Pebble's Ponderings

Hot Deal!!!!

2007-09-20T23:41:00.000-04:00

In lieu of a new post, which is long over due, I'll post the following. The website had it listed under "hot deals." Makes you just want to run out an pick on up, doesn't it?

New, with eyeballs

2006-06-17T22:32:00.000-04:00

Well, I am neither dead nor stuck in some remote part of the world without the Internet. My lack of postage stems directly from being a bum. Maybe a little bit of preocupation thrown in, but not much. I've been working for about a month now with the contractor that I usually work summers with and doing alot of sleeping. I keep telling myself that I'm going to put up some pictures of the addition that we're putting up but, as is apparent, that has not happened yet. Maybe Monday.
I did get a new pair of glasses I've been trying contacts, so the world is a whole lot less fuzzie these days. I the contacts a week or two ago, and am still trying to adjust to the whole sticking crap in my eye part of wearing them. I now understand why it took Dex a half hour to get his in the first day that he had them. Trying not to blink while poking at your eye is proving to be harder than it looked at first glance.
Next week promises to be full of eye poking and house building, so I'd better scurry off to bed and get some sleep. I feel like and old man these days, going to bed at 10 pm. Take care world.

Bergen Does it Again

2006-04-06T19:22:00.000-04:00

So, yeah, the Pheonix tubine came apart yesterday. Daniel Engel has pictures and video footage here. The slow motion clip is probably the most interesting, but the regular speed version gives a better idea to the violence of the event. If you look at the pictures there you can see thatthe shaft came apart at a random, pointless and useless hole. There's no earthly reason for that hole to be there; I look forward to hearing Bergen's reasoning. I suspect they will just blow some foul smelling air our way or not tell us at all. Last time that we had a rotor shaft snap it happened at the same spot while the helicopter was still sitting on the ground. Taht time they told us that that was just they way things were, and and they'd send us a bill when they were done fixing the helicopter in a couple of months. Anyway, enough griping. There's also a cool video of the time the turbine caught fire on daniel's site if you go up a directory.

2006-02-12T15:58:00.000-04:00

The front yard

2006-02-12T15:56:00.000-04:00

John and my Dad trying to plow the back driveway

They call it winter

2006-02-12T15:55:00.000-04:00

So yeah, they're getting snow back home. So far they have 12 inches.... remind me again why I went to school in Texas?

2005-12-27T00:36:00.000-04:00

Well, it would appear that I brought the Texas weather with me - since I've been home we've had only a couple of cold days, and this past Saturday it was warm enough that I spent the day working on the house with my Dad and younger brother. It was nice, but all my hopes for snow have been dashed. Supposed to be in the forties most of this comming week, tommorow it should be warm enought that I can bike down to the library. So good weather is not all bad news.
Most of today was spent reading Brian Jacque's most recent book. I picked it up to send to my sister, but figured that she wouldn't mind if I read it before passing it on... wouldn't want to send her a book with typos or some other horrific oversight. I really haven't really been reading nearly havent been reading much at all lately, mostly just sitting around the house sleeping and playing Guild Wars. I just discovered the how to find how much time I've spent playing, and between both my charecters I've got nearly 200 hours in the past 6 months... kinda a scary thought. Granted the vast majority of that was over the summer, but is still alot of time. Anyhow.
Sorry for the random post, but I promised myself that I wouldn't go to sleep until I'd written something. Anyway, buenos noches, bonne nuit - I'm going to sleep. Take care.

Women safe from my powers of seducion...

2005-11-12T20:32:00.000-04:00

2005-11-12T20:31:00.000-04:00

In defence of the Candy King, he was unaware of the bow tie... probably wondering why I was trying to take a picture of him.

2005-10-15T00:05:00.000-04:00

So, Fall Fest is over, at least for those nerds of us who are not going to the banquet on Saturday. Just as well for myself, as I have to help set up the concessions for the talent show. It has truely proven to be an interesting experience thus far, being the first time that I have done the ground work for this sort of thing. Anyway. A bunch of 41'ers from years past have come down today for the reuninon this weekend. There's supposed to be a picnic down at the pond of all places. I know that there are picnic tables down there, but it doesn't seem to be the place you would want to bring your alumni for a meal. Then again, these are 41'ers. It has been pretty cool seeing the guys that graduated last year again. Igloo showed up yesterday, and Aduma, Abu and Aduma's roomate Sam showed up this morning. Rumor has it Ed is comming tommorow and Nacho and Joker are already here. I ran into a couple of guys from '85 in chapel today, I'd imagine that they will be at the picnic tommorow. Forrest is here too, so I finally got to meet him. It's been really cool seeing everyone again. Anyhow, I need to be getting off to bed. Be seeing you.

2005-10-09T14:21:00.000-04:00

An adendum to the doctrine of the Power Suite - "If possible, live at peace with all men..." (Schmorgan) to which Ludwhig added "If not, kick them in the nuts."

A New Look

2005-10-02T00:11:00.000-04:00

I changed my template, I hope that you noticed, because if you haven't then you need a doctor. I shamelessly stole it from the blogger template site, i'll probably mess with it more in the future when I am struck by a errant bolt of motivation. That's all for now, I need to be getting off to sleep. Oh, the picture below is from NW Haiti, where the Haitians claim Columbus first landed in the new world. Of course the Domincans have this other bay just across the border, and they say...

