Questions? Comments? E-mail me at AmbassadorJordan@gmail.com

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Stress and Relaxation

I had a final today.  During pre-finals week.  It was weird. 
Weirder, every time I take a test, I get a kink in my neck from sitting funny for an hour or two.  It's a kink that keeps my head tilted so I appear to be puzzled or in  deep though, when actually my muscles are just too tight from taking the test.  I call it post-exam-tilt head. 
So today I was walking out of the classroom thinking I should go home and go lay down with my head the oposite way of how I had been holding it, when Lisa Campbell, the assistant dean of students at the Center for Student Development, told me that there were free massages and snacks around the corner.  Um, yes, please.  It was absolutely delightful.  There were yummy snacks to eat while waiting--fruit, Capri Suns, and granola bars.  To add to the greatness, the Discovery Park library had cookies sitting out!  I had 30 minutes of pure bliss before heading back to reality.  The school put it on as a way to de-stress before taking those dreaded finals.
In the spirit of pre-finals week, I have compiled a list of the top 10 ways that I like to de-stress.

10.  Sitting in the sun
9.  Cooking
8.  Going to church
7.  Doing community service
6.  Yoga
5.  Reading
4.  Taking a bubble bath.
3.  Listening to Taylor Swift, Colbie Caillat, and John Mayer
2.  Exercising
1.  Getting a free massage (duh)

Random Fact: In Shakespeare’s time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes. When you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened, making the bed firmer to sleep on. That’s where the phrase, “goodnight, sleep tight” came from.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

This week at Discovery Park...

This week was pretty darn busy for me.  Coming back from vacation, I had a Computer Programming test and a Spanish presentation waiting for me.  It's nice to know, though, that when I need a little study break, Discovery Park has some great activities.  From the PS3 to the ping-pong tables to the piano, there's something for everyone.  Sometimes, we even have little programs going on. This week, there were two great programs that I just had to participate  in! 
First, the Student Development Center had a few tables out to make bookmarks and blankets for children.  The bookmarks went to at-risk pre-school children as an incentive to learn to read.  The blankets were for children who had lost their veteran parents overseas.  I made two bookmarks and helped with a blanket.  It was a very rewarding experience, and I love knowing that I did something that will make a child smile. 
I've put in a picture of Oscar, an engineering ambassador, making a blanket...

The other great program was a Paper Airplane Competition put on by the Transfer Center.  The rules for this one were pretty tough!  Our airplane MUST include (but is not limited to): 1 sheet of paper, 1 paperclip, 3 staples, and a bendy straw.  The hardest part was knowing what in the world to do with the straw!  Mine may not have gone the furthest (one went 25 feet, the other went backwards), but they are still in the running for the best design.  The winners of furthest flight and best design get a giftcard to the UNT bookstore, just in time for spring semester!
I've also put in a photo of my two planes... 

Thank goodness for study breaks!

Random Fact: Cereal was invented when colonial housewives started serving up popcorn with sugar and cream for breakfast.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

THANKSgiving

I got to go home to Oregon this past weekend for the Thanksgiving holiday.  When I landed in Portland at almost midnight, it was a crisp 18 degrees outside.  Nice.  Since Portland and Eugene were forecasted to have freezing rain on Thursday, my dad and I drove down to Roseburg Wednesday night right after I stepped off the plane.  We got in about 3:15A.M. local time, which was actually 5:15A.M. for me!  So, you can imagine how tired I was!  I didn’t even get to sleep in.  We woke up at about 8:00 to get everything ready to head up to the snow.  My family and our good friends, the Smiths, go up to the snow every year to get a Christmas Tree.  We decided to go on Thursday instead of Friday because of the weather.
So we head up towards Diamond Lake—elevation 5200 ft—to find our perfect Noble Fir Christmas Trees.  There was so much snow [and ice].  We had a party of 5 vehicles – a Jeep Liberty, a Ford F150, a Dodge Ram 2500, a Ford Expedition, a Nissan Xterra, and a little piece of junk pickup.  So we were all driving pretty slowly as the roads had not yet been rocked.  All of a sudden, the third car in line (Xterra) started fish tailing.  The rest of us held back waiting for her to get it together.  Alas, the car did a 180 and rolled down the hill, landing on its side.  The rest of the cars stopped as carefully as we could so as to prevent another wreck.  My best friend Morgan and I raced down to the car to see if everyone was all right.  Inside was my best friend’s sister Nikki, her husband, and their two babies.  To everyone’s shock, nobody was hurt!  The oldest baby, who would turn 4 in three days, was crying not because of the wreck, but because she thought they couldn’t get a Christmas tree anymore.  So we pulled everyone out of the car, and planned the next move.  The guys decided they could tip the car over and assess the damage.  Another surprise – the car had one dent above the front fender and the passenger mirror was broken off.  We could not believe there wasn’t more damage!
However, my best friend’s little brother Danny couldn’t find his brand new iPhone.  He had dropped it in the snow while tipping the car over, and it was, in fact, protected in a white cover.  Perfect.  The whole party of us [about 20 people] searched for the phone for at least an hour, but couldn’t find it.  So we continued up the road in search of our Christmas trees.  Everyone was so shaken up by the wreck, that we didn’t have much luck finding a tree for everyone.  My family found two, and Morgan found one for her house.  Of course we had to walk 50 yards in waist-deep snow to get to them, saw them with a saw that was about as sharp as a butter knife, and then pull them back out through the waist-deep snow.  Trust me, it’s much harder than it sounds.
By the time we had cut down a few trees, sledded down the hill, and eaten hot dogs, it was getting late.  We all piled back in our cars and headed down the mountain.  Danny wanted to stop one more time to look for his phone.  Everyone was walking around kicking the snow hoping the phone would turn up.  Danny was so frustrated and decided to give up looking.  He walked back to the car and kicked the snow in anger.  Turns out he kicked in just the right spot; his iPhone was kicked loose!  And it still worked perfectly.
Looking back, there are so many things that could have gone horribly wrong that day, but we got very lucky.  There is so much to be thankful for in life, and that Thanksgiving in the snow opened my eyes a little wider to really seek out all of the blessings in my life.

Random Fact:  A 747-400 has six million parts, half of which are fasteners.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Texas BEST 2010

This weekend was the annual Texas BEST Robotics competition. It was absolutely crazy. Schools from all over Texas (and even New Mexico) made their way to UNT's College of Engineering for the event. My first duty as an Engineering Ambassador was to give tours of the campus. The first was to a group of about 25 students from an all girls private school. The second was a group of around 15 home-schooled students. I got, let's say "lucky," with the size of my tour groups. I saw other tour guides walked around with near 60 ELEMENTARY school students. Elementary school students can program robots? When I was that age, I couldn't even figure out how to use Kid Pix (please tell me that someone remembers Kid Pix)!

Once the shock of 9-year-olds programming robots wore off, --well, no, that still hasn't quite wore off yet. I am still light years beyond amazed. Later that night, the whole lot of participants, mentors, drivers, chaperons, judges, and volunteers made their way to the Coliseum.

The teams had set up presentations for attendees to view. These things were huge; I saw one come out of the back of a U-Haul! A few of them even had big screen TVs with presentations playing on them.

The Friday Night Mixer was a blast.

The Engineering Ambassadors had a few game booths where BEST participants could win prizes including: an iPod Touch, a PSP, a digital camera, and even an iPad! I was at the "Name That Tune" booth which was great. The music DJ would announce an eligible song, and participants would have to write down the title and artist of the song in order to be put into the drawing. We had so much fun dancing to Cupid Shuffle and the Cha Cha Slide!

Texas BEST was a great experience; I can't wait for next year!

Random Fact: Leonardo da Vinci drew up plans for an armored humanoid machine in 1495. Engineer Mark Rosheim has created a functional miniature version for NASA to help colonize Mars.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Here's Your Sign

I should have figured that engineering is my destiny.  When I was little, I hated getting out of bed to turn on/off the light.  I was always designing contraptions that reached from right above my headboard along the wall to my light switch.  They didn't always work, probably because I was 6 and had no access to money or Radio Shack.


People often ask me why I want to be an engineer.  Why on earth would I want to go through 4+ years of math, science, physics and engineering courses?  What is so great about knowing how long it will take a room at 50 degrees, Fahrenheit to reach 72 degrees; or the force it will take for a hammer to pound a nail into a board; or why an LED will blink rather than glow steadily when you add an IC 555 to a circuit? 


The answer is simple:  I want to change the world.  No, you don't necessarily have to be an engineer to change the world, but think back in the past few hundred years to those inventions that we can't seem to live without today--the light bulb, cars, airplanes, computers, the iPhone.  I could very well spend a couple of months walking in the dark across the country just to ask my mom for more money for school, if it weren't for engineers. 


There is such a broad spectrum of engineering opportunities, too.  Maybe I want to build the next space shuttle; maybe I want to program a robot that will make all of my meals for me; maybe I want to design turbines that rotate by means of ocean current and produce enough power for the whole country; maybe I want to develop a material that will sustain a trip down an active volcano.  There are no boundaries when it comes to innovation and ingenuity, which is perfect since I am a color-outside-the-lines type of girl.

Random Fact:  Australia was the first country to use postcards.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Rain, rain, go away!

Well the internet is currently down, so I figured now would be a great time to open Microsoft Word and write a blog!  What a day it’s been!  It feels like a whole week has gone by with the odd weather patterns we’ve had in the past 3 hours—clouds, sunshine, thunderstorm, blue sky, clouds, wind, mist.  Welcome to Texas! 
(…On a side note:  I’m sitting at a table at Discovery Park writing this blog when one of the academic advisors comes and sits down with me!  He just had a few extra minutes to talk about internships and scholarships.  It makes me feel so good when the staff and faculty actually know not only my name, but my whole story—where I’m from, my major, my goals, etc.) 
Back to the weather.  It doesn’t rain a whole lot in Texas, but when it rains, it POURS.  Since it’s such a flat area and the ground isn’t at all absorbent, my poor little car refuses to drive.  The tires will spin out when I accelerate, and the whole thing will fishtail when I drive over 30 mph. Come on, car, you’re a Tiburon.  Tiburon means shark.  Sharks are kind of awesome in the water.  I just don’t get it.
Luckily, UNT has an awesome bus system that will pick me up from my apartment and take me to school, so my little weenie car doesn’t have to worry about driving in the rain.  The bus fare is included in tuition, so I never have to search under the couch cushions for spare change at the last minute.  It runs pretty late, too, for those semesters when our only choice is to take a night class.
So a big “Thanks!” to the UNT bus system.
Now my only worry is what on earth I will make for dinner.
Random Fact:  When a fly lands, it will vomit 7 times.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Robots of the Future

You may remember (or own!) the Rumba—you know, those robots that will scoot around and clean the floor?!  Well robotics has come long way since then!  Another Engineering Ambassador from UNT and I have been mentoring high school kids in programming robots, so I have been doing some research.  Since the Rumba, engineers have developed a robot floor-waxer and lawn mower.  But that’s not even the most incredible invention.  Engineers in China and Japan have developed human-looking robots.  There’s actually a robot that can do yoga!  Japan recently unveiled their new Robot Nurse (Actroid-F).  She knows how to mimic facial expressions—everything from a pleasant smile to a concerned brow-frown.  These new realistic robots even respond to touch!  Check out the video…
The nurse robot will be such a big help for hospitals.  While they can’t perform surgery (yet!), they can talk to patients and try to make them feel better.  I’m still undecided as to whether I’d be delighted or frightened by a robot telling me my cut-off arm was looking better.  It’ll just take some getting used to!
The aforementioned robots clearly have a purpose and function, but there are some that were created simply for entertainment purposes.  There is an annual competition called the Bacarobo, or stupid robot, contest.  The sole purpose of the robot is to make the audience laugh.  Check out this video…
These new breakthroughs are so inspiring.  Right now I’m simply helping high school students program a Lego robot for a robotics competition, but maybe one day I’ll be programming a robot to program a robot!
Random Fact: Laughing can burn off 6 calories per minute!

Friday, November 5, 2010

Joke's On Me!

After waiting months on end, I finally got to watch the movie “Date Night” tonight. It was absolutely hilarious. Steve Carrel and Tina Fey always play these characters that are slightly nerdy but so clever and funny. Tonight, their nerd-tastic humor has inspired me to find some engineering jokes. Enjoy

Four Engineers and a Broken Car

There are four engineers travelling in a car; a mechanical engineer, a chemical engineer, an electrical engineer and a computer engineer. The car breaks down. "Sounds to me as if the pistons have seized. We'll have to strip down the engine before we can get the car working again", says the mechanical engineer. "Well", says the chemical engineer, "it sounded to me as if the fuel might be contaminated. I think we should clear out the fuel system." "I thought it might be a grounding problem", says the electrical engineer, "or maybe a faulty plug lead." They all turn to the computer engineer who has said nothing and say: "Well, what do you think?" "Ummm - perhaps if we all get out of the car and get back in again?"

The Guillotine

During the French revolution, hundreds of people were guillotined. One day, three men were led up to die. One was a lawyer, one was a doctor, and the third was an engineer. The lawyer was to die first. He was led to the guillotine, the attending priest blessed him, and he knelt with his head on the guillotine.

