Drag and Lift

So, I haven't written on my blog for nigh unto a year. Oh well, this year was so awesome if has to be a mystery.

Anyways, I figured I'd give this blog stuff another try and see how it goes.

Today for Dr. Hotchkiss's fluids lab me and the students went down to the IPF to have the pitcher for the softball team give us a taste of what drag and lift really mean in the real world. So, when an object spins fast enough it can create a low pressure feild on one side of it that can change the direction that the object is traveling. The best examples of this type of event come sports, curveball, top-spin jump serves, and what we played with today, the riser pitch in softball. It the opposite of a sinker in baseball and does just what it's name implys, rises. It was wicked hard to hit and only one guy in class connected to it and I think he might have just gotten lucky. Anyways, I had my chance and missed pretty badly. Thanks to BYU softball for letting us borrow your pitcher for an hour.

Look what I've got!

So, here is what my awesome wife got me for Christmas;





I have wanted a nice pocket watch for sometime. It is fully mechanical so I have to wind it to keep it going, but that's cool because I'll never have to worry about replacing a battery!

Festive Stuff

Thanksgiving and setting up the tree

Good King Wenceslas

Mel Torme's Good King Wenceslas has sounded in my ears, thus offcially starting the Chrismas season for me.

Hurrah! A new post!

So, I installed a Gadget for my computer the other day called Blogger buddy and haven't really used it yet as a way to, you know, blog. But since I haven't really been keeping track of what's been going on in my life, I decided that I should use it.

With Thanksgiving in 2 days, that means 2 things are about to surely happen. 1) a lot of good food. 2) a lot of last minute school work. I do not look forward to number 2. Anyways, Jo and I just watched up and we liked it. She said that she'd be willing to own it and that is saying a lot when she says that. It was really sweet and very emotionally loaded. I liked it. Anyways I guess that's all I'm gunna say tonight.

Fall

Here are some pictures of the leaves changing color.

Its really pretty.

 The rest of them are here.

San Diego Trip

Jolena and I went to San Diego this past week. Here are some of our pictures.

Temple, its very nice. ( I hope you guys like the awesome lens-flare in that picture)

Jolena, outside of the temple looking quite cute as she chats with her Aunt Bianca.

Cool Flower at Balboa Park

Same as above. But different flower, the same caption applies.

A rather odd yellow bird.

Another Flower at Balboa.

The fake looking sunset in San Diego (taken from inside the Padre's Stadium)

Jolena and her Grandma Kitty. Yeah, she's 83 and a die-hard Padre's fan. She enjoyed getting our to the game.

I took a long walk to the far side of the stadium to get some cool pictures of the game and notice an orange dot right about where I was previously sitting. It's Jolena wearing my orange sweater. You can see her just to the right of the foul marker. (Yeah, we had good seats)

A Victoria Crowned Pidgeon at the Wild Animal Park. (That's about the same size of pidgeons we get in Nevada, just kidding this thing is the size of a medium sized turkey)

A cheetah, right before feeding time. That's why she was moving around at all.

A cool little gazelle type deal. This guys just about the same size as my aunt and uncle's Italian Greyhound Stella.

Please note that the sign says that it's OKAY to touch, so I did.

What's wrong with this snake? Correct, the head is not connected. Jolena's uncle, JP, killed this rattle snake, not because he hates snakes or any thing like that, but where they live, they really don't have another resource for when there is a poisonous serpent in their backyard. It was kinda gruesome.

So, it was a great trip. Much fun was had by all, and I want to thank Jolena's awesome family members who made our stay so much easier; Mike and Bianca, JP and Maria, and Grandma Kitty. You guys are great!

Ps we also went to the beach, and to a few muesums at Balboa, took a tour with Mike and Bianca of down town SD, but we didn't any pictures from those events. :(