tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15637293183248083282024-02-06T19:43:49.395-08:00Cheesy MomentsAn IUPUI Graduate from the Master's Program in Engineering Technology ventures across the pond to get an Engineering Doctorate Degree at the University of Warwick in the UK.Courtney (Quartny) Thornberryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17937089191658627644noreply@blogger.comBlogger61125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563729318324808328.post-74109004047707025242014-09-26T09:48:00.002-07:002014-09-26T09:51:05.594-07:00Be SelfishI used to blog frequently up to about 18 months ago.<br />
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Then, life seemed to get in the way. Nevermind that writing is core to what I'm trying to achieve...I simply did not have time to organize my thoughts into 500-1000 word snippets for friends, colleagues and family to read.<br />
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It's been a CRAZY 18 months, by the way. A time when perhaps sitting down to write my thoughts for a few minutes might have helped me.<br />
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But no regrets now! What's done is done.<br />
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Now is time to make a new commitment- to thought organization, to communication, to writing.<br />
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To be completely honest, it was more than just being busy that prevented me from writing. It was a period of academic (and probably a bit of personal) depression.<br />
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The realization of how lonely (very very lonely) doing a doctorate can be for someone like me hit me...HARD. And I didn't like it.<br />
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I love working with people, being a part of something bigger than myself. A common theme has come through all my advice from those who have come before me.<br />
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"Be selfish."<br />
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Selfish?!?<br />
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That word isn't really in my vocabulary. I mean, sure, I've read the Fountainhead and I'm aware of the ideas of Ayn Rand, but it all seems a bit extreme.<br />
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I guess I started being selfish last year, when I decided to take my research in an entirely new direction, with a new supervisor. (Yeah, I haven't blogged about that experience yet...maybe soon).<br />
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However, in my heart, it always feels a bit strange, to just focus on this one little project that really only I care about (and probably will be the only person in the future to care about).<br />
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I've got 15 months left until I am meant to submit the best thing I've ever written. I've got tons of data I need to collect, literature to review, research questions to formulate and critism to take on the chin. It all seems a bit impossible.<br />
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However, I've got a few key individuals (I'm hoping you know who you are) who are my support in this. I'm counting on them to remind me, when the going gets tough in this game called research....I'm going to have to be (a little) selfish.Courtney (Quartny) Thornberryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17937089191658627644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563729318324808328.post-66330486461400381462013-03-05T06:18:00.002-08:002013-03-05T06:22:14.191-08:00Boston!So I've not posted as much since I've been here as I would have liked. I have, however, taken a nice amount of pictures I will post today.<br />
Boston has been fun so far. My work has been interesting and I feel like I am developing more pieces to put together for my doctorate degree.<br />
To recap the internship so far:<br />
I got in on February 3rd and started at PTC's offices in Needham, about 10 miles outside of Boston on February 4th. My first four weeks, I worked with the CAD group, the group responsible for designing PTC's CAD product, Creo. I've learned a lot about CAD, design, and where the technology may be heading. I've made some good contacts on the team as well. This month, I'm focused on work in the SLM team and learning about PTC's work there. Everyone has been so nice and helpful! <br />
On February 9th, the 5th worse blizzard to ever hit Boston came into town. There was over 2 feet of snow and the offices closed on February 8th in anticipation. The city shut down on Friday evening and people were not allowed to drive places. Public transportation shut down at 3pm on Friday and didn't resume until the following Monday. I stocked up at the local grocery store and hunkered down. Friday evening, I met up with SVP of Global Education, John Stuart, for a nice dinner nearby where I'm staying. And, the roads were ok enough by Sunday morning for us to do a long run in the suburbs of Boston. Here are some pictures.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The view from my tiny apartment on Saturday</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You can see the height of the snow, this is the street where I'm staying</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Friday mid-morning at the front of the Library, it had just started</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sunday morning in a street across from where I'm staying</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Digging one's car out of the snow took some people hours....</td></tr>
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On Monday morning, I took the T (what they call the Boston subway) into the office. The trains were running ok. but they had to change trains for us at one of the stops, so it made my commute a bit longer. While I was waiting, I was interviewed by the local news channel about the T service. They asked if I had ridden it long, and I said since I got in from the UK a week prior. Apparently, the clip was on the news, because I heard from several people they saw me, but I never saw it. After a couple of weeks, Marc, one of the developers on the CAD team, told me that he lived fairly close to me and was willing to give me a ride to and from work every day. This has cut my daily commute time down from over 2 hours a day on the train/shuttle to less than an hour!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Copley Station</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The green line train</td></tr>
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I've been training since I've been here though, despite the weather, because Boston is very much a city for runners. Last week, I signed up for another marathon in the UK at the end of April, so I can take advantage of all the running I've been doing. John Stuart has been kind enough to take me along on his long runs for the Boston Marathon and I've really enjoyed them. We've done most of the Boston Marathon course since I've been here! Also, the running has helped me see bits of the city.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From a run along the Charles River. Not Einstein, but some musician called Arthur Felder, apparently.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cheers bar! (I've not gone in yet...)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Charles river running trail</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Science!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Other side of Science Museum</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">George. Boston Common.</td></tr>
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The past week, I've gotten my first visitors. My mom and brother came on my brother's spring break last Tuesday and stayed until Friday. Unfortunately, I had to work during the day, but I enjoyed my time with them in the evenings. Then, my best friend Melissa came on Saturday and we had a fun weekend, going shopping, hanging out and eating. We found a great seafood restaurant in the North End called Neptune's Oysters. This place was tiny and doesn't take reservations, but the wait is well worth it. I don't think I've ever eaten anything so wonderful in my life. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lion in the Library. I went there with Graham and Mom last week.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT_oS3LdQsuwzMpeAhNk7tZRWI1k111N-EkUqUyTpXmbxWJzmrXtjJ2r8dcJO-Q9wGXOzSLDCTgJIfw4cJlNivLyBzCKPRWzjs8K5cxsrz-4apT2DTzOOZTZN1m8Kw8AL0v2aENRfURuc/s1600/Scallops.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT_oS3LdQsuwzMpeAhNk7tZRWI1k111N-EkUqUyTpXmbxWJzmrXtjJ2r8dcJO-Q9wGXOzSLDCTgJIfw4cJlNivLyBzCKPRWzjs8K5cxsrz-4apT2DTzOOZTZN1m8Kw8AL0v2aENRfURuc/s320/Scallops.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dinner at Neptune's Oyster. Scallops with duck and brussel sprouts. AH-MAZING!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-sJlbgByJeSkq2KNzgIZ2e9gSqtpWjkO1n97AFLPf3Qn2pZxouoGhfN83-l-acJME_K_OooxSwUXLWX94ZbBHc5Xpi9WyIS6zBhnW5v4PeBHkxSahZvcDvXeOABFSfeNBSizjgtSfZuQ/s1600/Q+restaurant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-sJlbgByJeSkq2KNzgIZ2e9gSqtpWjkO1n97AFLPf3Qn2pZxouoGhfN83-l-acJME_K_OooxSwUXLWX94ZbBHc5Xpi9WyIS6zBhnW5v4PeBHkxSahZvcDvXeOABFSfeNBSizjgtSfZuQ/s320/Q+restaurant.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A restaurant we found in Chinatown.</td></tr>
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My friends Justin and Leslie are coming to visit this upcoming weekend. Sagar sent me some lovely flowers for Valentine's Day at the office last month as well, which was nice. I've missed him since I've been gone, but he gets to visit me in Boston, then we go to Chicago, Indiana and Michigan for a week in April, so I'm looking forward to that!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSJBvWjdS3v1ZWlILpaPSkmeP1UyyKGlhXzqA2tLS9vBgcGlqlOuuOkS985Xi35uGM_ltm5-R1uCWsU7cayQmG8BAjFiPz2PhXl-u9VXVSah-YnBwOes1LKwaF0rxxAQtqQM3quzrwUrI/s1600/Sagar%2527s+flowers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSJBvWjdS3v1ZWlILpaPSkmeP1UyyKGlhXzqA2tLS9vBgcGlqlOuuOkS985Xi35uGM_ltm5-R1uCWsU7cayQmG8BAjFiPz2PhXl-u9VXVSah-YnBwOes1LKwaF0rxxAQtqQM3quzrwUrI/s320/Sagar%2527s+flowers.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Flowers from Sagar.</td></tr>
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Well, back to work! I will try to post again soon!Courtney (Quartny) Thornberryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17937089191658627644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563729318324808328.post-35961666326167834222013-01-31T02:58:00.000-08:002013-01-31T02:58:05.255-08:00Shipping off to Boston!Well it has been a hectic six weeks since my last post!<br />
Christmas went well. Even though I wasn't able to visit with my family, I still had a lot of fun. Sagar and I opened our presents in the morning. I got him some practical gifts- like a new wallet, watch and cuff links, and a fun gift of remote controlled helicopter. He got me some lovely earrings, a scarf, and an owl that I wanted that you can warm up in the microwave. <br />
Sagar's family came for the afternoon at Christmas and we made a nice dinner and played Monopoly. The British version is totally different from the American version, which was really cool. However, it ended as all Monopoly games usually end...we just let Sagar's sister Avni win...:)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christmas Monopoly!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGCsOCF25w94gM7Z_5X0NRmTtg3fE_itL1VI0oE_RN-2YeY-MZdpRIDw9bH73__5LS4ICshL2xHt8R5Rh373FFPHCJcMYyxfacLMbwpbQcRsEOyTmnAVXtcC01-wBSZfqlEqMUbO0LCWw/s1600/christmas+dinner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGCsOCF25w94gM7Z_5X0NRmTtg3fE_itL1VI0oE_RN-2YeY-MZdpRIDw9bH73__5LS4ICshL2xHt8R5Rh373FFPHCJcMYyxfacLMbwpbQcRsEOyTmnAVXtcC01-wBSZfqlEqMUbO0LCWw/s320/christmas+dinner.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Vegetarian Christmas dinner. It was very tasty!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Festive beer served in the UK</td></tr>
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A couple of weeks ago, the UK got a ton of snow. Ok, well for people like me from Michigan, it wasn't really that bad....maybe about a foot...but the country seemed to shut down for a few days. The university closed on a Friday midday and didn't re-open until the following Monday late afternoon. Even Sagar's work sent him home early. So there was not much else we could do besides go sledding!!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsc8QTfdS382C-GXpUvQkNjkla0VkmWMRQw3AD5NkkEwSuTCwo9lAfTK6dlPEcC-HEG70lCAexAVcVWjz_PraBBmK8uzPyPyIrKxGgGl-JodKVHweE_9gcKL1sd6uRDAXA7s6YMg0mlF4/s1600/nice+pic+of+sagar+in+hat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsc8QTfdS382C-GXpUvQkNjkla0VkmWMRQw3AD5NkkEwSuTCwo9lAfTK6dlPEcC-HEG70lCAexAVcVWjz_PraBBmK8uzPyPyIrKxGgGl-JodKVHweE_9gcKL1sd6uRDAXA7s6YMg0mlF4/s320/nice+pic+of+sagar+in+hat.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sagar, in the hat I made him for Christmas. There is also a matching scarf...somewhere underneath his coat I think...</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Us in the snow!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKK7QYJgwTVOBXSqvUzN1ednT4pT3ACWlW221nkx-aGSj9LVSRskAsVxlbXSNKOC8jpamhTnRLSazMqAknwR-sxr2VVP84_VeAvnX44HKytet0Pkt8sByNrBG6KxUWr_aHpoeSy4pCGp8/s1600/sagar+sledding+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKK7QYJgwTVOBXSqvUzN1ednT4pT3ACWlW221nkx-aGSj9LVSRskAsVxlbXSNKOC8jpamhTnRLSazMqAknwR-sxr2VVP84_VeAvnX44HKytet0Pkt8sByNrBG6KxUWr_aHpoeSy4pCGp8/s320/sagar+sledding+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sagar, sledding</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sagar, sledding</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kenilworth in the snow</td></tr>
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Right before Christmas, I met with John Stuart and Tim Brotherhood from PTC about my EngD project. Steve had found some grant money available for post-grads to do an internship, but with a catch. The grant money needed to be spent by the end of March. The timing could not have worked out better though, because I've gotten to a point in my project where I feel I would like to know a lot more about PTC. Therefore, this coming Sunday, I am shipping off to PTC's headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts! I will be working with them for 8 weeks. I hope to document my experience here on the blog.<br />
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This past weekend, Sagar and I went to London on Sunday to meet up with his family and say good-bye before I went away for a couple of months. There was a lovely double rainbow on our drive.<br />
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<br />Courtney (Quartny) Thornberryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17937089191658627644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563729318324808328.post-75667793689522509422012-12-17T01:13:00.003-08:002012-12-17T01:20:25.083-08:00Getting Ready for Christmas!I want to start off by saying my thoughts and prayers are with my fellow Americans back home. I heard about the terrible events in Connecticut late Friday evening. Being abroad, I sometimes feel a bit disconnected from important events like this at home and I've been glued to news stories about what happened all weekend. I hope that as the holiday season is upon us, we are still able to keep in mind what makes us great as a nation, while working to understand and prevent horrible events like this from happening in the future. <br />
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It's been a busy few weeks as I try to keep up with all the work I've got to get wrapped up so I can enjoy a few days off for Christmas. <br />
Thanksgiving was just another day around here, but I did try to celebrate with my lunch selection. It just wasn't quite the same...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My lunch on Thanksgiving</td></tr>
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I had arranged to stay late that night for an event for potential EngD sponsors (that was subsequently cancelled in the afternoon), so I couldn't really plan a meal at home for that day, but I was able to cook a meal at Sagar's parents' house in London on Sunday. (Vegetarian style, of course!)<br />
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I've also finished #4 from my list on the previous post. Thanks so much to Nick and Sagar for helping me write some of the sections. The literature review is going to be used by the IMechE, IET and RAE to assess the current state of manufacturing in the UK.<br />
I've finished half of #5 as well, now getting ready to start the PMA for the Service Design and Delivery Module I took at the end of October. I've already got a rough outline in mind....<br />
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As for the rest of my work list, IGGY has been going well. I went on a school visit in Birmingham a couple of weeks ago, where I got to work with some very keen students in a lower-income area that were all quite focussed to study some aspect of science. It was really fun!<br />
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Fuel cell stuff keeps moving forward as well, as I look on ways to tie what I am doing (participating in new collaborative networks initiated by government entities here) and my own personal research. I've got a meeting with one of my contacts from PTC tomorrow morning, where I will discuss my direction and hopefully get some insight and ideas on ways to address their needs within my project.<br />
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At the beginning of December, Sagar and I took a mini trip to Chester (just south of Liverpool, on the border to Wales), where we did a bit of Christmas shopping, explored the ancient Roman city, and went to a couple of museums. Here are some pictures!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The clock going into the town centre</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHmnQMVnwsGsXuCMr3CBrFjpOSoc7vKJG8TGmaAGDJk5iKLkjSaTaDAJS2YyedybMuICan5jSgBv-Z1g8ZbNEQCgUROICe3bnkk5bJSwnfqlyuS4MrJhFLbV11qfi72bIC3jpMyZAurK0/s1600/Chester+river.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHmnQMVnwsGsXuCMr3CBrFjpOSoc7vKJG8TGmaAGDJk5iKLkjSaTaDAJS2YyedybMuICan5jSgBv-Z1g8ZbNEQCgUROICe3bnkk5bJSwnfqlyuS4MrJhFLbV11qfi72bIC3jpMyZAurK0/s320/Chester+river.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There is a wall along the city that you can walk along. Here is one of many beautiful views from it.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXMSM6UuN2WErAJo52U7M6DzjgQ4KP3tiT6hHwp_Tf2K7bzr7bsH7T7NQV37BZOEwCf7QdLlw0U0FnDs-GaLugFHclV8nS4i735swN2QlP7rv6Ous_DtE5kY3hLg8gyuqtem1FYAOAeqU/s1600/Me+at+Roman+baths.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXMSM6UuN2WErAJo52U7M6DzjgQ4KP3tiT6hHwp_Tf2K7bzr7bsH7T7NQV37BZOEwCf7QdLlw0U0FnDs-GaLugFHclV8nS4i735swN2QlP7rv6Ous_DtE5kY3hLg8gyuqtem1FYAOAeqU/s320/Me+at+Roman+baths.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is from the ruins of an old Roman bath area</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0lB2DAUKBfR0yP2nwf-7jbEZahnoI20BI5ieGRg_fiojEAV731vAzcs0fJg7A4xb2gfe787-0UZvgDt7BgubuonLLQ-w1s5rsEudwMK91uJnZmG2gBCUSIHVw2hcAfYItS66LNfcaI4w/s1600/Roman+Hypocaust.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0lB2DAUKBfR0yP2nwf-7jbEZahnoI20BI5ieGRg_fiojEAV731vAzcs0fJg7A4xb2gfe787-0UZvgDt7BgubuonLLQ-w1s5rsEudwMK91uJnZmG2gBCUSIHVw2hcAfYItS66LNfcaI4w/s320/Roman+Hypocaust.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Old Roman bath area</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM3FejC3UfhWfID8kk3G2NTAGNtROJajfoAO3scWPjVkbBsHRJu5zrZZb1NTHpYSyQMPOge-M4l890k4OLrm_ghWaxDmQ4ArKBLfFcBGiWtaRbiOElrfvJGjwWlCQW11c6wAGXrCaTXwE/s1600/Roman+baths.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM3FejC3UfhWfID8kk3G2NTAGNtROJajfoAO3scWPjVkbBsHRJu5zrZZb1NTHpYSyQMPOge-M4l890k4OLrm_ghWaxDmQ4ArKBLfFcBGiWtaRbiOElrfvJGjwWlCQW11c6wAGXrCaTXwE/s320/Roman+baths.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was put in place for the Queen's golden jubilee, ten years ago.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEYre4cUglG2vcLGY60_UJ7N13F0SWDnRdj7fP3hYdc3WfVikuCo4h54Z1hwtjJ3NzM9kMg9PbvqFg-oNxvdyMhOR-yH-5XlGGEKu-JKgIkN2P4JaA74jsNiuOI3QglWX8q4faTO_cyV8/s1600/Sagar+on+wall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEYre4cUglG2vcLGY60_UJ7N13F0SWDnRdj7fP3hYdc3WfVikuCo4h54Z1hwtjJ3NzM9kMg9PbvqFg-oNxvdyMhOR-yH-5XlGGEKu-JKgIkN2P4JaA74jsNiuOI3QglWX8q4faTO_cyV8/s320/Sagar+on+wall.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sagar, walking along the wall</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieOx6BeO0-0I5KelWW46bdutO3nwvWwYbK9uGHfEq2ci8gVB-BCH4_hsd_0stpu_cyg1iWTZH937QjRmK6XgRmgrv6GcxBpjelVGOqKaXS4SxuvTD0B9f_3uabMDXm7Qs9UqX05mWqIuQ/s1600/Squirrel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieOx6BeO0-0I5KelWW46bdutO3nwvWwYbK9uGHfEq2ci8gVB-BCH4_hsd_0stpu_cyg1iWTZH937QjRmK6XgRmgrv6GcxBpjelVGOqKaXS4SxuvTD0B9f_3uabMDXm7Qs9UqX05mWqIuQ/s320/Squirrel.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This squirrel (and other creatures in a park we walked through) was not afraid of humans in the least. Right before I took this picture, he had LITERALLY jumped onto Sagar's leg, looking for food.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl8p4N7tS53DZUrN0ZeMv1CwffTrrF_15c0yrZMKmOIKvA4RgKR4oWK5POVcYrkDRI2A5_vLeco9gdKmUn87YXhTRBoMptKSbdzQ14DD81bGfXZZpI9KEQI5WqFD7qikD72GUfjoEm-Hw/s1600/The+wall+in+Chester.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl8p4N7tS53DZUrN0ZeMv1CwffTrrF_15c0yrZMKmOIKvA4RgKR4oWK5POVcYrkDRI2A5_vLeco9gdKmUn87YXhTRBoMptKSbdzQ14DD81bGfXZZpI9KEQI5WqFD7qikD72GUfjoEm-Hw/s320/The+wall+in+Chester.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Walking along the wall.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1R-nvoyh-p4vbGT3MkSWnKraLyjYicXMCcht27-UJy56ctTKRNVXgNt-uoUbFR25uuq6ji3JS3q0atkEBNvMQ05vDm11gzzojKmnHYabCIrSSRKMMXIc-133dtfmOHXC45zYgoqrPWC4/s1600/Watergate+Inn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1R-nvoyh-p4vbGT3MkSWnKraLyjYicXMCcht27-UJy56ctTKRNVXgNt-uoUbFR25uuq6ji3JS3q0atkEBNvMQ05vDm11gzzojKmnHYabCIrSSRKMMXIc-133dtfmOHXC45zYgoqrPWC4/s320/Watergate+Inn.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Watergate Inn</td></tr>
