Monthly Archives: November 2015

Veterans Day

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Veterans Day. A day that we take to thank the people who fight for our freedom. It is days like this where we take the time to reminisce on what our lives consist of. The time to be grateful for what we have and learn not to take what we have for granted. What does Veterans Day mean to you?

For me, Veterans Day holds a special place in my heart. My grandfather served in World War II and some of my other family members have served in the Air Force. Along with my boyfriend who was in the Navy for 8 years, I took the time to thank him and others who have served this country. Whether it was enjoying a meal or sitting down talking about the days in the military, it really opens up my eyes to realize that these people fought for my freedom. They put their lives on the line to save the lives of others. People that they may not even know and they fight for them every day 365 24/7. I thank them for their service and for allowing me to live free.

Besides going to lunch with Josh, I did get the chance to watch four military movies with my best friend. Those consisted of “Behind Enemy Lines,” “American Sniper,” Stealth,” and my all-time favorite “Top Gun.” It was nice to spend time with her and watch the military movies. The reason being so special is because I wanted to join the Navy. I still do. Before I came to Riddle, I seriously was considering joining the Navy. I was going to do NRTOC and then go into service after my degrees. When I spoke to my parents about it, they were worried like every other parent out there. After 8 months of talking and deciding I said I was going to get my undergraduate degree first and then consider going into the Navy. This is what I am doing.

Life throws you curveballs and I have seen quite a lot of them. However, I still am thinking about going to OCS, Officer Candidate School, and serving this country in the Navy while I get my graduate degree. Anything can happen and I am keeping an open mind.

For those who currently serve our country and those who have lost their lives, I thank you for your service to this country. Don’t forget to thank a Veteran. Not just on Veterans Day but anytime you may run across one. It is not just on Veterans Day that solders fight, they fight 365 24/7. They fight for us.

Happy Veterans Day.

November & An Update or Two

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Hello hello everyone! It is finally November! Sorry I have not written anything in a while. It has been crazy busy on my side! School has been coming along. We are almost done with the semester. We have a little bit less than a month left. This is when all your final projects and final assignments are due. I finally figured out what my MATLAB final project is going to be, a NASA database! I got the idea from a friend, Julia. She knows how much I like NASA so one day we were sitting in class and she happened to mention the idea. I sat down and did some planning with my professor and he loved the idea. I must have been in his office for about 2 and a half hours just planning. He gave me some really good ideas and we brainstormed the project. I am really happy with what we came up with so now I just have to execute it and I have a month to do it!

For my CATIA project it is moving along! We are going to measure and model 10 parts tomorrow since my caliper that I ordered finally came in! I am really excited to get working on that because like I said before, I am doing a space shuttle pullback toy. Yes, NASA again!

November is going to be full of schoolwork, schoolwork, and more schoolwork. But there is still a break for Veterans Day coming up on Wednesday and Thanksgiving Break later on in the month. I will also be going to Kennedy Space Center later in the month. It has been too long! I miss my second home!

I almost forgot! Besides the craziness of school, during one of the Society 4 S.P.A.C.E. meetings, we had a guest speaker, Ronald Caswell, who worked on the ISS and Shuttle. He spoke for about an hour and a half about the Colombia and Challenger disaster. Let me tell you, being a space nerd myself, I knew a lot of information about the two disasters but I learned a whole lot more! It was a pleasure hearing him speak about his work. I loved how passionate he was. It was like nothing was stopping him from doing what he loved. It was truly a great experience to hear him talk.

Life has been flying by really fast lately. Final projects and last semester as a freshman. I have even started looking for a place for next semester. Time has flown by since the Fall Semester started. I cannot believe it is almost over. With all the craziness of school, I have taken time to relax and have fun. I have hung out with some friends and had a Netflix day where I sat and watched Netflix all day. Yes, it was a nice break from all the school craziness and stress. With a little less than one month left, it is time for the big push. One more month and the craziness of fall is all over!

