Well here it is at the end of the semester and I still can’t believe that I am at Riddle and done with one semester. I have officially finished all my classes and I am pretty sure I got all As and one B, which I am very happy with.

I found that Riddle is a challenging school, but it is something that I have great interest in so I found it pretty easy to do well. I picked my classes for next semester and I am pretty happy with the schedule. I’ll tell you what it is and all that next journal, but for now I’ll talk about the past two weeks and what not.

So, I guess we’ll do something different and start with classes . . . Speech- I am now able to speak in front of large groups because I am a master speaker. Well, not really, but I can prepare a speech about skydiving and be somewhat entertaining. I finished everything I was assigned and I got an A in the class. All in all, I don’t know if I would want to do it again, but I am glad I took the class and I think it will help me sometime in the future. Oh, and since my group debate was my final, I don’t have any other test, so that’s a plus.

Physics- We have been reviewing for our final this past two weeks, and that’s pretty much it. I will take the final on the 12th and then I will be done. Not only with physics, but all my classes. So that is something to look forward to.

Business- My group that I was in had to do a presentation about what we learned in the class and it was more or less an excuse for me to go up in front of 40 other people and make an idiot of myself. I find it hard to do an entire presentation without any laughing, so I always try to make it interesting. We did a skit that showed the difference between manipulation and influence and I was the crazy person who manipulated people. It was fun and I am pretty sure our professor liked it, which is usually a good thing. We have a final on the 10th and it is the type of final that you can’t study for so I’m not stressed about it.

Basic Aeronautics- We took our 3rd exam last week, which was kinda like our final. We only had 3 exams and we aren’t scheduled for a final which is good, kind of. My first two exams weren’t bad, but I could have done better. And since they weren’t the best, it was really hard to get an A in the class so I ended up with a high B. It’s definitely not the end of the world by any means, just next time I will make a little more effort.

College Success- Haven’t had this class since Thanksgiving, so nothing really new. There is one thing though . . . I used to go to Einstein’s before class and get a delicious turkey and cheese sandwich on a bagel, but since I don’t have that class anymore, I don’t go there anymore. I think I might go grab one for lunch soon though. MMmmmmmmmmhhhhhh, delicious turkey cheese bagel treat. . . . . . . . . .

Meteorology- We took our 3rd exam in this class as well and we also have an optional final. But unfortunately, I don’t need a final in meteorology; I need one in basic aeronautics. I have an A in the class and I got a 94 on the last test, so I won’t be taking the final, unless I get really bored. But even then, probably won’t.

Flight- I have been progressing along in a reasonable fashion and I have been enjoying every second of it. It is frustrating at times, but it is so much fun. I have been building up to my solo and every lesson I get a little bit closer. Well I have reached a big point recently, which is my check ride. A check ride is a flight right before you solo that is with an instructor that is certified by the FAA to determine if you as a pilot are capable of flying alone. Well, I just had my check ride and it went alright. It wasn’t too good, but not too bad either. I made some mistakes but I definitely learned from them and overall it went pretty good. I ended up passing which means I am almost going to do a solo flight! I have one more activity where I review some basic things before I solo. So, I should solo in the next week or so!!! I still can’t believe that I am going to solo soon, but it will hit me soon enough.

I have been pretty busy with classes lately, but they are winding down and finals are approaching fast. A lot of my friends have early finals and they are already on their way home. As for me, I should be here until the 14th. Even though finals are coming up and last-minute projects are trying to get down, my friends and I still try to have fun.

In other news, one of my friends has been playing the lottery a lot. He would always go to the 7-11 and spend any where from $10 to $50 on scratch-offs. He usually never wins, and if by the off chance he does, he just spends the money on more scratch-offs. At first it was kind of funny watching him walk around saying “I’m gonna go play the lottery, anyone wanna come?” He would get so happy but never win. Well eventually, some of my other friends and me told him he needed to stop wasting money and if he was going to waste money, waste it on something entertaining. So with that in mind, we decided to go to the local dog track and waste some money there.

All in all, we had a nice dinner and lost $5-$10 a piece and had fun. The way I look at it, we could have seen a movie, but instead we saw dogs run around a track. So I guess the lesson learned is that there is always a funner way to lose money than you are currently wasting it. And I was going to say “more fun” but “funner” just works better. After our fun time at the dog track, myself and two of my friends headed up and over to Gainesville to visit some friends that attend the University of Florida.

I don’t know how many people are into sports, but the Gators are going against Ohio State in football in January and the entire city of Gainesville went crazy when they found out. We were visiting and just checking out the huge campus of UF and everyone was going crazy about their football team. At Riddle, I don’t really feel a sense of strong school pride when it comes to sports, but we do have some good teams. But the Gators worship their football team and they were very excited when they found out they were going against the Buckeyes. My friends were probably the most ecstatic and even a week after the news they are still talking about it nonstop. Anyways, we had fun in Gainesville and it’s always cool to see other college campuses and there are a lot around Florida.

