Christmas in Canada

It's no secret to us, the consumers, the people who create the greed that we see in our favorite businesses, that the Christmas Season now apparently starts the day after Halloween.

Well I've been resisting it.
But it's Finally Gotten me. "Why resist?" I asked myself. It's not bad, it's not illegal. It feels so damn good and it doesn't have the same mind numbing effects as drugs and Alcohol. Christmas (or the holiday season if the C-word doesn't apply) just makes you feel so good.

Last night I was out for a walk, clearing my head between the finishing of a brutal Engineering Math Assignment and my usual Monday Night Episode of CSI:Miami.

The Streets here in this bitterly cold City are lined with Christmas Holly and Brilliantly illuminated Stars. Every shop window dons something to the theme. One even has this amazing bunch of cute robotic crying Christmas dwarves setup against a very elaborate snowy Christmasy backdrop.

So what did I do? I ducked into one of the few shops that was still open and I indulged. I bought some decorations. Maybe I'm just getting on the Decor Bandwagon, many of the occupied apartments in my complex have already advertised their willingness to celebrate, but I don't care! I want to advertise too god damnit! I want to add to the light Pollution!

So I picked up a few nutcrackers and a little tree. Nothing extravagant. I won't even be here over Christmas, I'll be heading home to my undoubtedly extravagantly decorated family home. But a little part of me feels satisfied that I did my part to fight the winter gloom that settles in just after 4:00pm every day.

And this election? All the bitching that has just started today and dares to continue on through the holidays, tainting the "Christmas Spirit". Well F*ck those politicians, I'm going to vote But I'm going to ignore their bitching. But then again, my vote, one for change, was decided a long time ago.

Well I finally Gave in. After weeks of putting it off, complaining about how many assignments and how much study I had to do I finally did it.

I walked my little mushroom shaped head over to Vittorio's Downtown Barber Shop: Conviently Located a stone's throw away from my building.

I walked in and seconds later was greeted by a short shouting Italian man, "Colum! How is Engineering Treating you?" I shook his hand and sat down in the chair.

I have to say, I do enjoy going to my barber here. Our conversation resumed from much the same place it had left off: My dog Harley.

His scissors began to work their magic and soon I became Light Headed. About the same time that this feeling kicked in he changed the topic. "Wow, Colum you really did need a haircut."

I looked down. I was literally covered in hair. "Christ!" I thought. "How rediculous had I looked." I looked up to the mirror and my smiling answer was looking me in the face. "Yup. Pretty rediculous."

$15 dollars and a whole lot of local news later I stumbled out of the Barber shop, a weight literally lifted off of my shoulders. Well that was one item on my list taken care of; Now for number 2, to pass this term and get straight A's.

TheBrig.Org

It's finally Here! Finally Launched!
Myself and Matt's newest Venture: THeBrig.org

I suggest you check it out.
Matt did a Sensational Job with page Design and the Layout and did a fantastic job tolerating my knowledgelessness.

The site promises to bring you the latest news on Robotics, Computers, The Internet, and Space in addition to anything that catches our eye.

Think of this as a Slashdot.org finally tuned to have an essential Cool Factor.

Posting on my personal blog will probably be a little light for the next while as I help get thebrig.org on it's feet and split my time against studying for finals.

But you can catch my postings and relative sane comments there, Click Here to check it out now.

Leave a comment, leave your mark. Let us know what you think. We're aiming to contiuously improve the site.

It's that time of year Again. No not christmas. Well yes Christmas, but more importantly it's the end of the Fall academic term for all of us University Students, mature or not.

It's a time where our funds have been nearly or completely exhausted and we're just coasting on half-full cabinents until we can get back to the bountiful tabletops of our Parents' homes.

So with little or no money OR if you're trying to save what little money is left (My cash reserve is being saved for my Christmas Break xbox 360) then how is a student supposed to feed themselves.

My solution is a diet of Breakfast bagels, skim milk, coffee (study and waking up), and egg salad sandwiches. Of course there are exceptions, but egg salad sandwiches are just the usual, say 7/10 non breakfast meals. It's incredible, 5 dollars of eggs and bread plus Miracle whip, a full green pepper, 2 onions, pepper, salt, and voila, you have food for the wiork week.

The Benefits of this diet? They are plentiful:

1. Saving the previously emphasized scant remaining survival (& xbox 360) fund.
2. Losing the weight accumulated from excessive drinking before seeing my parents again
3. Actually injesting a balanced portion of protien, vitamins, and minerals.
4. Supporting the soon to be chicken flu devastated poultry industry.
5. High Protein meals are clincally proven to enhance the ability to lean (GO EGGS!)
   