Hold on Riddle kids! We are almost at the end! Have a great Monday everyone!

I Should Be At A Rocket Launch Right Now

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Hello, hello! Things have been crazy the past few days and it’s only going to get crazier from here on out.

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10/10 will do again. Thank you Newman!

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This Embraer E-175 was only 15 days old when I took this picture last week.

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The cockpit is very stylish and somewhat roomy!

For the last two weeks, a friend of mine, who happens to be a flight instructor for Riddle, had been coaching me in the flight simulators that we have here on campus. He put me through engine failures, landing patterns, IFR approaches, and stalls. As someone who really enjoys flying but cannot afford to do so in reality, this is a great substitute, and I really do appreciate him doing that for me. Plus, having a flight instructor guide you through everything makes flying the simulators a lot more fun and meaningful.

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I didn’t understand Rachel Week’s costume. She told me who she was dressed as and now I feel stupid.

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This guy’s costume was the best I don’t care what everyone else said.

This Wednesday, I covered Tri Sigma’s 8th annual fashion show which was very interesting. Because I’ve never covered the fashion show before, I was technically going in blind when I accepted the task. At the end of the day though, I was able to capture some memories that will last a lifetime for everyone involved, and I got practice in shooting fashion shows: a win-win if you ask me.

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Actually this guy was the funniest.

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ERMERGERD ITS A ROCKET. ERMERGERD.

Probably my biggest highlight so far was that I was cleared by the Air Force to cover ULA’s (United Launch Alliance) IIF-11 launch that was supposed to happen today (Friday). Unfortunately, the launch was scrubbed until Saturday because of a leak in the water suppression system. It’s also because of the scrub that I won’t be able to cover the Stewart Airshow that’s happening this weekend as well.

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“Oh so artsy b&w image.”

Regardless, I had a blast on Thursday going out and setting up remote cameras out on the launch pad. I got to meet some really nice people and saw some familiar faces from the last time I was at Cape Canaveral which was back in April for SpaceX’s CRS-6 launch. I was also amazed at how close ULA let us media credentialed individuals get to the rocket. I was definitely a lot closer to the Atlas V than I was to the Falcon 9.

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Lens flairs so unnecessary they call me JJ Abrams.

With this semester coming to a close in just 4-5 weeks, (I know right?) I find it hard to believe that we’re now at this point in the semester. Actually, let’s just forget that the end is near and look towards my next update. Sounds like a good plan. Cheers!

The JetBlue Experience

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About a week ago, during the day of Halloween, I had the opportunity to fly on JetBlue Airways for the first time. In this story, I will share my experience with you.

One thing I found I learned about JetBlue is that it is a low-cost carrier that still provides a good inflight service to its customers. Unlike some other air carriers of this type, passengers do not have to pay an extra fee for drinks and snacks. On my 2 hour flight from Orlando (MCO) to New York (JFK), the passengers had a choice of six different snacks. Another thing that I thought was interesting is that the airline does not use carts in the alley of the cabin. Those carts are heavy and in the way of the crew and of the passengers when they want to walk around the cabin. If there are no galley carts, I do you get a drink? A flight attendant goes row by row and ask the passengers which refreshment they would like. It is like in a restaurant, the flight attendant writes on a paper the drink the passenger asked and matched it to its seat number. A few minutes later, another flight attendant comes in the aisle holding a tray of the drinks the customers ordered. It is the first time I see this kind of method to distribute drinks. This process is probably faster and does not block the aisle entirely during the service, since it does not require a cart.

The flight from JFK to Boston was a short 35 minute flight and we were only offered two snacks, and a bottled water or Coca Cola. The airline calls it “JetBlue’s Express Service!”

Few minutes after takeoff from runway 31L at JFK.

A few minutes after takeoff from runway 31L at JFK.

