are you serious!?!?
stress is a killer, no really, fish commonly fall dead due to stress. not i'm not calling humans fish (fish have more integrity) but i am saying that stress is like smoking, it's bad yet people quote nike and "just do it".
so i try to live stress free. it's not easy, it's hard to not worry. when the shit hits the fan, i think it takes a lot to look at why that wasn't such a bad thing that just happened. some people step in shit and throw their shoes away, i step in shit and find a reason to buy a super duper shoe cleaning brush with vacuume attachment.
sometimes people mistake me for not caring. i care about a lot of things and a lot of people, but i don't want wrinkles and grey hair as proof. i guess it's weird to not get bent out of shape when something mildly out of the ordinary occurs.
maybe the reason i avoid stress, like that pimply faced girl in 6th grade that thinks it's funny to kiss all the boys in gym class, is because i deal with stress so poorly! when i'm stressed out i'm much more intolerable than most people are when i'm stressed out. i lose appetite, and may even snap at my very own dear mum. that's right, it gets that bad!!
Sunday, August 29, 2004
Wednesday, August 25, 2004
reading
I’ve been reading a bit. I normally dislike books, but will be frequently found reading garbage on the internet. i realized why I hated reading school books as opposed to different web pages or magazine articles. As soon as I find something boring my mind starts to wander. So this action of my eyes going over the words, and my mind going over my thoughts always catches up at a paragraph break or a page turn. “wait, what did I just read?” crap! So I go back over it again, and this time read it the right way, the way that I read when my mind is focused on the words that my eyes are browsing.
I figured it’d be a great movie scene tho. Have a character reading a book, and hearing his voice (the voice in his head) and then all of a sudden switch to his fantasy, but here’s the cool part, still keep his words from the book audible! Then do a switch to the characters in the book that are totally different than his daydream, and back again to him reading and hearing his voice when all of a sudden he stops and says “crap!, what did I just read!”
Maybe that’d not be so cool… eh, I’m an engineer, that’s my excuse! What’s yours!
I’ve been reading a bit. I normally dislike books, but will be frequently found reading garbage on the internet. i realized why I hated reading school books as opposed to different web pages or magazine articles. As soon as I find something boring my mind starts to wander. So this action of my eyes going over the words, and my mind going over my thoughts always catches up at a paragraph break or a page turn. “wait, what did I just read?” crap! So I go back over it again, and this time read it the right way, the way that I read when my mind is focused on the words that my eyes are browsing.
I figured it’d be a great movie scene tho. Have a character reading a book, and hearing his voice (the voice in his head) and then all of a sudden switch to his fantasy, but here’s the cool part, still keep his words from the book audible! Then do a switch to the characters in the book that are totally different than his daydream, and back again to him reading and hearing his voice when all of a sudden he stops and says “crap!, what did I just read!”
Maybe that’d not be so cool… eh, I’m an engineer, that’s my excuse! What’s yours!
Friday, August 20, 2004
F is for Fantastic!
There is an infinite number "million dollar ideas". most of which we come up with at work during down time.... and as I’m looking around at different companies that do different things, it’s mind blowing how much money they make doing what it is they do.
All it takes is someone with some the balls, or lack of fear to go through with their idea. My dad once told me that he came from nothing. His shoes would be re-soled as many times as possible, instead of simply trashed and new ones bought (and as I was cleaning out my crap yesterday I threw away 3 pairs of shoes that I hadn’t worn in about 10 months). He told me this and said that in america there is one difference that stands out to him, and that difference is: “it’s ok to fail”.
It’s the fear of failing that keeps many people from trying out their ideas. People with realistic ideas for their own success are suppressed daily by the fear of not recieving a paycheck every 2 weeks like they're used to. But failing is ok, I sure found that out early in life and have failed many times ever since. Whether it be school, work, girls, sports, or video games even… failing is an option and it’s not as bad as many people make it out to be.
I’ve failed classes in school. And I feel that I learned quite a bit from that experience. some never do fail a class… and when they inevitably fail at something in life, the concept of simply failing overwhelms them and they don’t know how to react! That’s when people bring machine guns to work. (well I mean it could be an example).
The great people of our time failed. It takes quite a bit of failures in order to achieve success. Thomas Edison is one of them… He busted his ass and failed, many times, but you all know him as the dude who invented the light bulb. success-full.
