Update on research work

Just a quick update on those projects I have ongoing this term.

The Open Sees bridge-modelling has been going well, with its expected stops and starts associated with learning a new (open-source) program in addition to getting to know the project. There is minimal theoretical learning on thsi project because so far it has been very similar to SAP2000 or ETABS: build a model. It's a stick model of the bridge with all of the area, inertia, and modulus of elasticity parameters stuffed in. I had a bit of a struggle getting the dynamic analysis to work since the static model was very simple to implement. Open Sees wiki has saved me multiple times and its examples are what I have used as a starting block (specifically Example 8). Now that the dynamic nonlinear analysis is working when each span is one member, I am trying to discretize the beams such that they are broken into 1ft (it is in imperial) segments. Having a bit of trouble making it behave, but I am sure it has to do with my syntax, nodal generation or something.

The Abaqus model. It took quite a while for me to actually get Abaqus on my laptop (2 weeks I think, but considering I started early that's not too bad). At the moment I have a soil block with a simple reinforced concrete stick-model of a frame. On the other I have a sinusoidal load being applied at a frequency that should be within the seismic range. The soil does not have any special spring constants in it yet but just the modulus of elasticity. I divided the block (10m cube) such that the upper 1m of the soil has the finest mesh and between 1m and 4m down has a medium-sized mesh. I am to be testing the mechanical vibration frequencies (20 - 60 Hz), but this paper, Simulating the dynamic response of a soil-pile system using Abaqus, gave an equation for a seismic load and I will therefore try this out first. I find debuggin in Abaqus head and shoulders above Open Sees, but that is to be expected with proprietary versus open-source software. I ran this simulation with seemingly no errors for about 30 minutes on my laptop, I went to get a coffee, and my computer had gone to sleep, so unfortunately it did not complete. I will be trying it again tomorrow.

On the university application side, on October 5th (right after coming back from New Orleans), I successfully completed my Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS), and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERCC) master's scholarships. I was very grateful to Dr. Sriram Narasimhan for guiding me in writing my research topic and to Dr. Robert Gracie and Dr. Scott Walbridge for their references.

Now that the funding is done, time to get onto actual university applications. So UW is a given that I will apply, but their deadline is at the end of the first quarter in 2012 so I have a while yet. The first two I started with are University of California at Berkeley since I've heard such great things about their structural department from multiple professors. Their application process is by far the most intimidating and the most involved, perhaps not the best one to start off when my nerves are concerned. A big essay for the statement of interest in graduate work at UC Berkeley, and a personal statement highlighting how we're an examplary leader or battled adversity. I'm almost all done and I have my first drafts of my essays. The second university on the chronological list is the University of British Columbia. After my visit to campus in September, I'd be excited to work there for the sake of enthousiastic professors and a great atmosphere. This application for UBC was much more relaxed, maybe it's the Canadian influence. Lastly, the one I just started tonight is the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Somewhere in between UC Berkley and UBC, the application does not seem to be too bad. I've heard great things about UofM, their structural dynamics people, and Ann Arbor in general. I hear they have a decent swing dance scene too (judging by Pirate Swing and KISS ME in Ann Arbor).


Anyways, that's my engineering update.

Motorcycle ride to Belfountain

On Friday, John and I took off to Belfountain on his motorcycle now that the leaves are changing colours. My dad, an avid motorcyclist, talks about the roads around Belfountain all the time. Below Are some pictures of what we saw, which was absolutely gorgeous. We definitely went up and down the main stretch a few times (once to take the video). Taking pictures from the back of the motorcycle is fun!

New Orleans.. who dat? WHO IS THAT!

New Orleans! Yes, it's been too delayed to post, my apologies, I have still been riding the vacation high. There will be a detailed breakdown, but as a summary it was an absolutely fantastic trip! I can't believe it, the music, dancing, buildings and people were fantastic. Let's start at the beginning...

Thursday

My dad is kind enough to drive John and I to Dean's house in Hamilton at 6 am. Coffee was involved and rightly so! From Hamilton we drive down to Buffalo where the border crossing was very quick, which always something I'm concerned about (considering we had hours before the flight, it was totally fine). So, I didn't use my Polish passport like I threatened to, I behaved. I flew with Dean both there and back because when we were planning we were the only Southwestern Ontario people that knew for sure that we were going.

Ann and John at Buffalo-Niagra Airport (Photo credit: Dean Villafuerte)

We parted ways from John who was flying an hour and a half later through Atlanta whereas we were going through O'Hare in Chicago. Oh ya and my bag was searched, then I realized oh shoot my Swiss army knife was still in there. Ha! They missed it and let me go. On the first flight, I was sitting in front of Dean and no one knew were flying together. At the end of the flight he reaches forward and ruffles my hair and says "Oh you have nice hair!". The look on the face of the guy next to me was priceless. Dean's great.

At O'Hare we met Jasper and Kevin Bacon (aka Phil). We were all sharing the same flight and had fun picking out the swing dancers in the crowds at the airport. There weren't too many but it became more apparently in New Orleans later.

