Why so long?
You may ask why it took so long to get this blog updated. Well, I have no good reason. There. *pbbt*. I was sick for a good 6 weeks from mid February through the end of March. The only place I went for Spring Break was the doctor's office. Lo and behold, I just had a little case of Walking Pneumonia. Why is it called "Walking Pneumonia"? I could still function somewhat normally while coughing my lungs out, instead of being laid out on bedrest with regular pneumonia. Yaaa... I've been spending most of my weekends away from Oskaloosa because of various events: graduations, house hunting, Mother's Day, Easter, and other events that required my presence back in WI. I thought this would be a good time to update, since I had some time to myself to reflect since the last update.
congratulations Rachel!
My wonderful girlfriend graduated with a Business degree from UW-Madison on May 15th! She will be moving to Chi-town this weekend to start her new career with an in-store advertising company! Way to go!
Project Update
So my projects at work are finally coming around. We turned on the one that introduces steam into the dryer today and it worked! I think. I need to look at the data some more. My chiller is going splendidly, just a few more days and it will be on. Bid packages went out for another project, one that I may even get to see go in the day I leave. Woot!
Star Wars: Episode III
I saw the newest installation of the Star Wars saga a few weekends ago in Arkansas for my cousin's graduation. It was very entertaining, though the acting / writing was still on par with the previous 2. This is a wonderful movie, but a terrible film. My definition of a film: (edit so that's what the Ctrl+S "publish" key does...)
A movie is a motion picture that may or may not contain award winning acting, writing, directing...(insert Academy award category here), but does what the director intended to do: entertain the audience.
A film is a movie that not only entertains the audience, but may win an academy award.
For example, a good movie would be SWAT. I remember having a good time with the guys watching this film...explosions, car chases, cheesy dialogue. However, I would not nominate this for anything! A good film would be the LOTR trilogy, or Pirates of the Caribbean. Star Wars was fun, but I wouldn't give it an award for anything other than Special Effects or Soundtrack (because John Williams is AWESOME!)
What do we want? Nuclear power! When do we want it? NOW!
So I'm a little behind on my magazine reading (only 3 months...), but came across an article in Wired Magazine calling for nuclear power. It's cheap, produces no CO2, and safer than ever. Pebble bed reactors, gas cooling, and gravity feed coolant systems make nuke power even better than ever. With the rising costs of fossil fuels and the possibility of global warming (could we end up like Venus?), nuke power is the way to go. I remember when I was back at Madison (*sigh*), I walked past some protestors protesting nuclear power. I could see them protesting about the plants designed like Chernobyl, but we have nothing like that anymore! Heck, even Three Mile Island was contained, the safety systems worked the way they were meant to. But who knows. I know I'm up for nuclear power.
New Toys...*ahem* Tech
I love new technology! I have finally joined the ranks of millions of other Americans touting a cell phone with a camera built in it. Enter the Motorla V710 from Verizon. A slick phone with a 1.3 Mpixel camera, speakerphone, Bluetooth, and my favorite part, hackability. Sure, Verizon crippled most of the neat Bluetooth features so that you have to pay to transfer photos and such, but with a simple modification, I can transfer files to my computer using the USB cable. Technology ROCKS! I also acquired a Microsoft Bluetooth Mouse to replace my 5+ year old Intellimouse Explorer. It took a while to figure out, because some stupid security setting was enabled. I had to search Microsoft's site, hack the security database of my computer, and reinstall the software a couple times to get the mouse to work. It's a good thing for Microsoft that I had this mouse, otherwise I think the average computer user would have given up. It was that complex. Oh well, now I have a really slick wireless mouse, with the Bluetooth dongle for future devices.
Wild Weather
Last night saw a tornado warning for Mahaska County for funnel clouds and tornados spotted! I was at my computer last night (duh) when I heard the sirens go off! This has always meant to go to the basement and cower in a corner until the all clear was sounded. I though I would take a good look at the radar to see where the storm was. Oskaloosa is the county seat of Mahaska, so we're located smack-dab in the middle. I had plenty of time to look. So there was a big patch of red to the northwest and southwest of Osky, and it didn't look like it was moving towards us. I was wrong. I saw the two red blobs move right around Osky, with just some light rain falling in the town. Apparently, there was a tornado that touched down only 2 miles north of the plant in Eddyville, and another one 4 mi east of Osky! It's a good thing my MP3 player (Creative Zen Touch Micro) has an FM radio in it, because we don't have a radio in the house. Iowa truly has some weird weather.
I think I'm going to turn in for the night. I gave blood today and feel quite drained. I think I'll post again tomorrow with whatever is on my mind. Again, you are always welcome to read. Make comments if you wish, let me know what you think of my thoughts. Goodnight everyone!
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