Haha! I bet you never thought this little RSS Feed would light up again, did you! Well, here I am again to get reacquainted. Try not to get too used to the idea, however, since there's no telling when I'll sit back down and attempt this again.
I've been married now for three months and a couple of days, which means that my wife (Henceforth referred to as "Muffin") now knows everything about me that I tried to keep a secret for the last three years, like the fact that I hack like a dog that swallowed a chicken bone each morning in the shower. Oh well, no sense trying to hide the fact anymore.
Amazingly, she still seems to love me quite a bit, and things are going swimmingly. We've settled in to our perfect little house in the country (an amazing blessing for us) and both of us are enjoying working as engineers. I have continued my employment at Autometrix and am now working to develop a heated cutting tool. I didn't care much for heat transfer in school, but so far I've enjoyed this project quite a bit. It's a challenge to bring it all together, but we'll see what I end up with.
Muffin now works at NVision as a hardware engineer, preparing the world to switch to all digital TV. So don't worry - your TV is in good hands. Trust me, she's a genius.
Las Vegas, for the record, is a very overrated place. I discovered this after spending a few hours there two weeks ago. Unfortunately, my trip lasted for 5 more days and I hadn't gotten a penny richer by the time I returned home to Muffin.
Maybe that has something to do with the fact that I didn't gamble at all, but I don't know. The ads make it sound like these casinos just can't wait to fill your pockets with money. I was there for a trade show (IFAI) however, and I enjoyed the time with my coworkers and the show went very well for us, it seems. During my 5 day stay there, I compiled a list of things to see in Vegas:
1) The Bellagio water show
2) The Venitian
3) The Bellagio water show
4) The Luxor is kind of cool
5) The Bellagio water show.
6) Ghiradelli's Chocolate store
And finally, finish off your visit to Vegas with a stop at
7)The Bellagio water show
My list of things to avoid in Vegas is much longer - if you want details you can ask.
In other news, I got my cello out a few days ago since I am supposed to play a (very simple) part this Sunday at a church I used to attend. We'll see how that goes, but I have enjoyed trying to make my cello make the sounds it used to make... Sooner or later Muffin will get out her clarinet and we'll be a very musical household. I think I'll enjoy that quite a bit.
I'm going to relax now and watch a movie from our Netflix queue (we're such an American family...) but I hope this is enough of an update for now.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Life up to...now
I suppose it's time for a post. I keep having these grand thoughts about how one of these days I'll really start blogging about life for my friends and relatives to read, but it never seems to happen. First it was "after I graduate, I'll have time". Now it's "maybe after I get married I'll have an interesting life like my sisters do and somehow magically be able to write a novel about my life whenever the fancy strikes". But to date, nothing magical has happened, so I'm just trying to form a habit here.
To catch up since the beginning of May:
I graduated from LeTourneau with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. Well, I mostly graduated. I have to finalize a presentation for the ISPO international congress that one of my professors is giving, and then he'll release my grades. But for all intents and purposes, I graduated. I'll try to post a picture at some point.
I left two days after graduation for Italy, where I traveled with a number of other engineers for 10 days. We were all in an engineering elective called "Engineering in the Ancient World" and we'd studied Roman engineering for the semester. Fascinating class.
Random fact about my trip to Rome: I'd been to Rome once before, 5 years ago. This trip to Rome, I stayed in the exact same hotel. In the exact same room. Strange, and rather unfortunate, since it's not exactly a hotel I'd recommend. But I'm sure the travel agent who set it up was just trying to get a good deal for us. Whatever.
After leaving Rome, two friends and I headed over to Wales and England. Wales has some of the most beautiful coast line I've ever seen. We stayed in a very tiny town for a few days called "Fishguard Harbour", which is only on the map because people go there to get on a fairy to Ireland where they can "drink for 36 *&$#ing hours straight" (and I quote a young Welsh gentleman I met on the train). We also went to Birmingham, Bristol, Warwick Castle, York, and London. Great trip overall, but I was ready to come home.