And of course, the cons to this diet? They are:

1. Eating the same thing for lunch, and sometimes supper day in and day out
2. If you make a bad batch, you're screwed for a week Or you're out 7$ if you toss it
3. Depending on the old housewive's tale, you may or may not become an egg salad sandwich.

I'm not really that great at criticizing myself, and so the list of cons ends. But if you get sick of the egg salad, you can always just go to Student Recipes. It's probably just as cost effective. Click here to check it out!

Just one of those Days I guess. Unfortunately for me I was trapped in the computer lab for 8 straight hours yesterday modeling the results of wind tunnel experiments. My pride and joy is pictured above. My "prototype", well a cross section (I'll let you decide the view) of my prototype. And finally success, At a certain speed and a certain air density it began to develop the dreaded Von Karman Vortices. Essentially, the alternating shedding of vortices due to an alternating build up of fluid pressure on the object.

Regardless, modeling this took forever. The detail required had been strictly specified so I slaved away at the computer calculating and inputting my variables and hit enter. Then, much like my first days back at DFO, I let my antique lab computer rumble on through the calculations.

So as the timer started the count down I sat back from the computer and stretched. I flicked through the songs on my ipod shuffle and looked to my left. There, cramming a half moon in her face was this Goth chick. "Interesting" I thought. There aren't any chicks in engineering as it is, and now this? But then I rolled back through my mind, I'd never seen her before. Ah well, St. Fx, Acadia and St. Mary's had dumped their most intelligent into our program now, perhaps she was from there, didn't go to the mixers and was in a different discipline. A combination of any of those would surely have made her foreign to me.

She finished gobbling the half moon and got back to browsing on her computer. "Dolly online."

"Hmm" I thought again. "Goth chick, reading through a Dolly Pardon fansite. Oook. What's going on to my right."

So I turned and looked around. The Asian Guy was still there, a dude in electrical. But now two of his friends (both Asian were gathered around). On the almost completely obscured computer screen was... Bang! A pair of Asian Titties. "F*ck sake" I muttered, to low to be heard. But they kept flicking through their Firday Afternoon Computer Lab Porn.

I looked around, looking for someone I knew to gesture to. Nobody. I looked back to my right. The Goth Chick.....And... Dolly Pardon Titties on the screen.

What the f*ck! I felt like screaming.... and wow... Dolly's really got quite the set.

Suddenly my model finished.

"Yes!"

I clicked save. Move my file to the ftp, Grabbed my stuff, shut down my account and got the hell out of there. Only to recount the episode later over many many Stellas.

No more Friday's in the Computer lab.

I've been madly tearing up the web as of late searching for sources of material for myself and Matt's latest Project: thebrig.org. It's going to be sensational. Of course details are forthcoming, but trust me, it will be entirely worth the wait, no matter how short that wait may be.

Which brings me to right now. I've been laughing, probably for the last 30 minutes straight because of this. Check it out. Click here. I stumbled across this video of FPS-DOUG while on one of my searches for sites with material that could be referenced on thebrig.org.

If you've ever played an FPS (first person shooter) video game, then perhaps you know People like Doug. Perhaps they're dead now. Perhaps they're in jail. Or maybe you don't know people like Doug at all, maybe you've only heard the stories, or been their victims in multiplayer mode. Either way, Watch the Video, it's just over 3 minutes and it's Hilarious Click here

Of course, depending on your familiarity with the inappropriate use of IM (instant messenger) Short hand, you should look over this brief glossary of Terms before watching:

• Lag: A state of slowed connection speed during multiplayer game play between your console and your opponents. Usually resulting in your inability to effectively play, which usually results in a very frustrating death
• Frag: The act of the "kill" of another player
• RL: Real life - often used by the people least familiar with "real life"
• FPS: First person shoot - Famous examples: Halo, Quake, Doom, Wolfenstein,
  
• CS: Counter strike - another famous FPS - usually played by the gayest gamers
• Pwned: A relatively new term. Pronounced "poon-ed." This commonly used to taunt the recently deceased and now refers to a Spectacular death. However the term originally referred to a Frag resulting from the discharge of a shotgun at point blank range hence resulting in Instant death.
  
