Back in Boston

Yes, we went to Rhode Island again this year. There were more problems than last year, no internet, email etc. but we took it in stride better than last year knowing what to expect. We spent a lot of time as a family. I don't know if it was of a high quality, but time none the less. I got a lot done preparing for a big experiment, which starts next week. I didn't get nearly all the writing I should have, but who wants to do that during this very mild new england summer? I posted some pictures of some of the things we have done up until now here. Tonight I went on a boston harbor cruise, our host DR KARL HAGLUND, PHD Author of the book: Inventing The Charles River and Bishop of the Cambridge 1st Ward was incredible and informative! I only wish I had had my camera. We even got to go out into boston harbor through the locks!

My new ride!

Check out my new ride! I love this little vespa. Julie decided we should name her Lulu and Gus won't stop asking for rides! I get my motorcycle license next week, and I can't wait. Now I can get fat because I don't have to walk anywhere and save gasoline... sort of.

Fun and rainy weekend

This weekend Minna and Dan came up to Boston with their kids and Minna's mom Ruth. It was so much fun. Dan and I went F1 racing, we all ate sushi, and I kept calling Ruth Beth for some reason. All the fun was sort of washed out with all of the rain. The typically New England Patriots day activities were all canceled or moved indoors except the Marathon, which turned out to be a great race, but we stayed home.

The paper is nearly complete, and so my thoughts are turning to the next one. I must admit that this process is a long one, but I feel better as I get closer to finishing my first real paper, believing that I can write the next one considerably faster. I just need to push myself for the next two to four days or so to finish the last and hardest parts of editing and describing all of the findings and hard work I have put in over the last few weeks... last year really, but the last few weeks have been productive from the standpoint of usable data to talk about. Check out Dan's site for more details, for some reason I can't post pictures right now!

I always seem to have an excuse don't I? Between Sam's birthday and trying to get these 320's done each night I now find less time to post. I guess dedicating 1 hour to something other than the "have too's" in my life is showing me just how much time I am wasting in my day. Today I tried my hardest to finish an assignment, and work on solving the problem of a certain figure in my article that should have been written by now. This plot is really making me angry. Either my analysis is wrong, the code is wrong, or I don't understand the result, because right now it doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

So just how is the 32o's going for me? Monday was great, Tuesday I forgot to do one of them, so tonight I am trying to make it up. The idea was to do 3 X 20 minutes of something you want to do daily but just haven't managed lately. I also said you have to do all 7 hours. So I am doing all 7 hours, even though last night fell apart.

I am not being fully honest the main reason last night fell apart, was that I watched "An Inconvenient Truth". However, I am not sorry that I watched it. Although, I thought that some of the ways in which the data was presented were borderline alarmist. Overall I liked it and am still giving it a lot of thought. There really is a lot I could be doing personally right now to consume less energy and produce less carbon dioxide. But now I want to know how I can help as an engineer. I really want my next project or the one after that to be directly related to finding a way to capture carbon, or change it from a gas into another element or into dirt, or something. Or a way to decrease energy use, or increase efficiency, or something...I know it sounds vauge, but so are most beginnings. I just feel like if I don't get involved in some way that I am sort of missing the point of the message and letting my kids down in some way. Letting myself down in some way. Lets all pledge to start "consuming" less. As a kid one of the things my boy scout leaders always said was "Leave no trace". From a philosophical standpoint it's impossible to "leave no trace" of ones existence, but leaving a small one is a lot less annoying to future generations.

My 320's aren't going great because I have been starting them so late in the day...note to self: make improvements to ones self requires an alert mind, so start earlier in the day.

Productivity:
I don't really know because I haven't been tracking this as well as I did last week, but here is a guess.
9-12 article and listened to npr in one ear about the IQ2 debates
12-1 lunch and break with Jesse
1-2 Learned about spatial solutions to the boundary layer using the Orr-Sommerfeld equations
2-3 picked up race tickets and started homework
3-6 worked on homework, it seems to be working, now just need to answer questions.