On another totally random topic, I went with my step-brother to see George Carlin perform in Clearwater (right outside of Tampa). If you don’t know who George Carlin is, I suggest you stop reading this and go Goggle George Carlin and read everything you can about him. He is a comedian in his late 60s and has been in the industry for nearly 50 years. He has always been one of my favorite comedians and I am so glad that I got to see him. Although his comedy isn’t for everyone, I think he is very insightful, thought provoking, and downright hilarious. Also, it was nice getting to see my step-brother who is also a freshman and attends UCF in Orlando.

Overall it was a lot of fun and I look forward to February when I will go see Ron White with my step-brothers and family. I don’t know if there are any Ron White fans out there, but I am a huge one and you will definitely hear about the show come February.

A couple days ago I got an e-mail asking about meal plans, roommates, and stuff to bring to Riddle. I thought I’d go ahead and just post it in my journal in case anyone else was curious.

Meal Plans: As a freshman, you are automatically enrolled for 14 meals per week. This means that you can use your card at various locations to get a meal which can be big or small depending on where you go. Once you have used all your meals for any given week (Sunday through Saturday) you have $100 in Riddle Bucks which is just like cash at any food location. So if you use all your meals you can still buy food with Riddle Bucks. From my own experience, I have found that 14 meals per week is too many for me. I personally don’t eat breakfast all the time and some times I will go out to eat with my parents or friends, which means at the end of the week I have extra meal plans that I can’t save. So if you think that you will eat breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday at Riddle, you might want to get 19 meals per week, but I personally wouldn’t get the unlimited one, because the unlimited one is only unlimited at the buffet style place. Pretty much you can go there all you want and eat all you want, but I can use 1 of my 14 meal plans and go inside and eat all I want anyway. I’m not sure if that makes sense but the buffet is all you can eat no matter what, you just have to stay inside the dining area, once you leave you will have to use another meal to get in anyway. So in conclusion, I think that 14 meals is plenty because I don’t know anyone that uses all of them. Also, you can always upgrade once you get here to anything. If anything is still unclear, just let me know or go here . . . http://www.erau.edu/db/dining/meal_plans.html

Stuff to bring: First off, I would highly recommend bringing a computer. Although there are several different places around campus to use a computer, having your own is the best. Other than a computer, I have some small storage bins in my room along with some small little bins. I find out that these come in handy when you are organizing stuff and they are good storage under your bed. I bought these from the Target up the road for a couple bucks, so no need to bring them down unless you really want to. You do have a desk with drawers and a dresser that can store a lot. Also, there is some room in the closest for storage bins and stuff. A list of common things can be found here http://www.erau.edu/db/dorms/housingfaq.html. I have a laundry hamper thing that helps with keeping my clothes off the ground and helps when I go do laundry.

In terms of dorms, I personally wanted to live in Doolittle and it just so happens that’s where I am. I’m not sure if I requested it or not, but you could call housing and ask them. (386) 323-8000 or at dbhousng@erau.edu. If you want an ROTC roommate, you will probably have to request it, but I’m not sure. Just contact housing because they will know better.

Hopefully that will answer anyone’s questions about meal plans or stuff to bring. Once again, if anything is unclear, feel free to shoot me an e-mail and I will do my best to answer any questions.

You won’t be hearing from me until early next year, but feel free to e-mail me at any time. I check it daily and will try to write you back as soon as I get the e-mail. As for the next couple weeks, I plan on working a little bit to get some money saved, going on my solo, spending Christmas with my family, snowboarding in New Hampshire with my friend, and going to Los Angeles to see Bob Barker and the Price Is Right!!!

I should be busy, but I will try to write down everything that happens so I can post it next Journal! I hope everyone has a wonderful, safe holiday season and I will see you guys next year!!!! Adios!!! -Blake

e-mail: wasteofsoap@yahoo.com aim: wasteofsoap

I have been SO sick the past few weeks. The illness kind of passed through my dorm in a wave, so I’m not the only one who was miserable. I visited health services, but I don’t think they could do much for me. It’s a virus, so it just has to kind of work its way out. I just wish it would work a little faster. Today marks the two week point. But I AM getting better. TIP: When you come to college, bring lots of medicine with you. I had no medicines, and no money to BUY medicines, so I just used what health services gave me until it was gone, which was about a week and a half ago. A better tip: Stay healthy, don’t get sick, and don’t share food/drinks with anyone.

