Shallow Thinker

My first semester of Graduate school is over.  Kelley and I decided that I was old enough to take on a whole class.  Wouldn’t you know, I passed it.  More importantly, I met the grade requirement for work to pay for it.

Most smart people would realize that it’s a good formula.  Take one class, focus on it, don’t get too stressed, and pass with flying colors…But I’m not a smart people.  I’ve decided that next semester, I’ll take two classes!

This past semester’s class wasn’t the typical engineering course.  I had to write a couple of papers and act like I knew what I was doing.  The next two will be more of the engineering basics.  Materials will deal with metals, grain structure, martensite, and various other things that I’ve completely forgotten since undergrad.  The other course I’m signed-up for is called Facilities Layout.  I took it on because it sounded decently easy and it had a very convenient time when the course was offered.

I look forward to writing in a few weeks about how hard it all is and begging you for sympathy!

Think the people in your office are nerds?  Think again.  Our company had some people participate in a “plane pull” this past weekend.  (About 20 people grab a rope and pull a 737 about 12 feet as quick as they can.  The fastest team wins.)  The event was a fundraiser for the Ronald McDonald house, so the whole company was involved in different efforts to try to put some money in .

Our office’s organizer sent out an e-mail this morning to report the results and thank everyone for their help in raising money.  Here’s the first response to hit the inbox:

Pulling something 12 ft in 9.1 sec from a dead stop means the average acceleration was 0.29 ft/sec^2. The newspaper said the 727 weighed 175,000 lb, so mass and acceleration gives 1,580 lb force to accelerate it. But the guys also would have had to overcome rolling resistance of the tires. That’s roughly 0.5% of the load they carry, and 0.5% of 175,000 lb is 875 lb. So the total force exerted must have been about 2,450 lb, or about 200 lb each.

2,450 lb over 12 ft is 40 kilojoules of energy expended in 9.1 secs, and that works out to about 4,400 watts of power, enough to power about 3 hair dryers!

Not bad enough, you say?  How about the fact that since then, there have been at least 10 more e-mails discussing the initial assumptions and other factors such as ergonomics and the effects it has on force applied.

Some days I leave work just happy to be going home.  Today I leave work happy that I’m not that bad.

So now that I’m in grad school, I’m starting to remember a bunch of stuff from the college days.  As I’ve gone through this first class, here are some helpful hints that I’m remembering:

1) My memory is not very good.  If I have an assignment due, I need to write it down.  Then, I need to write it down somewhere different because I’ll lose the first paper.  After class, I need to write a note and put it in my car.  Then, when I get home, I need to write a note and stick it on the fridge.

2) I’m still going to forget to do the homework.

3) It’s a lot easier to do the work as soon after class as I can.  Otherwise it’s 30 minutes before the assignment is due and I’m just starting to remember that there’s something I was suppose to do.  If only I could find that sheet of paper where I wrote it.

4) I remember every semester in undergrad, I would start refreshed.  I wanted to make all A’s and I’d have this plan about doing all the homework, studying hard during the year, and then dominating the exams because of all the extra effort.  In reality, I never sacrificed sleep which led me to do homework at the last minute, cram for finals an hour ahead of time, and pray a lot after I’d turned them in.

So now, I’m older and wiser.  I’ve learned from those mistakes.  I have a mid-term coming up next week.  Instead of waiting to study at the last minute, I’m going to go ahead and start right now.  Well, not right this second because I want to play a video game.  And then I’ll take a nap.  Wednesday is busy…so is Thursday.  I’ll need Friday to relax from a long week.  Saturday will be spent with the Family.  Sunday too.  Monday will be the start of another busy week.  So it looks like I have about 30 minutes before the exam to study.

There, see what I mean?  10 years ago, I never would have planned this far ahead.

Today marks my return to school.  In 2001, I finished with my BS in Engineering and declared myself done forever.  This evening, I will walk through the hallowed halls of academia to try, try again.  One of our family friends is starting her undergraduate studies at Mercer this week and I was thinking about the difference between her approach to school and mine.  Which then led me to ponder the differences between my various “First Days” of school.  Here’s what I came up with…

-> In the early years, my big decision was what kind of lunchbox (and matching thermos) I would take with me that year.  In high school, a lot of emphasis was placed on the new fashion.  In college, I worried more about getting to class a little early to scope out the perfect seat.  Now, I’m more worried that I’ve forgotten so much of my undergraduate courses that I’ll be lost.

-> In elementary school, my supplies (crayons and scissors) magically appeared at my desk.  In high school, I helped pick out what was needed and my parents paid for it.  In college, I spent the summer hitting up the sales at the office supply stores so that at the start of the year, I had clearly-labeled, white, 3-ring binders for every class (OCD, anyone?).  This time, I’ll probably just grab a pad of paper and a pencil from the office supply closet on my way out the door.  I hope that back-packs and trapper-keepers aren’t required.

-> Lunch was defined by the type of lunchbox (and matching thermos -see, it was a big decision) that I had when I was a wee lad.  By high school, I was buying lunch and trying to get the milk that others didn’t want to drink.  (Seriously, how was that little carton suppose to quench my thirst?!  Luckily, kind folks like Alana and Amanda helped this poor, growing boy by donating their milk to me.  Because of you, girls, I have the physique that I have today….just think what I would look like without your help.)  In college, I grabbed a cheap, unhealthy meal wherever I could.  Now, I’ll….well, that one hasn’t changed since college.

-> In elementary school, I was there because I had to be.  It was just a fact of life.  In high school, I realized a lot more of the social aspects of the scene.  I devoted a little time to studying.  In college, I really wanted to be done in four years, so I studied a little more.  I met some really cool people there and forged some deep friendships.  This time around, I’m really looking at school differently.  I see these courses not as requirements for a degree (though they are), but as tools that can assist me in what I do.  I hope that this outlook isn’t detrimental.  I got through high school and college just fine by doing the bare minimum (and sucking-up to teachers).  I hope that taking and interest in my course work doesn’t hurt my grades!

So, here I go….off to school.  I still hope to make some friends.  I hope that my teacher is nice.  I hope that my pencils don’t break.  But most importantly, I hope that my dream about showing up to class with no pants on doesn’t come true.  Apparently, I’m still on probation from the time when that really did happen.