| Second Session |
So the first summer session classes (deforms and materials) are over. I'm pretty happy with my grades. The second session starts today. I'll be taking aircraft performance and numerical methods. I'm looking forward to the classes, but I kinda wish I had just a bit more transition time between the sessions to relax a bit. I did get to go spend the weekend at the beach with Wes. That was an excellent time. It was exactly what I needed to relax before this session started. I just wish I had maybe one more day. It's all good.
July 4th was a lot of fun. Andrew and Matt came over in the early afternoon to jam with Andy and me. We had a pretty good time for a while. After that, we ate pizza and watched Germany make fools of themselves in the World Cup. Ali joined us during the game. After the game, Andrew went to work and the rest of us played Spades for a while. I had forgotten how much fun that game is. That was cool. Then Matt and I played some celtic music to kill time before we all went to Municipal Park for some excellent fireworks and other activities. The fireworks were quite possibly the best I've ever seen. It was a good night. Oh, and Matt is an arm-wrestling beast. We tried arm wrestling while waiting for the fireworks to start. It was the first time I've ever experienced a tie in arm wrestling. After being completely even for a while, we finally decided to call a truce. He's a beast.
Lots of other things have been going on, but I don't think I'll write about that. I hope everyone is doing well.
7/05/2006
6/18/2006
| Changes |
A lot has happened in the past two months.
After my co-op, I stayed at home for a short amount of time. During that time I did a lot of traveling within the state. I went to UVA to help amanda move out and that took most of a friday to do, but it was nice to be able to help out. I took a couple of trips down to danville- one to help my uncle prepare for my cousin's wedding, the other to attend the beautiful wedding. The wedding was gorgeous. It was in the beautiful gardens of my uncle's house. Shannon and Boomer were cute. The next day was my older brother's graduation. He received his master's in physics from WM (congratulations, kevin). He'll still be in school a while though to finish up that Ph.d. The next week, I moved back in to my apartment in Blacksburg. It was really nice to be able to settle back in one place again. It was really difficult living out of boxes at home in Richmond. I started summer classes. I am taking deforms and materials this summer (was taking a medieval history class, but I ended up dropping it). I also bought a cello shortly after I finished my co-op. It is a Romanian cello (pictures to come later) and I am really happy with the investment. I ended up spending exactly within my budget and the cello sounds amazing (well, when my teachers play it for me). I'm working on making it sound amazing when I play it. In order to do that, I've started taking lessons here in Blacksburg with Professor Weinstein. I am also hoping to find a church that will let me play in the choir. I would really like that. That's something that has really been missing while I'm at school.
So here I am... sort of. I just got back from one of three weekends in a row that I will be traveling back to richmond. I really like going home, but I need to stop putting that kind of mileage on my car. The poor thing is really getting old quickly with me going home so often. Last weekend, I went home for the Nickel Creek concert. It was a good show. I really enjoy their music. Hats off to dave for introducing me to Nickel Creek. This weekend, I went home to have lunch with my family in celebration of father's day and my mom's birthday (happening to be on the same day) and to celebrate devon's graduation. After all of that celebrating, I went out swing dancing for the first time in a while. I couldn't find anyone to go with me because I have few friends that still live in richmond. It's a very sad thing. So I went alone, which is kind of unusual for me. I just felt like dancing I guess. Well, it was a great time. I ended up meeting some girls my age that went to Patrick Henry. They were very nice and I think we had a good time dancing. The reason I am going home next weekend is because I am teaching a swing class at church Monday night. Yes, I have class monday morning, but I think I will just skip my classes and spend the whole weekend at home as opposed to going to class, driving home monday afternoon and then driving back monday night after the dance. That would suck... a lot. Plus, I might get to go contra dancing that saturday night if I do decide to go home. We'll see.
So that's a brief synopsis of what's up, since I haven't posted in a while. Some other stuff I just remembered - Andrew and I have started jammin' again, so that's been fun ; I am totally scared and excited that next year is my junior year in college (more to come on that later); I finally finished the first book of the lord of the rings, hopefully to finish the entire thing by the end of the summer?; this is the first summer in 15 summers that I haven't been swimming for Lakeside Swim Team...
wow.
5/06/2006
5/01/2006
| And so it begins... |
The last week of work. It is finally here. All I have left to do at work is finish the flownet that I was writing from scratch (probably won't be finished by Thursday), write papers documenting all of the work I have done, and make all of the arrangements to leave on Thursday. Yes, thursday is my last day of work. I will then come back here and work on the massive amounts of cleaning/packing yet to be done. Friday morning I shall awaketh, pack the coche, and be off to that which I call home.
