I hope everyone is doing great! Let’s start from Rolex 24; it is a 24 hour continuous endurance race for two classes of cars, Daytona Prototype and Grand Touring. We went there at around 6:00 on Saturday (already six hours in race) evening with an intention of coming back late night, but we ended up staying on ground and sleeping in our sleeping bags. The atmosphere was amazing, people were “grillin and chillin” in the infield. I personally saw two crashed and one burned car. By the way the winner was # 10, SunTrust Group racing their Pontiac Riley Prototype. The most amazing part of this adventure was that my friends and I were able to sneak in the pit road area where the cars come for refueling and tire change. I had seen it on TV before, the way pit crew waits for their car and as soon as it pulls they jump on it and get it going in few (12 to 18) seconds, I actually saw it and believe me, the scene was incredible. We also saw the place where the mechanical geniuses work on the engines and test that everything works precisely faultless before the race starts. The ticket was $10 with Riddle ID card.

The race was over on Sunday, noon. I was almost deaf after staying there nearly 15 hours but I surely enjoyed it, enjoyed the roaring of those prototype engines which were doing 180 miles an hour.

On Monday morning it finally happened, I missed my programming class, this time I woke up at 8:19. I was lucky that my professor didn’t take roll or any pop quiz. He posts his notes on web so I was able to look it up and study it by myself.

VERY IMPORTANT: Before I came here (I was kind of expecting it as Riddle is primarily an engineering school) everyone was complaining that the girl to boy ratio at campus is very thin (1:8), but now that I am here and school has started I don’t thing it is that bad. There are some decent good looking girls on campus.

Oh! One more thing I found a new job on campus. The office of records and registration is going paperless and every document is going on server, so for doing that they needed some students, so I applied and got the job. I will be able to work on it through summer. By the way, did I tell you that I am staying over here for entire summer and fall, then going back home in Christmas break – sounds great right??

We finally started working with Catia (in EGR 120 Graphical Representation), a program used by engineers to draw engineering drawings. The program is remarkable, one can virtually draw (design) anything with it. I think we will have great time learning it.

My COM 221 technical writing class is very interesting, currently we are working on a project where we have to design a pamphlet or an instruction manual on “How to wash dishes?” It is typically meant for Aliens who have just landed and have very little or no knowledge of what things is like on Earth. The document ought to be very technical and it should contain every detail avoiding any confusing text which might lead to lawsuits and loss to the company. In addition to that it should include visual aid, effective technical text, easy to understand language and user friendly format. Did I mention we are working in groups?? I will leave the rest on you.

Stay well and see you next time!

OVER AND OUT!!

Speed Weeks have started here in Daytona and it’s a busy fortnight of fumes, physics, and practice. Spring has also come and gone – it lasted all of four days and now Summer’s definitely showing how badly she wants to be here.

The big news this time around is the performances of the Color Guard team during Speed Weeks. After an exciting learning experience at the Tulane International Drill and Color Guard Competition in New Orleans during Mardi Gras, where the Color Guard performed phenomenally well given it was our first competition, we were chosen to perform a week later for the Daytona 500 Qualifying rounds. From that performance, some scouts picked us out and are now interested in having us perform for the Daytona 500 itself (the Superbowl of racing, from what people tell me). We have something of an interview this coming Saturday to confirm our slot, and, if we continue our standard with some improvement, your ERAU Joint ROTC Color Guard will be on national television for the presentation of the colors this coming Sunday.

Otherwise, major things coming up are working with the races themselves (primary money-maker for the Unit) and some mid-term tests in various classes. I’m also gearing up for my lecturing at the IX International on the Science and Quality of Life in Vilnius, Lithuania, continuing my now three year tradition of lecturing as well as teaching English for a Student International Summer Workshop through the former Universitas Studiorum Polona Vilnensis. It’s a long string of preparation for both classes and research/a lecture, but I’m hoping that the prospects of this will help me re-find my focus and motivation that’s been strangely missing since mid-winter break. Perhaps one factor, be it an element or cause, could be my recent alienation of classical studies and continuing my side-line St. John’s College education.

