October 11, 2014

Midterms are over.  I feel pretty good.  Today I helped the civil engineering bridge and canoe presentations for high school students engineering day at the University.  

Over this fall break, work and trying to finish some school work in advance will be a high priority.   I only need 3 more courses and then I graduate!

weeks of work

I am very appreciative of my internship and I have enjoyed it very much.  It makes me feel very happy.  It's been three and a half weeks and I have loved every minute of it.  It is something I have wanted to do for so many years and it is something my own.  I love being able to go back to our family business on Friday to help out but it is nice having something that I worked for that's all my own

summertime

The spring semester has ended and summer has begun.  I am taking three online classes to complete the diversity, international, and third fine arts requirements.  Lucky for me I came from a very diverse background that made these courses an easy pick and not too overwhelming.  I am looking forward to the fall semester!

Semester nearly over

Wow!  One final away from spring semester being completed.  Fall semester will be difficult with five courses, a lab, and seminar and captaining the concrete canoe team.  And I still have to complete editing the conference paper that I ended up volunteering to do.  It seems like I can't help but want to be a part of things.  A lot of students claim they don't have time for anything, and wonder how I have time with a full load (and hard course combinations), work, and the extra ASCE things.  My answer:  I make time.  I don't mess around.  I do work on the train ride, I do work before class.  I used to work 7 am to 8 pm sometimes taking night, online, weekend classes full time!

You could say I am ambitious... And hardworking.  Determined.

So this next year will be a blast.  Hopefully I qualify and join an engineering firm over the summer and can swing my crazy schedule still.  I bet I can.

I am excited to see what the future holds.

presentations, presentations

Tomorrow I have two presentations back to back on totally different topics.  The first is for my tech comm class:  water quality analysis report by clean water solutions, which is our made-up company.  We were basically given a report and had to write our own report based off of it and give a presentation.  It is supposed to give us real life practice.

The other presentation is for ASCE.  I am giving a presentation with my co-captain for the 2015 competition about what our plans are and attempting to recruit interested individuals.
I made a slide show to give students a better idea of what exactly we are doing.  It will be fun and I hope that more students are interested this next academic year so we can really do great.

With finals and projects due right around the corner, I hope that I can keep ahead of the game and do well.  I am floating so close to a 3.8, or 4.0 that I am cringing!  I just need to do well on my exam tomorrow and finals and final projects.

Wish me luck!
Krystal

Colorado state competition

The competition at Colorado was intense.  Our steel bridge failed by only 25 pounds due to a defective weld.  The construction team did amazing with their time though.

Our concrete canoe cracked in transport in several areas and we ended up taping it to our mold.  It was approved and we raced anyway and brought home a spirit of the competition award.  The canoes other schools do are amazing.  Next year I know more and want to do well.

We learned a lot and had a lot of fun.  My body is exhausted and I didn't have time to finish all my homework.  However, it was definitely worth the experience.  I have a lot to catch up on though..

Next year we CAN be a competitive force.  I know what to do and I want to do well.  Next year is in New Mexico so it will be warmer.  It was quite cold this time.

Wish us luck for next year!

Competition time

Its been a hectic few weeks: surprising my father for his birthday, appointments, stepson coming to town, getting sick, shool, and work.  Today we pack up the concrete canoe and some of us leave today, some leave tomorrow morning for Colorado.

The trip to Colorado will be exciting and I hope I can see my cousin who lives just 50 minutes away from the competition site.

Our steel bridge is also competing and I am excited to see how it does. I was lucky enough to be able to be part of both teams this year so I am definitely rooting for everyone.

I will update this during or after the competition!

To all the competitors at the races and bridge: Ganbatte!  Good luck!

I almost forgot, I can't take steel 2 so I am a little bummed.  Since less students are taking some classes, they are only available in the fall and I can't fit anymore classes into the fall that I already am!

Tomorrow is the day we pour the concrete canoe!  I am excited and hope that it will come out well.

I have also decided to switch structural analysis 2 for steel 2 in my future class schedule.  My professor told me if I can only pick one, it would be better to do structural analysis 2 if I was planning to get my masters which I am not planning to do.  Besides, steel 2 will include more connections which I am interested in.

Spring break has begun, since my classes are over for the day.

