Sara's blog

It's true! I'm the happiest girl alive! Mark proposed! Here's the sequence of events that led to the magical moment: Mark and I have been dating for a couple years now. I knew things were getting serious when we read a book together about marriage and started using the "m"-word a little bit. And when he chose to come to MSU for law school, probably mostly because of me, I knew I had him right where I wanted him... I began casually mentioning my ring size in conversations and saying how I'd like a summer 2011 wedding and it takes a while to plan so the proposal should come well ahead of time. Mark isn't so dull that he couldn't pick on up the hints. I'd made up my mind that I wanted to be engaged by Christmas. If December 26 th came and I didn't have a ring on my finger, it was gonna be time to start nagging... So as the holiday season drew near, I was getting excited. If Mark ever knelt down, my heart would do a flip, that is, until I...

Last night, Mark and I went to a Christmas party at some friends' from church place. This was supposedly the fifth annual Christmas party, though it's only my second time coming and Mark's first. As is tradition, we all dressed up nicely. I finally had an occasion to wear the black dress I bought a year ago; and I got Mark to wear a suit! I love it when guys dress up. We were all supposed to meet at the hosts, John's and Katrina's, house at 6:00; from there we would caravan to the restaurant where we would be eating dinner. The thing was, none of us knew where we would be eating (except John). It's never anywhere too fancy though; we're always way overdressed, which is the whole point. It's pretty funny. This year, we ended up at BigBoy. Mark was excited; apparently he likes BigBoy a lot. There were two long tables full of people. Mark and I were the last ones to walk in and since there wasn't any more space, we sat in a booth. John and Ka...

I went to my first Spartan football game of the season this afternoon. We played Purdue. And, unlike any other time I've been to the stadium, I didn't sit in the student section. One of Mark's professors had given him a pair of tickets to the game, and my wonderful boyfriend was kind enough to invite me to come with him. They were nice seats too--toward the middle of the field, what do you call that, like near the 50-yard line? And they had seat backs also. It was cold outside, but I was prepared, wearing two pairs of pants, boots, and several layers of shirts. I borrowed my roommate's winter coat since it's a bit warmer than the one I've been using. It was great to be back in Spartan Stadium. It was a little weird not being with all the students and participating in all their cheers and stuff. But at least I got to sit down through most of the game instead of standing the whole time like the students do. The game itself was exciting. Actually, it was so...

I've discovered something about graduate level courses in engineering. It has to do with the 'understandability' of the material we learn. At the start of the semester, things are usually pretty straightforward; you very quickly review all the material you learned in the equivalent undergrad course in a matter of about two class periods then learn a new concept/way of looking at things and you go with that for a while. That's usually confusing at first, but after thinking about it for a little while, it clicks and then you're all set. Things go smoothly after that; the material is challenging but manageable. Then, around 2/3 to 3/4 of the way through the semester, nothing makes sense anymore. One complicated topic builds off another, and pretty soon, you're completely lost for the last 25% of the course. I think I've reached that point simultaneously in two of my courses. I've been staring at my conduction homework for the last hour and can't get any...

I discovered that I have inherited a special talent from my mother. I thought I might have the gift, and now I know it's true. As far as I can tell, I'm the only one to whom this trait has been passed on. I don't think either of my sisters has "the gift." Then again, it may be too soon to tell. So what is this special talent, you ask? The tires of any car I am driving have a magnetism toward nails/sharp objects in the road. I successfully achieved my third flat tire in my driving career this morning. Well, it happened sometime between 9:00pm last night and 8:30am this morning. This weekend I attended a conference at the Kellogg Center on campus. It's a pretty far walk, and it's been chilly out, so I decided to drive there. Last night, everything was fine. I came back afterward and parked my car by Owen, like always. Then, this morning, I got in my Cobalt, started the engine, and was greeted by a message on my dash saying, "Tire low. Add air....

Only 7 months until my birthday! Yes, I'm one of those people who still gets excited about her birthday. And even better: less than 2 months until Christmas! And less than 1 month until Thanksgiving! I get some time off classes and a chance to go home and enjoy time with family! Yay! This past weekend marked the halfway point of the semester; and it's been a tough one. It really helps when I can see the light at the end of the tunnel like I can now.

