April 23

Isn’t it amazing how time could move so slowly when you don’t want it to and so fast when you are having fun? Well, this whole year has flown by and I’m still in shock. I can still remember sitting in my dorm several months ago not knowing what college was like and what I should expect, or how I was going to do. Well, here it is a couple of months later and I am writing the final journal! I guess we’ll treat this last journal like all other journals and start with my classes.

TTh – Physics 104 – We have our fourth exam this Thursday and then our final is scheduled for next week. Overall this class hasn’t been too bad; the class is fairly easy if you study but the timing is horrible. Class at 8:15am is not the best choice, but it’s not completely horrible. You feel productive when you get up early; it really feels like you get things done!

TTh – Basic Aeronautics II – Our fourth exam is this Tuesday and then we have a final next week. I am kind of nervous about this class because I need to do really really really good on the next two tests in order to get an A. I think I will probably end up with a B, but I will try to go for the A. This class has been pretty cool because all the stuff you learn in class, you will use in the airplane. So as opposed to physics where you memorize formulas, use them on a test, and then never use them again, in Basic Aeronautics what you learn, you will always use. I like that.

MWF – Air Traffic Control I – Our fourth exam is scheduled for this Wednesday, and we don’t have a final. That is a relief because right now I have so much going on. I’m glad that I chose to do ATC as my minor because I think that it will really help me. A lot of the stuff we are going over, I already know because I fly. So that way, not only do I get some extra review on some important things, when we do have a test, I don’t have to study as much as other students because I already know some key elements. So, in my opinion, ATC is definitely a good choice for a minor if you are a pilot.

MWF – Intro to Psychology – Just like my ATC class, we have a fourth exam coming up and we have no final exam. I think that this has been my favorite class so far for a couple reasons. For one, I have found most of what we talked about pretty interesting. Even though you might not use some of the information that you learn in class while you are in an airplane, it is still some interesting stuff. Also, my professor (Dr. Kring) is by far one of the best professors I have encountered while I am here at Riddle. He does everything he can to try and make the class fun. He always tells jokes and tries to brighten up some of the duller topics. His class has been very enjoyable and I am already trying to see what other classes he teaches so I can try to have him as a professor again. As freshmen, you don’t get to pick your fall classes, but you do get to pick when the spring semester starts so I would recommend that you try to get Dr. Kring for your PSY 101 class. If you do get him and end up not liking his class, don’t complain to me because you are most likely wrong! Well, I guess you are entitled to your own opinion . . .

Flight – Flying has been pretty slow lately; I seem to have some bad luck when it comes to scheduling because it always seems something comes up and my flight gets rescheduled or canceled. Fortunately though, I flew just the other day with another instructor and I’m a couple flights away from my check ride!!! I am definitely getting nervous, but I know I’ll do well as long as I stay focused. I have really been enjoying flying lately and not too long ago I went on my long cross-country to an airport called Cecil and over to St. Augustine. The flight went pretty well and it was a solo so it was only me up in the plane, which is always fun. Now that I have all my solo requirements met, I am one step closer to being done. In the next couple of weeks I’ll have my oral and I have been studying a lot lately. One good way to study is to actually go to someone else’s oral. Here at Riddle, you are allowed to observe someone else’s oral so you know what to expect. I think that is a major advantage, so that way there are no surprises. I feel a lot more at ease after being able to watch an oral and see what it is like when the spotlight isn’t on you.

Other than flying and classes, I’ve been doing some pretty cool things! For one, jumping out of airplanes is always at the top of the list. Since it is the last journal, I might as well make one last plug for SkyDive DeLand . . . so go to www.skydivedeland.com and just check it out, whether you know you want to do it or even if you are afraid of heights, just go to the site, find out some information, and see what happens. It is definitely something that is pretty extreme and exciting, but if you want to try something a little ‘safer’ go check out SkyVenture ( http://skyventureorlando.com )when you are down in Daytona.

Well, as many of you are loyal journal readers, I got into a car wreck a couple months back and totaled my car. Well, I was driving around a temporary car for a while but now I have a permanent car . . . and I love it. I just purchased a 2004 Mazda RX8 from a friend who works at a dealership. With the insurance money I got for my totaled car and the great deal on the RX8, I couldn’t pass it by. I am so excited about having a car that I can call my own again, and I’m even more excited that it is an RX8! I’ll be sure to post some pictures of it online.

So, obviously I have been looking for any reason to drive around, and last Sunday I got the chance to drive to Tampa. Once again, if you are a loyal journal reader you know why I would drive all the way to Tampa (aside from any reason to drive the RX8). I, of course, went to go see the Tampa Bay Lightning game, which unfortunately, was their last game. They were in the quarter-finals of the playoffs against New Jersey, but now New Jersey is moving on to play Buffalo while the Lightning are going to take a break for a couple of months. (In case you couldn’t tell, Tampa lost and New Jersey won). Anyways, I love going to the games because it is much more intense than watching it on T.V. So, at least I have something to look forward to next year.

