Dear Aunt Elaine
Actually, sharing meals was mostly Clinton's idea. I'm still getting settled in to living here, so this week I'm trying harder to cook regular meals. Once that happens I'll worry seriously about meal costs, but yes the plan was to allocate dues based on the cost of each meal (based off the Man/Meal tally sheet from the Impoverished Student's Handbook).
As for school, it's going well, I just need to get caught up on homework (or at least not fall so far behind that I'm missing due dates). I'm taking Japanese 101, which is exciting because I was unsatisfied with my Japanese class in high school (excellent teacher but it was getting phased out so I got passed on to the second year without really being competent). I'm also taking Calc II, which will be interesting because Calc I was mostly review for me, so this year I'll be learning more advanced integration techniques. Linear algebra is really easy so far, but it's a bit weird. I can't really predict where it's going, so I don't know how it's going to get more complex from here, but we'll see. Chem I've got my reservations about. Chem is generally confusing at best, but according to Cole (a friend of mine from AHS) we got a remarkably good chem education, so again I'll wait and see. I'm also taking a CAD class (required for an ME degree) and learning to use Solidworks. I learned to use Autodesk Inventor through Skunkworks, and already I much prefer Inventor over Solidworks. Mostly I just prefer the layout, it's much more intuitive. Solidworks tries to do too much for the user without giving them the option to do it themselves, and relies too much on adaptive windows and toolbars (ie. toolbars that change based on what's selected or what you are doing), while Inventor doesn't change it's toolbars much, and doesn't seem to worry so much about organization. According to Clinton, Inventor uses better physics engines when it's making analyses, but honestly I never learned how to use those tools.
As far as coming home, I'm thinking about trying to get home this next weekend. There's some things I'd like to get from there (like a proper soup-pot), but I suspect that I'll opt not too. Sometime soon I'll have to track down the dates of all the school breaks, but navigating the school website is a pain unique to recruitment and bureaucracy.
- Jay
P.S. You're officially getting more info about school from me than Mum does, so I'm going to copy/paste some of this to the blog she has me writing for that purpose. Hope that's not a problem.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Displacement
Looking out the window of the library just now, the grey sky obscures a distant hill enough that, as it rises above the Palouse, I immediately mistook it for an island. Then reality set in and I knew what I wanted to write about.
I really miss Seattle. I know I complain about living here all the time, and generally it's jokes and hyperbole, but there's more than a grain of truth to it all. I complain about the lack of trees here, and everybody says "but there's trees here!" and I say there aren't. WSU is an island in the middle of a desert. I can see the edge of it from where I'm sitting now. That's not a way to live. If I'm being honest, the general tree saturation here isn't all that different than, say, my neighborhood, but in Seattle you get patches of unused land filled with trees. Here, the trees are corralled and kempt, and if they weren't watered they would likely die. I miss the air back home. I miss not having my mouth and throat constantly dry. Every time I inhale, my nose burns with the dry air, scented by dry, lacquered wood. I especially miss the Sound. Not that I saw it all that often, or that I would think about it or take note very often, but suddenly I have a great urge to see it.
What I don't miss is living at home. I truly enjoy being able to see a mess in the living room, or in my room, or in ANY room, and being able to tackle it on my own without worrying about who's stuff I was misplacing. I like cooking for myself, and shopping for myself, and I really like having the initiative to do it on my own, because when I'm at home I can feel myself turning off.
I know that my present plan is going to take me very far away from home, and that's got me thinking; when does home stop being that house beside the school? Say I do get into JPL. Say I'm happy working there. California is damn far apart from Seattle, both physically and environmentally. At the risk of invoking the demon of Klishay, home is where the heart is, and my heart is definitely in Seattle, so does this mean I'm just doomed to be perpetually discontent by my environment? What about the long term? Can I plan on retiring there? I'd honestly love to become a teacher at AHS one day, but it's my impression that people generally settle down where they land. Maybe I find somewhere I like more than Seattle.
There's not too much point to this train of thought, but it does tend to make me very thirsty.
