I've gone ahead and included the ability for people to comment below each of my blog posts. Now you can write quick note by clicking on the "comments" area at the bottom of the post.
I hadn't turned this on before for fear of random people posting weird or inappropriate things, but we'll give it a try and see how it works. If it goes badly I'll just turn it off again.
Monday, February 21, 2005
Saturday, February 19, 2005
Working World
This week I went from not so busy to extremely busy in about 10 seconds flat. I had been waiting on some new models from my JSF projects. I was also waiting on my "special assignment" with the ECHP program to start. That's pretty much what my week was entailing, waiting. On the positive side, that did give me some time to port some of our engineering computer programs from the old UNIX computers to the new Windows computers. That's an ongoing battle that needs all the time it can get.
On Wednesday things started to pick up again. Quickly. I got two new "priority" projects. One was for an engine that we have on the test stand right now. We were getting some high temperature readings and the Air Force wanted us to make sure it wasn't a problem before we push the limits too much. That meant that I had to work 11 hours Wednesday, 10 hours (+2 hours for class) on Thursday, and 16.5 hours yesterday. That's right, I worked until one o'clock in the morning last night. Not fun. At least I get paid for it though. I shouldn't complain because Jen worked like that all the time. Actually, it was kind of a fun project.
Barring any problems today with my results, I should be done with that project. The structural analysis is happening today and tomorrow. We'll wrap things up Monday and Tuesday of next week and then on Wednesday we have to go over to Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, OH to present our results to the Air Force. Hopefully that will go well.
I also got another project that should take a couple weeks and needs to be done ASAP. It's for a different engine that we will be testing soon. It's compressor work. Compressors are cold(ish) parts, so they're not that exciting for us heat transfer folks. It is a good learning experience though.
The JSF information I was waiting for also became available yesterday. Since we're a month behind schedule on the JSF work (thanks to our brilliant designer) that work needs to be done about a month ago. So this week will be split between those two projects with lots of overtime. I might go in tomorrow to play a little catch up. Jen works tomorrow so there isn't much reason for me to sit on the couch and do nothing all day. We'll see.
Finally, I've still got my "special assignment" for ECHP as well as the RATTLRS work coming down the pipes at me. Those should start late this week or early next week. Overtime here I come! Or should I say, big screen TV here I come! Yeah, right.
We're starting to hire a bunch of people for RATTLRS now. I got one of my friends from Rose-Hulman an interview for our department. That would be great to have a friend working in the same area as me. I've been working there for two years now and I'm still the new guy. We need fresh meat! One of my good friends quit on Friday, so it would be nice to have another cool person in the group.
I guess that's it for my update from the working world. See-ya!
On Wednesday things started to pick up again. Quickly. I got two new "priority" projects. One was for an engine that we have on the test stand right now. We were getting some high temperature readings and the Air Force wanted us to make sure it wasn't a problem before we push the limits too much. That meant that I had to work 11 hours Wednesday, 10 hours (+2 hours for class) on Thursday, and 16.5 hours yesterday. That's right, I worked until one o'clock in the morning last night. Not fun. At least I get paid for it though. I shouldn't complain because Jen worked like that all the time. Actually, it was kind of a fun project.
Barring any problems today with my results, I should be done with that project. The structural analysis is happening today and tomorrow. We'll wrap things up Monday and Tuesday of next week and then on Wednesday we have to go over to Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, OH to present our results to the Air Force. Hopefully that will go well.
I also got another project that should take a couple weeks and needs to be done ASAP. It's for a different engine that we will be testing soon. It's compressor work. Compressors are cold(ish) parts, so they're not that exciting for us heat transfer folks. It is a good learning experience though.
The JSF information I was waiting for also became available yesterday. Since we're a month behind schedule on the JSF work (thanks to our brilliant designer) that work needs to be done about a month ago. So this week will be split between those two projects with lots of overtime. I might go in tomorrow to play a little catch up. Jen works tomorrow so there isn't much reason for me to sit on the couch and do nothing all day. We'll see.
Finally, I've still got my "special assignment" for ECHP as well as the RATTLRS work coming down the pipes at me. Those should start late this week or early next week. Overtime here I come! Or should I say, big screen TV here I come! Yeah, right.