:-)
4/27/2006
| For jillian |
No Jillian, I will not buy you coffee. If I remember correctly, you owe me about... $2,104.36 worth in coffee. I expect that to be paid in full upon my return. That is all.
4/26/2006
| The presentation |
The DLN (dry low NOx) video presentation went well. My "buddy" gave a nice introduction of me to the people there that didn't know me. He mentioned I am only a sophomore in college that hasn't even had thermodynamics, heat transfer, etc. and that he felt I have done an astonishing job under those circumstances. That really lifted me up before I presented and I think it was Chris's way of hinting at everyone to take it easy on me. I think I did well overall. No one really asked me the questions I had prepared to answer (I had all of these really awesome ways to make it look like I really knew the subject material). However, I had the "chief engineering smiling at the end," according to my buddy. Everyone was really kind and my TL (technical leader) came. That was really nice of him considering how busy he is. He also stayed at the end to give me his one-on-one comments on my presentation. I really thought that was valuable and very professional of him. He really is a good leader. Among his comments were to sit more upright and to have a conclusions slide (which I somehow just forgot to add?). I think I accomplished what people could expect of me, so I'm pretty happy with it. I was scared that the chief engineer wouldn't be so considerate, but it turns out that he was very nice and supportive. I've seen him get pretty nasty with other people in their presentations. I am just sooo glad for it to be over. Let the summer begin.
4/19/2006
| Work update #2 |
Ok since my last post didn't 'count' as a blog, I will try harder this time. I am sorry some people were disappointed. haha.
Two weeks from tomorrow is my last day at work. I'm pretty excited. I have a lot going on until then. I've got a couple minor presentations to my team at tomorrow's meeting. After that, the only major thing I really have left is a DLN (dry low NOx) presentation on April 26th. It is making me kind of nervous. Fortunately, it won't be the most people I've had to speak to at one time. The State Beta convention took care of that one ;-) . However, everyone on my floor is invited and they also broadcast it throughout the GE internal server. Who will show up? I'm expecting the 5 co-ops that sit next to me, my TL (team leader), my buddy, and a few others that my buddy convinces to come for support. The rest will be people I don't know that are just there for the information. For those who are interested... I am presenting on the first of about three projects that I worked on this semester. I am just going over the results of my analysis and how it contributes to the big picture. My biggest challenge in this presentation is the terminology. I had no background of gas turbines, combustion, or the like before I got to my job. I have learned a tremendous amount of information, but it will be difficult to be able to comfortably present this information in front of a group of Ph.d's. The point of these presentations is for one's peers to ask hard questions before any further work is done. So, I'm pretty nervous, but very anxious to just get this thing over with. Anywho, so that's basically what's on my mind until next weds. After that ... well, work will be wrapping stuff up before I leave the next week.
Happy, dave? ;-)
4/11/2006
4/06/2006
| Exciting |
I've made the decision (and collected enough money) to finally buy my own cello! I only rented one before now, and I haven't even done that since high school. I am so excited. I called Jan (my cello teacher) and asked for her help in finding a good one. We are going to go cello shopping as soon as I return to Richmond for good in early May. Hopefully I can start lessons up through Tech's music department somehow. I'd also like to get good enough to audition for the community symphony there. I've heard it's not too hard to get in... We'll see. I must get the cello first. But it's going to happen. Why do I speak of it now? Well, today is the first day that I have enough funds to purchase the cello and all its accessories while still having enough money to cover rent, gas, meals, etc for the next several months. Pay day is a wonderful thing. :-)
4/05/2006
| Repeat that one more time...|
It's interesting how so many things seem to repeat themselves.
Music, in all of its beauty, is nothing but repeated phrases, rythms, melodies. We wouldn't appreciate music if it were not in some form repetitious. The sound wouldn't be music to our ears without us being able to somehow organize and recognize it. This is not to be confused with recognizing as in "heard before," but rather a recognition of patterns. The patterns are what make it music.
History, no matter how much we try to stop it, inevitably repeats itself. As much as we try to prevent it, this is true. Every generation has its conflicts. These battles all seem so new and distinct to each generation. In reality, the roots are strikingly similar. Our current strifes still involve the imaginary lines man has drawn and re-drawn across the globe. Arrogant religious ideologies fill minds with a shocking and self-contradicting hatred for others. These and so many others form the core of so many conflicts we see in today's society.
