rjentina

Of Cookies and Colds

2011-08-03T23:43:00.003-06:00

It was the beast. I heard it. It was calling me. It has been calling me all week, but somehow I had managed to stiffen my emotions against its plaintive call. Until tonight.

This kitchen beast can be quite frightening; in fact, it can break your fingers without a second thought if you don't treat it right. But the only people who remain utterly terrified by the beast are those that don't truly understand it. Sure it growls when you're working with it, but the KitchenAid breed is a very old breed, and they just tend to do that. And it isn't in fact quite a growl; it's more like a giant purr of pleasure and satisfaction. So as long as you keep your fingers out of its whirling teeth, working with the beast is actually quite rewarding.

I had neglected the beast for a whole week. The beast doesn't like that. It is, in fact, quite a time-consuming companion, demanding my attention at the very least, once a week. Less than that, and it gets quite grumpy indeed. The beast's favorite time of year is at Christmas when I'm out of school and caught up in the Christmas baking spirit, but that is beside the point.

It seems I have two beasts in my life right now. The other beast - the energy-sapping type - I've been spending quite a bit of time with this past week. Maybe that's why my KitchenAid beast was so jealous. Anyway, this other beast happens to like it when I have to sleep a lot, and my throat hurts, and my eyes swell up so I look like I've been crying for the past week (which in fact I haven't). I don't really like this other beast, but it insists on staying at my house every time it's in town, and it seems inhospitable and rude to refuse (although I have to admit, I make its stay as unpleasant as possible). This week I had managed to be at least civil to the beast. Until tonight.

Tonight my KitchenAid beast's pleas became too touching to ignore any longer. In one last defiant act before that cold-hearted other beast unleashed its coup de grâce on my failing spirit, I abandoned it in favor of my KitchenAid beast.

It was a happy night. I started with no plan but to bake with my nose. In retrospect, that probably wasn't the best idea since I have no idea whether my nose works or not. Anyway, no expense was spared in that final desperate effort. Out came the treasured Mexican pure vanilla extract as well as the Vietnamese cinnamon. Orange oil, almond extract, cloves and the sweet, unspoiled unsalted butter worked their magic in my beast, calming and pacifying it. By the time I added a little bittersweet chocolate, it was in a heaven of spicy, sweet, bitter and tangy smells. It was gratified. I was happy. That other beast seemed far away.

I did make one mistake, the consequences of which are yet to be determined. I ate a cookie. I haven't eaten a cookie all week in protest of that other beast's rude and uninvited stay in my house. I hope it didn't notice. After all, it's probably so distracted by my desperate act of defiance against its coup de grâce... wait... I think I got that wrong. The real desperate act of defiance against its coup de grâce that threatens to extinguish my failing spirit is not eating the rest of the cookies. That would be good. Maybe it would get tired of the opposition and leave. Then I could go back to spending time with my KitchenAid beast.

He would like that.

So would I.

Illusio

2011-05-10T23:35:00.002-06:00

Illusio

With lethargic eyes, I stared blankly out of the window at the trees and fields rushing by. The gentle sway and rhythm of the train on the rails lulled me. Suddenly there was a jolt, and I sat up quickly, alarmed. Then I saw we were approaching the city, and the train now glided seamlessly over new rails. Buildings rushed by, brown-grey, drab concrete buildings. Buildings with windows, buildings without. Apartment buildings and warehouses. But they were all of the same hue, the dull color of concrete – cold, blank, and indifferent.

“I might as well live in the age of the black-and-white camera,” I thought dully, “so much color is there in the world.” And with other similar thoughts, I settled back in my seat as the train still slid seamlessly along the rails. I saw a dark, black tunnel ahead. Without warning, the train accelerated towards the tunnel. Faster and faster we went. Suddenly it was dark. Still we went faster. Becoming frightened, I leaned forward in my seat, trying to peer into the darkness of the tunnel. Still we zoomed along at this incredible speed. Then there was a terrific bump so big I thought surely we had come off the track. Then the train slowed, slowed, slowed and smoothly came to a stop.

There was silence. I looked around and waited.

Then over the loudspeaker came the words, “This is the end of the line. All passengers will please exit at this station.” I felt myself standing up and getting out of the train. There was a platform with a single bench. I tried to read the station sign because I couldn’t remember there ever being a station in the tunnel, but the sign was recondite, and I couldn’t read it. I saw a woman get out of the train further up the platform, and then without a sound, the train glided away and disappeared into the darkness. With confusion that grew by the second, I searched for stairs that would lead above ground, but I could see nothing in the intense gloom. Panicking, I tried again to read the station sign, but to no avail.

“If you’re looking for a way out, there isn’t one,” a voice made me jump. The woman I had seen getting out of the train stood next to me. “You’ll have to wait for the next train,” she said, peering at me through her hideous, pink-tinted, cracked glasses. Something about her glasses shook and disturbed me, yet I couldn’t take my eyes off of them.

With a hoarse voice I managed to ask her, “How often do the trains come?” She paused and reflected a moment and then replied, “I can’t really say; they aren’t very consistent.” Terrified at the strange circumstances, the woman with her hideous glasses, the station sign I couldn’t read, and the train that seemed to have a mind of its own, I shivered and moved closer to the lone streetlamp shining on the bench. The woman moved with me as if she and I were one unit. I sat on the bench, and she sat down likewise. Shaking with fright, I croaked out, “What is the name of this station?”

She glanced up at the station sign and said, “You can read it for yourself, can’t you?” I shook my head. She looked puzzled for a moment, but then a look of understanding crossed her face. She took off her glasses and held them out to me. With horror, I shrank back from her. Still holding out the glasses, she said, “Try these on and see if you can read it.” Then I noticed that she had her eyes closed very tightly as if she didn’t want to let a single ray of light in. Trembling, I gathered up the shreds of my courage and took the glasses. I paused, then put them on.
Instantly, like a deflating balloon, all my fear left me, and I gasped at what I saw. Everything was a rosy pink color. I could read the station sign easily now; the walls of the tunnel had beautiful, bright murals painted on them. The station’s name was “Illusion,” but everything looked very real to me. The woman’s voice floated to me.

“Can you read the sign now?” she asked. I looked over at her and was amazed to see that her skin was pale blue, and her hair was a lovely pink color.

“Yes, I can read the sign,” I answered the woman in wonder, “and I can see such things!”

“Yes,” the woman laughed, her eyes still tightly shut.

I looked down at my own skin and saw that it was a dark, forest green; my hair made a beautiful contrast with a mix of silver and gold. I heard a rumbling in the distance and looked down the tunnel which was now ablaze with many colored lights. A magnificent silver train glided towards the platform, and as it moved, it reflected the colored light all around the tunnel. With the woman at my side, I boarded the train, and it moved away from the platform. I stared out of the window in awe as the murals flashed by. Here I saw a cheetah running beside us, there a splendid purple castle. Presently the train left the tunnel and emerged into the city. All the concrete buildings now were overlaid with gold and silver, and intense colored light shone on everything. Looking up into the green sky, I saw the sun, a sphere that shone first green light, then pink, purple, blue, silver, and gold. I gazed out at the pink city as the sun turned purple, coloring the city purple.

