Happy New Year

Man, Dick Clark is in bad shape. He was on the New Year's show, and he's not doing well. He's been old for a while now, but I didn't remember him being that bad. I guess no one can be a teenager forever.

Charlie Eppes: Everything is numbers.

More tomorrow.

I Love a Rainy Night

Not so much a rainy morning and afternoon which cancels my disc golfing plans. Such is life. Although 60 degree days the week after Christmas don't come around very often.

I was going to write a longer update, but I spent too much time looking for a good quote.

Faith: [to Connor] Cut me a switch, son. There's gonna be a whoopin'.

More tomorrow.

It Lives!

I fixed my hard drive. It was actually much simpler than it should have been. Brent had done most of the disassembly of my old enclosure, so I just needed to unplug a few connectors, plug them into the new enclosure, and tighten 8 screws. My newly reconnected hard drive is up and running. This incarnation has LEDs which light up the entire side of the enclosure when it's on and running. It's almost cheesy sci-fi looking, where anything with way too many lights on it has to be advanced alien technology.

Today, I decided to catch up on TV. Today's show of choice was The 4400, which is another of the serialized dramas where you need the entire backstory to follow new developments. I caught the very end of Season 3 as it ran, but didn't follow much of what was going on. I got the Jesus reference they slam you in the face with, and some of the character backgrounds, but most everything else required explanation and a lot of "well, sure, OK." I watched Season 1 (all 5 episodes today) and have been downloading Season 2 for a while. I had Seasons 1 and 3 on my external hard drive when it died, so I was reluctant to re-download them since I just needed a $20 piece of aluminum to get to them. Weekends are traditionally busier (read: more family time) than during the week, so it may be Monday before I can get back to episodes, and I want to watch each season in as short a time as possible, with my breaks matching the hiatus time. Not length, because there's no way I'm waiting almost a year between seasons.

While I've been waiting for The 4400 to finish, I've been watching Shark. I like the show, so far, but it's nothing I'd go out of my way to see. James Woods plays himself very well, and the first couple of episodes have found a nice groove, but it's not a place a series can survive in for very long. Still, for a few minutes of entertainment, it's not bad.

Shawn Farrell: Me and 4,399 of my closest friends popped out of a ball of light right about here.

More tomorrow.

Are Ya Smokin' Yet?

Second night in a row I've been in a place with lots of smoke around. Last night, at the bowling alley, I had trouble breathing a couple times. Tonight, at Buffalo Wild Wings for trivia night, it wasn't as bad, but it was still too much. I would be OK with a ban of smoking inside anywhere, though I don't believe that governments should have that power. Although, the old standard that your rights stop at my face (in relation to a thrown punch) would apply. I am being affected by something you would normally have the right to do, so it is the role of the government to control such action. As long as I like the result, the government can have the power; when I no longer like what the government is doing, the power shall be removed.

I got my new external enclosure for my extra hard drive today. I hope this one works better than the one Brent told me would work, then is too small. Computer expert, my foot. I may try to get that hard drive working tonight before I go to bed. It's not doing me any good in its present state.

I read an interesting article about the U.S.' math and science scores compared to those of other countries. The spread in the scores is higher between U.S. whites and blacks than between the U.S. and the leading country(ies). The article also talked about the way math and science are taught - mile wide, inch deep in the U.S. (essentially all topics are taught every year) versus teaching only a few topics each year. I'm open to discussion with this. Is it better to introduce all topics early on and (in theory) increase the depth of coverage each year or teach a few topics completely in each school year? As it stands, there are about 100 or so topics that must be taught in "lower" math (before high school, let's say). I like the idea of teaching fewer topics with more depth, assuming that's what you actually do. Our current system of social promotion doesn't support that as even possible, though. On the flip side, most of my readers here excelled at math through school. Would covering fewer topics bore you in class? I was usually bored in math class anyway, but was that because I'd mastered topic 23 three years before, but still had to cover it every year? What about the argument that we learn things much more quickly when younger, so introducing topics early will help us later on? Or that with the current system, one bad teacher doesn't screw you up as much since you cover the same things every year? I'm interested to see where this goes and if any changes actually help. Comments are open, feel free to discuss.

Mr. Blonde: Are you gonna bark all day, little doggy, or are you gonna bite?

More tomorrow.

Bubble Bobble

As in the old NES game, which I beat today. Somehow, by playing it once every six months or so, I have become much, much better. In the past, I could get to the end, struggle, and maybe get lucky and win. Now, I don't win every time, but I make a serious dent almost every attempt. I credit grad school.

A large group of people went bowling tonight. I think we had 15 at one point, though only 14 bowled. My score was about 230, total for the three rounds. It was much better than I expected. We bowled maybe 2 hours, after waiting almost an hour from getting there until starting. Lee and I may bowl some in Tullahoma now that the weather can't be counted on for disc golf. I have a feeling we'll both be trying to get more research done, though, so free time might not be so plentiful.

Capt. Malcolm Reynolds: Half of writing history is hiding the truth.

More tomorrow.

Happy Boxing Day, Canada

My vacation doesn't lend itself to blogging - too boring. Today, I tried to buy an enclosure for my external hard drive at Best Buy. The parking lot was packed, and they just moved into a bigger location with more parking. Then, when I found the enclosures, they had 1, for $51. I have seen dozens online for less than $20. I came home, found one that was well-reviewed, and bought it. It should be here by the end of the week, and hopefully my hard drive will be working soon thereafter. I need to transfer the BSG season so far to it, and maybe some others that I decide to hang onto a while longer.

There has to be something useful that needs doing, so I can ignore it and feel a sense of accomplishment over this break. Nothing immediately comes to mind.

Charlie Epps: You are rocketing into space, Larry, there's no downside to packing a lucky shirt.

More tomorrow.

Sabotage!

Gesundheit!

MST 3K: Santa Claus Conquers the Martians

I watched that after getting back tonight.

Santa Claus: No siree! We're going out the good ol' fashioned way. Prancer and Dancer and Donder and Blitzen, and Vixen and Nixon... oh, consarnit I get those names mixed up, but the KIDS know their names.

More tomorrow.

Merry Christmas

To all and to all a good night.

Narrator: He puzzled and puzzled till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before! Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas... perhaps... means a little bit more!

More tomorrow.

Another Day

They get easier from here. For the past several months, and for years and years, Saturday was when my dad saw his parents. As far back as I can remember, he went to the farm on Saturday. The farm is land he and my mom bought which is adjacent to, and was part of, his family's land. His parents lived on their part of the farm. I don't have any memories of a working farm (other than a large garden), but at one time, the farm was a large working farm which helped support my grandparents. Saturdays, my dad would go out there and drive the tractor around, doing whatever. After his parents were unable to live out there and had to be put in a nursing home, he continued to work on Saturdays, and we'd visit them on Sundays. A few months ago, he and his sister switched days so that we would usually go on Saturdays to visit them. Today, for the first time, he didn't have anyone to visit on Saturday.

My cousin, his nephew, came out to the farm this morning to deer hunt a little, then my dad and I drove around and spent some time together. We went to the Honda store in Southaven to look at fourwheelers. We have one in like-new condition, but there have been some significant engineering changes to the new models that we wanted to see. While in Southaven we looked for a place he'd been to that sells bedliners for trucks, because I want one for my Colorado. The place had either been sold or moved because it wasn't where it had been 3 or 4 years ago. We ate at Backyard Burgers and watched a little bit of Patton on TV, too.

They get easier from here.

Patton: Men, all this stuff you've heard about America not wanting to fight - wanting to stay out of the war, is a lot of horse dung. Americans traditionally love to fight. All real Americans love the sting of battle. When you were kids, you all admired the champion marble shooter, the fastest runner, big league ball players, the toughest boxers. Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser. Americans play to win all the time. I wouldn't give a hoot in hell for a man who lost and laughed. That's why Americans have never lost and never will lose a war, because the very thought of losing is hateful to Americans.

More tomorrow.

I Ain't Your Social Director

I got to sleep in this morning, then pretty much lounge around all day and watch Star Trek: Voyager for a while. It's vacation, after all. I'm not planning a wedding or anything.

At 7, a group of us met at El Porton. Lee and Jennifer left about 9. Garrett left about 10. Sheena, Melissa, and I left about 11, as they were closing. Then we stood around a talked for another ten minutes outside. We always do that, though. I've known Melissa forever, and Sheena almost as long. We would have talked longer if the place had stayed open. A few years ago, we sat in a movie theater parking lot talking until 2AM. So 11, not so late.

The Doctor: Don't you think she looks tired?

More tomorrow.

Long Couple of Days

I don't know which felt longer, yesterday when I was at the funeral home for 3 and a half hours, or today with the funeral itself then family coming over afterwards. Today, I felt like I did more, but just being somewhere for as long as I was yesterday takes a lot out of you, too. It didn't bother me so much letting go of my grandmother, because I've been preparing for a while, knowing that she wasn't going to be around much longer, and I know she was in a lot of pain and is in a better place now. The hard part for me was seeing my aunts in pain. They are the younger two children of my grandparents and don't have any children of their own, so their mother was the closest family they had.

I've been making fair progress on How Few Remain, the alternate history novel I borrowed from Lee. I probably won't have it finished in time to start Empire, the book I bought myself for Christmas and let my parents wrap and put under the tree. Although I could probably read Empire in about one sitting and start back on How Few Remain without losing any time. I guess it'll depend on how I feel about it on Christmas day, when I have 4 hours worth of drive time to fill.

It looks like a thuderstorm is coming this way, and I don't want to lose my connection before I can publish, so I'll end here.

Max Guevara: I had to have radical emergency amateur brain surgery to remove a nanochip from my cerebellum before I stroked from a neurochemical overload.

More tomorrow.

