Welcome to the Third Law of Thermodynamics and the Wonderful World of Entropy
My Thermo professor was apparently indisposed yesterday, so we had a guest lecturer. The title above is how he introduced the subject of the day's lesson. We learned all about entropy, including how to calculate it. Science is fascinating. For example, it's interesting to me that if you know a few easily measurable quantities, it is possible to calculate the exact amount of entropy (or disorder) in a system. That's right, the exact amount of disorder. Is it just me, or does that sound like a contradiction in terms?
--
I had two exams this past week: Inorganic on Monday, and Thermo on Wednesday. I got the Inorganic exam back yesterday, and I was pleased to find a note of encouragement from the professor on the front: "Keep it up!" I was about 11 points above the class average, which puts me in the high B range. I'm content with that - which is not to say that I won't try to do better next time, of course.
The Thermo exam was a little discouraging. Don't get me wrong, I felt pretty good about what I was able to do. The exam consisted of two parts, a closed book section and an open book section. The closed book section consisted of 13 short answer / fill-in-the-blank questions. I got through that pretty quickly, turned it in, and moved on the open book section. This part consisted of five problems, all of which I felt pretty comfortable in working. So I'm wrapping up the fourth problem when I hear the professor say, "The bell is going to ring in about one minute, and I'll start collecting the exams in about four minutes." Carp. I got basically nothing done on problem five. Lesson: while I'm apparently not entirely ignorant of the principles of Thermodynamics, I need more practice with problem solving so I can do the math quicker. I expect that we'll get the exams back next Wednesday.
And I found out yesterday that the first exam in my other class, Quantum Mechanics, is being moved up two days. Monday exams make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Okay, maybe not so much. Oh well, this will no longer be an issue in three months.
--
We had a weird case of road rage in Utah this weekend. Some woman, probably high on drugs, was driving a stolen car onto I-15 early Friday morning. A man in another car on the ramp saw her, and that's when the fun began. She started driving aggressively, and somewhere on the freeway, she rolled down her window and yelled at him. He responded by showing her the Utah Highway Peace Sign. Her response was to pull out a .357-caliber revolver and shoot at him four times. And wouldn't you know, one of the four shots took off the tip of his extended middle finger. What is the moral of this story...?
--
I got two new pairs of shoes yesterday. I had budgeted about $40 for shoes, presumably one good pair. I was driving in the general direction of the local Shop-Ko when I spotted a Big 5 Sporting Goods store. I'd never been there, but I'd seen a lot of their ads, and it seemed like they always had shoes on sale. So I went in. I found a pair of Coleman hiking shoes, normally $59.99, and a pair of white Spalding high-tops, normally $49.99. Both pairs were on sale for $19.99. Score! I'm wearing the Colemans now, and they're very comfortable. Next clothing purchases: a white dress shirt, some dress pants, and a couple of polo shirts.
--
Ever heard of a group called Explorers Club? For most readers, the answer is probably "No". Which is too bad. Explorers Club is (are?) a loose gathering of musicians from various progressive bands. The 'group' exists in two incarnations. The first made a CD called "Age of Impact", followed several years later by a different lineup that produced "Raising the Mammoth". While I've never heard the second CD - and based on the lineup and the reviews I've read, I'm in no particular hurry to - I've had "Age of Impact" in borrowed (.mp3) form for more than a year. I was listening to it again the other night, and I thought, "I like this enough that I should just buy it." So I did. I found a like-new copy on Amazon (my favorite music store!) for $4.49. I should have it by the end of the week. I loved this comment from one of the reviews: "If you like good Progressive Rock, you're going to love Age of Impact. Though it consists of only five songs, in true prog-rock tradition they average over ten and a half minutes."
--
The Colorado Rockies just stink. This is not exactly a state secret; they have the worst record in the National League. What makes it bad is how they manage to lose so many games. Take last night, for example. The San Francisco Giants were in town, and starter Jeff Francis was having a pretty decent game. He had given up only two runs, had kept 'Steroid Barry' from hitting a home run for the first time in four games, and had actually received decent run support. He left the game after six strong innings with a 6-2 lead. Enter the Rockies bullpen - also known as the Rocky Horror Pitching Show. Led by pitcher Mike DeJean (who was no good the last time he played for the Rocks, either), the bullpen gave up five runs in the 8th inning, and Colorado lost the game 7-6. There are some teams that always seem to find ways to win. This is not one of them. Nobody can snatch defeat from the very jaws of victory quite like the Rockies can. Oh well, there's always next year....
--
More fun and games at work today. We had fourteen interviewers scheduled for today's shift, of whom ten showed up (plus three that weren't scheduled), one resigned, and three no-showed. We put in calls to those three; two had disconnected numbers, and we left a message for the third. Many hours later, the third called back and said that he had scheduled the day off a couple of weeks ago. So I went to his file, and sure enough, he had. The supervisor who updates the schedule had filed the request appropriately but had forgotten to note it in the computer. This isn't a really big deal, except that she's doing little things like this all the time. One day, she's got to learn the right way to do things. I'm thinking that day may be Tuesday, the next day that I'm scheduled. We'll see.
--
That's enough for now, I guess. Have a great week, everyone!
