Random Thought

What makes a blog interesting? I can't imagine anyone cares about any part of my day, or what is going on physically. Are they interested in the things I think, if I'm even thinking at all? What makes it worthwhile for a person to sit down and want to sign on to look at their computer screen, reading about me. I guess they would look for some kind of substance, something that they can relate to. "Ah, Trevor got the mail today. I got the mail once."

No. I don't think anyone cares about that. And yet, for those who do know me, maybe they would like to know how I'm doing, what I've been up to. Mostly, its probably nothing that they really want to hear. I can't imagine small talk is exciting to read, which is why it isn't small writing. But still, why read a blog? Why write a blog?

I thought it would be fun to just write something. I've written some beginnings of stories here and there, inspiration of a friend. I have also read journal entries and blogs of another, which I guess inspired me to blog. And I haven't been doing what I intended.

I wanted blogging to force me to think. To think outside the box, to think out things I hadn't payed attention to. To look at things with an eye that I know I have, yet it needs dusting, stretching, and warming up.

With all the time on my hands now that school is out for the winter, I need to get dusting.

Home!

So I'm finally home. Well, I've been home since Wednesday night. Sarah stayed the night, since the weather was pretty bad in between here and her home. We rented some movies on the television and I finished the last of my assignments. Now to just wait for the grades to come in.

I'm trying to figure out Christmas presents. I know I few things that I will gift, but not everything. I hope I'll get on top of that before things get stressful. Maybe I'll get some ideas from my friends.

My mom is doing well after her operation. I wanted to get her flowers when I came home, but the snow/ice storm was so bad we (Sarah and I, she was driving) went straight to my house. The next day, she kept getting flowers delivered, and these bundles were huge! How am I supposed to get some now? Have to come up with something else...

Breathe

Over the hump. All there's left to do is finish my lab write-up tomorrow. And studying for finals of course.

I think I'm going to take it pretty easy tonight. Get a few things done, and maybe work on the new song Sean's been working on. I've got a few new ones too. We hope to get recording this winter.

Headache Finale

Crunch time! It's the final week of school. Have two Statistics assignments due tomorrow, a group research paper, a lab write-up, Mechanics presentation, and a Thermodynamics test tomorrow night. Oh yeah, four finals next week, along with a Thermo PowerPoint presentation.

I have a meeting at the Career Development Center this afternoon. It's the only thing I look forward to, besides bed.

Three people are currently contacting me about buying my Wii. The last 9 people I talked to fell through, so I don't get my hopes up, just give them the information. Eventually I guess I'll have to lower my prices. I'm hoping demand goes up the closer we get to Xmas. Only problem is most people want brand new ones.

Couple of Turkeys

This Thanksgiving left everyone well fed. Two turkeys, six pies, three different potato dishes, a huge pan of stuffing, two different gravies, cranberries, asparagus, and cheese bread are just some of the causes for 14 people's half awake stupor.

The family played games to occupy some of the time while we waited for food, or couldn't move. Wii bowling seemed to be everyone's favorite. Also played poker (I won!), hearts, and Pitchnut of course!

My little cousin, Arielle, did therapeutic exercises to help her knee with a torn ligament she acquired during a soccer game. Uncle Lee continued to look up our ancestors online, while Uncle Blain harassed Aunt Terry's dog, who pretended she was the five pound head of the house.

Sadly, my grandparents we're not able to make it, instead sticking to the Florida weather. My dad and I will visit during my spring vacation (I haven't seen them in over a year!)

It was a successful and grand Thanksgiving. Hope everyone else had a great holiday and is able to finish their leftovers!

Almost Home

This weekend has been great.

Friday started off with an easy test, followed by an open discussion quiz. That evening, Sarah and I went food shopping and stopped at Marino's, an Italian restaurant located in Hornel. We then came back to her place to watch a movie and eat apple pie, (making me more excited about Thanksgiving, and the many pies he family always gets.)

Yesterday was unproductive. I lazed about my apartment playing Playstation and eating Italian leftovers while contacting Brian Wheat and Groggy Darlin, a band I was bringing to Alfred that evening as Homegrown Music Chair of the Student Activities Board. They were to go on at 10PM, and made me nervous when they showed up forty minutes after 8, when we were hoping they would be here by. Thankfully, they took no time to set up and sound check, giving themselves enough time to grab food before the show. Brian Wheat then wanted to get on the Alfred radio station to briefly announce the show, which we were able to do, then he made his way back to he stage to start playing.



