Hey Journal Readers!
I apologize for the terribly late new entry, cuz these past couple weeks have been SO BUSY!! My gosh, it’s been crazy. Last I wrote about TFO’s fundraiser, working the Supercross! It was some crazy day.

The rain was pouring in buckets and we all looked pretty funny in our ponchos selling drinks, but it was some experience. The stadium was packed even though there was such a bad storm and the race was postponed and shortened to beat the rain but people STILL stayed to watch. We spent all night at the race selling stuff, making money and having funny people come up to us and buy stuff, it was fun!

That Tuesday, I went to my first night launch! It was gorgeous! We all drove down to Titusville to see the launch at 2AM. I’m gonna upload a whole bunch of pics today, everything from the Supercross to Launch and Spring Break in … Jersey! The launch was really great though, we actually only saw it go up for a couple seconds but the cloud it left behind was picture perfect and then the sound came like 30 seconds later, it was so cool!

Then came Spring Break!! I got to go home for that while the rest of the country was coming to Florida, but it’s okay, I hadn’t been home in a while. This break was pretty fun, since I was in India all winter break, I hadn’t really gotten to see my friends at all, so I ended up hanging out all day but having a lot of fun. My cousins came for the second weekend and my family went to New York for the Auto Show. In case you haven’t heard of the Javitz Center Auto Show, it’s like the biggest one, I think in the country. Lol yeah so my sis got into Johns Hopkins for her Masters (which is undoubtedly the best school for BioMed stuff =] ) and we were all in celebration mode all weekend! We went out to dinner, went to NY for the auto show, went to Rockefeller Center and went to the top and saw the New York skyline at night all lit up =] I love how I’ve been to NY a million times in my life, but every time is exciting and the scene at night is always, always so gorgeous. That was pretty much my Spring Break =]

I came back and I had a real slap in the face in the form of my Calc Exam. I started studying on the plane! I think I did well on it though, so I’m good =] I have a Phys exam on Tuesday ah!! Today’s Friday the 28th and there’s plans for another barbeque, but nothing too big.

I’ve been bombarded with work and spring break so I never got a chance to tell everyone about my weeks =] I hope you guys have been having a great break! My classes have been going pretty well so far. I’m working hard to make sure I get an A in physics but every other class should hopefully fall into place.

I’ve already registered for my classes next semester! It was a pretty exciting time, it’s cool. I was having MAJOR issues filling up the 12 credit requirement to be a full time student. I came in with a bunch of college credit so I didn’t need to take any humanities classes, but I still needed to take Calc1,2 and Phys1,2etc. So I couldn’t really progress too far into the AE specific courses you know? So I spent all day experiencing the riddle run around and spoke to more than a handful of counselors and heads of the engineering department, to get permission to take a specific engineering class. So now everything is worked out and next semester is CRAZY with three physics based classes ( including a three hour lab!) and a calc class. Wow, I’m going to be so busy next semester.

And don’t forget to all our accepted students; come to the sneak preview on April 12th! It’s on our DB campus and it’ll be a ton of fun with campus/dorm tours, fin aid and free food! So be sure to call us to RSVP for the event =] I work at admissions every now and then and have probably sent some of you emails about your Fin.Aid Counselor or our upcoming events, so make sure you sign up!!

Like I mentioned before I’m going to be posting a TON of pretty cool pictures I’ve taken these past couple weeks. So much has happened and I have sweet pics to prove it ;]

Take care everyone! Have a great break and remember to enjoy your senior year, it’ll be the most liberating year of highschool =]

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  Spring Break is here and next week I will register for fall classes.  Also, I will be deciding on which residence hall that I will be living in next year.  I have a feeling that the end of the semester is going to be even crazier than the week before Spring Break.  My classes are going well and I just found out that one of my grades had posted wrong, so I am actually doing much better than what I originally thought!

Last week in AFROTC, we had Operation Bottoms Up Week (OBU) and the sophomores took over the detachment and did what the juniors and seniors normally do.  My flight received a new flight commander which was great because it allowed me to see how two different leadership styles can affect a group of people.  Overall, it was a really fun week and I am excited for my turn next year.  On another note, I retook the Physical Fitness Assessment and passed!  Yeah!!!!

Silver Wings had their Beach Clean Up last Saturday and I went along because not only did I want to help clean the beach, but I wanted to see the ocean!  I was amazed at how crowded it was since it was sort of cold and breezy!  I had never seen cars on the beach before, so I took a couple of pictures. Also, there was an ice cream truck driving up and down the beach.  After having walked up and down the beach picking up trash it was nice to have a refreshing treat.  I had remembered to put sunscreen on my face and arms, but I forgot about my legs and the backs got pretty burnt.  Next time, I will remember to put sunscreen on them!

I attended the last Honors Speaker of the year—Dr. Ruth Schwartz Cowan, who talked about genetic screening.  I thought it was a very interesting talk because she covered the history of genetic screening and the different types of genetic screening that currently exist.  I also attended a lecture given by Helen Thayer, who is an explorer.  She was the first woman to travel on foot to the magnetic North Pole, and at the age of 70 she is still going strong.  Her next adventure is to Bolivia with her 81 year old husband. They are going to document indigenous people and their cultures.  I thought it was a very inspiring talk given how much she is accomplishing at her age.  If you are interested in learning more about her, check out http://www.helenthayer.com/ .

The beach bonfire with Silver Wings was cancelled because we had a huge storm and it got really cold.  Right now, I am pretty cold because here in Illinois it is still in the winter season; however, some people think it is spring because I was in Wal-Mart and saw a lady wearing a tank top and shorts.  The temperature wasn’t even in the 50s!  Maybe, towards the end of the week it will get warmer, but I don’t really have to worry about it because I am going back to warm and sunny Florida.

