Dan's Landing » It’s my life

My first car

Danny — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 04:28:56 +0000

Today is a day I’ll remember for years to come. Much like the first time I was in an airplane and my first solo, getting a car is a momentous occasion in my life.

I have been able to put off buying a car for quite a while now but it turned out I could do so no more. Last Sunday I got a job which will require me to work Sundays in an area not serviced by public transport so the decision was made for me: I need a car. Today, I picked it up, a 2004 Pontiac Sunfire. It only has about 52,000 km on it and, from what I could find, a clean maintenance record.

It drives very smoothly and I look forward to taking it to the airport for the first time!

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Quebec Cuisine

Danny — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 01:00:30 +0000

I enjoy trying out different cuisines and types of food when I travel. As long as I don’t know that I’m eating something very exotic, say raw squid, I’m fine. On my recent trip to the Belle Province I had a chance to sample quite a few different dishes at various restaurants both in Quebec City and Montreal. Read on to learn about my gastronomic adventures in the province of Quebec.

While gallivanting in Vieux Quebec, our group stopped over a the Conti Cafe on rue Saint-Louis (map).

The first thing we noticed about Conti, since we were in a big group, was that we couldn’t get into the restaurant from the little lobby. Its climate control system locks the inner door while the outer door is opened. Once we figured that out, we were seated in the quaint dining room and were ready to order.

I had a “combo” consisting of soup, a burger and fries and desert. The great thing about Quebec is that when you order fries, they not only give you ketchup but also mayonnaise (groan all you want but it’s delicious).

From Quebec City and Montreal 2008

My burger and fries. Notice the mayo on the left!

The burger was nothing to write home about, I would say it was on par with others I’ve had. The presentation of the food was great though as were the soup, the fries and my fruit salad desert and the $12 price for all of it was much less than I expected.

From Quebec City and Montreal 2008

Desert, a combination of grapes, pineapple, strawberries and an unidentified fruit

It would not be a trip to Quebec without some Maple taffee, so we headed to a cart which was selling it across the way from Chateau Frontenac.

From Quebec City and Montreal 2008

If you’re not familiar with maple taffee, the process of making it is very simple: boil maple syrup to a certain temperature then pour it on snow and serve. Check out the pictures below for a summary of the process.

Boil the maple syrup.

Pour the molten maple syrup onto snow.

Let the syrup cool and solidify

Enjoy!

I would say that next to poutine (which I will discuss in a future post) this taffee is a great Canadian delicacy so if you find yourself in Canada and especially in Quebec make sure you try the two. You won’t be disappointed!

Coming up in a future post: Chez Cora Dejeuners and a great poutine at La Banquise!

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McMaster Reactor: security problems or bad journalism

Danny — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 09:00:02 +0000

There’s a new show in town, and its name is 16×9 – The Bigger Picture. Global hails it as a “hard hitting weekly investigative news magazine format that promises to deliver the bigger picture — a dynamic new current affairs show with flare.” You can probably tell that it’s a sensationalist show making a big deal out of little things.

The latest episode’s segment on nuclear reactors on university campuses reinforces my opinion that this show is only here to instill fear in people.

The show’s producers call the reactor on the McMaster campus “an ominous” building and let you believe that nothing good comes out of there. The first “issue” they mention is the lack of personnel manning the parking booths at the entrances to campus. The producers (I’m guessing) expect a person to be checking ID at the entrance to the campus and ask them about their business at the reactor. Needless to say this is (at best) a dumb thing to expect. The campus is a public place with over 25,000 people living, learning and working here. If checking 25,000 pieces of ID on a daily basis sounds ridiculous, that’s because it is. Even when the parking booths were manned, you could just drive by them and not stop. This is a non-issue. University campuses are public places, a fact they conveniently do not mention, and open to the public. 16×9 seems to forget that they were allowed to film on campus without requiring authorization precisely because of this fact.

Next (still within the first 5 minutes of the segment) they go on to compare the 5 MW reactor here with a 500 MW reactor at the Pickering Power plant, pointing out the difference in security level. Let me get this straight: you expect the same security level at a 5 MW reactor as at a reactor ONE HUNDRED TIMES ITS SIZE? Does that really make sense to you, Garofalo?

Of course no such segment could be complete without a scientist giving us facts (whether or not they pertain to the subject matter is another story). The scientist 16×9 interviewed mentions that in the correct geometric arrangement, uranium can be used in an atomic bomb. Of course, by telling us this, the 16×9 producers imply the material from the McMaster reactor is dangerous and capable of being used in a bomb. Really? I can make a bomb out of bleach and ammonia, are you going to go to Canadian Tire for your next expose?

