Sometime soon...

I'll actually post pertinent information. If I get a job offer(like I am hoping/kinda expecting) in the coming weeks, I'll have TONS to talk about.

it's kinda quiet around here

yeh, I know. I've been dormant on this thing for awhile. Mainly because Trevor and I have been devoting much of our time to our sports blog, Sports on the Rox. On the personal side of things, not THAT much has been going on, which explains my lack of posts. I'll get something on here at some point, because there has been some news worth mentioning, mainly my getting a job this summer at Arnold Air Force Base :). But that will be discussed later...

Science Fair Redux

I guess I'm way overdue to give Eric and Jennifer a big CONGRATULATIONS on bringing in the newest edition to the world, Scott Michael Maier. Their kid is adorable, and I know from being around them for almost a year that they will be fantastic parents. Just don't raise that kid to be a Rangers fan, Eric!!

Other than a usually busy week for me(spacecraft attitude homework, lab report, lab, aerospace structural analysis homework, fluids quizzes), I'm in for a treat this Wednesday. As part of my technical writing course, I am required to be a judge at a science fair held at the Hump. The fair covers all ages up to 12th grade, but I was assigned to the K-6 crowd. I'm not necessarily sure which grade I'll eventually end up grading, but I'm looking forward to it no matter where I end up. I remember all too well doing science projects EVERY year. I was quite elated to learn that after moving to Tennessee in 2000 that they weren't required up there. I'm anxious to see if these kids are creative or if their parents did all the work. Should be fun.

Our intramural men's soccer tournament starts this Thursday. Match play treated us well; we ended up 5-2, so we should get a decent seed. As for the co-ed team, I'm not entirely sure where we stand, as I've missed the last 2 games with hockey. I think we're doing halfway decent. The girls on our team are BALLERS. I really do no know why they don't play club.

Call me childish, but I'm loving the potential of the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie more and more. The tv spots kick so much ass. Have you seen the Foot Soldiers?! SO badass. And Splinter...well, he's his normal awesome self. I really cannot wait to see that one.

Speaking of awesome movies, I am counting down the days until Frank Miller's 300. I hear the flick is the ultimate "guy movie," so being the guy that I am, I'm almost required to see it. We want to go see it at an IMAX, which would necessitate going to Memphis. It's still up in the air, but it just might happen.

The Dawgs are in the final stretch of their season. We're tied with Ole Miss for the 1st spot in the West. They go to play at Alabama on Wednesday and finish the season hosting Auburn. We pretty much need 'Bama to step up against them, and we need to win our final 2 games. If we do that, we clinch the West, an SEC 1st round bye, and a chance to get to the NCAAs. We win in the first round of the SEC tourney, and we're golden to go to the Dance. Com'on Dawgs!

Wits & Wagers has turned into a fan favorite here in Starkvegas. The whole crew absolutely loves this game. It's become an almost weekly ritual. We had 7 teams the other night, allowing us to fill the entire board. It was NUTS. Mary and Adam are quite the W&W players. Thanks, Will for bringing that home over Christmas!

I will send my "official" application papers to AEDC tomorrow. I'll hear something in a few weeks. No whammies, no whammies...

phone interview tomorrow!!

I submitted my cover-letter, resume, and transcript to the Arnold Engineering and Development Center on Tuesday, and I got an email response the next day. I have a phone interview with AEDC tomorrow at 4:30 pm Central Time.

I'm slightly more nervous about this phone interview than I was for my one before going down to JSC. I had a face-to-face interview before my phone interview back then, so I was already feeling good about my chances. The phone interview was sort of a "second chance." I don't have the luxury of that this time. I either nail the phone interview or it's no-go for AEDC.

I really want this job, so all day I've been reviewing everything I can find on the Center. I'll head to the Career Center(where' I'm doing the interview, as my phone is crapping out) around 4:15, then I'll sit in the conference room during the interview. Hopefully after 5:00 or so I should have a good idea whether I'll be simulating missile defense experiments this summer or not. After my morning class I'll try to round up some questions I have about AEDC, as well as try to figure out what kind of questions they'll ask me.

Wish me luck!

Henry's Eleven

So I was kicking back while watching some tv the other day. Ocean’s Eleven just happen to come on, and it made me think: Who would I need out of my pool of friends to make a successful casino heist? Well, I put some thought in it, and here is MY Eleven. Note that I didn't choose based on similar appearances. Rather, I chose based on abilities, similar characteristics, etc.

Danny Ocean – George Clooney ( the leader )
Played by: Me
I’m creating this list, so I get to be the lead guy. I would like to think I have some leadership skills in me which help keep the group focused and fresh. Besides, Danny gets the girl in the end.

Rusty Ryan – Brad Pitt (the right-hand man)
Played by: Trevor Acy
Trevor seems a nice fit for this role. Danny and Rusty work well together, and they rarely need to do much conversing to relay information. One is always one step ahead of the other, and this helps the planning go smoothly. Although not always the case, Trevor and I work very well together, an important ability for the leaders of the group.

