Hey Journal Readers!

It is Superbowl Sunday and life here is great. The semester is definitely in full swing which means lots of work, and also lots of things to do around campus. My classes are going great, so far. I am learning a lot of applications of economics and math for what my future will hold. One of my coolest classes is Advanced Computer Based Systems. It is the second installment to Embry-Riddle’s computer technology education, this course is catered to business students. In it, we are currently learning the more extensive applications for Microsoft Excel. I am looking forward to learning how to use Macromedia’s Dreamweaver, which will help me learn web design. It should actually be a fun class to have.

On the Task Force One front, we have started to put together our mission and vision statements, and we are getting help from the Student Government Association as a whole, so we should have our bylaws reviewed and hammered out in a couple months. We also started planning our spring event, and one of our coolest ideas was to hold the event during the day accepted students are designated to visit here. If that plan goes through, I hope to see all of you who are going to be here out at the pool, for Spring Splash ’06.

My path to becoming a Resident Advisor is heating up. I received a pass from the first round to the second, the first round being an interview in which I had to present to the board as an RA presenting to his or her residents. The second round was a group activity, which I think went great. I will find out in the next few days if I have earned a second interview, after which comes RA class. I am reasonably confident, though I am anxious to find out as all people are after they are interviewed and observed. I really hope for the position.

Things here in Daytona Beach are warming up in more ways than one. The temperature is steadily rising, and hopefully it should be in the low 80s soon. (In February! Yay!) Also, Speedweeks 2006 begins in 5 days with the Budweiser Shootout, so the city should be filling up more rapidly. The other cool thing about Speedweeks is that all the teams fly in on corporate jets, and the runway outside my dorm is shut down and all of those planes parked on it. So I should be able to see a whole bunch of different planes in the next few weeks, just like the ones I saw at NBAA in November.

So, I imagine that in the next two weeks I will have so much more to tell you, and I look forward to getting you informed about the happenings of the Embry-Riddle campus. As always, the discussion board is there for you, as is emailing me at willicdb@erau.edu. Also, make sure you get yourself on the mailing list that the school provides to give you information such as important dates, application materials, and just interesting facts of why Embry-Riddle would be the right place for you. You also might get a poster or two (or eight.)

Until Next Time,

Carlos

A lot’s been happening over the last two weeks! First of all, I took my first ever flight in a small aircraft. I know, it’s ridiculous. I’m in an aviation university, and I’ve never flown in anything smaller than an Airbus. My suitemate, Scott Hasbrouck, is a pilot (he had his pilot’s license before he had his driver’s license, his parents had to drive him to his first solo!), though he’s studying aerospace engineering, same as me. He needed to keep current, so he took me up with him as an observer. We flew in a tiny Piper Aero that weighs less than his car!

Anyway, it was the most magical thing. For those of you out there already flying, more power to you dudes! I loved every second of that flight. Amazing! In almost no time we were bumping up against Cape Canaveral’s restricted airspace, then we turned back toward Orlando and Daytona Beach. Along the way Scott put us through some very sharp banks, and 2-G plus forces, and allowed me to take the controls for a while. Wow! The view was incredible, and though I’ve flown before, its been only commercially, and there’s a certain feeling of liberation that comes with flying a mile high in a tiny little aircraft that you just can’t get with a plane weighing more than a fleet of semis. I’ve always ribbed my other suitemate, Ben, who’s studying Aeronautical Science, saying that people like me build planes, monkeys like him fly them. But after that flight I sure envied him! Pretty soon I decided that if I could get the funds together, I’m going to try and get a minor in Flight. After all, I’m at the world’s best aviation university and why not take full advantage of it? And I’m sure flying skills would not go unappreciated in my job and after all, it is the Air Force.

Okay. The dreaded EGR 120 test came and went, leaving me with a 51. Yeah, it was that bad. I’m going to have to do something about that, or my perfect GPA is going to get flushed, and after what happened at the AFA luncheon, I’m not eager for that to happen.

Oh, yes, I forgot to mention that, didn’t I? Or was I saving it for effect? Anyway. Last time I wrote that I was awarded the General Spruance Merit award for being ranked the No 1 Freshman cadet in the detachment for Fall 2005. I was told that I would get the opportunity to meet General Spruance and receive the award from him, in person. We even have a building here at Embry Riddle named after him and if you’re coming to Riddle, you’ll come to know Spruance Hall very well, it’s where you go to wrestle with all kinds of red tape, ha ha. I thought hey, that’s pretty cool. Little did I know that I would not only be meeting General Spruance, but the former Chief of Staff, USAF Four star General John Jumper!