I really miss Seattle. I know I complain about living here all the time, and generally it's jokes and hyperbole, but there's more than a grain of truth to it all. I complain about the lack of trees here, and everybody says "but there's trees here!" and I say there aren't. WSU is an island in the middle of a desert. I can see the edge of it from where I'm sitting now. That's not a way to live. If I'm being honest, the general tree saturation here isn't all that different than, say, my neighborhood, but in Seattle you get patches of unused land filled with trees. Here, the trees are corralled and kempt, and if they weren't watered they would likely die. I miss the air back home. I miss not having my mouth and throat constantly dry. Every time I inhale, my nose burns with the dry air, scented by dry, lacquered wood. I especially miss the Sound. Not that I saw it all that often, or that I would think about it or take note very often, but suddenly I have a great urge to see it.
What I don't miss is living at home. I truly enjoy being able to see a mess in the living room, or in my room, or in ANY room, and being able to tackle it on my own without worrying about who's stuff I was misplacing. I like cooking for myself, and shopping for myself, and I really like having the initiative to do it on my own, because when I'm at home I can feel myself turning off.
I know that my present plan is going to take me very far away from home, and that's got me thinking; when does home stop being that house beside the school? Say I do get into JPL. Say I'm happy working there. California is damn far apart from Seattle, both physically and environmentally. At the risk of invoking the demon of Klishay, home is where the heart is, and my heart is definitely in Seattle, so does this mean I'm just doomed to be perpetually discontent by my environment? What about the long term? Can I plan on retiring there? I'd honestly love to become a teacher at AHS one day, but it's my impression that people generally settle down where they land. Maybe I find somewhere I like more than Seattle.
There's not too much point to this train of thought, but it does tend to make me very thirsty.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Validation
I am playing a reality-based, horror GURPS game. My character (based off me) has taken Gadgeteer. Once per session I can have whatever it is that I need at the time. Even if I've been searched and had everything taken immediately previous. GURPS is officially > DnD.
I may now no longer take any crap about complaining about the commute between the apartment and campus. I in the week I've been here, I've had to make that commute at least 20 times. Originally I was just worried about the time it would take to go from the library, to my room, and back, and my family told me off about that, now I really AM fed up with the distance. Not only is net elevation change MUCH greater than last year (INCLUDING time spend in the goddamned elevator) the FINAL elevation change is greater!
Worse, you can't go straight ANYWHERE. EVERY SINGLE BUILDING POSSIBLE IS PLACED EXACTLY IN THE WAY. Inevitably, whatever path I take, I've gone at least twice as far as I would have last year.
Now, I don't mean to say I'm fed up or anything. Honestly, I like the amount of exercise I'm getting, and I can deal with the time it takes. Eventually I'm not going to be late for any of my classes. What I am saying is that anybody who wants to give me crap for complaining about this can shove it.
It's hot, I'm tired, and I've already gone to and from campus three times. Up and down a big-ass hill.
I may now no longer take any crap about complaining about the commute between the apartment and campus. I in the week I've been here, I've had to make that commute at least 20 times. Originally I was just worried about the time it would take to go from the library, to my room, and back, and my family told me off about that, now I really AM fed up with the distance. Not only is net elevation change MUCH greater than last year (INCLUDING time spend in the goddamned elevator) the FINAL elevation change is greater!
Worse, you can't go straight ANYWHERE. EVERY SINGLE BUILDING POSSIBLE IS PLACED EXACTLY IN THE WAY. Inevitably, whatever path I take, I've gone at least twice as far as I would have last year.
Now, I don't mean to say I'm fed up or anything. Honestly, I like the amount of exercise I'm getting, and I can deal with the time it takes. Eventually I'm not going to be late for any of my classes. What I am saying is that anybody who wants to give me crap for complaining about this can shove it.
It's hot, I'm tired, and I've already gone to and from campus three times. Up and down a big-ass hill.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Apartment Mom
I find it unsurprising that I am much more responsible and cleanly when I'm out of the house.
I have become the apartment mom. I spent the morning nagging Clinton to stop watching TV and help me tidy the living room. I dragged Thor out of his room to help, and together we got this place looking quite presentable. Of course, I was the one vacuuming after the other two split, but I'm just going to make one of them do that next month. That's another thing. Apparently I'm also the one setting up our chore schedule and our budget sheet (though I admit to not making much advancements on the latter).