So the other day, before my morning class on Friday, I was talking to my friend Emad. We're always the first two people in the classroom. He's from Lybia and speaks Arabic so he's taught me a few phrases. And sometimes I ask him how he did the homework, since I'm usually confused. Anyway, on Friday, we got on the topic of religion. I told him everything I knew about his religion, Islam, which wasn't much: mostly random facts I picked up from being in quiz bowl, like there's some dude named Muhammad, or Mecca is a place with some significance, or there are 5 pillars of Islam. He proceeded to tell me a story of how in the garden, Adam, after he sinned, asked God to forgive him in the name of Muhammad. Apparently, Adam had seen Muhammad's name written somewhere and figured God liked him a lot. And God did forgive Adam simply because he used Muhammad's name. God explained to Adam that Muhammad hadn't come yet, but he would be His last messenger. ...

Guess what. I gave blood yesterday. That is only the third time I ever gave blood. There was a blood drive in the basement at my church yesterday. For whatever reason, I felt like I should donate. I guess it'd been long enough since my last blood donation experience in order for me to forget how awful it was. Seriously, talk me out of it next time I get it in my head to donate. Well, I hadn't completely forgotten about the last experience; I knew I had nearly passed out and felt an upset stomach and stuff. And it wasn't until I drank some kool -aid that I started to feel better as my blood sugar level rose. So this time, I tried to eat huge meals beforehand. I poured a bowl of cereal twice my normal size that morning. And I drank so much fluid I had to use the bathroom what felt like every 5 minutes. I had made an appointment for 1:00 but arrived a little early. There weren't any others waiting so I just went ahead. I had to answer tons of questions and go through their...

Yesterday I got another slew of emails advertising seminars and whatnot. I was just quickly skimming through them when four little words caught my eye: "Lunch will be provided." Translation: free food! I decided to inspect this particular seminar announcement a little more closely. The topic was "Social Media in action for Global Public Health"--not really much to do with mechanical engineering. But it was during the day Thursday, when I had no other commitments. And it sounded semi-interesting. This lecture was being given in Fee Hall. I'd never been in that building before. I wandered around for a while but finally found the room in the basement. And just as I arrived, I saw the pizza, pop, and cookies arrive on a cart. Shortly afterward, we were invited to come forward and help ourselves to food. "That's what I'm here for," I thought to myself. Turns out, whoever ordered the pizza must have been a vegetarian. There wasn't even ...

Every day I get like 5 emails announcing departmental seminars given by engineers, whether they're visiting professionals, professors, or grad students defending their thesis or dissertation. Most of the time I have the courtesy to at least open the email instead of just deleting it; but I never get past the title before I'm so bored and send the message to the trash bin. Why on earth would I voluntarily go to some presentation that would probably be way over my head and put me to sleep? I was about to delete one such email. The seminar topic was "High Temperature Air Combustion (HiTAC) and Fuel Reforming." Huh? Then, in the corner of my eye, I could swear I read the words "Harry Potter." It was in the section of the email giving a short bio of the speaker. I inspected a little more closely, and sure enough--he claimed to be a recipient of the James Harry Potter award. Immediately suspecting that this was a joke and just a test to see if people ever ac...

I'm auditing a class this semester; I'm not really enrolled in it, just attending lectures and participating on the homework and stuff. I know, I know; why go through all that work if I don't even get any credit for it? Well, this way, I don't have to pay for it either. And in truth, I'm only gonna audit the first portion of the class which is more relevant to my research. Anyway, I met this guy in the class named Mark. He's studying agricultural engineering and got into that because his family owns a chestnut farm. The other week when I met him and we were talking about it, I mentioned I'd never eaten a chestnut before. He said it's harvest time now and he could bring me some. Today he gave me a bagful of chestnuts. I haven't tried one yet because you have to cook them first. He said to be sure to score the shell with a knife before cooking, otherwise it will explode. And the easiest way to cook them is in the microwave (I'm an expert at that). ...

