Improvement

I've been subjected to long time periods on train rides across Europe that have allowed me to read, listen to music, talk, or just think. While I've participated in all of them, I've focused on a couple of them: reading and thinking. The reading I've done hasn't been reading done for the sake of entertainment, but to grow as a person and learn some skills to succeed in life. I realized that it is an untapped resource from the most brilliant minds in the world and that I have to take advantage of it or I will get passed up by those that do. Some of the books I've read have inadvertently led me to realize things that I do that are actually serving to hinder my ability to be great. This, in turn, led me to a lot of thinking about ways to improve myself. Many writers have always said that the way to be great is to constantly questions your beliefs and evaluate yourself and change accordingly. While I've always had this open view about myself, I have failed to notice some of the things that I may have done or currently do that slow down my progress.

Debate in high school taught me how to look at both sides of an issue and be able to coherently argue that side of it without bringing in too much emotion. It taught me how to organize ideas well. I have the ability to take someone's argument, analyze it, and dissect it on the fly. While there are some benefits to this, there are also many downsides. I can argue from dawn 'til dusk on a given topic with someone, but the average person won't give up their stance even in the face of opposing evidence. Why? Pride. This isn't ever covered in debate or in any class in public school systems. Debate works when you try to convince a third party of a given side of a topic, but will hardly ever work when trying to convince the opposition. A famous quote rings true, "One convinced against his will is of the same opinion still." I have taken the long road to discovering this. In countless arguments with friends, family, coworkers, and sometimes complete strangers I've proven them wrong beyond a shadow of a doubt with evidence, examples, etc and still they wont budge from their opinion. All I succeeded in was causing resentment. This is not the way I want to continue with my life. It will not lead me to success in any area of life.

I've began paying attention to how I approach a conversation. I love discussing controversial topics. I will change my opinion if someone proves my own wrong. I will change beliefs if I find that my own are lacking support. I am the minority when it comes to this mindset. Not everyone thinks like me. I've taken a more open and less direct approach to discussing controversial issues with people. I am now on set on becoming the guy that people love to discuss issues with, not the guy they hate discussing issues with. I need some help from some of you though. Some of you have known me throughout high school and from debate and others of you have only known me since college. I want everyone that has been around me for any period of time to tell me some things that I might have done that put you off, offended you, or you just flat out didn't like. I don't want things like a specific opinion that I might have, but more about how I approached you when talking. If I did something that seems to be a good lead in to bringing up the opposing side of an opinion, let me know about that too. That way I know what I need to improve on and what I need to strengthen.

The days of my harsh, "you're wrong because of blah, blah, blah," debating is over. I'm sure some of you will be happy about this ;)

Let me know!!

Thanks

Europe!!! (I know I said I'd post more)

So I know I said I'd post a lot more, but I've been out having a lot of fun and not spending much time on here. I have been posting lots of pictures on my facebook photo albums though. The link should be over on the right somewhere.

Anyhow, Europe has been an absolute blast so far. I've been here for about 5 or 6 weeks so far! I left the U.S. on the 28th of March from Chicago to fly into Amsterdam, Netherlands. Grant and I spent 4 days there seeing more of the city and just hanging out. We hopped a train to Esslingen, Germany on the 1st of April. Once we arrived in Germany we spent the first week going through orientation and hanging out with the other kettering students and other international kids. The first weekend was a long 5 day one, so 9 of us decided to go to Paris, France and the beaches of Normandy. The trip was awesome!!

The following week was the first week of classes. I'm taking Feedback Control, Computer Simulation, Fluid Dynamics, German History, and German Language. Some of the classes are a joke, but none are too bad.

A week later a bunch of us decided to go to Munich, Germany. We took a free tour to learn about a bunch of the history of Munich! It's such an important town in history...kind of a dark history though. While up in Munich we took a little day trip to dachau concentration camp...it was unsettling for sure...especially standing in the gas chamber.

The next weekend we all decided to stick around germany and check out what Esslingen and Stuttgart had to offer. It's really nice here! We also had a field trip to a bunch of castles around germany with our History and Language classes.

The last weekend of April 4 of us decided to go down through Italy for the weekend. The first night we headed to Venice...really cool city, but not much to do. We spent most of the time in Rome. I wasn't much of a fan of Italy, but the sites and history were amazing! The people were really rude and the cities were really dirty though. We weren't able to go into the vatican while we were there though, so we're headed back down there for a day later on in May.

This last weekend I met up with Nikki, whom I hadn't seen since high school, and went to Geneva, Switzerland. The weather was kinda crappy, but Switzerland is amazing! Again, there's not a lot to do, but it's incredibly beautiful! It also felt nice to be somewhere where the money was worth less than an American Dollar.

This next weekend we're just sticking around Germany so we can go to the last day of Frühlingsfest and study for our Computer Simulation midterm. We also need to save money for our 10 day Greece trip starting on the 24th of this month.