Now I have my eye on two companies.  I hope still for my first choice, but we will see what happens.  Most firms are based in Salt Lake.

Time

Full weekend.  Friday after class worked on the concrete canoe.  Saturday morning went to the school to work on the steel bridge.  Helped move my husband's cousin.  Birthday party too.  Somehow I still find time to do homework, work, and spend time with my husband and family.  I am very excited to visit my family in two weeks.  I don't get to visit them much so it is really nice.

I am excited to get the canoe going and maybe this summer I can make more concrete flowers and maybe some steel ones too.  I do not have a green thumb but I can make ones that will not need to be watered.

There is a lot to do with school and work.  We are so busy at the shop!  Tomorrow will be a good day.  Sleep well everyone.

The Career I Chose

    The early morning train ride (5:45) to Salt Lake City helps to give me time to ponder my life and the path that I have chosen.  This may be the same route I take to work someday; same times, same general area.

    I do hope that I am able to work closer to home.  I am actually going to apply to one particular place I have known about and had my eye on for years in about a week.  No job posting yet, but I am hoping that sending information in will give me a leg up.  Is it better to do this than wait and see what is available though?  If I end up just doing photocopying and lunch runs for the company at first that would be okay too.

    It can be so nerve wracking.  Every job I have applied for but one, I have gotten.  But they have never been exactly in engineering; Sales, construction, service.  Now it is harder.  I'm not in high school anymore.  It's not just a job anymore it's my career.  My hopes are high and I hope that I will find what I am looking for.

Veterans

So instead of going to work on the steel bridge yesterday, our band played a benefit show in Spanish fork at like 2.  It was for the veterans and ended up going in the Daily Herald.  It felt so good to give veterans a day of entertainment and a couple of them stood up to dance.  A group came from a care home so for them to be out and taken care of was so nice to see.  One man, Ken, that had danced came up to us with his walker just so excited and happy about getting to hear some live music.  Rockabilly style.  I gave him a big hug and he gave me a kiss on the head.  I would say it was worth it to play for sure.  He also told me about someone that had offered him opera singing lessons and he wishes he had done it.  

Music brings people together.  I love it.

On another note, a man, Scott Wilson I believe, called my husband about an ordaining and ironically he works at Horrocks, which is where I have wanted to work.

Also, I spent the rest of Saturday helping wire a 58? Ford.

This was a good weekend.

Ideas

Sadly my concrete flower got knocked off its table and broke at the school.  That's ok though.  I can make some cool ones with more experience and make that be my garden since I don't seem to have a green thumb.

I went to the steel bridge and part of the concrete canoe meetings.  I'm excited because on Monday we are de-molding the canoe fiberglass mold and I will be able to help since I don't have lab.

This week is nearly over and all I need to do is study for my  Environmental engineering exam and do a Tech comm worksheet.  My steel project is as far as I can go and all other work is done.  Hopefully new assignments get posted tomorrow so I have something to do on the train ride though I could always research into Revit.

It's a snowy Thursday.  Drive safe everyone.

Not sick and feeling good

Wow!  It felt so good to have all those assignments completed and turned in and to be able to practically finish my steel design newly assigned just on the train ride.  AutoCAD took a few days to load correctly.  I want to learn Revit so that I could use it too.

Even though there's a lot more work this semester and I have less time to do it, I feel pretty confident.  I need to make sure my formatting is correct though; I lost 8 points!  Transferring made it a little difficult because the format requirements are different but I know that I will get it down.  This last assignment has already seemed easier to remember the format.

Time to do some enviro.  This blog is nice for putting down thoughts.  One more year of school and I can start a full career!

late night and plans

I struggled a little, being sick and everything, with completing all of my assignments this week.  I must say I enjoy my Steel design class, but this first assignment was hard for me to focus on until today due to a consistent throbbing in my head and sinuses.  Once I felt better, late Tuesday night, I was excited to finally be back up to par.

Last semester I created a concrete flower project and I hope to add a steel flower to the pot this year.  If not, perhaps I can do a better looking flower.  My plan is to add a new piece every semester I am at the U as it proudly sits in the College of Engineering office.

It is late and class is early tomorrow but I just had to write my thoughts and quiet my mind; I was just doing a bunch of geotech homework.

Here's my concrete / fix-all flower