The Station

Lasers, Airplanes, and Waves

You may have heard on the news yesterday that the pilots of a commercial jet near Cleveland saw a laser light shined into their cockpit. Of course, this is being investigated and it might be serious. However, I have issues with some of the stuff they're saying.

The pilot was able to land the plane, and air traffic controllers used radar to determine the laser came from a residential area in suburban Warrensville Heights.

That's nonsense. You can't use radar to track laser light. Simply impossible. Oh sure, I'd love to call the FBI and ask them exactly how they used radio waves to locate light waves, but somehow I think they're busy inventing other fantastic lies.

Also, it bothers me that Americans aren't really paying much attention to the tsunami tragedy. Remember how we mourned the massive loss of life of 9/11? Well, as of right now, 40 times more people have died as a result of the tsunami, yet it's hardly made an impact. Sure, it isn't in America, and it was a natural disaster, but still...

I should start my own country.
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Recent Things

Tonight's newscast sounded a projection of more than 60,000 dead as a result of the tsunamis in Asia. It's one of the worst things I've ever heard of and there's little I can do to help. Guess I'll give some money to UNICEF and say a few prayers.

On a brighter note, Christmas went well. Got a lot of interesting gifts including a rubber ducky. I also went with Lauren to Christmas Eve service at the Presbyterian church on Western Ave in Joliet. That was a nice surprise. The service was great. They had bell ringers and an excellent choir.

Hmm, my parents' computer keeps asking for a Microsoft Office disc. It must have a virus. I'm not surprised. Goodbye.
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Christmas Eve 2004

Sweet dreams, sweeter reality...

The World Truly Needs Him

It is well known that holidays can bring out the best and worst of humanity. This year, more than ever before, it seems that political correctness has squelched the truth of the season from the festive, colorful atmosphere. It makes me sad to see signs exclaiming "season's greetings," or "happy holidays," instead of "Merry Christmas!"

Of course, this is done so as not to alienate non-Christians. I must ask, "so what if they feel alienated?" Christmas is a Christian holiday. Christians had such a good time celebrating it that other people wanted in on the joy, too. Now that nearly everyone celebrates Christmas, non-Christians think they have a right to take the Christ out of it, rendering it completely meaningless except being a mutually agreeable occasion to dress-up, go in the red, and be silly.

Think about it. It has become a date in early winter when people exchange gifts around a dying electrified conifer. Furthermore, any magic or whimsy still associated with the day is attributed to an imaginary fat man in a red suit who happens to be another perversion of Christian history.

Christmas has become the day when everyone goes to a party and some people just happen to also recall the birth of a baby boy many years ago in a faraway land.

NO! NO! NO!

Christmas exists because the savior of all mankind came into the world. Christmas exists because God chose to become a man like us in order that we might know his infinite love for us. Christmas is the coming of Jesus Christ.

I love Jesus and I love Christmas. So, tomorrow and on Christmas Day, I'm going to say "Merry Christmas!" to as many people as I can.
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Watch Mystery

In early September, I lost my beloved Fossil watch. I meticulously searched both my apartment and my parents' house several times, but the watch remained missing. Conceding that it was gone forever, I got a new one. The new one is exactly the same as the one which went missing (I liked it that much).

Today, after running some errands, I returned to my room at my parents' house to discover the missing watch sitting on my recliner! Eager to find out where and by whom it was found, I questioned the other members of the household.

No one knows anything! That's right, no one found it, no one put it on my chair. Amazing! My watch just takes a four-month hiatus and then returns without anyone knowing anything about it.

This isn't the first time this has happened either. Several things have also gone missing for extended amounts of time. Right now, it's my Christmas music books that have run off.

