Inventor's Life

Stress and Reaction. That "AHHH" feeling. From a purely mechanical standpoint stress can be defined as, "Pressure or tension exerted on a material object: "the distribution of stress is uniform across the bar."[1] This is an important definition to me as an engineer and scientist because it allows insight into the language that I understand. However, it is important as a person to be personal; Thus, a less rigid, more biological approach to its definition is desired. [Catch more after the break]

So during the rush of trying to finish my most recent accomplishment (Yay! Master of Science!!) I went for a bit of a nature hike. This is the same hike that was featured in my previous post here . More to the point, this hike was such a stress relief for me and aided so very much in clearing my head. In fact I probably wouldn't have gotten much done if I had not take a break to go on one or two of these at the height of my stress. I also have been helping my wife with some photo editing with Gimp  a freeware version of the popular photo suite. Since I originally snapped the above photo in her name, I decided it was a good place to learn and show her how to work her project. So here's the result. A gorgeous flower I found in this massive world. If anyone knows it's species I would love to hear from you. Cheers!

We decided to have a small fire pit with the weather being so wonderful tonight. For a while there I thought the weather would never get better.  Good thing I was proved wrong! Cheers.

Okay, so this is probably not of any interest other than a good bit of muttering nothing and a spot of fun. here it goes.... Abstraction , [ab*strac*tion]; n. a concept or idea not associated with any specific instance. ORIGIN: abstract, latin abstractus, "drawn away" Confirmation , [con*fir*ma*tion]; n. additional proof that something was believed (some fact or hypothesis or theory) is correct. ORIGIN: latin con- (with) + firmo, "to firm or strengthen" What's the difference between the two ideas? Now, I've had some downtime so don't hate; but, occasionally I do like to ramble, as I'm sure your all aware. These ramblings extend beyond my normal oral rhetoric and into something more akin to a, "thought experiment." So I ask again, "what is the difference?" I believe it to be one leads to another (abstraction to confirmation), but this cannot happen without the second being there (confirmation to abstraction). To me ...

So with the most recent addition to my "cloud" services, I've decided it's time to talk a little about this. For those of you who are uninitiated into the world of "the cloud" I'll give a brief introduction. You see, this idea is nothing new really, email services can almost be considered a cloud service. But basically, it's akin to a virtual hard drive of sorts. It's a place for you to store, manage, backup, and share digital information. While there are many services out now like Google Drive and Microsoft's SkyDrive, my favorite has been  https://www.dropbox.com/  . This service is the first one I was introduced to and features a slew of features that the others don't seem to have as readily. For instance, not only is it managed on their servers, but it keeps a copy on my computer as well. And of course it wouldn't be of any use if it didn't sync between the two automatically, which it does. Anyways, these services a...

So my wife and I are having a garage sell with one of our neighbors, who knew we'd be each other's best customers. Anyways, she happened to have these nice shoe laces and that I happen to be in need of.  So I sat he'd up a few of my favorite colors and decided these will look great with a white pair already on my k-swiss sneaks. The shoes have seen better days of course; but with a quick polish and a bit of elbow grease,  I had them as fresh as a warm pastry. Check 'em out! I decided on the blue first. Why? Why not?! I even geek's out a bit and did a quick search on various lace patterns. Nothing like the revival  of an old pair. Cheers.

It's always a sad day when one has to let go of their books. A sad but sometimes necessary action. Turns out that, along with being collections of knowledge, these things are heavy! It also happens to be that heavy things are not conducive to moving across the country. Therefore, a purge was necessary. Sad day. Not to be a complete pessimist this post I do have some great news! Come August 13th my wife and I will be moving to NY to continue with my education in pursuit of a PhD. Yup, I passed my oral exam/defense and will finish polishing my thesis soon.  Master of Science. I like the feel. Cheers!

Mmm.. static goodness. Life's pretty good when you're not moving; but, what happens when you do? The dynamic case! Of course always being dynamic can be difficult: I'd rather keep my equations derivative free if possible. So what's a person to do? Derive Quasi-static Loading! As far as I can tell it hasn't been done yet , not even sure of its value. Makes a nice slide show of derivations though. Cheers.

Actually this is a good update. I'm now proud to say I've finished the "rough draft" of Chapter 4: methods. This chapter was a jaw dropping 20+ pages of mathematical set, analysis, and simulations. It features several illustrations of free body diagrams, DH parameters, and frame space models. Not to mention that it covers topics of 3 different robotic systems. And a cherry on top! It has a beautiful set of equations with expansions and n degree generalizations. Something like that, I'm proud, get off my back! Cheers. 

So today isn't such a bad day,  just a hectic one. I'm a bit worried and I know that I should be working nonstop on my thesis; but, I've got to have the chance to eat and refresh my mind. Btw, I now have roughly twenty-four hours until a preliminary copy of my masters thesis is due. It's OK though, no really, it's okay. My take on the situation is from one of my favorite novels "T he Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy " and that is "don't panic." That and 42. Speaking of numbers and mathematics, I believe I've finally cracked the formula for my theory of quasi-static loading! It only took a few years and a giant looming deadline but I think I did it! The solution turned out to actually be a hybrid theory of statics and kinematics that can be simplified to a series of summation and a single 6x6 matrix. Now just for that pesky writing... Cheers!

" Come with me and a short trek into the local wilderness. It will be a journey of the most relaxing sorts, one where we can breathe and enjoy that which is around us. Come with me and we can seek the serenity of our locale forest. " I began my short stroll this evening as a way to clear my head of work and get some blood flowing. It started off stressful and hurried, as was my nature at the time, but ended with a calm and focused feeling that only such an experience could provide. As I went about my way I recalled a recent advertisement I saw about photography using an Android phone. At first I dismissed the idea as rubbish and asked myself, "How can my phone produce anything remarkable?" Much to my surprise I found myself snapping random photos of nature and my surroundings. This proved to be just the creative outlet I needed, something I could do and enjoy without much thought or effort. Honestly, between the walk and the few pictures I managed t...

Hmmpfff! Since I've been working oh so diligently on my Master's thesis I have not made a post in quite some time. As a matter of fact, I may receive some flack once this post goes public. In my defense I see this medium for writing as a departure from the mundane, a creative outlet if you will. For a change of pace where I can write a touch of a prose without the hampering of "formal" dialog. It truly is tiring to think of a certain purely logical topic for extended periods of time. Even more so when it extends beyond simple daydream of thought experiments and into a formal communication. That all being said, I got caught red handed. Back to the grind. Cheers!