At work 9 hours, productive for 7, actually not too bad. I guess when I don't "complete" something in a day I feel sort of like it was wasted.... whatever.

How is your debt?

I am just getting started on the last 40 minutes of my 320's. I read on the train this morning so I only have two other things to do. I took some time this evening to look over our emergency preparedness plan and inventory our 72 hour kits. The kids have grown a lot and the main things we were missing were clothing related. We also need to update some of the food items, but the main thing was that most of the kit was scattered into three parts, which would make its usefulness in an emergency null.

I also updated my checkbook, which is something I have just started doing on a weekly basis. Before that Julie had the burden and we often argued about finances. Our new system seems to be working well. This is our third month with the system and I am pleased, and we haven't fought once about it yet. Basically, I am in charge of all the bills and the main bank account. Julie is in charge of a separate account for spending on things like food, clothes, gasoline, etc. The amount is fixed for now, but seems a little on the low side. However, the motivation for her is that if she is wise with it, she can spend any extra she accumulates however she wants. It also means we could go hungry, but luckily she is a loving wife and mother.

It feels good to have a more strict budget because we both know exactly where the money is going. It also feels a bit constrictive right now because we paid off our credit cards. After running the numbers I thought we could pay off all of our creditors. I paid off all but one just to be safe, and I honestly think the plan would work, but we have a vacation coming up and I don't know how we could pay cash for it. So we will probably dip back into the tar pits of credit again soon.

My guilt is exacerbated by a quote from David B. Hales of the quorum of the twelve who said "You should not use credit cards to go on vacation or things of that nature. Pay cash for them and you will avoid debt." He is right. It is a little late now that we have airline tickets....but my mind is starting to think of a few ways we could save money and still have fun. After all it is our tenth anniversary and we should celebrate our magnificent marriage. However, following the council of a prophet will get us further both in this life and the next than just throwing caution to the wind in a frivolous attempt to regain our youth through materialism.

I read a depressing article about debt today. I have a fair amount of debt myself. It is really unavoidable with a family of this size to support. It would be nice if Federal Financial Aid would take into consideration people with families. It makes me sad that some of my lab mates can enjoy themselves and save money each month, while I borrow money every month just to pay my bills and eat. It is even more depressing to think that about two months of every year those needs are met through a credit card because I can't even qualify for enough loan money to cover those months. I will admit that part of the problem was a lack of skill at budgeting my money in the past. That is one of the reasons I am trying to gain control of our finances. However, I still fill that there are some big gaps in the way the money is appropriated. I guess what I am getting at is that the whole purpose of financial aid is to assess the needs of the individual, but having a family and being married doesn't really seem to factor into my financial package. The counselors will say it does, but honestly an extra $3k a year compared to a single student is really nothing when there are 5 mouths to feed.

You may be thinking that I shouldn't be in school with a family? Perhaps you are right, but then on some levels isn't that a form of discrimination? Make sacrifices you say? Isn't going to school a sacrifice? I have been in school every year since 1997, going every summer, and that entire time I have been married, I also worked full time all 5 years I was getting my bachelor's degree. I point these things out not to brag, but to say that I think I have been making sacrifices. Perhaps they were the wrong ones. What would I like to see? Need based financial aid that makes sense for everyone. I don't want my lab mates to go into debt in graduate school, but then I don't want to either. After all my salary is enough for them to live on comfortably, why then can I not have the same?

