Green Government

UNT ain't such a mean place, despite what everybody says about us. You know, Mean Green? In fact, I take the Mean Green bus route to class every morning. I've never been threatened or hurt on the bus, for that matter. I think it's kind of nice being green. And no matter what Kermit tells you, it really isn't that hard being green.

Green

Why the Green talk? University of North Texas students are voting on a proposed tuition fee of an extra $5 that has been dubbed the "Green Fee" to "support environmental improvements and sustainability efforts on campus. Ideas could include a student-run sustainable garden or additional trees, solar panels on buildings, a composting center or improved recycling equipment." (Source).

The vote will take place from April 19 - 23. If you are a current UNT Student, go to the Student Government Association site that week to vote.

Speaking of the SGA site, there are referendums and senator elections going on right now! This week, vote for your major's representatives and for who should be the president/vice president of the SGA!

As for the school of Engineering, there is only one student running for a seat - Jasmine Breedlove! I guess she wins since no one else decided to run against her. Represent us well Jasmine! To be honest, I didn't know anything about the SGA until last week. So now I'm passing on the word to you.

Geeks of The Future

I'd like to ask, who invented 3D goggles? Or 3D in general. I know we started off with those neat blue and red glasses that were just pieces of plastic taped over a cardboard cutout that we could put on and pretend everything was in 3D. Let's be real with ourselves though: those things didn't work worth diddly. In addition, we looked like goof balls wearing them.

Sweet, Rad Racer 3D on the NES!

Fast forward two and a half decades and we have 3D TVs coming into homes! And this time they actually give a satisfying 3D effect. One thing is still troubling me though. And it's obvious that this was a bunch of nerds designing these because... well just take a look:

Here's a picture of me with my usual shades. I'm so stylin

3D Glasses^^

See the problem? Watching 3D TV isn't something you can do and cook dinner, or something you can have on in the background while hanging out with people or throwing a party. It's an experience you must set everything else aside for to enjoy. Even watching movies with your significant other may take a way more exciting shift as you look at each other wearing these glasses, and see who can pull off the best Zing on the other! Seriously I look like an Android or something wearing those.

I'm not sure why they're so clunky, large, and just overall unappealing. Today's engineers are on the right track, for sure, but there is something lacking. Something that a strictly engineering major may not be able to catch or care about in the first place. Thankfully, UNT has a healthy balance of Engineers, Radio/TV/Film, and Art majors to balance out this act. Had 3D glasses been born at UNT, I'm sure there would have been a fantastic compromise, and we'd have something more akin to the Star Trek glasses from the movies. Now those are something I could wear around the house.

Break Time's Over

I hope everyone had a refreshing Spring Break. By the obvious absence of posts recently, I can assure you I did. What made it so great? I'm glad you asked. Even if you didn't ask, here's why:

My roommate and I went to downtown Dallas last weekend. We didn't travel further than a mile away from the dorms over the break, so we figured before school started back up, we were going to make a road trip. And a road trip did we make

A small one, to be sure, but one none the less. We visited North and Downtown Dallas areas to see what the city was all about. An interesting place, to be sure. We rode the Red Line DART rail to downtown Dallas. Speaking of DART, they are expanding closer to Denton! The Green Line will be making its way toward Denton

Alright so President George Bush Turnpike isn't quite Denton, but we're getting there. It's always an interesting experience to take public transit to hot destinations downtown. One of these days perhaps I'll see a Mavericks game..

All in all, my Spring Break was pretty grand, so thank your for asking. I did spend a significant chunk of it catching up on some Information Systems classwork. Our site was knocked for a loop, but it's back up and running to be sure.

Class doesn't wait up for anyone though, and we're back in the game!

Remember: FAFSA deadline is June 30!