Hey again, readers! Hope everyone is doing well. This past week has been pretty frustrating for me. I’ve had a lot of financial annoyances and difficulties getting my schedule to work out. If any of you reading this plan to do both AFROTC and AMS, be prepared to have to take a lot of matters into your own hands. Also, do your academics first. If you want to do any of the other branches, I’m just gonna say forget it. There’s absolutely no way you’ll be able to get that to work with your schedule. Because of all this I’m going to have to ‘skip’ LeadLab on Monday to do my class work. Basically, anyway you look at it, I got really screwed over, and it wasn’t my fault. I think it’s been a pretty stressful week for everyone and we’re all kind of taking it out on each other.

Last week was the Rolex 24 at the Speedway. I’m honestly in no way interested in Nascar, but it was a lot of fun.

A lot of freshmen have been looking for a new place to live for either this summer or for next fall. I don’t know if I mentioned this already, but I know I should probably be doing this too. Initially I was thinking about being an RA, because you get to live on-campus for free and you get paid. Not that you don’t do a lot of work too, but it seemed like a good thing at the time. As it turns out though, since I’m doing the summer here, it’s way too much of a time commitment that I just can’t make. You have to do some ‘training’ and things like that over the summer and I know I just really wouldn’t have the time to do it. But for people who do well, you get a place to live for free. And no roommate ? Even though it would be really helpful for me to live on-campus next fall, it’s hit me that I should plan for the event that I don’t get a room. But I’m still only 17! It’s weird thinking about getting an apartment already, but I guess I might start looking into it as a back-up.

That’s all for now; I have a lot of work to do. Post your questions on the discussion board, or e-mail any questions to kenyonj@erau.edu. Later!

Hey Everyone! Hope you’re all warmed up to the school life already, I know I am, maybe I’m just saying that because I had a longer break then most of you readers. Well I’m getting ready to start flying again. I’ll probably be able to fly more this semester than last because I only have one job this semester! The Daytona 500 IS COMING UP SOON. THAT WILL BE AMAZING!! I’M GOING! It’s awesome that I get to go to the Daytona 500; it’s going to be a crazy experience, I CAN’T WAIT! Then bike week is coming up a bit later. I might rent a bike or something! The Rolex 24 was just last weekend, people were camping out near riddle and I all the fields around the airport, camp fires were burning, I love the smell of camp fires, it reminds me of home in Pennsylvania!! But anyhow, Daytona was pretty nutz during the Rolex24, I don’t even want to know how bad it’s going to get during the Daytona 500.

On to the next deal of things.. STEELERS WON THE SUPERBOWL!!!!. . It felt so good to see those guys win. It’s only right that they won. ahhaha. Bettis did well, whatta a way to retire !!! My superbowl Sunday was alright, I’m sure that it would have been better back home, I heard that back in PA, people all over the city were representin’ the Steelers!!! haha..

All of my classes are going really well right now. The only class that I EVER worry about is my Basic Aeronautics class. Only because it’s my LIFE! HAHA. Psychology is pretty cool. Makes me think about the brain quite a bit. Kinda like an endless cycle of you thinking about yourself thinking of you thinking while you’re thinking. Business is pretty much all common sense. Speech is just a bunch of people talking, including the teacher. Math is just like it was in high school, pretty easy as long as you pay attention. So school is all good.

The weather is constantly changing down here. One day it’s pouring, the next day its chilly and clear when all of a sudden there’s a tornado warning, yesterday was cloudy and muggy and tomorrow it’s gonna be beautiful, just perfectly beautiful. Me personally, I like the cool-warm full overcast days…

I had an awesome last semester, but dealt with a LOT of problems dealing with LOTS or things, pretty much everything. The big things included me TOTALING my car. Then over break, some low life thief stole my new laptop. And on top of that, my car just RANDOMLY overheated one night and wouldn’t stop. SO!,.. I had EVERYONE look at my car EXCEPT my dad. lol, I had mechanics tell me that I had a blown head gasket, I had my friends dad who’s a barn yard mechanic tell me that I could have water in my oil, I thought it was the radiator and it just needed some water and the antifreeze was low. lol anyway, I FINALLY told my dad and he said that the thermometer probably just got too hot and screwed up. So we went to this shop and bought a brand new thermometer for 8 bucks.. put it in, and my car ran like new again. haha thought it was pretty funny that all my car needed was an $8 part!

