Hey everybody! Hope you all are doing well. I can’t believe my freshman year of college is already 75% behind me! And I still haven’t even turned 18 yet! I had loads and loads of stress building up these past few weeks, what with finals coming up and a lot of bad things seemed to fall in as well. On Wednesday of this last week, I had my finals so all my classes I’ve been having are done with. FOREVER. Luckily I passed everything so I don’t have to retake any courses.

Starting Monday I’m going to have all new classes. Supposedly, they should be easier than the ones I just finished taking, so I guess that’s good news. I have to prepare a briefing for my Air Force class on Thursday, and even though I don’t really mind public speaking, I’m honestly not too stoked about it. I’m doing current Air Force-related events, but other possible topics were aviation history and Air Force aircraft.

Since I had my finals on Wednesday, that means I get to have a 4-day weekend this weekend. Yesterday I did some shopping with my friend, which was extremely relaxing. I’m not a shopaholic or anything, but it definitely made it seem like everything had returned to normal. Somewhat anyway. Now that I’m making a little more money than before doing the Annual Fund, I can relax a little bit more, but I still have to keep in mind that I’m trying to save my money so I can get a car in the next few months which I really need. I should be living on campus next fall, so it isn’t completely vital, but it would really help me out in a lot of ways.

In other news, the motorcycles are pouring in by the hundreds for Bike Week and everything is getting pretty loud. Daytona also seems twice as crowded everywhere, with people coming in from all over. It’s starting to warm up too, which is exciting. I love warm weather, and I’ve definitely gotten adjusted to the Florida climate. Whenever it drops below like 65 here I get pretty unhappy, whereas at home that would mean that summer was coming (or that it already was summer). I know when it is summer and I’m in my classes, lab time is going to suck. It gets so hot here in summer and the labs have no A/C, just one fan that’s supposed to cool the entire class off.

Anyway, I gotta be off to prepare my briefing and maybe take a little nap. Any questions you can post on the discussion board. Later!

Hi!

Two more weeks until Spring break, I’m sure everyone is excited. This weekend was just as the same as every other, except that we went to probably the biggest party at Embry-Riddle. There were about 3,000 people but it sure didn’t seem like there was. This was all on Friday night hosted by the Sailing Club at a yacht, or some kind of dock.

However not much has changed since my last entry. I just have an exam today (Monday) and I’m hoping it should be easy. Classes are going good and easy, nothing is actually hard as it was last semester. Our Spring Break starts here on March 20th and lasts a whole week, which I cannot wait for. I will be going back home to St. Petersburg, FL and enjoying my time with my family. I really miss home cooked food from my mom and especially Bosnian food. I will tell her to make my favorite food when I arrive. The drive from St. Petersburg to Daytona Beach is about 2.5 hrs and is not bad at all, you just have to have energy to drive and I really don’t have that. Spring Break is pretty much the only break we have until the end of this semester, so I will be looking forward to that.

This Saturday I was really tired because of Friday night, I came back to my room around 10 a.m. It was just CRAZY. I had to relax all Saturday so I can be fine for the next day, a hangover I guess is what you call it. The weather has also been really nice, getting really really warm these days but at times chilly too. Last week for some reason many people were sick, I guess due to the weather. Last time it rained must have been last week, but that was like for the second time this year.

I really have to go shopping this weekend and by myself some new shoes. The shoes I have right now are in excellent shape but I only paid $20 for them and they are not good looking LOL! Life here is fun, you usually have a lot of friends that just come to your room and hang out which makes it fun right there. You don’t have to always go out and drink to have fun, just relaxing with your friends in your room is a lot of fun too. Because I currently have no roommate, I have the whole room by myself and I don’t have to worry about anyone telling me to shut up besides my suitemates, but they are cool.

Please post any questions or AIM SN : Mafia6663

Hey Readers!

I am currently sitting in my friend’s car, back in Tampa. We’re in parking lot traffic, for we just saw the most amazing concert put on by Coldplay. The downside to this is that I have an 8AM class and then a test at 9:15AM. It is currently 11:35PM and Tampa is 2 hours away from campus on a good day. This is probably not the best example I could set for others, but the concert was so good. I am grateful for the opportunity to see them live. It is back to school now, and in a series of never ending events in Daytona, Bike Week is next!

