I sort of accidentally interviewed for a job yesterday. After handing in the plasma paper at 2, a few of us in the class decided to go out to the new Keweenaw Brewing Company bar. They?d been open for about a week now and I figured it was a nice day so why not go have a beer. This place is a bit different then most ? they only serve beer that they brew (which was extremely good). They also don?t serve food, only peanuts and close at 10pm. Anyway, since Jason was looking for a job, I asked the waitress if they were hiring and low and behold they were. I tried to get a hold of Jason but for whatever reason, I figured I?d try my luck and fill out an application too. By I had to hang around for a while before I could interview (they wanted to do it that day) so at around 5:30 it was my turn. So, about 2 ? hours of drinking beer and now it is time for an interview.
The interview went really well I think but I really don?t need another job. Sure the extra money would be great and I but I?m sure if I have the time. However, they mentioned that as time progressed I could move up to assistant brew master which is basically my dream job. In any case though, by the time Jason got there at like 6:30 (I was gone by then) they said they stopped taking applications so I sort of feel bad about that ? I got an interview for a job I don?t really need but the guy who needs the job didn?t get the chance. Look at the strangeness here ? by day rocket scientist, buy night ? a bar tender.

Well, with one hour to spare, that damn paper is done. Methods of Active Plasma Propulsion is now available for general consumption. A warning though - this is far from my best effort at technical writing. My topic was far too broad so what you have there is 66 research papers condensed down into one.

?Well, I?m working on the plasma paper and a suicide note. You?ll get whichever I finish first?.
-Me to Brad this morning in our research group meeting.

But don?t worry, its only a joke; everyone knows I don?t have enough money to buy the bullets.

Anyway, here?s something else: one of my heterosexually challenged friends told me that over the weekend some drag queen started hitting on him. My brain immediately entered into some feedback loop and imploded. So I figured I?d share that little mind bender with everyone. Anyone want to take a stab at that one?

Methods of Active Plasma Propulsion

The last two decades have seen a dramatic resurgence of work in the area of electric plasma propulsion spurred primarily by the active deployment of several technologies. This paper will present in some depth the major devices that use plasma and electricity to generate force. Resistojets, arc jets, FEEPs, MHD?s, ion engines and hall thrusters will all be covered. In addition to theory of operation, an eye will be cast towards the future to see what the current research is working towards.

Ugg, so the proverbial term paper has managed to beat me down. The shitty part is that it is from a class that I actually like ? Plasma Dynamics. However, the subject that I chose to do my research paper on really has nothing to do with my actual research. Condensed into a not so nice way, this means I?m wasting my time (although I know its my fault). Sort of though . . . I guess I?m not really sure. No one else has done the work that I do so every journal article and conference paper I’ve read only has tangential (at best) relevance. Dammit. Any other week, that?d be great but this one . . . not so much. Instead, I locked myself into an extremely broad paper on the ?Methods of Active Plasma Propulsion?. Sure, there?s only about 180 million different ways to ionize a gas and spit out the back of something and move forward. Honestly though, I could be spending my time (and I?d rather be) re-tooling our thruster for some crazy tests that are going to happen next week (which will serve as one of the pillars of my research). In reality though, it is just a huge conflict of interest ? Brad teaches my class and is also my advisor. Therefore I shouldn?t expect (and really don?t and won’t get) any sort of special treatment or consideration for time in the lab working vs. time spent on the paper. Conversely though, there are those who have put their lab work on hold (and possibly others’ work as well in consequence) in order to turn in what is likely to be a stellar paper. Personally, I couldn?t do that. I know the reason I?m here and it is not to write papers but rather to be a research assistant. Well, enough whining, time for bed.

Despite the snow this morning, summer is fast approaching. This means that emerge from hibernation and get cracking on domestics. Over the weekend, I ran about the house in ADD mode tying up some loose ends and making incremental progress on about 40 different things. The new thermostat is installed and working. That thing is pretty cool. I did a bit of plumbing, a bit of sanding, some cleaning and a lot of searching for things I couldn’t find. Most importantly though, I got about 20% of the 3rd floor put back together. I has been torn up since late summer due to the entire house getting re-wired. Well that’s done now (or as done as it is going to get). Its like a big puzzle up there. Boards everywhere so trying to match the correct subfloor piece and floor piece is a bit challenging. As usual, I sustained the typical array of wood slivers scattered about my hands. I also picked up a little perma-dirty along the way.

So for this week I’ll be pretty much burried under school work. I have a huge paper due Wednesday in Plasma Dynamics on Methods of Plasma Propulsion. I don’t mind writing but I also have a bunch of lab work to get done. Since Brad’s teaching the class I asked him how I should balance interesting lab work with not so interesting homework. The gist of his wise ass response was “I want you to spend all your time working on the paper and I want to spend all your time working in the lab” . . . and of course I want to spend all my time drinking beer and working on the house. Crap. Not only that but on Wednesday he’s trading us the paper for a take home final that is due Friday.

Come the weekend though, I think I’m going to try and sand some floors. The pool table is arriving next week so it be nice to not have to move that beast twice. Here’s a question though - has anyone here used a drum sander before? More specifically, is the sand paper prone to getting plugged up with varnish? The reason I ask is although I stripped the dining room floor to get the carpet glue off, the adjacent room didn’t require such a treatment so I’m curious if I can just run through there without stripping it. Anyway, I’ve got some magnets to wind - the last thruster test ended early because we smoked one of the electromagnets.

I mentioned a while back that the Canadian Discovery Channel was on campus filming some stuff. Well, Brad said yesterday that it had already aired in Canada and was available on the internet. So I dug it up. Take a Look. I’m in there a few times - most notably my hand with bismuth in it. In the background you can hear that damn cryopump running. Too bad they encoded the audio so poorly so you can’t fully appreciate its “unique” sound.

Well, I?ve got the vampire shift tonight in the lab. Tonight though, we?ll almost be at full staff (so far as grad students go). Ostensibly, all 5 of us wanna-be Ph.D?s could be on duty. Why? Because this damned thrust stand we have (big thing which measures the thrust generated by the thruster) is sort of a piece of crap. Strike that ? it?s a steaming pile of shit. There is about a 40% chance that we?ll have to dismount the entire thruster (~30 minutes) to re-level the stupid thing so it even begins to sort of work.
On top of that, something is wrong with our pump controller. We spent an hour and a half debugging what turned out to be nothing ? taking it apart and putting it together again ?fixed? the problem. A timer/relay combination seems to be on the fritz but I really don?t know. Well, I?ll keep the updates coming as the evening progresses.

Update: 7:50 am Well, I over slept by two hours so I didn’t get to the lab until 4am. As expected though, the thrust stand screwed with us until about 6:30. Ug. So I guess everything just gets pushed back by 4 hours (including my bed time).

Update: 8:28am Ahhh at home heading to bed. Since we’re so far behind schedule, I’m going to get some shut-eye as we have to re-tool for another test tomorrow. On the docket for tomrrow is MTU’s first home brew thruster - the Baby 5. Anyway, nap time.

I just thought I?d the world know that I?m sitting down at my computer having my first bowl of cereal in about 3 years. I think the last time I had a bowl was back when I still lived in the dorms. I have to admit, this is also my first taste of milk in at least several months (Christmas maybe?). Don?t get me wrong though, I eat a bunch of cheese and stuff so its not like I?m anti-beef products (dinner last night would also attest to that). Yep, so there you have it.

Today we opened a new chapter . . . the Reservation Street Brewery came online this evening. And it was quite the testament to . . . well . . . a lot of different things. Anyway, when I have pictures, no one ever reads what I write anyway so I’ll just bring on the bling: