Mission Statement

Some of you already know this, but I didn't want to talk about it until it is confirmed.

After a few weeks of rejection, appeal, and a nice letter of recommendation from one of the engineers I worked with, I was accepted to Florida Institute of Technology as a provisional student pursuing a Master's degree in aerospace engineering.

As a provisional student, I have to complete the undergraduate curriculum of aerospace engineering with satisfactory marks before I can be formally admitted to the program.

And as an engineer who holds a Master's in computer science, I am lacking A LOT of required classes.

The tuition is expensive, since Florida Tech is a private school. Luckily, the company I work for has tuition assistance, and will provide 80% of the tuition as long as I make good grades. My manager just approved the funding yesterday, so I will start taking classes in May. If it wasn't for the financial aid, I wouldn't be able to do this.

Even when I was an music student at CCM, I considered double majoring in aerospace and piano. I even took college physics (which I had to drop out because of my hectic schedule as a music major) and borrowed books on aerodynamics even though I didn't understand the material. When I transferred to FSU, I had contacted one of the professors at the engineering department inquiring about the aerospace program. At the time, I was in a rush to quickly graduate, and when I realized I would have to start over, I was already finishing up my Bachelor's in computer science. I decided to drop the idea. Looking back on it now, I kind of regret that decision.

I think my problem was that I didn't know which area in aerospace I wanted to do. When I went into computer science, I thought I was going to do what my uncle is doing at his current job: fixing computers, setting up applications, etc. When I started taking courses like data structures and operating systems, I realized I have fallen into a black hole. Computer science was a fun and painful subject. I dabbled in a few concentrated fields here and there, ranging from networking to light kernel programming to computer graphics to image processing. But I never excelled at any of the subjects.

The Mur told me that I never seem passionate about the major. I am nothing like the programmers who work at Apple and game companies, where they live and breathe code in almost every aspect of their lives.

He was right.

I was already a Master's student when first I heard of the A3XX. After she became public and was formally named the A380, I realized that I really want to work on commercial aircrafts. At that point, I was already three semesters from graduating with my MS degree. I decided to finish it rather than dropping it altogether and start over, and I think that was a wise decision.

It goes without saying that starting this summer, I won't be posting as often on the blog as I normally would. I will try to go spotting and practice taking pictures as often as I can.

This journey is going to take me several long and difficult years, working full-time and taking one class a semester. But if I don't do it now, I will never be able to do this. This was the mistake my mother made when she was my age: She should have gone to medical school when she had the chance, but doubts kept her from pursuing it. She is now back in graduate school pursuing a physician assistance degree, in an attempt to salvage what is left of her dream. She will turn 54 this year, and I worry about her.

Time flies and never looks back, and I am not getting any younger either.

Model: Boeing 737-824
Airline: Continental
Tail No.: N79279
Location: Orlando International Airport (MCO)
Runway: 18R (departure)
Date and Time: 22 April 2007, 2150 Zulu