As you can imagine, Riddle has been pretty busy the past few weeks. Lots of people were taking tests, preparing for exams, and Cassie and I had to do some shopping – we made little gifts for our buddies on the hall. That really made me feel all Christmasy. We just got them lots of candy and some personalized ornaments and holiday stickers. I think they liked them.

I’ve been really anxious to get home the past week, probably because finals have been kind of stressful. And I miss my family and friends back home.

I actually spent almost an entire day studying last weekend… Crazy. But it paid off. And now all my finals are DONE and I can relax at last. So my first college exams experience was tough, but not traumatizing. I was exempt from a few exams – If you are not persuaded to do well in classes just to do well, or to please your parents, or because you want a great GPA, then DO IT FOR THIS REASON!!! There is nothing better than having an idle exam day to just sit around and do nothing, especially when you know you will be cramming the next day.

First semester is over. I think I did really well. But everyone says the first semester is always REALLY easy, so I’m a little scared about next semester, especially since I will have a demanding course load. Overall, it was a success: – Made a lot of friends – Became familiar with Daytona Beach – Managed to keep myself out of trouble – Got a good job – Established myself as a good student – Didn’t gain the “freshman fifteen” – And most importantly… I made a lot of really great friends.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Welcome back my virtual friends and thank you for joining me once again for the last leg of my Riddle Experiences in the year 2006.

That’s right, the countdown is on. T- 3 Finals and counting. We are in our final days here just waiting for the end to come at last. As I write this, I have already taken one final that was easier then I expected. It was a departmental final for EGR 115, which is a C programming course. I was very pleased with the ease of this exam because it was a multiple-choice exam.

Let me tell you a little something about department exams. They aren’t your friends. Lots of times they are multiple choice exams that allow no room to earn credit for all the work used to solve a problem. There are also too many discrepancies between classes. Some classes cover too much, some don’t cover enough. My personal opinion is that all classes should have finals tailored to what was covered in that specific course.

I understand that in some courses, like lower level calculus and physics, the departments need to make sure that every student understands basic principles before they can proceed. Hence, a standardized, department final is applicable. However, I think that in some cases a class may be rushed to cover enough information, if they were moving slowly in the first place, and the students may not be able to fully comprehend the vital principles if they understand them at all.

However, at the same time, this is college. Part of the challenge behind college is not only learning all the details about your field of study, but also learning to deal with a bunch of crap throughout the process. This is just one of those situations. That’s just my two cents. What’s the lesson to be learned here: Go to class, study hard and pray you have an easy finals week.

So in my last entry I said I would have some tips and advice for how to keep yourself moving in the weeks leading up to finals. First of all, listen to me now and hear me later: You need to keep up with your classes all semester long.

Many of you freshmen will be enrolled in an introduction to engineering course that does involve a project or two. Do not wait to work on those. I have many freshman friends on my hall. Some of them worked on their projects all semester long and were fine. Others waited too long and regretted the decision later. I myself pushed back a final programming project and ended up sitting in the programming lab for 11 hours straight. Not one of my finer moments.

Here at Riddle you will learn to pull through no matter how much you procrastinate but believe me, the road is much less toilsome if you stay on track from day 1. Hell, even day 2 or 3. Just don’t wait until day 30 or 35 to start trying. That goes along with what I mentioned last journal about managing your time. Keep yourself balanced and on track.

Some other advice is never work on one thing for too long. This especially applies if you are having trouble arriving at a correct solution. Lots of times you need to take a step back for at least a couple of hours. If you are having problems, set down whatever it is you are working on, get some shut-eye and then try working on it again.

I was working on my Fluids project. We were trying a solution with an equation that should have been correct but our answers kept coming out wrong. It was late and we were tired so we decided to call it quits for the night. We came back to it the next day and realized that our equation was off because it was including a portion of area that we didn’t need examine. Sometimes all you need is a little rest.

Once I got past those weeks, I got a little break and we all had the opportunity of a lifetime. As you may or may not know, STS-116: Discovery launched this past Saturday. It was the first night launch in over 4 years.

It was actually scheduled for Thursday night but was scrubbed because of weather restrictions. Okay, first of all, to see any launch is an amazing event. We were lucky enough to witness a night launch, which was the most amazing thing I have ever seen. From where we were, we could see the lights from the pad, but it was still pitch black outside. The anticipation was incredible. Everyone around was totally stoked to be there and ready for the launch. The show that preceded the ignition of the main engine was incredible. At first, fire and smoke shot out sideways for probably the most expensive fire show to ever exist, and then the sun rose over the horizon. No Joke. When the shuttle was full power and beginning to lift off, I could have believed that the sun was rising. Night turned to day and the shuttle went rocketing into the night. If you ever get a chance to witness a launch, do not miss it. You will totally regret it if you do. I would not have traded this experience for anything.