I went to the game on Sunday with my girlfriend and afterwards, we drove back through Orlando and decided to go to Islands of Adventure (IOA). If you haven’t heard of IOA, it is a theme park and it is next to Universal Studios. Both my girlfriend and I have season passes so we can go whenever we feel like it, and on the way back from Tampa, we felt like it. We went and road the Hulk, Spiderman, and Dueling Dragons; we definitely have gotten our money’s worth over the past year, and we have a 2 year pass so we will continue to get our money’s worth! After IOA, we went to Macaroni Grill ( www.macaronigrill.com ) and had dinner. I want to recommend Macaroni Grill to anyone who wants to enjoy a delicious meal, and I would suggest to ‘Create your own pasta’ and select asiago cheese as the sauce, bowtie as the noodle, and add slices of grilled chicken and you will be in heaven. This meal that I just described is so so so so so so so delicious! Just thinking about it makes me want to go and apply for a job there so I can learn how they make it and go home and drop out of school and cook that delicious meal all day. Or maybe I’ll just go to Macaroni Grill and order it. Yeah, I’ll probably do that second choice.

Other than that I haven’t been up to a lot lately. I have played racquetball a couple times and I made it through 18 holes in golf last weekend. I was above par; actually, I was close to doubling par. Oh well, my friend Cris went with me and we had a good time so it’s all good. Aside from hitting balls with clubs and rackets, I have been paying a lot of attention to school work to try to end the year on a good note. One thing I enjoy about college is the fact that the last day of classes is April 26th and then we have finals to May 2nd. So all you high schoolers hang in there because next year you will be done by April!!!

Well here we are at the end of the last journal at the end of the year. Looking back, if I had to offer advice to any freshies coming into school, it would be that college is whatever you make of it. If you think that it is nothing but work and stress, then you won’t have a good time; likewise, if you think that it is all fun and games and partying, your grades will suffer from it. You have to find a middle ground where you do well in school, but still enjoy your college experience. Show up in August with a smile on your face, your mind open to different things, and go meet people. Don’t be shy and hide away, you have plenty of time to do that later in the year! I think that it is real important to be social and meet new people and make friends, because they are going to be in the same boat as you. Everyone is in a new place with new freedoms and it’s good to make friends so you can keep each other in check. Remember, most everyone is new at the whole college thing, so don’t think that everyone knows what’s going on because there are probably a whole bunch of people who don’t have a clue. Before you know it, college will seem normal and you will have trouble remembering what it was like before hand. When I started writing these journals, I had no idea what was going on and I was just trying to figure everything out. Now here it is April and I can’t remember what that feeling was like! So if it gets tough at times, no need to worry because you will have people right along side of you that are going through the same thing; and by the end of the year, you’ll be a pro . . . like me!

I can still remember back to 12th grade when I would go online and see when the next set of student journals were published. I was so excited about going to Embry-Riddle and I had so many questions and thoughts, but I never asked anyone or talked to the student journal writers. And when I got here, I began to learn things on my own and I tried to share them with all of you. Well now that I know everything (well most of everything!) I find it difficult to put myself in your shoes. I forgot what it was like to not know anything and be completely new to the world of college. That’s why I hope these journals helped paint a picture of what college at Embry-Riddle is like and I hope that you have enjoyed reading them. I strongly urge anyone who is interested to think about writing these journals next year. When you come to Riddle, there will be some sort of announcement that describes how you can become a journal writer, and I hope that you would consider it. When I read last year’s journals, there was a lot of useful information and it was entertaining, but there was still so much that I was curious about. So when this year began, I started writing these journals and I tried to go above and beyond and make them something special. I didn’t want these journals to be boring or lacking entertainment or information, so I tried to make them as best I could; I think that I did a pretty good job. I posted some good pictures, a couple of videos, and hopefully you learned a lot about life here at Riddle. So now, at the end, I offer a challenge to the next set of students to come to Riddle. I want someone to go above and beyond what I have done. If there is anyone out there who has more questions, or if something was made unclear when I explained it (or didn’t explain it at all), I want you to write these journals and include anything that I missed. If there is anyone out there that reads these journals as religiously as I did, you know that it isn’t just text on a computer screen. I read the journals and soaked up everything that I laid my eyes on, these journals were the only connection between my dreams about going to Riddle and actually going there. So just think about it; if you enjoyed these journals as much as I did, take the time to write them next year and share your experiences and wisdom with the next set of students. Try to come up with more things to offer, try to give more information, try to be funnier (probably won’t be though). I honestly hope that these journals have meant something to you guys out there and I’ll try not to get too teary-eyed *sniffle* but I really did enjoy writing these. Also, thanks to everyone who wrote emails and I hope that I answered any and all questions that were asked. If I didn’t reply to anyone, please let me know because things have been pretty crazy lately. If there is anything that anyone needs to know or if you just want to congratulate me on writing these awesome journals, you know my email. Feel free to write me over the summer or look me up once you get on campus! I hope that everyone’s year ends well and that you are looking forward to coming to the best school around! I guess that’s it! I think I have said all I needed to say . . . so until next time we meet . . . don’t forget that the big signs on the side of the road with numbers that say ‘speed limit’ aren’t recommendations. It’s probably best that you don’t exceed those numbers because there are a lot of people who get upset when you do that. Hmmmm, yeah. That’s how we’ll end it.