Well everyone, I have lots of tests coming up this week and they’re all the first tests of the semester so I need to do really well on them. I have tons of OTHER stuff to do as well. Next 2 weeks will be crazy-hectic!!! take care everyone!!

Justin B

AIM—–> gibso2j

Hey all!

What happened to January!? It just whizzed by in a flurry of school and homework and Sigma and a bunch of other things. I’ve been really stressed out lately with too many things going on at once and not enough sleep.

Anyways, some of my classes are going better than others. I switched my computer programming professor and it has made a HUGE difference with everything. I actually understand my new professor and I like programming now too! It’s so unbelievable how much influence a professor can have on the subject matter. I am struggling the most in physics right now because I haven’t had nearly as much physics as the rest of the people in my class, and I am busy playing catch-up. My machine shop lab is awesome- no homework and it’s all hands on! Right now I’m building an airfoil out of composite materials.

We are now recruiting again for Sigma, so we are having a bunch of different recruitment events to meet potentials. I am also the new community service chair, so I basically find volunteer stuff for us to do. Things still haven’t quite settled down yet from installation, so we are still really busy. On the right is a picture of me and my roommate, Marjory at the installation banquet. (Yes, now that I know I can add pictures I will!)

I made it to the next round of the R.A. selection process, and it looks like about half of us are going to be cut during the next round so my chances aren’t that great. I plan to just keep being myself, and if they don’t think I’m the right person for the job, then I will just accept that.

Have a great day!

~Sara

YO!

What is going on folks? Nothing too much here. Got a few tests coming up here this week so this weekend I will be busy studying. My exams are for classes in Economics, Meteorology and Human Factors. Shouldn’t be hard. This weekend I didn’t do too much, I just kind of hung out with my buddies and relaxed in my room. I did go to a party of course and had fun with my friends.

The first tests, everyone should thrive to get an A because the first test will always be easier no matter what class it’s for. It is always easier to start off good and then if you do bad on a test, it won’t hurt you as much it would if you did bad on the first test, then you would have to study your butt off for the next one! Life here at Embry Riddle has not changed much. Nothing new has happened except for the fact that I have been getting a lot of you guys e-mailing me and IMing me, which is excellent! keep doing so. My favorite part of all that is hearing why everyone is interested in Embry Riddle. Almost every single one of you ask me ‘How do you pay for it?’ which I find funny, but the answer is loans LOL! Anybody that does e-mail me I answer your question within 6 hours, that’s a promise!

It has been raining in Daytona the past 3 days. It is not fun walking to class with an umbrella then the wind knocking it out of your hand as a result getting you all soaked. But Mother Nature has its moments I guess. Daytona Races are approaching here and it will be VERY crowded here. I should get a job or something, get a few bux extra to myself. I’ll think about that. About my new room, it is awesome. I am literally alone here, but I have no problems whatsoever. I’m a happy camper and am going to stay in this room as much as I can. It is a bit further then my last room from my classes but I don’t care about that when we compare the amount in hours of sleep I got in those rooms.

During the weekends, many of us get bored. But in a way busy, doing nothing. Every weekend there are some parties, you just got to ask around who’s it is and what is going on. But you know when you get here, you all will see college is very much fun. Even just sitting in your dorm with a friend is fun, because you are away from your home and can pretty much do whatever you want. But some are so bored they don’t take time as an advantage sometimes to study, and do bad on tests. But lack of sleep can affect you very much also.

Well I am just going to go continue to study for my exams and hope everybody has a great weekend. Hope to see all of you here for the Fall Semester! Do not slack your last years in High School! Not a good idea.

Life at Riddle is going well. The classes are going great, so far. However, I feel as though the stress of taking 5 classes in one day is about to take its toll. I have a speech and paper due this Friday. Wish me luck!!

Other than that, things are great. I went to the beach, this weekend. It was beautiful out. The weather was near 80 and so sunny. If the water had only been warmer, it’d have been perfect.

I’ve been spending my free time, lately, job searching. I’m in need of money, seeing as how I emptied my bank account for a Spring Break cruise to the Carribbean with the sisters and Sigma Chi. I got hired at the Annual Fund, asking for money from alumni, but I’m not sure how that’s going to work out. I got my first pledge, last night, but it’s really stressful. I’m going to Abercrombie & Fitch, tonight.. and I applied at Red Lobster, earlier!!

