I got my new tires.

The mechanic did not notice the sound from my engine as was to be expected, but they put on my tires. They're some brand I've never heard of ....Christie Yamaguchies or something. I don't know. I guess you have to special order Goodyear tires if you want to buy Goodyear tires from the Goodyear shop. People are stupid.

New Tires

I am getting two new tires on my truck. There's also some crazy sound coming from my engine the comes on somewhat arbitrarily. I don't really know too much about cars, so I'm always left to trust the mechanic. We have a guy that works on Sonya's car, and we feel pretty good about it him. Unfortunately, he does not work on Nissans, so I have resorted to the Goodyear in town. I've been there before, and they seem to do a good job. I figured, I need tires, that ought to be the place to go. So when I dropped my car off, I figured it would take a few hours. Nope. They don't have my size tire, they have to order them, and they won't be Goodyear tires. What the heck is that all about?!

I Hate Yorkshire Terriers

I made friends with the backyard-neighbor dogs. If you've ever read "Children of a Lesser Dog," you may have seen pictures of the Bizzarro versions of our dogs. They are actually quite sweet, and they seem really happy when I take the time to go back there and say hello. I've done a good job of ignoring them for a long time, but I noticed a new dog there the other day. Curiosity got the better of me, so I climbed through the woods to take a peek. It's a daggum Yorky. ...piece of ***. My hatred for that breed dates back to a time when my old roomates came home with one. They made no real effort to train him, so he relieved himself all over the place. I know I should blame the owners and not the dog, but all of my subsequent experience with them has been similarly bad. This little nightmare in the backyard is no exception. As I said, I made friends with Josie and Dixie. I go back there now and pet them. I try to pet the new little piece of garbage, but all it does is leap and try to bite my fingers. It's obnoxious.

Major Nerd Alert

This type of problem is a lot of fun because it looks like a fairly complicated spring/mass system, but you can do all the calculations in just about one equation. Yeah work-energy equations! Yeah Sir Isaac Newton!!
This section was all about linear constraints (kinematic constraints), but it's really all about fun with pulleys. This one was challenging.
Here's another Kinematic Constraint problem. I probably spent three hours messing with this one until I realized my error in logic. It was still a lot of fun even after all the extra time.
This problem was fun because it nearly made my TI-89 graphing calculator explode. Its literally impossible to solve this equation without technology because it requires you solve for two trig functions simultaneously. You would be forced into a deadly game of trial and error if you ever wanted to do it by hand. Why would you ever want to do this by hand?!
This was one of the earliest assignments we did. If you can read my chicken-scratch at the top of the page, you can see it's a pretty intense gravity problem. Actually, it's not too hard, just a little abstract.

If anybody was wondering the kind of stuff I'm doing in Engineering School, here's your taste.

Reading Days

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Fall break at VCU is called "Reading Days." It's a chance to get all caught up on classes. Of course, I've got tests in every class directly following this little break. Here is where I will be spending reading days. Notice my sweet rolling book cart

...schmebates...

I am sick to death of debates. They tell us nothing other than both of these guys listen to the news and reviews of previous debates. Dickain tried his best to not sound completely like a growling dog, and Obama seemed forced to pander to that group of Dumbocrats that think he needs to sound tougher. I like Obama how he is naturally and attempts to "get tough" fit about as comfortably as a swear word from my dad. If you don't know my dad, he doesn't swear much, so it sounds funny when he does. I appreciate that about him. These debates just cause me stress. Nobody expects to hear anything new; we're all just waiting on the Ford-esque gaffe that shuts one of the campaigns down. If these things were about facts they could be done and over in five minutes. If you really pick through the voting records, you'll see evidence that bothers you on either side. The whole choice comes down to personality and intelligence. The main thing I learned from the two debates thus far is these guys both need to invest in a good thesaurus. Maverick ...Main Street ...Fundamental Difference ...911 ...blach...