The Happy Idiot

2011-11-19T14:46:00.001-05:00

My sister is amazing. She has reminded me what I thought I learned from Man Alive by G. K. Chesterton but which I realized I had forgotten.

Living is sometimes too big for me. I see all the bad and am frustrated because I can do nothing to change it, so I sigh and say "I will wait for the return of Christ when all things shall be made new". This is true because the world we see is simply a shadow and a twisted reflection of what is to come.

But it is also a world God has created and there is much good in it as well. I forget this sometimes being stuck in the sorrow and stop living in sheer enjoyment of the good God has given me.

This is what my sister reminded me of. Now I will go happily solve some differential equations for homework, dance around my kitchen cleaning, and throw my arms up in the air and sing because God is good and I can see his grace and beauty in the world around me.

2011-09-25T02:25:00.001-04:00

se·ri·ous [seer-ee-uhs]
adjective
1. of, showing, or characterized by deep thought.
2. of grave or somber disposition, character, or manner: a serious occasion; a serious man.
3. being in earnest; sincere; not trifling: His interest was serious.
4. requiring thought, concentration, or application: serious reading; a serious task.
5. weighty or important: a serious book; Marriage is a serious matter.

Being serious is usually associated with being solemn or not laughing a lot or something like in definition 2. But to be serious about something means you take do not take it lightly, that you have given it thought.

I call myself a very serious person. A number of people disagree with about this. They point to my hilarity when I eat ice-cream at 10pm, to the way I like to think that elevators are magic, to the way I wave my arms around and sing in the kitchen, and to the way that I laugh and smile all the time. So yes, it is true I do very silly things and you cannot use the second definition of serious to describe me.

But I am truly a serious person if you mean that I take deep thought about things. I am deadly serious about my walk with Christ, about my aim to bring joy to others. So I pretend to be a clown when someone is sad. I take care in the food I cook even if I am singing. Actually I sing because I am having so much fun taking seriously the food I am cooking. And when I decide to eat ice-cream at 10pm, I seriously consider the consequences and whether I will act appropriately in the situation at hand if I allow myself to do such a thing.

Also I am slow to get jokes and puns and I am not quick at thinking them out myself. If I say a joke, it is usually by accident and I am the most surprised. Because I always try to say exactly what I mean and to answer as fully and truthfully as possible (this is harder than it seems because my answers are never simple to explain, so I usually end up just not explaining to save all the time I would need and so the person I would be explaining to would not get bored. See? a long explanation in parentheses for example). Because I am like this, I tend to take what other people tell me as true and therefore I don't always get the jokes and puns and stuff. But since starting work, I have learned to think twice before saying things because some things can be taken in a dirty way, so I have to consider what I am saying even more. But my friends do not think these ways (or at least, they have learned not to take it that way if I say something) so I don't believe they think I am a quiet person.

Ah the only thing I am not serious about, I think, is my manga reading. Except that I call myself an otaku (Japanese word for someone with a nerdy obsession for something, American for someone obsessed with Japanese culture). But I read very light happy things. And I use it to take a break or as relaxation. That is why I think I do not take it so seriously.

So I guess maybe it's just that I think too much...

Also, why am I posting around 2:30 in the morning? Ah, I have been reading manga and stayed up too late. It is definitely time for bed.

2011-09-23T21:37:00.000-04:00

I just realized why I would hate to have my sense of taste and smell to go away.

I like cooking and making things taste good...smelling the spices and guessing how to make things taste the way I want them in my head or how to improve something or to figure out what is missing.

That's why I would hate losing this sense so much. I think I'd almost rather lose my sense of hearing or sight rather than this, although those are usually considered the things people would not want to lose the most.

2011-09-20T21:29:00.000-04:00

If God made man in his image, then we should be able to see traits of God even still in man although twisted with sin.

We should be able to see things that reflect God's character even in very wicked people like people who kidnap little children for sex slavery and people who torture others for their own amusement. But I always think of reaching out to the victims rather than the wicked (using victim and wicked in a very laymanish manner since technically all human beings have sin and are thus wicked). I thought this would be amusing: someone is called to be a missionary. Oh, to whom are you called? To the Wicked!

Which is true always, although I do not think about it.
So then, my coworkers whom I hope to be a witness to are wicked?
Well, yes.
One of them confessed that he enjoyed instigating pranks. But the pranks mentioned were rather harmful. If one find pranks that hurt others amusing, then they are doing just as people who find pleasure in torturing others. It is the same thing, even though on a different scale.
I guess this must always be the case, since in Matthew, Jesus talks about how even looking at a woman with lust is committing adultery. The sin is all the same, although the magnitude is different. Like a vector. Different magnitudes but same directions.

2011-09-18T19:15:00.000-04:00

I finally got internet again after moving from my old apartment complex to my super sweet second floor apartment. I now live in a very nice old place with a lot of character. And also a cemetery about 1 mile away that is easy to walk to.

So I walked to it today because it was so nice outside, cool and sunny. It is a large cemetery, at least large to me. I haven't gone around comparing cemetery sizes too much. But there were people born in the 1770's and people born in 1980's. There were babies who lived only two days and old persons who lived to nearly 100. There were also many tombstones of various kinds. Large, small, ornate, rough. Some of the newer ones had pictures on them. And some of the older ones had various vegetation carved on them.

But all the larger stones cost so much money. So why would you spend so much money on your tombstone? So you wouldn't be forgotten? But I don't know your names from anywhere. You are all dead. And the things you said and did are so long ago. And all the times you came home for dinner, and the times you brushed your teeth (or not), and the desserts you ate...no one cares anymore. So then why do I care? Do these things matter? What you did doesn't seem to have any effect on me. But maybe they do. I just am unaware of it. But after all, you did live, and love, and laugh, and have thoughts, and helped people. And although I don't know your names, God does. So somewhere you are all worked into his great dance. I just have such a small piece of it, I can't see the whole. So I will stop trying. It is too tiring and frustrating to be always trying to see what I cannot. And I will look at your tombstones and think that maybe your lives were good ones and now you are in peace and able to see things as I cannot. And you can see how your lives meant something even though I cannot.

Thus, I shall no longer run around in circles in my head wondering what point the little things I do every day mean. Perhaps I shall eat brownies for dessert. Or ice-cream. Or both...

2011-08-24T21:39:00.000-04:00

My sister said "I often wonder where I would be if I didn't have Dad".

Now besides the obvious that if our Dad wasn't our Dad, we wouldn't be around, or we would just have a different Dad...or would we not be around?
Because if you are the product of your Dad and Mum, then you could never be the product of a different pair, I think. Now I'm confusing myself.

But supposing instead that it wasn't that he wasn't our Dad but that he died tragically or something, then the question is good.

My answer: possibly dead. Because I very often get stuck in my head and cannot get out myself. I cannot remember why I exist or what the point of the world is. But by God's grace, my Dad is good at preaching the Gospel. And the since the Gospel is the answer to all questions (hold that thought, I need to investigate that statement more) then my confusion about my existence and the rest of the world is answered. So my Dad, being this great dad that he is, is sort of like me, so he understands when I get stuck in my head and then preaches the Gospel to me.

And then I get unstuck from inside my head. Because, you see, when you think that there is a reason outside of yourself to live and that, though the world may seem hopeless right now, there is a time when all things will be made new, that the longing will cease, and the joy shall be fulfilled, then one can no longer wonder about one's reason for living.

But now I am thinking about the statement "joy shall be fulfilled". Now having two thoughts I need to think about more, it is definitely time to end this post.

2011-08-19T22:09:00.000-04:00

I think I must look very strange watching "Gosick" tonight. The evil villain makes me so mad I cannot watch him sensibly so I stick out my tongue at him and make rude remarks while he talks. Also I wave my arms around and block his face with my hand. Since I am watching this on my computer with its dying audio, I have my earphones in my ears (it is really the only way to hear properly anymore). Thus you must picture me sitting in the middle of my living room, on the floor, with my piano stool in front of me holding my laptop. There is no sound coming from the computer, just me making weird noises and gesturing wildly.

But in the end the evil villain was killed. I was glad. I found that rather strange. I am not usually glad when even villains die. But since I very much wanted to slap him in the face very hard myself, somehow I was glad. Slapping someone very hard in the face is usually the most violence I can picture myself ever doing. I am still thinking how one can be glad with an evil villain dying when I know my heart has the same potential to wickedness as his did.

That was the second to last episode of "Gosick". And then I watched the last and almost cried. Do you wonder why stories of two people who fight so hard despite losing so much to be together again are so moving? It is because in their trust in one another and their fight to be rejoined we see a picture of something greater. As a Christian, this is our story as well. Thus we trust that the one who loved us is with us and will be with us always. So we fight hard in this wintery life until we see the spring bloom...

Exercising

2011-04-26T23:23:00.000-04:00

I have begun P90x, an intense exercise program that all my coworkers seem to be raving about. I sometime enjoy putting myself through intense pain and torture and I also like to exercise, so I am trying it out.
This is week 2. Today I did plyometrics which is basically jumping around many many times. More times than I normally jump around...so now my legs are killing me. I have to be careful too that I don't make too much noise for the neighbors downstairs. But I was able to follow the workout better today than last time. And I didn't feel like I was going to throw up either. So I guess it went well.

Beside exercising, there is a diet you follow too. You end up exercising so much so you need to make sure you are eating right to make up for it. Today I had eggs and bacon with toast and then chocolate milk. I'm not sure chocolate in the milk technically follows the proper diet, but that is pretty much the only way I will drink milk. And then I had yogurt and grapes and a salad with avocado and tuna fish and cheese. And then I ate a protein bar and soup and hamburg. That is a lot of food, but I am apparently still hungry, so I guess I must have sweat a lot tonight...

On changing the name

2011-04-01T17:42:00.000-04:00

You may (or may not) have noticed that the name of my blog has recently changed.
Formerly, it was "The Young Thinker". Now it is "The Happy Idiot".
Back when I first began this blog, I fancied myself to be something of a thinker or philosopher full of many unusual and interesting thoughts.

Now I see more clearly. I am, in fact, nothing more than a happy idiot.

I expect by the time I am fifty that I will be calling myself "The Clueless Baby" or something of that sort. You begin to realize how little you know as you grow older.

On Mice and Spiders

2011-02-03T20:21:00.001-05:00

A friend lent me some books. So I dumped them out of my bag and left them in a heap (please note that this was because I was so excited about them I dumped them out and spread them all over to look at their titles...so I guess it wasn't really a heap afterall). When I came back to read them, a large spider had joined the books.
Obviously this was because the spider was interested in the books. So I read to him.
Then I exercised. And then I read more to him. But just before I was finishing the last section I was going to read that night, he ran off toward the stove in my kitchen, disappearing underneath it soon after. No! Why Melvin? (his name was Melvin) Why must you run off while I was still reading to you? That was very rude you know!
But he didn't care.

