Remembering Louisville

Saturday afforded me the chance to return to my college town.  Keisha had a Pampered Chef conference downtown and she had to be there early.  I offered to drive, and together we hit the road before 5am, crossing the CST/EST time zone and journeying into the future.  I dropped her off at the site, walked her to the door, and spent the rest of the day largely alone.

I say alone.  Perhaps I should use a different word, as I wasn't alone, per se, but I was in no one's immediate company, either.  Truly, in a city as populated as Louisville, being alone is probably a thing more of the mind.  Anyway, I spent the morning in my favorite coffee shop, Sunergos.  I enjoyed going there and studying, listening to the mellow tunes and breathing the pleasing aroma of coffee.  So I ordered me a plain coffee and sat at a table and read for four hours.  I started with a little bible study, and after that I read a massive chunk of the unpublished manuscript I'm reviewing.  All I can say is that it's a piece of solid writing with a very interesting magical system and some fascinating world history.  I wish the author the best at getting it published.

As lunch time neared, I packed up my stuff and headed off to my favorite deli, Franks.  It's hard to describe how perfect, how amazing Frank's is.  Their cold-cut sandwiches are cheap and unbeatable in taste.  I got a roast beef and colby with lettuce on wheat for $3.  That may seem high, but the claim to fame for Frank's is that there's enough meat and filling on the sandwiches that it's hard to finish.  I've ordered sandwiches from there before and taken off enough meat to fix me another lunch from the excess.  This sandwich was a good 4.5-5.5" thick, if not more, and it was very filling.

After I had my lunch I drove to campus and parked behind the engineering buildings.  Saturday was nice and sunny, not too cool, so I walked from the parking lot over to the library, taking my time and remembering campus.  A lot's changed since I graduated.  It's been two years since I sat foot on UofL's grounds, but it was still very much the same campus.  My afternoon at the library went a lot like the morning.  I ate and read, a little from the STAR WARS book, but mostly from the manuscript.

This doesn't sound terribly exciting, spending a day cooped up inside reading, but I have to say, I quite enjoyed myself.  The joy ended when Keisha and I decided to drive to the mall.  The mall of St. Matthews is a somewhat special place to us.  You see, I proposed to my wife at this mall.  I didn't plan to propose at this mall, but it just kinda happened.

I planned to propose beneath the fireworks and heavenly spectacle of Thunder Over Louisville.  I planned to take her to the river and get down on one knee.  Instead, that darned ring in my pocket kept whispering things to me, making vain promises and offering visions of grandeur.  We were at the mall, sitting outside the JC Pennys beneath a copse of indoor trees and beside a mediocre fountain.  Things get a little blurry, but I vaguely remember kneeling and mumbling and talking and saying a bunch of stuff about love and that stuff and pulling out a ring and people looking at us and her face and...  Yeah.  I hadn't planned on proposing there, but it just happened.  The Precious willed it so...

I don't know why, but the city's entire population was converged at or near the St. Matthews mall.  We idled in traffic for a long time before finally getting to the mall, and then we idled more as we waited forever to find a parking spot.  Red Robbin (yum) was good for dinner, but after that we were ready to get the heck out of the city.

It's a shame.  There are so many wonderful things about Louisville that I love and miss.  However, there's plenty there to keep me far away, too, like the radiation.  I guess now that the meteor's fallen and decimated the town I'll never get to go back again.  Too bad, too.  I wonder if my alma mater will rise above the wastes and request donations to help rebuild?  Did the coffee shop survive?  News reports say that there weren't many survivors, and those that did have some kind of weird glow about them now and they're all quarantined in some secret location.  I guess it's good that we got out of the city before it happened, eh?

Happy Valentine's day!

Well I Dreamed I Saw the Knights in Armor

I feel refreshed.  I went to bed before 9 last night and had the lights off before 10.  Stella slept peacefully through the night, not waking me up, and it was wonderful.  Plus, no messes, and that, too, was wonderful.  I’m still a bit sick at my ole tummy, but that’s neither here nor there.