Well, for this semester I think it’s time to bring this entry to a close. I have to finish preparations for three more exams. Oh, and for those of you who remember, I was moved off of Wood Hall into Adams this semester. As of the Spring Semester, I will again be a resident of Wood Hall. Exciting stuff for everyone involved. So I also have to go start packing.

I hope you have all had a prosperous year and happy holidays. Next we meet, it will be the year 2007 and I look forward to the opportunity to write about my holiday adventures.

My best wishes for a happy holiday and a wonderful new year.
Respectfully, Steven von Kriegenbergh

It has been brought to my attention (thanks Carlos) that I have been neglecting my journal. I will apologize for that.

I got Philanthropy Chair in the sorority. I am pleased that I got that position. I love working with children. It will also help me become familiar with what is in and around Daytona Beach. So far the only thing I have lined up is Relay for Life in March. I wanted to do some sort of egg hunt for the children, but we will see because apparently someone else might do it and we don’t want to take their event away from them.

Health wise (sp?) I am much better. I went to the doctor last week and she gave me more medicine. She said that if the cough still persists that I may have to have a chest x-ray. I am hoping I get better within the next couple of days.

School has been on the hectic side. Everything seems to be on the same day. I have been trying to keep up with everything but at the same time I feel that I am falling behind. I have managed so far to stay on top for the most part.

I had a test, a paper and two presentations due on Monday. I also had a test last Tuesday and 3 tests and a paper on Wednesday. I also missed 3 days of work because of the schoolwork I had. So far, I have gotten 2 A’s in Psychology and Business Management. I took a final in Meteorology and I need a high B/low A to get an A in the class. He’s planning on posting the grades tomorrow. I have to be patient and see what I got on my final. I have one more final to go and that is in my Safety Science class. After I finish this journal, I get the privilege of studying for this final.

I have been going out even though I have had exams, finals, and projects due. I just make sure I study for a certain amount of time. Also I am the type of person that goes out at midnight instead of going out at like ten. I have also been meeting many people here at ERAU. It’s good to give your brain a break.

Currently, I do not like work. I am doing teacher evaluations, but the machine keeps on breaking. Also some people don’t follow directions. Some people do it in pen, don’t bubble it correctly, etc. So I have to start the class evaluation a couple of times before I can even get anywhere. Today the papers were also getting stuck. So hopefully we get another little machine soon because we have a lot of names to go through. I never realized how many classes our department offered until now.

Also, apparently, the school is raising their minimum wage. I’ll be getting paid more next semester.

Oh yes, congrats to everyone planning on attending ERAU this spring.

HOTELS There are a couple of hotels around campus. The ones I can think of right now are
the Courtyard Marriot,
the Residence Inn,
Hampton Inn,
Studio Plus and there are a couple more.

APARTMENTS Some apartment names that I can think of right now are
Forrest Lake
Lake Forest
Indigo Pines
Indigo Plantation
Carolina Club
Sun Pointe
Sutton Place
Misty Springs
Island Club
Indigo Lakes
The Anatole
Here are some of them. Also keep in mind that some apartments only accept low income. I am not sure which ones are those but just try to find places on the internet to give them a call. I hope this information helps. I hope you have a great couple of weeks and happy holidays.

If you have any questions, I’ll try to answer them.

Hello again and welcome to the beginning of the end. There are now officially two and a half weeks left in the semester. What does this mean? It means PANIC! I’m not actually freaking out, but I do have a ton of work to get done in the next two weeks before finals.

First of all, I have to complete my engineering programming project. I am working on a program that asks for an ammunition type and rifle type and then it returns velocity, distance and accuracy results for that specific combination of ammo and gun. It’s a relatively simple program to write but takes a lot of time to create all the necessary files and functions for it to operate properly. The other project I have to finish is for my Fluid Mechanics course. It is basically two problems that I need to solve. However, much of the information needed to solve them must be researched away from class time and from outside sources. Once those are done I will be a little less stressed out. Then all I have to worry about are my very difficult finals.

I found out that I have three finals on one day. At least I think I do. I’m not 100% sure for the time being. But I think I have three finals on Tuesday of finals week and one final on Wednesday of finals week. Then I am home free and ready for a flight back to California. Finals are going to be nuts as far as studying for them goes. I will just be happy to get through them and move to winter break. By the way, I think now is a good time to express how important time management is for college success. You know how all your life your teachers and instructors tell you to learn to manage your work efficiently. They were serious. You need to learn to manage your time wisely. I have something due every day of this week. It makes your life much less stressful if you divide your attention appropriately throughout the week. To go along with that, make sure that a part of what you schedule during tough times is a little bit of fun. Working for 8 hours straight is very draining. You do not want to do it, trust me. Take for example Monday night. I will be studying and doing homework for Tuesday and Wednesday, but at 2100 hours I will be taking a break for one hour to watch the show Heroes with my friends. It will just make time flow more smoothly. I will be studying pretty hard over the next few weeks and I will let you in on any mistakes or tips I discover in my next journal entry.