“Results? Why, man, I have gotten lots of results! If I find 10,000 ways something won't work, I haven't failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is often a step forward.... “ –Thomas Edison
so here we have, the man himself said that even if you fail 10,000 times and make it big one time… that’s all you need. RE: the eminem song from the 8 mile soundtrack (not like I know the lyrics and scream them at the top of my lungs when KISS FM plays their hourly rotation of the song) but he says it only takes one time, and sometimes you only have one time.
The wright brothers must have failed many times and learned from their failures. And each time became closer to the “first flight” by mankind, not to mention going down in history as the pioneers of what's now a phenominally huge industry! Finally, they got it, and they’re heros. But during their wild adventures they must have been looked down upon. Imagine quitting your job, telling your boss you want to go fly, and to add more to that, nobody had ever accomplished that before. Then telling your mom, dad, friends, neighbors… every body gets conservative around times like that, and shed their wisdom of how being conservative pays off.
well orville and wilbur didn't have cool names but we'll remember them for forever because they failed and didn't give up. i really want to wrap this up somehow but i can't. maybe i need a million dollar idea coupled with some balls/guts to go thru with it.
There is an infinite number "million dollar ideas". most of which we come up with at work during down time.... and as I’m looking around at different companies that do different things, it’s mind blowing how much money they make doing what it is they do.
All it takes is someone with some the balls, or lack of fear to go through with their idea. My dad once told me that he came from nothing. His shoes would be re-soled as many times as possible, instead of simply trashed and new ones bought (and as I was cleaning out my crap yesterday I threw away 3 pairs of shoes that I hadn’t worn in about 10 months). He told me this and said that in america there is one difference that stands out to him, and that difference is: “it’s ok to fail”.
It’s the fear of failing that keeps many people from trying out their ideas. People with realistic ideas for their own success are suppressed daily by the fear of not recieving a paycheck every 2 weeks like they're used to. But failing is ok, I sure found that out early in life and have failed many times ever since. Whether it be school, work, girls, sports, or video games even… failing is an option and it’s not as bad as many people make it out to be.
I’ve failed classes in school. And I feel that I learned quite a bit from that experience. some never do fail a class… and when they inevitably fail at something in life, the concept of simply failing overwhelms them and they don’t know how to react! That’s when people bring machine guns to work. (well I mean it could be an example).
The great people of our time failed. It takes quite a bit of failures in order to achieve success. Thomas Edison is one of them… He busted his ass and failed, many times, but you all know him as the dude who invented the light bulb. success-full.
“Results? Why, man, I have gotten lots of results! If I find 10,000 ways something won't work, I haven't failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is often a step forward.... “ –Thomas Edison
so here we have, the man himself said that even if you fail 10,000 times and make it big one time… that’s all you need. RE: the eminem song from the 8 mile soundtrack (not like I know the lyrics and scream them at the top of my lungs when KISS FM plays their hourly rotation of the song) but he says it only takes one time, and sometimes you only have one time.
The wright brothers must have failed many times and learned from their failures. And each time became closer to the “first flight” by mankind, not to mention going down in history as the pioneers of what's now a phenominally huge industry! Finally, they got it, and they’re heros. But during their wild adventures they must have been looked down upon. Imagine quitting your job, telling your boss you want to go fly, and to add more to that, nobody had ever accomplished that before. Then telling your mom, dad, friends, neighbors… every body gets conservative around times like that, and shed their wisdom of how being conservative pays off.
well orville and wilbur didn't have cool names but we'll remember them for forever because they failed and didn't give up. i really want to wrap this up somehow but i can't. maybe i need a million dollar idea coupled with some balls/guts to go thru with it.
Thursday, August 12, 2004
those in between areas
talk to any engineer and they like their stuff how? Black and White. but then there's those areas... where things aren't clear cut. the areas that are a big hazy, foggy, iffy.... the "____" areas. what areas are we talking about?
that's right "the gray areas". not to be confused with "the grey areas".
or maybe the two are to be confused. gray and grey are both in the dictionary. (and both on dictionary.com!) it appears that gray is the more widely used but the fact that they both exist, both have the same definition, and both represent something that is not clearly defined, is just awesome to me.
i'm sure it's some evil ploy by the government (when are they not behind an evil ploy) to brain wash us and turn us into a gray/grey confusing race. and with that accomplished they will then start subliminally combining more definitions of words spelled differently, and soon we'll live in a gr(a/e)y hazy world with a foggy essence that will make us feel iffy all the time.
