Jerry's Blog

My Review of Vibram FiveFingers KSO Multisport Shoes - Men's

2011-12-19T23:40:00.001-05:00

Wander free in the men's Vibram FiveFingers KSO multisport shoes, which offer the freedom of bare feet with the grip and protection of a Vibram sole.

Great Shoe but a little thin for running

By Jerry Ross from Washington, MI on 12/19/2011

Sizing: Feels half size too big

Width: Feels true to width

Pros: Great Traction, Durable, Comfortable

Best Uses: Day hikes, Running, Everyday

Describe Yourself: Avid Adventurer

Arch Type: Average Arch

Was this a gift?: No

I love the KSO's for around the house, around the town, and even for short runs. I ran the Detroit Turkey Trot 10K this year in these and did quite well. That being said, for runs greater than 6 miles, I feel like the shoes don't have quite enough padding. You really have to becareful of rocks and things on the ground, cuz you'll feel everything. If you are an avid runner I recomend the Bikila instead. The Bikila has 4mm of sole and these only have 2 mm. I still love my KSO's, I just use them for more casual purposes now.

(legalese)

Short run around the park

2011-12-08T16:59:00.000-05:00

Untitled by jrossjr at Garmin Connect - Player

Sleeve Tatoos

2011-01-19T01:18:00.001-05:00

so... The thing is, I love sleeve tatoos. Every time I see them on a guy, i'm like "man I wish were that cool" :) But the problem is A. I don't know if I could pull them off... actually i'm pretty damn sure I can't. and B. I don't what the heck I would get tatooed, and refuse to get something just for the sake of getting something. If its going to be there, I want it to be something i'm pationate about, or would at the very least love to look at every morning when I wake up... cuz I would have to :) So if anybody has any great idea that they can sell me on i'll happily be the blonde haired blue eyed sleeve tatooed princeton physicist.. Hey, I'd be unique!

Bad Decisions

2011-01-13T19:35:00.013-05:00

I know that no one is watching my blog anymore. I kinda dropped the ball on that awhile ago. And yet, I miss writing in it.. so here goes.

The biggest lesson i've learned in life is that making the 'right' decision has nothing to do with having all of the facts. Movies, books, TV shows, always show the protagonist making bad choices because he didn't understand the 1. situation, 2. consequences of the decision or 3. some facet of his or herself. But in life that isn't true. There are plenty of times where I've walked straight in front of the bus knowing damn well that the bus WAS going to hit me.. and did it anyway. AND getting hit by the bus doesn't stop me from doing it again either. Yup, here comes the bus.. damn this is gonna hurt.

This situation annoys me greatly because growing up I always believed that given the appropriate amount of information I would make the intelligent decision for myself. I guess this is the left brain coming out in me... or is it the right? Too lazy to look it up.

Sometimes this affects the small things like... 'no I probably shouldn't have another beer before bed'. Other times it is bigger things like.. that person is unhealthy for me. Period. Stay away. And yet it knowing the what the right thing is, the healthy choice, doesn't matter in the end :/

Donate to Wikipedia

2010-12-31T18:12:00.002-05:00

I just donated $5 to wikipedia... they gave me a logo to post :)

Jeff Dunham Show

2010-12-26T21:44:00.004-05:00

Went to see Jeff Dunham at Joe Louis Arena tonight. Great show, he had a couple new puppets. Diane the alcoholic divorcée, and AJ Ahkmed's gay british-raised half dead son. very strange. Great show though. Walter and Peanut were both hilarious!

My Review of 1964 Pac T

2010-01-16T18:07:00.001-05:00

Originally submitted at Onlineshoes.com

The classic Sorel 1964 Pac boot goes from work to apres ski to weekend ramblings with ease. This versatile mens boot features a rugged, waterproof leather upper, waterproof, seam-sealed construction and a removable, ThermoPlus InnerBoot liner with a fleece snow cuff. The handcrafted, vulcanized rub...

Best Winter Boot I've owned

By Jerry the Rocket Scientist from Houghton, MI on 1/16/2010

Sizing: Feels half size too small

Width: Feels true to width

Pros: Stable, Comfortable, Stylish, Warm, Durable

Best Uses: Wet Weather, Cold Weather

Describe Yourself: Stylish, High-end shopper

Great boot for snowy or rainy conditions. The sole is on the thinner side so you can really feel everything beneath you. I'm not at all concerned about the boot wearing out, but I wouldn't want to walk around a mall all day because I think the lack of cushion would wear on me. They are meant to get you from point A to point B and then switch to a slipper or indoor shoe. They also work well for driving if the laces are left loose.

(legalese)

Acai Berry

2009-01-20T15:37:00.001-05:00

Has anybody else tried these Acai Berry supliments? I'm not looking
to lose weight (quite the opposite actually) but I was looking at them
for their detox and energy giving properties. Is it just hype, or has
somebody out there actually felt/seen results?

Deplorable Mac Community

2009-01-19T15:12:00.007-05:00

Mac aficionados have always prided themselves on being more genteel
than the run of the mill PC user. Therefore, as and avid reader of Appleinsider I was horribly disappointed to read the following:

In related news, Bloomberg on Friday cited "people who are monitoring [Jobs'] illness" as saying he is considering a liver transplant as a result of complications that followed his pancreatic cancer treatment in 2004.

When reached by phone, Jobs refused to comment further on his health and pleaded for some privacy.

"Why don’t you guys leave me alone -- why is this important?," he said.

I think its deplorable that after everything that Jobs has done for Apple and the Mac community that people, within the community, refuse to even give him the basic right to some privacy.

The NEW iphone

2008-11-07T11:07:00.000-05:00

AT&T released a list of upcoming iPhone softwares updates coming in
the future. I found this one most impressive,

"While at work, he continued, the iPhone will orchestrate a conference
call with two potential clients in the Far East. You speak English,
they speak Japanese. That's not a problem, however, because the iPhone
will handle the automatic translations in real time."

Gotta love Apple (AT&T is only cool by association)

Full text: http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/11/07/att_chief_lays_out_futuristic_vision_for_the_iphone.html

And people wonder why I don't like professional sports...

2008-10-22T16:54:00.004-04:00

Professional sports are bad... but apparently college sports are not a
whole lot better:

My Review of Marmot Zeus Down Jacket - Men's

2008-10-14T15:39:00.001-04:00

Originally submitted at REI

The slim Zeus jacket from Marmot offers highly compressible, down-filled warmth.

Nice... if your fat

By Jerry the Rocket Scientist from Houghton, MI on 10/14/2008

Gift: No

Fit: Feels too big

Sleeve Length: Feels too long

Chest Size: Feels too big

Pros: Breathable, Lightweight, Comfortable, Warm, Durable

Cons: Not an Athletic Fit

Best Uses: Casual Wear, Hiking and Camping, Cold Weather

Describe Yourself: Avid Adventurer

This jacket is nearly identical to the Patagonia Down Sweater, which I tried on, but I order the Zeus online because it was a better value. The major difference is that the Patagonia jacket is an athletic cut, whereas the Marmot is a Beer Gut cut. There is considerable amount of extra fabric around the stomach. Walking around, I feel like Santa Clause. When you sit down, the jacket creates a large fold in front of you due to the extra material. I've never seen anything like it before. It is not made for a healthy/normal shaped male. I am 6' 180 lbs. I am returning it.

