Hey folks, I'm VPIhokieME, Ask Me Anything
I grew up in Charlottesville (or close enough to it, in Earlysville) and attended Virginia Tech from 2006-2010. I studied Mechanical Engineering and even though almost every role I've held since graduating has had "Engineer" in the title I haven't actually done an ounce of proper engineering since 2010 (I've probably forgotten how to do it)
I have bounced around a bit, starting my career in design (Asheville) before spending a little time doing some project management for a construction company (Northern VA) and then deciding I didn't like that and quitting my job to join the Peace Corps (Uganda) which, somehow, led to where I am now, working as a quality engineer for a medical device company (Hillsborough, NC).
I am the youngest of five (and the only one born in the U.S.) and I am married to the love of my life - we met at Virginia Tech. We have one child who will be 17 months this week.
That's a good base to work from, I think. I'll allow you all to ask questions to fill in the gaps
I guess we're not doing nominations anymore, but if we were, I'd nominate B_Street (mostly because I think it would be hilariously confusing)
Go Hokies! Have at it!
Comments
Fill in the details on Peace Corps time. How did that work with your now wife?
I'll provide some details but leave a few gaps for follow ups (partly because 27 months spent in a completely new and different environment is not easily summed up)
Great question. Couples can serve together and that is what we did. Her resume was basically tailor made for Peace Corps and she is absolutely more qualified for it than I am. In fact, she was such a good fit that Peace Corps had to take us as a package deal despite the fact I probably never would have gotten in on my own merits (Peace Corps is very competitive, apparently) just so they could get her.
Anyway, Peace Corps has various regions, which all have their own directors and they have different needs and strategies. For us, when we applied (right after getting married in 2016), we had the option to choose a specific country (and we started down that route but ultimately didn't - that's another post), choose a specific region (such as Africa, South America, Oceania, etc.), or be open to being placed anywhere, at Peace Corps' discretion (presumably, based on their needs and fits)
We were originally slated to go to Ethiopia but because of some civil unrest at the time they cancelled our cohort and dispersed the applicants from that "class" to various other countries, one of which being Uganda. About 1/4 - 1/3 of the folks in our cohort in Uganda had been bounced from the Ethiopia group we were originally supposed to go with.
In a nutshell, my wife served in the Agri-business sector and I served in the Public Health sector. We were paired with an NGO that was started by a very fascinating Ugandan man back in 1987 (he's still running it) and they take a unique (and very effective) approach to rural development. There is too much to say about what they do for one post but if anyone is interested I can scrounge up more info to share. (Fun fact, there was a documentary style film made while we were there and we feature in the film - leading to my wife and I each having IMDB profiles, which is kinda neat) Peace Corps service is typically 27 months - 3 months of in-country training, and 24 months of actual service. We were there from June 2017 until August 2019. It was life altering and one of the best things either of us has ever done in life.
While in the peace Corp did you learn to make your own liquor, everyone I've known in the peace Corp did they
sadly, no :( I'll have to ask my brother if he did - he served in the Peace Corps in Cote d'Ivoire from '96-'98
What was your favorite TKP inside joke or moment?
Dork Magic has to be up there
Spider Y 2 Banana too
the MacGruber ban-hammer was also satisfying
Since you are team pie:
What flavor of pie best exemplifies each season (summer, fall, winter, spring)?
Key Lime, Pumpkin, Pecan, Cherry
well, now I want to make a key lime pie this weekend
edit:
It'll be a little prettier tomorrow once I make up the whipped cream
edit 2:
Not shown: steaks in sous vide
I look forward to seeing the next edit with the finished product
My wife's version from last night.
That looks great!! Nice work
What is the best place to eat in Hooville?
I haven't lived there in, like, 17 years so my info will be....dated. Bodos bagles is popular (and they are good, but probably overrated). I remember Blue Moon Diner being pretty good. I have a friend who started a bakery with her partner and I'll be going there for the first time this weekend. I'm excited to check it out - I can report back. I don't think it's open anymore but Spudnuts had the BEST donuts - when we got driver's licenses a buddy of mine and I would go there before school a couple times a week. I do think it's hard to go wrong in C'ville...they do have lots of good food options.