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Also, at the beginning of this month, Sagar and I went and got a Christmas tree for the apartment. It looks very nice in our living room. This past weekend, I got a GIANT box of Christmas stuff from my mom, including an Advent calendar and a bunch of gifts. I have created Christmas in our living room. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGK9q-5nqVrpE38776QHK2v9f_HINOQwVrXZu9k-LMF1R8BPLHC4ZVGX_yX0PhhGfbsFiZ2D3l30Dp1FBduR2rqouExPT1xVZKQTsowjS0x72T4Qsl1oIuvt6wznYBaM2hBXS5pyzEQJo/s1600/tree+and+window.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGK9q-5nqVrpE38776QHK2v9f_HINOQwVrXZu9k-LMF1R8BPLHC4ZVGX_yX0PhhGfbsFiZ2D3l30Dp1FBduR2rqouExPT1xVZKQTsowjS0x72T4Qsl1oIuvt6wznYBaM2hBXS5pyzEQJo/s320/tree+and+window.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The tree and window sill. Even Mona is festive!</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDMRuypnq6cAuYiPq600fU8UoxxMKt_TnLjC9m7XkYCxvCaDJ06PyEKwsFFlD7T3bI8fbKPjVx9JqWeEt6pjOe_owX7S68nBFZTWxkJhMMghiyHOnwWolr8pbfaTSBu0a251Wj912k4Gs/s1600/window+sill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDMRuypnq6cAuYiPq600fU8UoxxMKt_TnLjC9m7XkYCxvCaDJ06PyEKwsFFlD7T3bI8fbKPjVx9JqWeEt6pjOe_owX7S68nBFZTWxkJhMMghiyHOnwWolr8pbfaTSBu0a251Wj912k4Gs/s320/window+sill.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Advent calendar and cards I've gotten so far!</td></tr>
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This week, I am hoping to get an outline done for the fuel cell scoping paper, and complete (mostly) the PMA for the Service Design and Delivery module so I can enjoy Christmas next week! It's going to be a long week, but hopefully the hard work will pay off!<br />
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I finish up with some pictures of swans that I saw on my long run last week. I rarely take my phone on a run, but this time I just happened to have it. This is a normal sight on many of my runs around here.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCxqDceIlOgvc2GPrgWGzhMZ2U2tPOqj9iSQbAxNaNlb-Yk1UiAevdicA4CV8iMRUPQdxEoe5MwTbHnW7Xb0eo85VR5Y0yRDyaDH1-0NUxMMu4PzOUBo4uoFah9C6uV7Y6SGfZqR-R-GY/s1600/swan+at+pond+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCxqDceIlOgvc2GPrgWGzhMZ2U2tPOqj9iSQbAxNaNlb-Yk1UiAevdicA4CV8iMRUPQdxEoe5MwTbHnW7Xb0eo85VR5Y0yRDyaDH1-0NUxMMu4PzOUBo4uoFah9C6uV7Y6SGfZqR-R-GY/s320/swan+at+pond+2.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I was running along some new bike trails between campus and Kenilworth</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQxN7fPhLakYkU9vjg_a5i89Quloqw3SCm_JABWPPYjL5QwBn9CDrzm1VeA_sS5zEVREyeETnb-d74fR-pI9V48sidI-bQlPt3OnO_6FxCYgsCO2CyU2JSXkLvwCiTe5uSgww5b3QohwU/s1600/swan+at+pond.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQxN7fPhLakYkU9vjg_a5i89Quloqw3SCm_JABWPPYjL5QwBn9CDrzm1VeA_sS5zEVREyeETnb-d74fR-pI9V48sidI-bQlPt3OnO_6FxCYgsCO2CyU2JSXkLvwCiTe5uSgww5b3QohwU/s320/swan+at+pond.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">He's looking right at me!</td></tr>
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I hope to post again soon about celebrating Christmas in the UK!<br />
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<br />Courtney (Quartny) Thornberryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17937089191658627644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563729318324808328.post-32712238646972647972012-11-12T09:32:00.003-08:002012-11-12T09:32:58.364-08:00Work! (And a bit of fireworks!)There is never a dull moment in the UK. At least not for me. Let me recap all my current project and work at the moment.<br />
1. EngD work. Right now, this includes looking at collaborative networking. For this, I have started a platform for six different UK Formula Student teams including: Liverpool, Sheffield, Portsmouth, Oxford-Brookes, Brunel and Warwick Universities. These teams are all sponsored in some way by Bosch Engineering this year, which is why they are the teams I'm working with. I've used the <a href="http://www.wmccm.co.uk/" target="_blank">West Midlands Collaborative Commerce Marketplac</a>e, an online database and collaboration space initiated by my advisor Jay Bal and his researchers a few years ago. While there seemed to be a lot of excitement over the idea of these teams working closer together on communication, my online space has not seen very much activity at all. I'm going to have to work harder to figure out how to encourage the usage and collaboration, while not influencing it too much. Tricky. I hope to formulate some sort of model of study out of this work this year that I can then take to an industrial study next year. This year's Formula Student team is doing well, and I think will do well at next July's competition. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgff33-lW4wFm_oYz0ZO0jUf7IFsV7891ESsw5HXsUluitkyXNQ3sZPL__y5CeUWu80g8OYA1Eop3Jj8VnycJSkg6Scf6KAr6j8t0YVPkQ4hdigYTH2a8iMO2DYzx_VuSzlBl5LqKSss0k/s1600/iipsi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgff33-lW4wFm_oYz0ZO0jUf7IFsV7891ESsw5HXsUluitkyXNQ3sZPL__y5CeUWu80g8OYA1Eop3Jj8VnycJSkg6Scf6KAr6j8t0YVPkQ4hdigYTH2a8iMO2DYzx_VuSzlBl5LqKSss0k/s320/iipsi.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is a picture from the outside of the new IISPI building, where I moved offices to in September</td></tr>
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2. EngD group project and work with the <a href="https://catapult.innovateuk.org/home" target="_blank">Catapult</a>. WMG is seven centres in the UK that is a Technology Strategy Board centre for this initiative. Our focus is High Value Manufacturing. For our EngD group project, we are scoping out the research niche for WMG in the area of hydrogen and fuel cells. So far, this has resulted in several conferences (mostly to London) where I have connected with many industrial leaders in this industry. I've also been luck to go on a few industrial visits, such as to <a href="http://www.jmfuelcells.com/" target="_blank">Johnson Matthey Fuel Cells</a>, which was an amazing experience and will hopefully lead to future collaboration between WMG and JMFC. <br />
3. IGGY- I've written some scripts for the website and just generally get on and comment on various science and engineering topics. <br />
4. IMechE, IET, and RAE (Institute of Mechanical Engineers, Institute of Engineering Technology and the Royal Academy of Engineers) Engineering the Future literature review. I was approached in September to help write a literature review on the subject of manufacturing growth in the UK for a collaborative project that is being done by members of these three institutions. I am nearly done with it, and it has been quite a learning experience. I hope the contacts I've made through this project will be helpful as I work on my EngD and beyond. I've really enjoyed learning. I also could not have done it without some help from Nick Higgins, another EngD, and of course, Sagar. Sagar is a manufacturing engineer at JLR and has helped me a bit with some of the writing as well as helping me understand manufacturing in general.<br />
5. PMAs for my recent modules. I took two modules in October- Financial Analysis and Control Systems and Service Design and Delivery. I have two 4000 word papers due for them in December, so I am going to get cracking on that this week.<br />
6. Literature review on Open Source Hardware Design. I had started this over the summer, but found myself with a bad case of writer's block. However, the recent work on Engineering the Future has helped me so much that I think that coming back to this will go much smoother. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr2UzzeyPKEJixZ7tNrowo1hDqAaOxDWrZgWoCVGIlVDUTpO1S6XUHJUc9iax2oSv55O7gcafnCVXUPqwfJwmSwk2lHz3rDiNan54grxE_yRuwKqXN1ylNA4d-5qSDkDvtXKRiTzgUuOw/s1600/my+desk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr2UzzeyPKEJixZ7tNrowo1hDqAaOxDWrZgWoCVGIlVDUTpO1S6XUHJUc9iax2oSv55O7gcafnCVXUPqwfJwmSwk2lHz3rDiNan54grxE_yRuwKqXN1ylNA4d-5qSDkDvtXKRiTzgUuOw/s320/my+desk.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My desk at the moment. I've taken over the desk next to me as well, with literature for my OSHD literature review.</td></tr>
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Through all of this work, I have still been able to have a little bit of fun.<br />
The people in the UK celebrate Guy Fawkes day with amazing fireworks, which I got to go see with Sagar in Kenilworth. It was a show that rivalled some Fourth of July shows I've seen back home.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEaQvffdmq2LF9xNl2ObJKF4Yfd-foZrlP3BiDJZFr93v43ee-wvKba_cYhfgeMlcfZtLh-5zigXpqI5Q3GH8KYjq9P9bYGrhNsriSZpmk2wjGFKeYTIGEHfWP2mxClPvLU4TcEy24x6U/s1600/me+and+sagar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEaQvffdmq2LF9xNl2ObJKF4Yfd-foZrlP3BiDJZFr93v43ee-wvKba_cYhfgeMlcfZtLh-5zigXpqI5Q3GH8KYjq9P9bYGrhNsriSZpmk2wjGFKeYTIGEHfWP2mxClPvLU4TcEy24x6U/s320/me+and+sagar.jpg" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sagar and me at the Kenilworth Fireworks for Guy Fawkes day.</td></tr>
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This coming weekend, Sagar's family is coming over to celebrate the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/religion/hinduism/diwali.shtml" target="_blank">Hindu festival of lights known as Diwali</a> . I hope to also get a little Thanksgiving celebration in at some point this month!<br />
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Ok! Back to writing! Hope everyone is doing well!Courtney (Quartny) Thornberryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17937089191658627644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563729318324808328.post-3480228397372499542012-10-26T08:58:00.002-07:002012-10-26T09:00:43.801-07:00Scotland, Marathon, and Short Vacation!Hello!<br />
Well, I've been on modules the last two weeks, which consists of 11 hour days, Monday - Thursday with a half day on Friday. Needless to say, my brain is pretty full at the moment, but that is a post for another day...still processing.<br />
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Right.<br />
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I need to post about the marathon at Loch Ness.<br />
Scotland is a lovely, lovely place, first of all, and I was sad we only had a weekend to visit. It is on my list of a place to spend more time at, once I get the chance.<br />
First stop was Edinburgh (pronounced Edin- burrow), which was about a 5 hour drive on Friday night after Sagar got off work. We spent a bit of Saturday late morning/early afternoon in the city, where we found a pub and I had a solid pre-race meal of Haggis. Haggis is essentially a sort-of dry meatloaf that is famous in Scotland. It was pretty tasty. I also had a pre-race pint of a local brew, as you can see in the picture...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is Haggis</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Proof that Sagar does like the GPS/map feature on my phone. :) Though he will say he doesn't....</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Government building in Edinburgh</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sagar checking out some cool monument thing in Edinburgh</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me and Amy (me with stupid face...)</td></tr>
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After picking up Amy, my running partner from WMG, from Edinburgh (she had come up earlier with other friends), we continued onto Inverness. Unfortunately, though I had done most of my marathon training with Amy and was planning on running the marathon with her, she had hurt her foot and was just coming along to watch. She was an awesome cheerleader to have!<br />
We got to Inverness on Saturday evening, where we met up with an old friend of mine, Andy, who I knew from my days back at Ball State. Andy and I had several math classes together and if it weren't for him, I might not have passed differential equations! He was working in Poland over the summer (You can read about that in his <a href="http://asummerinkrakow.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">blog</a>) and came to visit me on the way back home, run the 10k at Inverness with Sagar, and to travel around the UK a bit. Anyway, the four of us headed out to explore Inverness, which was quite a large city (I didn't realize it would be!) and find some dinner. We went to bed quite early, because, even though the races didn't start until 10am and 10:45am (marathon and 10k, respectively) we had to be bussed to the start line. My bus left at 7:45 am. After nearly an hour and 45 minutes on the bus, I reached the start line with minutes to spare before the start of the marathon. The weather could not have been better, cool, yet sunny. It was absolutely beautiful. I would say that even though this course ended up being the hardest I've ever run, it was also the most beautiful one. <br />
The marathon went like most others. There was a nasty hill around mile 5 that I probably ran too hard. Then there was a series of hills starting about about mile 19 and lasting until mile 21. There was one point where I negotiated with myself that if I saw one more hill I was walking- but I didn't give up and ran the whole time. (NO STOPS!! NO WALKING!!)<br />
I got to the last mile (was pretty tired at this point) and Amy, Sagar and Andy were all waiting for me. Sagar had decided to run the last mile with me in his green man suit. It was incredibly helpful, considering how tired I was...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The last mile</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me, Sagar and Andy after the race. Sagar and Andy had run the 10k</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I get a bit silly towards the end...also, my legs stop working properly. Good to see the ambulance there just in case...though I didn't need it.</td></tr>
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Afterwards, we enjoyed some free food and got in the car to start the drive home. Sagar had to be at work at 7am the next morning. It was an 8 hour drive. He did most of the driving back, though I did drive for about 2 hours to give him a bit of a break.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">He does the driving. :)</td></tr>
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The next day, I was walking a bit like a cross between John Wayne and C3PO. Andy and I decided to travel somewhere close, so I took him to Stratford-upon-Avon, which is a quick bus ride away and has all the Shakespeare stuff. (Again, he has got some good pictures of his visit on his <a href="http://asummerinkrakow.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">blog</a>) The next morning, we rented a car and drove down to the south coast of the UK, to a city called Brighton. Here we saw the Royal Pavilion, which was a cool mansion built by King George a few centuries ago. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but I did get some neat ones outside. The weather in Brighton was very...British. It was cold and windy, so on Wednesday afternoon, we headed to London. Here, we had plans to go on the Eye and visit Buckingham Palace. Both very cool experiences I haven't done before, despite my many visits to London. It was all very fun!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Andy, on the pier at Brighton. </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I'm on a beach!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The outside of the Royal Pavilion</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Inside the art museum in Brighton</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I liked how this picture turned out of Big Ben</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In the London Eye.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrtcH2E9VvE98BbETCg5PA0_D18-fOhzZfPHm3EKIw-XgYj42x79mcGtk9gjUpBFAqxV-oXDpBgYoXuJQbS3bJ9aXXM1ew88XDT5WEBYWcXbldBxeAp8gdzX-oBO_j5p-QGGxZwaG0O3A/s1600/IMG_2931.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrtcH2E9VvE98BbETCg5PA0_D18-fOhzZfPHm3EKIw-XgYj42x79mcGtk9gjUpBFAqxV-oXDpBgYoXuJQbS3bJ9aXXM1ew88XDT5WEBYWcXbldBxeAp8gdzX-oBO_j5p-QGGxZwaG0O3A/s320/IMG_2931.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Waiting to go into Buckingham Palace</td></tr>
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So, that in a nutshell brings me current to the beginning of October....<br />
I have much more to blog about, but I think I will save that for another post.<br />
Happy Halloween, everyone!Courtney (Quartny) Thornberryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17937089191658627644noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563729318324808328.post-56620648915170309812012-09-21T13:02:00.003-07:002012-09-21T13:02:37.713-07:00Wales, Papers, Networking, DrivingWell, it's been QUITE a while since my last post. I'm going to try to recap everything here that has happened in oh, the last 5 weeks or so.<br />
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After I got my driving license I was very excited. I have since driven to London and Wales. Which brings me to my next point: Wales. <br />
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Sagar had sort of a last week hurrah before he started his job at JLR at the beginning of September. While I was trying to work on research (reading, planning, writing, etc) we were also trying to think of fun, yet affordable things to do. We came up with a day at Thorpe Park (a theme/rollercoaster park) and a weekend in Wales, finished off with my half marathon in Kenilworth. Thorpe Park was fun, we went with Sagar's sister, Avni and one of her friends. It was sort of a rainy day (and of course, I forgot my umbrella in the car) but it cleared up towards the end of the day. <br />
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The drive to Wales was nice. I drove much of the first bit (until the roads got a bit too windy and narrow for me) and then Sagar took over. We found a really sweet deal on a tent and decided we were going to find a camping ground and camp. Our plan for day one was to climb Mount Snowden, the tallest mountain in Wales. It's official height above sea level is 1086 m, which only just qualifies it for a mountain, but it counts!<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9TZP-upRtzA3vYLzl89NE_rwmqGbf8d_4jnpxvzSJkH5-wMYD61R-q-J-hjy2gxLzEboN1mSeQYcxT3NXGGeCjaUBo7z8NfsPifJL_gTbrVNv39YGIGtDCj7vRpygVIeuBN7D93XoKEM/s1600/Llynau+Mymbyr+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9TZP-upRtzA3vYLzl89NE_rwmqGbf8d_4jnpxvzSJkH5-wMYD61R-q-J-hjy2gxLzEboN1mSeQYcxT3NXGGeCjaUBo7z8NfsPifJL_gTbrVNv39YGIGtDCj7vRpygVIeuBN7D93XoKEM/s320/Llynau+Mymbyr+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Llynau Mymbyr, the Welsh name of this lake, with Snowden in the background</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLoXfMye7mLsJUAstz7D1j1DMcevELoE1juH6eWBW2uMmpaRvMH78s0-0ivBhNrabcXFjSi_BBF31xLYDovj-Ov7PgZprG3dBIJKT7DQWi3G1X8it9bFTKt8aO1GtjrBAm1aJsTZ6VwPo/s1600/Llynau+Mymbyr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLoXfMye7mLsJUAstz7D1j1DMcevELoE1juH6eWBW2uMmpaRvMH78s0-0ivBhNrabcXFjSi_BBF31xLYDovj-Ov7PgZprG3dBIJKT7DQWi3G1X8it9bFTKt8aO1GtjrBAm1aJsTZ6VwPo/s320/Llynau+Mymbyr.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Llynau Mymbyr, the Welsh name of this lake, with Snowden in the background</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ9oEj2glwWUwMle0tqULkFww32fooJ__G2Ac5DL_8h0u-gMK5WsXVN5vOU-AaC-vk5FgPbCsGB7C6jV9A6l1ykcobeFc8-Vi9fQkFEiUC1udAbsntuM0q2rClfGQc3LMZowFAZ-chpiQ/s1600/driving+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ9oEj2glwWUwMle0tqULkFww32fooJ__G2Ac5DL_8h0u-gMK5WsXVN5vOU-AaC-vk5FgPbCsGB7C6jV9A6l1ykcobeFc8-Vi9fQkFEiUC1udAbsntuM0q2rClfGQc3LMZowFAZ-chpiQ/s320/driving+1.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Driving in the mountains. All the walls along the road are carefully built up with stones that fit together, with no way to hold then together other than their own weight.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnYMECeOMt2_5jgfuKs4eJjWNnmZQStzNamC1v_b2OM_0aSmvFC8YjW5l6RiGRvEPxUtGrnVXcxncwQY-MZEwsFa9JfrZz0fyK2UgIp8kucDoxjhodtmpiYxtfpi_fXcoo3-_5I_z_Nbc/s1600/driving+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnYMECeOMt2_5jgfuKs4eJjWNnmZQStzNamC1v_b2OM_0aSmvFC8YjW5l6RiGRvEPxUtGrnVXcxncwQY-MZEwsFa9JfrZz0fyK2UgIp8kucDoxjhodtmpiYxtfpi_fXcoo3-_5I_z_Nbc/s320/driving+2.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Driving in the mountains. All the walls along the road are carefully built up with stones that fit together, with no way to hold then together other than their own weight.