A thought nagged at me. Everything seemed so unreal. Even as the thought crossed my mind, the sun turned everything an intense blue, and the woman said, “Keep the glasses for as long as you’d like.”

Suddenly I was afraid, more afraid than I had been in the dark tunnel.

“I don’t want your glasses,” I shouted at the woman, and I started to take them off.

She pushed the glasses back on as the city turned a brilliant silver and said, “Please keep them on.”

“No!” I screamed as the city turned a radiant gold, and with a mighty effort, I tore the glasses from my face.

Instantly it was dark. I could see the end of the tunnel ahead, and the train rocked and swayed toward it. We emerged from the tunnel, and the drab, ugly, gray-brown concrete buildings greeted me. The woman was nowhere to be seen. I put my hand to my face and was surprised to feel glasses. I took them off and gazed out of the window. With delight in reality, I wondered at the stark and simple concrete buildings. They were beautiful.

Verba potentia sunt.

2011-05-09T22:56:00.012-06:00

Hello everyone! It has obviously been a very long time since I posted, but I thought this an idoneous time to revive my once-dormant blog. I have been off saving the world by listening to jazz, writing about Shakespeare (with a bit of acting thrown in), reading Greek epic poetry, analyzing aviation accidents, and surviving differential equations.

I have come to realize yet again how much I love language. Words are powerful. No, not in the Marxist sense of Deconstruction. But really, words are powerful. Not only are their meanings determined by their context - both culturally and historically - but they're also determined by the individual thoughts and perceptions of those to whom the words are communicated.

What is communication? Is it knowing exactly what someone is saying literally? Or is it knowing the idea or feeling that the person is trying to convey? I would argue for the latter. It is of paramount importance, then, to consider how words and language fit into effective communication. With our definition of communication as an idea or feeling conveyed to another person, communication can be seen to include not only words and their literal meanings, but also body language, facial expression, and speech inflection. However, as important as these other elements are, the words themselves must not be underrated.

How do words contribute to effective communication? This is an important issue to consider, especially given the obvious successful communication achieved by written works such as novels, stories, and poems. In those cases, language must stand by itself and, in a sense, provide the reader with all of the sensory information of interpersonal communication using just written words.

Words are powerful, first, in their meanings. The essence of effective written communication is using powerful words. For example, contrast the words "scared" and "terrified." It is obvious that the second word is much stronger, for it not only conveys the same emotion, but it goes a step further and introduces a nuance of emotion. Next consider "scared" and "uneasy." Again, the second word is stronger and gives a different mental picture to the reader. Contrasting "terrified" and "uneasy," we can see that although the two words have essentially the same root meaning, they communicate radically different ideas. This illustrates how heavily effective communication relies on the use of the right word at the right time. Using powerful words that work together to communicate the same idea can create an extremely compelling picture for the reader.

Flowing from the idea of using words that work together, the combination of words is also part of effective communication. For example, two similar-sounding words placed in close proximity can catch the reader's attention and provide aural support for the idea being communicated.

Powerful words can also be used to describe objects, scenes, landscapes, facial expressions, actions, and even ideas to create vivid mental pictures in the reader's mind. These descriptions can stimulate the reader's mind and create communication that includes all of the senses.

The power of language, then, is the foundation for the other sensory aspects of communication. If words are spoken out loud, their sounds - especially those of onomatopoetic words - can enhance the meaning of the words. The more obvious aspects of the physical delivery of the words can also help to elucidate the idea being communicated. Again, however, effective communication relies most heavily on the words themselves, for words, indeed, are power.

I was going to post a story tonight, but it looks as if you got an essay on the power of language instead. I think I'm still in school mode. Incidentally, I wrote an essay for my humanities class on how technology has contributed to the deterioration of effective, meaningful communication; I suppose that could be considered a "prequel" of sorts to this essay.

And I'll let you in on a little secret: the real power of language is its power to keep me up late. :)I'll get the story up soon, but all this serious thought about language and words is reminding me how inept I am at using them. :P

I'm still trying to come up with a title for it. I'm thinking, "Illusio."

We interrupt this program to bring you important weather information...

2010-04-23T13:11:00.014-06:00

Quite some weather we've had these past couple days. First, nice 70 degree weather, then thunderstorms, hail, and tornadoes, then cool rain, now cold snow. Hmmm.... if it had stopped before the snow I would have been a lot happier.

So what in the world is going on?

Well, since you asked...
*everyone starts slinking away*

Here we have a current surface map of the US. The circles with tails sticking out of them are weather reports from individual stations. The tails point in the direction from which the wind is blowing, and the circle is filled based on how much cloud cover there is at the station. So, it looks like we have a nice, friendly mid-latitude cyclone meandering across the midwest, bringing rain, hail, drizzle, snow, thunderstorms, and tornadoes to everything in its way!

You can see the mid-latitude cyclone on this next map which shows isobars - lines that connect places of constant pressure. The big L (representing an area of low pressure) is the mid-latitude cyclone. Air travels from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure, so you would expect to see a lot of air converging on the center of the low pressure area. Because of the rotation of the Earth, however, in the northern hemisphere, the air tends to spiral towards the center of the low in a counterclockwise direction. You can see that on the previous map.

This is just a radar map showing precipitation. As you can see, the precipitation reflects the counter-clockwise spiral of the air around the low pressure.

In this satellite image, you can see the clouds also reflecting the counter-clockwise spiral around the low pressure system.

This detailed weather map shows the low pressure center currently dousing Denver. The heavy blue line is a cold front; the red line is a warm front, but what I really want to talk about is the purple line. This is what is called an occluded front. Occluded fronts happen when the fast-moving cold front catches up to the slower-moving warm front. When this happens, the air between the two fronts is forced upward, and when air rises, it cools, becomes saturated, and usually dumps all of its moisture. Thus, the rain we're getting. The cold front shown is what gave us thunderstorms and tornadoes yesterday; it looks like a particularly agressive and severe cold front. You can see some of the effects of it in the south if you look back at the first weather map.

This is an enhanced infared satellite image. That is, it shows the clouds, but also includes information about the temperature of the clouds. This can be helpful because it can give you clues as to the height of the cloud tops because the higher the cloud tops, the colder they are. The blue sections on the map show where the clouds are the coldest, and thus, the highest. This helps to explain why maybe the eastern plains got such big hail yesterday. The taller the clouds in a thunderstorm, the more distance the hailstones have to fall before reaching the ground. As they fall, they run into lots of water droplets in the cloud and grow larger and larger. Also, if the thunderstorm has very powerful updrafts, the hailstones can be carried back up to the top of the cloud and grow even more. Golf-ball sized hail? That's why.

