MS Moonlight Walk

Only 1 exam left so by about 8pm tonight I will have finished uni for another year! I can't believe I'm halfway through uni and how quickly it has gone, it seems like only yesterday I was sitting in the first year learning centre trying to understand thermodynamics.

Last week I volunteered at the MS Moonlight Walk which raised almost $80000 for people living with MS. There were quite a few colourful characters, one group being the 'Stormtroopers':



Better get back to studying for this last exam!

Civil Engineering Ball

On Thursday night I went to the CESA (civil engineering student association) and PSA (psychology student association) ball. The logic behind this seemingly strange combination is that civil engineering has lots of boys and psychology has lots of girls, so there's more of a gender balance if you put the 2 together. For any high school kids, uni isn't all work - almost every student organisation hosts a ball or a cocktail party so there's always something fun to look forward to. The photo is of one of me and one of my few female civil engineering friends (it was a masquerade ball by the way, so you don't think I'm a freak for wearing a mask)

SWOTVAC, Boeing and emus

It's SWOTVAC already! I'm not quite in panic mode yet but rest assured I will be by this time next week. 3 exams in 3 days, oh how I love exam block!

About 2 weeks ago I went to the Inaugural EAIT (Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology) Scholarship Student Seminar, which is basically just a long way of saying a dinner which was held at Custom's House for UQ scholarship holders. We heard from Mr John Duddy, Managing Director of Boeing Defence Australia, and were able to 'mingle' with other Boeing representatives, lecturers and fellow scholarship holders. It was a great night and hopefully the EAIT faculty will host another one in the future.

I forgot to post photos of the family road trip. I don't have any exciting ones to post other than this one I took of an emu family we saw out near Mitchell (which is a bit further west of Roma):

MSQuerade ball

Last weekend I was a volunteer at the MSQuerade ball, one of MS Queensland's major fundraising events. For anyone who doesn't know, MS stands for Multiple Sclerosis which is progressive disease of the nervous system, for which there is no cure. MS can cause blurred vision, loss of balance, poor coordination, slurred speech, tremors, numbness, extreme fatigue, problems with memory and concentration, paralysis, and blindness, and symptoms vary for different people. This disease is particularly relevant for young people, as most people diagnosed with MS are aged between 20 and 40. It is not contagious or directly inherited and around 18 000 Australians have MS. MS Queensland is a non-profit organisation that provides information about multiple sclerosis, raisees funds for MS research and provides professional healthcare services to those diagnosed, their family and carers.



Here's a video they played at the ball which I think gives a great insight into MS:



Anyway, it's an incredibly worthwhile cause and I'll be helping out at other upcoming MS events so let me know if you're interested in volunteering.

QRC Scholarship Ambassador Day

Unfortunately I haven't had time to post any thing for almost 2 weeks because I've been flat out with uni work! So here's an update on what's been happening:

Last Tuesday I went to the QRC Scholarship Ambassador Day where we heard from Michael Roche, CEO of QRC and a variety of company representatives from Rio Tinto, Santos, Golding, BMA and Thiess. The day also gave everyone to meet the new scholarship kids. Yay!

It was fantastic to hear from Michael Roche because he presented an inside view of the industry. He showed us figures which indicate a growth in employment and told us about the upcoming coal seam gas projects and LNG, liquefied natural gas. For me, I find coal seam gas or CSG fascinating. My dad was involved in QGC (Queensland Gas Company) since it was floated so I've been hearing him rant about it for quite some time. For anyone who doesn't know about CSG, it's a natural gas which occurs when coal is formed and becomes trapped by water in coal seams. To remove the gas, wells are drilled and the water is pumped out which releases the gas. The current issue is what to do with all of this water - at the moment is is pumped into huge evaporation ponds. Obviously with the water shortage in SE QLD this water could be put to better use, however it needs to be treated first. Over the Christmas holidays I'll be doing vac work with Golder Associates who design the evaporation ponds - I'm super excited! As you can tell, there are some interesting times ahead in the resources industry!

Better go now - 3 assignments due this week! ARGH!!! Can't wait for the holidays, I'm going to Roma/Charleville/St George on a family driving trip...I'll post some photos when I get back.