Upon returning to the States, I stayed in Texas for a few days and lived with a few friends on some old couches in Automotive Society (I huge garage, basically) surrounded by cars, including my own, as I worked to get it ready to drive to Iowa. Unfortunately, it didn't occur to me to check my exhaust line, and part way through OK in a heavy rain storm, my exhaust cooled too fast and cracked, so I drove from OK to IA with no muffler. Not fun.
I helped Jenn finish packing up her apartment and then we drove up to see some of her relatives in MN, and then through SD to the Black Hills and Rushmore, and then to NV and CA.
Now I'm back and working and trying to get stuff settled so Jenn and I can live here after our wedding. We found a fantastic deal on a house to rent for a year, and I'm turning into a real adult now, with my own PO box.
Exciting.
My wedding is in about three weeks now, and I think I'll be seeing most of my "loyal readers" there. I'm looking forward to it!
To catch up since the beginning of May:
I graduated from LeTourneau with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. Well, I mostly graduated. I have to finalize a presentation for the ISPO international congress that one of my professors is giving, and then he'll release my grades. But for all intents and purposes, I graduated. I'll try to post a picture at some point.
I left two days after graduation for Italy, where I traveled with a number of other engineers for 10 days. We were all in an engineering elective called "Engineering in the Ancient World" and we'd studied Roman engineering for the semester. Fascinating class.
Random fact about my trip to Rome: I'd been to Rome once before, 5 years ago. This trip to Rome, I stayed in the exact same hotel. In the exact same room. Strange, and rather unfortunate, since it's not exactly a hotel I'd recommend. But I'm sure the travel agent who set it up was just trying to get a good deal for us. Whatever.
After leaving Rome, two friends and I headed over to Wales and England. Wales has some of the most beautiful coast line I've ever seen. We stayed in a very tiny town for a few days called "Fishguard Harbour", which is only on the map because people go there to get on a fairy to Ireland where they can "drink for 36 *&$#ing hours straight" (and I quote a young Welsh gentleman I met on the train). We also went to Birmingham, Bristol, Warwick Castle, York, and London. Great trip overall, but I was ready to come home.
Upon returning to the States, I stayed in Texas for a few days and lived with a few friends on some old couches in Automotive Society (I huge garage, basically) surrounded by cars, including my own, as I worked to get it ready to drive to Iowa. Unfortunately, it didn't occur to me to check my exhaust line, and part way through OK in a heavy rain storm, my exhaust cooled too fast and cracked, so I drove from OK to IA with no muffler. Not fun.
I helped Jenn finish packing up her apartment and then we drove up to see some of her relatives in MN, and then through SD to the Black Hills and Rushmore, and then to NV and CA.
Now I'm back and working and trying to get stuff settled so Jenn and I can live here after our wedding. We found a fantastic deal on a house to rent for a year, and I'm turning into a real adult now, with my own PO box.
Exciting.
My wedding is in about three weeks now, and I think I'll be seeing most of my "loyal readers" there. I'm looking forward to it!
Friday, May 11, 2007
Sunday, April 22, 2007
I know the arts are important, but...
I was at the local Longview Rodeo tonight, and the announcer introduced the girl singing the national anthem as a "Talented 15 year old from Pine Tree Junior High".
I know the arts are important, and she did have a great voice, but don't you think it might be time for her to start focusing on her grades so she can get out of Jr. High before she has her drivers license?
Thursday, April 19, 2007
A realization
I came to a realization today - I've had this blog for just over a year - about a year and a week - and I've posted a grand total of 10 times. That's pitiful.
Maybe I should work on that.
Decisions have been made pertaining to the LEGS team and we are moving ahead with them. We have had to scale back what we had hoped to accomplish this year, but we understand that that's the nature of a research project. Things don't always go as planned. Instead of working to meet travel and implementation goals, the senior members of the team have decided to focus on improving the documentation that exists, and making sure that we don't leave taking any information with us. So I am now faced with a massive stack of research notebooks, a ton of MS Word templates, and lots of scratch paper as four of us begin the process of recording everything we know about LEGS.