Until next time,

Kaleigh

e-mail:sidesk@erau.edu

It’s finally here!! Yes, indeed, glorious Spring Break begins this weekend! I’m sure I will have much to tell you about my adventures in Washington DC with my mom next time, but for now, I’m gonna go back in time a couple of weeks and let you know what I’ve been up to!

Let me begin with a somewhat funny story. I had the pleasure of finding an old video online that I wrote and co-starred in. Before my sophomore (I think…) year of high school I had the privilege of attending a summer camp for young women put on by Microsoft. With a wonderfully nerdy name like DigiGirlz, it was an unforgettable and very informative experience. One of the projects was making a promotion video. To this day, I absolutely love being goofy, dressing up, and making home videos, so I signed right up. They added closed caption later since the sound quality isn’t the best and also for deaf people to enjoy as well. Hopefully, you can get a good laugh out of it, too! Here’s the link:

http://www.microsoft.com/about/diversity/Digi_Day.wvx

Well, now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, I’ll move on to classes. As I read through my blog last time, I realized how little I talk about school versus all of the fun things I get to do. I hope I haven’t misrepresented what I do down here!! 🙂 Honestly, a HUGE majority of my time is spent in classrooms and studying. I didn’t even work in SPRL the last few weeks so I could be focused. But, seeing as you all probably don’t want to hear too much about every math problem I’m working on or my study method for a random Honors seminar quiz, I usually just share an overview. Nice disclaimer, huh? But, seriously, I have been extremely busy trying to do well in my three tough classes (Calculus 2, Physics, and Programming). It’s a big step up from last semester when I only had Chemistry to “worry” about.

Last week I did hardly anything but study (and attend an ab workout class with a CFC friend :)). In math, I did practice problems over and over and made sure I had memorized all of the difficult formulas. For physics, I typed up every problem we had done in class and on the homework to work through and also memorized formulas. And finally, for programming, I made a paper for each type of syntax (loops, arrays, files, random, etc…) and the proper way to use them in a program. As soon as all three tests in “Round 2” were over, I was ready to relax!

A buddy of mine on the floor had a birthday on Thursday, so several of us went out to Carrabba’s for dinner. I had a delicious ravioli! 🙂 The next day, we were able to experience a huge storm! We even had a couple of tornado warnings. Despite the heavy rain, a few of us ventured out to the hockey game to enjoy and see our other drummer friend in the pep band (who is also on the CFC worship team with me and takes others and me to church).

Saturday, I slept in and worked on a few scholarships my mom had prepared for me to do. I also finished up the very last Physics Lab formal report (we only do three of these a semester). I left my room fairly early so I could go practice for CFC worship team. The guys had gotten a tambourine, but I just wasn’t comfortable enough with it to play. I’ll work on it and learn new rhythms from the others so I hopefully can do it for the next meeting. I’m fine with keeping beat, but just don’t know how to do anything fancy or not too insanely repetitive. Instead, I focused on truly singing with all my heart. It was a true night of worship and I loved it!

After singing, we had the privilege of having the original founder of the club, Dr. Wheeler, come and speak. We learned that CFC was the very first club on campus and the first meeting was only six people, two of which were the dean and his secretary. He was very encouraging and inspiring and led us in Communion after sharing. His words reminded me that I couldn’t give up on what the Lord has called me to do. So even when I’m feeling discouraged about grades and wondering if Engineering Physics is too hard for me or not, I need to pray and trust.

Sunday was also a great time of praise and fellowship! After the wonderful sermon, the whole church had a picnic outside. We, of course, didn’t remember to bring food, so we just had a blast playing volleyball with some little kids. They were so much fun! By the end of the hour, the group had grown and we were all laughing and playing away. Somehow, I managed to get burnt which is a very rare thing for me unless I’m at the beach.

Hmm… I suppose you might be wondering what life in Doolittle is like for me now that I’m very settled in. Well, I don’t know what to say other than it’s nice and quiet in my room. Almost every night, I go to Einstein’s with my two friends and then we play guitar hero (I’m SLOWLY improving…ha.), watch a TV show from someone’s vast DVD collection, or just sit around and make jokes. We all go to CFC and usually campus outreach stuff too. One of the stupider things we do is IM each other whether we’re just down the hall or sitting in the same room. One guy (one who just had the birthday) and I also do our best to think of creative ways to annoy the third member of our trio (drummer-worship-team guy). Really, it’s a vicious circle of teasing between all of us… 🙂

Anyway, that’s enough about our bizarre adventures for now. Other than packing, doing little homework assignments, and enjoying a daily 1 hr bike in the gym, this week has been pretty uneventful. The shuttle launch occurred, but I unfortunately had to go to bed early so I would be coherent at my physics lab. We also received the housing lottery results. I got an OK number for being a freshman. It’s kind of in the middle I guess. I’m hoping my other buddies get an even better one so we have a good chance at getting into Apollo for next year. We will find out what dorm we get in on March 25 or 26th.

Well, I’m going to finish packing for my Washington DC adventure! Only four more classes and I get a much-needed break (although I’ll probably have to study at least a little during the trip).

My name is Natalie Spencer and I approve this entry.

(Sorry, as you probably know, the presidential race is all over the news…)

spencern@erau.edu

http://www.virb.com/erauladyeagle

Hey Everyone,

BUSY BUSY BUSY BUSY BUSY!!!!!!!!!!!!! That’s how I can describe my past 3 weeks. It has been insanely crazy, but it has been a lot of fun as well. I’m getting ready for spring break right now with only 2 days left!!!!  Classes have been going extremely well. I am finally understanding my Safety class which is awesome, because I didn’t do so well on my first examination. Speech is going well, we have now given 3 speeches, all of which I have done well on, Math… Well we won’t go there!!! No, it’s been going well, it’s just been a lot of work and it’s exhausting sometimes. Aero Sci is going well, I actually like that class, it’s really interesting, but it’s a lot of information to memorize. I’ll tell you about some of the extra things that I have been doing that have been keeping me so busy.