This is what is called a meteogram. It shows the weather for the past 25 hours. The first graph shows the temperature and dew point (the temperature at which air becomes saturated and its moisture condenses).What is especially interesting to note is how the temperature (the top line) rises until it drops off suddenly. If you look right under the graph, you can see some funny symbols. The symbol right under the drop in temperature is the symbol for thunderstorms. According to this map, it looks like the cold front came through around 3 pm yesterday when the thunderstorms and tornadoes happened, and there was a corresponding drop in pressure (the bottom graph) which often signals the passage of a front. Also, you can see that the temperatures have steadily decreased, which is another indication that the front was a cold front. The numbers directly above the wind symbols are showing wind speed (in knots) of gusts. It is interesting to note that there were a lot of gusts right around the time of the thunderstorm. Usually, there will be a sudden shift in wind dirction with the passage of a front, but the wind directions are all over the place in the graph, so it's hard to discern any general shift in direction. After the wind has stabilized a little, though (towards the right of the graph), we can see that the wind has shifted slightly counterclockwise which indicates that perhaps the low pressure center is moving slightly to the south. (?) That's just a guess, though. The graph second to the bottom shows cloud ceiling and cover which I'm really not quite sure how to read. :) Back up with the weather symbols, we can see to the right that we've had two-dot and three-dot rain which indicates continuous rain. You can see an explanation of the weather symbols at this link: http://www.srh.noaa.gov/jetstream//synoptic/sfc_plot_symbols.htm#ww

This is just a close-up surface map of the midwest area. You can see the wind moving in the counterclockwise spiral. I wish I had gotten this map off the website last night because last night, the cold front was very obvious. There was a definite line where the wind basically turned all the way around. No wonder we had such sever weather! It's not quite so obvious now, but you can still kind of see it over eastern Texas where the wind coming from the Gulf of Mexico is blowing in the opposite direction from the wind over western Texas. The cold front is where the wind changes direction.

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This map is an upper-air data map. This information is recorded by balloons and satellites at the heights in the atmosphere where the air pressure is 250 millibars. On this map as well, the tails coming off the dots point in the direction from which the wind is blowing. The more lines are on the tail, the stronger the wind is. This 250 mb upper-air map is useful because it shows the jet stream which moves around during the year. The areas shaded blue are the core of the jet stream, the places where the winds are the highest. Knowing where the jet stream is and what it's doing is important because often, mid-latitude cyclones follow the jet stream. Right now, it looks like the jet stream is kind of all over the place and doesn't really follow any strong path. Especially around Colorado where our current low pressure system decided to call home, the upper-level winds are all over the place, so it looks like our friendly, neighborhood mid-latitude cyclone is around to stay for a while. Yep, the weather stays rainy at least over the weekend according to the forcast. So, just relax and enjoy it, and try not to think about the snow that's coming down and stacking rather quickly. Or about all the flowers that are going to be frosted. Or about all the fruit trees that were just getting ready to bloom.

If this lecture fascinated you (I can tell you all were engrossed), you can find all these great maps on these sites: http://www.srh.noaa.gov/ffc/?n=mapslast

http://weather.unisys.com/index.html

But if you'd rather back away slowly, oh well. I tried.

I'm afraid that mine is soon to join the ranks of boring blogs crowding the great expanse of blogger.

By the way, when do you think Google's going to start buying car brands? I can just see it-introducing the new Toyota Google... comes in four bright colors with the speed and precision that has characterized our search engine for years... more powerful engine than ever...

NEWSFLASH

2010-03-24T23:02:00.003-06:00

We interrupt this silence with an important message.

"Contrary to popular belief, the earth's gravitational force exerted on an object in orbit is not zero. Experts estimate that the force of gravity on a satellite such as the International Space Station is actually around 90% of the gravitational force on the station at sea level. How can this be? Stay tuned to find out."

*woman pours spaghetti sauce into a plastic bag*
*bag spills onto floor*
*woman laughs hysterically*
Narrator: "You don't seem to understand the gravity of the situation. This calls for Glad® Food Storage Bags with new extra wide seals."
*woman pours spaghetti sauce into Glad® Food Storage Bag and seals it confidently and happily*
"Now available in local stores."
*woman's son plays football with bag of spaghetti sauce*

"How is it possible that astronauts on the International Space Station are weightless while still experiencing 90% of the earth's sea-level gravitational force?
"Dr. B. I. Ghead of the Northern Alaska University of DRK & CLD explains:

'When a projectile of mass m is launched from the surface of a planet at a launch angle Θ = 0˚ with a gravitational force of G*((Gm1m2)/r²) where G is the gravitational constant, m1 and m2 are the masses of the projectile and the planet, and r is the distance between the center of the planet and the center of the projectile, the initial velocity of the projectile v0 is directly proportional to the range of the projectile. If vo is sufficiently large, the surface of the earth will curve away from the projectile before the projectile can reach the surface. Thus v = √rg is the tangential velocity that will allow the free-fall acceleration to provide the centripetal acceleration (v²/r) necessary for a circular orbit of radius r. This radius r can be found by'

"Wow, pretty amazing isn't it! We'll talk more about this exciting discovery when we come back."

*Sir Isaac Newton walks through orchard*
*birds sing*
*wind blows gently*
*suddenly a bag of Doritos® falls from the tree and knocks him flat*
*Newton sits up*
Newton says breathlessly, "I've discovered gravity... *pant, pant* ... not even our planet can resist Doritos® Spicy Nacho Cheese Tortilla Chips."
*bags fall around him, he lays happily in a pile of Doritos® bags*
Narrator: "Doritos® - Snack Strong"

"Welcome back. We just heard from Dr. B. I. Ghead as he gave us an explanation of gravity in earth orbit. Dave, that was just fascinating wasn't it? *broadcaster Dave nods* I found the part with the m to be especially enlightening; you know, all of us have grown up hearing about m's and n's, but to finally have an explanation of how they relate to the whole universe is really interesting." *Dave nods again* Dave: "I think yours is a universal sentiment. Dr. B. I. Ghead really did a great job in explaining that, um, concept, and I think it is one that could be projected into many other fields - electric and magnetical, excuse me, *laughing* electrical and magnetic fields as well." Lady broadcaster: "Exactly, and I think it's great what Dr. Ghead is doing up in Alaska. He's actually head of their free-fall research class." Dave: "Now from what I understand, correct me if I'm wrong, that class is actually an accelerated class, right? Very intense and fast-moving." Lady: "Actually, I think I heard recently that he's slowing down in his presentation of material because they're reaching the terminal velocity, excuse me, *Dave unintentionally lets out a big snort* the end of the term up there in Alaska." Dave: "Well, those term ends come pretty fast that far north since their days are so much shorter. I've heard that an Alaskan day is 30% shorter than a typical day. Lady: "Really! I'm learning all sorts of interesting things today. We'll be right back with updates on the absence of weather in the Midwest."

Ok, all that to say, I finally figured out why astronauts are weightless even when there is gravity in orbit. They are in constant free fall!
It's so simple, it makes me feel dumb. Basically, when a projectile is launched fast enough, the earth's surface curves away from the projectile before it can hit the ground. So, the International Space Station is constantly falling towards the earth's surface which is why the astronauts (and the station) are weightless.

It was a big realization for me one day in physics class, and it warranted breaking the silence of a dormant blog.

As for the sick humor, hey, it's late, it's almost spring break, I got my physics test over with today, so you'll just have to put up with my craziness.

It's Meee!!!!

