So, I know I haven't posted anything on here since just after the summer of 2012, but now is a good of a time as ever to make a change!

So much has happened within that period of time it is hard to believe.  I have learned a ton about a lot of different things, academic as well as just life in general.

As far as academics go, this is my last year at BYU.  I am  almost graduated from the mechanical engineering program and I can hardly even believe that I made it through.  It has been a very interesting experience for me to say the least.  Most of the experience has been incredibly difficult, but that is actually one of the factors that motivated me to pick this course of study.  Sometime in the second year of my schooling here I looked at all of the classes that were required for the major and I remember thinking, "Man, it would be cccrrrazy if I actually made it through this beast of a major!"  So, as strange as it may sound, the difficulty/challenge of the program made me want to do it, just to prove to myself that I can do hard things if I put my mind to them.  So, during each semester I am usually not too thrilled about the difficulty of my studies, but when each semester is over, and the last final is finally taken care of, I always feel overwhelmed with all of the new knowledge I have gained about how the world that I live in operates.  Regardless of how much struggling I have had to go through, I would never give up all of the knowledge gained through struggling day after day without giving up.

Honestly, I don't even care that I'm graduating in mechanical engineering; what I do care about is what I have learned as I have gone through the process.  I have learned a life skill that will never let me down.  I have learned that when I am faced with a challenge that seems insurmountable (like rocket science, applied thermodynamics,  or neuromechanics) all I have to do is relax, take a deep breath, get to work, and most importantly, rely upon the help of the Savior and take it one day at a time.  Solely improving that skill day after day is worth all of the hours I have spent working towards this piece of paper that is envied by so many.  I think it is cool and sad at the same time - sad because a lot of times I think engineering can be super boring (mechanics of materials and machine design - "how much stress can this bolt hold before it yields?"), but cool because of what I just got done saying in this paragraph.

I have struggled with various problems in my life that have seemed impossible to tackle (and they are on my own) and I feel like the skills that I am learning in my schooling are helping me with my discipline in my life (overcoming the "natural man"), as well as helping to hone my perseverance to help me when times get hard.

Speaking of my studies, this year has been the most rewarding by FAR.  Each year the seniors in mechanical engineering participate in a "Capstone" program where they are given a project to work on for both semesters (8 months).  I am the luckiest person in the world and got my first choice - I am working on building/designing a neonatal ventilator for developing countries (we are aiming for Africa first, and then the Philippines).  The project was started last year, and this year we are trying to finish it up and get it ready for animal testing, and then human testing, and finally mass production and implementation.  Anyways, I am sooooo grateful to be a part of the team (7 engineering students - 6 ME and 1 Manufacturing engineering).  The class is every day M-F from 8-10 AM for both semesters, but I have never been so glad to wake up for an 8 o' clock class.  Besides the students working on the project, we work with 2 local doctors (neonatologists) (Dr. Erik Gerday and Dr. Ken Richardson) and our project leader (Jim Trent - the most awesome guy in the world - seriously).  Today when Dr. Gerday came to work with us (he comes like once or twice a month to help us out) we made a SUPER IMPORTANT discovery that helped us fix a problem we were having with CO2 gas exchange.  It turned out that Dr. Gerday had thought the ventilator had been designed a certain way (because it appeared to be functioning correctly from a first glance), but after further inspection, it became apparent that there was something fundamentally wrong with the design that greatly hindered the ability for the neonate (baby) to purge the carbon dioxide from its' lungs.  Anyways, we are making great progress in getting the machine ready for animal testing. We have figured out oxygen mixing, sourcing a stand for the machine, redesigning the circuit board (with surface mounted components), and much much more. The bottom line is this project has the potential to save hundred of thousands of lives (if not millions), and I cannot wait to see it firsthand operating in the real world (there is a super-slight chance of a field trip to Africa next year some time).

I will post more, but I have to be working on this ventilator in about 8 hours from now so I better get some rest!  I will talk later about more things that have been happening in my life.

Until next time,

Spencey Wencey the Great

Well, what can I say?  Alaska truly is the last frontier - there is no other place that I have been to that can measure up to its excellence.  It amazes me how much I am amazed by it!  It also amazes me at the quality of people that I meet when I go there. This summer in particular was an interesting one for me (not having Adam Lindberg up there with me like the previous year).  It could have been a very lonely summer, but thanks to some awesome friends, it turned out to be one of the best summers of my life.

