Hokie News

Well, through a fortunate series of events, I had the chance to make it down to Blacksburg this weekend for the VT-Miami game (which we won, 44-14). My Dad, brother, and his wife joined me on the trip, and it was a good time (as seen by the smiles on the faces in the picture below)

Better yet, I got a chance to see the April 16 Memorial. In short:

• It was simple, but elegant.
• I didn’t break out into tears when I saw it.
• I will visit every time I go to campus from now on.

I can now say that my mourning period has ended. I don’t think it could’ve unless I visited the memorial. Here are some pictures:

For the first time in a while, I won’t be going to VT Football games this year. Emily is currently 10 days away from being due, so like with so many other things, the baby is taking precedence, as it should be.

This year however is so different. April (and the several months after it) was really rough for me. The connection with the school made me so want to go there, to mourn with everyone else and see the memorials. I still want to go and see the temporary memorial they dedicated (which my brother and Dad will get to see this weekend). I still hope to go sometime this semester, maybe for a game, to see the memorial.

Tomorrow’s game would’ve be nice to go to as well. For the first time since April, a lot of Hokies will be able to come to the campus for the first time, and be together to mourn the loss of 32 people in April. There will be special ceremonies before the game and the feeling when the team will come out of the tunnel for the first time since then - I can’t even start to imagine how it will be. Emily wants to take Noah to the zoo tomorrow, which of course means I will miss most of these ceremonies (yes, I can record it, but it’s just not the same recorded as it is live, even if I am hundreds of miles away) and probably the start of the game. It’s another sacrifice that has to be made for the family, but while I may be physically in DC, I’m gonna be hundreds of miles away in my mind, with my fellow Hokies, my heart tearing apart inside that I can’t be there or watching live with them, but happy to know that we are one step closer to prevailing - We Will Prevail - We Are Virginia Tech

So, I haven’t used my VT email since I left in 2002 - and I rarely used it between 1997 and 2000, cause it had, oh, let’s say, a shitload of spam coming into it.

Then VT got smart and put a junk mail mechanism in their webmail interface, which was nice, but I had to manually kick it in the nads, and the mail still got a) into my inbox in the first place and b) past their junkmail filter.

I checked my mail tonite however, pleased to find they have implemented a proactive filter (read: quarantine mechanism) that diverts spam BEFORE it gets to my inbox. So from me to the school that at one time was one of the most technologically advanced in the nation: about fucking time!

So, I may try using my vt address again. I actually used it again when ordering my Hokies United Shirt (and one for Bret and Sheryl) - I’m really glad they are selling them again since I didn’t get a chance to get one before.

I usually wear something VT related on Friday’s - casual Friday at work - but today was a little different. My Orange Effect 2006 t-shirt, my VT Alumni sweatshirt and hat. If I had maroon sweatpants I may just have worn those Several other people in my group, and many others around the lab wore maroon and orange, or something similar. Dr. Kevin Granata, one of the slain professors, actually worked as a research assistant at APL from 1986-1989 in the Sub Tech department. So the connection grows a little deeper.

All 32 names have been posted to the VT Website.

Services, moments of silence, and candlelight vigils have been held at schools, churches, and gatherings nationwide. I have seen students weep, and have wept myself. I’ve had by my side (when I sleep) since Tuesday night my old VT blanket - which I hadn’t used in years.

I keep trying to imagine what kind of life the killer must have gone through to have so much hatred. Was he mentally ill? Chemically unstable? We’ll never know. But what I do know is that if you have children you have somewhat conflicting responsibilities - you must hold their hand but yet teach them to act on their own; you must talk to them and teach them what it is like to be an adult, but also listen to them to help answer the questions they cannot find the answers to on their own; you must teach them to be social and make friends while also being a friend to them; you must smile with them, you must cry with them, you must be angry with them, sometimes all at the same time, and you must teach them that they must do the same if they want to be emotionally healthy; you must teach them how to talk, and at the same time teach them what to hold close to their vest; you must teach them to love ALL life, and welcome natural death, for it is part of the circle of life, but NEVER force an unnatural death upon an innocent person.

I have always felt a connection to Virginia Tech since I left there - it was more than the football games, it was more than the academics - it was something intangible, something that always pulled me back. I think I finally realized that it is the sense of family in that place that makes me feel so at home. I’ve always felt I will return there one day, who knows when. Until then I can only look upon the students and the generations of students to come and know that they too will be injected with this same sense of Hokie Pride that I have, and as a nation, we will heal, we will become strong, and to quote Nikki Giovanni…

“We will prevail”

“We WILL prevail”

“We will prevail”

“We are….. Virginia Tech.”

Update (4/18): One of the hats is heading to Cooperstown (Hall of Fame), and other signed hats are heading to Virginia Tech.

All Nats players wearing Hokie caps tonite. Here’s a screenshot from someone on TechSideline.com, and here’s a description:

WASHINGTON — The Nationals paid their respects to the 32 people
who were killed at Virginia Tech in an attack by an armed gunman
Monday afternoon by wearing Hokies hats starting in the second inning
of Tuesday’s game against the Braves.
The idea came from a fan named Dave Lanham from Calvert County,
Md. He e-mailed team president Stan Kasten in the middle of the
afternoon. Kasten thought it was a great idea and ordered 40 hats. The
hats arrived in the first inning.

The Nationals also had a moment of silence for the victims at Virginia
Tech for the second straight day.

