Only Two More Days!

There are only two more days until the first Tech football game of the season! I did notice that there were some games on tonight, but didn't pay them too much attention. I did tune into the end of the NLULM game just to make sure they were losing and they weren't letting me down. The tigers were winning big though, but I guess that is ok for now. The mayor has declared that Friday's are "Code Blue" days and that all businesses are encouraged to show their support by wearing blue. . . sounds good to me! Although, I think Code Blue may not have been the best name choices because Code Blue is the hospital code for a person not breathing I think, but that may be appropriate for some of the local Tech "fans." Nothing bugs me more than to see someone at Tech or in Ruston decked out in full LSU regalia but yet has no affiliation with LSU at all! That reminds me of one of my favorite pictures, I don't have it on this computer so I can't post it, but I will try to post it later.

It is also getting very close to time for school to start back. I am teaching a couple of classes this Fall and I am looking forward to getting started. I am teaching one of the sections of our new Freshmen Engineering Curriculum and it is pretty cool. The students are going to be building some really sophisticated things - some robots, sensors, some micor/nano fabricated stuff, control systems and all as Freshmen! I am also teaching the seminar class that goes along with that. Possibly the most fun class is going to be my IMPaCT class. This is a class that I (with the help of plenty of people) started a two years ago. The class is a multidisciplinary design and product development class. We are looking at some pretty interesting projects for this year. One of the possible projects involves a lunar orbiter for NASA. Last year one of the projects from this class was licensed to a regional company for a significant chunk of change (something like 1.2 million shares of the company stock). Anyway, more on school on a later date.

Oh wait, I do have one cool thing to tell you about. Tech is starting a new tradition this year (oh and I have a really cool tradition to tell you about for next year). The Freshmen are going to assemble in Howard September 5th (the day before classes) and listen to some speakers (Derek Dooley for one) and be given a commemorative coin. Then they will take this coin and throw it into the Lady of the Mist. Then when they graduate they will get the coin back with their graduation date engraved on it. It seems like a pretty cool thing, we will see how it goes. Click HERE to read more about the tradition. The tradition that we will start next year is even cooler in my book, but I probably can't tell you about it yet.

For my last bit tonight I am just going to say that I hate to admit it, but I have been bitten by the reality TV show bug. I have been totally watching Big Brother 8, and I like it. I still don't watch any of the other reality shows, unless you count the American Hot Rod / Chopper type shows, but I am liking this one for sure. I am not sure who I want to win, but at least they got rid of Amber tonight, I was pretty sure I didn't want her to win. Well, that is all for tonight, stayed tuned for more . . .

Summer is Almost Over. . .

So, another summer is just about over and it is only a few days until school starts back. I am actually looking forward to school starting. This has been a busy summer and I need a break. I made trips to Florida, California, Colorado, and Hawaii and did nine summer camps, plus taught one class and helped out with one of our new freshmen programs. So I am ready to get back to regular stuff. Oh, and I made one trip out to Dallas recently to check out the Lovejoy Independent School district. Speaking of Lovejoy, if any of you live out near the Richardson, Plano, Allen area you definitely need to check out that school, they are doing some pretty amazing things!

I am also ready for football season to start! Tech plays their first game this coming Saturday and I am pretty excited. We should win this game, but after last season's pitiful performance who knows? I will be there though - Lord willing and the creek don't rise. That phrase reminds me of something else, did you realize that you can say just about anything about anyone if you just follow it with "Bless his/her heart"? For instance, I could say, "Look at poor Bart over there, he is about as ugly a person as ever has lived, bless his heart." See how the magic phrase cancels out whatever bad you just said. It is amazing.

Oh, I also wanted to point you guys to some cool computer stuff that you may want to check out. One program is called Comic Life. No it isn't about comic books, well not exactly anyway. What it does is take a photograph (or any image) and filters it in such as way so that the resulting image looks like a hand drawn and colored picture. For instance, here is a before and after of one of my Colosseum pictures from last year. I think it is pretty cool, at least something different. And yes, it will let you add the comic style writing and such if you really want to. You can go to www.plasq.com to download the program, it is free! Anyway, something to check out in your spare time.Did I mention that Tech's first football game of the year is only six days away? I hope some of you come out to the game. Oh, and basketball season should be great this year! We have a new floor coming in, some really great players and new coach. We may not make the tournament this year (although I am secretly holding out hope that we do), but next year is going to be something special with the players we have already signed and and next year's recruits. But first, we have some football games to play!