Engineering Week at UNT

This week is engineering week worldwide.  This week the UNT College of Engineering has setup a week of activities for engineering week and each day has been pretty fun.  The weeklong activities were hosted by different council of engineering organizations as well as the college.

On Monday the College of Engineering had a free meal for the students, faculty, and staff that consisted of a subway sandwich, chips, soda, and a nice size cookie.  There was also a speaker who came out and gave a small discussion.  On Tuesday, the college had a soccer tournament and a winch and cart race.  In regards to the soccer tournament, it was a pretty big event and a lot people came out to play.  Even though I did not play in the tournament I still hung out with friends and attempted to learn how to juggle a soccer ball.  The winch and cart race was a drag race in which people built dragsters that are powered by solar energy.  There was cash price for the contestants that came in 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd. 

On Wednesday there was a CANstruction competition in which different engineering organizations collected cans throughout the week and built a structure.  The cans will be going to the Denton Community Food Center.  On Wednesday night, the college had game night which could not be at a better time since I had a class at night that was having a homework session.  During the break I was able to go downstairs, eat a lot of pizza, and tryout the Xbox Kinect for the first time.  The Kinect made for good workout after eating.  Thusday was the engineering career fair in which various companies from around the DFW area came out looking for student internships and full time positions.  It was a pretty good event that gives students a chance to network and practice interviewing skills.  Tomorrow will be community outreach for a school out in the area.  This will give engineering students a chance to talk with children and teach them a little about engineering and possibly encourage them to one day study it.

As you can see Engineers Week at Discovery Park has a lot for students, faculty, and staff to do.

Fight the Good Fight

Ya Boy Archie Wright! 

Construction at UNT

Walking around campus I have seen a lot of construction in the area.  A lot of construction has been taking place on and around the UNT main campus.  One of the major construction projects taking place right now is the construction of the new football stadium that is set to open in the Fall 2011 for UNT’s football season.  The new stadium is supposed to be Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certified and be constructed of recycled material.  The new stadium will also contain solar panels and wind turbines to help supply the stadium with electric power.  I usually see the stadium every time I am driving up to Discovery Park and it looks pretty good.  Now all we need to do is win games next year and it’ll look great!

 

Another construction project going on at UNT is the construction of the new business building near Kerr Hall.  This building is also expected to be LEED Gold Certified and able to accommodate about 8,000 students.  The new business building is set to open in the summer of 2011.  

 

The next construction project at UNT is they are fixing the pipes and replacing the old ones with new ones.  All throughout the main area of campus, big pipes are laid on the grass and big sections of the campus green are blocked off due to big holes in the ground.  Hopefully they will complete it soon because Habitat for Humanity usually host a Shack-a-Thon in the spring where various organizations build dwellings out of cardboard boxes and try to live in them.  I did it last year and it was pretty fun sleeping out there.

 

One of the final construction projects that I always see at UNT when taking the bus home from campus is a new frat house being built on frat row.  I am not sure what Frat is going to move in but from what it looks like they’ll probably be moving in the summer or fall of 2011.

 

These are all construction projects I see on a daily basis while going to and from the UNT campus.  While these construction projects will look nice in the future when they are complete, they are currently eye sores.  There are so many machines and orange construction signs it is ridiculous.  I can’t wait till they get done. 

 

Until then I’ll stay at Discovery Park where it is mostly nice and quiet.

 

Fight the Good Fight (and finish with the construction)

Ya Boy Archie Wright!

Back on the Grind

So this has been the first full week of school after being away for almost a whole week two weeks ago and Wednesday of last week.  The weather has greatly improved and the temperature has been around in the 70s this whole week.  Though the snow was fun, I am kind of glad to be back at school.  Being inside for long periods of time gave me a little cabin fever.  This has also been the first time in months that I have been able wear shorts.  Hopefully I can get free time on Sunday to go outside and play or go to the Pohl Rec Center and exercise.

 

From what it looks like, school will finally be in full swing and I will finally be back to studying every night.  That statement is, however, debatable because Texas weather always varies and can change rapidly.  I remember back in freshman year when it snowed on one night in March, the next day it was sunny and hot, and the day afterward, it snowed a few inches.  I will never understand the weather patterns of Texas.

 

With the end of all the snow breaks, my first round of tests are coming up for classes so most of my time will be spent trying to study for them and making sure I stay ahead in my classes. Overall most professors have found ways to circumvent the snow situations and the class is pretty much back on schedule.  Despite the setback due to the snow storm, things are getting back to normal and the semester will continue to be in full swing and back on the grind.

 

Fight the Good Fight

Ya Boy Archie Wright!

Thomas Edison’s Legacy through Electrical Engineers

There’s an interesting fact to note.  Thomas Edison’s 164^th birthday was February 11.  Edison, along with Greg Ohm, Michael Faraday, and many others are responsible for the development of the electrical engineering field.  Had Edison been alive today, I’m sure he most likely would be thrilled by how some of his almost 1500 patents have evolved. 

Even though Edison is widely known for his invention of the incandescent light bulb, which is different from the  first light bulb invented 50 years earlier, there are many other inventions by Edision that have evolved with the help of electrical engineers into modern day devices.  The phonograph, which is a record player and one of Edison’s inventions, helped in the development of music players.  Today the phonograph music player has evolved into Ipods and MP3 players.  Another one of Edison’s inventions was the kinetiscope which was an early motion picture player.  Like the phonograph, the kinetiscope has developed and evolved to form today’s Blue-Ray and DVD players.

Despite all of the success Edison had, he also had several failures.  Fortunately Edison did not let failure get to him which ultimately led to his overall success as an inventor.  So for Thomas Edison’s birthday remember someone who learned to conquer failure and rise above it.  Everyone is going to fail at least once in their life.  The true test of your character is how well you overcome failure. 

In the words of Thomas Edison,

“I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward.”

and

"I have not failed.  I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work"

Fight the Good Fight

Ya Boy Archie Wright!

The Great Super Bowl Break at North Texas

This past week the North Texas area experienced one strange occurrence which I term the Great Super Bowl Break.  Here is my take on the Great Super Bowl Break.

The Great Super Bowl Break began late Monday night when UNT officials gave out an Eagle Alert. For those who do not know, the Eagle Alert is a way the University gets in contact with the students at North Texas in cases of extreme weather or other emergencies  They usually email, text, or call to let you know that school is out.  Anyway, the Eagle Alert system called me late Monday night saying school was out on Tuesday.  To celebrate the start of the Great Super Bowl Break, I stayed up late and slept in late.  On Tuesday morning I awoke to heavy snow fall in the area and another joyous call from the Eagle Alert saying classes were out the next day.  The Eagle Alerts continued throughout the rest of the week.  The break from school gave me ample time to catch up on sleep, watch television, and hang out with friends. 

The Great Super Bowl break ended Sunday with the Super Bowl XLV game.  Sunday’s game was the cherry on top of the Great Super Bowl Break.  Two great teams played and the team I was going for won.  There were also some pretty good commercials throughout the night.  My favorite commercial of the night was a tie between the Beaver Karma and the Chrysler 200 imported from Detroit video with Eminem.

The Great Super Bowl Break at North Texas will go down as one of the most memorable times I had while in college because I have never been out of school at North Texas for almost an entire week.  Like any other break here comes the dreaded part where I have to go back to school.

 

Fight the Good Fight

Ya Boy Archie Wright!