eBay Item - AutoDesk Inventor 11 Professional

Here are the contents of the AutoDesk Inventor 11 Professional Suite I am auctioning:

Three (3) AutoDesk Inventor Professional CDs
Two (2) AutoCAD MECHANICAL 2007 / AUTODESK MECHANICAL DESKTOP 2007 CDs
One (1) AUTODESK VAULT CLIENT / AUTODESK DATAMANAGEMENT SERVER CD

NROTC Spring Formal of '09

Hey ya'll.

Sorry it's been so long since I have put up a post. Here are a few photos from the NROTC Spring Formal on 13 March.

God bless,

Joe

ICKY WHITE STUFF!!!

Well, it's been getting colder and colder here until finally.... THIS happened....

Fall Ball Photos

Halloween at Villanova

Mike the Lumberjack and Salvatore the Mobster.

Salvatore the Mobster and Pocahontas.

Salvatore the Mobster and Sarah Palin.

Salvatore the Mobster and the Cowgirl.

??

The Group.

The Guys.

Eight Weeks Later....

Hello everyone!

Well, we just passed our eight week mark a few days ago, and all appears to be going well. It's been a hectic ride so far, mainly on account of India Company. As I mentioned in my last post, the first six weeks of school were filled with fairly intense training for Navy ROTC, our initiation process if you will. By the end of it all, however, we were learning how to have fun with it. It still wasn't the most pleasant experience, but our superior officers began to lighten up over the final days, and we realized that they were having a heck of a lot of fun and that they were really very nice and fun people. My Platoon Commander is one of the sweetest girls ever, so it was really quite humorous seeing her "morph" back into her normal self. Even though they're technically my peers now, I still have a tremendous amount of respect for them, and it's been hard not calling them "sir" or "ma'am". I ran into one of the other platoons' sergeant instructors two days before Fall Review and as I walked past he said "'SUP SAL?". I responded with "how are you sir?" He said "woah, wait, noooo no no. Repeat after me: 'what's up?'. You're out of India now, relax man." I still have training three times a week (hopefully I'll get it down to twice a week soon), but now I'm training with a friendly, supportive group of fellow students.



Fall Review was a very encouraging experience. Several high ranking military figures were there (Rear Admiral Joseph P. Mulloy, Commander of the Pacific Fleet swore us in) and the formality really stressed the importance of the event. The most fun, however, was wearing our white uniforms together. We look pretty snazzy, I must say. Note the photos.



Everything else has been fairly standard procedure. The week after Fall Review brought us midterm exams (gee, thanks!). However, with midterms brings fall break! Now, I learned an important lesson here: don't stay on campus unless you have to! And plan your events carefully. I stayed on campus so that I could go to a concert Tuesday night (which was incredibly fun!), but that meant missing out on really anything else this break. I was okay with that, and I thought that it would just be a nice relaxing time to unwind and get some work done. Well... when there's nobody on campus... it is relaxing but it's also very boring. You really have to make an attempt to get out and go somewhere. So, lesson learned. I caught up on sleep, I caught up on some other things I needed help with, and I burned a couple hours watching Family Guy trying not to think about how there wasn't anybody to hang out with.


Regarding things you thought might have changed when I went to college: I'm still single, and I still plan to play rugby. I went to a practice and it was REALLY, REALLY FUN, but at the moment my schedule with the Navy conflicts with practice times. Next semester I should have time to practice with them, and it's supposed to be more relaxed in the spring anyways.

As always, please email or call. I'm not going anywhere!

God bless,

Joe

I'm alive!

Hello everyone! I'm sorry I haven't put anything on here in so long, but I thought I'd write a blurb to say I'm okay and I got settled in alright. Well, my bags are unpacked, but I don't know that settled in is the right term. I hope to be putting up more photos soon, but here's my "new look" and my "new crib". I live in Moriarty Hall on the third story (that middle window on the creme colored plaster side of the building is mine). My dorm mates are all very nice people and tend to be settling down (third floor was a little rowdy on the second night here.... smaaaaaart). Lots of engineering majors in my dorm and I'm starting to notice people I know in my classes. Lucky me though, I was placed in a dorm with NO OTHER NROTC CANDIDATES. I think they hate me. Everyone else either has a roommate or two who are Candidates or they are in a dorm with other candidates. Apparently the Navy is racist and doesn't like Italians. Or prejudiced and doesn't like Anglicans. I'll keep you guys posted on that front.