My philosophy has recently been (since I went to Alaska the first time), "Take advantage of every unique thing a place has to offer each day while you are there, because when you leave that place (and you never know how long you might be there, or when you might come back) you WILL miss the things that you had at your exposure every day."  - So that's my life philosophy as of being 24 years old.  (I think it's a good one).

There were countless times that I could have easily not taken advantage of an opportunity (because I was tired, etc.).  But I really did a good job this summer at "seizing the day" whenever a chance presented itself.  I'll give a few examples:

1. Northstar Trekking - When it comes to being able to go on tours for a reduced employee rate, you have to be very flexible.  After being sick for a few days, I called in to work to let them know that I was able to come to work if they needed me.  They said that they would put me back on the schedule for the following day, but that I wasn't needed on that day.  I asked if I could "comp" something (meaning try to get on a tour with another tourism company for a reduced rate)  and it turned out that I was able to go with Northstar Trekking (which isn't too common).  Northstar Trekking is a company that takes people to the Mendenhall Glacier (and other ones probably) and then gives you a guided walk/hike/climb (depending on the level of tour your have purchased) on the glacier.  I got to go on a level 2, (so I got to wear crampons, gaiters, and was given an ice axe (which always is a plus)).

2. Fishing in general

This summer I became a fisherman!  I didn't even know how to tie a fisherman's knot when the summer began, and by the end I had not only learned quite a bit myself, but had actually taught other people a few things as well!  I became acquainted with a man named Bryan Wilson (who drove buses part time with me), and over the course of the summer he taught me a great deal about the sport.
     In the beginning of the summer he let me borrow his 8 ft casting rod , an "ugly stik", and that was a great start.  I went to a few places with that fishing rod, before I finally ended up buying my own fishing rod.  I ended up buying a smaller, more portable ugly stik (that broke down into four separate pieces) - I loved that fishing rod, and it served me well (always being able to be packed away into my backpack) until about a week or two before I left Juneau when it snapped in half.  I was fishing with my mom, dad, sister, tom, and Paul and Linda, when a humpy salmon snapped my pole in half.  It wasn't even that big of a salmon, but big enough to do the trick!  But, the rod served me well over the course of the summer, that's for sure! Below are some of my fishing adventures that I could remember from this summer.



- Here is the fishing rod that I bought myself about half way through the summer - 4 piece Ugly Stik

 - fishing with Evan at DuPont Spur
Evan Peterson and I drove out to the south end of the road in Juneau, where we then hiked about 2 miles out to a sweet fishing spot called DuPont Spur.  We were only there about 25 minutes or so before I caught my first fish of the year!  A pretty good sized Dolly Varden (Arctic Char) - It's kind of like a trout mixed with a salmon from what I hear.  All I know, is that it tasted pretty good.  I was so concerned with the fact that I was about to have to kill this fish in order to take it home and eat it (kind of a critical step in the process).  Fortunately, Evan coached me through it, and it was taken care of pretty quickly.  We threw a few more casts before we filleted it and then hiked back to go home.  Lemon Pepper, Rosemary, butter, and a little elbow grease turned this fish into a very nice meal.




 - fishing by myself at sheep creek



One day after work, I decided to try and hit the low tide fishing window.  (When you are fishing in tidal places, I guess it is the best time to fish inside of a 2-hour window (1 hour before high or low tide, until 1 hour after the tide).  So, I was right on time to hit the low tide, and after fishing for a while without much success, I realized that I was in an incredibly beautiful and peaceful place, and just being there without having a nibble was good enough for me - I've learned that that is one of the main reasons why fishing is so appealing to me - because whether you catch something or not, you are forced to put yourself into beautiful areas, areas that you probably wouldn't be in if you weren't on a quest for fish.

 - fishing with mark insteness and becca suess at sheep creek

 - fishing by myself before work one Monday morning (while watching the Princess cruise ship come into port).

