11 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
(02/26/10 5:44am)
Beautiful vineyards. Delicious restaurants. Monticello. And, of course, the University itself. Charlottesville has no shortage of tourist attractions, but the list became a little longer when this winter's snowstorms hit the Barracks Road Shopping Center.
(02/24/10 6:35am)
The Cavalier Daily office is a lot like an Antarctic research base. No, really. Although a student newspaper and the least-inhabited place on Earth might seem like polar opposites - no pun intended - they actually do share a great many traits. Each is a remote location where few dare to tread. Each has a dedicated group of staffers that spend huge portions of their time there. Each has a management that treats you well to keep you from going insane. And each has native wildlife - be they penguins or cockroaches - that completely lacks fear of humans.
(01/15/09 8:21am)
Applications for admission into the University’s Commerce School are due soon — Jan. 26 at noon. The sources of those applications will come from addresses on Grounds, around Virginia and even across the country.Admission into the Commerce School — which BusinessWeek magazine has named the second-ranked undergraduate business school in the country just behind the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania — is a highly sought-after commodity. According to the Commerce School Web site, nearly 500 University students applied last year, as did 272 transfer students. Rising numbers of applicants have made the admission process more competitive; the acceptance rate dropped 9 percent between 2007 and 2008, from 71 to 62 percent.This year’s application became available in early November, according to the admissions Web site, and aims to discover “the applicant’s potential for success in the Commerce program.” Factors that are weighed include GPA, the difficulty of those courses and extracurricular activities. Most students apply to the school during their second year, according to the school’s Web site. This break between admission into the University and the move to the Commerce School gives students time to complete prerequisite courses, which range from surveys of commerce and economics to fine arts and foreign languages.The application also considers grades specifically from the commerce-related classes already taken, said second-year College student Nicole Smith, a Commerce School applicant. “I try a little harder in all of the prerequisite classes ... just knowing that they pay particular attention to them, but I never feel particularly stressed,” Smith said, adding that she expects the real stress would come after admission to the school.Another second-year Commerce School applicant, who declined to be named because of his application’s pending status, agreed. “Hopefully between my performance thus far and the way I fill out the application it will be sufficient to get me in,” he said. “There’s not too much to stress about because there’s not much I can change.”While most applicants have spent only two years at the University, some students apply during their third year, meaning they will have to stay for a fifth year at the University to complete the school’s two-year program. Other students can apply during their first year at the University, particularly if they completed many of the required classes before coming to the University. Third-year Commerce student Jervis Bay applied during his first year and plans to graduate at the end of this semester. “I’m Singaporean,” Bay said. “And I came over to the U.S. when I was 21.” By that time, he said, he simply “wanted to get it over with.”Students can also apply to transfer to the school from other colleges and universities; the Commerce School encourages students to take the equivalent prerequisites at their own schools before applying. The transfer application process seems more competitive than for students already at the University, because more students apply every year and just 13 percent were offered admission last year. Seventy percent of transfer students who were admitted came from the Virginia Community College System.Fourth-year Commerce student Justin McDougall, who applied to the school as a transfer student, noted that students applying from other universities should be prepared to wait for a final decision from the Commerce School.“One thing I don’t think most students understand is that most transfers will get deferred and not find out until June,” he said. The reason? There are not enough grades for admissions officials to make an “educated decision” on your acceptance, he said.Having already filled out his fair share of transfer paperwork, McDougall said the school’s application “comparatively wasn’t that painful.” The short word limits enforced brevity in the essays, he added, but looking back, “that’s one thing the [Commerce] School is going to teach you: to get to the point very quickly.”Students are notified of the school’s decision in mid-March. Some students, though, will have to resort to Plan B. “You get so deep into the commerce classes that it’s hard to make backup plans,” Smith explained. She added, however, that the school allows students to complete a major or minor in the College while enrolled in the Commerce School, so classes taken as backup will not go to waste.The anonymous applicant, however, has not made any alternative plans. “I’m one of those people that set a goal and work toward that,” he said. “So far the [Commerce] School has been my goal, and everything I’ve done has been to work toward that, and if that doesn’t work out then I’ll have to reevaluate my path.”For students who are admitted, the school’s two-year program begins with the Integrated Core Curriculum, which puts students in a set of classes together, where professors can “team-teach” and students can learn about real business problems in small teams, according to the school’s Web site. Students in their final year choose one of six concentrations: accounting, finance, information technology, international business, management and marketing.Commerce classes are advertised as challenging, Smith said, and she expects that the little stress she has experienced from her prerequisites should pale in comparison to the Commerce School program itself.But Bay, nearing the completion of the program, disagrees. “The school does play [the difficulty] up,” he said, adding, “It’s hard to make it in at first ... but after that, it’s actually not that hard.” He said he believes this is done to make sure students give their best effort heading into the school.Bay said he found that the experience is well worth it through his summer internship experience in investment banking.“You can really see the difference between someone who knows and someone who just has book smarts,” he said, noting that he and other University Commerce School students were “at least equal to the Wharton people, and far above the liberal arts people” in terms of preparedness.