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We parked the car at a car park (parking lot) at the bottom of Snowden and begin our climb. Sagar chose a relatively challenging route for us to take up the mountain. It was quite beautiful.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKX_cTNg2ECFUGuRE3BI7CrJnKZGsvBVYL3-fuSEciwbdKNMCwKkALcpFATPTh7el5lzL5grKG7hmmBVo8WyEUxtj7WusiFj3jcB3S6me5P-ANFay3zp7Oom9ShDw6_PbueWxd-dKvJ3U/s1600/nearly+at+the+top.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKX_cTNg2ECFUGuRE3BI7CrJnKZGsvBVYL3-fuSEciwbdKNMCwKkALcpFATPTh7el5lzL5grKG7hmmBVo8WyEUxtj7WusiFj3jcB3S6me5P-ANFay3zp7Oom9ShDw6_PbueWxd-dKvJ3U/s320/nearly+at+the+top.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nearly at the top!<br /><br /></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0og7NQLbWxufzCZwy_tCbfbS3KUCSU23_O0W-q6V-cYGi0ZBwOqw0MwByTocbRjJ2p_XIDSD2TtU_FEcMdGWkJ03aWu-zXhnHyvEHjqf4k_OHEmCuFbv8pc5TdVDapq1kVFj2vHmrhd4/s1600/at+the+top.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0og7NQLbWxufzCZwy_tCbfbS3KUCSU23_O0W-q6V-cYGi0ZBwOqw0MwByTocbRjJ2p_XIDSD2TtU_FEcMdGWkJ03aWu-zXhnHyvEHjqf4k_OHEmCuFbv8pc5TdVDapq1kVFj2vHmrhd4/s320/at+the+top.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Us at the top! It was chilly!</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjujvCy1yM7AbhAvcPBcfwp79ToFSORYSTc7ICXGttIuKLrvQeGLIkEtqW6ijz-YGljmjZDS7Zf4TjzsS-NcJydAR39_AKmbsojL2cLNQnuY3nPH4TmYLqbAccfF3l2tCa3R1GrfL2bFs/s1600/we+climb+down+now.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjujvCy1yM7AbhAvcPBcfwp79ToFSORYSTc7ICXGttIuKLrvQeGLIkEtqW6ijz-YGljmjZDS7Zf4TjzsS-NcJydAR39_AKmbsojL2cLNQnuY3nPH4TmYLqbAccfF3l2tCa3R1GrfL2bFs/s320/we+climb+down+now.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Climbing down was also challenging!</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3JSzaFSDvBaq5UCL3sCG4ttTSVgIuwQdodwNwOiJOz-HrskTLTBPVVtkQpb2NCSXI3J97plrnvx7tg8lMMh1Tyq_DzaKrSq8I72AREGD-29SbtSIdsvwq8HNSfLBVdIK7HFAFI9fkLYk/s1600/sheep.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3JSzaFSDvBaq5UCL3sCG4ttTSVgIuwQdodwNwOiJOz-HrskTLTBPVVtkQpb2NCSXI3J97plrnvx7tg8lMMh1Tyq_DzaKrSq8I72AREGD-29SbtSIdsvwq8HNSfLBVdIK7HFAFI9fkLYk/s320/sheep.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There were SO MANY sheep along the way...but I couldn't pet them. They run away if you get too close.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZxKH3pDxcx8Wr6TeYnTLi3q0kqSotzAUClEVBnx7xZ7vTb0zATOUXdyZLh4dDU5B9q3om5lAXxloF5w3DCxqNVIHbbbzIqm64QeywqLbpxfw3IkWtGxPRwMUqx-yjadEl7aPfESvR9qU/s1600/sign+in+bathroom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZxKH3pDxcx8Wr6TeYnTLi3q0kqSotzAUClEVBnx7xZ7vTb0zATOUXdyZLh4dDU5B9q3om5lAXxloF5w3DCxqNVIHbbbzIqm64QeywqLbpxfw3IkWtGxPRwMUqx-yjadEl7aPfESvR9qU/s320/sign+in+bathroom.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was in the door in the bathroom in the cafe that was at the top of Snowden. All the signs in Wales are in English and Welsh.</td></tr>
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That night, we found a campsite close by and tried out the new tent. It was pretty sweet.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBsxb_1RwWY1WDYhtGq7k6_n3l00BF2R9fTqttgOeCnu8V71f1iqzZ_M8_L3FIE8OtV4m1i45QvEnQxtrElrxHpXRIs8l7eWT1o0gDcgJTpkvF-0JkMr-LyZ_7C69I47WEhrnwt8UtTao/s1600/me+camping+with+mountains.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBsxb_1RwWY1WDYhtGq7k6_n3l00BF2R9fTqttgOeCnu8V71f1iqzZ_M8_L3FIE8OtV4m1i45QvEnQxtrElrxHpXRIs8l7eWT1o0gDcgJTpkvF-0JkMr-LyZ_7C69I47WEhrnwt8UtTao/s320/me+camping+with+mountains.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our tent! The view was wonderful!<br /><br /><br /><br /></td></tr>
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The next day, we decided to go canoeing before heading home. We rented a canoe, after having some coffee, and off we went!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja6No92aUwjAxQjQ5Dpnhbi597rcJVcIfOXXGhj1NAmzRwB6KQ8bwM-q77DgR4lQtXPvXCN0u6MGi4aKGRBvLBHKLB6tRvpcG9HXmZZu_NsGbU7MDE6G90vZz-k-zFwv49dnh8_EyZcmE/s1600/COFFEE.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja6No92aUwjAxQjQ5Dpnhbi597rcJVcIfOXXGhj1NAmzRwB6KQ8bwM-q77DgR4lQtXPvXCN0u6MGi4aKGRBvLBHKLB6tRvpcG9HXmZZu_NsGbU7MDE6G90vZz-k-zFwv49dnh8_EyZcmE/s320/COFFEE.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We stopped at the Pinnacle Cafe in Capel Curig.<br /><br /></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiROtlew2SZtEQQtxG3sLMLyALZ6GmVtTQyg6Mj3zHRCVSPBVAavh7i6iG3L85mSLaFSBTkSIp_9-pOMvUztKNWCPy9wkEzyzdJK3CZ5JBVvuvzFFy6xOpuySNG3Oe7dOAKY20iYhRoqWM/s1600/sagar+serious+canoer.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiROtlew2SZtEQQtxG3sLMLyALZ6GmVtTQyg6Mj3zHRCVSPBVAavh7i6iG3L85mSLaFSBTkSIp_9-pOMvUztKNWCPy9wkEzyzdJK3CZ5JBVvuvzFFy6xOpuySNG3Oe7dOAKY20iYhRoqWM/s320/sagar+serious+canoer.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sagar is a serious canoer, complete with kneepads</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpZFkfZydLTYXOZleFJ4JEW-bjzOoSwcaP7HjV_9eIxaTeH1cxZ1Ip6RU3bpF2uiCLYc5WFvbJtsmPpduWeYJJJag7ZNJbwmQeAmMJwepVJCVj6yf8twP7-uDSWp51LXfOXx7b0wdZlDs/s1600/pretty+stream.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpZFkfZydLTYXOZleFJ4JEW-bjzOoSwcaP7HjV_9eIxaTeH1cxZ1Ip6RU3bpF2uiCLYc5WFvbJtsmPpduWeYJJJag7ZNJbwmQeAmMJwepVJCVj6yf8twP7-uDSWp51LXfOXx7b0wdZlDs/s320/pretty+stream.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Scenic stream just outside the cafe</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyBB_RDkazvQNJQmTYotfn3yM9S4Z-SlD6G42ZeiZf3QJ1A3fgTxIkA7obqCPTovS2ZTPPUFXIAuqpZjeMMn3GR4lhjdLo1NW1B4c08Q8u83A6qXQn5eJ6d8KWj9t5SKQCjUUWJ213XZM/s1600/canoeing.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyBB_RDkazvQNJQmTYotfn3yM9S4Z-SlD6G42ZeiZf3QJ1A3fgTxIkA7obqCPTovS2ZTPPUFXIAuqpZjeMMn3GR4lhjdLo1NW1B4c08Q8u83A6qXQn5eJ6d8KWj9t5SKQCjUUWJ213XZM/s320/canoeing.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My view in the canoe.</td></tr>
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That afternoon, we drove home to Kenilworth, where I tried to prepare my body to run a half marathon the next morning. <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5GvXYk3pif0CeZS5blie1xXEIgF4n4Mzxn0G6ffZzGAoZF11f_Zlh2wJg3ah2XDQ-Ekuy4ez5MDt3cqJZ_QwRxauzPkyxKyCy5aCZkw3u2QhV-9Nx3anFX8Ll435CQvQfzK0-W3XTzEA/s1600/IMG_2802.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5GvXYk3pif0CeZS5blie1xXEIgF4n4Mzxn0G6ffZzGAoZF11f_Zlh2wJg3ah2XDQ-Ekuy4ez5MDt3cqJZ_QwRxauzPkyxKyCy5aCZkw3u2QhV-9Nx3anFX8Ll435CQvQfzK0-W3XTzEA/s320/IMG_2802.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Getting my playlist set<br /><br /><br /></td></tr>
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I did ok in the race, finishing around 1:47. I was shooting for a 1:40, so I was a bit disappointed, but it was quite a hilly course and the weather was actually quite warm and humid, so I'm not too upset. <div>
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<div>
Sagar started work at JLR at the beginning of the month, and I continued to focus on organizing my research.</div>
<div>
I had my annual review for my EngD at the beginning of the month. The feedback was overall positive, though I do need to work on focusing my tasks a bit (I'm a bit spread out at the moment...there's a surprise!)</div>
<div>
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I went to a couple of events the second week of September, one was Cenex (<a href="http://www.cenex-lcv.co.uk/">http://www.cenex-lcv.co.uk/</a>) at Millbrook Proving Grounds, which is a race track/testing track about an hour south of Warwick. It was a very interesting event focused on Low Carbon Vehicles. There was a lot of interest in fuel cells! Then, the weekend after that, I worked the Sustainable Moto Expo in Cheltenham, (<a href="http://www.cheltenhammotorsports.com/">http://www.cheltenhammotorsports.com/</a>) which was more of a public event, as opposed to the industrial focus of Cenex. Both events were really interesting!</div>
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Then, last week, my room mate Aurelie moved out, having nearly finished up her Master's at Warwick and moving onto bigger things. I was sad to see her go, but I think she will be happier in the warmer climate. </div>
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This week, I was focused a bit on inspections for my apartment and getting my new room mate in for this coming year- Sagar. His work at JLR in Solihull makes the location good for both of us, so it was a good choice. Plus, I kinda like the guy. A bit. :)</div>
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I've also moved buildings! I am now in an office with one of my academic advisors, Jay Bal and his group of PhD students who all work on collaboration and collaborative tools. I think this will help me focus a bit on my research. Also, I got a brand new desk! I will have to take a picture soon to post.</div>
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So that in a nutshell, is the last few weeks. I've got a few big projects going simultaneously at the moment, but nothing I can't handle. </div>
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I'm running a marathon in 8 days in Scotland!! Will blog again soon!</div>
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Here are some videos of driving in Wales. Enjoy the roads (these aren't even very narrow ones) and the music!</div>
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Courtney (Quartny) Thornberryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17937089191658627644noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563729318324808328.post-45431145503858264312012-08-09T16:19:00.001-07:002012-08-09T16:27:12.525-07:00Getting a Driving License in the UKIn May, I decided it was time for me to start looking into getting my British driving license. Since I will be in the UK for the next few years, this is a good idea. The law here states that my US driving license is only good for a year from when I started living here- then it becomes invalid. On top of that, no UK insurance company will take ANY of my US driving experience into account- which makes the annual cost of insuring most cars I was looking at more than the price of the car I was looking at. (One insurance company said that AFTER I got my full license, they would consider up to 3 years of previous experience from another country). When I was first looking into all of this, I found it a little ridiculous. I had nearly 12 years of driving experience from home, how hard could it be to get a license here? And why don't they recognize my experience? I came to the answer of this after a couple of lessons.<br />
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Because we don't really know how to drive in the US.<br />
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Don't get me wrong, I know a lot of great drivers back home. However, the conditions here in the UK (much smaller, curvy, hilly roads) in addition to the fact that 90% of the cars are manual (and you MUST pass the test in a manual car in order to get a full license) make it different. Oh, and did I mention they drive on the other side of the road?<br />
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So, this post, in a recap of everything I had to do to get my license here. I think it might be the same in any European country- because those people with licenses from the EU are fully recognized here.<br />
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Step 1: Find an instructor. I got a recommendation from another PhD student in my office, Tom. I called the instructor, Steve, and set up my first lesson. I explained that I had experience in the US, that I didn't need many lessons, I would be fine. Just needed to brush up on driving a manual (I understood the logistics of how they work, should be easy to translate that understanding to practical usage, right?!?--> WRONG)<br />
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Step 2: Apply for (and pay about £50)<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 16px;"> </span></span>provisional license. This is like a learner's permit back home. When I took driver's education in 2001, I had to take summer classes before I got the permit. (In the state of Michigan). Here, you just apply for it by mail, send off your passport, and you are legal to drive. As long as you have these lovely things displayed on the front and rear of your car, so everyone else on the road can either take pity on you, or be a jerk to you:<br />
<img src="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTZxU1PL47B--GLSL1QsL_pVDYCU2MtLAX8_o7rYyIKBzqKBiAy-bAolul8" />
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Step 3: Lessons. And then more lessons. Learn how NOT to stall the car. Learn how to do hill starts. Learn how to do reverse manoeuvres. (There are four of these I could be tested on- turn in the road, reversing around a corner, backing into a parking space or a parallel park). Learn AGAIN how NOT to stall the car. Learn how to drive PROPERLY in round-a-bouts. Understand totally new road signs. Watch out for pedestrians. Watch out for MORE pedestrians. Clutch control. MIRROR, SIGNAL, MANOEUVRES.<br />
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Step 4: Take the theory test. (and pay another £34) The theory test here has two parts. A multiple choice, 50 question part. And a hazard perception part. Hazard perception is a series of 10 short clips, where you must clip the mouse at the right time whenever you perceive a potential hazard. I took this the beginning of July. You can only miss 7 questions on the multiple choice part and you must get a 59% to pass the hazard perception bit. I missed 4 questions and got a 79% on the hazard perception. I prepared for this by reading the Highway Code and using a DVD-ROM I got off of Amazon to study.<br />
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Step 5: Book the practical test. (and pay another £61) The soonest I could get a test was for August 9, a month after passing the theory test. (and the day after my birthday) And take more lessons. And a couple more after that. Have a confidence breakdown that I'm going to do something really stupid. Stall out. Stall out some more. Try to stop doing that. Get a car. Learn how to drive it. Decide that I will drive it for my test the week before.<br />
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Step 6: Take the practical test. Have a lesson beforehand to work all the kinks out. Stall out in the new car. A lot. Because I was being watched (I never stall out when I drive by myself!). Resign myself to the fact that I may possibly fail. (after hearing some horror stories from other people. And reading that the pass rate is less than 50%). Go to the test center (centre) and meet the guy assessing me. (known, surprisingly as an assessor). His name was Oliver. He was really nice. First step- read a number plate on a car about 20 meters away. Had my contacts in- nailed it. Second step- answer basic questions about the car. There were two- how would I check the tire pressure and know what the correct pressure was and how would I use the windshield wipers. Nailed that. Feeling rather confident at this point. Took off out of the test center for the "independent drive" portion of the test. This is where I am told to follow the road signs to certain destinations. Like Coventry, Hill Wootten, and Kenilworth. I got to go on an A-road, or a Dual carriageway for a bit, which is essentially a highway to me, but is not classified as a motorway. (Provisional or Learner drivers are technically not allowed to drive on motorways here). I then did some round-abouts, went into some neighborhoods around Kenilworth, did a reversing around a corner exercise, and did a couple of hill starts. <br />
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It went quite quickly and before I knew it, I was back at the test center, where Steve and Sagar were waiting for me. I felt I had done well, but I wasn't sure....Oliver asked if I would like my instructor over to hear the results. I said sure. Steve and Sagar came over and Oliver said I had passed! He only had one minor comment on my observations during my reverse exercise (could have done with another head check). All in all, I got only 4 minor faults (all for mirror checks, pretty standard faults) which is quite low. You are allowed 15 minor faults during your test before you fail. <br />
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Overall, my process was a smooth one to get my license- on average it takes someone 14 months to get one here- I did it in less than 3. However, it was a lot of hard work (and a lot of money- lessons were pricey as well as all the fees). I had a LOT of help- a very patient and helpful driving instructor, Sagar gave me good feedback, and other people gave me feedback as well (I'm thinking about Matt and Nick when I drove the Land Rover to Birmingham.) I think I am a MUCH better driver now than I ever was in the US. It was a much more stressful endeavor than I imagined it would be, but I am glad I came out of it ok. I am very very grateful to people who had faith in me, even when I didn't have faith in myself. It's such a stressful thing over here, they even make greeting cards for passing! Nick Mallinson got me one today! <br />
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My NEXT step will be to get my motorcycle license.....but that may be a few more months... :)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My card from Nick and his wife. They are right next to the Birthday cards in the store....</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My pass certificate. My license will come in the post in the next 3 weeks or so.</td></tr>
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<br />Courtney (Quartny) Thornberryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17937089191658627644noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563729318324808328.post-5750911696986361362012-08-02T08:32:00.002-07:002012-08-02T08:32:57.559-07:00Mirror, Signal, ManoeuvreHello all;<br />
So I've kept myself busy since the end of Formula Student 2012. Work and research wise, I've been working on my case study set up for next year's FS group. I've also been working with Nick Mallinson at WMG to see about getting some research started on Fuel Cells through the Catapult initiative for the EngD large group project. Finally, I applied for and got a job mentoring gifted students- all in an online medium. This program, called <a href="http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/study/iggy" target="_blank">IGGY</a>, is a network for gifted teenagers (13-19 year olds) in the UK and internationally, based at the University of Warwick. The cool thing with this is that I will do all my work online- and I may be able to apply the experience to my EngD portfolio. The job starts next month, and is about a 5 hour commitment per week.<br />
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In other news, I have also been organizing and reading for the review paper on Open Source Hardware Design that I want to get done in the next couple of months. It something that could take a bit more of my focus and I plan on utilizing a lot of my time during August to do it.<br />
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I've also continued my work towards getting a British license with driving lessons (1-2 times/week) and more practice on the car Sagar and I bought last weekend. We are now the proud owners of a 2001 1.4 L 16 valve Skoda Fabia. (Owned by VW, essentially, this car is a VW Polo/Golf) It made sense to go in on a car together, financially and logistically. I will not be needing a car on a daily basis, since I am staying in Kenilworth this next year, but it is nice to have access to one. Sagar will be starting his job at JLR at the beginning of September and will need a vehicle for the commute, especially since his motorcycle blew a cylinder the day after graduation. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGs3Io95wqMa7aJ63teA5kvmdMglT9Kups4ZeBvb3-EBz-KXsqsNMwDPVEEdM1IIAs9GNcuikAXXiaFZyjbvSVVS49Gojhb-y2MeZyyHoc186FxxNNEX9h6ydCoRQjU7L8IVTOYz6_1VM/s1600/Car+front.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGs3Io95wqMa7aJ63teA5kvmdMglT9Kups4ZeBvb3-EBz-KXsqsNMwDPVEEdM1IIAs9GNcuikAXXiaFZyjbvSVVS49Gojhb-y2MeZyyHoc186FxxNNEX9h6ydCoRQjU7L8IVTOYz6_1VM/s320/Car+front.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The front of the Skoda</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We needed to change the wiper blades</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The whole car. It has heated seats, but no cruise control. Apparently, cruise control is rare here....</td></tr>
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A week from today (the day after my birthday) I take my driving test for my British license. I've been off-and-on nervous about it. I keep hearing stories about how people failed for stupid stuff, or rather subjective calls from the examiner. It costs £61 (nearly $100) to take this test, so I'd rather not fail. However, the more nervous I get, the worse my driving gets, so I need to relax and be calm. (I can't do a hill start if I have to think about it....) I've really enjoyed driving the Skoda since we've gotten it, so I am thinking about taking the test in that. I would have taking the test in my instructor's car, which is a Seat Ibiza (basically ALSO a VW Polo/Golf). His car, even though it's newer than the Skoda, is a bit stiffer in the clutch to me, probably due to the fact that lots of drivers before me have learned on it. I'm going to drive a bit more over the next few days before I decide. My next (and last!) driving lesson is Wednesday afternoon.<br />
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I've also signed up for the Kenilworth half-marathon on September 2, and of course, the Loch Ness Marathon on Sept 30. Both, I think are going to be fun. I'm in the midst of planning the trip up to Inverness (the city by Loch Ness in Scotland) which is about a 8.5 hour drive from Coventry. I'm getting into the full swing of marathon training, my long run this week was at 12 miles. I plan to do a total of about 30 miles this week.<br />
This weekend, I'm going to go down to London to watch the women's Olympic Marathon with Sagar. Hopefully, it will give me even more motivation for Loch Ness, though I doubt I will need it. Sagar, Amy and my friend from Ball State, Andy Blough (check out his blog <a href="http://asummerinkrakow.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">here</a>) will be heading up there. Amy and I are running the full marathon, while Andy is running the 10K. Sagar may or may not run the 10K, we are not too sure yet. <br />
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Anyway, that recaps about the last week!Courtney (Quartny) Thornberryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17937089191658627644noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563729318324808328.post-47619253125380626612012-07-24T04:22:00.002-07:002012-07-24T04:22:39.188-07:00FORMULA STUDENT<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Ok, so I'm going to do a whole post on the Formula Student competition that took place July 11-15 at Silverstone. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;">The sign into Silverstone as you drive in.</td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSk_QG4j-bjoXNdsqbJC5EevIOoNx3HQz5HNusNamyKAp70roZ29qSv0MnCyNvhsji8OtwtqxnCjCOmLDuaVw-svD248J-mH7FRpH5ZMNXZVl3PfXAzOmHOpDYdq_KDTI7K0LVhKzL6eI/s1600/my+id+badge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSk_QG4j-bjoXNdsqbJC5EevIOoNx3HQz5HNusNamyKAp70roZ29qSv0MnCyNvhsji8OtwtqxnCjCOmLDuaVw-svD248J-mH7FRpH5ZMNXZVl3PfXAzOmHOpDYdq_KDTI7K0LVhKzL6eI/s320/my+id+badge.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;">My registration badge! University of Warwick, Class 1.</td></tr>
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Zoe and I went there Wednesday night because registration started early Thursday morning. The campsite was rainy and cold. I also had a cold, which didn't help. However, the guys had it worse, back on campus, dealing with issues with the clutch as they were trying to prepare the car to be ready to be transported down on Thursday, so we could get on with scrutineering the car. <br />
Thursday morning was nice and sunny, as the few of us already at Silverstone (Alison, me, Quirin and Sagar, and Zoe from Class 1 and then most of the Class 2 people) went to stand in line to register at 7:30am. The Class 2 people- Stevie, Gav, Graham, Ian and Anirudh, along with some others, were busy preparing for the presentation on the design work they had done. <br />
To clarify: Class 1 is a design and build competition, while Class 2 is just a design competition. Every university does it different, but at Warwick, Class 1 is also considered an academic project for 4th year Engineering Masters students. Class 2 is purely extracurricular and has only been done over the past few years. However, it has shown to be good preparation for the Class 1 team. Last year's Class 2 team were mostly on this year's Class 1 team and they did really well in the design competition when they competed in 2011.<br />
<br />
We spent the rest of Thursday preparing the pits for the car. Class 2 had all their presentations to do. They did a lot of work, but in the end, had forgotten to submit a very important report, which cost them all of their points, so they ended up not scoring very well overall in the Class 2 competition.<br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXfI029Jwr3m7KajGA5Za_VUXyX6ZpvElEYwHKNnv9mO_6AU-DrcKD1OkwY3CmUZwR8Ve2LaizyRhRPahz5S7HGKyBrhM8emro_qXMzb86kITtoK39bDhUScRuormp8xD3_8fRRS4AZqQ/s1600/Scrutineering.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXfI029Jwr3m7KajGA5Za_VUXyX6ZpvElEYwHKNnv9mO_6AU-DrcKD1OkwY3CmUZwR8Ve2LaizyRhRPahz5S7HGKyBrhM8emro_qXMzb86kITtoK39bDhUScRuormp8xD3_8fRRS4AZqQ/s320/Scrutineering.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;">The Scrutineering Building. Every car has to pass a strict evaluation of how it is built and works in order to be able to run in the competitions.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6cQNx-IMWluWpKSHaE5yovz7WzdwNSkVA_nwRte2frNCuzu_rzZkEZZM9yeJh36Td9lhFKmYAliUFadGlqikC9m-G2IXGhUmBycLH8kPUbUkzLUQz9rjRbLofABYH9XS1IZmLbRUYX0k/s1600/me+in+tent.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6cQNx-IMWluWpKSHaE5yovz7WzdwNSkVA_nwRte2frNCuzu_rzZkEZZM9yeJh36Td9lhFKmYAliUFadGlqikC9m-G2IXGhUmBycLH8kPUbUkzLUQz9rjRbLofABYH9XS1IZmLbRUYX0k/s320/me+in+tent.jpg" width="178" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;">Hooray! Camping in my rain gear! I got those wellies for £5. Nevermind that they are for kids.....</td></tr>
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<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLOxQk5b9Oi2LNiZ55LwL1SujEFV3CH1DB8Kc_cjPcMhMFFYhmikoI9A3uSYHL2YZKRfIDReNSkZVhFJjHx6NOQ4DlR84id_9JXAe6KEVLQx6HDWaOz2w6f4Lo11mfRBd5ADWNu5w9Dxg/s1600/working+on+car+in+pits+with+Carl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLOxQk5b9Oi2LNiZ55LwL1SujEFV3CH1DB8Kc_cjPcMhMFFYhmikoI9A3uSYHL2YZKRfIDReNSkZVhFJjHx6NOQ4DlR84id_9JXAe6KEVLQx6HDWaOz2w6f4Lo11mfRBd5ADWNu5w9Dxg/s320/working+on+car+in+pits+with+Carl.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;">Back on campus- the guys were working hard to troubleshoot some issues with the clutch with the technicians. Here, Carl is giving some very wise advice. :) From left to right: Gav, Quirin, Anirudh (on the car), Markus, Carl and Murray.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Meanwhile, back on campus, they had figured out the issue with the clutch. (Apparently a washer had been put on wrong) and were scrambling to get the engine mapped and get the car down to Silverstone. Those of us at Silverstone were getting nervous about our place in the queue for Scrutineering. Even though a team could go to Scrutineering at any point during the competition, they could only compete in the 4 main racing events at certain times- and the car has to pass Scrutineering BEFORE it can participate in any dynamic event. We also had to spend some time on Thursday refining the business presentation for Class 1 on Friday and I was organizing myself for my meeting with Bosch on Friday afternoon to discuss setting up events for next year that will help me with a case study for my EngD research. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdUOBAizWzi4makmFvgdpQicMrFMFrJ6s23qVSPmTllqHxL8ipSTSjuOSsjGo-PP3o-R2nTluS-rJ_kXxcZcw9jWNNNZJNFlz2ze0ykhdVDmHZblCBvdcEwqxAHYbz4Avhj-cdwixlLM8/s1600/silverstone+truck.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdUOBAizWzi4makmFvgdpQicMrFMFrJ6s23qVSPmTllqHxL8ipSTSjuOSsjGo-PP3o-R2nTluS-rJ_kXxcZcw9jWNNNZJNFlz2ze0ykhdVDmHZblCBvdcEwqxAHYbz4Avhj-cdwixlLM8/s320/silverstone+truck.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the trucks around Silverstone. I think it looked cool.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_ivwaBtAUkfzcvoR92wIcdgKuHJOtP6mcR1AcUgZ27fBKAti3KdX0riDf9-Bi-riBOtYfrNP43lgCXnHpjnicuekzIaHS7iIbXcisiuoFddxSZqu8_U6IubXJXZN7vG65GmKBCX2Sdq4/s1600/electric+race+car.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_ivwaBtAUkfzcvoR92wIcdgKuHJOtP6mcR1AcUgZ27fBKAti3KdX0riDf9-Bi-riBOtYfrNP43lgCXnHpjnicuekzIaHS7iIbXcisiuoFddxSZqu8_U6IubXJXZN7vG65GmKBCX2Sdq4/s320/electric+race+car.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A electric car that was on display. This car had driven across America</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Finally, Thursday evening, the car arrived in the pits. It was too late to take it to Scrutineering, but it was planned to get in the queue early the next morning.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrpmdC0Py-DX4hacUz89mWNVKGP6a2MyNJlFXjo8oOr1H1F5CBWieIuOcdNo29Dw9aF6eFUN8gz7nGCXBHxdTjHkVXG3aVADdTRMZyE-smHcqV0HfgNfR4gD64Dj_2NUD-rBMHyczoQMw/s1600/Sagar+and+business+presentation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrpmdC0Py-DX4hacUz89mWNVKGP6a2MyNJlFXjo8oOr1H1F5CBWieIuOcdNo29Dw9aF6eFUN8gz7nGCXBHxdTjHkVXG3aVADdTRMZyE-smHcqV0HfgNfR4gD64Dj_2NUD-rBMHyczoQMw/s320/Sagar+and+business+presentation.jpg" title="" width="182" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;">Sagar and Alison during the Business Presentation</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBHCL9fhe_hmWNwtZaiqqIAPg8_kS7Y-wSxqG5xjEOBpygUGBOELnLv0Iw9jexwCf3M_QGjUH1kt_p2OYiGNQPBRe4WBjaV3JFJBBWH6MU0E-xO3jQW9tXIPukC2i8REyaBatWOmHnzAo/s1600/design+judging.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBHCL9fhe_hmWNwtZaiqqIAPg8_kS7Y-wSxqG5xjEOBpygUGBOELnLv0Iw9jexwCf3M_QGjUH1kt_p2OYiGNQPBRe4WBjaV3JFJBBWH6MU0E-xO3jQW9tXIPukC2i8REyaBatWOmHnzAo/s320/design+judging.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;">The team during the design judging</td></tr>
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<br />
<br />
On Friday morning, the team had to take the car to various static events for the Design and Cost & Sustainability reports. This was where the team talked with judges about why they made certain decisions with how they designed and manufactured the car. The team did very well in both of these events, coming in 21st in Design and 9th in Cost and Sustainability. Directly after these events, the car went to get Scrutineered and those of us involved with the Business presentation got ready for that afternoon. Sagar, Alison and Quirin went to practice the presentation and I had a coffee with Steve Maggs (one of my academic advisors) to discuss my plan for my meeting with Bosch, which was just after the business presentation. The business presentation went very well. The team, with my help, had decided to use the idea of Open Sourcing Hardware Design in their business model. The judges were fairly skeptical of this, but we argued it well and we got positive feedback for being creative. Overall, we placed 3rd in the Business presentation, out of 150 total teams from across the world. Not too shabby!<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU4vMoiZCLvAo_nBSi8e7GeU0XDBkoosR7j-qUg0M-Yv-ybkGkJim9KorOqJokdmVejdBYhGNs-OemCy2qDXYT10a3F-3BBM98ZYG1EWjuY3fUlDfUj7fHLVdSkHbPcA8B1wD35_YTdo8/s1600/silverstone+race+control.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU4vMoiZCLvAo_nBSi8e7GeU0XDBkoosR7j-qUg0M-Yv-ybkGkJim9KorOqJokdmVejdBYhGNs-OemCy2qDXYT10a3F-3BBM98ZYG1EWjuY3fUlDfUj7fHLVdSkHbPcA8B1wD35_YTdo8/s320/silverstone+race+control.jpg" width="178" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The building where the business presentation was </td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTNP-O1Qj5EIvNgP1EtAuEMZtQ6NlAb4uMlTvHwU1jy1Hu10KoyYbdp_Eo8KBgLSA_SDPOPjk9PpsXmQDqW_zJHG_4MhidT3KjMQepDakDJSlSs4Fjpvg21q7BzklXEMQ_R2TZ24R8WUg/s1600/Daz+and+Carl+in+Pits.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTNP-O1Qj5EIvNgP1EtAuEMZtQ6NlAb4uMlTvHwU1jy1Hu10KoyYbdp_Eo8KBgLSA_SDPOPjk9PpsXmQDqW_zJHG_4MhidT3KjMQepDakDJSlSs4Fjpvg21q7BzklXEMQ_R2TZ24R8WUg/s320/Daz+and+Carl+in+Pits.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Daz and Carl came on Friday to lend us a hand with their mad technical car skills. :)</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEmDkENCf2QhA0J3d5eeEA4HJDPwwm8H-dkFbeYMB_BCIhN-rUHpcyRehNB3Zn6tbtRtrZm3P48yB4vdflsgvVzCAGI3oUXTXdZ_bGMC6_OAHnHiMc0HqbPAzR80OgeUSeeZv_6yMbAaY/s1600/Sorting+out+shifter+issues.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEmDkENCf2QhA0J3d5eeEA4HJDPwwm8H-dkFbeYMB_BCIhN-rUHpcyRehNB3Zn6tbtRtrZm3P48yB4vdflsgvVzCAGI3oUXTXdZ_bGMC6_OAHnHiMc0HqbPAzR80OgeUSeeZv_6yMbAaY/s320/Sorting+out+shifter+issues.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ryan and the team discuss the shifter.</td></tr>
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<br />
<br />
The rest of the team were working on dealing with Scrutineering...which was not going well. By the end of the day on Friday, the car still had not passed- but we had a short list of things that could be easily fixed to get it to pass. The team worked until the pits closed at 11pm to get these things done and were planning on getting the car to Scrutineering early in the morning to get it passed. Included to be done in Scrutineering was also the Brake Test, the Tilt Test and the Noise Test, all which had queues of other teams waiting as well. Two of the dynamic events- the Skid Pad and the Acceleration event, had to be completed by 12pm on Saturday. And we still had to pass those three tests and get a final pass from the Scrutineering judges. Unfortunately, there was simply not enough time. The car passed, but not until afternoon.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilDmXIPwZ-SUskcT6gL55HUvWvA0r4EW50sgkb9BCHLjBRYyTv3LSvb1qHD1DorNLtWgKIcZoryWISITDH6tMo8P9m5Pawp0KQVu9Db5Z9d42dFI5EIDLLi8smWQbwszHvcXpVv-Jtev8/s1600/Andy+in+car.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilDmXIPwZ-SUskcT6gL55HUvWvA0r4EW50sgkb9BCHLjBRYyTv3LSvb1qHD1DorNLtWgKIcZoryWISITDH6tMo8P9m5Pawp0KQVu9Db5Z9d42dFI5EIDLLi8smWQbwszHvcXpVv-Jtev8/s320/Andy+in+car.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Andy did some driving for the Brake test</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
So, that afternoon, they did compete in the sprint event. It finished the event, but placed last in the cars that finished. Saturday night, we relaxed a bit and got ready for the the last event on Sunday, the endurance event.
