Author: Yehyun Lee, Email: leey93@unlv.nevada.edu
Date Last Modified: 03/30/2025

On Saturday, I visited the Hoover Dam with arim and baekseok. I knew it had been built nearly a century ago to control floods and supply water to dry areas, but seeing it in person gave me a better sense of its scale and purpose. The dam holds back a huge amount of water, forming lake Mead, and standing in front of it made me reflect on how engineering can shape the environment and support daily life.

Since my schedule didn’t match with my usual workout friends, I went to the gym alone for the first time. There I met a Korean student named Junhyuk who studies hotel management. He's really into boxing and fitness and even did a body profile photoshoot. When he saw me struggling with my form, he came over and gave me some helpful advice. I felt a bit sorry for taking his time, but he said he enjoys helping others. He even helped his roommate, a total beginner, reach a 100kg lift in a few months. I thought it was cool how he was happy to help just because he enjoyed it.

Since coming to the U.S., I noticed that no one seems to brush their teeth in public restrooms. I later saw a video explaining that many Americans consider it impolite to brush in shared spaces, so they often chew gum or eat mints instead. In Korea, brushing after meals is so common that people even line up at restroom sinks. This difference surprised me, and while I don’t think I can skip brushing, I realized I should be more discreet about doing it in public here.

I realized that I tend to have a strong sense of inertia. Once I get into a focused state, I can maintain it well, but if that rhythm is broken, it takes some time for me to get back on track. After spring break, it took me a few days to calm down and regain my previous level of concentration. Still, once I’m back in the zone, I can usually stay there for a long time. As long as nothing major comes up, I plan to stay focused and keep that momentum going for the rest of the semester.

This week, I explored deployment methods for the lego drone controller, preparing both MATLAB-based C code generation and a backup plan using QGroundControl. I also ran motor specification simulations, incorporating frame parameters and thrust data. During testing, I identified a critical issue where the drone's simulated altitude response overshot due to an unrealistically small inertia matrix. This debugging process taught me the importance of accurate physical modeling for control system stability. Next, I plan to recalibrate the inertia matrix and finalize motor selection based on updated simulations.