(11/20/08 5:42am)
The Lawn application for the 2009-10 academic year was released Monday, and some of the University’s best and brightest third-year students are preparing to be considered for the prestigious residences.Any third-year student can now access the application, which is designed to determine which applicants stand out for their “unselfish service to the University and achievement in their respective fields of activity and academics,” according to the University Housing Division Web site.As fourth-year College student Christian West, senior resident of the Lawn, explained, the application consists of five to six questions, asking not just about a prospective resident’s past contributions to the University but also about how he or she will continue to contribute to the community. At Monday’s application orientation meeting, fourth-year Architecture student Napatra Charassuvichakanich, a Lawn resident, said applicants should stress how they will make the Lawn a “diverse, welcoming place” and should use concrete examples in their application. While a Lawn room is one of the University’s highest honors, one current Lawn resident criticized the process by which rooms are awarded. The method by which applicants are picked has suffered from a lack of transparency in the past, fourth-year College student Vadim Elenev said. The criteria used by the selection committee to select residents traditionally are not released officially, he said, but inevitably some applicants “know people on the selection committee, and are more ‘plugged in,’ ... and end up knowing more about it,” giving them an advantage.Some students do seek out help from current residents. Lawn resident Bowman Dickson, a former Cavalier Daily Production editor, said he took advantage of Lawn residents’ knowledge when he was applying. “I got some good advice from older fourth-year [students] who helped me out,” he said. Some other current Lawn residents, meanwhile, preferred to tackle the application without outside advice, including fourth-year Commerce student Bryan Myers, who said he has known past Lawn residents through organizations he is involved with on Grounds but did not seek advice from them regarding the Lawn application’s content.“I felt like the best application, as cliché as this sounds, would come from the heart ... I didn’t want to find out what other people thought I should write about,” he explained.Though Elenev pointed out problems surrounding a lack of transparency in the application process, he noted that this year’s application committee has been more open about the process.The Lawn Selection Committee, West said, consists of 37 members, 21 of whom are ex-officio, meaning they are representatives of other University organizations. The other members, aside from West, are “pulled from fourth-year [students] that put their names into a lottery and [are] randomly selected to be on the committee,” he added. In this way, West said, the Lawn Selection Committee hopes to be representative of the University as a whole.After the Jan. 9 application deadline, West will meet with the committee members to train them, he said. Committee members do not see personal identification information about the applicants — just their application and transcript. After two weeks, each committee member selects the 47 residents he or she feels are best qualified to live on the Lawn, West added. The votes of the whole committee are then tallied, and a list of new Lawn residents and alternates is drawn up.Lawn hopefuls do not find out their acceptance status until February; this year, the date is Feb. 6. Elenev said he feels this late date discourages qualified students from applying. The timing “doesn’t match up with any other housing,” he said. If you’re an alternate, the announcement can take even longer — Elenev, for instance, did not find out he had been accepted until March. “Alternates I can understand, but as far as initial decisions, there’s no reason to wait until February,” he added.Some students agree with Elenev. Third-year College student Molly Schmalzbach, who plans to fill out this year’s application, said she plans to “play it safe.” She intends to sign a lease this weekend, despite her Lawn aspirations.“I’ve always known I wanted to live on the Lawn, but ... I know I can’t wait until Feb. 6 to find somewhere to live,” she said. “At U.Va., you feel pressured to sign before Christmas at the latest.”Myers agreed. He described the wait leading up to the announcement as “nerve-wracking.” When he found out he had been accepted, he began the process of finding someone to take his place in the lease he had already signed. The hunt only took him two weeks, but he added that for a new Lawn resident, “it seems like an eternity. You’re thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m going to be stuck paying two rents.’”Dickson said he did not sign a lease while waiting to hear the news but felt that he still had a back-up plan.