Hey Everyone,

So these past two weeks have been pretty uneventful until this past weekend. School has been going very, very well. It’s been a lot of work and a lot of studying, but all in all it’s been going by pretty smoothly. I can’t believe we are already coming up on the end of February. This semester is just flying by, spring break is in like 3 weeks already and then midterms are even before that.  I must be super busy because I don’t think I’ve ever felt a semester go by this fast, but I’m not complaining at all!!!! I’ve decided in the past two weeks that I am going to stay at school for summer. I decided that I could go home and have fun all summer for four months, which really does sound awesome, or I can take classes so that I can just become that much closer to finishing. I’m going to miss being at home for the summer but I also realize that I’m doing it to better myself.

This past week in Daytona Beach has been INSANE. Not sure if everyone is aware of it, but the Daytona 500 was this past weekend and so Race Week events were all last week. There were so many people here that I could not believe it.  However, since Riddle is located so close to the track, the traffic was ridiculous around school. It wasn’t even worth going off campus because you would just be stuck in traffic and have to sit there anyways. The positive aspect of race week was all of the different aircraft that came into Daytona Beach. The airport closes down our North-South runway in order to provide parking for all of the private aircraft that come.  On race day, during the National Anthem, the Thunderbirds did their fly-over and I got some video of that, and I also got a shot of them lined up on the tarmac after the race. It was definitely a cool experience to be here for.

So this past weekend, I was able to attend another conference. We traveled to Tallahassee to Florida State University for FARH (Florida Association of Residence Halls). This was almost like the SAACURH conference that I attended, but instead of different states being there, it was just all of the Resident Student Association’s in Florida only. We attended a whole bunch of different programs in order to come up with ideas to bring back to our schools. There was also an amazing Keynote speaker, Ed Garahty who spoke on leadership.  So this has been a weekend that I have been looking forward to since before winter break, and of course what do I get?????? THE FLU… that’s right… Thursday morning I wake up with all of the symptoms and I go through the entire weekend feeling like death. But I made the best out of a bad situation and managed to still have a great time.

There really has not been much else going on around here, a lot of people have been getting sick, so it’s felt kind of dreary around campus, but other than that it’s the same old stuff. I hope everyone’s life has been more exciting than mine!!!  Hope all is well and I will talk to you all soon. Make sure you check out my blog for more pictures and videos!!! www.virb.com/joejaworskiatc Until Next Time, Joey Jaworski

Aim- HYPORBOY226
Email: Jaworksj@erau.edu

Hello Journal Readers!!

I hope all your applications to Riddle were successful and if not, make sure you ask why! These two weeks were full of races and exams L boo.

Anyways, I submitted my app for the Orientation Team the other day and have a info session to attend to on Tuesday. I’m not even sure how many slots are open for the position but hey, it’s worth a shot. The applications for running for the SGA also came out on Friday but I didn’t get a chance to grab one yet. Aside from all that, classes have been going on as usual.

I’ve gotten a good feel for all my professors now and they’re all pretty good. Physics, Professor Vuille, I’m a little unsure about; he calls a 60 as a “strong failure”. lol, I didn’t know if I should chuckle or cry when he laughed and said that. I heard he curves insanely though and overall, he’s a great professor, especially for a subject like physics. I’m piled to the top of head with work to do, papers to write, applications to fill out and too many things to do.

Back to the races? Why not. I wasn’t working the races at all, but about half of Riddle did. Race week was crazy! There were Thunderbirds flying right over our heads like it was an everyday occurrence. There were at least 10 different things in the sky above you at anytime including blimps, Riddle planes, planes with banners. I remember walking back from the Student Center one day this week and I looked up and I could’ve sworn the blimp missed the plane with the banner by only an inch. All week there were roars in the sky and racetrack. There were a million planes here this past weekend, all private jets too! I’ve posted pictures of Daytona Beach before and after, it’s unbelievable. It’s such a small airport, with only 6 terminals and only like 20 flights a day the parking lot was packed with private jets.

Speaking of my long weekend, I spent it sick =[ Luckily I got sick only on Friday after my classes, so no loss there. But I spent the rest of the night in bed shivering cuz I was freezing even though my head said I was on fire. I gave people quite a scare, but I watched a movie that night anyways. We watched Closer with Julia Roberts and Natalie Portman and two guys I forgot. The movie was pretty messed up haha until the very end there was a twist and turn. Anyways, I slept well that night and didn’t wake up until way after the sun rose. Ooh on Thursday, (you’ll read about this in Natalie’s page!), I with some other people helped her move! I guess she needed more space/privacy/quiet hours, so she got her own room in Doolittle. We’ll still visit her and stuff, but now there’s only the three of us living in our suite. When I got sick on Friday, a friend and I spent a little while cleaning my room because I assumed the filth got me sick. About once a month I go on a cleaning frenzy because I have crazy sensitive allergies to dust and dirt, but I’m a messy person. So I can’t maintain a clean room, but I can clean it when it makes me sick. Either way I’m feeling much better now and ready for the four day work week! yay!

I’m also excited to be going home in about a month, which should be nice as always. I have to write a paper tonight, it’s a research proposal for my Technical Writing class. I think I’m going to write my proposal on the effects of caffeine, namely coffee and energy drinks, on teenagers and how it affects their adult life. Something like that, I still have to refine my question today/tomorrow.

That’s all for today guys! I’ve got a boat load of homework to do, so I’m gonna get to it. I’m going to be posting pictures on Tuesday evening ish after I upload stuff and grab some from friends!