2005-10-01T23:54:00.000-04:00

2005-09-06T11:22:00.000-04:00

So, yeah, it's been a while. Family Conference was alot of fun, got to catch up with alot of people that I hadn't seen in a while, that sort of thing. I got into Longview on the 17th, spent alot of time bumming around until school started last Tuesday. It was an enjoyable experiece, that is unfortunately over. The semester looks like it is shaping up to be pretty interesting, and probably pretty busy. Thus far I have Digital Electronics, Dynamics, Biblical Literature, Fatness, Linear, Project Management, and Begining Karate. I also picked up Pheonix as a tech elective (one credit this semseter, two next). Anyway, that is all for now, I need to run off. Be seeing you.

2005-07-30T20:58:00.000-04:00

YAY!!! The website lives! Many thanks to Fjord.
That is all, more later.

2005-07-04T22:45:00.000-04:00

Well, after much foot dragging and alot of Guld Wars playing, I will finally post again. My brother and I tore the front porch off today so that we can dig the foundation for the new one. It was getting rotted in places, nothing to bad but defintly in need of replacement. We'll be pouring a concrete porch to replace it, it won't need to get replaced again in 40 years. Besides, we're still on a concrete kick from last summer.
Saturday Ruth and I went up to McAllisterville to help my aunt and my grandmother clean out my great Aunt Mary's house. My grandmother is going to be headed up there in a few weeks, so a little cleaning was in order. We cleaned out the basement some more, and found an old mechanical seed sower thing. Aside from being a little rusty it looked like it was in fine condition. It had canvas bag on the top that fed the seed thru a small hole and onto a rotating disk that cast the seed. It even had a cover over the feed hole that opened and closed via a cam. All you had ot do was spin the handle and pour seed in the top. I thought that it was a pretty cool little device. In retrospect I guess I should have takken a picture.
We have a kitchen install coming upon Tuesday and Thursday, do that should prove interesting. Not quite sure what we will be doing for hte rest of the week, probably working over on Ed's dad's addition. It'll be a short week, which will be nice too.
I might wind up going qown to the shore this Saturday with some of the guys from church. Hopefully the water will be warm and the weather warmer.
Well, I need to be getting off to bed. Be seeing you.

2005-06-13T00:20:00.000-04:00

To answer Ludwig's question, I'm working with one of the general contractors that goes to my church. Every day is a little different,but typically we work from 7:30 to 4:00 or so. Friday I had the wonderful opportunity to install the fiberglass insulation in one of the additions that we are working on. For the record, fiberglass + 90 degree weather + people = itchy - very itchy. Fortunately we got off early, and I was able to get home and shower in fairly short order. Drywall is comming Monday, so we will probably rock it on Monday and Tuesday. We have two other jobs we're waiting for the cabnets to come in for, I guess we will porbably hang them in the latter part of the week. All in all it should be an interesting week.
My brother bought a copy of copy of Guild Wars the other day, and has let me have a charecter on his account, so I've been playing that for the last week or so. Thus far I have not completely leveled my charecter, so I have not seen much of the PvP side of the game. At this point it is mostly a coperative PvE type game. It's still pretty good, though the novelty wears off alot faster when all you do is wander around killing AI charecters. The graphics are pretty good. Anyway, I unfortunately have need of sleep before I go to work tomorrow, so I'll have to write more latter. Be seeing you.

2005-05-30T17:23:00.000-04:00

Well, it's been a while. In the excitement of moving home I guess I never really got back into the habit of posting. Of course, that would imply that there was a habit of posting in the first place. Anyway, life has been moderately busy since I got back. My sister graduated from Olivet Nazerene University this spring, so we all conveyed ourselves to the appointed place the saturday after I finished exams and got to see Ruth walk, and then went to her comissioning later in the day. I got into Philadelphia Sunday night, and immediately began to devote all of my available energies to doing nothing. After a couple of days of such a strenuous task I decided that I needed to rest from my labors and so I started work. That's pretty much all that I am up to these days, aside from getting together with friends on the weekends and such. Well, my stomach is calling, and since I promised myself that I would not wonder off untill I had posted something, I'll end things here and take them up later, hopefully tomorrow.

2005-05-01T14:52:00.000-04:00

Well, this is most probably the fourth or fifth time that I have sat down to write this week, and it is the unfortunatley the first time thatI have actually finished the post. There really hasn't been much excitement in the last week or so, aside from getting my materials paper turned in and taking the I&M Lab test. Haven't really done anything else of the academic nature, save for the assorted homework here or there.
Shrug and I watched The Power of the One, a movie about Apartheid. A very good movie. Spent most of the daylight hours Saturday sleeping, watched a bit of Pony's MST-3000 showing, and went to bed early. The extra sleep was nice. Unfortunately one must now make up for all that sleeping with study for the rest of the afternnon. Be seeing you.

2005-04-23T20:45:00.000-04:00

Well, I think that I set a new personal record the other day. Wenesday night I felt unusually tired, so I went to bed a couple of hours early, and woke up at 7 am feeling wide awake. It was most wonderful. But it gets better. I had a term paper due on Friday (I was writing on the impact of Voodoo on the people of Haiti), and I had put off working on it all week because I was waiting for a key interview to come in. So I stayed up all night Thursday writing the paper, finished it Friday morning, and turned it in durring Religions. After Religions I had Materials, and right after that I had a meeting. I had agreed to help Cedric set up concessions for Film Fest. After that we ran the concession stand. By the time that I started walking back to my dorm it was 10 pm and it occured to me that I had been up for 39 hours on only an hour and a half of sleep. So like any faithful 41'er I decided to stay up for the next two hours..which would make it 41 hours. Then I passed out for the next 13. Anyway.
Other exciting things in life..... that's pretty much it. Oh, I found out that my next materials assignment is due on Monday and not on Friday like I thought. That will make life interesting for the next couple of days. after that I am pretty much home free except for finals. I&M lab test on Thursday... guess I'm not entirely free. Well, I need to either get started on my paper or go to sleep, so I'm off. Be seeing you.