2009-04-24T23:48:00.002-06:00

Yes, I'm that egocentric.

I haven't posted for a long time (obviously), and I happened to find these in a random email in a random person's inbox. Maybe it was mine...

I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me.

Police were called to a day care where a 3-yr-old was resisting a rest.

The roundest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference.

To write with a broken pencil is pointless.

When fish are in schools, they sometimes take debate.

A thief who stole a calendar got 12 months.

A thief fell & broke his leg in wet cement. He became a hardened criminal.

When the smog lifts in Los Angeles , U.C.L.A.

The dead batteries were given out free of charge.

A bicycle can't stand alone; it is two tired.

A will is a dead giveaway.

Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.

A backward poet writes inverse.

In a democracy it's your vote that counts; in feudalism, it's your Count that votes.

Show me a piano falling down a mine shaft & I'll show you a flat miner.

The guy who fell onto an upholstery machine was fully recovered.

A grenade fell onto a kitchen floor in France , resulted in Linoleum Blownapart.

You are stuck with your debt if you can't budge it.

A calendar's days are numbered.

A lot of money is tainted: 'Taint yours, and 'taint mine.

A boiled egg is hard to beat.

He had a photographic memory which was never developed.

When you've seen one shopping center, you've seen a mall.

Bakers trade bread recipes on a knead to know basis.

Santa's helpers are subordinate clauses.

-----
Anyway, some humor for those of you who are lexophiles. If you know what that word means, you're probably one of them.

Tomorrow is the national bridge contest. I was excited to get 2nd in the regional back in February, but as usual, I put off building my bridge for the national a little too long.
I have very little faith in my bridge, but I sent it off anyway. What do I have to lose? (except five dollars postage) I think I know exactly where it's going to break. Oh well.

Happy B-Day to Ben!

2009-03-20T17:37:00.002-06:00

Um... yeah.

Happy Birthday, Ben!

And yippee that you're coming home...
Just in time to catch the cold.

Maybe you'd better stay and watch a few more stage shows in Vegas first!

Here's a dumb video just for you!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_IK0jbbSwM

Ski the Moguls!

2009-03-02T20:27:00.012-07:00

Ok, not really. I've got to learn how to ski moguls someday...

We went skiing at Copper Mountain today, and this post is dedicated to making Ben see how much he missed. :D (I know, I'm cruel.)

First of all, lunch - the first most-looked-forward-to time of day.

We looked around for a place to eat...

And then we decided to eat in the lodge. (Jack's, no less. Yippee, lots of cool dudes and loud music!)

I'm sure you can see how exciting our lunch was.

Then Jacob saw something.

He said, "A green outfit, just what I've always wanted!"

But then as he was plotting how he was going to take it, the owner came back, wearing....green snow pants!

Totally cool, dude.

Now here's a picture for Ben who probably hasn't seen anything cooler than cold tap water or anything higher than a casino.
This is looking across the back bowls. (You know, at the top of the Rendezvous.)

And here's my favorite run of the day: Andy's Encore to Rosi's Run.

The snow was pretty good (other than the slush), and it was really fun. I love going fast down those things.

Ben, that little lump in the foreground should bear special significance to you. Fortunately, I remembered about that flattish place that tricks you into thinking you're not going all that fast. Then you hit the bumps...

What was really bad was on our last run of the day. See that shaded place? Yep, you can't see a thing on that snow. Seriously. Especially when you're going fast. All you can do is keep looking ahead and hoping you don't run over any poor, helpless ground squirrels. Or bumps.

How come pictures never do justice to reality? That was a lot steeper in real life.

Then here's me, trying out my self portrait skills while waiting for slowpoke Mark to catch up. :D Ha!

See my nice $10 skis! Of course I had to get those in the picture.

Now you can see how exciting our lunch really was.

2009-02-17T07:29:00.007-07:00

Here I sit - fixed -
While worlds around me spin.
Unsupported, hanging - yet
Supported by - nothing.
Vastness, space around me spreads,
No up or down or right or left
All merges into one, whole,
Vast,
Unending,
Expanse.

Yet of the air my dreams are made,
Like birds they soar into the sky.
I reach for the clouds, the air, my dreams.
I fall short.
They soar too high.

Model Bridge Building...Made Easy!!!

2009-02-16T20:53:00.012-07:00

Now you too can build your very own model bridge!

(As if you'd want to. )

I just thought it might be interesting to show you how I go about building a bridge. Of course, it may not be interesting either. It just seems, in my experience, that most people have no concept for how to... well... build a bridge. Well, I wouldn't either if it hadn't been for Ben and Dad. So thanks, guys.

The very first thing that I start out doing is laminating 3/32 inch square basswood sticks together. To do this, I use the jig Dad so graciously made for me which holds the pieces together while the glue dries.

Basically, the jig is composed of a long board with two boards glued/nailed on top of it with a gap in between. You can see it in the picture.

I put one piece of wood into the gap, put a thin line of super glue down the length of it, and then put the other piece of wood on top.

And, to keep the super glue from sticking to the jig, I actually put waxed paper down in the gap around the basswood pieces.

I then press both basswood pieces down into the gap, clamp another board on top, and wait a couple hours for the glue to dry. That's why I do this step first!
When I come back and take the basswood out of the jig, I have two pieces nicely laminated together.

To actually start to build the bridge, I first cut out the major pieces, referring to my as-accurate-as-I-can-possibly-be, actual-size drawing.

Usually I cut out two pieces at a time, one for each side, so that they're exactly the same. That's why I use the tape - to hold the pieces together while I'm sawing them.

Usually I have pretty good success just freehanding the sawing. I just draw a line at the right angle and length and hope for the best!

Here you can see the main pieces I cut out. Notice that there are two of each piece.

Then I have to figure out how to hold everything in the right place while I glue the pieces together. Right now I'm just making a quick and dirty model, just to see how the real bridge will act. So for this little guy, I just held the pieces on my drawing as I glued them.
There you can see all my pieces drying.

And that's all that's going on right now. I talked to Ben and Dad about my design today, and I think I have a pretty good idea what I'm going to do. Thanks, Steve for all your input too. I like your idea about my trouble joint, and I think I'll incorporate some of that into my design.

Bridging the Gap...

2009-02-15T17:10:00.019-07:00

The three hundred millimeter gap, to be precise.
Ok, Ben and Steve, I have some more work for you. :D If you don't feel like exerting your brain, though, don't worry.

I am liking Ben's suggestion about my trouble joint the more I think about it.

First of all, here's a picture of my shorter design.

The members are marked in black, and the joints are marked in red.
Basically with the "problem joints" (joints 1 and 5), I'm thinking I should glue members 1 and 2 on top of member 6. Of course, I will have to put a little block of wood in there to fill in the gap. You might be able to see what I mean from the pictures. The turquoise member is member 1, the yellow member is member 3, the purple/blue member is member 6, and the little red member is the little block of wood to fill in the gap.

I hope you appreciated that picture; it took me a lot of effort to try to get it to look right. The yellow member isn't quite right still...

The next picture is what the joint would look like if you looked down the length of the bridge.