“I knew so many people applying to the Lawn that I felt pretty confident that if I didn’t get a spot, I could pull something together with other people” in the same situation, he said. He added that he knows people who had made alternative arrangements and had trouble getting out of their leases.West noted that most students he has talked to made informal plans to live with friends without signing a lease. West added that students have another option of applying for on-Grounds housing; students who are selected to live on the Lawn would then have their previous contracts with University Housing nullified.Myers said students should not assume they will be awarded a Lawn room.“I don’t think anyone should feel that they’re in a position to be guaranteed a room on the Lawn,” he said, adding that would be tantamount to “taking the Lawn for granted.”Elenev, too, stressed preparedness. Even if students sign leases before the announcement, “landlords may be a lot more flexible if you talk to them early than their paperwork would suggest.”Also important, Elenev noted, is that students keep in contact with the roommates they planned to live with.“Make sure they know what’s going on; don’t leave them screwed in the end,” he advised.West stressed that the Lawn community is aware of the tension that the late announcement causes for prospective residents. Last year’s announcement date was even later, he said, well into February. He said, though, that the lengthy application process is actually a boon for many students.“We want to give students an opportunity to have their grades from first semester of their third year included in their transcript,” he noted. If the application timetable were pushed back much earlier, those grades, as well as any extracurricular activities undertaken in the applicant’s third year, would not be considered, he explained.Despite the difficulty of the application process, the experience of living in a Lawn room is not soon forgotten — at the Monday meeting, current Lawn residents noted that the occasional alumnus will knock a current resident’s door to let that student know he lived there 30 years ago. Even with the drawbacks, many past residents and current hopeful Lawn residents would probably consider the problem of resolving housing issues to be a happy one.
(10/28/08 5:53am)
It’s a story you’ve heard a hundred times before. On a dark October night, a group of teenagers and college students wander off into the woods, looking to have some fun away from the confines of civilization. But what they find there is worse than anything they imagined. The horrors that await them send them screaming from the forest with a grisly tale to tell.But this isn’t just another cheesy made-for-TV horror movie. Instead, it’s a Halloween tradition that happens just outside of Richmond every year: Haunted Evenings at Ashland Berry Farm. The star attraction of the event is the haunted hayride into Booger Woods.First off, there’s the issue of getting there. It’s more challenging than it sounds. You have two options for the drive, which can take 1.5 hours or more. Just keep your goal of 33 East in mind, and once you’re on it, it’s just a matter of vigilantly watching for the country roads that will get you there.The route takes you into horror movie country — winding, narrow roads and creepy old buildings abound. You can bet I wouldn’t pick up even the most respectable hitchhiker out there. Plus, you could snicker with your friends about amusingly-named country locales like Bumpass and Negro Foot Road, but they are hard to pick out in the dark at 60 miles per hour.I would recommend you take the extra planning time to figure out how to stay on Route 64 for as long as possible. It can be fun driving on small country roads, but the novelty wears off when you inadvertently add an hour to your travel time through wrong turns and being stuck behind slowpokes. Staying on 64, by contrast, is more or less a straight shot down, and adds almost no time to your trip.In any case, eventually the farm appears from the darkness, bustling with activity. After a line for your $18 ticket, a line for some hot cider and concessions and a line to get onto the trailer, you begin the ride to Booger Woods.You may go into this with the impression that the trip entails a leisurely ride interrupted by the occasional masked man jumping out from the shadows. This is not exactly the case. The hayride itself ends in just a minute or two, when you are deposited next to a blazing fire stoked by a demon. Groups are split up and sent off into the dark.A narrow trail winds through the woods and horrors stalk you from every side. Actors blend in with the landscape and decorations, only to leap at you, shout at you and sometimes even chase you through the trail. The trail will take you into old houses, through dark mazes and even into a clown’s gaping maw.The trail does require that you exert yourself. Occasionally you’ll have to climb over obstacles or crawl on hands and knees through a tunnel. One