Finally getting caught up

It's incredible. Even with all the best intentions, updating this blog is still incredibly difficult. Here goes.

Family life proceeds apace. My wife was sick for a while. Then I caught an unexpected case of strep throat. Then SWWNO came down with the same thing. My daughter and I both had to go to the doctor in order to get better. I'm still not anywhere near 100%. Maybe by December I'll be back to myself. I sure wish I knew what it was that we caught.

School is kicking me. Hard. Calculus is more difficult than it was last semester, but I think I'm doing better. We didn't focus as much on logs and trig last time. I'd like to think I'm becoming good at trig and inverse trig. Now, we're working on integration by parts. This wasn't even covered in my last class.

I'm doing much better in physics now, thank you very much :-) It seems that I'm much better with relativity and quantum mechanics than I am with waves and optics. I know what to work on for the final, at any rate.

This post is coming to you from a loaner laptop that my kind neighbors are letting me use. They have three total and can only use two at a time. It's about three years old, 17" Gateway (which is at this point really HP), and incredibly heavy. I always think of the old Compaq Portable computer as I lug it around campus. On the other hand, I love it. I can't imagine trying to do all the stuff I'm trying to do without a laptop.

caveat: it's missing the "a" and the "4" keys, and I broke the number "6". Anybody know how to replace keys on a full sized laptop keyboard?

Two quick aeronautics items today:

Boeing refits old Seattle plant for P-8 aircraft production

They made B-29s here. That alone is reason enough to keep the plant active.

FAA reinstates requirement to stay back from Boeing 747-8

So, I guess I'll start looking into precipitating wake turbulence again. I wanted another project!

That's about all I have time for today. It is my intention to get on a Monday-Wednesday-Friday posting schedule. I have tons of material available, so the weak link is me taking the time to write it up. Wish me luck, fellow netizens...

Cheers,

--Zach