Category Archives: teaching

GoldShirts 2011 projects class

I just spent the last two weeks teaching an engineering projects class for a summer bridge program called GoldShirts. All the students are incoming freshman in the school of engineering at CU. Our project was solar ovens, and even though it was a lot of work, it was a blast to teach this class and meet all these awesome students…

Day 2: “Speed Challenge”: build a prototype solar oven with pizza boxes and other random materials in 1 hour:

During the second half of class the students tested their solar ovens. Unfortunately thunder and lightning storms were coming over the flatirons, and so we resorted to using heat lamps as our “solar” energy. Still some good results.

Second week… working on the final solar oven design and product:

The Design Expo:

Good times. Hope the students had fun… it was awesome to see what they got done in two weeks!

end of july cell phone update

Skating two weeks ago…

We do some weird things for our job sometimes…

…and eat healthy lunches.

Chillin at the dark horse…

with these clowns. i mean dudes. yup.

Doing random things for work again…

First trip to Ripple…probably looks gross in the photo, but it was delicious.

Chophouse happy hour…

An update from Chip…

West Virgina livin.

In a parking lot…

icebox?

Skating last weekend…

my car got its stripe back…

In Broomfield…

snoop was at the liquor store

null…

After a meal at c4c

my students…

Wednesday

Long day, starting with my alarm at 5am.

Next up, teaching. I’m in the middle of a unit on DNA right now with 8 7th grade classes. The activity for the day – building model DNA with gum drops and toothpicks of suspects in a crime case. Students used a code based on 3 base pairs per genotype and made DNA with a 5-gene sequence. Then the classroom turned into an investigation and students traveled around the room decoding the DNA they found at the different crime scenes. Fun times…

Left teaching, cleaned up my car, oil change and car wash. A little refreshing. Off to Lafayette. On the way…

After my back froze up, I made a quick stop into office hours and then went to a standup comedy show with Chip. So hilarious. I had a photo from my phone that I was going to post, but just now learned that my card reader that says it will read micro SD cards will not in fact read the micro SD card in my phone. Bummer.

Welcome to November

I knew that shit would hit the fan in November. And it came like clockwork. November 1st – my life feels like it got turned upside down. I think in a positive way, but I have so much to do and feel each day is a rollercoaster ride of emotions. I doubt myself but gain reassurance just about every day. I work all day long and feel like I accomplish nothing… and let my groups down just like last year. An yet, the small victories and goals keep me moving…
So nothing too great, but some photos from the week.
The cats
Wallace
Grommit
Walrus’s spot in the closet
Present from Pat

a cut-out. pretty sweet.
Work
cramped quarters
Some shots from in the classroom (valve activity):

And that’s that. Wednesday and Friday were my last days with the 8 7th grade classes I’ve been working with. The kids are so amazing. I will definitely miss them.

The rest of Friday I meant to do work before the Toy Machine premier. I tried a little bit, as I hung out with Fuzz at Crisis. But the weather was unbelievable. 70 degrees and not a cloud in the sky in November. Aah. So I skated the Broomfield park for a few hours with some of the Crisis kids. It took me awhile to warm up, but eventually got going. Landed my 4th ever front shuv and my 3rd ever manual on the blue manual pad… perfectly clean. Then just the usual, some bowl skating, front d on the brick quarter, pop shuv down the double set, etc. The scene at the park was rad.

Back to Crisis to grab Fuzz and Neil, then to Denver for a downtown session. SO good. We only had an hour and it was the most quality hour of street skating ever I think. I finally got the 4 flat 4. We rolled up with an alarm going off on the side of the building (probably cause Neil and Fuzz skated the marble manny on the other side), so I went for it as quick as I could with traffic coming. And finally, success.

And I finally got to skate the jersey barriers that have been a mini-buzz lately. They’re creted into quarter pipes basically. After some encouragement from Fuzz (who launched out, 180′d out and (melon?) grabbed out… along with a ton of crazy disaster variations), I launched out in to the sidewalk, followed by Neil (who also had front 5-0 slashers down before we left). Gnarly gnarly gnarly.

Then to the premier. Honestly, my night ended with me all bummed out, but just knowing that my friends were there to pick me up when I fell down made it all the better. How can I feel shitty when I have the raddest friends ever?

Mid Week Distractions

It’s been a ridiculous week in terms of work. So anything at all that created a diversion was greatly appreciated. First up, Chip borrowed a pair of my “skinny jeans” for his Halloween costume. I claimed that I would cry myself to sleep that night if he was able to get them on…

 … but over crying about it. It was just hilarious. Unfortunately, he would easily be mistaken for a biker at the park no problem.

Next up… devil horns are back!

I realize that probably no one really understands my obsessions, but I truly appreciate everyone that entertains my craziness. And the devil horns are seriously the best.

Work…

… my sweet heart setup for building an artificial mitral vavle. (Probably shouldn’t have waited to spray paint the box until Tuesday when the winds were probably 50 mi/hr, but leaving things to the last minute is kind of my steeze)
Some shots on the way home from teaching…

New Music!

Lykke Li – Youth Novels
I’ve been listening to the music on this cd for about a year now. Apparently it was released in 2008 I think. Anyways, I LOVE it. The music is awesome, her voice is amazing, and the lyrics resonate with me like crazy. A little sample…
In my weakest moment I weep, cause I like the way tears fit my cheek
In my darkest moments I cry, oh how I love the way, tears suit my face
I like it salt
I like it wet
like my make up in a mess, so I cry hard
Let it fall, and I won’t stop until my tears are all shed

Arcade Fire – Funeral
Way old news. Didn’t realize I know every single song on this album. Whatever… so awesome. Just years and years behind on picking it up.

Matt&Kim – Grand
I’ve been hyped on this since I went to see them (maybe a month ago already?) at the Ogden. The show was amazing. And in general, they rock.
Coconut Records – Nighttiming
The random pick. There always has to be one. Can’t give a single reason why I picked this over many others, but I like the sound.

Walrus!

TGIF

So much magic in the air yesterday. Everything that could have gone so wrong went so right… beyond right… as best as possible. Great day for the entire 19.5 hours that I was awake. (Sleep is becoming rare these days.) Today basically followed suit, assisted by a lot of coffee…

Work
Post-work Feast

Next up: rampy, Henry Clay People, Saturday Adventure…

Design Expo

Today was the final day of the two week Engineering Projects class I’ve been teaching for GoldShirts, a cohort of incoming college freshman to the engineering department here at CU. The job of lead instructor was a ton of work… far more than I planned… but it was so much fun. The students were awesome, and their energy and hardwork made the class really enjoyable to teach. Today was their design expo, and they were able to show off all the work they did to the multiple judges, some parents, and whoever else trickled through. As for me, I listened to all the presentations and then stood back and watched proudly.

The Building Process
The Testing Process
The Expo

And that was that. The winner was announced while I scrambled to finish grades… that didn’t get finished until the BBQ was started. I guess I’ll have to email them out. The job is just never over…