In addition, I have to completely document a prosthetic foot testing machine that I designed and wired, but did not have time to program. So some poor guy next year gets to do that, and that means I have to write down a semester's worth of development with some degree of clarity.
I'll be honest and say I enjoy the development and manufacturing part more than the documentation.
It's also slightly frustrating to not be able to just finish the project - I know exactly what needs to happen, but simply don't have time to complete it. Too many end of semester reports and design reviews are due.
2.5 more weeks of LeTourneau, then 20 days in Europe, and then life. I honestly don't think its sunk in yet that I don't come back next year. Just like the last 3 years, I'm so ready to be done that I'm just looking forward to summer, like everyone else here. I think I'll miss this place.
I'm proud of a photoshop job I did. It's the background for the powerpoint for my final presentation on surveying instruments in ancient Rome.
Fun class - a lot of work and a ton of research, but I have enjoyed the learning.
Back to work.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
LEGS
Well, strangely enough, right after I made an attempt to start blogging again, I actually have a request to make of my few loyal readers.
As you know, I'm on the LEGS team (www.letu.edu/legs). I know I may be slightly biased, but it really is a fantastic project. The need for prosthesis in the developing world is huge, and to date no one has worked to meet that need with properly engineered devices. The devices that are commonly available are widely accepted, but you have to realize that they're accepted out of great need. Just because someone doesn't have any other options doesn't give you an excuse to do a sub-standard job when giving them a "solution".
LEGS is working to develop a prosthesis which meets the same standards required in the first world (ISO standards, etc) while keeping the device extremely affordable and culturally appropriate.
It's hard to summarize the entire project in just a few paragraphs, but trust me - it's a great project and we are working hard on it.
Which brings me to my reason for posting. I would like to ask those of you who are willing to please remember LEGS in prayer. First, we are up against a wall called "no money" and simply cannot continue without further funding. We are waiting to hear back on some grants, and the Lyons Club international expressed possible interest in funding us, but are moving extremely slowly (and of course, funding always comes with strings attached....)
Second - we just found out in the last couple days of testing that one major design we were depending on to implement overseas this summer failed... Miserably. We had put our faith in some work done by another university on a foot design, and apparently that was not the wisest choice. It lasts about 5000 cycles of fatigue testing, as opposed to 2,000,000. We understand that this stuff happens with R&D work, but it's frustrating just the same, and we desperately need a solution or there's no reason to travel this summer.
Finally, we have been working closely with a clinic in Kenya for some time now, but the politics of the situation have gotten rough and are not improving. Without giving a ton of details, we are now faced with making the decision of pulling out of Kenya within the next few months. Doing this means that all 17 patients currently happily walking on our limb would have to give their prosthesis back because of the R&D agreement we have with both the clinic and the school.
I hope this isn't terribly confusing, but the essence of this post is - "Please pray". I firmly believe that God can (and has) used the LEGS initiative to change lives. Hopefully all of this is simply a temporary setback that needs to be overcome before further progress!
Thank everyone (i.e. Sarah ;)). In the meantime, I'm going back to work on this stupid foot.
As you know, I'm on the LEGS team (www.letu.edu/legs). I know I may be slightly biased, but it really is a fantastic project. The need for prosthesis in the developing world is huge, and to date no one has worked to meet that need with properly engineered devices. The devices that are commonly available are widely accepted, but you have to realize that they're accepted out of great need. Just because someone doesn't have any other options doesn't give you an excuse to do a sub-standard job when giving them a "solution".
LEGS is working to develop a prosthesis which meets the same standards required in the first world (ISO standards, etc) while keeping the device extremely affordable and culturally appropriate.
It's hard to summarize the entire project in just a few paragraphs, but trust me - it's a great project and we are working hard on it.
Which brings me to my reason for posting. I would like to ask those of you who are willing to please remember LEGS in prayer. First, we are up against a wall called "no money" and simply cannot continue without further funding. We are waiting to hear back on some grants, and the Lyons Club international expressed possible interest in funding us, but are moving extremely slowly (and of course, funding always comes with strings attached....)
