Laura Baugh

Virginia Tech football. What Hokie doesn’t look forward to the most wonderful time of the year? You’ve graduated from the disgustingly unreliable lottery system (hopefully) and now have license to brag to your not so fortunate south end zone friend about how you landed prime seats in the north. You’ve gathered all of the random ‘Hokies Respect’ tattoos you got for free freshman year and stocked up on some of the overpriced maroon and orange jewelry from the bookstore. Now that you’ve already done some preparation, it’s time to finalize your checklist for the best football season of your entire college career. Here are five things you should aim to do to take gameday from ‘awesome’ to ‘OH YEAH.’ For best results, do all five at every game. Feeling ambitious yet?

1. Tailgate at the crack of dawn
It’s called kegs and eggs for a reason. There’s nothing better than waking up at 8 a.m. and immediately heading over to your friend’s house on South Main for a morning spent stuffing your face with pigs in a blanket and bean dip. Too early for tailgating fare, you say? By the time you show up and see everyone decked out in their Hokie gear and rocking out to some random fratmusic.com playlist, you’ll know that you made the right decision. Before the season opener, I saw alumni tailgating on the way to my 9:30 a.m. class. Considering kickoff was at 8 p.m., that is some serious dedication. Why not take a page from their book and start you’re your game day celebration as early as possible? You know what they say- “the older you are, the wiser you get…”

Calling shenanigans that you’ll be able to get out of bed that early on a Saturday morning? Make your alarm “Enter Sandman.” It may change your mind. Speaking of Enter Sandman..

It seems like just yesterday I was driving into the Clear Channel parking lot, unsure of where to park and second-guessing my outfit choice. Eight weeks flew by, and in exactly a month, I am going to be starting my final year at Virginia Tech. I shudder to think how quickly that will fly by. I have learned so much at my internship, and it honestly makes me wish I had more time. Come tomorrow, I will say goodbye to my cubicle and then immediately head down to Blacksburg where I will prepare to move in to my new, senior year townhome. Before I bid the whole experience farewell, I’d like to take a moment to reflect on what I’ve gained over the past two months.

A Spectacular Insight Into My Field

If you think you know everything you need to know about your dream job- think again. Having this internship was the best thing I could ever ask for, in terms of really getting a feel for what I’d like to be doing in the real world. You can take as many classes in your major as you want, but when it comes down to it, nothing is better than being right in the middle of the industry you one day aspire to be successful in. Being in an office and fast-paced working environment has really made me aware of how exciting the broadcast world is. The media industry is all about reaching your audience, creating strong and reliable relationships with local businesses and companies, and keeping information and content fresh and exciting. I’ve had a blast getting to know each station that broadcasts through the building, and how each has a different identity.

A Wealth of Knowledge Through Meeting People And Networking

I hope everyone had a wonderful Fourth of July. I know I did, because I stuffed my face and had complete disregard for any sort of organized meal time. Lunchtime lasted anywhere from noon to 5 p.m. And don’t even get me started on dinner.

Now, why am I bringing up food when this is supposed to be about my internship? As some of you may have picked up on in my previous blog entries, food is a very important thing to me. I fall in the “live to eat” camp and not the “eat to live” camp. With that being said, I can be known to… shall we say… over do it sometimes.

Which brings me to the dilemma that IS having a 9 to 5 office job. It can be so hard trying to resist ALL the junk food. McDonald’s and Taco Bell are both less than a mile away, and we have a pretty impressive selection in the downstairs snack machine. As part of an on-going effort to try to eat healthier (and because it was hard for me to ignore the love handles when I was chillin’ in my bikini down at the beach), I have begun to really think consciously about my nomming decisions when I’m at my desk. So, without further ado, I give you: How to make work healthy. The Laura edition. Let’s get down to business to defeat…. THE HUNGER!

It sounded cooler in my head.

Snacks

Before I started my internship, I expected the first couple of days to be unpredictable. You have to settle into a routine, get familiar with the space you’re working in, and get a feel for what type of work you’re going to be doing. I figured that I’d fall into a somewhat predictable pattern come my third or fourth week.

Boy was I wrong- in the best way possible. As anyone working in the media industry can tell you, this business is about as unpredictable as they come. You have to be prepared for things to change at the drop of a hat. You have to be willing to completely rewire your entire priority list. Breaking news happens. Crazy scenarios unfold. Life-threatening, out-of-the-blue tornadoes rip through your surrounding area.

Wait, a tornado? Really? Well, that’s exactly what I first thought Monday afternoon when I was sitting at my cubicle with a fellow intern changing around some calendar dates on one of the station websites. Richmond isn’t exactly notorious for monstrous storms. Sure, we get severe thunderstorms more often than other places I’ve visited during the summer, but tornadoes are kind of a rare commodity in the city. They usually come around the outskirts and never actually through any place I’ve ever been. And, more importantly, they are usually always forecasted. Yes, what started out as any other Monday really turned into something that taught me some important lessons. This is the story of the storm that no one knew about.