We're starting to hire a bunch of people for RATTLRS now. I got one of my friends from Rose-Hulman an interview for our department. That would be great to have a friend working in the same area as me. I've been working there for two years now and I'm still the new guy. We need fresh meat! One of my good friends quit on Friday, so it would be nice to have another cool person in the group.
I guess that's it for my update from the working world. See-ya!
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
Homework
Word to the wise, when your professor gives you 18 problems as homework and says that they aren't graded, that doesn't necessarily mean you don't have to turn it in. Apparently, what that actually means is that you will have to turn it in, but with only a couple days notice.
As I'm sure you can guess, I've been scrambling to get my homework done before class this afternoon. He decided to spring a "hand-in date" on us all of a sudden, even though the homework isn't graded. Truth be told, I should have been working on it right along regardless. Oops.
Good thing I've already got a job and the outcome of any ungraded homework assignments doesn't matter one bit. :^) Who's bright idea was it to take classes anyway?
As I'm sure you can guess, I've been scrambling to get my homework done before class this afternoon. He decided to spring a "hand-in date" on us all of a sudden, even though the homework isn't graded. Truth be told, I should have been working on it right along regardless. Oops.
Good thing I've already got a job and the outcome of any ungraded homework assignments doesn't matter one bit. :^) Who's bright idea was it to take classes anyway?
Saturday, February 05, 2005
Wedding Pictures
There's something I forgot to mention a couple weeks ago. Jen and I finally managed to gain possession of all of our wedding photo negatives. We had gotten the digital negatives quite a while ago from our worthless loser of a photographer. Unfortunately, only about half the pictures were taken with a digital camera. The rest were taken with a standard 35mm, so the negatives weren't digital, they were film. We didn't think we'd ever see those pictures again.
Well, we got a call from a guy who said that he thought he had our negatives. Apparently he had been screwed over by Marvin Brewer just like we had. They couldn't get their negatives either so I guess they set up a little trick for Marvin the Moron. They had him meet them at a Starbucks or something to order some more pictures. When Marvin got all of their negatives and proofs out for them to look at, they just grabbed them and ran like hell. Literally, they grabbed them and ran. Isn't that awesome? I would have punched him in the throat on the way out, too (not really, I'm a wimp!).
In the process of "procuring" their own negatives they also grabbed some other people's pictures. They had all of the pictures developed into digital copies and then started sorting through them to find out what everything was. They saw one picture of me by the Third Christian Church sign before the wedding. They called the church and figured out that we were the people in the picture. So they called us up and gave us all of our negatives along with high quality digital copies of everything. Isn't that just wonderful? Jen and I were really excited to finally get everything back.
So we're now getting the pictures developed that everyone originally ordered. It was much, much cheaper to go to the store and order them ourselves than it was to originally order them from the wedding bandit. The photo shop we're using was also taken advantage of by Marvin Boozer to the tune of $1800. With the $1500 we lost, the $4000+ that the people who got our negatives back lost, as well as the dozens more people who were taken for a ride and the photo developers that never got paid, I can't imagine how much money he got away with. Honestly, it had to be close to $75,000. What a loser. I hope, for him and his families sake, that someday he realizes what he's done and gets things right with the big guy upstairs. St. Peter ain't gonna like that at the pearly gate.
But we're happy(ish) because now we'll get our pictures. We'll let everyone know when we get things back. Soon you too will be able to place our picture on the mantle and ogle us all day long. :^)
Well, we got a call from a guy who said that he thought he had our negatives. Apparently he had been screwed over by Marvin Brewer just like we had. They couldn't get their negatives either so I guess they set up a little trick for Marvin the Moron. They had him meet them at a Starbucks or something to order some more pictures. When Marvin got all of their negatives and proofs out for them to look at, they just grabbed them and ran like hell. Literally, they grabbed them and ran. Isn't that awesome? I would have punched him in the throat on the way out, too (not really, I'm a wimp!).
