*-* NO CARRIER *-*

For all of my lovely uah.edu readers … one of you that lives in Housing [and I'm guessing SECH to be exact] has their time zone off by an hour, because you’re showing up as Mountain Time. I wouldn’t want any of you to be late for class or anything.

I have my guesses as to which of you it is, but I’ll just hush. If you want to ‘fess up, it’s not like we’ll ridicule you or anything.

Crap, I have this Art History exam in an hour, and so I better go review the art of Rome one more time. It’s hard to believe that I’ll be done in three and a half hours. I’m barely able to contain my joyous energy.

Okay, so I’m not done yet, but as I just left my Aircraft Stability & Control exam feeling reasonably confident that I’d made a solid A or B on it [thereby squeaking into an outside shot at a B if he curves the grades, or likely a solid C if he doesn't], I’m feeling exuberant. I have taken my last engineering final at UAH. The only thing left is Art History … which when I began to review it last night, made lots and lots of sense to me. I’d read most of the Roman text already, and I had the slide list for the Roman part. The Roman part is 2/3 of this exam; if she got to the Byzantine, Romanesque, or Gothic parts, I’ll be surprised. However, I know just enough about each to fake my way through it all.

Holy crap, I think I’m going to be done soon. Holy crap.

The other thing to be happy about: the TBE network is alive again. I was looking at an entire week of unproductivity [hush, all of you!], but now it’s going again and I’ll be heading over to work this afternoon. W00t.

Well, at 3:00 p.m. CT today, I start 23 hours of hell. Yep, all three of my finals are in that time frame. I actually had a final last week in senior design, but that was … a joke. Easy.

The first is the hardest final and, perversely, the one I’m least worried about. Analysis of Engineering Systems is a class that makes good sense and builds upon itself, like any good engineering class should. [Please see portablekat.net for examples of bad engineering classes. Thanks.] Mind you, I didn’t care much for AES or Dr. Cost at the beginning of the semester, but the class has grown on me. Not caring much for the class at the beginning has hampered my grade somewhat, although rumors that Dr. Cost 1) curves grades and 2) rewards those who show steady improvement on his exams leaves me with a lot of hope for this class. A B isn’t out of the realm of possibility if he’s feeling nice.

At 8:00 a.m., I have Aircraft Stability and Control. Let’s talk about a class I have no use for! This course really should be an elective so that the instructor can go into much greater depth. It’s also one of those beloved 400/500 classes at UAH, which means the instructor loves the first-year grad students taking the class and has the undergrads along for the ride. I’m expecting a solid C in this class, but again, that’s because Dr. Blair curves the grades–and frankly, I haven’t cared enough to make any better than a C.

At 11:30 a.m. tomorrow, I have what most people would consider to be the easiest final of all–Art History. As I survey the choices I’ve made this semester, I truly regret one of them: not having taken this class last semester when I had a much easier courseload. Had I realized how hard AES would be and how apathetic I would get here in this last semester–I knew how hellish senior design was going to be, so that’s not really any excuse–I would have been a smart little engineer and taken this last fall along with my World Civ I class. Would’ve been serendipitous, too, as the classes cover the same timeframe in history.

As it is, I could really care less about this class, and it’s shown this semester. It’s in the middle of my class day, usually at the point where I’ve begun thinking about senior design and nothing else. Consequently, my class attendance has been abysmal, and when I have been there, it’s only been in spirit. There’s nothing really wrong with the class … it just never, ever stimulated me enough to go. Kinda sad, but five years of engineering have, in their own way, sucked out some of my love of learning.

The good thing is this: in 24.5 hours [at this writing], it’ll all be over, one way or the other. And while I never thought I’d say this, “D is for Degree.”

I’m just continuing my tradition at UAH: a good semester followed by a bad one. It’s like the stock market during one of those frenetic post-decline periods–good days followed by bad ones. Sadly, I computed my GPA earlier, and I’m pretty certain that, for the first time in my UAH career, I’ll end a semester with a sub-3.00 GPA. I have no one but myself to blame for this, really, but it irks me. I’ve done a damned fine job of walking the 3.0 tightrope before, but … oh well.

