And So It Begins

This is it! I'm back at school with a full course load and a seasonal job at the bookstore. Yes, I am insane (but you all knew that), yes, I am a little daunted (but who wouldn't be?), but I am not partially, not cautiously, but completely and totally optimistic. Chances are good I won't have much of a social life, but I've never really had much of one, anyway, so I'm not missing out on a lot.

This semester, I am being taught by a cast of characters including a troll (in all senses of the word), Sean Connery after 20 years in America, Mr. Smee, a re-tired Southroner (he worked for Bridgestone), the can design guy from Monster's University, and a humanities professor. This semester will definitely be interesting.

I mentioned earlier I have a seasonal job at the bookstore. I have been really busy this week and putting in a lot of hours because I can and because it's really busy there right now. I'm working textbooks on the floor, which mainly involves helping people find books, restocking the shelves, and making things look pretty. It's pretty fun, and really interesting - you wouldn't believe the kinds of classes that are taught here. There's stuff on the rise and fall of capitalism in America next to Latin American Erotica next to an introduction to rocket engines and all sorts of other fascinating books. I'm also making some money and meeting some interesting people, and that's good, too.

In engineering, they say, there is no syllabus week. So far, I've found that to be mostly true - I've already got homework due next week. "On what?" you may be asking, "You've only had three days of class!" Good question. Pretty much all my classes are hitting the ground running - we're leaned about how to create differential equations, defined systems in thermodynamics, gone over some basic kinematics in dynamics, and have readings to do in my gen eds. I mean, engineers are supposedly all about efficiency. Why wait?

This is the semester that really begins the major specific courses, and most of my classes are at least 75-80% male, which was expected. My only female instructor is my dance teacher (I'm taking an Introduction to Modern Dance). These are the classes where we learn how (not) to blow things up and how things really move and work together. I'm also finishing up my gen eds this semester.

With all that, I'm still in Rube Goldberg (it's cathartic) and SWE and hall council, though if things get tough, and they will, I'll pare it back.

So right now I'm feeling in the middle of "Bear Down" and "Here It Goes Again." Wish me luck, Imma need it.

Spring 2015 Class Overview

I am going to go insane next semester - I'm taking 19 units, about half of which are reputedly difficult classes. That's okay, though - I need to be busy, or I end up doing nothing. So, in order of appearance, here's the rundown of what I'm taking this semester.

First up - AME 230 - Thermodynamics.
English translation - stuff gets hot.
This one promises to be interesting, despite the fact that thermodynamics was my least favorite subject in high school physics. The guy who teaches it is an expert in cryogenics, so that should make it interesting. He also has not figured out how to use the school's online portal because he keeps emailing random stuff to me.

Next - HNRS 200 - Thinking Critically About New Media.
English translation - writing about stuff that has been invented in the past 20 years (I think).
Despite it having the longest unabbreviatable title of any class I'm aware of, I'm really looking forward to this class because it's description promises that it looks at music and video game technology among other things. The professor is a founder of a subversive webzine and is supposed to be a really cool guy.

And later - AME 250 - Dynamics.
English translation - stuff moves.
The professor here is (or was?) "on loan from Raytheon." I'm told this class seems deceptively easy because it is another applied physics course, but this time, it's the stuff that everyone thinks they understand. Should be interesting.

Also, Math 254 - Ordinary Differential Equations
English translation - really fancy math.
Supposedly, the math difficulty level peaks at vector calc, so this class should be many times easier. My friend who is a math major swears the professor of this class is the "best guy ever."

And on my odd days - DNC 152A - Intro to Modern Dance
English translation - really fancy walking
My sister loves modern dance, and I liked taking a dance class last semester. Despite it being an 8 AM class, it promises to get me up and moving and learning about a new way of moving my rigidly inflexible body.

HNRS 160D2 - Experiences in the Humanities
English translation - writing about art and stuff
This class is focused on art outside the classroom, including local theater and art exhibitions. The professor has written plays and is supposed to be infinitely cool, and this class is supposed to be supremely easy.

And finally, ECE 207 - Elements of Electrical Engineering
English Translation - Yay circuits!
Promises to be harder for me than physics electricity and magnetism lab because I probably wont get a chance to play with the components. It seems kinda boring, and the teacher gets bad reviews,  but I gotta take it.

So that's the stuff I'm going to be ranting about in the weeks to come.

Catching up

I apologize for neglecting the blog for so long. I was... voluntarily eaten by an anaconda (no, too drastic). I was... called in as a witness in a court case on satire (oh wait - that was in 1988? Oh well). Well, maybe I was just recovering from a vicious attack by flying monkey ninjas (those don't exist? Dammit, I'm trying to make a good excuse!)

