A Few Long Days Later...

The time I have spent on DBF has increased significantly in the past few days. After a superlong work day on Tuesday (that included a fireworks show when the battery wires got crossed - one fuse down) and a few more hours on Wednesday, our plane was ready for a taxi/flight test! Here's a picture of her, skin on and ready to go, and the inside of the fuselage with some wiring (that hooks up my motor and prop to my batteries!!).

We took her outside to the parking lot for her taxi test, and she performed beautifully! I have a video of it on my phone, so when I am home next I will have to show you all.

Finally, we were ready for a flight test. 10 of us loaded into cars and drove out to the Brazil airport. Unfortunately, a cropduster was using the runway and we had to wait for our turn to use the airstrip. We did get to see the cropduster land and take off multiple times, and we saw the air rescue helicopter come in and land. After three hours of waiting, the guys filling the cropduster with his fertilizer told us they would be done about 4:30. I had to work at 5, however, and it was a 20-30 minute drive back, so several of us had to leave. While we were gone, the runway finally opened up. Our team got the plane lined up on the runway and opened up the throttle. In the competition, our runway is limited to 75 feet. Our plane (shown in the next picture) took off in about 40. :) !!! Way to go, team!

Only a few seconds later....

She took a nose dive almost as soon as our pilot adjusted the control surfaces. It seems to be an instability issue with the plane, or perhaps she stalled because the take-off angle was too steep. We will be problem-solving more today to fix her. The competition is April 18th.

All in all, I'm very excited that she took off! That means the prop/batteries/motor are all working as we hoped. However, there are major problems to fix and all that work we just completed will have to be done again. This is a good step in the right direction, however, and I'll keep you posted as we near competition time. The competition will be held in Wichita, KS.

Also, T and I are heading to Florida on Sunday for break. We will be interviewing, house shopping, and relaxing. I also have to learn to drive a stick, since we will be taking the bug down there. Love y'all, see you soon!

I Feed 13 Cannibals!

Check this out!

Courtesy of T's roommate.

Change of Pace

Just wanted a new post on here. There's not much new to say; I am working at night and doing schoolwork all the other times. Our senior design project is planning on flying next week, our first trial flight. :) Our first machine design exam is tomorrow, so I need to review for that. Otherwise, I am just applying for jobs and attempting to keep the dishes from piling up. Hope to see some of you soon. Have a great Easter weekend!

It's been a frustrating week so far, and it's only Tuesday. I find out how much more I have to learn every day, and it doesn't quite seem fair. Once, back in youth group at Inland Manor, Mr. Elwood told us all about when he went to college (also at Rose, although it was Rose Polytechnic back then). He said that when he first went to school, he thought he knew everything. After each year, he got slightly dumber. He said by the time he graduated, he thought he knew nothing. Well, that's about where I'm at right now, and he was right on track.

I got called in to work today, so I'm headed to work in a few minutes. It's also Andy's birthday, and he is coming to the restaurant to celebrate, so hopefully I will get a few minutes off to sit with the group and say hi, since I was supposed to sit and eat with them.

I hope it stops raining, it's going to be a nasty walk!

Gun Shoot

Tobin and I went to the Rose open gun shoot on Saturday. It was so fun! I got to shoot a handgun (45) and watched Tobin shoot a 9 mm handgun. We spent a lot of time with the shotguns. I tried a 20g and a 12g. With the 20, I actually hit a few of the clay birdies!!! I was surprised and very excited. The 12 was heavier and I did more damage to my shoulder than the clay birdies, that's for sure. Then I got to shoot a rifle. It was called a 30-06, which I have no idea what that means, but it was HUGE. I had to prop it on bags and sit to shoot it. It only took four rounds in the clip, but that was plenty. The bullets were so big! It sounded like a cannon to me, but then again I haven't heard very many guns before. Anyways, four shots was more than enough for my shoulder. I had no idea if I hit the targets or not; I had everything lined up in the scope, but after I pulled the trigger I just tried to stay in my seat and make sure the gun didn't jump off the bags, so I never saw anything happen to the targets. The other rifles I shot were the 22's, and those are fun little guys. I shot at little rubber rabbits hanging by their ears, lol! It was a lot easier to hit a target with those lighter guns. All in all, it was really fun and I can't wait to shoot again! I'll update more another time. Later!

License

I got a new driver's license today! My new name/address is on it. The BMV people looked really confused when they realized T and I live at different addresses. I didn't try to explain it to them. Takes too long. Anyways, the license looks totally different than my old one (and it's pink on the top!). Does anyone know if the new licenses are blue for boys and pink for girls, or are they all pink on the top?

I'm running in a race with Em on May 10th....fun stuff! I really should start training for it. I don't think I'll be setting any records in this race, I just want to finish and have some fun with Em waaaay up north. Hope you see you all soon!

Mysterious Diseases

My car is on the fritz again. :( It doesn't like to start for some reason or another. Hopefully it will start when the weather gets warmer. Oh and a piece of the front bumper removed itself partially from the rest of the bumper and drags on the ground when the car decides to start. So I need to cut that off too. Phooey.

BUT on the bright side, it will be warmer soon(ish) and I can ride a bike to Rose and walk to work. Good thing Kroger's within walking distance too!

AND I sorta have an interview down South when Tobin and I head there for spring break. :) Ain't it great?!

Learning Arabic 101

Had my first lesson in Arabic today. Wow, it's going to be tough, that's for sure. Rosetta Stone uses an immersion approach to learning languages, and I'm feeling a little overwhelmed at the moment. I knew absolutely nothing about Arabic and by the end of lesson one I was just guessing randomly. I'll be going over that lesson again when my brain doesn't hurt as much. It's really a neat program and I am excited to use it and to learn a new language, but I have a feeling the first few weeks will cause headaches. Once I can get past the initial not-knowing-anything feeling, I think it will get a lot better. Oh and all of the letters look the same, isn't that fun?

One cool thing is a keyboard applique provided in the package. I have Arabic letters and symbols on my keyboard now! I don't know how to use them, what they mean, or how to switch my keyboard function to Arabic, but that will come later. Right now it just looks cool.

I'll let you all know as I improve. Maybe soon I'll just chatter away in Arabic. Maybe. At least the numbers are the same.

Final Quarter

Check out the last post to see how the honeymoon went. :) It was fun, wish there were lots of honeymoons in life.

So, I have a slightly easier quarter ahead of me, and I needed a hobby. I decided to learn Arabic, and ordered the software which should be arriving tomorrow or the day after. :) Super excited! I will also be finishing up my senior design project and taking two light classes at Rose as well as doing work study, my restaurant job, and looking for a full-time job down South.

We are still wrapping some wedding things up, but TY notes are almost all out and we have most of our returns done. We just have to purchase needed household items but will probably wait until we move to do that. We will mostly be getting necessary things, but there is a certain TV we both fell in love with that might get purchased as well. Maybe.

Now Tobin and I are getting adjusted to married life in separate houses, and we're looking forward to the day when we'll have our own place together.