Some really cool bikes are in town right now, and more are yet to come. There was a motocross race tonight in Daytona, so there should be a lot of cool things going on in Daytona, and it will be up to you to weigh the benefits of dealing with the traffic in order to have fun.

On the Resident Advisor front, everything in RA Training is going great!!! I am learning so much while having fun. I have laughed a lot in the 3 weeks I have been in the class. I have a presentation due this week, and homework (yes, we get homework) but it is going really, really well.

Task Force One is also going well. We wrote our constitution over the past week and hopefully it will be ratified tomorrow. This is another step towards being included in the Student Government Association Constitution. Also, the weekend I spent at the Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida (ICUF) Student Alliance Spring Conference (I know, long name) was amazing. I learned so much about the other schools in the organization and the way their student governments are structured. Embry-Riddle’s is quite unique, when in comes to our budget, which is astounding compared to others, our structure, which is totally different in that we have a Student Representative Board, where students are represented by college, i.e. College of Business, Aviation, Engineering. We then have a Student Finance Board which makes decisions about how much money clubs receive, and a Student Court, which deals with traffic violations, some university rule infractions, and interpretation of the Student Government Constitution. It gets better; the SGA also has three divisions; The Avion newspaper, EaglesFM, our radio station and Touch-N-Go productions, our entertainment division. We are unparalleled in these assets to our student government. The one thing we do lack is first year student representation, and we hope Task Force One helps solve that problem. This issue is being taken on by the current government because elections are only weeks away. So hopefully, I will be able to give you some great news in the next entry.

Classes are starting to hit the midpoint, which means lots of tests. I have a couple this week and a couple next week. So this time is going to be full of studying and getting prepared for the rest of the semester. Wish me luck and I will talk to you guys and gals in a couple weeks. Post questions on the discussion board and email me @ willicdb@erau.edu!

Talk to you soon

Carlos

Hello again everyone!!!…WOW!!!, what an AMAZING two weeks it’s been since my last entry, it seems like so many great things have happened, so much fun, studying, meeting new incredible people. The past two weeks here in Daytona Beach, FL at Embry-Riddle have been nothing but incredible. Well.. almost, my g/f got ridda me. HER loss huh ladies!?!? Just as long as she’s happy I guess.. : ).

The first week of my last two weeks (which is about 2 weeks ago! haha ) I had an excellent school week, not much homework. But THREE first tests that I did fairly well on, I could have done better of course. I did better than I thought I would on all of them so that made me feel good, like a LOT was lifted off of my shoulders after I took those tests. My ground professor for AS133 gave us a HUGE break from class. We had off a Wednesday for anyone who finished the practice written test, (I did) so I didn’t have to go Wednesday. And he had a JetBlue seminar in Orlando last Friday, so we didn’t have class then, PLUS Presidents day!! It was a nice break from ground school, but it also felt quite good to get things rollin’ again. Hmm.. can’t really think of anything else deadline with school other than the baseball team is kickin’ butt like usual.

OUTSIDE of school/studies, things can only get better!! RACE WEEK was all last week, EVERYNIGHT I was over at the track meeting INCREDIBLE people!! I met the guys who sang the National anthem for the truck races, they cooked breakfast a bunch of times but me and my buds never went! ha.. Will Ferrell was there, Will Smith, President Bush (whoopty doo) and tons of other people. My roommate and I met a really great guy who hooked us up big time for the Daytona 500. I’ll get into that later tho. The races during race week were unbelievable, although I was in the infield most of the time, when I DID get into the grandstand for the Hershey race it was the BEST experience ever. I never even THOUGHT that those stands could hold that many people, I sat at Petty tower, which is way up in the checkered seat section. I like it up there so I can actually see the whole race. I was so used to being so close and only seeing the race as the cars flew by where ever we were, but sitting in the stands was a WHOLE new experience. Now about that guy that hooked up my friends and I with a BEAUTIFUL infield spot for the Daytona 500. He had a HUGE layer platform RIGHT at turn 4. It was the sweetest day ever!! THAT was just race week, there is still bike week to come and SPRING BREAK!!! Although I’m not quite sure what to do for spring break yet, I have a LOT of friends who want to come down, so maybe that’s what I’ll do. Which leads me to my next wonderful chunk of news.

