Now you know . . .

Up to date -

2008-09-28T13:45:00.009-05:00

Well, this week is the week that I turn in my Tenure and Promotion package. Plus, this is the week that we have our six-year accredidation visit from ABET. Oh, and I am supposed to write a few proposals this month, and I might as well throw in a few paper abstracts for the ASEE conference while I am at it. I feel like complaining, but at least I have a job that is fun most of the time, and I think I secretly like all of the writing.

I did get to go to the Tech/USL game last weekend, and that was pretty fun! This week the game in on Wednesday in Boise, which is pretty odd. Obviously I can't go to Boise in the middle of the week, but the game is on ESPN so I will get to see it. I just have to figure out how to get out of Wednesday night practice. I know that I can set the DVR to record the game, there is just always that lingering thought that for some unknown reason the DVR won't work. Or worse, I will see the score before I get to start watching the game! :(

Speaking of Tech sports, it is time to buy season tickets for Basketball, I will try to go over this week and get mine. I would just buy them online, but I don't see where to get the faculty price, so I will have to go in person. I am thinking that this year should be pretty exciting for Tech Basketball. I think we will win 20 games or more, which is a drastic improvement from last year. I am not too much into the Women's Basketball, but I will get tickets to them also, just to support the team.

Oh, I almost forgot - I was nominated to be a deacon at church! I won't be actually ordained until November sometime, but I was still pretty excited. Daddy was a deacon back at my home church. I wish you guys had gotten to meet him. Anyway, I don't know all of the terminonlogy right now, but basically, I will be "active" for the next three years and then I am not sure what happens, but I think I rotate off for a while (or maybe not). I am looking forward to it all.

I have made some progress on my car. I posted some "before" pictures a while back, and now I have some "sort of after" pictures. It isn't ready yet, but at least it looks better in spots. Here is one of the engine. I took a little bit of creative liberty this time around. When I first restored the car, I did everything just like it rolled of the showroom floor. This time, I went with what looked good to me, I am not as concerened with factory original anymore. Next on the list is to install a new gas tank and fuel line, do some brake work, and get an inspection sticker. I have some nice shiny new parts for the interior too which will help out in there. The biggest thing on the interior was new carpet though.

Lastly, it looks like the Saints may be on to something. They are handling the 'niners pretty easliy this week. I think Deuce has a lot to do with it, they were really missing someone to just run the ball up the middle - which Deuce can do quite well. I know it is just San Fransico, but at least we are playing well in all phases of the game.

Well, that is all for now!

Dawgs win, Gustav, my car, and Wii Fit

2008-09-03T14:14:00.002-05:00

So I have a lot of catching up to do, as evidenced by the number of topics in the heading up there. So here goes. First of all, I have to comment on the football team's win last Saturday. Yes, I was there, and yes, I recorded the game on my DVR, and yes, I watched the recording as soon as I got home from the game. It was that good! There were a few times when things weren't going so well, but the score never got to the point of no hope. I would liked to have seen a few more point from the good Dawgs. We had plenty of opportunity to score, we just made some mistakes that cost points. But overall it was a great effort and the defense held and we won. This week (Kansas) is going to have to be a perfect effort.

Gustav came blowing through Monday and it seems that we all escaped any major damage. I did have a tree down in the font yard that had me blocked in Monday night and Tuesday morning. My power was off until sometime Tuesday morning as well. But overall, no real damage to anything valuable. Now we will have to wait and see what Hanna is going to do.

I am making an assumption that my car is no longer on the City's list of annoyances. I haven't heard from them in several weeks so I think I am in the clear. I still have a good bit of work to do though and more parts to order. I got the engine running, but only by pouring gasoline directly into the carburetor. The fuel tank and lines are corroded and just not delivering fuel. So I ordered a new fuel tank and fuel lines that should be here this week. I also have gotten the interior back in good shape, I replaced the carpet and cleaned the rest of the interior. It is looking pretty good on the inside, although I do need a few trim pieces. I am going to have to replace the tires and do the brakes before I can actually drive anywhere though.

Lastly, I got a Nintendo Wii Fit the other day, just because it looked pretty cool and I like technology, especially when it is fun. Basically, the Fit is a balance board that has force sensors at each corner and it measures the position of your center of gravity as you move around on the board. It started out by asking my height and birthday and such and then had me stand on the board. It said that I had a BMI of 24.5 or something like that. It cheered me bacuase that was in the normal range, but it did say that 22 was the best and that I needed to loose a little weight to get to that perfect BMI. So then it proceeds to give me all sorts of exercises and yoga positions and such that I can do to help reach this "ideal" BMI. I did a few of them and they were pretty fun, some of them were pretty hard to do too. Apparently I have ok balance, but not great. But, at the time, I didn't think it was doing all that much, but this morning I really felt the workout. I wonder if I lost any weight? It keeps track of all that sort of stuff so when I get back on it again it will tell me if I managed to loose anything and begin to approach my ideal BMI. Overall, it was a pretty fun way to work out and I think it will be pretty easy to keep doing it. We shall see.

Oh, I will have some more information about my house decision soon. I have come up with about four different options that I will have to describe and then evaluate. So stayed tuned.

In the home stretch now.

2008-08-04T11:01:00.005-05:00

So I only have a few days left to get the car to a marked state of improvement. I believe that things should be ok. The only problem is that I will be gone on a cruise when the deadline runs out. So I really need to get some work done these next few days to show that I have made progress. I should have a (temporary) license plate this week which should go a long way toward showing progress. I am going to get one of the Tech license plates - hopefully number 1965. I have a shiny new engine ready to go in, but I want to get the engine compartment cleaned up so that everything looks brand new. There is still quite a bit to do though. Some of the major things left are:

clean and paint the engine compartment
repair the power steering (I am waiting on parts for this)
run new wiring for the engine
plumb new gas lines for the new carburetor
get the alternator working
drop the new engine in place
redo the brakes
install new carpet
fix some rust and dents
new paint

Some of these things can wait, but others have to be done in order to get an inspection sticker. I hope to be driving this car to school this Fall. Once I get this one running, I can start working on my convertible Mustang - it has some problems that have had to be put on the back burner while I am focusing on the old one.

The next big thing is to decide if I want to build a garage at the house I am at now, or look for some land and build an entirely new house complete with garage. That is going to take some serious thinking to figure out. So if you are interested in how an engineer makes a decision of that magnitude stay tuned for what I am sure will be an enthralling dissertation on the decision making process - there will be charts and graphs!

edit - not a fan of the little flowers on the bulleted list, but I don't have time right now to figure out how to change that.

T minus 15 days and counting.

2008-07-22T18:51:00.007-05:00

So I have now appealed for the last time in my battle with the City over my car. This last appeal bought me 15 more days. I think it is doable. It seems like all I need to do is show that progress is being made in the restoration of the Mustang. I have a lot of parts now, and most everything that is necessary to get the car back in running shape. There are definitely more parts that I want, but I think I have all the essentials. Now I just have to find the time to get out there and do the work. This picture shows the current state of the engine. It is just about ready to be pulled out - again it is just so HOT outside that I am not very anxious to get out there and do the work. Once the engine is replaced, I should be in good shape as far as the City is concerned. To top things off though, my AC in the house is going to have to be completely replaced. I patched it together to get it to "work", but there will need to be some major changes made in order to actually have cool air inside the house. Let me check real quick, umm . . . yeah it is currently 88 degrees Fahrenheit inside at 7 PM - not too pleasant to say the least. Fortunately, if you recall, I do have a small window unit in my bedroom so that one room is an ok temperature. So, now I not only have to spend money to get the car running, I also have to spend some major bucks to get my AC fixed. But, God does provide - I just got word today that Tech is going to pay me some more money for a summer camp that I did back in June. So it will all work out in the end.