Anyway, I need to get back to paying attention in this boring class. Check out the pictures!! I have a ton more to show once I get back to the states...I'm not about to upload 2000 pictures!

Busy Busy

So I haven't posted as much as I'd like to, but I've been incredibly busy. I knew classes were going to be easy this term, so I volunteered for a lot of stuff with the school. I think I may have overdone it, but luckily it's only for a short period of time. The fraternity has been keeping me pretty busy too. I've been working on setting up our semiformal in Canada. That's pretty much all wrapped up now. The semiformal is good to go the end of this month! I can't wait!

The last thing taking a bunch of my time is the business I started. It's taking off right now! I never expected it to go where it has already gone. Gotta love good business plans!

Anywho, I'm sitting in a student senate meeting right now, so I've gotta cut this short.

Autoshow!

This past weekend went pretty well. A couple highlights from the time are the movie and the Detroit International Auto Show. I went to go see Stomp the Yard, which was actually a pretty good movie. The big part of the weekend was yesterday though. Adam and I went to the Detroit Auto Show to see what they had to show. There were some pretty sweet cars and trucks there, but the best part was that Adam and I were in the BMW VIP lounge most of the day getting free things to drink and a bit of free food. We got to overlook everyone while we chilled up there. Surprisingly, the couches and chairs were actually really comfortable.



Today isn't so exciting though. I have to do some Machine Design homework, do my house chore, and go to the meeting with my brothers. The meeting shouldn't be too bad, but the chores and homework sucks. So because of all of that, I'm getting out of here. Have a happy Martin Luther King Day!

Amsterdam and Back to School!

I know it has been a month since I last posted, but it has been one crazy month. Being home for Christmas was awesome. I got to spend a lot of time with family and friends. Hanging out with JJ and Donnie was an absolute blast. Hopefully they can get their asses up to michigan to come hang out.

Amsterdam was an absolutely wild 8 days. Sweers, Shane, Corey, Marcin and I had the time of our lives over there. I posted up over 100 pictures on my facebook photo album (like on the right) if you want to check it out. I definitely recommend that place if you want to have a ton of fun. I'm not going to post any stories here because they just wouldn't do the trip justice. I'll tell some of them to some of you if you want. Here are a few pictures of the trip and a video from some random person of the New Years party we were at.







Here's a video of the crazy ass new years party...and it doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of how crazy it was there.



This is just scratching the surface. There were about 30,000 or more people packed in just the square, the rain was pouring, the music was soo loud that you could feel the bass from a mile away...it was just freaking amazing! Everyone was just bouncing up and down listening to the music not caring at all about the rain. There were fireworks going off all over the place. It was an unbelievable experience! I wish I could get some better videos of it. We were way up by the stage where it was even more crazy than where that video is taken from.


Anywho, outside of the best 8 days I've had in college, I've made my way back to Flint for school. Classes this semester are a joke. I'm taking marketing, management, accounting, computer aided engineering, and machine design. I've had a blast so far though. Adam is back at school, we have a huge pledge class full of awesome guys, and Hannah and her friends have been over hanging out. Just a great start to a term so far.

The detroit auto show is this weekend and next, so I'm going to head down to that. I'll definitely post up some pictures from that in the next week or so.

I'm heading out to go have some fun...I'll be updating more now that I'm back at school with easy classes.

Holiday Plans!

I am currently in the last week of work for the term. I'm not used to being so busy on the last week, but I've had a lot to do here lately!

Right now the plan is to head to Denver on Saturday to have lunch with some of the family, then to Grand Junction after that. Once I get in I dont' know what I'm doing, but the rest of the week seems pretty full. Things to do with people as of right now are:

1. Hang out with JJ and Donnie ... not sure of exact things, but we'll be hanging out for sure
2. Movie night, club, archery and more with Kim
3. Hang out with all the speech kids
4. Party it up with Brenna and them
5. HANG OUT WITH FAMILY
6. Whatever else anyone wants to do

On the 26th I'm flying back to Detroit...still looking for a place to stay when i get there.

On the 27th I'm flying to Amsterdam

On the 5th I'll be back in Detroit

No specific plans from there on out other than starting school on the 8th, which should turn out to be pretty easy this term. I'm taking marketing, management, accounting, computer aided engineering, and machine design.


Let me know if you want to do something next week!

Answer to the question in the prevous post

The answer is clear when you think about the problem. Since the wheels are not what powers the plane forward, the treadmill has no effect on the plane moving. The jets are what push forward and there is nothing to counteract their force. If you're not convinced, I can post some examples of what I'm trying to explain.

Airplane on a Treadmill

Here's a quick brain teaser for all of you that some how found yourself at my blog:

A plane equipped with fixed horizontal engines and wheel landing gear is placed on a huge treadmill runway. The treadmill has a clever design and always matches the speed of the plane, but runs in the opposite direction. Will the plane take off and fly or not?

I'll post the answer in a day or two.

Oh yeah...new news...I'm planning on heading back to GJ on the 16th rather than the 19th. Hit me up if you want to hang out!