Second - we just found out in the last couple days of testing that one major design we were depending on to implement overseas this summer failed... Miserably. We had put our faith in some work done by another university on a foot design, and apparently that was not the wisest choice. It lasts about 5000 cycles of fatigue testing, as opposed to 2,000,000. We understand that this stuff happens with R&D work, but it's frustrating just the same, and we desperately need a solution or there's no reason to travel this summer.
Finally, we have been working closely with a clinic in Kenya for some time now, but the politics of the situation have gotten rough and are not improving. Without giving a ton of details, we are now faced with making the decision of pulling out of Kenya within the next few months. Doing this means that all 17 patients currently happily walking on our limb would have to give their prosthesis back because of the R&D agreement we have with both the clinic and the school.
I hope this isn't terribly confusing, but the essence of this post is - "Please pray". I firmly believe that God can (and has) used the LEGS initiative to change lives. Hopefully all of this is simply a temporary setback that needs to be overcome before further progress!
Thank everyone (i.e. Sarah ;)). In the meantime, I'm going back to work on this stupid foot.
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Back by popular demand!
....ok, fine - so one person asked me to get my act together and post again, but for me, that counts as "popular".
I can't remember what I've talked about here in the past, but for those of you who don't know, I am student project manager of the LEGS team (www.letu.edu/legs). It has taken over a large portion of my life. I've effectively moved into the lab now, moving everything but my bed and clothing down here to save time walking back and forth. I'm growing to hate this lab. Kind of strange to walk in to a lab when it's sunny outside and come out when it's dark and realize that 8 hours have passed. I miss windows.
(see how exciting my life is?)
I've also been finishing up writing an interesting research paper on surveying instruments and methods in ancient Greece and Rome. Lots of work, but very interesting and quite impressive how accurate their results were given the limited technology.
On a much lighter note, my fiance is down visiting over Easter weekend - so I'm going to try to relax a bit in the next few days and avoid going insane.
...and now you understand why I haven't posted in forever. My life doesn't make that fantastic of a story...
I can't remember what I've talked about here in the past, but for those of you who don't know, I am student project manager of the LEGS team (www.letu.edu/legs). It has taken over a large portion of my life. I've effectively moved into the lab now, moving everything but my bed and clothing down here to save time walking back and forth. I'm growing to hate this lab. Kind of strange to walk in to a lab when it's sunny outside and come out when it's dark and realize that 8 hours have passed. I miss windows.
(see how exciting my life is?)
I've also been finishing up writing an interesting research paper on surveying instruments and methods in ancient Greece and Rome. Lots of work, but very interesting and quite impressive how accurate their results were given the limited technology.
On a much lighter note, my fiance is down visiting over Easter weekend - so I'm going to try to relax a bit in the next few days and avoid going insane.
...and now you understand why I haven't posted in forever. My life doesn't make that fantastic of a story...
Sunday, July 09, 2006
oh well
I don't seem to be catching on to this blog thing. Sorry. Other things seem to always take precedence, and I rarely even think about it until I'm home doing something else. I suppose I'll keep trying, but it's just a constant struggle. Don't give up on me yet, loyal readers. Oh wait... Maybe it's too late.
oh well
I don't seem to be catching on to this blog thing. Sorry. Other things seem to always take precidence, and I rarely even think about it until I'm home doing something else. I suppose I'll keep trying, but it's just a constant struggle. Don't give up on me yet, loyal readers. Oh wait... Maybe it's too late.
Thursday, June 22, 2006
he lives
Ha! You all thought I had disappeared and given up blogging, didn't you. Sheesh, I must be the worst blogger in the world... Oh well, for better or for worse, I'm back to post again. No guarantees for the future, however.
In the past few weeks I've traveled a bit for work - to both Minnesota/South Dakota and San Diego/Mexico. I enjoyed the installation trips quite a bit, though trying to keep customers happy when they know they have to, gasp, CHANGE. People can be so resistant to change. In Mexico we installed a machine for a company that makes hockey sticks. It was fascinating - I never knew there was so much technology behind hockey sticks. This company makes custom sticks for about 120 NHL players, and every single player has at least one blade mold, if not more. One guy has 9. There's an upcoming trip to South Africa that I could go on, which would be great, but... It's looking like it might get pushed back to during my first week of school, so oh well.