Brian Wheat and Groggy Darlin are a band based out of the Buffalo area. Mark, their drummer, is a 2004 Alfred alumni. They play great Acoustic/Indie/Folk Rock. I love their current cd, and look forward to getting the next CD when it comes out. They are a great bunch of guys, some of the nicest people you could ever meet. I recommend checking them out at their myspace.

Today I've got to finish a couple of homework problems on gears. My classes for Monday have all been canceled, and my one Tuesday class that I still do have doesn't expect anyone to show. The only thing keeping me here is the mandatory Chamber Singers rehearsal with the orchestra. Course, tonight tonight Sarah and I will make some Greek pizza and fried mozzarella, then try to finish the pie.

I'll be going back home Tuesday morning.

Random Thought:
I hate trying to figure out what I want for Christmas. I wanted a new phone with a keyboard for texting, but I don't really need it. I was thinking now of getting a High Def. (HDCP) computer monitor to play my playstation on with best resolution, and maybe a game and controller on the side. We'll see.

Two Technologies

Just got back from Dresser-Rand, which works a lot with spinning thermodynamic parts such as turbines, compressors, centrifuge equipment, etc. A handful of engineers, including myself, visited a plant about 30 minutes away in the town of Wellsville, NY, which focused the most on steam turbines.

The majority of the tour walked us through the assembly building where many machines cut out various parts, and workers milled and assembled turbines ranging from small television sized units to units that were being created for naval ships, about 1 1/2 times the size of a laying elephant (there were eight being built for one ship).

After the tour, we were given a free lunch of subs, chips, and soda, then spoken to by engineers who worked in another part of the facilities. I only wish our tour showed us the engineering office area, no matter how unexciting it may look.


Also, every Thursday we have a mandatory seminar where engineering speakers from companies come in to talk to us. They almost are always ceramic based, and have nothing to do with mechanical engineering. Well, last Thursday was probably the most interesting seminar I can remember. A speaker from GM came and talked about their new fuel cell technology, which allows cars to run on hydrogen gas, and emit water vapor as exhaust. He drove the fuel cell powered Chevrolet Equinox to the school, so I took pictures and a video after seminar had ended and he showed a group of us the fuel cell in action.

Looks ordinary.

The four slots are where water vapor exits. Air blasts the water out of the fuel cells to keep the cells efficient, so if you reach down in front of it, you feel warm air. Feel close enough, and you can feel the moisture after a few seconds.

Not much to see under the hood. Some of the students popped off the panels, just to see tubes and tanks underneath.
Your not so standard gas intake.

Here's some video I got of the car in action.

Hint of New Ravine

I just walked into Sean's room. He's working on a new song for our side project Ravine. It's not complete, but he stole the chorus from a tune I was starting to write, which is great, because I already know what I want to write the lyrics about now!

I finally got my Ravine footage on YouTube the other night (left it over night, since our internet speed, at least with steaming footage, is god awful). You check out our myspace here. But, because I'm excited to get these on the web, here they are below!


Ravine (Sean and I) live at a school comedy troupe show.


Unedited footage of the making of "In Your Eyes".

Going on an engineering field trip to Dresser-Rand tomorrow. Gotta dress nice, and make a good impression. I'll be one of those in the group who were actually invited!

Last Minute

Just hopping into bed. Rearranged my room a little bit. My bed is finally out of the closet which opened up some space for my winter jacket. I also figured out some more storage places so things look a little more organized. Did all that when I had a test today. Didn't study at all. I think I did pretty well, though I know I didn't get 100% (As I handed in the test to my professor in his office, he started looking it over right there). I made two small errors, we'll see in a while where that gets me. I'm not too worried.

Sarah's pottery class has a gallery set up. Hopefully she will share some of the pictures she took with my camera. They all looked really good.

Where have I been?

Wow. I keep wanting to put up another entry, but I keep putting it off. I want to include this and that, but I'm just going to go ahead an do it.


We got hit hard with the second wave of snow, and this time I think it's here to stay. 5 days ago we were walking in t-shirts during the afternoon, and now we try our hardest to stay on our feet as soon as we step out the door.

I just got back last night from a not-so-needed at the time home visit. I really wanted to check out my new Playstation 3 I bought on Ebay, and I figured I would pick up a winter jacket while I was home. I'm glad I did, for the jacket. I've got two tests this week, and I'm going to try to make sure my PS3 doesn't slow me down.

I also have my first band that I'm bringing to Alfred as Homecoming Chair of the Student Activities Board, so I've got to get my posters up and start advertising!

