It’s been months since I have had much time to get back into my blogs.  College is wonderful for showing you what you need to learn and what skills to master for the real world.  So far, I have realized that I need much better time management skills.  I need to learn that I can waste energy focusing on things that are not important in the immediate scheme of things.  After getting all settled in at home and saying hi to everyone I left here in Southern California, I am ready to blog once more!

So many things have happened since September.  I audited a class, I made it into a Fraternity, I grew a massive beard, etc.  All of this is yet to come  🙂  Let’s start with the audited class.  Back in the middle of October, both my classes and my pledging period were in full motion.  It was then that I really saw how bad my time management skills were.  I was beginning to lose precious hours of sleep to stay up and to my stockpile of homework (not the Fraternity’s fault, mine for not using my time wisely) until one day in class, my Microeconomics teacher offered the class a solution: auditing courses.  I had honestly never heard of this option before, but it sounded like an angel had just saved me from failing a course.  Auditing, for those of you who don’t know, is when you opt to take the course, but get no credit for it.  It is not the same as dropping the course, however, because you still go to class and listen/take notes (or whatever you do in class).  I chose to take the credit loss and audit my Microeconomics class, because it was my lowest grade at the time.  This choice was difficult at first, because I did not want everyone to think I was a quitter and because I was afraid I would think about myself as a quitter, but I can honestly look back now and say it was one of the wisest decisions I made for my classes this semester.  I was able to almost every class of the semester, so I have already gathered some knowledge about the course.  Now, all I have to do is take it again and I will begin to master the course content this second time around.  If I can make a suggestion to every student who just has a schedule that is too full, because we all overload ourselves sometimes, auditing is a great way to “preview” a course if you honestly want to take it, but simply don’t have the time yet for the entire class’ workload.

After auditing, my next big thing was Sigma Pi.  After eight weeks of devotion, I was finally initiated into this amazing brotherhood that I am sure will be one of the greatest decisions of my life.  My brothers have become my extended family since I have left home for Embry-Riddle.  I will always be able to catch up with them and have a great time, even if we have not spoken in years.  To everyone who has the time and willpower, find a brotherhood or sisterhood.  It will change your life for the better.

After becoming a brother of Sigma Pi, I was a little less restricted on time.  This made it easier to make up some of the work I had fallen behind on.  Also, by this time it was November.  I have never heard of this tradition before, but apparently it was “No Shave November”.  I decided that this was a great idea, and instead of shaving, I just began to watch in awe as my face transformed into something new and unusual to me.  By the time Thanksgiving rolled around at the end of the month, my beard was in full bloom.  It was funny watching people’s reactions when they saw me looking so different from what they remembered.

So now we arrive at Thanksgiving day.  Sleep in till about 2 p.m., wake up and rush to get ready because we are supposed to eat dinner at 4 p.m.  For a long time, my family has had two Thanksgivings, one at our house with my mom’s family and one at my Aunt and Uncle’s house across town with my dad’s family.  This year, we only went to eat with my dad’s side of the family, because my mom’s family couldn’t make it.  We were still there before dinner started, so my mom took a few pictures.

After socializing and finishing up the food preparations, it was time to feast!  I ate and ate and ate until I pretty much passed out on the couch in the living room. I woke up twice, once to say goodbye to some of my family that was leaving, and once to leave with my family.  My mom chose to take a picture of my while I was sleeping, but I’m not sure when…

After Thanksgiving, it was time to shave the beast.  November had come to an end and I was more than happy to get rid of my beard.  I was so excited, in fact, that I shaved Thanksgiving night.  Due to the fact that my beard was almost an inch long, I had to use hair clippers to shave it off.

This would be my hair after it left my face haha.  I also got a haircut, since I hadn’t done that in over a month as well.  If that had been in the dustpan as well, it would have been completely full!

