How to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse at Vulcan Village

This Sunday, February 12, 2012, Vulcan Village is holding a Walking Dead Season 2, Part 2 Marathon. Bring your friends and enjoy free snacks, prizes and “The Walking Dead.” This all starts at 1:30pm, so see you there.

With the premier of Season 2, Part 2 of “The Walking Dead” on Sunday, February 12, 2012 at 9:00 PM, we thought we should talk about the possibility of a zombie apocalypse. Do you have what it takes to survive a Zombie Apocalypse here at Vulcan Village? If not then you have come to the right place. Below you will find some useful tips on what to do if you find yourself or those dear to you in peril. However, before we go any further we have to cover a few basics, especially the type of zombies that we could possibly be encountering.

First and foremost the use of the term “Walkers” will be used quite frequently throughout this basic survival guide. The term “Walker” is nothing more than slang for a zombie. Now that is out of the way, when people think of walkers, they conjure up thoughts of people coming out of the ground, especially out of graves. While this is a very “George A. Romero way” of thinking, zombies are much more sophisticated than that. In fact, most people don’t realize that the living dead is a result of a viral affection, one that is easily taken care of with a few substantial blows to the head. No matter what your train of thought, walkers are literally a hazard to our health. So if you are out by yourself or with a group of people take precaution of your surroundings you never know where they could pop up. Remember to look out for one another.

Perhaps one of the most useful tips you will find in here concerns noise. Walkers are highly sensitive to noise. So when out and about or in the safety of your own apartment, make sure you take heed with how much noise you make in your apartment. The last thing you want is to walk out of  your apartment, into a breezeway crawling with the walking dead.

In the case of a zombie apocalypse it extremely important that we all as a community conserve energy. This includes water and electricity alike. No one would want to go out in a walker infested community to fetch a pale of water and run to risk of dying would they? So in order to conserve water, which is the basic necessity of life, follow these easy tips:

• Turn the water off when brushing your teeth.
• Shower instead of taking a bath.
• When shampooing and conditioning your hair turn off the water.
• If you feel the need to do laundry, which wouldn’t really matter since everyone is dying off, but combine everyone’s laundry in the apartment and do one load.

When it comes to the electricity, remember to turn off all your lights when you are either not in the room or your apartment as the walkers are attracted to isolated light. Also refrain from the use of candles as this not only emits light that can attract walkers, but could be a potential fire hazard. Which brings us to the final tip.

In case of a fire, our property has fire extinguishers in every apartment as well as the fitness center and clubhouse. To use these, just remember the simple rule PASS which is Pull pin, Aim, Squeeze handle, and Sweep. Not only is this a useful tool to put out a fire, but in case your having an issue with a walker, the fire extinguisher makes for a good blunt object to re-kill the thing.

Above all else, remember to be a good leader among your community, you never know when someone may need you.

Of course there is tons more to cover when it comes to keeping yourself safe during a zombie apocalypse. So as we wrap this up, I ask all of you to share your ideas and thoughts about keeping our community safe during a zombie apocalypse. The first three people to comment on this blog post and stop by the office on Sunday the 12th will get a free “Zombie Survival Kit.”

Once again as a reminder: This Sunday, February 12 starting at 1:30pm in the clubhouse. Vulcan Village will be holding a “Walking Dead” marathon which airs on AMC. Bring your friends and enjoy snacks, prizes, and the living dead!

9 Tips for Staying Safe in the Social Network

Social media has become a large part of our culture over the last ten years with the invention of MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and many more. New social media websites spring up frequently, and people sign up for accounts without any forethought towards how their information is used, shared, or protected. We are typically conscious of our physical safety and use common sense when it comes to unsafe conditions. However, we need to use that same common sense when it relates to our safety online. With that being said, here are a few tips to help you manage your safety online:

1. Be aware of what you publish about yourself online. Creepers, hackers, and thieves are looking for any personal information they can find that will help them gain access to your accounts, belongings, or whereabouts. Don’t make it easy for someone to anticipate your every move so they can perpetrate a crime against you.
2. Be selective in approving friends online. Do not just friend anyone that wants to be friends with you. This person could be a hacker looking to steal information or someone potentially look to stalk you. If possible, do a little research on the person and see if they are legitimate. The best practice is to only friend and / or follow people that you actually know in real life.
3. Always be careful when you are chatting online. You may not be chatting with who you think you are chatting with. A “friend-of-a-friend” may be sitting at their computer or your friend may not have logged out when they left a public computer lab. A stranger could gain a lot of information about where you are and your upcoming plans very quickly.
4. Use discretion when posting photos. Do your photos reveal where you live, what belongings you own, who your family members are, and other potentially useful clues and information for someone looking to cause problems for you? Celebrating photos publically may seem harmless enough, but photos combined with other online information you post can be used in a forensic-type process by criminals to figure out where you live, where you work, and with whom you associate.
5. You should ALWAYS assume that anything you post on the internet will be there forever. So be cautious what you post. Remember anyone can see your posts if they look hard enough, including employers (current and future), professors, your parents, and strangers. Something that may seem funny now at age 18 – 22 could come back to haunt you at age 35 or older.
6. Take extra caution when installing third-party applications, particularly for Facebook and Twitter. Thieves and hackers are creating legitimate-looking applications that are being used to steal your information such as logins and passwords.
7. Think through how you use social media at work. Social media can be a powerful tool when it comes to being productive in the workplace, however abusing its power while at work can have a profound effect on your future. Be sure to review and follow your company’s social media policy or talk to you supervisor about it. When it doubt, it is always best to keep your personal opinions to yourself related to how you feel and what you think about your workplace. Doing otherwise could cost you your job.
8. Use caution when clicking links in messages, websites, and even in emails. Often these links are viruses which can severely damage your computer.
9. Finally, ALWAYS use common sense. If something does not “feel” right, then it probably is not right. Just like our safety in the physical sense, we also need to be mindful of our safety in the online world.