Have a good next two weeks! and Happy (belated) Valentines Day!!

Well, things have picked up again! School, clubs, fun times, holidays… the list goes on!

CFC has been very encouraging and a great time of fellowship and fun! The first Saturday, we went bowling after a great lesson on using our gifts wisely and trusting in Christ completely. Worship team has also picked up. It’s nice to have vocals instead of trying to sing along with iTunes. I’ve been practicing my harmony and such- good times! The second Saturday, we went to Ritter’s for iced cream after an enlightening message on relationships and purity in honor of Valentine’s Day. I don’t know what was in that custard, but everyone was very goofy. I couldn’t stop laughing over the stupidest things!!

Speaking of eating out, during one of the past weeks, I ate at a restaurant 4 days in a row. The first was the Chinese Buffet after picking up my Daytona 500 schedule. Next, some friends and I went to My Cousin Vinny’s (I had a delicious manicotti!!) after playing tennis (which was my second time ever and I improved a lot). Day three was the CFC Ritter’s trip and day four was going to the Chinese Buffet again after church at Sovereign Grace. It was fun, but I’m glad to get a break from spending money left and right. Don’t worry, I’m still doing great with my budget! 😉

One of the more exciting events of the last two weeks was visiting Gulfstream in Savannah Georgia. If I remember right, it’s like 40-something million dollars for one of their jets. They were gorgeous!! I wouldn’t mind working in the research and design department. If I end up living by one of their plants, I just might give it a try! The funny thing was that I was the only EP honors student to go- everyone else was AE. We weren’t allowed to take pictures, but we do have a group one I’ll try to put up.

I also reached a milestone by finishing the first rounds of tests. I generally wasn’t pleased with the scores, but I’ve made some changes with how I study and how much that will hopefully fix the problem. The only class I legitimately feel will be a constant struggle is Calculus 2. I’ve heard it’s the toughest of Calcs, so I’m gonna stick with it! Also, if you turn in all your homework in that class, you can drop the lowest test score! Hooray!

Recently, I found out about Campus Outreach and have gotten more involved. In addition to the Bible studies every two weeks, I also was able to help with their (and Task Force One’s) Super Bowl party. Following that, we had a session about Tom Brady and the reason why he feels like life must be something more even though he has everything material you can get in this life.

I’ve had fun filling out birthday cards and finding gifts since three friends had their birthdays.

SPRL is in transition mode yet again. We’re trying to hire some more people to continue data analysis while us “more experienced” people are learning the ropes of running the lab. I finally met Dr. Azeem and he encouraged me to continue getting good grades. Who knows? If I do well, I might actually go (in his words) to “a cold place”. 🙂 One can hope, right? One of the sites that I’m manager of, Sondestromfjord, has bad data thanks to a radar that keeps interfering. I’m supposed to graph it so Dr. Azeem can tell them to stop, basically.

Valentine’s Day was practically life-changing. I helped Society of Women Engineers sell roses in the morning. I actually did quite well arranging and wrapping them despite just learning that morning. I was having fun matching colors and adding “fernage” (as I like to say) and Baby’s breath. Valentine’s Day also marked the point when I was able to get my own room. I moved into Doolittle first west after talking to the wonderful housing head. She gave me the key and from when I began packing in Wood at 4pm, I was able to finish set-up, rearranging furniture, and decorating by 11pm. Not bad for a complete move! My sweet suitemates and Alex’s boyfriend helped me. We were a hilarious group of suitcase and duffel bag! It only took two trips. I’m so pleased with the open space and being closer to everything. I do have to pay 1.5 housing rate, but it’s worth it! I will definitely miss being able to walk a maximum of 20 feet to see all my Wood friends, but we still have many classes together and there is a such thing as a cell phone!

As you probably know, the Daytona 500 is upon us. It’s going to be a long two nights of helping CFC raise money, but at least I have my own room to get a good ?? day’s ?? sleep! 🙂 I’m not sure how I’m going to transfer back to sleeping at night… I’ll see. Should be very exciting and hopefully not too cold. I’m hoping to get a friend of my dad’s a bandana of his favorite racers. When I was at K-mart they had a ton of stuff, so maybe it all goes on sale when the crazy crowds leave! I’m walking over for my first shift at six tonight!! At least we have Monday off and I’m going to the beach with some CFC friends. Church on Sunday will be interesting, too… hope I can stay focused and alert!

Until next time,

From the home of the Daytona 500,

And now Doolittle,

Natalie Ann

spencern@erau.edu

www.virb.com/erauladyeagle

Happy February! Hope wherever you are it is cold, because here in Florida there was a high of 85 the other day! Yeah! 85!!! If that sounds good to you . . . you might be crazy or you might just be freezing cold in a place that gets way too cold. Either way, if 85 sounds good, you have something to look forward to! Anyway, other than sweating a lot, I am doing good. I’ve had a busy two weeks, and I have some big plans coming up… more on that later . . . now, some classes!!!

MWF 10:30am-11:30am – Air Traffic Management III – Well, we have taken our first test and both my friend Aaron and I got a 98! Definitely a good way to start off the year. Our second test is scheduled for this coming Wednesday and then after that we’ll be in the labs! I have gotten 6 practice hours in the lab so far and I’m pretty excited that our class will start to consist of only the labs. I’ll try to take some pictures of the labs the next time I’m in there and post them online.