You know, as a teacher I often get emails of students inquiring about their grades. I am not really sure why they bother to ask, but often they do. So if you were a student and I told you that it was mathematically impossible for you to pass my class no matter what you scored on the final, what would you do? Well, it turns out that if you were one of the students in an engineering class that one of my co-workers teaches, you would stick it out and see how things turned out. Really? My favorite though is when I get an email saying:

Dr. C, I was wandering bout my grade . . .

I really wanted to ask him if it was a long trip.

It is HOT!

2008-07-13T19:21:00.005-05:00

So I fixed my air conditioner blower motor, but now my AC is low (or out) of freon - ergo it is HOT. I do have a small window unit in my bedroom so at least I have one nice and cool room in the house. It started me thinking though. We haven't always had AC, some people didn't even have ice back in the day! What would I do if I didn't have ice water? I mean, is it just one of those things that if you don't know any better then you are fine, but once you know that there is more out there you won't be satisfied with less? I guess there are a lot of things like that. I would hate to have to live without internet now. And a DVR, what about a car? It all makes me start thinking . . .

Anyway, now that I am on a technology train of thought, let me tell you about some of our newest additions in Bogard. From the very beginning of working at Tech, I have wanted to be involved in teaching (and doing) design work. Not your typical number crunching design work, but more of the "why don't we do something completely new" type of design work. So I have worked my way into a position where I get to teach an open ended, multidisciplinary design class and it is great (IMO). I am going to have to spend some more time this year working on the actual design (pun intended) of the course, but at least the framework is in place. So as part of this position, I get to seek funding for a prototyping lab, and we have been really successful lately and have added a rapid prototyping machine that I blogged about a long time ago, but since then we have gotten a water jet cutter, we have some CNC lathes and mills, a laser scanner, a powder coating machine, a vinyl sticker printer (you know, for making it look good), and a bunch of tools. We are getting to the point that we can make just about anything - which will come in handy this next year as we begin work on our new eco cars.

Last year (I tend to speak in school years, so bear with me) we built the "Blue Diamond" and carried it out to California to compete in the Shell EcoMarathon. We did ok, and got a lot of good publicity. This year, we are going to make some modifications on this car and re-enter it. But we are also going to build a completely new car to enter in the "Urban Concept" category. This new car will have to be much more car like - headlights, four wheels, room for two . . . I think it will be a lot of fun, err I mean a good teaching tool.

I like what I do! I just wish I fixed AC's, hmm maybe I can . . .

I thought summertime meant vaction time!

2008-07-07T18:48:00.005-05:00

So our FrEP (Freshman Enrichment Program) started yesterday. Yes that is right, on Sunday. I thought that I was supposed to have all this free time during the summer, but I think I actually work more during the summer than during the regular school year. I was not originally scheduled to teach this FrEP class, but it turns out that I am teaching it now. It is pretty fun, but it is at 8:00 in the morning and I am just not much of a morning person. I guess it will be alright, the only problem I see right now is that I am not getting much done on my car. That could turn out to be a very bad thing, I have got to get it running very soon in order to beat the appeal. I just don't feel like doing very much once I finally get home - especially knowing that I am going to have to get up early (for me) each morning. Blah!

I did make a new guitar related purchase recently. I got a Line 6 Pod XT Live. It is a really nice effects board. I normally like to stick with all analog stuff, but decided that the XT was a much better solution even though it is a digital board. I went in the Ruston music store (Piney Hills Music), and talked with the guy about possible options and it ended up that I bought his XT board. I got a great deal and he seemed ok with it too. So if you have no idea what I am talking about, the effects that you run determine if you sound like U2, or Van Halen, or Elvis. Of course all the effects in the world don't matter if you suck. Anyway, I did add a picture of the board so you can get an idea. This is a stock picture, not a picture that I took, but you get the idea.Well, I need to go try to get motivated to work on my car - I really just want to do nothing for a while though.

4th of July!

2008-07-02T20:41:00.004-05:00

Well, it is almost time for the 4th of July annual barbecue. I am looking forward to a lot of left overs to bring back to Ruston. I do have to find some time to get back to Ruston and get some more work done on the car. I am really running out of time to get the car running and back "up to code." I don't know when I am going to have time to do anything though. I have been roped in to teaching a second summer class at 8 in the morning Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday for the next five weeks. What was I thinking?!?

Oh, it is almost football season! I am really looking to this season. I hope that it turns out well. The first game is August 30 at home against Mississippi State. An SEC team in Ruston, that is a pretty big deal! If you plan on making it to the game, you had better get a ticket now, they are going fast. I have already ordered my season tickets and should get them in pretty soon. I think there will be a lot of people at this game, I am even thinking it could be the largest attendance in Tech history. I believe that I heard that MSU has already sold out there allotment of tickets and were wanting more. Go Dawgs!

Back in Ruston

2008-06-28T20:39:00.008-05:00

Well we all made it back to Ruston without too much trouble. Pittsburgh turned out to be a pretty cool place. We were staying downtown so we walked to the convention center and such. One minute you would be walking past a modern skyscraper and the next you would pass a 200 year old stone building. It was a pretty cool place. The conference was interesting, we made our presentations and generally impressed the crowd. We won a second place award for Best Paper in one of the divisions and I have a nice plaque to hang on the wall.

I also got to watch the Pirates play the Yankees - Pirates won easily. It was a sold out crowd which was really fun to experience. I hope I can say the same thing when MSU comes to Ruston to play the Dawgs in August. There are lots of cool bridges around Pittsburgh, as there are three rivers that converge right at the city. I didn't get pictures of all of them but they were interesting at least. I should have taken some pictures to use in class - I teach one class where the students analyze bridges (trusses actually) and see how strong they are. We also took a ride on one of the inclines they have there. It is sort of like a ski lift to get you up the mountain face (really a big hill I guess.) The only problem with the trip was that on the way back to Ruston we were stuck in Houston from rain delays. Other than that, it was a good trip. Next up is Saratoga in the Fall - never been there either.

News from the front . . .

2008-06-23T23:13:00.002-05:00

So the first day of the conference went well. I listened to a few presentations including on from Tech. The were ok, but in my opinion the Tech one was the best - and I am trying to be unbiased. Honestly though Tech can hang with any of these colleges. We have two presentations tomorrow so we will see if they are just as good as today.

The picture is one of the new truss demos from some company. It is sort of neat, but something we are already ahead of at Tech. I am telling you, we are on the front lines with a lot of the stuff we are doing. In one if the presentations earlier today, a school was describing their new program and it is pretty much University Seminar that we have had for a while now. Another was describing something we started doing 12 years ago.

Now it is time for my "woe is me story of the day." We went to eat at some famous sandwich shop where the sandwiches have french fries and cold slaw on the sandwich. I know that I tend to get stuff all over me when I eat messy food so I was being very careful not to drop food on me since I was going back to the conference. I actually made it through the whole meal without incident and felt quite proud of the accomplishment. Well a lady from across the room drops a bottle of tobasco and it splatters on me jsu as I am about to get up and leave. So I guess it really just doesn't matter what I do or how careful I am, I will leave any restaurant with food on me.

Made it to Pitt!

2008-06-22T18:23:00.002-05:00

Well I made it to Pittsburgh with no troubles. The plane from Monroe was a little late, but no big deal. This is my first time in Pennsylvania and it is a nice place so far. We are getting ready to go eat, but everything is closed on Sunday - at least all the good places. I got registered for the conference and will attend a few sessions tomorrow. I don't have to present my papers until Wednesday so I have some time to actually get the PowerPoints ready. It looks like it is about to rain so I am hoping that the group makes a choice on where to eat soon. Maybe tomorrow I will have some inside information on the latest in engineering education - if you are lucky. ;)

Is it a conspiracy?