-Blake
email: wasteofsoap@yahoo.com
aim: wasteofsoap
pictures: http://new.photos.yahoo.com/wasteofsoap/
videos: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=blakeguiles

April 23

*sniffles* So, you may be wondering why I’m holding back from tears. As you guys may know, this is my LAST journal submission to you guys. So, this is the last time you will all read about my life on Embry-Riddle’s website. If you are on Facebook, however, then you can follow up on the rest of my college life by adding me!

Okay, so this is a REALLY sad time of my life here in college when the semester is almost over, classes start wrapping up, exams are almost here and we must all say our goodbyes at the end of it all. But before I get into all the mushy stuff, let me tell you about the past 2 weeks here at Riddle. Classes have already been ending and some of them have not completed the course yet. I am officially done with 3 out of my 5 classes and have not begun studying for the finals yet! I don’t plan on starting till an hour before the test, just kidding! I must say, I had a lot of fun with all my professors; the good and the bad ones. Speech class was amazing where I gave a total of 4 speeches that were all great, Physics was a breeze since I already knew most of the material from high school, Basic Aeronautics 2 was fantastic- I had the best professor EVER!!! Accounting class was very informative to say the least. Information Technology was very fun and interesting; I really learned a lot in that class! Overall, this semester’s school work was very strenuous but I value every little bit of knowledge I have gained!

Alright, onto the fun part! So, like I said, the end of the semester is here, so a couple friends and I decided that we should do something together before we start finals. So, this past weekend, 3 of my closest friends and I drove down to Miami! One of them lived there, so we got around easily-thank God! Alright, so we left Saturday morning and got into Miami in the afternoon and went straight to the malls to do some SHOPPING! Yes, who doesn’t love to shop?! Anyway, so we got some cool stuff. And then, after that we decided to go plane spotting at Miami International Airport! I’ve never actually gone plane spotting before, so that was like the highlight of my impromptu trip. That night, my parents were in Miami on business, so we met up with them and then headed over to our friend Guillermo’s house for dinner- you know, the one who lives there. They’re Dominican, so we had authentic Dominican food that was ‘muy sabroso’..? haha, I have to work on my Spanish. After, we went to the hotel room that my parents got for us that night at the Courtyard Marriott and not too long after being restless in the room, we headed out to downtown Miami! WOO HOO! That was CrAzY!!! So busy and full of people just ‘partying it up’! Came back to the room around 3am and hit the bed.

The next day, my parents took us out to dinner at P.F. Chang’s restaurant and right after, we left them and headed back to the airport for even MORE plane spotting! YAY. We ended up getting back into Daytona Beach around 12:30am Monday morning. Now, that was one of the most fun weekends I have ever had here at Riddle; and it wasn’t even in Daytona! Haha.

So, now comes the part where I must bid all of you goodbye. It has been such a wonderful pleasure and experience to write to all of you guys and share my life here at Embry-Riddle with you. I do hope that you enjoyed reading all my submissions and that you will share some of the good and bad experiences that I had here at college because without the bad, how would we know what’s good? Do not hesitate to contact me at all with any questions or comments that you may have; even if you just wanna talk more, just add me on facebook (search for my name), my aim is ‘xtriniboix’ and email is pundib07@erau.edu. It has been an honor and a privilege to write to you guys and I’d like to thank the one who made it all possible, Jill Meredith who works in admissions. I love you Jill! Thanks to all of you out there who have contacted me and now have became my friends. Thanks to my friends for making my freshman year in college an unforgettable experience. Thanks to my parents for supporting me and loving me unconditionally. Thanks! Thanks to everyone who has made a difference not only to my life, but to the world! All the best in getting to Riddle, pre-freshmen! Can’t wait to meet a few of you!

Take care, and once again, thank you for choosing Vick Airways!

Have a good one!

Your (Preferred) Student Journal Writer,
Vick!

Quote of the week: Life is too short to live the same day twice!

Peace

April 12

Greetings Internet Friends,

Welcome to the countdown. We are looking at only three weeks left. If I could in some way explain the excitement and anticipation I am feeling right now I would, but this is just so unreal. I talked about this last time but I am way excited for the next year because I am coming up on the end of my trek towards a Bachelor’s Degree. That is something that is really truly exciting because when you get to this point you realize that you have been going to school for about 15 years and you have almost reached the goal that everyone set for you all those years ago.

Well enough of the day dreaming. Let’s report the news. Three weeks to go folks. I don’t how close you are to the end of your semester, but let me fill you in on college life. Time flies during the semester. In high school, your semester might extend over winter break and even when your semester changes your classes are relatively the same thing every semester. That’s kind of how my high school seemed at least. But, when you get to college it is straight through 16 weeks and out. No slowing down or breaks. The time goes extremely fast and here at Riddle we are on the semester system. Universities on the quarter system only push through 10 weeks and then the quarter is over. All I’m saying is be prepared to hit the ground running when you get to college. If you kick your legs a little before you hit the ground, you have a little momentum built up and you don’t get run over. Either that or tuck and roll. Learn to adapt so that when you enter this different style you just roll with the changes. Okay, those were kind of awkward but I think the point got across. College is fast paced. Be ready for it.