TTH 8:15am-9:30am – Aviation Legislation – We had our first test in here last Thursday and I still don’t know what I got. The test was different than what I am usually used to. Usually, all other tests in my different classes have consisted of multiple choice questions; however, in this class there are only 10 MC questions and we had to write an essay. I’m not a big fan of writing essays, but I think I did alright. The subject seems pretty interesting, so all in all, it’s not too bad.

TTH 9:45am-11:00am – Aerodynamics – This class is starting to kick it up a notch. We are already jumping into some pretty wicked stuff, and now I’m realizing that I am going to need to study for quite some time before my test. The test should be sometime next week, which is good because I have some other tests coming up this week. The professor for this class is definitely pretty cool; he just goes off on tangents a lot, so sometimes it’s hard to learn for the whole hour and fifteen minutes. The class is fun though, so I’ll just need to do some extra work outside of class to make sure I get a good grade.

TTH 11:15am-12:30pm – Commercial Pilot Ops. – This is one of my classes that I will be having a test in soon, and I’m kind of nervous. I have (for the most part) always done good on tests since I’ve been here at Riddle, but in my past two classes that dealt with flying (instrument and private) I didn’t do the best. I ended up with an A last semester, but my entire first year I got B’s. And I’m not one of those people that freaks out if I don’t get straight A’s. I can handle B’s and C’s, but I always try to get A’s. Anyway, the only B’s I’ve gotten at Riddle were the ones in those classes and I really had to work to get an A last semester, so I’m expecting a lot of work this semester so I can keep my GPA up.

TTH 3:45pm-5:00pm – Aircraft Engines – Oh yes, I am way over my head in this class. I am starting to grasp some concepts in this class, but after looking at all these formulas I need to know how to use, I begin to feel like a physicist! I’ll take a picture of the formula sheet and post it online, it’s pretty wicked. Anyway, I’m pushing my way through the class and trying to get ready for the test that is approaching ever so fast. I’ll let you know how that goes when I take it.

TTHS 7:45pm-12:00am – Flight – Well, I am finishing up my instrument rating and I actually got done with everything I was suppose to do, but I didn’t meet the minimum number of hours required. So basically, that means I need to do a few more activities, which is a good thing because some more practice would definitely give me some more confidence. So I’ll be doing some more training over the next two weeks or so, and then I’ll start my final tests! I actually just took my written test the other day and I passed with an 83!!! I am definitely stoked about that because now there is one less thing I have to worry about. I’ll be sure to let you know how the last few activities go!

Other than the school stuff, I have definitely been keeping pretty busy. I’ll start by talking about the Rolex 24. For those of you unfamiliar with the race that is known as the Rolex 24, go here to find out more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/24_Hours_of_Daytona

Anyway, in a nutshell, it is a 24 hour race in Daytona and I went with a bunch of friends to go see it! We got out the racetrack at around 9 or so and pulled into a huge grass lot and backed up all our cars and cooked out. We had cheeseburgers and hotdogs and just kind of hung out for a while. I mean there wasn’t really any rush; the race is 24 hours long. After a while we bought tickets and started walking around on the infield area. We went to one of the hair-pin turns and got pretty close to see the race. After a while we stumbled around in different areas and then the next thing we knew, we were in the pit area. You had to pay to get a special pass, but somehow we happened to get in! We were walking down the main road in between all the tents for the racers and we heard a car behind us, so we all jumped out of the way. It ended up pulling into the tent next to us and the driver was yelling to his crew about something and they started working on the car! We were like 15 ft away! I took pictures with my phone so I don’t know how’ll they’ll look on-line, but I’ll put them on the site. After that we ended up going to Waffle House at like 3 in the morning. All in all, it was a pretty fun experience.

I mentioned last journal about my roommate’s aerobatic adventures, but I didn’t really tell you all about it. Basically, he is getting a “tail wheel endorsement” which is done in an aerobatic plane. The planes we train in at Riddle don’t have a tail wheel, so you need special training to fly those types of planes. So my roommate is getting that training, and since it is done in an aerobatic plane he gets to do flips, go inverted, and do high G turns! I want him to finish up everything so he can take me up for a ride! I think that sometime next semester I will try to get the tail wheel endorsement, but I’m not sure though. I’ll just have to see where I’m at then.

So the super bowl was intense! Sorry to all you Pat fans, and congrats to all you Manning fans! Also, just some FYI, favorite commercial was the Doritos one with the mouse trap and then the giant mouse jumps on him. If you didn’t catch it, you can watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5lBdLEi3ns

Anyway, me and my roommate had some friends over to watch the game and we made some delicious burgers and a new dish: cheeseburger pizza, which was pretty good. I’m looking forward to the next time we have an excuse to cook that again!

As I said last journal I applied to become a member of AOA (an Aeronautical Honor Society) and I just found out that I was accepted!!! I’ll go more into the club itself later, but basically there is a meeting every week and there are activities that we will do through out the year. I’m very excited about being apart of AOA and I look forward to telling you guys about some fun stuff that is going to happen!

Well, as you loyal readers know, my sister goes to school in New York and I am going to go visit her in less than two weeks!!! I went up in October and it was so nice to see her in the city, and I am definitely looking forward to seeing her again! I’ll be sure to take lots of pictures and tell you all about it next journal. Also, I have a little something planned for spring break coming up in March. It’s a little trip with some of my friends, but I don’t want to give too much away now. You’ll have to wait until next time to see what it is! (if you even care!!!)

