A Lesson for All GTL PhD Students

It all began about a week ago. Actually, it was exactly a week ago. It was Wednesday, and you know what happens on Wednesday: nothing. On a completely unrelated note, my friend Katherine was eagerly awaiting a birthday package. That day the package arrived, and it was sitting on my desk. Why on my desk? Simply because Katherine could not pick up the package before GTL closed for the day. So, I was going to stick around until she got back from work and then give it to her. She normally gets home around 6:30.

You can image the scene. I am sitting at my computer, reading news stories and Facebook profiles as the clock on my screen changes to 7:00. I am alone in the PhD room. Most of the other students have gone to play jorkyball (just don't ask, ok?). Man, is she ever taking her time. I am surprised to see one of the professors stick his head in the room. He glances around briefly and then asks if he could speak to me for a moment. Sure, why not? I jog slowly behind him up to his office. We talked for about 10 minutes about a grant proposal. At that point, I needed to print something for him, so I left his office and headed to the PhD room. As I bounded down the stairs, I reminded myself to grab my keys before heading back up.

I arrive at the PhD room and pull one of those run-into-the-door-and-open-at-the-same-time moves. You know, the ones where you're glad that the door actually opened, because had it not, you would have run into it face first. Well, my attempt at opening the door was far from successful. My hand pushed down on the handle as my shoulder pressed into the grey wooden door, which didn't budge. It appeared that the door was locked. How could this be? I quickly looked around for the cleaning ladies (who have keys to everything) but saw no one. I ran back upstairs; no one there had a key. The situation was getting worse by the minute. By this point, there were only two professors left in the building, and neither one had a key to the PhD room. I couldn't leave. I was trapped at GTL.

For those of you who have never been to France, there is an unusual sense of paranoia about security and buildings here. Let me explain. Until this past Fall, you not only needed a key to get in GTL, but you also needed a key to get out of GTL. Oh, that is not all. The typical student key only works between 8:00 am and 10:00 pm, Monday through Friday. So if, for example, you were working in the building on a project until say 11pm, you could not leave. You were stuck. However, being the creative engineers that my friends and I are, we found a way out, which I won't divulge for security reasons. But what if there had been a fire? Everyone would have died. In short, there is now a button inside by the door which one can press to unlock the door at any instance in time. This is an improvement that came about 15 years too late (the school was founded in 1991). But these are all ramblings, and not crucial to the story at hand.

So there I was, inside GTL with only the computer lab to help me. I quickly got online and sent messages to John and Katherine. They went something like this. "Help! I'm stuck at GTL. I can't leave without getting locked out of the building. And I'm getting hungry....Feeling...weak..." This went on for an hour or so. No reply at all. Some of the undergrads came in the lab. I talked to Susan (who was in the US getting her visa) a bit and played Text Twist. Eventually someone offered to lend me their cell phone to call someone. Thanks to Facebook, I found Fred's number and gave him a call. He wasn't there, so I left a message pleading for help. It wasn't a very coherent message. After all, there's not much he could do. Then a second undergrad piped up. "I have Wui's number," he said. Wow, that was awesome. I called Wui and explained the situation. He was going to let me borrow his keys. Success!

The rest of the story isn't very interesting. I walked with an undergrad to ALOES and got the keys from Wui, walked back to GTL, walked back to ALOES, and then headed to catch the late bus back downtown. By this time it was 10:30. That's right, folks, I was locked out for three and an half hours. By the time I got home it was 11:15. Blah. I never found out who locked the door. I supposed it was the cleaning ladies, but it doesn't really matter. And the moral of the story: never, NEVER, leave the PhD room without your keys.

The Shark's Tank Explained

Welcome to the Shark's Tank! This is where (hopefully) I can keep all my family and friends updated on what is going on in my life. It has been so long since I last updated this blog that I figured the best approach would be to just start anew. After all, a lot has changed in the last few months. So, I'll explain how things will work around here and then you can explore a bit and learn something new about me. Here we go!