On to events outside of class. Thanksgiving, although a nice break from class, was possibly the most boring week I have ever experienced in my entire life. The campus was completely empty and there was nothing to do. Many of the campus based food sources were closed or on very limited hours. My parents were kind enough to arrange a turkey dinner from Winn-Dixie market, but the store unexpectedly closed early (even earlier then their holiday hours) and we were unable to retrieve this dinner on Thanksgiving Day. So those of us that were left went scrounging around for food and the car ended up at Denny’s. Let me first say, I did not eat there. You know when you watch a movie about Thanksgiving or Christmas and the Dad screws up dinner or something just goes wrong. Then the whole family ends up at Denny’s, because it is the only place open, and it is just the most depressing thing ever. I could not bring myself to live out that infamous scenario and decided to not eat there. I ended up eating waffles back at the residence hall. We did end up picking up the turkey dinner the next day and having a great meal the next day. It was actually really nice because they gave us a full turkey. Although I recommend making sure you have the proper preparation tool for turkey because it is not easy to carve a turkey with plastic knives.

To summarize the week, I watched a lot of movies (both DVD’s and Riddle Vision), I beat “Call of Duty 3” for Xbox 360, and I slept a whole lot. By the way, when you live on campus, watch Riddle Vision and rent movies from ERRSA. It will save you a lot of money on movie rentals and provide recent popular movies for your viewing pleasure.

If I could suggest one thing about Turkey Day, it would be to go home for the Holiday. This is especially important the first year. If you can’t make it the next years then so be it, but try and get home the first year. It is important to enjoy time with your family who you have been away from for a long time.

That’s all for now. I hope everyone had a great holiday and a great next two weeks. Check back for another update in two weeks and if you want to see some pictures from this past week and have a Facebook, then look me up for an insight into the holiday on campus.

Until next time, Good Afternoon, Good Evening and Goodnight

18 days!!!..Less than 3 weeks before this semester is over and I head back to Trinidad for Christmas break.

Hi readers! Well, this journal entry is probably one of the interesting one you all may read since these past two weeks have been extremely stressful and exciting not just for me, but for most people here in Riddle. The reasons being that class registration took place on November 17th, Thanksgiving break was this past week and, of course, “Black Friday” shopping which I did not miss for the world!

Ok, so..let’s move in chronological order of events..starting off with class registration.

Well, as freshmen, we are granted the ‘exclusive privilege’ of being able to register for our classes after everyone else in the school has. Meaning, we register on the last day for registration-which was November 17th. So, let me explain the process- we are supposed to log onto blackboard online, select our classes in the registration portal and click submit at midnight since that’s when the portal opens up for us to register. Now, consider this- there are over 1200 freshmen attempting to register for probably the same classes as you, at the same time as you are too. This means it takes forever for your request to go through and everything slows down. So, all my hall mates were up waiting until around 1:30am when we found out that the registration system had crashed and wouldn’t be up till 5am. So, I figured since I had a business test that day that I would study until 5am when I would try to register again. So, my friends and I woke up at 5am when we tried again. Nothing happened! So, 5:45 am came around when we all decided to go down to the registration office and wait until they open at 8am to register. I figured why not invite a few other freshmen friends to come wait with us; so by 7am., there were at least 30 of us in front of the registration office waiting. Around 7:30, someone was on his laptop when he shouted ‘it’s working!’ so then we all just grabbed our laptops too and started registering online. I ended up getting all my classes I wanted! Yay!

That night was awesome. We were the first generation of freshmen to overload and shutdown the system for over 7 hours! I felt proud…

The following days were normal and boring until Thanksgiving came up on the 21st. I had no classes on the Tuesday and I had to tell my friends goodbye and wished them a happy Thanksgiving as they all left for their homes in separate directions. Some of my friends and I, however, stayed in Daytona beach. The school was very dead and empty. It seemed like we were the only ones there and we kinda had the entire campus to ourselves! But we didn’t take advantage of it (haha). On Thanksgiving Day itself, we just hung out and went for lunch at Denny’s. No matter how boring you think that may be, when you have your close friends around you all the time, you never feel alone and you have a wonderful time! But the main thing I enjoyed about this past week was ‘Black Friday’ shopping!