My main concern is being able to maintain this habit, but judging from last year, that won't be too much of a problem. Cleaning and tidying are a welcome break from school work, especially when one is able to, with good reason, take the time regardless of workload. It's a mandatory day of rest, which is still productive
I have become the apartment mom. I spent the morning nagging Clinton to stop watching TV and help me tidy the living room. I dragged Thor out of his room to help, and together we got this place looking quite presentable. Of course, I was the one vacuuming after the other two split, but I'm just going to make one of them do that next month. That's another thing. Apparently I'm also the one setting up our chore schedule and our budget sheet (though I admit to not making much advancements on the latter).
My main concern is being able to maintain this habit, but judging from last year, that won't be too much of a problem. Cleaning and tidying are a welcome break from school work, especially when one is able to, with good reason, take the time regardless of workload. It's a mandatory day of rest, which is still productive
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Groceries
All of us here in the apartment are very tired at this point. By "all of us" I mean me and Clinton. His girlfriend had left moments prior, and he and I were mock fighting. I had put a plastic bag on top of (read ON TOP OF not over) his head and was shouting "ASTRONAUT!" gleefully, and he was mock threatening me with stabby violence. He must have still been running on girlfriend mode, because when the altercation came to a close, and I turned back to what I was doing (making dinner), he kissed me lightly (one might almost say lovingly) on the shoulder. I have given him no end of crap about this. He is significantly embarrassed, it really is wonderful to watch.
For the first time in my life, I have bought groceries for my own living separate from Mum. I hate the feeling that I'm spending far too much on everything, but we were very frugal, didn't buy anything we had any chance of not using, and I feel good about it. Living is interesting now, because we talk about how we're going to do the smallest of things, we're building a life of our own. It's interesting. There've been disagreements, like I enjoy the privacy of my room, and I've run a LAN cable up here so I can do hardwire stuff (such as bank accounts) in the convenience of my own room. Clinton worries that Thor and I are going to keep to our rooms, and wants me to take the LAN cable down. He grew up with very little privacy, and wants room mates, and worries that we're just going to become co-habitats. Thor doesn't care and he'll stay to his room if he feels like is. I however, grew up with tons of personal time, and I don't like having it encroached on if I can help it. That said, I noticed that Sister and I don't really do much together because we both keep to our rooms (or rather I do). Still, I don't think that's going to be an issue here because I already spent far too much time being social today (and it's bitten me in the foot).
For the first time in my life, I have bought groceries for my own living separate from Mum. I hate the feeling that I'm spending far too much on everything, but we were very frugal, didn't buy anything we had any chance of not using, and I feel good about it. Living is interesting now, because we talk about how we're going to do the smallest of things, we're building a life of our own. It's interesting. There've been disagreements, like I enjoy the privacy of my room, and I've run a LAN cable up here so I can do hardwire stuff (such as bank accounts) in the convenience of my own room. Clinton worries that Thor and I are going to keep to our rooms, and wants me to take the LAN cable down. He grew up with very little privacy, and wants room mates, and worries that we're just going to become co-habitats. Thor doesn't care and he'll stay to his room if he feels like is. I however, grew up with tons of personal time, and I don't like having it encroached on if I can help it. That said, I noticed that Sister and I don't really do much together because we both keep to our rooms (or rather I do). Still, I don't think that's going to be an issue here because I already spent far too much time being social today (and it's bitten me in the foot).
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
DIS ARE TING I AR MEENIN TA BEEN UPDATIN WIT
GIV ME LINKA?
(Origional title: HAY LOOKIT ME! AHMA BLOGGIFICATIN'!)
I love sarcasm. Say somebody's talking to you about something you have no context for. They say something like "Yeah I got a 79%!" all you need to say is "Congrats," and sound at least a little sincere about it. If that number is good, then they assume you're being sincere, but if it's bad, sarcasm comes in to save the day, and they think you're being sarcastic and go on blathering at you.
Things to talk about:
Ficly
Why I haven't been blogging
Leading up to the ASME competition
The ASME competition <- I got mostly through here. The rest is forgotten.
Current state of things
ATLANTA!
Ficly:
AH'VE BEEN WRITIN'!
LOOKITMEGO!