The next major speedbump I hit came on Sunday, when I was coming back to school to finish up the semester.  I had a flight on Great Lakes straight into Prescott.  The only problem was this: I was on an overbooked flight and guess who the last passenger to check in was? Yup, you got it right, I was the 20th person on a 19 seat flight.  After sitting around for over an hour waiting to figure out if I could get on another flight, I got put on a flight to Phoenix through Continental Airlines.  Instead of being back at school at around 1 p.m. I arrived in phoenix at 2:40-ish and had a 2 hour drive back to Prescott.  After my long day, I went back to my room and crashed for the night.

After making it through Thanksgiving, it was a smooth two weeks until the semester was finally through: NOT!  In the last two weeks of the semester, I was busy cramming for finals and doing homework.  I didn’t see some of my best friends for days at a time because I was always busy doing something.  Those last two weeks were quite dull and I am sure most of my friends know exactly what I was doing until the snowstorm hit.  I have never been in a storm as violent and hectic as this storm had been.  Lightpoles outside kept going out and turning back on in the wind, which was blowing at about 80 miles per hour according to one of my friends.  I was trying to sleep during the storm, but when it started to snow EVERYONE in my hall and the other halls were running around freaking out at the snow, slamming doors, etc. and I was definately not able to go to sleep…so, I ended up sitting out in the lounge with my friends until it was just me, my roomate, and one other dormie.  When it was about 5:30 a.m., we looked outside and decided it was the perfect time to go out and take some pictures of the snow before anyone messed it up the next morning.  After gearing up in warm clothes, we went outside and got a picture by my new powder coated car.

It was while we were taking pictures that we decided it would be fun to try and ride down the hill in the parking lot in the snow.  We all chose different modes of transportation: snowboard, longboard, and scooter.

We didn’t make it very far before deciding that the only good mode of transportation was the scooter, so we went back to the room and got two more scooters.  We rode down to the library, walked back up to our hall, rode all the way to the student union (best hill by far), walked to AC-1, made snow angels, rode down to the fields and towards the gym, walked up to mingus, and rode back to our hall.  It was one of the best times I have had in years and I will never forget it.

So yeah, that is where I’ve been these past few months.  I hope everyone did great on their finals and congratulations to us all for making it through a semester!  See you all next January!

It has been a busy couple of weeks!  I had to register for classes, get appointments with my academic advisors, and try to figure out what classes I should take.  Thank goodness for volleyball; because I’m an athlete, I got to register for classes before everyone else, even the seniors!  Yeah!  Because of the twelve credits I took this past semester, I’m taking eighteen credits just to catch up!  Next semester is going to be quite fun.

Last weekend, I surprised my little brother by coming home on his ninth birthday!  He’s getting so big!  Levi was so excited to have me be his “birthday present”.  The weekend was really fun, and I got to be a part of the traditional pick-your-own-present-at-Wal*Mart process.  He chose a crayon maker, which melts different crayons together and molds them into new crayons.  So as a result, Levi and I colored all weekend with cool, multi-colored crayons, and therefore had many discussions on whether crayon was pronounced “cray-on” or “crown”.  The sad part is, I’m the one who says “crown”.  It’s how I learned it!  Don’t judge!  Ha.  Just kidding.  You can judge if you want to.  I know it’s pathetic.

On Tuesday night, I started a new tradition.  My suitemate and I went over to Steven’s dorm (yes, Steven Leon, he’s a blogger too!) and watched a new TV series called “V”.  It’s about aliens, and I thought that it would be kinda cheesy, but I’m in love!  Then again, I’ve been in a stage where I’m fascinated by aliens, so I might be a little biased.  Nah.  I’m in love.

My suitemates and I also went to the midnight premiere of New Moon, (yes, I’m one of THOSE people), and had a great time!  We watched Twilight on my laptop while we waited for the movie to start, which was a pretty good idea if I do say so myself!  Everyone else was jealous. 🙂

This past weekend, Anna and I were able to go to Paradise Valley and watch our old high school football team play in the semifinals against Florence, who is my mom’s alma mater high school.  It was kind of funny to think about that!  We went to our friend’s apartment, who lives five minutes away from the school, and saw a few of our other friends from high school who live in the valley now.  It’s interesting looking at the situation from different viewpoints: when I was in high school, I promised I’d never come to anything that had to do with my high school again, but now that I’m out, I go to everything I can!!  I wonder if all my friends who are still in high school think I’m crazy, too.

