So this week has been somewhat of an interesting one, I suppose. I’d first like to start off with my congratulations to the Pittsburgh Penguins… Way to bring the Stanley Cup back to Pittsburgh! Okay, so I know I’m not exactly a fan of sports or anything, but I do still have pride in my hometown. Despite my apathetic attitude toward our sports teams, it’s nice to have the community come together, as well as give a little spike in the local economy. Next on the list: how my first round of midterm exams went. It took an entire week before my Statics professor even handed back our exams. Before he handed them back, though, he told us that the class average was a 62% (93/150) and that the highest score was an 87% (131/150). I was quite shocked by this, and at this point I began to get quite nervous. But upon receiving my exam, flipping over to the front page, and seeing my score, that nervousness quickly changed to a feeling of ecstasy. So guess who got the highest score in the class? Yep. But despite the class average being a 62%, the professor is still not curving the scores. I guess I shouldn’t expect a curve, but it seems to be standard practice to curve the average to a 70%. Still, the professor did say the final cutoffs for letter-grades would be determined at the end of the session to reflect the class grades, so I’m not too worried about not getting an A. And I’m certainly not worried about Differential Equations. I got another 100% on the quiz which puts my course grade at 100%. And Economics: Well, that’s an interesting one. I studied for about six hours for that exam and felt pretty confident when I took it. When I got my score back, though, I was a little disappointed, with Blackboard showing a score of 28/35, or an 80%. However, going into class the next day, my first assumptions were proved correct — the answer key was wrong. Admittedly, only two of the answers were wrong, but I was able to get a point back for a poorly worded question (two answers were technically correct) as well. So in the end, after two points back from fixing the answer key, a point for a poorly worded question, and a 7% curve, I ended up with a 98%. That might go down as the funniest grade change in my book. So after the first half of the summer session, I must say that I am quite pleased with how things are going.

On to my next topic of interest… the new Facebook usernames. So I have to say, I’m getting quite tired of everyone’s complaining about how Facebook is changing. Okay, so I know the whole “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it” saying, but honestly I think people need to realize something: We’re living in a different age. And therein lies the beauty. Despite being ignorant when it comes to politics, I still think Obama got it right when he chose “change” as his platform. That’s exactly what this age is all about. Everyday, we are progressing exponentially, and in case you didn’t realize it, progress is change, and consequently, change is progress. (Even change that is negative provides a bit of progress one way or another.) So I commend Mark Zuckerberg for his desire to progress. And these usernames, I believe, are a good step forward. So what if MySpace uses usernames? This isn’t about MySpace. If Facebook constantly compares itself to MySpace in the pursuit of having it never be similar in any shape or form, then they’re automatically limiting their design space. (Yes, I’m using terms I learned in my engineering courses and applying them.) If usernames are a good addition, then usernames it is! (I admit that I spent the last minute before you could register a username watching the countdown, which you can see from this screenshot I took of the last second.) And in any case, these usernames are simply used so users can access profiles more easily. Other than that, there is no change to how we’ve been using Facebook for the past four or so years. So why is everyone compaining? As long as you don’t choose a username like “ImOnABoat”, you should have no issues with random people viewing your profile. (Which only prompts me to say, don’t choose a username that everyone is going to type in just to see who has that username!) So I hope I’ve made my point clear: This is the age of the internet, and with that comes rapid change and progression, and it’s not going to slow down for anyone, so we’ve got to keep up with it.

Well I think that will do for now. But I would like to leave you with a line I found from a “You know you’re an engineer if…” list, that being: “If you thought the real heroes of ‘Apollo 13′ were the mission controllers.” So true…

So almost five months later, I return to my blog. Why such the delay in posting, you ask? Well, let’s just say that twenty-two credit hours can (and does) keep a student busy. This past semester was certainly a challenge, but truth be told, it brought a few of the greatest months of my life. My teachers during my senior year of high school would always throw out a comment here or there on how amazing college was and how much they missed it. I had no reason to suspect exaggeration, but still I wondered how much better college really could be. Turns out, I’ve been the happiest now than I’ve ever been.  College really does change things and it’s amazing how much I’ve changed since I left my hometown. To go on and list these changes would be tedious, so I’ll just leave it at that. The one change I will mention, I suppose, is simply my getting closer to achieving my dream. Of all the things that have occurred in this past year, this statement alone is what really sums it up. I ended the semester with a 4.0 GPA (bringing my cumulative GPA to a 3.95), was offered an internship position at NASA Goddard for the summer, was elected vice-president of Virginia Tech’s Astronomy Club and Student Engineers’ Council Representative for Virginia Tech’s chapter of the AIAA, got a perfect score on each of my Physics exams giving me a semester grade of over a 100%, got a 99% in Multivariable Calculus, and still managed to find some of the greatest people in the world to call my friends. Even with the small details aside, I’d say my freshman year of college has given me an excellent start on my journey toward becoming an aerospace engineer.

