Party!

Well my camera won't work so I have about zero pictures from the party. Well the camera works but I can't charge the batteries so that does not help much. The party was a smashing success and it ended up making our house look great! Suddenly it feels like a home rather than a place we just crashed. Nothing like having a party to make us clean up. Amy hung more of her art on the walls and Whitney decorated the living room. It took all day and a group trip to target/cub but it was worth it!

Megan even managed to come down for a little bit. She was doing TB testing on deer all day. She left home at 8:00 am and is now shuttered away at school preparing for her anatomy test on monday. Such is the way of the vet student. But, her and Winnie did come and where the life of the party :) Winnie was a little nervous, but she has kind of adjusted to parties/gatherings of people now. She is not her totally crazy self, but she is kind of polite and quiet. Good girl.

We had quite a turn out. Pat and Christie and her daughter anna came, and then most of the aprenti from last year and their crew, other people from olaf, then a lot of dereks friends. We went through 3 gallons of cider and a handle of rum with all those people! But it was worth it. We had a cheerful fire in the fireplace and candles all over, it was great.

So we had a fall festival, next up a winter? We will think about it once the snow starts to fly...

Party Prep

Got the cider and some apples for the party tomorrow. I also borrowed a vacuum from Dittmann so we can clean up a bit better tomorrow. We gata get this place looking nice!
My magic lantern is getting along. More to learn about lenses though. I am leaning towards just buying some vs. making my own, but it would be really cool if I could make a crude lens for my self.
Not much else going on today, I will have pics of the party up tomorrow!

Zzzzzzz...

I am feeling a little better today... Everything decided to move from my throat up to my nose. Since I've been sniffling all day, my sniffle muscles (whichever ones contract when I sniffle... if humans are put together like dogs and cats, I think it's the rhomboideus capitis? labelled A in the diagram) are sore. I look like I have really good posture, but it's just because I can't move my neck much. Ack, I am falling apart this week!

Tomorrow is my clinical skills final exam. Quick, what's the normal respiration rate of a cow? (20 to 40 breaths per minute, but I'm sure you all knew that already... :-) )

Better go study. No rest for the weary...

Car update

Ok I broke these posts tonight in half because they are really unrelated. Except for the fact the car has been overwhelming my brain. When I get obsessed with something, I can't very well stop until its done. And now its done!

Anyway, Megan's 1995 Saturn SL SOHC (I have told the parts store this so much that I know the tempo they like to hear it!).

I replaced that EGR valve (picture to the left) that cracked after it got in yesterday. No cracking this time. I also replaced its thermostat too. Thats two in less than one week! Any one else need one? It was not split in half, but it was stuck open. Now the temp warms up to just under half way and stays there.

I am convinced that Saturn's are designed to be the most difficult to repair possible. The alternator replacement this summer was a snap, besides the two hours it took to simply puzzle a way to remove it from the car (hint: remove the wheel, unbolt the alt. then turn it upside down and rotate it 90˚ to vertical and then rotate it 46.5˚ clockwise and it comes right out!). Same thing for the thermostat. It is located on the bottom hose of the coolant vs. the top of the Volvo. So I had to drain out the entire coolant system rather than just a cup full. But I didn't know I needed to drain all of it, and got about a gallon of it on my floor as a reward. And my tools just wouldn't fit. I had to try every combination of extender to get it off.

So how does it run? Well, not bad! I have been easing into it all week but tonight I finialy got to see what it had tonight. I was a little nervous because last time I did that the car freaked out, died, and had to be pushed to the repair shop. But guess what? It did good! If anything, I think it is getting better over time. Perhaps the computer needs to adjust to its new MAP sensor? The idle is still a little rough, and it still down shifts a second too early giving this strange engine breaking effect, but I would drive it!

The grand total here since may?

• New spark plugs/wires
  
• New Engine Coolant Temp Sensor (ECTS)
  
• New Alternator
  
• New Manifold Absolute Pressure sensor (MAP)
  
• New Exhaust Gas Recirculation valve (EGR)
  
• New Thermostat
  
• Coolant flush x2
• Transmission flush

Out of all that the pros only did the MAP and the transmission flush. So I figure if I pay my self $70 an hr for labor like they do... Well I guess thats the price of mechanics school!

Phew long post. But, here's to the hope that I won't have to post another one for a long time!

Magic Lantern

I am home after a good night in the studio. I have been playing with lenses and am planing on making my own LCD magic lantern. The magic lantern was a device that was essentially a primitive slide projector that used handmade glass slides to project images. Mine would be the same, only instead of glass slides I would use LCD attached to a computer. Its idea! I have been having artists block for the past few months really. This whole apprenticeship feels like being a freshman again. All the structure that school had built in my life that I didn't really know was there is gone, and I guess I am building it up again for my self. Except uh-uho, I have a show in January! Lets hope the ideas flow...

Immune system failing....

After last night's Halloween debauchery (mmmm, peanut butter cups...), I started getting a little sore throat on the way home. This morning, it was full-blown illness- running nose, really painful throat, slight fever, sleepy. I made it through classes, and managed to eat an entire package of Halls cough drops between morning lectures and leaving for home. I went to bed right away and slept for a couple of hours, and feel a little better, but still gross. I sure hope this is just a 24-hour sort of thing...

Hmm, two different bugs in three days? I think my body is trying to tell me something...

In other news, my biochem test grade was less than stellar. [insert pep talk about how grades do not reflect self-worth and how they do not predict my future performance as a practicing vet]

I was able to point out to our prof that one of his questions had an incorrect answer, and the only reason I knew it was because Prof. Muth at Olaf was so anal about teaching us about hemoglobin. I guess it came in handy!

Church ladies

So I ran into whitney and derek today and they had been invited to eat at Gwen's church. They have a big pot-luck/pay what you can dinner every Wednesday. It was great! Lots of food, lots of people, really good live music, and people I know! Quite a change from eating in our chilly dining room or in the studio. And Mary (one of the other aprenti, thats her in the pic by the way hehe) is a cook, and she gave me a pie after every one left! It was left over. So I am planing on going every Wednesday from now on and stuff my self silly.

Speaking of parties, our house is throwing a party this friday! Its a "Fall Festival" and every one is invited! 7:00 P.M. We will have various cider drinks and fall goodies. People can bring snacks too. Next step: clean the house! Ahh! Put away some of those boxes that, um, never quite got unpacked...

Boo!

A quick clip of the gourd taken with my awful web cam. It makes the eyes look blue and its about 5 fps.