In the process of "procuring" their own negatives they also grabbed some other people's pictures. They had all of the pictures developed into digital copies and then started sorting through them to find out what everything was. They saw one picture of me by the Third Christian Church sign before the wedding. They called the church and figured out that we were the people in the picture. So they called us up and gave us all of our negatives along with high quality digital copies of everything. Isn't that just wonderful? Jen and I were really excited to finally get everything back.
So we're now getting the pictures developed that everyone originally ordered. It was much, much cheaper to go to the store and order them ourselves than it was to originally order them from the wedding bandit. The photo shop we're using was also taken advantage of by Marvin Boozer to the tune of $1800. With the $1500 we lost, the $4000+ that the people who got our negatives back lost, as well as the dozens more people who were taken for a ride and the photo developers that never got paid, I can't imagine how much money he got away with. Honestly, it had to be close to $75,000. What a loser. I hope, for him and his families sake, that someday he realizes what he's done and gets things right with the big guy upstairs. St. Peter ain't gonna like that at the pearly gate.
But we're happy(ish) because now we'll get our pictures. We'll let everyone know when we get things back. Soon you too will be able to place our picture on the mantle and ogle us all day long. :^)
As promised, some pictures of the new room.
I had mentioned before that I would put some pictures on the blog of our new furniture and paint job. So here you go!
The new and improved fireplace room.
The new and improved kitchen. Don''t mind the messy dishes on the counter.
The new and improved fireplace room.
The new and improved kitchen. Don''t mind the messy dishes on the counter.
Friday, February 04, 2005
What I do
Well, now that it's gone public I can let everyone know what I'll be doing for the next year or two. We won a contract with Lockheed Martin for a cruise missle called the RATTLRS program. We're going to be working our tail ends off on this for quite a while. It's really going to hit hard pretty soon. Here's the message in Aviation Week describing the project:
Lockheed Martin beats Boeing to proceed with RATTLRS program
Aviation Week's AEROSPACE DAILY & DEFENSE REPORT
Daily Business intelligence for the global aerospace and defense industry since 1963
February 4, 2005 Vol. 213 No. 23 Copyright 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies
Lockheed Martin has been selected over Boeing to develop RATTLRS, a demonstration program intended to increase the capabilities and performance of expendable supersonic vehicles.
"They won," said Jennifer Huergo, a spokeswoman for the Office of Naval Research, when asked Feb. 3 to confirm that Lockheed Martin had beaten Boeing.
Lockheed Martin received a $157.4 million contract from ONR on Feb. 1, according to a Feb. 3 FedBizOpps notice from the office. "This was the third and last competed task order" for the program, Huergo said. "So yes, Lockheed Martin was the only one to win it."
Lockheed Martin and Boeing had been the only two competitors remaining in an original field of four. The other two, eliminated earlier, were Orbital Sciences Corp. and Raytheon.
"We are pleased with the award," said Diane Knippel, a spokeswoman for Lockheed Martin's Advanced Development Projects unit. She declined further comment, saying the company is working on an announcement that will be released in a week or two.
Lockheed Martin said last year it was teamed on RATTLRS with Allison Advanced Development Co. to develop technologies that will provide an advanced Mach 4 plus integrated propulsion system in an airframe that could be the basis for an operational airframe. It said Allison's YJ102R developmental engine "provides more than six times the specific thrust of the engines in the SR-71 reconnaissance aircraft in a simple and inexpensive design suitable for an expendable missile."
RATTLRS - Revolutionary Approach to Time-critical Long Range Strike - is part of the National Aerospace Initiative, a joint effort of the Navy, Air Force and NASA that merges current technologies to go in steppingstone fashion from high-speed/hypersonic vehicles to regular and easy access to space, and finally to advanced space technologies such as multifunction satellites.
The RATTLRS project consists of flight demonstration and technology development, ONR said in a 2003 description of the effort. Flight demonstration includes concept studies, design, development, fabrication and test of flight vehicles. The goal is to conduct at least three demonstration flights, with the first flight 36 to 38 months after the contract award and the last by the time the project is completed 48 months after award, ONR said.
The technology development phase is optional, ONR said. It would focus on developing and maturing technologies for inclusion in potential future high-speed flight demonstrations.
