Working under pressure

Working under pressure.

That has been my entire last couple of days. From actual pressure, to sinus pressure. I hate this cold. I'm over it and I'm ready to feel better again. I'm getting progressively better, but at a far slower rate than I would like.

Saturday after the Rugby match, I wrote my story on the bus ride home and put the finishing touches on it in my room. I went out to Buca Di Beppos for a friend's birthday dinner. When I got back, I was told that I needed pictures for the story. There was a photographer at the game, but I had no contact information, not even a name.

They were supposed to post the pictures to the rugby Facebook page.

I contacted multiple rugby players only to not get an answer. Sunday was a pretty relaxing day of Steeler football and Pirate baseball. Sunday nights are movie nights with a film society at PPU. We watched Silver Linings Playbook, an oscar award winning film and an overall great movie.

Now Monday. With my cold still not getting better, I went to CVS to see what I could find. Emily is sick too so I was going to buy her cold medicine as well. I got what I needed and went back to campus. Before my 1:00 class, I stopped in the Student Health Office. I asked if they had anything for a cold and they gave me a bag full of pseudoephed and something else. It has been working fairly well. They also gave me free mini packs of tissues!

Hey, if I'm paying to go to this school, I may as well take advantage of all of the services that they offer.

Later Monday night, I was relaxing after a long day and watching the Pirate game. Suddenly, I got a notification that 65 new pictures had been added to the rugby Facebook page. Finally.

I sent them over to the sports editor, Emily Brak, and she asked me to send two specific pictures to her email. I thought that was done.

I went over to the gym at 9:45 to play basketball with a few guys. While I was there, she asked me to then send them from a personal email to the Globe photo email. I don't know why. I told her that I would get to it when I got back from the gym.

When I finished the game, I rushed back to my dorm to resend the email at 10:45. Again, I thought I was done.

At 11:15, Kristen, the editor elect, texted me and asked for cutlines for the pictures. A cutline is the caption at the bottom of a picture describing the who when and where. I had no idea who the three guys were in the two pictures that they had. I'm still trying to get to know 25 new names and faces and of course, these three faces were unrecognizable to me.

I sent the pictures to multiple players asking for help with no answers. Do they ever check their phones? I did my own research on Facebook and attempted to match names with faces. A half hour later, I was able to create cutlines for the pictures. I thought I was done, again.

Falling asleep at 12:15, I was then asked for the name of the photographer. I had no idea. I had no hope but to ask as many rugby players that I could. I felt obnoxious.

Finally, one of the team captains got back to me and I had the name. 12:30 and I could finally sleep. It was done. The other team captain would later message me back at 1:30. Just in time.

I was met with compliments on my work and a satisfactory feeling. I came up clutch again.

Tonight, we film the first episode of the sports show Pioneer Sideline. I'm not on the show tonight but I will be working behind the scenes.

I'm just trying to get as involved as I can and work as hard as I can to make good impressions. I hope it's working. Now I need to concentrate on getting better, as if concentrating on feeling better could actually work.

Because, why not?
Josh

Right place, right time

I just love being spontaneous, if you haven't figured that out yet. I have no idea what I'll be doing next, and I like that.

Of course I like having schedules and a structured life. I also love the thrill and excitement that comes with being spontaneous. That has a good chance of being the theme of my college career, or at least my freshman year.

Wednesday night, I went over to the Student Center to play basketball at 8:00. I met a couple of really cool guys there, one of which will be on my intramural team.

Last night, I was on call to work the men's soccer home season opener at Highmark Stadium for the Point Park Sports Network. I was told two hours before the game that I was not needed for the 7:00 game. At 6:40, I prepared to go eat dinner and settle down for the night. Thursdays here are pretty insane, as a majority of students do not have Friday classes, myself included. The college of performing arts students (COPA) usually have class Friday. Dancers have 8:00 am ballet every day. That's rough, I hear.

I threw on a pair of shoes and grabbed my ID to prepare to head to the dining hall when my phone went off. I had a message from one of the students calling the game waiting. He said that they did not have somebody to run the camera for the game and was asking me if I was available. Wanting to make good first impressions, I made the adventure to the Strip District.