Pracs

So as it turns out, the UQ mine is closed at the moment, which means we didn't actually get to go into the mine during the mining ventilation prac last week. We were allowed to look at the openings of the mine though!

This week I had a fun (and somewhat messy) prac for the concrete subject I'm doing - we got to make 2 reinforced concrete beams. In about 4 weeks time we get to test them

Have to go to band rehearsal now!

Touch football, VAC WORK, careers in engineering night and CESA updates

Uni has been keeping me pretty busy recently with assignments and mid semester exams. I'm really enjoying the mine ventilation course I'm taking at the moment - I have a prac at the UQ mine on Wednesday which should be interesting.

The touch season is off to a good start with our division E (yes, that is the lowest division) team recording a 10-1 loss tonight. However this is an improvement on last week's score of 10-0. The team I play in on Wednesday nights is performing a bit better with a 9-4 win last week.

In more exciting news (I know what you're thinking - how can anything be more exciting than my touch team's epic losses), I'll be doing vac work with Golder Associates during the summer holidays!!! They are an employee-owned company with international expertise in ground engineering, earth and environmental services. I'm going to be working in the civil design department which means that half the work I do will be mining related and the other half will be civil related. I'll be based at their Brisbane office for most of the time with a trip or two out to the Queensland Gas Company (one of their clients) gas fields which are south-south-east of Chinchilla. I can't wait to start - it's sure to be a fantastic experience!

On Thursday night of last week I helped out at the UQ Careers in Engineering night (along with most of the other QRC scholarship students). It was a great chance for high school aged students to find out more about what engineering offers and what it's really like. If you couldn't make it this year, either leave a message on one of our blogs, join the facebook group or come along next year if you're not in grade 12.

Also last week was the Baulderstone and Nutrient Water sponsored CESA BBQ which was a great success. Thankfully for everyone there I wasn't cooking the sausages, but if I do say so myself, I think I did a pretty awesome job stacking the piles of bread and serviettes. CESA is currently planning a first year BBQ for Wednesday 2 September (next week) sponsored by UQ, so any first years, you'll be finding out about it soon enough.

Ok, better go now!

Science and Engineering Challenge State Finals

On Wednesday I volunteered at the Science and Engineering Challenge State Finals. I was supervising the "who gets the water?" challenge where the task was to design a system to pipe water around Australia.
This involved student teams setting up various paths of calibrated containers, hoses, valves and T joiners to transfer water from upper reservoirs to the lower target containers in as little time as possible. I volunteered for the initial rounds of competition earlier in the year so it was great to see some of the schools back for the finals. The grand final is being held in Bendigo in October - good luck to all the teams involved!

Europe and UQ Open Day

Over the holidays I went to Europe which was AWESOME to say the least. I started in Rome and ended up in London after visiting Florence, Venice, Salzburg, Munich, Heidelberg and Paris. In Salzburg I went to the 450 year old salt mines which was very cool - they have long wooden slides that you go on to get into the mine. Also, in Munich there was a fantastic museum on engineering with everything from tunnel building to bridges to model trains. I'd highly recommend it to anyone visiting Munich. I've put a few photos from the trip below.

In other news, the UQ open day was on Sunday. I helped out on the Civil Engineering BBQ which was good fun (except that I smelled of sausages afterwards). It was great to see so many people interested in the engineering displays.



Grand Canal in Venice

This is a photo of the walls inside the old university jail in Heidelberg. Yes, they used to jail uni students who misbehaved. Apparently common offences were swimming in the city fountains after having too much to drink and chasing farmers' pigs through the streets

The view from the top of the hill in Salzburg...right before it stormed

Bring on the holidays!!

3 exams down, 2 to go!

EXAMS!

First exam tomorrow! It's for structural mechanics which is probably my hardest subject - more than half the grade failed the mid semester exam! Better get back to studying...

Only one assignment to go!