I found out about Ficly through Wil Wheaton and one of his podcasts. When I started out I was having so much fun! Then I kinda petered out. Then I went about a month without posting anything. I tried, I honestly tried, but nothing came to me. Then, one day while I was avoiding work (we'll talk more about that later), I was reading Every day Weirdness, and I was simply stunned by how incredible those writers are. I felt inspired, so I immediately stopped going through my list of bookmarks, and went for a walk around campus to see if I couldn't get any inspiration.
Nothing came. At least, not until I reached the Northmost point on campus. I had been thinking about what I consider my best story (Pop), and how if only I could do something like that again, and how I would probably never do something like that again, and how I probably had done several things as good as that but I wasn't recognizing them and thinking that my writing was not living up to that was preventing me from writing more and getting better. My mind jumped around a lot and it was hard to get any real THINKING done. But thinking about that story somehow led me into what became my idea for a sequal!
I was elated. I was giggling as I made the story more and more creatively vile. This process of running through material in my head led to another idea. This one I liked, but I wanted to work on my first one some more. I knew it would stick (and indeed it has), so I stuck it on the back burner, still just a frame of a story, and went back to being elated at how well I was doing. By this time I had gone about half again as far as I did before the first inspiration struck me.
Let me put this in some more context, however. I don't feel like I have properly explained how giggling, creepy smiley, hop skippy I was. I had spent about a month, and not a single day went by where I wasn't aware of how little I was writing. Ficly, being a community, needs feeding and care, and I wasn't feeding it anything. Worse, I couldn't come up with ideas. I spend most of my idle time coming up with stories and ideas, I have ever since my family started taking long drives up to Whistler or Vancouver, but here I was with nothing. Then, in one delightful flash of inspiration, it came back to me!
By this time, I had decided to cut my walk short. Instead of walking the full circumference of campus, I would head back to the library about half way through. I had two ideas and I desperately needed to write them down so I wouldn't forget them. I was walking through the library's second set of doors when I had my third idea. Now, I'll let you know I've not written any of these stories. Looking back, I'm none too thrilled by them (except for the third, I like that one), but the important bit was where they de-clogged my creative brain. Since then, I've written more than a few stories. I'm EVEN feeling guilty for not updating one of my TWO ongoing projects when I intended to. This is a good place to be in, and the moral of this story.
Why I haven't been blogging:
It's a combination of a percieved pileup of homework and Ficly, but mostly ASME. What with the ASME competition, Atlanta, and midterms, I really wanted to be caught up with homework before leaving. As such, I doubled my workload, with the intent of getting lots done and caught up. It was a very feasible plan... except, I didn't do enough of it. See, piling on more work makes me weary. I get that age old problem where I see so much work in front of me, and I just don't want to do any of it. Because of that, I spent perhaps a bit too much time on Ficly, and not enough on homework. Now, I haven't been blogging because I SAW so much work, and saw myself not getting enough of it done, so I figured that I didn't have time to do blog, or a number of other things that I really did have time for, and really should have gotten done much earlier. So yea, not a good situation to be in.
Again, with the ASME competition coming up, the Student Design team was kinda getting into crunch time, only not very many people were making time to meet and work on it. I was one of three people who actually met every day for the two weeks before the competition, and because each meeting went from four-ish to late, I really didn't have much time for homework. In hind sight, I probably should have been more resolved to work on homework, but I felt justified in using that tie on the competition. It didn't pay off, but I'm glad I stuck through with it till the end.
Leading up to the ASME competition:
This wasn't exactly a good year to join the ASME Student Design Competition at WSU. This whole time, I've just been waiting for the team to get together and work, and really unimpressed with the results. That said, I'm glad that I stuck through with it till the end (or at least very close to it). Firstly, when I first started going, I was told that they were about 9 weeks in. They only had a very vague 3-D model of their machine. I recall thinking that in 9 weeks Skunkworks would have gotten this planned, built, tested, and possibly rebuilt.
But like I said, I kept coming, and basically each meeting was spent making lists of reasons why we couldn't start building, and keeping track of which of those things we'd checked off. When we did finally start building, the construction, having been built off vague ideas, was shoddy and temporary. They didn't want to invest too much into it, and didn't want to make anything permanent, and that's how it went for a couple months.
