What a strange day . . . I woke up this morning and made it to my Interfacial Engineering class on time (that?s not odd), but today they were doing a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) demo. The lady running the demo handed around the sample (meh nothing special there) and fired the beast up. Next thing you know, we?re looking at some smooth looking titanium spheres at 23x. Then she grabs the pan and zoom controls and does this crazy realtime moving and zooming which was simultaneously the strangest/coolest thing I?ve seen in a while. All the sudden, what looked like smooth spheres at 23X actually had some crazy crystal thing growing out of them at 3,000X. A little bit later she tested the sample of bismuth I brought and we did a chemical analysis of it, at 300,000X. Yep, it was bismuth, with some iron impurities which you could actually see with no trouble at all.

Anyway, I then had an exam in my Transmission Electron Microscopy class which went fine. After a quick lunch, I went back to the lab and was told that the company I had ordered the propellant line isolators from, claimed they don?t and never have sold them. Which is strange because they are right on their website. Anyway, I called another company and they?ll be in tomorrow.

With that out of the way, I sat down to do some LabView work. I?m putting my war of the worlds (Matlab vs LabView) on hold in the name of keeping the peace. It isn?t worth getting my panties all in a bundle over that plus I?m certainly not doing myself any favors by making what I think are funny remarks (like not having the mind of a child and I don?t need to program with crayons) but people miss the tone and get pissed. I figured a bunch of things out that I need to so I?ve upgraded it?s status from ?Worthless pile of shit? to ?It more or less does what I need it to for the moment?. Pretty big upgrade. Just as I was wrapping up, Alex came in and kicked me off the computer that can do data acquisition so my hands were idle. So I compiled all the stuff I?ve ruined into ?Dean?s Box Of DESTRUCTION?. It now sits in my cabinet space next to the parts that will slowly make their way into that box (I wonder if that makes them nervous). Here?s a pic and all of its glory although I probably should have taken a picture of the contents rather then the outside. Maybe tomorrow. To be honest though, I love my slogan on there ?Well shit, I guess that didn?t work? because that is how most of that stuff ended up in there.

After I did that, I realized that until my isolators come in, I had nothing to do. I was just walking around the lab. So I left at 3pm which is absolutely unheard of and sort of left me grasping for something to do. I opted to stop by Ed?s office for an hour and keep him from doing work. I mean if I?m not doing anything, why should he? Then I came home and took a NAP(!!!) and then went and worked out My god what is this world coming to? . After the workout though I managed to get my truck stuck in the driveway pretty good. It is still there but that is tomorrow?s problem.

Yeah, it blew up again. I think one of the propellant line isolators bought it this time. However, I did actually manage to get good thrust measurements!!! Brad said ?Congratulations, you?ve just made a thrust stand work and now it will follow you around for the rest of your life?. And what he means by that is I will forever be known as one who as managed to tame the demons in that beast and therefore will be fielding questions about how to get it working again well in to my 80?s. In any case, I did get 1/6 of the data I was after which is infinitely more then I started the day with. More importantly though, I got the failure on video. Though not as spectacular as some other failures, it is still pretty impressive (especially when that propellant line starts to glow). Here’s the link [2.79 MB AVI]. You’ll need the DivX codec if you don’t already have it.

It was sort of nice to have the afternoon off (it died around 4pm). I used that free time to peer pressure Brad in the rest of the group out to the KBC for some brew. As usual, Brad wins the Quote of the Day contest: ?All right boys, strap on your liver, we?re going to the bar?.

Update: 8:39pm
I couldn’t stand it anymore so I ran in to the lab, vented the tank, and did the autopsy. Yep, the propellant line isolator came out in two pieces. I’m actually glad that is what it was since there was nothing I could have done to prevent it from happening. So, I’ll put a new one in on Monday, and go at it again on Tuesday.

“The visibility is only 10 miles out there so be careful”
-WMTU DJ this morning at 6:30.

Geez, seems like I was just doing this exact same thing yesterday. Oh wait, that?s because I was. I mean, we?re talking almost down to the minute. The only thing that has changed is the soundtrack. So I guess I?ll just cheat and defer to yesterday?s post.