On another note, my mom came over to my apartment and cooked dinner for me and some friends. We made garlic chicken which is a recipe that my grandmother use to make all the time and now my mom gave it to me! It’s by far my favorite meal and I can’t wait to make it on my own, although it probably won’t be as good! Anyway, it was nice to see my mom and hang out with her and my friends. We ended up watching American Gladiator afterwards which was a blast too!

I promise that I will upload some pictures and videos soon, but I’ve been wicked busy lately. Check up on that sometime within the week and there will be some new stuff. Also, thanks to everyone who is sending e-mails with questions and comments. I have responded to a lot of them and I should be almost caught up with everyone. As always, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to send me an e-mail. Well, I’ve got a lot of tests to study for, so the journal ends here. I’ll see you in two weeks!!!! Adios…

-Blake

email: wasteofsoap@yahoo.com

pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wasteofsoap/

videos: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=blakeguiles

Hello Journal Readers!!

It’s hard to believe that it’s already been a month since I’ve been here for the new semester! Last week was the first week of exams and I’m happy to say I aced my first exam this semester in Technical Writing.

Why don’t I tell everyone the bad news in the beginning, so the end will be better. I didn’t get the position on the SRB ? I came really close though! I was only of only 6 finalists (and one of two freshman) who got the second interview, so I was still pretty happy that I at least got to go that far. The first interview was conducted in the student government office with different people from the different branches of the SRB and SGA. The second interview was in front of the whole SRB in the auditorium. It was a little nerve wracking being the only one standing and talking to them in the auditorium, but it’s okay, it was only my first try.

One good that def. came out of it was a recommendation for the O-Team! Hopefully everyone has made up their mind about if they want to come to Riddle or not and if you do, try your hardest not to miss the orientation events. It’s when you really get to meet your hall mates and know campus so much better. (I’ve mentioned a lot about orientation in my first entry). Anyways, there were guides called Orientation team leaders, basically students who would tell freshmen the ins and outs of campus. I wanted to be on the team just because it looks like a lot of fun and something interesting to do. The application for this due this Friday the 8th and I really need to get started on perfecting that.

I’ve been applying to so many scholarships since I got here; the biggest one was SWE recently. Their one application makes you eligible for all of theirs, which is very convenient. Riddle also grants scholarships, but that one isn’t due until March. I’m also in need of figuring out how to do a college resume. I stopped by career services and they helped me out a lot and gave me tips on how to change my high school one to be relevant to college too.

I had my first calc exam today and spent all weekend studying, so I’m crossing my fingers for an A! Oh I forgot to mention Super bowl Weekend! Friday I had a bunch of stuff to do with TFO. We painted the rock (someone painted over it already =[ ). It looked awesome when we were done. We had the two teams on one side with a diagonal stripe and a football painted and then the info for our event on the other side. This is the third time I’ve painted the rock this year, it’s fun. The pictures didn’t come out as great unfortunately because they were taken on phones. Friday I also did a bunch of promotion for our Super bowl event. For two hours we went to all the dorms and hung up door hangers. Usually you can give the door hangers at an RA meeting but the door hangers came in later than expected. Saturday was one of my friends birthday! We sure do celebrate a lot of birthdays around here. ERAU gives every first-year student a cake on their birthday and we of course, couldn’t resist but have a mini cake fight at midnight. Then came Sunday! TFO had a Madden tournament in the morning, which a bunch of people showed up for, and TFO people played too. Then the super bowl started! I unfortunately missed the event, which I know was a blast. I had a calc exam like I mentioned before. I heard a lot of people showed up for it though and I’m gonna see who took pictures so I can post them up.

This weekend is a three-day weekend! The only thing I have to study for is my Phys exam on the Tuesday we come back, but otherwise I’m free. I know there’s this women’s’ program on Saturday which I don’t know the details for, but thought of checking it out anyways. I also decided to start working out again since I hadn’t since last semester. I went today and it was pretty energizing, so I’m going to hope I make time at least every other day to go. Anyways, I get to go home in about a month! Most people come to Daytona for Spring Break, but I’m going to Jersey, haha. I get to spend a good 10 days there, which I’m excited about because I haven’t really been home since I left for college with Thanksgiving being so short and Christmas spent in India.

Anyways, I’m about to finish up some homework. Take care everybody! Check out pictures I posted!
Spree

Hey Everyone,
So it is definitely apparent that we are back into the swing of things here in Florida. Classes are getting intense, the homework keeps flying at you, exams dates are coming closer and closer. This semester has not started off in the ways that I thought it would what-so-ever… It’s been for the better and the worse. I have become more distant with some of my closest friends down here, but I have started to make or grow in other friendships. Also, with friends back at home it seems like things are starting to get hazy,  what I mean by that is just that things are not the way they used to be at all. When they say you have to sometimes fight for friendships, they weren’t kidding… Just keep your friends close!

So classes, like I said, are getting crazier than ever!!! I feel like the never-ending man of homework… if it’s not one thing it’s the other. This is definitely not like last semester… last semester was more laid back, but this semester is just go GO GOOO!!! I have changed my schedule around a lot and have been trying to limit my extra-curricular activities. I’m still involved with the AcaFellas, ERRSA, and ATC Org, otherwise I’ve been trying to leave more time open for me. I feel like I have been over-doing myself because I have felt so tired lately, I’m not one to take naps during the day, but I haven’t been able to get through a day in a while without one. I think that has a lot to do with emotions, school, extra-curricular activities, and just LIFE!

Oh!!! I got a new roommate. My roommate from last semester decided to transfer to another school so my room was empty and one of my really good friends down here Bobby, was looking to move out so he decided to move into my room. I finally have a roommate whom I like and I get along with. I have not had much luck with roommate situations and I’m just glad I have one that I’m actually friends with.

