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Brazen Squirrel

December 11th, 2008

Brazen Squirrel

I just missed the bus home this afternoon. Then, I remembered that I had a book that I needed to return to the library. Before I returned it, I wanted to transcribe a quote. The easiest way, I reasoned, was to take a picture of the page and transcribe it later. So, I sat my backpack down on a concrete bench and pulled the book and my camera out. No sooner had I opened the backpack, a squirrel hopped up on the bench and proceeded to start nosing around my stuff. I did manage to shoo it off long enough to take this picture and get a picture of the book. Never before have I seen a squirrel this brazen! Perhaps he’s taking lessons from our governor?

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Posted in life

Linux and the Holidays

December 8th, 2008

TO-3 ornament

Things have been busy around here with the holidays (past and future) and trying to prepare for life after graduate school (and trying to wrap-up graduate school). There’s still lots of data to be analyzed, models to run, and even two groups of instruments to field.

Some brainstorming over the past two weeks yielded a couple of good ideas for projects. More on these as/if they come to fruition. In the mean time, I’ve been trying to get a full-size (as opposed to my OpenWRT box) Linux machine running at home again. Sarah’s old computer doesn’t have enough RAM, what RAM it has is RDRAM. So, I tried to put Xubuntu 8.04.1 LTS on my old desktop machine (the venerable sakhalin). It’s been having a war of words with my Western Digital WD205AA hard drive. I think it might actually be working tonight.

Yesterday’s attempt at Xubuntu 7.10 was an exercise in frustration. Sarah was putting lights on the tree and I was generally a scrooge. Fortunately, I saw a TO-3 transistor on my workbench and realized that I could easily make it into an ornament. That cheered me up. I’m sure the idea’s not new. But, the little things make all the difference. Christmas is coming.

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Posted in computing, life

Cold, Football, and SS Phone

November 16th, 2008

OSU at Illinois

I picked up a cold last week. It’s been with me since about Tuesday. I thought I pretty well was getting it kicked. And, then Sarah’s family came to watch the OSU-Illinois game. I’m not a big football fan. But, I did enjoy watching the game despite the icy wind. Watching Beanie Wells jump an Illinois defender was definitely worth the price of admission (I was not fast enough with my camera and I don’t have a telephoto lens). But, the cold came back—with a vengeance. That put a damper on the 200 QSOs I hoped to contribute to the SMC total for SS Phone. I made about 60 this morning, mostly on 40 meters, and mostly thanks to nice blistering run on 7187 kHz. I was really weak on 20 meters. I’ll probably make some more contacts this evening before the contest ends.

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Posted in life, radio

Playing Pool: Implications for Engineering Education

November 4th, 2008

3 ball

As I have written before (in the old WordPress version of the blog which I will eventually import into the present one), I have spent about the last six months learning to play pool. This has been a fascinating experience. We have a player in our league who is almost always disruptive and socially a misfit. But, he’s a phenomenal shooter. He throws three sheets to the wind, takes absurdly low-probability shots, and makes them with frightening regularity. Why? I suspect it’s because he not only has the skill to make shots, he’s confident that it’s the right shot to take. In the Scientific American article The Expert Mind, Philip Ross quotes chess master José Raúl Capablanca as saying, “I see only one move ahead, but it is always the correct one.” This is also the root of the “don’t second-guess yourself” on standardized tests and the thesis of Malcolm Gladwell’s book Blink.

It would be hubris to suggest that confidence alone yields success (look no further than the White House for a counterexample). However, the combination of experience, analysis, and confidence, act in synergy to produce results. The challenge is to create an environment or a curriculum that prepares confident students without watering-down the process. Confidence in engineering education is not limited to simply being confident that you can solve a given homework problem. Confidence is understanding how you and your education fit into the engineering process.

Perhaps the most important take-home lesson for engineering educators is to subject yourself to humbling learning experiences from time-to-time. This would make all of us better teachers.

