One of the last classes I took at Texas Tech was a class in which the professor used “remote teaching”. There was no physical professor in the classroom with us, but there was a T.V. set that she popped up on everyday. Mounted on top of the T.V. was a video camera equipped with a microphone. If we ever needed to answer or ask a question, we had to push a little red button on our desk, and the camera would zoom in and give the professor a live feed of who we were and what we were asking. It was very strange asking a tv screen anything, and uncomfortable if you were camera shy. If no one was asking a question, the camera continually showed the entire classroom so the tv professor would be able to see if anyone was misbehaving or ditching class. I guess this manner of teaching made sense for Tech financially, but I don’t think it was very educational. By using a professor lecturing live from a remote location, the university could have several classes on different campuses taught at the same time by the same teacher. I know education is expensive and it’s a price I am willing to pay, but I just don’t think it’s right to have to give presentations to a tv screen and have a camera in my face every time I have a question. Besides, with as much as tuition costs, it kind of irks me that Tech would make me watch a tv screen for two hours twice a week. If everyone is paying for a class, we should all get a real class, not a screen who can’t even grade the homework it gave us. The ONLY thing I remember from that class is that a television taught it. How effective is that?

Courtesy of SEO Company

For the Texas Tech vs. Baylor game, we couldn’t get tickets to get seats at the game so we bought these tickets they have called party passes that let you inside the stadium with out a seat, but you can still watch the game and walk around. So, my cousins and I did that and were really, really excited, while my boyfriend and his friends family sat in a suite. They had a personal, little room where they could watch the TV out of a glass window or just watch it on one of the TVs in there. They had a free buffet filled with ribs and tons of other food, and all the drinks they could want. His friend got the tickets from his friend, and this suite was just his “overflow” suite for when all of his friends can’t fit into his main one. They got to walk around and drink where ever they wanted and it was free, while we were confined to a little bar area where our beers were nine buck a piece. Now, I can’t complain too much because I got what I wanted and what I paid for, but some day I really want to get to experience sitting in a suite in the Dallas Cowboys stadium. Just the fact that he had a seat all to him self during the game makes me jealous of the suite, because we stood the entire time unless we were in the bar. And looking at the pictures that he took while hanging out with his friends in there, partying it up, makes me want it even more.

Courtesy of SEO Company

Courtesy of Ares Download

Tomorrow on the Texas Tech campus they are having the annual Carol of the Lights. Every year, you can go on campus and enjoy the Christmas festivities. It will start at 7 pm. Get there early and head back into the Quad, where you will see the choir and get to hear them sing Christmas Carols. All the sidewalks will be lit with candles and it will be dark. They give out glow sticks to the kids, and everyone gets to the center where the choir is singing, and then they will turn on all the lights on campus. There are more than 25,000 lights lit at one time, on eleven of the buildings on campus that are around memorial circle. There’s a big Christmas tree at the entrance of campus that is thirty-eight feet tall. So don’t forget to bring your camera and take tons of pictures of the family with the giant tree and all the lights, it could make for a good Christmas card pictures! This is another one of those moments that just let you know Christmas is soon, and I’ve made sure to go every year since I’ve been living in Lubbock. If you live in Lubbock, make sure you go. Bring the kids, it’s a nice evening of family fun that doesn’t cost a dollar and gets everyone in the holiday spirit early. It’s going to be chilly, so don’t forget to grab your scarves and sweaters and get some hot chocolate before heading out there!

Courtesy of Ares Download
Courtesy of SEO Company

Everyone has their own opinions on how they like to watch games. Some people prefer being in a bar and watching the game on a big TV and being able to order drinks and eat. Some people like to just sit at home and watch from the comfort of their couch. And some people prefer to actually be at the game, no matter what. I think I am all three of those, depending on what sport I am watching. When it comes to football, I want to be there. Especially at a Texas Tech game. I love being at the games, yelling all the specific yells that the student section does, and hearing the band. But, since I love football so much I also really enjoy games on TV. When it comes to baseball, I like to be there, as well, but only if the weather is really pretty. I don’t want to tough it out for a baseball game if it’s freezing, but for football I will. There aren’t many baseball teams that I’d even take the time to watch on TV, but I love watching the Cubs. So, since I can’t go to Chicago any time they play, I have to settle for watching on TV. If I know the Tech Baseball team is playing and the weather is nice, I like to go to the games at watch, but I don’t follow them religiously. When it comes to basketball, I’m content never seeing a game on TV. The only time I even care to watch is when I get to go and they’re really good seats. If not, then I wont even see a basketball game all season. I guess it’s just a personal preference, but of course all sports are better in person!

Courtesy of Ares Download
Courtesy of SEO Company

This weekend, Texas Tech and Baylor played at the Cowboys stadium. I had seen the stadium before because my sister lives only a few miles from it, but only from the outside. I really didn’t think I was going to get the opportunity to go inside, especially the first year it was opened, but when I heard about the game I just had to find a way in. From the outside, I had always thought that the stadium looked like a big boat. Once you get up closer to it, it looks a lot bigger than what you would expect. We just had to buy party passes to get into the stadium, and we were free to wander around and look at it. It was HUGE. The jumbotron on the ceiling was so big I couldn’t even understand it. They had four hanging up in the middle, and the ones that were facing the end zone were bigger than any I had ever seen, but the ones that were facing out the other way were just unimaginable. Everything just smelled and felt so new, and everything was just SO BIG. We wandered around and took tons of pictures, there were areas that were weren’t aloud to go into but we got the main idea of how the stadium was. Since they didn’t serve alcohol at our game, we found a bar inside and went in. Everything just seemed really high class and was pretty, and every where you went there were TVs so you could see what was going on when you were away from the field. I really hope I get the chance to go to a Cowboy’s game soon and get to explore more!