My acoustic-electric guitar is not working when I plug it into the PA system at church.  It’s not working when I plug it into any amplifier system.  So, since the new music minister is wanting to incorporate more instruments with the piano, I decided to take my guitar to the shop and see what’s wrong with it.  The guy said it’d cost me $45/hr for him to look at it, and he wasn’t certain he could fix it.  Wowzas, thought I.  I don’t ever play it plugged-in so I didn’t want to fork out the dough for a possible fix.  Maybe I’ll tinker with it myself and see what I can find.

On a related note, I don’t really know that much about music.  I know how to play several different instruments, but when people start talking about theory and strange chords, I get all confused.  I can’t read sheet music (well, I can, but very, very, very slowly, and I don’t like it) and I play mostly be ear or chords.  At the church I grew up in I’d play and the choir leader would say “In the Key of G” and then those of us that played instruments would play in the key of G.  I can do that.  But when fancy embellishments and stuff get thrown into the mix (I’m talking to you Diminished and Augmented chords), I struggle.

I also have no clue about the amplification of sound and stuff, either.  Since I never plugged up my guitar I never bothered to learn.  Perhaps one day…

I think it’s time for the final part of the mini related poems I posted.  Let’s see.  Part 3 (“see the man”) is here, Part 1 (“jettson mancer”) is here, and Part 2 (“the planning”) is here.  Here’s the conclusion. 

“ghost”, or "isabella's secret, pt. 4"

she lays in bed
she hears him breathe
softly beside her
beneath the cold sheet
she smiles
she frowns
she dreams

harsh vivid colors
of jetson's green eyes
his tree bark brown hair
and his bright, crimson blood
splattered across his split neck

she ignites awake
as fire and gasoline start
willing the images away
with the fear in her heart
she cries
she moans
she pleads

loud desp'rate prayers
of repentance
her sins haunt her
and he does, too,
sleeping in the bed next to her

the end draws near
from the disease eating at her body
the wicked cancer
the horrible guilt
she smiles
she frowns
she breathes her last

Looking back, those poems were dark.  I liked them, though.  My favorite was definitely “see the man.”  I liked the rhythm of that one.  It seemed like Poe.

I’ve finally started contributing to a retirement fund.  I have a 401(k) option at work.  I’ve read through the stuff.  My eyes glaze over.  My mind numbs.  I struggle.  I have no idea what the heck it means.  I remember Macroeconomics in college, which I took as a Grad student, a 200 level class, and found it one of the most difficult classes in my entire college career.  That said, if anybody knows of any good, simple sites where I can learn about 401(k) and stock and savings and stuff, let me know.  I just randomly picked 5 different things, put 20% of my input to each, and said good luck.

Not much substance today.  Still working with headaches.  Australian Open is on.  I may get to play some tennis tomorrow, even, if it’s dry outside.

It All Happened So Fast

Really, really fast. Let's review everything that has been going on here within the past fortnight.

1. School ended. Thus, final exam period.
2. House searching. Thus, looking for the perfect home.
3. Graduation happened. Thus, I graduated with my Masters!
4. House purchased. Thus, I bought a house!!
5. Job started. Thus, I started my job (today, actually).
6. Interim housing. More later for this.
7. Paperwork Paperwork Paperwork...
8. GIS project finished. Mostly.

It's been really hectic. I cut off cable & internet back in my apartment in Louisville at some point in the past week, and so I've been unable to get online until yesterday (see #6), where I have been presently relocated with the folks until I get my new house (see #4). Technically, the closing date for my new home is scheduled around June 3, but no one is living in it, so it could be quicker. As a first time home buyer, it's been very stressful. And then there's the job. I've decided to leave my employer's name ambiguous for several reasons, so let's just call them something. Stanley? Nah. Eduardo? No. It is in engineering firm, so it shouldn't be too over the top. How about the Mexico Lightbulb Corporation, or MLC for short? Sounds good to me, too. Okay. So, anyway, I started working for MLC (ahem) today, and my boss told me I was already 3 weeks behind! This I take with a nod, all in a strong and certain stride, because I know it to be probably true. There is a lot of work to do. And what is it I do exactly? Well, since today was my first day, refer to #7 in the above list. My official job title is Highway Drainage Engineer, which means that I am in charge of ensuring that highway projects drain correctly. In that, I design pipes, culverts, channels, etc to fit the Kentucky design specs and regulations. Use of many computer programs is essential to the adequate design of the drainage structures. And to top everything off, while moving from Louisville to home, I left the book that I am reading in my apartment. Needless to say, this is very unfortunate. Even more needless to say, my mind is fracturing and things are blending together. I am very tired. You'll be informed as I am informed. Blackbird singing in the dead of night. Yes, I used fortnight in the introduction part of this post; don't be too jealous.

