The Review Session
These were found in the remains of Dave's September 2000 review session notebook, and were seen to be most enchanting. Those of you who have had this grueling battery of classes will fully understand his feelings...those who have not had the classes, the narratives will explain the circumstances that likely led to these pictures:
Tornado Hitting Another Trailer Park, c. Sept 2000.
As seen by the two "THEN"s and an "IF" on the left side, this sketch was
found among some computer programming notes. Judging from the date
of the sketch, one would think he was in a C++ class at the time, but alas,
only one member of our class was allowed in that class...the rest of the
class was indentured to take FORTRAN 90. Chances are, Dave had to take
FORTRAN 90.
BORING! c. Sept 2000.
A more abstract sketch, unlike most of his work, conveying his emotions in
the middle of some simple array declarations. If one looks closely
enough, you can vaguely see the large "BORING" serving as a backdrop.
Don't EVER...EVER....EVER Touch the Screen! c. Sept 2000.
Dave's FORTRAN 90 instructor was a particular individual. Interviews
with his Master's program classmates indicate that Dave was rather expressive
in his troubleshooting techniques and would often touch his computer monitor
screen when explaining code to others. When his FORTRAN instructor
saw Dave do this during a class, he became visibly upset and told the class
"Don't EVER EVER EVER Touch the Screen!". Dave apparently wanted to
record this moment and sketched his recollection of the event. To this
day, his classmates remember Dave as "Dave 'Screen Toucher' Vollmer".
Perspectives in Radar. c. Sept 2000.
For those who don't already know this, Dave is an avid radar fancier. He
has always had a fascination with Doppler radar and the impacts is has had
on modern meteorology. These were drawn during one of the meteorology
review sessions about which radar was the topic of discussion. Note
his astonishing detail in his depiction of the RDA site. All from memory!
Lt Col Walter's Review Session: First Impressions. c. Sept
2000.
The first day with Lt Col Walters as an instructor was on 18 Sept 2000, according
to Dave's class notes. By the time Dave had drawn the picture, he had
already been introduced to tensors, the Kronecker delta, and the "Alternating
Unit Tensor", more commonly called "the epslion i-j-k". This was all
in two hours! Classmates will similarly testify that this review session
was very demanding...and those who saw the picture attest that they felt
the exact same way!
KAPOW! A Self-Realization. c. Sept 2000.
This was drawn on the second day of Lt Col Walter's review session.
Apparently, Dave was beginning to get a feel for the tensor notations,
as seen by the partial derivative in tensor form coming out of the subject's
head.
The Great Wall of Math. c. Sept 2000
On this day of the review, Lt Col Walters told the class that most students
encounter a great math wall. To succeed, the student needs to break
through the wall. However, many students will end up on the same side
of the wall. Many of Dave's sketches are his visualizations of instructor
comments. This is the first example, and many more are to come.
Angular Velocity. c. Sept 2000
While most student would have simply drawn a circle with an arrow sticking
out of the top, Dave chooses to convey his diagrams with a little more realism.
This was a diagram simply showing how the earth rotates on its axis.
"Imagine if You Were Attached to the Earth with a Spring." c. Sept
2000
This series of sketches requires a bit of explanation. Inspired by
another one of Lt Col Walter's comments, Dave decided to again visualize
what he was hearing. What forces would act on you if you were attached
to the earth with a large spring? These were drawn during lessons in
centripetal acceleration and angular velocity.
Slice of Pizza in Natural Coordinates. c. Sept 2000
This drawing was no doubt done towards the end of the lecture, when Dave
was known to get hungry. The classes was studying the natural coordinate
system, which applies to items with curved sides, like a slice of pizza.
We have found evidence of Dave's love of not only pizza, as seen in
this sketch, but also in beer and doughnuts.
Johnstown and East Broadtop Engine. c. Sept 2000
Obviously one of the more serious sketches found in the review notebook,
other memoirs show that Dave was just about to begin on a model railroad
layout when this was sketched. This is an example of a 2-8-0 locomotive
that will be sitting on the layout. (Click
HERE for
scenes from Dave's model railroad layout, as they are developing).