semi-useless

The day didn't start off good when my headphones finally decided to crap out on me.  They're the Bose in-ears and I've had them for almost 2 years now.  They were awesomely comfy and sounded great.  However, the design engineer who decided to make the headphone jack stick out over an inch is hopefully out of a job.  The little soft cup around the headphone jack has finally been stretched and torn and now I get constant cut-outs and static.  I'm guessing that one of the wires inside (how cheap) is close to being cut.  

I suppose I have gotten quite a bit of use out of them while they lasted.  Kinda panicked because my headphones are the only protection I have from the stupidity of public transit.  So after school today I went and picked up a new pair of Metro.Fi 200 headphones.  They cost about half of what I paid for my Bose, but based on strong reviews.  We'll see how they hold up.  First impressions are that they block out the ambient noise better than the Bose but I don't think they sound as good (I prefer a bass heavy experience).  So there I am on the bus listening to my crackily music, wincing the entire time.  And that was only the bus ride...

This morning I had my first 534 (Oil Sands Extraction) lecture from Xu.  Not too bad, although I remember the last time I had a class with this guy I ended up with a D+ (Reactors).  534 is still interesting and todays talk was about how we can use just one simple equation to model fluidized beds (basically think of a tub of sand, blowing air through it from the bottom at which point the sand becomes like water).

After we had a couple hours break which consisted of not being productive.  To be honest, I'm really starting to feel bad about my contributions to both my lab and design projects.  It's very frustrating when it feels like I'm helpless when it comes to some aspects of the work.  I've made it a goal for myself to try to be more pro-active in the work and hopefully things will start to become a little more interesting.

Colloqium was quite good today, had talks on Beer Production, Multiple Sclerosis and Internal Combustion Engines.  I finally figured out how a Wankel (rotary) engine works!  Now when I can afford my RX-8 I'll understand how the damn thing moves.

Design class wasn't too bad either.  I think that we've finally got our final model simulation (two stage amine system for scrubbing sour gas) down and now it's onto tuning/optimizing.  Next up is the PFD and we should be in ok shape heading into reading week.  I will contribute?  No, I will CONTRIBUTE!

My night at home (getting home almost 12 hours after I left...) has been spent trying to theoretically crack a giant asphaltene molecule with little success.  Is this really teaching me anything?

the brain, it hurts!