Busy Bee

OK, so I JUST finished that awesome blog about the driverless cars, and before I go eat my delicious steak, I will take the time to let you guys know what I have been up to...

1)   Definitely still in school :[  But, graduation is coming up!  I'll walk  that sweet, sweet walk in December.  On that glorious day, I will have earned my B.S. in Electrical Engineering with Minors in Mathematics and Spanish.  Then, I'm going to Disney World or Hawaii.  Or both.  Because I earned it.

2)  I'm still interning at Stryker (yay!!).  I've been there for almost a year, and I love it!  It's such a great company to work for - they've made it on Fortune's Top 100 Companies to Work For the last couple of years.  I'm working on a pretty impressive project for them where I have built a custom test fixture to perform tests on their video boards.

3)  I was recently inducted into the IEEE honor society, Eta Kappa Nu, and I have been elected Vice President!  I have so many great ideas for how to peak interest in the organization and fundraisers.  I'll tell you about those as they come up.

4)  I took the FE (Fundamentals of Engineering) Exam on April 14th.  For the afternoon session, I took the "Other Disciplines" portion because I heard it was easier.  If you guys are planning on taking the exam, I strongly recommend this book:

       FE Review Manual: Rapid Preparation for the Fundamentals of Engineering Exam

              Michael R. Lindeburg, PE

              ISBN: 978-1-59126-333-3

Such a GREAT study tool for preparing for the exam.

5)  I've started taking Zumba classes, and oh my gosh are they awesome!  Did you guys know I took dance lessons for about 12 years?  Ballet, jazz, lyrical, modern, hip-hop... then I went to cheer-leading.  I was unable to take dance classes at UNT because you have to be a dance major to take the classes, and it bummed me out.  I miss dance.  Zumba has been my fix!  It's so fun, and it really makes you sweat!

That's about it so far.  I think I want to elaborate on some of these topics a little more in the future.  But right now I'm hungry, and I want my steak.  

Driverless Cars

OK, so I lied.  I promised you guys I would update you on my life weeks ago.  Things got busy... but what else is new?!

Anyway, I got an e-mail from an Outreach Coordinator at Coupons.org requesting that I share a blog about cars that drive themselves!  My first thought - how in the heck would that even work?  I don't have an iPhone, but I hear that Siri is an idiot... if we can't trust a phone to answer our questions about who won the big game, how can we trust a car to drive us around?  Well just read this article... http://coupons.org/pages/cars... OK, I'm waiting while you read it...

First point -  Google is behind this.  Yep; their autonomous cars have logged more than 140,000 miles.  An engineer for Google, Sebastian Thrun, has devoted his life to this research.  His goal is to prevent young adults from being a statistic.  The number one killer for young adults in automobile accidents is human error.

Please check out these statistics.  These really opened my eyes to the real danger of driving.  You can be the safest, most aware driver on the planet, but that's not going to keep you from getting in an accident.  You always have to worry about the other guy -- the young girl texting her BFF about the new Twilight movie; the man having a hard day and using alcohol to get through it; the absent-minded engineering student trying to remember KVL and KCL for her Electronics 2 exam. You can control how you act behind the wheel, but unfortunately you can't control what the other drivers are doing.

Great stuff, right?  I had never heard of that DARPA competition, but holy cow that is amazing!  

This just makes me want to work for Google THAT much more.  I was checking out Google jobs today, and found that they are NUMBER ONE on Fortune's Best Companies to Work For - 2012.  Definitely my dream job...

But anyway, I hope you guys read the article, LOVED it, and will promise that after seeing those statistics, you'll drive safe.  Pinky promise.  Now.  K Thanks :]

UNT's Very Own - Dr. Akl

Hey viewers!

It's been a while since I've posted a blog, I know!  However, over the past few months, I have received several e-mails from you guys asking for information on a blog, requests, and just to say "Hello."  It made me feel pretty good to know that people actually read the crazy stuff I post.  In that case, I will try my hardest to post more frequently!  I'll write a quick catch-up blog this weekend so y'all can know what's new with me...

