Tuesday, July 18, 2006
I couldn't sleep last night. It really sucked. Tossed and turned and thought about all manner of things for three or four hours before I just gave up and got up. I got some work done on the mems website. I added all the sub pages. My boss seemed pretty pleased with it.
I also rewrote the toast I'm going to give at my brother's wedding. I hope it goes ok. Truth be told, I don't care much for giving speeches, even short ones. I don't think I'm long winded enough. So what I'm left with is a couple of jokes punctuated with "to the bride and groom!" It'll bring new meaning to "short and sweet" thats for sure.
I'm going to miss an anthropology test for the wedding that I'll have to make up on Monday. I'm not really worried about it, but I have to finish writing a paper for the class as well, and THAT I'm not very excited about. I have to give a speech about that too. I'm writing about classical music as a western art form. Not amazingly interesting, but I had forgotten to write the proposal the day it was due, and it was the first thing that came to mind. I have the bulk of it done, but the part thats left is looking to be pure conjecture. I'm all in favor of making stuff up, but I don't really see the point in it. I mean, anyone with a halfway decent idea of what classical music is can theorize as to how big of a society is required to maintain it.
The class didn't turn out to be what I expected. The class is titled "Art in Society," so I expected it to be about the role art plays in societies, what functions it serves, etc. For the most part though, its like Crappy-Ass-Cultures 101. The Aztecs survived for hundreds of years in crappy environments, good for them. They didn't accomplish anything. They lived, they made some huts, they raised cattle, but they didn't progress. There seems to be a huge movement in favor of keeping with tradition, and going back to the old ways and stuff, but the fact is the old ways were just enough to survive on, barely, and with huge amounts of labor. Life spans of 50 years was considered a good run. I'd much rather live in a society that lets me not have to chase down my next meal, or bathe in sweat huts, rolling in dirt to dry off. I'm a fan of my indoor plumbing, freezers, Safeways and computers.
I went for a run tonight. Third night in a row. I'm up to about 2 miles at a stretch. My ankle doesn't hurt at all anymore, unless I really wrench on it (which I don't make a habit of doing.) I've discovered that I feel pretty good after going for a run. More so of course when I don't forget to bring my water bottle (as I did tonight.)
Tomorrow I have a friendly 5 hour drive a head of me to get to Seattle. I'm staying with my brother in his apartment for the weekend. Much better than staying in the bus. The bus is nice, and I get along great with my parents, but the couch is uncomfortable, and I really hate waking up to the sound of a coffee maker.
I've been putting some thought recently into how I want my home to look/feel when I get a house of my own. Its kind of fun thinking of the possibilities. Also interesting to think of how different from the way my parents house I intend for it to be. I don't know exactly when it happened, but at some point, going back to Battle Ground stopped feeling like coming home, and started feeling like visiting my parents. Its liberating, I suppose, but kind of sad too.
The parts are all in for the engine overhaul on the 172 engine. I can't wait to fly it again. The weather has been beautiful recently, and I've really missed flying. I wouldn't mind being able to fly out to Seattle for my bro's wedding, but there's no way that can happen. I should give Ed a call and see if he would be up for taking me up for a plane ride.
My desk chair broke a couple weeks ago. Being the brilliant mechanical engineer that I am, I figured out what broke, then figured out how to fix it. I had leaned back too far, which broke a square shaped washer that is meant to prevent exactly that from happening. Well, I didn't want to buy a new chair, and I sincerely doubt that they sell these little washers, and I don't have an allen wrench to get at it anyway, so I came up with an alternate solution. When the chair rocks backwards, the seat part pivots on a hinge attached to the post. My fix to the problem was to superglue 5 pennies together, and velcro them under the seat to act as a bumper for the hinge, so it can't go past a certain point. So basically, I fixed an 80 dollar chair with 5 pennies, a 45 cent bottle of super glue, and some leftover velcro that probably cost 10 cents for the amount I used. I'm pretty proud of me.