Sorry about the blue and red members; I think I will put the blue member right next to the yellow one, just so the yellow member can have more direct contact with the blue member. I guess that means that my first drawing is wrong.

This afternoon I got out all my old bridges to see what similarities in design I could find. Last year's bridge deals with my joint 1 problem.

As you can see, the long members across the bottom just snapped off the long members going up to the loading point.

This bridge is from two years ago, and it actually won first place! And once again, that trouble joint is what made it fail.

The long members across the bottom snapped off of the long members going up to the loading point. The interesting thing to note about this bridge is that it is asymmetrical. The loading point is offset from the center of the span, like this year's bridge. On this bridge, however, the loading point is offset by 100 mm, and this year's bridge is only offset by 50 mm.
This bridge failed on the shorter side, the side with the greatest angle, and the side with the most load. This will be true of this year's bridge as well.

So, to sum it up, I think putting members 1 and 2 on top of member 6 will definitely help my problem. I'm still thinking about how members 3 and 4 will fit into the picture.... (not literally)

This next bridge is from my first year at the bridge contest. Actually, it's the bridge I sent to the international contest, and yes, the bridge is broken in the picture, and no, you're not seeing what I actually sent in. Some members are missing.
This bridge has something interesting that I think I might be able to apply to joints 2 and 4.

See how the bottom member actually fits into and becomes a part of the upper member? I think I might be able to use that same idea in this year's bridge in joints 2 and 4. I think it would add strength to the joint that I wouldn't get if I just glued members 3 and 4 to the outside of the member under the loading plate. (?)

Another thing to notice about this bridge is how it used vertical members very similar to member 5. The joint connecting that member to the loading point snapped in this bridge, and I'm wondering what I might do to keep that from happening to this year's bridge.

And finally, just a picture of my favorite bridge and the one that won third in the international bridge contest two years ago. This picture is actually a test bridge I built before I built the bridge I sent to the contest. Unfortunately, they didn't send my bridge back after the contest, so I'll never know where it actually broke. I can push on it pretty hard, and it won't even budge! Pretty cool.

Ok, that's all for now. I'll probably talk to Ben sometime tonight to hear what he thinks. (You know Ben, maybe Matt has some good advice for me! I'm sure he knows a lot about bridge design. After all, he's a Mines student!) (Matt, as in Ben's coworker) (Is that a cross between a cow and a penguin? Cows say moo, and penguins say ork, I think. Oh, maybe it's a cow that orks.)

Ok, ok, I guess I'm just going crazy, that's all. But I finished my big long report on Apollo 13! I now have one less thing to do this week. (Now all I have left is to design and build a bridge, and practice and do school. Blah.) It turned out about 1900 words long. I won't tell you how late I stayed up...

I love reading about Apollo 13; I don't know why. That's partly why the report took so long, and although I'm glad to be done with it, I'm kind of sad not to have a good excuse for reading about it on school time. I finished Jim Lovell's book on it, and I just put Gene Kranz's book on hold at the library. Ok, but that has to wait until after the bridge contest.

fred travers sat after a fast read garbage baggage drab bagger badger web best west zest zester qwest awe sad sadder saddest dart rat rate at a fast rate taste tester reader rebecca cards exert exerted farce red brag bragger bread breaded bead beaded axe trade trader grass grade graded rest rested fred travers rested at a tree after exerted as a taste tester at a drab garbage bag at a fast rate aftertaste Fred Travers ate Badger. Badger gave Fred a bad aftertaste.

Oh no, now I'm catching Mom's disease - trying to find all the words you can type with just your left hand.

A Bridge Too Far...

2009-02-10T22:02:00.003-07:00

Well, hopefully not. :)

So, here begins my build-a-bridge-in-two-weeks-because-you-didn't-get-around-to-starting-it-sooner marathon. I am such a procrastinator.

Ben, here is what I'm thinking about right now. If you could let me know your thoughts on the design, I would really love it. (I'll even make some more cookies for you when you come home again. :D)

You can click on the picture to enlarge it.

Basically I'm thinking that I'm going to go for a big, heavy (and hopefully strong) bridge this year. Fortunately, the weight limit is 30 grams instead of 25 grams. It'll help, but this is still going to be a scale-full.
I'm thinking of doing members 1, 2, 3, and 4 with fours (four wood pieces laminated together). Member 5, I'm thinking I can get away with using a two (two pieces laminated together), especially since it will only be in tension. That'll give me some good surface area at the top corner joint as well. Member 6 I think will probably be ok just being a single piece of wood (?), but I might want to beef up the corners where the bridge touches the support surfaces. Those two corners are going to be under a lot of stress. First of all, you have the tension from member 6 and then the forces trying to push outward from the big members coming down. So basically, pretty much all the force exerted on the bridge is going into those two corner joints. It makes me scared. Another thing that's scaring me is members 3 and 4; they just seem so likely to snap off where the load is being applied (the red box and arrow). Do you think they'll be ok without any other support from elsewhere? I don't really know a logical place to even support it. I suppose I could put something between members 1 and 3, but I'm really not sure if it's essential.

Anyway, just some of what I've been thinking about. Ben, if you could give me some feedback (unless, of course, you're too busy :D), that would be totally awesome.

Anyone else can comment too. :D Especially if you notice something I didn't!

Comments? Suggestions?

ISS it on Wikipedia?

2009-01-25T19:13:00.005-07:00

Ok, I'm not trying to convince you that I was a snake in my previous life. ("In the former life, I was the asp, and you were Cleopatra...." - very complimentary isn't it?)

Yes, it is on Wikipedia. Even in kilograms. It made me very happy. I mean, I know that someone probably knows the mass of the International Space Station - after all, you kind of have to know those kinds of things in order to put it into and keep it in orbit - but I just didn't figure I would get to be one of those privileged people. Yes, Wikipedia puts the mass of the ISS at 227,267 kg. This made me happy until I figured out that I didn't really need the mass of the ISS. It would actually have been a lot more helpful to me if it had given the radius of the ISS's orbit. Then I was sad because Wikipedia did not give me its orbital radius. But, it did give me its average altitude, so I just added that to the average radius of the earth. Then, armed with all my centripetal force and force due to gravity equations, I set out to find the speed at which the ISS travels around the earth. Using all these weird, sort-of-random numbers like the universal gravitational constant and the earth's mass (not so weird or random), I solved my equation and found the speed of the ISS to be 7.70*10^3 meters/second. Unfortunately, meters/second don't mean much to me, and there was no way to check my answer since everything on the Internet gives the ISS speed in miles per hour. But then I found a conversion thingy and converted my answer to 17,224 miles per hour, which is pretty close to the Wikipedia answer of 17,210 miles per hour. Yippee! That makes me very happy. Then using the speed and the distance traveled in one orbit (the orbital circumference), I was able to find how long it took to make one orbit, its orbital period: 5.49*10^3 seconds or 91.5 minutes. That's close to the Wikipedia answer: 91.34 minutes. Since orbital frequency is inversely related (I hope I got that right, basically orbital period=1/frequency) to orbital period, I found out how many times per day the ISS orbits the earth which turned out to be 15.77 times per day, close to Wikipedia's 15.72397664 times per day. Then, I figured that I might as well compute the gravitational force exerted on the ISS which I found to be 2.00*10^6 Newtons which is around 90% of the gravitational force that would be exerted on the ISS at sea level.

