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.