So, on February 1st, the first newly painted US Airways plane landed at Daytona Beach Airport for the first time. It was a pretty big event and many people went out to go see it. When the plane landed, as it was taxiing to the gate they did this ceremonial thing where they sprayed the aircraft (I’ve never seen it before so it was new to me) but what they did was lined up two fire trucks so that when the plane was entering the gating area, the trucks sprayed the plane on both sides. It was pretty cool to watch! I actually will have pictures posted on my blog site of it (www.virb.com/joejaworskiatc) and hopefully a video of it!!!!

So that’s been my life for the past two weeks. It has had its ups and downs, but, as usual, I have gotten through it! I hope you all are enjoying school and life, AND LET ME KNOW WHEN YOU ALL GET YOUR ACCEPTANCE LETTERS!!!! I’ll leave you with a little piece of wisdom from yours truly. “If you’re not going to fight the battle, don’t expect to win the war. Go into battle with an open heart and an open mind, and any factors working against you cannot beat the convictions that you have for yourself.”

Until Next Time,
Joey Jaworski

According to Punxsutawney Phil we have six more weeks of winter ahead, but I just checked the weather and next week it’s supposed to be in the high 70s!  If you are a senior and still haven’t made the final decision of which college, then think about the weather!  Do you really want to walk to classes in the snow and freezing cold?  The past few weeks I have been busy with homework, activities, and ROTC events.

This coming week most of my classes are having tests, so I will be doing a lot of studying in the next few days.  Thankfully, I only have one test each day because two tests in one day would be a little much.  In my Marketing class, we had to get in groups and throughout the semester we will be working on a marketing plan.  The group projects really teach you a lot about your personality and how to work with various people.  For my Microeconomics class, I have to write a paper and I have been trying to work on it because I don’t want to have to do it over Spring Break.  When scheduling your classes, I recommend that you take Macroeconomics and Microeconomics back to back because they are so similar and if you take a semester off you are likely to forget a lot.  All in all, classes are going pretty well!

On Thursday, the College of Business had its grand opening and you can read a news release about the event at http://www.erau.edu/er/newsmedia/newsreleases/2008/cob.html. The Mayor of Daytona Beach was there and made a short speech about Embry-Riddle and the community.  The building is really nice and a major improvement over the old building.  I have some pictures posted, so if you can’t make it down for a tour— be sure to take a look at them.  The Honors Distinguished Speakers Series had Edward Tenner come and give a talk on January 28th about “The Unintended Dangers of Safety.”  He was quite interesting and mentioned how numerous improvements in safety sometimes aren’t as good as they seem.  The next lecture is going to be given by Joe Galloway who was a war correspondent and he wrote the book We Were Soldiers Once – and Young, which was made into the movie We Were Soldiers.  I am pretty excited to hear him talk about his experiences!

For ROTC, I worked at the Rolex 24 which is not a NASCAR race but specialty cars I think.  I didn’t get to see the race because my job was to keep people from crossing this one street.  Some people were pretty angry when we told them they were going to have to walk a little farther to cross the street!  I get to work the Daytona 500 for ROTC and hopefully, I will get to see a part of the race.  We have a monthly blood drive on campus and the various ROTC branches take turns hosting them.  In January, Air Force hosted the blood drive and they needed people to stand outside of the donation bus and try to get people to give blood.  I got several people to give blood, but I didn’t give any myself.  I don’t like needles and blood, but I am trying to get over my fears.  Next time, I am going to donate blood and I will let you all know how it goes!

Last weekend, I went with some friends to see the movie “27 Dresses” and it was really good!  This weekend was my friend’s birthday, so a bunch of us went out to eat to celebrate.  Also, Silver Wings and Arnold Air (an AFROTC club) had a picnic in the park and it was a lot of fun to just hang out.  I hope everyone has fun watching the Super Bowl—I have to watch the commercials for my Marketing class!  Don’t forget to check out the pictures and if you have any questions e-mail me!

Until next time,

Kaleigh

e-mail:sidesk@erau.edu

Well, the weeks of no homework and continual Starbucks runs have come to an abrupt end. No more sleeping in all the time, going to bed whenever, and watching movies at any point. Probably a good thing to be back on a schedule, though. I need to be disciplined enough, especially for the first round of tests. Every day, I try to read my Bible and pray, eat right, and exercise. Also included is SPRL work as well as homework and studying, not to mention club meetings and such. School is back in full swing and I’m slowly relaxing into the demanding timeline.

A big topic of conversation on campus, especially for the freshman, has been housing for next year. The whole process starts really early, so it’s just bizarre to be trying to figure out what you want to promise to do for the next year already. All kinds of things can change before then! For now, I’m looking at rooming with three girls from Christian Fellowship Club. They’re in Meteorology and ATC majors, so I never get to see them except for a few hours on Saturdays. Hopefully, all my suitemates from this year and I will get great rooms in Apollo so we can still be close buddies too. When we find out our lottery numbers on March 11th, I’ll be sure to let you all know the results. All we need is one of us four to get a lower number, even just low enough to secure the last Apollo room. If that doesn’t work… well, we don’t have a back-up plan yet, but there’s plenty of time! 🙂

As for my suitemates and I this semester, we have great plans for decorating our part of the floor. The theme is going to be Hollywood. Now if we only have enough time to put up the supplies and decorations we bought!! I’ll put up pictures if we ever get around to it!