Maybe in the future, my whole house will disappear. Yes, one day I'll return home and it will have simply vanished. I will ask and people will say, "I haven't seen your house, Brian. Are you sure you even had a house?"
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Squirel Dream

Last night I had a dream that there was a wildlife refuge in a small forest in the middle of an Illinois corn field. Actually, it was less of a forest and more just a house-lot sized area with some pine trees. The department of parks, or whoever manages such things, wanted there to be more squirrels in this forest. So they hired me, Andy and Christina, to go out there with these canvas bags full of squirrels. We pulled them out of the bags and threw them into the trees.
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This Is Probably Going To Be Lame

Finally, another urban legend post. Is it truth or lie? Tell me.

We all know that water can sometimes super-heat in a microwave and then "explode" when its container is disturbed. Curiously, you can do the same thing with a gel ink pen. Nuke the pen for a short time (30 seconds is sufficient), then carefully remove the pen and set it down without shaking it. Next, get a friend to pick up the pen and write something with it. The jarring motion will cause the ink to boil over and squirt from the tip, scalding and staining all nearby. The only trick is to get them to pick up the pen soon, before the ink cools too much.
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Why Must There Be A Title?

My two remaining finals are on Saturday. I'll have had more than a week to prepare for them. It's not going well, though better than I hoped. At least I'm doing some studying. I wish I were the good student I used to be.

The thing that bothers me most is everyone else fretting over the fact that they might have to settle for a "B." They whine and complain about it like it's the end of the world. Meanwhile, I'm just calmly contemplating the chances of scraping by with "D"s. There's something seriously wrong with that. I wish I could remember worrying about making all "A"s. It was less than two years ago, but it seems much farther away. In fact, it seems like I merely dreamed the times that I got the best grades, my colleagues admired me, and my professors told me I would be extremely successful someday. Seems like it never even happened.

Why am I saying this? It's not to win your sympathy. It's not to fish for compliments. I don't know why I'm saying this. Guess I figured I'd write down what's been in my mind. Maybe, if I write it down, I won't have to remember it anymore. Maybe I'll be able to forget this finally. I doubt it, though.
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Composites Joke

Today was the last day of research presentations in my composites class. The first group gets up there and one of the guys says, "I thought I'd break the ice with a joke. Two composites walk into a bar...that's as far as I got." How lame! Tempting us with a joke and not delivering. So, instead of listening to his presentation, I finished his joke for him. I never gave it to him and, after leaving the class, I realized that no one else would get it because most people know nothing about composites. I can't let it go to waste though, so I'll explain a quick fact about composites and write the joke. Here goes:

Composite fact: The stiffness of a composite comes from the fibers that are inside it.

Two composites walk into a bar. They sit down, order drinks, and the bartender slides over a bowl of bran flakes. He explains, "I ran out of nuts and pretzels." The first composite munches on the bran flakes, but the second composite doesn't. After a while, the second composite is having a good time - talking to female composites and trading jokes with the bartender, but the first composite just sits there, eating the bran flakes and looking bored and unfriendly. The bartender asks, "why isn't your friend having any fun?" The second composite responds, "it's the bran flakes - fiber makes him stiff!"
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What About School?

My first final was at 8AM this morning. I studied a sheet of definitions for about 10 minutes before the test and apparently that was enough to carry me through with a passing grade. It was a History essay. If only engineering were that easy.

I gave a presentation on the research I did for my composite materials class today. I thought it wouldn't be any good since I really didn't put in much effort, but again God was with me and so it was a success. Actually, He's been working a few miracles for me lately. Good thing, too - I'd be in massive academic trouble otherwise. Actually, I am in massive academic trouble, just less massive academic trouble than I should be!

Tomorrow I have my robotics final. At this point, There's nothing I can do to pass the class. Maybe I'll just draw a robot cartoon or something on the final. Hey, I've got to do something with the time I'm sitting there!

I'm pretty sure I can pass my other classes. Three out of four isn't bad I guess, considering last semester's performance. Anyway, that means I'll have 15 hours next semester and they're all engineering. Not the smartest plan, but I have no choice, really. By the time I graduate, I'll have regained my ability to do work. Else, I won't graduate. Right now, pessimistic as it sounds, logic would have you bet on me not graduating. I'll bet on God's providence, however.
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And You Thought Three In One Day Was Amazing...