So anyway, after that big long paragraph on gravitational force and such stuff, I bet you can guess which chapter in physics I just finished. Yep, uniform circular motion and gravity, and it is my very favorite chapter so far (and so for the test, I promptly missed some stupid stuff; man, there goes my physics grade).

As for the accuracy of all my answers, I figured I was relatively close, especially since I probably worked with a lot of imprecise numbers. So, with all the significant figures and adding the average ISS altitude to the average radius of the earth, I was pretty close. And sorry about all the scientific notation; you get so used to doing it for all the physics problems that you don't really think anything of it.

So, what was that big, long rant for? Well, who knows. I guess I was just excited that I could actually figure some of these things out, especially the ISS because it's a little more real to me than some random satellite orbiting at a random speed or altitude.

So, you'd think maybe there's a chance you might be able to see the ISS as it passes over you. Well, it turns out that you can-very easily, actually. If you go to this website, you can select your state and city, and it will tell you the next time you can see the ISS, which is for us, Thursday.

ISS sightings are actually pretty regular except for the fact that they seem to skip a week here and there. This is because of the conditions that have to exist for you to see the ISS. Basically, the ISS has to be in the sun, and you have to be in the shade. Or, it has to be dark, but not too far before sunrise or after sunset. So, you combine that fact with the frequency of the ISS orbit, and you get some varying times for sightings.

If you go to look for the ISS, it shouldn't be too hard to find. The approach and departure figures on the ISS sightings page basically just tell you where the ISS will appear and where it will disappear. (Divide the dome of the sky roughly into degrees-you know, 90 degrees is straight up, 45 degrees is halfway down from that, and so on-and that should give you a general idea of where to look.) Then all you do is look for a bright, moving star. It's as simple as that.

Ok, I think this qualifies as a long, boring post, and there wasn't even any poetry or even a story or anything! (Come on guys, don't act so relieved!) So, here are some videos that I thought were pretty cool.

The sound's pretty cool on this one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZZc0sSpzpw

It's neat how you can see the line on the water under the plane as he goes through his passes in the next video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7rAUu8djZ4

And last but not least, a video and sound of a plane going supersonic. Crank up the sound, guys, and revel in the resounding BOOM!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQ2pkmISOLM

Ok, that's the end of this endless post, and I feel like I just wrote a lab report.

Happy Birthday!!!

2009-01-21T10:56:00.002-07:00

I just happened to remember that Steve's birthday was yesterday, or today, or tomorrow. Unfortunately, I can't remember which. So here is a special birthday wish for him. I hope he understands it better than me.

Now that's one cool birthday cake! Or maybe it's a card...

Perhaps Ben should consider getting him a present. Here's an idea, Ben. Maybe in Vegas you could find one with fake jewels all over it.

More Moods...

2008-12-30T14:55:00.005-07:00

I just can't seem to get out of mood-writing. So, here's a story this time, instead of a poem. Jowy, I want you to know that I wrote this story long before speech class. :D First, here is a little background information:

Born on June 6, 1755, Nathan Hale received his diploma from Yale College when he was eighteen years old. He became a schoolteacher first in East Haddam and then in New London before joining the Continental Army when he was twenty. Hale showed himself to be both patriotic and brave and soon rose to the rank of captain. Meanwhile, General George Washington, desperate for information, asked for a volunteer to spy on the British. Hale was the first man to step forward. Posing as a Dutch schoolmaster, he mingled with the British and gathered information. The night of September 21, Hale was stopped while trying to return to the Americans. Incriminating evidence was found on his person, and he was immediately condemned to die the next morning. At the gallows, Hale is reported to have said, "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country." On the morning of September 22, 1776, Nathan Hale was hanged, but his heroism has been remembered and honored by Americans ever since.