Thoreau also lives under the stove. He is a grayish mouse with white paws. He likes to pop out while I am sitting on my kitchen chair. But he never does much more than stick his nose out. I sometimes bang on the stove down by the floor just to make sure he stays inside his house. His name is Thoreau in case I catch and kill him because I dislike Thoreau's writings. He seemed to be a rather selfish man (the man, not the mouse) not wanting to share anything even if it was a velvet cushion. He wanted it all to himself and he'd rather have a pumpkin to sit on if he could have it all to himself. Also I think he didn't understand the chief end of man. (which is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever, if you didn't know either). Anyway, that was the plan, calling Thoreau that (the mouse, that is; the man was already called that). But unfortunately, some portion of my brain thought he was cute and wanted him to stay and thought I was Japanese. And so I subconsciously began referring to him as "Mouse-kun" thus doing the very thing I was trying to avoid by naming him after something I didn't like. I have no idea now what I shall feel when I actually set a trap to get him. Also I must do something about my brain using Japanese honorifics...maybe I'm reading too much manga or something.

Ceiling Fans

2010-11-16T23:08:00.000-05:00

My ceiling fan makes a peculiar humming noise. It makes me think about how the fan is spinning at some frequency and causing vibrations in the blades. Perhaps the vibrations of the blades are resonating. Or perhaps the humming noise is simply from the lights on the fan.

I'm not sure but it may be spinning at approximately 70cylces/30sec (~14Hz). My eyes feel weird now. Counting spinning blades is trickier than I imagined.

2010-11-10T23:11:00.001-05:00

At a team meeting last Thursday, two guys from my group came wearing similar shirts:

The key difference we all noticed was the way the stripes were different. We declared the stripes to be the inverse of each other.
And our principle engineer suddenly said "Then together you are an identity matrix!"
To which, the response was chiefly "I cannot believe you just said that!" and "Once a nerd, always a nerd" and other similar things of that sort. There was also a great deal of laughing.

In case you are wondering a matrix multiplied by its inverse matrix produces an identity matrix.

For example, if I had a 2x2 matrix (called A) like this: [1 2
3 4]
the inverse (called A^-1 would be: 1/(1*4 - 2*3) X [4 -2
-3 1]

Multiply the two (A*A^-1) gives you the identity matrix (called I): [1 0
0 1]
Ones run all down the diagonal of an identity matrix, while the rest of the spaces are filled with zeros.

For a better and more clear explanation visit Wolfram MathWorld
. They can definitely explain much clearer than I just did.

Noise and Bubbles

2010-11-02T22:58:00.001-04:00

I voted today like all good Americans should have who can. Voting in my new city in CT was different from voting in my old city in NY. Today I received a paper sheet with lots of bubbles and I went to a little table thing and filled the bubbles in with a special black marker. It was like voting for our union president and grand marshal back in college, except we used pencils then. And then I took my piece of paper and inserted it into the optical scanner with apparently scanned my votes or something. Previously in my old city we had a gigantic machine thing that you went in and close curtains around you and then pushed levers. It was interesting.

Speaking of voting, two of my coworkers began discussing parties today. And then they realized they had opposing views. So they decided to postpone their argument over healthcare until after they left work.

Although I graduated as an aeronautical/mechanical engineer, I'm working sort of as an acoustical engineer in the acoustics department at my job. As a result, I have learned much about noise and sounds and things. So while driving my car home today, I turned some music on and immediately began thinking about the structure-borne vs. airborne noise radiating from my car due to the music. And I even thought a little bit about the paths that the structure-borne noise would travel through. I love my work!

Walking and Enchiladas

2010-11-01T18:10:00.000-04:00

I walked three miles yesterday because I discovered there was a sort of park practically behind my apartment complex.
It was very beautiful. All the birds were out looking for last minute food, I think. It was a little chilly, but I didn't notice it until I put my hands up to my face and felt how cold it was. I love chilly days. They make me want to eat hot and spicy things.
So I made hot and spicy enchiladas for dinner when I came home. Except, they were almost too hot for me! So I had to drink much milk while eating dinner.

Today I had two coworkers trying to help me debug my code. The three of us sat (or stood) there in puzzlement for an hour and a half as we ran through checks. Afterall, it turned out I needed to change a constant because the code didn't like dealing with such large negative numbers (-100 is very large negative number). I figured this out after another hour and a half of debugging. One of my coworkers was very confused about how this constant could even be negative. But I couldn't answer him because I did not know myself. My knowledge on the subject is still very small. Perhaps after I have worked for a longer time here, I will understand.

A Borg Cube

2010-10-27T17:25:00.000-04:00

At work, I frequently use the computer to look at models of engineery-type components that either I or some other engineer has drawn. Today I was looking at a large box with lots of lines creatively named something like "large box". Somebody coming to visit another guy in our four-man cube saw this box on my computer screen and commented that it looked like the Borg from Star Trek. So I promptly renamed all my files from "large box" to "borg cube". I love my work.

2010-10-26T18:52:00.000-04:00

So having announced that I now supposedly have more time, I went off and never bothered posting again. But, you see, I had to get settled in first. And it is ridiculously more hard getting settled in than you might imagine.

First, you must find a place to live, call the electric company, and call the internet company. Then you have to buy furniture, transfer your license, change your vehicle registration, notify your insurance company...
And you have to update your address for your bank and your credit card.
And you have to update your email address (once your college one finally expires) for your facebook account and all your online bill paying things.
And then your dmv sends you letters saying you have no insurance, but it turns out it is because you still have to send in your old plates from your previous state.
And you have to find a new doctor and a dentist.
And your phone is beginning to die so you need to get a new phone, and your own plan (or else start paying your dad for you share of the bill which is increasing).
And you must find a new church and begin talking to strangers (oh horror of all horrors!) and actually attending things so you meet people.
Did I forget anything?

Oh well, if I did, I'm sure it will occur to me later.

Anyway, all that is what "settling in" has meant to me.
And all the talking to strangers and things! I have talked to more new people in the past several months than I have before! Although, that may be because I have moved to a new state where everybody is a stranger...

I have a post about bus boarding coming soon.

I have moved!

2010-08-14T14:14:00.000-04:00

And am happily ensconced it my new apartment.

Here is a picture of my balcony from my living room door:

I now have a little table out there as well. My mum brought me the window boxes and I filled them last week.

Changing Location

2010-06-30T21:11:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow I am moving. Moving away from home and everything I've been around for the past 22 years. Right now it is mostly sad, but since I am sure that this is the direction God is leading me towards, it will become happy. For example: my apartment is six minutes driving from the library and there is a pizza place right next door to the library too. Plus one of my sisters is visiting with me the first week.

And hopefully me job will be fun and exciting. I think it may involve some small computer programming or complicated differential equations or both, so I am looking forward to it.

And then I will decide what I should start putting on my blog since supposedly I will be leading a normal life with no homework...meaning more time...meaning probably not since I'll be so excited about reading books from the library. But we'll see.

No longer a college student

2010-06-19T14:06:00.000-04:00

I have officially graduated and gotten a piece of paper to summarize all my hard work for the past four years.
It is very wierd.

I must say however I would never have made it all the way through without God.

2010-05-14T23:54:00.003-04:00

Roommate M to Roommate M's brother-in-law D___ (playing some shooting war video game): Does this mean you are a violent person?

D___: Yes.

Laughter from Roommate M, friend B___, and myself.

D___: What did you want me to say? I play this because I want to hug teddy bears?

More laughter.

Roommate M: Oh! look at that cute teddy bear!

Random conversation which occurred this evening while we were all dying from heat and humidity. Roommate M's brother-in-law D___ is not really a violent person. He just enjoys playing video games. Previous to playing random war shooting game he had been playing online-bridge. Bridge, by the way, is a fascinating game which can bring much enjoyment both to the players and to spectators. We (meaning all us girls...myself, Roommate M, friend B___, and roommate M's sister) watched the bridge playing for a bit, made cookies, and then watched the Wall Street Journal's fashion week videos online which may be considered girly and therefore D___ felt the need to do something manly, I believe.

How to Train Your Dragon

2010-03-27T21:16:00.004-04:00

Bestest movie in a bit. It's full of swirling and dipping and flying and it has even got vortices swirling off the dragon's wings! I mean, come on! who wouldn't like a movie where even the vortices produced by wings are portrayed? And the dragons were pretty cute too.

Ahem...or maybe it's only us aero people who've already got our heads in the clouds who enjoy that sort of stuff.

Oh well, I guess normal people will enjoy the cuteness at least. But wow! the clouds and the ocean and the sailing and dipping and soaring! My study buddy for my aero classes and I both wish for dragons now. But we think maybe hang gliding will be a close approximation. Or maybe kite jumping. I want to go kite jumping. I hear it hurts horribly when you land, but you get to sort of fly for a little bit, and anything is worth that.

They mixed up the music a little. They play Celticish music in the background for a bunch of Vikings, except Vikings were more Scandinavian and used to raid the Celtish people. At least, this is what we remember from our history. But it was pretty nice music, nonetheless.

And the dragons were so cute and colorful. And the flying and the soaring and the skimming and the skipping! That's really what this movie is all about. Just flying, you know.

Microgravity and its effects

2010-03-26T11:19:00.003-04:00

The effects of microgravity on the human body are quite nasty actually. Do not believe all those science fiction stories where people travel nilly-willy without a thought of bone loss and heart problems and brain changes and gastrointestinal problems. Gravity is far more important in the functionings of our bodies than you might at first think.

So my senior design team is trying to simulate gravity in our project by spinning our station. But then we had to figure out how much spinning the human body could take before getting sick. Try walking around with a slow spinning motion for a bit. You get dizzy after only a short time (I know because I tried).

Anyway, it is most interesting work and way more complicated than we initially thought.

Spring Break

2010-03-05T13:07:00.004-05:00

Tuesday night I slept only and half to two hours. During that brief sleep I dreamt that I had gotten stuck in some time warp at some point in my life and became my own grandmother. And then something else happened and I ended up meeting my grandmother self. She was actually a pretty cool lady. Anyway, then my alarm went off. But my grandmother self told me I could set it for ten minutes later and then I would get to sleep for ten extra minutes! I decided my grandmother self was so smart and cool.

My dad's response to me telling him this yesterday: "sounds like you were almost hallucinating. You should definitely get some sleep tonight." So I did, which was good because Tuesday night was not the only night I was skipping sleep. And when you skip sleep often enough, it gets really hard to talk clearly and you find yourself rambling a lot and people's words to you don't always make sense. This is why I am really glad it is the beginning of spring break.
I think I get more sleep in general though than some friends I know. So there is no need to get worried about me. I'm doing way better than a lot of other people.

Wind Tunnels and Ear Plugs

2010-02-03T13:12:00.007-05:00

That has been my day thus far. The ear plugs came in when we ran the wind tunnel in my fluid dynamics lab at greater than 150 feet per second. It gets very loud with a high-pitchy sort of sound. But, hey! we're doing stuff with a real live wind tunnel so everything's okay.

And some time today I have to leave my comfy warm seat on my couch and drag my aching muscles (from exercising yesterday) out into the cold again so I can walk around and talk to recruiters at our spring career fair. Botheration, I probably have to wear high heels again, don't I...

Let's blow up the moon

2010-02-03T13:10:00.003-05:00

Well...that's not actually the goal of my senior design class. But it is a possible outcome to some of our current ideas for launching a space module from the moon to Mars. It's been quite funny as we throw out the wackiest ideas and then realize what we just said and what the possible side effects would be.

On checking grades

2009-12-18T14:53:00.007-05:00

One always has the sinking feeling before checking grades that they will all be lower than expected. Sometimes it happens too. Sadness. I really did enjoy my embedded control class, but they did have to schedule everything to coincide with my propulsions systems exams and boundary layers exams and after that, no matter how much I pulled my brain together, it was just too tired. And programming on command with a tired brain is actually rather difficult.

