Life Rarely Makes Sense

Philadelphia: First Weekend

2010-04-13T17:21:00.002-05:00

Friday was my first day of work. I didn't actually get to do any real work yet; this was simply a new employee orientation day, where I sat in a classroom for most of the day and got talked at about the company and some common things that I need to do (like how to get in to buildings, etc). We got to go on a small tour of one of the facilities in the afternoon, and I got to eat lunch with my new boss--that was the first time I had met him.

This weekend was really nice! Ben came up from S. Maryland on Saturday evening and spent some time here--we watched some movies that evening, and then went to downtown early Saturday afternoon to look at the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and the associated historical district. We also got to tour the original Congress Hall/Capitol Building (ProTip: Philadelphia was the Capital of the U.S. for the first ten years). It was a beautiful day out, so we took some time to just walk around downtown. Unfortunately, most of the historical places around there charge to get in, so we didn't get so see all the things (like Benjamin Franklin's burial place) that we wanted to. Later in the afternoon we came back to my apartment and grilled bratwurst and drank beer in the parking lot; yum!

Monday was my first "real" day of work, where I actually got to sit in my cubicle! I met all of my co-workers, they seem like they're going to be a lot of fun to work with. Most of my day, unfortunately, was pretty boring; I have to spend pretty much this entire week trying to get access to all the computer systems and tools I'll need to do my job, and doing mandatory training on Boeing's policies. The export controls ones (a.k.a. don't give stuff to non-U.S. people) are particularly boring, and of course are the longest.

Today, I worked more on computer systems and training, but also got a few small introductions to the actual work I'll be doing, which was a nice change of pace. I finally got to go over to the Chinook factory across the street and take a look at how they're built; the scale of the operation is simply incredible! Finished off the afternoon with more training and computer systems, but I should be done with that (for the time being...) by the end of tomorrow.

I'm pretty much moved in to my apartment now; there's still a few boxes of miscellaneous stuff that I need to unpack, and my empty TV box that I'm reluctant to throw away (it may join forces with a slab of wood to become a table), but everything else is more or less where it's going to stay for the next few months. It's nice to be able to sit down and relax after coming home from work, instead of always feeling like there's something I need to do.

Philadelphia Day 2

2010-04-08T16:56:00.003-05:00

Yesterday:
- Moved in to new apartment. It's better than I expected in some ways, worse in others. It's a first-floor apartment, so that means it's actually half below ground and everyone in the parking lot can see directly in to my apartment. I do, however, have brand-new carpet and reasonably new appliances. Parking (which is a free-for-all) appears to be scarce during the evenings.
- Went to "Pre-Employment Processing" at work. In other words, did 1/2 hour of paperwork and proved I'm a U.S. Citizen, and got my photo taken for my ID badge. Hopefully it's better than my MN drivers' license. I made one new friend there; he worked for Boeing for a few years as an Engineer in L.A., but is now doing contract administration (business).
- Had dinner and a few beers with my Dad at Iron Hill Brewery, a nicer restaurant that brews their own beers (excellent!). It's been a long while since I've had such a long conversation between just the two of us.

Today:
- Went shopping for furniture, since I'm lacking dining room furniture, a coffee table, dresser, and a nightstand. I ended up purchasing a dresser and some dining room chairs at IKEA (found a decent dining table next to the apartment dumpster--claimed!)
- Got an early birthday present from Dad, a GPS for my car! The roads around here are really confusing, since none of them go north/south, not even the major ones. Most of the roads are based on the river, which runs to the south-west, and none of them are straight for very long. They also aren't named in any sequential pattern, so you really have to know the area to know where you're going. Also, the typical street sign is about 2" x 16" and brown, so finding and reading them is nearly impossible.
- With the aforementioned transactions, I triggered a fraud flag on my credit card. It seems buying $400 of gas in a drive across the country and then spending $500 more at stores is suspicious... who knew?
- Dropped Dad off at the airport, which represented the last of my many goodbyes. It was hard, and now I'm all depressed, but I have plenty of things to do to take my mind off things.
- Went "grocery" shopping, which consisted of stopping at the Wawa store on the way home from the airport. These things are everywhere; they're pretty much little convenience stores, except they don't sell gas. I only got bread and milk. I'll buy more food later when it's not rush hour.

Tomorrow is my first day at work!

Double Take: Moving to Philadelphia

2010-04-04T23:37:00.008-05:00

A few weeks ago, "moving to Philadelphia" was just another fact about my career trajectory: it was unquestionably the best decision to make; a necessary sacrifice to get to my "dream job;" the next in the series of adventures that make up one's life. Meghan would move out there with me, and I (we) would get to see family and friends often enough to suffice; neither seemed a big problem at the time. I was significantly more at ease with the decision than she was, probably because I had the added excitement of going to start a new job (hopefully one that I like), while all she had to look forward to was me leaving.

However, it did not truly become real until three things occurred:

First: I had to say goodbye to everyone. It started on Sunday, when one of my friends from high school (in fact, the only one that I really stay in contact with that I didn't go to college with) came by on the beginning of his spring break to say hi/goodbye. That didn't really hit me too hard, because he's been away at school on the West Coast for the majority of the past 5 years.

Then was Wednesday, my "official" farewell party. It literally took until I was putting on my shoes to go to the bar to realize that that was the night I would actually have to start saying goodbye to everyone. It wasn't terribly difficult; a lot of the people there were somewhat casual friends, and I had plans to see my closer friends later in the week.

Friday was the night where I went out with my closest friends, for a night of food, drinking, and revelry. It was a little bit harder; since everyone was leaving for the Easter Holiday, that was last time I would get to see them. As most of my current and former roommates were present at one time or another, it was a really nice way to look back at college and what a fantastic experience it has been.

Easter Sunday, however, was the hardest, when saying goodbye to my (extended) family. When they were leaving our Easter gathering, they asked, "when will we see you again?" I already know the answer (for this year, at least) is Christmas. It's hard for me to stomach that, while living out there, I will likely only see my extended family once or twice a year; I'm used to seeing them at least every two months or so; for all the major holidays, birthday and graduation celebrations, and some other miscellaneous gatherings. However, being a 22-hour drive away greatly reduces my ability to attend such things.

Second: This will be the first time that I am living more than 20 minutes from my parents' house. I first realized this in the final stages of packing for the move, when I was making sure that I had everything, similar to when going on vacation. The realization that something I forgot is no longer a "quick run home" really drove the point home: I am moving away, for a significant amount of time.

Third: I just got back from saying goodbye to Meghan, I'm leaving for Philadelphia in the morning. I promised not to cry on the way home, if she didn't cry going to sleep. It felt really awkward and disjointed to not be able to say "see you tomorrow" with a smile. For the next 6 months or so, seeing each other the 3-4 times a week that we grew accustomed to is no longer the norm. Sure, there will be phone calls and web-cam chats and other communication, but nothing can ever replace the feeling of a very special girl falling asleep in your arms. Ever.

Now that the full magnitude of "moving to Philadelphia" has hit me, things no longer seem so clear. To the contrary, everything now seems so uncertain. Although the proverbial "plan" has always been to work in Minnesota, I don't know if that will change, and my present self wouldn't be happy if it did. I don't know what it will be like to have all of my friends and family 1300 miles away. I don't know how I will handle everyday life being away from my girlfriend.

"Life's an adventure," I keep telling myself. We'll see where it leads.

Fun Fact: River Reversal Edition

2010-03-04T11:52:00.002-06:00

The Chicago River originally flowed in to Lake Michigan, but was reversed in 1900 to prevent sewage from flowing in to the lake by constructing a canal to the Des Plaines river, part of the Mississippi River watershed. [Wikipedia]

New Job!

2010-03-03T11:35:00.006-06:00

After 12+ months of searching and applying, hundreds of rejected applications, and countless gut checks, I finally secured a full-time job with Boeing Rotorcraft Systems in Ridley Park, PA!

Right now, I'm not sure whether I'll be there for a year or a decade, or if this job is specifically something I want to do long-term, but at a minimum, it's a job in the aerospace defense industry. At this point, I don't have a specific job title that I want in 20 years, other than I know I want to design aircraft. Hopefully this experience will at least give me more insight in to where I want to fit in to the process.

I felt the largest obstacle I had to overcome in finding a job was the fact that I still have no actual (relevant?) industry experience--everything on my resume has "University of Minnesota" tacked next to it, and my current job is more or less completely separate from what I want to ultimately do, so getting this job is a huge step in the right direction for me.

Although I don't yet have an official start date, it will probably be about a month from now. Moving out to Ridley Park (a southern suburb of Philadelphia) is an exciting, new, and nerve-wracking experience for me; I've never lived outside of the Twin Cities, and never truly lived on my own--that's an entirely different post, though.

Yay!

NFL Overtime: A Flawed System

2010-01-25T16:44:00.020-06:00

Disclaimer: I am a Minnesota Vikings fan, and Sunday's NFC Championship game most definitely "inspired" me to write this article. Yes, I'm bitterly disappointed, but my points stand independent of the result of that game.

Different sports have different overtimes: soccer simply plays an extra 30 minutes, and then goes to a shootout if the game is still tied. Baseball is similar, adding innings one at a time until the tie is broken. The "sudden death" or "golden goal" model is perhaps the simplest of all: the next team to score wins the game, period. It's unquestionably the most thrilling time in all of sports; every subsequent play has the potential to end the game. Leagues that use sudden death include the NHL, FIFA (until recently), and the NFL.

In light of Sunday's NFC Championship Game between the Vikings and Saints, the blog-o-sphere has exploded with editorials about how NFL overtime is or is not flawed. Here are most of the arguments that I have heard in favor of the current NFL overtime system (and why they're wrong):

WHY PEOPLE WANT TO KEEP THE CURRENT SYSTEM

1) Them's the rules. I've read countless articles and comments today that say "the defense should have played better," "they should have won the game in regulation," or ultimately come down to "they didn't deserve to win the game." Let me be perfectly clear: I am not here to say "The Vikings got jobbed." With 5 turnovers, they certainly didn't deserve to win Sunday's game.

2) Winning the coin flip does not mean a team will win. History has shown that taking the opening drive of overtime for a score does not happen nearly as often as one would think. ~~The statistics vary, but the figure I have heard quoted the most is the team that wins the coin toss will win 60% of overtime games,~~ In the complete history of the NFL, the team that won the coin toss has won 54% (239 of 445) of overtime games, and in 2000-2007, that number increases to 60%. Many fans (and apparently the NFL) deem this "close enough" to half-and-half to not warrant a change.

3) Sudden death works well in other sports. Hockey and soccer both implement a sudden death overtime format, and nobody ever complains about overtime in those sports (except the shootout, which is an entirely different can of worms).

WHY THE CURRENT SYSTEM IS FLAWED

1) The coin flip provides a statistical advantage. If 60% of teams that win the coin toss go on to win the game, the team that loses the toss will only win 40% of the time, which means the team that wins the toss is 1.5 times more likely to win the game. If an average NFL team were to go in to overtime in every regular-season game and lose every coin toss, they would go 6-10 or 7-9 on the season. To put it in perspective: the home team won 56% of games in the 2000-2007 season. So, winning the coin flip in overtime is ~~almost as big an~~ a larger advantage than being the home team. That's hardly a fair system; the rules should never give such an advantage to a team, especially in a way so arbitrary as a coin flip.

1b) Teams always elect to receive the ball in overtime. The opposite has happened only 7 times in the history of the NFL. Clearly, everyone that has ever played professional football (except for a few adventurous souls) perceives there's an advantage to going first, and since all those players and coaches are pretty good at what they do, I'm inclined to believe that there is.