The blade was released, but stopped halfway down its path. The priest, seeing an opportunity, quickly said, "Gentlemen, God has spoken and said this man is to be spared; we cannot kill him." The executioner agreed, and the lawyer was set free. The doctor was next. He was blessed by the priest, then knelt and placed his head down. The blade was released, and again stopped halfway down. Again the priest intervened: "Gentlemen, God has again spoken; we cannot kill this man." The executioner agreed and the doctor was set free. At last it was the engineer's turn. He was blessed by the priest, and knelt, but before he placed his head on the guillotine he looked up. Suddenly, he leapt to his feet and cried, "Oh, I see the problem!"


Glass of Water

To the optimist, the glass is half full. To the pessimist, the glass is half empty. To the engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

Golfing

A pastor, a doctor and an engineer were waiting one morning for a particularly slow group of golfers. The engineer fumed, "What's with these guys? We must have been waiting for 15 minutes!" The doctor chimed in, "I don't know, but I've never seen such ineptitude! "The pastor said, "Hey, here comes the greens keeper. Let's have a word with him." [dramatic pause] "Hi, George. Say, what's with that group ahead of us? They're rather slow, aren't they?" The greens keeper replied, "Oh, yes, that's a group of blind firefighters. They lost their sight saving our clubhouse from a fire last year, so we always let them play for free anytime." The group was silent for a moment. The pastor said, "That's so sad. I think I will say a special prayer for them tonight." The doctor said, "Good idea. And I'm going to contact my ophthalmologist buddy and see if there's anything he can do for them." The engineer said, "Why can't these guys play at night?"

Dilbert's "Salary Theorem" states that:

"Engineers and Scientists can never earn as much as Business Executives and Sales People."
This theorem can now be supported by a mathematical equation based on the following two postulates:
1. Knowledge is power.
2. Time is money
As every engineer knows: Power = Work/Time
Since:
Knowledge = Power
Time = Money
It follows that:
Knowledge = Work/Money
Solving for Money, we get:
Money = Work/Knowledge
Note that, as Knowledge approaches zero, Money approaches Infinity, regardless of the amount of work done.
Conclusion: The less you know, the more you make.


Random Fact: Texas’ native horny toad is actually a lizard and can shoot blood from its eyes

Monday, November 1, 2010

Embracing a DP Tour

I gave a tour of Discovery Park today unlike any tour I’ve given before. A prospective transfer student and his father came in to take a look at the College of Engineering. They were two of the most enthusiastic people I’ve had the pleasure of meeting. They wanted to know every function, every purpose, and every spec of every machine in the building. And you know what?! I don’t blame them. There are some pretty awesome pieces of equipment at Discovery Park that many students aren’t aware of.

We asked people in different departments to explain to us what the various machines did. Materials Science and Engineering is easily one of the most incredible departments. They have an electron microscope worth over a million dollars! And this microscope is powerful—we’re talking 100,000 X magnification. To put it simply, that microscope is so powerful that you can actually see atoms of various materials! In the room next to the electron microscope they’ve got this machine that can engrave UNT’s logo at 10 microns—that’s about 1/8 the width of a strand of hair. It’s just amazing.

In Electrical Engineering we’ve got some robots being programmed to be Mars Rovers, which is equally as impressive. The department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering has an undergrad research group studying the possibility of a liquid nitrogen powered car. The Engineering Technology department even has their own wind tunnel!

Seeing people get so excited about the things we do at Discovery Park really makes me proud to be a student here. It would be really neat if we could set up a tour for current students so they, too, can see all of the remarkable things going on in each department.

Random Fact: One of the most popular forms of Halloween fortune-telling involved using a mirror to discover the identity of one's future husband. Although it had many variations, a typical method involved sitting before a mirror at midnight on Halloween, eating an apple and brushing one's hair; supposedly an image of your loved one would appear in the glass

