Thursday, October 7, 2010

My problem and my not problem

My problem is that my computer keyboard stopped working today. Hmm. And somehow we don't have a spare that works. However, it's amazing how much you can do with just a mouse.

My not problem is that I'm done with work for the week. Yay! Today was rather slow, so that makes it even better. On top of all that, my Dad is coming next weekend so my next two weeks are also short! Woot-woot!

Flurry seems to be having a great time with all the fabric scattered on the floor. I think she's just getting it ready for her cousin



Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Wednesday: transporters

So Ben and I were talking the other day about how the Nobel prize winner in physics is the first person to receive both a Nobel prize and an ig-Nobel prize. That is rather amazing.

But what would be even more amazing would be to win both for the same work. I decided that teleportation is the thing that is going to do this. So wrote the outline of that paper (first draft):

Title: Bringing your food to you: a look at a way to eat without leaving the lab

I. Introduction
A. The problem with having to eat
i. Lack of productivity
ii. Long lines
iii. Schedule issues
B. How people currently solve this issue
i. bring food from home (cold)
ii. beg a friend to bring some
iii. order in (expensive)
C. A new way to eat
i. Teleportation from where the food is sent directly to the lab

II. Methods
A. Set-up
i. Teleporter in a kitchen (shows a grad student wearing a chef's hat)
ii. Teleporter in the lab (show a box with a sign "food allowed in this area")
B. Procedure
i. Chef would cook a taste and delicious meal that isn't so delicious after a few minutes
(eggs in the shape of a smiley face)
ii. Chef puts on Teleporter and hits "send"
iii. Grad student eats food while smiling and working.
iv. Grad student sends back food containers
C. The technical stuff
III. Results
A. Happy grad students!
i. Compare hungry grad student performance to non-hungry grad student performance
ii. Clean labs
B. Compare amount of work completed
IV. Discussion
Hmmm...figure out something to go here.
IV. Conclusions
A. Feed your grad students
B. Teleportation is cool


This person will win the Nobel for discovering how to teleport large items and the ig-Nobel for figuring out how to use massive amounts of energy to move smiley faces across the hall.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Tuesday: a semi-random video

I know that I usually don't post YouTube videos up here (besides those of Flurry), but a friend made this one and I think it's hilarious. So I thought I'd share it. :)

Monday, October 4, 2010

Monday: Work smarter, not harder!

Today Ben and I went to the gym at our work. We always talk about how we need to exercise more, so on Friday we finally made a plan...we're going to exercise in the gym (or at the tennis courts) twice a week. We're also going to try and get some racquetball in once in a while, but it is rather far away.

On our way home though we figured out how to easily get twice the exercise! Work smarter, not harder!! We will just set our coordinate system origin at the other person and bike in opposite directions:
Right? That'll make us more in shape! We'll be going faster and covering more distance.

Please?

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Sunday: Flurry

It's been a while since I've had a picture of Flurry. We've taken a few videos this past week, so here we are. I know Flurry videos aren't always exciting, but I do love our cat.



Saturday, October 2, 2010

Saturday: maize maze

Today I went to the corn maze with the women's group from church. It was so easy to get lost! But we made it all the way through.


Friday, October 1, 2010

Friday: bowling

After dinner today Ben and I went bowling. I started to think about how bowling is a rather interesting game...I usually play it with people, but rarely am I competitive about it. I find that I play more against myself and trying to break 100.

Also, there are two places that we tend to bowl at. One place has all the same bowling balls, and they are color coded and well marked with the weight. One place just has "left-over" balls...all different colors and different fingerhole sizes. I was trying to decide which I like better. The first is nice because I can quickly grab a ball of the right weight. The latter is fun because it is interesting to see how different fingers are...and it is possible to get a ball that fits you better, if you're willing to look. (I still haven't decided which I like better.)