Well, this weekend is Thanksgiving break, so I get to go home for Turkey Day!  Yay!!  And my nineteenth birthday is on Saturday as well, so it’s just gonna be a great weekend!  Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Yeah… my family does NOT look like this at Thanksgiving.  Just FYI.  But it’s all I could find!  Ha!

“I think I’ve discovered the secret of life – you just hang around until you get used to it.”

-Charles M. Schulz

On Friday, November 6, the 1A-3A State Championships for volleyball were held IN PRESCOTT!  My former high school team, Blue Ridge, is 3A and so I got to see my team!!  Anna, Shaw, and I (Shaw just wanted to come and be introduced!) met the team at Texas Roadhouse on Thursday night.  There were LOTS of hugs, I-miss-you’s, and stories that night.  It was great to see all of my girls!  All the while we were talking, a guy was there who was making balloon animals.  Of course, as much as we all want to be mature and grow up, it never actually happens, and so he ended up making probably twenty balloons just for the Blue Ridge team (and Shaw!).  The poor guy’s fingers must have felt like the rubber balloons he was endlessly twisting.  The shapes varied from a monkey to a Ninja Turtle to a frog to Spiderman!  They were very well done, let me tell you!

Flashbacks hit me hard the next day, which was game day at Prescott High School.  As a senior playing volleyball last year, I remember walking into the very same gym for the state tournament.  The enormity of the gym, the dark wooden beams overhead that looked like a pattern on the ceiling, the stands filled with parents and loved ones who’d come to wish me luck.  That was even the exact day that I met my current coach, Coach Meyer.  I remember looking up into the stands every few minutes, watching her take notes, and when Anna and I finally met her, Anna told her that volleyball “wasn’t her thing”!!  Well, she immediately took that back when she realized that this was the volleyball coach we were talking to, and proceeded to tell her that volleyball was her passion!!  Haha!

Anna and I signing our letters of intent.

This is a picture of my team last year, my senior year in high school.

The rest is history.  Like a deja vu, I imagined all this in the first two minutes I was in the gym.  Anna, Shaw, Laura and I (Blue Ridge was playing Laura’s alma mater, Fountain Hills) cheered our lungs out and had a great time.

After the game, which unfortunately gave Laura bragging rights on Anna and I, I was able to stay and talk with some of my best friends from high school.  We exchanged stories, jokes, the latest “who’s-with-who” news, and quoted movies.  I was so happy that I was able to meet up with them!  I LOVE MY GIRLS! 🙂

“People never know how special someone is until they leave, but maybe sometimes its important to leave, so they are given that chance to see how special that someone really is!”
–  Ali Nitka

Last week was my LTAV competition and a Matlab exam, both of which were very nerve racking beforehand. Luckily, both of them went fairly well in my opinion, although I won’t have my Matlab score for another few days. I first started this post 4 days ago, so I found out my Matlab score was an A 🙂

I guess I’ll start with the LTAV competition, which tested the emotional limits of our group for the past week as it continued to produce new flaws. Last Wednesday, for example, it had low batteries so we switched them out rather than waiting to charge the ones that were being used. Our LEGO “bricks” (control module) then proceeded to literally destroy any battery packs that we put in, rendering them all useless. Finally, we put the originals back in and flew around as best we could. On flight day, we forgot that we still had a bad battery in so for our first run we couldn’t get the machine off the ground very well. Instead of flying over the bucket to drop the ping pong balls, we backed in next to it and dropped them there as best we could without having our props fling them in all directions. On our second run, however, we put in a different battery pack and adjusted our ballast which ended up giving us full points and extra points for completing the course in under 4:00 mins. We forgot to film our real run, but I recorded one after…here’s the video:

LTAV Video

Today my friend Brenton and I took a free course here at the school covering CPR, AED, and First Aid skills. I wasn’t too keen on the fact that it was supposed to last from 8:30 am until 4:00 pm. Luckily, we got out by 2:30, but it was fairly interesting the whole way through. We covered a couple of hours of CPR with the dummies and then about one more on AED (Automatic External Defibrillator) usage. They are actually really neat and advanced devices…they deliver specific amounts of energy in each shock based on a computerized analysis via the shock patches. We were told that on one charge, an AED can deliver several hundred charges. After lunch, we covered first aid skills. The teaching covered many categories of first aid, each explained fairly briefly. We got to practice a few things such as changing positions of someone who may have a damaged spine or neck, or of course bandaging wounds. I’m glad I took the course because now I’m certified in first aid and CPR/AED for two years and I learned some neat skills that could help me in many situations.

NASA has found water on the Moon, and this is big news for the agency and space enthusiasts everywhere!

It seems a little funny to me that since my co-op at NASA, many people have come to regard my opinion on NASA missions much more highly than ever before, and some friends even look to me to me as a sort of expert on what NASA is doing.I tell someone that I work for NASA, and I suddenly become a representative of NASA that people will question about projects, missions, and NASA objectives.

Don’t get me wrong. I am quite flattered by this.I’m only worried that I won’t do NASA justice, because I’m not an expert on NASA, just an enthusiast.

When the news stations announced “NASA is bombing the Moon, and how much is this costing you?Watch tonight at 5,” I had several people ask me over the phone, or by electronic communications, what the point of this whole thing was and why we were spending so much money on it.

I am a huge proponent of manned space exploration, so for someone like me this mission was a huge deal.I am not an expert on LCROSS by any means, but I did know that the purpose was to investigate what resources lie on the moon, especially water that we could use to sustain a permanent lunar base that would provide a huge leap forward in prolonged human life on an extraterrestrial celestial body.This is the stuff that dreams are made of, and what I told most people about the mission.

Well, guess what?They found water!And not just a little water.Lots of WATER!And I, like many space enthusiasts today are exceptionally excited about this discovery.

We are also exceptionally excited about the recent successful flight test of the Ares I-X rocket, the potential launch vehicle for missions to the moon, including the set up of a lunar base.On the days leading up to the launch, there were many fellow astronautics track aerospace engineering students at Embry-Riddle that were itching with excitement over the rocket.I can’t tell you how many of my friends were telling me about the launch.It was almost like Christmas for us. Many of us would be ecstatic to work on the Constellation missions.

We can only hope that the powers that be in Washington are excited enough about these successes to support a manned mission to the moon.The fate of manned space exploration rests in their hands.

This is an exciting time for the “astro kids,” as the astronautics track students are often called.Ask just about any of them what they think about water on the moon or the Ares I-X rocket, and I bet you’ll find that they’re excitement is palpable.We can see that we are making huge steps of progress towards the moon, and it is an amazing feeling!

Some news stories for additional information:

Ares I-X launch:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091028125147.htm

The week is finally winding down, which couldn’t have come any later. Yesterday was a very crazy day between Calculus and Matlab homework, flying our Lego LTAV (Lighter than Air Vehicle) and trying to eat meals somewhere in between. In all my classes, we have one or two more homework’s due next week, and then there are the last midterm exams and mere weeks later, finals week. Right now, I’m just looking forward to an all day hike a friend and I have planned. We don’t exactly know where we’re going, but we’re planning on walking until we get tired, walk a little further, and then head back to the school. I’m also counting down the days until thanksgiving break so I can finally see all my family and friends. It doesn’t feel like it’s been over three months!