Went to Belle today for brunch. Fantastic brunch place, highly recommend. Their specialty is their sourdough bread, which is excellent. They also have great pastries. The baker doing their bread mastered the art in NYC and is legit. Definitely check them out if you find yourself in enemy territory
What's the dumbest thing you have ever done?
Whats the nicest thing you have ever done?
What's your favorite sound?
What's your guilty pleasure?
Whats the oddest/strangest thing you have ever seen happen, where you literally said to yourself: 'I cant believe that just happened right in front of me?
If you could remove one thing from existence in the world, what would be? It could be a person past or present, a thing, an emotion, .....anything.
This is really tough because I have done A LOT of really dumb things in my life. But, the one that sticks with me, and weighs on my conscious the most, was something I did when I was 8 years old. In elementary school we would have recess out on the blacktop (or, basketball court) outside the school and our class would get together and play soccer on the blacktop with a kickball and makeshift goals. There was another kid who loved playing soccer but had a broken leg and was on crutches. Everyone would pass him the ball so he could shoot on goal with his strong leg. At some point in the game someone made fun of me for...something and he laughed and I was deeply offended by that so I shoved him. I SHOVED A KID ON CRUTCHES!! - that haunts me to this day. Fortunately, he was very athletic and he caught himself and was unharmed but it was a really dumb thing to do and I will never forgive myself for it.
This one is tough to answer for a completely different reason - who am I to judge the nicest thing I've done for someone? Shouldn't they be the judge of that? If I had to guess, I'd say that finding a sponsor for a girl we befriended in Uganda is near the top of the list. She was an only child living with just her mother and her mother just didn't have the resources to send her to a good school. The girl, as we got to know her over the two years we lived there, is wicked smart and deserves a better education than she was going to get going the public route. So my wife and I found a sponsor for her so she could attend a reputable school in Kampala. She is now 15 and thriving at her school.
I...have...no...idea
maybe @thatbassvoice singing viking songs?
Jason Bourne movies
Soo, in Uganda (and probably a lot of other African countries) the motorcycle is probably the most ubiquitous form of transport, not only for people, but also for goods. The motorcycles are all basically the same. They're like 100cc motors (so not huge) and they have pretty long seats. You will sometimes find a family of 5 all riding together on one. You'll often see them carrying weird things, bed frames, other motorcycles, sheets of plywood being held upright by a passenger, etc. The weirdest thing, though, was this: I saw a motorcycle motoring down a main stretch of road carrying a pallet with a LIVING COW, strapped down to it. A living, full size cow, strapped like a pretzel, to a pallet, and tied onto the back of a motorcycle, is probably the strangest thing I've ever seen. I couldn't believe it. And then, at the same time, I wasn't all that surprised.
Fear mongering. It really grinds my gears to see fear used as a weapon to influence and control people. I personally know people who are soo gripped by fear that it's truly heartbreaking. I hate how scared some folks are. I hate how much fear there is in our world.
Not myself- but my nephew had a similar moment. His elementary school class had a blind kid, and the teacher made it a point of emphasis to tell the rest of the kids to treat him just as they would any others. My nephew being a bit of a mischievous kid, he did just that..to the point of removing the blind kid's chair from behind him moments before the kid was gonna sit down! Could only be but SO upset with him he was only 7 and he was doing what he was told to do.
Check out youtube for the Russian singer Ivan Rebroff from few decades back- 4.5 octave range!, Here are a couple links.
https://youtu.be/uG476e4P6q0
https://youtu.be/pQ2835Kv6hc
The second one in particular shows off the range .
An example of this range can be heard in his rendition of 'Im Tiefen Keller' where he soars up to a clear D4 in falsetto before singing in chest voice two octaves down to a sustained F1.[3]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EflJjuy_DkQ
He sang in 4-5 different languages. My parents exposed us to lots of different music!