Not Cool, Man

There were lots of people at the visitation tonight. I even knew some of them. I had not seen my grandmother look any better. My mom said she looked 25 years younger, and I agree that she looked a lot younger than I remember her. That funeral home has always been very good to our family - kind, thoughtful. I know my way around a little better than maybe I would like, but they've always been very good about handling things.

Some of the guests, however, I would have preferred to avoid all together. It's a long story, but my dad and I were sitting on a couch when we got cornered. He spotted someone he knew leaving, so he had to "walk them out," and he escaped, and I was stuck behind enemy lines, alone, with no visible means of escape. I called him on it when we were leaving, and he didn't deny that he just left me there. I did eventually escape when a distant cousin provided a distraction, and I was able to jump a couple chairs and combat roll over to the door. This was about 10 minutes before we left, too. I almost made it without having to worry about it.

I need to remember to burn my dad the CDs he wants for Christmas. I was able to find most of the songs he wanted online, and he picked about 2 CDs worth that I'm going to burn. Free Christmas presents, most excellent.

The Doctor: Small talk is a vital dating skill. It helps to establish a rapport with your companion.
Seven of Nine: Perhaps there's something to be said for assimilation after all.

More tomorrow.

Arrangements

Visitation: Wednesday, 5-8PM, Peebles Funeral Home, Somerville, TN
Funeral: Thursday, 2PM, same location

I don't foresee anyone who reads this needing that, but I put it here anyway.

Not a lot to talk about from today. I watched a lot of the Star Trek: Voyager marathon on Spike. I think they're showing them in order, but they jumping around a little, too. The skipping of episodes is throwing off my continuity meter, but I remember enough that it's not bad. Episodes make the normal rotation starting in January.

Somehow, my room is the hottest in the house, which wouldn't be so bad if the rest of the house were kept reasonably cool, but the rest of the house is just a little too warm, so my room is quite a bit too warm. I turn the heat (yes, the heater) down, but somehow it always ends up back where it was. I've been sleeping with a fan trained on me, and I still get too hot.

Tom Paris: When a bomb starts talking about itself in the third person, I get nervous.

More tomorrow.

Thank You All for Your Kind Words

I've talked to several people since I posted earlier today, and I appreciate everyone's thoughts and prayers for my family. I am doing fine. My dad had told me a few weeks ago to be sure I had my suit with me when I came home, so her death wasn't a surprise to anyone. I was a little surprised that it happened so quickly. The hospice nurse who was there Saturday had talked about a little bit longer timeframe, but nothing is ever certain. I am glad I got to see her when I did, though. I don't know if she knew I was there, but I know. I don't believe I'll ever regret the time I spent with my grandparents (or spend with the one I have left).

There was a pretty bad school bus accident near my high school this afternoon. Four buses and a car were involved, and several people were taken to the hospital. From what I heard, no one was seriously hurt, though several had sore necks. I hope this causes some consideration of putting seat belts on school buses. I don't know that kids would wear them, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be there.

It's nice to see someone else has decided to continue blogging. Lee said he was going to blog everyday in December, and he made it almost halfway into the month without missing a day. He did have to go back and do research at UTSI, so I can't say I blame him for neglecting his blogging. While I'm on the subject, some time around now is the anniversary of my blog. I think it's today, but I could be wrong. I don't have the original posts online anymore, and it wasn't "The Daily Jeffrey" back then, but I started blogging on or about this day 2002. I miss that webpage. I liked that format, and it worked well, as evidenced by all the people who eventually took it for themselves. It was also nice to have the time to do all the work on it. That page had a blog, several lengthy editorials (about one a month), plus links, pictures, updated class schedules, and all sorts of other things. It went away when CBU deleted my student account. I still have the files, but I can't repost them because of the formatting that I liked so much. It just doesn't work on the free hosting sites, and I'm too cheap to buy a domain.

I forgot to watch Mystery Science Theater 3000: Santa Claus Conquers the Martians again. I got started watching a Stargate marathon, then a BSG rerun, then talking to people. The conversations were a little odd because my internet connection is bad (I'm connecting to someone in my neighborhood's wireless network), so I'd get about 5 messages at once, reply, wait several minutes, then get replies all bunched together again, as my connection went from good to bad to good. If I missed any messages or took a while to respond, that's why.

Grades finally came out today, and I'm pleased, though I am a little surprised that the grades weren't a little higher across the board in Inviscid. The final was rough for several people, but I really expected Vakili to be a little more generous on the overall grades.

Angelica: You dumb babies, monsters are just frigments of your infactuation.

More tomorrow.

In Memoriam

My grandmother, Lenora King, passed away early this morning. She was 81. She had been in a nursing home for the past couple of years and had been deteriorating for several months. I had been to see her on Saturday with my dad. Funeral arrangements will be finalized tomorrow morning, though there will probably be visitation Wednesday night at the Peebles Funeral Home and the funeral will be Thursday afternoon.

More tonight.

I Got Tired All of a Sudden

It's not really that late, and I feel like I'm about to fall asleep in my chair, so I'll try to post an addendum tomorrow, but I may not. Not a lot happened today, so it's just a matter of whether I have anything to rant about in the middle of the day.

"If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts." --Albert Einstein

More tomorrow.

The Happy Couple

Tonight was Brent's wedding. It was also the first time I'd ever met his wife, although I still doubt that she could pick me out of a crowd. Not that I can blame her, it was her wedding day, she doesn't need to remember people. The ceremony was very nice. It wasn't over-the-top or showy, it was very much about the two of them. There was a slideshow with pictures of them growing up, then when they were dating, then engaged (as evidenced by the showing off of the ring). I had flashbacks to Wedding Crashers during the reading from Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians, but you can't really avoid that when you choose that passage. In the (huge) wedding party were a guy who used to live two houses down, another I knew from high school, another from college, and a girl I went to middle and high school with (who happens to be Lee's distant cousin). I also knew a few attendees, including some who didn't put forth the effort to wear a jacket and wouldn't have worn a tie if their Mommy hadn't made them. I'm looking at you, Wellikoff. Both cakes were very good; I had to try both to be sure. It's hard to judge, seeing a couple together for the first time at their wedding, but they both seemed very happy and very much in love. I wish them all the best as they go forward in their new life together.

Another reason Ashley might not be able to pick me out of a crowd is that Brent didn't introduce me by name. Instead, he and Ashley walked over, and he introduced Lee and me as "Rocky and Bullwinkle." Lee mentioned a couple days ago that she refers to us as that. It led me to start putting the Bullwinkle quotes at the bottom of the page, which led to the other quotes. They didn't stay and talk long, they had more people to greet and talk to. I had talked to Brent a minute before the ceremony, then spoke again before I left, so they met their "talk to all the guests" quota with me, if no one else.

I have more of my day, but it can wait for another entry. I want to keep this one about the title characters. They better bring me something back from Hawaii. Maybe a hula girl, and not the kind that goes on the dashboard.

They come runnin' just as fast as they can
'Cause every girl's crazy 'bout a sharp dressed man.

More tomorrow.

Sleeping Single in a Triple Bed

There's an old song "Sleeping Single in a Double Bed" that was referenced on the radio today, then in Battlestar Galactica tonight, one of the characters fit the description in the title. If you watch the show (even if you missed the episode), you'll know exactly what I'm saying. If not, use your imagination, you'll probably be close enough for government work.

I watched Memento after BSG. We need to learn to split the crazy movies up more. In the past few movies, we had Fight Club, 12 Monkeys, Seven, and finally Memento. Seven was the least crazy of the bunch, and it had its own twists. In general, I like a movie like this once in a while, but not 4 out of 7 rentals (the other three in this span were The Wild World of Batwoman, Chicken Little, and Super Troopers). I knew the "trick" to Fight Club and Memento, so I wasn't completely surprised by either movie, but even knowing about the movie, trying to follow things and tie everything together is tough. I'm not sure if I need a rested brain to watch the movies or one in a hyper-aware state. It's freakin' me out, man.

I'm mad at my professors for not posting my grades fast enough to suit me. Now, the online system is down for the night and I can't check to see if they posted anything between the last time I checked, just a few hours ago, and now. I want to know, and I want to know hours ago.

Dr. Daniel Jackson: Oh! Sorry, guess I was wrong. I'm sure your information is correct and . . . In fact, I'm usually quite wrong, quite unreliable actually. To be honest with you, I'm insane.

More tomorrow.

The Only True Wisdom Consists of Knowing You Know Nothing

Maybe Socrates was right when he said that. Then again, Socrates didn't just win $100 in free wings from Buffalo Wild Wings. Lee and I did. We tried to get a group of people to go, but no one else was free (or they were sick), so it was just him and me, against all others. At halftime, we were in third place, nicely positioned for a second half run to the top. The first round of the second half almost killed us, though. We aced the last two rounds and were still in third for the final question. The question was - order these countries from most to least in the order of beer consumption per person: Germany, Australia, Ireland, the United States. Take a minute to think about how you would answer. We knew that in order to have any chance of winning, we needed to risk the maximum possible - 20 points. We had 83 points, first was 94, and second was 88. Missing the question meant losing anyway, so we risked 20. Our answer: Ireland (most), Germany, Australia, the United States. The other teams at the top all missed it. There was a tie for third and a tiebreaker round, but we knew we had the answer right and thought the tie was for first, so we were in third. As it turns out, the tie was for third, and we smoked the competition 103 to 81 to 76. [Air guitar.]

Also today, I went to another mock trial meeting. I got to be a little more involved in the planning and shaping today, which I like. I got to object to some questions and argue some technicalities, which I like. Some crazy little Asian girl kept asking me if I liked weird music, which was disturbing. It might have been a little less disturbing if she spoke plain English. This wasn't even stereotypical "l" and "r" stuff, this was bad grammar, thick accent, the works. I'm not trying to be mean; other than the "completely off her rocker" she seemed nice enough and fairly intelligent, for a high school freshman.