When I'm in the office, I've been doing engineering design work on a new belt drive system. I like working with a team of engineers.
I got the old Porsche that I've been rebuilding for the last three years painted. It's looking good. I just need to finish the interior and fix some annoying little electrical problems. Tomorrow I'm going down to some junkyards to try to pull some parts. I've been enjoying driving it quite a bit, however.
Lastly, I've decided to do the Agony Ride again. (For those of you who don't know, it's a 24 hour bike ride fundraiser for a camp for troubled teens trying to recover from drugs, alcohol, sex abuse, etc. Riders get sponsored per mile and then get 24 hours on a loop to go as far as possible) There's a part of me that's a little afraid of it because I still remember in the back of my head what kind of agony it really was, but it was an awesome experience riding for a cause like that. You see the kids up there as they're filling your waterbottle and getting your food at the rest stops, and they realize that the only reason you're riding is for them... Some of them have never experienced love before.
Anyhow, Last time I rode I was in good shape and rode 313 miles. So this year I'm not in shape so much anymore, but I have to ride at least that far, cause I can't admit I'm out of shape :-) But I have been riding 3-4 times a week, both mountain and road, in an effort to prepare. I have just over 1 month to go.
Have an excellent weekend.
In the past few weeks I've traveled a bit for work - to both Minnesota/South Dakota and San Diego/Mexico. I enjoyed the installation trips quite a bit, though trying to keep customers happy when they know they have to, gasp, CHANGE. People can be so resistant to change. In Mexico we installed a machine for a company that makes hockey sticks. It was fascinating - I never knew there was so much technology behind hockey sticks. This company makes custom sticks for about 120 NHL players, and every single player has at least one blade mold, if not more. One guy has 9. There's an upcoming trip to South Africa that I could go on, which would be great, but... It's looking like it might get pushed back to during my first week of school, so oh well.
When I'm in the office, I've been doing engineering design work on a new belt drive system. I like working with a team of engineers.
I got the old Porsche that I've been rebuilding for the last three years painted. It's looking good. I just need to finish the interior and fix some annoying little electrical problems. Tomorrow I'm going down to some junkyards to try to pull some parts. I've been enjoying driving it quite a bit, however.
Lastly, I've decided to do the Agony Ride again. (For those of you who don't know, it's a 24 hour bike ride fundraiser for a camp for troubled teens trying to recover from drugs, alcohol, sex abuse, etc. Riders get sponsored per mile and then get 24 hours on a loop to go as far as possible) There's a part of me that's a little afraid of it because I still remember in the back of my head what kind of agony it really was, but it was an awesome experience riding for a cause like that. You see the kids up there as they're filling your waterbottle and getting your food at the rest stops, and they realize that the only reason you're riding is for them... Some of them have never experienced love before.
Anyhow, Last time I rode I was in good shape and rode 313 miles. So this year I'm not in shape so much anymore, but I have to ride at least that far, cause I can't admit I'm out of shape :-) But I have been riding 3-4 times a week, both mountain and road, in an effort to prepare. I have just over 1 month to go.
Have an excellent weekend.
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Life at home
I enjoy being an engineer. I spent most of today modifying parts in a machine shop, coming up with ideas for mounting terminal strips, and wiring a machine. Not all of that was directly "engineering", per say, but it was all related and very enjoyable. The best part is, I didn't have to get out my calculator a single time to do any of it! It's nice to use the practical knowledge I have gained to do something productive instead of solving carefully crafted problems all the time.
In other news, I took my car to get it painted. I should have it back by either Saturday or Monday. It's never going to be a show car, and the interior is a bit rough with all the cracked plastic parts and the cruddy carpet, but it runs nicely and it will all be one color, so I'm excited about getting it back. The downside is cost of insurance... Ah, the curse of being a 20 year old male.