• Headshot: The ultimate in "fragging" - the kill of another player with a single shot to the head - in modern M-rated games, this usually results in separation of the head and body.
• Respawn: When your character comes back to life after being "fragged" - In terms of mario brothers this would be using your next "life".
• Bitch: A gamer of inferior Skill who shoots wildly, trying to prevent their inevitable death; A gamer of similar skill who dies at the end of a long drawn out battle, at which point they are immediately informed they are a "Bitch!" while their virtual corpse is beaten; A snarky bitch gamer who fragged you previously in the game and now you've spent the entire rest of the game hunting him/her and only him/her; A snot nosed 8-year old kid whom with their high pitched shrilly voice keeps singing nursery rhymes into their xbox communicator during a heated and hotly contested Halo 2 xbox live match.
  

"Large Irish Creme Please" I said smiling to the cashier.

"Well holy hell!"

I paused. I looked up from my handful of change where I had been arranging $2.00 plus tip to the cashier. "Huh?" I said confused. But she looked back at me, then behind me.

I turned around and was instantly filled with Shock.

Standing, Baby filled Baby Carrier, and as hot as ever was a girl I had dated in first year (well my second first year).

"Colum! How have you been?!."

I struggled. Jesus! What do I do? Do I mention the kid? Is it hers? F*ck it, here goes.

"How have I been? How have you been? What is this?!" I said smiling broadly, laughing and pointing at the child.

In a gesture of complete explanation she extended her Left hand. Bang! Wedding ring! Holy shit!

She had been in her last year last semester when we had met at a mixer I had crashed with a friend.

"You're married? Oh my god! Congratulations... And thanks for the head's up!" I said smiling. The story was immediately provided. It had been a really Small wedding at her husband's hometown in Connecticut. Family, bridesmaids and Best men only.

"Ok, I feel better. I said? Can I get you anything."

"Haha.. Sure, Irish Creme?" She asked the cashier.
"Excellent choice." I said, dumping my hard earned $4.25 into the cashier's waiting hands. My mind went through it's archives and Then the name rang home.

The husband was the guy she had broken up with a few days before I'd met her. After two dates Finals had slammed into session, he had put pressure on, I hadn't been looking for a relationship and both of us obsessed with getting straight A+'s had just faded out the term "us" and resumed friendly terms.

This was incredible. "Wow!? This is crazy. I haven't seen you in like 3 years, and now you're a hot mom." We had a Laugh.
....
"So too obsessed with getting the straight A's to get a haircut eh?" She snorted.

"Well I've been debating it. I've got a lot of stuff going on, plus factor in that my Girlfriend generally hates my haircuts and..."

"Girlfriend!? Do tell.. tell all."

I stumbled through my story, ignoring the horrible awkwardness of it all, A Sleeping child bundled to her chest, discussing my current love life in a crowded coffee shop.

"Well you know, it's completely understandable, why don't you try and keep the hair 2 or 3 shades off Airforce?" A shaggy haired hippy next to us laughed to himself.

"You're lucky. My response is censored for the sake of the child."I said smiling.

"You're a Nerd!" She laughed, coffee going up her nose again. "But then again, so am I. All of us geniuses are."

The conversation idled on until the coffees were drained.

"Well then Miss La... Err.. I mean Mrs Du... I'll hopefully be seeing you around."

"It was really great seeing you Colum, I'll give you a call, don't be a stranger."

Smiling we both went our separate ways.
I walked home, deep in thought.

You're starting to get old when you know people (Pentecostal or not) having planned families and making a mint. It's really time to get a move. I'm still in school!

This may be the most productive Christmas break ever.

....And maybe I should really switch coffee shops.

3 months.
That's how long I've noticed him.
I've watched him with a certain detached interest.
I've passed him every morning, and for those first few weeks he'd always ask for some change and I'd always apologize.

In September, maybe he was new to the way In which I first saw him. He was clean cut, clean shaven, and wore clean clothes. Then he had been just like anyone else, He didn't stand out of the crowd. Only noticed when he politely asked for some money.

Now it would seem he's been consumed by the life of survival and what must surround him on Spring Garden road. He's quite a contrast now, he's frightening. His teeth are a dark yellow, almost an orange, his face is filthy, His hair is ragged, his clothes are soiled from the ankles to the knees with the elbows and back of his shirt to match. His shoes have holes and his eyes are sunken. He doesn't ask me for change anymore as I pass, still noting him, hand out, taking in his latest changes with interest.

In September I stood waiting for the bus and overheard him talking to a busker. It wasn't an intelligent conversation, but it was a normal conversation. The Queen Mary II had docked and the city's sidewalks had been more crowded than usual.