If you can have lunch with 5 tkp people, but it has to be all at the same time, who would it be?
Given your current career, would you have chosen a different major to support it?
This one is hard to answer so I'm going to think on it and come back to itI'd like a diverse group that also comes with some familiarity and a good sense of humor. Different perspectives and lived experiences and also somehow relatable. This was a tough list to compose but here they are.
hokie07ME
HokieJeep
KingJames
Choppin wood by the JUGs
Jmecca
I don't think I would change anything. One of the things that is nice about the mechanical engineering program is that they kind of touch on everything so we're "jacks of all trades, masters of none". I have a fairly well rounded background which provides me with some flexibility to move around and change industries without really getting pigeon-holed. I like that aspect and my background has proven helpful in all of my professional roles, including my current one.
If my dad brain isn't mistaken, I believe you are also from cville(earlysville) and I take it you studied mechanical engineering so I thought we'd have common ground. Or, familiarity.
Ouch and there i thought I made the cut for my sense of humor. Jkjk
Por que no los dos?
What's the soundtrack to your life?
What's your favorite personal story?
Have fun with your little one. Now is the time that they start getting fun and funny.
I'm not really a musical person and I have pretty boring taste in music. There's not really a lot of music I don't like but I'm not really a big fanatic or appreciator of music either.
My favorite band is the Red Hot Chili Peppers for no other reason than Californication was one of the first albums I ever owned. My siblings are all older and so my music taste was probably influenced by them to a degree - I like older 70s and 80s rock music the most, I guess.
If I had to create a soundtrack of my life I'd start with something dark and a bit sad; then it would transition to faster sort of angrier music for a period of time before becoming more up-beat but still loud and heavy instrumentation. And then it would transition into the phase I'm in now which I'd probably classify as "chill".
I'll have to come back to this one - I promise I willThe second of my three older brothers is 16 years older than me. I was barely conscious when he was going off to college where he met his freshman roommate and eventually best friend. My oldest brother followed him to that same school, as did my brother's friend's little sister. My sister ended up there too. Anyway, our families were somewhat close. Fast forward almost a decade and my brother is the best man in this guy's wedding and our family is invited. By this time my dad is divorced and the guy's mom is widowed. His mom and my dad hit it off at the wedding and begin dating, eventually deciding to wed a couple years later. By this point I'm like 13. All of my brothers, plus my step siblings-to-be are full blown adults in their 20s. My brother lives in Charlottesville and wants to throw a small bachelor party for my dad - just all the brothers and our soon-to-be step brother with my dad. There is alcohol but I'm not drinking. We have a steak and potato meal. The third of my older brothers shows up with cupcakes. Carrot cake cupcakes. I love carrot cake. Anyway, we have dinner and dessert and then play board games and watch a movie. I should mention here that my dad has a sweet tooth but it's a very specific kind of sweet tooth. He's not really into the cupcakes so I eat his.
A little while later I start to feel funny and I notice my brothers acting weird. One of my brothers has a breathalyzer and I become infatuated with it. I'm certain I'm drunk but i keep blowing zeros. We watch Aliens but I don't really remember that. All I remember was saying bye to my dad. The plan was always going to be for me to crash at my brother's place and dad would go home. When leaving, my dad was chatting with my other bros, standing in front of this large African tapestry my brother got while he was in Peace Corps. I was just staring at it, mesmerized. I knew something was going on but my brother wouldn't tell me.
The next morning my brother finally told me that the cupcakes were spiked with weed. My bros all drank and smoked in high-school and college so they knew the feeling and pretty quickly realized what was going on but they didn't want to tell my dad or me to freak us out. Turns out, my brother who brought the cupcakes (he claims he had no idea) got them from a friend of his. When he mentioned to his friend that he was going to a bachelor party his friend (who was apparently studying the culinary arts, so the offer wasn't weird) offered my brother the cupcakes for the bachelor party, not knowing, of course, that a 13 year old would be there. So he spiked the cupcakes and didn't tell anyone. My dad was the ultimate target and didn't even have one.
