Scissortail Flycatcher

So I was going to write a post about polymers, but the geekyness will have to wait, because the Oklahoma Quarter is out!

I was so excited when I got this quarter as change for a fountain drink at the nearby gas station. That bird on the front is the scissortail flycatcher--Oklahoma's state bird. It's a really awesome bird, because when it flies, the long feathers in its tail scissor, and it really makes you wish you could do that. The flower is what we call the Indian Blanket, though I'm not sure that is it's real name. It's strange, because I was always told that the mistletoe was Oklahoma's state flower, but here it is, on the coin. It's much nicer this way, anyway, because mistletoe is a parasite, and not actually terribly flower-like . . .

I'd save it for a friend of mine who collects the state coins while she's in Spain, but I'm pretty sure her dad will take care of that. Finally after a long long wait, the Oklahoma coin comes out! Right after our bicentennial statehood anniversary! But that means there's only a few more special state coins left, so appreciate them while they're still around!!

What's a Nalgene got to do with John McCain?

My MIT nalgene broke. Is it me or is that ironic?

So now I'm trying to fix it. Now, if I had to guess, I'd say the lid is a polyurethane . . . that's just a little hobby of mine--guessing which polymer things are made of. I wrote a whole paragraph on that before realizing that I was not meaning to discuss that area today . . . I guess I'll have to make another post (wow am I a geek).

Anyway, as I was trying to fix the possibly polyurethane top to my nalgene I recalled that my brothers did not know what a nalgene was when I came back from Boston to visit home in Broken Arrow, OK one year. They were all the rage in Boston. Everyone had one even if they didn't go camping or play sports . . . or drink water. So I was obviously surprised that my brothers didn't know what they were since they did do all of those things.

It was one of those things that made me realize that sometimes the Northeast US and the Southwest US are like different countries, and I must be impressionable because as I stay in one place, I find myself agreeing more and more with popular politics in the area. Back in 2004 during the first Presidential election, I remember quite clearly thinking that George W. Bush was an idiot, and I couldn't fathom that people would actually vote for him, but when I talked to my dad back in Broken Arrow, he had a completely different idea. He said "If anyone in this family votes for Kerry, I'm gonna pull them through a knot hole." Lord only knows what that means. He didn't, of course, because he'd probably be arrested, but it made me realize I had come far off track from where I had been even 4 years before that when I couldn't believe anyone would ever vote for Al Gore!

That brings us to here and now, where I find myself feeling more and more republican than I was a couple of years ago. I still feel that Bush is a terrible public speaker, and maybe should have listened to a few more differing opinions before making huge decisions, but he's obviously not *evil.* This time, I feel as though I am converging on a more middle of the road stance that just happens to be slightly to the right. I probably disagree with most republicans, but I don't care anymore. This is me saying "Thanks world, your input has been greatly appreciated, but I think I've made up my mind now!" Now if only a candidate I like can get enough people behind him/her to snag the nomination.: That seems to be the tough part when you're a more middle of the road voter.

Hey, at least it wasn't a post entirely about polymers and nalgene bottles! That's for next time!

Life is open book open notes

I was sitting in my mo-heat class (that's momentum heat and mass transfer for all you non-Chem E geeks), and our professor was explaining to us that the test was open book open notes. And I thought to myself that the situation for the test was fitting since life is open book open notes. I can always look up the ideal gas constant when I'm not sure which version applies . . . except that, oh wait! It's not.

Conversation (hopefully) consists of about 95% of your daily human interaction (maybe much less if you are married . . .), and that's not open notes! That is spur-of-the-moment, off-the-top-of-your-head, gee-I-hope-he-thinks-I'm-interesting improvisation. I can really imagine some of the people I've met in undergrad and grad school wanting to wander around with a book of notes in order to make better conversation. For some of them, the notes would be simply English translations (I completely understand!); for others, notes on how to get girls to notice you; and still others, notes on how to talk to someone who does not understand the theory of relativity or the jokes on xkcd.com. I actually remember a kid in high school who had a list of general topics that were 'appropriate' to discuss with other kids his age. The problem he would run into was changing the subject after one of them ran out of steam. People started to look at him funny when he asked everyone what his/her favorite movie was, and half a minute later moved directly onto books read lately and then favorite bands after that.

I've watched and participated in conversations all my life (of course). I've been on the awkward silence end of the spectrum as well as the immediate connection end, and the best advice I think anyone can come up with is practice makes perfect. "What is perfect?", you might ask. Just take a look at preachers, politicians, and that guy at the office who gets along with everyone. Maybe it's an innate superpower they are born with. Maybe they are actually not humans, but an alien race. Or maybe they just liked to talk a lot and got really good at it.

So what?? Does this mean that years of open book open notes quizzes and tests have irrevocably stunted us in the area of spontaneity and improvisation? Well, yes, but you didn't really want to have a conversation with the girl next door about how Dubai's booming economy is surprisingly only about 5% due to its petroleum industry, did you? No, you wanted to tell her that you got an A on the physics exam, and if she wants you can tutor her later tonight . . .

It worked!

It looks like it worked! Terrific! Anyway, maybe I can get on to writing something worth reading . . . or maybe not.

The title, I think, implies a sort of sciencey look at things, but I don't think that's really what I will end up writing about, because there are so many interesting things in the world that only involve a small amount of science. That's right, I am insinuating that everything in our world has something to do with science! From the presidential race (public relations is like a science, right?) to sports (Physics, obviously, along with medicine) to the writer's strike (more to do with science or rather technology than you would guess if you didn't know much about it). Though, I suppose polymers specifically aren't applicable to everything, but they're interesting, and I know a lot about them, so they get the title.

My Brother was bored

The most recent posts were all a test of my text message email-to-blog set up. It didn't work the first time I did it straight to publish, so hopefully if I send it to draft and then publish it, it will work better. We'll see.

My brother was bored in class. These are the benefits to having an unlimited texting plan. I can send my brothers crap all the time, and they can reciprocate. It's really great. I mean, we don't really talk anymore . . . but we comunicate all the time!

Starbucks are everywhere

Starbucks are everywhere. This was taken in the O'Hare airport. 'Course it's a little cliche now that I think about it, but I was tired, and I'm from Oklahoma, so I thought it was OK to send to my brother in Tulsa . . . They literally had a Starbucks every 100 feet or so. And all the stands still had lines of about 10 people behind them . . . wow. What would the line look like if there were only 1 Starbucks in the whole airport? I can't even imagine . . .

I'm at ou and it snowed!

I'm at OU and it snowed!