Two weekends ago, Alex’s dad came down for a few days. The first night he took Spree, Alex, my roommate, and I out to a really good Thai restaurant. Saturday night we went to Cancun Lagoon (it’s a very tasty Mexican restaurant right by school). Spree and I thought it was a seafood restaurant, but we were a little off! As we finished the meal, fireworks went off at the racetrack. The Rolex 24 race was loud and exciting in the distance.

Last Tuesday, I really enjoyed the Honors Distinguished Speaker Series guy, Edward Tenner. He had some great points and examples about how our determination to make everything safe can have unintended consequences. I’m tempted to go out and buy his book. As an engineer, I have to learn to do my best to foresee the outcome of my choices and designs.

Last Friday we had our first Computing for Engineers test. From now on I’ll call it programming or MATLAB class. Anyway, it was pretty nice. I’m not gonna be overconfident or anything, so I’m desperately hoping it’s a high A. I’ve always enjoyed going to that class. Computers just make sense to me. Maybe I should’ve been a computer engineer instead… 🙂

That same night, I had my first outing with the Society of Women Engineers, SWE. We went ice-skating of all things. I have to admit that it’s just awesome to be able to claim such a thing in Florida!! Weird. At the rink there was a disgusting amount of junior high kids all screaming and flirting like mad. It felt nice to glide along the cool surface. After, I decided to stay for the ice hockey game against FIT. It was amazing! We won 12-0. I got some great video of a goal or two, the crowd, and the band. One is the entire last six minutes of the game. I have to say I wasn’t so fond of the cheers (rather JEERS) going out, so I was pretty quiet until we made goals. It was an exciting night!

This weekend I have two tests to study for, one in calculus, the other in physics, as well as two papers to write for Honors. One is a big ten-pager about a scientist in our Atomic Bomb book and the other one-pager is on our feelings about the making of religious states (The book talks often of the Jewish people.) I managed to finish my formal lab report from last Tuesday and the smaller math and physics assignments. It was a busy week with a busy weekend finishing it off!

But, the good news is I have lots of fun stuff too. CFC is meeting then going out for dinner and bowling. On Sunday, I’m helping Campus Outreach and TFO with the Super Bowl party on campus.

On the spring break front, my mom had some great news for me! We were able to get a Wyndham hotel for all six or seven nights and it’s right in Alexandria. It’s so perfect because its location is a half block from the metro station. Mom and I aren’t  too   terribly confident about driving around D.C. and finding parking, so it’s a beautiful situation. I bet the hotel is ridiculously nice, too. What a fun break that will be! Now, we get to daydream about all the places we can visit!

Lately  I’ve been trying to figure out what to do about Sundays because Riverbend changed its “second service” classes to other times during the week. The college ministry meets Sunday nights but my ride can’t make it to that. Last Sunday, I had a great time visiting Sovereign Grace (I had promised a friend of mine last semester I’d go at some point. Ironically, he’s the one with a NASA internship in Virginia now…) before going to visit Campus Outreach at Christ Community for a college luncheon. If you’re confused, don’t worry, I am too! 🙂 I will certainly be in prayer about finding the right fellowship and also having solid Biblical teaching at least once a week. I have to admit it was very fun going to church with CFC friends. I’ve been able to hang with them a lot more this semester already.

SPRL has been going along just fine. My latest project involves recording the dates and times when a radar signal interferes with our MI data. I had a great time fixing up the program to allow me to start and stop the cycling through the graphs. Another SPRL guy has no idea why it works, but we’re not complaining! One day, Dr. Azeem brought in his attire for visiting the South Pole and left it for us to play with. Naturally, we college students couldn’t resist. I have some pretty funny pictures I put up of myself and Mike and Chris from that day. Enjoy!

Well, like I said, I’ve got a busy weekend ahead of me! I bet by the next journal entry things will be pretty normal again (Wishful thinking?). At least I’ll have a better hang of things and will have completed several tests and papers. I’m also going with the Honors Student Association to Gulfstream in Savannah, GA on Tuesday. Alex is coming, too, and we both have a physics test to study for, so it’ll be a nice getaway and informative trip too. I really enjoyed going to Piper last semester and I’m sure this will be no different.

Until next time,

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Natalie Ann

http://www.virb.com/erauladyeagle

spencern@erau.edu

Well, well, well… Here we are a couple weeks into the semester, and I can already tell that it is going to be a fun, yet very hard year. I’m taking some pretty exciting classes and I think that I like all my professors, so it should be a good year. Other than school, I have been very busy with a lot of other fun stuff. I’ll tell you all about that later, but now I’ll talk about my classes that I have! Be prepared for some reading, this is a long one!

MWF 10:30am-11:30am – Air Traffic Management III – This is my 3rd ATC class and this time it gets a lot more fun. The first two classes were lecture only, meaning that you went to class, took notes, and had a test. This class has a lab so you learn something and then you actually apply it. Our first couple of classes consisted of taking notes and we’ll have two tests coming up soon, but after that we get to go into the ATC lab and actually apply what we’ve been learning. In a couple of weeks we’ll start practicing in the labs and one person will be in the lab acting as the air traffic controller while the other person will be in the classroom acting as the pilots that are being told what to do. By mid-February, we’ll be done with the lecture aspect, and then we’ll only be in the labs. Some of my friends and I have already gone in to mess around in the labs because we have to get practice lab hours. It’s pretty fun to see all these planes landing and taking off and trying to vector them around. I look forward to the labs coming up!