I got high as shit at my dad's bachelor party when I was 13. My parents were pretty livid when they found out but it's a funny story now. And every time we have carrot cake jokes fly.
Oh, we are having an absolute blast with him. He's hilarious and I think he kinda knows it. He makes us laugh all the time and he laughs a lot too.
That's an awesome story!
Holy crap. That is a story.... Between that and you inadvertently causing a bomb scare, you have had some crazy adventures.
Hopefully nobody had clearance or a job that the special cupcakes would have screwed up....
The only thing missing from that story is a hooker fight!
Fortunately not. And one of my brothers works for the gubmint now and has a relatively high clearance so no harm done, I guess.
where'd ya honeymoon?
Looking for ideas?
absolutely, looking to be early marchish give or take a couple weeks
HokieEnginerd and I went to Grand Cayman..
We did Jamaica all inclusive. Not having to worry about food, drinks, packing up and moving to another city/hotel just taking time to relax and spend time together was our priority.
All inclusive is where it's at.
Future mrs chumps and I are literally putting together a decision matrix for this with, rough cost, vibes, time zone difference, pros, cons, etc.
Total cost for flights and accommodations in the $7-8k is doable and should be plenty for most suggestions, especially given my accrued travel awards, but obviously don't wanna spend more than we need. Could be anywhere from 6-13 nights since i have a competitive PTO schedule and she has semi flexible working hours and can bank billed units to use stacked with her PTO.
We don't just wanna stay in entirely and i dont love just sitting on a beach roasting in the sun, but a combination of that and touring/hiking would be good.
If you go to Grand Cayman, try to book an island tour with Brown Sugar. She is a cab driver down there and she also does private tours. She's awesome!
Early Marchish will be cold in much of Europe. May be able get some great deals on Florence or Barcelona, which are awesome cities. We took a southern Caribbean cruise on our 10th anniversary, and out of several Caribbean cruises was by far our favorite. Jamaica or DR all inclusive are great if you plan to spend to a lot of time honeymooning as opposed to touring. We liked both better than Cancun. Key West is also an option, but likely cost as much or more in the end than an all inclusive. Have not been to CABO, but it has been highly recommended. I'll have to wait a few months to weigh in on Hawaii, but definitely higher in cost than Caribbean All-in resorts.
We went to Costa Rica in February this year for our 25th anniversary and it was fantastic. Specifically the town of
NosaraSamara which also had great restaurants and a very bohemian vibe. The place we went to was 1/2 timeshare bungalows (which we were and could opt out of the all inclusive which we did but drank all day for free at the pool cause they didn't care) and 1/2 all inclusive boutique hotel which was all inclusive. The bungalows were sparse and dated, but we spent all our time exploring the surrounding areas so we didn't care as it was just a place to sleep. The hotel side was very beautiful and higher end. Probably 4 star. We never ate on property and instead went to local places everyday while we explored. The food was fantastic everwhere we went, the people were fantastic too, and the beaches and water were absolutely incredible. Driving up and down the coast was a total adventure- dirt roads up and down mountains where there's more potholes than not, but it was a total adventure for us and we loved it. 5 hour flight from JFK on Jet Blue to Liberia airport and 2 hour drive to the coast.Costa Rica is also great choice. We liked the Arenal region better than the west coast. Have never been to the east coast, but from what I heard from others that have gone we would preferred that to the west coast, though the west coast has a perfect climate while the east coast gets a lot of rain. A bunch of different biomes across a small area, super friendly and safe, fairly economical. Limited food and drink options if you are not at a national resort chain, but we also loved going into town and trying the inexpensive local bean and rice heavy cuisine. You could work your away across with three days in each area and a pretty reasonable private ride with a knowledgeable driver fluent in English between if you really want to "do". River kayak safari tour was a highlight.
Italy!