Again, the the question here is, why should such an advantage be given out in the first place, let alone be awarded by a coin toss? Instead, what if the visiting team always got the first possession in overtime? Or, what if the team that lost the coin toss could only play with 10 players on defense? Surely such a rule would not stand for long.

2) Sudden death is not fair, given the nature of football. Sudden death is only fair in sports where changes in possession are significantly more frequent than scoring. As an example, let's compare hockey and football, both of which use sudden death overtime. I will estimate that in hockey, a possession lasts 30 seconds, for a total of 120 possessions per game, and that an average game has 5 goals scored. That works out to about 0.04 scores per possession. On the other hand, an average football game will see about 24 possessions (3 per quarter per team), and probably about 8 scores (2 TDs, 2 FGs per team), giving about 0.33 scores per possession.

What does this mean? According to our numbers, an average sudden-death hockey overtime will last about 24 possessions, which virtually guarantees that both teams will have an opportunity to make the winning score. However, the average overtime in football will only last 3 possessions; basic statistics tells us that quite a few football overtimes will be a one-possession affair, with the losing team never getting an opportunity to score (Update: the actual figure in 2000-2007 was 30%). What if baseball were to implement true sudden death, and the home team never got a chance to re-tie or win the game? Nobody in their right mind can argue that a high probability of a one-possession overtime is in the best interest of fairness.

3) Sudden death overtime in football changes the nature of the game. In other sports that use sudden death, a team can only score in one way: by putting the ball (or puck) in to the goal. The fact that the next score will instantly end the game does not change the ultimate strategy of the game, other than teams possibly playing more conservatively to avoid a loss.

However, in football, there are multiple ways to score, and naturally there is a trade-off between their ease of execution and their value. As a result, in regulation play, a team will obviously prefer a touchdown to a field goal, because it earns them more points. However, in sudden death overtime, a field goal and a touchdown have precisely the same value: a win. Clearly, it's not in a team's best interest to try to score a touchdown. Case and point: ~~in the 2009 NFL regular season (by my count), there were 13 overtime games. Only two of these were decided by touchdowns.~~ 70% of all overtime games have been won by kicking a field goal. You'd be crazy to say that's an accurate representation of the actual game.

If teams only need a field goal to win, the entire game changes. In regulation, holding an opponent to a field goal and then scoring a touchdown on the ensuing possession is a legitimate strategy; why shouldn't it be the same during overtime? In order to effectively win the overtime, an offense only needs to get to their opponents' 35-yard line; the defense is more or less playing on a 50-yard field with the game on the line.

4) The rules should work all of the time, not just most of the time. Using Sunday's game as an example, consider that it's equally likely that the Vikings could have won the coin toss and the "undeserving" team could score and advance to the Super Bowl. Perhaps some would say the Vikings deserved it because they won the overtime, but could you honestly say they were "deserving" when they committed 5 turnovers, and the #1 offense in the league sat on the sidelines, helpless to do anything to win the game?

Just because a rule works every once in a while (or even most of the time) doesn't mean it's not flawed; rules should work all of the time. For an example of this, look up the play that caused the 2003 Vikings to miss the playoffs (the rule was in fact eliminated in the off-season due to that very play).

WHAT SHOULD REPLACE SUDDEN DEATH?

1) Use the NCAA's overtime rules. This system has each team trade drives, starting on their opponents' 25-yard line. It's unquestionably fair in the sense that it gives both teams opportunities to score, but if we're trying to keep the nature of the game identical to regulation play, this is clearly not the way to go.

2) Add additional quarters as needed. This goes the furthest toward accomplishing the goal of not changing the game. Unfortunately, with an average overtime currently lasting about 7 minutes on the clock (by our calculations above), this would greatly extend the length of the game. Concerns about injuries and game broadcast length have prevented its implementation.

3) Require a team to score 4 points in overtime to win. This is my favorite, as a compromise between preserving the nature of the game and keeping game length to a minimum. In this system, the incentive to score a touchdown is not removed. Yes, there would still be one-possession overtimes, but only if a team scores a touchdown on the opening drive, at which point it's a much more convincing win. In order to win on field goals, a team would need to score two of them and prevent their opponents from scoring a touchdown in the intervening possession.

4) Hold a closed bid for possession. In this system, both coaches would secretly write down what yard line they would like to start on to begin overtime; the team that has volunteered to start further back would be awarded the ball, and the overtime would proceed as normal. I don't like this one because, as with the current system, it is played on a shorter field than regulation play, and it's very difficult to predict what would actually happen were this implemented.

4b) Choose where the opening kickoff/possession begins. One team (determined by a coin toss) would choose what yard line the opening drive (or kickoff) would start on, and the other team would choose whether they would like to kick or receive the opening possession. Again, I'm not a fan of this option, because while it's an interesting way to get teams to not automatically choose to receive the kick, it's still played on a short field.

----

Whatever is chosen to replace the current system, the point remains: the current NFL overtime system is flawed and ultimately unfair to the teams that play the game. Unfortunately, the league has not seen enough of a need for change to do anything about it; countless games that were decided by only giving one team a chance to score are apparently not enough of a reason.

It will probably take until a (possibly "undeserving") team kicks a field goal in the opening possession of overtime in the Super Bowl for the league to have a serious chance of changing the overtime rules. Until that happens, we can all hope that our team just wins the coin toss.

On the Origin of "Indians"

2010-01-05T00:10:00.004-06:00

The Trombones' "Indians" section feature is music from "Go Go Gophers," a short-lived cartoon show from the late 1960's featuring two Dogs in the U.S. Army that are constantly after two Gophers that are, yes, Indians.

The actual tune is a combination of the introduction music and the actual theme for the Indians/Gophers.

An Episode of the Show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH7TXnFJNeE
(for the impatient, watch the first 10 seconds and then skip to 3:30 for the music in question)

Wikipedia Article on the Show: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_Go_Gophers

The Future of History

2009-12-09T10:07:00.006-06:00

(Random note: while writing this piece, I realized that "media" is the plural of "medium." Mind=blown)

Here's an experiment: Look through your bookshelf. How many items there are 10 years or older? Perhaps a few? A lot? Okay. How many will still be there 10 years from now? 20 years? 50 years? Probably most of them, if you're anything like me.

For the vast majority of recorded history, physical media has been the preferred medium of record. That is to say, if you had something important, or something to be remembered, you wrote it down, and you could hold it in your hand. You could bet pretty good money that it would be around for a while.

The examination of books, art, photographs, and other physical media from decades, centuries, or millennia ago gives us fantastic insight in to the nature of society from whence they came. This is made possible through the incredible property of physical media being able to preserve itself. That is, it has endured in spite of society's neglect, or occasionally even efforts to destroy it.

Now, to continue our little experiment: page through your computer's hard drive. How many files are at least 10 years old? Probably relatively few (unless you're a digital pack rat), but most likely because the majority of us didn't have our life centered around a computer 10 years ago, back when AOL was both the leading ISP and content provider on the web.

Finally: take another look at the files on your computer. How many of those will you still have in 10 years? How about 20 years? 50 years? Fewer than your books?

----

The prevalence of the internet and computers allows people to create information at a truly unfathomable rate--worldwide, an amount of data equivalent to the size of the Library of Congress is generated in the order of minutes, if not seconds. Websites, articles, blogs, photos, and tweets are created and stored in the digital multiverse, all waiting to be retrieved for the foreseeable future.

But here lies the problem: when a library shuts down, the books remain. One can still go and retrieve the information contained in that building. The written word is, generally speaking, accessible to everyone, anytime. However, when a website (for example) shuts down, the information within is--poof--gone forever, unless someone consciously decides to retain that data in a usable form.

So, I propose my question: Given the increasing dependence on the computer and digital (not physical) media, what will serve as the historical record of our society? How will people centuries from now generate an account of what our lives are like, with so much of our world taking place in the world of 1's and 0's?

Fun Fact: Uptown Rainbow Edition

2009-11-30T15:26:00.001-06:00

The Uptown Rainbow grocery store is built on the site of Minneapolis Arena, which served as the home of Golden Gopher Hockey before Williams Arena (old Mariucci) opened in 1950. [Vintage Minnesota Hockey]

Yoga is not an alternative to vaccination

2009-11-23T10:37:00.006-06:00

The following was written in response to a column in the Minnesota Daily and published on November 24, 2009 with minor changes.

Yoga is a great way to achieve a healthy diet, daily physical activity, and good mental fitness, which can lead to better overall health. However, Hadley Gustin's suggestion that yoga is a "viable alternative to... vaccinations" is irresponsible at best, and dangerous at worst. There are no scientific studies that demonstrate the effectiveness of yoga in preventing illness beyond the benefits of a healthy lifestyle and the placebo effect; vaccines are unquestionably the best way to prevent communicable diseases.

Smallpox, which is estimated to have killed over 300 million people in the 20th century alone, was completely eradicated in 1977. This was not achieved through everyone "eradicating toxicity" through "a series of forceful exhalations," but through a miracle of modern "Western" medicine and science: vaccines. Many other diseases are becoming increasingly uncommon because of vaccination programs. Those who are not vaccinated are protected by herd immunity: since those around them are vaccinated, their risk of exposure is greatly reduced.

Few people will deny that our society needs to start living a healthier lifestyle, and doing so will take large steps towards reducing the the occurrence of preventable ailments such as Diabetes and obesity, but adhering to the delusion that this same regimen will prevent the spread of communicable diseases like H1N1 influenza is the kind of thinking that has led to recent outbreaks of Whooping Cough in Australia and Mumps in Great Britain.

So, you can pose and exhale all you like, but for the benefit of yourself and everyone around you, please get your vaccinations--there really is no other alternative.

Sportsmanship vs. Atmosphere

2009-10-26T12:23:00.006-05:00

There has been a lot of recent debate in the papers and on the internet concerning the behavior of University students, especially in the context of the conduct of Gopher fans during and around sporting events. Issues range from complaints from the larger Minneapolis community about rowdy behavior on weekends and in the late hours of the night, to issues with the student section using foul language to intimidate opposing teams at games.

On one side of the issue, people take the side of the students: after all, they are college students, and they're doing "what college students are supposed to do." It is ridiculous to assume that fans of college sports will sit idly on their hands and applaud as if they were watching a golf tournament, and then go home and peacefully drink tea: college sports are special because of the fans and the atmosphere surrounding the games. It's no coincidence that 21 of the 22 largest stadiums in the U.S., including all of the top ten, house college football teams.

On the other side of the issue is the assertion that students are representatives of the University of Minnesota, and should conduct themselves as such. They should respect the community, opposing teams, and fellow students in the name of good sportsmanship. This does not necessarily mean “no fun,” but there are serious issues to be addressed in the conduct of some fans that are deeply engraved in their vision of the “college experience.”

It is here that we find ourselves at an impasse: the administration and community-at-large would like to see more respectful students, but students are unwilling to give up the culture and traditions that have developed on campus for the past 150 years. Both are advancing their agendas in the name of creating a "better game day experience." They are equally admirable goals, and are part of what makes our University great.

Possibly caused by the infamous "hockey riots" following the Gophers' 2002 and 2003 NCAA Hockey Championships, the University of Minnesota has repeatedly imposed sets of rules on the student body in a well-intentioned but feeble attempt to control fan behavior. These have taken many forms: the "Student Code of Conduct," the "Fan Bill of Rights," and most recently, the "Fan Code of Conduct."

Through all of these additions and changes to policy, one thing has remained constant: the University of Minnesota has not taken any real steps toward improving the atmosphere at sporting events. Yes, the rules technically absolve the University of any wrongdoing or responsibility for fans' actions (after all, it is ultimately up to the individual to obey rules), but if the University is truly serious about improving fan conduct, they must do more than develop guidelines for fans.

