Hybrid Cars

On my drive to school the other day I saw several hybrid vehicles.  Not surprising in CA I know but I couldn't help wonder what the point is.  I know the hype is they are more fuel efficient (I've seen some data suggesting otherwise) and they have lower CO2 emission. They are expensive and use a rare metal for their batteries and they still use fuel.

These cars aren't going to free us from dependence on oil.  They aren't a midpoint to the next fossil fuel free vehicle, not as far as I can tell.  The only thing I could see happening is removing the fuel portion from the car and going pure electric.  Problem with electric cars is they have no horsepower in comparison.  To get the same kind of horse power from an electric motor that you combustion engine gives you would have to have a massive electric motor.  Not very conducive in my opinion trying to move your car along with the huge engine.

I think it would be grand if we could come up with a instantaneous transport system.  Save on all that travel time.  Going to appointments and such would be easy.  For instance say you have a doctors appointment.  Most of us waste time waiting to be called back reading out of date magazines or trying to find the hidden objects in the children's puzzles.  With the quantum transporter (my name for the instant teleportation devices I am rambling on about) you can sign into the doctors office online, wait in the comfort of your own home until you receive a message telling the doc is ready for you and then you can beam yourself into his office ready to go.  Of course in my mind it uses a lot of electricity so we need to come up with fusion power or the bill you will have to pay to use the thing would be outrageous.

Busy week

I can hardly believe that it has nearly been a week since my last post.  I have midterms and it just kills all my time.  So for a quick recap on my week.  Monday's traffic was cruddy.  I have no idea what happened but it turned my twenty minute commute into an hour long one.  It was ridiculous.  Tuesday I had an exam in intro. to research and it was really hard.  I studied for it, I thought I put in enough study time, and sat on the exam only to feel as if I hadn't studied at all.  Yesterday I got my first exam back from biochem and found that I don't have to drop out of school as I got an A on the thing.  Also on the commute home I heard a fellow commuter going deaf.  You know the ones I'm talking about, the fellows that play their music so loud it sounds like you have a set of headphones on high with a subwoofer that gives you a nice massage with every beat.

Which brings me to today, and just minutes ago I finished my first anatomy lab exam for the day.  I have another later.  I'm sure I'll pass both.  I'm studying for another exam I have tomorrow as well.  Fortunately amongst all the chaos I have Tiger Woods Golf 10 for the Wii, which I play with my dad, and a loving wife who helps control the chaos of daily life.  I mention my wife last because her taking care of the house and me and such is most important.  Best for last.  I know it may be odd but it is how I think.  My wife understands.

Next week is going to be the same but that is okay.  I feel ready for my exams.  So my wife has this uncanny ability to pick some one out of the crowd and become friends with them.  Doesn't matter who.  She'll get in touch with famous people, and semi famous people, and  after a few exchanges she's talking to them like they were old friends.  I think it has to do with some form of mind control but I am unable to prove it at this point.  It would be really handy for my own business when I start my practice.  Maybe I could bottle it up and sell it.

Well back to the grindstone.  Too much to do and so little time.

Lessons learned in a dark hall

Monday my wife had a photo shoot for Decclo.  It went fairly well and you can see all the picture online in various places.  One of my Wife's model's, a friend of hers, stayed the night with her little one. Some stuff ended up in the hall but I didn't think anything of it.  It isn't unusual for some stuff to get left out after a shoot.  Shoes, lights, props, those sort of things get left out and eventually get but away.  Everything did except for a pair of shoes with a tupperware lid.  I knew they were there.  I walked past them every day for most of the week.  I even tried using the lid once, which was too small for the container I was trying to put it one.  What did I do with the lid?  I put it back with the shoes of course.

It was last night when I learned my lesson and I am sure that most of you have guessed a portion of what is going on.  I was really tired and fell asleep a couple of times during a TV show my wife and I were watching.  I was so groggy.  I walked down the hall then remembered I had a great story idea so I walked back into the living room to write down the idea.  By the time I finished my wife was ready for bed.  We turned out all the  lights and I was going to guide her down the hall.  I could in my mind's eyes see all the obstacles littering the hall floor.  My wife, being cute, started using her cell phone as a flash light.  Proving I didn't need the light to see where I was going I promptly walked off away from her and stubbed my toe against the high heeled shoes in the hall.  Muttering and nasty thoughts ran through my mind.  I limped to the bedroom and checked my toe.

It was warm and slimy, and felt as if my toenail had been half ripped off.  I'm pretty sure I turned chalk white but I don't know seeing as a mirror was not around and the wife was too busy laughing at the end of the hall to see.  I walked into the bathroom where I would remove my toenail.  Fortunately when I turned on the light and inspected my toe it was only skin that had been damaged and not the nail.  My wife eventually got her laughing under control and was able to help.

Moral of the story don't leave your shoes in the hall.  On the up side of all this even when I was hurting I didn't blame my wife for what had happened.  I knew it was an accident and it was my fault for not moving the darn things.  Next time I will move the shoes though...

What were they thinking...

So today I saw an ad for the newest addition to the macitosh/apple line.  I think it is a great is idea.  I like the looks of it and may even consider purchasing one because of how useful it would be.  It is a tablet computer that, depending on how much cash you want to fork over, can do a plethora of things.  I'd like it to be known that I am a PC guy and I am really excited about Mac's new computer.  The cool thing is there cheapest model is $500 dollars and is touch screen.  Not much more expensive than the iPhone and has more features.  I think it may blow Amazon's kindle right out of the water.  You can read books on it and for a couple of hundred dollars more than the kindle, can surf the net, take notes, download apps, etc.  I really like the product.  I really have to wonder what the heck they were thinking.