At this point (about 7 minutes in) the video crashed Firefox and it was just as well. I had had enough of this fear mongering they call “ground-breaking investigations.”

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The latest “breakthrough” in Operating Rooms

Danny — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 15:11:47 +0000

It seems doctors have gotten around to recognizing what those in aviation have known for decades: checklists save lives.

The link above directs you to a report from CTV on what they hail “one of the greatest innovations since the stethoscope.” The object of their affection? An operating room checklist which allows doctors and nurses to check “19 killer items” and make sure they are done. Apparently it has led to a 40% decrease in post operation deaths.

What’s more troubling, is the surgeon admitting that not a week goes by without the checklist catching something they had forgotten.

In aviation we have a checklist for pretty much every step of the way:

Walk-around checklist
Pre-start up checklist
Start up checklist
Post-start up checklist
Run-up checklist
Takeoff checklist
Landing checklist

And possibly many more depending on the type of flight and aircraft.

It makes me uneasy knowing that surgeons are just getting on the checklist bandwaggon.

[Found via The Wings Stayed On.]

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Interview with Big Blue next week

Danny — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 13:50:02 +0000

I got an email from ECCS (Engineering Coop and Career Services) yesterday informing me that IBM would like to interview me for a 4 month position during the summer. I accepted and set the date for next Wednesday at 1 PM, so I have until then to get well versed and practice my interview skills.

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First day impressions

Danny — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 23:00:12 +0000

Today was my first day back in class for the second term. Of the four classes I am taking this semester, I had 3 today:

Engineering and Social Responsibility: looks like this will be a lot of work, and specifically a lot of group work in what I deem to be too large of groups (six members).
Circuits and Systems: not much surprise here. They’ve changed the course a bit to make it flow better with its prerequisite so hopefully this will help me. I definitely need to review my Thevenin, Norton, node and mesh analysis though.
Statistical Analysis for Engineering: another programming class. We’re supposed to learn how to use a new language which the prof called R (or CRAN). It should be interesting since, again according to my prof, we will be marking our own tests and assignments.

The only class left to “sample” is Marketing and I don’t expect there will be any surprises there.

After my first two classes I tried my luck with the OSAP line, but no dice. The whole waiting three hours in line didn’t speak to me and as I was leaving I ran into a friend of mine who also is a pilot. We reminisced about some lessons and happenings in the air then headed our own ways.

All in all this semester is shaping up well and it looks like I won’t be spending much money on books (if any for that matter).

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First day at the gym

Danny — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 03:57:51 +0000

I decided to start early on my goals for 2009 and head to the gym this evening. The line to sign up for gym memberships was very long, about 50 or so people were waiting and I can only imagine how long it was during the day. The smell of New Year’s resolutions is in the air. Heading into the locker room, it was clear Darcie’s prediction that people would give up on their gym resolutions before the start of this week didn’t hold (at least at McMaster’s gym).

After making our way through the myriad of bodies, some wandering aimlessly, Bobby and I finally found some free lockers and by this time Wyn had joined us too. We changed and headed to the gym and that’s when it was clear to us that this would be a tough workout session. There were a lot of people walking around, trying a machine or two then walking around some more. We made our way upstairs to the cardio machines and lo and behold they were all full, save for a threeple of stairmasters. Once done our cardio we attempted to find some free machines but it soon became obvious this was a fool’s errand. We did what little we could then headed to the sauna.

It is quite funny to see so many people exercising knowing full well that in a couple of weeks they will be gone and back to their glutenous lifestyles. I need to find a better time to head to the gym, some time during the day since in the evening everyone’s there. This week I may just stick to cardio (swimming ) until the waters clear, so to speak. I also need to put together a fitness program so that I don’t just “wing it” every time I’m there. I owe it to myself to do this right from the beginning.

A crockpot

I’ve also come across a couple of yummy-sounding recipes which I want to try. I need to get a crock pot first though!

