Optimization Project

Hey everyone! So, I'm working on a class project right now where I'm trying to optimize the combination of games and food available on the midway at a carnival or fair. I need some data for my model to work. It would be great if anybody reading this could complete a little survey found at the link at the bottom of this post. It's only 10 questions on one page. Thanks for your help!

Click here to take survey

Apollo 13

Today's BYU forum was one of the neatest one's I've been to in a long time. Captain James Lovell, commander of Apollo 13, came and spoke to us today. His address was titled "Apollo 13: A Successful Failure." He pretty much told the story of the Apollo 13 mission from his point of view, which was a pretty amazing one.

I had heard the story of Apollo 13 before. I've seen the movie quite a few times. This was a completely different experience. It was just so fascinating to look at him and think that he was actually one of the astronauts in trouble up there. To think that he had lived it. Not only that, but he is quite the story teller and has gotten quite good at sharing this experience of his.

I don't know if any audio or video files of this forum will be posted online. Sometimes they are, sometimes they aren't. I think it has to do with whether or not the speaker will let BYU put it up. Anyway, if they are put up, I highly recommend checking it out.

High Pass!!!

This afternoon, at around 2:48 PM, I sighed a giant sigh of relief. I got a high pass on my qualifier exams! I'm not sure what else there is to say about that except that I'm very happy to know that I won't need to take them again next year and I won't have to worry about doing a masters thesis before my dissertation. What a great day.

It's Out of My Hands Now

About 40 minutes ago I turned in the last of my qualifier exams. It's a great feeling to be done. The only problem now is that I have to wait until Wednesday to see my results.

If you wondering what the qualifier exams are, let me tell you. Last semester I took 3 classes that every ChE grad student takes during their first year of grad school. The semester after taking these classes, students take the qualifier exams. These exams are based on the 3 classes of the previous semester. They are taken over 3 days (3 hours each day) and each day has one question from one each of the 3 classes. There are a lot of 3's in this paragraph. The exams are graded, then based on a combination of your exam score and your GPA from the previous semester, the faculty decide if you deserve a High Pass, Pass, or Fail. High Pass means that you qualify for the PhD program, Pass is for the Masters program. Fail means that you qualify to be kicked out. If I don't get a High Pass, I'll need to get a Masters degree first and retake the qualifiers next year to try to get into the PhD program. I don't want to do that.

Anyway, I've known for over a year that I'd be taking these exams, but they've been weighing down on me pretty heavily the last couple of weeks. It's such a nice feeling to be done. There's nothing more I can do about it. I just have to wait and see what my future will hold for me now.

I'll Have Something Soon

So, I need to apologize for not posting anything on here in a while. Things have just been kind of crazy the last couple of weeks with a project, midterm, crazy homework assignments and trying to prepare for my qualifier exams that start tomorrow and finish on Saturday. I guess I can let you know that my ear is feeling better now. Just over a week ago I was sitting in church and my ear popped all of a sudden and I could hear again. It was amazing. I turned to tell the people sitting next to me and they just laughed at me.

Anyway, I need to get going and study some more. I'll have something more interesting up here soon.