Ethylene Propylene-diene Terpolymer

2005-04-20T20:24:00.000-04:00

I've been working on a paper for materials lately, picking out a polymer for use in a marine fender. Dr. Ayers wants us all to pick a polymer for some modern application and write a paper defending the choice. I was browsing the web looking for material and I came across a polymer with the harmless name of Gray EPDM that is used in marine applications. When I found out that, lo and behold, what EPDM really stands for Ethylene Propylene-diene Terpolymer I decided that it would be a less than gratifying experience to have that for a first name. Justy you try and spell that in the second grade. Anyway.
I've got a paper for World Religions due Friday, should prove to be an interesting experience. I chose voodoo in Haiti as my topic, so I'm interviewing my Dad and another friend from Haiti, Judy Muchmore, as my two primary sources. It should prove to be a fairly informative paper. All the time that I spent in Haiti, I never really learned much about that knid of stuff... didn't need to know. Well, life calls. Be seeing you

2005-04-18T18:24:00.000-04:00

A picture from NW Haiti, taken durring a visit in 2003

2005-04-18T18:20:00.000-04:00

Ever wonder what causes paper jams? This little dude is luck that he has a cartlidge skeleton.

2005-04-18T18:14:00.001-04:00

Packed up and ready to go, minus the lid.

2005-04-18T18:14:00.000-04:00

Mike, the crazy electrician.

2005-04-18T18:13:00.000-04:00

The front end, right after the lift gears got a new coat of grease.

2005-04-18T18:12:00.000-04:00

More robot pictures...

2005-04-17T11:37:00.000-04:00

So, tonite was the annual Student Foundation Raid the Cabinet function. It's basically a progressive dinner hosted by various university cabinet members. The original thought behind it is that it would serve as a vehicle to develop relationships between members of SF and membes of the Cabinet. The only problem seems to be that we get so focused on visiting everyone that we wind up worrying more about the schedule than anything else... We spent only about a half hour at each of the six stops. It didn't seem to be much time to get beyond superficial chit chat. I think maybe next year we might want to change it up a little next year, spend more time talking.... maybe can the whole idea and invite the cabnet members out one at a time to dinner on Sundays. All else fails we could all go to Fazolis or some such. That way we would have more time to talk. Who knows. Be seeing you.

2005-04-14T00:54:00.000-04:00

Well, today has been at least moderately productive. I had a Religions test this afternoon, went to chapel in the evening, and sorted out getting an updated version of Norton Antivirus. It actually turned up a virus on the initial scan, so that was good. I had an I&M test yesterday which went pretty well. It's kinda hard for them to go any other way, beings as Dr. Kim doesn't change the tests much. As long as you can get a copy of the old test to study from. Anyway.
I called home the other day, found out that my younger brother picked up two 750 W speakers that someone in the neighborhood was getting rid of.... I hope that he still has his hearing when I get home. For that matter, I hope the neighbors have their hearing. Should be interesting. John (my younger brother) also has his first AP exam coming up in May, and he seems a little nervous abot that. Writing is not one of his strongest points, so the essays probably scare him a little. I also found out that a friend of the family my Dad and I used to work with has been showing interest in church. He's been a couple of times, and my Dad's supposed to pick him up this coming week. So that's something to pray for.
The rat trap competition for Dynamics was this afternoon, which I fortunatly did not have to participate in. The course consisted of a 10 meter track with two curves and two 4x4's across the width of it. The poor saps that had to compete were given a rat trap and a 9 volt battery to power the machine, and had to make if down and back to exactly the original start position. And they had to fit within a one cubic foot volume constraint. And Dr. G. did not announce the position or radus of curvature for the track until a half hour before the competition. It was a pretty burly competion, and understandably no one made it. It was interesting to watch though. Seemed more like an EE project with all the sensors and electronics that one would have to use. Anyway. It's past my bed time. I think I'll show the exploding whale video to one of Dex's friends and go to bed. Be seeing you.

2005-04-10T17:00:00.000-04:00

Well, I've been meaning to sit down and write a post all week long, and finnally I got around to it. Don't hold your breath. As is hopefully evident, I've changed templates. I like the color scheme better, but the light text density in the side columns leaves something to be desired. I'm still debating eliminating the profile and recent posts boxes. They don't really serve much of a purpose, and they take up a good bit vertical space on the sidebar. I've also started adding some links, and in the off chance that anyone wanders across this site without knowing what Firefox is, it's quite simply the best internet browser out there. Spend the ten minuts that it dakes to download and install, and you'll never see browing the internet the same. I used to thing that it was just a alternative browser for the hate Microsoft crowd, but it actually is better. Some people say that it loads pages faster, but I'm not so sure about that. The tabbed browsing and mose gestures are very handy though. Just so lond as you don't try to delete IE.... Windows uses it for more than just browsing the internet, so deleteing it makes bad things happen. I think that will be one of the signature opportunites that I give next year - have the freshmen use Firefox for two weeks. It would be interesting to see if any of them go back to IE. Anyhow.
Fjord updated the floor website, I just saw it the other day. He hasn't done much in the way of content yet, but the graphical update was much needed. I think that it looks pretty cool. He's got all sorts of plans for the future, looks like it will be pretty neat. He added pictures from Santa bin Ladin too.
Speaking of pictures, I finally got around to figuring out how to post them. The ones posted below are from the ASME project this past spring. In the future I'll post more, but I think that that's enough for now... otherwise I'd fill pages being picture happy.
In other news, Hootenany was this past Friday, SF did concessions. I thinkg we have more concessions left over now than when we started the week. Things didn't sell quite as well this year. I think that part of the problem might have been the location of the booth. Last year we were right by the entrance, so everyone had to walk by at some point. This year we were on the opposite side of the tech booth. Something to keep in mind for next year. That, and we need to chill the sodas the day before, this time around not everything was cold. That might have had more of an influence. Well, I'd better terminate this post for the time being... got to do my homework and all that. Be seeing you.