I don’t know if I properly explained the LTAV project properly in my latest posts. We build an undercarriage using Legos and propellers attached to the Lego Mindstorm controllers and motors. That structure is then attached to a massive helium filled balloon and we have to drive it around an obstacle course. It gets very complicated controlling several props and having to gear them up to get adequate lift. The hardest part is matching your weight to the exact lift force of the balloon to achieve neutral buoyancy. Every group has a different ballast system whether it be coins, water, or tires. Controlling the vehicle is another story. My group will be using two Macbook Pro’s with free downloaded software. Other groups have written code, or downloaded similar programs. Many people are trying to use cell phones, XBOX controllers, or Wiimotes to control the vehicle through their laptop’s bluetooth connection. As of yesterday evening, our vehicle is finally working and we’ve decided that instead of flying the whole time, we plan on flying over the obstacles that we need to, but then driving it around the slalom and other obstacles to maintain more control. I also forgot to mention how many motors/props we have; there are two lift props, two front props, and in the back a helicopter style turning prop. Our whole vehicle has the props very spread out to allow for extra leverage. Before last night, the front props were very close together and so once you got in a turn, you could only get out of it by over-turning in the other direction. We fixed that and for the most part can control exactly where we want it to go. Here’s a couple of pictures of our LTAV (click for a larger view):

Front View of LTAV

Angled View of LTAV (Note the helicopter rotor in the back)

I’m assuming that most of my readers are perspective college students, who are likely all to be over achievers to some degree. This is for you. See if this describes how you think.

My most valuable asset is time. That is because of all of my possessions, time seems to be what I have the least amount of.

Someone once asked me how I could consider time a possession. “No one can own time,” they said. I disagree. I believe that each and every person is given a certain amount of time, and just like with money, how they decide to spend it defines who they become as a person.

In the Gospels of Mark and Luke, there is a parable about a poor woman who gives two mites to the church when people who are far richer give far more. In the parable she is portrayed as giving the most, because while the others give out of their abundance, she gives all that she has out of her destitution.

Don’t get the wrong idea, I’m not exceptionally religious, and I definitely am not trying to push my views on anyone, but I do consider myself to be spiritual, and I am fascinated by nearly all religions. The reason that I bring that parable up is that it expresses how I feel about time. I have so little time that whenever I choose to spend time on homework, working, or with another person, it is because I find that cause worthwhile.

My lack of time is only exacerbated by my tendency towards over achieving. I feel as though if I am not filling all of my time with something worthwhile that is making me grow as a person, than I am not living up to my full potential and I find that lack of fulfillment difficult deal with that. I often feel as though I have to justify getting a full night’s sleep, or taking the time to make myself a decent dinner, because I know that I could be doing homework, or reading, or writing, or otherwise strengthening my mind.

I guess you could say that I live with a sense of purpose. Everything that I do must have a purpose; otherwise I likely won’t do it.

This personality characteristic works fairly well in a typical work or vacation setting, where I work my set number of hours, and then go home each evening and have weekends free. I see new places, meet new people, read about new concepts, gain new experiences, and work on projects that preserve the memories of those times.

The problems with this perspective occur during the school year.

The way that an engineering program usually works is that you will spend approximately 15 hours a week in classes, and then for each hour you spend in class, you will spend about two hours outside of class working on homework. This isn’t necessarily true your freshman year, when you will likely spend less than 10 hours a week outside of class, but as you progress in your degree program, that amount of time increases dramatically. I predict that I currently spend about 20-30 hours a week on homework or studying outside of class as a junior; sometimes it’s more, sometimes a little less. Then I’m in extracurricular activities.

Engineering students don’t work 8-10 hours a day then finish for the day. They usually break up their study/homework time throughout the week, to accommodate classes and extracurricular activities. This results in many long nights and weekends of study.

When my time is already consumed by engineering classes, for some reason, I still feel the need to fill any spare moment I have with something productive.

My dad offered the following advice for thinking about relaxation in a productive way:

“BALANCE is the key.

The human body is a machine and as with any machine, it requires maintenance and care to keep it running in top condition.  A scheduled maintenance period is mandatory or the machine will break down.   To use an automobile reference, it’s not just a matter of putting in new oil and wiper blades; it must be washed, waxed, vacuumed, conditioned and generally taken “off-line” to keep it in top condition.  This needs to be planned and scheduled on a regular basis.  If you skip the maintenance, the downtime gets longer for the next time you attempt to get it maintained AND you run the risk of it breaking down on you before the next maintenance period comes along.  The harder you push the machine to perform, the more often you need to take it off-line for maintenance.  All machines have a “duty cycle rating” as well.  The stronger they are built the harder they can work, but that is a story for another day…”

Over the summer I had the opportunity to visit The Getty museum in Los Angeles during my internship. I went with one of my close friends who is a NASA aerodynamics, propulsion, and flow physics engineer at the Dryden Flight Research Center. As we were exploring their masterfully designed gardens, he stopped suddenly in front of me.

