Hey everyone. I’m brran1 (pronounced like Raisin Bran, sans Raisin. Get it?) I’m a 26-year-old guy navigating his way through Corporate America, goofy ass friends, a relationship and a somewhat normal yet dysfunctional family.
My dad is from Port-Au-Prince, Haiti and my mother was born and raised in our shared hometown of Baltimore, Maryland.
Questions? Contact me via email: brran1@yahoo.com
And to see the rest of my social media accounts, check out my landing page: http://flavors.me/brran1
The Black Lounge 
Thanks for putting me on your blogroll dude! I will return the favor after I take my girl out for a nice Saturday afternoon delight, which shall begin presently. peace.
Sound like a pretty cool dude to me. My kinda ppls. I am also a Sag! 🙂
What area of civil are you in?
What up Zoso,
My school only teaches general civil engineering. When I apply to grad school, I’ll try to get into either transportation or structural. Transportation is looking like a a definite answer though.
Transportation! I’m finishing up my first year of grad school now and am doing transportation engineering. For something specific, it’s a pretty broad field. I like it a lot. Structures is cool too though. I went to my first construction site (highway interchange) in November and got to wear a hard-hat and a vest! Seeing that stuff in action, going from design to structural completion was amazing. Anyway, either choice, you’re cool beans.
Yea Transportation. I actually have an internship this summer with the Georgia Dept. of Transportation’s Office of Urban Design down in Atlanta. I really want to do transportation b/c that’s really where my interest is. Now as far as a specific subtopic…lol idk about all that. You said you’re in grad school right? Where do you go?
Nice grab. Georgia is the spot for transportation! My first choice for grad school was Georgia Tech but I didn’t get accepted, even so, I won’t deny Georgia’s the place to learn. My school’s good too though. I attend University of Florida. Swampville, USA. Yeah, I’m actually still picking a subtopic myself. I’m leaning towards intelligent transportation systems though just ’cause I like gadgets. I figure we should be pretty set in transportation. I mean, all the senior engineers/planners will retire in the next few years so we should be able to find jobs when everyone else scoots up the ladder. Well, hopefully.
Lol Georgia Tech is at the top of my list as well, and on top of that, I’ll be staying at GT while i’m in Atlanta for the internship. U of F has a CE program? That’s news to me. I was looking at schools in FL such as FIU and U of Miami. Hows UF’s program? I’m gonna definitely check that school out. Even though I just said that, lemme also say that I need to be in a city bruh…ya boy can’t do the boonies. lol Why do u think u didnt get into GT? That’s also a part of the reason why I wanted to do transportation…i heard that there were alot of jobs available.
Haha, the boonies is an understatement. West of I-75 can get scary out there… UF’s program’s actually pretty good, among public universities it’s top 10, among public and private it’s low 20s. GTech’s top 5 regardless I think. Hey, UF created the HCS+ (mctrans) software! I would know cause I’m workin’ on a project with it right now. Miami? Well, if you like the beach a lot… To be honest I’m starting to get orange & blued out cause I went here for undergrad, so I’d like a change of scenery. I went to DC for the first time in Jan. for the TRB conference and was blown away! I rode around on the subway for fun. I looked like such a nerd (I’m a country bumpkin for real). Anyways, I’m thinking of moving to a big city after graduation. dunno. Hah, I know why I didn’t get into GTech, my application came on the due date and my GRE didn’t get to them until 3 weeks before school started. GTech’s due dates were earlier than everyone else’s and I still wasn’t sure I wanted to go to grad school so their stuff was near-late and rushed. You should check out this site while searching for schools:
http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/grad
I have fam in Miami & Fort Lauderdale so thats why I added UM and FIU to the list. First time coming to DC back in Jan? I was born there, and i find myself driving there all the damn time when I get bored with baltimore. Aint nothing wrong with being a nerd. When I go to NY, I love riding the subway mainly because I’m more interested in the inner workings of the system versus just riding it. That’s the thing about my hometown (Baltimore) that i’m gonna miss when i go to GA Tech. I can hop on the road and be in DC in 45 mins, in 90 mins I can be in Philly just to get me a cheesesteak or in 3 hours i can be in NYC doing whatever. Thanks for sending that link. I’ma definitely check it out.
I see. Hey, since you’ve family down there you could claim residency through them. (Always gotta find a way to get over the system!) We don’t really learn about transit in FL since we’ve only buses, so roaming around the subway was a learning experience for me. I can go Orlando in 90min to see a mouse…
I know right. My stepmother lives in ATL and then I have family members of family members that live there. I believe the in state rate for GA Tech was like 5 G’s and the out of state rate was 20+. Im definitely gonna try to work the system whereever I go lol. And hey ur 90 mins from the mouse, but hey, you’re in FLORIDA! I’d live there just for the weather to be completely honest.