For Air Traffic Control Organization, we had the President of NATCA come and give a Q&A session for us, and it was really awesome to meet him. There was a lot of information that he had to share with us. He is featured in an article that the Vice President of ATCO and I wrote about the event:

“NATCA President Visits ERAU

On Thursday, February 21st Patrick Forrey, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) spoke to the students of Embry-Riddle. Mr. Forrey’s speech covered the current issues of the air traffic control industry and NATCA’s involvement in solving these issues. Forrey spoke briefly about his involvement with NATCA before opening the floor to questions.

Some of the major topics discussed included: Air traffic control salary issues, shortage of air traffic controllers, the elections and candidate endorsement, and the relationship between CTI schools and the Oklahoma City training facility.” When he spoke to the students, it was motivational and he encouraged them to be the ones to change the future.

Overall, it was a rare opportunity to receive some insight through the eyes of someone who has so much influence on the future of the air traffic control industry. Embry-Riddle looks forward to his return in the fall of 2008.

It was really a great experience for everyone who came. It was a little on the short side since he had previous engagements in Jacksonville. Nonetheless, it was really awesome for him to come here.

ERRSA: Well I told you all last time that I was bidding for the position of Vice President for the organization, but unfortunately I did not get it. I am, however, running for the position for next year. ERRSA has been going well besides that little “set back” and I’m really looking forward to elections for next year!!!

Bike Week: I hate bike week!!!! Just thought I might mention that! Since I do ride a motorcycle it was really cool to see all of the bikes, but there were just so many it was ridiculous and they are all showing off so there were like 6 deaths due to people not being careful. I don’t have much else to say about it but the fact that it was a CRAZY week!

Ryan Skipper Event: About three weeks ago, I was asked to sing at an event and so I decided to meet with the planner and discuss what it would be for. Well, I found out that I was singing at a vigil for the one year death anniversary of a young man who was killed due to a hate crime. I also found out that his parents would be there and I’d be singing to them. Well I knew right away that I was going to sing the song, “On Eagles Wings” so all I needed was a piano player. The event was on March 7th and I didn’t get a piano player until the 5th so we had to do some major practicing. The event was very inspiring, influential, and sad. It was such a mix of emotions. There was a documentary about his life, which brought everyone to tears and then we went over to the campus ministry for the vigil and that’s when I sang, and it was so emotional for me to have to sing, but at the end of the song I knelt down in front of his mom and held her hand, so it ended up being fine after all, and I was offered so many compliments which helped because I was so nervous to do this, but I’m so glad that I did.

BEACH:  The weather has been getting so much warmer now and it’s definitely BEACH TIME!!!!!!! I have gone to the beach more times this semester so far than I have in like the past 5 years of my life.  Every time I go to the beach I call my Mom back home in Buffalo, New York and rub it in her face! She tells me its like 5 degrees and snowing and there I am sitting on the beach. It’s sooooooooooo nice!!!

Space Shuttle Endeavor Launch:  So this past Monday night slash Tuesday morning the Space Shuttle Endeavor launched at 2:28am… OMG!!! It was so amazing to see a night launch. I will have pictures on the site for you all to see. When the shuttle lifted off the night turned into day, and it looked like the sun had just come up, it was AMAZING!! Unfortunately, that was the last night launch. Truly, a great experience!

So this is what I have been up to lately, I’ve been having a lot of fun, but I definitely need a break!! I hope you all are doing well in school! I still have not heard from anyone about getting accepted!!! Let me know!!!  Take care everyone!!!!

Until Next Time,

Joey Jaworski

AIM- HYPORBOY226

Email: Jaworksj@erau.edu

Pics: www.virb.com/joejaworskiatc

Full speed ahead. I am always moving full speed ahead!

I don’t know if I have always been this busy, and I just haven’t noticed or what. But I seem to have a thousand things going at once, and yes I counted.

About one thousand I’d say (Dane Cook joke, maybe you get it). Anyway, school is busy and I keep finding fun activities to do. I’ll go into some of those fun things later, but now we’ll see how the classes are doing.

MWF 10:30am-11:30am – Air Traffic Management III – This class is a blast! I mean it is still work and you can’t just goof around, but me and my friend Aaron have so much fun. We are in charge of about 35ish airplanes over the course of 45 minutes, and they all seem to show up in packs. We tell all the planes what to do and where to go, but we are still learning. We often have close calls where planes get way to close to each other! You get so focused on one area or airplane and forget about others. So we are working on that and the near mid-air collisions are getting less and less, which is good.

TTH 8:15am-9:30am – Aviation Legislation – Well we took our first test a while ago and I got a 79, which isn’t too bad but I definitely wanted to do better. So when it came time to take our 2nd test, I got a 90! I was definitely pretty happy with that. My group is working on our team paper now, and we keep getting more and more sections done, but we have a long way to go. I’m not looking forward to writing that!

TTH 9:45am-11:00am – Aerodynamics – We took our first test and I ended up getting a 105! I thought that I was going to do pretty good, but not that good! The class average was a 90, so everyone else did good as well. One reason that I really like this class is that the professor is constantly relating the material to practical applications. It isn’t a class where you are sitting there asking yourself, “When am I ever going to need to know/use this?” The professor usually shows interesting short videos to help explain concepts and generally makes things pretty clear. That’s good.

TTH 11:15am-12:30pm – Commercial Pilot Ops. – This is also a class where we always relate the material back to practical applications. This class is usually more of a discussion class, so we just openly talk about the subject and if anyone has any questions, you just ask. We have group work a lot, so if you don’t understand something, usually someone else does so they can explain it. Also, we’ll often make jokes in class and generally have a good time.

