Dave by the Bell
University Communication’s own Dave Blanks wanders the earth over in search of answers to all of life’s questions... great and small. Okay, so he mainly stays on Appalachian State University’s campus... he still wanders though... and he definitely wonders as he wanders. Listen for silly asides and revolutionary revelations. Priceless.
Episodes
Friday Feb 14, 2020
042 Valentine’s Dave 2020
Friday Feb 14, 2020
Friday Feb 14, 2020
On this Valentine's Day special, Dave interviews App State students to discover what they truly love.
Thursday Dec 19, 2019
041 Turkey Day Embarrassment
Thursday Dec 19, 2019
Thursday Dec 19, 2019
Appalachian State University students share surprising and embarrassing moments from their recent Fall Break.
Dave Blanks: Hey folks, what's up? My name's Dave Blanks from University Communications and I'm back again with a Dave By The Bell. On this edition of Dave By The Bell, the students are smack dab in the middle of final examinations. They're walking around being stressed out, potentially. Maybe they're super prepared, possibly they are not super prepared. They're in final exams now, but they also just came from the holiday break, Thanksgiving. Many of them celebrated, so that means that they were in close proximity to their family and sometimes when you hang out with your family, maybe something embarrassing could occur, something surprising might occur. So we're looking for surprises or potentially embarrassing things that happened, because those are fun stories.
Katie Hines: I'm Katie Hines, so my brother is a really big stickler on everything and he saw my grandma pour a glass of wine and he said, "How many is that?"
Dave Blanks: Oh my gosh.
Katie Hines: He's only nine.
Dave Blanks: What?
Katie Hines: He's a major rule follower.
Dave Blanks: Yeah, a real rule follower. What do you think he's going to do when he grows up?
Katie Hines: He wants to be a lawyer, it makes a lot of sense.
Dave Blanks: What's his name? Can you say his name?
Katie Hines: His name is Henry.
Dave Blanks: Okay, how long has Henry been such a rule follower?
Katie Hines: Always. He's always been like that. We're used to it, but we can break the smallest rule and it will not get by him.
Dave Blanks: He's going to be like a hall monitor.
Katie Hines: Oh yeah, he is at his school.
Dave Blanks: Wow.
Katie Hines: Yeah, he's on the safety patrol.
Dave Blanks: I kind of respect that. He knows what he wants and he's doing it.
Katie Hines: He does know what he wants. He's very set on everything.
Dave Blanks: How did your grandma handle it?
Katie Hines: We just laugh because we're used to it by now, it's like-
Dave Blanks: Oh, Henry.
Katie Hines: It's, whatever at this point.
Avery Pope: I'm Avery Pope. Yeah, my cousin was kind of being weird and rude to everyone.
Dave Blanks: Okay, rude cousin?
Avery Pope: So we cut it short.
Dave Blanks: So that was unexpected.
Avery Pope: Yes, that was unexpected.
Dave Blanks: All right, maybe he was having an off day.
Avery Pope: Yeah, he just got a dog, the dog is really cute.
Dave Blanks: Well then the dog should improve his mood.
Avery Pope: Yeah, it didn't.
Dave Blanks: It's a big responsibility too. Maybe it's keeping him up at night. Is it a puppy?
Avery Pope: It is.
Dave Blanks: Yeah, maybe that's it, he's cracking under the pressure. Puppy pressure.
Avery Pope: Oh yeah.
Dave Blanks: Thanks Avery.
Avery Pope: Of course.
Alex Lipovan: I'm Alex Lipovan. I choked.
Dave Blanks: What?
Alex Lipovan: I choked on my food.
Dave Blanks: You did?
Alex Lipovan: Yeah.
Dave Blanks: What was it you were eating?
Alex Lipovan: It was mashed potatoes.
Dave Blanks: How did you do that?
Alex Lipovan: I know, I think I was talking and then eating at the same time and just-
Dave Blanks: How bad was it?
