Argh

Blaaaaaaarrrrrrggggghhhhhoooooo

That pretty much sums up how irritated I'm feeling at the moment. I finally managed to get my project (CFX 5.7) to mesh, solve and output results. After one week of setting up a variety of conditions I thought I was done, and then I went to my superviser. He pointed out that the problem was not sufficiently converged, not only that but 100 iterations was insufficient to achieve believeable results. So I set it running uder adiabatic conditions for 1000 iterations at the end the results are sufficiently different from those I achieved earlier that I have to discard the entire weeks work and redo it. Not only that but the first deadline for the project is this Friday so please forgive me if I seem a little stressed this week (and probably all weeks up to end of term). Anyway that is the reason why I have not posted recently (who would have thought that third pro Chem Eng Hons would be so difficult ;P) though not for lack of desire. Since a few people have done so I will follow suit and produce a teaser of various topics I wish to broach:

• heros and rolemodels
• friendship
• morality (again)
• faith, hope and love

And whatever else crosses my coffee-addled mind.

Mayoral Candidate

I was taking a look through my Candidate Directory for the upcoming local body elections for Christchurch and I came across this guy.

Here's his brief description of himself for his mayoral campaign:
'Because rates have been held down so long and we now have insufficient finance to run the Council, unfortunately rates must rise $20 a quarter, plus $15 for the compensation for the mayoral candidates for standing, plus a refundable surcharge of $5 on the TUC, and a refundable $5 non-involvement surcharge on Cheviot Street residents, if efforts are made to encourage a clean election. The use of a stingray, and a tingleray at election meetings and a very hot ray which can pass through walls is not acceptable, candidates should have the use of a Council car.'

And again for the Christchurch District Health Board:
'There's no such thing as schizophrenia, the syndrome is all done with transmitting bugs and electronic devices, mostly by a team of political people, and it is an easy fall back diagnosis for psychiatrists. It is my intention to seek the word schizophrenia be scrapped, and also scrap aural dysfunction or aural disease as well.
'In these days of x-rays, microwave ovens, fishing sonar, gamma rays etc, the telephone line blocking of complaints to the police, and the telephoning of police, when a person goes to the police station, that the person is acting strangely and the precedent for Police to totally refuse to carry out any neighbourhood enquiries, but only offer a trip to Hillmorton mental prison-hospital is acceptable.'

Joie de Vivre

I love the smell of spring. Monday was absolutely fantastic I walked outside in the rain and the aroma struck me. You know that fresh smell that is brought out by the cool rain. '[the boy] looked down at the water and tried out a word he'd been taught by his grandfather, who'd been taught it by his grandfather, and which had been kept for thousands of years for when it would be needed.
'It meant the smell after rain.' - The Last Continent, Terry Pratchett, pg 412
Spring is possibly the best season of the year. Especially when it behaves. Summer is all good but nothing beats spring for the promise it offers and the contrast it gives. The sight of budding flowers alongside bare branches is so metaphorical. When a nor-wester is blowing and there are no commitments life is great (yes, I am one of those people who get highly energised in a nor-wester). The smell it offers up and the return of the birds ... ahhh (though I could do with the dawn chorus being slightly latter in the morning.

My best mate was just down which is always great. Sitting up until 4 in the morning talking about all the things that really matter most like life and love and happiness and then the Holy Ghost. Life really doesn't get much better.

Finally I have found a book I've been searching for for almost a year. Peter Pan. My collection of cool kids books is almost complete with the Narnia Chronicles, Wind in the Willows, and now Peter Pan. The only one that I am missing is Winnie Pooh. Maybe this will open me up for some mocking but if people think that they have out grown such classics then I pity them. There is sometimes a joy in kids books that has got lost in the cynical world of adulthood. A place where heros are heroic and villians villianous, no compromise.

Poet Laureate

The strangest thing has happened I have been declared to be the Poet Laureate of my Youth Group. I mean, I'm an engineer world renowned for not being able to string a coherent sentence together ;). I string together a couple of poems and some of the senior leaders see them and now I'm considered a poetic genius. And now I've been asked to write a poem for the service on Sunday. A work of art cannot be forced. That'll teach me for ever revealing my works to anyone.

Interview

Dang this thing is irritating I wrote something massive then it failed to post. Ahh well, c'est la vie.

How come is it that the most beautiful of days are spoiled by scary task? Today had the most brilliant sunshine so far this year and the warmest norwester. And yet I had a job interview to spoil it. How is a job interview scary you may ask. Well, for someone who has been in the education system for 17 years then it seems scary. When your biggest worry when you get something wrong is failing an assignment as opposed to losing a company money or an employee then you might be able to see; scary. However, now that the interview is passed I don't think it went too badly. With many technical geek questions regarding excess of the light-key in the bottoms and heavy-key in the tops and how to solve these problems (I got a correct answer for both after a half minutes thought). And what sort of heat exchanger you would use to reboil the bottoms and to describe it (if anyone's wondering it is a shell and tube heat exchanger with the product running through the tube and the hot oil running through the shell with baffles). Also, I was told I want need to get rid of my hair! So all going well I will be gainfully employed next year.
Anyway thanks to you all and especially those who prayed for me.
By the way in spite of scrubbing up really well it feels so strange not having a dirty mo' to stroke so it'll probably be back.

God bless.

Scary

After weeks of applying and starting a collection of rejection letters I finally have been put on the short-list for a company. Not just any company one of the most highly paying NZ employers of Chemical Engineers, NZRC (New Zealand Refining Company) Yay!??? This means becoming a Professional Engineer and becoming a constructive (or destructive in my profession...) member of society, if I pass the interview. It's a scary prospect after all these years of studenthood which I now loathe , but after 17 or so years of being in the system it is known. Better the devil that you know...
Furthermore if I get the job it will mean living in the 'Naki. For a born and bred patriotic Canterburian it will be a shock. At least its still in God's Own (for any furriners thats New Zealand). And one of my best mates is at Massey next year.
So much for going to Bible College next year which was my plan if employment didn't work out. Maybe I'll still end up there if I turn up at the interview. I mean with chops (sideburns) and hair like mine I wouldn't be surprised if they ran out of the room in terror :P.
The real world is a scary thought, but God is control. I'm going to be incredibly fatalistic and leave it in God's hands. If I have a job at the end of this year then that's his will and if I don't then its his will.

God's blessings to you all