Matrix Ping-Pong

Pug Bowling

Pachelbel Rant

Scrubs - My Charlie Brown Christmas

I already tried to post this once this morning and it still hasn't shown up, so here it goes again...

The Seinfeld Horror

http://www.flabber.nl/archief/018687.php

Danny asks: "Can I put this on my resume?"

You were named TIME magazine's "Person of the Year" on Saturday for the explosive growth and influence of user-generated Internet sites such as YouTube, Facebook and MySpace. You were chosen over Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, North Korea's Kim Jong Il and Donald Rumsfeld. Congratulations.

I *Heart* Stupid Criminals!

Next Year's Holiday Spot...

Mark your calendars... Next December we go to *CLICK HERE*

Poor "Manny"

Just as we figured...

These should have come with our diplomas!

Are YOU an IDIOT?

Take the Idiot Test and find out!

A Christmas Story revisited

Stepped out of the office this afternoon to see the 2006 Scott County Christmas Parade pass by ... it was way too much like the one Ralphie and his family attended in the opening scenes of the movie ...

Every fire truck in the county was there, and all had to hit their horns frequently, in case any of us still had a tad of hearing remaining ... I hope no one in the county had a housefire while this parade was going on ... some guy had backed his rattly pickup truck next to the street in our parking lot, tailgate down, and he was letting four little boys (all ages 8-10, I'd guess) run totally wild .. they were running along our retaining wall, wrestling each other in the street while picking up candy, etc., almost got run over by a float twice, and being typical rowdy little boys, I suppose, but it sure got on my nerves. There must have been 50 beauty queens (I use the term quite lightly) of one variety or another ... a wide array of homecoming queens, buy-a-trophy pageant winners, Fairest of the Fairs, and plenty that I'd never heard of (I wonder if they were invented?).

It was a LONG parade, as usual, (probably more entries than in the Knoxville parade), and aside from the aforementioned fire trucks and wannabe beauty queens, there were a few (but not many) floats, old cars, three antique tractors, and about 10 horses, one of whom dropped several large steamy horse apples right in front of our office. (The little boys were so caught up in the excitement that I thought they were going to run out and grab those, too.) The Oneida High School/Junior High School Band was the only musical entry, with a total of 21 playing members, and it was about 3/4 of the way toward the back. They got new uniforms (last year?) and they look like crap ... very cheap looking.

Oh, and one float was closely followed by what appeared to be a homeless man transporting his personal effects in a grocery cart.

Yep, a typical Christmas Parade in Scott County ... don't you miss it?

O Tannenbaum

It's Christmas time at the Stone house... Here are a few pics of our first Christmas tree.

Feastin' with the Roys

Yesterday I mailed the deposit for our McMinnville Holiday Getaway (2006 edition), so we're officially on! Be sure to mark your calendar for the days of December 28-31, as we will be spending the nights of Dec. 28, 29 and 30 in beautiful Warren County, Tennessee.

I was thinking about our meals (aren't I always?). We will be there for three evening meals, and there are three of you Roy kids, so I want each of you to choose the menu for one night. Consultation with spouse/children, when applicable.

Post your food choices on the blog, and in case of duplication, first one to post gets dibs!

(One reason for this is so I/we can plan what additional pans, spices, etc. we might need to take with us. We DO want to eat good, if not fancy, while we're there! ... and it's a long way to the store!)

i went to borders and barnes & noble tonight looking for one thing in particular, but ended up staying for a couple of hours looking at things. I love bookstores. My purchases consisted of a supplemental text for my dynamics class (what I originally went to get), "A Brief History of Time" by Stephen Hawking, a book about Ancient Egypt, and "The Portrait of Dorian Gray" by Oscar Wilde.

Driving back home I realized I might be a bigger nerd than I had thought...but hey, I like to learn.

There are also a couple of books about engineering in ancient history and a book about the history of how thoeries in physics came about during their respective times I am probably going to order online (they didn't have them in stock).

Not a good sign ...

My week is getting off to a crappy start (no pun intended!!). Spent yesterday from about 1 pm until 1 am (yes, I said that right) taking notes and trying to get part one of my sociology paper done. Victim that I am, I took on two parts because we don't have enough people to do everything that needs to be done. Worked on mine, plus offered suggestions to another who asked for some input. Got mine in rough draft form, but was totally pooped (another pun!) when I went to bed and couldn't get to sleep.

But the best part is --- OUR SEWER LINE IS GURGLING AND BUBBLING AGAIN!!
I'm afraid to flush or take a bath because I sure don't want it to be coming back up in my bathtub, shower, dishwasher, or kitchen/bathroom sinks. I don't need that mess to deal with. Called the city this morning from 7:15 on and never did get an answer. So I called the town offices across the lobby and guess what! the water/sewer department is not working today because Saturday was Veteran's Day! Holy S#@*!!