Hope you all have a great week.. I may write, again, soon :o)

Time seems to be flying by this semester and yes, it is early to be saying that. I have all ready had some major tests in my classes and luckily, this semester they don’t all fall in the same week. The next big test I have which I am trying to prepare as best as I can for is my ATC 7110.65 test; all about standard procedures and phraseology controllers use. I think I will do well on it because I remember a lot of the basic lingo that controllers in Newark tower used. Some word of advice for those of you who will be taking AT 305 is to get your lab hours done as soon as possible. I finished mine ahead of time but when I walked by the radar simulator room today there was a line of people waiting to get in because they waited until last minute. You see, the first day of class the professor gives a deadline date which you must have all of your practice lab hours done by in order to move on in the class. The deadline this semester is February 10th so a lot of people are scrambling to make up the time; it feels good though not to worry about waiting in lines now that I am done. Just keep this advice in mind when you take this class. I can’t wait until next week when we are actually going to use the labs as part of our classroom time rather then sitting through lecture. I am overall doing well this semester academically, so I am content with that area of my college career.

My Fraternity is also doing really well. We have a bunch of new Pledges who are pretty cool guys and I look forward to getting to know them better. It feels so good though being on the other side of things as a Brother. I just found out that my other college I transferred from is starting a new Sigma Pi colony there so it will be good to visit them when I see my old college friends back in Pennsylvania.

The Daytona 500 and speed week are just around the corner and things are getting crazy here once again. I drove past the race track yesterday and there were nice racing trailers all over as well as huge tents being set up and porta-potties everywhere. Every street corner and median has those bright light generators you often see in construction. I can not even anticipate how busy this town is about to get, I am so excited for it. I am working the races one of the nights with my Fraternity so it should be a lot of fun walking around with my friends and Brothers through the chaos.

That’s it for this entry. For all of you high school seniors, continue working in school, don’t let the “senior-itis” get to you too much. These next few months are going to be some of the most memorable times of your life so take it all in and “appreciate” what you have in your lives. You might disagree with me right now but I bet a year after you graduate you will know exactly what I mean. Finally, good luck to everyone still trying to get into Riddle as well as who did, I’m out!

Hello, everyone, welcome back! Junior’s Jiving Journals are back for another semester of rabid fun and wisecracking! Spring 2006 is here, it’s the start of a brand new year, and all is well with the world. Now for the bad news.

Nah, just kidding. Last semester was great and I was able to achieve a 4.0 GPA, and I really hope to be able to keep that up this semester too! I found out at our very first AFROTC Lead Lab that I had been awarded the General Spruance Merit Award, which carried a cash prize of 1,000 dollars. I was the only AS 100 level cadet to be selected for this prestigious award.

This semester in ROTC I’ve been placed in Bravo Flight. Ours is easily the best flight in the detachment. Our new flight commander, C/1st Lt Hibshman, seems pretty cool and laid back, which is great. As a flight, we’re pretty motivated. During the past few weeks we’ve had quite a few flight meetings (last semester we could barely manage any) and I’m pretty sure we’re going to win the Spirit Rock contest this week and we’ve been competing against Charlie Flight, who have (aptly) nicknamed themselves ‘Charlie Cows’.

About my classes, I’ve had trouble where I least expected it, and found none in the areas I thought I would. I anticipated that MA 243 and PS 160 would be troublesome, but I find that Calc III seems even easier than Calc II, and PS 160 hasn’t gotten complicated in the last two weeks of class. EGR 120 is where I’m coming up against a stone wall. Most people have problems later in the class, when we begin CATIA, and find drafting a piece of cake. But not me. Drafting is pretty much engineering drawing. Right now we’re doing exercises where you’re given three views of an object, top, front, and one of the sides and you have to draw a three dimensional sketch of the body. Sound easy? It probably is for you. I’m sick of people pointing at my workbook and remarking “I totally loved that class, dude, it’s so simple.”

It’s not!

Okay, it’s not for me. I just can’t do it. Don’t ask me why. All I know is that whenever I sit down with my drafting workbook I feel like I missed the bus. I sketch for about an hour, then triumphantly ask Cameron if I got it right. He takes a look at it, says ‘Nope’ and goes back to his work. Another buddy of mine looked at my efforts, picked up a piece of paper, sketched for a few seconds, and showed me a drawing that didn’t look anything like mine. ‘That’s the answer, dude,’ was his response.

I have a test next week in drafting, and I’m going to fail it. What makes it even worse is that it’s the simplest damn thing in the world. Everyone can do it, even an eight year old kid. And I can’t. It’s not even something I can learn, or practice I just don’t get it. I have a genius level IQ, and I can’t draw a three dimensional sketch! Apparently I can’t ‘see’ things in three dimensions. One girl on my hall has an IQ thirty points above my own, and doesn’t let a day go by when she doesn’t remind me of that. I bet if I could do this I’d have a comparable IQ, coz if I remember correctly, there are a few 3-D visualization questions on an IQ test. But then again, they say your IQ never changes, which would imply that I can never learn how to do these drawings.