That’s all for now; classes are classes are classes. This semester’s no different than others aside from the extra curriculars. Keep those questions and thoughts coming. They help give a good sense of what all everyone’s interested and give me more ideas to write about. Find the email in prior posts.

Til then, all the best and best wishes to all.

Onward and upward,

David

Well everyone, It’s happening!!! NASCAR is coming. The Bud shootout was held this weekend, and 3 Doors Down played at the event. In a weekend or two (not totally sure, don’t remember) is the Daytona 500. Which can only mean one thing, everyone hide in your dorms, stay in your apartments, cause OH MAN is it going to be exciting and loud around here. The Daytona 500 coming to town also means lots of people from my home state, Tennessee, will be making a pilgrimage to Daytona. I’m looking forward to hearing that good ole southern twang of an accent again. It just doesn’t feel like you’re in the south when you live in Florida. That’ll be good news to all of you that live in the north, but for those of us who grew up in TN, GA, SC, AL, MS, it’s totally not living in the south here.

Anyways, it’s the middle of winter, more or less, and let me tell ya, It DOES get cold in Florida, but thankfully not too cold. Actually it’s only cold when the sun goes down. Since there have been a few cold fronts move through the past few weeks, it’s getting to around upper 50’s to 60’s in the daytime. But in a week it’s going to be back to near 80!! yEaH!!! Back in TN it was snowing the other day. Boo is all I can say about that.

School is going pretty good this semester. Way better than last semester. I’ve been doing a BUNCH of programs lately. It’s sorta like when I’m not at school, I’m on my computer typing away punching out the next homework assignment or doing Math or Physics homework. After being in Daytona for my second semester now, I’m getting more used to everything around town and school and all. I can’t wait for spring break time because; not one, but TWO car shows are going to be the week before spring break! I’m used to going up to Pigeon Forge, TN for some of the best car shows in the country, but these down here are supposed to be pretty good. We’ll see. I know for sure in the summer time I’m going back up to Tennessee for the Camaro nationals. Well, I’m out for now; I think I’m going to make a run to Taco Bell. It’s a shame that the nearest Sonic is 20-30 miles away in New Smyrna Beach. Sonic is the BEST! Haha. Talk to yall later.

-Darryl

Hey guys! It’s been a rough week, so you may not get a novel out of me today. Lots of tests, midterms are even fast approaching (WTF?! we just started) and I’ve been overbooking myself a lot lately between volunteering commitments, family and friends, rotc, clubs, etc. I don’t recommend it. I’m not doing as well as I would like in PSY 220 (intro to psych). I genuinely enjoy the class and the professor, but it’s not as easy as it seems. Still doing pretty decently though. I got an 82 on my first ATC test and scored well over the class average on the first Seapower (NROTC) test…not bad for the only Air Force cadet in the Navy class. So, it isn’t all bad news.

Housing contracts are coming around again, and due on 2/25, so everyone is in a frenzy to choose roomies, room sizes, find apartments, etc. More stress. I think I’ve decided on a nearby apartment with some friends from school.. A bunch of my friends live in the complex, so it should be a good time. I look forward to being off-campus and having my own room, but I’ll miss the convenience.

I’ve also realized lately that my circle of friends has changed a lot since last semester. No real fallouts or fights or anything..just conflicting schedules, meeting new people, and changing interests. There’s always that initial group you cling to when you get to orientation..your roommate, people from your hall… Eventually you meet people on other floors, in your classes/teams/clubs. I guess I got lucky on both ends, I’ve got some awesome friends now, but the group I hung out with last fall definitely eased the transition, and we do still talk. I just got to thinking about it the other day and found it sort of odd how things worked out..

Spec. Ops is now in full swing. I got the spade again because I won Cadet of the Month in AFROTC. (: Team took a trip to Patrick AFB to get uniforms for the newbies. Flashbacks of last semester with my priors helping me out; it feels good to be in that kind of position and take on some responsibility and leadership. At the same time, though, it’s a little daunting to now be the people to look up to, that should always have the right answers and lead the team in the right direction. I screwed up that aspect pretty badly lately, and realized just how much that group of people means to me. (So if you’re reading, I’m sorry) We got off to a pretty good start as a team and I’m confidant we’ll get right back on track, so I hope to see some of you incoming freshman coming out next semester. It’s most definitely worth everything you put into it (and get out of it).