I realize that some of the facts in the following story are not historically accurate, but they have been changed for the sake of the story mood and imagery. Any comments you have would be greatly appreciated.

~~~~~~~~~~

The Night Wind Blows

The warm, fall breeze wafted softly through the room, rustling papers as it passed. The distant sounds of the sentries made their way in through the windows. The sounds of the sea were carried softly, yet always present, on the night air. On the smooth, shiny desk, a candle burned, sending forth a warm glow and flickering a little when its bright flame met the evening breeze. Working at the desk was a man, General William Howe, Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in America. His dark hair shone in the candlelight, and his brow furrowed in concentration. His pen scratched across the paper of his letter. The soldier outside his door stared ahead unblinking. Like the waves in the ocean, the gentle breeze flowed through the room, then receded.

A scuffle broke sharply across the peaceful night, and then suddenly a horse was heard galloping away at a great pace. Several sets of hoof beats joined it, and a shot rang out. Silence fell once more.

The general glanced up when he heard the sounds and ceased to write his letter. He stared hard into the darkness outside his window but was able to see nothing. The soldier outside his door blinked and wondered what had been the cause of the shot. The evening breeze gathered strength and swept into the room, shifting papers and threatening to extinguish the candle. The general rose and shut the window until only a small crack allowed the night air access. Striding slowly back to the desk, the general paused as a new sound caught his ear. Several horses stopped outside the door of the house. He made his way to the window and strained to hear what the soldiers were saying, but the night wind whistled through the window crack with an eerie sound that carried away the soldiers' words. Sighing, the general made his way back to the desk and sat down. His letter outlining his battle plans on Manhattan lay before him. He signed and sealed it and set it aside.

A knock at the door startled him, and the sentry at the door let in two soldiers with a young man. One soldier guarded the young man while the other stepped up to the general's desk with a packet of papers.

"We found him outside camp. He was carrying these papers, sir," the soldier said.

The general took the papers and glanced up at the young man. The breeze coming in the window ruffled his blond hair, and he stood straight and tall, his blue eyes gazing ahead with strength and resolution. A moment only the general paused and then fell to examining the papers found on the man. Nathan Hale he was and a schoolmaster with a diploma from Yale. The general tore open a carefully-sealed packet of papers and looked to see the man's reaction. No fear was there in the man's blue eyes, but still there was that same confidence and resolution.

The general started perceptibly as he read through the papers. On and on he read, his astonishment and confusion growing by the second. Hale's account made the letter he had just now signed and sealed seem like old news, like yesterday's newspaper. The precision and attention to detail of Hale's writing stung him when he thought of how carefully he had planned and how secretive he had endeavored to be. He gazed into the man's clear blue eyes and for a second, wavered. Hale was only twenty-one. He had served his country loyally. Was he now destined to give up his own life? Would he now sacrifice the greatest sacrifice of all for his country? Hale's strong, steady gaze shamed him. Had Hale gone to his death kicking and protesting his innocence as the general had seen many men do before, he would not have such doubts. Hale, standing before him, seemed to personify all the ideals he fought for, and those the general could not argue with.

He looked down upon Hale's papers with wonderment, and the hint of a smile curled the strong lines of Hale's mouth. He had done his duty to the very end, and now it was up to the general to do his. With resignation he addressed Hale.

"I surmise you know your fate?"

Hale nodded.

Assuming as business-like a manner as he could muster, the general instructed the soldiers, "See to it at dawn."

"Aye, sir," the first soldier said, and the two soldiers escorted Hale out of the room. Watching from his window, the general saw Hale striding between the soldiers as they turned the corner.

That night a terrific wind storm battered the town, and all night the general worked on revising his battle plans. However, as hard as he worked, he could not forget Hale, his confidence in what he had done, his clear, steady gaze. As the wind howled around the house, the general fought within himself, trying to justify Hale. In the early hours of the morning, he finally made up his mind. Hale had done his duty, and he must do his own. Of all men, Hale would not resent his actions.

At dawn, the general rose from his desk and stood at the window. Despite the strong breezes that still blew, he opened the window wide. He heard the drum roll and took off his hat, an indication of the deep respect he felt for Hale. A volley of musket fire echoed over the island.

The wind stopped, and all was still.

Cookies Galore!

2008-12-13T19:15:00.030-07:00

Guess what I did all week?!

Yep, Mom gave me a week off of school to make Christmas cookies. Of course, I'll have to do that school farther into the summer, but I'm very short-sighted and don't really care at this point. :D

So, I started out on Tuesday with my trusty cookie book.

Actually, I didn't use it right away. I began everything by draining some maraschino cherries - you know, those red things you pick off the top of your ice cream sundaes and try to pass off on your younger siblings. These cherries were for chocolate-covered cherries which I actually don't really like, but our neighbors rave about them every year, so we have to make them.

I then used some of those cherries to make Buried Cherry Cookies, a chocolate cookie with a cherry on top smothered with frosting.

Wednesday came, and I covered the dry cherries with a white concoction which I'm sure is something kin to the white stuff inside Oreos. (that comment is for Beth)

Next I rolled out peanut butter balls for Buck-Eyes.

This looks like something out of Tron. Can they steer their motorcycles between the big blobs?

On Thursday, I started some sugar cookies that I was going to decorate. My recipe called for Ammonium Carbonate, also known as baker's ammonia. Don't ask me why we put it in cookies, it doesn't sound like something that belongs. (It's actually a very unique leavener.)

Its smell didn't help, either.

The comparison was striking.

Lighting a candle to cover up the ammonia smell, I rolled out, cut, and baked 87 of these little things.

"Evaporation is a cooling process. Evaporation is a cooling process."

That's what I think every time I wash warm cookie sheets.

Chocolate...

...and wax...

...meet heat, and an exchange of energy takes place.

In other words, time to cover the cherries with chocolate.

This is called "what you do with left-over chocolate."

This is when I finally stopped ignoring the clock, and started thinking how it had been 6 hours since dinner and how there were 6 hours until when I was supposed to start practicing piano.

I got to bed at 1:40.

Friday afternoon, I started frosting my sugar cookies, and I frosted all 87 of them for a long, long time. I had my first encounter with making and using Royal Icing. It turned out fine, and actually reminded me of tightened meringue. The only problem was that the recipe made maybe a little more than four times more icing than what I actually used.

I'm glad Sally came to pay me a visit.

Next, at maybe about 10:30, I made Oatmeal Scotchies, oatmeal cookies with butterscotch chips.

Then after that, I made Rudolf's Antlers.

Then at 12:00 I started dipping the Buck-Eyes in chocolate.

A few guys came to get a tour of the process and were fascinated.

Fortunately throughout the tour, there were no casualties... except for this poor soul.

I did meet a few strange characters, though.

Somehow a Muslim got mixed up in the group.

One of the Beatles came too.

Or maybe it was just a guy who needed a haircut.

I got to bed at 3:00.

Here they all are on Saturday morning.

Peter counted them all as Ab and I were arranging them on plates for our neighbors. He came up with 437 (more or less). My only disappointment is that I didn't make any really light cookies,

like Scandinavian Almond Bars.

.
.
.
.

Oh well, if it hadn't been 3:00, I would have made them too.
Anyway, that's a somewhat brief review of my week. (Yes, it's brief compared to how long it was in real life.)

-rjentina

A Day in the Life of Benzo Traverston Jr.

2008-12-09T16:54:00.004-07:00

Here is a video!!!

Yippee!

The boys keep bugging me about it, and now I finally have a video on my blog, so they can stop bugging me.

This is a little video for Ben, to remind him of home. *sniff, sniff* (or maybe he doesn't want to remember some things)

Sorry for the bad quality; it was only taken with Ab's camera. Thanks to the boys for their help and to Jacob for editing and messing with the video so that it would fit on my blog. Yep, I'm not smart enough to do it myself, so I had to get my eight-year-old brother to do it.

Ben just pretend the camera is you. In spite of your weird voices, height, and hands.

Moods are funny things...

2008-11-21T23:26:00.012-07:00

I love moods.

I don't love being in them because usually that means I'm grumpy.

Moods are neat because they are mostly feelings, without a lot of facts set in concrete.

Consider, for example, this painting by Claude Monet.

Claude Monet was a major Impressionist painter, and this painting is a good example of an Impressionist painting. In the painting, you see an impression, not an actual, detailed picture. You get a certain feeling when looking at the painting; you don't say, "Wow, look at that cool bridge." You say instead, "Look at the light on the water, look at the light as it filters through the clouds, look at the faint suggestions of structures beyond the canvas." This painting makes you want to see farther into the picture. You want to see what is beyond that bridge, and you want to feel the damp chill of the fog that surrounds you. You want to listen to the fog and the river that flows past you. You want to be there.

I love Impressionist paintings (as if you couldn't tell), and I love the music of Impressionism too. I'm playing the Debussy Estampes right now, and for one, I love Debussy and always have. It lies well on the piano and just feels good to play. Sure, it has its share of "technical difficulties," but for some reason they don't bother me like they do in Romantic music. I'm also playing the Grieg Concerto in A minor right now, and it's a bit to chew on! (I have to admit that my strength is definitely not in technique but more in musicality.) I did find it very inspiring, though, when I went through the first movement, especially the cadenza, and analyzed a lot of the chord progressions. Suddenly, the cadenza took on a shape! Instead of it being a series of hard variations on some of the main themes of the movement that are somehow supposed to sound made-up, it had a line and a flow. I found it very helpful and inspiring (to analyze the chord progressions), and it helped me when I played it, to give the movement a sense of "wholeness" and continuity. Also, focusing more on the musical gestures actually helped all the technical stuff. Ok, enough about Grieg, back to Debussy. I love to listen to all the tone colors and sounds in Debussy. He had such a way of capturing feelings and moods. In the third movement of Estampes, Jardins sous la pluie (Gardens in the Rain), you can hear and see the rain-shower as a whole as well as individual little droplets detaching themselves, from the edge of the porch roof perhaps, and falling heavily down to the rain-puddle below. When the droplet touches the puddle, it makes a little, musical plink. Debussy has such a way of creating pictures in your mind!

As you might have guessed by this point, I love literature with moods. I mean, the Hardy Boys are great, but you don't get much of a mood out of them (even with all the big words; it seems that the authors decided not to use any words twice; thus for "said," you get: replied, answered, remarked, commented, added, teased, pointed out, cried, shouted, warned, etc.). I like poetry that gives you a strong mood when you read it. I once read Walter de la Mare's "The Listeners," and I was fascinated with the feeling he created with his choice of words, the rhythm, and the sound devices he used.

Ok, enough of other people's moods, it's time for me to make my own. Let me know how effective my moods are and the feelings they give you. A lot of times you have to read through the poem a few times to really let it sink in.

Here is the haiku that should have won the weekly haiku contest (instead of the dumb haiku I wrote that did). And no, haiku aren't supposed to rhyme.