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK5Mr-PFvPu7Je_4AUu5UgFZkkcZpoXT4BynWBWcOJDyf8S8NSSK-TKprzs3pr19O7-PmlnCLNvuAhe2xAa3FHp55rWo2c0yOcdQCV-sjqsHYcM2_qY6wlzVpw9fEyIowwW0Xh_W3DRRo/s1600/Murray+our+camp+sign+and+a+stolen+gnome.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK5Mr-PFvPu7Je_4AUu5UgFZkkcZpoXT4BynWBWcOJDyf8S8NSSK-TKprzs3pr19O7-PmlnCLNvuAhe2xAa3FHp55rWo2c0yOcdQCV-sjqsHYcM2_qY6wlzVpw9fEyIowwW0Xh_W3DRRo/s320/Murray+our+camp+sign+and+a+stolen+gnome.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There was much debauchery that was going on in the campsite on Saturday- including reconnaissance or various camp site signs and the kidnapping of a gnome. Which resulted in a very angry Irishman coming to our tents. A very diplomatic agreement was made in the end....
</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigFuqRK4_9xapb0sgPcSbRimuUcJobZNhwvLpgZydPx-XJ4kdtlPO_vv6fVkzi5EchmiUGhd1RUdVvnjQfRfQ0cg9LqEPuyxmwVy0WQdG4oQG8eDlETrlm90dFbRDfKbytM8WKVpv6D2E/s1600/Sagar+confused+about+door+wall+in+Towester.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigFuqRK4_9xapb0sgPcSbRimuUcJobZNhwvLpgZydPx-XJ4kdtlPO_vv6fVkzi5EchmiUGhd1RUdVvnjQfRfQ0cg9LqEPuyxmwVy0WQdG4oQG8eDlETrlm90dFbRDfKbytM8WKVpv6D2E/s320/Sagar+confused+about+door+wall+in+Towester.jpg" width="178" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sagar and I went to the closest town, Towester (pronounced Toaster) and we found a door with a wall built in it....<br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM2lSeh2IAAGVCHsbDfsKxicppd2up9jiZLfWUM6iQAC3NzestQrtcYmmlZx0UhF2a2IrnOTStuEMk3-9xCQUTW0THuz_1j7NV-uwnjoEMtp-Z3qhADS9BTB_aqZ82RRcddn_knRGvdI4/s1600/Sagar+makes+it+through+wall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM2lSeh2IAAGVCHsbDfsKxicppd2up9jiZLfWUM6iQAC3NzestQrtcYmmlZx0UhF2a2IrnOTStuEMk3-9xCQUTW0THuz_1j7NV-uwnjoEMtp-Z3qhADS9BTB_aqZ82RRcddn_knRGvdI4/s320/Sagar+makes+it+through+wall.jpg" width="178" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">But, we found the other side!</td></tr>
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<br />
<br />
Sunday morning, we started strong for endurance. Markus was driving the first leg, and Darren would be driving the second. Our car ended up being quite quick at this event, passing several cars and looking good. We were all watching from the grandstand, several of previous FS team members, and Steve, Howard, and Nick Mallinson from Warwick. Also, lots of parents came out to support everyone as well. We saw that they were coming to an end and we were going to place well, so we ran over to see the finish....<br />
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Unfortunately, one of the sidepods had come loose two laps from the end (the Endurance run was a 23 lap event), which counts as a DNF for the whole event. The car was running very well and was doing so good, to be out at the end like that, but it is a testament to the amount of effort everyone on the team put in over the year. They have made a very good car for next year's team, as well as established the best knowledge transfer system to date for Warwick's FS team. I am excited to see how much next year's group will improve! Please enjoy some videos of the car I took below:<br />
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This is a longer video of Darren driving during the endurance event:</div>
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This is a video of us passing the Brake test</div>
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This is a video of the Endurance run- the car passed another car!</div>
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This is another video of the Endurance run, Markus was driving here</div>
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This is a video of one of the electric cars practicing. So quiet!</div>
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<br />Courtney (Quartny) Thornberryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17937089191658627644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563729318324808328.post-34617500100869627122012-07-20T03:57:00.002-07:002012-07-20T03:57:59.411-07:00Driving Test, Networking Event, Farnborough Air ShowOk, so I'm just going to have a post about everything I've done in the past few weeks that wasn't related to Formula Student, then I'm going to have a post directly after this one that will be completely FS related.<br />
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First of all, on July 3rd, I took and past the written portion for my British driving license! I was able to then sign up for my practical test, which I will be taking the day after my birthday, in a little under three weeks' time! I'm feeling pretty confident about this, I had a really good lesson on Wednesday, where my instructor said I could have passed my test. I think this would call for a candy bar here called a Time Out. (I think this is funny, since a Time Out is what you make naughty children do back home. Doesn't mean that here)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDm4I-ORt2R_kjsMjUqidfI5Zsfxqhyphenhyphen_3Wug4sAQqpsJfQ3Qb86Aos80hlNQOa4COOUAFth-umdOh5o7AFt4QSmmBVgJzW0WpUXvYDIP0-ZitLBcUDv7fhD3elC2SvlrScbfv5pzYb324/s1600/time+out.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDm4I-ORt2R_kjsMjUqidfI5Zsfxqhyphenhyphen_3Wug4sAQqpsJfQ3Qb86Aos80hlNQOa4COOUAFth-umdOh5o7AFt4QSmmBVgJzW0WpUXvYDIP0-ZitLBcUDv7fhD3elC2SvlrScbfv5pzYb324/s320/time+out.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Time Out candy bar. The tagline is "Everyone need some Time Out" LOL.</td></tr>
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On July 5, I went to South Yorkshire to the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP)Technology Centre. There was a networking event hosted by the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) that was bringing together various industry representatives that are working on Fuel Cell technology in the UK. I made a lot of interesting contacts that will hopefully begin some form of collaboration with WMG. I've been working with Nick Mallinson on facilitating these a bit for the funding initiative at WMG that is called the Catapult. You can read more about this <a href="http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/wmg/research/hvmcatapult/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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The AMP was a zero-carbon facility, using a wind turbine, in conjunction with electrolyzers and fuel cells to generate all the power for the building. The wind turbine would generate the energy to product hydrogen that would then run the fuel cells on demand to power the building. Here are some pictures of that!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoNdBQGz2HH-f8r_Ipc6LW-5h-BHYQNu18G23eURzpPZldV9M92Q126HzkL2u27WK5ghZHW5H4lzT2MShvuGW09ggGtsDqlunebYYFq8BL9M494xY1qdTXYgQi1aUwl76MF0jYmQaroRA/s1600/wind+turbine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoNdBQGz2HH-f8r_Ipc6LW-5h-BHYQNu18G23eURzpPZldV9M92Q126HzkL2u27WK5ghZHW5H4lzT2MShvuGW09ggGtsDqlunebYYFq8BL9M494xY1qdTXYgQi1aUwl76MF0jYmQaroRA/s320/wind+turbine.jpg" width="178" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The wind turbine at the AMP</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyI60PfnLpjXvF0JYohg5OafPYsJJW-Ail_L1XXgccTLWNBXdtwodir3LrvbO2Au-cE12aPxZdJOx81meZxGRh3dNXmdURULZWyBTG6Dvx8YKPQ7gvZg3H3bSy8nuq7U2hnhqBozU0efA/s1600/hydrogen+electrolyzer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyI60PfnLpjXvF0JYohg5OafPYsJJW-Ail_L1XXgccTLWNBXdtwodir3LrvbO2Au-cE12aPxZdJOx81meZxGRh3dNXmdURULZWyBTG6Dvx8YKPQ7gvZg3H3bSy8nuq7U2hnhqBozU0efA/s320/hydrogen+electrolyzer.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The electrolyzer stations right next to the turbine.</td></tr>
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On July 10, I went to the International Farnborough Air Show. WMG had a booth there and I went as a representative of the Engineering Doctorate program. I talked to a few other EngD students from the University of Southhampton, as well as a few engineers from Rolls Royce. They were there with a working model of a plane engine, completely built from Legos. I also got to see some planes do tricks! I took several videos, see below!<br />
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This is a video of the lego model of a plane engine, with one of the Rolls Royce engineers explaining how it works.</div>
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This is a longer video of four blue planes doing a really neat show</div>
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This is a shorter video of the same planes, part of the same show. Really cool to watch.</div>
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The day after the air show, I went to Silverstone, but those details are for the next post!</div>
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<br />Courtney (Quartny) Thornberryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17937089191658627644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563729318324808328.post-72420927487764799852012-06-25T04:27:00.002-07:002012-06-25T04:32:44.017-07:00Research, Engineering YES final, Driving Lessons, Grad Ball and...of course, Formula Student!So it's been THREE weeks since my last post, and things have been BUSY!<br />
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Right, I've got lots of pictures and lots of news. Let's start with the stuff related to my EngD:<br />
I had a nice meeting with Nick Mallinson and Razi Nalim from IUPUI a couple of weeks ago to start to plant seeds to look at collaborations between Warwick and IUPUI. I would very much like to help out where I can in this regard, because both institutions have a lot of unique capabilities to offer and I think could really contribute good research in many areas. <br />
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Also, I've been working on ideas for the Formula Student team for next year. I've come to the conclusion that I should start at the beginning- really looking at team selection and developing a good process to determine who would be positive and effective contributors to the project. I have had a few meetings with several students interested for next year and I have gotten some good feedback on ways to improve the selection process. I have also met with the Formula Student advisors, Steve Maggs and Howard Neal about my ideas just last week and I am working on getting those ideas organized and in place soon. In addition, I am working on organizing a collaborative model for an intra-FS network of some sort, to be started, hopefully, at the Silverstone competition the second week of July.<br />
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The team went to a testing event last week as well, which was sponsored by Bosch. Sagar helped me to identify a key member of the Bosch team to talk to about my collaborative network and finding ways to get the FS teams in the UK to connect at many different levels. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQZp_5vrA8scDV9wUbLews9j5EGi667B49sGftR8wD88MHo21SbnKu770_70H7XKF0R1mo5gjDF7zOyQAgG0xsXc3mWXuW0fDm1m0S6v6ttGHRB8kwYbCJ2ZCN2szPxIGTx17-5fdMhzU/s1600/Andy+gets+ready+to+drive.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQZp_5vrA8scDV9wUbLews9j5EGi667B49sGftR8wD88MHo21SbnKu770_70H7XKF0R1mo5gjDF7zOyQAgG0xsXc3mWXuW0fDm1m0S6v6ttGHRB8kwYbCJ2ZCN2szPxIGTx17-5fdMhzU/s320/Andy+gets+ready+to+drive.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Andy gets ready to test the powertrain in last year's chassis at the Bosch testing event last week</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQKvl_lIJ65RuqMLPciSAI4kimdLoGJfhmpiF_lT3LCshbX1cHS5avSrkHB7VaMSVLPSGnTXo8Cn7Sq9Knym0DB7ZUhvnf86EYzTZghZkddKDtDlCOW5PD2OQ-phCZpbu6MFj6QTCoqrk/s1600/Howard+and+Steve+check+out+car+at+Bosch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQKvl_lIJ65RuqMLPciSAI4kimdLoGJfhmpiF_lT3LCshbX1cHS5avSrkHB7VaMSVLPSGnTXo8Cn7Sq9Knym0DB7ZUhvnf86EYzTZghZkddKDtDlCOW5PD2OQ-phCZpbu6MFj6QTCoqrk/s320/Howard+and+Steve+check+out+car+at+Bosch.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Steve checks out the car with the team at the Bosch event</td></tr>
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In addition to my work with FS, I've been chugging away at research for a review paper on Open Source Hardware Design. I've got Mendeley installed on all my computers, which is a very helpful tool for me to keep all the publications I have found on this topic organized. Now, I need to focus on my outline.....<br />
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The Engineering YES final was exciting, but a bit of a disappointment. We did not deviate too much from our original presentation, just fixed a few things that we had noted from the judges' feedback (as was recommended to do by the organizers) and yet we did not place in the finals. However, we did learn a lot as a team, it fulfilled small project requirements for the EngD and we are thinking about how to use the knowledge we gained from our experience towards the larger group project requirements, as well as pursuing some entrepreneurial and innovative ideas.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDPBpu_fu6ul3uZ4wXz_ZZ5-jZ3zDU7a2FrHEZxhyphenhyphenGSMKUWu32YDArtKcONd5W8ufCSi2ZK5Heq6x48QIFrYfYkkKMDT4M6wA9UBgsalMcDpCV_z8IweWb-r7U8dHzZgC9ipUpx1XBymo/s1600/H2go+logo+bad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDPBpu_fu6ul3uZ4wXz_ZZ5-jZ3zDU7a2FrHEZxhyphenhyphenGSMKUWu32YDArtKcONd5W8ufCSi2ZK5Heq6x48QIFrYfYkkKMDT4M6wA9UBgsalMcDpCV_z8IweWb-r7U8dHzZgC9ipUpx1XBymo/s320/H2go+logo+bad.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My idea for our logo....hand drawn...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTPQO6sMbzWtAtU6kzkyTGoa-GyWRwoN-P2NsPPoPUaonEQerXMUStr2RWkQKPFEHcLqz_rkYHXFKWC4bbyuQvkQ0DHb3RU63vJtdqR6lpe2AkdkLFXHQzn97wMNt451XCPq8msrDWHl4/s1600/H2Go+logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="163" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTPQO6sMbzWtAtU6kzkyTGoa-GyWRwoN-P2NsPPoPUaonEQerXMUStr2RWkQKPFEHcLqz_rkYHXFKWC4bbyuQvkQ0DHb3RU63vJtdqR6lpe2AkdkLFXHQzn97wMNt451XCPq8msrDWHl4/s320/H2Go+logo.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">...and Claire made it all pretty!!</td></tr>
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In other news, (Formula Student of course) the car is coming along nicely. The space frame was just sent off for powder coating today, and I am hopefully going to KS Composites sometime this week to help finish up the bodywork. The powertrain did well at the Bosch event last week, just some minor issues with the clutch to be sorted. All in all, there is still a lot of work to be done before Silverstone, but everyone on the team is really contributing to get it done. Also, the 3rd years that have joined the team have really done a lot and are so helpful at the moment for the manufacturing that needs to be done.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnIRBCsu1235dAgGqBX3O8xbvNvaw4GfYonLjsFyfsMHREf0doWm45tyfazbOlY-snxknUWgPR4UHws4N2F92YAi7cupkcmsq3TLmWV6cilBrjx8QvOa7XmvrGBMleiJfDoqz-eoHPO9c/s1600/Sagar+explains+pedals.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnIRBCsu1235dAgGqBX3O8xbvNvaw4GfYonLjsFyfsMHREf0doWm45tyfazbOlY-snxknUWgPR4UHws4N2F92YAi7cupkcmsq3TLmWV6cilBrjx8QvOa7XmvrGBMleiJfDoqz-eoHPO9c/s320/Sagar+explains+pedals.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sagar working with Jim and Murray about the pedals</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3OoL5hRlBWxPrtd5l1LRFYmNKN_zrsXQxuFC7bRltmWr0ZmI_68NknRGbMBelOiISuzJMbu7qvS3fEkqsH3LgVlxHd6ULY5GGYB_AraQNESEXjUotyqy_yDljn2wD3i55dCqdhtZRtA4/s1600/backlit+flying+car.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3OoL5hRlBWxPrtd5l1LRFYmNKN_zrsXQxuFC7bRltmWr0ZmI_68NknRGbMBelOiISuzJMbu7qvS3fEkqsH3LgVlxHd6ULY5GGYB_AraQNESEXjUotyqy_yDljn2wD3i55dCqdhtZRtA4/s320/backlit+flying+car.jpg" width="178" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Due to construction in the IMC, the car has to been "flown" out of the pits outside to be tested...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgDy6l7_zh6b9bqIh1UR6z12oUTFcqFxisjv9MVs-CTHatCJmuyY3A8a9B_HwXeAaFLp_rgm570LV6JgBoeJBz8LUy7IR0CfjulVMTykHt9Jm6WvEmRxaT9lPjTH0uEfFSjph4yiUnlfg/s1600/moving+car+in+the+air+with+bob+the+builder.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgDy6l7_zh6b9bqIh1UR6z12oUTFcqFxisjv9MVs-CTHatCJmuyY3A8a9B_HwXeAaFLp_rgm570LV6JgBoeJBz8LUy7IR0CfjulVMTykHt9Jm6WvEmRxaT9lPjTH0uEfFSjph4yiUnlfg/s320/moving+car+in+the+air+with+bob+the+builder.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Getting the car ready for flight! Dave's got his Bob the Builder hat on! Safety first|!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0kn-Te5BKTCDmdy1iFhmMKALoSw8AsvLGkrGYxDj5xOTOlzNfKh7fklD_fNmfCXs4yaXp15CZC_v_vAU0_sKvrpJ3FKWVYSx_qY15_YxCakExm863VT-FOlbCQJ2yYWkROMZzlK_cZ6E/s1600/testing+car.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0kn-Te5BKTCDmdy1iFhmMKALoSw8AsvLGkrGYxDj5xOTOlzNfKh7fklD_fNmfCXs4yaXp15CZC_v_vAU0_sKvrpJ3FKWVYSx_qY15_YxCakExm863VT-FOlbCQJ2yYWkROMZzlK_cZ6E/s320/testing+car.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dave, Ryan and Andy test out the powertrain before the Bosch event.</td></tr>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxanCK-_LvfV7N4GxxwVQZcbospgBwvlUjyBMBNiG4ycDPAxhnHUcTjxKHDUnXtUVgOUsHc64FLIaP1zl91RA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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Above is a short video of a test of the powertrain from before the Bosch event. Dave, Ryan and Andy are listening to any issues with the engine. <br />
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Personally, I am doing well. I've slacked off running a bit, but I've got my eye on a fall (autumn) marathon. The weather has been lovely (in my opinion!) not too hot and generally good for running. I've got a goal set to get in 25 miles this week, which shouldn't be too hard, since I've already done about 6 yesterday (week starts on Sunday). I've been a bit focused on getting my British driving licence and I have my written portion of the exam scheduled for Tuesday July 3rd. Once I've passed that, I can get myself on the waiting list to take the road test! I've been having about 1-2 lessons/week since mid-May and I've really gotten the hang of driving a manual car. I have a really good instructor who's been quite patient with me.<br />
The team is also all graduating right after Silverstone in a couple of weeks, so there has been a few events on campus to celebrate this. Last Thursday, there was the Grad Ball in Birmingham at the Hilton. Sagar was my date (he got me a very pretty necklace that went perfect with my dress) and we got to spend time with most of the team. It was really nice to just hang out with the team (and anyone who said the words Formula Student had to buy everyone a drink- Murray and Markus both failed at this and we got free wine!)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpQ6rhit_mZ_cC4KEwbB5QThtkVI-Su64kge_fU2NR7jbDxMYV-6gVIAeCyvaKzN_RUqhxTn5JpJTNTwz8tZjARKpmOwxUiv1elc9IsKUi-__zUrUpMVEWWcjtcbvCoh3ii8zjei_lMME/s1600/40+is+the+new+30.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpQ6rhit_mZ_cC4KEwbB5QThtkVI-Su64kge_fU2NR7jbDxMYV-6gVIAeCyvaKzN_RUqhxTn5JpJTNTwz8tZjARKpmOwxUiv1elc9IsKUi-__zUrUpMVEWWcjtcbvCoh3ii8zjei_lMME/s320/40+is+the+new+30.jpg" width="178" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Speed limit sign (I was walking when I took this picture, not driving!) The graffiti says 40 is the new 30. :)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAECIe_aJ_FYNfIC9PbWB2i6SWRGsXLcAo5o9mLfHFZSdcXsMKvc5yu9ZtVPAtMtg60mrKlcxtgq1l9M5KJXOPo1eBlMz0X3PRwkB2BKORHpJrFksxs_MWRjVxRp-SbapFckbEJ2_2TtE/s1600/grad+ball+with+sagar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAECIe_aJ_FYNfIC9PbWB2i6SWRGsXLcAo5o9mLfHFZSdcXsMKvc5yu9ZtVPAtMtg60mrKlcxtgq1l9M5KJXOPo1eBlMz0X3PRwkB2BKORHpJrFksxs_MWRjVxRp-SbapFckbEJ2_2TtE/s320/grad+ball+with+sagar.jpg" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Grad ball with Sagar</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiigUgyLh8mWnABzKSsP5QLsF4cOyh2ab0bRnz0VvYFbSArSwmXl_X1ly1g_bDSDxgf9aAtNqEhNIvI7vxrksRgghXNeqqX5I3qH2VWiCnT-Kpa2CErsTQdLAxK3AvBa9D_Inn55cP4EZE/s1600/grad+ball+with+team.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiigUgyLh8mWnABzKSsP5QLsF4cOyh2ab0bRnz0VvYFbSArSwmXl_X1ly1g_bDSDxgf9aAtNqEhNIvI7vxrksRgghXNeqqX5I3qH2VWiCnT-Kpa2CErsTQdLAxK3AvBa9D_Inn55cP4EZE/s320/grad+ball+with+team.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The team cleans up quite nicely! From left to right: Quirin, Sagar, Markus, Richard, Alison, Murray, me, Andy, Jim and Ryan. Missing from the team are Hubert and Darren.</td></tr>
