Meet Halley. She’s the bird that my team, WhiteStar Aircraft Design, LLC, has spent the past semester designing. Proposal is due Wednesday, so I thought I’d go ahead and do some unveiling.

More Georgia Aquarium pictures taken this past Saturday.

UPDATE: Certain pictures now feature even better color correction!  Photoshop LAB Color is proving to have been a very worthwhile investment.

I suppose, since it’s been nearly a month since I last checked in, I at least owe all two of my readers an explanation of where I’ve been. Obviously, I’ve been busy and I haven’t really had much to share of late. I have had to spend a good bit of time just trying to get back into the swing of things; a lot of my coursework is pulling from topics I haven’t seen in nine to 24 months so I’m catching myself back up to where I left off in Fall 2004.

It’s very strange, now, with the prospect of graduating ahead. It’s a complicated matter.

I haven’t been spending as much time as I ought to have on getting photos done from Europe, but it’s getting closer, at least with the initial photo processing. Though I’ve got to send an order off to White House this weekend or I risk not getting photos in time for the Office of International Education photo competition. As far as web photos go, I have three four or five sets left to process, and most of them still to title and describe.

A lot of little projects have been derailed due to coursework, including some things I’d really like to do for the AIAA webpage, but haven’t had the chance to implement.

But that’s the way things are. I’ll try to get back to this space more frequently, as things worth saying come to me.

Last weekend, in lieu of hitting London multiple times:

Friday, Salisbury and nearby Stonehenge. Stonehenge wasn’t really on my list of things to see, and as I thought, it wasn’t all that impressive. Impressive is how it was constructed, not what it was for or what is left standing, in my opinion. Salisbury is a nice enough town, with a nice enough cathedral.

Saturday, things having settled down, I went with some people to London. After leaving them at Buckingham so they could watch the Changing of the Guard, I went off to do my own thing, rolling up to Mornington Crescent station, then back to the London Transport museum at Covent Garden (though the nearest Tube station was closed, along with most of the Piccadilly line), then I looked at Westminster Abbey from the outside, since it was closed to the public for the day.

Followed this with a quick tour of the Tower of London (did it in one hour, whew) and a DLR trip to Greenwich to see the National Maritime Museum (OK) and the Royal Observatory (awesome).

Met the group back at the Imperial War Museum, went to dinner at a reasonably-priced place in Soho (Cafe Emm), then caught the bus for home.

Sunday, I went to York. And I forgot my camera, so I had to buy a disposable when I got there. But it’s a cool town. Saw Clifford’s Tower, which is all that’s left of the castle, walked along the city wall, had a pint of Yorkshire Terrier, saw York Minster, the largest Gothic church in England, went to the Yorkshire Museum, walked a bit more of the city walls, and finally visited the excellent National Railway Museum.

(Yes, yes, I’m skimping on details. Boo-hoo.)

Finally, tomorrow I depart the UK for the weekend to visit southern France, flying into Toulouse in the Midi-Pyrénées and then taking the train on Friday into the high mountains of the Ax region. Saturday, I shall see the Tour de France. I fly back Sunday morning, and will get back to Oxford in the midafternoon. Once I recover from the inevitable sleep deprivation I’ll be sure to write all about it.

I’ve gotten photos titled from departure through Pisa. Of course, now I’m behind on weekend photo processing. Sigh. Still, for those of you entirely lost by my Florence pictures, you can now have your thirst for knowledge sated.

All participants in the Oxford program are OK, since we were all still here when the blasts took place. Plans to visit London are being rejiggered since Zone 1 is essentially shut down to public transport, and there is a nonzero risk of follow-up attacks.

For more information, see:
BBC (newest at top)
Europhobia (newest at bottom)
The Command Post

Bit of a bonfire and a party last night. Click for more.

Perfect timing. This could come very much in handy in a couple of months. Thanks Google!

As I mentioned in the below post, I had lunch today at a Chinese restaurant.

According to this page, two is a good number since it is close to the Cantonese word for “easy.” Hopefully, this is a good sign.

So, having purchased the first issue of the incidentally awesome Make Magazine, and having read the article entitled “Yak Shaving,” I have discovered the world of lifehacking. Organization has always been a problem for me, but after reading some of the items on Merlin Mann’s 43 Folders, I’ve implemented two new tools that should (and over the past several days, have) help(ed):

The hPDA, short for Hipster Parietal Disgorgement Aid, is a pack of 3″ x 5″ index cards held together with a small binder clip. Pocket sized, it provides a ready source of paper, and can act as a to-do list, scheduling tool, and list of beers to try and restaurants to visit in Florence. I’ve enhanced mine with a set of duct-tape-on-index-card covers, since over the first couple of days I had issues with damage on the top card. The phrase “Fire and Motion” is a basic infantry tactic, and seems appropriate for a to-do list. I’m dreaming up a fancier cover but it’ll require a photo I don’t have yet, so it’ll wait.

The “tickler file” is like a sort of super-Page-a-Day calendar. One of my biggest problems is accidentally missing or nearly missing deadlines, which while infrequent is always serious. The file is able to represent an entire year worth of things to do, and I’ve been filing hPDA cards with events for future dates. I’ve also filed the notice to apply for parking on the 15th under the appropriate date, and an hPDA card reminding me to pay for Oxford on the 19th. And an hPDA card with a list of course registration numbers for the 17th, when my time slot opens. You might see the possibilities.

So that’s what I’ve been up to. Having a master to-do list has already made me feel more on top of things, and the file gives me some security that I won’t miss anything. As a bonus, there’s enough room for extra folders, which should let me instantly sort things as they come in, rather than just laying them on the table to be filed later into the file box in the wardrobe.

Feel free to share tips in the comments, or better yet, on the 43 Folders Wiki.

UPDATE: A paperclip on the bottom of the last card in use (or the last blank, if you keep your blanks in front) makes it easy to find by feel. Also, it gives you a paperclip you can mutilate in an emergency.

Georgia Tech’s crew at the Mars Desert Research Station is now in place. Myself and ten others are working Mission Support (in rotation), and there are five students and a Research Engineer in situ in Utah at the station.

So read about all the exploits at the above links. In the works: CotB IV, and a post on reliance on procedures and the skill of adaptation (with bonus GT Post Office rant).