Jasper and Ann  at O'Hare Airport (Photo credit: Dean Villafuerte)

Ann and Phil at O'Hare Airport (Photo credit: Dean Villafuerte)

Landing at Louis Armstrong airport, we headed to our hotel and met Anna who had been there since 11 am. Poor her! She already spent the better part of the day walking the streets of the French Quarter so she was already tired when we got there. Running out for some groceries, we met up with John when we got back so the whole team, Dean, Anna, John and I, were together. After a quick dinner, where Anna and I had our first jambalaya of the weekend, we walked along Bourbon Street. Oh jeez is that place full of alcohol, drunk people, and specialty stores. Anna got beads thrown at her. Seriously, she they just tossing them at people, so you ca go home and act all scadalous but did absolutely nothing for them, hah. Dancing that night was at the House of Blues, a locale widely used throughout the weekend. It was a bit tough to start out dancing, personally, because it took a while to find the people you wanted to dance with. With 17 people representing Toronto and Southwestern Ontario, it was easier to dance more with them to get my dancing legs in gear. That lasted nice and late, then John and I went with Steve and Caitlin to Déja Vu, a bar in the quarter where John had gator balls, similar to chicken balls. A crowd of dancers merrily sang to Bohemian Rhapsody and a few other favourites at the top of their lungs.

Friday

First full day in New Orleans! The morning and early afternoon were leisurely after the travels the day before. The boys shopped for hats and shoes, which is quite funny due to its backwardsness. In all fairness, the stores we went to were suited for men, so Anna and I just hung around as John got a sweet pair of blue leather shoes and Dean met the nice old lady that helped him find hats last year (it was a really cute encounter). Walking towards Jackson square, we pass Trashy Diva, a set of three stores: clothing, lingerie, and shoes. We check out the first two (Dean and John being in the nearby used bookstore for that second part). Stuff was super cute, I just couldn't pick out anything in particular in the flurry of new sights and sounds, sensory overload!

The afternoon was the second line parade where we danced down the streets of New Orleans to parading musicians. We started with two sousaphones, a trombone, and a few more brass instruments and acquired some along the way. It was absolutely brilliant, lots of people came out to take pictures, to join us, or watch from their balconies and listen to the music. At the front of the parade was Toronto representing with Kevin Bacon, Krister, and Jasper.

Anna, Ann and John at Second Line (Photo credit: Dean Villafuerte)

Friday night was at the Wax Museum, which was a really nice venue. There they had Meschiya Lake and the Little Big Horns with a few other bands. This was the beginning of the slow lindy competition which was fun to see. Normally I've seen Jack and Jills, solo jazz, and fast lindy. I thought it was going to be sketchy like solo blues but it was all good. It allowed people time to play around in their swingouts. At the end of night, I was changing my shirt for the late night, and before I left, Anna was hugging a couch cushion to the couch she was slouching on. One of the servers walked past and said he thought she was pregnant with a baby of another colour (he was African American and the couch was green....ya, that comment totally made my evening!). Late night (which is not slow blues dancing like you would think in Toronto or Waterloo, it's the same tempo as the rest of the night...fast!)

Saturday

Another leisurely morning because of the 4 am bed time. Anna and I went to the ballrooming lesson with Faulty (Mike) preceeded by coffee at Envie, which became the coffee place of choice for dancing since it was close to the French market. The guys went and did their own thing (apparently bonded over breakfast which is cute), and Anna and I had a hard time finding the location of the lesson. Finally finding it, they were late anyways, so it was all good. Admittedly, haplessly running through the French market was noteably awesome. The lesson was funny, the main thing that sticks out was his explanation of counting; by numbers, describing what you're doing, or scatting. His scatting was funny, and is totally being added to my repetoire. Also two-step is under-utilized, it's so fun. In addition, I may have further developed my reputation at a lead starting at this lesson (and throughout the weekend), and a lead that could actually do the moves.

Anna, Ann and John at the French market (Photo credit: Dean Villafuerte)

After the lesson was social dancing at the same place in the French market interspersed with the showdown entries. We tried to convince Kevin Bacon and Krister to sign up, but Phil didn't want to even after we offered to set up a fundraising event on Facebook. Unfortunately it was too late to sign up Jasper and Krister. I'm really glad Lunou and her partner did really well. All of the participants were amazing. The French couple who was the obvious favourite did some crazy moves like him dive rolling through a hoop she made with her arm and leg.

Saturday night was the big dressed up night at Generations Hall (whipped out the black/red dress with the crinolin). Music by Meschiya Lake and the Little Big Horns, troupe and couples performances, showdown finals, and solo jazz competitions. After a brief issue with Phil and Jasper not being called up, they ran onto the floor and busted out the moves. We were all super proud of Phil who did very very well and almost made it to the top three. He brought in some non swing stuff that is truely Phil. The social dancing was also lots of fun with a new addition to the Toronto crowd being Lawrence, appearing in typical Lawrence fashion...for one night only.