2008-06-20T13:26:00.007-05:00

I am beginning to wonder if there is a conspiracy or something against me. I got a letter from the IRS yesterday stating that I owed them $1300 for some unreported income from back in 2006. Apparently, Louisiana Tech paid me some money, but not as a regular employee and the IRS thinks I should pay some (and by some I mean 50%) tax on this money. First of all, why would Tech pay me money as a non-employee? Second, the source of the money is not the same as my normal pay check, it is some type of foundation account. Finally, why did I receive this money in the first place? The only thing I can think of is that there was some sort of reimbursement (which would not be income by the way) that was paid to me through this foundation account. I looked into it briefly this morning, but so far no one knows anything about it. I will continue my investigation. Oh and even though this occurred way back in 2006, the IRS suddenly wants all "their" money in less than a month!

I also sent in my formal appeal to the City of Ruston today:

I, Kelly Crittenden,. . . am filing an appeal of the decision to deny my previous appeal for case #08-62. This case is concerning the City of Ruston Abandoned/Nuisance Vehicle ordinance. My 1965 Mustang . . . was determined by the City to be in violation of this ordinance. I am formally filing an appeal of this decision.

Basically, I am just buying time to get more work done so that I have the car up to code before the appeal date (July 21). It is a bit of a pain though because I am supposed to have to pay for "advertising" costs because apparently you have to advertise in the paper that you are making this appeal. The thing is that they don't even know how much these costs are. I have been good about biting my tongue with these people for quite some time now, but I am not sure how much longer I am going to be able to hold out. I think the City is trying to get rid of me . . .

Oh, I thought I would add a picture of my nuisance car just so everyone was on the same page with what we are talking about here.

To top it all off, this morning was trash pickup day and I had one cardboard box that was just a little too big to fit in the full-to-the-rim garbage can. So I set the box beside the garbage can thinking that the garbage men would just pick it up and put in on the truck. But what do I find this morning? I find that the garbage can was emptied and the cardboard box was neatly propped next to the can just the way I left it. Really?!? Whatever - I am seriously ready to move out to the country where I belong.

Denied!

2008-06-19T09:44:00.003-05:00

I had my appeal hearing for my Mustang this morning, and I was denied. Actually, I sort of expected that and it is an ok thing - not a good thing, but ok. In the end what will happen is that I will file another appeal and in the meantime I will get my car "legal." It just means that I have a lot of work to do and a lot of money to spend.

I am trying to do as much of the work as I can in order to keep expenses down, but I am going to have to farm out some of the work so that I can get it done in time. Mainly, I will get some of the engine work done at a local place. I don't have the necessary equipment for the machining work that the engine block will probably need so I am going to have to have that done for me. I really don't like that, I would much rather do it all myself, but drastic times call for drastic measures. Also, it is not going to be cheap, we are talking in the $1000 to $1500 range. Why would I spend that much on an old car you ask. Well, this isn't just any old car, it is the car that daddy and I built for me to drive and there is no way that I will let someone just haul it away because it doesn't suit their fancy.

More to come soon, at least I hope so.

At the ole ballpark . . .

2008-06-17T19:47:00.003-05:00

So we made it to the game and it isn't raining so all is well. So far there is no score, but it just started. I have to say it is pretty fun, not basketball or football mind you but fun none the less. The weather is great too, nice breeze.

Mobile blogging . . .

2008-06-17T15:22:00.002-05:00

so after much pressure to blog, i am experimenting with mobile blogging. if this works I can blog from anywhere at anytime.

Multimedia message

2008-06-17T15:11:00.001-05:00

Only Two More Days!

2007-08-30T21:48:00.000-05:00

There are only two more days until the first Tech football game of the season! I did notice that there were some games on tonight, but didn't pay them too much attention. I did tune into the end of the NLULM game just to make sure they were losing and they weren't letting me down. The tigers were winning big though, but I guess that is ok for now. The mayor has declared that Friday's are "Code Blue" days and that all businesses are encouraged to show their support by wearing blue. . . sounds good to me! Although, I think Code Blue may not have been the best name choices because Code Blue is the hospital code for a person not breathing I think, but that may be appropriate for some of the local Tech "fans." Nothing bugs me more than to see someone at Tech or in Ruston decked out in full LSU regalia but yet has no affiliation with LSU at all! That reminds me of one of my favorite pictures, I don't have it on this computer so I can't post it, but I will try to post it later.

It is also getting very close to time for school to start back. I am teaching a couple of classes this Fall and I am looking forward to getting started. I am teaching one of the sections of our new Freshmen Engineering Curriculum and it is pretty cool. The students are going to be building some really sophisticated things - some robots, sensors, some micor/nano fabricated stuff, control systems and all as Freshmen! I am also teaching the seminar class that goes along with that. Possibly the most fun class is going to be my IMPaCT class. This is a class that I (with the help of plenty of people) started a two years ago. The class is a multidisciplinary design and product development class. We are looking at some pretty interesting projects for this year. One of the possible projects involves a lunar orbiter for NASA. Last year one of the projects from this class was licensed to a regional company for a significant chunk of change (something like 1.2 million shares of the company stock). Anyway, more on school on a later date.

Oh wait, I do have one cool thing to tell you about. Tech is starting a new tradition this year (oh and I have a really cool tradition to tell you about for next year). The Freshmen are going to assemble in Howard September 5th (the day before classes) and listen to some speakers (Derek Dooley for one) and be given a commemorative coin. Then they will take this coin and throw it into the Lady of the Mist. Then when they graduate they will get the coin back with their graduation date engraved on it. It seems like a pretty cool thing, we will see how it goes. Click HERE to read more about the tradition. The tradition that we will start next year is even cooler in my book, but I probably can't tell you about it yet.

For my last bit tonight I am just going to say that I hate to admit it, but I have been bitten by the reality TV show bug. I have been totally watching Big Brother 8, and I like it. I still don't watch any of the other reality shows, unless you count the American Hot Rod / Chopper type shows, but I am liking this one for sure. I am not sure who I want to win, but at least they got rid of Amber tonight, I was pretty sure I didn't want her to win. Well, that is all for tonight, stayed tuned for more . . .

Summer is Almost Over. . .

2007-08-26T22:42:00.000-05:00

So, another summer is just about over and it is only a few days until school starts back. I am actually looking forward to school starting. This has been a busy summer and I need a break. I made trips to Florida, California, Colorado, and Hawaii and did nine summer camps, plus taught one class and helped out with one of our new freshmen programs. So I am ready to get back to regular stuff. Oh, and I made one trip out to Dallas recently to check out the Lovejoy Independent School district. Speaking of Lovejoy, if any of you live out near the Richardson, Plano, Allen area you definitely need to check out that school, they are doing some pretty amazing things!

I am also ready for football season to start! Tech plays their first game this coming Saturday and I am pretty excited. We should win this game, but after last season's pitiful performance who knows? I will be there though - Lord willing and the creek don't rise. That phrase reminds me of something else, did you realize that you can say just about anything about anyone if you just follow it with "Bless his/her heart"? For instance, I could say, "Look at poor Bart over there, he is about as ugly a person as ever has lived, bless his heart." See how the magic phrase cancels out whatever bad you just said. It is amazing.

Oh, I also wanted to point you guys to some cool computer stuff that you may want to check out. One program is called Comic Life. No it isn't about comic books, well not exactly anyway. What it does is take a photograph (or any image) and filters it in such as way so that the resulting image looks like a hand drawn and colored picture. For instance, here is a before and after of one of my Colosseum pictures from last year. I think it is pretty cool, at least something different. And yes, it will let you add the comic style writing and such if you really want to. You can go to www.plasq.com to download the program, it is free! Anyway, something to check out in your spare time.Did I mention that Tech's first football game of the year is only six days away? I hope some of you come out to the game. Oh, and basketball season should be great this year! We have a new floor coming in, some really great players and new coach. We may not make the tournament this year (although I am secretly holding out hope that we do), but next year is going to be something special with the players we have already signed and and next year's recruits. But first, we have some football games to play!

