Leave him alone

If any of you have been paying any attention to sports news recently, you’ve probably heard about the car accident that Tiger Woods got into.  He ran into a pole or something at about 3 in the morning, and it’s been reported that alcohol wasn’t involved.  This happened several days ago, and yet ESPN won’t stop talking about it because people everywhere are furious with his uninformative comments on the matter (http://web.tigerwoods.com/news/article/200911297726222/news/).  Most importantly, he says “This is a private matter and I want to keep it that way. Although I understand there is curiosity, the many false, unfounded and malicious rumors that are currently circulating about my family and me are irresponsible.”  So why can’t we just drop it.  Who cares what Tiger was doing out at 3 in the morning or what caused the accident.  His life is his own matter, just because he’s famous doesn’t mean that we can go about heckling him for information.  If I were to do the same thing he did, I’d get a 10 second blip in the news, and it’d be over with.

My overall point is this.  Why the hell do people care so much about the lives of celebrities, particularly ones who want to keep things to themselves.  Are our own lives not interesting enough that we have to religiously follow those of the people we see in movies and on tv?  It drives me absolutely crazy when a scandal breaks out over something stupid like this.  Just because someone becomes famous doesn’t mean that they’re automatically perfect and can never do anything wrong, why do we make such a big deal out of something that happens on a daily basis to any other person?  So, the thing I’d like you to take away from this rant is this, admire people for their acting ability, their athletic talent, etc., but don’t assume that makes them perfect.

On a side note, I’ve been finding a lot of cool music videos recently, so I thought I’d link a few over the next couple of posts.  Todays video is kind of a shout out to college football, which is sadly coming to a close.  I think every stadium in the country is playing this song recently, but it’s a good song, so it’s cool.  It’s Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes, bonus points if you can tell me the recent movie Jack White has made the theme song for.

NERD!!!

Well, as you all know, this blog is supposed to be a place for me to write down whatever’s on  my mind.  Unfortunately, all that’s been on my mind recently is lots of Mechanics and Aerodynamics mumbo jumbo.  A word of advice, if you’re planning on going into engineering, make sure you understand that is pretty much all you’ll be doing.  But I digress.  All this studying hasn’t really given me time to think of things to write.  So, desperate for ideas, I thought I’d put some of my favorite engineering jokes here.  Yes, most of them are silly, but I find them entertaining, so enjoy!

Top 10 reasons to date an engineer (there are lots of these, but these are from shirts at UC):

10. We won’t cheat…we barely have time for your relationship much a second one.

9. We do it with more torque.

8. Learn about the benefits of friction and viscosity.

7. We are trained to do it right the first time.

6. We have significant figures.

5. We’re used to pulling all nighters.

4. FREE body diagrams.

3. We are always willing to experiment.

2. We know it’s not the length of the vector that counts, but how you apply the force.

1. Projectice motion: need I say more.

Three engineering students were gathered together discussing the possible designers of the human body.

One said, “It was a mechanical engineer. Just look at all the joints.”

Another said, “No, it was an electrical engineer. The nervous systems many thousands of electrical connections.”

The last said, “Actually it was a civil engineer. Who else would run a toxic waste pipeline through a recreational area?”

And my favorite engineering joke of all

Although locked in fierce competition for what seems like forever, God and the Devil meet once every week for coffee just to catch up with each other. One week they’re in heaven and the next they’re in hell. When it was God’s turn to host last week, the Devil was whistling a happy tune as he walked through the gates and wore a huge smile as he plopped down in the golden chair. As he poured a cup, God said, “You look pretty pleased with yourself.” “Yeah,” said the Devil, “Things are really looking up since I got that engineer last week. He’s put in escalators and flush toilets, and he even found a way to control the heat in those old furnaces. I’ve been meaning to thank you for turning him away up here.” God looked stunned, and almost spilled coffee into the saucer. “You know that you’re not supposed to get any engineers,” God said. “Peter was breaking in some new help at the gates last week, and they must have made a mistake. Just send him back up and we’ll straighten it out.” But the Devil just chuckled and said, “No. I think I’ll keep him. He was talking about looking into better ventilation this week. I can see why you keep them all for yourself.” “Send him back,” demanded God “No,” smirked the Devil. God thundered, “Send him back, or…” “Or what?” the Devil asked. “Or I’ll sue,” finished God. The Devil chuckled again. “Where are you going to get a lawyer?”

Hope you liked them!

Wake up, Columbus!

So, I’m going home this weekend to catch the OSU vs. Wisconson game.  I promised my girlfriend I’d take her to a Bucks game sometime this year, because nothing compares to a game at the ‘Shoe.  Don’t get me wrong, Nippert Stadium is really awesome for its size and it’s easily my favorite place to watch a football game (granted, it might be because of the awesome team that happens to play there), but it has a tough time holding up to the sheer size and power of Ohio Stadium and over 100,o00 people.