Weight (as per the digital scale in the gym): 283 lbs (128 kg)

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Goals for the new year

Danny — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 04:40:59 +0000

I have spent the past few days organizing my room for the new school term. As I was doing this I began thinking about what I want to accomplish in 2009 (in no particular order):

Lose weight and become more active – A little cliché but it has gotten to the point where it is needed. Six years ago (in June) when I graduated from high school I weighed 180 lbs (~82 kg). Now I am up to 280 lbs (~127 kg). I tried snowboarding this winter and had to give up after my first time down the bunny hill. Having to undo and do up the bindings after each run would have been too tiresome and moreover, I was not able to do it myself since my stomach got in the way. Long story short, it is time for me to increase my fitness level so watch this site for updates on my progress.
Raise my Cumulative Average to 6.5 or higher – My first year at Disaster University was great on the academic side. Since then however my grades have slipped and it is time to bring them back up, one course at a time. I have a good start this school year and I intend to keep the trend going. (In case you are not familiar with the grading system at McMaster, it is based on a 12 point scale reflecting the range from 50% to 100%. Check this page for a table converting from McMaster’s grading system to more widely used ones.)
Complete my private pilot license – My flight lessons came to an abrupt end in November 2008 when Peninsulair was locked out. Since then, the only flying I have done has been in Microsoft’s Flight Simulator. I want to finish at least the private pilot level in the next twelve months which means I will have to start reviewing ground school and the flight briefings I have already done. I plan on posting my reviews on this blog which also plays into my next goal.
Write more aviation and aviation training related posts – Not only will this help me review the material I have covered, I also hope it will start discussions and allow me to get light shed on topics which may be a bit fuzzy. (I am planning a follow up to my “Planes on Conveyors” post to further explain my reasoning and allow some of my pilot friends’ input to be heard.)
Live the life I want to have, not the one I have – You have probably heard of the phrase: “Dress for the job you want, not the job you have.” I plan to apply its spirit to my life and start living towards the life I want to have once out in the workforce (more or less).
Read more both in English and Romanian – The last book I finished was back in March 2008 and is The Amber Spyglass (Wiki), the third book in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials (Wiki) series which includes The Golden Compass (Wiki). Since then I have started a few books but have not finished them. Alongside the books in English, I plan to read more in Romanian to improve my diminishing vocabulary.

It will be a great year!

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The semester is dead, long live the semester

Danny — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 17:00:50 +0000

I can finally close the book that was this past semester. All of my marks have been posted and I have no failures! For the past two (academic) years, I’ve been carrying over 2 failures per year but this has changed this year. Quite frankly, it’s nice to have no zeroes showing up on my transcript.

Now that it’s over, I’m looking forward to next term and the courses I will be taking:

Electrical Engineering 2CJ4 – Circuits and Systems: Advanced circuit analysis including dependent sources; Laplace transforms with applications; frequency response; 2-port networks; coupled circuits; power relationships; magnetic circuits.
Commerce 3MC3 – Applied Marketing Management: This course builds upon material in COMMERCE 2MA3 but is more applied in nature and covers the 4 P’s in greater depth. It also has a heavier industrial and service sector component, and relies more on practical, real world cases. A major field project (student teams working with companies) is a critical part of the course.
Engineering 4A03 – Engineering and Social Responsibility: The historical development of the engineering profession’s concern for social responsibility. Engineering as a cultural activity. The scope and limitations of engineering ethics. The role of the engineering profession in the social control of technological change.
Statistics 3Y03 – Statistical Analysis for Engineers: Introduction to probability, univariate and multivariate random variables and their distributions, statistical estimation and inference, regression and correlation, decision making, applications.

Of the four I’m mostly looking forward to Engineering 4A03, Engineering and Social Responsibility. I expect it to be quite a bit of work and maybe a bit more difficult than I’m used to since I will have to write (I’m not big on writing, by the way), however, from what I’ve heard, the topics covered are very interesting.

This coming semester will also be the one in which I will tame the monstrosity that is EE2CJ4, Circuits and Systems. It will be my second time through the course and I expect to do well. I will definitely work my hardest to get a mark well above just passing the course.

Here’s to a great new term!

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Gifts for a budding pilot

Danny — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 17:00:42 +0000

When it comes to receiving gifts, I have adopted a “can I buy it?” approach. Basically, rather than use Christmas (or birthday) gifts to get something I cannot afford (or would rather not spend the money on), I look for things that I could myself buy and then ask for those.

I have long since moved on to asking Santa for practical things. If I am not going to use it, I do not see a point in having it. This year, given my, somewhat, recent interest in aviation I asked for aviation related supplies and Santa (aka my family) did not disappoint.

First there was the ASA Rotating plotter

which will come in handy when ummm… plotting my tracks on the map. I currently have a Douglas protractor and a ruler, however these are a bit awkward to use. Don’t get me wrong, I won’t be throwing these out. I will however be putting the rotating plotter to good use when I return to “flight duty.”

Next up was an ASA Yoke Clip

which I will use to hold my charts and other papers in front of me as I am buzzing around up there.

Then came the ASA Double headset bag

The final aviation-related gift, and my reading material for the next while, was the book Buying and Owning Your Own Airplane by James E. Ellis

All in all, Santa was good to a budding pilot.

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