Well, my friend Amanda and I decided that we were going to wake up early that morning and head out to Wal-Mart first to get their early deals on DVDs, games and other electronics. So, we woke up around 4am and left for Wal-Mart. After what turned out to be a waste of time there, we decided to head to the mall. Well, let’s just say we tore up that mall like something serious! We hit every possible store that had good deals and good stuff- American Eagle, JC Penney, Dillards, Victoria Secret (for my mom! Lol), Abercrombie & Fitch and other nice stores. We spent about 6 hours in the mall then we were off to Best Buy for electronics, DVDs, and whatever else. Well, let’s just say I started with none and I now have a wide DVD collection! Overall, it was a well-spent day and we had loads of fun!

Well, anyway, I think this piece is getting a bit too long, don’t you? Must be tired of reading my life now. So, I am off to get ready for my business management class. Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Take care everyone..

Till next time!

Vick

Well I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday because I know that I had an unforgettable one. It’s hard to believe that the break is already over, but sure enough it’s back to school again. But, I only have two more weeks of school until finals so that is very exciting. I’ll be sure to post about all of that next journal, but for now I’ll do a class update and tell you about my crazy week.

Speech- I gave my final speech (the debate) and I think it went pretty well. We were debating on whether or not Unmanned Combat Air Vehicles (UCAVs) should be used in the military. My partner and I said that they should be used and we won the debate. It was almost unanimous. There was only one person who voted for the other side! I would like to think that my organization and public speaking skills won us the debate, but my partner is 22ish and has served in the military for 4 years and knows a lot about the subject. I think that we will call it a team effort.

Physics- I have to admit that I am a nerd to some extent because I really enjoy math. I have always loved it and that is one of the only things I am really good at. Well, the physics we are learning now has a strong base in math and I am doing very well. I got an A on my 3rd exam which makes my grade above 100%. I am not trying to brag or anything; I’m just saying that I am happy because I usually don’t get 100% a lot.

Business- This class is coming to an end and we are preparing for our final project. It’s also our first project, but it counts as the final grade. My group and I are doing a project on everything that we have learned and we are trying to make it as funny and educational as possible. We’ll see how that goes.

Basic Aeronautics- This is one of my most important classes because everything that I learn in this class I use when I am up in the plane. So that means it takes a little bit more time than my other classes because if I forget a physics equation in the air, it’s not a big deal; however, if I don’t remember how to use a sectional, I’m in big trouble.

College Success- I successfully completed this class with an A and no absences. That is good because I am guessing that the most skipped class in freshmen year here at Riddle is college success. I have no statistics to back this up, but I’m going on a hunch. Nevertheless, I am done and couldn’t be happier!

Meteorology- One major thing about this class is a term paper that you must write which is 25% of your grade. I was a little nervous about it, but I feel much better now that it is done. I wrote several pages about tornadoes or stovepipes as they are apparently called. I’m just glad it’s over.

Flight- Flying is going pretty well and I am quickly approaching my first solo. I have to do a couple more flights with different instructors so they can make sure that I know what I am doing and that I will be safe. Hopefully my solo will happen before the next break, which I think it will. Anyways, I went on a crazy adventure with my instructor to deliver a package. Right as I was about to start my engine and taxi to takeoff, I was asked to deliver a package to a local airport. Both my instructor and I agreed and they ran it out to our plane. We then did all our checklists and took off and flew to Flagler airport. We landed there and turned off the engine and got out of the plane and walked to a hanger and tried to find the right person to deliver it to. Unfortunately, they told us to go to the wrong airport so we had to go to Ormond instead. So we started the plane back up and flew to the other airport and did the same thing, except this time it was the right airport. It was pretty cool because you don’t usually get to leave the aircraft unless you are done flying. I enjoyed the whole experience and I am glad that I got to be a delivery boy for an hour or two.

Well if you read my last journal, I said I was going to do a break down of what goes on hour by hour for a couple of days just to give you some insight on what a typical day looks like. I then decided that my life is so hectic right now that it would be best to wait until January. I’m sorry if I got anyone’s hopes up, but just wait a month or so.

With that said, let me tell you about my awesome break. The weekend before the break was especially memorable because my girlfriend took me to see the Blue Man Group in Jacksonville. That’s one of the cool things about Daytona because you are driving distance from Jacksonville, Orlando, Gainesville, Tampa, and Miami. So if there is something that is really cool happening there, it’s real easy to get to it. Anyway, I saw the BMG and it was incredible. The tickets were expensive, but worth every penny. The amount of preparation that was put into the show was insane. There are so many different things going on and all of them were entertaining. I highly recommend that if you have the chance to see them, do it immediately.