It was more of a run. I turned a 20 minute walk into a 9 minute run to get to the stadium in time for kickoff. Positive impression, check. "This is really clutch of you," the director of sports communications told me. I was then given a voucher for the concession stand from the athletic director before the game started. I spent it on a pretzel and gatorade at halftime, AKA dinner.

Point Park lost 1-0 after an aggressive and tough match. We left the stadium at 9:30 to venture back to campus. I got back and headed straight to the Point Cafe. They do late night meal exchanges and the food is pretty good. College food actually isn't as bad as I had imagined from horror stories that I heard. Food is food. After getting my chicken quesadilla from the snarky woman at the grill, I went over to the soda machine for a soft drink.

There, I ran into one of the guys that I played basketball with on Wednesday night and his girlfriend, who happened to be Breann Wood, my childhood best friend who attends Carlow University. I haven't seen her since Kindergarden, I swear. What a small world. I will cover the soccer woman's soccer game when Carlow faces PPU at Highmark Stadium. She starts for Carlow.

Can you see me?

Today began my weekend. I love beginning weekends on Fridays. I also love Shostakovich. I'm listening to his 12th symphony, "The Year 1917" now. Beast.

Anyways, this morning I woke up early and did laundry and homework. I learned of a Steelers Pep Rally in Market Square that was scheduled to happen at noon. At 10:15, I made my way over to market square because, why not? There, the Tunch & Wolf Show on ESPN 970 was broadcasting live. I took a front row seat and listened in. As people started to venture into Market Square, I stayed in my seat and people watched. I do that a lot here. There's a lot of interesting people in Pittsburgh.

Mayor Peduto addressing fans

Tunch and Wolf show

The Pittsburgh Steeline performed, the Steelers (pathetic) mascot made an appearance and the atmosphere was close to energetic. The pep rally began and was over just as it started. 15 minutes was all that lasted of the rally. Speeches from Steelers President Art Rooney II, Mayor Bill Peduto and Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald allong with Tunch and Wolf was all that the pep rally entailed. Here's a photo slideshow of the event. The Mayor of Pittsburgh Bill Peduto stuck around to do interviews for local media. I ventured over to the small gathering of reporters and included myself in the huddle. I got funny and dirty looks from the other reporters but I didn't care. I nodded and agreed with some of Peduto's statements and pretended like I belonged.

After his interview session, Stan Savran was taking his first commercial break on the set of his radio show on 970 ESPN. I walked over to the set and introduced myself. I was shaking and nervous but kept my composure. He couldn't have been any nicer. I grew up watching him on FSN Pittsburgh and watched him cover Pittsburgh sports for as long as I can remember. As I told him, he is one of the first people that I remember seeing on TV. This guy is a Pittsburgh media legend. He gave me career advice without even asking and wished me the best of luck. He said that he loves the work that PPU does with their students and that they always produce quality work.

Stan Savran hosting his old show on FSN "SportsBeat

This one minute spontaneous conversation was really great. It reminded me of the reason that I'm living in downtown Pittsburgh and attending Point Park. I'm never far from action and never too far away from meeting somebody. The business is all about being in the right place at the right time, sometimes that comes up spontaneously. I love it.

I don't know what's in store for the weekend other than the Rugby match at Grove City tomorrow. Again, I love being spontaneous and being in the right place at the right time to connect with the right people in the right places. I love this city.

Because, why not?
Josh

Crazy (cont.)

I have to write two papers due on Monday. One describing my room and one about cheating.

The only thing that I learned today was how to actually open my mailbox.

That is all.

Because, why not?
Josh

Crazy

Everything is so crazy. I like crazy.

I've learned that college is a very spontaneous experience. I. The past three days, I've spontaneously ventured to The Point, Pirates games, Market Square and even an ice cream place that donates $.50 of every purchase to a different charity. 

I'm scheduled to cover the PPU rugby team at their first home game on Saturday. Well, "home" game. 

Click here to view my story

Tonight, I learned that not enough players have registered through USA Rugby to be covered under insurance. They have to forfeit their right to host the game and will have to travel to Grove City instead. They will still be the home team. There also will be no fan vans. I will be riding up to GC on one of the teams two shuttles at 10:30 am for the 1:00 PM start. 