I finally bought my copy of Empire by Orson Scott Card. It's a little bit of an odd story, though not compared to his usual writing. From what I've read (the first 5 chapters were posted online at the author's website), there is a movement pitting Red States against Blue in a new Civil War, of sorts. A military man is recruited into some type of group that seems shady. As part of his duties, he thinks up ways terrorists might try to attack, and then how to prevent said attacks. One of his proposals for an attack is actually used, killing the President and most of the Cabinet during a meeting. The Vice President and any absent Cabinet officers are killed individually at the same time. The military man and his aide kill some of the attackers, track down some infomation, and prepare to take on whoever might want to blame them, then the preview ended. It's already good, I have a feeling it's going to get even better. Card is usually pretty good about his sub-plots, and I've glossed over some interesting ones here. If you liked Ender's Game and any of that collection, give this book a try. If you haven't read anything by Card, read Ender's Game and you'll be hooked. Zero gravity laser tag is the coolest thing ever.

"Ender, if you're on one side of the battle, it won't be equal no matter what the conditions are."
- William Bee

More tomorrow.

Edit

I forgot to mention this last night, and I should have

One of my great uncles was in the hospital (I don't remember the reason right now). His brother, another great uncle, was going to see him and fell on some stairs at the hospital and broke his hip. The uncle with the broken hip has hemophilia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemophilia), a blood disorder where the blood does not clot. If not the oldest, he is one of the oldest people in the United States with the disease (he's about 58). Most people with hemophilia die very young, either from cuts that won't stop bleeding or from complications related to treatments such as blood transfusions. The broken hip will require surgery to repair. The doctors will not operate because of the hemophilia (presumably because of the low chance of survival). Without the surgery, he will be bed ridden for the rest of his life. He has told the doctors that he would rather die on the operating table than live that way, but thus far they have not consented.

I don't know what is the best outcome here. I certainly understand both sides. If it is your wont to seek guidance from a higher place, I hope you can remember their families and join me in asking for the best result for everyone.

Home

It is NICE to be home. I slept in this morning, ate breakfast, wandered around Memphis for a little while, went to Germantown for the mock trial meeting, ate lunch, did a little more wandering, got Chick-Fil-A, and sat around doing nothing for the rest of the night. Doing nothing was all I remembered it to be, and more.

The kids at mock trial are in a tough spot this year. Most of their experienced people graduated last year, and almost no one is returning in their roles from previous years. Since I'm not in Memphis through the week much anymore, this is the first meeting I've made it to since last year's state competition, where we beat two top-ten teams and yet somehow we finished out of the top ten. I'm still angry about that. The meeting today was just to go over what they'd written and what questions they had developed during the writing. It's good to brainstorm and discuss issues, but I have a feeling most of what I say goes in one ear and out the other. This is one of those things where you don't get better until you get embarrassed a few times. I hate to see that happen because a lot of these people are clearly very intelligent, but it's the competition that forges the best lawyers, and no one has really been through that yet. My role has always been to scare the newbies, to make willing to learn, then to challenge them and make them better through a competition that didn't mean anything. It was a great role because I got to play Devil's Advocate all the time, then teach how to avoid or respond to the problems. Now, I'm the visiting expert and the reason we took second in the district last year (that was my introduction today), and almost no one knows me or has any reason to listen to me. And I got called "sir" today.

There is general agreement that UTSI professors, while knowledgeable and nice people overall, do not make good bosses. I was misinformed about the timeline of my project more than a year ago. I don't think that was all my advisor's fault (contracts had to go through about 12 government agencies, including the military, before they reached the company that was contracting with us), but it also made for a year of absolutely no work toward my thesis, and will probably cost me at least one semester on my graduation plans. Lee's advisor kept telling him that things weren't pressing, so Lee came home. Now, it seems, work needs to get done yesterday and Lee might have to go back to school to get things done. Amy's advisor didn't give her much work at all during the semester, but has now loaded her down with things to do over the holidays (and her sister's wedding). Amy, a math major, also gets to take a Reading class with the always fun Dr. Kupershmidt. I think they should start with The Little Engine That Could and see if they can make it all the way through the Dr. Seuss collection. Although if Kupershmidt picks, it'll probably be all the fun books he told us to read "if we had time." (To be fair, he acknowledged that would probably be after the completion of classes.) I have an interesting book on Cryptography that I did a math report on, if that helps. I'm sure it doesn't.

I really should have read the mock trial questions that I told that girl I'd look over. I'm a bad visiting expert.

Drew Carey: Oh, you hate your job? Why didn't you say so? There's a support group for that. It's called EVERYBODY, and they meet at the bar.

More tomorrow.

That's a Long Drive

I made it through the Inviscid Final. It wasn't at all what I was expecting. Really, it was half what I was expecting. One problem dealt with the Helmholtz, Kelvin, and Kutta theorems or conditions. I knew that would be there. One problem dealt with flow boundary conditions, and that was to be expected. A third problem was a derivation of the Bernoulli equation for rotational flow. While the end result is the standard everyday Bernoulli equation, it's derivation is far from straight-forward. There are some crazy vector calculus identities that no one ever remembers, then you integrate over a streamline, and everything works. I couldn't do the vector anlysis, so I carried the offending term all the way through the problem until I rewrote it in the integral in the form it needed to be in to get the final answer. That problem was completely hit-or-miss, either you remembered the derivation from the book (which we covered months ago) or you didn't. The last problem was another Helmholtz / Kelvin explanation, but much less clear as to what any type of reasonable answer was. I did get to use my drafting template to draw a circle for that problem. I rambled for a while about vorticity and circulation and other buzz words, and I think I said what needed to be said somewhere in all that. It was a lot like my blog, but for a grade.

After the final, I managed to create a problem for everyone by trying to print my timesheet. It should be fixed, eventually. Lee and I got a quick lunch, then loaded up our respective vehicles and headed to Memphis. It rained on us from about Manchester almost to Nashville, then there was a car on fire on I-24 just south of Nashville, right after it quit raining. We sat at nearly a dead stop for 15 minutes, then traffic cleared and we didn't have any other problems the whole way back. The rain left the sky overcast, and the sun only peeked through to blind us for about 10 minutes total. I made it home in about the normal amount of time, even being stopped on I-24. Food is good.

Tonight has been all about relaxing. You can take that statement as a goal of my entire break. I plan to do as little as possible as much as possible.

Bullwinkle: But here, cleverly disguised as a bomb, is a bomb.

More tomorrow.

Two Down

Heat Transfer was about what I realistically expected. I had hoped that I wouldn't need to solve an actual differential equation, but that was a little too much to hope for. As it ended up, there were three problems related to the same physical problem, and each built on the previous one. Essentially, the first problem dealt with the first big step, finding the eigenfunction. The next problem was applying that eigenfunction to a subproblem of the last one. In order to solve the last one, you needed to do the other two, but if you did the test in order, you already had them. The test was then 50% that problem and 50% other stuff, but with the questions weighted equally. I'm almost positive I got everything "right." I qualify with quotations because at least one problem wasn't black-white grading. You might do steps correctly, but make some bad choices about variables (not wrong, just not optimal) and I don't know how he'll score that. I like my answer to the problem, but that doesn't mean anything when he's grading it.

Tonight, the Lee-and-Jeffrey tradition of steak overload after finals continued. Usually, we do it after all finals are over, but we (at least I) won't be in town tomorrow night, and all-you-can eat steak is too good to pass up. The soft serve was good, too.

I'm just about packed up for the semi-move home. I haven't been home for this long since last December, before I started to UTSI. I'm not really taking that much with me, for a trip that long. My room at home is still furnished (everything here is either new or came from relatives who didn't need it or from yard sales), so I don't need anything but clothes and my computer stuff.

Agent 99: You'll be in extreme danger every minute.
Maxwell Smart: ...and... loving it.

More tomorrow.

Christmas Music and Final Exams

I didn't do a lot of studying today. For one thing, my exam tomorrow is Heat Transfer, and there's just not a lot that can be covered. He listed the general topics for the exam (which also happen to be the general topics for the class), and I understand them and can do problems related to all of them, but that may not mean much. In order to ask any range of questions, he can't have us solve many problems (as in none). His policy is that doing all the homework allows you to negotiate your grade higher, anyway, and I did all of those and have them ready to show him, if needed.

I bought my books for next semester. I can't find mention of it in previous posts, but I registered for two classes, when I really don't need anything in order to complete my requirements. I signed up for Heat Transfer II: Convection and Tactical Missile Design. Tactical Missile Design: how cool is that? I will learn more in a semester than the North Koreans have developed in 3 decades. Well, probably not, but it's still going to be interesting. The instructor is the same guy I had for Rocket Propulsion I. He's extremely knowledgeable and very practical in his explanations, since he owns a rocket engine design company. All I have to say is that by May everybody better be on my good list or they'll be meeting my design project in a very unpleasant way (for them, at least). Convection is going to be useful as a class, I guess. Dr. Shultz felt that was a better class for me to take, and Dr. Moeller didn't disagree, though Moeller supported me taking Tactical Missiles if I wanted. The "compromise" they came to was that I should take one class and audit the other. Since auditing convection is essentially the same as taking it, minus the grade, I just registered to take both. It may be a little more work, but it doesn't look like my thesis is getting done by May anyway, so I have more time, too. Tactical Missile Design.

Bullwinkle: Well this is a pickle...actually its more of a kumquat.

More tomorrow.

You Got Your Helmholtz in My Kelvin

For the two sample Inviscid Flow finals that Dr. Vakili gave us, we needed to know the difference between the Helmholtz theorem and the Kelvin theorem. Without going into detail, they're the same thing, just using different words and different ways of thinking about the same process. I could explain the difference before I realized that, now I just think about how they're really the same thing. It's like telling someone to clear their mind, but they can't help but think of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. It's exactly like that.