Virginia Tech

2007-04-17T08:12:00.000-05:00

There were so many other things I wanted to write about today, but I can't ignore what happened at Virginia Tech Monday morning. I feel some sort of connection to them, partly on just a human level, but more so on a college campus level. It troubles me that things of this nature are happening in our world and not much is being done about it. But what are you supposed to do? How can you tell who is crazy enough to do something like this? I have had my share of students angry at me for sure, but am I supposed to report them to the police? That would be a little extreme.

I heard one criminal profiler say that she believed that we should arm the citizens. That doesn't sound like a solution to me, it sounds like the old West or the streets of Iraq. I don't want one of my decisions every morning to be, "Do I carry the nine today or do I go with the .22?" And of course, if I am carrying a gun I probably need a bullet proof vest too, and a vest is no good with out some sort of head gear, so here I am in full riot gear getting ready to go teach class. That is ridiculous!

This profiler mentioned other things that I am more inlcined to agree with. She mentioned how much garbage we are allowing into our minds through the internet, movies, television, video games and so forth that we are creating a society that essentially grows sociopaths. I am not convinced that this is entirely true, but I am convinced that it is not entirely false. Evil has been a part of this world for much of its existence and it lurks around finding anyway possible to devour our souls. I think too much emphasis is put on eliminating particular methods and not enough emphasis is put on fighting the source.

Well, there is a lot more to write about, but I am going to have to think about things some more first.

Hardwired Morality?

2007-04-16T10:22:00.000-05:00

So it has been mentioned that my blog is out of date. I have no idea why someone would think that! I just haven’t had much interesting to write about these days, well that is not the total truth. I really haven’t had much time to do any blogging of my own. I do try to make the rounds and read everyone else’s (well not literally everyone).

I end up reading a lot of magazines. I like pictures to go along with all the words so magazines are the way to go for me. I have magazines that cover all sorts of topics, plus every month you get a new one! Well, I ran across an interesting article the other day that made me think some so I will relay the information to you and see what you think.

The article was about having an innate moral code of right and wrong. Of course they were coming at the thing from a strictly evolutionary point of view so they started off base, but I still found their logic amusing. The following scenario was given:

A healthy man walks into a hospital where five people are awaiting organ transplants. The five will die unless they receive these transplants. The question is: Is it ok to kill the one healthy man to supply the five with the necessary organs to live?

Most would say that, “No, that is not an ok thing to do?” Then another scenario is given:

A runaway train is headed down the track and cannot be stopped. There are five people in the direct path of the train and will surely die if nothing is done. An operator can flip a switch that will divert the train to another track where only one person is in harm’s way. Is it ok to flip the switch?

In this case, many would say that, "Yes, it is better to flip the switch and sacrifice the one to save the five." So the question then becomes, what is the difference? Why is it ok to sacrifice one to save five in one case and not the other case? The author's point was that most people couldn’t say why so there must be some hardwired sense of morality in our thought process that has been adopted through evolution and natural selection. They even mentioned that religion had no effect on the answers to these questions.

However, I think there is a flaw in their logic. Actually, I think there is a flaw in the conclusions that are being drawn. I would argue that the results they are seeing are not a hardwired morality, but a reflection of how we visualize a problem. I bet if we asked the same questions with more detail the answers would not be so overwhelmingly lopsided. For instance, what if the one person on the train track was a child and the five were members of a notorious gang? Or what if the five in the hospital were five young adults with gunshot wounds and the one was the shooter? Or maybe the difference is in how the death occurs, one by a speeding train and the other by more direct human intent? Who knows? I think the more intersting thing would be to ask people what they envisioned when these two questions were asked. I at least found it interesting to think about. What do you think?

The Saints are Winners!

2006-12-12T16:12:00.000-06:00

Oh Happy Day! The Saints will now officially have a winning record this year. Not only that, but they should make the playoffs. Who knows, they may even have a first round bye. We will just have to wait and see. It is amazing what a difference a year makes (and a new set of players and coaches.) Speaking of coaches, you have surely heard the Tech no longer has a football head coach. I have heard several names mentioned to replace Jack, some of them are very exciting and others are pretty depressing. We will have to wait and see how that turns out too. The plan is to have a new coach by this Friday (Dec 15th), but I don't see that happening. My inside sources tell me, that . . . well . . . they don't really tell me anything useful.

Due to the overwhelming response (at least one response already!) to my technical post (see below) I have decided to post another technology based item here. (I hope the sarcasm came across well). So basically I get to play with . . . I mean research . . . cool technolgy every day and right now I am working with some fuel cells. This particular project is less research and more trying to put together some projects for a high school engineering exploration thing we are doing. Anyway, I am building a fuel cell powered car (a small one, only about 10 inches long). You can see a picture to the right. Oh and check out the cool Louisiana Tech University ruler (it has both metric and US customary units on it). So I am sure you are thinking that I am really cool right about now so let me take advantage of this moment to explain a little about the fuel cell. Basically, the fuel cell combines hydrogen atoms (which are a proton and an electron) with oxygen atoms to make water (H2O). The trick is that the hydrogen electrons are stripped off and have to travel around a circuit to get to the other side of the fuel cell in order to combine with the hydrogen proton and the oxygen. And, well, an electron traveling in a circuit is an electric current. I am using that electric current to run the motor of the car. Here is a closer view of the actual fuel cell and the tanks. The tanks hold the oxygen and the hydrogen (and water too). Pretty cool, huh? Hello? Anyone there?

Technology

2006-12-04T22:15:00.000-06:00

So I said I was going to post a little bit about my new office toy. I had almost let the day go by without posting it, but I remembered just in time. My new toy is a Dimension SST 1200. It is one of the coolest machines ever, it is a 3D printer. It can actually print three-dimensional objects. I can create a computer model of anything and send it to the printer and it will print out a plastic copy of whatever I created. Pretty cool, huh? Well, I think so anyway. We use it for creating prototypes and such. For instance, one of my co-workers was working on an directional drilling machine and we printed out the parts he designed and he can used them to show the clients what ideas he has come up with so far. I have a picture of it here, it is basically a big gray box with some cool technology inside. The other picture shows some of the parts I have printed out. I can't show the directional drill parts (they are secret for the time being) but they are pretty cool too.

Saints and Deacons.

2006-12-03T22:42:00.000-06:00

The Saints won again! They are now officially not going to have a losing season. After winning only 3 games last year, I am very happy for the team. They have really turned things around it appears. Tech on the other hand is dropping like a rock. The football team finished last in the WAC and last or nearly last in the nation in many catagories. Basketball isn't starting out very well either, I think the Techsters have already lost five games. That is more games than they would lose in two entire years back in the day.

Tonight was Deacon ordination night at church. I have always wanted to be a deacon, but so far it hasn't happened. I thought maybe it was because I wasn't married or something, but we ordained one guy tonight that was single so I guess that isn't it. Who knows? Anyway, I have always enjoyed the ordination services (except for the REALLY long ones.) I really like the part when the wife stands behind the soon-to-be deacon and the other ordained ministers come and pray with the ordainees. It means a lot to me to see a wife who supports her husband and is there to show it.

Oh, I think I will have a special suprise for any of you techies out there tomorrow. I have recently acquired a really cool machine a work and I will take some pictures and tell you guys about it tomorrow. I think even non-techie people will like it, so tune in tomorrow (or at least sometime soon.)

Almost forgot to add a title.

2006-11-28T22:45:00.000-06:00

So I bet you thought I wouldn't make it four days in a row. But I did, I admit I am cutting it close but I should be able to make it before midnight.

