Rams' season happily over and other local news


The 49ers put an appropriate end to the St. Louis Rams sad 2009 season by clobbering them in the second half to insure that the Rams maintain the worst record in the NFL. The Rams were actually leading 3-0 at the half, but I am sure most people assumed they would collapse in the second half, and they did so in typical fashion. I had wondered if we would see a Rams' victory or a real snowstorm first this winter, and it looks like the storm should win. They are again forecasting snow this week (Wednesday evening into Thursday morning) and we can all see if anything materializes this time. We actually received more snow than they predicted two Sundays ago (Dec 27) so you never know which way it will go. I know that snow made our church service attendance plummet even though the roads were not all that bad.

And right now we get to experience this lovely cold wave that is making my walk from the Metrolink station to our building quite a cold one. I am anxiously awaiting the 2010 opening of Brauer Hall so that there would be an enclosed, temperature controlled pathway from the lovely Earth & Planetary Sciences building, through Whitaker Hall, through Brauer to the Skinker Metrolink station. I am curious if they will let just anyone walk through the buildings since that will be an obvious path to get to the Metrolink station for anyone on the Northeast part of campus. I know a lot of Engineering and Physics people already walk through our building on their way to their buildings, and everybody cuts through Physics (between Compton and Crow). I would hope they let people walk straight through Whitaker and Brauer. However, the proximity of Brauer to the Metrolink station may make it a new target for thieves looking to grab something (laptop, purse, etc) and make a quick dash to the Metrolink. They could just station a Wash U campus police person at the front door of Brauer near Skinker. More criminals seem to be targeting our campus, and having a brand new building with lots of fancy stuff to steal will undoubtedly bring some crooks our way.

And speaking of Washington University and more specifically our Earth & Planetary Sciences department, it was cool to hear that one of our research faculty members, Brad Jolliff, is one of three NASA finalists for projects for NASA's next big space mission. It made StlToday and Foxnews, but most importantly means $3.3 million in 2010 for the university. If he gets to purchase any computer equipment or software with that money, I will be the lucky person to spend that money. Do not worry though, I would never be one to waste those tax payer dollars lavishly -- I am always quite frugal with the university's money (How many other folks here buy inexpensive, refurbished products from Geeks.com and wait for their free shipping deals?). I am even using a 12 year old 20" CRT as my main monitor, even as I spend many thousands of dollars on new equipment for other folks. We never throw anything away that works!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Trying out the L'Ecole Culinaire Presentation Room restaurant

Image
We had been seeing the ads for the restaurant at L'Ecole Culinaire and since we live so close by we thought we would try it out. We had always enjoyed dining out at cooking or hotel schools like the CHIC in Chicago and the Statler at Cornell where we went to college. Since we still love to go out and eat here in St. Louis , we ventured over to their restaurant on the first day they were open for lunch. The first thing we noticed is that they do not have much parking! They really need to let patrons know where they are supposed to park. The restaurant itself is small but very well attended. There was one fellow who kept straightening all the centerpieces and place settings on the tables, and we always saw one or two student workers milling about. The lunch menu was small and the choices did not appear overly "gourmet". The special of the day was a bison burger stuffed with cheese, and other choices picked by my group included a club sandwich, a "margherita" pi...
Read more

BMI & BMR Calculator (Body Mass Index and Basal Metabolic Rate)

Image
My wife has been researching type 2 diabetes and recently checked a book out of the library which included a body mass index (BMI) chart much like the one pictured here. Whereas it is fairly easy to follow, I, of course, think it must be converted to an online calculator! However, when I checked the Internet, there were already a billion of them so I had to make one that was different. So my lovely BMI BMR calculator accepts either inches or centimeters for your height and pounds or kilograms for your weight and calculates not only your BMI, but also your BMR (basal metabolic rate) which determines how many calories you should consume! So I made a spiffy "all in one" healthy body indicator calculator which not only determines how underweight or overweight you are, but also tells you how many calories you should consume to maintain or improve your ideal weight. 
Read more

Not all Frosted Window Films are the same!

Image
We live in an older home with a lot of issues and one of them concerns our back door to our patio from our sunroom. The door has double paned glass on it, but unfortunately the seal has broken so you can see moisture collect inside of it. We decided the easiest way to "remedy" the problem was to cover the window with some "frosted" film so we did not have to see the moisture condensing between the panes. But the question was, what film? There are a bunch of them available so we had to select something to try on the door. The first place we tried was our nearby Lowe's store which had a bunch of Gila brand film. We selected what seemed like the typical adhesive based door sized  film that cost about $25 after tax. We thought it could not be that hard to put up and look nice on our door. So one day my wife ran out and purchased it at Lowe's and we commenced to install it on our door window. We made our own soapy water solution and followed the directions...
Read more