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We started off in Venice (because, of course we did) - funny story, our bags didn't make it because our agent who scheduled the flights didn't know that flying out of Dulles in the summer is a GD nightmare and we barely made our connecting flight (and our bags didn't). Fortunately, we both packed extra clothes in our carry-ons so we weren't COMPLETELY screwed but it was annoying. And, we had just gotten married and were in Venice so for that first day we really didn't care. By the end of that first day, though, after dinner, we were both kinda ready to have our bags. We get to the hotel and the concierge informed us that he still hadn't heard anything about our luggage (which my wife was visibly deflated to hear) and then he winked at me after she turned for the elevator. We walked into our room to find our bags had arrived. We were pleased. Then on the return trip our bags got left in Paris (again, because our flight out of Florence was delayed and we barely made our connection - and our bags didn't) but it took Dulles like a full 10 days to find our bags and get them to us. The airport in Venice was much more efficient, fortunately.
From Venice we went and stayed at a small villa in Tuscany for a couple days before finishing our trip in Florence. Florence was awesome because our wedding photographer was from Florence and she gave us some awesome recs.
If you do Italy, consider the Almafi Coast and Positano. Beautiful
It's not the Almafi Coast, but I forgot to mention that we did do a day trip to Cinque Terre - definitely recommend that - if we ever go back, though, I think we'd probably get an AirBnB in one of the villages for a few days to spend more time there and check it out when it's not overrun with tourists (like us...lol)
What are 3 things that really grind your gears?
Soup and a sandwich- what are you having?
What's the most almost arrested you've ever been?
1. bad shifts
2. people who don't use their turn signals
3. general snobbishness
on the day-to-day I consume far more sandwiches than soups - so I guess I'm a sandwich guy. When I go to a new eatery that has some form of a cheese-steak on their menu I usually get that and judge the quality of the place by how good (or bad) their cheese-steak is - I also loved Sub Station II when I was in the 'Burg
This may or may not qualify as one of my favorite personal stories (Lancer, I'll come up with another for your post above)
When I was about 7 or 8 years old my family went to England to celebrate Christmas with family over there. My dad grew up in the Limpley Stoke valley not too far from Bath and his sister was living in their childhood home there. My dad, sister and I took a walk into Bath one afternoon and were just walking about for a while before coming to this stoop (more of an exterior window sill, really) where we perched to rest our legs for a bit. My sister (8 years my senior) and dad were talking about something I found pretty boring so I sort of stated fooling about. My sister had just gotten a driver's license and was still getting accustomed to carrying a purse, something she had misplaced a few times already on this trip. In my boredom, I hid her purse, quite neatly, behind a potted plant in the window sill where we were seated. From our perspective, the purse was hidden from view behind the plant, but it was clearly visible to anyone inside the building through that window. Some time passes and I move on to other shenanigans before we decide to move on. I had planned on saying something along the lines of "Hey sis, aren't you forgetting something?" but I forgot. And she forgot. And my dad was unawares. We get all the way back to the house before my sister realizes she's misplaced her purse. I immediately remember what I had done and became quite silent (and oddity for me, at the time). They call the police to report the missing purse, which my sister was very upset about since it contained her new license (and, I believe, her passport). The police take down the info and inform my family that it is unlikely that it will turn up.
A few hours later we get a call from a very cross police constable. A bomb threat had been called in from a cleaning lady in that building and an entire bomb squad was sent out to investigate and diffuse my sister's purse. Once they determined it was not actually a bomb, they realized it matched the description of a missing purse that had been reported earlier in the day. The good news is that my sister got her purse back, with all it's contents. But I was pretty unpopular for the rest of the trip.
TL;DR - I was responsible for a bomb threat -- oops
That family story is hilarious,.... now.
What's your Parenting philosophy?
It's developing.
But basically, I want to be available for my child but not overbearing. I intend to provide him with what he needs and also give him space to explore and blaze his own trail. I want him to know that I love him and I want him to feel comfortable and confident in making his own choices. I want him to learn that I am not here for his happiness and he is not here for mine.