It's no surprise that the letter I would end up in the name as the first letter.  We kind of expect it.  I don't know why it crept into their naming scheme but it has and it stick, so be it.  The problem is foresight.  You don't make a product and stick I in front of it and Kill at the end. iKill would not be a very popular computer in my opinion.  We can also eliminate such things like iHate, iDye, iWish, or any other bad combinations.  And as seen with the iPhone and iPod other manufactures are taking advantage of the i- naming scheme.  Like the iDock, speakers for the iPod, or iVibe, a massager that is regulated by music on your iPod.  Now MadTV saw the humor in this (I haven't seen the skit but I did find it) about two years ago and created a skit using the name of the new product just released.  Apple's new tablet computer is called iPad.  Yes it does sound like a feminine product that can connect to your iPod (which is what the MadTV skit is about).

Why on earth would you name your product like a product that is associated by both genders as a bad time of the month?  What is wrong with the name iTab?  or iWrite?  What about iAm-A-really-handy-portable-computer-that-is-super-light-weight-with-multilateral-functionality?  Granted that last one is a mouth full but it is infinity better than the name iPad.  Whoever is in charge of coming up with names needs to be fired.  If it is a committee of people the whole group needs to go, even the ones against the name because they weren't competent enough to get the idiots for the name to see how bad it was going to be.

That being said I really do like what it claims it can do and I am seriously considering purchasing one.  I think it would be very useful for doctor's offices to eliminate paper work.  If the doc needed case history, instead of a file he has the tablet computer.  Oh well maybe after this naming shenanigans the i will slowly be pushed out of the naming process, but probably not.

Exercise

So today was the first midterm in systemic physiology for me.  It was harder than I thought it would be.  I forgot the professor likes to ask choose all that apply questions.  I'm just hoping I passed.

I've been working out with my wife.  It has been a lot of fun.  We laugh a lot because of some of the ridiculous motions I make when trying to get down a certain sequence.  Fortunately it is my wife so I don't feel awkward about it.  I like exercising at home rather than in a public area.  I hate the feeling that everybody is watching me.  Granted probably nobody is and everyone else may feel exactly the same but I still dislike the feeling of being watched.  Especially if it is one of those class type thing, aerobics or the like, where I feel like a goof ball for doing the darn movements.  Bleh.  I hope to trim my gut down a bit, I mean it would be nice when I do a curl if a keg doesn't appear.  Also I have been told that chiropractic is an athletic event that we need to be in shape for.  I think I'll just invent a machine...

Politics... what I usually try to avoid.

Well for the first time today while I have been going to school I listened to the radio on the drive over.  I normally don't, I like the quiet thinking I'm able to have during the drive.  I was behind someone with a bunch of bumper stickers, one being a radio station, so I tuned the radio in to the station curious as to what my fellow commuter's taste in music was.  As I tuned in it was a debate about something related to Prop 8.  I think the trial to determine if the courts will overturn the vote is about a week in.  A common thread though that was brought up was that prop 8 violated the constitutional rights of homosexuals, as relating to the 14th amendment.  Sadly it is quiet an abused amendment but that is a different matter all together.  The point is the 14th amendment was based on racial discrimination not sexual orientation.

I really don't want to delve too far in to the politics of things.  I understand politics are necessary but I really can't stand them.  What I typically see is a difference of opinion degenerate into a bickering, nit picking, childish argument over opinion and not fact resulting in the loss of good relations.  All I'm trying to point out is that a new stance or argument needs to be made not using the 14th amendment as a basis.  I will also freely admit that I am not a lawyer but I thought the amendment to be pretty clear in stating what it was for.  I guess all I am really saying is I don't think marriage for same sex couples is a constitutional right from the 14th amendment.

I often hear we should celebrate diversity.  If that is the case why is everyone trying to be the same?  Why the uniformity?  Why are some of the most intolerant people  I know (with regards to people thinking differently from the way they do) are the one standing under the banner of diversity?  I was really impressed with the columnist the radio show host was interviewing.  I'm not sure who he was but he was a person who I could respect.  While he was against prop 8, often on the ground of amendment 14, he still allowed others to have their opinion.  He wanted to change opinions through education and not through an eye for an eye mentality.  Of course I only caught part of the show but that is how the guy came off.  If more people could be level headed like this guy I think we could get a lot more done.

Anyway I guess it is about time I start making the stances that are important in my life.  Which I guess is the real reason for this post.  I don't care if you have a same sex couple.  It is their choice to have that relationship just don't tell me it is a constitutional right they are fighting for.

Productive Weekend

So I've been keeping up with my three goals I made for the year.  I am quite happy with myself.  Usually by this time I have already given up my resolutions and moved on.

This weekend I finished writing a short story, only a couple of pages long, and did some work on another.  I think it is now approaching the four page mark.  I know it doesn't sound like much but I had a lot of studying for school to squeeze in as well.  I'm working on looking at every situation as a possible story idea.  In fact one just walked up to me.  I'd explain all the details but it would require a lot of back story, which sadly I don't have the time to write just now as I'm trying to get this finished between classes.

Saturday my lovely wife began prepping for a photo shoot she is doing today.  The shoot is to advertise as clothing company a friend is starting up.  The company is Decclo.  The idea is that designers submit a design, which are then voted for.  After the votes come in the most popular in the voting gets printed and sold.  They will only print if they reach 100 votes.  The designer then gets a lump sum of cash for winning and then royalties for every shirt sold.  They've had some hiccups with all the logistics of getting the website up and running proper but they are selling through there blog right now.  Anyways my wife put a lot of time into preparing for the shoot so hopefully the weather plays nice for her.  If it doesn't I know she'll manage.

Midterms are upon us here at school.  My wife has also made it through the halfway mark for her classes.  From here on out for me it is going to be exam after exam.  Well I am away to study for the exams I have this week.  I just hope I do well with them.