Later guys- pt, work, and meteorology test tomorrow.

Alright readers, hope all is well. As I expected, I am finding this semester a lot harder than the last one, purely because I have a lot more free time than I did in the fall. So instead of doing anything constructive, I do all the small things to avoid doing some actual college work. I will sit for an hour and organize my notes and then not even bother to read them. Or I will say to myself that I will start reading them in at 10:00 p.m., but end up asleep at 9:30 p.m.. Anything to avoid a bit of hard work. I have the Humanities 140 class this semester, which is about Greek literature and that sort of stuff. I am sure it isn’t bad if you are in to that sort of thing. But me personally, it’s just not my thing. I am a bad reader and can’t stand having to sit for six hours a week and read page after page of names and dates of stuff that happened more than 2,000 years ago. I’m sure that somewhere down the line that this may benefit me in some way, but I can’t think of anything. Other than if I get on to “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” and a question about Sophocles gets me $250,000. I can’t imagine that I will need to know this in a managerial position or whatever job I hope to get when I leave Riddle. And another thing, a mandatory attendance at the three Theban plays on Tuesday night in the IC, that is an absolute disaster, two or three hours of pure boredom. Apart from that, the rest of my classes are not too bad.

Enough about college for now. Although the old social life has been a bit quiet recently, spring semester is not living up to expectation by all accounts. I am hopeful though, that it will pick up by the beginning of March, as my girlfriend is coming over for two weeks and then a few of my mates are coming over for Spring Break. Apparently, the Daytona 500 and Bike Week will bring in huge crowds, so that should be good. I worked with the soccer team over the weekend at the speedway during the qualifiers. There was a bit of a crowd, but I am told that it is nowhere near what will be like here this weekend. I’ve never seen so many long haired men with cowboy boots and coolers full of Bud in my life. They started to come in at about 9:30 in the morning, and the racing didn’t even start until 1:00 p.m. For some reason, you are not allowed to bring ruck sacks or hard coolers into the Daytona 500, and it was our job this weekend to check. Of course, there were a good few people who didn’t know this. They complained that they had just walked about a mile and a half from their car, carrying both hard sided coolers and ruck sacks, paid $125 for a basic ticket, been looking forward to it all year, and then to be told “I’m sorry you can’t get in with that!” There were a few unhappy race fans, seriously. This was all made worse by the fact that I was nursing a hangover from the night before. But in all fairness to the crowd that did show up, they were more restrained than I would have been. Some of the rules at that place are ridiculous, and of course the main administrators were retired pensioners who wanted to feel important, so they were getting us to stop everyone and wouldn’t let any minor infringement slide. But generally a great experience to have, I have to say that I am looking forward to seeing the 500.

Glad to see that the weather has finally started to warm up, and yet the pool is still not opened, strange. Anyway that is pretty much all I have to say for now so take it ham and cheesy.

Hey everyone! Oh love is in the air…well it was at least for Valentine’s Day. All I had on my mind was spending time with Mike on this “Day of Love!” You see it was my first time ever celebrating Valentine’s Day and having a boyfriend to celebrate with, so maybe I was a little more excited than most people on campus, but you know! Well needless to say it was a nice evening, short due to the fact that I still had some humanities homework to finish and such.

Well, I still hate programming…My goodness I cannot comprehend that class to save my life. I have gotten some help from Professor Kindy, but I still feel lost. No one seems to know what is going on in that class…Well we have a test coming up and a program due on Friday so I’ll have to probably meet with him again before it’s due. I really want to do well in this class; it honestly does look like fun,yet there is so much new lingo and such that I really do not understand…Anyways…I finally feel like I’m actually helping people in the PS 101 chemsitry lab that I help assist with Professor Coslow! I am so glad now that I am in there, because at first it was still new and I didn’t know what was going on. Now that I am in the swing of things it is all good!

