This week is absolute madness. Tests and major projects in every class, both in some. I've been working to get a major project done for my Optimization class. It's kind of a pain becuase if I mess up the code I have to redo about 2 dozen inputs by hand involving looking up the values in tables in my massive steel manual.
Anyway, in all these things it seems like I just have to keep slugging it out, keep trudging through all of this stuff. At least it makes me happy!
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Head Throbbing
I'm exhausted. I might be able to go running or work out right now, but my brain is about to fall off. In the field of computational mechanics (my field) there's one process that's sort of the king of them all: finite element analysis. Don't worry if you don't know what it is or means. It's a field with a jargon all of its own. I'm currently in my introduction to finite element analysis. It's a tough but enlightening class. I just took a test for it. My brain is completely drained. It lasted 3 hours! That's after a normal hard working day. I was going to help Kamis with her research paper tonight, she's been struggling to get started, but I can't! I can barely think about anything beyond eating and sleep is calling my name. I'm surprised I can write this coherently. Fortunately Jorgen, my best friend is over and is helping her with the writing. It's good to have him over. We generally cook our meals together and then watch something or play something. It's become a nice habit that keeps us seeing each other.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Role-playing fun
I'm a gamer. Yes, the crowning jewel of my nerdliness is getting together with the guys for a little DnD (ie Dungeons and Dragons), or GURPS (Generic Universal Role-Playing System), or whatever the system is. Yesterday we had a great session. It was zounds of fun. For those of you who don't know why anyone would play such a game allow me to give some insight.
First of all, it's a chance for a bunch of friends to come over, hang out and have something fun to do. Most people would call that a party. It's a major social function for those who like playing.
Next, it's a chance to forget about anything in the real world that's worrying you and immerse yourself in another world. That makes it on par with reading a book or watching TV. For those that would contend that reading a book is way better than watching TV (I would agree), I would like to point out that due to the fact that roleplaying is creative and interactive, it beats the pants off of reading a book. Recreation and creative development. (yay!)
Of course for those interested in the fine details it's pretty fun to do a careful analysis of what the most advantageous way to build their character is. That involves some degree of problem solving, math, and all sorts of other things that are just plain old good for the mind.
Finally, for those ambitious enough it can be a major creative outlet. In my own case I use it to field ideas for characters and plots and worlds that might someday be the make up of an actual book that I might write. It gets me to think about what might be the motives behind the characters, what might be their flaws or foibles. All of that forces me to pay close attention to other people and in the end makes me more compassionate.
These are my reasons for role-playing: fun, creativity, recreation, mental exercise, and sociality.
First of all, it's a chance for a bunch of friends to come over, hang out and have something fun to do. Most people would call that a party. It's a major social function for those who like playing.
Next, it's a chance to forget about anything in the real world that's worrying you and immerse yourself in another world. That makes it on par with reading a book or watching TV. For those that would contend that reading a book is way better than watching TV (I would agree), I would like to point out that due to the fact that roleplaying is creative and interactive, it beats the pants off of reading a book. Recreation and creative development. (yay!)
Of course for those interested in the fine details it's pretty fun to do a careful analysis of what the most advantageous way to build their character is. That involves some degree of problem solving, math, and all sorts of other things that are just plain old good for the mind.
Finally, for those ambitious enough it can be a major creative outlet. In my own case I use it to field ideas for characters and plots and worlds that might someday be the make up of an actual book that I might write. It gets me to think about what might be the motives behind the characters, what might be their flaws or foibles. All of that forces me to pay close attention to other people and in the end makes me more compassionate.
These are my reasons for role-playing: fun, creativity, recreation, mental exercise, and sociality.
Friday, February 23, 2007
Report
I don't have a good story for today or yesterday. However, I can say that I've lived up to the resolution that I made a few days ago. It's been great to be back in the saddle. My programming research is going well, my TAing is still satisfying and I've made a lot of progress on the longer term projects for my various classes. It feels great to be on top of things. For a little while there I was siezed up with stress and self doubt. Now I'm free. I'm free to do the things that I want to do. In one perspective I have a life full of obligations. I don't view it so, I have chosen those obligations gladly for what they will bring me. Knowledge. Wisdom. Peace. Happiness.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Resolution
Today I found myself frustrated with being bogged down. I've been tired (slightly sick I think) and just had a hard time getting myself motivated to do everything I need to do. I went on a little walk around campus to talk to the Lord. It was a good chat. In the end I resolved to give myself a different schedule from what I've been trying to do. I think the schedule will be more amenable to actually getting all my work and studies done.
Sometimes it's important to just take stock of life and figure out a way to change.
Sometimes it's important to just take stock of life and figure out a way to change.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Masters Degree Program
I'm in school for my MS in Civil Engineering. It's a good, solid sort of field. Today I went in for a progress review with the department secretary. I haven't filled out the paper work to get a committee or a set of classes I plan on taking. We got that in motion. I had a chance to go through the classes I could take.
This has been a rather lame post, I admit. I've been suffering from extreme stuffiness all day and it's kind of drained my animation and work ethic.
On my way home from school I was under the impression that I would miss Kamis. I came down the hill to catch the bus and saw that it was just rounding the corner. I ran for the bus stop arriving in time and finding my sweet Kamis awaiting me. She was all smiles and told me I was really cute running to catch the bus. She's so nice! I feel great about our marriage. Everything just keeps getting sweeter.
This has been a rather lame post, I admit. I've been suffering from extreme stuffiness all day and it's kind of drained my animation and work ethic.
On my way home from school I was under the impression that I would miss Kamis. I came down the hill to catch the bus and saw that it was just rounding the corner. I ran for the bus stop arriving in time and finding my sweet Kamis awaiting me. She was all smiles and told me I was really cute running to catch the bus. She's so nice! I feel great about our marriage. Everything just keeps getting sweeter.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Delayed
So I guess I don't have this habit down pat yet.
My story today has to do with seeing the excitement in students. I've had a number of students lately. In my Materials class I get to do experiments with my students to show them the fascinating properties of stuff. A lot of the time it's quite exciting and interesting to watch what will happen. It's gratifying to see the students get excited about the material (no pun intended).
Even more gratifying is my Family History class. For church I have the calling of Family History Consultant. Part of my duties is to teach a class every Sunday. Kamis has the same calling. In this case it's beautiful to see people get excited about doing something good. Or at least learning how to do something good. It takes me back to my mission. Seeing the light of the gospel come into the lives of people I taught and grew to love is one of the most precious memories I have.
My story today has to do with seeing the excitement in students. I've had a number of students lately. In my Materials class I get to do experiments with my students to show them the fascinating properties of stuff. A lot of the time it's quite exciting and interesting to watch what will happen. It's gratifying to see the students get excited about the material (no pun intended).
Even more gratifying is my Family History class. For church I have the calling of Family History Consultant. Part of my duties is to teach a class every Sunday. Kamis has the same calling. In this case it's beautiful to see people get excited about doing something good. Or at least learning how to do something good. It takes me back to my mission. Seeing the light of the gospel come into the lives of people I taught and grew to love is one of the most precious memories I have.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
V-day
Last year I was miserable. Valentine's day, for better or worse, can be a miserable time for singles everywhere. It turns out that right at the bottom of my "I'm all alone" misery I asked Kamis on a date (the next day that is). She was surprised and had hoped that my friend would have been the one to ask, but she went out with me and now you know the rest of the story.
Today's story has more to do with another friend of mine. I help a girl in one of my classes with her homework all the time. She's from Japan and has a really hard time understanding graduate level engineering classes. The particular teacher we have doesn't make it much easier for her. I think he's a great teacher, but he moves a little too fast for her to follow. Anyway, she gave me a nice valentine's day gift to show me her appreciation. The chocolates were delectible. It felt really nice to get that kind of appreciation.
Today's story has more to do with another friend of mine. I help a girl in one of my classes with her homework all the time. She's from Japan and has a really hard time understanding graduate level engineering classes. The particular teacher we have doesn't make it much easier for her. I think he's a great teacher, but he moves a little too fast for her to follow. Anyway, she gave me a nice valentine's day gift to show me her appreciation. The chocolates were delectible. It felt really nice to get that kind of appreciation.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Warm Fuzzies
I went to an informational meeting today about a job I may be interested in. It's working for a company called Chief Architect. They make a software that helps design homes. They've got one for professionals who can use it to design and then make plans of the home (and get a 3D rendering of the picture while they're at it to sell their customers on) and they make another version for average person so they can design their dream home.
They're stationed in Coeur D' Laine (if that's how you spell it). Kamis came with me and we both agree, it would be a really cool job option. Sadly they're too far away for us to take any kind of job or internship. Kamis says she got warm fuzzies thinking about it. She got lost in a land of being a mom and hanging out with other moms at cool activities for their kids...
That got us to talking about what our kids might call our parents. Nana Teresa? Gramma Teresa? Gramma Kerri? Grampa Larry? Grampa Brad? The last one sounds too wierd. (plus Kami's parents are WAY too young to have grandchildern) We decided on Papa Brad and Papa Larry... I think.... Anyway, any kids we see in this marriage in the next few years will be a failure of the modern science of birth control, so I guess we can defer these questions for later.
They're stationed in Coeur D' Laine (if that's how you spell it). Kamis came with me and we both agree, it would be a really cool job option. Sadly they're too far away for us to take any kind of job or internship. Kamis says she got warm fuzzies thinking about it. She got lost in a land of being a mom and hanging out with other moms at cool activities for their kids...
That got us to talking about what our kids might call our parents. Nana Teresa? Gramma Teresa? Gramma Kerri? Grampa Larry? Grampa Brad? The last one sounds too wierd. (plus Kami's parents are WAY too young to have grandchildern) We decided on Papa Brad and Papa Larry... I think.... Anyway, any kids we see in this marriage in the next few years will be a failure of the modern science of birth control, so I guess we can defer these questions for later.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Story a day
I've decided to make the blogger my more official journal. As such I've resolved to make this a place for a story a day. If I have an exceptionally boring day I may go backward in time and spout off a story of my youth and childhood.