TTH 3:45pm-5:00pm – Aircraft Engines – Some of the stuff in this class is over my head, so I normally have to study a lot outside of class. We have gone over all the engine basics, now we are going more in depth into each part of the engine. It is definitely some pretty interesting stuff.

TTHS 7:45pm-12:00am – Flight – So I ended up passing all of my pre-progs, so I got scheduled for my actual check rides! I did my oral about a week ago and I passed! The instructor that I had was real laid back and made it stress-free, which I greatly appreciated.

We talked for two hours about weather and different aspects of instrument flying and he thought that I had enough knowledge, so I passed! Now I am waiting to get scheduled for my sim and flight, which should be any day. I’ll let you know how everything went by next journal.

So school has been busy, and I have also been working on the side, so I haven’t seen a lot of free time lately. My typical day for a Tues and Thurs is class from 8:15-12:30, then lunch and some h/w; from 3:45-5:00 is another class, then Frisbee to about 6:30; then an AOA meeting from 7:00-8:00/8:30. My typical day for a Wed and Fri is class from 10:30-11:30 then work until 8:00ish. So I am definitely glad when Friday rolls around.

In other news, Bike Week is currently going full swing. There are bikers everywhere and it’s definitely getting pretty crazy. I haven’t gone to Main Street yet, but I’m planning on renting scooters with some friends and checking that out this Saturday. I’ll be sure to post pictures just like I did last year!

Well if you are a regular reader, which I hope you are, you know that Monday night dinners are becoming a habit in our apartment. This past Monday I called up my friend and asked what he was cooking, so he went and bought the cheapest steaks they had at Publix.

They were no Steakhouse steaks, but they were pretty good.

Things have been going pretty good with AOA lately.

There are definitely a lot of cool people in there, and I’m proud to say I am a part of it. Just recently we had a charity event which involved sleeping in cardboard houses. In a nutshell, different groups on campus raise money for charity by building cardboard houses and sleeping in them overnight. Well we built an awesome house, but at about 4:00am it started pouring and the winds got up to 30 something mph. So our house kinda blew away. There are a lot of pictures and I’ll be sure to post them online soon. The next morning we cleaned everything up and AOA gave tours of the College of Aviation building. It was parents’

weekend so we gave tours all day to students and parents. I had never given a tour before, so that was fun.

As you know, I’m a hockey fan and I got to go to Tampa last Wednesday to see the Tampa Bay Lightning play! I bought the tickets in December, so I had been planning it for a while. I got them as a Christmas present for myself, so I decided to get wicked good seats. Usually I’m in the nose bleed section where I am literally in the last row. Literally. I could stand up and do jumping jacks and no one would yell at me because there isn’t a soul behind me. Just a concrete wall. So I did almost the opposite and got tickets that were 4 rows behind the glass! That was the closest I’ve ever been and it was amazing! I definitely want to do it again. I took bunch of pictures of that as well, so be checking for those in the next couple of days.

Well the last few journals I have been alluding to what my Spring Break planned festivities were, but I never said.

For some reason I thought it would be fun to build suspense and not tell you what they were, but now I’ll tell you. On second thought…I better wait till next journal! Or not, I guess I’ll tell you now. Well, it’s probably no surprise but I am going to go snowboarding in Colorado!!! I’m wicked psyched. I am going with my friends Cris and Aaron and we are meeting up with Alex who lives in Colorado. We’ll leave on Friday and come back on a Wednesday. I’m so pumped, you have no idea.

There are several reasons: 1. It’s friggin Colorado! No Florida, no heat, just snow and coolness. 2. I get to go snowboarding. I love snowboarding. 3. It’ll be the first time I get to snowboard with my friend Aaron. He lives in Pennsylvania so he grew up boarding, but we have never gone together. 4. My friend Cris has never gone before. He’s only seen snow a couple of times, but we convinced him to go buy a board with boots and bindings and a full wardrobe! I’m sure he’ll pick it up quick, but until he does he will be our source of entertainment!

So I think that will wrap it up for this journal! I’ll be posting all those pictures shortly, so be sure to check for those. Well hope everyone is having a good year, and if you’re not, hopefully you’ll be in Daytona next year, because then it will definitely be a good year! Later!

-Blake

email: wasteofsoap@yahoo.com
pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wasteofsoap/
videos: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=blakeguiles

Hey Journal Readers!

These past two weeks have been pretty busy!

It turns out I didn’t make the O-team this year :/ I guess I’ll try again next year. I’m now running for the Student Representative Board for the College of Engineering for next year! This is a whole elections process with campaigning and the like. Just to be allowed to run I had to get 50 people to sign a sheet nominating me for the position. I handed that in this past Friday and now have a candidates’ reception to attend to on Tuesday! After that, there’s a long process as to how to run and so many rules to follow, it’s def. not like a high school election.

TFO has been pretty good this semester. I’m the only non-exec board in the Speaker committee and it’s been going well so far. I’ve found different speakers to come and talk to us about things going on around campus. Last week we had SGT, the aerospace engineering honor society come talk to us about admission and their values and such, very informative. Touch n Go also came and gave us a presentation about their organization, which is basically the hub for events on campus. They’re the ones that are going to have events for Freshman orientation (ie a hypnotist) and they organize concerts too!

I’ve been sick on and off for the past two weeks =/ I had the flu one weekend (the long one) and thought I completely got over it, but it left me with a bad cough for a little while. Thankfully (I think) things have mostly been going wrong during the weekends which allows me ample time to sleep and get over whatever sickness I have that week. At least I get to go home in … 13 days! I’m looking forward to the trip. It’s going to be the first time since last summer that I’ve actually stayed in my house for more than 4 days! yay! The scary part is after I come back, within a month and a half, I have to take my finals! yikes! Riddle ends so early compared to what I’m used to. My last day of finals is April 29th! In high school, my last day of school was June 28th. I get an extra two months of summer!