320's

This week along with my usual posts of random pictures and productivity stats, which I know you all can't wait to see, I am also going to participate in the 320's. This program I thought of while in the shower yesterday. Each day for 7 days you must do 3 things each for 20 minutes that you have wanted to incorporate into your day, but for some reason haven't been able to, and no you cannot count sleep and work! This means 1 hour dedicated to straightening out some curves in your straight and narrow path. This week mine will be scripture study, mandolin or guitar, and reading Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography. Why? I feel like if I do these three things each day then I won't spend the rest of my day thinking about them. For a while I have been trying to incorporate scripture study and music into a daily routine, but with limited success. I am usually reading at 11:30 and about to fall asleep, and by that time practicing an instrument is no longer on my wish list. After listening to conference and hearing about a few deaths this past week of people I know in a remote way, I realized that if I don't start doing just a few of the small things I have always wanted to now, my life will be over I will have missed so many small opportunities to become who I wanted. So this week I will try to incorporate something my ancestors knew a lot about (routines)! Some may ask why I didn't add exercise, the main reason is that this week things are really warming up, and my bike tires are pumped up and my chain is lubed, so it is time to get back on the bike commute, which will be enough exercise for this week. Although, it rained today so I walked again :( but tomorrow looks nicer!

So if you would also like to do the 320's just sign up here by commenting or emailing me, and I will put you on the list. What do you get? I send you a fine chocolate bar via mail if you do all 7 days and send me a small report on your improvements in each area over the small duration. So sign-up and get some free chocolate. I mean lent will be over so you could eat it! So far Thom and Jeff have signed up.

The perfect day

If I were using matlab to track my productivity Friday would have been 'NA'. I actually had a wonderful day. I didn't do any work and I spent time with Julie, which is always pleasant. I actually didn't even feel guilty for not doing any work, and that is a rare thing these days. Another blessing of taking a real day off, was that I realized how much I like what I do. I have been pretty happy since my thesis has started to come together, and have felt a sense of worth and progress each day. But yesterday I noticed that when my thoughts did move back to my work it was not with a sense of dread but with a smiling excitement to resume my research, with a fresher look at some of the things I have been trying to tackle. I picked up the book 'For love of insects' by Thomas Eisner at Borders and read for a while on our date. I loved how excited he was about his research. I started to find myself thinking jealous thoughts that I wished I liked my work as much as he did. As I reflected on my self negative statement a thought came to me. That statement was simply a relic of an older me. One that I have been trying to remove from my mind for a while. I wasn't unhappy, in fact, my next thought was that I should find a better way to archive everything I am doing so that in 30 years I can write a book about the things I am discovering. I was enthusiastic about my future, for the first time in 4 years! I have a tendency to belittle myself and compare myself to everyone around me. I have been trying to have a more positive outlook about who I am and see myself fitting in with those around me in a more symbiotic way, worrying less about how I compare to others, instead focusing on how I can better fit in and keep the gears moving forward. It seems to be working, and I have noticed that I am feeling more confident.

Today's photo is from the Fells wilderness reservation area near Boston, MA. I thought this circular rock pattern looked nice under the snow matted grass.

Thursday

I read somewhere that Thursdays are the least productive day of the week....Actually, I think it was my boss at the knob factory I worked at as a teenager.

Productivity,
9-9:30 email, read, talk to Jesse
9:30-12:30 Article (last figure)
12:30-2 Talk about forced vortex vibrations with lunch
2-3 Administrative details
3-5:30 Article
Hours 8.5, usefulness 5.5 = 65%.

I guess he was right.

Jour de productivite and basketball

I had a great day today. I was very productive, made a lot of progress on my paper, helped out a friend, and played basketball. Yes I included basketball in my list of things that went well today. Normally I am really crappy at it and lack the necessary skills. Today I felt good made %50 or so of my shots and blocked a few people, I even got a couple of rebounds. I wonder what will happen tomorrow. The weather has been so nice, it just makes me happier to get up in the morning. I wonder how people must feel living in Florida?

Productivity:
9-9:30 email and reading
9:30-9:45 talk w/ Jesse
9:45 - 12 Article (figures)
12-12:15 lunch break
12:15-3 Article (figures)
3-3:25 email walk break
3:30 - 5:00 Article (figures etc.)
At work 8 hours, useful work 6.5 hours = 81% efficiency (a lot more than I can say for my car).