First, the blog name. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was...the beginning. Wait- we have to back up a bit before continuing. You don't even know who I am yet. My name is David. To sum up my life pre-2007 it went something like this:

• Graduated High School in 2001
• Got a BSME from the Georgia Institute of Technology (GT) in 2005
• Went to grad school at GT's campus in Metz, France Georgia Tech Lorraine (GTL)
• Asked Susan to marry me
• Married Susan on December 23, 2006

OK, so now you are all caught up. In January we moved to Metz, and I started a PhD with GTL. Now we can continue. As you may or may not know, being a PhD student is full of unique experiences. One such experience is getting to know your advisor. There are many advisers in the world, each one with a special personality. Some are more special than others. Take, for instance, my good friend, who will remain nameless. He has affectionately given his advisor the nickname "The Shark." Why? I don't really know. But it seems to work. What's more, every time he goes to his adviser's office, he tells everyone he's going to the "shark tank." I think it's an appropriate analogy. Sharks are dangerous. Meeting with your advisor can be scary. Did you make enough progress this week on your research? Is he in a good mood? Are you going to ask a stupid question? Will he discover that you're not as smart as he first thought you were? But I digress. So, the idea occurred to me that as a PhD student I am nothing more than a little fish swimming around in a tank. A tank that belongs to a Shark. I am in the Shark's Tank.

The reason for using the term for this blog is because it is here, in the Shark's Tank, that you can come and watch me swim around in my little world. Now, there is also disclaimer: the words "Shark," "Tank," or any combination of the aforementioned words in no way refer to my professor or anything related to him. I have a great advisor; he has been very helpful and encouraging from the start. So, there's no teacher bashing going on here, just good-natured fun, OK? OK.

So, as most of you probably know, the Internet has changed the way we communicate. Now we have email, blogs, Myspace, Facebook, Xanga, Skype, YouTube, and all things Google. The list goes on and on. Some people are addicted to Facebook (you know who you are!) while others are bloggers, and some people manage to do it all. I'm a simple guy. Keeping an updated blog is hard enough, let alone answering Facebook messages and wall posts. Let's face it, I'm just not cut out for this stuff. So, here's the plan: I will write blog entries entries here and provide links to related pictures/videos on my Google Picasaweb. I'll also put a link to this blog on my Facebook profile. You can now consider the Shark's Tank as Command Central for all things David. Pictures, video, and text. Does it get any better? I'm sure it does. You could be reading about something important right now. Or watching a cool movie. Or flying a kite. I'd go for the kite.

Well, there it is. I hope you find things interesting, or at least not boring. Welcome to The Shark's Tank!

A Month of Weekends

Yes, it has been over a month since I posted anything at all. That is not good. It is almost as bad as homestarrunner.com not updating since May 22. There have been many adventures in the last month, so I guess I'll start from the beginning....

The first grand adventure was a vacation with the family Grandidier. Denis Grandidier makes custom cabinets, and is Stephen's boss for the summer. He and his wife have two sons, who are a lot of fun. For this vacation we went to Lac du Der. We rode bicycles and ate food. We went swimming in the pool. We had a blast. We also spoke so much French that I dreamed in French one night. Boy, is that ever frustrating....not being able to understand your own dreams! I also learned that the rooster is the official bird of France.

The following weekend was also spent with the Grandidiers, but this time for a birthday party for Stephen. He didn't know anything about it. He was quite shocked. The day included activities such as catching frogs in a local wood, and then taking Stephen to the doctor because his eye swelled shut due to an allergic reaction to something. Happy birthday Stephen. The following day I took Stephen's place in a "rally" organized by the SNCF (think French trains). It was basically a scavanger hunt around the city that ended at a mine, which we got to tour. It was a great day. I got to hang out with all kinds of French people and speak lots of French. My head hurt by the end of the day, though. There's only so much French I can take at a time.

The next weekend I went to Belgium. But that was a big trip, and it gets its own post in the near future. But to hold you over, picture this: three engineers, one shovel, and more sand than you need. Oh, limitless options!