Downside: Besides eracing all of my day's plans, I already finished my rugby preview story for the Globe. You can read it on the Globes website, PointParkGlobe.com. I end the story promoting the game and the fan vans transporting students to the first home game. The Globe prints on Tuesday mornings. My first story ends with a glaring error. It's not my fault and I can't control it, but it still bothers me. 

Tomorrow night is the first WPPJ Radio meeting. It is also the last day that I can purchase anything in the bookstore with my store credit. I need to sign my team up for intramural basketball as well at some point. Along with all of this chaos, I will be purchasing tickets for a Ducky tour from the SAIL office for only $2. Well, I wanted to. The tour is on Saturday 9/13 the second scheduled game for the Rugby team. I'm so flustered. 

There's so much that I want to do with so little time to do it all in. 

I'm starting to battle a nasty cold that is taking a lot out of me. I do have daytime cold medicine. I brought some with me because I knew that I get sick at this time every year, and remain sick for the duration of the school year. 

I need rest, Gatorade and a clone. 

Because, why not?

Josh

Finally

Yes, finally.

My first full week is in the books. I love the fact that I start my weekend on a Thursday night. That's awesome. No classes on Monday because of Labor day either!

I just got back from a glow in the dark dance party. I didn't stay for the whole time but wow can people dance here. My dad dance moves don't compare with people getting scholarships to go here to dance. It's obviously a dance school, and I can't dance. It was still a blast.

I had my first normal Tue/Thus day of classes today. I don't start until 1 and I have only two classes.

In Mass Comm, I took a current events practice quiz and listened to a lecture that included videos from a TED Talk and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. I love that show. It was actually enjoyable. The person sitting beside me got a 2/10 on the quiz, including the additional bonus question. The highest anybody else got was an 8 when the professor asked. He went number by number and I just kept raising my hand until I saw a few people left. I put my hand down after he asked who got 9 correct. The papers were turned in so he could see who knew what about current events.

I really got an 11/10. All 10 questions on current events, plus the bonus questions. The questions were fairly simple and only require one to actually look at something other than their Facebook timeline when they browse the web. I didn't want to seem like that know-it-all kid on the first day, so I didn't volunteer my score.

Last year in high school, I took a sociology course with Mr. McKay, arguably my favorite teacher in my schooling career up to that point. He was great and made me fall in love with the fascinating subject of sociology.

I'm in Sociology 150 now. The professor I have may possibly cause me to break up with sociology. He can't stay on topic and goes all over the place. He is unorganized, unprepared and his lectures are made up as he goes along. I hate it.

I have a lot of English homework for the weekend, as well as Mass Comm.

I also have my rugby story to write by tomorrow evening. Because of my new assignment to be the beat reporter for the rugby team, I am unable to attend the Honors Program trip to the Flight 93 Memorial. The first of three home games for the team is the same day. It's a Croup thing. The game is on a Saturday, and my deadline is the Friday night before. So, I'll have to whip out a story on the game in a few hours.

Half of the prospective U-View students at the first meeting

I had my first U-View meeting tonight. We were introduced to the current U-View crew and briefed on the different shows that we can take part in. After the brief 20 minute session, we were treated to free pizza and soda. (FREE)

I stuck around and the current crew trained the remaining students on how to use the equipment. There were around 40 kids at the meeting when it started. There were 15 that stuck around. The faculty and current crew could see who was committed to jumping right in to help out on U-View shows.

The only other picture of me posted. I was listening to a current
student explain how to connect a microphone with XLR cables.
I had to teach myself that at BTTV. She cracked a funny joke
and I was looking at Emily (Globe sports editor, BR major)
with the "Really? You thought that was funny" face.
I don't even know.
I only stood like that for 5 seconds and it was
caught on camera apparently. What even.

A lot of the studio was similar to what I used at BTTV. It felt silly being taught how to use equipment that I already knew how to use. The control room equipment is a different story. It isn't all that complicated, but it is at the same time. I never realized until this week how much Mr. Robbins (BTTV) and Mr. Thompson (Skyliner Newspaper) prepared me for college.

I signed up to report for the Pioneer Sideline (the PPU weekly sports show), Daybreak (Similar to "The Today Show") and the traveling sports reporters who travel with the basketball teams in the winter.