One week left of classes and one assignment to go! Our last major assignment was due today - we had to make a poster in a group about a major engineering project and assess its sustainability. Our group chose a building called "The Gauge" in Melbourne which is Australia's first building to be awarded 6 Green Stars for sustainability by the Green Building Council of Australia. Pretty interesting stuff considering it was built for the same cost as a regular A grade office building, showing that being green doesn't need to be any more expensive.

Last week I has the pleasure of presenting a short speech at the presentation of this year's UQ excellence and QRC scholarships and meeting this year's recipients. I'm looking forward to seeing them around uni and at various events throughout the year.

In other news, the social touch football team I play in is having a truly amazing season. So far we haven't won a single game, however this is OBVIOUSLY because we're letting the other teams have a bit of a head start, to make it a bit more fair. We're improving though, we've only been losing by a margin of 5 points recently...to put this into perspective for anyone who doesn't play touch footy, 1 try is equal to 1 point. Pretty soon we'll have the Broncos scouts hassling us about contracts

Update

Uni has been pretty full on these past few weeks with mid semester exams, but they're all over now so we get a bit of a break. Until the final exams come around. Then it's time for a few more late nights, cram sessions and a bit of panic in general. Good times.

In other news I'm going to the Dylan Moran show on Monday night :D I'M SO EXCITED!!! For anyone who has never seen the show Black Books or any of his stand up, you're really missing out.

Just a few marvellous Black Books quotes to finish off on:

Bernard (doing his tax return): "If you live in a council flat"... "beside a river"... "but are not blind"... WHAT? WHAT?! "What is your mother's maiden name?" What's her first name? I just knew her as Ma! Ma! That'll have to do. (Writing) Ma... possibly deceased.

Bernard: Gerald! Can I ask you a question?
Gerald: What?
Bernard: You know the thing, uh, the thing that cleans these things, the thing-cleaner! Why is that in your bathroom? I'm not Coco Chanel or anything but I think that's a bit weird.
Gerald: Umm Bernard why don't I umm call you a cab?
Bernard: I don't want a cab! It's only half-one. Anyway, listen, listen, why do you have a toaster in your bathroom?
Gerald: We haven't got a toaster in our bathroom.
Bernard: Well you should put a lock on the door anyway because I was in there, I was on the toilet and everything, and little Jimmy comes in, he's drinking milk from the fridge and that's all wrong... it's unhygienic. And what were you thinking, what was going through your brain when you thought "Oh yeah, I'll buy a wicker toilet"? (Sarah shrieks in horror from another room)
Bernard: So I go to the toilet in your wicker chair, it's a faux pas.

Manny: Bernard, this Therm-Away jacket you bought me doesn't seem to be working. I feel quite warm.
Bernard: Trust me. It's what the astronauts use to keep cool.
Manny: Is space hot?
Bernard: Hah, of course it is. Where else do you think we get pineapples from?

Bernard: Shut up! I am trying to make crème brulée! (starts grinding a cucumber)

Anzac Day

On Anzac Day I was proud to play in the Brisbane Municipal Concert Band (the community band which I'm a member of) at a morning service at Graceville Memorial Park and a later one at Bannerman Park. The band itself was formed in 1903 and has been playing at the Graveville Anzac Day Service since 1932, so it's a great tradition to continue.

Below are some pictures from the day:

Mid semester exams

The mid semester break is over and like most people I've spoken to, I didn't do nearly enough study. At least my mid semester exams are spread out: 1 tomorrow, 1 next week and 2 the following week. Plus a few assignments thrown in there. Looks like there are some fun times coming up...

In other news, my parents just got back from a trip to New York. They went to an exhibition over there about the '8 Great Projects Under New York' (dad hasn't stopped raving about it). Basically New York's population has been pretty steady for the last 50 years or so and recently it has started growing again (it's just passed 8 million). So they've realised they need to start building more infrastructure (these 8 seriously huge projects) - it's pretty interesting stuff. There's a 9.5km train tunnel, a water filtration plant being built underneath a golf course and driving range (pictured below), a 13.5km train tunnel and a 96km long water pipe, 250m underground, with a diameter between 3m and 7m (pictured below), just to name a few.

And it's raining again! Almost 60% in the dams! :D

Happy Easter!