One of my wing mate’s dad BOUGHT him a house here in Daytona just 2.1 miles from the school. Just so happens that RIGHT across the street in the wonderful community, there is ANOTHER gorgeous house for sale, not quite sure about the info yet, but I think it’s a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, kitch, living, dining room, remote garage. It’s just a beautiful home in a wonderful neighborhood SO close to the school. So my roommate and I and our buddy plan on BUYING it. It’s SUCH a nice house. It has a big back yard and a screened in back patio/porch. It’s got a couple big trees outside for shade and it’s right on the corner! Moving in there would be like pleasantville heaven!! haha. There are SO many advantages to this also… we’re practically buying it, getting mortgage to help pay for it, we’re all getting credit cards to pay for it with frequent flyer miles, if we DON’T decide to stay, we can just sell the house again, for MORE, just in the past while the house went up SEVEN GRAND!! You don’t even wanna know how much it is!! Let’s just say it’s over a quarter of a MILLION dollars. And also, it could be used for a later crash pad once we’re all PILOTS!! And it would be a SWEET summer house,.. I seriously feel like I’m livin’ it up down here!

Well everyone, I’m about to head out to get some errands done, I’m sure you’re all sick of reading by now anyway.. I feel like I have more to write about but I’m having a huge brain fart right now so I’ll save it for later or if any of you talk to me by email or AIM. And Mrs. Bevan, if you’re reading this, I wouldn’t worry about Tom, we’re all takin’ real good care of him down here!

So overall, things are definitely brightening up !! Thats a PLUS in my book. But like I said, I have to run.. so .. I’ll talk to some of you whenever and I do my best to reply to EVERYONES email, they have been pouring in like crazy lately, ..some of you have gotten detailed e-mails back from me that I hope were helpful, peace out everyone!!

ps, spring break IS coming up soon and DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA IS THE PLACE TO BE. I KID YOU NOT!!!!!!

Justin B
gibso2j
“ByE”

Hey Readers!

Right now, I am on location to report about the Daytona 500 in Tampa, Florida. Haha, I left town for the three day weekend. Although I was really into the hoopla that is Speedweeks in Daytona, I couldn’t turn down an opportunity to see some of my high school friends that go to school here in Tampa. So this weekend is going great so far, but we should catch up on the last two weeks, which have been really, really long.

First and foremost, I had my third RA interview and was accepted into the RA class, which for the most part guarantees me a spot as an RA next year. So if I get placed in a dorm for first year students, I will be an RA for some of you! I am excited, and the road to becoming an RA is well on track, learning about issues that may arise as an RA of ERAU. The class lasts eight weeks, which is plenty of time to squeeze in about four or five journal entries about it. Thus far, I have truly enjoyed the things I have learned about how to make a wing a successful community. I look forward to giving you guys a sense of community here at ERAU.

On the Task Force One home front, we have begun the process of getting included in the SGA constitution, and it is coming along really well. The SGA has had some great feedback on our ideas. I am going to a conference in Orlando this weekend of Student Governments in the Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida (ICUF). It should be amazing and hopefully I will learn a lot about other schools and how they work with first year students in their respective student governments. I will be sure to give you the rundown of my experience in the next journal.

Classes here are going great (I hope). Getting motivated for my 8am class is an issue, but it’s working out kinda well. As the semester starts its final two months, I will be sure to get up for it every time.

Well, it is back to hanging out with my new friends and old friend and the University of Tampa. Talk to you all soon.

Carlos

SoOo.. back to being a little late, but not too late (thank God!!). I’ve been cutting myself some slack, lately.. been sick with a nasty cold for the past week or so, now. I lost my voice for a good 24 hours, last week. It was the most unusual experience, but I made the best of it!! I’m really starting to feel better.. hope to kick this by mid-week. I can’t afford to let it stick around any longer than that.

