Hey, mid-Movember when did you get here? It is surprising how the time sneaks up on you when there aren’t milestones like midterms and project due dates to focus on!

I am currently on my second-term of my co-op work placement and will be starting my 3rd year of Biomedical Mech in January. I worked for an oil and gas company, Devon Energy, this summer and am presently working for a company called Evasc Medical Systems. I will be talking about some of my favourite things (cue music) and learning experiences while on the jobs and in industry!

One of my favourite things is having a plan. Whether it is a Mech 223 gantt chart (shout out to all you Mech2’s) or personal roadmap, I like being able to see where I am going and what needs to be done to get there. When I first started in engineering, there was no such plan. It was rather bewildering and felt like jumping off a diving board (another of my favourite things) and not knowing what to do in the air. I do remember one of the events that helped develop this pathway I am presently on, and it is coming up this weekend. The Engineering Open House! Not only does it continuously open my eyes to the amazing projects fellow students are working on, but it also allows me to provide information to those facing the “scary and big decision” of specializing whether they are in high school, 1st year or beyond.

No matter what stage of your schooling you are in, I highly recommend attending the Engineering Open House. It will be Saturday Nov. 26th from 9am to 4pm in Kaiser. Be prepared to see some awesome engineering. Bring questions and an arm for free swag (always a good thing) and come check out innovative projects, informative booths and student teams.

If you need something to shake out those mid-Movember blues, here is a project one of my co-workers, Jonathan Tippet, worked on. Imagine the pure thrill of being able to operate that spider and be one with that engineering masterpiece. Amazing!

Are you scared of a Mondo Spider?

So it’s almost the end of the semester (~2 weeks), and the work still hasn’t stopped piling up. Little by little I’ll go through my giant to do list and by that time it’ll be the end of the semester and just in time for exams. A little bit more work then and it’ll be Christmas Break. Here are some things that I still have left to do for the next two weeks:

• Capstone Design Project – Critical Function Prototype
• Japanese 100 – Oral Exam
• Japanese 100 – In-Class Composition
• Manufacturing Processes – Term Project
• Sensors and Actuators – Lab Report
• New Venture Design – Business Plan
• Thunderbots – Dribbler Design CAD

It will take a lot of work, but I’m up for it. At times, I feel that I’ve done so much work in one day that my whole body feels exhausted not physically, but mentally. Sitting there toiling away in front of the computer to finish that lab report, assignment, or intense research on Google for another project really takes its toll me. Taking study breaks are totally worth it. In fact, part of my study break is writing this post. Another form of study break that I take is playing Tetris. Here’s a video of me playing from a about a year ago. Enjoy!

Looking back at this video, I can probably play way better now!

Hi I am Henry and I am one of the new blogger in this space.  For the next little while, I will be posting little tidbits about my life as a mechanical engineering student.  Right now, I’m in the middle of my fourth year studies in mechatronics engineering.  I am also a gamer and lately I’ve been indulging in a little bit of StarCraft II (and Modern Warfare 3 as soon as I get my hands on it).  I don’t really know what else to say here.

Anyway, here is a nice video of scientists investigating the nature of why cats land on their feet…in zero gravity…