Ryan v. The Headlamp

I started my new part-time job yesterday doing Patents for Texas Tech - should be pretty fun. But because of that and some other things going on, I didn't get home until 10 PM. I still had some studying to do, but rather than do that, I opted to replace the batteries on an old headlamp. Little did I know what I was beginning...

Of course there's a backstory - I own multiple flashlights, headlamps, etc. This particular headlamp I've owned for about 9 years, and I distinctly remember buying it before my first foray to Nutty Putty Caves. It's not an LED, but rather a heavier but more powerful "straight" beam, that really focuses the light and lets you see a good 20-30 feet.

Well, the batteries I had in there had corroded a bit (they were a couple years old), leaving a nice layer of alkaline material all over the electrical contacts. So I got some q-tips & rubbing alcohol and cleaned it up, replaced the batteries - no light. Cleaned some more - no light. Now the fun begins. I'm not one to back down from something like this...

So I busted out my multimeter - checked the voltage on the batteries - both at ~ 1.6V, right where they should be for out of the box AA batteries. Put them in the light, check the contact points, reading just below 3V, right where it should be for 2 batteries in series, accounting for added resistance of the light. Good so far.

I look at the bulb - filament looks good. Change the multimeter to measure resistance - picked up a small resistance, meaning the light circuit wasn't broken. It should still be working. I swap bulbs anyway - nothing. Measure voltage inside the 'cap' the light sits in - voltage good.

At this point I'm becoming frustrated - either both of my bulbs are busted and I don't know how to use a multimeter anymore, or something isn't making contact. So I took the next step,

and hit it. Repeatedly. and it worked.

Swapped bulbs, made sure both bulbs are still good (they are), cleaned up my tools and was done. 11:30 PM, over an hour on it, but it works.

Goodbye Old Friend

So I got rid of an old friend the other day - my 'Y Rocks' shirt.
My buddy T-Rav* and I bought these shirts in August of 2000 at a BYU rock-climbing club movie presentation. They cost $3 each, and I think it was a good investment.



















Unfortunately, mine finally needed to be thrown away. The collar was busted, the white had turned to a yellowish white gross color, and you can see there was a large hole in the right armpit.

The shirt and I had many adventures together...

Makin' Sausage

So what did I do today? I made sausage - from scratch.

We start with pigs & a gun.

Then we gut it and skin it.

Then we chopped it into pieces, took the meat off, ground it up and out came sausage.

It was a different experience. It's been awhile since I had killed & ate anything, and I think it's important to do it sometimes to remember where our food comes from. Now I have a couple packs of sausage in my freezer from a pig I helped slaughter - Pretty cool.

Carlsbad Caverns

My spring break has been a little different this year (ranching, lounging by the pool, and studying?), but my parents came into town and we went with my sister & her family to Carlsbad Caverns yesterday. I'd never been, so I wasn't sure what to expect.

First of all, where is Carlsbad?
It's down towards El Paso, about 3 hours from Lubbock. Pretty close by Texas standards.
The caves themselves were most impressive - absolutely huge. Pictures don't do it justice - the immensity of the caverns dilutes the ability of the camera to capture it. Here some anyway:

The most impressive thing about the caves was how huge they were - this is definitely something everyone should check out - you know, the next time you're in southeastern New Mexico.

The only things I'd recommend to do differently than we did would be to eat before going or bring food with you (though you can only eat in a specified part of the cave). Also, if I ever go back I think it'd be fun to take a Ranger-guided tour and see some more isolated parts of the cave.

Of course the best part of the trip was spending time with my family - here's a shot of me and my dad just before going into the cave.

Would you be my friend?

So I'm kinda particular about the use of the word 'Friend'. These days it seems easily confused with the word 'acquaintance'. I figure a real friend is someone who will come help you when you need to move something heavy in the middle of the night, or actually initiates communications from time to time. Anytime things are too one sided, you know it's not a real friendship.

I bring this up because with the internet social websites I use - Facebook & Xbox Live, the debate is always "Are you really my friend?" Here the rules I've established so far...