Thursday, October 28, 2010

My HalloWeekend

I love Halloween.  The decorations, the costumes, the candy… everything.  I’ve been a little obsessive-compulsive about Halloween ever since I was a little girl.  I always have my costume and my pumpkin carving ideas planned out months in advance.  Halloween comes, and for one night, I get to wear my costume and light my pumpkin.  Then, November 1st comes into the closet goes my costume, and into the trash goes my pumpkin.
This year, I’m stretching Halloween into as many days as possible.  I’ve planned an itinerary of Halloween activities all across the board.
I’ve already decorated my house with my newly acquired stash of Halloween embellishment from TJ Maxx.  My mom even sent me some of the decorations I made when I was a little girl!  So, decorations.  Check.
Next on my list is to meet with some of my friends from Discovery Park to carve pumpkins.  And after carving the pumpkins, you can bet that I will be baking the pumpkin seeds!  Yum!
That night, there is a costume party hosted by my apartment complex.  I just can’t decide if I want to wear the same costume for every costume-themed event that I go to… I guess I’ll have to think about it!
Then Thursday is student movie night -- $3.50 a ticket with your student ID – so my friends and I are going to see Paranormal Activity 2.  Last year I went with the same friends to see PA1.  I can only hope that we don’t have to sleep with the lights on again this year.
Friday and Saturday are two more costume parties (still not sure if I should wear the same costume!) – with prizes!  Saturday is also the day I will be cooking my pumpkin-shaped macaroni and my Halloween-style brownies.  Childish, perhaps, but it’s the little things in life that make me happy. 
Sunday will be spend passing out candy to trick-or-treaters—my first time ever!  I’ve got to borrow a friend’s house since I’m sure not too many kids will be climbing the fences to trick-or-treat in my apartment complex.  Who knows though? 
Anyway, I can’t wait for my Halloween: The Extended Version to kick off.  Until then, it will be watching scary movie marathons with Halloween candy and hot cider.
Happy Halloween, everyone.  Have a SAFE weekend!

Random Fact:  The ancient Celts thought that spirits and ghosts wondered the streets on all Hallows Eve so they began wearing masks and costumes in order to not be recognized as human.


Sunday, October 24, 2010

UNT Homecoming, 2010

It’s that time of year again.  The air is cooling, the leaves are changing, and midterms are happening.  It’s also the season of mums, princes and princesses, and football games—that’s right—Homecoming! 
UNT has an entire weekend dedicated to Homecoming.  From traditional to variable events, each is worth attending.  Friday’s highlights included: Zeke Martin Homecoming Golf Classic, Spirit March, Bonfire and Yell Contest.  Saturday was filled with events including: Fun Run, Homecoming Parade, and the Mean Green vs Florida International Football Game.
My favorite event of the entire weekend is without a doubt the bonfire.  Everyone parks at Fouts Field and crosses the highway to Victory Hall.  The bright orange glow is visible from miles away—apparently UNT’s is tied for largest college bonfire!  A stage is set about a football field away from the fire, which is where the Yell Competition is located.  The Yell Competition – or “Yell Like Hell” includes a short performance by teams comprised of dorm residents, sororities, fraternities, and other campus organizations.  Each team is given a list of artists whose music they must choreograph a short dance to.  At the end of the dance, each team shouts a made-up chant incorporating their organization’s name.  This year’s Homecoming theme was “Old School,” so the songs included titles such as “Baby Got Back” by Sir Mixalot, “Billie Jean” by Michael Jackson, and “You’re the One that I Want” from the movie Grease.  The teams’ costumes also went with the “Old School” theme—parachute pants, poodle skirts, and bright blue eye shadow frequented the Yell Competition’s stage. 
I didn’t catch who won the competition, but I do know that it was rather entertaining to see people attempt all the old school dance moves!  Can’t wait for next year!


Random Fact: Coca-Cola was originally green.

Monday, October 18, 2010

Post Numero Uno

So, an important fact about me is that I transferred to UNT from Oregon.  And in Oregon, there is no professional football team.  Imagine my excitement when a few friends from the College of Engineering invited me to… wait for it… wait for it… A DALLAS COWBOYS FOOTBALL GAME!!! I had never been so thrilled.  I donned the number 9 jersey and painted black lines under my eyes.  I was ready. 
My friends and I grilled burgers, hot dogs, and armadillo eggs, and played a few rounds of redneck golf before the game started. 
Walking into Cowboys stadium was like a dream… huge HDTVs hung in the air, the aroma of pizza and beer filled my nose, and the sound of fans shouting at the players was like music to my ears. 
For breast-cancer awareness month, the players wore pink shoes, chin straps and towels—the cheerleaders were even wearing pink outfits.  It was really neat to see how supportive the NFL is of breast cancer awareness and research (Hint-hint NCAA).
The game was awesome (even though the Cowboys lost).  My first professional football experience with my friends from UNT was a time I’ll never forget.


Random fact: The sound of E.T. walking was made by someone squishing her hands in jelly.