Everyone check it out. I heart Neil Patrick Harris, I always have.
http://www.drhorrible.com/
Watching this will change your life.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Canoe, cont....
Ah yes, well, work has continued on the canoe...albeit slowly. I've finished stripping one side of the canoe and successfully(?) cut the center line last night. Hmm...I'm not entirely sure that the center line is straight...which it should be....hmm...
I've put 2 strips on the other side thus far, which is pretty fun because each piece needs to be accurately mitered and beveled to match the opposing strip. Hopefully in about 10 days time I'll be done with this stripping nonsense and continue on with fairing and shaping the hull.
Its RAINING outside....man I love hurricanes. One thing about the hurricane though, it lowers the temp down to the low 80's....a nice break from the triple digits we've been experiencing as of late (heat index's in the 110's!!!).
I've put 2 strips on the other side thus far, which is pretty fun because each piece needs to be accurately mitered and beveled to match the opposing strip. Hopefully in about 10 days time I'll be done with this stripping nonsense and continue on with fairing and shaping the hull.
Its RAINING outside....man I love hurricanes. One thing about the hurricane though, it lowers the temp down to the low 80's....a nice break from the triple digits we've been experiencing as of late (heat index's in the 110's!!!).
Sunday, July 20, 2008
High gas prices = change in habits
The price of oil is high. Unprecedentedly high. Even higher than in the late 70's (even when we adjust for today's dollars). There are many reasons for this, but honestly, the heaviest hitter is supply and demand. Our demand for oil is higher than ever, and the supply side cannot increase as much as we want in the amount of time we need. Thus, the best thing we (everyone) can do is try to conserve and demand less.
We thought we'd share with you a couple of the small ways Kellen and I are trying to be better. I've been wanting to put together a post at some point that talks about why oil and gas prices are what they are, what the oil companies are doing about it, and maybe tie in a little of what I do for a major oil company. But that will take me a while (I want to make sure I cite credible sources and provide links for more information). For now, the Springer quest to reduce our oil consumption and thus alleviate some of the guilt we walk around with.
Carpooling and Public transportation:
Yes, before now we were not utilizing public transport enough. In my defense, we only live 9 miles from where I work and any mode of public transport would require me to drive at least 2 or 3 miles to the park and ride and would then take me twice as long to get to work. Kellen's in the same boat (although in the winter and spring he rides his bike the 9 miles to school, right now it is too hot and thunderstormy to depend on that method). However, with one of us driving the dodge pickup, the diesel miles start adding up. So now, Kellen drives me to work in the morning in our relatively fuel efficient car (which we'd like to trade in for a hybrid sometime), then continues on the 2 miles to school. In the evening I ride the light rail to the park and ride and Kellen picks me up on his way home. He doesn't pick me up at work in the afternoon because downtown traffic is awful. So this approach effectively halves our daily gas/diesel use and we get to spend commuting hours in the car together rather than grinding our teeth at Houston traffic alone (which is a huge bonus for our sanity and relationship). Now this may change at some point, but I think that finding ways to conserve require flexibility, right?
(one note, though. We still drive a ton because this is Houston and it pretty much defines "urban sprawl". But we're trying to cut down.)
Reusable shopping bags:
Yes, I know you've all heard this one before, but we are complete converts. The hardy cloth bags can fit way more groceries and they can be slung over the shoulder so you can carry more at once, making the loading and unloading process easier. We were generally getting about 10-12 plastic grocery sacks a week (because you can only get a couple cartons of yogurt and maybe some bread in one bag), so we're saving there. Plastic is a petroleum product, so just these little things can contribute to cutting down on demand.
Any other ideas for us?
We thought we'd share with you a couple of the small ways Kellen and I are trying to be better. I've been wanting to put together a post at some point that talks about why oil and gas prices are what they are, what the oil companies are doing about it, and maybe tie in a little of what I do for a major oil company. But that will take me a while (I want to make sure I cite credible sources and provide links for more information). For now, the Springer quest to reduce our oil consumption and thus alleviate some of the guilt we walk around with.