2005-04-10T16:50:00.000-04:00

The second incarnation of our box, it's what happens when you have a bunch of guys who just can't stop tinkering

2005-04-10T16:48:00.000-04:00

The other end of the machine

2005-04-10T16:46:00.000-04:00

The rear end of out machine

2005-04-10T16:45:00.000-04:00

The team - front to back, myself, Josh Sleigh, Kevin Haveman, and Mike Cross

2005-04-10T16:43:00.000-04:00

Running the machine at the internal competion... it actually worked!!!!

2005-04-05T00:44:00.000-04:00

Procrastination is an excellent motivation for blogging. It's ashame that I have failed to make use of it more in the past. Got back from the ASME competition on Saturday. First time in seven years that LeTourneau hasn't won. First and second went to teams from the University of New Orleans, third went to one of the UT schools. All of the LU teams had problems of one sort or another. We lost a motor on our third run.
I'm currently working on a Materials paper... lots of fun. It was due today, but I had general gastrointestinal unhappiness last night and didn't get much done. Gonzo's revenge I guess. Anyway, I need to get back to the paper. Be seeing you.

2005-03-23T18:26:00.000-04:00

Well, Spring Break came, and Spring Break went, and unfortunatly it didn't take very much homework with. Had alot of fun though, spend some time here, slept alot, and then I went to Dallas with Schmorgan and Ludwhig. We visited the Forbidden City Exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art, which was pretty cool. We saw the Phantom of the Opera whil we were there, which was alot better than I thought. It was the first musical that I have seen, and I never thought that I would ever enjoy one. But I did.
We drove back to LeTourneau on Friday or so, and I spent a decent portion of the weekend working on the Dynamics project. We had the internal competition this afternoon, and surprisingly enough we took first with 86 lbs. It wasn't as strong a showing as we had hoped to make, but it worked. Josh figures that if everything goes flawlessly we can move about 98 lbs, but I am not sure that we will be able to get the system down that well. Who knows. We had a fair bit of trouble with the drive motors, they tended to fail pretty quickly, and even thought we have different motors installed now, it is kinda hard to trust them. I'm always afraid that they will fail in practice and leave us high and dry at regionals. On the other hand, the more that our driver gets to practice, the better that we will do. And we need to do better. Maybe if we get all our practices in this week we will have time to replace the motors if they fail. Anyhow.
In other news, my Dad is planing to pull the shower apart back home... he hopes to have it back together in one day, but knowing how things tend to go, I really hope that it will go back togather period. The valves are leaking, and need to be replaced, but there in a 40 year old tile wall. Not a job that I would relish.
Well, it is time for the Pebble to get off to bed. Night.

2005-03-08T15:25:00.000-04:00

Well, it has thus far been a pretty good week.... by which I mean not a busy week. I have a design problem and a Religions test on friday, as well as a Dynamics team presentation. Lots of fun.... not as bad as I was anticipating. We've got our last basketball game tonight, against Club. Should prove to be an interesting game. I don't figure that I will get to play much, as we need a win to get a lock on playoffs, but it will be a fun game to watch anyway. G2 has thier last game tonight to, think that it is at 8:30 or so. I think that they are slated play G1, who have thus far forfeited all their games. Hopefully G1 will materialize.
Aduma, Kirby and Morris got back from from thier escapade. Kirby said that they had some pretty bad weather on the way out, just beat out a snowstorm. He seems to have enjoyed the experience greatly.

2005-02-22T04:51:00.000-04:00

Crunch time cometh for the Dynamics project. Our first systems check comes on Wednesday, and we don't even have circuitry installed yet. The circuitry is supposed to be installed Tuesday night after Kevin and I are done building the rice container. After that we will have to install a couple more drive motors and a latch mechanism. Hopefully that will be all. Some of the other groups are no where near close to done, I guess they figure they can show Dr. G that everything is working without having everything assembled. Fortunately for us, all our systems build on each other sequentially, so we need to have pretty much everything assembled to demonstrate the functionality of all systems. Forces us to get our work done early and leave a lot of time for testing, which is a good thing. Anyway, the only other things on the academic front are a Religions test that I took today and a Chemistry II test on Wednesday. As far as Religions go, I might have pulled an A, but I think a high B is more likely. The Chemistry test has me worried, as I have missed a fair bit of class and I need to score very strong on it. Add to that the fact that it is a Johnson test, which means that there are only about fourteen questions…. All you need to do is miss a few and you are scholastically unfulfilled. Anyway.
Played our last IM football game for the semester tonight. We managed to beat Penn 3 by a healthy margin despite the best effort of the referee. We’d beat them last time too, but it was a close game for a long time. I got a tackle on a punt in the second half…. I really was trying to grab the guy’s flag, but I was also flying though the air perpendicular to the runner’s course, and we both wound up on the ground. The ref called it a wrap, or some such. Somehow I managed to bang heads with Slope in the process, but fortunately he was okay.
G-2 had a game too, played with no subs into the second half and until Adrian twisted an ankle, and after that they played a man down and still won 18 – 0. They’ve got T-3 tomorrow, which should prove to be an interesting game. I think that G-2 can pull it off. Hopefully I’ll be able to make the game, but I have a sneaking Suspicion that I will be working on the ASME project. Anyway, I need to get back to the homework so that I can get some sleep. Be seeing you

2005-01-24T01:21:00.000-04:00

Well, it has certainly been awhile. Class has been treating me well enough so far, but I have the distinct feeling that will cease to be the case in the near future. We just got started on our Dynamics projects, looks like it will be interesting. (ASME Student Design Competition) If we can increase our payload and decrease the trip time, we should be at least competative. Aparantly it is permissible to "expand" the robot after removing it from the 25x25x30 cm box, so we might be able to do something with that. Build some sort of massive unfolding contraption that will dramatically increase payload. Who knows. Got a nice longh assignment for Materials Engineering too. It'll probably wind up somewhere around 20 pages, but we are encouraged to include pictures, so it won't be to bad. Somehow i think that theAustrailains take thier education a little more seriously than us Yankees.... maybe it is just Dr. Ayers. At least the class will be interesting. Anyway, I need to get back to the homework. Be seeing you.