A midweek adventure at the Music Festival in downtown Metz. There were some good bands there. There were tons of people. And we never did find the jazz music we were looking for. Everything else, yes, but jazz, no. Another weekend with the Grandidiers followed, but I think this weekend also gets its own post at a later date. That brings us up to this weekend, which is also a separate post. Boy was I busy this weekend. And today I was slap worn out. Tomorrow brings lots of work, and maybe another post. At least I know what I will write about.

Thought for today: think outside the box. Lately I've been giving Walter a hard time about thinking outside the box. Walter likes the box. I don't. So, for all of you out there who are always serious, today is think outside the box day. Have fun. And go check out homestarrunner.

I was thinking of SSSuper Mario Brothers

Oh boy. You really picked quite a day to check the blog. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. I wish you could feel what I'm feeling now. So for those of you who don't know, David Crowder recently broke out of the so-called "boundaries" of worship leading and led the song Foreverandever using a keytar. I've always had a good feeling about using whatever we have for worship. Tin cans, spoons, chairs, whatever goes. But that is another story altogether...

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the new and improved Foreverandever Intro! Yes, it is hard to understand what he's saying, but don't you recognize the music? It's Super Mario Bros.! I've grown attached to this particular song over the past few months, and with this cool new intro, I know that it will be stuck in my head for quite a while. Maybe this doesn't make much sense, but it does to me. And I'm having a blast. So if you're not amused by Crowder, his wild hair, the funky keytar, and his awesome incorporation of Super Mario Bros. into Foreverandever, then you can imagine me sitting in my room jammin' along with my own air keytar. And if THAT doesn't make you laugh, then you don't know me. At all. So laugh and sing and dance, forever and ever and ever!

"I'm thinking about eternity and what we'll be doing forever and ever and ever!"

I Ain't Afraid of No Bugs!

While many people back home spend their Saturday relaxing and enjoying the fact that school was out for the summer, I was hard at work half a world away. In this country they call France, there exists rather large creatures known as Bugs. In Georgia, these creatures are not a problem inside your house, because we have invented the screen door to keep them out. When Springtime arrives you can cool off your house just by opening some doors and letting the breeze sweep in. And just in case you don't have a screen door, you can cool your house the expensive way: with A/C. Unfortunately for the French, neither the screen door nor the A/C has been discovered. Well, seeing as how Spring is here and the heat is just around the corner I decided to solve this little problem. I started with the A/C. I know what you are thinking- "I can't believe David and Walter (with all his heat transfer know-how) built an A/C system for their apartment!" Don't worry, we didn't. I copped out and bought a cheap fan. It works great...for circulating the already warm air in the room. Determined not to be beat, I went to work on my next innovation: the screen door.

Walter, Rani, and I headed to a home supply store. We wandered for a while looking for just the right materials to build this door. About an hour later, the three of us sauntered out of the store carrying a nice roll of polymer mesh, some duck tape, and two pieces of 4m pipe (12+ feet each, for those of you who don't do the SI units). With a trusty saw that I borrowed from Dan, we proceeded to build the most beautiful screen door that France has ever seen. It fits perfectly into the outer doorpost. I rearranged my room so that my balcony door could open all the way. It's nice; I can sit on my bed and look out the window onto the Technopole. Last night I spent some quality time just sitting in the cool of the dark, a breeze coming in from the damp night, listening to music from Amistad. It felt like home. Now I just need a bunch of friends, family, and home-made ice cream. And crickets. You can't hear the insects here, just the crows on the island. It's too bad. As you can see, I've got a picture of what the screen looks like. Check it out, and for those of you at home with the friends, family, and ice cream, know that every time you sit out on the porch and enjoy the summer nights, I'll be right there too, just six hours ahead. I'll let you know when the really beautiful nights are coming 

The Beach Boys, Part 2

There are two pictures that are really neat. The first one is the No Diving sign. That's right, there is no diving at this pool.

Here's another picture of us hanging out in the pool. Notice the floating cups? They are glasses filled with our beverages. Who knew glass would float? It was pretty cool.












