Calc test

Well, today was the big day.  Okay, one of four big days.  It was the third calculus exam.  The last one will be given about three weeks after Thanks-Giving.  It will be the Final Exam.  (My, my, my, doesn’t that have a terminal ring to it?)  I honestly do not know how any one is expected to get though these classes.  It would be one thing if it were my only class.  They must expect us to have a lot of free time to study.  And they do!

 

They tell us to have between two and three hours of study time for every hour of class time.  I did the math, (I am in Calculus after all, you can trust my addition and multiplication skills,) if I did that...  I would be putting in a 60 hour work (study) week, every week!  You know that isn’t happen’ in!

 

So they must be exaggerating... because if it held true, then there is no way anyone could get through a four year degree in just four years!  I’m taking this stand because my degree (engineering) is laid out as a four year degree if you can maintain a 17 credit per semester class load.  I have a 13 or 14 credit load and by their numbers it is equal to a 60 hour work week.  How could anyone do even more?

 

The truth is, that heavy classes do require that level of study.  Other classes are much less demanding and some require almost no outside study at all.  I think right now I run between 25 and 30 hours a week on my studies.  The rest of life is taking up the other hours. 

 

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>                     Dan                     <

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Our Fences are built!

Winter is setting in.  The mountains to the south already have white caps.  The time for back-yard projects is almost finished until spring.  But because on Saturday morning we happened to notice that there are some of those little wooden stakes with the orange plastic flagging tied to the top standing here and there in the otherwise empty field behind our house, and because this must mean that someone is ready to develop that ground into another sub-division, we decided it was a great weekend to finish putting up our back fence.

 

We built the side fence, the one that separates our back yard from the next-door neighbors’ back yard about two months ago.  Then I moved the gate that they put in the front, to the back.  I built a wider (double) gate in the front so I can park my little trailer behind the fence at the side of the house. All we needed to do finish enclosing the back yard was to build the back section.  I had already bought the posts and cement.  We only needed the lumber.

 

Saturday turned out to be a good time for this.  We even had an unexpected check in the mail that more than covered the expense!  Isn’t God awesome?  So we put up our posts after lunch, it was warm enough to work outside after lunch... and then we headed down to Lowe’s.  The price on the dog-eared cedar fencing had come down since the last time I’d bought some, about 40 cents a board.  Not bad when you need 110 of them.  That saved me $44.oo off what I’d have had to pay had we done this earlier on.

 

Saturday night fell with only about half of those being put up.  Sunday morning I went back out before church and was able to finish it, and just in time.  It rained pretty good after that and turned the ground to mud.  But at last we have a fully fenced back yard.  It looks bigger somehow.  Might have something to do with not being able to see the huge field beyond and feeling like we only have a tiny piece of ground in comparison.   

 

It also feels like a metaphor.  In the old house we never did have a fully fenced back yard.  I had given considerable thought to how and where to put fences and gates, but we never did get to build them.  In that house we were taken advantage of.  Several times I lost items of some value to alley trolls (thieves) who would steal things from us right out of our (exposed) back yard.  That at least is not going to happen here.  It also reminds me that in this house, our money is our own.  We have built a new boundary in our financial lives. It has been a hard lesson, but this person is no longer accepting gifts with strings attached.  If it is a ‘gift’ it is given freely.  No strings.  If it is not a gift, then it must be payment for some service or other good.  And the terms of that negotiation had better be clearly stated, clearly understood and perfectly acceptable to both parties.  To often you don’t get what you thought were agreeing to when the condition are vague.

 

The trouble some people have is that like the little children on the play-ground, when a game is not going their way, they want to continuously change the rules so that they can turn it around to their favor...  you know the kind.  Some of those kids never grew up and they are still playing that same game.  They don’t want clear contracts, because they can’t modify them when things turn out differently than what they thought it would.

New room mates

In my office, I now have two new ‘room mates.’  They are alike in some ways, and quite opposite in all others.  The contrast between them I find most amusing.  One is a futon, the other is an elliptical.  Both were bought brand new.  Both came in a box with lots of packaging.  Both came with “some-assembly-required.”  Both are made mostly of metal.  Both take-up some considerable real-estate in my office.

 

That is about where the comparison ends.  To use the futon, one must either sit and relax or lay down and sleep.  It is one big sitting place that can be made into an even larger sleeping place.  It has cushions and pillows and a warm wrap.  In contrast, to use the elliptical you must stand up on the “pedals” as there is no place to sit at all.  It has no cushions or pillows, nor will it allow you to relax, let alone sleep.  In order to use it, you have to keep it moving.  It has an electronic display to show you how much exercise you have done. 

 

So one makes you tiered, the other gives you a place to rest.  

 

There are a lot of things in this crazy world that are like that.  Like yen and yang, opposites that fit neatly together and create a sort of whole.  Like light and dark.  If we only had one or the other, could we still have a rainbow?  Technicalities aside, I think you see my meaning.

 

That elliptical is just what the doctor ordered.  I don’t get enough exercise on any given day and my middle has exceeded it’s boundaries as consequence.  But the futon is just as important.  While it would not do to let my physical vessel deteriorate while I am improving my mind, neither can one contemplate deep thoughts while your calves are screaming and your heart is pounding in your ears.  Meditation, I’ve found, is better done with a more relaxed posture.

 

 

The mousetrap car

Hello everyone.

 

It has been a while since I have had time to write, at least, here in the journal.  I thought I’d give a sort of progress report on one class I’m taking.  It is called ENGR 120, A.K.A. Intro to Engineering.

 

This should be a great class, a load of fun.  And it would be, I think, if the adjunct professor weren’t a bit of a flake.  So far we have designed a process for making peanut-butter-and-cracker-sandwiches.  Our process fail miserably.  Then we made a composite for construction.  My group has attempted to use bamboo and glue… we won’t know the results until they are tested for strength, which is scheduled just before the holidays this month.

 

Currently we are attempting to build a mouse-trap-car.  You take a mouse trap, and use only the energy of the spring when the trap is set, to propel a car.  This can be done for speed or distance.  Our test is for distance.

 

 

So I built a car frame, one of the team built this drum attachment for the mouse trap.  I robbed the axels and wheels off a 1 dollar toy car.  Dollar stores are good.  That is also where I found the huge package of tongue depressor sized popsicle sticks to make the frame out of.  So here is the final product.

 

Current status:  My best run went just over 12 ft.

 

If you get a chance to build one of these, weight

seems to be an issue.  Go for light!  A popular choice

is CD’s for wheels.  I’d have done the same but could

not find anything to make a hub out of.  The axle’s are only

0.1” diam, and the center hole in a CD is 0.6” diam.  That is

a big difference.