Sure hope it's uphill from here ... oh, I forgot, as a good friend once remarked, there's only two things you need to know about plumbing: Hot goes on the left, and S#@* won't run uphill.

Finals Week...

It's going to be rough... Here's my schedule:

Monday 8-10 am - Monocular Sensory Processes (90,62,33)
Tuesday 10:30-12:30 - Optics of the Eye I (86,53,20)
Wednesday 8-10 am - Histology (94,71,48)
Thursday 8-10 am - Introduction to Optometry (100,89,55)
Thursday 1-3 pm - Theory and Methods I (N/A,74,42)
Friday 8-10 am - Human Gross Anatomy (90,40,0)

The numbers in parentheses are the minimum grades that will get me an A, B, or keep me "in the game" with a C in each class. Some of the finals count 40 and 44 percent of the course grade. *yikes*

Wish me luck!

Office Space: Recut

No More Fruitcake

A www ... The Fruitcake Lady died. Did you know she was Truman Capote's aunt?


http://humor.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.nbc.com/nbc/The%5FTonight%5FShow%5Fwith%5FJay%5FLeno/fruitcake%5Flady/

Feedback

Name: Lauren Joy Stone
Date: 11/03/06
Examiner: Savoy

Score: 80
PASS: X
FAIL:

COMMENTS:

Unfortunately, your score is low b/c you ran out of time.
HOWEVER, please do not get discouraged as your testing was close to flawless on the completed items.
Lighting control & patient instructions were outstanding

Signature: R Savoy

"Sick" Opener

Thursday I tried to leave for school when the garage door got stuck about halfway up. There was just barely enough room to get my car our (perhaps bending the antenna). I was able to quickly figure out how to shut the door manually with the release cord. Danny looked at it that night and decided to buy a part to repair it. Below are photos of the gears, old and new. After repair and some lubrication, our garage door is in tip top (and QUIET) shape!

My Results (Second Verse Same as the First, i.e. Rob's)

Congratulations, Joy!
Your IQ score is 136

This number is based on a scientific formula that compares how many questions you answered correctly on the Classic IQ Test relative to others.

Your Intellectual Type is Visionary Philosopher. This means you are highly intelligent and have a powerful mix of skills and insight that can be applied in a variety of different ways. Like Plato, your exceptional math and verbal skills make you very adept at explaining things to others — and at anticipating and predicting patterns. And that's just some of what we know about you from your IQ results.

not reliable source, but still fun...

I know this is not a truly accurate test, but still fun:
IQ Test

Congratulations, Robert!
Your IQ score is 136

Your Intellectual Type is Visual Mathematician. This means you are gifted at spotting patterns — both in pictures and in numbers. These talents combined with your overall high intelligence make you good at understanding the big picture, which is why people trust your instincts and turn to you for direction — especially in the workplace.

Have you ever...?

Danny and I just saw a commercial for cotton seed. That's a first for both of us.

24 Season 6 Trailer

I want one.....

I want one...

Tis' the Season...

Okay, maybe my post indicates Christmas Season, but around here Halloween seems to be a season in itself. So, in the spirit of the season Danny and I carved (and "Dremel"ed) us a few punkins. Guess which one belongs to whom...

Mars rover beginning to hate Mars

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/10/27/onion.mars/index.html

for your consideration

finally a new Christopher Guest movie!

Tennessee Manatee?

You should have received an email from me about this (via WMC-TV in Memphis). Here's a photo.

Fraggle Rock

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061020/film_nm/fraggle_dc_1

My Favorite!

Does anyone else find this disturbing...or funny?

I was looking at halloween costumes on the internet, and came across a family selling last year's homemade Monsters Inc. costumes. Check out THIS photo. That kid's getting a little fresh, don't you think?

Whew!

I was typing class notes for a Tuesday test and so not paying full attention to the game, but I do believe the UT-Georgia game last night must rank among the all-time best. Whadda y'all think?

Stuff

Long time no update (from me)

Spending the weekend alone (with Danny watching PFHS Band compete in Seymour) has left me with much time to do with what i will. So far I have: 1) slept in until around 9 am, 2) had breakfast, 3) fed fish, 4) checked email, 5) made a table of info for my contribution to our small group project for a class, 6) cleaned the fish tank, 7) made some veggie/beef soup, 8) put rest of package of ground beef into two separate containers in the freezer, 9) ate yummy soup, 10) nap for about 2 hours, 11) check mail, 12) pay bills, 12) prepare to blog...