First, they must directly and non-arbitrarily enforce the rules that are in place. Aside from the alcohol policy, the "Fan Code of Conduct" is largely a joke--has anyone ever seen someone get kicked out of a game for swearing at the referees? Disciplinary action is currently only taken for offenses that are otherwise punishable under the letter of law. Publishing a newsletter doesn't do anything to influence fan behavior short of increasing the number of paper airplanes thrown on the field. If the rules in place are not enforceable, they should be replaced with ones that are.

Second, the University must actively help to replace the practices that they oppose. Tradition, no matter what it is, is still just that--tradition. For a tradition to "die" peacefully, a suitable alternative must be proposed and accepted. Currently, when the administration does manage to exact a change in the cheers (usually by prohibiting the band from playing the appropriate cues--hardly a good solution), students are liable to act out in ways that are worse than the original "offense." This is the cause of the viscous cycle in which we are currently trapped, resulting in increasingly Draconian policies dictating behavior that--as previously mentioned--are rarely enforced, and an overall disdain for said rules among the fans they are prescribed to.

To date, both the students' and administration's actions have been similarly polarizing to the opposite party. Admirably, neither has compromised their primary principles. It is an unfortunate consequence of the human condition that University policy is much more flexible than the mob mentality of 10,000 students; the University must begin to work proactively with fans to change the common perception of a “college atmosphere” to the kind of game day experience we can all enjoy.

Battle for The Axe

2009-10-04T00:11:00.000-05:00

It can be said that I have a strong dislike for the University of Wisconsin's athletic teams. I was born in the Twin Cities, and was raised as a Golden Gophers fan. I received a degree from the University of Minnesota, and participated in the Minnesota Marching Band. As such, the Gophers' rivalries are engraved in my mind, including the "Border Battle" between the Universities of Minnesota and Wisconsin, truly one of the best in all of sports.

But let me clarify: I do not "hate" the University of Wisconsin, or its athletic teams. I have always tried to remain in good spirits about the Border Battle; to see through the intense emotions, posturing, and slogans that inevitably arise every time the Gophers and Badgers take the field together, in order to enjoy the rivalry for what it is: a classic contest between two storied Universities, adding yet another chapter to a long tradition of competition. I have always respected the University of Wisconsin, as a quality institution, with a successful athletics program.

So, this weekend, as I cheered on my Gophers against their rivals from across the St. Croix River, I tried my hardest to exhibit nothing but the best sportsmanship. Fully aware of all of the slogans that inebriated students love to scream at anyone within earshot (especially toward those wearing red), I graciously welcomed fans of the Badgers to my home state, or at the very least let them be, hoping for them to enjoy their game day experience in Minneapolis.

At the game, I sat in my seat in the upper deck of TCF Bank Stadium, which happens to be directly in front of one the blocks of seats that are sold to opposing teams' fans. Again, I let the steady stream of Badger fans pass by me without incident; I was there to cheer on my team, not to ridicule and harass their opponents. As the clock expired, resulting in a Gophers loss, I accepted the fact that I would have to cheerfully endure yet another year of the good-natured ribbing that goes hand-in-hand with a rivalry such as this.

I sat in the emptying stadium, immersed in my own thoughts about how wonderful it would have been to see my Gophers hoist The Paul Bunyan's Axe Trophy in victory. I watched with quiet envy as the University of Wisconsin Football team cheerfully paraded around the field with the coveted prize, something that they had earned the right to do after a well-fought football game.

Then, I saw something that instantly made my dejection turn to silent rage.

Following the game, I stood and removed my hat to sing Hail! Minnesota (our Alma Mater) with the band, football team, and student section at the end of the game, as we do at every game. As I began to sing, the Wisconsin Football Team, Axe Trophy in hand, ran in between the Minnesota Football Team and Band, and began to "chop" down the goalpost that stood there, while fans of the University of Minnesota were singing their Alma Mater.

I have attended a decent number of contests between the Gophers and the Badgers; it seems that all too many of them ended in disappointing losses. I was mere yards away from the decisive touchdown in the 2005 "Miracle in the Metrodome." I was at the game at the Kohl Center when the Badgers' Men's Hockey team ended the Gophers' 22-game unbeaten streak in 2006. I was there when the Wisconsin Women's Hockey team defeated Minnesota for the National Title. But after none of these games did I ever say, as I do now:

Today was the day I lost my respect for the University of Wisconsin.

The University of Wisconsin football team should be reminded that they are not only an athletics team, but also are representatives of their institution and the state for which it is named. Today, in their rude and disrespectful actions following their victory against the Minnesota Golden Gophers, they have utterly failed in that role.

Now, I too can state with certainty: "When you say 'Wisconsin,' you've said it all."

Fun Fact: Beer Statistics Edition

2009-07-05T13:37:00.002-05:00

The Student's t-distribution was developed for quality control measures at the Guinness Brewery. [Wikipeida]

Fun Fact: Blues Edition

2009-05-29T12:54:00.000-05:00

Howard Shore (composer of The Lord of the Rings soundtrack, among others) was the first to suggest the name "The Blues Brothers" to Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi. [Wikipedia]

Spring Break

2009-03-13T10:52:00.001-05:00

...is the last "break" from life I get. Ever. Weird.

This is what I was worried about...

2009-02-17T11:00:00.004-06:00

This economic stimulus bill is getting out of hand. On election night last November, when I watched the Democratic party rout the GOP in a stomping the likes of which we haven't seen since the 1992 elections, I instantly dreaded the results.

Not because I'm ultra-conservative or a liberal-hater, but because now, in this volatile political and economic environment, there is a single group of people "unified" in their vision for America that now has virtually unquestioned control over the nation for the next two years.

Instead of being the bipartisan body that logically discusses and finds solutions to issues that President Obama wished upon us, Congress has become a giant Democratic circlejerk that, because of majorities in both chambers of the Capitol that are the largest in recent memory, feels that they can do whatever they want to with little to no oversight or opposition - they're like a 5-year old kid when the parents leave the house.

So now, under the veil of an economic emergency, Congress has essentially been granted unlimited latitude to pass what is quite possibly the largest single pork-barrel spending bill in history. Remember when, using "National Security" as a reason, President Bush was granted executive wartime spending priveleges, and then used it to start not one, but two ill-advised wars? I'm concerned that the same thing will happen here: using current events as a shield, a now decidedly partisan Congress will push through whatever legislation they want until the next round of elections.

I sincerely hope President Obama starts calling out specific individuals for this crap--a lot of damage can be done in two years.

New Computer or not?

2009-02-10T23:56:00.002-06:00

The laptop I got at the beginning of freshman year is getting old. I need to at the very least wipe the Hard Drive and get a fresh install of everything on there. I only have about 3 of the original 60GB left, and I'm beginning to have some virus problems from stuff I've picked up here and there resulting in my computer (or more specifically, my X500) being kicked off the University's wireless network.

So, 3 options:
1) Wipe the 60GB HDD, reinstall everything. Result: good enough for now. Cost: minimal-to-none. Fun: not much.
2) Invest a little money in my laptop. Buy a 250GB HDD (and maybe some extra RAM while I'm at it), reinstall everything on that, move the 60GB to my little laptop (which currently has 20GB. Result: fresh install, plus an extra 190(+40)GB. Cost: $90. Fun: kind of, but not really
3) Buy a new computer. Build a desktop machine from the ground up. Result: Brand new machine that will do what I want it to for the next 5 or 6 years. Cost: $800-$900. Fun: tons.

Importing Posts from Xanga

2009-02-09T11:57:00.003-06:00

I've imported all my old blog posts from my (now defunct) Xanga account. I'm now officially separated from that site.

Take that, social networking proliferation!

The Job Search

2009-02-09T11:08:00.004-06:00

In a little under 3 months, I will be done with school and have to move off in to the real world. Which means, in the interim, I need to find a job, find a place to live, and basically re-set my life.

I've had a few interviews here and there, stemming from the two job fairs I've attended, but none of them have yielded any results (job offers, that is).

I know exactly two things about what I want to do for a living:

I want to design aircraft for a living. I've known this for 4 or 5 years now. It really doesn't matter what kind; there's just always been something fascinating about the beautiful complexity of an airplane
I don't want to work for NASA. In the 1960's, I would. Maybe if we get in another "space race," I will. But not now. It would be cool, but I don't want to work on any project where Congress directly controls the budget.

But now, with the economy in the tank and 4-ish months of limited to no success, I'm not so sure anymore. I've always been told--and believed--that "I can do anything I want to," but now I'm torn between following my dreams, which now is beginning to seem risky at best; and settling for a safer option and taking whatever I can get.

I'm starting to think, in my opinion, that I've never really worked "hard" for anything. Sure, I've been successful in school, been involved, won a few awards, done a few cool things, but maybe I never really was truly, really, challenged by any of these, and, maybe now that I'm required to really work at something, I'm failing miserably. To try to solve this, I'm now commiting myself to dedicate at least one hour of every day doing nothing but job searching: applying on-line, researching companies, searching for new ones.

Hopefully it'll all work out in the end.

Band Booklet Article

2008-11-24T23:19:00.001-06:00

To spectators, the Marching Band is not a collection of instrumentalists. To them, "The Band" is a single loud, powerful entity that breathes life in to the college sporting atmosphere. "The Band" moves around the field, creating shapes, words, and school logos at every game, without fail. "The Band" is the spiritual center of the student section, dictating when to cheer, when to chant, and when to sing. "The Band" mysteriously shows up, does its thing, and goes home with no indication to the process behind it. But, from the inside, "The Band" is much more than all of this.

Band is People. Members of the Minnesota Marching Band are drawn together like no other group. Not just because of the time spent together; many other teams and organizations spend just as much time practicing and performing as the band. The band is not only the sum of individual efforts; it is also collaboration on the part of every single one of its members. Every member of the band has a very specific individual task that, done on its own, has no particular meaning or impact to any person: moving to a set of places while playing a sequence of notes. However, when all of the band members perform their small tasks together, they become more than the sum of their parts, and collectively have the ability to invoke joy, tears, reverence, or any number of the most powerful of emotions. No single person’s performance can greatly improve the band’s performance; greatness must instead happen together. It is this collective responsibility to each other and the organization that forges the camaraderie and community that is the lifeblood of the Minnesota Marching Band. In my time here, I have had the privilege of making friendships with some fantastic people that I will never forget:

Trombones: Thank you for this year and all the years before it. Your hard work and tireless energy made it all worth it. Here's to the best section in the band!
Boof, Bill, Austin, and KatieJones: I can't think of anyone I would rather have gone through these four years with. Not only on the field, but outside of band as well; you were my first friends in college, and were always there, no matter what happened. Thank You for everything.
Mandi, Andrew, Adam, Rachel, Sam, Craig, Trevor, Ranger, Aubree, and Kenny: You are the best class of third-years I have ever seen. You all love what you do, and it definitely shows. Keep it up!
Amanda, Megan, Cathie, Codey, Steve, Boone, and Doug: My first rookie class! It has been a ton of fun watching you guys learn and grow over the last two years. As the band goes through the changes of the next few years, you are the ones that will guide it through.
John, Julia, Jennifer, Ross, Andy, Robert, Donald, Matt, Mark, Mitch, and Quentin: Thank you for your incredible effort this year. This year was tough to be a rookie, but next year is when you start making your mark. Make it a good one.
Old Bones - Stepnick, Beyer, Kim, Alex, and Smude: Thank you for teaching me what it truly means to be a Trombone; that identity will stay with me forever.
Bone Leaders: Thank you for making this year the best one yet, even though I wasn't there half the time.
Becky: Pregame Buddies forever! People around us came and went, but there we were, game after game, doing our thing. The fist bump in the tunnel was one of my favorite traditions. P.S. we finally got rotation to work!
Pregame Flutes: Long live the diag! Who knew that a Trombone player would end up leading the flutes? Thanks for being my adopted section for all this time.
ScottyT: If someone had told me at the beginning that my best friend in band would be a Trumpet, I would not have believed them. Your hard work and dedication have truly been an inspiration to me.
Angela and Brett: It has been 8 wonderful and memorable years since we first stepped on to the practice field outside of Olson, and we are the only ones that made it all the way. I am honored to have shared that time with such fantastic musicians and people as yourselves.
Meg: It still baffles me how someone like you could end up with a nerd like me. For all your support and confidence, putting up with me, and always being there, thank you!
Dr. Neal: You are a terrific addition to this band. It was a lot of fun to see you step up to the plate swinging. After one year, I truly believe you "get" this group.
Skeeter: Your knowledge and skill of everything band continues to amaze me. Thank you for being an excellent role model.
Dr. Diem: Thank You. Thank you for the opportunities you gave me; thank you for all your hard work; thank you for your wonderful attitude towards band and life. You claim that the band is what the students make it, but you are really the one that makes this band what it is.