Marmot Zeus with Extra Poof

Tags: Made with Product, Using Product, Picture of Product

(legalese)

Liquid Telescope on the Moon

2008-10-09T14:04:00.002-04:00

Fascinating stuff. If you spin a container shallowly filled with
water the surface will become parabolic. The exact optical shape
necessary for telescopes. These liquid lenses can be expanded to a
nearly limitless diameter. See this article http://spacefellowship.com/News/?p=6927

The Price of a Life

2008-03-12T12:13:00.002-04:00

The age old question: How much is a Life worth. Clearly such a value exists since the military offers up their soldiers for sacrifice on a daily basis. But there in lies the illusion. It's not a sacrifice if there is the possibility of survival. it's a probability game, and the US puts an extraordinary weight behind even a sliver of hope of survival. In other words, 1 kamikaze bomber is unacceptable to us, but 16 fully manned bombers sent on a Doolittle Raid is perfectly acceptable. It seems that "we" can't handle the idea of certain death. There has to be some probability of survival, no matter how remote. I would argue that we spend more lives than necessary because of this. "Leave no man behind!" ... perfect, lets go back and get him and make sure we add 3 other bodies right next to him..

Why "we" operate under these guidelines is the first question. The second is: who is "we"? Is it our country, our religion, our western culture? Which facet of our lives has the insurmountable distaste for suicide missions? Did you know that we could put a man on mars right now! Could launch tomorrow (well thats a slight exaggeration) but the point is that there are dozens of astronauts that would sign up for that one-way flight in a heartbeat. To have that opportunity to be among the first men/women on mars. So why haven't we launched? Because we haven't figured out how to make it a TWO-way mission. We can get them there, but we can't get them back. And although the astronauts themselves consider the trade MORE than adequate, the american populace has determined it to be morally unjust.

New Post!

2007-12-19T15:51:00.001-05:00

hmm.. my title is rather misleading. I'm posting to tell you that i've posted elsewhere... does that count?
Awhile back I started a Jerry's Questions http://jerrysquestions.blogspot.com for all the random questions that i've asked Google about and haven't received answers in a timely fashion. Some of the solutions took me weeks, even months to stumble upon. Now the majority of the topics are of little interested to most people, but the most recent entry regards the proper use of words 'that' and 'which'. I thought you might be interested.

My eye!

2007-11-13T14:09:00.000-05:00

Its all fun and games until someone looses an eye. Couple weeks back
I was driving a drunken friend home, and during an especially animated
story, I got punched in the eye (by an engagement ring nonetheless).
Too crazy to be true? Believe it. I have 5 lacerations on my eye,
and of course they didn't heal properly so now I have to have Lasik
surgery to fix it. Which may or may not make things worse the doctor
tells me. :( I go under the knife Turkey Eve. Prayers for me and
inappropriate remarks towards her are appreciated. (actually she
feels horrible about the whole thing). I'll be in Romeo for turkey
week, so give me a call if you're in town.

Lying & Dating

2007-10-28T23:44:00.001-04:00

'The best policy is always honesty' - Bullshit. Not when it comes
to dating. The trick to dating is to NEVER tell the truth. Now once
you are in a steady relationship the rules change, but as for
dating.. telling the truth will only send the other person packing.
I also don't mean to imply that it is a good idea to tell your date
that you've climbed Mt. Everest twice, or that you are an ex Navy
SEAL. These are factual lies. Validate-able, capable of being
referenced and proven in a court of law.. or a court of your peers.
These are NOT the lies to tell.

The lies I am suggesting are those of emotion. It is of the utmost
importance to NOT seem overly interested in the person you are dating
(even if you are). The truth of life is simple: People want what
they can't have. People desire challenges and whether it is notches
in a belt or on a bedpost, mentally everyone feels accomplished when
they get a date with someone of equal or higher rank on the invisible yet
ever present 'ladder'. What is this ladder i speak of? Well it is
the ladder of social hierarchy of course. It exists whether you like
to admit it or not, and everyone as a general sense as to where they,
and others, are standing on it. The way in which we act, more than
anything, defines where we stand on that ladder. The key to flirting
and dating is to, ever so humbly and kindly, yet distinctly act as
though you reside on a higher rung then then your opponent (your
date). This keeps the game going and the coveting elevated. If
any one side makes themselves TOO available or interested, the game is
no longer any fun. Furthermore, such openness and vulnerability
silently affirms that the other person is of higher standing and
subsequently that you are at a lower standing which equals less
desirable.

There are other lies that are necessary too, including any and all
questions about ex-girlfriends/boyfriends. A topic for another
discussion. However, a veteran of game will be smart enough NOT to
ask about ex's. Nothing good can ever come from this, and anything
pertinent will be offered up by the other party.

It's a strange game (dating), one as complicated and strategic as chess. And like chess, it is something you get better at the more you play. It fascinates me because it is more of an intuitive game than a purely logical one.

The Recipe

2007-10-23T21:08:00.000-04:00

The 'How to be Trendy in Music' Recipe:

Find an artist that is up and coming. Not too big yet, such that It
has become popular NOT to like them. You want someone that most of
your friends would recognize the name and maybe half could name one
song. THEN (extra trendy recipe secret) make sure you have a list of
3 or 4 of your favorite songs by the artist that are NOT the ones
getting publicity. In fact, if you can find ones that are not on CD
or live only thats perfect. Now you are cool!

Bibdesk or Bookends

2007-07-27T15:41:00.000-04:00

I may or may not continue to blog.. but while I have something on my
mind:

I am a large proponent for Latex as a typesetting alternative to MS
word. In fact, with the exception of MS Excel, I have removed all
Microsoft programs from my system. I am currently using Bookends to
sort my PDF's (journal articles, conference papers, etc.) and to
create bibliographies for my publications. Bookends is NOT a free
program after 50 citations have been loaded. It will not be long
until I reach this point. Bibdesk, however, is free and appears to
have the same functionality. Does anyone out there have a preference??

Man Weekend

2006-08-28T10:36:00.000-04:00

This years Man weekend was filled with all sorts of manly events, and I have the wounds and lack of hair to show for it. Manly men doing manly things such as dragging trees through the woods with an ATV, exploding substandard domestic beers in the firepit, and human flame retardant experiments with everclear (exhibit A to the right). Ah.. such a gratifying weekend. I think i'll go belch and scratch myself for awhile now.

Brian and Janet's Wedding

2006-08-23T12:02:00.000-04:00

Brian and Janet's Wedding
Originally uploaded by jrossjr.