I thought if I typed it all out in a list form it would make my day seem more productive. Later I plan to start my ferocious study plan for the next two weeks. *yippee*

Got something in the mail that I recommend to all of you. Danny actually informed me about it, and unfortunately only one per household is available so he can't benefit. Go here to sign up for Bausch and Lomb's Wear and Care Program. I think it is a program arising from the fungal outbreak (still never confirmed to be from their product). They will mail you (6-8 weeks) 12 free contact lens cases, stickers to put on your calendar to remind you to change your lenses, a $1.00 off coupon for Ocuvite Adult/Adult-50 supplements, a $2.50 OFF coupon for Renu Multiplus/Multi-Purpose solution (if anyone uses this tell me and I will send you mine --- We use Opti-Free Replenish b/c supposed to be best for my silicone lenses), and Renu Multi-Plus rewetting drops (you are supposed to use the same brand rewetting drops as solution b/c of difference in preservatives causing issues, so if you want mine, again, let me know). There is also a CD to show you how to take care of your lenses/eyes and a sticker to put on your mirror to remind you how to clean properly. I've been rinsing my case out with HOT water after I take out my lenses and allowing to air dry (gets rid of the crap left over from storing lenses in solution overnight).


This was our backyard guest one afternoon.













Here are some photos from Steve and Ashley's Wedding:

Beacon Article

This was a story on the front page of the beacon. Though you all might want to read it.

http://dailybeacon.utk.edu/showarticle.php?articleid=50575

Shades of Ralphie . . .

Got an "A++" on my political science paper on the Senatorial election. (Brag, brag!) If anyone wants to get a comparison of Corker v. Ford, just let me know ... I have the lowdown.

Now, if I can do even close to that well on my Business Law test tomorrow night . . . I'm just hoping for even a low A.

Put yer hands up!

So is this some kind of Mexican Standoff to see who will finally post the next entry? It's been 10 days, so okay, I GIVE UP!!

Not so great news ...

Poor Mackie is not getting along well. Her whatever-it-is on her lower mouth appears to be growing at a tremendous rate; she drools (sometimes with bloody mucous in it); and she is not/can not keep herself groomed. I doubt if she can still eat very well, but I shut her up in the bathroom and give her canned food. She also has a smell of rot, maybe just beause of that nasty drainage from her mouth. I tried to give her a prednisone pill this morning, thinking that might abate the growth, but it's especially hard to give her medicine now. She's a real featherweight, too, and I wonder if she hasn't lost more weight in the past two weeks. (She lost a pound in the month from the time she had the abcessed tooth until I took her with the pea-sized knot almost two weeks ago.)

Dad didn't tell me this Monday when the vet called with the biopsy results, but Dr. B. said the UT vet school wanted her to "cut off Mac's chin and send it to them so they could study it." Of course we're not going to do that, but looks like we're going to have to face some tough decisions really soon.

Great news!

The vet (Dr. Elizabeth Kline Burress) called today ... said the knot on Mac's chin is benign! ... some sort of calcified growth. Dad talked to her and relayed it to me, but she said the vets at UT Vet School were very interested in it ... they'd never seen anything like it before. It's getting bigger, and Mac goes around with her tongue sticking out more (or more often) than it used to, and she drools some. She said both those things are to be expected, and it may cause her some problems eating, but shouldn't shorten her lifespan. (I thought the drool might be caused from nerve damage to her itty bitty chin during the biopsy.)

After further review

... I think I need 7 more hours to graduate. Unless that includes the one hour I am short in speech but which is going to be combined with another class to give me credit. If so, then I only need two more classes. Yeah!!
I'll find out for sure Thursday (test night!) and also when the TTU people are coming up.

Taking three classes this semester is pretty rough, even though I have almost no work outside class. I guess if it comes down to that, I will take three next semester, too, just to graduate in the spring. They may offer an extra class up here once they get the TTU wing completed, or if not I can take something online, though I don't think I'd like that very much. Might be more work than going to class. Whatever it is, I think it only has to be an upper division elective, so I have some choice on what to take.

I will be filling out an application for graduation, which I presume will ask how I want my name on the diploma. Cast your vote for one of the following:
A. Deborah S. Roy
B. Deborah M. Roy
C. Deborah McQueen Roy
D. Deborah S. McQueen Roy

(It's pathetic that I need input on how to list my name!)

Just what kind of game WAS this???

Homecoming... No Pre-game... Shortened halftime...

"For the first time in 41 years, the Tennessee band did not form the giant 'T' on the field for the team to run through before the game because of the delay. Halftime was shortened to 15 minutes."

- from http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/ncaa/recaps/2006/09/23/34952_recap.html

I'm grading quizzes all weekend to get them done by monday. Lots of test in the next week and a half. Ton of homework I have to get done one top of the grading and before the tests. I hate school.

The new Home Depot commercial talking about the chalkboard paint is cool. I was some of that where I can have a whole wall to write messages, etc.

The creek in front of my apartment is has risen just a little bit from all the rain. the bridge was
almost completely submerged. The "volleyball court" is only visible because of the net.
(click the image for full-size)

One of the first things I learned at SCO...