Okay, maybe that’s a bit paranoid. But I still can’t do it! I’m gonna try and attend to that this weekend, and hope for the best, I guess. It’s just extremely annoying when something so stupidly simple is the hardest thing for you.

I signed up this semester with Riddle Players Theatre Company at the Activities Fair. I think I’d like to go in the direction of Riddle Productions, a film making offshoot off the Theatre club. I’ve always had an interest in that kind of stuff. In fact, in the ninth grade, I once invited my entire class over to my house to try and film an ‘action movie’ on my camcorder. It didn’t work out quite as I had planned, because the story line got ‘lost in translation’, but you get the point.

I’ve also got myself a different job, tutoring at First Year Programs! The Honors Director, Dr Kain, recommended me last semester and I got the job and I start Monday! Guess a 4.0 can come in pretty useful.

I’m also looking into living off campus next semester. I think it’ll be pretty cool, in addition to saving me a heck of a lot of money. Also, I’m checking out community colleges around the country. I wanted to take some humanities courses at DBCC over the summer, to stack up credits and save money, summer school at Riddle is ridiculously expensive. But apparently Riddle won’t recognize that credit, or that of any community college within 50 miles. The administration feels that if you are within 50 miles of Riddle over the summer, you might as well take classes at Riddle. Apparently it would be equivalent to ‘cutting their own throats’. That is the most retarded thing I have ever heard, and it pissed me off for quite a while, until I began to see the positive side of it. I’m now free to take classes anywhere I want as long as I have a car that’s able to survive a cross country drive. So that’s what I’m going to do this summer I’m going on, you got it, ROAD TRIP! I’ve always wanted to drive around our great country, just see the sights and now I get to do it while collecting credits. Right now I have my eye on Santa Fe, NM and Jackson, MI, though that will most likely change. I’m thinking one six week summer course in Santa Fe, pick up six credits; then drive north and do another three. There’s a lot to America, and I want to see as much of it as I possibly can!

Anyway, all that is in the future, so let me not jump the gun. So far, except for EGR 120, all’s well on the studies front. Next week I’ll start my new job, rejoin the Campus Radio station and start out with the Riddle Players. NASCAR is going to kick into high gear as well. Wal-Mart already has NASCAR posters and overpriced memorabilia on the shelves, which means it’s officially race season! I can’t wait to see the races it’s pretty much the biggest event to hit Daytona Beach, so that’s where I’ll be. Happy New Year to everyone out there, by the way, and keep it chill, dudes!

MOTTO FOR THE FORTNIGHT: Love thy neighbor ñ tune thy piano.

Hey, everyone! I just want to start out this entry congratulating everybody who has gotten their acceptance letters already, and to all of you that will. So congratulations!

Now that it is second semester, and luckily I passed the General section of AMS, I’ve gotten into the Airframe section. I like it better, because I find it more interesting and relevant to ‘the real world’ but there are some new things to adjust to. Eight hours of class can be tiring, especially after getting two hours of sleep, but I’m managing just fine so far. Also, it’s going to be harder to keep up once you fall behind since the pace is a little bit faster. The worst part of it for me, so far, is that I have to miss two hours of class a week to do Lead Lab since the schedule for AFROTC got changed up. Since I end up missing a whole day’s work on my sheet metal projects, that puts me behind a lot, so I know already I’m going to end up pretty screwed. I kind of feel like ROTC looked over us cadets that have schedules that can’t fit around theirs, but I guess that’s life and looking on the bright side, this will help me in working out not-so-perfect situations.

With the new developments in my daily schedule comes the need to rework my time management plan. This semester I need to find my own time to do a lot of things, rather than have them already fit into my schedule. Right now there seem to be so many things I have to do, and not enough time to do it, my sleep and free time have been pretty compromised. Even though today’s Saturday, I’m still exhausted.

In other news, I recently made a very good investment I thought you all should know about. A water filter. While it cost about $40, it ends up paying for itself. Florida water tastes like crap. I also have trouble believing it can be that good for you if you drink it for a prolonged amount of time. Buying a bunch of water bottles doesn’t really work for me, and this thing I’ve got works really well, so just a thought.

Well, that’s about it for now. As usual, any questions are welcome- kenyonj@erau.edu or post them on the discussion board. Later, kids!