Just a quick note that the flight went well yesterday once we figured out that it was not actually cancelled. I even had an empty seat next to me which was really nice.
I do have my old cell phone activated again, so use it if you want!
Watching the ACC Baseball Tournament and taking care of things around the house after running some errands this morning.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011
From a Hotel in London...
Well our flight tomorrow has been cancelled. Not sure why, the RDU-LHR flights were cancelled today too. As far as I can tell it must be something mechanical with the plane they use, other flights are leaving Heathrow, and I've been rebooked on a flight to Miami. Then the flight to RDU doesn't arrive until 1015 unfortunately. We don't know about Dad and Jane's reservation, theirs still shows as if the original flight is ok. The rental car has to be back by 9am tomorrow anyway, so if it hasn't updated in an hour or two, we'll figure it out in the morning.
It was a good weekend with them though. Our Saturday was spent checking out Bletchley Park - where one of Jane's neighbors (I think) had actually worked, and then a relaxing pint at the Red Lion where they stayed in Milton Keynes before a nice dinner in Olney. Jane even tried out the real ale! Sunday was Stonehenge and Bath, both of which were very cool. Today I had some things to do on campus before leaving, one of which was shortcircuited by the bus times changing. It is now impossible for me to get to campus before 930, I'm just glad it wasn't like this when I had lectures at 9 most mornings! But either way, very ridiculous, especially considering that the bus serves people working at the Nissan Tech Centre too. We then drove to Oxford and walked around the University for a while. A stop was made at the Turf Tavern - which has a connection to Inspector Morse that Jane liked a lot. She also tried her third real ale of the weekend there - she'd had one other in Bath as well.
I do think I'm slowly selling them on the idea of a GPS too. I did forget my back with toothpaste and contact supplies in my room. Not sure why I didn't just put them in my backpack yesterday, I guess I was trying to avoid bringing them to campus for some reason. Anyway, there is an Asda within a short walk, so I picked up replacements there. The flight tomorrow isn't until 135 now, which isn't quite enough time to get into central London for anything meaningful unfortunately. Maybe I can find some good wifi and do a little bit of project research. Maybe.
Anyway, that's about it for now, hope everything works out tomorrow.
It was a good weekend with them though. Our Saturday was spent checking out Bletchley Park - where one of Jane's neighbors (I think) had actually worked, and then a relaxing pint at the Red Lion where they stayed in Milton Keynes before a nice dinner in Olney. Jane even tried out the real ale! Sunday was Stonehenge and Bath, both of which were very cool. Today I had some things to do on campus before leaving, one of which was shortcircuited by the bus times changing. It is now impossible for me to get to campus before 930, I'm just glad it wasn't like this when I had lectures at 9 most mornings! But either way, very ridiculous, especially considering that the bus serves people working at the Nissan Tech Centre too. We then drove to Oxford and walked around the University for a while. A stop was made at the Turf Tavern - which has a connection to Inspector Morse that Jane liked a lot. She also tried her third real ale of the weekend there - she'd had one other in Bath as well.
I do think I'm slowly selling them on the idea of a GPS too. I did forget my back with toothpaste and contact supplies in my room. Not sure why I didn't just put them in my backpack yesterday, I guess I was trying to avoid bringing them to campus for some reason. Anyway, there is an Asda within a short walk, so I picked up replacements there. The flight tomorrow isn't until 135 now, which isn't quite enough time to get into central London for anything meaningful unfortunately. Maybe I can find some good wifi and do a little bit of project research. Maybe.
Anyway, that's about it for now, hope everything works out tomorrow.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Good Morning
I'm working from home this morning, at least through lunch probably, maybe all day. Still having trouble getting together with my supervisor to discuss some thesis things, so that is nothing new but still frustrating. The most frustrating part is trying to find what software is available for one part of my project. I'd like to go ahead and start learning it even if I wind up having to redo the model in the future! I've also got a nice little routine going in the morning now of watching a replayed baseball game while doing research or whatever on my project. It's quite nice actually.