...was from Dr. Newman. His question: What do you do if an eye pops out? Answer: Put it back in. Next Question: How do you do it? Answer: Any way you can!

Read this for a good laugh and some potentially helpful information: http://www.slate.com/id/2137959/

I'll let you know when my first patient eye ball pops out...

Sick and Tired...

I feel like poo... Have had sore throat for days... fluid in ears off and on (probably always on, but with varying degrees of annoyance), intermittent fever (mild), etc. Found some liquid medicine (Bromplex HD Syrup) that I got last year when I was about to die... it has pseudoephedrine, hydrocodone, and some other medicine all in it. The Walgreens description of what it is prescribed for seems ideal for my malady.

Facing lots of Tornado watches out here. Some tornadoes have touched down a few counties away (can't remember if Arkansas or Missouri). Watch was just extended to 2 am, but thanks to my above-listed drugs I shouldn't have any problems sleeping.

Feel badly about my lab practical today. Bumped the back of my schematic eye while I was trying to put one of the 10 unknown lenses in... so I had to recalibrate. Who knows what the results will be. It counts 30% of my lab grade, which I have to pass in order to pass the whole lecture course... despite the lab only constituting 20% of the course grade. *You figure that one out* Got a 95 on my MSP test... the first test that I have scored above the average (by 8+ points). Have been just about 2.3 points below the avg. Two more testes (orignally a typo, but thought it was funny so I left that one in there) next week.

Time to collapse...

I say coupon, you say cupun...

some kids were going around here selling the school coupon books and I bought a couple of them. They are supposed to be here Monday, so I have an extra one if anyone wants it.

Is it possible?

Tammy,

I had a very pleasant surprise today when I checked my
TTU transcript and found I already have 110.33 credit
hours. At the end of this semester I will have 119.33
(the two TTU classes and the one at RSCC).
The catalog says only 120 are required to graduate ...
HOWEVER, I do not know if I will have the required 36
hours in upper division courses.

Am I actually getting that close?

Also, if they waive the one credit hour I am short in
speech, what effect will that have? Would that, in
essence, give me the required 120 hours?

PS -- If it would help get the waiver, I have a copy
of the speech I gave at the groundbreaking for the TTU
wing last spring. :)

Just wondering about all this.

They're still dragging on getting our classroom
addition completed. Maybe they'll have a ribbon
cutting when they finally get it done, maybe around
Thanksgiving.

Have a good weekend.

Debbie Roy

Smart Boy Story...

Most of you guys know that I've been an little out of it for a couple of weeks. Now that I'm feeling "with it" again, I'll tell you about my smart little boy :)

In my Early Childhood class (infant, child and adolescent development) we recently studied some of the leading theories of child development. Piaget was a Swiss child psychologist, biologist, and researcher who has some very famous experiments on childhood cognitive development, specifically, those that demonstrate the structures of thought and reasoning in children and how these skills advance from stage to stage.

Some of his most well-known experiments deal with the conservation of quantity under transformation. The experiment begins by pouring water from a large pitcher into two identical pyrex measuring cups. Say you have 10 ounces of water in each cup. You ask the child to carefully compare and see if both are the same, or if one has more than the other. After the child determines that the amounts are equal, you pour the entire contents of one measuring cup into a tall drinking glass, and then pour all of the other measuring cup into a short, wide glass, as the child watches.

Children who haven't reached the age of say, at least 8 or 9 (and commonly even up to age 11) will nearly always tell you that the tall glass contains more liquid than the short glass, as their reasoning hasn't yet reached the stage where they can apply the logic of 10 oz = 10 oz, no matter what shape or size the container.

I did this experiment with Ethan with glasses of sweet tea (tea gets his attention, water doesn't). When I asked him to tell me who had more, me (short glass) or him (tall glass), he said that I had more. Of course I was really surprised to hear that. I said, "Are you sure?" He nodded his head, and said, "You still have the big pitcher, too!"

I asked my teacher what to infer from this, and when she asked Ethan's age, she couldn't believe it. She's done that experiment with 45 or 50 kids, she said, and none of them has ever said anything like that.

Omigod....

I opened the door to the laundry room for the first time in 2 days, and phew...smelled AWFUL. I opened the washing machine and sniffed the laundry. Couldn't really tell if it had mildewed or not, but thought, well...it's been in there for a couple of days, so I put more detergent in and restarted the load.

Opened it again a few minutes later to throw away something, and happened to catch a glimpse of the mouse trap I set about two weeks ago. Yep - carcass ensnared. Gag... Eric got to retrieve that one!

This is mousie number two in two months. Wonder how many MORE there are? I hate to kill the little squeakers, but I guess I'll go get some more traps and rebait. I KNOW that they're coming through the laundry room/dungeon area, though. Been finding little bitty turds, and the downstairs storage closet/makeshift pantry was where I trapped the first one.