After the First Annual ALOES Pool Party the pool had to come down. I had moved my bed into Stephen's room and there was no room at all. None. We couldn't even walk around without tripping over stuff and falling. So after having the pool up all weekend, it had to come down. It only took an hour to empty the water and pack everything up. My floor was "mopped" if you will and then the bed replaced and everything back where it was before. I forgot to mention that we recorded our friends' reactions when they saw the pool for the first time. Classic moments in ALOES history. I really can't wait for you to see the video. I'm just not sure how that's going to work. And that, my friends, is the story of the pool. But be warned, you never know when it may appear again...

The Beach Boys

It all started like any other normal day. Stephen and I woke up and needed food. The obvious solution was to go to Cora and pick up the essentials for the weekend. Within an hour we had returned with everythin we needed. Baguette, bread, rice, pasta, sauces of various sorts, cheese, and a swimming pool. Yup, you heard correctly. We bought a pool at the store. Eight feet in diameter and roughly two feet deep. It was quite the deal for a mere 20 euros. We came back to the room and made up a plan, and we thought it up quick. The pool would go in my room for several reasons. First, it was closer to the bathroom, the source of water. Secondly, if something went wrong, it was closer to the bathroom, the fastest way of getting rid of water. Finally, it was better for hiding the pool, since you look right in on Stephen's room when you walk into out apartment. We got to work. We opened the box and spread the pool out on the floor. It was huge. There was hardly enough room to walk around it. We begain filling garbage cans with water from the bathtub and sinks. This was going to take a lot of water. Now, you might be thinking that we are quite dumb
for doing this, but on the contrary, we planned ahead. We calculated the load-bearing ability of the floor and the worst-case scenario: 1.5 inches of water in my room. We felt confident. As we continued to fill the pool, we ran out of hot water. We had to put ice cold water in for over an hour. Man, the pool was going to be cold. They Stephen had a breakthrough. The next thing I knew, pots of boiling water were on the stove, ready to help make the pool a bit more pleasant. The total filling time was right at two hours. It was a lot of water. We turned the heaters on all the way (to make a sauna-like room) and make the chilly water a little more bearable.

Look at us. See how happy we are in our new pool? To be honest, the smiles were forced. That water was some of the coldest water I've ever been in. But the timer on the camera was set and there was nothing we could do but smile and feign joy. Notice the little European bathing suits? Those are standard here in France. You too should get one. The other pictures are from the First Annual ALOES Pool Party. John, Derrick, and Dan (not shown) came down and hung out with us, listening to the Beach Boys, Cake, and a lot of horrible random music that Stephen's computer like to play.

It was so cool. There are more pictures, and some really awesome videos. I'll post the pictures with some details about the taking down of the pool, but you're just going to have to wait until I return to the US to see the video that Stephen is putting together.

That Place Between Sleep and Awake

Today I finished my PFE. An entire semester of work came to an end. I think things turned out well. My temporary grade is 17/20, but that is not certain. I hope it doesn't change much. The day got better as it went along. I borrowed The Da Vinci Code from Sandra and picked up Season 3 of 24 from the library at ENSAM. I'm pretty set as far as entertainment is concerned. But the really odd thing about today is that everyone is leaving tomorrow. Everyone will pack up their belongings and head all over the country for the summer. Yes, there will be some people here. Yes, we will have fun. But the group as a whole has grown so close over the last few months. It will be different without them here.

Sitting here typing this it is late, nearly 2:30 am. The whole day has been surreal. Finishing up projects, last trips to buy kabobs, and one more dinnertable discussion. So much has happened that you should know about, but I haven't had time to write until now. I will start tomorrow, once everyone leaves. There are tales of swimming pools, PFE's, and The Wizard of Oz. Oh, there are many tales to be told. But the best ones are not real. They happen in that place between sleep and awake. That place were all I want to do is be a boy and never grow up. And fly. But for now I'll go to bed listening to the rain, the first good storm of the year, and thinking of that last dinnertable conversation...