Linus Caldwell – Matt Damon(the rookie)
Played by: Marty Brennan
Marty just started hanging around with our group this semester, so being the rookie is perfect. Besides, I think he could easily pull off the monotonous jobs in the movie as well as posing as a member of the NGC and pick-pocketing Andy Garcia. Of course, knowing Marty now, I bet he’d actually attempt to hit on Tess after watching her for several days rather than hold back. Shut up Marty…you know you would.

Basher Tarr – Don Cheadle(the explosives guy)
Played by: Paul Howell
If only you all knew how well Paul made explosives during our freshman year of college. The marks are still there! This guy WAS Basher reincarnate. I’d also fully trust Paul to steal a “Pinch” from a laboratory, as Paul was…well…pretty good at stealing things. I’m restricted from saying any more on the matter.

Livingston Dell – Eddie Jemison(the surveillance guy)
Played by: Adam Wandler
Sure, I have about four hundred computer wiz friends, but Adam just appeared to fit the role better than the rest. Adam would also be the only guy that could double as a technician and make it through security without causing a blip. Adam might blow his cover with a M.S.I. showing under his outfit, but I’m willing to take that chance.

Frank Catton – Bernie Mac(the con man)
Played by: Anthony Vizzini
Com’on, I know I’m not the only one that looks at Anthony in his black leather jacket, slicked back hair, and ragged jeans and thinks, “con man.” Although of a much lighter complexion than Frank, Anthony would easily pull off the blackjack dealer look with his trademark goatee-stache. I wouldn’t put it past Anthony to steal stuff from a Casino for the sake of stealing over $100 million either. He’s also got a slick way of talking, a trait Frank no doubt had down pat.

Reuben Tishkoff – Elliot Gould(the former Vegas hotel big wig)
Played by: Bill Wilson
I’m sure many of you(well, those NOT from Paris, TN) do not know who Bill is. He is my former employer and a great friend of mine and my family. But if you really get to know the guy, you know he doesn’t necessarily have the longest temper. He also has quite the fowl mouth. But hey, we all love him for these characteristics. And because of these human flaws he would be the perfect Reuben. I can see Bill wanting to exact revenge on someone that put him out of business(in this case, the hotel business), and I can also see him being a smart ass to everyone, just like Reuben in the movie.

Saul Bloom – Carl Reiner(the old pro)
Played by: Josh Collums
Saul was old reliable. Sure, he was out of the game for awhile when Dusty approached him, but he wanted in, even if he didn’t outwardly show it. In the end, he was one of the most important pieces to the heist. Josh is Saul, hands down. He’s reliable as hell, and he’s almost always willing to join in and go all out. I’d love to watch Josh and Terry Benedict go head-to-head like the movie.

Turk Malloy – Scott Caan (the cars & transportation guy)
Played by: Mike Bradley
Ok, so we needed a muscle man, as well as someone that knows about cars. Mike, you know cars, right? Great. Turk liked to argue during the course of the film, and from what time I’ve determined from my brief stints around Mike, he seems like a guy that could argue very well. He has the confidence to do so, and he’d probably win most of the time, like Turk. I also see Mike donning the chauffeur’s outfit in a moment’s notice without protest. Or maybe the personal bodyguard costume. Most importantly, Mike would be the perfect compliment to his younger brother…

Virgil Malloy – Casey Affleck (the cars & transportation guy)
Played by: Chris Moore
Chris has a mustang….so he should have automobile knowledge….right?? We’ll assume yes. He knows how to drive a manual transmission, so that’s good enough. Most importantly, I think it’d be fun as hell to watch Chris and his older brother(Mike) argue. I’ve argued with Chris before, and he and Virgil have many parallels.

Yen – Shaobo Qin(the grease man)
Played by: Jaimee Floyd
Ok, so our grease man is really a “grease woman”. Hmm, that doesn’t sound too nice. How about “acrobatic artist”? In either case, we’d need someone that can fit into tight spaces, contort their body, and be very acrobatic. Jaimee’s on the pom squad, and from basketball halftime performances you can tell she’d fit the bill. As opposed to Yen, we’d actually be able to understand her speech too, which is a plus.

What the hell, a small bonus. Tess was the 13th in the sequel, and Benedict looks like he might be the 14th in the next flick. So why not include them?

Terry Benedict – Andy Garcia
Played by: Andy Garcia
Uhm, is it just me, or is Andy the only person that could play this role?! You can’t really replace him.

Tess Ocean – Julia Roberts
Played by: Mallory Hacker
Tess had the looks, she had the strength, and she could definitely hold her own. She’s headstrong but knows how to have fun and let loose, just like in the sequel. I think Mallory would be the ideal Tess.

first impressions

I've successfully made it through 1.5 weeks of class this semester. This has given me just enough time to get thorough first impressions of my teachers. Yes, I could have had sufficient class time to get impressions last week, but not all my professors were present at that point. Now that I've had 2-3 classes, it's time to give out some "pre-season" rankings. We'll revisit this subject at the end of the semester to see how my feelings about the teacher and/or class have changed, if anything. I'll also detail some aspects of my class just so my faithful audience can get a sense of what I'm learning.