Well, I just got back from the Techsters-Tennessee game. I had prepared myself for losing, but we got beat pretty badly, I think we only scored 15 points in the first half and Tennessee had about 42. The second half was better, but still lost by more than 20. I am afraid that gone are the days when we could truly expect the Techsters to win any game they played. Granted Tennessee is one of the all-time powers in women's basketball, but the Techsters just aren't at the same level that they once were. I really want to go to a game of any sort where Tech wins, it has been a long time. I think the bowling team has been doing pretty good lately. . .

So the first day of the new quarter is tomorrow. I am looking forward to it. I really like teaching, I don't know why, but I just really like it. I am basically teaching the same classes that I taught last quarter, and that is good. I have several new things that I am working on and if I had to try and teach new classes it would just be too much. Oh and we have Christmas break in just three weeks!

That's all for tonight.

Merry Christmas from Champ!

2006-11-27T16:55:00.000-06:00

So you may know that my brother is an artist and all, well he sent me a Christmas card that he made. I thought I would share it with all of you Tech people out there. It is pretty cool, I had to reduce the size of it so that it would not take forever to download, but you should still get the idea. Speaking of Tech, the Techsters are playing Tennessee this Tuesday night, I plan on making it out to the game, maybe I will see some of you there. Oh, and yes this is the third post in a row. Just call me buttah, 'cause I am on a roll.

Oh Christmas Tree . . .

2006-11-26T22:01:00.000-06:00

It is a record! I have now posted two days in a row. I don't think I will write much, but I did want to post a picture or two of my Christmas tree. I bought this little artificial tree a few years ago during one of those after-Christmas sales for like $15 or so. It is a little short, but I set it up on a table so that is looks taller. Oh, and those are real presents under the tree. They are just empty bags from years past. I have bought a few presents already, but I haven't wrapped any of them yet. Anyway, just thought I would show it off a little bit.

So in other news, there was a missionary from Turkey at church tonight. Listening to him really brought back some memories from back in the day. I wish I had taken more pictures from those days. I don't even know if I owned a camera back then though. I always thought that I would remember everything, but it seems like I can't quite remember all of those days like I thought I would. Who knew? It seems my forgetter is getting better all the time.

P.S. Do you guys spend as much time as I do just trying to rearrange the pictures so that they show up where you want them?

Catch Up

2006-11-25T23:53:00.000-06:00

Well, my little experiment to have a post every week doesn't seem to have worked out to well. I actually started writing several posts from time to time, but after reading them I decided not to post any of them. So here we are over a month later and no new posts, the Mustang is still pretty much in the same shape, and it doesn't seem like I have gotten much done. That bothers me, I don't like feeling unaccomplished. I can't stand to waste time, although it does seem to be what I am best at. All of that aside, I will try again to keep up with my postings. I really do want to keep up with my blogging (you know, so the script writers and biographers will have some good material to work from in the future when they are writing my life story.)

So let's see what has been going on. Another quarter has come and gone, I think I have been teaching at Tech for over five years now. It seems like a long time, but just yesterday I was at home (in Many) for Thanksgiving and I found some of my old Tech stuff. I even ran across my packet from Orientation and that seemed like only a week or two ago. To steal from Dickens, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." College was great, but there was some hard stuff to deal with at the same time. Anyway, enough about that, let's see what else has been going on.

The Saints are trying to be a pretty good football team and that is exciting. Tech is trying to find every possible way to loose games and that is not so exciting. Oh, I got word that for the summer, I get to take at least two trips. I think I mentioned earlier that I was going to Hawaii for a conference, but now I am going to Boulder, Colorado too. The only bad part is that the trips are only a few days apart so it is going to be a little hectic. I got two papers accepted, so that is good news. (Technically, only the abstracts are accepted right now, but surely they will accept the papers too.) Don Piper (the 90 Minutes in Heaven guy) spoke at church a few Sunday's ago. That was pretty cool and there were a LOT of people there. Oh, speaking of church, I have moved instruments again, these days you can find me playing electric guitar (and for those of you who care: I am standing up . . . you know who you are.)

I don't have any cool pictures of anything to post so I am afraid that this will be a pictureless post, sorry. Maybe next time I will have a picture of something, who knows. Well, I can't think of anything else to write. I will have to call it a night. See you later.

She ain't Pretty, but she's mine!

2006-09-21T11:26:00.000-05:00

Ok, so hopefully you see the pictures and realize that I am not talking about some new girlfriend or such, but rather my 1965 Mustang. This is actually my first car and a few of you may even remember it, I drove it at Tech for a few years. I have actually had it for about 20 years. She has definatley seen better days though, in fact this very car won "Best Mustang" at a car show back in the day. But as you can see, time has not been kind to my first car.

My dad and I actually took two cars (a 1965 and a 1966) and built this one. It was a long process of cleaning, painting and all sorts of work. There was one point where every piece of the car that could be removed had been (except for the dimmer switch, and I am not really sure why I never did remove it). We did all of the work ourselves and it turned out really nice. We built a lot of cars over the years, but this one was by far my favorite.

Anyway, I have some big plans for her. I am not too worried about putting everything back to stock-showroom-floor condition so that should make things go much smoother. There is PLENTY of work to be done without being bothered if I have the correct hanger for the muffler. Although, when we built this car we did go back to showroom condition.

Hopefully, I will have some updates soon, but we all know how I am with updates.

Oh, I almost forgot: Tech won! Now bring on the Aggies.

I have Returned!

2006-09-04T12:43:00.000-05:00

So I got back from Europe last night and it was a great trip! I have LOTS of pictures, I think there are over 1,000 of them. I will put a few of them up here for you to see. There were so many things to do and see that I only got to do a very little bit. But overall it was a very good expereince. I hope to be able to go back and visit some of the better places more throughly. This trip included London, Paris, Lucerne, Venice, Lugano, Florence, and Rome and a spot or two in between.

I didn't have too many problems on the trip. About the only thing that went a little wrong was one bus ride in Rome. I got on the right bus, but going the wrong direction. I was trying to keep track on my map, but then the bus went off the map so I decided it was best to just ride it out and eventually it got me to the right spot. Pretty much everything else went according to plan.

The trip was a little fast paced though and I didn't care for the early morning bus rides. But I can't think of a better way to see so much of Eurpoe in just two weeks. I think of it as an overview, sort of like looking through the chapter summaries of a book to see what you really want to read. My favorite city was Paris, but none of the cities were bad. I wa very suprised by London, it was much more than I thought it would be. Rome was great, but very spread out. Paris just has so much there that I would want to go back and see. I only got to spend about one hour in the Louvre and I think I could have spent a week in there. I still want to visit Scotland and Ireland, but I do want to go back to Paris some time too. I also want to see Egypt some day too.

Oh, this was cool: the very first thing I saw on TV when getting back to the States was a replay of on Tech touchdown on ESPN so I was all excited, but then they showed the score and saw that we lost. But still it was cool to see the replay of the touchdown.

Well, if you want to see a few more of the pictures you can click here. I made them smaller than original so they shouldn't take too long to download. I suppose I should see if there is any work I need to do. School starts this week and our faculty meetings are tomorrow so I am sure there is some work that needs to be done. I will try to post some more stories from each place soon.

some people make you crazy

2006-08-11T12:02:00.000-05:00

You know, some people just make you crazy. Here it is the last day of class, three hours before the final exam and there is a student in my office trying to learn “everything for the final.” And yes, I am writing this while he sits here. Is that wrong? Some people just make you crazy. Oh well, we will see how it turns out for him.

On a brighter (and scarier at the same time) thought, it is quickly approaching time for my European Vacation. Normally that would be pretty exciting, but with the recent terrorist plans I am not so sure. I was reading that I may not be able to bring any sort of liquids or electronics with me. It could be that they mean that I just can’t bring it as a carry-on, but it may mean none at all. Oh well, we will have to wait and see.

