Post Spring Break Post

Spring Break was this past week, and at this point, it's pretty much over.

So what did I do? 

Pretty much nothing, and it was absolutely glorious. I got caught up on sleep, caught up on my shows, and caught up, at least a little bit, with regaining some sanity.

Okay, I did a little more than that. I got some internship and scholarship applications done, got a bit of a start on my homework, and, of course, went to the Tucson Festival of Books for the first weekend and had a lot of fun, so I wan't completely degenerate and wasteful with my spring break (only mostly so).

One thing that was fantastic about break was that there was almost nobody in the dorms or on campus. The stillness and the quietness were the antithesis of the normal hustle and bustle and were quite nice, for a change. It was also refreshing to have the room to myself for a little bit. I also got to know the people who stayed back fro break a bit better. We all hung out in the kitchen and shared food and stories, and I got to meet some of the hermits who rarely, if ever, leave their rooms. 

Coming up - more tests, more insanity, more work, more craziness. I'm going to have to bust my butt this second half of the semester to get my Thermodynamics grade up.

Also, if anyone is in Phoenix area next weekend, on March 28th, from 9AM to 3:30PM, UA Rube is going to be at the Arizona Science Center showing off our amazingly beautiful Rube Goldberg machine. I'm super excited about that. Come check us out.

I've also started looking at classes for next year. I have officially declared for a double major in Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering.  I get to start taking the fun stuff next semester, like Fundamentals of Materials, which includes a lab where I get to break stuff, and Dynamics of Machines, where I get to learn about why we make things like we do. Next semester I will probably also take the maximum number of units and will probably have early classes every day. So I have that to look forward to.

Song of the week - I'm still on the Irish (okay, Scottish) kick, and i'm feeling slightly vengeful so this week's song is the Proclaimer's "500 Miles (I'm Gonna Be)" which is guaranteed to get stuck in your head.

Yay Break!

It's been a while since I posted, I realize, but I'm not gonna apologize because in the past two weeks, I have had essays, projects, and tests in all six of my classes and some other unrelated stuff thrown on top. Academics comes first, always, and, although I love you guys, blogging is not a top priority.

So right now, it's Spring Beak and beautiful here. The rain clouds are staying nicely on the horizon and the temperature has stayed between 70 and 80 degrees in the past few weeks. I am still at school, jamming through applications of all sorts and trying to teach myself MATLAB, a program for matrix and statistical analysis.The dorm is a ghost town, but it's nice to have the room to myself for a little bit.

Going roughly backwards to catch up -
This past weekend was Super Pi Day (3-14-15, especially at 9:26:53) and the Tucson Festival of Books. Once again, the entire Mall was devoured by four-legged white tents, people over the age of 50, and under the age of 10. I did raid the used book tent and got me some new reading material. I also got to see Dave Barry (who is hilarious without even trying) and a few panels of sci-fi/fantasy authors. One of those panels included the current president  of the Vatican Observatory, Br. Guy Consolmagno, who was a great speaker on separating fact from fiction. I also got more than my share of delicious fry bread, which I've only seen in Arizona.

Last Thursday, a guy from Raytheon came by and did a demo on how the technology from the quick-changing front ends of race cars could be applied to quickly changing the front end payload on MALDs, which was very cool.

Last Tuesday, the U of A held a "Last Comic Standing" style stand-up competition, which was worth going to. For the vast majority of comics. it was painfully clear that stand-up was not their forts (most were pulled from on campus improv teams), but it was funny nonetheless.

I hosted two girls two weekends ago for Suite with SWE. That was pretty fun, though I think I freaked them out a little when I took them to my Thermodynamics class.

Two Saturdays ago, I got to see the dance program perform their spring show. They were amazing, as usual, and did some very unusual exceptional things with their bodies and with the stage.

Other than that - eat, sleep, study, Rube. Pretty basic, kinda boring, and a little stressful.

For those of you who happen to be in the Phoenix area, we're bringing our Rube Goldberg machine to the Arizona Science Center on Saturday March 28th, and everyone is stoked to be there. We're also going to take it to Vegas near the end of the school
 year for the Las Vegas Science and Technology Festival. So everyone is even more stoked for that.

I think that just about catches me up.

Song of the week - since it is St. Patrick's Day as I'm writing this, the song of the week is "Oscail an Doras" from Riverdance. (Open the doors)