After the BMG, there was 2 days of school which were pretty uneventful. After that, Thanksgiving break was here which means I drove my friends to the airport, and then went with my dad and sister to Sarasota, FL. My grandparents live in Sarasota and we had a family reunion of sorts. The main celebration was my grandparent’s 50th anniversary, but we also celebrated Thanksgiving and had a family reunion. We stayed at the Ritz-Carlton, a very nice hotel, and went fishing, swimming in the ocean, and we went to a Tampa Bay Lightning game. All in all it was an experience that I won’t soon forget.

First off, Ritz-Carlton . . . amazing!!! This was by far the nicest hotel that I have ever stayed in. There is no way to describe the level of luxury that is at the Ritz. I was very disappointed when we had to leave because I had to return back to the dorm which is almost like a prison cell compared to the Ritz. But it’s not too bad coming back; I miss my empty fish tank. We celebrated my grandparent’s 50th anniversary and I had a lot of fun. I always love seeing my grandparents because, for one, I am pretty sure I have the sweetest grandmother ever and the wisest grandfather. I love both of them so much and I don’t get to see them every week or anything so it’s nice to see them. While at the Ritz, I also saw my Aunts, Uncles, and cousins that I rarely get to see, so that was very exciting. Its funny how all my life everyone has always told me when I haven’t seen them for a while that I am growing up so fast and getting so big. Well after seeing my cousins, I almost didn’t recognize them. They are getting so big so fast!!! I really liked seeing all of them and I am already planning a trip to see them again. We had so much fun lounging around and ordering room service and Shirley-Temples. I can’t wait to do it again soon.

Three of my cousins live in Atlanta and are fans of the hockey team the Atlanta Thrashers and coincidently, the Atlanta Thrashers were playing the Tampa Bay Lightning, so of course we had to go. I bought 6 tickets and we went and saw them, and Tampa Bay prevailed in overtime which didn’t make my cousins very happy. I rubbed it in their face and laughed, but I did it nicely. We had fun though and it was a good experience overall. We also went fishing in the Gulf of Mexico and caught a dozen or so small fish. They were big by my standards, but apparently there are bigger ones than 14 inches. But once again, we had fun and made some memorable memories. For example: Bananas are bad luck on a boat because in the olden days Banana spiders went on boats and killed people and stuff (that is the short version), and we had a dozen or so bananas for some reason. So the Captain threw them overboard to get rid of the bad luck. So that might be why we didn’t catch any fish. Oh well, lesson learned.

On Thanksgiving, we had a huge buffet of millions of different types of food, all which were very good. I personally only tried 4 different kinds, but I heard from others that everything was very good. I’m a picky eater, so eating a lot on Thanksgiving isn’t real important to me. But other than that, delicious food.

In other news, I am still looking for a car so if you find a good one give me a call. I think my dad is getting mad that I am driving his car around so much so I need to find one soon. Just call me.

Well, thinking back to when I was a senior in high school, I remember reading the student journals and thinking that I personally didn’t car a whole lot about their journal writer’s personal life. I mean I did to a certain extent, but I was more concerned about Embry-Riddle and life there. So if anyone is tired of hearing things about me, just let me know. I think it’s important to tell some things about me and my life but I want to stick to important information about life here at Riddle. I plan on writing things about flying, like specifically everything that occurs, the different activities, and what you do. So give me some feedback, if you like hearing about some awesome things that I do, shoot me an e-mail. If you think I should be talking more about how the tests are, what specific professors are like, or any other aspect of Riddle that I haven’t covered just let me know. As much as I enjoy writing these journals (no sarcasm there), these are for you readers so let me know what you want to read about. I am here for you, so let me know. Anyways, me being the stereotypical student, I haven’t done any work over the break so I have to make sure that I am not falling behind. Until next time, be sure to keep checking the pictures website to see if I post anything new because I do it on different days. Also, watch out for marshmallow fights. I won’t go into too much detail, but I had one the other day, and those little buggers hurt! Just remember that and the fact that an alligator can hold its breath for several hours. You learn something new every day! See ya!

-Blake
email: wasteofsoap@yahoo.com
aim: wasteofsoap

Wow, what a weekend!

But first, I’d like to talk about registration:

Registration online was interesting. The upper classmen seemed to have no problem with the registration process, however, unfortunately for the freshmen, the server died as soon as 1000+ students tried to access it at midnight. Some hallmates and I stayed up until about 2:30 to see if it would come back up, but it didn’t. It came back up around 7am, which was around when I was getting up for my first class. I got most of the classes that I wanted, and I’m happy with my schedule. Since I got to pick my own classes this semester, I got to focus more on what I’m really interested in and, of course, what I really need. So next semester I’m taking six courses: Aviation Law, a 2nd Aero Safety course (because I really liked the one I took this semester and I got the same Professor, too), Air Traffic I, Business Management (or something to that effect), Psychology, and Meteorology II. I’m really excited about my first real Air Traffic class, as well as continuing my studies further in my Aero Safety and Meteorology classes. They aren’t required, but I’m trying to decide between the two of them for my minor.

