Summer Realization

This week I've been thinking about what my goals for Summer 2008 were for me and how far I have gotten towards achieving them. I have come to realize that I have almost taken advantage of my first summer in several years of not working full-time. Don't get it twisted though that because I didn't work full-time this summer meant that I was free as the wind with all the time in the world to kill. Quite the contrary, I enrolled in my most dreaded and for some reason difficult near deabilitating subject I've ever had to fight through to barely pass, Calculus. Yes, that's right the Calculus that comes after Pre-Calculus exept plainly a pain in the ass. My thoughts on the matter are that my former high school Calculus teacher, which I will not name in the kindness of my heart, has some how installed a barrier in my mind that no matter what I do or how much I spend trying to grasp the information, it just does not seep in. Well long story semi-short, I endured 6 weeks - 1 week that I was in Tahoe of basically boredom, confusion, and the occasional well rare breakthrough in understanding Calculus. In the end, I am hopeful that I passed one more class in the series so that will leave me with only 1 more to go out of 3 classes. The only clear benefit was that I bicycled there almost everyday and doing so got back in shape and cut down on greenhouse emissions.



Now on a brighter note, I was entrusted by my dentist/family friend to instill correct principles and ideals in her 5 children. 3 boys and 2 girls, which happened to be so out of control that the family was on the Fox show Supernanny. This just gives a sense of how out of control and unguided these children were. My dentist has seen the way I've been brought up and how I've turned out thus far and asked me to guide what's most precious to her back in the right direction. I have to say that working with these kids this summer was extremely rewarding seeing them change right in front of my eyes and here reports from my dentist that even at home they were improving. The surprising thing is that I did not spend much time with them besides a few hours a day, a few times a week. My friend's dad calls it the "Chris Wing Tough Love Camp." I wish I had more time in my summer/life to help them out even more though.

With a little less than a month left since I have to go back to San Diego for work 2 weeks before school starts and I am out to Hawaii in a little over a week for a week, it would seem that my team back at home is limited. I still have a few projects left to finish though before I ship out again...

College Majors

Today was just an ordinary day where I went to my classes, wrote a paper, read and surfed the net. During this day, Econ 3 - Macroeconomics was one of my classes.

I came to UCSD as a Mechanical Engineering major thinking that I wanted to be an engineer as a living and then possibly go to grad school and get my MBA. That was the plan at least. Needless to say that changed during 1st quarter. There was nothing wrong with the actually MAE classes, but the other classes that you would have to take to get toward the engineering degree was the trouble. The Math 20 series and chemistry were the main concerns. I was barely floating on a C during the entire Fall quarter and at the end where it mattered I fucked up on the final resulting in me flunking Math 20A. I then made the decision to try out a different major, Economics. This major seemed to be a suitable one for me since I like money and business and supposedly is supposed to be much easier than engineering. While it is true that I no longer need to take chemistry, physics, and other science classes, it is still very difficult at UCSD. I found out that the original highlight of UCSD was the Economics Department. I am happy at least that all my AP credit that I earned during high school finally gets me somewhere in this major unlike in MAE.

Back to today, I went to Econ today and got my 1st midterm back. It wasn't the grade that I expected just by a little. Needless to say I NEED TO STUDY and grasp the concepts better asap before the next midterm!

My Car Experiences Thus Far

Recently, I have been searching for my next car. Currently, I have a 2002 Acura RSX Type-S that looks beautiful and runs flawlessly. Yet, I am yearning for a rear-wheel drive (RWD) or all-wheel drive (AWD) car because of many reasons.

First, for the most part, I have been driving solely front-wheel drive (FWD) cars all my life, such as, Integras, Civics, Priuses, the recent Monte Carlos, Accords, Corolla, Camry or basically most cars. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with driving FWD cars it's just I feel like I have mastered FWD driving and need to expand my horizons and perfect the significant differences RWD and AWD bring to the table. I understand that it is cheaper to manufacture for the fact that there is no need for a transaxle to go from the engine in the front to the rear wheels, but this unfortunately isn't good for performance driving. In everyday driving it is perfectly fine and even safer for most drivers because it is much more forgiving and allows drivers to make more mistakes. Unlike in RWD cars, the rear wheels don't slide out and you cannot really spinout from braking too hard in a turn.

I need to learn all the intricacies of RWD including how to control my tail when driving RWD and pushing it to the limits whether it be on the track, street, or anywhere. It is always good to know how things handle and feel like just in case an emergency situation pops off where you will need to push the car's and your limits.

Alright now it's time for me to get back to my math homework that is due in the morning, but I felt the need to write about cars on my first blog posting.