EUS End Of Year Ball

Towards the end of each year, the Engineering Undergraduate Society holds an end of year ball. The ball is a celebration of the passing of another year, and the graduation of our finishing JCU Engineering students. Partners are welcome, and its a pretty big function. The Engineering Undergraduate Society (EUS) organizes the ball and after party, using money made from the Friday BBQ's as well as a number of sponsors.

You can see pictures from this year ball bellow. Its a pretty formal event with a limited number of tickets (often selling out in the first week). This year it was held at the Museum (next to Reef HQ). The after party was held at the Brewery. It was an awesome night, with a number of speeches from the sponsors and the EUS committee members. Lucky door prizes where also given out; and yes we had some pretty awesome stuff to give out with the most intriguing being a leather whip and handcuff set.


Hope you like the pics! It really was an awesome night!

Crank up the Beats!

Sorry, had to have music! Mainly just putting these up as music to go with my page, turn it up! Hope you like at least one of them!
.

Sum 41 - Hooch


Little Birdy - Come On Come On


Red Hot Chili Peppers - Storm In A Tea Cup

James Cook University Open Day

This year, JCU once again held an awesome Open Day! This provided the opportunity for the general public and many students interested in commencing their studies at JCU to; find out more about the degrees/diplomas they are interested in, look at the college accommodation available, look at some interesting exhibits and displays put on by various faculties, as well as eat some great food along with live entertainment (this year from Christine Anu).

I was helping out on the day as a mentor, answering questions, helping people navigate around the campus, and helping run the college tours. The Engineering students and staff put on a great show, with many stalls and competitions, as well as a free BBQ provided by the EUS. Below are some pictures taken from the Engineering section.

JCU Engineering Undergraduate Society

The engineering undergraduate society is a society set up and run by us good little engineers at James Cook University! The EUS hold BBQ's every Friday for lunch. Trust me, its WAY better than college food. The money raised from these BBQ's goes towards our end of semester functions, Pub Crawls and our end of year EUS Ball. Members get a discount to all these events, and on top of drinking events, they organize things like Paint Ball days and guest speakers for the faculty. The most recent event was Paint Ball. So there we were, 50 young engineers ready for battle! It was an awesome day, and there was friendly rivalry between disciplines as well as years! I d like to say the 2 nd years were clearly the winners (that's me!) !!! However the chemical discipline itself did not have such a good day. Being a member of this society provides great opportunities to meet other engineers in other disciplines and years (as well as providing many engineers with great excuse to drink!)

Photos from some of the EUS events are shown below....

Vacation Work over the 2006/07 Break - Birla Mount Gordon

Over the 2006/2007 Christmas break I was given the opportunity to work at Birla Mount Gordon. I was employed for 3 months as a Metallurgical vacation student. The mine itself is a copper mine located 2 and a 1/2 hours drive north of Mount Isa. I was a bit worried at first, I wasn't really sure what it would be like living in a camp out in the middle of nowhere. After I passed the medical examination in Townsville, I was taken to the site on a fly in fly out roster of 14/7. The camp itself was pretty cool. They had a gym, swimming pool, a TV room, and a pub that opened up twice a day for the night and day shift crews.

Over the first few days I was given site inductions for the surface, and an area specific induction of the process plant and laboratory. After all the inductions were complete, I spent the remainder of my first swing learning as much as I could from the plant operators and the metallurgists that kept the plant running everyday. I learnt a lot from these people, and soon had some friends to hang out with after work.

Over the next few swings I spent my time working on projects/surveys in both the grinding and flotation circuits. These involved working with the metallurgists and operators. I was required to select points in the circuit that would provide the necessary information, collection of samples, analysis of samples in the labs, and full analysis of the circuits in report form. I was worried that I wouldn't know what to do, but the metallurgists and operators were very patient and answered any questions I had.

I found the work itself extremely interesting, and loved the lifestyle on site. I actually spent my 18th birthday on site, which was very different to how I had originally planned to spend it. Conveniently there was a Chrissie party on that same night, so I still had fun. As well as working on the surface, I was also given an underground tour! It was amazing! Once you get through the portal there's just miles and miles of underground work, I loved it. If you ever get the chance to go underground, definitely worth having a look!

Below are some pictures from underground, the surface, and even camp.

Career Markets

As part of my scholarship with the Queensland Resource council, I get to speak at career markets all over Central and North Queensland. Heaps of high school students and general public come through. At these events I get the opportunity to share my knowledge about the mining industry and what chemical engineering involves. There are many different people coming through, and trust me there are never any stupid questions . I love getting the opportunity to speak to students, and I always try to provide useful information to anyone who is interested.

Below are some pictures from one of the Townsville Career Markets I attended.

Things to do in Townsville - THE BEACH!

There are all sorts of things to do in Townsville, but my favorite things to do up here are normally at the Beach. 'Wait' you might say, 'But there's no surf? What could you even do at the beach?' Well! There is lots to do! You can: Go Scuba Diving on the Great Barrier Reef; Learn to Kitesurf; Windsurf; Sail; JetSki; Wakeboard; Kneeboard; Waterski; Beach Cricket; or Simply sit around in the NQ Sun!

My and my mates favorites would have to be Sailin, Windsurfin, Kitesurfin, Beach Cricket and Wakeboarding. There are heaps of clubs organized to teach you all you need to now about your chosen sport, so it's not hard to get into your new sport. Many of these clubs are actually set up through JCU, and they give Uni Student Discounts, so that's pretty handy. Below are some pics of me and my friends on our days at the beach!

Toga Party!

I'm not sure if you know what a Toga Party is, but if you don't its time you learnt! Its pretty much one of the most popular college/uni traditions! Basically Toga Parties provide the perfect opportunity/excuse to dress in sheets and make a fool out of yourself. Up at JCU we hold it twice a year (coinciding with the Uni's O Week!) We normally start drinking on college about 3pm (or earlier if necessary lol), then cruise to the Uni Club (after copious amounts of alcohol) for the actual party! If your super keen, town is normally the next step to an awesome Toga-Filled Night!

Anyone's welcome, as long as you are in a sheet! Heres some pics of JCU's most recent Toga Extravaganza!

Xkcd Comics

Heres some comics I find amusing, you ll have to pause each to read it properly, sorry. There all from xkcd - A webiste of Romance, sarcasm, math and language.

Out n About!

Heres some pictures of me and my friends out n about after Uni books have been put back on the shelf... We go out as much as we can, lol, which is normally wheneva we have enough money! Good thing I worked over the break!

Problem Solving Techniques

To be an excellent engineer, the most important skill you can have is the ability to solve problems. There are a few different approaches to problem solving, so I figured I d share the secrets. Heres an excellent example of a successful approach to problem solving for anyone, not just engineers.

More About Me

Currently learning to be a Chemical Engineer, we get to design the process plants for making just about everything! Heaps of design and problem solving to do! The course involves maths, physics, chemistry, and the subjects often overlap with the other engineering disciplines, so we also learn about Mechanics, Electrics, and even Computer programming!

Well I m livin in the big smoke of Tville, livin on college, as well as being unemployed during the semester, so I m pretty much a typical teenage uni bum. I play soccer for JCU, I windsurf (seemings how there’s no surf in FNQ, guess this is the next best), do club sailing, and keen to learn to kitesurf! In my spare time, when I m not hard at work learning stuff, you can usually find me in town with my friends, spending the weekends (and weeknights – lol) out clubin, or pub crawling with the JCU Engineering Undergrade Society. Who said engineers don’t have social lives!