Wow...now this is bullshit

Associated Press
Supreme Court Looks at Race and Schools
By MARK SHERMAN 12.04.06, 12:07 PM EST

The Supreme Court on Monday wrestled with voluntary integration plans in public schools, asking whether Seattle's "Open Choice" program is an acceptable move toward student diversity or another name for illegal racial quotas.

At the start of two hours of argument, the justices referred repeatedly to a 2003 Supreme Court ruling that permitted the limited consideration of race to attain a diverse student body on the college level.

Does Seattle's program go too far in assigning some students to schools they didn't request? the justices wanted to know in questioning lawyers for the school district, the Bush administration and white parents whose children were assigned to high schools with heavy minority enrollment.

Justice Anthony Kennedy was among those expressing deep skepticism about Seattle's program.

The district seems to be telling its students that "everybody can get a meal," but that only certain people can get "dessert," Kennedy said. Justice Antonin Scalia said it was as though the district was saying "you can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs."

The justices were referring to the fact that some students have been assigned based on their race to schools they didn't ask to attend. The question, said Kennedy, is whether a student can get into the school the student really prefers.

Chief Justice John Roberts expressed concern about making school assignments "based on skin color" and not "any other factor."

Attorney Michael Madden, representing the school district, said race is but one factor, that it is relied on only in some instances and then only at the end of a lengthy process.

Madden drew a distinction between the Seattle school program and the subject of the court's 2003 decision, which narrowly approved the University of Michigan law school affirmative action admissions program.

"This is not like being denied admission to a state's flagship university," Madden told Roberts. The Seattle students are "not being denied admission, they are being redistributed."

Parents in Louisville, Ky., and Seattle are challenging school assignment plans that factor in a student's race in an effort to have individual school populations approximate the racial makeup of the entire system. Federal appeals courts have upheld both programs.

Amid the oral arguments, pro-affirmative action demonstrators bearing "Fight For Equality" placards marched on the sidewalk in front of the Supreme Court in a brisk wind. A parent-teachers group from Chicago and several civil rights groups were among those sponsoring the demonstration.

Demonstrators chanted "Equal education, not segregation" and "We won't go to the back of the bus, integration is a must." Some held signs that read "Stop racism now." Among the crowd were representatives of the National Organization for Women, the NAACP and students from Howard University.

Though outnumbered, there were some in the crowd from the other side.

"Regardless of how well-motivated, allowing the state to engineer racial mixing only creates racial stereotypes and increases racial tension," said Terry Pell, president of the Center for Individual Rights, a public interest law firm. "The court needs to put an end to state-mandated tinkering with race."

The school policies in contention are designed to keep schools from segregating along the same lines as neighborhoods. In Seattle, only high school students are affected. Louisville's plan applies systemwide.

"The plan has prevented the resegregation that inevitably would result from the community's segregated housing patterns and that most likely would produce many schools that might be perceived as 'failing,'" the Seattle school district said in its brief to the high court.

The Bush administration has taken the side of the parents who are suing the school districts, much as it intervened on behalf of college and graduate students who challenged affirmative action policies before the Supreme Court in 2003.

In 2003, the court upheld race-conscious admissions in higher education in a 5-4 opinion by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

The cases are Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1, 05-908; and Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education, 05-915.

__

Associated Press reporter Matthew Daly contributed from Washington

Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

A month later...

It's been a while since I last updated, but I've been pretty busy having fun and working. I promise to update more often...I found that it's harder to write posts after a month because there's so much I want to write, but I don't have the time to cover it all.

Three weeks ago JJ and Donnie came up to the Springs to hang out for a weekend. It was probably one of the most fun weekends I've had in a long time. The weekend was full of getting girls' numbers, clubbing, and screwing around having a good time.

Another highlight of the past few weeks was going home for Thanksgiving this past weekend. I got home Wednesday evening after dealing with a couple traffic jams and crappy drivers. That night JJ, Donnie, and I went over to Doug's (friend of JJ) place to hang out. After a while there we went to JJ's place and crashed. The next day I got up and kinda helped around the house to get everything ready for Thanksgiving dinner. 18 people ended up showing up for the dinner which was awesome. It's not too often I get to see much of my family and I probably won't get to see them again after Christmas for nine months or so. Friday was the fun day. After spending a bunch of time looking around for different trucks with my dad, I met up with JJ and Donnie again to go to the club. Good night to say the least. The rest of the weekend was pretty calm. Saturday I went shopping and went over to hang out with the debate friends. Sunday consisted of breakfast with the family, driving for 5 hours, and hanging out with friends when I got back into Colorado Springs.

Outside of all of that junk, not a ton is new. I got reservations for a hotel with my friends for the Amsterdam trip! I can't wait. I also received a $1000 scholarship for study abroad that I'm doing in April. Oh yeah...one of my good friends is coming back to Kettering in January. It should definitely be a good time.

I can't wait to be back at school!

If you want to check out any pictures that I've taken lately, click on my facebook photo album link on the right.