My plans for this summer include taking a chem. class that should transfer to Riddle, hopefully getting to do some kind of research project with a prof. at Rutgers. Then I’m going to look into learning how to fly a plane possibly either this summer or next. Years ago I went to this space camp at a college back home and I want to be the counselor for it, I think it’d be so much fun! That’s all for the summer!

This past Friday I took a calc exam, which I’m so sure I aced! Saturday, I attended this really awesome leadership seminar! I definitely wasn’t expecting to have fun at a seminar about leadership, but it was great! We did all these different workshops. I went with TFO and we split our club up so that as a club we’d all get to go to all of the workshops. The first workshop I went to was called FISH! If you google FISH! Philosophy, you can find out more info about it. It was basically about how having the right attitude about work makes all the difference. The more you think something is boring, the more boring it’s going to become. I enjoyed the workshop, we actually got to do activities instead of just sit and listen to someone lecture. Then I went to a workshop called “All in Favor” this one was primarily about the decision making process and how to avoid spending two hours discussing something that only requires two minutes. We had a mock budget cut and had to cut budgets from student clubs at a college and had to do so in a pretty diverse team. I met a bunch of cool people too. Most of the people who attended the seminar were RA’s , TFO people, or…a few others. Anyways, the last seminar was about how to make a personal impact at Riddle, what your legacy will be. All three were an hour long and it was pretty enlightening if nothing else. After the three seminars, we had a really freaking great speaker talk to us.

His name was Kirk Wiesler and his presentation style and material were amazing. Usually, I can’t stay awake through a seminar or lecture like this (motivational) after a half hour, but the entire hour and a half that he spoke, it was interesting. He gave us great tips on how to keep the audience, keep a team going strong and motivated at all times. He also suggested books that we should read, not because they’re business books that are boring, but because they teach you through stories that matter. Here, I’ll post a list, incase anyone is interested.

QBQ – John Miller

The Big Moo – The Group of 33 and Seth Godin

A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future – Daniel Pink

The Cookie Thief – Kirk Weisler (the speaker)

Those are the books he suggested, I’m probably going to get one to read for my trip back home =] I ordered the big moo for my plane ride, from amazon, about 30 seconds ago.

So bike week started and it’s pretty scary and NOISY! Oh my, all day you can hear the ‘vroom vroom’ of bikes. I go downstairs to get food and it’s crazy how loud it is even inside! I heard though that this year’s bike turn out has been substantially lower than the previous years, so I can’t imagine how noisy it was then! Anyways, I’ve posted some pictures on our way to Target of bikes and the area around here. Daytona had a water crises so we had to buy water and such because you couldn’t drink out of the fountains or sinks foe awhile! oh no.

I’ve got a lot of work to do, so I’m gonna get to it. I hope everyone has a spectacular week! And if you’re on break already, I hope it’ll be great. Bye everyone!

Spree

Spring Break is only two weeks away!!  All of my classes are going to have tests right before spring break, so I will be in need of a break by the time it gets here.  The good news is I only have one major paper to write for the rest of the semester and it’s for my Honors class.  I have already picked my topic and now I just have to do the research and actually write the paper.  Also, on the same topic, I have to give my class a fifteen to twenty minute PowerPoint presentation.  Hopefully, I will be able to get a good head start on it before spring break.  In my Computer class, I am going to start learning how to use Dreamweaver and create my own webpage.  I think it will be interesting because I haven’t done any webpage design before.

Last weekend I was pretty busy because Silver Wings participated in Charity House.  Charity House is an event that takes place on the West Lawn, in the center of campus, and various organizations compete against each other in building a cardboard house, relay races, Guitar Hero, and an egg drop.  The purpose of the event was to raise money for Star Shelter—the local homeless shelter.  Silver Wings decided to build a giant R2-D2 from Star Wars and I think we did a pretty good job in getting it to look like the actual one.  I will try to get a picture of the completed R2-D2, so you all can see what it looked like.  Overall, the event was a lot of fun and Silver Wings ended up taking third place.  I am looking forward to doing it again next year!

I got to go on my first flight through ROTC this weekend!  I was thrilled and enjoyed being able to take the controls for the first time!  The other person flew first to Flagler County Airport and then we landed and switched seats.  I was really nervous and it reminded me of my first time driving a car; hopefully, just like driving I will get better.  Right now, I am not so good at taxiing and if anyone was watching they were probably wondering what I was doing.  The airplane liked to wander over to the side of the runway!  I can say that I did a much better job at flying than taxiing and I would love to get my private pilot’s license someday!  My favorite part was when the instructor did a 60° turn and we were pulling 2 G’s.  I did post some pictures of the new airplane (only about 4 or 6 weeks old) and Embry-Riddle from the air.  Hopefully, I will get to do another flight this semester!

ROTC Mid-Terms are over—I passed the inspection, answered my knowledge question correctly, and did really well on the test.  I was pretty proud of myself and hope to do just as well for finals.  The PFA was last week and I was ready to take it; unfortunately, I wasn’t able to complete the test, so I have to take it sometime soon.  ROTC just set up a mentor program and you could sign up if you wanted to join, which I did.  So far, I have met with my mentor twice and I am really learning a lot about what AFROTC is like after the first two years, which I find really helpful because you know even better things are ahead.    Also, we are planning on going to the movies next week which I am looking forward to.  On Friday morning at PT, they had this event called “Big Week” where they announced who received pilot slots and who will be going to Field Training.  I enjoyed watching it because there were a lot of really excited people and it lets you know that your turn will be coming soon.