Two weekends ago Brian Tweddle married Janet Daig. I had the pleasure of playing the role of Best Man for the days festivities. There were some worries the night before at the rehearsal because the pastor could not remember Brian's first name, nor pronounce his last name. On top of that, he randomly inserted crass jokes such as "What are the two ingredients to a successful marriage? Good cooking, and good lingerie" Which isn't that bad I suppose, but they added up after awhile. For the actual ceremony he was much more professional, and I think everyone was relieved. My largest task was to keep control of the ring bearer during the service. Eventually I ended up making the executive decision to allow him to go back to his mom after standing still was no longer even plausible. :) He sprinted down the aisle to everyone's amusement.

Thought Provoking Article

2006-07-18T14:11:00.000-04:00

On Google news, I sumbled across this article:

Wild Kingdom

Talks about the relation of Old Testament stories to modern cultures.

I don't remember leaving my bike up there??

2006-07-18T11:39:00.000-04:00

I don't remember leaving my bike up there??
Originally uploaded by jrossjr.

IMG_1275.JPG

This past weekend I was in Sacremento for the Joint Propulsion Conference where I presented my work on low specific impulse Hall thrusters. I had purposely delayed my flight back home by a few days so that I could tour Sacramento. Turns out, Sacremento is REALLY boring. So I hopped on the Amtrak towards San Francisco where I met up with Robin and Grant. When we 'attempted' to leave the San Francisco Brewery I found my bike had been elevated 8 feet by store gate that I had locked it to! It took me about 20 minutes to get it unlocked and lowered down (climbing skills put to good use). The back half of the kryptonite lock was the most difficult. The next day the three of us ate at a semi-traditional Indian restaurant. I'm generally partial to meat, but these guys can cook up some awesome vegetables. San Francisco was awesome, two thumbs up. As for Sacremento.. leave it to Schwarzenegger

Click on the picture to see others, including me trying to get the bike down.

Superman Returns ??

2006-07-03T17:21:00.000-04:00

Anybody else seen this movie yet? I was appalled at the lack of morality in the choice of a plot for this film. The entire movie plays as soap opera episode. I'll try to speak in ambiguities to avoid ruining the film. The end of the flick was the only chance where the movie had the opportunity for damage control and tie up its scandalous loose ends but failed to do so, I presume, for the opportunity for a sequel. Superman is iconic representation of truth, justice and morality, and this film destroys his principles and makes him less honorable than the average person watching the movie!! Lois Lane isn't much better either. I'll cite specifics in the comments section and welcome you to do so as well.

Last Weekend

2006-06-15T16:04:00.000-04:00

In an act of self punishment I ran an 8k race Saturday morning followed by a 30 mile roundtrip kayaking adventure on Lake Superior. I heard about the race Friday afternoon from my friend Kristina who coaxed me into it. Then she proceeded to destroy me with a time of 29'30+". I came in at 36'14" which is running 7 minute miles. I was actually pretty happy with that. I'm not sure if I even had a month of training that I could have gotten 6' miles.
Immediately after the race Adrian (who flew in from Stockholm last week) and I strapped all of our camping gear on to our kayaks and headed down the Portage towards Superior. At 9PM we found a sandy beach to dock at, ate, set up camp and passed out. The next day I awoke with an urge and realization that we didn't bring any toilet paper, papertowl or even kleenex. To the inexperienced/unprepared oatmeal packet wrappers are AMAZINGLY versatile. The paddle home left us with a sun branding that i'm still placating with aloe three days later.

Joke!

2006-05-23T15:02:00.000-04:00

Little Mary Margaret was not the best student in Catholic School.
Usually she slept through the class.
One day her teacher, a Nun, called on her while she was sleeping.
"Tell me Mary Margaret, who created the universe?"
When Mary Margaret didn't stir, little Johnny who was her friend sitting
behind her, took his pencil and jabbed her in the rear.
"God Almighty!" shouted Mary Margaret.
The Nun said, "Very good" and continued teaching her class.
A little later the Nun asked Mary Margaret, "Who is our Lord and Savior?"
But Mary didn't stir from her slumber Once again, Johnny came
to her rescue and stuck Mary Margaret in the butt.
"Jesus Christ!!!" shouted Mary Margaret and the Nun once again
said, "Very good," and Mary Margaret fell back asleep.
The Nun asked her a third question..."What did Eve
say to Adam after she had her twenty-third child?"
Again, Johnny came to the rescue.
This time Mary Margaret jumped up and shouted, "If you stick
that damn thing in me one more time, I'll break it in half!"
The nun fainted...........

Skype

2006-05-15T12:05:00.000-04:00

Skype has just announced that all phone calls in the US and Canada are now free. If anyone is unfamiliar with the program, head over to www.skype.com Many people (including me) believe that Skype and other VOIP services will replace all land lines in the near future. There are those who even believe that as wireless hot-spots increase, we could see the extinction of the cell phone as well. Personally I think the latter is far from fruition.

Whitewater

2006-04-10T12:14:00.000-04:00

This past weekend the MTU Ultimate Frisbee team went to UW-Whitewater for a tournament. Unfortunately, we did not do very well, but that was expected for the most part. We did have a lot of fun though. On the way home I got bored and made a webpage for this tournament and one from last term. I may or may not update it in the future.

Click Here!

Intelligent Falling

2006-03-23T19:16:00.000-05:00

Hilarious Onion story.

Link

Spring Break

2006-03-23T18:07:00.000-05:00

Spring Break
Originally uploaded by jrossjr.

For Spring Break Kelly and I headed down to New Orleans to help with

the Disaster Relief. I think we should market it as a weight loss

program: manual labor, insulated suit, double golved, double booted

and a respirator in 70 degree weather! Sweat yourself thin.

Decisions, decisions!

2006-02-17T10:35:00.000-05:00

FACING a big decision such as buying a car or a house?

Don't think about it too much if you want to avoid an expensive mistake.

Complex decisions are best left to the unconscious mind, because it can juggle lots of facts and figures better, a study shows.

Full Article

Dating Chain

2006-02-10T14:30:00.000-05:00

It has never been uncommon for people to attempt to "marry up", but even within the dating world this hierachy system undermines potential relationships. Girl A likes Boy A who likes Girl B who likes Boy C... It's as though we are programmed to seek out someone just out of our reach. We want someone who is better than us as a psychological conquest where we increase our own self image of worth by being with with an individual who stands on a taller imaginary pillar. If you date 'beneath' you, a sense of settlling overcomes and these perceptions (cuz thats all they really are) damage relationships.

So ideally we would find someone on par with our own image. Furthermore, the potential mate must also deduce a false sense of equality within you.

Fortunately, I have no desire to date right now, but i'm not exactly ethused about the mating dance i'll have to perform when that feeling subsides.

Muhammad-Drawings

2006-02-03T17:36:00.000-05:00

Have you been following the news on this? Back in September, a Danish newspaper printed political cartoons depicting several of the world religious figures less then favorably. A sketch of Muhammad included a turban in the shape of bomb. This month several other newspapers in Europe have reprinted the images stressing the freedom of the press. Since then the Islamic community has been in uproar.