I went to the career fair today. It's the big one they have once a year in the Breslin Center. Today was the "Science, Engineering, and Technology Exchange" so companies hiring in those areas were there. I've been to my fair share of career fairs by now, and I know that they're crowded, there are long lines to talk to any of the popular employers, and it's just plain uncomfortable talking to recruiters. But despite my desire not to go, I knew this was one of my best chances to land a few interviews and possibly get a job. Beforehand, I researched companies in the lower Michigan area and looked to see if they'd posted any job openings on MySpartanCareer.com (MSU's online career services network). I made a note of any that looked like there might be a possibility of full time positions. I didn't actually have that much time to spend at the career fair due to classes. It ran from 2:00-6:00, but I had class from 3-3:50. It was probably the most i...

I will go through great lengths to get free food. Yesterday, I was handed a flyer adversiting "Free Pita Day" today at the Pita Pit. So today, after class this morning, it was past 11am which is when the free pita deal started. So I walked all the way to Grand River. When I saw the line extending from the restaurant, I knew I was in the right spot. Apparently, I'm not the only college student who likes free food. The line went out the door, down Grand River past three businesses, then around the corner. I entered the line at 11:29am. I was behind a group of three Asian guys. What's up with Asians wearing pointy-toed black dress shoes with their casual outfits? And popped collars? Don't they know we make fun of that here in America? It was a long wait, but I didn't mind. The weather was so warm; I took my jacket off and was comfortable in short sleeves. And I didn't have anywhere to be until my next class at 3:00. I finally entered the door to th...

I decided to try something new this year--I joined our church choir. Well, not that I haven't been in a church choir before; I sang at my church back home as part of the choir at Child of Christ. But since eighth grade, I haven't been a part of choir. I kinda thought about joining for a while and finally decided, "What am I waiting for?" So I went ahead and marked on my interest sheet last Sunday that I was thinking about being a part of the choir. Tonight was my first practice. The choir practices Thursday nights and Sunday mornings before church (meaning I'll have to wake up earlier...groan....) Practice for the year actually started last week, but I missed it. I was a little nervous at the start of practice since I don't think of myself as that great of a singer. And when they asked me if I was a soprano or alto and I didn't know, I just felt even more like I shouldn't be there. I mean, who joins a choir and doesn't even know which catego...

Fall hasn't technically arrived yet; we still have about another week of summer. But I've definitely felt the weather shift that comes with fall. The air is a bit cooler and crisper; the leaves are beginning to change. During the afternoon, when the sun's out, it can get pretty warm. But it's time to put away the shorts and sundresses and bring out the jeans and sweatshirts. Some people prefer the cooler, "more comfortable" weather, but I like the heat. I love wearing dresses, and now it's getting to be too cold for them. It makes me sad. I feel like one of the universal themes of autumn is change. The leaves are a good symbol of that with their changing colors. During this time of year, the school year is just starting, which always brings with it many changes and new routines. Other changes in my life include my desk move in the lab I work in. I'm taking over another student's desk since he's graduating and leaving and his desk is in a nicer ...

Since I can't think of a more exciting topic, I'll go through a rundown of my classes. This semester, I'm taking three courses. That's a pretty full load for a grad student. All three of them are Monday-Wednesday-Friday courses (well, one is only Monday and Wednesday); that means I have no classes on Tuesday or Thursday. Don't get too jealous--I still have to find time to go to work in the lab. I plan to do that Tuesday and Thursday, and maybe a little bit on the other weekdays. My earliest class, at 9:10am, is "Linear Systems and Control." It's as boring as it sounds. It doesn't help that it's a morning class and that lecture consists of our professor (who has an Asian accent) reading slides full of equations to us. It's only been a week of classes, and already I'm incredibly lost. I started printing the PowerPoint slides before coming to class so I can read along and take my own notes. It seemed to help a little. But we have...

I discovered something today. Well, I just happened to think about it on the exact day, the day when it would really stand out. I realized that today I am the exact age my mother was when she got married--23 years, and 2 days short of 2 months. Weird, huh? Imagine me being married right now, today! Anyway, that was just an interesting little tidbit. I was only thinking about weddings because I went to a bridal shower today. It was for my friend Hayley, for whom, may I remind you, I am the maid of honor. Her fiance's aunt planned it and she did a nice job. I just helped buy prizes for the games we played and made a few suggestions of games we could play. I think people enjoyed them. We had people playing games while Hayley opened gifts; I was helping by handing her gifts to unwrap, so I kinda missed the whole games thing. She only broke two ribbons, so I guess she's having two children. But yeah, I had a nice time; it was fun. My boyfriend, and Hayley's fiance an...