There are a lot of seniors. That's a good thing. They're all graduating in either December or May. There are lots of shoes to fill and they don't know who is going to step up. Enter me.

I expressed my interest about getting involved to anybody that I could find and introduced myself to everybody that I could. I'm ready to just get involved. I'm finally done with my first week and ready for my first real weekend here. The weekend will consist of homework and Pirate games (Friday and Saturday). That's all.

I'm already involved with so many things, I don't know if I will be able to handle it all. That's what I thought in high school too. I never wanted to have to think back on my career in school and wish that I had done more. I don't think I'll have to do that in college either. I'm finally starting to get my foot in the door and can't wait to bust it down and jump right in.

Because, why not?
Josh

Day 1 - Part 2

I title this "Day 1 - Part 2" because the second day of classes was basically another first day.

My first class wasn't until 1:00 so I had a lot of time to kill. I ran errands, visited a number of offices to get stupid problems fixed and sent a dozen emails. Emails to financial aid, emails to clubs and emails to rugby players to set up interviews.

I sat at lunch with someone who was sitting alone so I wouldn't be alone and they wouldn't be alone. It's easy to make friends if you try, really.

After lunch, I checked my mailbox for the third time and it was still empty. I ventured up to the Lawrence Hall Ballroom for Mass Communications. For the first day of this class, they took all 5 sections of the class and had everybody meet at the same time.

Mass Communications (Journalism 101)
Me sitting, naturally, in the last row beside my roommate
and Amanda from Butler. 

The class is split up into 6 different parts with 6 different professors throughout the semester. I'll have each prof for about 2 weeks with current events quizzes every Thursday and mountains of homework. The overall class seems so overwhelming. I already have homework in that class too. It is a 20 point online quiz that goes along with a reading from my text book. I have to purchase my sociology and MC book tomorrow with bookstore credit that I have. The money won't be available until tomorrow.

We ended about a half hour early so I went back to the mailroom to look into another empty mailbox. There, a girl who I met at convocation was struggling pushing a cart with 6 packages that her parents had sent her. With time to kill, I helped her get all of her packages across the street and into her dorm in Thayer.

My next class was Sociology in the West Penn building which is a nightmare. The elevators are the slowest ones on campus and my class was on the 9th floor. I walked it. That was intense. On a normal day, MC is on the 8th floor and Soc is on the 9th floor after that.

I walked into the room and recognized a couple other broadcast majors that I sat next to. I also discovered that three of the women's soccer players are in my class. At the game on Saturday, we all cheered for #23 who was from England. We chanted "Let's go England" among other chants every time she touched the ball. She's in the class and her accent is amazing. I just love English accents.

The prof was 15 minutes late to class and didn't have s syllabus. He said that his printer jammed and didn't know what to talk about. He basically gave a brief overview of the class and dismissed us 15 minutes later.

I received an email that I did not get the apprenticeship for The U-View Broadcast Network, but my information was forwarded to the Point Park News Service.

I also joined The Center for Sports Media and Marketing which brings notable media and marketing figures to PPU to speak to students and host events. This link will show you everybody that they've brought in so far.

I feel very overwhelmed already and it's day 2. There's so much homework that I can't even do yet and I don't know how I'm going to make it. It's rough. It's supposed to be, I guess. Tonight we have another event with free food and stuff. It's so much. I just listened to the entire Tchaik 5 symphony while writing this and reading 60 pages for Jour 150 from a book I borrowed from Justine.

P.S. Birthday shoutout to my mother of over 18 years celebrating her 25th birthday for yet another year.

It's only day two and I feel my head spinning (literally). We'll see how day three goes. Meanwhile, I'm going to eat more and stress less.

Because, why not?
Josh

Day 1 - Part 1

This post is going to be short because I have a lot to do. Summarizing everything I did today is impossible but I'll try my best.

My first class got out 45 minutes early. The professor is really relaxed and "teaching City & University Life as a favor to the president." He does not care. He's so relaxed though, honestly. So relaxed that I don't know how I'll stay awake during the 8:00 classes. He also seems like he had a stroke at some point because some of his speech is slurred and hard to understand. He told us a number of funny stories about the school, his life and the city. That class should be a breeze. Compared to other Univ 101 profs that I've heard of, he's the easiest. I'll take that any day.