part even forces you to jump through a coffin into a pit. And don’t forget that you’ll be chased by chainsaw-wielding maniacs.If it’s been raining recently, masses marching over the same stretch of woods can turn the trail muddy fast. Factor in that you might be rolling into the dirt on occasion, and you can see the need to come prepared with some old clothes. Besides, when you’re shrieking and fleeing from a ghoul, looking good will be more or less impossible anyway.If you can, show up before the rush. Inevitably, someone a few groups ahead of you will be too terrified to continue, backing up the whole trail and forcing several groups to squeeze together into a dark corner of a maze. When this happens, the atmosphere wears off quickly.And that’s really what the whole event comes down to. As long as you’re ready to have fun, you will, but it takes some playing along. Linger too long in one area and the creature menacing you will lose interest and move back to lie in wait for another victim — or worse, you’ll notice that they’re not actually trying to eat you, and the illusion will be broken.It’s not hard to maintain that illusion, though. Just do what comes naturally. Scream. Cower. Flee. The actors really work with your reactions, in some cases going so far as to sprint behind you as you run, screaming, out of the woods.Ashland Berry Farm also offers two other attractions: Dr. Boz’s Labyrinth and Hailey’s Mortuary of Madness. Excitement for the two didn’t seem to be very high, however. Most of the ticket sales were for either the Booger Woods or the Scream Pass, which gets you admission to all three attractions for $23. Those who had visited the other two said they were disappointing. You may be inclined to take their word for it — after just the trip through the woods, your throat will be raw from the shrieking, not to mention any hay-spawned allergies.The rides run every Friday, Saturday and Sunday night, as well as Thursday, Oct. 30. Ticket sales start at 6:30 p.m. and run until 10 p.m. or until maximum occupancy is reached, whichever comes first. On Friday and Sunday nights, special rates are available for groups of 15 or more, bringing the price of the Scream Pass down to $20.
(09/30/08 4:02am)
Let’s face it: Life at the University can be tough. And after a week of classes, homework and exams, there’s only so much that a frat party can do for you. For students wanting to temporarily escape the University atmosphere, they’d be hard-pressed to find a better option now than the State Fair of Virginia, running until Oct. 5.Located at the Richmond Raceway Complex, less than an 1.5-hour drive from Charlottesville, the fair provides an excellent opportunity for students to experience a bit of country living. At the heart of the fair lies agriculture — literally. The Big Red Barn in the center of the fairgrounds contains Young MacDonald’s Farm and is home to dozens of varieties of animals. Goats, pigs, cows, even “Easter egg” chickens — all are well-represented and available for petting. Don’t miss the duckling slide — it’s every bit as entertaining as it sounds.Tommy Smith, who describes himself as “more or less” a volunteer for the fair, stressed that the farm serves an educational purpose as well.“It’s good for younger people to see this,” he said. “Some people come out here not even knowing where a calf comes from.” If watching the home movie of a horse giving birth awakens your maternal instinct, you can adopt a more traditional pet. If you buy a rabbit or guinea pig, you’ll also get a box, a week’s worth of feed and care instructions, Smith said. Richmond’s Animal Adoption and Rescue Foundation also had an adoption display in the barn, and the puppies frolicking within were a hit with kids.Outside the barn, schedules vary by the day but remain country-oriented. On the weekend, you can catch a banjo contest or a tractor pull. For those not in the know, a tractor pull consists of contestants on custom tractors towing a weight that gets progressively heavier as far as is possible for the tractor to pull. It may not sound like much, but just wait until you’ve seen it to pass judgment. Before long, I was jumping up and cheering on drivers as they neared a “full pull.”Be sure not to miss the Mutton Bustin’ events, either. Think of it as a rodeo for the 6-and-under crowd: children are set on sheep and hang on for dear life as the animals buck with all the vigor of angry steer. Most last a fraction of a second, but a few last a measurable time and are awarded with a prize.Afterward, see if you can fit in the animal races; Bob Duck’s Great American Duck Race features mallards all the way from New Mexico, and in the pig races, Britney Spare Ribs — “doing better after therapy,” according to the announcer — finished first in her heat.Cheering on a pig is hard work, and you’re likely to work up an appetite. If you haven’t already, this is when you might get some serious culture shock. Alongside carnival staples like cotton