I think the reason I got on that is because I just looked at my schedule and saw things starting to stack up. My classes are beginning to come to a close and final assignments and exams are lurking around the corner. I am fortunate enough that nothing is lining up on top of each other. I will have a steady flow of work for the next few weeks. Next week, I have an advanced engineering math exam early in the week and a thermodynamics exam late in the week. I also have to throw in a couple of homework assignments in the middle there with a Tech Report Writing Paper rough draft due. The week after that I have a resume and cover letter due and preparation for my final exams including one final that might take place on the last class meeting. Then finals for three days and it’s all over. I am really going to have to stay focused and just keep working. There will be stress, oh yes, but this is the time I really enjoy. It’s a time to test my ability to work under pressure. And then when the three push is over, I get that chance to just sit down and take a look back. You look at everything you accomplished and you just feel awesome.

Oh the other thing to take into account when you start to get into finals is how you balance your time and how much you focus on your work. I’m sure you all have had the experiences currently towards the end of the year when your friends start wanting to have fun. The summer is calling to you and there are little fun events around campus involving end of the year celebration. The college scene is amplified ten fold. There are concerts, parties, campus functions, student organization events. Being that I am staying for summer, I can hear that sweet beach calling my name. There have also been tons of other events that are totally exciting. There is a concert coming up this weekend hosted by Touch ‘N Go. If I remember correctly, country music star Gary Allan will be performing. I’m not exactly a country music fan but the concert environment is always a great time. The University Block Party Event is coming up as well. I have never been to one but I’m told it is a lot of fun and from the sounds of all the activities and events planned I’m sure it will be a great day. Last week we went to the Up ‘Til Dawn Finale event which is a 7PM to 7AM party in the University Center. A lot of fun and I encourage you to join in the event not only for the fun, but also for the cause. I seriously encourage you to consider getting involved with Up ‘Til Dawn and at the very least, attend their events. These along with all the events of the other student organizations you get involved with provide for a really busy social life. Remember to stay on top of your work because that is why you are spending all this money to be here after all.

As far as what I have been up to, I will be attending that concert this weekend. I am currently working on my application to become a Morale Captain for Up ‘Til Dawn. I am also starting to get involved with ERFSEDS (Embry-Riddle Future Space Explorers and Developers Society). I am also preparing for my move off campus. That is a big deal. When the first semester was over, I just had to pack up some clothes to take home with me. This time, I have to pack up everything I own which now includes some furniture I bought throughout the year. Fortunately the move is only down the street to an apartment and not all the way back to California. Oh yea, my apartment. It’s pretty sweet. I will be living with Cat and we have been accepted and left our deposit so the apartment is ours. We will be here all Summer taking Summer session courses and working.

It is now 11PM and for the first time all year, I am going to get to bed on a Wednesday night before midnight. This is a good sign. I hope all is well with everyone. If anyone is taking a tour or visiting the campus and you see me around, stop me and say hi.

Until we meet again,
Steve

April 11

HEY ALL!!!!

YAY

OK, so I’m really happy these days because school couldn’t be better! VERY little homework, flight’s going great, friends are getting closer, more going out, doing a lot of exciting new things! WOW! Ok, so maybe that doesn’t sound like school at all, but hey, it is what you make of it…and I’ve been making it a hell of a lot of fun! Haha

Ok, so BIG news! I SOLOED! For those of you who don’t know what that means, my instructor deemed me capable of taking the Cessna 172 up in the air, do a few landings and take-offs by myself! YAY!!! So, I knew the day was coming up soon, but it was sprung up on me one day when we took off; and sadly I was wearing one of my favorite shirts that morning; reason I said that was because after your solo, the shirt you flew in is normally cut up and written up all over it to celebrate and remember your first time in the plane by yourself. Ok, so it was early morning on April 4th, beautiful day out in Daytona Beach. So, I decided to go over to New Smyrna Beach Airport to practice landings and traffic patterns that day. Well, my instructor and I headed over there and he did 3 landings with me then we taxied over to the tower where he told me I was going to solo! Shortly after, he de-planed the aircraft and I was there, sitting in the plane, and the first thing that came to mind was: “OH MY GOD…I can’t believe I’m about to do this!” Alright, so obviously I was nervous as hell, but I realized being nervous was not going to keep me safe in that airplane. So, I simply focused on what needed to be done, did all my checklists, everything went fine. Then, I took off from runway 29, did my traffic patterns just fine, landed perfectly, taxied over to the runway and took off again. I did 3 take-offs and 3 landings that were the best I think I ever did! I swear, I wish I took pics to put here for ya’ll, but you just have to believe me for now. Haha!

Congratulations to ME!

Alright, so the next big thing I wanted to tell ya’ll was that I went SKYDIVING! YES! A few friends and I wanted to do it sometime, but we never set a date to do it. So, last week Thursday, we decided to go the next day (Friday). So, we drove over to Deland airport around 2pm after our classes on Friday. Yes, I was nervous; more nervous that doing my solo, but hey I didn’t pay 200 dollars to stay on the ground. So, my friend Blanca (another student journal writer) and I boarded the plane, climbed to 13,500 feet where we leveled off shortly, then jumped off and free-fell for around 1.5 minutes directly over Deland airport. After that, the parachute deployed and we glided for about 4 minutes down onto the airport. Well, I must say, that was the most MINDBLOWING experience I have ever had in my life! Simply AmAzInG! WOW! If I get my pictures anytime soon, I will post them up in the next journal, I promise!