Giving follows this pattern. For those that have seen "Pay it Forward," you already have an idea of what I mean. Under the right conditions, a pattern can emerge. Giving anything will certainly make an impact - hopefully to spark more giving. This flows along and grows exponentially as the network of givers rapidly increases. The thought of the receiver may be to repeat the kindness shown to him/her. Surely it is a wonderful and welcome feeling to be thought of, to be considered. Why not be considerate of someone else to bring that joy to his/her life? Of course, this is ideal. Unfortunately, few unconditionally think this way.
Just to name a few. What else can you think of?
4/03/2006
| Out of the loop |
I just finished The Da Vinci Code. I thought it was a great story. I love books that are clever like this. Now I understand the big deal with this book. I was out of the loop before. The story was very fast-paced and jam-packed with action.
It was very well-written and thought-provoking. I love how it challenges how people currently view the world and its history. Great story. You should read it if you haven't. You may not like it like I do, but it really is my kind of book.
The movie comes out May 19th. Read it before you see it.
Now time to read Angels and Demons to compare.
3/30/2006
| Hmm... |
I'm not to sure why the comments aren't working right now. I'll take a look at that when I have a little more time. Sorry guys.
3/28/2006
| Work update |
Kind of a slow week at work this week. I've almost finished up the three projects I have been working on recently. The report I had to write is just waiting to be approved and the flownet I had to write is working (running), but isn't producing the results my buddy wanted to see, so he has to take a look at it more closely when he has time. One problem with the flownet I wrote is that I used Cd's of 1 for basically everything. Obviously this would never happen in reality and flownet is converging to some weird result. The problem is that in order for the Cd's to be at all accurate, we would need to do lab testing and experimentation to validate the Cd's (what I am doing for that third project on something else). The problem with that is that we are using flownet to model what we will hopefully see in the lab. It's going to be an iterative process probably.
________________________________________
For those technical minds:
By the way, Cd is the "discharge coefficient." When a fluid is going through a pipe and is then forced into a smaller hole, the air flows over the edges of the hole in such a way as to decrease the area that is available for flow to go through. Since we know that mass flow equals density x velocity x area, the mass flow is affected by this decrease in area from the "regular" area of the hole. This "new" area is called the "effective area" and is equal to the "regular" area times the discharge coefficient.
Aeff = (A)Cd
It is difficult to know values of the Cd for specific holes without finding out experimentally how much that area changes.
That's mainly for dave.
_________________________________________
So the other project should be finished either today or tomorrow. My buddy is going to visit the aircraft engines division in cincinatti all this week, so he doesn't have time to get me going on anything knew.
3/19/2006
| Trip to Tech... finally |
I was finally able to make it up to Virginia Tech this weekend to visit with my friends. It was a blast.
Friday night:
I had to stay late at work on Friday, so I didn't leave Greenville until 5:30. It took about 4 hours and 15 min. or so to get to Blacksburg. I got there to find everyone already in the apartment hanging out. I came in to a wonderful greeting and lots of laughs. After catching up a bit, Dave and I decide it is time for a cookie ingredients run like old times. We get brian and jason to come with us (brian driving) and head to food lion to pick up what we need to make them. We get there and pick up the stuff with some milk (goofing off in the store as usual) and pay. While we are waiting for Dave to find some green food coloring (he wandered off to find some/ask people for it), Jason starts playing with the grocery carts in the parking lot (running and then jumping on the back of it kinda thing). After Dave returns, he joins jason in the extravaganza. It ended with brian, dave, and I sitting in brian's car being mooned by jason. He was running around the car for some reason (oh yea, dave wouldnt let him in) and of course he moons us.
So we drive about 400 ft from food lion when Dave and I almost simultaneously realize that we forgot something. We forgot to get cookie crisp cereal. Yes, we turned around and went back to the store. We decided to have a cookie crisp cereal eating marathon. We'd each get our own box - first to finish the box wins. We bought more milk. Once we got back home, we scratched the cookie- making idea and went forward with the cookie crisp. 3 boxes of cookie crisp, 1 gallon of milk, and 12 minutes later, a winner emerged. Dave came in a close second (only 20 seconds after the winner) and Brian was in dead last.
The first-annual cookie crisp eating extravaganza was a success. Jason and Ali commentated the action. That was fun. We came away with a few battle scars - the roofs of our mouths are still raw from being scraped apart. I think it's safe to say that the three of us won't be touching that cereal for a while.