Getting back to work

Today was pretty productive. I didn't really start wasting time until the last half hour of the day. The only bad part was that I would have preferred to work on my paper this afternoon, but opted to work on some homework instead, while I had the chance to work with others. I am going to Thom's again tonight to play mandolin, and I hope tomorrow is also filled with productive time. The paper content is complete in my head, but still needs to be put into the paper. Then I think I will spend some time refining the last section, whatever I have done tomorrow is all I will do for the rest of the week. Then it is on to more experiments and an attempt to assess the reality of the accelerometers.

Productivity:
8:20-9 walk train walk
9-10 Organize and clean-up from friday and file transfers to allow me to use both computers.
10-10:30 got hot chocolate and talked to Jesse and Jordan
10:30 - 12 worked on paper.
12 - 4:00 ate lunch while I worked on the quasi 1-D solution for viscous flow in a diffuser using the interacting boundary layer theory!
4-5 talked and wasted some time.
5-5:30 printed out a schedule for the rest of the week (didn't finish)
5:30-6:20 walk train walk
total hours 10hours away from home, 5.5 hours of useful work!

Messy day

I wasn't very productive about getting work done today, but I did make our home feel a little more cozy. I spent the day at home putting out little fires that started over the weekend, like the fish that was dying, and a room that was out of control cluttered and dirty. I spent most of the day repairing a closet that had fallen apart and was raining plaster because the owner had never thought that it should be painted. I spackled, cleaned, and painted most of the day away. It was actually nice to slow down a little bit and have some long conversations with Julie. It has been a long time since something else was taking both of our attention away from one another. With that out of the way I should be much more productive this week.

Here are the totals.
Late start to the day 8:30 showered and got ready by 9.
90min going to store and buying supplies for fish and printer.
90min sitting down answering email and getting lunch ready for kids.
120min spackling closet and preping for paint.
120min painting closet and cleaning up.
90min barbequeing and making dinner.
90min putting clothes in new closet.

Sweeterade

I don't know exactly why when you put mentos in diet coke carbon dioxide is released so violently, but I sure like to watch it. This weekend we ate a lot of candy, so we found lots of things to do with it when we were bored of eating it. It seems like the reaction is really only sensitive to the outer layer of the mentos, because the reaction only lasts for a few moments and then the mentos continue to dissolve and the coke tastes like there is still a lot of combination left. I will have to do a more conclusive study this summer. We also talked about ninjas. I knew so little about ninjas before. Now I find them very fascinating and I think I am getting pumped up about them. I'll bet that ninjas know a lot about how diet coke reacts with mentos! I haven't laughed so hard in a long time, thanks Jake and Reagan!

Falcon on campus (a while ago)

I have been meaning to put this picture up for a while. A couple of months ago this falcon was in Killian Court at MIT and I took a bunch of pictures of it. Thanks to Jesse for calling me when he saw it. Interestingly, it was trying to eat squirrels!

Productivity report:
45min Walk train walk
10min Get a donut.
210min Article figures
70min Learned about energy methods for determining drag, power, and dissipation in viscous flows
90min Lab meeting (learned all about red algae and correlations for their growth)
60min Error analysis of a flapping foil

in at 9 out at 5:30. More work at home I can feel it! You know those days - sometimes weeks - where you just can't seem to accomplish the thing you set out to do even though you can't stop working on it, it is always on your mind, and you have been banging away at it for 30+hours? Well I had one of those weeks! I am sure next week will be better.

Crayola doesn't make a color for your eyes!

Tonight was a lot of fun. I met with Thom and Judy to play mandolin, guitar, banjo, and ukulele. In the process we spent most of the time listening to music. I really liked the song "Crayola doesn't make a color for your eyes." by Kristin Andreassen. It is a really great song and Thom said that in concert a lot of the percussion is made by hand jiving! Anyway check out the song you can hear it here. If you really like it you can vote for it to win the John Lennon songwriting contest.

