And the winner is...

So this past week I submitted a poster to the annual American Physical Society conference with the help of my advisor. And the winner is Tadd and Alex, which means that we will be able to publish our results in the Physics of Fluids Journal later in the summer and our poster will be on display at the March APS meeting. I am excited to be published for the first time, and proud of the pictures and poster we created. Here is the poster in its smaller format. I wanted to win very badly, but was honestly surprised to hear that we had won. I had thought the conference ended Monday morning, but it actually went until midday on Tuesday. So when Tuesday came and I hadn't heard anything I thought I hadn't won anything. Feeling a little disappointed I said to myself "wouldn't it be great if Alex called later today or emailed saying she forgot to tell me that we had won?" I looked at myself in the mirror and thought to myself "get a grip you over optimistic fool." So the day carried on and around 11 am Alex called and said that Kelli had just called her and there was a little purple ribbon on my poster that said "Winner". Alex and I were very pleased but we were all too busy to celebrate, so we cheered and went back to work. Later that evening Julie and I celebrated by going out to eat. I wanted to thank Brant, who helped take these great photos, by taking him and his wife out to dinner but they were too busy as well. There were also some postcards we handed out that were taken directly from the poster. If you would like a postcard mailed to you just send me a quick email or comment on this blog below. Finally some of the hard work seems to pay off...Now back to work and writing.

A new watch and a broken car.

Four weeks ago my watch band broke on my timex ironman heart rate monitor. It has one of those non replaceable types of bands and so I was bummed out. I called timex and they said I could get it replaced for $7 ! Holy cow what a great deal! So I sent it in... later they sent it back, except that it even had a new face, wait no, it is brand new! Ha ha, talk about great luck. Then the car broke and it is costing almost $700 to fix, something wrong with the coil, so the third piston won't fire... Personally I think we are getting ripped off. Julie's computer hasn't held a charge in over two months... so it is always plugged in. We took it to the apple store and they are fixing it this week for $100! We win some and we loose some... I just wish I could win some of the more expensive prizes! I finished a poster for APS it looks pretty nice, I hope it does well. mumble mumble.. Ok back to work.

Getting a PhD means more than your topic!

I am writing about something I discovered a long time ago. Going to school to become something like an Engineer requires one to be more than that subject they have chosen to "specialize" in. As an engineer writing a masters thesis, I find that I am truly a jack of all trades, non of which am I very good at. I have to be a writer. If I am not a very good one graduation, funding, and publications are difficult to acquire. I have to be a graphic artist. If I want people to see what I do, then I have to present my research in a manner that is pleasing to the eye. I also have to be a teacher and explain my ideas to others when they ask, or be ready for a pop presentation at a moments notice. I have had to become a photographer, a secretary, a coordinator, public speaker, mathematician... and I am sure there are others. I am not complaining but I am saying that my skill levels are increasing significantly even if I haven't finished my thesis yet... So I am going to get back to work now.

Hondurian Shigella!

It has been a while since my last post. I have done a lot this summer. Mainly, I worked on my thesis and made some progress... If I don't sound excited it is because I am not nearly as far along as I would like. I did make progress though. I also spent a weekend in Utah, and 9 days in Honduras, a night in Miami, and a day in the hospital at Maine Medical. Honduras was like a whole other country... wait it is a whole other country. I was amazed by the beauty there, shocked by the living standards, and nervous about the food and water. We were able to place two radio antenna's, look for our old sensors, successful radio tests, tested many water towers, helped solidify the hydro model, and made plans for the next year. The food was surprisingly good, the people were some of the nicest I have ever met, and I even learned a few words in Spanish... My first full sentence was a joke that no one got... I am probably spelling it wrong.... Que pense a var a nabar a manana? "Do you think it will snow tomorrow?" Man was it hot there! I got heat rash, and yes I got some intestinal illness called Shigella. I didn't actually experience it while I was there, instead it came to critical mass around 5 am on Friday after we had already set off for the long weekend in Maine. I had forgotten my antibiotics, and my stomach paid dearly. By the time I was in the hospital the nurse couldn't take my blood pressure properly because I was so dehydrated... Ten hours later they gave me the antibiotic my doctor in Boston had recommended, and I was feeling a little better by Saturday night. I feel better now but weakened, and I now have a head cold that the rest of the family seemed to bring back from Maine, or Utah, or whatever. Now it is back to school and thesis. The class I am taking this semester looks promising, a class on fluid dynamics of interesting phenomenon, like skipping stones, sportsballs, and insects. In the picture I am on the right, Andrea on the left. We had to wear bandanas because the roads were so dusty. We had to ride in the back of the truck because there were only enough seats for 6 inside the cab, and only two seatbelts! I got to drive, and it was a fun because they honk at almost everything, and you get to pass a lot of beat up old trucks with thousands of bananas stacked in the back with some kid riding on the top of them! I almost forgot, I saw a crocodile! It was huge. Of course, it was across the river from us, but we did have to swim in the same river, so technically I swam in crocodile infested waters! Yikes!