So about registration: Riddle is great because you pick your own schedule, classes, and professors, and Riddle gives you all the information you need to do it yourself: Class schedules (or course), catalogs, and little checklists of everything required for your major. Also, Riddle allows you to take classes at different universities if you don’t want to take them at Riddle. I think over the summer I will be taking an English, Physics, and possibly French class at a community college back home. This is really helpful, since credits at the university get expensive, so it’s nice to have options.

PICK PRE-REQS!!! My roommate gave me top-notch advice: A lot of your upper level classes DEPEND on you getting your pre-requisites in the first few semesters, so it’s really important that you follow your catalog and check all the courses to make sure that you are taking the correct classes that you NEED. Otherwise, you could be stuck taking 100-level courses in your junior and senior year as pre-reqs for courses you really need.

So anyway, all my classes are between 9:15 and 3:30 everyday and that sounds good to me. AND all of my classes except one are in the same building, which is nice. I didn’t plan it that way, I just got lucky I guess.

This past weekend was our Thanksgiving Break! My flight up Tuesday night was terrifying, we flew through a front over the Carolinas and had some really wicked turbulence, everyone was really shook up literally. A few times I got knocked right out of my seat. Weather was bad in Richmond when we landed, too.

It rained through Wednesday as well. Wednesday I got to hang out with my female friends back home. We went to see Stranger Than Fiction, which was cute, but not what I was expecting. Hanging out with the girls was a lot of fun. Not that I don’t absolutely love all my guy friends at Riddle, but sometimes it’s nice to relax in a mostly estrogen environment.

Thursday I had two Thanksgivings. One with my mom at her house, and one with my boyfriend’s family at his parents’ house. Both were great, and I was quite full. I don’t think I could ever get sick of eating “Holiday Meals.” I only wish that I could have brought some home. My dad and brother were visiting my father’s side of the family in Pennsylvania. They told me that everyone is doing really well, which is good to hear.

Friday was mainly uneventful, which is just fine with me. When I went home before, I was doing too much running around, so it was nice when I got to just slow things down and mosey around my town at my leisure. Ryan (my boyfriend) and I went to see “Deja Vu” which was really good. It had Denzel in it, so it was bound to be good. We also visited the mall which were, indeed, crowded. After the movie we went back to my house and Ryan cooked my mother and I some delicious spaghetti with a home-made sauce that was to die for. I was in charge of hors d’oeuvres, so I made a plate of crackers with pimento cheese spread with celery, and cut some pieces of sour dough bread to serve with brie cheese and grapes. Yes, it was good.

Saturday I finally got to fly for the first time since August. It was a ton of fun. I flew a Cessna 172 for the first time. I’d always flown 150s and 152s before. The 172s are a LOT easier to land, but it took a little more muscle to fly. They seem more stable and probably because they are big enough for the wind not to blow them around. There is a lot of construction going on at my former workplace, but it looks like it’s going really well. I’m hoping more of it will be done when I visit for the Christmas break.

Sunday I hung out with my Dad and his girlfriend all day, since they were back from Pennsylvania. We went out to lunch and looked at some houses for sale in the area. They want to move soon.

Flight back was good and not nearly as crowded as I thought it was going to be, even Atlanta wasn’t so bad. Steve picked me up at the airport (thank you, Steve, you’re a lifesaver) and we got back to Riddle around 1:30.

And that’s about all I have to report. As always, send any question or comments to me at rumbebb5@erau.edu or just post them on the message boards!

I drove up to Atlanta for Thanksgiving. I went to meet Mo’s family. Mo has been my friend since I first started college back in 2000. 😛 His mom made tons of food for Thanksgiving. She made turkey, ham, chicken, and goat. I tried goat and ham for the first time in my life. They were pretty good.

We also watched two movies, Borat and Deja Vu. Both of them were entertaining. We also went to the Aquarium. Tickets are expensive and you can only go in at a certain time. Our ticket times were 5:00 pm. We hung out at Centennial Park for 4 hours until we were able to go to the Aquarium. By then, we were frustrated and tired. I think if we would have known or made better plans our day would have been better. Next time when I go back to Atlanta, I am going to plan out my day so I know what is going on around the city.

I got in trouble at work today. I was working at the front desk and one of the guys that works for one of the professors sits in front of the desk and starts speaking loudly. My other coworker, Drew, told him to speak with his inner voice. Steve said no and continues to speak loudly. The department chair can’t concentrate and the secretary tells me to leave the desk.