The Transition

I'm currently in between epochs in my life. The great era that was college is officially over, with finals finally out of the way. May 11, two Mondays from now, is my official start date at the engineering firm I'll be working at.

While in the transition, I have a few loose ends to wrap up (the GIS/Stream research project, packing, etc) and a few more friends to say farewell to. I've made some really good friends while being a student, but we must all go our separate ways now. I'm reminded of the concluding sentence of the Great Gatsby: "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." We're all just boats, floating on the sea of life. Sometimes we cruise. Sometimes we trolley. Sometimes we even sink. But, typically, I think we just float. We float to the ebbs and wanes of life. When the wind blows, we're blown along with it.

And then, ultimately, the boat will reach the distant shore. We may think we landed in America, but ended up in Cuba. We may think the natives will be hostile, but they instead teach us to cultivate corn. We may think our friends will be there, to find that we are alone. The point is, the future is uncertain. We can plan for anything, but a kink can cause things to work differently.

For instance, I have a job on the horizon now. I have a house in the future to get into. Kids are to be expected in the next couple of years. I have plans, and I am excited about them. To be out on the open waters of life, floating towards my fate, is a thrilling mindset. Slightly anxious, but mostly hopeful and excited, I look forward to all that life brings me. I look forward to the new land I will find.

This frame of mind is one I am proud of. I am eternally an optimist. I see the sunshine on the horizon, even though it's currently storming. I may grapple with uncertainty for a small time, but once I make my mind up, I stick with it. I guess you could say that I'm loyal to what I get involved with. Nevertheless, I don't let the times of transition anchor me down.

In conclusion, the current phase of my life is an exciting one. I can see the smiling, curious faces of Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan, Leif Ericson, or Neil Armstrong as they are going towards the unknown. They certainly must have faced fear and doubt, but they pressed on, becoming some of the world's most famous explorers. And I, too, travel down a new passage, looking forward to the approaching horizon. I'll treasure my memories and friends from college, but I am excited for my future, too.

The End is Nigh, The Beginning Imminent

School, that is, lecture and class, is officially over. Let's all pause and reflect on this for a moment.

Ah, okay. I've been a student for 14 consecutive semesters, since the Fall of 2004. It's been a long and winding road, one with many difficulties, but also with numerous joys. Now I have one final to take (which is next Wednesday, which I do not particularly care about) and then school, that is, in its entirety, is officially over.

Soon, I'll be graduating and starting a job. You see, yesterday I had an official interview with a company near home. The position is a Highway Drainage Engineer, which is related to my field of study. In the job I'll be working on hydraulic and hydrologic aspects of highway construction projects. At the conclusion of the interview, I was told to be expecting an offer within the next week. Let's all pause and thank God for a long moment.

Okay. Soon after my interview, my wife and I headed to see our realtor, who took us to look at a few houses. We found one that we both loved and immediately decided that that was the house for us.

Now, this brings up an interesting time table of events. If I get my job offer by next Thursday, I can meet with the bank on Friday to get pre-approved for a mortgage. Then, after I'm pre-approved, I can contact my realtor and put in an offer on the home. There are a million things going on simultaneously, and it's slightly stressful, but mostly fun.

On a completely different note, I read an interesting comic yesterday. Marvel Zombies. It's hard to describe it accurately, but basically the Marvel superheroes have all been infected and turned into zombies. Like all zombies, they hunger for flesh and brains. With that, it's a strange-but-humorous take on the heroes I grew up with. It was short and fun.

