| Falls Park on the Reedy |
currently playing: Cake - Mexico


Margaret and I went to Falls Park yesterday. It turned out to be a really nice day to go. The weather was really nice- good thing considering I forgot to check it. The park was about 3 times bigger than I expected. Well, I guess it's two parks in one. Anyways, we walked across the cool "Liberty Bridge" and went down to the rapids where we climbed across the rocks. We made it all the way to this huge center rock that no one else could even touch. We were beast. Once people saw us out there, they tried to get there too. After playing on the rocks and getting a little wet, we started walking through the rest of the park. Apparently there is a zoo? We tried to walk to it, but never found it. We found lots of random exercise stuff like an exercise trail that you do stations while running or something. We had a fun time using our imagination to figure out what some of the stations are really used for. I should have taken pictures of the ones we couldn't figure out, but I didn't. It was a really nice park and I will definitely be going back there to maybe jog on the weekends or just hang out. It is about 15 min from my apartment. I expected it to be a much longer drive.

I played squash for the first time on Friday. That was...interesting. It is very different from racquetball. I was expecting it to be pretty similar. I did pretty well against Venkat. We are supposed to play again sometime today. It was a really great workout. The ball doesn't bounce like it does in racquetball... in fact, it doesn't bounce at all. That means you really have to run around a lot more. You can't play off of the bounces like you can in racquetball. It's pretty fun. I think I still like racquetball more though.

| Good Week |
currently playing: REM - It's the End of the World

It's been a pretty good week so far. Yesterday I finally got my work computer with a nice big LCD monitor to go with it. It's pretty beast. I also got a bit of work to do finally. I didn't have any trouble completing it in about a half hour, but I still had a little bit of stuff to do. That was nice. I think my "buddy" was expecting it to take me a bit longer (like a day), so I still sat around and did nothing for most of the day. It's picking up though.

I went and bought a squash racquet tonight. Venkat (a STEP student at work) and I are going to start playing at the Y. That should be some good fun and a great way to stay in shape. I wish it was racquetball, but Venkat is really into squash- plus I've never played before, so I'm looking forward to learning. I was thinking about going to Tech this weekend, but I decided against it. I don't really feel like traveling. I also thought about maybe going home because Amanda is headed home this weekend. I don't really feel like traveling.

I think I might go to this really cool bridge thing they have downtown this weekend. It's like the only curved suspension bridge of it's kind in the world or something. I don't know. But it looks pretty cool and I think I'll get a kick out of it. We'll see. Ok, well I hope all of you are doing well.

I really need to find a place to swing dance or something. The only place I've found so far has the dances Tuesday nights... I just don't ever feel like dancing right after work. More to come on that later. Margaret said there's a contra dancing place around, so I might check that out too.

| routine |


Yea, sorry for not posting recently. I've spent the time at the Y getting my swim groove on. I visited Clemson this past weekend. It was great. It was very nice to finally see someone I knew. Margaret cooked me dinner and then we made some home-made icecream. Yea, I know. It was beast. (Very tasty too!) After that, we went and played some pool at their student center and I headed back here. Let's see.. that was Friday night. Saturday I just chilled around the apartment and cleaned a bit. Saturday night I went to see "Munich." I went alone. Well, didn't have anyone to go with if I wanted to go with someone, but I think it was a good movie to see alone. It took me a while, but I finally decided - it was good. I liked the movie overall, but it really was violent and almost too graphic in some places - and I can usually handle a lot. Maybe the fact that it was 3 hours of this violence that made it seem worse. (Much worse than "Lord of War" if you happened to see that). Sunday I relaxed.

Monday went well at work. I learned basically all of Thermodynamics in 8 hours. My "buddy" apparently used to teach thermo, fluid mechanics, and heat transfer when he was a grad student at Penn State. He gave me his notes to read and learn because my work involves those three subjects. I looked ahead in my schedule at Tech - yea... those courses are junior level and above. :-)

So today and yesterday were spent just reading and learning that material. I have a rough understanding of basic concepts now and I really just need a good textbook to work some problems and firm up what I've read. I know this is incredibly boring, but hey- it's what I do.

I was thinking... they are paying me to do what I would be doing at school - read textbooks. haha.

| computer, where for art thou? |


So my computer is supposed to come in.... friday. Yea, friday. How stupid is that? I'm over it. So my "buddy" gave me the flownet program on my temporary computer. It is really awesome. It's so completely over my head. It's not even funny. I can't wait to finally get my hands dirty with this stuff. What will happen is I'll go down to the lab where we have a real combustor hooked up. I will take measurements and model the air flow. I will go back up to my desk and use this program to see the results and do some analysis. It's so much more exciting than what I see all of the other co-ops there doing. I get to get my hands dirty in the lab and also do analysis in the office. That's so awesome. I'm excited.

I hope everyone has a good start at school. Good luck to all of you this semester. :-)

| Apartment |

My apartment here in Greenville is really nice. It has a lot of space and is very comfortable. All of my furniture is rented for a couple of months. The couch is absolutely wonderful. It feels almost as good as my door mat back home. I mean you can just see the beauty. Very chic. As you can see, my monster tv is ready for hours of entertainment. Yes, those are computer speakers. They are there for my satellite radio that you see on top of the tv. I listen to that a lot actually. I always turn it on after work to keep my spirits high. I typically only use the tv to watch the evening news while eating my dinner. It's nice to have just some background noise when living alone. Lack of human interaction really starts to get to you after a while. It's no fun eating alone as all of you know. I'm not too worried actually. I mean just look at the beautiful furniture I have...