Regardless, your usual weekend entertainment is back and rolling after surviving finals, an adventurous cross-state car trip, and excesses of sugar. (Those are all real).

So what has yours truly been up to since my last serious post?
There was Thanksgiving (damn, that was a long time ago). I got to see my not-so-little cousins and my grandparents, and was exceedingly well fed.

There was that final push in the last few weeks of school in which little of note happened, save studying (there's a reason there's 'dying' in there) and a rush to finish the mechanics of the Rube Machine. It's pretty much done barring an easy electrical step that necessitates Christmas lights, which everyone knows.go on sale after Christmas.

Then, finally, finals. I only had three during finals week, but one was about as late as it could have been. I got above a 3.0 GPA and had one of my best semesters so far (no C's!). Dance final was to Footloose.

The trip down back home was eventful - me and the two guys I drove with came up with a plan to make car surfing and self-cleaning closets a reality, and then we blew two tires and had to hobble back to Blythe on one spare and one bad tire. What should have been a 7ish hour drive turned into a 13 hour adventure.

Winter break - got to see a few friends and decorate gingerbread houses courtesy of my amazing mother. I also got to see some family that I don't get to see very much, especially since I 'm in Arizona most of the time.

The final Christmas Eve shrimp tail tally - 33.

And now, I'm sitting back in the good old U of A main library, typing away, in the calm before the storm. I got a job wrangling wild textbooks at the Bookstore, and the people there seem pretty nice, the hours are okay, and (this is huge) I get a discount on textbooks.

Aaaaand, there you have it. I'm considering posting a few extras to make up for lost time (see previous post).

Keep it real, y'all. Grace out.

Thanksgiving

I'm thankful for my amazing family who support me throughout all I do.
I'm thankful for my brother, who is stronger and way more interesting than he thinks he is.
I'm thankful for my sister and her energy and enthusiasm.
I'm thankful for my mom, who always means the best for me.
I'm thankful for my dad, the calm eye of the storm.
I'm thankful for my grandparents, all of them, who have spoiled me and fed me more than I deserve, and continue to endure.
I'm thankful for my cousins, and the endless games of Apples to Apples and all the laughter.
I'm thankful for the other assorted people who are related to me, who always seem to pop up in the weirdest places.
I'm thankful for all my aunts and uncles who lend flavor to family gatherings in more ways than one.
I'm thankful for the opportunity to attend the University of Arizona and have all these great experiences that I've had.
I'm thankful for my friends, past, present, and future, for making me laugh and for lending an ear.
I'm thankful for where I live, which has allowed me to meet so many of those friends.
I'm thankful for having food to eat, water to drink, and a place to sleep.
I'm thankful for all the great experiences I've had which have enriched my life.
I'm thankful for my books which let me get out of my head for a little.
I'm thankful for my life and my health, without which I would have none of the above.

Alright, Thanksgiving is over which means Christmas is now legal.

Winter is Coming

What's out: short shorts, sanity, and the color yellow.
What's in: hoodies galore, facial hair, and the color blue.

No-Shave November has hit its peak - at a guess, I'd guess that at least half the males on campus have taken advantage of the excuse not to shave for a month, the vast majority not giving it any greater significance. It's almost funny seeing the full range of facial hair from those who can barely grow peach fuzz to those people who went from nothing to full on Chuck Norris beard and mustache. However, at this point, a good number of them who were raring to go at the beginning of the month have chopped off their 'beards' complaining of the itch.

It's finally gotten cold, and the weather turned quick - last Saturday day was sunny and beautiful, but that night got down to below 50 degrees. As such, that Monday, the hoodies came out in force. It was almost comical to see everyone in cold weather gear varying from "light breeze" to "Oh crap a blizzard's coming!" So now, I guess it is officially winter.

On Monday there was a talent show for the three dorms on Historic Lane (but mostly Yuma). We have some seriously talented people living here. Mom would be happy to know that those Irish Dance lessons finally paid off. I danced barefoot and was extremely well received.

Otherwise, pretty boring week. Some of my classes were still a little scrambled from the Tuesday off for Veteran's Day (especially my lab), but there really hasn't been much new by way of classes.

From Facebook, a post which was surprisingly well liked: I have more library cards than the average American has credit cards. Help, I'm a biblioholic!
(The average American who has credit cards has 3.7, average among all Americans is 2.6 {from here}. I have 4 library cards, all of which I use fairly regularly).
I also found a cute little library within scootering distance, so I don't have to go brave downtown to get my book fix. (cue parents' groans).