TTH 8:15am-9:30am – Aviation Legislation – Well here we go again. Every semester I tell myself that I will never schedule a class at 8:15 in the morning again, and every semester I find myself waking up at 7:00 yelling at my alarm clock. I guess the only good thing is that I am used to getting up that early because I’ve always had a class at 8:15. Oh well, this year will be the last time I’ll get up that early (or so I say). So… Aviation Legislation. Yep. I didn’t really know what to expect for this class. After going to a couple of classes, I figured out what we’ll be learning. Basically, we are traveling back in time to the early 1900s to see what the aviation community was like back in the day, which was a Wednesday by the way (if you don’t know Dane Cook, disregard that last comment.) Anyway, back then they didn’t have any regulations and there was a bunch of crazy, borderline suicidal pilots doing whatever they wanted. So, the government came along and started regulating things to make it safer. The class consists of a couple tests, a term paper (Yuck!), and a lot of video watching. When you first think of watching movies, you think of a high school class substitute that doesn’t know what they are talking about so they pop in some boring movie and you have to take notes or something. Well, it is a little different in this class. The movies are actually pretty cool and they are based in the early 1900s, so you can actually see a visual of what it was like back then. I think this class will be alright, because even though there is a paper and the class is early, there is a lot of interesting stuff to learn and the movie approach is a lot better than slaving over a text book.

TTH 9:45am-11:00am – Aerodynamics – In high school I took a lot of math classes, so when I got to Riddle, I didn’t need to take any! I was really happy that that worked out; however, I did need to take physics classes. As I was in physics class last year, I found that a lot of the stuff had a base in math, so if you didn’t take any math you’d be lost. But since I had a good foundation of math, physics went pretty easy. I thought that when I got done with physics, I would be done with all that stuff. Well, I thought wrong. Aerodynamics is basically like my physics class then turning it up a notch. I really like the professor and I think that the class won’t be too bad as long as I study and pay attention in class. The professor seems really cool and he offers extra credit, so that should help. We’ll see how the rest of the year goes.

TTH 11:15am-12:30pm – Commercial Pilot Ops. – Well, here at Riddle I took Basic Aeronautics (freshman year), Intermediate Aeronautics (last semester), and now I’m in Advanced Aeronautics. Each of these classes corresponds with your flight training. For my Private Pilot I was in Basic, then for my Instrument Rating, I took Intermediate, and since I’ll be done with Instrument Rating soon, I’ll move on to my Commercial Certificate. This class will help me with all the commercial stuff I need to know. Basically a commercial rated pilot is a Private Pilot that knows a lot more. You need to know everything a Private Pilot knows, but then you also have to expand more on it. My professor seems like she really knows her stuff, which is good in this kind of class. There are so many technical aspects; you want to make sure that whoever is teaching, knows their stuff.

TTH 3:45pm-5:00pm – Aircraft Engines – Well, I can now say I know more about a jet engine than I do about the engine in my car. Well, not quite, but the point is that I definitely don’t know too much about cars and I’m learning a lot about jet engines. The subject is most certainly interesting, but it also seems kind of hard. There are so many formulas and equations to compute a thousand different things, it is somewhat overwhelming. My professor is real soft-spoken so he has a microphone that hooks up to speakers so we can hear him. He definitely knows his stuff though. In the class, there are actual engines that you can look at and get some hands-on experience. I’ll take some pictures of our classroom and my other classrooms and post them online.

TTHS 7:45pm-12:00am – Flight – Yes, you read the time right. My flight block (when I can be scheduled for flight activities) is from 7:45 at night to midnight! The instrument course (the one I’m in) focuses only on inside the airplane, so you don’t need to see outside. Therefore, all the instrument students fly at night, so the private pilot students can fly during the day. Last semester I lucked out and got the flight block that started at 5:30pm, but now I can be scheduled as late as 9:00pm or 10:00pm. It all works out though because there are other things I do from the time I leave my engines class at 5:00pm until I start an activity at 8:00 or 9:00pm. I am approaching the end of my course, so now comes the time where I do a lot of studying in order to prepare for my check rides at the end. If you don’t know how the check rides work, I’ll give you a quick run-down. (I’ve explained this for your private, but now I’ll do the instrument portion!) There are three sections that must be completed: Written test, oral test, and practical test. The written test consists of 100 questions out of a 1000ish question database. You can go buy a book called “Gleim” and that book will give you the exact question and the exact choice of answers that the actual test will have. So you already know what the questions will be and you already know the answer. You just have to study all 1000ish questions and then when you take the test, there is a random selection of 100 questions that you need to answer. If you get a 70% or better, you pass. The oral test consists of sitting down with an examiner for around two hours usually and they basically ask you about different aspects of instrument flying. You have to demonstrate that you know what you are talking about, and then they decide if you pass or fail. Your practical test is broken up into two parts: the flight and the simulator. The flight is relatively short and you just have to shoot an approach into Daytona and do a couple of other small things. The simulator is more in-depth and that consists of doing basically everything that you have learned while doing the course. So as of now I have all the knowledge to pass the written, I just need to study more so I can be confident. I will have a practice oral exam with my instructor soon, and that will prepare me for the real one. Also, I have a couple more flights and sims just to make sure I’m still proficient with all the procedures. I’ll keep you updated on my status in the coming journals!

Wow, that is a lot of reading! If you read all that, take a break and go grab a drink and stretch your legs.