"Whoever defames our prophet should be executed," said Ismail Hassan, 37, a tailor who marched through the pouring rain along with hundreds of others in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

These protests are puntuated with gunmen firing into the air and surrounding government buildings threating to take Europeans hostage. Some of the governments are apologizing, some of the newspapers fired responsible employees (out of fear I suspect) and all of this over some cartoons. Apparently i'm missing something. I honestly don't understand the situation at all. Your thoughts??

Honda creates a self driving car!

2006-02-01T15:18:00.000-05:00

"The Adaptive Cruise Control is your regular radar variety, but the Lane Keep Assist System keeps you headed in the right direction by using a camera on the rear-view mirror to watch the white lines and turn accordingly. Honda was quick to point out that their system isn't exactly set up for you to take a nap, since the ADAS system will beep every 10 seconds to make sure you're paying attention, requiring you to touch the steering wheel to inform the car you're still in charge, but we're sure someone is going manage an accident and an ensuing lawsuit or three out of this "convenience".

Link

First stance taken by the new pope.

2006-01-25T11:30:00.000-05:00

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Benedict XVI warned in his first encyclical Wednesday that sex without unconditional love risked turning men and women into merchandise.

Article link

Chicago

2006-01-21T19:20:00.000-05:00

i'm in Chicago right now visiting Kelly. Lindsey and I drove down last night. The drive itself was an adventure with seven inches of snow falling over a period of four or five hours. We were driving through 3-4 inches of standing snow on the interstate at 35 mph. Hence it took us almost twice as long ~11 hours to get here. Today, however, the temperatures were decently above freezing and most of the snow is already gone. Kelly and I went to the Water Tower and the Hancock building. Tonight we are attending a house party and then going to see the Sports Comedy Improv troup at midnight.

Quotes

2006-01-10T18:32:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine sent me the following quotes (my initial thoughts in
() ):

1. Nobody is perfect, until you fall in love with them. (how true!)

2. The hardest thing to do is watch the one you love, love someone
else (?!?!)

3. Don't cry over someone who isn't crying over you. (k... easier
said then done)

4. Everything is okay in end. If it's not okay, then it's not the
end. (naively optimistic)

I wasn't sure if those were suppose to make me feel better or
worse?? I suppose, if read in that order, they offer some positive
reassurance. Cliches are a dime a dozen when the rose colored lenses
fall off.

New Years Eve

2006-01-07T22:12:00.000-05:00

New Years Eve
Originally uploaded by jrossjr.

We watched the fireworks show from a hilltop Church in a large park in Stockholm. Click on the picture to see a movie clip!

New Years Resolutions

2006-01-07T00:07:00.000-05:00

To my knowledge, this is my first New Year's resolution of my life. So, I will make it nice and easy:

I 'resolve' to make 2006 better than 2005

What are your resolutions?

Sweden

2006-01-04T07:34:00.000-05:00

Today is our last full day in Sweden (Adam, Scott, James and I), and the first time that we've had internet access. In checking my email, I found that I missed a credit card payment, have a million ebay questions/complaints to address, and have a pile of work waiting for me up at Tech. Instantly, all of the daily burdens that i've shed since break started landed back on my shoulders. I forgot how nice it was to be without worries. Oh well, for the next two days, I will do my best to ignore all of my problems since I can't possibly do anything about them right now anyway :)

New Years Eve here was amazing. Easily the best of my life. We were standing high in the air at a Church perched on the top of a hill in a park in central Stockholm. Fireworks were going off all around us on the church grounds as well as over the whole horizon. 360 degrees of lights and explosion for almost an hour with champaign to boot. Not a bad night overall. Pictures to come. Tonight we are going out on the town. Our first chance to experience the night life in Stockholm through local bars and dance clubs.

Two days ago we woke up at 9am and went to bed at 10am the next morning (25 hours). Yesterday we woke up at 6pm and went to bed at 2am (8 hours). Much of our vacation has been in entire desregard of scedules, clocks or any other patterns that might inhibit our desired activities. It's been great, with more card playing than you could shake a stick at. Where did that phrase originate??

Which Disney Princess Are You?

2005-12-18T00:11:00.000-05:00

Gabe, Andrea and I had an awesome turkey dinner at Mitch and Laurie's
tonight. For evening entertainment we played "Which Disney Princess
Are You?" off the second DVD of Sleeping Beauty. The selection
choices were: Jasmine, Ariel, Aurora, Snow White, Cinderalla, and
Belle. The selection process is a 10-15 multiple choice survey.
Questions included: What would you most like to have in your house:
ball room, library, 7 guest bedrooms, tiger den, view of the ocean...
etc. Gabe and I were determined to be Belle from Beauty and the
Beast and Andrea was Cinderella. I can't say that I agree with my
results though. In Belle's first musical number she expresses her
disdain for provincial life. It has always been my dream to live a
very simple, christian, family oriented, "provincial" life. In
general, it seems that you can either be career driven, or family
oriented. Choosing one inevitably compromises the other to some
extent.

Darby and I

2005-12-14T13:38:00.000-05:00

For those of you who don't know, Darby and I broke up one month ago.
She has found someone else in her life whom she has chosen to be
with. I apologize for hiding this from my friends and family. It
has been difficult to accept, and speaking of it, forces it into
reality. I ask for your prayers for the man she is with, so that he
may find God in his life and grow to become a strong Christian.
Thank you.

Thoughts...

2005-12-13T14:52:00.000-05:00

Did you ever have something so overwhelming that it consumed 99% of
all your thoughts? Both awake and asleep? I keep managing to follow
through with my daily routine though, which makes we wonder: When I
wasn't so stressed out, what in the world did I think about for that
99% of the time?

Software Pirating

2005-12-10T22:21:00.000-05:00

I'm considering selling my PC and just running a MAC only operation.
Haven't decided yet, but in the deliberations I was looking at what
software I would lose. Photoshop is the only critical piece of
software that I don't have for the MAC. Ironic really, since the
program is developed foremost for Apple. Also, I realized that it is
the only piece of software that I have pirated. Everything else I
own, i have purchased legitimately. To purchase photoshop, however,
would be a $300 investment (with student discount, $600 without).
The alternative is to purchase Photoshop elements ($50), which hasn't
even come out for mac's in edition 4.0. But after using Photoshop
CS2 for so long, it would be painful to downgrade. What software
titles do you own that are in the "can't live without, can't afford
to buy" category?