First things first. I got in to Philadelphia at c. 1 AM and, thanks to time zones and strange sleeping and eating schedules, I was surprisingly awake and alert. Suffice to say, I made it out of the building alive and I was able to successfully maneuver the dark and dirty sidewalk of the Philadelphia International Airport and access Mr. Hoopes car. I stayed at his apartment that night, and then ran a few errands with him before he very kindly took me out to campus. I met with my two roommates, Ken and James, and had a pleasantly quiet evening with the other new students in my dorm.

Thursday through Sunday was jam packed with Orientation. They take orientation very seriously here.... all 1700 freshman are divided up into groups of about 20 students and assigned a group number (GROUP SIX-THREE!) and an orientation counselor (ROOOOOOBBBB!). Aside from an awkward luau and a slightly less awkward water ice social, orientation was a really nice, relaxing time where we got to spend a lot of time on campus and get to know all the buildings while at the same time we got to create a support group and get to know other people on campus. I know everyone in my group and even though I don't see some of them very often, it's nice to have that connection so that when I do see them I can go up and ask them how they're doing.

Orientation ended Sunday night, and Monday morning brought my first day of NROTC and my first set of classes. Well it would have, except my alarm clock didn't go off so I missed my first day of drill (NOT A GOOD DAY). Villanova NROTC prides itself in it's 6 week initiation program called India Company. We candidates have taken to calling it less pleasant things such as..... well.... okay.... we haven't thought of anything else yet... but if we do I'll let you know. For the first 6 weeks of school, we train/drill four mornings a week, and are basically on call for every school day (wearing "proper civilian attire", signing in twice a day at John Barry Hall and greeting officers according to their correct titles whenever we come across them). Lots of screaming. Lots of ego-breaking. Lots of work. It's mentally and emotionally draining, and the physical aspect has been tough (at least for me) as well. Suffice to say, I can't wait for Fall Review (when we all become midshipmen 4th class in early October).

As far as classes, I have Introduction to Engineering (learning how to work with CAD programs -quite fun), Chemistry (*deep breath*), Calculus (*deep breath*), Basic Theology, Augustinian Culture Seminar (a humanities-type class) and Naval Science. Plus I have three hour labs for Engineering, Chemistry and Naval Science.

I'm afraid I have to cut this short since the night is getting late here. But, as I have already said, I'm alive and I'll try to continue to keep you posted. Life is busy, but please call or email me if you ever get the chance and I'll try to get back to you ASAP if I don't catch you.

God bless,

Joe

The Mill Creek Trail

Hi guys!

I just thought I'd take a minute to share a few photos I took of the area I'm working in with the Forestry. Right now we're working on the Mill Creek Trail, 16 miles of mountainous terrain in the Ishi Wilderness following (as far as I've seen so far) Mill Creek. It's a rough hike mainly because it's so long and there's no real tree cover to speak of (dry as a bone at 2300 feet.... the lush greenness you see in the photo is really only down where the water is.... the trail is pretty constantly 100 feet or so above the water), but the scenery is awesome. I have seen so many gorgeous swimming holes... oh my goodness. Would that I were not there on government time! Most of our time has been spent hacking through the black berry bushes which take up entire hillsides. Awesome place to go for black berries, I'd say wait about 2 weeks and they should be about ripe. I've also seen wild grapes, wild olives, and LOTS AND LOTS OF POISON OAK.

For those of you who don't know what I'm doing this summer, I am working for the United States Forest Service on the Almanor Ranger District's trail crew. There are now five of us who go out and hike the various trails in our district and make sure that any loose rocks are out of the way and any fallen trees are out of the way. We basically make these trails safe for you outdoorsy civilian types.

The photo to the bottom left is of Black Rock, the big marker at the south end of this trail. Below that is a photo of three of my co-trail blazers.

























Below is Troy, the newest member to our crew, just finishing up his first week with us. He is standing in front of a patch of black berry bushes, reeds, pacific ewes (spelling?) and several other trees. The photo below him is that area after we're finished working it.



































Above is a view from a rock about 150-200 feet above the creek (by our reckoning). No one else wanted to crawl out there and take some photos so I did. For some of you, this might seem like a strange thing for me to do, but.... it did. :)

Sorry that the layout on this post is less than perfect. I'm still trying to get the hang of all this. I just wanted to give ya'll a taste of what I'm doing.

Peace and God bless!

-Joseph