So now that the spring semester is over, you’d probably expect to find me back home and relaxing from such an arduous year. A fine assumption this is, but alas not the case. I am actually back at Virginia Tech until July 6 for a summer session of classes. With two majors and two minors, it is not too difficult to understand why I’d be sacrificing some of my summer for academic advancement. People always ask me if I am trying to graduate early when I explain to them my overloads on credit hours and summer sessions. And every time I simply reply, “No, I’m trying to graduate on time.” Of course by “on time,” that will probably come out to be five years of undergraduate study. As strange as it might seem, I am actually somewhat uneasy about switching to the Class of ‘13. The number 12 has always been my favorite/lucky number, so I have always been somewhat fond of the idea of graduating in that year. Those chances are slim now that I have elevated my aspirations. Regardless, this summer session serves as an escape from complete boredom at home. (Why do nothing at home when you can get further in your studies, right?) So instead of sitting in front of my computer all day at home, I am taking nine credits of courses, those being Differential Equations, Statics, and Macroeconomics. Which brings me to another point.

Since I had already decided to take summer classes early on in the year, I would be unable to accept the internship at NASA Goddard for the summer. Of all the things I would hope to never have to say, this would be one of them: “Work at NASA?! Seriously?! Actually get the chance to experience my dream?! Sorry… I have class.” It’s almost funny how these things happen; you dream of one moment in your life and when that moment finally arives, you must pass it up. But I have to believe that all of this will work out in the end. I mean, this is only an internship after all. My real dream is to work for NASA as a full-time employee. On the bright side, I know that NASA has my name in their pile of potential recruits. Moreover, they have already picked me once, so I know I must be doing something right. Hopefully next summer will bring better fortune.

So here I am now at Virginia Tech. I just returned from my first round of exams, both in Statics and Differential Equations, so I am not too motivated to get started on my weekend homework. I do believe I did well on both exams, but now I must turn my attention toward my Macroeconomics exam which is on Monday. Honestly, I highly dislike economics. At Virginia Tech, students are required to fulfill “liberal education” requirements, and since this economics course satisfies those requirements, I chose to take the course anyway. (It’s better than any of the other course options, I’m sure.) I expected the course to be more mathematical, but it’s really just conceptual, and quite candidly I have a hard time grasping the concepts of interest, investment, consumption, and whatnot. Hopefully a scan through the textbook and a thorough review of the lecture slides will grant me an A on the exam.

Well, I think that’s a good enough post for now. So until next time, starry skies to all!

//

When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie… well, you probably just witnessed the Moon at its perigee. And it most certainly was amore, at least to people such as myself. For those unaware, the full Moon which occurred just this past weekend was and will be the largest moon of 2009. Because of the Moon’s elliptical orbit around the Earth, its angular size is dependent on how close the Moon is to our planet. A few days ago marked our Moon’s perigee, or closest approach. The Wolf Moon — the name given to January’s full moon by the Native Americans — was about 15 percent larger in area and brightness than a typical full Moon. Unfortunately, due to unfavorable weather conditions, I was unable to witness such a memorable event directly. I did, however, get the chance to see the waning Moon last night as I looked up at the night sky. Despite being a few days late, the Moon was still a spectacular sight to see. Not surprisingly, the Astronomy Picture of the Day featured a wonderful portrayal of this past full Moon which I felt compelled to share. I hope you enjoy!

Largest Full Moon of 2009

The time has finally arrived: Windows 7 Beta is available to the public! So like every other computer geek — er, I mean computer enthusiast — I got my excitement up, readied my computer, and downloaded the next release of Microsoft Windows. As every experienced computer user knows, though, being the first kid on the block with the shiny new toy usually leads to a frustrating time for the distraught soul, so I certainly wasn’t planning on upgrading my current version of Windows to a beta operating system, especially when my academic life is dependent on this machine. Instead, I figured I would install it on my external drive and dual boot between my current, stable version and this enticing, but risky release. I wasn’t too sure yet how I was going to implement Windows 7 in my life, but my initial thought was to run it as my default OS when I’m in my dorm room and have my external drive hooked up, have Windows XP as my OS at all other times, and sync my documents between the two. I simply wanted to experience the new Windows rather than make it my full-time OS, thus not falling into the trap of relying on beta software.

As it turns out, however, I found myself running into several obstacles and never did get Windows 7 installed. The first obstruction in my way dealt with a problem I had run into several days before. When my Java Virtual Machine was called by a website, an error message would pop up telling me that several virtual machines running in the same process caused an error. I Google’d the error message but the results were not too helpful. It seems this is a popular error with no concrete solution. So I uninstalled Java in the hopes of solving my problem with a fresh install. Unfortunately, when I went to install Java, another error message popped up and upon clicking OK the installer would terminate. So at that point I was without Java on my machine. When I went to download Windows 7, nothing would happen upon clicking “download now”. Further inspection on my part would lead to the realization that my absence of Java was the culprit. So now I was forced to solve my Java issue. To make a long story short, I booted up without loading start-up items or non-Windows system services. This seemed to solve the issue and Java successfully installed.