As far as life at Riddle is going, things have never been better. My relationships with close friends and the boyfriend are growing stronger and stronger each day. It’s so CRaZzZie how the littlest things can have the BIGGEST impact on life. All of my friends seem to be breaking up with their boyfriends and sulking over it.. really depressing, I know.. but someone has to be here for them. In fact, I thought I was going to join the club, last night.. lucky for me, my boyfriend is very dedicated to making this work.

On the academic side of life, things have been going well in some areas, bad in others. I got a 75% on my first pre-calculus test because of stupid little mistakes.. should’ve got an A without any trouble. I got a 94% on my first meteorology exam.. felt confident about it.. happy with the results. I don’t feel as bad about the AT 300 exam as I thought I would, but wish I’d studied more, now. Haven’t seen the results, yet, because I didn’t make it to any of my classes on Friday. Hoping to see a much prettier number than 75 on that, Wed. I got an A on my first paper in HU 142.. turned in another paper since.. hoping to see another A on that. Also got an A on my first speech. So, other than pre-calculus, things are going pretty well.

Started a new job, quit working at the Annual Fund. I wasn’t one for begging alumni for money. So, I started working the early shift at the PowerHouse Gym.. right down the street. I usually work open-9/noon three to five days a week. Open is 4:45.. not the best when you don’t get much sleep, but the benefits are AMAZING. I get to workout and tan for free. I love the classes that are offered, here. Personally, I’m in love with Tina’s Absolute Abs class on Mondays from 5-5:30 and Rhonda’s Turbo kick class on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.. they are SoOo much fun. I recommend getting physically involved to EVERYONE. It really lifts your spirits.

In addition to this new job, I’ve launched my modeling career. This weekend, I went to John Casablanca’s in Lake Mary (40 minutes west of Daytona) for an interview. Since I have to head home for the summer, I won’t be signing with them until August, but they want me.. and so does ExploreNet, the leading Internet agency. I’m not convinced, yet, that this is going to work out perfectly, but it worked for Faber. I watched him on MTV the other day.. CRaZzZie how small this world is.

Well, I still have 2.5 hours left, here, at the PowerHouse. Guess I should get on to more productive stuff.. like writing that paper I have due on Wednesday. Have a great next two weeks, everyone =:o)

Hey, everyone! Hope everything is going well. We’re almost at the end of the term, so my classes are wrapping up. I’m pretty glad about it because I honestly just want to move on for now. The winglet I’ve been building for sheet metal is starting to come along a little further, and some of my hall mates have taken some interest in it. Just on a side note, if you’ve been considering engineering as a major but would rather make stuff than do paperwork, it’s possible you’ve been looking at the wrong major. Maybe you would be more interested in maintenance.

In other Riddle-related news, this week is the Daytona 500. Walking between classes, you can hear the cars on the track, and traffic in this area has been getting pretty bad at times, which is one of the very few things that makes me glad I don’t drive anywhere. I’m really starting to feel the burn of not having a car.

The only consolation I can really offer myself in the way of lacking a car is that since I’m working now, I’m slowly building up my funds. I’m working at the Phone Center as a caller. What I do basically is sit at a desk and call alumni of the school and ask for donations to the Annual Fund, which gives the school money for scholarships and the like. It’s a frustrating job, because you get a lot of refusals, and even when they have a really good reason, like they just got laid off or something, it makes you feel really inadequate because you feel like you can’t do your job right. It’s okay though, because I really need the money. Plus, I don’t have to work on Sunday or Monday this week because of the 500 and President’s day, so it’s cool.

Adding this to my schedule doesn’t help much with a lot of other things though like school work. I already have to make time in my schedule that I don’t have to do ROTC, and now I have a job to fit in there somewhere too.

I’m like 90% sure I’m going to be staying in Daytona for spring break. One, a plane ticket is expensive, two, why go to WA for spring break when you could be in Florida? and, three, I might have other plans anyway, but I’ll elaborate later. I don’t know when I’ll be home next, maybe sometime in between the end of Spring B and Summer A, but I’ll focus on that more when I get there. Right now I need to focus on food cause I’m starving, so post any questions on the discussion board and I’ll get back to you. Later!