- Rich Tuttle (richtut@aol.com)
Lockheed Martin beats Boeing to proceed with RATTLRS program
Aviation Week's AEROSPACE DAILY & DEFENSE REPORT
Daily Business intelligence for the global aerospace and defense industry since 1963
February 4, 2005 Vol. 213 No. 23 Copyright 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies
Lockheed Martin has been selected over Boeing to develop RATTLRS, a demonstration program intended to increase the capabilities and performance of expendable supersonic vehicles.
"They won," said Jennifer Huergo, a spokeswoman for the Office of Naval Research, when asked Feb. 3 to confirm that Lockheed Martin had beaten Boeing.
Lockheed Martin received a $157.4 million contract from ONR on Feb. 1, according to a Feb. 3 FedBizOpps notice from the office. "This was the third and last competed task order" for the program, Huergo said. "So yes, Lockheed Martin was the only one to win it."
Lockheed Martin and Boeing had been the only two competitors remaining in an original field of four. The other two, eliminated earlier, were Orbital Sciences Corp. and Raytheon.
"We are pleased with the award," said Diane Knippel, a spokeswoman for Lockheed Martin's Advanced Development Projects unit. She declined further comment, saying the company is working on an announcement that will be released in a week or two.
Lockheed Martin said last year it was teamed on RATTLRS with Allison Advanced Development Co. to develop technologies that will provide an advanced Mach 4 plus integrated propulsion system in an airframe that could be the basis for an operational airframe. It said Allison's YJ102R developmental engine "provides more than six times the specific thrust of the engines in the SR-71 reconnaissance aircraft in a simple and inexpensive design suitable for an expendable missile."
RATTLRS - Revolutionary Approach to Time-critical Long Range Strike - is part of the National Aerospace Initiative, a joint effort of the Navy, Air Force and NASA that merges current technologies to go in steppingstone fashion from high-speed/hypersonic vehicles to regular and easy access to space, and finally to advanced space technologies such as multifunction satellites.
The RATTLRS project consists of flight demonstration and technology development, ONR said in a 2003 description of the effort. Flight demonstration includes concept studies, design, development, fabrication and test of flight vehicles. The goal is to conduct at least three demonstration flights, with the first flight 36 to 38 months after the contract award and the last by the time the project is completed 48 months after award, ONR said.
The technology development phase is optional, ONR said. It would focus on developing and maturing technologies for inclusion in potential future high-speed flight demonstrations.
- Rich Tuttle (richtut@aol.com)
Wednesday, February 02, 2005
Funny little story
A college professor, an avowed Atheist, was teaching his class. He shocked several of his students when he flatly stated that there is no God, the expression, "One Nation Under God", was unconstitutional, and further, he was going to prove there is no God. Addressing the ceiling he shouted: "God, if you are real, then I want you to knock me off this platform. I'll give you 15 minutes!"
The lecture room fell silent. You could have heard a pin drop. Ten minutes went by. Again, he taunted God, saying, "Here I am, God. I'm still waiting."
His countdown got down to the last couple of minutes when a Marine just released from active duty and newly registered in the class walked up to the professor, hit him full force in the face, and sent him tail over teacups from his lofty platform. The professor was out cold!
At first the students were shocked and babbled in confusion.
The young Marine took a seat in the front row and sat silently. The class fell silent...waiting.
Eventually, the professor came to, shaken. He looked at the young Marine in the front row. When he regained his senses and could speak he yelled, "What's the matter with you? Why did you do that?"
"God was busy. He sent me."
The lecture room fell silent. You could have heard a pin drop. Ten minutes went by. Again, he taunted God, saying, "Here I am, God. I'm still waiting."
His countdown got down to the last couple of minutes when a Marine just released from active duty and newly registered in the class walked up to the professor, hit him full force in the face, and sent him tail over teacups from his lofty platform. The professor was out cold!
At first the students were shocked and babbled in confusion.
The young Marine took a seat in the front row and sat silently. The class fell silent...waiting.
Eventually, the professor came to, shaken. He looked at the young Marine in the front row. When he regained his senses and could speak he yelled, "What's the matter with you? Why did you do that?"
"God was busy. He sent me."
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