talk to any engineer and they like their stuff how? Black and White. but then there's those areas... where things aren't clear cut. the areas that are a big hazy, foggy, iffy.... the "____" areas. what areas are we talking about?
that's right "the gray areas". not to be confused with "the grey areas".
or maybe the two are to be confused. gray and grey are both in the dictionary. (and both on dictionary.com!) it appears that gray is the more widely used but the fact that they both exist, both have the same definition, and both represent something that is not clearly defined, is just awesome to me.
i'm sure it's some evil ploy by the government (when are they not behind an evil ploy) to brain wash us and turn us into a gray/grey confusing race. and with that accomplished they will then start subliminally combining more definitions of words spelled differently, and soon we'll live in a gr(a/e)y hazy world with a foggy essence that will make us feel iffy all the time.
Monday, August 2, 2004
i got gas
on my way to work i noticed that the arco had 87 gas for 1.97/gallon. WOWIEE under 2.00/gallon for gas, would i ever see it again? i wasn't sure... till today!
now as a mechanical engineering student, i took two thermodynamics classes in college, and i learned about the (R + M)/2 equation (R stands for Research Octane Number , and M stands for Motor Octane Number) that determines the octane of gasoline (it's on the yellow sticker that says (87,89, or 91) the octane rating on the pump at your local gas station.
my professor (Dr. Samuelson) was the guy who they asked to come up with the equation. (yea he came up with that easy equation) but how you get R and M is the hard part i swear!!! ok ok not impressive. regardless, i've concluded that gasoline octane rating does not affect my car, only my pocket. and i've concluded that it's approx $172.00 more a year to run premium 91 gas. that's based on the assumption that there's a $0.16 difference between 87 and 91 and that i get an avg of 23 mpg. (btw i'm going to get gas today at lunchtime)
according to handymanUSA there is no difference between the two grades of gas for a normal car. i've read tons of posts on different msg boards as well, but those are contradicting, the problem is that nobody references anything when posting to those sites. i can't believe what some people say on msg boards simply because their computer name is 97mustangman. this person could be a 16 year old girl who plays with barbies, or a seasoned car mechanic. who knows?
what i do know is what's going on here. and i'm breaking it down easy style:
-the history of octane rating goes back to AKI (Anti Knock Index). what the heck does Knock mean? it's when fuel explodes instead of burns and ends up pushing the pistons (the parts that move in the engine) in the wrong direction, and that's bad for your engine. so the AKI is the number used to find out how much resistance that specific gas has to knocking.
-octane is what governs the burning of fuel, more octane, slower burn. most people think more octane means it burns hotter. that's wrong.
-slower burning fuel prevents "engine knock" which sounds like something is knocking inside your engine and wants to come out.
-most cars will not have engine knock with 87 octane gas, and if they do... a tune up will most probably fix it. (this doesn't apply to old cars, 25years or so old)
-high performance cars have a higher compression (turbos, superchargers, or just high performance naturally aspirated engines aka non-turbo)
-the reason it costs more is because it has to go thru more refining than 87 to get the octane in the gas, more work = more cost.
-it's not better for the environment to use 91.
-your car won't know a diff if you change 91 to 87 and back again, you're not locked in if you only put 91 in and then suddenly change to 87.
-lastly, there are tolerances on octanes. Hypothetical example: that means 87 is really 87 +/- 3 so it could be 90 or could be 84, meaning that 87 or 91 could be the same thing depending on the batch you get!
quick questions (FAQ): so then, why does my lexus/mercedes say use premium unleaded fuel only? AAAAnd My daddy says I'll get better gas mileage with premium gas, is he wrong?
your car says premium fuel only and coincidentally gasoline companies put their most expencive stuff as "premium". isn't 87 premium? when crude oil is processed it comes out to about 70. then they process it more to get it up to about 90. after that they add stuff to it to make it higher than that. (some fuel is rated well over 100)
better mileage and better for your car seems to be the grey area. one site said approx 3% more power is attained with high octane gas, other sites say that no gas mileage is gained with higher octane. one site said that you'll get MORE gas mileage with 87 cause it burns faster and hotter. (heat equals energy) so that means more gas mileage as long as your car doesn't knock. carbon build up with 87 or 91 was also up in the air. some sites said yes and others said no.