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Also, my cousin, Keenan, stayed with me for about a week a couple of weeks ago. He's been travelling around the UK and Ireland this summer and was headed to Spain. It was good to see some family! Also, I still need to post pictures from my trip to Ireland with Melissa last month! (next post).<br />
Ok, well this is quite a long post already! I hope everyone is doing well and I will try to post again soon!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3LChY7hN7Jp5rOSikesCIZPgIW-ESLiWJzLGgNTnGtPMxAjcx91mezFSWBJ0JsVk1rj_SxBDQtcmNYvE9dQXDQdocK2DE9TCKdhXFtD4hQssqjHsLB_XeRZZ27mRgsj-JoBxSSecv-Uo/s1600/sagar+and+cranberry.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3LChY7hN7Jp5rOSikesCIZPgIW-ESLiWJzLGgNTnGtPMxAjcx91mezFSWBJ0JsVk1rj_SxBDQtcmNYvE9dQXDQdocK2DE9TCKdhXFtD4hQssqjHsLB_XeRZZ27mRgsj-JoBxSSecv-Uo/s320/sagar+and+cranberry.jpg" width="178" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sagar and I had a nice lunch at a little cafe. I liked my cranberry drink. :)</td></tr>
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<br />Courtney (Quartny) Thornberryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17937089191658627644noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563729318324808328.post-11515810556030240622012-06-04T03:45:00.001-07:002012-06-04T04:19:47.597-07:00Jubilee Weekend...annnnd Formula StudentI went to church yesterday for the normal service at 10 and afterwards, they had some Jubilee activities that I stayed around for. First, we watched a video of the Queen's coronation 60 years ago and then there was a quiz. I did awful, only getting one answer on my own (Who was Prime minister - Winston Churchill). I learned a lot though, like her title before she was Queen was HRH Princess Elizabeth of York (HRH = Her Royal Highness). I also learned that she has officially visited 116 countries in her 60 year reign and that her title in the channel islands is the Duke of Normandy. She was born at 17 Bruton Street in London and her childhood nickname was Lily Bits. Also, the last Diamond Jubilee was celebrated in 1897 for Queen Victoria. So there. Mini-history lesson!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Prayer before lunch</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My plate!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf8FzGAgJrCK5c0l57a_lYeIzTVAs_E2rMyG0ZxicgVu2BD0n7pOJ6TJ4ByDPkwBzzyBqzkitezT-EB_rI_sHjOTs37u0v_d7x02DMtVMtagYVAh1auiMgmlS0e-ZJLjy-tT9f1ukrP0c/s1600/my+sucker.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf8FzGAgJrCK5c0l57a_lYeIzTVAs_E2rMyG0ZxicgVu2BD0n7pOJ6TJ4ByDPkwBzzyBqzkitezT-EB_rI_sHjOTs37u0v_d7x02DMtVMtagYVAh1auiMgmlS0e-ZJLjy-tT9f1ukrP0c/s320/my+sucker.jpg" width="178" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My sucker (think it's called a Lolly)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Singing the national anthem</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqV0q9KDQjt-4TxxiJuZzOaAcR3bd94p6GB2nA1UrfyTSA3YJ4XwhYaLAk84cN0Hs6Eecj6zgbwHe4rarqS7oWFLspM6t8N3kvJ7XQAFrbHq1er7trQpKXg2tTHp7DgHlsEqr_wRkG-JM/s1600/stupid+amount+of+cupcakes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqV0q9KDQjt-4TxxiJuZzOaAcR3bd94p6GB2nA1UrfyTSA3YJ4XwhYaLAk84cN0Hs6Eecj6zgbwHe4rarqS7oWFLspM6t8N3kvJ7XQAFrbHq1er7trQpKXg2tTHp7DgHlsEqr_wRkG-JM/s320/stupid+amount+of+cupcakes.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cupcakes!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZBkMWu94tmjpGQFu7mpCbR_nslaqu8BPcDDljhtA3Wh6N3JRwoczwDxWCw115Q1lNvFHfAc2iSNmrc9k_P2X-DPyeAOERwOWFcICi9D7d_GtuNK-bmoiH9JwIBAq9dm0ip-5RhLjdb1g/s1600/the+queen+and+some+cupcakes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZBkMWu94tmjpGQFu7mpCbR_nslaqu8BPcDDljhtA3Wh6N3JRwoczwDxWCw115Q1lNvFHfAc2iSNmrc9k_P2X-DPyeAOERwOWFcICi9D7d_GtuNK-bmoiH9JwIBAq9dm0ip-5RhLjdb1g/s320/the+queen+and+some+cupcakes.jpg" width="178" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Queen and cupcakes!</td></tr>
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Also, the Formula Student team got going again on the car last week, now that a majority of exams are over. They are going to be working long hours over the next couple of weeks to hopefully get the car ready for the Bosch Event on June 19. Here are some pictures from the pits this week:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ1base7-ORD4RtM8vHhUfuL4cPf2QXSehXG4fx3UAam1vDscrhptWmrA4Or81lUL3-P7Nf4KDsoxSbKQr8XzxE4RGlMRgmOs8t84BcyAkwu4u6P5aLXRd8_NCNpp6oKmGhYtyGGdn6Z0/s1600/sagar+and+andy+with+spaceframe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ1base7-ORD4RtM8vHhUfuL4cPf2QXSehXG4fx3UAam1vDscrhptWmrA4Or81lUL3-P7Nf4KDsoxSbKQr8XzxE4RGlMRgmOs8t84BcyAkwu4u6P5aLXRd8_NCNpp6oKmGhYtyGGdn6Z0/s320/sagar+and+andy+with+spaceframe.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sagar and Andy discuss the Diff and Engine Mounting in the Spaceframe</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEbQHdEr5FebYB8GFONnfh2In3d1oHZi-t2SVYDopovj3gfk-ZWcuxjzt5ymigUtFjosByPRTTvdf5VnadkxLLFKxhqMF1mYTCnhOMbY1ZqbSUJ2hdvw8oVy5nOGxGBIyCFcvwo9VY_Jg/s1600/sagar+and+murray+measure+for+pedals.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEbQHdEr5FebYB8GFONnfh2In3d1oHZi-t2SVYDopovj3gfk-ZWcuxjzt5ymigUtFjosByPRTTvdf5VnadkxLLFKxhqMF1mYTCnhOMbY1ZqbSUJ2hdvw8oVy5nOGxGBIyCFcvwo9VY_Jg/s320/sagar+and+murray+measure+for+pedals.jpg" width="178" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Murray and Sagar measure for the pedals</td></tr>
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Today and tomorrow are bank holidays, but I am going to use this time to catch up on some research for my EngD and getting organized for the Engineering YES final on June 20. We can't get into the pits to do any manufacturing work on the car until Wednesday. Pressure's on!<br />
<br />Courtney (Quartny) Thornberryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17937089191658627644noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563729318324808328.post-23577639022218127152012-05-31T01:57:00.004-07:002012-05-31T01:57:52.230-07:00Engineering YES PicturesSo here are some pictures taken by the photographer at the event:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5ns_78Ns2Zn6_lyNZmh4InksHLuWhneZrQYxA70cCq26vjmYpou9GCrR43cNPqweK8zrs-miPsrH6C_OzLuUkBqA__ohy_uzHHwB4YYQArnpQs2c_TNscVxv8-uZH0ZZnA2d6gm9KFEE/s1600/IMG_6057.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5ns_78Ns2Zn6_lyNZmh4InksHLuWhneZrQYxA70cCq26vjmYpou9GCrR43cNPqweK8zrs-miPsrH6C_OzLuUkBqA__ohy_uzHHwB4YYQArnpQs2c_TNscVxv8-uZH0ZZnA2d6gm9KFEE/s320/IMG_6057.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our team getting some advice on our project</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBckbXYls7yILg74DE8vvhhyphenhyphenMOWV7Bha53JqwxyMTCkJ_ERJj-Q7g86M57avDk4ixBlCPoGmiY9guv7lYwRwtGUz6lP96cdLy43yGnV4Pb-Db71SLywWmX82zLrArPIMdtM8bAapb-AR0/s1600/IMG_6136.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBckbXYls7yILg74DE8vvhhyphenhyphenMOWV7Bha53JqwxyMTCkJ_ERJj-Q7g86M57avDk4ixBlCPoGmiY9guv7lYwRwtGUz6lP96cdLy43yGnV4Pb-Db71SLywWmX82zLrArPIMdtM8bAapb-AR0/s320/IMG_6136.JPG" width="220" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me, explaining the awesomeness of our module</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT5OjHCLHpS2mppACxClBYUkt7PKBrOUq8t_7DGIZr_W2fh_T9cG2DOuYpPVLrl0mnSEpdf92eCzdlyzHbHLVq6HeuMriVlEeSj6QhoYBAcXi8yU5hI825FbSLwNVrRj4f6VwdzOdnJpU/s1600/IMG_6138.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT5OjHCLHpS2mppACxClBYUkt7PKBrOUq8t_7DGIZr_W2fh_T9cG2DOuYpPVLrl0mnSEpdf92eCzdlyzHbHLVq6HeuMriVlEeSj6QhoYBAcXi8yU5hI825FbSLwNVrRj4f6VwdzOdnJpU/s320/IMG_6138.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Us, getting grilled with questions</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6dV_vt7wwRXISrA4ppYV9Ss-wYQ-O6RNkGIaW4SDv-NkQt2vYiwmbAAMs-7Ps_-b4fYQ_zxfgegspaZZNPuwc_74pxoSunFEZfOIhD6zppVs0OuyOI6Dhwy2sIXEhfgRIY8ceX4aXSto/s1600/IMG_6139.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6dV_vt7wwRXISrA4ppYV9Ss-wYQ-O6RNkGIaW4SDv-NkQt2vYiwmbAAMs-7Ps_-b4fYQ_zxfgegspaZZNPuwc_74pxoSunFEZfOIhD6zppVs0OuyOI6Dhwy2sIXEhfgRIY8ceX4aXSto/s320/IMG_6139.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Matt, explaining the way the module works</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn5L-6-eHnXaxXBQIfsg_tQlNcxgBkHcS-d_ewiB53IQaRj2j8v6oK6uSIc-1xDIorDDa2u1Qw_4sez1HMyNvSS7EAhNqTJrBEpZVc5MeGTVDvpaCXN4zwgyvdisdfYUinXsdtZxAAP0Y/s1600/IMG_6141.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn5L-6-eHnXaxXBQIfsg_tQlNcxgBkHcS-d_ewiB53IQaRj2j8v6oK6uSIc-1xDIorDDa2u1Qw_4sez1HMyNvSS7EAhNqTJrBEpZVc5MeGTVDvpaCXN4zwgyvdisdfYUinXsdtZxAAP0Y/s320/IMG_6141.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Really loving the look on my face right here....</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpDwhJivaJZEOHDdeJn2YKSLWmTtneBCT23I_75RY6x_trEiFMJdnteFMAeEG5rEqoFAzzxHbpLo3CHB3OwwhP85QVtF5DR00dzVWBv9WbYSZKYX-aGYYI0A2_kFxbbesOLe11St-ozeM/s1600/IMG_6203.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpDwhJivaJZEOHDdeJn2YKSLWmTtneBCT23I_75RY6x_trEiFMJdnteFMAeEG5rEqoFAzzxHbpLo3CHB3OwwhP85QVtF5DR00dzVWBv9WbYSZKYX-aGYYI0A2_kFxbbesOLe11St-ozeM/s320/IMG_6203.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">WOW! We won!</td></tr>
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<br />Courtney (Quartny) Thornberryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17937089191658627644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563729318324808328.post-69476953649994239972012-05-30T11:14:00.001-07:002012-05-30T11:14:11.050-07:00Engineering YES - Day 4- HOLY SMOKES WE WON!After a late night for Claire and I working on the final presentation, and a VERY late night for Nick and Matt working on the financials, we approached today's presentations with cautious optimism. Well, I did anyway. :)<br />
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We were the fourth team (out of seven total) to present, right in the time slot before lunch. Our team name, H2GO, was based around the concept of a hydrogen modular fuelling station that is to be integrating into the exiting petrol station market in the UK. This concept was related to the release of several hydrogen powered fuel cell vehicles that are set to be released in 2015. <br />
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The other teams were very good, presenting ideas ranging from home lighting system, better home insulation, a anti-bacterial paint for hospitals and a new nano-paint for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC). We were sure we were out of the running...but when it came to the awards, we were declared the winners overall! The runner-up team, Innovink, which championed the nano-paint for SOFCs also are going to the final competition in 3 weeks time in Birmingham. So big win for Fuel Cell Technology today!!<br />
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We are all pretty tired after the long days, so I'm going to sign off now...but here is a couple of team photos taken from lunch, right after we were done presenting:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh63msTMkXkcpnYVzoVQQcKW_WdG8ecmNApCmDkaFPU1i02zo7NpoF4kOYdQ4LROR2sAkZaOQdxOZvPO4cON26kTnhXi8v22_Hn_JjG_Nzer_UARSfgp-9JgOqJsWzg2p02orp9MA7UFr4/s1600/silly+team+after+presentation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh63msTMkXkcpnYVzoVQQcKW_WdG8ecmNApCmDkaFPU1i02zo7NpoF4kOYdQ4LROR2sAkZaOQdxOZvPO4cON26kTnhXi8v22_Hn_JjG_Nzer_UARSfgp-9JgOqJsWzg2p02orp9MA7UFr4/s320/silly+team+after+presentation.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We were all a bit silly and tired after the presentation</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGego3YLscg-HRbAPvgyBrA-r3he5cVIoL7I2cMD_1y7UeTGyneN4hqCnK27Ez7h5YTcGTaogT8uMXhd7w2YEmjx7GG9nQbiAh3DJkbQE0bPcWyTV2Town7wMMFjjiPSuOEwnzNp83f4s/s1600/team+after+presentation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGego3YLscg-HRbAPvgyBrA-r3he5cVIoL7I2cMD_1y7UeTGyneN4hqCnK27Ez7h5YTcGTaogT8uMXhd7w2YEmjx7GG9nQbiAh3DJkbQE0bPcWyTV2Town7wMMFjjiPSuOEwnzNp83f4s/s320/team+after+presentation.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aww! Group photo! From left to right: Nick, Matt, me and Claire</td></tr>
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<br />Courtney (Quartny) Thornberryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17937089191658627644noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563729318324808328.post-66695561700720291732012-05-29T12:26:00.004-07:002012-05-29T12:26:48.165-07:00Engineering YES Day 3We started day 3 bright and early with an 8:30 warm breakfast. I got up at 6:30 to do a few miles on the treadmill in the hotel fitness room, so I was nice and hungry!<br />
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The day started at 9am with a 30 minute John Cleese video, "The Balance Sheet Barrier" which comically went through a lot of the basic ideas behind business finance, including what goes into the Profit and Loss Sheet (which shows what has happened to the company money in the past), the Balance Sheet (what is going on in the present with the company money) and the Cash Flow Forecast (what will happen with company money in the future). It was pretty basic, but still entertaining.<br />
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After the film, David Scott, one of the Rotary organizers of the event, gave us some insight on how to organize our finance side of our project proposal. For our presentation tomorrow, we just need to organize key financial details, such as predicted sales, profits and cash flow and how much we think we might need invested from Venture Capitalists. (VCs)<br />
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After David, we heard from Dr. Penny Attridge, a VC from Spark Ventures, who gave us good insight into what VCs look for when investing in a start-up. The main mission of any VC is to make money for the customers that fund them within a defined time frame. She also gave us a lot of good ideas to include in our presentation for tomorrow. She downplayed the importance of a Business Plan, saying that what she was more interested in was a good, unique Business Model and Executive Summary, though a solid Business Plan is key for long term success.<br />
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After Dr. Attridge, we heard from Jim Wood, a former engineer in the power industry, who now specializes in underlying marketing. He gave some good tips on how to get good marketing research that helps the understanding of the market. He emphasized the importance of quality research behind any business, using the analogy that one should "spend seven hours sharpening his sword before spending an hour in battle."<br />
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Through the afternoon, we focused on solidifying our project idea (which I will fully reveal at the end of the competition!). The basic idea is looking at the hydrogen infrastructure for the UK. We met with an expert in finance, Amy Burton from Baker Tilly, who gave us some good directive on how to solidify our finance spreadsheets for our presentation.<br />
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We are now working into the evening for the morning deadline of our presentation! We are all set to present tomorrow, right before lunch, at 12:15pm!<br />
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Here are some pictures from the day:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOGRPd7W4DZ_55zymx2arbpUlF7jYWdPpzi6I704OW0uxqu2n0o5tMNGAEjtIKimCKVD23HyQ010WadevAkQxlFS5EbAI4qyyB8O5Hkzw7wht8oP9BfODyeJ_2jm2hwe6zQJD2RdX16Cc/s1600/awkward+balloons+and+turtles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOGRPd7W4DZ_55zymx2arbpUlF7jYWdPpzi6I704OW0uxqu2n0o5tMNGAEjtIKimCKVD23HyQ010WadevAkQxlFS5EbAI4qyyB8O5Hkzw7wht8oP9BfODyeJ_2jm2hwe6zQJD2RdX16Cc/s320/awkward+balloons+and+turtles.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Claire, Nick and Matt practice "awkward balloon" and "awkward turtle" as our strategy for answering questions we don't know....</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC2VuzoycXMGdbzf3PiUmxpl-J9Fat2fWUaAvkkSGg6C5OcBgUXStYMCRZ0-pu6mpRJ9z-AdFqmeevdRDV5A1O5_ekShDrxqP3QzlPNozN-nfxjWAOnCumalEJoZcoArZJJOKr2R5EZuM/s1600/found+playground.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC2VuzoycXMGdbzf3PiUmxpl-J9Fat2fWUaAvkkSGg6C5OcBgUXStYMCRZ0-pu6mpRJ9z-AdFqmeevdRDV5A1O5_ekShDrxqP3QzlPNozN-nfxjWAOnCumalEJoZcoArZJJOKr2R5EZuM/s320/found+playground.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I escaped outside and found the playground!!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir_DG7tXcS4Pptv4_O7zj26I0moE-8A4wxi-e5njEFyEt7KQ0LAX5uBwYFgzKOgEok9fIe8CgTYa0BBpgezC7CVtv6gXGW2vEWwKqFU9nQlilK1SMb3GXReiCGiGS8XoRjxLf5Tgipgtk/s1600/matt+makes+pictures+pretty.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir_DG7tXcS4Pptv4_O7zj26I0moE-8A4wxi-e5njEFyEt7KQ0LAX5uBwYFgzKOgEok9fIe8CgTYa0BBpgezC7CVtv6gXGW2vEWwKqFU9nQlilK1SMb3GXReiCGiGS8XoRjxLf5Tgipgtk/s320/matt+makes+pictures+pretty.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Matt does some serious work for a minute</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfc4VT0eNqfzNm1CJJDsoTS_CqSTvDOVU6TJF5abGnYyWESzzzJzAFrhBriPXz2JKrFLMFd7Zz6sPxWm7FSLW5gS-cQSIlK3w6YewVsuzzccPUnCySUV-NuUkxjWOvh1S6F8GtFTNHNRI/s1600/what+r+we+gonna+do.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfc4VT0eNqfzNm1CJJDsoTS_CqSTvDOVU6TJF5abGnYyWESzzzJzAFrhBriPXz2JKrFLMFd7Zz6sPxWm7FSLW5gS-cQSIlK3w6YewVsuzzccPUnCySUV-NuUkxjWOvh1S6F8GtFTNHNRI/s320/what+r+we+gonna+do.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Short moment where we try to figure out EXACTLY what we are doing...</td></tr>
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<br />Courtney (Quartny) Thornberryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17937089191658627644noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563729318324808328.post-30113429834699622522012-05-28T12:43:00.001-07:002012-05-31T06:15:27.923-07:00Engineering YES Days 1 & 2<br />
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The four of us: Matt, Claire, Nick and myself, all got to the Holiday Inn in Coventry Sunday afternoon, ready to get started with the Engineering YES competition. We started meeting up with the six other teams here, from other West Midlands universities, Loughborough University, University College London, Lincoln, Leicester, Huddersfield, and Birmingham. We started with a discussion led by former Rolls Royce engineer and consultant, John Boyes, who discussed our ideas about networking. We then had a nice dinner and tried to practice what we had learned with the other teams after dinner.</div>
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We got up early the next morning for a proper English breakfast at 8:30 for a 9am start of the day's program. We started by listening to a talk on Setting up a Spin Out from Dr. John R Tyrer, a professor of Optical Instrumentation from Loughbourgh University. He discussed types of spin outs from university research and noted that Entrepreneurship was a skill that could be learned. He noted that "Good entrepreneurs inspire, rather than direct, lead rather than manage."</div>
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After Dr. Tyrer, we heard from George Rice from the University of Nottingham, who discussed spin out case studies in Engineering Technology around processing of vermiculite and heart rate monitors for babies. He gave a lot of good insight on critical components needed for a good pitch to get investors in on an idea or concept.</div>