Making friends with some of the Quebec City crowd, we went out for beignets and coffee at Café du Monde before the late night. Hopefully I'll see them at Swing-a-Dance, if I have time next term. Much silliness ensued with Dean, icing sugar and a camera. The late night was fun as usual, with people getting progressively more tired earlier in the evenings due to the shear volume of dancing done.

Anna, Ann and John at the House of Blues (Photo credit: Dean Villafuerte)

Though I didn't always dance every song there, the House of Blues was all unstained wood on the inside where the dance floor was sunken 3 steps from the sitting area, so you could lean up against a post and watch the dancers for a bit. Or if you were one of the cool people, you frequented the bar and people watched from afar. The night ended with the DJs playing bad rock and rap music to clear people out, which was actually quite effective in previous nights. This night people got into it. When a few disco songs came on Caitlin started to do the hustle with John and Andy, and decided to take it into the breakdancing jam circle that had formed. There was cheering for new people entering the circle, then dead silence of confusion as Caitlin and Andy gracefully hustled. Meanwhile we laughed our faces off from the back.

Sunday

This is when I found the shoes. The glorious shoes. I had missed the Trashy Diva shoe store before, and being kinda like 'hey John got cool shoes and I can't find a thing here', we went inside and oh man it was so nice. Also I found the pair of forest green Remix shoes that I had seen on 2 girls since Thursday night and I totally loved them (one of the showdown judges and Mia). I had to buy them, they were super super comfortable and are totally cute. I haven't worn them out yet, I'm sad at the thought of them getting stepped on while dancing! Maybe I'll have to dance only with John one night when he wears his new shoes cause he has the same feeling. Also, the cloche hat I saw there I just ordered because it couldn't fit in my luggage. Swing dancer discount, yeah I really like this store! The lessons and bar hopping day. It started off with a two step lesson from Peter Loggins that John was really looking forward to at the Spotted Cat. Ok, so the leads weren't great, but the lesson material was nice. The best part was when John asked Peter some questions after the lesson, Peter went into a bit of a history lesson which was fun to listen to. The summary of the history of the reintroduction of lindy hop is: screw triple steps. It took people too long in the 90's to get their swingouts with triple steps from the start. Starting with two step and building it up is way more successful.Then wandering over across the street (drinks in hand if people chose to drink) to D.B.A. where Peter and Mia did another lesson but this time in balboa. After seeing that it was the same people in the lesson, we passed on going in rotation, but followed along from the sidelines. The floor was also not very conducive to swivels, fish tails or anything done properly. I really enjoyed the introduction to new technique and I definitely want to try it out next Monday night at the Button Factory...with someone who can lead balboa.

Sunday was when Jay and Liz came into town and we were going to go to Coops again after having been there the day before. It's this fantastic cajun cooking where the coleslaw, rabbit jambalaya and fried chicken were all fantastic. Jay, Matt and Steve from Toronto all raved about it, and they were totally right. Since Jay and Liz went right after they landed, our timing got a bit off so it was just Anna, John and I.

Sunday was great cause after checking the other bars, D.B.A. was the one with the best music going on, and the whole Toronto crowd congregated there. It became the Imeprial pub all over again with us being loud and obnoxious in the back. Such things included a call and response to "She'll be comin' 'round the mountain when she comes" and people responding "that's what she said", it was great. On the street outside of D.B.A., there was this giant cart wheel with random drums and things to hit percussively. It was a bunch of noise but it worked. The guys just handed us drumsticks and it was totally fun. Also I got a piggy back ride from Jay which was cool cause I've never been so tall and my head almost hit a sign (he did give warning, which was thoughtful). This is when we actually got time to go to Coops with Jay and Liz, though Anna had gone back to the hotel to rest up before the evening dance. Man, they are such fun people and made freinds so easily it was hilarious. We ended up missing Tuba Skinny because of the good music at D.B.A. and made it for the late night band. By this time, all of my toes were blistered, Anna's legs couldn't move, Dean was exhausted, and John had his ankle stepped on hard. So we called it an earl(ier) night at 2 am and went back, packed up a bit for an early departure the next morning.

Monday

After saying goodbye to Anna who was leaving later that day (and she slept with the box of Kashi cereal by the way). The rest of the flight home through Atlanta was pretty routine. They put me with the box scanner, I was not amused, Normally I opt for the pat down instead, but because I was travelling with people, I didn't want to be a burden on their time. I am not amused with the US and their security protocols. Also I could have avoided it if I didn't forget that my ipod was in my back pocket since it was my boarding pass.

John, Dean and I got back to Waterloo, stopped off at John's house, had some tea, I had some vegetables because I missed them. Then we went to the West Coast night where we gushed all night about how much fun we had. Also I had my little booties and danced hustle, which was hilarious cause I felt like trolling the dance. We ended the night with Pepi's (it's no Coops), and thus ended our adventures.