The day before last I was standing in line at the Coffee Shop and he was seated at a Table. The extent of his descent into ruin was made fully obvious. He sat alone at a table for two talking. He was speaking angrily, almost shouting, his face distorted as he spat his words. I followed his gaze to see who had upset him, but ahead of him was another table where a couple sat. They were about my age and seemed oblivious to him. They sipped their coffees and focused on each other, making an effort to ignore him. I looked back to him, but darted my eyes away as He turned in my direction. As I focused on what he was saying it suddenly came together. He was talking to someone in the empty chair.

"Haven't you ever had a philosophical Conversation?" He asked in clear English to the empty seat.

"Ya? WEll this F*cker Aquaman, we've gotta talk care of this F*cker"

"What are you, f*cking retarded?" He said, almost growling. I silently begged for the line to quicken, I was terrified now. He was sounding incredibly hostile, as if he were about to do something. He was sounding truly mad, his eyes wide, shouting, pounding a fist on his table. THe fat bitch ahead of me was stalling at the Cash! Mining through her Oversized suitcase of a purse for exact change. "Move you bitch! Before this Prick Stabs me!" I screamed behind my Terror stricken eyes.

"No man! You don't get it! F*ck Aquaman! We need to fry his Brains and dump him back in the ocean. Put that F*cker back were he belongs" His fist pounded into the table again.

"Next please." ... "Sir?"

I snapped out of it and rushed to the cashier, scanning the blends, not really reading them and answered. "A Large Paradiso Please"

I grabbed my freshly poured coffee, dumped my coins avec tip, sugared, milked, mixed and sprinted out of there, leaving his mad shouting behind me.

As I walked up Spring Garden Road and back toward my Safe and Gated home a chill ran up my spine as my warm coffee ran down my throat.

What could or would have happened if something had happened there?
Thoughts flooded through me, images from American Pyscho, from Nightmares.
I gulped my coffee and swore to myself.
Any sympathy once held for him now evaporated.

"Aquaman would kick the f*cking shit out of you" I said to myself. Smiling as the image of a homeless man impaled on a Trident came into focus... I gulped my coffee again and went home.

Ever since having moved away from home I've picked up a couple of skills. Though my growing collection is still somewhat limited it has expanded to include skills such as Problem solving, mathematical insight, engineering, design, Athletics, and perhaps most surprisingly, Cooking!

Perhaps this is one of the greatest benefits of having moved away from the family home. I have developed the somewhat astute ability to cook for myself. But not only cook, but COOK! cooking (note lowercase) involves just providing the essentials required to live on. COOKing (note uppercase) is the art of seduction. Not only does it keep you alive but it gets you what you want.

Factor in presentation, the proper backdrop with proper placemats under proper designer diningware, Beautiful dining accompaniment, a beautiful sunny day pictured in a large window, a table top adorned with bamboo, and a closeby fully charged Digital Camera and you get today's meal.

Am I really this good? Shocking, perhaps even surprisingly, I am.
This is mine.

The best part: Fantastic Food for 3 days avec bragging rights.
The most expensive part: Sake and Chop sticks.
The worst part: Sake splashed into the eye.

The result: A culinary awakening. And of course, this picture.

I can't believe it's already Half way through November. It's Under a Month until I'm finished with this limbo and I'm home for Christmas and much deserved break. Only 2 months until I'm launched on my maiden voyage into the real world. I really can't wait.

This week has just been insane. First there was a Fluid Mechanics lab. I've never seen a real wind tunnel before in person, but I have to say I wasn't disappointed. It was amazing. It was as loud as a jet engine and It was exhilarating. Shielded from the intense sound by ridiculously large protective "ear-wear" while writing down the pressure readings as the air rushed passed our test airfoil. It was probably one of those things you had to be there to see, and even then, you'd have to been a nerd to enjoy it.

Then there was the Last Big test results. Their release had been delayed due to the fact that the marks had been so bad that the prof was forced to drastically scale them. That was a highlight, I had feared I had bombed because everyone I had talked to had not had the same answers I had. But in the end, I was #3 in the class. Not bad, almost a 90% after scaling.

Then there was Matt's idea. I swear I think Matt may be a visionary. The idea essentially involves a website which is attractive and enticing, something perhaps like a mix of joystiq's concept presenting material alikened to the digg.com and Slashdot that just has serious cool factor. I just find myself regretting we hadn't seen this opportunity this summer when we had computers surrounding us for 8 hours a day and when we had nothing better to do then browse the web, build small apps, and watch Mythbusters Episodes during our Downtime between work assignments. Well better seen late than never. Now to think of content.