With the continual and almost viral growth of social media, we need to be even more deliberate and conscious of the information we post and how we use social media. The guidelines listed above are just a means to help increase your safety online. If you feel threatened by someone online, please contact the local police (724-938-3233), campus police (724-938-4299), Vulcan Village staff (724-938-8990), and / or the Associate Dean for Student Conduct (724-938-4439).

What are some other ways you can think of to increase your safety online?  How has social media affected your life?  Has it be positive or negative?

***The first 15 Cal U. students to print an actual example or article illustrating an individual demonstrating potentially unsafe social media use and bring it to the Vulcan Village office will receive a Valentine’s Day goody bag. ***

13 Cal U. Tweeps You Should Follow

Twitter is an awesome social media tool that can connect you with new friends as well as information about what is happening on and around campus. Here are some Cal U. “Tweeps” (Twitter + peeps) and organizations that you should definitely follow:

1. @CalUofPa – This is the official Twitter account of California University of PA. Tweets include important campus-wide announcements regarding events and updates as well as potential emergency information. You and your parents should definitely follow the @CalUofPa account.

2. @caluactivities – All the activities and things going on at California University of PA.  This is Where The Fun is at! (you can also search for the related #SABUG and #calna hashtags).

3. @MonMobCALU – This is the Twitter account for the new fan cheering section at California University of Pennsylvania Men’s and Women’s Basketball games (you can also search for the related #VulcanNation hashtag).

4. @CalUVetsClub - Hats off to our Cal U. student veterans for their service to our country! Follow their tweets to learn about the latest events and information from the Cal U. Veterans Club.

5. @vulcanvillage - Find out about life on the hill at Vulcan Village. Tweets include contests, event announcements, emergency updates, educational information, and apartment coupons and specials.  

6. @CALUPRSSA - Tweets from the Cal U. Public Relations Student Socety of America. Club events and information are tweeted.

7. @CalTimes - Find out local community and campus news information from the Mon Valley’s finest news source, The Cal Times.

8. @SAIatCalU – The Student Association, Inc. (SAI) is the a non-profit corporation founded in 1937 to provide services & support to the students of Cal U of PA. SAI owns both campus housing, Vulcan Village, as well as the newly-renovated farmhouse. 

9. @stugovcalu - Cal U’s Student Congress is the official governing body for students of California University of PA. Stay informed about your student government its activities.

10. @CalUforLife - This is the Twitter account for Cal U’s Student Philanthropy Initiative. The name is the goal: to forge a lifelong relationship between our students, faculty, staff, and alumni.

11. @calvulcans - The source for scores, news and alerts for all Cal U athletics teams. Go Vulcans!

12. @calualumni - News and information from Cal U’s Alumni Relations office. You’ll be a Cal U. alum so follow @calualumni tweets.

13. @angeloarmenti - Twitter would not be complete without “Fake Angelo Armenti.” Granted, the man himself is not actually tweeting from the halls of Old Main, but the whomever is posing as “Dr. A” does a fine job at mixing humor with the Cal U. culture and spirit. Follow him and tweet him a “Hello!” (he usually tweets back.)

Who / what are some other Cal U. faculty, students, staff, clubs, departments, and /or organizations that you follow and why?

Any current Cal U. student, faculty member, or staffer who leaves a comment to this post answering the above question will be entered into a raffle to win a customized Twitter t-shirt. At least 10 individuals must comment for the raffle to occur, which will take place on Wednesday, February 8, 2012. The winner will be announced on this post’s comments as well as through @vulcanvillage.

5 Secrets to Prepare for Final Exams

With the fall semester wrapping up, we know Vulcan Villagers (yes, I just made that up!) are going to be hitting the books and cramming for final exams next week. As someone who has been in the higher education environment for the past 20 years, I have a few secrets to share with your regarding how to handle prepaing for final exams.

1. Ask Your Prof What is on the Test -  This may sound a little bizarre, but sometime it is that simple to find out how you need to prepare. Granted, when you ask, do not sound like a slacker that simply wants the answers. Rather, approach the professor from a standpoint that you want to know how to best prepare for the exam. There really should not be secrets as to how a professor is going to assess what you learned from the class material. Depending on the personality of the professor, you may get a glib “Read the book and notes!” You can probe further by asking what content areas you should concentrate on any further suggestions that they can give you. If they stonewall you again, leave it alone. However, most professors are truly interested in your success and do want you to do well so they should give you some insights as to how to study for the exam.

