March 1, 2009

Atlanta, Georgia

Soccer Tournament in Florida

Update: I was named MVP of the tournament! (link)

This past weekend the GT men's soccer team traveled to Tallahassee, Florida for a soccer tournament being hosted by Florida State University. A few players left on Thursday so they could fit in an extra night of sampling the Tally night-life, but the majority of us piled into rented minivans on Friday afternoon for the 5 hour drive. We stayed at a Red Roof Inn just off of Interstate-10, which fit the bill in terms of convenience and cost. Thankfully, Georgia Tech paid all our expenses for the weekend.

We were scheduled for three matches on Saturday (9am, 12 pm, and 3pm), so I was up early on Saturday morning to fully stretch my body and load my body with fluids. For our first match, we played against University of South Carolina and drew 1-1. Since the halves were shortened to 35 minutes each (as opposed to to the norm of 45 minutes) and the weather was fairly overcast, it made it easier to deal with exhaustion. Of course, multiple bananas and bottles of Gatorade also played their part.

The second match of the day was against Valdosta State, which we ended up winning 1-0 after I headed in a goal from a Ricky Huber corner kick. It felt good to make such a solid contribution to the team; I play sweeper (kind of like quarterback of the defense), which obviously does not normally receive the accolades of a goal-scoring striker. By the end of the match, sore muscles and exhaustion were beginning to settle in, so I popped a few Ibuprofen and visited a trainer for my growing number of bumps and bruises.

The third match of the day started just after 3:00 p.m. against Florida State, and my sister came out with a couple of her sorority sisters to cheer me on. We drew the game 0-0, despite striking the upright on a free kick. More importantly, the draw meant our record was 1-0-2, and despite being ranked second in our group, we needed to play a play-off game to qualify for the next round...

The game started at 6:00 p.m. - meaning we were being forced to play 4 games in one day.

I could not even warm up for the final game as I didn't want to waste any of my remaining energy; my body was in severe pain and it felt like I could pull, or tear, a muscle at any point. Nevertheless, the organizers refused to reschedule, despite our team's obvious protests at the unfair logistics of the tournament (most teams divided their games over Friday and Saturday).

Despite scoring two goals in the game (both of which I scored from the penalty spot), we lost 4-2 and were knocked out of the tournament. As depressing as it was to lose, I was honestly so exhausted that it felt like a relief; there was no way I could be ready the following morning to play again. All in all, I played every minute of every game, totaling a staggering 280 minutes (nearly 5 hours) of running (not including warm-ups or injury time), and finished with 3 goals.

My sister and I	Danielle's "big" sister
Danielle's best friend + JT and 'Gas'

The good news about being eliminated from the tournament was that it freed up our night. I arranged to meet my sister at FSU's famous nightspot called "The Strip," but first crammed down a week's worth of burritos, tortilla chips, and tacos at a Mexican restaurant.  By the time the team finished dinner and showering back at the hotel, it was already 11:00 p.m. and I was ready to pass out for the night. However, I wanted to spend time with my sister so I pulled myself together and went out with a dozen guys from the team.

Tally's "Strip" is actually a group of bars and clubs that are all inter-connected, and it is the typical party scene. To be honest, the overall FSU mentality is far different from that which is found at Georgia Tech, but given that it was only one night we all decided to indulge in bar-hopping and clubbing. I was lucky in that my sister introduced me to many of her sorority sisters, and with all the other soccer players there we had solid representation. (Fortunately, there were no arrests, although one car did get towed and a couple of fights were narrowly avoided with overzealous drunks). Anyway, the bars all closed at 2:00 a.m., which could not have come soon enough for me because I was falling asleep on my feet. I said goodbye to my sister and headed back to the Red Roof Inn, but sleep was hard to come by because my body ached all over - making for a less than enjoyable night.

On Sunday we drove back to Georgia Tech and were greeted with a full blizzard that left a couple inches of snow on the ground... I petitioned that we turn the cars around and drive down to Miami, but with classes and work hanging over Tech students' heads it was never a legitimate possibility. As it stands, I have no idea how I can make up for 2 days of lost work...

Well, maybe I do have an idea: less sleep and more hustle.

Capping off the Weekend

The past few weeks have flown by as I fight to stay ahead in my classes.

