New Layout Anyone?

I don't like it. Not really. But I was bored with tan.

Slightly Bent

The brain is a marvelous instrument. It is very adaptable, bending and twisting itself to accomodate new surroundings. While a handy trait in many circumstances, you can catch it messing you up a bit. So that when you see a picture of a wire 4 microns in diameter you say, "Wow! That's huge!" My brain has torqued itself until it thinks in nano-terms.

You thought the last ones were bad...

I've got a list of "great" words going. Top on the list currently are:

photolithographically
titanium tetraisopropoxide
electrohydrodynamics
birefringent
anisotropism
photomicrograph
kurtosis
electroosmotic

I'm also thinking about starting a great names list. It will certainly be headed up by a Mr. Ugbolue. Can you imagine? "Umm, Professor Ugbolue, I'm having trouble with my fluid mechanics..." Sounds a bit unwieldy to me. :)

My Life for the Summer

I am working in a Chemical Engineering lab. So far, I've done a lot of reading. Technical papers, mostly, with titles like:

“Titanium (IV) oxide nanofibers by combined sol-gel and electrospinning techniques: preliminary report on effects of preparation conditions and secondary metal dopant.”

“Systematic parameter study for ultra-fine fiber fabrication via electrospinning process.”

“Experimental investigation of the governing parameters in the electrospinning of polymer solutions.”

"Highly Visible Photocatalytic Activity of Fluorine and Nitrogen Co-doped Nanocrystalline Anatase Phase Titanium Oxide Converted From Ammonium Oxotrifluorotitanate."

"Remarks on the use of multilayer perceptrons for the analysis of chemical sensor array data."

Exciting, isn't it?

MRI

Before I went in for my MRI this morning, I did a little bit of research. It's actually pretty cool technology. But basically, you just lay in a big magnet for about half an hour, and try not to move. I had heard from others that it was a bit stifling, and could make you claustrophobic since you are put in a fairly narrow tube. Fortunately for me, since I was only having my knee imaged, I only had to get slid in halfway, and I was out of the tube from my shoulders up.

It's a very interesting sort of thing, to have nothing to do for thirty minutes other than keep absolutely still. They let you listen to some soothing waterfall/bird harp and oboe music, which actually helps, but other than that, there is nothing. Suddenly, every muscle twitch is magnified; you can feel yourself tense up. Relax. If you start worrying about movement too much, your breathing quickens. But don't fall asleep, or you could wake up with a jerk, and the whole point is that you're not supposed to move. The whole thing was made just a little more interesting because of the slight pain in my knee. The only way they can set it up is if your leg is completely straight, which for me right now isn't that comfortable. It felt kind of like forever, but I was actually in the hospital for less than an hour all told, including a couple of x-rays.

Results should be in by the middle of next week. Pray that they will be clear, and allow the doctors to form a good diagnosis, and that treatment will be effective.

I haven't played tag in years.

Theoretically, once you're tagged with this thing, you're supposed to list seven random facts about yourself, and then tag seven more people. I only bend to the rules so far: I will put up some random facts, but I will not tag other people (mostly because I don't know enough people in blog world that haven't already done it).

1. I take back the title. I love playing tag, and have most likely done it recently.

2. I find working Calculus problems to be an effective method of stress relief.

3. If you switch the letters in my name around, you get the word "allure."

4. I drive a stick shift car, and will never go back to an automatic. I can't explain it, but I'm addicted to the manual transmission. I hear it's a common affliction.

5. If someone were to give my life a color theme, they would most likely pick teal because I have so much teal stuff. I know, I know--the color of gangrene.

6. The only place I should never be allowed to enter with someone else's credit card is a used bookstore. I'm helpless.

7. I don't like whipped cream. According to some (*cough* Patsy), this disqualifies me from voicing any opinions about food whatsoever.

Happy Saturday to you all!

Finals Week = Boring

I'm not one to stress about tests anyway, but this week has been far beyond non-stressed. Monday morning I got up a couple of hours later than usual. That afternoon, I took a multiple choice test in Physics. Having no other occupation for the day, I made plans to go see a movie with a couple of friends. Tuesday I lazed around in the sun, visited the used bookstore, and chatted and drank coffee. I hung out at the Nuart for a while, and watched Seinfeld with Katie and Naomi. Today, Wednesday, I lazed around in the sun some more. I did a few brief moments of work to finish my short story revision, print it, staple it, and turn it in. I picked up my Chemistry paper. Then, expecting to spend the next hour and a half writing essays about Shakespeare, I headed for the Admin for my final. It took me five minutes. 25 matching questions later, I left the Admin and began to laze around in the sun some more. Which brings me to right now. Here I am at the Nuart again, with nothing to do. Tomorrow will bring me one last test, which I can fail soundly and still have an A in the class. Motivation to study = zero. So that's it. The dreaded Finals Week has found me lazing around, largely unoccupied. It has its charms, but when it comes down to it, it's just boring.

The Ironies of a North Idaho Church

Should you have passed by the log cabin on Howard Street between the hours of 9:30 and 9:50 this morning, you would have seen an interesting sight. First you would have noticed the 50 or so people milling about on the front lawn. We looked like churchgoing folk too, so why were we outside? The fact was, our one deacon had had the talent to lock his key to the church building inside it. And nobody else has one. Deacon Knecht will never live it down. Ever.

Had you stayed around to listen to the conversation, you would have heard several plans for getting in. One, we could break a window. But that's messy, and you have to pay for the damage. Two, we could get a ladder and get Matt Gaither in through the chimney. He wasn't so hot on the idea. Three, we could pick the lock. Or maybe we couldn't; several prominent church members attempted. And had you waited a bit longer, you would have seen a parishoner produce a tool box from his truck. Then you would have seen the pastor of All Souls Christian Church breaking into a building by removing the hinges from the front door. Yep, we took the door off, and then we unlocked it. (And then we put it back on, of course.)

A day to go down in Church history to be sure.