Band is Tradition. Tradition links members of the band across years, decades, and generations. It becomes a common ground that represents the legacy of the band to hundreds, if not thousands, of people. Because of this, unremarkable (and sometimes just plain silly) actions take on an entirely new and higher meaning. Tradition is anything from saying "beef" when someone drops their mouthpiece, to singing "Hail! Minnesota" in the lobby of Northrop. Regardless of what it is, what it means is more important by far. Possessing the knowledge of exactly what these rituals mean creates unparalleled unity on scales from small groups of people, to sections, to, the band, and beyond. It is the catalyst that builds a community, but remains well after they are gone to start the process over again. Pulling on the uniform every Saturday, as countless band members before you have, pays homage to what is, what has been, and what will become.

And, finally:
Band is Forever. It is absolutely fascinating to me to think what the Minnesota Marching Band has been and will become. In 117 years, its members have literally been witness to history: through the world’s ups and downs, the band was there. At the turn of the century, when the State of Minnesota was only 50 years old and the University only covered a few blocks of the City of Minneapolis, the band was there. In the 1940’s, when many joined the armed forces instead of going to college, the band was there. And now, while our society continues to change and evolve before our very eyes, the band continues to exist, the same as it always has. I look forward to the times 10 years, 20 years, or 50 years from now when I will be able to return, and the band will still be here.

Thank you for four incredible years!

It's that time of year again...

2008-09-22T19:10:00.005-05:00

...when I wonder if I'm taking on too much for the amount of time I have. On the docket this semester:

School, including
Senior Design: yet another design project, expected to take ~15 hours/week
Aeromechanics Lab: A massive amount of data to sort through, several lab reports, etc.
Thermodynamics: never really grasped this subject, been dreading taking this class for a couple years now
Marching Band: winding down my last year, getting ready to be done but still enjoying it immensely.
Work: getting in some hours in the morning, but not much
Social life: living with the people I've hung out with for the last three years takes time! Plus, GF living 30 minutes away doesn't help
Solar Car: somehow became Project Manager, feeling like I'm not doing enough in that role right now
Job Search, aka "the new one:" still getting used to the whole "I'm going to have a career next year" thing. Slowly working on my resume, but this is going to have to ramp up quickly in order to get done. The rest of my life starts now.

Thoughts right now: slowly working in to a routine and figuring out how to use my time, but it's looking like work might have to go. We'll see...

Fun Quote

2008-09-05T09:22:00.002-05:00

Me (teaching Cascade): "Forward 8, 270, forward 4, mark time 4, left flank"
Ross Kaner: "Story of my life"

so true...

New Music

2008-07-30T13:26:00.003-05:00

Found a new band through Pandora:

Symphony X

Kind of a cross between Dream Theater and Avenged Sevenfold. Pretty sweet.

...and it's over

2008-07-30T13:24:00.003-05:00

No more solar car for the rest of the summer.

I have no idea what to do with myself for the 8 hours of free time that I suddenly have.

Marching band starts again (for the last time) in two more weeks.

It seems like I have some need for myself to be chronically busy, otherwise I'm just confused.

Holy Crap

2008-06-27T08:43:00.004-05:00

We leave for the Solar Car race in 7 days.

7 days.

I'm really excited and a little bit scared. I've been working towards this event for three years, which probably makes it the longest single project I've ever worked on. Three years of giving up time to hang out with friends and study.

It's really, really cool to see it finally be (almost) finished, but at the same time I'm worried that we've somehow completely screwed up, nothing will work, and we aren't living up to the standard set by previous teams.

On a somewhat related note, this will also be the longest (duration) trip I've ever been on.

...7 days...

Wait, what?

2008-06-03T10:56:00.001-05:00

I'm unusually motivated today, for no particular reason. So this is what that feels like...

Summer Anti-Break

2008-05-21T10:37:00.001-05:00

How is it that I have less free time now than I did during the school year?

Priorities

2008-05-14T11:19:00.003-05:00

Why is there a U.S. Senator holding a news conference about the New England Patriots' videotape scandal? Don't they have more important things to do?

Wow, it's been a while

2008-05-02T15:39:00.004-05:00

It most certainly has been a while since I posted anything, especially considering my goal was to make several posts per week.

These next few weeks are going to be hectic, but hopefully a lot of fun and the best end-of-year yet. The solar car is almost "done," we're unveiling it next Thursday. Thus, my schedule for the next two weeks are:

Tonight: go to shop, install mechanical components of the car
Tomorrow: all-team meeting, work more on car, attend Meg's freind's wedding in the evening

Sunday: Frisbee, maybe homework, maybe solar car
Monday: Class, solar car
Tuesday: Work, solar car, homeworks
Wednesday: Class, LOTS of solar car, more solar car
Thursday: Unveil solar car (10:00AM, McNamera Alumni Center), show off car all day
Friday: Last day of classes, continue work on car
Saturday: More solar car

Sunday: Frisbee playoffs
Monday: Study for finals, work on (finish?) Flight Dynamics final project
Tuesday: Aerodynamics Final Exam
Wednesday: Insturmentation & Structures Exams
Thursday: Leave for St. Louis for solar car inspection event

Uff-da.

Here it is...

2008-03-10T23:24:00.003-05:00

...that one week every semester where everything in all your classes seems to line up in the most inconvenient way possible. I have 2 midterm exams and 1 quiz on Wednesday, plus a large project due on Friday. Not to mention that motivation is falling off a cliff due to Spring Break starting in 4 days. At least it won't continue in to the next weeks like it always seems to do...

"Hold on to your butts!"

Slow [E-Mail] Day

2008-03-04T12:54:00.002-06:00

Is it bad that I get kind of down when I've only received 4 [non-subscription] e-mails before 1:00PM? I average 8-10 per day, and sometimes I'm literally flooded with new ones.

Is there a support program for that?

..or maybe I'm just bored at work again and need something to do.

Projects

2008-03-03T23:25:00.002-06:00

Got 2 projects assigned last week, I'm actually starting to write up one of them 10 days before it's due!

...this is probably a first for me.

New Toy!

2008-02-29T10:17:00.006-06:00

I ordered myself a new camera last week; it came in the mail yesterday!

After playing around with some of my friends' cameras, it became apparent that I really liked photography and I should probably get a camera of my own since I'm doing so much interesting stuff in the next year or so. It's a Canon Powerhot S5 IS, which is just about as nice as they come without going up in to the $600+ range (waaay more than I would spend on just about anything).

Hopefully I can make my life well-documented; I post my photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/mnskyscraper.

Night Off

2008-02-27T22:52:00.001-06:00

Taking the night off for once... 'tis nice.

Now if I can just get a whole day off...

Evolution of Homework

2008-02-25T17:07:00.002-06:00

I'm working on my first homework assignment that consists of one problem, and one problem only. Remember when homework was something you could pound out in an hour? Yeah, that was nice.

Welcome to engineering school: land of the 3-hour homework problems.

Mmmm, cookies....

2008-02-23T22:48:00.001-06:00

Tonight was Hockey Mom cookie night, when the Hockey players' moms make the band cookies for the game.

It's nice to know we're appreciated :-)

Homework

2008-02-19T00:22:00.005-06:00

I spent the entire night working on what is legitimately the most difficult homework assignment I've ever had. Period. After 4 hours in the afternoon of bumbling through algebra that should have taken me 20 minutes. Pissed off at half my classes. No time to see Meg. Have to get up early tomorrow morning and work all day.

Break is needed, but will never come. That's the life I've built for myself.

Edit Feb. 20: Lost my mp3 player today. Screw you, life.
Edit Feb. 21: Finished the homework, found my mp3 player!

Downfall of Society: Part II

2008-02-17T23:14:00.002-06:00

How can making a game show about losing weight a profitable enterprise? 1) most current TV shows are crappy, and 2) people don't take good enough care of themselves.

Classical Music (in more than one sense)

2008-02-16T21:03:00.005-06:00

I was bored, so I thought I'd bust out the ol' mp3 player and see what I haven't listened to in a while. Most of the music I've been listening to lately is my "walking somewhere" music - usually Metallica, Dream Theater, Dragon Force, or Rammstein; or my "doing homework" music - Pink Floyd, Blue Man Group, or some film soundtrack.

I scrolled down to find Holst's "The Planets" Suite - it's been a while for this one. I turned it on (with headphones, no distractions) and just laid in my bed for a while with nothing else to think about; this is the most relaxed I've been in longer than I care to remember.

(BTW: my favorite movement is Jupiter, for those of you who care)

V-Day

2008-02-16T20:54:00.002-06:00

...was nice :-) We exchanged gifts (and cards), then went to dinner at a nice restaurant. I was a little nervous, as I've never needed to do this before (this xkcd comic comes to mind), but all went well. How it should be.

Spring Semester, v3.0: Update

2008-02-12T00:22:00.000-06:00

Classes so far are going pretty well. My only major "issue" is that, on Wednesdays, there's a weekly quiz in Flight Dynamics and Control and homework due in Aerodynamics. Going to class for 6.5 hours, 3 days a week is working out pretty well, as it frees up just about everything else. As for individual classes:

AEM 4303W - Flight Dynamics and Control: This has turned out to be the most interesting class of my four. Not too much new material (we've covered most of it in AEM 2301 - Mechanics of Flight), but that should change pretty quickly. The professor likes to mumble a little bit, but I can here him most of the time.
AEM 4202 - Aerodynamics: Also a pretty interesting class, it's nice to see that there's actually math behind all the stuff that makes an airplane fly, not just unsupported imperical evidence. Homeworks for this one take a while, but it's still managable in an evening. The professor is liable to make mistakes writing euqations on the board, which makes lecture a little frustrating.
AEM 4501 - Aerospace Structures: It's kind of interesting to expand on the knowledge of a previous class and see where stuff comes from, but (so far) that's the limit of this class. Unfortunately, there's no [reliable] textbook for this class, so I have to mostly pay attention in lecture, which is difficult at times since it's right after lunch.
AEM 4601 - Insturmentation Lab: Remember the first week of lab, when you learned how to use the equipment in the lab, and then answered a few simple questions about it? That's this class, but every single week. I find myself doing a lot of homework and/or solar car in lecture, especially since most of the information that goes on the board is handed out at the beginning of class. The lab is a bit more interesting, but like I said, "advanced lab orientation" is what this class should be called.
SVP 35 - Solar Car: We've really started building the car! Every week, the random collection of parts in the shop gets closer and closer to looking like something drive-able. Accordingly, it's also taking up more and more time every week; most of my weekends have had some form of solar car in them, if not the whole weekend. Tuesdays and Thursdays are falling fast too... time is going fast...