Carpooling and Public transportation:
Yes, before now we were not utilizing public transport enough. In my defense, we only live 9 miles from where I work and any mode of public transport would require me to drive at least 2 or 3 miles to the park and ride and would then take me twice as long to get to work. Kellen's in the same boat (although in the winter and spring he rides his bike the 9 miles to school, right now it is too hot and thunderstormy to depend on that method). However, with one of us driving the dodge pickup, the diesel miles start adding up. So now, Kellen drives me to work in the morning in our relatively fuel efficient car (which we'd like to trade in for a hybrid sometime), then continues on the 2 miles to school. In the evening I ride the light rail to the park and ride and Kellen picks me up on his way home. He doesn't pick me up at work in the afternoon because downtown traffic is awful. So this approach effectively halves our daily gas/diesel use and we get to spend commuting hours in the car together rather than grinding our teeth at Houston traffic alone (which is a huge bonus for our sanity and relationship). Now this may change at some point, but I think that finding ways to conserve require flexibility, right?
(one note, though. We still drive a ton because this is Houston and it pretty much defines "urban sprawl". But we're trying to cut down.)
Reusable shopping bags:
Yes, I know you've all heard this one before, but we are complete converts. The hardy cloth bags can fit way more groceries and they can be slung over the shoulder so you can carry more at once, making the loading and unloading process easier. We were generally getting about 10-12 plastic grocery sacks a week (because you can only get a couple cartons of yogurt and maybe some bread in one bag), so we're saving there. Plastic is a petroleum product, so just these little things can contribute to cutting down on demand.
Any other ideas for us?
Friday, July 11, 2008
Coffee table completed
Finally finished the coffee table that I started some time ago. Overall I'm happy with the results, couple of spots I'm not too proud of, but, what can you do.
Ebony accents hide the screws which attach the breadboard ends to the top.
Table is made entirely of white oak (except for the black ebony accents).
Through tenons were pretty fun. For the finish I applied boiled linseed oil and topped it off with a good waxing.
Ebony accents hide the screws which attach the breadboard ends to the top.
Table is made entirely of white oak (except for the black ebony accents).
Through tenons were pretty fun. For the finish I applied boiled linseed oil and topped it off with a good waxing.
Back from Field Camp
Yes, I am in fact back from Field Camp. It was a good time, the ending of course is bittersweet. Made a few new friends and learned a thing or two about western Cordillera geology but was really missing the wifey. Glad to be back with the ole' lady, but god damn, its hot in Houston. Almost forgot how hot it gets here in the summer. Oh well.
A view of Beartooth Butte. As you can see, the area was still shedding the last bits of snow after a pretty good winter.
My proteges from left to right: Joe Miller, Jarratt Kelso and Adrienne Gittins. Kelso will start graduate school this coming fall at UH, so, I had to give him a considerable amount of s***. We are at Yellowstone in this photo. We didn't spend much time at Yellowstone, just drove though the park on our way to the Grand Tetons.
A view of Beartooth Butte. As you can see, the area was still shedding the last bits of snow after a pretty good winter.
My proteges from left to right: Joe Miller, Jarratt Kelso and Adrienne Gittins. Kelso will start graduate school this coming fall at UH, so, I had to give him a considerable amount of s***. We are at Yellowstone in this photo. We didn't spend much time at Yellowstone, just drove though the park on our way to the Grand Tetons.
Kellen's Home!
He got back Wednesday. It feels like he's been gone forever. I'm very happy to have him home.
Our wedding anniversary was last Sunday, we've been married for one year! Thanks to everyone who called or sent notes. We have very fond memories of our wedding day, in large part because we have awesome friends and family in our lives.
Our wedding anniversary was last Sunday, we've been married for one year! Thanks to everyone who called or sent notes. We have very fond memories of our wedding day, in large part because we have awesome friends and family in our lives.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
WALL-E
Y'all. I saw WALL-E last night and haven't been so charmed in maybe ever. Seriously. I'm not usually much of an animated movie buff, but WALL-E is probably one of the best movies I've ever seen. Maybe I'm raising expectations too high, but I don't think I am. It is just really really good.