For my first post in quite a while, I would like to point some attention at one of the professors at UNT.  An employee of SoftwareEngineerInsider.com contacted me regarding an online article featuring Dr. Akl.  It's a wonderful article discussing the current status of Software Engineer employment, how to be successful, and the Computer Science program at UNT.  If you're considering Computer Science or Engineering as an undergrad OR graduate major, please please PLEASE check out this article!

http://www.softwareengineerinsider.com/articles/unt-computer-engineering.html

Read some of the other stuff that SoftwareEngineerInsider has to offer, too!  Great site :]

I was sitting on the bus yesterday, people-watching, when my eyes started to wander...  Everyone on the bus had earphones in.  I follwed the cords down, and noticed that they were all attached to iPhones.  Never in my life had I felt so alone.  I was sitting there holding my old, broken down Samsung Mythic, wanting desperately to listen to the latest Nelly song, check my e-mail, or try to beat my Bejweled Blitz high score.  Alas, I had to sit there and have a thumb war with myself to keep from becoming bored to tears.

Here we are, about to see the release of the iPhone 5, and I have yet to own an iPhone 1, or any smart phone for that matter.  I am so jealous of all these people and their convenient access to the world.

I don't know if I want an iPhone, though.  I've been comparing phones for about 3 years, but always end up getting the cheap phones that don't do anything but call people (often when I don't want it to).

Last weekend, I was leaving my apartment to go to Grandmommy's house for Easter dinner, when I saw a little black device laying on the ground.  After taking a closer look, I realized that it was a G2 Google phone.  It was love at first sight.  Being the honest person that I am, I attempted to hack into the phone so that I could find out who it belonged to, and return it.  I really should have called Brett, since he works with Android phones, and could have easily hacked the code (SHOUTOUT, BRETT!!).  After numerous failed attempts, I decided to take out the simcard and put it in my phone.  Once I powered up the phone, a message appeared that said something to the effect of: "This is NOT an AT&T simcard.  Please enter a 10-digit code to unlock your phone.  If you get the code wrong, your phone will be locked forever, and you will be SOL."  So, I took the card out right away and decided never to do that again.  Instead, I used my boyfriend's phone.  He has the same carrier as the glorious G2 phone, so we put the card in his.  We were able to call someone from the owner's address book and find out where he lived.  It ended up being his birthday, so it made me feel 1000 times better knowing that I made his birthday a little bit better (though I so deeply wanted to keep that phone).

Since that day, I've been doing some research.  iPhone, or G2?  EVERYONE has an iPhone, but Androids are so much more attractive!  So then I decided, why not ask my readers?   If you've experienced an iPhone, an Android, or both, please, please, PLEASE e-mail me with your thoughts!

ambassadorjordan@gmail.com



Pet Peeves...

I have two very huge pet peeves, and this week in particular, they are really getting to me.  The purpose of this blog is to give logical explanations as to how we can all work together to fix this, so I will be a happier Jordan.

Pet-Peeve Number One:  Dishes in the Sink

I absolutely hate this.  My roommates do this.  My boyfriend does it.  My boyfriends roommates do it.  I get home from a long day at school and find the sink full.  I do the dishes for whoever left them there.  Then, to relax, I go to my boyfriend's house, only to find more dirty dishes.  I feel like all day every day, all I do is wash other people's dirty dishes.  I am supposed to be spending that time studying!!

I don't dare confront my roommates, because I'm scared (maybe they'll happen to read this blog), but I am not at all afraid to let my boyfriend and his roommates know that this is unacceptable.  They tell me it takes too long to put the dishes in the dishwasher.  Puh-leaze.  It takes about a hundred times longer to sit there and argue about whose turn it is to "do" the dishes.  And what do I mean by "do" the dishes?  Transfer all the dishes from the sink into the dishwasher.  Why can't you just put them in the dishwasher after you use them?  And then start the dishwasher when it's full?  And then put the dishes away after the dish-washing is complete?  Then maybe you'll have a clean bowl for your cereal.  It's not rocket science.  Here, I'll even make a step-by step list that you can print out and tape to a cupboard so you won't be confused:

1)  Eat your food.

2)  Throw away the scraps

3)  Rinse the plate

4)  Place the plate in the dishwasher

5)  When the dishwasher is full, add soap and turn it on

6)  If the dishes in the dishwasher are clean, take 2 minutes to put the dishes away, then start at step 2.

Note:  This procedure is applicable for all dishes, silverware, and utensils, not just plates.

Pet-Peeve Number Two:  Texas Drivers

I feel like the traffic flows very nicely in Oregon, like water through a hose.  In Texas, however, the hose is full of kinks.  In particular, the merging onto the highways seems to be the major problem.  Granted, TXDOT doesn't give you but 100 feet to merge.  However, this does not have to cause major bottlenecks.  The steps to a smooth transition are as follows:

1)  If you are in the right-hand lane on the highway, and you see that someone up ahead is going to merge onto the highway, move to the left lane.  DON'T SLOW DOWN.  This really irritates the people behind you who have to slam on their brakes, as well as the person trying to merge who now doesn't know whether to speed up or slow down.  Then you both end up playing chicken for the next 1000 feet, while he's driving in the emergency parking area.