Well, I've arrived in Virginia. I'm out here for a two-day orientation program for my fellowship I received through NASA. I just awoke from a nap which I desperately needed since I got up at 5:00 AM this morning to catch my flight. Things went pretty smoothly. I think I had the sudoku and the crossword puzzle in the in-flight Sky magazine both solved before take-off. I then played that trivia game they have on those moniters on the back of every seat in the plane; if you've flown recently, you know what I'm talking about. It's the only complimentary game, from what I can tell. You compete against others on the plane in rounds of 20 questions. We had time for five rounds during the flight. I was dominating and won the first four rounds. Then I had a dry spell and couldn't answer a single question correctly. I missed 9 in a row to start round 5. By the time I got in gear again, I couldn't quite catch up. I finished second to username "J" in seat 25D...

As all of you know (since I'm sure you're all die-hard Twilight fans), the third movie in the saga, Eclipse , opened today. A while ago, my sister Jennifer had mentioned coming up to State to see it at the midnight showing with Katie and possibly me. It turns out, Katie had an exam this morning so seeing a movie starting at 12AM might not be the wisest idea. So she opted out, but Jennifer and I still decided to see it. I didn't buy tickets until the day of, and the first showings were all sold out at the theater near me. So we had to wait until 12:18AM to see Eclipse . I'd been to one midnight showing of a movie before, that last James Bond one. Not that I'm a huge Bond fan or anything; in fact, that's the first James Bond movie I'd ever seen. I just went because a lot of my friends were. Jennifer and I got to the theater around like 11:00 to try to be toward the front of lines and to get a good seat in the theater. It turns out, that was plenty earl...

Today I signed into blogger and saw a little pop-up that informed me there was a place to design new templates. I decided to mess around a little. There were so many to choose from! I just thought I'd switch things up a bit and make my blog look a little different. It was time for a change.

I've been playing a lot of softball this summer. And it's been awesome! I love softball. It's one of my favorite sports to play, along with volleyball (and bowling if that counts). I'm living around East Lansing for the summer, the first time since coming to MSU where I've stayed around campus during the summertime. My church plays in a few summer leagues. Monday nights and Thursday nights are co-ed leagues, so I play on both those teams. There's only one other girl who plays on both the Monday team and the Thursday team. But I'm so glad I decided to play both nights. I always have a great time and can never wait to play again. And I even played on a third team for the early part of the summer. I got an email mid-May from a fellow mechanical engineering grad student sent to everyone in the department, asking who wanted to play summer softball. I replied that I did, hoping that the games would be on Tuesdays or Wednesdays. Our team name was the Ge...

On Monday through Thursday, we spent our time doing the main thing we'd come for: building a house. We were building for an elderly couple who'd lost their home in a flood; the old man was blind, so they were pretty helpless. We settled into a routine of heading into Juarez to our worksite each morning and working on the house all day. Most of the time, there was plenty of work to do so that all 14 of us (12 from Martin Luther Chapel + Erin + Chris) were busy. All that was there at the start of the week was a cement slab. This is what we could see of Juarez from the worksite. We made good progress. By the end of the first day, we had the frame built with the siding attached to all the walls. Here I am, posing by my work. Days 2 through 4, I got a lot of experience drywalling. Here I am cutting a piece of drywall. Spackling was pretty fun, also. At the end of the week, we presented the couple with a homemade quilt and the keys to their new home. It was a very touching experience...

Sunday, our first full day in El Paso, we got to experience Rita's cooking for the first time at breakfast. She'd prepared a feast of fresh fruit, pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, cereal, you name it. I ate a lot. Then we attended the church service on site. They had a mariachi band leading worship, and they had a little part in the service where we went up front and were blessed. It was a small church; our group of 12 probably increased the size of the congregation by like 50%. It was nice to feel welcomed. After church, we took a group photo by the sign in our Sunday best then changed and headed into Mexico to go to a church there. Driving through Juarez was cool. All the signs were in Spanish. The stop signs said "Alto." Near the bridge, the streets were lined with shops. Further in, things looked a little run down. Here are a few photos of the streets as we drove by. There were stray dogs everywhere. It was crazy. The church we attended in Mexico was called sin pa...