Ugh, ok so let’s get back to boring school. Boo. Lately, my professors don’t give us a lot of homework and projects so, YAY me! Also, registration for classes is coming up soon for freshmen, so once again we will over-ride and shut-down the system like we did last semester.

So, that’s all about my exciting life within the last couple days. I also would like to thank all of you out there who contacted me with questions and stuff. Thanks! All the best to you with applying to Riddle.

Have a safe 2 weeks!

Bye!

Quote of the week: “high school called; it wants its drama back!”

April 10

One word . . . wow. I can’t believe there is only 3 weeks left of school. This semester has flown by and I can hardly even remember the fall semester. I know one thing is for sure, I’ve never been so busy doing so many different things. All my professors have decided it would be a good idea to have exams at the same time so I have been studying like a mad man for all of those, and finally they are over! But I have another set coming up in 3 weeks then I have finals! I don’t think I am going to have the chance to rest until the end of the year! I am super busy but I am still having a great time, especially with my classes . . . (how’s that for a segway!)

TTh – Physics 104 – Well, with last semester and this semester combined, I took 7 tests and a final, and so far I have gotten A’s on all of them. I guess I like physics. I have always been good at math and things that only have one answer. Anything like English or writing papers I am horrible at. I always seem to be wrong, but with physics there is only one answer and I know the answer. So it all works out. We’ve got one more test then our final so hopefully I’ll keep up the A’s.

TTh – Basic Aeronautics II – We took our third test in this class as well and I did pretty darn good! I ended up with a 90 which should bring up my test average because I got an A on my first test but a C on my second. So hopefully I’ll take our fourth and final test and bring up my average. Other than that, we are just cramming a whole bunch of material before classes are over. In the beginning of the semester, we had all this free time, but now we are cruisin’ through stuff and we won’t stop until the very last day!

MWF – Air Traffic Control I – We took our third test in here as well and I still don’t know what I got. I think I did pretty well but I’ll find out for sure by next class. Aside from that, not to much new here!

MWF – Intro to Psychology – Since our professors like to give tests all at the same time, I also had my third psych test and once again I think I did pretty well but I won’t find out until next class. However, we did have a pretty heated debate the other day. For some reason we were talking about plagiarism and we started talking about students who wrote a paper for one class and then later on down the road, they turned in their same paper in a different class. My professor said that that was unethical and nobody agreed with him. Everyone said since you wrote the paper, you should be able to turn it in however many times you want. After 20 minutes of a heated debate I raised my hand and said I agreed with the professor to a certain extent and everyone was saying ‘come on! what?!?!?!’ because literally everyone else disagreed with him. Then the professor said ‘oh come on . . . you might want to leave the class early so you don’t have to be confronted by the mob.’ It was all a joke but it was pretty funny. Anyways, psych still seems to be one of my favorite subjects so I would definitely recommend Dr. Kring as a professor to all you future students out there!

Flight – Well it has been pretty rocky the past couple weeks because the weather has been pretty bad. I haven’t got to fly a lot, but I did do a solo cross-country to Gainesville. I’m not sure if there are any Gator fans out there, but I flew over Gainesville last Monday when they played Ohio State in basketball. So I thought that was a pretty cool time to fly over Gainesville. The flight itself went pretty well and I had a lot of fun. It is definitely pretty wild to be flying all alone up there. I just had a friend who did a solo cross-country down to Key West and I’m looking forward to when I get to do that some time next year. But as more time goes by I get closer and closer to finishing up my course and taking my check ride. So I have to start getting ready for everything because it is just around the corner!

This past two weeks I haven’t got the chance to do too many things besides study but I did find time to do some fun things; like ride a horse! My girlfriend has a horse that she has had for quite some time and I just recently went for a ride. I didn’t go real fast because frankly, I was kinda scared. I have no problem flying planes or jumping out of them, but when you ride a horse you are trying to control something that has a mind of its own. My parachute doesn’t have a mind of its own, I tell it what to do and then it does it. So riding a horse was pretty entertaining. I had fun and I was riding for a little while and then I decided that I wanted to go faster, and then I almost fell off. I’ve decided that horse riding isn’t for me. I’ll stick with jumping out of planes. Speaking of which, I just made my 22nd jump and I’m lovin’ it. I’d recommend that everyone drive over to DeLand (20 minutes west) and at least check it out while you are down here. It’s quite a rush!

Other than risking my life on horses and jumping out of planes, I went to another concert with my girlfriend. I don’t know if anyone has heard of Stephen Lynch, but he is a comedian song-writer with a bit of a mature approach. It definitely wasn’t the cleanest show, but it was pretty funny. Coming up in two weeks, I am going with some friends down to Tampa to watch a Tampa Bay Lightning playoff game. It should be pretty fun and I hope they win!!!

Also, Easter was this past Sunday and I got the chance to see some of my family which was nice. We went to my Uncle’s house and did the whole lunch then Easter egg hunt. I use to be the one who would look for the eggs, but by the age of 15 my mom wouldn’t let me do it anymore. I’m not sure why, because I was really good. Anyways, now I hide the eggs and I am a pretty good hider. I am also pretty tall and I could get eggs in places where no one could reach. Which isn’t really the point, but it’s fun for me anyway. So Easter was a success this year.