Just some interesting stats for the week (estimated):
Liquid nitrogen used: 1,590+ Liters (~420 gallons)
Cost of nitrogen: $800
Xenon gas used: ~30 standard liters
Cost of Xenon: $200
Electricity: who the hell knows (12+kW for literally days)
Cooling water: 25,000 gallons (wow, that’s a lot of water)
Coffee consumed: 8 pots
Amount of useful data generated: I’ll get back to you on that one

Update: 9:38pm Well hell, it blew up again. *I* think the propellant line isolator may be shot, but as I?ve recently come to find out, my opinion isn?t really worth a damn despite being the one who spends stupid amounts of time creating it. I know I?ll regret this, but Brad?s ?policies? have really begun to piss me off. The only thing I asked for was the ability to do data I/O in Matlab but the ME?s prefer LabView (fucking retarded in my little mind) so I?ve been told to do my work in LabView. Stupid. I wonder why Brad brought me on then. EE?s use Matlab. Cut and dry. As do control engineers ? which in the end is what I?m after. I dunno why me using the software I?m most comfortable with is causing problems. I mean fuck, the ?one size fits all? approach really fits well in the pure research environment right? Meh, I?ll stop before I really piss anyone off (more).

In what has been a trip I?ve taken oh so many times, yet again the vacuum pumps bend their will towards the ever unattainable zero. Hopefully I?ll have better luck then them today as I seek different numbers ? performance characteristics. That thrust stand is a royal pain in the ass that much I can say and since I?m the one who needs these numbers, it sort of became my problem (everyone [including me] was avoiding that thing like the plague). To put things into perspective, you wouldn?t think that something you?d use to measure the thrust of a plasma based rocket engine would in ANYWAY involve fishing equipment. As it turns out though, the bait and tackle approach works pretty well.

Anyway, here?s a quick movie (like 1MB, 4 seconds) of the LVDT output (what will actually measure the thrust), getting shaken to shit by the mechanical pump like 30 seconds ago.

Update: 10:16 pm
It blew up. Well, it didn?t literally explode, but plenty of Kapton tape was vaporized. What happened? For some reason, a discharge was able to developed past one of the propellant line isolators. This manifested itself graphically as a huge ball of plasma that basically looked like lightning. For those interested in the energetic of the situation, for about 15 seconds, we were putting 800+ watts into something about a quarter the size of your fingernail. It left one hell of a burn mark but burnt kapton comes of easier then normal kapton. I almost had it on video, but Brad wouldn?t get the hell out of the way!!! Don?t get me wrong though, we learned a lot and the test was not really a waste or anything. The thruster was running for probably 4 hours when it happened and we came upon a very important, nay pivotal footnote of thruster operation (but ssshhhhhh, that?s a secret). The only crappy part though is that it happened on the last restart before we were ready to actually get the data I?ve been seeking. Minutes away we were but perhaps restarting at 4,000 watts may not be the best idea.

I vented the tank around 8:30 this evening and repaired the damage by 9:30. So you know what that means . . . testing again tomorrow. Right after it blew up, I told Brad (who was there when it happened) ?Same time tomorrow then?? In other news, on my drive home my brain was entertaining me and as usual made me laugh like a lunatic despite being the only one in my truck. I was just thinking about that bumper sticker that I walk by in the grad student parking lot that says ?Graduate school: its not a job, its an indenture?. The amusing part is that for today?s work, I managed to earn $2.50 per hour (before taxes). I?m not bitching here I mean I get paid to get a PhD, but it is sort of funny when I think about what I used to make at my previous jobs (10+ times that). Anyway, 5:30am is coming up pretty quick here, so off to bed I go.

I have to say, that was one of the most successful thruster tests I?ve ever proctored. We learned exactly what we needed to in the least painful way possible. I can finally breathe easier knowing that the holding pattern I was stuck in for six months is finally over. In fact, I?m unlocking the thrust stand and running again on Wednesday to get the performance data I need to finish a couple of journal papers. I?m so stupid happy now I don?t even know what to do with myself. Since I?ve been up since 4 am, bed would probably be a reasonable conclusion, but you know that?s not going to happen.

*crack first Guinness*
I lied before when I said I was getting better. Friday night was terrible. I was running a temperature of like 140 when it finally broke at 3am leaving me looking like someone had hit me with a water balloon. I spent pretty much all of Saturday in bed but felt obligated to go out with my parents that evening (I mean come on, they drove like 450 miles and are buying beer who?d pass that up?). Jason and I joined my mom and dad at the KBC then the Dog, then the hotel for some brew, but called it an evening by 11pm. This morning I awoke feeling somewhat healthy minus a cough. In fact, I even made my return to the weight room today which after a month?s absence felt great.