One of the proffessors just contacted me about buying my Wii. Hopefully all goes well and I'll be over $200 richer by the end of the week.

Thats it for right now. I'll try to be better about leaving the posts, even if no one's really reading them. Its fun to think somebody might be.


Random Thought:
My Kinematics teacher keeps using the term "Rule of Thumb" during his lectures. The first day he said it he asked if we new where it came from. Appearantly, a long time ago, there was a rule where you could not hit your wife with a stick wider than your thumb. Rule of Thumb.

Happy Halloween

This year's band pumpkin features Avenged Sevenfold.
Happy Halloween!

Late Nights, Lazy Morning

Ethan's birthday was fun. We watched the Vintage Truth (the drummer, Eric Miller, and bassist, Sean Miller, live with us) at an event that served pulled pork, potatoes, and what not for $6. We weren't interested in the food, and it was raining all day until about 30 minutes into their show. The poor people running the event had maybe 30 people pay all day, when they had enough food for 300. They were trying to raise money for children who worked tobacco farms in Nigeria, but I have a feeling they lost much more, which I blame on their poor advertising.

The funny part is, when the band got back to our place, they brought back two HUGE pans of pulled pork, a large plastic bag of rolls, and a giant BBQ dispenser. Lets just say we will be well fed for the next month. That night, lots of people came over to hang out with Ethan, for which I made sure my door was locked at all times. I didn't get to bed until 3AM.

Last night, Sean and I played video games until 2AM. This morning I skipped my only morning class, Statistics, because we were only going over our test, letting me catch up on sleep until 11AM. I woke up, tore down the blue rope lights around the ceiling that broke fire code (too close to the ceiling, and they are checking again today) and wrote this blog entry.

I will also starting my pumpkin carving today, while studying for my fluid mechanics test tomorrow.

Random Thought:
There is construction going on behind my bedroom to build a new dormatory. The noise from it starts at 7:30 in the morning! Perfect for waking up to. Not.

Halloween Prep

It's been a long, rainy day. Sarah and I headed out today to grab a few things that I will need in prep for Halloween. Not knowing what I wanted to be, we went to the local Salvation Army to brainstorm. I bought a flannel shirt, coming up with something very simple, but enough for the occasion. We then went to Walmart, where I bought a pint of blood. I also bought Ethan his birthday present, since today is his birthday (he keeps eating my strawberry newtons (flavored fig newtons), so I got him two packs) and also the much needed pack of Oreos.

On our way home, we stopped by the pumpkin farm that is run by a nice family just off of the road to Alfred where we bought pumpkins last year. Sarah stayed in the car as I went out into the rain to find a good pumpkin for this years carve. Because of the rain, I was the only person at the farm today, and lucky for me, my dad left his old golf umbrella in his car (which I am adopting as my own; already sewed up the broken flap on top). I already know what I'm going to carve. Hope it turns out good.

Random Thought:
It's been bugging me all year here at Alfred. Everytime I'm outside at night, at LEAST one streetlight goes out. One night, 3 went out on the same street! I wonder why, more times than not, the lights go out while your walking by. I've seen then turn on, but not as often as they go out. Is it just coincidence? Do they constantly go off and on all night? and if they do, why aren't they designed better?

Note: Ethan is one of my apartment-mates. He's in the room right next to mine, and turning 20.

Midweek Wipe-out

Evenings come too fast. It's almost 8:30 and I'm completely wiped out, but there aren't any classes tomorrow morning, just engineering seminar at 11:20 (nap class), so everyone will be up until well after the middle of the night. Mom wanted a picture of the first snow, so here's a photo out my bedroom window of the first sticking snow of the season. We still have some leftover!

Cold Proof

The days are getting shorter, and today we saw our first appearances of snow. Well, yesterday I guess, as I'm writing just after midnight. Now, being late a night at quite a few degrees colder, the snow is falling constant, and the ground is lightly frosted. Looking out from the inside, it fills me with energy and places me a great mood, even though I know that at 9:10 in the morning, I will be miserable walking through the cold, damp air to my statistics class.

I could watch the snow fall for hours, but I have to get to bed so that I might not have a worse morning. Winter is creeping in, and even though it stays far past it's welcome, I'm ready to embrace it. I'm probably quite crazy, and just to prove it...


Random Thought:
When I lie in bed at night, if I'm on my back, I'm most comfortable under the covers with one hand under and one hand on top of them. Two hands under and I get too hot, both out and I'm too cold. Every time.