After I killed the first one, I left Eric a message at work telling him that we caught the critter. I rambled on for a bit and said that it was cute, and that I was sorry I had to kill it. He thought it was so funny that he's been playing it for his friends at work. Glad I could be of some entertainment!

Too old for this ...

My brain does not absorb info like it used to, a condition you all have to look forward to.

Been running through the tutorial for BulkMailer 5 today. It's very different from the old version I have. I think, for our small purposes, it's comparable to using a Sherman tank to squash a bug. Hard to believe they make a version more advanced than this one.

IF I can get my own criteria set up, and IF I can get it to import my files from the old program, I may be able to try this out for next week's mailing. I ran an extra set from last week to use for this week, with minor changes, and may have to do that again for next time if my brain explodes or something. Surely I'll get it figured out sooner or later (and won't have to reenter 1500 names and addresses!).

Can't get this new PC to recognize the HP Laserjet printer .. not sure if it's the driver or something wrong in my network cord. Leaning to the latter, because I couldn't get the ancient old Mac to print anything last week, and for some time had been unable to get online. Need it to print on the laser to print out the mail reports because the label printer doesn't read the PostScript form, or at least the old one wouldn't. May take some detective work.

I do, however, have the new dot matrix printer hooked up but have not tried to run anything on it yet. Will have to format it for the 1x3.5 labels and all the other millions of little things that have to be set up. (Well, it feels like millions.)

Wish me luck . . .

You better watch out... You better not cry...

Dan and Joy are com-ing to town!

We'll be in KnoxVegas this weekend for a make-up guard drill (make-up since everyone else did it Tues/Wed). Don't know what we'll be doing on base, or when we'll be done with it... so not sure how much time we'll have Sat evening for visitation.

That is all.

Lower! Lower!

Saw gas for 2.28/gal. tonight on the way home from school. Where was that when I thought I was getting a good deal at 2.58?

On the other hand, one station that was 2.34 yesterday was 2.40 tonight. So what gives? I just hope it keeps going DOWN.

Matt Lauer's interview with the infamous Debra LeFave is on right now. She is such a LIAR! Wonder if they'll also mention Pamela whatever from Clarkrange? Blame it on bipolar -- funny they never figure out they're wacko until they get hauled into a courtroom. It's not coincidental that the really ugly ones who do this are not "too pretty to go to jail". They're just child molesters.

Where are y'all?

Busy, I know! I log onto the site fairly often, but no new posts in a while from anyone else, so I guess it's my turn.

I had my second Early Childhood Ed class tonight - it's REALLY interesting. Back when I was in college, I always thought of early childhood studies as kind of boring, but I guess my whole perspective has changed now that I have kids and have seen this stuff first-hand.

I've got a good story to tell you on my smart little boy Ethan, but I'm too damned tired to tell it now. I'll catch you later this week.

Hope you're all well :)

@#$% &#=@!!

I had a blog post all written and lost it somewhere when I hit a wrong key... Aargh!!

Anyway, just wanted to gloat that tonight, in the Social Organization of Work class, we got to watch [excerpts from] Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Office Space. The teacher brought those movies because parts of them underscored things we were covering in class. Probably won't get to see more, because only a couple of us in the class "got it".

This teacher, a full-timer at Roane State and part-timer for TTU, grew up in Oak Ridge and had lived in Kingston for several years (after she got married, I guess) before moving back to Oak Ridge last year. She is Valerie Herd; wonder if she knows Danny's family?

I'm not a complete idiot...

...but my lab partner is.


I spent some time today trying to figure out what to do with this week's lab. Last week we looked at neutralizing spherical lenses (equal power in all meridians). This week was some review of spherical lenses and introducing spherocylindrical lenses (combination of sphere and cylinders, cylinders having zero power in one meridian and full power in the other meridan, 90 degrees from the first). This is where all hell broke loose. My lab partner didn't know what she was doing (now verified), but she thought she knew exactly what she was doing. She also didn't work with me AT ALL, and instead wandered away from me to other groups so she could tell them what to do (wrong). So, pretty much everyone around me had no idea what was going on for the full 3 hours of lab (and beyond). Now, after much practice, I have discovered that my points brought up in lab were actually correct --- that's right, I was right after all! Since we are randomly assigned lab partners each week, I can smile knowing that I will probably not have another lab with her this semester!

Memmmmm-ries

It is truly amazing what one can find when doing the first thorough (more or less) cleaning of a room in, say, 10 years, or more likely 12.