But I find myself in a mental dilemma.  As the game draws nearer, I find myself thinking how upset I’ll be if the Bucks lose this game.  I’m an Ohio State fan, probably always will be.  I was raised just outside of Columbus, and anyone who has ever been there knows how important that team is to the city.  But, as a proud student of the University of Cincinnati, the Bearcats will forever be my team of choice.  And since their ranking has managed to top OSU’s for the first time since the ’50s, this could be one of the most important seasons UC has ever had.  Cincy has a by week this weekend, and if OSU manages to lose the game to undefeated yet unranked Wisconson, Cincinnati’s spot above Ohio State will be set for at least the next few weeks.  So in the end, I’m not entirely sure I want OSU to win.

The problem this weekend, though, is only a part of the situation.  You see, the longer I live down here, the harder it is to be an OSU fan.  Many people in Cincinnati, particularly the college students, hate Ohio State with a passion.  And the thing is, I can fully understand why.  Ohio State has essentially been the only team worth anything in the state for a very long time, and their fans have grown accustomed to this.  So now that Cincinnati is actually a competetive team, Ohio State fans refuse to see them as more than a nuisance to their dominance of Ohio.  Just yesterday, our band director had us listen to a clip of a Cincinnati radio station where the announcer talked about the new best team in Ohio (he may have also mentioned something about how proud he was that their band could spell the name of their state), and then we listened to another clip from the same guy about the rediculous amount of complaint calls he got from Ohio State fans.  I’m not saying that fans of OSU should stop liking them, just realize that you finally have some competition close to home.

And now I’m ready for the angry messages from my friends back home.

Catching Up

Well, school has started again, and my workload has once again shot up like mad.  Oddly enough, that seems to be the time I get the urge to write the most, so I’ll probably be posting pretty regularly again.  For today’s post, I thought I might just catch everyone up on the goings on of my life.

Summer was nice, extremely relaxing, I made sure this one counted because, as I realized all too suddenly, it was my last summer break.  Ever.  Next summer, if all goes well, I’ll be working full-time at and engineering company through co-op.  So, needless to say, I made sure this summer was a good one.  But, of course, it ended too soon, so here I am, back at the University of Cincinnati, continuing my studies.

Speaking of UC, has anyone happened to take the time to check out the college football polls?  Let’s see, my old friends up in Columbus are ranked 9th, no shock there, and then, let’s see right there at 10…wait, am I reading this right?  That’s right, the University of Cincinnati Bearcats are ranked 10th in the nation!  In about 5 years they’ve gone from a football team who could barely hold their own in the conference, to one of the premier programs in the country.  What a great time to be a Bearcat!!!

As far as classes go, it just keeps getting harder and harder.  Don’t believe me?  Well use this as a referance.  I’ve been told by several upperclassmen that if I can survive this quarter, and maybe the next few, I’ll make it through Aerospace Engineering.  Mostly what they’re refering to is a class called Basic Integrated Engineering, in which the professor came right out and told us that we’d be doing projects on stuff we wouldn’t learn until the next few years.  It’s already turned out to be a very stressful class, but at the same time, believe it or not, I’ve actually really enjoyed the challenge.  Right now we’re working on writing a program, and every little success I have feels amazing, seeing as how I have very little experience in programming.

That’s all I’ve got for now.  Oh, and if you’re wondering why I’m posting this in the morning, I had to be on campus for a meeting at 8 that lasted a half hour.  My first class is at 11.  Woohoo!  School is back!

Bloggers Unite!

Hey this is just a quick little post about a cool website I found for all you blog writers/readers out there.  It’s condron.us.  For anyone interested in reading some new blogs, go there and it will bring up a random blog that has been submitted every 6 seconds, just long enough to know if you’re interested.  And of course, for bloggers, you can submit your blog as many times as you like and it will get moved back to the top of the rotation.  This is all free, but you can also pay a 2 dollar weekly subscription fee that automatically moves your blog to the top every time it hits the 1000 spot.  Plus, if you ever mention condron.us in a post (admittedly, like I’m doing now) it’s more likely to come up in there search.  So if you’re trying to get new readers, or are just interested in finding some new reading material, check it out.

http://www.condron.us/

Bone of Contention!

Hey everybody, the first post of my collaborative blog with my roommate, Bone of Contention, is up!  The blog has us choosing (or being forced to take) a side of a debate and argue it.  It should be fun, and hopefully harmless.  The first one is Mac vs. PC, so check it out!

The budding author…not

I wish I could be a writer.  I love to read, and my head is always bristling with new ideas for short stories or books.  Currently I’ve got this epic space opera brewing in my head that I would just love to get onto paper (or my computer anyways).  And the great thing is the tools for this kind of thing are readily available.  Alas, it just isn’t meant to be.

On several occasions, I’ve acted on my impulses to write and have sat down at the computer and just started typing.  I’ve even gotten a good way into a few of my stories.  Then I hit a colossal case of writers block.  So I figure, “hey, I’ll just go back and read what I’ve got and maybe it’ll come to me.”  But then I go back and read what I’ve written, and think to myself, “This is crap!”  It just seems like no matter how great of an idea I have in my head, it just never transfers to paper like I imagine it.  And that’s not my only problem.  I’ve come to find that I come up with amazing climaxes and plot twists for my stories, but I’m utterly incapable of filling in the spots in between.  It’s only getting worse as I get older.  My imagination is slowly but surely getting less and less, well, imaginative.  I’m studying to become an engineer.  I have a very logical mind, and the creative part is slacking.  But I suppose I will never give up on my attempts.  I’m sure my computer will see many freshly started novels popping up for a very long time.