2005-01-09T16:28:00.000-04:00

Christmass was wonderful, but it is unfortunately past. I got a 512Mb stick of RAM from my parents, makes the computer run much faster. Now when it idles it uses more that the 128Mb that was previously installed. My little geek heart goes aflutter just thinking about it.
Didn't do a lick of work over Christmass, as both Rick and Ed were scraping for work. Didn't really need another laborer. Break was good though, got lots of sleep, spent the days reading and playing board games with friends. It ws good to see Jonathan again. Looks like another one of his Westies is getting ready to bit the dust. Molly's been staggering aroud the house walking sideways most of the time, running into things. Jonathan figures she has some brain damage, possibly from a stroke.
Philip came over for a couple of days after visiting family in New York. It was nice to see him again. It is quite amusing that we grew up together in Haiti, live thousands of miles apart, and yet we each go to school a few hours from the other's house. What are the odds of that?

The Delinquent Post

2004-12-24T01:41:00.000-04:00

Well, I survived the journey home. As it turns out, I was one the same flight as Aduma out of both Longview and DFW, so that was nice. We wound up sitting next to eachother from DFW to Philly. Small world, eh?
I got home on Saturday night and have spent all subsequent days being a slacker. Staying up late by local standards, (read 1am) and sleeping in past noon. Worked on my computer some, reinstalling Windows on a new 80 G hard drive, moving my documents over and such. Haven't installed any games, figure that it is probably best with grades being what they are. I know that I did spent some time playing DS over the past semester, which in retrospect was probably not a good idea. (Just as a side note, I'm using a spare keyboard while I am home and the keys are just a little stiffer and flatter, spacing is a little different. You would not believe the typos I'm making. And correcting, of course.) Anyway, this comming semester should prove interesting.
In other news, I did the last (read all) of my Christmass shopping today. Got my Dad a new 20oz . Estwing hammer at Home Depot. They had it marked 10 dollars cheaper than what it rang up as. Guess there must have been a error somewhere, but the clerk was all very nice about it, checked the price, and gave it to me at the lower price. I was impressed, something that does not often happen at Home Depot. Anyway. .
Went to a Christmass concert at Grace Chapel this evening. The music was wonderful. Tom had a drum solo at some point, but unfortuantely I missed it. They lit candles again, and again no one burned down the church, surprisingly enough. I guess the parents' eyes never left the candles their kids were holding. Looks like there will be some sort of get together on the 26th, where at I have no clue. Should be fun though.
Well, it is 12:41 local time, so I think that is a sign that I should go to sleep. Be seeing you.

What happens when an MK started on the old country

2004-12-10T17:40:00.000-04:00

Well, the end of the semester is approaching. Grades look like they will be bloody, might wind up taking Circuits again. Should be able to come out with a 3.4 for the year though, if I do well in the spring and I take Circuits again. I can't wait to go home. Just want to go home where they have a real winter and curl up in front of the pellet stove with a good book. Get a game of RISK going with the guys. Go visit a wrestling practice. See the family. It'll be wonderful. Then of course I'll get to start the whole thing over in three weeks, this time with Dynamics. I'm actually looking forward to the class a little. That's a scary thought.
I was thinking about Haiti the other day. I remember looking out at the sky and watching the black clouds roll in from the east, so black that they looked dark blue. The downpours that we had at night durring the rainy season. Playing in the drainage ditches, building rock dams nad pools. Playing barefoot basketball out behind Eckhoff's. Finally realizing that wearing shoes when playing basketball would keep your little toe from getting torn up, and thinking that it really did feel weird to wear shoes like that. I can remember the first time that I ever used a Brittanica Encyclopaedia, to write a report on British Columbia. Sitting on the sofa reading the Lord of the Rings for days on end the year that Eckhoff's were on furlough and we were in the field. Reading the Shiloh Legacy. Sitting at the coumputer and playing a Privateer with three people. Riding my bike on the dirt roads, racing the taxis back home. Going up to visit Aunt Lois just to pet Betsy.Wacthing movies on the inverter, when the power was off and just having it feel so strange. Playing Philip's home built Country Game. Sitting up in the BGT and having Philip tell me that could only carry three gallons of water while we were playing comandos, because water weighs 8 pounds per gallon.Walking down on the beach nad competeing to find the most unique peice of sea glass. Playing Marco Polo in the BGT with Eckhoff's, and having mom make a point of not watching us. The dirt clod wars. The Thursday afternoons spent playing volleyball. Standing in line to get pricked for malaria. Taking chloroquine on Sunday afternoons (or avoiding taking cholorouine on Sunday afternoons). Walking up to Nom Bono on Sunday mornings to hear dad preach. Being blown away by the awesome view from the top of the mountain. And realizing, toward the end, just how blessed I was to to have been born and MK.
Those were the days. Wish I could go back. Not worry about the papers, the projects, the people, all the other small details of life. Not have days when you just want to take refuge from the problems of life in sleep. Not feel the pain of knowing that you can never go back to your home, that while the place is still there, it is not the same. People have moved, people have grown older, people have died. You just can't go back. I can remeber crying the day that aunt Will went back to the Netherlands. I can remember hugging my sister the day she flew in country to spen Christmas break with us here senior year, and being genuinely glad to see her. I can remember the mixture of sadness and excitement that I felt on that day in May of 2000 when we left for Haiti for good. Sad to leave my friends, but knowing at the same time that we would all be going our separate was soon enough anyway. Excited for all the opportunities that I would have going to school in the US. Being able to wrestle again, take up old friendships. Looking forward to the new place, and the new experiences that I would have.
I can remeber the first day that Jon Rorer showed up at teh door with his three little Westies, wanting to go for a walk down the creek. Looking back now, I think that was a turning point in my life. I never knew thenthat we would grow to be such good friends. I can't even begin to measure the impact that he has had on my life. His simple honesty and good heart have done me a lot of good. And his wacky sense of humor. I really don't believe that I would ever have adjusted to the life in the US and made the friends that I did if it wasn't for Rorer.
I can remeber sitting in the van going up to Stoney Brook, listening to Painter tell stories. Being amazed by Tom Howard when he wrestled up a 100 pounds against Girard's heavyweight. The stories that Mr Leach told from the year that he had six wrestlers, aka "the six pack" year. I can still remeber the feeling of wining my first medal. Pinning two guys with the headlock at the VFMA quad meet. Pinning the Germantown wrestler in exhibition. Spending my senior year getting played with after we went PIAA. I think most memorable was the meet agains Red Lion, and having it hinge on my match. I felt awful going in, but when I pinned the guy, that was the most awesome feeling in the world. That was the one meet that we won that season. We almost beat one of the smaller public schools in our league, but we spent most of the season being shut out. We took 2nd or 3rd in our invite, that was nice.
It's good to remincse sometimes. Helps me realize how blessed I have been, first with my family in Haiti, being able to go to a school like DC, and finally winding up at LU like I did. There really must be a God in heaven if an MK like me can come so far. Anyway, it is dinner time and I need to get some food. Be seeing you.

