Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Devon, I am a pilot, and will be attending Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University A.K.A. ERAU (Daytona Campus) as a freshman this fall during the 2008-2009 school year. The goal of this blog is to cover my experiences preparing for, and throughout college. It will serve as a record for me as well as hopefully an aid for new students entering college whether it be ERAU or any other university in the states.

More about me, some have termed me a ‘renaissance man’,  I recently graduated from West Bloomfield High School, in Michigan. My main interests are Aviation, computers, classic literature (authors from Rostand, to Gogol, to Sinclair), Big Band music (such as Glenn Miller and Percy Faith), classic music such as Tchaikovsky, I’m fluid in French, love it, and wish to continue my studies in it. I also love Economics, and most sciences, such as physics. I await my urban dictionary word of the day email every day with great anticipation. My favorite television shows are Lost, Pushing Daisies, Drive, Dead Like Me, Star Trek Voyager, Star Trek Enterprise, and Star Trek Next Generation. As you can tell I love mysteries and exploration.  

Okay enough with the trivial background information, my life has never been boring, I will say that much, and I will leave each blog entry with a small back story from my past be it high school or earlier, some will be significant, others will be there for their irony or humor, and others will be there, well because it is a random memory that I came across today or as I am writing the entry.

The reason for starting this blog now is, simple, I am ready to make my first purchase towards college. This being a laptop computer. A little forewarning I am an advanced computer user, who does not like to sit and wait for the computer, I would rather it be faster and have to wait for my input. My main machine, an Intel quad-core processor, with 4gb ram, 640gb hard disk, and 512mb video (oh and VISTA), has decided to corrupt it’s self. It is currently in for a backup, and restore, as every time I add a USB device it cannot recognize the device, ergo I cannot back up my information. This is very aggravating, and although I love Mac, and know how to use it, in the past one thing has kept me running PC’s (Flight Simulator). Vista is worse than ME (millennium edition), and not only that, Microsoft is cramming it down our throats, with ME we at least could have purchased a computer with 98SE, or 2000Pro/NT, and if not we could downgrade or upgrade. However that is not an option with Vista, the drivers simply will not run in XP. The machine I am using to write this is my old reliable Sony Viao (Celeron 600mhz, 385mb ram, 15gb hd, and XP Pro). It may be slow, but it keeps going, and with a fresh install of XP it runs smoother than my Vista machine. At any-rate, back to the laptop, I would opt for a Mac. However ERAU is strictly a PC school, they have the 7th most powerful computer in the world there (provided by Dell), and they have a contract with Dell that they get new computers, ever year or so. This is also another problem for me as I am about the furthest thing from a Dell fan, I used to love Acer, but now Sony or HP (If I don’t have the time to build the machine myself). Every-time I talk to someone at ERAU I get a different answer regardless what it is regarding. You would think that the worlds only Aviation dedicated school with a tuition of $40k a year would at least have some consistency. Anyone out there that does not have to have a PC I would recommend a Mac, a little more expensive, but they will last longer, battery life is about 6-8hrs (on my old Ibook g3 12″ that I rebuilt), they almost never crash, and have only 1 known virus. The operating system is logical and easy to use, if you have learned how to use Windows reasonably well, you can learn Mac no problem. For me however I would opt for the most powerful PC laptop within my budget, which is a 17″ custom configured HP with 2.4ghz core 2 duo, 4gb ram, 400gb hd, and a 512mb dedicated video card with turbo cache of 1.5gb and a vista rating of 4.5. However weighing over 8lbs I would not like to carry it to class. A 15″ or smaller is going to have to suffice, granted this is a secondary machine, as I am bringing my desktop, I would love a dedicated graphics card for increased performance, and have thought about the Dell XPS M1330 (a 13.3″ power-oriented computer, however most configurations use an integrated card). I will more likely opt for an HP with a dedicated graphics card. At any rate I am not looking forward to loading my over 200gb worth of data, files, and software back on to my desktop when I get it back, but it will have to be done. As for the other computer I will update the blog when I make a decision, and purchase it. 

Sorry to switch subjects so drastically, however I am wrapping up this entry, and I am going to explain my end story category (what I mentioned earlier). As I said before my life has never been boring. In school I have had some of the world’s worst and craziest school-bus drivers, some of the craziest teachers, as well as a few of the best, and some quite insane family ordeals.  

For today’s story I choose to introduce you to Mrs. Evola. Mrs. Evola was my AP Macro Economics and Micro Economics teacher this year. She has a great passion for economics however has a hard time articulating, in the margins of my notes I would write down verbatim her crazily worded sayings which I have saved in a compiled file on my computer that is in for maintenance. However today’s article in the Economist, about the Fed cutting interest rates by three quarters of a point, reminded me of her, and what she would say Ben Bernanke being In like Flynn (referring to Errol Flynn), to save the economy. Which also brings back lectures about how getting rid of OPEC would do away with all of our problems (I agree it would help with many), also that the sub-prime mortgages should have been prevented by Bernanke. However on the funnier side, it reminds me of her favorite saying that the world’s economy hinges on the Ford Fiesta, and Tropicana Orange Juice. 

Please send some feedback. And I hope you have enjoyed reading this.