Upcoming events—besides all of my tests—include a beach clean-up with Silver Wings, the last Honors Lecture for the semester, a beach bonfire with Silver Wings, and of course Spring Break!  Last weekend, I got to go to Joe’s Crab Shack because we were celebrating a friend’s birthday.  I ordered a hamburger because even though I like seafood, I love hamburgers and it was really good! Don’t forget to take a look at my pictures!

Until next time,

Kaleigh

e-mail:sidesk@erau.edu

It’s been a bizarre couple of weeks for me with all of the changes. I feel as though I began a whole new semester or something! The weather has been warm and beautiful (except for a couple days when we had a huge storm and cold front come through. Lightning, hail, torrential downpour… you get the picture).

Working at the Daytona 500 was quite an experience! There was a truck race with a fiery crash during the first couple hours. It was nice getting to see a live race without seriously damaging my hearing! 🙂 My friend and I did pretty well until about 5am… then we started getting cranky, delusional, and bored beyond all belief. A huge fog settled in as well, so it got chilly. We ended up canceling our second all-night shift. It was just too much! Most of the 13 hours were spent chatting with random drunk people about all kinds of things. I don’t exactly approve of their lifestyle, but some of the people were very nice and even fed us or gave us free stuff. What a memory! If that wasn’t enough, we were excited by a surprise visit from our friend interning at NASA in Virginia this semester. He came down for the weekend. It was nice to sleep most of Saturday until worship practice before CFC. After the session, our visiting buddy suggested several of us go see Jumper at Ocean Walk. So, we did. I enjoyed just getting out and hanging with everyone. It was a little weird being the only girl, but at Riddle, you get used to it.

We all knew we were in for a letdown when the opening scene showed Hayden Christensen. Personally, I enjoyed the movie and thought his acting was infinitely better than Star Wars, but of course the guys did nothing but complain about it afterwards. I hate it when people do that. After all, it’s their own fault they didn’t research who was in the movie BEFORE they paid the seven bucks! Whatever, it was still a great time!

The next day was ridiculously busy yet again. It all started with navigating through the race traffic to stop at Starbucks before church (2 of us in the group were from Washington and 1 from Oregon, so… duh we need our Starbucks! The poor Ohio and Arizona guys just had to tag along.). Every business on International Speedway has a special parking pass for those who are actually going to the store and not wanting to pay for parking for the race. That day was the 50th anniversary after all, so it was crowded!! Still, we made it to church on time with our tasty breakfasts. If that wasn’t great enough, a bunch of the HS seniors and college kids went to Applebees. I really enjoyed getting to know other people my age from Sovereign Grace. Right after that was a Daytona party at a church member’s house. On the way after stopping at Wal-Mart for snacks, we saw the Thunderbirds at a stoplight. It was amazing!! We also caught a glimpse that morning from school. After a great day of novelty and fun, we closed with a visit to my favorite ice cream place, Ritter’s. Phew!! What a busy weekend!

After that, things got a little more normal as I settled into my new routine. I played tennis a couple of times with my talented friends. It was only my 2nd and 3rd time, but I improved a ton. Now I only sock one over the net every once in awhile. 🙂 I always treated the racket like I was playing badminton which I learned is a big mistake!

Bonding with people in Doolittle has also been a wonderful experience. My two friends (girls) from CFC who are just a floor up have come to visit a couple times. We even had a movie night watching Ever After. Fun times! I also enjoy hanging out with two guys on my floor. One is CFC’s worship team leader and the guy who takes us all to Sovereign Grace on Sundays and the other I met through him (Sorry for the terrible grammar, but I’m trying to not give people’s names unless I ask them permission! :)). It’s taking me awhile to figure out all of their inside jokes, but I’ll catch up eventually.

Ok, so I lied about normality I guess… the week continued to be nuts! Alex and I went to see Spamalot in Jacksonville. We had great seats and the whole thing was AMAZING! We even were able to find some good deals while shopping beforehand. I got a $10 dress and then after the play, got Spamalot shirt and shorts. As we walked out of the theater, we saw the beautiful lunar eclipse. I took a picture, but my zoom isn’t exactly the best for space objects… 🙂

From that day on, it was mostly all about studying and reviewing notes. I didn’t work at SPRL the last two weeks either because I got a bad cold. Napping in my room was all I wanted to do. Thankfully, by the end of the first week, I was feeling great and able to go to CFC. We stopped by a coffee shop. The live singing was fun and we laughed the night away with drinks and snacks. It was “Volcano” something or other. I dunno.

After a wonderful Sovereign Grace sermon, we all rocked Chili’s! I couldn’t decide what I wanted to save my life- it was so weird!! My favorite moment came when our waitress asked if we wanted separate checks. One of the guys said, “Well, we’re together,” pointing to another guy. Of course we all laughed at the completely untrue, joking implication you could pull out of that. Then she said, “OH… ok, and the rest of you are SINGLE, right?” The three of us left laughed and said “Yes, but did you have to remind us??” Funny times…

Let’s see… this is getting pretty long, but I’ve been doing a lot of exciting things, so sorry! My last comments would have to be that I started up exercising again which has been perfect now that I’m close to the sparkling new Fitness Center. Also, after my BIG CALC 2 TEST that I’ve been studying for 3 weeks for is done, I’m off to a Third Day concert in Orlando at the House of Blues. I’ll save the details of this weekend for the next journal entry…

Man, spring break and Washington DC with my mommy is SO close!! I can’t wait!

March is-a-comin’!

Love, Nat

spencern@erau.edu

www.virb.com/erauladyeagle

Busy, busy, busy. Basically that sums up my life. Life here in Daytona is getting crazy! With school, work, and living in a place where thousands and thousands of people travel to for various things, I am staying busy. With race week and the Daytona 500 winding down, I can’t help but think to the next couple of weeks with Bike Week and Spring Break. This is definitely a busy time of year for Daytona and its residents. I’ll tell you about some fun things that have been happening lately, but first we’ll go over some classes!