Now I was able to download Windows 7 onto my computer. The download took quite a while, as expected, but I knew it would be worth the wait. Once the download was complete, I used Microsoft’s Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel, a utility that allows you to create a virtual CD-ROM drive on your computer, to read the ISO image instead of burning the image to a DVD. Having read Microsoft’s guide on installing Windows 7, I knew to click “custom” as my installation type so as not to overwrite my current version of Windows. Next, I was asked where I would like to install. As desired, I chose my external drive as my location of choice. Unfortunately, upon clicking “next”, a window popped up telling me that I was not permitted to install Windows to my external drive because the drive has a USB interface. I was devastated to say the least. Apparently, Microsoft does not allow Windows to be installed to an external drive. So perhaps I won’t get the chance to experience the new Windows for myself any time soon. There is hope, however, for as I am posting this, I am doing some skilled research on finding out how to bypass Microsoft’s limitations. At the least, perhaps I can use Microsoft’s Virtual PC utility to explore Windows 7 while retaining my current version (but how exactly to go about doing that will take some extra research). I will post the results of my expedition most assuredly in due time.

That’s the first thing I wanted to say on my new weblog. Yeah, I know, the only people reading this right now are either my friends who I told to check out my blog ever so surreptitiously through instant messenger conversation or those who have accidentally stumbled across my little piece of the internet and are most likely wondering why they’re still here. Whatever the case, I’m glad you’re taking the time to read this rambling of mine. Since this is my first post, I’m very tempted to just go all-out and start writing about anything and everything that I have stumbled upon in the past few days. I will, however, refrain from doing so. I intentionally started this blog today, being the first day of the new year, so as to set up a boundary for myself, otherwise this post would be ten screens long and I highly doubt any of you would finish (or start for that matter). So with that in mind now, I want to welcome you to my blog and hope you will find reason to return.

Before I officially begin my post, however, I’d like to give credit where credit is due. Although I have been somewhat against weblogs (as I always saw it as a crude attempt at web design), I have found one blog in particular that has shifted my perspective. My new friend, David, has been posting his remarks, opinions, and insights on the world of technology through his blog, My Piece of the Inter(.)net, since October of 2007. Upon reading his blog, I became inspired by the capabilities a blog could hold. All this time I have come across so many discoveries, articles, software, etc. and just wanted to share it with those who shared the same interests and passions as I do. Now through this blog, I hope to do just that. So I invite you to share with me now my dream, my passion, and my life. Ad astra — to the stars!

In the desire to constrain myself from writing a novel as my first blog post, I think it’s best just to mention something fascinating or compelling for each of the topics you will come across in my future posts. Well let’s start off with the aerospace, shall we? An article on Discovery News was recently released about the first commerical spaceport getting the green light. I must admit that I almost let out a small yelp at the sight of the title. My aerospace interests lie in getting people to space and expanding our currently earth-bounded community. This is such a fantastic start in that direction and I find myself just wanting to leap into this project. But I know I’ll have my time soon, and for now I will just have to admire these achievements from my dorm room.

On the computer science end, I just now decided to take advantage of Microsoft’s DreamSpark program and got myself nearly $2000 in Microsoft software absolutely free, including Visual Studio 2008 Professional and Expression. How wonderful it is of Microsoft to give away their professional-level developer tools to students in the hopes of inspiring and creating the next generation of avid developers. I applaud you, Microsoft. Hopefully I’ll be able to play around with this stuff before the semester starts.

And finally, I give further kudos to Microsoft for not only winning a spot as my computer topic but also as the astronomy topic. Yesterday when I posted my message of Year-of-Astronomy-anticipation as my Facebook status, my friend, David, commented on it, directing me to the WorldWide Telescope software created by Microsoft Research. The capabilities of this visualization software environment are beyond words. I literally spent a good two hours this morning (and I’m talking around three o’clock this morning) messing around with the numerous features, flying from Jupiter to the Ring Nebula as well as scanning the Apollo 12 landing site and zooming in over the Vallis Marineris of Mars. I find the most fascinating part, however, to be the guided tours which range from traveling the Earth at night to a broad journey of the Universe. I am still in awe over what the normal, everyday person can obtain with today’s technology, and this is why I am so passionate about blending the benefits of technology and the beauty of astronomy together.

Well I think that’ll do for now. I hope I have not scared you off with such a long post, but do understand that being the first post and all advocates a lot of things to be said. The next one will be shorter and more concise, I promise. But until then, a happy new year to all! :-)