Fortunately, soccer is going very well and we are now 4-0-1 after today's draw. (The GT team competes in a semi-professional Georgia league for extra match practice.) Despite playing central defense, I set up the first goal with a through-ball. With 5 minutes to go in the match, we were down 2-1 and lost a player to a red card. In the dying minutes I charged up the field and was in the tussle as we were awarded a penalty kick for a handball in the penalty box. I placed the ball on the spot, wished the opposing keeper luck, and blasted the ball into the corner of the net. The final score ended 2-2, which was frustrating because it ended our four game winning streak since the new year.

This Thursday we are driving down to Florida for a tournament at FSU, which is where my younger sister attends university. It will be an exciting trip, but it means the next few days will be increasingly stressful as I work to get all my work in early.

The rest of my weekend was focused on resting, although I went out to dinner with friends on Saturday night... Basically, by the time Fridays roll around, I am completely worn out and collapse on my bed for a marathon sleeping session. Saturday is much of the same, except my emphasis is on organizing my affairs (washing clothes, cleaning my room, buying groceries for the week, and other logistical affairs). Of course, I always reserve two hours to watch 'the' Arsenal play, but sadly this has not been our season...

Exam Updates

Capstone Design: A+ We had a very important presentation earlier this week, which we ran away with after extensive preparation. Although it is still early in the semester, I felt very proud that our work received so much praise in the peer and professor review (all the teams had to present their work thus far). I will post more as the semester goes along, but for patent purposes I cannot disclose too much information now. (As a side note, I am growing increasingly excited at the prospect of attending law school and merging my engineering background with the legal world).

Control Systems: A- Homework accounts for 20% of our grade, which ensures that I check my answers at least three times before turning anything in. Additionally, a full honor statement must be attached with every document so I do not work with others, and this has worked well because it ensures I understand what I am doing.

Manufacturing Processes: A-/B+ Grrr, my only near B grade thus far. I knew it would not be good when I took the first exam as I was in the middle of a hell week (less than 10 hours of sleep over 3 days). The worst part (or rather my saving grace, depending on how one looks at it) is that I made trivial mistakes on my exam (relating to units and significant digits). Nevertheless, the circumstances could not have been any worse for me and I still ended up doing OK.

Systems Lab: A- This class is a marathon so it is too early to focus on too much. Essentially, the workload is so high that so long as one meets it, everything will be fine. And I always meet the workload.

HVAC: I have a perfect 100% in this class! I aced his first exam with flying colors, and could not be happier.

Engineering Economics: A+ I walked out of the first test thinking I had failed. The test was on a week that I hardly slept (a different week from the manufacturing exam, oddly enough), and the professor wrote an exam so foreign from his homework that the test average came out to be a staggering 44%. Fortunately, I doubled-up the curve AND the median! I think this may have been the first time I have ever done that, which places me in the top 1% of the 150-student class. Lucky, lucky, lucky, in my opinion. But I will make sure I stay lucky on all the successive tests, as well!

EAS (Science): A-/B+ Grrr, this test was frustrating because so many of the questions were arbitrary and required rote memorization. I much prefer tests where I can derive answers and generally be 'slick', but this one focused on who memorized the most. While I have perfected the lab portion of the class, I only scored a B on the exam (albeit one standard deviation above the median, which means I will receive a curved 'bump'). I will need to maintain the pace, and even increase it slightly to ensure my A in this course.

English II: A I was the first to present in our first big project (wisely getting it out of the way before my semester picked up), but I also lead conversation in the class, which will play a large part in the highly subjective grading of English courses. Given that I am a senior heading off to law school - and one who enjoys writing - this is probably my biggest freebie class.

GT Soccer: We have now racked up 4 consecutive wins (0 losses and 0 ties) since I rejoined! Also, I have 3 assists, 1 goal, and have not allowed a single goal to be scored on us... All in all, it makes me wonder where I would be if I had not taken the engineering/globe-trotting/over-achiever academic approach.