I am looking forward to some Tech football though. I will still be in Europe (or blown up) during the Nebraska game, so no one tell me how it turns out! I think we have a chance to do some good things this year, but I am an optimist. Maybe I will see some of you there.

Well, two and a half hours until the final and I think he may have a chance a getting some of the problems right, maybe.

So the Summer is almost over

2006-08-01T14:16:00.000-05:00

Well, things are starting to wrap up for the summer. Class is almost over and we are starting to get ready for the fall quarter. For the most part it has been a pretty good summer. I still have a trip to Dallas planned and then my big trip to Europe. I finally got a decent camera too! At least I think it is decent, it looks cool if nothing else. It is an Olympus Stylus 710. I have a few pictures of it that I took with my old camera. My old camera is pretty good, but you can only use it about once a day and then it won't come back on for a day or two. Anyway, this one is just in time for my trips.

I normally would have just kept on going with my old camera, but I reviewed a text book this summer and they paid me an honorarium so I figured I would use that money to get the new camera. So far I am pretty happy with it, but then again it has only been like 30 minutes.

Speaking of the text book reviewing, it was actually pretty fun. There was an option on the review form to remain anonymous to the author, I guess some people really go off on the books and are afraid to be known. I did have a few negative things to say about the book, but I didn't check the anonymous thing. That would have just seemed pretty weak to me. Overall, the book had some really great parts to it, I just think it was missing a few essential sections, but that is another story.

Well, I have been thinking about at least trying to keep up with my blog. But as you can tell, I haven't been doing a good job of that. They say that it takes doing something seven times to establish a habit. So that is my goal: to write on my blog at least once for seven weeks in a row and we will see how things go from there. It will sort of be my mid-year's resolution.

Well hello there.

2006-05-25T18:26:00.000-05:00

I FINALLY went and got the pictures from the cruise developed . . . about all I have to say about that is: disposable cameras suck. Can I say suck on the internet? I guess so. Anyway, I do have a few pictures that are somewhat decent. I at least have one of the ship that I will post for now. This is from Jamaica. I will have to sort few the other pictures and see if there is anyway I can salvage them. Most of them are too dark to see much, either that or they are too light and look faded out. In other news, I was supposed to head to Washington, DC this week, but that trip got canceled and was replaced with a trip to Baton Rouge. Not nearly the same. Plus I have to drive down there (while transporting two or three people from Tech). Oh well, at least they will pay me for the mileage (I hope).

School is about to start up for the summer. I will be teaching one of my favorite classes during the ten-week session. I am also going to help out with a summer camp: LA GearUP. I still think I have a trip to Eurpoe planned, but you never know. Some of the people who were planning on going dropped out so the whole thing may fall apart any minute, but then again it may go on as planned. I am definately getting a camera for that. I do have a decent digital camera, but it only works for a little while at a time and then it shuts down for an hour or so (not reliable enough for me). I am looking at getting a Kodak, one of the small black ones.

Well, I am about to start rambling, I better nip-it-in-the-bud now or this could go on for a while.

So it has been a really long time . . .

2006-05-07T22:11:00.000-05:00

I kept waiting to get pictures from my cruise before I posted, but there was always something going on. So I decided to write a short note to say that I was still alive. Pictures and stories will be forth coming (is "forth coming" one word or two?) Anyway, I have to plan for my next trip which is supposed to be to Washington DC. This one is a school trip so we will have to wait and see if they find enough money to send me there or not. But if it happens it will be very soon (the end of this month).

I may even throw in some information on my latest projects. I have been remodeling my office at home and it is turning out pretty good so I may share some of that. Oh I do have a picture of my new desk that I built. I will post that on here if I can find it. My office was a bedroom before so I took the closet and put a desk and a shelf in it, all made from scratch. It felt good to be able to build something. I used to fix old cars back in the day, but I haven't had a garage or anything to work on them since moving to Ruston so little projects like this sort of fill that void. Anyhow, at least now I have a picture in my post.

Cruisin'

2006-04-04T16:04:00.000-05:00

It has been a while hasn’t it? I warned you that I might have a tendency to forget to post something on a regular basis. I think it is ok since I only have an audience of somewhere between three and five. I have been quite the hard worker the last few weeks, except for the tax thing that is coming up. I have yet to finish my taxes and I am quickly running out of time. I leave this Saturday to go on my cruise and I won’t be back in time to get my taxes in. Normally, I get a tidy sum back, but this year I am going to have to look for all of the deductions that I can find in order to get back anything at all. But I will get it done and all will be well.

On to more exciting things. . . as I said I am going cruising next week. I will be on the Carnival Conquest. I think it is the biggest ship Carnival has, it is almost 1000 feet long! If you have never been on a cruise before I highly recommend it. All you have to do is get you and your luggage to a port (I am leaving from Galveston) and hop on the ship. You don’t have to worry about anything else. All your meals are on the ship, it does all of the traveling around and everything you need is right there. Now, the rooms are a bit small compared to hotel rooms, but who wants to stay in the room when you are on a huge boat?

This will be a seven day cruise starting in Galveston then on to Montego Bay, Jamaica, the Caymans, Cozumel and finally back to Galveston. I have been on one other cruise that went to Cozumel, Playa Del Carmen and Costa Maya, but I have never been to most of the places on this cruise. I will have to look into getting some sort of camera for documenting my cruise. I wonder if I can count that as a tax write off somehow?

Go Dawgs!

2006-03-10T13:48:00.000-06:00

So here we are starting the Spring Quarter at Tech. I tell you, things just fly by. I am already growing restless for Summer though. I haven’t had a lot going on lately, as you may have noticed from the lack of posts on the ol’ Blog. It looks like I may get to do some traveling here soon. I have a cruise coming up in a few weeks and a trip to Rome and all those places in the Summer and I may get to go to Colorado too. I kind of like to travel around, just don’t care for the actual travel part that much (I really need to get to work on that teleporter soon . . . Beam me up Scotty!) Ok so I will try to stay away from the Sci-Fi humor for a while.

I will have to tell y’all more about the trips as the time gets closer to leave. They are going to be pretty fun I think. But I will save them for later, right now I will tell you about my recent time wast . . . err I mean brain stimulator. I was recently introduced to Sudoku. It is a mix of a crossword puzzle, logic and a little math. I get hooked on those types of little games pretty easily. I am especially fond of the one at www.websudoku.com it keeps track of how long it takes you to finish your puzzle and then it shows you how you rank compared to the rest of the world. The first one I did had me ranked in like the bottom 10% so naturally I thought it was broken, either that or everyone else was cheating. But eventually I got to where I could finish them in a reasonable amount of time. Anyway, go check it out my Mama is even hooked on the things so they can’t be all that boring.

Oh and don’t forget Tech is playing in the conference basketball tournament now. Both the guys and girls have won their first round games and will be playing the second round today. We have some really great athletes this year. Paul Millsap (on the guys team obviously) is set up to win the national rebounding title for the third time. That is pretty big, no one ever has done that! Anyway . . . Go Dawgs and Techsters!

Last Week of the Quarter

2006-02-22T11:09:00.000-06:00

It is the last week of the Winter Quarter! I am grading the last of my finals and getting ready to listen to freshman project presentations tomorrow. This quarter has gone by pretty quickly. When you are younger they always tell you that the years start flying by, but you never believe it. I do now though. We are already nearly to Spring of 2006! It was just a few days ago that I was getting ready to go play some foosball at the BSU and see who all was hanging around, wasn’t it? Now here I am grading final exams and thinking about the best pedagogical strategy for next quarter’s senior design class, what the heck happened?

