Don't you just love it when you try something over and over again, and get terrible results, and then you try it again exactly as before and somehow end up with the right answers?  Engineers hate that.

We spent all weekend prepping Radiant House's control system only to have it behave erratically and without logic.  Things like windows opening when lights should have been turned on.  Absolutely batty.  We come back to school, try it out in the lab setup, and suddenly it works without a hitch.  Go figure.

The control system is really something, probably something that hasn't been attempted like this before.  I'll write more about it some other time, because it would take pages to talk about everything that is involved in the system.

Sleep.  Bed.  Home.  Good.

Morning.  Class.  Bad.

On Site

So here I am, writing from the worksite on the tarmac of the Great Park in Irvine.  I sit, surrounded by solar houses built by schools from all over the nation, and a few from around the world!  Stanford, CalTech, and USC, along with ourselves, are the four schools competing from California.  I guess you could say we have a bit of a home-field advantage.  Can't say the same about our friends from Canada.  Our house is flanked by Teams Ontario and Alberta, and there's a stark contrast between the sunny-weather influenced Radiant House, and the very woodsy, cosy Echo House.  Not that it's a bad thing; I love seeing all of the radically different and innovative designs that the other schools have come up with.  I really can't wait to get proper tours of all of the houses during competition next week!

I'm ultra pooped from driving down to Irvine yesterday; it was the longest drive I've taken in my life, but also one of the more enjoyable!  Taking the 101 down, we passed by lots of beautiful scenery, and had the opportunity to stop at a really cool diner that served delicious pineapple crepes.  Upon getting into the LA area, things turned interesting.  I can only say that driving in LA has reaffirmed my aversion to SoCal.  Beautiful landscape.  Maniacal drivers.

I tried to write from the hotel room last night, but between a failed attempt to get the Wi-Fi password, and finding my bed to be extremely comfortable, I obviously failed.  Don't expect another post until tomorrow night, probably.  Today we get power, and with coding gurus Matt and Vincente here with us, we're going to have a lot to do.

Hello again!

It's been a long time.  It goes without saying that I have been very, very busy with my life these past few months.  And the next three weeks won't be any easier.

Facing us is the Solar Decathlon, a fantastic competition involving brand-new tech, solar energy, and the brightest minds of our generation.  It's an event that, if you don't already know about by now, I encourage you to learn more about.  In three weeks our hard work will hopefully have paid off, resulting in a much sought after first prize (I think we'll be happy just as long as we beat Stanford).  In fact, I've already won the biggest prize of all: a job!

An actual, honest-to-goodness job!  And doing what I love!

So I've got that going for me, which is nice.

Among other things, I've also given some thought to how I've been operating this blog for the past year or so, and I've decided to give it more attention by writing daily, as opposed to one or twice a week (or month).  I've been (and will be) going through some major changes in my life, and I've been through some very stressful situations more recently.  Hopefully making an effort to contribute daily to my blog will act as a way to keep myself in check.  I don't have many readers, but that's irrelevant.  If you happen to be reading this, good on you.  I hope you enjoy (and/or have been enjoying) all that my blog has to offer.

So that's that.  Look forward to many more contributions by yours truly.  I won't be restricting my contributions to just engineering/science related topics, but I will be keeping them as a focal point of most of my content.  Because, well, they're the focal point of my life.