2. Stay away from the TV, social media, and video games when taking a short break -  These activities are major distractions that can be hard to walk away from. One quick round of “Call of Duty” can easily turn into three or more, and you’ve just potentially lost hours of time from studying. The same goes for Facebook and NetFlix. Your work breaks should be short in length (5 – 10 minutes) so save entertainment as a reward after finals are over.

3. Quiz Yourself - Cramming for finals is simply counterproductive. New research shows that  being tested is what really helps you retain information and not the hours of cramming. Take time to partner with a classmate and quiz each other on the class material. If your classmmate does not live at Vulcan Village, it is easy enough to email each other a small quiz that you can simply type up in the body of an email or in a Word document. Try to stump one another, but keep it realistic to what you will see on the exam.

4. Steer Clear of Alcohol  – I am not going to preach about the poor combination of alcohol and success in academics as the research on this is quite overwhelming; it is simply a no-brainer!  Save your brain cells for the intellectual work of studying for exams rather than keeping Anheuser-Busch in business. If you are of legal age, you have plenty of time to celebrate (responsibly, of course!) over the holiday break. Partying not only limits the time you have to study, but can cause you to be unrested for the actual exam.  

5. Get Your Rest – Simply put, you need to sleep. Adequate sleep and time management go hand-in-hand so do your best to create a schedule for your exam week. Super heroic feats of overnight cramming sessions fueled by caffeine-induced drinks is not the best idea for exam success or, more importantly, your health. There are a few days to go before finals’ week begins, so start now to study a few hours every night. This way you get your studying accomplished as well as setting enough time aside for sleep.    

STUDY HARD! DO WELL! WE’RE PROUD OF YOU!

What other strategies have you found helpful when studying for finals?  Please share your comments with our readers.

How Do You Develop Character and Integrity?

The core values of our university are “Integrity. Civility. Responsibility.” Accordingly, “Building Character. Building Careers” is the university’s proud vision.  Integrity is the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness. While character is the quality of honesty, courage, or the like; integrity. Displaying these traits is crucial when interviewing for a job,  volunteering for a leadership role, or when simply trying to make a new friend.

But developing character and integrity is not a simple thing to do. Not only can character and intergrity mean many different things to different people, but it is also difficult to assess and evaluate. How do we determine that someone is of good character and displays integrity?

Please share with us your thoughts on these three questions:

1. How do you feel that you display character and integrity?

2. What are some specific examples from your classes and extracurricular activities that helped to develop your personal character and integrity?

3. What do you feel are some strategies that our university can implement in order to further develop character and integrity in our students?

*** All current Cal U. students that leave a comment to this post answering all three questions will be entered into a raffle to win a gift card for dinner for two at Applebees. The winner will be announced on Monday, December 5, 2011. ***

Participating in “Green Practices” at Vulcan Village (Part I)

Many of you recently participated in a sustainability survey regarding energy use and recycling, which was appreciated. As you may or may not know, we do have a recycling program here through our Waste Management service that we would like to further educate you about.

There are THREE (3) separate recycling dumpsters on the property: one next to the trash compactor by Building 2; one by the dumpster area between Buildings 5 & 6; and one by the dumpster area across from Building 8 next to the maintenance shop. We encourage you to use these recycling bins by separating out the recyclable materials from your trash. Please make sure that you clean out excess food from any recyclable containers before putting them into the recycling dumpsters.

 

Here are the items that you can and should place in the recycling dumpsters:

• Plastics # 1 through # 7
• Metal food and beverage cans
• Aluminum and bi-metal cans
• All colored glass
• Paper
• Paperboard boxes (cereal, tissue, shoes, etc.)
• White office paper, computer paper, magazines, newspapers, catalogs
• Cardboard
• Phone books
• Newspapers should be placed separately in paper bags or under or beside the recycle bin. Do not bundle or place them in plastic bags.

Here are items that CANNOT be recycled:

• Plastic used to hold automotive fluids or toxic chemicals
• Styrofoam
• Light bulbs
• Window glass
• Drinking glasses
• Glass plates (dinnerware)

Also, please DO NOT place regular trash into the recycling dumpsters as Waste Management will charge us for a regular trash haul rather than the discounted recycling materials rate, which can be hundreds of dollars more.

Thanks for doing your part in helping to make Vulcan Village “Green!”

What practices do you do in your apartment or at home to recycle, reuse, and reduce? Every resident who leaves a comment on this blog post with an idea or suggestion will receive a Vulcan Village t-shirt as supplies last.

Welcome Vulcans!

Welcome to the Vulcan Village blog site!  We are happy you decided to join us and hope you find our posts to be informative and engaging.  This site was developed to provide information about student issues, events, and much more.

We encourage you to respond to our posts, as well a provide suggestions to the Vulcan Village staff.  We also hope you will provide us with suggestions on topics you would like to see discussed.  We look forward to communicating with you and once again, WELCOME!