The Glass

Some say the glass is half full, others say the glass is half empty. As an engineer, I'd argue the glass is over designed, with a factor of safety of two, assuming the glass to be a cylinder.

Working is going well. I'll be celebrating two months as a rocket scientist, come Monday. I've already worked on three projects to some degree. The first being a three-dimensional model of an igniter grain to determine maximum temperature during firing, the second trying to determine the effect of fiber orientation in a test sample of a carbon/phenolic in regards to directional thermal conductivity, and the most recent, a model of a circuit board with a heat sink to determine the maximum temperature of the components before take off.

I'm glad I've been busy, this makes learning much easier because I need to learn for a particular application. I'm also busy learning other codes for future projects and problems that may come my way. In case you didn't gather, I'm a thermal analyst, dealing with temperature profiles and erosion rates. Problems I will encounter deal with rocket nozzles, valves, case insulation, and igniters. Not to mention other things as they arise, such as the circuit board problem mentioned.

Life here in Elkton is fairly boring, but starting to pick up. I'm making friends slowly but surely. I played on the men's softball team for the rest of the season because they had multiple injuries, so that was fun. Every Wednesday, I'm playing ultimate with guys/girls from work, people I see on an almost daily business. It's nice to be able to see people you know walking through the hallways at work. Gives you a sense of belonging and familiarity, I suppose.

This weekend, I'll be looking into furniture. I need a couch, bed and a coffee table. Right now, I've got a TV, but no cable. I'm also borrowing INTERNET. Keep that on the DL. I'm not sure whether to get cable or satellite. Any suggestions? I think I may also go for a hike this weekend. I also want to sit down and figure out what my 401k plan means. I'm signed up for it, but I don't really know what I have. I heard a story on NPR about pension plans vs. 401k. Pension plans are being phased out because of risk due to bad accounting done by businesses as well as the threat of losing your pension if the company goes under. The real threat with a 401k is that it does well when the stock market does well. Hopefully we won't have any stock market crashes any time soon. Knock on wood.

Have a good weekend, ROFLITES. If you're traveling, make sure to check for bed bugs, or says NBC on the Today show.