Italic Squirrel

Yesterday was a pretty usual Tuesday. No classes, lunch at school, and plenty of homework. I did get the install discs from Amy, so now I have "The Matlab" on my computer. ("The Matlab" is how Dr. Shiue always referred to it, and I can't say it any other way now) I don't know how to use it yet, but I've got it. I'll definitely be using it for my Missiles class, and probably using it for my thesis. And its good for me to know, as an engineer. Good times.

Today was even better, what with all the fiber characterization. The fibers are smaller, and just as strong - a good sign. However, they're not very cooperative. And the characterization machine has a bad attitude. All this means more work on Friday. Wonderful.

Brent is back again. I keep telling Jeff that we can't keep leaving food out.

If Dr. Dekken assigns another pile of homework tomorrow morning, I can't be held responsible for my actions. I don't know why that works, but it does so long as you say it.

In other news an old buddy from my scout troop, Kevin Lipe, is putting together a web design business called Italic Squirrel, Inc.. That was the name that we used when we put together the super-cool website for the troop way back when. In return for use of the name, I got an Italic Squirrel email address. It was a fair trade.

Finally, pray for snow.

Darn You, Old Man!

It was a long weekend, but a good weekend. I got in Thursday night, and stayed through Sunday afternoon. I got to spend a lot of time with Jennifer, and got to see the family too. Jennifer and I saw Catch and Release, which was a pretty good movie, for a chick flick. We spent pretty much all afternoon at the Memphis Law Library, doing homework. I always feel so out of place, solving 2nd order partial differential equations and doing cross products when everyone else is doing case briefs and other law student-type things.

Anyway, it was a good weekend, but it left me tired all day today. It was hard to notice during Mechanical Design (I'm usually on autopilot in there anyway). It didn't really hit me until I went by Dr. Vakili's office to pick up some research. As I was knocking, it hit me how beat I was feeling, and I realized that I was dead meat if he wanted to ask me any kind of serious engineering questions. Luckily, conversation remained superficial. He gave me a research paper to review - Dynamics of Fiber Unwinding. Which is great, because my thesis is on Fiber Winding. *begin sarcasm* I figure I can change some plus signs to minuses, slap together some pretty graphs, and call it a thesis. I can get that to him next week. *end sarcasm*

At the end class last week, Dr. Flandro gave us a problem to figure out, if we got the correct solution, he said we'd get an automatic A. The question was this:

If a ball bearing is dropped from 1000 m above the earth's surface at a lattitude of 37 degrees (the approximate lattitude of Tullahoma), in what direction would an observer standing directly below the ball bearing have to move in order to avoid being struck in the head by the ball bearing? Earth's rotation must be accounted for, other assumptions must be justified.

I know you all figured it out in a minute or two, but for the record, the ball bearing will strike about 55 cm due East from the observer. So, if this happens to you, don't move. You'll be ok.

Anyway, Jeff and I were the only ones (2 out of 4 attending, 1 person MIA) in the class to have any answer, let alone a correct one. So what about that garunteed A? Well, what he meant was that if we got that right, we'll should have no problem getting an A. Not cool, man. Not cool.

Dr. Vakili couldn't make it to Viscous Flow, so he had the video people post a lecture from "years ago." Its old enough that he's balding, but the hair is black instead of gray. From what I can tell, this was not a good lecture to miss. Oh well.

I wound up blowing off the homework group for Mechanical Design that was supposed to meet at 4:00. I was exhausted by 1:oo, and needed a nap in order to keep functioning. So, that's what I did. It was so very nice. I miss naps.

There was some dinner this evening, as well as Star Trek and Heroes. Its very cold outside, and we should get a "wintry mix" soon. Yay.

Note: The student recently referred to as "Motown" will be redubbed "Applejacks," as it is more poignant and does not repeat a nickname currently employed by Jeff and I.

Wild Eyed Southern Boys

Well, I didn't get a whole lot done today, just one more problem. I fooled with it off and on most of the day. I'm not really sure what was giving me problems. I'd lost the momentum from the past two days, I'm sure. I also kept stopping to do laundry and such, which just kept me from focusing. And the problem was a little ambiguous. I finally had to call in Jeff for a consultation, and we got it licked. Like I said, not much progress. But it was a moral victory. I still think I'm doing pretty good on progress. I'll try and get some work done at the house on Friday.