Its good to be an Engineer

2005-12-05T11:51:00.000-05:00

An engineer dies and reports to hell. Pretty soon, the engineer becomes dissatisfied with the level of comfort in hell, and starts designing and building improvements. After a while, they've got air conditioning and flush toilets and escalators, and the engineer is a pretty popular guy.
One day God calls Satan up on the telephone and says with a sneer: "So, how's it going down there in hell?" Satan replies: Hey things are going great. We've got air conditioning and flush toilets and escalators, and there's no telling what this engineer is going to come up with next."
God replies: "What??? You've got an engineer? That's a mistake - he should never have gotten down there; send him up here."
Satan says: "No way. I like having an engineer on the staff, and I'm keeping him."
God says: "Send him back up here or I'll sue." Satan laughs uproariously and answers: "Yeah, right. And just where are you going to get a lawyer?"

Joint Propulsion Conference Abstract

2005-12-01T14:21:00.000-05:00

I have to submit an abstract today for a conference taking place in
July! This means there is a fair amount of guessing what my research
will have concluded by that point. I am writing, said abstract, in
Microsoft Word. The farther I get in my education, the more faults
and flaws I realize in Microsoft's prized word processor. The most
obvious: Word has a pathetic scientific dictionary natively
installed. At some point I will see if I can't search out an
scientific dictionary add-on that will help alleviate the hundreds of
red scribbles that are littered on every document I create these
days. The second, and most annoying problem, is Word's inability to
handle figures with any sort of common sense. I spend an
unacceptable amount of time fighting with word's auto formatting.
These are serious concerns of mine since I will soon embark on a
300-400 page thesis. I have received many recommendations for Latec
(sp?). Does anyone else have any experience with latec or other
alternatives?

Red, White and Blue

2005-12-01T00:33:00.000-05:00

Red, White and Blue.. and I don't mean the flag. I got pulled over
today just outside the yooper loop in Houghton. I didn't use my turn
signal while merging into the loop. As dangerous as that stupid loop
is, I don't blame the cop one bit for pulling me over. He also
informed me that my back window was not cleaned off (of snow) which
is illegal. I had never thought of that before. It makes sense but
I had no idea that it was a law that all of your windows must be
cleaned of snow at all times while driving. I new that you can't
having any objects obstructing your view INSIDE the car, so it only
stands to reason that the same is true on the outside. In any case,
he was nice about it and didn't ticket me.

Thanksgiving

2005-11-24T22:03:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I hope that everyone is able to
spend today with the people they love. Eat lots of Turkey, get tipsy
on egg nog, and watch its a Wonderful Life.

Christian Children's Fund

2005-11-23T14:40:00.000-05:00

Christian Children's Fund
Originally uploaded by jrossjr.

I have always said that I planned to use my extra money to help others when "I grow up". But I have some money now, and I would be lying if I said that I couldn't budget at least some of it to better causes than my electronic collection. So for Christmas, Darby and I sponsored a little boy named Reuben (4 years old) from Honduras. If anyone else is interested I encourage you to visit www.christianchildrensfund.com

Purpose Driven Life

2005-11-20T18:07:00.000-05:00

Darby and I have been reading "The Purpose Driven Life" by Rick
Warren. In the last chapter I read he writes: "In worship we are to
offer our bodies as living sacrifices. Now we usually associate the
concept of sacrifice with something dead, but God wants you to be a
living sacrifice. However, the problem with a living sacrifice is
that it can crawl off the altar, and we often do that". It made me
laugh

Quiz time

2005-11-18T10:03:00.000-05:00

Quiz time
Originally uploaded by jrossjr.

My last entry seems to have sparked many questions, which I will politely ignore for the time being :) My apologies.
Moving on: Where have you seen this Cafe before? Quiz for all of you trivia buffs out there.

In a blink of an eye

2005-11-17T16:08:00.000-05:00

I have always felt that I had control of my life. Every now and then a surprise would come my way, but never anything to entirely derail me. I never worried about the unknown, the unpredictable, or how integrated my life is with others. Now, more then ever, I realize that I am at the whim of the hand of fate. Barreling forward without a plan or direction to go, and only a prayer that God can see the road that I cannot. It is very humbling.

Vacation

2005-11-07T21:24:00.000-05:00

Vacation
Originally uploaded by jrossjr.

6 days in Princeton, 3 in New York.

“Every day is like a week, and every night is a weekend”

“One minute, one block too late”

I don’t think I could ever summarize everything that happened in the past week. I’ll try and fit a couple stories in over the next couple days. I managed to see three shows while in NYC: Rent, Avenue Q, and Mr. Marmalade. I would have gone to a Sunday matinee but our flight was at 5:30 and the show would have been at 2:00, a little risky. For many of the shows they have “The Lottery” where they raffle off the front two rows of seats 2 hours before the show for only 20 bucks a piece (as opposed to $105). I won the raffle for Rent the first night we were there, lost for Avenue Q, Wicked, and Spelling Bee. I hated to have to leave, but even if work wasn’t demanding my return, my finances would not have sustained much more abuse.

2005-11-01T21:37:00.000-05:00

Originally uploaded by jrossjr.

IEPC

2005-10-30T16:56:00.000-05:00

Originally uploaded by jrossjr.

This is the conference that we're at, and the reason that i'm in Princeton all week. Next weekend, though, were spending in New York.

Night on the town

2005-10-30T16:54:00.000-05:00

Originally uploaded by jrossjr.

Princeton is an amazing town! This is most beautiful city i've ever been in, including Europe and New Zealand.
Last night we went out and sampled the ivy night life. We met Michalyn and Bethany while we were out.

Powerbook Scam!

2005-10-27T17:13:00.000-04:00

This is hilarious! If you have 10 minutes, this is worth reading.
Somebody tried to scam a fellow eBay seller out of his powerbook. So
he sold him a home-made powerbook and the receiver had to pay 27%
import taxes on a 2000 dollar laptop (~$550).

Click Here!

Free Movie Ticket!

2005-10-26T11:20:00.000-04:00

Apply code AMX1 for buy 1, get 1 free movie ticket at Fandango. New
customers only.

3 DVD's $12

2005-10-25T11:30:00.000-04:00

I think I'll start posting some of the deals I come across while
looking for stuff to buy for Vorlon Technologies. I ran across this
DVD deal today. Buy 2 dvd's at 5.99 each and you get one free.
Shipping is free, and there is no tax. Equivocally, each DVD is $4.
I was impressed by the selection as well.

Click Here!

Party in Ann Arbor

2005-10-22T00:50:00.000-04:00

Originally uploaded by jrossjr.

We had the Michigan Space Grant Consortium conference this weekend in Ann Arbor. The night before the conference we (Dean, Emily, Webb, Makela, Ed, and Traci) went out for a night on the town. I'm not sure where this picture was taken... I'm not sure when this picture was taken... In fact, I didn't know that i posted to my blog until my sister asked me about the picture. This blog posting from my phone might become a liability!

DiscoTech

2005-10-20T18:46:00.000-04:00

10-16-2005 12-13-35 PM_0016
Originally uploaded by jrossjr.

All the pictures are up! Click on this one to see the rest. I can burn CD's for people who want them. I have a conference that i'm presenting at on Saturday in Ann Arbor so I won't be at practice, but i'll be there on Monday.