JetBlue also offers inflight entertainment in the form of small screens behind every seat. Passengers can enjoy up to 100 channels on DirecTV and on Sirius XM Radio at no additional cost. Movies are available for $5 on the continental United States, but are free when flying outside the country. The airline also offers free internet service in the air. This feature is available on most aircraft in the fleet.

Before flight, the crew usually says to the passengers to enjoy their flight, but JetBlue does it differently, and instead says “we hope you enjoy the JetBlue Experience with us today.” I would recommend my readers to fly JetBlue Airways since I definitely appreciated the experience!

Next week, I am heading to Las Vegas for the 2015 NBAA Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition. The event welcomes 1,000 exhibitors and close to 100 business aircraft on the static display.

Nicolas

A Very Short Trip To Boston

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During the day of Halloween, I traveled to Boston to go see my brother, Christophe,  who studies at Boston College. I call it a very short trip since I only spent about eight hours in Massachusetts. I landed at Logan International Airport just past noon and left the same airport at 8:00pm the same day.

Many people are asking me why I did this. Well, it was only $62 roundtrip and I love traveling! I’m going to explain how it happened. On October 1, JetBlue Airways had a huge sale with fares starting as low as $31 one way from select cities for travel on October 31. To benefit from this offer, a passenger had to book his or her flight on October 1 and fly only during Halloween. This is where the idea came to my mind to go visit my brother.

My day started at 3:15am as I woke up and headed to the airport in Orlando (MCO). I was lucky that my roommate was able to drive me to the airport. JetBlue currently does not fly to Daytona, but the airline will begin a daily nonstop service to New York-JFK on January 7, 2016. My flight departed on time at 6:00am for New York Kennedy airport. One of the advantage of waking early is to be able to watch the sunrise from above.

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Sunrise seen at 7:00am at 35,000 ft over North Carolina.

After my three hour layover in New York, I took off on another plane bound for Boston. This flight was only a short 40 minute in the air. Arrived in Massachusetts, I quickly deplaned the Embraer 190 and made my way to the arrivals level to hop on a taxi. My brother and I met one of our friend at Harvard Square, where we had a quick bite in a cafe (accent) nearby. We visited her dorm for a while and then got onboard an Uber and headed  downtown of the city. We stopped at Copley Square to take some pictures.

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Myself, Berkeley, and Christophe in front of the Trinity Church.

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This Episcopal Church was built between 1872 and 1877.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The three of us then took a walk on the beautiful streets of Boston. Some of the architecture of the buildings reminded me of Montreal. I think that these two Northeastern cities of North America are very similar to each other. Around mid-afternoon, we said goodbye to our friend since she had to go. My brother and I continued to tour the city afterwards. He showed me one of the coolest stores I had never been before. When you enter, people think it is simply a convenience store, but there is more. If you approach the vending machine you will find out what is behind. It is actually a door that slides to let you enter in this shoe store. It’s pretty amazing!

Adjacent to the store we caught another Uber and headed to Brookline, MA, which is just a few miles west of Boston. There, we met with two of his other friends. We went to a Trader Joe’s close-by to buy some food for dinner. We decided to buy pasta and salad since it was rapid and easy to make for a big group. Now you have probably guessed on which mode of transportation we went back to his friend’s dorm. Yes, we got on another Uber again!

Arrived at destination, we quickly started to cook because I had to leave for the airport soon. Four other of my brother’s friend joined us. I made pasta for 10 people and my friend Mattie made a delicious lemon dressing for the salad. We all ate dinner together in the living room which was fun. I left in a Uber at around 6:15pm for Boston Logan Intl. Airport to catch an 8:00pm flight that would bring me directly to Florida this time.

I am glad I had the chance to see my brother and many of his friends. I have not seen him since he started school in August. I had a lot of fun and the many Uber rides enabled us to see various parts of the city in a short period of time. Overall, the cost of all the ground transportation in Boston was more expensive than my plane ticket itself, but it was definitely worth it!

Until next time!

Nicolas