Other than that, I have just been busy busy busy studying and all that good stuff. Life here at Riddle is going pretty well. I’m coming up to the end of the semester and I’ve got to make sure I finish the year strong! I’d love to write more, but I’m not sure what to write! I’m staying busy, I’m having fun, and life is good!!!! Now it is time for me to try to get some rest while I can! It’s gonna get crazy here again in a week so I need to rest while I can! I love exclamation points! I’ll see ya later!

-Blake
email: wasteofsoap@yahoo.com
aim: wasteofsoap
videos: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=blakeguiles

April 10, 2007

Tests, Tests, Tests

Test always seem to come in rounds in College. You have tests for all of your classes within about four days of each other. Hopefully your teachers let you know well ahead of time that you are going to have a test.

Weird stuff: I’m sure this has happened to many college students, but it is kind of strange to be surfing around on facebook and then see a few of your high-school-mates in wedding pictures for their own wedding. Not that I have any problem with marriage, but I don’t know. Wait until you graduate and get into college and then see your friends’ wedding pictures where they are drinking apple juice instead of wine to toast because they are not 21. It’s just weird. So that was my little tangent on that. Thought it was worth mentioning that uh people, I guess, really DO grow up after high school. Sometimes maybe a little too fast, eh?

Things have been moving pretty slow since I finished my recent wave of exams. However, the semester’s end is coming a little too quickly for my tastes. I turn around and we only have two and a half weeks left of my first year of college! Time flies when you’re having fun or working your toosh off. Literally, I think the last time I actually thought about it, we had a month left and then POOF two weeks!!! It’s nice though.

Except that I am staying to take classes over the summer, so I don’t really get much of a break. Steve and I are going to Virginia right after our last exams, picking up furniture, and driving back to Daytona with Sophie in tow! We made our security deposit on the apartment today, and we were told that we can look at our ACTUAL apartment sometime next week after they clean it. I’m full of antici…….pation.

The weather in Daytona has been dismal the last few days. It’s not Floridian at all, to be honest, which takes some of the fun out of it. We’ve managed to keep ourselves fairly busy, though. Been bowling a lot. I’m getting better, not that I was ever truly terrible.

Anyway my point is that even when you can’t laze around in the sun at the beach or have a cookout in the pits outside, there’s still stuff to do. Shopping, movies, and bowling. I think for my last journal of the semester I’ll give you all a run down of things you ought to see and do (and eat) in Daytona. Hopefully it will prove a helpful little guide for you when you come to Riddle, which I know all of you undoubtedly will, right?

OH! And I just registered for fall semester classes last night under my new and improved SOPHOMORE status! Yay! And just so you know, registering as a freshman sucks because you are the DEAD LAST people to register and you are all battling for the same classes. Trust me; it gets a lot better once you are bumped up. I didn’t have any problems at all with my registration this time, AND the server didn’t completely crap out like it did when our 1,000+ freshmen tried to register for spring classes at the end of last fall semester. So yeah, it gets better. Don’t fret.

That’s all for this week. Email me if you feel the need! Rumbebb5@erau.edu

March 29

Welcome back friends!

We have begun our final leg of the journey. We are now one month away from the end of my first year here at Embry-Riddle. Don’t take this the wrong way, but I am totally excited to be done with this year. This has nothing to do with Riddle. It has everything to do with the things to come in the next year or so.

First of all, I am now finishing my third year of college. Although I am not right on track to graduate in four years, I am still looking at the end of my college career and it is definitely approaching fast. If I work hard and stay on track, I should graduate in 4 years. That sets me to graduate during the Fall 2008 semester. It is really exciting to see all this work finally approaching the reward I’ve been working for. I am also looking forward to this next year because I will be moving off campus into my own apartment again. As I have said many times before, Campus housing is great, but nothing beats the freedom of your own place.

As far as current events go, I am working hard to keep up with all my work. This last week has been rather difficult. Coming back from Spring Break always is. You go from not having any schedule or work to do, to being right back in your normal routine. It is a hard transition. This year was especially difficult. I went out with a few friends the Monday night after we got back and we ended up in a crisis that was not anticipated. We ended up staying awake almost all night, which was not at all what we intended to do. We worked out the situation, but as a result of the energy and lack of sleep, I ended up getting sick. I spent all of Tuesday and Wednesday in bed trying to recover from my illness and this put me way behind. I was finally able to get to class on Thursday and turn in homework and get caught up. However, I took a hit in the energy department in the process. A lesson can be learned here I think. You will have to excuse my language, but sometimes sh*t happens. Sometimes you just can’t control a situation and it completely throws off your plans. You have to learn to work around an issue and make things work, even if that requires missing a day or two to recover from an illness. If you relax, gather your thoughts and work through the hard time, you will eventually get caught up. By the way, this process may result in a few late nights. That’s enough about that.

Spring Break was awesome. I turned 21 so as you can imagine, there was a bit of a celebration here. I’ll be honest, I did buy alcohol and I did drink. It was a great time and I wouldn’t have traded it for anything. Another lesson here. Whether or not you choose to drink or party is your business. If you choose to drink/party, do so responsibly. Always drink responsibly, always designate a driver, and never do anything that could potentially risk your life or the lives of anybody you encounter. Just be smart about the situation. Back to me. So I did enjoy my Spring Break and I am going to be meeting my brother in Las Vegas in a few weeks to fully embrace my new found legality.

