‘people watching’. Once eye contact is made, there is a dash of the eyes to get away from looking. I see no point in this because when you are stuck on a bus for twenty minutes at a time with the same people around you, you will encounter multiple meetings of the eyes. But most people feel uncomfortable and look away. When someone doesn’t mind, that usually means they are more approachable and conversation is the natural next step.

I wear headphones on the bus to zone out and be in my own world. I like to see it as a soundtrack to my life. Headphones are the universal code saying, “Don’t bother me, I’m doing my own thing.” Nothing is wrong with that, except when you are having a conversation that ends with that person putting in their headphones…then it’s embarrassing. 

I try to talk to somebody I don’t know as often as I can. To me this makes the ride go by faster and I believe that we should all interact more with each other. With everyone in their own bubble, and technology padding that bubble, it’s not nearly as common as you would think. Most people do not interact with each other on buses, but as I have found, every time I do, the person is willing and almost pleasantly surprised to be having a conversation. 

Silence on the bus interests me. Everyone on a Rutgers bus is about the same age, similar demography, has similar mindsets to have chosen this school, takes classes that many people surrounding you take or have taken, and the list goes on. The point is that with all these similarities how is there still nothing to talk about? I assume that people are tired, stressed, uninterested, in a rush, or scared. I know I use the time I spend on the bus mostly as a personal get-away-from-everything time. Even in the middle of the day with classes swirling around me, I look at it as a separate entity of school and enjoy the bumps and rhythmic sound of the road. The bus acts as a sanctuary as well as a melting pot of potential friends, classmates, or just somebody to talk to briefly.

 

Passion Puddle

Walking around campus, I have noticed the environment change from a lush green landscape to a crisp, earthy mix of yellow, orange and brown. Not only has the scenery begun to transition, but the atmosphere of the school and it’s students has begun it’s decent into a colder mindset. Northfaces are starting to appear by the masses once again, and although I am guilty of enjoying it’s comfort, it makes me sick to see a sea of black fuzz balls cramming onto the buses every time I’m outside. The days of walking in tanks and shorts are just about passed us, and as depressing as that can be, you have to find something fun and entertaining to do no matter the temperature or forecast.

Luckily for us, mother nature gave us a beautiful reality check this weekend that it is only the middle of October and there is hope left for remaining days of sunshine and warmth. I took advantage of this by spending my time in one of my favorite places at Rutgers. Passion Puddle.

Passion Puddle

Everyone knows about the Passion Puddle myth. If a Cook College dude and a Douglass College girl hold hands and walk around the pond a few times they will be engaged shortly after. This is a romantic tale that I have no problem with, but the true charm of this pond comes from it’s remote location and the relaxed environment it creates for anyone who takes a moment to appreciate it. 

On Sunday afternoon, my friend and I traveled back to Passion Puddle for a night time experience. We spent most of our time in the fields on the other side of the pond. We set up camp and spent the next two hours looking up. At first the dark blue background of the night sky gave all other life solid dark,yet  unique forms. Trees, birds, bushes, squirrels, and other people walking around seems to mesh together as they moved, yet were individually defined. The wind gently swayed branches around. Bats flew spastically above us, crossing our gaze to disappear into the dark form of trees, and reappearing just as quickly. 

Once total darkness settled in the stars stole the show. Any constellation in the sky was visible, along with five spotted meteors burning up in the atmosphere. By the time we took the REXL back to Livingston, everything in the world was right again. 

Need to study? Take a trip to Passion. Just got done studying? Relax at Passion Puddle. Need to release energy? Toss a ball or frisbee around Passion Puddle or take a jog on the gravel path surrounding the park. Need a place to sit and be alone? Passion Puddle never will refuse your company, and there is a 100 percent chance that it will help calm your nerves.

Here’s a song to vibe to while enjoying your time on Cook. 

 

RU Bored?

This is my first post involving an idea that was brought up by an anonymous peer in class the other day! By the way, thank you!!! The idea is to ask people around campus what they like to do in their spare time. I wanted to start this off by doing a trial run with one of my friends.

His response once asked after our incredibly boring general psychology class was, “I play the guitar maaaaannnn.” I was relieved. I’m not trying to run through Brower dining hall naked just yet, I mean this is the first one! I’m assuming most people like to run through public places naked in their spare time, of course.

Luckily, I happend to come to school this year with the very typical goal of wanting to learn how to play the guitar, so this was something I actually looked forward to. Not so lucky for me, I haven’t picked it up more than 4 times since I’ve been here, so needless to say, I suck! 

So the idea is to do the activity or whatever it is that the person I ask comes up with and spend about an hour with it. My objective in this case was to learn a song! Shouldn’t be hard, right? Well I found that even though I have a shaky background with music from my middle school jazz band years on the drums (ahh the glory days) , this was a different monster.

In fact, this was a monster that I have no lessons with or experience at all messing around with, so I went to the sacred site of tabs. For those of you who don’t know, tabs are pretty much music sheets that use numbers coresponding with the frets and strings of the guitar instead of notes. This makes it possible for a complete noob like myself to make sounds that resemble a song!

Guitar Tabs

 The song I fiddled around with is Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’.” I knew that it had very simple chords and would be something I could spend time on and know what it actually should sound like! I am still figuring out how to record a video and post it on this blog, so when that gets figured out, I will show you the beautiful masterpiece that is my music. 

As I was playing I thought about the funny contrast between how good people sometimes think they are and how good they actually sound. In my case it mostly applies to my singing. In my head i’m a rockstar, but the sad truth appears every time I open my mouth for the words to come out. Luckily, we have ‘American Idol’ to affirm i’m not the only one with this illusion. 

I will post the video ASAP!! 

Black OUT!!

Wouldn’t  you love to spend your Saturday afternoon participating in something incredibly fun? Well, to your avail, on OCTOBER 6th our Rutgers football team will be looking to redeem themselves against the University of Connecticut Huskies after getting upset last year 40-22.  This is a huge in-conference game, so it’s a must win. Rutgers needs as much support as we can get at this game to make some NOISEEEE!! The sight will be truely amazing when it comes to game day. You will enter the High Solutions Stadium, probably a little tipsy(if not very), and there will be a sea of black. Oh yea! BLACKOUT!!! Wear black and come out to the game to see an awesome showdown between these two great teams. The Scarlet Knights are 4-0 so far this year. We are ranked 23rd in the country in both the coach’s poll and AP poll.If you’re not already motivated to get off your ass when the time comes then maybe this will get your blood pumping again!

 

Get Voting!

So, as you all know, the Rutgers Scarlet Knight is the most badass, charismatic mascot in all the land. Which means that every single one of you should vote for him in the Capital One Mascot Challenge.  Now besides the obvious reason of wanting to rep your school, voting the Knight to victory will result in our mascot program winning a grand sum of $20,000! Thats a ton of money that can go to things like a team van for away games!

I asked the mascot himself, “What would you do with all this cash money?” 

He replied by saying…well nothing because he can’t talk, but if he did he would stress the fact that a new suit will be affordable, awesome props like swords and shields will be bought, and most definitely an awesome in-game vehicle…maybe a motorcycle?!

Click on VOTE to be transported straight to the spot to cast your much-needed votes!

EVERY VOTE COUNTS MY DEAR FRIENDS! Go Rutgers!