And now its past 1:10 AM, and it looks like its going to be another night of tossing and turning. I hope I sleep better in Seattle, otherwise I'm going to be a pretty big looser come wedding day. . .
I also rewrote the toast I'm going to give at my brother's wedding. I hope it goes ok. Truth be told, I don't care much for giving speeches, even short ones. I don't think I'm long winded enough. So what I'm left with is a couple of jokes punctuated with "to the bride and groom!" It'll bring new meaning to "short and sweet" thats for sure.
I'm going to miss an anthropology test for the wedding that I'll have to make up on Monday. I'm not really worried about it, but I have to finish writing a paper for the class as well, and THAT I'm not very excited about. I have to give a speech about that too. I'm writing about classical music as a western art form. Not amazingly interesting, but I had forgotten to write the proposal the day it was due, and it was the first thing that came to mind. I have the bulk of it done, but the part thats left is looking to be pure conjecture. I'm all in favor of making stuff up, but I don't really see the point in it. I mean, anyone with a halfway decent idea of what classical music is can theorize as to how big of a society is required to maintain it.
The class didn't turn out to be what I expected. The class is titled "Art in Society," so I expected it to be about the role art plays in societies, what functions it serves, etc. For the most part though, its like Crappy-Ass-Cultures 101. The Aztecs survived for hundreds of years in crappy environments, good for them. They didn't accomplish anything. They lived, they made some huts, they raised cattle, but they didn't progress. There seems to be a huge movement in favor of keeping with tradition, and going back to the old ways and stuff, but the fact is the old ways were just enough to survive on, barely, and with huge amounts of labor. Life spans of 50 years was considered a good run. I'd much rather live in a society that lets me not have to chase down my next meal, or bathe in sweat huts, rolling in dirt to dry off. I'm a fan of my indoor plumbing, freezers, Safeways and computers.
I went for a run tonight. Third night in a row. I'm up to about 2 miles at a stretch. My ankle doesn't hurt at all anymore, unless I really wrench on it (which I don't make a habit of doing.) I've discovered that I feel pretty good after going for a run. More so of course when I don't forget to bring my water bottle (as I did tonight.)
Tomorrow I have a friendly 5 hour drive a head of me to get to Seattle. I'm staying with my brother in his apartment for the weekend. Much better than staying in the bus. The bus is nice, and I get along great with my parents, but the couch is uncomfortable, and I really hate waking up to the sound of a coffee maker.
I've been putting some thought recently into how I want my home to look/feel when I get a house of my own. Its kind of fun thinking of the possibilities. Also interesting to think of how different from the way my parents house I intend for it to be. I don't know exactly when it happened, but at some point, going back to Battle Ground stopped feeling like coming home, and started feeling like visiting my parents. Its liberating, I suppose, but kind of sad too.
The parts are all in for the engine overhaul on the 172 engine. I can't wait to fly it again. The weather has been beautiful recently, and I've really missed flying. I wouldn't mind being able to fly out to Seattle for my bro's wedding, but there's no way that can happen. I should give Ed a call and see if he would be up for taking me up for a plane ride.
My desk chair broke a couple weeks ago. Being the brilliant mechanical engineer that I am, I figured out what broke, then figured out how to fix it. I had leaned back too far, which broke a square shaped washer that is meant to prevent exactly that from happening. Well, I didn't want to buy a new chair, and I sincerely doubt that they sell these little washers, and I don't have an allen wrench to get at it anyway, so I came up with an alternate solution. When the chair rocks backwards, the seat part pivots on a hinge attached to the post. My fix to the problem was to superglue 5 pennies together, and velcro them under the seat to act as a bumper for the hinge, so it can't go past a certain point. So basically, I fixed an 80 dollar chair with 5 pennies, a 45 cent bottle of super glue, and some leftover velcro that probably cost 10 cents for the amount I used. I'm pretty proud of me.
And now its past 1:10 AM, and it looks like its going to be another night of tossing and turning. I hope I sleep better in Seattle, otherwise I'm going to be a pretty big looser come wedding day. . .
posted by Nick at 12:45 AM
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