candy, pizza and fresh lemonade, you’ll find a wealth of more interesting options. As usual, it pays to be adventurous, but even the most eclectic of gourmets might have trouble working up the courage to order a “Pork Parfait.” Personally speaking, this pulled pork, barbecue sauce and mashed potato meal-in-a-cup is my new favorite dish.Don’t be scared away if the only foods you can find are deep fried or on a stick. Instead, try to take it in with a sense of wonder. I’m still amazed that we can, apparently, fry root beer now. Trying to eat the dumpling-like treats is guaranteed to make you chuckle, dusting your whole face with powdered sugar. (Don’t try this at home — the method is still a trade secret.)Give Steak on a Stick a shot, as well. It’s every bit as delicious as the traditional plate-bound variety but far more convenient. And if nothing else, it gives you a good reason to pick up a slice of cheesecake-on-a-stick for dessert, dipped in chocolate and coated with sprinkles.Don’t forget that carnival food has a reputation for emptying out your wallet as quickly as it fills out your thighs. A slice of pizza — one of the cheaper options — will cost you upwards of $3. Most entrees at the fair are priced in the $5 to $8 range, but expect to eat a lot during your visit because of a potent combination of hunger and curiosity. Even a large cup of lemonade will cost you $6.It’s not accurate, though, to paint a picture of the fair as an event focused entirely on fattening food and rural charm. It seems the folksy atmosphere of the fair has struck an uneasy alliance with the consumer world around it. The Technology Center hosts a couple of robotics demonstrations and other tech demos. In the Exhibition Hall, you can even have your teeth whitened in minutes with UV radiation, just across from a stand selling T-shirts featuring trucks, guns or kittens in heart-shaped Confederate flags.The contrast is evident even outside these designated consumer zones: Near the Duck Race, for example, is a booth offering Segway rides for $5. Right across from the Livestock Show Ring, you can find the Toyota Tundra Power Challenge, where fair patrons can see for themselves whether the new Tundra outperforms the Ford F-150.Some might bemoan the move away from the Fair’s agricultural roots in our consumer culture, but Smith, who has been working at the Fair for the past 55 years, clearly does not.“I think it’s gotten better,” he said. “We strive to get better each year.” Either way, once the sky starts to dim, the real stars of the show are the rides. With the sun down and the lights on, the fair becomes a dizzying experience. Tickets are $1 each, but with rides often costing five or six tickets, your best bet is a wristband — for $13, you get unlimited rides for the rest of the day.In the Midway area, rides are everywhere. Here, you can really appeal to tradition. The Tilt-A-Whirl and Ferris wheel may be the classics, but lines for these are relatively short. They may be less popular, but that just makes it easier for you to hop on. If you’re not ready for the big time, head over to the Kidway across the fairgrounds. Here the rides are relatively low-key and non-threatening.Tickets to the State Fair of Virginia are $8 after 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, or $11 during the day; on weekends, the ticket price is $13 all day. This is your last year to see it in Richmond — next year, the Fair moves to Doswell, Va., just a bit farther away than Richmond from Charlottesville.
(08/26/08 9:46pm)
This past weekend, Grounds was a flurry of stuffed SUVs and discarded cardboard boxes as students prepared to begin their fall semester. The Life section caught up with a few to talk about moving in, the dormitory atmosphere and students’ first night out.Lincoln HinesThird-year College student“I came in at the end of the day, so there wasn’t a lot of traffic. I still haven’t met my roommate. He just dropped everything off in the room and left me a little note. It looks like he packed more than I did, which is a small victory for me — I pride myself on not packing much. In the note he basically said hello and that we could negotiate which room we’d each get. I looked through his stuff a little to get an idea of him, and he seems like a pretty average guy. I mean, he has clothes, and I have those too. I think I can probably push him around.”Tiffany Smith and Loraine CollinsFirst-year Engineering and College studentsTS: ”I moved in early, so there wasn’t a lot of traffic. It was really smooth — I’m from Charlottesville, so it wasn’t too difficult.”LC: “I brought a lot of stuff, [but] I wish I brought a robe. I moved in from Chesapeake, so I can’t just get one from home ... The first night here was fun, but the showers were weird.”TS: “The showers are definitely not like the showers at home.”David NguyenFirst-year College student”My first night was nice. I went to the block party. It was a little overwhelming, seeing all the people out there. But I’m