Christmas

Ok.  We had fun with our Christmas Tree this year.  I am proud to announce that Eliza and I have caught ourselves a beautiful, 100% pure, genuine plastic tree!  Sad.  I really wanted a pine.  But, when you're gone for 2 weeks straight, we figured that the plastic was easier to take care of.

If you look closely, you will find our 4 favorite ornaments.  The first 3 are ornaments that we bought from a Fund Raiser for Emma's school.

The first three pictures are the ornaments, and the last is what we did to them.  It was a rather cool effect!  We liked it.

But most importantly, we put up our must-have ornament:

For those who don't recognize it, this was the ornament that Joe and Lacey put on our wedding cake last May.  We only thought it fitting that the temple take its place at the top.

Yes, we love our tree.

Merry Christmas, everyone!!!

Yet another new job.

Yeah. I don't know how it happens. But without even trying, jobs just fall into my lap. But this one's a doozie.

As I was finishing a lab for the day, the Physics Department Advisor poked her head in the door and said, "Michael, check your email." Uh-oh. She laughed and said it's really good. So I looked, and she had sent me a note saying that there was a potential job opportunity for me. So, I went to talk to the professor she mentioned. We talked for a while about the position. It involves computer programming, which I have always loved. There was a person involved in this project who wrote a program to demonstrate some electrodynamic effects. However, when they demonstrated the final results, showing that there won't be a problem, they realized that "Of course there won't be a problem! It's only in one dimension!" So, it's back to the drawing board. But the guy who wrote the program doesn't have time to work on that, so they decided to hire a graduate student--they're always cheaper and good for slave labor, right? So, I was invited to help. He told me to think about it, and to talk it over with Eliza, but I was half tempted right then and there to just say "Yes! I'll take it!"

Now, I think it only fitting to tell you why I was so eager to say yes. Well, this is a program modelling the electrodynamic effects of a satellite. In fact, it was made for a particular satellite called the James Webb Space Telescope. If you're unfamiliar with this project, click on the link. It's basically a modernized Hubble Telescope. In fact, you remember how Atlantis is supposed to go up for the last servicing mission for the Hubble? Well, from how I understand it, this project is why--we're sending up something bigger and better.

An opportunity to work on the James Webb Telescope? Absolutely! Will it be hard? Absolutely! But I wouldn't give it up for the world. Great experience, great time to learn, great for resumes...what more could I ask for?

By popular vote, Hurricane Katrina is a result of Global Warming!

AAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Can I say it even more clearly? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tell me, why is it that because someone in the media has the wild idea that a severe natural disaster can be explained by man's misuse of the planet, that becomes doctrine?  I just went to a seminar on Global Warming for a class, and as is inevitable, someone brings up Hurricane Katrina.  Let me ask you: What is so rare about a category 2 hurricane?  There was NOTHING odd about Katrina.  NOTHING!!!  The only thing that was odd was that it happened to pass over the right spot, and the storm surge (associated with Fluid Dynamics, not with Global Warming) broke through the levies.  So, is it because I drove to the store when I first got my driver's license that the levies broke and New Orleans was desolated?  I think not.

And how much confidence do you have in a guy who is saying we need to cut back on pollution, but in the same breathe says "It would take a lot for me to leave my car and use my bike more frequently?"

Mommy, wow! I'm a big boy now!

Well, I know I haven't been faithful in writing, but here I am.  Since we didn't have an internet connection at our last place, I kinda lost the habit of writing.  So forgive me as I try to get back into the habit.  In the meantime, Eliza and I have moved into our new apartment.  If you need our new address for anything, let me know.

Wahoo.

Now, I'd better explain the title.  Yeah, random.  No, really, there's a point.  So after today, I have successfully finished 6 days of graduate school!  Wahoo!  Yes, I am a big boy now!  (It would have been 7 days, but I kinda missed Friday--that's another story).  So what do I think of graduate school?  I love it!  I have my own desk!  You have no idea how excited I really get about things like that...  Honestly, it's hard, but there's something more satisfying about it.  Now I'm not really studying just so I can graduate, or just so I can get a grade.  I honestly could have stopped where I was.  But I decided to come here.  I want to learn.  So, I really enjoy learning right now.  Now, maybe I shouldn't talk to my brothers and sister who have already been through graduate school--they might ruin my little imaginary sphere I'm in right now (imaginary spheres--sounds like physics to me!).  But for now, I'll enjoy where I am, what I'm doing, and the interesting dreams of complex variables.  No kidding, I woke up this morning and saw the clock in complex form.  Wow.