My Journalism 150 prof was the opposite. He is precise, articulate and crazy. A good crazy. He reminds me so much of my journalism teacher in high school. He's from Cleveland and talked Brown's football for a while. The class is a lot of writing and hard work. He thought class ended at 11:00 so he let us go early. It actually ends at 11:10. I wonder how long that will last.

My neighbor Justine, also a broadcast major and who is turning into a really good friend of mine, is also in the class. The Emily girl from the rain post is in my Univ 101 along with a few guys from my floor. It's nice knowing people in my classes on day one.

I had two hours between classes then and went to the cafeteria. After a snarky cashier had me get my meal sticker fixed I was able to eat. I understand how the freshman 15 happens. All you can eat food every time you go to the dining hall. It's actually good food. I enjoy it. There was cheesecake as one of the many deserts today. I enjoy cheesecake. I enjoy food.

I sat with my friends from 7 Thayer during lunch and killed time before my English class at 1:00.

My English prof is a carbon copy of Der Herr aka Mr. Hutchinson, the high school German teacher. The guy can speak five languages and even has the pop belly. I had a strong love-hate relationship with Der Herr. He remembered me through the end of high school and was actually really cool outside of class.

This prof is an adjunct, which means that he doesn't have a permanent position. He doesn't even know if he'll be at PPU next semester. His voice is another one that is hard to listen to. It's dry and makes me want to zone out. He seems like he does a lot of pointless quizzes and gives a lot of participation points. I had my first quiz after class online. The quiz? All questions about what he talked about in class. I got a 9/10. He also gave us homework, but I don't have my textbook yet, as it is in the mail. I had to wait to order it to see what my PPU address was going to be.

Josh Croup
Box Number 8052
201 Wood Street
Pittsburgh, PA
15222-1984

In case you were wondering.

When I got my box number, I can't tell you enough how much the lady stressed the fact that it is not P.O box number such and such. She was really adamant about that.

I then booked it for the neighboring building for the activities fair, which had every club on campus crammed into the Lawrence Hall lobby. You couldn't move in there. I gave my contact info to U-View TV, WPPJ Radio and the USG (United Student Gvt). I got yet another free T-Shirt from WPPJ.

I then ran up 6 flights of stairs to go to the first Globe (newspaper) meeting. I was informed about the meeting by Emily, a broadcast major who was duel enrolled last year and the sports editor this semester.

Before I knew it, I was being assigned to cover sports. Kristen, a 2013 Butler graduate and current editor-in-chief elect suggested that I do a player profile or do a beat.

A beat writer covers one team and follows them everywhere.

Before I knew it, I was being assigned to be the beat writer for the Point Park Rugby Football Club.

Rugby.

I know nothing about this sport. It's not even a school sponsored sport. It's a club sport without a coach and funded by the students and United Student Government (USG).

I was told that I could wait on it if I wanted or dive right in. I hesitated on my decision and decided to wait.

Without telling the editors of my next move, I went back to the activities fair and visited the rugby table. I introduced myself as the beat reporter for the Globe. They've never had someone cover them exclusively. They are the most popular club on campus and most successful funding wise. A one win 2013 season proves that they have a lot of work to do this year. I talked to the team captains who happen to be twin brothers. Both about 6'3 and 220-240 pounds. They looked like they could squish me. Actually, they all did.

They couldn't have been nicer. I got contact information and they invited me to the first club meeting. The meeting was at 10:15 later that night.

I immediately went back to my room and watched about an hours worth of rugby videos online. Everything from instructional videos, to rules explanation, to actual matches.

Here goes nothing I guess.

I went to a free casino thing as apart of welcome week, got another free shirt and went back to my dorm and watched the beginning of the Emmy's with a couple of friends.

10:00 rolled around and I went to the rugby meeting. Afterwards I chatted again with the captains and headed back to my dorm. I visited the Globe newsroom and talked with the editors again about more specific formatting rules. It's 11:15 at this point. No sleeping at college apparently.

So I'm getting involved and creating no room for free time. Meanwhile, I have to go attempt to learn rugby and make acquaintances with members of the rugby team.

Because, why not?
Josh