Oh and to help keep me on track, my friend Rowena (an Engineering Physics Freshman) and I are going to meet 3 times a week to get our homework done (to stay away from the boyfriends that tend to distract us so much!)!!!! So far that has been going well and we hope that it continues to work!

All other classes seem to be going well. I am catching up on Physics, while the lab for that class is not too bad right now. Humanities is my favorite class, which is funny since it has nothing to do with math or science! Professor Barbie really makes you think and I mean I cannot wait to go to her class! Especially now that we have been talking about slavery and the Civil Rights Movement and such, I feel more connected with the class! Yeah that class is totally awesome!

Well that is basically it for now…You all take care and I’ll update you all very soon! Bye Bye!

*~Terryel~*

Well, as luck may have it, I have, since my last journal, mustered up enough money in my effort to complete my Private Pilot License. Though I now know I will not be able to start my Multi-Engine Rating course, I will at least finish off flying to get my Private License. Flight has been going pretty well around here lately; minus the long wait for an airplane and a few issues with proper procedures, I feel confident that I will be able to pass my test soon. I just went on 3 back-to-back cross country flights: one to just north of Jacksonville, one down into Central Florida, and lastly, one to Melbourne, Florida. All of my flights have been quite fun lately because it isn’t filled with the bickering of an instructor by your side, nor the review of proper procedures for a certain maneuver. I just fly to a destination, arrive there safely, and find my way home. It has been fun, and I can honestly say that flying is truly my passion. I love to fly and know that when I one day make it my career, I will truly enjoy flying as a job and for fun.

On the other hand, we got ‘school.’ School has been laid back this semester for me because of my convenient schedule. I was smart in avoiding early classes and I loaded up my Tuesdays and Thursdays with most of my classes (4 of the 6). This allows me some free time on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for doing some personal chores. From trying to fix my laptop which I think might have spyware (who doesn’t nowadays), to catching up on some reading. So for all of you incoming freshmen, you won’t have a choice as to what you receive ‘schedule wise’, but you will have a chance to make your own schedule once your second semester rolls around. Make sure to notice what it is that works for you and in which classes you are most awake. Surprisingly, I haven’t felt that sleepy in most of my classes this semester. First, I am not waking up at 4-5 AM to go flying at 6-7 AM. Also, I don’t start my earliest class all week until 11:15 AM. It has been beneficial to both my grades and me, so make sure you make wise decisions when it comes to scheduling, it really does make a difference.

As for other business, it has been quite busy around Daytona lately. With the ‘Speed-weeks’ now leading into the main event, the Daytona 500, more and more people are flooding into the city (even the airspace is full). The traffic I saw this weekend after the ‘Bud Shootout’ reminded me of traffic back home. It was funny to see it here because, for once, I wasn’t a part of it. Traffic in L.A. is as bad as most say it is, trust me, it could be 2 PM or 2 AM, but if you are on the freeways, there is no difference. Traffic is a daily part of life. It’s a good day when you only encounter traffic on two of the three freeways you get on. Anyways, unfortunately, I haven’t been able to get to any of the races. I was there during a few practice sessions, but haven’t seen an official race yet. I wish I had a car; I could go out and about as I pleased. Unfortunately, car equals need for money, and right now, even without the car, I am in need of money.

Well, as all the racing events down at the speedway wind down to an end, Spring Break is next to hit Daytona. That is bound to be an experience. I think my next journal won’t have much about it, but the one after should. Well, I’ll catch all of you later in my next journal. For any of you that may have questions about the school or specifically flight, go ahead and add a message on our message board. I’ll reply ASAP. Til next time, Laters!

Sergio M.

Hey everyone…I must tell you that I am not in the best of moods…It seems like there is never enough time to get anything done. We have been back to school now for almost 3 weeks I think and, I mean, I feel like I am so behind. School has never been so hard before in my life! Yeah, I know college is supposed to be hard, but it seems like it is draining the life outta me!

