What I've earned for my last-first quarter :,\

I believe I deserve at least a 4 in performance for my 1st quarter grade. I did all the summer cornell notes for Giancoli Chp 1-5 all electronically. I've adequately looked over the Phyzguide packets that have been handed out. I've taken beautiful and electronically organized video and class notes on my 80 gig hard-drive. I've done all the labs and the coinciding write-ups. Although I've been late too many times in 1st period, I've never missed a class day, and I have shown up to multiple tuesday-afterschool sessions.

Three of my strengths are my electronic saavy-ness, my outspoken/unshy personality, and my ability to problem solve even when all the pieces aren't given to me.

Three of my weaknesses/areas to improve on are my inability to fully stick to time logs, my lack of mathematics classes [although I'm good at what i know], and my

tardiness to 1st period.

Physics in my current definition is the manner and phenomena of how objects move throughout the universe and their "driving" forces. Also, I have some pictures to back up definition. You know what they say... a picture is worth a thousand words. :D

Four weeks down, about 36 more to go.

"You are to think back over the last four weeks about your progress as a learner. HOW has your learning changed? HOW are you using your study group? HOW are you and your group improving as problem-solvers? What help do you still need? Evaluate your study habits. Do you have a regular time and place to study? Do you regularly consult your study group during that time? How much time per week are you devoting to studying Physics? What grade have you earned for the first marking period? EXPLAIN."

So, my first four weeks in AP physics has gotten me to see a lot about myself. I've learned how to present things I've learned and explain things I've read. My study group and I have had some fun and done some real, legitimate work. We've picked up on the 5-step problem solving method and using powerpoint to present our results in a neat and orderly manner.

-a graph I made on paint for my first presentation in Tillays AP physics class.

As for my study habits. I don't have a regular time to study but I always study upstairs in my livingroom, because thats where i leave my Giancoli book. I've consulted my study group occasionally, but it's not a daily thing I do. I devote about 3-4 hours every week studying physics, but it tends to vary and I'm just giving a bold estimate. I think I've earned a 5- for this grading period because I've done a lot of work for it and have showed change and results in my study habits and my quality of work. I've come into this class with a new attitude and work ethic, and started off on the right foot. I've been willing to work with others and have successfully given results with our fully electronic presentations and documents. Also, I got ahead of the game by cornell noting chapters 1-5 on Giancoli. And, as always, my whole notebook is on my 80 gig harddrive and I even have a new addition. Not only do I do my timelog now... but I even made a timelog table as an RTF document on my harddrive! With my new attitude change, the work I've put in, my electronic use and capabilities, and my improvements from last year, I believe I deserve a 5-

-Thank you for reading my input and see you next blog!

Val Joseph :D

Reflecting over my first three days in AP physics. veryVALuable style... hahaha :]

My first 3 days in AP physics have been pretty interesting. Mr. Tillay has been giving us a general overview on what science is and showing us our educational systems faults on teaching it. Some of his statistics really humor me, like "the bottom 30% of college graduates are our educators." One of our first homework assignment was to read this article about what science is by Helen Quinn.[Shown below]

Also, we've already had our first quiz of the year, and didn't do too shabby on it! ;D I really studied the first 5 chapters of Giancoli over the summer so the quiz he gave me was sort of a breeze. :] I'm glad i took the class because when I look around the room, I see a small, dedicated, group of people who are willing to learn and don't disrupt the class, like the average vallejo high student does. Mr. Tillay has been doing a lot of life-lecturing and motivational-speaking... I know he hates lecturing, but I hope he can help break down the math equations and formula's to our first quiz, because I'm curious if I did them right.

I did a good amount of studing over the summer, and although I admit I didn't start my summer homework right after school ended... I got a good 2-3 weeks in before school started to familiarize myself with the giancoli book and the first 5 chapters of it. It's been a good first three days and I started off this new school year with some good habits, so I'm hoping I can really follow through with what i've been doing and be able to get the most that i can out of this class, because this will help me towards my next 4 years in the airforce... where I might study some engineering of some-sort. So to that... good by my friends, classmates, and readers!

'Til Next Blog,

-Val Joseph

Done! now onto details...

okay, turns out... the jigsaw wasn't very effective on the propane tank because it was a lot thicker than the normal refrigeration tank that was cut up in the youtube video i saw. So basically, we used the grinder to grind out the whole instrument. the drum makes a very nice and beefy tone.
ill make a video of it soon enough post it on here.

otherwise though, thank God its done. hahahaha update you later visually. hahaha no pictures rite now

time "grinding" down... less than a week before the project check up, but things are doing good.

So, me and my dad have been working on the propane tank and we've changed two major things of the tank since the last update...

#1- The top of the propane tank, which held the nozzle and the handle of the tank is gone. I chose to cut this off so the sound can escape from the tank while its being played, and so i can dampen it from the inside rather than using tacky bungie cord to stop the unwanted metal sound that it resonates, ill probably use foam strips and stick/tape it to the inside of the tank... Here are some pictures of what happened to the tank.






#2- We were told that it was good to use a drill to start making the slits for the tank, but it was taking to long and showed uneffective, so my dad decided to use a grinder instead. Here are some pictures of what we used before, and what we are using now to start the cuts of the propane tank.









After we finish using the grinder to weaken and thin out the marked slits we need to cut, we are planning to borrow my uncles Jig Saw to cut the rest of the tank. So until we get the Jig saw, your fully updated and i dont have much to say anymore!

-blog ya later!
Val Joseph ;D

More information about the HANG DRUM

first of all, pronounciation. HANG DRUM [HONG or HUNG], not HANG like hangman.

Researchable @ wikipedia.com [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hank_drum], the hang drum is a melodious percussive steel musical instrument created in Switzerland. It uses some of the same physical principles as a steel drum.
its very beautiful, listen to this professional hang drum player, who actually plays TWO hang drums at the same time!
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQXn5ba0aT8

The hang drum is very rare, only availiable in switzerland and only for a limited time. They go for 10,000-20,000, sometimes even more. Its scarcity and expense gave way to the "poor mans" hang drum, aka the HANK TANK/DRUM.

The hank tank or hank drum, but i like referring it as the hank drum. is called the "poor mans hang drum" because it replicates the sound of a hang drum but built from a PROPANE TANK.

propane tank + hang drum = HANK DRUM

and to finish the blog, im going to post a HANG DRUM song with the IMEEM player which will play automatically, so you'll know exactly what it sounds like, and what im trying to recreate =D. this will be put RIGHT AT THE TOP of my blogsite page, so look for it, and if you cant find it, you'll always be able to hear it!

some possible songs we are planning to play!

below me are two urls, one being green light by john legend and public affair by jessica simpson. These are two possibilities of two songs we can play. check them out...

Public Affair - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPyKUB8cSI4

Green Light - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hd-uklv-5g