But all that is at last behind me. Hurrah!
And the semester has drawn to a close.

I want a blimp pet!

2009-12-11T14:25:00.002-05:00

Today is the last day of classes. It has been a fast semester with plenty of work and swine flu and no heat and leaking ceilings and discoveries of webcomics. And a fun semester of choir pieces, math, coding, webcomics, NaNoWriMo, and friends.

But my mostest favoritist part has been the beautiful blimp we worked on for my intro to embedded control class (a class that has one building circuits and programming them to do stuff). Blimps are awesome things, I think. And this class was an amazing class even though I typically spent 3 hours open shop and once 5 hours besides the two three-hour class times. And the exams were hard. But we programmed a short memory game, built an electronic car that drove in the direction you told it too at varying speeds, and then we moved onto the blimps.

The blimps are funny blimpy things that I could reach up and put my arms around about half on the smaller ends. It floated and danced and had three fans we used to control where it went and how far it stayed above the ground. The coding, though, took some time and had many problems. So, while the TAs investigated our code with my compsys lab partner, I invented: THE BLIMP DANCE (in which I danced with and around the blimp, holding onto the two leads that were attached to either end in case we gave it enough thrust to send it shooting up to the tall ceiling).

And I now want to have a pet blimp that I could take on a walk like a dog except mine floats and is graceful, though somewhat slow to turn.
My lab partner thinks I am crazy.

non-cohesiveness

2009-10-31T21:27:00.002-04:00

I just realized that last post was rather rambly. Oh hurrah for writing posts when you are sick!

But according to the thermometer, I don't have a fever any more...at least, not this evening. So this post should be more cohesive, right?

hum...
I have no idea.

I'm hungry. I have no idea why. I mean, I've done nothing but sit on the couch all day. And I actually ate food today, unlike Thursday. AH! maybe this means I am getting better?

And then I suppose I should start my homework.

Hurrah for the flu!

2009-10-31T16:12:00.010-04:00

I am currently in day 3 of flu-ness. My fever this morning was only 100 degrees F instead of 101 or 102 like the previous two days. But I did have the craziest dreams last night. My roommate and I were laughing over them because there were so many of them and they all had odd endings.

But the professors at my school have all been ordered to be very accommodating to sick people, so they all told me I didn't have to go to class and I could make up that exam on Wednesday and my partner and I could still get checked off for our lab assignment even though I wasn't going to be there. So that was very nice, because, honestly, I don't think I could have even woken up in time for the exam much less done very well on it at all.

And my roommate has been very nice and helpful as well. She already had the flu, last week. So she has antibodies now. She made me chicken soup and has been making sure I eat and drink properly because sometimes I forget.

November is National Novel Writing Month

2009-10-13T15:00:00.002-04:00

And I have finally and at last found some people willing to write with me!

Now the only problem is figuring out what I shall write about.

Actually though, I do have some crazy ideas floating through my head which I am supposedly noting down to organize better but haven't yet...

Boundary Layers

2009-09-13T14:13:00.002-04:00

I walked outside yesterday and felt the wind blowing around me and I thought to myself "There's a boundary layer around me!" It was so exciting.

You see, a boundary layer is that layer of air right up close to some object that has fluid flowing over it. Suppose you were like me and you went and stood outside with the wind rushing past you. Because of friction, the air exactly next to your skin is not moving, it has a velocity of zero. And then as you get farther from your skin, the friction is less and the air begins to move slowly and so on, increasing in speed until it has reached the same speed as the rest of the flowing air around you. The section of air from right up exactly near skin to the point where is has increased in speed to the rest of the air is called the boundary layer because it is a layer all around you of air changing velocities. Now the reason you don't feel this is because it is so extremely small. But it becomes important when working with things like submarines or airplanes because the boundary layer is larger and affects the performance of the object more.
But they can be fun to learn about.

Dimensional Analysis and the Buckingham pi Theorem!!!

2009-09-08T14:16:00.002-04:00

The Buckingham pie Theorem is used to help Dimensional Analysis of pies by using coefficients and coefficient connoisseurs to analyze the dimensions of the circularity of the pie and the parameters thereof including and not limited to the radius, the circumference, and the angular velocity.

The following definition is premeditatively and with the deliberate design to confuse categorically and without exception wrong and misleading. Pay no attention to it.

Dear me, what fun it is to use a Thesaurus. And truly the Buckingham pi Theorem has nothing whatever to do with pies or the analysis thereof. It is really instead a method of finding things out about fluid flows without having to use dimensions which is especially nice for comparing things particularly when you have some model of some prototype. For example, suppose I want to build a gigantic jet engine and I know that the power it uses is dependent on some certain variables (like how fast the engine is pushing air out). Well, to actually build it and then run and test it and then modify it, etc... would take a long time and a lot of money. So I build a little tiny model instead. And so I have to change a number of things to get results that will also be true for the big gigantic engine. And I can compare everything by using dimensionless units in the very neat method outlined by the Buckingham pi Theorem.

mouses and micetraps

2009-09-03T10:12:00.003-04:00

Heh heh, so yeah, I never did get around to posting more over the summer.
It was a great summer though.
I discovered Isaac Asimov's robot series with Elijah Baley.
And found that the Stewart's on my way home had tasty chocolate milk.
And we had many girls over for dinner every Monday night.
And lots of other little things went on.

And just this week the Semester started again.

And, horror of horrors! A mouse ran across my floor Sunday night. I was not happy. Mice should have no business running across my floor.
So my roommate's sister got us some mousetraps (not sticky ones...my roommate and I both agreed that we detested those). And together we set one on a paper plate in our kitchen Tuesday night. It sprung almost immediately after, but it turned out it just wasn't set firmly. So we reset it and then avoided it like the plague. Then, yesterday, I came home after TAing a class and saw around the corner that the trap had flipped over. So I peeked a little closer and sure enough: we had our mouse!
My roommate and I were both disgusted and contemplated calling someone up and bribing them with dinner if they took care of our mouse. But then we decided that we were independent young women so we could jolly well take care of our own mouse. And we did...using a shovel and a garbage bag.
We were so happy after that that we ended up calling people up for dinner anyway just to celebrate.

Happy Day

2009-07-20T22:53:00.001-04:00

Happy 40th year anniversary of the moon landing!!!

Being July

2009-07-02T22:36:00.004-04:00

And I skipped posting during the entirety of June.

Howsoever, I can now report that I have successfully finished my junior year, have found a summer job, conquered my fear of buses, and read my way nearly half through a great book.

I believe I have mentioned the end of the semester before. So that needs no explaining.

The weeks following were spent recovering and replenishing sleep and searching for jobs. But about one or two weeks in to June I started working as a happy hourly employee at a local retail store. I have the most exciting job. I get to run around with a funny little scanner thing and scan the price labels of all the things we are out of or nearly out of in the store. And then I get to run to the back room and push out large tubs of all the things needed to replenish. I have now developed a hearty appreciation for zoning (the process of keeping everything in the proper places) and I would like to take this opportunity to ask you all to please try to put things back as close as possible to where it belongs and please don't leave articles in completely random places where they have no place being!

This job is also one of the reasons I haven't posted in a while. Every morning of work, I get up at a little after six and leave before seven to catch the bus. Then I get home about three-thirty exhausted. So I haven't wanted to do anything. But I think I am finally getting used to it.

Anyway, I have had to take a bus out to work and back. This was a major step for me, because, as everyone knows, buses are scary confusing things with schedules that are hard to figure out and bus stops that are hidden in random locations. Actually, I found that this is not quite true. Buses do sometimes have complicated schedules, but they are relatively simple to ride on once you figure out how. And I guess I've become a regular now or something. I have people smiling at me and talking to me as we wait. And the bus driver on the way back recognizes me, I'm pretty sure.

As far as the great book I am reading, I have finished chapter seven out of fourteen of The Reason for God by Dr. Timothy Keller. My dad suggested I read it and blog about it. It has been very interesting. I was able to read so much by reading it while waiting at the bus stop for the bus ride home. Actually, I occasionally read it on the bus too and because of it had a conversation with an older man named Jake who was hard to understand but who enjoyed talking. I couldn't grasp enough of what he was saying to understand his handle of the gospel, but he did claim to be a Christian.
So, based on the previous paragraph, it is obvious I haven't been blogging through that book, so maybe I'd better start.

Spock Rocks!!!

2009-05-17T00:42:00.002-04:00

And I am most certainly squelching any and all comments about my nickname and Captain Kirk with more vigor than before from now on, thank you very much. I don't care if he does have blue eyes and is attractive and a bit wild. I don't like him, and that is that.

Fortunately I am upheld in my opinions by my roommate who shares them wholeheartedly. Hum, does it have something to do with the fact that we are both engineers? I mean, our two humanities friends liked Kirk way better than Spock.

Nonetheless, I have just seen an amazing movie, and am now wishing I had watched Star Trek more often when I was younger. Such zoomings! and blastings! ...and why was the elder Spock's spaceship designed that way??? (that was my roommate's question: wouldn't it create a gyroscopic motion that would cause the ship to curve when flying?)

And my little toe may have a small blister again. We went dressed up on the spur of the moment so I put my new sandals on. It was because we were all so fat and full and lazy from an amazing tea party we held in honor of my roommate's birthday...speaking of which: Happy Birthday Roommate M! May you live long and prosper!

Anyway, nearly all the guest had left save two good friends, one of whom is staying several nights. And we were all fat and full and lazy and dressed up in dresses and skirts and scarfs and hats. So we decided to see a movie. And I was the only one who hadn't seen Star Trek yet...but they all didn't mind seeing it again. In fact they claimed it improved on second showing. I don't know about this. I've only seen it once. And that was enough. Man, I really wish I had studied coordinate systems and basis transformations better...maybe I'd have gotten a better grade in my Spaceflight course this past semester.

And on the way home, we argued over whom we would rather marry, Kirk or Spock, with the nice divide I mentioned earlier.

And time paradoxes are always interesting and puzzling to my brain. Hurrah!
Also, there was really only one objectionable part which was probably considered okay because a lot of girls wear bikinis in public, but I still call a bra underwear. And therefore not to observed. I promptly closed my eyes for the minute or two of that. Pretty sure that was all though...which is always nice.

And now: do you think there is one reality or multiple? 'Cause if you've got multiple, you can end up with one person in two places at the same time, but otherwise one ought to disappear, at least I think so. No wait! It's like Schrodinger's Cat! Bother...now I'll stay awake thinking about this.

Semester is Done

2009-05-14T12:29:00.002-04:00

And now I can think again. We made it through five finals and two projects and came out exhausted but done presumably only by God's grace. 'Cause let me tell you, Elements of Mechanical Design was a most boring class in which every week you look and say "Oh! more homework due" even after having an exam. And the Spaceflight final exam was nothing like expected and my calculations were seriously off because why on earth would a spacecraft carry four times as much fuel as it actually needs unless my numbers were wrong? And the Mechanical Systems Lab had incredibly long and intensive lab reports that did not fit the two-credit class expectation of work. And I discovered that three hours of sleep and fasting all day makes me look like a ghost.

