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February 10th, 2009
07:24 pm - ...
I've got my head, but my head is unraveling
Can't keep control, can't keep track of where its traveling
I've got my heart but my heart is no good
And you're the only one that's understood
I come along but I don't know where you're taking me
I shouldn't go, but you're reaching back and shaking me
Turn off the sun, pull the stars from the sky
The more I give to you, the more I die
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/classic/sad.gif) thirsty
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December 2nd, 2008
09:34 pm
all fuzzy
spilling out of my head
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November 2nd, 2008
08:44 pm
pray, said the needle to the thread
I guess we lost the war
they said we'd last forever
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September 4th, 2008
07:44 pm
so, it looks like the final lineup for this term is:
EE 430: power systems I
Short, intermediate and long line lumped and distributed system models, Derivation of transmission line parameters from conductor properties, Load frequency control, stability, economic dispatch etc in power transmission systems.
EE 350: analog electronics
Amplifier circuits, feedback, gain, stability, filters, analog to digital and digital to analog conversion circuits
EE 351: digital electronics
Propagation delay, logical effort, transistor level synthesis of logic gates, simulation, non idealities, ESD protection, design scaling, etc
EE 390: communication systems
Frequency, Amplitude, and code modulation of information signals, carriers, transmitters and receiver topologies and design, filters, noise, amplitude and phase distortion, delay, transmission bandwidth, etc
EE 400: engineering capstone project I
Bunch of design related BS in a group. Proposals, timelines, budgets, and all kinds of wonderful stuff like that.
HIST 296: World War II
Fuck yes. I am a one man academic wehrmacht.
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August 26th, 2008
06:45 pm
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May 14th, 2008
07:47 pm
sooo I worked at NINT for the morning today.
^That thing's worth $400,000 and it's called a nanoindenter.
if you care, it's basically a machine that measures the hardness and elasticity of micrometer and nanometer scale materials.
The simple explanation: it pushes against something and measures how much that thing pushes back against it to figure out if it's "spongey" or "elastic".
The complex explantion: a 3 micrometer wide triangular tip (attached to the thing on the left. impossible to see with the naked eye) is connected to a series of 3 capacitor plates. two of the three plates are separated by a spring with a known stiffness, the third is separated by an air gap.
When the triangular tip hits a material, it compresses that spring, changing the gap between the capacitor plates, thus changing the capacitance. The third plate measures the voltage change caused by this, and interprets it (using the known spring stiffness) as movement of the tip. This is "simple" analog feedback.
First, you place the triangular tip less than about 3 mm above the material you want to test and use the software to line up the crosshairs on the camera with what you want to "indent"... You tell it to "approach" the surface, in the software the machine is attached to. The micropositioners move the tip until it juuuuuust measures that it has touched the surface you want to measure. This takes about 5-7 minutes. Yes. 5-7 minutes to move 3 millimeters.
Then, (having closed the door on the front of the machine to isolate the measurement from air currents) the machine waits for one minute for mechanical vibrations to settle down, then switches to a digital feedback system and waits another minute for the voltages to reach a steady state and settle as much as possible.
The machine then waits another minute, just barely in contact with the surface to measure if the surface expands or contracts with time because of the ambient temperature in the room. (Measures thermal drift) The machine takes an average of the final 20 seconds of this thermal drift measurement and assumes that the subsequent 20 seconds will also have the same thermal drift, using the software to compensate your measurements for it.
Then finally, it takes the measurement... Over 5 seconds it pushes the triangular tip into the material by the depth you specified in the software, typically about 20-100 nanometers (1 nanometer is about 3 atoms wide... or one MILLIONTH of a millimeter) Then the tip waits for 5 seconds, and withdraws for 5 seconds... recording thousands of data points for the voltages on the capacitors I mentioned at the beginning... The data recorded while withdrawing the tip is the really important stuff, since it indicates how much the material pushes back against the tip and if it deforms permanently or returns to its original shape. Then the machine uses those numbers to calculate the material's hardness and Young's modulus.
You repeat these measurements 20-40 times and do some statistical regressions for a decent first order estimate of the hardness of material.
We measured 6 points over the course of an entire morning.
A lot of waiting involved. Very boring, but also very cool.
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May 8th, 2008
09:04 pm
well, 2 things have pleased me today
1. I sold my car. For exactly what I asked for it.
2. I get to do some work at NINT for a day next week
http://nint-innt.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/facilities/index_e.html
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April 17th, 2008
08:46 pm
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January 18th, 2008
January 1st, 2008
03:29 pm
happy new year everyone.
I start my new job tomorrow.
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July 3rd, 2007
10:26 pm
I REALLY hate how no one in this city seems to know the rules of the road.
If you don't know what you're doing on the road, get the fuck off it.
yes, you must let me merge. yes, you must signal when changing lanes. yes, you must wait your goddamn turn to turn left out of a parking lot. no, it doesn't help me get out of a parking stall faster if you stop 2 feet behind me and wait with your signal on, the ONE goddamn time in the day you actually decide to use it. yes, you should get the fuck out of my blindspot. yes, you should go the speed limit, even when driving past a cop. yes, you should hang the fuck up and drive. yes, I hate you because you pull out of your driveway while staring in the other direction. no, your four-ways don't qualify as a parking pass for any space on the road where you could possibly choose to park. no, you don't need to pass me and then slow down to 10 km/hr 3 blocks before the right turn you're about to make without signalling.
and for fuck sake, no, your BMW does not entitle you to change 3 lanes at a time on calgary trail while rummaging in your purse. I will hospitalize you.
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July 2nd, 2007
08:00 pm
so.
I bought the new manson album, as well as a De/Vision remix album over the last couple days... and the new silver sun pickups album.
I also bought a new bed from ikea. it's bigger than my old one, and kate helped me put it together last night.
this weekend off has been a long time coming, and it's been SO nice.
kate and I built bears at buildabear today. she built a dog with kinked ears and an argyle sweater, and I built a koala with a skirt.
I am currently eating sour candy and drinking grape juice.
like a king, I tell you. a king.
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June 30th, 2007
10:43 pm
what a waste of fucking time
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June 15th, 2007
06:26 pm
I'm not really sure what to think.
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June 7th, 2007
June 5th, 2007
06:24 am
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May 31st, 2007
06:40 am
holy hell
I'm tired
that's all I ever say anymore
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May 21st, 2007
10:46 pm
kate is back!!
dsfjlsldfs.
this pleases me
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May 19th, 2007
04:07 pm
I has a fecebook.
add me.
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