That is, unless, everyone is feeling really charitable towards me. Somehow, I doubt it.

Okay, time to stop rambling and start taking these tests. Oh, and I need to find a pencil, dammit.

Heh, seems that Sarah had her instructor [well, the proctor] skip out on the final. Sarah, when Dr. Schutzenhofer did that to my Fluids II class, the final became “optional”–you could take it and help but not hurt your grade, or skip it and keep the grade that you had. Anyhow, that’s probably what Wessling will make Moses do.

I have three finals in 24 hours next week, and frankly, I’m not worried about a one of them. I’m up here at work pecking on a PowerPoint presentation for church [yeesh, this is the fourth PowerPoint presentation I've made this week ...], and then I’m going to go back home and clean out my truck. It’s a lovely day out, and I might as well make use of the time.

I just wish that Samantha wasn’t working tonight. Oh well.

Amy called, telling me about her new car. She said, “If you’re not just wiped out, come on by before you go home, or I’ll drive up there one.”

I replied, “Amy, by the time you get your tags and I get home, I’ll be asleep.”

I’m really, really tired right now. All I want to do is crawl into bed and sleep. I think I’m going to head out now–no one else is here at work but me, and I was here before everyone but David this morning. I’ve earned going home a bit early.

Alas, our feverish antelope googlebombing missed its mark

We’ll have to make another strafing run!

Man, I haven’t done a Friday Five in some time.

1. What are your hobbies? Hobbies? That requires free time. I don’t let myself have free time. If I had time, it would be spent reading.

2. Do you collect anything? Dust.

3. Is there a hobby you’re interested in, but just don’t have the time/money to do? Yeah. You know it as sleep.

4. Have you ever turned a hobby into a moneymaking opportunity? Actually, I sorta tried with TOTK.com Sports, and, well, we missed the dot-com boom.

5. Besides web-related stuff (burbs, rings, etc.), what clubs do you belong to? Don’t ask. I guess the biggest one would be SGA. It gets me into the most trouble. I’m also VP of UAH’s student chapter of the American Helicopter Society … for all I’ve done. I won’t even list it on my resume.

Well, we didn’t win.

I understand why Team 3 won; I disagree with it, though, because I don’t think they could produce the vehicle they say they can produce in the weight they say they can produce it. My Spidey-sense and my three years in the hardware field tell me that it just couldn’t happen.

But, they won, and that’s all I can say about it, really. I’m still very proud of my team for how they handled themselves and the work they did. I was just the guy who tried to stay out of the way as much as possible.

Kyle McLaren thinks he did no wrong. Whatever. I’m a Bruins fan, and I want to see this guy out for the rest of the playoffs. The hit was vicious, it was intentional, and I feel that it was with intent to harm Zednik.

I was feeling very good about the B’s winning 5-2 until I saw McLaren’s hit. I wanted to vomit afterwards.

…I’ve excised our senior design project documents to an online home: IJSM.org/ipt/

I can probably only have these here for a few days, as I do have space limitations on IJSM.org’s Web hosting. Who knows, this might actually be putting me close to that mark. Not sure, and I can’t check from here.

That’s why IPTMadness.com uses Positive Fusion’s most expensive hosting plan. We’ve got 500 MB of filespace, and we’ve made good use of it.

I had to get up here early this morning … we have a morning presentation to a Boeing big-shot, and I’ve got to load and run the presentation. The CD’s sitting at my elbow, so I’m going to grab it here in a sec and run back down to the HR Conference Room and go run this thing.

In the meantime, I’m trying to figure out exactly what sound I’m hearing. I think it’s people chopping down office walls with chainsaws–that, or weed-eaters one. Confusing, disturbing, and really damned annoying. Hopefully they’ll be done by 10:00 a.m., when I’ll get back into my office.

Oh well, I must go beat a computer into submission and make PowerPoint be my bitch again. Then I have to start thinking about what I’m going to say in my presentation at 11:30 for senior design. Hell, I won’t see the presentation I’ll give until I get there. Sad thing is, I can only talk for five minutes. Yeesh! I mean, I couldn’t explain how to tie one’s shoes in five minutes …

I feel like such a heel.