I hope everyone is having a nice Easter and is eating lots of chocolate. My puppy Louie certainly has been. He stole a Lindt gold bunny (he has good taste) from my bedside table this morning while I was asleep and ate it - foil and all. He kindly left the bell though. I subsequently spent most of today at the animal hospital with him (chocolate is toxic to dogs), but he's ok. I don't think he'll be eating any more chocolate from now on!

Almost holidays!

Only one lecture left before I'm on holidays!! YAY!! I'll be studying for mid semester exams on my holidays, but it'll still be a good break.

In other news, there's a new mining show on the ABC starting on Sunday 19 April called 'Dirt Game'. With all of the TV shows on at the moment about various professions, like House, Bondi Vet, and many more, it's about time someone made one about the mining industry. From the preview, it looks a little dramatic but it'll be interesting to see what it's like.
Here's a link to the preview:
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/comingsoon.htm#?vid=video1.

Yesterday CESA held the pizza event which I helped organise, I've posted some photos below. The representative from the sponsor was a member of UQ CESA about 35 years ago so it was interesting talking to him about how the uni has changed.

Update on uni/April fools' day!

It's crazy to think we're up to week 5 of uni already! So far I love my subjects, they're all really interesting. One day last week I was SO keen to get to my structural mechanics lecture, that in my haste to get to a spare seat I managed to face-plant into the row of seats in front of me. Rather funny, as I'm sure fellow QRC scholarship kid, Peter (sitting in the row behind), can attest. Along with half the lecture theatre who also witnessed my graceful stumble. But no one was hurt and the seats made a full recovery, so I’m glad I could bring a bit of laughter to the 10am lecture timeslot.

Recently I've become the 2nd year representative of the UQ Civil Engineering Student Association (CESA). Next Wednesday I’m organising a pizza lunch sponsored by Osborn Lane and Red Bull, so any UQ engineering students reading this, come along for a networking opportunity and some free lunch.

To finish off this post and today being April fools' day, I thought I’d share a few media generated pranks:

Left-Handed Whopper

In the year 1998, Burger King published a full page advertisement in USA Today announcing that they had launched “Left-Handed Whopper” specially designed for the 32 million left-handed Americans. According to the advertisement, the new whopper included the same ingredients as the original Whopper (lettuce, tomato, hamburger patty, etc.), but all the condiments were rotated 180 degrees for the benefit of their left-handed customers. The following day, Burger King issued a follow-up release revealing that although the Left-Handed Whopper was a hoax, thousands of customers had gone into restaurants to request the new burger.

The Swiss Spaghetti Harvest

The BBC TV programme Panorama ran a famous hoax in 1957, where Swiss women were shown harvesting strands of spaghetti from trees and laying them in the sun to dry. The narrator explained that a mild winter and elimination of the dreaded spaghetti weevil had farmers hoping for a bumper crop. A large number of people contacted the BBC wanting to know how to cultivate their own spaghetti trees or how they can buy a spaghetti plant for themselves.

















Smellovision

In 1965, BBC TV aired an "interview" with a man who had invented a new technology called "Smellovision" that allowed viewers at home to experience aromas produced in the television studio. To demonstrate, the man chopped some onions and brewed a pot of coffee. Viewers called in to confirm that they had smelled the aromas that were "transmitted" through their television sets.

Japan video!

Yes I am wearing a ski jacket in the photos - it was so COLD! I got a few strange looks from the Japanese but at least I was warm :)

Coldplay

I went to the Coldplay concert last night! It was FANTASTIC :)

International Women's Day Breakfast

Yesterday I went to the annual QRC/WIMARQ International Women's Day Breakfast and presentation of the Resources Awards for Women. It was a great morning - Her Excellency the Governor of Queensland Ms Penelope Wensley AO gave an interesting speech about her experiences as a woman in a male dominated profession.