Courtesy of Ares Download
Courtesy of SEO Company

This weekend Texas Tech and Baylor were scheduled to play. They decided last year, that since the Dallas Cowboys Stadium would be finished that we would get to play them there every year. This was the first year they had the game there, and I really had no idea how I was going to get in. There were no tickets online, but I just knew that I had to go. My cousin and I decided to car pool it to Arlington since my sister lives there, and a few hours before the game we went out to try and find some tickets. We saw no one. We walked around for a few hours, needing to get at least three for me and both of my cousins, but no one. We finally decided that the best bet would be to get the Party Passes, which were tickets that just let you into the stadium but you didn’t have a seat. We knew that we needed to get in fast, and then at least we would get good standing room. We ended up watching most of the game from the standing rooms, but spend a big chunk of the night, including half time, in a bar that we found. We were supposed to be able to drink in the game, but Baylor decided that they wanted to be jerks and no let them serve alcohol in the stadium, so you had to go into a bar to drink and couldn’t leave with your glasses. So, next year, I hope they change their mind and quit being stupid about that. College kids drink, I don’t care of you go to Baylor or Tech, and with this rare opportunity they should have let us go all out!

Courtesy of Ares Download
Courtesy of SEO Company

I don’t go the Jake’s very often, but when I do go I always have a good time. They have the “back room”, which is a huge room with a stage where they have concerts. It’s never very expensive to get in, and it’s a really good room for concerts. When they don’t have concerts, you can go back into the room and they have extra seating and another bar than the main one. When Texas Tech plays on TV, it’s a good place to go because there are a lot of TVs and projections. They have pretty good drink specials, depending on what night you go. Every night they have a happy hour from 7 to 8 pm where you get $1.75 drafts, $2 bottles and $2 well drinks. Some of my favorite nightly specials are Monday nights are 2 dollar margaritas, Tuesdays are two dollars drafts and bottles and cherry vodka sours, and Fridays are ten dollars buckets. They also have poker tournaments on Sundays, Mondays and Tuesday at 7 and 9 pm. They have lots of seating room in the front room, a back room that has several pool tables, and then the “Back Room”, where they have stages and more seating. It’s a good place to have a large group of friends because they have a lot more seating, but it’s also fun to just go with a date and sit at the bar or at a table alone and have some drinks.

Courtesy of Ares Download
Courtesy of SEO Company

This week was the last home game for Texas Tech this football season. The game was at 11 in the morning, which usually isn’t fun to start off but by the time the game is over you’re happy that it was an early one. I didn’t get to tail gate this game because I wasn’t there early enough, so when I got there we went straight into the game. I assumed we weren’t going to do too well, since this season has been tough on us. With that last loss to OSU and the loss to A&M before that, I was trying to be optimistic but wasn’t going to get my hopes up. So, when we started the game off with a field goal I was pretty excited that we were holding our own. And when we kicked their asses and won the game 41 to 13 I was ecstatic. It was the best last home game we could have asked for. Last year when they beat us and ruined our season, they played “Jump Around” by Kriss Kross and went wild, so this year we got to do it back to them and make them suffer. I’m glad that all the senior foot ball players got to leave their stadium for the final time with a win, instead of leaving defeated and upset. It was a great game and I am so glad that I have gotten to go to all the games this season, win or lose. I can’t wait for next year’s foot ball season to start!

Courtesy of Ares Download

Sometimes I feel like I’m living in an episode of “What Not To Wear”. As the host of course! There are so many strange trends that are popular here in Lubbock that I can’t understand. Now, on a regular day you can catch me in anything from sweat pants because I’m leaving or go to the gym, jeans and a t-shirt when I’m at work, to a dress. But, when I do go somewhere that I am expected to look decent, I do. I absolutely love to get dressed up, and I love to go shopping. I love to go out, and one of the best parts of going out is getting ready with my friends. Girls here in Lubbock think that going out to a club means wearing as little as possible, no matter what your body looks like in it. Which is always a no. Just because something looks good on the rack doesn’t mean it’s going to look good on anyone who wears it. Sometime when I leave the house, I have to wonder what people are thinking. When I was in college, girls would be wearing little Nike athletic shorts with tall fuzzy Ugg boots. This is still a common trend that I see around Lubbock and I don’t understand. Are you cold, or are you warm? Shorts and fuzzy boots? Make up your mind. All the girls must have some kind of meeting together to decide what the next trend is going to be, because they all do these things at the same time. You can go out in Lubbock and you will see that all the college girls are dressed the same way. The mirroring each other thing is worse here than it was in high school, and I just can’t understand it.

Courtesy of Ares Download

Another bar that I think is really cute is called Gas Light in Lubbock. A lot of the bars here aren’t really pretty on the eyes, and the people in charge of this one have really taken the time to make sure it’s comfortable and looks really nice. They have a few areas where you can sit on big leather couches, so it’s very comfortable to relax after a day of work and have a drink. They also have a selection of cigars for sale in the bar, so if you like to sit down and relax and smoke a cigar this is a nice place to go. Their drinks can be pretty pricey, and most of the specials just cut a dollar off certain drinks on certain nights. They often have life music, and small bands will perform in the front room or single people will sing and play the guitar. They have a big front room, with all the couches and a lot of tables, and then they have a separate back room. They also have a beautiful patio area, that looks over a lake. There is another bar outside that serves drinks for when you are out on the patio. One of the best parts of this bar is that they have waitresses. You don’t have to get up and wait at a crowded bar in line to get a drink, you an just order from your waitress and she can take care of it for you. I like going here, but only when I don’t mind spending a little more on drinking. I think this is a good place to take a date, it’s very dim and romantic and they serve small appetizers if you just want to take someone out for a drink and maybe have a snack.

Courtesy of Ares Download