the variable isn't the gas. it's the engine. if you're driving a car that that is not a super machine, and isn't 25 years old, you should most likely be putting 87 octane gas. save the 170.00 a month so you can buy drinks for me or something, that will get you further than higher octane gas.
p.s. i've read and looked and tried to find info about turbocharged cars, with no luck. if anyone has a credible source of information confirming the benefits of 91 gas and turbocharged engines, please feel free to let me know! please.
on my way to work i noticed that the arco had 87 gas for 1.97/gallon. WOWIEE under 2.00/gallon for gas, would i ever see it again? i wasn't sure... till today!
now as a mechanical engineering student, i took two thermodynamics classes in college, and i learned about the (R + M)/2 equation (R stands for Research Octane Number , and M stands for Motor Octane Number) that determines the octane of gasoline (it's on the yellow sticker that says (87,89, or 91) the octane rating on the pump at your local gas station.
my professor (Dr. Samuelson) was the guy who they asked to come up with the equation. (yea he came up with that easy equation) but how you get R and M is the hard part i swear!!! ok ok not impressive. regardless, i've concluded that gasoline octane rating does not affect my car, only my pocket. and i've concluded that it's approx $172.00 more a year to run premium 91 gas. that's based on the assumption that there's a $0.16 difference between 87 and 91 and that i get an avg of 23 mpg. (btw i'm going to get gas today at lunchtime)
according to handymanUSA there is no difference between the two grades of gas for a normal car. i've read tons of posts on different msg boards as well, but those are contradicting, the problem is that nobody references anything when posting to those sites. i can't believe what some people say on msg boards simply because their computer name is 97mustangman. this person could be a 16 year old girl who plays with barbies, or a seasoned car mechanic. who knows?
what i do know is what's going on here. and i'm breaking it down easy style:
-the history of octane rating goes back to AKI (Anti Knock Index). what the heck does Knock mean? it's when fuel explodes instead of burns and ends up pushing the pistons (the parts that move in the engine) in the wrong direction, and that's bad for your engine. so the AKI is the number used to find out how much resistance that specific gas has to knocking.
-octane is what governs the burning of fuel, more octane, slower burn. most people think more octane means it burns hotter. that's wrong.
-slower burning fuel prevents "engine knock" which sounds like something is knocking inside your engine and wants to come out.
-most cars will not have engine knock with 87 octane gas, and if they do... a tune up will most probably fix it. (this doesn't apply to old cars, 25years or so old)
-high performance cars have a higher compression (turbos, superchargers, or just high performance naturally aspirated engines aka non-turbo)
-the reason it costs more is because it has to go thru more refining than 87 to get the octane in the gas, more work = more cost.
-it's not better for the environment to use 91.
-your car won't know a diff if you change 91 to 87 and back again, you're not locked in if you only put 91 in and then suddenly change to 87.
-lastly, there are tolerances on octanes. Hypothetical example: that means 87 is really 87 +/- 3 so it could be 90 or could be 84, meaning that 87 or 91 could be the same thing depending on the batch you get!
quick questions (FAQ): so then, why does my lexus/mercedes say use premium unleaded fuel only? AAAAnd My daddy says I'll get better gas mileage with premium gas, is he wrong?
your car says premium fuel only and coincidentally gasoline companies put their most expencive stuff as "premium". isn't 87 premium? when crude oil is processed it comes out to about 70. then they process it more to get it up to about 90. after that they add stuff to it to make it higher than that. (some fuel is rated well over 100)
better mileage and better for your car seems to be the grey area. one site said approx 3% more power is attained with high octane gas, other sites say that no gas mileage is gained with higher octane. one site said that you'll get MORE gas mileage with 87 cause it burns faster and hotter. (heat equals energy) so that means more gas mileage as long as your car doesn't knock. carbon build up with 87 or 91 was also up in the air. some sites said yes and others said no.
the variable isn't the gas. it's the engine. if you're driving a car that that is not a super machine, and isn't 25 years old, you should most likely be putting 87 octane gas. save the 170.00 a month so you can buy drinks for me or something, that will get you further than higher octane gas.
p.s. i've read and looked and tried to find info about turbocharged cars, with no luck. if anyone has a credible source of information confirming the benefits of 91 gas and turbocharged engines, please feel free to let me know! please.
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