Can Life Be Too Good?

2008-02-06T22:58:00.000-06:00

How come life seems to be going so smoothly for me, but not for my freinds? It always seems as if I'm significantly less busy and less worried about things in my life like school, work, and how much time I'm spending with my freinds, despite it appearing that I have the same amount of stuff, if not more, going on in a given week.

I hear them commenting (I won't use "complaining," since they're perfectly justified; I do it too) on how busy they are, and I typically try to give advice for them to deal with what seems to be a similar situation to me. When this happens, I typically realize after a while the content of what I'm saying; it nearly feels like I'm bragging about how well my life is going relative to those around me and giving "better than you" advice to them. Then I start feeling guilty and try to avoid the subject, without completely blowing them off.

I have no idea why this is or how it came to be. Is it because I somehow have an ability to deal with a large number of things on my plate? Or perhaps I somehow deal with the stress of being busy in a different, less reactive way? Or is it just that I'm too concious of how I think people percieve me?

I need to figure this out; as we become older and advance in school, it seems like it's becoming a more common problem. I don't want how my life is going to affect the way I interact with people.

Uh Oh, Tax Return Time

2008-02-04T17:49:00.000-06:00

Since I actually had a full-time, well-paid job this summer, I made more money than I ever had before. As a result, I also have a sizeable tax return: $850 this year. History has shown that when this happens, instead of saving the money, I like to buy new toys (last year's "investment" was an mp3 player). I plan to buy myself a digital camera (finally!), mostly so I can take pictures of solar car.

Unfortunately, this only accounts for about $300 of the money. Aside from saving it, on this year's 'maybe' list:

2nd computer monitor
LEGO Millenium Falcon, the largest LEGO set ever created
Desktop PC, so I can play computer games that are less than 3 years old
TV of decent size for future apartments
Stereo Amp for the speakers that I own but can't use

Caution: Slippery when winter

2008-02-04T16:31:00.000-06:00

After 4 months of successfully walking on all manners of snow, ice, slush, and wet pavement this winter, I have now slipped and subsequently fallen on frozen water twice in the last week.

Maybe I need new shoes, with better soles? Or maybe just a lower center of gravity.

Attempted excuse: everything thawed and then re-froze last week, making it all extra slippery. One "incident" was in the dark and I didn't see the ice, and the other was today when it was snowing.

Sports Fan

2008-02-01T22:02:00.001-06:00

Why do we watch sports? Moreover, why do we pay significant amounts of money to watch sports? Why do tens of thousands of people gather on a weekly basis to watch a few dozen people try to best eachother in events of skill and strength?

Theory: we, as humans, have the need to identify ourselves with a group of people that means something to the rest of society so, if nothing else, society will recognize us for that. Be it a fan of a sports team, from a city, or even a member of a race, we feel compelled to make sure that our peers remember us for something more than what we make ourselves to be.

Downfall of Society: Part I

2008-01-31T21:58:00.000-06:00

Why is there an entire industry based on following around celebrities?

Pro Football...Question Mark?

2008-01-31T15:32:00.000-06:00

One of my co-workers asked me today if I had any big plans for the football game this weekend. I was momentarily confused, until he specified that the game in question was the Super Bowl.

Yeah, I suppose I'll watch, but you can't make me care.

Reading

2008-01-31T00:15:00.001-06:00

One of my freinds mentioned that he didn't have anything to do tonight, so he went to a cafe and read a book.

I haven't read a book recreationally since last summer when I was commuting to work, and only then before I got my mp3 player. Before that, it was the summer before. I need to do that more often, I just spend all my spare time on the computer or watching TV. Maybe it'll make me more relaxed.

Spring Semester, v3.0

2008-01-30T23:32:00.000-06:00

And so begins the Spring Semester of 2008.

Classes are as follows:

AEM 4303W: Flight Dynamics and Controls, A.K.A. "How Airplanes Work." I'm really excited for this class, I'm hopefully learning basically what I want to do for a career.
AEM 4202: Aerodynamics. The academic side of AEM, all about airfoils and the like. Still pretty interesting.
AEM 4501: Aerospace Structures, A.K.A. "Deform on Steroids." I've always been at least a little interested in mechanics (Dynamics, Deform, etc.) so we'll keep an eye on this one, it has potential.
AEM 4601: Insturmentation Lab, A.K.A. "How to do actual scientific experimentation." This one seems to have a lot of EE and I haven't learned a whole lot yet. This one seems the least promising of all my classes.
MUS 3490: Men's Hockey Band. 'Nuff Said.

Thoughts:

Yay for being done with Lib-Eds! All Engineering courses, all the time from here on out.
Upside: No Class on Tuseday, only a lab on Thursday. Downside: Class from 9AM until 3:30PM Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. This means half the days feel like high school again, and the other half feel like full-time work.
All classes are in the same department, and thus in the same building. I'm bringing lunch to class this time around so I can get fat by not walking enough.

Welcome!

2008-01-30T23:28:00.001-06:00

Welcome to my little personalized corner of the Internet. It is here where I aim to chronicle stories, antecdotes, opinions, rants, and random thoughts that occur throughout my (seemingly) uneventful life.

Spring Semester Starts

2008-01-30T11:45:00.001-06:00

Hmm... I don't like this new UI. It took me 2 minutes to figure out how to add this post. Turns out a post is actually called a "weblog" now. Interesting... Looking around, I'm actually just now deciding that I'm considering a move over to blogspot, which doesn't try to be a social community, unlike here. I'll look in to that.

I have a new account over at flickr, www.flickr.com/photos/mnskyscraper. I've really only posted pictures from my Ireland trip in 2005, but I should be investing in a nice new digital camera soon (Canon PowerShot SX100-IS) that will allow me to get a lot more pictures up there.

All of winter break was spent on Solar Car: except for the week sorrounding Christmas, I was at Northwest Airlines' Composites Shop working on building the body of the car for 8-10 hours a day. It's nice to be done with that now.

digg.com is a wonderful website. I spend way too much time there.

Spring Classes:
*AEM 4303W Flight Dynamics & Control
*AEM 4202 Aerodynamics
*AEM 4501 Aerospace Structures
*AEM 4601 Insturmentation Lab

Thoughts on Spring Semester:
*Hooray for no more lib-eds!
*No class on tuesday, only a lab on Thrusday = more work hours
*All of my classes are in the same building complex. I don't have to leave there for 7 hours. feels like high school.
*Upper division rules. I'm actually interested in most of the material now!

3M is Awesome

2007-10-26T00:21:00.002-05:00

Today, I met the guy that invented Post-It Notes.

I (literally) have no free time between 9AM last Thursday and 11AM next Monday.

Welcome to my life.

Something's Gotta Go

2007-09-10T21:43:00.002-05:00

My (weekly) to-do list:
- School
- Marching Band
- Hockey Pep Band
- Solar Car
- Work (10 hours/week)
- Social Life

I can see it coming now: something's gotta go, or life will soon become completely unbearable.

I missed two meetings tonight; one intentionally and one I just plain forgot about. I just now realized every weekday evening is pretty much booked, and I have virtually no time during the weekdays. I'm starting to feel like it's one of "those" weeks where everything is going on, and I haven't even started homework or pep band yet.

For the second time in my life, it would appear I've taken on more than I can do. I don't want to go through that again.

I love it all too much to give it up.

Now what?

School?

2007-09-04T14:00:00.001-05:00

Spat Camp: Long, tough, fun
Leadership: new, exciting, more work than normal marching band

Solar Car: Dead as of Aug. 1, Back on as of Aug. 30
Solar Car Timeline: Unknown
Solar Car attitude: Mixed

Classes: none on Tuesday, only one on Thursday! Should be a good semester.
Lib-Ed's: Mus1001 - Clapping for credit as a night class

Apartment: nearly fully moved in; Gopher shrine shaping up

Sports: can't wait for hockey, still pretty excited for football despite loss

Busy Busy Busy

2007-07-02T21:48:00.000-05:00

Wow, I have been busy. The last two months just flew by; classes and the school year went way too fast, and a standard office job makes the time go even faster.

In response to my last post, I have decided not to persue a Mechanical Engineering major. A few days after the previous post, it was revealed to me that there exists a wonderful thing called the Professional Engineer exam. Passing this exam officially certifies you as a Mechanical engineer, which basically serves as a degree, for about 1% of the price, a bit of extra studying, and a lot less hassle than taking an extra year or so of classes.

The last week of school, I ended up with two job offers: one with the physics department managing their 1,000 classroom demos part-time, and the other a student engineering assistant job with U of M energy management. I chose to take the energy management position, which means I'm working 40 hours a week on campus. I decided to live at home this summer, mostly because it's cheaper. As a result, I take the bus/train to campus every day, which works out pretty well.

Since it's summer, solar car has increasingly taken up more time. 2 or 3 meetings per week after work take up the remainder of most my days; as a result, I'm often not home for enough time to get a full night's sleep. But: it's worth it, because after two years of being on the project with little to show for it, we are finally starting to build stuff! Design work is happening faster and faster, which leaves everyone with a sense of accomplishment. By the end of the summer, we should have something that roughly resembles a solar powered vehicle.

Marching Band next year is going to be awesome! I managed to get myself on to leadership (which feels weird), but the season looks to be shaping up well: John Williams' "Summon the Heroes" is on the docket, one of the best individual pieces written by him. Less than 50 days 'til Spat Camp, I can't wait! Diem says we're expecting a smaller-than-normal rookie class, apparently due to the 'U' admitting more academically qualified applicants as opposed to well-rounded students who are more inclined to do marching band. It's all part of our plan to become one of the top three research universities, I call shennanigans.

The new stadium is coming along, University Ave. is all torn up in order to move the roads around. I occassionally go down to engineering records (which is in the same building I work in) to look at the new plans, it's good fun. When I express how excited I am about it, many people complain about how much money the University is spending on the stadium. I am then forced to explain to them two realities: one, my Marching Band is getting a new home, and two, whether they like it or not, athletics, especially the football team, is the face of the University that a vast majority of the public sees. Building the stadium will have great first and second order effects all around campus.

I plan to do quite a bit of weekend traveling next year, mostly involving hockey: I want to go to games at North Dakota, Michigan/Michigan State, Mankato, St. Cloud, and UMD. Just over 100 days until the puck drops! Still no word whether Goligoski is coming back (it was supposed to be announced yesterday, grrr...), I'm still crossing my fingers and trying not to hope too hard.

I'm getting old. I just had my 20th birthday 2 weeks ago (was it really that long ago), and two of my friends got married over the last month, one of whom I graduated with. Scary.

I have recently come to a startling realization, and explanation as to why I am so tired all the time: I do not spend enough time at home to get a good night's sleep during the week. Between a full-time job, solar car, a social life (mostly on campus), and commuting between them, it's often less than 8 hours between when I get home and when I have to get up in the morning to go to work. How this will affect me come fall (with the addition of Marching Band and classes, but a reduction in work hours) is yet to be seen, but the results should be interesting. I keep telling myself that I can handle as much as I want to throw at myself, but this summer is making me seriously reconsider how much I am putting on my plate. I love all of the stuff I do so much, I don't know what I am willing to let go if it comes to that.

I think I hate myself.

2007-04-09T00:27:00.000-05:00

Yes, that's right. I think I hate myself. Here's the story (this is mostly for my own benefit, I really need some way to think this stuff through outside my head):

When I was going through my registration for next semester, I realized I have quite a bit of space in my schedule for the next two years. In fact, a lot of space. "Hmm," I thought to myself, what should I do with all this extra time? Perhaps get a minor, maybe in management, or astronomy? Do some more technical electives? Leave it open for things like band, solar car, homework, and a social life?