Eau Claire

2005-10-19T00:18:00.000-04:00

Eau Claire
Originally uploaded by jrossjr.

This past weekend DiscoTech (Michigan Tech's Ultimate Frisbee Team) competed in a tournament in Eau Claire Wisconsin. I can't say that we did all that well, but I did to play with my camera a bit. I'll post more pictures tomorrow.

eBay Troubles

2005-10-11T00:21:00.000-04:00

Many of you will laugh at this i'm sure: "You have been indefinitely suspended from eBay because our records indicate your account was involved in activities that violate our policy governing the sale of potentially infringing items."

Apparently Dell has begun selling refurbished items on eBay. Since then, they've started cracking down on eBayers using screen shots from dell.com for their auction pages. If you saw my post from a few days ago, you can see why this might be a large issue. All of those boxes are on my credit card. If I can't sell them, I have to pay for them. Scary thought.

Bleeding out the intelligence of the world

2005-10-05T10:29:00.000-04:00

A thought: Let us generalize for a moment. The smarter a person is, the more likely they are to seek higher education: bachelors, masters, PhD, post doc. Statistically, the longer a person is in school, the longer they will put off starting a family. An example: I will be 26 by the time I have my PhD and I will likely be 28-30 before I have my first child, if not older. If I go for a Post Doc, that'll set that back even further. Now, the other side. The less intelligent and/or irresposible side of the gene pool tend leave school as early as possible. These high school drop-outs are statistically resposible for the majority of teenage pregnancies. One could argue that the cause and effect is reversed, but that attests to their irresposibility instead of their lack of intelligence. In either case, this group is reproducing during the ages of 13-19. This same group statistically produces more then the national average of 2.5 children.
Conclusion: The less intelligent/resposible (read: undesirable genes) of the world are reproducing at twice the rate of the intelligent folk, and they are having more children to boot. We are methodically weading out intelligence in the world. Darwin is turning over in his grave! Any thoughts??

Vorlon Technologies

2005-10-02T23:45:00.000-04:00

Vorlon Technologies
Originally uploaded by jrossjr.

Most of you now that I've been an active eBay user since the online flea market was born. In fact, a girl that I was dating once exclaimed "I'm loosing my boyfriend to eBay!". Anyone know who said that? A bit of trivia for you.
Anyway, I've since upped the anti a bit. I've started my own company to exploit computer deals that I find on the internet. Mostly, I peddle in Dell and Apple merchandise. Most recently, Gabe has started to work with me and we have managed to increase our inventory three fold. The picture shows what we currently have in stock: 24" LCD's, 19" LCD's and Dimension 9100 Desktops.

Saturday Night in Lab?

2005-10-01T19:50:00.000-04:00

Yes, its 8:00 PM, on what is likely to be the last warm Saturday of the year, and I'm in our lab babysitting giant vacuum chambers. Emily, my officemate, calls me up and informs me that a new rule has been instated in the Lab: pump downs must be babysat by 2 lab members at all times. There are conference paper deadlines due on Monday so several people in the lab are frantically running around trying to squeeze tests in around the clock. People are in the Lab at 3-4 in the morning then starting again at 8 the next day, and, as you can see, Saturday nights as well. I explained that I thought these expectations were unreasonable. The response I got was "this is what you are paid for". Not by my advisor/boss, but by a fellow gradstudent!
The Work-Aholics of America have gone from the anomaly to being the norm and even the expectation. The sane minded, family oriented folk are acquiring reputations of slackers and undevoted employees for rejecting 60+ hour work weeks. There is more to life then work. Several people in our lab exist only at work or in the bar. Now I enjoy my work, and I enjoy a trip the bar as well, but neither are my life's purpose. "To each their own", but don't force me to drown in research just because you do. If a journal paper falls through or a test fails, my world will not end. Life is too stressful as it is. Putting all your hopes and dreams in your professional career will only make it worse. If I miss a promotion or get passed up for some grant/award because I decided not to test at 4 in the morning then so be it, life will go on. The end result will likely only be that I make a little less money. Money obsessed folk, howerver, is a topic for another post. Look at it this way, i'm using that money that I would have earned to buy back part of my life to be lived outside the laboratory.

Another thruster picture

2005-09-29T10:02:00.000-04:00

Another thruster picture
Originally uploaded by jrossjr.

Yet another thruster picture. oooh and ahhh at all the pretty colors.

Xenon Thruster

2005-09-26T16:31:00.000-04:00

Xenon Thruster
Originally uploaded by jrossjr.

This is Dean's Thruster running on Xenon. I thought people might like to see a picture of the rockets that we're working with. If you look up above the thruster you can see the cathode glowing purplish.

New Years Eve in Europe

2005-09-23T13:23:00.000-04:00

Off to Sweden. Scott, Adam, James and I are headed to Scandinavia for New Years Eve this year. I just finished purchasing the tickets yesterday. We'll be there from the 28th of Dec - 5th of January. I have been pushing for a guys vacation overseas for awhile now, and quite honestly, i'm surprised that it is coming to fruition. Trying to coordinate schedules, acquiring funds, negotiating "leave" from significant others.. it was an uphill battle. It reminds me of High School when I was perpetually charged with organizing friday night parties. The only difference being that we are flying to this party instead of driving, and we'll be the only ones speaking English. My thanks goes out to our girlfriends for their understanding. Perhaps next year we can rendezvous in Rome for an all inclusive couples trip.

Glider Pilot Adrian

2005-09-20T11:06:00.000-04:00

Glider Pilot Adrian
Originally uploaded by jrossjr.

This is Adrian and I just outside Stockholm preparing for flight. I'm smiling and we haven't even moved yet :) The flight was more intense then I expected. At max we pulled a 4.2g turn. Adrian instructed me how to force blood into your head before the turns to prevent from passing out.

Food Fight!

2005-09-15T23:20:00.000-04:00

Food Fight!
Originally uploaded by jrossjr.

Copper got in the middle of a food fight between Darby and I. That's mustard BTW.

(Half) Marathon

2005-09-14T01:24:00.000-04:00

(Half) Marathon
Originally uploaded by jrossjr.

My first half marathon was this past weekend. This is a photo from just after I finished. There was a full marathon run simultaneously as the half which started 13.1 miles behind on the same track. For those of you who don't know, a marathon is 26.2 miles long (The .2 being the little known fact). I didn't know that. I hadn't realized that they started us on 13.1 marker either. This became vital information when I sprinted to the 26 mile marker only to find that I had a fifth of a mile to go. That might not seem like much, but in the mentality of "Leave everything you've got on the field" I had left nothing for that last itsy bitsy chunk of pavement in between me and rest/water/food otherwise known as the finish line. I paid for that mistake dearly. Live and learn I guess. I exceeded my expectations though. I ended up placing dead center in the lineup of male half marathon runners. I had expected to place dead last, since this was my first attempt. Its amazing what you can push your body to do. It is equally amazing how your body will make you pay for it the next day.