 - fishing at North Douglas (False Outer Point) w/ Paul and Linda and Becca

 - fishing at the estuary at Amalga Harbor w/ Paul and Linda and Becca


 - fishing at the hatchery (with Jess, Alyssa, Brit, Mom, Dad)

 - fishing at the hatchery during my stage time for a wildlife quest and catching myself dinner

 - fishing at Fish Creek w/ Jess Davis and getting chased by an adult black bear (and me running away)

 - fishing with my mom, dad, Paul, Linda, Adrienne, and Tom at Fish Creek on North Douglas


 - fishing at echo cove at least 4 different times

This was taken at Echo Cove (one of my favorite places to go in Juneau)



This picture was taken when I caught and ate my first Chum/Dog salmon - it wasn't that great...
Bryan told me he wouldn't eat a chum, but I had to learn from personal experience. :)




3. Driving the bus

Here is a view from the glacier parking lot - where I went almost every day.  This bus is a "moose bus" (hence the moose painted on the sides of the bus).  These used to be the cream of the crop (as far as buses in our fleet go), but as time goes on, their quality goes down.  They are still nice to drive, just not very good A/C.  You would think that A/C isn't that important in Juneau, Alaska, but trust me, those passengers of the Consummate Host, still want their A/C!!!



This baby here is the pride of the fleet!!!  My favorite bus in the whole yard (we had like 75 buses or so).  This is bus 8261 - a champion among champions; a Ferrari for sure!  This was one of the few buses that was actually capable of breaking the speed limit!!





Random Adventuring:

So, one day towards the beginning of the summer (sometime in mid-May) Evan, Becca, and myself decided to hike up to the Mt. Roberts Tramway building (up about 1800' on the side of Mt. Roberts).  So, we hiked up to the tram and then decided to go a little bit further.  We didn't get very much further before we were surrounded by snow.  So, we did what you probably shouldn't do - we hiked up about 150 vertical feet on the side of the mountain (in an avalanche zone) and then did what you obviously would do if you wanted to get down quickly - we slid on our bottoms all the way down to the bottom.  It was a pretty steep slope, so it worked pretty well.  It just so happened that there was a local photographer walking by as we began our ascent up the snowy side of the mountain, and he happened to have his telephoto lens with him.  He took some great shots of us sliding down the slope, and these are some of my favorite ones that he took.

 Me, Evan, Becca, and then the last picture is taken by me, while I'm watching Evan and Becca come up the slope behind me.
                                      

 - Living in the Treehouse
The treehouse was something else - my goodness!!!  The floor was so slanted where we lived, that the first night I got there I went to sleep, only to discover in the morning that I woke up on the other side of the room.  My bed had these little wheels on the bottom of the frame, and it didn't take me long to realize that wasn't a good idea - So, I just put the bed directly on the ground without the frame, and that seemed to work fairly well.  I encountered bears 4 times this summer on the staircase that leads to our house, and I never knew what to expect eacah night as I would walk home in the dark.  Kinda scary sometimes lol.


















- Perseverance Trail
     Becca and I went hiking up perseverance trail to a portion that we had never seen before - the Glory Hole - where the mining companies would blast out the side of the mountain - so here we are overlooking the Glory Hole.  You can also see where the mining camps were set up back in the day (about 100 years ago - the late 1800s/early 1900's.





This view from Perseverance Trail is one of my favorite views - it literally only takes 20 minutes of hiking from downtown Juneau to get to this epic view  - I love this about Juneau - everywhere you go hiking it feels like you might be the first person to have gone there.  There are SO MANY PLACES like this in Juneau (I can't even imagine how many in the entire state of Alaska), where you can just go adventuring around and literally feel like you might be the first human being to ever step foot in the places you are seeing, and that feeling is what draws me so strongly to explore around up there (Quite a change of scenery from where I grew up in Baytown, TX - home of the chemical plants). That is one of the reasons why I love travelling - it truly does broaden your viewpoint on life - it helps you see how other people live, and expands your mind (and not to mention your list of adventures).







 - Hiking to the mendenhall glacier ice caves
So, most people see the outside of the Mendenhall Glacier, but not many people ever get to see the inside of the Mendenhall Glacier... If you take a 3 mile hike (about a mile of it which is declared, "unmaintained" and "hazardous") you can get to a spectacular spot for getting a look inside the glacier.  Here are some pictures that were taken inside the Mendenhall Glacier.