I made a squash Vindaloo curry last night for dinner that turned out very good. It was using a jar of sauce from the Farmer's Market that I bought a few weeks ago. We did have some quick showers last night, but after they had passed I decided to take a bike ride out to Emberton, through Sherington, which is kind of north east of Newport. It is almost to Olney, which is a small market town. Looks like it will be fun to check out in the future. Ironically, the writer of the hymn Amazing Grace (which was the postlude at Mom's funeral) is from there. Olney is supposedly pronounced to rhyme with pony too, at least according to Wikipedia ;) I did make a pit stop for a few local beers and even a local cider at the Bell and Bear. I overheard the chef talking about the duck and lamb he had served earlier coming from 2-3 miles away. The lamb came from fields that I pass on the way to Cranfield!
Looking forward to being home on Tuesday!
I made a squash Vindaloo curry last night for dinner that turned out very good. It was using a jar of sauce from the Farmer's Market that I bought a few weeks ago. We did have some quick showers last night, but after they had passed I decided to take a bike ride out to Emberton, through Sherington, which is kind of north east of Newport. It is almost to Olney, which is a small market town. Looks like it will be fun to check out in the future. Ironically, the writer of the hymn Amazing Grace (which was the postlude at Mom's funeral) is from there. Olney is supposedly pronounced to rhyme with pony too, at least according to Wikipedia ;) I did make a pit stop for a few local beers and even a local cider at the Bell and Bear. I overheard the chef talking about the duck and lamb he had served earlier coming from 2-3 miles away. The lamb came from fields that I pass on the way to Cranfield!
Looking forward to being home on Tuesday!
Monday, May 16, 2011
Race Weekend 2
It was a long weekend at Snetterton, with lots of mechanical issues on the car, spotty rain all weekend, and the usual biting wind too. The British GT and F3 cars were fun to watch though. One of these times I'll finally remember to bring chapstick too. And maybe get better about bringing the camera as well.
Testing on Friday was slowed down by a broken axle, though we didn't miss any track time. We did avoid having to drive 3ish hours to the factory to pick up a new one though when they finally found a spare one in the truck. That was a straightforward fix, but the uncertainty meant we didn't get to try any different setups on the car.
Qualifying on Saturday was going well, and Jamie was in 4th until the last lap when one of the other drivers was a bit aggressive and t-boned the car going into a hairpin. The other driver had totalled his car during the last race, so I think he might be not the best driver, though he is pretty quick. The same a-frame that failed before was clearly bent this time, along with the Watts link, and the Caterham guys said part of the hub should be replaced too. Another part, the DeDion tube was hopefully straight... So we swapped all of those new parts on, and put the string gauge on and it was obvious that the DeDion was actually bent. Then we took everything back apart and putting the DeDion next to a new one, it was clearly bent as well. All this work made for a late night, but not too bad, we were only working until about 11:30.
The first race on Sunday was going well, but something was clearly not right, as we were 2 seconds off the times set in qualifying. Jamie did well to finish 7th, though he was clearly slower than everyone else around him. We got the car back and started looking into what had changed, and if there was still something bent in the rear. Eventually we found that a rear sway bar link had fallen off at some point on the way to the grid! So the car was understeering massively and that explains what was wrong! We got that sorted out and then spent the afternoon walking around the F3 and GT garages and watching some racing. The crowd was pretty big compared to a lot that I've seen.
But then the last race ended on the first lap when he got t-boned again, this time on the other side! We'll see if all the pieces we replaced are damaged again. He will need another exhaust now, which is not a cheap part, and now has 2 bent rear wheels that are apparently not available at the moment. So a frustrating weekend, but it was enjoyable overall, the time really does fly at the track.
Today I'm doing some background research for my thesis, and hoping to meet with my supervisor too. Other than that I'm starting to make some lists of teams I want to apply for jobs with. Wish me luck with that!
I did hear from Jane that they are on the ferry to the Orkney Islands this morning, and the sun is apparently at least partially out for them too.
Testing on Friday was slowed down by a broken axle, though we didn't miss any track time. We did avoid having to drive 3ish hours to the factory to pick up a new one though when they finally found a spare one in the truck. That was a straightforward fix, but the uncertainty meant we didn't get to try any different setups on the car.