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Our third speaker for the morning was Jason Teng, a lawyer from Potter Clarkson LLP, who spoke to us about the various types of intellectual properties, most extensively in Patents. We were also able to have a one-on-one with Jason in the afternoon, who gave us a great deal of insight on the way to approach the IP with our idea.</div>
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After the speakers, we were given a team exercise that dealt with a series of cards that gave certain bits of information, and from these cards we were supposed to answer two questions. It was much like a logic puzzle that I used to do as a child. We were the first team out of the seven to solve the puzzle and answer the questions correctly. In fact, only three of the seven teams were able to solve it at all in the time allotted. This helped our team spirit!</div>
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After lunch, we met with various mentors in our designated syndicate room. We saw five experts on the topics of business planning, finance, IP, licensing and marketing. The feedback for our idea was mixed- we got a lot of challenges to the concept that we discussed in detail before making our elevator pitch right before dinner.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">Matt was designated to give our elevator pitch for our idea, which was a bit shaky from the critism we had received earlier in the afternoon. However, he did </span><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px;">marvellously</span><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">, and I personally think that we are in a good competitive standing with the other teams!</span></span></div>
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Now, we are working on the details of our idea, getting quantitative figures organized and hashing out the feedback we received today, but we don't plan on working too late into the evening as we have another early morning tomorrow!</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_WtWNYlOUuBi2HyKF3zlqsTSvULxucdpsWwovvQGl0GecA28DOVDN6RItYC54TC_Me0pcu7JxXNCmQIx_azARQ9h65Cvoo1vqQdnCyJa4pZ9VOsL7bp-v7gLoPFwKR-39_NPtAuUcFVc/s1600/group+in+the+morning+on+monday.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_WtWNYlOUuBi2HyKF3zlqsTSvULxucdpsWwovvQGl0GecA28DOVDN6RItYC54TC_Me0pcu7JxXNCmQIx_azARQ9h65Cvoo1vqQdnCyJa4pZ9VOsL7bp-v7gLoPFwKR-39_NPtAuUcFVc/s320/group+in+the+morning+on+monday.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The group gets ready to listen to talks in the morning. From left to right: Claire, Matt and Nick</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWpIpxorbZaaJd7wxqVrqNF8LlV6WZerW7sLZi9BHzA2qVFVCwg3Kfkz2dn2aGluWXTYh37WMO2sF3oq6uEcNafyooOnO7_6WcgqYdpz9p-dblQ79VVfFn4ZMqlANnaVPeRF_8qdhVnuw/s1600/matt+and+nick.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWpIpxorbZaaJd7wxqVrqNF8LlV6WZerW7sLZi9BHzA2qVFVCwg3Kfkz2dn2aGluWXTYh37WMO2sF3oq6uEcNafyooOnO7_6WcgqYdpz9p-dblQ79VVfFn4ZMqlANnaVPeRF_8qdhVnuw/s320/matt+and+nick.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Matt and Nick working away in our room</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLXpwo1FaRVYb8xJk5A3TkNShtxmnZKdi4FMjXkfkTqvAnQ0upT6_0xkbovXOIvgH46Ng2CRok4XWaIQuaBd4v77mloKZfatUs6ywxEbN4TK-gMzl_qtby0YMybJtXBYIci0pARlQ-XPI/s1600/me+and+claire.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLXpwo1FaRVYb8xJk5A3TkNShtxmnZKdi4FMjXkfkTqvAnQ0upT6_0xkbovXOIvgH46Ng2CRok4XWaIQuaBd4v77mloKZfatUs6ywxEbN4TK-gMzl_qtby0YMybJtXBYIci0pARlQ-XPI/s320/me+and+claire.jpg" width="179" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Claire and I discuss various ideas for our presentation</td></tr>
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<br /></div>Courtney (Quartny) Thornberryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17937089191658627644noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563729318324808328.post-18164020920591904732012-05-23T12:58:00.001-07:002012-05-23T12:58:17.222-07:00Blog Post 1 of Many to catch up! PTC News!So I've been REALLY busy lately but in a good way. I am going to write in this post about stuff going on with the EngD program and my sponsor company, then I'll do another post about Melissa's visit and how that's going.<br />
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So!<br />
First of all, last week was a good week for me working on my EngD. Last Wednesday, I got to a Live Tech Forum that was sponsored by PTC so I could learn more about my sponsor company. Tim Brotherhood was kind enough to give me a ride to and from the event, which was at the Heritage Motor Center in Gaydon, Warwickshire. <br />
During the day, I got to hear a lot about the software that PTC produces, particularly their PLM software, Windchill. I am pretty excited about being able to learn more and work with the ideas of collaboration that is the driver behind a PLM like Windchill. I also learned a lot about PTC in general- that it is a company with 6000 employees and 30,000 customers using their software. One of the main messages of the presentation was that PTC was looking to be a partner for companies who want to be technologically innovative, particularly as it relates to product design. A lot of this aligns with the preliminary research that I've been doing, so I am getting ready to really move forward and organize myself more towards a working goal in the next few weeks.<br />
Also, the Heritage Motor Center was REALLY cool. I would love to go back and look around sometime! Here are some pictures from the little time I did get to poke around:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_P88MP6S22oHEPI1d-5WMe2cm4vH9rgBcvO1K8W50mUDi4eJDVcpTkNxXQMEdD3eREqhECambLDeKxhZtWLK9Uca5jBudU9ie5svtou1cvdz0veG22_WgVZCtjBEtdrMj1XOi_-_J5Ss/s1600/Heritage+motor+center+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_P88MP6S22oHEPI1d-5WMe2cm4vH9rgBcvO1K8W50mUDi4eJDVcpTkNxXQMEdD3eREqhECambLDeKxhZtWLK9Uca5jBudU9ie5svtou1cvdz0veG22_WgVZCtjBEtdrMj1XOi_-_J5Ss/s320/Heritage+motor+center+1.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An old Triumph!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsMRLCU3WurUZ7RpG5nu-dL_8bzjem6LFr4fxbjRkyEr2l4BzXuZwYsHxVRJJEX3HOfDWsRRkEXvBz4boIiGzEYpyiGFARMlyizpCkLB6FCA87bdLhLI_09jGbKa9FFCjz7HboewsfsPk/s1600/Heritage+motor+center+MG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsMRLCU3WurUZ7RpG5nu-dL_8bzjem6LFr4fxbjRkyEr2l4BzXuZwYsHxVRJJEX3HOfDWsRRkEXvBz4boIiGzEYpyiGFARMlyizpCkLB6FCA87bdLhLI_09jGbKa9FFCjz7HboewsfsPk/s320/Heritage+motor+center+MG.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">MGs!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtSMdWgYHyzFY5sjB7ZsmNd6ZjvyK0WSxEnhWIeGHFFLqgiasT7vOlb1Aon_L3CxoM70lRN8HwzI9loxAaB-bjgiDGRkBbatKLgENH2zsBGqe-uLQoQV7XdunfEQNUv875sh30RZJ6ueo/s1600/Heritage+motor+center+first+car+to+go+over+200+mph.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtSMdWgYHyzFY5sjB7ZsmNd6ZjvyK0WSxEnhWIeGHFFLqgiasT7vOlb1Aon_L3CxoM70lRN8HwzI9loxAaB-bjgiDGRkBbatKLgENH2zsBGqe-uLQoQV7XdunfEQNUv875sh30RZJ6ueo/s320/Heritage+motor+center+first+car+to+go+over+200+mph.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">World's first car to go faster than 200 mph</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkk6E_Vy11p4T9bbSzO3Gc_71dFPNK5S54nwm6Mr0uV-hTdEt5urp3gbgTxZz6azpvESTyF_vgD_nW9CSzo6AyMv0cJbC6FQu9LCILhrvvRreesc1KbDgOD-6ql-75l7uZSmrFZZi1KlU/s1600/Heritage+motor+center+outside.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkk6E_Vy11p4T9bbSzO3Gc_71dFPNK5S54nwm6Mr0uV-hTdEt5urp3gbgTxZz6azpvESTyF_vgD_nW9CSzo6AyMv0cJbC6FQu9LCILhrvvRreesc1KbDgOD-6ql-75l7uZSmrFZZi1KlU/s320/Heritage+motor+center+outside.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the way in to the Heritage Motor Center</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZgxsGqHEgqEs8i8hGGEiARwFaYgWrCSi3ZRTjA8Rrbf0avahEw1OxBgrsfvKpvBPXN2wXHFzJ2jsT-p-BLeMyZ7UzOaOBj-yJZU9xzMdGBfjdjBZtFIreVL4KtM3yO1nwHZZrWUE9r7I/s1600/Heritage+motor+center+smallest+car+in+the+world.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZgxsGqHEgqEs8i8hGGEiARwFaYgWrCSi3ZRTjA8Rrbf0avahEw1OxBgrsfvKpvBPXN2wXHFzJ2jsT-p-BLeMyZ7UzOaOBj-yJZU9xzMdGBfjdjBZtFIreVL4KtM3yO1nwHZZrWUE9r7I/s320/Heritage+motor+center+smallest+car+in+the+world.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Smallest car in the world!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmiVeQ6cUcysxGACVBELXOTZ3G5kpFMxgDfakERynuNG2uZoBVdnrhhis7HLChyphenhyphenvMGQ2uaNDJ8J-7Ims6e5UBk4vUT8yMbxsej9VCa1mqm4kjPK9Z9wCx-5h4L-PpjmKSVdg8LoziQYR8/s1600/Heritage+motor+center+solar+car.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmiVeQ6cUcysxGACVBELXOTZ3G5kpFMxgDfakERynuNG2uZoBVdnrhhis7HLChyphenhyphenvMGQ2uaNDJ8J-7Ims6e5UBk4vUT8yMbxsej9VCa1mqm4kjPK9Z9wCx-5h4L-PpjmKSVdg8LoziQYR8/s320/Heritage+motor+center+solar+car.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Solar Car!</td></tr>
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Last Thursday, I gave a presentation to the Steering Committee for the EngD program at Warwick and then I got to meet with John Stuart, Tim Brotherhood and Laura Pintilli from PTC in the afternoon to discuss my project direction. My presentation, though brief, helped to paint a picture of how the new International EngD program is going at Warwick, and I've gotten good feedback on it, so I think I did well! I also was really happy with my meeting with the guys from PTC and I am going to be working on a clear outline of my research delivery by the middle of June. They are most interested in ways to make collaboration work, and they also share interests in alternative energy and education, so I think I have a lot of opportunity to tackle things I am very interested in. I think my biggest hurdle will be narrowing down and focusing on just one thing. <br />
Ok, post again soon with pictures from Melissa's visit and our trip to Ireland last weekend!!Courtney (Quartny) Thornberryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17937089191658627644noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563729318324808328.post-12427781227115833932012-05-07T08:42:00.001-07:002012-05-07T08:42:21.343-07:00Cambridge, Fuel Cell Talks, Tea Time and Formula Student...always Formula Student...So a week ago Sunday, I went with Sagar, Andy and Ryan from the Formula Student team to Cambridge to meet up with last year's chief engineer, Will Playford, who is a PhD student at Cambridge now. Will has set up his own small CNC business and is going to help the team manufacture the pedals for the car, we went to Cambridge to take him some aluminium for this task. We also got a tour of his workshop, which was pretty interesting. You can check out his website here: <a href="http://www.wppe.co.uk/">http://www.wppe.co.uk/</a> It was inspiring to me to see a PhD student also working on a small business, this is starting to become a bigger interest for me. Just need to find a good idea....<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp2CiN5q3eYKULoS7mzDF88zkoBumAXWIZzGYUvnftqYY22VuWQ8ZUdwda2S7y79PCslxAN0s4FhXQQOwBIIuXmtOVFiHIEZ9F3OEPgFFFCCS4dF1u6PF1YQxv0EtNF1MJhhFHkEnSoTw/s1600/CNC+machine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp2CiN5q3eYKULoS7mzDF88zkoBumAXWIZzGYUvnftqYY22VuWQ8ZUdwda2S7y79PCslxAN0s4FhXQQOwBIIuXmtOVFiHIEZ9F3OEPgFFFCCS4dF1u6PF1YQxv0EtNF1MJhhFHkEnSoTw/s320/CNC+machine.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The CNC machine</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgzZGkyq9M6KcwUgDhKt0-rbW-EPtN2alY6XhnGCEeYgjqxuqZdvLxScU9fEfFBVglLhfkEh1Zxxc4KTqoMxwyP56N_0HnGwnXj68c5MHhXWNiCtEq6seAAkrdlhdmbXj7IOz8ObEETPA/s1600/sagar+shows+piece+made+from+CNC+machine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgzZGkyq9M6KcwUgDhKt0-rbW-EPtN2alY6XhnGCEeYgjqxuqZdvLxScU9fEfFBVglLhfkEh1Zxxc4KTqoMxwyP56N_0HnGwnXj68c5MHhXWNiCtEq6seAAkrdlhdmbXj7IOz8ObEETPA/s320/sagar+shows+piece+made+from+CNC+machine.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sagar models a gear made by the machine</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4CygleNihmgUQAYdfJfP9UVzeruCMLbPg_5RkJhcekb4imDL9y4qoPXNyjFk0w2Bbsw1r5kSZUAJa6AkupeHmKBAzz82s8RBhKdlOCORKE3jYVmFJM4NifB2Kp_GCXkAw4yat2Z8qqxE/s1600/will+explains+how+CNC+machine+works+to+Ryan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4CygleNihmgUQAYdfJfP9UVzeruCMLbPg_5RkJhcekb4imDL9y4qoPXNyjFk0w2Bbsw1r5kSZUAJa6AkupeHmKBAzz82s8RBhKdlOCORKE3jYVmFJM4NifB2Kp_GCXkAw4yat2Z8qqxE/s320/will+explains+how+CNC+machine+works+to+Ryan.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Will explains to Ryan how the machine works.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZFG9qKgi20dfNZje0GkK97EF8KZ9Ou_wOVhKQ9kYiIu0OfJE-fUg29CQ81rJxKMj56lIX9jxjFc0c3S9ANCYXPIxWpQMqCM-cLnypcsLPwj1Zwh3SjLuiQpzY5VGiQPamDU8pG6Vhyphenhyphenzk/s1600/jaffa+cake+bars.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZFG9qKgi20dfNZje0GkK97EF8KZ9Ou_wOVhKQ9kYiIu0OfJE-fUg29CQ81rJxKMj56lIX9jxjFc0c3S9ANCYXPIxWpQMqCM-cLnypcsLPwj1Zwh3SjLuiQpzY5VGiQPamDU8pG6Vhyphenhyphenzk/s320/jaffa+cake+bars.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I found Jaffa Cake BARS at the Petrol (gas) station!!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh64nvsztWbuej8fN7NARV_nSfi8b-3yIJkp8KwrGJKqERaLMHuhUF5G1plFr4-0wa1oI6v4_UIhOcyTjBYeM6ivina7X7tG9chEQ1aVsrK15D_53-SUyZEQ_4PAdho8SJG8Ou8tGNOOLE/s1600/the+river+in+cambridge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh64nvsztWbuej8fN7NARV_nSfi8b-3yIJkp8KwrGJKqERaLMHuhUF5G1plFr4-0wa1oI6v4_UIhOcyTjBYeM6ivina7X7tG9chEQ1aVsrK15D_53-SUyZEQ_4PAdho8SJG8Ou8tGNOOLE/s320/the+river+in+cambridge.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The river in Cambridge from the car window...weather...meh.</td></tr>
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<br />
Over the course of the week, the whole team had various assignments due in, as they prepare for the annual exam period. The UK system is much different than the US system. Whereas we have exams at the end of each semester (term), they have all their exams for the year over a few weeks in May and June. So courses (modules) they took in the fall (autumn) they are just now going to have a final (exam) for. This means heavy studying (revision) for the team members. Everyone on the team is in their fourth year. Unlike our system back home, a bachelors degree only takes 3 years here, with the option to stay another year for a masters. The team members will graduate in July with Masters (in either Mechanical or Automotive engineering - about 75% of the team is Automotive). This means they don't have a bachelors degree. It's an interesting system. I don't think I like the idea of the stress of exams being compacted over such a long time (3-4 weeks) and only once a year. Needless to say, the stress levels are a bit high. Glad I'm a post grad with no exams....<br />
<br />
Anyways, towards the end of the week, the team decided it would be good to try to put in some effort to get the chassis ready for powder coating. We went in early on Friday and worked all day, but unfortunately, there was just too much to be done. The team is now no longer allowed to work on the car until June, after exams. I however, will be working a bit (when I am not hanging out with Melissa) with the technicians to hopefully ease up the workload a bit for when the team can get back to working on the car.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbGS6NprwlUGLXWGXV8JVFgFrMWqizqFpE3bNBhvScXQMptJIxCKq9oiBg-7E5MkKAagtWHtFf8eRKnQs9RjLPIIDUduPACjfNHk7LXJITfqK7ni4nLDHrl8LIo46xN9VvtGKYGUDB_Bg/s1600/harness+in+chassis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbGS6NprwlUGLXWGXV8JVFgFrMWqizqFpE3bNBhvScXQMptJIxCKq9oiBg-7E5MkKAagtWHtFf8eRKnQs9RjLPIIDUduPACjfNHk7LXJITfqK7ni4nLDHrl8LIo46xN9VvtGKYGUDB_Bg/s320/harness+in+chassis.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Harness mounts in the chassis. I made those bad boys. Boo yah.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWQVy3G97Kg3H89Wer558Ox_vMj2hG1TjRx4nFfWwwZBzj9OiGGcLhQgG_0mrlsrCMRQg9gaDZjduGhmc2uCqt5dOrjBivYHuUhOnUsv_Nr9eQxP056yW_6UhM_QfqCuRvhFHZ9QC4JqI/s1600/hemp+fiber+crash+structure.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWQVy3G97Kg3H89Wer558Ox_vMj2hG1TjRx4nFfWwwZBzj9OiGGcLhQgG_0mrlsrCMRQg9gaDZjduGhmc2uCqt5dOrjBivYHuUhOnUsv_Nr9eQxP056yW_6UhM_QfqCuRvhFHZ9QC4JqI/s320/hemp+fiber+crash+structure.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The resulting hemp fiber structure that was made at KS Composites a few days earlier. It did not pass the crash test......</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOocW31QcA5T6B5ITHeB9B82M0YvE2CKYuxbYd7JobC_QHP5spRAQG9UdTTsQqwwVuyWV8Sk91adrZNstF239eKnP07Ey0_qqaCxepRPC3TJFbALx0z7aAJybi_TgXPFFMtM5NReHR5b4/s1600/me+in+chassis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOocW31QcA5T6B5ITHeB9B82M0YvE2CKYuxbYd7JobC_QHP5spRAQG9UdTTsQqwwVuyWV8Sk91adrZNstF239eKnP07Ey0_qqaCxepRPC3TJFbALx0z7aAJybi_TgXPFFMtM5NReHR5b4/s320/me+in+chassis.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me in the spaceframe!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ31_di8NFPUH_kSHu-F6tMZWsO0GAEWZ__zKlZ-3HEm8JC1UGI19mY-v9nKHiTqO08e10QSAqAaBqrIIhfMmfj96dhEGWLqUpqHvwHHKTmbUwqjyrsC3q9LrEWdElJq53dqMM0sMnYv4/s1600/sagar+angle+grinding.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ31_di8NFPUH_kSHu-F6tMZWsO0GAEWZ__zKlZ-3HEm8JC1UGI19mY-v9nKHiTqO08e10QSAqAaBqrIIhfMmfj96dhEGWLqUpqHvwHHKTmbUwqjyrsC3q9LrEWdElJq53dqMM0sMnYv4/s320/sagar+angle+grinding.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sagar, angle grinding wishbones for the suspension</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4ITOtgHQft5AeVoIO5y8MYsRLScck8Cskt0TSjBEHrxHaJKhKczMfN80qYzV20lfVYfBhwUu0oBhiwLQVVPsw4nmt-U8ODL61nF9Twp5L1YuivJyINQGMMg-5GrzRabug3PVrnqh34IM/s1600/top+hats+for+harness.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4ITOtgHQft5AeVoIO5y8MYsRLScck8Cskt0TSjBEHrxHaJKhKczMfN80qYzV20lfVYfBhwUu0oBhiwLQVVPsw4nmt-U8ODL61nF9Twp5L1YuivJyINQGMMg-5GrzRabug3PVrnqh34IM/s320/top+hats+for+harness.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some of the pieces for the harness mounts that I made on the lathe.</td></tr>
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<br />
On Saturday, I went to the monthly meeting for the Renewable Energy Club in Warwickshire, which was held conveniently at the Methodist Church down the street from me. I was supposed to give a 20 minute talk on Fuel Cell technologies and applications...and I ended up talking for over an hour. It was really good though, there were a lot of interested people in the group. I'd say there was about 15-20 people, so I really enjoyed chatting with everyone about my past research and current developments. It's a really good group of people I hope to get more involved with during my time here.<br />
<br />
On Sunday, I went to the afternoon service at church, which was a bit more informal. It was a lot of fun, and I was asked to read the closing prayer, which was really nice. Afterwards, Anne invited me over for tea at her house. Anne and John have had me over before for Sunday roast a few weeks ago, and they are a great couple to chat with. John teaches a German course at the University and does various translating. He has a very cool model train set up in his garden shed, with all sorts of switches and such that I got to see yesterday as well. Their garden is lovely too, I should take pictures the next time I visit to put up here!<br />
<br />
Today was a bank holiday and I had plans to bike into campus today, but it started raining this morning and has been raining all day, so I ended up staying home and cleaning a bit. Aurelie is finishing up a paper that she has to turn in tonight (I'm going to proofread it in a bit) and we are going to go for a run soon. <br />
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Melissa comes to visit a week from Tuesday!! WOOT!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-u6Cw6dt-4Cs90e-8UpQlwG6awNUDLP-nXhDfiFGIA-AGuKKo09udii6vLa-GZZVsVikH3vg_Yjt2AClbzSP85cGqUl_BBj-X1N1PieBJ6Nq8R7Q9IEZBxfyO4wBEcLOjdusxaoqqN1E/s1600/corn+on+pizza.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-u6Cw6dt-4Cs90e-8UpQlwG6awNUDLP-nXhDfiFGIA-AGuKKo09udii6vLa-GZZVsVikH3vg_Yjt2AClbzSP85cGqUl_BBj-X1N1PieBJ6Nq8R7Q9IEZBxfyO4wBEcLOjdusxaoqqN1E/s320/corn+on+pizza.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pizza from the local pizza place. It was really good (veggie). Never had corn on a pizza, which is surprising, coming from the midwest and Indiana, but it's actually really good. I recommend it.</td></tr>