You back? Good! Well there has been a lot going on other than classes and flying. I just recently celebrated my 20th birthday, which was a blast! I got to have dinner with my dad, step-mom, and step-brothers, and then with my mom and my sister before my sister left for New York, which was fun. I got some cool DVDs and a couple PS3 games and I got a new watch from my dad. I haven’t worn a watch in like 10 years, but I love my new watch. After dinner, we went back to my apartment and met up with 5 or 6 friends and actually played Rockband. If you’ve never played Rockband before, it is pretty fun … and addictive. We played for a couple hours just passing off the instruments to each other and I actually got my mom to play! And she was good! Not to say I was surprised, but I was! All in all we had a blast and that was a good way to spend my birthday.

We had another activities fair last week, and there are some things I’m excited about. First off, the skydive club is something I want to do more with this year. I only jumped twice last semester, and I hope that I can get out more this year. Also, I found out that there is a rock climbing club! I haven’t been rock climbing in a while but I thought that it would be fun to join that and go more often. One thing I’m really excited about is some Ultimate Frisbee. I have a couple friends who play all the time and they finally convinced me to go out and play. I had a blast! I mean I sucked, but I had a lot of fun. I already knew the basic rules before I got there, but apparently I can’t throw a Frisbee for anything. I could toss it back and forth with someone, but once there is somebody 2 inches from my face screaming “STALL 1!!! STALL 2!!! STALL 3!!!” I can’t seem to connect with someone’s hand, only the ground. I’m pretty good at running fast and I catch most of the ones thrown at me, I just can’t throw. Oh well, I’ll keep practicing and see how it goes.

One thing that I definitely want to do is join AOA, which is an Aeronautical Honor Society. Only Aeronautical Science students and 3% of the student body are accepted. I have a friend that was in my Business Communications class that joined last semester, and he said he really likes it. I figured I’d apply and see if I’m accepted. Hopefully I will be and by the next journal I will tell you all about it!

Well, I still have some things to say, but I think I’ll save them for next journal. I’ll tell you about my roommate’s recent adventure of aerobatic flying and how my friends and I went to the Rolex 24 last weekend! All this and more next journal!!! Until next time . . . go Pats and/or Giants, depending on who you are going for! I personally am going for the commercials! Later!

-Blake

email: wasteofsoap@yahoo.com

pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wasteofsoap/

videos: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=blakeguiles

Classes have started! … and wow is it stressful already. Here’re my classes for this semester for anyone who’s curious.

PS160 (Physics II) w/ Dr.Vuille – He’s a good professor, a bit fast at times but otherwise he throws in great anecdotes and tries to make class interesting

MA242 (Calc II) w/ Mr.Lombardo – He’s claimed to be one of the best math professors at Riddle, I was sure lucky to get him. His class is interesting but I have to make sure I’m keeping up with the work load otherwise it would be so easy to fall behind. He’s a quirky character and a really good teacher.

EGR115 (Computing for Engineers) w/Mr.Lehr – This class is a basic programming class on C and MatLab. I’ve done a few years of C++ so nothing has been too challenging so far. It’s remembering all those details that aren’t important when you’ve programmed for a few years that’s going to be challenging, but this professor is also recommended and so far I’m not complaining.

HON250 – (Neuroscience of Cognition) w/Dr.French – My last honors seminar class was definitely my favorite out of the two because this one isn’t in the same style. Here it’s more of a lecture-based class and even though the professor is interesting, I was still looking forward to more student-teacher interaction. We’re learning about the brain, parts of the brain, psychoanalysis, how stuff affects the brain and different things like that. The grading system is awesome. If we show up to class, we practically get the A, which is amazing because we have no tests!

COM221(Technical Writing) w/Dr.Porter – This course is going to be a writing intensive course. My professor is great though, she makes class interesting and actually is a normal person instead of one of those professors that seem completely distant from their students. I like this class, even though the material isn’t my favorite. We’re going to be writing things like manuals, instructions, and such.

My first week and a half here has been a bit of a challenge. I’ve gotten all my books (which I ordered from Amazon at a much better price than the bookstore) and can honestly say I have used them all. I had my first physics quiz today, which was nice because it was one of the example problems. I love when teachers throw in a little bit of niceness every now and then, it’s definitely an ego booster.

This weekend we celebrated my suitemate Kerry’s birthday! We went out  a bit and then went to Fuddruckers for dinner and it was greaaat. We painted the rock the night before for her birthday! (pics are posted for that) Food on campus has gotten really boring for me. There’s only so many times you can eat pizza before wondering how you’re expected to eat it every single day. It helps that the chefs here are really open to try new things. Like yesterday, I handed over a bowl of mushrooms, onions and green peppers from the salad bar to the chef and requested a veggie burger and he grilled me an awesome burger loaded with grilled veggies. I could use another one today, yummy. It’s nice to know that even though the eggs come from cartons and the patties from the deep freezer, that they still want you to have a nice meal, like mom makes, except not…you know?

I’m applying for a position on the SGA as a Student Representative and want the position in the College of Engineering. I really really realllly want it because (like I’ve mentioned before) want to be a part of the SGA, so I know that being a part of the SRB is a very good start. I just need to update my high school resume and add the few things I’ve done in college and submit it with the answers to a few questions they asked. They’re going to give me a day for an interview and yeah, that’s it. There’s three spots open so I really hope I get one. Wish me luck =]

Anyways, I hope everyone got back into the swing of your last few months of high school. I’m hoping all your apps are in but I know riddle accepts them till about March. E-mail me if you’ve got any questions or comments. Take care everyone =]

Spree!!