I went on my first bikeride in 6 months. I'm definitely out of shape, but I love my Litespeed, and it felt good to be back in the ol' saddle. Hopefully by the time I head back to school I'll be a little more fit and can actually keep up with the friends I ride with.
Annoying - I went to all the trouble to answer the random question posed to me on my profile, only to find out that I'm limited to 150 words. Oh well, here it is for your enjoyment (ha)
"How tall would you be if you had never cut your fingernails? "
That's a complex question. I think the best way to go about answering it is to explain how to figure it out, just in case you ever need to. You would have to find out how much energy it takes to grow an inch in height, then find out how much it takes to cut your nails. Armed with this valuable knowledge, you would then have to find the rate of nail growth as a function of time and multiply it by your age, thereby finding the length your nails would be if you had never cut them. Assuming you cut off about 1/16" at a time, figure out how many times you have cut your nails. Multiply this by the average amount of energy used to cut your nails, and you can find out how much you have expended. Tada - one simply multiplication problem and you know how tall you would be! I could go into a lot more detail about finding the energy required to cut each nail, since it's a just a moment applied by your fingers and it can easily be transformed to work and energy, but if you really care, you can ask...
...
Ok, maybe that's not as funny as I thought it was at the moment. Sorry about that. If you're still reading this, you now understand what happens when you don't give engineers enough to do.
Enjoy the rest of your week!
In other news, I took my car to get it painted. I should have it back by either Saturday or Monday. It's never going to be a show car, and the interior is a bit rough with all the cracked plastic parts and the cruddy carpet, but it runs nicely and it will all be one color, so I'm excited about getting it back. The downside is cost of insurance... Ah, the curse of being a 20 year old male.
I went on my first bikeride in 6 months. I'm definitely out of shape, but I love my Litespeed, and it felt good to be back in the ol' saddle. Hopefully by the time I head back to school I'll be a little more fit and can actually keep up with the friends I ride with.
Annoying - I went to all the trouble to answer the random question posed to me on my profile, only to find out that I'm limited to 150 words. Oh well, here it is for your enjoyment (ha)
"How tall would you be if you had never cut your fingernails? "
That's a complex question. I think the best way to go about answering it is to explain how to figure it out, just in case you ever need to. You would have to find out how much energy it takes to grow an inch in height, then find out how much it takes to cut your nails. Armed with this valuable knowledge, you would then have to find the rate of nail growth as a function of time and multiply it by your age, thereby finding the length your nails would be if you had never cut them. Assuming you cut off about 1/16" at a time, figure out how many times you have cut your nails. Multiply this by the average amount of energy used to cut your nails, and you can find out how much you have expended. Tada - one simply multiplication problem and you know how tall you would be! I could go into a lot more detail about finding the energy required to cut each nail, since it's a just a moment applied by your fingers and it can easily be transformed to work and energy, but if you really care, you can ask...
...
Ok, maybe that's not as funny as I thought it was at the moment. Sorry about that. If you're still reading this, you now understand what happens when you don't give engineers enough to do.
Enjoy the rest of your week!
Friday, May 12, 2006
back at home
I'm back at home now - very glad to be here among mountains and forests with beautiful weather to boot. Now I get to (mostly) quit thinking about school and instead focus on my car and working.
In all honesty, I'm sick of my car. I'm going to try to get it painted next week so at least I can feel kind of good about it when I look at it. It really is close - mechanically it's fine, I just need to track down the few minor leaks in the seals and figure out why my headlights won't turn on. Hopefully it won't take too much longer.
In July I head back to Texas in order to begin preparing for my trip to Sierra Leone. I have to write some reports for LEGS as well, one of them before June 10, but without classes and homework, it seems a lot more doable.
My family gave me flak for not updating my blog enough, so I did it - but see, when I don't actually have anything to say, it's pretty boring...
In all honesty, I'm sick of my car. I'm going to try to get it painted next week so at least I can feel kind of good about it when I look at it. It really is close - mechanically it's fine, I just need to track down the few minor leaks in the seals and figure out why my headlights won't turn on. Hopefully it won't take too much longer.