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<br />Courtney (Quartny) Thornberryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17937089191658627644noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563729318324808328.post-71771133152896155062012-04-30T11:12:00.001-07:002012-04-30T11:12:14.318-07:00My Brother is awesome!So I just heard via my mom's facebook status that my little brother, Graham (who just turned 18 in February, so maybe not so little anymore), had received a full tuition scholarship to Lake Superior State University in Michigan. I cannot completely relay the joy and excitement I am feeling right now about this. My brother has grown up into such a strong man these past few years, and I probably have not told him enough how much I love him and am proud of him. This is huge. Wish I could give him a huge hug right now (and then tease him about girls.)<br />
<br />
Love you, Graham. Best brother a girl could ask for. <3<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1SnPwdYvxDSHicJhQ53HHcDROnhUAejQ9CKR42GiOa9yXVCOeaNK_-Mj9MSOdm8ZajX9HTQwaWpd0rswEq11r3iC354acQtpEx9LRtZrc0VUPh2Gmu5BicYWI6v1zqwYWRj39sauboCQ/s1600/dramatic+graham.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1SnPwdYvxDSHicJhQ53HHcDROnhUAejQ9CKR42GiOa9yXVCOeaNK_-Mj9MSOdm8ZajX9HTQwaWpd0rswEq11r3iC354acQtpEx9LRtZrc0VUPh2Gmu5BicYWI6v1zqwYWRj39sauboCQ/s320/dramatic+graham.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Graham, with saw, being dramatic. :)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEaFbB-9UVfkEcdxlJJQ-H_C7qYUiR-IQ1jqqI5ntGQVRnq8AQjlnrTar2dcEvA9_F-KcG8Ud94ud9Cg4ggFeHup8gn2egz0D6zXaxUUYwaW0rzY19QxYta4_32u3_8eEUKvMJd75u13E/s1600/family+photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEaFbB-9UVfkEcdxlJJQ-H_C7qYUiR-IQ1jqqI5ntGQVRnq8AQjlnrTar2dcEvA9_F-KcG8Ud94ud9Cg4ggFeHup8gn2egz0D6zXaxUUYwaW0rzY19QxYta4_32u3_8eEUKvMJd75u13E/s320/family+photo.jpg" width="268" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Graham, mom and me after a 5K in Coldwater</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkN6_TcwEWTde8r5kncCN1tkbNNZ3m-JiRbXlK-fK9yJnbya1YP-HKN2AIkryCx1wFVBCtKX1KbzpUcoql9EFcOuxgby3t-NOYbvOAxRxe1bYzYy-f5WxkL3zD5TpjbJEfDPOcamWT-Pc/s1600/getting+xmas+tree.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkN6_TcwEWTde8r5kncCN1tkbNNZ3m-JiRbXlK-fK9yJnbya1YP-HKN2AIkryCx1wFVBCtKX1KbzpUcoql9EFcOuxgby3t-NOYbvOAxRxe1bYzYy-f5WxkL3zD5TpjbJEfDPOcamWT-Pc/s320/getting+xmas+tree.jpg" width="255" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christmas tree on the Subaru!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbnanRCfAhSDAwz3V6q5rVBYj78xLeOt0KRrLtHt765AVrVAS2EcOtjpe2r1begWRN9goNPeQs95spvIOENKtdafEcyPhlZ1eQ3eIl1biCsj-Rt2iqcOOR-eq-gm9zpD78iQf-Q0X3Jms/s1600/graham+and+me+after+marathon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbnanRCfAhSDAwz3V6q5rVBYj78xLeOt0KRrLtHt765AVrVAS2EcOtjpe2r1begWRN9goNPeQs95spvIOENKtdafEcyPhlZ1eQ3eIl1biCsj-Rt2iqcOOR-eq-gm9zpD78iQf-Q0X3Jms/s320/graham+and+me+after+marathon.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Graham and me after his first marathon in Indianapolis</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgncAl6VESZsZHS2c8iSL0PFWLNMvjBJ_AdAFAxyOEzW1TqZsvYKCWvW_hXoFH-QXamQwMEJSwKmsBHpsYLi_A47s7Juh3SkgEWqo59CAyTouuj_eudgq8Dl_fDZ68oYK4tGGjc1QTS96c/s1600/me+and+graham+by+plane.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgncAl6VESZsZHS2c8iSL0PFWLNMvjBJ_AdAFAxyOEzW1TqZsvYKCWvW_hXoFH-QXamQwMEJSwKmsBHpsYLi_A47s7Juh3SkgEWqo59CAyTouuj_eudgq8Dl_fDZ68oYK4tGGjc1QTS96c/s320/me+and+graham+by+plane.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Graham and me out flying</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3LMGN1fR4VemWoIVDh6_8joEBvR0TgCLuZYX9hR50PJMXmyLdIAylbQIJPnrZuhBr1Y5b_CsCcC6NQhZZdcnctnuFa9kYJyQ_qmrvJ61YB96WMLk7ksO5RHYQSO-cqqtgtYVDbe1uxgM/s1600/me+and+graham+winning.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3LMGN1fR4VemWoIVDh6_8joEBvR0TgCLuZYX9hR50PJMXmyLdIAylbQIJPnrZuhBr1Y5b_CsCcC6NQhZZdcnctnuFa9kYJyQ_qmrvJ61YB96WMLk7ksO5RHYQSO-cqqtgtYVDbe1uxgM/s320/me+and+graham+winning.jpg" width="214" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Graham and me, both taking first male and female in a 5K!!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQMGv6v2beRvQGmZd_Fulati_AtGdNumpzIjrZgqfXRgFR-JFVSqpyWuvyhJTd-DFJKFxTpiQk9Uq8jKeYgp-5psNbxi9TL0WQI8Wcaw1RDCy-M4vVrobNlmhNSDw43raHu95tEu5EcLU/s1600/me+and+graham.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQMGv6v2beRvQGmZd_Fulati_AtGdNumpzIjrZgqfXRgFR-JFVSqpyWuvyhJTd-DFJKFxTpiQk9Uq8jKeYgp-5psNbxi9TL0WQI8Wcaw1RDCy-M4vVrobNlmhNSDw43raHu95tEu5EcLU/s320/me+and+graham.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chilling in Northwoods</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-WWkJVM2CHSue-0BsL5VpZYx-m6g3E0Q2azn_YDKGMVGrcQlqRByU7sgDlX2z6a1dKiWCWm6c0YFzAP-fD4BTMHi3anxjRShlC04EU8WvUQUXndi3G35krkexf8gYIUCUCphcLDah2Iw/s1600/me+and+little+graham.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-WWkJVM2CHSue-0BsL5VpZYx-m6g3E0Q2azn_YDKGMVGrcQlqRByU7sgDlX2z6a1dKiWCWm6c0YFzAP-fD4BTMHi3anxjRShlC04EU8WvUQUXndi3G35krkexf8gYIUCUCphcLDah2Iw/s320/me+and+little+graham.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Love this picture- Graham is about 3 or 4, I'm 13 or 14.</td></tr>
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<br />Courtney (Quartny) Thornberryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17937089191658627644noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563729318324808328.post-14778097605068004792012-04-25T03:02:00.001-07:002012-04-25T03:09:41.956-07:0020Ks, the London Marathon and FS Bodywork<span id="goog_472648945">Been a busy week here!</span><br />
Sagar was in the Leamington Courier this weekend for running the 10K last weekend. Quite funny that this race was his first ever, and he ends up on the cover of a newspaper for it. I am going to reconsider my stance on fancy dress for races.... :)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuZksd-_BqZ8kczGihhhVyY-SGiF68ogHVPGDRuNs3pupeo4kPr9hzjTBz2wziTi9egbnA4aWg09pwJ8J3W8YJi6MAtVSDqJLSVjvcW0JP0CVpLUXim0VrCU2YXjmmqmlUwL2IwP-Cu4Y/s1600/Sagar+in+paper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuZksd-_BqZ8kczGihhhVyY-SGiF68ogHVPGDRuNs3pupeo4kPr9hzjTBz2wziTi9egbnA4aWg09pwJ8J3W8YJi6MAtVSDqJLSVjvcW0JP0CVpLUXim0VrCU2YXjmmqmlUwL2IwP-Cu4Y/s320/Sagar+in+paper.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sagar (green man suit on the right) in the Regency Run. Has nothing to do with the caption 'Sleaze Town' LOL.</td></tr>
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<span id="goog_472648945">On Saturday, I ran a 20K race with Amy and her friend Steven. (Results posted <a href="http://www.raceways.eu/cp/my_documents/mmmd%20results%202012%20overall.pdf" target="_blank">here</a>) </span><br />
<span id="goog_472648945">I felt pretty good, even after being a bit tired the week before from the 10K. I ran a 1:34:19, which works out to about a 7:35 mile pace, which I was quite happy with. I was also the first woman in, and Amy was the second! Her friend, Steven, was the third guy in, so we all placed!</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiffF6RFUcB_VRpuil3Vb3VzPC74LYYUnWfnOIPVVPhSLi0RYfgZim7sOUPFJCwQ63qvrfrlf0BGhAp91-F3jBivYQnydNq6-uHp6-NsLVd0PtS1Ap2Lgssxsb8UX-piSNj1T0_DZxWyII/s1600/20K+race.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiffF6RFUcB_VRpuil3Vb3VzPC74LYYUnWfnOIPVVPhSLi0RYfgZim7sOUPFJCwQ63qvrfrlf0BGhAp91-F3jBivYQnydNq6-uHp6-NsLVd0PtS1Ap2Lgssxsb8UX-piSNj1T0_DZxWyII/s320/20K+race.jpg" width="282" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Amy, Steven and I after the 20K race on Saturday!</td></tr>
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<br />
<span id="goog_472648945">On Sunday, Sagar and I headed to London to watch the Marathon. It was quite an event. The energy at this marathon was awesome, the people running had great costumes as well (see some of the pictures below). I am totally sold on trying to get into this marathon for next year. It was awesome. Also, I figured out an easy and fairly cheap way to get to London thanks to Sagar, so I am also excited about that. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEmGFnGQ2OIttkGNGzkt8QI4AX8xvDdEU4UFl0efzX6Sg1nmyu1Kaba-DMXG2FMdBtVajnMPqI-HBF47_tureSeR4DtS5-LrPaK_7-MhHygQN6jg18scEJjtM1JxxYwY4tXv1D3u_UGcI/s1600/IMG_1892.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEmGFnGQ2OIttkGNGzkt8QI4AX8xvDdEU4UFl0efzX6Sg1nmyu1Kaba-DMXG2FMdBtVajnMPqI-HBF47_tureSeR4DtS5-LrPaK_7-MhHygQN6jg18scEJjtM1JxxYwY4tXv1D3u_UGcI/s320/IMG_1892.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Waiting for the train to London</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9qKFIPuwa7Jl1QVsmMLN9oZlZPSNHsqYekfoKLeXxHgA0S5kcYsv6ue3tU-ZRiBeFlkvNUi2W_Bspb9Y9bSQomiHo-xCw_PZn6Olo2E3FR5hUyUsoahVx7grR6YqECq1yC3d7drK-_VM/s1600/IMG_1918.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9qKFIPuwa7Jl1QVsmMLN9oZlZPSNHsqYekfoKLeXxHgA0S5kcYsv6ue3tU-ZRiBeFlkvNUi2W_Bspb9Y9bSQomiHo-xCw_PZn6Olo2E3FR5hUyUsoahVx7grR6YqECq1yC3d7drK-_VM/s320/IMG_1918.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">12 Mile point in the marathon</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb5WBMrWfy8nWG_LW1dHw9BekR8FC9bSAXPKl7MByyE8ti-d4I34ff1ZFzGUZV2m9pS_7vy5d6cn_sJqJtTZu2wvtZvRaE9KOISG-r4TlpULoe8lSdB6E0I67VMZ_YEfrYcg0EbF-reYw/s1600/IMG_1922.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb5WBMrWfy8nWG_LW1dHw9BekR8FC9bSAXPKl7MByyE8ti-d4I34ff1ZFzGUZV2m9pS_7vy5d6cn_sJqJtTZu2wvtZvRaE9KOISG-r4TlpULoe8lSdB6E0I67VMZ_YEfrYcg0EbF-reYw/s320/IMG_1922.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">London Bridge!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy9dbIqX-sxLKU3FHP0TltF3JutrjNvdu5Z1AVgiHasnZBhQp-9tEdllmHZ4iXPLc92MvM_B7Fdzv7PLgIFJH6yR_u7-zTPW4RyW8pIz0In0qHrViUvQab0eGkE43D1booSLG0MV8YMU4/s1600/IMG_1999.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy9dbIqX-sxLKU3FHP0TltF3JutrjNvdu5Z1AVgiHasnZBhQp-9tEdllmHZ4iXPLc92MvM_B7Fdzv7PLgIFJH6yR_u7-zTPW4RyW8pIz0In0qHrViUvQab0eGkE43D1booSLG0MV8YMU4/s320/IMG_1999.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Silly costumes, otherwise called "Fancy Dress"</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj34FoYku8xI-5CjHKpspvXB2su8kOWMgadOuSyU1sVn3d_H85JYAa5gH165j8uAzx8nFuGHEvMWaFYQJMAPw5MjT9pTJ2Lgpee4wD30TVAv9Oo_eHM5AoggYTdqmdQN3joS6lIc35CPdE/s1600/IMG_2010.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj34FoYku8xI-5CjHKpspvXB2su8kOWMgadOuSyU1sVn3d_H85JYAa5gH165j8uAzx8nFuGHEvMWaFYQJMAPw5MjT9pTJ2Lgpee4wD30TVAv9Oo_eHM5AoggYTdqmdQN3joS6lIc35CPdE/s320/IMG_2010.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Don't know where the Straw Man was....</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikg8eCc4m0PDODK9HqQOuxPAUITGGbt0OOkEN92AdOWr6Ldbf131IprBiViK-SnKUxjrMvoqR__WUSJVZQMV2RKV35_vsyy6hHv_1dCff_iUkIG17YsKkJR8H69P1CbYB0vnPpfAlHm6c/s1600/IMG_2022.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikg8eCc4m0PDODK9HqQOuxPAUITGGbt0OOkEN92AdOWr6Ldbf131IprBiViK-SnKUxjrMvoqR__WUSJVZQMV2RKV35_vsyy6hHv_1dCff_iUkIG17YsKkJR8H69P1CbYB0vnPpfAlHm6c/s320/IMG_2022.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the train with Sagar</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOOsTKTkwQGxtTSLJ4fKmPiBPFkJNbhyMkLx7Udo-2ZiA5tz1bk-2ewhzzEEVd6BtRBXIyYRKYzlqXstbeSZzkzIl2xmGbUF8yUi9t31YISHjQQzmqB0xk_9M-0CKr9Xpj7sGe8cjzNrM/s1600/mankini.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOOsTKTkwQGxtTSLJ4fKmPiBPFkJNbhyMkLx7Udo-2ZiA5tz1bk-2ewhzzEEVd6BtRBXIyYRKYzlqXstbeSZzkzIl2xmGbUF8yUi9t31YISHjQQzmqB0xk_9M-0CKr9Xpj7sGe8cjzNrM/s320/mankini.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mankini....</td></tr>
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<br />
<span id="goog_472648945">Yesterday, I went with Darren and Gav from the Formula Student team to get started on working on the bodywork (some carbon fibre and some hemp-based) for the car. It was our first trip there, and I have a feeling we will be spending some time at KS Composites getting it all done. The process was interesting and I found it enjoyable to work with my hands. We made the first crash structure that is going to be tested later this week. It was made with a hemp-fibre, instead of carbon fibre, in the effort to make the car more sustainable. This stuff was not the easiest to work with, but I think we got some ideas on how to more effectively make the next one (since the one we made will get broken in testing). We also got the molds (moulds) ready for the intake parts, that will be made with conventional carbon fibre.</span><br />
<span id="goog_472648945"><br /></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8N9fJb8opYlJTKKMM6dlQfv4M5FLgKyMRZok5lGsRpRCTiAv-zV-ThDPZ4PwVMw_eJTwC8NKqUV_StY7rxjBhjmO5ZiFc2n1_4gWm_4xgwChc4dvVX6kG89QxveRFjw1MisdiwhqoJRg/s1600/IMG_2034.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8N9fJb8opYlJTKKMM6dlQfv4M5FLgKyMRZok5lGsRpRCTiAv-zV-ThDPZ4PwVMw_eJTwC8NKqUV_StY7rxjBhjmO5ZiFc2n1_4gWm_4xgwChc4dvVX6kG89QxveRFjw1MisdiwhqoJRg/s320/IMG_2034.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yeah! Road trip!!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt97KndWOodTfDtngd986WgYQEkHHFvNwbaFhTSMRMmfUnX9qvqahJJ-bIOOcKA_4NNovkoovEfEW_uddz9T21l1I9irpgILVE80immffd8jBDKsKeCnWivncFHTKWBSC8Dxpk91O6wQ0/s1600/IMG_2043.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt97KndWOodTfDtngd986WgYQEkHHFvNwbaFhTSMRMmfUnX9qvqahJJ-bIOOcKA_4NNovkoovEfEW_uddz9T21l1I9irpgILVE80immffd8jBDKsKeCnWivncFHTKWBSC8Dxpk91O6wQ0/s320/IMG_2043.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Prepping the mold for the crash structure</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb86trcsR9L9b6lMwnN1SdRZLArtOn4MhTC0sLYZe2o-jhLf3GPrVZkLfejU6Q5S4VMefFtA2jLb5dnwxbhuGCYAj88NhyaxfFL5gjgPkW_LN73ShReRBJo1-rLdHpY3WozJJa4UzwrfM/s1600/IMG_2050.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb86trcsR9L9b6lMwnN1SdRZLArtOn4MhTC0sLYZe2o-jhLf3GPrVZkLfejU6Q5S4VMefFtA2jLb5dnwxbhuGCYAj88NhyaxfFL5gjgPkW_LN73ShReRBJo1-rLdHpY3WozJJa4UzwrfM/s320/IMG_2050.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hemp fibre applied (couldn't take a picture, my hands were all sticky with epoxy) and ready for curing in a vacuum!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix3bzsahTJRyzH5TOVVrHLNwyl9_H6CvSLZcW3DxdqxKnI2ZoZVmZrPJ0grpcda7Kb89p-rJbTMlKp3muJCV68CV0wlVg-sM2mlTijK2aW_sjskc7NyLNew4tEYErCwE5y48Frh-D_TmI/s1600/IMG_2054.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix3bzsahTJRyzH5TOVVrHLNwyl9_H6CvSLZcW3DxdqxKnI2ZoZVmZrPJ0grpcda7Kb89p-rJbTMlKp3muJCV68CV0wlVg-sM2mlTijK2aW_sjskc7NyLNew4tEYErCwE5y48Frh-D_TmI/s320/IMG_2054.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Vacuum sealing</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEy6Imm_WYxZwAUZnN9OM0AEeC9CQgFk2_hYGbZSr0CCZwnBWCNgzS3C_X_TdlQh4xRWqv3Xfgaet2N_RTUkY8zo2OSwxqvT5wNuRm6VHURN-go78wocQwfLifgJ-kh6GvhkqordYaOn4/s1600/IMG_2057.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEy6Imm_WYxZwAUZnN9OM0AEeC9CQgFk2_hYGbZSr0CCZwnBWCNgzS3C_X_TdlQh4xRWqv3Xfgaet2N_RTUkY8zo2OSwxqvT5wNuRm6VHURN-go78wocQwfLifgJ-kh6GvhkqordYaOn4/s320/IMG_2057.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gav (left) and Darren (right) work on applying a finisher the molds for the intake parts.</td></tr>
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<span id="goog_472648945"><br /></span>Courtney (Quartny) Thornberryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17937089191658627644noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563729318324808328.post-80056572081888566932012-04-19T04:23:00.000-07:002012-04-19T04:23:29.296-07:0010Ks and Building CarsIt's been quite busy these past few days, but I'm going to update here a bit (mostly via pictures, since you know, a picture is worth 1000 words).<br />
<br />
Sunday's race was AWESOME, the group that I ran with was a lot of fun (Amy, Nadzeya, Diresh, and Sagar). I ran a 45:29, which is way below where I was aiming for (just under 48:00). This averages to a 7:18 mile pace!! Saturday night, Amy, Sagar and I enjoyed a nice dinner of Eggplant (Aubergine) Parmesian with pasta (carb-o- loading!!). It was both Sagar's and Nadzeya's first race ever, and they both did really well, around the 48:00 mark (which is about an 8 minute mile pace, really really good!). Sagar decided to wear the green man suit his sister got him for his birthday to run in. He looked silly, but had a great time doing it....<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw4LV0UyNwBY78gzA_t-EFg3mm3jzVyvmWxZ0K-_WA9Q3hQY8hcUGSENrfeZcNhkQORg4pcsb317eg-c7NcZmV1NOLkqLji2MA8rkwOR5_cD2OBsC2T1jmba176XrUWG-gzLMPx6Dh-MQ/s1600/10K+medal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw4LV0UyNwBY78gzA_t-EFg3mm3jzVyvmWxZ0K-_WA9Q3hQY8hcUGSENrfeZcNhkQORg4pcsb317eg-c7NcZmV1NOLkqLji2MA8rkwOR5_cD2OBsC2T1jmba176XrUWG-gzLMPx6Dh-MQ/s320/10K+medal.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our finishing medal</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFY6EUqq1G1Dhqami4AWkrMHBWZaMxGugzogQniaNUcyI72RK6XdsVt1gQ-6R_AjNDAM3nGQcrQ1CM-WCDarsFDYZIRbhQZHOpBCc-EtFej-eZyEenYlepSv5zNB_ozRAqgLezXrNN7nQ/s1600/10k+group.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFY6EUqq1G1Dhqami4AWkrMHBWZaMxGugzogQniaNUcyI72RK6XdsVt1gQ-6R_AjNDAM3nGQcrQ1CM-WCDarsFDYZIRbhQZHOpBCc-EtFej-eZyEenYlepSv5zNB_ozRAqgLezXrNN7nQ/s320/10k+group.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The group, left to right: Diresh, Amy, me, Nadzeya...and Sagar in the back in the green man suit</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9TSjQkJSRO9XCC1BefvVMF6cYjfnQ5uLY5o1bi21osaIyuOnCQyQNbRhmWa-bvumspNj59h7z-jvofFZiGAeiyK7E0IRXwiNyvuBXlTVR232hx_i7AC2oJjQra__iv4Gey3HUxb1yAnU/s1600/sagar+and+medal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9TSjQkJSRO9XCC1BefvVMF6cYjfnQ5uLY5o1bi21osaIyuOnCQyQNbRhmWa-bvumspNj59h7z-jvofFZiGAeiyK7E0IRXwiNyvuBXlTVR232hx_i7AC2oJjQra__iv4Gey3HUxb1yAnU/s320/sagar+and+medal.jpg" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sagar and his medal. </td></tr>