After I worked through both sample tests, for the second time now, I fixed some tacos and Mexican rice while Lee worked on Rotel. Then we watched Chicken Little, the latest installment from NetFlix. It's definitely a kid's movie (it was only an hour 15 minutes long), but it had some laughs in it. Also, it wasn't the worst expansion of a 10-minute story into a feature-length movie that I've ever seen. I would have preferred a longer "The sky is falling! The sky is falling!" scene, just to be truer to the original. I don't find enough occasions to use my big voice, either.

Dr. Kupershmidt emailed us our grades on the final and our final grades. He said he'd do this by last night, but he probably had more to grade than he realized. There was also some issue with the last problem being copied wrong from book to test. I ended up with a 4.5 / 5, and an A overall for the course. It's good to be the King.

Brent's fiancee apparently refers to Lee and me as Rocky and Bullwinkle. Lee wanted to be Rocky, so I'm "Mr. Know-It-All" himself, Bullwinkle J. Moose, president of Moosylvania. It's good to be the President.

Rocky: Do you know what an A-bomb is?
Bullwinkle: Certainly. A bomb is what some people call [my blog].

More tomorrow.

Bless His Heart

My first final is in the books. It was Vector Calculus, and it was much easier than I was expecting it to be. The midterm was 7 problems in 75 minutes. The final was 6 questions in 120 minutes. They were all from what I'll call the "easier" set of homework problems - none of the involved, winding, trig identity problems or proofs that we were all fearing. The last question could not be completed in the manor required. He said it could, but both Amy, the math major, and I disagree with him on that. Heather and Lee also agree with us, but I talked to Amy about it first.

Lee and I went to UTSI well before the final was to start in order to do some final review, away from television and computers. I don't usually like to go over material right before a test, but I stopped early enough that I could get into my test-taking frame of mind. Lee's flavored Tums were popular in the test room, and he joked about them making Amy pass out (in order to improve the curve, since she's the math major). I was going to make a reference to Scrubs where the a couple that Jordan and Perry are out with put ruffies in their drinks, but I wasn't sure anyone would get the reference, and then it's just creepy.

It looks like I'll be driving back to Memphis Tuesday afternoon, almost definitely now. My exam ends, officially, at 12:15, and I plan to be ready to go soon after. I'll probably have everything packed, but still at the apartment, load everything, and leave as quickly as practical. It'll be nice to be home and relax, but I'm also leaving this apartment for almost a month. I don't foresee any problems. It's been the coldest nights in a row that I can remember, and nothing has frozen. I don't like that the mail is going to build up, but I guess the real estate guy can handle that . . . ? I need to get that handled.

In the time before the exam, Amy, Lee, and I were studying, and Amy said that when she moved to Tennessee, she noticed that people would say awful things about people, but everything was excused with a "bless his heart." "That Timmy is a lying cheater, bless his heart." "Amy is as dumb as a post, bless her heart." (Not you, Amy, the other Amy.) It's like Lee's favorite insult introduction, "With all due respect." "With all due respect, you are a moron."

Now, I need to prepare for my Heat Transfer final (it's not exactly studying, but I can't do nothing, either), and study a little for Inviscid. Inviscid is just to make sure I go back and read all the things he said to and I skipped during the semester. My hardest final is over, though. More tomorrow.

Technical Writing No More

My first final is gone, done, finished. It was technical writing, rescheduled because the instructor couldn't make it back from Orlando in time to give us a final on Tuesday night. I'm not complaining about that. The final, however, was crazy. Question 1: List three ways to avoid plagiarism. (a) Don't do it, (b) See number a, (c) See number b. Is there anything other than just not plagiarizing? It's not a hard concept. There were some grammar questions that were pretty obvious, I thought. Some weird quotation / paraphrasing things. I finished in about 10 minutes.

I also got my paper and presentation grades. Paper was an A, not bad for an afternoon of writing and another of finding sources to claim for everything I said. The presentation was an A-, but an overall score of 9/10. Those two don't match, in my opinion, but since the grading is only pass / fail, I really don't care. If somehow I fail because of the final I barely tried on, I need everyone to pool their money to bail me out of jail. It'll be justified homocide, but I'll still need bail money. I promise I won't skip out on it.

I downloaded and upgraded to Internet Explorer 7 today. I like most of the changes, and I'm sure I'll get used to the others. The tabbed windows and multiple homepages are nice immediately. I give it a B right now after about an hour of total use.

I'm getting to bed as early as possible tonight to be well rested for my math final. More tomorrow.

Nothing Says Christmas Like an Explosion

That's my motto for the year.

The Superfriends had a study session today for Inviscid Flow. We reviewed the old tests he had given us, mostly, but we also discussed a few topics related to, but not actually in, those tests. I think it went pretty well. I need to do more, but that's mostly reading of material rather than discussion. Math is before Inviscid, though, so I need to spend time on it first.

Tonight's Mythbusters were both entertaining. They aren't doing as interesting myths as they started out with, but they still make things explode on a regular basis. Or break gel and plaster models of small animals with frozen turkeys. All are acceptable.

Brent has a blog on his website now. The website has been around, but it was incomplete and lacking a blog, until recently when Brent really put some time into it and made it very nice. Keep in mind, he is an electrical / computer engineer, so he knows his coding.

Need to study. Don't want to study. Need to study. More tomorrow.

Shut Up and Let Me Outta Here

My presentation tonight was awesome. Lee's was OK, too, I guess. I wasn't really paying attention. I might have involved chickens, or baseball, maybe acrobatic monkeys juggling flaming bowling balls and chainsaws. I'm sure he'll go into great and boring detail about it in his blog.

We had a math review session today. I hate just memorizing problems, but it seems that's the best solution. It's a fair number of problems to know, so actually knowing how to do most of them will be helpful. I guess.

Heat Transfer ended early (WAHOO!). He finished up some finite difference methodology, talked about the final, and let us go. I got the solution manual from him to make copies of the Chapter 2 homework for me, Lee, and Tim while Lee ran copies of the solutions to chapters 4, 5, and 7. We now have all the right answers to the problems that won't be on the final. (They are way too long to be on anything other than a two-week take-home final exam-from-hell.)

Technical Writing was a complete waste of my time. I presented, Lee presented, then Hot Rod presented. Hot Rod's presentation was not fully put together, and he made up most of it on the spot. The other two Injuns decided to call him on it, and they were taking no prisoners. They also didn't have half a clue about most of what he said. They were just sharks smelling blood. It was painful to watch, mostly because it was keeping me from leaving. After a minute or two of it, though, you can't help but feel sorry for the guy.

My hand smells like marinade. More tomorrow.

I Have To Find That Sword

All my shows are going on hiatus, and I don't like it. Tonight's Heroes was the last one for 6 weeks. They did make up for it with a great episode, though. I didn't get a chance to do my usual post-Heroes and Studio 60 discussion, however. That's half the fun of the shows.

Today was my last Inviscid Flow class. We watched movies. They were on reels and projected onto the wall. No kidding. They also had no sound, save for the click-click-click of the projector. Yup, Space Institute, cutting-edge research, century-old movie projector. To be fair, I'm sure this stuff is updated and available in modern formats, but Dr. Vakili knows these videos, so that's what he uses.

I don't want to make a PowerPoint for class tomorrow, but I have to. It's going to be horrible. Granted, the slides will be better than some of the slides from last week, because they'll have a background. I can't stand purely white slides unless they are mostly inhabited by pictures. Also, I'm trying real hard to be annoying, so I'll have random pictures of things which have no relevance to anything. I'm going to have fun with this, even if I don't want to do it.

I'm now eligible to graduate in May if my thesis gets approved. It won't, not in time to actually finish in May, but August is only a semester behind my original plan, which was ambitious for my project. I'm also going to end up taking an extra extra class. I was going to take one (Tactical Missle Design), and two of my committee really want me to take Convection, so I could audit one, but I'd rather just do the little bit of work and have both on my transcript as completed. Also, they should pad my GPA and help that B+ out. Stupid ODE essay exam.

AIM seemed to go crazy this morning. I don't know what it was doing. It seems better now. More tomorrow.

Heroes is on Tomorrow Night

First, let me say that the past two update titles had nothing to do with anything, except that I had watched SVU and MST 3K. I realize now that they might carry some unintential double meanings. They are not meant towards any person in any way. They were just funny phrases from stuff I'd been watching. If this seems odd to you, ignore this paragraph. If you thought I was making a personal statement, I apologize.

So now to the fun stuff I did today.

Now to the other stuff I did today. Lee and I made our weekly supply run to the store. It's odd, the way supplies need to be replenished. I don't need the same amount every week, even though I assume I eat about the same amount of food every week. This week, I spent maybe $10 on food. Last week, I think I was over $60. Budgets are weird that way.

The first summer I was working for the bank, my truck battery died. I was going to meet my dad for lunch, went out to my truck, and it wouldn't crank. I called him, and fortunately I was right across the street from either a battery place or a shop in general, and he knew the manager or owner. It's been a while, cut me some slack. I was able to get my battery replaced that afternoon and not lose the use of my truck at all. That would make for a bad week, even if I only didn't have it for a couple of days.

For TNT originals, The Librarian movies are pretty good. I liked the first one better, but that can be said for most movies. This one involved less cool stuff and tried, I think, to be more National Treasure than The Librarian, and it just didn't have what it needed. Also, the first one was original and clever where this one was contrived and almost boring. James Bond needs to be smooth and in control, the Librarian needs to be a little bumbling.

Well, I still need a shower. I don't need to add "I stink" as an awkward-producing moment tomorrow. Finals start at the end of the week. More tomorrow.