In other news, we have a house guest tonight: Brent. He's up here to talk with his advisor and update his thesis comittee regarding his research. He's sleeping on the couch tonight. He's a brave soul. I hope I don't wake him up tomorrow when I eat my cereal and watch JAG (yeah, it comes on at 6:00 and 7:00 on weekday mornings).

As alluded in the first paragraph, I'm heading home for a weekend visit tomorrow after school. I'll be hitting the road after Viscous at around 2:15, so I should have my normal drive ahead of me. Hopefully the sun won't blind me on I-40. And hopefully I won't get stuck in the middle of nowhere in a random traffic boondoggle. Let's all keep our fingers crossed.

.38 Special knows how to rock.

Feast Or Famine

My fall semester of my senior year was very much feast or famine, with either loads of homework all assigned and due at the same time, or nothing at all. I went about 4 weeks without having to do anythinng.

And it looks like this semester is going to be the same way. I got SLAMMED yesterday. In Mechanical Design, Dr. Dekken threw us 19 problems, 3 of which he's working in class. He claims that he doesn't generally collect homework, but I'm not brave enough to call his bluff. On top of that, Dr. Vakili gave us 4 problems for Viscous Flow. When I walked out to my car after class, I was walking a little funny.

As it stands now, I've got about half of the Mechanical Design problems worked. I'm hoping to tackle the rest of them tomorrow and come into class on Thursday with a list of questions. On the whole, I'm doing pretty good, but still need some direction on a few of them. Viscous problems will have to wait for the weekend.

I went up to school today to work on some fiber characterization, but Charlie the computer guy stole the computer that runs the characterization machine. This is the best kind of way to avoid work - waiting on someone else to do something. Nothing I can do about it now.

In other Carbon Fiber news, Heather and I may be getting a lackey to do our bidding soon. Dr. Vakili mentioned that another student may be doing some work for him, and we'd have to "tell him how to do it." Muwahahahahaha.

Finally, I put myself on the waiting list for the dorms for the Fall semester, just to keep my bases covered. Jeff should be graduated by then, leaving me potentially roommie-less. That's not good financially. Matt Morgan is a possible replacement, but I'm not banking on it right now.

There's No Problem That Can't Be Solved

Without the proper application of explosives.

It's been a pretty good weekend thus far. And its nice that my weekends start on Thursdays now. Fridays will henceforth be known as "Saturday, Part 1." Sweet. It's like working for the government.

The days have mostly run together this weekend, I've been doing research on the SDB (Small Diameter Bomb) as well as ground-to-ground & ground-to-air missiles currently used by the U.S. So far, there's nothing in my research that tells me I can steal a current design (translation: the research is useless). Oh well. I guess designing one will be fun.

Also, I'm supposed to "sarcasm" the project requirements out of Gloyer tomorrow. We'll see how that goes. Sarcasm is highly effective, but only when the victim recognizes it for what it is; kinda like when cartoon characters unwittingly walk off a cliff - they only fall when they realize that they can. I'm not saying Gloyer is dense; I'm just saying his sense of humor is weird. Time will tell.

In other news, I saw Sin City last night. It was pretty good, but I don't know that I would have liked it in the theater. I don't know why, but that's just my gut reaction. Its a little wierd and has a different format, and its kinda dark. I probably just don't like paying good money for that. Yeah, that's the ticket.

My major triumph for the weekend was getting my music collection in order, and synchronizing it with my Sansa (mp3 player). I'd already put my AC/DC and Johnny Cash on it, but now its got the whole shebang and room to spare. I need to find one of those radio broadcasters so I can use it in the car.

Finally, I mentioned that I finished my books a few days back. I have to strongly recommend The Rising Tide by Jeff Shaara. It was very well written, as I've come to expect from him, and does an excellent job of telling a story that hasn't been told very much. This book focuses on the North African campaign in 1942, and the invasion of Italy. We get to see it through the eyes of Dwight Eisenhower, George Patton, Irwin Rommel, along with a U.S. tank gunner and a U.S. paratrooper. Very good read. Very.

P.S. Apparently, the Indianapolis Colts are going to the Super Bowl. Peyton Manning plays for them, so I'm supposed to care. Go Colts.

So, How 'Bout Them UAVs?

My 8:00 class is now my 7:45 class. That's not good, but its really not much more awful than 8:00. It really just means that Dr. Dekken's overages will be even more offensive. I should charge him like the cell phone companies do. Yeah, that's the ticket.