Alex Lipovan: I was tearing up.
Dave Blanks: Oh man, that's pretty bad.
Alex Lipovan: Yeah.
Dave Blanks: Did anybody try to help you?
Alex Lipovan: No.
Dave Blanks: What did they do?
Alex Lipovan: They just kind of sat there and watched.
Dave Blanks: At least they didn't laugh.
Alex Lipovan: I got lucky it was mashed potatoes.
Dave Blanks: Yeah, for real. I've never choked on mashed potatoes.
Alex Lipovan: Yeah, I don't know how it happened.
Dave Blanks: I figured you would say it's some kind of bone, or something like that.
Alex Lipovan: No.
Dave Blanks: Turkey bone.
Alex Lipovan: No.
Dave Blanks: No, taters.
Alex Lipovan: Yeah, taters.
Seth Douglas: My name is Seth Douglas. Well, most of my family's from Maryland, so we had a crab bake instead of a turkey dinner.
Dave Blanks: That sounds awesome.
Seth Douglas: And my grandfather made a very big mess under the table.
Dave Blanks: How did he do that?
Seth Douglas: Well, we were breaking the crabs and so most people were keeping it on the table, like grown adults. But I went to my grandfather's side of the table and I found it like what you'd expect like a little kid having.
Dave Blanks: Did you call him out?
Seth Douglas: Oh yeah, we called him out the whole entire rest of the vacation.
Dave Blanks: Did he continue this kind of behavior throughout the rest of the vacation?
Seth Douglas: Oh yeah, he's an ornery old man.
Dave Blanks: Wow, he sounds like a character. So what's your grandpa's name?
Seth Douglas: His name is Captain Dave.
Dave Blanks: Captain Dave. Was he actually a captain?
Seth Douglas: Yeah, he was a captain in the coast guard.
Dave Blanks: Cool. Captain Dave. Here's to you.
Eliza King: I'm Eliza King. No, my family's pretty embarrassing all the time.
Dave Blanks: So you were totally not surprised by any of the embarrassing stuff that happened.
Eliza King: Yeah.
Dave Blanks: All right, gotcha.
Hope Frohock: I'm Hope Frohock. I don't know, I guess ... We went to my sister's house for Thanksgiving. It was their first time hosting it.
Dave Blanks: Oh, is she a new homeowner or something?
Hope Frohock: Yeah, they just got a new house.
Dave Blanks: Okay, do they have any kids, or just the two of them?
Hope Frohock: Yeah, they have three kids.
Dave Blanks: Three kids?
Hope Frohock: Yeah, so pretty wild.
Dave Blanks: So, they were always there, but it was at somebody else's house.
Hope Frohock: Yeah, yeah.
Dave Blanks: Okay, how did they do?
Hope Frohock: It was interesting.
Dave Blanks: Okay, what was different?
Hope Frohock: It was just a little more chaotic since usually my mom is the one who sets up. So it was just all over the place.
Dave Blanks: But mom was there?
Hope Frohock: Yeah.
Dave Blanks: How did she enjoy it? What was she like? "Not so easy, is it?"
Hope Frohock: Yeah, exactly, yeah.
Allison Eller: I'm Alison Eller. I don't know if anyone else does this, but we have the little poppers where you pop it open and you have the little colored crowns.
Dave Blanks: Yeah.
Allison Eller: So we all had colored crowns on and we're playing with our toys at the Thanksgiving table and I thought that might be a little odd.
Dave Blanks: So what was your toy?
Allison Eller: Oh, I had a little kaleidoscope.
Dave Blanks: Oh sweet.
Allison Eller: Yeah, it was cool.
Dylan Coleman: I'm Dylan Coleman. I don't know, I was at the Thanksgiving dinner table and we were going around saying things we're thankful for. Of course, I'm a college student and I haven't seen my family for almost a semester-ish. So they're asking me college questions and just expecting very profound answers and immaculate experiences that I don't have yet. But yes, I just kind of told them vaguely of like how my semester's going. I don't know, I guess they were expecting something huge.