Cheating. Cheating is Bad. Richard Basehart is Good

Mystery Science Theater 3000 presents The Wild World of Batwoman. The movie was terrible, absolutely awful. The MST 3K commentary was great. Just as it should be. This Batwoman had no relation to anything Batman (and a lawsuit resulted), and there was no reason for her to need to be Bat-anything. The bevy of bikini-ed bat beauties were nice to have around, though. Also, the movie reused part of some mole-men movie from a decade earlier, for no reason whatsoever. Oh, here are some mole men. Next scene.

Finals are in less than a week. I'm not overly worried about any of them, I don't guess. Heat Transfer is the one where I know the least about what to expect, but I've done all the homework, so I should be fine. The others just require that I do a little bit of review of some things I glossed over during the semester. This includes everything in the courses. I have at least two study days between now and then. Plenty of time.

Break can't come soon enough, and not because of classes. More tomorrow.

Ho-Jack

RFID tags injected into a person's shoulder can track them to determine if they are having an affair. This I learned on Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.

Anything else from today will have to wait until I'm in a better mood. More tomorrow.

Marbles in the Mouth

To end technical writing, we have to give an oral report. I think the assumption is that it is on our thesis / dissertation research or the project for the class, though this is not a stated requirement. Tonight were the first 4. Lee likes the analogy that the class in general is like showering in stupid, and I'm going to have to support him on this. While none of the presentations were bad, a couple would have benefitted from the presenters realizing that we don't care. Tim and Will both realized that no one was going to pay attention of their own free will, and inserted interesting things into their presentations (Transformers - awesome!). D-Train and Little Oprah seemed to think anyone in the room would (a) care and (b) have a doctoral level background in the subject. What should have been a half-hour class became an hour and a half class. I really hate that class. (My presentation is next week.)

I have class tomorrow morning. Why? To make up a class we haven't missed yet and that we already made up, two weeks ago. This is known as Boris logic. I don't want to go, and I could watch the video, but since I wouldn't, I have to. Why do I actually have to be a good student? Why?

Oh, in technical writing, I corrected everyone's grammar mistakes. Problems included, "like" vs. "such as," "til" vs. "until," and "who" vs. "that." I screw some of those up, too, but I got them right tonight. I also gave an angel its wings during heat transfer. I try to help out with the angels around Christmas. More tomorrow.

Christmas Spirit

The office has plenty of it now. Amy does such a good job decorating that we just stand back in awe. That's the ticket. The office does look nice, and I wouldn't have done it that well, I can assure you. I like Christmas decorations, just not enough to do them myself.

My 75-minute classes today seemed to go on and on and on. I swear someone stopped all the clocks in the classroom while we were in class today. And I don't think I learned anything. Nothing I remember right now, at least.

I am about to pass out sitting here writing this. More tomorrow.

Soleil Moon Frye

Get it right, people.

Quick recap: drove back to Memphis. The two-way radios made that a little easier than trying to use phones, especially with the poor reception Lee gets almost all the way back. Friday, I played a round of disc golf with Lee and Brent. Friday night, a group of us got together and went to Texas de Brazil, an all-you-can eat Brazillian steakhouse. I had tons and tons of meat of all types - 3 or 4 different types of steak, leg of lamb, pork tenderloin, Brazillian sausages, and more, I think. There were also some fried bananas, mashed potatoes, rolls, and other useless foods that just take up room that meat could be occupying. After returning from the gorging, we played Inklings and Trivial Pursuit. Our team dominated Trivial Pursuit, except when it came to rolling useful values on the die. It was a DVD-based version, and we stole about 4 pie pieces from the other team. The first one we stole was Punky Brewster (the actress' name was requested). Lee and I both yelled it out as soon as the "All Play" popped up. There were more like that, but somehow that one kept getting brought up.

My family decided that Thanksgiving was going to be Saturday instead of Thursday, so they all came over today. Somehow, I'm always stuck with the little kids. These are little enough that an adult has to be with them most of the time anyway. We played soccer, mostly with me standing off to the side while they ran around. Only one of the kids was old enough to know soccer means no hands, so most of the time was the other two running around carrying the soccer ball.

Now, I'm watching TV and enjoying the last day at home before I have to drive back to Tullahoma. I'm really hoping for light traffic. More tomorrow.

SNOW!!!!

Flurry - small collection of snow flakes.
Flurries - several, seemingly independent collections of snow flakes.
Flake - individual snow crystal.

I may be incorrect, but these are the definitions as I understand them. There seemed to be some confusion when I drew the distinction today. I haven't checked these anywhere, so I could be wrong, I suppose.

Oh, right, it snowed here today. Not much, and it didn't stick at all, but there were a few flurries, and maybe whatever is just above flurries. I don't categorize everything related to snow.

After class, I went to the gym. More accurately, I rode to the AEDC gym with Lee so that he could get a look at it before his membership at the one he's paying for runs out. I pedaled the stationary bike for a while, tried a very bad elliptical, and walked on a treadmill. Some of the equipment have TVs attached to them, and I had my iPod, so I was at least entertained.

I am addicted to Heroes. Most of the plot that we knew of is finished, and they are going to start some new stories, six months ago. The series has a lot of main characters, with different story lines that seem to be converging. It's a lot like a graphic novel, from what I know of them, but not just for 14-year-old nerds anymore.

I want to play the fiddle. More tomorrow.

Devil's Advocate

A term which derived from the process of bestowing sainthood within the Catholic Church. One of the group who makes the decision is appointed "Devil's Advocate" to speak against the sainthood of the person in question. My blog is educational as well as fun.

Classes are still going. Dr. Kupershmidt has added a class Wednesday morning, November 29. This will be the second class "ahead" we will be. This is because he might miss a class or two in December. Well, there is only one class in December, and we already have one extra class from this Wednesday. So now he's just adding classes to the schedule. Lee is going to mention that to him so that he doesn't do more work than he's getting paid for.

Lee and Heather had to characterize a lot of carbon fibers, so I had the between class time to work on things. Such things as Facebook, email, and instant messenger. The three of us went to lunch in the cafeteria. It was average for the cafeteria, which is really pretty decent. I got free fried okra.

Inviscid is getting into more interesting topics, but it's still a lot of useless to get there. I like the class and am still glad I took it rather than Rockets 3, but I wish it were a little more useful and fewer pure derivations.

I really enjoy playing Devil's Advocate. It's great to say anything you want, then say, "hey, I'm just playing Devil's Advocate here." More tomorrow.

Like a Pigeon Having a Heart Attack

I really don't like waking up early for a class on my day off. And for Vector Calculus besides. At least he was a little funny today. Just a little.

A seminar at 3 meant we stayed on campus from 9:15 (for class) until 4. I got some work done, mostly checking heat transfer, but that's better than nothing. The seminar was nothing useful to me, but the guy seemed nice enough. Tom needs to be silenced, violently is preferred.

Why do I always wait so late to write these things? More tomorrow.

What is something you hate?

This class?

We "practiced" job "interviews" in technical writing tonight. Some people took it seriously, for various reasons. I did not. I decided sarcasm was the best policy (it usually is). Dr. McLemore had the "practice" question "What is something you hate?" and it was all I could do not to say "This class." That would have been true, but probably would not have gone over too well.

I forgot my laptop, but I don't know that I would have been able to carry on much of a conversation anyway. It was all direct lecture or paired up work. My conversations usually occur during the tons of downtime inherent to individual assignments.

Not much else to talk about, really. Heat Transfer was the third chapter in three classes, and more homework. I have a make up class tomorrow morning, and a seminar at 3, so I'll be on campus all day. Maybe I'll get some heat transfer done. More tomorrow.

Emu

Emu is the unit vector in the mu direction, of course. In Inviscid Flow class, we needed this unit vector to do something. I don't know what because Lee looked over at me and said "emu?" and I lost it. Then Amy lost it. We were quiet, I think, but I just couldn't stop laughing. I'm sure you had to be there.

Math class this morning was fun. It was a recitation day, which means all we do is cover homework problems. Dr. Kuperschmidt asked me if a problem he did on the board matched my answer. I verified that it did. I did not mention, however, that my answer had been reached 30 seconds prior to him asking, following directly from the formula he'd been working with. The fun part was when Dr. Kuperschmidt destoyed his microphone. The battery pack clips onto his belt, and he somehow knocked it off, onto the floor, and it breaked. Class didn't end, but it stopped while they got it fixed. Always fun.

Between classes, Lee and I found some algebra errors in my homework, while Amy and Heather made derisive comments. We spent a good chunk of time on the homework, though it's far from obvious in the final results. I still think a coordinate transform will solve the other two, but I need to get it right, and I hate coordinate transforms.

There was a helicopter in the UTSI front circle today. It landed sometime after we got there, but before Math ended, and had not left when we did. I did not notice the sound of it landing, but I tend to space on those things. Lee got a picture.

We kept talking about streamlines, streamfunctions, and distributed sources to form solids of revolution. They're like airfoils (wings), but not. And they only work when you know the answer before you start. Always a big plus.

This is the first year in a long time that I haven't done something for Veterans' Day. Lest anyone think I've gone lefty, I don't have a full webpage to use as is my wont, and I didn't think to blog until very late both Saturday and Sunday. I offer no excuse for waiting this long.

Veterans' Day was November 11, but Americans should not only honor these heroes one day a year. They serve us everyday, in ways obvious and subtle. Remember them, and their families, and the sacrifices made so that we stay free and safe. More tomorrow.

Maybe we'll meet up in Never-Never Land

'Cause I heard the tooth fairy was gonna be there.

Vector Calculus is so much fun. Today, Dr. Kupershimdt told Meester Van Horn that he should really be doing the homework problems before he comes to class. Keep in mind, Dr. Kupershimidt's tests are taken from his homework solutions, and only from his homework solutions. Independent thought is marked incorrect. So the motivation for the class is to reproduce Dr. Kupershimdt's work on the test paper. Learning is great, and I'll fit that in whenever I can, but I also need my grades to be where they need to be. If that means simply reproducing problems, then so be it. I don't like it, but it wasn't my choice.

