Sweatin' the pipes

The other morning I awoke to a growling stomach and thoughts of fry bread. As my brain wandered through semi-lucid thoughts I remembered that Carl had passes around some photos from the installation at Jim and Selma's. 

I'm hungry right now and in similar semi-lucid fashion just remembered to post them.

Final-ly!

We are screaming through finals and have wrapped up classes. Just finished my last written exam, I have a paper to turn in, and tomorrow I have to take a hands on tools, circuits, and conduit exam. 

The neighbor kids were waiting for the bus when I left this morning, which is common. Each day they stare in disbelief as I load up on the bike, wearing a screaming-yellow-glow-in-the-dark jacket and head off to school with backpack strapped onto the rack. (I am not sure if they stare because of fashion issues or just looking at the local oddity that rides a bike in oil-and-gas town.)

THis morning, one of the girls says, "Dude - Don't you get cold riding your bike every day?" It's below freezing out in the morning, and sometimes all day lately.
When you are my age, if a teen does not call you "Sir" or "Old Guy" or some other pejorative term, it's a compliment. It was a good omen to start the day, so I'm feeling pretty good about it.

Then the girl next to her holds her hand up to shield it from me, but speaks loud enough for me to hear, and says to her friend, "What's up with his jacket?! Ugggg-Ly." 

Balance is restored.

Wind Turbine R&D Update

Our local mad scientist has come up with an innovative wind turbine. It is still in development, and until he hits production, I can't divulge specifics on power generation or output characteristics, but I can tell you that it looks really cool, and moves aggressively in a strong breeze. It swims like a dolphin in the air and what nimby neighbor could object to dolphins?

(Nimby = not in my backyard, those that will complain about any change including that its too sunny today because pollution levels are lower than normal, etc.)

Photos copyright TMunson.MD.PhD.etc.

Ute Mountain

Ute Mountain. 4 Corners Area. The San Juan Basin. 

Land. Space. Desert. Mountains. Snow.

 

Troughing

I am so concerned for the execs that have run the car companies into the ground that I thought maybe I could my little part to help out. I mean, what can I do, other than giving them my tax dollars for executive bonuses that surely must be based on performance, right, I mean these guys are capitalists, right?

Anyhow, my concern is so large that I have coined a new use for the word "troughing". They should not have to explain how exhausting it must be to fly in your private jet to Washington to deal with some piss-ant politicians. I mean the job of a politician is to hand out money at the trough, not to question these giants of industry.

Here's the new use, much better than a descriptive term for a conveyor belt. 

"I was so tired after a week of troughing in DC, that I took the jet to my favorite spa in Nice. After a day there, I had a luncheon meeting (9 courses) in LA. Off I go in the jet. Whew, then I have to be back in Detroit to yell at my assistant. How long can it take someone to put a powerpoint slide together to impress some politicians with My Vision? Next week I go back to DC for more troughing. I put in so many hours at the trough. Running this company takes a lot of troughing time." 

How's that? Think of it as my gift to the auto execs. May they use it in good health and at new jobs where they are paid for performance. There's the door.