Dave Blanks: How long have you been here?
Dylan Coleman: I've been here for a semester, I'm a freshman, yeah.
Dave Blanks: That's it? Yeah.
Dylan Coleman: Yeah.
Dave Blanks: Yeah, what do they expect?
Dylan Coleman: Exactly, so yeah.
Dave Blanks: It'll get profound, I'm sure.
Dave Blanks: Or maybe not.
Dylan Coleman: Yeah, maybe not.
Mario Espinoza: I'm Mario Espinoza. I was with my girlfriend's family. They live in Valdez, which is close to where we live.
Dave Blanks: Valdez, yeah, right? What's your girlfriend's name?
Mario Espinoza: Shea.
Dave Blanks: When you were hanging out with Shea's family, did anything unexpected, maybe embarrassing happen?
Mario Espinoza: Absolutely.
Dave Blanks: What? Oh, great. Do tell.
Mario Espinoza: She has this cute little nephew named Lan and I love-
Dave Blanks: Lan?
Mario Espinoza: L-A-N, Lan. I love playing with him. He's only six years old, but I just accidentally pushed him. He fell back and hit his head on the couch.
Dave Blanks: No, ow.
Mario Espinoza: I was like, "I am so sorry." It was terrible.
Dave Blanks: Oh, did anybody witness it?
Mario Espinoza: No one else did, so I could just play it off. I was like, "Oh, he hit himself." You know?
Dave Blanks: "Lan, I don't know, he just fell over."
Mario Espinoza: No, but I was very apologetic.
Dave Blanks: Is he okay?
Mario Espinoza: He's totally fine.
Dave Blanks: Well, thank goodness for that. Poor Lan.
Mario Espinoza: Yeah.
Grace Le: I'm Grace Le.
Dave Blanks: So Grace, did you go home for Thanksgiving?
Grace Le: Yes I did.
Dave Blanks: Okay, cool. Did you hang out with your family?
Grace Le: All the time.
Dave Blanks: Constantly, right? No escape.
Grace Le: No.
Dave Blanks: So did anything unexpected or potentially embarrassing happen?
Grace Le: Yeah, so Saturday I went to Concord Mills, it's like a mall. My sister lost her phone, so I was running around the whole place, trying to find it and then I ran into a kid, like the kid fell.
Dave Blanks: How old was he?
Grace Le: I don't know but the kid was probably around like toddler, I guess. I don't know.
Dave Blanks: You smashed into a toddler?
Grace Le: I felt so bad and then I was like, "I'm so sorry." And then the mom looked and then I just ran. I was like, "I can't, I can't do this!"
Dave Blanks: You didn't help him up or anything? You just, "Run away."
Grace Le: Yeah, because if I'd helped, I feel like the mom would've been like, "I can't believe ran over him."
Dave Blanks: Oh yeah. So did you find your sister's phone?
Grace Le: Yeah, we did.
Dave Blanks: Thank goodness. I hope that kid's okay.
Grace Le: Let's hope so too.
Dave Blanks: I hope the cops don't catch up with you.
Grace Le: I'm going home.
Dave Blanks: Get out of here.
Dave Blanks: I was looking for fun answers and I did get some fun answers. Thanks App State students. Hopefully you out there listening got sort of a vibe for what it's like as an App State student when you go home. Was that what the mission was? I don't know. I think that's what we accomplished. Either way, I'm Dave Blanks and this has been Dave By The Bell.
Dave Blanks: You can listen to Dave By The Bell, wherever you get your podcasts like Stitcher or iTunes and on a Spotify. Yeah, so check us out. Search for Dave By The Bell. Tell a friend, write a review. I would be very thankful and if I saw you and you told me that you wrote me a review, I would give you a solid, super cool high five. Thanks very much to Pete Montaldi who handles our web stuff along with Derek Wycoff, also on the web team and Alex Waterworth, thanks to Chase Reynolds for additional photography. Thanks to you listener, for your time. Have a fantastic day and I will talk to you next time.