From today’s convocation, courtesy of TechSideLine forums:

(might not be exact)
We are Virginia Tech
We are Sad Today
And we will be sad for quite a while
We are not moving on
We are embracing our mourning
We are Virginia Tech
We are strong enough to stand tall tearlously
We are brave enough to bend to cry…
And sad enough to know we must laugh again
We are Virginia Tech
We do not understand this tragedy
We know we did nothing to deserve it
But neither does a child in Africa dying of aids
Neither do the invisible children walking the night away to avoid being
captured by a rogue army
Neither does the baby elephant watching his community being
devastated for ivory
Neither does the Mexican child looking for fresh water
Neither does the appalachian infant killed in the middle of night in his
crib in the home it’s father built with his own hands being run over by a
boulder because the land was destablized
No one deserves a tragedy
We are Virginia Tech
The Hokie nation embraces our own and reaches out with open heart
and hands to those
Who offer their hearts and minds
We are strong and brave and innocent and unafraid
We are better than we think and not quite what we want to be
We are alive to the imagination and the possibility
We will continue to invent the future through our blood and tears
Through all this sadness
We are the HOKIES
We will prevail
We WILL prevail
We will prevail
We are….. Virginia Tech

Link to the video, courtesy of Fox News (yuck, but hey at least I have a link)

Better from Youtube:

Hoda Kotb from NBC is a VT Grad, and she appeared at the end of tonite’s Dateline NBC. Brought me to tears. She couldn’t have described how I feel about the school any better. Here’s a transcript of the clip - hopefully there will be video up later.

http://insidedateline.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/04/16/153162.aspx

Here it is at YouTube:

Some cool pictures:

And a crazy article: Students jump out window to avoid shooter

Man, it has not been a good year for VT.

Virginia Tech Shooting

22 dead, 28 injured and being treated at various regional hospitals. The shooter is dead, not sure whether he shot himself or if the cops got him. Classes are cancelled today and tomorrow.

It’s the deadliest shooting in U.S. campus history.

CNN has an insane video from someone outside of Norris Hall (near Burruss), site of the second shooting (the first was at West A.J., 1 dead, several injured), and you can hear a good 21 shots being fired, probably 1 from the cops outside (judging by the difference in sounds of the shot).

For a while, reports came in at 1 dead, several wounded, but when my brother texted me to report that a press conference had reported that 20 were dead, my heart sank. I’ve been away from there for years, and I still feel such a strong connection to the campus. I’m listening to CNN as I work (we get a live feed at work), and as they interview students, I can’t help but feel from everyone there.

*Sigh*

Update: now 33 dead, including the shooter, who shot himself. And can I just say that reporters are a) stupid and b) a bunch of deaf mother fuckers.

Reporter 1: Can you describe the shooter?
Chief: We are not releasing that information at this time
Reporter 2: Chief, can you say whether the shooter was Asian or not?
Chief: As I said, we are not releasing that information at this time
Reporter 3: Chief, can you say what color eyes the shooter had
Chief: *Throws microphones at reporters*

Well, except for the Redskins getting whomped by the Cowboys…. *sigh* I’ve given up on them for now, so it’s time for a weekend recap!

Went down to Blacksburg on Friday to walk around campus and look around (something I’ve wanted to do for a while). Unfortunately got started after 5 PM, so everyone was gone. But it was nice to see all the old buildings and classrooms and see how things had changed (and how they hadn’t). Some things smelled the same, others looked brighter (I have so many memories of the physics building being so much more…. dim), but all in all…. it was Tech. Got some nice pics in the gallery here.

Spent the evening with my friend Margaret, her husband Matt, and their daughter Mary. We went to the pep rally for a little bit (pics in the link above as well), and then they put Mary down for bed and we had some Chinese for dinner. We chatted until 9 or so and caught up for the first time in 4 years or so. Went back to the hotel and met up with Bret, who informed me that the hotel told him that Travelocity hadn’t paid for the hotel. So, a call to Travelocity (maybe their India branch?) later and everything was settled. Damn hotel trying to double charge me.

We were 5 touchdown (35 point) favorites going into the Duke game….. and it showed. First play from scrimmage brought us down near the goal line and we punched it in soon thereafter. Eddie Royal returned a punt for a TD, had my brother screaming “Where are you going?!?!?!” as he reversed direction *towards* the pile, but made it through. It rocked. We won 36-0 and play Cincinnati, which I won’t be going to, but sold my ticket for, so that’s cool. Also sold my UVA ticket to Matt and Margaret, so just one more to get rid of and I’m set.

Did some cleaning, repaired the door to Noah’s room (one of the brackets had come off the frame), watched some football, and slept in today. Back to the grind tomorrow……

From CNN…

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/08/21/virginia.escapee.ap/index.html

And from VT’s website, which is a little “slashdotted” right now it seems, with all the attention:

http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/story.php?relyear=2006&itemno=434

I’m all up for getting out of class, but not when an escaped convict may be going around campus!

Update (1:14PM): Another cop shot and killed on a trail this morning as they were closing in on his position:

http://www.wdbj7.com/Global/story.asp?S=5305175

Update (3:32 PM) Wonder where this is on campus? Squires maybe?

Update (4:12 PM) He’s been caught! From the WDBJ7 link above:

An officer told News-7 that William Charles Morva was taken into custody on the Rugby field on the Virginia Tech campus. Police have not yet released details of the capture.

Update (5:26 PM) More from the WDBJ story:

Blacksburg police say the man they believe shot and killed a Montgomery County deputy this morning has been taken into custody. Blacksburg police say William Charles Morva was found hiding in a briar patch just off the Huckleberry Trail near the Virginia Tech Rugby field. He was found about 150 yards from where the officer was shot this morning. Police say they spotted him in the brush, challenged him, and he surrendered. Police say they recovered a weapon, but would not say whether he had it on him.