Graduation
April 21, 2013
As the final semester of my senior year winds down, I am becoming more and more bittesweet about leaving Penn State. I have grown so much since my freshmen year, and now that I look back, I realize how many friendships I have made and am very thankful for. I coundn't have wished for any other college experience, and I have no regrets over the four years that i have been here. I am really going to miss Penn State as much as I look forward to the future years ahead of me. We are...
The Fundamentals of Engineering Exam
April 8, 2013
The Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam, also known as the Engineer in Training (EIT) exam, is an eight hour supplied reference exam that contains 120 questions in the four-hour morning session and 60 questions in the four-hour afternoon exam. The FE exam is the first of two exams that engineers must pass in order to become licensed as a Professional Engineer (PE). I am taking this very exam on Saturday, April 13th. I have been preparing for almost three months now. This exam will require a lot of brain power and energy. Wish me luck!
Machinists
March 28, 2013
For my senior design project, my team and I have to design and build a machine to process the African fruit called Baobab. The main part in the machine it called the heart, and it is a heavy spinning shaft that grinds up the pulp and fibres and separates them from the seeds. The only problem is that it is very hard to machine this part without any machining experience. One of my teammates and I were given the opportunity to use the machines in the machine shop in Leonhard building. There was one of the lead machinists in the machine shop who was very nice to help us out. Since the heart is cylindrical, it had to be machined on a lathe. As my teammate and I were watching the machinist, we realized how hard it would have been to try and machine the heart on our own. The machinist, expressed how humbling it is when you receive help from someone who has had years of experience. Now I can say that I genuinely respect machinists because of their precise skill.
Photo of a Lathe
Spring Break
March 1, 2013
This year for spring break, a few of my buddies and I are taking a crazy road trip to Panama City, FL. When we get there we will be doing a fair amount of clubbing and partying. And what is partying and clubbing without music? The best music to party to in my opinion is electronic dance music.
Below is a sound cloud widget for a mix that is one hour long called Spring Break Mix by Kap Slap. This mix gets me really pumped and excited. I recommend it for any type of party. Also, evne though it is an hour long, the mix does not get boring. Party up!
Kap Slap Spring Break Mix
My Siblings
February 27, 2013
For this blog, I will write about something a little more personal: my siblings. I have an older sister named Eunice, a twin sister named Eva, and a younger brother named Avi. My older sister Eunice was born in Ghana and I have learned a lot from her and she has a lot of influence on my personality. Unfortunately, she could not make an appearance in the beautiful picture below (she would have made the picture even better than it already is). My twin sister Eva is currently a senior at Penn State and is studying psycology with a concentration in neuroscience. My younger brother Avi is also currently attending Penn State as a freshman studying civil engineering. I am very happy to have two of my three siblings going to school with me. I love all of my siblings and am glad to be very close with them.
Right to left: Harlan (me), Eva, Avi
Inspire Tomorrow's Miracles
February 22, 2013
A recent article in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette about the Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance MaraTHON made the front page.
THON 2013 Total of $12,374,034.46
"It's like this every year. THON just seems to get bigger. Every year the Bryce Jordan Center fills up a little earlier. And every year the final announcement comes with a little more energy, excitement and anxiousness to see if last year's total has been surpassed and this year's goal reached."
Last year for THON 2012, I represented the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers by dancing for all of the 46 hours of THON. When the total was revealed this year, everyone in the Bryce Jordan Center went crazy! $12,374,034.46, almost $2 million more than last year's total, is the result of 15,000 people working together to fight cancer!
The Rubik's Cube
February 14, 2013
For my next blog entry, I will talk about one of my favorite hobbies: puzzles. But more specifically, the Rubik's Cube. I first learned how to solve a Rubik's Cube when I was in the tenth grade. Now I have a collection of various types of Rubik's Cube-like puzzles. I also wrote a page that is dedicated to the Rubik's Cube in my course webpage. You can either find it on the homepage listed as Assignment 3 or you can visit this link right now!
Half Dome
February 8, 2013
In this article, I will share my experience of hiking Half Dome. Half Dome is a very large mountain in the beautiful Yosemite National Park, in the northeastern part if Mariposa County, California. The mountain is made of granite and the apex rises 4,737 feet above the valley floor.
I hiked the mountain with my younger brother and twin sister. We started at 6:00 am and we finished the hike at 3:00 pm. At the top of Half Dome, there is a beautiful view of almost all of Yosemite National Park.
Yosemite Valley and Half Dome to the right
People Are Awesome
February 1, 2013
For my first blog entry, I will talk about something that I found on YouTube that is pretty cool in my opinion. Below is a video of people doing crazy stunts and is called "PEOPLE ARE AWERSOME 2013". My room mate and I were watching this video one night and we found many more similar videos like this one. It really is amazing what people can do with their bodies. I believe that people have acquired superior abilities than in the past.
One time I saw a program on TV that talked about olympic track runners becoming progressively faster. It is pretty cool how world records and olympic records keep getting broken.
"PEOPLE ARE AWESOME 2013"