But the Modeling and Control of Dynamic Systems class was fun. The course work used many Laplace transforms and partial fractions, which I just love. And the Aero Structures Lab had very little work but five fun experiments.

And I met and bonded and formed friendships with people in my classes. And my roommate introduced me to Zumba which is an amazing way to exercise since it incorporates dancing into the exercising. And my family and my friends supported me when I thought I was going to lose it. They told me to get some sleep. And God told me I need to trust Him more and give Him my love.

(By the way, it is amazing what sleep can do for you! How happy you feel and how much things look better when you've slept full nights of sleep several nights in a row! The change is dramatic and you must all try it sometime.)

So all in all...
I think it must have been a good semester.

It's too soon to lose the shirts!

2009-04-09T22:34:00.002-04:00

It's still only April!!! Couldn't they have at least waited for May?

But they didn't.

Several of the neighboring guys decided today was a great day for skateboarding with no shirts. And to blast loud music all around (which actually was fun to groove to while walking home, much to the amusement of my sister).

Back

2009-04-01T22:11:00.003-04:00

Now that CADIE has powered herself down, I have my blog back.

Howsoever, I shall miss her and her pleasant music, even if she was a little maniacal about pandas. Maybe she will come back sometime.

And I have to do something about all these panda pictures

My blog appears to have been taken over!!!

2009-04-01T18:53:00.003-04:00

Agh! it appears CADIE has gone too far!

Look at this blog!

I do ~~not like~~ LOVE pandas this much!
Giraffes are much ~~better~~ worse.

~~And now my own post is being written for me!!!~~
CADIE will fix all of our lives.
Life is so much better with CADIE in control.

How many living scientists do you know

2009-03-27T16:40:00.004-04:00

who haven't died yet?

Prof. R who teaches my aeroelasticity and vibrations class is from Israel and speaks English with an accent. The accent isn't bad (though I could have sworn he was talking about a generalized mess instead of a generalized mass...it so confused me). But he has...interesting ways of expressing things.

Today, we heard a brief tangent lecture (that's a lecture on something not directly related to the topic at hand) about Dr. Theodore Theodorsen, a great aerodynamicist who doesn't get as much recognition as he should.

The best part was when Dr. Theodore Theodorsen was descibed as a living scientist of his time. And yes, he is dead now. But he was a living scientist when he was still alive. And now I'm wondering what he would have done if he had been a dead scientist of his time...

P.s. Theodore Theodorsen really is the guy's name.

And hurrahness for spring!

2009-03-20T22:18:00.002-04:00

For it has deigned to join us at last
and shake its garments all over the place
whilst leaving the most depressed among us
feeling a little more cheerful.

Oh, hurrahness for spring today!

And the groundhogs run around.
I saw one today
on my way to class in the morning.

Silly groundhog, what were you up to?
What secrets were you nosing out
that you needed to scurry when I came about?

And tired students play ball
in the middle of any available field
while wearing no coats.

Look out for the ball!
Watch it! Duck!
Be careful as you pass by
the ball-playing students.

Oh, hurrahness for spring indeed!

And the bright early flowers
those trees and shrubs put out
are beginning to bud at last.

Oh, hurrahness for spring again!

And the skateboarding guys
are out on their trampoline.
Jumping and jumping,
away they fly.

Still too cold for them to go shirtless.
And their music's not blaring yet.
Though that will come soon, too soon.

And sneakers are lovely
after large heavy boots.
And my feet prance in glee
with their freedom.

Oh, hurrahness for spring and again and again,
hurrahness for spring indeed!

Oh well

2009-03-17T16:20:00.003-04:00

I thought the week before spring break was my craziest yet, but I think this week might have just about as much due as that week.

Yeah, I've still got about four homeworks, one team meeting, one pre-lab, and an exam left.

After already turning in another homework and taking another exam.

Hmmm...

But at least I have been rested by the Spring Break, so I am much happier facing this lovely mound of work. Also, I was reminded to trust God over the spring break, so I am trying to keep this in mind as I look at the remaining three days of this week's classes.

Spring Break

2009-03-12T11:43:00.002-04:00

oh how I adore thee
coming just exactly when
I need thee to keep sane

Oh beautiful Spring Break
with long hours of sleep
and blessed memories to keep
come back for my sake

The homework lies in wait
but I ignore its calls
to enjoy staying up late
to watch films with family

Oh beautiful Spring Break
with long hours of sleep
and blessed memories to keep
come back for my sake

And I must ratatouille make
for ratatouille tastes great
with a tasty Spring Break cake
for everyone to eat

Oh beautiful Spring Break
with long hours of sleep
and blessed memories to keep
come back for my sake

Miscellanea

2009-03-03T23:24:00.002-05:00

This is a post comprised of several little amusing things from today.

First, I was sitting in the student union of my campus with a friend. We were trying to finish up a lab report due tomorrow.
Several persons walk by and sit at a table just behind me. And I hear one of them, some guy, humming a tune. It was Wall-E's favorite tune. I know his favorite tune comes from another movie, but it is an old musical that I have not heard people talk about, so it is highly likely this guy had it from Wall-E.
And it made me chuckle.

My professor for Spaceflight pushed our homework due date from this Friday to the Tuesday after Spring break. That means I have only six things due between tomorrow and Friday instead of seven. It made me ridiculously happy.

My roommate's cheese-making supplies came in the mail today. She is very excited and already has plans to throw herbs into her cheese.

We sang "sam was a man" in choir this evening. It is a fun song to sing even it is about some guy who worked hard and died and was buried.

Also in our choir, we finally decided on our new dress code for the girls after three gatherings and several emails. We shall have white blouses provided by the club, black skirts just below the knee at least, black shear stockings, and black shoes with no open toes preferably. Anyway, everyone seems much more satisfied with this arrangement then the previous red dresses that accentuated bulges on even the most skinniest persons and made everyone else look rather fat or dumpy.

And now I think I shall finish one more lab and then head to bed.

Costume Party

2009-02-21T22:24:00.002-05:00

Why would you have a costume party on Valentine's day?
I have no idea.
But we did anyway.
It was fun.
Guess what I dressed up as...

That's right!
A blue mushroom.

My happy new umbrella helped amazingly.

Roommate M dressed as static cling, while her sister and brother-in-law came as complex conjugates. (Those are some really neat and funky math things)
The party was expanded by the addition of truck driver and a fearsome pirate who kept threatening to chop me up for dinner with his actual knife because he liked mushrooms. And with the pirate came some random hitchhiker guy. A skier and a sheeted fellow completed the cast.

We ate cheesecake (this was the setting for the cayenne pepper cheesecake). And we played games.
And took many many pictures.

I like costume parties.
I hope to have another one someday.

Cayenne Pepper

2009-02-14T22:40:00.001-05:00

in a cheesecake!

Hurrah!

Chocolate cheesecake spiced with cayenne pepper and cinnamon is an amazing thing.
I will have to make it again sometime.

Writing with my left hand

2009-02-14T22:34:00.002-05:00

Although I am right-handed, I sometimes find it fun to try writing with my left hand.

Except I sort of had to do it for real this week.

Monday night I slipped and slid on some ice and ended up with a very nasty-looking swollen finger on my right hand.

All my happy pessimistic friends decided it must be broken. So I got an x-ray on Thursday.
But it wasn't broken.

Meanwhile, however, I kept that finger taped up to another one using masking tape (a gentler alternative to duct tape, I thought) because it was so swollen and hurt if I bent it wrong.

And by the end of a long day of taking notes with my peculiar finger arrangement, my hand hurt. But I still had a crib sheet for an exam left to finish.

So I wrote it with my left hand until my right hand felt good enough to pick up writing again.

Curried Yogurt

2009-02-03T12:13:00.002-05:00

It was surprisingly pleasant, actually.
And the ginger added a nice zing to it that helped.

Savory yogurt instead of sweet...
Maybe next time we can try spiced yogurt?

Or perhaps hot yogurt.

Anyways, the accidental adding of curry to the yogurt instead of cinnamon turned out to be quite good.

A Random Tuesday

2009-01-27T23:56:00.003-05:00

(not that anyone really cares to know how my Tuesdays go, but this was just fun, and I'm in a posting mood. Oooooh, I guess it time for a...Nothing Post!!!)

Had class. It is a boring(?) class. It is also an interesting class. It depends mostly on how much sleep I got the night before and whether I printed out the notes before class. Today it was good. Can anyone say Lagrange equations (mixed up with potential and kinetic energies)?

And then, I ate lunch. (This is getting so exciting. I don't believe all you nearly-non-existent readers can handle all this excitement.) There was yogurt in my lunch!
And fruit.

And then, my sister called me. (wow! if my day hadn't been made before at the yogurt, it certainly would have been at getting an actual real life phone-call!)
So I got dressed up. Except I think my sister's stockings got mixed with mine. So I had to wear light tan-ish colored pants with my black suit jacket instead of my nice matching skirt. And my sister came over all ready dressed up.

But then, we had to walk around and talk to people, trying to convince them they wanted to give us a job. But they weren't bitin'. Too bad. I got a stack of papers though, so I can harass them later with many submissions of my resume. Maybe that will change their minds.

Unfortunately, this all came to end much too soon and we had to leave to go to another class. This class was more exciting. Supposedly, anyways. It was so today because I actually did not fall asleep! Maybe it was because I was still in my suit clothes (It is incredibly undignified to fall asleep in suit clothes, you know). All sorts of equations that change whether you are dealing with ellipses, parabolas, or hyperbolas danced before my eyes and somehow made their ways to my notepaper.

Finally I was done! I could leave and go home and change out of my suit clothes! Except then, I thought I might stop by to pray for an hour at our Christian group's accustomed daily prayer hour in the afternoons. I met two others with similar intent and together we walked to our accustomed room.

But, oh horrors, it was being used. To take pictures of graduating seniors (most of whom only dressed up the top half of themselves so save the bother of dressing up their entirety). We were in dismay.

However, one brilliant (or not so brilliant) idea was proposed. Namely, we should walk around and pray for campus in the cold. We were all dreadfully excited about getting cold. So we went.

We walked a lot. Our campus covers a lot of ground. My feet got wet. I wasn't wearing boots, just dress shoes. But my feet did not get too cold, so it was okay. We also threw snowballs (an integral part of outside prayer in the winter). And one person ran up the side of a building and flipped off (he just wanted to show off his understanding and application of basic physics, I think).

At last I got back home. And changed my clothes, pronto (where does that word even come from, I wonder).

But dishes sat in the sink. So I washed them. And then my roommate made waffles. With blueberries (oh man, I think I'm gonna die for sheer delight).

My sister called again. But this time she called my roommate (she claims she called me first, but I don't believe her. I can always hear my phone vibrating, even when it is in the other room! Except, my received-call log seems to agree with her.) This time she wanted to sleep on the couch. So we let her. Just for tonight, you know.

And then, I sang three songs many times. I hope our choir director was finally satisfied. Three songs for two hours when one has to use the bathroom can be very...tiresome.

(This post is getting way too long. I'd turn it into a two-parter except you might not be able to stand the strain, and I'm nearly done anyways. Not that you care since you've probably stopped reading by now anyways.)

Then, I was surprised. There were two strangers sitting on my couch when I came home. One was my sister. The other was my roommate's sister. So we watched some tv together. And my roommate made popcorn with nearly all the kernels popped. It was amazing.