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The Formula Student car is really coming along this week as well. The team is facing assignments and exams in the coming few weeks, so they won't be able to put much work into the car during the month of May. I've been working alongside them this week, understanding the project and helping out. I've also developing quite a relationship with the geriatric lathe in the pits, figuring out all the quirks. The big news yesterday is that the engine finally started up. It's not running the best yet, but at least it is starting and creating some smoke.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC2GjnpNhS63ITeuEQBuRujCajnExLjyyWRxcayS3z3MKzKvk-u8W0EtxmrO3Gf_o1uzcPPnqlZy01Dd5e5gBar1zNksan6RHD_yEDdBS1-REzpuQW0vGVX9w7OId9Q7uC22hWigY8Bqo/s1600/dave+explaining+the+engine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC2GjnpNhS63ITeuEQBuRujCajnExLjyyWRxcayS3z3MKzKvk-u8W0EtxmrO3Gf_o1uzcPPnqlZy01Dd5e5gBar1zNksan6RHD_yEDdBS1-REzpuQW0vGVX9w7OId9Q7uC22hWigY8Bqo/s320/dave+explaining+the+engine.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dave explains to Darren important details about the engine.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVBdAUICKwY34_OvPU-K9GW-B4BVGzBxzcTlSC8G3CLiBojZjx5wsdxCGtLyWr9mIdPWPYzDWJ1FKtAmwoX2L3162rD948eeyVrledK1e45jhfXF_pgjqf08MejwpyCrFZLi79K3QNzZA/s1600/engine+running.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVBdAUICKwY34_OvPU-K9GW-B4BVGzBxzcTlSC8G3CLiBojZjx5wsdxCGtLyWr9mIdPWPYzDWJ1FKtAmwoX2L3162rD948eeyVrledK1e45jhfXF_pgjqf08MejwpyCrFZLi79K3QNzZA/s320/engine+running.jpg" width="178" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Engine running!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPLtobzYIP1rYLMoPQ_tCvn2JdDARDgbrzHq9IabcRtrBNb7eY7mHhn-MplMJA-mIHd-KSvwtG1jwjl0GLZqvdrqXNqLcAN9S3H0vahu5nkRpZYUU3cOtLQUVxbhY3KpwrolAz3eqZtRs/s1600/jim+and+the+space+frame.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPLtobzYIP1rYLMoPQ_tCvn2JdDARDgbrzHq9IabcRtrBNb7eY7mHhn-MplMJA-mIHd-KSvwtG1jwjl0GLZqvdrqXNqLcAN9S3H0vahu5nkRpZYUU3cOtLQUVxbhY3KpwrolAz3eqZtRs/s320/jim+and+the+space+frame.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jim working on the fuel tank next to the space frame in the pits</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRW-p1B-AeOdIDhPWfIbN_bxkzMaKBY-7UMrvXdibwCxlwJR4Hp8KWERwHL-NE7hajxcanJgK0OkIIbRE1VUkOgE291Mc1nwXxUfOBTNNFcwdHihoniyY8rpDdlo_SFHBSPtyjkHX1Dh8/s1600/mill+smile.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRW-p1B-AeOdIDhPWfIbN_bxkzMaKBY-7UMrvXdibwCxlwJR4Hp8KWERwHL-NE7hajxcanJgK0OkIIbRE1VUkOgE291Mc1nwXxUfOBTNNFcwdHihoniyY8rpDdlo_SFHBSPtyjkHX1Dh8/s320/mill+smile.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Suspension piece I was milling...Murray made a happy face on it for me!!</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFWuc6YJH0iblVOb81suJEKn6TUS3MGUmGBj4wqBUsjBczEpgVVb6Jsj7nU9cjSk98C0dyC6cc5HKI_vRe4SmKlur2No_gxl3YP1C5wzcsmt3Vg7p9riNNJccQ5553tMDvmgahA9b3Oc8/s1600/the+engine+mounting.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFWuc6YJH0iblVOb81suJEKn6TUS3MGUmGBj4wqBUsjBczEpgVVb6Jsj7nU9cjSk98C0dyC6cc5HKI_vRe4SmKlur2No_gxl3YP1C5wzcsmt3Vg7p9riNNJccQ5553tMDvmgahA9b3Oc8/s320/the+engine+mounting.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hubert's been working on the engine brackets with a different engine casing</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-lifMZOd8bI2foMHl9pVqN0V6PMxA37tjgErL5Jui7FVl9uoK2YsaRVpF5vw6ycB2PZ8ihWUIRndcOdlAx5dyKqRA6b-iHeWjiVjF4qjOFvd6UrT5tsSxHAhydmkrjCsyl3bNNurbr64/s1600/the+engine+starts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-lifMZOd8bI2foMHl9pVqN0V6PMxA37tjgErL5Jui7FVl9uoK2YsaRVpF5vw6ycB2PZ8ihWUIRndcOdlAx5dyKqRA6b-iHeWjiVjF4qjOFvd6UrT5tsSxHAhydmkrjCsyl3bNNurbr64/s320/the+engine+starts.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Darren, Andy, Ryan Dave and Paul watching and listening to the engine running</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFaDPufXtVRQ1mQBqGq-OKeVmSZRJRGgVwq0v2204ODe95rR74C8VrK0ltDKqq77UFQyUoT5bB0bpQK05Icl6i51jQyB4HckGO0fZOhbtec2jqF-AFDU9tIDCgozM7D7QbXB6CChBQs-4/s1600/the+lathe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFaDPufXtVRQ1mQBqGq-OKeVmSZRJRGgVwq0v2204ODe95rR74C8VrK0ltDKqq77UFQyUoT5bB0bpQK05Icl6i51jQyB4HckGO0fZOhbtec2jqF-AFDU9tIDCgozM7D7QbXB6CChBQs-4/s320/the+lathe.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The lathe. We are becoming quite close. <3<br />
<br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>On Saturday, Sagar and I went to Leamington for lunch and coffee at a really cute little cafe that had a cool sign I took a picture of. It says:<div>"Heaven is where the police are British, the cooks French, the mechanics German, the lovers Italian, and it is all organized by the Swiss. Hell is where the cooks are British, the mechanics French, the lovers Swiss, the police German and it is all organized by the Italians."</div><div><br />
</div><div>Not really sure where Americans would fit in there....:)<br />
<div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-95XbUnBdWYImXpTbyL4xCnvtI4Fgb83VEoJ9FfkEvgOpAIjvlusgMRK5LmrQLnIxpN5zZ9nuXhadSIL_iIyCRaSN4d-LLCuDkJaSaji9zxL0W8OPPjicUBSBMOMnvalyIi2cNVc1Ii4/s1600/sign+in+cafe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-95XbUnBdWYImXpTbyL4xCnvtI4Fgb83VEoJ9FfkEvgOpAIjvlusgMRK5LmrQLnIxpN5zZ9nuXhadSIL_iIyCRaSN4d-LLCuDkJaSaji9zxL0W8OPPjicUBSBMOMnvalyIi2cNVc1Ii4/s320/sign+in+cafe.jpg" width="181" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sign in the cafe</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div><br />
<br />
</div></div>Courtney (Quartny) Thornberryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17937089191658627644noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563729318324808328.post-76237136690551898182012-04-08T08:56:00.000-07:002012-04-08T08:56:48.452-07:00Happy Easter!Just a quick post to wish everyone a very Happy Easter! I went to a lovely church service this morning at Kenilworth Methodist Church, and then was invited to a massive lunch at Susan and Michael's house with their family and the church pastor, Derrick. Here are some pictures! <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-CgA86kNhqz6oEb0plh0EzzFijM1mft3BFmnVSc0fwIjHSJWNkgUkYnOvCJgd-gj3519ZtwGZ3g2OSRAN-RmhYr8Eh22Z_HeZ7aBZHXY6RIgLx60ee7IZ76QivZ6m7_Ogr60DqnArii4/s1600/Hollow+egg!.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-CgA86kNhqz6oEb0plh0EzzFijM1mft3BFmnVSc0fwIjHSJWNkgUkYnOvCJgd-gj3519ZtwGZ3g2OSRAN-RmhYr8Eh22Z_HeZ7aBZHXY6RIgLx60ee7IZ76QivZ6m7_Ogr60DqnArii4/s320/Hollow+egg!.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Susan holds the egg while Michael gets ready to crack it open with a hammer!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4d7AyBbrwmSL7iRJtflxNpvAFx3f_KLSou_SjPSrdumczJQsh17qisMFmyfb7Qjl-bwUNtppvul0Nh15aThN4wEym8Bu7lO-qjj5I4dF4lCP6sngGwVbQyYrydHqdtVTSP8FxC_BloF8/s1600/cake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4d7AyBbrwmSL7iRJtflxNpvAFx3f_KLSou_SjPSrdumczJQsh17qisMFmyfb7Qjl-bwUNtppvul0Nh15aThN4wEym8Bu7lO-qjj5I4dF4lCP6sngGwVbQyYrydHqdtVTSP8FxC_BloF8/s320/cake.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cake!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSC-vJyuBo_APvYS30JNMx0cpkkZh68nVM3nAAfJyysEHW1iAI0e1DNGXTE2wUj974PlELiQcholYLzv4E6tqmeMRxpPnXcnxq4uDMIux3f0_t8biDsdwuUy2SZoRnBRKg8DuhCVf5l3I/s1600/cupcakes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSC-vJyuBo_APvYS30JNMx0cpkkZh68nVM3nAAfJyysEHW1iAI0e1DNGXTE2wUj974PlELiQcholYLzv4E6tqmeMRxpPnXcnxq4uDMIux3f0_t8biDsdwuUy2SZoRnBRKg8DuhCVf5l3I/s320/cupcakes.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cupcakes!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzW1bkdgE9BIv5BVj4A3rNu5Qaw8VYMYOF5HNehxy3fMCBX1jYzAZB3bTv2bYy3HM_emMGe6O3nc45ZX_jXMFjhWtnLRo74JLJVmLwMGbmnK8mUJRAqYxdGN4DXas7kckSEfuDxSaMe6Y/s1600/my+plate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzW1bkdgE9BIv5BVj4A3rNu5Qaw8VYMYOF5HNehxy3fMCBX1jYzAZB3bTv2bYy3HM_emMGe6O3nc45ZX_jXMFjhWtnLRo74JLJVmLwMGbmnK8mUJRAqYxdGN4DXas7kckSEfuDxSaMe6Y/s320/my+plate.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My plate. Lamb, ratatouille, potatoes, green beans, gravy, mint sauce, and stuffing! I was PROPERLY stuffed!!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCdetzBvzMremWZDjEs11hVrFFXWTjAH2CaWxF-XLsaWL78sczzJEkFkZGldYfMNkFbXvpC5PcJsUSEBfQqNhr28gvRNoDZTpOB6YajfL_wYCyC9J1AdskvOjANamLRBACwMEUecdvlSg/s1600/the+dog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCdetzBvzMremWZDjEs11hVrFFXWTjAH2CaWxF-XLsaWL78sczzJEkFkZGldYfMNkFbXvpC5PcJsUSEBfQqNhr28gvRNoDZTpOB6YajfL_wYCyC9J1AdskvOjANamLRBACwMEUecdvlSg/s320/the+dog.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Susan and Michael's dog. She was a sweetheart!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3qc1OCLX0bBJmOA7QTT8rW_6wTPA1Ci7mxcx2XIfCNbTwMLvrpeaxtReUzMnAUxFEqBnk-hd0JbKLYqyy-eARigMMiQk808PElNyygORP1fGSP5Fdw-gEjQuFBydAwsrTuyNHPYQ-cxE/s1600/the+table.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3qc1OCLX0bBJmOA7QTT8rW_6wTPA1Ci7mxcx2XIfCNbTwMLvrpeaxtReUzMnAUxFEqBnk-hd0JbKLYqyy-eARigMMiQk808PElNyygORP1fGSP5Fdw-gEjQuFBydAwsrTuyNHPYQ-cxE/s320/the+table.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The table, pre-meal.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>It was so nice to be invited into a home for Easter, and was quite lovely to be a part of it! I am very grateful and am looking forward to the next few months as well. My best friend, Melissa, just got tickets to come visit me right after she graduates with her Master's degree from IUPUI next month!! *excited!!*<br />
Happy Easter, everyone!Courtney (Quartny) Thornberryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17937089191658627644noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563729318324808328.post-36631115374032721712012-04-07T05:27:00.000-07:002012-04-07T05:27:53.024-07:00Getting Out of the Comfort ZoneSo I've been remiss about updating recently. Not a lot has been going on, but I've been trying to get stuff organized and in place for starting some solid research for my EngD. As of yesterday, I've been in the UK for a full three months! Crazy how fast the time has gone by! I've really enjoyed my experiences so far.<br />
<br />
So last week and weekend, I felt like the message that was being thrown at me from several angles was the need to get out of my comfort zone and really push myself to find, explore and grow. I had a very enlightening chat with Jay last Friday that helped to give me some directive with ideas I have been having of where to focus with my work. It is easy to get pulled into a lot of interesting things in grad school, and I need to make sure what I am doing is going to benefit where I go with my degree work. The group project with the other EngD students is also taking form, though we seem to have a lot of different, very interesting ideas and we are having a hard time nailing one down. On Monday, we went to Loughborough University (about a 45 minute drive from University of Warwick) to get a briefing on the Engineering Yes competition we are doing at the end of May. Even the sermon at church was about getting out of the comfort zone! I feel that I am a very adaptable person (most of the time) and I've been really pushing myself to be even more so these past few months. Relocating to a new country to do research on a whole new area for me. I am excited and nervous to explore the personal aspects of growth that I know will be coming out of this life experience.<br />
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Ruth got me the coolest tea mug for work last week too. It's pink! It also came with instructions on how to inspect my breasts for cancer. Now I need to just drink tea and inspect at the same time.... :)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj5rfUmgTKqPrRAI6ciWWkywCnu8rZlrijcbblkCph9p06_zg2PtHxu1jP7fm5D03ERfWHSsbQQgIDqoLw683QMqEjTS6Ll2v_urRXv49LKxEGxTQYLck4JFXEbFWwlRQpMnmew1ELPD8/s1600/pink+tea+mug.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj5rfUmgTKqPrRAI6ciWWkywCnu8rZlrijcbblkCph9p06_zg2PtHxu1jP7fm5D03ERfWHSsbQQgIDqoLw683QMqEjTS6Ll2v_urRXv49LKxEGxTQYLck4JFXEbFWwlRQpMnmew1ELPD8/s320/pink+tea+mug.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My tea mug for work, complete with instructions. </td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<br />
I did make the Rocket Pesto (recipe here: <a href="http://irishherault.wordpress.com/2009/08/05/rocket-recipes/">http://irishherault.wordpress.com/2009/08/05/rocket-recipes/</a>) last weekend from the Rocket that Jan gave me from church. I think it turned out pretty good! <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu4hLrupwwhHlx269npjP9w3OrMtGpCizS2IjcOXbeQMEpx-KM0B89reKz5oTXl8KXendQVSv-RTfd9ZwT5i9503OD7GkwKxA0zuroAIrfriexP4f5w7Pd8Z4IjNmbRJwP5hDxSTp0IsU/s1600/Rocket+Pesto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu4hLrupwwhHlx269npjP9w3OrMtGpCizS2IjcOXbeQMEpx-KM0B89reKz5oTXl8KXendQVSv-RTfd9ZwT5i9503OD7GkwKxA0zuroAIrfriexP4f5w7Pd8Z4IjNmbRJwP5hDxSTp0IsU/s320/Rocket+Pesto.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rocket Pesto with sauteed mushrooms and tomatoes and mozzarella melted on top of bread.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Otherwise, it has been a pretty low-key week. Every one was on break or getting ready for the Easter break, it seemed. They have a four-day weekend for Easter here- the banks are closed on Good Friday and a holiday they like to call Easter Monday. I'm going to get a lot of reading done! :)<br />
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Sagar's birthday was on Tuesday....I crocheted a thumb warmer for him, after the Hungry Caterpillar from the Eric Carle book. I think it turned out well.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3fGYd1EuOlZUfX3wJErqUItapz8GPtzPWasZL_vYJsxSFajA9WB5_QfNM2M8NFycJMsXvbPfqkalQ5GHWvn_MFmKSS-JOdyFrgoBTlNYE-o8JYNsxlutXPKgSiLeLh2wBBy5fXO37yW8/s1600/IMG_1875.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3fGYd1EuOlZUfX3wJErqUItapz8GPtzPWasZL_vYJsxSFajA9WB5_QfNM2M8NFycJMsXvbPfqkalQ5GHWvn_MFmKSS-JOdyFrgoBTlNYE-o8JYNsxlutXPKgSiLeLh2wBBy5fXO37yW8/s320/IMG_1875.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hungry Caterpillar thumb warmer I made. </td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Monday night, we hung out, had pizza, watched the first episode of the second season of Game of Thrones over at Murray's house and played some Guitar Hero. I am excited for the new season since I just finished the second book (that this season is based on!) We also may have bought some alcohol for hanging out...I got some Ginger Beer! It was tasty. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFj1u9TaVxA_4WCMLA2kQuT6XxRYGzTWPagKUJQfhqvOMZe98D3DSILCTDKNdWQghx4Orb69_LtXR47P9XCRiAGJCzwCtRjxMODGOE5vKLNb27td4-eAh0cfiNowYuvMk958zxQG4xM5A/s1600/cart+of+booze.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFj1u9TaVxA_4WCMLA2kQuT6XxRYGzTWPagKUJQfhqvOMZe98D3DSILCTDKNdWQghx4Orb69_LtXR47P9XCRiAGJCzwCtRjxMODGOE5vKLNb27td4-eAh0cfiNowYuvMk958zxQG4xM5A/s320/cart+of+booze.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our cart of alcohol for Monday night. Does England have a drinking problem? Nah. My stuff was in the top left side of the cart. Yep, that Guinness was mine. :)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Tomorrow is Easter, and I'm going to church, probably early. Communion is at 8am, so I want to make that. Then, I've been graciously invited for a roast, where I can stop being a vegetarian! I'm super excited about that. Not that it's been that hard not to eat meat...just mildly inconvenient at times.<br />
Happy Easter, everyone! :)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGBiWk49nBploA8gYGmwb67TvbkBu4Ps5fN99rm3KhDxGaTmF8OcslgqkozyuQxO6xm1hY3OBJUIFMvRPFg5M3dB0Vf_1f515CSkfXSdtPRmFML96delV4VN5Kw6VW8_aaJJfZTJQ_vfI/s1600/safety+for+ladies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGBiWk49nBploA8gYGmwb67TvbkBu4Ps5fN99rm3KhDxGaTmF8OcslgqkozyuQxO6xm1hY3OBJUIFMvRPFg5M3dB0Vf_1f515CSkfXSdtPRmFML96delV4VN5Kw6VW8_aaJJfZTJQ_vfI/s320/safety+for+ladies.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The tag that came with my shoes. It says, "Safety for ladies."</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Courtney (Quartny) Thornberryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17937089191658627644noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563729318324808328.post-47102582863439862822012-03-27T05:59:00.000-07:002012-03-27T05:59:55.603-07:00Safety Shoes, Long Runs, Creativity, Poker (and Euchre!)I finally got some safety shoes for myself last week for working in the Pits! Hooray for not having to borrow shoes way too big for my feet! Plus, they are super stylish. (And no one will steal them...)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNiQcSwj_WpQ1aTyGv2ZfbCK6SEEr_cCmUK8kRHDsxQaHDn2RUYKwfcvjjBDNs38Ysb2BJ4sha1FUOlmXsIjj25Vwgor9jfFjIRKE5PwORmoh5SuxARi0Mn5_CpdfOLbVPYoj0GNVawn0/s1600/safety+shoes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNiQcSwj_WpQ1aTyGv2ZfbCK6SEEr_cCmUK8kRHDsxQaHDn2RUYKwfcvjjBDNs38Ysb2BJ4sha1FUOlmXsIjj25Vwgor9jfFjIRKE5PwORmoh5SuxARi0Mn5_CpdfOLbVPYoj0GNVawn0/s320/safety+shoes.jpg" width="178" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My safety shoes. Size 4 UK sizes. The tag for them read "Safety for Ladies"</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Last Thursday, I hosted Poker night at my place for some of the Formula Student team. Sagar made some Indian/Mexican fusion dish and I made guacamole. While he was cooking, I taught Quirin, Ryan and Richard how to play Euchre. Quirin was my partner, and he and I won the game. It was fun to bring a bit of the Midwest to the UK. Then, they taught me how to play Texas Hold 'Em Poker, which I never really learned at home. It was fun, but dragged on (kinda like Monopoly). I had fun though, and I think I have a better idea of how to play for next time.... (yeah, I totally lost).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7YkIC_g4Lcx-x7OdFjiH08px18QNm0ioj7RJCkHJx2nZtcpOlZi91A45nSvpuitZvqmYHkiLnNc1EUXEyzAD4SZiUozUSY3foGfb5_AzsjovMjEHh_Y_cVKSRXd5Y1QrSkKnzlARKVco/s1600/poker+night+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7YkIC_g4Lcx-x7OdFjiH08px18QNm0ioj7RJCkHJx2nZtcpOlZi91A45nSvpuitZvqmYHkiLnNc1EUXEyzAD4SZiUozUSY3foGfb5_AzsjovMjEHh_Y_cVKSRXd5Y1QrSkKnzlARKVco/s320/poker+night+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Quirin shuffles the cards for poker. He won overall.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkGDSo_3xdGFvvYCbT2DO6zgdR9-mTaVom2ND3r36PQJl-xjihb-ab2mMU6weZ3MlBpeonnv1BXbn_-nOxwR6B-WIhxspUvTyCtEt3XkycUH_qPUCsqbMg5UfFUNqe4o6gvI6WbeOU-y0/s1600/poker+night.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkGDSo_3xdGFvvYCbT2DO6zgdR9-mTaVom2ND3r36PQJl-xjihb-ab2mMU6weZ3MlBpeonnv1BXbn_-nOxwR6B-WIhxspUvTyCtEt3XkycUH_qPUCsqbMg5UfFUNqe4o6gvI6WbeOU-y0/s320/poker+night.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The poker game</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
On Saturday, I went with Ruth from work to Leamington to go shopping. We walked around for a few hours, and I tried on some clothes and got a couple of tank tops for the warmer weather we've been having! Saturday afternoon, I went for about a 5 mile run on some trails in Kenilworth that I discovered from biking home from campus last week. Some people at church had told me about them, but I hadn't gone out to find them until last week. The weather has been ABSOLUTELY gorgeous these past few days, so I plan on biking to and from campus as much as I can.<br />
<br />
On Sunday, I went to church and got some Rocket from Jan that she grew in her allotment. I've looked up a pesto recipe for it and I am planning on trying it this week sometime! I also did a 12 mile long run (last 9 miles with Diresh). The middle 10K I ran with Diresh we did in about 46 minutes, which is a good sign for the Leamington 10K on the 15th of April. I also just heard about a possible 20K race on April 21 that I might try to do....<br />
<br />
Sunday night, Jim and Andy from the Formula Student team had a BBQ at their place, near campus in Coventry, so I went there and hung out, and played video games for a bit. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuEQ2x3QXRqyDJruddP2Z0wgiCVL7qby_NO6L_J_T3fnh4UmDxPx0Bn_00GqF7OXPyGqKPLxKaHBeUwiyk_1HVkjjQOjl_iYwr4fbzC8pCW5T835ekoz3oGL29j6hOfcKMTnW5aW3NSdw/s1600/gran+turismo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuEQ2x3QXRqyDJruddP2Z0wgiCVL7qby_NO6L_J_T3fnh4UmDxPx0Bn_00GqF7OXPyGqKPLxKaHBeUwiyk_1HVkjjQOjl_iYwr4fbzC8pCW5T835ekoz3oGL29j6hOfcKMTnW5aW3NSdw/s320/gran+turismo.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Andy watches while Jim and Sagar race.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>I've also been working on my EngD as well! I've been having meetings with three other first year EngD students, Claire, Nick and Matt, about some group projects that are required. We have tentatively decided to research the area of fuel cells and try to find ideas there. We are signed up for an Engineering competition in May as a group and we need to have an idea solidified by then. I'm excited at the prospect of being able to use some of my previous Master's degree knowledge for a part of my EngD. <br />
<br />
I did a webinar last week on PTC's Windchill software, which is a PLM package that has a lot of exciting features I could see working for the Formula Student group. I am working now on trying to figure a way to work with this as part of my research for my EngD. I've been inspired a bit by this blog posting this week : <a href="http://www.gwarlingo.com/2012/how-creativity-works-jonah-lehrer/">http://www.gwarlingo.com/2012/how-creativity-works-jonah-lehrer/</a> on how creativity works. I am trying to take some of the points to heart as I think about where I am going with my research.<br />
<br />
Overall, I'm keeping pretty busy! Aurelie is home in Switzerland for the next month, so the flat is a bit lonely, but I don't think I'm going to get bored. That rarely happens... :)Courtney (Quartny) Thornberryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17937089191658627644noreply@blogger.com2