Qualifying on Saturday was going well, and Jamie was in 4th until the last lap when one of the other drivers was a bit aggressive and t-boned the car going into a hairpin. The other driver had totalled his car during the last race, so I think he might be not the best driver, though he is pretty quick. The same a-frame that failed before was clearly bent this time, along with the Watts link, and the Caterham guys said part of the hub should be replaced too. Another part, the DeDion tube was hopefully straight... So we swapped all of those new parts on, and put the string gauge on and it was obvious that the DeDion was actually bent. Then we took everything back apart and putting the DeDion next to a new one, it was clearly bent as well. All this work made for a late night, but not too bad, we were only working until about 11:30.
The first race on Sunday was going well, but something was clearly not right, as we were 2 seconds off the times set in qualifying. Jamie did well to finish 7th, though he was clearly slower than everyone else around him. We got the car back and started looking into what had changed, and if there was still something bent in the rear. Eventually we found that a rear sway bar link had fallen off at some point on the way to the grid! So the car was understeering massively and that explains what was wrong! We got that sorted out and then spent the afternoon walking around the F3 and GT garages and watching some racing. The crowd was pretty big compared to a lot that I've seen.
But then the last race ended on the first lap when he got t-boned again, this time on the other side! We'll see if all the pieces we replaced are damaged again. He will need another exhaust now, which is not a cheap part, and now has 2 bent rear wheels that are apparently not available at the moment. So a frustrating weekend, but it was enjoyable overall, the time really does fly at the track.
Today I'm doing some background research for my thesis, and hoping to meet with my supervisor too. Other than that I'm starting to make some lists of teams I want to apply for jobs with. Wish me luck with that!
I did hear from Jane that they are on the ferry to the Orkney Islands this morning, and the sun is apparently at least partially out for them too.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Poster
I know Jessica has sent our leaflet around to a few of you - but for the rest, or if you haven't seen it, here is our winning poster design! If you click on it and then click again to zoom you can probably see everything much better.
Dad and Jane successfully found my house this morning, though a bit late after getting turned around a few times. Her phone is working with the sim card they bought at Tesco as well. It was good to see them for a quick lunch before they continued north towards Scotland. It's going to be a super early morning tomorrow, as we have to get to Snetterton - 1.5-2 hrs away - by 7 or 730 because the first Caterham test session is at 9.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
We Won the Best Poster Prize!
Disappointed to not win the best presentation, but we did win the best poster! It will be featured in Racecar Engineering, and we get a free year subscription as well :) Celebrating being done with a bbq (cookout really) and pub quiz at the Social Club on campus. Looking forward to seeing Dad and Jane tomorrow for lunch as well. Then Snetterton for R300 race #2 this weekend.
Kinda the good life right now :)
Kinda the good life right now :)
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Academic Presentation
Our academic presentation and 'oral exam' was yesterday morning, and I have to say it went pretty well. Definitely less of an exam than I was anticipating, and we had reasonable answers for all of their questions. Of course they wanted more detail on a bunch of things, but I don't really know how they truly expected that, given only 20 minutes to present. More detail on anything would've meant leaving other bits out completely, which I'm sure they would not have liked.
Today is practicing for the industry presentation tomorrow, which we are leading off at 10 am. More specifically, I'm leading it off entirely!
It was a late night on campus last night with the group trying to get some 3d models rendered and into animations for the presentation tomorrow. I was here late enough that I watched the first couple innings of the Twins vs Red Sox game live! We do still have some polishing to do on the presentation too though, hope we can finish that quickly :) Totally off-subject, but that meant I ate at the Chinese restaurant on campus, where I ordered a rice noodle dish, and for the second time in the UK - either they don't understand my pronunciation of rice, or rice noodles are completely different here. I was expecting the vermicelli like clearish ones, and instead got a fatter, egg/regular pasta looking noodle.
Today is practicing for the industry presentation tomorrow, which we are leading off at 10 am. More specifically, I'm leading it off entirely!
It was a late night on campus last night with the group trying to get some 3d models rendered and into animations for the presentation tomorrow. I was here late enough that I watched the first couple innings of the Twins vs Red Sox game live! We do still have some polishing to do on the presentation too though, hope we can finish that quickly :) Totally off-subject, but that meant I ate at the Chinese restaurant on campus, where I ordered a rice noodle dish, and for the second time in the UK - either they don't understand my pronunciation of rice, or rice noodles are completely different here. I was expecting the vermicelli like clearish ones, and instead got a fatter, egg/regular pasta looking noodle.
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