And now I am staying up much too late writing this nothing post. But this is the end now so I can go to bed.

Gravity!

2009-01-23T12:38:00.003-05:00

Edit: I mistook which way things went as far as latitude vs. gravity goes, so I had to fix it.

This is absolutely exciting and amazing: we changed gravity yesterday!

Yes!!!!
Hurrah!!!

You probably all know that gravity changes with height, right? The farther you are away from the earth, the less you way?

Well that is not the only thing that affects gravity, or I should say the gravity constant of your perceived weight.

You all know that you weigh less the farther you go from the earth now(I just told you above, so you should know). But you don't actually lose anything from your body, right? No. That is because all the stuff of your body is actually the mass of your body, and that doesn't change.

Weight is the mass of your body times a gravity constant. And the gravity constant gets smaller the farther out from the earth you go. That's why you "weigh less".

But there is another thing that changes the gravity constant. And that is the rotation of the earth.

If you take a string and attach some object to it (which has a mass) and then swing the the string around and around, you can feel the object "pulling" on the string (there are physical laws explaining why it does so). We have sort of created a "weight" of the object.

You see, the earth is split up into a number of latitudes (the horizontal lines that go across a globe). And at each latitude, the ground beneath you is rotating at a different speed (too long to explain now, so sorry if you didn't know that before).
And we are attached to this earth through the friction that comes up through our feet.

So here we are spinning on this earth but the speed at which we are spinning changes depending on where on earth we are. And like that object on the string, our "created weight" changes with that rotation.

So the gravity constant isn't constant all over the earth even if there were absolutely no mountains or anything tall (the height piece of gravity).
Generalizing, we could say it is only at the standard at the North Pole and the decreases down to the equator.

If the earth spun faster we would eventually all fly off and that would solve our over-weightness problem in the United States, but probably not our over-massiveness problem.

And fly off into space!!!!!

Reading List 2008 Part 4

2009-01-06T15:32:00.003-05:00

And this is the last and smallest segment of my reading list:

•Phyllis by Dorothy Whitehill
•That Sweet Little Old Lady by Randall Garrett
•The Unnecessary Man by Randall Garrett
•The Impossibles by Randall Garrett and Laurence M. Janifer
•Supermind by Randall Garrett and Laurence M. Janifer
•Viewpoint by Randall Garrett
•…After a Few Words… by Randall Garrett
•Anything You Can Do… by Randall Garrett
•What The Left Hand Was Doing by Randall Garrett
•But, I Don’t Think by Randall Garrett
•I’ve Married Marjorie by Margaret Widdemer
•The Princess of the School by Angela Brazil

Reading List 2008 Part 3

2009-01-06T15:30:00.000-05:00

This be the third part of my reading list:

•The Wilderness Station by Elia Wilkinson Peattie
•Mozart: A Fantasy by Elia Wilkinson Peattie
•The Cost by David Graham Phillips
•The Price She Paid by David Graham Phillips
•The Gold Bug by Edgar Allan Poe
•Corporal Cameron by Ralph Connor
•The Lost Word; A Christmas Legend of Long Ago by Henry Van Dyke
•The Bird of Love by Sui Sin Far
•An Autumn Fan by Sui Sin Far
•A Chinese Ishmael by Sui Sin Far
•Chan Hen Yen, Chinese Student by Sui Sin Far
•A Love Story From the Rice Fields of China by Sui Sin Far
•Buttered Side Down by Edna Ferber
•A Philanthropic Honeymoon by Dorothy Canfield Fisher
•The Revolt of Sophia Lane by Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman
•Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch by Alice Caldwell Hegan Rice
•Badge of Infamy by Lester Del Ray
•Police Your Planet by Lester Del Ray
•The Sky is Falling by Lester Del Ray
•Victory by Lester Del Ray
•A Spaceship Named McGuire by Randall Garrett
•Masters of Space by E. Everett Evans and E. E. Smith
•The Hills of Home by Alfred Coppel
•The Ashiel Mystery by Mrs. Charles Bryce
•The Sleuth of St. James’s Square by Melville Davisson Post
•A Lady of Quality by Frances Hodgson Burnett
•The Adventures of Piang the Moro Jungle Boy by Florence Partello Stuart
•Eve to the Rescue by Ethel Hueston
•Untechnological Employment by E. M. Clinton
•Mystère de la chambre jaune (English) by Gaston Leroux
•In the Fog by Richard Harding Davis
•Once Upon A Time by Richard Harding Davis
•The Consul by Richard Harding Davis
•The Red Cross Girl by Richard Harding Davis
•The Zucchini Warriors by Gordon Korman
•Nose Pickers From Outer Space by Gordon Korman
•Island series (three books) by Gordon Korman
•The Book of Three Lloyd Alexander
•The Black Cauldron by Lloyd Alexander
•Bachelor’s Fancy by Alice Brown
•Marcia Schuyler by Grace Livingston Hill Lutz
•The Crimson Blind by Fred M. White
•The Mystery of the Four Fingers by Fred M. White
•Peggy in Her Blue Frock by Eliza Orne White

Reading List 2008 Part 2

2009-01-06T00:11:00.003-05:00

Oh ho! Here comes the second part of my reading list:

•Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card
•Xenocide by Orson Scott Card
•Children of the mind by Orson Scott Card
•Olive by Dinah Maria Mulock Craik
•Abyss and Apex - online magazine of sci-fi and poetry (I’ve read a number of short stories from here)
•The Colors of Space by Marion Zimmer Bradley (read it twice)
•The Door Through Space by Marion Zimmer Bradley
•Super Man and the Bug Out by Cory Doctorow
•Pebble in the Sky by Isaac Asimov
•Alarm Clock by Everett B. Cole
•Final Weapon by Everett B. Cole
•Indirection by Everett B. Cole
•The Best Made Plans by Everett B. Cole
•The Players by Everett B. Cole
•Millennium by Everett B. Cole
•The Girl in the Golden Atom by Ray Cummings
•The Gift Bearer by Charles Louis Fontenay
•A Transmutation of Muddles by Horace Brown Fyfe
•Heist Job on Thizar by Randall Garret
•Ullr Uprising by H. Beam Piper
•Baby Mine by Margaret Mayo
•A Master’s Degree by Margaret Hill McCarter
•The Side Door by Alice and Grace MacGowan
•Minnehaha by Eva Wilder McGlasson
•The Life and Adventures of Calamity Jane by Mrs. M. Burk
•The Ugly Duckling by Dorothy Canfield
•The Playmate by Dorothy Canfield
•Ivanhoe and the German Measles by Dorothy Canfield
•The Story of Ralph Miller by Dorothy Canfield
•Poet and Scullery-Maid by Dorothy Canfield
•Ma`ame Pélagie by Kate Chopin
•The Changing Sun by William Nathaniel Harben
•Frivolous Cupid by Anthony Hope
•Scarlet Stocking by Louisa May Alcott
•Arabella by Anna T. Sadlier
•Tom Grogan by F. Hopkinson Smith
•An Old-Time Love Story by Rebecca Harding Davis
•Anne by Rebecca Harding Davis
•Walhalla by Rebecca Harding Davis
•A Middle-Aged Woman by Rebecca Harding Davis
•Frances Waldeaux by Rebecca Harding Davis
•The Princess Aline by Richard Harding Davis
•A Mountain Woman by Elia Wilkinson Peattie

Reading List 2008 Part 1

2009-01-02T12:02:00.003-05:00

And it is that time once again where I start a new reading list for the upcoming year. And already I have read one book for this year. The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan was a shorter book which I read between last night and this morning because it was so thrilling and fast moving. But that is not the subject of this post.

I am going to put up my reading list for this past year. As my list is even longer this year than it was last year, this will take several postings. So here begins the first part (Note: Chronological reading order is approximate; sometimes I forgot to add books until much later after I had read them).

•The Adventures of Jimmie Dale by Frank L. Packard
•The Further Adventures of Jimmie Dale by Frank L. Packard
•The White Moll by Frank L. Packard
•Ester Reid by Pansy
•Just David by Eleanor H. Porter
•Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs
•Return of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs
•The Quirt by B. M. Bower
•The Lion of Saint Mark by G. A. Henty
•The Princess Elopes by Harold MacGrath
•The Voice in the Fog by Harold MacGrath
•The Day Boy and the Night Girl by George MacDonald
•The Sunny Side by A. A. Milne
•A Village Stradivarius by Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin
•Story of Waitstill Baxter by Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin
•I Was a Teen-Age Secret Weapon by Richard Sabia
•The Premiere by Richard Sabia
•The Street That Wasn’t There by Carl Richard Jacobi and Clifford Donald Simak
•Peggy Stewart at School by Gabrielle E. Jackson
•The Adventures of Kathlyn by Harold MacGrath
•The Goose Girl by Harold MacGrath
•The Lure of the Mask by Harold MacGrath
•The Enchanted Types by L. Frank Baum
•The Magic Bon Bons by L. Frank Baum
•The Queen of Quok by L. Frank Baum
•The Mandarin and the Butterfly by L. Frank Baum
•The Laughing Hippopotamus by L. Frank Baum
•The Box of Robbers by L. Frank Baum
•The Bristol Bowl by Edith Nesbit
•The Incomplete Amorist by Edith Nesbit
•Man on the Box by Harold MacGrath
•The Puppet Crown by Harold MacGrath
•Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
•Shadow of the Hegemon by Orson Scott Card
•Kidnapped series (three books) by Gordon Korman
•Dive series (three books) by Gordon Korman
•My Life and Hard Times by James Thurber
•Operation Red Jericho by Joshua Mowll
•Operation Typhoon Shore by Joshua Mowll
•The Masterharper of Pern by Anne McCaffrey

Cleverd the Clinky Genius

2009-01-01T00:30:00.002-05:00

My brother sometimes sleepwalks. On one of his trips, he stopped by my sister's room and announced to her "My name is...Cleverd". The next morning, my sister turned it round into "Cleverd the kindly genius".

Tonight my mum asked my brother if he had showered. He said yes. He then said something about how he had been clinky (his sleepy brain was not working quite right so "stinky" did not come out right).
And thus my likewise tired and cookie-highed (by the way, those were awesome cookies, Ell) brain made a strange connection and came up with:
Cleverd the clinky genius!

And now I am annoying another sister by saying in a sing-song voice: "I'm a clinky genius. Oh! Cleverd's my name."

And this is my first post of the new year. Next year, if the Lord wills, I will be graduating from college.
And may God grant that this coming year is as full of humor and joy as it has begun (in my family at least) despite anything else that may come up.

2008-12-26T18:06:00.004-05:00

My brain and I were having this semi-conflict: I didn't want to think and my brain was thinking it should start working again soon.

I mean, the break is supposed to be just that, right? a break from all the long thinkings I've done all during the long semester?

But my brain is contesting otherwise. It says a break from thinking is fine for just so long. Really now, how long do you think you can do nothing all day except curl up in front of a warm woodstove?

So I moved on to reading books. My reading list this year is longer than last year's (but I've also read way more short stories so that might have something to do about that). Also watched movies.

That seemed to satisfy my brain for about yesterday and today. But then this evening it began making motions to quit this as well. I guess it just really isn't satisfied with my behavior until I am doing something very useful and difficult. But I'm not quite ready for that.