2004-11-26T20:20:00.000-04:00

Two posts in one day. Well, it is thanksgiving and I really am not feeling the urge to do homework. Went to Jeramy's with Dex and had Thanksgiving with his family... it was a blast. Dex ate like a starved lion, seemed to enjoy the food quite a bit. It was very good, the green beans were particularly tasty. They were made the same way that my great aunt used to make then, with the pieces of bacon mixed in. I had thirds on those. Someone even brought a lemon merangue pie. It was wonderful. After dinner we stuck around and played some games. when back to the dorms for a few hours, and then went back over to watch a The Chronicals of Riddick. Pretty good movie, but there were definitely a few scenes that were Dex unfriendly. And the camera did tend to linger on one of the charecters.... that sort of stuff. It's a shame, otherwise it is a good action movie. Since that was over before midnight we decided taht we just had to watch another move, which turned out to be Jet Li's The One. I'd seen it before, but it was still pretty good. That and Dex had not seen it before. Anyway, homework calls. Be seeing you.

2004-11-26T04:51:00.000-04:00

Figured I take the following off the sidebar, so I figured that I would put it in a post. It's a useful reminder of the sacrifices made by those that have gone before us. Many times I find myself lost in my own little academic world, and it is good to be reminded of what it took to build our nation. Helps me remeber to be grateful.

Lincoln's Gettysburg Address
"Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of it as a final resting place for those who died here that the nation might live. This we may, in all propriety do. But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have hallowed it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is rather for us the living, we here be dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth."

President Abraham Lincoln
Address at Gettysburg
Nov. 19, 1863

I replaced it with Tennyson's "Charge of the Light Brigade," which was written as a tribute to the bravery of an English light cavalry brigade durring the Crimean War . I memorized it as a kid, and have always thought it a touching poem. Thanks to the following site for the text of the poem.

Thanksgiving Break

2004-11-25T04:22:00.000-04:00

In true nerd/geek/(what is a life anyway?) fashion, I have decided to stay in the dorms over Thanksgiving. I was going to go to Houston and stay with some friends from Haiti, but the three letter task master intervined. Jeramy invited Dex and I over for thanksgiving dinner, so that should be fun. I figure that if I blow off most of Thursday, put in an hour or so in the evening, and spend six hours a day studying on all the rest of the days, I should be okay. Have to figure out exactly what classes I need to work on yet, and what needs studying. I know that I am due for a Circuits test, a Physics test and a Statics test in the next week or so.... lots of fun. plus I am hoping to get a jump on studying for finals, as I need to do well on them this year.
In other news, my sister ran a PB on her PT test last week, a sixteen something two mile. Not bad for someone with an avulsion fracture in her ankle. She did 53 pushups and eightysome situps.... more than I can do. I'll have to be carefull not to mention that to her, I'd get no end to grief. She's ranked 5th senior nursing cadet in the nation too. Little brother is proud. Can't you tell? I shoud see her at Christmas, that will be nice.
John's doing pretty well too, considering. Of course one never really knows, but he seems to have adjusted well to the fact that he can't wrestle anymore (injured his neck last year during wrestling season). He's aiding for Mr. Leach, who has him setting up software to keep track of the stats. Looks like he will be a data entry monkey once the year starts. Maybe he will wind up managing this year if Andrew doesn't.
Wonder whatever happened to Sarah (manager my jr & sr years)? I think her brother still goes to DC, not sure though. Maybe if I can catch a wrestling meet over Christmas I'll run into her. It'd be nice to catch up. See how Dan (Sarah's older brother ) is doing. He was one of the more awesome wrestlers that our program produced in recent history... think he was in the Navy for a while, last I heard he was applying to be a cop. I knoe he used to show up sporatically at practices when he was home, wonder if he still does.
Anyway, I have more to write, but It really is 4:30 am and I need to be up by noon, so I will post later. Be seeing you.