Cockroach!

After a busy day of trying to get everything ready for our proposal on wednesday, I walked downstairs to clean up some of the mess and begin debugging the last few items, I then came accross this thing in the hallway. I was scared! Seriously, I know it sounds like I am a whimp, but this thing looked like it was an inch off of the ground going 20 mph! I couldn't resist killing the thing though. So I ran and stepped on him. I went to get a piece of paper to pick him up so I could take a picture, and when I tried to pick him up with the paper, he ran away again! I heard a crunch the first time I stepped on him, but it must have been his wings? Wow, what a tough cockroach. I can just see these things in 25,000,000 years evolving into enormous, alien like creatures with 3 inch thick shells wreacking havoc on humans everywhere. Or their relatives from planet Scavenge, coming back to check on the little guys, and seeing me destroy their little babies makes them go berzerk and kill me. Ok ok ok, I will try to relax, I just didn't want this thing in my hallway...Of course, if there is a cockroach this big in the hall I can only imagine how many more there are like him in our hall. There must be millions of these guys in the building I work in! It's a good thing they don't know how to attack, and unite themselves. We might really have a problem if that were the case. Ok, so I am borderline phobic here, a little overboard you might say...maybe, but what will I see next? A colony? organized insects uniting? A rat? A raft of rats on a science expedition? If I want to survive I am going to have to get a bigger shoe, er maybe a better weapon. I will call the pest control service tomorrow, and my psychologist.

Things are picking up

I have about 6 weeks to get my thesis complete...for the most part. It is coming along well. I feel like I am making more and more progress each day. This week I accomplished everything I set out to do and that makes me feel a lot better. I have some more writing to do this weekend so that I will be where I want to be on Monday. But the push to get it done is driving me, besides I want it over as soon as possible. Now that I am trying to put my research into a cohesive document I am finding satisfaction in doing the work. It is nice to finally see some of the product of my hard work. I hope some of this material can be put in a paper soon. I wanted to put up a photo of some of the recent shots I have been doing. So enjoy, and happy independence day!

Afternoon slowdown

I seem to have a hard time staying focused and alert around 2 pm everyday. If I can be productive during that time I usual have a productive day. If not I seem to be upset for the rest of the evening. I looked up some ideas to get over it and here is what I came up with.
1- Run as fast as you can down the hallway and back!
2- Go to homestarrunner.com and waste some more time, then take a nap.
3- Give in and take a nap on your desk, then find a more comfortable place and take another nap.
4- Go to the gym and workout, but don't look at yourself in the mirror while changing or you might give up.
5- Go get some candy and hope the sugar reawakens you.
6- Listen to Commencement...it will definately put you to sleep.
7- Cut, or burn yourself by accident!
8- Spray windex on your cut...or face!
9- Go outside!
10- Find out your friends from college are all making a lot of money and living in Hawaii, while you still wear pants in June in Massachusetts because it is too cold. All because you chose to get a "higher" education. The anger will wake you up.
11- Dream of bossing your friends around when you are finished with your PhD. Smiling makes me not sleep!

Ok so the list is lame. But now I can get back to work.

Another day

Today was pretty productive.
I was able to get all of my parts working properly. Now I just need to make them all look nice and neat and put them away so that I can begin experimentation. I also cleaned out the tank so that I am ready to perform some experiments. Although slow, I am glad to be working again. Last week was a very emotional week, and getting back into the swing of things feels good. Tomorrow I will hopefully finish all of the clean up items, move more of my things to the new lab, set up the remaining computers, and hopefully run some experiments. I need to do a lot more writing. I hope I can begin a more productive routine after I finish cleaning the lab.

I should post more

I would really like to post to this website everyday... so would everyone. The lame thing is no one would read it so what is the point?

Hello World

Well hello again. This site has moved. Isn't it refreshing? Now I can post away from my own computer! That just makes me happy!