No, I thought to myself, that would be too easy, that would be a waste of the thousands of dollars you are paying to be here. The job market in Aerospace isn't good enough to graduate with a major in that.

My solution? Decide to be a Mechanical Engineering major. Along with all the D&M, Pro/E and Thermo (which I absolutely hate) that goes with it.

Heres the kicker: not only am I going to do Mechanical Engineering, but double major in Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering.

To summarize: Shit.

Pending the schedule working out, I will graduate with not one, but two degrees in Engineering. Honors, Marching Band, and Solar Car, all in four short years? No, not enough for me. I have to make myself do more. Never content with the norm. I have no idea why this is. Maybe because I was told as a child that if I did well in school, I would do well in the rest of my life. But, I have always thought to myself: what if I'm just really good at school? What if all my grades and activities are not a result of being smart, but just having life figured out at this moment in time? What happens when I'm no longer at school, and performance is no longer measured by how well I can recall a specific set of information? Is college the toughest part of life? or does it get harder?

Just this semester, I have come to the realization that college is indeed scary stuff. My course of action for the next 25 or so months (and therefore, the next 8 days) will likely determine what the rest of my life will be like. 40 years or more, all compressed down in to slightly more than one week. Sure, college is about making freinds and learning how to live on your own (which some people will tell you is the real purpose of college, "enjoy it while you can" and all that). They always tell you when you're little that you don't have to decide right away what you want to be when you grow up. And then, it's all right there. Suddenly in a week, you have to make a decision that will, for real, affect the rest of your life.

Once again, to summarize: Shit.

Good Goli!

2007-04-07T00:51:00.000-05:00

Alex Goligoski: 2006-2007 First Team All-American!

He has been my player for 2 years... I think I will probably get his name and number on my jersey.

Hopefully he will stay for another great year.

Hockey!

2007-03-27T21:07:00.000-05:00

So, Hockey season is over. I'm mildy depressed at the moment. (or am I just tired?) It seems like forever until the puck drops again. (6 months and counting!) I don't know what I'm going to do with my Friday and Saturday evenings anymore, but I think I'm going to try to cut back on the time I spend on GPL, at least for a bit while the rest of my life goes by (lots of school-but-not-class-related stuff to do).

The regional final was a tough game to be at for the end, losing to NoDak and all (I think I dislike them more than Wisconsin right now), but the rest of the season was well worth the disappointment of not going to St. Louis: the win streak at the beginning, the development and excitement of some of the most highly touted Freshman in the nation, to name a few. My #1 highlight has to be the Final Five, especially the Championship game with Wheeler's Broten-esque goal in OT to beat the Sioux, I have never yelled and clapped so long and loud in my life. Too bad it wasn't on the other end of the ice in front of where I was sitting; but oh well, I can't have everything.

Next year will be even better than the last. We will hang 2 new banners in the ceiling at the beginning of next season (more than enough to ask for). The Freshmen will be Sophomores, the Sophomores will be experienced upperclassmen, and the Juniors will be the Senior leaders that they were always intended to be. Reload with one of the best Freshman classes in the nation, and you've got yourself another great season of good ol' Gopher Hockey.

I will leave you with this great excerpt from one of my favorite blogs to read (http://tnabacg.blogspot.com/), which pretty much sums up why I love this program so much:

(From March 4, 2003)

North Dakota may be a successful hockey program. Duluth may have its rabid fans. Mankato may be very important to people who hail from that city. But Gopher hockey is so much more than that, has meant so much more than that to me. It’s watching the first two periods of the game on MSC, then straining to pick up the third period on your alarm-clock radio after your parents have sent you to bed. It’s attending games in the new Mariucci Arena while wishing that you could have attended a game in the old Mariucci Arena, wishing that you had memories of the old arena when it was still Williams Arena Ice Rink. It’s John Mariucci, and John Mayasich, and the photos of teams going back too many years for anyone to have seen them all. It’s Herb Brooks, prowling the bench, leading three teams to titles. It’s Doug Woog, leading the team first as a player and then as a coach, leading them to a period of sustained greatness the likes of which today’s program can maybe only dream about. It’s Randy Skarda, hitting the post in overtime, and just how the heck did that weak backhander beat Stauber? It’s Neal Broten and the Hobey, Robb Stauber and the Hobey, Brian Bonin, and yes, Jordan Leopold with the Hobey. It’s the murals, where Leopold skates next to Crowley and Stauber makes a save on Woog. It’s the fact that nobody’s going to be wearing number 8 in maroon and gold on the ice anytime soon. It’s Broten chipping one over Iwabucci, Potulny sliding one under Yeats, it’s all the trophies in the concourse, so many that nobody knows exactly what they’re all there for anymore. It’s five gold banners, hanging over the east goal, spanning sixty-three years of Gopher champions.

But maybe most importantly, it’s the five-year-olds I see at the rink on Saturday mornings, when no one’s in the building except me and them, and all they know me as is as the kid who’s driving the Zamboni. They play their games, have their practices, and I see them warming up, skating the length of the ice (taking far too long) and faking this way and sliding one in and, hey, just maybe, if they were a little bigger, they would have looked just like Tyler Hirsch beating Wade Dubielewicz. And then maybe they make their first visit to the rink later that night, getting their first close-up look at the arena. Wow, Dad, how many guys are on that wall? Why are they up there? Dad, who’s going to be up there next? Hey, Grandpa, how many of these guys did you see play? How many banners are there up in the rafters, anyway? There sure are a lot. Why do all those kids say the same things after the other guys get a penalty, why do they all point at the goalie and yell? What are they saying? What do you mean you can’t tell me? Hey, Dad, we scored! What did everyone just say after the band stopped playing?

And then maybe Dad leans over to his son, as my father did to me, and maybe he wants to tell him about all the goals he’s seen, all the great players he’s watched, all of the championships he’s watched when he saw his team play this game, and what a game it is. Maybe he wants to teach him the words to the Rouser and the Minnesota March, and tell him just exactly how his dad reacted when Grant Potulny picked up Jordan Leopold’s shot after it deflected off Johnny Pohl, how Grant picked it up and slipped it under Matt Yeats and the whole state of Minnesota went berserk. But he doesn’t have time for all that. He knows that his son will pick that up in time, that soon, for his son, the game and the team will be the son’s and not just the father’s. Instead, he just sums all of it up in one sentence, with one word.

Instead, he just leans over and teaches him how to spell M-I-N-N-E-S-O-T-A.

2 Cups!

2007-03-18T00:37:00.000-05:00

Today was without a doubt one of the best days of my life. Ever. I headed home for my little brother's Eagle Scout Court of Honor. I'm so proud of him! It was a great ceremony, I am very happy for him, and it was great to see a whole bunch of old Scouts and family friends that I haven't seen for a few years.

I found myself a ticket for the FF semifinal on Friday night, I was in the 3rd row of the upper deck at center ice, they were great seats. I enjoyed seeing us beat Wisconsin again, especially since I was at the game we lost to them earlier in the season. I still couldn't swear (little children in the vicinity, I'm not that much of an asshole), but at least I could say "suck" as loud as I wanted to! Wheeler had an amazing night (which he has not done all year), with a hat trick; 2 of his goals were with 4 seconds left in the period. The Gophers showed a lot of hustle and grit that I have not seen since before winter break. They recovered from an own goal and another 1-goal deficit to win by 2 against a defense-oriented team. Not bad at all.

Now, on to tonight. BEST. GAME. EVER. I managed to score 4 tickets for the game through my Dad's work earlier in the week, not even knowing if the Gophers would be playing in the game. Boy, was I glad I got them. On Friday, I was ecstatic because I was able to go to both the games the Gophs were playing in, which happened to be against our 2 biggest rivals, the badgers and sue. The seats i got were in the 12th row of the lower deck right on the Goal line, by far the closest to the ice I have ever been for a Gopher game (for only $20/ea too!). It was close all the way, finally going in to OT tied at 2. Wheeler made an amazing goal to win the game, everyone went nuts. The atmosphere at the Xcel was absolutely incredible, almost twice the number of fans that are in Mariucci. Here is a replay of the winning goal, which, as mentioned in the clip, bears a striking resemblance to Neal Broten's GWG in the 1979 National Championship Game against (who else?) the Sioux. On the way back, since we were on the band bus, I had the opportunity to talk with some of the Hockey Cheerleaders, who turned out to be some really cool people.

I'm going to bed. Maybe I'll complete and/or organize my thoughts if I think of it, maybe not.

More New Toys

2007-03-12T17:12:00.001-05:00

My Mp3 player finally came. It took until 7PM to get there (stupid UPS), but it came. I like it a lot.

I am also the proud new owner of a Toshiba Portege 3490-CT laptop. It only has a 12" screen and weighs about 3lbs. I will be taking it to class a lot. In fact, I'm writing this from it.

Seeing how I have 2 computers, it's time to start naming them. I have one big laptop that is silver and higher performance and one small laptop that is black/dark grey and runs slower.

This is where you, the reader, comes in. I want suggestions on what to name my computers. Bonus points for:
-References to things that are cool (i.e. Star Wars, Hitchhiker's Guide)
-Names that are related (see: Executor and Devastator/Lusankya)
-Names that describe the computer in some way (see: Shortbus, it's small and goes slower)

Some examples:

Two names that are related and reference something cool:
Big: Executor
Small: Devastator or Lusankya

Name that describes the computer:
Small: Shortbus
Big: (I have no idea)

OH MY GOD I Want One

2007-02-13T00:57:00.000-06:00

BEST. LEGO. SET. EVER. I seriously just about pissed my pants when I saw it.

Speaking of spending lots of money, I ordered myself an mp3 player over the weekend, a Creative Zen Vision:M. It will be here in about 3 days, and I shall be happy.

Also over the weekend: Skate With The Gophers! Even though I spent 2 hours handing out posters, I got:
-- my MB hat autographed by the one and only Don Lucia
-- team poster signed by every player but Okposo and Flynn, plus Lucia and the Wooger. I'm totally framing this one.
-- Picture taken with the McNaughton Cup and the 2002 and 2003 Championship Trophies
-- Also got to skate around on the ice at Mariucci for a bit with Okposo and Goligoski (and 100 other people, mostly kids), which was pretty sweet.

More Stuff

2007-02-06T13:49:00.000-06:00

After thinking for a little bit more, I guess I can put down a few more highlights of the last 5 months, in no particular order:

I have become increasingly obsessed with Gopher Hockey. If you make me miss a game, you better have a damn good reason for it. I went to Madison for the Friday game over there (our first loss since the first game of the season, boo), which decreased my road record to 0-1-1. My ultimate goal is to go to a Gopher game at all 10 arenas in the WCHA (currently, I have 3). While in Madison, we "broke" in to Camp Randall and I got my picture taken on the 50-yard line, and saw the slab of bacon (the predecessor to the axe, for you uninformed people).

Solar Car will probably begin/continue to take over my life, especially later this semester and during the summer.

My little brother (now a senior in HS) got his Eagle Scout award, I am very proud of him. He is probably going to Iowa State for college, I don't really mind where he goes unless it's wisky, iowa, or nodak (fortunately, he never considered any of said schools).

I stumbled across quite possibly the most wonderful webcomic ever: http://www.xkcd.com. Some of the stuff is absolutely ridiculous, and others are straight up nerdy, but it's always halarious.

I'm hunting for internships and housing right now (i have an internship interview in an hour and a half). Both are something I've never really had experience with before, it's a little unsettling how much of a bearing on my future this stuff has.

Concerts

2007-02-06T13:25:00.001-06:00

Yeah, It's been a while. I've had stuff to write about (sports games, trips, etc.) but I'm just too lazy to actually sit down and write stuff.