And then there was today.

After a lovely breakfast at Cora's and a Walk under the brilliant sun with my Dearest love I sat down at the computer and started working on a problem that has been haunting me from my work with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. After a few hours of plugging away at the computer I found it! The problem had been so stupid. It had been sitting right under my nose the entire time. Yet, in its simplicity it had been used frequently and had ruined a terrific amount of processed data. So after bumbling my way through a linux installation of Matlab, spending 6 hours regenerating modeled data and wading through more spreadsheets, I've come close to cluing this up.

But all in all I'm happy, these loose ends have finally gotten tied up.
And more knots are about to be tied.

Perhaps all this productivity as of late is just underscoring the masked good fortune in my inability to find an xbox 360 to purchase Tuesday coming.

But for creating a lack of productivity there's always Xbox (the original), Halo 2, and my good friend Danny. Tea-bagging his corpse never gets old.
25-13 today. (he's now better than 50% Coltor)

I love going to Dal.
The campus is nestled in the heart of Downtown.
Walking to and from school is fantastic. Walking along the crowded sidewalks just fills one with an energy. An energy that provides a pleasant wakefulness which is especially useful given the recent late nights of study.

While It's not the navigation of the Hustle and Bustle of the Crowds of Montreal that I had looked forward to, it is a very close second. The Mechanical Engineering Degree is just as highly regarded as McGill's anyway.

Today as I returned back home from another rather uneventful Vector Calculus class I waded through the current of people on the sidewalk and entered the flow heading north. It's kind of crazy how the sidewalk divides so neatly into an orderly separated stream of southward and northward traveling pedestrians.

I got to an intersection just as the light changed and so I was forced to wait as the bumper to bumper traffic inched ahead and stopped, gridlocking everything again.

Over the sounds of HMV and the general woosh of the crowd there was this sudden revving on an engine.

I looked out into the street to see a Black H2 (hummer) stuck in traffic, somewhat out of place as it was squeezed between to small hatchbacks.
Behind the wheel was a Super Stud so heavily donned in Gold chains and bling it was a wonder he could even sit up, let alone see over the wheel.

I couldn't help but smile, almost laugh as He pounded the steering wheel, pointed, and waved his arms like a madman, his road rage obviously building. The scene was so ridiculous I laughed outloud, then abruptly stopped, remembering I was in a crowd. I looked around to see if anyone thought I was mad, but everyone else was smiling, laughing or musing about the H2 Driver. There must have been 20 people waiting for the walk light to change and almost all of them were laughing at that moron.

I looked across to the other side of the street. Almost Everyone there was smiling as well, looking out toward the hummer, enjoying how much of a fool he was making of himself.

The light changed and the Hummer was stuck out in the middle of the intersection. Traffic came from both sides and stopped, blocked by the hummer. A horn honked, A Nissan Armada, The driver obviously not intimidated by the H2's size. "RoadWarriors" I thought to myself as Another Horn honked. The Hummer's engine revved again, then there was the screech of tires as it took off, swerving out into the empty lane of opposing traffic, passing the stalled traffic and tearing up the street. It swerved down a side street and out of sight, at which time there was a terrific CRASH.

I hustled up the sidewalk amongst the crowd, anxious to see what had happened.
I got up the street and smiled, taking an odd satisfaction in what I saw.
The hummer had slammed into a dumpster that had been sticking out into the street just a little more than the parked cars surrounding it.

The door swung open and The super Stud, an Arab with precisely chiseled and cut scruff jumped down from his U.S. Military derivative, His arms waving madly as he screamed into his Cellphone, showing off his leather pants and Bling as he did a mad dance infront of his now thoroughly written off "chick Magnet."

I laughed, kept walking and smiled the whole way home.
....
Just thought I'd share the height of my otherwise rather normal day.

Sold out!

Despite the Fact that I preordered my Xbox 360 a month ago I recieved a phone call today from EB Games. They've recieved fewer bundled system kits than they anticipated. They offered me the chance to take a "core system", but I declined, saying I'd rather wait for the full package to become available.

My story is quickly becoming the story of almost everyone else. From reading Joystiq and Slashdot today it seems like everyone is suddenly being informed that there is a console shortage, or rather that all the consoles have been sold out in preordering.