Productivity, I ate 1960 calories.
30min - Walk train walk
120min - Journal article and force plots
30min - Discussion with labmates
45min - Listened to a talk on relaxing grid methods and information based modeling.
45min - Discussed weather with friends while eating lemon bars.
225min - Journal article and force plots

In at 9am out at 5:30pm.

Blogging

Ok sometimes I think blogging is really lame. It is difficult to find a subject to write about and when I do it just comes out like a pile of crap. Most of the blogs worth reading have a subject, mine is absolutely random. Most of the blogs worth reading are interesting and thought provoking. I would put more time into one subject, but that would take time away from my work and family, and so now I know why my blog is lame... I have too many excuses. However, I did make a commitment to write here each day this week. So I have a new plan. I am going to use this blog as a way to try and increase my productivity by openly admitting how much time I wasted and how productive I was. So here is my productivity analysis for today. Oh and I am going to keep posting a picture a day because I like to.

I ate 2400 calories today, walked 30 minutes, but I may go for a run this evening.
At work from 9:00 to 5:00pm

45min- Walk train walk
120min- Process PIV results and back-ups
60min- Plan trip to Keypoint Hotel and Plane tickets (Thanks Momi)
30min- Lunch
30min- Journal article figures.
70min- Techniques to solve for the wake of a separated flow using Newton's Method
30min- Tea with friends
90min- Hele-Shaw (sp?) viscous fingering solutions
30min- Walking and Talking with Brenden and Alex
45min- Walk train walk
60min- Work on journal article

There you go, my first day publicly announcing how unproductive I am. Actually, it was a pretty good day. I really think this will keep me motivated. I mean my adviser might actually read this! Yikes, I hope that if she does she will go easy on me.

Balance

How do you balance a career and a family? So far I just plow through and hope they are in balance. I take breaks whenever possible and try to spend time with the family. However, usually by that time I have bills or something else I have left behind piled up on my desk and so the day is gone and I haven't done much with them. I mention it because I wonder if I am becoming the kind of person I want to be. Family. I am home more often than a lot of people. It isn't that I am not around, it is just that perhaps I could be more when I am there. I am going to try to think about ways to become a better family member this week.

Productivity

Being productive isn't always easy. Lately, I feel like I am busier than I have ever been, but I also feel like I have very little to show for it. Perhaps it is because I am always "almost" finished with the paper I am working on. I am actually doing real solid work and slowly adding it to the final product, so I know it will get done eventually, but the process grows tiring.

I love the scent of new ideas. My brother in law wrote a little article on his blog today about how writing each day for strict amount of time at a particular part of the day can make ideas come faster. I want that type of idea flow. He also mentioned that using a paper and pencil or pen for his first and second drafts has really helped him solidify his drafting skills. I would agree. Lately I have been trying to keep a better lab notebook, and it has helped me bring my ideas and thoughts out and into document format a lot more often.

Now if I could just balance everything. Here it is 11pm and I still have four things unfinished I planned on doing today... Perhaps tomorrow.

Another update

The sad part about writing so little not so often is that when I sit down to write an entry I don't like the look of this webpage any more and I want to start over with everything. However, I am going to resist that temptation and stick to making a post here everyday about something interesting that is related to my work, so that my three readers can see a little more about what I do.

Last week I spent most of the week determining the lift and drag coeffecients for my spinning spheres. It sounds easy I know, but in reality it takes 1.2 hours per run to determine this using the computational power of a G4 powerbook. This data is helping to finish polishing the story of my research, which now not only has shape but is starting to be polished. I just hope the shape is similar to a sphere, since that is the topic of my research! You're right my puns are lame, but 30Rock is very funny don't you think?

I thought this guys work was worth looking at. I really like these representations, and it turns out a lot of his other photos are pretty cool too. www.chrisjordan.com I didn't realize that 2.3 million people were incarcerated last year, did you?