So, I've been meaning to blog about my recent servant event trip to El Paso, but I haven't had a chance to sit down and write yet. So far this week, I've been catching up on homework I didn't do over break. Now I finally have some time on my hands. I'll start at the beginning. I signed up for this servant event at the start of this semester, as soon as applications were available at my church. I think an earlier blog post mentions how excited I was to be going on this trip. Spring break finally arrived, and Friday after classes, we had a commissioning service at my church. All those going on a servant event and some other church members there to support us gathered together to pray for the trips. There was an announcement that over 250 people whom we had sent letters to had responded and donated to help make it all possible. Thank you to all of you! Saturday morning, we gathered at my church super-early--5:45am, to be exact. After calling the few who had overslept t...

I was watching TV the other night with my roommate, Brittany. I was just channel surfing, trying to kill a little time before going off to do something. I settled on that one show, "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?" The first question had the category '3rd grade math.' It asked what the result was if you multiplied a number times its reciprocal. "One!" I shouted. "Anyone who doesn't know that should shoot themselves." No sooner had I said this when Brittany was like, "Are you sure it's one? Isn't the answer 'itself'?" I really put my foot in my mouth there. I made some excuse for her not knowing, like "Oh, well, um, I guess I'm an engineer so I use math every day and stuff... This might be a lot easier for someone like me..." We both knew that adjectives describe nouns, and neither of us knew that Mozart came before Beethoven (...or was he after?) Then I had to leave. When I came back, Britta...

This year for spring break, I'm going on a servant event trip with my church up at school to El Paso , Texas. Every year, I've contemplated going on one of the missions trips with my church, but I always decided to do something else with my spring break instead. I've always heard good things from the people who've gone on these trips in the past. So I made up my mind I was going to sign up as soon as applications were available this year before I had a chance to change my mind. These servant events are typically students-only, with two of the students labeled as leaders. They're in charge of making sure everything's organized and leading group meetings before we leave and stuff. But it seems like that's not extremely difficult to do as my church has been doing these trips for years and a really good pattern of organization has developed. This year, my church is sending three groups to El Paso, Phoenix, and Galveston. In El Paso, we'll probably be c...

So, yesterday I did one of my favorite activities: dress shopping!! Yes, dresses, I’ ve discovered, are my weakness when I’m shopping. I see a cute one and I just have to have it—even if I have no occasion at which I could ever foresee myself wearing it. But yesterday, I went shopping with a purpose. There was an occasion in mind where I would need a dress—my roommate's wedding! I mentioned in a previous post that I am one of her bridesmaids. All my roommates and I went to David’s Bridal yesterday to try on dresses. I don’t think Lara or Brittany is as big a fan of dresses as I am. But I was excited enough for all of us. When we got there, we weren' t really sure what to try on. There were racks and racks of dresses and Beth, the bride-to-be, wasn' t giving us orders about what to try on. So, we each just grabbed a handful of about five dresses that we could find in our size and we all headed to the dressing rooms. Beth wanted shorter, knee-length dresses since her wedding...

I just got back from bowling. I saw information about a league starting up at Spartan Lanes in the Union, so I signed up. Only about 20 people signed up to hear more information, and I was a little worried not enough people would show up to have a league. But there were 8 people there tonight. We all decided we could play doubles--4 teams of 2. Today, we just all bowled 3 games to get our average. Next week, we'll be paired up in teams. I don't think anyone actually knew each other before tonight, so teams will probably be random or based on averages from today. I actually bowled ok today; I got a 121, 101, and 125. I broke 100 every game! Yay ! Despite the low turnout, I had a really fun time. When I first got there and people were standing around awkwardly waiting for it to start, I was a little intimidated. The girls I talked to had played on their high school teams (granted, I did too for one year, but I was the alternate on our JV team, meaning I wasn't any g...