Today's story is of a TA, that's me. I was very pleased to note that the students in my class did much better on their lab assignments this time around. I TA for a Civil Engineering Strength of Materials class. It's a lab class so every Tuesday I TA two lab sessions where we do cool stuff like break things. And when I say break things I mean we take solid steel bars and stick them in machines that bend or pull or twist them until they break. I almost died that way once. Every week or so the students turn in a lab report. This lab report is graded on a pretty strict level of standards. For example, if all of your tables and graphs aren't centered with the right fonts of the exact right sizes you lose points from the lab report grade. Minutia counts big time. Last week I had the job of grading the said minutia and then handing back the report grades to my student. Gosh, right when I was starting to form a bond of trust with them I hand them back an assignment where the average grade was 65%. That's tough. But I'm happy to report that I just went through their second lab report and this time around they got an average of 90% or so. It's heartening and I'm sure it will be a big morale boost for them. Their next lab report won't be due for another week as it's a combined lab, the last lab and the one we're doing tomorrow, so they'll have a little break, a chance to figure out what they've done wrong up until now and hopefully they'll be happy campers come a couple weeks from now when I hand back those reports with the grades on them.
Since I mentioned a near death experience I may as well relate it, eh? (no I'm not from Canada, I just like the way Canadians use the word "eh?") When I was a student in this class I enjoyed the torsion lab immensely. In the torsion lab we take a foot long piece of steel and stick it in a machine with two drums. It's locked into place so it won't roll around relative to the drums, kind of like putting a pair of vice-grips on either end. Then one of the drums is rotated steadily and the force used to rotate it is measured. The steel twists about 9-10 time before breaking. The temperature sky-rockets from room temperature to about 120 or 150 degrees (F). Finally it makes a nice clean break. Then we do the same for cast iron. Cast iron is way, way wossier than steel. It's also brittle. When steel breaks in torsion it's a flat break just like the bar got a new ending. When cast iron breaks it's a spiral fracture. Well sometimes when this spiral fracture happens it snaps back, like a rubber band. This snapping can cause a shard of the cast iron to fly off the specimen out at a random direction. When I was a student I was watching it closely. SNAP! A chunk of cast iron flies straight at my eye, faster than I can react to. Thankfully we had a shield over the whole contraption, harmlessly knocking it down. I tell you what, I owe my life, or at least my eye, to that thing.
Today's story is of a TA, that's me. I was very pleased to note that the students in my class did much better on their lab assignments this time around. I TA for a Civil Engineering Strength of Materials class. It's a lab class so every Tuesday I TA two lab sessions where we do cool stuff like break things. And when I say break things I mean we take solid steel bars and stick them in machines that bend or pull or twist them until they break. I almost died that way once. Every week or so the students turn in a lab report. This lab report is graded on a pretty strict level of standards. For example, if all of your tables and graphs aren't centered with the right fonts of the exact right sizes you lose points from the lab report grade. Minutia counts big time. Last week I had the job of grading the said minutia and then handing back the report grades to my student. Gosh, right when I was starting to form a bond of trust with them I hand them back an assignment where the average grade was 65%. That's tough. But I'm happy to report that I just went through their second lab report and this time around they got an average of 90% or so. It's heartening and I'm sure it will be a big morale boost for them. Their next lab report won't be due for another week as it's a combined lab, the last lab and the one we're doing tomorrow, so they'll have a little break, a chance to figure out what they've done wrong up until now and hopefully they'll be happy campers come a couple weeks from now when I hand back those reports with the grades on them.
Since I mentioned a near death experience I may as well relate it, eh? (no I'm not from Canada, I just like the way Canadians use the word "eh?") When I was a student in this class I enjoyed the torsion lab immensely. In the torsion lab we take a foot long piece of steel and stick it in a machine with two drums. It's locked into place so it won't roll around relative to the drums, kind of like putting a pair of vice-grips on either end. Then one of the drums is rotated steadily and the force used to rotate it is measured. The steel twists about 9-10 time before breaking. The temperature sky-rockets from room temperature to about 120 or 150 degrees (F). Finally it makes a nice clean break. Then we do the same for cast iron. Cast iron is way, way wossier than steel. It's also brittle. When steel breaks in torsion it's a flat break just like the bar got a new ending. When cast iron breaks it's a spiral fracture. Well sometimes when this spiral fracture happens it snaps back, like a rubber band. This snapping can cause a shard of the cast iron to fly off the specimen out at a random direction. When I was a student I was watching it closely. SNAP! A chunk of cast iron flies straight at my eye, faster than I can react to. Thankfully we had a shield over the whole contraption, harmlessly knocking it down. I tell you what, I owe my life, or at least my eye, to that thing.
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