Where am I? At work, taking care of a couple things after my presentation [I wasn't here this morning].

Where’s Todd? Helping Samantha move her mom.

I so should be there. They need the help, I should be there for semi-obvious reasons, but I have to cover the ASCE meeting for Todd, so I’m still over by UAH.

I am not happy at the moment.

I know Milton noted that “they also serve who stand and wait,” but yeesh …

…GONE!

Not only is that a reference to being done with IPT Madness, it’s a reference to the softball I lobbed out of the park during the question-and-answer session that followed our presentation.

You see, on Monday night, the team leaders showed off their designs to each other. We designed an unmanned hybrid [that is, air and ground capable] vehicle [UHV] for the U.S. Army. Our design had a coaxial rotorcraft that had four fixed wheels powered by electric motors for the ground mission. Our two competitors had the same concept … but they dispatched an electrically-powered ground car after landing. We’d rejected that idea very early on as being too complex for this concept–you’d have to have locking mechanisms and all sorts of fun stuff in order to make that work.

Anyhow, our first slide had our design goals: “Simple — Reliable — Efficient — Lightweight — Meets or Exceeds Requirements.” Dr. Suzy Young, head of the Aviation Systems Directorate out at the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, asked the last question: “Why did you choose those five design goals?”

In a split-second, I had the following thought flash through my mind:

You know, the reason our design kicks ass is because it’s simple. You know that the other two teams made it very complex. Hammer that. Hammer that. It’s a hanging curveball. Beat the shit out of that ball!

So, I did.

“Well, Dr. Young, we wanted a simple vehicle, because this is intended for use on the battlefield. We could have gone with a two-piece system and dispatched a ground car, but we discussed that and decided that it would add a whole level of complexity to the design without giving us much in the way of added benefit. We wanted reliability and efficiency because this would be for military use …”

My systems engineer, Jamie, was sitting next to me, trying not to laugh. Our instructor was laughing and tellling someone in the back of the room the significance of what I’d just done. I got tickled at myself and almost got distracted in the rest of my [you guessed it] pre-planned answer.

I can’t believe I got the opportunity to slap the other two designs that hard. I also can’t believe that I didn’t hesitate one iota to answer. I was reticent to make use of the knowledge I had, but I didn’t.

I can be such a ruthless bastard.

Well, I don’t officially have an offer. Unofficially, I do. The paperwork should be done tomorrow. I might be here when it comes in, and I might not. I’m coming in to work in the morning, and I’ll be here after our team’s presentation. I have things to do.

Yes, I know what I’m making. Oh, it’s good money. I just am not going to post it here. If you want to know, you’ll contact me about that, and if I think you should know, I’ll tell you. I don’t want to make a big deal out of it, but I’ll make okay coin.

A lot of things have complicated the offer getting to me. One was the fact that a major customer [Guign�] almost fell through–and that would have put two or three people out of work. The almost is just that, though–they’re back online now, and in better financial shape than before. I can’t elaborate, but that job is solid now. It made little sense to try to hire someone when three people might be out of jobs, right?

We’ve also had a big proposal effort–more money, more work, stuff through 2004–that’s kept my boss busy the last few days. In fact, it’s what kept him [and me, some of the day] busy all day today, and it’s why we didn’t talk until 5:30, and it’s why I’m still at work at 6:15. [That, and the fact that I have something to send out on one of our other contracts now.]

But I’ve got a sure-fire job, it’s in the money range I’d expected, and I start on the 13th. Wahoo. I feel better now.

Come on, boss-man, I’d like to just take five minutes and discuss my offer with you. Don’t make me go into your office while you’re out glad-handing Boeing and go dig it up on your desk, sign it, and leave it in your chair. I’d really, really hate to do that.

It’s all about peace of mind. I have 18 days until I walk across the stage, and right now, I want the peace of mind that comes with accepting this offer and being secure in the knowledge that, yes, I have a job–unlike so many of my peers.

Whew! Got out of a morning meeting with Boeing that shouldn’t have taken so long in enough time to finish these slides for class.