OK, last one.
Me posing in front of an anticline.This is my last photo post, promise. This post should be one top of the page, so if you're just arriving at the site, be sure to scroll down to my first July 5th post as it explains the stories behind all these photos. I just wanted to throw in these last two which actually have me in them so you would know that I was there in Spain.
This is me with some of the other girls on the trip. They are Heather, Keenah, Ashley and Amanda. We're at that cool castle.More Spain pictures
I like this image because it shows the verdant green farm land of the area. A very pastoral scene.
The town of Ainsa. Built c. 1000. Awesome. The buildings are built out of the world-class turbidites exposed in the area. The pavers they use for steps in the town are covered in trace fossils, to add traction to the slippery rock.
Out to dinner in a medieval cellar. Food was good, wine was better.
Folds, faults and progressive unconformities, oh my!
The little town of Riglos. We drank some really good wine there.Spain Photos
The class checkin out some sweet salt detachments.
A medieval castle. It's really neat inside, I'll probably get some photos of it into the next post. My favorite part, almost no other tourists! That's a hard thing to accomplish in Europe over Memorial day weekend.
Some of the cool people on the trip with me. I like this photo, it looks like it could be in a catalogue. If everyone was wearing Chevron shirts this could go in our recruiting materials. Look at all the young good looking diverse people we have working for us, etc. See everyone wearing jackets? It was deliciously cold that week, I was in heaven.
A hermitage built on the top of mountain. There are a lot of these, we decided that Spain had a lot of hermits in its day. This was a good solid hike we made one day to check out the folds on the other side. You can just see the sweet angular unconformity to the left of the hermitage.
Our friend Pauly, who has made a couple of appearances on this blog, so I thought I'd throw him in for continuity's sake. Pauly was on the trip as well.Report on Spanish Adventures!
Hello sadly neglected blog, I've missed you! You want to finally hear about Spain, huh? Well here you go.
I (Sarah) got the opportunity to spend the last week of May in Spain and it was awesome. The trip was a Chevron field course where geologists in the company get to see field analogues to some of the subsurface rocks we work with for our jobs. This particular course was looking at growth structures in a compressional setting to learn about how you can use growth strata to constrain time of migration and trapping of hydrocarbons.
Some of the gorgeous rocks we looked at. This is a tower of conglomerate.
We went to the Pyrenees mountains in the north of Spain, technically Catalonia (Catalonians hate to be called Spanish, I guess). We were pretty rural so didn't see much of Barcelona. But there is some incredible hiking to be had in that countryside, as well as some neat medieval towns and castles.
OK, I can't get stupid blogger to allow me to upload any more photos. This will have to be followed immediately by a post full of pictures. There's not too much more to say, I ate and drank my weights worth of delicious food and red wine. There were some really great folks on the trip and I had a great time hanging out with them. There's honestly nothing bad I can say about northern Spain and all its glory.
I (Sarah) got the opportunity to spend the last week of May in Spain and it was awesome. The trip was a Chevron field course where geologists in the company get to see field analogues to some of the subsurface rocks we work with for our jobs. This particular course was looking at growth structures in a compressional setting to learn about how you can use growth strata to constrain time of migration and trapping of hydrocarbons.
Some of the gorgeous rocks we looked at. This is a tower of conglomerate.We went to the Pyrenees mountains in the north of Spain, technically Catalonia (Catalonians hate to be called Spanish, I guess). We were pretty rural so didn't see much of Barcelona. But there is some incredible hiking to be had in that countryside, as well as some neat medieval towns and castles.
OK, I can't get stupid blogger to allow me to upload any more photos. This will have to be followed immediately by a post full of pictures. There's not too much more to say, I ate and drank my weights worth of delicious food and red wine. There were some really great folks on the trip and I had a great time hanging out with them. There's honestly nothing bad I can say about northern Spain and all its glory.
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