That's what I've been doing today, trying to rid Rob's old bedroom of things accumulated since he graduated high school and even before that. Found some vintage (ca. 1957) Mad magazines; some old comic books carefully preserved in plastic slipcovers ; numerous standardized test reports from the ACT and PSAT; an assortment of memorabilia from his trip to Europe in 1999 and his two weeks at Y-12 in 1998; several empty packages from the numerous video games he got for every Christmas forever; and 75-100 empty CD packages. Also bulky and well-worn folders from high school (English, economics, precalculus and accounting), as well English 102 from Roane State.

The find of the day, though probably not worth anything, is my old Beatles Abbey Road LP. The cover is pretty worn, but still, it could make a neat framed piece of art (the back, I think, and not the front).

What is even more amazing is the packet from my high school days, preserved for years by my mother and handed over to me a few years ago, then promptly forgotten. Boy, did that bring back some memories ... and surprisingly, I could recall names for most of the old classmates in my little photo album. Boy, was I skinny back then!

I did not EVEN get all of that room done, partly because I need but do not have another room or basement or garage to move things into so that room can be completely emptied and the carpet can come up, but eventually it will happen.

All that exertion has worn me out completely, so I called it a day, ate a bowl of Crock-Pot chili and tuned in the Vols on the radio (damn it all, Pay-Per-View!)

still looking for a thesis project in AE, but not much luck so far. most likely wouldn't have a funded one if I did find one.

probably going to switch from Aerospace to Engineering Science (still MABE department). very high potential for a funded project for a M.S. that would deal with the lab/SIRC I've worked with for the past 3 1/2 years. would get to have results published in several scientific journals (ASME, ASTM, etc). ES is multi-disciplinary, so i can still keep all my ME/AE courses, but thesis would be more biomechanics/mechanical kinematics related. would be very interesting and get me the hell out of school. my boss could serve on my thesis committee (a big plus).

still finding out information on it. need to talk to advisor next week to clear up a couple of questions, but i'm pretty certain that is the route i'm headed in. it will give me a very diverse education... B.S. Aerospace, B.S. Mechanical, M.S. Engineering Science.

more to come later.

Look into my loco ojo!

I had my eyes dilated today during my comprehensive eye exam (performed by a 3rd year student). This was after I got home, about 2 hours after the drops were first put in my eye. Usually it takes about 20 minutes for full dilation to occur --- it took me about 7 minutes. At full dilation, there wasn't ANY iris showing! The yellow crap below my eye is some dye that leaked out --- they used it (and a blue light) to look for corneal vessels formed from overwearing contact lenses (they didn't find any).

This might make you cry...

http://www.therotunda.net/velcro.html

"A Tribute to a Cat Named Velcro"

We ought to write one for our kitty Velcro. I told Ethan about Velcro and showed him pictures, and he said, "Velcro can play with Ella now!" How sweet. He never met Ella, but we tell him stories about Sarah's sister.

More musical anagrams...is that the right word?

Anyway, you know what I mean. I don't have any (or at least remember any) that are as good as some of Danny's, but here are some random ones that I recall from my years teaching flute and general music:

EGBDF

Every Girl Bakes Delicious Fudge (bakes???)
Every Girl Bites Dead Frogs

FACE

Fat Asses Can EAT (I kid you not. 7th grader wrote this one, I think).

GBDFA

Giddy Brides Do Fall Apart (her sister got married the month before)
Growling Bears Drag Father Away

ACEG

Alabama Can't Eat Gators

I am blue...but not really. That's my aura.

Your Aura is Blue

Your Personality: Your natural warmth and intuition nurtures those around you. You are accepting and always follow your heart. You in Love: Relationships are your top priority, and this includes love. You are most happy when you are serious with someone. Your Career: You need to help others in your job to feel satistifed. You would be a great nurse, psychologist, or counselor.

What Color Is Your Aura?

Eulogy

Velcro

b. April 1989, d. Sept. 5, 2006

She was a good and faithful cat
who blessed us with her presence
for more than 17 years.
We will miss her very much.

Mixed reviews

I have now been to all three of my classes this semester. The first two should be okay and likely not too much work. The sociology class will likely be the more interesting, but having the advantage of old age and being a news junkie should serve me well in the political science class.
The Business law class, however, is open to debate. I don't think there will be much outside work, BUT the instructor appears to be rather boring and the room we're in right now has Gawd-awful hard chairs that kept me squirming the whole hour we were there tonight. Luckily, we should soon be in our official TTU wing, and the chairs have not been ordered for that area yet, so we must persuade the decorators to get us some nice padded chairs with casters, etc.
The instructor is married to one of Joy's old classmates (age 27) and he is, by my guess, 43-45. He was attending undergrad at LSU in the late 70's and graduated UT law school in '93. So you do the math . . .

Most of my days feel like this...

