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.
Monday, October 30, 2006
Sunday, October 29, 2006
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.
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.
Friday, October 27, 2006
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.
-------------
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.
(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.
-------------
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.
Thursday, October 26, 2006
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.
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.
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
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.
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.
Friday, October 20, 2006
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.
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.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
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.
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.
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
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.
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.
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
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.
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.
Saturday, October 14, 2006
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.
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.
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.
Thursday, October 12, 2006
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.
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.
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
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.
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.
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.
Sunday, October 08, 2006
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.
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.
Friday, October 06, 2006
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.
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.
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.
Thursday, October 05, 2006
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.
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
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.
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.
Monday, October 02, 2006
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.
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.
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Viva Los Muertos!
This weekend, I did absolutely nothing, and it was everything I dreamed it could be. Saturday, I woke up, walked downstairs, and watched the UT - Memphis game. Then I sat around, watching random things on TV or shows I'd missed this season. Then, I did nothing for the rest of the day. Today was similar, except I did write up my Inviscid homework that's due tomorrow. That took maybe 10 minutes, even accounting for adding some work to them to be more complete. A big reason for the lack of any homework this weekend is that I broke my general rule of no homework on Fridays. I didn't do a lot, but it was enough that I didn't have any more to need to do this weekend.
Everyone seems to want to know if it's different with Lee up here now, as opposed to the Spring and Summer on my own. It's obviously different. I am perfectly happy by myself. Company / a roommate doesn't bother me. Well, Lee doesn't. I imagine some possible roommates would. One big plus is that I've always been a competition-driven student. I'm at my best when I have someone to draw off of and compete against. Lee is that here, and was at CBU. Granted, at CBU, there were half a dozen of us who competed indirectly. Still, adding Lee and the rest of the Superfriends will only benefit my study habits and my dedication to grades. And, make me get out of my apartment occasionally.
I need to make my bed and get to sleep. I need to pretend to be awake for my math class in the morning. More tomorrow.
Everyone seems to want to know if it's different with Lee up here now, as opposed to the Spring and Summer on my own. It's obviously different. I am perfectly happy by myself. Company / a roommate doesn't bother me. Well, Lee doesn't. I imagine some possible roommates would. One big plus is that I've always been a competition-driven student. I'm at my best when I have someone to draw off of and compete against. Lee is that here, and was at CBU. Granted, at CBU, there were half a dozen of us who competed indirectly. Still, adding Lee and the rest of the Superfriends will only benefit my study habits and my dedication to grades. And, make me get out of my apartment occasionally.
I need to make my bed and get to sleep. I need to pretend to be awake for my math class in the morning. More tomorrow.
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