MWF 10:30am-11:30am – Air Traffic Management III – Well, we’ve just started our real labs, and it is pretty fun. I’m partners with my friend Aaron, so when one of us is the controller, the other person is the pilot. Both he and I have already been the controller and the pilot, and there were a lot of mistakes that we made. In the lab there are so many planes and it is at such a fast pace, so it can get overwhelming sometimes. We both have fun though, and we learn from each others mistakes, so it’s all good. I look forward to the labs we have coming up, because for the most part we all have a blast.

TTH 8:15am-9:30am – Aviation Legislation – Well this class has way more writing than is acceptable. The acceptable level is no writing, and this class exceeds that by a lot! I am in a group of 5 people and we are all writing a paper together, but on tests, there are essay questions! I haven’t had a test with essay questions since high school! Other than the whole writing part, the class is going pretty well though.
The subject is pretty interesting, so it’s not all bad.

TTH 9:45am-11:00am – Aerodynamics – I have a test coming up this Thursday and I’m not sure what to expect. We don’t have to memorize the formulas that we need to use, so that is good news. One thing that I like about this class is that the professor will relate the material to real-life applications as much as possible. Sometimes you’ll be in a class and you’ll wonder how this stuff relates to your job, but I don’t worry about that in this class.

TTH 11:15am-12:30pm – Commercial Pilot Ops. – So we just took our first test, and I got a 97! I did a lot better than I expected, and there was also some extra credit that boosted my grade. We were going over some aerodynamic stuff and our teacher said that if we made a paper airplane that could fly from one side of the room to the other, then we would get 5 points extra credit! A lot of people made planes that could, so she gave us extra credit for our test. Our next big subject is going to be weather and I think that weather is a weaker subject for me. We won’t be talking about the general weather like we did in our weather classes; rather, we’ll go into the different types of reports and maps that pilots use on a regular basis and how to decipher all the information that is on them. So I’m glad that we are going over some of that and hopefully I can learn more and understand it better.

TTH 3:45pm-5:00pm – Aircraft Engines – We took our first test in this class as well and I got an 89! The test was wicked hard but the questions that I didn’t know for sure, I just guessed and I guess I’m a good guesser! Haha. So now we are moving on to the next section and hopefully I can repeat these results for the next test, or get even better!

TTHS 7:45pm-12:00am – Flight – I have one more flight, then I am going up for a “pre-prog” sim and oral which means I go with another instructor and do the activities as if they were the final tests. Then that instructor tells me if I am ready for the actual test, and if I am, I sign up for a time to take it! I’m definitely getting more and more nervous as the time approaches, but I think that I am ready! One thing that I really love about Riddle is all the things that are offered to students to help them with their tests.
We have a flight tutor lab that is free of charge that allows students to go in and study any aspect of their course and practice with mini-sims. Also, since you are surrounded by people who are pilots, there is always someone at your current level or above so they can help you with anything you have questions about.
For example: My good friend Cris is a flight instructor and my roommate is multi-commercial rated so they can answer anything that I have questions about. Also, you can observe flights and orals to help you prepare. Just last week my roommate wanted to brush up on some instrument procedures so he hopped in the back of the plane when I had one of my flights.
And my other friend, Ken, is just a little bit ahead of me in the instrument course, so he is about to have his final oral exam and he said I could observe it to see what it is like. That means I could see an actual final oral exam that will be just like the one I will have soon. So basically, if I observe his and there is something I don’t understand or don’t know, the chances are they will ask me when I have my oral so I should go home and study that. That is huge! It’s like cheating almost, but it is encouraged and 100% allowed! I did that last year for my private and there was some stuff I didn’t know, so I went home and studied that and sure enough when it was my turn they asked the same thing! Every oral is different, but the material covered is usually pretty consistent. So definitely a big plus for going to Riddle!

Well, those are my classes. In other news, things with AOA (the Aeronautical Honor Society) have been going well. We have some fun things planned for the upcoming weeks and we’ve had an eventful past two weeks. We had a new member social where all the new members meet with the old members and try to get to know one another. We went bowling and everyone had a blast. I love to bowl, but I haven’t gone in such a long time. I’m by no means “good”, but I definitely have fun whenever I go.

Also, last week we had a date auction for charity. Basically, there were people being auctioned off for dates and all the money that was raised went to charity. We had an AOA member there to be auctioned off and when he came on stage he did this little dance thing and Snoop Dog was playing in the background. It was pretty funny. He ended up raising something like 60 bucks which was pretty good because some people barely got 10! So all in all, it was a success. After the date auction, I met up with some guys in AOA and we hung out at one of their apartments. Later on we went to an Embry-Riddle hockey game. I sometimes forget that we have a hockey team, which sucks because I really like hockey! It was the last game of the season, so the place was packed. It was so much fun yelling and chanting various chants. We played Florida State and, at one point, a fight broke out between a guy from each team. The refs broke it up and the guy from Riddle started skating back to the bench with no gloves or helmet on. The Florida State guy was skating behind him and tried to take a cheap shot when the Riddle guy wasn’t looking, but before he could the Ref tackled him! Just flat laid him out!
I’ve seen Refs stop fights and even prevent them to a certain extent, but I have never seen a ref rough tackle someone! It was hilarious. We had to leave early, so there was still 15 minutes left of the game, but the score was 10 to 2, Riddle winning. So needless to say, we won.

On Mondays, my friends and I have decided that it is dinner night. Basically, every Monday me, my roommate, or one of our other friends will cook dinner. My mom came over again and cooked for us and she made some delicious stuffed shells. Next week it is my friend Aaron’s turn. I wonder what he is gonna cook!