ArcGIS Final

This map is a research project I did for my final in ArcGIS. I think it's pretty simple, yet cool enough to look at and see. The most remarkable thing about this project is the fact that most of Jefferson County is some sort of impermeable surface, and of that imperviousness, 37% is subdivisions!

I think maps generated using the ArcMap software are pretty remarkable. Flashy, stylish, and simple, they look like they belong in textbooks. I really enjoy this class.

Let me know if you have any questions.

It's a marvelous night for a moondance.

Stream Restoration

My posting has been sporadic here of late. I've been swamped, trying to finish everything I can for school before it's technically due. And, in fact, I have succeeded in that. I've only one large project to go, Advanced Hydrology, a graduate Capstone presentation to a review panel, and a few other presentations to give. Thus, practically all of my actual work is finished for the semester. Now I just have to present this stuff.

So, with that, I have volunteered to do some GIS work for the Stream Institute at the University of Louisville. The Stream Institute is a group that works with stream restoration and wetland development throughout Kentucky, and also some other states. I am in the class currently. Ultimately the goal is to restore a man-made stream into something natural looking. Doing this will lower shear stresses throughout the channel, thus reducing erosion and flooding only things that are meant to be flooded.

The project I'm doing actually sounds pretty cool. I have 60 digital aerial photos of the stream that is being researched. These images are circa 1970 and black & white. I am to import them into ArcMap, georeference them, and process them. Then, I am to import topo maps and compare the stream's position to the topo maps. Finally, I am to bring in current (2006) aerial photography and compare the stream.

Imagine a jigsaw puzzle. The black & white photos are the pieces. I have a topo map that serves as the box cover, letting me know what my goal is to look like. I am working with a mostly urban landscape. However, in the 70s it wasn't as urbanized. For me, I get to see, literally, how the land changed in 30 years.

The difficult part is actually finding where the pieces go. See, the topo map includes the entire county, and some of the neighboring county. The images may not all go adjacent, and most definitely will not fill the county. It's like having 60 jigsaw pieces to a 200 piece puzzle.

Once I get everything imported and processed, I'm essentially done. By learning how much a stream has moved over a given time, we can calculate how much sediment was deposited. I don't fully understand the rationale, but sediment deposits are officially counted as a pollutant.

It really is dramatic to see how much a stream has changed over the course of time. A well-intentioned farmer 10 miles downstream may have straightened out a channel to keep his farmland from flooding. Straightening a channel is never natural. In doing so, a headcut develops (usually) and works its way upstream, tearing through the soil like any normal person going through a Dairy Queen blizzard. The headcut is a destructive force in the stream, and can only be stopped with the appropriate amount of pool and riffle sequences, or if the headcut meets a culvert, etc.

Overall, the project seems like it will be interesting. I'm trying to finish as quickly as possible, but it seems like it'll take a while. On a related note, the 60 images were .TIFF files, huge image files that took up around 5 gigs. A friend recommended using irfanview to convert these .TIFFs to .JPEGs. I brought 5 gigs down to just over 700 megs, keeping the same quality and functionality. If you have image files, movie files, or sound files you need to convert, you should check it out.

I read the news today, oh boy, about a lucky man who made the grade...

Advanced Hydrology Term Project

For Advanced Hydrology we were given a semester project to work on. A big, long one that will require a lot of our time to do. In addition to the project, we have to create a presentation and write a fancy report. As a term project, you would expect us to have the entire term to be working on it, but, unfortunately that is not the case for Advanced Hydrology. We got the project on Monday. That's seven-days-until-the-end-of-the-semester Monday. Allow me to explain through question 1.