Comments (or writing tips) are greatly appreciated as always!

Busy, busy, busy

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve posted, and for this I’m sorry.  A combination of stressful exams and just being too busy is to blame for that.  But Summer has finally arrived and I’m going to have lots of free time, which hopefully means keeping the blog updated (hopefully being the key word here).  So check back in often for new posts.

Oh, and before I forget, my room mate from college and I are currently working on a collaborative blog called Bone of Contention.  It should be up soon, I’ll post a link once it’s finished.

Music washes your soul…

Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.  ~Berthold Auerbach

I found that quote from a simple Google search, but I find it very relevant to my post tonight.  I realize that most of my posts up to this point have been of a very cynical nature, and for this I apologize (although I kind of warned you).  But surprisingly, I’m in a very good mood tonight.  I say surprisingly because I’ve also never been so stressed in my life.  But after getting as much homework done as I could, I spent some quality time with the girlfriend, which of course helped immensely.  But after she left, I decided to resort to the thing that has saved me from going over the edge time and time again; music.

I believe that God graced us with no greater gift than that of music.  Nothing lifts my spirits better than a good song.  I mean, can you honestly tell me one person who just doesn’t like music, in any form?  If you can, then you will have changed my outlook on life.  But, really, if you think about it, music is just so perfect.  Break it down into the science, and music just makes so much sense.  It’s essentially a combination of sound waves that compliment each other (constructive interference (physics majors/Aaron be sure to correct me if I’m getting my terminology wrong)).  But there’s more to it than math and science.  There’s a certain beauty to the creative genius that goes into making a good song.  Music is, essentially, the perfect combination of everything.  Without it, I honestly think this world would be a much darker place.

So, whether it be the funky rock beats of the Chili Peppers (which happens to be what I’m listening to), the heavy metal riffs Metallica, or even a rap song (if that’s really what you’re into), just listen!  After all, music washes your soul.

The System is Down!

I am not an easily angered person.  I can get annoyed sometimes, which will result in me getting very quite and grumbling now and then.  But rarely do I actually get mad.  When I do, though, it’s shocking (as my roommate Aaron can attest to tonight).  So what exactly got me angry this evening, you may ask?  It’s a bit of a long story, but here goes:

I had been working in the library for nearly 5 hours, and I was cranky and hungry.  It was rolling around to 9 o’clock, so I texted Aaron about getting a pizza.  He said sure, so I went online to my favorite pizza places website (I’ll refrain from naming them here) and ordered my pizza.  As soon as I hit the submit button, though, I realized it still had the settings from the last time I had ordered; it was being made for carryout at a restaraunt 20 minutes away.  I saw a number on the confirmation site that said to call if you wanted to cancel the order.  So I called, within 30 seconds of submitting my order, and was put on hold for 5 minutes, just to be told that I couldn’t cancel the order through them, that I had to call the online service number.  At this point, I hadn’t realized that it was at the store 20 minutes away, so I figured it wasn’t worth the trouble, I’d just go pick it up.  It wasn’t until I was nearly to my car when I realized how far I’d have to drive.  So I kidnapped Aaron, grumbling and cussing, and we went down to my car, only for me to realize that I didn’t have my parking pass.  At this point, I lost it.  I was really mad.  So as Aaron went up to the room to get his parking pass, I called back, and as calmly as I could, explained that I really wanted the order cancelled.  It took me nearly 10 minutes to explain to the guy that it wasn’t his store that I had meant to order from.  When I finally got it across to him, he says, “Oh, ok, I’ll cancel it for you” and hangs up.  After he had told me twice he couldn’t cancel it.  I ended up getting my pizza from the right place, delivered, but if I find out that there is still an extra 20 bucks on my credit card, heads will roll!

The moral of my story is this; everything nowadays has it’s little system that needs to be followed that is supposed to be more efficient, but which only ends up screwing people over.

Another story, told to me by Aaron: the cable guy was coming by his house to fix something, and his dad happened to be in the bathroom when the guy shows up.  He comes to the door as quickly as he can, about 45 seconds after the door bell started ringing.  The cable guy is already getting back in his truck when his dad comes out, shouting for him to come in.  The cable guy tells him that he’s already called in that no one is home and that he’ll have to wait for someone else to come by, even though the headquarters for the cable company was a half hour away.  Aaron’s father was so upset, he ended up switching to Verizon for service.

It just seems like everything today has to have an extensive system we have to go through to get a straight answer.  Maybe this is just an inevitable part of the world we live in, or maybe we could make a better effort to make things a little simpler.  I’ll leave that up to the experts to figure out.

And now, to make me feel better, http://homestarrunner.com/sbemail45.html