Hi!

Hope everybody is enjoying their last 2 months of high school, or semester at a college. Life at Embry-Riddle has not changed much since my last entry. NASCAR started, which I am sure everyone is writing about, has been crazy. I volunteered with the tennis boys for the club for about 7 hours Saturday morning and it was just crazy. The big race was on Sunday, but on Saturday was the Daytona 200 or 300, not sure.

We had cars parked on our soccer fields, our own parking areas, hotels, pretty much anywhere where they could park cars, it was used for. I have never seen anything like this so crowded before just like back home. What I found really interesting was that people could actually bring BEER with them. At times, I was a “bag control” guy, but I was never to ask for ID. Usually I’m used to seeing anyone with beer outside get arrested, but this was different. In Germany, it is extremely okay to bring beer or anything outside and walk with it. So that kind of reminded me back of home. But I got burnt! The sun was hot, around 80 I’d have to say. Everybody from our school either worked there, or volunteered because that’s what you do when NASCAR comes around here.

This is the busy time for us here in Daytona, right around Spring break. You have NASCAR, now all the motorcycles are gonna come soon and then Spring Break. The weather here has been very warm, but at times cold. So people are getting sick around the campus too. But it’s Florida, what do you expect right?

So the courses this semester are much easier for me, I am having MUCH MUCH better grades then last semester. Last semester I had chemistry, and I am not a chemistry person, nor math. This semester I am glad I don’t have to take either one of them. I did get some courses approved during the summer at a Community College so I can save myself some money. Now some of you might be asking why didn’t I do that before I even got here? Well I just KNOW what I want to do with my career and that’s why I like to get started early with everything, not only education.

Well, not much to say anymore but NASCAR was about everything this weekend. Hope everyone enjoys their months before college! It’s a lifetime experience I’d have to say..CYA! Contact me by posting your questions on the discussion board.

Wow, so much has been happening I really don’t know where to start! Life’s just streaking by, class and ROTC are great, with the exception of EGR 120. Yeah, I know it’s dumb, but I can’t win with that class. And when I got in my first test and received my first ever F, it was like the world had stopped spinning. I was in one heck of a depressed state for like a week, because just the day before I had been a straight A student. I decided to cut my losses and yesterday I audited the class. I’ll still attend class and learn stuff, but it won’t affect my GPA. I feel kinda bad that I flushed down 3 K, but better that then flushing my GPA. I guess I’ll work on it over the summer, and retake EGR 120 next fall. By that time I’ll have enough practice to be able to manage.

Yeah, that was like a major bummer (I’d never failed a test before in my life), but the next week something better happened. I got myself a new car! It’s a Saturn SL, and it gets an obscene gas mileage of 40 miles to the gallon. My suitemate Ben drove me to Orlando and stayed with me the whole day while I ran from pillar to post to make the sale legal and get all the paperwork in order, then I emptied out my bank account and drove my baby onto I-4! It feels so great having my own car, I’m now free to go where I want, when I want. I’m planning to change the lighting, put in new speakers and wheels and perform a couple of upgrades before the summer is out.

Anyway, ROTC is going great, we had a Physical Fitness Evaluation and I got into a friendly competition with another flight mate of mine. We ended up pacing and ultimately trying to beat one another, and achieved awesome run times! Guess all that gym time is paying off.

And just about three days ago, I actually had five jobs! One was journal writing, of course. The other was Math and Engineering Tutoring, down at First Year Programs, I think I mentioned that one before. But since I now had a car, I decided I wanted a job that paid better (insurance still has to be paid!), so I went off campus and got myself three jobs.