On Another Monday

2004-11-22T23:04:00.000-04:00

Shock of shocks, it's monday again. It cometh all to fast. Life's like that I guess. I can remeber being in the third grade and thinking about how long it would be until I got to sixth grade. It seemed like it would be forever. But then, third grade seems like forever ago. So maybe it works out. Come to think of it, it seems like last fall was an eterninty ago.
Ludwig showed me how to crop pictures in MS Photo editor... that was interesting. I was trying to crop one of Shake's pictures of a G2 football game last year so that I could use it in an intramurals schedule for this year. It was nice, Stack (captain for football) wrote up the 41 schedule all of his own accord. Saved me some time. It was nice of him.
Had a Stats test this morning. It was thrilling, as always. I think I actually might have done okay, depending on how one of the problems gets scored. There's always the chance that I just completely missed the mark, as the last test demonstrated. The nice thing is that I don't need to worry about it anymore, as what has been done has been done.
Other exciting things in the life of Pebble.... let's see... not sure that there are any at this particular moment. Anyway, one of my roomates just left to do the physics handwritten thta is due tommorow. Wisdom dictates that I join him. Be seeing you.

On a Monday

2004-11-15T17:01:00.000-04:00

Hard to believe that it is almost the end of the semester. Only two or three full weeks left. It will be nice to go home for a few weeks. Back where they have a real winter. None of this 50 degree east texas stuff. Maybe we'll get some snow. Couple of feet would be nice, maybe eight inches a couple of times. Not that it will happen, we're to close to the Atlantic to get that much snow this early. One can dream though.
Speaking of dreams, grades this semester are going to be ugly. Think that I might need to drop something. not sure yet. I had a D in Physics at midterms, for reasons that are beyond me. Best I can figure, Dr. Forringer didn't weigth the homework against the one test that was on the books and didn't average in the CAPA. I know I was missing three writtens, which came out to about 15 points. I've been to enough of the seminares now that I should have made that up. CAPA is still good, and my first test was pretty solid. Think that it was an A, might have been a high B. Then there was that second test. I came out with a 76, hopefully I can score strong on the next test and the final. Might be able to pull out an A in the class. Then there is Stat, which I had a high B in until this last test, which came out as a 63. I have to talk to Erickstad, see if there is anything that I can do to get some more credit. That and study like heck for this next test on Friday. If I can pull a strong A on it and do well on the final I might be okay. I'm not sure if I want to be relieved or worried about this upcoming test. I'm worried that I will bomb it, which would cement my position at the bottom of a very deep hole. On the other hand it gives me an opportunity to make up for the last test.
Got that Roman numeral program working for CS I. That was a relief. Got most of Lab Five done too, just have a couple of errors to debug. Maybe tommorow night. Programming is actually pretty fun, when I can get it to work. The frustrating part is that all you need to do is have one single charecter missing and you can get huge and horrendous error messages that ask you to cut off your head and cook it in your next pot of ramen. Depends on the charecter of coures, but when you can't follow the error message and the program won't compile.... yeah, it's a lot of fun.

Whatever

2004-11-12T02:30:00.000-04:00

I got my CS and Stat tests back.... both were pretty bloody. CS I got a 72, that's recoverable considering that I have Varnell. The extra credit in that class grows on trees. It's nice.... but I will still need alot of it. I'm doing pretty well on the programs thus far, so that should be a help. Plus there is that Codelab web exercise stuff. Stat on the other hand, God only knows. I got a 63, which is still passing, but far short of the A that I need. I had a high B at midterms, so maybe I am still within striking distance.
Took the Circuits test this morning, seemed a little too easy. Hope I did okay. Studying with Zerg, Mortimer, Fjord, and Fargo really seems to have help. Course I won't know until I get the test back. It should prove interesting. We haven't gotten our design reports back yet either, Dr Graff said that it took him five or so hours to grade the eight that he has done so far. I;m thinking that it will be a while untill I get mine back. Hope that I did well.
It's pretty pathetic when you think about it. I go to sleep at night knowing that I will miss breakfast because I overslept and wondering if how I will do on my design project. A thousand miles away in a thached hut there's probably a Haitian about my age who goes to sleep knowing that he won't eat breakfast because there is no food to eat and wondering if he will be able to find anything to eat all day. How shallow can we be? Sometimes I think that there is no justice. The irony of it is, it matters nothing in the final equation. The years that we spend on earth are not even an eyeblink in the scale of eternity. Our short lives here matter only so much as they serve to spread the Gospel. A mildly sobering thought, isn't it. Makes that circuits test seem awfully insignificant, doesn't it?
Then there's that passage about the servant who buried his talent. Wouldn't want to be in his shoes. Now that I think about it, maybe I have been apraoching that passage wrong. Maybe the servant's failure was not that he failed to generate a return on that which was given him by the master, but in his refusal to use what the master had given him to further his master's cause. Maybe it was because it he recognized that he had a master who would reap where he did not sow and the servant didn't want to put in work for someone else's benifit. An interesting thought. Well, it's almost three am and this little geek needs his beauty rest. (Did I tell mention that I installed Firefox the other day? I can almost feel my geek factor rising.) Be seeing you.