Tactical Missiles is a pretty interesting class, and the first project is going to be really cool, once Gloyer tells us what to do. I say that half-joking; its really starting to bother me that he hasn't given us official project requirements. I guess I'll have to beat that out of him on Monday.

Today was our first meeting for Viscous Flow; it seems that Dr. Vakili had better things to do last week. Oh well; we made a fairly smooth transition from Inviscid. There's a solid core of students from AE 511, with a few new faces, like Hot Rod and Motown.* I had to fight to get my seat from last semester (not really, but there was a pretty tense stare-down). The Superfriends are only at half-strength in there, but we do have Rich the Canadian Spy & Meester Vanhorn to fill the void. Its not the same though.

The seminar today was pretty cool. The topic was the Air Force's Research Lab's goals, objectives, and how cool UAV (un-manned air vehicles) are. The presenter (a colonel in charge of the AFRL/VA ("VA" means "Air Vehicles," yeah, I know) was very well spoken. However, I suspect that he may too be a Canadian spy due to his use of the word "windscreen" in place of "windshield." Suspicious indeed.

Jeff and I attempted some home-dryer repair today, and I sucessfully removed the thermal resistor doohickey. Dad coached me through it, and hopefully we'll just have to replace that and be done with it. Otherwise, its either the laundromat or drying stuff in the bathroom again.

* This is not a final nickname; we will try and find out the real name and base the nickname off of this. But, it's Motown for now.

Avast, Me Mateys!

'Tis a pirate's life for me.

Well, today was not all that it could have been. Wednesday is supposed to be one of my weekdays that I devote to lab work this semester; however, the fates seem to have conspired against me. First, when Heather and I come in, we find a team of electricians that are re-wiring the lab. That means no power for the computer or the Diastron (characterization thingy). That lasted about 20 minutes. After loading a tray, the Diastron developed a bad attitude and slowed me down; it was well past 12:30 before I could sneak away to lunch. Also, the lab computer and Heather's computer both have the same computer virus, so the tech guys are playing with those.

I wound up calling it quits a little after lunch, came home, ran to the store, and did some reading for my classes tomorrow. I fiddled with the database for a little bit, and watched the Mythbusters Pirate Special. Pretty neat stuff. Tacos for dinner.

Regarding Jeff's rant from last night, I have a pontification of my own. It was stated last night on Boston Legal that the diagnosis of the Peanut Allergy of Sudden Death has doubled in the past few years. HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN? Has this allergy been around the whole time, and there were just a lot of DFO's (Done Fell Out) in public schools until someone recently made the connection? Are aliens from the planet Peanutron 6 softening us up for an invasion? Or is this George Washington Carver's sick pyschotic legacy? What's the deal?

Anyway, I'm off to bed.

Yarrrgh.

Back In The Saddle

Yup, I'm still alive. I'm sorry that it's been almost a month since my last update. I don't offer any excuses, but I do point out that for a good chunk of that time I was traveling or without a computer. Mostly, though, I was lazy.

Anyway, the spring semester has gotten underway, and things aren't too bad. I only have class on Monday & Thursday, and I'm planning to make Tuesday & Wednesdays primarly research days. Should be fun. Classes so far:

ME 552 - Mechanical Design: this looks and sounds like the course that Dr. Shiue always wanted to teach. It's going to be Machine Design, with a few more specifics. Dr. Dekken (read Deacon) seems pretty on the ball, but claims that he is notorious for forgetting to come to class. That's fine with me if I can make the same claim.

ME 599 - Tactial Missile Design: Paul Gloyer is the day-to-day instructor, and he seems pretty competent (he owns a missile design company). We'll be designing a few types of missiles, and the class is more discussion based rather than lecture based. The projects should be really neat, but I'm already beginning to suspect that he's just farming out work from his company. Time will tell.

AE 512 - Viscous Flow: Dr. Vakili's spring class. It shouldn't be too bad; it's a follow-up to Inviscid Flow. Aside from the similarity to the word "vicious," I'm not too worried. Except for the final. Ooof. We haven't actually had class yet, but, whatever.

I spent the long weekend in Memphis, as I am wont to do. Ate plenty of good local food, went to a River Kings game (free tickets; the Kings won). I also saw Pursuit of Happyness, which was very good and they did make a point to explain the spelling error. It was great spending time with Jennifer, and seeing my family.

I've finished reading all the books I got over Christmas. I'm impressed with myself. Didn't think I had it in me anymore. Anyway, it's late and I'm tired.