Mortgage

I've been checking First TN online banking like a mad fool the last few days. I haven't seen our mortgage check cleared despite it being sent many many days ago. I might now (perhaps) know the reason. We received notification that our loan has been sold to USBank from Wachovia. The last date on the letter for Wachovia to receive payments from us is today (8-31), and starting tommorrow payments must be made to USBank. On the notification letter, is says we are required by law 15 days notice before this change takes place. The letter was dated 8-25 and we got it yesterday (8-30). So I'm going to have to do a lot of calling around to see IF the original check is ever going to be applied, or if we must write another check. Since the mortgage is due tomorrow, they better be willing to extend if they don't accept the first payment. Nice of them to sell our mortgage (immediately) before the first payment is due, eh!

Frustration...

Two down, one to go

I have been to the initial meeting of my first two classes,and I don't think either one will be too cumbersome. The Business Law class remains to be seen -- it wouldn't have to be really hard to be informative, but it just depends on how much crap the instructor wants to put us through.
The first class (Sociology in the Business Environment) should be pretty interesting and the time had already been adjusted to 5-8 p.m. The wednesday night class (Political Science 101) should be a breeze. I'm such a news junkie (and old to boot!) that I will probably already be very familiar with lots of the stuff he covers. We only have two tests, too, which might be a problem in some other classes but should not be so here. William Paul Phillips, the DA, is the teacher, and like I figured, he doesn't want to burden us with a lot of outside work.Yeah! It was supposed to meet 6:30-9:30, but he said he likes to go two hours straight through, and be done by 8:30. We can take breaks at our own discretion.
Have I bored all you younger and abler students enough?

Long (Dong - Duck!) description of my weekend

Hope Elana's birthday bash was a success. Somebody should post some pictures. I hope everyone enjoyed the card Danny and I sent! I discovered there is a extension for Firefox that will turn any webpage on/off of Sweedish-chef (Bork Bork) text... so that is funny!

I didn't do much on Saturday. Danny had a Shelby County new band director meeting from 9-12 on Saturday. After he got home we went to Wal-Mart and Target in search of school supplies (and somehow we left without buying any notebook paper). We also cleaned the aquarium... finding not one (which I thought had died anyway) but THREE babies still alive. There were several little corpses found in the old filter, but not sure how many there were to start with. I think we might have 2 females (which sounds weird since they are having babies roughly 5 weeks after we brought them home). However, I read that platies can store sperm for up to 18 months. After that we pretty much sat around on our respective wireless notebooks and messed around on the internet all night.

We went to the 11:00 contemporary service today at Advent Pres. It was different... the music was a rock style (with a country sounding singer who was often very flat) and the sound guy had maximum reverb on the soloists mic (it was AWFUL). The sermon was given by a church member attending seminary at Princeton. It was about being too busy for God, and focused on the sad fact that only one hour is allotted each week to church for most people, and that there is a big rush to get to lunch... so we went over by 30 minutes.

After we got home (and had lunch) I started cleaning the shower in our bathroom and Danny painted the trim in the other bathroom. After cleaning, I did something that I never would have thought of doing (if not for the internet)... I waxed the shower walls. Apparantly cultured marble requires that periodically. It made a big difference, but took a long time. Didn't do the whirlpool tub or the long sinktop, but I guess that will happen down the road some time. We're now sitting here watching Conan (aka ConeBone69 --- you'd have to have seen the intro) on the Emmys. Almost our bedtime, actually.

Tomorrow is my first day of classes. Not sure what is expected of us for tomorrow. I have four classes and two labs -beginning at 8:45 and ending at 5:30. I'm sure I'll be ready for bed before I get home. We got all kinds of expensive books and toys on Friday, but I left most everything in my locker at school. Only brought home my retinoscope(s) because I had to charge the battery(ies) for lab this week. I figure I better let someone tell me how to actually use it before i start shining it in Danny's eyes! :)

To Elana:

Aunt Joy and Uncle Danny

Kids Write the Darndest Things

Danny gave some of his kids an assignment: Create unique sentences for the lines and spaces on the treble and bass clefs. We thought these were worth sharing.

E-G-B-D-F

Every Good Bee Deserves Flowers
Every Girl Buys Designer Fashions
Every Grown Boy Does Fart
Eagles Go Bald During February
Elephants Get Bigger Doing Flips
Even George Buys Dried Fruits

F-A-C-E

Frankie Ate Colored Eggs
Fake Animals Can't Eat
Fat Actors Can Eat
Fabulous Appearances Cause Envy
Fart Anywhere Clean Everywhere (my personal favorite)

G-B-D-F-A

Good Burgers Deserve Fries Always
Good Boys Do Flatulate Anywhere
Great Big Dummies Fail Anytime
Good Boys Don't Fake Anytime
Great Britain Defeats (Defends) France Again


A-C-E-G

All Caterpillers Eat Greens
Any Club Excites Girls
Aunt Cheryl Eats Good
All Cardinals Eat Grubs
Ants Create Elegant Gardens
American Children Eat Gummies
Americans Can Exalt God



What is your favorite?

who'd have thought...

saw this on Joy's blog, so I'd thought I would try it out. Aparently I need to find "that one man" but I just don't see it happening.