Also from Facebook, a beautiful picture of me exhibiting for homecoming (there was another guy there helping out, too):

Song of the week - "Clocks" by Coldplay. Nothing else compares.

Thanks, have a good week!

Post Homecoming, Pre-Unviverse

In cosmically cool news, a refrigerator probe launched by the European Space Agency (the EU's answer to NASA) successfully touched down on a comet two times as far away from Earth as Mars and about 1.5 miles across at its widest point. (xkcd covered it live). This is the first time anything human made has purposefully landed on a comet. The Philae lander is taking pictures and recording sound, and taking and analyzing samples and what it has sent back (with a 27 minute delay, of course) is pretty amazing.


In relatively inconsequential local news, homecoming was a lot of fun. I didn't go to the game (I know, shame on me, no excuses, how could you, etc.), but I got to help present UA Rube on the Mall. We were in the College of Engineering tent, where all the best food (and the coolest people) were, sharing a table with the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (Bake sale!), who were pretty cool. We showed a video of our machine so far (from the beginning cup cascade to the pan zip line), and, when little kids seemed really interested, I showed the MTD/waterfall piece (that I painted!) from last year's machine. It was really cool to see people, especially kids, so interested in something that I spend too much time doing. Oh, and the homecoming parade was pretty cool, too. Funny thing - the only Greek float that got a cheer from the COE tent was the Theta Tau (engineering fraternity) float - the rest seemed to be met with death stares. The Society of Automotive Engineers, who showed their Baja and Formula cars in the parade, got huge cheers, as did the band. I guess we're all slightly vindictive nerds.

It was fantastic seeing my parents over the weekend. I'm glad they came, and I think they had a good time too. They got to see a lot of their old friends, see the campus again (including a personal tour of the rec center), and (of course), see their darling daughter again.

We've started playing with solenoids (large coils of wire) in lab, using magnets to induce current, inspiring all the manner of dirty jokes. In learning about electricity and magnetism, I've also learned a lot of right-handed physics gang signs along the way.
We've almost finished reading a play, La dama del alba, in Spanish. It's pretty depressing - it's a soap opera with a characterization of Death in a pilgrim woman, which leads to all kinds of shenanigans and accusations. I'm enjoying it so far.
The theater dance of the past few weeks has been "Sherry Baby" from Jersey Boys, featuring an annoyingly high falsetto singer and a tricky six-step.
Nothing that exciting is happening in my other classes, but I'm powering through. I'm going to be okay this semester.

Song of the week (because I've got xkcd on the mind and it's funny) is "Every Major's Terrible," based on "Modern Major General" from Pirates of Penzance.

(Original comic here)

Homecoming Mark 2.0

It's homecoming weekend, which means white quadropedic tents have taken over the mall, tug of war mud pits can be found in random places, and people are trying (and failing) to get the student body excited about what should be a mediocre game on a weekend where so much other stuff is happening. But hey, there's free food.

I'm not too excited about the football game, because Colorado is currently at the bottom of the PAC-12 and despite losing to UCLA, we're still one of the best teams in the country. I am excited about seeing my parents whom I have not seen since I went off to school in August. That will be interesting.

It's been a bit of an off week - no tests (phew) but just a paper on Choctaw language revitalization to write (it's pretty cool - there's an app for that - the language, that is ;). I aced a Statics test (because I truss in free bodies) which was pretty cool.

A good number of my friends concluded that I am better than their collective fathers at "dad jokes" especially the ones involving corny puns (What did the monster drink his beer from? A Franken-STEIN!) I was a-maized that they thought that of me, and took it as a tall compliment. Hopefully there were no strings attached.

My Halloween day was pretty boring; but on November 1st after a long day of building for Rube, I went to a costume get together at one of the Rube girl's houses. It was really low key, but I'm glad I went. I'm sure our dance to Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off" is still floating around somewhere. No, I didn't get anyone to take pictures of me in costume. Sorry. It wasn't that great anyway - half of every other girl was also dressed as a black cat in various degrees of dress. I had a black shirt, cute short sleeved jacket, black pants, and of course, duct taped black cat ears. It required a minimum of effort, but I still looked good in it.

Also, speaking of Rube, we got the machine to work across the top part of the counter. This part of the machine involves cups, spatulas, blenders, and birds and is really impressive. If you're on Facebook, there's a video here.

On a side note, it's National Novel Writing Month. No, I'm not writing a novel (I don't have the time to churn out 1,667 words per day) but I am writing a short story. You can check out my progress - right now it's called "The Machine" and can be found under the tab labelled as such on the home page of this blog. Let me know what you think.

And of course - song of the week has got to be "Seven Nation Army" by the White Stripes - the quintessential football drone.

Thanks, everyone!