Tuesday Dec 17, 2019
Special Video Edition: How Have You Changed | Commencement 2019
Tuesday Dec 17, 2019
Tuesday Dec 17, 2019
In this video edition of Dave By The Bell, Dave talks to the Class of 2019 at Appalachian State's Fall Commencement and asks them, "What's the biggest change you've seen in yourself from your very first day on campus?" We are treated to heartfelt answers, reflective memories, and, of course...Dave being Dave. Listen to other Dave by the Bell episodes here: dave.podcasts.appstate.edu
Friday Oct 25, 2019
040 Dave by the Bell: Is App State right for me?
Friday Oct 25, 2019
Friday Oct 25, 2019
University Communications' Dave Blanks asks current Appalachian students what they would share about App State with a friend who is considering attending the university. Spoiler alert: Everyone loves Appalachian State University.
Friday Oct 04, 2019
Special Video Edition: Did You Listen to Your Parents?
Friday Oct 04, 2019
Friday Oct 04, 2019
In this video edition of Dave by the Bell, Dave talks to parents and students during Family Weekend at Appalachian to ask them, "What is some advice you gave your Mountaineer before they came to college...AND...are they following that advice?"
Check out other Dave by the Bell episodes here: http://dave.podcasts.appstate.edu
All Dave by the Bell podcasts can be enjoyed at http://podcasts.appstate.edu or by searching for "Dave by the Bell" on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts!
Appalachian State University | https://www.appstate.edu
Thursday Sep 12, 2019
Special Video Edition: The Strangest Thing
Thursday Sep 12, 2019
Thursday Sep 12, 2019
In this video edition of Dave by the Bell, Dave Blanks of Appalachian's University Communications interviews first-year students and their parents during Move-in Day 2019 to discover the strange and unusual things they've brought with them to the residence halls. Other Dave by the Bell podcasts can be found at https://dave.podcasts.appstate.edu or by searching for "Dave by the Bell" on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts! Appalachian State University | https://www.appstate.edu
Friday Aug 30, 2019
039 Dave by the Bell: The Strangest Thing
Friday Aug 30, 2019
Friday Aug 30, 2019
Dave Blanks of Appalachian's University Communications interviews first-year students and their parents during Move-in Day 2019 to discover the strange and unusual things they've brought with them to the residence halls.
Wednesday May 01, 2019
038 Dave by the Bell: Why Choose App State?
Wednesday May 01, 2019
Wednesday May 01, 2019
University Communications' resident goofy goober, Dave Blanks, and UComm intern Alyssa "The Juggernaut" Rodriguez interview students on Sanford Mall to find out why they chose to attend Appalachian State University.
Wednesday May 01, 2019
037 Dave by the Bell: Can I Retake That Class?
Wednesday May 01, 2019
Wednesday May 01, 2019
Dave Blanks, University Communications' most likely to interrupt, and UComm intern Alyssa "So Extra" Rodriguez wander around Sanford Mall interviewing Appalachian students to find out what class they would retake and why.
Friday Feb 22, 2019
036 Dave by the Bell: What’s Your Happy Song?
Friday Feb 22, 2019
Friday Feb 22, 2019
University Communications' favorite interruption, Dave Blanks and UComm intern Alyssa Rodriguez, interview unsuspecting Appalachian students to discover their go-to "happy song."
Who is this person?
University Communication’s own Dave Blanks wanders the earth over in search of answers to all of life’s questions... great and small. Okay, so he mainly stays on Appalachian State University’s campus... he still wanders though... and he definitely wonders as he wanders. Enjoy a podcast rife with silly asides and revolutionary revelations. Priceless.