The first was a temp job at a flower shop nearby. It was almost Valentine’s Day, so they were drowning in calls for roses and bouquets and lilies and teddy bears and candy boxes and anything shaped like a heart. I worked about twelve hours there on the computer, typing up orders that came over the Internet, entering it into the database, typing up Valentine’s Day cards (if I ever write “I love you, Poopsie-woopsie” to my girlfriend, shoot me, please, I swear you’ll go to heaven) and inflating giant balloons that say ‘Be Mine’, ‘I love you’ and ‘Happy Valentine’s Day’. On February 14th I made even more dough by delivering flowers to ladies across Daytona, Holly Hill and Ormond Beach. I was very happy because, thanks to Google Maps, I had no problem finding my way around town, and because of my Saturn’s mileage. Most people spend more on gas than the gas allowance the store gives them, but I pocketed 60% of my gas allowance, because I didn’t use that much gas!

Then I took my money and git, so that isn’t a job any more. I also went to Port Orange and attended a training session to be a blackjack dealer. It’s a sporadic job, and they call you when they need you, but the money for one night’s work is excellent. Several of the events I would deal cards at are in Orlando and Jacksonville, so the farther away it is the more I get paid, so that’s pretty cool too.

The third job is going to be my bread and butter; pretty much it’s a job at the Ocean Walk theater complex, at a novelty ice cream chain called Cold Stone Creamery! I’m serving ice cream to all the kids who come down to watch movies, and I make tons of money. Tons of money always improves my mood.

So that’s five.

This last weekend was a three-day weekend, which I wasted completely and happily, chilling out, going to the beach, doing random stuff with people on my hall. Classes are going well, I now have to work on a mere fourteen credits, so I have a lot more free time on my hands, which is nice. I find myself often driving down to the beach in the middle of the night and just to spend some quality time with myself, and get my thoughts in perspective. It’s been pretty cold out lately, but I’m hoping it will warm up soon. Spring break is almost here, and I can’t wait!

More next time, dudes! till then, chillax, and keep Jivin!

MOTTO FOR THE FORTNIGHT: Tact is the art of making guests feel at home, when that’s where you wish they were.

February 22, 2006

Wow, what a week! We just got hit by the Daytona 500 and what an experience. There were so many people here in Daytona let alone the traffic. Actually, this entire past week was like that for race week, but the Daytona 500 was like the grand finale. My Fraternity worked the races as a fund raiser; basically we acted as security for the parking lots on campus not allowing any race fans to park in them. At first it started out slow, not many people tried to get past our blockade. Later on in the day though, there were people every other minute trying to get in willing to give us money if we let them by, as a college student it was tempting but I was there for a reason.

About two hours before the actual race began, my friend called me up and said he had an extra ticket into the Daytona 500. There was so much energy from this one event surrounding the area, there was no way I could pass up an offer like that, so I got a Brother to relieve me from my security position and went to the race. I assumed we were going to get some cheap seats because the scalpers who were all over the streets were pushing $120 to $175 per ticket, but was I wrong. After walking through the huge crowds of people just outside the race track, we showed the security our wrist bands and were waved through. I never felt so much energy then I did walking through the tunnel to the inside of the track. It turned out my friend had the gold VIP wrist bands which meant we were allowed full access to the infield rather then the color coded zones. It was crazy in there, from the high class RV busses to the BBQ’s going everywhere; it was like one huge party. People were so happy for the race and everyone was partying together from one RV to another. I never knew race fans were so nice to each other and in general, or maybe it was because we were in a very pricey section. My friends and I ended up watching the race at the most dangerous turn, turn # 2 where there was actually one crash and two contacts. We were so close to the track we could feel the wind whipping off the cars as they screamed by. It was such an amazing location where we ended up at the Daytona 500 I don’t think I could have asked for a better way to experience the race.

Classes are going very well, I just started doing the in-class radar scenarios last week through voice instructions to my partner in the other room. They are a lot of fun because you get so into the situations, but in all honesty they are kind of tough. There is so much small information you need to apply so quickly that the work seems to get slightly overwhelming. The best thing I can do though and which I have been doing is to work aggressively at getting rid of the traffic on my radar. This is my first radar class so I am sure with a little bit more time things will transition a lot more smoothly, but I still enjoy the course. All my other classes are going well, Principals of Business is beginning to become a lot more applicable and I am really interested in what we are going over now.

That’s all for this time, if you have any questions feel free to email me. A lot of you have been, and I hope my feedback is beneficial to all of you. Until next time, keep up with your school work and stay out of trouble!