I checked my email today and had a message notifying me that I had a new message on studiVZ. It's the German version of facebook; I made an account when I studied abroad there. So I signed into my StudiVZ account for the first time in a while. The message was from a random stranger named Michael. My German isn't too good, so I couldn't really read what he wrote me. I put the text into Google translater and this is what it came up with: hi would you like to learn about times when you want it Hmmmm.... I think I'll just not respond. I actually had a few "pokes" from random guys also, for those of you who are on facebook and know what that means. And studiVZ has this feature where you can see the last people who've looked at your profile--all guys I don't know, coincidentally. But hey, maybe Michael, Maik, Manfred, or Tobias are nice guys and I should give'em a chance...

OK, so, I am playing a game of sock assassins with my friends. Basically, each person is assigned a target and your job is to "kill" them by throwing socks at them. When you've terminated someone, you adopt their target as your own until there's only one person left and you win! I played with my church friends last semester and was the first person to die. I wasn't taking the game too seriously. I didn't think I was this time either, but I've been so paranoid lately. Every time I turn a corner, I'm afraid I'll see someone with a sock aimed at me. I saw Tony (who is also playing) earlier and instead of saying hi, I gave him a weird nervous look and ran away. When I got back to my apartment, I locked the door behind me and checked for people hiding in my apartment and interrogated my roommate about any suspicious looking people. I can't hear the word "sock" without freaking out a little bit. I guess I should never do anything wort...

Yesterday, I talked to another professor about potential research. His name is Dr. Naguib and he contacted me last week telling me about a fellowship through NASA. If I decided to work on this project, I would be doing research related to aeroacoustic microphone sensors, whatever that means. And I would be expected, as part of the fellowship award, to work out in the NASA Langley laboratories in Virginia for about 10 weeks at some point. I told Dr. Naguib I was interested in hearing more and so we met. He said he recognized me from when I took thermodynamics with him. That was my first semester freshman year (i.e. a long time ago) so I was shocked and accused him of just looking up that information. He said he recognized my name and when he saw my picture, he put two and two together. Anyway, we went over the logistics of when the fellowship application was due, when I would probably see the money from it, how this would fit in with my intended graduation date, etc. Then he took me ...

Yesterday I went to my second quiz bowl tournament of the school year, ACF winter. ACF stands for Academic Competition Federation. The tournament took place in Ann Arbor at the University of Michigan. I played on the Michigan State B team. The results are up if you care to look! http://results.scobo.net/SQBS.aspx?org=und&id=6&page=standings You can look at both team and individual stats. We went 2-9 and I answered a total of 8 questions correctly. Eleven games was a few too many; I was pretty tired of quiz bowl by the end of the day. But our last game was the most exciting. We played our MSU A team. The game ended in a tie. When that happens, there are tiebreaker questions. Basically, whoever answers a question correctly first, wins. Of course, there is also the possibility that someone could "neg" as we call it. If you buzz in before the question is finished being read and answer incorrectly, you lose five points and would end up losing. It took two ...

I miss home already. What did I have for dinner today? Taquitos. Yesterday? A peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The day before that? Taquitos. Basically, I can't cook and am too lazy to try learning. So what will I eat tomorrow? My guess is peanut butter and jelly. Not only do I miss my mom's cooking, I miss our dishwasher. I hate doing dishes. My hands get all dried out, and the hot temperature of the water isn't exactly comfortable. I also miss being on vacation, although, school hasn't been too strenuous so far. I've only been to class twice. All my other lecture periods this week up to this point have been cancelled due to professors being out of town and such. Tomorrow morning, though, I do have to wake up for my first ever 8:00 AM college class. blah

No, not me. But three of my friends got engaged over Christmas break. The first engagement was Beth, one of my roommates. We all knew it was coming eventually; but I still was totally surprised when she showed me her ring. And of course, we had to have a bounce fest, jumping up and down while screaming and hugging each other. Then, my high school friend Hayley told me that Tom proposed on Christmas. They've been dating forever, so again, I expected it eventually but was still surprised to hear the news. I love how I'm so easily surprised. And I didn't even realize my friend Amber was dating someone, but when I got together with her over break and she casually inserted the phrase "my fiance" into the conversation, I was like, "What?!" "Oh, Hayley didn't tell you? I'm engaged." She's been dating this guy for like four months officially, so it's kind of a fast engagement, but hey, whatever works. After I got back from break,...