Your Aura is Yellow

Your Personality: Life's too short not to have fun. Your bright energy brings joy and laughter to those around you. You in Love: A total flirt, you need a lot of freedom to play. But you'll be loyal to that one man who makes you feel safe. Your Career: You love variety in a job, and you probably won't stick with one career. You would make a great professor, writer, or actress.

What Color Is Your Aura?

I don't like thinking up titles for these things...

Found out today that since I am a GA I have to do a thesis, so the non-thesis path isn't an option. So now I just have to find some project to work on. I am meeting with a professor tomorrow, so hopefully I can get something there. I'm also waiting to hear from a couple of others. Unfotunately, that means it highly unlikely that I will be out of here in May. I really didn't want to be here longer than that, but got to make do with what you can. Hopefully I can get out of here someday.

See Rock City....We Saw Rock City!

Do You See What I See?

What happened?

I tried to make a post a few minutes ago, but it still hasn't shown up on my screen. Where can it be?

And then there were six . . .

Sometime between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Tuesday, our largest fish decided to swim to that great pond in the sky. We came home to find him lying a few inches from the edge of the pond, already being buzzed by flies. He had apparently taken a great leap of faith and missed, completely. And so we are down to six, all of which are probably eight inches long, maybe more. Or perhaps there was a mutiny, and the others decided it was getting a little too crowded in there for a big fish in a small pond. Hope the others survive -- I'd like to see just how big they will get. These are what, four years old? Or is this their fifth summer? Does anyone remember?

here we go again...

well, i'm a bit disappointed because I have been unable to find a project for a master's thesis. met with a professor today that I had spoken with several weeks ago that mentioned he might have something, but turns out that may not be the case. He did have a project but isn't sure if there is enough substance to it to qualify for a master's thesis. Might be able to work something out, but i'm not putting too much hope into it. It has been much tougher than i thought it would be to find a thesis. It deosn't help that the department seems to be going downhill and moving away from anything aerospace. very limitted amount of professors that even do research that could relate to an AE degree....two of which are retired now. that doesn't help either.

so i'm taking a full load of classes again this semester instead of any research, so it looks to be really busy again. still looking at possible thesis topics to start in the spring, but if I start then I won't be able to get out of here by May as I have been planning. I'll only stay past May if I get some sort of cool project two work on, otherwise I'm just going to say screw it all and do the non-thesis option. That may not be the recommended approach and may not look as good on a resume as a thesis, but it will get me the hell out of here on time. I really don't want to be here any longer than eight years.

that last post went up twice for some reason. The first one had some error so i didn't think it went through, so i posted it a second time. I tried to delete them on the blogger editing page, but they didn't delete from the actual blog. don't know what is up with that unless there is some delay until it deletes from the blogger page. If it does delete and you read this, you won't know what the hell i'm talking about.

Painting...

We've painted the little bathroom (haven't gotten to the trim yet, but have done the ceiling and the walls. Here are some before and after shots:

Yawn ...

Ho Hum, life is rather dull at the Roy household ... football season started tonight, and Paul had to go to SHS for a while at the start of the game ... then came home and started listening to it on the radio ... he still can't quite give it up.

Not much going on. School starts next week, so I spent today getting a lot of my school supplies. I got a new notebook that I thought was really cool. It' s Mead Five-Star wirebound notebook that has fabric covering the wires so they don't get caught on everything. It has several notecards in different sizes in perforated sheets in the front with a couple of storage pockets to store the ones you punch out. It has folder pockets as well, but the best part was that it is half college-ruled paper and the other half is graph paper. It made my inner-nerd smile a little.

When I was leaving my apartment a couple of days ago, I noticed something a little out of place down by the creek. It was some sort of big crane that was perched down there. I walked down and was able to get really close (within about 20 feet) and got a few pictures. It wasn't moving much. The most movement I saw from it was a yawn as I was walking down...everything else was pretty much eye and slight head movement.

I have a birdfeeder that I keep on the ground on my patio so that the squirrels can easily get to it and I (and Sylvester) can see it out the window. The squirrels get pretty agressive and digs out almost all of the seed to get the sunflower seeds, so I plan on getting some that is mostly made of the bigger seeds they like. Well, there had been piles of the seed lying outside the feeder and piled up on the ground....I didn't bother to clean them up any because I knew the birds would eventually get them. I noticed today that several of the seeds have spouted so I now have a nice little green patch on top of all of the ground covering they place around the apartments. Maybe I should spread some more of that around to get more green than brown.

Of course he's guilty...

He has 3 names.