Well, that is about it for now. I have to get some rest so that I stay healthy for the next few weeks. They are going to be crazy. Four weeks left and I have at least one exam and one final in each class. That along with trying to find an internship or job for the Summer and planning my courses for the Fall. Trying to squeeze in some fun on the weekends including the Up ‘Til Dawn Finale Event and hanging out with friends. This month is going to be nuts! (That means awesome)

Until Next Time, Stay Cool
Steve

March 27

Well, hello there!

So once again I am here to grace the world’s presence with my words of wisdom. Ok, ok so I’m not a guru or anything, but hey who said a Riddle student isn’t smart?!

So, the last two weeks have been nothing but wonderful! I mean, I didn’t have much work at school to do for the first week, then the second was spring break! YAY

Ok, so I had my financial accounting test on the Thursday before spring break and well, that sucked! I mean, not only did I have to study while my mind was perfectly set up in vacation mode, but the test was hard as a b*tch! UGH! Sorry for the language, but oh my god, I bet if you had to do that exam, you would have said the same thing! I made an 80 (B), the highest grade was like 98 and then the second highest was like 83; class average was 75- ok, so that’s a ‘C’ (pass) but the professor had no consideration for how bad his class average was and blamed us all for not studying hard enough. Whatever, the rest of my classes are fine with A’s, so I’m not that bothered by it. The next big problem I have to face is a huge debate on abortion for speech class that I have to plan out for Tuesday.

Anyway, enough about school; let’s talk about spring break 2007!!! What did you do???

Well, before you brag about yours, let me brag first! Haha.

Ok, so on March 17th, at 1pm, I departed Daytona Beach for Atlanta, GA on Delta Airlines, then connected onto Delta’s flight to good ole Trinidad and Tobago! Yes, yes I went home for a week, and it was awesome! I landed at 8pm that night in Trinidad and some friends and family and I boarded the first flight to Tobago the next morning at 7am. OH MY GOD- GORGEOUS! Here’s a picture for ya’ll to see!

Well, those 2 days in Tobago were amazing! I did sooo many things in less than 48 hours than I did at any time here in Daytona Beach during the same amount of time or maybe I did, oh well, whatever! Hehe

So, I ate as much Trinidadian food as possible- curried crab, fried bake and fried shark, macaroni pie, Indian delicacies, and so much more! And I am aware that you may not know what some of the foods are, but you only must try to love it! haha.

The remaining 5 days were spent in Trinidad with my family and friends at the malls, movies, dinner, parties here and there, loved it!

Sunday morning the 25th, I boarded Delta Airlines 8am flight to ATL again then connected onto the 4:30pm flight to DAB which got delayed until 6:30pm! Well, by the time I got back into my room in Adams hall that night, I was beat and I my stomach was not cooperating well with the rest of my body! So, I dropped my suitcase, climbed into my lofted bed and passed out! Thank god I didn’t have to fly the next morning!

Speaking of flight, my solo was supposed to be the Friday before spring break, but that morning, the weather was terrible, so it didn’t happen!

And like I said, I got ill with my stomach that Sunday so that’s also why I didn’t fly that Monday (yesterday) morning. It had gotten so bad that I ended up in the hospital last night around midnight. Imagine a pain like a few knifes stabbing up your stomach; yeah, that’s how it felt. I apologize for the graphical description, but it’s the best way to describe it. But I feel a little better now! So, hopefully I should be flying on Friday morning!

So, that’s my two weeks in a couple words.

Hope you guys have been safe and good and haven’t gotten into a lot of trouble lately!

Have a wonderful upcoming two weeks! See ya then!

We are aware that you have a choice when it comes to flying, so thank you for once again choosing Vick-Airways! Have a wonderful stay wherever you may be!

Quote of the week: “life happens while you’re busy making plans”

March 27

Spring Break is over, and I’m pretty bummed. I definitely had an amazing spring break, but now it is time to go back to the real world. The end of the year is right around the corner and there is still a lot that I need to do. So, time to get back to work and start getting things done! Since last week was spring break, there hasn’t been much going on in my classes, but I’ll see what I can remember.

TTh – Physics 104 – I know we have a test coming up in a week or two, so I know I’ll be studying some time soon. But other than that, not to much to write about.

TTh – Basic Aeronautics II – We took our second test before spring break, and I didn’t do as well as I wanted. When I took the first test, I felt prepared and I knew that I knew the material. This past test wasn’t exactly like that; it was more of a surprise. I ended up with a C, so I didn’t fail it or anything, but now I’m going to have to work on bringing up my average.

MWF – Air Traffic Control I – Once again, not to much to write about in here. We are getting ready for our next test which should be in about 2 weeks or so. Other than that, yep.

MWF – Intro to Psychology – Since spring break was last week, there is once again nothing new to write. So use your imagination to come up with an interesting story that sounds like something I would write!

Flight – Well, there are some new things going on with my flying. First off, I had my first local solo and it was amazing! I already soloed in December, but that was when I flew to an airport, dropped off my instructor, and flew in the traffic pattern. Now, for my local solo I never saw my instructor and I was 100% alone! I left Daytona and did some maneuvers around the area then flew to Ormond Beach and did a couple landings. It was pretty incredible to think that just a couple months ago I had never flown a plane and now I’m the pilot, the only pilot! My next activity is a solo cross-country, so I will probably fly to Gainesville all alone. I’ll be sure to let you know how that goes.