“I think it is really important for engineers to do this,” he said as he bent over to smell a rose in front of him. I stepped forward and joined him. And there we stood, two aerospace engineers, in the middle of the gardens at The Getty in Los Angeles, taking time to smell the roses.

One of the important lessons that I have learned since I’ve been in college is that sometimes you do really need to just stop and take time to smell the roses.

You may have been able to guess from the title that I turned 18 last week. My roomate took me to Texas Roadhouse for dinner, which was a nice change from the usual here.  Unfortunately I had three exams last week also, but I was happy once Thursday rolled around and they were all over.

Last week I also got on the school’s new parking committee which is actually fairly interesting from a logistics standpoint. We went over how many spaces there are, the budget we have to work with, what needs to get done, etc. I’m looking forward to some good changes in the parking situation next year.

Last weekend, my friend Brody and I went on a hike through the Dells across the street from the school. We made it to the highest point in the dells which has  a great view of the school and the surrounding area.  I was really surprised when I saw sailboats on willow lake though. I’ve always seen the boat launch, but I didn’t know anyone used it.  Here are some pictures:

After my volleyball team’s last game in Tucson last Friday, I went with my mom, brother, and grandparents to my grandparents’ house in Coolidge, which is about an hour away from Tucson.  Saturday morning, I made a spur of the moment decision to go home with my mom and brother for Halloween!  I surprised the heck out of my little brother and sister!  Levi was the Joker; he’s been in a Batman phase for about a year now, so it didn’t surprise me to see him in his adorable orange vest and green hair.  What DID surprise me was my sister!  She had stayed up all night the night before, watching a YouTube how-to-do-Michael-Jackson’s-Thriller-dance!  She had it NAILED!  And, for the sake of Halloween, decided to paint her face too!

My dad and Levi are both “Joker”s.

Lexie dancing to “Thriller”.

Oh my gosh!  She’s almost as tall as me now!!

Levi had a “specially made by Mom” pocket in his vest to carry his “weapon”… silly string.

This is me going after Levi when he sprayed too much silly string in my hair.  You can’t see his face, but he was scared!

And this is me, Landon, Lexie and Levi!  Halloween… gotta love it!

Last night was the night for exploring downtown Prescott.  My suitemates and I were restless, and so we decided to take a visit to Whiskey Row to window shop.  We milled around the cute shops and the courthouse, and then we decided to explore the hotel that I had seen on TV as a “haunted hotel”.  (You know, Halloween specials and all that!)  Miranda, Lauren, (my suitemates), Christian (our neightbor), and I went into the lobby of the famous Hassayampa Inn just to check it out.  As a member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, it has been a hot spot ever since before the1920’s.  Clark Gable, Tom Mix, The Beach Boys and more famous people even stayed there!!  The part that interested me, though, was the part about a ghost named Faith.  As a young bride whose husband left her in the hotel room and never came back, Faith hung herself.  She’s been “seen” in various parts of the hotel, or so the story goes.  Me, I’m not a big believer in the paranormal, but then again I’d never been in a haunted hotel before.  Oh, well I have, but the Hollywood Tower of Terror in California Adventures doesn’t count!

After our not-so-close encounter, we came home and decided to watch a movie… Anastasia!  It was definitely a lot of fun.  What made it better is the fact that Lauren’s birthday was today, and so we decided to decorate her room with streamers and balloons and such.  Teri even put nineteen candles on a chocolate muffin for her!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!  WE KNOW YOU LOVE GETTING WOKEN UP AT SEVEN IN THE MORNING!!

Jammy time!

You go girl.

And so, life continues…

“And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count.  It’s the life in your years.”

-Abraham Lincoln