  














So, if you are willing to do some planning (luckily we were this summer), you can reserve a forest service cabin for only 35 bucks for a night.  So, at the beginning of the summer, to give ourselves something to look forward to, we booked this cabin for July 5th.  Becca and Hillary drove us "out the road" to mile marker 27, and then they helped up carry all of our stuff 3 miles out into the woods - to Windfall Lake.  OH MY GOODNESS!!!!  Talk about a spectacular place!!!  All of us had to go to the dentist after we saw the lake, because our jaws dropped so far... This place was so peaceful it was hard to believe.  Not to mention, the 24 hour period that we were there, we didn't even get rained on (in the worlds largest temperate rain forest). So, yeah, the heavens were smiling upon us that day - I prayed for good weather months in advance, and it appears that my prayers were heard.  Speaking of prayers, I prayed for some good weather when my parents came to visit later on (in August where the weather is usually pretty nasty), and my prayers were definitely heard then!  My family definitely picked the best week of the entire summer to come visit - which was in incredible relief to me, because I was worried that they wouldn't get to see Juneau in its full splendor, but oh boy they definitely got to see some of Juneau's amazing sights!

 - Camping - Spending that awesome night at the Windfall Lake Cabin



The girls helping us bring all of our stuff out to the cabin. (We brought enough food to feed an army)




 - Shrine of St. Therese




 - Eagle Beach Wanderings












- Tracy Arm (South Sawyer Glacier)
     Some co-workers and myself went to the Tracy Arm Fjord and saw some amazing sights (including wildlife, turquoise water and waterfalls, and a 200-ft tall piece of ice calve off into the ocean, creating a sweet wave coming towards  us).










 - Sandy Beach (hang out)
This was a popular spot for bonfires and work-related shin-digs





Adventures I had while "on the clock"
 - fishing at DIPAC during my wildlife quest stage
     One day after I dropped off my guests for their whale watching adventure, I went to the McCauly Salmon Hatchery, and caught a fish for me to eat that night.  It was pretty funny.

 - hiking the east glacier trail all the way to the top during a best of juneau stage




 - random adventuring with Evan through the woods in the middle of nowhere
 - going and hanging out at Udder Culture
 - going to the library
 - going to the consignment sports equipment shop and hanging out
 - going to Costco
 - going to Safeway and watching the news and talking w/ co-workers


Fishing Excursions with Bryan Wilson

 - Trip #1 (w/ Evan, Stance, Jami, Robbie, and Robbie's friend)
 
This trip was I.N.C.R.E.D.I.B.L.E.  - We went out on the water for two days,  fishing for mainly halibut, but some salmon in between.  The biggest fish we caught was a 78 lb. Halibut. (and at the Juneau Price in the stores of $20/lb. that's a pretty nice catch)  Jami, the girl in the picture just below is the one who caught the 78LB BEAST.

































An INCREDIBLY TASTY fillet of our sockeye friend (with a brown sugar glaze that is to die for)








I've sailed the 7 seas!!! Well, at least a small part of Alaska's inside-passage...






     Is this even real? - It's so beautiful out on the water.  My sister said she has never liked mountains before, but these mountains have won her heart over.  I think it's the dramatic rise from sea-level that is so awesome.  Not to mention the water is pretty,  snow-covered mountains are pretty, but when you add them together - good gravy!!!


I was laying on my back as we were sailing around Juneau in the sunshine, and staring at these cool clouds.


See what I mean?


The ol' pro teaching me a thing or two about fishing for Halibut.


A rockfish with poisonous quills that can send you to the hospital...great.


I'm not using the restroom, I'm fishing for halibut.


The BEAST (at $20/LB. that's a $1,560 fish) - too bad we didn't have a commercial halibut permit...


 - Trip #2 (w/ Mom, Dad, and Adrienne)
     I don't have any pictures from this trip yet

 - Trip #3 (w/ Robin and her brother and guy who own's superbear shopping mall)
     I went on another trip with one of Bryan's friends, one of my bosses at work, and her brother.  This was my last day off of the season, and although I was super-tired and just wanted to take a break, I bit the bullet, woke up at 6am and went fishing (and I'm glad I did, because I caught my record Coho - 16 lbs.)  It was one heck of a tasty fish!!!  I love Alaska so much.







Random Pictures


                                               The Mendenhall Glacier from the Airport Trail


                                                                  The Mighty Mendy
                                                                       A baby bear