Anywho, I was reading The Onion this morning and found an article about the Minnesota Orchestra's 2007-2008 lineup. Two concerts that I DEFINITELY want to attend:

"To Boldly Go...", a space-themed concert (Feb 1-2 2008)
* Narrated By the one and only Lenoard Nemoy
* Selections from Star Trek, The Planets Suite, and John Williams

"The Vegas Years" with P.D.Q. Bach (May 24 2008)

Also on the Docket are the upcoming Blue Man Group show "How to Be a Megastar Tour 2.0" (March 30, 2007) and next year's Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert.

update

2006-10-11T18:51:00.001-05:00

there, i did it. happy?

Off on the right foot (or the left...)

2006-09-04T13:21:00.000-05:00

The year is off to a great start already! Spat camp was amazing, even though it was a lot more tiring than last year (8 marching rehearsals in a row... yuck), everyone seemed like they were about to die on friday morning. All the rookies are really cool and we went to see snakes on a plane with the trumpets.

On the floor (5th & 4th this year), most of the people are back from last year, we went to see snakes on a plane as a floor (my 3rd time, for those of you keeping score at home) on move-in day, and yesterday ate as a massive group at UDS (still crappy food), went on a late-night taco bell run, watched battle royale, and pranked the 7th floor. Ultimate game is soon to come. Its gonna be a sweet year.

Sam Jackson is Amazing

2006-07-14T22:17:00.001-05:00

this made me really happy. I can't wait for August 18th.

Work is good. Most of the time, it's really boring and I get a lot of reading done. I read the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy for the first time (sad, I know) in a week reading almost exclusively at work. Other times, its kind of (but not really) interesting, like when a guy got T-boned by a garbage truck down the street, or when the power went out and our scanners wouldn't work. But mostly, I have money again. sort of. I can't wait to get back to school.

w00t, Job!

2006-06-19T09:05:00.000-05:00

My long hours of boredom are over! I got a job with Advance Private Investigators. No, I will not be a P.I. with crazy dames walking in to my office. Instead, I will be working luberyard security at Menards, operating a gate and making sure people don't steal wood. I will be splitting time between the Eden Prairie and Burnsville locations. 30-40 hours a week at $11.50/hr = lots of money and no more boredom! I will finally be able to drive to campus to do solar car without having to worry about whether I will have enough money to make it through the summer. Happy.

A Tale of Three Cities

2006-05-30T22:44:00.000-05:00

I have a major problem with three cities right now: Bloomington, Minneapolis, and St. Paul. The problem is that I live in one (Bloomington), but need to regularly (but not regularly enough to justify a bus pass) get to one of the other two (Minneapolis and St. Paul). They are far enough apart that it takes a quarter tank of gas to get there and back home (as I found out today), but too close to justify staying overnight somewhere. I will be spending a good portion of my time in the next week there (at least 4 round-trips) for solar car, and with gas at $40 per tank, I do not have the money to travel that much (nor a job to bring me more money). Long story short: I (or rather my wallet) can't wait until I live on campus again.

In other news, the solar car is traveling to Taiwan in September for a rayce, thus all of my trips to Minneapolis and St. Paul for meetings and testing and the like. I will not be going on the trip myself (mostly because I can't stand the thought of missing band), but I do get to decide who goes... bwahahaha! The next 4 weeks should be interesting though, we have to get the car all ready to go and packed in a shipping crate, something that usually takes months to do.

Also, I still don't have a job. I desperately need one to keep me from sitting around the house all day if nothing else.

Less than 3 months until Spat Camp... yay!

Coming soon to a Campus near you!

2006-05-20T19:20:00.000-05:00

Coming Fall 2009, across the street from Mariucci Arena: Bencriscutto-Luckhardt Marching Band Complex! (Officially named TCF Stadium, unfortunately)

That's right, the Minnesota legislature may be good for something after all...

All that remains is Gov. Pawlenty to sign it.

Newspaper

2006-05-16T12:18:00.000-05:00

I found myself turning to the page in the newspaper that holds the crossword puzzle and expecting to find Network and Dr. Date this morning. I miss being at school more than I thought...

Almost done...

2006-05-09T14:03:00.000-05:00

It's the middle of finals week, which means I'm almost done with school! I took my math final yesterday, I think I did pretty well on it, and it was the one that I was most worried about, so it's nice to be done. Also, I really didn't enjoy the class that much. A few minutes ago, I sent in the last paper for English, so I'm done with that. Also happy to be done with English, since it's one of the last classes I'll ever have to take on the subject (stupid GE requirements).

What remains: my Computer Science final tonight, which should be pretty easy. I'm not too worried because I've only lost 10 points in the class thus far. I'm supposed to be studying for it right now. Also, physics final on Thursday. I'm really not too worried about this one, because of how I did on last semester's. It should be not too bad.

My favorite part of finals week is how much time there is to hang out with people you're not going to see for a long time. I have spent the last 6 nights with the movienight group, we've been watching a lot of movies from our childhood lately (Aladdin, Bambi, Land Before Time, Lion King, etc.) including 7 movies in the last 4 days. Also: movienight-IT honors combined ultimate frisbee game and getting in to a puddle kicking fight last night were some good times. Still to come: Star Wars Marathon with the floor on thrusday night-friday morning: all 6 Star Wars movies in a row! It should be a good way to cap off the year.

BTY: I still have $40 in flexdine left, so I will be eating a lot of pizza in the next few days. If you want some, let me know.

You asked, we answered.

2006-04-26T12:27:00.000-05:00

Anyone (or at least most people) who was around campus on Monday obviously saw all of the pink "walkout against student protests" posters plastered across every message board on both banks of campus. In addition to the event itself being ironic (and therefore funny) in nature, it was sponsered by "The Irony Foundation," and the posters themselves had a good bit of humor lampooning actual demonstrations on campus. There was even a website set up to promote the event which has some other ironic/funny things on it.

The reactions of people around campus were priceless. Most people laughed at it, many even took the posters off the boards to take with them. More recently, some people were getting pissed off at it and ripping the posters down (apparently one person ripped one off, crumpled it up, threw it on the ground, and stomped on it) because they were obviously aimed at the upcoming protest against anything and everything. There were even 2 letters in Network today about it, from people obviously irate because they can't take a joke.

Here's the best part about all this: I am one of the two masterminds of this entire postering and general ruckus. I spent the better part of early Monday morning with 5 freinds putting up over 1,600 posters around campus, covering every message board we could find. It made me so happy to see people looking and laughing at the posters. Who cares if it's a stupid idea? That was the point. People have come up to me not being able to talk because they were lauging so hard. Other people I've talked to are taking the whole thing way too seriously and getting mad at whoever did it, which makes me feel even better because the whole thing was directed at those sort of people. So, come to Coffman at noon Thursday and hang out with me for a little bit before I have to go to class, it'll be a good time.

Also made me happy on Monday: I got 100% on my Physics Test :D

2006-04-24T12:19:00.000-05:00

Today made me really happy.

Band, Solar Car, Sun, High School Freinds, and Fun!

2006-04-23T21:24:00.000-05:00

Week = So-so. Weekend = Awesome!

My excellent weekend began with a physics test. I'm pretty sure I got at least a 90, which I really needed since I have been getting 70s to 80s for the rest of the semester. In the afternoon, we had a VERY productive SVP design meeting, where we essentially laid out the entire design for next year's car (presumably titled Borealis IV). Unfortunately, I missed an ultimate frisbee game in order to attend. That night, we all dressed up and went as a floor to the IT ball. At first, it was pretty awkward (think: middle-school dance), but eventually the DJs started playing good music and everyone got out on the dance floor. It was a good time, I threw down a few dance moves (i.e. robot, funky chicken, shopping cart, and the worm. yes, I can do the worm.), which is pretty rare for me. Afterwards, we went to Big10 for food, still in our formal clothes. Good times all around.

Saturday was also a very good day. I woke up early to go to solar car, me the team at the Gopher lots by Mariucci. Since the car wasn't starting due to electrical issues, the Aero team (who had been sent to set up the course) decided to go to Chipotle for breakfast (this was at 11:30, so more like lunch) - continuing the fine Aero Team tradition of finding food when there is nothing else to do. Since the car wasn't going to run, we picked up the cones and took the connector back to St. Paul. Bty: riding the connector with traffic cones and burritos is very fun. Back at the shop, we did our first big-time layup on our new rear fairing mold and beautiful new kevlar-carbon fiber blend fabric.

After we were done in the shop, I headed back to the 'brook to get ready for drum major auditions. I didn't even get up to my room; people were leaving just as I walked in the front door. At DM auditions, I got to see lots of people that I hadn't seen in a while, and it felt good to be out on the field again. I didn't get leadership, but I wasn't really expecting to, so I was hardly disappointed at all. I mostly tried out to get a feel for the interview for next year. Congrats to all who did get on to leadership! During deliberations, I played in a game of ultimate with the trumpets. As usual, I could out-jump all of them :P. It was a pretty sweet game, since I could basically go all-out and not worry about my landing on the soft, forgiving turf of Bierman Athletic field. During this time, we also found our about the music we're playing next year: shows include Heroes (i.e. Bond, Indiana Jones and ROBIN HOOD PRINCE OF THIEVES), Earth Wind and Fire, Tower of Power, Latin (yay Malaguena), and video games (we better march Tetris Blocks down the field). Molly Watters got Drum Major, which makes her the first female DM in the 115-year history of the band. Congratulations to her! Afterwards, a whole bunch of 'Bones and 'Tones went to Chipotle (just like old times), bringing my daily Chipotle total to 2. We sat on the grass in front of MacNamera and joked around, it was great to just sit around and relax with a whole bunch of band-o's again.

After all the band stuff was over, my dad picked me up in front of Chipotle to go to Jefferson for the Connection Special (show choir, for those of you not in 'the know'): the show wasn't nearly as good as last year's, but still a lot of fun to watch. I got to see even more people I hadn't seen in a while and gave out plenty of hugs. Kari, the only graduating 'bone from JHS, is unfortunately going to Madison, but not marching in the band, so I forgave her (almost). Steve, one of my best H.S. freinds and another 'bone, is going to be DM for the other 'Pride of Minnesota' next year, the 2nd bone DM in 3 years (yeah, that's right, we're awesome), and also said U of M is currently his top college choice, which made me happy. We stood in the parking lot talking about band for quite some time.

After Connection Special, I came back to campus and watched 'The Matrix' and 'Equilibrium' in the TV lounge (I highly reccommend the latter to anyone who enjoys the former), then hung out until 5AM in Katie H's room, talking about god knows what with band people. Good times indeed.

Today, I once again woke up early-ish and went to Solar Car. We pulled the fairing off of the mold from yesterday, and it turned out BEAUTIFULLY. Once again, the car was broken, but it was fixed after about a half hour. I was once again appointed crew chief for the day, which basically means that I will be crew chief for at least Formula Sun this summer, and mabye for NASC next summer (for band people: this is essentially the equivalent of being Drum Major, but for solar car). HAPPY! It even makes up for not making band leadership, and I honestly don't know if I could handle both. We stood out in the Gopher lots running the car around the slalom course. There was a very scary moment when one of the drivers hit the curb and there was a sickening crunch, but only the fairing/wheel cover was damaged, and the incredibly awesome aero team did some quick fixes and we were back on the road in 5 minutes. Also, we got 2 pits that were 5.5 minutes long, our target was under 5 minutes. I stood out there for over 3 hours, watching the solar car while facing the sun; I'm told my face is a little pink (the first sunburn of the year, more to come, I'm sure).

