Old Skool Ghetto

I was in Pittsburgh last weekend to visit my oldest college buddy Brent. We met freshman year in the dorms, lived together in various places with a number of different roommates over the course of 6 years and became best friends. We reminisced about old stories, ridiculous acts we barely survived and the touching moments that forged the bond of our friendship. It was awesome!

In the spirit of sharing old memories, Brent managed to find these old photos of us, from our freshman year in the dorms. These are from the Fall of 1998. Get ready to laugh!

Yeahhh, that's definitely Olde English 40oz's of beer and thug hats! The next one is even better...

This was our freshman year crew from the O'Shaughnessy (a.k.a. O'shag) dormitory at the Virginia Tech campus. And yes, I am wearing a sweater vest. Wow!

VT follow-up

I feel compelled to add that I attended Virginia Tech for many years. This tragedy twists a pang of emotions in my belly that is impossible to describe. Two of the guys in my upcoming wedding party have little brothers that still attend the school. As the stories developed we frantically emailed each other with concern. Luckily, the people we know are safe. Unfortunately, the impact of the events will play out for many months to come.

The emotional attachment I have to this situation should embolden my previous post about exonerating Virginia Tech of culpability in this situation. I stand by my previous post that the responsibility for this event lies squarely on the shoulders of the GUNMAN and no one else.

The gunman who killed 30 people at Virginia Tech's Norris Hall before turning the gun on himself was student Cho Seung-hui, university police Chief Wendell Flinchum said Tuesday.

We cannot react to this event by locking down our universities. We cannot respond by creating an environment likened to a prison just for the sake of preventing a once in a zillion chance some wacko is going to kill everyone. These are issues that need to addressed proactively and I don't know what the steps are to do that but I do know we cannot sacrifice our liberties and the characters of our university system because of a single crazed lunatic.

Virginia Tech Massacre

Today brings emptiness after a day of frantic emailing and phone calling to confirm the safety and medical conditions of loved ones at Virginia Tech. As everyone in the country now knows, a lone gunman killed 32 students and professors, including himself, in a historic day of monumental violence.

According to Virginia Tech police chief Wendell Flinchum, it's reported the sick bastard even chained the doors to the building before beginning his systematic murder spree. I struggle to face the mix of emotions I feel about this situation. Anger, frustration and sadness come to mind but still miss the mark.

I've listened to and read many reports that are pointing the finger at VT administration for failing to lock down the campus quick enough. I know we are all looking for someone to blame in this incident so we must NOT take our focus off the killer that orchestrated this heinous act. It's more difficult to focus on him because he is dead and will never face a trial for his actions but we cannot shift our blame to anyone else. The school acted as quickly as they could with the information they had at the time.

No one else is to blame for this besides the gunman. Let's not forget it! It's a shame that he got off so easy but we must not divert our anger and blame for this incident to anyone other than this man.