Harder, better, faster, stronger

Well, these past couple of days have been interesting, both in and out of iFoundry. I had a pretty fun weekend overall, having s'mores, watching Dr. Who, playing rockband, going on a cornmaze, and just hanging out with friends. The only real bummer of the weekend was my physics exam grade and unwanted visitors....
Sunday evening, the team I'm in for the Eng 198 project decided to meet to work on our project report. So we spent about an hour working on it, arguing over what narration we should use (you say 3rd person, I say first person, etc.), and generally causing mayhem at Grainger. Then some of the group members had a revelation that in order to finish writing the report, we needed to test the car. It was about five minutes after 5pm, and the lab was going to close at 7pm. On top of all of that, we didn't have a key to open the drawer to our project in the ESPL. Eventually, everything worked itself out. We were able to work with our project and fix some minor errors, with Pete Dragic's help, of course. He had a lot of great advice, and we definitely maximized on that. After helping with the Eng 198 project, I booked it over to the undergraduate library to work on a German project. And then I went home.
Today was pretty busy. In the morning, I went as a group with SWE to a kindergarten classroom. We talked a little about what engineers do. Then they went to work on building lego towers that could withstand an "earthquake" (being shaken by the SWE students). It was fun to see all of the kids working hard on with the legos, and I think some of them learned a little about what makes a structure sound. Even though it was at 8:30 in the morning, visiting the kindergarten class really made my day. At 2pm, I had lunch with some of the other iChairs, Karen, and Professor Goldberg. We talked about what the iCommunities would be doing next semester and how our class could participate still in the iCommunities next year. I like the idea of being just a "social member" for next year. Also, we talked about some of the problems with the iTeams, mostly regarding scope of projects and attendance. AED has been experiencing a bit of a drop in attendance, but that's okay. If folks genuinely dislike AED, then it's probably not a good idea to let bad vibes simmer in the meeting. As to scope, I think AED's doing pretty well. We're not overreaching, but we're getting things done. At first, we wanted to design a whole new product or put something into a design competition. These ideas, for now, are kind of on the back burner while we focus on our iCOAs, the iCheckpoint, and doing social stuff together. I think meeting in the product dissection lab will be a real benefit to AED, though. It can stimulate the creative process!
I'm getting a bit off track. Sorry. This afternoon, I also had Eng 198 at the ESPL. We finally got our car to run! I was so excited. To add to the ambiance, some of the other team members played elevator music and Daft Punk songs. Yeah, we're kind of strange.... At 5pm I had a physics lab, which was ok.
This week is going to teach me the meaning of time management. Wednesday night, to use one example, I am triple booked: AED meeting from 5-7, SWE meeting at 6, and Concert band concert at 7pm. Then there are meetings with AED folks, a German project meeting, a barn dance, classes, and other stuff. I am maximizing the potential of my iTouch Calender. But I kind of like being busy; it keeps me focused on what's important and keeps my mind off of trivialities. Well, I got a German midterm to study for and a World Religions essay to write. Until next time, keep your stick on the ice!