Semester Updates

Capstone Design: I am team leader of a group of five students working under Dr. Craig Forest on a project to re-design a catalytic converter. Our team website can be accessed here. Basically, this class occupies any free-time I have, but it is remarkable rewarding. Our professor was a finalist on America's Top Inventor for "the claw" (video) and is a GT undergrad and MIT PhD. He has gone through the entire process of designing an invention, having it patented, and introducing it to the market. Personally, I think he sees potential in our group, and so he pushes us appropriately, which compounds the stress for the semester (but exponentially increases the feeling of reward).

Control Systems: This is normally a junior-level course, but it is a class I have never taken for various reasons. My professor is my favorite at GT thus far: Dr. Whiteman. The class is also one of the most useful: I now see every system around me in terms of springs and dampers. Quite literally, every system on the planet can be mathematically reduced to a set of springs and dampers, which is fun stuff for engineering geeks everywhere!

Manufacturing Processes: In this class I am learning how every product on the planet is actually made. As a case in point, take a look around the room right now, and imagine you were put in charge of designing a process to make it. This is not just a qualitative course where answers are as simple as "Injection Molding!" or "Sand Casting!", ubt rather the focus is on mathematically computing the constraints and designing actual molds (for example) to complete the task. Additionally, focus is placed on the time constraints, power requirements, and material properties. Lastly, a word for Professor Das, who takes exception to anyone not paying attention in class (calling them out immediately): he actually cares about his students and engages us in every lecture to ensure we fundamentally understand what is going on.

Systems Lab: This is a senior-level lab (follow-up to the Control Systems class) that is divided into two parts: one for control/mechanical systems and one for thermal systems. Basically, I attend lectures and then attend a lab session where we experimentally test theory. Our results are presented in the form of a lab report and a weekly presentation to Dr. Ferri. I would also like to note that Dr. Ferri, with his dry humor that catches us all off guard, has one of the best lecturing approaches at Georgia Tech. Even when it is Friday morning and I want to read The Technique (GT newspaper published every Friday), he catches my interest with witty humor - and the topics are so abstractly uninteresting!

HVAC (High Volume Air Control): To be honest, I enrolled in this class because it had one of the highest distributions of As for senior level electives. However, this was a misleading statistic as most people in the class have cooped (repeated internship) with HVAC behemoths and know everything inside and out. Fortunately, the extensive qualitative approach is tempered with a substantial amount of quantitative analysis, which is where I differentiate myself. As for Dr. Jeter, our professor, he is a riot! Obviously one of the most passionate professors of HVAC in the world, his excitement for air-conditioning systems has spread to us all. Most memorable is the first day of class when he quantitatively showed how HVAC (incorporating refrigeration systems, obviously) was a greater achievement for the good of humanity than medicine. He proved part of his point via some obscure sodium tangent whereby meats were dried with salt before refrigerators, but he had me going for most of it regardless!

Engineering Economics: This class was supposed to be a cake-walk: a one-hour class where engineering students learn the financial principles necessary to hold projects together. The professor has taken a far different approach by turning the class into an advanced financial analysis course whereby we learn about complex derivatives and such. Not a big fan.

Environmental and Atmospheric Sciences: I am required to take one last science elective before graduating, and despite my best efforts I could not make the Modern Physics course comply with my packed schedule. Instead, I am an anonymous face in a lecture hall of 180 people. Fortunately, those 178 other people (a smart friend of mine is taking it with me), have no idea who they are up against: it is a hodge-podge of freshman, sophomores, business majors, and so on. Not to be disrespectful, but this class is a significant step down in terms of content.

English II: Hip-Hop: I enrolled in this class upon the suggestion of Dr. Karen Head, who is one of my favorite English professors (and poets!) at Georgia Tech. The class is focused on the hip-hop culture as a means of expression, and although it is comprised of 95% freshman, I thoroughly enjoy the discussions. My only complaint is that much of the work seems fruitless, but that follows with my complaint of liberal arts subjects in general. Overall, I cannot complain at the prospect of voicing my opinion and having it actually count for something.

GT Soccer: We are now 3-0-0 since I joined, and not a single goal has been scored upon us!

Law School: I received my first acceptance this afternoon with a call from the Snr. Asst. Dean of Virginia Law, Jason Trujillo. It is a tremendous relief to have been accepted to a law school so early in my cycle (I applied a couple of weeks ago), and UVA has a very dignified school with which I would feel honored to associate myself.