After the first-annual cookie crisp eating extravaganza was over, ali suggest playing some cranium. It was such a good idea that we drove her to AJ (her dorm) to go get the game. While we were there, we stopped in on Stu and Kiril so that I could see them a bit on my visit. We got back to the apartment and a few people had dispersed - andy went back home, derek, jason easter, and abby went next door to play some mafia. The rest of us (Ali, Dave, Brian, Jason, Wes, Paykon, Paykon's girlfriend [insert name here]) all played cranium. It was a great time. I think I wasn't laughing 8% of the time.
On top of that, I even learned a few things from the game:
After the game (sometime after 3am I think), everyone dispersed and Wes, Derek, Jason, and I were left at the apartment. We all chilled a bit before getting some sleep. I offended Jason by not sleeping on his soiled linens and picking Wes's clean linens instead. I went to bed somwhere around 4:30am.
Saturday:
I woke up at 9:00am to get my things together to go and play some racquetball with Dave. Yes, it was extremely hard to get up, but I couldn't let the day go to waste by sleeping. I picked Dave up and we went to the new sports store in the University Mall to see if they had any squash racquets, balls, and some goggles (mine are somewhat broken). They had none of the above, so we headed to play. We played 5 games or so and decided to grab some lunch at owens. At owens, we ran into Ali and Lindsey, so we got to eat lunch with them (roof of my mouth hurting almost too much to eat). Dave and I headed back to the apartment to shower. Afterwards, we called brian and john to come over to plan our schedules for next semester. That quickly turned into an Age of Empires III game slaughter. Around 4:35, we all decided to catch the 4:40 movie of V for Vendetta playing in Christiansburg. Once again I complained of now being able to get there in time, and once again I was proven wrong by walking in the theatre at the last preview. The movie was good.
We went to dinner at Mike's Grill afterwards (this was just Wes, Dave, Jason, Derek, Brian, and I at the movie and dinner). We had a nice dinner and then returned to the apartment. I talked to Amanda for a bit and then Jason Easter, Abby, Wes, Derek, and I played Scene-It: Music Edition. After that, more Age III. We played until it was about 12:30. After that, Jason and I went for our night jog that we used to do freshman year. We left at 12:30 and got back at 2 am? I can hardly jog more than 20 min. I have no idea how we jogged for an hour and a half. After that, we came back in and ate chocolate cake with derek until it was bed time. I think it was sometime after 3am.
Sunday:
I woke up at 8:45am on my own without jason's alarm (which was set for 9am). That disturbs me. Anyways, I ate some breakfast, gathered my things and headed back to SC. Of course I managed to leave my work shoes at Tech.
Sorry for the long post - mainly for my own memory-sake.
What an awesome weekend.
3/16/2006
| Living now |
currently playing: Third Eye Blind - Motorcycle Drive By
If you haven't heard this song, you're really missing out.
My new year's resolution this year was to live more in the present. I've always been so focused and concerned about the future that I often miss out on what's important at the moment. I need to slow down. I always can't wait and I always look forward to what's coming up that I don't appreciate what's going on now. It's always "things will be better when...", "I can't wait until...", "I'm so tired of..." - in reality, this is awesome.
I'm often too driven by the future.
3/12/2006
| Craziness |
The weather has been absolutely gorgeous down here the past few weeks. I've started going jogging at the park with Venkat right after we play squash. We've made it sort of a routine to go play squash right after work and then head to the park for a cool-down jog. We're hoping that jog turns into a better workout, but I need to build up to that. It's been a while since I've run every day.
So Friday night we had gone to play squash. While we were playing, I accidentally swung my racquet right into Venkat's face? The racquet sliced his eyebrow up. We called the YMCA staff to help clean the blood up and stuff and then had to fill out an accident report thingy. After that, I decided that we should take a trip to the ER because the cut looked pretty bad and I thought he might need some stitches. We were there for 3 and a half hours. That was how I spent my Friday night - waiting for Venkat to get his 3 stitches in his eyebrow. Now he knows why I always ask him to wear goggles. Unfortunately he wasn't this time. I think he learned his lesson.
This hasn't stopped our squash playing. Of course we will be playing again tomorrow.
I hope everyone's spring break was excellent. I wish I had one.
3/09/2006
| Work update |
currently playing: nothing...