Anyway, it is still a lot of fun. I really don’t think I could go out into industry and work eight to five, five days a week with two weeks vacation a year. I have heard the old saying, “Those who can’t, teach” but I just am not made up for an industry type job (so maybe the old saying I right.) Besides, everyone is outsourcing to India and China anyway. Well, I just wanted to post a shortie so that my massive audience wouldn’t get discouraged and stop visiting my blog.

Oh I do have one item of interest stemming from the Pizza delivery incident. I sent in one of those customer response emails to PizzaHut.com and well what do you know, they actually read them. The manager of several of the Louisiana Pizza Huts called me. I explained to him my beef with the call center and the whole situation. He said he was going to send me some coupons for a couple of free pizzas and other loot. So for now, Pizza Hut is back in my good graces. So stayed tuned for the next episode when we, “Try to take over the world!” [I used to love that show. Actually, I probably still do.]

The World is Flat

2006-02-17T16:43:00.000-06:00

Well, the math talk went ok. I am glad to have it done though. It pretty much went off without a hitch so I don't have any funny math conference stories to tell. So who knows where this post will end up. I will start by mentioning one of the books I am reading, "The World is Flat" by Thomas Friedman. You may have heard of it, it has been on the best seller list for like 50 weeks or so. Anyway, this book is actually pretty interesting it talks about how the world-wide playing field is being leveled through technology like the internet and how many Western companies are downsizing and outsourcing to Eastern lands, particularly India.

"The World is Flat" is a pretty long book, but it is an easy read. I would recommend reading it if you are interested in taking a look at how the world works these days. There are some pretty astonishing things in the book. I will give you a for instance. You have probably noticed that if you call technical support for your cell phone you more than likely end up talking to someone with an Indian accent. Well, many of the big tech companies have moved their technical support centers over to India. That may not surprise you, but what surprised me is that they are actually teaching the Indians how to speak with a certain accent. So if you or I down here in Louisiana call them up we will get an Indian trained to speak with a Southern drawl. Anyway, lots of interesting info like that in the book.

On a side note (but still related to some of the topics in the book), have any of you ever been involved in your own home based business? I actually have been for a little while now. My family has always been into some sort of business: cars and art to name a few (I will have to tell you about my car and art background sometime.) Well, I have been involved in the wellness industry for about a year now. I have my own webpage and everything. It is actually pretty fun and I manage to make a few extra dollars. I am going to put a link to my webpage over on the side bar of this page so you can check it out if any of you are interested. I will have to devote an entire post or two just to my business in the future. Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone else has any home based businesses. So feel free to tell me about your ventures into the home based business world.

Well, I have noticed that my posts tend to ramble on, so I am shut this one down for now. Check out "The World is Flat" by Thomas Friedman and check out my business webpage. Tell me what you think.

Eye-Glazing 101

2006-02-16T09:54:00.000-06:00

Well, I haven’t had any run-ins with the FBI or conflicts with my pizza delivery lately so I haven’t had much to write about. But something new must be posted, so I will have to astound you with my piercing insight, motivate you with my amazing discernment or of course just bore you with my senseless drivel. I will choose the latter, as it will most surely be the easiest and most natural for me. I do have plenty of real world practice in the art of inducing involuntary eye glazing. Speaking of such, I am due to give a fifteen minute presentation tomorrow at a math conference. Now, don’t get me wrong, I get along fine with mathematicians, but I am an engineer not a true, hardcore mathematics person. So I am a bit concerned about this speech.

Let me fill you in. Over here at Tech, all math, science and engineering are part of the same college so we are encouraged to work together on multidisciplinary projects. So I have been working with a math guy and some others on a project that encourages high school juniors and seniors to enroll in math, science or engineering in college. So this guy asks someone from out group to give a talk at an upcoming math conference. Of course, I am duly elected to give this talk (if by elected I mean told to be there at 3:30 with my presentation.) Why don’t I just list a few of the other topics at this conference so that you can get an idea of the audience I am going to speak to. Here are two of the other presentations:

Solving for the zeros of the function F(q) = 1/1q + 1/ 2q +1/ 3q + …+1/(p-1)q in the finite field Zp = {0,1,2,…,p-1}

A Structured Erythropoiesis Model with Nonlinear Cell Maturation Velocity and Hormone Decay Rate

I have no interest at all in anything remotely similar to whatever either of those talks is going to be about. But these are the things that these mathematicians enjoy. So I am feeling a bit out of place with my talk about high school students. But none the less, the show must go on. So I am just not even going to bother with talking about any sort of math and I am just going to focus on the fact that the kids are having fun building bridges and that they are genuinely more interested in math, science and engineering than they were before. We really do need to start sparking interest earlier, but that is a story for another day.

I just hope I don’t get nervous and start using the old public speaking strategy of picturing your audience with no clothes on. That would definitely NOT be the best image to have. You try picturing a room full of Albert Einstein’s in their skivvies and see if you don’t bust out laughing.

Pizza Time!

2006-02-11T17:11:00.000-06:00

I really like Pizza Hut pizza, but after last night's dealings with them I am not sure how soon I will be partaking of said pizza. I was getting hungry and decided, you know I could go for some hamburger, pork sausage and extra cheese deep-dish Pizza Hut pizza. Plus they will bring it to me! So I call them up and order my pizza. Of course you don't actually talk to some one at Pizza Hut in Ruston anymore, you are talking to some central call station somewhere (I think it is in Shreveport.) But I have gotten used to that by now. I get my pizza ordered, with extra marina sauce (for which they have the audacity to charge fifty cents.) Now it is just a matter of time right? Wrong, it is a matter of a lot of time.

Skip ahead one hour. By now I am getting really hungry and there is no pizza in sight. So I decide to call them up and see what is going on. I get to talk to Call Center Guy and he tells me that the driver has left the store and that I should be getting my pizza any minute. Well the guy was nice about it so I decide to cut them some slack and wait it out.

Skip ahead another half-hour. No Pizza. By now, hunger has gotten the better of my senses and I decide to call them back and see what is going on. I live about five minutes from Pizza Hut and it should not take the guy THAT long to get here. Hush, of course I know I could have gone and gotten four pizzas myself if I would have just gotten up and done it, that is not the point. So for the second call I get to talk to Call Center Girl. Well, by know I my not be lucid due to my hunger-weakened state and this girl decided that it would be nice to provoke me. So I inform her of my plight and that is has been an hour and a half since I ordered my pizza . . . silence . . .silence . . . silence. Finally, I get tired of the silence and just ask her if my pizza is still on the way. She tells me (in a really rude voice) that the delivery guy just left and that it should be there any minute (ok, apparently she doesn't know who she is dealing with, I have heard that story before.) So I tell her that I was told he left half an hour ago. So she informs me that I should just be patient (again with the rude voice) and it will be there soon. So I tell her that I have been patient, but it has been an hour and a half. I didn't want to have to ask for the discount, but it seemed like I was going to have to do it myself. What ever happened to being nice to the customers, I am not paying them to be mean to me.

Remember the good old days when the pizza was free if it was over thirty minutes late? Well, those days are long gone my friend. No longer are there delivery guys driving like mad men to get to your house on time. No more free pizzas either. The girl finally relented enough to tell me that when the delivery guy got to my house I should call them back and and they will give him some type of code or something. So I continue my pizza waiting vigil.

Skip ahead ten more minutes. Pizza time! The guy shows up and he is just a little college kid so I feel sorry for him. I know it isn't his fault that the pizza is late, it is Call Center Girl's fault! I don't know how, but somehow I am sure my late pizza is her doing. So I call them up to get the code (which is ridiculous by the way, why should I have to call them? they are the late ones? couldn't they have just told me the code?) Anyway, they give him the code and so I am thinking I have in my hands a free pizza, but nooooo. It is only half off. Plus they make me do the math to figure out how much half off equals. What do I look like some kind of math guy? Ok, so don't answer that, that is not the point either. Finally I just give the guy $10 and tell him to keep the rest of it, I think half off came to $6.50 or so.

