Random Ruminations

The Senator

Posted Tue Aug 31, 2010 in Humor

This has been around before, but in the light of the current political environment, it seems appropriate.

While walking down the street one day a US senator is tragically hit by a truck and dies.

The Senator’s soul arrives in heaven and is met by Saint Peter at the entrance.

“Welcome to heaven,” says Saint Peter. “Before you settle in, it seems there is a problem. We seldom see a high official around these parts, you see, so we’re not sure what to do with you.”

“No problem, just let me in,” says the Senator.

Saint Peter says, “Well, I’d like to, but I have orders from higher up. What we’ll do is have you spend one day in hell and one in heaven. Then you can choose where to spend eternity.”

“Really, I’ve made up my mind. I want to be in heaven,” says the Senator.

“I’m sorry, but we have our rules”, replies SaintPeter.

And with that, Saint Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell. The doors open and he finds himself in the middle of a green golf course. In the distance is a clubhouse and standing in front of it are all his friends and other politicians who had worked with him.

Everyone is very happy and in evening dress. They run to greet him, shake his hand, and reminisce about the good times they had while getting rich at the expense of the people.

They play a friendly game of golf and then dine on lobster, caviar and champagne.

Also present is the Devil, who really is a very friendly guy who has a good time dancing and telling jokes. They are having such a good time that before he realizes it, it is time to go.

Everyone gives him a hearty farewell and waves while the elevator rises…

The elevator goes up, up, up and the door reopens on heaven where Saint Peter is waiting for him.

“Now it’s time to visit heaven,” Saint Peter says.

So, 24 hours pass with the Senator joining a group of contented souls moving from cloud to cloud, playing the harp and singing. They have a good time and the 24 hours in heaven passes by and Saint Peter returns.

“Well, you’ve spent a day in hell and another in heaven. Now which will you choose for your eternity?” Saint Peter asks.

The Senator reflects for a minute, then he answers, “Well, I never would have thought it before, I mean heaven has been delightful, but I think I would be happier and better off … in hell.”

So Saint Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell.

Now the doors of the elevator open and he’s in the middle of a barren land covered with waste and garbage.

He sees all his friends, dressed in rags, picking up the trash and putting it in black bags as more trash falls from above.

The Devil comes over to him and puts his arm around his shoulder.

“I don’t understand,” stammers the Senator. “Yesterday I was here and there was a golf course and clubhouse, and we ate lobster and caviar, drank champagne, and danced and had a great time. Now there’s just a wasteland full of garbage and my friends look miserable. What happened?”

The Devil looks at him, smiles and says, “Yesterday we were campaigning…

Today… you voted.”

Comment

In Park City

Posted Sun Aug 29, 2010 in Bloggish

We made it to the resort about an hour ago. We’re settling in and will explore tomorrow before my meetings begin.

I’m tired after a long day in the car and two hard weeks at work. But, I’ll get a chance to regroup in the morning. I need to do a weekly review and get all of my projects sorted out. Then I need to figure out my meetings and get ready for them. My paper is thursday so I’ll have time to get it together.

Right now, though, I just want to gather my last wit about me. I feel witless after the big push and near 100 percent focus on the dam-breach analyses. Saturday wasn’t enough.

I have a couple of images to process and share. I’ll probably work on that tomorrow. For now, I’m calling it a night.

Comment

Links — 08-28-2010

Posted Sat Aug 28, 2010 in Links

Hussman is an old friends of sorts. I came across his writings on fitness on the ‘net over ten years ago.
Hussman has a BMR calculator he shares. It’s worth a look, although it’s just a guide.
This article about an electric car built by students at a Kansas City high school is cool.
I remember reading E.E. Doc Smith‘s books as a teenager. The Lensman series worked for me, even if the science didn’t quite cut it.
Twelve South makes interesting productions for ~~iPride~~ Apple users. This case for the iPad looks really good. The Twelve South folks understand design.
Waterfield is another company that understand design. Their products are first class without being luxury-priced.
Inkscape has potential as a sketch tool. I’m considering using it where a drafted figure is not required.
Scare Tactics is sometimes funny. But, this clip is hilarious!
Do you see the bear in me?
I bought a copy of Osmos for my iPad. It’s much better than I expected.
I lightly watched the walking dude during his trek across America. This articles does a good job at capturing some insight about the trip.

Comment

Almost Done with Dams

Posted Sat Aug 28, 2010 in Bloggish

I’m almost done with my last dam (or damn) analysis. I’ll finish up the report this morning and ship it to the prime. I had issues with the network topology yesterday morning, but had a running model by noon and finished the required adjustments before 1600. By then my poor little pea-brain was toasty.

I managed to get my upper-body work done, although it was a challenge. Challenge is good and it’s interesting to work with a nearly 60-year-old body. Things don’t work the same as they did at 24-years. Still, the changes are happening and my weight is dropping. If I wasn’t working quite so hard I would be a lot more energetic, I think.

I bought my first iPad game this week. It’s called Osmos and is a physics-based game in which you move your mote about by ejecting mass (it’s an impulse engine) to approach and absorb smaller motes. Larger motes will absorb your mote, so care is required. The rendering is beautiful and the soundtrack is ambient music, which I also enjoy.

The pace of the game is generally slow, which works for me. I was looking for some casual gaming that provided a unique visual experience (something to relax with) and this is the trick. I think this one is a definite keeper and I’ll be watching Hemisphere for other products.