At some point, we started having two meetings a week, and then a couple of weeks in, me and two other people on the team (Crissy and Eric) started going in every day. I did this because they did, and I had developed a stipulation for working on the project, that I couldn't be the only one working on it at that time. Crissy and Eric started working on it because the other competition teams (RC Baja and the Human Powered Paper Vehicle) had nothing to do. Eventually, RC Baja started working again, and they switched over to that, so I stopped working as hard on the recycler.
It's important to note that this was in the week before the competition, and the machine still wasn't functioning. Our design wasn't exactly solid, it was based on two conveyor belts, none of which worked, and it was literally held together with duct tape, rubber bands and wire. Finally, the whole team pitched in (sans Crissy and Eric, but that's perfectly understandable) during the two days before we left, and we got it to within a reasonable facsimile of functioning condition (though we still needed to wire the whole thing the night before the competition).
The ASME competition:
Short version: It was fun.
Long version: We didn't do well.
So here's the story. Like I said before, we were still working on the bloody thing the night before the competition. We wired it up, built some boxes for it to deposit its recyclables into. Let me tell you about the boxes. The requirements say they need to be opaque. Most other teams used those opaque, plastic storage bins. We had cardboard at hand, so we used that. I had checked the forums that are supposed to clarify rules (I'll not get started on this system of rules), and they said that the boxes simply had to allow the judges to see the sorted items. So we either cut our boxes low, or cut slots in their sides.
Come the actual competition, my final struggle for the team was just getting the bloody box to fit the requirements for entry. We had to pull together two more boxes (which we basically just found) for two materials that we weren't planning on sorting, we had to clearly label our on-off switch (which I promptly labeled incorrectly), and we had to find ONE LAST PIECE of material to sort. Each team had to submit 3 pieces of each type, tin can (as in soda), steel can (as in soup), plastic bottle, and glass jars. Thing is, the dimensions for the glass jars were TINY, specifically baby-food tiny. So that's what we did. We bought baby food and ate it. WELL, the group leader, Sam, ate it. She suggested it because apparently she does it all the time. It IS just mashed fruit, so why not? well, the first time they bought some (and ate it), they found out it was too small. SO they had to go BACK to the store, and buy more. They brought that to us JUST IN TIME to present it and qualify us, so we were officially competing at that point.
But there was an even MORE fun bit standing in our way even then.
THEN CAME THE COMPETITION ITSELF! The main problem with our design, indeed ALL the designs there, was the hopper. Those IDIOTS who designed the rules said you couldn't have ANY mechanisms
(Origional title: HAY LOOKIT ME! AHMA BLOGGIFICATIN'!)
I love sarcasm. Say somebody's talking to you about something you have no context for. They say something like "Yeah I got a 79%!" all you need to say is "Congrats," and sound at least a little sincere about it. If that number is good, then they assume you're being sincere, but if it's bad, sarcasm comes in to save the day, and they think you're being sarcastic and go on blathering at you.
Things to talk about:
Ficly
Why I haven't been blogging
Leading up to the ASME competition
The ASME competition <- I got mostly through here. The rest is forgotten.
Current state of things
ATLANTA!
Ficly:
AH'VE BEEN WRITIN'!
LOOKITMEGO!
I found out about Ficly through Wil Wheaton and one of his podcasts. When I started out I was having so much fun! Then I kinda petered out. Then I went about a month without posting anything. I tried, I honestly tried, but nothing came to me. Then, one day while I was avoiding work (we'll talk more about that later), I was reading Every day Weirdness, and I was simply stunned by how incredible those writers are. I felt inspired, so I immediately stopped going through my list of bookmarks, and went for a walk around campus to see if I couldn't get any inspiration.
Nothing came. At least, not until I reached the Northmost point on campus. I had been thinking about what I consider my best story (Pop), and how if only I could do something like that again, and how I would probably never do something like that again, and how I probably had done several things as good as that but I wasn't recognizing them and thinking that my writing was not living up to that was preventing me from writing more and getting better. My mind jumped around a lot and it was hard to get any real THINKING done. But thinking about that story somehow led me into what became my idea for a sequal!
I was elated. I was giggling as I made the story more and more creatively vile. This process of running through material in my head led to another idea. This one I liked, but I wanted to work on my first one some more. I knew it would stick (and indeed it has), so I stuck it on the back burner, still just a frame of a story, and went back to being elated at how well I was doing. By this time I had gone about half again as far as I did before the first inspiration struck me.