QRC is doing a great job of encouraging women to get involved in the resources industry. Their aim is to increase the percentage of women in non-traditional roles from 6% to 12% by 2020. Seeing as they've already reached 10%, I think they'll easily exceed that target. As part of QRC's Women in Resources Action Plan, member companies have been taking initiatives ranging from providing PPE specifically designed for women to career development programs, and from allowing flexible working arrangements to providing mentoring and networking programs. I've attended quite a few networking and workshop events for women in engineering and have found them very inspiring and encouraging.

At yesterday's breakfast the 2009 Resources Awards for Women was presented to Sandra Collins. She is a great role model, being the first woman in Queensland to study mining engineering and only the second in Australia, she had to fight legislation which banned women from working underground! Last year's winner, Melanie Gordon, is also a fantastic role model. At a workshop for female engineering students late last year, she gave a speech about her studies (being a poor uni student) and career (now being able to buy lots of Tiffany jewellery) which myself and other students found really entertaining but also eye-opening.

I'd better get back to this assignment...we've only been at uni for a week and I already have 3 assignments!

Uni started back yesterday, should be good to get back into it. I’ve only had one lecture so far because I spent yesterday volunteering at the Science and Engineering Challenge. This was an event where high school kids from all over Brisbane came to UQ to compete in a variety of tasks. The one I was supervising was called “Mission to Mars” and they had to build a buggy which could drive on Mars. Other activities included building bridges, hovercrafts and catapults. The students seemed to be having a great time and getting pretty into it (judging by how competitive they were getting) and I had fun chatting to the students (including some people from my old school) about engineering.

In other news, I’ve just returned from a month long trip to Japan which was AWESOME to say the least. I can’t say a bad word about Japanese people, they were all so friendly. Some of the places I travelled to were:
Tokyo – absolutely HUGE
Utsunomiya
Nikko - which has world heritage national park and historic temples
Hiroshima - the Peace Museum was very moving
Koyasan - where we stayed in a Buddhist temple
Kyoto
Nara – there are about 1500 deer which roam the city. Also home to the world’s largest wooden structure
Osaka
Nagoya - I met up with some Japanese friends here
Hakuba – the ski fields!

Anyway, I’ve put up some photos if you want to take a look. There's a sweet soundtrack to go with them

The Victorian bush fires featured in the Japanese media while I was there and many Japanese people expressed their concerns for the Australians involved. Particularly at the ski slopes, where there were many Australians holidaying, the Japanese had set up donation boxes in lots of the shops and hotels.

Many mining companies have also made donations, including BHP Billiton, Newmont Australia, Iluka (CRL) and Wesfarmers who have together donated over AU$1 million.

If you’d like to donate to the Red Cross Victorian Bushfire Appeal, you can do so online on the following website:https://www.redcross.org.au/Donations/onlineDonations.asp

You can also make donations at post offices and the following banks: Westpac, NAB, ANZ, Commonwealth, BankSA, Heritage Building Society, BOQ, Bendigo Bank.

Japan etc.

Since my last entry, I've scrapped the Intrepid trip and instead I’m going to Japan! As of Monday (2 days time) I’ll be backpacking around Japan for 25 days (spending a bit of that scholarship money) with a friend. Some of the things we have planned include skiing, staying overnight in a Buddhist temple with monks and going to a restaurant where there are monkeys working as waiters. No you didn't misread that, I did type moneys working as waiters. It could be a slight issue that I don’t speak any Japanese (excluding sushi and tempura), but that should make for an interesting trip. I'll post some photos when I get back :)

As for uni related topics, I've decided to major in civil engineering with a minor in mining engineering. My reasoning is that it gives you a few more options as opposed to a straight mining or civil degree. Plus buildings, bridges and concrete are all pretty exciting.

I also went on a tour of the Thiess offices about a month ago which was really interesting and a good opportunity to speak to people about their jobs. A little while ago I was also invited by UQ to attend the Women in Engineering Breakfast at the Sofitel. The speaker, Ms Else Shepherd AM gave an enlightening presentation about engineering being a creative profession. She highlighted the idea the engineers should (or should at least attempt to) create attractive objects rather than purely functional ones.

Also I thought I'd add that we got a puppy...a poodle crossed with a staffy...so a stoodle. It's a bit of a weird mix but he’s very cute (his name is Louie)

Sayonara!