Hi

The 6:10 wake up call this morning was a bit rough, trying to catch up after a late night with some of the guys on Saturday.  Hopefully today's lecture isn't too introductory and will be easy to pay attention to.  This week is Vehicle Dynamics, which is really the area I'm most interested in.  On Thanksgiving Day we are travelling to the Shrivenham campus for the off-road testing facility.  Don't know the exact details of what we will be doing exactly though.  

I wish I had more to tell you.  I should start writing down the things that come to mind during the day to blog about.  I usually write in the mornings and by then all my ideas have slipped my mind unfortunately.

Oh like this for instance - I finally bought a jar of Branston Pickle.  I'd call it relish, that's really what it is for everyone back home.  I bought the seasonal Red Onion and Cranberry variety, and I'm using it on turkey sandwiches for lunch, quite appropriate for Thanksgiving I think!  I'm still curious about the Branston Pickle and Cheese sandwich I've been told to try, might be my next pub meal.

Well it's time to head to class, so hope everyone has a good Monday!

Sainsbury's

I'm finding Sainsbury's to be the best place to do most of my grocery shopping so far.  It's a decent walk, a little over a mile I think, maybe 1.5.  The problem is, it's only really convenient for me to go on Saturday's, and I wind up buying too much stuff and then the bags get real heavy on the walk back!  I do have two nicer reusable shopping bags that help some though.  What I should do is take the bus a few extra stops one night a week and split my shopping up a little.  But during the week the last thing I want to do is make the bus home longer and then the walk home longer.  

I'm going to try and continue my Saturday run ritual here shortly.  Need a bit of a snack though for some energy.  The weather is on the chilly side for a run, but I'll put on another layer and should be ok, I hope.  At least it is not raining.

For the record, the monitor is working out fantastically, it's really nice being able to have a streaming video up on one screen while emailing or reading study notes on the laptop screen.  I've still been working my way through reading the binder of engine design notes we had to print out.  The exam is open book for this module though, which really just means that the questions will be more complicated ;)

Alright, well off for that snack and a run, then back here for some more studying and the State/Carolina game later.

So Glad it's Friday

This week has been pretty exhausting.  The lectures have been filled with information, so the days have felt longer than our previous couple lecture weeks.  I think it is due to the sheer amount of complexity in engine design, and it is a huge amount to cover in a week.  I suspect next week Vehicle Dynamics will be the same way.  I have enjoyed the week greatly though, well especially after I figured out that it wasn't necessary to spend all Wednesday night playing with the simulation software like some of us did.  I had to take the bus back home and get dinner, but some guys stayed until 3-4 in the morning.  The thing is though, the assignment wasn't at all to optimize the given engine, it was to make some changes and talk about why they helped or hurt given performance parameters.  So my frustration Wednesday night was not really needed :)

Today's lectures are on turbo and supercharging and transmissions.  I do find it odd that the module is "Powertrain Design" yet only one part of a lecture is dealing with transmissions!  We will have a bit of time today with the dyno, running some tests on the University's Formula Ford.  That will be good to be out of the lecture room for sure!

I did buy a TV to use as a monitor yesterday.  It will let me play PS3 in some downtime, it has a DVD player so I can rent movies if I want, and it should also be helpful studying to use as a second screen.

Another American here that I met at the wind tunnel (he's doing an Aerodynamics MSc) is organizing a Thanksgiving dinner for next Friday night, so that should be enjoyable.  I'm going to attempt to cook a sweet potato casserole, so if any of you have favorite recipes, please send them my way!

Quickly

I can't write for long because I need to get back to the engine simulation assignment that is due this afternoon.  It has been a neat assignment, though it could've been much better if the network and software ran fast enough for all of use to make our own changes.  Instead we had to work in teams and wound up not trying as many configurations as we would have liked.  We were focusing on changing air/fuel ratios yesterday.  Today we can play with just about anything else on the engine to attempt to make more usable power.  Then we have to write up the report and explain why the changes made power.  Should be fun if the software cooperates.

Engines are Bloody Complicated

It's been a good couple days of lectures so far.  Each point or concept is not necessarily complicated, but as always the devil is in the details.  Where it gets tough is the interaction between all of the design elements and principles that govern the performance.  Add in the fact that almost everything you can do seems to have a penalty or drawback as well as the benefit you're trying to add, and I really have a newfound appreciation for engine design.  We are using a program called AVL Boost to model what effect a multitude of basic geometric changes can have on an engine's performance.  I haven't started modifying anything yet, just analyzing the basic engine we were given as a starting point so far.

The fog was really freezing this morning, it was all over the cars and ground too. It also didn't really lift until about lunchtime.  While eating dinner tonight I was watching a show about a drive up the coast of Scotland.  Learned some interesting things - and I might have to try and find a "Smokie" while I'm over here.  Did you know one citizen had an idea to train sea gulls to spot German U-boat periscopes by teaching them that there would be fish to eat behind them?!

Well it's nearly 8pm, and the bus home was a bit slow, so I'm going to have a go at sorting out some more of the engine design assignment.  You're welcome for all the proper English :)

Back to the Grind

Another 3 weeks of day long lectures start today.  Powertrain design is the first week, then Vehicle Dynamics and then Electronics and Data Acquisition.  The last two might be in reverse order, I'm not sure right now.  I think I'm actually ready to get back to them, though the long relaxing weekend was needed and nice.

The weather when I woke up this morning was "freezing fog".  Now I'm not really sure if the fog was actually freezing, but it was 30F and foggy.  Yesterday I spent watching NFL online after watching the F1 season finale from a pub a few hundred feet away from the Aston Martin site in Newport.  It is kinda cool to say I'm living in the city where the team that won the Constructor's and Driver's Championship are located.  Hopefully they'll have some celebration of some sort, and maybe have the cars out to see!

I was trying to stay up and finish watching the 49ers, but I passed out as the 4th quarter started.  It's probably a good thing, as the game wound up in overtime, and I really really would've been struggling by then!  At least they pulled out the win, as did State.  There is also a chance that I win all 3 of my fantasy football matchups this week, which hasn't happened yet.

We are supposed to have lunch with the Motorsport Advisory Board on Wednesday.  I'm not sure if the whole board will be there, hopefully we'll get some details today.  The list of board members is here.  We had to send CV's to them, so I'm curious to see what the meeting is like.

Where did the Rain come from?

So I assume because I said the weather was good, that is why when I got to London it was raining and cloudy!  I didn't do as much walking and sight seeing as I intended because of the rain.  I did take the Tube to the Embankment station and walked around and got to look at the Eye and Big Ben.  I took some pictures, but because it was raining and not very bright either, they really didn't come out very good at all.  After that I took the Tube to Monument and walked over and saw the London Bridge from a distance.  All I had was my pea coat, and it was pretty soaked at this point!  I did find some dinner at an insanely crowded place called The Ship.  Bangers and mash hit the spot with a pint of Fuller's London Pride.

The Euston Tap was pretty awesome.  It's a tiny little building, but they had a great selection.  They had a good combination of good British beer and imports from the US and Europe too.  The cooler of American bottles was rather impressive, with around 10-12 bottles from Port/Lost Abbey, Goose Island, Victory, and others.  They were very expensive though, so I resisted taking any home with me.  I did buy a bottle of Mikkeller Ris a la M'ale, which is a cherry kriek of sorts, should be very interesting.

Well I can see the sun again out my windows, so I'm going for a run to Willen Lake again.  Not too sure what else I will do today until the State game at 7, maybe some laundry, maybe some vacuuming of my room, maybe something else!