Keep Denton Beautiful

This weekend, I volunteered at Keep Denton Beautiful's "Great American Cleanup"


It wasn't required for a class, I didn't get sentenced to community service, and no one paid me to do it, I just volunteered... My roommate however, was required to, as it was part of a class he is in. I decided to tag along!
We spent the morning, from 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM cleaning up the town. Any place as big as Denton will need a cleanup every once and a while, so I was happy to play my part. I won't say I enjoy cleaning up after others, as others should not arbitrarily be throwing their lottery tickets and beer bottles out their car windows. But if it means a greener society, then I am willing to spend some time. Had I not come along, my roommate would have been by himself. Cleaning a city requires at least one other person to tag along, I was happy to oblige.

I'd say this is the best piece of trash I found

All in all, it was a successful day. Any day of picking up trash for a cleaner Earth is a successful day, mind you. I've always heard you can learn a lot from a person's trash. Well you can learn a lot more about a society by its trash as well. For example, Dentonites love their lottery tickets, 7-11 drinks, and beverages.


Anyway, we had 4 bags to turn in at the end. Two trash bags, two recycling. It was nice seeing so many people come together and clean up a city. There should be more Great American Cleanup days! I encourage everyone out there to lend a hand as well!! Besides, it looks fantastic on college applications, job applications, and girlfriend scholarship applications.

Genius

As part of going to college, you get to learn how to deal with all sorts of situations you never thought you would have had to. Deciding whether sleep or homework is more important, saying bye to friends at 1 in the morning as opposed to 4 in the morning, and dealing with washed ipods

Yes indeed, I washed my ipod in the pocket of one of my pants. As by a miracle of some sort of supreme being, or corporation which makes decent (lol) hardware, the device is still fully functional... well... with the exception of one significant caveat - the Wifi doesn't work... That's the #2 thing I liked about the ipod. The #1 must be the music browsing/playing software on it. I like just searching for the song I want to hear instead of sifting through long lists of MP3s and artists. I wish the Android had something akin to this.

So what's the first thing I do with broken Apple equipment? Take it to the Apple Store! Granted I hate the Apple store. I have fun whenever I'm in there, for sure, but most of the time it's cracking jokes about their store. For example, here's a picture of the Apple Store's wall of software:

An entire wall just for software for your Mac. I didn't know they could fill up an entire wall!! hahahahahaha

*wipes tear* ah that was a good one. Get it? Macs don't have that much software so to fill up an entire wall of Mac OSX software is so surp-....

ah ehm well.. I think you get it.

No but seriously we went there and spoke to a sales associate about my ipod. He said he wasn't sure what he could do for me, and that I had to speak with a tech support guy Genius rep to figure out what was wrong with it. Why do they call themselves Geniuses? To me it shouts many things, but for the sake of this blog, I'll go ahead and just say that that's what people perceive techies and engineers to be. Between the Geek Squad and the Genius Bar, nerds are the go-to people for anything you're not sure of. Another reason I'm confident in my decision to study in engineering and IT!!

Midnight Snack

Sometimes there's just not enough time in the day. In high school, I felt like there was too much time in the day. I'd spend 7-8 hours on campus at high school, and I was about ready to yank the hair off my head. There was also a notable amount of homework in high school, which added another hour or 2 onto the grand total amount of time I spent on school related things in high school.

Now try college. Community college was a step up from high school I guess, but in most cases was the same feeling. Drive to campus, listen to lectures, drive home, do homework, repeat.

UNT, however, is a game changer. Any 4 year school would be I imagine. I spend 24 hours of my day on campus and I still don't have enough time to do all my stuff it seems. From the moment the alarm sounds in the morning, it's go go go. And if there's anything I hate most, it's missing class. Sometimes I don't have enough time to even eat! Which is when this place comes in handy:


Eggs, OJ, steak tips, French Toast, Hash Browns?? There's only one joint in town that can provide me all this at 1 in the morning... Of course it's IHop! It's a 10 minute walk or 2 minute drive. The staff is funny and the food is always good and available. To be honest, I'm not sure how long the on campus cafeterias are open, but this place is open 24/7. There is one thing missing from this picture... and I'll bet you've already spotted it. Yes it's the pancakes. I always swap out the pancakes for the french toast.. You'll even notice some strawberry and grape jelly sitting to the side. Indeed that is for my french toast! Perhaps I could beg my parents for a gift card to IHop, because my roommate and I hit up this joint all the time!

