Surviver!

School is keeping me on my toes for the time at hand, in that this is the end of the semester and things are getting a bit more hectic now. Luckily I am keeping my grades at A's for now, and hope to retain that until the end! Physics is the easiest at this point because I previously took the class in high school, and it is the exact same material (we are using a high school book - it wants us to send a letter to our grandpa...). In our electronics classes we are learning how to use microchips to take a 4-digit binary number 0110 and cause it to light up a 7-segment display (the displays in digital clocks and calculators). It is getting to the point where they have said that we can make a digital alarm clock and have the ability to set a time for the buzzer to wake you up. Cool huh?

The weather has been getting a ton better here in that walking to the bus stop no longer freezes my daily motivation. I recently went on a walk at a place similar to the Nature Park in Rexburg, and it was very nice to enjoy the warmth that I really missed.

Tutoring is as interesting as it will ever be. I only have one dedicated person showing up everyday, whom is my best friend here, and others will pop in randomly. The ex-veteran that I am private tutoring has been demanding more and more of my time everyday! He has been picking me up from my apartment at 6:20 in the morning, and then we go to campus and tutor until 8:00 (we both have our classes at that time). We are technically taking the same classes (different professors), and his whole class is a day ahead of the the others... including ours. This causes me to be unable to answer all of his questions, but I do my best to make sense of the homework that he is given.

I was able to spend General Conference weekend in Rexburg with my parents. We were able to do a double birthday for both of them (they both have birthdays in April), so we had to eat two cakes in two days! It was a very neat experience to listen to leaders of LDS church once again, and heed their words and warnings for all of us in these days. It is very true that the world isn't getting better, and that we must all be ready for the worst - spiritually.

While we were sitting in the living room of my parent's house after conference, something hit the window from outside and startled all of us. Knowing that the whole family was inside, we speculated that a bird must have hit the window - plus there was a bird feeder 20 feet away from the house. I hastily got up and ran for the back door, for I knew that the two cats outside probably heard the same collision. I opened the door and ran around the side of the house. To my surprise, there was a bird lying on the grass just below the window, motionless. I bent down and picked up the still body, and the bird's eyes looked at me and blinked several times. The bird's rate of breathing increased dramatically, and I feared that the little guy wasn't going to make it... considering that he ran into a solid material at 10+ miles/hour head first. I was pretty sure that it would die if I left it there for the cats, so I brought it into the house and let the whole family see.

It took about 20 minutes for it to be able to swivel his head back and forth. About 10 more minutes passed and I started shifting its body back and forth, as to see if balance was restored, and it showed signs that it might take off in flight. I took it outside and caused the little feet to grasp onto my finger. With it holding on firmly, I walked around the backyard to see if it would finally return to its day, but it stayed on my finger. I decided to drop my hand slightly, and it flapped its wings to keep balance. Noticing that it was in good health, I dropped my hand a second time (this time a bit quicker). Sure enough, it flew off!

All in all, life is great at this point in time! I am really looking forward to summer being here just 4 weeks from now!

Trip to Salmon, ID

During the Valentine's Day weekend, my brother's family and I went up to Salmon, ID.  We left during the evening, so the dark of night didn't allow us to see much scenery on the way up.  We spent the weekend at my sister-in-law's grandmother's house.  While up there, we saw much of the wildlife and great outdoors that this wonderful place had to offer.

Here is the Salmon River, downtown Salmon.

Here is a view of Salmon from atop a hill.  Notice the deer.

This is a pasture with an awesome view.

These elk were lying in a farmer's field, without a care in the world.

The deer are everywhere, and don't frighten easily.

On the last day, my brother (Randy) and I went to a shooting range and messed around with his shotgun and 30/30.  

Here I am with the shotgun, shooting a box on the ground.  If you look close enough, you can see the cartridge coming out of the gun, and another being loaded.

Here is a Winnie the Pooh keyboard we found.  I shot the keyboard and Randy took the picture when all the keys were flying through the air.

Here is Randy shooting his shotgun at a board.

Here is Randy sighting in his 30/30.

This is a before (top) and after (bottom) during shot when Randy was using the 30/30.  I think we were luck to get these pictures.

Because of the pistol grip on the shotgun, the recoil caused a sharp edge of the gun to break the skin of our index fingers.  Mine (left) and Randy's (right).

Overall, I have concluded that Salmon Idaho is a decent place to live.  Any direction that you look has mountains, and they are very close.  Everyone says that it is quite a sight when you drive through during the spring or fall - because of the changing of colors.  I wouldn't mind visiting this place again in the near future.

Electronics Lab

Well, I thought that I would show everyone some of the things that I do here in my program, considering the fact that some people don't know what it means to 'study' electronics or how it is done.  To shed some light on the subject, I took some pictures today during the lab hours:

This is my work station, and some of the equipment I use.

My instructor (*left) is helping my respected friend (right of *left)

This is one of the circuits that I have to build and measure.

Though these pictures don't explain too much about what I 'do' here, they do give an idea as to what environment I am dealing with everyday.  There is too much about electronics to explain even a portion of what I do without confusing most people, especially the theory.  All in all, it is a fun program that is quite rewarding to those who understand and don't mind doing math.

Mysterious Letter

Just today, I received a letter in the mail from the Dean's Office here at ISU.  I wasn't expecting any mail from ISU, especially that of direct mail from the Dean.  I don't recall ever doing anything 'wrong' last semester, nor this semester.  Being baffled as to what the contents of this package may be, I finally decided to open it.

To my surprise, this wasn't a letter at all... not even close.  

I found one small piece of parchment that had the ISU symbol at the top, and had my name in the middle of it.  Through close observation, this mysterious document had been identified as a certificate of recognition.  Being in the top of my class last semester, and pulling off straight A's, I have been awarded this certificate for scholastic excellence.

This is the first time since 9th grade that I have had straight A's.

Spring Semester at ISU

Here at ISU, the spring semester started up on Jan 12th.  My program requires that I take 18 credits this semester, but I added another class - bumping me up to the max of 21 credits.  I require money to pay for my tuition here, so I am tutoring for ISU and donating plasma.  The tutoring is quite enjoyable, considering that I am helping people see things in different perspectives from that of their teachers.  While most would say 'no' to donating plasma (because they hate needles, faint easily, etc.), I have a tolerance to the gore and don't mind a 16 gauge needle in my arm.  

My apartment is 2 miles away from the campus, and too far away from the grocery stores.  The ironic part of me finding my apartment, through the institute on campus, is that my brother lives only a half a block away from me.  I found that out after I signed the contract with my landlord last summer.  It is fun to go and visit him (Philip), his wife (Kathryn), and their son (Spencer, who is almost 6 months old).  Since I don't own a car, they will invite me to go to the grocery store with them, every once in a while.  My room is only a 6x11, meaning I can stand in the middle and touch the side walls at the same time.  Fortunately I don't have that much stuff to clutter up what little space there is.

As far as getting to campus, I resort to using the PRT (Pocatello Regional Transit).  They are Pocatello's public means of transportation by bus.  Luckily they charge only half price to students attending ISU.  I leave a bit after 7:00 to catch the bus, which is 4 blocks away from my apartment.  Since winter began, that walk becomes more humbling each time.  It takes the bus about 20 minutes to get me to campus, which is much faster than if I were to walk the whole way.  During the fall semester, I would ride my bike to and from, but it is just too cold and slippery to make any attempts.  

For the most part, this semester has started off great, and I am looking forward to Spring Break in March, where I get to see my family in Rexburg again.