Moving on to the dining room... The furniture there is really pretty nice. The table is nice and... solid? And the chairs really do well. I tried all of them. My mom helped me to spice up the place a little bit by giving me the plant that you see there as my center piece. I eat breakfast there and sometimes eat my dinner there. It depends on how interesting the news is. The picture on the wall there is of Lake Michigan. My uncle took it when I was muy young. Oh, and the window there looks out to my screened porch. It is a beast porch. I don't think I took a picture of it though... ok well just take my word for it. It's beast. Yea, so that's the dining room.


My bedroom probably has too much packed into it. I really didn't want all of my computer stuff and keyboard and all outside in the main part of the apartment. So I made a pretty decent attempt at getting everything crammed in here. Yes, my computer is on a mountain of boxes. Yes, my desk is... small. A tad different from the blacksburg desk, eh? It's fine for the time being though. I'm only here for about 5 months. It serves its purpose. I don't do much written work in the evenings. If I did, I'd probably use the beast dining room table (see above).

I forgot to mention that I have a really cool look-through window thing into my kitchen from my living room. I use it as a place to dump my keys and stuff after work. I also pretend to watch the news while cooking dinner. What really happens is I stare at the tv, can't hear it because of my sizzlin' food, burn the food, and pretend like I understood what happened. It works.

Amanda made me the blanket you see on my bed for Christmas. :-) So these pictures should give you a good idea of what my apartment looks like. Most of what I have typed is a joke - you know that.

| work |

currently playing: Marshall Tucker Band - Can't You See


Work is slow. I have read every possible thing that my "buddy" can find to give me. I spend my day looking at the clock waiting for someone to talk to me or give me something new to read. Why? Well, I can't do anything until GE gives me a computer. I was told that the computer was shipped today, so I should get it in the next couple of days.

Once I get a computer....

Work will be great. I am really looking forward to what my "buddy" has for me. I will be working with a program called "FlowNet" to model and predict different flows, pressures, and such in the combustor during lab tests. It looks really awesome. Since I am an aero engineer, my "buddy" was thinking of this particular project for me because it is more on the aerodynamics side. He's awesome. He can tell I'm not nearly as interested on the mechanical side with the actual combustion and products. I can't wait to get the computer to get started. FlowNet looks like a really cool program. More to come on all of that.

I think this blog is missing something very cool... pictures. I will post some pictures of the apartment soon (once I clean a bit).

| Day 1 |


Started work for GE Energy today as a member of the combustion technology group. I learned so much today that I just can't explain (partly because most of it is technical and you just wouldn't be near interested). Well, I got there at 7:15am like I was supposed to. My assigned "buddy" was there to meet me. He's pretty cool. He's laid back and just goes with the flow. He gave me a cool little sheet that had all of my info on it. It made me look all beast with a special title and all. Then we just waited around for the rest of the co-ops to show up. We all went in this tiny conference room where this stupid woman started freaking out. She was supposed to be giving us an orientation where we learn a few things and get our badges. Well, she flipped when she saw all of the co-ops there. She's like "WHAT! You guys are all supposed to be here tomorrow at 8:00! Not today!" We were all like...."umm.. obviously we aren't because we ALL showed up this morning." So she was all pissy and took forever getting everything together because she just wasn't ready for us. So then we left the "orientation" with nothing to prove that we went (no badge) and had to call our "buddies" down to "escort" (rescue) us from the security area. My buddy apparently left town after he met me (haha) and I had a co-worker of his come down to save me.

He gave me a big tour of the manufacturing area. Good grief. We saw a "somewhat big" gas turbine engine.... yea. Talk about 125 tons of monster..ness. It was pretty cool. We saw lots of different sized engines being put together and it was very interesting.

Then we went to my building and he showed me around the labs there. (I will be spending all of my time in this building). He took me to my own little desk (cubicle), which is actually about 3 times bigger than I expected. I have a lot of privacy in this cubicle. Of course they didn't have my freakin computer or phone ready for me yet. I am supposed to get my own laptop, but it hasn't arrived at the plant yet. That really made the rest of my day pointless because all of the other co-ops were setting up all of their software and multiple accounts and e-mail the whole day while I just sat and read my "Gas Turbine Combustion" book. Yes, that book I never read. So, hopefully I get my computer tomorrow so that I don't fall too far behind.

You know what's great. Unlimited supply of free coffee :-) haha.

Oh, and I think all of the other co-ops are just as nervous and confused as I am. That made me feel a lot better today.

| Where in the world is... Paul Smith? |


Ok... so my name doesn't work quite the same way that carmen sandiago works. If only my last name was more than one syllable. psh.

So I am here in Greenville, SC. For good. Pictures of my place still to come. I just need to stop being lazy and take a few and post them up here. I start work tomorrow. My manager called me today and we talked about some of the stuff going down tomorrow. I'm starting to get excited now. I have my own desk and computer. I thought that is pretty beast. I also get my own security badge and stuff. It will be interesting getting adjusted to a 40 hour work week. I think the lack of homework in the evenings is really going to be a shock to me at first. I won't know what to do with myself. It should be a lot of fun though :-)

I definitely will be posting on this more often. That's for sure.

I hope everyone's break is just the awesomest around.

He's got high hopes
He's got high hopes
He's got high apple pie in the s-k-y hopes!

:-)