In July I head back to Texas in order to begin preparing for my trip to Sierra Leone. I have to write some reports for LEGS as well, one of them before June 10, but without classes and homework, it seems a lot more doable.
My family gave me flak for not updating my blog enough, so I did it - but see, when I don't actually have anything to say, it's pretty boring...
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Oh well
Here I am trying to establish the fact that I'm not a complete nerd, and then my school has to come along and confirm the fact that I am, indeed, a nerd, with the entire school. I received this last week:
The great part is the phrase "with all the rights and privileges pertaining thereto"... No one has made clear to me what those rights and privileges are exactly.
In other news, one of the groundsmen here at school seems to think two of my best friends and I have come up with one of the answers to the impending oil crisis. (I know, you guys always knew I'd amount to something) Here's the answer -
Yes ladies and gentlemen, that is what you think it is - a fully human powered lawn mower. Now you, like everyone else who's seen this (aside from the nerds here who are extremely excited about the successful completion of this project) might be thinking, "a human powered lawn mower, they made those a long time ago - they were called reel mowers!" Ha - but this is a fully human powered riding lawn mower. Your feet propel you forward through pedaling, and your arms spin the blade at about 2000 rpm through the use of 4-bar linkages. This is a custom design - you won't find anything else like it.
...Maybe there's a reason for that...
It cuts grass though - quite well. You just can't take on an overgrown field with it. So seriously -when the oil crisis hits, you'll want one of these. It's what all the high-rollers who used to have their John Deer Riding mowers will switch to when they can't afford the gas. We're thinking of putting this one on eBay, so be watching. I'll let my faithful blog readers know if it happens so they can have a better shot.
Still more exciting news - My parents and brother came to visit, so I got to show them lots about what my life consists of these days. Definitely enjoyed the visit. Only about 12 more days of school.
The great part is the phrase "with all the rights and privileges pertaining thereto"... No one has made clear to me what those rights and privileges are exactly.
In other news, one of the groundsmen here at school seems to think two of my best friends and I have come up with one of the answers to the impending oil crisis. (I know, you guys always knew I'd amount to something) Here's the answer -
Yes ladies and gentlemen, that is what you think it is - a fully human powered lawn mower. Now you, like everyone else who's seen this (aside from the nerds here who are extremely excited about the successful completion of this project) might be thinking, "a human powered lawn mower, they made those a long time ago - they were called reel mowers!" Ha - but this is a fully human powered riding lawn mower. Your feet propel you forward through pedaling, and your arms spin the blade at about 2000 rpm through the use of 4-bar linkages. This is a custom design - you won't find anything else like it....Maybe there's a reason for that...
It cuts grass though - quite well. You just can't take on an overgrown field with it. So seriously -when the oil crisis hits, you'll want one of these. It's what all the high-rollers who used to have their John Deer Riding mowers will switch to when they can't afford the gas. We're thinking of putting this one on eBay, so be watching. I'll let my faithful blog readers know if it happens so they can have a better shot.
Still more exciting news - My parents and brother came to visit, so I got to show them lots about what my life consists of these days. Definitely enjoyed the visit. Only about 12 more days of school.
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Think what you will...
Wait for the video - it's worth it...
Not sure what this video should really tell us. I'll let the viewer decide that so I don't get into trouble. I'll just say that maybe they should raise the legal voting age unless you can pass a test, perhaps mainly on history...
Not sure what this video should really tell us. I'll let the viewer decide that so I don't get into trouble. I'll just say that maybe they should raise the legal voting age unless you can pass a test, perhaps mainly on history...
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Wow...
Two posts in one day - I'm on the internet highway to blogger fame! Incredible.
Here's the problem with posting more than once a month... Or once a year. Contrary to the title of this blog, the life of an engineering student is really not that exciting. Busy, yes, but exciting - probably not to anyone who's not an engineer. For example, I'm writing this right now instead of analyzing a copper tube with an electrical resistance heater inside of it, or finding all of the bearing forces in a four bar linkage rotating at some given rate. The most exciting homework I have waiting for me is the poster I have to make for the World Congress of Biomechanics, but even that takes research and lots of hours.