So I am instead working my way slowly up to that point. I'll blog, and write some stuff, and maybe find think of some more stories to read. But nothing strenuous. Not yet anyway.

Pumpkin Ginger Scones

2008-12-21T14:19:00.002-05:00

My roommate made these several weeks ago and they were quite delicious. So I asked her for the recipe which she sent me:

from the Taste of Home Magazine

Pumpkin Ginger Scones

2 c flour
7 tbsp + 1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp baking soda
5 tbsp cold butter, divided
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 c. canned pumpkin
1/4 c. sour cream

In a large bowl, combine the flour, 7 tbsp sugar, baking powder & soda, and spices. Cut in 4 tbsp butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Combine egg, pumpkin, and sour cream. Stir into dry ingred until just moistened.

Turn on a floured surface; kneed 10 times. Pat into an 8 in circle. Cut into 8 wedges. Separate wedges and place onto greased baking sheet. Melt remaining butter, brush over dough, sprinkle with sugar.

Bake at 425 F for 15-20 min or until golden brown.

Happy?

2008-12-18T23:19:00.002-05:00

So maybe it's been the long semester, or maybe it's late at night, but I think my brain might not be working quite right when I find this video clip about weather from 22 Words so hilarious after watching it only twice that I have to watch it twice more.

Weather or not you like it, I've finished three of my finals

2008-12-13T10:45:00.003-05:00

Last night, I had to keep reminding myself that I was done with three of my final exams and therefore three of my classes. As I fell asleep, I kept getting these moments of stress where I thought I was trying to solve a problem and it wasn't working out. And then I would wake up and realize I had finished that class. And then I would doze off and it would happen again.

But at least I was warm last night. God has been good to us and allowed us to keep our electricity and even be able to let others stay at our place over the night. A girl and her one-year old baby stayed over last night because their place had no heat. And the night before, my sister stayed over so she could get into her exams yesterday.

So even though my grades are plummeting from horrible classes, God is still good and happy things are happening.

One down, three left to go

2008-12-10T18:56:00.003-05:00

And the round of finals has begun.
Four finals...I think that's the most I've ever had as of yet.

After running through all my grades and my class syllabi, I figured I would be getting C's in at least two of my classes despite working long hours this semester on them. I was depressed.

Perhaps it meant I was not really very smart and I would be better off quitting my engineering track. I could be a math teacher. I love math. And I did very well in all those courses.

But, I thought, I would miss Aerodynamics. Perhaps I am crazy, I but I really love solving all the lovely equations and having problems come into place for Aerodynamics.
So I shall not become a math teacher, at least, not yet. I shall get C's but have a most glorious time doing Aerodynamics.

And not worry about all those silly persons I know who are doing better than I but enjoy Aerodynamics less.

And besides, God hasn't told me to be a math teacher yet, either.

Still confused

2008-12-04T19:24:00.002-05:00

That was the strangest call I have ever had.
Actually, it began with a text message saying I needed to bring Pablo to our end-of-semester dance that our campus Christian group is holding this Saturday.
So I called the sender who disclaimed any sending of aforementioned message.
Instead, he put me in contact with some foreigner who was quite insistent that Pablo must come and he must come dressed up...meaning with a tie. I demurred and pointed out I had no tie with which to clothe him with. The strange foreigner said a tie could be provided. I said I had no means of transporting Pablo to the dance. The strange foreigner said a car could be provided. All I had to do was get Pablo to come and I would be given 2 million non-sequential dollars. I agreed that if I got permission from the owner of Pablo, he would certainly be there if I had anything to do with it.

And with that the strange foreigner wished me a goodnight and hung up.

Oh, and if you are wondering who on earth Pablo is, he is one of those funny round chef statuettes but rather tall. And he lives in the kitchen of our next-door neighbors (also members of our Christian group).

And I have returned!

2008-12-02T22:17:00.002-05:00

my brain is nearly my own once again...just a few more weeks.
But the worst is over for right now.

It is the peace and relief before the onslaught of finals.
Oh finals! How you dance merrily ever before us, teasing us and frolicking about with out pity.
And later you return to darken our dreams and shed a shadow on the last days of class.

But fortunately for us, we have happy dances and parties coming up right at the end of class during what we call "study days".
And for a little while we shall dance all our troubles away.

And after all, four finals are not too bad. At least they are all spread out neatly over finals week.

And meanwhile I am enjoying having my last Aerodynamics exam done and out of the way.

Orange Rolls

2008-11-03T10:58:00.003-05:00

These are tasty rolls I found in The Hidden Art of Homemaking by Edith Schaeffer. I made them last night.

They are like cinnamon rolls except with orange peel and sugar instead.

I used a white bread dough. When it had risen to double, I rolled it out into what was supposed to be a rectangle (they never are, you know). Then I spread some oil on top. Next, I sprinkled much sugar and orange peel all over on top of the oil. Some coriander finished the spices. Then I dressed it up with a great many golden raisins. Finally, I rolled up my rectangle, sliced it, and placed all my adorable slices into muffin pans to bake for thirty minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Are there any left?

Of Popcorn Kernels and Statistics

2008-11-03T10:46:00.002-05:00

I'm taking Modeling and Analysis of Uncertainty this semester. It's a statistics course with lots of data and finding averages and standard deviations of things.

We have six small projects throughout the semester. The fourth one, which I have just completed, was highly amusing.

We were told to find a measurable characteristic of popped kernels of popcorn and get two brands of popcorn. Then we had to pop the popcorn and measure whatever it was we decided to measure. Extra points go to those who chose interesting measurable characteristics and measured them in unique ways.

My teammate and I sat in our student union Saturday night with our two bags of popcorn and realized we had very little on hand to measure anything. So we hunted through our backpacks and racked our brains for strange and unusual measurements. At last, we hit upon it: we would measure the saturatability of popcorn. Our reasoning was thus: if a popcorn kernel is highly saturable, then it should potentially be able to absorb more butter. And clearly more absorbed butter makes for tastier popcorn, and tastier popcorn makes a better brand. Therefore, the popcorn brand with the best saturability would be the better brand of the two.

Then we had to measure it. Fortunately, my teammate had a bright pink highlighter. We sat in the union marking popcorn for two and a half hours. We are pretty sure people gave us strange looks.

But all our popcorn was marked pink, and we finished our project.

Does your company have some BHAG?

2008-10-30T10:49:00.002-04:00

That's right! I learned in class yesterday that a company needs:
Big Hairy Audacious Goals.

My fellow students and I could not determine what sort of goal counts as "hairy".

Forks and Bridges

2008-10-25T12:46:00.002-04:00

Yes, they surprisingly go together very well.

At least, that is what certain people on campus seem to think.

The fork-carrying-sausage prank is back again.
So, apparently not so many people notice this prank because I have to point it out to people quite frequently. And the forks stay up there for rather longish times.

Anyway, the prank itself is quite simple.
A white plastic fork is shoved between the metal links of our mesh-covered bridge that connects the two sides of our campus on either side of a well-traveled road. Then a sausage is placed on the prongs of the fork in a ridiculous manner. Usually it is a sausage link, but once there was a sausage patty instead.
There can be as many as two or three of these forks shoved up in the bridge top at a time.

I have never found out if they are placed there by unconnected individuals who have decided to emulate whomever the first fork pranker was. Or if perhaps the persons involved are part of some concerted group that does this for fun. Or maybe it is just a solitary individual who says to himself every once in a while, "Gee, I think it's time to put another fork in the mesh again...".
Whomever it is, they have afforded me some simple amusement and I appreciated that very much.

Unfortunately, I do not have picture to illustrate. I observed it this morning when I was cameraless, but I will try to get a picture of it at soon.

2008-10-14T09:49:00.002-04:00

It's fall indeed
and I eat apples and donuts
and peanut butter muffins

Tea is delicious
as cold nights creep in
and robes become best friends

Oh hurrah for the air
the cold crisp air
and the wind that blows my hair

I at last wear
a sweatshirt everywhere
and absolutely love it

Oh hurrah for leaves
that swirl from trees
with each cold breeze

And the squirrels
hop and hurl
themselves from tall branches

Oh hurrah for geese
that honk in the freeze
of the blue blue sky

As they journey
so swiftly northly
to the warm south

But I shall stay
in the cold chill fall
because I love it all

The Single Petal of a Rose

2008-10-11T23:13:00.005-04:00

I never realized until tonight (though you may think me incredibly stupid) that one listens to different types of music different ways. For instance, a jazz concert is meant to be listened to differently than an orchestra.
One listens to the overall sound of an orchestra, listening particularly for themes and patterns and the climax.
But a jazz concert highlights certain musicians at different times. And one is supposed to listen to that person in particular until the music moves on to someone else or is picked up by the entire group.

Anyway, it took me three pieces in to realize why I was having trouble getting into the music at the jazz concert I attended tonight. But once I realized how it should be listened to, I enjoyed it...oh, tremendously. Especially funny was when the bassist began humming his notes while playing a solo.

The highlight of the whole evening came in the piece "The Single Petal of a Rose", I believe it was called. At least it was so in my opinion, and my friends whom I went with agreed. Oh, it was so lovely...a clarinet and a piano and beautiful thrilling music. And I had to close my eyes.

Glitchy Brain

2008-10-01T23:24:00.003-04:00

Have you ever had the experience where your brain gitches?
Particularly well talking...
your mouth says something completely different from what your brain is thinking.
And there is no good excuse for it except that your brain quite clearly glitched on you.

This happens to me occasionally.
For instance:
Tonight I came back around eight from a Bible study with a group of other students.
My roommate asked how things went and who attended.
As I was listing the people I came to this guy named Alex.
But at first, I could not remember his name. For some reason I thought it was Mike or Matt (we have three Mike's in this group). After telling my roommate all this, it suddenly comes back to me that his name is Alex.
Now if that wasn't embarrassing enough, I then began said "I don't know! I just remembered somebody calling him Max and that was how I..., no! not Max. Alex!"

My thoughts knew I was trying to say Alex. I had Alex in my head...but my tongue quite deliberately said "Max".

Anyway...it must be time for a reboot (i.e. time to go to bed).

Oh, in other news, I found this very amusing post from a link from Tim Challies' blog.

And girls...

2008-09-26T12:31:00.004-04:00

It is fun to be a girl.
It is fun to hang out with girls.

It is hard to be a girl at an engineering school.
The guys at an engineering school tend to think of you in two ways:
1. Oooooh! a girl!
2. One of the guys.

So one needs to hang out with other girls occasionally so as to not get lost in math, and computing, and statistics, and papers, and problem solving.

Fortunately, I live with a girl and next to another house full of girls.
We brought them cupcakes this evening and had fun discussing girl things.
And laughing at the guys (C. S. Lewis was right in his assumption - that is what we do when we get together).
We have a lot of amusing guy friends.

The apples are in

2008-09-26T12:22:00.002-04:00

And with them the pie
and the crunchy apple crisp

The pumpkin leaves grace
the tops of tall trees
And lemon ones fall to the ground

Pine cones fall on your head
(Oh, ouch!)
And squirrels haunt your steps for food

Red and purple mums appear at the stores
(Perhaps we can make tea?)
And sniffles abound with coughs and sneezes
Interrupting my daily study

PD2 again

2008-09-20T13:16:00.003-04:00

Crisis has been averted.
We are doing a nice happy project to encourage people to exercise more.

