This is the middle of the second week of school, and I’ve been having some fun during this time, meeting new people, making new friends, working on new projects.
Some stuff has remained the same, such as my involvement in the Boy Scouts of America. Many people know about the Eagle Scout award, but not many people know what actually goes into it. First, there is the merit badge requirement which requires the scout to earn 21 total merit badges, but 13 of those are required, and are usually quite difficult to get, some of these are Communications, Personal Management, Personal Fitness, and Family Life. After all of the merit badges are done, the Eagle Scout candidate must complete a service project that does not benefit the scouts, but benefits the community, school, or other organization. I’ve recently begun the planning for my project. I’m going to build nine flower planters out of decking wood to be used at a city owned park. The key to this project is not that I do it, but I instruct volunteers on how to do it. Its main goal is to show leadership skill. That is on my plate right now, and I plan on getting Eagle within the next month or so.
Another thing that has remained constant is that I like to watch Hak.5. Hak.5 is an online TV show all about hacking computers (hacking in reference to tearing computers and other hardware appart and making them cooler 
), the World Wide Web, Gaming, and other fun computer stuff. For more information on this FREE internet TV show, you can visit www.hak5.org. There, you can find a bunch of cool stuff, watch streaming episodes, and just see what’s up in their world.
School has brought on some new challenges. One of these is PE. I was one of those seniors that waited until my senior year to get my PhysEd credit done. I wish that I had started in my Freshman year because of how beneficial it has already proven to be. I may actually drop Computer Graphics in the second semester to take on another semester of gym. We shall see. Another thing that I’ve been working on this year is my own private math research. I’ve been writing a paper title “The conversion from Base 10 and the discrete usage of Base 12″, wich is all about the Base 12 numbering system and how to convert to it from base 10 (standard decimal). It’s proven to be a difficult paper to write as the math is much more complex than what I’m used to, though with time, I will probably be able to overcome this simple obstacle.
One thing that I’m not too happy with is the Tecumseh Math program. I like the teacher (he used to be an Eagle Scout). Right now we are working on finding instantaneous velocities based on a given function, however the method we are using takes the point immediately before and after the point of interest and finds an average that way, which is slightly inaccurate. My way is to dip into calculus and use derivatives, which I already know how to do without going through this class, but the teacher is barring me from using them, even though I could do my homework in about half the time, but oh well. You can’t win them all.
At Lenawee Intermediate School District’s Vo-Tech center (basically a skills center), I am in the electronics class this year which will have circuit board and microchip programming. We just finished with the orientation for the class today. We’ve been in the class since last Tuesday. It should not take more than a week to cover basic safety procedures, though when it comes to safety, I have a cooler job then the rest. I am one of two people in the class (student) that have my Red Cross First Aid and CPR training, and I am the only person in the class (student) that has my AED (automated external defibrilator) certification, so I’m in charge if there is any sort of emergency in the class if the teacher is not present or incapacitated. That is cool and scary at the same time, because, you begin to wonder, “What if something does go wrong one of these days,” so if something does, I just have to remember the back cover to the “Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” which clearly states “DON’T PANIC.” I’m all set now.
I’ve been toying with a couple of technology related ideas lately, and they have little to nothing to do with math. My first idea is to do an online TV show, sort of like Hak5, but not like it. I want to do my own stuff, and use my own ideas, and have a green screen because green screens are cool. The only problem right now is a lack of camera, but that should be remedied in a couple of months when I go e-shopping. My second idea is a little more serious, and is already in motion, albeit slow. I want to do an online Free counseling service for troubled teens. I want to recruit teachers and counselors to help, but I want to offer teens, and anybody really, a forum for grievances, whether it is family issues, boyfriend / girlfriend issues, or really anything. I just want to offer an anonymous place for kids to turn to in a time of need. It’s a cool idea that I got while watching the movie “Pay it Forward”. For those of you who do not know the idea behind the Pay It Forward movement, one person goes out and helps three people do something big that they can not do themselves, then those three go out and do the same for three more people, then those nine people go out and help three more people each, which turns to 27 people, and the numbers just grow exponentially with each step. This is my way of starting a Pay it Forward chain.
Well, that’s about all that I’ve got for now, but I’ll be posting again soon.
Take Care Everyone,
Aaron “TeenTech” Liske