As has become our Thursday lunch tradition, the Superfriends ate in the school cafeteria. Actually, we ate on the patio of the school cafeteria. The weather was perfect, maybe even a little on the warm side, but sunny and very little breeze helped with that. The ladybugs were out in force, too. I guess this weather is great for all types.

In Inviscid Flow, we finally discussed the midterm. I could probably fight for a few points back, but not as many as I thought, and it's not really worth it overall. I just need to do well on the final to ensure an A for the class, but that was all I really needed to do from the start. After the midterm midtacular (yes, I stole that), we talked about sources, sinks, and uniform flows forming Rankine bodies. I still think the whole thing is a little weird, but all of inviscid flow is really a first approximation to real flows, so none of this is technically valid. It does, however, build up some fluids background, and areas of real flows can be treated as inviscid. Just not flow around bodies.

I really need to talk to Dr. Antar tomorrow about my problems with the homework. The longer I wait, the less likely it is to be done, and I really need to get these done to prepare for the final, which accounts for my whole grade in that class. Yeah. More tomorrow.

More Power, Mr. Scott

I was going to blog last night, then the power went out. My laptop still worked (the miracle of batteries), but the two wireless routers on the block died. Lack of internet access makes it difficult to post to a weblog. I should set up email blogging, but I doubt I'd use it.

Yesterday: I did some Heat Transfer homework while Lee talked to Dr. Vakili. I didn't make any headway because this stuff is HARD. It's really just solving the same family of PDEs over and over again with some different boundary conditions, but those tend to be the problem more than the equation. I just now, this minute, had an idea how to solve one of them. I'm not sure yet if it will help much, but it's worth a try.

In class, Dr. Antar was his usual self. He's always very animated and wants to do a good job teaching, which I always appreciate. His method of rewriting the book isn't my preference, but he does offer better explanations and reasons why. He'll answer any question, too. Auditing guy usually asks some good ones. Annoying guy is usually annoying, but he hasn't been there a lot recently.

Night class was cut short because the teacher didn't feel like it. Why can't I do that every week? "I have a (insert body part here)ache. I need to leave early." Lee and I were going to take Sonic into class, but we changed our schedule and ate before class in the office. Class was more memo writing about marketing. Nothing useful for an engineering thesis. I hate that class.

About 9:40 last night, the power went out. It came back on about 11:15, just after I'd decided to go to sleep. So I went to sleep anyway. I slept almost 11 hours. No seminar today, so I kept working on the Heat Transfer. I attempted every problem. I solved one or two of the 10. Those may not be right, but I got an answer. The others I'm going to ask about tomorrow. I hate to bug him about 8 problems that take an hour or more each. What I'd really like is the solution to each problem. Then, I can either figure out what they did or ask more specific questions.

Harold Ford, Jr. lost! Harold Ford, Jr. lost! Harold Ford, Jr. lost! More tomorrow.

Wow, Where Did All This Work Come From?

Every class now has work I should be doing. Technical Writing has a rough draft due soon. Heat Transfer has a bunch of PDE's to be solved. Inviscid has a sheet of problems due in a week. Math has a list of problems as long as my arm. This after the usual engineering homework dead zone. Why does it always do this? And just when my motivation has taken its vacation for the semester?

This past weekend was good - I was home in Memphis Friday evening through Sunday afternoon. I mostly did nothing substantial, which is why I didn't blog. No one else did, either, so I still win blogging. Saturday night, Melissa, Sheena, and I met for dinner, but that was about the only socializing I did all weekend.

This morning was math class, where he told us that we were having an extra class Wednesday. Then, he cancelled it, says Amy. Not that I needed much of a reason, but that secures the "sleep in" decision. He also talked about how stupid Americans are again. It's nothing new, but you'd think he could find something else to complain about to a bunch of AMERICANS.

After lunch, Dr. Vakili forgot to go over the mid-term, again. He promises it'll be first next time. He did talk about some stream function things. These flow conditions result in an infinite blunt rod. This shape is oddly similar to something inappropriately anatomical. Use your imagination.

Some things you never get tired of, like annoying Garrett the Ferrett. More tomorrow.

Ninjas Don't Bounce

Ah, The Tick. Funny, funny show.

Yesterday: Heat Transfer covered an interesting problem that dealt with Bessel Eigenfunctions. "What are those?" you may ask. Don't. They are the solutions to these differential equations of a particular form with particular boundary conditions, which are very common in cylindrical coordinates. Then you have to do something else in order to completely solve the problem. I'm not about that last step, we flew through it Tuesday. It involves the orthogonality condition, which is not a helpful description at all.

Tuesday night is Technical Writing, which is a huge waste of time. We did some things related to citations, then a grammar thing, and some more stupid things related to other stupid things. I hate that class. HATE.

After class, we watched Monster House at Amy's and met her new pug, Sammy. He didn't seem to be in a great mood, and I have to feel for the guy - he'd just been fixed. He liked me, though. He wouldn't let Lee pet him at all. It was funny, he'd walk over to Lee, Lee would reach out to pet him, and Sammy would walk away. Then Sammy would go to his bed and snore with his eyes open. We didn't know if he was sleeping or not. At least the little guy has a nice home now, even if it cost him his manhood.

Today: no classes, no seminar. Lee worked on his Technical Writing paper some, mostly more research, I think. I did nothing except sit around and watch TV. It was all that I could have wanted. Now, it must end, and I must go to class again tomorrow. Rotten luck. More tomorrow.

Class-Skipping Hippie-fied Freaks

Lee and Heather got to skip math today because of the promotional video being filmed in the spin lab. Said video later came and filmed our Inviscid class, but it's not like I got to miss any of the lecture for it. Kupershmidt was in fine form today, too. And we learned about line integrals, a concept which I never really got. I still don't as a concept, but I can do them now. Well, I can do them better now.

Between classes, somehow we picked up an extra hour of downtime. I don't know where it came from, but I'm not complaining. We watched The Simpsons episode that proved boys are better at math than girls. Just tell me what you want me to say!

Lee and I need to start back with White Guys with Irrelevant Opinions. We'll do that in all the free time we're about to have, what with me actually working on my thesis, and Dr. Vakili keeping Lee working on his, plus classes. Still, they were fun to write.

Strange things are afoot at the Circle K. More tomorrow.

Let's Go For a Better Week This Time Around

The time changed this weekend, which means I'm writing this late to me, and earlier than usual according to the clock. At least I get to sleep the extra hour tomorrow.

Not a lot has happened this weekend. The Tennessee game was exciting. Two touchdowns without receiving a kick in the first ~5 minutes, then holding South Carolina on the last drive after they'd scored to bring the game close. And stuff in the middle, too. The team has almost made up for last year.

I didn't do anything of note this weekend, yet it doesn't feel like I'm as rested as I should be after such a weekend. It may be the time change thing, or that this past week was a little odd in weather and classes and other, but I need a good week. I've got to remember to go into the Heat Transfer room and turn the temperature down, and I've got to make it through another class of Technical Writing without strangling the teacher, but I think I can manage. If not, can someone meet me with bail money at the Franklin County Jail?

Conquer peace for Dixie. More tomorrow.

The People are Represented by Two Separate Yet Equally Important Groups

Tonight's Law and Order raises an interesting question. A company makes body armor for the U.S. Army. They have a batch of the ceramic armor material that they suspect / know to be poor quality (to the point of being ineffective). They ship this armor as well as the good armor to the Army, which distributes it to the troops in the field. A soldier dies after being shot in the ineffective armor. To what extent is who to blame? The CEO of the company knew that the armor was defective and shipped it anyway. The defect was in a report to the Army, but it was on page 319 of a 400+ page report. These defective vests are a significant portion of production during that time, say 25 - 50%, of the 3,000 total vests. I offer both arguments as I see them:

(1) The company is obligated to determine which vests are defective, remove them from the shipments, and take whatever financial loss there is, possibly losing the entire contract. They do not sell a largely defective product at all. Good vests continue to go to the troops, just delayed because of the bad batch.

(2) The company ships all the vests to the troops, leaving some soldiers wearing vests which do little more than match everyone else's. These soldiers are no more protected than they would be in their t-shirts. They are just as protected as they would be if the company had shipped no vests at all. However, there is no mechanism for replacing the defective vests in the field.

What is changed if the company says publicly, "Some of the vests are defective; some are good," and the option is given to the soldier? Should this even be done at all or just pull all the defective vests? If you are the Army, do you end the contract, possibly creating more delays in armor distribution, or stick with the company with some defective products? Does it matter from any viewpoint if the defect was caused by a politically motivated chemist who has been fired and is therefore unlikely to happen again?

If I haven't yet, I will open my comments section to the outside poster. Opine and discuss.

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I think winter is going to be no fun in class. It was 50 - 60 degrees outside today, and the heater in the classroom was running. It was hot, almost unbearably so. I was certainly uncomfortable. I need to remember to stop in Monday or Tuesday and turn that thing way down. I can't deal with those temperatures for the rest of the semester.

Battlestar Galactica tonight was good, but not great. It was about how you deal with the people who collaborated with the enemy during a time of war. It had some interesting themes, but nothing noteworthy. It had issues that needed to be addressed, and it handled them well, but Lee and I had called the results when we saw the previews last week. It was almost to the letter of what we expected. Kind of ruins the drama.

AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! More tomorrow.

Happy Birthday, Heather

As I write, it's tomorrow, but since this is the update which most people will read tomorrow, I figured it was better to post now. The Superfriends took her to lunch today, off campus, which turned out to be a good choice, for a couple of reasons, which aren't important to this post. We went to Ruby Tuesday. It was tasty, but they put stuff on my burger I told them not to put. JEFFREY SMASH! After lunch, we convinced Dr. Vakili to let us sing Happy Birthday to Heather on camera. The camera guy was able to zoom in on her. She looked like she wanted to kill us. Fun times.