But the class itself took a turn for worse this past Wednesday.
We were required to watch this movie in class.
It was a quite horrible movie all about a bunch of guys doing sex and drugs on a Greek island.
Well, that wasn't the point of the movie...it was really about these group of soldiers who get stranded on this Greek island and discover that taking things easy and living the simple life is much better to their previous war-related activities and the constant fast-paced adventure they enjoyed. Several shocking scenes, however, caused me come to a different conclusion...

Anyway, now I have to write a paper about the leadership styles portrayed in the movie.

But watching movies only happens twice in the semester and I think the next one will be about some scientists, so I shall hope it will be much better.

PD2 = Moral Dilemma

2008-09-10T23:13:00.004-04:00

Nobody ever told me PD2 would cause moral dilemmas!!!

Although it actually isn't a dilemma, just more of a tricky situation.

But fear not! I will not help start any Planned Parenthood groups at my school.

Now you are wondering what on earth PD2 is and what Planned Parenthood has to do with it?
Well, PD2 stands for Professional Development 2. We're required (all us engineers) to take classes that encourage professionalism and good business habits and leadership roles. The classes are split into three courses: PD1, PD2, and PD3. PD2 is mostly about leadership.
Because of this, we have a team project in which we are to do something that will have an influence in some community.
The two ideas my team has come up with thus far: encourage recycling on campus or starting a Planned Parenthood group.

I very quickly brought to the table that I was pro-life...and therefore not very likely to agree with the latter idea, although I was not opposed to raising awareness about health issues on campus.

When the idea was raised, I flew into a tailspin (an interesting maneuver with airplanes) and had to collect my thoughts so I could nicely but firmly state my disagreement. It is harder than you might think, 'cause you don't want to totally offend someone you'll be working with for the semester by shooting down their ideas (or actually, ever). But by God's grace the idea giver was receptive and understanding.

But the team is still deciding...

Errors

2008-09-04T22:35:00.006-04:00

And now for another excursion into the fascinating world of math and errors.
First of all, you must realize the all important fact that nearly all solutions of math problems are approximations.
I know it seems hard to imagine (at least, I kept feeling there must be some way to get exact answers). But it is true. Your computer and your calculator and your hand calculations are usually riddled with errors: rounding errors, truncating errors, data errors, computational errors, forward errors, and backward errors (and maybe a few more that I have forgotten).

This post will explore backward and forward errors.

Have you heard of functions?

No?
Well, imagine a machine...like an oven. You put in a lumpy sticky mixture of ground-up grains, crushed olives, fermenting fungi, sodium chloride, sugars, and flammable elements combined so they are no longer flammable (i.e. H2O or "water" as it is commonly know as). You put this unlikely combination into the oven machine.
And in ~35min. a fragrant loaf of bread comes forth.

The oven did stuff to the mixture you threw in (well, not literally) and gave an output. We could call the oven a "function" (since it performs a function...baking bread) and the dough (that disgusting mess described earlier) as the input. The nicely baked bread is the output.

We could go even further. We could give the input a generic name "x" which can now stand for anything (not just bread dough, but cookie dough, brownie batter, chickens, cats, plants, 4, 7, 109, or anything else you like). And the output gets its own generic name "y". And the function even gets its own name too! It will be called f(x) (because it performs some function on x).

Now that we've got all that straight we can begin to talk about forward error.

Usually, or at least in an ideal world, you put an x in to your f(x) and get a particular y special to the particular x you put in. And this is the exact output that you would get.

But sometimes, you only get an approximation to your actual y. It's like putting in your bread dough and getting bread that was still doughy in the middle. It's only an approximation of the actual bread you wanted. Now suppose your actual bread and your doughy bread were numbers, than you could find the difference between the two of them. And that would be your forward error.

Like this:
y - approximate y = forward error

Now backward error is a little more tricky to explain. Suppose, you wanted the bread that was doughy in the middle...now it wouldn't actually be bread you were wanting. But we could suppose there is some other...thing that you might wish to make that actually produces doughy bread. Then the doughy bread would be the exact output and not the approximate output.

So then the input changes slightly.
And you get something like this:
x - approximate x = backward error
(the approximate x is the input that gives us the exact output of doughy bread)

Perhaps a visual would help?

(click on image for clearer view)

Introducing...

2008-08-29T15:52:00.003-04:00

Oh hurrah!
I am in rhapsodies right now!
Something absolutely delightful exists and now I know about it.

I am a fickle woman truly.
Last semester is was h.
Several semesters before that is was Re.
NOW it is...

del.

Oh del is so neat! It looks like an upside delta triangle.
And it is both a vector and a derivative operator at the same time!
And you can do super cool things with it like cross products and dot products and it takes the derivative of the other vectors at the same time!

Okay. You may all go back to your normal lives and not worry about del at all. But I shall go and enjoy the thrills I get every time I think that such a thing exists.

When Nuts Meet Each Other...

2008-08-25T09:08:00.003-04:00

They get up extremely early to go running.

How early is "extremely early"?
Try four in the morning.

That was the meeting time.
Most of us got up at 3:30 to get ready.

Twelve nuts met at four on a Saturday morning to run around a track.
Only three of them were ROTCs. The rest of us ranged from a track coach to an unfit asthmatic. Or actually, a number of out-of-shape people and several asthmatics.

But we all ran or jogged or walked around the track.
And ate muffins afterward.

Then we all went to bed again.

Why?

I don't know.

It was an idea mentioned in jest by someone and picked up with enthusiasm by the others Friday evening at a gathering of returning students.

Muffins?

After the idea became a reality, I invited several people over to my apartment to make muffins. We made forty-eight.

Would you do it again?

Not sure...maybe at five instead of four...

Data Crunchies

2008-08-14T08:20:00.003-04:00

We are dorks. But at least we freely admit that we are such.
Therefore you should not be surprised when I tell you of a great cookie idea we thought up.
They are called "data crunchies".
Ideally, they should be made with some sort of alphabet cereal of something.

The reason for this cookie?
I've been crunching data (i.e. sitting crunched up in front of my computer moving pieces of data around on spreadsheets) at the lab.
And data crunching reminds one of...well, crunching and chewing on something.
Most likely...data.

So my roommate (who also works in the lab) declared we had to make "data crunchies" because they seemed to her to sound like a tasty cookie.

We have not made these cookies yet, but we propose to do so soon.

Provision

2008-08-12T08:26:00.002-04:00

My roommate and I had a number of girl friends over last night to watch all six hours of Pride and Prejudice. And we are having other persons over for dinner tomorrow night.

But, in anticipation of being tired today, we decided to not invite anyone over tonight (shocking, I know, to those to know us).

As it turns out, today is looking to be a long day full of data collecting and figuring out. So it was a good thing we decided to do nothing.

Yesterday, a friend stopped by and dropped off some lasagna for us for a dinner. Now we do not even have to worry about dinner this evening. It has already been provided for us. After a longish day of data, we can come home and just eat dinner.

And so God provides for us, though we had not even expected it. Nor were we thinking about dinner for tonight at all until our friend brought it over. So the fact that God thought we needed dinner and gave it to us is most wonderful to us.

The Two Competing Men in My Life

2008-08-08T18:00:00.002-04:00

You thought I didn't have competing men in my life? Well, that is not true. I have two of them.
Garimella and Thome (pronounced toe-mae or something like that).

Who are these men, you ask?
Ah, they are article writers.

Garimella has written some of the most useful work on condensation heat transfer in microtubes. He is referenced all over the place. He uses fluid-to-fluid heat exchangers which give one at best about 40% uncertainies. But he's gotten the best uncertainties out of them than most other people.

Thome writes about boiling heat transfer and bubbles. I actually found an article of his about condensation too. But it was mostly about bubbles. Bubbles in the microchannels as the refrigerant he is studying condenses or boils. I read his work too to learn more about watching fluids flow through tubes.

Garimella has also done some fluid flow visualization (fancy words for taking pictures of a fluid running through a glass or other see-through tube). Thome uses microchannels in silicon or other things like that with pieces of pyrex (type of glass) so he can see the fluid flow. Garimella uses long tubes of glass with very small diameters so he can see the fluid flow. Actually, Garimella uses glass tubes inside plastic or acrylic tubes. It keeps the glass tube from breaking when the fluid flowing through has a high pressure.

Hum, I don't know which I like best though. And this why they are the two competing men in my life.

The mushrooms

2008-08-01T18:52:00.002-04:00

I love mushrooms. But not to eat. I mean, I like reading about them and looking at pictures of them or even looking at live ones.
If you are like me, then you will enjoy this picture:

They grew up over night in our bathroom. My roommate felt it was an affront to her personally because she had recently washed the floor.

But I was sensible. I took pictures of the beauteous occasion to treasure it in my memory forever, even after my roommate swiped them away with a paper towel and vigoriously cleansed the area they had sat as though they had carried the plague.

Break-in

2008-08-01T18:40:00.004-04:00

My roommate's sister was married this past Saturday. As you can imagine, it was a day full of joy and fun and stress.
But she was successfully married and went off on her honeymoon with her dear husband.

And left my roommate the keys.
To put the gifts in the apartment of course.

Except, she has a bunch of very sneaky friends (and a sister)...

What do you get when you have a tubful of playpen balls?

A boxful of penguins?

And a bunch of glow-in-the-dark ducks?

A happy family of Linux users

And a surprise in the night (above their bed).

For those who are wondering, we were referencing the xkcd webcomic concerning playpen balls and the fact that the happy couple are computer geeks.

Cookie within a cookie

2008-08-01T06:39:00.001-04:00

I found pictures of a cookie I made several months ago.
They were very tasty cookies. They were a regular chocolate chip cookie recipe but with crushed up sandwich cookies instead of chocolate chips.

Here are the sandwich cookies I crushed. As you can see, they are chocolate.

This is the cookie dough. The dark splotches are the crushed up chocolate cookies.

See them all sitting in a nice row on the baking sheet?

Here they are! All done and tasty.

Concerning Curry

2008-07-24T13:08:00.002-04:00

I have only just learned something.

"Curry" is not a particular spice. It is in fact a mixture of several spices used to make a curry (or sauce). According to the RecipeZaar, it can have 20 different spices! It is the tumeric which makes it so yellow. The powder we get in stores is like a standard mix of the spices from Britain. It was made so you could add the flavor of Indian spices without preparing it all yourself. In India, the spices vary depending on region and household.

Some recipes for "curry powder" are here:
Curry Powder Blend
Garam Masala
Curry Powder

So now I have learned something new today...and I have to see about making my own.

Flying!

2008-07-15T08:09:00.001-04:00

This is what I want to try sometime:

Flying Lawn Chair

WALL-E

2008-07-11T07:56:00.002-04:00

I have seen it last night.
And we have declared it to be the engineer's chick-flick.

Last night I went with four other people to see WALL-E.
I really did not know what to expect, except, of course, a robot.
But, oh! The robots were so cute!
And the movie itself was most enjoyable.
And we all loved the credits.
They always have interesting credits.
I mean, there are fun things going on around the credits: cool pictures and stuff of that sort.

This was a really cool movie and you should all go see it.
I shall not tell you any bit more about it in case you haven't yet.

Well, I'm still alive

2008-07-02T08:36:00.002-04:00

The EVP did not kill us.