Work is going very well. My buddy decided to put me in charge of a "very, very difficult" project. I have to make a Flownet model for a brand-new design that will be used for testing in a couple months. In the past, all of the work I have been doing has been with Flownet models that have already been developed and validated and such. For this, I have to do some crazy research on the drawings for this "test rig" and then design how the flow will work through my program. I can't disclose the names of anything unfortunately, but so far it's pretty exciting that I've been given this responsibility - it's something they will use for a long time after I leave. I like to know that I am making a lasting contribution. The reason why this is so "difficult" (according to my buddy) is because flownet is a 1-dimensional flow analysis program. Usually the flow doesn't come from two different sources - it usually just follows one big path through the combustor. In this "test rig" it actually comes from two different places and we are going to need to allow for this in the program. I'm not really sure how that's going to be done yet, but that's one of the major challenges. One of the other major challenges is that there is a big time constraint on this.
Along with that project, I have two more that I am working on. I am finishing writing the technical paper (documentation) for my last project. It's about 16 pages so far. It's kinda scary that the company will have this paper of mine for years. People will be going to it and using it as a source for other proects. I'm also working on this other project that I can't talk about. haha. Kinda sucks, but if you ask me while I'm talking to you, I can give more details (I'm sure you don't particularly care anyways).
2/28/2006
| A different home |
currently playing: nothing
For all of you that know my two dogs (zora and buddy) - I have sad news. Zora is no longer with us. She didn't make it through some surgery and passed away Friday night. We have had her for a very long time - since I was 8 or 9? Back then, she was small enough that my older brother held her in the palm of his hand! As you can see, she grew a little. Rest in peace, Zora. Home won't be the same without you.
2/27/2006
| Summer and Rotations |
currently playing: nothing
So my summer plans are as follows: Take at least aircraft performance, deforms, and AOE materials. I am also considering taking complex/vector analysis. I heard greenberg teaches that over the summer and he is just crazy (in a really funny way). I would also like to take a music class or some other kind of liberal arts thing - maybe another history or something. We'll see. I wish virginia tech would hurry up and get the summer courses up on the web so I at least know which sessions of the summer my classes are offered (there are two sessions).
As far as the co-op rotation is concerned... all I have to do is e-mail them when I want to do another rotation. I don't have to go through any kind of hiring process or anything again- just gotta tell them I want to come back (assuming no problems with me working this time around). Originally, I had planned on doing only one rotation (this one) and taking some classes (see above) over the summer to be back on track to graduate in 4 years still. If I do another rotation, it means I have to take 5 years and do a total of 3 rotations. Each rotation I come back, my benefits get better and better. My pay goes waaay up by the time I reach my third rotation and I qualify for all of their extremely good benefits. However, I really do miss being at school. I also think graduating on time with my class and my friends is an important thing to me. Also, if I do three rotations, I qualify for their "Edision Program," which automatically starts me off as an employee with them after graduation and pays for such beautiful things as my masters. When I say pays for it, I mean "pays for the education and pays the individual as an employee while getting his/her masters." That deal is hard to beat.
Either way, I have some time to think about all of this. The earliest I could do another rotation would be spring of my junior year. If I did that, I would also co-op the following fall (and possibly co-op the summer in between). After that fall rotation, I would finish up my junior year the following spring (when I normally would be graduating). The following year (2009), I would do my entire senior year curriculum.
Lots to think about. I need to talk it over with a lot of people - friends, family advisors.
2/23/2006
| Think |
currently playing: Barenaked Ladies - Call and Answer
You know... sometimes I really wonder why I am so lucky. I've got the best friends anyone could imagine. It just amazes me. I just don't understand how I manage meeting the absolutely amazing people that I do. There are so many wonderful people in my life and I am so thankful to be this lucky.
When I was in middle school, I never imagined being where I am today. I don't mean in terms of school and work stuff - I mean socially. I was always (and still am) very determined to being successful academically. I was a loser, school-driven outcast in middle school. I really only had about 2 friends in my actual class (keep in mind that I went to a private Catholic school for 10 years... and had the same classmates that entire time). Most of the girls in my class were extremely inconsiderate of people's feelings. I was ridiculed a lot. I just kept my head down and focused on school. I think that's what really made me so driven academically... I had no other reason to be at school. I hated everything in between classes - all of the walking in lines, lunches, and socializing- because I was so self-conscious and worried of being hurt. My other out besides my school was church. I started singing in the choir there and I was accepted into a wonderful community. I think this is what kept my sanity- I knew people cared about me there and I always looked forward to going. (of course I was accepted and all at home - my home was also another very stable and wonderful place for me in my childhood).
I'm not really sure where I was going with all of this... hmm.. well, what I am saying I guess is that I am amazed that I have the friends that I do now. It's awesome. You are awesome.
random good memories:
