Tech Tip: Blog Design

Some of you guys may have noticed that I updated my color scheme. Everyone should play around with a few different blog designs, you can access the design function by clicking "Design" on the top left corner while looking at your blog.

Backup and Review: Week 1

Palindrome, from Laura Gibbs

I saw this picture on Friday's announcements, and I knew it would be perfect for my backup and review. I love seeing creative wordplay like this.

Famous Last Words: Week 1

This is only the first week of the class, but I think I'm off to a good start. There was no new writing for me this week, I just republished my writing from Epics of India, which I took last semester. There was also no new reading, but I did select some possible future reading. I'm going to start with Aesop's Fables during the first week. After that I'm considering Beowulf, Dante's Inferno, and Noah and the Ark. All of these are pretty classic readings, only some of which I am mildly familiar with, so I'm looking forward to all of them. I especially enjoyed doing the new extra credit assignment, Wikipedia trails. I started at Aesop's Fables, and ended at Piracy in Somalia. It should be familiar to anyone who has played 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon.

My other classes have also picked up speed this week. More than a few projects have been assigned with the first due in about a month, keeping up with those along with my regular tests and assignments is sure to be difficult. But, like anything else, you can only eat an elephant one bite at a time.  I'm glad to see some other Petroleum Engineers in this class again: Tyler, who was also in Epics of India with me last semester, and Ahmed, who is new to me. I want to wish both of them luck in the upcoming semester, because we are all sure to need it.

Out of class, it is recruitment season for Petroleum Engineers, which means everyone is feeling the pressure as we ramp up for the career fair. It's always difficult to find a job, but I'm worried it's going to be even harder with the oil price the way it is. My weekend is sure to involve a flurry of applications.

Barrels of Crude Oil, from The Independent

Wikipedia Trail: Aesop's Fables to Piracy off the Coast of Somalia

Since it will be my reading next week, I'll start on the Wikipedia page for Aesop's Fables. I hope I can begin to familiarize myself with the stories before I begin reading. From here I learned that Aesop is thought to have been a slave in Ancient Greece, so the next page I clicked on was Slavery in Ancient Greece. This article covered some of the differences in Greek Slavery and the more recent chattel style of slavery from American History. I was already somewhat familiar with this topic from my American History course at OU. I didn't know, however, that some Greek slaves were captured by pirates, and I figured reading up on Piracy would be interesting. I learned that pirates still steal an estimated $16 billion per year. From here, I went to Piracy off the Coast of Somalia. Somalia is a hotbed of modern piracy, below you can see a map of the effected area.

Map of area effected by Somali Piracy, Wikipedia

Growth Mindset: Week 1

I was heavily exposed to Growth Mindset last semester during Epics of India. I really enjoyed taking a small part of every week to work on myself, and not just school work. I'm looking forward to growing even more as a student and person this semester. Finding an intrinsic motivation to learn is the single best way to succeed in your education. I'm going to leave you with the same image I placed in this post last semester, featuring a quote from Joseph Campbell.

From the Joseph Campbell website

Starting the Semester

The first thing I do beginning a semester is place every test, quiz, project, and assignment in a single digital calendar. It prevents things from sneaking up on me and making me feel stressed about the amount of work I have to do.

Image of Calendar, from DH Leonard Consulting

Also, the beginning of a Fall semester means a career fair for me, so I make a point to update my resume and reach out to my professional contacts in the Oil and Gas industry. I also suggest trying new study techniques (such as the Pomodoro technique) at the beginning of the semester. I have more time to try new things and recover from a bad grade if a study technique doesn't work for me. 

Reading Options

For week 2 I have decided to read Aesop's Fables by Joseph Jacobs. I have always heard of these, but never read them. I think they will be a good choice to ease into the class.

Cover to a collection of Aesop's Fables, illustrated by Don Daily. From Amazon

Listed below are a few other choices for possible readings I have made. I have picked out a few European classics, like Beowulf and Dante's Inferno, specifically because the subject material interests me. I'm looking forward to revisiting these stories, as I haven't explored them since high school. Speaking of stories I haven't read since I left my Catholic high school, I'm leaving Noah's Ark as a potential choice. I think it will be interesting to revisit this in another context. 

Beowulf

Dante's Inferno

Noah and the Ark

Storybook Favorites

Elephants In India!

I chose this story because it's title instantly reminded me of my experience in Epics of India this past Spring. The first story is even a Jataka story - a style of story I became very familiar with when I read Noor Inyat. I thought that the choice of stories was great. The Jataka tales that feature elephants were great when rewritten as bedtime stories told to young elephants. The change of view was interesting. I thought that the blog was pleasing to look at, with a good color scheme and layout. However, I would have maybe placed pictures earlier in the story to pull in readers earlier.

A highly decorated Indian Elephant, courtesy of Wikipedia

Mac's Mythology Storybook

Going into this class, I am excited to have the importunity to read some classic mythology. Mac's story is a modern take on Dante's Inferno, a story and I am familiar with from high school, and I liked to see another take on it. Having Kanye West be Dante's Guide (in Hell due to his narcissism) was the funniest element. It instantly drew me into the story, along with all the other celebrities and public figures the author placed into the various circles of Hell. I hope that I can come up with ideas as strong as this for my writing. The only thing I'll knock it for is a plain visual style. 

Heroes Revealed

Another new take on classic mythology. This time, the Ferryman on the River Styx is taking various heroes to their afterlife. Famous locations included Elysium and Valhalla. I liked how this story included so many locations, it made it easier to stay interested. The fact that the point of view allowed us to be guided around these places. Another thing that kept me interested was the use of multiple pictures for each part of the story. It was clear the author described the locations based on the pictures he found, which means they were very well matched to the story. 

Introduction

Hi Everyone,

My name is Andrew Wright and I am a Senior Petroleum Engineering major here at OU. I've really enjoyed all of the classes up to this point, but that does not mean that I'm not ready to be done with college and start my professional career. My dream job is any one that I can get despite the current crude oil prices.

One of my favorite classes is Improved Recovery Techniques, which I took abroad over the summer in Puebla, Mexico. The subject material is fascinating (especially if you enjoy highly technical eight hour long lectures on reservoir engineering), but I also thoroughly enjoyed all the time I got to spend exploring Mexico. I visited Mexico City and San Cristobal in addition to Puebla. Luchador wrestling is far more fun to watch than I ever thought it could be, and crickets tasted shockingly good.

Me, standing on the Pyramid of the Moon with the Pyramid of the Sun in the background at Teotihuacan.  

I am originally from Austin, Texas (Before you ask why I didn't go to UT, my parents are OU Alum). I still love to go back home to eat at my favorite restaurants and see my families corgi, Satchel. He is stubborn and needy, but for some reason we haven't kicked him out yet. 

Satchel, doing his best cat impression. 

I already wrote up a post on one of my favorite places, Wellington, New Zealand. You can check out my post about it here. I enjoy reading, especially when I'm on vacation. Cormac McCarthy is my all time favorite author, or Bill Bryson when I'm looking for something a little lighter. Another favorite series of mine is A Song of Ice and Fire/A Game of Thrones. My other favorite TV show is It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. I also spend more time than I should playing xbox. Finally, my other hobbies include my caffeine addiction and watching sports car racing.

To practice embedding YouTube videos, I'm leaving my favorite cat video below.

Feel free to leave a comment here, or on my comment wall. 

Storytelling Week 1: Vacation at the Lake

Jim had always had bad luck. While visiting his holiday home with his family, he had woken up too late to accompany them to the lake. Deciding to make an adventure out of it, Jim choose a different trail to reach the lake than he had ever taken before. The lake was a straight shot east of the holiday home, but Jim decided he would walk to the north east for a while, and then cut back south east to find his family at the lake. He figured he would arrive in time to enjoy a picnic lunch with his family. Little did he know, Jim would be delayed in ways he could never imagine.

Lake Tahoe, posted to Flickr by the_tahoe_guy. 

Before he left, Jim made himself some toast to eat while he walked. Unfortunately, he soon came upon a pack of angry birds perched on a spooky tree. The birds swooped into attack Jim, forcing him to flee. Jim dropped his toast in an effort to satiate the birds long enough for him to run away. His plan worked, and after running for a while longer, he slowed to a walking pace and continued to the north east.

About the time Jim decided to turn back south east towards the lake, he came upon swamp gas. The gas made it nearly impossible to see, and he no longer had any sense about what direction he was going. Hearing a sound in the woods, Jim turned around, fearing that the angry birds had caught up with him. He saw nothing, but when he turned back around, a man in an orange jumpsuit was standing in front of him. The man said "I just escaped from the county jail, and I was wondering...". Jim decided to run before the man could finish his sentence, but he tripped and hit his head on a rock, falling unconscious.

Waking up, Jim realized he was inside a wooden building. He could see sunlight through the rotting ceiling above him. Sitting up, Jim looked around while his eyes adjusted to the darkness. His eyes landed on an orange jumpsuit hanging on the wall in front of him. Jim realized he must have been dragged into the building by the escaped convict. Standing up. Jim decided to leave the area as carefully as possible, to avoid attracting any unwanted attention from the convict, or any friends the convict may have. About 100 yards from the house, Jim heard a scream for help. Deciding his consciousness couldn't leave a person in danger, he headed for the sound. In a clearing next to a bog, Jim saw a man he recognized as the convict, who had been mauled by a bear.

With his fear now overpowering his conscience, Jim turned tail ran as fast as he could. He ran for what felt like miles, and eventually came upon the lake shore, seeing his family cleaning up after their picnic on the beach 50 yards away. Running up to them, Jim attempted to explain what had happened to him. His whole family, confused by his stammering, decided everything he said was an excuse for waking up late and getting lost in the woods. Jim realized that he could never convince them of the truth, and sat down on the sand, resolving never to stray from the main path in the woods again.

Author's Note: This short story is based off of Tom Gauld's map from his book, Robots, Monsters, Etc. The map is presented below.  

Created by Tom Gauld, link

Bibliography 

Map of the Area Surrounding our Holiday Home, a cartoon by Tom Gauld from his book ROBOTS, MONSTERS Etc., 2006. Link to online source. 

Favorite Place: Wellington, New Zealand

View of Wellington Harbor. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

Wellington was one of my favorite places when I went to New Zealand. It's a relatively small town, but I love the atmosphere and how the city winds along the harbor and then climbs up onto Mount Victoria.

Test

Welcome to my new blog. Ready for round two.