Our Good Friend Dean...

2005-09-11T23:27:00.000-04:00

Our Good Friend Dean...
Originally uploaded by jrossjr.

This was at our Faculty, Staff, and Graduate student Picnic for the Mechanical Engineering department. Dean was about to head out on his bike. If you click on the picture, you'll be able to see that he scavenged a diet coke 20oz bottle so that he could fill it up with the beer purchased by the department for the picnic. He did this in front of all of the professors, advisors, and faculty members jut so that he would have some beer for the bike ride home.

Katrina

2005-09-05T13:19:00.000-04:00

There have been several organizations that have been attempting to help bring relief to the victims in wake of Hurricane Katrina. Darby, for example, was approached by her Campus Ministry to donate health supplies. I also have heard of several organizations that are accepting donations on the radio. My question is: What do you think the best way to give support is? Money? Goods? Canned Food? Part of the dilema of donating to 'worthy' causes is choosing the organization that will use your donation most appropriately. So, any insight out there would be much appreciated.

Spam

2005-09-01T22:08:00.000-04:00

Blog Spam?!?! I didn't even know such a thing existed. If you check the comments on my last post you will see two SPAM comments. The first one is somewhat disguised, the second isn't. Oh well, i'll leave the comments there for a little while for you to see. Say no to Blog Spam!

New Post!

2005-09-01T20:02:00.000-04:00

It's been a week, and you all believed that you would never see a post again. Well here you are. I hope it lives up to everything you hoped it could be. If not send complaints to scapegoat@yahoo.com

Amazingly not much happens in a week of Jerry's Life. Adam Webb, my roommate, defended for his Master's Thesis last Friday successfully. Consequently we spent much of the weekend grillin' food, drinking quality beer, and throwing horseshoes at Makela's house. Good times had by all.

This week I've abused my body twice on the soccer fields playing Ultimate Frisbee. It is simply amazing how accurate these guys can throw. Which both suits my strengths and emphasizes my faults. I'm fast, very fast, even as an old guy (24 compared to the average age of 19 on the team). Also, I can catch most anything that comes my way. Coupled with a skilled Handler (frisbee-speak for thrower) I can make some awesome plays. But, after I make the catch, however skillful that might look, I then stand there with the inability to move the Frisbee any farther up the field. Everyone of these guys out there can throw: backhand, forehand, hammertoss, and more whose names I haven't even learned yet. As for me, I have a nice solid backhand... that's it. Which means it took two minutes for everyone else to realize this and block my backhand side solid. I stand there like an idiot until I attempt to pass using my backhand which inevitably is blocked, or I risk a forehand which at best flutters like wounded duck. I've become the 'End Zone' guy: Throw to him to score the point, but make sure he's in the end zone so that he doesn't have to throw it.

Ultimate!

2005-08-25T12:25:00.000-04:00

Two weekends ago I had the pleasure of playing in a reunion game of
Ultimate Frisbee during the weekend festivities of Anna and Tim's
wedding. I don't believe that I've played since my senior year at
Alma and I had forgotten how much fun it is. When I got back up to
Tech I took the initiative to look into 'Ultimate' opportunities here
on campus. Turns out there is a semi-serious traveling team that
competes here at Tech called "Disco Tech". I got myself on the
mailing list and attended the first tryout yesterday afternoon. Off
the field, the group is lighthearted and nobody takes themselves to
seriously. On the field... well, common procedure is to run
through, over, or on top of anything that might be in between you and
the frisbee, which is a bit of a shock the first time you are
trampled by three guys wearing cleats! I wouldn't say they play
dirty necessarily, but rather the level of physicality expected is
closer to hockey game then a croquet match. On the same token, most
everyone is willing to sacrafice life and limb to dive for the
perfect catch without thought of consequence (i.e. pavement). All in
all, i think I held my own. Next practice is on Monday. Meanwhile,
i'll nurse my wounds. I think this might be part of the weeding out
process.

Guestbook again...

2005-08-22T22:01:00.000-04:00

Ok fine... I've had some complaints about the tone of 'voice/writing' that i used in requesting people to sign my lovely guestbook. So now I am politely asking you to please take this time to sign my guestbook. Please don't make me resort to graveling.

GuestBook!

2005-08-22T15:22:00.000-04:00

Hey you! Yeah you, the one ignoring the blinking button on the right. Sign my guestbook damnit. Most specifically, I want everyone to sign the guestbook who has a website/blog/online journal or any other public means of venting use(ful/less) daily events in your life. Just like you, I look for websites to waste time on, so help me out.

Achilles Knee

2005-08-22T10:47:00.000-04:00

I'm signed up for a half marathon on Saturday September 10th. My knee, however, isn't on board with the rest of my body. I think i'm cardiovascularly (sp?) ready, but as the saying goes, i'm only as strong as my weakest link, which in this case is my left knee. Four days ago I attempted to run for an undetermined amount and my knee gave out at 3 miles. I had to walk the rest of the way Back. Yesterday, I ran 8 miles and my knee gave out around the sixth mile.. but I kept running anyway. That left me without the ability to walk around the house for the rest of the day. It wasn't until about 10:00 that I was able to hobble around. This morning, i feel fine. The only good party of all of this, is I always seem to bounce back quickly. Today I'm biking and tomorrow i'll give a shot at running 10 miles. We'll see how it goes..

Other news fronts: Katie Stone got her music teaching job at Waterford, and Scott got his job with Hazel Park. They are now looking for a place in the Rochester-Ann Arbor area. The gamble paid off for them. I was worried that this late in August there would be no way for them both to reel in jobs near each other in the Detroit area. I couldn't be more happy that i was wrong :) On a bitter note, how is it that they've managed to avoid a long distance relationship through everything?? oh well, not in the cards for Darby and I. She just moved into her new apartment, and starts teaching at Missouri State University today. She has two classes on 'Intro to Theatre' that she's instructing this year. Friends of Darby: Call her up and ask her how it went. She's a bit nervous and i'm sure she'd love to hear from you. Email me if you don't have her cell #.

Free Ipods

2005-08-17T19:59:00.000-04:00

A lovely pyramid scheme it is too! Alas, I've gotten myself involved though. The girl who referred me DID in fact receive her iPod, so I figured I'd give it a shot. Each person has give five referrals to sign up. Click here to join!

Wedding & Boat Trip

2005-08-16T11:05:00.000-04:00

I will do my best to get pictures from Anna and Tim's Wedding pictures up in the next day or two. Check back later.

Today Brad (my advisor) is taking us all out on his boat. Were headed out to Eagle harbor and cruising back down through Houghton. 30% chance of rain so lets hope it holds out for the afternoon.

Fluffy

2005-08-10T15:46:00.000-04:00

To sign or not to sign, that is the question!