Sunday morning

2004-11-07T11:52:00.000-04:00

I fell alseep last night around 8pm, slept until 9am... it felt wonderful. Made up for some of the sleep that I lost last week. Plus, I got to wake up in time for church and be totally awake. That doesn't happen to often. The being awake part... I usually get to church, just not Sunday school. I guess I really should start getting up in time for SS more often. Anyway.
I had a friend from up north stay over this weekend. He's looking at coming here next fall, being a flight major. I tried to explain to him that all good Christians at LU were ME's but he didn't really grasp the connection.... young people these days. Spent saturday sleeping, eating, and playing soccer. It was nice. Did most of my CAPA too.
I other news, I have a program due on Tuesday and a Circuits test on Wenesday, and that's the highlights of the week. Get my Statics test back, which will prove interesting. I think that I did okay, but you never really know. Get Statistics and CS I tests back too... Stat is going to be bloody. CS I should be pretty good if my code has all the right jots and tiddles.
Well, I need to get dressed for church. Be seeeing you.

Life on a Monday

2004-11-01T20:14:00.000-04:00

This cominig week will prove interesting... I have a Statistics test on Friday at 11 am, and a CS I test @ 1:30, and I probably have a Statics test on Thursday. Add to that the fact Student Foundation has to go mix and mingle with the bigwigs on Thursday nite, two 41 soccer games and at least one G2 game. So much crap, so little time. Well, let me amend that last statement - I thuroughly enjoy pretty much all things intramural, so having intramurals on a busy week is n effective destraction. At least there is no CAPA this week, and I got most of the Statics homework done over the weekend. That's kinda nice. I also have an friend from my home church coming down on Friday night. That will be nice.
My mom's going to send a package down with them... I'm thinking that I will ask her send down some classical music. I find that I can study better with classicalmusic playing. I can rip it to my hard drive overnight and send it back with Aaron. Don't really use anything else... except maybe for 8-12 hrs of sleep.

On Curves

2004-10-28T14:47:00.000-04:00

Well, I took the Physics test this morning... suffice to say that I think I did a good job of protecting the curve. It was burliness. Quite unlike what we did when we covered the material. But then, that's what all students say when they fail a test. At least I have the comfort of knowing that most of the sophmore class is in the same boat.
In other news, I have a circuits design problem due on Friday. I think I have it solved, just need to check the calculations and write up the paper work. We're supposed to design a circuit that will produce between 3 and 12 volts across two terminals. The voltage is selected by turning a dial. The voltage sources that we are to use are 1.5 V ideal batteries. When a 100 ohm resistor is placed across the terminals the terminal voltage is not supposed to drop more than 5%. Once you get the hang of it it is actually quite simple. I really like my solution, [but in retrospect I have decided that it is better not to have talked about it. Consequently I have edited the post.] It's actually quite beautiful. At least to me. My circuit. My Precious.
Then you have to cook up some paperwork, talk about tolerances, capaceties for the various components, how you arrived at your chosen design, stuff like that . Anyway, that's the big project for tonight. And Mini Tab. Forgot about that. It's a Statistics assignment.
Well, homework calls. Be seeing you.

The End is Near

2004-10-26T16:16:00.000-04:00

Well, the roomates are starting to trickle back in. Ludwhig came in at 2:00 am, having driven 20+ hours to spend six hours climbing the tallest mountain in Texas. (Somewhere in Guadalupe National Park, something like 4,000 feet above the surrounding terrain.) Dex just got back from somehere in Texas that now has one less squirrel. He and his dad went bow hunting for deer, but none showed up. Schmorgan is still in Dallas. Probably looking at the letnet graph and despairing. I spent the weekend sleeping, whatching a movie and doing homework. Have to admit that it was quite nice to sleep 10-12 hrs a day. Being all alone in the suite I cranked the heat up and didn't turn it down until Monday night. I really am a child of the tropics. I think that I might finally have gotten rid of whatever it was I caught... no funny colored nasal secretions this morning. But then, you all probably didn't want to know that.
I mailed my absentee ballot this morning. Hopefully it will get to PA in time to count.... not that it would change anything. Kerry is going to win PA. Too many Democrats in Philadelphia.
Feel alot better about the upcomeing physics test... spent alot of time studying for it over the weekend. I'll find out on Thursday if I spent enough. Just taking a break between chapters right now. I guess I'll wash the dishes when I'm done here. Or the shower curtain. Life is full of such hard choices, isn't it? May my choices always be that simple. I think I will do the dishes. Be seeing you.

On Sleeping In

2004-10-25T19:13:00.000-04:00

I slept in until two today... it felt wonderful. Then I watched "Arsenic and Old Lace" with some friends over in MSC 3. That was fun too. haven't done a spot of homework yet today, and have the sneaking suspicion that I wouldn't have it all done by midnight. That makes me feel slightly disgusted with myself... A Physics Test of DOOM on Thursday, a MINITAB assignment on Wednesday, a Circuits design problem due on Friday, a Statics Test on next Thursday, and Circuits and Statistics tests at some point in the near future, and I spent an entire afternoon watching a movie. Well, at least I will have gotten some sleep over break. Anyway, Physics calls my name most loudly. I must go. Be seeing you.

The Time

2004-10-24T14:53:00.000-04:00

Couldn't help but notice that my first post was published at 11:41 am.... entirely coincidental to.

Welcome

2004-10-24T14:41:00.001-04:00

First a word about my blog title. I don't know how everyone else will read the title, but to me it is just the three places that have been my home in the first twenty years of my life. I am an American who grew up as an MK in Haiti and came th LU after high school, and consequenty Forty-One is now one of my homes. I thought it fit with the whole TCK experience thing. Anyway, all this to say, I am an American. While I have lived overseas, and while I believe that this experience has enriched my life, I in my heart an American. So don't take the title as a statement that I am not a patriotic American. Thanks.