Also, if you've ever mixed half n half with orange juice, I swear it tastes just like a Creamsicle.

Engineering Week

So today when I walked into Research Park, I was pleasantly surprised to see dozens of well known companies lined up waiting to chat with the brightest upcoming minds in North Texas! Alright so I wasn't surprised (I've known about the event for weeks!), but I was still happy to see such a wide variety of businesses, interests, and knowledge base gathered in one room. If you submitted your resume, you have a chance to be interviewed by any of the 2 dozen companies present, as well as a chance to jump start your career in your engineering field!


There were lots of companies here; let's go over the full list, just for good practice:

1. American Airlines
2. Argo Data Resource Corporation
3. Austin Commericial
4. Bell Helicopter Textron Inc.
5. CA
6. CareSmart Solutions
7. Constructors & Associates
8. Dibon Solutions
9. DRS RSTA - Infrared Technologies
10. Fidelity Investments
11. Freese and Nichols
12. Frito-Lay
13. Hispanic Associateion of Colleges and Universities
14. L-3 Communications Integrated Sys.
15. Labinal, Inc.
    
16. Lennox International
17. Oncor Electricity Delivery
18. PepsiCo
19. Raytheon
20. Texas Teaching Fellows/NTP
21. Tyler Technologies
22. Vought Aircraft Inc.
23. Weber Aircraft
24. United States Navy
25. UNT Army ROTC

The first thing you'll notice is that there is a very wide variety of companies. There were several technology firms, tech consulting firms, as well as weapons manufacturing companies, aviation companies, a softdrink company, the US Navy, and many more. What do all these companies need with engineers, computer scientists, and network analysts? Well, just about everything. The only fields really projected for growth in the next decade are Engineering related fields, and medical related fields. In fact, with the baby boomer generation diving into retirement in the next decade, it's obvious as to why this is. But engineers and tech savvy individuals are also going to be in high demand. Looking at just about any field - you can draw a link between tech and the aforementioned profession.

Take the soda or snack food company - there were a couple of those present today. These are perfect examples of companies that need IT analysts, computer programmers, and project managers for managing all of their remote offices and keeping their networks up and running

Next, the aviation companies. Aircraft is an excellent example of innovative engineering and clever programming and networking technologies. All come together to form the biggest and baddest flying machines out there today. In addition to the need for engineers to think , aviation companies also need programmers and IT management professionals to keep their offices running as well

Of course we can't forget about the US. Navy. The Navy is probably where most of the cutting edge technology ends up - especially tech that the public isn't even aware of. Raytheon should not be neglected, especially, as Raytheon manufactures many radar and radio systems, communications, missile defense systems, and other technologies used in the military. I actually used to live next to a prominent Raytheon leader named Al. He had an adorable dog named Winston, and a lovely house in a modest neighborhood. I was in middle school, though, so I had no idea what Raytheon was, much less what a prominent figure he was. Men in camouflage uniforms used to come by our house and question my parents once or twice a year about his activities...

Anyway, to say the least, just about any degree field in the College of Engineering is a direct pathway to success. When I spoke with the Raytheon associate, he mentioned that GPA is an important indication of work ethic and intellect, but also that prospective students and freshmen should also prepare for a life of learning. Looking ahead, I can already tell I will never stop learning. That's probably the most appealing thing to me about engineering - constant learning.

Also, for all prospective students of UNT, and UNT College of Engineering in particular, the freshman Fall 2010 application deadline is March 1!! UNT Site for more info