I can understand why the consoles are going quickly. The screenshots of the as of yet published games look absolutely incredible, and then there's spectre of Halo 3 lying just beyond the horizon. Yet the consoles have been in production since at least August, and they are all spoken for already? Wow.

Walmart released a statement earlier today saying that all the Xbox 360 consoles their stores were receiving for the Big Launch Day had already been sold. So that's every walmart in North America, already sold out. Wow. GameStop stores across the US and EB stores across Canada and the US have been saying the same for the most part.

This Console is undoubtedly going to be a smash hit. That's not a surprise. What a surprise to me is the latest evidence suggesting that microsoft has planned this "shortage". Microsoft is being clever, their denying themselves the influence of greed - Sell as many as possible as soon as possible for as much cash as quickly as possible. An article on Slashdot seems to indicate that Microsoft is actually releasing a limited amount of Xbox 360's so that they'll be sold out in entirety around the world.

This is genius. There is already enough hype about the console with gamers (the most recent hype being facilitated by the new Xbox 360 ad) but imagine all the free publicity a world wide sellout will generate. This event would make headlines in every paper, be talked about on every news programme and microsoft wouldn't have to pay a cent for it. Not only will they be reaching the droves of gamers with their commericals, the local news with broadcast the tidings of this "Must have, most popular ever" console to families and to people who never even thought about getting an xbox 360. Genius. Microsoft will be defining they're console as the MUST HAVE christmas gift. Anyone recall the Tickle-me-elmo Phenomenon. The same insanity may be iminient.

My hat is off to the boys at Xbox 360 and Microsoft for this. Sure I'm a little irratated that I won't have my console for a week or more after the launch, but I'll settle to see the Xbox 360 reach the popularity of modren rock star proportions that it deserve. Not to mention, if everyone has a 360, just imagine what Xbox live will be like. This console is going to generate a self-selling mechanism the likes of which may have never been scene before for electronics.

I can wait another week for my 360, I don't like waiting in lines.

Plus, I'm really waiting for Halo 3, so there's no real rush anyways.

Building Up

Got the midterm back.
"I'm sorry. I made the test much harder than I meant to"
The words of the professor.

So despite all things including a dismal class average, leaving questions blank, and screwing up with my study focus I managed to avoid a complete Horror show and Salvaged a B-.

Now it's time to start building up the greatest knowledge base in this subject that has ever been attempted. Only a month until the exam, I figure an 80 should be easily obtainable with a given 100 hours of study or so. (I only had a measly 20 for the test.)

In other Developments, my good friend and Genius Matt has gotten the soon to be "Brain" of the halotis prototype robot up and running. Preliminary coding will undoubtedly soon begin. My research into sensor interfacing, particularly the circuits and devices used to connect sensors with real time computer styled brains is ongoing. I'm still full of questions and wondering if electrical engineering reall should have been my #2 choice. Well someone needs to design the mechanisms right? and the numbers speak for themselves. Of 54 Mechanical engineers, 24 have found jobs. Of 48 Electricals, 8 have jobs. Who's in more demand? who's better :)

In other news, with thanks to ebay I've procurred the Lego RCX 2.0 invention kit. Usually going for $299 CAD, I've gotten a hold of it for 150$ CAD plus shipping. My hope, fueled by my reading and the fact that researchers use kits that are much the same, is that I will be able to get a good hold on just how a robot brain interfaces with the sensors. In addition, the versatile little kit will be a golden tool to use for prototyping and visualizing designs. Much handier than having to cut cardboard, wood or aluminum for "proof-of-concept" prototypes.

Like in all things, I'm hoping that the setup and the prep is the slowest part.
With this solid foundation in place some serious building up is about to begin.

Well I'm glad I studied all day today, all day yesterday, most of sunday, All of saturDAY, and friday evening.

Because my machine design test today was quite simply put, a nightmare.

I've failed a test before in my university life. That one was 4 years ago. It just wasn't my day. I'd studied the wrong material and focused on a qualitative test instead of a quantitative test. The result: 47%.

Today, I'm not sure what happened. I'm still reeling from the reaming. The test was difficult, much more so than I had expected. I thought I had established a good base in everything. Yet when it came time to derive "simple formulas" I was left drawing a blank. When I had to deal with the Defecltions of cantilevered rectangular and triangular beams I took a shot in the dark.

The main source of comfort now comes from the reasoning that I can make it up on the final.

And of course that the F is not yet official.
There's always that chance that the class could be bell curved.