Well, for spring break I got to see a lot of my friends from high school and we had way too much fun. I started off the break by driving with 6 of my friends to North Carolina to stay in one of my friend’s cabin. The drive alone was an adventure, but then we all went snowboarding. I have been snowboarding for about 2 years along with my other friend, then 2 of my friends have only been once, and then the other 3 friends have never been before. So we definitely had some fun. There are so many stories that I could tell, but that would take way too long. Some of the highlights: My friend Freddy being towed behind the ski patrol down the mountain, the random freeze blasts, and learning first hand that driving fast in the snow and on ice is probably not a good idea unless you want to see the side of the road up close. We drove up to NC on Thursday, snowboarded on Friday and Saturday, and then drove back on Sunday. It was a short trip, but it was a blast. Hopefully, we will do it again next year.

After I got back on Sunday, I went home and then on Monday I flew out to Colorado to see my friend Alex. I went to high school with Alex and he is now attending the University of Colorado at Boulder. So I flew out to see him and do some serious snowboarding. I was out there for a week and it was amazing. I have lived in Florida all my life, and I am very grateful when I get the opportunity to go some place cold and snowboard. We went over to Copper and Winter Park and we had a blast. I’m used to snowboarding on the east coast, which means there isn’t a lot of powder but there is ice. Well in Colorado, it snowed one night and even before that there was tons of powder. It was so crazy to be snowboarding and then all of a sudden look down at your knees and you can’t see anything below them. I got stuck on more than one occasion, more like 100 occasions. It was such a different experience than I am use too, and I loved it! We did a lot of riding all over; we were in the trees, goin’ over moguls, in the terrain parks, everywhere! I’m already planning my next trip out there some time next year. It should be a blast!

While I was in Colorado, we did a bunch of other stuff as well. We went to a place called Boondocks which is the best place ever! They had go-karts, mini-golf, a huge arcade, and laser tag. We went and spent hours there and had so much fun. They had a strict rule about bumping for the go-karts, but that didn’t stop me from wiping out anyone that got near me. We went with one of Alex’s friends and I tried at every opportunity to wreck them. We also played laser tag, and my teammate was this 10 year-old who had been playing all day. Let’s just say that we crushed them and our score was very very good. Then we played some arcade games and some other games that you play and get tickets. The ticket games are a rip off because you barely get any tickets and all the good prizes are worth 10,000 tickets, so we didn’t play too many ticket games. But there was this one game, it was broken and wouldn’t stop spewing out tickets. Instead of telling anyone, we just got them to put more tickets in the machine after it spewed all them out. I’m not sure why it kept spilling tickets, but it did so we just kept collecting them. When we decided that we had enough tickets, we told someone else and they started to collect tickets. We ended up with around 1800 tickets and we split them up into 3 sets of 600 and gave them to different kids. So, maybe it was wrong to just keep getting tickets out of an obviously broken machine without telling anyone it was broken, but in the end we made 3 kids real happy. So I don’t have a guilty conscious.

Other than snowboarding and Boondocks, I got to meet a bunch of Alex’s friends, eat out at a bunch of delicious local restaurants, and did some hiking on some mountains. Overall the whole trip was a blast. Well, I’d hate to have another short journal, but I have to make sure I get back into the rhythm of school. I have so much I need to do in the next couple of weeks, and I can hardly believe there is only 5 weeks left! So I’m going to go get some stuff done, and next journal I will write and write and write until everyone is tired of reading! Yay! Also, I will put up some videos on the web soon, so be sure to check themsoon. See ya!

-Blake
email: wasteofsoap@yahoo.com
aim: wasteofsoap
videos: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=blakeguiles

March 23 – March 25

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This weekend, I decided to have the weekend to myself. I did not hang out with anyone. I wanted to start unpacking some boxes and see what was in them since I hadn’t gotten a chance to look at them. I also wanted to start packing up stuff and throwing away things I did not use or need.[1. This is a footnote.] It was sort of a Spring cleaning.

I also started working on homework since my projects are due within the next couple of weeks. And I had 3 group projects due for my technical communications class. I stayed up until 1 a.m. on Sunday night because one of the group members hadn’t finished his part of the project and we had to tally up the votes and do some calculations and graphs.

Also my roommate, Cheese, had more people coming into town for Spring Break. I was nervous because I wanted to sleep and I know what happens when his friends come to town. I was glad they were only staying until Monday and for the rest of the week they were going to be staying in Orlando. They did wake me up on Sunday night, but this time it didn’t go all night long. I even woke up because I got confused because it was so quiet at 4 am.

I forgot to mention that I got a call on Thurs by my career counselor. She was informing me that one of the internships was interested in me and that they were interviewing students on Monday for internships. This internship is in Dallas/Ft. Worth. I have not lived here, but I have visited and driven through here.

I may go Skydiving on Friday. I am supporting Hilda who has paid 3 times to go, but has not been able to actually do it because of her fear. There is also a concealed weapons course that I want to take, but I am not sure if I have time. There is also an Up Til’ Dawn Finale, which is a dance marathon, looking forward to that.

If you have any questions feel free to ask.