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Posted in education, engineering, hobbies, life

Miscellaneous

October 27th, 2008

Just some miscellaneous news from happenings over the past month…first, the good news…

I passed the oral exam on Tuesday. So, I’m officially ABD now. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Nikon released the 50mm f/1.4G AF-S SWM prime lens at the end of September. I guess I wasn’t paying close enough attention. This is good news for D40 owners such as myself. But, the price is almost as steep as the Sigma f/1.4 30mm and 50mm HSM lenses. The 30mm lens would be a better all-around choice. Perhaps Nikon will come out with something a little shorter by the time I’m ready to buy. Until then, I’ll keep using the 50mm f/1.4 AF-D that I have on indefinite loan from work.

I managed to destroy the drivers in my recently-repaired TS-930S. I considered swapping the drivers from my second radio into this one. But, when I took that radio apart, I found that the capacitors had swollen. So, I have parts on order to fix that. UPS says they’ll be here today. I requested a quote for the NTE236 replacement for the MRF-485 drivers. They want almost as much for the NTE236 as RF Parts does for the MRF-485. I think I’ll get the MRF-485s.

We had high winds yesterday (Sunday). I lost the 80-, 40-, and 20-meter dipoles. Sarah said, “Do you expect that (80-meter) antenna to last the winter? It just broke in September.” She’s right. I’m not sure I’ll repair it if it breaks again. It’s less than a week to the CW Sweepstakes and I only have one working radio (FT-840) and antennas for 10 and 15 meters. The forecast calls for 65 and sunny on Thursday. So, I’ll probably take the day to work on antennas.

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Posted in engineering, hobbies, life, photography, radio, work

Tags: repair

Why does X cost so much?

October 3rd, 2008

Monetary instruments

For the third time in a month, I’ve seen a thread pop up on a ham radio mailing list or forum asking, “Why does X cost so much?” Morse code keys, amplifiers, and gin poles, were the subjects of “excess” expense. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a Begali or a Bugatti, a Henry or a Haliburton contract, a Rohn or a recession, some things are expensive, and many with good reason. Why is there a problem in the U.S. economy? We spent the money we once saved. Then we borrowed money we did not have from someone who was saving. Then we borrowed more money than we could ever pay back, sticking the lenders (arguably, the savers) with our debt and a fake smile. We bought things we could not afford. We did not (and do not) understand how much things cost. We became accustomed to spending too much for things we did not need. I suspect that the economic downturn is good for America in this regard…

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Posted in life

The problem with the gym

September 26th, 2008

Feet

Sarah has suggested several times that I should consider working-out. A few weeks ago, she finally prevailed and I started going to the gym while she was doing water aerobics. For me, going to the gym is a little like watching a childrens’ Christmas pageant. You know it’s the right thing to do; but, it’s a little painful and worst of all, it’s mind-numbingly boring. I had a good work-out today. I actually was happy to be there for the first twenty minutes or so. Have I pushed through the burn of boredom? Time will tell. I did feel like a million bucks when I finished. I do enjoy that feeling.

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Posted in hobbies, life

The Landlady is a Ninja

August 30th, 2008

Bad Ninja

I have a growing suspicion that the landlady is a ninja, except not a very good one. We never see her; but, we always see her stuff left around our place.

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Posted in life

Food

August 24th, 2008

Vegetables

Last night after cleaning the garage, we went out to a chain steakhouse (we almost never go anywhere like this) because we were hungry and didn’t want to cook. As we were leaving, we were discussing how the food was good, but it really just wasn’t that fabulous. I guess you’ve grown-up when you can cook better for yourself than someone else can…

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Posted in hobbies, life

Garage Cleaning

August 23rd, 2008

Clean garage

We cleaned the garage today. That was a good idea. Fortunately, the landlady was here and we convinced her to part with some of the junk she inherited when she bought the place 3.5 years ago. If only she’d dump that fridge… Part of the impetus for the cleaning is the arrival of our new duplex neighbor tomorrow. Hopefully she’s cool.