--
I had two exams this past week: Inorganic on Monday, and Thermo on Wednesday. I got the Inorganic exam back yesterday, and I was pleased to find a note of encouragement from the professor on the front: "Keep it up!" I was about 11 points above the class average, which puts me in the high B range. I'm content with that - which is not to say that I won't try to do better next time, of course.
The Thermo exam was a little discouraging. Don't get me wrong, I felt pretty good about what I was able to do. The exam consisted of two parts, a closed book section and an open book section. The closed book section consisted of 13 short answer / fill-in-the-blank questions. I got through that pretty quickly, turned it in, and moved on the open book section. This part consisted of five problems, all of which I felt pretty comfortable in working. So I'm wrapping up the fourth problem when I hear the professor say, "The bell is going to ring in about one minute, and I'll start collecting the exams in about four minutes." Carp. I got basically nothing done on problem five. Lesson: while I'm apparently not entirely ignorant of the principles of Thermodynamics, I need more practice with problem solving so I can do the math quicker. I expect that we'll get the exams back next Wednesday.
And I found out yesterday that the first exam in my other class, Quantum Mechanics, is being moved up two days. Monday exams make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Okay, maybe not so much. Oh well, this will no longer be an issue in three months.
--
We had a weird case of road rage in Utah this weekend. Some woman, probably high on drugs, was driving a stolen car onto I-15 early Friday morning. A man in another car on the ramp saw her, and that's when the fun began. She started driving aggressively, and somewhere on the freeway, she rolled down her window and yelled at him. He responded by showing her the Utah Highway Peace Sign. Her response was to pull out a .357-caliber revolver and shoot at him four times. And wouldn't you know, one of the four shots took off the tip of his extended middle finger. What is the moral of this story...?
--
I got two new pairs of shoes yesterday. I had budgeted about $40 for shoes, presumably one good pair. I was driving in the general direction of the local Shop-Ko when I spotted a Big 5 Sporting Goods store. I'd never been there, but I'd seen a lot of their ads, and it seemed like they always had shoes on sale. So I went in. I found a pair of Coleman hiking shoes, normally $59.99, and a pair of white Spalding high-tops, normally $49.99. Both pairs were on sale for $19.99. Score! I'm wearing the Colemans now, and they're very comfortable. Next clothing purchases: a white dress shirt, some dress pants, and a couple of polo shirts.
--
Ever heard of a group called Explorers Club? For most readers, the answer is probably "No". Which is too bad. Explorers Club is (are?) a loose gathering of musicians from various progressive bands. The 'group' exists in two incarnations. The first made a CD called "Age of Impact", followed several years later by a different lineup that produced "Raising the Mammoth". While I've never heard the second CD - and based on the lineup and the reviews I've read, I'm in no particular hurry to - I've had "Age of Impact" in borrowed (.mp3) form for more than a year. I was listening to it again the other night, and I thought, "I like this enough that I should just buy it." So I did. I found a like-new copy on Amazon (my favorite music store!) for $4.49. I should have it by the end of the week. I loved this comment from one of the reviews: "If you like good Progressive Rock, you're going to love Age of Impact. Though it consists of only five songs, in true prog-rock tradition they average over ten and a half minutes."
--
The Colorado Rockies just stink. This is not exactly a state secret; they have the worst record in the National League. What makes it bad is how they manage to lose so many games. Take last night, for example. The San Francisco Giants were in town, and starter Jeff Francis was having a pretty decent game. He had given up only two runs, had kept 'Steroid Barry' from hitting a home run for the first time in four games, and had actually received decent run support. He left the game after six strong innings with a 6-2 lead. Enter the Rockies bullpen - also known as the Rocky Horror Pitching Show. Led by pitcher Mike DeJean (who was no good the last time he played for the Rocks, either), the bullpen gave up five runs in the 8th inning, and Colorado lost the game 7-6. There are some teams that always seem to find ways to win. This is not one of them. Nobody can snatch defeat from the very jaws of victory quite like the Rockies can. Oh well, there's always next year....
--
More fun and games at work today. We had fourteen interviewers scheduled for today's shift, of whom ten showed up (plus three that weren't scheduled), one resigned, and three no-showed. We put in calls to those three; two had disconnected numbers, and we left a message for the third. Many hours later, the third called back and said that he had scheduled the day off a couple of weeks ago. So I went to his file, and sure enough, he had. The supervisor who updates the schedule had filed the request appropriately but had forgotten to note it in the computer. This isn't a really big deal, except that she's doing little things like this all the time. One day, she's got to learn the right way to do things. I'm thinking that day may be Tuesday, the next day that I'm scheduled. We'll see.
--
That's enough for now, I guess. Have a great week, everyone!
posted by Michael at
3:22 PM
2 Comments:
dude...today, Sunday...shift that was supposed to consist of 9...TWO...yes TWO scheduled people made it in...we had a grand total of 4 interviewers...
and we STILL DID BETTER THAN the saturday shift!
that's right...i rock...The Ron the SuX0rs!
By
Unknown, At
September 25, 2005 11:06 PM
Hey, I was supervising on the Saturday shift! What do you mean by "Better", Haxxor-boy?
By
Michael, At
September 26, 2005 4:34 PM
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