Fall Fail 2010 draws to a close

Well, I'm more than halfway done with my Bachelor's of science now. Somehow I managed to pull a 3.81 this semester even though I hated my life. This semester I took Heat Transfer (my favorite class) with its corresponding lab, Mechatronics (my least favorite class) with its corresponding lab, Engineering Communication (A Speech/Writing class) with Luke, and Engineering Finance with my friend Matt.

It was a terrible semester for a lot of reasons, some of which I've already explained. But I'm glad that things are sort of looking up now. My job at the Combustion Lab is going really well even though I technically haven't accomplished anything just yet. The grad student that I work with is hilarious, in a really good way. I hope this will be a good couple of years. We're running some experiments with jet fuel this week, hopefully it will go as planned.

I enjoyed working on my communication project with Luke this semester. I learned a lot and I've become really self conscious about where I throw my trash. Did you know that producing a recycled aluminum can takes only 10% of the energy of producing an aluminum can from its mineral ore? Or that the density of aluminum in some landfills is greater than it is in natural deposits in nature? I'm going to do what I can to encourage people to be more green about their waste, even if they're not exactly green about their energy. There's only so much energy out there to be had. I'm reminded of the short science fiction story, "The Last Question" by Isaac Asimov. It's a good one and it's available online, luckily, otherwise I wouldn't have read it.

For now, I'm going to enjoy working by myself for a while in Austin over winter break. I don't know what else to say about it. And, I'll actually get to spend New Year's in San Antonio this year, so maybe I'll get to hang out with my friends for once this time.