Now that I am a Chem lab assistant, I have more responsibility. I love the hands-on experience that I get since I am behind the scenes. I finally get to help people and put my knowledge to practical use! I like mixing the chemicals the best since I feel like a real scientist or something. I mean not all of my days are bad…I still love coming here, I just feel like not doing anything anymore…

I hate EGR 115! I don’t hate my professor, I just hate the class! I hate computers and I am only using them because I have to. I mean I think I just hate the class because I don’t understand how to do anything. This is, in turn, putting my spirits down…I just get confused and everything and I plan on going to my professor’s office hours tomorrow when I have a lighter day…

Personal time is small nowadays…I decided that I will probably try out for cheerleading so that I may keep in shape! I need to do something that can take my mind off of school and homework for a while! Besides, I miss doing gymnastics and I think I could add some spirit and tumbling to the team! GO EAGLES!

Well that is all that I have for now…I need to go take a nap since I am about to fall over now! Talk to you all very soon! Take care! Adios!

*~Terryel~*

All right everyone get ready for a ride!!

Last night we went to watch the movie Hide and Seek, this is to everyone; WATCH IT!! Dakota Fanning, the little girl looks scary and spooky and her dad De Niro was superb. The movie was extremely scary but I noticed a very different behavior from audience, during every scary scene people would laugh to hide their fear, to hide it from the person sitting next. I did the same, lol. Go and watch the movie in the theater to check it out.

Earlier this week on Monday I almost missed my C programming class which is at eight in the morning. Even though I knew that, I was up late and guess what happened, I woke up at eight thirteen and I decided to go to sleep as my next class was at ten thirty but a thought of guilt ran through my brain and I jumped out of my bed and ran straight to my class. And I thank myself for that.

On Wednesday we had students Activity Fair, and that was what I was precisely waiting for. I joined Badminton Club, Indian student Association, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the Avion Newspaper and the Task Force a part of Student Government. Yes there are a lot of fraternities here but I am not a fan of it. We also had a demonstration of skydiving, the members of skydiving club had taken off from Atlanta, GA and they dived on campus where the fair was taking place and I think that was amazing. A week before Riddle was tranquil but now suddenly everything is moving at fast pace. A lot of homework, club meetings, research papers, sports and sleeping are taking all my time up now.

It snowed 12 inches in New Jersey last week and I really miss it. I miss the part where I have to shovel snow three times a day. I still remember my sister and me playing in snow last year and the year before that. I felt like flying back to Jersey for a weekend but it was not possible.

I ordered a new dell notebook this week, completely customized by me and I got it for a great price. I saved around three hundred dollars because Riddle has an affiliation with dell. This is how it works; while you order give them Riddle’s member number, and you get instant members discount because you are a student at Riddle.

So this was it for now, the time is 11:34 pm. Goodnight, and until next time.

OVER AND OUT!!

Hey Everyone!! How is the rest of the world out there? I’m doing pretty good here. It’s getting colder now that it’s deeper into winter time. It’s getting down to like mid 40’s at night and mid 60’s to 70’s in the daytime. Well what else has been going on you may ask? Not a whole lot. This past weekend did a little shopping, and all. Also this past week I did a little maintenance on my car. New brakes/tires/all that good stuff. I always love workin’ on the car. It’s always fun to put so much work into something and then see how it pays off in the end with performance and such.

I’ve been programming a lot lately. CS225 has a lot of programs to do. We do at least one per homework, sometimes more. The rest of you CS majors will never have to take CS125 and CS225. They are getting rid of them and calling it engineering something or another. I don’t know why. They’re apparently taking java 1 and java 2 and cramming it all into a 1 semester class. Physics is a lot of studying too. Along with every other class, haha. Anyways, I’ve not done a whole lot lately. Just kinda hung out and chilled in front of the TV. It’s always something good to do when there is nothing else to. We’ve had a little bit more rain lately too. It’s been like 2 weeks or so since it’s rained last, but it only sprinkled a little bit so that’s no big deal. Anyways, I don’t know much else, but I’ll talk to yall later.