Some Of My Newest Babies Have Arrived!

It took two years of intense "labor", but they finally came out of the chute. Check out just a couple versions of my newest babies below. Of course, I can't claim all the credit and these pictures don't really do them justice because you can only really get the full effect of my work when the power is on. But you kinda sorta get the idea.



I was in sunny Arkansas last week, and sometimes when I travel for work by myself I figure it might get a little boring in the evenings and stuff, but it's always a pleasant surprise when you meet someone new at meeting or at work and they're so friendly and inviting and hospitable to a lonely traveler. I try to remember how much I appreciate it when people do that and pass on the favor to others, but I'm afraid I fall pretty far short of returning the favor most times.

A Quarter Of A Century

When I checked Jen's blog, I got tagged to do this thing here. I'm pretty sure it was a sneaky way to try to get me to kinda sorta do my 100 things. If you have a blog, your blog has just been tagged. Ha ha ha ha ha!!!!

Finish the sentence:
1. Maybe I should quit dinking around and go to bed at a decent hour.
2. I love both kinds of music. Country and Western.
3. People would say that I'm special, just like my cousin Ed.
4. I don't understand how people can think it was a good party if they can't remember it.
5. When I wake up in the morning I hit the snooze button several times.
6. I lost my grip on reality a long time ago.
7. Life is full of surprises. Duh.
8. My past is what makes me who I am today.
9. I get annoyed when people call you and then you spend time on the phone listening to them talk to other people in the room with them. Dude, why did you call me in the first place if you weren't going to talk to me?
10. Parties are best when they involve playing Rook or some other game.
11. I wish I were a better conversationalist. And that I were an Oscar Meyer wiener.
12. Dogs bark. They involve maintenance if you own one. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
13. Cats meow. They have pajamas I've heard. They involve maintenance too, but probably not quite as much as a dog. Not that there's anything wrong with that either.
14. Tomorrow I'm going to be in Fort Smith and might be watching a pilot build.
15. I have low tolerance for cell phones with bad reception.
16. I'm totally terrified of getting a mental illness.
17. I wonder why my blog has so many lurkers.
18. Never in my life have I gone skydiving or bungee jumping.
19. High school was a different phase of my life. I learned some good things, but I'm glad I graduated and wasn't stuck there forever.
20. When I'm nervous I get quiet and intense. Sometimes it's hard to tell that from when I'm being my normal self though.
21. One time at a family gathering I put black olives on all my fingers. Actually, more than one time.
22. Take my advice: Don't stick a table knife in an electrical outlet. Don't put a screwdriver in there either.
23. Making my bed only happens when I change the sheets (which is seldom).
24. I'm almost always cold.
25. I'm addicted to fruit juice.
26. I want someone to volunteer to be the next SWE section president so that I won't have to be it again next year.

Safety First

The CAD guy at work apparently wasn't busy enough last week, so he had time to surf the internet and find this picture. He said it reminded him of me. I take all things he says like that as compliments. ;-) I think the mathematical equation for fun is a good touch. If you need any tips on how to be cool, let me know. I have have lots of them.

Drifting Along With The Tumbling Tumbleweed

A girl at work needed someone to kitty sit for her this week while she was traveling, so I temporarily have a cat (Tumbleweed - Tum/Kitty for short). I've had him for less than 36 hours, and it's already been an interesting time.

Tumbleweed Trap

When I got home this afternoon after leaving him alone for about 6 hours, I couldn't find him anywhere. I was fairly certain I hadn't let him sneak out when I left, but I was starting to question my own sanity. He still hadn't shown his face after I took a nap for an hour or so, so then I had to get really serious about finding him. I eventually found him on top of an air return duct between two floor joists in the basement. I could not figure out how he got up there, and apparently he couldn't figure out how to get down.

Since I rescued him, the only other trouble I've had is that I've had to clean up his puke twice since then. So far the dubious benefit of animal companionship has probably not compensated for this stress in my life. I'm just hoping he survives this week better than the plant that I had for awhile. That would be a total downer to have to tell the girl at work that her cat died while in my custody.

Annual Tax Complaint

I did my taxes today. I think I might have realized this before, but the state I live in really socks the taxes to you. The starting point for calculating my state taxes is the Adjusted Gross Income on my federal tax return. This means that they do not include any federal exemptions you had due to property taxes you paid, interest paid on mortgages, the standard exemption for the number of people you're claiming, and charitable donations if they are not made to certain entities located in this state. In a nutshell, that means they taxed me on a whole lot more income than the federal government did. Whoever wrote the tax code for this state knew what they were doing if they were trying to fill the state's pockets, but it's a raw deal for the taxpayer.

I went back and looked at my old tax records from ND, and from what I could tell their starting point is the Federal Taxable Income, which would be much nicer. Either way they do it, what I don't like is that I still get taxed on the income tax money I pay to the federal government. The states are taxing my taxes.

The software I used also gives a summary of how my federal income tax is spent, and more than 50% of those taxes go towards funding assistance programs like Social Security, Medicare, Unemployment, Medicaid, Food Stamps, Social Services, etc. Fifty percent! In my opinion, that's excessive.

And This Is Why We Do FMEAs

A couple months ago my hot tub went on the fritz. Of course it did it during the coldest part of January, so I had to drain it because I didn't think I could get it repaired in time to prevent damage from all that water freezing. I suspect what may have happened is that the heater shorted, but I don't have much data to support it.

When I went to check on the hot tub that fateful day, I found that it had blown the breaker. So I reset it and then went back outside to see if I could diagnose the reason for the breaker tripping. I ran all the jets for about 30 seconds with no problems, but when I turned them off I could smell something electrically hot. Then I turned the jets back on and went by the control area to sniff around and determine the root cause. After about 20 seconds, I got a fireworks show and the breaker tripped again. When I opened up the control panel, this is what I saw. There was a reason for such big fireworks!


So the moral of this story is: this is why engineers do Failure Modes and Effects Analysis. What happens if the heater shorts? Will it trip the breaker? Start a fire? Electrocute whoever is sitting in the hot tub at the time? Much as I hate doing them, I will admit that sometimes there is a good reason to do one. I just wish doing them wasn't so painful.