I finally get to eat my pizza, and you know what? It was still pretty darn good. But that is soooo not the point.

The plot thickens.

2006-02-08T09:55:00.000-06:00

Well, still no internet. I spent all evening yesterday on the phone with various Cox representatives. They were pretty nice, but just couldn’t seem to get things fixed. I did find out that they didn’t suspend my account just for downloading some movie. Here is what apparently happened. I have a wireless internet router, because I don’t like being tethered by wires. So I guess I have to revise my statement from yesterday; I like to be wired, just with no wires. Anyway, it appears that someone was using my unsecured wireless connection to download all sorts of software and movies and they must have picked one that caught the attention of “The Powers That Be.” The tech support girl on the phone actually told me that she was surprised that someone hadn’t come knocking on my door (meaning the FBI or some government authority or something.) That would have been headlines for sure, “Louisiana Tech Professor Arrested, Stolen Software!”

So you say, “Why did you have it unsecured in the first place, are you just stupid?” Well, yes and no. I didn’t want to have to remember some 10 digit passkey just to log onto my own connection. Plus I didn’t figure it was broadcasting far enough for someone else to use it. Oh well, hopefully all is well now and I can go on with life. So the moral of the story is: don’t leave your wireless internet unsecured.

Internet Nazi says, "No movie for joo!"

2006-02-07T11:19:00.000-06:00

So yeah, I like the internet, and I like it fast. I like being connected, plugged-in, wired, . . . [insert you own euphemism here.] But last night the unthinkable happened. My internet was not working! Now, I am an engineer so I should be able to fix such things so I calmly begin searching for the problem. Hmm, all the wires are connected, no obvious signs of damage. I take it to the next step, unplug the modem and reset all of the electronics . . . still nothing. Ok, don’t panic, this has happened before; you just have to call Cox Communications and have the modem reset from their end, no problem. After a few minutes of awful hold music and pointless button pushing to get to the right person I am getting the modem reset. But, what is this? Still no internet for me. So we (the tech girl and I) decide that the modem must have taken its final packet of data and headed to that great Radio Shack in the sky. They will send a technician out in the morning. I ask if they can do the evening seeing as how I am supposed to be at work in the morning, but that is a no go.

After an internetless evening I awaken to a new day filled with the hopes of my internet being restored and working better than ever. The cable guy finally gets to the house. They gave me a time frame between eight and ten. Guess when the guy shows up? I am sure I don’t have to tell you that he shows up about 9:50. So he tinkers with the modem for a while, doing all the things I did the night before. Finally, he measures the signal from the cable company and discovers it is too hot (they are sending me too much juice.) So we get that under control, but still no internet. So he connects a new modem and all looks well. But then, and this is where it starts getting interesting (and by interesting, I mean makes my blood start to boil.)
Cable Guy calls the company to tell them that he has switched out my modem and he is just reporting it in. Here is a transcript of what I hear from his end of the conversation:

“Yeah, this is . . . I am with Cox Communications in Ruston . . . blah blah blah . . . something about switching out modems . . . blah blah. . . IT’S BEEN WHAT? Are you sure? Well do you want to talk to him?”

So I nervously take the phone from Cable Guy and they proceed to tell me that my internet account has been suspended for inappropriate activity. I am like, can you be more specific? They tell me that apparently I have been downloading movies and that Cox Communications does not allow that. Now my first thought is that they think I have downloaded some sort of girly movie. So I dig deeper for more information. Apparently, Cox does not allow you to download ANY movie of any type. No funny short from IFilm, no XMen III trailer, no commercial for LOST, nothing, nada, zilch. So I ask them when they put this into place and they tell me that it has always been that way. So I ask them to point me to where I can find this in writing; they will have to get back to me on that. So I ask for more details of my suspension, but I get nothing.

So there you have it, I am a convicted movie downloader. I have been tried and proven guilty before I even knew it was so wrong. Now, I do think that there is a problem in our country with some of the content of the internet. But if I want to download a video of a guy cutting a tree down and watching it fall on his car, there shouldn’t be someone out there telling me that I can’t. So I am still trying to get to the bottom of this, surely there is some misunderstanding. Don’t worry, I will keep you informed. But if it is true that Cox will not let me download any sort of movie at all then I am going to have to find a new service. Oh, well, I always wanted Direct TV anyway. But I am NOT giving up my DVR!

Insanity I tell you, insanity.

2006-02-02T23:05:00.000-06:00

Well, I just got back from the Tech-Nevada basketball game and I am pretty disappointed. I was so hopeful that Tech was going to win this game, but needless to say they didn't pull it out. Watching your team loose makes you just want to go out there and play the game for them, it seems so obvious what they need to do in order to win, but they just don't do it. Anyway, they are still at the top of the WAC; I just never want to see my team loose. Don't get me wrong though, it was an exciting game and I will be there watching the next one just the same.

Earlier today, I had an idea of something that I wanted to post about and this basketball game reminded of it again. It is a quote from Albert Einstein, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." I am a fan of quotes, expecially from Al, he really has some good ones that are thought provoking and a little funny at the same time. Maybe I will post some of my other favorites from time to time; you can never have too many good quotes.

Anyway, back to why the game reminded me of this quote. Throughout the entire basketball game it seemed like Tech was doing the same thing over and over on defense and expecting that some how this next time it would turn out differently. It never did, Nevada just kept on scoring. It sounds so simple, but it is so true. People just get stuck in a rut and don't know what to do other than the same old thing and hope things come out differently. I don't want to ever get stuck in a rut like that and I don't want any of you to either, whoever (or is it whomever?) you may be.

Well, I have some more thoughts to post, but they are going to have to wait until the morning. I am afraid this was not a very funny blog post, but I never promised funny. So to make up for the absence of funny I will leave you with this: if you find yourself in a rut, don't do the same old thing; try something new and expect some new results! You might be surprised at what happens.

The Preface

2006-01-30T14:45:00.000-06:00

I have been reading various blogs and I just couldn’t resist imparting my thoughts on the rest of the world too. I have the hardest time thinking up names for stuff like this so that was the first major hurdle. After much deliberating and soul-searching, I came up with “Now you know . . .” If any of you ever watched the G.I. Joe cartoon that used to come on before school every day then you should remember the saying that ended every show, “Now you know, and knowing is half the battle.” For some reason that phrase has stuck with me ever since. I sort of sums up what I do everyday also, I love teaching and so I really like being able to say, “Now you know . . .“

So, now you know where that came from so we can get on to something slightly more interesting. First, some ground rules and qualifying statements. I in no way guarantee that anything written on this blog will be funny, useful or even smart sounding. Second, there will be no schedule for when I will actually post things on this blog, so cherish each post as if it is the last one ever. Third, you, the viewer, must swear to never take anything I write too seriously, I tend to be a bit on the sarcastic and dry side of the humor scale. Ok, so now I think we will all be able to get along.

What to write about first? Well, let me just tell you about what I am doing these days. I am teaching engineering at Tech. It is one of the most fun jobs I can think of. Basically, I teach three or four maybe five times a week and write proposals and develop new curricula the rest of the time. This time of the quarter I also advise a few guys, (they really are mostly guys over here in engineering.) I get to travel to various other schools and conferences around the nation. Next year, the main conference is held in Hawaii, so I am working on Tech to send me there, so I can bring back some good information of course. It is all fun, especially the quarter breaks, summer break, spring break and . . . well you get the idea.

Well, I need to get back to grading some tests. Grading has to be the worst part of teaching. I just don’t care for it at all. I have enjoyed my little blogging break. Maybe next post will contain something more interesting. Perhaps, an “Ode to the Engineer in all of Us” or a dissertation on the effective use of sarcasm in social conversation. The list is limitless. So, now you know . . .