Xbox Live: Do I know this person in Real Life? If not, they are not my 'friend.'
Facebook: The same rule applies, but because it's becoming so widespread these days additional corollaries include

• Have I ever talked to you? Would I be likely to repeat this activity?
  
• If I saw you in a room, would I want to talk to you?

Put another way, if I saw you were going to be hit by a train, would I warn you? If not, you are not my 'friend.'

I would guess that many/most of my Facebook friends probably are not the kinds of friends I mentioned at the top of the post - you know, real friends. It's certainly a good way to network and stay in touch with people, plan events & junk. Sometimes it's nice to know what's going on with old roommates and friends you haven't seen in years.

But the freaky dude with 1 tooth that was in my ward when I was growing up for 2 years, that I haven't seen in 10 years & wasn't friends with then, who's son's are a couple of straight idiots, you sir are not my friend.

Simple Math

So the other day in my Copyright class, the professor was talking about certain time limits, restrictions, etc., and when you could act on those limits. He then proceeded to put some examples up on the screen via powerpoint - and got ALL of them wrong. 4/4 wrong. And we're talking simple math here - add 35, subtract 2 type stuff.

I told this to my brother in law Justin, who's also in law school here, and he said that he thinks it's wrong that in law school they put so much emphasis on being able to write well, but it's OK if you can't do simple math.

Because guess what?!? It's not OK. Maybe they need to put a math section on the LSAT, maybe they should have algebra for lawyers, but lawyers need math. Most lawyers probably aren't pondering ways to use calculus to speed up equations (guilty), but they certainly need to know simple arithmetic. Corporate mergers, divorce settlements, advising clients on short-term v. long-term payouts. What are they going to do, hire someone to do the math for them?

Roller coaster

You ever have those weeks that are just complete roller coaster rides? Both highs and lows? That was this past week. I'm really hoping this week is better.

Going Private

I always wonder why people make their blogs private. I've had mine for a few years now, and whenever someone makes their blog private I have to wonder why. I've heard some cases of weird stalker people, and I've had my cases of nutjobs commenting (after which I enjoy mocking them), but I really don't get it. And that's not a knock on anyone - I understand some of the reasons why one might want to restrict access to their blog. Anyway, while I am decidedly against restricting my blog, I decided to post some pros & cons to an open v. closed blog.

Open
+ Anyone can read it
- That means job supervisors, HR, etc., can read it too
+ Friends can find it
+ You don't have to have a google account to access it
+ Maybe someone you don't know well can read about your life and relate to it
+ Higher traffic - if you do advertising

Closed
+ No weirdos
- People can't really search and find your blog
+ If you're into copyright violations & image theft, this is a great way to restrict access

Anyway, from personal experience I'm guessing that most people that restrict access probably are trying to protect their children from being gawked at by deviants on the web, and I get that. I just don't really think it's that frequent to negate the positive factors having it open provides.

Plus, isn't the idea of a blog to allow people to stay in touch? I started this blog so people could know I was alive when I went to Iraq, and now I use it in part to maintain contact with people I don't see often at all, sometimes for years. I dunno. Maybe once I have kids I'll feel differently.

Addicted to Crossfit

I have a confession - I'm addicted to Crossfit.com

A couple years ago I went to the website and it didn't really impress me all that much. A few weeks ago I checked it out again and found it much improved, and since I always am looking for new and creative ways to workout, thought I'd give it a try.

It kicked my trash. The first day I almost threw up. That is, I was gagging and had to hold a towel to my face to control my breathing.

Here's why I think it's awesome.
1) It posts a Workout of the Day (WOD). You can compare your time with others, but I don't - I just push as hard as I can, see how fast I can do it. If I wanted to start keeping track, they apparently do repeat the WODs - maybe twice a year.
2) They have exercise/video demos. These people are sick, and its addicting to watch them do 50 pullups, or a hundred air squats. They also have videos of combat techniques, which are way fun as well.

I've been doing it, not every single day, but 4-5 times a week now for 2 weeks, and I can tell its working. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a changeup, but also just to anyone bored and looking for some insane videos to watch.