on the tennis team, so I already knew a lot of people; I had those connections. Especially since I’m from Maryland, it was nice coming here knowing some people already.”On playing tennis: “Tennis practice is every day — starting next week, it’s five days a week. I’m not worried about it interfering with my schoolwork. I think it’ll even help me stay focused.”Sijie XiaFirst-year College student”The move went fluidly. The volunteers here were very helpful. I came here straight from China five days ago. This is actually my first time in the U.S.” On why he chose the University: “She needs me.”On differences between American and Chinese schools: “The sun is really hot and shiny here. I haven’t been to a Chinese university before, so how can I compare them? But I think there are some differences. Students have more freedom. But here, you can’t drink. In China, that was never an issue. ... Also, people here say hello; they’re more friendly and helpful.On dining: “The food here is much better. In China, there’s no dollar menu at McDonald’s, but most of the average food here is a lot more expensive. The average high school meal in China is just five yuan [about 75 cents].”Alexandra Staeben and Kaitlyn McDowellFirst-year College studentsAS: ”The trip down [from Arlington] wasn’t bad. We took the ‘scenic detour’ — [Route] 29 was closed. It was rough getting up four flights of stairs, but the RAs and all the volunteers in yellow shirts were really helpful.” KM: “We just filled up the back of our Explorer. There wasn’t too much traffic, but we got a little lost once we got on Grounds. I’m on the fourth floor of Watson, so it was hard to get everything up the stairs. I didn’t bring a TV, just my computer, which I love, some clothes and the usual supplies.”AS: “I just brought the usual things, plus tons of DVDs. They’re my version of a security blanket. And all seven Harry Potter books.” KM: “Why wouldn’t you need Harry Potter?”AS on her first night in the dorm: “I had some trouble getting to sleep last night, but overall it was pretty good.” KM: “I slept like the dead last night. I didn’t go to the block party, but I did get the cotton candy and candy apples. Was that by the AFC? I don’t know anything around here yet ... I saw a few roaches [in my dorm]. I even saw a rat. It was like a foot long. That’s probably the most exciting thing that’s happened since I’ve been here.”Elliott MoodyFourth-year College student“I started working here [at the Newcomb Hall information desk] last semester. Move-in weekend has been very busy. There’s been a lot of new students coming here, trying to figure out their mail, where their classes meet, those sorts of things. But it’s been fun. It’s interesting, and I get to meet a lot of new people ... My move was really easy, since I’ve been here all summer; I was done moving at the end of last semester. I’ve been working here at the desk, but also at the SAC and in Events Planning upstairs.”Iain McLeodFourth-year College studentMove in went “flawlessly. I’ve got three years of practice by now. I knew where to go, I got my key, I got moved in. I didn’t even see my suitemates until a lot later.On summer and the upcoming semester: Summer was great. I worked at a program teaching kids to program video games, which was really fun. I’m actually taking a class this semester on that. I just got my book and looked through it, and the first three chapters are mostly the same as the work I was doing this summer... Now I’m just picking up some supplies — soap, detergent, all that — and trying to figure out what I forgot. I already know I didn’t bring any DVDs, though that’s probably a good thing. I actually have a TV this year, with a DVD player and everything, and now I don’t have anything to watch on it. That was a little short-sighted.”
(04/08/08 4:00am)
There has been a lot of talk recently about energy conservation. You may have heard the recommendations -- walk to work, turn off your computer, use energy-efficient bulbs. But many of us pay little attention to that sort of talk. We shrug our collective shoulders and go back to filling up the tanks in our SUVs.
(03/31/08 4:00am)
If you see Graduate Arts & Sciences student Kate Ranganath around Grounds, she might seem like any other overworked doctoral candidate at the University. But catch her on Wednesday nights and you might see her vent day-to-day frustrations by careening around on skates, smashing everyone in her path.
(02/25/08 5:00am)
When Physics Prof. Lou Bloomfield first started teaching his now-famous physics course, "How Things Work," the expectations were low. "The other professors told me, 'Go ahead, you'll get 20 students,'" he recalled.
(10/31/07 4:00am)
Perhaps the least believable part of University alumnus Paul Bibeau's new book about Dracula is that it was his wife's idea to spend part of their honeymoon at the famous vampire's real castle. Yet like everything else in "Sundays with Vlad," it's all true -- and he has the signed affidavit to prove it.