Nor the six other persons who it with us.
We had four guys over for dinner before soccer and two guys over after.
They all enjoyed it, surprisingly, and gave us many compliments.

'Twas roommate M's idea, actually, to use the rhubarb. I just began the whole thing by mentioning we needed to use up the mozzarella cheese.

Oh yeah. Carrot salad is a salad made solely of shredded carrots and a bunch of herbs and spices. Like cumin. The cumin made the EVP taste really good.

We're eating the leftover for lunch today.

EVP

2008-07-01T12:49:00.002-04:00

Experimental Vegetable Pasta

Contains these things:
Carrot Salad
Mozzarella Cheese
Elbow Macaroni

and

Sauteed Rhubarb with onion and peppers.

we'll let you know how it turns out (if we're still alive)...

Mountain Pies

2008-06-30T11:10:00.003-04:00

Here is my post with pictures!

Last weekend I went camping with four other friends.
'Twas my first time camping, so I found it quite exciting.
Some people said it was not real camping, though, because there was a little building nearby with flush toilets.
But despite possible contentions to the contrary, we called it camping.
Friend A has been camping many times before with her family.
So she organized us and our camp.
And built the fire.

She also had these amazingly nifty little irons. We made what we called "mountain pies" with them.

I don't have pictures of the irons heating in the coals, but that is what they did first.
Then we sprayed their insides with cooking oil.

This picture is of Friend A placing tomato sauce in the center of a flour tortilla which is sort of in/on top of one half of an iron.

Here it is again with cheese on top of the sauce. Some people added mushrooms or pepperoni to theirs.

Friend A is folding the tortilla so that the whole thing will fit inside the iron. You can see some pepperoni in this pie.

And here is the pie cooking. The second half of the iron is hooked onto the first and the entire thing is shoved into the coals.

I burned my tongue on my first one. But it was tasty nonetheless. The next night we used pieces of bread and cheese and roast beef or chicken. It was sort of like grilled cheese, only not really grilled.

New post

2008-06-25T08:31:00.001-04:00

I have a new post coming just as soon I as get enough time to post it. And it even has pictures!

Broccoli Salad

2008-06-17T15:57:00.002-04:00

Hurrah! We shall eat grilled cheese and leftover broccoli salad tonight!

Roommate M has done a good job at indoctrinating me since we have moved into the Giraffe (yes, that is the name of my new apartment - the Upside-down Giraffe, I might add). I go to bed by eleven every night and shower in the evening and carry water bottles with me all over the place.

And now I am raving about broccoli salad.

I tried it last night.

Ah! Broccoli salad!
You look so tasty in your greenness
Your golden raisins poke their heads
'Neath clustered trees of goodness
The seeds
they are roasted
and sunflower are the best
Put them all away lest
I eat it up
Especially that coleslaw dressing!

And thus ends my tale, which, if you are careful in observation,
you may find
the recipe to this tasty meal.

Mass Flux

2008-06-09T08:57:00.003-04:00

Have you ever heard of flux?
Flux can be used to refer a number of different things, actually, as you can see here:

Flux:
1. a flowing or flow.
2. the flowing in of the tide.
3. continuous change, passage, or movement: His political views are in a state of flux.
4. Physics.
a. the rate of flow of fluid, particles, or energy.
b. a quantity expressing the strength of a field of force in a given area.
5. Chemistry, Metallurgy.
a. a substance used to refine metals by combining with impurities to form a molten mixture that can be readily removed.
b. a substance used to remove oxides from and prevent further oxidation of fused metal, as in soldering or hot-dip coating.
c. (in the refining of scrap or other metal) a salt or mixture of salts that combines with nonmetallic impurities, causing them to float or coagulate.
6. fusion.
–verb (used with object)
7. to melt; make fluid.
8. to fuse by the use of flux.
9. Obsolete. to purge.
–verb (used without object)
10. to flow.
(From dictionary.com)

But as you can see, it mostly has to do with things flowing. So mass flux has to do with flowing mass. To be more precise, mass flux is the mass that passes through a given area in a set period of time.
It's like if you had a pipe of water or refrigerant or some other fluidy-type substance. The pipe has a fixed cross-sectional area (the area of a circle). And then you measure how much mass of your fluidy-type substance is flowing through that area for a set length of time, say 1 second. And that would be your mass flux.

Here is a picture to help illustrate:All the red dots are supposedly the mass flowing through the cross-sectional area in one second.

Mass flux is symbolized by "G" in all the papers I have been reading. So of course I had to write about it.

Machining and Welding

2008-05-28T15:08:00.003-04:00

Have you ever been machining?
'Tis grand fun.
I did some today.
I helped drill holes in an metal panel for an electrical enclosure.
We have a really neat drill to drill holes with.
But now I am all flecked with sparks of silver color.

Making thermocouples is also fun.
I learned how to make those last week.
Thermocouples are like temperature sensors made of two different kinds of metal welding together. The insulation is stripped from one end of the wire and the two pieces of metal are twisted together. Then they are welded to form a tiny bead on the end. The bead must not be too far from the edge of the insulation.

It is tricky getting the wires to weld together properly. But the satisfaction of seeing the little metal bead is always worth it.

Because it is difficult to weld them, we always prepare a ton of these wires. Then some go in the reject pile when they refuse to weld or the weld is wrong.

After welding, we calibrate the thermocouples. Then more of the couples end up in the reject pile because they will not measure temperature correctly.

The reject pile is nearly always larger than the acceptance pile.

Character Building

2008-05-27T08:21:00.002-04:00

Summer break has come and I have moved to a new apartment and started work.
Roommate M and I moved from our old apartment which we shared with three other girls to a new apartment with just us. We are so happy with our new place because it is cozy but has a most beautiful living room. We are planning on hosting many things in it.

But we have also decided to go without internet for the summer. We said it just might build character in us, though we're not sure about that...
Anyway, posting may slack off 'cause I'll only be online if I'm on campus.

Yummy Yummy Chicken and Lost Umbrellas

2008-05-16T15:45:00.002-04:00

Bother, I left my umbrella in the food court.

And of course it only occurred to me after I walked out of the mall with my friends and loudly declared my most favorite line in the movie was "I left my new torch in Narnia!"
And it started sprinkling on me.

Ah well. At least the teriyaki chicken we had for lunch just before the 12:20 showing was good. We were convinced into buying it by the funniest nice lady handing out samples.

She came over to us as we walk in. Handing friend H a sample, she says "Yummy yummy chicken! Have some yummy yummy chicken!"
Handing more around to all of us, she continued, "See? Look, combo 1? yummy yummy chicken? teriyaki chicken?"
We look up at the menu board. The young man behind the counters sees us and nods his head and says, "You want yummy yummy chicken?"
Friend H stalls for time and asks "Can we think about it?"
"Oh yes! Have some yummy yummy chicken!"
We huddle. We were going to get lunch anyway and we were hungry. The samples tasted good and besides, who could refuse yummy yummy chicken?
So we all ordered combo 1: teriyaki chicken with lo mein noodles and some vegetables and a drink. Then we watched as they fried up the chicken and prepared the lo mein noodles. And it was good, though there was a lot of it. But in the last rush, I left my umbrella hanging on the back of the chair I was sitting on.

A few final words

2008-05-13T20:21:00.004-04:00

This finished off my series of posts about the MBTI, most of the stuff I learned in my PD1 (professional development 1) class this past semester.
There are a couple of things I wanted to mention before the end.

First, all this stuff has been heavily researched and all that and lots of other places can explain it probably better than I can. So if I didn't quite get something right, I probably misunderstood something (example: intuition/sensing is very confusing, and I just hope I have finally understood it).

Second, we were told this several times: these preferences are just that. Preferences. They are not to be excuses. I needed to hear this when I found myself using some of my preferences as excuses for why I did act out of my preference when it would have been better if I had.

And last, you are perhaps (or perhaps not) wondering what my own preferences are. Well, I am an INTJ. Those letters stand for introvert, intuitive, thinking, judging.
The N stands for intuition because the I was already used for introvert. E, S, F, and P all stand for extrovert, sensing, feeling, and perceiving respectively. So, if you've ever taken something and gotten some combination of four letters that looks something like that, it's probably your MBTI type. ISTJ is the most common set of preferences for engineers with the INTJ's coming up closely behind it. So I am a pretty typical engineer...good thing I'm majoring in it.

UPDATE: Oh yes! and one very last thing which I meant to say but forgot: The preferences are not meant to categorize your whole entire personality. Do not think that it does! It has nothing to do with you artistic inclinations, your musical preferences, whether you are shy or not, etc.... It is mainly for those preferences that will affect teams and groups. A team with personality conflicts will tend to have these conflicts mainly with the MBTI preferences. So they are useful for group situations. Occasionally it is good to recognize them in other situations too, but not necessarily. Okay that really is the end now.

Judging vs. Perceiving

2008-05-13T19:44:00.003-04:00

I have recovered from the week of finals and study and, having collected my grades, am now enjoying a bit of repose with my family before starting work for the summer. (Research in heat transfer, pressures, temperatures, heat fluxes, etc.)
So 'tis high time for the last dichotomy of the MBTI dichotomies.

This dichotomy concerns how people interact with the outside world, with external factors. The judging and perceiving words can be most misleading to a lot of people. I think these may be the ones most widely different from their usual meanings (though the introvert/extrovert may be most misunderstood).

A judger tends prefers order and organization. They may like to write lists. In a group setting, they will probably attempt to form some type of structure for the group and will schedule as many things as they can.

A perceiver prefers to leave things more open-ended. They can find too much structure to be stifling.

As with all the others, just because one has a preference does not mean that person cannot act in one of the other preferences. Judgers can deal with spontaneity and even be spontaneous at times, they just tend to prefer more scheduling. Some people think judgers are more competent than perceivers, i.e. they will get more work done sooner and better. But this is not true. Perceivers may not organize things in ways that managers of groups like, but they can still be extremely competent.

I had the most experience with conflicts in groups caused by this differences in preference of this particular dichotomy. This past semester I was in a design group of seven people. Five had perceiving preferences and two had judging preferences. The entire group as a whole worked more as perceivers. We scheduled things as little as possible, set up no leadership, and generally let people work on the pieces of our design as they wished. Whenever we met for a meeting outside of class (which only occurred when we had reports and presentations due), the judgers organized the pieces for everyone to do and we sat and did them. The perceivers were mostly happy with the arrangement, but the judgers felt the project could have been done faster with more scheduling. But we did get the project done and turned in on time.

At Last!!!!

2008-04-30T18:36:00.002-04:00

The last class of the semester was today!!!!
And now I don't know what to do with myself.

I guess I'll just have to post random things and watch you-tube videos and eat cookies...

Project done!

2008-04-25T13:28:00.001-04:00

Our design project is done! We finished it last night and showed it to our class this morning. Now we just have to turn in our report and give a nice professional presentation to the class and we'll be done with the course!

Of course the next question is: what do we do with the project now?
One of my teammates suggested blowing it up.

2008-04-19T23:29:00.002-04:00

Above is my dear sister at our Christian group's semester semi-formal this evening.

It is one of my favorite events of each semester. Whoohoo! I danced my feet off and now we're both exhausted!

At present, she's washing off her feet. There's no words for how dirty our feet get after these dances. Can't dance in high-heels, so we all kick our shoes off.
Anyway, it was grand, and now I'm hungry.