Finally, we drove back to the shop and packed up the car, and went home. We stopped at Frontier to drop people off, and I saw a familiar-looking BMW 750iL sitting in the parking lot. It turned out that my HS freind that goes to school in California was visiting for the weekend, so I went down to river flats and threw the frisbee around for an hour (more time in the sun for me!), and just joked around a little. It was at this point that I realized I had not eaten anything and only had a sip of water since ingesting the aforementioned burrito. Dinner was good, even though it was UDS (the first UDS since friday dinner), and so concludes my awesome weekend. I am tired and sore, but very content with life at the moment.

4 months until spat camp! :D

Why do I always write so much? Mabye because I suck at telling stories in real life? Probably.

A final note: look around campus Monday morning. My fun weekend's not over yet!

The hits just keep on coming

2006-04-13T00:14:00.000-05:00

At the end of last week, I was very happy that "hell week" was done with and I was looking forward to an easy week. How wrong I was. This week has so far left me both physically and emotionally battered. It started out fine, with 2 consecutive days of playing ultimate down on the river flats this weekend. Unfortunately, the physical way I play the awesome game of ultimate usually leaves me with at least a few sore joints, and 2 days in a row led to a twisted ankle, a few cuts and scrapes, and a busted nail (seriously, it hurt).

Enter Tuesday. I had a math test that I thought I was relativley prepared for. I get to the test, and see that I basically know how to do nothing that is on the test. I get complete solutions for 2 of the 5 problems, and one of the problems I didn't even start to solve. Today, I looked at the test again and realized that I completely misread one of the questions that I got a solution for. Long story short, I will be happy with anything above a 60. This will be by far the worst grade I have ever received on a math test.

The rest of Wednesday, I wasn't too happy because of my performance on the math test (the CSci one went ok though). I made it through the long day of lectures and labs, but on the way home from physics lab, what do I do? ROLL MY DAMN ANKLE. While walking. It's about 3 times it's normal size right now, I wouldn't be suprised if I sprained it. So much for playing ultimate for at least the next week. Hopefully it will get better by the time spring jam rolls around.

All this, coupled with some other questionable decisions and their results (such as screwing around instead of studying for my math test while doing my laundry - it seemed like a good idea at the time) have made this week almost as bad as the last. Oh yeah, I have 20 pages of reading to do for English and the final draft of that paper due on Friday. I can't wait for it to be over.

I just realized how much I complain about my life on this. I need more positive things to think about.

Register'd!!!

2006-04-06T15:20:00.000-05:00

My classes next semester:
AEM 2011: Statics (3 cr)
Biol 1001: Evolution & Ecology (4 cr)
MatS 3011: Intro to Materials Science (3 cr)
Mus 3480: Marching Band (1 cr)
Phys 2403H: Honors Physics III (4 cr)

My Schedule for next semester:

MONDAY
09:05-09:55 - AEM 2011 Lecture
11:15-12:05 - Phys 2403H Lecture
13:30-15:20 - MatS 3011 Lecture
16:15-18:00 - Mus 3480 Rehearsal

TUESDAY
09:05-09:55 - MatS 3011 Discussion
11:15-12:05 - Phys 2403H Lecture
12:45-14:00 - Biol 1001 Lecture
14:30-15:20 - AEM 2011 Discussion
16:15-18:00 - Mus 3480 Rehearsal

WEDNESDAY
09:05-09:55 - AEM 2011 Lecture
11:15-12:05 - Phys 2403H Lecture
12:20-14:15 - Biol 1001 Lab
13:30-15:20 - MatS 3011 Lecture
16:15-18:00 - Mus 3480 Rehearsal

THURSDAY
09:05-09:55 - MatS 3011 Discussion
10:10-11:00 - Phys 2403 Discussion
12:45-14:00 - Biol 1001 Lecture
16:15-18:00 - Mus 3480 Rehearsal

FRIDAY
09:05-09:55 - AEM 2011 Lecture
11:15-12:05 - Phys 2403H Lecture
13:30-15:20 - MatS 3011 Lecture

Sweet, sweet relief

2006-04-04T13:37:00.000-05:00

Hell week is finally over. Here's what happened:

- I managed to get sick on Monday. Not a good start.
- Homework was for the most part done the night before it was due. I completely blew off 2 sections of math, and my physics lab left something to be desired (2 pages was all I had).
- I did some research for the english paper earlier in the week, but basically saved the actual writing until the end of the week. I started writing at midnight on Wednesday night while doing laundry, and managed to write over 3 pages over the course of 90 minutes. The better part of Thursday was also spent writing, and the product was 9 pages of low quality paper. It was a draft, to say the least.
- As the week progressed, I got more sick, to the point where I almost lost my voice this weekend. I'm sure staying up until 4:00 AM two consecutive nights (not for homework, even) and having to get up the next morning didn't help.

Now, as I sit here typing, I am slowly getting better and looking forward to the rest of this week. Really the only major thing I have to worry about is my MB leadership audition on Thursday. I think I will be playing a lot of frisbee this week, if it doesnt rain of course.

I need to learn to be more concise.

So long, farewell...

2006-03-27T01:37:00.000-06:00

Today was my last WAB game. Women's Hockey lost the national championship game to wisuckSIN. I was suprisingly not distraught about it. It was, however, the best WAB game of the year by far. I was unusually belligerent before and during the game (yelling "better dead than red" to a wisc. fan's face, and screaming "stop desecrating the [U.S.] Flag" to bucky were the two highlights). I pretty much became the yell-starter for WAB, which I never thought would happen, since I'm usually pretty quiet. We played awseomely, completely blew the badger band out of the water (no bones, but a cowbell player instead? what the heck is that?), including stealing "time warp" from them before they could play it (they did anyway). Frodo also dirty monkey'd bucky. It was amazing, I can't think of a better person/place/time to do it. Remeber, the real losers are those who have to go home tonight to Wisconsin.

All things considered (despite the loss), this was not a bad way to exit WAB. I will miss WAB, its trips, and all of it's wonderful people dearly. (don't worry, I'll come back to visit, I promise!)

Hell Week: I am confident that this coming week will be by far the worst of the semester. I have 2 papers, 2 homework assignments, and one midterm this week, most of which I have not started. One paper is a 10-page research paper on music downloading that I have yet to begin (due Friday), another is a 5-page lab report on building a metal detector that doesn't actually work (due Wednesday). Math homework is 4 sections, of which I have completed 1 (due Tuesday), and physics homework (due Thursday). The miterm is for Physics, which is never fun. I also need to do laundry at some point. I am so stressed out about how much I have to do, that I have resolved to not caring. which is bad.

Opposites

2006-03-25T11:47:00.000-06:00

- Men's Hockey lost. They were supposed to win. Screw you, Holy Cross. (Where the hell is HC, anyway?)
- Women's Hockey upset UNH, as the #4 seed in the frozen four.
- Watching the badger pep band, and then watching the UNH Pep Band. Pretty much could not be more black and white. All anyone could hear of the bucky band was the damn drums, and of course they are nasty people as a band. UNH, on the other hand, was a pretty good band (despite having the exact same repritoire of a high school pep band, and playing "The Hey Song" TWICE every time they scored) and was very nice to us. They even came over and said hi, and we would have hung out with them if they weren't staying by the MOA.

Sunday will be my final performance as a registered member of WAB. I am officially annoucing that next year (if all goes as planned) I will be upgrading to a full-time membership in Hockey Band, instead of a perma-sub. Seeing how Sunday's game is a National Championship game against Wisconsin, I can't think of a better way to end it.

Next week will be hell week for me. I have:
1. 10-page research paper due Friday that I was supposed to start a month ago
2. Physics Quiz/Test on Friday
3. 4 sections of Math homework due Tuesday that I again haven't started
4. Physics Lab report due on Tuesday that I haven't started
5. Prepare for Marching Band leadership auditions
6. Figure out what classes I'm taking next year
Wish me luck.

In conclusion, I would like to ask everyone to do 2 things:
1. Vote Ryan Putolny for Hobey Baker at http://www.hobeybaker.com/, so this Men's season won't be completely for naught.
2. Come to the Women's Championship game on Sunday at 3:00 (Did I mention we're playing WISCONSIN?). Sure, there's no checking, but its really not bad Hockey. Mabye we can have a sea of maroon and gold-clad band members sorrounding the damn badger band, yelling various anti-badger state slogans right in their faces. That would be sweet.

Remeber: Screw Holy Cross (the hockey team, of course. what'd you think I meant?), and Jesus hates wisuckSIN.

Nashville - Episode III: Revenge of the NCAA Postseason

2006-03-22T00:32:00.002-06:00

Last weekend, I went to Nashville. For the third time. In a year. Episode I was in High School with Show Choir (no, I didn't sing and dance. I was in the band, of course). Episode II was none other than the Bowl Trip. Which now brings us to Episode III. The Women's basketball team apparently did pretty well this year (I didn't really follow them), which earned them a #8 seed in the tournament. This meant that there was an 11:00AM game on Saturday. Because of the early game time, instead of leaving the day before the game, we left TWO days beforehand, leaving approximately 36 hours to do whatever the hell we wanted. Among the highlights:

FLYING THERE. No 18-hour bus rides this time!
Twiggy the rah-rah was on the trip
Staying downtown instead of at Opryland. There's only so much you can do in a mall and a hotel before you get bored.
Walking across the bridge (yes, the one the 'bama fan jumped off) to the Coliseum, and contemplating breaking in
Prank calling several people in the wee hours of the morning. The two best were suicidal Kermit the Frog (courtesy of Link) and Mittens telling Barmore that his uniform wasn't turned in and he puked on it.
Watching "Trick my Truck" on Country music Television. It's exactly like "Pimp my ride," except without the black people, and they do it to Semi-Trucks instead of normal cars.
Walking 3 miles to the Parthenon, an exact replica of the one in Greece. Nashville has culture outside of Country music? Who knew? We found out that I am 1" shorter than the statue of Nike. She wins. Also cool: we managed to get the group rate despite not actually having an appointment
A Ghost Tour of downtown: apparently there are a lot of spirits not at rest in the area. The guide looked like the guy that played Arthur in "The Hichhikers Guide to the Galaxy."
St. Patrick's Day: JoeD and Gary went on an all-day bender. Buttons went out and came back really drunk and felt up Katie. The rest of us underage people watched The Boondock Saints. Cramming 20 people into a hotel room so that they can all see a laptop screen is not easy, let me tell you.
The Vanderbilt basketball arena feels and more like a high school auditorium, despite Vanderbilt being a basketball school. Their "raised floor" was pretty lame, since there was only a drop off on the sides, and then only after about 20 feet of blank floor. Williams Arena is so much better.
We threw down some pretty sweet songs before and during the game, I'm pretty sure I almost completely lost my ability to play at least once.
The highlight of the game was when I yelled "Take her out to dinner first!" during a particularly silent moment in the game. I got the impeccable timing award of the day, and many people have told me this was the best moment on the trip. I may be inclined to agree.
As we were leaving, Prof. Diem got hit in the head with a drum case. He went to the only hospital in Nashville that he had not been to yet and got 9 stitches.
We lost the game. To a certian extent, this was a good thing, because there really isn't that much to do in downtown Nashville. I don't know what I would have done with myself for another day, had we won the game.

Overall, it was a pretty sweet trip. I might go so far as to venture that it was my favorite Nashville trip. Since now I have more or less done all there is to do, I hope that I am never forced to go back. However, in the back of my mind, I think that someone, somewhere, will find it halarious to send us back there again. I'm probably not done yet.

See? I've only been registered for an hour and I'm already addicted.

New Things

2006-03-21T23:13:00.000-06:00

So I decided to give this blog thing a try. Partially because I have a lot on my mind, but mostly because I'm bored (read: don't want to do schoolwork) and need something new to distract me.

There are no guarantees that I will keep this up, either I will become completely addicted or just forget about it in a week.

Have fun reading my rants.