Nothing special in classes. Kuperschmidt was condescending, like usual. Maybe a little more today, and without the excitement about obscure math stuff that matters to no one but him that Amy thinks is so cute. Vakili let us go early, which is a surprise because he almost always uses every second of his time. We "owe" him 15 minutes, but since we have to be out of the classroom on time for the following class, it's not like he'll ever collect.

This afternoon, I needed a nap. When I woke up 2 hours later, I watched some TV, cooked some food, and watched a movie. We're in a homework lull, which means only one thing, a homework avalanche next week. And Lee has been ordered to be in the carbon fiber spin lab a bunch for something they're doing for UTK. Perfect timing on everything.

Grunka Lunka Dunkaty Darmed Guards . . . More tomorrow.

Amy Cheats at Tic-Tac-Toe

That is all. More tomorrow.

Theory Meets Practice

Theory loses.

Seems my last post was on how cool Battlestar Galactica was. This is a point Lee and I tried to convey to Amy and Heather, with limited success. Some of that is what you run into with any show that's this in depth (see Alias, Lost, most soap operas). Some was that this is the least "science fiction"-y science fiction show ever. Not zero science fiction, because, spaceships, intelligent robots, and faster than light travel, but the stories don't rely on the science fiction the way they do in other shows in the genre. Trust me, it's an awesome show.

Saturday and Sunday were a nice weekend. Lee and I got in a round of disc golf, which is always a nice way to spend a few hours. The course was going to be haunted tonight. Lee considered going to play it, but we have class in the morning, and he's going to be up there tomorrow for a family thing.

Monday was the math make-up midterm which I was barred from taking, so I sat in the office all morning. It's amazing how easy it is to waste time. Inviscid was what it normally is. I don't exactly follow everything he does on the board, but I don't really need to. As long as I can work problems with the results, I'll be fine.

After class

Later that night, we had a Superfriends dinner. It was Italian and very good. Amy did these stuffed shells, which were probably the best thing we had. We had spagetti, which was only because I happened to have some of the dried pasta on hand. Amy was supposed to bring a huge amount of the noodles, but forgot. Of things to forget, that was the best choice. Except for the burning of the water, I could fix that. I doubt I could have reproduced the stuffed shells. Amy also brought tiramisu, a dessert with coffee in it. Not a big fan of coffee, but that wasn't bad. Not an everyday dessert, but certainly better than I would have expected. There were a salad and some rolls, too. We watched Heroes and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip rather than a movie.

After the dinner

So I called it a night.

Today was a normal Tuesday. Heat Transfer was another differential equation, more boundary conditions, and some crazy solution method in the book. The break of endless uselessness ensued, followed by the class of endless uselessness. Tuesday has a lot of uselessness, up until 9pm, when Boston Legal is hilarious, except for the gross mother-son kiss. That, I really could have done without.

Wow, my bed has a lot of stuff in the way of my sleeping tonight. Where'd this stuff come from? More tomorrow.

The Beast

Battlestar Galactica is the best show in the history of television. Tonight was the conclusion to the escape from captivity. Space battles, twists, misleading teasers, Starbuck knifing a dude, explosions, Starbuck losing her mind when the child she was told was hers was actually someone else's, faster-than-light jumps into the atmosphere by the Galactica (AWESOME!). It was everything a science fiction show should be. Next week, we get why it's the best drama on television. Tonight's episode alone was worth the wait from February. I still get chills.

After the show, Lee and I watched Mystery Science Theater 3000: Teens from Outer Space. The movie itself was awful. The people making fun of it were great. We're definitely going to get some more of them.

That's all for tonight folks. See if Lee will post some MST quotes. He's better at remembering those things than I am. More tomorrow.

Screw You, I'm Charming

Classes are boring. Even when Boris is in rare form, as he was today. He'd been slipping, what with the test and all, then the description of the test: "You are all eedeeots. Thees test was seemple." Today, he was back to the old Boris, making jokes and going off on weird tangents about the high jump and his athletic history. This was in order to find the center of mass of a semi-circular arc. Because the guy this high jump move was named after wasn't the guy who invented it, because he said so.

Between classes, we stocked the fridge in the office, and generally wasted the day away. We used some of the name-entering phrase-generators on The Surrealist (go find Lee's link) to waste time, then the "Take Your Humanities Buddy to Class Day" story, some articles from The Onion, Vin Diesel jokes, and the Facebook Friends game, to make it from 10:30 to 12:50.

In Inviscid, I really had trouble staying awake. Not the fault of Dr. Vakili, who I thought was doing a good job of explaining most of the concepts, but I just couldn't stay focused. Some of it is that this is old material to me (in general, though the presentation is new and in a better form). Most of it is that the class is right after lunch. Snooze time.

I did take a nap this afternoon, and I'm still tired now. I've been getting almost 8 hours a night, and I can't make it through a day. First semester senior year, I would have killed for 6 good hours most nights, and I probably slept longer than most of our class. People are supposed to need less sleep as they age, until the situation reverses completely. At least my class tomorrow isn't until 1.

My GRA project might start within a year or so. The first contract (between General Atomics and the Air Force) should be signed by the end of the week. Then it's just a matter of getting UTSI under contract, getting the funding handled, and finally starting the project sometime in the next decade. And I'm done with classes in December. Lee is so much farther along than I am, and I've been here for 10+ months. If Vakili would get motivated to get work done, Lee could probably finish before I would. I think it's just that Vakili is moving slowly on things right now because he's got other things going on, too. I know that Lee is ready to start anytime. As engineers, I think we all like projects that are "here's a broad scope, go find a solution and come back to me with it," but the research, on my end at least, is much more controlled. I have to work at Dr. Moeller's pace, not my own. It's a pain sometimes, but that's how the world works.

10:30 - Justice League time. More tomorrow.

Seminars: More Fun When They're For Actual Credit

Today was the first of our required Wednesday seminars. Usually, these are spaced somewhat evenly throughout the semester. This semester, we're going to get about 5 between today and early December. So much for Wednedays off.

Dr. Vakili did the talk today. I enjoyed it. I learned a lot about what they're doing with the carbon fibers. I think Lee did, too, and it's his project. It was one of those things that had to be done in this format to make any sense at all, so why not "invite" (read: require) the whole of the GRA's to come?

Yesterday I had my one class. We're covering different boundary conditions and how they affect the governing differential equation and the solution method. We've also started with some 2-D analysis (as opposed to 1-D). All of this just makes for more fun and more paper usage. None of it is difficult by itself, but it's long and easy to make one mistake that carries all the way through.

I have a lot of TV to catch up on. A lot of it, I try to keep up on weekly, but some of it, I just get too far behind. I also need to get my external hard drive fixed so I can find what I had on it that I haven't seen. It's all last season stuff, but I'd still like to see it. I need to order that piece tomorrow.

The temperature is finally about right again. More tomorrow.

So Easy, No Wonder Jeffrey is #1

The internet. So much fun just adding my name into (generally) well-known slogans. I have several and can get more from the website if I need to. I'll use some of the better ones as my titles for the next several days.

Not much to talk about from yesterday. I did some things around the house (still in Memphis), ate lunch with my parents, loaded up a few things, and drove back to my apartment in Tullahoma. Nothing eventful or noteworthy that I remember.

Today was a return to classes. Math was a "recitation" day, a term which I'd never heard until another person had it for their math class this semester, then I had the same thing. We went over the midterm, which I'd done as well as anyone in the class on (6 / 7). I feel that I should have gotten credit for the other problem, too. I did it the way the book said to, and he just didn't like that method. %^&#!

Inviscid keeps veering from fluid mechanics into weird relations that are useful, but not directly so. We derived some more forms of the Governing Equations. I like these forms better, but they are just manipulations of the other forms. And I think this book derived them backwards of my undergrad book, which is throwing me off a little. We covered about a chapter and a half today, too. Why can people not plan chapters better? 3 pages then 30, then 5, then another 25. I get that they are trying to present the concepts, but add some examples, work some problems. Something.

It's a lot later than I was hoping to get to sleep tonight. No more cartoons for me, I guess. More tomorrow.

When Asked for Comment, a Bear Said "RAWR!"

Which is more than I say for most of the characters haunting the Corn Maize. Some of the people were into it, hiding in the corn and jumping out to scare people, or dancing or snorting or something. A lot of them were just sort of wandering not even trying to scare people. The maze itself was far from easy, and they ended up shooing us out after about an hour. We'd gotten there about 8:30 and waited in line until 9:30. They sent us toward the exit about 10:30 or so. I was ready to leave because I really needed to pee. It was fun, though. I might prefer next year to go during the day. It won't be haunted, but I'll have more time to wander and try to figure the maze out.

This morning, my dad and I went out to breakfast, which is to say we went to McDonald's, then we got a spiral-sliced ham to go with the other tons of food for lunch today. My two aunts, my cousin, his wife, and their 16(?)-month old came over for chicken, dressing, ham, rolls, and all sorts of other fixin's. It was good, but I haven't felt the need to eat since. Lunch at 1:30, nothing the rest of the day.

A bunch of people met at Huey's to eat before going to the Corn Maize. We had probably 20 people eating, though some didn't come to the maze with us. Keeping up with that many people in the maze was a trial as it was. I think we lost everybody at least once.

Leaving tomorrow afternoon about 2. I'm hoping for as nice a drive back as I had coming in. More tomorrow.

$28.75

My casino winnings tonight. Thanks to Jennifer for inviting me and giving me the $20 free money card. After my buffet, I made about $5, which isn't much, but it's better than losing money.