<----+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+----->

Note: The first order Markov Model (order p=1) for Normally distributed flows can be expressed as: Xi,j+1=ux,j+1+px,j(1)*(sx,j+1/sx,j)*(Xi,j-ux,j)+tx,j+1*sx,j+1*sqrt(1-(px,j(1)^2)

Using both monthly flows Xi,j and Zi,j series at the streamflow gauging site:

i. Plot the time series

ii. Compute basic statistics like the mean, standard deviation, coefficient of skew and correlation coefficients between monthly flows. Note: This step will require the use monthly flows grouped by month like January together etc for series.

iii. Compute the auto-correlogram of the Zi,j series for a maximum of 12 lags of the time series treating it as a stationary series with no periodicity. Note: This step will treat the monthly flows as one combined time series. Hence the lags are accomplished by simply lagging the series by 1,2,3...12 times. Compare and comment on the differences between the auto-correlation for different lags from 1,2...12 with thos obtained for each month in Step (ii) above.

iv. Use the monthly correlation coefficient matrix from Step (i) to identify the order p for the Auto Regressive (AR) model both series.

v. Write out the complete format for the Autoregressive model to give Xi,j and Zi,j as a function of previous values of {Xi,j-1,Xi,j-2,...} or {Zi,j-1,Zi,j-2....} and other required components. This will look like the Markov Model (Eq. 15.17 which is for order 1, page 378 with additional lags if needed (see secion on Higher order Autoregressive models on page 379-380 equation 15.20 and 15.21, text). Note: If you have more than one order 1-R^2 term in Eq. 15.21 will be (1-p(1)^2-p(2)^2...)

<----+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+----->

Everything above is typed as it appears on my sheet. The boldface is boldfaced. The typos are typo-d. Is it just me, or does reading through that stuff make your head hurt? I'm in a hydrology class, not an advanced statistics class. This entire semester has been statistics, statistics, probability, and more statistics. The only thing that makes it hydrologically related is the fact that we use streamflow data for our data to run statistical models on.

The ironic thing is I kind of enjoyed some of the statistical methods back at the beginning of the class. When we were running simple regression and analysis. Generating hypothesis tests. And then we got in to this weird, higher order stuff, and the entire class lost it.

Ah, well. I guess I'm supposed to complain. All students do, right? I've made it this long, with just o'er a week to go until school is done, so I can handle it. Once I get through question 1, I'll have question 2 to worry about.

Until then, I'll just keep on a chooglin.

Update + Dr. Horrible

Life has been extremely hectic these past few days. School is wrapping up, very quickly, and projects are coming to a close almost too fast for my comfort. I've been swamped, to be blunt. Also, I'm still looking for a job (but hopefully for not much longer) and a home for when school is over.

Even with all the commotion and the hustle and bustle, I still find myself relishing the fact that school will be over very soon. Less than one month and I will have my Masters degree in Civil & Environmental engineering and then I shall be finished for the time being. That means I won't have homework when I'm home. That means I won't have to study. That means that I'll not have to sit through more lectures.

With that, I'll be brief. I listen to music all the time, especially when I'm studying. Also, I'm a fan of hulu, even if they're plotting to take over the world. I found that Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog was available for a full view. Sure, I've purchased the phenomenal experience on iTunes and have it on my iPod, but it just seems easier to view it on hulu.

Anyway, for those of you that have never heard of the show, or if you've heard but never watched it, I highly endorse and recommend it. Basically, it was created during the writers strike last year, made by the Whedon clan to prove a point, and the result was simply amazing. So amazing that TIME magazine called it the 15th best invention of 2008. It won numerous awards and has a fanbase in the trillions. (Okay, obviously not that high, but still a huge one, I'll wager.)

So feel free to watch and enjoy the hit. It's only 43 minutes. And it's definitely worth every second. Take care, folks. And wish me luck.

On Posting (Part 2)

I'm really too tired to post tonight, but I feel obliged to, as per yesterday's post. Today's been very busy for me. I spent around 5 hours in our stream today, doing general land surveying and walking the creek. We worked just downstream the confluence of the streams and then upstream until the road.