Is anyone still reading this? Just thought I'd ask - the point is that I desperately want to avoid a blog that has the appearance that I threw up all over the page. Frankly, not many people have deep, inspiring thoughts that are worthy of sharing with the world on a daily basis. I don't care what people had for lunch yesterday, or how boring their class was. Hopefully I can be more creative than that.
I watched The Manchurian Candidate tonight (one more very successful attempt at procrastination). Interesting movie. Obviously quite a bit farfeched, but still enough to make you think about the democratic system that America is blessed with. It relies on people and their integrity, and when that is compromised, the system cannot succeed. This brings up an entirely different point - the fact that there seem to be a lot of politicians these days that are lacking when it comes to integrity.
Ran across this last night - interesting. Certainly haven't seen it in the news, but if you poke around on the internet and follow a lot of her Michelle's links, you find a good number of this man's pictures and they certainly don't ring of truth.
I suppose I've ignored the many "nerdy" tasks that I have waiting for me, so - I'm off to become an engineer, one homework problem at a time.
Here's the problem with posting more than once a month... Or once a year. Contrary to the title of this blog, the life of an engineering student is really not that exciting. Busy, yes, but exciting - probably not to anyone who's not an engineer. For example, I'm writing this right now instead of analyzing a copper tube with an electrical resistance heater inside of it, or finding all of the bearing forces in a four bar linkage rotating at some given rate. The most exciting homework I have waiting for me is the poster I have to make for the World Congress of Biomechanics, but even that takes research and lots of hours.
Is anyone still reading this? Just thought I'd ask - the point is that I desperately want to avoid a blog that has the appearance that I threw up all over the page. Frankly, not many people have deep, inspiring thoughts that are worthy of sharing with the world on a daily basis. I don't care what people had for lunch yesterday, or how boring their class was. Hopefully I can be more creative than that.
I watched The Manchurian Candidate tonight (one more very successful attempt at procrastination). Interesting movie. Obviously quite a bit farfeched, but still enough to make you think about the democratic system that America is blessed with. It relies on people and their integrity, and when that is compromised, the system cannot succeed. This brings up an entirely different point - the fact that there seem to be a lot of politicians these days that are lacking when it comes to integrity.
Ran across this last night - interesting. Certainly haven't seen it in the news, but if you poke around on the internet and follow a lot of her Michelle's links, you find a good number of this man's pictures and they certainly don't ring of truth.
I suppose I've ignored the many "nerdy" tasks that I have waiting for me, so - I'm off to become an engineer, one homework problem at a time.
Monday, April 10, 2006
About me
I go to school with a lot of smart people. All through highschool I was always told that I was a "nerd" and was "really super smart". Then I came here, and I realized that nobody back home really understood true "nerddom". There are people here on a whole different level. But we all coexist happily in this boring little college town, and spend most of our time doing homework, and study to be engineers. Sure, all the sports players on campus laugh at us, and probably a lot of the girls think we're a little strange, but we like being engineers.
I'm still not sure, however, that I truly qualify as a "nerd". I like working with my hands too much. I spend too much time in the machine shop, and I actually know what I'm doing down there. And I like working on cars, and playing sports, and riding bikes. So maybe I'm not a nerd. Or, the other possibility is that I am a nerd, and all the guys so much smarter than me are "super nerds", or maybe even "geeks". I don't know. I guess my role in "nerddom" will just have to wait to be determined.
Life is good.
I'm still not sure, however, that I truly qualify as a "nerd". I like working with my hands too much. I spend too much time in the machine shop, and I actually know what I'm doing down there. And I like working on cars, and playing sports, and riding bikes. So maybe I'm not a nerd. Or, the other possibility is that I am a nerd, and all the guys so much smarter than me are "super nerds", or maybe even "geeks". I don't know. I guess my role in "nerddom" will just have to wait to be determined.
Life is good.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)