2)  If you are in the right lane, and there is someone in the left-lane, and you see someone wants to merge, still try everything you can to move to the left lane.

3)  Truck drivers (and slow drivers), stay in the right lane at all times.  In many states (including Oregon), it's a state law that all slow vehicles MUST stay in the right-hand lane.  Now, don't get confused.  If someone wants to merge onto the highway, and you're going 30 mph, get in the left-hand lane and allow them to merge, then immediately get back into the right lane.

4)  Get TXDOT to go visit Oregon, see that the proper length of lane to merge onto a highway should be at least 1/4 mile, then re-do all the roads, but do them at night (like ODOT), so that nobody has to sit in traffic.

See, I really am an engineer.  These are two huge problems, and I went ahead and found very effective solutions.  I think I deserve some sort of scholarship for that.

Why I am not a doctor...

WARNING:  This story get's a little graphic

For the longest time, I thought I should be a doctor.  I was frequently bandaging and kissing Barbie's owies and listening to my dog's heart with my Fisher Price stethoscope.  The first time I saw my dad smash his finger with a hammer, the doctor thing quickly went away.  I don't do blood.

This past weekend, I was reassured that I was taking the right path studying engineering rather than pre-med.

My friends and I were at my apartment playing sand volleyball.  I'm pretty new to the game, but for the most part, I was doing well.  Then the Murphy's Law part of the day occurred... I hit the ball far left rather than over the net.  That sent my two teammates (one of them being my boyfriend) running after the ball.  They collided full force.  It sounded like a boulder hitting the ground after falling ten stories.  But they were men, so they got up and tried to walk it off.  After the next serve, my boyfriend Jared told me his ankle was starting to hurt.  I looked at it and watched as a cue ball grew from his ankle.  There was a little white part starting to show through, and the teammates started shouting, "Oh my gosh, his bone is about to poke through his skin."  At that point, I turned and sprinted away.  Now, if you know me at all, you know that I don't run.  I don't jog.  I don't walk briskly.  But that day, I know I broke the record for fastest sprint.  Today, I'm still not sure why I ran.  I had to play it off, though, so I ran to my apartment and grabbed a bag of ice.  Being the nerd that I am, I grabbed a towel to wrap around the bag of ice so it would last longer in the sun.  I sprinted back to my injured boyfriend.  When I got back to the volleyball courts, I was very surprised to see him standing around.  I looked at his leg which was now covered with blood.  Down I went, face first into the sand.  You see, I have very very bad asthma.  I'm guessing that sprinting the length of 3 football fields in record time induced the attack, and the sight of blood finished me off.

Now, a third person had to get involved.  Luckily, we had a friend with us who knew I had asthma.  She ran to my car and got my inhaler for me.  After a couple puffs, I could finally breathe.

Clearly, I am not cut out to be a doctor or an athlete, but I'm perfectly happy inventing things that will improve the lives of doctors and athletes!

Cows: Train Engineers of the Future

I was checking out the list of the 50 best inventions of 2010.  The list included things like the iPad, a lifeguard robot, spray-on fabric, and lab-grown lungs, all of which are incredibly interesting.  There was one invention in particular that caught my eye: Amtrak's Beef-Powered Train.  I had to investigate...

Apparently, Amtrak is researching a beef-based bio-fuel. They are going to be testing the train for one year on a track that runs from Fort Worth to Oklahoma City.  How completely crazy is that?!  A train that is powered by cows... the fuel is made from the beef byproducts, so it shouldn't affect the price of hamburger, but perhaps the price of hotdogs.  And the smell... would the train produce an awful, wretched, rotten meat smell, or would it be more like grilled steaks?  I guess I'll find out since the train blares by my apartment twice an hour.

The use of the bio-fuel is reported to reduce hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide emissions by 10 percent, particulates by 15 percent, and sulphates by 20 percent compared to regular diesel.  After the one-year testing period, Amtrak will analyze the statistics of the actual emissions.

I've attached some links for videos and articles about the technology.  Warning:  refrain from eating while watching or reading!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cX2kHtzruc

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/26/amtrak-cow-train-biodiesel

http://www.fastcompany.com/1627919/amtraks-beef-powered-passenger-train-debuts