Well, it seems that posting has become today's excuse for not doing my work. Here's another church story. First grade seems to be the time I heard this one from one of the nuns at good old Holy Family School in Joliet.

There was once a very very good little girl who went with her parents to mass every Sunday. She was a very very good little girl. She was only about six years old, so she couldn't receive holy communion yet (typically, you're eight when that happens). She prayed and prayed, though, that she could receive this sacrament. One Sunday, as she prayed in church, one of the hosts levitated off the altar and floated (unbeknownst to anyone else in the church) over to the little girl. She held out her hand and it came to rest gently in her palm. She put the wafer in her pocket to take it home. When she returned home, she went to her room and closed the door. She took the bread out of her pocket, ate it, then laid down on her bed and held her breath until she died.

Can anyone tell me the moral of this story? I was seven years old when I heard it, and have been trying to figure out the point ever since.
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No Room At The Inn, No Logic At The Vatican

I went to church with my parents today. The priest reminded everyone that this Wednesday, December 8, is the feast of the immaculate conception. Now, let us think about this. According to the church, Jesus is conceived on December 8 and then born seventeen days later on December 25. Miraculous indeed!

I know the designation of December 25 as the birthday of Jesus is arbitrary, and therefore even more vague is the time of his conception. However, shouldn't the church at least have the wisdom to set the conception about nine months ahead of Christmas? Them Catholics...
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New Candles

Today, I bought a couple Yankee Candle votives - Holiday Bayberry and Balsam & Cedar. They're my fantastic new Christmas friends.
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Trouble Is An Early History Final

These last two weeks of school are going to be busy, but I thought I had it planned out nicely. I allowed myself plenty of time to catch up on reading for my history final over next weekend. However, just now, I received an email reminding us that the final has been changed to this week! There's no way I'm going to be able to read two novels by Wednesday morning, at least not with all the other stuff I've got going on. Granted, they probably announced this weeks ago in class, and I should have gone to class more often, but I still think you shouldn't change dates in the syllabus. One more semester...
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California, Here I Come!

I just accepted the Northrop Grumman position starting on August 1, 2005. Wow.
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Four For Four

Ever get obsessed with a band that you've known about for a while but never paid much attention to? I've known about Caviar since their catchy single "Tangerine Speedo" received moderate Chicago airplay in 2000. I've even heard their first album once or twice while riding with friends, but never bought the album. Big mistake. Since seeing their concert on Saturday, I've purchased both the old album and their second, which was just released in July. I haven't listened to anything else since. CAVIAR! CAVIAR! CAVIAR! So fantastic! I love music!
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Fun With The Bible

The following is a joke told by Matthew Kelly. Who is Matthew Kelly? He's an Australian Catholic who has written some books about revitalizing the Catholic faith and such. Of course, I'm not interested in Catholicism, but I went with my parents over the break to see him talk at a church in Morris.

One day, a priest decides to visit an elderly parishioner at her home since she had been ill. He parks his car in the drive, walks the flower lined path to the door, and knocks gently. Though he can hear a radio playing inside the house, the priest's call is unanswered. He knocks again, noting other clues that the parishioner appears to be at home. Still no answer. He then scribbles a note on the back of one of his business cards, wedges it in the door seal, and drives away.

A short time later, the elderly woman opens the door. She picks up the card the priest left and turns it over to find a scripture reference written on the back - Revelation 3:20. She opens her bible to know the passage. It says, Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in...

Well, the following Sunday, after the morning mass, the priest discovers his business card has been returned to him in the collection basket. His scripture reference has been crossed out and a new one is written next to it - Genesis 3:10. The priest is curious, so he retrieves his bible from his office. It says, I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.

Yeah, I thought it was humorous.
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