View Larger Map
Then I went to Kroger and picked up some things for Valentines Day. Then my landlord came o'er and fixed our water in the bathroom. Then Heroes came on. Then I bathed. Now I sit and think about all the stuff I have to do tomorrow, like get up really early and dress business appropriate, since I'm going to a Career Information meeting and meeting a potential employer. And I finished reading Brisingr tonight, too, which was a relief. Later, either tonight or tomorrow, I am going to start on Mistborn. I'm thinking tomorrow's post may be more coherent and will probably be about my thoughts on Christopher Paolini's book I just finished reading. Stay away from the green peppers, folks; they'll get you every time.

Grad School

This is my final semester as a student. I graduate with a Masters of Engineering in May, and I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. I've been going non-stop, year 'round, since the Fall of 2004. In my reckoning, that is a very long time to go without break. So, I was looking forward to my grad classes being easier, or at least more interesting, and I think I was only about 50% right on my expectations. I'm taking 15 hours, but it looks like it's going to require a lot more involvement than ever before.

Don't get me wrong. It should definitely be interesting, and possibly even fun, but super busy. One class, Stream and Wetland Restoration, will be really great because we get to go out to a watershed for 4 hours on a Monday afternoon and work in the field on things we are learning/have learned. However, since this goes until May that means I get to wade into frigid water weekly until the temperature starts to warm up. On the flip side, the class didn't require the purchase of any textbooks, only chest waders...

To my understanding, last year people had to break sheets of ice on top of the streams to get their water samples/rock samples/etc. I'm hoping that does not happen this year.

Another class I am taking is Green Engineering and Sustainability. Again, this class should be interesting, as "Green" and "Sustainability" are buzz words currently. But because they are buzz words does not make them interesting. Being environmentally aware of our impact on the earth is something everyone should familiarize themselves with. I'm not a tree hugger, but I do think we should strive to be good stewards of our beautiful, if not screwed up, planet.

Alas, I am off to class. Wish me luck. Long days and pleasant nights to you all.

Logan Stewart and the Early Morning Blog Show +

Well, it's not really early. As I write it's 9:39 on the ante meridiem and I've been up for almost two hours. It's just that, being finals week and all, my body feels like it's been on fumes for a while. For example, I was so groggy yesterday morning that I e'en broke down and went to Starbucks, which never happens. See, I don't like Starbucks, but not because of their controversial stance on US soldiers in Iraq. Nor is it because they are a corporation in the world and leaking people of money left and right. And it's not because they sell all that weird stuff in their stores, either. Nope. None of those reasons are why I don't like Starbucks.

And so I'm sitting at my laptop doing my daily routine--Gmail, Pat Rothfuss' blog, Facebook (I know. It's sad, but I have to.), and weather. And I think that I should make a new post. Or I could eat a brownie or two that are in the pan about 18" behind my laptop. So you see the problem. I haven't had a proper breakfast this morning. I did have one bite of my wife's peanut-butter-and-raisin-on-toast this morning, which was actually pretty good, but that's it. To be honest, though, I didn't really start eating breakfast until recently. And still I don't eat it daily. Typically, if I eat too soon after getting up, my stomach decides to thrash about all day, whining and complaining and only making me miserable.

However, today is the last day of finals. I have an Economics exam at 2:30 in the post meridiem, which I will probably bomb. It's odd. I'm an engineer, and I've had all these hard classes like "Matrix Structural Analysis" or "Concrete Design" and I've done okay in them. Better than okay, actually. But then I take Macro-economics as my last undergrad class in my career, a 200 level class and mostly freshmen or sophomores (I'm a grad), and I'm struggling. It's all theory and blah blah and Keynesian economics and monetary fiscal expansion and blah and Idon'tknowwhatanyofthatcrapmeans and the like. Well, to be honest, I'm actually doing better than 80% of the class, but still, I much more prefer doing better than 90%. Now that I think about it, that's really not a good comparison, since technically 10 out of 10 folks could all get an A in a class and then no one would be doing better than no one, really, but I don't like backspace or going back, so it stays.

Anyway, the point of all this is really pretty simple. I don't like Starbucks because their coffee sucks. I'm a more mild coffee guy, or medium. Starbucks only has bold, bolder, and black-as-Hitler's soul.
Strong coffee + Logan = No Go For Launch