I’ve also been working with iOS 4 the last week or so. One huge difference I noticed is that the camera is so much faster. The lag between press and shutter release is nearly gone. It has digital zoom, but I can crop in any of the image editing tools I use.

Alright, I think I’m going to refresh my coffee and get this report done. Then I need to pack for my trip.

Edit: I added the image after I finished the last draft report. It’s a hydraulic section of the floodplain downstream from one of the dams. The section is determined by the topography of the valley, the discharge through the section, and the hydraulic properties of downstream reach. I use a numerical model to do the computations. This is one of the things I do.

Comment

Freaky Friday

Posted Fri Aug 27, 2010 in Engineering

This might be a running entry, or it might not. I’m starting early — it’s about 0600 as I write. I’m also starting tired. The last couple of weeks are beginning to tell.

There won’t be enough coffee to get me through the day, because caffeine will only be a support. Like the last few repetitions in a strength-training session, getting through the day will require just gutting-it-out. I love how Bill Phillips describes the last few repetitions in his book. He talks about how he stops focusing on training the muscle group and focuses on inner strength. It’s about disciplining oneself through the discomfort of the lactic-acid burn and the muscle fatigue to reach the goal — momentary muscle fatigue where the muscle refuses to contract one more time.

This is where I am mentally. I started really pushing on this project about ten days ago. The software didn’t work as it was supposed to. I wasted a few days trying to resolve the issue, but it would not resolve and had to be tabled in favor of a work-around. At least I can generate a HEC-RAS project, run the model, and return the inundation zone to the mapping software. But, the delay was costly and now it’s pay day.

So, today will be the day to grind through the last structure. I started a few minutes ago and am working on laying out the first hydraulic model prototype. I’ll be able to reuse a good part of my work yesterday, which means I only have to create a subset of the entire reach. This should speed up things a bit… or at least take a little of the mental load off. My little pea-brain is tired. I’m not whining (yet); just stating a fact.

Now I’m off to get another cup of coffee and turn my attention to the problem at hand. There will be more as I track progress through the day.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention the image. That’s the draft zone of inundation for one of the structures. There are no details on the map (which is appropriate), but it’s a graphical depiction of what I do. The results will be used to assist development of an emergency action plan for the structure, which is used to guide parties responsible for emergency management in the (unlikely) event the integrity of the structure should be compromised.

Comment

End of the Rainbow

Posted Thu Aug 26, 2010 in Humor

One of the things we laughed about here in the Ruminator household is the viral double-rainbow gig. (I really like the parody even better¹!)

So, when a friend sent me the image left as a gag, you can only imagine my amusement (or maybe you can’t — tough). The caption read “Another myth shattered… Someone finally managed to photograph the Pot at the end of the Rainbow.”

Such things amuse me.

I just dropped dam-breach analysis number four off on my dropzone for my colleague at the prime contractor to pick up. One more to go. I’ll get started on it in the morning and should finish, or mostly finish, by the end of the day tomorrow. There will be some clean-up work on Saturday, I’m sure. But, the bulk of the heavy-lifting should be done. Now we wait for review comments from the client.

I managed to get my cardio done today. I didn’t do it at the butt-crack of dawn, when I prefer. But, after waking at 0400 and working for a couple of hours, I still didn’t have it in me. The lower-body workout yesterday pretty well toasted the quick-twitch muscles in my legs and they were just a bit pissed at me. So, I gave myself a break and decided to wait until mid-morning when I could take a break from the head-work and do the workout. I almost waited too long; it was pretty warm in the garage by 1000 when I went out there to do the routine.

The remainder of the day was spent on knowledge-work. I’m learning to use some new tools. This is a good thing but it’s a challenge to learn them under the duress of a project deadline. Still, they enable me to be more efficient with my modeling effort and allow me to make prototype models to confirm my hydraulic intuition before committing to a particular cross section layout.

Now, my poor little brain is toasty, my body is pretty well worn out, and I think it’s time to call it a day. I’ll start again in the morning.

¹ There is an interview with the double-rainbow guy. Very strange…

Comment [4]

Three Down

Posted Wed Aug 25, 2010 in Bloggish

I handed off breach analysis number three about noon today. The modeling was mostly finished late yesterday. This morning was do some checking and edit the boiler plate report, add in the specific figures needed for this structure, and then read over things to ensure they are basically correct.

I packed everything up and dropped it on my dropzone for pick up. Then I took a break, reviewed my leg routine, and went out to the garage to do the lower-body workout for today.

That went OK. It was a good workout, but there are still a number of kinks to work out of the system (pun intended). The time allotted for each exercise (pace or tempo) is something I’m working on. I’m still adjusting weights as well to get muscle fatigue at the end of each meta-set. I have a lot of learning to do, which I think is a good thing.

Food is good and the right food is better. I had a lean hamburger patty (grilled Sunday on charcoal) and a medium apple for lunch. I like to cut my apple into slices. I use my tool-knife for this task. It was a little dull so I took a few minutes to resharpen it. While sharpening the blade, I wondered if my little 10x hand-magnifier (left over from my college geology laboratory) would work as a makeshift macro lens for my iPhone. That could be fun.

I’ll have a mid-afternoon snack in a bit, probably some cottage cheese and more fruit. I think we’re making chicken fajitas for supper and that will be wonderful! I even have some non-fat cheddar to top mine.

Now I’m back to work on the next structure. Two more to go and I’ll have done what I said I would do.

Comment

| Next Page