They’re due at 3:00 p.m.

I hate deadlines.

As I was driving to the Engineering Building to get copies of the slides, I remembered that my work report was due to the co-op office today.

By 5:00 p.m.

I should make that.

Six days, six days, six days.

You know, it occurs to me … someone, somewhere, is going to come up with an algorithm one day that proves that there are certain games of solitaire that are unwinnable.

I mean, there have to just be some combinations of cards that, even if you knew what was in the stack under the rest of the cards, just cannot be won.

The idle geeky thoughts I have while I’m letting my brain relax and thinking about other problems … hmmmmmm.

Oh, I think that I saw a proof once that Freecell was always winnable, because the game writers had written the game scenarios to all be winnable in one way or another.

With geeky thoughts like these, it’s obvious why I have a hard time forcing myself to go to Art History.

Always nice to make a 100 on a final.

To quote Dr. Frederick, “All graded material was returned promptly, huh?”

[Note: If you don't laugh at that joke, you obviously haven't ever filled out a UAH instructor evaluation sheet.]

-happysigh-

Oh, and from seeing what Dr. Blair has on our Aircraft Stability & Control final, that thing will require maybe two hours of good studying. Mmmmmm …

Hmmm, if Dr. Bob would stop sending me emails about things about our Web server for IPT, I could go home and do that whole sleep thing.

Oh, it was interesting … my attendance in MAE 480 [Aircraft Stability & Control] has been quite sporadic of late. I asked my friend Brian tonight what we’d covered since the last exam [in other words, what I'd need to learn for the final]. His response, “Uhhhhh, I think there have been two class days that didn’t involve the project. Wait, maybe just one. And that was on notes that he’d already started on and just needed to finish in a little greater detail.” Sweeeeeeeeeeeet.

Now I just have the presentation in IPT, my final in there, the cutesy banquet on Friday, and finals next week. Those three finals are going to be pretty tame, I think. At present, I’d have to really boink one of them not to walk.

In eight days, I finish classes. In 20, I will walk across the stage and be handed a diploma. In 21, I will start work here full time. In two, I will get my offer. I confirmed that with Ed at church yesterday.

Whew.

134 pages.

11 MB of data in Word.

Three days.

I think my life can go begin again.

Oh, shit. I have to go to work now. Boeing waits for no man, and “Geof has finals this week” is a piss-poor excuse on this contract.

If you normally harrass me during the workday, please do so now. I’m about to head across Sparkman to TBE and get this in the can over there, but I could use the distraction.

Stay on target … stay on target …

Well, we’re just about done, really. My systems engineer has to come over and put her last little bit of the paper into the queue. I have my Structures guy [the inimitable Finnish Flash, Kari] running to Kinko’s to get a color scan of the artist’s conception of what our vehicle looks like. I have a couple sections to peck together, and then bada-bing! I’m done.

Thank the Good Lord. You’re probably all tired of reading about this, aren’t you? If I don’t bitch about it, though, I’ll go mad … mad, I tell you.

Man, it’s all starting to fall in place with the paper. Good thing, as it’s due in 10 hours.

Man. Another day spent up here at the Engineering Building. Another day where the paper’s not done when I go home, unlike what I had planned.

This is the paper that never ends. I just got a bunch of stuff that I needed, so I’m probably down to just three or four sections to write and some photos to input. I hope to be done by noon. That means I’ll finish right before deadline.

Bah. Nine days. NINE FREAKING DAYS.

Things that rock: being enough of a regular at your local Chinese carryout place that they know what you’ll likely order when you walk into the door [from a rotating menu of about four things].

Things that suck: getting a new guy at the counter who doesn’t know what you’ll likely order.

Things that rock: said place knowing that you don’t need the plastiforks, etc., because you’re going home, where you have Real Silverware[TM].

Things that suck: going to said place and not getting plastiforks, etc., because you’re headed to campus to eat while you work on your senior design paper … and not realizing that you don’t have any kind of silverware at all until you get inside … and you just drove 15 minutes away from home … and now you have to make a 30-minute round-trip just to get a freaking fork and spoon.

Blah. At least our paper’s in sight of being complete.