2005-08-10T15:10:00.000-04:00

Regarding my last post: Yesterday, Scott interviewed and was later offered the Musical Director position at Baraga schools here in the U.P. 20 minutes south of Houghton. Half an hour later he was offered the chance to interview against 7 other candidates for a middle school position at Hazel Park. The picture is Scott on the phone discussing his "chances" with the assistant superintendent of Hazel Park schools. In the end he turned down the position here in Baraga in hopes of a job down state where he and Katie could live together. His interview for Hazel Park is tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon. If you talk to him, wish him luck!!

Job offers

2005-08-09T14:43:00.000-04:00

Job offers
Originally uploaded by jrossjr.

The great dilema

Big Fish!

2005-08-05T20:39:00.000-04:00

Big Fish.jpg
Originally uploaded by jrossjr.

A handout picture released Monday Aug. 1, 2005 shows Duncan Rooke, 32, left and Stephen Buss, 30, as they haul in a record-breaking catfish in the River Ebro, near Barcelona in Spain on July 6, 2005. The 7ft 7in, (2.3 meters) 212lb (96kgms) female fish is the biggest freshwater catch ever made by a British angler and nearly pulled 32-year-old gas engineer Rooke back into the river once he had hold of her. After weighing the fish and burping her to get rid of the air in her stomach she was released. Photo taken on July 6. (AP Photos/HO/PA)

GRRRR!!!

2005-08-04T16:08:00.000-04:00

GRRRR!!!
Originally uploaded by jrossjr.

I must have pissed off the Apple Gods severely last night. I woke up this morning at a customary 8:30 and decided to check my email. So I turn on myPowerbook only to have it blink this STUPID little icon at me. I attemptedto boot to the OSX Tiger DVD and found that the Hard drive is fried! [sigh] This is my punishment for gloating...

Isn't it beautiful?

2005-08-03T23:19:00.000-04:00

Isn't it beautiful?
Originally uploaded by jrossjr.

If only I really did own all three. In reality the smallest one on the left is the only one that is mine. The iBook in the middle is my Grandma's former laptop and soon to be my sister 'new' laptop. The iMac on the right is my Grandmother's replacement computer (2Ghz - 20" LCD - 250 Gb). I have the job of preparing the two computers for their new owners. But for a short while, they are mine! ALL MINE!

Copper's back!

2005-08-03T14:31:00.000-04:00

I'm happy to say that copper is back this afternoon looking slightly skinnier but infinately healthier. I haven't talked to Webb to hear what the vet said yet. I'll update the post later.

A trip to the vet...

2005-08-02T23:12:00.000-04:00

Originally uploaded by jrossjr.

Copper got into a trash bag full of rotten camping food, primarily plastic wrapped cheese slices. He then threw it up in various locations around the house. Josh found him shaking on the floor of the dart room and got him outside where he began to seisure. I went to Fisher to get Webb and then all four of us headed to the Vet. The vet seemed very calm about the whole thing, as though it wasn't a big deal. She did mention that his temperature was 108.7 which is "very bad" but other than that, she didn't make it sound like it was something to worry about. He is to stay overnight in the vet where he will hosed down and covered with ice packs to cool him down. In the morning they'll run some blood work on him and give us a call. Its strange how routine she made the entire event seem. I'll update tomorow when I know more.

Kentucky Luge

2005-08-01T14:02:00.000-04:00

Kentucky Luge
Originally uploaded by jrossjr.

I'm testing my video capabilities. Click on the picture and see what happens. Post comments as to whether or not it works.

Nevermind, it doesn't seem to work. I was trying to using Yahoo briefcase for Webspace storage. Does anyone know a good place for cheap/free webspace to store files for webpages??

Also, Scott look over to the right. Notice anything new? Three things are different.

Logans

2005-07-30T19:51:00.000-04:00

Logans
Originally uploaded by jrossjr.

Beer and bridge

Europe!

2005-07-27T12:53:00.000-04:00

I'm in an internet cafe in London. I had no idea that the English used different keyboards. It's a pain in the ass! But the internet is only 1£/60 min. Today we visited Big Ben, West Minster Abbey and tonight we are going to see the Far Pavillions! Ooh.. ah 30 seconds.. bye!

Europe!

2005-07-16T16:44:00.000-04:00

Darby and I are now in Europe. Aside from our stopovers in London and Amsterdam we have spent most of our time in the Stockholm area. Today we went to the Vassa museum were they have the worlds oldest sea vessel on display. The Vassa was a one of the Largest Swedish battle ships in the naval fleet. On its maiden voyage in 1628, it traveled 1300 meters (less then one mile) and sank at the first sign wind. It was found again in 1956 and resurrected almost entirely intact. I'll post a picture later.
Highlight of the trip so far was learning to fly a glider and pulling 100 degree 4g turns!! Next week we are taking a cruise over to Helsinki (Finland). I'll post as often as I have internet.

Fireworks

2005-07-11T00:00:00.000-04:00

This was my first attempt at using my phone for Blogging. I took a picture with the phone and emailed it to the blog through flickr. Sure enough, it popped up there almost instantly (I later added this text). Now for $.25 per picture (cingular charges), I can post to the blog effortlessly!

FW: Fireworks
Originally uploaded by jrossjr.

Nicks graduation

Poll

2005-07-06T11:15:00.000-04:00

www.Lab6.com

2005-06-29T00:18:00.000-04:00

Capture_5
Originally uploaded by jrossjr.

Woo Hoo! I scored 1430! I should go to bed. Sleeping is more productive then this..

LaB6

2005-06-29T00:04:00.000-04:00

LaB6 is the chemical formula for a substance called Lanthanum Hexaboride. I critical component used in hallow cathode assemblies for hall effect thrusters. Since barium impregnated tungsten is a depleting source of electrons over time, LaB6 is often preferred. Just don’t touch the stuff, and I quote “may cause writhing, walking on toes with arched back, ataxia…” etc.

Anyway, getting to the point. I need some for an emissive electrode I’m trying to build. So I googled it. To my surprise Lab6 is also a very popular, very addictive Atari like game. Head to www.lab6.com and you’ll see what I mean. I highly recommend it. … the video game that is. Not to say that emissive cathode’s aren’t fun, they’re just not everyone’s ‘cup of tea’. I sort of lost 20 minutes of the day when I found this.. oops.

John and Alana Phillips

2005-06-27T23:10:00.000-04:00

6-18-2005 10-33-29 AM_0047 copy
Originally uploaded by jrossjr.

Some more wedding photos. Most of my photos of the wedding couple didn't turn out as well as I had hoped. This one has a nice lighting effect, but it would have been nice if I could have gotten some clearer ones. If/when people get their pictures back, email me some! Ironically, all of my photos of Ben looking awkward on the dance floor turned out just fine :) Sorry Ben, i'm sure it was the camera's fault.

John and Alana's Wedding

2005-06-25T23:27:00.000-04:00

6-18-2005 1-11-07 PM_0144
Originally uploaded by jrossjr.

A small selection of wedding photos. I threw one in there from the after party debauchery that took place in the hotel Suite, nothing too incriminating :)