So as I mentioned last journal, I got the chance to go see my sister in New York, and I had a blast! I left on Friday and I was supposed to get back on Monday (I’ll explain later). Last time I went we did all the touristy stuff like roam around Times Square and go to the top of the Empire State Building, but this time we had a much more laid back, relaxing time. My cousin happened to be in town so we ended up hanging out with her a lot. I also saw my Uncle Cliff which was cool because I don’t get to see him that much. Other than that, we just did some exploring, ate some delicious New York pizza, and enjoyed the cold weather! I had so much fun and I was real glad I got to see my little sis.

I decided to go over this weekend because we had President’s day off, so I could have the most time there. Unfortunately I missed the Daytona 500 though. I’m not a real big NASCAR fan, but I definitely had a blast last year. But honestly, I was kind of glad to get out of Daytona. As much fun as it is, Daytona becomes a zoo with thousands and thousands of people.
So just being able to escape was nice.

Unfortunately, while the trip was fun, the traveling wasn’t! I was supposed to leave on Monday afternoon, but they canceled my flight. After two hours of trying to get in contact with anyone who worked for the airline, I finally managed to book a flight that left the next morning. So I had to travel back to the city, got to see my sister again, and then got in a cab at 4:30 in the morning. I ended up back in Daytona today (Tuesday) at 11:30 and got picked up by my friends then ran to my class. I missed two and a half classes, but I emailed my professors so I got all the make-up work that I needed. After that class, I had a meeting with my Aviation Legislation professor and my group, then I ran home, showered and went back to school for my last class. Then I had a flight followed by an AOA meeting which was followed by another meeting! So needless to say, I’m pretty wiped out. I had an energy drink earlier, but now that is wearing off. I predict that sleep is in the near forecast.

Well I think that’ll wrap it up for this edition of the BLAKE GUILES JOURNAL EXPERIENCE!!!!!! I’ve never called it that before, but it has a nice ring to it.
Anyway, I mentioned that I was excited about my upcoming plans for spring break. I think I’m going to tell you next journal though. I want your mind to be wondering “What is Blake doing for spring break?!?!?!”
Not that you really care or anything, but I’ll give you a hint: If you know anything about me, you know that this thing that I will be doing is one of my favorite things to do, but I can’t do it all the time.
Mainly because of stupid Florida. Anyway, by the time of next journal Bike Week will be just about to start!
Exciting! So stay tuned for that and other fun antidotes! Bye Bye!

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

Happy late Valentine’s Day!  I can’t believe February is already halfway over!  School and various activities have been keeping me pretty busy, so when I looked at the calendar and saw that we only have nine weeks of school left I was shocked.  I do have great news to share—I am going to get to fly an airplane!  Through AFROTC, I was able to secure a spot on a flight to get flight time for free!  I have never taken over the controls and actually flown an airplane, so I am pretty excited!   I will let you all know how it goes in my next journal entry and I will be sure to take pictures.

On February 5th, Joe Galloway came and gave his talk.  I mentioned him in my last journal entry and how I was very excited to hear him come and talk.  Well, I wasn’t let down because he was a great speaker and by far my favorite one.  He talked about his experiences in the Vietnam War, current politics and veterans, and the process of writing his book We Were Soldiers Once – and Young.  At times during his speech, I got goose bumps on my arms because he was so passionate about his job and what he was doing that you could almost feel like you were there.

Air Force ROTC is going really well!  We have several big events happening soon including the Physical Fitness Assessment and Mid-Terms.  I have started running outside twice a week in the early morning in preparation for the fitness test and I hope that I can take a minute off my run time.  Mid-Terms consist of an inspection and a knowledge test, so I need to spend some time shining my shoes.  Also, in order to get a scholarship and commission you must have and pass a DoDMERB physical.  Some people come to school with them already done, but I didn’t and I am now going through the process.  You have to have your eyes examined and then a physical.  I had my eyes examined last week and received good news: I don’t need glasses.  My physical is this coming week and hopefully that will go just as smoothly.

As I am sure all of you already know, the Daytona 500 was this Sunday and I got to work at the racetrack for AFROTC.  My job this time was to check people’s bags to make sure they weren’t bringing in anything they weren’t supposed to.  You are not allowed to take a regular backpack into the racetrack, it must be clear.  I had several people get upset by this rule, but most people were cooperative.  Unfortunately, I got sunburned on my face and neck because we were standing out in the sun for so long.  I did get to go inside the racetrack and WOW!  We were able to get real close to the cars and the noise and speed is amazing.  I think I could definitely become a NASCAR fan!  The traffic around Daytona Beach has been horrible because of all the people in the area.  I heard the announcer at the Speedway say there was enough people in the racetrack to triple the size of Daytona Beach!   The Thunderbirds flew right over top at the beginning of the race and I love watching them because it’s amazing how they stay together!  Also, I got to hear Trisha Yearwood (a country star) sing the national anthem!  I am excited for next year’s race, but I can wait another year before it happens again.  As a part of Silver Wings, I helped sell Papa John’s Pizza outside of the racetrack.  All the people pouring out at once sure were a sight to see!  We sold out of pizza and I think we could have sold more because when we left there was still a ton of people waiting in line to get on buses to take them to their parking lots.  I believe we made quite a bit of money so that’s a good thing.

My classes are going alright but this semester my math class, Business Statistics, is a little harder.  I needed some help on my homework and the teacher’s office hours were when I had class, so I decided to get help from the peer tutor.  He was really helpfully and was able to give me some pointers on the class in general.  Lesson learned was take advantage of the tutors because they can help.  In my last entry, I mentioned how I was trying to work on my Microeconomics paper so that I wouldn’t have to work on it over Spring Break…I finished it and turned it in already!  I am really proud of myself because I usually procrastinate a lot when it comes to writing papers.

Check out my pictures because I posted some of the race!  If you have any questions you can e-mail me!

Until next time,
Kaleigh
e-mail: sidesk@erau.edu