Earlier, Lee and I played what we'll call a practice round of disc golf. We kept score, but we really played several discs off the tee, took the best, played a couple more from the fairways, and putted several times per hole. It gave us a chance to play different discs, get the feel for some new ones, and generally play about two rounds at once. I don't think I mentioned before, but I bought two new discs (a "control" midrange and an Aviar putter). The midrange seems more stable than the discs I usually play. This means the wobble corrects itself a little more quickly. The Aviar putter is very similar to the ones Lee borrowed from his coworker that we learned on. Right now, it's my short-range approach disc (anything out of putting range, but too close for a full-power throw).

Right now, though, it's bedtime. More tomorrow.

Customer Appreciation Day - Sunday

Sign seen at a funeral home on Airways. A FUNERAL HOME!

Today was an ME department meeting that Dr. Shiue invited several alumni to talk about what we're doing. Three were older with a little higher positions, 6 were from my graduating class, and one was the year after. Lee, Nate, and I discussed graduate schools. Everybody else discussed real jobs. We won speaking.

Lee and I wanted to play the disc golf course in Southaven, and even went so far as to drive down there, only to decide the rain was prohibitive. So we drove back to CBU, and I drove back home. What a bust of an afternoon.

At 7, Brent, Lee, Jennifer, and I met at Buffalo Wild Wings for Trivia Night. We were in 11 of ~14 places at halftime. At the end of the regular rounds, we were 3rd. After the last question, we were tied for first. The other teams did better on the tie-breaker question, so they won first and we took second. They were the Wyld Stallyns (spelling assumed), so I can't completely hate them.

I have nothing to do tomorrow until 5. It's the closest thing to an off-day I get this break. More tomorrow.

The Dwarf Fainted

On Boston Legal tonight. Denny said it, not me. I'm a big supporter of little people.

I packed this morning, sat in class until 2:15, then drove all afternoon. Lee and I made very good time across the state. Almost no traffic to slow us down, and really nothing in Nashville. That's the way it should be all the time.

After I got home and ate my grilled porkchops, fried potatoes, and cornbread, I watched the aforementioned Boston Legal, then Futurama, snarking through both. Apparently, my jokes are funnier without the punchlines. Or without understanding them. Or without me even joking.

I guess I should stop while I'm ahead. More tomorrow.

Mr. Midterm

Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Test

I really don't feel like this tonight, but if I don't write it now, I won't ever get back around to it. Excuse typos, they'll be fixed later.

Math midterm: 7 problems, all from the homework. I "finished" in about 30 minutes but sat around until two other finished so as not to seem as big a dork as I am. I have to hold down the "cool group" image. I'm the weak link as it is. It's possible Amy finished at about the same time I did, but she also waited for another person to make motions of completion. I had to guess on one problem, but I think it's close to right (and I provided two different explanations). The others I'm fairly confident on. 5 out of 7 almost for sure, and most of the other two, depending on partial credit.

After math, to calm the nerves, the Superfriends (Lee, Heather, Amy, and I) went outside to throw around a frisbee. The ladies seemed a little upset about the deer droppings, so I didn't mention the piles of it all over the place. I think Amy reads this, so she'll know now. Hi, Amy.

We returned to the office of Superfriendiness for lunch, then trekked downstairs for the Inviscid midterm. I felt that was easy enough. No joke, and by no means "simple," but fair based on homework and example tests. On that test, I did finish quickly and get out of Dodge. From our post mortem, I think Lee and Heather were OK, but not great, and Amy seems more worried than probably she should. I told her that if she didn't do well (by her own standards), that I'd help her prepare for the final so that she'd ace it, and get an A for the class. Now, it's in print for the world to see. And, when I give my word on something, public or private, I do everything I can to keep it.

I had to get some brochures from the Admissions office to take to CBU Thursday, and Lee ran out to the labs. No one else was at the labs, so after I got what we needed, we left school and headed for home, where I baked a hot fudge cake, rolls, and cornbread. Lee provided grilled marinated chicken. Amy brought mashed potatoes and a cauliflower casserole. Heather brought a salad. And we all stuffed ourselves. I have to say that although the chicken was excellent, the salad crisp, and the rolls and dessert mine, the cauliflower casserole was most excellent-est. The mashed potatoes were good, too, but those I have the ability to do myself. We ate and watched Evolution, as an unwinding from midterms. After the movie, Heather needed to go because of a class tomorrow morning, but Amy stayed and watched Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.

I guess I should mention here that Amy sat on the floor the whole night. I kept offering her a seat on the couch, to move a chair, or to go get another chair, but she was perfectly content on the floor. I felt like a bad host, but she insisted. Whatever makes the pretty girl happy.

After Amy left, Lee and I watched Dr. Strangleove Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. Weird, funny, satrical, and weird. Lee and I got the dishes done, and now I'm going to bed. Next update from Memphis. More tomorrow.

Not This Again

Much to my dismay, it's midterm season again. This means my day was spent watching TV, making up a batch of roll dough, and reading Television without Pity. You know, a standard Sunday. I did read some assigned Inviscid that I'd put off until now. This is maybe the worst book for explaining things that I've ever seen.

Expect a better update tomorrow, and maybe a decent summary Tuesday night from Memphis. Blogging will probably be a little more sporadic over the long weekend. More tomorrow.

B. S. G.

There was the rest of the day, then there was Battlestar Galactica. I'll start with everything else:

We had our midterm prep study session this morning. Lee and Heather got called away for lab work for a while, so Amy, Rich, and I reviewed Inviscid then a quick Math problem or two. I think it was helpful for me. I review best when reviewing others. I've still got more work to do before Monday, but I'm in a pretty good place overall.

Lee and Heather showed back up about lunch time. We all discussed a little more and ate some Halloween candy, then Lee and I had to get to Heat Transfer. That class is covering different boundary conditions and how to deal with the governing equations. It's long and tedious, but it makes sense. It doesn't seem particularly hard, either, which is always a plus.

Fast forward a couple hours to dinner prep. I meant to put some roll dough in the refrigerator last night or this morning, but I forgot. So I started the grill for the steaks (always a good choice), made the dough, started it rising, cleaned up, and got the steaks on. The potatoes didn't quite cook long enough, but the meal was still good. Rolls and steak can be a meal unto themselves.

Then, Battlestar Galactica! Season Premiere. Two hours. Best show on TV. They kind of left themselves in a hole, and it's going to take some time to dig out of it, but it's still the most engrossing show. It was an hour and fifty minutes in, and it felt like I just sat down.

Still got to do a little clean up before I get to bed tonight. More tomorrow.

Ooh, Piece of Candy

Ooh, Piece of Candy.

Ooh, Piece of Candy.

I don't remember if I've mentioned that Kuperschmidt moved class from 9:00 to 9:15 about a week ago. That's when class is supposed to be, but he had always started early for some odd reason. 15 minutes might not sound like much, but believe you me, it's not. Class is generally tolerable, when he's not being extremely condescending toward Rich (Canadian AF officer) and the other guy (from AEDC). I've had worse teachers, and worse math teachers, so I'm not going to complain too much.

During the break, the Superfriends studied some old midterms from Inviscid that Dr. Vakili had given us. They were far from easy, but not evil, if you're used to fluid mechanics. If, however, you wasted four years on a math degree, it's tough. Please don't hurt me. We're throwing together an emergency study session tomorrow, and I can do one over the weekend if need be. It's probably the best way to get me to study.

We lunched in the cafeteria. I wasn't overly impressed. It's good but not great. Once a week, it's nice for a change. I could do without the mobs of people who have started flocking us. Today, the four Superfriends were nearly immediately joined by 4 others, of the non-Superfriend variety. It got a little crowded, then most of the crowd left, then we left Tom all by himself. I'd feel bad, if I cared.

Inviscid was a little drawn out, and one of Vakili's explanations wasn't the best ever, but I muddled through. Then, Lee and I drove back here, and I haven't left since. I did prep for the study session, so that's a plus. More tomorrow.

I Told You That's Where It Was

Go read Lee's blog. It covers most of the day. The quote is in defiance of Brent, who claims he found the Chili's. It was my directions that led us there. And I shot a better last round of disc golf than he did. More tomorrow.

Oops

The Superfriends were supposed to meet this morning. Lee and I forgot. Just plain forgot. It didn't cross our minds. Amy IM'ed me, and I saw it about the time we were supposed to have already been there. So we got our books together and got there, quite a bit late, but there. We made it through all of the math homework in chapter 2, even if Lee and I missed a little of it.

I wish I remembered more of the old Superfriends cartoon. It'd be nice to use one of their transitions here. I think it was just a really deep voice saying things like, "Meanwhile, at the super secret hideout of the bad guy of the week . . ."

I'm doing a much better job of pretending to pay attention in Heat Transfer. He's just copying the book onto the board, but I'm making myself not fall asleep everyday now. Lee and I were telling Amy about the class, and she asked if it was essentially just a course in partial differential equations. We said it was, and she said her course in PDEs (in her undergrad) was just heat transfer problems. At least they're consistent.

Arby's is always a good choice for someplace to eat. However, tonight, they didn't give me my fries. Solomon Grundy SMASH! The rest was good, though. I really like the cheese sticks.

Technical writing is terrible, awful, and a complete waste of my time. The class itself. I actually multi-task during class time. Momma didn't raise no fool. More tomorrow.

Amy Likes Dickel

Whisky. Amy likes George Dickel Whisky. She made the point herself that just the title sounds a little bad, and she rephrased her statement before we even called her on it. Still, perfect title tonight. Sorry, Amy, if you read this.

Lee and I were walking by Amy's office when she was decorating it for Halloween, and I helped her put up a crepe-paper streamer. Then, she offered (read: insisted) that she be allowed to decorate Lee's and Heather's office. I helped with that as well. She put a Halloween table cloth over the door and hung streamers from opposing corners. I'll have to say it's more . . . festive. I should better stop here. More tomorrow.