The non-poster is posting!

Well, it is now 86 days, 8 hours, and 12 minutes since Eliza and I got married (I know, I'm a nerd). I'm sorry I haven't posted anything lately. But for those of you who continuously remind me that I haven't posted lately, Eliza and I are living in a cute little house that her parents own. It is a wonderful place. We do have an internet signal that we can get if we sit in a certain position on the bed. And when I can get on the internet elsewhere, I usually am busy at work or at school. So that's why I haven't been posting.

So, when can you expect another post? We are moving to Logan in 2+ weeks, so when we get there, I'll be able to give a better update. Hope you all have fun. Love you all. Take care. Boa noite! All that stuff.......

How well do YOU breathe?

Today I had a presentation in my math class. With all the humility I can muster, we blew everyone else in the class out of the water! Now, I know it's not a competition, but all the same, our project was a beauty.

Our project was to look at pollution emitted by the oil refineries in North Salt Lake and see how that pollution acts, and see if that may be a possibility to the higher percentage of children with asthma in Woods Cross than in Bountiful, just across the interstate.. One group looked and said that the pollution didn't even reach as far North as North Salt Lake. But that doesn't make sense, since most of the refineries are North of North Salt Lake. Anyway, enough of my complaining.

So my portion of the project was to determine the winds for the model. I took a climate model, and found a day where the winds were similar to the model. Then using the data from MesoWest, a weather data analysis group in the Meteorology Department here at the University of Utah, we found what the winds should look like for each hour on a "normal" day in the summer. The first figure is an example of how the winds act at 9:00 in the evening.

After we finished that, we used some math algorithms that I won't bore you with to determine how the pollution acts throughout the day. Our results were quite fascinating! If you look at the winds, the winds are westward or almost nothing for 18 out of 24 hours, while it moves towards Bountiful for only 6 hours a day. What does that say? Pollution is going to concentrate right around Woods Cross, and will barely cross I-15. So after 24 hours, this is what our result looked like:


If the concentrations are that high around Woods Cross, then it looks like the refineries could be a contributer to higher percentages of asthma. So, what's the point? Do you have a breathing problem? Then maybe you just want to run this program for your area and see what could be affecting you. Then, if you really want, you could join the politicians and make a lot of noise about one's driving inhibiting on another's right to breathe! And while you're at it, could you do me a favor and mention the smokers walking where I try to breathe and skateboarders riding where I'm trying to walk?

For the love of Pete.....

A few weeks ago (Feb. 9), we went on a little journey. Our party consisted of me, Eliza, my parents, Eliza's parents, and my oldest sister Kiersten. We all traveled to Manti to look at places to have a luncheon after our wedding on May 6. We really liked what we saw, and hopefully we have a place.

After we finished visiting the different halls we had decided to look at, we stopped to visit my Grandma Olson, who is living in a nursing home in Ephraim, five minutes North of Manti. When we knocked on Grandma's door, she opened and we heard her very familiar shocked expression: "Oh! For the love of Pete!" Oh, I love hearing that! I love my Grandma!

As we all filed into the room, she did a classic Grandma: "Here--make yourselves comfortable while I go take care of something," and ran into her bathroom. Eliza made the comment later that this was very similar to how her Grandma Clawson would act. Then she came out and wondered why nobody was sitting in her chair. Oh, that's my Grandma!

Now, there were two things that happened during our visit that we really hooted at. First of all, she was talking about using her walker. So Bro. Clawson said "Oh, I bet they call you speedy here!" Sis. Clawson replied "Have they given you any tickets yet?" Grandma's response was amazing: "No, but they should give them to others here!"

As we left, we all gave Grandma a hug. So I bent down over her chair to give her a hug, so she gave me a kiss on the cheek to congratulate me in getting married. Well, as you can see in the picture, I had a surprise for her--my beard! As she kissed me, she got the most shocked look on her face and exclaimed "Oh! What did I get my face into?!?" Apparently, her face was something to look at! We have been laughing hard about that one for almost a month!!!

Grandma, I love you! 94 years old on Thursday, and still showing the joys of life. I hope I can have that energy and joy throughout my life.