The Flood of 2007

Alex and I took a walk down to the river yesterday because it was supposed to be at its peak. It was a beautiful sunny day yesterday so it was perfect for walking. I put in some pictures of this year and last year just for comparison.
This is how high the river got this year, and the next picture is of how high it was last year.

These two pictures are of the same tree. Also the tower in the background of the second picture is no longer there. They tore it down last summer.
So the flood this year isn't as bad as it was last year. Which is always a good thing.

Everything that can go wrong will

So, about a week ago I got an assignment in one of my architecture classes to build a cantilever. The criteria for the cantilever were pretty strict. It had to go atleast 30 inches over the edge of the table and we could only use 1 12x12x.5 piece of MDF and one 1/4 inch dowel that was 12 inches long. Plus, to make everything more difficult, we could NOT use glue or any other adhesives of any kind! We could do anything we wanted to these materials as long as they were cantilevers. This was assigned Wednesday March 21, and the project was due Monday March 26th. Usually, we get a few weeks so our projects can be critiqued by our TA's and so that way they can be much better. But there was no time for critique this time around. I actually had a lot of problems building this. Physics was not my favorite class in high school, and since I haven't had that class in about 3 years or so, I couldn't really remember much. Luckily, I have a boyfriend who knows things about physics. I had a tough time coming up with ideas for this project because I didn't know what was going to work and what wasn't.
But anyways, as soon as I got my project figured out, I had to figure out how to build it. For the first challenge I had to figure out how to cut the MDF into 1/8th inch thick pieces. Me and Alex went to Lowes and then Home Depot to see if they could cut my wood for me, but the blades that they had for cutting wood were 1/8th inch thick, so it wouldn't work to well. We then ventured over to the tool section of Home Depot where we found a miter box and a miter saw. The only problem with that was that the miter box was only 3 inches wide and I needed it to be at least 12 inches. Luckily I had an extra piece of MDF so I could use that to make it wider. Unfortunately, the miter box was glued together. So we had to steam it so the glue would melt and we could then expand it. After that we reassembled the box and waited for the glue to dry. Once everything was set, we then proceeded to cut my 1/8th inch strips of MDF, not an easy task. We started cutting at about 4:30 or so, and didn't finish until about 10 pm. We did take a few breaks, but still it was a very long process. This was our Saturday.

On Sunday, I had to drill holes into my strips of MDF. The holes had to be 1/4th inch in diameter so we could insert pieces of dowel into them. Alex had wanted to get a new drill for a long time, so we went to Sears and got him one and a set of drill bits. Unfortunately, none of the drill bits were big enough, so we had to go back and get some bigger ones. Drilling the holes was quite a process too. The pieces had to be clamped together with binder clips, and then we started drilling smaller holes and they progressively got bigger. This took a couple of hours to do, but not as long as it took to cut the wood the other night. As soon as we were done with that, Alex had to go to work, so I took my project back to my place and cut the dowel into pieces so that it would fit into the holes that we drilled.
This is my finished product. It is not one of the most sturdy pieces of construction in the world, it kept flopping over to one side unless it rested on the edge of the table. Sorry for such a long post. But it was a very long process. My next assignment is to build a column, hopefully that shouldn't be too difficult, but I'm not going to count on it. Anyways, have a wonderful day everyone!

Actual Spring Break Fun

Well, spring break is now over, and all I can say is that it wasn't long enough! But I didn't do homework all week long, I actually did get out and have some fun. The first picture is of my and my Friend Trudy and the second one is of my and my cousin Melissa. Me and Trudy went out on St. Patrick's Day. It was pretty fun. We started out at Bridges Cross, and it was really packed in there. I was adventurous and tried a Guinness, It was definitely not my favorite drink. We left there and went around the corner to another place where we found some green beer. It was pretty cool. My cousin Melissa had been in Arizona all week long, and I wasn't sure if she had gotten back. But I called her just to see if she was home yet. Trudy tried to talk her into coming out with us, but she said that she was already in bed and didn't want to come out. A few minutes later, she calls back and says she will come out with us. She finally meets us at the bar where we were at, and then we leave there and go to another one, where it was so packed that we were squeezed into a corner and it took us about 10 minutes to get out of there. The only good thing about that place was that they had people playing bagpipes, so that was pretty cool. It was really good hanging out with my two best friends again! I hadn't seen them in a long time, and it was really nice to just have a girls night out!

Spring Break Fun

This is the project that I have been working on this week. Getting those peices to curve like that was not a very fun process. The wood I used on it was balsa wood that is 1/32 of an inch thick, and it is very fagile. I now have to work on drawings for it, which should be fun, or not. I also have another drawing to do for another class that is supposed to take me about 4 or so hours. I'm looking forward to that. I don't think I'll be able to share that with you all, mainly because it is about 2 feet long. But anyways, that's what I've been working on, hopefully it wont take me the rest of the week.

Help! I'm Stuck!!!

This is me and my poor car!! We are both stuck in the snow! It was snowing here since Thursday, and Today was the first day without any snow in the forecast. I got some help shoveling it out, but it still wont budge. There is some ice built up under my tires and my car doesn't like to go in reverse very well in the winter. Hopefully I'll get out before I leave for spring break, but I'm gonna try to get it out before then. Well, talk to you all later!

Update: Free at last! Thanks to the magic of rock salt, my car is no longer stuck!

Not a happy camper

You know, with all of the technology out there now days, you'd think that a professor could learn to send a simple e-mail letting you know that class is canceled. But noooooooooooooo! Instead I had to get up at 7:30 and get ready for class, then trudge through the fresh snow on the ground and the cold wind that stung my eyes so I couldn't see, and walk a few blocks to class to find out that class is canceled. Then I had to turn around and repeat my trek through the Frozen tundra of MSUM. Yah...so thats how my day has been so far. I could still be asleep! I deliberated with myself on going to class or not, but decided that I should probably go just in case we learned some vital information that was going to be on our test next week. I tried to make a good decision, I honestly did, but I guess my professor had other plans. So, in reality, the good choice would have been to stay nice and toasty in my bed and sleep for another couple hours. But oh well, I'm awake now, so I might as well complain to all of you! Hope that you are having a wonderful day!

The view from my window

We have gotten even more snow since I took these pictures around 5:30. Hopefully it's all clear tomorrow because My mom and Auntie Patsy are supposed to come visit me and see a play.