Ezekiel 25:17

Well, its been an eventful few days, I suppose.

On Wednesday night, we started getting a little snow. By Thursday morning, we had about two or three inches. I got up at 6:30 to check the news for closings, and Brent had apparently hidden the remote. After spending two minutes fumbling in the dark with the cable box, I found News Channel 5 just in time for the closings cycle to start over (that means colleges last). It turned out that UTSI was the only school on any level that was open within about a 100-mile radius. That's pretty bogus if you ask me.

So, after digging my car out of the snow, I made it to school early (there wasn't anything wrong with the road ice-wise, but that possum on Wattendorf Highway deserves an Oscar). Dr. Dekken assigned another slew of homework assignments, which doesn't make me happy at all.

Things are going pretty well in the Missiles class now that Dr. Flandro has started participating. He's very helpful, and his anecdotes are just awesome. I could listen to him talk about pretty much anything.

Dr. Vakili missed yet another class this week, sending his post-doc Abraham MEGAnathan. Honest Abe didn't do too bad, but it did take him a while to get going. He starting deriving the Navier-Stokes equations (evil fluids equations based on both the Conservation of Momentum and Voodoo) but he didn't finish. That's-a-no-good. Hopefully Dr. Vakili will be back on Monday to set things straight.

On Friday, we got a little bit more snow, but nothing to worry about. I spent my day in the Spin Lab characterizing the new fibers. So far the data looks promising (when we get good data). However, sometimes the people above me don't do a good job communicating what I should be watching for. Sometimes is the diameter, sometimes its the modulus of elasticity, and sometimes its the tensile strength. If I don't guess right when I'm asked about a given property, I seem a little dense. That's right annoying.

By the way, try the chili at the UTSI dining hall. It's excellent!

Jeff and I watched Hart's War and The Great Raid last night. For whatever reason, we've been on a World War II kick. Hart's War is good if you're in the mood for a though-provoking movie about racial tension, queer (and I don't mean odd) nazis, and very little stuff blowing up. The Great Raid is good if you're in the mood for a solid heroic story, plenty of explosions / bazookas / gunfire, and a forced love story that doesn't take up too much screen time.

Aside from watching my Saturday morning cartoons (Superman, Batman) I spent most of the day working on my ballistics program in Matlab. Fortunately, if you've done much programming in one language you can move to another one without too much trouble. The last one I used extensively was FORTRAN, which isn't too distantly removed from Matlab. So, right now, I can accurately predict where a projectile (bullet, artillery shell, cow from a French castle) will land. Once I figure out the subroutines for rocket-powered thrust, changing mass, and drag brakes, I'll be set to predict the path of my missile. How cool is that?

Tonight, Jeff and I watched Pulp Fiction. Its one of those cult classics that movie fans just have to see at sometime in their life. It was pretty good, but I don't recommend it for everyone. Quentin Tarantino movies aren't for the weak at heart, or the stomach. Kinda like spicy Mexican food. If you can handle it, it's great. If not, get the chicken finger basket.

Looking back, things weren't really all that eventful. Oh well.