So why the beer drinking on a Sunday you ask? Well, tomorrow is the makeup day for the thruster test I wanted to have last week. Just wrapped up the final preparations and as is fast becoming tradition, that requires some beer. Why not wait until after the test? Because, since no more changes will be made tomorrow, the outcome of the test has already been determined (I just don?t know what that outcome will be). So consider this the fatalist approach to thruster testing. Tomorrow?s test will be sort of wrapped in a bit more stress then usual as I?ll also be testing to see how well of a job I did integrating the new pump into the vacuum chamber. It did great at rough vacuum, but high vacuum is a totally different beast (fingers crossed). Not to mention that I have two classes and 800L liquid nitrogen to coordinate the filling while underway (not a great idea, but it should be fine). It should be an action packed day, which will be a very welcomed change from sitting in my room staring at the blue walls with the chills wishing the Nyquil was closer.

So here are the details if you care to be a spectator:
Location: B007C MEEM
Pumps start: ~7:30am
Thruster Ignition tentatively set for 1pm
Thruster Operation Duration ~2-6 hours depending on diagnostics (and if it works)

Wow, that took exactly one beer to write.

Man, I caught the flu good. Yesterday I didn?t move from my room save three times. I feel a hell of a lot better today. It probably wasn?t a good idea to out with my mom and dad on Wednesday since I think it only served to pin my immune system under a pint of beer allowing the infection to really take hold. I?ve regained the upper hand now though.

So far as the test goes, someone neglected to get more Xenon so I have a thruster, but no propellant. Hopefully it will be in by early next week. But I?m still pissed though since it would have been great to show the folks exactly what I do. Ok, time for class.

Well, just a quick update . . . I?ve for this first time in more then a year I?ve managed to get the flu or something. It just started this morning and hopefully today was it as I?m ramping up for a Thursday thruster test and my parents are showing up tomorrow.

Anyway, I?ve got a bowl of Chicken and Stars soup in one hand, and a bottle of NyQuil in the other.

Oh, and whoever the ?Secret Admirer? is that sent me the flowers yesterday, thank you!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, my stitches are finally out. It feels so good to have them gone. As usual though, I have a story that I probably shouldn?t tell but will anyway because it is so fraught with stupidity that I myself am astonished I?ve managed to pull it off. I call it the Stitch Removal Tour 2005 (there better only be one dammit). I had stitches in 4 places. Think of battle ship. Externally, I had groups of 2, 3, 7 and 11 stitches. Wow, all prime numbers. Hmmmm.

Leg One: Tuesday, 4am, B007C MEEM (the lab). I?m doing an assist on the vampire shift with Makela and Tuesday was the day that the first 5 were scheduled to come out. And they did. It was a bit of a mess since the suture removal kit they gave me sucked. In the end, I used the tools of my trade from my EE days at Texas Instruments. That?s right ? a tweezers and a wire cutter.

Leg Two: Thursday, 11pm, Jason Makela?s Kitchen. I?d run out of bandage stuff so I was running around with nothing covering up the remaining stitches but my shirt. Which was stupid since they would get caught in it and really start to itch. So, I grabbed my ?tools? and took two out there in the kitchen. The two most annoying ones at that. Unfortunately (?) we were heading out to the bar so two is all I got.

Leg Three: Friday, 1am, The Down Towner Bar (what could go wrong here?). Having tasted the good life, I wanted more. And more meant less. Less nylon threaded through me. I?m not really sure how this came about, but somehow we ran into some medical student who was a friend of a friend but I managed to talk into taking some more out. I?m sure there some beer exchanged there. So if you were in town and you saw some asshat getting operated on at some table in the bar, that was me. Sorry. Anyway, the guy did a bang up job and of course the camera was there. So, I had emptied one of the cuts of its cargo and it felt great. But the rest would have to wait until tomorrow. There was beer to drink.

Here’s the pic, you can click for the larger one if you care to.

Leg 4: Friday, 5pm, 315 Reservation Street (aka home). With the super annoying stitches gone, I was finally able to get more then 6 hours of sleep. More like 12. I usually sleep on my stomach so you can imagine how comfortable this has been. So, being all good and well rested, I removed the remaining 11 myself with a tweezers and a nail clippers under the advice of the bar doctor. That was remarkably easy. I wish I would have used those tools earlier.

Well, there you have it. I never claimed I was smart, but I certainly provided some cheep and bizarre entertainment for 50+ people over the last few days.
Heh, what a week.

The ISP Lab?s productivity knows no limits. Despite it being Winter Carnival break today (and tomorrow as well), we managed to install our new Cryopump. It is nice, this puppy will effectively double our pumping speed so we can now suck crap out of the tank at a staggering 80,000 liters per second. That number doesn?t mean much until you think of it in terms of 2 liter bottles. However, if we were pumping water vapor, it would be more like 240,000 liters per second (inset pumping puns here).

A once in a lifetime view, since we were still set up from a test yesterday.

God, I need a hair cut.

As you can see, lots of new shiney things and you know how I am about shiney things.