Let me put this in some more context, however. I don't feel like I have properly explained how giggling, creepy smiley, hop skippy I was. I had spent about a month, and not a single day went by where I wasn't aware of how little I was writing. Ficly, being a community, needs feeding and care, and I wasn't feeding it anything. Worse, I couldn't come up with ideas. I spend most of my idle time coming up with stories and ideas, I have ever since my family started taking long drives up to Whistler or Vancouver, but here I was with nothing. Then, in one delightful flash of inspiration, it came back to me!
By this time, I had decided to cut my walk short. Instead of walking the full circumference of campus, I would head back to the library about half way through. I had two ideas and I desperately needed to write them down so I wouldn't forget them. I was walking through the library's second set of doors when I had my third idea. Now, I'll let you know I've not written any of these stories. Looking back, I'm none too thrilled by them (except for the third, I like that one), but the important bit was where they de-clogged my creative brain. Since then, I've written more than a few stories. I'm EVEN feeling guilty for not updating one of my TWO ongoing projects when I intended to. This is a good place to be in, and the moral of this story.
Why I haven't been blogging:
It's a combination of a percieved pileup of homework and Ficly, but mostly ASME. What with the ASME competition, Atlanta, and midterms, I really wanted to be caught up with homework before leaving. As such, I doubled my workload, with the intent of getting lots done and caught up. It was a very feasible plan... except, I didn't do enough of it. See, piling on more work makes me weary. I get that age old problem where I see so much work in front of me, and I just don't want to do any of it. Because of that, I spent perhaps a bit too much time on Ficly, and not enough on homework. Now, I haven't been blogging because I SAW so much work, and saw myself not getting enough of it done, so I figured that I didn't have time to do blog, or a number of other things that I really did have time for, and really should have gotten done much earlier. So yea, not a good situation to be in.
Again, with the ASME competition coming up, the Student Design team was kinda getting into crunch time, only not very many people were making time to meet and work on it. I was one of three people who actually met every day for the two weeks before the competition, and because each meeting went from four-ish to late, I really didn't have much time for homework. In hind sight, I probably should have been more resolved to work on homework, but I felt justified in using that tie on the competition. It didn't pay off, but I'm glad I stuck through with it till the end.
Leading up to the ASME competition:
This wasn't exactly a good year to join the ASME Student Design Competition at WSU. This whole time, I've just been waiting for the team to get together and work, and really unimpressed with the results. That said, I'm glad that I stuck through with it till the end (or at least very close to it). Firstly, when I first started going, I was told that they were about 9 weeks in. They only had a very vague 3-D model of their machine. I recall thinking that in 9 weeks Skunkworks would have gotten this planned, built, tested, and possibly rebuilt.
But like I said, I kept coming, and basically each meeting was spent making lists of reasons why we couldn't start building, and keeping track of which of those things we'd checked off. When we did finally start building, the construction, having been built off vague ideas, was shoddy and temporary. They didn't want to invest too much into it, and didn't want to make anything permanent, and that's how it went for a couple months.
At some point, we started having two meetings a week, and then a couple of weeks in, me and two other people on the team (Crissy and Eric) started going in every day. I did this because they did, and I had developed a stipulation for working on the project, that I couldn't be the only one working on it at that time. Crissy and Eric started working on it because the other competition teams (RC Baja and the Human Powered Paper Vehicle) had nothing to do. Eventually, RC Baja started working again, and they switched over to that, so I stopped working as hard on the recycler.
It's important to note that this was in the week before the competition, and the machine still wasn't functioning. Our design wasn't exactly solid, it was based on two conveyor belts, none of which worked, and it was literally held together with duct tape, rubber bands and wire. Finally, the whole team pitched in (sans Crissy and Eric, but that's perfectly understandable) during the two days before we left, and we got it to within a reasonable facsimile of functioning condition (though we still needed to wire the whole thing the night before the competition).
The ASME competition:
Short version: It was fun.
Long version: We didn't do well.
So here's the story. Like I said before, we were still working on the bloody thing the night before the competition. We wired it up, built some boxes for it to deposit its recyclables into. Let me tell you about the boxes. The requirements say they need to be opaque. Most other teams used those opaque, plastic storage bins. We had cardboard at hand, so we used that. I had checked the forums that are supposed to clarify rules (I'll not get started on this system of rules), and they said that the boxes simply had to allow the judges to see the sorted items. So we either cut our boxes low, or cut slots in their sides.
Come the actual competition, my final struggle for the team was just getting the bloody box to fit the requirements for entry. We had to pull together two more boxes (which we basically just found) for two materials that we weren't planning on sorting, we had to clearly label our on-off switch (which I promptly labeled incorrectly), and we had to find ONE LAST PIECE of material to sort. Each team had to submit 3 pieces of each type, tin can (as in soda), steel can (as in soup), plastic bottle, and glass jars. Thing is, the dimensions for the glass jars were TINY, specifically baby-food tiny. So that's what we did. We bought baby food and ate it. WELL, the group leader, Sam, ate it. She suggested it because apparently she does it all the time. It IS just mashed fruit, so why not? well, the first time they bought some (and ate it), they found out it was too small. SO they had to go BACK to the store, and buy more. They brought that to us JUST IN TIME to present it and qualify us, so we were officially competing at that point.
But there was an even MORE fun bit standing in our way even then.
THEN CAME THE COMPETITION ITSELF! The main problem with our design, indeed ALL the designs there, was the hopper. Those IDIOTS who designed the rules said you couldn't have ANY mechanisms
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Beautiful
So I found out about Ficly thanks to Wil Wheaton, and I am so excited about it. I've come up with a couple of story ideas, and I need to start putting them up there. This was one, and I'm immensely proud of it. Sadly, Ficly only gives you room for 1024 characters, and this one ran too long. So, while I'm thinking about shortening it to fit, here's the full version.
Beautiful.
The landscape was beautiful. It was nearing sunset, and the air was starting to take that orange tone reminiscent of tired afternoons proceeding days spent with family at the park or the zoo. The mountains jutted up, through the cloud layer like tall, thin trees, and cast impossibly long, blue shadows that contrasted with the evening light of the billowy landscape as it flowed around those towering peaks. Sometimes, where the stolid mountains forced a tear in that blanket of clouds, a cavernous world could be seen, but no ground. Just those great spires stretching down for an eternity, like ancient tree trunks with no roots. All this was so impossibly far away that, even though he had been falling for some time now, maybe hours, he still hadn't even neared the cloud layer, but he wasn't looking down. Instead, he was turned upward, staring at that spot in the sky, where the towering cliff, so much taller than any mountain, arched through the sky and came to a point far above him. Colored dark by its own shadow, the cliff looked like a wide tear in the pure blue material of the sky, and he stared at it with dry eyes. He had no more energy left to cry. He could no longer see that vantage point, with its quarter-for-ten-minutes telescopes, and its ice cream stands, and red-brown dirt and gravel road, and other families visiting for the day; and little Jimmy Whittaker sincerely wished he had not tripped.
Beautiful.
The landscape was beautiful. It was nearing sunset, and the air was starting to take that orange tone reminiscent of tired afternoons proceeding days spent with family at the park or the zoo. The mountains jutted up, through the cloud layer like tall, thin trees, and cast impossibly long, blue shadows that contrasted with the evening light of the billowy landscape as it flowed around those towering peaks. Sometimes, where the stolid mountains forced a tear in that blanket of clouds, a cavernous world could be seen, but no ground. Just those great spires stretching down for an eternity, like ancient tree trunks with no roots. All this was so impossibly far away that, even though he had been falling for some time now, maybe hours, he still hadn't even neared the cloud layer, but he wasn't looking down. Instead, he was turned upward, staring at that spot in the sky, where the towering cliff, so much taller than any mountain, arched through the sky and came to a point far above him. Colored dark by its own shadow, the cliff looked like a wide tear in the pure blue material of the sky, and he stared at it with dry eyes. He had no more energy left to cry. He could no longer see that vantage point, with its quarter-for-ten-minutes telescopes, and its ice cream stands, and red-brown dirt and gravel road, and other families visiting for the day; and little Jimmy Whittaker sincerely wished he had not tripped.
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