`````

Candlelight diffused,

Like mist, covers, envelops,

Yet illuminates.

`````

Here is a poem I wrote last year. It doesn't have any meter that I can find (you'd think I'd know), but it does rhyme. (Wait, I just realized that each line has seven syllables, if that helps. Seven...what a random number.) (Don't pay attention to any of that when you're reading it, though.)

`````

The night breeze wafts to and fro

Round dark shapes. Softly it blows.

The moon, pale silver sliver,

Sheds its light. The grass shivers

In the sweeping trail of wind

Which whispers of where it's been.

The silent moon bathes in light

Pools which reflect moonlight bright.

Softly, the night wind goes on,

Blows, departs, and it is gone.

`````````

Moods...

....fascinating.

Sorry, Steve. If this post was a little too dramatic for you, I'll have to do a lighthearted one next. The only problem is that I haven't written very much lighthearted stuff...

~rjentina

2008-11-02T00:24:00.003-06:00

My favorite sports teams are the Colorado Rockies and anyone who is playing the Red Sox.

Yep, baseball, that's all. I'm determined not to start following anything else; I already waste enough time keeping up with baseball.

I'm beginning to think that my support is a curse to any team, though. Look at what happened to the Rockies... and the Rays, for that matter. Yes, I abandoned my loyalty to the National League and went for the Rays in the World Series. Face it, cowbells are cool, right? Well, I also have to point out that I wasn't into baseball last season, and the Rockies got to the World Series. See what a corrupting influence I have? (Let that be a warning to all of you readers:D)

Nice picture, right? Whenever I see this picture, I always think about how artistic it looks, almost as if it were posed. I guess it's just a case of being at the right place at the right time. (I bet that photographer got a raise:D)

Now you're probably wondering, "What in the world does all this have to do with your writing and poetry and other dumb stuff?"

Would it surprise you if I said that I wrote a poem about the Rockies? Ok, you probably think I'm a complete nut, but then, about everyone does and don't tell me I didn't warn you.

Ok, here's the scoop. I saw an announcement for a contest hosted by yourhub in which seven winners (selected periodically throughout the season) could win twelve Rockies suite tickets. All you had to do was write something about why you like the Rockies, or something to that effect. I immediately thought, "Ha, ha! I'll write something for the contest, and if for some reason I win, I can bring our whole family to a baseball game." (You have to keep in mind that at that point I had never been to a Major League baseball game.) I thought I had nothing to lose. Nothing to lose but time, it turned out. Four to eight hours later, I emerged from the office with a sonnet, no less, about the Rockies. Actually, it was two sonnets, only I didn't like the first one, so I wrote another. And by the way, that four to eight hours wasn't quite all in one chunk, and I can't remember exactly how long it was; it was probably more than four hours, but no more than eight hours. Anyway, all that to say, it took a long time. The sonnet I entered in the contest, in my humble opinion, "worked." (Most of the things I post will be things that "worked.")

I didn't win the contest. *insert sarcastic laugh and rant about how much I "respect" journalism* That's ok, though, because I actually did get to go to a baseball game this season, and it was a blast. The Rockies won 4-0!

Ok, this post is longer than I was anticipating, so I'd better get to the good stuff. (I know, I can hear your groans from here.)

Now, I know this is pretty dramatic, but it was good enough for the contest. Enjoy!..or not.

"Ode to the Rockies"

The Rockies, one with mountain peaks in fame
Which steeply rise midst valleys and dry plains
And are concealed oft by portentous rains,
They struggle to play worthy of their name.
Each player toils, and yet they lose the game;
Each man dejected walks away, hope wanes,
While nemesis rejoices o'er his gains,
Forgetting he has oft played much the same.
What matters it? Let trials and troubles come,
For they precede the glorious victory.
Did not Odysseus triumph through his woes?
And Theseus the Minotaur o'ercome?
So e'en if Rockies' triumphs hidden be,
There's hope when Rockies players swing and throw.

You know, there's no telling how badly the Rockies will play after I've written a sonnet about them.

Maybe I should start cheering for their opponents...

¿No habla usted inglés?

2008-10-28T21:34:00.010-06:00

Ok, I admit it; I'm tired of Spanish...especially since I can't read it:D No offense to our border-hopping buddies, of course.

Beth, you are not allowed to tell me how bad my Spanish was.

Beth, you are allowed to tell me how bad the free translator was.

Ok, I have to admit something else. Yes, I got sucked into the whirlpool of the blog world, only hopefully I can manage to stay along the outward fringes of it. Ok, wait, that's not going to be a problem. I'm not even going to pretend that I'm going to post more often than once every three months. Sure, like many new bloggers, maybe I'll post twice in the first three months! You can be sure, however, that I will not get around to posting very often, though. After all, got to keep those cookies coming. That's the only thing that's keeping me off the streets of Denver. So either I blog or I make cookies. It's that simple; only if I decide to blog instead, please send me a good, dirty, bedraggled piece of cardboard. After all, that's what everyone needs in order to beg on street corners.

I guess the main purpose of my blog at this point is basically to play host to some of the things I've written. Yup, poetry, short stories, and the like. NO essays, though. As much as I like to write, essays do not put that little happy spot in my day. What I would really appreciate is some good feedback. What you liked, what you didn't like, that sort of thing.

And now, I shall begin to prove my weirdness. Here is a disturbing picture.

Yes, it's me; I don't know whether that's fortunate or unfortunate.

Next, here is a poem I wrote a couple of years ago.

The clock has struck the quarter before,
The butlers are standing at the door.
The time draws near
In this building here.
Two bitter enemies will meet
(For neither will admit defeat)
And hold a parley
Over barley.

The chef with host of waiters grave
The dish into butlers' hands he gave.
Then step was heard,
A voice, one word.
Two bitter enemies have met
And come to prove the other's debt
And hold a parley
Over barley.

The doors are shut and butlers wait
For signal from the leaders great.
The hand is waved,
The dish is raised.
Two bitter enemies agree,
It is an awful thing indeed
To have a parley
Over barley.

Yummy, yummy! :D

-rjentina

Go, Rays, btw.

2008-10-24T23:04:00.005-06:00

Hola, otra vez.

Esto es un mercado en Buenos Aires.

Algunos plátanos...

Necesito para dormirse...

~rjentina

Anuncie primero...

2008-10-24T19:50:00.000-06:00

Hola, bloguea mundo.

Acabo de diseñar esta página.

Anunciaré pronto.

~rjentina