Hells yeah, save for the humidity, the weather’s great! The only thing that freaks me out is all the lightning. I think I was struck by lightning in a pass life cause that shizz gives me the willies. Anyways, I’ve only been to Daytona, Clearwater and St. Augustine, so my plan this summer is to wild out and visit every beach I can think of! Ooo and learn to surf! Yah dood.
Surfing sounds fun but the possibility of coming into contact with sharks doesn’t. I think I’ll stay within 20 yds. of the shoreline. I hate humidity, but the times I was in Miami/Ft. Lauderdale, it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as it gets here in Baltimore sometimes. But then again, I’ve been there for one or two week spells during random times of the year so I wouldn’t really know. And to be completely honest, I also don’t think too many people like lightning.
I’ve never seen a shark but then I don’t go out far from the shore either just cause I don’t like not being able to see through the water… makes me think something fishy’s going on. On the lightning, probably not but then I doubt most folks refuse to go places just because it’s lightning. Lightning’s my house arrest; I’m not coming out until it’s at least 10 miles away. On the topic of weather, what I really want to run in is snow. Every time I visit fam in NC, or even when I went to DC, it snows after I leave. As if the flakes fear my presence. It’s ridiculous!
Alot of my cousins that live down there say the same thing. I really can’t remember the last time it snowed here to be completely honest.
hi i came across your blog cuz i read stuff black ppl hate and saw a comment you made about going to ga tech. i’m thinking of getting into environmental engineering and i know its a bit similar to civil engineering so i was wondering what your classes consist of and are they as hard as engineering is made to seem… you can email me at smileyface631@yahoo.com or comment here or whatever…
i go to fort valley state university (i dont know if you’ve heard of it but prob. not), its in ga and there is a program here called CDEP which is a dual degree program for science and math students and i’m debating on whether to get in it or not.
What up Smiley. I don’t go to GA Tech just yet. I’m applying there for grad school. Which is still actually a good year or two away. For my school (Morgan State University) the work load is pretty average but I already know I won’t be saying that come next semester. Check out the link my homie Zoso posted a few comments up. I have heard that GA Tech’s workload is MAD CRAZY. But it all pays off in the end right?
yea, i guess it does. a couple of my friends go there now. one is like a super genius (she made all As her first semester there. hopefully she can pull it off this semester too)and the other is studying like hell for her finals now and wont pick up her phone lol.
i’m a biology major now, but if i get into the CDEP program i wanna do biology and environmental engineering. i’m kinda a ‘save the environment’ type that why i wanna do environmental. but what should i expect in my classes? like compared to say a chemistry class is an engineering course harder or does it always depend on the teacher? oh and i’ll check out that post
*link…
Hmm. I mean speaking from being a CE (Civil Engineering) major, it depends on the subject matter AND the professor. I know I sucked at chemistry, the only thing I understood was balancing equations and seeing as how I took that class in the Fall of 2005, I REALLY don’t remember too much of anything lol. Also, I don’t think the whole thing is an issue of the classes being harder, I think it’s just an issue of having more info to retain. If you’re bad at math. START STUDYING NOW.
i’ve been taking finals so its taken me a while to respond but i think i’m pretty good at math, i had calculus already & got an A and i’m thinking of taking calc 2-4 (i’m not sure what they’re called) so that i’ll have a head start if i choose to go the engineering route. but thanks for the advice 😉
No problemo.
Hey! I came across your blog through CreoleInDc’s blog and I really like it! I too am a college student: I’m an English Lit major at Concordia University in Montreal and I too have yet to visit Haiti for the first time to see my family. It’s a shame, I know. Feel free to check out my blog too!
Hello bbrran1, I came across your page while I sought out info on singer Dwele. I love his music and I think he is one of the most talented young Brothas in the game. I mean the jazzy beats are irresistable!!
I read that you are 1/2 Haitian and 1/2 African American. (I am African American and 1/4 Bahamian myself but that is besides the point). I just wanted to give you a shout out because I feel that all of us Black people in America are basically indebted to our Brothas and Sistas who are of Haitian descent based on you guys being the first to obtain your independence from European rule. While visiting Montreal, I met a Blessed gentleman and his wife who gave me an impromptu history lesson. I was very impressed as I always felt a closeness to the Hatian people.
I am writing to you from Rochester, NY but I’ve lived in parts of Maryland (which I absolutely adore).
Also, I see that you are a lover of music… there is nothing else on earth like great music. Much Peace and Blessings to you and much much success in your career as an engineer!
Although i am like a million years late. I hear that Morgan has an excellent Engineering program!
I live in Pikesville so all my friends who go to Morgan brag about it being better than Howard.
Well you take beautiful pictures from what I can see on this blog.