Aerospace Lab, MWF 8:00-8:50, W 2:00-4:50, Thomas Hannigan
Three parts lecture, one part lab, I was kind of unsure of what to expect about this class. After a few classes, though, I think it should be a great learning experience. Each week we'll study a different lab technique or piece of hardware, then use each in an application experiment. The class will require tons of programming, which I am very comfortable with. I cannot say the same for the rest of my class however. In fact, if we use a different programming language than the standard ones(BASIC, FORTRAN, MathCAD, Matlab, Mathematica, and Maple), we get bonus points. Guess that bulk of programming I did in Houston will finally pay off :). Mr. Hannigan is a decent teacher; I had him for my third Intro class during the first semester my sophomore year. He's kinda anal about some things, which tends to get annoying, but he's tolerable.

Aerospace Structural Analysis, MWF 1:00-1:50, Dr. Newman, Jr.
This class could very well be Mechanics of Materials II. Topics we'll cover in detail include shear and stress analysis, torsion, and strain relationships. Since Dr. Lacy's Structures class last semester I've become quite interested in the structures area of study. Dr. Newman is the father of my Vibrations teacher last semester, and I can honestly say I now know where Dr. Newman III gets his personality. I love his father's class; he's pretty much Martin Sheen with a goatee. He's got a great sense of humor too, which never hurts.

Spacecraft Attitude Dynamics, MWF 8:00-9:15, Dr. Ming Xin
Probably the class I have looked forward to the most since I declared my concentration as Astronautics. This course is basically ADCO 101, a compilation and a more detailed breakdown of everything I learned while at NASA. Whereas last semester I learned about the movement of a spacecraft treated as a point mass under influence of another mass, this semester we'll treat spacecraft as rigid bodies and study their movement about their own center of mass. VERY neat stuff. My professor is kind of quiet so far, but Chris, who had him last semester for Controls class, says he's pretty cool. I suspect Ming isn't that lively because this is the first time this class has been taught and this is his first year of teaching. Supposedly this kind of material is his specialty, so maybe he's just warming up.

Technical Writing, MWF 9:30-10:45, John Brocato
According to John(my brother), this will be one of the most applicable classes I'll take my whole time in college. Technical Writing aims to teach how to express technical ideas to others who are not always technically inclined, an ability many MANY people lack(I've witnessed firsthand at the big N). Mr. Brocato kicks so much ass; he has a very smart sense of humor, and he's very dry. Hilarious. Interesting note: first day of class he was running through the role, and he saw my name on the list. Without even saying anything he looked up, found me, and said, "You must be John Horne's brother." HAHA. He said he could tell by my face. Turns out John had Mr. Brocato a few years back. Small world.

Fluid Mechanics, MWF 11:00-12:15, Mary Wolverton
Another class I'm excited about. We're gonna learn all about hydrostatics and hydrodynamics; inviscid,turbulent flow; and compressible/imcompressible flow. VERY applicable stuff to what I'm wanting to possibly do. I had Mrs. Wolverton for Dynamics last spring, so I'm pretty familiar with her. She loved me for some reason in that class, which should make this class a breeze, other than the fact I love this material.

the awesomeness of St. Patrick

Just some highlights of my boy doin' his thing...

Not sure why this montage is rockin' to Enya, but it kinda fits. Hey Rich, you like that save at the 1:00 minute mark of the video? Mwa ha ha ;)

she blogs again!

My sister has returned to the blogging world! *applause*

Check out the link to the right. It's a great site she's got goin'. Pretty f'in hilarious too.

if you're a star wars fan...

well you're just gonna love this. It's the Star Wars version of Wikipedia, except since we're in the Star Wars universe here, it's actually called Wookieepedia. HAHA. I love it.

I'll admit that I'm interested in Star Wars(it WAS one of the 3 movie series I was raised on as a child, after all), but I'm nowhere near the infatuation levels of the Skywalker-crazed fanatics out there. It's more of a casual interest, if you will.

Anyways, if you have a few minutes, check out the site. I usually just go and hit the "random" button and pull up an article about something I had never heard of before. Fascinating stuff.

Oh, and my computer arrived today....and I luuuuv it so far. I'll include pics and descriptions later on. It's VERY slick.

well, I have an 8:00 am class tomorrow morning(and EVERY morning, for that matter. Hey, it's what happens when you get to the upper-level classes...there's only ONE of each!), so I guess it's bedtime for me. SUCKS.

the other two movie series I was raised on a child? Superman and Indiana Jones, of course!

and you people wonder why I like hockey

just follow the link above(it's the title) and watch the video on this page. This game was un-FREAKIN'-believable. Tarik, hockey kicks ass, and you know it. Now go watch some Saved by the Bell and brush up on your trivia.